Hong Kong: Alice Mak to visit Singapore

Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Alice Mak will depart for an official visit to Singapore tomorrow to learn about its local community engagement work and explore opportunities for youth exchanges between Singapore and Hong Kong.

Miss Mak will call on Singapore's Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth and visit the People's Association, the Community Development Council and the Community Club to know more about the work and experience of local youth services, community connections and district building.

She will also lead YDC youth ambassadors who are on exchanges in Singapore to visit the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Singapore and attend other youth exchange activities, including meeting Hong Kong young people working in Singapore.

The exchange activity for YDC youth ambassadors is the first international youth exchange programme organised by the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau after the gradual resumption of quarantine-free travel overseas.

Miss Mak will return to Hong Kong on February 19. During her absence, Under Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Clarence Leung will be Acting Secretary.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
NA Chairman works with EU-ABC, EuroCham delegation

Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong inh Hue had a working session with a delegation of the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), with representatives from nearly 50 businesses and groups, in Hanoi on Tuesday.









Delegation of the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) presents a model of the Airbus aircraft to National Assembly Chairman Vuong inh Hue as gift during their meeting in Hanoi on Tuesday.  VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan



Managing Director & Regional Head Asia/Pacific at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Jens Ruebbert, and EuroCham Chairman Alain Cany, co-heads of the delegation, said European businesses are interested in the Vietnamese market and consider Vietnam a leading country and a pioneer in Asia-Pacific, especially Southeast Asia.



Vietnam holds great potential for development, with a growth rate of over 8 per cent last year, they said, calling the country a destination of investment and trade for nations worldwide.

Cany expressed his hope to assist Vietnam in realising its net zero emission target by 2050 in terms of policy and law-making, technology transfer and access to capital.

Regarding green transition and the net zero emission target, representatives from the EU firms said they want to study Vietnams strategy and legal framework, and implement offshore wind power and renewable energy projects in the country.



They were also interested in Vietnams incentives towards access to new medicines and modern medical services.



After studying Vietnams support plan for digital transformation and relevant investment activities, the businesses hoped to invest in human resources in the field. They also affirmed their support for ASEANs economic integration.



The NA Chairman affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to and wishes to promote relations with the EU  a leading partner in Vietnams foreign policy.



The commemorative summit celebrating the 45th founding anniversary of ASEAN-EU relations was successfully organised in Brussels, Belgium, last December, he said.



Hue said he hoped the ASEAN-EU Business Council would continue creating a reliable bridge and actively supporting EU businesses and investors to invest in ASEAN in general and the Vietnamese market in particular.



He affirmed that the National Assembly of Vietnam, in all its decisions including those in the legislation, supreme supervision, and national issues, are all for the sake of rapid and sustainable development, promoting the increasingly proactive and effective integration of Vietnam into the region and the world.



The NA always puts people and businesses, both domestic and foreign enterprises, at the centre of every decision, he said.



Emphasising that foreign investors successes are Vietnams successes, Hue said that Vietnam had shifted its focus from attracting FDI to a strategy of cooperation and partnership in foreign investment.



Vietnam will continue to implement a consistent policy to improve and enhance the quality of the business and investment environment, and is determined to improve its competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency of its economy, NA Chair Hue said.



Appreciating the strong development in trade relations between Vietnam and the EU, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global uncertainties, Hue said that maintaining supply chains, strengthening cooperation with existing markets and expanding new markets are the right choices for countries.



The NA Chairman also shared with EU investors Vietnams socio-economic development achievements in 2022, with important contributions of the National Assembly.



According to the top legislator, the NA's Resolution No. 30/2021/QH15 grants the NA Standing Committee, the Government, the Prime Minister, and the provincial people's councils specific powers to perform the dual task of controlling the pandemic, and boosting socio-economic recovery and development.



The NA's Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 on fiscal and monetary policies permitted the allocation of funding of up to VN350 trillion to support the implementation of the socio-economic recovery and development programme.



"Thanks to all-round efforts, Vietnams economy has not lost its growth momentum. It is expected to achieve the targets set out for this term and the development goals until 2030 with a vision to 2045 set by the Communist Party of Vietnam at the 13th National Congress," the NA Chairman said.



For digital transformation and digital economy, Hue stressed that the digital economy is expected to make up about 20 per cent of the country's GDP by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030, saying the digital economy now has a scale of more than US$50 billion and a growth rate of between 16-18 per cent.



The leader used this occasion to call on European investors to actively engage in the process, contributing to building a digital ecosystem for digital transformation in Vietnam.



Regarding just energy transition, Hue said Vietnam hopes to cooperate with EU firms in mobilising green finance and ensuring interest-cost balance during the transition process.



He suggested EU-ABC and EuroCham encourage remaining countries in the EU to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and remove the yellow card imposed on Vietnams seafood, thus benefiting businesses, farmers and consumers of the two sides.
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The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday, approved the relief package for the Joshimath disaster in a cabinet meeting. "Approval has been given in the cabinet meeting dated February 15, on the proposed policy regarding compensation and permanent displacement of land and buildings of disaster-affected families/persons of Joshimath region," informed a government statement. As per the statement, the rates of the residential buildings will be worked out by applying the cost index to the plinth area rates of CPWD. According to the above, after deducting the amount of depreciation of the affected building from the cost of the upcoming building, compensation will be given for the remaining amount. While for the constructed building of shops and other commercial establishments (hotel, dhaba etc.), compensation will be provided on the basis of the prescribed damaged slab. The statement further informed that, that the owner of a disaster-affected residential building will be able to choose three options (Option 1, 2 , 3) for obtaining the compensation. Under the first option, they compensation for their damaged residential building at the prescribed rate and compensation for land on the basis of rates to be determined on basis of the reports of the technical institutions. The second option, states that the maximum area of land up to 75 square meters (50 meters for building construction and 25 meters for cow shed/other works) can be provided by the disaster-affected person for the construction of a residential building while receiving compensation for the building. Under the third option, the disaster-affected people can demand a residential building constructed relative to their land and building. Buildings will be constructed by the state government on land up to the maximum area of 50 square meters and 25 meters of land will be made available for cow sheds/other works. The statement added about the three options (options 4, 5, 6) available for the shop/other commercial establishment owners seeking compensation. Under the fourth option, the disaster-affected people can get compensation for their damaged commercial building/shop at the prescribed rate and compensation for the land on the basis of the rates to be determined in future on the basis of reports of technical institutions. The fifth option states that if the disaster-affected person demands land for a shop/business establishment after receiving the compensation for the building, then in such a situation land up to a maximum area of 15 square meters will be provided for the construction of the shop/business establishment. The sixth option stated that if there is a demand for a shop/business establishment built by the owner of a disaster-affected shop/business establishment, then in such a situation, the shop/business establishment will be made available by the state government on the land up to the maximum area of 15 square meters at the identified site. Regarding the arrangement for employment of the families/individuals living on rent, the statement stated, "If a person in Joshimath, who has been working in the disaster affected area of Joshimath for more than one year by taking a shop on rent and due to the disaster both the land and the building of the shop/business establishment is unsafe, his employment has been affected. If so, such persons will be provided a one-time financial assistance of Rs.2.00 lakh." Informing about the retrofitting damages, the statement added, "Based on the report of the survey conducted by the technical institutes, a separate decision will be taken regarding grant of assistance for retrofitting of buildings situated on safe land according to the intensity of the damage." The Uttarakhand government also listed down a number of conditions that the compensation options will be subjected to. As per the release, if valid records of ownership of land/building are not available with any affected family, then on the basis of an affidavit along with various due bills provided by government departments to such families like electricity bill, water tax, sewer tax, building tax etc. But compensation will be given. The bills of said bills must be before January 2, 2023. Before paying the relief amount for the land, it should also be ensured that all the dues related to the land have been fulfilled by them. The final payment of the relief amount will be made to the concerned affected people only after the concerned departments give a 'No Dues Certificate' in this regard, the release stated. Relief assistance will be distributed to the affected families/individuals on the basis of the survey and measurement done by the sanctioned funds survey team. As per the statement, before payment of the rehabilitation package/relief assistance, the advance amount of Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only)/home grant (if any) of the package distributed earlier to the affected families should be adjusted. According to the option desired by the owner of the affected land/building/shop, the work of giving compensation and allotment of land/house/shop will be done by the committee constituted under the chairmanship of Deputy District Magistrate Joshimath. The affected person dissatisfied with the compensation can appeal before the committee constituted under the chairmanship of Additional District Magistrate Chamoli, the statement further read. (ANI)
All the 34 Naxals surrendered themselves before Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Chhattisgarh Police forces at different locations in Sukma on Tuesday.

"Of the total, 33 Naxals surrendered in a recently established camp in the Dubbamarka area located in the deeply forested regions of Sukma," CRPF said.

"The surrendered Naxals included Dirdo Muda, Hidma, and Vajaam Hidma who carried a reward of Rs one lakh on their heads. These Naxals who were earlier misled decided to abjure violence and return to the mainstream."

It has just been three days since the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Chhattisgarh Police established the camp in Dubbamarka, added the CRPF.

In another major success, the efforts of the 201 CoBRA Battalion of the CRPF persuade the surrender of another Rs 1 lakh rewardee Naxal Madvi Vaga in Sukma. He was a Janmilitia Commander and had joined the Naxalism in 2016 and was active in Chintalnar and Jagargunda region, said the force.

"Sustained and planned operations by the security forces and Chhattisgarh police in the left-wing extremism-affected areas in the state have resulted in the apprehension of a number of top Maoist leaders and many have surrendered. Additionally, the security forces have been persuading the Maoist cadres to give up the path of violence and return to the mainstream," CRPF said.

CRPF is engaged in internal security duty in LWE-affected regions and Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)
Three batches of approximately 80,000 doses of HPV vaccine have been released by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, sources said to ANI. This is the first made-in-India Human Papillomavirus (HPV) "CERVAVAC" vaccine, for the prevention of cervical cancer. According to sources, to fight against cervical cancer in India, the govt is likely to launch a program to administer the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to girls aged nine to 14 years in six states. CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawala, in an exclusive interview with ANI, had said that he briefed Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya about the HPV vaccine. "I had come to brief the Union Health minister about it. We'll wait for the govt program to roll out," he had said. "Our capacity is very small this year but we'll build a large capacity to take care of the entire nation's needs for the next year," Poonawala said. "We will slowly roll it out through government programs this year. I can't comment on pricing now. We will wait for tendering process & follow govt protocols," said Adar Poonawala on vaccine pricing. On 24 January, SII launched first made-in-India HPV vaccine for cervical cancer Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, announced the launch of the first made-in-India Human Papillomavirus (HPV) "CERVAVAC" vaccine, for the prevention of cervical cancer. The launch took place in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, Adar Poonawalla, and the Director of Government & Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India, Prakash K Singh. "On the occasion of India's National Girl Child Day and Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, @SerumInstIndia is pleased to launch the first made-in-India HPV vaccine by the hands of our Hon'ble Home Minister Shri @AmitShah Ji. @PrakashKsingh7," tweeted Adar Poonawalla. 'CERVAVAC' is an outcome of a partnership of DBT and BIRAC with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supported by Serum Institute of India Private Limited for the indigenous development of quadrivalent vaccine through its partnership program' Grand Challenges India'. (ANI)
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday that a new era of self-reliance in India's defence sector is being paved, in which the country will move forward strongly on the path of progress with new energy, determination and enthusiasm. Addressing the 'Bandhan' and valedictory ceremony of Aero India 2023, the Minister said the domestic demand must be there for creating demand for the defence industry and a record 75 per cent of defence capital procurement budget has been earmarked for domestic industry in 2023-24. The minister said over 250 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been signed at the event. "We increased the share for the Indian defence industry to 64 per cent for 2021-22, then it increased to 65 per cent breaking the previous record and for 2022-23, we increased it to 68 per cent," he said. Singh said the trust of the government and society in the country's defence industry is growing. "Under Amrit Kaal for our defence industry, the Indian vendor's capital acquisition has been upgraded to 75 per cent for 2023-2024," he said. Singh termed the decision as an unprecedented step taken by the government at the outset of 'Amrit Kaal' to further strengthen the defence sector and minimize import dependency. "If you take one step, the government promises to take ten steps forward. You spoke of land to run on the path of development. We are providing you full sky. Earmarking three-fourth of the capital procurement budget for the local industry is a step in that direction," he said. Lauding Aero India 2023, the Defence Minister said that it showed a new defence sector of the new India to the whole world. "Aero India showed the whole world that the new India's defence sector has not only become capable and enriched continuously in the last few years but is fully prepared to keep pace with the defence sector of the leading countries globally," he said. Defence chiefs, officers, and foreign delegates were present at the event. Singh expressed confidence that after events like Aero India 2023, the defence industry will come forward with more enthusiasm and will contribute in making the country's defence sector more powerful. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Aero India 2023 on Monday at the Air Force Station in Bengaluru's Yelahanka. India's growth in aerospace and defence capabilities are being showcased during Aero India 2023. Rajnath Singh attend several events at Aero India 2023 and also held bilateral meetings. He congratulated people associated with Aero India 2023. "This event inspires us to take a resolution that we will not get tired on the path of our progress. We will never stop." (ANI)
CM Pushkar Singh Dhami while launching the teaser expressed hope that this film will play an important role in propagating environment conservation and the cultural heritage of Uttarakhand in the country and abroad.

Wishing for the success of the film, he congratulated the entire team.

Film's producer Ankit Lucky Kandiyal said that the film based on Dr Nishank's novel 'Chhoot Gaya Padav' is the story of a teacher's struggle for the treatment of her student who is suffering from an incurable disease and a family martyred on the border. Which is a poignant film depicting the tremendous military tradition of Uttarakhand along with women empowerment and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.

'Yu Kanu Rista' is scheduled to release on February 17 in Silver City Mall of Dehradun.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also attended the state cabinet meeting here in Dehradun.

In the cabinet meeting chaired by the Uttarakhand CM, it was decided that the Assembly session would be held in Bharadisain in Gairsain, informed a government statement. (ANI)
Rajya Sabha MP Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy on Wednesday released data on the developments under the Andhra Pradesh government in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. Reiterating that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has delivered on his promise, the MP revealed that 5,61,235 jobs have been generated in the MSME sector in the last three-and-a-half years in the state. Speaking at a press conference in Guntur today, Ayodhya Rami Reddy said, "Under the leadership of CM Jagan, Andhra Pradesh has achieved yet another milestone and has become a leader in industrial growth. There has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of MSME units and 38 per cent rise in job creation in just three-and-a-half-year rule of the YSRCP government." "The government is offering various subsidies and assistance to MSMEs in the state through schemes such as MSME Restart, YSR Jagananna Baduga Vikasam, Dr YSR Navodayam, YSR Cheyutha and YSR Aasara initiatives. With these initiatives MSMEs have been able to prosper despite the Covid pandemic," he said. Further elaborating on CM Jagan's visionary leadership, he said, "MSMEs development and job creation have increased in the state. Under CM Jagan's leadership, MSME units have catapulted from 37,956 to 60,800 units employing 5,61,235 people." "To foster the growth of MSMEs, the government offers 'One Time Restructuring' of MSME accounts and provided assistance for MSME loans under the 'Dr YSR Navodayam initiative'. As of 2021, 1.78 lakh MSME loan accounts (or 22%) have been reorganized," he emphasised. Slamming the opposition, the MP asserted that, "TDP has no credibility to show what they have done to the state. Today, I have proof to show what CM Jagan has done for Andhra Pradesh. The facts speak for themselves. In the last three-and-a-half years, IT companies including Infosys, HCL, TechnoTask, iGen American Softwares, Techbull, and Complex Systems among others have been set up in Visakhapatnam and in Tier-II cities of the state." While lambasting Naidu, Rami Reddy said, "TDP has nothing to offer for SC and STs in their government. But YSRCP is promoting businesses of the marginalised under 'YSR Jagananna Baduga Vikasam'. The government has released Rs 347 crores to 5,725 MSME units of SC entrepreneurs and Rs 66 crores to 1138 MSME units of ST entrepreneurs." Speaking about what the state government has done to promote women entrepreneurs, the MP shared, "To promote micro-enterprises run by women, the state government is implementing schemes such as YSR Cheyutha and YSR Aasara. Rs 2,568 crore aid has been provided to 33.5 lakh beneficiaries through YSR Aasara and Rs 3,356 crore aid to 17.89 lahks under YSR Cheyutha. Later he added that "For spiking industrial growth, the Andhra Pradesh State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), chaired by CM Jagan gave its nod for investments worth Rs 1.26 lakh crore in July 2022, Rs 23,985 crores in December 2022 and Rs 1.44 lakh crore in January 2023. Together the board has approved investments worth Rs 2.93 lakh crores. (ANI)
Karnataka Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in-charge Arun Singh, on Wednesday, launched a scathing attack on Congress and said that the party did not work on giving people facilities while 52 lakh farmers are getting Rs 10,000 in their accounts in the state under BJP's rule. Arjun Singh interacted with the media after attending the Karnataka BJP Committee meeting today. He said, "In Karnataka 52 lakh farmers are getting Rs 10,000 in their accounts. Under 'Raitha Shakti Scheme' farmers are being provided additional amenities. The Railway budget for Karnataka is more than 7,500 crore." "When the Congress government was there they did not work on giving people schemes, healthcare facilities and the construction of roads. We have provided 8 lakh houses under government schemes," Arjun Singh added. Ahead of the state budget session for 2023-24, Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar on Friday lashed out at the BJP-led state government, saying the party does not have any agenda to focus on people. Speaking to reporters ahead of the state budget session, Shivkumar claimed that 50 per cent of the works that were announced in the last budget have not been completed. "It will be an election manifesto budget. Bharatiya Janata Party doesn't have any agenda to help people. The BJP govt is only about making announcements and promises in the media," Shivakumar told ANI. Two rounds of discussions have been held with the Finance Department with regard to the state budget session, Bommai had said earlier. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that he would present a budget that would focus on farmers and the poor. Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to take place later this year. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) already has the magic number to form the government in Meghalaya, and is just waiting for the counting day, the BJP state chief Ernest Mawrie said on Wednesday. Talking to ANI, BJP Meghalaya chief, Ernest Mawrie said, "This is the first time we are contesting on all 60 seats here, we get the majority and form the government." He said that they already have the 'magic number' to form the government in Tripura. "We are waiting for the result on March 2, but as of today, we have more than 30 strong seats. We have the magic number to form the government. We have already given a clear statement to form govt with the like-minded party that is ready to stand for zero tolerance for corruption like us," he said. Mawrie further claimed that Congress will hardly win one or two seats in the assembly elections. "We have always talked about 'Congress Mukt Meghalaya'. Whoever won from the Congress in 2018, has already joined TMC. So in the coming elections, Congress will not be winning. They may hardly get one or two seats," he added. The BJP state president also attacked Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleging that it will bring "more Bangladeshis" to the state. "TMC is a Bengal-based party. It will try and polarize the vote bank and bring in more Bangladeshis. The people of West Bengal have already faced the problem. So, the people in Meghalaya don't want that problem here, and they will reject TMC also," he added. Meghalaya will go for polls on February 27, along with the state of Nagaland. The counting of votes will be done on March 2. (ANI)
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday urged people to reject the 'vendetta politics' of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and their misleading promises in the upcoming Meghalaya Assembly polls. National People's Party (NPP) Chief Conrad K Sangma welcomed a large number of people from different political parties into the party's fold at a huge rally in Shallang under Mawshynrut constituency in West Khasi Hills district on Wednesday. Conrad was welcomed by a massive crowd at the temporary helipad in Shallang and people marched along with him to the meeting venue. Urging the people to unite to ensure the defeat of parties who are claiming to be messiahs of the society, he said, "We have to reject their vendetta and ensure that NPP and its candidates are given the mandate to champion the cause of our society." Seeking support for party candidate Gigur Myrthong from the 34-Mawshynrut constituency, he termed the sitting MLA as a "committed leader", who always speaks for the people of the constituency. He informed the gathering that Gigur as their MLA always approached him for redressal of various concerns of Mawshynrut constituency and ensured development initiatives were brought to the area. Addressing another meeting at Gabil under the 40-Bajendoba constituency, Conrad asserted that people from different political parties across the State are joining NPP because the wave of NPP is very strong. He reiterated that NPP is heading for an absolute majority and there is no point to waste votes in other political parties. Appealing to the people once again to repose their faith in NPP's sitting MLA Pongseng R Marak, the Chief Minister said, "Your MLA Pongseng Marak has worked hard and has continuously engaged with the Govt for initiating development projects in the constituency. He loves his people from the constituency and has done his best. It is time for us to strengthen the party and him by giving a vote to him." The meeting at Gabil was attended by a large segment of the farming community, where Conrad took the opportunity to inform the gathering on the flagship scheme introduced by the NPP-led Government - Focus and Focus+. He said, "The schemes have benefited individual farming households and Producer Groups, who have received funds to about Rs 1 lakh each group on average to initiate their farming and other activities." "The NPP-led Government will continue with this scheme, which will continue to support over 4.5 lakh farmers of the State," he added. On 'WeCard' and 'MyCard' scheme being promoted by TMC, Conrad said, "It is a misleading programme as they are seeking registration without even collecting account details and saying that if they form Government they will transfer the funds." "It is a pure election gimmick and they are afraid of NPP's wave and tried to replicate what we already introduced but failed miserably," he added. Meghalaya will go to polls on February 27 along with Nagaland. The counting of votes, along with those of Tripura, will be done on March 2. (ANI)
The Central government on Wednesday gave its approval for raising of seven additional Battalions of Indo-Tibetan Border (ITBP) for the India-China border-- a move which will increase the strength of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to more than 10 per cent, top government sources said. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the approval to raise these seven Battalions for the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) guarding ITBP force which will man the 47 new Border Out Posts (BOPs) and 12 staging camps on the border with China. The move was taken considering the fact that the armies of India and China are engaged in a standoff in Ladakh since 2020. The ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked to guard the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India's eastern flank. Besides raising of seven additional Battalions, the CCS has also given approval to the set-up of one Sector Headquarter of ITBP. The proposal was cleared after the meeting of the cabinet that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The CCS took th decision in view of its January 2020 decision when it had approved establishments of 47 new Border Out Posts and 12 staging camps keeping in view the need for more effective border surveillance," a government source, privy to the development, told ANI. As the construction of these new BOPs and staging camps is in progress, these will require additional manpower for which it has been decided to raise seven new Battalions, said the source. Along with this, the source said, an additional Sector Headquarters will also be established for the supervision of these seven Battalions. It is learnt that these additional seven Battalions will be raised for Arunachal Pradesh and that raising of these seven additional Batttalions and the Sector Headquarter will be completed by 2025-26, said the source. "A total of 9,400 posts will be created for these seven Battalions and the new Sector Headquarter," another source said. ITBPs current sanctioned strength is 88,430. With this move, the total strength of the ITPB will be 97,830. The main role of ITBP is to guard the India-China border. For this, 176 BOPs of ITBP have been established at present. For this, the sources said, non-expenditure of 1808.15 crores is estimated on the construction of office and residential buildings, land acquisition and purchase of arms and ammunition. "And there will be a recurring expenditure of 963.68 crores per year on salaries, ration etc. of the personnel," the source added. (ANI)
The Supreme court on Wednesday said that the issues arising from the Maharashtra political crisis rooted in the Shiv Sena feud are "tough Constitutional issues" to decide and observed that it may "tightened" a 2016 judgement. A five-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said, "We may not go to the extent of saying that Nabam Rebia (judgement) is wrong. But can we tighten it?" The apex court asked the arguing advocates to address whether the "tightening" of the 2016 judgment can be undertaken by the five-judge bench currently hearing a batch of petitions arising from the 2022 Shiv Sena-rooted Maharashtra political crisis or be referred to a larger seven-judge bench. 2016 Nabam Rebia's judgment was passed by a five-judge bench and a bench of the same strength cannot interfere with the judgment by a bench of the same strength. "If we want to change something in the 2016 Nabam Rabia judgment, can we do it sitting as a five-judge bench or refer to a seven-judge bench," asked Justice Shah. On July 13, 2016, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court in the Nabam Rebia case held that Speaker cannot initiate disqualification proceedings when a resolution seeking his removal is pending. Shiv Sena cites Nabam Rebia's judgment stating that Deputy Speaker does not have the authority to decide disqualification when a notice for his removal is pending. While Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena has argued in favour of revisiting the 2016 five-judge Constitution bench that said that a Speaker faced with a notice seeking his removal cannot exercise powers under the Tenth Schedule, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp has argued that 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment was not relevant to the issues arising from Maharashtra political crisis. Shinde camp has defended the 2016 judgment as correct, which required no relook. The hearing will continue on Thursday when senior advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Maninder Singh will argue for the Shinde faction, followed by rejoinder arguments by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Devadatt Kamat for the Thackeray faction. The apex court hearing arguments on whether the matter is heard by a seven-judge bench or by a five-judge bench. Sibal appearing for the Thackeray faction had told the bench that he wants to argue on the need for a seven-judge bench to hear the case. A five-judge Constitution bench was hearing a batch of petitions filed by rival factions Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in relation to the Maharashtra political crisis. (ANI)
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday, attacked the Uttar Pradesh government over the death of two women during an eviction drive in Kanpur, alleging a "cover-up attitude" being shown by the UP administration. Priyanka Gandhi alleged that the government is providing protection to those 'sitting above'. "The jhopdi (hut) of a poor family was demolished, and two family members were killed, but still BJP is again showing the same cover-up attitude in the incident. The SIT is being incompetent and protection is being given to those sitting above. We will not allow injustice to happen to the victim's family. They (BJP) will have to take action against the cruelty," she said in the tweet. A 44-year-old woman and her daughter were killed after a fire broke out during an anti-encroachment drive at Marauli village of Kanpur Dehat region on Monday afternoon. The family of the victims, however, alleged that officials engaged in carrying out the eviction drive had set the house on fire even as the woman and the daughter were inside. Based on allegations, a case has been registered against over a dozen people, including the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), the Station Officer (SHO) and Lekhpal (revenue officer). "Based on the complaint of Shivam Dixit (victim's son), a case under IPC sections 302, 307, 429, 436, 323 and 34 has been registered against the accused," the police said. According to reports, the demolition action was conducted by a team of district administration against "illegal encroachment". Family members protested against the demolition drive and allegedly threatened to set themselves on fire to stop the action. This led to a scuffle between family members and officials, and during the ruckus, a fire broke out and the entire house was gutted. There were four people inside the house at the time when the fire broke out, the exact cause of which was not clear."Two of them were killed, while others sustained burn injuries," officials said. Kanpur Police in an official note said that on the basis of the complaint by the victims' familiy, a case has been registered against more than 12 people including SDM, SHO, and Lekhpal. Four persons identified as Ashok Dixit, Anil Dixit, Nirmal Dixit, and Vishal Dixit have been named in the FIR. Moreover, strict security arrangements have been made in the village. It is noteworthy that taking cognizance of this matter, CM Yogi had not only expressed his condolences to the relatives of the deceased but also ordered an immediate inquiry. "Officials from Kanpur Dehat to Lucknow are in action on this incident that took place in Kanpur Dehat. In this sequence, the teams of the Development Department and Revenue Department will visit the site soon," the official statement further said. These teams will complete the proceedings related to housing, old age pension and agricultural land lease there. "The husband of the deceased will be treated at the GSVM Medical College. The GSVM administration and the principal will personally monitor the treatment," it added. (ANI)
Ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party Rath Yatra on March 1, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday attended a workshop for BJP's Vidhansabha Kshethra Prabharis in Bengaluru. Speaking here the CM said, "Taluk-level conferences must be organized on behalf of the morchas of SC, ST, OBCs, Women, Youth, and Farmers. Besides, the convention of beneficiaries of various schemes must be held at the Assembly level and create awareness of the state government schemes. Leaders who will play important role in the Karnataka election in the next three and a half months have assembled here." "There is a responsibility on them to work out the strategy to win every Assembly constituency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a number of programs in the last eight years. In 2019, after B S Yediyurappa became the CM, he also has given several programs and effectively faced the onslaught of the Covid pandemic. After I became the CM, the floods had been effectively managed and given a number of programs. But the programs must reach the people," the minister said. The CM said other parties are trying to get votes through a negative approach and wasting time. But the incumbent government is doing pro-people work to improve their living standards. The progress report must be placed before the electorate to seek their support and this is the opinion of the BJP. Some parties, when comes to power, indulge in selfishness, nepotism, corruption, insulting others, and try to seek votes on those negative points. Bommai further said that the Congress Party ruled for five years but the State was backward on all fronts. "They misled the people by giving their names to the schemes provided by the union government. The previous government took Rs 30 from the Government of India for the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme and gave Rs 3 from the state treasury and coined it as their scheme. Even before the Congress Government came to power, 30 kg of rice had been distributed by the BJP government under PDS at Rs 3 per kg. If any government with a record of corruption in Karnataka is there, then it is the Congress Government, the CM said. "The corruption was witnessed in the purchase of rice pillows and mattresses, corruption in BDA, Minor Irrigation, Major Irrigation, Solar, and others. To cover up the omissions and commissions, they shut Lokayukta and started Anti-Corruption Bureau only to close all the corruption cases. The BJP government has re-opened the Lokayukta as per the court's directions. The Congress leaders must explain their involvement in corruption, CM Bommai added. CM Bommai said that cases have been filed along with evidence but the party will not talk about it. "If enquired, the dirt of the Congress government will come out. These people are now demanding an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and this will be taken before the people. Inquiry is guaranteed if they file the case with all the specifications. Without doing it, firing in the air will not be helpful," he said. The CM said his predecessor, Yediyurappa had given free power sets of Rs 4,000 to each farmer under the 'Kisan Sanman' scheme. The present government has launched the 'Raitha Vidya Nidhi scheme' which has benefitted 11 lakh children. Reservation for the SC/ST has been hiked. Karnataka is the second state in GST collection. The achievements of the present BJP government will be given in writing and this campaign must be carried forward by them. The prabharis are the charioteers of the Rath Yatra. State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel, former CM B S Yediyurappa BJP National President and In-Charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, and others were present at the event. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday praised the nationalist fervour of the northeastern states in preserving the unity and integrity of India. Interacting with a delegation of students from the North Eastern states CM Yogi said, "Today, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire nation is working together towards 'Developed India' in the spirit of 'Nation First', putting aside differences of colour, form, dress, and language. The youth of the North East today are fulfilling their dreams by getting success in JEE, NEET, and Civil Services Examination." "From the time of subjugation to independence, there had been numerous attempts to keep the region separate from the rest of India. For years the people there were deprived of even basic resources.," he added. A group of 27 students met the Chief Minister on Wednesday during the National Integration Tour 2023, organized under the annual 'Student Experience in Inter-State Living (SEIL)' programme of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The Chief Minister welcomed the students upon their arrival in Lucknow and discussed the ancient cultural and spiritual ties between Uttar Pradesh and the North-Eastern states. He also tried to know about the Northeast region and their travel experience. The Chief Minister said, "Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in the country with a population of 25 crores with Lucknow as its capital. Do visit Vidhan Bhavan during your visit here. Metro is the modern medium of public transport here, everyone should get its experience." The Chief Minister also advised the student delegation to visit Kakori near Lucknow while recalling the heroic stories of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh in the freedom movement. Addressing the SEIL representatives, he said that "Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has been doing the work of 'Ek Bharat- Shreshtha Bharat' for a long time that from the year 1966 through SEIL Yatra." "The SEIL Yatra is a living experience of Unity in Diversity. By bridging the gap between the northeast and the other Indian states, this SEIL Yatra has significantly contributed to the goal of uniting hearts," CM said. Away from the arrangement of staying in a hotel, guest house etc., these students experience a new family apart from their own by living among different families. It is this hospitality that makes the North East have a soulful connection with the rest of India, the CM added. The CM continued by stating that "ABVP had put forth the most significant and influential effort to bring the North East into the mainstream of India. The people of the North East have played a major role in the spread of Indian culture in the countries of South Asia." Meanwhile, the National President of ABVP, Dr Rajsharan Shahi also addressed the SEIL programme and said, "The journey to introduce the Northeast to the rest of India, full of diversity like 166 sorts of tribes, various dialects, clothing and culinary preferences, and living situations is called SEIL. Through this journey, along with knowing the traditional and cultural values of India, the beautiful tourist area of the Northeast, biodiversity, and the speciality of diverse folk culture is spread all over India by the students of the Northeast. Notably, 482 students from North East are going to 64 places in 21 states of India on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. In 2004, ABVP established a Youth Development Center for employment generation for the youth of North East. Through this, employment training has been given to thousands of young in the Northeast. (ANI)
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday directed the formulation of a rehabilitation plan for the residents at the Tughlakabad area in the national capital before its demolition. "I have taken note of the proposed demolition drive by the Archaeological Survey of India in the Tughlakabad Fort area. Demolition drive can be cruel for the people living in that area for a long time and can have a very adverse impact on people especially the vulnerable groups such as elderlies, children, women and people with disabilities," Manish Sisodia said in a letter written to Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar further asking him to submit the status report within one week. In the letter, he also expressed that the government of the NCT of Delhi believed that demolition should not be done without providing proper rehabilitation to the residents there. Further, maintaining the Court order, he wrote in the letter: "The aggrieved have approached the High Court of Delhi (Mazdoor Awaas Samiti VS UOI & Ors. W.P.(C) 1160/2023) which, vide Order dated 31.01.2023, has directed all stakeholders to meet and make a proper plan for the resettlement /rehabilitation of the residents of Tughlakabad Fort area." "Therefore, the Chief Secretary directed to coordinate with land owning agencies, identify an appropriate piece of land as near as possible to their current habitation and develop a detailed and proper rehabilitation plan to present before the High Court of Delhi in the next hearing. The status report must be submitted to me within one week" he added. The order has come while the demolition drive has already been underway at several places in the national capital. Earlier in the morning, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) demolished Rain basera (night shelter) near Sarai Kale Khan, following which a lawyer filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing on the matter. The plea was mentioned before a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who asked the petitioner to mention his plea before another bench comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and Dipankar Datta. Advocate Prashant Bhushan thereafter moved before the bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and Dipankar Datta. But in the meantime, the night shelter was demolished. Another demolition drive was underway in South Delhi's Mehrauli and Ladha Sarai villages which now stand halted on the directions of Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, thus giving a sigh of relief to hundreds of families who were under the thumb of the demolition drive. Meanwhile, the Delhi Government pulled up the District Magistrate (South) over alleged inaction in the Mehrauli demolition drive despite directions given by Delhi Minister Kailash Gehlot. Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot in an order issued dated Tuesday, said, "Firstly, DM (South) was advised to carry out fresh demarcation exercise of Mehrauli Archaeological Park, situated in village Ladha Sarai. Secondly, he was advised to inform the DDA authorities about government orders and that fresh demarcation exercises shall again be carried out." The Minister also said that the "incompetence" on DM's part makes him complicit in the matter. "I am informed that none of the above directions have been complied with. Such incompetence makes the DM (South) complicit in the whole affair," the order further stated directing the DM to comply with the directions with immediate effect. (ANI)
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said Karnataka's share is 65 per cent of the nation's total supply in the defence sector due to a 'Bandhan' in Defence Sector between the Department and Public Sector Undertakings. Speaking at a function organised in connection with the signing of memorandums 'Bandhan' of Aero India 2023 in presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here, he said, "Both Defence and Aerospace sectors were established fields and only experts can complete work. With the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the supervision of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Defence Sector was now open." "Earlier, the country was importing around 80 per cent of the defence demands but now under the PM's 'Make in India' concept indigenous manufacturing is happening. The capacity of production in the country's defence sector was more than what they had thought, and the Indian companies, including MSME, are capable of meeting all the demands put forth by the Defence sector. The manufacturing companies have the best technology to produce the requirements of the defence sector in the current situation," the CM added. Bommai further said that opportunities are in plenty due to the change of domain in the manufacturing sector. So they need to develop scientific thinking with big hopes. "The signed documents are the future requirements and we will witness an increase in capacity and capability. The State PSUs have signed 22 agreements worth over Rs 2900 crore. The Aero India show has become the 'talk of the town'. I would like to thank all my officials for establishing Aero Space Park in Bengaluru and creating an infrastructure," he said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murgesh Nirani, Defence Secretary Giridhar Armane, Indian Army Chief Anil Chouhan, Air Chief Marshal V.R Chowdhari and others were present at the event. (ANI)
The Customs official in Kerala seized gold worth Rs 43.97 lakhs from an Abu Dhabi passenger at the Kochi Airport on Wednesday. According to an official statement, the gold has been seized from a Kasargod native in the state who was intercepted at the green channel. The accused has been identified as Riyas carrying 857 grams of gold concealed inside his body in the form of three capsules. "On the basis of profiling done by the officers of Customs AIU batch, a passenger coming from Abu Dhabi to Kochi Airport by flight EY 280 was intercepted at the green channel. During the examination of the said passenger, 03 capsules of gold in compound form totally weighing 857 grams concealed inside his body were recovered and seized," the statement read. Details in the matter are currently underway. Earlier on Tuesday, in an official statement, the AIU of the Customs department seized a total of 2,216.07 grams of gold worth Rs 97.5 lakh at Kochi airport in two instances, one from a passenger coming from Jeddah to Kochi by flight J9 212/J9 405 via Kuwait and the other one was from the passenger coming from Dubai to Kochi by flight IX434. They had also seized 918.70 grams of gold valued at Rs 44 lakh and arrested Malappuram native Ahamed at the Kochi airport. (ANI)
Ahead of the Tripura Assembly elections, that is slated to be held tomorrow, the Congress party on Tuesday, alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to create an "atmosphere of fear" in the state. A Congress delegation led by Rajya Sabha MP met the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding ahead of the Tripura Assembly elections and complained about the situation. Talking to the media, Mukul Wasnik said that they complained to ECI about the "atmosphere of fear" being spread in the state. "The voting will take place tomorrow. A Congress delegation came here for meeting the Election Commission. We complained about several incidents, where people and even Congress workers were attacked and threatened. BJP is trying to spread an atmosphere of terror. We have put forward all those incidents in front of the ECI," he said. Congress leader Pawan Khera, who was also a part of the delegation, said that ECI has assured the delegation of safety during the elections. "We met the Election Commission and complained about the atmosphere of fear in the state being created by BJP. We demanded that the ECI should take timely action and remove the atmosphere of fear from our workers. Responding to our complaint, the ECI has assured that no untoward incident will be allowed to happen," he said. Tripura is all set to decide its political fate with the assembly elections to be held tomorrow. The counting of votes will be done on March 2. (ANI)
Approving high-end tech reforms, Kejriwal government on Wednesday gave nod for the formation of a 10-member panel to study jammer technologies across the globe so that they can be deployed in Delhi jails to "completely ban mobile operations," according to an official statement. The panel formed under the chairmanship of DG (Prisons) comprises experts and scientists from IISC Bangalore, IIT Madras, DRDO, as well as IB and SPG officers as members, it said "The security at Delhi's Jails is set to get tightened after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave approval for high-end tech reforms in Delhi prisons. The Kejriwal Government will be implementing the best technology available in the world to completely ban mobile operation in Delhi jails," the government release said. As per the release, a proposal was received from the Prisons Department for the constitution of a high-level technical committee to strengthen the jammer system in Delhi jails. The proposal said that a high-level technical committee may be constituted under the chairmanship of DG (Prisons) to find and test jamming solutions. Upon studying the proposal, CM Kejriwal approved the formation of the 10-member committee on Wednesday. This committee will study the technology to block mobile signals including the 5G network and suggest solutions. DG Jail Ajay Kashyap will be the chairman of the committee. Apart from this, IISc Bangalore's Prof A Chockalingam, IIT Madras' Prof Devendra Jalihal, DRDO Scientist Manish Kumar, C-DAT's Sukhpal Singh, Bluemax Stephen, Devdas B, Sandeep Agarwal, as well as IB Joint Deputy Director AKP Pandya, SPG SSO Santosh Kumar are part of the committee, the release further stated. Through this committee, it will be ascertained how effective the new technology is in blocking incoming or outgoing calls, SMS and data services in the jail premises, the release said. This committee will study the existing mobile network and determine the technology to prevent unauthorised mobile communication inside prisons, and recommend solutions to restrict mobile networks in prisons based on technical study. The Committee will also find solutions for blocking 5G Mobile Networks and propose technical guidelines for the installation of BTS towers around the jail, the release said. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said that the whole world acknowledged the importance of Ayurveda during the novel coronavirus, adding that new opportunities in the field can be explored by linking it with agriculture. Interacting with the paramedical students here, the CM said that the consumption of turmeric which was recommended by doctors around the world during Covid has been an integral part of our kitchen since time immemorial. Urging the students to think out of the box and make efforts to realise their complete potential, as it varies from one person to other, the CM said that many startups are waiting to join this promising field of Ayurveda. Describing it as the world's most ancient system of medicine, CM Yogi said that BAMS students should join Yoga and Naturopathy along with Ayurveda. "Ayurveda is a harmless medical system while Yoga is the science of keeping healthy, and Naturopathy is a treatment derived from nature that promotes self-healing. Ayush is a combination of all three. The world has been running after AYUSH since the Corona period", he remarked. CM Yogi told the students to remain positive and never to allow pessimism, as things are made difficult or easy only because of lack of effort, or greater effort and when an effort is made in the right direction, success is guaranteed. The CM told the new entrants of the BAMS course to study the texts of Ayurveda, which are written by sages. "There will be many opportunities before you after completing your studies. You can either take up a job as a specialist doctor or start your own startup business. You can also establish a wellness center by combining Yoga and Naturopathy with Ayurveda. There is no dearth of opportunities in Ayurveda and by starting your own business, you can also provide employment to people on a large scale", CM Yogi remarked further. While encouraging the paramedical students, CM Yogi said that paramedics are the backbone of the medical system and that the state government is constantly encouraging paramedical education. He said: "Process has been initiated to constitute a separate board for streamlining paramedical courses. Till now these courses were conducted by linking with the State Medical Faculty. Like Nursing Council, Pharmacy Council, students will get many opportunities from Paramedical Council as well." During the interaction with the students, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also shared his experience related to the control of encephalitis, which broke out like a plague in the nursing homes of eastern Uttar Pradesh. He said that encephalitis, which hit Eastern Uttar Pradesh in 1977, had resulted in more than 50,000 deaths in four decades. He added that no one made any effort to control the disease. He said further that after becoming the Chief Minister of UP in 2017 and strengthening the medical system for treatment, he also paid attention to the measures that could prevent encephalitis. Apart from strengthening health surveillance, people were made aware of the importance of consuming pure drinking water and cleanliness. As a result, within four years 96 per cent cases were controlled, he informed. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is not the quantity but the quality of witnesses which matters, as it upheld the conviction and life term handed down to three for murdering four members of a family in Uttar Pradesh in 2007. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath said: "It is the discretion of the prosecution to lead as much evidence as is necessary for proving the charge. It is not the quantity of the witnesses but the quality of witnesses which matters." The bench noted that one of the daughters of deceased Vijay Pal Singh had seen the assailants murdering her family members and also causing injury to one of them and wisely did not speak out anything in their presence and allowed them to remain in the dark that she had actually seen them committing the crime. It further added that the daughter of one of the deceased, who was examined as a prosecution witness in the case,was injured during the incident, was a "fully reliable witness and has stated the things in natural course". The top court judgment came on a clutch of appeals, including those filed by the convicts, challenging the February 2012 Allahabad High Court judgment, which affirmed their conviction in the case. The court noted that one of the convicts, Ajai, has since died. The trial court had awarded the death sentence to the accused but the high court, while affirming their conviction, commuted it to life term. In the apex court, one of the convicts had argued that there were several discrepancies and inconsistencies in the evidence However, the bench said: "We need not go into details as the same are minor and do not have any impact on the findings recorded by the courts below." The Uttar Pradesh government had sought enhancement of the sentence. The top court said sound and cogent reasons were given by the high court for commuting the death sentence into life term. The incident had occurred in August 2007, in Ghaziabad district where a man, his wife, his son, and son-in-law were found murdered at their home with their necks cut with sharp edged weapons. --IANS ss/vd A ( 380 Words) 2023-02-15-19:04:04 (IANS)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of Chorhata Airport to be built in Rewa district in the state. Union Civil Aviation and Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was also present on the occasion. Vindhya and Baghelkhand are ready for the flight of development today, the years-old dream of the Vindhya region is going to come true, Chouhan said. After laying the foundation stone, CM Chouhan also addressed the Women's Conference. He performed bhoomi-pujan and dedicated 32 development works worth Rs 747 crore. The Chief Minister also distributed benefits to the beneficiaries of various schemes. He unveiled the development booklet of Rewa district and the logo of 'Rewa Chalo Abhiyan' being run for industrial investment on the occasion. Chouhan said Vindhya region will see rapid development after airport is opened. " There is already a network of roads in the area. There are immense possibilities for industry in Vindhya and new employment opportunities will also be available," he said. Investment proposals worth Rs 2,88,000 crore have been received for the Vindhya region, the highest after Indore in the recently concluded investor meet in Indore. "This is a great gift not only for Rewa but for the entire Vindhya region. This investment will provide employment opportunities to over 1,50,000 people in the area," he added. Announcing the construction of Vindhya Expressway, CM Chouhan said that the expressway would be built from Bhopal to Singrauli via Sagar, Damoh, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi. Industrial areas would be developed on both sides, which would provide employment to the youth. "Our government has gifted the biggest solar plant and Bansagar Dam to Vindhya. Farmers of Vindhya will leave Punjab behind in crop production. Work is going on to make a tunnel in Sleemanabad to take the water of Narmada Maiya to Vindhya region. Late Madhavrao Scindia gave the gift of railways. The work of Lalitpur Singrauli railway line is being done at a fast pace. Now his son Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has gifted the airport to Rewa. Under the Chief Minister Teerth Darshan Yojana, pilgrims will now travel by aeroplanes." Speaking on the occasion, Scindia said: "Vindhya is such a region which has brought glory to the whole country. It is my duty to give an airport to Vindhya. My father gifted railways to Rewa. I have got the privilege of giving an airport to Rewa. Where earlier there was a demand for railways, now there is a demand for air service. Seventy-four airports were built in over 60 years of independence. During the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi 74 airports have been built in nine years," he said. "An airport was being built in Rewa for the first 20 seater aircraft. Looking at the future, I approved the construction of an airport for landing a 72-seater aircraft. Construction work worth Rs 300 crore will start here soon. People with low income will also get the opportunity to travel by air from Rewa airport," he added. (ANI)
Rudy, after a 45 minute flight in the French aircraft as a co-pilot on Tuesday, uploaded photographs on his official Twitter handle.

A professional airline pilot, he had also flown a Rafale jet during the 2017 Aero India as well as the Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet in 2015.

--IANS ajk/vd

( 86 Words)

2023-02-15-21:20:03 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is not easy to answer a plea for a relook at the 2016 Nabam Rebia case judgment, which restricted the power of the Speaker to examine disqualification petition if a resolution for his removal is pending, in view of serious consequences in the context of the Maharashtra political crisis. A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, said that if one would consider Nabam Rebia position in the context of Maharashtra, it allows the free flow of human capital from one party to another. At this juncture, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray faction, said the bench had put it appropriately and added that at first brush it is correct but the politics of defection cannot be decided in the House and "you have to go back to the political party". The Chief Justice added: "The second end is that even if the leader of the political party has lost his flock, he can hold it down... thus adopting it would be ensuring a political status quo. Whichever way you accept, it has very serious consequences and is not desirable." The Eknath Shinde group argued that it is a case where the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lost the faith of majority of MLAs and stressed that on display, it is dissent and not defection, and anti-defection is not anti-defection law. The group further argued that it is not a constitutional issue but issue of political morality and steps to remove a leader do not fall under the Tenth Schedule. The 2016 judgment had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Shinde group, opposed the reference of the cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Rebia case judgment. Salve submitted before the bench -- which also comprised Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha -- that the issues which have now transpired are such that there is no need for reference. He said the issues for consideration in this case are an "academic exercise", especially after the resignation of Thackeray as the Maharashtra CM, after he realised that he will fail the floor test. However, the bench said it is not academic and if there was no floor test communication from the Governor, then Thackeray wouldn't have resigned and if he had to face the Assembly, he didn't have the numbers. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, also appearing for the Shinde faction, said internal dissent in a party is the essence of democracy and should be encouraged. The bench, citing Article 181 of the Constitution which stated that the Speaker should not preside, while a resolution for his removal is pending, said: "If you interpret it quite literally, there is only one disability on the Speaker." The bench further added that when a motion for disqualification is there, the Speaker cannot preside on the motion but he can participate in it. "Save and except this disability, the Constitution places no other disability on the Speaker. If a Speaker presides the motion of his removal, he will be violating the rule against bias...". Salve argued that there are layers of political morality in all of this and it is best the court stay away from all of this, as these are complex questions. The bench observed: "Nabam Rebia becomes correct or wrong based on which side you are on..." In his submission, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the contention by Thackeray faction that the observations in Nabam Rebia provided an escape route to constitutional sinners and that the judgment failed to consider the possibility of misuse for avoidance of disqualification proceedings by mere issuance of notice for removal of the Speaker, is wholly unsustainable. He stressed that there is no graver constitutional sin than a minority government being in power. The apex court will continue to hear the matter on Thursday. 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. 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 the Shinde and Thackeray faction on queries related to defection, merger and disqualification. the 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 ( 833 Words) 2023-02-15-21:58:03 (IANS)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday inaugurated the 12th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in Nadi, Fiji. Fiji's President Ratu Wiliame Maivalili Katonivere was also present at the event. Jaishankar arrived in Nadi on Tuesday and was welcomed by Fiji Education Minister Aseri Radrodro. "Bula and Namaste Fiji. The 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan will begin tomorrow in Nadi. Thank Minister of Education Aseri Radrodro for the warm welcome. Look forward to meeting Hindi enthusiasts from all over the world," tweeted Jaishankar. Notably, the World Hindi Conference will be co-hosted by the governments of India and Fiji from February 15-17 in Nadi, Fiji. It is External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's first visit to Fiji," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release. The concept of World Hindi Conferences was envisaged by Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha in 1973. As a result, the first World Hindi Conference was organized four and half decades back from January 10-12, 1975 in Nagpur, India. To date 11 World Hindi Conferences have been organized in different parts of the world. The 12th World Hindi Conference is being organized in Fiji from February 15-17, 2023 by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in association with the Government of Fiji. The main theme of the conference is "Hindi - Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence". Several exhibitions related to the development of the Hindi language will be organized at the conference venue. Cultural programmes and Kavi Sammelan is also proposed to be organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi during the Conference. As per the past practice, during the Conference, Hindi scholars from India and other countries will be honoured with "Vishwa Hindi Samman" for their special contribution in the field of Hindi. During the 11th World Hindi Conference held in Mauritius in 2018, a recommendation was made to organize its next edition in Fiji. (ANI)
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) --IANS al/arm ( 440 Words) 2023-02-14-22:58:03 (IANS)
High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India, Milinda Moragoda on Tuesday met Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting. During the discussion, High Commissioner Moragoda once again thanked Minister Sitharaman for the unprecedented emergency assistance that India has extended to Sri Lanka and for the timely issuance of India's financial assurances to the International Monetary Fund, concerning the country's debt restructuring process, read High Commission of Sri Lanka in India press release. The meeting between the Finance Minister and the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka took place just ahead of the first meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers scheduled to be held on February 24-25, 2023 in Bengaluru, chaired by Minister Sitharaman. The High Commissioner also thanked India and Minister Sitharaman for the assistance being provided to Sri Lanka in the present economic recovery phase, in particular for the necessary regulations and approvals that are being set in place to facilitate rupee trade between the two countries. The discussion also focused on the ways and means to utilize the available resources in the 1 billion USD Indian line of credit to import urgently required essential pharmaceuticals, which are in short supply in Sri Lanka, added the release. Moragoda briefed Minister Sitharaman on Sri Lanka's ongoing discussions with the International Monetary Fund to obtain the Extended Fund Facility and the present status of the country's debt restructuring process. While apprising the Minister of the drastic impact the present economic contraction is having on the population of Sri Lanka, High Commissioner Moragoda expressed his appreciation to Minister Sitharaman for her efforts in garnering international support for Sri Lanka's case including at the G20 forum. 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 increasing 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)
The National Disaster Management Center has classified the impact of current above-normal rainfall in various parts of the country as a national disaster, the Presidency announced late on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Provinces of Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and the North West have been affected by the heavy rains.

The center has received reports ranging from flooded homes, vehicles swept away by floodwaters and overflowing dams and sewerage facilities, to the loss of basic infrastructure and damage to roads, bridges and a Limpopo hospital.

In agriculture, farmers have suffered crop and livestock losses, and anticipate further losses as the South African Weather Service predicts that current heavy rains will persist, according to the Presidency.

National entities, including the South African Police Service and the South African National Defense Force, may be required to play a role in response to the disaster, it said.

--IANS int/arm

( 197 Words)

2023-02-14-23:10:04 (IANS)
Consulate General of India in Toronto on Tuesday (local time) condemned the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. It requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators. "We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators," tweeted the Consulate General of India in Toronto. This is not the first time that a Hindu Temple in Canada was defaced with anti-India graffiti. Earlier, a Hindu Temple in Brampton in Canada was defaced in January with anti-India graffiti triggering outrage among the Indian community. The Indian Consulate General in Toronto condemned the vandalism at the Gauri Shankar Mandir stating that the act has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada. The consulate office in a statement said "We strongly condemn the defacing of Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton, a symbol of Indian heritage, with anti-India graffiti. The hateful act of vandalism has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada. We have raised our concerns on the matter with Canadian authorities." Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown also condemned the vandalism and the Canadian authorities are investigating the incident. "This hateful act of vandalism has no place in our City or Country," adding that he had raised his concerns over this hate crime with Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah," Brampton Mayor tweeted. "Everyone deserves to feel safe in their place of worship," the Brampton Mayor said. Earlier in September 2022, BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Canada was defaced by 'Canadian Khalistani extremists' with anti-India graffiti. Chandra Arya, Member of Parliament, Canada tweeted, "Vandalism of Toronto BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir by Canadian Khalistani extremists should be condemned by all. This is not just an isolated event. Canadian Hindu temples have been targeted in the recent past by these kinds of hate crimes. Hindu Canadians are legitimately concerned. Also, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was defaced in July 2022. In both instances, pro-Khalistan slogans were painted and the vandalization was promoted on social media by pro-Pakistan handles. (ANI)
Police in Switzerland's capital, Berne on Tuesday (local time) said that they have evacuated Parliament and related offices after a man in a bulletproof vest was arrested near one of its entrances with explosives. "The man who was stopped, who, according to current knowledge, drove to the Bundesplatz by car and went from there to the Bundeshaus, is being provisionally arrested. Medical investigations into his physical and mental condition are in progress," read the Berne Police statement. Early on Tuesday afternoon, February 14, 2023, employees of the Federal Security Service found a man at the southern entrance to the Federal Palace who appeared suspicious because of his appearance - he was wearing, among other things, a protective vest and a gun holster. "During a subsequent personal check, a rapid test turned out positive for explosives. In addition, initial investigations revealed that a car that was on Bundesplatz was assigned to the man. Based on these findings, the Bern canton police were informed at around 2:05 pm and called out. The man was handed over to the deployed emergency services and subsequently taken to a station, added the statement. 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. As a result, extensive security measures were implemented immediately. The Bundesplatz and numerous surrounding streets were completely cordoned off. Various buildings, including the parliament building and other parts of the Federal Palace, were evacuated. "Several services of the Bern canton police, including specialists from the fire and explosion department, were called in - especially to examine the car. Drones and a service dog were also used as part of the police work. The investigations finally revealed that the car posed no danger. All measures were lifted around 7:00 p.m," read the statement. The Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA), which is responsible for explosives-related offences, is continuing the criminal investigation together with fedpol, the Bern cantonal police and the Valais cantonal police. (ANI)
"The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad," the ministry said, according to Reuters.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast, which also hosts a crucial military air base for Moscow.

"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," the Dutch ministry's statement added.

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.

"Dutch F-35 stationed at the 22nd Tactical Air Base in Malbork was scrambled on Monday in order to identify and intercept three Russian aircraft that were operating near Polish airspace," the Polish defence ministry told Politico, adding that the fighters were operating over international waters and "none of the airspace has been interrupted."

The incident comes just days after tensions heightened between Russia and NATO amid the Kremlin's war on Ukraine after a Russian missile came close to entering NATO member Romania's airspace.

Russia's Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Netherlands' Defence Ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

The Polish defence ministry said the operation was "standard" as a part of NATO Enhanced Air Policing, which is inspecting the eastern flank of the military alliance. (ANI)
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has said General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had asked him to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine soon after his return from Moscow, Geo News reported. Khan was quoted in the repport as saying, "I talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin about procurement of oil at cheaper rates but when I returned to Pakistan, the chief of army staff asked me to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine." Khan said he advised Bajwa to stay neutral on India. The former army chief, however, started condemning Russia him, the former PM added. "A grade-22 officer made a foreign policy statement during a seminar to please the US," he said. He went on to say that the country will have to face the consequences when decisions are made to please Washington, the Dawn reported. In the bid to please the United States, 80,000 people got killed in the war on terror, Khan claimed in the Geo News report. Khan, who was ousted from his post in April last year, recently took a swipe at Bajwa saying that the former army chief had told the US that the PTI chief was anti-American. He made the remark during an interview with US-based international radio broadcaster, Voice of America, aired on last 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. Khan, who continuously blamed the US for his resignation as prime minister, took a U-turn from his earlier claim in the VoA interview. Meanwhile, in his televised address, Khan termed General Bajwa, who retired in November last year, a 'super king', conceding that he was like a puppet in his three-and-a-half-year stint in the Prime Minister's Office. "Gen Bajwa had become an expert in everything, including economy, politics, and foreign policy," Khan said. "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" that the country faces today. He also slammed Bajwa for hampering the process of accountability, claiming that the former army chief had already decided that there won't be any questions from PM Shehbaz Sharif. (ANI)
Peshawar's Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan has said that providing security to Chinese nationals is the top priority of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police force. He said China extends valuable services to the country, Dawn newspaper reported. The inspector during a visit to the Rashakai Economic Zone in Nowshera on Sunday directed to beef up security of Chinese nationals. He also asked the officials concerned to keep close liaison with the Chinese engineers for a timely response in case of an emergency. "Providing protection and security to the Chinese nationals working on different projects in the province is the prime responsibility of the government and the police force," Hayat said, as quoted by Dawn. He met Pakistan Army officers, Chinese engineers, and police officials and discussed security arrangements at the economic zone being built under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. According to Dawn, a statement issued from the provincial police chief's office on Sunday said army officials gave a briefing to Hayat on the security of Chinese engineers and overall security arrangements at the economic zone. In Charsadda, the police and Pak Army officers on Sunday held an important meeting regarding CPEC routes, security of Mohmand Dam and Chinese working on various projects in the district. The meeting decided to launch a targeted operation against criminals across the district. It was agreed that all exit and entry points to the district would be sealed and security beefed up to avert any eventuality. Charsadda district police officer Sajjad Ahmad Sahibzada, 31 Baloch Regiment's Colonel Naveed, 102 Brigade's Maj Faiz, CPEC DSP Bashir Gul, and CTD officials were also present. In Swabi, regional police officer Mohammad Ali Gandapur has directed increasing checking points and installing more CCTV cameras at Tarbela Dam and the Chinese camp, according to Dawn newspaper. He issued the instructions during a visit to the Tarbela Dam and Chinese camp along with district police officer Najamul Hussain on Sunday. The RPO met with the dam's general manager, security officials and engineers, and sought their proposals to enhance security. The Lower Kohistan police on Sunday decided to increase the security of foreigners and Chinese working on different projects. "The number of personnel deployed on the patrolling squads and other duties of foreigners and Chinese working in the region is being enhanced significantly," district police officer Tariq Khan told a meeting held at his office, according to Dawn. "The foreigners passing through Lower Kohistan using the Karakoram Highway will be provided foolproof security," Khan said. (ANI)
One of the prisoners revealed that about 700 more Indians are serving their sentences in Pakistan.

According to Protocol Officer Arun Pal, Raju entered Pakistan by mistake, five years ago and the second prisoner Gembra Ram spent around two and a half years in prison in Pakistan.

Gembra Ram said that he had crossed the Pakistan border in pursuit of a girl.

"I crossed the Pakistan border in pursuit of a girl. When I got there, I was tortured a lot for six months. After six months, I was sent to another jail where I spent 21 months."

"There are 700 more Indian in the jail that I have come from. They have gone mad and are crying a lot. Even I cannot explain their condition," Gembra Ram said.

He requested the government to get all the Indians out as soon as possible because many have gone mad in the jails, and are in miserable condition. (ANI)
The material included rations and medicine from the government of India as well as contributions from the international community.

"#IndianArmy team deployed in @UNDOF delivers relief material to Aleppo, #Syria. This included rations & medicines from Government of #India as well as contributions from the international community," Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI), Indian Army tweeted on Wednesday.

Under 'Operation Dost', Union Health Ministry provided life-saving humanitarian medical Assistance to quake-hit Turkey and Syria.

Taking to Twitter, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said, "India is helping Syria and Turkey with the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. @MoHFW_India provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc as part of India's efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria."

On February 6, a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.8 ravaged Turkey and Syria.

According to a statement issued earlier by the Union Health ministry, emergency relief material comprising life-saving medicines, protective items, and critical care equipment valued at over Rs 7 crore was arranged and promptly dispatched to Turkey and Syria.

Three truckloads of relief materials, comprising life-saving emergency medicines and protective items, were arranged at the Hindon airbase.

The consignment consisted of 5,945-ton emergency relief material, including 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items, and three categories of critical care pieces of equipment, valued at approximately Rs 2 crore.

On February 10, more relief materials were mobilised 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 Rs 1.4 crore, the statement from the Union Health ministry read.

Indian Army's 'SANCHAR', a network-independent, real-time tracking and messaging module, is also being used in affected areas of Turkey where Indian Army teams have been deployed to provide relief to the local population.

The system, which can be used by all defence and paramilitary forces to track team members and assets in battlefield areas, has been developed by an Army team including Captain Karan Singh and Sub PG Sapre.

Captain Singh is currently deployed in Turkey for disaster relief operations.

SANCHAR is compatible with all-map formats and GPS constellations. It has a compact size (12x12x5 cm) and is lightweight. The system has a communication range of 1.5-2 km and a battery life of six to seven hours. It is low cost as compared to its variables. (ANI)
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has issued 114 visas to a group of Indian Hindu pilgrims for their visit to Shree Katas Raj Temple, also known as Qila Katas in Chakwal district of the country. The Pakistan High Commission in India in a press release noted that the issuance of visas to Sikh and Hindu pilgrims is in line with the Pakistan government's efforts to facilitate visits to religious shrines. It said that the visit of Hindu pilgrims to Shree Katas Raj Temple is covered under the bilateral protocol on the visits to religious shrines, 1974. In the press release, Pakistan Charge d' Affaires Salman Sharif wished the Hindu pilgrims a spiritually rewarding pilgrimage. He stressed that Pakistan remains committed to preserving religious sites and providing all possible assistance to visiting pilgrims of all faiths. Taking to its official Twitter handle, "@PakinIndia has issued 114 visas to a group of Indian Hindu pilgrims for their visit to the prominent and sacred Shree Katas Raj Temples, also known as Qila Katas, in Chakwal district of Punjab from 16-22 February 2023." It further stated, "Charge d' Affaires Salman Sharif, on the occasion, wished the Hindu pilgrims a spiritually rewarding pilgrimage and underlined that Pakistan remains committed to preserving sacred religious sites and providing all possible assistance to the visiting pilgrims of all faiths." Earlier in December, Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi issued 96 visas to a group of Indian Hindu pilgrims for visiting the Shree Katas Raj Temple from December 20 to 25. (ANI)
Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Wednesday held a meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. During the meeting, he conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's greetings to Sheikh Hasina and reaffirmed India's support for deeper development and economic partnership with Bangladesh. Taking to its official Twitter handle, Indian High Commission in Bangladesh stated, "Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra paid a courtesy call on Hon'ble Prime Minister H.E Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. FS conveyed warm wishes of PM @narendramodi to PM H.E Sheikh Hasina and reaffirmed India's support for wider and deeper development and economic partnership with Bangladesh." Notably, Kwatra is on an official visit to Bangladesh from February 15-16 to review the bilateral partnership between the two countries, which ranges from security to power and energy, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Earlier in the day, Vinay Kwatra met his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen and reviewed the bilateral ties between the two nations. Sharing details regarding the meeting, Indian High Commission in Bangladesh on Twitter wrote, "Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra held Foreign Office Consultations with @FSMasud of Bangladesh. Both sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral partnership including political, security, trade, investment, defence, connectivity, water, power and sub-regional cooperation." The Indian High Commission in Bangladesh in another tweet said, "They also agreed to maintain close engagement in the context of Bangladesh's participation as a Guest Country during India's #G20 Presidency." On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra arrived in Dhaka for the India-Bangladesh Foreign Office Consultations. Upon his arrival in Bangladesh, Indian High Commission in Bangladesh tweeted, "Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra arrives in Dhaka for the India-Bangladesh Foreign Office Consultations. A significant stride towards fortifying the strong India Bangladesh partnership and charting the path for a brighter future." On February 14, the MEA in a press release noted, "The visit to Bangladesh is keeping in line with the highest priority accorded to India's 'Neighborhood First' Policy. Bangladesh is India's top-most development partner and its largest trade partner in the region. Foreign Secretary's upcoming visit will further strengthen bilateral ties and impart momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas." (ANI)
Jaishankar, who inaugurated the 12th World Hindi Conference on Wednesday, also held a meeting Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad and discussed further advancing bilateral ties through developmental cooperation.

"Deeply appreciate Fijian Prime Minister @slrabuka for hosting us today during 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan. The enthralling cultural performances by the two countries displayed their heritage & tradition. Their confluence in Fiji is a notable aspect of our historical relationship," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

"Delighted to receive the hospitality of the Prime Minister @slrabuka of Fiji along with his parliamentary colleagues at the 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan conference," he added.The 12th World Hindi Conference is being held in Fiji from February 15 to 17 and is co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and Fiji government.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar visited the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple in Nadi, Fiji.

In his remarks at the World Hindi Conference, Jaishankar said the era "when we equated progress and modernity with westernization is behind us".

"Many such languages and traditions, which were suppressed during the colonial era, are again raising their voice on the global stage," he said.

Fiji President Ratu Wiliame Maivalili Katonivere was also present at the event. (ANI)
Nepal Police on Wednesday rounded up a total of 10 people for their alleged involvement in the arson and looting incident of Monday when a protest by transport workers turned violent. Among the 10 accused, six were arrested on charges of arson and four on charges of looting, police said. "We have made a further arrests over the issue of arson and looting. Time would be extended for their custody to investigate further and would be made public later," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dan Bahadur Karki of District Police Range Kathmandu said. The police have intensified the search for those involved in looting during the protest in the Balaju area of the capital on Monday. During the protests carried out by transport workers, the angry mob entered the Lotse Mall of the new bus park area, looted various electronics from shops, and vandalized the properties. The Police have identified four people involved in looting as Chiran Regmi, Naveen Khadgi, Sujan Khatri, and Pradeep Basnet. Similarly, six others have been arrested on charges of setting fire and vandalizing police vans, the temporary office and the traffic island at Balaju. The people who have been arrested have been identified as Bikram Rai, Ram Hari Bhandari, Bibek Shrestha, Rajesh Tamang, Dipendra Pun Magar and Ashish Khadka. They have been temporarily living in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) which is supporting the incumbent government, blamed the negligence of the Police for Monday's incident. Speaking in the Zero Hour of the Parliament on Wednesday, RSP MP Shishir Khanal called the ineffectiveness of the police operation to be the reason for damage. Khanal said, "Is the state urging us to go abroad? It is the question that was raised to me by the entrepreneurs of Lotse Mall. The well-planned act of looting and vandalism of Lotse and Kantipur Mall inside Gongabu Bus Park was executed in name of protest by transport workers, damage to properties worth millions has incurred." Khanal further added, "It is evident that the inactiveness of the Police force had resulted in the damage. Activeness of locals prevented the vandalizers from setting fire on a petrol pump. Without any political endurance, the conspirator and those involved in the activity should be booked as per the law. The businesses should be compensated and the government should create an environment of safety for the businesses." Meanwhile, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the heads of the nationalsecurity agencies to immediately investigate the incident that took place in Gongabu onMonday. Dahal summoned the officials at his office at Singhadurbar and instructed them to investigate the incident and take action against the culprit and give justice to the victims. "I have taken the Gongabu incident seriously. Incidents of that gravity taking place in thecapital itself is a matter of serious concern and it should be dealt with by the government accordingly," Dahal was quoted by his secretariat as saying. Dahal asked the officials to leave no stone unturned to punish the guilty and compensate the victims at the earliest. During the meeting, the top officials from the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and Central Investigation Department noted that despite the protests, they didn't anticipate such a violent incident. In a briefing by the head of the Nepal National Security Council, 33 security personnel werenoted to have sustained injuries. The briefing also acknowledged the police's failure to act promptly. The police officials informed Dahal that an investigative team, under the Senior Superintendent of Police, had been formed to investigate the incident. (ANI)
PM Modi said he looked forward to continuing close bilateral cooperation as part of India's G20 Presidency.

"Glad to speak with Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon

. We discussed ways to further strengthen our growing bilateral relationship. Look forward to continuing our close cooperation as part of India's G20 Presidency," PM Modi said in a tweet in response the remarks of his Spanish counterpart.

Sanchez conveyed Spain's support for Indian G20 Presidency.

"I have just had a fruitful conversation with the Prime Minister of India,

@narendramodi. I have reiterated Spain's support for the Indian #G20 presidency and we have agreed to continue strengthening our bilateral relations, especially in the areas of economy and trade," he said in a tweet.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had visited India in June last year and held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

India-Spain bilateral trade during January - December 2020 stood at USD 5.015 billion after crossing the USD 6 billion mark for the first time in 2018.

India's exports stood at USD 3.765 billion while imports stood at USD 1.51 billion.

India's top exports to Spain are textiles, organic chemicals, iron and steel, seafood, automobiles and leather and major imports are mechanical appliances, electrical machinery, chemicals, plastic and mineral fuels. (ANI)
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United States-India Business Council on Wednesday welcomed the deal between Air India and Boeing. Ambassador Atul Keshap, USIBC president said that the deal shows the strengthening trade and investment ties between the US and India. Ambassador Keshap said, "USIBC is delighted by news of Tata Group subsidiary Air India's historic acquisition of Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines. All three firms are proud members of the US-India Business Council's Global Board of Directors, and we rejoice in this landmark announcement." Keshap added, "As the world's largest aircraft order in history, this is a true milestone in India's rapidly expanding commercial aviation sector and signifies the strengthening trade and investment ties between the United States and India." The statement of Keshap comes after the deal between Air India and Boeing, under which the former will purchase over 200 planes from the latter. In the statement, Keshap stated that the deal shows the mutually beneficial nature of the US-India trade ties. Keshap stressed that the deal will simultaneously accelerate the development of India's indigenous manufacturing capabilities and companies that 'Make in India' for the world. "This deal is a tremendous showcase of the mutually beneficial nature of the U.S.-India trade partnership, and we expect to see extremely positive spillover effects across our two economies," Atul Keshap stated. "As President Biden stated, this deal will create 1 million jobs across the United States, directly contributing to American efforts to promote inclusive growth and create high-quality manufacturing jobs at home," he added. In the statement, Keshap said that USIBC sees the deal as directly servicing the US and India's shared ambitions as members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for prosperity, where both nations are working to build resilient supply chains and expand manufacturing capabilities among high-trust partners. "For the United States, we hope this deal stands as an exemplar of how global trade supports both multilateral objectives and American jobs, and encourages Washington to embrace an agenda where America once again leads on trade," Keshap in the statement said. "USIBC is excited to see how this deal supports India's growth story, enhances American economic competitiveness, and takes connectivity between the world's oldest and largest democracy to new heights," he added. Earlier on Tuesday, 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," Prime Minister's office said in a statement. 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. In a statement on Tuesday, Air India announced that it had signed letters of intent with Airbus and Boeing to acquire both widebody and single-aisle aircraft. According to an official release, the order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s widebody 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. Engines from CFM International will power all single-aisle aircraft. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday called the World Hindi Conference a "celebration of culture." Speaking at the World Hindi Conference, Jaishankar stated they are here to "celebrate the right kind of globalization." "A celebration of culture. But we are here to celebrate globalization. We are here to celebrate the right kind of globalization, one which is not used for domination, but which is a partnership of people where we deal with each other, where we mix with each other, where we gain from each other. And it is today, for many of us, when we see the confluence of cultures on this island, it is very much for us, a validation of the world ahead of us," Jaishankar said. Jaishankar expressed gratitude to Fiji authorities for co-hosting the World Hindi Conference. Notably, Jaishankar is on an official visit to Fiji to attend the World Hindi Conference in Fiji. "Once again, I thank the authorities in Fiji, your government specifically Prime Minister, for giving us a chance, because for many of us, including me, it's our first visit to this country. And I am very convinced that for most of us, it will not be the last," Jaishankar said. He said that tomorrow he will travel to Suva and hold meetings with Fiji leadership. "Tomorrow, I journey to Suva, to hold official discussions with the government of Fiji. And the message that I will take there is from Prime Minister Modi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees the Indo-Pacific today as an arena of vital interests for India and for us, when we look at the Indo-Pacific, Fiji occupies a very notable place," he said. EAM Jaishankar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to take his relationship with Fiji to a higher level. In his remarks, Jaishankar said, "So I wish to assure you, Prime Minister, that Mr Modi's government would like to take its relationship with Fiji to a higher level. That is the remedy that I carry as foreign minister. So I not only look forward to a wonderful conference on Hindi, but also an opportunity to really raise the quality and substance of our relationship. He further said, "So, once again, on behalf of all my fellow delegates, I would like to express my most sincere thanks for making us feel so comfortable here that really, there are few words that can express it truly, from the bottom of our hearts, a very, very big thank you valuable." At the same event, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said that the local cultural dancers in Fiji are almost as good as the dancers who performed in the event. Rabuka said that he asked the Foreign Minister, if the dancers were from India or from Fiji. Fiji PM said, "Our local Indian cultural dances are almost as good as these. And this year, ladies and gentlemen, the government that I lead will celebrate the first official public holiday to remember and pay our respects and acknowledge the great contribution that the Gurmatiers have performed, have sacrificed, have given to these small islands of Fiji." He further said, "And that is to express our gratitude, our thanks, our vina kavakala to you all for coming here. It just coincides with the first year when we will celebrate the guillermetears and their contribution to Fiji. Fiji PM Sitiveni Rabuka recalled his stay in India for one year. He called language the ability or the vocal way they communicate. He said that Hindi language is spoken in many countries of the world, including Zimbabwe, Russia and Poland. "I was in India, one year, in the 1979, I was studying at the Defense of South College of India in Wellington, Tamil Nadu. I was there for one year with my wife who was here with me tonight. We really enjoyed that very much. Language is the ability or the vocal way we communicate. And thank you for coming to Fiji to hold your twelve international conference," Sitiveni Rabuka said. He further said, "Tomorrow morning he will be at state house where president lives and works and they will together switch on the whole building powered by the solar system kindly donated by your government. The Hindi language is spoken in many countries of the World Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, the Netherlands and most of you who are here have come from all those places Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Trinidad and Tobacco, Egypt, Croatia, Bulgaria, Lebanon." In his remarks, Fiji PM said, "According to statistics, 577.8 million people internationally converse in Hindi. When we were in Tamil Nadu in Wellington, all the students on the course on that defence services tough college course spoke in English because the Indian students themselves could not understand each other. That is the significance of language. It's the mode of communication where one can get his or her message across to another person. Fiji PM Sitiveni Rabuka said that the business committee has allowed Hindi and Fijian to be spoken in parliament. He expressed hope that the World Hindi Conference will drive hope home to all Hindi Speakers in the world the importance of speaking in own language. "Fortunately for us in Fiji, the business committee two weeks ago allowed Hindi and Fijian to be spoken in our parliament. I hope this conference will drive hope home to all Hindi speakers in the world the importance of conveying this message to future generations there's nothing to be ashamed about when you speak your own language," Fiji PM said. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan launched books during the World Hindi Conference, which is being co-hosted by the Fiji government and the Ministry of External Affairs. World Hindi Conference is being held from February 15-17. (ANI)
With the aim of moving from the "stale ideas and faded ideas" of the past, the Indian American leader Nikki Haley on Wednesday, announced her candidacy for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination. Addressing a public meeting, here in Charleston, the former South Carolina Governor said, "I have devoted my life to this fight and I am just getting started. For a strong America, for a proud America, I am running for the President of the United States of America." Nikki Haley said, "I stand before you as the daughter of immigrants, as the wife of a combat veteran, and as the mom of two amazing children. I've served as governor of the great state of South Carolina and as America's ambassador to the UN. Above all else, I'm a grateful American citizen who knows our best days are yet to come if we unite and fight to save our country." She said that her parents left India in search of a better life, and they found it in Bamberg, South Carolina. "I am the proud daughter of the Indian immigrants. My parents left India in search of a better life, they found it in Bamburg, South Carolina. Every day my parents reminded my brothers and sisters, that even on our worst day, we are 'blessed' to live in America," she said. Attacking the Biden government, she said, "Now America is falling behind, the US is slipping, and nobody embodies that failure more than Joe Biden. Our leaders put too much trust in big government, and too little trust in our people. The national debt is at 30 trillion dollars. This is not America, that called to my parents, and this is not the America that I will leave to my children." "We are ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future," she added Giving a 'message' to the Republican party, she said that the party has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. "Our cause is right--but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. Well--that ends today. If you're tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win - not just as a party, but as a country - then stand with me!" she said. Earlier on Tuesday, Nikki Haley announced in a video on her Twitter, that she will be running for President in 2024, challenging her fellow candidate Donald Trump. While announcing her decision, Nikki Haley called for new leadership in the party that she admitted had repeatedly failed to grab the popular vote in the presidential elections. While sharing the video, she wrote, "Get excited! Time for a new generation. Let's do this!" "Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change," The Hill quoted Nikki Haley as saying. "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," she added. In the video posted on Twitter, Nikki Haley said, "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 the US." She further said, "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." A former president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2004. Six years later, she became the first woman elected as governor of the state in 2010 and was the youngest governor in the nation when she took office in 2011. She resigned in the middle of her second term to become Trump's ambassador to the UN - a role she served in until the end of 2018, CNN reported. Haley began her political career as a state representative. She was elected the Governor of a staunch republican state South Carolina, by a very small margin of 51 per cent to 47 per cent. However, she went on to triple her margin during her re-election in 2014. In a prominent moment from her career, Haley in 2015, signed a bill to remove the Confederate battle flag-- the military emblem of the South's fight to preserve slavery -- from the South Carolina House. After President Donald J. Trump chose her as his ambassador to the United Nations, Ms. Haley was confirmed overwhelmingly by the Senate, 96 to 4. She would serve in that role for about two years before resigning at the end of 2018. As per The NYT, Haley was a face of the Trump administration's policies at the UN on Israel, North Korea, Russia and Syria. As per CNN, Haley has often attempted to walk a fine line between allying with Trump and distancing herself enough to appeal to his more moderate critics. She left the Trump administration in 2018 on good terms with the then-president - a marked contrast from other former Trump officials who have publicly fallen out with their onetime boss. Then in April 2021, Haley had said that she would not run for President in 2024 if Donald Trump does, but she has decided to change her decision ultimately. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a telephone conversation with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez wherein he briefed him about India's priorities for G20 Presidency. "Glad to speak with Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon. We discussed ways to further strengthen our growing bilateral relationship. Look forward to continuing our close cooperation as part of India's G20 Presidency," tweeted PM Modi. Briefing his Spanish counterpart he said that India's priorities for G20 Presidency are oriented towards working to promote oneness based on the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam (One Earth, One Family, One Future), read Prime Minister's Office press release. Responding to it, Prime Minister Sanchez extended full support to India's initiatives under its G20 Presidency and the two leaders agreed to remain in contact. Earlier Sanchez tweeted, "I have just had a fruitful conversation with the Prime Minister of India, @narendramodi. I have reiterated Spain's support for the Indian #G20 presidency and we have agreed to continue strengthening our bilateral relations, especially in the areas of economy and trade." The leaders discussed a number of bilateral and international issues of mutual interest. They reviewed ongoing bilateral initiatives and expressed satisfaction at the recent high-level exchanges and growing cooperation in defence, economic and commercial sectors. They agreed to collaborate on issues such as digital infrastructure, climate action, clean energy transition and sustainable development, added the release. Earlier, Jose Manuel Albares, Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, visited India on June 15, 2022. This was his first official visit to India. It was one of the first high-level visits to India from Spain. During his visit, Albares held talks with his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar. Both foreign ministers reviewed the bilateral relations. At the same time, both also committed to add new depth and content to the relationship. Spain remains one of those countries with which India's relations are still in the process of development. While India has close engagements with the European Union (EU), France, Germany and the United Kingdom, its relations with Spain are yet to reach that level. It is important to consider the reasons for the relatively underdeveloped nature of the India-Spain relations as also how India and Spain could find common ground to strengthen their ties. To strengthen their relations, India and Spain would need to find common ground at the bilateral level and also at multilateral levels as the emerging world order is a unique mix of continuation of the old order and emergence of the new simultaneously. China's actions are directed at creating a China-centric order challenging the United States and other democratic nations. At the same time, the Russia-Ukraine war is pushing Europe towards becoming a theatre for conflict between major world powers. Recently, India and the EU have resumed talks for a free trade agreement (FTA). India also concluded a trade pact with Australia in April and with the UAE in February. India and Spain could consider similar agreement to boost their bilateral trade. (ANI)
Blinken will visit the Incirlik air base, through which aid is flowing, and then hold talks with senior Turkish officials in the capital Ankara, the US State Department announced.

"Secretary Blinken will visit Incirlik Air Base in Turkiye on February 19 to see firsthand US efforts to assist the Turkish authorities responding to the devastation caused by the February 6 earthquakes," read the statement of US State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

He also informed that Blinken will then travel to Ankara, where he will meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other senior Turkish officials "to discuss continued US support to Turkiye and the Turkish people after the devastating earthquakes, as well as ways to further strengthen our partnership with Turkiye as a valued NATO Ally."

Secretary Blinken will also thank the Government of Turkiye for its support for cross-border aid to affected areas of Syria.

Notably, Blinken will travel to Germany, Turkiye, and Greece February 16-22, 2023.

On February 16, he will travel to Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference, where he will participate in a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings to discuss continued support for Ukraine, assistance to Turkiye and the Syrian people, and our commitment to transatlantic security and a rules-based international order, added the statement.

In Athens, Greece, Secretary Blinken will meet with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister Dendias, and Leader of the Opposition Alexis Tsipras to discuss defense cooperation, energy security, and our shared commitment to defend democracy.

Secretary Blinken will launch the fourth round of the US-Greece Strategic Dialogue on February 21, added the statement. (ANI)
The proposed export bans worth over 11 billion euros ($11.75 billion) will target technological and industrial goods critical for the Russian economy that the country cannot get through backfilling by third countries, she said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ban covers electronics, specialised vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines, as well as goods for the construction sector that can be directed to Russia's military, such as antennas or cranes.

A ban on the export of dual-use and advanced tech goods to Russia is also part of the new sanctions package. The Commission proposes controls on 47 new electronic components that could be used in Russian weapons systems, as well as on specific rare earth materials and thermal cameras.

Adding these to the existing list of banned products should enable the European Union (EU) to block exports towards Russia of all tech products found on the battlefield. In order to prevent third countries from supplying such goods to Russia, the package targets Iran for the first time.

Next week, a Sanctions Coordinators Forum will bring together the EU member states and international partners, she said, in order to make sure that these sanctions are enforced in a coordinated way.

The Commission's proposal requires unanimous approval by all EU member states.

--IANS int/arm

( 255 Words)

2023-02-15-21:26:03 (IANS)
The meteor left a long trail in its wake before exploding over Chelyabinsk, Russia.

A decade ago today, the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia unexpectedly found itself under assault from space, as a roughly 60-foot-wide asteroid exploded over the region. It was a shocking reminder that our planet can be struck at any timeand future impacts could be a lot more serious.

The asteroid entered Earths atmosphere on February 15, 2013, and the fireball was captured by security cameras, vehicle dashcams, and the smartphones of eyewitnesses around Chelyabinsk. Soon after came a deafening shockwave and sonic boom, which damaged buildings, set off car alarms, and injured around 1,600 people.

Read more

The event was a dramatic wakeup call about the importance of planetary defense. This rock wasnt a major threat to humanity, but the next one might be. In the 10 years since, our ability to detect small asteroids has improved. NASA has even experimented with ways to deflect incoming asteroids that might pose a threat, with the recent DART mission to smash into a small space rock. DART successfully moved its target asteroid, demonstrating a potential solution in defending Earth.

Click through for videos and images of the Chelyabinsk meteor strike.

The meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, at around 9:20 a.m. local time.



Meteor Blows Out Windows and Injures Hundreds in Siberia

NASA says that the meteor was traveling around 11 miles per second (17 kilometers per second) when it entered the atmosphere.

Cameras across Chelyabinsk captured the fireball.



Russian Meteor 15-02-2013 (Best Shots) [HD]

The resulting shockwave broke windows around the city.





Chelyabinsk Meteor Shock Wave

Fragments of the asteroid impacted the ground.



Postcards from Chelyabinsk, Meteorite Impact (edited)

These fragments are called meteorites.

A fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteor on display on Capitol Hill in June 2015.

One fragment left a 26-foot-wide (8-meter) hole in the ice of Chebarkul Lake.

A photo taken on February 16 shows one of the meteorite impact sites.

While no one was killed, the shockwave and fragment impacts damaged structures.

Damage to a local factory following the explosion of the Chelyabinsk meteor and meteorites that impacted the area.

Over 1,600 people were injured by broken glass and other structural damage.

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NASA said that the explosion released as much energy as 440 kilotons of TNT.

Image: Boris Kaulin (AP)

The meteor sent a plume of debris into the atmosphere, which NASA tracked with satellites.





NASA | NPP Sees Aftermath of the Chelyabinsk Meteor

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite aboard the Suomi NPP satellite was able to study the plumes migration through the atmosphere. Observations from the satellite showed that the plume traveled approximately 2,600 miles (4,300 kilometers) east of the explosion site in one day. Four days after the impact, debris had traveled around the globe, back to Cheylabinsk.

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Click here to read the full article.
City in ruins after earthquake on February 14, 2023 in Hatay, Turkey. Ugur Yildirim /dia images via Getty Images

Two brothers were pulled out of the rubble 200 hours after the Turkey-Syria earthquake hit.

The pair survived on protein powder and drinking their own urine, per The New York Times.

The death toll from the earthquake has now exceeded 41,000.

Two brothers in Turkey's Kahramanmaras city survived for more than 200 hours under the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake by eating protein powder and drinking their own urine.

The New York Times reported that Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21, and his brother Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, were pulled out from under the twisted metal and concrete of their collapsed apartment block on Tuesday.

The chances of survival for most people still trapped in the rubble are low  experts estimate that people may be able to survive for up to a week, depending on their injuries. The death toll from the earthquake has exceeded 41,000.

The brothers were trapped under the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 at 4:17 a.m. local time.

The brothers rationed body-building supplements between themselves and drank their own urine to survive, The Times reported. A local news publication, Ihlas News Agency, filmed the two being wheeled into a hospital on stretchers, with oxygen masks on.

The media outlet reported that the boys were in good condition. "I was very comfortable. I knew I would be saved. I just prayed," Abdulbaki Yeninar told the Ihlas News Agency.

The Yeninar brothers' mother was rescued from the rubble two days before them and brought to a hospital in the nearby city of Kayseri, per the Ihlas News Agency.

A Syrian man and a young woman were also rescued from the rubble in the Turkish city of Antakya on Tuesday, CNBC reported.

People who have been rescued are in desperate need of international humanitarian aid, according to the World Health Organization.

"The needs are huge, increasing by the hour," Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization's director for Europe, said in a press briefing on Tuesday. "Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance."

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He added: "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."

Read the original article on Insider
Cameron Allison is believed to be in danger, according to State Police.

5:30PM: "Per the Roanoke County Police Department, the three children have been safely located and Ruby Allison taken into police custody. The AMBER Alert is officially cancelled. Please contact Roanoke County Police for additional information."

Earlier update: Children still missing but a suspect is found. VSP: "John Allison is in custody at this time. All three children are still missing and are believed to be with Ruby Allison. The 2006 Cadillac four door has been recovered and Mrs. Allison is believed to be driving the 1999 Maroon Chevrolet Suburban Virginia tag VVU-3796. No further information at this time."

This article is being provided free to all readers in order to get the word out widely.

The Virginia State Police has issued an AMBER Alert from the Roanoke County Police Department for a child abduction that happened Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. These kids are believed to be in extreme danger and were last seen in Roanoke County:

 Cameron Allison, 6-year-old boy, white, brown hair, brown eyes Emma Allison, 6-year-old girl, white, brown hair, brown eyes Colin Allison, 21-month-old boy, white, blonde hair, brown eyes

Emma Allison is believed to be in danger, according to State Police.

"The children are believed to have been abducted by John Varion Allison, White Male, Blonde hair, Brown eyes, 5 foot 9 inches tall, weighing 185 lbs.," said a release.

More: Swoope fire chief in hot water over 'Car-B-Que' comment on fiery injury crash

He is thought to "be operating a 1999 Maroon Chevrolet Suburban SUV bearing a Virginia registration of VVU-3796, or a 2006 Maroon Cadillac 4 door car bearing a Virginia Registration VMV-8238. Mr. Allison may be in the company with his wife Ruby Marie Allison, White Female, Brown hair, Brown eyes, 5 foot 3 inches tall, weighing 160 lbs."

Colin Allison is believed to be in danger, according to State Police.

For more, contact the Roanoke County Police Department at (540) 777-8798, (540) 777-8799 or the Virginia State Police at #77.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: 3 children abducted, in danger, State Police say in Roanoke Amber Alert
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during the daily press briefing in the James Brady Room at the White House on February 13, 2023. Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The White House said that three objects shot down over the weekend might have posed no threat.

A leading explanation is that they were used for commercial or research purposes, a spokesperson said.

There's also no indication that the objects were linked to China or spying, they added.

The three unidentified objects shot down over North America last weekend may have just been used for commercial or research purposes, the White House said on Tuesday.

US authorities have also found no evidence linking the objects to Chinese spying, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a White House briefing.

"We haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the PRC's spying program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts," Kirby said.

Kirby said a "leading explanation" in the US intelligence community is that the objects were "balloons that were simply tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign."

No one has stepped forward to claim ownership of the downed objects, he added.

When asked why the US decided to shoot down the unmanned objects if they may have been benign, Kirby said they posed a risk to civilian flights because they were hovering at 20,000 and 40,000 feet.

"Because we assessed that they weren't manned and weren't being controlled, and therefore left to atmospheric conditions, the real risk to safety was a problem," he said. Commercial planes, especially ones on transcontinental flights, typically cruise at between 33,000 and 38,000 feet.

Kirby added that even though the US hadn't determined that the objects were used for spying, authorities couldn't rule that possibility out.

"You want to err on the side of safety here in terms of protecting our national security," he said.

The US recently brought down four mysterious flying objects in total, with the latest three being destroyed from Friday to Sunday.

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Most recently, authorities used a Sidewinder missile to take out an object above Lake Huron on Sunday. The F-16 that fired the missile missed its first shot, but hit the second, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday.

The wreckage from the three objects has not yet been recovered, but the first object shot down  a Chinese balloon the Pentagon says was used for surveillance  was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean by the US Navy. It was downed on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on February 5. Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

China on Tuesday criticized the US for taking down the four objects, saying the destruction of unmanned airships with missiles was a "trigger-happy overreaction."

"Many in the US have been asking: what good can such costly action possibly bring to the US and its taxpayers?" Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

When asked if the objects belonged to China, Wang said he had no information on such claims. "We believe that no irresponsible comments should be made when there is no clear evidence. And we are absolutely opposed to made-up stories and smears against China," he said.

As US-China tensions continue to mount over the flying objects, Beijing's top diplomat, Wang Yi, is set to visit Russia as part of an eight-day Europe tour.

It will be the first time a Chinese official of such rank has visited Moscow since Russia launched its unprovoked war with Ukraine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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.
[Source]

Over a quarter of children rushed to the University of Chicago (UChicago) Burn Center between 2010 and 2020 suffered from instant ramen burns, a new study revealed.

The paper, published in the Journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries on Jan. 20, reviews data gathered from the UChicago Burn Center, notably cases of scalding incidents among children below 18 years old.

The study noted that of the 790 pediatric patients admitted to the hospital with scalding injuries from Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2019, 245 (31%) were children who suffered burns from handling or eating instant noodles.

After comparing the data from other scalding incidents, the study stated that those who suffered from ramen burns were likely older children and of African American descent. It was also noted that some patients came from zip codes with a lower average childhood opportunity index score.

More from NextShark: During Japanese New Year, what did I gain by losing tradition?

The researchers believe that the incidents likely happened to unsupervised children, as UChicago Medicine noted in a report that 40% of instant noodle burning incidents occurred when the pediatric patients were alone.

Direct caregiver supervision is one important step in burn prevention, Sebastian Vrouwe, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UChicago Medicine and the senior author of the study, said.

The amount of heat contained in these noodles can easily cause second- and third-degree burns in anyone, but young children are particularly vulnerable due to their relatively smaller bodies and thinner skin.

More from NextShark: St. Louis Banh Mi Shop Donates Meals to Hospital Workers Battling COVID-19

UChicago Medicine explained that while instant noodle burns have different patterns of burns than those of hot water and are slightly less severe than other burn causes, they could still pose dangers that may result in hospitalization.

The data showed that instant noodle burn victims have a shorter length of stay in the hospital but experience similar complication rates.

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Anecdotally, it felt like every other child we were consulted on for a burn was injured by instant noodles, so we wanted to dive into the data to see what the trend really was, Vrouwe said. Our hope is to develop the groundwork for future burn prevention programming, as essentially all childhood burns are in some way preventable.

More from NextShark: Taiwan Burger King's Chocolate Whopper Sparks Line Longer Than a Football Field

About 100,000 children reportedly suffer burns from food and drinks in the United States yearly, the report said.

As prevention, Vrouwe advised that parents and caregivers should remove instant noodles from the microwave and keep them from childrens reach until they have cooled down.

Another way that adults can ensure the safety of their children is by lowering the temperature of the water used, Vrouwe added.

More from NextShark: Fewer female and POC directors were hired for top Hollywood films in 2022, new report reveals
(Composite/PA)

Debut novels top the list of new books

Fiction

1. Maame by Jessica George is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton, priced 14.99 (ebook 6.99). Available now

It's very telling how much love the cover of #Maame is receiving considering you haven't even seen all its extra features yet! But until then, such a huge thanks to @iamsaintrose & @TheMJAP & all at @HodderBooks for creating my dream cover  pic.twitter.com/Lf0NDaIuJo  Jessica George (@JessGeorge_) June 20, 2022

Maame is an exciting and emotionally charged debut from London-based author Jessica George. Set in the capital, it follows the story of 25-year-old Maddie Wright, who carries the heavy load of being her fathers carer and being the glue that holds her family unit together. It is easy to see why there was a bidding war to publish Maame, as every word is a gem and every page is a pleasure to read. You will devour it in one sitting and fall in love with Maddies character, as she sets out to find her way in the world via nightmare bosses, passive-aggressive flatmates, questionable men and online dating. A really heart-warming tale of redemption and self-discovery, that will appeal to anyone who loved Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams.9/10(Review by Lauren Gilmour)

2. Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos, translated by Rahul Bery, is published in hardback by Pushkin Vertigo, priced 16.99 (ebook 8.33). Available now

Out today! 



The page-turning Brazilian thriller from @simon3campos about a kidnapped sex worker and her sister who sets out to rescue her.



Nothing Can Hurt You Now is an unflinching exploration of the violence and oppression faced by Brazilian women.https://t.co/iSctx6io33 pic.twitter.com/eUbE3s739F  Pushkin Press (@PushkinPress) February 2, 2023

This is a debut book, but has the potential to be a series. It is a crime thriller based in Brazil, which is enthralling from the get-go. The story is based around two sisters, Lucinda and Viviana, and their intricate relationship  both with each other and many of the characters involved. Lucinda has long lived in the shadow of her model younger sister  but when Viviana goes missing and the police are indifferent, Lucinda picks up the baton to find her. Playing amateur sleuth, Lucinda learns a lot about her sister and her life  discovering she was actually a sex worker. This leads her to a lot of introspection, particularly when Lucinda reads Vivianas files, containing all her thoughts and feelings. The story is thought-provoking, and keeps you gripped throughout.8/10(Review by Joanne Brennan)

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3. The Dead Of Winter by Stuart MacBride is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced 20 (ebook 10.99). Available February 16

Collecting a dying gangster from jail and taking him to a deserted Scottish village for the final few months of his life sounds like a run-of-the-mill job for two police officers. But the village of Glenfarach is home to criminals who are not safe to be freed even after serving their sentence, so its no surprise the mission turns out to be anything but ordinary for Detective Constable Edward Reekie and his boss DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter. Add in snowstorms, incompetent local policemen and a series of grisly murders in the village, and you end up with a classic crime thriller from Stuart MacBride. The shocking twists and turns of the story will keep you guessing throughout.8/10(Review by Alan Jones)

Non-fiction

4. Red Memory: Living, Remembering And Forgetting Chinas Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan is published in hardback by Faber & Faber, priced 20 (8.99). Available now

I'm proud to announce the publication of Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution - all about how people and societies go on when the worst has happened - by @faber 2/2/23 and in the US by @wwnorton May '23 Preorder here: https://t.co/E8roxwSKgx pic.twitter.com/n3yoCeXYvF  tania branigan (@taniabranigan) October 3, 2022

Red Memory takes the personal tales of those on the front line of the violence of the Cultural Revolution, victims and perpetrators, and attempts to explain what that trauma means for modern China. The impact of the Cultural Revolution clearly lives on, but unlike in many other countries there has been no reckoning and the government chooses to forget, rather than remember. The stories The Guardians Tania Branigan tells bring home the horror of Maos final decade, while her meditations on memory and trauma are thought-provoking. It is hard to grasp modern China without understanding the Cultural Revolution, and this book will play an important role in illuminating the chaos.8/10(Review by Christopher McKeon)

Childrens book of the week

5. A Dragon Realm Adventure: World Book Day 2023 by Katie Tsang and Kevin Tsang is published in paperback by Simon & Schuster Childrens UK, priced 1 (ebook 99p). Available February 16

I am SO excited for @WorldBookDayUK this year! We have so many fun events planned and I can't wait for readers to discover our 1 World Book Day book A DRAGON REALM ADVENTURE! Finished copies are here and they look amazing! https://t.co/ev61XDvTZZ pic.twitter.com/SGyXaYouiA  Katherine Webber Tsang (@kwebberwrites) February 8, 2023

Part of the Dragon Realm series by husband-and-wife authors Katie and Kevin Tsang, A Dragon Realm Adventure has twelve-year-old Billy Chan exploring a multi-realm setting alongside Spark  a dragon with whom he shares a close bond. With his friends, Billy must help retrieve a missing egg for a clan of dragons who have fallen into the Human Realm. Imagination knows no limits in this fantasy adventure. The story is an endless place for exploration and discovery, great for young readers to encourage their creative thinking. From the moment our young protagonists and their dragons face off with a temperamental scorpion, you are transported into an exciting world full of possibility, which like the Harry Potter series, demands you going back and finding out more about the story behind the story.8/10(Review by Christopher Henry-Reeve)

BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEB 11

HARDBACK (FICTION)1. Someone Elses Shoes by Jojo Moyes2. Weyward by Emilia Hart3. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus4. Song Of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao5. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover6. Victory City by Salman Rushdie7. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths8. The Murder Game by Tom Hindle9. Godkiller by Hannah Kaner10. Exiles by Jane Harper(Compiled by Waterstones)

HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)1. Spare by The Duke of Sussex2. Bored Of Lunch by Nathan Anthony3. 8 Rules Of Love by Jay Shetty4. Air-Fryer Cookbook by Jenny Tschiesche5. Finding Hildasay by Christian Lewis6. Whats For Dinner? by Sarah Rossi7. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin8. Getting Better by Michael Rosen9. The Story Of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel10. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse by Charlie Mackesy(Compiled by Waterstones)

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)1. Someone Elses Shoes by Jojo Moyes2. Spare by The Duke of Sussex3. Atomic Habits by James Clear4. 8 Rules Of Love by Jay Shetty5. Exiles by Jane Harper6. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths7. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman9. The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters10. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus(Compiled by Audible)
Getty Images

Getty Images

For more than 200 years, Black physicians and nurses have made contributions of incalculable importance to medicine and healthcare in the United States, from establishing the nations first blood banks to historic advancements in sickle cell disease treatment and cataract surgery. In honor of Black History Month, get to know eight Black Americans who have made pioneering achievements to the medical profession.

Dr. James McCune Smith

1813-1865

Fotosearch

James McCune Smith was the first African American to earn a medical degree, which he received from the University of Glasgow in 1837. The first Black man to run a pharmacy in the United States, Smith used medical data to challenge notions of African American racial inferiority . He was also an abolitionist leader, working with Frederick Douglass to start the National Council of Colored People, and helping refugee slaves through the Underground Railroad.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler

1831-1895

During a time when Black Americas were often prevented from pursuing careers in medicine, Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman in the United States to become a doctor of medicine. She was also one of the first Black authors of a medical publication; her book of medical advice for women and children released in 1883.

Mary Mahoney

1845-1926

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mary Mahoney was admitted to the nursing school of the New England Hospital for Women and Children and became the first Black woman to complete nurses training in 1879. One of the first Black members of what is now the American Nurses Association, Mahoney was also among the first women to vote in Boston after the ratification of the 19th Amendment granted womens suffrage on August 26, 1920.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

1856-1931

Bettmann - Getty Images

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams had a pioneering career in medicine. At a time when African American patients were banned from hospitals and Black doctors were refused staff positions, Williams opened Chicagos Provident Hospitalthe nations first hospital with an interracial staffin 1891. He was also one of the first physicians in the country to perform open-heart surgery, which he did without the benefit of a blood transfusion or modern surgical procedures.

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Dr. Charles Drew

1904-1950

Three Lions - Getty Images

Known as the father of blood banks, Charles Drew pioneered methods of processing and storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the United States. He managed two of the largest blood banks during World War II and is credited with saving the lives of hundreds during the war. He also fought against racial segregation in blood banks, resigning his post with the American Red Cross over the matter.

Dr. Patricia Bath

1942-2019

Hearst Owned

Dr. Patricia Bath was the first female African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. In 1986, she invented the Laserphaco Probe, which harnessed laser technology to create a less painful and more precise treatment of cataracts. She received a patent for the device in 1988, becoming the Black female doctor in the country to receive a medical patent.

Dr. Marilyn Gaston

1939

Getty Images

The first Black woman to serve as director of the Bureau of Public Health Care in the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Dr. Marilyn Gaston is widely celebrated for her pioneering work studying sickle cell disease. Her 1986 study led to the creation of a nationwide screening program to test newborn babies for the disease.



Dr. Alexa Canady

1950
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has spoken candidly about his ever-changing relationship with social media, and how hes had to build up a thick skin to deal with the toxic comments.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair for the 2023 Hollywood Issue, the Bullet Train star opened up about the negativity that can spread on social media, and that hes chosen to not feed into the gossip.

When asked about the rumours surrounding his potential bid to play the next James Bond, Taylor-Johnson said the chatter was flattering, but it also reflects how rumours can spread so quickly.

You can have something really positive [written about you], but you can also have something really negative that can circulate, he told Vanity Fair in an interview published on 15 February. You just want to stay in your lane, stay grounded, stay around the people that you love and love you back, and stay in that world.

Because the moment you start believing the sh*t people say about you, youve lost your f***ing mind, he continued. Youve lost it.

As for social media, the Nocturnal Animals star admitted hes awful at keeping up with it and would rather not carry a phone altogether.

I only started carrying a phone when my kids went to school and I thought, Id better have a phone for emergencies, he said.

Taylor-Johnson explained that he first activated his Instagram account, which now has 480K followers, when he was doing press for his role as Pietro Maximoff in the Marvel cinematic universe.

I had it for a few years. I found it really toxic and clogging up my imaginative brain space, he said, before adding how being a father to a teenager has also influenced his relationship with social media.

Ive got a teenager. Being a parent that was like, Im going to have it, but you cant seemed ridiculous to me, he said. Its the way it was when we were kids and it was like, I want to smoke. And your parent goes, You cant smoke, its bad for you. And you go, You smoke a pack a day. Why cant I have a cigarette?

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Being an actor for more than a decade, Taylor-Johnson admitted that hes learned to avoid the haters. Though, he says some comments still hurt.

Theres a lot of love on Instagram but there comes a whole bag of sh*t and anger towards you, he told the outlet. When youre in our profession, you build up a thick skin, but certain things still hurt. I put it to bed at the end of 2018 and brought it back for Bullet Train. There was a healthy gap. I felt like, if I do bring it back, Ill have some boundaries with it.

The British actor, 32, first rose to fame in 2008 when he starred as heartthrob Robbie in the romantic-comedy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, based on the book series by Louise Rennison.

He then went on to act in films such as Kick-Ass, Godzilla, The Avengers, Anna Karenina, and Tenant. In 2009, Taylor-Johnson auditioned to play the role of John Lennon in the film Nowhere Boy, which was directed by his now-wife Sam Taylor-Johnson. The two sparked up a relationship while on set, when Aaron was around 19 years old and Sam was 42.

The actor proposed that same year, and the following year they welcomed their now-13-year-old daughter, Wylda Rae Johnson. The two were officially married in 2012, and had daughter Romy Hero Johnson, now 11, that same year.

Sam Taylor-Johnson also shares two daughters  Angelica Jopling, 25, and Jessie Phoenix Jopling, 17  with ex-husband Jay Jopling.

Despite being married for more than 10 years, Aaron and Sam Taylor-Johnson have been at the centre of much criticism for their 23-year age difference. However, the couple have often fought back against the online trolls. Aaron Taylor-Johnson previously discussed the public reaction that he and his wife received when they decided to make their relationship public in a 2017 interview with New York Magazine.

The attention was intrusive, he said at the time. But having to deal with that early in my career probably got me to a place where I can more quickly just go, Oh, fuck it instead of wanting to rip someones head off for asking questions I dont like.

In June 2022, the couple celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary by renewing their vows.

Yesterday was the most beautiful day, summer solstice, our 10th anniversary, he captioned an Instagram post of the two kissing. We renewed our vows to one another and confessed our love in front of our nearest and dearest friends and family it was a celebration of love and joy! A decade of marriage. It was a magical unforgettable day and the sun did not stop shining on us both.. we are blessed beyond belief. Sammy you are my love, my life, my soulmate, my wife, my world!

The reaction from online trolls was negative and comments on the post were limited.

In 2019, Taylor-Johnson addressed their 23-year age gap in an interview with The Telegraph.

I worked in an adult environment from an early age. I had open, direct conversations with directors, producers, actors, where my opinions would be valued and matter. I grew up pretty quickly - I left school at 15. I had a totally different upbringing from my kids, he said. When I met Sam Id already lived a life far beyond that of most of my contemporaries - I didnt relate to anyone my age. I just feel that were on the same wavelength.
Mifepristone, the abortion pill known as RU 486

Credit - James LeynseGetty Images

The future of medication abortions across the U.S.even in states with few abortion restrictionsis on the line. Experts call a recent, soon-to-be-decided lawsuit the most consequential court case for nationwide abortion access since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

A ruling is expected as soon as Feb. 24. Heres what to know about the case.

What the lawsuit says

The suit, filed Nov. 18, 2022 on behalf of the anti-abortion physicians group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), seeks to overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)s approval of mifepristone: one of the two prescription pills that are typically used in combination to terminate pregnancies, and which account for more than half of all U.S. abortions. AHM holds that the FDA failed Americas women and girls because the regulator approved mifepristone via an accelerated process more than two decades ago. The FDA has stated that mifepristone was approved within the guidelines at the time and has continued to be evaluated and regulated appropriately.

The lawsuit is being tried during a confusing time for medication abortion access. Recently, the Biden Administration made moves to expand legal access to the pills; in early January, the FDA released new rules allowing all pharmacies to offer mifepristone, and in 2021, the agency abolished an in-person appointment requirement, which allowed doctors to prescribe the medication remotely and for patients to receive it via mail.

Read More: What to Know About Abortion Pills Post-Roe

Abortion-rights advocates are particularly concerned about the AHMs decision to file the suit in Amarillo, Texas, where Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was confirmed to a lifetime federal appointment in 2019. Of all federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, Kacsmaryks views are believed to be among the more openly conservative and driven by Christian dogma.

The practice of judge shopping, where political and religious organizations like the AHM specifically seek out jurisdictions with judges that they believe are likely to hand out the results they want, has kept Kacsmaryk particularly busy in Amarillo, Vox reports. During his tenure, Kacsmaryk has worked to thwart the Biden Administrations attempts at loosening immigration restrictions, to prevent the adoption of guidelines that would protect transgender people in the workplace, and to require parental approval for minors in Texas to obtain federally funded birth control, among other conservative goals. Its not surprising that this case, too, has ended up before the judge, says Texas state representative Donna Howard, who is a Democrat. Its pretty frightening in terms of the potential implications not only for those of us in Texas, but for the entire country.

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What is mifepristone, and why is it being targeted?

Mifepristone is a progesterone-blocking pill used to initiate endometrial shedding and essentially dislodge a pregnancy. The FDA first approved it in 2000, and since then, doctors have widely considered the combination of mifepristone and another medication called misoprostol the gold standard for safe abortion care. The two-step regimen, which is approved for use at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, has become so common that it now accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Although misoprostol-only abortions have also proven to be safe and effective (a recent study put the single-pill regimens success rate at 88% for pregnancies up to 10 weeks), they can be slightly more painful.

Misoprostol is an FDA-approval ulcer treatment, but its ability to prompt cervical contractions and dilation mean that its used off-label to assist with abortions, inducing labor, inserting IUDs, and a number of other reproductive health purposes. Mifepristone, by contrast, has been specifically approved for use in medicated abortion, and has fewer other uses, making it an easier target for groups looking to complicate and reduce access to reliable abortion care.

When will it be decided?

Though a ruling was initially expected as early as Feb. 10, the judge overseeing the case has given AHM until Feb. 24 to respond to the opposition statements submitted by Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of Mifeprex (mifepristones brand-name variety). Both Danco and the FDA filed formal complaints against the suit in January, while GenBioPro, the maker of generic mifepristone, remains embroiled in a separate January lawsuit challenging West Virginias statewide ban of the druga case that the outcome of the Texas suit could now affect.

Potential outcomes

If the Texas case is decided in favor of AHM, mifepristone could be taken off the market in all 50 states. A recent release from NARAL Pro-Choice America estimates that 64.5 million American women would lose access to medication abortion care if FDA approval of the drug is revoked (though Americans would likely still be able to mail-order the pills from organizations outside the U.S., a practice that remains a legal gray area.)

Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications and research at NARAL, says the reproductive rights community has interpreted the two-week extension of the ruling deadline as a bit of a reprieve in a stressful litigation process. No one was expecting to get this two-week extension, she says. But, perhaps counterintuitively, given that the decision may have been made to buy time for AHMs final response, its also been helpful for the other side, Vasquez-Giroux says. Ultimately, its allowing us more time to educate more people about what the case is, and whats at stake.

With the extension comes the opportunity for more groups and officials to weigh in before the case is decided. The list of briefs shared with Texas courts grew overnight after the extension was announced Feb. 9. Among them are a brief signed by 67 U.S. congresspeople and another from a collection of 22 Republican state attorneys general, both challenging the FDAs grounds for originally approving mifepristone. On the other side, 22 Democratic attorneys general filed a brief citing the drugs long track record of being safe, effective, and closely monitored by the FDA.

Legal experts have suggested that the basis of AHMs case is shaky, and that many other federal judges would be unlikely to agree to hear it due to the length of time that mifepristone has been in use and its positive safety profile. The FDA has kept a close eye on the drug, reevaluating it periodically in its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy program. But the politicization of the case makes it less of a long shot than it might be for the average medication with a similar safety profile to mifepristone. Even if Kacsmaryk does rule in favor of the FDA, the case is likely to make its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court via the overwhelmingly conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Vasquez-Giroux hopes that voters who supported access to abortion dont automatically turn their ears off because the suit is coming out of Texas. The thing that is most upsetting and shocking for folks, when they do find out about this, she says, is learning that this would override their votes and their desires in blue states.

Health care providers across the country are taking the threat seriously by preparing to offer misoprostol-only abortions if needed. Even if it doesnt come to that, experts say, any outcome that forces underfunded clinics to reassess the services theyre legally able to provide could mean some individuals missing out on services in the short term.
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.

This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.



Nearly two weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio, questions still linger about the lasting effects of the incident and the speed at which residents were returned to their homes.

Read more

Around 9 p.m. on February 3, a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, located on the border of Pennsylvania and roughly an hour from Pittsburgh.

Among the chemicals the freight was carrying, five cars contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that is linked to various cancers and is used in a variety of plastic products and manufacturing. In the initial days after the derailment, temperatures rose in the cars holding the vinyl chloride and officials at both the railroad company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, ordered that residents evacuate East Palestine.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Republican Governor Mike DeWine said he learned that the train cars were marked as non-hazardous, and thus officials werent notified that the train would be crossing through the state.

The governor called on Congress to look into the regulations that would allow a train carrying multiple cars with hazardous substances to be labeled non-hazardous.

Frankly, if this is true, this is absurd and we need to look at this, DeWine said. We should know when we have trains carrying hazardous materials that are going through the state of Ohio.

DeWine also said that prior to the decision to release the chemicals, he was presented with two bad options.

One was to do nothing and risk that a train car full of vinyl chloride would explode, which would have been catastrophic, resulting in shrapnel flying out in a one-mile radius. The second option won, and officials conducted a controlled burn of the chemicals.

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Skepticism over the decision to return residents back to their homes has grown since the initial burn. A local environmental group is calling on DeWine to declare an emergency to receive additional federal support.

Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said the decision to conduct a controlled burn was reached as a group, which echoed DeWines recent update.

Norfolk Southern hazardous material personnel were on-scene and coordinating with local first responders immediately following the derailment, Spielmaker told Grist.

According to the EPA, contaminated soil at the site was covered to rebuild the rail line.

The release of hazardous chemicals barrelling through rural Ohio late in the night have caused a variety of concerns. Residents have reported headaches, dizziness, and fevers since returning home on February 8 as they continue to conduct voluntary home air and water tests.

We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open, Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, told WKBN.

The derailment did not result in any immediate human fatalities, but residents are now reporting deaths of pets, chickens, and foxes. Given the spills proximity to the Ohio River Basin, which touches 14 states in the region, concerns of surrounding pollution have popped up in middle Tennessee, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, and West Virginia.

In addition to the vinyl chloride, various other chemicals were spilled, leading to concern for water, soil, and groundwater pollution.

According to the manifest of contents inside the railcars provided to the EPA from Norfolk Southern, undisclosed amounts of butyl acrylate, a hazardous chemical known to cause skin irritation that is used in plastic production, and propylene glycol, a generally non-toxic chemical used in food packaging, spilled during the derailment. Additionally, undisclosed amounts of ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen linked to aquatic death, and petroleum spilled at the site.

On Tuesday, Ohio environmental regulators confirmed that butyl acrylate was found in nearby waterways and that the spill did make its way to the Ohio River.

Tiffani Kavalec, division chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said the state agency is monitoring a moving plume of contaminants in the Ohio River. But, she said, there is no concern that the chemicals will make their way into drinking water systems connected to the Ohio River due to the size of the river and its ability to self-filter.

Closer to the derailment site, however, officials with the Ohio EPA and the states Department of Public Health urged those on private drinking water to drink bottled water as agencies continue to monitor groundwater.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources confirmed 3,500 dead fish in waterways as well as deceased hellbender salamanders, an endangered species in the state.

In a statement to Grist, Debra Shore, Ohios regional administrator for the federal EPA, said the agency has issued a letter to the rail company that outlines Norfolk Southerns potential liability caused by the release of hazardous chemicals.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/accountability/derailed-train-cars-ohio-not-labeled-toxic-cargo/. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org



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DeadHappy Harold Shipman advert - ASA

A life insurance advert featuring one of Britains most prolific serial killers has been banned after a wave of complaints.

DeadHappy, an insurance firm known for its shock factor publicity stunts, placed an image of Harold Shipman alongside the message: Life insurance: Because you never know who your doctor might be.

The advert was published on Facebook last month and came under fire for being tasteless, with the former GP believed to have killed hundreds of people over two decades before his arrest in 1998.

Shipman was found guilty of murdering 15 elderly patients in 2000 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Four years later, he hanged himself in Wakefield Prison.

The DeadHappy ad was online for less than 24 hours, first published at 2pm on 23 January and then taken down at 8am on 24 January.

Despite the short length of time in which the ad was public, the Advertising Standards Authority received more than 100 formal complaints.

The advertising watchdog has now banned the DeadHappy promotion, which it said trivialised and made light of the murders committed by Harold Shipman, such that they were likely to cause both serious and widespread offence to those who saw them.

It added that any reference to the murderer was likely to be distressing, particularly for those who had lost family members or friends at Shipmans hands.

It is not the first time that DeadHappy has landed in hot water over its marketing campaigns. In December 2019, the ASA suspended one of its adverts used to promote life insurance after ruling that it trivialised suicide.

The advert featured a man with his arms by his sides, leaning with his head against the wall and a code for two months of free cover. A caption read: "Life insurance to die for".

Last summer, again promoting life cover, the company operated hearse rides around Leeds and Newcastle in a 22-foot Cadillac, asking passengers to have an open and honest conversation about death. At the same time, it set up a scavenger hunt involving tombstones to get people talking about the implications of dying uninsured.

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DeadHappy, which is headquartered in Leicester and has a laughing skull as its logo, was formed in 2013 by Andy Knott. Mr Knott lists his job title on LinkedIn as Loser / Founder.

The company also offers a deathwish service, where customers can specify life insurance payouts that go towards specific purposes, including releasing ashes at the edge of space or adopting a puppy.

Mr Knott said: In our attempt to be provocative and make people really stop and think about their need for life insurance, we have made a mistake and for this we apologise. We will now go away and immediately review all of our current and future marketing campaigns to ensure that we learn from this mistake.
The air defence system in Kyiv Oblast has been activated during the air-raid siren.

Source: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration on Telegram

Quote from Kyiv Oblast Military Administration: "Air targets were detected in the skies over Kyiv Oblast. In this regard, the air defence systems have been activated."

Details: The administration urged residents to keep calm and stay in shelters.

In Kyiv Oblast, the air-raid siren was sounded at 13:28.

No sirens have been sounded in the rest of the country.

Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said that the situation in Kyiv Oblast was under control.

Yusov Quote: The Air Force, intelligence services are monitoring the situation. Regarding unidentified objects, the information is known, they are being monitored. Indeed, there is information on the enemy's intentions, including the collection of intelligence on the setting up of decoy for Ukrainian air defence equipment, and there is a corresponding reaction and system response to such threats".

Background:

On 14 February, balloons with angled deflectors launched by the enemy were recorded in Ukrainian airspace.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
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.

In the week since officials conducted what they called a "controlled release" of vinyl chloride from five derailed train cars in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, concern has grown among some over the quality of the air in and around the village of nearly 5,000 people.

The decision to conduct the release of the carcinogen was made after officials said they noticed a drastic temperature change inside the cars. Fearing an explosion with potential shrapnel, the vinyl chloride was released in liquid form into an area surrounded by a barrier and ignited, sending a giant column of flames and black smoke into the winter sky.

Authorities in Ohio conduct a controlled release of vinyl chloride to reduce the threat of an explosion after a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. DETAILS: https://t.co/rrZ1c28F26 pic.twitter.com/vaFu9G4b6B  WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) February 6, 2023

Here's what we know about the air quality in East Palestine and the surrounding area:

Is the air in East Palestine safe to breathe?

Some East Palestine residents who have since returned to their homes after being evacuated have reported experiencing headaches and nausea. Others say the air has a foul odor to it.

Bruce Vanderhoff, director of Ohio's health department, said during a news conference Tuesday that most of the chemicals on the Norfolk Southern train that derailed Feb. 3 are volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

VOCs are emitted during everyday activities like pumping gas, burning wood or natural gas, he said.

More:Ohio train derailment: What's still unknown after chemical disaster forced evacuations?

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Low levels of VOCs can be smelled and sometimes cause headaches and irritation, said Vanderhoff, who noted that most people can be around VOCs at low levels without feeling ill. High levels can result in longer-term health effects, he said.

Vanderhoff said recent testing shows the air in East Palestine was just like it was prior to the train derailment.

"We have taken every step possible to ensure people's safety was first and foremost," Vanderhoff said.

What does the EPA say?

When burned, vinyl chloride gives off hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosgene.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that it had stopped monitoring the air in East Palestine for phosgene and hydrogen chloride the day before.

"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," EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said in a statement on the agency's website. "Air monitoring data was provided to state health agencies on Feb. 8 for review prior to the state's decision to lift the evacuation.

Shore also said in her statement that vinyl chloride has not been detected in any of the nearly 400 homes that the EPA had screened under a voluntary program as of Tuesday morning. Sixty-five additional homes were scheduled to be screened that afternoon, she said.

Our Regional Administrator Debra Shore spoke with @GovMikeDeWine today and affirmed that EPA Region 5 will continue to support the state of Ohio as they lead response efforts for the East Palestine train derailment.



Here is the latest update from our team   EPA Great Lakes (@EPAGreatLakes) February 14, 2023

What is acid rain?

Acid rain, as defined by the EPA, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.

Acid rain results when sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind and air currents, the EPA says on its website. The SO 2 and NO X react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. These then mix with water and other materials before falling to the ground.

Coal-burning power plants are responsible for most of the nations sulfur dioxide pollution and a significant portion of nitrogen oxide emissions. Sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased substantially over the years.

Coal has historically been the largest electricity source in the Ohio. However, in 2019, it was overtaken by natural gas.

Could acid rain have formed after controlled release?

Acid rain could have formed after the controlled release and burn of chemicals on Feb. 6, Kevin Crist, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the director of the Air Quality Center at Ohio University, said. If it did form and fall, it would have most likely occurred downwind of East Palestine.

When burned, vinyl chloride gives off hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosphene, which was used as a weapon during World War I. Vinyl chloride in the atmosphere breaks down into hydrochloric acid, a component of acid rain.

"There would maybe be localized problems, but once that plume is gone, it's gone. Unless it's sticking to a residue," Crist said.

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.

East Palestine residents may want to wipe down surfaces in homes for possible residual material, he added.

"We'll just have to listen to what Ohio EPA has to say about what their estimates about how much chemicals were spilled and how they are planning to monitor its movement," Crist said. "And everybody should pay attention to where they're getting their own water. If they have municipal supply, what they say about the level of risk."

Monroe Trombly covers the workplace and environmental issues for The Dispatch.

mtrombly@dispatch.com

@monroetrombly

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Concern over air quality rises after East Palestine train derailment
Air India flight flys over Mumbai.



Air India was privatized last year after being Indias national airline for close to a century.

Executives for Air India unveiled the single-largest airplane purchase ever on Tuesday (Feb 14), purchasing close to 500 planes from Boeing and Airbus. Although the price was not made public, industry experts estimate the cost at about $85 billion.

Under Tata Groups ownership , Air India will look to challenge domestic giant IndiGo and regain its place as the countrys largest airline. Specifically, the airline will buy 220 planes from US-based Boeing and 250 from Airbus that will be assembled in Europe.

Read more

The White House was the first to announce the deal with Boeing, releasing a statement from president Joe Biden describing the deal as evidence of a strong economic partnership between the US and India. According to the statement, all the Boeing planes will be made in America and will create over one million jobs across 44 states.

The purchase was also welcomed by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who said it was evidence of the successes and aspirations of the civil aviation sector in India.

Air India was privatized in 2022 after a long run as Indias national airline. Currently, it only has a fleet of around 100 jets, most of them leased. The first batch of planes from Airbus is expected to arrive later this year. Boeing has yet to release a timeline for production.



Largest airline fleets in the world

datawrapper-chart-TTglE

The Indian diaspora, by the numbers

Most international flights into India are flown by foreign competitors, Air India is looking to change that. Air India is making an investment in the countrys diaspora, the largest in the world.

32 million: The number of Indians and those of Indian descent living abroad, making it the worlds largest diaspora.

$89 billion: Remittances India received in the fiscal year 2021-22. The country is the worlds biggest receiver of overseas remittance, according for 14% of global remittances, followed by Mexico, China, the Philippines, and Egypt.

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1.3%: Share of Indian citizens living abroad.

Related stories:

 The final 747 has rolled off the Boeing production line

 India has found a major deposit of lithium, suddenly making it a major player in batteries and EVs

 Indian tax officials are investigating BBC after it aired a Modi documentary

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Story at a glance

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) is scrapping the states four-year college degree requirement for most state jobs.

Dunleavy issued the order to address Alaskas ongoing workforce shortage which has hit the public sector especially hard.

Maryland, Utah and Pennsylvania have also recently dropped four-year college degree requirements for many state jobs.

Alaskans will no longer need a four-year college degree to apply for some state jobs under a new order issued by Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R).

Dunleavy announced the degree requirement changes in an order issued earlier this week.

The order directs Alaskas Department of Administration to review state job descriptions and determine where practical experience could be used in lieu of the four-year college degree requirement typically asked of applicants.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

After the review, state job postings will be changed to state that relevant experience can be used instead of a college degree.

Dunleavy ordered the requirement change to address the states ongoing workforce shortage.

Today people can gain knowledge, skills and abilities through on the job experience, said the governor in a statement.

If were going to address our labor shortage, we have to recognize the value that apprenticeships, on-the-job training, military training, trade schools, and other experience provides applicants. If a person can do the job, we shouldnt be holding anyone back just because they dont have a degree.

The state has especially struggled to retain and hire government workers. In 2014, the Alaska state government employed 27,300 people, according to state labor data. That number plummeted to 21,900 in December 2022.

Dunleavys move places Alaska on a growing list of U.S. states that are scrapping college degree requirements for most state jobs.

Maryland stopped requiring four-year degrees for many state jobs early last year, as did Utah.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) signed an executive order in January dropping four-year college degree requirements for most state jobs.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Alec Baldwin will resume filming Rust as he faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bianca Cline of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On fame will replace Hutchins on the production and will donate her salary to charity, Rust Movie Productions told the outlet on Tuesday. Hutchins husband Matthew will take over as executive producer.

Rust production, halted after the October 2021 prop-gun shooting, is set to resume this spring with a combination of former crew members and newcomers. Director Joel Souza told The Hollywood Reporter it was a privilege to see this through for Hutchins.

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 told the outlet. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halynas legacy.

Baldwin and set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with involuntary manslaughter in January. Baldwin has blamed others for failing to make sure the gun didnt contain a live round and claimed he didnt pull the trigger. He and Guitierrez-Reed are scheduled for a Feb. 24 court hearing.

The scene being rehearsed when Hutchins was fatally shot has been rewritten, according to the Rust Movie Productions statement. The production, now facing a lawsuit alleging firearm safety failures, has done away with working weapons on set and the armorers who supervise them.

An aerial photo of the New Mexico crime scene where Hutchins was shot on Oct. 21, 2021.

An aerial photo of the New Mexico crime scene where Hutchins was shot on Oct. 21, 2021.

Former assistant director Dave Halls agreed last month to a probation deal with New Mexico prosecutors on a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

Last week, Hutchins family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin, various crew members and Rust producers. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium.

Story continues

Matthew Hutchins doesnt agree with the Hutchins familys lawsuit against Baldwin, his attorney told The Hollywood Reporter last week. Hutchins is producing a documentary on his wifes life, directed by Rachel Mason and Julee Metz.

We embarked on this endeavor to shed light on Halynas life and to honor her achievements, Mason told the outlet. We refuse to shy away from any aspect of this story, no matter how difficult  it is our duty to document the process.

Hutchin's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin last week.

Hutchin's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin last week.

Related...
Horizontal shot of the shadow of a child on a swing on a grey wall

Credit - Getty Images

Most of us would say that you cant put a price tag on keeping kids safe from sexual violence. Yet we do. And the amount is either generous or entirely inadequate, depending on which metric we are looking at.

Incarceration is one area in which we invest serious resources. A research paper we published with our colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tallies, for the first time, the amount that U.S. taxpayers spend incarcerating people for sex crimes against children each yearan impressive $5.4 billion. There are currently around 145,000 adults incarcerated for sex crimes involving kids, and the majority of these inmates will remain incarcerated for about eight years, some much longer. We will invest approximately $49 billion on the current cohort of inmates, with new prisoners arriving all the time. This sounds like progress, and to some extent it is. We need laws and consequences that send the unmistakable message that the sexual abuse of children is immoral, illegal, and intolerable, and that adult perpetrators will be held criminally accountable. But there is a wrinkle in all of this. By the time these menand it is typically malesengage with the criminal justice system, a child, and in some cases several children, have already been victimized. This raises a couple of questions: Is this the best we can do when it comes to serving victims of sexual abuse? And is there a way to stop people from offending against a child in the first place? The answers are no and yes.

Up until a couple of years ago, we allocated almost no federal dollars to the primary prevention of child sexual abuse. That is, we failed to invest in developing, testing, or disseminating programs designed to prevent the sexual victimization of kids before the criminal justice system even needs to get involved. But Congress recently began adding funding to the federal budget for this very purpose. In the 2022 fiscal year, $2 million was allocated toward child sexual abuse prevention research. This is a great start, but strikingly different to what we spend on punishmentfor every dollar that we spend on prevention research we allocate $2,700 toward incarceration. The latter figure doesnt include costs related to the detection and prosecution of crimes or the post-release costs associated with parole, sex offense registration, and public notification.

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Read More: These Men Say the Boy Scouts Sex Abuse Problem Is Worse Than Anyone Knew

We need to address this imbalance. There are over 37 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse living in the U.S. today. 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys will go on to experience sexual abuse before the age of 18, and while many will live healthy happy lives, survivors are at increased risk for debilitating psychological, physical, and financial harms. These statistics are so overwhelming, the ramifications so pervasive and complex, that we can feel powerless to do anything more than weve always done, which is lock up offenders. This myth about the inevitability of child sexual abuse leads us to overlook, and underfund, the development and dissemination of prevention strategies.

One of us directs the countrys leading center for child sexual abuse prevention research, the other has a decade of experience reporting on sexual abuse perpetration and harm. For the past couple of years, we have been working on a book about about how to better prevent child sexual abuse, which includes taking a close look at the history and impact of U.S. sex crime legislation. During this time, we have met many people who have experienced the devastating consequences of victimization. One of whom is a young man named Connor.

Connor (his name has been changed to protect his identity and that of his victim) was 10 when he began sexually abusing a six-year-old relative. He abused this boy at least five times over the next three years. When it was finally detected, Connor, then 13, was adjudicated in juvenile court of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He spent the next four years in juvenile prison and, at 17, became the youngest person committed to his states sex offense civil commitment program. Sex offense civil commitment is the involuntary and indefinite confinement of people convicted of sexual offenses in secure facilities following their prison sentence. It is ostensibly for treatment, though Connors program at the time was not housed in a hospital with rolling green grounds, but in a prison block originally built for death row inmates. The program director did not want Connor there, reasoning that he presented a low risk of reoffending and that his young age and slight build would make him vulnerable to the adult offenders at the facility.

The director was right. Within hours of Connors arrival an older resident tried to rape him. Sexual victimization became the norm during Connors four years in the facility. Adult menall of whom had been locked up for years or decadeswould expose themselves or masturbate in front of him. Theyd come up behind him when he was alone in his room and tell him how much they wanted to rape him.

I didnt know how to navigate it, Connor said. It was completely different from juvenile [prison]. Its a whole other level knowing the consequences are going to be worse than just a fist fight.

Connor was not innocent. He caused real harm to his young relative and action was needed to end the abuse, provide services to his victim, and guard against future harm. Yet there were opportunities to intervene before Connor began sexually offending, interventions that could have avoided these harms and the additional and unnecessary sexual victimization that Connor would go on to experience while incarcerated.

Connor was himself the victim of severe physical and sexual abuse in early childhood. While most victims of child sexual abuse do not go on to engage in abusive behavior, its also true that victimization is a significant risk factor for future perpetration, especially for boys.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, or TF-CBT, was developed to address trauma-related symptoms and disorders that are common among children and teens who experience sexual abuse or other adverse childhood experiences. At least 21 randomized controlled trials (the gold standard for evaluating such interventions) support the effectiveness of TF-CBT, and the federal government recognizes it as a Model Program; that is, a program with strong evidence of effectiveness. Connor and his family should have been offered this type of treatment but were not. Had they been, it might have prevented Connor from sexually abusing his younger relative, or prevented the escalation of that abuse to rape.

Even once Connors abusive behavior was uncovered there were optionsmore effective, more humane, and less costly ways to address it. Multi-systemic therapy is a family-focused and community-based treatment that has been shown to work with the hardest juvenile delinquency casesincluding those involving youth who have sexually offendedto reduce subsequent offending, improve family-child relationships, and to keep children out of prison and in school. Yet, like TF-CBT, multisystemic therapy was never offered to Connor or his family. Its symptomatic of a system that is firmly oriented towards punishment instead of prevention. Had Connor and his family received prevention and early intervention programs like these, the total cost would have been about $25,000. Instead, the state spent at least $750,000 locking Connor up after he had already caused harm.

Connor may seem like an isolated case, but as much as 70% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by other kids under the age of 18; and many of them are subjected to the same criminal consequences as adults. There are now primary prevention interventions that specifically target these kids, and that try to divert them from harming others and getting caught up in the criminal justice system. These include Shifting Boundaries, a middle-school violence prevention program that teaches students about the consequences of perpetrating physical or sexual violence against peers, the state laws and penalties governing sexual and physical violence, and the construction of gender roles. The program has been shownin randomized controlled trialsto prevent sexual violence perpetration of kids by kids. Stop It Now! is an organization focused on preventing child sexual abuse across all ages. It provides direct support with a confidential helpline, email, and chat services for youth and adults worried about their own thoughts or behaviors, as well as resources for people who are worried about the thoughts or behaviors of others. Neither Shifting Boundaries nor Stop It Now! receives federal support for dissemination.

In May 2020, the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health launched Help Wanted, an online resource for people concerned about their sexual attraction to childrena U.S. first. Though there are no age limits, Help Wanted is geared mainly toward adolescents and young adults. The website has been accessed more than 220,000 times since the program was made available, and the CDC recently awarded the center $1.6 million to evaluate its efficacy. Last year, the Geneva-based Oak Foundation awarded the Moore Centeralong with Michael Seto at the University of Ottawaa $10.3 million, five-year grant to identify and evaluate existing child sexual abuse perpetration prevention programs across the globe, with the goal of disseminating the most promising and scalable strategies. The Oak money is by far the largest private or federal grant ever awarded to child sexual abuse prevention research, and dwarfs the U.S. governments current commitment.

The U.S. governments recent support of child sexual abuse prevention research is an important step and a remarkable improvement from even just a few years ago. But $2 million is not enough to truly put a dent in a problem that affects one in nine children. We spend billions on incarceration each year; we should be spending much more to prevent harm from occurring in the first place. Prevention is possibleif we are willing to fund it.
A new poll shows that Americans support for sending weapons and economic assistance to Ukraine has dropped since the onset of Russias invasion of the country last year.

According to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 48 percent of Americans support sending weapons to Ukraine, a significant drop from May 2022, when about 60 percent supported sending Ukraine weapons. Twenty-nine percent in the new poll said they were opposed to sending weapons, while 22 percent said they did not support or oppose it.

When asked about sending government funds directly to Ukraine, Americans were about evenly split, according to the poll. Thirty-seven percent said they supported sending funds, 38 percent said they opposed it and 23 percent said they neither were in favor or opposed to it.

The U.S. has sent weapons and economic aid to Ukraine throughout the war, with President Biden recently committing to sending 31 Abrams tanks to the country.

Support for sending Ukraine aid has diminished among House Republicans, with some hesitant to sign off on more. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) previously said that a GOP majority would not send a blank check to Ukraine.

Only 19 percent of Americans in the survey released Wednesday said that they have a great deal of confidence in Biden to address the war in Ukraine, while 37 percent reported some confidence in the president and 43 percent said they hardly had any. Along party lines, 40 percent of Democrats said they had a great deal of confidence in Bidens handling, 50 percent reported some confidence in Biden and just 9 percent have hardly any.

More than three-quarters of Republicans reported that they hardly had any confidence in Biden to handle Ukraine.

In addition, 63 percent of respondents support imposing economic sanctions on Russia and 55 percent support accepting Ukrainian refugees into the U.S., both of which were a downtick from May 2022.

The Ukraine-Russia war is coming up on its first anniversary. Biden is preparing to travel to Poland later this month to mark the one-year milestone of the war. He is expected to give remarks about how the United States rallied support for Ukraine worldwide, and how the U.S. will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) - French lawyer Isabelle Dumond said she had never taken part in a demonstration against pension reforms before, as she joined compatriots who appear ready to fight for a better work-life balance after years of being pushed to work harder.

"I work in an office. I don't have to carry bricks all day. But I'm mentally exhausted by the pace, the productivity that's demanded of us," she told Reuters.

"For me, the reform would mean working an extra year and a half, but I can't take it anymore," the 56-year-old continued as she stood in front of the Paris opera house last Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, in a move he warns is vital to avoid the collapse of the creaking state pension system and ensure younger generations will not carry the burden of financing the old-age of the "baby boomer" generation.

The reform could yield an extra 17.7 billion euros ($19.18 billion) in annual pension contributions to plug the government's funding gap, according to Labour Ministry estimates. The left-wing opposition says the gap could be filled by taxing the rich and companies more.

For Macron there's a lot at stake. Failure to reform pensions would tarnish the rest of his second and final term and stop his reformist zeal dead in its tracks, government sources say.

However, after more than two decades of a 35-hour working week, which has pushed productivity rates in France above most of its European peers, the French are showing signs of burn-out and a change in attitude towards the workplace.

"The pandemic has forced the most privileged classes, those from the private sector, small managers, to re-think their relationship to work, something the working class had done a long time ago," Jeremie Peltier of the Jean Jaures Foundation think tank said.

THE 35-HOUR CURSE

Jean-Jaures foundation researchers found that although 60% of the French rated their job as "really important" in their lives in 1990, only 21% did so in October 2022.

Story continues

Moreover, 61% of the French say they'd rather earn less and have more free time. But in 2008, the reverse was true: 62% of the French said they'd rather earn more and have less free time.

The 35-hour work week, introduced in 2000, is exacerbating the current malaise, labour experts say. Reducing working time forced French companies to squeeze more out of their employees to keep up with their international competitors, by cutting break times for instance.

As a result, productivity in France rose 18% to $67.42 per hour worked in 2019 from 2000. This compares with a 16.8% increase in Britain over the same period to $59.52. French productivity was also ahead of Germany's $67.06 and Italy's $53.66, according to OECD figures.

But the productivity drive left France with one of the highest rates of burn-out in Europe, according to the Eurofound European Working Conditions Survey. France and Luxembourg were the only countries in Western Europe with a "high" rate of burn-out at above 3.25 on a scale of one to five in the 2018 study.

"France is one of the countries with the highest productivity and also one where we work the least," said Laurent Pietraszewski, who oversaw Macron's previous attempt at reforming pensions in 2019/2020.

"This intensity is one of the reasons why people feel burnt out," said Pietraszewski, who used to work in human resources at Auchan supermarkets and is now a consultant outside government.

This unease towards the workplace helps to explain why the French demonstrations against pension reforms are attracting bigger and more diverse crowds and morphing into a broader movement questioning the place of work in society, making it harder for Macron to get the genie back in the bottle.

As the government's bill continues to make its way through parliament, a fifth nationwide strike is scheduled for Thursday.

The government has been surprised by the huge turnout, with a protest on Jan. 31 attracting 1.27 million protesters across the country. The number of protesters swelled to over a million much faster than during the 2010 reforms that pushed the pension age to 62 from 60, for instance.

But this frustration with the workplace clashes with a president who pitched himself as the candidate of "work". He once said he didn't like the word "strenuous" when applied to work because "it implied that work is painful."

Macron's government hopes lower unemployment and looser labour laws will increase labour mobility and reduce the number of people who stay in jobs they don't like because they fear being jobless.

After years of chronically high unemployment, much above the rates in Germany and Britain, France is starting to make progress. At 7.2 percent at the end of 2022, unemployment hit a 15-year low. But it may not have dropped low enough and for long enough for French attitudes to change.

For Dumond, the lawyer, raising the retirement age feels like the last straw.

"Pension reform was a red line for me," she said.

(This story has been corrected to show that the retirement age rose two years to 64 from 62)

(Reporting by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday blocked a California law that prohibited employers from requiring their workers to resolve legal disputes in private arbitration, ruling that it conflicts with a federal arbitration statute.

The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed a victory to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobby, and other groups that sued California to challenge the measure.

"We are pleased that the 9th Circuit vindicated the strong federal policy favoring arbitration," Chamber of Commerce attorney Jennifer Dickey said in a statement.

The office of California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, which defended the law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

California in 2020 became the first state to ban mandatory arbitration of all employment-related disputes in the wake of the #MeToo movement. New York and New Jersey have passed laws prohibiting mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims, but California's statute was much broader.

In their lawsuit, the business groups argued that a U.S. law called Federal Arbitration Act, which generally requires the enforcement of arbitration agreements, must override the California law.

Critics of mandatory arbitration have said the process tends to favor employers and can discourage workers from bringing legal claims. But the chamber and other business groups have said it provides a more efficient and cheaper alternative to court proceedings, which benefits both workers and employers.

A trial court judge issued a preliminary order blocking the law. The 9th Circuit panel in 2021 reversed that ruling, with Judges Carlos Lucero and William Fletcher voting to keep the law in effect while Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta dissented.

The panel, however, subsequently decided to reconsider, and Fletcher switched sides in Wednesday's ruling to block the law. Fletcher did not write an opinion in the case, instead joining Ikuta, who said the California law showed "hostility towards arbitration that the FAA (Federal Arbitration Act) was enacted to overcome."

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Will Dunham and Alexia Garamfalvi)
The first step toward a landmark decision on taxpayer-funded religious schools advanced Tuesday, as the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City asked state officials for permission to open an online Catholic charter school.

Should the request be granted, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would be the first religious charter school to exist in the country, archdiocese officials said. It would be a free, state-funded public school educating students online.

With offices based at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City, St. Isidore of Seville aims to open for the 2024-25 academic year and serve an estimated 400 to 500 students K-12 across the state in its first year of operation.

Laura Schuler, senior director for Catholic Education at Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, present a proposal for the nation's first publicly funded Catholic charter school on Tuesday at a meeting of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at the Oklahoma History Center.

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, which oversees the state's six virtual charter schools, must decide no later than April 29 whether to approve the school's creation. Three sitting members of the five-seat board heard a presentation of the proposed school on Tuesday.

Whatever decision the board makes  to accept or deny  likely will prompt years of litigation, said Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which represents both the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa.

"No matter what happens here, our intention is to see this through," Farley said. "We're prepared for that long road. This is a major priority to us."

Students of any or no belief system could enroll in the school, but St. Isidore of Seville would provide a religious education based in Catholic doctrine, according to the archdiocese's application. The school could hire non-Catholic employees, but all staff members would be required to conduct themselves "in a manner consistent with the discipline and teachings of the Catholic Church."

Some Oklahoma schools don't let students wear tribal regalia. Lawmakers could end that

Laura Schuler, senior director for Catholic Education at Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, present a proposal for the nation's first publicly funded Catholic charter school on Tuesday at a meeting of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at the Oklahoma History Center.

Although the school would adopt an anti-discrimination policy, it would fully embrace Catholic teachings on sanctity of marriage, sexual orientation and gender identity, raising questions of whether its policies would correspond with federal protections for LGBTQ+ students and employees.

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Farley said it's "too early to even say" whether openly gay or transgender students would be admitted to the school.

Board Chairperson Robert Franklin said he hasn't decided how he'll vote but acknowledged there is nationwide intrigue over the decision.

"I think the foundational question that I'm asking is if you could (open the school) without the oversight of our bureaucratic board and without taxation ... why wouldn't you go ahead and begin to do that if that's the mission?" Franklin said after hearing the presentation.

Chairperson Robert Franklin speaks Tuesday during a meeting of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at the Oklahoma History Center.

Catholic schools mostly serve Oklahoma's large metropolitan areas, and the archdiocese would like to expand into rural communities through virtual education, said Lara Schuler, senior director for Catholic education at the Oklahoma City archdiocese.

If were competing against all other virtual schools but all of the other ones are free, thats a problem," Schuler said while presenting to the board. "The taxpayer dollars are paying for all of those other ones, but our parents are paying taxes, too.

Former Attorney General John O'Connor issued an opinion in December in support of religious institutions opening publicly funded charter schools, but opponents of the idea say the concept violates the U.S. Constitution and state law.

Oklahoma statute prohibits charter schools from being sectarian.

O'Connor contended the U.S. Supreme Court likely would find that state law unconstitutional in light of its recent rulings that allowed government funds to support a private school day care playground and tax credits for donations to private school scholarships.

The former attorney general issued his opinion a month before leaving office. His stance is non-binding unless a federal court upholds it.

Ryan Walters proposes ban on 'sexualized content' in school libraries. What that could mean for Oklahoma

Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor is pictured June 24, 2022, during a news conference in the Blue Room at the Capitol about the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who defeated O'Connor in last year's Republican primary, did not return a request for comment on whether he agrees with his predecessor's opinion.

Two national organizations opposed the former attorney general's opinion and urged the virtual charter school board to reject St. Isidore of Seville.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State said O'Connor's opinion is a "radical departure from well-established law." The group based in Washington, D.C., argued charter schools, like all public schools, are constitutionally prohibited from teaching religion.

"Granting this application and funding a charter school that teaches religion would be a sea change in the law and would upend Oklahoma's educational landscape," said Kenneth Upton, an Oklahoma native who is the senior litigation counsel for the group.

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt proposes $130M school voucher program. Will rural opposition sink it again?

Sherri Brown, Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee, left, and Kenneth Upton, litigation counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, listen Tuesday during a meeting of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at the Oklahoma History Center.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation contended a Catholic charter school would siphon taxpayer funds away from other Oklahoma public schools, "robbing students of a secular education."

Local public-school advocate Sherri Brown, of the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee, encouraged the board at its meeting Tuesday not to "sacrifice constitutional rights at the altar of school choice."

The archdiocese estimated start-up and year-one operations would cost $5.2 million, and it pledged to help pursue grant funds to ensure the school has enough money to launch, according to its application.

Named for the patron saint of the internet, St. Isidore of Seville could grow to 1,500 students in five years, school officials said.

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley first expressed intent in November 2021 to apply for a Catholic virtual charter school. The archdiocese already operates 22 schools, according to a letter the archbishop wrote to the board.

"Our rich experience with education in Oklahoma positions us well to administer a virtual charter school, and we are eager to continue our longstanding contribution to the public good through this new endeavor," Coakley wrote.

More:House Speaker Charles McCall says lawmakers are still out on Oklahoma school vouchers

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is pictured Dec. 11 at the top of Tepeyac Hill during an outdoor Mass and dedication of the hill at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City.

The application process was put on hold when the statewide virtual charter school board's executive director, Rebecca Wilkinson, requested an opinion from the attorney general on the matter.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said O'Connor's opinion "rightfully defends parents, education freedom, and religious liberty in Oklahoma."

The school's creation would be a watershed decision as Stitt and other high-ranking state officials attempt to pivot Oklahoma toward more expansive policies for educational options outside of traditional public schools.

The governor urged state lawmakers to spend $130 million to allow more families to home-school or send their children to private schools. House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said his chamber is unlikely to support the measure.

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nurias work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Archdiocese of OKC aims for first Catholic charter school in nation
Photo: Todd Williamson (Getty Images)

Update, 4:40 p.m.: Per Rolling Stones Cheyenne Roundtree, a judge has dismissed the case after the woman alleging Hammer choked her didnt appear at the court hearing today, nor did the actor.

Previously:

Read more

Just weeks after Armie Hammer said all of his sexual encounters hes had have been consensual in an exclusive tell-all with Airmail, the besmirched actor is facing a new sexual misconduct allegation, Rolling Stone reports.

A 26-year-old woman alleges that Hammer disregarded their agreed-upon safe word during sexual intercourse and choked her to the point of losing consciousness in the summer of 2022. Earlier this month, the unnamed woman was granted a temporary restraining order against Hammer, according to RS; shes now seeking to make it permanent after Hammer attempted to contact her at the end of January.

I would like for the contact to stop, the woman wrote in her application for the permanent restraining order. Should Hammer or a legal representative ignore the court summons and fail to appear on Wednesday, he risks arrest, and the temporary restraining order will be made permanent.

Hammers attorney denied the allegations as well as Rolling Stones report that Hammer was summoned to court on Wednesday. Armie does not know this person, has never heard of this person, and was in Los Angeles on the day when the alleged incident supposedly occurred in New York City, Andrew Brettler wrote to Jezebel in an email. We have photographs of him in L.A. on the date in question (since filing her action, the accuser has changed the date of the alleged incident claiming she made a mistake. We have photos of Armie in L.A. on the new date too.).

Armie hasnt even been served with court papers, his lawyer continued, noting that he expects the womans claims to be thrown out of court.

Story continues

Per Rolling Stone, the woman alleges that Hammers violent behavior worsened at the time they were seeing each other, but the one particular incident in which he choked her unconscious despite her repeated pleas to stop was the first instance she recalled feeling unsafe. This was the first time where I had felt that it went entirely too far because I begged for him to stop and deployed our safe word and tapped him on his shoulder. Hammer, she said, was using alcohol, ecstasy, and ketamine at the time.

Its not clear how long she maintained contact with Hammer, but the woman alleges that they had a consensual sexual relationship and practiced safe words in the event that their encounter became uncomfortable.

In the interview with AirMail, Hammer didnt acknowledge that the sexual encounters with any fellow public accusersEfrosina Effie Angelova, Courtney Vucekovich, and Paige Lorenzeoccurred without the womens consent. He also continued to deny any allegations of rape, instead, only taking accountability for treating his accusers poorly. I would have these younger women in their mid-20s, and Im in my 30s, he says. I was a successful actor at the time. They could have been happy to just be with me and would have said yes to things that maybe they wouldnt have said yes to on their own. Thats an imbalance of power in the situation.

Hammer also claimed the range of allegationsrape, mutilation, and cannibalistic kinkswaged against him since 2020 and their fallout have prompted suicidal ideations. I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark, he said. Angelova has since expressed doubt that he was telling the truth.

It seems so manipulative, because he knows his ocean story shut me up last time and evoked sympathy, and its like now hes trying it again, she recently said in an Instagram story.

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ASHEVILLE - The suspect in the city's first homicide this year was transferred from the Buncombe County Detention Center to prison custody Feb. 3, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.

Cody Lee Guyton, 30, faces first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon charges tied to the Jan. 18 death of Mackenzie Strickland, who was 27. Guyton and Strickland were friends, according to Strickland's girlfriend and his mother, who told the Citizen Times that the two argued over a $100 tattoo.

Guyton  who spent five years in prison for breaking and entering, larceny and habitual felon offenses  was released Dec. 3, the records say. Asheville police charged him with murder Jan. 19.

"It looks like (Guyton) was released on post-release supervision, had an infraction, they sent him back to prison," DAC spokesperson John Bull said.

Past reporting:Asheville police charge man with 1st-degree murder in Southside shooting

Cody Lee Guyton, charged with first-degree murder, speaks with Buncombe County Chief Public Defender Sam Snead.

Specifically, Guyton absconded, Bull said.

"It would have been a parole violation while he's coming to trial on the new charges," Bull said.

Guyton is being held at the Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury.

Asheville defense attorney Stephen Cash has been appointed to represent Guyton, according to the Capital Defender's Office in Durham. Cash declined to comment for this story.

More:Mother of Asheville homicide victim says he was trying to turn his life around

More:Buncombe County murder case of Candler woman who shot boyfriend ends in mistrial

In January, Buncombe County Chief Public Defender Sam Snead said that his office would give the case to the Capital Defender's Office because of a conflict of interest. Snead's office had represented Strickland multiple times, and Public Defender Courtney Booth had a notable encounter with Strickland the day he died, Snead said.

Booth previously confirmed the encounter and said that she saw Strickland at a shop called Plato's Closet, where he told her how well he was doing.

Story continues

"He wanted somebody to be proud," she told the Citizen Times in January. When I got to my car, I had a huge smile on my face."

Guyton is scheduled for an appearance in Buncombe County District Court on May 26.

Ryan Oehrli covers public safety, breaking news, courts and other beats for the Citizen Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville homicide suspect transferred back to prison custody
(Bloomberg) -- ASML Holding NV, a critical cog in the global semiconductor industry, accused a former China-based employee of stealing confidential information. Its the second such breach linked to China in less than a year and threatens to fan political tensions.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Dutch technology company, which makes machines needed to produce high-end chips used in everything from electric vehicles to military gear, initiated an internal investigation and tightened security controls after recently discovering the incident. It said on Wednesday that export controls may have been violated, exposing the company to a potential regulatory backlash.

ASML has informed us of this incident. An investigation is now underway into this and I await that, Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said. It is therefore very worrying that such a large and reputable company is affected by economic espionage.

The companys position as a crucial part of the supply chain for technology that makes the fastest, most powerful chips, has made it a target. Last year, ASML, which employs about 1,500 people in China, accused a Beijing-based firm of potentially stealing trade secrets in a theft dating back to at least 2015.

ASMLs most recent data breach involved technological information but not hardware and was carried out by a male employee in the last couple months, according to a person familiar with the details. Authorities in the US have also been notified, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing. A spokesman for the Commerce Department declined to comment.

The revelation comes just as the Netherlands and Japan agreed to restrict exports of some advanced chipmaking machinery to China. President Joe Bidens administration has said its essential for the US and its allies to block Beijing from acquiring technologies that could threaten global security.

Story continues

Tensions are already high after an alleged Chinese spy balloon hovered over US airspace before being shot down. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off a trip to Beijing over the incident. Hes considering a meeting with Chinas top diplomat in Germany later this week, according to people familiar with the matter.

How and Why the U.S. Says China Steals Technology: QuickTake

Its unclear in the latest disclosure if the data stolen could be used to develop lithography systems for chips and whether the individual had any connections to authorities in China or elsewhere. ASML, which is restricted from selling its most-advanced machines to China, said in its annual report that the theft isnt material to its business.

ASMLs shares declined 0.1% to 620.40 at 4:08 p.m. in Amsterdam.

The Veldhoven-based company is one of the few producers of the machines needed to make mid- to high-range semiconductors, and its the only manufacturer of lithography systems needed for the most cutting-edge chips.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink has resisted some of the restrictions on his companys ability to do business in China. He has warned that the country will ultimately develop its own domestic alternatives if it cannot buy from the West. China is ASMLs third-biggest market after Taiwan and South Korea.

ASML controlled more than 90% of the $17.1 billion global market for lithography equipment as of 2021, according to research firm Gartner Inc. The systems are used to shrink and then print patterns of transistors onto silicon wafers, which are then sliced into individual chips. A single machine can be the size of a bus and cost roughly $170 million.

ASML and its peers sell their equipment to chipmakers such as Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which supply companies like Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp.

Just five companies dominate the market for chip-making machinery. The three American companies  Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and KLA Corp.  were directly affected when Washington implemented sweeping restrictions on exports to China last year.

The Netherlands and Japan have agreed to similar restrictions in principle, which will constrain ASML and Tokyo Electron Ltd., the other two key players. Details of the agreement havent been made public. The new curbs will cover advanced lithography tools as well as other types of equipment, according to ASML.

We expect that it will take many months for the governments to write and enact new rules, it said in its annual report.

In the case disclosed last year, ASML accused Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Ltd. of wrongdoing dating back years. The Dutch company said that Dongfang  regarded by Chinese officials as one of the countrys most promising tech ventures  is related to a defunct Silicon Valley firm, Xtal Inc., which ASML sued for intellectual property theft.

In a 2018 trial in California, ASMLs attorney said that Dongfang and Xtal were essentially the same and worked in tandem toward the same goal: obtaining ASMLs technology and transferring it to China.

That technology was secured in sometimes audacious fashion: one engineer was accused of stealing all 2 million lines of source code for critical ASML software and then sharing part of it with Xtal and Dongfang employees in the US and China, according to transcripts of the proceedings.

On Wednesday, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he isnt aware of ASML accusing a former Chinese employee of misappropriating data.

--With assistance from Jordan Robertson, Jenny Leonard, Mayumi Negishi and Philip Glamann.

(Updates with trade minister comment in third paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- ASML Holding NV, a critical cog in the global semiconductor industry, accused a former China-based employee of stealing confidential information. Its the second such breach linked to China in less than a year and threatens to fan political tensions.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Dutch technology company, which makes machines needed to produce high-end chips used in everything from electric vehicles to military gear, initiated an internal investigation and tightened security controls after recently discovering the incident. It said on Wednesday that export controls may have been violated, exposing the company to a potential regulatory backlash.

ASML has informed us of this incident. An investigation is now underway into this and I await that, Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said. It is therefore very worrying that such a large and reputable company is affected by economic espionage.

The companys position as a crucial part of the supply chain for technology that makes the fastest, most powerful chips, has made it a target. Last year, ASML, which employs about 1,500 people in China, accused a Beijing-based firm of potentially stealing trade secrets in a theft dating back to at least 2015.

ASMLs most recent data breach involved technological information but not hardware and was carried out by a male employee in the last couple months, according to a person familiar with the details. Authorities in the US have also been notified, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing. A spokesman for the Commerce Department declined to comment.

The revelation comes just as the Netherlands and Japan agreed to restrict exports of some advanced chipmaking machinery to China. President Joe Bidens administration has said its essential for the US and its allies to block Beijing from acquiring technologies that could threaten global security.

Story continues

Tensions are already high after an alleged Chinese spy balloon hovered over US airspace before being shot down. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off a trip to Beijing over the incident. Hes considering a meeting with Chinas top diplomat in Germany later this week, according to people familiar with the matter.

How and Why the U.S. Says China Steals Technology: QuickTake

Its unclear in the latest disclosure if the data stolen could be used to develop lithography systems for chips and whether the individual had any connections to authorities in China or elsewhere. ASML, which is restricted from selling its most-advanced machines to China, said in its annual report that the theft isnt material to its business.

ASMLs shares declined 0.1% to 620.40 at 4:08 p.m. in Amsterdam.

The Veldhoven-based company is one of the few producers of the machines needed to make mid- to high-range semiconductors, and its the only manufacturer of lithography systems needed for the most cutting-edge chips.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink has resisted some of the restrictions on his companys ability to do business in China. He has warned that the country will ultimately develop its own domestic alternatives if it cannot buy from the West. China is ASMLs third-biggest market after Taiwan and South Korea.

ASML controlled more than 90% of the $17.1 billion global market for lithography equipment as of 2021, according to research firm Gartner Inc. The systems are used to shrink and then print patterns of transistors onto silicon wafers, which are then sliced into individual chips. A single machine can be the size of a bus and cost roughly $170 million.

ASML and its peers sell their equipment to chipmakers such as Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which supply companies like Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp.

Just five companies dominate the market for chip-making machinery. The three American companies  Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and KLA Corp.  were directly affected when Washington implemented sweeping restrictions on exports to China last year.

The Netherlands and Japan have agreed to similar restrictions in principle, which will constrain ASML and Tokyo Electron Ltd., the other two key players. Details of the agreement havent been made public. The new curbs will cover advanced lithography tools as well as other types of equipment, according to ASML.

We expect that it will take many months for the governments to write and enact new rules, it said in its annual report.

In the case disclosed last year, ASML accused Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Ltd. of wrongdoing dating back years. The Dutch company said that Dongfang  regarded by Chinese officials as one of the countrys most promising tech ventures  is related to a defunct Silicon Valley firm, Xtal Inc., which ASML sued for intellectual property theft.

In a 2018 trial in California, ASMLs attorney said that Dongfang and Xtal were essentially the same and worked in tandem toward the same goal: obtaining ASMLs technology and transferring it to China.

That technology was secured in sometimes audacious fashion: one engineer was accused of stealing all 2 million lines of source code for critical ASML software and then sharing part of it with Xtal and Dongfang employees in the US and China, according to transcripts of the proceedings.

On Wednesday, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he isnt aware of ASML accusing a former Chinese employee of misappropriating data.

--With assistance from Jordan Robertson, Jenny Leonard and Mayumi Negishi.

(Updates with trade minister comment in third paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- A China-based former employee of ASML Holding NV  a critical cog in the global semiconductor industry  stole data from a software system that the corporation uses to store technical information about its machinery.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The breach occurred in a repository that includes details of the lithography systems critical to producing some of the worlds most advanced chips, said people with knowledge of the situation. It was the first glimpse at the nature of the theft disclosed earlier Wednesday by ASML, which said a former worker in China had stolen confidential information but didnt elaborate on what kind of data were taken.

The data came from a so-called product life cycle management program known as Teamcenter, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isnt public. The tool is used internally, they said.

Teamcenter serves as a shared storehouse of technical information that allows different groups of employees to collaborate and manage their product development, according to the website of Siemens, which supplies the software. It allows for common access to a single repository of all product-related knowledge, data and processes, according to the website.

ASML declined to comment beyond the statement it issued earlier on Wednesday, in which the company said it didnt believe the theft was material to its business. Siemens didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The breach involved technological information but not hardware and was carried out by a male employee in the last couple of months, according to another person familiar with the details. Authorities in the US have been notified, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing. The US is deeply concerned about allegations of economic espionage, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea Kendler said in Tokyo on Thursday, declining to comment on the specifics of the incident.

Story continues

This is the second such breach that ASML has linked to China in less than a year and comes as the US is pressuring other nations including the Netherlands to help keep Chinas chipmaking abilities from advancing. Tensions are already high after an alleged Chinese spy balloon hovered over US airspace before being shot down. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off a trip to Beijing  but was considering a meeting with Chinas top diplomat in Germany this week, people familiar with the matter said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he wasnt aware of ASMLs accusation that a former Chinese employee had misappropriated data.

The Dutch technology company, which makes machines needed to produce high-end chips used in everything from electric vehicles to military gear, has initiated an internal investigation and tightened security controls after discovering the most recent incident. It said on Wednesday that export controls may have been violated, exposing the company to a potential regulatory backlash.

The companys position as a crucial part of the supply chain for technology that makes the fastest, most powerful chips, has made it a target. Last year, ASML, which employs about 1,500 people in China, accused a Beijing-based firm of potentially stealing trade secrets in a theft that dates back years.

In January, the Netherlands and Japan agreed to join the US in restricting exports of some advanced chipmaking machinery to China. President Joe Bidens administration has said its essential for the US and its allies to block Beijing from acquiring technologies that could threaten global security.

Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in a statement that its very worrying that such a large and reputable company is affected by economic espionage.

Its unclear whether the ex-employee who stole the data had any connections to authorities in China or elsewhere. ASML, which is restricted from selling its most-advanced machines to China, said in its annual report that the theft isnt material to its business.

The Veldhoven-based company is one of the few producers of the machines needed to make mid- to high-range semiconductors. Its the only manufacturer of lithography systems needed to shrink and then print patterns of transistors onto silicon wafers, which are then sliced into individual chips. A single machine can be the size of a bus and cost roughly $170 million.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink has warned that China will ultimately develop its own domestic alternatives if it cant buy from the West. China is ASMLs third-biggest market after Taiwan and South Korea. ASML and its peers sell their equipment to chipmakers such as Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which supply companies like Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp.

ASML has previously accused Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Ltd. of obtaining ASMLs technology and transferring it to China. That technology was secured in a sometimes audacious fashion: One engineer was accused of stealing all 2 million lines of source code for critical ASML software and then sharing part of it with employees at Dongfang and a related company in the US, according to transcripts of the proceedings.

--With assistance from Debby Wu.

(Updates with comment from US Commerce official)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Update, 1 p.m. Wednesday: Magnolia Gallagher was located in Fresno and safely reunited with her family, the Atascadero Police Department said.

Original story:

The Atascadero Police Department is asking the public to be on the lookout for an at-risk missing teen girl.

According to a news release, Magnolia Gallagher, 15, reportedly left her residence at 9 a.m. on Monday. She may be en route to the Fresno area with an unknown male juvenile, police said.

She is described as a white female with long brown hair believed to be wearing a tan jacket, according to a news release.

Gallagher is considered to be at risk due to her age and current mental state, according to the release.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Atascadero Police Department at 805-461-5051.
The Athens-Clarke County Courthouse is closed for the remainder of the week while bug exterminators address an outbreak of bed bugs found inside the building.

Athens-Clarke County issued the message late Tuesday after the pests were found in areas of the building."

Superior Court Chief Judge Eric Norris said Wednesday morning he has prepared an order closing the building, but that some court services will still be available this week. Jury trials scheduled for the week have been cancelled.

Oconee Blotter: 'One more step' and homeowner expects to shoot intruder

FBI sting:North Carolina man convicted of heroin distribution in Athens trial; caught in FBI sting

The Clerk of Courts office will still be able to accept electronic filings, Norris said, and a judge will be available for other emergency needs such as temporary protection orders and other orders needed on a timely basis.

Well continue to do the operation, but just wont be bringing the public in on a large-scale basis, Norris said. "It should be open Monday, but Sunday I'll follow up and make sure everything is ready to go."

Bed bugs feed on blood and cause itchy bites, which irritate their human hosts, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bed bugs are considered a public-health pest, but they are not known to transmit or spread disease, the EPA reported on its website.

The government reported that due to the number of visitors and employees who enter the courthouse, the source of the bugs is not known.

Clarke County Sheriff John Q. Williams

Clarke County Sheriff John Q. Williams said Wednesday he learned about the bugs late Tuesday and he called for an inspection of the jail.

As of now weve already inspected the jail and the best we can tell is it is not affecting the jail, he said.

Athens-Clarke Communications Director Jeff Montgomery said Wednesday that evidence of the bugs have been found on the first three floors of the courthouse

The bugs were initially located by a visiting attorney who noticed one on the first floor and brought it to the attention of the facilities staff, according to Montgomery.

"Were very appreciative of this guest of the courthouse and any resident who brings issues of concern about our facilities to our attention to investigate and mitigate if necessary," Montgomery said.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Bed bugs cause closure of Athens courthouse for rest of week
Attorneys who claimed that New-Indy Containerboard was releasing toxins into the Catawba River filed a lawsuit Monday.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claims the company in Catawba is releasing dangerous chemicals called dioxins into the Catawba River.

RELATED: Data claims toxins from New Indy plant near state line are seeping into Catawba River

Attorneys for residents in the area first made that claim in October 2022 in a letter sent to New-Indy Containerboard and South Carolina health officials.

At that time, a statement from New-Indy Containerboard said recent groundwater monitoring found no hazardous levels of dioxin on mill property.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said extensive data showed no indication of the release of dioxins into the Catawba River

New-Indy shared the following statement with Channel 9 in response to the lawsuit:

Upon acquiring the property in 2018, the company did its own assessment and voluntarily agreed with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to locate, monitor and contain dioxins produced by previous owners. Since then, New-Indys substantial efforts to ensure that no dioxins migrate from its property have been affirmed by DHEC and its own environmental studies.

The company maintains that accusations by the attorneys who filed the case are baseless and misleading, intended more to draw additional plaintiffs than serving the public good.

VIDEO: Behind-the-scenes: New-Indy paper mill shows how it reduces foul order at state line
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 Hampshires highest court to order the panel to reconsider it.

Smarts longtime attorney, Mark Sisti, argued the five-member council did not spend any time poring over Smarts 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.

Im 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 of 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.

Story continues

The attorney generals office opposed Smarts 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 councils 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.

Im 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 has been rehabilitated. She apologized to Gregory Smarts family.

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
The Ukrainian military is preparing for an attack by the Russian occupiers

"France also announced that it will work with Australia to ramp up 155 millimeter ammunition production to support Ukraine," Austin said.

Read also: France and Australia to manufacture artillery shells for Ukraine

Read also: NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels for ninth Ramstein format meeting

54 countries took part in the ninth Ramstein meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 14.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that partner nations pledged to supply Ukraine with more air-defense systems, tanks, artillery systems and ammunition, as well as to expand military training programs for Ukrainian soldiers.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Its Baftas week, meaning the starriest names in cinema are dusting off their gladrags and getting ready to hit the red carpet.

This years awards ceremony will take place away from the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in seven years. The 2023 show will go ahead on Sunday 19 February at the Royal Festival Hall within Londons Southbank Centre.

Following a two-year hiatus from the awards, Prince William and Kate Middleton are set to attend the star-studded show.

All Quiet on the Western Front leads with 14 nominations, followed by The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once, which both got 10 nominations.

You can find the full list of the nominees here.

Heres a brief rundown of everything you need to know about the Bafta Film Awards 2023....

When and where is the ceremony?

The Bafta Film Awards will take place on Sunday 19 February at the Royal Festival Hall within Londons Southbank Centre. It is the first time the ceremony will not be held at the Royal Albert Hall in seven years.

How to watch the awards:

The Baftas will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer between 7pm and 9pm.

Who is hosting?

Richard E. Grant (Getty Images)

This years awards will be hosted by British actor Richard E Grant. The star follows in the footsteps of Rebel Wilson, who hosted the show in 2022.

Im an unabashed fan of movies and of talent and always have been. Ive never been disingenuous or, you know, blase about that, he said when the news was announced.

I probably have to restrain myself from permanently taking selfies with every nominee and winner coming up on the stage, he admitted.

From that point of view, I am the right fit for the job, hopefully, he added.

This Morning presenter Alison Hammond will present the Bafta studio, a new behind-the-scenes stream for the awards.

Who is nominated?

Most nominated film All Quiet on the Western Front is up against The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once andTar for Best Film.

Paul Mescal received a nomination for his role in indie film Aftersun. Hell compete with Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Daryl McCormack and Bill Nighy for Best Leading Actor.

Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett will go up against Michelle Yeoh, Voila Davis, Emma Thompson, Ana De Armas and Danielle Deadwyler for Best Leading Actress.

You can find the full list of the nominees here.
By Brendan O'Boyle and Jasper Ward

(Reuters) - Caribbean leaders will appeal for international assistance on Haiti at an annual meeting in the Bahamas later this week, the prime minister of the host nation said Tuesday.

Haiti will be a "prominent priority" on the agenda for the Feb. 15-17 meeting in Nassau, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis told a news conference, adding the goal was a "Haitian-led solution".

The 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise created a power vacuum that has emboldened armed gangs and exacerbated overlapping humanitarian crises.

Haiti is one of CARICOM's 15 members, which includes Montserrat, an overseas territory of Great Britain.

"We do not have the resources to be able to deal with the Haiti problem ourselves, and we do need outside help," Davis said, urging Canada and the United States "to come to the fore to help."

Leaders from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) regional bloc will meet alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a U.S. delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols.

Trudeau last month told reporters in Mexico City that Canada was "working with partners across the Caribbean and indeed, with the United States and Mexico to ensure that if the situation starts to deteriorate, we will have options."

Haiti's government and top United Nations officials have called for an international force to support Haitian police in their struggle against gangs, which have become the de facto authorities in parts of the country.

Still, regional leaders have been cautious about what kind of international response to pursue given Haiti's troubled history of foreign intervention.

"What we seek to have done is to stabilize the country sufficiently enough to allow for free and fair elections," Davis said.

The agenda for CARICOM's 44th heads of government meeting will also feature discussions on migration, climate change, food security, arms and drug trafficking, and healthcare.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Boyle and Jasper Ward; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Marco Goecke stands in the foyer of the Hanover State Opera House. Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images

A German ballet director issued a public apology after smearing dog poop on a critic's face.

Marco Goeke said he got caught up in the heat of the moment during the Saturday incident.

But Goecke's apology also attempted to justify his reasons for the bizarre act.

The German ballet director who made headlines this week for an absurdist response to a negative review issued a stunning statement on Tuesday, publicly apologizing for smearing dog feces in a critic's face, while also attempting to justify his reasons for escalating the excrement-filled encounter.

The Hanover State Opera suspended choreographer Marco Goecke from his role as ballet chief on Monday following the confrontation between him and critic Wiebke Huster in the institution's foyer on Saturday. The theatre had called on Goecke to publicly apologize, accusing him of causing "massive damage" to the opera house and its ballet program.

"I would like to apologize sincerely to all concerned, first and foremost to Ms. Huster, for my absolutely unacceptable act," Goecke said in a statement obtained by German media outlet NDR. "In retrospect, I am clearly aware that this was a disgraceful act in the heat of the moment and an overreaction."

But in his apparent apology, Goecke quickly pivoted to critiquing members of the media, asking them to "rethink a certain form of destructive and hurtful reporting that damages the whole cultural sector."

The choreographer said he felt personally attacked by Huster's repeated criticism of his work, saying her "often nasty" reviews have been a staple of his life for 20 years.

"I don't think any hard-working person would put up with that for long and I really stand behind that," Goecke said.

He also blamed nerves resulting from staging two successive premieres in a short period of time as a reason he "finally blew [his] top."

"I also ask for a certain understanding at least for the reasons why this happened," Goecke wrote.

His Tuesday statement also elucidated one of the more bizarre mysteries of the incident as Goecke explained why he had dog feces on him in the first place.

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"My old dachshund made a pile and I put it in a bag and wanted to dispose of it outside," he wrote.

The director said he then met Huster during the break of a ballet evening to confront her. As the conversation quickly escalated, Goecke pulled the bag out and smeared it on Huster's face, he said, acting in the heat of the moment.

Huster maintained the attack was premeditated, telling NRD that Goecke's apology was "highly unacceptable," and arguing that there was "no excuse for the physically brutal violence" she said she endured.

German media reported that Huster filed a criminal complaint and Goecke now faces an investigation into allegations of bodily harm and slander.

The subject of Huster's scathing review was Goecke's new show, "In the Dutch Mountains," which the critic compared to being "driven insane and killed by boredom."

Before shoving feces in her face, Goecke reportedly threatened to ban Huster from the premises and accused her negative write-up of contributing to ticket cancellations at the Hanover State Opera.

Read the original article on Insider
MILAN (AP)  No one was more surprised than Daniel Barenboim himself at the impromptu homecoming to Milans Teatro alla Scala as a last-minute sub just two weeks after he formally stepped down as the Berlin's State Opera's music director after 30 years.

A towering figure in classical music, the 80-year-old conductor and pianist got a call at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday with an unexpected invitation to conduct three Mozart concerts, after Daniel Harding canceled for family reasons. By Wednesday, Barenboim  who left his Berlin post for health reasons  was running rehearsals at La Scala, a theater where he worked for nearly a decade, as chief conductor and then musical director.

Its as if I had been away for one week. I was very touched, really, Barenboim told The Associated Press, saying more than the faces, he found familiarity in the sound.

There is no question his health remains a chief concern after being diagnosed with what he has described only as a serious neurological condition. He moves slowly and takes his time standing up. People who have watched him in rehearsal, however, say his energy is apparent as soon as he picks up the baton.

Despite the illness, Barenboim is determined to inhabit the conductors podium as much as possible  even if it means doing so sitting down, which he did for a New Year's Concert in Berlin, and which he may do again in Milan. We will take it day by day," he said.

Barenboim received a standing ovation and more than five minutes of applause at the end of Wednesday night's performance, which he conducted from a seated position. The musicians stomped their feet in appreciation as he came out for final bows.

I know I am expected to say this illness changed my life. No," he insisted. Things that were very important to me as a musician before are still as important. Things that were not important are still not important. I cant say I feel perfectly, but I feel well enough to conduct tomorrow, and I hope Thursday and Saturday. And next we will see.

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Piano is another matter. He has only performed twice publicly in the last year, he said. If he plays in private, well, he wants to keep that his business.

What is clear is that at no time during his seven-decade career traversing the globe, commanding orchestras from Berlin to Milan, Chicago to Paris, did Barenboim ever consider slowing down his frenetic pace. That is until his health issues forced him to.

You know, I never felt my age. I never took into consideration that I was not 20, or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 anymore," Barenboim said. I have been hit, but I feel well, and I can make music. I am very happy making music."

Giving up the Berlin State Opera, he said, saddened him. But it was necessary," he said. It is a full-time job. And this I cant do anymore. I dont want to do it anymore.

Maintaining ties, Barenboim will conduct two concerts with the Berlin State Opera's orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, later this month, and looks to do more. I don't need to hope. I will do it, he said.

Barenboim made his first public performance at age 7 in his native Argentina.

His extraordinary biography traces a broad swath of the geopolitical history of the 20th Century, from his Jewish grandparents fleeing Russian pogroms in the early 1900s to his parents' decision to move with him to the newly created Jewish state of Israel when he was 10 because, he said, they wanted him to live as part of a majority, not part of a minority.

He first became aware of the persecution of Jews en route to Israel. His parents took the young Barenboim to Salzburg, for a master class, but would not allow him to accept an invitation to play in Germany because the memory of the Nazi Holocaust was too near. He still struggles to understand why Austria, Hitler's birthplace that annexed with Nazi Germany, was a yes, and Germany a no to his parents.

Fast-forward decades, and Berlin has been his home for 30 years, and his work reviving the Berlin State Opera, located in what is former East Berlin, is widely credited with relaunching cultural life in Germany after reunification.

Even against such historical sweep, Barenboim is troubled by the world around him. Putins war in Ukraine, which he struggles to comprehend. The state of affairs in Israel. And the decision by some in the West to isolate Russian musicians, which he does not see as justified. Not all Russians are anti-Ukraine, he said.

Lets face it, we dont live in a very spiritual time nowadays. The spiritual dimension has diminished, in all ways," Barenboim said. I think it is very sad, and I hope its only a transition. Ive known the world since the 1950s. For better or worse, I have always been a very happy person to visit the universe. But it has become very matter-of-fact, I find. Very material.

He believes people could find salve in music, but that many, even musicians, are too hurried to take time to appreciate it.

People dont know how to listen to music. They dont have to know the intricate, technical compositional details. But you must concentrate when you listen. You cant look at the phone and do other things," Barenboim said. And I think youre supposed to look for this spiritual condition that music can give you. It doesnt come by itself.

Barenboim is continuing his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he began with writer Edward Said, with plans to conduct this summer in Salzburg and Lucerne, and the Barenboim-Said music academy in Berlin, which launched in 2017.

Both bring together musicians from countries that have historically been enemies, to promote dialogue.

He finds their level of cooperation exemplary, and is especially impressed by the students at the academy. He recounts recently watching a performance at the academy: a Palestinian student on the clarinet, an Israeli pupil of Ethiopian origin the first violin, a Syrian the second violin, an Iranian the viola, and the cellist was Israeli.

To see this quintet, with what understanding of each other, and what each one is doing and contributing, was heart-warming," he said, pausing to consider. Which means there is hope.

Barenboim's third Milan appearance on Saturday, featuring three Mozart symphonies, will be live streamed on La Scalas new streaming service, La Scala TV.
(Reuters) -Danish pharmaceuticals company Bavarian Nordic has agreed to buy a portfolio of travel vaccines from Emergent BioSolutions Inc for up to $380 million, it said on Wednesday after delivering an upbeat outlook for 2023.

The company said it would acquire a typhoid fever vaccine, one against cholera and a Chikungunya virus treatment that is in Phase III trials.

There are no approved vaccines against Chikungunya as yet, the company said, adding that analysts peg potential annual income from the vaccine at $500 million.

"Travel vaccines are seeing a rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic," the company said.

Bavarian Nordics makes the only approved mpox vaccine and started receiving massive orders last year as the virus became a global issue.

The company expects 2023 revenue of about 6 billion Danish crowns ($863 million) against the 3.15 billion crowns in preliminary 2022 results, with 4.4 billion crowns coming from mpox and smallpox vaccined contracts alone.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are expected to reach 2.2 billion crowns this year, up from 329 million crowns in the preliminary results for 2022.

The guidance excludes any impact from the acquisitions, it added.

($1 = 6.9526 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Boleslaw Lasocki in GdanskEditing by David Goodman)
New Delhi  Dozens of government tax officials showed up Wednesday at the BBC's offices in India for a second consecutive day as part of a "survey" being conducted over alleged tax evasion by the British broadcaster. Indian news reports said laptops and mobile phones belonging to several journalists and employees were seized on Tuesday from BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai by the officials.

India's Income Tax Department said the "survey" was being carried out "in view of the BBC's deliberate non-compliance with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits," calling the broadcaster a "repeat offender."

Police officers and security guards stand at the gate of a building housing the BBC office in New Delhi, India, February 14, 2023. / Credit: Altaf Qadri/AP

The BBC said it was "fully co-operating" with the tax authorities.

"We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the broadcaster said in a statement. "Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India."

In an email to employees in India, the BBC urged all but its broadcast department staff to work from home for the time being. The email noted that while no employees were compelled to answer questions about their personal income, "they should answer other salary-related queries" and "answer questions comprehensively."

The searches, which the tax officials insisted should be described as "surveys" and not raids or searches for technical reasons, come just weeks after the BBC aired a documentary in the U.K. critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the 'India Energy Week 2023' event in Bengaluru, India, Feb. 6, 2023. / Credit: Aijaz Rahi/AP

The documentary, "India: The Modi Question," examines the premier's role in deadly religious riots in Gujarat in 2002, when he was the chief minister of the western Indian state. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed during the riots. Modi faced allegations of complicity in the violence but he was absolved of all charges by Indian courts in 2013.

The Indian government government banned any airing of the documentary in the country last month, calling it "a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative."

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The BBC said its documentary was "rigorously researched" and it has stood by all of the information presented.

Security personnel block the main gate of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, India, January 25, 2023, amid tensions over a student group's plan to screen a banned documentary that examines Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots. / Credit: Manish Swarup/AP

India's opposition Congress party condemned the tax department's "survey" of the BBC's offices in the country, calling them "intimidation tactics."

"The IT raid at BBC's offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism," Congress leader K.C. Venugopal wrote on Twitter.

The IT raid at BBCs 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.  K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) February 14, 2023

While tax officials called the searches "routine," Modi's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at the BBC for "spewing venom against India" and said the Income Tax department should be allowed to do its job.

"India's constitution gives the BBC a right to practice unbiased journalism, but I wish to give examples of what kind of an agenda is practiced in the garb of journalism," Gaurav Bhatia, a BJP spokesperson said during a news conference while the searches were being carried out.

"What kind of a reporting is that [sic] the BBC described a Kashmiri terrorist commander as a charismatic young militant?" Bhatia asked, citing an example of what his party views as the BBC's "anti-India agenda."

He said the BBC had "unleashed the most venomous attack against our country."

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the U.S. government was aware of the "search of the BBC offices in Delhi by Indian tax authorities," but referred to Indian authorities for any details.

"Broadly we support the importance of free press around the world," Price added. "We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world."

In a statement, the Editors Guild of India, an organization that advocates for press freedom, blasted the tax authorities' "survey" as 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."

Last week, India's Supreme Court rejected a petition by a right-wing political group to completely ban the BBC in the country over the Modi documentary. The judges said the petition was "entirely misconceived and has no merit."

Oprah Winfrey reveals new book club selection, "Bittersweet"

Cost of car insurance up nearly 15% from 2022

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Bella Ramsey has opened up about gender fluidity and her non-binary identity.

The 19-year-old actor stars as spunky Ellie in HBOs hit apocalyptic video game adaptation, The Last of Us, alongside Pedro Pascals straight-faced Joel.

After an outbreak decimates America, the two are forced to make a dangerous and life-threatening trek across the country.

Ahead of the series January debut, Ramsey spoke to The New York Times, explaining that her gender has always been very fluid.

Im very much just a person, she said. Being gendered isnt something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldnt care less.

In a new interview with GQ UK, Ramsey further addressed how her non-binary identity influenced her character.

(She elected to use she/her pronouns for the interview, telling the publication that she doesnt mind what pronouns are used for her).

Bella Ramsey as Ellie in The Last of Us' (HBO)

Ramsey revealed that for 90 per cent of the filming process, she wore a chest binder, which she said helped her focus better on set.

Which probably isnt healthy, she admitted. Like, please bind safely.

She said she shared many conversations with her super supportive co-star Pascal regarding sexuality and gender.

They werent always deep: they could be funny and humorous, the whole spectrum. We were just very honest and open with each other, Ramsey said.

Before landing her role on The Last of Us, Ramsey led the 2022 comedy Catherine Called Birdy and the drama Becoming Elizabeth, both of which had her wear dresses and corsets.

I felt super powerful in that. Playing these more feminine characters is a chance to be something so opposite to myself, and its really fun, Ramsey added.

This is what bothers me more than pronouns: being called a young woman or a powerful young woman, young lady, but Im just not [that].

The Last of Us airs new episodes Sundays on HBO Max in the US and Mondays on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
Silvio Berlusconi, former Prime Minister of Italy, who was criticised for his recent statements about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, now says that he has always been on the side of the Ukrainian people.

Source: Berlusconi on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "Lets look at the facts. We have always supported the Ukrainian people, we have always voted without any doubt or hesitation in Italy and Europe that we need to support Ukraine by sending funds and weapons."

"I have always been and am on the side of the Ukrainian people and peace."

Details: Berlusconi has also expressed his hopes that the diplomatic ending of "this war, very dangerous for all of us" will be found in the near future.

"I have only offered a big Marshall Plan for restoration of Ukraine as a possible diplomatic way of ending this conflict that is, and I repeat again, very dangerous for all of us," he said, meaning his offer to help Ukraine only with restoration and not weapons.

Background: It was reported earlier that Berlusconi said that he would not meet Zelenskyy if he still was the Prime Minister, while commenting on the meeting of Meloni and Zelenskyy at the EU Summit in Brussels.

While voting at the regional elections in Lombardia, Berlusconi added that if Zelenskyy stopped "attacking" two regions in the east of Ukraine, the Russian invasion of Ukraine would not happen at all.

Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to this and stated that by spreading Russian propaganda, the former Italian Prime Minister is encouraging Russia to continue its crimes against Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Jim Biden, the brother of the president, reportedly was enlisted to help settle a business dispute between a U.S. construction company and the Saudi government because of his relation to thenvice president Joe Biden.

The negotiations, involving the Philadelphia-based Hill International and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, took place in 2012 and yielded a $132 million settlement, according to May 2021 affidavits obtained by the Daily Mail that revealed Bidens brothers role.

Jim Biden became engaged after Hill and its attorneys got into a legal disagreement over the payout from the Saudis. Three law firms, R.L. Walker & Co., Lankford & Reed, and Poblete Tamargo, were originally hired by Hill to help collect the massive sum of money in damages arising out of a construction project claim in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government owed Hill the money for its work building desalination plants in the country in the 1980s.

One firm, Lankford & Reed, alleged that Hill recruited Jim Biden in 2011 to broker a secret agreement with the Saudis to settle the dispute and renege on its 40 percent payment promise to Lankford that was stipulated in their contract. A February 2011 contract obtained by the Daily Mail details the terms of the firms fees, stating that Lankford would be entitled to 40% of the recovery. It was signed by Thomas Lankford of the law firm and Hill CEO Irvin Richter.

Then in July 2017, a disgruntled Lankford hired Thomas Sullivan, a former Treasury Department official, to take a deeper look at the services Jim Biden provided to Hill.

In an interview, Jim Biden told Sullivan that he was hired to help with Hills business interests in Saudi Arabia, according to Sullivans affidavit. Sullivan said the presidents brother said he was often sent to meetings to represent Hill because of course, the name didnt hurt,' suggesting the Biden name carried considerable influence.

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, Sullivan said of his conversation with Jim Biden. 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.

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After Sullivans discussion with Jim Biden, his wife, Sara Biden, allegedly told the private investigator that her husband and Joe Biden were very close and told each other everything.

In a separate affidavit, Lankford claimed Richter told him he had hired Jim Biden because the Saudis would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal. Biden led multiple delegations to Saudi Arabia during his vice-presidential tenure. Lankford said the law firms were excluded from Jim Bidens meeting with the Saudi government in Riyadh.

Jim Bidens bargaining with the Saudi regime is likely to invite the scrutiny of the House Oversight Committee, now led by the GOP, as it probes how the Biden family potentially abused its political clout in overseas dealings.

More from National Review
Yuriy Boyko

The journalists point out that, although the lawmaker has no official business assets, and his wife owns only Kyivs Stolychna (Capital) Real Estate company, the Boyko family erected large houses in the villages of Ivankovychi and Hnidyn, as well as on the coast of the Kyiv Reservoir outside Kyiv itself, while the politicians wife bought more than 50 hectares of land in Kyiv Oblast in 2020.

Read also: Naftogaz plans to increase gas production by 1 bcm in 2023

Boyko also travels with an escort car and uses security services, though he has not officially declared either. In a comment to journalists, he called his escort car surveillance.

Read also: Government transfers $345 million of Canadian funds to Naftogaz for gas purchases

Journalists, citing data from Cypriot auditors, suggest that Boyko may be associated with the Cyprus-based San Posidanius Investments Limited firm. It owns several energy assets in Ukraine, which have previously been unofficially linked to Boyko, in particular 75% of the shares of Volynoblenergo, 100% of Kharkiv TPP-5, 100% of KZR Petroleum (gas fields in Ukraine), 50% of Azov Petroleum LLC (gas fields in Ukraine, partner  former MP Vadym Novynskyi), etc. In 2020, Boykos son Anatoliy officially became the ultimate beneficiary of those 75% of Volynoblenergo shares.

Until at least 2018, Boykos wife received a salary in rubles from the business of Russian citizen Miron Gorilovskiy, the largest producer of polymer pipes in Russia, which received contracts for projects in occupied Crimea, reports Bihus.Info. Vira Boyko also owns an apartment in downtown Moscow.

Ten days before the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gorilovskiys share in the Ukrainian plant was transferred to the head of Eurotrubplast Trading House LLC Ihor Strilets, who worked under the leadership of Yuriy Boyko at JSC Naftogaz of Ukraine in 2004.

Read also: Naftogaz wins grant of EUR 188 million in additional non-repayable funding from EBRD

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At the same time, Strilets told journalists that he had crossed paths with Boyko only at work in Naftogaz, while the lawmaker himself declared that he was allegedly not familiar with Strilets at all.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Feb. 7 that the government would reconsider the issue of depriving Boyko of the title of Hero of Ukraine, which he received from the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in 2004.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
By Manas Mishra

(Reuters) -Biogen Inc Chief Executive Officer Christopher Viehbacher said on Wednesday he is banking on high-profile launches of Alzheimer's disease treatment Leqembi and depression drug zuranolone, as well as deals, to help the company return to revenue growth.

Industry veteran Viehbacher joined the U.S. biotech in November, at a time when sales have been hit by competition for top-selling drugs such as Tecfidera for multiple sclerosis and Spinraza for spinal muscular atrophy.

A controversial approval and problematic launch of previous Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm, which like Leqembi was developed with Eisai Co Ltd, have further dented investor sentiment.

"Over the last couple of years, the company has lost its way somewhat and now it is in a declining revenue situation," Viehbacher told reporters at a briefing.

"So the first order of the day is really to restore the growth of the company."

Biogen shares were off about 4% at $277.10 in morning trading.

Biogen sales are expected to decline by mid-single digit percentages in 2023 after they fell nearly 7% to $2.54 billion in the fourth quarter.

The company expects full U.S. approval for Leqembi by summer or late this year, and possibly broader insurance coverage by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services thereafter.

It said costs related to the drug's launch are likely to offset "modest" sales this year.

Biogen is also hoping to gain U.S. approval of depression treatment zuranolone this year.

The company will also seek to bolster its newer franchises of psychiatry, immunology and rare diseases through deals and partnerships, the new CEO said, and will be looking to cut costs.

"I tell people well, there wasn't a lot of point hiring me if you don't want to go do deals," Viehbacher, a former Sanofi CEO who was instrumental in the company's $20 billion deal for Genzyme in 2011, told analysts.

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"I think there is now an openness within the company to at least look at (deals) now."

Biogen forecast full-year adjusted profit of $15 to $16 per share, compared with analysts' estimates of $15.72 per share.

Fourth-quarter revenue fell, partly hit by a slump in Tecfidera sales, but nevertheless topped analysts' estimates of $2.44 billion.

Sales of Spinraza rose 4.1% to $458.8 million, above Wall Street estimates of $425.1 million.

The company reported a fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $4.05 per share, beating estimates compiled by Refinitiv IBES by 57 cents.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Bill Berkrot)
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo by Cell Press

Human fingers are incredibly sensitive. In fact, they can pick up subtle textures and materials as small as 13 nanometerstens of thousands of times tinier than a human hair. This means that if your finger was the size of the Earth, you would be able to tell the difference between buildings and cars by touch alone.

As amazing as our fingers are at picking up on minute details, they can only go so far. They cant, for example, tell you exactly what is inside of something. But with a little bit of innovative engineering, they might one day be able to.

Tactile perception is one of the most important functions for humans, Zhiming Chen, a bioengineer at Wuyi University in China, told The Daily Beast. The research of tactile sensors that stimulate humans can boost the development of electronic skin, human-machine interface, and bionic robots.

Scientists Created a Real-Life T-1000 Terminator That Melts on Command

Chen helped co-author a study published on Feb. 15 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science that developed a bionic finger that can see through objects and surfaces through touch. The device scans an object by poking across the surface and using sensors to create a 3D map of what it touched.

The authors said that the device could one day be incorporated in bionic robots. These bots could help assist doctors in medical imaging or even to diagnose issues with industrial or personal electronics without having to open up its casing.

The bionic finger itself is made out of a carbon fiber bundle that transmits data to a computer. To test it, the authors used the device to map out the internal and external data of different objects like a rigid letter A placed underneath a silicone layer. As the device poked and prodded at the object, the data was gathered and sent to the computer where the letter A appeared on screen as a 3D image.

Each time the object is touched, the carbon fiber bundle is compressed and the degree of compression provides information about the relative softness of the object, Chen explained. Depending on the material properties of the object, when pressed by this bionic finger, hard objects retain their shape while soft objects deform when sufficient pressure is applied.

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The researchers were also able to test the bionic fingers ability to see through simulated human skin. This included faux bones made of a hard polymer, a muscle layer made of silicone, and simulated blood vessels. The device was able to create a 3D image of the fake tissue and even find the vessels underneath. Additionally, the team tested the bionic finger on a broken electronic device, using it to zero in on where a circuit was disconnected and even find a mis-drilled hole.

This tactile technology opens up a non-optical way for the nondestructive testing of the human body and flexible electronics, Jianyi Luo, a materials engineer at Wuyi University and senior author of the study, said in a statement. He added that the team planned on refining the bionic finger to be able to move omnidirectionally while sensing whats underneath certain surfaces.

Overall, the device has the potential to provide a minimally invasive way for medical imaging. No more worrying about X-rays or cumbersome ultrasounds. One day, all itll take to look inside the human body might be a few pokes and prod by your robo-doctor.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Feb. 15JOHNSTOWN, Pa.  Bishop McCort Catholic High School cheerleaders returned home Tuesday from Orlando, Florida, where they were crowned national champions.

The varsity cheerleaders won first place in Small Division II at the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) National High School Cheerleading Championship. The competition was held Friday through Sunday with more than 90 teams competing.

It is their sixth national title since 2010.

Supporters wearing Crimson Crushers apparel waved banners and glow sticks and shouted cheers as the team's bus, carrying 20 cheerleaders and their coaches, rolled to a stop at 7:30 p.m outside the school.

Senior Lydia Duris led the team off the bus carrying the first place trophy.

"It's amazing," said Duris, who plans to attend Slippery Rock University. "Honestly, we worked so hard for this."

Rose Long, a senior who is planing to attend college out of state, said the team's hopes were high going into the competition.

"It was very cool," she said.

"We worked really hard and went down there with high hopes.

"We fought through and made it to the finals," Long said.

Hope turned to jubilation.

"When they called our name, we were so excited, jumping with joy," she said.

Starcia Bainey, a senior who next year will be "cheering for Pitt," said hard work reaps rewards.

"It's just so rewarding to know all the long hour days and all the practices paid off," Bainey said. "Never doubt yourself. Even when it feels hard just know that you can do more."

John Walker, who has been coaching Bishop McCort cheerleaders for more than 30 years, called the team "incredible."

"It's a pleasure," Walker said. "I love what I do, that's why I keep doing it."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend a prominent European security conference this week that will overlap with the travel of his Chinese counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The secretarys travel raises the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Wang. Blinken canceled a high-stakes trip to Beijing in the wake of the Biden administrations discovery and destruction of a Chinese spy balloon transiting the U.S.

Blinken will attend the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, the State Department said in a statement, where he will participate in a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings that will focus on support for Ukraine amid Russias war and assistance to Turkey and Syria in the wake of a devastating earthquake last week.

The statement did not specify Blinkens agenda but said discussions will include U.S. commitment to transatlantic security and a rules-based international order.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that Wang would travel to the Munich Security Conference.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Blinken is considering meeting Wang at the Munich conference, citing anonymous sources, but said no meeting had been set or confirmed.

Blinken called off a planned trip to Beijing following the discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon that U.S. officials had been tracking since Jan. 28. Tensions between the U.S. and China have peaked in the wake of the balloons discovery. Beijing apologized for the balloon but said it had accidentally diverted into American airspace.

The U.S. has rejected Chinas claims that the balloon was a civilian, unmanned airship and said that it has uncovered a sophisticated aerial surveillance program operated by Beijing across dozens of countries.

U.S. officials have stressed that Blinkens trip to Beijing was only postponed but said conditions would need to be right for him to reschedule a trip to China.

Beyond Munich, Blinken will travel to Turkey to see firsthand U.S. efforts to assist earthquake recovery efforts. Hell meet with Turkish officials in Ankara before traveling to Athens to participate in the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue, among other meetings.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A body was found on the steps of a church, sparking a police investigation in North Carolina, news outlets reported.

Officers were called after a person was believed to be sleeping outside Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in downtown Winston-Salem, the citys police department wrote in a news release.

Police responding to the Catholic church on Feb. 14 reportedly found a person lying near a door and discovered that the man had died. He was identified as 60-year-old Michael Todd Smith.

Officers said Smith likely died from natural causes, and foul play isnt suspected. Police continue to investigate the death, which was reported at about 5 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or contact officials in Spanish at 336-728-3904. People also can share tips via text message at 336-276-1717 or online at cityofws.org/FormCenter/Police-Department-19/Crimestoppers-Tip-Form-100.

Hunter stumbles upon remains of man missing for three years, North Carolina cops say

Woman found dead 20 miles away from her burned car, North Carolina cops say
Marina Ramos, 28, was last seen in Bakersfield, California, with her 1-year-old and infant daughters 34 years ago.

They were with a man known only as Fernando, the Mohave County Sheriffs Office said in a Feb. 14 news release posted on Facebook.

The four were seen driving away in his black SUV, headed for Ontario, California, where Fernando lived, deputies said.

Decades later, the sheriffs office said it has identified a body found in Arizona in December 1989 as Ramos.

Her daughters, however, are still missing, deputies said.

The family would like to know what happened to those two little girls, Lori Miller, an investigator with the sheriffs office, told The Arizona Republic. The hope is that they were just raised by somebody else, that they are still alive and thriving somewhere.

When Ramos body was discovered months after her disappearance, she was unclothed and had been stabbed multiple times in Mohave County, about 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, the sheriffs office said. It looked as if she had been killed where she was found.

At the time, the sheriffs office said it was not able to identify the body or suspects involved in her homicide. Detectives, nonetheless, got a DNA profile from the body, deputies said.

Last year, detectives submitted the womans fingerprints to NamUs, the sheriffs office said. A day later, the sheriffs office was notified they were a match for Maria Ortiz of Bakersfield.

The sheriffs office said it contacted someone who may have known the woman.

When contacted by phone, the person said they didnt know anyone named Maria Ortiz, but that they did have a cousin named Marina Ramos, who had been missing since 1989, the sheriffs office said. Ramos also had two young daughters who were missing as well.

The two missing daughters, Elizabeth Ramos and Jasmin Ramos, would now be 34 and 33 years old, the sheriffs office said.

Investigators contacted another family member who provided a DNA sample, the sheriffs office said. It was a match, confirming the womans identity as Ramos.

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The sheriffs office said it is looking for any and all information about the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call 928-753-0753 ext. 4408, the sheriffs office said.

Mom strangled to death with pantyhose, officials say. Decades later, jury convicts man

Body of 56-year-old woman found in California river 18 years ago. Now man is arrested

Two young women were killed in 1981, California officials say. Now, theres an arrest
Atlanta Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a body found near a dumpster.

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Authorities told Channel 2 Action News on Sunday at 7:55 a.m. officers received reports of a person down in the area of a shopping center on Carmia Drive in south Atlanta.

When authorities arrived, they found the victim near a dumpster. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

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The identity of the victim has not been released.

It is unclear how the body ended up in that location.

Homicide Unit detectives are continuing the investigation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell appealed to the countries with modern tanks that are just standing and covered with dust to send them to Ukraine as fast as possible.

Borrell said on Feb. 15 that the spring and summer of 2023 would be decisive for the outcome of Russia's war against Ukraine.

Earlier on Feb. 1, Borrell warned that if Moscow were to launch a new offensive soon, it would happen before the tanks delivery.

National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Feb. 11 that Russia has already begun its major offensive in Ukraines east.

The governments of the Netherlands and Denmark have announced that neither country will deliver Leopard-2 tanks on Feb. 14, reported the German news source Welt.

However, the Netherlands and Denmark have committed financial resources to refurbish 100 Leopard-1 tanks in German warehouses.

Leopard 2 tanks pledged by Western partners to Kyiv will begin arriving by March, Polish defense minister Mariusz Blaszczak said following the Ramstein format meeting of Ukraines defense partners in Brussels on Feb. 14.

Germany is building a coalition of countries with Leopard tanks in their arsenal that includes countries like Poland, Norway, Spain, and Canada.


Josep Borrell

I want to appeal to countries that have modern tanks, but they are just standing and covered with dust, not being used, he said.

Read also: Ukrainians already being trained on Leopard 2 tanks from Canada, says Canadian Defense Ministry

Hand over these tanks to Ukraine, do it as soon as possible.

According to him, the outcome of the war will be decided in spring and summer, making it necessary to help Ukraine militarily, as well as to make all diplomatic efforts necessary for peace to come as soon as possible.

These are not alternatives, he noted.

Read also: Eight countries to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine, says Pentagon chief

They do not contradict each other. We have to do both things in parallel.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A Boston Police Department probationary officer has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested in Scottsdale Arizona last week.

Jack Ryan, 26, is facing three charges in AZ, including disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior, assault-touched to injure, and criminal trespassing 3rd degree-property.

A Scottsdale police officer was flagged down when Ryan was reportedly causing a disturbance in front of a restaurant on February 9.

The responding officer observed Ryan on the ground being detained by security personnel and placed him under arrest.

The Boston Police Bureau of Professional Standards has opened a case related to this incident.

No further information at this time.

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 TikTok user broke down how he discovered that Nina Dobrev and Shaun White appeared to have paid almost four million dollars for their recent trip to Antarctica.

Dobrev and White, who have been dating since April 2020, took a trip to Antarctica last month, seemingly in celebration of the new year and The Vampire Diaries stars birthday. They were accompanied by a few famous faces including Zoey Deutch, Jared Leto, and Lewis Hamilton.

In a recent video on his TikTok, user @ivebentraveling -- Ben -- discussed the celebrity trip and what he did to zero in on the cost. He shared an article by Autoevolution, which claimed that White and Hamilton chartered a multimillion dollar boat in Antarctica.

Ben then examined the boat that the celebrities reportedly chartered: The Octopus Super Yacht. The superyacht was first made for the late Paul Allen, who is the cofounder of Microsoft, as noted by Autoevolution, and reportedly cost $226 million.

The TikTok user noted that the Octopus usually moors over King George Island, which is off the tip of Chile, and looked at flights from Los Angeles, where Dobrev and White are based, to Punta Arenas, Chile. The estimated price is approximately $3,500 round trip -- making it a roughly $7,000 flight for the couple.

Ben then referenced an article published by travel site Swoop, which specified that it usually costs around $11,000 per person to spend 10 days travelling between Punta Arenas and Antarctica.

Looking at a group photo of Dobrevs trip, which included 11 people, he multiplied that number by $11,000 and determined that the cost of the trip was $121,000.

The Octopus yacht, which can hold up to 12 guests, features 13 cabins and can have 42 crew members on the boat, as noted on luxury travel booking site YachtCharterFleet.

Some of the other amenities include a large aft swimming pool surrounded by loungers and full cocktail bar, cinema suite, two helicopters with dedicated hangar, and personal submarine for 8 people, plus two crew members.

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The TikTok user proceeded to examine all prices and deduced that the rate for the private charter costs $2.2m per week. He claimed that someone messaged him about expenses costing an additional 25 per cent, so he added another $500,00 to the total. He added $6,600 for the 30 per cent tip that the boat crew would receive and $88 for the matching hats that Dobrev and 10 friends wore, with each hat costing around seven dollars.

He explained how he added all of the numbers up before revealing that the trip to Antarctica reportedly cost a total of $3,488,088.

As of 15 February, the video has more than 499,000 views, with viewers poking fun at the Love Hard star and the professional snowboarder for how much they appeared to spend.

So do these people just Venmo each other $30k or what?! one joke.

Ok but Shawn white is an American treasure, let him spend his money, another added.

A third said: Stuck somewhere between Damn I want to be rich and eat the rich.

The Independent has contacted Ben for comment.
Brianna Ghey - Chris Neill

The death of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was "extremely brutal and punishing", a court has been told.

Two teenagers charged with the 16-year-old's murder appeared in court on Wednesday morning and were remanded in youth detention by a district judge.

The 15-year-old girl from Warrington and 15-year-old boy from Leigh were not required to enter pleas to the charge at Chester Magistrates' Court, which sat as a youth court.

Brianna, from Birchwood, in Warrington, was found with stab wounds by members of the public as she lay dying on a path in Culcheth Linear Park at around 3.13pm on Saturday.

Prosecutor Leanne Gallagher told the court Brianna's death was "extremely brutal and punishing".

During the 15-minute hearing, the mother and father of the 15-year-old girl broke down in tears as their daughter was brought into the dock.

Wearing grey tracksuit top and bottoms, the two teenagers spoke only to confirm their names and addresses.

District Judge Jack McGarva, appearing via videolink, remanded the pair in youth detention accommodation until their next appearance at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.

On Tuesday night, candlelit vigils were held across the country for the teenager. The vigils, organised by members of the transgender community, were held in Liverpool and Bristol.

In the coming days, vigils are due to be held in cities around the UK including Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds.

Additional events are planned in Aberdeen, Reading, Plymouth, Brighton, Belfast, London and York.

People attend a candlelit vigil in memory of 16-year-old Brianna in Liverpool - Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Brianna's relatives have paid tribute to their "much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister", describing her as a "larger-than-life character".

They added: "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."

Donations on a crowdfunding page set up for Brianna's family, which said the schoolgirl was "looking forward to taking her exams this year", have reached nearly 87,000.
Brockton Hospital remains closed with no emergency services, elective procedures or other patient care visits since an electrical fire forced patients to evacuate on February 7.

Now surrounding towns are starting to feel the effects of this closure with fewer emergency beds available south of Boston.

This is impacting not only the town of Sharon, but all of Norfolk County, part of Bristol County of course and Plymouth, so its a big area thats affected, said Deputy Chief Michael Madden of the Sharon Fire Department.

A trickle-down effect thats adding stress and increased drive times on emergency responders as the hospital remains closed.

Madden says their crews will rush patients to Good Samaritan Medical Center, which is also in Brockton, but now theyre swamped with an increase in patients.

Theyre very busy, one of our ambulances waited over an hour to transfer the patient to the hospital staff, said Madden.

He says theres been a loss of about 200 beds in the area, forcing EMS crews to drive patients further away for care.

Its the more minor calls that if we can take them further away it takes some of the pressure off of Good Samaritan, for example, thats getting inundated with all of Brocktons calls, said Madden.

The health of the people of the Brockton area is now on the line, said a spokesperson with Good Samaritan Medical Center. Their emergency room volume has doubled since the fire at Brockton Hospital.

Mass General Brigham as a whole has received 20 extra patients after the fire.

Well continue to go further and further out, so were still transporting patients its not a patient care issue, theyre still getting the care they need, said Madden.

Madden says after Norwood Hospital shut down in 2020 from historic flooding, the loss of Brockton hits hard for those south of Boston.

Losing two hospitals squeezes patients to other areas, said Madden.

Brockton Hospital says while they remain closed, theyre looking at opening urgent care centers in this area.

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We hope these plans along with others will alleviate the increased volume other area healthcare facilities are experiencing while providing our patients with the healthcare they need, said a spokesperson with Brockton Hospital.

Theres still no timeline on when Brockton Hospital may reopen.

But in the meantime, Madden says dont delay your health care, especially if youre having an emergency. First responders will still always find a way to get people the care they need.

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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Kyryl Budanov, head of Ukrainian intelligence, is being considered for the position of Minister of Defense

However, very soon, according to sources in the administration of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Budanov may be removed from the leadership of HUR. This won't be a punishment, because, according to David Arakhamia, head of the ruling Servant of the People party in the parliament, the chief intelligence officer is being considered as the main candidate for the post of defense minister in place of Oleksii Reznikov.

Read also: Reznikov may resign from post of defense minister, Budanov being considered for job, MP says

At the end of January, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) fell into a whirlpool of corruption scandals regarding military procurement. Reznikov's subordinates  his ex-deputy, the former head of one of the departments, as well as another official in the Ministry of Defense  received notices of suspicion from the law enforcement officers. Later, Oleksandr Liyev, who worked on the procurement of weapons and military equipment, resigned from the department on his own. He was accused of supporting the referendum in Crimea in 2014.

Reznikov's position has been so badly shaken that Arakhamia directly announced the defense minister's resignation, naming Budanov as his successor.

Read also: Interview with Ukraines military intelligence chief Budanov

At the moment, this HR operation is on hold in Bankova [Ukraine's equivalent of the White House  ed.] The issue will not be considered this week, and there is no official indication of when it will be acted upon. According to a member of Zelenskyy's team, who agreed to speak with NV on the condition of anonymity, the Reznikov-Budanov case will stay in such a "suspended state" for the next few weeks.

But the chances that the young Ukrainian general now at the head of HUR will continue his rapid rise remain high.

Read also: Defense Minister Reznikov comments on resignation rumors amid procurement scandal

A "logical" appointment?

According to Arakhamia, Budanov's appointment to the Minister of Defense position is "logical for wartime."

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Budanov has not officially commented on this topic himself. However, according to the sources of political commentator Volodymyr Fesenko, the HUR head has allegedly refused to leave his post, saying that only civilians should hold a ministerial post  as is required by Ukrainian law. In this case, Budanov will have to reject the rank of major general.

"He does not want to leave military service and he is not very eager to take this position," Fesenko explained to NV.

The main reasons why the Office of the President (OP) wants to appoint Budanov to the Ministry of Defense are the trust they have for him and the lack of other "acceptable" candidates. Fesenko explains this by the fact that the intelligence officer is trusted in Bankova both in terms of his professional qualities and in terms of the authority he holds among the population. They said that his appointment to the Ministry of Defense would help to restore trust in the ministry and to bring order there.

As an anonymous influential figure within the president's team put it briefly, "that's what the president wants."

Maryana Bezuhla, a representative of Servant of the People in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, explained Budanov's likely appointment with the fact that he has "trust, knowledge of the system, and determination under difficult circumstances." She also confirmed that this issue has been postponed until after the Ramstein format meeting taking place on Feb. 14. Just like the last such meeting, this meeting will concern the the strengthening of Ukraine's armaments will traditionally be discussed with partners, and the agreements made by the current minister Reznikov will play a key role.

Roman Kostenko, an MP from the Holos party and member of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, told NV that he sees this as the wrong way to go. He believes the administration is "hanging [the Minister of Defense] out to dry," and says that this could shake communication with partners, in which Reznikov has had considerable success.

[Our partners] will not understand if they have to agree on something with a minister who may be fired tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, Kostenko said.

Kostenko does not know why the Bankova wants to appoint Budanov instead of Reznikov. He suggests that "maybe it's because he's been in the media a lot and [the OP thinks] that people support it."

Read also: Bakhmut as a city no longer exists, but military situation not catastrophic  Budanov

Intelligence officer from the very beginning

Budanov joined Zelenskyy's team in August 2020, even before the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. At that time, a scandal broke out regarding the failure of a special operation to detain Wagner PMC fighters who had participated in the war in Donbas. They were to be taken to Ukraine via Minsk and detained. But they were "intercepted" by the Belarusian security services and eventually returned to Russia. Media wrote that after domestic security forces reported the plans for the special operation to the newly-installed Zelenskyy Administration, the plot was foiled, probably due to a leak of information from Bankova.

Vasyl Burba, the head of HUR of that time, said that he was preparing a plan of measures to assess why the operation to capture the militants failed. However, he was fired.

Budanov took his place upon appointment by the President.

After receiving his new position, Burba gave an interview to ex-presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych on his YouTube channel, in which he questioned the failure of the special operation, and whether it even existed.

Budanov became the country's chief military intelligence officer at the age of 35. He had earlier held various positions in HUR, where he began serving immediately after graduating from the Odesa Ground Forces Institute in 2007. Since the spring of 2014, Budanov served in combat in Donbas, during which he received several injuries, including one that was serious.

According to publicly available information, in August 2016, Budanov conducted a special operation in the city of Armyansk in occupied Crimea. From 2018 to 2020, he was in a special position, on which information is classified.

Budanov himself likely made reference to this secret position in an interview with TSN last fall when speaking about an incident which happened to him at that time.

"At a certain point, I lost a bank card which was created even before my transition to a closed position," he said.

Read also: General Zaluzhny proves best choice for Armed Forces, president and nation

I lost it, and all my information was already sealed. I came to the bank and did a stupid thing: without thinking, I asked to renew my card. She said: Well, give us your documents. I handed them to her and she replied, These are for another person, sorry.

In April 2019, an attempt was made on Budanovs life. A bomb was placed under his Chevrolet Evanda, but the device prematurely detonated on one of the capital's streets. Budanov was not injured, and the Russian saboteur and the group that was supposed to blow him up were detained. In 2020, Budanov was named deputy director of the Department of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Later, he became head of HUR.

In this position, he played one of the most important roles in Zelenskyy's circle during the full-scale war.

In their reconstruction of the events on Bankova during the three days preceding the invasion, reporters from NVs sister publication, Ukrainska Pravda, noted that it was Budanov who gave the most accurate forecast of the enemy's plans for Ukraine. During a meeting between the president and the heads of all parties of parliament, with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the OP, which took place on the evening of February 22, 2022, the head of HUR "was the most important and accurate."

"Budanov took out a map from his papers and with a calm, self-absorbed expression on his face, began to say things that ought to have made the blood run cold in the veins of those present: the Russians were set to start a war outside the borders of Donbas; Kherson and Kharkiv were under threat, there was a threat to Kyiv, and the Russians may try to enter from Chernobyl, explained the Ukrainska Pravda report.

Read also: Budanov elaborates on special operations, past and future

The best person in the right place

Taras Berezovets, a political commentator and an officer of the Ivan Bohun 1st Special Brigade, is convinced that the decision to dismiss Reznikov and to appoint Budanov will instead be reversed. After all, it would be inappropriate: the country is on the threshold of a new Russian offensive, and the Minister of Defense is ensuring the effective supply of weapons and has gained undisputed authority in the West. In addition, there are no proven facts of his involvement in corruption.

Also, Berezovets also doubts that Budanov will give up his rank, which would be required by law for him to take a ministerial post.

"Budanov has built a fairly effective military intelligence service, which, as Russians accuse it, blew up the Crimean bridge, eliminated dozens of traitorous collaborators in the occupied territories, stole Russian equipment, and committed a huge amount of sabotage and soon,  says Berezovets.

That is why, frankly speaking, there is no effective replacement of Budanov today. His departure to the Ministry of Defense would weaken both the ministry and the military intelligence."

Berezovets notes that this decision clearly belongs only to the president. However, in such a difficult time, it would have negative consequences.

Kostenko believes that it is too early to predict whether Budanov would be a good Minister of Defense. After all, this would be a political story, not an intelligence one.

"It's one thing to be an intelligence officer, and another to be a politician and manager," adds the MP.

I can't say anything bad or good. It seems to me that we already had General [Andrii] Taran, who was also an intelligence officer and everything was fine with him there, but then they appointed him, and he was one of the worst defense ministers. Therefore, to predict something right now... We need to see how a person works directly in this position."

Fesenko, on the other hand, recalls the conflict between Taran and former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Ruslan Khomchak. He suggests that a similar competition could arise between Valery Zaluzhny and Budanov, if the second is named to head the ministry. Fesenko says this risk should be avoided.

"There is already a certain competition between Zaluzhny and Budanov in the media space," Fesenko argues.

They do not compete with each other consciously. But their teams may do so."

Read also: Russia has enough missiles for only a few more large-scale attacks, says Budanov

Looking for the ideal

Kostenko believes that a wartime defense minister should clearly enjoy authority in both the military and in politics. Moreover, he is convinced that such an official should have the position of deputy prime minister.

"This is not a Minister of the Armed Forces, this is the defense minister of the whole country. And he should be able to have influence over all defense and security forces, Kostenko asserts.

Therefore, decency and qualities of the diplomacy are also essential. Our army is standing now in many ways at the expense of our partners. And a lot of depends on how you prove to them, explain things to them, and ask them for things."

Berezovets believes that a defense minister's "negotiating skills" are key. He also emphasizes the fact that the task of such a top official is not to plan operations, but to bring weapons and technologies to Ukraine and to be, first and foremost, a diplomat.

In addition, on the conviction of the military, the minister should use support inside Ukraine, in particular, from the nations leadership. And what is no less important is to have the trust of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racially-motivated shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket last May was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

Payton Gendron, 19, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, after pleading guilty in November to state murder and domestic terrorism charges. Gendron is the first person in New York state to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries an automatic life sentence.

There is no place for you or your ignorant, hateful and evil ideologies in a civilized society, Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan said, as she handed down Gendrons sentence. There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances.

The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community, she added. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again.

Gendron drove three hours from his home in Conklin, N.Y., to the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, to commit the massacre last spring.

The self-proclaimed white supremacist planned the attack for months, visiting the store on multiple occasions to scout out the location. He showed up on May 14 dressed in tactical gear and equipped with a modified semiautomatic rifle that could be loaded with high-capacity magazines.

Gendron also faces federal hate crime and firearm charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys said in December that he would be willing to plead guilty to the charges if prosecutors take the death penalty off the table.

Earlier in Gendrons sentencing hearing, as several family members of the victims delivered statements in the presence of the shooter, a man lunged at the 19-year-old gunman. Officers temporarily rushed Gendron out of the courtroom amid the commotion.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Payton Gendron is led into the courtroom for a hearing at Erie County Court in Buffalo, New York, on May 19, 2022. Matt Rourke / AP

The 19-year-old white man who shot and killed 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last May was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday morning.

Payton Gendron appeared in court in Buffalo on Wednesday morning for his sentencing after he pleaded guilty in November to one count of a domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and a weapons possessions charge in connection to the shooting that occurred at Tops Friendly Markets last year.

Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the attack, was the first person to be charged under a 2020 New York law against domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries an automatic sentence of life without parole.

"There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances," judge Susan Eagen said while delivering the sentence. "The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again."

Investigators said that on May 14, 2022, Gendron traveled more than 200 miles to a majority-Black neighborhood in Buffalo to carry out the shooting, which he livestreamed on Twitch.

After shooting 13 people, 10 of whom died, Gendron was arrested outside the supermarket. Eleven of those who were shot, including all those who died, were Black.

Prior to the shooting, prosecutors said that Gendron had posted a hate-filled screed invoking the racist "great replacement" conspiracy theory that white people such as himself were being systematically "replaced" by nonwhite people.

Before Gendron was sentenced on Wednesday morning, surviving victims and loved ones of those killed had the chance to address him and the court.

"You come to our city and decide you do not like Black people? Man, you dont know a damn thing about Black people, Barbara Massey, the sister of 72-year-old Katherine Massey, who was killed in the shooting, said on Wednesday. "Were human. We like our kids to go to a good school. We love our kids. We never go to no neighborhood and take people out."

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Attorney General Merrick Garland visits the Tops Friendly Markets grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in June 2022. Carolyn Thompson / AP

During Massey's impact statement, a scuffle broke out in the court where an unidentified man lunged at Gendron. The 19-year-old was quickly escorted out of the courtroom.

"You don't know what we're going through!" the man shouted as he was led out of the courtroom by officers. After a short break, Gendron was brought back into the courtroom, and the emotional hearing resumed.

Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son survived the attack despite being shot, spoke in the courtroom on Wednesday morning during the impact statements part of the hearing.

"It is an understatement to say that he has survivor's guilt," Everhart said of her son, Zaire Goodman. "He's dealing with the pain that I, as a mother, cannot show."

On May 14, "the terrorist made the choice that the value of a Black human meant nothing to him," Everhart said to Gendron, who was sitting with his lawyers in the courtroom. "The disregard he has for human life and the callousness with which he carried out this attack on my son and my community not only makes him a monster but a coward."

Another survivor of the shooting, Christopher Braden, 55, who was shot in the leg, spoke and detailed how the shooting has affected him physically, such as his leg and left foot that "don't work as they should" but also how the event affected him mentally.

"Visions haunt me in my sleep every night, and most days, I cannot get those memories out of my head. Nighttime is the worst for my PTSD," Braden said.

"Loud noises never mattered to me before, but they do now," he said. "I'm always on edge and hypervigilant about my surroundings, feeling the need to be always on alert and protect myself."

During the testimonies from the victims' families, Gendron was seen taking off his glasses and crying, according to CNN.

The daughter of Andre Mackniel, one of the 10 people killed, spoke directly to Gendron. "I'll never forgive you," she said. "It wasn't my dad's time to go. Who are you to think you control that?"

"Payton, I hope you are haunted every day and every night," Michelle Spight, who lost her aunt and cousin in the shooting, said on Wednesday.

After the victim impact statements, Gendron himself decided to make some remarks in the courtroom.

"I'm very sorry for the pain I've caused the victims and families," Gendron said. "I'm very sorry for stealing the lives of your loved ones.

I cannot express how much I regret all the decisions I made leading up to my actions on May 14," he said. "I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they are black. Looking back now, I can't believe I did that. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. And now I can't take it back. But I wish I could. I dont want anyone to be inspired by me by what I did."

Gendron is also facing separate federal charges  10 counts of a hate crime resulting in death, three counts of hate crime involving bodily injury, and 13 counts of firearms offenses  which could carry the death penalty if the Justice Department decides to seek it.

Gendron pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. In a December hearing, Gendron's attorney said that he would be prepared to enter a guilty plea in federal court in exchange for a life sentence, according to the Associated Press.

Gun violence in the US is a public health crisis, according to the American Public Health Association. It is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually. As of Feb. 15, more than 2,000 people have already been killed by gun violence, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

More on this
The Buffalo supermarket gunman had to be removed from the courtroom during his sentencing after a man rushed at him during the victim statement portion of the proceedings.

The member of the audience who rushed at white supremacist Payton Gendron was restrained by officers.

Gendron was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without parole.

In November, Gendron pled guilty to several charges, including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. The charge of terrorism meant an automatic sentence of life behind bars.

The now 19-year-old killed 10 Black people during the mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets on 14 May last year. The killing was motivated by racist conspiracy theories Gendron had found online.

You dont know what were going through, a man yelled while officers escorted him from the room, according to the Associated Press.

Family members spent several minutes calming each other following the incident.

Just before the incident occurred, Barbara Massey Mapps denounced Gendron for the murder of her sister, Katherine Massey, 72.

I want personally to choke you, Ms Mapps said. Your little punk a** decided to come here to kill Black people.

Ms Mapps was yelling and gesticulating at Gendron when a man quickly approached the gunman but was held back by a number of officers before he was able to reach him.

A man rushes at the Buffalo supermarket gunman (Screenshot / YouTube / The Independent)

The sentencing was restarted after a break lasting around 10 minutes. Judge Susan Eagan had Gendron return to the courtroom, telling people in the room to conduct ourselves appropriately.

I understand that emotion, and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom, the judge added.

The widow of security guard Aaron Salter has shortly before been speaking about why she and her family were wearing black and red.

Red for the blood that he shed for his family and for his community, and black because we are still grieving, Kimberly Salter said in the courtroom as Gendron looked on.

Those affected by the shooting spoke at the sentencing, with some condemning Gendron while others quoted the bible and said they were praying for him.

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Some slammed him for his targeted attack on an area with a lot of Black residents, far away from Gendrons hometown, which is almost entirely white.

Celestine Chaney was killed in the shooting. Her only child, Wayne Jones Sr, told Gendron, youve been brainwashed.

You dont even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet, and it was a big mistake, he said.

I hope you find it in your heart to apologize to these people, man. You did wrong for no reason, he added.

Tops Friendly Market staff member Christopher Braden was shot in the leg. He said, the visions from the shooting haunt me in my sleep and every day.

At one point, Gendron was seen crying. During the shooting, he wore body armour and a helmet with a camera live-streaming the shooting.

He used a legally purchased semiautomatic rifle that he later illegally modified to be able to use high-capacity magazines.

He specifically targeted Black customers and employees, and shot 13 people, only three of which survived.

Separately, Gendron also faces charges on the federal level that could lead to the death penalty if the Department of Justice chooses to pursue that course, while the death penalty isnt an option under New York state law.

In December, his defence lawyer said that Gendron was willing to also enter a guilty plea in federal court to avoid a death sentence.

I cannot express how much I regret all the decisions I made leading up to my actions on May 14, Genrdon said in court, according to CNN.

I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I cant believe I actually did it. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I cant take it back, but I wish I could, and I dont want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did, he added.
Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (TSE:INE) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Innergex Renewable Energy

The Method

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (CA$, Millions) CA$172.3m CA$182.0m CA$200.3m CA$195.0m CA$192.7m CA$192.1m CA$192.7m CA$194.1m CA$196.2m CA$198.7m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Est @ -1.19% Est @ -0.30% Est @ 0.31% Est @ 0.75% Est @ 1.05% Est @ 1.26% Present Value (CA$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.5% CA$160 CA$157 CA$161 CA$146 CA$134 CA$124 CA$116 CA$109 CA$102 CA$96.0

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CA$1.3b

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We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.8%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 7.5%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = CA$199m (1 + 1.8%)  (7.5% 1.8%) = CA$3.5b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CA$3.5b ( 1 + 7.5%)10= CA$1.7b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is CA$3.0b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of CA$15.7, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

Important 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. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Innergex Renewable Energy as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.973. 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 Innergex Renewable Energy

Strength

No major strengths identified for INE.

Weakness

Interest payments on debt are not well covered.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Renewable Energy market.

Expensive based on P/S ratio and estimated fair value.

Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

Expected to breakeven next year.

Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company is unprofitable.

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Innergex Renewable Energy, we've put together three pertinent elements you should assess:

Risks: As an example, we've found 3 warning signs for Innergex Renewable Energy that you need to consider before investing here. Future Earnings: How does INE's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Canadian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
Stan Lyles, vice president of the union representing healthcare workers, speaks at a rally in July outside the offices of Hospital Assn. of Southern California in support of raising the minimum wage to $25 an hour for workers at some privately owned health facilities. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

3:15 p.m. Feb. 16, 2023: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Byron Vasquez.



Union-aligned Democratic state lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday that would mandate a statewide $25 minimum wage for health workers and support staffers, likely setting up a pitched battle with hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis clinics.

State Sen. Maria Elena Durazos bill would require health facilities and home health agencies to give raises to many support employees, including nurse technicians, housekeepers, security guards, food workers and laundry providers. The Los Angeles Democrat said workers remain underpaid even as they play a crucial role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Many who earn close to the states $15.50 minimum wage, she said, struggle with inflation.

How do people survive? Durazo told Kaiser Health News ahead of the bills introduction. They can't be on the edge of becoming homeless. That's what we're facing.

Although the bill is backed by the influential Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which represents roughly 100,000 workers statewide, similar proposals have previously faced strong opposition from the health industry.

If lawmakers approve the bill and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it, one labor leader estimated, 1.5 million California workers could get a wage hike come January 2024.

Last year, the union spent about $11 million to promote local $25 minimum wage measures in 10 Southern California cities while hospitals and healthcare facilities spent $12 million against it. That fight yielded opposite outcomes in November in two cities where the measure made the ballot: Inglewood voters approved raises at private hospitals and dialysis clinics, while voters in Duarte rejected the wage hike.

During the campaign, a ballot issue committee with funding from Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, Adventist Health, Cedars-Sinai, Dignity Health, and other hospitals and health systems warned that a $25 minimum wage would raise their costs.

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Earlier this month, the California Hospital Assn. launched a campaign to ask lawmakers for an extra $1.5 billion in the state budget for Medi-Cal, the states insurance program for people with low incomes and disabilities. In a Feb. 9 memo, Carmela Coyle, the associations president and chief executive, wrote that hospitals need urgent financial relief, citing inflation and mounting costs: Help is needed  immediately.

Meanwhile, the nursing home industry has said it wants to pay workers more but cant because the state reimburses them too little for patients enrolled in Medi-Cal. And the dialysis industry has shelled out more than $300 million over the last six years to defeat three statewide ballot measures sponsored by SEIU-UHW to increase staffing at clinics.

Negotiations for a statewide $25 minimum wage collapsed in the Legislature last summer, in part because union leaders and the hospital association had tied the raise to a delay in costly earthquake upgrades at hospitals. The deal was scuttled by the California Nurses Assn., the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council and other unions concerned about their workers safety. The California Dialysis Council also opposed it.

Durazo said shes willing to hear hospitals concerns about loosening seismic retrofit standards but prefers to treat the two issues separately.

The state has also recognized the need to attract and retain workers by setting aside roughly $1 billion to help the industry address workforce shortages. But labor leaders say workers need a financial incentive.

We have a workforce that has just been through the wringer in the last three years, said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW. And lots of healthcare workers decided, you know, this is just too difficult. It's too exhausting. It's too dangerous.

Raising the minimum wage would bring families out of poverty, said Joanne Spetz, director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UC San Francisco. But whether the bill will solve chronic workforce shortages is unclear because wages are just one factor.

Costlier employees could have negative consequences for healthcare facilities.

If you don't get higher reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers, then you're gonna have to figure out how to absorb that cost increase, Spetz said. Or you just get rid of the worker.

Since Inglewood passed its measure, the wage hike has transformed Byron Vasquezs life, giving him more time with his family. A distribution technician at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Vasquer earned $21.17 an hour restocking supplies on every floor. But he said that he needed to take additional work to support his wife and daughter  and that he often missed family celebrations.



Before the increase, I was working two or three jobs to make ends meet, said Vasquez, who until recently worked weekend shifts at a residential care center in Beverly Hills and drove for Uber. It was not fun because there's really no time off.

Young writes for Kaiser Health News. This story was produced by KHN, publisher of California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A man accused of killing another man before covering his body with a sleeping bag was found guilty of murder.

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

On Monday, a Carroll County jury found Aaron Tarrie Ashley Sr., guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, theft by taking and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

According to the news release, in the early morning hours of Jan. 19, 2020, Ashley shot and killed Christopher Cook.

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Ashley reportedly used a shotgun inside his house, before he moved Cooks body to his backyard. Officials say Ashley covered Cooks body with a camouflage sleeping bag and dead tree limbs.

He reportedly cleaned up the crime scene before hiding the gun at another persons home.

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After a multi-hour standoff with police in Bremen, Ashley was later arrested and taken into custody. Authorities did not say how long the standoff lasted.

At trial, the jury rejected Ashleys claim of self-defense.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Crews clean up after a car crashed through the front door of a 7-Eleven in southeast Denver in 2012. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Vehicles crash into buildings with surprising frequency in the US: more than 100 times each day.

Nearly half of those cause an injury, while one in 10 is a deliberate attack by thieves to steal cash or goods.

On average, one of those crashes each day happens at a 7-Eleven.

On what began as a typical Wednesday in 2017, a Chicago man going by "Carl" stopped at his local 7-Eleven to grab his usual cup of coffee and wait for his carpool ride to work.

While he was waiting outside, another driver pulled into a parking space, but mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, popping the car onto the sidewalk and pinning Carl's legs against the wall, Carl's lawyers said. They also said Carl requested not to be identified.

Carl lost both of his legs as a result of his injuries, and was last week awarded a $91 million settlement against 7-Eleven  the largest pre-trial personal injury settlement in Illinois history, the local NBC affiliate reported.

As part of the discovery process, Carl's lawyers obtained crash incident data from all 7-Eleven locations in the US spanning the 15 years from 2003 to 2017. In all, there were 6,253 storefront crashes at 7-Elevens in that period  an average of more than one per day. One reason for the frequency is the sheer number of locations. 7-Eleven has more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The once-a-day crash at 7-Eleven is in fact dwarfed by the total number of crashes that take place at storefronts across the US, however.

According to the Storefront Safety Council, more than 100 vehicles collide with buildings each day, with more than half of those occurring at retail shops, restaurants, or convenience stores. Each year, the council estimates as many as 16,000 people are injured and as many as 2,600 people are killed.

An SUV crashed into the outdoor dining space at the Parthenon Restaurant in the 5500 block of Connecticut Ave NW in Washington, DC on March 11, 2022. Several injuries were reported. Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images

More than 40% of the crashes are caused by a 'pedal error' or other operator error, according to the council, but in one out of 10 cases, the crash is considered intentional, as thieves use a vehicle to smash into a building in order to steal merchandise, cash, or entire ATMs.

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"Sometimes, they crash into a store and cause thousands of dollars in damage for a banana. No really  a banana," the researchers write.

The best protection for people and property alike comes in the shape of a big metal cylinder  or, in the case of Target, a giant red sphere  in front of the store.

"If you install bollards, you pretty much solve that problem," Storefront Safety Council co-founder Rob Reiter told CBS Chicago.

"This accident doesn't happen if somebody had spent about $800," he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Reuters

Nearly 200 New York Times contributors, a cadre of celebrities, and the top LGBTQ media organization have publicly condemned the newspaper on Wednesday for what some described as following the lead of far-right hate groups in its coverage of trans issues.

An open letter signed by 170 Times contributorssome of whom are trans, non-binary, and gender-non-conformingpressed associate managing editor for standards, Philip Corbett, to answer for why the paper devoted 15,000 words on its front page in recent months to debate the propriety of medical care for trans children.

The signatories alleged that the Times has in recent years treated gender diversity with an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while publishing reporting on trans children that omits relevant information about its sources.

The letter also noted that Times articles have at times been cited in court to argue in support of anti-trans legislation.

As thinkers, we are disappointed to see the New York Times follow the lead of far-right hate groups in presenting gender diversity as a new controversy warranting new, punitive legislation, the group wrote.

Some of its most notable signatories include Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff, actress Cynthia Nixon, and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is trans.

Another letter sent by GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ media organization, further blasted the paper for its coverage of trans issues, demanding it stop printing biased anti-trans stories and that it meet with members of the trans community. It also asked the paper to hire trans writers on both its opinion and news desks.

We know many trans writers and editors do not trust the Times. We dont trust you either, so we dont blame them. But do the work: Stop, listen, and hire, the letter read. If you stop the egregious, irresponsible coverage, and listen to trans people, you will start to rebuild credibility and trust.

The GLAAD letter was signed by LGBTQ celebrities and allies such as Margaret Cho, Jonathan Van Ness, Lena Dunham, and Gabrielle Union-Wade, whose step-daughter came out as trans in 2020. It was also joined by state groups prompting LGBTQ equality, and it was accompanied by a GLAAD demonstration outside the Times office in Midtown Manhattan.

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Michael Powell, a Times reporter who wrote one of the articles that inflamed contributors, defended his work on Wednesday afternoon.

Journalism is meant to ask difficult and discomforting questions, and to question institutions, including the medical establishment, Powell tweeted. I am very proud to work at a place that publishes the work of [Emily Bazelon], Katie Baker, Azeen Ghoryashi, [Megan Twohey] and [Ross Douthat].

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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(NewsNation)  Charges against NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert have been dismissed, the Ohio attorney general said Wednesday.

While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them, Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. The reporter was lawfully present at a press conference called by the governor of the state. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter.

Lambert was giving a live report on a news conference about the Ohio train derailment during NewsNations Rush Hour when he was told by law enforcement personnel to be quiet because Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was speaking.

Though he finished the live report, Lambert was then asked to leave by authorities, who forcibly removed him from the event. The charges Lambert had been facing were resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor, and criminal trespass, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, according to a news release.

In a statement on Twitter, Lambert thanked DeWine, Yost, NewsNation and its parent company, Nexstar Media Group, and others who worked to secure his release and the eventual dismissal of his charges. Lambert also expressed gratitude to those who supported him during what he called an unjust and illegal arrest.

Im still processing what was a traumatic event for me, in the context of a time where we are hyper-aware of how frequently some police interactions with people of color can end in much worse circumstances, he said. That is not lost on me.

At the same time, Lambert said, as a journalist, he has great respect for officers who do their jobs with integrity, civil rights, justice and safety at the core of their mission.

Story continues

I am doing alright. And I will be OK. I will also continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public, he said. I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard.

Asked about Lamberts charges being dropped Wednesday, DeWine reiterated that he feels that it was a mistake to stop him.

At the time of his arrest, Lambert was reporting on the derailment of a train in East Palestine. About 50 freight cars, including 10 with hazardous materials, derailed in the small town on Feb. 3. Officials said to prevent a larger explosion, they needed to burn vinyl chloride that was found inside five tanker cars.

No injuries to the crew, residents or first responders were reported due to the train derailment, though some have complained of smelling chlorine or smoke or having headaches.

Ohio Train Derailment: What is vinyl chloride?

Environmental concerns have also abounded, as residents have noticed dead fish in local streams as well as other deceased animals.

In his statement, Yost said tensions were running high after the train derailment, and local officials apparently followed the National Guards lead.

Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter, Yost said. Ohio protects a free press under its constitution, and state officials should remember to exercise a heightened level of restraint in using arrest powers.

Lamberts attorney, Youngstown lawyer Frank L. Cassese, said in a statement that the entire situation should have been avoided, but they are pleased with the swift action taken by Yost.

I commend the attorney general and his office for having the courage to dispense justice and exonerate Mr. Lambert of any wrongdoing, Cassese said.

Lambert will be on Dan Abrams Live, which starts at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, Wednesday. To find out how to watch him, click here.

This story is developing. Refresh for updates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Wednesday that charges have been dismissed against the journalist arrested while covering a news conference about the East Palestine train derailment.

Yost took to Twitter to announce the dismissal, citing relevant video and documentary evidence as the reason the charges were unsupported by sufficient evidence.

Yost went on to say:

While journalists could conceivably be charged for trespass in some situations, this is not one of them. The reporter was lawfully present at a press conference called by the Governor. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter. Tensions were running high in the days following the derailment and local officials appeared to be following the lead of the National Guard. Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter. Ohio protects a free press under its constitution, and state officials should remember to exercise a heightened level of restraint in using arrest powers.

NewsNation posted video of correspondent Evan Lambert being arrested in the gymnasium of an elementary school in East Palestine where Gov. Mike DeWine was giving an update about the accident.

Im doing fine right now. Its been an extremely long day, Lambert said after his release. No journalist expects to be arrested when youre doing your job, and I think thats really important that that doesnt happen in our country.

At the end of his news conference, DeWine said he didnt authorize the arrest and reporters have every right to report during briefings.

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Charges have been dropped against a NewsNation reporter who was arrested while filming a live report during a press conference after a train derailed in East Palestine, officials said Wednesday.

Evan Lambert was one of many reporters at a press conference being held by Ohio governor Mike DeWine following the train's Feb. 3 derailment. Of the 38 cars that derailed, 10 were carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, and 12 other train cars were damaged by a fire.

Police told CBS Pittsburgh that Lambert was speaking loudly while DeWine was addressing other reporters. The station reported that Lambert had a "heated conversation" with Maj. Gen. John Harris Jr., the leader of the Ohio National Guard, before his arrest. Body camera footage reviewed by CBS Pittsburgh shows that Harris reportedly spoke with a camera operator as a state trooper motioned to stop the live shot, then confronted Lambert and pushed him with one hand in the chest. Lambert was also pointing and talking to Harris. A state trooper intervened, stepping between the two men and moving away the commander.

This photo provided by Ohio State Highway Patrol shows police bodycam footage of NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert interaction with authorities Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 in the gymnasium of an elementary school in East Palestine, Ohio. / Credit: / AP

According to CBS Pittsburgh, Lambert was told to leave after the incident, but he refused multiple times. Lambert was then pulled to the exit by two officers. Body camera footage reviewed by CBS Pittsburgh showed Lambert pull away from the officers before he is pushed to the floor and handcuffed.

Lambert was charged with criminal trespass, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, and resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor. According to CBS Pittsburgh, he spent about five hours in jail before being released on bond that same day. On Wednesday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that the charges were being dismissed.

"My office has reviewed the relevant video and documentary evidence, and is dismissing the charges against Evan Lambert as unsupported by sufficient evidence," Yost said in a statement provided to CBS News. "While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them. The reporter was lawfully present at a press conference called by the Governor of the state. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter."

Story continues

"Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter," Yost continued. "Ohio protects a free press under its constitution, and state officials should remember to exercise a heightened level of restraint in using arrest powers."

Shortly after Yost's statement was released, Lambert shared a response on Twitter.

"I'm still processing what was a traumatic event for me, in the context of a time where we are hyper aware of how frequently some police interactions with people of color can end in much worse consequences," wrote Lambert. The two officers who arrested him are White, and Harris is Black, according to CBS Pittsburgh. "That is not lost on me."

Lambert thanked Yost, his employer and other supporters who had helped see the charges dismissed.

"To be clear, (these charges) should never have been filed in the first place," Lambert added. "I am doing alright. And I will be OK. I will also continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public. I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard."

The environmental impacts of the train derailment on the East Palestine area remain unclear. Evacuation orders have been lifted, but area residents returning home have reported respiratory issues and burning eyes, even as air quality tests show no dangerous levels of toxins. East Palestine mayor Trent Conaway has also said that the city has representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency conducting air safety tests.

Tests have also showed that the city's drinking water is safe, Conaway said, but officials have been urging residents to drink bottled water.

Some residents have reported that their pets and household animals have died since the derailment, and while a Department of Agriculture spokesperson said there are no issues being reported in livestock animals, about 3,500 dead fish have been found in local waterways.

Trains have since resumed operation on the railway, officials said.

Toxic spill on Arizona highway after truck carrying nitric acid overturned

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Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon announces plans to resign
By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Wednesday said China remains a top opportunity for investors despite geopolitical risks.

Munger also doubled down on his recent Wall Street Journal editorial calling for the U.S. government to follow China and ban cryptocurrency, saying "people who oppose my position are idiots."

The 99-year-old spoke while fielding 2-1/4 hours of questions at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp, a Los Angeles newspaper publisher and provider of software to courthouses that he chaired for 45 years and where he remains a director.

He is better known for his work at Berkshire, where he has since 1978 been a vice chairman and close collaborator with fellow billionaire Buffett, who is 92.

Munger has long been bullish on China, though Berkshire has recently reduced multibillion-dollar stakes in two companies in that region, electric car maker BYD Co and chipmaker TSMC, also known as Taiwan Semiconductor.

Referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's nearly yearlong invasion of Ukraine, Munger downplayed concern that China might invade Taiwan.

"The Chinese leader is a very smart, practical person," Munger said. "Russia went into Ukraine as it looked like a cakewalk. I don't think Taiwan looks like such a cakewalk any more."

Munger said that helps investors' prospects in China, because "you can buy better, stronger companies at cheaper valuations in China than you can in the United States."

He said BYD has been raising prices while Elon Musk's Tesla Inc has been lowering them, leaving BYD "so much ahead of Tesla in China, it's almost ridiculous."

Munger also called TSMC the "strongest semiconductor company on earth," though Berkshire recently cut its formerly $4.1 billion stake by 86%.

His comments about cryptocurrency follow the failures over the last year of several prominent businesses in that industry.

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"I'm ashamed of my country that so many people believe in this kind of crap, and that the government allows it to exist," Munger said. "It is totally, absolutely, crazy, stupid gambling."

CNBC broadcast the Daily Journal meeting online.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
The City of Charlotte is investigating certification issues with radar and LIDAR guns used by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Officials said they determined the certification process for 170 radar and LIDAR guns didnt meet state standards.

North Carolina legislation requires all electronic speed-measuring devices to be tested annually. The city said it has been doing radar certifications since 2008 and LIDAR certifications since 2018.

City officials said the certification must be completed by a certified technician or in a lab established by the International Association of Chief of Police.

ALSO READ: City of Charlotte approves $50K to crack down on speeding

However, on Jan. 31 it was discovered the annual accuracy testing for some of the instruments was not performed in accordance with the state legislator.

The city said some of the inspections were done by experienced technicians with manufacturers guidelines, but those techniques did not have the certification required by state law.

On Feb. 1, city leaders said they developed a plan to address the issue, told CMPD to cease the use of the radar and LIDAR guns until they could be retested and recalibrated, and informed the DAs office about the investigation.

The District Attorneys Office has to inform citizens who could have been impacted by this today. The recalibration test is expected to be completed by March 1, according to city leaders.

We anticipate that we will be able to proceed on many of these cases in the absence of corroborative equipment-based evidence, but in other instances, cases may ultimately be dismissed, the District Attorneys Office said. The DAs Office will review pending speeding cases as they appear in court, as well as other cases that arose from traffic stops in which lidar or radar equipment is relevant, and take whatever action is appropriate.

The city said it does not believe the radars and LIDAR guns were miscalibrated and they do not expect to find any miscalculations.

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ALSO READ: Officer helps woman caught speeding after learning her house was on fire

What does this mean for motorists whove gotten tickets?

The district attorney released a statement that read, If you have been charged with a speeding citation in Mecklenburg County, you or your attorney should appear in court on your court date to discuss available options. You should not pay for your speeding citation online to resolve the citation.

Defense attorney James Exum has traffic cases Thursday morning.

Oh, its going to play very critically to my strategy because normally, things we would just simply work out were going to have to explore a bit more, he said.

Exum expects that more people will seek to go on trial instead of taking a deal.

Defense attorney George Laughrum believes it could go even further than that. Some defendants may want to reopen old cases, for example, a DWI conviction where speeding was the basis for the traffic stop.

Hes already paid his money, Laughrum said. His insurance has gone up. Hes done his community service. Its still on his record. You cant ever get a DWI expunged so it may be worth it for people who got a DWI, the basis for the stop, to try and reopen that case to see if they get some relief from the courts.

CMPD Police Chief Johnny Jennings issued a statement regarding the use of radar and LIDAR guns by CMPD:

RADARs and LIDARs are just a few tools we use to enforce traffic laws and keep the motoring public safe. Officers used this equipment understanding that they were properly certified and followed all Constitutional laws for initiating traffic stops. Officers are able to write speeding citations based on opinion, pacing or RADAR and LIDAR use. Officers are required to form an opinion on speed prior to radar or LIDAR use. This equipment is used to corroborate the officers independent opinions about the speed. Officers calibrate the devices after each use to ensure they are in good working order. When we were alerted about the signature issue, we immediately took the devices out of service and turned all devices in to the Innovation & Technology Department. In no way did this compromise our ability to enforce speed and traffic laws. The Innovation & Technology Department continues to recertify each device and release them back into service.

(WATCH BELOW: City of Charlotte to receive money to crack down on speeding)




























A well-known home in Charlottes historic McCrorey Heights neighborhood owned by Mayor Vi Lyles was demolished Wednesday.

Lyles said the planned demolition is about repairing the home that she claims is currently unlivable, while at the same time preserving the neighborhoods rich history.

Today the house on Madison Avenue will be demolished. I purchased this house as-is and, as the prior owner acknowledges, there are major structural issues in the foundation. When I rebuild, I will follow all the rules of the HDC and the neighborhood covenants.  Mayor Vi Lyles (@ViLyles) February 15, 2023

A county permit shows the home, which is on Madison Avenue, was scheduled to be demolished. The permit was filed on Aug. 4, 2022, and approved on Aug. 10, 2022, five days before the Charlotte City Council voted to establish McCrorey Heights as a historic district.

Several public hearings were held on the districts rezoning designation from June 200 to August 2022.

Lyles said she bought the home as a fixer-upper and planned to move into it. She said she decided to demolish it and rebuild once she discovered problems with the home.

ALSO READ: McCrorey Heights seeks historic status to protect neighborhood from gentrification

The house was built in 1957. One of the people credited with part of its design was former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, the citys first Black mayor and a prominent architect.

Lyles said the home will be rebuilt to meet the historic designation standards and she has talked to the neighborhood association about her plans.

Decades-long McCrorey Heights residents have renewed pride in the neighborhood after working for years to get its historic designation status.

This was the first Black neighborhood owned by Blacks, said Joli Robinson, a resident. They owned the land, and they owned the homes.

However, just like any area in the shadows of Center City Charlotte, there has also been a lot of interest from developers.

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I am sick and tired of everyone that is coming into the neighborhood purchasing these homes and transforming them, Robinson said.

Part of that frustration is being directed at Lyles.

Shes doing what we dont want the builders to do and shes our Black mayor, said resident Tori Burch. I mean, Im just going to have to call it like it is.

Lyles said the neighborhood means a lot to her.

One of the reasons that I own this house is that my father-in-law is on the corner of the block of Patton, Lyles said.

A group of longtime McCrorey Heights residents is upset with the plan Lyles has to demolish the home she bought last summer. A change.org petition aimed at stopping that demolition reached 609 signatures as of Wednesday evening, with a goal of 1,000. However, Lyles said it wouldnt stop the process.

Burch and others are raising questions about what led up to the impending demolition.

We were all shocked because we had worked so hard to get the historical designation, Burch said.

Lyles said during a Tuesday news conference she bought the house with the intention of moving into McCrorey Heights as a full-time resident.

The mayor said that she later learned the house had severe water damage and issues with the foundation.

I did buy the house as is, and I knew that it would either need to be a major fixer-up or a demolition, Lyles said. And at the time, it was as is, and so I chose to do it that way.

Channel 9s Evan Donovan spoke with the prior owner of the house, Ike Heard, Jr., the son of the homes first occupant and the man who sold the house to Lyles. Heard Jr. said the only structural issue he remembered was a leaning pier under the home. Several builders and real estate agents told Channel 9 that if that was the only issue, it wouldnt necessarily mean the home needed to be demolished.

Heard said hes disappointed by the decision to demolish the home, but that the decision is up to her because she owns it.

Lyles said she has family history in McCrorey Heights, and is excited to live there when she retires. She also asserted that she didnt use her position as mayor to gain any advantage and will follow all the necessary steps when rebuilding.

It will be consistent with the covenants in the neighborhood, as well as the historic district, Lyles said.

VIDEO: New affordable housing honors heritage of historically Black west Charlotte community




















(74.RU/AFP via Getty Images)

We couldnt see it coming. And even if we did, it wouldnt have seemed big: just a small rock, flying through space.

But 10 years ago, on the morning of 15 February, 2013, that 20-metre rock crashed into Earths atmosphere, travelling more than 18 kilometres a second. It exploded over Chelyabinsk  the Russian city that would give the meteor its name  in a blast that was brighter than the Sun and shook with the energy of more than 30 atomic bombs.

Within minutes, the meteors explosion had shaken the ground, with around 1,500 people injured from broken glass and other damage, and left buildings damaged. It was the only meteor ever known to injure humans.

The Chelyabinsk meteor was also a reminder to humanity, that the sky above us is filled with small rocks that could have big impacts. And it was a wake-up call to the Earth that it could be hit by them at any time.

In the 10 years since, space agencies and other governmental organisations have been working both to spot any potentially hazardous objects  and also to work on ways of protecting us from any that might arrive.

Still, we are not necessarily entirely safe. Nasa and other US organisations regularly conduct hypothetical asteroid impact scenario exercises, where representatives from the organisations that would have to respond to a real strike conduct a sort of practice run.

They usually show that the world is woefully unprepared, and end with mass destruction across that hypothetical Earth.

There are unknown numbers of asteroids out there in space. They could be hiding in the glare of the Sun, meaning that astronomers are unable to spot them until they are too close to notice.

But those asteroids are almost by definition more likely to be small. The bigger an asteroid is, the more damage it will do, but also the more likely that we will have seen it, since they are easier to detect.

While we are regularly surprised by asteroids, they tend to be relatively harmless for a reason. That was the case this week, when an asteroid spotted just hours earlier exploded above the UK and France, creating a bright and spectacularly flash but not posing any danger to people on the ground.

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That might not always be the case, however. While scientists believe they have catalogued almost all asteroids over 1 kilometre, and are working to find the rest, there is always the chance that one might have slipped through the net.

Dealing with that threat has been the aim of missions including Nasas Dart, a spacecraft that collided with an asteroid late last year. It successfully changed the course of the object, suggesting that we would be able to do the same if a dangerous one was heading towards us.

Doing that will also mean spotting them, however, and work is being done to ensure we are able to do that too. The ESA will soon launch a mission named NEOMIR, which will be sent to hover into space between the Earth and the Sun, and should be able to spot smaller asteroids that are currently hiding in its light.
Feb. 15CHEYENNE  A Cheyenne woman whose case was originally dropped by the Laramie County District Attorney's office in 2022 was arrested Monday on a warrant for first-degree murder.

Rocsand Bocanegra, 42, admitted to fatally stabbing Jess Smith, 58, last August in the "living room area" of Smith's home on the 700 block of Mitchell Court. Smith was pronounced dead at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center after suffering a fatal stab wound to the neck.

While Bocanegra was arrested by the Laramie County Sheriff's Office at roughly 5 p.m. Aug. 9, she was ultimately released late on Aug. 12 after having not been charged within 72 hours of the arrest.

A letter addressed to an LCSO detective, written by former District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove  currently facing the possibility of disbarment by the Wyoming Supreme Court  explained the reasoning behind declining the case.

"Your investigation established that Ms. Bocanegra told you that Mr. Smith was 'wailing' on her, hitting her with closed fists and 'giving me his all,' and trying to 'maul' her," the district attorney wrote. "The autopsy showed that Mr. Smith had injuries to his hands, consistent with being in a physical fight. Your observations of Ms. Bocanegra were that she had injuries consistent with being physically assaulted.

"Additionally, Ms. Bocanegra told you that she tried to push Mr. Smith off of her, that their encounter was 'scary' and it 'shocked' her, and that she was defending herself. She even went so far as to say that she just 'wanted him to stop hitting me' as justification for using the knife."

Medical records obtained by the LCSO confirmed that Bocanegra did not have any serious injuries, but did have multiple bruises on her face and head. There were also several areas of bruising on her legs and right hip. Smith, in addition to the fatal wound, suffered at least seven smaller cuts on his left shoulder, arm and hand.

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Manlove also added that Bocanegra had been living at the address where the stabbing took place for two weeks, and that none of the other residents said she was "not lawfully present" at the location.

However, in the months after Bocanegra was released from custody, Detective Abraham Maljian obtained information that conflicted with that original claim of self-defense, according to the probable cause affidavit obtained by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday.

In a handwritten statement received by Maljan on Sept. 6, one of the residents at the location of the crime stated that they overheard Bocanegra say she "is going to stab him in the neck if he touches her or tries to touch her."

On Nov. 8, one of two residents at a house on East Allison Road, where Bocanegra had slept the night before, overheard Bocanegra state that she would "stab him in the neck if he does not pay her what she's owed." The second resident stated that they had kicked Bocanegra out of their house on the morning of Aug. 8 for being "intoxicated" and "belligerent."

Messages on Bocanegra's phone also confirm that she had "planned to assault (Smith) regarding the money she was owed."

In her original interview with LCSO, Bocanegra stated that she had arrived at Mitchell Court at roughly 2 a.m., where she consumed alcohol and smoked methamphetamine with a resident prior to the incident. Bocanegra stated that "on a scale of one to 10 intoxication level, she was at a seven or eight."

According to other residents, Bocanegra had become agitated during a conversation over the phone, yelling and "calling out" to Smith, who was in his bedroom at the time. Bocanegra was agitated over Smith having failed to compensate her for landscaping services.

After approximately 15 minutes where she "wouldn't calm down," Smith exited his bedroom and confronted Bocanegra while she began "screaming and calling (him) names."

The dispute became physical. Bocanegra estimated the alteration lasted around four or five seconds. She stated in the interview that she "didn't mean to stab him in the neck" and "just wanted him to stop hitting" her. Both Bocanegra and a witness stated that Smith collapsed almost immediately.

The knife had been in a sheath located in her sock. Bocanegra stated that she thought she had left the weapon in Smith's body.

The weapon and its sheath have not been located.

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135.
Impoverished men were employed to carry pro-eugenic propaganda signs in Wall Street, New York City, on October 27, 1914. Wisconsin Historical Society, WHI-2003

Utah's eugenic sterilization program targeted at least 830 people, a new study claims.

Around 50 were children aged between 10 and 14 years old.

Researchers say as many as 54 people who suffered under the program may still be alive.

When a teenage girl, in 1928, told her bishop that she had been raped by her brother, she was labeled an idiot.

Instead of getting help, she was taken to the Utah State Hospital and sterlized against her will. The bishop later admitted she had likely been sold into sex work by her family.

Disturbing stories such as this have been uncovered as part of a new study into the scale of Utah's 50-year "eugenic assault."

Starting in the early 1900s, 32 states passed laws to enable state officials to recommend sterilization for those thought to be "unfit," "feeble-minded," or "immoral."

Most states backtracked their program in the 1950s, but Utah continued sterilizing victims until 1974, the study published Wednesday found.

At least 830 women, men, and children were coercively sterilized in Utah, it said. The procedures were carried out on children as young as 10.

In all likelihood, 54 of these victims are still alive today and researchers are now calling on Utah to apologize and take accountability for its role in the program.

"There are very likely people walking around in Utah today with the scars of this injustice," James Tabery, professor of philosophy at the University of Utah and an author on the study, told Insider.

Victims as young as 10 were sterilized

A picture of the Utah State Hospital from the late 1800s. Sterilizations were carried out in this hospital before the Utah State Training School was opened. Utah State History

Utah's sterilization program peaked in the 1940s and didn't end until 1974. As the program grew, increasingly younger people were sent for sterilization, Tabery said.

Of the 830 people who were sterilized in Utah, 50 are known to have been children aged only between 10 and 14 years, per the study. At least another 198 were aged between 15 and 19. One child was under ten years old when she was sterilized, per the study.

The idea of forced sterilization was simple: Eugenics told people at the time that immorality was determined by genes. So that would mean the social elite were in their place because of their superior genetics.

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It then followed those society saw as misfits, for instance the impoverished, those charged with crimes, and the disabled, should not be allowed to pass on their genes.

"By the mid-20th century, it became abundantly clear for human genetics that that's just not the case," said Tabery, who co-wrote the study with Nicole Novak, assistant professor at the University of Iowa.

Most states that carried on with their program didn't change the law. But Utah, in 61, went through the trouble of updating their law to make sure it could stand the test of time.

"They came up with a new justification that let them lower the bar for what they had to prove to sterilize somebody," he said.

Instead of having to prove that something was heritable, "you just have to decide that the people aren't going to be able to be good parents," said Tabery.

"I find it absolutely appalling. I have an eight-year-old daughter. That these children could, at that age, already be deemed either unfit to pass on their genes or incapable of parenting, it's really sad," said Tabery.

'He felt there was nothing he could do to prevent the operation'

An entrance to the Utah State Training School, American Fork, Utah, February 1942. Utah State Historical Society

Like many other states in the US, the people who were deemed unfit in Utah  labeled as "feeble-minded" would be sent to off to state institutions  first at the Utah State Hospital they at the Utah State Training School from 1931.

"There was shame associated with having a child with a disability," said Tabery.

"Now, the focus is on having them live comfortably with their family. But at the time in the US, they were institutionalized," he said.

At the Utah State Training School, students were meant to learn practical skills like housework, sewing, and shoe mending. Students lived in 88-bed bunks under the supervision of matrons.

Those sent to those institutions usually had to stay between three and six years of training, according to the Utah Historical quarterly.

Sterilization was mandatory for release, according to the Utah Historical quarterly. So victims often felt like they didn't have a choice,

That's the case of George, a 36-year-old man who received a vasectomy when he was 19. George, the report said, would have liked to have children "but went along with the operation anyway".

"It appears that he felt there was nothing he could do to prevent the operation," per the report.

Sam, a 17-year-old in the 1970s, initially "strongly rejected" the idea of sterilization because he wanted to have children but was subdued over the months.

Sam gave the interviewer the impression that "he thought the sterilization was inevitable and that there was not much that he could do to prevent the operation," per the report.

Victims didn't always know they were sterilized

It didn't take much to be categorized as "feeble-minded."

"That was a catchall term for all sorts of things. It could be an intellectual disability, it could be that you're just poor, anything that kind of made you seem a bit dull, the staff could get you labeled feeble-minded," he said.

There was a whole host of operations carried out on the victims. These ranged from a simple vasectomy or a tubal ligation, called commonly as having your tube tied, to having the testicles and ovaries removed.

According to a 1930s thesis, at least one victim also had her clitoris removed.

Some victims may not even be aware of what happened to them.

"It was either a function of them being so profoundly disabled that they just sort of weren't capable of understanding what was going on. Or they told that something else was happening like their appendix was coming out," he said.

One of these was Fred, a 21-year-old, who worked as a janitor at the training center in the 1970s, according to one report.

Fred recalled having an operation and his genital being slabbed with a red substance, likely disinfectant. But Fred "had virtually no understanding of the sterilization," per the thesis. "He still thought that he could have children."

Difficult to find victims

Utah State Training School, American Fork, Utah, in February 1942. Utah State Historical Society

"It's not easy" to find information about the victims, Tabery said.

There's been no formal reparation process in Utah and victims remain mostly anonymous.

"There's a lot of shame surrounding it. It's not the kind of thing that you find people are eager to talk about," said Tabery.

To find the information reported in the study, the researchers read contemporaneous academic theses from master students who studied sterilizations at the time.

They also worked with Utah State Developmental Center to get data about sterilizations. Formally called the Utah State Training School, where most of the sterilization happened in Utah.

The results of their investigation were published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Regional Health - Americas.

"Even though we weren't able to kind of identify and interview any of these people, these theses from 50 years ago, do have these reflections in there," said Tabery.

No accountability

A page from the 1950 Utah Pharmacy Digest reads "Utah tops Nation in Sterilization" Utah Pharmacy Association

Utah is far from being the state with the most victims. California is thought to have recommended upwards of 20,000 people for sterilization.

But per capita, Utah's program was "fairly aggressive," just "given the fact that there just weren't a lot of people here," said Tabery.

But unlike other states like California, North Carolina and Virginia, Utah is yet to apologize or start a reparation process, per Tabery.

"What's so powerful about things like apologies from governors or legislatures, it sends a message to those survivors who are still around that the fault wasn't with you. It was, with the state. It was with people who abused that sort of state power and made a decision for you that you should have made for yourself," said Tabery.

"It's an offering of taking that shame away," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Liz Lee

BEIJING (Reuters) - Diplomatic friction festered between the United States and China on Wednesday as Beijing charged that U.S. high altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions and said it would take measures against U.S. entities that undermine Chinese sovereignty.

Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects after the U.S. military this month shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing says its balloon was a civilian research vessel mistakenly blown off course, and that Washington overreacted.

This week, China countered that U.S. balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times on round-the-world flights since May 2022.

"Without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities, it has illegally flown at least 10 times over China's territorial airspace, including over Xinjiang, Tibet and other provinces," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular daily briefing on Wednesday.

The White House has disputed China's allegations.

Washington has added six Chinese entities connected to Beijing's suspected surveillance balloon program to an export blacklist.

"The U.S. has abused force, overreacted, escalated the situation, and used this as a pretext to illegally sanction Chinese companies and institutions," Wang said.

"China is firmly opposed to this and will take countermeasures against relevant U.S. entities that undermine China's sovereignty and security in accordance with the law," Wang said, without specifying the measures.

The balloon dispute has delayed efforts by both sides to try to patch up frayed relations, although U.S. President Joe Biden has also said that he does not believe ties 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 have said.

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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said later on Wednesday that communication with China had not stopped, but gave no details about any future high-level meetings.

"We hope when conditions make sense that we will be seeing each other face-to-face again. No announcements today," she said

Sherman reiterated that China's claims about U.S. balloons were false.

"They have now said that there have been a gazillion balloons by the U.S. over China. That is absolutely not true. There are no U.S. government balloons over China," she told an event at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

(This story has been refiled to add the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson's title in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Liz Lee and Michael Martina; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Tom Hogue, Toby Chopra, Kim Coghill and Nick Macfie)
China warned on Wednesday that it will take countermeasures against U.S. entities over the takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.

China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant U.S. entities that undermine Chinas sovereignty and security, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing, adding that Beijing will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and its legitimate rights and interests.

Wang did not go into detail about the countermeasures and did not identify the targets of those measures, The Associated Press noted.

President Biden ordered the balloon shot down on Feb. 4, an order that China claims was an overreaction. Beijing maintains that the balloon was a civilian weather balloon that went off course.

China has accused the U.S. of sending spy balloons over its country at least 10 times since May 2022.

Wang during Wednesdays briefing accused the U.S. of flying high-altitude balloons over Xinjiang and Tibet regions, according to Reuters.

The U.S. has denied Chinas accusations that it has flown spy balloons over the country.

We are not flying balloons over China. This is absolutely true, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told MSNBC on Monday, responding to Chinas claims.

Since the downing of the Chinese balloon earlier this month, the U.S. has shot down three more unidentified aerial objects over North America. Officials have been silent about the origins of those objects and their purposes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

China threatened to punish the US on Wednesday for shooting down its massive balloon.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Beijing "will take countermeasures" against the US.

Beijing has repeatedly insisted that the US "overreacted" by shooting down the balloon.

China on Wednesday threatened to punish the United States by taking "countermeasures" against it for the shooting down of its massive balloon that the Pentagon says was being used to try to surveil sensitive military sites.

Beijing has repeatedly insisted that the US "overreacted" by downing the high-altitude balloon over the Atlantic Ocean with a single air-to-air missile fired from an F-22 Raptor earlier this month.

"China is strongly opposed to this and will take countermeasures in accordance with law against relevant US entities that have undermined China's sovereignty and security to firmly safeguard China's sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a press briefing.

Wenbin did not specify the "countermeasures" that Beijing would take and accused the US of using the balloon incident "as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions over Chinese companies and institutions."

In the aftermath of the February 4 downing of the balloon, the Biden administration said that the Chinese military has targeted more than 40 countries across five continents with balloons like the one the US shot down.

Additionally, the US sanctioned six Chinese entities "for supporting" Beijing's "military modernization efforts, specifically those related to aerospace programs, including airships and balloons."

Although Beijing has admitted that the downed balloon belonged to China, it has insisted it was a weather balloon that blew off course.

"We are firmly opposed to what the US has done and urge the US not to take further actions that could undermine China's interests or escalate tensions," Wenbin said on Wednesday.

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The Chinese government spokesperson also demanded that the US "stop smearing and attacking China and stop misleading the US public and the international community."

"China reserves the right to further respond if necessary," Wenbin told reporters.

A China expert previously told Insider that the balloon that floated above America and sparked a diplomatic crisis was a "clumsy" move by Beijing that "put a missile" through an already strained relationship with the US.

The incident symbolized "for everyone in the world, particularly in America, that we are in an increasingly hostile relationship," said Orville Schell, the director of the Center on US-China Relations at Asia Society in New York.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), the country's top chip industry trade group, opposes reported export controls from the United States, Japan and the Netherlands, it said on Wednesday.

The restrictions, should they become a reality, "will cause serious harm to the semiconductor industry in China, with detriment to the global economy, as well as long-term damages to the interests of consumers world-wide," the association said in a statement.

CSIA also called on the Chinese government to establish rules "for maintaining the healthy development of the global semiconductor industry ecology."

In January, media reports surfaced stating that Japan and the Netherlands had agreed to comply with export restrictions against China's chip sector that the U.S. government had announced in October 2022.

The initial U.S. sanctions took aim at Chinese purchases of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, as well as equipment that chip factories could use to produce leading-edge computing chips.

Japan and the Netherlands are market leaders in the latter category. Both countries are the only producers of market-competitive lithography machines, which are a key component in the chip manufacturing process.

The governments have not directly addressed reports that they are cooperating with the United States, and the degree of their compliance and the restrictions' enforcement remains unclear.

The Netherlands' ASML is the world's dominant provider of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which it had already ceased selling to China in compliance with an earlier U.S. ban.

Along with ASML, Japan's Nikon Corp and Canon Inc produce deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, which chip manufacturers use to make less advanced chips.

Shanghai-based chip foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and Wuhan-based memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd are among the Chinese companies set to be affected by the restrictions.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Tom Hogue and Jamie Freed)
By Martin Quin Pollard and Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of retirees took to the streets in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday to protest cuts to medical benefits, according to residents and social media posts, following widespread demonstrations last year over COVID curbs.

In the central city of Wuhan, hundreds of mainly elderly people could be seen outside the city's central Zhongshan Park in video clips posted to social media.

One video from Wuhan verified by Reuters showed pushing and shoving between protestors and uniformed security personnel. Reuters could not immediately verify images from Dalian and some others from Wuhan widely shared on social media.

The demonstrations come weeks ahead of China's annual parliamentary gathering in early March.

The retirees were protesting local reforms including a recent cut to the monthly personal medical benefit allowance for retirees, from 260 yuan ($38) per month to 83 yuan, according to Wuhan residents. It followed a protest over the same issue last week in Wuhan.

Some sang songs including the Internationale, which is popular at protests in China. Others held phones aloft and recorded the event.

"This money is very little, but to old people it is life-saving money," said Wuhan resident Zhang Hai, who did not attend Wednesdays protest but said some of his friends did.

"People are not prosperous, so every little bit of money is hugely important," he told Reuters.

While street protests over local issues are not unheard of in China, Wednesday's events follow rare demonstrations in November in cities across the country over China's tough zero-COVID policy, which Beijing abruptly abandoned in December.

The protests come as many local governments are fiscally strained after COVID curbs ravaged the economy and as three years of spending on coronavirus controls depleted funds.

In China's health benefit system, some money goes to a personal medical allowance and other funds are pooled.

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Wednesday's protests in Wuhan and in Dalian in China's northeast attracted a heavy security presence, according to videos and pictures on social media.

Local authorities in both cities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Several Wuhan residents said that they believed police knew about the protest in advance, as notices advising people not to attend had circulated on social media, including one seen by Reuters.

Several of Zhang's friends who planned to attend were asked by residential authorities to sign a commitment "not to hold illegal protests, gatherings or demonstrations in public spaces" or post content about the protest, according to a copy of a notice seen by Reuters.

They were barred from leaving their homes by police, Zhang added.

($1 = 6.8381 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard, Laurie Chen, Yew Lun Tian; Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he is not sure how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) would perform in a presidential contest if he joins the race, saying that none of us really know who he is on the national stage.

Christie said in an interview with the conservative outlet The Dispatch published Wednesday that DeSantis has done a good job as governor, but he does not know how DeSantis would perform in a Republican primary.

DeSantis has not publicly confirmed whether he is considering a run for president in 2024, but he has been the subject of rumors about a possible candidacy and consistently places second or better in hypothetical GOP primary polls.

Christie, who was a candidate for the Republican nomination in 2016, has said he is considering his own run for president in 2024.

Former President Trump, who in November became the first candidate to officially enter the 2024 race, and DeSantis have been seen as the front-runners in the polls, while other possible candidates have mostly received single-digit support.

Im sure as heck not going to worry about what Ron DeSantis is going to do or not do, because none of us really know who he is outside of Tallahassee, Florida, Christie said.

He said running for president is very different than serving as governor, and he would be interested to watch DeSantiss candidacy and potentially compete with him if the Florida governor chooses to run.

None of us really know what hell be like on a national stage, Christie said.

He added that he is not the least bit afraid of Trump and will decide if he will run again for president in the next three months.

If I get in, I get in because I want to win, he said. Im going to be a truth-teller in this race. I think that the American people are hungry for the truth, and they dont even know what it is anymore.

Trump and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley are the only two major Republicans who have officially announced presidential bids for 2024. Many other possible candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), have indicated that they are also considering runs.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Cleveland, Ohio, has informed city residents that their water is safe amid growing concerns about the environmental consequences from the derailment of a train hauling chemicals in the northeastern part of the state.

In a statement, Cleveland Water notified residents that its drinking water comes from Lake Erie, which is separate from the Ohio River and its watershed.

Theres no indication that Lake Erie or its watershed have been impacted by the train derailment in East Palestine, the department said in its statement. The testing that we regularly perform would catch any changes to our source water should they arise.

The statement comes as East Palestine, a village in northeastern Ohio, is facing questions from residents about whether the air and water around them is safe for people, pets and livestock in the aftermath of the incident.

East Palestine residents are also asking for financial support after being forced to evacuate from the area.

In response, transport company Norfolk Southern Railway announced it will launch a $1 million charitable fund initiative to help the East Palestine community, which included providing more than 100 air purifiers for residents to use in their homes.

We are committed to East Palestine today and in the future, Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. 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.

A train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near the Pennsylvania state line earlier this month, causing a massive fire and prompting authorities to evacuate about half of the 4,800 residents in the surrounding area.

Norfolk Southern has said some of the rail cars were carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, combustible liquids, butyl acrylate, benzene residue, and other nonhazardous materials.

The East Palestine Fire Department last week informed village residents that they are able to return to their homes, but cautioned them to avoid the area surrounding the railway.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Cobb county police are investigating a deadly shooting that took place in a quiet community of Vinings.

The shooting happened at a townhome along Allegretto Circle last Friday, but police are releasing new details.

Im actually super shocked because its the first time Ive heard something so violent happen close to us, said Leticia Moreira, who works nearby and lives in Cobb County.

A number of people who live and work in Vinings are puzzled and want to know what went wrong.

I definitely want more information on what happened because I would never think that something would happen here in this beautiful area of Vinings, said Gabby Ferreira who works nearby.

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

Police say they found 31-year-old Timothy Bennett at a townhome on Allegretto Circle inside a home when they responded to the shooting.

Officers say Bennett was shot multiple times, they found him at the townhome along Allegretto Circle. He died at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.

Police say Deandra Benson-Perryman was at the home when they arrived to the scene on Friday night.

Benson-Perryman is accused of pulling the trigger during an alleged altercation with Bennett.

TRENDING STORIES:

According to the warrant, Benson-Perryman lived at the home where the shooting happened. It is unclear if Bennett also lived there.

Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell stopped by the house on Tuesday.

Moving trucks were outside of the house and a tarp was near the front door.

Neighbors werent interested in talking about the shooting, but shared some details about the family that lived in the home.

They said they were good people and didnt cause problems.

The house is for sale. A neighbor says the home went on the market a couple of weeks ago.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
True story of infamous bear who consumed duffel bag of cocaine to get Hollywood treatment (Getty/iStock)

When Georgia investigators stumbled across the infamous Cocaine Bear in 1985 its cause of death was unmistakable.

The 175-pound black bear was found next to a duffel bag that had once been filled with more than 70 pounds of cocaine before it was hurled from a drug smugglers plane.

Except now it was ripped open with 40 empty packets scattered near the overdosed animals carcass.

Now the wild story of the Cocaine Bear has been given the Hollywood thriller treatment and turned into a movie directed by actress and director Elizabeth Banks.

The movie stars Keri Russell of The Americans, as well an ensemble cast that includes her husband Matthew Rhys, Margo Martindale, OShea Jackson Jr, Alden Ehrenreich and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

And it also features one of the final ever movie performances of Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta, who died while filming the movie Dangerous Waters in the Dominican Republic in May.

Cocaine Bear charges its way into movie theatres on 24 February 2023.

Stills from Cocaine Bear movie (Universal Pictures)

The cocaine eaten by the predator, worth an estimated $15m, was dropped out of a plane in 1985 by drug smuggler Andrew Thornton, the son of wealthy Kentucky horse breeders.

Thornton, a former lawyer and narcotics police officer, had been on a cocaine-smuggling run in a Cessna from Colombia and was dropping packages off in northern Georgia.

Stills from Cocaine Bear movie (Universal Pictures)

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Thornton fell to his death when he jumped out of the plane and hit his head on the tail of the aircraft and failed to open his parachute.

When his body was found in a neighbourhood driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee, Thornton was wearing night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest and Gucci loafers.

Stills from Cocaine Bear movie (Universal Pictures)

Thornton, 40, also had $4,500 in cash on him, two guns, several knives and a key to the plane.

The unoccupied aircraft he was flying was later found crashed several hours away in the mountains of North Carolina and when authorities retraced the planes flight path and discovered nine duffel bags full of cocaine.

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I'm the bear who ate cocaine. This is my story. pic.twitter.com/txBSiUl5hL  Cocaine Bear (@cocainebear) November 30, 2022

Three months after Thorntons death the dead bear, and the tenth duffel bag, were found south of the state line between Tennessee and Georgia in the Chattahoochee National Forest.

But that was far from the end of the bears amazing story.

This story is just flat out incredible. Hilarious. #CocaineBear https://t.co/kL1JdwjlO7  Lee Weatherly (@LeeWeatherly) July 11, 2016

Now stuffed, the bear, which has been named Pablo Eskobear after Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar, is an unlikely tourist attraction at the Kentucky For Kentucky mercantile store in Lexington, Kentucky.

They got their hands on it after an exhaustive cross-country search, and detail its bizarre history on their website.

Its stomach was literally packed to the brim with cocaine. There isnt a mammal on the planet that could survive that, the medical examiner who performed the bears necropsy told the companys founders.

Cerebral haemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, stroke. You name it, that bear had it.

The bear was eventually taxidermied by officials and donated to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, where it was displayed at a visitor centre.

It then went into storage during a wildfire, before ending in a Nashville pawn shop. From there it was bought by country music star Waylon Jennings, who gifted it to a friend in Las Vegas.

When the friend, Ron Thompson, died in 2009, his estate was auctioned off and Cocaine Bear was bought by Chinese immigrant Zhu Tang for $200.

When Mr Tang died in 2012 the owners of Kentucky For Kentucky contacted his widow and she agreed to give them Cocaine Bear, if they paid for its shipping.

The bear is now a social media star in its own right at the companys location at the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington.

The movie Cocaine Bear is based on an untitled script written by Jimmy Warden and was produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who directed The Lego Movie.

Cocaine Bear will be Banks third feature after last directing Charlies Angels in 2019 and Pitch Perfect 3 in 2015.
Authorities are giving a clearer picture on the cleanup of the largest gasoline spill in the United States.

In a document submitted last year, Colonial Pipeline estimates 2 million gallons of fuel were released in the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville in summer 2020, making it the largest onshore fuel spill in the nation.

Colonial Pipeline is asking state regulators for a permit to move treated water from the nature preserve into a nearby creek.

This permit will allow Colonial Pipeline to enhance our ongoing recovery and remediation efforts with a system that will safely return treated water to the local watershed while reducing truck traffic at the site. We remain committed to working closely with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, as well as county and town leaders, to ensure our work at the site meets or exceeds all permitting requirements, the company said.

PREVIOUS: DEQ: Colonial Pipeline leaked 2M gallons in Huntersville; largest onshore fuel spill in US

An underground pipeline burst two and a half years ago, releasing gasoline. Two teens discovered the spill on Aug. 14, 2020 while they were riding ATVs in the nature preserve. Colonial Pipeline said the leak was caused by failed equipment.

Last summer, a judge ordered Colonial to pay a $5 million fine and take corrective action.

The states Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing on March 16 at the Central Piedmont Community College campus in Huntersville.

RELATED COVERAGE:

(PREVIOUS: Settlement reached in major Colonial Pipeline gasoline spill in Huntersville)




A Columbia woman was charged with murder and other crimes after another woman was killed Tuesday in a shooting at the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store, according to the Irmo Police Department.

Christina Harrison, 23, was also charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime and unlawful carrying of a pistol, jail records show.

Alexandria Cress Borys, a 26-year-old Irmo resident, was shot in the head and died at the scene, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Wednesday.

The shooting happened at about 4 p.m. at the Irmo Station Shopping Center at 7467 Saint Andrews Road, police said in a news release. Thats at the intersection with Lake Murray Boulevard in Lexington County, close to the Richland County line.

Officers responding to reports of a shooting found the victim in the parking lot, according to the release.

No other injuries were reported.

Officers interviewed witnesses and looked at surveillance footage, and determined that Harrison and the victim didnt know each other, but they were involved in an argument prior to the shooting, police said.

Information about why they were arguing was not available.

After the shooting, Harrison left the Kroger shopping plaza in a white Ford, according to the release.

While officers were still on scene, Harrison called police at about 5:30 p.m. and said that she was at the Irmo Police Department headquarters, half a mile from the shopping center, to surrender and she was taken into custody, according to the release.

Harrison was taken to the Lexington County Detention Center, police said. No bond has been set and she remains behind bars, jail records show.

Unfortunately, this is a situation where tempers flared and someone let anger get the best of them. One rash decision has impacted the lives of two families and countless others who witnessed this tragic event, Irmo Police Chief Bobby Dale said in the release. Senseless is the only word I can think of to describe what happened today.

Despite the arrest, police, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the coroners office are continuing to investigate the shooting and ask anyone who witnessed the gunfire or have more information about the incident to call 803-781-8088.

Along with SLED and the coroners office, the Lexington County Sheriffs Department, Richland County Sheriffs Department, and Lexington County Solicitors Office were among the agencies who have assisted police in the investigation.
The steering column on this Kia Soul was damaged by thieves in order to steal the vehicle, which was later recovered by Columbus police. The photo was taken in November 2022 at the Division of Police impound lot.

The city of Columbus has filed a lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai for $75,000 over the costs accrued by its Division of Police to deal with soaring rates of vehicle thefts of certain Kia and Hyundai models since January 2022.

The taxpayer cost of Kia and Hyundais negligence continues to rise as local law enforcement diverts limited resources to investigate thefts, respond to crimes and assess property destruction, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said in a statement. Its time we held these automakers accountable for cheating consumers and passing the buck and responsibility to clean up the mess they made onto the rest of us.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus. The city is asking to have Kia and Hyundai alleviate the cost of damages sustained as Columbus police have to respond to soaring thefts, according to the lawsuit.

Approximately 2,740 Kia or Hyundai model vehicles had been reported stolen to Columbus police as of Oct. 18, compared to 461 during the same time frame the previous year  a whopping 461% year-over-year increase. An average of 17 Kia and Hyundai models are being stolen every day  putting a strain on Columbus police, according to the lawsuit.

More:Columbus City Attorney says he intends to sue Kia and Hyundai over rampant car thefts

There were almost 8,000 successful and attempted vehicle thefts in Columbus between Jan. 1, 2022, and Oct. 18, and Kia and Hyundai vehicles were involved in two-thirds of the attempted thefts and 42% of the successful thefts, according to the lawsuit.

Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent because Kias and Hyundais poorly secured vehicles are terrorizing the city, the lawsuit states.

For Hyundais, there were 353 theft attempts from Jan. 1, 2022, to Oct. 18, but only two during that same time frame in 2021. There were 1,497 thefts from Jan. 1, 2022, to Oct. 18  a 532% difference during that same frame time in 2021, the city says.

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For Kia, there were 507 theft attempts from Jan. 1, 2022, to Oct. 18, but only two during that same time frame during 2021. The city says there were 1,243 thefts from Jan. 1, 2022, to Oct. 18  a 455% difference during that same time frame in 2021.

Despite the known dangers posed by car theft, Kia and Hyundai distribute cars that can be stolen by anyone with virtually no effort, the lawsuit states.

Columbus police have said teenagers are primarily responsible for the rising vehicle thefts, making sport of it. Viral videos online have targeted Kia and Hyundai models without immobilizers due to the relative ease of starting them without a key. Some youths have been killed in crashes involving stolen cars  including two 14-year-old boys last July.

More:Two 14-year-old boys killed in overnight crash involving stolen car, another hospitalized

On Tuesday, Hyundai and Kia announced they are rolling out free anti-theft software upgrades to millions of vehicles made before Nov. 1 that are missing a key anti-theft device. Klein said he commends the software upgrades but added that they are not enough.

The fact remains that thousands of Columbus residents have already had their cars stolen and our law enforcement continues to divert significant time and resources to respond to these crimes, Klein said. We have no choice but to file a lawsuit to hold these multinational corporations accountable for this significant and rising cost to taxpayers.

The city's lawsuit alleges the two vehicle manufacturers intentionally manufactured, marketed and sold vehicles that lacked industry-standard security features, including engine immobilizers and other anti-theft systems, making it easy for certain vehicle models causing the cars to be stolen in seconds with simple tools and a USB charger.

The lawsuit acknowledges that Hyundai made immobilizers standard on all vehicles made after Nov. 1, 2021, and Kia did the same for all 2022 models, but neither initiated any attempt to recall vehicles to provide a permanent and comprehensive solution nor have they ever publicly acknowledged fault or otherwise even hinted at providing compensation or other remedies for the harms already imposed on customers and governments across the country.

Ohio residents filed two federal class-action lawsuits against Kia and Hyundai last August, alleging that certain models of their vehicles are defective because they are too easily stolen.

In September, Orange County, California filed a class-action lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai because of car thefts.

mhenry@dispatch.com

@megankhenry

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus files lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai over car thefts
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address on Feb. 7. (Al Drago / Associated Press)

For the last decade or so, Latinx has provoked the linguistic version of a pie fight.

No one who comes within the orbit of this term can resist joining in the uproar. When they inevitably tap out, they emerge messier.

The neologism refers to folks who trace their heritage to Latin America and is thus a rough synonym for Latino." Its champions argue that Latino reinforces patriarchal norms  the o suffix in Spanish nouns is the masculine form, the a signifies feminine  and that the "x" is inclusive by recognizing nonbinary people.

Although no one knows the exact origins of "Latinx," the word began to emerge in online culture during the mid-2000s, used by people who identified with it. It earned mainstream attention after the 2016 Pulse massacre in Orlando, which happened during a "Latin Night" promotion at the gay nightclub.

A few months before Pulse, I heard "Latinx" for the first time at Long Beach Zine Fest, when an audience member asked what I thought about the term. I said if someone wanted me to refer to them as Latinx, I would.

Thats about as magnanimous as the discussion around Latinx ever got.

Although it's now a staple at college campuses and in progressive circles, a 2020 Pew Research Center study found that three-quarters of Latinos hadnt even heard of Latinx and only 3% used it.

The pushback by Latinos across age and political groups has been relentless and frequently derisive. Opponents claim that people should spend their time on more important issues and that no one should have terminology imposed on them  that Latinx is too tied to an LGBT identity, too hard to pronounce, and that no real Latino uses it, whatever the hell that means.

What's real is the blowback from Latino political leaders. In 2021, the League of United Latin American Citizens  one of the oldest Latino civil rights groups in the country  announced it would no longer use "Latinx," declaring the term very unliked.

That same year, Ruben Gallego, a Democratic congressmember from Arizona, tweeted that his staff wasn't allowed to use "Latinx" in official communications because when Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use.

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Last month, Connecticut State Representative Geraldo Reyes Jr., a Democrat, authored a bill that would ban state agencies from using Latinx. Reyes told the Associated Press that he found it offensive as a Puerto Rican because they didnt have to make up a word for something that already exists  never bothering to define who they were.

I dont call myself Latinx, because it doesn't resonate with me  but neither does "Hispanic." Besides, Ive always taken the long view in this name game. Over the past 100 years, my people  that is, those whose ancestral roots are in Mexico  have paraded around at least a dozen terms to describe "us," from the European (Latin) to the radical (Chicano) to the specific (Mexican American), the strange (hispanoid, which academics used during the 1960s) and even sometimes, if you can believe it, American.

Each of these descriptors had defenders and detractors  the legendary labor activist Bert Corona revealed in his memoir that some community groups he tried to organize in the 1950s never formed because of disagreement over what pan-ethnic term should be in their name. But the fight over what to call "ourselves" has historically been an intra-Latino one, almost always among those of the liberal persuasion, with outsiders quizzically looking on.

Whats new with the debate over Latinx is theres now an uninvited group that wants in: conservatives.

Latinx was barely on their radar until the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, when then-candidate Elizabeth Warren uttered it during a debate. It quickly became a punchline for the likes of Bill Maher and Greg Gutfeld, who ridiculed Democratic politicians as being so out-of-touch that they were calling Latino voters something the vast majority didnt even favor.

In recent months, GOP members have employed Latinx as a wedge issue, with the idea it will drive more Latinos toward their side. Two Republicans are co-sponsoring the anti-Latinx bill in the Connecticut legislature. Last fall, a dark money group led by former Trump administration members put up a billboard in Commerce that read, Only oppressive cisgender bigots say 'Latino.' It's LATINX now. Pass it on. This followed a billboard the group put up in Austin  people should defend pregnant Latinx men," it read in Spanish.

Meanwhile, one of Sarah Huckabee Sanders' first acts as governor of Arkansas was banning Latinx from state documents out of respect [to] the Latino community" and in an effort to "prohibit the use of culturally insensitive words." In her response to President Bidens State of the Union speech, Huckabee Sanders claimed that "Latinx" was "derogatory" yet didn't explain why.

When I recently pointed out on Twitter the irony of conservatives lambasting a term like Latinx  which emerged organically from a maligned community  in favor of Hispanic  a designation that the federal government codified in the 1970s  youd think I had just beat up a Donald Trump pinata at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The argument by conservatives that they're opposed to "Latinx" because Latinos don't care for it is laughable, considering a majority of Latinos want amnesty for immigrants in the U.S. illegally, yet the GOP is as build-the-wall as ever. It also obscures the reason behind the right's sudden interest in trashing "Latinx": fear.

As Latinos continue to vote in higher numbers, the Republican Party realizes it can't demonize them for cheap political points anymore, because it needs them more than ever. Nor do traditional culture war issues like abortion and opposition to gay marriage hold as much sway as they used to, as much as the GOP would love it to be otherwise.

More Latinos have joined the GOP in recent years  but that had more to do with the allure of a wannabe strongman like Trump and a Democratic Party perceived as elitist and too focused on Green New Deals and social justice issues instead of the economy. Standing against "Latinx" is the last, best chance for conservatives who have no other ideas. On this matter, they're no different than Democrats like Gallego and Reyes, who appear to think that Latinos are easily swayed dupes who need protection against evolving language.

The same polls that show Latinos rejecting "Latinx" also reveal that the term doesn't particularly offend them.

The Pew Research Center study cited by many anti-Latinxers revealed that only 12% of those surveyed "disagree with or dislike" it. A 2021 poll by Bendixen & Amandi International, a Democratic firm that focuses on Latino outreach, found that while only 2% of those polled identified as Latinx, 57% said the term "doesn't bother them."

But let conservatives ramp up their word war as the 2024 elections approach. By focusing on "Latinx," they'll commit the linguistic version of the Streisand effect  named for Barbra Streisand, who sued to have a publicly available photo of her cliff-top Malibu home removed from the internet, instead drawing far more attention to it.

This time, Latinos will see the Republican Party for what it really is: a giant cow pie. Toss it far, far away.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Laugh with Saturday Night Live alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on their Restless Leg Tour that will stop in Boston this summer. The comedians will take to the stage of Fenways MGM Music Hall June 9.

Poehler and Fey will headline a limited run of East Coast shows to celebrate 30 years of friendship through jokes and stories.

In an Instagram announcement video, Fey said its going to be an evening of comedy, conversation, improv, maybe a little slow dancing between us. We dont know yet, but its gonna be awesome.

The presale starts on Ticketmaster Wed. Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. For the general public, tickets go on sale Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. The tour kicks off April 28 in Washington, DC, and stops in Chicago and Atlantic City in addition to Boston.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Cornwall-Lebanon School District filled its empty board seat left by Susan Levendoski during Monday night's meeting.

Jane Owsiak has been appointed to fill the vacancy and will hold the seat until the 2023 election.

Owsiak, who held a seat on the board between 2018 and 2021, said she intends to run for the seat in December.

"I just find just so much personal joy in seeing what this school district offers to our children," she told the Lebanon Daily News on the night of her appointment. "Seeing these students that have achieved so many things and being able to be a part of that, to give back, that's really what drives me."

The interviews for the seat were held during the Feb. 6 school board meeting, at which 19 candidates expressed interest in the appointment.

Jane Owsiak (standing, middle) was sworn into the CLSD school board of directors on Feb. 13.

Martial arts prodigy:This 11-year-old already has a 3rd degree black belt. What's next for the Lebanon prodigy?

School board appointments:Lebanon School District appoints new board member

While all candidates were required to be a U.S. Citizen, at least 18 years old and have lived within the district for at minimum one year, the board asked each candidate four questions to determine the best person for the job: What qualities and experiences they had, what they believed the role of the school board was in approving curriculum, two or three key issues they believed board was facing and how they would contribute, and whether or not they would run in the December election.

Owsiak said that her previous time on the school board, as well as the time she has spent sitting on other local boards such as the Lebanon County Commission for Women and the American Heart Association, makes her a good fit for the position.

"I know what's expected of a board director," she said during the interview, "and I'm definitely missing it. I've really missed spending my time here with everybody and making a difference for the community."

She believes that it's important to work with curriculum leaders in crafting a well-rounded curriculum that serves the needs of all students, whether that be students seeking to go to college, the trades or those that need special education.

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She said that one of the major issues the board is currently facing is the number of students, especially special education students, who are leaving the school in favor of charter or cyber schools.

"We need to be really good in finding the balance between how we provide not just the education but the behavioral support and all the things that go into a special education," she said, "because I do know how many kiddos we are transporting out of our community."

Owsiak said that she believes parents and children can have the wrong perception about the quality of education in charter and cyber schools.

"I've actually heard some kids say that they pick those schools because they're easier," she said, "which is a shame because they're getting a great education here."

Owsiak also believes that it's important, considering the growing population and aging buildings of the district, for the board to be good at budgeting money and to have a strong relationship with local leaders and legislators who can advocate for them.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Cornwall-Lebanon School District appoints new board member
Then-LAPD Capt. Cory Palka speaks at annual Police and Firefighter Appreciation Day in 2017. (Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images)

A federal corruption prosecutor has joined the LAPD investigation into allegations that the department mishandled a sexual assault complaint against former CBS executive Leslie Moonves, Los Angeles police told The Times.

It is the latest revelation after a stunning report by New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James revealed that former Cmdr. Cory Palka and perhaps others in the Los Angeles Police Department worked to keep a lid on explosive allegations against Moonves at a time when top media and film figures were being ousted by #MeToo accusations.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore launched an investigation in November after it was disclosed that Palka tipped off CBS executives about a confidential complaint made in 2017 by a former employee involving two alleged incidents with Moonves in the 1980s.

Palka  then captain of the LAPD's Hollywood station who moonlighted as a CBS executive bodyguard  worked closely with the broadcasting company to contain the allegations, though the accusations were too old to prosecute.

After meeting with the family of Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, who filed the sex assault complaints, and issuing a personal apology, Moore said the LAPD would conduct an internal investigation and work with the L.A. County district attorney and state attorney general. The department has since revealed its "investigators are working with the United States Attorney General."

Mack Jenkins, head of the criminal division that includes the corruption unit for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, is working with the department, LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said. Jenkins has secured convictions against the likes of former L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar, state politicians and brothers Ron and Tom Calderon, and U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.).

Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office, said the agency will not comment on the matter.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon previously said his office will review any potential criminal charges against Palka and others involved in the case.

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Palka did not respond to requests for comment. He retired from the department in early 2021 after a 34-year career.

Leslie Moonves, then chairman and chief executive of CBS Corp., at the premiere of the television series "Star Trek: Discovery" on Sept. 19, 2017. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press)

Palka's role in the Moonves case has some observers likening the cover-up to a scene from L.A. Confidential, the James Ellroy novel about corrupt cops that inspired the 1997 Kevin Spacey movie. Records show that Palka worked for CBS at the Grammys from 2008 to 2014.

Any local charges would probably hinge on whether Palka's actions amounted to a conspiracy to tamper with evidence or commit a crime, an offense that's limited to three years from the last alleged act and therefore may be too old to prosecute.

Moore has said the department did not know of Palka's involvement until November, when the New York attorney general's report was released.

The report was five years after Golden-Gottlieb, then 81, walked into the Hollywood station to report that Moonves had sexually assaulted her in the mid-1980s. She was inspired by the #MeToo movement, which reached a peak in the fall of 2017 after the New York Times and New Yorker magazine published accounts of abuse by former film producer Harvey Weinstein. CBS morning news anchor Charlie Rose had just been fired after eight women who worked at his PBS talk show said he had groped them, exposed himself or spoke to them inappropriately.

In an interview in 2018, former television executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb alleges sexual abuse at the hands of Leslie Moonves. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Golden-Gottlieb, who died in July 2022 at the age of 86, told The Times in 2018 about her encounters with Moonves. She told police that in July 1986, Moonves forced her to perform oral sex on him in his car. Another time, he appeared naked below the waist in an office with her and, the next day, slammed her against an office wall, she said.

A watch commander at the Hollywood station told Palka about the allegations the same day, a person familiar with the situation told The Times.

That night, Palka left a voicemail for Ian Metrose  his contact at CBS, who was the network's senior vice president for talent relations. The following day, after being directed by his boss, Metrose asked Palka for a copy of the confidential complaint. Palka sent an unredacted version that contained Golden-Gottlieb's name, address and other identifying information, the New York attorney general's report said.

Moonves was so concerned that he sought to meet Palka in person.

"Would [he] meet me for a cup of coffee?" Moonves asked Metrose, according to the report, which outlined a $30.5-million settlement reached by CBS' parent company, Paramount Global, to resolve the sexual assault claims. "It is uncomfortable, I understand. I just want clarity," Moonves added. "I will meet him today near where he lives."

Palka, Moonves and Metrose met at a restaurant and vineyard in Westlake Village, near the then-captain's home.

Palka promised to keep Moonves apprised of Golden-Gottlieb's interactions with the LAPD and the district attorney's office. He then worked to keep the woman quiet, according to the attorney general's report, even telling Moonves' attorney, Blair Berk, and Metrose that the detective investigating the allegations would admonish the accuser tomorrow about refraining from going to the media and maintaining 'her' confidentiality ... and honoring the integrity of the investigation.

According to the report, Palka worked with an unnamed person in the elite Robbery-Homicide Division who was handling the case to ensure Golden-Gottlieb didn't go public with her accusations. Palka told the CBS team he reached out to his LAPD contact and made sure Moonves lawyer was the first and only point of contact.

Golden-Gottlieb's claims did not become public until July 2018 after six other women alleged sexual misconduct in a New Yorker story. The case had been rejected by the office of then-Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey in February that year. The Times obtained a redacted copy of the declination to pursue charges that protected her identity, and for first time time revealed the sexual assault investigation by the LAPD.

She then spoke to the New Yorker detailing her account along with several other women, and Moonves became the first public media company head ousted during the #MeToo movement. He told CBS his acts with Golden-Gottlieb were consensual.

In November last year, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division Det. Oscar Gamino presented an investigation of the 2017 case to the district attorney's office.

Out of an abundance of caution, I asked DB/RHD [Detective Bureau/Robbery-Homicide Division] to discuss the case file with L.A. D.A. for any feedback, Moore told The Times. They concur with the original declination.

Gamino also appeared at the district attorney's office last month, a day after a Times reporter sent him a series of questions about whether he discussed the case with Palka.

In a reply, Gamino wrote to The Times: The case is being reviewed by Internal Affairs Detectives, and Im not at liberty to discuss the matter.

The Los Angeles Police Commission has asked its independent watchdog to oversee the investigation. LAPD Inspector General Mark Smith told the civilian police commission that he would examine the departments practices for handling sexual misconduct cases and take a close look at its guidelines for off-duty bodyguard work by officers.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The crow attacks have sparked injury concerns among children or the elderly, according to local reports. (PHOTO: Google Maps)

UPDATE: The National Parks Board (NParks) responds to reports of attacks by the crows over the past week.

SINGAPORE  Crows have been attacking residents near Block 110 Bishan Street 12, and were seen swooping down 10 passers-by within 20 minutes, according to Shin Min Daily News.

The Chinese newspaper reported that several of these crows were perched on the lamppost next to the HDB flat's walkway on Monday (13 February), and would fly down without warning to peck at pedestrians.

A woman in her 20s was observed having to squat down as a form of defence. Even when she tried to stand up, the crow attacked her again by pulling on her hair.

The crows were also seen cawing at a young boy as he approached the lamppost, and then swooping down to attack when he walked past. Fortunately, the boy managed to dodge the birds.

Growing concerns among residents on the attacks

The attacks have sparked concerns among residents over the safety of children or the elderly, particularly if the crows target their eyes.

According to Shin Min, resident Ms Lin said that even though the crows have been raking up so much noise over the past few days, she never thought they would attack people.

Another long-time resident, Ms Cai, who lived in Bishan for 20 years, shared this is the first time that such a thing has happened, and the recent attacks have only been happening over the past two weeks.

Shin Min reported that the area near the walkway could be a crippled crow's territory. Whenever people got too near, other crows would start to caw loudly, as if "warning" them to stay away. If their "warnings" are not heeded, two of the crows would swoop down and attack the unfortunate passers-by.

NParks removes nests, traps crows

NParks said on Wednesday (15 February) that it is working with the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council to reduce the crow population near Block 110 following the attacks.

In addition to removing crows' nests from the area, it has been pruning trees and trapping crows since 7 February, said Dr Adrian Loo, NParks' group director of wildlife management.

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According to Dr Loo, NParks uses suitable and science-based depopulation techniques such as removing food sources and modifying habitats to make them less conducive to the birds to ensure humane and safe population control.

He added, House crows are not native and are an invasive species in Singapore, posing a threat to our native biodiversity. Additionally, they are particularly protective of their young and may attack when the chicks are in the nest or when they sense that their young are threatened.

NParks lists why crows might attack

According to the National Parks Board (NParks) website, crows might attack people for several reasons.

"It may be the fledging season (May - June) in which the young crows are learning to fly. The parents are very protective during this period and would attack if you are close to the young (limited to a small area)."

NParks also said another reason is that if people have invaded their territory, the crows view you as a threat.

"They are grudge-holding birds, and you may have accidentally offended one of them."

If one encounters hostile crows, NParks advises the public to call the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) at 1800-476-1600.

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.
WASHINGTON  A D.C. police lieutenant warned Proud Boys leader Henry Enrique Tarrio that a warrant for his arrest had been signed ahead of his arrest, according to evidence presented in federal court Wednesday during the sedition trial of five Proud Boys.

Prosecutors in the high-profile trial showed messages between Tarrio, one of the five defendants, and Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond, suggesting Lamond kept Tarrio in the loop about the police departments investigations into him and other Proud Boys.

In Dec. 18, 2020 messages between Lamond and Tarrio, Lamond asked whether Tarrio called in an anonymous tip claiming responsibility for burning a Black Lives Matter after a Trump rally, taken from a historic Black church. Tarrio responded that he did more than that and had posted it on his social media.

Those messages were followed by several empty messages from Tarrio, which prosecutors say indicate the messages have been deleted.

But the same day, Tarrio messaged other members of the Proud Boys to say he got the jump on the narrative for the banner burning, which would make it challenging for MPD to bring a hate crime" enhancement against him. He attributed the information to his contact at DC Metro.

This stays in here, Tarrio told the other Proud Boys, using colorful language in the rest of the message to disparage the law to reinforce his point.

Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio rallies in Portland, Ore., in Aug. 2019.

On Dec. 25, 2020, Lamond told Tarrio that MPDs criminal investigation department had the officer identify Tarrio in a photo he posted to Parler, which showed Tarrio kneeling next to a Black Lives Matter banner that Tarrio burned.

They may be submitting an arrest warrant to the U.S. Attorney's office, Lamond, an intelligence officer for the force, wrote to Tarrio.

Days later, on Dec. 30, the pair talked on the phone for about 14 minutes. The same day, messages between the Proud Boys indicated that they knew Tarrio faced arrest.

And on Jan. 4  the day Tarrio ultimately was arrested  a system message in the chat between Tarrio and Lamond showed the settings had been changed so they would self-destruct. Tarrio told members of the Proud Boys Ministry of Self Defense leaders chat the same day that the warrant was just signed."

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Tarrio's arrest prior to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol

Tarrio was arrested and charged with destruction of property upon entering Washington, D.C. limits for setting fire to the Black Lives Matter banner. He was also charged with possessing a high capacity feeding device, when arrested while in possession of two high-capacity firearm magazines.

The Miami Proud Boy was on the phone with a USA TODAY reporter when he was arrested. The call was interrupted by loud sirens and Tarrio joked that "They're for me." He asked the driver of the car he was riding in to pull over and told the reporter, "Here's something to write about," before hanging up the call.

From Proud Boys to police: the ties between Enrique Tarrio and Shane Lamond

The relationship between Tarrio and Lamond extended beyond the days before his January 2021 arrest, prosecutors said.

In November 2020 messages between the pair, after that months Million MAGA March, Lamond informed Tarrio that Metro police cut (his) guy loose because a victim could not be located.

Ahead of the Dec. 12, 2020 Million MAGA March, Lamond told Tarrio that antifa would be staying at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, asking Tarrio whether he should let our uniformed officers know that or keep it to myself?

FBI Special Agent Peter Dubrowski, the government witness who introduced the evidence, told the jury it was not typical for law enforcement to inform civilians affiliated with an arrested individual whether that person had been cut loose or to defer to civilians on matters of law enforcement.

Defense may call Lamond as witness

Mark Schamel, an attorney for the officer, told the Associated Press in December that Lamond was placed on administrative leave by the police force in February 2022.

Defense attorneys for Tarrio indicated in court filings they intend to call Lamond as a witness in the Miami Proud Boys defense. But Lamond plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination if called to the witness stand after prosecutors warned the officer he could be charged with obstructing the investigation into Tarrio, the attorneys say.

Tarrios attorneys have accused the Justice Department of trying to bully Lamond into keeping quiet because his testimony would hurt their case. Prosecutors have vehemently denied that charge.

The Proud Boys face trial for sedition and other charges in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Dig deeper:

Contributing: Will Carless, Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Proud Boys trial evidence: D.C. police lieutenant warned leader of arrest
David Duchovny's ancestors faced many obstacles before they settled in America, and the actor can't help but get emotional while hearing about their journey in an episode of "Finding Your Roots" which aired on Feb. 14.

Duchovny's paternal grandfather Mosha, or Morris, Duchovny died when the actor was an infant, so when he sits down with the show's host Henry Louis Gates Jr., the 62-year-old is eager to learn more about him.

"We missed one another on this plane of existence. But here is, coming back," Duchovny says in the episode.

He soon discovers that his grandfather was deeply involved in New York's Jewish community and was well-loved. I didnt know how vibrant he was and how busy, Duchovny remarks.

While reading a record that says Mosha Duchovny was born in Russia, Duchovny suddenly tears up and says, "I don't know why that affects me."

"It just makes me so sad that I didn't get to meet him," he explains.

Duchovny learns that his grandfather's family lived in the Pale of Settlement, a geographic region of czarist Russia that encompasses modern-day Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova, Ukraine and east-central Poland. Jews were allowed to live in the Pale, but they were also subject to anti-Semitic violence.

"Jewish people suffered an array of humiliating restrictions and were vulnerable to violence at any time," Gates explains.

Between 1897 and 1915, more than 1 million Russian jews emigrated out of the Pale, including Duchovny's great-grandparents and their six children. While most went to the U.S., Gates says, Duchovny's ancestors relocated to the Middle East around 1910  specifically, Jaffa, a city that's now in Israel but was formerly in Palestine and part of the Ottoman Empire.

Their stay in Jaffa was brief. In 1914, police invaded the Jewish quarter and deported 6,000 residents to Egypt.

Are you saying that my family was in that, or is this just something that happened?" Duchovny asks. Gates confirms that his family was involved in this violent ransacking.

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Most were robbed of all of their possessions, meaning that Duchovny's family had to started from scratch, again.

Two years later, Mosha Duchovny and his father boarded a ship to the United States.

While learning about his grandfather's journey to the New York harbor, the actor tries to put himself in his shoes.

"I can't imagine their state of mind. You're always thinking of the hope of the new world. They must've had some hope, but the fear and just the dislocation. They've been moving quite a bit for a couple years and it's not going well and they're just going all over the world. They're looking for a home," he says.

The star seems touched by his family's perseverance and says that he feels very "proud."

They ran and they ran and they got somewhere. They didnt give up, he says.

Eventually, other members of Mosha Duchovny's family came to the United States. His mother sadly died just weeks after joining him in New York.

Considering the innumerable obstacles that his family faced, Duchovny is touched by what his relatives went through in order to give their family a better chance.

I know they didn't do it for me, but they gave my father a chance to have a different life ... they made some good decisions, he says.

The actor then explains that he always thought his family was just lucky to have left Europe before the Holocaust.

"But now I think it's more they were smart. They were looking for opportunity. They were looking for safety, he says.

While talking to Gates, Duchovney remarks that his life has been "so easy compared to (my ancestors' lives) and says he feels a huge rush of gratitude.

I had a solid childhood. But just a few years earlier that would not have been the case ... Im just lucky in that way. The question becomes, what do you owe (them) or whats your responsibility? he says.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
David Harbour says Jennifer Coolidge chastised him for not strangling her hard enough in their forthcoming Netflix comedy, We Have a Ghost.

Harbour stars as the titular ghost in the movie, who is not able to speak, while Coolidge plays a TV medium tasked with communicating with him.

Harbour appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday (14 February) where he detailed the scene in which a CGI thing shoots out of my face, and it's a hand, and it strangles [Coolidge's character].

She was like, really pissed, Harbour said, explaining that his hand was used for the strangling.

We stopped the take, and she was like, David, you gotta really strangle me. You gotta strangle me!

However, Harbour explained he was reluctant to play any harder with the beloved White Lotus star: Im not gonna strangle Americas Sweetheart.

Anthony Mackie and Jahi DiAllo Winston also star in We Have a Ghost. The story follows a teenager named Kevin (Winston) whose family finds a ghost named Ernest (Harbour) haunting their new home.

Their discovery quickly turns them into social media sensations.

Coolidge fans were treated to a Super Bowl appearance on Sunday (12 February) as the star fulfilled her dream of playing a dolphin in an advert for E.l.f. Cosmetics.

The 61-year-old actor had sparked amused reactions at the Golden Globes earlier this year after she revealed her ultimate dream role would be to play one of the aquatic mammals.

We Have a Ghost premieres on Netflix on 24 February.
Liverpools Joel Matip joined in 2016. (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Archive)

Liverpool agreed a deal to sign Joel Matip on this day in 2016.

The defender penned a pre-contract agreement to move to Anfield on a free transfer from Schalke.

He had spent his entire career with the German club having come through the youth system.

Matip said: I have always said that there is only one reason I would leave Schalke  to experience something completely new. For that reason, I never considered a move to another Bundesliga club.

Even though the decision wasnt easy, I am certain that this is the right moment for me to take the next step in my career.

Matip was a peripheral figure when Liverpool won the title in 2019-20 thanks to a succession of injuries, only making eight starts in the historic campaign.

But he has made 182 appearances under Jurgen Klopp, scoring 10 goals, with his current deal expiring next year.

Matip has helped the Reds win the Champions League in 2019, FA Cup, League Cup, the Super Cup and was part of the squad which lost to Real Madrid in last years Champions League final.
A Dayton man was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for distributing fentanyl and cocaine that resulted in six overdoses late New Years Eve, into New Years Day 2019.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Dayton man pleads guilty to role in New Years overdoses

Kelsey V. Williams, Jr., 41 was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio in May 2021 and arrested in June 2021 in Minnesota. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Dayton in January 2022.

According to court documents, on New Years Eve 2018 and New Years Day 2019, Williams distributed a fentanyl and cocaine mixture that resulted in six overdoses, four of which were fatal.

>> Totally unacceptable; Trotwood teens ear nearly detached after brutal assault on school grounds

Williams trafficked in drugs that directly resulted in overdoses, said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. His crimes could not be more serious and have had a devastating impact on families in the Dayton area.
A train with hazardous chemicals derailed in Ohio earlier this month, prompting heated debate about what caused the crash and what could be done to prevent future accidents (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The only way I can describe it is like the doors of hell were open.

Thats how Mahoning County Hazmat chief Steve Szekely described the acrid cloud of black smoke that went up in the aftermath of the 3 February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where 150 cars, some of them carrying toxic chemicals, went sliding off the tracks.

That disaster has caused residents and local wildlife to suffer a variety of symptoms, and has caused chaos of its own in Washington, as officials have sought to pin the tragedy on one party or policy.

Its said that success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. Its clear, according to experts, that both parties, multiple administrations, as well as railway companies and labour leaders, share the blame for the striking rail accident.

The immediate cause of the derailment, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards preliminary investigation, was a wheel bearing on one of the trains cars becoming overheating and failing just before the crash.

The deeper reasons for the crash are more complex.

Crippled regulations

Some, like Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration, argue the federal government hasnt done enough to champion Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes, a braking system that would update existing rail brake technologies, which date back to the Civil War era in some places.

"Would ECP brakes have reduced the severity of this accident? Yes," Mr Ditmeyer told Lever News.

In 2015, the Obama administration passed a rule requiring ECP brakes on some trains carrying hazardous materials, but ignored the NTSBs request that the rules apply to all such trains. The Trump administration, lobbied by rail carriers including Norfolk Southern, the company which operated the train that derailed in Ohio, rescinded the rules entirely.

Sherrod Brown, US Senator for Ohio, argues the GOP carries the share of the blame for the rollback.

We are concerned that the Trump administration rolled back some of the safety rules and some of the railroad safety and worker safety rules, he told The Independent, adding, I mean, every chance Republicans get they weaken worker safety rules, they weaken and weaken environmental rules. They weaken consumer protection rules. So we want to know if weve got to fix that. But that doesnt help East Palestine now.

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The rail industry, meanwhile, argues such braking technologies are still unproven. Association of American Railroads spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek told USA Today ECP brakes have a significant failure rate.

A declining labour force

Others blame labour conditions at the nations rail carriers for causing declining staffing and lower safety standards.

It speaks to the conditions on the railroad, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders told The Independent. I think some of the workers, they will tell you that they thought something like this was inevitable and that we have to deal with a situation where in the last six years 30 per cent of that workforce was cut back."

Facing competition from ground freight, rail carriers, including Norfolk Southern, have embraced a practice known as precision scheduled railroading (PSR), an approach which centres on maximizing the utility of each individual rail car rather than considering whole trains as a single unit.

In practice, PSR has meant longer trains, overseen by fewer workers, sometimes with loads dangerously weighted towards the back of rail convoys, according to railway unions.

The short-term profit imperative, the so-called cult of the Operating Ratioof NS [Norfolk Southern] and the other Class 1 railroadshas made cutting costs, employees, procedures, and resources the top priority, Railroad Workers United told The New Republic.

The wreck of Train 32N has been years in the making. What other such train wrecks await us remains to be seenbut given the modus operandi of the Class One rail carriers, we can no doubt expect future disasters of this nature.

As The Independent has reported, railway workers have argued the self-proclaimed pro-labour Biden administration betrayed them during ongoing contract negotiations, after it backed a December deal to head off potential strike action while avoiding worker demands like an end to PSR and sick leave.

Politicians are happy to voice platitudes and heap praise upon us for our heroism throughout the pandemic, the essential nature of our work, the difficult and dangerous and demanding conditions of our jobs. Yet when the steel hits the rail, they back the powerful and wealthy Class One rail carriers every time, RWU General Secretary Jason Doering said during the negotiations.

In our view, I dont think you can separate the drastic reduction in workforce over the past seven or eight years, from the increase in accidents, the rate of safety incidents, Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, told USA Today of the recent derailment, arguing job losses and scheduling changes have cut down the number of staff on trains and the time allotted to perform inspecitons. What people see on the ground is a really big amount of pressure on moving as fast as possible, as lean as possible, and generating as much profit as possible.

Norfolk Southern alone has lost 40 per cent of its workforce in recent years, per SEC filings.

Is the federal government doing enough?

Lawmakers from both parties have argued the Department of Transportation, helmed by Pete Buttigieg, doesnt seem to be doing enough to prevent further tragedies.

We need Congressional inquiry and direct action from Pete Buttigieg to address this tragedy, Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Fully agree, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruzwrote in response.

In response to both legislators, Secretary Buttigieg said, We could start by discussing immediate steps Congress could take to address rail safety and reduce constraints on USDOT in this area. Give us a call, we can do some good work.

Mr Buttigieg has defended the Biden administrations work on the rail system, pointing to historic investments in rail safety coming through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as a round of grants in June providing $120m for rail safety.

Good regulation and effective enforcement are key to lowering the risk of rail incidents, injuries and fatalities, Mr Buttigieg said in statement on Twitter after the disaster. DOT is continually updating and enforcing our rail regulations to make trains safer and push the injury rate toward zero.

The DOT is currently considering a proposed regulation, backed by the rail industry, which would reduce the frequency of brake testing on some trains.

Both parties can agree that something needs to change.

How did this happen? Ohio Senator JD Vance, a Republican, told The Independent. How do you prevent it from happening in the future?

We have to put our eyes on this problem, learn from it, and make sure that regulatory and administrative structure is able to protect against it, added Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a Democrat.
The search and rescue operation of people trapped under the rubble of a residential building, destroyed by a Russian Smerch multiple-launch rocket system (MRLS), has been completed in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, with three people killed and 11 injured.

Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "The search and rescue operation in Pokrovsk on the rubble of a house destroyed by Russian troops has been completed. According to the final figures, three people were killed and 11 were injured.

One person among those wounded is in a serious condition and is in a hospital in one of the neighbouring oblasts.

The attack has damaged four multi-storey buildings and a school."

Details: At about 10:00 on 15 February, a residential area of the Soniachnyi district of the city of Pokrovsk was hit. According to clarified information, Russian forces used Smerch MRLS for the attack.

Earlier, 12 people were reported injured, and one person was killed.

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WASHINGTON  Fighter jets werent the only things scrambled by the appearance of mysterious objects over North America this month  so, too, were American politics.

The shooting down of UFOs over American airspace represents a political phenomenon almost as unusual as the aeronautic one  a major news story with no partisan associations, no obvious culture war connections and few historical reference points in the political forever war.

Everything fits into a partisan realm right now, Democratic strategist Jared Leopold said. No one has a playbook in politics for shooting down UFOs that are not aliens.

The political battle lines in modern Washington are typically clearly drawn, no matter what the news brings. School shootings ignite fights over gun policy. Hurricanes and wildfires stir up debate over climate change. The collapse of a football player during a game foments conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines. Advanced Placement tests, the Grammys, airline cancellations, egg prices and "The Little Mermaid" all get quickly turned into political flashpoints.

But while the UFOs shot down over the U.S. and Canada may not be extraterrestrial, they are extrapolitical. Partisan critics who get up every day looking for ways to zing the White House have struggled to fit a mysteriously shaped peg  octagon? saucer?  into the square hole of their partisan narratives.

At first, the Chinese spy balloon fit neatly into conservative talking points about Democrats being too soft on China and weak on national security. But once the Biden administration shot down the balloon and then quickly authorized the takedown of three more mysterious objects, the storyline went off-book.

Notably, former President Donald Trump seems to have sat out the issue entirely.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump has shared his thoughts on everything from the State of the Union to the Super Bowl: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history. But of the dozens of messages Trump posted in the four days since the U.S. shot down the second object over Alaska, zero have mentioned the incident.

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Some have said President Joe Biden was too slow to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon but has gone trigger happy with the other objects, as Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, put it on CNN on Sunday, wondering if Biden is just trying to change headlines.

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck said on his show Monday that it was stupid and dangerous for the administration to shoot down the new objects, warning Biden could trigger an escalatory tit for tat with China that could lead to nuclear war.

We should have taken out the first balloon. But now, I dont know, Beck said. Are we just taking out birthday party balloons? And then calling it, like, it could be a danger, because were trying to act tough? And if were acting that way, why would we expect the rest of the world to act differently? This is stupid and dangerous.

Its a very distinct issue and its also kind of a new issue, so it doesnt have a lot of baggage with it, which has helped it escape partisanship, said Chris Mellon, a former top Pentagon official in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations who is now a leading advocate of further study into unexplained aerial phenomena.

The overwhelming reaction from Republicans and Democrats alike is to demand more answers from the administration about what exactly the U.S. shot down and why.

U.S. Navy sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Sunday. (Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson / U.S. Navy)

Rep. John James, R-Mich., a rising GOP star, said the UFOs are emblematic of how Bidens leadership has let things get out of control.

People who are not wearing tinfoil hats are talking about UFOs, he said on Fox News on Monday. We need to get a handle on these things. Which is why were doing our best to govern well from the Republican majority in the House to hold the Biden administration accountable and show we can take the Senate back and get the White House.

Others on the right connected the UFOs to immigration.

The American people have seen Joe Biden, in his first two years, he has failed to secure the southern border. Now theyre beginning to get concerned that he cant secure our airspace, the House Oversight Committee Chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said on Fox News on Monday.

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, tweeted: Potential alien UFOs? Joe Biden shoots the objects down. 5+ million illegal aliens cross the border? Joe Biden does nothing.

Leopold, the Democratic strategist, said the scattershot messaging is emblematic of the chaos of this moment that doesnt fit into a neat political box.

The Republican Party is geared up to attack Joe Biden, even if theyre not sure how, Leopold said. If the sun rises, theyll attack him for it being too sunny. If its raining, theyll attack him for it being rainy.

Before the recent shoot-downs, unexplained aerial phenomena were a rare spot of bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers from both parties crafting legislation to require the Defense Department and Intelligence Community to better track and report unexplained aerial phenomena. Members like Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., were pushing the administration to take the issue more seriously and end the stigma that has prevented pilots and others government officials from talking about weird things they see.

With the emergence of new technology like drones and hypersonic aircraft, the lawmakers argue, its more important than ever to be on the lookout for potential Russian and Chinese aircraft over American skies.

There is a small band of people who are hawks on this topic. And theyre being very pragmatic on this. Its not about spaceships and laser beams; its about national security and scientific inquiry, said Ryan Graves, a former Navy aviator who has helped lobby Congress on the issue. From my perspective, theyre all working on the same team, whether theyre blue or red, left or right.

Gillibrand, in an interview with NBC News, said she hopes the attention on the issue will not politicize it.

National security concerns are always bipartisan, she said. I think it can stay bipartisan. I think how the president handled the Chinese balloon became a political issue just because Republicans want to make it political, but how Biden handled it was appropriate.

While UFOs have not been a political issue in the past, experts and lawmakers agree theyre going to come up a lot more now that military radar systems are actually looking for them. This is why, Gillibrand said, the government needs to be more prepared for next time.

We cant be spinning on a dime every minute to decide whether were going to shoot down an unknown device, she said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's Minister of Defence, said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the decision to leave him in office after the recent corruption scandal in the ministry.

Source: The Guardian

Quote: When asked whether he planned to remain in the position of Minister of Defence in the coming months, Reznikov answered: "Yes, it was my president's decision."

Background:

Viacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Minister of Defence, resigned and was dismissed due to the scandal over food procurement for the Ukrainian military at inflated prices. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the head of the state procurement department at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, who was involved in a food procurement scandal, has also been dismissed from his position.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed the government to update the public procurement system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which would provide for the publication of prices for products and goods.

On 21 January, ZN.ua publication reported that the Ministry of Defence bought food for Ukrainian servicemen two to three times more expensive than in Kyiv stores. The December agreement with Activ Company was signed on behalf of the ministry by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, who appeared in the case of embezzlement of 580,000 dollars during the purchase of military ammunition.

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The insurgent Colorado Democrat who came within a few hundred votes of beating controversial far-right-wing Rep. Lauren Boebert announced Tuesday he will challenge her again in 2024.

Adam Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman, says he plans to oust Boebert from her 3rd Congressional District seat that covers most of the western half of the Rocky Mountain state.

We lost by a mere 546 votes in 22  the closest race in the country  and know we can make that up in 24, Frisch wrote in a tweet.

Frisch nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the midterm elections when he came within a hairs breadth of beating Boebert, who won her first time by a much healthier 6 percentage point margin.

Their rematch is already shaping up as a marquee matchup of the 2024 congressional election in which Democrats will try to retake control of the House.

Frisch trumpets his deep roots in western Colorado, including a family farm and small-town feedstore. He vows to be a moderate Democrat who would keep an eye on spending if elected.

Boebert, a former restaurateur, has earned a reputation for her outspoken support of gun rights, opposition to immigration and backing of former President Donald Trump. She also had to apologize for an Islamophobic outburst against fellow Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

She was one of a handful of far-right-wing Republicans who forced House Speaker Kevin McCarthy into a weeklong 15-vote marathon before allowing him to win the gavel.

Boeberts staunch opposition to McCarthy (R-Calif.) sparked an unlikely fight with one-time MAGA ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who confronted her in a congressional ladies room for supposed disloyalty.

The district Boebert and Frisch will fight over leans Republican but includes swaths of liberal ski country.

Once a battleground state, Colorado boasts one of the highest rates of college education and is moving rapidly toward the Democrats in recent election cycles as the GOP turns to the far right.

Frisch trashed Boebert as an election denier who backed the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and a pro-life zealot who supports banning all abortions.

Lauren Boebert represents everything that is wrong with Congress, Frisch said.
Polish soldiers near the Leopard tank, January 31, 2023

According to Welt, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the only tanks Amsterdam could provide in theory were 18 Leopard-2 tanks leased to the country from Germany.

Read also: Finland involved in cooperation on Leopard tanks for Ukraine, says defense minister

Both countries decided that these tanks were not available for Ukraine.

In Danish government circles, the newspaper was told that they have 44 tanks of the most modern Leopard 2A7 model, but will not participate in the supply.

Read also: President Zelenskyy, Danish PM Frederiksen visit southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv

However, both the Netherlands and Denmark have committed financial resources to refurbishing 100 Leopard-1 tanks in German warehouses.

Read also: Ukrainians already being trained on Leopard 2 tanks from Canada, says Canadian Defense Ministry

On Jan. 25, after long hesitation, Germany approved the transfer of 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries. On the same day, the U.S. announced the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks can be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.

On Feb. 14, during the 9th meeting in the Ramstein format, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, listed the countries that are working on the transfer of the Leopards to Kyiv. In particular, he named Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, and Norway. Finland also confirmed its participation in the tank coalition.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine will receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 300-500 tanks for an offensive.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An Iowa police officer remains in Florida Keys jail Tuesday night following his arrest Monday on two misdemeanor domestic battery charges.

Charles Leroy Dailey, 40, is accused of punching his girlfriend in the face as the two argued in the parking lot of Boondocks Grille and Draft House on Ramrod Key in the Lower Keys around 5:20 p.m.

According to Monroe County Sheriffs Office deputies, the two were arguing over Daileys phone, which the girlfriend wanted to check because she suspected he was talking to other women.

Deputies were called to the bar after staff called 911 to report that a man hit a woman and that she was holding the side of her face, yelling, he just punched me, according to the arrest report. The Miami Herald is not naming the woman.

Deputies stated that they watched security camera footage of the incident and that it showed Dailey and the woman leaning over the back of a Toyota Camry parked behind the bar.

Then Dailey, without provocation, arched back and punched the woman with his right hand, striking her on the left side of her face. The woman is seen dropping a phone, according to the report.

Deputies wrote that the left side of the womans face was swollen and she had abrasions on her leg.

Dailey is being held on a bond of $2,500.

He was hired on the Clarinda Police Department in November 2020, his boss, Chief Keith Brothers, told the Miami Herald.

Brothers said that when Dailey returns to Iowa, he will be placed on administrative leave while an internal affairs investigation is conducted, and well proceed as appropriate from there.
For the second day in a row, the Richland County Sheriffs Department said a deputy was arrested and lost his job.

Former deputy sheriff Kenneth P. Williams, 59, was arrested late Valentines Day on a second-degree domestic violence charge, Sheriff Leon Lott said in a Wednesday news release.

At about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, Kershaw County Sheriffs Office deputies responded to Williams home, and the 13-year veteran of the Richland County Sheriffs Department was taken into custody, according to the release.

Information about why deputies were called to the home, or if anyone was injured, was not available.

Williams was officially terminated Wednesday, although he has not worked since going on medical leave in October 2022, the sheriffs department said.

Williams was hired by the sheriffs department in April of 2009, and the most recent rank he held was Master Deputy, according to the release.

Williams was taken to the Kershaw County Detention Center, but is not listed on the jails inmate roster.

Unfortunately when deputies make bad decisions there are consequences and they will be held accountable, Lott said in the release. I appreciate the prompt response of the Kershaw County Sheriffs Office; criminal domestic violence will not be tolerated in the community or by deputies.

On Tuesday, Lott said a 40-plus-year veteran of his department was out of work after being arrested.

Former deputy sheriff Grover Kelly, 68, was charged with DUI (less than .10, first offense) following a Monday night crash in the Blythewood area, according to the sheriffs department.

Like Williams, Kelly was off duty when he was arrested, the sheriffs department said. Kelly was driving his personal vehicle at the time of the collision, according to the sheriffs department.

Kelly had been with the sheriffs department since June 1976, and the most recent rank he held was deputy III in the warrant division, Lott said.
(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to ease restrictions on gun ownership, a stance that exploits a weakness of Donald Trump and shores up support from a key segment of the GOP primary base.

Most Read from Bloomberg

But DeSantiss moves highlight a dilemma for Republicans in general elections, where their strident support for gun rights threatens to cost them votes with an electorate that backs tougher restrictions after a rise in mass shootings, most recently on the campus of Michigan State University on Monday night.

A Gallup poll released Wednesday found 63% of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the countrys gun laws, the highest level since the survey began tracking that data and up seven points over the last year. Gallup in October found 57% of Americans overall want stricter gun laws.

Its one of the things that Republican presidential candidates have to live with and hope that in the end, its not as important to general election voters, said Jay Townsend, a bipartisan political consultant. Its a risk that theyll take.

GOP Dilemma

DeSantis, if he won the GOP nomination, would likely be the most vocal Republican candidate on protecting gun owners rights in recent presidential cycles. The governor is throwing his weight behind a legislative proposal to allow Florida residents to carry concealed firearms in public without a permit or a requirement for training.

DeSantis has also said he would have vetoed a 2018 bill Rick Scott, now a US senator, signed as governor that imposed a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, raised the ownership age to 21 and banned sales of bump stocks. I dont think that provision will actually prevent any gun crimes, DeSantis, then a House representative, said in 2018.

Story continues

DeSantis has yet to announce his 2024 bid but is already laying the groundwork. He has made his views on hot-button cultural issues such as guns, abortion and teachings about race and gender a centerpiece of his pitch to Republican voters, touting a Free Florida agenda.

Many other states, though, have fewer restrictions than Florida, such as Texas. Florida would be the 26th state to allow gun owners to carry without a permit.

A spokesperson for DeSantiss office referred to comments the governor made at a press conference Tuesday, which marked five years since the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting. He touted a $1 billion investment in school safety and a commitment to roll back restrictions on juries imposing the death penalty, but did not directly comment on gun policy.

Read more: DeSantis Preps 2024 Bid Behind Scenes While Waiting to Declare

In contrast to DeSantis, Trump has a more complicated history on gun rights.

As president, he espoused support for tougher checks on gun purchasers before backing off that stance. Trump also proposed raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21 but later dropped that idea.

The Trump administration also imposed a ban on bump stocks, a move that rankled some gun-rights supporters. But Trump also received praise from those groups for putting conservative judges inclined to protect gun rights on the federal bench.

A spokesperson for Trumps campaign didnt immediately return a request for comment.

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun-rights group, said he expects GOP contenders to be assertive on protecting gun-ownership rights.

Its extremely important, if youre going to win a nomination, say for president, you cant be even neutral on the issue, said Gottlieb. Youve gotta be out there defending the right to keep and bear arms.

Gottlieb, who visited the Trump White House multiple times to discuss policy, applauded Trump for consistently discussing gun rights in stump speeches and for his judicial nominations. He also said Nikki Haley, who became Trumps first official challenger on Tuesday, was praised by gun owners for her record when she was South Carolinas governor.

I dont know how they differentiate themselves, he said of the GOP field. What gun owners are going to look for, though, is winnability. Who has the best chance to actually win?

Biden Pushback

President Joe Biden, whos expected to run for reelection, has hammered Republicans in the wake of recent mass shootings, pleading with them to help enact tougher measures against gun violence.

In a July tweet, he called out Florida Republicans for opposing an assault-weapons ban.

Biden in June signed bipartisan gun-safety legislation that included measures to improve the national background check system for gun buyers age 18 to 21 and close a loophole that allowed dating partners convicted of domestic abuse to buy guns. But with Republican control of the House, it is unlikely any legislation on guns will reach Bidens desk in the next two years.

On Tuesday after the Michigan State shooting, Biden again called on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms including background checks on all sales and an assault weapons ban.

Read more: Gunman Kills Three at Michigan State; Suspect Found Dead

Some Democrats predict the GOP stance on gun rights will backfire with general-election voters.

We know that Americans are on our side of this issue. The majority of Americans want stricter gun laws, they want regulation, said former Democratic Florida Representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a gun-control advocate.

Once they pass this bill and he signs it into law, hes going to pay a very high political price for that, she said of DeSantiss support for permitless carry.

Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates gun-safety measures, is backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.

--With assistance from Felipe Marques and Michael Smith.

(Updates with new Gallup polling in third paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
The Horry County Police Department in 2022 saw a five-year high in service calls, though violent crime rates are steadily declining.

Our main goal is to reduce the fear of crime and crime. A lot of people are concerned about crime because they look at national television or the local news and it drives their fear, but we live in a very safe community, Chief Joseph Hill told the county councils public safety committee Feb. 14.

In all, his 303-officer agency responded to 141,449 incidents  up nearly 9% from 2018 rates.

Hill said steady population increases  reports show Horry County is growing faster than anywhere else in South Carolina  are a contributing factor to the uptick.

However, so-called part one crimes, including arson, assault, burglary, murder and theft, dropped just more than 7% year-over-year, with 4,370 calls in 2022 compared to 5,933 in 2021.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division reported arrests in Horry County  which includes data from all its agencies  totaled 18,233 in 2021 compared to 18,380 in 2020.

Countywide statistics for 2022 werent immediately available.

Its about population growth, its about the attraction. Everybody wants to come to the beach, and so with that folks come down here and they decide to stay, Hill said. I dont want our community to see our law enforcement as an imposing force; I want them to see us as partners.

Hills comments and the data he provided to county leaders on Tuesday mirror a trend happening in Horry Countys most well-known city.

In November, Myrtle Beach police said violent and property crime rates have dropped by a quarter since 2017.

Hill said his department fielded 716 applications last year, and the agency is preparing to staff up ahead of a fifth precinct opening.

In 2021, the county spent $2 million to purchase land at the corner of River Oaks and International drives in Carolina Forest with plans to build a $25 million government complex to include a fifth precinct staffed by 42 people.

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We will not hire anyone in the Horry County Police Department whos not qualified to wear the badge, we just wont. Well work short or well work the street ourselves before we put somebody behind that badge who is not qualified to wear it, Hill said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an officer struck by shrapnel during a Jan. 29 standoff with a barricaded man at a Surfside Beach motel is recovering from his injuries. The man, who was involved in an exchange of gunfire with police, died during the incident.

Im happy to say, hes recovering well, Hill told WMBF News. I keep in contact with him, you know its a very scary situation for our police officers as it is across the county when these incidents occur but hes doing well and hes well supported.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) emphasized on Wednesday that the states bottled water recommendation for people living near this months train derailment that allowed chemicals to escape into the air is out of an abundance of caution.

DeWine said in an interview on CNN This Morning that the air around the town of East Palestine, where a train that was carrying 20 cars of hazardous chemicals derailed on Feb. 3, has continued to remain safe as officials have conducted tests. He said officials have conducted one test of water from a well in the village that showed it was safe to drink, but residents should use bottled water until testing is complete.

Out of an abundance of caution, we have told people, use a bottle of water, dont take a chance, he said.

DeWine said he would have moved back to the area if he had lived in the local community, reiterating that the air is safe to breathe.

Officials ordered half of the 4,800 residents living near the area to evacuate after the derailment occurred. A mechanical failure reportedly forced the Norfolk Southern train off the tracks.

The evacuation order was lifted last week after being in place for about five days.

Officials conducted a controlled release of the toxic chemicals, which included a cancer-causing substance called vinyl chloride, to avoid an explosion that could have been even more dangerous to the surrounding areas. The vinyl chloride was directed into a trench and burned off.

DeWine said officials believe the local water, which is coming into the community from deep wells, is safe, but they need to conclude their tests.

All we can do is give people the facts and give them the tests, he said.

Weve been on the scene since the crash actually occurred and continue to tell people exactly what we know, he added.

DeWine noted that water bottles are being supplied to people, and the results of the water tests will be released as soon as they are completed.

He said Norfolk Southern, which owned the train, should pay for the effects of the derailment, like medical screenings for people for serious illnesses resulting from exposure to the chemicals. He said the CEO of the company pledged to him that the company is going to stay in the community to help as the cleanup continues.

Were going to hold them to what they said, DeWine said. Were going to hold them accountable. Theyre responsible for this. Theyre responsible for a very serious train wreck that occurred with some very toxic material. So were going to hold their feet to the fire. Were going to make sure they pay for everything as we move forward.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The cryptocurrency industry came under criticism from U.S. lawmakers during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Tuesday entitled Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets.

See related article: Be careful what you wish for? Regulators pick up pace in the crypto industry crackdown

Fast facts

While crypto contagion didnt infect the broader financial system, we saw glimpses of the damage it could have done if crypto migrated into the banking system, said committee chairman Senator Sherrod Brown in his opening remarks, referring to the collapse of Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX.com in November.

These crypto catastrophes have exposed what many of us already knew: Digital assets  cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and investment tokens  are speculative products run by reckless companies that put Americans hard-earned money at risk, he said.

The hearing covered topics ranging from stablecoin regulation, consumer protection, and how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should cooperate with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate digital assets.

Lee Reiners, policy director of the Duke Financial Economics Center, said crypto undermines U.S. national security and no longer bore much resemblance to what Bitcoins pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned when he developed the technology.

Others took a more positive stance, such as Senator J.D. Vance, who warned regulators not to destroy the dynamic upside of the digital asset world.

Senator Tim Scott appealed to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler to appear before Congress to address enforcement actions by the agency in recent weeks.

On Thursday, crypto exchange Kraken shuttered its crypto staking program and paid a US$30 million fine after the SEC said the program violated securities law.

Shortly after, Paxos Trust Company stopped minting the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin, which has a US$16 billion collateralization, under orders from the New York Department of Financial Services.

The hearings also follow calls by the White House to increase efforts to regulate the growing industry, which warned it would be a grave mistake to enact legislation that would deepen ties between crypto and traditional finance due to the risk of broader financial contagion in a crisis.

See related article: Hold onto your crypto bags, the regulators are coming
Karie would recommend naturism to anyone and thinks everyone should try it at least once in their lives (PA Real Life/Collect)

A happily single divorcee who turned her and her ex-husbands holiday home in the Canary Islands into a naturist resort, where she greets her guests entirely naked, has said the experience is liberating but not sexual on any level.

Karie Jane, 56, from Derbyshire, visited a nudist beach more than 20 years ago and has not looked back since, after feeling liberated and free.

Her holiday home, the BHH Naturist Resort in Costa Calma, Fuerteventura, is now a booming business welcoming nudist adults and hosting singles weekends  despite Karie claiming some naturist holiday destinations do not allow single men as they are often considered a danger to women.

The ex-theatre producer said naturism is not about what people look like  instead, it strips away any judgment and proves all people are the same underneath.

Some couples have visited Karies resort more than five times, and even the staff, including cleaners and pool boys, are allowed to join in and get their kit off.

The only clothing provided is an apron, to protect visitors using the barbecues on the beach from unfortunate burns.

A lot of people think its sexual, but its not on any level, she said.

If you were a true naturist, you wouldnt see it that way at all  its just liberating, and thats it.

Its easy to judge a group of people with no clothes on.

I get asked if its sexual all the time by guests, and I say if its a sexual situation you want to be in, then please dont come to my resort.

Karie said holidaying without clothes is freeing and shows that ultimately were all just body parts.

(PA Real Life)

Theres nothing like swimming in the ocean without any costume, and its very freeing and liberating, she said.

Nobody else is looking at you. There are all shapes and sizes, all different walks of life.

No-one cares about what youre wearing, what designer labels you do or dont have.

Theres nothing to set you apart from the next person, and it makes you realise youre all the same, and were all just body parts.

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Karie first visited a nudist beach in 2000, when on holiday in Spain, and from then on she continued going on holiday in the buff.

She even bought a holiday home in Fuerteventura with her then-husband in 2001 to embrace the naturist lifestyle more often.

She said: When my ex-husband and I started coming over here, we realised its the normal thing on the beaches to be a naturist.

We bought it as a holiday home, and then we rented it to families, and it became a holiday destination which I ran.

(PA Real Life)

Karie and her husband divorced in 2013, which, in need of a new start, gave her the perfect opportunity to relocate permanently to the sunny Spanish island.

The property is made up of five apartments, so Karie decided to move into one of them and enjoyed running the business as a regular holiday home  until the opportunity in front of her was laid bare.

In 2020, she realised that she was sitting on a gold mine  Fuerteventura was already known for its nudist beaches, so she decided to make the resort naturist to give tourists a way of relaxing among like-minded people.

I wanted to create a community for naturists where they could relax and have their own space other than the beach, she said.

When Karie told her loved ones in England that she was going to turn the resort into a naturist holiday destination, they were incredibly supportive, and many of her family members have visited and stripped off.

She laughed: My ex-husband was delighted for me when I told him the news, Im quite introverted, but hes extremely extroverted because hes an actor, and he loved naturism.

(PA Real Life)

He was always prancing around naked.

My family are very proud of me and what Ive achieved here.

Ive got elderly parents who, Im sure, if they could travel, would come and join in the experience.

My sister and my niece were here a couple of weeks ago.

They enjoyed the freedom and not being bogged down with clothes.

Karies staff are welcome to join in too, including pool boys and cleaners.

If someone is in charge of a Hoover it might cause a bit of danger, she added.

No more dangerous than nude people barbecuing in the evening, which is what a lot of guests do.

I love my life, I live in paradise, running a successful business

Karie Jane

Ive had to provide aprons for them to wear to protect themselves.

Karie explained how dating has been as a naturist: I dont have any issue with it, and I dont think anybody else does either.

I love my life, I live in paradise, running a successful business.

I dont feel the need to have a male or female partner.

Within the naturism community, Karie believes that some resorts in Europe do not allow single men to stay, but she often holds singles only weekends.

She explained: Its quite a topic of conversation in the naturist groups.

I like to talk to people before they come, have a discussion and get to know them before they arrive to make sure we are all like-minded people, which generally is the case.

Karie said she would recommend giving naturism a go to anyone.

Its so liberating, everyone should try it, she said.

It will make you feel completely free.
On Dec. 7, 2021, more than a dozen surgeons convened a meeting at their hospital, HCA Florida Bayonet Point in Hudson, Florida. Their concerns about patient safety at the 290-bed acute care facility owned by HCA Healthcare Inc. had been intensifying for months and the doctors had requested the meeting to push management to address their complaints.

Unsanitary surgical instruments, inadequate monitoring of ICU patients, an overflowing emergency department, anesthesiology errors that resulted in patients waking up while in surgery  all were allegations ripe for discussion.

The meeting soon took an extraordinary turn, four doctors who attended told NBC News. With a hospital administration official on hand to hear the answers, the group was asked two questions. Is the hospital providing a safe environment in which to perform surgery? No, everyone in the group answered, according to the four doctors. Is it a dangerous place to practice? Yes, came the unanimous reply.

Leaks and various medical equipment held together with medical tape and a roach inside an operating room at Bayonet Point Hospital in 2022. (Obtained by NBC News)

The hospital administrator promised to address the doctors issues, attendees told NBC News. But more than a year later, little has changed, they said. A spokeswoman for the hospital declined to comment on the meeting.

HCA Healthcare Inc., owner of Bayonet Point, is Americas largest hospital company, operating 182 hospitals and 125 surgery centers across the nation and in the U.K. HCA is highly profitable  last year it earned $5.6 billion  and its stock is an investor favorite.

But HCAs laser focus on profits can put its patients at risk as it cuts costs and corners, say seven of the companys doctors in California, Florida, Texas and Virginia, some of whom reached out to NBC News after our report last month about HCA. Nurses in five states concur. Most of HCA Floridas that have been rated by the federal agency responsible for Medicare and Medicaid currently rank below average, and state regulators have raised issues about patient care at Bayonet Point at least twice in the past two years.

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Four physicians at Bayonet Point shared recent experiences for this article; three requested anonymity to discuss the hospital because they said they feared retaliation by HCA.

All four doctors said the quality of care at the facility has declined significantly since 2021, when HCA cut staff and began hiring contract workers. They said that the number of so-called sentinel events  patient safety incidents that result in death, permanent or severe temporary harm  have risen. In January 2022, there were 18 near misses among patients about to undergo surgery, said Dr. George Giannakopoulos, 65, a neurosurgeon and the hospitals chief of staff at the time. One such near miss occurred, he said, when the wrong side of a patient was prepped for surgery  anesthetizing a left hip that should have been the right.

Even as Bayonet Point celebrates the opening of a new $85 million tower with 102 additional beds, recent photos of the existing facility provided by doctors show ceiling leaks in a recovery room, oxygen equipment held together with tape, bloody and backed-up sinks, wires dangling from a hole in the wall and cockroaches in the operating room.

Regina Temple is chief executive officer of Bayonet Point. She declined an interview request by NBC News to discuss the doctors allegations. The hospitals spokeswoman provided a statement that did not answer many of the questions posed by NBC News, including those about allegations of rising sentinel events at the hospital, the 18 near misses in the OR in a month, the decaying infrastructure or pests.

In her statement, the spokeswoman said: As a learning hospital, we are continually looking for ways to improve patient safety and quality of care. We apply those learnings, including reports by both federal and state regulators, to ensure best practices for quality care are in place. HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital is appropriately staffed to ensure the safe care of our patients. We rely on feedback from our physicians, and when issues are validated we take necessary action.

Bayonet Point Hospital (NBC News)

NBC News also asked for an interview with Samuel N. Hazen, HCA Healthcares chief executive officer. He declined but a spokesman for the company said in a statement that HCA Healthcare has more physicians  45,000  practicing at its facilities than ever. We are able to attract physicians in part due to the systems we have in place to continually improve quality, he said, adding that HCAs most recent physician engagement survey showed results at all-time highs, including their confidence in our quality initiatives. Our approach to ensuring high-quality care is rooted in our belief of always doing what is right for our patients.

Complaint surveys filed by Floridas Agency for Health Care Administration over the past two years buttress the physicians concerns about the hospital, however. Last September, for example, nurse-to-patient staffing ratios fell short at Bayonet Point, agency documents show, with one staff member telling government investigators that she does not feel safe with the number of patients per nurse.

In April 2021, AHCA determined that Bayonet Point had failed to enforce the emergency department policy and procedures to protect the health and safety of all patients in the hospitals ED. AHCA said, for example, that staffers whose sole job was to watch electronic monitors for changes in patients vital signs were also acting as unit secretaries, answering phones, transferring calls, taking written messages, and being distracted by other tasks that involved them not looking at the monitors for long periods of time.

The hospitals spokeswoman confirmed in her statement that the surveys completed by AHCA had identified issues, and we worked with AHCA to resolve those issues successfully.

Last November, officials from AHCA communicated with the hospital, two Bayonet Point doctors told NBC News, warning that the facility might stop receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements if it did not correct its deficiencies. AHCA did not respond to requests for information about the interaction. Asked about this incident and its past deficiencies, the hospital spokeswoman did not respond except to say: Today, our hospital is in good standing with all regulatory and accrediting bodies, including AHCA.

On its hospital comparison website, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers health care for more than 60 million Americans, assigns Bayonet Point an overall one-star rating out of five, the lowest star ranking assigned by the government.

The CMS ratings are based on 2017-2019 data and we have since improved our performance, the hospitals spokeswoman said.

Waking up during brain surgery

Florida, with its elderly population, is a big market for HCA, which has 49 hospitals there  the largest number of any state, according to its website.

The CMS quality comparison website rates 37 of HCAs Florida hospitals on its five-star system. Fully 70% of them are rated below average, at one or two stars. None of the HCA Florida hospitals currently have a five-star rating.

Neurosurgeon George Giannakopoulos, a 29-year veteran at Bayonet Point and the hospitals chief of staff for the past eight years, said he has grown increasingly disturbed and vocal  about unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the hospital. He said hes had criticisms over the years about how the hospital was run but that problems really accelerated in 2021.

I put patients first, Giannakopoulos told NBC News. I dont care how far I have to go.

Dr. George Giannakopoulos (Anna Schecter / NBC News)

But choosing to speak out seems to have put a target on his back, documents and interviews with fellow doctors indicate. Following his criticisms of the hospital and repeated pleas for improvements, its leadership took a remarkable step in January.

Though Giannakopouloss peers resoundingly re-elected him as Bayonet Points chief of staff for two more years last fall, the hospitals board later rejected the election, documents show. In a move the doctors called unprecedented, the board installed another physician in the position. Meanwhile, the board accepted the election results for two additional officers  vice chief of staff and secretary.

After the doctors objected to the move, a lawyer for the hospitals board sent a letter to Giannakopoulos saying it had voted not to approve the election. If Dr. Giannakopoulos attempts to attend meetings of the Medical Executive Committee, the Board of Trustees, or other Medical Staff Committees, the letter continued, he will be prevented from doing so by security and, if necessary, he will be escorted off the hospitals property.

Dr. Christine Behan, a family medicine physician and contract employee of the hospital, chairs its board. She said the boards invalidation of the election was in the best interest of the hospital and its patients. She cited repeated instances of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, including threatening, yelling at, and berating staff, physicians and hospital administrators, by Giannakopoulos. The board concluded that he could not work cooperatively and collegially with hospital administration and the board, she said.

Giannakopoulos disputed Behans account. All those charges were manufactured by the hospital administration to keep me from being chief of staff because I was calling them out on patient care, he said. The three other doctors interviewed by NBC News said they also believed this to be the case.

Bayonet Points new chief of staff is Dr. Rami Akel, a cardiologist who is also director of HCA Florida Bayonet Points Cardiology Fellowship Program. NBC News asked if Akel receives additional compensation for that position; the hospital spokeswoman did not respond. Akel did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Patient risks really began to mount in 2021, doctors at Bayonet Point say, when the hospital slashed its anesthesiology staff  going from 15 providers to one  and began hiring contract employees affiliated with HCAs Physician Services Group, an in-house staffing unit. The new employees were not as dedicated or talented as the staff theyd replaced, Giannakopoulos and other surgeons said, and terrifying errors began to occur. In one incident, Giannakopoulos said he had just begun a brain surgery procedure, placing the patients head on sharp instruments known as pins for support, when the patient woke up and tried to get off the operating table.

Those pins were about two centimeters away from the eye, Giannakopoulos said. So, you can imagine that could have been tragic.

The Bayonet Point spokeswoman did not respond to questions about this incident or the doctors anesthesiology concerns.

Last October, almost a year after the extraordinary meeting at which the surgeons characterized the hospital as unsafe, Giannakopoulos sent a letter to Bayonet Point management. In it he detailed significant deficiencies he and his fellow physicians had observed at the hospital.

At the request of the medical staff by unanimous vote, I have been asked to contact you and appraise you of the dire and dangerous conditions at our hospital, began the letter, which was reviewed by NBC News. In it he told of alleged deficiencies in the emergency department, the ICU, nurse staffing, and anesthesia, leading to at least a couple deaths, he wrote.

Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare, was copied on the letter along with other executives. Giannakopoulos said he received no responses at all about its contents.

A few weeks after sending the letter, Giannakopoulos was re-elected chief of staff, the four doctors told us. By January, however, the board ruled he was out.

Reduced surgery hours

On an early evening in February 2022, a patient arrived at Bayonet Points emergency department with a ruptured aneurysm, Giannakopoulos said. Surgery to coil the aneurysm was scheduled for early the next morning, he said, and staff was instructed to monitor the patient closely overnight.

Next morning, when it came time for the procedure, the patient was comatose, Giannakopoulos said. In the patients file, he said, there were no nurses notes detailing the monitoring that had been called for during the overnight hours. The patient later died.

It was obvious what had happened, Giannakopoulos said. Nobody had seen the patient from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Asked about this incident, the Bayonet spokeswoman did not respond.

All seven of the HCA doctors interviewed by NBC News for this article said they believe the companys hospitals are managed to maximize growth in financial metrics and shareholder returns and that patient care suffers as a result. The new $85 million building at Bayonet Point is an example, the doctors there say. Increasing admissions by adding 102 new beds seems more important than repairing broken equipment in the existing building, eradicating pests in the operating room, or hiring staff in the emergency department, they said.

The Bayonet spokeswoman said the hospital is building the new tower to meet the communitys needs for rehabilitation services, expanded medical and surgical services, and critical care. In the past three years we have invested an additional $123 million to improve and upgrade many areas of the hospital. Specifically, we renovated and expanded our ER and updated our Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, Preoperative/Holding Area, and Central Sterile Processing Unit. Additionally, we made upgrades to the cafeteria and common areas, invested in new equipment and general maintenance, including repairing minor roof damage.

Bayonet Point hospital is currently rated "A" for patient safety by Leapfrog Group, an organization that ranks hospitals and describes itself as a health care watchdog.

Leapfrog also rated Bayonet Point "A" in November 2021, a month after the group of concerned surgeons had unanimously characterized the hospital as unsafe, Leapfrogs website shows. Receiving the A grade validates our commitment to safety, Bayonet Points CEO Temple said in a hospital press release.

Responding to questions from NBC News about the rating amid the Bayonet Point doctors grave concerns, Leah Binder, Leapfrogs chief executive, said hospitals earn grades based on 30 measures of safety that come primarily from the federal government.

An A grade means this hospital did better than a B- graded hospital  it does not mean they are perfectly safe, she said. What this story raises is we need better ways for patients and clinicians to report problems with safety to a federal entity that can use that data and follow up and do investigations.

HCA has some associations with Leapfrog. An HCA physician is one of 17 hospital members of Leapfrogs Hospital Advisory Committee and another HCA employee is on one of Leapfrogs 12 expert panels. HCA Healthcare is also member of Leapfrogs 18-entity Partners Advisory Committee for which HCA pays $35,000 in annual dues.

Binder said HCAs involvement on Leapfrog committees or panels gives it no influence on ratings.

Last year, the National Labor Relations Board accused Bayonet Point of engaging in anti-union activity against its employees, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. The federal agency, which protects workers rights to organize, concluded that hospital officials had questioned Bayonet Point workers about their union activity and threatened to fire them.

The hospital settled with the agency last November, documents show, agreeing to post notices detailing workers rights to unionize and saying that management would not threaten them with termination or create the impression that we are engaging in surveillance of your union activities or other protected concerted activities.

In a statement, Bayonet Point said it respects the rights of our caregivers and, while we reject any allegation of wrongdoing, we agreed to post the flyer informing our colleagues of their rights.

Meanwhile, in addition to rejecting Giannakopoulos election last fall as chief of staff at Bayonet Point, the hospital has reduced his surgery hours  a measure of retaliation for speaking out, he believes. The hospital spokeswoman did not respond to a question about reducing the neurosurgeons surgery hours.

Giannakopoulos continues to work at the hospital, a place he calls home after nearly three decades.

I will survive, he said. What really bothers me the most  I care about whats going to happen to Bayonet Point and the patients that are there. To drive Bayonet Point down to the ground because of money, because of profits ahead of patient care, it is not acceptable.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided not to charge Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in its sex-trafficking investigation into him, the congressmans office said Wednesday.

The office said in a statement that the DOJ told Gaetzs attorneys that it had concluded its probe and will not charge Gaetz with any crimes.

The investigation stemmed from allegations that the congressman had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, with the DOJ looking into if Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws in paying for her to travel with him, including across state lines.

The probe was part of a larger investigation into Gaetzs ally and former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor, identity theft and wire fraud.

Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December. He agreed to cooperate with the DOJs investigation as part of his plea agreement.

But the investigation into Gaetz hit a roadblock over concerns about the credibility of two witnesses, one of whom was Greenberg. Career attorneys reportedly recommended to the DOJ in September that the department not charge Gaetz based on those witness credibility issues.

Prosecutors were also worried that testimony from the girl with whom Gaetz allegedly had the relationship would not stand up in front of a jury.

Gaetz has denied the allegations that he had a relationship with an underage girl and said he regrets his association with Greenberg.

The Hill has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

Gaetz had reportedly sought a preemptive pardon from then-President Trump over the sex trafficking allegations against him, according to testimony from a former White House aide given to the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on January 3, 2023. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The DOJ will not criminally charge Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long sex-trafficking probe, CNN reported.

The outlet said DOJ officials told at least one witness' lawyers that prosecutors won't indict Gaetz.

Gaetz has been under investigation since 2020, and prosecutors were examining if he violated 3 federal laws.

The Justice Department will not indict GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz following a years-long sex-trafficking investigation, CNN and the New York Times reported.

CNN said that DOJ officials told at least one witness' lawyers that prosecutors will not bring charges against Gaetz.

The decision was widely expected; investigators last year recommended that the department not charge the Florida congressman, and top DOJ officials typically take the advice of career prosecutors.

Citing anonymous sources, The Washington Post reported at the time that prosecutors were concerned with the credibility of two key witnesses and think they'd be unlikely to secure a conviction if they indicted Gaetz.

The existence of the investigation first became public in 2021, when The New York Times reported that investigators were examining if Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old in 2019 and paid for her to travel with him.

One person familiar with the conversations told The Times that Gaetz told some women to say that he paid for dinners and hotel rooms as part of their dates if anyone asked about the nature of their relationships.

According to NBC News, prosecutors were examining if the congressman committed three separate crimes: if he sex-trafficked a 17-year-old; if he violated the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose" across state lines; and if he obstructed justice.

The FBI executed a search warrant in late 2020 and seized Gaetz's cell phone, as well as a phone belonging to his former girlfriend, who testified before a federal grand jury earlier this year.

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Gaetz has denied wrongdoing and said last year that the allegations were part of an "organized criminal extortion" scheme against him. Last month, the Florida businessman Stephen Alford was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to extort Gaetz and his father for $25 million.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Santa Barbara man has been transferred to the custody of the state prison system after pleading no contest in a criminal case linked to a fatal crash that killed a San Luis Obispo County pharmacist on Highway 154 in 2020.

Oscar Pereyra, 63, was ordered to stand trial on charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving causing great bodily injury following a preliminary hearing.

The charges were filed following the June 5, 2020, head-on crash involving an eastbound Toyota pickup truck and a westbound Hyundai Sonata. It occurred at about 10:40 a.m. near West Camino Cielo, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Toyota, driven by Pereyra, crossed the double yellow lines and slammed into the Sonata before overturning and coming to rest on its roof.

The driver of the Sonata, Michael Liu, 31, a pharmacist from Arroyo Grande, was declared dead at the scene.

Pereyra had to be extricated from the wreckage after being critically injured in the crash and had a leg amputated.

Although Pereyra had several beers at a friends house in Solvang the night before the crash, he reportedly had no alcohol in his system after the fatal collision, according to court documents. If he had tested positive for alcohol, he could have faced a murder charge.

He did have methadone in his system because he was enrolled in a treatment program that required him to avoid imbibing in alcohol, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.

Last fall, Pereyra took an open plea to the court with the agreement he would be sentenced to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter.

He entered his open plea directly to Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Michael Carrozzo and did not have a deal with the Santa Barbara County District Attorneys Office.

Unlike a plea deal with the prosecution, an open plea means a defendant did not receive any assurances regarding the sentence and leaves it up to the judge, who typically indicates the likely punishment.

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Under the deal, the reckless driving charge Pereyra faced was dismissed.

Deputy District Attorney Michelle Mossembekker objected to the plea deal and asked the judge to at least sentence Pereyra to the maximum for the charge.

She argued for a six-year sentence due to the dangerous conduct and noted his extensive criminal history of Pereyra in pushing for a longer sentence.

Pereyras criminal history dates back to 1978 with more than a dozen cars and multiple stints in state prison.

However, the judge rejected the request.

Pereyra, who was represented by attorney Adam Pearlman, was ordered to pay restitution of $15,927 and will be on parole for up to three years after serving his prison time.

Since his sentencing, Pereyra had remained in the Santa Barbara County Jail before being transported last week to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations Inmate Reception Center in Wasco.

Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com .
One Philadelphia Eagles fan apparently took the teams Super Bowl loss so badly that he ended up in a Florida jail on accusations of throwing a meat cleaver at firefighters, officials say.

He missed.

That attack happened as the Philadelphia man was burglarizing a fire station in Stuart, Florida, according to the Martin County Sheriffs Office.

No firefighters were hurt in the melee.

The Eagles lost the Super Bowl shortly after 10:15 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, and thats about the time the suspect broke into Martin County Fire Rescue Station 14 on Hutchinson Island, officials said.

Once inside, he ransacked the bunk rooms, urinated on the carpet and stole $126.00, a uniform hat and some knives, the sheriffs office says. When firefighters confronted him, he threw a meat cleaver at them. Firefighters were able to contain him until sheriffs deputies arrived.

The suspect was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles shirt and sporting a black eye when his mugshot was taken. Investigators did not report how he got the black eye.

He was charged with armed burglary, aggravated assault on a firefighter and theft, officials said, and was held on a $120,000 bond.

Investigators did not say why the man was in the area after the Super Bowl, but the fire station is surrounded by hotels and an oceanfront resort.

The incident happened around the same time angry crowds flooded the streets of Philadelphia, engaged in vandalism and clashed with police, news outlets reported. Eleven people were arrested on disorderly conduct charges, NBC Philadelphia reported.

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the Senate subway on May 11, 2022. She has decided not to seek reelection in 2024. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Sen. Dianne Feinsteins announcement Tuesday that she will not run for reelection next year is no surprise. At 89, Feinstein is the oldest sitting senator and Californias longest-serving senator. She has earned retirement.

Nevertheless, its a loss for California and the country. Few elected leaders can match Feinsteins record of achievement over the decades or her steadfast commitment to championing the causes most important to Californians: environmental protection, gun control and immigration reform, to name a few.

Feinstein was a trailblazer in California politics, forging a path for other women to win office. In 1969, she became the first woman elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She became acting mayor of San Francisco in 1978 after the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk and went on to be elected as mayor, the first woman to do so.

In 1992, California elected its first two female senators, Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. When Boxer retired in 2016, Kamala Harris was elected to replace her.

We havent always agreed with Feinsteins votes or priorities during her three decades in the Senate. But weve respected her approach to legislating. She is deliberate and detail-minded, willing to spend the years it takes to move complicated policy. Millions of acres of desert habitat, including the Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, are protected today because Feinstein methodically pushed to ensure that California's vast and underappreciated desert landscape is preserved for future generations.

Feinstein wrote the 1994 ban on military-style assault weapons that drove down crime committed with them, until the law sunsetted in 2004. She tried to pass another ban in 2017, after repeated mass shootings should have made the case clear for restrictions on high-power and high-capacity firearms. But by then, Capitol Hill had become captivated by the National Rifle Assn. and other gun rights groups, and Feinsteins pragmatic legislation couldnt get traction.

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She has been willing to take tough stands. She insisted that the federal government release the executive summary of the classified report on the CIAs use of torture after the Sept. 11 attacks. The document showed how the U.S. had lost its moral bearings in the search for terrorists and made the case that torturing suspects was not only immoral but ineffective.

In recent years, as the nation and our elected leaders have become more partisan and the discourse more rancorous, Feinstein has often seemed like a throwback to another era  one more civil and productive. Shes a policy wonk, not a flamethrower. Her openness to working with Republicans often angered her partys more progressive wing, particularly during the Trump era, when many wanted California to be the state of resistance. As her poll numbers flagged, Feinstein was challenged by more liberal and outspoken candidates, including in 2018 Kevin de Leon, now a city councilman. She easily won reelection every time.

She has been dogged in the last few years by questions about her age, mental acuity and whether she's still up for the job  but she has delivered for California, including securing billions of federal dollars for projects from subway construction to wildfire restoration.

With Feinstein's exit, California will lose the seniority and ranking her tenure carries; Sen. Alex Padilla was appointed in 2021 and won his first U.S. Senate election in November.

The state is better for Feinstein's service, but she is right to pass the torch to the next generation of California leaders.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Farah Saafan and Aidan Lewis

CAIRO (Reuters) - A new prison which Egypt touted as a model for reform and which holds some of its most prominent prisoners denies inmates healthcare and subjects them to punitive treatment including isolation, relatives of those inside and rights groups say.

Many of the inmates now in Badr prison on the outskirts of Cairo were moved from Tora, an older facility in a southern suburb of the city that held prisoners including leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other political activists.

Rights groups estimate tens of thousands of people have been jailed for political dissent under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and have long reported abuses including systemic torture and life threatening conditions inside its jails.

The government, which says it does not hold prisoners for political reasons, did not respond to requests for comment for this article. In the past it has denied charges of abuses and has said it is working on improving conditions by reducing prisoner density at its jails and modernising facilities.

The authorities took journalists, including a reporter from Reuters, on a tour of Badr last year, a move critics view as part of a government bid to bat away Western criticism of its rights record and to draw in more investment and aid flows, and to boost its regional influence.

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former presidential candidate who was viewed as a moderate Islamist when he ran for office in 2012, was detained in 2018 and is among those moved from Tora to the Badr 1 wing at the new prison.

"It was supposed to be at least on the same level but since the transfer, no, it's much harder, the situation is worse and there's no justification," said his son, Hozaifa Aboul Fotouh.

He said his 71-year-old father spent 12 days in the same clothes in the new prison and no longer has the mattress he previously had at Tora to support his back. He said he had been denied enough blankets to fend off the winter cold.

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Rights groups and relatives detail other abuses, although several of those spoken to by Reuters said it was harder for them to get information about conditions from Badr, where they said prisoners were largely held incommunicado, than from Tora. Several asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. Reuters has only been able to access Egyptian prisons on official tours.

Four prisoners died at the Badr facility because of medical negligence last year, including a 47-year-old Alaa el-Salmy who was on hunger strike for two months over prison conditions, according to the rights groups Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR) and Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR).

RAISING COMPLAINTS

"Badr has this massive medical facility where surgeries can be done, kidney dialysis, ICU rooms and so many amazing options but nobody gets to use it, or at least we don't get to," said Mohamed Douma, whose brother is held at Badr 1.

He said his brother, Ahmed Douma, a prominent activist, had unsuccessfully requested blood tests and X-rays for joint pain and hunger strike-induced kidney problems for at least eight months.

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), a third Egyptian rights group, said it made a legal complaint the authorities after another prisoner, Omar Ali, had his genitals violently grabbed during a search at Badr. It said it received no response.

The Interior Ministry and State Information Service did not respond to several requests for comment on this article and to questions about cases highlighted by rights groups and relatives such as denial of health care.

A Reuters reporter joined a visit of Badr when it was opening in late 2021 and was shown pristine medical equipment and female inmates doing artwork and sewing. At the time, an official described the prison as part of a shift towards a "correctional" approach that reflected "the extent of progress and modernisation" in Egypt's detention system.

The Interior Ministry has said inmates have space for exercise, religious worship and training.

It also says Badr is focused on "rehabilitation", in line with a five-year human rights strategy published in 2021 - one of several initiatives in the past 18 months that include phasing out a state of emergency that was in place for years, pardoning some prisoners and setting up a political dialogue.

In late 2021 Egypt also opened another new facility at Wadi el Natrun, north-west of Cairo, where well-known Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah is held.

Critics including activists, relatives of detainees, rights groups and opposition figures describe the steps as largely cosmetic and say jails still hold many prisoners of conscience.

After Sisi led the ouster of elected President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, when he was army chief in 2013, the Islamist movement was banned and many members and backers jailed. Mursi was imprisoned and then collapsed and died in a courtroom in Tora in 2019.

'HORRIFIC' CONDITIONS

At Badr, in two cases prisoners in urgent need of healthcare were left for hours without treatment as inmates banged on walls or doors to get attention, according to the relative of one of the inmates and Amr Hashad, an EFHR researcher.

Some of those in Badr 3 wing are Muslim Brotherhood members or sympathisers of the group held under terrorism charges, said Hussein Baoumi of Amnesty International, which in October described the wing as having "horrific and punitive conditions".

"Based on our assessment, it's intentional to subject the prisoners to inhumane conditions solely because of their identity and political background," Baoumi said.

Relatives say they have struggled more than at Tora to get news, visit or deliver medicine or food items. One mother whose son was arrested on terrorism charges in 2017, then transferred from Tora to Badr 3 in June, said she last saw him in 2019, when his face was pressed against the window of a truck transferring him to court.

"We have no information at all, we don't visit them, we don't see them, we don't know anything about them, there are no letters or phone calls," she said.

Other relatives of those inside say inmates struggle to communicate with each other because cell doors do not have slits or windows, and prisoners are monitored by cameras in cells that are constantly lit, which they say was not the case at Tora.

Inmates who try to pass information about conditions have been stopped in the past. Baoumi and Nabeh al-Ganadi, a lawyer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said the microphone had been cut in virtual hearings, on one occasion when a prisoner tried to report beating and another time when a prisoner sought to describe the death of an inmate.

A handwritten note smuggled out by Badr 3 prisoners, seen by Reuters, said those who protest against conditions had clothes and blankets removed or were sent into cramped confinement with only a piece of bread and small lump of cheese to eat per day.

Ganadi said he had attended a virtual hearing in November at which about 50 prisoners held on terrorism charges at Badr 3 complained of a lack of medical treatment, exercise, hot water and family visits.

(Reporting by Farah Saafan and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
By Nelson Renteria and Sarah Kinosian

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's state of emergency to combat gangs, which has widespread public support despite a growing prison population and allegations of human rights abuses, will be maintained until all criminals are captured, the country's security minister told Reuters.

Since President Nayib Bukele asked the country's congress to approve a state of exception in March last year, security forces have arrested more than 64,000 suspected gang members and associates. Authorities estimate they have around 10,000 more arrests to make and the measure has been regularly extended.

"As long as we have these murderers and these terrorists fleeing and escaping within the country, this measure must continue," Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said in an interview last week in his office in San Salvador.

He said Salvadoran authorities were working with counterparts in southern Mexico, Guatemala and the United States to find an unspecified number of gang members who had fled.

The crackdown on El Salvador's notorious gangs has more than halved murders in one of the most crime-ridden countries in the Western hemisphere, drawing the interest of other nations struggling with gang violence and raising questions about what rights citizens are willing to exchange for living on safer streets.

With nearly 2% of its adult population behind bars, El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate in the world and recently inaugurated one of the region's largest prisons, with a capacity for 40,000 inmates.

Under the state of emergency some constitutional rights have been suspended. Arrests can be made without a warrant, the government has unfettered access to private communications, and detainees' rights to a lawyer have been shelved.

But the vast majority of people in El Salvador say they approve of the hard-line approach and feel safer. A survey this month by pollsters CID Gallup found that 92% of the population supports the state of exception.

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In 2022 homicides fell 57% to 495, from 1,147 in 2021, according to government figures. Extortion, one of the gangs' primary sources of income, has plummeted, many residents say. By August of last year, the transportation minister estimated bus companies had already saved around $50 million from not paying.

In Santa Tecla, a city just outside capital San Salvador, 45-year-old mechanic Manuel said he had paid extortion money for 12 years. Every two weeks he gave the money to hitmen from MS-13 who threatened to kill his wife and four children if he did not pay, and he was often forced to fix the gang's cars for free. During Christmas he would pay double.

But since last July, no one has come to collect the payment, he said.

"I feel calmer, I can go for a walk. I go out to walk every night with my young children," he told Reuters. "Before I didn't even take them out."

STRONGMAN MOVES

The results of the crackdown have led other countries in the region to consider similar policies, including Honduras, which implemented a pared-down version last December. El Salvador has also discussed offering support to Haiti, which has pleaded for help from the international community to end gang violence that has left much of its territory off-limits to the government.

Villatoro said El Salvador's curbed rights were necessary to ensure security and would only be lifted when the security risk "reaches numbers close to zero."

"The majority of Salvadorans have not been subjected to this suppression of rights," he said.

But the widening of state authority in the name of security, for some analysts, is in-step with other strongman moves Bukele has made to centralize power. He has dissolved anti-corruption legal bodies, stacked the country's top court with loyalists who immediately allowed for presidential re-election, and passed a sweeping law aimed at prohibiting journalists from writing about gangs.

Bukele has also built a communications juggernaut powered partly by paid internet trolls to hail his policies, especially on security, and attack those who raise human rights concerns.

Rights groups have documented hundreds of arbitrary arrests, torture, and the deaths of prisoners in state custody.

Human Rights Watch, citing leaked government data, has reported "mass due process violations" and said minors as young as 12 were being held in overcrowded prisons.

The government denies the accusations of torture and other rights abuses outside those allowed under the state of exception. Around 3,700 people who were considered to have been "coerced" by gangs into crimes had been released, Villatoro said.

"It doesn't interest us to convict anyone unjustly," he said.

For ten residents Reuters spoke to in neighborhoods around San Salvador once dominated by gangs the crackdown has transformed their lives for the better. They now can go outside at night, spend time at parks and soccer pitches, receive visitors from other parts of the city and even order fast food delivery - all unthinkable when the gangs roamed.

Alexander Guillen is a 24-year-old university student who is part of an artistic graffiti collective that now paints the walls where Barrio 18 tags once reigned.

"There is freedom that young people have to be able to perform, be it artistically, culturally, or in sports," he said. "We have that freedom to be able to develop ourselves... to be able to use the public spaces in the neighborhood without any fear."

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador and Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City; Writing by Sarah Kinosian; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Rosalba O'Brien)
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.
Elon Musk. Susan Walsh/AP

Elon Musk says he plans to have someone take over his job as Twitter CEO near the end of 2023.

He said end-2023 would be "good timing" to hand over the reins because Twitter should be "stable" then.

Musk said he still needs to make sure Twitter is "financially healthy."

Elon Musk says he plans to find someone else to take over his job as Twitter CEO towards the end of 2023.

Musk talked about his succession plans for the company at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday, per Bloomberg.

"I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place, and that the product road map is clearly laid out," Musk said via a remote video link.

"I don't know, I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year should be a good timing to find someone else to run the company," Musk added. "I think it should be in stable position around, you know, at the end of this year."

It is unclear if Musk has anyone in mind for the top job at Twitter.

At the session, Musk said that he thought Twitter is "still somewhat of a start-up in reverse," and added: "There's work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering," the Associated Press reported.

In October, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion. The billionaire then went on a firing spree at the company, axing executives including the platform's then-CEO, Parag Agrawal. In November, Musk asked that staff commit to an "extremely hardcore" work schedule, or be laid off.

Musk then started a Twitter poll on December 18, asking users whether he should "step down as head of Twitter." The results of the poll didn't swing in his favor  some 57.5% of the poll's more than 17.5 million respondents voted for Musk to step down as Twitter CEO.

Musk then tweeted on December 20 that he plans to resign as CEO as soon as he finds "someone foolish enough to take the job."

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In December, sources also told CNBC that Musk is actively looking for someone to be the company's new CEO.

Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tesla founder Elon Musk - NTB / REUTERS

Elon Musk is planning to step down as chief executive of Twitter toward the end of this year after putting the business on a more sound financial footing, the billionaire has said.

Mr Musk, who bought the social media website for $44bn (36bn) four months ago, told the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday that he would find someone else to take over operations at Twitter.

Im guessing toward the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company, he said.

I need to stabilise the organisation and just make sure its in a financially healthy place and the product road map is clearly laid out.

The 51-year-old has repeatedly suggested he will step back from Twitter at some point, without giving a timeline. Mr Musk told a US court in November that he wants to hire somebody else to run Twitter for him.

The entrepreneur, who also remains chief executive of Tesla, has been deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of Twitter since buying the business in October. He laid off thousands of staff and closed offices in a bid to slash costs, warning shortly after taking over that the business was on a path to bankruptcy without radical action.

Mr Musks involvement in operations has reportedly even extended down to ordering software engineers to alter algorithms to boost his posts after a message from US president Joe Biden became more popular than one of his own tweets.

The Platformer website reported that 80 engineers were taken off other tasks and told to boost Musks tweets by a factor of 1,000. As a result, Mr Musks missives appeared to flood Twitter, with users complaining of wall-to-wall tweets from the billionaire.

Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . algorithm, Mr Musk posted in acknowledgement of the issue.

Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . algorithm  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023

His fixation on the fine details of how Twitter works has fuelled the ire of investors in Tesla, Mr Musk's other main business.

Wedbush Securities chief Dan Ives has said Mr Musk was laser focused on Twitter, which has been an ongoing nightmare that never ends for investors.

However, shares in Tesla have rallied strongly this year, almost doubling since the end of December, after discounting helped the company beat forecasts.
Elon Musk allegedly threatened to fire Twitters engineers after his tweets during the Super Bowl attracted less engagement than president Joe Bidens.

During the Sunday game in which the Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs, Mr Biden tweeted a video of first lady Jill Biden supporting the Eagles, while Mr Musk also showed support for the same team in a now-deleted tweet.

While the US presidents tweet garnered about 29 million impressions, Mr Musks post got around 9 million, according to Platformers Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton.

Following this, the Twitter chief reportedly ordered the companys remaining engineers to make changes to the platform to ensure his tweets got better engagement.

Citing sources close to the matter, Platformer reported that Mr Musk flew to the Bay Area, where Twitters San Francisco head office is located, to chat with his team in person.

The report cited Mr Musks deputies as telling the rest of the engineering team that they would all lose their jobs if the engagement issue was not fixed.

By Monday, Twitter reportedly made changes to greenlight Mr Musks tweets, meaning they would bypass the platforms filters designed to show the best content possible to users.

Platformer reported that Twitters engineers pulled an all-nighter following Mr Musks visit to ensure the companys chief had his tweets artificially boosted over other users by a factor of 1,000.

The new report is also in line with recent claims by users that their feed has filled up with posts from the Tesla chief.

Literally not a single post in my home feednot oneis a post that @elonmusk didnt make or comment on. Im no Elon hater, but I think the algo needs some tweaking if this is supposed to be an independent and unbiased platform pic.twitter.com/mt6Aq6u8Kj  Noah Lichtenstein (@Noah_L) February 14, 2023

Mr Musk even initially joked about the problem, tweeting an image that made fun of his own posts being forced onto users.

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He also later added that Twitter was addressing a problem that meant 95 per cent of his tweets were not getting delivered at all.

The microblogging platforms engineers reportedly raised the possibility that Mr Musks reach may have likely been reduced as many people had blocked and muted him in recent months.

Platformer stated in an earlier 10 February report that Mr Musk fired a Twitter engineer who told him that people were losing interest in his tweets.

This is ridiculous... I have more than 100 million followers, and Im only getting tens of thousands of impressions, the Tesla chief said, according to the report.

Youre fired, youre fired, Mr Musk reportedly told the engineer.

The social media companys boost factor for Mr Musk is now less than 1,000, according to Platformer.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by The Independent.
Nearly 70 years after Emmett Till was brutally murdered, one of Tills relatives filed a lawsuit to force the arrest of the woman who instigated his kidnapping and death.

The suit, filed in federal court by Tills cousin, Patricia Sterling, is the most recent effort by Tills relatives and community to hold someone accountable for the brazen murder. So far, no one involved has ever been punished despite admitting their roles in killing Till.

The post Emmett Tills Cousin Files Lawsuit Aimed At Forcing Arrest Of White Woman Involved In His Kidnapping And Murder appeared first on Blavity.

In 1955, 14-year-old Till, a Chicago resident, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi after allegedly whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, in a store. Donham, then known as Carolyn Bryant, allegedly informed her husband, Roy Bryant, that Till had assaulted her. Roy Bryant and his brother, J.W. Milam, kidnapped Till and brutally tortured and murdered him. The two men were acquitted of the crime by an all-white jury but later confessed in a magazine interview; both killers, now deceased, were never punished for the murder.

As Blavity previously reported, it was recently uncovered that an arrest warrant had been issued for Donham, who instigated the attack and was allegedly an accomplice to the kidnapping. However, local authorities never executed the warrant. An attempt to force police to arrest Dunham, still alive at 89 years old, ended last year when a Mississippi grand jury failed to indict her.

With Mississippi authorities yet again failing to hold one of the participants in Tills lynching accountable, his family has now turned to the federal government. Sterlings lawsuit filed on Feb. 7 states the authorities have engaged in racial bias and systematically avoided law enforcement in cases when the victim is Black, and the perpetrator is white, thus making their inaction a violation of federal law. Mississippi has a long and often violent history of racism, from its time as the state with the most lynchings in the United States to recent efforts to continue commemorating the Confederacys history that sought to maintain slavery in the South.

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The suit aims to have the federal government step in and implement the arrest warrant against Dunham, which could finally lead to Dunham being brought to trial for her role in Tills murder.

We, to our knowledge, know that Carolyn Bryant Donham was the last living known accomplice in the killing, said Deborah Watts, another of Tills cousins, who helped discover the old arrest warrant through her leadership of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. Sterling echoed these sentiments, stating, we shall not rest until Carolyn Bryant is brought to complete justice in Mississippi. Tills family is also reported to be contacting Congress for help in bringing Dunham to justice.

Tills killing and the images of his brutalized body, circulated at the insistence of his grieving mother, helped spark the civil rights movement, inspiring everyone from Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and other participants of the Montgomery bus boycott to various student activists and protesters; modern movements like Black Lives Matter also pay homage to his legacy. Should the latest lawsuit succeed, Tills family may finally see his legacy honored and some semblance of justice brought to the last of those responsible for his horrible death.
AKERNI, Albania (AP)  A new, multimillion-euro international airport near Albania's coastal city of Vlora will mean hundreds of jobs for area residents. But environmentalists warn it could cause irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystems of protected lagoons that host flamingos, pelicans and millions of other migratory birds.

Albania's new, 104 million-euro ($125 million) international airport  the country's third  is currently being constructed at the Narta lagoon some 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the city of Vlora. Set to start operations in 2025, the airport will boast a 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) runway and is expected to handle up to 2 million passengers a year.

That's good news for Adriatik Sela, a resident of Akerni village. The unemployed man hopes that if there is business here, I could sell a cigarette package, or a coffee, or work as a guard. He and others among the village's 1,000-strong population see the airport as an opportunity for a better life.

Heavy earth-moving vehicles and workers from Swiss company Mabco Constructions are currently busy building the runway as well as a road linking the airport to a nearby highway.

But Aleksander Trajce from the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, (PPNEA) says the airport poses a grave threat to the Narta lagoon and the Karavasta lagoon farther north and environmentalists have launched a court battle to stop its construction.

Millions of migratory birds use the lagoons as a rest stop as part of the Adriatic flyway, a route the birds use to travel from central and northern Europe to Africa. Up to 3,000 flamingos and pelicans visit the lagoons each year.

Building such infrastructure right in the middle of this route would mean incredible damage to the bird populations for which this region is famous and on which it flourishes, Trajce said.

Niko Dumani, from the non-governmental group Natural Environment Preservation and Protection Vlora, accuses the government of changing a pre-approved plan delineating a protected zone to incorporate a part of the lagoon into the airport's construction plans.

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It is strange how development policies change from promoting tourism to promoting other industries, like air transport, exploiting a habitat which is so important for tourism, like the lagoon, he said.

Annette Spangenberg, from the German-based conservation group EuroNatur, said the Narta lagoon is part of an ecological network of conservation areas aiming at the long-term survival of bird species and their habitats.

If you build the airport within this area, its going to harm the integrity of your river ecosystem. It is like cutting off the leg of the Vjosa River, she said.

The Ministry of Tourism and Environment says it has consulted with locals and with experts. The new airport will generate at least 1,500 jobs.

The ministry told the Associated Press in an email that the site was selected as the most favorable alternative" for the airport because a military airstrip had started to be built there in the 1920s.

But a European Union progress report on Albania last year noted that work on the airport started in December 2021 in contradiction with national laws and international biodiversity protection conventions that have already been ratified.

Environmentalists also fear birds could threaten flight safety.

In its most recent meeting in December last year, the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention called on the Albanian government to suspend the construction of the airport due to its apparent lack of adherence to national and international laws.

The ministry said a series of protective steps will be applied.

The residents of Akerni are unconcerned. Sela wants the airport to start operating as quickly as possible to help all people in southern Albania take flights from here and, for sure, that will bring good luck to our lives.



Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
How far off is Grammer AG (ETR:GMM) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Grammer

The Calculation

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 start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 28.8m 34.0m 17.6m 49.8m 38.2m 31.7m 28.0m 25.7m 24.2m 23.3m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -16.94% Est @ -11.81% Est @ -8.22% Est @ -5.71% Est @ -3.95% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 12% 25.7 27.0 12.5 31.6 21.6 16.0 12.6 10.3 8.7 7.5

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 174m

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The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 12%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 23m (1 + 0.2%)  (12% 0.2%) = 196m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 196m ( 1 + 12%)10= 63m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is 237m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of 13.8, the company appears about fair value at a 13% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

Important Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Grammer 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 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 2.000. 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.

Looking Ahead:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Grammer, we've put together three essential elements you should explore:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Grammer (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does GMM's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every German stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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(This Feb. 15 story has been corrected to say the commission report indicated members of the Amhara ethnic group were targeted in the attack)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - At least 50 people were killed in Ethiopia's Oromiya region this month in an attack by a banned rebel group, the state-appointed human rights commission said on Wednesday.

Oromiya is home to Ethiopia's largest ethnic group and has experienced unrest for many years, rooted in grievances about political marginalisation and neglect by the central government.

The killings on Feb. 2 mainly targeted internally displaced persons from the Amhara ethnic group in the town of Ano, about 380 km (235 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a report.

The report, which cited families of the victims, witnesses and government bodies, blamed the attack on the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

The Amhara, whose region borders Oromiya, are Ethiopia's second-biggest ethnic group. There has been tit-for-tat violence perpetrated by Oromo and Amhara militias in recent years, often targeting civilians.

The OLA did not respond to a request for comment.

The OLA is an outlawed splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front, a formerly banned opposition party that returned from exile after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.

Ethiopia government spokesman Legesse Tulu also did not respond to a request for comment.

The violence in Oromiya is separate from the two-year conflict between the federal government and forces in the northern Tigray region, which ended in November following a peace agreement between the government and Tigray forces.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Aaron Ross and Matthew Lewis)
LONDON (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) expects COVID vaccination campaigns to be conducted once a year, similar to the approach with flu inoculation, it said on Wednesday.

Though the COVID-causing virus is not yet behaving like a seasonal virus involved in winter waves in temperate climates, the EMA's head of health threats and vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, told a news briefing that "this might be the direction it will be going".

In Europe, there is a marked decline in new COVID cases, hospitalisations and deaths - the lowest levels observed in the European Union in the past twelve months, he said, citing data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Still, the virus continues to evolve, and an organised approach is needed to maintain the range of vaccines to confer an adequate breadth of protection to emerging variants, he said.

The EMA is currently in discussions with the World Health Organization and other regulatory agencies about the criteria and process that will lead to the potential update of the vaccines in view of future vaccination campaigns, he added.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover in London; Editing by David Goodman and Jane Merriman)
A tanker with oil

Read also: Russia misses out on $8 billion in January due to oil price cap

According to them, the company secretly hosted 92 ships of Russian state-owned company Sovcomflot in April 2022. It was done in order to organize the secret transportation of Russian oil in the event of future sanctions against Russia.

Currently, the company, formerly called SCF Management Services, has become one of the main sources of profit for Russia. SUN Ship Management has standing contracts with a large number of countries.

SUN Ship Management Ltd is based in Dubai, with main beneficiaries being UAE and Russian citizens. The company's tankers are engaged in the transportation of oil under the flags of Liberia and Cyprus. On average, they hold at least 150,000 tons of oil.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The European Union is preparing to introduce the 10th package of sanctions against Russia

Our 10th sanction package contains trade bans and controls on technology exports worth EUR 11 billion, she wrote on Twitter.

Read also: EU will impose more sanctions on Russia on invasion anniversary, Scholz says

Russia is using hundreds of Iranian-built drones. We propose to extend our export controls to Iranian entities.

The EUs proposals will focus among other things on export restrictions on multiple electronic components used in Russian armed systems including drones, missiles and helicopters.

In addition, according to von der Leyen, the European Union will impose sanctions against Iranian organizations, in particular those related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as it seeks to stop Tehrans supply of drones to Russia.

Read also: EUs strongest ever sanctions will make Russian economy face decade of recession, EC president says

According to the Bloomberg news agency, the European Union is also poised to force banks to report information on Russian Central Bank assets.

The European Union is aiming to adopt its tenth package of sanctions next week, ahead of the one-year mark of the full-scale Russian invasion, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. political news outlet Politico reported on Feb. 14 that the European Union is preparing new sanctions against shipping company SUN Ship Management Ltd, which helps Moscow with illicit oil shipments circumventing EUs restrictions on trade with Russia.

At the same time, according to the Polish envoy to the European Union, Andrzej Sados, the package will not include a ban on the import of Russian diamonds, restrictions against Rosatom, and the forced adoption of Ukrainian children.

Read also: Russia added to EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
ESAs Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft being unpacked at Europes Spaceport in French Guiana.

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft has arrived at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana for the final preparations for launch.

JUICE departed from Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, on Feb. 9 and has been unpacked at Kourou spaceport. The 13,668-pound (6,200 kilograms) spacecraft will go through final checks and fueling ahead of launch on an Ariane 5 rocket.

The mission is scheduled to lift off on April 13, when it will embark on an eight-year voyage to Jupiter to observe its icy moons Europa , Callisto and Ganymede.

Related: NASA spacecraft snaps gorgeous new photo of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa

The spacecraft carries 10 science payloads and will make 35 flybys of the moons, studying their magnetic fields and looking for clues about the conditions in their subsurface oceans and if these could potentially support life.

JUICE will finally enter orbit around Ganymede in 2034 for the final part of its mission and become the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than our own.

Related stories:

 Europe's JUICE mission to Jupiter's moons preparing for April 14 launch

 Ganymede: Facts about Jupiter's largest moon

 Callisto: Facts about Jupiter's (not so) dead moon

Once in space, JUICE will deploy huge solar arrays with a total area of 915 square feet (85 square meters), which will be needed to power the spacecraft while orbiting Jupiter at an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million kilometers) away from the sun .

JUICE was selected by ESA as a flagship mission in 2012 as part of its Cosmic Vision program. NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Israel Space Agency also contributed to the mission. NASA, meanwhile, is working to ready its Europa Clipper mission for launch in 2024.
China sends fresh signals on advancing rural revitalization, building agricultural strength

Xinhua) 08:07, February 15, 2023

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.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
More than a decade after a young girl first disclosed she was the victim of repeated sexual assaults, the Everson man responsible has been sent to prison.

Joel Duane Zwald, 56, was sentenced Jan. 31 in Whatcom County Superior Court to a mandatory minimum of 14 years and two months in prison, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Zwald was given an indeterminate sentence, which means hes required to serve the minimum 14 years in prison, but could be held for life, pending review by the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, according to court records.

Once Zwald has served most of the required time in prison, the board will review his status. It will review his criminal convictions, his behavior while incarcerated and it will conduct several evaluations to determine whether it would be safe to release him into the community.

If not, Zwald will remain in prison and be evaluated again at a later date. This process can continue for the entirety of Zwalds life as part of his indeterminate sentence.

A jury found Zwald guilty Oct. 20 of one count of second-degree child rape, one count of second-degree child molestation and one count of third-degree child molestation after roughly a week-long trial.

In a letter submitted to the court, the grandmother of the victim said Zwald was the evil she was trying to protect her daughters and grandchildren from. The woman said she was proud of the victim for being brave enough to report Zwalds sexual abuse, and said she hoped the victim never has to think about Zwald again, the court records show.

Zwald was arrested in November 2019 after a month-long investigation by the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office.

Sheriffs detectives determined Zwald sexually assaulted a female child known to him multiple times between March 2016 and October 2019, according to court records.

The girl, who was around 11 or 12 years old when Zwald started sexually abusing her, had previously disclosed the abuse to Bellingham police in 2012. Because of discrepancies between the girls and Zwalds accounts of where the abuse occurred, no charges were filed after the victims disclosure, court records show. The Whatcom County Prosecutors Office ultimately declined to file charges against Zwald due to insufficient evidence, the records state.

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The victim again disclosed the sexual abuse to a school counselor in 2019, which led to Zwalds arrest and subsequent conviction, the court records show.

During an interview with Washington State Department of Corrections officials conducted during Zwalds presentencing investigation, the victim said she feels that her and her childs lives are safer now that Zwald has been convicted. She said that as long as Zwalds sentence was longer than she has been alive, she was likely okay with the amount of time, the court records state.

Zwald has since appealed his conviction and sentence. His appeals case is pending, according to court records.

Resources

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can contact the following local resources for free, confidential support:

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

Tlils Taaaltha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

WWU Survivor Advocacy Services at the Counseling & Wellness Center: 360-650-7982 or https://cwc.wwu.edu/survivorservices.

Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org.
An ex-Georgia police officer has been charged in connection to the death of a missing teenager after an arrest warrant alleged he dumped the girl's body in the woods.

Miles Bryant, who worked as an officer for the City of Doraville Police Department, was arrested Monday in connection with the death of 16-year-old Susana Morales, the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a news release.

Doraville, an Atlanta suburb, neighbors Gwinnett County, where police there said the girl's remains were found on Feb. 6.

The 22-year-old Bryant, who is no longer with the department, faces charges including falsely reporting a crime and concealing the death of another person, Gwinnett County jail records show.

He remained incarcerated on Wednesday without bond.

Stock image of a patrol vehicle with the City of Doraville Police Department in Georgia.

What we know about the case so far

Gwinnett police said Morales' family told the department the teen disappeared the night of July 26. Her cell phone and video footage showed her walking in the direction of her home, police said, but detectives have reason to believe she may have gotten into a vehicle.

Morales' body was found, police said, after officers received a call from a passerby who said they saw what they believed to be human remains in the woods.

Arrest warrants in the case, revealed the following allegations about Bryant:

He lived in Norcross, near the location where Morales' lived and went missing

He did not have a known relationship with the woman

He dumped Morales' naked body in the woods

He previously gave a false report on July 27 that his personal car had been broken into and a gun had been taken from inside

Remains ID'd

The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's Office identified the human remains as Morales last week, officials said.

Although Doraville city officials reported Bryant was no longer with the department, they did not say whether he was fired or resigned.

"The City of Doraville and its police department "are fully cooperating with the Gwinnett Police Department in its investigation of Mr. Bryant," Doraville police released in a statement on Facebook. "Our prayers rest with the family and friends of Susana Morales and everyone else affected by this tragedy."

Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-Georgia officer Miles Bryant arrested in teen Susana Morales' death
A judge Tuesday found a former Hancock County sheriffs deputy guilty of misdemeanor simple assault after a woman testified she repeatedly tried to get the ex-cop to stop when he reached into her bra and forcibly rubbed one of her breasts.

Ex-Hancock County Deputy Joseph Joe Gendreau allegedly made unwanted sexual advances on the woman, according to testimony, offering to pay her $100 for sex and forcibly touching the womans breast so hard that she suffered bruising.

DIberville prosecutor Fred Dub Hornsby III successfully prosecuted the case.

After testimony at the trial Tuesday, Judge David Sullivan convicted Gendreau and sentenced him to a 30-day suspended jail sentence, fined him $489 and placed him on six months of reporting probation.

Gendreau denied any wrongdoing and declined to comment before, during and after the trial. His attorney, Donald Rafferty, said he would appeal the conviction to Harrison County Court.

At the time of the June 4 crime, Gendreau had just gotten off a shift working as a security guard at a bar near the restaurant where the woman worked.

When the criminal investigation started, he resigned from his position at the Hancock County Sheriffs Department. Before his resignation, Gendreau worked in patrols and other capacities at the Sheriffs Department, Sheriff Ricky Adam has said.

The court papers filed in the case say Gendreau caused the woman to be in fear of physical harm by groping, fondling and rubbing her crotch and breast areas. The criminal affidavit also spells out the allegations that Gendreau made inappropriate sexual insinuations.

The incident occurred around 6:20 a.m. on June 4.

On Tuesday, Hornsby amended the charges to include that Gendreau caused physical harm to the woman during the assault.

The testimony

The victim, a petite woman dressed in a pink blouse and slacks, often cried in court as she recounted what happened during her unexpected encounter with Gendreau in the parking lot of a Waffle House in DIberville.

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She also got angered at times when Rafferty tried to suggest she was somehow responsible for what had happened to her.

The woman works at the restaurant near Interstate 110 and said she was sitting in her car when the alleged crime occurred.

While in the car, she said, Gendreau, at 6 feet-2 inches tall and 250 pounds, appeared by her open window and started propositioning her for sex.

The woman testified that Gendreau pulled out his wallet and offered her $100 to have sex with him.

The woman said she refused the advance, but shortly thereafter, she said Gendreau reached through the window and put his hand in her crotch area over her clothes.

Joseph Christopher Gendreau

I told him to stop, the woman tearfully recalled and said that Gendreau then shoved his hands down her shirt and inside her bra and started forcibly touching her right breast.

I tried to move his hand, and I couldnt, she said. He had mentioned something about my nipple ring. I kept telling him to stop, that he needed to get back. I couldnt get him to stop.

The woman testified that Gendreau was touching her right breast with such force that it resulted in bruising.

She said it finally ended when one of her co-workers walked out and asked her what was wrong.

The woman, still shaken and shocked, said she then went into work and soon told a co-worker what had happened.

She felt horrible, she said in court, as if it was somehow her fault that it happened.

Nobody should have to ... be treated like that, she said. I was just scared. I didnt want him to do anything else.

Questioning the victims testimony

Rafferty questioned the woman about why she didnt have pictures of the bruising and shot down her testimony about Gendreau offering to pay her $100 for sex, arguing that his client had not been charged with any criminal offense for solicitation.

Rafferty also questioned why it took so long for formal charges to be filed in the case.

The woman shot back at Rafferty, saying she did go to the DIberville Police Department that day and told a police officer about what happened to her.

Rafferty asked if she recalled asking Gendreau for his phone number and him turning her down.

The woman said that never happened.

Why would I want his phone number? she asked, saying she had a boyfriend of her own and had no reason to try to get anyones phone number, much less from a man she says attacked her.

Hornsby pointed out to the judge that the woman had never said at any point during her testimony that she tried to get Gendreaus number.

What you asked her is not true, Hornsby said, adding that information is what Rafferty suggested had happened and was not what the woman said in her testimony.

Its your testimony, Hornsby fired back at Rafferty.

Problems with previous employers?

During other questions during the cross-examination of the woman, Rafferty asked her about ever complaining about any other person she had worked for.

The woman said she had reported a boss from another restaurant for stalking her and obtained a protective order that kept the man away from her for a year because the allegations were valid.

Rafferty repeatedly questioned why it took several hours after the alleged crime for DIberIlle police to be called to the restaurant about the incident.

The woman said she was upset and didnt know what to do at first because she was still shocked by what had happened. She said she spoke to a fellow employee and her manager before summoning the police.

She also pointed out it was all reported the same day it occurred and that she went to the DIberville Police Department as well the same day to speak to an investigator about what had happened.

Rafferty also questioned why it took 13 days before she signed formal charges against Gendreau.

A DIberville police officer who handled the investigation later explained the delay, testifying that once the allegations were made, he went to the officers in the criminal investigations division for them to look into the case to determine if any felony charge should apply.

Hornsby said the case file was also sent to prosecutors in the District Attorneys Office, but they declined to pursue a felony charge.

And the police officer who wrote up the report said it was done 13 days after the crime because that is when criminal investigators got back with him to let him know there would be no felony charge but a misdemeanor assault charge instead.

After that, the officer said he wrote up the affidavit and called the woman back to sign the charges.

After the crime occurred, the woman said she talked about what had happened to her with her children so they would know how to respond if someone tried to attack them like she was.

Rafferty maintains there is no evidence to support the conviction and plans to fight it in County Court.
A former Sedgwick County Jail deputy accused of having sex with two inmates and standing by as others vandalized and trafficked contraband into a jail cell last year has entered an Alford plea to three counts of unlawful sexual relations and two counts of official misconduct in unrelated cases, court records show.

An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea that allows a defendant to maintain innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to potentially win a conviction.

Dustin Troy Burnett, 22, of Maize, entered the plea last week after waiving his preliminary hearing in Sedgwick County District Court, records show. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed other sex crimes charges and dropped in its entirety a third case where the ex-deputy was accused of repeatedly defying a court order barring him from contacting prosecution witnesses, his Feb. 10 plea agreement says.

He will be sentenced March 30 by Sedgwick County District Judge Tyler Roush.

Authorities have said Burnett had illegal sexual contact with two women housed at the Sedgwick County Jail last summer and solicited a third for sex while he was working as a detention deputy, leading to the sex crimes case. In Kansas, its illegal for jail workers and others with authority over inmates to carry on sexual or romantic relationships with them, regardless of age or consent.

One inmate victimized told an investigator she did not feel like she could say no when Burnett asked for sex because he was in uniform and in a position of power over them as the pod deputy, according to a probable cause affidavit released by the court. He kept notes and conducted internet searches for information on the women and searched the web for pornography of jail guards with inmates, the affidavit says.

Burnett also saw an inmate burning a fist-sized hole into a jail cell window in July and caught others sneaking contraband items through it but failed to stop or report it, authorities say  prompting the official misconduct case. Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter has said jail officials think marijuana and two cellphones were trafficked through the hole and that inmates had planned to bring in a gun.

Burnett worked for the jail from January to July. He was fired after his arrest.

He remains in the custody of the Sedgwick County Jail but is being housed off site, in the Butler County Jail, an online roster of inmates shows.
By Neha Arora and Aftab Ahmed

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is drafting a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor nations badly hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic and Ukraine war, by asking lenders including China, the world's largest sovereign creditor, to take a large haircut on loans.

Two Indian government sources told Reuters of the proposal as finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 prepared to meet in Bengaluru next week. The gathering will be the first major event of India's one-year presidency of the G20, a bloc composed of the world's biggest economies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it would hold a virtual meeting with the World Bank, India, China, Saudi Arabia, the United States and other wealthy Group of Seven (G7) democracies on Friday to try to reach understandings on common standards, principles and definitions for how to restructure distressed country debts.

"India is designing a proposal" to try to persuade countries like China to take a big haircut in lending to nations in difficulty, said one of the Indian officials, both of whom declined to be named as they were not authorised to talk to the media.

China and other G20 countries were aware that India was working on a proposal, the officials said.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Reuters on Wednesday it had nothing to share beyond spokesperson Wang Wenbin's comment at a news conference on Tuesday.

"China takes the debt issue of developing countries seriously and supports relevant financial institutions to put forward solutions," he said.

"It is our consistent stance that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors, which hold the bulk of the debt of developing countries, should participate in the debt relief efforts."

The Peoples Bank of China and the Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

India's finance and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to emails and messages seeking comment either.

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New Delhi expects the United States to be one of the main backers of its proposal, said one of the sources.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury declined to comment.

U.S. Treasury officials have previously said that they are opposed to Chinas demand that multilateral development banks also take haircuts on debt principal in any restructurings. It was unclear whether the Indian proposal would advocate multilateral lenders taking haircuts.

Two of India's neighbours, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, are in economic crisis, and urgently seeking international help before they run out of foreign currency to pay for vital imports.

India and the Paris Club of creditors recently told the IMF they supported Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan as the bankrupt nation sought a $2.9 billion loan. The United States said earlier this month it was willing to do its part too but that "we need to see credible and specific assurances that (China) will meet the IMF standard of debt relief".

The Export-Import Bank of China has offered Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt and said it would support the country's efforts to secure an IMF programme, which a Sri Lankan government source said was not enough.

The IMF, the World Bank and the United States have pushed for the so-called Common Framework - a G20 initiative that was launched in 2020 to help poor countries delay debt repayments - to be expanded to include middle-income countries but China has resisted.

In December, World Bank President David Malpass said the world's poorest countries owed $62 billion in annual debt service to bilateral creditors, a year-on-year increase of 35%, triggering higher risk of defaults.

(Reporting by Neha Arora and Aftab Ahmed in New Delhi, Joe Cash in Beijing and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Baby Bonds are one of the most effective tools we have for  breaking the cycles of poverty and trauma that have prevented Black and brown folks from thriving in this country, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said.

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are reintroducing legislation that would establish federal baby bonds in an effort to close the racial wealth gap, theGrio exclusively reports.

Pressley and Booker on Wednesday will introduce the American Opportunity Accounts Act, which would create a federally funded savings account for every American child. The two Democrats say they hope the bill will make economic opportunity a birthright.

The racial wealth gap in America is the result of generations of precise and intentional policy violence, so we must be as intentional and as precise about advancing policies that address it head-on, Pressley said in a statement.

(Left to right) U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Cory Booker will reintroduce the American Opportunities Accounts Act. (Photo: Getty Images)

Baby Bonds are one of the most effective tools we have for closing the racial wealth gap and breaking the cycles of poverty and trauma that have prevented Black and brown folks from thriving in this country, her statement continued.

Booker first introduced the American Opportunity Accounts Act in 2019 during the 116th Congress. He reintroduced it with Pressley in 2021 in the 117th Congress. In both sessions, legislators never voted on the bill and only referred it to House committees.

If congressional leaders pass the bill this time and President Joe Biden signs it into law, the federal legislation would authorize the secretary of the Department of Treasury to transfer $1,000 into an account for every individual born after Dec. 31, 2023.

Depending on a familys income, the American Opportunity accounts would receive up to an additional $2,000 a year and accrue interest until the individual is 18 years old. Accounts for minors in a family of four that earns less than $25,000 a year could accrue as much as $46,215, according to the congressional offices.

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At age 18, account holders can use the funds for eligible wealth-building activities. A qualified expense includes purchasing a home, funding higher education or investing in financial assets or personal capital that provides long-term gains, according to the bill.

The offices of Pressley and Booker explain other expenses that qualify include investing in a small business and saving for retirement.

Teachers, students and members of the Teachers Union gather and rally against budget cuts and underfunding of District of Columbia Public Schools at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2019. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Americans today are having a harder time accessing homeownership, higher education, and a secure retirement than their parents did just a generation before them, Booker said in a statement provided to theGrio.

This is due in part to our upside-down tax code, which is great at preserving and building wealth for corporations and wealthy families, but fails Americans who are barely getting by and are unable to afford long-term investments to get ahead, the statement continued. Baby Bonds would fix our broken tax code by providing every American child with startup capital for their life.

According to a 2020 report from the Brookings Institution, the racial wealth gap widened over decades and the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the inequity. The public policy research firm cited data that, as of 2019, the median white household held nearly eight times the wealth of a Black household.

Andre Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, affirmed that policies like Pressley and Bookers federal baby bonds bill could help address Americas racial wealth gap.

Wealth divides in this country necessitate the need for a revised social safety net as well as different ways to build wealth in this country, Perry said in a written statement. Providing baby bonds based on income will help those who are not born into wealth to purchase a home, go to college or start a business without going into debilitating debt.

The U.S. Capitol Building is seen on Jan. 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

While federal baby bonds would benefit all Americans, it would especially improve the economic conditions for Black and brown children. According to data published by Kaiser Family Foundation, Black and Latino households hold poverty rates of 21.7% and 17.6%, respectively, which is disproportionately higher than white households at 9.5%.

State and local legislators have introduced baby bonds in their jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia implemented the investment program last year. Lawmakers in Connecticut passed a bill to create a baby bond fund, but, reportedly, the governors office is stalling it. Other states that have proposed or flirted with the idea of a version of baby bonds include Washington, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

In response to the growing movement, Pressley said, It is no surprise that this idea has gained traction in states across the country. She added: Black lives and Black wealth matter, which is why Congress must pass our bill without delay.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post EXCLUSIVE: Pressley and Booker reintroduce baby bonds bill, attempt to close racial wealth gap appeared first on TheGrio.
The FAA is creating a safety review committee to assess airline safety after recent near-disasters in New York, Austin, and Hawaii. Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Billy Nolen, the Federal Aviation Administration's acting administrator, is creating a safety review committee.

The group will assess recent incidents and determine if there are any emerging trends.

The news comes after three disasters were narrowly avoided in New York, Austin, and Hawaii.

The FAA is taking action after several recent airline events almost ended in catastrophe.

Billy Nolen, the Federal Aviation Administration's acting administrator, outlined his plan to assess airline safety by establishing a safety review committee that will "examine the US aerospace system's structure, culture, processes, systems, and integration of safety efforts," in a memo sent Tuesday. The memo was first reported by Reuters.

"We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we cannot take this for granted," he wrote. "Recent events remind us that we must not become complacent. Now is the time to stare into the data and ask hard questions."

The committee will start by holding a safety summit in March, which will include industry leaders and labor organizations, to determine which risk mitigations are working and which ones could be more effective.

The FAA has also tasked the agency's Commercial Aviation Safety Team to comb through data and look for similar events to the ones seen in recent weeks, as well as determine if there are any emerging trends.

According to the FAA, the CAST has been a vital group in proactively identifying aviation safety risks and addressing them before an accident occurs. Since 1997, the team has reduced the fatality risk in commercial aviation by 94%, and wants to reduce that by another 50% by 2025.

The final action will be an assessment of the Air Traffic Organization, which is an operational division of the FAA that provides navigational services for the US aviation sector. Specifically, the review team will look at the "internal processes, systems, and operational integration" and determine the "actions needed to reinforce a collaborative, data-driven safety culture."

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Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, praised Nolen for his decision.

"AFA will be an active participant in the Safety Call to Action and Summit, just like we put safety first every day on the job," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

The news comes after several near-crashes in different areas of the country involving five different airlines.

The first was on January 13 in which a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 nearly collided with an American Airlines Boeing 777 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Delta jet was cleared and rolling for takeoff when the American plane crossed the same active runway, forcing the 737 to abruptly stop and come within 1,400 of the 777.

Three weeks later, a FedEx Boeing 767 nearly landed on top of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in Austin, Texas. The National Transportation Safety Board said the two jets were "probably under 100 feet vertically from each other," Reuters reported.

The NTSB and the FAA have since launched investigations into both events, the former also looking into a December event in which a United Airlines Boeing 777 rapidly descended after takeoff from Kahului, Hawaii, and came within 775 feet of the ocean below.

"We must ensure that our structure is fit for purpose for the US aerospace system of both today and the Future," Nolen wrote in the memo. "We know that our aviation system is changing dramatically. Now is the time to act."

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Reuters) - A timeline of events since a Norfolk Southern Railroad-operated train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, while carrying hazardous materials from Illinois to Pennsylvania.

Feb. 3: Derailment of a train comprising three locomotives and 150 freight cars, and subsequent fire sends plumes of smoke over East Palestine and forces the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents. Nobody is hurt.

Feb. 5: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Michael Graham says video footage of the accident points to possible "mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles."

Feb. 6: Crews drain and burn off an "unstable" toxic chemical cargo from five rail cars of the train.

Feb. 8: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says residents can return to their homes.

Feb. 10: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notifies Norfolk Southern it may be liable for clean up under the U.S. Superfund law.

Feb. 13: The EPA's Great Lakes regional office says it had conducted air quality tests in 291 homes in the evacuation zone and detected no vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, two of the hazardous materials that most worried officials. It said it needed to screen another 181 homes.

Feb. 14: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says 20 cars were carrying hazardous materials, including 10 that derailed. The NTSB says 38 cars in total left the tracks and that the ensuing fire damaged 12 more cars. The NTSB has not given any preliminary report on any possible cause of the derailment.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks and Valerie Volcovici; editing by Donna Bryson and Josie Kao)
TURKEY-SYRIA-QUAKE

Turkish relief agency AFAD rescuers search the rubble of a collapsed building in Islahiye on February 13, 2023. Credit - Zein Ai RifaiAFP/Getty Images

More than 37,000 people have died and tens of thousands have been injured as a result of the devastating earthquakes that impacted northwestern Syria and Turkey on Feb. 6.

The earthquakesthe deadliest in the world since Japans Fukushima in 2011caused more than 5,600 buildings across southeastern Turkey to collapse, leaving people without shelter, and in great need of food, blankets, and fuel to leave the city and find safety. 10 provinces in Turkey are currently under a state of emergency for the next three months.

The Turkish government has received criticism for its disaster responseor lack thereof. In the hours following the catastrophe, there were no military forces sent to affected areas, leaving people to fend for themselves. Several residents reportedly attempted to get in contact with the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), but were unable to do so successfully.

AlBaraa Haddad, a 27-year-old Syrian cinematographer in the badly-hit Turkish city of Antakya, called the governments response shocking, saying that there were minimal professional rescue teams or equipment from the government in the first two and a half days. Haddad says that many family members that were able to get out of buildings during the earthquake stayed behind waiting for emergency response teams to arrive and help rescue family members still alive under the debris.

You could hear people who were still alive under the rubble, trying to scream and say they were alive, but there was absolutely no one helping at that moment, Haddad told TIME.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged his governments shortcomings in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, saying that it was not possible to be prepared for such a disaster. The government initially had issues at airports and roads, but promised that things were now under control.

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But that hasnt stopped critics from pointing out that in the days following the earthquakes, Erdogan was seemingly focused on censorship and political goals. Here are the three biggest criticisms of the governments response effort, and preparedness, so far:

Limiting access to Twitter

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, people took to social media to share their location, in hopes that rescue efforts would soon arrive. When no one did, many lashed out at the Turkish government for its poor disaster response, sharing photos and videos of what was happening on the ground.

Turkey then temporarily banned Twitter for 12 hours from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday, largely limiting the contact survivors on the ground had with others.

ANKARA, TURKIYE - FEBRUARY 14: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes statements atAFAD headquarters in Ankara, Turkiye on February 14, 2023. Halil SagirkayaAnadolu Agency/Getty Images

Erdogan, who is seeking reelection in May, said he blocked access to the platform to stop disinformation from spreading and expressed outrage at the criticism the Turkish government faced. In such a period, I cannot tolerate the viciously negative campaigns for the sake of simple political interests, Erdogan said.

In October, Turkey passed a law that claimed to work to criminalize the spread of misinformation. But a Brookings report reveals the law actually functions as a way for the government to moderate social media platforms. People can receive up to five years in jail for posting false information that disrupt[s] Turkeys domestic and external security, or public order.

The decision to restrict Twitter is reminiscent of a similar circumstance in 2014, when the platform was previously banned after it spread leaked audio recordings of Erdogan ordering his son to transfer millions of dollars of cash out of the house when he learned authorities were raiding politicians homes.

Carrying out arrests

On Wednesday, Turkish authorities announced they arrested five people and put another 18 into custody for provocative posts related to the earthquakes, according to the Wall Street Journal. Law enforcement said that they had also identified more than 200 social media accounts that posted about the aftermath of this natural disaster, likely criticizing the government for its response.

Many have questioned why authorities were prioritizing arrests and taking down Twitter during a time of great devastation.

Arrests of people in Turkey for criticizing the government over earthquake response have already started, but I don't think they can stop people from seeing what's in front of them.  Nate Schenkkan (@nateschenkkan) February 7, 2023

Twitter has been an absolute lifeline in the aftermath of the earthquakes, both for rescuers to seek assistance and coordinate the provision of rescue equipment, and by those seeking missing loved ones, Alp Toker, the director of internet-monitoring group Netblocks, told the Washington Post. There is no obvious replacement to fill the gap.

Negligent infrastructure practices

Turkey, which is located between two tectonic plates, has dealt with earthquakes for centuries, though this disaster is one of the strongest to impact the country since 1999, when a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 17,000 people.

That earthquake prompted the Turkish government to establish an earthquake tax and improve construction standards to better prepare for quakes. But experts told TIME that many newer buildings were not built up to code, and older buildings did not meet the set caliber.

In terms of regulations, Turkey has the most state-of-the-art code in [the building] design process, said Dr. H. Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer at Miyamoto International. Its the application where we have big problems. Both for the building capacity and regulation consistency.

Miyamoto told TIME that because construction is a substantial industry in Turkey, the government often turns a blind eye to regulation. And economic differences between Eastern Turkey and Western Turkey means infrastructure standards have also vastly differed, making the impacted region even more vulnerable to quakes and the aftershocks.

This has affected the medical attention people have been able to receive following the quakes, with at least two maternity centers supported by Doctors without Borders forced to evacuate due to the risk of collapse, with several more completely destroyed.

That lack of regard for building safety has angered thousands, inciting much of the public outrage Erdogan is trying to avoid.

Its not safe at all. The city here is totally destroyed. Basically theres no one building that is not affected by this, Haddad said. Even if a building stayed standing, it is still not safe to live in.
Since the death of Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. more than two weeks ago, grief-stricken Selma police officers havent had much to smile about.

But thanks to the students of Eric White Elementary School, some of the citys police officers smiled at least for a short time Tuesday morning.

It was hard to find that smile (this morning), Selma Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz acknowledged. When I walked up front and saw all of you, you put that smile back on my face.

Eric White Elementary staff donned ribbons with images of Carrasco in uniform. They wore shirts with Selma Strong printed on the front and the date of Carrascos end-of-watch on the back. Wearing blue in honor of law enforcement, students formed a tunnel as they welcomed the police chief and eight other officers to their campus to say, Thank you.

We all needed that this morning, Alcaraz said as he looked out at about 650 students.

Around 650 Eric White Elementary students celebrated the life of Officer Gonzalo Carrasco, Jr. who was killed in the line of duty while protecting our community and school.

On behalf of all 11 Selma Unified schools, the Eric White Elementary staff and student body invited the Selma Police for two reasons: to remember the life of Carrasco and to thank Selma Police for keeping the school safe not only on Jan. 31 but every day, Principal Michelle Salcido said.

Students across the district also created heart-warming cards and posters of support and gratitude for the officers and Carrascos family.

We hope that these faces and heartfelt messages bring you comfort and are accepted with love, whether you display them or keep one in your pocket, the principal said. Please know how grateful we are for Selma Police Department.

Eric White Elementary Principal Michelle Salcido presents Selma Police Department officers with cards and posters of support made by Selma Unified students after a Tuesday, February, 14, 2023 event, recognizing them for their service to the school community.

Remembering a fallen officer

Carrasco was a 24-year-old father-to-be in his second year with the Selma Police Department. His death marked the first time in Selmas 100-plus years of existence that one of its police officers died in the line of duty.

While responding to a call for help from a Selma resident, Carrasco was killed on Jan. 31 as he attempted to talk to a man in the front yard of a home, according to the Fresno County Sheriffs Office. A 23-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with Carrascos death and is scheduled for arraignment Feb. 23 in Fresno County Superior Court.

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We know that his life will be felt forever by his family, friends and law enforcement colleagues, Salcido said.

To the hundreds of people who have remembered him in the last couple of weeks, he was a good man, forever a hero, and will be never forgotten.

Even to the students at Eric White Elementary, which was on lockdown following the shooting, Carrasco will forever be in our hearts, a banner read.

Fifth-grader Noah Rodriguez created a portrait in Carrascos memory to be displayed in the police station and with his family so they wont forget his sacrifice.

We honor him because he lost his life protecting our community and school, Rodriguez said at the presentation. We are thankful for his service. I want his family to remember what a great man he was and his child to know what a strong and brave dad he was.

Selma Police are integral in protecting the school community, which is why the school district wanted to thank them, Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd said.

Were here to protect the families, the community, the schools as always, Detective Richard Figueroa said.

Shepherd said the Tuesday event was also a part of the healing process.

That love and support from the school community was overwhelming and brought tears to the officers in attendance as they mourned the loss of one of their own.

Because what we do, the police chief said, its bigger than us.

Eric White Elementary fifth grader Noah Rodriguez drew a portrait of fallen Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco, Jr. so Carrascos unborn child will know what a strong and brave dad he was. Rodriguez presented other Selma police officers with the drawing at a Tuesday, February, 14, 2023 event to honor Carrasco.

How to pay respects

Those looking to pay their respects for fallen Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. will have two opportunities: a public viewing and mass at 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Josephs Church in Selma (2441 Dockery Ave.) and the Thursday morning funeral services at 10 a.m. at Selland Arena (700 M St.) in Fresno.

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British American novelist and broadcaster, Marcel Theroux, is the author of several books including "Far North" which was a finalist for the National Book Award and Arthur C. Clark Award. Theroux is a featured author at the Savannah Book Festival where he will discuss his latest novel, "The Sorcerer of Pyongyang."

Therouxs new book is a highly researched and detailed look at the secretive hermit kingdom of North Korea. The story begins in the 1990s during a severe famine when a 10-year old boy named Cho Jun-Su comes across a "Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master Guide" left behind by the son of an American tourist. The towering red demon on the cover both frightens and intrigues Jun-su, although he is more frightened by what might happen to him if the book were discovered since possession of forbidden material could land him in prison, or worse.

Q&A with Savannah Book Festival leader: Happy to bring 'labor of love' back to Savannah

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Another local name at SBF: George Dawes Green explores local hidden history in his latest novel, 'Kingdoms of Savannah'

Jun-Su is unwaveringly devoted to his family, his country, and his Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il, but the allure of the Dungeon Mater Guide leads him down a path that frees his creative mind and changes the way he sees the world around him. With the help of an English speaking teacher, Jun-Su slowly and painstakingly translates the book, which not only helps him build a rich inner life, but improves his vocabulary enough to win a major poetry prize that subsequently vaults him into the upper crust of North Korean society.

As Jun-Su grows up, with the Dungeon Masters Guide as a guiding force, he falls in love, is imprisoned, finds himself in the strange orbit of the most powerful family in the nation, and eventually builds a new life.

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"The Sorcerer of Pyongyang," by Marcel Theroux.

Theroux was inspired by his love for Dungeons & Dragons as a youth, the real-life community of North Korean refugees that live near his home in London, and his work as the host of the BBC documentary series Unreported World in which he travels to neglected parts of the globe to uncover stories rarely aired by mainstream media.

One episode of Unreported World (which is available on YouTube) took Theroux to North Korea.

I was so excited to go, said Theroux over Zoom from London. It was a weird time because there was a kind of thaw. There was a moment where more people were going to North Korea  journalists were going to North Korea. There was a bromance burgeoning between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un and people were wondering how far this would go.

It turned out to be a brief window, but Theroux and his cameraman were allowed into the country and spent eight days traveling around the country.

It was fascinating, said Theroux. Of course, we werent able to penetrate anything. We were shepherded by minders as everyone is. We didnt talk to any ordinary people. We were mostly corralled in our hotel. We had to really fight just to get outside and get the general shots of the city that you would expect to make a TV program. You need so many images. Beforehand I was worried. Id heard horror stories about people being driven around in buses with the curtains shut and people couldnt even film out of the bus. I was thinking if thats case we cant even make a film. They were more relaxed than that, but they still engineered it so that we had no time to ourselves to poke our noses into things.

The experience had Theroux questioning what went on the heads of the North Korean people who were so careful and guarded around him during his visit? What are the inner lives of people who grow up in a totalitarian country?

More:Author Taylor Brown continues to put his heart out for everyone to see with 'Wingwalkers'

Having studied Russian and spent time in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Theroux had some semblance of an idea what it must have been like for its citizens.

The first night we woke up in the hotel in Pyongyang, there was a trade fair going on in Pyongyang, so exhibitors from friendly countries had been invited to sell things, so it was essentially Chinese and Russians, recalled Theroux. There were Russians of about my age and I was chatting with them. I could see they were having an experience a bit like mine but more intense. I visited Moscow in 1983 and Pyongyang really took me back to that moment of being in a socialist utopia with the propaganda posters and the people wandering around the slightly ambient atmosphere of oppression, but also a strange aesthetic that looked like it was all designed by one person. I could see the Russians were quite bummed out, because they were thinking, This is the country I grew up in. They looked a bit nostalgic.

Kim Jong Un and daughter in North Korea

I dont want to make light of it. North Korea is a terribly oppressive country, as the Soviet Union was in the 1980s, but for the people who are there its also home.

In the novel, Theroux describes Pyongyang in the 1990s as looking like rows of gray matchboxes standing on end. Those same buildings are now painted in bright pastel colors.

Its actually oddly beautiful, said Theroux. I was thinking it looked like a Marxist Wes Anderson designed the entire thing...This is one single demented vision and theres something amazing about it. Its designed to make you feel awed, like the Emerald City. Its designed to make visitors go, Wow! This is the most advanced city on Earth. So Cho Jun-Su could really think that.

More:One of Savannah's favorite bookstores is expanding into Starland to become 'locals spot'

There is a bitter sweet quality to the portrayal of North Korea and its oppressed citizens. Theroux did much of his research speaking to North Koreans who escaped the country and now live in England. Its a cultural transition that is often difficult for many of them.

Talking to North Koreans, I think its really complicated for people to leave that world because they are ambivalent, said Theroux. They know that it was terrible, but they also had really good times there. I think one of the reasons there are North Koreans in South West London is that I think its tough for North Koreans in South Korea. We know that a lot of North Koreans who move to South Korea have a really tough time adjusting. They have a tough time leaving home, they have a tough time because they have low status in society, theres a prejudice against them, their work qualifications dont count. You could have been a college professor in North Korea and then in South Korea you dont have anything comparable to that job. Its really rough and people do end up wanting to go back.

Jun-Su had the Dungeon Masters Guide to help him disrupt his system of thought, but there are other ways North Koreans illegally expand their world-views.

Marcel Theroux is the author of 'The Sorcerer of Pyongyang' and will be speaking at the 2023 Savannah Book Festival.

Its about having an internal life in a place where everything is so controlled, said Theroux. One of the ways people are trying to influence what goes on in North Korea is send flash drives with South Korean soap operas, or books, or copies of the Bible, anything. I think clearly the North Korean government also realizes the danger of people having an inner life because they do everything they can to stop their citizens from seeing the internet. You can be executed for watching South Korean soap operas in the North.

Even for Theroux, Dungeons & Dragons was an inner life changing experience.

It was such an amazing experience to get this book, Theroux said as he held up his beat-up copy of the "Dungeon Masters Guide" to the camera. I was flipping through it the other day and reading the section on alignment. I remember as kids, my friend and I when we were reading about lawful evil and chaotic good, I still think its a really brilliant formulation of what a person can be like. I remember trying to figure out what our friends were. I had a long lasting impact on me and I can only imagine growing up in an even more un-free environment what a liberating, and at the same time potentially dangerous thing it could be.

IF YOU GO

What: Savannah Book Festival: Marcel Theroux

When: Saturday at 3:15 p.m.

Where: Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 223 Bull St.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Info: savannahbookfestival.org

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Journalist Marcel Theroux discusses North Korean life in new book
Running is just a form of exercise for some, but for athletes its more. Running or sprinting often reminds many of Usain Bolt, the worlds fastest runner. Bolt runs shorter distances, however. Hie doesn't hold the record for the fastest mile time.

Fastest mile time refers to how quickly a runner can cover a miles distance, which is approximately 1600 meters. The mile run, which is a middle-distance foot race, is a track and field event overseen by World Athletics. World Athletics, also known as International Association of Athletics Federations, is an international track and field organization of national associations with over 160 countries, according to Britannica.

The fastest run mile by a female athlete is 4 minutes 12.33 seconds. It was achieved by Sifan Hassan who represented Netherlands at an IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on 12 July, 2019.

Who is the fastest person in the world?: It's no easy answer, but Usain Bolt's records stand tall.

What is the fastest mile time?

According to Guinness World Records, the fastest mile time by a male athlete is 3 minutes 43.13 seconds. It was achieved by two-time Olympic medalist Hicham El Guerrouj, representing Morocco in Rome on July 7, 1999.

The fastest run mile by a female athlete is 4 minutes 12.33 seconds. It was achieved by Sifan Hassan, who represented Netherlands at an IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on July 12, 2019. Previously, the record was held by Svetlana Masterkova, whose record was 4 minutes 12.56 seconds. That record had stood for almost 23 years.

How many steps are in a mile?: Here's the average, but it (obviously) depends on your stride.

Just Curious: Your everyday questions about life, sports, tech and more, answered.

How long is a mile?

According to Britannica, a mile is a unit of measuring distance. A statute mile is about 5,280 feet or 1.609 kilometers. The term mile originated from Roman mille passus, or thousand paces, which measured 5,000 Roman feet.

Sportswear juggernaut Nike cited a 2019 study and said, an average person is expected to walk a mile in 15 to 22 minutes, although physical fitness, age and incline may affect the time. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the moderate walking pace is around 2.5-4 miles per hour.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the fastest mile time? These mile runners are record holders
[Source]

A man in China has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after accidentally killing his teenage son with a sword last year.

Yang Junming, a single parent from Youxian district in the southwest province of Sichuan, was found guilty of assault by the local district court in a verdict handed down on June 25, 2022, but only reported by local media on Feb. 7, 2023.

The incident took place in their rental home on Jan. 7, 2022, after Yang got into an argument with his son after learning from the students teacher about his low academic scores, including a grade of 18 out of 100 in physical education.

The father reportedly lost his temper and grabbed a 3-foot ornamental sword off a nearby table, poking his son in his left lower back.

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The boy also sustained a 10 centimeter-long (approximately 4 inches) cut on his waist, according to the South China Morning Post.

Yang would later tell authorities that he just wanted to scare the boy, lamenting that he did the worst thing out of the best motivation.

In CCTV footage shown on local media, Yang can be seen carrying his injured son down the stairs of their home while waiting for an ambulance. A recording of his call to emergency services captured Yang saying, "I hurt him. He's hurt."

More from NextShark: 29% of Chinese Canadians Report Being Physically Attacked During COVID-19 Crisis, Survey Says

The teenager was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a few hours later due to blood loss.

The samurai sword-like blade was presented as evidence during the hearing last year at Mianyang Youxian People's Court.

Prosecutors accused Yang of previously using the weapon to threaten his son multiple times. According to Yang, he purchased the sword for decorative purposes, not to hurt his son.

More from NextShark: Suspects ordered to stand trial for murder and robbery of Asian senior, 75, in Oakland

Results of forensic tests showed the boy had other, older injuries that indicated he had been physically harmed numerous times before his death.

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Yang remained single after he was divorced by his wife several years ago due to his alleged cheating. He told the court that he had high expectations for his son, whom he raised by himself.

"It is the opinion of this court that defendant Yang Junming did knowingly cause bodily harm to another, resulting in death," read the courts official verdict.

More from NextShark: Buddhist Temple Sues California City for Discrimination Over Armed Raids
Attorney M. Evan Corcoran arrives at federal court in Washington, July 22, 2022. Justice Department prosecutors investigating the mishandling of classified documents at Donald Trump's Florida estate are seeking to pierce the attorney-client privilege. They want to again question Corcoran, one of former President Donald Trump's lawyers, before a grand jury. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Federal prosecutors want Trump's attorney to testify under a crime-fraud exception, reports say.

It can be used if there's reason to believe a client is using legal services for illegal purposes.

One source told CNN prosecutors alleged that Trump used his lawyer to further a crime or fraud.

Federal prosecutors are trying to get one of former President Donald Trump's lawyers to sit down for questioning as part of the investigation into the classified documents that Trump kept after leaving office.

According to two sources who spoke with The New York Times, prosecutors have asked a federal judge to turn to a legal maneuver that would sidestep attorney-client privilege  which protects communications between a lawyer and client  known as the client-fraud exception. This would allow Trump lawyer M. Evan Corcoran to undergo questioning without the ability to assert client privilege, the Times reported.

The crime-fraud exception is usually invoked if prosecutors have reason to believe that a client is using legal services to aid in a current or future crime.

"Some of the crimes that often arise in this context include crimes that are meant to obstruct an investigation or ongoing prosecution," according to legal information site Justia.

One source familiar with the investigation also told CNN that federal prosecutors alleged on paper that Trump used his lawyer to further a crime or fraud.

The Times previously reported that Corcoran appeared before a grand jury in Washington, and cited his attorney-client privilege during questioning, three sources told the Times. The questioning was related to the events prior to the August search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, according to CNN.

The reports did not specify what crime or fraud prosecutors are accusing Trump of trying to further, or what evidence they are using to back up their claims.

Trump is being investigated by Jack Smith, the DOJ special counsel, after hundreds of documents were discovered in his Mar-a-Lago home after he left office in 2021.

Corcoran and a representative for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A concept image of BAE Systems' Tempest fighter jet, which will replace the RAF Typhoon - BAE Systems

Fighter pilots will use radar technology developed in Newcastle to detect threats on the battlefield after an Italian defence giant announced plans to open a hub in the city.

Leonardo, which makes military helicopters and radar and is a part of the next-generation Tempest fighter jet programme, will hire 200 engineers in the city at its new site.

The new hub will be dedicated to projects including Leonardos unmanned helicopter drone being developed for the Royal Navy, Proteus, as well as radar technology.

The company is already manufacturing the next generation of radar in Edinburgh. The site in Newcastle will develop artificial intelligence to help sift and prioritise the information gathered by these new sensors, sending relevant material back to base and the most important information to the pilot.

Its new sensor suites for the Tempest, which is due to be in service in 2035, will be part of an information network handling data traffic comparable to that of a small city. Finding and interpreting unusual activity on the ground or in the sky will be a key part of what the warplane does.

Clive Higgins, interim chief executive of Leonardo UK, said: We know there's a huge amount of capability, skills, passion in that area. It's about having people with digital security, cyber, AI, and engineering skills that we really need.

Mr Higgins added that it was eyeing further opportunities in cybersecurity, as well as a need to replenish the stock of armour and munitions the UK has given to Ukraine.

He said: Hardware is absolutely critical. You've seen the kind of burn rate of munitions that are taking place. But the reality is, you've got to protect your critical national infrastructure, borders, and health service systems.

The company is looking for 800 engineers for various jobs around the UK. Since the war in Ukraine, tempting workers into the industry is an easier conversation to have, said Mr Higgins.

Last week, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for access to Western fighter jets, or wings of freedom, to help it achieve victory against Russia. The speech has helped put defence on the agenda again, Mr Higgins said.

He added: I think that gives an example of why people are more readily willing to have a conversation about a good career in defence.
The fire occurred in the city of Kolomna

The blaze reportedly started in a hanger in a non-functional factory in the city of Kolomna, covering over 900 square meters (about 9,700 square feet). The ceilings between the building's floors were partly destroyed as a result of the incident.

Read also: Polish Foreign Ministry fires all Moscow-educated employees

Read also: Two Russian warplanes downed by Ukrainian forces, General Staff says

The facility across the street is reportedly unharmed. It is responsible for producing shells for multiple launch rocket and man-portable air defense systems, in addition to Iskander cruise missiles.

Russian media reported in December that production of Iskander missiles, MLRS and shells for them had grown at times in Russia to meet the order of the Ministry of Defence.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
After a two-plus-day civil service hearing earlier this year, a fired Knoxville Police Department lieutenant has successfully appealed his case. Now Lt. Lance Earlywine can return to his former position.

Earlywine appealed his firing last July. He was let go from the department on grounds he lied about racist harassment within the department that occurred in 2019 and 2020. His firing was Chief Paul Noel's first disciplinary decision since coming to Knoxville in June.

A civil service hearing officer overruled Noel's firing decision, but ruled Earlywine could still be subject to discipline (though not firing) after finding he violated a different, less serious KPD rule.

Knox News received a copy of the ruling from Earlywine's attorney, Charles Burks.

Nearly two years ago, Knox News exclusively reported about a complaint filed by officer DionDre Jackson saying Earlywine, Capt. Don Jones and Deputy Chief Kenny Miller misled internal investigators looking into complaints in 2020 about the conduct of officer Adam Broome. It was an investigation into an investigation.

Earlywine told investigators he didn't know about the harassment, but multiple officers testified this wasnt true. During the civil service hearing, which was held in January, main people in the investigation testified.

This included Noel, who who did not participate in the investigation since he had not yet been hired in Knoxville. He said there was no question Earlywine violated KPD policy, a violation that destroys his credibility as an officer.

Former Knoxville Police Lt. Lance Earlywine

It was obvious (Earlywine) was untruthful in his statement to investigators in this incident, Noel said during the hearing.

But the hearing officer, local attorney Celeste Herbert, disagreed that Earlywine knowingly lied and likely could have forgotten some details, though she ruled Earlywine would still be eligible for discipline because of his "admission that he violated the Code of Conduct in not properly reporting the conduct of Officer Broome ..."

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In an emailed statement to Knox News, Noel said the actions and investigation occurred before he was appointed chief and his decision was based off the findings of the review.

"I stand by my decision and the reasoning that guided my decision," he said. "We will move forward, and this will not deter our efforts to continue to improve our department.

Earlywine will be eligible to return to his previous rank, though his assignment is unclear.

What led to the hearing

Broome resigned after a colleague complained about Broomes racist and unprofessional behavior. Broome and the officer who complained are white. Jackson is Black.

One of the complaints against Broome surfaced in one officer's exit interview. He told the department about Broome's racist and unprofessional behavior, including him telling Jackson in April 2019 that "he should know about being on a slave ship" and that reparations for "you all" (Black Americans) are "bulls---."

There is disagreement on what happened leading up to Broome's resignation. A handful of officers, including Jackson, told investigators they told their supervisor, Sgt. James Lockmiller, about Broome's harassment. Lockmiller did nothing with the information.

Weeks later, they told Earlywine, who supervises Lockmiller. Earlywine reported it to his immediate boss, Capt. Jones.

But Earlywine told investigators he didnt know about Broomes harassment or his racist statements, saying instead that he was only told there was an issue between Broome and Jackson and that Jackson was going to file a complaint alleging a hostile workplace.

Whether Earlywine knew the complaint was about racist conduct boiled down to Earlywines word against the words of four officers. Investigators sided with the officers.

Jones was found to have violated the harassment policy and was suspended for 10 days. Miller retired ahead of a disciplinary hearing.

Herbert's decision can be appealed to Chancery Court.

In July, immediately after he fired Earlywine, Noel sent a staffwide email obtained by Knox News that outlines his standards for officers.

We can recover from most mistakes, take the appropriate action and move forward, he wrote. Unfortunately, truthfulness is not one of those mistakes. As police officers, we are held to a higher standard. One of those standards is to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts, at all times.

Deputy Chief Kenny Miller retired ahead of a disciplinary hearing and Capt. Don Jones was briefly suspended without pay.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @tyler_whetstone.

Make our community, our society and our republic stronger by supporting robust local journalism. Subscribe online at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Firing reversed for Knoxville Police Department lieutenant
Botched Virgin Orbit Cosmic Girl mission was meant to launch 33 satellites into space - Virgin Orbit via AP

The first ever satellite mission from British soil failed after a fuel filter on the rocket became dislodged, an investigation has found.

Virgin Orbits mission from Spaceport Cornwall on January 9 ended in failure after the damage to the filter in turn caused an engine to overheat and shut down.

The mission had been intended as the first ever orbital satellite mission from western Europe. Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, said the company would proceed cautiously toward the launch of our next rocket.

The company's next launch is planned from California's Mojave desert. Virgin Orbit has said it hopes to start planning a new UK mission before the end of the year.

However, the botched mission is a blow to Britain's ambition of becoming a sovereign space power, further delaying the hope of hosting a successful orbital satellite mission for the first time.

Sir Richard Branson's company launched a Boeing 747 aircraft, dubbed Cosmic Girl, from an airstrip in Newquay, which carried a rocket bearing 33 satellites under its wing. The historic launch attempt was attended by more than 2,000 people who gathered in Cornwall to see the plane off.

The first part of the mission was a success, with the aircraft flying to 37,000 feet and dropping the rocket, LauncherOne, which then ignited and blasted off.

Cosmic Girl made it to 37,000 feet before problems became apparent - Spaceport Cornwall press site stock images



However, as the rocket began to burn, a fuel filter became misplaced. Data from within the rocket shows this led to one of the rocket's Newton engines being starved of fuel, resulting in the engine operating at an unusually high temperature.

This eventually caused components to begin to malfunction, causing the engine to stop working. The rocket then fell back down to earth, with its satellite payload, and landed in an area of the Atlantic ocean that had been cleared for a possibly aborted mission.

Virgin has been working with regulators including the Civil Aviation Authority's Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the US Federal Aviation Authority to investigate the reasons behind the failure of the mission.

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Mr Hart said: Our investigation is not yet complete; the team is hard at work and well pursue the cause and contributors to wherever the system analysis takes us.

However, with many clear clues from extensive data assessment now understood, we are modifying our next rocket with a more robust filter and we are looking broadly to assure that all credible contributors to mission failure are rooted out and addressed.

Virgin Orbit had initially hailed the success of the mission late on the evening of Jan 9, tweeting it had reached orbit. However, it was later forced to backtrack and admit the rocket had suffered an anomaly.

The failure means two of Virgin Orbit's six satellite launch attempts have been unsuccessful. The millions of pounds of assets lost in the mission are expected to be covered by space insurance.
The Rock at Michigan State was repainted with the message, "To those we lost, to those healing, Brian, Arielle, Alexandria," on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, on the MSU campus in East Lansing. Students painted over a message overnight that read, "Allow us to defend ourselves, carry on campus."

LANSING  Five students wounded during the mass shooting at Michigan State University on Monday remained in critical condition Wednesday.

The Michigan State University Police and Public Safety Department in a Wednesday Facebook post confirmed the conditions of the five students, which have not changed since the Monday evening incident that also killed three students.

Police said they would not be confirming the students' identities "at this time."

Police said Anthony McRae, 43, at about 8:18 p.m. on Monday, visited Berkey Hall near Grand River Avenue and killed two people. McRae then went to the student Union and killed another student. Police have not said how many students were wounded at each location. It's not clear where the students who were wounded encountered the gunman. He was found by police and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in North Lansing, about 5 miles from campus.

On Tuesday, police said MSU students Brian Fraser of Grosse Pointe, Alexandria Verner of Clawson and Arielle Anderson of Harper Woods were killed during the shooting.

Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Five victims wounded in MSU shooting remain in critical condition
Updated, Feb. 15

Rhode Island is phasing in new standards for high school graduation after a multi-year evaluation revealed that nearly half of graduates were not meeting the minimum criteria for entry into the states public colleges and universities.

The class of 2028  current seventh graders  will be required to take at least two years of a world language and complete math courses in geometry and Algebra II in order to earn their diploma. Seniors will also graduate having written professional resumes and completed the federal college financial aid form, known as FAFSA, a first nationwide, Rhode Island officials say. (Some other states have also made FAFSA a graduation requirement but offer students alternatives, such as filling out a state-level financial aid application instead or seeking an opt-out.) At the same time, Rhode Island will support high schools to add offerings in computer science, civics and financial literacy.

The new regulations also add flexibility for students who work jobs or are caregivers to receive credit for their real-world learning experiences. The changes will eliminate seat time in the classroom from being a criteria used to award academic credit, placing the emphasis instead on subject mastery and student proficiency.

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The State Council on Elementary and Secondary Education approved the new standards in November and officials are now beginning implementation.

This is going to be a gamechanger for us across the state, Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said.

Related: Ensuring All High-Schoolers Have a Chance at College: How Rhode Island Enacted Historic New Equity-Based Graduation Standards

The shift comes after the Rhode Island Department of Education partnered with the XQ Institute in 2020 to audit how well its high schools were preparing their students for success in college and careers. Researchers at the nonprofit analyzed more than 4,800 surveys and over 2,250 transcripts from a representative sample of students, finding that high schools were falling short on preparing their graduates for college and careers. They provided their work at no cost to the state.

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While about 80% of students said they wanted to attend college, just 60% enrolled in the courses necessary to be eligible for higher education and only about 50% passed those classes.

It was just really shocking to see the number of students that didnt meet this bar of college eligibility, said Keith Dysarz, who led the XQ analysis.

Low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities saw even wider gaps, with the first two groups completing college prep coursework 42% of the time while the latter hit that mark in just 12% of cases.

In many cases, high schoolers would sign up for classes and have no idea that their selections could disqualify them from access to higher education, Infante-Green explained.

Kids didnt even know that they were not being provided the courses [they needed for college], she said.

Angelica Infante-Green (Matthew Lee/Getty Images)

She and her colleagues were surprised to find the issues were pervasive in school districts not typically thought of as struggling. Several urban school systems in Rhode Island have a reputation for needing improvement, with Providence and Central Falls both actively under state takeover for underperformance, but wealthier suburban districts were also falling short on college and career preparation, the commissioner said.

Related: Call to Action: Union, Management Must Blow Up Providences Broken School System

In Bristol, an oceanside town with roughly 3,000 students in a regional school district, Madison Rodriques said the college entry requirements were easy to miss. The only time she remembers hearing she needed two years of world language to be college-eligible was during a high school orientation at the end of eighth grade. Though she luckily was paying attention, she believes many of her peers were tuning out. Now a junior at Bristols Roger Williams University, she had to step in on behalf of her younger brother, who is a high school senior, she said.

College wasnt really on his radar when he was going into high school. I was the one to be like, Oh, if you want to go, we need to do this and this, she said. Not everyone has that older sibling or parent thats going to be on top of that.

The Future of HS How Americas high schools are evolving to better prepare the next generation of teens for college, future careers and a changing society Read More...

After looking at the transcript data and holding 18 focus group conversations with students, state leaders acknowledged they had a problem to address. In the summer of 2021, they convened a working group that met over several months to hear the feedback of over 350 stakeholders.

We do not want to be right; were here to get it right, Stephen Osborn, the state education department leader spearheading the process, would tell educators and families.

Rodriques joined and spoke up about the disconnect between the courses laid out for her and her peers and the transcript requirements to be eligible for nearby colleges. She also advocated for more real-world skills like budgeting and how to do her taxes.

Related: Financial Literacy Now a Graduation Requirement for All Rhode Island High Schools After Years of Student, Teacher Activism

The leaders of the sessions were so good at making sure voices were heard and elevated, she said. I could feel that they valued our presence there.

The resulting proposal became the most commented-on set of K-12 regulations in the states history.

The Rhode Island State House in Providence. (Lane Turner/Getty Images)

Now, schools are working to implement the new standards. Westerly High School Principal Michael Hobin is adding options for his students to gain certifications in life skills such as information technology, cosmetology or Spanish translation. He hopes that every member of the class of 2026, his current freshmen, will graduate with both a diploma and a credential awarded by an outside organization such as OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

We want our kids  preparing for the rest of their life, whatever that means to them. If it means theyre going to go to college, then I want them prepared for college. If it means that theyre going into work, I want them prepared for work. If theyre going into the military, I want them prepared for the military, Hobin said.

The new state regulations also call for more flexibility in awarding credit for the learning experiences students engage in outside the classroom. Thats a move to more equitably serve the numerous students in the state who are breadwinners for their family or caregivers, Osborn explained.

Our kids are literally lifting their families out of poverty and then theyre being punished by their schools because they dont have that time in their day to be able to go deeper into their academic schoolwork, he said.

Related: Slave Money Paved the Streets. Now This Posh RI City Strives to Teach Its Past

Schools may also combine courses for flex credits in two or more subjects, the new rules specify. That could mean delivering algebra in tandem with physics; English alongside performing arts or any number of other combinations, Osborn said.

Taken together, he hopes the standards send a clear message to school leaders.

Coming from the Department of [Education], this is permission to be innovative.

Disclosure: XQ provides financial support to The 74.
(Bloomberg) -- Four Florida businessmen are facing charges that they helped plan, support and finance the 2021 murder of Haiti President Jovenel Moise in the hope of winning contracts from the coup leader who would take over from him.

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The US Department of Justice on Tuesday said it had arrested Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 50, a Colombian national and U.S. permanent resident of Miami; Antonio Intriago 59, a Venezuelan-American, Walter Veintemilla, 54, an Ecuadorian-American of Weston; and Frederick Bergmann, 64, of Tampa.

In all, 11 people now face charges in the Southern District of Florida in connection with Moises assassination, a crime that has aggravated political turmoil and rampant gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.

Ortiz, Intriago and Veintemilla, along with several people previously detained, were charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the US.

Read more: Build-the-Wall Hardliners Win on Island of Haves and Have-Nots

Bergmann was charged with conspiracy to commit export violations, submitting false and misleading export information, and smuggling ballistic vests from the US to Haiti.

According to prosecutors, Ortiz and Intriago planned to use their South Florida security companies, collectively known as CTU, to support efforts to oust Moise. Veintemilla, as the principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group, allegedly extended a $175,000 line of credit to support the coup, according to prosecutors.

Bergmann allegedly had ties to Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a dual Haitian-American citizen who the Justice Department says is one of the masterminds of the plan.

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CTU and Worldwide didnt return calls requesting comment. Bloomberg wasnt immediately able to find a way to contact Bergmann.

Lucrative Contracts

According to the indictment, once Sanon became President, he would award lucrative contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects in Haiti, the provision of security forces, and the provision of military type equipment to a Sanon-led Haitian government.

More than 40 people have been arrested in Haiti for the July 7, 2021 murder of Moise including 18 Colombian nationals who were part of the alleged hit squad, but no formal charges have been presented.

Read more: Haiti Violence Leaves Staggering 1,448 Dead in 2022: UN

Since Moises murder, long-overdue elections havent taken place and the nation has been gripped by gang violence and a wave of kidnappings. While the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry has asked for a foreign intervention, few nations have embraced the idea.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Admitted drug traffickers who testified against a former Mexican law enforcement official accused by the United States of taking millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel have "incredible motives to lie," a defense lawyer said on Wednesday.

Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in 2019 on charges of helping the cartel once run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman ship drugs from Mexico to the United States. He is one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials accused of complicity with drug trafficking.

Garcia Luna has pleaded not guilty. In closing statements, his lawyer Cesar de Castro portrayed him as a hardworking family man who was in fact "vigilant about fighting crime." He urged jurors not to believe convicted cartel members who testified that they knew of bribes paid to Garcia Luna for protection.

De Castro said the cooperating witnesses were out for revenge on the man who arrested them and were seeking to lessen their sentences. He said the government presented no documentary evidence, such as text messages or recordings, that backed up the witnesses' accounts that Garcia Luna was bribed.

"They all have incredible motives to lie," de Castro said. "The government has no evidence to corroborate them on the issues that matter."

Garcia Luna led Mexico's Federal Investigation Agency from 2001 to 2005 and was public security minister from 2006 to 2012. He worked closely with U.S. counter-narcotics and intelligence agencies as part of former President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on cartels.

Earlier on Wednesday, prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy told jurors they should trust the witnesses' accounts because they had direct knowledge of the bribes, did not coordinate their accounts, and in many instances were rivals.

"I'm not asking you to like them," she said. "These people are criminals. But it takes one to know one."

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Komatireddy said the Sinaloa cartel could not have shipped drugs to the United States without Garcia Luna's complicity.

"These leaders paid the defendant bribes for protection - and they got what they paid for," Komatireddy said, referring to Guzman and two other top-ranking Sinaloa cartel figures.

Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 following his conviction in Brooklyn on drug trafficking and murder conspiracy charges. He is held at a high-security "Supermax" prison in Colorado.

The jury was expected to begin deliberating on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan reads them instructions on the law.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, David Holmes and David Gregorio)
Left, Scott Kelly points to the camera in a NASA uniform, Right, Elon musk wears an Occupy Mars shirt and talks in a microphone



Ex-NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, left, has previously traded barbs with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, right. Kelly told Musk he needs to allow Starlink to facilitate use of drones since precision strike in defense of sovereignty is not escalatory.

This past Saturday, ex-astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted at SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, criticizing his company for planning to prevent the Ukrainian military from using Starlink to control drone strikes. With typical Muskian bluster, the billionaire said he didnt want his devices to enable escalation of the conflict that may lead to WWIII.

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

Musk then reiterated his point, 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. He further called the situation an extremely difficult moral question.

Read more

Since February 2022, SpaceX has been allowing Ukraine access to its interconnected Starlink satellite network for communications in its efforts to push Russian troops out of the country. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the country has been using that system to do more than just communicate. The satellite network has been a major aspect of the countrys drone program.

Kelly tweeted on Monday: Precision strike in defense of sovereignty is not escalatory. He also claimed there have been credible first person reports of Starlink being restricted even for military comm[unication]. Gizmodo reached out to Kelly for comment and clarification about these reports, but we did not immediately hear back.

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Kelly, the NASA astronaut who spent a year in space for the famed twin study with him and brother Mark Kelly, has long shown support for Ukraine while condemning Russia for its prosecution of the war. He also isnt shy about getting into with Musk over the SpaceX CEO mocking members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Although SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters last week there were things the company could do and have done to limit Starlinks military capacity, its unclear how, or even when, SpaceX plans to restrict Starlinks offensive capability. In a Tuesday report from The Guardian, Ukrainian soldiers said they have continued to use Starlink to control drones. The soldiers were unaware if it was even possible for Starlink to somehow distinguish between drones used for surveillance and drones used for attacks.

So where is the line between Starlink being used in an offensive capacity versus military and civilian communication? Well, Ukraine has been using Starlink in an offensive capacity since the very start of the war. The Times of London first reported in March last year that an elite unit of drone operators were using Starlink to help pick off Russian tanks and trucks at night. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told Wired back in June that Starlink has helped to keep communications going in occupied territories even after all other means of communications were cut. The countrys fleet of both small commercial and larger military drones have been extensively used for reconnaissance operations.

A year of  resistance & companies have to decide:

-Either they are on the side of  & 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) & Mrs. #Shotwell should choose a specific option    (@Podolyak_M) February 9, 2023

Because of his comments, Musk is being pulled back and forth by Ukrainian officials who once evangelized his support. Ukraines vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov previously called Starlink an essential part of critical infrastructure after Russians targeted the countrys energy resources. Last week, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Musk and SpaceX needs to choose between supporting Russia or Ukraine.

What Does Starlinks TOS and Musk Have to Say on Drone Use?

Starlinks own terms of service notes that while the satellite system can be used in times of crisis, it is not designed or intended for use with or in offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses. The TOS further reads that any modifications to use Starlink for military use may make the product run afoul of U.S. laws about exporting arms.

However, SpaceX seems to have modified its terms of service many months after Ukraine had already used the satellite connectivity in drone strikes. A quick peek through the Wayback Machine shows that the June version of the page did not include the military use clause. By late Octoberthe next date the page was archivedthe page contained the anti-weaponry language.

Gizmodo reached out to SpaceX for comment on the changed language and its plans for use of Starlink in Ukraine. We did not hear back and we likely wont since, like all of Musks companies, SpaceX has no communications department.

A big question mark hangs as to why Musk and his private space company are so concerned about the offensive capacity of Starlink when SpaceX is already chomping at the bit for more military contracts. Just last month, SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, containing a communications satellite for Space Force. Late last year, the company launched Starshield, a kind of Starlink-alternative designed for secure government and military communications and surveillance.

Musks line about WW3 has come up again and again in recent months. According to the CEOs texts, as revealed in the lead up to the $44 billion Twitter buyout, Musk told Morgan Stanleys head of global technology Michael Grimes that [it] wont make sense to buy Twitter if were heading into World War III. In October, Musk caught flak from Ukrainian officials when he tweeted that the country should formalize Crimea as a part of Russia and allow another, possibly rigged, election in western annexed regions of the country. He said that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war.

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(Bloomberg) -- A former PricewaterhouseCoopers employee, convicted after revealing details of how some of the worlds biggest companies dodged taxes by setting up a base in Luxembourg, won his bid to be recognized as a whistleblower rather than a criminal who stole private data.

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The European Court of Human Rights ruled by a twelve to five majority on Tuesday that the public interest in the disclosure of that information outweighed all of the detrimental effects arising from it. Raphael Halets right to freedom of expression had been violated and his original criminal conviction had a chilling effect on others who might speak out, the court said.

The Strasbourg, France-based court in a 2021 preliminary ruling rejected Halets claim that his right to free expression had been violated as the Frenchman sought to overturn a Luxembourg tribunal that judged him to be a criminal not a whistleblower. Halet, 46, had first been hit with charges in 2015 including domestic theft, violation of professional secrecy and business secrets, after sharing 16 corporate tax returns PwC was handling with a journalist.

The decision is very satisfying and is a reminder of the principles that the appeals court should have applied, Christophe Meyer, Halets lawyer, said in a statement.

The impact of the revelations, dubbed LuxLeaks, spread well beyond the tiny duchy, prompting European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging. EU lawmakers also created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across bloc.

Read more: Whistleblower Needed a Smoke Before Giving Up LuxLeaks Data

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Former PwC auditor Antoine Deltour had copied a folder of about 45,000 pages detailing confidential tax agreements on the eve of his departure from PwC in Luxembourg in 2010. He handed over the files to French investigative journalist Edouard Perrin, who was working on a documentary about tax practices and had contacted him.

Halet later handed the additional documents to Perrin. The three men were charged, but a court in 2016 cleared the journalist of accusations he had encouraged Halet in his search for secret files at PwC. The same court ordered suspended jail sentences and fines of 1,500 ($1,614) and 1,000 respectively for Deltour and Halet, plus a symbolic 1 in compensation for PwC.

Luxembourgs highest court in 2018 recognized Deltour as a whistleblower for all of his acts, but rejected the appeal by Halet, who then took his case to the human rights court.

The ECHR on Tuesday ordered Luxembourg to pay Halet 15,000 in damages and 40,000 in expenses.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
A former Wichita public schools math teacher charged with sexually touching one of her seventh-grade students has pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, Sedgwick County District Court records show.

Christin N. Covel, 32, could receive more than five years in prison when she is sentenced May 12 by District Judge Seth Rundle.

Wichita police say Covel abused the then 13-year-old girl in her classroom at Mead Middle School, 2601 E. Skinner, during and after school and on at least one field trip in 2018 and 2019. She also swapped nearly 10,000 Snapchat messages with the student and reportedly viewed herself and the girl as lovers, according to her arrest affidavit.

In one message mentioned in the affidavit, Covel appeared to guilt the girl for spending time with a boy, writing: you spending time with him. Hugging him. Kissing him. Sending him stuff. Recess. Lunch. Classes. Forgetting about me. Wanting him. Not wanting me.

Authorities arrested Covel last year after the girl disclosed the abuse in a therapy session when she was 16  well after Covel had moved on from her teaching position at Mead, which she held from 2015 until July 2020. She was working for Thomas Edison Preparatory Middle & High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time of her January 2022 arrest.

Prosecutors, who plan to ask the judge to order a 68-month prison sentence, originally charged Covel with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 and one count of unlawful sexual relations. Those charges were amended or dropped as part of her Feb. 9 plea deal.
Chelsea Handler celebrated being childless in a comedy skit last week, and it has really upset some men on Fox News.

On Tuesday, Tucker Carlson and his guest, conservative radio host Jesse Kelly, threw a fit over the comedians video for The Daily Show. In the clip, the 47-year-old enjoyed a day in the life of a childless woman, which included a whole lot of doing whatever the fuck I feel like.

Carlson said the point of Handlers video was to make you feel good about being an aging, deeply unlikable woman who never had kids.

Kelly saw Carlsons misogyny and raised it, complaining that feminists like Chelsea Handler had been lied to by society that you can be a girl boss and you can do anything a man can do.

Which everyone whos ever seen a woman back up a vehicle knows thats not true, he added.

This sexist rant is so unbelievably unhinged.



I literally watch Tucker Carlson as my job and even I'm sitting here like, "Jesus Christ, dude." pic.twitter.com/eEEKGKBQGc  Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) February 15, 2023

Kelly then blamed society for leading women to believe they can enjoy fulfilling lives without procreating.

Theyve been told that they should do career and dont do a family or anything like that, he continued. And soon youre Chelsea Handler ... and your Valentines Day date for the 10th year in a row is a 10-year-old copy of Magic Mike and a half-full bottle of Xanax and youre trying to pretend like youre happy, but youre not happy.

Its actually not her fault. Shes been lied to by a country that has lost his way.

The segment may have served as retaliation for one of Handlers monologues while she was guest host last week of The Daily Show, when she joked about the way motherhood is treated as a womans essential purpose in life, as if our destiny is to let a tiny stranger rip a hole through our Pikachu from the inside out.

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In her roast, she included a clip of a different misogynistic rant on Tucker Carlson Tonight. In it, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) complained to Carlson that progressive Democrats were a bunch of childless cat ladies destroying the country.

Maybe if you two werent such boner killers, women would want to have more children, Handler said.

In a separate monologue, Handler wondered why Carlson was such a whiny little bitch.

Carlson makes a habit of spouting and elevating unvarnished sexism on his show, including his observation in 2021 that COVID-19 feminizes and emasculates men because it makes them weaker. Earlier that year, he earned rebukes from the military after he complained that pregnant women serving in the armed forces were making a mockery of the U.S. military.

In 2019, the nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters dug up a series of comments Carlson made from 2006 to 2011 on talk radio, which included him describing women as extremely primitive and like dogs.

Related...
By Sybille de La Hamaide

PARIS (Reuters) -French health and safety agency ANSES on Wednesday ordered a halt to some uses of one of the most widely used weedkillers in France, S-metolachlor, which is produced by Swiss chemicals company Syngenta, after finding excessive levels in groundwater.

Residue of S-metolachlor, used mainly on maize (corn), sunflower, soy and beet crops, were frequently detected at concentrations exceeding quality limits set by European legislation, ANSES said.

The agency noted in its opinion that it had taken into account the classification of "suspected of causing cancer" for S-metolachlor issued by the European Chemical Agency's Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) in June 2022.

"In light of this risk to the quality of water resources, ANSES is initiating a procedure to withdraw authorisation of the main uses of plant protection products containing the active substance S-metolachlor," it said in a statement.

"This will reduce environmental contamination by this substance and thus help gradually restore the quality of groundwater," it added.

ANSES did not specify which were the "main uses" that would be banned. It had already reduced maximum use rates for maize, sunflower, soybean and sorghum crops in 2021.

Syngenta France said it took note of the decision but was surprised by the move, stressing there was no proven health risk linked to products containing S-metolachlor.

"A link to cancer is only suspected, not confirmed," a spokesperson for the company told Reuters.

Farm office FranceAgriMer said it was too early to estimate the potential impact of the decision on crop production.

Alternatives to some crop treatments can sometimes be found, but not necessarily this time, Benoit Pietrement, head of FranceAgriMer's crop committee, told reporters.

S-metolachlor is currently being examined at the European level as its approval needs to be renewed this year. Conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are expected early this year.

Anti-pesticide group Generations Futures welcomed ANSES' decision despite the withdrawal not being total, saying it anticipated a likely European ban on the substance.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Jan Harvey and Sharon Singleton)
Oranges are placed inside a box in Newbury Park, CA

Navel oranges are placed inside a box in Newbury Park, California Credit - Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

For two weeks in August, a crew of workers systematically confiscated every orange in Vince Bernards groves in Valley Center, Calif. They buried the orangesat least $500,000 worth of fruit, Bernard saysin ditches on his neighbors property.

They did so by order of the U.S. government, which came accompanied by armed California Highway Patrol officers and which did not pay Bernard a penny for the crops. Bernards oranges were destroyed because the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) found five Mexican fruit flies on a neighbors property, which it considers an imminent threat to Californias economy. The Mexican fruit fly lays its eggs in apples, avocados, and oranges, and those eggs hatch into larvae, which tunnel through the fruit, making it unfit for human consumption. As climate change has warmed the west coast, California has been finding more fruit flies of all sorts of varieties, including Mexican, Oriental, and Mediterranean, in its traps than it did in the past.

Usually, growers near where fruit flies are found must abide by a quarantine, meaning they fruit must stay on their property though they can juice it and sell that juice. Confiscation of the kind that happened to Bernard is rare, and the incident illuminates a power imbalance between farmers and a government agency that some scientists say has utterly failed the people it is supposed to protect.

They bully growers, says James Carey, a professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, about CDFA and the U.S. Department. of Agriculture (USDA), which he says work hand-in-hand to respond to pest outbreaks. They know they can walk in, declare that the Western world as we know it will be destroyed because of fruit flies, and they have the law on their side.

Fruit flies arent the only problem. In a paper published in September, Carey and his colleagues investigated a 14-year-long program to eradicate the light brown moth in the U.S. that ended in December 2021. The program began, they found, with an emergency order from the USDA claiming that billions of dollars of crops were at risk. It ended, they found, with the U.S. government admitting that the light brown moth posed no threat in the first place and had caused no economic damageexcept for the millions spent to get rid of the moth in the first place.

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Theres no doubt that tropical fruit flies are a threat to the states crops. But Careys research shows that for decades the government has frequently taken extreme measures to get rid of them and then proclaimed their eradicationonly to find the pests again in subsequent growing seasons.

In 1981, after the Mediterranean fruit fly was found in California, then-governor Jerry Brown hesitated to spray pesticides from the air to eradicate the flies because of the potential harmful effect on humans. The USDA threatened to quarantine the whole state of California if aerial spraying did not take place, and Brown relented. The federal government said that it had eradicated the pest in 1982, but by 1991, Carey had concluded that the fruit fly was never actually eradicated from California. It was a conclusion that government officials have repeatedly challenged. The CDFA said, in a statement to TIME, that it follows internationally recognized protocols in its fruit fly projects and has never failed to eradicate a Mexican Fruit Fly infestation.

Economically, it makes sense that the state and federal governments keep saying that they have eradicated the fruit fly. A known infestation could limit Californias ability to trade certain fruits and vegetables. The reality though, as Carey and colleagues concluded in a 2013 paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is that the trickle of tropical fruit flies into California had turned into a flood, and that the state and federal policies meant to contain tropical fruit flies had largely failed.

What they have to understand is that theyre never going to eradicate it. Carey says, of tropical fruit flies. Theyre treating it like a cold but its really cancer and they need to come up with protocols that are consistent with reality. The better way to deal with fruit flies in the U.S., he says, is to come up with a policy that will control them for the long-term, like educating farmers about where the pests are and how they spread, and how best to deal with the problem. That might mean encouraging farmers to plant fly-resistant crops, or recommending that farmers take out insurance so that theyll be compensated if their crops are damaged. Some countries do post-harvest treatment; refrigerating fruits or irradiating them to ensure flies dont survive.

Under Californias current protocols, when Mexican fruit flies are discovered, the state implements a treatment plan which includes releasing sterile male flies to mate with females so that they will lay infertile eggs and spraying bait treatments within 200 meters of detection sites. It can also quarantine the area where the fly was discovered, preventing farmers from taking produce off of their property.

But what happened to Bernard seems to have gone beyond the normal protocol. Carey says he has never heard of fruit being confiscated and destroyed.

Bernard says he was told that the Mexican fruit fly was discovered in traps on the property next door. He signed an agreement with CDFA to abide by a quarantine, which enabled him to juice his fruit for a period of two weeks. After two weeks, he says, he had juiced only 10% of his seven acres, and CDFA came back and said that time was up and that they were going to destroy the rest of his crop. He asked for compensation and was told he would not be compensated. A little while later, CDFA showed up with a warrant and three cars of armed officers to confiscate his crop. Bernard says they destroyed about $40,000 worth of irrigation, as well as the crops themselves.

We appreciate the effects of quarantines on producers and try to mitigate the impacts, a CDFA spokesman said, in an email. While unfortunately there is not a specific program to reimburse losses, affected producers may file a claim with the state.

Tropical fruit flies are only going to spread further in California and throughout the U.S. as there are more warm nights, fewer frost days, and more heat waves, Carey says. Its very likely that many more farmers like Bernard are going to get caught up in the failure of decades-old approaches to pests, he says.

Meanwhile, Bernard is so shaken that he talks about leaving the U.S. entirely. You cant do what I do, he says, and be looking over your back every second and wondering whether someone is going to knock on your door and take anything they want, and you dont have the power to do anything.
Constantinis / iStock.com

Electricity might be clean, green and comparatively inexpensive to fossil fuels, but its not free or even cheap. New Englanders are finding that out amid a recent spike in electricity prices  so much so that for some drivers of electric vehicles and hybrid cars, its now cheaper to fill their tanks with gas than to power them up with electricity.

See: Electric Bills Are Most Expensive in These States  How Americans Are Saving

Explore: If Your Credit Score Is Under 600, Make These 3 Moves ASAP

Power rates throughout New England have surged an average of 30% since the summer of 2022, CBS News reported. At the same time, gasoline prices in the region have fallen well below their mid-2022 peaks. Most states in New England now have cheaper gasoline prices than the rest of the nation.

Massachusetts-based web engineer Matt Cain told CBS Moneywatch that he recently ran a price comparison after his electricity bill shot up in January. What he found was that his overall costs for utilities had climbed by 50%.

We have a Prius Prime that we normally drive around town, and we drive most of it on electricity. Its now 50% more expensive than fueling it with gas, Cain said.

Electricity prices in New England started soaring in November, when the regions average consumer electricity price rose 20% from a year earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Prices are forecast to hit a winter peak of more than $200 per megawatt hour  well above the estimated national average of $60 to $80.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices in four of the six New England states are below the national average, according to AAA. As of Feb. 14, 2023, the national average was $3.414 a gallon. That compares to an average of $3.318 in Connecticut, $3.388 in Massachusetts, $3.339 in New Hampshire and $3.358 in Rhode Island. The only two New England states with gasoline prices above the national average are Maine ($3.474 a gallon) and Vermont ($3.498).

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As CBS News noted, a number of New England EV drivers have shared their experiences on Reddit. One EV owner in Massachusetts said their power company, National Grid, raised local electricity prices to 44 cents per kilowatt-hour, or about three times the national average. Another EV owner in New Hampshire posted that their electric bill went from an average of $220 a month to nearly $400 a month  and that is with off-peak charging.

For most EV drivers in the United States, however, its still cheaper to fuel an electric car than a gas-powered one, at least during normal circumstances.

Last year, the National Resources Defense Council cited a 2018 study by the University of Michigans Transportation Research Institute which found that the average cost to fuel an electric car was $485 a year vs. $1,117 for a gas-powered vehicle. A 2020 Consumer Reports study showed that EV drivers tend to spend about 60% less each year on fuel costs compared to drivers of gas-powered cars.

But as the NRDC noted, the savings calculations arent the same for everyone, and can vary depending on factors such as vehicle range, home charging  and power bills.

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New Englanders have experienced high EV charging costs because of the regions high electricity prices. Ironically, much of this has to do with New Englands heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Roughly 45% of its electricity comes from methane gas vs. 38% nationwide, and that fuel has tripled in price since Russia invaded Ukraine. This, in turn, has prompted the regions utilities to raise their electricity rates.

In a large portion of the country, EVs are a lot cheaper to drive, Beia Spiller, director of the transportation program at Resources for the Future, told CBS News. It really, really depends on the location.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Gas Prices Are Looking Modest Compared to Charging EVs in Some States  How Much More Could You Spend?
Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News

The current Guinness World Records holder for the worlds largest digital image is a composite photograph of a sagittal section of a 1.5-millimeter-long zebrafish embryo. The picture, created in late 2010 by Frank G. A. Faas and colleagues at the department of Molecular Cell Biology of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, measures 921,600 by 380,928 pixels, for a total of 351,063,244,800 pixels.Thats nothing, however, compared to an image created by one Washington, DCbased developer. Almost a year in the making, the image has an area of 102,040,171,200,000 pixels  290 times larger than the current record holder. At one pixel per inch, it would wrap around the Earth 2.7 times. If printed out at 15 DPI, a fairly common setting for large billboards, the image would be as tall as 16,408 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. If 3D-printed, the image could (hypothetically) be used to bat the International Space Station out of orbit. This image is so immense, in fact, that it cant be opened like any common digital file. It can only be accessed with specialized software, programs used in fields like geography, microbiology, and astronomy. Uncompressed, this thing would be 250 terabytes, which is huge! the image creator, speaking to BuzzFeed News via Zoom, said with a proud grin. Like, you can't just pick up 250 terabytes at Walmart.The image itself is a cartoonish representation of an erect penis. Its peach-colored, with a thatch of hair at the base and a pink dorsal artery running the length of the organ. The head, relative to the shaft, is comically small. The creator would prefer we not reveal whether the phallus is circumcised or not  he wants it to be a surprise.You can examine this digital dong at a website called the Worlds Biggest Penis , which the creator set up without fanfare in the fall. Be warned: If you are inclined to inspect the entire thing, scrolling from top to bottom, it will take at least 41 days. The creator has also set up a Twitter bot that shares a tiny portion of the image every day; it will take the bot 134,819 years to post every piece of the picture.It is, to put it mildly, the dick pic to end all dick pics.This is what the internet was made for, Louisa Hall, a former colleague and personal friend of the man behind all this, told BuzzFeed News. I also love that the image isnt vulgar or pornographic  it's just silly, fun, and stupid in the best possible way.

Story continues

The artist's rendering of the dick pic if it existed in the real world. (It's 4 DPI here.) The Eggplant / Via theworldsbiggestpenis.com

For professional reasons, the creator of the worlds largest dick pic  a former NASA intern and current senior software engineer at a Fortune 100 company  asked that BuzzFeed News not use his real name. Some companies certainly have a fun and slightly more modern-thinking angle  those might find this project interesting and consider it a funny, technical feat, he said, Zooming on his phone as he anxiously paced around the room, but then there's still a lot of dinosaurs in tech that would consider this inappropriate or offensive.The 30-year-old creator has chosen to go by the name the Eggplant, a reference to the emoji that doubles as a penis. The Eggplant gives me the freedom to carve out a little world where I can play and create, he said, without butting up against anything I'm doing at work.Hall, a program manager in the tech industry and one-half of the comedy musical duo Griefcat , sees why her friend would adopt a pseudonym. It's really competitive to get hired, she said. I can understand wanting to be taken seriously. People could brush this off as, Look at this jerk making a dick joke. Why would he do that?Such concerns are not unfounded. For this piece, BuzzFeed News reached out to around 200 developers, scientists, and academic organizations from all over the globe, asking them to assess the worlds biggest dick pic and share their professional opinions. Not one accepted. The answers ranged from the succinct and polite (The Goddard Space Flight Center will not be able to provide comment on this) to the dramatic (Are you fucking kidding? emailed back one lauded researcher. We dont want anything to do with this shit!).Whatever one thinks of the worlds biggest dick pic, the Why would he do that? question is a valid one. Like, this is useless, but it really isn't, the Eggplant said. People ask that a lot, Why spend so much time making this thing that shouldn't exist? Its impractical.Furthermore, in an era where people, particularly women, are bombarded by a million unsolicited dick pics, did we really need yet another one, especially this big? I never intended it to be derogatory or misogynistic, the Eggplant said. This is more about playfulness. I did it because of the same reasons people doodle penises on their sketchbooks as a kid. I never really drew a parallel to the much bigger topic of sex and gender. It had nothing to do with that.When asked whether hes ever sent anyone a picture of his own junk, the Eggplant was emphatic: I have not.

At first, the Eggplant just wanted to make an NFT. It was late 2021, and the NFT market was booming, earning headlines in mainstream media and attracting a flurry of celebrities into the fold. So I was like, You know what, I'm gonna give it a go, the Eggplant said. But I wanted to have my own take on it. I didn't want to follow the typical prescription of making a collection of 30,000 NFTs. He wanted to make just one image, but wasnt quite sure what it would be.The Eggplant paces around when hes brainstorming (or when hes nervous). He was doing just that when the eureka moment struck. If I'm going to stoop to making an NFT, I want it to be proper silly, he said. If it's going to be a single image, it needs to be huge, like really big and really satirical.A big meme could work, but I can't use someone else's work, it needs to be original, he continued. I can't make an enormous image by hand, it needs to be generated. It could be something like a fractal, but that's boring. It needs to be able to grow so that I can make it as large as possible.At this point in the story, he took a long pause. And then I had it: A penis. A giant, huge, uncontrollably large cartoon penis. He let out a chuckle, then went on: I was so excited because I knew it worked from a technical perspective, it poked fun at NFTs the way I wanted, and it had the right zing and lulz to it. I just started laughing and jumping up and down as if I had just won the lottery.A magna cum laude college graduate in computer science and applied math, the Eggplant had experience with massive data sets and imaging technology dating back to a yearlong internship at NASA. My job over there was to take a set of higher-resolution images captured by one of their new satellites and stick them into a computer model to predict floods from melting glaciers, he said. I learned a lot about geographic information systems and Unix tooling. With these tools, I learned the techniques needed to manipulate, convert, and arrange images on a very large scale.

The Eggplant would prefer to remain anonymous. The Eggplant

It took him months to figure out a file format that could accommodate such large amounts of data. The first candidate was TIFF, widely used in scientific applications and the VFX industry, but the format maxes out at 4 gigabytes and can't have any values, including length or width, over 2 to the 32nd power. This was not enough for the Eggplants mighty creation. Fortunately, he discovered the ideal replacement, BigTIFF, which can handle images in the terapixel range and is supposed to allow values up to 2 to the 64th power.When you look at the worlds largest dick pic, a couple of things are immediately apparent. First of all, youll probably notice that its lacking in girth. Measuring 23,760 x 4,294,620,000 pixels, its length is more than 180 thousand times longer than its width. It's very disproportional for sure, the Eggplant conceded.Thats an actual technical thing that I ran up against, he continued. The BigTIFF format claims it allows for 2 to the 64th power pixels, but when I tried, it broke. There must be some legacy code in there relating to the regular TIFF that only supports up to 2 to the 32th power. I couldn't go past that, so I had to scrunch it.Youll probably also note that this penis has no balls. I needed to use as much image real estate as possible, the Eggplant said. No empty space, which means the width of the shaft needed to be the total width of the image. It would have been strange to incorporate testicles with these proportions. It just didn't feel quite right.After choosing the perfect image format, the next step was to work on a methodology for generating the actual image. He created a custom algorithm capable of reproducing the branching patterns of veins that we see in nature. The algorithm ensured that the vein patterns were continuous and non-repeating. The next order of business was figuring out how to actually render the image. I crashed my computer over a hundred times making this, he said. The issue with images of this astronomical size is that they are extremely resource-intensive, and I wasn't working on a supercomputer like I was using at NASA. Programs like Photoshop and even advanced tools such as ImageMagick are incapable of producing images in the terapixel range. Since there arent any tools in the market that could handle a dick of this size, the Eggplant had to develop his own software to do it. He needed some expert help and, not wanting to reveal what he was creating, he went undercover on some online forums and groups, posing as a microbiologist or astronomer. With a few questions answered, he said, I got back to work and finally created a program that balanced the memory, compression, and disk usage needed to create an image in the terapixel range.The final image was generated over a five-week period during which the Eggplants custom software created sections of the penis at 30 million pixels per second. Once it was done, he knew he had something bigger than an NFT on his hands. Having successfully created what appeared to be the biggest image ever made, he decided to approach the Guinness World Records organization.

Rendering of the base of the world's biggest penis at 9 DPI. The Eggplant / Via theworldsbiggestpenis.com

Guinness rules state that applicants need two independent expert reviewers to be eligible for the largest digital image record. Reddit was no help, so the Eggplant ended up soliciting paid reviewers on Upwork. I shot for the stars and sent a Looking for help verifying Guinness World Record plea to a dozen PhDs in astrophysics, computer science, and geographic information systems. Surprisingly, many of them got back.But as soon as the academics found out the project involved gargantuan genitalia, most of them bailed. In the end, only two accepted. This is most definitely the largest image I have ever seen, one of them, Steven G. Murray, an astrophysics postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State Universitys School of Earth and Space Exploration, wrote in the Eggplants Guinness application, submitted in late October. This is a coherent image of a single, rather whimsical, object. From my analysis, and in my opinion, I have found the image to meet the conditions that I would consider to be necessary to call this the largest image in the world. The other expert, Alex Latham, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and a computer scientist, wrote to Guinness attesting to the pictures size. The image is massive and retains detail at scale, he wrote. It is impossible to visually inspect every frame of this image at scale because of its size  a downsampled image makes it possible to visibly assert that there are no discontinuities.Still, Guinness was not impressed. Our Records Management Team have completed the evidence review for your claim and the attempt would not be eligible per the record guidelines, a Guinness representative replied via email in November.To Guinness, the individual tiles that make up the mammoth penis looked too much alike: The image contains large areas of repeated colour blocks and is not comprised of multiple unique images in the same way the current record was made up of 26,434 individually captured images. As such, the decision is that the image does not comply with the record guidelines and we, therefore, have no choice but to reject the claim.The Eggplant was gutted. He appealed the decision, doubling down with written testimony from Latham: There is no overlap anywhere in the image and its continuous from start to finish. The principal source of randomness in this image is the directionality of the veins, which undulate and branch randomly over the entirety of the image. This image is completely random and continuous, and there is no repetition.

It makes sense that [Guinness] didnt want a giant weiner.

As for the large areas of repeated colour blocks, the Eggplant told BuzzFeed News that the current record holder includes a tremendous amount of repeating information. He said that he had performed an analysis of that image: The current world record includes 47% of its total pixel volume as either blank white or completely data-less black spaces around the border of the image. If this blank space can count toward the current records status, I do not understand how the area [around] the dorsal vein in my submission does not.But Guinness stood firm.The Eggplant believes he knows why. I think they kind of got caught in a pickle because they said yes to my submission [because] I made it kind of sound medical, he said. And then I gave them a big cartoon weiner. Of course, they were not happy about it. He added, They don't have scandalous stuff, no records that are like most orgasms in a day or worlds biggest boobs. It makes sense that they didn't want a giant weiner.BuzzFeed News reached out to Guinness for comment. Guinness World Records maintains a rigorous review process to maintain the integrity of each Guinness World Records title, a Guinness press rep wrote back, before declining an interview request. However, we invite and encourage [the Eggplant] to reattempt at any time.In the meantime, the Eggplant has been working on the Worlds Biggest Penis website, which features a compressed variant of the worlds biggest dick pic  a 128 gigapixel image he calls the flaccid version  thats available for free download. The actual worlds biggest dick pic, dubbed the erect version, takes up some 102 terapixels of disk storage. The Eggplant said hes still mulling turning it into an NFT, but hes also open to trading it for something valuable or selling it outright. Hes also hawking playful merch, like this T-shirt, on the site:

The Eggplant / Via theworldsbiggestpenis.com

But for the Eggplant, this is about so much more than commerce  or an extremely elaborate dick joke. When speaking of his creation, he can sound downright idealistic.This is an image for the internet, for the people. I never liked how the internet is full of Me, me, me. More likes mean more followers, means more viewers, means morewhat? It's all a big dick-measuring contest, the Eggplant said.He said that he does not covet stardom, adding, I want this to open real conversations. Conversations about not being so uptight, about what it is to be human, and what it is to be able to communicate and have close relationships. Allow ourselves to just be people.That's what I want to convey, the Eggplant continued, to try to break down those walls and picture a world where it's not taboo to talk about something as silly as a penis. 

More on this
WASHINGTON  Now that she's in the Republican presidential race, Nikki Haley used her speech at a Charleston, S.C., rally on Wednesday  her first of the 2024 campaign season  to try to crash a party primary field dominated by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

While touting her experience as the former governor of South Carolina and a former United Nations ambassador, Haley stresses something else: her relative youth.

"We're ready  ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future," Haley said during an announcement speech in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday, a day after she declared her candidacy via video.

With Trump and DeSantis atop many pre-election polls  and Haley far down in low single digits  look for Haley to take several steps to gain relevance.

The 2024 race: Nikki Haley announces presidential bid in first major GOP challenge to Donald Trump

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'New Generation'

The 51-year-old Haley has made "new generation" her mantra since she and aides began discussing her prospective candidacy weeks ago.

The newly minted Republican candidate has targeted her generational argument against 80-year-old President Joe Biden  but it could just as easily apply to the 76-year-old Trump.

Haley called for term limits for members of Congress and "mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old."

President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, at the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2018, in New York.

During her speech, Haley mentioned Trump only in passing  she noted he appointed her U.N. ambassador  and sought to keep the focus instead on Biden and her own plans to replace him.

In the previous day's video, Haley noted that Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight elections and added that "the Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again."

How do you challenge Trump for the nomination?: With Nikki Haley in, let's count the ways.

Story continues

'Not a racist country'

Haley's unique background also found the spotlight in her speech.

While critiquing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Haley said Democratic leaders promote a "a self-loathing" within the United States over fairness to all people. Citing her "immigrant parents," Haley said: "take it from me, the first minority female governor in history, America is not a racist country.

Who is Nikki Haley? Former S.C. GOP governor announces run for president in 2024

An early start

After her announcement speech in South Carolina, Haley travels within the next week to New Hampshire and Iowa, two other states that hold early contests for convention delegates.

Those trips give Haley something of a head start on fundraising, organizing, and appealing to Republican voters who will decide the 2024 nominee.

'An opening'

Early polls consistently put Trump and DeSantis atop the Republican field.

In a newly released Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll, Trump received 43% support from registered Republicans. DeSantis received 31% of GOP support, while 4% supported Haley.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres, however, said his data shows voters yearning for an alternative. Ayres also noted that DeSantis is untested at the national level and that other candidates like Haley may well have a chance.

"I think the race is wide open and she has a great story to tell," Ayres said.

Who else is running in 2024? Current and former governors offer glimpse into what could be contentious presidential election

Domestic and foreign record

In announcing for president, Haley emphasized her experience in domestic and foreign affairs, starting with her two terms as governor of South Carolina. She touted her support of tax and regulation cuts.

In the past, Haley has often cited her handling of the 2015 mass murder of Black parishoners in Charleston, S.C., including removal of the Confederate battle flag from atop the statehouse in Columbia  but she did not discuss those incidents in detail during her announcement speech.

Haley did talk about her U.N. ambassador work on sanctions against North Korea and defense of Israel.

In her announcement speech, Haley said: "I know America is better than all the division and distractions that we have today," and added that, "I'm confident that the American people agree."

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley joins hands with Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., at a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed during a prayer meeting inside the historic black church in Charleston, S.C.

The Trump factor

In moving forward with her presidential campaign, Haley must figure out how to deal with the specter of Trump.

So far Haley had gyrated between criticism and support for Trump.

A Trump critic in the 2016 Republican race  she endorsed Marco Rubio  Haley later accepted Trump's offer to be ambassador to the United Nations.

Republicans want to dump Trump: Will they rally behind a 2024 alternative fast enough?

Two years ago, Haley criticized Trump's leadership in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Months later, she said she wouldn't run for president if Trump did  a statement that Trump and allies plan to bring up constantly.

"Now, shes telling us she represents a 'new generation,'" said Taylor Budowich, head of a pro-Trump organization called Make America Great Again Inc. "Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself."

Focus on Biden

Haley did not criticize or praise Trump during her speech, but had plenty to say about Biden.

The new Republican candidate attacked the current president over economic policy, inflation, crime, education, immigration, foreign adversaries, and Chinese spy balloons.

"We won't win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century," Haley said.

Nikki Haley announces run for presidency

Is Haley an underdog?

The new candidate also noted that she has been an underdog before, yet has never lost an election.

In 2010, back when she was a little-known state legislator, Haley rode the Tea Party wave to victory in the Republican primary over the state's lieutenant governor, attorney general, and a U.S. House member.

"I've been underestimated before," she told backers in Charleston. "That's always fun."

She added: "As I set out on this new journey. I will simply say this. May the best woman win."

It takes a woman?

Haley spoke at length about the possibility she would be the first female Republican presidential nominee, a point she made in her video.

You should know this about me: I dont put up with bullies," Haley saidin the video. "And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, an organization that advocates for female representation in politics, said their research shows Republican women have an advantage with voters on certain policy issues like national security and the economy.

"We saw her in her video establishing her toughness; the name of the video is strong and proud," said Hunter. "It seems like she's going out of her way to establish that strength early on."

But there's still a gendered tightrope Haley will surely face.

"Women candidates have to show they're strong enough to be commander in chief, but they can't be too tough or they risk jeopardizing their likability," Hunter said.

The challengers of gender: Women face gender bias even when running against another woman, report shows

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley calls for 'new generation' in 2024 campaign rally
A man accused of luring a child into his car and forcing her to engage in sexual activity was convicted Monday.

Macon Judicial Circuit Attorney Anita R. Howard said that on Sept. 3, 2021, 33-year-old Donald Williams was driving his car when he approached a 14-year-old girl outside her school.

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

When Williams engaged with the 14-year-old, Howard said he claimed to be a pastor and offered to give her a ride home.

Howard said instead of taking the minor home, Williams drove to a dead-end road and assaulted her.

Soon after the sexual acts occurred, Howard said Williams drove to a balloon release to preach and offer a prayer for a family while the child remained in his car.

After several hours, he dropped her off near her home.

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Howard said the child could give law enforcement multiple details of the events, locations where she was taken and descriptive information about Williams, including his business card with his picture.

Williams was a prior sex offender out of Houston County and was still on the sex offender registry but was no longer on probation at the time of the incident, according to Howard.

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On Feb. 13, 2023, Williams pled guilty to child molestation, sexual battery on a child under 16 and statutory rape. He was sentenced to 45 years, with at least the first 20 in prison.

Individuals who hold themselves out as being in a position of trust with children and then betray that trust must and will be held accountable for their actions toward those most vulnerable in our communities, Howard said.

IN OTHER NEWS:
A Georgia police officer has been fired and arrested in connection with the concealing of the death of missing 16-year-old girl Susana Morales, whose remains were found last week.

Susana, of Norcross, was last seen July 26.

Susana had texted her mom at 9:40 on the night she went missing, saying she was on her way home, Gwinnett County police said. Her cellphone data and video showed her walking in the direction of her home, but detectives said they believe she may have gotten into a vehicle.

The cellphone data indicated that her last known location was Oak Loch Trace until the phone died or was turned off, authorities said.

Susana Morales (WXIA)

Her remains were found Feb. 6.

Gwinnett County police said a passerby reported seeing what they believed were human remains in the woods near Highway 316 between Downing Creek and the Barrow County line. The remains were later identified as those of Susana, authorities said.

Days after the discovery, police announced the arrest of Miles Bryant, 22, a police officer in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville.

He was charged with concealing the death of another and falsely reporting a crime in connection with Susanas death, police said in a news release Monday.

Authorities haven't shared details about Susana's death, which remains under investigation.

However, it's not believed there was "any connection between Susana and Miles," a Gwinnett County police spokesperson said.

Doraville police fired Bryant on Monday after city officials were made aware of the charges in Gwinnett County, a city spokesperson said. He had been employed by the police department since May 2021.

The city of Doraville and its police department are fully cooperating with the Gwinnett Police Department in its investigation of Mr. Bryant. Our prayers rest with the family and friends of Susana Morales and everyone else affected by this tragedy," said a statement from the city.

Bryant is being held at the Gwinnett Detention Center without bond.

Bryant remained silent as a judge read out the charges in court Tuesday, and he didnt have an attorney, NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta reported.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A German ballet director who smeared dog poop on a critics face after receiving a bad review has apologized.

Marco Goecke was suspended after confronting Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dance critic Wiebke Huester at the Hanover Theater on Saturday about a bad review of hers. Goecke had taken out a bag containing dog poop and smeared it in Huesters face before running away.

Hanover State Opera said Goecke would need to apologize comprehensively for the incident before it would consider reinstating him.

Goecke made a public apology on Tuesday.

I would like to apologize sincerely to all concerned, first and foremost to Ms. Huester, for my absolutely unacceptable act, the director said in a statement. In retrospect, I am clearly aware that this was a disgraceful act in the heat of the moment and an overreaction.

He blamed his sickening outburst on stress.

I apologize for the fact that I finally blew my top, but I also ask for a certain understanding at least for the reasons why this happened, he wrote, referring to other shows premiering in quick succession.

He added that his dog had pooped earlier and he had been carrying around the bag before disposing of it.

But he called for a reckoning, saying media should rethink a certain form of destructive and hurtful reporting that damages the whole cultural sector.

He also criticized Huester for what he said were often nasty reviews.

Goecke is being investigated for suspicion of bodily harm and slander after the victim filed a criminal complaint.

She was asked about the apology Tuesday on 3sat television.

What kind of an apology is this supposed to be? she asked.

With News Wire Services
Western allies will not be able to supply Ukraine with two full battalions of Leopard 2 tanks as they previously promised, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Feb. 15, according to Bloomberg.

Only Germany and Portugal promised to send the A6 version of Leopard 2 battle tanks, with 14 pledged by Berlin and three by the Portuguese government, Pistorius told reporters after a meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels. "We will not reach the size of a battalion," he said.

A standard Ukrainian battalion consists of 31 tanks.

Meanwhile, Poland, along with Norway, Canada, Spain, and Finland, managed to put together a battalion of the older A4 model of Leopards, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said, cited by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

However, according to Pistorius, many of these tanks are in poor condition and need repairs before they can be sent.

The battalion of Leopard 2A4 tanks will only arrive in Ukraine at the end of April, the minister added.

On Feb. 14, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the coalition of countries working on providing Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks included Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Later on the day, though, the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark announced that neither country would deliver Leopard 2 tanks, the German news source Welt reported.




Henning Otte

This is necessary, as the ammunition cannot be financed from the special fund of the Bundeswehr, which is 100 billion euros, the politician said.

He noted that Germany must make clear commitments.

Read also: Germany and Poland to convene tank coalition next week

The current federal budget is frozen and hasnt yet been adapted to the situation yet, Otte added.

The federal government has to act in this situation.

On Feb. 15, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said that Germany was a little late with the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine.

Read also: Denmark and the Netherlands roll back decision on transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, reports Welt

On Jan. 25, after much hesitation, Germany approved the transfer of 14 Leopard-2 main battle tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries.

Read also: Finland involved in cooperation on Leopard tanks for Ukraine, says defense minister

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine will receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 300-500 tanks for a major counteroffensive.

The first batch of tanks should be delivered to Ukraine this summer, but most of them wont arrive until next year.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A young giraffe at Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York, has died after an "unforeseen and unprecedented" incident. Zoo officials said on Monday that the 6-year-old animal named Parker was found with his neck stuck in a support structure for its enclosure gate.

The zoo said that Parker, a member of the endangered Masai giraffe species, was found on Sunday "unresponsive, caught in a support structure for the giraffe enclosure gate." Veterinary staff were immediately summoned, the zoo said, but to no avail.

Parker, born at the Santa Barbara Zoo in August 2016, was introduced to the zoo in 2018 and was "known for his curiosity and playfulness," the zoo said in a statement. He had two female companions  Kipenzi and Iggy  and was the father to a giraffe named Olmsted that is less than a year old. Those three are now the only remaining Masai giraffes at the zoo.

Masai giraffes, natively located in Tanzania and southern Kenya, are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The group says that there are only 35,000 mature individuals remaining in the world and that their population continues to decrease, primarily due to illegal hunting and land-use change.

"Masai Giraffes are poached for meat and products such as hide, bones and tail hairs," the IUCN says, adding that the animals' bone marrow and brains are considered "desirable items" to some areas because of the false notion that those body parts can cure HIV/AIDS.

Seneca Park Zoo Veterinarian Chris McKinney said that Parker "will be sorely missed by all."

"He had been in excellent health prior to this and was a joy to both staff and visitors," he said. "Our priority is the health and wellbeing of our animals and any major event can certainly affect them. So far, all three giraffes, Iggy, Kipenzie, and Olmsted, are doing well. We will continue to monitor them in the coming days."

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Zoo superintendent Steve Lacy said that the "possibility of this kind of event happening was unforeseen and unprecedented."

"The gate structure, installed in 2018, is a standard giraffe enclosure feature and is used in a number of accredited zoos around the country," he said, with the zoo adding in a press release that there have been "no reports" of incidents such as this at other zoos with similar structures. The Department of Agriculture and Association of Zoos and Aquariums have also been notified.

Officials notified the manufacturer of the gate about the potential hazard, the press release said, and the zoo is "taking steps to modify the enclosure gate structure to prevent any possibility of a reoccurrence."

The zoo has set up a fundraiser in Parker's memory, saying that 100% of the money raised will go to the "continued efforts of our partners at the Giraffe Conservation Foundation," a group that says its a "science-based conservation organization that provides innovative approaches to save giraffe in the wild."

The fundraiser surpassed its goal of $1,000 in two days.

Drama in court as Buffalo supermarket gunman is sentenced to life in prison

New details on Chinese spy balloon investigation

Ohio train derailment raises concerns over safety of water and food supplies
(Bloomberg) -- A New York appeals court reinstated defamation claims against Rudy Giuliani and Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro over false claims they made about voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

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Giuliani and Pirro were dismissed last year from the case filed by voting-machine maker Smartmatic Corp., which, along with Dominion Voting Systems Inc., was widely accused of rigging the election against Donald Trump as part of a vast conspiracy theory involving corrupt Democrats, foreign hackers and software linked to Venezuela. But the appellate court in Manhattan overruled that decision Tuesday.

Smartmatic adequately alleged that the two made defamatory statements about plaintiffs involvement in the 2020 Presidential election while knowing that the statements were false, or at least with reckless disregard for the truth, the five-judge panel said.

The company is also suing Fox News, Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs, who helped spread the conspiracy theory on-air. Smartmatics claims against former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell were dismissed last year for lack of jurisdiction reasons and were not reinstated.

The appeals court on Tuesday did dismiss Fox Newss parent, Fox Corp., from the suit, saying its ownership of the network wasnt sufficient to make it liable for defamation claims.

Giulianis lawyer, Adam S. Katz, didnt immediately return a call seeking comment.

In a statement, Fox News said it was merely reporting news about allegations being made by the then-president and his lawyers.

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 network said.

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In its ruling, the appeals court said Smartmatic had adequately argued that Fox News and hosts did not merely report the newsworthy fact that the Presidents campaign lawyers were recklessly making statements conveying false information.

The judges said, In fact, according to the allegations in the complaint, Fox News, Dobbs, and Bartiromo stated that Smartmatics election technology and software were widely used in the 2020 election and in Dominion machines to switch votes, when they actually knew, or easily could have known had they not purposefully avoided publicly available knowledge, that in 2020, the Smartmatic technology was used only in Los Angeles County and that the vote-switching claims otherwise had no support.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former and current Google staff told The Information the firm had taken a cautious approach to AI.

One current employee said "bureaucratic roadblocks" made pitching new AI products difficult.

Google has announced plans to launch an AI-boosted version of Search and unveiled an AI chatbot.

A Google employee told The Information they felt pitching new AI products usually wasn't worth the effort because of "bureaucratic roadblocks."

Former and current Google employees told the outlet the company had taken a cautious approach to AI development internally.

Per the Information, two former employees at Google Brain, Alphabet's AI division, said product initiatives were marked by excess caution and red tape, prompting some employees to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Another ex-Google Brain employee told the outlet they felt managers hadn't given some teams the resources needed to train AI models the way OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had.

At least twelve former Google employees have reportedly migrated to OpenAI. Five of the ex-Googlers were hired to put the finishing touches on the viral chatbot before it launched in November, The Information reported.

Google has been keen to position itself as a responsible force when it comes to AI. The company has opted not to widely share some technology, such as text-to-image AI programs, even as other companies launched similar products, per The Information.

However, the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT reportedly prompted Google management to declare a "code red" in December. The chatbot proved to be wildly popular with users and Microsoft capitalized on its early investment in OpenAI by incorporating the tech into its Bing search engine.

Google has since announced similar plans to launch an AI-boosted version of its search engine and has unveiled its own AI chatbot, Bard.

Google did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The flag of Greece

Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos also took part in the Conference of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine, which was organized at the initiative of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Read also: Cyprus ready to send Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine in exchange of German Leopards from Greece

During his speech, the minister stressed that the invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law, which undermines peace, security, and stability in Europe.

Read also: Germany and Greece discuss supplying weapons to Ukraine

Panagiotopoulos outlined the security assistance his country has provided to Ukraine, including ammunition and 20 BMP-1 IFVs, and stressed that Athens will continue to support the struggle of the Ukrainian people for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country.

On Jan. 31, Nikkei Asia reported that Greece refused to provide Ukraine with Leopard-2 tanks, as that would undermine Greek national security amid growing tensions with Turkey.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
destination wedding

So, youre getting married! Congratulations, you found the love of your life. Now, its time to plan the wedding of your dreams and show your loved ones how much you love each other. Will it be a destination wedding or at a local venue? How many people are invited? What is the color scheme?

You want to show your loved ones how much you love each other. However, the process of planning a wedding can open up new challenges in your relationship. In a perfect world, you and your special someone are the type of couple that shares the same ideas regarding style, design, food and music. Some individuals prefer a small intimate wedding, while others want to invite everyone they have ever spoken to.

Imagine after considering so many moving parts, you and your love decide on making it a destination wedding. A destination wedding comes with a whole new set of questions.

If you are planning a destination wedding and have no idea where to start, dont worry. As a groom currently going through this process, I am glad to share this guide to help you navigate through it.

What is a destination wedding?

Photo Credit: @TheBrunchxgod

My fiance and I are world travelers, so when we celebrate our union, we want to give our loved ones a cultivated experience that everyone can enjoy.

A destination wedding allows you to celebrate your love in another country. While this could be an amazing experience, it also means that you are responsible for not only booking a venue but also everything that comes with a weekend vacation for an entire guest list. Youre booking hotels, transportation, outings, food, excursions, and everything else to ensure the best vibes and experiences for your guests.

Choosing A Place

One of the many reasons couples decide to do a destination wedding is because typically you can get more for your dollar in different countries. A wedding budgeted at around $100,000 in the states potentially could be around $40,000 in the Caribbean and in South America.

In our case, choosing a destination was a little tricky. We both loved the idea of Bali, Indonesia, and I had hoped we could make it work. However, for personal and health reasons, our parents wouldnt be into spending almost 20 hours traveling to another country. Due to this, we had to search for a new city that would give all of our guests an experience theyve never had and close enough to not be inconvenient for those who hate flying.

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Photo Credits: Chidi Ashley | Photography by Bali Interiors Sheila Man

Another thing that you have to consider when picking a destination is if your guests can afford to leave the country and spend a few days away from home. Although the day belongs to the couple, a destination wedding becomes an expense and a vacation for the people you invite.

Its essential to balance your needs as a couple with the needs of the people you invite to your destination wedding. Make sure youre ready to provide a fantastic time with the budget you allotted to this experience.

When planning this type of wedding, it helps if you have at least a year and a half to get everything together. This also gives all your loved ones enough time to get their finances together, take time off of work, and be a part of the special occasion.

Choosing A Wedding Planner for Your Destination Wedding

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When it comes to putting your wedding together, the wedding planner is your CEO. If you want all the moving parts to run smoothly at your wedding without you having to worry, you have to choose the person thats the right fit for you as a couple. For a conventional wedding, its a little easier to be hands-on with venues and vendors, but a destination wedding requires a lot of trust. Its crucial to find a wedding planner with the right experience in the country of your choosing.

There are a lot of benefits to hiring a local wedding planner in the town you will be celebrating your love. One benefit is you can save on an extra flight and hotel room if you hire someone local to the city of your wedding. Another component of hiring a local is that the wedding planner will likely have better relationships with the vendors in those countries. If youre watching your budget, this can be handy when budgeting on expenses.

In our case, my fiance spent two months interviewing wedding planners. Some were from the states and some were local to our chosen destination: Mexico. Eventually, she narrowed it down to about three people, and I got involved in a second round of interviews. After my assessment, I made sure we chose someone who my fiance could get along with personality-wise, because I knew she would interact with the wedding planner more than I would.

After All, Theres Still More Work To Do

After you have finally hired the wedding planner, it feels like a weight gets lifted off your shoulders. However, the work doesnt stop there. Working alongside the planner, you and your person probably will have to choose so many more things, such as decorations, caterers, venues, engineers for sound and lighting and more.

While many people focus on making the bride happy at weddings, it is also important to listen to the feelings about the groom. In my case, as the wedding approaches, I realized how much I cared about the details as well. A groom should be in a certain mental headspace when approaching a wedding.

But, dont worry. Travel Noires got you covered in the next installment of the grooms guide to destination weddings.
Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

A group of more than 170 trans, nonbinary, and cisgender contributors to the New York Times published an open letter on Wednesday, condemning the papers coverage of trans issues  particularly its reporting around trans youth and gender-affirming healthcare.

The letter, which was written in conjunction with the Freelance Solidarity Project , a group of freelance writers in the National Writers Union, was signed by journalists  including current Times staffers  politicians, novelists, and other news media workers. Prominent signatories included Cynthia Nixon, Pennsylvania state Sen. Nikil Saval, and writers like Rebecca Solnit and Jia Tolentino.

The letter  addressed to the associate managing editor for standards, Philip Corbett  draws attention to the last year of coverage in the Times, during which time, the group writes, the paper of record published 15,000 words across its front pages debating the propriety of medical care for trans children.

In recent months, the Times has been criticized by trans journalists, trans right advocates, and others who have sounded the alarms about coverage that often frames the existence of trans children as one up for debate. The new letter marks the first time critics have organized to publicly denounce the Times for having an editorial bias in its coverage of trans issues.

The newspapers editorial guidelines demand that reporters preserve a professional detachment, free of any whiff of bias when cultivating their sources, remaining sensitive that personal relationships with news sources can erode into favoritism, in fact or appearance, the letter reads.

Yet the Times has in recent years treated gender diversity with an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while publishing reporting on trans children that omits relevant information about its sources.

Earlier this year, a group of nine trans and cis Times contributors, including Harron Walker, Muna Mire, Sean T. Collins, and Jo Livingstone, came together to figure out how they might be able to push back against what they characterized as a deluge of anti-trans articles.

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It feels like there has been such an increase in this reporting making its way into the legal system and into policy proposals in a lot of different states. It seems like theres this moment of critical urgency on the hard nonfiction side of the facts, Livingstone, a former New Republic writer who has contributed to the Times, told BuzzFeed News.

At the same time, theres also a sense of urgency about people from different walks of life needing to come together to show that this is like a lateral position that many people hold. Were not abnormal. This is not a fringe group.

The letter cites different Times articles as it criticizes the sourcing and terminology used around gender-affirming care and parental rights. The group says these articles fail to mention explicitly how certain individuals quoted are linked to anti-trans organizations.

In  The Battle Over Gender Therapy , Times reporter Emily Bazelon quoted Grace Lidinsky-Smith, a young woman who detransitioned. The writers who signed the letter said Bazelon failed to make clear that Lidinsky-Smith is also the president of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, a group that peddles misinformation around hormone replacement therapy and actively opposes gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Bazelons article also uses the terminology patient zero to refer to a trans child who sought gender-affirming care in the 1980s. The letter condemns the use of this phrase, writing that it vilifies transness as a disease to be feared.

The group notes this isnt the first time the Times has wronged a marginalized group of people. The letter points to the papers past linking queerness and disease.

This era of hateful rhetoric also saw the rise of the term patient zero, used to falsely accuse an HIV/AIDS patient of deliberately infecting others, the letter states. This is the same rhetoric that transphobic policymakers recently reintroduced to the American lawmaking apparatus by quoting Emily Bazelons Times article.

The letters signatories aren't only worried about the type of sourcing and language used in the Times; they also point to specific instances in the current legal battles to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth where the Times coverage is used as evidence.

The natural destination of poor editorial judgment is the court of law, the letter states. The letter notes that three articles from the Times were cited in last years amicus brief filed by the Arkansas attorney general in defense of a state law that would criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care to youth.

To see how fast a sentiment can move from the hard right to the paper of record to policy  how fast that happens and how much the New York Times facilitates that process by condensing hard-right talking points into ostensible front-page stories. I think the speed was what rattled me, Livingstone said.

Livingstone said the group hopes to affect change in the Times future coverage of trans issues. They have been encouraged by how many people  not only trans media workers, but cis allies as well  have shown support for the letter.

Its much harder to dismiss a single sustained argument cosigned by scores of people, Livingstone said. The way that the Times operates is they have a system which insulates them, I think, from having to respond to a lot of criticism, which is why this group decided we have to go the extra mile.

More on this
By Robert Kirkham and Tyler Clifford

BUFFALO (Reuters) - An avowed white supremacist on Wednesday apologized to the families of the 10 Black people he fatally shot last year at a western New York grocery store before being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole during a chaotic and emotional hearing.

At one point, a man in the courtroom lunged at Payton Gendron, who had pleaded guilty to 15 state charges including murder and terrorism motivated by hate stemming from the May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, a city of about 277,000 people. Thirteen relatives of victims spoke during the hearing including Simone Crawley, who called Gendron, 19, a "cowardly racist."

The sentence, which was expected because the state does not employ the death penalty, was given by Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and glasses, Gendron apologized to the families of his victims, whose ages ranged from 20 to 86, expressing regret for his actions and hope that his crime will not inspire copycat attacks.

The rampage was one of the deadliest in a series of mass shootings in recent years in a country that has grown accustomed to such crimes and where racial tensions continue to simmer.

"I am very sorry for all of the pain I forced all of the victims and their families to suffer through," said Gendron, who was standing and looking downward while speaking. "I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black."

Gendron had streamed live video of the attack on social media after posting a racist screed online detailing his inspiration from other racially motivated mass killings, authorities said.

A woman screamed in an agonized tone inside the courtroom after Gendron finished his statement.

The hearing was halted briefly after an unidentified man lunged at Gendron, who was sitting at a table in the courtroom with his attorneys as a woman named Barbara Massey Mapps made an emotional statement. Her 72-year-old sister, Katherine Massey, was among those killed.

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The man pushed Massey Mapps aside and took several running steps toward Gendron before police and attorneys restrained him and led him away. Officers grabbed Gendron and rushed him out of the courtroom.

'UNBREAKABLE'

Crawley, whose 86-year-old grandmother Ruth Whitfield was killed, said Gendron made his victims immortal instead of gaining support for his hateful cause. Authorities have said Gendron promoted a racist conspiracy notion that white people are being replaced by minorities in America and elsewhere.

"We as a people are unbreakable," Crawley said.

"I don't wish the death penalty on you," said Wayne Jones, whose 65-year-old mother Celestine Chaney was gunned down. "I wish they keep you alive so you have to suffer with the thought of what you did for the rest of your life."

While New York state no longer uses capital punishment, Gendron still could receive a death sentence if convicted of pending federal hate crime and firearms charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. Gendron was 18 at the time of the attack.

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown called Gendron's apology too little and too late.

"I anticipate what he said today was to save his life in federal court," Flynn said after the hearing.

Gendron's defense attorney, Brian Parker, told a news conference that his client was remorseful.

"We hope that knowing he will never be free again will offer some small bit of comfort to those he has hurt so much," Parker said.

Prosecutors have said the gunman targeted a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, about 200 miles (320 km) from his home in Conklin, New York, intending to kill as many Black people as he could with an assault weapon. In addition to the 10 people who were killed, three others were wounded.

Gendron faces 27 federal charges. His lawyers have sought a plea deal relating to these in an effort to avoid a possible death sentence. The U.S. Justice Department has not disclosed what punishment it would seek if Gendron is convicted.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Will Dunham and Caitlin Webber)
Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called on Wednesday for the United States to move on from a rapidly aging generation of politicians, pitching her newly minted campaign for the White House as a chance for voters to install a younger and more diverse leader.

Were ready  ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, Haley said, speaking to a crowd of supporters in Charleston, S.C. And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future.

Haley on Tuesday became the second Republican to jump into the partys presidential nominating contest and the first to mount a formal challenge to former President Trump. Her candidacy  and how Trump handles it  is a crucial test case for other Republicans eyeing the White House.

The former South Carolina governor worked at points in her speech to strike a unifying tone, telling supporters that America is better than all of the division and distractions that we have today.

And I am confident that the American people agree, she added.

Woven throughout her remarks were a series of traditional Republican talking points: the need to confront a dangerous world, including a rising China, as well as a call to ramp up security at the U.S. southern border. But it also included red-meat issues designed to entice the GOPs conservative base.

Haley calls for mental competency tests for politicians over 75

At one comment that drew a relatively lukewarm response from the audience, Haley brought up so-called election integrity, pledging to make voter ID the law of the land and ensure that everyone has full confidence in our elections. She also vowed to stop the surge of drugs and illegal immigration, echoing the rhetoric used by Trump when he announced his first bid for the White House in 2015.

At another point, she demanded mandatory mental competency tests for office-holders over the age of 75, playing into a frequent conservative claim that President Biden isnt mentally fit to serve in the White House. But that remark was also a tacit swipe at Trump, who would be 78 by the time of his second swearing-in.

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Haley also waded into culture war issues throughout her speech, pushing back on accusations that the U.S. is a racist country.

A self-loathing has swept our country. Its in the classroom, the boardroom and the backrooms of government, Haley said. Every day, were told America is flawed, rotten and full of hate. Joe and Kamala even say America is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Her speech came as an attempt to bridge the gap between the Trump-aligned mainstream of the GOP and the faction of more traditional Republicans who have felt isolated from the party under Trumps leadership.

The former governor touted her own identity as the daughter of Indian immigrants.

My parents left India in search of a better life, they lived in South Carolina. Our town came to love us, but it wasnt always easy, we were the only Indian family, Haley said.

She also leaned into her identity as a woman but also pushed back against the idea of identity politics.

May the best woman win, Haley said to applause. All kidding aside, this is not about identity politics. I dont believe in that and I dont believe in glass ceilings either.

House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman endorses Nikki Haley for president

In becoming the first Republican to challenge Trump for the GOP nod, Haley is hoping to capitalize on the relatively empty field to force a close look from Republican primary voters and donors. But she also faces a tough path.

Early polling shows her struggling to lift her support out of the single-digits, while Trump remains the ostensible front-runner. So far, only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who hasnt yet announced a campaign, has emerged in polling as a viable alternative to Trump.

At the same time, she has irked both Trumps allies and his detractors. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, criticized Haleys candidacy on Tuesday, casting her as a once-promising politician who sold out to the former president for political gain.

Trumps campaign, meanwhile, responded to Haleys entrance into the race on Wednesday, blasting out an email including Haleys prior stances on issues like entitlement reform and her past remarks saying Hillary Clinton inspired her to run for public office.

Heres who is running for president in 2024

But Haleys allies are quick to note that shes won tough races before, noting how she came from behind in her 2010 bid for the GOPs South Carolina gubernatorial nomination, defeating Republican heavyweights, including now-Gov. Henry McMaster.

She also has a strong base of support in her home state. On Wednesday, Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.) became the first Republican member of Congress to throw his support behind Haley.

Its time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and theres no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my good friend, Nikki Haley! Norman tweeted.

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, called for a new generation of leadership during her 2024 presidential campaign kickoff speech on Wednesday, taking shots at the older generation of politicians in the White House and in Congress.

Were ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future, said Haley, who at 51 would offer a change in pace from 80-year-old President Joe Biden and 76-year-old former president Donald Trump. Trump is the only other candidate who has formally announced a 2024 bid.

She later added: Today our enemies think that the American era has passed. Theyre wrong. America is not past our prime, its just that our politicians are past theirs. The line was met with huge applause from the crowd in Charleston, S.C.

Haley said, We wont win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century.

At the conclusion of her speech, she said she sees an America where the permanent politician will finally retire, calling for term limits in Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75.

The comments come one day after 89-year-old Senator Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.) announced she will retire at the end of her term. Feinstein has faced scrutiny in recent years about memory issues and possible mental decline and seemed confused about her own retirement announcement on Tuesday. When she was asked about the announcement by reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Feinstein replied, Well, I havent made that decision. I havent released anything. It would be my plan  you put out the statement? I didnt know they put it out. Okay. So it is what it is.

Haley on Wednesday painted the new generation  and herself  as a path forward for the Republican Party, which she noted has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections.

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Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans, she said. Well, that ends today. If youre tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation.

Haley was sharply critical of Biden in her speech, saying America is falling behind and nobody embodies that failure more than Joe Biden. She cited a spate of issues facing the country, including inflation, supply chain issues with baby formula, children lagging behind in the classroom, the prevalence of drugs on American streets, and a lack of police and border patrol agents.

Joe Biden isnt even leading from behind. Hes not leading at all, she said. On his watch, a terrorist mob conquered Afghanistan  and killed our troops. Iran is on the brink of getting the bomb. North Korea is launching more missiles than ever. Russia started the biggest war in Europe in 75 years.

Haley, who is likely to focus her campaign on foreign policy issues after serving as the ambassador to the UN under the Trump administration, said China is the strongest and most disciplined enemy the U.S. has faced in its history.

It is unthinkable that Americans would look at the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us, she said, referring to the massive surveillance balloon that hovered above sensitive locations in Montana earlier this month before being shot down by the U.S. military off the Carolina coast.

Haley is the first Republican to jump into the race against Trump and would notch a number of firsts if she became the partys nominee: she would become the first woman and the first Asian American to be the GOP nominee.

She became the countrys first female Asian American governor when she was elected to lead South Carolina in 2010. When she left the governors mansion to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2017, she became the first Indian American to serve in the Cabinet.

Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history, America is not a racist country, Haley said Wednesday.

She called out Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for overseeing a self-loathing that has swept through the country.

Everyday were told America is flawed, rotten and full of hate, she said. Joe and Kamala even say America is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Haley is the first former Trump staffer to enter the race. Others believed to be weighing a run include former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and former national-security adviser John Bolton.

More from National Review
HAMPTON  The sound of gunfire in a residential neighborhood Monday night led to police charging a local man with two felony weapons crimes.

Hampton police Capt. Anthony Azarian said Richard Butler, 54, of Hampton, was arrested and charged on Tuesday, Feb. 14, with being a convicted felon in possession of a dangerous weapon and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, both Class B felonies, as well as unauthorized use of a firearm, a violation.

Police responded to the Stickney Terrace and Route 1 area Monday night Feb. 13 after receiving several calls from residents reporting the sound of multiple gunshots, according to Azarian. Officers searched the area, finding evidence of spent ammunition shell casings in the driveway of the apartment building at 32 Stickney Terrace, leading them to speak with witnesses who had heard the gunfire.

Richard Butler, 54, of Hampton, was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, and unauthorized use of a firearm.

Azarian said during the investigations officers spoke with Butler, who lives in the building, identifying him as the suspect in the incident. That night, Hampton detectives applied for, received and executed a search warrant for Butlers apartment.

Finding evidence of probable cause, according to Azarian, officers obtained a warrant for Butlers arrest on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Butler subsequently turned himself in at the Hampton Police Department on Tuesday and was booked and charged.

More:Hampton police investigate report of 'road rage incident' with gunshots fired

Butler was denied bail due to the nature of the charges and held at the Rockingham County Department of Corrections Tuesday night, pending his scheduled arraignment on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Superior Court.

According to Hampton police, there were no reported injuries and this appears to be an isolated incident.

Hampton police officers were assisted in this investigation by New Hampshire Fish and Game and the New Hampshire State Police.

Since felony charges are involved, the case is transferred to the Rockingham County Attorneys Office for prosecution.

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More:North Hampton backs off taking homeowners land by eminent domain for cell tower

Anyone with information related to this incident should contact the Hampton Police Department at 603-929-4444. Anonymous tips can be made through the Crimeline for the Hamptons at 603-929-1222.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton man charged with firing gun outside Stickney Terrace apartment
The anti-viral drug Paxlovid. (Stephanie Nano / Associated Press)

On May 11, the central pillar of the country's pandemic response  the declaration of a national emergency that began March 1, 2020  will come down. But Americans will continue to have access to the vaccines, drugs and medical devices that were authorized for emergency use against COVID-19, so long as they remain sufficiently safe and effective in the view of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The antiviral medication Paxlovid will not disappear from pharmacy shelves. Children under 12 will still be able to get booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Adolescents and adults will have the option of getting a dose of the Novavax vaccine.

Coronavirus tests that require you to swab your nose will remain available online and in stores. And myriad lab tests, blood processing devices and specialized pieces of personal protective equipment authorized for use in the pandemic will still be used in commercial labs, research centers and hospitals.

The cost of testing for coronavirus infections will shift for many Americans after May 11. But vaccines will remain free, and antiviral medications purchased by the government will be offered without charge for as long as supplies last.

Surprised that COVID-19 products authorized "for emergency use" are available after the emergency ends? Blame the hurricane of fine print set in motion by the pandemic.

To address the uncontrolled spread of a deadly novel virus, the federal government quickly erected a structure that drew upon a raft of laws on the books.

At least two of those pandemic-response measures were triggered when the secretary of Health and Human Services issued a finding on Jan. 31, 2020, that a public health emergency exists. One is section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, which allowed states to shift federal funds meant for other tasks to their pandemic response. The other, section 564 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, gave the FDA power to authorize the use of certain vaccines, drugs and medical devices under an expedited review process.

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However, deconstructing a structure built on the fly is a delicate process, and not all the struts can come down at once.

The pandemic struck hard and fast, and for months, not a single drug, biologic therapy, vaccine or test was available to combat the coronavirus. Under normal circumstances, it can take years for a new medication, vaccine or device to gain the FDAs blessing to enter the U.S. market. In April 2020, at the peak of the first wave, with more than 2,100 Americans dying of COVID-19 every day, that wasn't fast enough.

The 1938 law that established the FDA offered a solution. If the secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services makes a declaration that "circumstances exist to justify" it, the FDA is allowed to grant emergency use authorization to badly needed medications, vaccines or devices, allowing them legal access to the U.S. market.

That power will remain in the FDA's hands until the HHS secretary's declaration is withdrawn, said Lawrence Gostin, an expert on public health law at Georgetown University.

To win emergency use authorization, or EUA, drug or device makers may present the FDA with less evidence of a product's safety and effectiveness than is required for full approval. The clinical trials might not last as long or enroll as many people. They might use a simple measure of a product's risks or benefits as a proxy for a more complex outcome.

In short, a company's case for an EUA might leave more doubt than usual about the product's safety, accuracy or effectiveness. But in a national health emergency, the FDA can use that limited data to make an expedited decision on the basis of the "best available" evidence.

The notice that granted the FDA this extraordinary power, effective Feb. 4, 2020, appeared in the Federal Register, the daily publication that prints the finest of the fine print of U.S. government operations.

The Federal Register also carried the announcement that then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar had invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, effective Feb 4, 2020. The PREP Act gave companies, hospitals and medical professionals who supply or use "countermeasures" authorized for emergency use sweeping protections from liability if those products turn out to cause harm. Those liability protections remain in place until October 1, 2024.

If anyone is harmed, the PREP Act makes them eligible for benefits under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, which is funded by Congress.

Ideally, a product with an EUA will go on to win full FDA approval by meeting the more time-consuming requirements. That has happened for the initial versions of the COVID-19 vaccines Comirnaty (made by Pfizer and BioNTech for those 12 and up) and Spikevax (made by Moderna for adults). The COVID medications Veklury (remdesivir), Actemra (tocilizumab) and Olumiant (baricitinib) are also FDA approved.

Until then, an EUA is strictly provisional. The FDA retains the power to withdraw or alter its EUA in ways large and small, as it sees fit. Sometimes the agency broadens the population of patients for whom a product can be used. Others times it has forbidden the use of a product until further notice  the regulatory fate of a passel of monoclonal antibody treatments that became ineffective against the Omicron variant.

All these vaccines, medications, tests and devices cost money. So far, the tab has been picked up by the federal government.

That won't come to an abrupt halt when the federal public health emergency ends May 11. But there will be changes.

Medicare patients won't automatically get eight free coronavirus antigen tests a month, and people insured by Medicare or private insurance may begin to see co-pays for some doctor-ordered testing. But all COVID-19 testing will be free until at least September 2024 for people insured through Medicaid, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

For the foreseeable future, vaccines will be offered free of charge. The federal government has purchased 166 million doses of the new bivalent boosters, and the roughly 113 million doses that are unclaimed will continue to be provided for free under virtually all circumstances.

Even after those are exhausted, insurers must offer COVID-19 vaccines without out-of-pocket costs under the Affordable Care Act and other laws.

But for people who must foot the bill themselves, as well as for insurers, an Omicron-targeting dose of Pfizer's Comirnaty vaccine or Moderna's Spikevax could more than quadruple in price after government supplies are gone.

The government will also continue to bear the cost of fighting new COVID infections  for a while. Some 6 million courses of Paxlovid have been used to treat Americans, and the federal government has about 24 million left. They will be distributed free of charge until stocks are depleted.

When existing inventories are used up, there will be no more free medications or vaccines unless Congress ponies up the cash for additional purchases.

"It's federal supplies that will dictate when a lot of changes take place," said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Jen Kates.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Visitors to the Kanaloa Octopus Farm put their hands in tanks containing day octopuses. Officials in Hawaii recently said facility was taking, raising and possessing day octopuses without the proper permits, and have ordered it to cease and desist. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The owner of a controversial octopus farm on Hawaiis Big Island was ordered to cease and desist nonpermitted operations in January after a clamor of attention was directed at the small outfit, which charges visitors $60 for the opportunity to touch a wild-caught day octopus.

The Kanaloa Octopus Farm, in Kailua-Kona, generally holds between 15 and 20 octopuses at a time in separate, opaque 100-gallon tanks, which resemble big sinks, where the captured animals remain  with an occasional visit to a larger reef tank  until they die. Day octopuses generally live for about one year.

Until the states Jan. 6 letter was received by Kanaloa, operators offered three 20-person tours a day, seven days a week, for visitors and tourists to interact with the octopuses.

The letter, which was written by Brian Neilson, administrator of Hawaiis Division of Aquatic Resources, informed owner Jacob Conroy that the business was in violation of state law by possessing and breeding a regulated species of aquatic life without the required permits. In addition, it is unlawful to possess individual day octopuses that weigh less than 1 pound and which were taken from within the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area without a permit.

Conroy said in an email to The Times that he was working with the state to make sure the facility is in full compliance; he disputed the claims.

He said the Kanaloa Octopus Farm does not work with Day Octopuses under one pound and most of our octopuses are sourced from local fishermen who would otherwise sell them for use as bait. Our octopuses are typically injured animals that others dont want. We feed them and care for them, allowing them to recover.

But a second letter was sent to Conroy on Jan. 18, after facility manager Dan Jackson did an interview with Hawaii Public Radio on Jan. 13 in which he seemed to contradict these denials.

I think the smallest we got was 0.8 grams  its about the size of the tip of my pinky finger, he told the radio interviewer. And so weve been able to raise them up to adults from, you know, less than a gram and then have them successfully reproduce.

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He said most of their octopuses are caught by a gentleman who actually catches them for us. Hes just really good at it. He just knows how to find octopus. Some people can just find them better than others.

Other octopuses, he said, come in to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, the state-sponsored aquaculture site where the business is located, via large water intake pipelines that are sucking up thousands and thousands of gallons per minute ... and every once in a while, a little juvenile octopus will get sucked up that pipeline.

Conroy told The Times via email that Jackson was referring to crescent octopuses, an unregulated species, which are not on display at Kanaloa.

Conroy also said the fisherman Jackson referred to only caught octopuses outside the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area  an area of water that runs along the western coast of the Big Island from the high-water mark on shore to the limit of the states management authority.

Madison Rice, a spokesperson for the state, said Conroy will have to apply for a special activities permit in order to continue operating with live octopuses. This permit allows a person to take [or possess] aquatic life ... otherwise prohibited by law ... for scientific, educational, management or propagation purposes.

There is no guarantee that an application for a Special Activities Permit will be approved, wrote Neilson, in the second letter.

The Kanaloa Octopus Farm is currently closed to the public. Despite its name, operators describe the business as a research facility and say they are not raising octopuses for food.

The business has come under criticism from animal rights activists and octopus researchers for its treatment of the day octopus  a creature scientists describe as curious, intelligent and playful. They say the operation is little more than a petting zoo in which wild-caught animals are confined for life and used to entertain humans.

Conroy and Jackson say their goal is to learn how to breed day octopuses, which are not endangered, so that in case anything ever does happen to the populations, wildlife officials across the globe can restock them, Jackson said during his radio interview.

So far, no one has been able to close the life cycle of potentially commercially productive captive octopuses. While Kanaloa and some commercial octopus farms have been able to produce viable larvae from eggs fertilized in captivity, they have not been able to keep those small octopuses living beyond 13 days.

Its a problem that has vexxed several commercial operations that hope to breed octopuses in captivity for food, including the Spanish company Nueva Pescanova and Japans Nippon Suisan Kaisha, or Nissui.

Washington state Rep. Strom Peterson has introduced legislation in his state that would ban octopus farming.

Washington should be on the forefront in the U.S. and globally in the protection of sentient octopuses from these dreary and oppressing conditions that await them in the burgeoning farmed octopus industry, said Josh Diamond, a member of the Animal Rights Initiative.

There was no opposition to the bill, and the committee will vote on whether to move it forward on Friday.

There are no federal or state protections for octopuses.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Wilmington, DE - (NewMediaWire) - February 15, 2023 - Heisenberg Research Inc., a quant trading lab specializing in trading penny stocks, has released its latest research report on the top 5 cryptocurrencies for 2023. The report is based on an in-depth analysis of market capitalization, liquidity, technology, adoption and acceptance, regulatory environment, and development activity, among other key factors.

Heisenberg Research's team uses AI-based data solutions and quantitative analysis to produce market-beating returns and has been trading stocks since 2004. The team has recently ventured into the crypto market and is now sharing its findings with the public.

The report is now available on Heisenberg Research's official website and provides valuable insights and recommendations for those looking to invest in cryptocurrencies. Heisenberg Research's analysis is based on cutting-edge research and data-driven insights, providing traders and investors with a unique perspective on the crypto market.

The company's mission is to help traders and investors make informed decisions in the financial market by providing actionable insights and analytics. Heisenberg Research is committed to providing the most comprehensive and accurate information possible to help its readers succeed in the market.

Renuka Manandhar, an Analyst at Heisenberg Research says "For anyone looking for deeper insights on data-driven analysis and ratings, we hope this research will add value to their individual research. Once can access the report by visiting Heisenberg Research's official website and gain valuable insights into the crypto market."

Media Contact

Contact Person: Renuka Manandhar

Company Name: Heisenberg Research inc

Email: info@heisenbergresearch.com

Website: https://heisenbergresearch.com/ratings.html

City: Wilmington

State: Delaware

Country: United States
Nick Madrigal charged in from third base and fired across his body Tuesday morning as a few raindrops fell on a cool day at the Chicago Cubs spring training complex.

Madrigal spent half of his infield work at the unfamiliar position before shifting to second base for another batch of ground balls off the fungo bat of bench coach Andy Green. Incorporating work at third became part of his routine after the Cubs signed shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million contract in December, which moved Nico Hoerner back to second and left Madrigals position in flux.

Midway through the offseason, as the Cubs roster started to take shape, manager David Ross called Madrigal to give him a heads up and let him know where to prepare defensively.

I appreciate that a lot, rather than showing up this spring and (it be) last second, just so I can get my head around it and start practicing different positions, Madrigal said Tuesday. I really dont care where Im at. I feel like I can play multiple positions. I havent bounced around too much in my life. I feel like Im fully capable of doing it.

And were all here to win. ... Im not looking at anything personally  where I want to play, where Im going to be. I dont know what the lineup parts going to look like in a couple months. Whatever they throw at me, I feel like I can help this team in a lot of ways.

Green flew to Arizona to spend a week working with Madrigal at third base. He helped break down the position and get Madrigal up to speed on the intricacies of the position. Madrigal valued Green taking time during the offseason to better prepare him for such a foreign spot.

Madrigal said he couldnt remember when he last played third. His experience since high school consists of one inning during a showcase game before he went to Oregon State.

He incorporated more long toss in his offseason regimen as part of his efforts to strengthen his arm and body for the oomph he will need on throws across the diamond.

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Second base, you can kind of get away with just flipping it over there, Madrigal said, but third base, youve really got to get everything into it.

This is an important season for Madrigal, who turns 25 next month and has been plagued by injuries the last three seasons. Once the 2022 season ended, he already was looking ahead to this year.

Three stints on the injured list (back strain, left groin strain and right groin strain) marred his production and limited him to 59 games  after he was hampered during camp by his surgically repaired right hamstring. At one point during spring training, Madrigal had to leave a workout while trying to stretch and warm up on the field because his hamstring didnt feel right.

Looking back on it, (my hamstring) probably wasnt fully ready, Madrigal said. As a competitor I wanted to be out there and was hoping it would kind of adapt to it, but it led to other things with my body.

Madrigal took one week off in October before starting a strength program ahead of his typical schedule. He trained at THP in Scottsdale, Ariz., with an emphasis on getting back to basics and building his base.

He spent three weeks working solely on his lower half so it could better support his upper body. Madrigal will need to stay healthy and show in Cactus League games he is capable of handling third base as he looks to secure a utility/bench spot on the opening-day roster.

As time went on, we started working more laterally and different agility work, Madrigal said. I mean, Ive never done this much agility work in all of my baseball offseasons.

So Im moving better than I ever have and my body is so much more flexible right now. I just feel like Im in a great spot overall.
beabadoobee glue song - Credit: Jake Erland*

On Glue Song, indie-rock artist Beabadoobee enjoys a moment of happiness as she reflects on a new relationship. Ive never known someone like you, she sings over a lilting backdrop of strings and trumpet. Tangled in love stuck by you/From the glue/Dont forget to kiss me. She and her boyfriend, Jake Erland, who directed the video, shot the songs clip on 16mm while in the Philippines.

I wrote a lot of this song while on tour across Australia and Asia in the back of cars and traveling, the artist said in a statement. Its a heartfelt song that means a lot to me  a love song and the first one Ive written in my new relationship. I usually write these songs that are sad, in the past with my writing even when it doesnt sound sad looking back, the lyrics usually have been. For the first time this is just me being really happy.

More from Rolling Stone

Im in a really positive place for the first time in a long time and feeling love, she continued. We recorded the song with my guitarist and producer Jacob [Bugden] in his house and added in trumpets and strings. This song feels really personal, and I went to my hometown in Iloilo to film the music video. Its where I was born and so that also added another personal touch to the song.

Beabadoobee will be on some big stages to sing the song  as well as tracks from last years Beatopia album  this spring when she opens up for Taylor Swift. Shell be accompanying Swift on Eras Tour dates in Europe and in the U.S. in March and April.

Last year, she told Rolling Stone about how her idea for Beatopia originated when she was 7 years old, adding that she processed a lot of her upbringing  moving from Iloilo to London  as an adult. Coming to terms with her past inspired her songs on the album. I think all the problems that I faced growing up, [they were] kind of manufactured by my own brain at times, she said. Then I realized that everything Im scared of isnt technically real. Its all something I had created. Saying that out loud makes me feel so much safer.

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Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
Lawyers for Kendra James

The death of 63-year-old Kevin Dizmang, who died in November while being restrained by members of a Colorado mental health crisis response unit, has been ruled a homicide by the county coroners office.

The contribution of physical restraint to the cause of death results in the determination of a manner of [death as] homicide, reads the El Paso County Coroner report signed by five doctors and obtained by The Daily Beast.

The report also listed a number of medical conditions Dizmang sufferedincluding heart issues, pulmonary disease, and asthmaas well as methamphetamine intoxication.

Newly released body-camera footage also shows the horrific moment when the man was tackled and restrained face-down by two members of the Community Response Teama collaboration between the Colorado Springs Police Department, health clinicians, and the Colorado Springs Fire Department thats meant to provide services for those experiencing mental health crises.

Black Atlantans Terrorized by Memphis PD Chiefs Old Unit Speak Out: Theyd Beat Your Ass

Harry Daniels, a civil rights attorney and lawyer for Dizmans daughter, Kenda James, compared the death to George Floyds murder in Minneapolis.

This was not a social crisis intervention, this was the boys in blue showing up doing what the boys in blue do, Daniels told The Daily Beast.

But the case was presented to District Attorney Michael J. Allens office this week, and the death was ultimately determined to be justified.

This case has now been presented to the District Attorneys office and was formally presented on Monday of this week, said Howard Black, public information officer for the DAs office. And the District Attorneys office has ruled that this death is justified and there will be no criminal charges on either the police officer or the  paramedic.

Attorneys for the family declined to comment on the revelation as they said the family had not yet been notified that the first responders would not be charged.

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Black noted that more details would be released on Thursday, and denied The Daily Beasts requests to see a copy of the investigations report.

The CSFD and CSPD directed requests for comment to the DA.

The incident involving Kevin Dizmang was investigated and turned over the 4th Judicial District Attorneys Office for review, wrote CSPD communications officer Robert Tornabene by email.

In December, Fox 21 reported that CSPD officer Sean Reed and Colorado Springs Fire Department paramedic Nicholas Fischer were put on administrative leave pending investigation, but the departments did not immediately respond to questions about their employment status.

On Nov. 15, the Community Response Team initially responded to a 911 call about a man in the midst of a mental health crisis, according to reports.

Bodycam video released Wednesday by lawyers showed that when the team arrived, Dizmang was standing in a busy roadway as passersby attempted to keep him out of traffic. Dizmang was in apparent mental distress.

After initially putting his hands behind his back, Dizmang attempts to evade being handcuffed, pleading: Please, come on. No! I didnt do anything.

An El Paso County Sheriffs Office report from the next day said that a struggle ensued and the paramedic assisted the police officer, and that Dizmang was placed in handcuffs and became unresponsive. The paramedic immediately rendered medical aid.

But on video, after the responders urge him to submit to the handcuffs, Dizmang gets tackled by a responder, who is then seen leaning on the mans upper body as Dizmang lies in a prone position.

According to the footage, labeled 1 Reed Kenda James, the responders arm is around Dizmangs head and neck.

By the time the officer requests to see Dizmangs other hand so that it can be cuffed, the 63-year-old has gone limp.

Papa are you ok? asks a bystander. Hey, talk to me Kevin, he says. Talk to me brother.

He was pronounced dead at 5:45 p.m., according to the El Paso County coroner report, just one hour after responders were dispatched to the scene.

On Nov. 16, the El Paso County Sheriffs Office press release declared that they would be investigating the in-custody death.

According to the fire department, the specialized mental health response team is meant to keep people who dont need to go to an emergency room from doing so, and if needed, receive alternate care, according to local outlet The Gazette.

Each team is made up of a paramedic, police officer, and a clinicianthe kind of collaboration that many have called for in the wake of Floyds death so that people in the midst of crisis can receive medical services rather than an aggressive police response.

Our philosophy was that if we could duplicate every element from the emergency departments, bring them all into the field, streamline the process, and skip the emergency rooms, then wed be doing everybody a great service,Stein Bronsky, medical director for the Colorado Springs Fire Department, said in a previous interview with EMS World.

According to a 2017 article by local affiliate ABC 11, Dizmag had been receiving fewer hours of home health care to help him deal with posttraumatic stress disorder, brain injury, and personality disorder thanks to budget cuts.

Right now, its not even in survival mode, which no one should just have to live in just survival mode," Linda Dizmang, his then-wife, told the outlet at the time.

According to lawyer Harry Daniels, Dizmags daughter could not bring herself to watch the video of her dads final moments.

She wants justice, he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The white supremacist gunman who fatally shot 10 Black shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket last year was removed from a sentencing hearing on Wednesday after an enraged man tried to attack him.

After the emotional outburst, Payton Gendron, 19, was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole, by Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan.

He pleaded guilty in November to 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, one count of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, and one count of weapons possession for a May 14, 2022, mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets.

Three people survived the horrific rampage, which Gendron livestreamed on the internet.

Gendron posted a manifesto online that laid out his desire to eliminate Black people and preserve a white nation, citing other racist murderers as inspiration. He said he selected the Tops in Buffalo, a three-hour drive from his hometown of Conklin, because the neighborhood it was in was largely Black. To carry out the mass shooting, Gendron donned body armor and a tactical helmet, then opened fire using a semi-automatic rifle adorned with bigoted messages and symbols.

On Wednesday, impassioned family members of Gendrons victims addressed him in court.

We love our kids! Barbara Massey, whose 72-year-old sister, Katherine, died in the shooting, shouted at an orange-jumpsuited and bespectacled Gendron. We never go in no neighborhoods to take people out!

With that, a man in a gray sweatsuit rushed toward Gendron as bystanders pleaded, Dont do it! He was intercepted by court security before he got into striking range, and Gendron was escorted out.

The sentencing for Payton Gendron stopped and he was ushered out of court by sheriffs after the family member of one of the victims ran towards the suspect in an effort to attack him. pic.twitter.com/K5tu0Gt716  myles miller (@MylesMill) February 15, 2023

You dont know what were going through, someone yelled as Gendron was hurried away.

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A few minutes later, Gendron was brought back into the courtroom and the hearing continued.

We cannot have that in the courtroom, Eagan said. We must conduct ourselves appropriately because we are all better than that.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing some of the victims families in civil litigation related to the Tops shooting, addressed the media after the hearing was over.

Today was very painful, but it was necessary, he said. It was necessary because, to many people in America, theyve swept this matter under the rug. Sad to say, because there have been other mass shootings. And so it was necessary that these families remind everybody that this was real Its so important when you think about how they refuse to be marginalized.

Of the man who earlier lunged at Gendron in the courtroom, Crump said that nobody needs to pass judgement on him because no one can possibly know what they themselves would have done being that close to their loved ones executioner.

Thoughts and prayers only go so far, Crump intoned. At some point, we need legislation.

Prosecutors said Gendron meticulously planned the massacre, twice traveling to the Tops store prior to the shooting in order to become familiar with the location and make sure there were sufficient numbers of Black targets. Just 10 days after Gendrons attack, a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at a local elementary school.

When Gendron pleaded guilty last fall, his parents released a statement through their attorney, which said they remain shocked and shattered by their sons hideous attack.

Our hearts are broken over the devastation he caused to the innocent victims he killed and wounded, their families, and the African-American community in Buffalo and beyond, Paul and Pamela Gendron wrote.

On Wednesday, Gendron opted to address the victims relatives in court.

As he began to apologize for doing a terrible thing, one family member erupted with rage.

He doesnt mean none of that shit! she yelled.

The sentencing hearing comes just two days after a gunman opened fire on the campus of Michigan State University, killing three students and wounding five others. Some of those who lived through the horrifying incident had already survived mass shootings in high school.

In October, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a report detailing how fringe online platforms helped to influence and radicalize Gendron. The report pointed the finger at message boards like 4chan and streaming services like Twitch, saying they had been weaponized to publicize and encourage copycat violent attacks.

The pair called for legislative reforms to criminalize extremist content created by perpetrators of a homicide, penalties for those who share that same material, and increased accountability for companies that dont work to remove unlawful violent criminal content from their platforms.

Last month, a British teen was sentenced to 11.5 years for producing racist videos that reportedly influenced Gendron.

The state charges against Gendron will put him in prison for the rest of his life, without the possibility of parole. He is also facing pending federal charges, for which he could face a death sentence.

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Tyre Nichols death has stunned the nation. Video footage of his brutal beating at the hands of Memphis police officers is beyond comprehension. Amid public outcry and impassioned debate, civic leaders should look for solutions grounded in human accountability and data innovation.

Adrenaline is a natural byproduct of policing, but it is an officers responsibility to control adrenaline responses that can lead to bad outcomes, reining it in when approaching an unknown vehicle or activating it when chasing a fleeing subject, for example. The combination of controlled adrenaline and intellectual and emotional maturity is the training goal of every law enforcement academy, from Quantico where I completed my FBI training to the smallest local department.

Leaders need officers who can safely support the community without the ego that comes with undisciplined adrenaline, and with the flexibility to assist a woman in labor, administer opioid-overdose antidote Narcan and address a domestic abuse call  all in one day.

Revisit how police officers are evaluated

An uncontrolled ego is exacerbated when paired with unchecked power. When communities are overwhelmed with shootings, overdoses and random violent crime, city leaders look to specialized teams, such as anti-crime and street crimes task forces, to bring together officers with a track record of violent crime arrests to go after people holding illegal guns and drugs.

Rep. Lucy McBath: I lost my son to gun violence. Congress must spare other parents my grief.

For Black Americans in traffic stops: 'We carry the burden of ensuring we are not murdered'

We have seen what can happen in such circumstances when ego and unchecked power meet: The Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force, though given a noble mission, disbanded after eight officers were sentenced to a combined 112 years in prison on corruption charges.

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Police departments can eliminate toxic ego from the force by revisiting how officers are evaluated. That starts with mandatory peer accountability, rather than top-down performance reviews that are already in place in most departments.

Officers on the street know the good officers who they want to back them up. They also know the bad officers who are so toxic that should they arrive on scene, good officers leave to avoid being part of a bad stop or a complaint. Instituting mandatory peer reviews opens the door for officers to comfortably evaluate the performance of their colleagues and help superiors separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Policing is not only about the hardware like tasers, cameras and drones

In policing, when we talk about technology, it is almost always hardware such as tasers, cameras and drones. But policymakers are not doing enough to provide police departments with the software that will help police manage adrenaline, serve the community and use force wisely.

Cities and police departments collect a wealth of information each day from 311 and 911 systems and case management to make public policy decisions. But that data is not easily accessible to front-line officers rushing from call to call when in-the-moment context matters most to a citizen possibly having the worst day of their life.

Tiana Bridges participates in a demonstration on Jan. 28, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. Tyre Nichols, 29, was pulled over Jan. 7 by Memphis police, supposedly on suspicion of reckless driving. Nichols died three days after being severely beaten by five police officers.

It is vital for officers and dispatchers to understand the needs and nuances of a person involved in an emergency call as quickly as possible. To do so, they need information that goes beyond the simplified and biased National Crime Information Center's criminal history and warrant checks most departments rely on.

The officer, citizen and community would all be better served if departments could provide those on the beat or in the squad car with better context of potential social needs as they respond, not just in the aftermath of tragedy.

Our View: Police should stop making minor traffic stops that too often turn into major tragedies

Will Tyre Nichols' death bring reform?: Police unions stand in the way of change

When used properly, data can be used to remove or reduce biases during service calls and traffic stops. Police are expected to know the difference between a speeder or, say, a victim of domestic violence fleeing an abuser by the end of a pursuit. How much more effective would it be to avoid costly and potentially deadly assumptions by providing officers with more complete data before an encounter?

Policymakers and police leaders must learn from tragedies like Tyre Nichols' case. They must eliminate the toxic environments that make such tragedies possible, and that starts with policing grounded in accountability and restraint.

Empower officers to make data-driven decisions  rather than adrenaline-fueled gut decisions in the heat of the moment  and we can reduce not only crime rates but also future tragedies.

Andre McGregor is a former FBI agent and founder of ForceMetrics

Andre McGregor is a former FBI agent and founder of ForceMetrics, a mobile-ready technology platform providing police officers and dispatchers with community insights. Follow him on Twitter: @AndrePlusData

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: After police fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, probe data, accountability
Gov. JB Pritzker waves to the crowd after delivering his inaugural address during ceremonies Monday in Springfield.

Gov. JB Pritzker is set to give his first State of the State and budget address of his second term in office on Wednesday before the Illinois General Assembly.

When and where will Pritzker speak?

This year's address is scheduled to start at noon and will return to the House chamber for the first time in two years  being held last year at the Old State Capitol and virtually in 2021 because of the pandemic.

How can I watch?

Watch the address live online at www.ilga.gov.

What will the plan likely include?

The proposal from the governor will kick off a months-long process where state legislators and department heads formulate the budget for fiscal year 2024. The end of the 2023 Illinois General Assembly regular session is scheduled for May 19, and the new budget would go into effect on July 1.

Related:What to watch ahead of Gov. JB Pritzkers budget proposal to General Assembly lawmakers

Pritzker is helped by super-majorities held by fellow Democrats in both chambers.

A 78-40 majority in the House and 40-19 majority in the Senate will likely give the governor a greater chance to see movement on points made during his inaugural address last month.

Addressing the crowd at the Bank of Springfield Center, Pritzker said his second-term agenda would include free preschool for all Illinoisans and free college tuition for working-class families. Exact details on how much spending those initiatives would require were not shared, but would likely require a multi-year investment.

Past Coverage:Gov. JB Pritzker signs $46.5B budget including rebates, checks to Illinois taxpayers

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savannah, expressed concern about the plan during a press conference last month because of costs and instead supported an "earned tuition" program seen in several community colleges in the state.

In her first term as minority leader, she said Republicans are willing to work with the other side of the aisle if given the opportunity. The three bills composed of the fiscal year 2023 budget  House Bill 900, House Bill 4700 and Senate Bill 157  passed along party lines last year.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com@pkeckreporter.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: How to watch Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's State of the State address
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) endorsed former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for president on Wednesday, her first endorsement from the South Carolina congressional delegation.

We are at a pivotal point in our nation. While the Republican candidates, values, and messages have done very well here in South Carolina, that hasnt been the case everywhere across our great nation, Norman said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Its time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and theres no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my good friend, Nikki Haley! Norman said.

Norman is a member of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus and was one of the 20 House Republicans withholding support from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for Speaker in order to secure concessions on spending and rules to empower rank-and-file members. Norman pushed for the House to pass a plan to balance the federal budget.

After the Speaker vote, McCarthy appointed Norman and two other hard-line conservative lawmakers to the House Rules Committee, which controls legislation that can go to the House floor.

Norman has also been a supporter of former President Trump and voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results from Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021. Text messages reported by Talking Points Memo show that Norman texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021, encouraging Trump to invoke Marshall [sic] Law to investigate alleged election fraud.

Norman and Haley both served in the South Carolina State House starting in 2005, and he was an early supporter of her run for governor.

In comments to Fox News, Norman said that Trump was exactly who the Republican Party needed at the time in 2016 because he reminded us how to fight what we believe, but that the GOP has since entered a season of change.

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Were at a pivotal juncture, and most of the Republicans I know are now looking for new leadership with a new vision at the top of the ticket. Nikki Haley has that vision, and shes going to be an outstanding President, Norman told Fox News.

Haley is set to hold a presidential announcement event in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday. She is the second person to jump into what is expected to become a crowded GOP presidential primary.

Other South Carolina congressional lawmakers have praised Haley as she entered the presidential race, but stopped short of an official endorsement.

She has performed at the highest level in every elected and appointed position she has held, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a tweet on Tuesday.

I think its exciting. She is more than qualified for the job. Shes got experience on the global scale, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told CNN on Tuesday. Haley endorsed Mace in her 2022 primary as Trump endorsed a GOP challenger.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) is also considered to be a potential presidential candidate, and will attend a presidential forum alongside Haley in South Carolina next month.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call and Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images

Nikki Haley has already picked up one notable GOP endorsement since announcing her 2024 campaign.

Rep. Ralph Norman is backing the former South Carolina governor, touting her "new leadership."

Norman previously pushed Trump to institute "Marshall Law" just days before Biden's inauguration.

Nikki Haley has gained what appears to be her first congressional endorsement since launching her 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday: Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina.

A member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, Norman was a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump throughout his presidency.

That support took Norman to lengths that only a handful of other Republicans were willing to go.

Following the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, and just three days before President Joe Biden's inauguration, Norman texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and urged him to declare martial law  which would entail suspending the laws of the United States and imposing order through the military.

"We are at a point of [no return] in saving our Republic!!," wrote Norman in a text message first revealed by Talking Points Memo. "Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!"

Confronted later about the texts, Norman lamented to the Huffington Post that he'd misspelled the word "martial," and said he was "very frustrated then, I'm frustrated now."

But Norman, who was also among the 147 Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying election results in some states, appears to be putting those frustrations aside for now.

In a statement to Fox News, Norman said that though Trump was "exactly who the Republican Party needed at the time" who "came along and reminded us how to fight what we believe," he would be backing Haley as she challenges the former president for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

"The Republican Party has entered a season of change," said Norman. "We're at a pivotal juncture, and most of the Republicans I know are now looking for new leadership with a new vision at the top of the ticket."

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"Nikki Haley has that vision, and she's going to be an outstanding President," he added.

Norman, who called Haley a "good friend" on Twitter, previously served with Haley in the South Carolina legislature and backed her 2010 campaign for South Carolina governor. Haley later served as US ambassador to the United Nations for nearly two years under Trump.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Russel McDaniel, the contractor building a new home at 412 McCrea Ave. in Dennison, talks about the ongoing work.

DENNISON  Susan and Richard Householder have joined a growing list of people who have built new houses in the village of Dennison in the last decade.

The couple is building a 4,400-square-foot ranch-style house at 211 Hanna St., close to the entrance of the PHAC Park ballfields. It will have four bedrooms, including a mother-in-law suite for Susan's mother, Maureen Linnell; three and a half baths; and a screened in deck so they can sit out in the summertime and watch Little League games at the park. It will be handicap accessible to accommodate Richard, a disabled Iraq War veteran.

Their current home at 11 Sherman St.  just a block away  wasn't big enough.

"We have eight children and 16 grandkids and we needed a place with a big open space for holidays and things like that," Susan Householder said.

Though neither Susan nor Richard are Dennison natives, they like living in the area.

"This is a nice place to raise kids. It's a really close community," Susan said. "The reason why we're building over there is because of the community. We have the best neighbors just right here in our neighborhood. We do all kinds of things together."

Dennison has been declining in population since its heyday in the 1920s, when it had a population of more than 5,000. The 2020 census lists the village with 2,709 residents.

But it added 54 residents since 2010, a 2% increase. This was the first time the community has added residents in decades.

Aggressive action on dilapidated buildings

That growth can be attributed to aggressive action by village officials to tear down blighted buildings and sell the resulting vacant lots to people willing to build.

Since 2010, the village or property owners have demolished 76 deteriorating structures.

The Householders bought the property on Hanna Street and had the house there torn down in 2021. It had stood empty for at least 12 years. They split the cost of demolition with the village.

A new home under construction on Hanna Street in Dennison.

In the same time period, 20 new houses have been built or are being built in Dennison. This includes the new Lakeside Heights subdivision off Fette Road on the northeast edge of town. All nine lots in the subdivision have been sold, according to Mayor Greg DiDonato.

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Demolishing old houses has helped reduce drug activity, as well as problems with squatters. "So it's saving us valuable time policing them," the mayor said. "It's just built a better environment."

Even the sale of lots that are too small to build on are a benefit to the community, he said. The lots are cleaned up and the new owners are paying taxes on the property.

A new home under construction on Hanna Street in Dennison. The village has added 54 residents since 2010, a 2% increase.

DiDonato said residents are pleased with the results.

"I own a home here. I don't want it devalued," he said. "The people who have pride take care of their home. It is an investment and you're protecting them. In most cases, they're the people who are involved in the community."

He noted that houses have been selling for good prices in Dennison in recent years.

"If the neighborhoods are deteriorating, no one's getting anything for their homes," DiDonato said.

Investing in Dennison and Uhrichsville

Russel McDaniel, who is retired from the construction business, is building a new house on a 50-by-150 lot at 412 McCrea Ave. that he hopes to sell when it is completed.

The 1,360-square-foot residence will have two bedrooms, two baths and a double garage. He said it would be an ideal starter house or a retirement home.

He owned Mac Construction, which built about 75 houses in four or five different counties over the years. Now he builds houses to keep busy in the winter months and help pay for retirement.

"Now it's relaxing. I enjoy doing it. It's not like a job anymore. It's more or less a hobby now," he said.

Russel McDaniel, who is retired from the construction business, is building a new house on a 50-by-150 lot at 412 McCrea Ave. that he hopes to sell when it is completed.

Over the past four years, McDaniel has built four new houses in Uhrichsville and flipped a house on Seventh Street in Uhrichsville two years ago.

He said he thinks investing in Dennison and Uhrichsville is a good idea.

"This is my home. I'd rather spend my time and money here than I would traveling," he said.

The Householders hope to have their new house finished sometime this year. Then they plan on renting out their current home on Sherman Street.

Susan said Dennison is a nice place to retire or to raise children.

"It's a nice small community," she said. "And even though it's little town, everything is right here. We don't have to go very far to the grocery store or the hospital or downtown or the ball game. It's really convenient."

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: New houses going up as Dennison sees rare population surge
This cold brew coffee is a hit with fans of Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Here's how to make a copycat version at home. (Photo: Jenny Kellerhals)

Forget about blue milk. When I'm visiting Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the very first drink I lay my hands on is the Cold Brew Black Caf  an outer rim-themed cold brew coffee drink topped with a dense creamy foam and Cocoa Puffs-style cereal. And since I'm usually visiting Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort and I'm of legal drinking age, you can bet your light saber it's going to be a Spiked Cold Brew Black Caf from Kat Saka's Kettle. (At Disneyland Resort, you'll find the non-alcoholic version of the drink at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo.)

It checks all the boxes for an early morning Disney vacation drink: iced (because it's probably hotter than Tatooine in Florida), strong coffee, Star Wars-themed and gently boozy. I grab one first thing in the morning, when Kat Saka's opens at 8:30 a.m., then again sometime in the afternoon before waiting in line to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. A breakfast of Cold Brew Black Caf and a Ronto Morning Wrap is the absolute best way to start the day, as far as I'm concerned. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"Guests line up waiting for Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo to open just to get their favorite coffee," Amy Benson, the executive chef at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland Resort tells Yahoo Life,. "We also see that mobile order is consistently booked specifically for this offering.

This galactic cold brew is one of the things I miss the most once I'm home from vacation. But since I live roughly 1,000 miles away from Hollywood Studios, I realized I'd either have to go without it for another few months or try to recreate it at home. Naturally, I chose to recreate it.

Cream cheese makes this cold brew out-of-this-world

The menu lists the Cold Brew Black Caf ingredients as, "Joffrey's Coffee cold brew topped with sweet cream cheese and chocolate puffs." The spiked version has the addition of chocolate liqueur.

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Cold brew coffee is a necessity first thing in the morning, but where the drink gets interesting is the "sweet cream cheese" topping that floats like a thick cloud on top. Also known as cheese foam or cheese mousse, the topping took social media by surprise a few years ago when it became popular served atop boba tea.

A cream cheese foam tops this boozy Disney cold brew. (Photo: Jenny Kellerhals)

Disney Parks was quick to pick up on the trend and released the first Cold Brew Black Caf exclusively at Disneyland in June 2021. "Originally, the Cold Brew Black Caf was a pilot to see how guests would respond to a new offering and I think it is safe to say it was a hit and won't be going anywhere for a while," says Benson. It took nearly a year after the original launch in Disneyland for the drink to be released to fans at Walt Disney World in June 2022, but it was absolutely worth the wait.

"The Cold Brew Black Caf is a Southeast Asian-inspired iced coffee," explains Benson. "The team wanted to create a unique guest experience that cross-utilized multiple cultures. Seeing the drink take on a life of its own through social media and becoming one of the best-selling Disneyland Park cold brew offerings has been very rewarding."

The "sweetened cream cheese" foam is similar to a delicately-sweetened thick-whipped cream made with cream cheese, powdered sugar and a combination of milk and cream. It's whipped together, spooned over your cold drink and can be used on both coffee and tea. If you're having trouble wrapping your mind around drinking whipped cream cheese on top of your cold brew, just imagine a less-sweet frosting made specifically for coffee, or a very thick and stable whipped cream. And believe me when I tell you, it doesn't taste nearly as cheesy as you might be imagining.

In fact, this coffee isn't especially sweet either, unlike a lot of other theme park drinks. Most of the gentle sweetness comes from the cheese foam or the chocolate liqueur. So, even though it's fun to look at with the foam floating on top, you'll want to stir it into the drink for the best-tasting flavor.

How to make your own copycat Black Caf

In an effort to re-create the Cold Brew Black Caf as closely as possible, I ordered a bag of Joffrey's Cold Brew Blend online and made my own at home. I used about one cup of ground coffee with two quarts of water and brewed it overnight in the fridge before straining it. Although Joffrey's is the official coffee of Disney, you can really use any kind of cold brew coffee beans or buy a bottle of pre-brewed coffee for the same effect.

If you're making the spiked version of the drink, pour about two ounces of chocolate liqueur (I used Godiva) into eight ounces of cold brew and stir together with ice.

After whipping my cream cheese foam into peaks, I topped my iced coffee with it and tossed on some chocolate puff cereal. (Photo: Jenny Kellerhals)

Next, I whipped together softened cream cheese with a pinch of salt and confectioner's sugar until it was combined and looked like frosting. To turn it into the whipped topping, I added half-and-half in three small parts, blending it thoroughly each time before adding more. Then I whipped the mixture into soft glossy peaks, just like I would when making whipped cream. I poured a few spoonfuls of sweet cream cheese foam on top of the cold brew, then finished the drink with a handful of chocolate puffs cereal.

If you're craving a little bit of Batuu at home, this copycat cold brew recipe is easy to put together and makes about three drinks' worth. Bright suns indeed.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Copycat Cold Brew Black Caf

Courtesy of Jenny Kellerhals

(Photo: Jenny Kellerhals)

Makes 3 drinks

Ingredients:

3 cups cold brew coffee

4 ounces softened cream cheese

5 tablespoons powdered sugar

Pinch of salt

 cup half-and-half

6 ounces chocolate liqueur (optional)

Chocolate puffs cereal (Cocoa Puffs, or similar)

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt with a hand mixer or milk frother until completely combined.

2. Slowly pour in the half-and-half in three portions, fully incorporating the liquid into the cream cheese mixture each time.

3. Once all of the half-and-half has been mixed in, continue to whip the topping until soft peaks form and the cheese foam is glossy.

4. Fill glasses with cold brew coffee and stir in chocolate liqueur if using. Top with ice, leaving enough space at the top of the glass for the foam and cereal.

5. Spoon the sweet cheese foam over the coffee, and top with a handful or two of chocolate puffs cereal. Any leftover cheese foam can be wrapped and stored for a day or two in the refrigerator but might need to be re-whipped to bring it back to full volume.

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Lifes newsletter. Sign up here.
Hulu has a new true crime documentary connecting the dots between the suspects and victims.

A new Hulu true crime documentary, How I Caught My Killer released in January covers the stories of homicide cases where the victims or law enforcement were able to capture killers involved in the crimes.

The sixth episode entitled,  You can see panic, covers the story of 14-year-old April Milsap from Armada who was walking her dog when she was brutally killed.

Who was April Milsap?

April was a 14-year-old girl walking the family dog "Penny" along the popular Macomb Orchard Trail who had just graduated from Armada Middle School and was planning for high school.

She was the only child of her mother Jennifer Milsap.

April Milsap's death in 2014

April was walking her dog along the Macomb Orchard Trail alone on July 24, 2014, in Armada. When her attacker asked for sexual advances she declined.

The last text April sent was to her boyfriend it said "I think I almost got kidnapped omfg" before she was attacked from behind with a motorcycle helmet and then dragged into the woods where she was beaten and stomped to death.

A couple who were walking along the trail found the teen's body and notified authorities.

In 2016, the Free Press reported that the teenager had 48 injuries from her attacker with the bulk of the injuries being on her face, neck and upper chest according to the autopsy.

The autopsy ruled her death as a result of blunt head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression.

More:July trial ordered for former GOP gubernatorial candidate charged for Jan. 6 connection

More:Body cam footage shows 2019 arrest of MSU shooting suspect Anthony McRae

Who killed April Milsap?

James VanCallis, 32, of Goodells stomped and strangled Milsap and was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping and assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in 2016.

During the trial, VanCallis declared he was innocent but the jury decided otherwise. He told the court there were no witnesses to prove him guilty and not enough evidence.

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However, there were almost three dozen prosecution witnesses ranging from April's mother to scientific experts to VanCalli's ex-girlfriend who said she saw him cleaning the shoes he wore to Armada the day he killed April. She also said that she found human hair and grass in his hoodie after the homicide.

He was found guilty because he was seen riding his motorcycle in Armada before the murder and eyewitnesses told police they saw him near the trail as well. Plus Michigan law enforcement used a tracking app to locate April's phone. VanCallis was riding along on a motorcycle with Milsap's cell phone in his pocket. Police were able to track him down because of that.

Where is James VanCallis now?

VanCallis now 41, is currently serving life in prison without parole, currently housed and Chippewa Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hulu documentary features Michigan homicide story of April Milsap
Following a dispute over a paternity test, Playboi Carti was detained in Georgia for allegedly choking his pregnant girlfriend.

The post Iggy Azalea Calls Playboi Carti A Serial Abuser Of Women Following His Arrest For Allegedly Choking Pregnant Girlfriend appeared first on Blavity.

The woman allegedly told police that the rapper grabbed her by the throat and shoved her, gripping her neck until she could hardly breathe, according to the arrest document, which TMZ was able to obtain. She even told the police that she feared dying.

The woman informed police she was 14 weeks pregnant on Dec. 20 and had been seeing Playboi Carti for 2 years. She also said to have been living with him since July 2022. According to the woman, an argument about a paternity test developed into a physical attack after she told police she wanted to speak with Playboi Carti about the baby. She said that after a witness intervened to try to break up the altercation, Carti attacked her once more when she managed to get away and run to her car.

According to the alleged victim, She attempted to use the cars SOS function to phone the police, and Carti attempted to drag her out of the vehicle while placing his palm over her mouth. The woman reportedly had apparent bruises on her neck, chest, and back when officers arrived.

Jordan Carter, also known as Playboi Carti, was detained on suspicion of felony aggravated assault.

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, Brian Steel, his attorney told TMZ.

Many people, including Iggy Azalea, who is the mother of Cartis child, weighed in as soon as the news broke. From December 2018 to December 2019, they were an item, and in June of 2020, Azalea gave birth to a baby boy. In October 2020, four months after the birth of their baby, she revealed that she and her ex-boyfriend were no longer together, adding that they were co-parenting their child.

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Back in 2022, according to Blavity, Azalea called out Carti for implying that he takes care of her.

On Tuesday, moments after news of the alleged altercation with his pregnant girlfriend spread, Azalea hopped on Twitter to criticize her baby daddy.

Imagine having a pregnant girlfriend and pretending they dont exist until it comes out you like to abuse them too  & rarely visiting your actual son unless is because youre running from whatever problems ya got going on in Atlanta & the press with your serial abuse of woman, the Australian rapper tweeted.

Imagine having a pregnant girlfriend and pretending they dont exist until it comes out you like to abuse them too 

& rarely visiting your actual son unless is because youre running from whatever problems ya got going on in Atlanta & the press with your serial abuse of woman   IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 14, 2023

It even sounds like she previously tried to warn his girlfriend about his actions.
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian parliamentary body on Wednesday approved President Joko Widodo's controversial emergency regulation on job creation, lawmakers said, paving the way for its passage into law at a plenary session.

The president, popularly known by his nickname Jokowi, issued the emergency decree late last year to replace the Jobs Creation law, arguing that ongoing global economic uncertainty gave him the legal basis to exercise executive authority. Once approved by parliament, the decree will become a permanent law.

Originally passed in 2020, the jobs law revised more than 70 other laws and was lauded by foreign investors for streamlining business rules in Southeast Asia's largest economy. But critics saw it as hurting labour rights and eroding environmental protection.

But the Constitutional Court ruled in 2021 that the law was flawed due to inadequate public consultations and ordered a renewed debate process in parliament within two years.

Some legal experts have criticised Jokowi's emergency decree as a ploy to bypass a proper debate and not comply with the court order.

Trade unions have held several relatively small protests against the decree. Last month, a group of Indonesians asked the Constitutional Court to carry out a judicial review of the decree.

But deputy chair of parliament's Legislative Body, Abdul Wahid, said the routine procedure would take too long and there was an "urgent need to resolve legal issues quickly".

It was not immediately clear when parliament would conduct the plenary vote on Jokowi's emergency regulation. Jokowi's coalition controls more than 80% of seats in parliament.

Lawmakers typically follow the endorsement of parliament's Legislative Body.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
Finding out about a spouse or partners infidelity and killing them in a heat of passion is no longer a valid legal defense in Massachusetts, the states supreme court ruled on Valentines Day.

The ruling affirms the murder convictions of Peter Ronchi, who authorities said stabbed his pregnant girlfriend 15 times when she was nine months pregnant, killing her and the fetus the evening of May 16, 2009, in Salem, according to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Ronchi testified he flew into a fit of rage and blacked out upon hearing Yuliya Galperina falsely say he wasnt the father of their baby during a fight, the court wrote. Afterward, he found himself covered in blood and placed a sheet over her body before turning himself into police the next day.

At trial, there was no dispute that he killed Galperina, the court said, but Ronchi argued that his murder charge should be reduced to manslaughter and said the killing was the result of a heat of passion upon reasonable provocation  the provocation being he was told she was unfaithful to him, according to the court.

The states high court disagreed with Ronchis argument, tossed out his appeal for a lesser charge and used the opportunity to get rid of the states misogynistic legal precedent in place, the Feb. 14, 46-page ruling shows.

Words alone are not sufficient provocation to reduce the crime of murder to manslaughter, the court wrote.

The now tossed-out legal precedent rests upon a shaky, misogynistic foundation and has no place in our modern jurisprudence, the court also wrote. Going forward, we no longer will recognize that an oral discovery of infidelity satisfies the objective element of something that would provoke a reasonable person to kill his or her spouse.

Justice Elspeth B. Cypher, while agreeing with the courts opinion, wrote separately to emphasize the fact that there are higher chances for pregnant women to die of homicide, or soon after giving birth, than from the top three leading causes of maternal mortality in the U.S. She cited a study on the issue published in the journal The BMJ in October.

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The brutal facts of this case are not an anomaly, Cypher wrote. The disconcerting frequency of lethal violence against pregnant women warrants concomitant response from our justice system.

After fully reviewing the facts of Ronchis case, the court ultimately decided theres no need for a new trial to reduce his earlier convictions.

Laws between states vary when it comes to a crime, such as murder, carried out during a heat of passion in response to being provoked, according to Cornell Law School. Traditionally, words, such as being verbally told a partner had cheated, are not sufficient enough for this defense.

Husband tried hiring undercover agent to kill his wife and her new boyfriend, feds say

Man caught with water gun full of poison was on way to kill ex-wife in Texas, feds say

Man shot ex-girlfriend 15 times because she didnt answer his calls, Florida cops say
Antony is expected to miss Manchester Uniteds clash with Barcelona (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

Antony, Anthony Martial and Scott McTominay were absent from Manchester United training ahead of the mouth-watering Europa League trip to Barcelona.

Erik ten Hags side take on the LaLiga leaders at the Nou Camp on Thursday evening in the first leg of their knockout play-off.

Antony, Martial and McTominay are set to miss the match through injury having missed training at Carrington on Wednesday morning ahead of flying to Spain.

Lisandro Martinez and on-loan Marcel Sabitzer are suspended for the first leg in Barcelona, but Casemiro is available as his current ban only impacts domestic matches.

The Europa League play-off is shaping up to be an exciting clash that manager Ten Hag believes would have been worthy of the final.

I think Barcelona and (us) as well (would) have preferred to play (this match) in the final, he told UEFA.

We are looking forward (to it), it (takes) a lot of energy searching for that finish, and it will be a great game.

Hopefully, everyone is fit for Barcelona and for us. So we see a game (that will be played) at the highest level.

As a player, I admire (Xavi). Barcelona, the way (they) played with him: he was such an important part of the team, you can see that the philosophy he now brings (to the team) is his Barcelona.

I really like his team, the attacking way of play. I think he is (heading) in the right direction. I think its going to be a good challenge between Manchester United and Barcelona.
During New York Fashion Week, the Black in Fashion Council facilitated private viewings of Talleys collection at Christies.

During New York Fashion Week, the Black in Fashion Council facilitated private viewings of Talleys collection at Christies.

NEW YORK  When Andre Leon Talley died on Jan. 18, 2022, the bustling fashion world came to a standstill. The Durham, North Carolina, native was a trailblazer, the first Black creative director at Vogue, and to this day is the highest-ranking Black person to have been listed on the Vogue U.S. masthead. It is because of Talley that we can thrive in fashion, a sentiment that many Black industry leaders have echoed.

A public figure who was often described as larger-than-life, towering at 66 with an unmistakable booming voice, 73-year-old Talley was a private person. Fashion functioned as an armor  clothes caressing Talley from the callous racism and homophobia that his white counterparts spewed at him  but also as a means of expression and extravagance.

A portrait of a young Andre Leon Talley hangs between his two personalized Birkin bags.

A portrait of a young Andre Leon Talley hangs between his two personalized Birkin bags.

My personal style evolved over decades, and it is fundamentally the awareness that a man can dress with splendor, in full-blown over-the-topness, and be admired for it, he once said.

Those words now adorn the walls of Christies, a British auction house with an American branch at Rockefeller Center, where Talleys personal effects will be auctioned off in person on Wednesday. The Collection of Andre Leon Talley is up for grabs, with bids ranging from $300 to $200,000.

A public figure who was often described as larger-than-life, towering at 66 with an unmistakable, booming voice, 73-year-old Talley was a private person.

A public figure who was often described as larger-than-life, towering at 66 with an unmistakable, booming voice, 73-year-old Talley was a private person.

There are 68 lots of his belongings  marvelous caftans, his Louis Vuitton trunk collection, personalized Birkin bags, Versace shirts and more  available for online bidding until Thursday. Proceeds will be split between his home churches, the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Durham.

Talley, who had no heirs, left a very clear will, the executor of his estate Alexis E. Thomas told The New York Times. He instructed Thomas to sell his belongings, donating the proceeds to the institution that first introduced him to fashion: the Black church.

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A photo of Talley on Paris' Pont Alexandre III in June 2013, captured by photographer Jonathan Becker.

A photo of Talley on Paris' Pont Alexandre III in June 2013, captured by photographer Jonathan Becker.

On the weekends [my grandmother] rose, and we marched off into church and I discovered fashion, he once said. Everyone in the church was the Queen. Every sister, every niece, every woman, every man.

During New York Fashion Week, the Black in Fashion Council facilitated private viewings of Talleys collection at Christies. Upon entry, onlookers are met with a photo of Talley on Paris Pont Alexandre III in June 2013, captured by photographer Jonathan Becker, and a mannequin donning Talleys red and gilt metallic trim two-piece wool military suit.

From alligator and crocodile Prada coats to grand portraits of Talley that lined the hallways, the collection captures his essence.

From alligator and crocodile Prada coats to grand portraits of Talley that lined the hallways, the collection captures his essence.

His impeccable taste shined through his robust luggage collections, crocodile and alligator coats from Prada and simple pleasures such as his boating hats. Grand portraits of him and photographers with figures such as Andy Warhol and Oprah lined the walls, displaying Talley in all of his excellence.

As we meandered through the halls of the exhibition, his essence was felt there. Chatter reverberated through Christies, reminiscent of a family reunion of sorts brought on by his death, but indicative of the awe and respect so many fashion insiders have for Talley.

"I simply need a Louis Vuitton oversized trunk to travel with," Talley once said.

When the fashion sale of the century was announced, the internet was ablaze with opinions about the preservation of Black art, Black fashion history and our elders. Questions arose about whether our beloved icons belongings should even be on display for public consumption, the white gaze and consumerism, and most importantly, who would end up owning his most prized possessions.

Would they be treated with care, and would wealthy white bidders understand the importance of Talleys possessions? If items are unsold, how would they be preserved? As thought-provoking as those perennial questions are, Talleys wishes are of the utmost importance, and to be honored above all else.

The masterfully curated collection captures Talley beautifully and his memory lives on.

I take my story with me wherever I go, he once said. The past is always in the present.

Related...
Aicha Kone, (Clockwise from top left) Sylvia "Gbaby" Cohen, Marvin "MOA" Obasogie Aimiuwu, Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju, Fran Washington and John Onobrakpeya. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A cultural staple in Los Angeles since 1992, the annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival got underway at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on Feb. 9 and runs until Feb. 20. Not even Super Bowl Sunday could keep PAFF ArtFest devotees away from the marketplace, where more than 100 artists from around the globe displayed fine art, fashion and decor inspired by the traditions and aesthetics of the African diaspora. Regulars reconnected with their favorite returning artisans as teens snapped selfies while modeling handcrafted jewelry, and more than a few shoppers dropped Valentines Day gift hints to their companions. Times photographer Carolyn Cole wound her way through stands brimming over with one-of-a-kind statement jewelry, oil paintings, metal sculptures and handwoven textiles to capture the vibrant scene.

John Onobrakpeya is one of six artists who traveled from Nigeria to show their artwork at the 2023 Pan African Film & Arts Festival's ArtFest at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Nigerian artist John Onobrakpeya was one of the first exhibitors guests laid eyes on when entering ArtFest on Sunday. A professional artist for four decades and a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, he employs acrylic, charcoal, resin and mixed media techniques in his abstract expressionist and impressionist works, and creates sculptures and dancing water fountains.

Damola Adepoju of Nigeria stands in front of his painting "Land of Abundance." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

I came purposefully because of the PAFF, said Lagos-based artist Damola Adepoju , standing in front of his painting Land of Abundance. He traveled to the U.S. with five other Nigerian artists to sell their artwork at the festival, conduct live demonstrations of their crafts and attend art talks. We get to hear other people in the diaspora talk about their art and were bringing the stories of Nigeria to Los Angeles.

Adepoju, at PAFF for his sixth consecutive exhibition, said he was glad to see that crowds have returned to the festival, adding that this years turnout came as a welcome relief.

Artist Marvin "MOA" Obasogie Aimiuwu poses in front of his batik and acrylic painting "Lively Journey." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Artist Marvin MOA Obasogie Aimiuwu stood in front of Lively Journey, a batik and acrylic painting created on linen, mounted on heavy canvas, adorned with gold and hung from hand-sculpted cherry wood. Originally from Nigeria, he lives in Rancho Cucamonga and has sold his mixed media works at the festival for 12 years. A lot of clients become close friends  theyre more like family, he said.

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Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju of Nigeria stands in front of one of his paintings, titled "United We Stand." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju traveled from Lagos, Nigeria, to showcase a table he painted as part of the fine art furniture exhibition All Artists Have a Seat at the Table, a collaboration between Ikea and seven selected PAFF artists. Here, he posed in front of one of his paintings, titled United We Stand, which was inspired by a speech President Biden delivered during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sculptures by artist Woodrow Nash are on exhibit at the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The ethereal tribal stoneware busts of Akron, Ohio-based ceramic sculptor Woodrow Nash commanded attention in the center of the festivals fine arts section.

Fran Washington attends the PAFF ArtFest on Feb. 12. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Fran Washington of Los Angeles is a longtime festival attendee. I come every year, she said, noting that she bought African jewelry and a painting for her home during previous visits. I always find something that I need. Last year, I fell in love with a dress and I came back looking for it and found it!

Sylvia "Gbaby" Cohen wears one of her own designs. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Sylvia Gbaby Cohen , wearing one of her own creations, began selling her hand-painted bags and homeware adorned with inspiring messages at the festival 20 years ago. After a five-year hiatus  she relocated from L.A. to Atlanta  she flew back to join the group of tight-knit regulars and to present a chair she painted for the All Artists Have a Seat at the Table exhibition. Just before this photograph was taken, Cohen sold a painting to a Facebook follower she had never met; the transaction caused the artist to become misty-eyed. I was just so excited by how it moved her, she explained.

Jonathan Johnson, 40, attends the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

On the second floor of the ArtFest, Jonathan Johnson browsed through the array of stalls selling African textiles, home decor and wearable art.

Aicha Kone is exhibiting and selling textiles at the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Aicha Kone presided over stacks of African fabrics that she collected from Mali, Ivory Coast and elsewhere in Africa. Born in Guinea, she lives in Fremont and owns Arts Africains, an imported crafts boutique in Emeryville. Kone started selling her African clothing and body care products at the festival more than 20 years ago. She said she knows most of the crafters and vendors who attend the fest each year, adding that she sells her imported African textiles to some of the other exhibitors.

Sandra Zebi, who has participated in the festival for 27 years, holds up her painting "Baiana." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Sandra Zebi , a painter and functional ceramics designer, draws inspiration from the women of her multicultural homeland, Brazil, as can be seen in this painting, Baiana. The Marina del Rey-based artist has participated in the festival for 27 years. What I love about it here is the community, she said. People support and really care for the arts; theyre not just buying because theyre passing by.

Andre Fields, the owner of Wanawake Hats, has brought his assortment of sunhats, fedoras and visors to the festival for 10 years. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Andre Fields, the owner of Wanawake Hats, is originally from Nairobi and now lives in L.A. He travels the country  from events in New Orleans and Baltimore to the Brentwood Farmers Market  selling richly colored raffia hats handwoven by East African artisans. Hes brought his assortment of sunhats, fedoras and visors to the festival for 10 years.

Carolyn Jones and Wesley Carter were visiting the ArtFest for the first time and were drawn to a collection of Cameroonian statues. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Local couple Carolyn Jones and Wesley Carter were visiting the ArtFest for the first time and were drawn to a collection of Cameroonian statues on the fine art level, as well as the natural oils and soaps sold on the second floor. I think they should do this all the time because this stuff is so beautiful, Jones said. The only time you see vendors like this is during Black History Month.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Russias strategy of attacking Bakhmut and Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast aims to delay Ukraines counteroffensive, Andriy Yusov, the Ukrainian Defense Ministrys Main Intelligence Directorate spokesperson, reported on Feb. 15.

Yusov also said the ongoing Russian offensive isnt comparable to the scale of the large-scale invasion of Feb. 24, as Russia faces equipment issues despite having mobilized manpower.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraines Main Intelligence Directorate, said in an interview on Jan. 4 that Ukraine is planning a major counteroffensive in spring, expecting the fighting to be the hottest in March.

According to the latest report from the Institute for the Study of War, U.S. defense planners expressed concern about the Ukrainian determination to hold Bakhmut, suggesting prioritizing the preparation for the spring counteroffensive instead.

However, the ISW continues to assess that the decision to defend Bakhmut is likely a strategically sound effort despite its costs for Ukraine, due to the significant costs incurred by Russian forces that will likely set favorable conditions for a future Ukrainian counteroffensive.

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, 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, Russias Wagner mercenaries had almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into 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.


How far off is Pilbara Minerals Limited (ASX:PLS) 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. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

Check out our latest analysis for Pilbara Minerals

The Method

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. 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.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (A$, Millions) AU$2.42b AU$1.50b AU$1.20b AU$1.72b AU$1.30b AU$1.30b AU$1.31b AU$1.32b AU$1.34b AU$1.36b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x6 Analyst x6 Analyst x6 Analyst x4 Analyst x3 Est @ 0.11% Est @ 0.66% Est @ 1.04% Est @ 1.31% Est @ 1.49% Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 8.5% AU$2.2k AU$1.3k AU$937 AU$1.2k AU$861 AU$794 AU$736 AU$685 AU$640 AU$598

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = AU$10.0b

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The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 1.9%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.5%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = AU$1.4b (1 + 1.9%)  (8.5% 1.9%) = AU$21b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= AU$21b ( 1 + 8.5%)10= AU$9.2b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is AU$19b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of AU$4.9, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 24% 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

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Pilbara Minerals as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.113. 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 Pilbara Minerals

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Weakness

No major weaknesses identified for PLS.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the Australian market.

Next Steps:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Pilbara Minerals, we've compiled three important elements you should look at:

Financial Health: Does PLS have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for PLS's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Australian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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One of the spring rounds of negotiations between the delegations of Ukraine and Russia - since then Kyiv does not believe in the possibility of substantive negotiations with Moscow

Sergei Kapkov, Abramovichs former deputy during his work as the governor of the Russian province of Chukota, has served as a key proxy figure for the oligarch in contacts regarding the exchange of prisoners or the grain agreement.

The independent Russian media publication Meduza reported on Kapkovs role and the current state of the negotiation process between Ukraine and Russia, referring to several sources from both sides and within Abramovichs entourage.

NV provides the most important takeaways from this report.

After the Bucha massacre, there have been almost no substantive negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. A Meduza source familiar with the negotiation process from the Ukrainian side reported that there is no political component in the negotiation process in 2023, and a full-fledged peaceful settlement is out of the question. This state of affairs has been maintained since Ukraine revealed the scale of the Russian military's atrocities in the occupied territories in the spring of 2022.

Read also: Presidential advisor Podolyak names only possible Ukrainian "delegates"

Bucha stunned many Western politicians, and most importantly, it created this as a background, said a Meduza source close to the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The fact is that in Ukraine, political decisions cannot be made contrary to the interests of society. As of today, a compromise (regarding the terms of ending the war with Russia) is categorically unacceptable.

Ukrainain presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak confirmed this to Meduza. According to him, no serious negotiations are possible until Russia gives up its claims on Ukrainian territory.

In Podolyaks assessment, the Kremlins conditions can be briefly summarized as: You must give up sovereignty and You must admit that we have the right to occupy your territories.

Podolyak explains that the fulfillment of any of these conditions will mean the slow death of the Ukrainian state, which makes negotiations impossible.

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After Bucha, it became clear: any negotiations will only slow down the genocidal destruction of Ukraine  we wont be allowed to exist as a state, Podolyak said.

In the spring of 2022, the Russian negotiating team lacked the authority to make any commitments for its side from the very beginning.

Meduzas report states that immediately after the invasion and the first attempts at negotiation, both delegations did have hope that negotiations could change the situation and stop the full-scale war  but that hope quickly vanished into thin air. Thus, the Ukrainian delegation was convinced that the Russians were forced to consult with Moscow on every little matter during the negotiations.

A close acquaintance of former Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky (who headed the Russian delegation at the negotiations) explained to Meduza that the Russian official delegation had not been selected from thawed hawks. Meduzas sources only spoke of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin as crazy since he repeated delusional propaganda about denazification and seriously believed it.

This made clear that in the negotiations during the spring of 2022, the Russian delegation was not authorized to conduct dialogue on its own, a close acquaintance of one of the participants in the negotiations said.

All [members of the Russian delegation] came with ready-made pieces of paper  there were no improvisations, Meduzas source said.

If any item that required discussion had come up, they took time, wrote to their first persons, and did not decide anything themselves. At the same time, the Russian negotiators did not understand what these first persons would specifically decide on a specific issue, and what would happen on the front.

In a conversation with the publication, Podolyak gave an example of how, when asked whether Russia is ready to withdraw its troops, the Russian negotiators answered: They will stay where they are, and even go further.

It was strange, Podolyak said.

It looked something like we cant capture the cities, so you should give them to us.

This convinced the Ukrainian side that no Russian negotiating group actually existed.

This was not surprising, Podolyak said.

The whole configuration of the Russian government does not allow for specific independent decisions to be made at different levels. Thus, the guys who came to the negotiations (like any Russian delegations in principle) are exclusively a propaganda wagon, and not people who have the right to independently evaluate the negotiation process, change positions, or conduct a dialogue.

Read also: Abramovich loses influence as mediator between Ukraine and Russia, WSJ report says

Abramovich was and remains one of the most active intermediaries between Kyiv and Moscow. A Meduza source close to the Russian government reported that Abramovich became part of the negotiation process on his own initiative, but his participation was personally approved by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who had long been familiar with the businessman.

A Meduza source in Kyiv, who was familiar with the negotiation process, also said that Abramovich himself had contacted the Ukrainian side and offered himself as a mediator.

According to two close acquaintances of Abramovich, who spoke with Meduza on the condition of anonymity, the oligarch really hoped to find a way to settle the conflict. One of the sources noted Abramovich had prioritized his negotiation work even above his own businesses in recent months.

There is no point in talking to him about business now, as he loses interest in a minute because his head is full of other things, said one of Meduzas sources familiar with the negotiations process.

In response, he tells you: Listen, did you read what (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy said yesterday? What do you think will happen now? And what can be done? He is much more interested in this. At the same time, if Abramovich was previously indeed a full-fledged mediator between Russia and Ukraine, now his efforts are much less significant, since the entire negotiation process is reduced only to the discussion of prisoner swaps and individual issues such as the grain agreement.

Kapkov has emerged as a new figure in the contacts between Kyiv and Moscow. Meduza calls him a person from Abramovichs entourage. Kapkov has a long working relationship with the billionaire. Among other things, he worked as Abramovichs deputy when the latter was the governor of Chukotka in the early 2000s. Later, Kapkov headed the Moscow Department of Culture and in the early 2010s, he was known as one of the creators of Sobyanin's Moscow (referring to the transformations of the city undertaken by incumbent Mayor Sergey Sobyanin). For example, he led the reconstruction of Gorky Park, which became a popular recreation spot in the Russian capital.

The information that Abramovich had involved Kapkov in the dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow and made him, according to one of the interlocutors, his proxy, was confirmed to Meduza by two sources familiar with the negotiation process. They pointed to the fact that Kapkov was granted entry to Ukraine, and that less than a year ago, in addition to his Russian citizenship, he also obtained Israeli citizenship.

A knowledgeable Meduza source added that Abramovich had chosen Kapkov for this work because he considered him a conscious person who, moreover, was not sanctioned and could move freely around the world. Kapkov has recently visited Kyiv and Istanbul on behalf of Abramovich, two acquaintances of Kapkov and Abramovich told Meduza.

Currently, Kapkov is involved not only in the organization of the prisoner swaps, but also in separate matters, Meduzas sources said. This includes, for example, discussions of the parameters of the July agreement allowing the export of grain and fertilizers from Ukrainian sea ports.

In fact, Kapkovs function is very simple  its coordination with the Russian side, an acquaintance of Kapkov and Abramovich told Meduza.

Read also: Negotiations possible with Russia only with next Russian president, says Zelenskyys office

If its necessary to call (Russian Defense Minister Sergey) Shoigu, Roman (Abramovich) calls. (And) if there are already established contacts, everyone knows and its necessary to call some general, Kapkov does this, since the Ukrainian and Russian military dont communicate directly.

This was confirmed by another Meduza source familiar with the situation from the Ukrainian side.

Abramovich communicates directly with, lets say, fundamental persons  with Shoigu, with Putin, the source said.

And his assistants perform technical work: they deal with preparatory documents and analytics, which must then be presented in the negotiation process.

Podolyak declined to answer questions about the role of Kapkov or other persons in the negotiations.

The Presidents Office doesnt comment on specific people regarding the informal line of negotiations, he said.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Some stocks are best avoided. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. Anyone who held China Green Agriculture, Inc. (NYSE:CGA) for five years would be nursing their metaphorical wounds since the share price dropped 75% in that time. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 53% in the last year. Furthermore, it's down 23% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

See our latest analysis for China Green Agriculture

China Green Agriculture wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last five years China Green Agriculture saw its revenue shrink by 13% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. So it's not that strange that the share price dropped 12% per year in that period. We don't think this is a particularly promising picture. Of course, the poor performance could mean the market has been too severe selling down. That can happen.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

If you are thinking of buying or selling China Green Agriculture stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that China Green Agriculture shareholders are down 53% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 8.6%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 12% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that China Green Agriculture is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are concerning...

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If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Join A Paid User Research Session

Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of SThree plc (LON:STEM) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for SThree

Crunching The Numbers

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 start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK27.6m UK32.8m UK44.5m UK46.0m UK47.3m UK48.3m UK49.2m UK50.1m UK50.8m UK51.5m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x4 Analyst x3 Est @ 3.35% Est @ 2.69% Est @ 2.23% Est @ 1.91% Est @ 1.68% Est @ 1.52% Est @ 1.41% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 7.1% UK25.8 UK28.6 UK36.2 UK34.9 UK33.5 UK31.9 UK30.4 UK28.8 UK27.3 UK25.9

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK303m

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The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 1.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.1%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = UK52m (1 + 1.2%)  (7.1% 1.2%) = UK871m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK871m ( 1 + 7.1%)10= UK437m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is UK740m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of UK4.3, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 23% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

Important Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at SThree as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.859. 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 SThree

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded its 5-year average.

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Professional Services industry.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Professional Services market.

Opportunity

Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the British market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the British market.

Looking Ahead:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For SThree, we've compiled three fundamental items you should consider:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for SThree you should know about. Future Earnings: How does STEM's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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Well, it's that time of year.

The 2023 Iowa high school boys state wrestling tournament started Wednesday in Des Moines, with wrestlers from all across the state converging on Wells Fargo Arena in hopes of leaving as a state champion on Saturday night.

There's a long way to go until we name those champions in a few days, with hundreds of matches across three classes and 15 weights taking place over the next four days. Stick with us in this story as we'll bring you the newest updates from the opening day as they happen out on the floor of The Well.

Here's a recap of everything that happened on the opening day.

Live updates Thursday:Day 2 of Iowa high school boys state wrestling tournament

9:22 p.m. Class 3A Team Scores at the end of Day 1

Wavery-Shell Rock - 55 points.5 points Southeast Polk - 54 points Bettendorf - 43.5 points Carlisle - 40 points Ankeny 39.5 points

9:15 p.m. the 220-pound bracket's No. 3 seed falls

No. 14 Antonio Loving (Southeast Polk) advances to the next round against No. 3 Ralston Rumley (Dowling Catholic) after the latter has to forfeit.

More:Who will win the 2023 Iowa boys state wrestling championships? Here's our team race breakdowns.

9:05 p.m. Ben Kueter advances with ease

No. 1 seed of the 220-pound bracket, Ben Kueter, made quick of work No. 16 Griffin Schultz (Linn-Marr) after pinning him in just 14 seconds.

8:58 p.m. Two top seeds fall in the 170-pound bracket

In an interesting turn of events, No. 3 Blake Hauck (Waukee) falls to No. 14 Asa Hemsted (Carlisle) via decision 8-4. Then No. 11 Kaia Fox defeats No. 6 Teague Smith (Fort Madison) by decision 2-1.

8:45 p.m. Another top-four seed falls

The 160-pound's fourth seed Owen Helgeson (Johnston) falls to the No. 20 seed Grant Boddicker (Linn-Marr) via SV-1 2-0.

8:32 p.m. Run on upsets comes to an end

After three straight top-five seeds have fallen, the same cannot be said for the 138 and 145 brackets.

8:19 p.m. The upsets just keep coming in the 132-pound bracket

No. 13 Tyler Lee (Prairie, Cedar Rapids) continues the trend of upsets after taking down No. 4 seed Logan Trenary (Southeast Polk) via fall in 3:09.

Story continues

8:11 p.m. Another fifth-seed falls

Just like in the preceding bracket, the 126-pound's fifth seed Kane Butrick (Fort Dodge) falls to No. 12 Ayden Golden (North Scott) via decision 6-2.

8:09 p.m. The 120-pound bracket's fifth-seed falls

No. 12 Ryan Rider (Carlisle) has the biggest upset of the second round (so far) after defeating No. 5 Matthew McCrea Jr. (Bondurant-Farrar) via decision 10-4.

7:51 Iowa City West's Alexander Pierce gets the better of his rival

Quite familiar with one another from their regular season bouts No. 2 Alexader Pierce takes down his rival No. 18 Kendall Kurtz in the second round via TF-1.5 4:59 (22-7).

7:35 Second round matches are underway!

While there are still some 220 and 285-pound matches taking place, the second round of the 106-pound bracket have started.

7:26 p.m. Two pins come in less than a minute

During the 195-pound bracket, two wrestlers made quick work of their opponents. The first was No. 9 Cade Bennethum (Ankeny) who got the fall over No. 24 Brayden Williams (Waukee Northwest) in 56 seconds. That was followed by No. 10 Kolby Gibbons (Johnston) who defeated No. 23 Ian Bohnenkamp (Cedar Falls) in 54 seconds.

7:00 p.m. No. 13 vs. No. 20 152-pound bout comes down to the wire

Underdog Ethan Riesselman (Dallas Center-Grimes) outlasts Ronan Thomas by decision 7-6, in one of the most intense matches of the night.

6:54 p.m. Classic match takes place during 145-bracket

In a match that spanned nearly six minutes, No. 11 Nolan Riddle (Fort Madison) gets the fall over No. 22 Zach Fern (Iowa City, City High).

6:36 p.m. A top-10 seed falls in the 126-pound bracket

No. 23 Andrew Roland (Ankeny Cenntenial) keeps the streak of upset wins alive after he defeats No. 10 Alex Bumba (Prairie, Cedar Rapids) via decision 5-1.

6:29 p.m. 120-pound Payton Bright wins a close one in the first round

No. 17 Payton Bright (Ankeny Centennial) was pushed to the limit against No. 16 Mason Besler (Dubuque Senior) before the former won by decision (11-10). Making it the most tightly contested match of the round.

6:16 p.m. Few surprises in the 113-pound bracket

While the first 12 seeds advanced to the next round, No. 20 Gabe Cauthron (Spencer) bucks conventional wisdom with his fall victory (3:04) against No. 13 Ashton Grace (Ottumwa).

6:07 p.m. Connor Stickrod provides the first Class 3A upset

To kick off the 106-pound bracket of Class 3A No. 22 Connor Stickrod (Spencer) took down No. 11 Jayden Luna (Bettendorf) by fall in 1:11.

5 p.m. Class 2A team scores at the end of Day 1

Here's the top five team scores after Day 1 in Class 2A. Class 3A is set to hit the mats at 6 p.m.

Osage- 47.5 Mount Vernon- 33 West Delaware -30 Creston-28.5 Sergeant Bluff-Luton- 27.5

4:50 p.m. Big upsets at heavyweight close out Session 2

Two of the three highest seeds at 285 will head to the consolation bracket after some major upsets. Columbus/WMU junior Russel Coil, the 18-seed, took down No. 2 Sam Gravert with a 5-2 decision.

No. 3 Skyler Young went down after 14-seed Wil Textor from Dike-New Hartford won a sudden victory.

4:40 p.m. KJ Fry doesnt mess around at 195

Clarke, Osceola/Murray senior KJ Fry is a perfect 40-0 on the season after his second-round win over No. 8 Curtis Erickson. Fry earned both his wins by fall on Wednesday and wrestled for a grand total of 1:45 seconds, pinning Erickson in 1:17 and his first-round opponent in 28 seconds.

4:37 p.m. Quick work for Jace Mulder at 182

Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley senior Jace Mulder took down No. 8 Kayden Blunt by fall in just 42 seconds. That highlighted the second-round action at 182.

4:35 p.m. 3-seed goes down at 170

Compared to the last two weights, 170 was pretty tame. Creston senior Kaden Street, the 9-seed, took down West Marshalls Austin Pfantz by a 7-3 decision. Pfantz was the 8-seed, so it was an upset, technically. But Street had over 40 wins on the year, so this really isnt that big of a shock.

But the big surprise here came a little further down the bracket. No. 3 Drake Collins lost just his fifth match of the season. Hesston Johnson of Roland Story, the 14-seed, took him down with a 9-4 decision.

4:30 p.m. More upsets at 160 for Class 2A

The No. 3 seed, Sir Brandon Watts, took a loss to Wintersets Eduardo Garcia by fall at 2:10. Creston junior William Bolinger, the 12-seed, toppled No. 5 Mack Seaba too. He moved on thanks to a major decision, 15-2.

Logan Peyton from West Delaware, the No. 9 seed, took down 8-seed Jireh Gallegos from Carroll with a 10-7 decision. Peyton will take on the top-seed, Dawson Bond, in his next match tomorrow.

4:10 p.m. 152 brings the upsets

The last three weights all went as expected, but 152 definitely didnt. The 12-seed, Chaz Graves from Knoxville, topped No. 5 Brent Yonkovic with a fall in 1:02.

An even bigger upset was when the 14-seed, Lucas Kral, took down No. 3 Hunter Steffans with a 5-3 decision. It marks just the seventh loss of the year for the senior.

Kral will take on 11-seed Brendan Heying from Brenton Community after he upset West Libertys Johsua Zeman in the second round.

4 p.m. No surprises through 145

In 132, 138 and 145, no lower-seeded wrestlers came out on top in the second round. So in those three weights, it's still the top-8 seeds vying for a state title in Class 2A.

3:40 p.m. Top seed goes down at 126

Kaiden Deitzenbach, the top-seeded wrestler at 126, lost his opening match of the tournament. He fell to Decorah freshman Mason Avila by a 4-2 decision. This marks the first loss for any No. 1 seed at the 2023 tournament.

Deitzenbach isnt eliminated from the tournament, though. Hell still have a chance to medal by working his way through the consolation bracket starting tomorrow.

3:35 p.m. Lower-seed pulls major decision at 120

In the second round of the 120 weight class, 9-seed Shane Hanford earned a 13-4 major decision over No. 8 Caelan Oakes-Sudhish.

Christian Ahrens, the 12-seed, took down No. 5 CJ Davis from Notre Dame Burlington as well with a 9-4 decision.

3:30 p.m. 113 goes as expected, for the most part

Jonah Luensman of Monticello, the 10-seed, took down No. 7 Cael McCabe with a 5-0 decision to reach the quarterfinals.

3:25 p.m 106 second round did not disappoint

The second round at the smallest weight had plenty of upsets. Jayson Stevens, the 12-seed, took down No. 5 Mitchell Schmauss with a 7-2 decision. He only had one loss on the season before taking on Stevens.

The 10-seed, Klayten Perreault from Mount Vernon, took down No. 7 Wyatt Stewart with a 20-16 decision.

3:20 p.m. Class 2A team scores after opening round

Here are the top-5 team scores at the end of Class 2As opening round.

Creston- 17.5 Atlantic-16, Williamsburg-16 Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley- 15 Crestwood, Cresco- 14

It's important to note there is a very long way to go still before these truly mean anything.

3:15 p.m. One surprising result in 220

All the seeds that were slated to advance reached the second round except for one. Ashtin Williams, the 22-seed, took down No. 11 Cole Binning with an 8-7 decision.

Outside of that, freshman Mason Koehler put in an impressive performance, pinning his opponent in just 44 seconds to move on to the second round.

3:00 p.m. 21-seed advances in 195

Corbyn Palmer from Waukon toppled No. 12 Ethan Peterson from Charles City by fall in 6 minutes flat. Palmer will take on Zane Bendorf in the second round. He's got a 41-4 record this year, so Palmer has his work cut out for him.

2:50 p.m. 182 sees a 21-seed advance

Parker Moritz, a 21-seed, took down No. 12 Kyler Ricard from Eddysville-Blakesburg-Freemont. Moritz won by fall in 3:01.

He'll take on Jackson Boese, the 5-seed, later this afternoon.

2:40 p.m. Live results are back!

We just got a big results dump, so were working our way through. But here are some highlights as the first round wraps up across all weights.

At 120, No. 20 Connor Pickerell came away with a win over Kale Wieland by tiebreaker.

At 126, No. 22 Wes Martin earned a trip to the second round with a 1:31 pin of Jax Miller.

Austin Mason, the 18-seed from Webster City at 170, topped Atlantics Jarrett Armstrong. Mason earned a fall victory in 5:30.

Also at 170, the 23-seed, Max Dalton from Woodward-Granger, earned a 6-4 decision over the 10-seed, freshman Brian Snyder.

2:15 p.m. Live wrestling action now up to 160 weight class

Live results still aren't updating here on-site or online. There's been no major Earth-shattering upsets through the first round so far. But we don't yet have any specifics about full results from all the matches going on.

We will update this as soon as results start to roll through.

2:00 p.m. Slight technical issues here at The Well

Live results don't seem to be updating in real time at the moment. So far, all we know is that at 106, No. 17 Austin Hansen of Lincoln Central took down Ryan Hartwig, the 16-seed, from Clarion-Goldfield-Dows. Hansen earned a fall in 1:49 to advance to the second round, which will be held later Wednesday afternoon.

1:30 p.m. We're back underway for Class 2A's opening rounds

Session 2 has begun!

12:20 p.m. Class 1A team score update:

At the end of Session 1, here are the team scores

Don Bosco- 55 Wilton- 43 Nasua-Plainfield-38 Alburnett- 36 Lisbon- 30

Class 1A Team Scores, Day One:



1. Don Bosco, 55

2. Wilton, 43

3. Nashua-Plainfield, 38

4. Alburnett, 36

5. Lisbon, 30



Bosco put 9 in the quarters. Wilton is right behind with 8.



Then:

 ALB, 6

 N-P, 5

 Lisbon, 4



Also, Columbus Catholic: 4-for-4, 3 pins. Game on. #iahswr  Cody Goodwin (@codygoodwin) February 15, 2023

Session 2 is slated to begin at 1: 30 p.m.

Heavyweight sees all top-8 seeds advance

No upsets in the largest division of Class 1A.

12:15 p.m. two more higher-seeds tumble

At 220, Henry Lund, a 12-seed, took down No. 5 Logan Wright from West Branch by fall in 3:59.

Gavin DeHoogh, the 10-seed from Western Christian, topped Wyatt Hanna, the 7-seed, by fall in just 1:33. An impressive showing from DeHoogh, who moves to 30-11 on the year.

12:10 p.m. Another top-5 seed goes down at 195

Ben Saxon, the 13-seed Emmetsburg, earned a fall victory over West Hancocks Kale Zuehl, the 4-seed. Saxon pinned Zuehl in 3:49.

Jack Schwenn from Belle Plaine came away with a 17-8 major decision over No. 7 Kyle Kuhlmann to advance to Thursdays third round.

12 p.m. Down goes the 2-seed in 182

At 182, Caden Ballou from Midland, the 15-seed, took down 2-seeded MaKade Bloker by fall in 5:48. Its the first time this tournament that a top-3 seed has lost.

The weight also saw another upset, with Don Boscos Landon Fernandez taking down 6-seed Dillen Ammons from Pleasantville by an 11-9 decision.

11:55 a.m. 170 brings one upset, one MD

Jordan Saul, the 10-seed at 170, took down 7-seed Alex Hageman to move on to the third round. Saul claimed the victory by fall in 3:47.

Jack Clarahan from Sigourney-Keota also earned an 8-0 major decision over Owen Hoover from CAM.

11:50 a.m. 160 sees 200 career wins for Wyatt Reisz

At 160, Logan Magnolias Wyatt Reisz, the No. 1 seed in the division, earned his 200th career win with a tech fall over Quinn McGeough.

Nine-seed Avery Vaske from Starmont earned a fall victory in 2:44 over John McGill, the 8-seed.

11:45 a.m. 152 seeding holds firm, for the most part

No real upsets in this weight, but a 9-seed, Layne Brenden from Logan-Magnolia, took down 8-seeded David Helton with a 5-1 decision.

11:40 a.m. 13, 11-seeds reach third round at 145

Karter Decker, the 13-seed from MFL MarMac, took down the 4-seed Ryan Stortenbecker from East Mills with a fall in 4:33. Stortenbecker had a record of 52-1 before the tournament began.

An 11-seed, Alburnetts Gunnar Keeny, took down 6-seed Riley Radke with an 8-4 decision to move on to the third round.

Indy Harbaugh, the 9-seed from Libson, came away with a 5-4 decision over 8-seed Boden White.

11:30 12-seed makes it unscathed to third round at 138

Nashua-Plainfields Kaden Wilkin, a 12-seed, came away with a victory by fall in 3:07 over 5-seed Tiernan Boots from Libson. Boots only had six losses on the season coming into the tournament.

In a slightly smaller upset, Trae Hagen, a 10-seed from Wilton, took down Charlie Veit, the 5-seed, with a 9-4 decision.

11:20 a.m. 132 sees an 8-seed, 10-seed advance to Thursday

Carson Seuntjens, a 9-seed from Kingsley-Pierson, came away with a big win over 8-seed Riley Parkis of Kuemper Catholic. Seuntjens won a tight 9-7 decision to move on to the third round on Thursday.

Holden Mathis, a 10-seed, took down Kendrick Huck from Nashua-Plainfield. Mathis won by fall in an exhausting 6:55 to advance to Thursday.

11:15 a.m. 120 and 126 are done for the day

There werent any upsets at 120, with all the wrestlers who received byes in the opening round advancing on to tomorrows third round. The wrestlers who lost though arent eliminated. Theyll head into the consolation bracket to try and work their way back to a medal place starting tomorrow morning.

At 126, the seeding stood strong too, but there were some pretty impressive results. Two-seed Kolton Munson earned a victory by fall in just 45 seconds and 3-seed Corbin Reisz won by major decision, 17-4.

11:10 Let's check in on the team scores

Nashua-Plainfield 28 Wilton 25 Lisbon 22 Waspie Valley 21 Logan-Magnolia 18.5

Reminder: It is still VERY early in the tournament, so best not to look into these too much yet.

11:05 a.m. Second round wrapped up at 106

Reanah Utterback, the 8-seed at 106, cruised into Thursdays third round with a 6-4 decision over 9-seed Erik Flores. Shes just one win away from a medal now.

More:During Iowas first girls wrestling season, why one Iowa girl continues to wrestle boys

Lucas Oldenkamp, a 10-seed at 106, is off to Thursday's third round after defeating 7-seed Ryan Groom with a 4-3 decision.

11 a.m. First round is officially done

Heavyweight brought with it three lower-seeded wrestlers winning.

Nolan Delong from Durant, a 20-seed, took down Jace Henderson 3-2 in a tiebreaker.

Joseph Sanders advanced as a 19-seed by beating Trace Goemaat by fall in just 39 seconds. Derek Hilsenbeck, an 18-seed from Waspie Valley, defeated Landon Pratt by fall in 4:49 to advance to the winners bracket.

10:50 a.m. Two more lower-seeds win in 220

David Smith, a 17-seed from West Hancock, won by fall in 1:04 over 16-seed Caden Forristall.

Eighteen seed Tate Dierking from Southeast Warren defeated 15-seed Ayden Phippen by fall in 2:21.

10:45 a.m. Another 17-seed winning at 195

Parker Timp, a 17-seed from South Winneshiek, earned a fall in 3:41 over 16-seed Colin Jacobs.

Corbin Hill, a 22-seed took down Iowa City Regina's Christopher Waikel by fall in 3:51.

10:35 a.m. 182 brings two lower-seed victories

A 17 seed beating a 16 seed is hardly a shock, but Logan Montgomery got it done by earning a fall in 50 seconds against Raiden Doty.

Ryan Funke, a 21-seed from Beckman Catholic, took down 12-seed Tate White with a fall in 3:01.

10:30 a.m. Plenty of surprises at 170

The shocking results came often at 170. A 21-seed, Kaden Bullerman from South Winneshiek, earned a 5-2 decision over 12-seed Logan Wearmouth.

Kaedon Lindsay, a 20-seed, came away with a fall in 1:13 over Hayden Huen from Underwood.

Nineteen-seed Owen Hoover earned an 11-1 major decision over Regan Witt from Saint Ansgar.

Ian Kohren, an 18-seed, won a 2-1 decision over Matthias Kohl.

10:25 a.m. 160 looking pretty much as expected

Only one lower-seeded wrestler came away with a win in the 160 class. Jake Moore from Sigourney-Keota, a 19-seed, earned a fall victory in 3:09 over 14-seed Ben Puente from AGWSR.

10:15 a.m. Rolling along through 152

Few 'surprises' in this one, based entirely off seeding.

Jackson Carey, a 17-seed, topped 16-seed Garrett Miller by fall in 4:37.

Sampson Henson, the 21-seed from St. Mary's, topped Grant Russell, the 12-seed with a 9-3 decision. He'll take on Maddox Nelson, the 5-seed, later this morning in the second round.

Jackson Kounkel, a freshman 18-seed, took down Kile Bucknell from Jesup by a 3-1 decision.

10:10 a.m. Some pretty big shocks, seeding-wise, in 145

Cale Seydel, a 23-seed, took down Cody Cox, the 10-seed from Lake Mills by a 6-2 decision. That matches the biggest upset of the day to this point.

Danny Kinsella, an 18-seed from Treynor, came away with a 9-5 decision to take a match over 15-seed Brock Nattress.

Treycen Rollene, a 21-seed who had just a 17-8 record on the year heading into the state tournament, took down 12-seed Carmine Shaw who came into the day with a 33-10 mark. Rollene won by fall in 2:42.

10:05 a.m. Opening round of 138 is in the books

Zach Harbison of Wapell, a 20-seed, came away with a win over 13-seed Korbyn Maxwell from I-35 with a 9-0 major decision Harbison will take on Don Bosco's Myles McMahon in the second round later today.

Ben Holton, an 18-seed from Hudson, took down 15-seed Evan Meadows from West Monona-Whitting with a 6-0 decision. Holton will face 2-seed Collin Holm from South Winneshiek in the second round later this morning.

9:55 a.m. First round of 132 is all wrapped up

Just like 126, the 132 bracket looks pretty much how most analysts expected it to after the opening bouts. The only match where a lower-seed won was when 18-seed Logan Christoffel, a freshman from West Branch, won a tight 4-3 decision over 15-seed Kai Carritt, a junior from Logan-Magnolia.

9:45 a.m. Through 126 with one upset in that weight

The 126 bracket is looking just as most expected it to through the first round, except for one bout. Jacob Larson, a junior 23-seed from West Hancock, topped Sawyer Callahan, the 10-seed from BGM. Larson won a tight 6-5 decision to move on to the second round in the winners' bracket.

It's important to remember this is double elimination, though. So Callahan, and every wrestler who fell in their opening match, isn't done here just yet.

9:40 a.m. The wrestling is going fast

We're already all the way through 120 here in Des Moines. There were a few more lower seeds in that weight moving on than there were in 113.

The 19-seed, Hayden Munn from Nashua-Plainfield won a 6-3 decision over the 14-seed, Kellen Oliver from Riverside.

Gavin Wiig, a freshman 18-seed, came away with a tight 3-2 decision over Braxton Bormann from Central Community.

In keeping with tradition with the other two weights, the 17-seed, Luke Guseman from Highland, defeated the 16-seed, Ethan Krall. Guseman won by fall in 1:59.

9:30 a.m. 113 bracket looking as expected through the opening round

The only lower seed to come away with a win through the first round of bouts was Nodaway Valley's Keyin Steeve, the 17-seed. He toppled 16-seed Carson Fitch from Colfax-Mingo by fall in just 53 seconds.

9:15 a.m. Some higher seeds falling at 106 for Class 1A

We're through the opening round of the 106 weight class already and for the most part, the bracket went as the seeding expected it to go. There were some upsets, though.

Atlee Dewitt, an 18-seed from Alburnett, topped Pleasantville's Tommy Booth, a 15-seed, in a major decision, 9-1.

The 19-seed, Codder Malcom from Wapello, won an 8-2 decision over 14-seed Eli Rieb.

The smallest surprise 'upset' though, was Don Bosco's Kanaan Delagardelle, a 17-seed, beating Ogden's Caleb Wisecup by fall in 1:37. That'll boost Don Bosco's already really good chances at that five-peat we were talking about earlier.

We're underway in Des Moines

Four straight days of high school wrestling have officially begun, with history to be made and state titles to be won. Keep it locked here for the biggest updates throughout the day.

we are wrestling  pic.twitter.com/84XpUoS7Uj  Cody Goodwin (@codygoodwin) February 15, 2023

"Wrestlers, clear the mats, please"

Warm-ups are over. Just moments away now from the 2023 IHSAA boys state wrestling tournament.

Let's have some fun, y'all.

Class 1A getting set to begin

The opening matches are set to start in about 30 minutes, with Class 1A hitting the mats first. Don Bosco is the overwhelming favorite to claim the team title, which would mark the program's fifth in a row. It would be the second time they've done it, winning five straight from 2006-2010.

Read more about the full team race for all three classes here.

More:Who will win the 2023 Iowa boys state wrestling championships? Here's our team race breakdowns.

Wednesday's high school state wrestling schedule

The format for this year's state tournament is a bit different, extending it over four days instead of the traditional three. That means that at no point will wrestlers from different classes be on the mat at the same time on Wednesday.

Here's the full class-by-class breakdown of when wrestlers will hit the mats.

9:00 a.m. | Session 1 | Class 1A, First Round, Consolations

1:30 p.m. | Session 2 | Class 2A, First Round, Consolations

6:00 p.m. | Session 3 | Class 3A, First Round, Consolations

What to know if you're headed to Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena

Headed to Wells Fargo Arena to watch the action in person?

Luckily for those coming to the metro, Des Moines has plenty of options when it comes to food, parking and things to do in between matches.

More:Attending the Iowa high school wrestling state tournament in Des Moines? Here's what to know

Here's a link to everything you should know if you're attending the 2023 Iowa high school boys state wrestling tournament, from what kind of bags are allowed in the arena, where to park and the best restaurants to hit in between sessions.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Recap of Day 1 of the Iowa HS boys state wrestling tournament
Getty Images

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
North Canton Fire Department

NORTH CANTON  A 20-year-old Jackson Township man has been charged with felony aggravated arson after investigators accused him of setting a fire and causing $80,000 in damage at an apartment building last week.

According to a complaint filed in Canton Municipal Court, the man admitted using a lighter on Feb. 8 to intentionally ignite a piece of paper as he stood in the bedroom of a vacant first-floor apartment at 201 Rose Lane SW.

The fire consumed the bedroom. City firefighters put out the blaze in about 13 minutes. Residents in other apartments temporarily evacuated from their homes. No one was reported hurt, the fire department said.

Arson case:Louisville man charged with Plain Township arson

A North Canton police detective and investigator from the Ohio fire marshal's office took part in the investigation.

Police obtained a warrant for the man's arrest on Monday and were assisted by Jackson Township police. The man was booked into the Stark County Jail that day, according to jail records. He's scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jackson Township man faces arson charge in North Canton apartment fire
WASHINGTON  Round one of the debt-ceiling standoff is going about as well as the White House hoped after President Joe Biden boxed Republicans into a corner on Social Security and Medicare, recasting the debate over spending cuts as a fight to protect two of the most popular government programs.

It's not just a short-term play. Biden bolstered the economic message he's making to blue-collar voters and seniors ahead of an expected reelection campaign for 2024.

First came the heckling during Biden's State of the Union address last week. After Republicans roundly booed the president when he accused them of wanting to cut Social Security, Biden seemed to get their verbal commitment  on the floor of the House, no less  not to touch either program.

More: Amid debt ceiling standoff, why Joe Biden is refusing to negotiate with Republicans

But then top Republicans kept digging in. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., defended his proposal to sunset all federal programs every five years and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., derided Social Security as a "legal Ponzi scheme."

The tit for tat created precisely the contrast the White House wants as Biden pushes for raising the debt ceiling without conditions and  looking further ahead  positions himself for 2024.

The latest in the back and forth

Reliving heated exchange: Biden relished in revisiting the heckling episode during post-State of the Union trips to Wisconsin and Florida, telling his supporters that he seemed to get a deal from Republicans. "Sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table," he said in Tampa. "Now, granted, Ill believe it when I see it."

No details about cuts: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has publicly already ruled out cuts to Medicare and Social Security during debt ceiling talks. But Biden has tried to exploit Republicans' unwillingness to detail the spending cuts they want by warning about past GOP proposals and remarks targeting the two programs.

A gift: That's why Scott gave the White House a gift in an interview last Thursday on CNN, saying he doesn't believe it was a mistake to propose a plan to sunset all federal laws including Social Security and Medicare.

Summer deadline: The U.S. on Jan. 19 hit the $31.8 billion limit on how much the federal government is allowed to borrow, prompting Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take "extraordinary measures." The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday the U.S. will run out of cash between July and September if the debt ceiling isn't raised.

Soaring costs: Social security and Medicare are major drivers of national debt that's projected to soar by $19 trillion over the next decade, according to the CBO. The annual cost of Social Security is projected to nearly double from $1.3 trillion this year to $2.4 trillion by 2033 as more Americans age into the program. The cost of Medicare is expected to increase from $820 billion this year to $1.6 trillion in 2033.

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Where the fight goes from here

Drawing a hard line against negotiations, Biden wants Republicans to cave on their demands for spending cuts so Congress can raise the debt limit and avert a government default.

The White House is banking on spending cuts proposed by Republicans being so unpopular among Americans that enough Republican members of Congress will abandon demands for Congress to act.

US President Joe Biden delivers the keynote address during the National Association of Counties at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) ORIG FILE ID: AFP_339A4DB.jpg

Playing to fears about losing Social Security and Medicare is part of a broader White House strategy to paint potential cuts as unacceptable.

The Republican-led House Budget Committee last week floated potential cuts that include work requirements for food stamps, environmental reductions, rescinding unspent COVID-19 rescue funds, reducing Obamacare subsidies and halting Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt. Their framework said Republicans want to "save and strengthen" Social and Medicare but didn't say how. The White House lambasted the suggested cuts as an assault on the middle class.

After Biden and McCarthy held their first meeting Feb. 1 to discuss the debt limit, both men, surprisingly, expressed optimism but also made clear they're sticking to their positions. It's unclear when they will meet again. The Biden administration plans to propose a budget on March 9.

Takeaways for '24

While Biden's focus on Social Security and Medicare plays into the short-term debt-ceiling fight, there's also a long-term strategy.

Biden is reinforcing his message to blue-collars voters ahead of a 2024 reelection campaign that he's expected to announce in the coming weeks.

Seizing on past GOP proposals targeting Social Security and Medicare, Biden is casting Republicans as threats to social welfare programs borne out of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society.

More: As Biden prepares 2024 reelection run, Democrats worry blue-collar voters are slipping away

The White House is building an economic case to non-college-educated voters who have increasingly flocked the Democratic Party and supported Republicans amid the culture wars. In particular, Democrats are targeting women voters over 50 years old who didn't attend college  the type of voter most concerned about Social Security.

These voters, particularly in Midwest states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan that Biden narrowly carried in 2020, will be crucial for Biden to win again in 2024.

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listen on Feb. 7, 2023.

What they're saying

Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic campaign strategist and senior advisor for the Lincoln Project, said Republicans opened themselves up to attacks after targeting entitlements for years. "He made them own it," Trippi said of Biden, "and I think that's what will happen going into 2024."

William Howell, a political scientist and professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, called Biden's rhetoric "short-term partisan politics" that sets the stage for a campaign. "He wants to present himself as the stalwart defender of the most significant entitlement programs enacted in the 20th century, which have broad public support," Howell said.

Republicans, furious Biden keeps brining up Social Security and Medicare, say he's spreading falsehoods. "The one thing the president was saying is something that he knew was not true," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News of Biden's State of the Union. "I just spent an hour with him. Ive said it many times before: Social Security and Medicare are off the table."

Some top Republicans, however, have sought to distance themselves from Scott's sunset proposal. Unfortunately, that was the Scott plan, thats not a Republican plan," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a radio interview.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., talks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington following his meeting with President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ORG XMIT: DCSW303

The big picture

The White House has raised Social Security and Medicare at about every turn since Biden's State of the Union.

And even though Republicans say Biden is lying about their intentions, don't expect Biden to stop talking about it anytime soon  especially with a reelection announcement around the corner.

The longer Biden can keep Republicans on defense over Social Security and Medicare, the more it's a winning issue for the White House.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden boxes Republicans into a corner on Social Security, Medicare
(Bloomberg) --

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Jordan dispatched its foreign minister to Syria to discuss aid after last weeks earthquakes, the first time it has sent a top official there since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011.

Ayman Safadi will travel to Syria and Turkey to show solidarity and discuss humanitarian needs, the Jordanian foreign ministry said in a statement. The Feb. 6 twin earthquakes killed more than 40,000 people in both countries.

Jordan, which shares a border with Syria, has already been working to provide disaster aid. It has been hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees since 2011. Relations soured after President Bashar Al-Assads brutal crack down on the uprising.

The trip to Syria comes as a debate rages between Syria and world powers over aid access, sanctions and the future of Al-Assad and the country.

Quake Aid Is Political Pawn as Powers Clash Over Syria Access

While supplies have flowed into heavily damaged regions in Turkey, aid deliveries to tens of thousands of Syrians have been stymied by infighting between rival powers in the countrys more than decade-long war. Those affected are mainly in areas controlled by anti-government forces, and are in need of urgent supplies, aid workers say.

Turkey Closes In on Russia-Backed Assad Deal in Blow for US

Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates are redoubling efforts to rehabilitate Al-Assad, and shape the war in his country to the detriment of US-backed forces.

--With assistance from Tarek El-Tablawy.

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REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

A New York federal judge has swiftly rejected former President Donald Trumps last minute offer to finally check his DNA against the coat dress worn by E. Jean Carroll, the woman who says he raped her in a department store decades ago.

Mr. Trump has offered no persuasive reason to relieve [him] of the consequences of [his] own failure to [act] in a timely fashion, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Wednesday morning. He has failed to demonstrate good cause to reopen discovery for the purpose of obtaining these pages of the DNA report.

Trump faces a Bill Cosby type trial in April alleging that he raped Carroll inside a dressing room at the high-end Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s.

Trump Says Hell Hand Over His DNA for E. Jean Carroll Case

Last week, The Daily Beast revealed that Trump had quietly agreed with his lawyers to dangle a poisonous offer to the other side. After refusing to play ball for three years, the former president was finally willing to submit a DNA samplebut only after the window to share evidence had closed, a ploy that threatened to delay the trial.

Days later, Trumps lawyers formally made the offer in court papers. But, as with all things Trump, it came with a catch. His lawyers said he was willing to check his DNA, but only if they could access a part of the report Carroll commissioned from the California lab that tested the black dress.

On Wednesday, the judge said he wouldn't play alongand he blamed Trumps lawyers for the unforced error.

The Misogynist Things Trump Has Said That His Lawyers Dont Want Jurors to Hear

Mr. Trump suddenly proposed a deal. He has offered to provide a DNA sample but only on the condition that I require Ms. Carroll first to turn over to him a previously undisclosed appendix to the DNA reportthe report that Ms. Carroll obtained and provided to Mr. Trump years ago, he wrote. There is no justification for any such deal.

Mr. Trump is not entitled to the undisclosed appendix. The time for pretrial discovery in both cases is over, and Mr. Trump never previously asked for it, he added.

Story continues

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's offer to provide a DNA sample as part of a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a writer who said the former U.S. president raped her in the mid-1990s.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Trump's sudden willingness after years of resistance to provide a sample, but only in exchange for pages missing from a DNA lab report he obtained from Carroll in January 2020, came too late.

Kaplan said Trump's offer would "almost certainly" delay a scheduled April 25 trial and unduly harm Carroll, who has long accused Trump of stalling. Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, is 79, which Kaplan noted in his decision.

"Granting Mr. Trump's request would be only the first step in introducing a complicated new subject into this case that both sides elected not to pursue," the judge wrote. "And Mr. Trump has given the court no reason to believe that pursuing that course would be likely to yield any admissible evidence, let alone a guarantee that anything important would come of it."

Trump has denied raping Carroll.

Joseph Tacopina, who joined Trump's legal team two weeks ago, and Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan declined to comment.

Carroll originally sought Trump's DNA to compare against a dress she said she wore when the alleged rape occurred. She decided late last year to go to trial without the DNA.

Judge Kaplan's decision came in the second of Carroll's two defamation lawsuits against Trump.

Both concern their alleged encounter in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, which Carroll described in a June 2019 New York magazine excerpt from her memoir.

Carroll sued Trump five months later, after Trump told a reporter at the White House that he did not know Carroll, that "she's not my type," and that she concocted the rape claim to sell her book.

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The second lawsuit came in November after Trump repeated his denial, using similar language, in a social media post the prior month.

That lawsuit also includes a battery claim under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which gives sexual abuse victims a one-year window to sue their attackers even if statutes of limitations have run out.

Both sides are awaiting a decision from a Washington, D.C. appeals court on whether Trump is immune from Carroll's first lawsuit, but not her second, because he was acting as president when he spoke.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-10016.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Police officers secure the scene after a shooting at TOPS supermarket in Buffalo, New York, U.S. May 14, 2022. Jeffrey T. Barnes/Reuters

The gunman who killed 10 at a Tops in Buffalo, New York, in May was sentenced to life in prison.

The 19-year-old gunman was not granted the possibility of parole during his sentence.

The judge said there's "no place" for the gunman's "ignorant, hateful and evil ideologies."

A judge sentenced the man who killed 10 people in the May 2022 Tops grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York, to life in prison in an Erie County courtroom Wednesday morning, saying she would give him "no mercy" or second chances.

There is no possibility for parole for the 19-year-old gunman who pleaded guilty in November.

"There is no place for you or your ignorant, hateful, and evil ideologies in a civilized society. There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances," Judge Susan Eagan said in court as she handed down the gunman's sentence.

"The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again," Eagan added.

The gunman offered a short apology in court Wednesday, saying he was "very sorry for the pain I forced the victims and their families to suffer through" and blamed "what I read online and acted out of hate" as motivation for his actions.

During his apology, a man in the courtroom began to scream and curse at the shooter.

The gunman, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, opened fire in a Tops grocery store while live streaming the massacre on Twitch on a Saturday afternoon. He shot and killed 10 people in what police have called a racially motivated act, having driven up to the community specifically to target Black people. Three others were injured in the shooting.

The man was arrested the same day and was charged with one count of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and a weapons possession charge in the mass shooting. He pleaded guilty to those charges months later in November, CNN reported at the time.

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During Wednesday's sentencing hearing, family members of slain victims and injured victims offered statements about their loved ones who were lost at the hands of this man.

"You are a cowardly racist," Simone Crowley, whose grandmother Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the shooting, said.

"You recorded the last moments of our loved ones' lives to garner support for your hateful cause, but you immortalize them instead," Crowley said. "We are extremely aware that you are not a lone wolf, but a part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists. And to that network, we say we as a people are unbreakable."

Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was injured in the shooting but survived, said Wednesday that "Only a weak human takes out their pain on others."

She continued: "The world says you have to forgive in order to move on. But I stand before you today to say that will never happen."

During Barbara Massey Mapps' testimony in which she shouted at the gunman for killing her 72-year-old sister, Katherine Massey, a man in the courtroom charged at the gunman but was quickly stopped by security.

"You don't understand what we're going through," the man shouted as he was ushered out of the room.

The gunman was rushed out of the room as chaos ensued.

After a short break, the sentencing resumed, with Eagan saying "I understand the emotion and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom."

Christopher Braden, who was shot in the leg during the attack and has so far had four surgeries to repair his leg, said everything about May 14, 2022 "still haunts me," adding that he cannot put into words the "terror" he felt that day when he was "attacked by you."

"Visions haunt me in my sleep every night and most days," Braden said. "I cannot get those memories out of my head. Nighttime is the worst for my PTSD. I have night terrors that jerk me awake in the middle of the night and I am unable to calm back down to fall asleep."

Despite what he's lived through, Braden has embraced his role as a survivor.

"My scars and pain remind me of how strong I've become," he said. "You haven't taken away my will to live, you haven't broken my spirit."

Read the original article on Insider
Fresno County Judge Heather Mardel Jones ruled Tuesday theres enough evidence for the murder case against defendants Juan Carlos Canada and his brother Mark Urbano to proceed.

Canada, 23, is charged with two counts of murder involving the deaths of Roman Cervantes, 43, and Jose Herrera Mojica, 27. Hes also facing two counts of attempted murder and assault by means likely to produce great bodily harm for shooting a 46-year-old man and 17-year-old boy.

Urbano, 20, is charged with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and accessory after the fact/knowledge of a crime.

Police said the two killings happened Feb. 6, 2022 at about 6 p.m. at an apartment complex in the area of South Clara Avenue and East Lorena Avenue.

When police arrived they found Cervantes, who was the uncle of the defendants, and Mojica dead at the scene. Another man and a juvenile injured in the shooting were taken to Community Regional Medical Center and treated for their injuries.

Fight led to shooting

During the preliminary hearing, several witnesses described how a physical fight involving defendants Canada and Urbano against a 17-year-old, escalated into gunfire coming from at least three weapons, said prosecutor Amy Cobb.

The citys ShotSpotter system alerted police to 21 gunshots coming from the scene.

Roxanna Hererra, who is the sister of victim Jose Hererra Mojica, testified Tuesday that she and her brother Jose had just returned from walking to a neighborhood grocery store when they saw Canada arguing with the juvenile.

Hererra said at first they stood outside their grandmothers apartment, watching. But then I saw Carlos (Juan Carlos Canada) pull out a gun, cock it and start yelling, you guys want to fight, you guys want to fight, she testified.

Ramon Cervantes, the uncle of the brothers, approached Canada and tried to calm him down. It didnt work, she testified. Urbano soon drove up and the brothers began to swing at the 17-year-old.

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Jose Herrera Mojica and his brother Abraham stepped in to help the 17-year-old, Hererra said. Jose picked up both of the brothers and threw them to the ground, hoping it would end the fight, she added.

But after he (Juan Carlos Canada) got dropped to the ground, he got up and started shooting, Hererra said. It was like fireworks.

That was also when Hererra says she saw her big brother Jose Herrera Mojica get shot by Canada.

He just stood there and shot him, she said. Abraham ran to him and caught him just before he was about to fall.

She said Canada continued shooting crazy as he and Urbano fled in a car.

After the gunfire was over, Jose Hererra Mojica was dead as was Ramon Cervantes.

The 17-year-old was shot in the leg as was a 46-year-old man. The juvenile is believed to have fired an AR-15 style weapon, according to Cobb.

Meanwhile, a friend of the Herrera brothers testified Tuesday that he fired a .40 caliber ghost gun into the air, once or twice, to try scare Canada, the shooter. The gun has since been turned over to police.

If convicted on all counts and allegations, Canada would face life in prison without the possibility of parole or death, if the district attorneys office pursues that option.

Urbano could receive a maximum of four years and eight months in prison, if convicted.
Vietnam veteran Gary Snyder and his wife, Karen, constructed a memorial in their yard to commemorate friends and fallen veterans from Holmes County.

PRAIRIE TWP.  The life-changing experiences and memories of three tours of duty in Vietnam more than 50 years ago have stayed with Holmes County veteran Gary Snyder.

As a tribute to fallen friends and family who were killed in action or died as a result of serving in Vietnam, Snyder and his wife of more than 50 years, Karen, built a memorial in the yard of their Township Road 346 home.

"When I retired from the co-op, I wanted to do something to honor the guys we lost who were over there with me, and I thought some kind of memorial that would be pleasant to see and might give somebody else some closure," Snyder said.

More:Another salute to veterans in planning stage at West Holmes High

More:Holmes County-area veterans get all-star honors at West Holmes High

His wife added, "The main reason we did this was to provide closure and healing for other people. This was for all the Holmes County guys, our family members and friends who went through that time."

The Snyders had an octagonal patio built

Snyder worked as a utility lineman for Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative for 43 years, beginning as an apprentice when he returned from the service. When the pandemic closed everything down, he decided the timing was right to do something he had long wanted to pursue.

Holmes County resident Gary Snyder can often be found sitting and reflecting at the memorial he built to commemorate friends and family who lost their lives in Vietnam.

He found Todd Bowman of Stonehenge Landscaping in Ashland, who designed the octagonal-shaped patio with a fire pit in the middle and two benches. One wall is raised in order to put up a black marble granite plaque from Thompson Memorials in Millersburg that displays the names of fallen friends.

Snyder procured two other stones, one commemorating the 58,000 MIAs who didn't make it back and another for those suffering from Agent Orange.

Five cement disks representing each branch of the service are part of the display, along with flags, a helmet, gun and boot monument and other memorial rings.

"Everybody who has helped with this project did a really good job," Snyder said. "We added this other walkway for people in wheelchairs or who need a walker like myself. People seemed to enjoy themselves. We received a lot of compliments."

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The Snyders have three grown children and six grandchildren. Their project began in the spring of 2019.

A Memorial Day dedication last May drew around 40 people.

The Millersburg American Legion Auxiliary held a meeting at the Snyder residence and presented him with a check to give to Holmes-Wayne Electric for the next honor trip to Washington, D.C. The Shreve American Legion Women's Auxiliary also held a meeting at the memorial.

Why build a memorial in your yard?

When Im out here by myself, I can think about them. I can see their faces, and you know its just like theyre with me, he said. They never got to become husbands; never became fathers or grandfathers. I try to live my life to honor them, and I hope I did a good job of it.

The names on the memorial plaque include Frederick Miller, who was killed in April 1967. Miller was the first Holmes County resident killed in action in Vietnam.

Snyder's best friend from high school, Larry Barton, is another honoree, as well as his cousin Jerry Spitler. Miller and Spitler have sections of Holmes County highways dedicated to them.

Thomas Fisher, James Clark and James Grissinger of West Salem were all killed in 1969. Grissinger, who was in Karen Snyder's graduating class, was killed while on patrol in Korea.

Gary Snyder joined the Air Force in 1967 after graduating from West Holmes High. He was a crew chief when he started, and his backseat pilot was Maj. James W. (Bill) Reed of Cambridge.

When Karen Snyder can't find her husband, Gary, in the house, she can usually find him outside at the military memorial they built to commemorate fallen friends and family members.

Reed was shot down over Cambodia in 1970 on his 17th mission, according to Snyder. No remains were found until a crew went into Cambodia, found the wreckage site, and the remains of both pilots were in the aircraft, and identified through their dental records.

"They were found in 2017," Snyder said. "His family finally had some closure. We've had two families from Cambridge who knew his family real well stopped by here. He gave me an MIA bracelet with Bill's name on it. They have a memorial for him in Cambridge."

The other names on the plaque: Lowell Hartzler, Robert C. Snyder, Donald Snyder, Robert C. Snyder Jr., Kenneth Hartzler, Terry Mayle, Bruce Shaw, Michael Foxx and Thomas Smail are in memory of family members.

Some died from effects of Agent Orange.

"Agent Orange was sprayed from the start of the war to the end of it," Snyder said. "It got into the water table, and affected crops. It lays in the fat cells for years and when it gets triggered, it causes cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease. They are still learning more about it."

Reflections from his time in Vietnam

The first base he served at was at Cam Ranh Bay, before being sent south to Bien Hoa Air Base toward Saigon. He flew special missions into Cambodia and Laos.

"Bien Hoa was a crazy base," he said. "We had rocket alley there, going on every night. There were B-52s that bombed the area to close in the supply trails. If you happened to be in your rack at night, it would vibrate you right out of bed."

Snyder recalled how the Army was low on troops and volunteers from the Air Force were recruited to provide relief, relocating some servicemen as well as transporting and providing good will services for locals.

"That was interesting. We got to see a lot of country," Snyder said.

Some other experiences he'll never forget, although he would like to.

"There were some bad days to see. Here you are, 18-years old ... sometimes I'm surprised I made it back," he said. "I'm amazed I'm still alive after all I've done and all I've been through. Through this, it's my way of paying something back."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Gary and Karen Snyder built a military memorial at their Holmes home
Turkiye's quake death toll exceeds 35,000, as intensifying diplomacy helps mend ties between foes

Xinhua) 08:15, February 15, 2023

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.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz will not be charged with any crimes as the Justice Department closed its sex trafficking and obstruction of justice investigation into the Northwest Florida congressman, his attorneys say.

Gaetz's attorneys Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner confirmed to the News Journal in a written statement that the Justice Department had informed them the investigation had been officially closed.

"We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges against him," the statement said.

Gaetz's office also confirmed to the News Journal in an email that the Justice Department informed his attorneys the investigation had been closed.

Gaetz investigationJustice Department drops sex-trafficking probe of Rep. Matt Gaetz without charges, lawyers say

The Department of Justice did not immediately comment to the USA TODAY Network. The decision was first reported by CNN.

Gaetz, R-Fla., has been under investigation for years for allegedly having sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl and allegedly paying for her to travel with him. But Gaetz, 40, said he cooperated with federal investigators and strongly denied the allegations.

Gaetz extortion plotStephen Alford sentenced to five years in prison for scheme to extort $25M from Gaetz family

ReportProsecutors recommend not charging Matt Gaetz in sex trafficking investigation

The Gaetz probe was launched after the arrest of a friend and political ally, former Florida tax collector, Joel Greenberg, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses. Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prosecutors said he paid at least one girl to have sex with him and other men.

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The Justice Department leadership made a final decision not to pursue charges against Gaetz afterinvestigators recommended not moving forward in the fall. The investigators had warned that two key witnesses were unreliable.

Extortion plot against Gaetz family

The investigation also spawned a bizarre incident when Niceville resident Stephen Alford was convicted in an extortion plot against Gaetz's family. Alford and others approached Gaetz's father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, and asked for $25 million, saying they could stop Gaetz from going to prison in the sex-trafficking investigation.

Alford was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Despite the allegations, Gaetz never lost the backing of Northwest Florida voters as he easily fended off a well-financed challenge in the GOP primary from former FedEx executive Mark Lombardo last year and coasted to victory in the general election against Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones.

USA TODAY Network reporters Bart Jansen and Kevin Johnson contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz sex trafficking probe ends with no charges
Trump Meets With Cabinet Members, Members Of Congress On Stimulus Payments - Credit: Doug Mills/Getty Images

Federal prosecutors are looking to cut through Former President Donald Trumps staunch wall of lawyers by using the crime-fraud exception to compel the testimony of his lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, before a grand jury, the New York Times reports. The crime fraud exception voids legal secrecy when a client has sought a lawyers help in the commission of a fraud or crime, and prosecutors have asked a federal judge to invoke the exception.

The move is part of an ongoing investigation into the former presidents handling of classified documents after he left office. Prosecutors leading the probe have also investigated Boris Epshteyn, Trumps legal adviser whose phone was seized by authorities last month and, per the report, who coordinated lawyers on past Trump investigations.

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The Justice Department has been asking witnesses questions, per the report, during which questions about Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, and Alina Habba, were asked. According to the The Times, someone briefed on the interviews said that investigators were interested in discussions about establishing a possible common-interest privilege in the documents probe. The person familiar with the interviews also said that prosecutors are asking questions suggesting they are interested in whether Epshteyn attempted to influence witness testimony.

Bobb, the Trump lawyer who in June signed a letter certifying that all of the sensitive material the former president moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago had been returned, reportedly told investigators that Epshteyn was involved in discussions about the documents.

In January, a federal judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and Habba to pay nearly a million dollars for filing a bogus lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and more than a dozen of Trumps perceived political enemies.

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Here are area restaurants with seven or more priority or critical health code violations, with highlighted links to some original public record reports.

Restaurants correct most violations at the time of the original inspection or shortly thereafter. Links to the follow-up inspections show how each establishment has corrected or is working to correct any remaining violations.

If an inspection or follow-up report needs clarification, restaurant and grocery store owners can call Joyce Smith at 816-234-4692 or email her at jsmith@kcstar.com. The Star will post appropriate responses in the same online locations as the original report.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture cited these operations for seven or more priority health code violations (direct links to the reports are not available).

 China Buffet Mongolian BBQ, 2030 E. Santa Fe, Olathe, had 14 priority violations during a Feb. 9 routine inspection.

 Shinju Sushi & Hibachi, The Shops of Prairie Village, 3935 W. 69th Terrace, Prairie Village, had 13 priority violations during a Feb. 8 routine inspection.

 Pegahs Family Restaurant, 11005 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, had 11 priority violations during a Feb. 9 routine inspection.

 Tacos el Amigo, 1008 Osage Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, had eight priority violations during a Feb. 10 inspection following a complaint.

 Talk of the Town Grill & Bar, 11922 W. 119th St., Overland Park, had eight priority violations during a Feb. 7 routine inspection.

For complete Kansas health inspections, click here.

The Kansas City Health Department cited these operations for seven or more critical violations:

 Antons Taproom and Restaurant, 1610 Main St., had 13 critical violations during a Feb. 10 routine inspection.

 Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill, 3906 Bell St., had eight critical violations during a Feb. 8 routine inspection.

 Nguyen Pho & Grill, 500 Grand Blvd., had seven critical violations during a Feb. 12 routine inspection.

For complete Kansas City-area reports, click here.
Ke Huy Quan at the 95th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

Everyone loves a good comeback story, and actor Ke Huy Quan is reveling in his.

Weeks after Quan earned his first Oscar nomination for his work in 2022's "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the 51-year-old actor told late-night host Stephen Colbert that his return to screen has been an "emotional journey."

"I'm so grateful. I thought everybody had forgotten about me," he said during Tuesday's episode of "The Late Show." "But since ["Everything Everywhere All at Once"] came out, there's been so much positivity and so much kindness."

Quan, a child actor who first gained popularity in 1984 as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, told Colbert earlier in the interview that he faced multiple dry periods during his career. After "Temple of Doom" and other films including "The Goonies," Quan said he struggled to find work.

"When you work with with Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas you can't go anywhere but downhill from there and that's exactly what happened," he joked Tuesday.

Even when he returned to the screen in recent years, jobs were few and hard to come by. After wrapping Daniels' "Everything Everywhere All at Once" in March 2020, Quan said he "could not get a single job."

"Not one callback. Nobody wanted me," he said.

Quan said he worried for his acting career.

"I was experiencing everything I experienced as a kid," he added.

Now with a Golden Globe win, an Oscar nomination and more accolades under his belt, Quan looks forward to more work, including a spot in Season 2 of Disney+'s "Loki."

"Honestly, things are so different for me now than they were back then," he said.

At the beginning of his interview, Quan told Colbert he missed the opportunity to meet and take a selfie with the late-night personality at an awards show in January. Sitting opposite Colbert on "The Late Show" just weeks after the event, Quan said "this is much better."

"As they say," he said, "'Good things come to people who wait.'"

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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.

"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 east 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, who lives on a swath of the former Mellon family estate; 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.

---

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.

---

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.)

---

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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The 2021 Hyundai Elantra is one of the models eligible for the free anti-theft software update in June. Hyundai

Kia and Hyundai are rolling out a free anti-theft software upgrade for models targeted by thieves.

A group called the "Kia Boyz" started a viral TikTok challenge showing how to start the cars using a USB cord.

The trend led to State Farm and Progressive no longer insuring some models in certain cities.

Kia and Hyundai are starting to roll out free anti-theft software upgrades for car models that have been targeted by a viral social media challenge that teaches people how to steal them.

Some Kia models from 2011 to 2021 and some Hyundai models from 2016 to 2021 use traditional keys, which means they don't have electronic immobilizers in them to prevent the cars from starting if there's no key present.

A group of teens from Milwaukee, Wisconsin called the "Kia Boyz" started a TikTok challenge teaching people how to start the cars using just a screwdriver and a USB charging cable, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Police started noticing the car-stealing trend in late 2020, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman told The Wall Street Journal.

Eligible car owners are being notified by Kia and Hyundai about how to get the free upgrades. The upgrade takes less than an hour to install, both vehicle manufacturers said.

In a press release from Hyundai, the car manufacturer said the 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," Hyundai said.

Car owners can deactivate the "ignition kill" feature by unlocking their car with the key fob.

Some Kia car owners have already received a software upgrade, and other owners will be able to get the upgrade in the next few months, Kia said in a statement shared with Insider. The car manufacturer added that steering wheel locks are also available at no cost through some local law enforcement agencies.

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"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 said in the statement.

Hyundai said in its press release that the upgrade will go out to almost 4 million vehicles beginning February 14. The 2017 to 2020 Elantra, 2015 to 2019 Sonata, and 2020 to 2021 Venue vehicles will get the upgrade first.

"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," Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, said in the press release.

Cars that receive the software upgrade will also get a window decal "to alert would-be thieves that the vehicle is equipped with enhanced anti-theft technology," Hyundai said. Other vehicles will be eligible for the upgrade beginning in June, including different models of the Elantra, Sonata, and Santa Fe.

Since 2021, thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles have been climbing throughout the country, according to a report from the Highway Loss Data Institute.

Car thefts in Denver have risen by 160% since 2018, and most of the thefts are Kia and Hyundai cars, Denver7 reported. Claims of stolen cars were almost twice as common for Kia and Hyundai models from 2015 to 2019 compared to all other car makes, according to the HLDI report.

Theft rates for some Kia and Hyundai models are so high that State Farm and Progressive temporarily stopped writing insurance policies for some of the models in some cities last month.

"Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure," Jeff Sibel, a spokesperson for Progressive, told CNN last month. "In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models."

The insurance companies did not reply to requests for comment from Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly appear to be at war against young Tennesseans under 18 who do not see themselves as exclusively male or female (nonbinary) or who experience a gender and personal identity that do not correspond to their birth sex (transgender). That was one of the messages shared by speakers at the recent meeting of the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge (LWVOR) on proposed laws concerning youths of various sexual identities.

The first bills in 2023 seek to ban gender-affirming surgery and other care for transgender and nonbinary teens, stating that such a ban will protect the health and welfare of minors. Senate Republicans on Monday overwhelmingly passed Senate bill 1 banning gender transition health care for minors in Tennessee, legislation that is expected to trigger a legal fight if it is signed into law, according to a story in The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. In emails to media earlier Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and Lambda Legal promised they would bring immediate legal action against the proposed restrictions.

A similar House bill (HB 1), proposed by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, has also moved forward. Both bills argue that gender transition care is too risky for minors to consent to and should be a decision a person reaches as an adult. Local lawmakers who are co-sponsored on the bills include state Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, and Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge.

Nathan Higdon, chief financial officer for Knox Pride, speaks at the Feb. 7 League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge meeting.

A handout provided at the LWVOR meeting indicated that the Journal of Adolescent Health found that gender-affirming hormone therapy resulted in lower rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among older transgender and nonbinary teens. The Journal describes itself as "a multidisciplinary scientific Journal dedicated to improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults."

Nathan Higdon, chief financial officer of Knox Pride, told the LWVOR audience that such bills  which the handout stated are not based on scientific facts or supported by medical professionals who treat LGBTQ youth  are cultural flashpoints designed to attract votes and campaign funds from the lawmakers political base.

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Theres no reason for any of this legislation other than to be cruel because cruelty is the point, he said.

According to the handout, in 2022 more than 220 bills disproportionately targeting LGBTQ youth were introduced in state legislatures to restrict access to school sports, health care, books and inclusive curriculum and the bathroom. It also stated that evidence is growing about the harm of these bills and other efforts to target trans youth.

About 85% of transgender and nonbinary youth, and 66% of all LGBTQ youth, say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. Also, 52% of trans and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, and one in five attempted suicide.

Higdon said the Tennessee legislature lately has been passing bills that he calls lawsuits, not legislation, because they force the breaking of a controversial law so that the final policy is dictated by a court decision.

If we cant stop a bad law, the only recourse is for someone to break the law, put their life on hold or ruin it, and go to court in the hope of overturning the law, Higdon said. Its a waste of Tennesseans time, money and resources.

John Jaruzel speaks at the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge meeting. He is co-chair of the PFLAG Oak Ridge Chapter.

According to the UCLA School of Laws Williams Institute (quoted in the handout), Gender-affirming care, including the use of hormones to delay puberty and to promote the development of secondary sex characteristics that are consistent with a childs gender identity, is recommended for transgender youth by the American Academy of Pediatricians and the Endocrine Society.

It is viewed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association as evidence-based patient care. Moreover, the American Medical Association supports insurance coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender people.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and a former Oak Ridge resident, is backing legislation to block TennCare and its contracted insurance companies, which distribute the states Medicaid program, from covering or reimbursing any gender-transition health-care treatments. Democratic lawmakers called this bill discriminatory.

Higdon says few gender reassignment surgeries done in state

Lawmakers are trying to make us believe that many young people in Tennessee are getting gender reassignment surgery, Higdon said. In the past five years there have been five mastectomies and zero bottom surgeries in youths under 18 years old. LGBTQ people are being used as political bargaining chips to get the far-right extremist voters to turn out since they care about nothing else but cultural flashpoint issues.

Anne Backus speaks at the Feb . 7 League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge meeting. She is co-chair of the PFLAG Oak Ridge Chapter.

Higdon noted that the SB1 bill also allows a minor or parent of a minor injured by gender-affirming care to bring a civil lawsuit against the health care provider to recover compensatory and punitive damages and other expenses.

He also mentioned the possibility that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee might sign a bill altering the states obscenity law to limit male and female impersonators. According to The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Organizers worry some Knox Pride Festival performances, such as drag shows, could be illegal, and even some parade participants could be breaking the law. If the law changes, Higdon and other Knox Pride organizers indicated they will cancel this years festival and parade, which is a major fundraiser.

In his LWVOR talk, Higdon alluded to a drag show in Jackson. According to the News-Sentinel, it was limited to participants 18 and older after a Republican lawmaker claimed the performances, even though they lacked lewd or sexual content, would groom and recruit children to this lifestyle and be examples of child abuse.

Oak Ridge PFLAG officials speak

Another speaker at the LWVOR meeting was John Jaruzel, co-chair of the Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Oak Ridge Chapter. He praised the passage last year by Congress of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 because it legalizes my marriage to my husband in the United States. But the new law is limited, he added, because it does not require any state to allow same-sex couples to marry in the future.

Eight states can now deny same-sex marriage licenses, Jaruzel said. Most likely, Tennessee will be one of those states.

He has heard from friends that they no longer feel safe outing themselves at gathering places for LGBTQ people, because these sites are increasingly being targeted by people with guns.

Jaruzel, who is treasurer of the AIDS Housing Project in South Knoxville, noted that Gov. Lee recently decided to turn down $9 million in federal funding for HIV prevention, stating that the funds had too many strings attached, and Tennessee could do better with our own money. Gov. Lee limited the state funding to any instances of mother-to-child transmission and first responders who got HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Last year there were zero first responders who contracted HIV and only one HIV case involving a mother-to-child transmission, Jaruzel noted. But 600 men in Tennessee were infected with HIV. Now, there wont be any funding for prevention of HIV in the male population that needs it the most.

Anne Backus, co-chair of the PFLAG Oak Ridge Chapter, explained that all genders have a spectrum.

For example, some who identify as women always wear dresses, but many women today wear slacks, as do most men, so these women are somewhere in the middle based on their gender expression.

She said that it is important for parents and grandparents to acknowledge their trans youth or nonbinary youths authentic name and pronouns. Without their love, acceptance and support, she added, more than half of such youths will consider or attempt suicide.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Knox Pride official to League: Gender transition ban bills 'cruel'
Reuters/Marco Bello

Kristi Noem is trying to thread two political needles.

Shes desperate to create chatter about a presidential run, while also not angering Donald Trump and excluding herself from his short-list of vice presidential candidates. Shes also trying to do some of Trumps dirty work by attacking Ron DeSantis, while also not directly attacking the Florida governor and setting off a war with his camp.

On Wednesday, Noem managed to do it all, delivering a speech at the pro-Trump think tank America First Policy Institute that generated the chatter she craves while also subtly taking shots at DeSantis without using his name.

Noems main line of attack against DeSantis was contrasting their different responses to COVID-19.

I did not lock my people down or mandate anything. In fact, we were the only state in the country that never once ordered a single business or church to close, Noem said at one point during the private event, where Trump alumni Brooke Rollins and Hogan Gidley sat front and center. In fact, I didnt even define what an essential business was or nonessential business was.

Inside the One-Way Feud Between Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem

In April 2020, DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order amid the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, which he said was in consultation with then-President Trump at the time. The Florida governor would later define what essential services were, something now deemed a mortal sin by right-wing media.

Because I dont believe that governors have the authority to tell you that your business isnt essential, Noem said during her address.

Without uttering his name, the South Dakota governor took one more jab at DeSantis when she said her state attracts freedom-loving Americans without the promise of palm trees and sunshine.

Today, our population is growing at five times the national average, now remember South Dakota does not have beaches and we do not have beautiful Januarys to use to recruit people to our state, she said.

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At the end of her speechwhich largely focused on China threatening the way of life in AmericaNoem said the state of Florida was watching South Dakota to see how we lead when it came to prohibiting China-backed entities from buying up farmland in their state.

Of Course Kristi Noems Staff Gave Her a Flamethrower for Christmas

As the race for the White House in 2024 has gotten underway on the Republican side of the ticket, Noems camp hasnt been afraid of attacking DeSantis. The Daily Beast previously noted that Noem press secretary Ian Fury wrote a blistering email to the conservative-leaning publication National Review, where he accused the Florida governor of hiding behind a 15-week ban on the issue of abortion.

The Daily Beast also reported mid-January that the South Dakota governor is on Trumps vice-president short-list, which also includes Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

But Noems address Wednesday in D.C. was one of the clearest signs yet that the South Dakota governor has ambitions beyond the Mount Rushmore State. Fox News reported earlier this month that Noem is slated to give two additional speeches this week while in Washington, D.C., including one at the libertarian think-tank The Cato Institute.

Ron DeSantis Scolds Donald Trump for Attacks Ahead of Potential 2024 Run

Noem entered Congress two years before DeSantis was elected, but left around the same time as him, when both were elected governor of their respective states in 2018. Since then, Noem won re-election as the states executive in 2022, securing over 60 percent of the vote in the general election.

When other states saw that our example was working, they unwound their lockdowns. They declared themselves open for business, too, she said Wednesday. How long would it have taken our nation to recover from this pandemic if we had not had South Dakotas example?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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House Republicans sent a juvenile justice bill to the House floor on Wednesday, calling for tougher treatment of many youths charged with serious crimes and the parents of chronic truants while also funding the reopening of a juvenile detention center in Louisville.

But critics said House Bill 3 does not include the $45 million requested by Gov. Andy Beshear for pay raises or security improvements at the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice or stronger mental health and education services or independent oversight of juvenile detention centers recommended by House Democrats.

Cracking down even harder on youths in trouble isnt going to fix the problems with Kentuckys juvenile justice system, they said.

There is nothing to suggest that beating a child harder with a bigger stick actually helps them be a better adult, the Rev. Kent Gilbert of the Kentucky Council of Churches told the House Judiciary Committee. And our whole goal is to create better adults.

Supporters of the House bill objected to some of that criticism. They said the bill does address mental health. It would require youths who are charged with a serious offense to be evaluated for eligibility in cognitive behavioral therapy or substance abuse treatment while they are detained after an arrest.

And reopening the juvenile detention center in Louisville would keep Jefferson County youths in that community, near their families, rather than requiring a 206-mile round-trip to the next-closest juvenile detention center in Adair County, where there have been riots, supporters of the bill said.

This is a very important bill. It must pass, said state Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville.

The bills sponsor, state Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, said he expects to see at least one more GOP bill during this legislative session to address problems inside DJJ. That bill probably will start in the Senate, Bratcher said.

The committee voted 15-to-1 to approve Bratchers House bill, with two representatives passing.

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The bill would:

 Require up to 48 hours of detention, not including weekends or holidays, for youths charged with a violent felony offense, which includes murder, manslaughter, assault, rape, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, arson and escape. Under current law, court officials have the authority to order a youth detained or released after an arrest.

 Waive the confidentiality of juvenile court records for youths convicted of a violent felony offense for five years after the conviction, so they could be found during criminal background checks by prospective employers and others. If youths are not convicted of another serious offense during that five-year window, then their records would be sealed.

Several lawmakers raised concerns about this part of the bill. Scott West, an attorney with the states Department of Public Advocacy, testified that commercial data brokers collect information from court records. Once a court record has entered a commercial database, it can remain there for the rest of a persons life, West said.

Bratcher said hes willing to discuss possible changes to the confidentiality portion of his bill.

 Require juvenile courts to regularly follow up on serious truancy cases, where youths are not attending school despite being assigned by the courts to a diversion program. A parent who intentionally fails to cooperate with a court order on school attendance could be charged with the Class A misdemeanor of unlawful transaction with a minor in the third-degree, punishable by up to a year in jail.

 Provide $8.9 million to upgrade and reopen a 40-bed juvenile detention center in downtown Louisville.

DJJ is slowly reopening a detention center in the Louisville suburb of Lyndon that it closed late last year, but that building will be limited to the youngest and lowest-security youths because of its physical limitations, state officials say. Lawmakers want a facility in Louisville that can detain the citys older and highest-security youths.

Also on Wednesday, two House Democrats from Louisville  state Reps. Keturah Herron and Lisa Willner  announced several pieces of legislation they are offering to reform the juvenile justice system.

They include a Bill of Rights for Incarcerated Children, such as the right to quality education and mental health services, and a citizens oversight panel that would monitor how youths are treated from the time they are arrested to the time they are released from juvenile detention facilities.

Willner said she was upset to read news reports of youths locked in their cells for extended periods in Kentuckys juvenile detention centers, denied much in the way of basic services or even human contact. So far, Willner said, most of the proposed fixes offered by Beshear and Republican lawmakers are focused on tightening security and strengthening punishments, not improving services for the youths.

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.

KY officials ask lawmakers for $45M and new laws to fix juvenile justice system

Nurses sue KY juvenile justice agency, say they reported inhumane conditions
Los Angeles police officers gather near City Hall after crowds became unruly after a vigil for Tyre Nichols near LAPD headquarters on Jan. 27. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

When protesters took to the streets to speak out against police killings last month, Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia swung into action, sending members of his executive team to monitor the LAPD at back-to-back events.

High-level staffers in the controller's office went to three consecutive days of protests in downtown, Hollywood and Venice, gathering "first-hand impressions of conditions on the ground" and seeking an understanding of "how our tax dollars are being spent," according to Mejia and his media spokesperson.

Now, those activities are drawing criticism from the Police Department's biggest union, which contends that Mejia's monitors pose a safety risk by approaching officers at inappropriate moments. In a letter sent Friday, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 9,200 officers, asked City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto and LAPD Chief Michel Moore to set up a meeting with Mejia and the union to create protocols for interactions between his team and rank-and-file officers.

"Being questioned while performing their duties is not safe and puts our officers and the public at risk of injury or worse," league President Craig Lally said in the letter.

Kenneth Mejia during a campaign event at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 1, 2022. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Mejia did not respond to an interview request. But during an appearance on Twitch on Tuesday, he said his team behaved professionally when interacting with police and other city workers. At one demonstration, Mejia said, his team stayed "on the side and out of the way," communicating with a lieutenant on the scene.

"The lieutenant actually was there ... talking to us the whole time and talking mainly about what their operations were, what they were going to do next," he said, adding, "It went pretty smooth."

Feldstein Soto declined to set up a meeting, telling the league in a letter Monday that both the city controller's office and the LAPD are her clients and that meetings with them would be subject to attorney-client privilege.

LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said the police chief will turn over information requested by the controller's office, but has also asked Mejia not to interfere with the department's day-to-day operations. She said she had not heard of any conflicts at protests.

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Mejia has the right to question officers in the field, Muniz said, as long as hes not impeding tactical operations.

Have [the controller's staff] been out, have they been talking to people? Yes. Is that the most efficient way to gather hard data? Maybe not. But were going to provide them information through proper channels, she said.

Mejia took office in December, after campaigning on a promise to bring accountability to the LAPD. In the years leading up to his election, he was a frequent presence at demonstrations, showing up outside the Windsor Square home of then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, outside the San Fernando Valley home of Councilmember Paul Krekorian and inside the City Council chamber on days when protesters temporarily shut down meetings.

In recent weeks, Mejia's office has requested information on the cost of sending police officers to protests. He and some of his top aides  chief of staff Jane Nguyen, chief of accountability and oversight Sergio Perez and spokesperson Diana Chang  have served as protest monitors.

On Jan. 27, Mejia, Nguyen and Perez went to a protest in the Civic Center, which took place on the night that officials in Memphis, Tenn., released graphic video of the police beating that killed 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. The demonstration in L.A. included some tense moments between protesters and police, with demonstrators pushing down barricades and spray-painting LAPD headquarters.

The following evening, three members of Mejia's team went to a protest in Hollywood. Police later reported that they had arrested one protester on suspicion of smashing a storefront window and tagging a building.

The third night, Mejia, Nguyen and Chang went to Venice to a Black Lives Matter protest marking the death of Keenan Anderson, who died after being tased repeatedly by officers. During that demonstration, protesters left messages at the doorstep of City Councilmember Traci Park.

Mejia, on Twitter, said his team is not focused on the protesters' behavior. "Our aim is to hold the City accountable (NOT to scrutinize the conduct of community members exercising their rights)," he wrote last month.

Paula Minor, a prominent organizer with Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, said she hasn't been to any of the protests where Mejia was present. But she spoke in favor of his push for LAPD oversight, saying it "cannot help but be beneficial."

If hes out there, good," she said, pointing out that the city has spent millions of dollars on legal payouts stemming from police misconduct at protests.

One lawsuit brought by Black Lives Matter organizers, which accuses the department of excessive force during George Floyd-related protests that swept the city in 2020, is still wending its way through the court system, Minor said.

Mejia's staff members have gone to at least one of Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe operations, at which outreach workers have moved homeless residents indoors. The controller also has approached officers inside City Hall, asking them on one occasion "what their duties are and why they're there," said LAPD Sgt. Dennis Clark, who is assigned to the building.

Mejia posed those questions on a day when a large number of protesters were at City Hall, Clark said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A jogger makes his way down tree-lined 6th Street in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

9:51 p.m. Feb. 14, 2023: An earlier version of this article referred to the Los Angeles city attorney as Hydee Feldstein. Her last name is Feldstein Soto.



More than 12,000 mature trees in Los Angeles may be spared the ax after advocates of tree preservation prevailed in court.

The recent decision by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge found that city leaders had failed to adequately consider the cumulative effects of removing thousands of trees along city streets during its 30-year sidewalk revamp project. The judge has effectively blocked further tree removal until the issue is remedied.

Celebrating their victory, plaintiffs are hopeful the city will work to find solutions that preserve such trees, especially as the plants become increasingly important in the face of more frequent and more extreme heat.

Our goal is for them to consider the benefits of trees and all of the eco-services that they provide  they clean the air, theyre cooling, they provide biodiversity  and treat [them] as green infrastructure," said Jeanne McConnell, co-founder of Angelenos for Trees. The city continues to remove a lot of trees, in the hundreds and thousands each year, and the tree canopy is actively declining."

In their lawsuit, McConnell's organization, along with the nonprofit United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles, alleged that city officials improperly moved forward with its $1.3-billion sidewalk project without adhering to requirements in the California Environmental Quality Act  failing to consider the short-term effect of removing so many trees, the effect on non-sensitive bird species and the cumulative impact, especially given other ongoing projects in the city that are also removing trees.

That state law requires organizations across California to identify potentially significant environmental impacts of a project, then find ways to avoid or mitigate those impacts, when possible.

This is a really significant win for environmentalists in the city of Los Angeles, and the general public, said Jamie T. Hall, co-counsel in the lawsuit and self-proclaimed tree lover. The city wanted to value efficiency and streamlining. ... That comes at environmental costs."

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The city, in court filings, denied the allegations and stood by its environmental impact report for the project.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff sided with the tree advocates, ruling that environmental report was no longer valid.

"The court finds the city failed to proceed as required by law when it omitted sufficient analysis of the projects impacts on non-sensitive status species, Beckloff wrote in the Jan. 17 decision. He called the environmental analysis deficient in its review of the project's cumulative effects."

Hall and co-counsel Sabrina Venskus are hopeful this decision will lead to a new environmental evaluation of the project, including a more thorough review of alternatives for repairing sidewalks while preserving mature trees. But he said it was unclear how the city would proceed, as city attorneys could choose to appeal the ruling.

"The City is reviewing and considering its options for responding to the trial court's ruling," Ian Thompson, a spokesperson for City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, said in a statement. He declined to comment further.

Venskus said the city created a "false choice" between saving mature trees and fixing sidewalks, but she said both were important and not mutually exclusive. The project to repair the city's sidewalks was initially implemented in a 2016 settlement after an Americans With Disabilities Act lawsuit, and Venskus said the plaintiffs in the suit supported the repairs  just within parameters that would better preserve trees.

Other cities can preserve their mature street trees and sidewalks. I think L.A. can too, Venskus said. "They have to rise to that challenge because if they dont, theyre not going to be able to achieve their goals of being a climate-resilient city."

McConnell pointed to other cities such as Portland, Ore., Pasadena and Ojai that had preserved trees while maintaining sidewalks. She said she'd like to see Los Angeles look into alternatives to removing trees that interfere with sidewalks, such as meandering sidewalks that go around the trees; using permeable pavement that wouldn't buckle from the roots; or bumping out sidewalks into streets.

As of fall 2022, the Sidewalk Repair Project had reported removing almost 850 trees, while having planted nearly 1,700 new trees, according to records from an October update from the city's Bureau of Street Services. McConnell said those counts didn't consider other developments or construction projects where trees had been removed.

It does take time and conversation, but its worth it because you could potentially save a mature tree that provides a host of environmental benefits, Hall said. "It's always going to be easier to cut down the trees.

Preserving trees in L.A. has been a longtime issue for climate activists, as trees continue to be an important line of defense against warming temperatures. In Beverly Hills, a fight to save ficus trees is ongoing, with the trees also set for removal to make room for sidewalks. And there's a similar project and battle underway in Long Beach.

Research has shown the city's tree canopy is unevenly distributed and can create a heat island effect  areas with less shade and tree cover can be significantly warmer than those with tree canopy.

In South L.A., where there are fewer trees on private property, it means "street trees play an outsize role in the community, Hall said, making their preservation an "environmental justice issue as well."

Hall and his team hope that with the city's new administration as well as a new chief heat officer, officials will be more receptive to these issues. In an already positive sign, City Councilmember John Lee on Tuesday introduced a motion that would direct city agencies focused on the urban forest to find "sustainable solutions" for sidewalk repairs that "preserve the city's mature street trees while ensuring safe sidewalks"  the compromise the tree activists wanted to see. The motion, if passed, would also look for new opportunities to fund such projects.

This will be an opportunity for the city to really look at the impacts of taking out street trees ... and seeing the value in investing resources and maintaining our trees, no matter what the projects may be, Venskus said. We need to find a balance.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Story at a glance

On Tuesday, Booker joined other lawmakers and activists to demand better pay for federal employees across the country.

Together they are backing the Fair Act, to give federal employees an 8.7% pay increase.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), one of the few Republicans supporting this bill, says this legislation would restore years of lost wage increases for federal employees.

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Lawmakers are pushing for higher pay for federal and dc government employees.

The government workers must have 8.7%, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said.

Tuesday, Booker joined other lawmakers and activists to demand better pay for federal employees across the country.

When we are united we are strong, Booker said.

Together they are backing the Fair Act, to give federal employees an 8.7% pay increase.

Weve got to stop calling, by the way what I just did, which is a pay increase, which it is not. Its fair pay, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) said.

Fitzpatrick is one of the few Republicans supporting this bill, and he says this legislation would restore years of lost wage increases for federal employees.

That shouldnt be a hard issue for anybody to get behind, Fitzpatrick said.

But Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) points out that some lawmakers in the House and Senate continue to stand in the way of raising federal wages.

These are not easy times and its not an easy set up in Congress with a Democratic Senate and a Republican House, Kaine said.

Activists and Unions say the increase is overdue.

What we are asking for today is that you be given the respect that you deserve, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond said.

Booker says hes seeing more Republicans realize there needs to be a change, and he expects more bipartisan support is coming through.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Feb. 15U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, both D-Va., along with U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va-09, urged the Army Corps of Engineers Friday to act quickly to finalize the Buchanan County Consolidated School Relocation Project, a project that would relocate and consolidate the existing Hurley High School and Buchanan County Career, Technology & Higher Learning Center from their existing locations in a floodplain onto one campus in Grundy, Va.

"The relocation of Hurley High School and the Buchanan County Career Center will provide a safe and reliable facility for the communities of Grundy and Hurley, Virginia," the lawmakers wrote in a letter. "Recent significant rainfall events in Buchanan County have showed that time is of the essence to complete this critical consolidation and relocation project. We urge USACE to prioritize finalizing the Buchanan County School Relocation Contract as quickly as possible so this critical project can get underway."

Due to consistent and severe flooding in Buchanan County  including two recent flooding events in 2021 and 2022  USACE has implemented flood risk management measures in the county since the early 2000s. In August 2003, USACE approved a conceptual level Detailed Project Report package for the Buchanan County Nonstructural Project that identified Hurley High School and Buchanan County Career Center as "feasible for flood-proofing by means of a 'ringwall.'"

In 2019, the Buchanan County Nonstructural Project received significant supplemental appropriations to complete flood risk management activities pursuant to the Disaster Relief Act of 2019. Given the lapse in time, a USACE review determined that a ringwall for the high school was no longer feasible and relocation was the most viable solution. The Buchanan County Board of Education then submitted plans to relocate the career center to the same location as the high school, which was supported by a 2021 Supplemental Environmental Assessment produced by USACE.

In their letter, the lawmakers highlighted the elongated approval process, and requested quick action finalizing a project that is vital for Southwest Virginia.

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump demanded Thursday that swift justice be taken and that the Raleigh police officers who tased Darryl Tyree Williams be fired and charged with manslaughter.

Williams, a 32-year-old Black man, died in police custody on Jan. 17. His family announced Tuesday it had hired the Ben Crump Law firm in the case.

Williams was tased three times by officers trying to arrest him for alleged drug possession while they patrolled outside a sweepstakes parlor on Rock Quarry Road.

He died shortly afterward. His cause of death and whether the multiple shocks from officers tasers played a part in it have not yet been officially determined.

We are here in the capital of our home state, here in Raleigh, North Carolina, fighting for justice for Darryl Tyree Williams, said Crump. We come here to disturb the peace and the fact that we dont want everybody to sleep comfortable saying we can just kill Black people unnecessarily and unjustifiably.

Sonya Williams, center, the mother of Darryl Williams, wipes away tears as attorney Ben Crump speak during a press briefing on the death of Darryl Williams on Thursday, February 16. 2023 at Mount Peace Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. Williams was tased by Raleigh police in January. Crump has been retained by the Williams family, calling for the officers involved to be charged with manslaughter.

Crump spoke at a news conference standing with the Williams family and Raleigh-based Emancipate NC, a police accountability group, at Mount Peace Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, around the corner from where Williams was tased.

I am recalling what Martin Luther King said about what true peace is. ... It is not the absence of tension, but it is the presence of justice, Crump said. How can we have peace in North Carolina until we have justice for Darryl Tyree Williams?

With his left arm over Sonya Williams shoulder, Crump denounced the officers actions on Jan. 17, as an image of her son was projected on the screens behind them in the church sanctuary.

Crump criticized police for overpolicing southeast Raleigh and said Williams Fourth Amendment rights were violated when officers approached Williams to search him as he sat in his car.

We dont see them going into white neighborhoods with this proactive policing, he said.

READ MORE: Who is Ben Crump? Renowned lawyer representing Darryl Williams family in Raleigh

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A second Tyree in Memphis, TN

Crump said there was a second Tyree in Memphis, Tennessee, where a special police unit was seen in footage from Jan. 7 beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who died from his injuries. Ben Crump Law is also representing the Nichols family.

The man said, Ive got heart problems. He begged (police) to stop, said Crump, returning to Williams. The people who was supposed to (hear) his cries the most made it fall on deaf ears when they tased him again.

At one point during the press conference, Sonya Williams had to sit down and grab tissues.

When you have willful and reckless regard for human life or safety isnt that the very definition of manslaughter? Crump said.

Asked about her son, Sonya Williams said he was Darryl, her firstborn and only son, and a loving person who didnt bother anyone.

He was a good boy, she said, wearing a T-shirt with images of him. He wasnt perfect, but he was my son. He shouldnt be dead, and I want justice.

What matters is from the moment the encounter happened, until the death occurred in the video, is that it gives us a wonderful opportunity to deal in the land of unrefuted facts, said attorney Ken Abbarno, one of the lawyers on the case. Nobody can accuse this legal team of making up any facts.

A wreath after the conference

After the press conference, people marched down Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard toward Rock Quarry Road where a vigil was held.

Family members and others laid flowers and a wreath in the parking lot where Williams was arrested. Sonya Williams held a bouquet of flowers. She sobbed as she embraced Zayvien Williams, one of her children.

Were gathered here during Black History Month, said the Rev. Gregory Drumwright of Alamance County. For history that were tired of making.

People there sang Oh, Freedom, a post-Civil War African-American freedom song associated with the Civil Rights Movement.







What happened to Darryl Williams?

Raleigh police officers approached Williams around 1:55 a.m. while conducting proactive patrols of businesses in the 800 block of Rock Quarry Road.

Police struggled to arrest Williams after an officer found a substance that looked like cocaine inside a folded dollar bill in his pocket, according to a police report and body camera video.

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 shows Williams telling officers he has heart problems during the incident.

He was tased once but got up and ran a short distance until he stumbled and fell, the footage shows. He was tased a second time after not complying with orders to put his hands behind his back.

The officers used the drive-stun mode of the taser twice on Williams, police said in report.

The mode sets the taser to give a more powerful shock when pressed against the body.

I have heart problems. Please ... please. Please! he cried out.

Three, two, one, an officer said simultaneously in the footage. Williams screams in pain as officers tase him a third and final time, after which he falls silent, handcuffed and unresponsive on the ground.

Six police officers are on administrative leave while police and the State Bureau of Investigation review the incident

The investigations are ongoing, will be thorough, and will follow the available facts and evidence wherever they lead, Lt. Jason Borneo of the Raleigh Police Department said in an email.

Police are conducting a separate investigation into the actions of Mr. Williams, and there is an internal investigation into the six officers involved. That investigation will be reviewed by command staff, Borneo said.

The states investigation is ongoing, and an autopsy report hasnt yet been completed, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The News & Observer on Wednesday.

An autopsy report after a law enforcement-related death may take the Office of the Medical Examiner several months to complete.

Freeman will eventually decide whether the officers acted lawfully.

North Carolina native Ben Crump

Crump, who was born in Lumberton, has worked on multiple high-profile cases involving hate crimes and police killings of Black people across the country.

Crump has represented the family of George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man who was murdered by Minneapolis police officers in 2020. He is also representing the family of Nichols, the man beaten by Memphis police officers on Jan. 7 who died from his injuries.

In North Carolina, Crump represented the family of Andrew Brown, who was fatally shot by police in Elizabeth City in 2021, and the family of Jason Walker, who was killed by an off-duty Cumberland County sheriffs deputy in January 2022.
People watch a hologram called Studio di uomo barbuto (study of bearded man) during the Leonardo da Vinci multimedia installation Leonardo Da Vinci 3D at the Fabbrica del Vapore (Steam Factory) in Milan, on 29 May 2019 (AFP via Getty Images)

Leonardo da Vincis understanding of gravity, while not completely accurate, was centuries ahead of his time, according to a new study that reasessed sketches in the Italian polymaths old notebooks.

The research, published recently in the journal Leonardo, found da Vinci, who lived from 1452 to 1519, had devised experiments to demonstrate that gravity is a form of acceleration.

He had modeled the gravitational constant to around 97 per cent accuracy, according to scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the US.

It was only in 1604 that Galileo Galilei theorised that the distance covered by a falling object was proportional to the square of time elapsed, and it wasnt until the late 17th century that Sir Isaac Newton developed a law of universal gravitation to describe how objects are attracted to each other.

These latest findings suggest da Vinci was ahead of his time in exploring these concepts.

Engineers from Caltech have discovered that Leonardo da Vincis understanding of gravity  though not wholly accurate  was centuries ahead of his time, said a press release from the university.

In an experiment described in a collection of papers written by da Vinci called the Codex Arundel, Caltech professor Mory Gharib spotted a series of sketches showing triangles generated by sand-like particles pouring out from a jar.

What caught my eye was when he wrote Equatione di Moti on the hypotenuse of one of his sketched triangles  the one that was an isosceles right triangle. I became interested to see what Leonardo meant by that phrase, Dr Gharib said in a statement.

Scientists then worked on translating da Vincis Italian notes written in his famous left-handed mirror writing that reads from right to left.

They found that the manuscript described an experiment in which a water pitcher moved along a straight path parallel to the ground, dumping out either water or a granular material  most likely sand  along the way.

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In the notes, da Vinci makes it clear that the water or sand would not fall at a constant velocity, but rather accelerate due to gravity  an understanding much ahead of his time, noted scientists.

The Italian polymath also said the material stopped accelerating horizontally as it was no longer influenced by the pitcher and that acceleration is purely downward.

He described in the experiment that if the pitcher moved at a constant speed, the line created by falling material is vertical, so no triangle forms.

And if the pitcher accelerates at a constant rate, da Vinci reasoned that the line created by the collection of falling material makes a straight but slanted line, which then forms a triangle.

In a key diagram, da Vinci pointed out that if the pitchers motion is accelerated at the same rate that gravity accelerates the falling material, it creates an equilateral triangle  highlighted in the note as Equatione di Moti or equalisation (equivalence) of motions.

What we saw is that Leonardo wrestled with this, but he modeled it as the falling objects distance was proportional to 2 to the t power [with t representing time] instead proportional to t squared, said Chris Roh, another author of the study from Caltech.

Its wrong, but we later found out that he used this sort of wrong equation in the correct way, he added.

Scientists said one of the Italian polymaths primary hurdles was being limited by the tools of his time to precisely measure time as objects fell.

We dont know if da Vinci did further experiments or probed this question more deeply. But the fact that he was grappling with this problem in this way  in the early 1500s  demonstrates just how far ahead his thinking was, Dr Gharib added.
Open Road Films

Liam Neeson follows in the footsteps of Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Elliott Gould (among others) in Marlowe (which hits theaters Feb. 15), playing Raymond Chandlers iconic SoCal private eye in a mystery rife with Hollywood glamor, underworld murder, and nefarious conspiracies most foul. Unfortunately, while the star adequately acquits himself, Neil Jordans throwback noir is a cover song that knows all the notes but cant capture its predecessors spirit. Its all surface, no soul.

Neesons Philip Marlowe doesnt have much of a gruff, jaded edge; instead, the headliner leans into the characters gallant side, which helps modestly differentiate his turn from those that came before.

Its a passable conception of the detective, if one that feels too bland by halfas well as generic, as evidenced by the fact that it requires Neeson to resort to his familiar action-hero routine by punching out various henchmen. At least as often as not, this Marlowes world-weariness comes across as lethargy, such that when he says, Im getting too old for this, its hard not to hear the cliche as less an articulation of the characters disillusionment than an expression of the actors attitude toward such material.

Still, though he never cuts a truly distinguishing figure as Chandlers famous hero, Neeson holds his own in Marlowe, which director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The Butcher Boy) fashions as an overly manicured period piece. Eschewing classic noirs monochrome, Jordan creates heightened visual contrast by balancing inky blacks and warm yellows. Venetian shadows are a recurring feature, as are shots of Marlowe seen through slatted gates and constricting window panes.

Open Road Films

Multiple mirror images of characters, as well as sharp diagonal lines, are also prime components of Jordans old-school aesthetics, as is David Holmes horn-heavy score. As far as replications go, its a superficial success, yet theres nonetheless something so meticulous and studied about the directors approach that it renders the action a self-conscious and airless facsimile.

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Set in 1939 Los Angeles but shot in Spain, Marlowe boasts an uneasy dissonance that might have worked in its favorheightening its mood of dangerous, romantic dreaminessif the film werent so committed to going through the literal noir motions.

Based on John Banvilles 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde rather than a Chandler original, its story is a compendium of customary gumshoe elements, beginning with Chandler being visited in his office by fetching blonde socialite Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger), who has a mission for him: find her lover Nico Peterson (Francois Arnaud). That task doesnt prove too difficult for Marlowe, who almost immediately discovers that Nico is dead and cremated, the victim of a fatal hit-and-run outside the Corbata Club, an enclave of luxury and leisure for the citys wealthy elite.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Is an Embarrassing CGI Bonanza

Thered be no movie if this were an open-and-shut case, however, and Marlowe soon deduces that something strange is afoot, thanks to Clares claim that she saw Nico in Mexico shortly after his supposed demise. Additional snooping leads Marlow from one snake to another, be it the Corbata Clubs manager Floyd Hanson (Danny Huston), who carries himself with the suave cockiness of a man shielded by money and privilege, or Nicos sister Lynn (Daniela Melchior), who believes her brother to be dead (she apparently even identified him at the morgue) and is preyed upon by hoods visiting from Mexico. The high and the low collide in Marlowe, forcing the detective to untangle a knot of allegiances that leads him back, invariably, to the movie industry itself.

Clare, it turns out, is the daughter of Dorothy (Jessica Lange), a wealthy and somewhat disreputable former starlet whose husband, the Ambassador (Mitchell Mullen), purchased Pacific Pictures studio for her. Familial rivalries of a financial and sexual sort factor into this stew, as do criminal shenanigans concerning Lou Hendricks (Alan Cumming), a shady drug dealer who makes references to his own homosexuality and whose chauffeur Cedric (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is a heavy with a Tommy gun.

Together, these characters strive to transform the film into a typically convoluted Chandler saga. The effort, unfortunately, is largely for naught. Marlowe muddies the waters in ways that are less intriguing than indolent, and moreover, its not nearly as confusing as it should be; save for a couple of minor diversions, the tale told here is depressingly straightforward.

Between Kruger and Langes platinum dos, Neesons fedora, and the shiny old-school cars that everyone drives, Marlowe certainly looks the part. William Monahans script, on the other hand, doesnt sound it. Ham-fisted dialogue like, Im just an ordinary Joe, trying to earn a buck and stay out of jail clangs stridently against the expertly recreated interior decor and palm tree-dappled exterior locations, turning the proceedings into an exercise in affectation.

Only Huston seems comfortable spewing his malevolent lines, and that speaks more to his preternatural gift for stately wickedness than to the screenplay. Worse, when its not actively trying to echo the hard-bitten cadences and ornate turns of phrase of the past, it bogs down in clumsy truisms and exposition.

References to Hitchcock and nods to the imminent Nazi threat help color in the corners of Marlowe, yet such real-world details are at odds with the films persistent artificiality. One wishes Jordan would dive headfirst into illusory terrain, especially since his plot is partially about Hollywood deception and treachery. As it stands, though, everything is less than it initially appears, and certainly far from beguiling.

Populated by archetypes shuffling their way through a funhouse variation of a Siodmak, Lang, or Hawkes affair, it lacks noirs unnerving jaggedness, sultry sumptuousness, and grim fatalism, all of which is replaced by rigorous production detail and lots of posing and overdoing-it by its cast.

Remember When Steven Soderberghs Side Effects Made Discussing Depression Sexy?

That Marlowe occasionally taps into an authentic hardboiled veinas when Marlowe is informed that a suspect has been found, and shell wait till we get therejust makes its many swings and misses all the more frustrating. Absent an engrossing whodunit, a bitter violent streak or a legitimate erotic charge, its just an approximation of the numerous better movies fans of the genre should spend their time watching.

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A license plate that only has the letter 'R' on it just sold for $3.2 million in Hong Kong Dzmitry Ryshchuk/Getty Images

A Hong Kong license plate that only has the letter 'R' was sold for $3.2 million on Sunday.

The bid was at least 5,100 times the reserve price and represented more than 80% of the total raised at the auction.

This isn't even a record high in the city. A bid for the letter 'W' came in at $3.3 million in 2021.

To most, registering for a car license plate is a swift and relatively inexpensive process.

But over in Hong Kong, a license plate that only has the letter "R" was sold for about 25.5 million Hong Kong dollars, or $3.2 million, at a Lunar New Year auction organized by the Hong Kong Transport Department on Sunday, according to an announcement by the agency.

The winning bid for the letter "R" was at least 5,100 times the reserve price of around HK$5,000 and represented more than 80% of the total raised at the auction on Sunday, the announcement shows. Around 49 license plate numbers were up for grabs during the auction.

The winning bidder did not respond to media inquiries at the auction hall, the South China Morning Post reported.

The news outlet further reported that the license plate "R" was expected to net at least HK$10 million, citing registration plate dealers who spoke to the media before the auction. The dealers attributed the large sum to the association of the letter with racing cars and a number considered to be lucky in Chinese fortune-telling, per SCMP.

And Sunday's winning bid is not even a record high in the city.

On Saturday, transport secretary Lam Sai-hung shared the rankings of the most expensive license plates auctioned in Hong Kong, which showed that the registration of a license plate with the letter "W" was sold for $3.3 million in 2021. He added that the sale of personalized car license plates had netted the government almost $77 million since 2006.

The quest for a novelty car plate is not just limited to Hong Kong. A rare California license plate with the letters "MM" was sold at $24.3 million in 2021, taking the top spot for the most expensive license plate sold in the world, according to Luxe Digital.

Read the original article on Business Insider
ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI - REUTERS/Florence Lo

It was meant to be an unanswerable demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence. But when Microsoft asked its Bing virtual assistant to plan the perfect holiday in Mexico City, it produced a result that was not quite up to the standard of a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet tour book.

Suggesting a good site for nightlife, the bot recommended a bar which it claimed was popular among a young crowd, despite there being just one Tripadvisor review  from 2014.

In a later portion of Microsoft's demonstration of the software  touted as a potential Google killer  it was asked to analyse a financial filing, but returned a summary filled with mistakes and made up figures.

You see, this is just so much better than todays search, said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsofts vice president for search during the demo. It was only later that the litany of errors came to light  carrying with them a host of questions about the accuracy of technology allegedly about to change the world.

Microsofts new search tool combines search engine technology with software capable of holding a human-like conversation: a chatbot.

The Microsoft bot, ChatGPT, was developed by artificial intelligence start-up OpenAI to provide human-sounding answers to questions, and can even be used to write articles, analyse financial documents or create computer code.

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, wrote Dmitri Brereton, an internet search expert who spotted the flaws.

Last week, Google made similar mistakes with its own artificial intelligence programme, known as Bard. In an official advert for its new tool, it gave an incorrect answer to what deep space telescope took the first pictures of a planet outside of the solar system.

That mistake wiped more than $120bn (98bn) off Google parent company Alphabets market capitalisation.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Search - AP Photo/Stephen Brashear

The errors have taken the shine off the new search engine war into which both tech giants are pumping billions of dollars. Microsoft and Google have each raced to apply chatbot algorithms to their internet search products.

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Their ChatGPT and Bard programmes are forms of so-called generative AI, which perform in a very different way to a classic search engine, according to Mike Wooldridge, an Oxford University computer science professor.

Old fashioned search has a huge list of websites that answer questions. When you type in a search query for, say, U2 tickets, they go through their database for content that lists U2 tickets, he says.

What Bard and ChatGPT are doing is completely different. They are doing a fancy version of what your phone does when it tries to autocomplete a message.

To provide its human-like voice, ChatGPT was trained on the whole of the English language version of Wikipedia, two vast volumes of published books and thousands of gigabytes of internet pages. This huge pool of training data has made the chatbot very good at predicting which words generally follow each other in a sentence.

Microsofts new ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine, currently accessible through a limited-scale public trial, harnesses this word association model and applies it to the entire internet, using existing search engine software to generate answers. These answers are provided in a separate answer box, a mini article designed to summarise the most relevant information.

While it might sound convincing to readers of their output, these chatbots have little ability to distill fact from fiction when regurgitating information online. The bots can also notoriously make up content to fill in any knowledge gaps  what artificial intelligence experts refer to as hallucination.

One example cited by a team of researchers at Singapores Nanyang Technological University comes from Microsofts own demonstration of ChatGPT-powered Bing searches. Mehdi, the Microsoft executive, used the new software on stage to summarise a quarterly financial report. Close analysis showed that the numbers in the report bore no resemblance to the original.

Plainly speaking, the popular generative AI models such as ChatGPT are picking words to generate from a fixed vocabulary, instead of strictly copying and pasting facts from the source, the researchers say.

The James Webb Space Telescope - NASA TV/AFP via Getty Images

What is more, search engines themselves are far from infallible. Every reader has seen them return dubious answers to search queries, or links to irrelevant websites. Yet in the latest evolution of search technology information contained in those useless links is now being stated as the authoritative answer to questions asked by equally clueless humans.

An old proverb about garbage in, garbage out is whispered around search engines and AI technology by greybeards from the tech industry.

Badly trained algorithms will churn out meaningless answers. But since both tech companies are deliberately opaque on how they built their tools, to protect their competitive advantages, it is hard to fully understand how they come up with results that manage to sound so convincing while still being completely wrong.

If the cause of the problem lies somewhere between the chatbot part and the search engine part, then a question arises: whats going wrong with the link between the two, and how can users be aware of when problems might be arising?

We dont know how they combine the two, Oxford Universitys Wooldridge says. The fact that the data sources used to train these models are hidden is indeed problematic.

A growing problem in computer science over the past decade or more has been the black box problem. Consumers are encouraged to use a system whose workings are completely opaque and then place implicit trust in its outputs.

While this has helped chatbots provide confident sounding responses, it creates real problems for humans trying to quickly separate AI-generated facts from fiction. Wooldridge adds: The difficulty for us is it is getting things wrong in a plausible way.

Steve Hsu, an American physics professor and entrepreneur, says the language algorithms used by Bing and Google are trained for plausible sentence completion and are not good at faithfully summarising complicated information.

Microsoft says its questionable demonstration of Bing with ChatGPT ran using a preview version. A spokesman says: Over the past week alone, thousands of users have interacted with our product and found significant user value while sharing their feedback with us, allowing the model to learn and make many improvements already.

We recognise there is still work to be done and are expecting that the system may make mistakes during this preview period.

Those mistakes are, officially, errors thrown up by a still-under-construction project. Until the likes of Microsoft and Google open their magical black boxes, however, the risks of spreading falsehoods remain high.
A locksmith was fatally shot by a client during a payment altercation, Alabama police say.

Birmingham police said they found Darnell Puidokas suffering from a gunshot wound around 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, at a Chevron gas station. Puidokas, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Michael Murray was arrested on a warrant for murder in connection to Puidokas death, police said in a Feb. 13 news release. Murray, 62, is accused of shooting Puidokas at the Chevron.

Police said that Puidokas, a locksmith, had performed services for Murray before the two went to the gas station and became involved in a physical altercation over money.

The two men were at the gas station so Murray could get money from an ATM to pay Puidokas, his family told AL.com.

Murray went inside the gas station to get money for Puidokas, but he was short of what was owed, Michelle Puidokas, Darnells mother, told the outlet. Darnell Puidokas then slapped Murray, who then shot him.

Michelle Puidokas said her godson was on the phone with her son during the altercation, according to AL.com.

He heard the gunshots and everything, and then Darnells phone went dead, she said.

Puidokas leaves behind his 12-year-old son, Amber Gurney, partner and mother of his son, confirmed to McClatchy News in a Facebook message.

Friends and family remember Puidokas as a very good man and very kind, according to a GoFundMe.

Were all shocked and heartbroken that he was taken from us like that at a sudden moment, the fundraiser said. He would often put other people before himself and always helped anyone in need with no questions asked.

I cant believe I lost my baby to senseless gunfire. All just for trying to do his job, Michelle Puidokas said, according to the GoFundMe. My baby is a genuine guy, he didnt deserve to go out like this. Our lives will never be the same.

Other friends and family remembered Puidokas with social media posts.

Hardest day ever, Dee Bee, who was on the phone with Puidokas when he was shot, wrote on Facebook. Lost my very best friend while on the phone with him. Words cant express ... Im heartbroken.

Story continues

All you did was work and do your best for all of us, another person wrote on Facebook. I know you wouldnt want us crying and hurting but cant help it.

Birmingham is about 150 miles west of Atlanta.

3-year-old fatally struck by moms car during preschool drop off, SC officials say

8-year-old dies in hit-and-run walking with friends after playing ball, AZ family says

17-year-old dies when shes thrown from truck that crashes over embankment, NC cops say

Beloved worker shot 3 times while sleeping, NC restaurant says. Minor arrested
In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of PNE PCB Berhad (KLSE:PNEPCB) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for PNE PCB Berhad

The Calculation

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last 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) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM1.87m RM2.53m RM3.19m RM3.80m RM4.34m RM4.83m RM5.26m RM5.64m RM5.99m RM6.32m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 48.84% Est @ 35.26% Est @ 25.75% Est @ 19.10% Est @ 14.44% Est @ 11.18% Est @ 8.90% Est @ 7.30% Est @ 6.18% Est @ 5.40% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 14% RM1.6 RM2.0 RM2.2 RM2.3 RM2.3 RM2.2 RM2.1 RM2.0 RM1.9 RM1.7

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM20m

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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. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 14%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM6.3m (1 + 3.6%)  (14% 3.6%) = RM64m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM64m ( 1 + 14%)10= RM18m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM38m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.06, the company appears about fair value at a 11% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

Important Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at PNE PCB Berhad 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 14%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.276. 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.

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. 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. For PNE PCB Berhad, we've compiled three relevant aspects you should assess:

Risks: Take risks, for example - PNE PCB Berhad has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! Other Environmentally-Friendly Companies: Concerned about the environment and think consumers will buy eco-friendly products more and more? Browse through our interactive list of companies that are thinking about a greener future to discover some stocks you may not have thought of!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has launched a criminal investigation into the behavior of several probation officers seen piling on top of a teenager and bending his legs toward his head in a video first revealed by The Times last week.

Tiffiny Blacknell, chief spokesperson for the district attorney's office, said prosecutors "have obtained a copy of the surveillance footage depicting the incident" and will assign a deputy district attorney and investigator to the matter.

In the footage, captured inside Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu in 2020, a 17-year-old boy can be seen arguing with several probation officers. He is forced face down onto a bed, where one officer grabs his neck and several others pile on top of him.

The teen  who asked that he only be identified by his first name, Beckham, because he was a juvenile at the time of the incident  said he was hungry and became upset when he wasn't given access to food.

In the video, a probation department supervisor identified as Oscar Cross can be seen shoving the boy before the melee begins. During the struggle, four officers grab the boys limbs, force him onto a bed by his neck and place a knee in his back.

Once the other officers appear to have Beckham subdued, Cross can be seen grabbing the boy's legs and bending his feet toward his head, yelling "stop resisting!" as the teen screams out for his mother.

Attempts to contact Cross have been unsuccessful. The probation department did not immediately respond to questions about the district attorney's office investigation. The L.A. County Office of the Inspector General began investigating the incident last month after learning of The Times' inquiries on the matter.

Criminal justice experts, and even some members of the probation department who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, have decried the actions depicted in the video as excessive force and "child abuse."

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The video is the latest in a lengthy stream of controversies the probation department has faced in recent years.

The Bureau of State and Community Corrections has repeatedly found the probation department "unsuitable" to house youths in recent years, and a class-action lawsuit filed last year alleged more than 70 girls were sexually assaulted by probation staff between 1985 and 2019. Last November, a Times investigation chronicled months of chaos and violence inside the county's juvenile halls in the midst of a staffing crisis.

An internal disciplinary board initially moved to fire Cross in 2021, according to records reviewed by The Times, but Probation Department Chief Adolfo Gonzales overrode them and saved his job. Cross is still employed as a supervisor at Camp Kilpatrick, records show. Gonzales did not provide footage of the video to either the district attorney's office or any of the oversight boards that monitor the increasingly troubled probation department.

The video sparked a small protest at Tuesday's meeting of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, where roughly a dozen youth advocates urged county leaders to cut the probation department's funding and fire Gonzales.

I stand before you outraged and in disbelief, said Gloria Gonzalez, with the Youth Justice Coalition, her voice shaking. I cannot understand how you all can sit there and allow and fund and fund and fund abuse, fund sexual assault without holding probation accountable.  What else do you need to wait for? Do you want someone to die?

In a memo issued to his staff on Tuesday, Gonzales defended the decision not to fire Cross. While he described the force used as "not acceptable," he said he believed sparing Cross' job was reflective of the agency's core mission of rehabilitation.

"I concluded that significant progressive discipline, not termination, was the appropriate response in this case. I made this decision based on several factors, including a review of the evidence, and consideration of the staff members service record," the chief wrote in a copy of the letter obtained by The Times.

"I was also mindful of our central mission. We prioritize rehabilitation over incarceration," he wrote. "We are in the business of giving second chances. That philosophy applies not only to our clients but to our staff  within reason."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Ross, the once looking-for-love reality TV star, has not revealed the mystery mans name, nor has she shared photos of him online.

Raven Ross, a contestant on the last season of Netflixs reality TV show Love Is Blind, is dating again after splitting from fiance Sikiru SK Alagbada in November following allegations that he cheated on her with multiple women.

In an exclusive interview with People, Ross revealed that she is bood up with a new man, and shes hoping he pops the question by years end.

Ive gone on quite a few dates [since SK], she said. The current guy sent me a message on Instagram. Its relatively new. But its going well, so knock on wood.

Love is Blind contestant Raven Ross is dating again after splitting from fiance Sikiru SK Alagbada in November following allegations that he cheated on her with multiple women. (Photo: Aaron Davidson/Getty Images)

Ross is hopeful the two will have a great long-term relationship.

The pilates teacher has not revealed the mystery mans name nor shared photos of him online, but Ross told Us Magazine that he has been vetted by her Love Is Blind co-star Nancy Rodriguez  and she approved.

I truly believe in being very specific, because it always works. But I am going to be engaged this year. I really feel like I am, Ross shared with People, noting that her new boyfriend is definitely the front-runner.

She said shes had lots of hard conversations with her latest love interest about the drama she endured with Alagbada. Fans of the Netflix reality series Love is Blind saw the two struggle with intimacy issues and cultural differences on season three, the newest. After it wrapped, the two rekindled their relationship but split weeks later, in November, after the finale aired amid accusations Alagbada was unfaithful.

When People caught up with him to discuss their break-up, the Nigerian data engineer said he and Ross storyline on Love Is Blind wasnt completely accurate.

I kind of feel bad watching it, especially from the perspective of the audience, Alagbada maintained, because a lot of our love story wasnt completely told in the way it was portrayed.

Story continues

Love Is Blind is now streaming on Netflix.

Meanwhile, Ross said that having a thorough conversation with her new partner about her past with Alagbada brought us closer together, and she added that their relationship, so far, is going really well.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Love Is Blind contestant Raven Ross dating again, says 2023 might be an engagement year appeared first on TheGrio.
Louisiana State Police released results Tuesday of an investigation into a shooting involving a police officer on Feb. 9.

According to LSP, the shooting was the result of Zechariah Stutts, 18, pointing a firearm at officers.

Just before 5 p.m. Thursday, LSP was requested by the Shreveport Police Department to investigate a shooting that occurred in the 400 block of West Bert Kouns Industrial Loop.

When officers arrived, they found that SPD was involved in a foot chase after arriving at a possible carjacking. Police say Stutts pointed a firearm at them while fleeing from officers and was subsequently shot.

Stutts was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Louisiana State Police investigate 2nd officer-involved shooting in Shreveport in 6 days

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: LSP releases information on police-involved shooting
Countess of Chester Hospital nurse, Lucy Letby, is accused of murdering eight babies. (Getty)

Nurse Lucy Letby celebrated winning 135 on the Grand National shortly after she attempted to murder twin boys, a court heard.

Letby, 33, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 more, including prematurely-born twins known to the court as Child M and Child L.

It is alleged Letby attacked the twin boys during a day shift at the Countess of Chester Hospitals neo-natal unit and later texted friends about drinking vodka and winning money on the Grand National.

Child M dramatically collapsed in his incubator in the units intensive care room at 4pm on April 9 2016, the court heard.

His brother, Child L, also deteriorated beside him at pretty much the same time, prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said.

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court heard Letby messaged her mother, Susan, at 1pm about the Grand National, due to be to be staged later that day.

David Mullins riding Rule The World (centre rear) clears a jump on the way to winning the Crabbie's Grand National on April 9, 2016. (Getty)

She wrote: Is dad betting on the Grand National? If so can he see which are greys and put a bet on for me please x

Her father, John, gave her the names of three horses including the eventual winner Rule The World, the court was told.

Letbys mother texted her at 5.25pm with the news that Rule The World had triumphed.

Two hours after the unexpected collapse of Child M, Letby messaged a friend: Work has been shite but  Ive just won 135 on the grand national!! (horse emoji).

Lucy Letby's father, John (pictured with her mother Susan at the trial in October), put a bet on the Grand National for the nurse, the court heard. (PA)

The court heard that Letby had moved into her new home  near to the hospital  earlier in the week.

On a group WhatsApp post to friends just before 2pm on the same shift, she wrote: Sorry guys, mad busy four days in work. U can come to mine if you want to. Just need to unpack first.

Havent got a spare bed yet tho so cant stay unfortunately. Looking forward to a catch up.

Got magnum prosecco and vodka woop. No disco ball but sure we can manage.

Lucy Letby on trial - Read more coverage from Yahoo News UK

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Following her Grand National winning bet, she tells the same group chat: Unpacking party sounds good to me with my flavoured vodka ha ha. Just won the Grand National!! (horse emoji).

The Crown says Letby poisoned Child L with insulin and also injected air into the bloodstream of Child M.

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.

The trial continues.
Last year was Tacomas deadliest in decades, and there have been five fatal shootings in the city so far in 2023.

Still, Police Chief Avery Moore said Tuesday his violent street-crime reduction plan continues to work as he envisioned.

The Police Department remains in Phase 1  high-visibility hot-spots policing  of the three-part, multi-year plan developed by criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Police Department has convened city department heads to begin studying a pilot hot-spot address for Phase 2, which involves blight abatement and disrupting crime networks.

Moore and lead UTSA researcher Michael Smith told the City Council during a Tuesday study session that violent crime goes down at addresses where officers perform hot-spot treatments: illuminating their patrol car lights at peak periods of reported crime in hopes of deterring violence.

From Oct. 6 to Dec. 5, average monthly violent crime incidents in hot spots decreased 19% compared to the same period last year and 36% from the prior 12 months, according to data presented by Smith. Larger buffer zones, or catchment areas, meant to analyze crime displacement from hot spots saw a 3.7% increase in average monthly incidents.

The plan defines violent street crime as murders, aggravated assaults and robberies that dont involve family members.

In the hot spots, Smith said no murders occurred, robberies of individuals fell 76% and business robberies dropped 77.8% during the 60-day treatment period compared to the previous 12 months. Aggravated assaults increased 10.9% compared to the previous 12-month average.

Moore asked for patience from lawmakers and the community, explaining that tackling the triggers for violent crime would take time and property crime isnt the focus of the plan. He said perceptions of crime differ from reality.

These numbers are unacceptable, Moore said about citywide crime before adding, Simple math shows we made a reduction.  Crime is not out of control in this city.

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In an interview, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and city manager Elizabeth Pauli said the plan is working to reduce violent crime.

Smith summarized in his presentation that violent crime levels have flattened following a spike in late 2021. Charts in his slide deck showed violent crime reached its highest peak last March and was on a steep decline prior to the start of the Police Departments hot spots policing initiative.

According to the Police Departments citywide year-end crime briefing, homicides, robberies and all assaults increased in 2022 compared to 2021. The figures do not separate out aggravated assaults because the Police Department reverted to an older model for its public-facing weekly crime reports under Moore. The 2021 year-end crime report uses a federally compliant model, making the 2022 report data not comparable.

The most recent Police Department crime report for January and early February shows crime is down in most categories compared to the same time last year; vehicle thefts have seen an increase of more than 30% compared to early 2022.

While unveiling his plan in July, Moore set out to make Tacoma the safest city in the country, outlining goals to reduce the number of violent crime victims, build trust in the Police Department and increase the number of residents who feel safe. He also touted the plan as data-driven and 100% evidence-based.

After Moore and Smith presented their first update on the plan in November, local criminologists cast doubt on the departments strategy and the police union representing rank-and-file officers accused Moore of cherry-picking positive data points.

The Police Department began its third period of hot-spots policing in early December. The first 90-day period from July to early October prescribed treatment at 16 addresses. The second, 60-day treatment period included 15 addresses, with six of them rolled over from the first period.

The Police Department declined to disclose how many of the third-period hot spots are new addresses and whether any cooled hot spots from the first period returned to the list.

In the first treatment period, hot spots saw a 30.3% decrease in average monthly incidents compared to the previous 12-month average, Smith said. Catchment areas and city-wide violent crime also decreased during that period, he previously reported.

Homicides hit record levels in 2022

Tacoma has been rattled by an increase in homicides during the last two years. The city saw 45 killings last year, which was up from a record 34 in 2021. Tacoma has only come close to those records in 1988, 1994 and 2020. So far in 2023, there have been five homicides, including two teens killed in shootings.

Mayor Victoria Woodards said though violent crime is down in Tacoma, city leaders are not jumping up and down, because we are still losing folks in our community.

Moore said TPD still sees the number of homicides as a problem.

(I) never even tried to hide the fact that we have 42 bodies because you cant, he said to the City Council. Thats real.

Tacoma police shot and killed four people last year, up from none in 2021. Those incidents are categorized as justifiable homicides.

Moore said in an interview the rise of homicides remains a focus for the city.

Sometimes we forget that there is a perpetrator, a murderer to be exact, that actually committed this , Moore said in an interview. You have people who dont value human life. And we cant excuse that or print it in such a way where youre blaming someone other than the person whos pulling the trigger.

Moore said he is pleased with the results of the violent crime reduction plan.

Deputy Mayor Kristina Walker said its hard to hear that crime is getting better when the city has seen a spike in homicides, especially with youth.

City manager Elizabeth Pauli said she felt challenged by the issues of crime that extend past the crime plan.

The crime plan is one element of one tool and one element of our total approach to crime, she said. We still have an issue in the community, whether there are juveniles who are killed, when there are individuals who dont feel safe. Thats the measures that are important to us.

Impacts the heart and soul of our community

Already this year, two teenagers have been killed. Xaxiar Siess, a 14-year-old, was fatally shot on Jan. 12 while waiting at a bus stop. A teenager was arrested for his murder. Wyatt Owens, a 16-year-old, died after he was shot while driving in the West End.

The Police Department declined to answer whether officers are conducting hot-spot patrols in Eastside Tacoma or the Salishan neighborhood, where Siess was killed. In 2022, two people were murdered within about a half mile of where Siess was shot.

We know that impacts the heart and soul of our community when we lose lives and particularly when we lose young lives, Pauli said in an interview.

Moore said in an interview the crime plan does not specifically address youth crime because it does not examine victim demographics. He said the department had several initiatives to deter youth crime, including asking gun owners to help reduce the number of firearms stolen from vehicles, assigning a police officer to the school district and considering a lawsuit against two car manufacturers for failing to address the rise in car thefts, similar to Seattle.

Tacoma Mall is one of the hot spots

The Tacoma Mall is one of the locations that received hot-spot treatment during the first and second periods between July and early December.

Between April 2021 and October 2022, the malls address saw the highest number of violent street-crime offenses in the city, with 13 aggravated assaults and 39 robberies, according to an analysis of Tacoma police data by The News Tribune. The second highest was the 8800 block of South Hosmer Steet, with five murders, 29 aggravated assaults and seven robberies.

Smith said some hot spots will take more than one treatment to see a decrease in violent crime.

Moore said Tacoma Mall has been a problem hot spot. He said an October incident in the malls parking lot led to a dozen aggravated assault reports. No injuries were immediately reported after an apparent exchange of gunfire between two groups on Oct. 8.

Some of these areas. theyve been problem areas in your city for many years, Smith said. So its not, its unrealistic to think that were going to fix that, if you will, by one treatment period of putting officers there for 15 minutes in lighted patrol cars.

Moore said the violent crime is occurring outside the mall and in the surrounding areas, primarily in the malls parking lot.

He said TPD has a partnership with the mall.

What are the next steps of the violent crime plan?

Moore said as long as he is chief, the Police Department will continue to have hot-spots policing. The department is short 37 officers. Hot-spot patrols are conducted on overtime by officers volunteering to work extra hours. TPD spent about $6.7 million in overtime pay last year.

The city is also gearing up to start Phase 2 of the plan: problem-oriented, place-based policing. The mid-term strategy will address conditions that contribute to recurring problems at crime-prone locations. The phase will bring in stakeholders, such as the city attorney, Tacoma Public Schools, Metro Parks Tacoma, Public Works and more. The criminologists provided training to city staff who will be a part of the advisory group this week.

UTSA criminologists and Tacoma police are studying a current hot spot that could be the first pilot location for the Phase 2 strategy. The Police Department declined to identify the address or police sector its located in when asked by The News Tribune.

Pauli said problem-oriented, place-based policing involves primarily non-police solutions. Some examples would be encouraging activity at nearby public spaces, addressing a street-design issue or connecting with apartment managers to create programming, she said.

Smith gave an example of POPB seeing results at an apartment complex in Dallas, where UTSA first implemented the violent crime plan and Moore was working at the time.

The Dallas Morning News reported that one POPB location saw a decrease in crime, while violence increased at another, larger pilot location.

The budget impact of problem-oriented, place-based policing is uncertain. Pauli said the city may be able to redirect existing services or work with one of its partners to provide funding.

Council member Catherine Ushka, District 4, said her community is chomping at the bit to figure out how to help Tacoma police make the city better.

Part of whats going on with the increase in crime is people want to be heard, they want to hear their voices reflected, because they have more information about whats actually happening down the street, she said.

Moore responded that the crime plan is evidence-based, so people can report violent crime issues to the Police Department via 911 dispatchers or at community meetings.

If they give us evidence, we will respond, Moore said.
Photo: The Canadian Press Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to members of the media during a press conference in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The top civil servant in Alberta Justice says there are no formal rules stopping politicians from directly interfering in court prosecutions, but says his department relies on Crown lawyers knowing the boundaries and pushing back if it happens. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

The top civil servant at Alberta Justice says there are no formal rules stopping politicians from directly interfering in court prosecutions, but says his department relies on Crown lawyers knowing the boundaries and pushing back if it happens.

Frank Bosscha's comments Tuesday to the legislature's public accounts committee came amid questions surrounding Premier Danielle Smith's involvement in COVID-19-related cases. The United Conservative Party government announced last week that Bosscha would leave his role as deputy minister to become a provincial court judge starting March 27.

The safeguards are basically education and the policies that we have in place with the Crown Prosecution Service where they maintain their independence, Bosscha said in response to questions from the Opposition NDP.

He said police have similar safeguards in place.

There is not anything that we can put into place to stop someone from doing something that may not be in alignment with those policies, he said.

Our best option is to make sure that our staff know all of the rules, and that we respect the boundaries within the police service and within the prosecution, and the police service and the prosecution have the same duty to push back and protect their independence as well.

Bosscha made the statements in response to questions from NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir about a third-party report released a year ago that determined former justice minister Kaycee Madu  now deputy premier attempted to interfere in the administration of justice.

The NDP is seeking a similar third-party probe to resolve allegations that Smith or one of her staffers interfered starting as early as last fall into prosecutions related to a blockade of the Coutts, Alta., border crossing in protest of COVID-19 public health measures in January 2022.

Sabir did not refer directly to alleged involvement from Smith's office in COVID cases, as such questions were outside the scope of the public account committee's review of Alberta Justices 2021-22 annual report.

Smith has twice previously said she had spoken to prosecutors directly about COVID-related cases but later said she used imprecise language and had only spoken to Bosscha and to Justice Minister Tyler Shandro. The Justice Department confirmed Smith spoke only to those two.

Bosscha told the committee any such discussions should only go through him and the justice minister.

It is never appropriate for a politician to reach into the Crown prosecution service, Bosscha told the committee.

The method is: The minister is a contact, I am a second contact and then if there are questions they can be posed to the prosecution service.

But there is not direct contact between political officers, MLAs, into the prosecution service.

The NDP has said Smiths actions raise concern about the independent administration of justice and that there is precedent under the UCP for such a probe.

Last February, a retired judge concluded that Madu tried to interfere in the administration of justice when he called Edmonton's police chief to discuss a traffic ticket. Former premier Jason Kenney moved Madu to a different portfolio, but Smith promoted Madu to deputy premier when she took office last fall.

Madu called the police chief in March 2021, but the government didnt take action until it became public through media reports in January 2022.

Asked by Sabir when the Justice Department became aware of the Madu call, Bosscha said: It basically cropped up when it became public.

On the COVID cases, Smith has delivered multiple versions in recent weeks of who she talked to, what was discussed and when it was discussed.

There has been one investigation to date in response to a CBC story on Jan. 19 alleging a staffer in Smiths office had sent emails to prosecutors last fall challenging how they were proceeding in cases involving the blockade at the Coutts border crossing. CBC has said it has not seen the emails but stands behind its story.

Smith immediately ordered a review of emails between her office and prosecutors. The review turned up no relevant correspondence but also raised questions over how far back deleted emails could be searched.

The CBC, in a Jan. 25, story, cited anonymous sources alleging Smith pressured Shandro to intervene in COVID cases. Smith has denied this.

The NDP has asked for Bosschas conversations with Smith and Shandro to be part of the review.
The male contraceptive pill is in the early stages of development. Matthias Kulka/Getty Images

A new male contraceptive was found to be 100% effective in mice.

The pill works by stopping sperm from swimming effectively, and is non-hormonal.

It worked between 30 minutes to an hour after the mice took it.

An experimental male birth control pill that researchers hope men will be able to take an hour before sex was found to be 100% effective in a study on mice.

The pill works by stopping sperm from being able to swim for long enough to reach the egg, according to research published in Nature Communications on Tuesday.

In the mice, it was found to be 100% effective at stopping pregnancy between 30 minutes and an hour after being taken. This dropped to 91% in the third hour when sperm regained some mobility, and 78% for the eighth hour.

After 24 hours, nearly all sperm were able to move effectively again, according to the study.

"Our inhibitor works within 30 minutes to an hour," co-author Dr. Melanie Balbach of Weill Cornell Medicine said in a press release. "Every other experimental hormonal or nonhormonal male contraceptive takes weeks to bring sperm count down or render them unable to fertilize eggs."

She said they can also take weeks for the effects to wear off. The team plans to repeat their experiments in other animal models, laying the groundwork for human clinical trials in human males.

Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, UK, who was not involved in the work, told Insider that the effectiveness shown in the mice is slightly better than using a condoms  which are 98% effective in humans  and similar to that of female hormonal contraceptives like the pill  which are up to 99% effective.

He said that this is a step forward from women's contraceptive pills currently on the market which need to be taken for few weeks before taking effect.

The male contraceptive pill would be hormone-free

The experimental male contraceptive pill, which is being developed by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, works by using a protein called soluble adenylyl cyclase or sAC to stop sperm from propelling themselves forward for two and a half hours after it's taken.

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The sAC pill, unlike the female contraceptive pill and many male contraceptive pills in development, is hormone free. The researchers said it shouldn't, therefore, affect testosterone levels in men.

Other hormonal male contraception being developed works by lowering testosterone levels. Low testosterone can lower sex-drive and cause erectile dysfunction, research has shown.

The Weill Cornell research also found that the pill was unlikely to cause unwanted side effects, unlike the existing contraceptive pill that can cause mood swings, nausea, and headaches.

Balbach said that if the pill is shown to work in humans, men could take the pill only when it was needed and could therefore make day-to-day decisions about their fertility.

Pacey said that a male contraceptive potentially being in pill form would be a big step forward because hormonal versions in development are either injectable or gels.

He added: "I also wonder, if women took it too, whether it would have the same effect on any sperm that were already inside her.

"I could imagine a kind of, almost like a unisex pill now."

Pacey said drugs can take five to 10 years to come to market, but this is dependent on funding and whether studies get approved.

Read the original article on Insider
A New Hampshire man accused of attacking a woman and kidnapping her baby has been arrested, police said.

The man, 28, reportedly assaulted a woman on Jan. 26 in Manchester, according to a news release from the Manchester Police Department. He is then accused of running off with the womans 5-month-old baby.

The man and woman know each other, according to WMUR, citing police, though the nature of their relationship was not revealed.

An attorney for the man could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News on Feb. 15.

Following the purported kidnapping, police undertook a significant search for the missing child.

They contacted some Manchester residents and left voicemails stating, We are searching for a missing baby in your area, according to WMUR. We need your help. Please check your yard, complex and vehicle, the message stated.

Police eventually located the mans car and found the baby in a nearby building.

The child was taken to a hospital for evaluation, and the man remained at large, police said.

After several weeks on the lam, the man was arrested in early February in Maine and charged with being a fugitive from justice, police said.

He posted a cash bail, returned to New Hampshire and was arrested again on Sunday, Feb. 12, police said.

Hes been charged with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The vast majority of children reported as missing were later found alive, according to Reuters, and in cases of child abduction, non-custodial parents are more likely than strangers to be the perpetrators.

Manchester is about 20 miles south of Concord.

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One man died and a teenager was shot and injured in her home by a stray bullet after a shootout in North Salem on Monday night, according to Salem Police.

The teenager and another man who was involved in the shooting were taken to Salem Health and survived.

Salem Police didnt name any of the victims or say if they arrested any suspects in the shooting.

According to police, they responded to reports of a shooting north of the Oregon State Fairgrounds around the intersection of Arbon Drive and Vallejo Street.

Police said several men were arguing in the street and shots were fired.

The deceased was described as a 27-year-old man. A 30-year-old man also was struck.

Police say the teenage girls injuries were not life threatening.

Salem Police are asking for tips about the incident. People with information are asked to call 503-588-8477.

Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Man dies, teen girl struck by stray bullet in North Salem shootout
A man who lied about being a Navy SEAL and put other false information on loan documents in an attempt to start a horse business in Lexington has been sentenced to prison time for fraud.

Christopher Rusty Custer was sentenced to three years and five months in prison and ordered to pay $578,014 in restitution for one charge of bank fraud, which he pleaded guilty to in October 2022 as part of a deal.

Custer originally faced four charges, including two counts of bank fraud and two counts of wire fraud. The indictment said Custer falsely purported to be a Navy SEAL in 2018 when he applied for a loan from Traditional Bank to buy a home and land in Lexington for an equine business.

According to court documents, Custer told banks and another victim in financial statements he had a net worth in excess of $6 million and $9 million.

Custer allegedly misrepresented his finances, character and personal history in documents he gave the bank in May 2018 and August 2019, the indictment said. He also was charged with sending false information about his financial status by email to an investor in November 2019 to get a loan for an oil and gas pipeline inspection business.

State records show a person with the same name set up a business called Moon Dance Farm in Lexington in February 2018. It was dissolved in October 2019 for not filing an annual report.

Custer set up another business called Wildcat Field Services LLC in October 2019. It was dissolved a year later after not filing an annual report, according to state records.

In the plea agreement, Custer agreed to forfeiting more than $309,000, which he agreed was an accurate amount of money he obtained through fraud.

Custer asks for mercy in prison sentence

Originally, Custer faced up to 30 years in prison. After entering a guilty plea, he then faced a maximum of about five years in prison. His defense team, led by Brandi Lewis of Baldani Law Group, argued in court records that time was not necessary because Custer was unlikely to re-offend and had a limited criminal record.

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Lewis said Custers family depends solely on him for finances, and asked the court to let him continue to work to provide for his family, as well as pay back restitution owed to the victims. Custer was not eligible for probation.

... On one hand, the fraud that Mr. Custer accepted responsibility resulted in a substantial monetary loss to the victim. On the other hand, there are many mitigating factors, such as Mr. Custers employability, ability to earn a significant income, and supporting a family, Lewis wrote in a sentencing memo.

Mr. Custer admits he made poor decisions that landed him before this Court, and he accepts that he must be punished. He is simply asking this Honorable Court to consider the previously mentioned factors and fashion a sentence that will allow him to return to employment, sooner than later, in order to repay the victim herein and support his family.

In a letter to Chief Judge Danny Reeves, Custer attempted to convey his sincere regret for not telling the banks the truth about his financial conditions.

He also requested mercy in determining his sentence, citing that he was the main provider for his family.

My actions have had a significant negative impact on my wife, daughter, and entire family. Both my mother-in-law and parents are advanced in age, and I am afraid of the toll this has taken on them, he wrote.

Custer told the judge he was devoted to owning up to his mistakes and making amends to reimburse the bank for the money he owes them  totaling more than $527,000. He referenced his job with one of the largest energy companies in the world, Workrise Avery Tech Resources, and said his work would provide substantial income for years if the court would allow him to keep working.

Prosecution: Not defendants first white collar crime

In their argument for a harsher sentence than what Custer has asked for, federal prosecutors brought up Custers current finances, saying he makes nearly $15,000 a month. They also said he lives in a $1.5 million home, which he has made no attempts to sell to reimburse the victims.

Prosecutors alleged that Custer lied on a financial disclosure form to his probation officer, purporting to make significantly less money, which wouldnt have even covered the $9,100 mortgage payments he makes monthly.

These omissions are material as they deflate Custers financial condition and his ability to pay a fine, while begging the question as to why Custer has refused to pay restitution at or before the time of sentencing, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo. He lives a lavish lifestyle, as a $9,100 mortgage payment on a ($1.5 million) home demonstrates.

This must be taken into consideration when the court is fashioning a sentence against this defendant.

Prosecutors said it was particularly egregious Custer falsely portrayed himself as a Navy SEAL. They asked for a sentence of three years and 10 months.

Trading on the trust that would be afforded to him by those that respect a military background  especially as a Navy Seal  and the character traits that background would seem to impart, Custer doctored his personal history as he did his personal wealth, the sentencing memo said.

U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Dieruf represented the U.S. government in the case. They said in court records that this was not Custers first run-in with white collar crime, and asked the judge to use that in determining a sentence.

They allege that in 2004, Custer intentionally misappropriated the property of life insurance by means of fraud, a charge that was dismissed after he completed a 60-day probation sentence.

Other charges of white collar crime were dismissed in Louisiana, according to court documents. In 2014, Custer pleaded guilty to issuing worthless checks, a felony charge, when he purchased nearly $1,500 worth of food from a barbecue restaurant without paying any money.

While earning $15,000 per month, with the capacity for more, Custer pays over $12,000 per month to reside on property worth millions of dollars and enjoy luxury goods. Custer has ample earning capacity. He should be compelled to put those resources toward compensation of his victims, not his own personal satisfaction, prosecutors wrote.

They suggested restitution payments be made in the amount of $5,000 monthly.

Custer should not be permitted to commit himself to a lavish lifestyle on credit and then claim the inability to compensate the victim of his crime because his expenses are too high, the prosecution wrote.

Custer will be allowed to self-report to the Bureau of Prisons on April 6 at 2 p.m.
A California man plead guilty Wednesday to running a human smuggling scheme into Washington state and over the northern border with Canada, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced in a media release.

According to the criminal complaint, 49-year-old Rajinder Pal Singh, also known as Jaspal Gill, and his co-conspirators used Uber to transport people who had illegally crossed the border into the Seattle area.

Records show how Uber trips that began near the Canadian border in the early hours of the morning would be split between two rides. For example, one trip would go from the border to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and then minutes later a second trip would go from a nearby airport hotel to an address in Lacey owned by Singhs wife.

According to documents, the Lacey house served as a way station for those entering the U.S. illegally.

In some cases, Singh arranged for rental cars to drive those who illegally entered the country to destinations in the Midwest. More recently, Singh had purchased airline tickets for his customers to be flown to their destinations.

The smuggling scheme had been underway since at least 2018 but slowed during the pandemic when Canada was not admitting noncitizens into the country.

In total, the investigation estimates that between July 2018 and April 2022, the 17 Uber accounts connected to the scheme ran up more than $75,000 in charges.

All 17 accounts were loaded onto prepaid phones in an effort to further hide who was behind them.

According to the criminal complaint, Singh charged up to $11,500 per person for his part in the smuggling services. Singh was also captured on surveillance video buying large numbers of Uber gift cards in northern California.

Some of those gift cards were used in connection with Uber trips that started near the Canadian border.

We are grateful for the effort and dedication of Homeland Security investigators who handled this case, an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. Human trafficking is a global issue and Uber is thankful we could do our part to support the law enforcement investigation and provide information that helped lead to an arrest and potentially saved the lives of countless victims.

As part of the plea, Singh admitted he took in more than $500,000 as a key member of the smuggling ring.

Conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9.
A Georgia man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in the death of a teacher, according to our ABC affiliate, WJBF.

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Tina Prince, 46, was last seen alive at a Mexican restaurant in Sandersville on May 28, 2021. Her daughter told police she got several suspicious phone calls while out to dinner with family members. She abruptly left the restaurant and didnt return.

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Her car was later found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot.

Her body was found on June 4, 2021 off a rural road in Washington County.

Prince was a first-grade teacher.

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On Tuesday, Aaron Adams pled guilty to one felony count of concealing the death of another and six counts of making false statements.

Deputies said Prince and Adams knew each other.

Her cause of death has not been determined.
Officers and fire rescue workers who arrived at 615 NW 18th Ave. Tuesday afternoon in Little Havana found an orange moving truck slammed into a small, pale blue house and the trucks driver pinned inside.

After Miami Fire Rescue extricated Delvis Gonzalez, police arrested him on charges of second degree grand theft and having no drivers license. The 46-year-old Gonzalez, standing 5-foot-6 and weighing 250 pounds, is not one of College Hunks Hauling Junk, the company that owns the truck.

In fact, online court records say Gonzalez was on house arrest. After a Jan. 19 arrest on charges of burglary and petit theft, Gonzalez posted $6,000 bond on Feb. 3.

College Hunks has a parking lot at Northwest Seventh Street and 18th Place, half a block north and one block west of the house the truck crashed into around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Before hitting the house, the truck careened off a white sedan, sending it into a signpost on Northwest 18th Avenue.
Feb. 14Manchester police arrested a city man they say assaulted a woman and took her 5-month-old baby on Jan. 26.

The child was later found safe and taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Kevin Voisine, 28, was arrested in Maine last week and was released on cash bail and arrested again in Manchester on Feb. 12, according to a news release. He's been charged with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.

The incident began on Jan. 26 about 9:45 p.m. when police were called to a Varney Street address, where a woman told officers she had been attacked and her child was taken. Police identified the man as Voisine and learned that he had been seen at several locations on the West Side of the city.

Police found the car that Voisine was driving at a Bismark Street address, where the baby was found inside.
Photo: YouTube screenshot. Fred Sharp, seen here in an undated short film moonlighting as an actor, has been criminally charged of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud in the United States. The case is before the courts as of Feb. 14, 2023.

The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) has permanently banned former Vancouver lawyer turned offshore shell facilitator Frederick Langford Sharp from the provinces public investment market, after a U.S. court ruled him to be the mastermind of a massive stock manipulation scheme involving over $1 billion in transactions with hundreds of penny stock companies.

Sharp's misconduct was extremely egregious, and we find there to be no mitigating factors, stated a BCSC panel ruling on a reciprocal order application.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered the final judgment by default on May 12, 2022 against Sharp after he failed to appear before the court to address his civil charges of securities-related fraud, unregistered offerings of securities and aiding and abetting.

Sharp was then permanently banned by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, except for his own personal account.

The SEC had argued Sharp masterminded a complex scheme from 2011 to 2019 in which he and his associates enabled control persons of penny stock companies, whose stock was publicly traded in the U.S. securities markets, to conceal their control and ownership of huge amounts of penny stock and then surreptitiously dump the stock into the U.S. markets, in violation of federal securities laws.

The services Sharp and his associates allegedly provided included furnishing networks of offshore shell companies to conceal stock ownership, arranging stock transfers and money transmittals, and providing encrypted accounting and communications systems.

Sharp is a West Vancouver resident and hence subject to reciprocal orders by the BCSC, which launched such an application weeks after Sharps default judgment.

With the panel ruling on Feb. 14, the BCSC order means Sharp must resign any position he holds as a director or officer of an public company or registrant with the BCSC. He is prohibited from trading in or purchasing any securities or derivatives, except for RRSPs, RRIFs, or tax-free savings accounts and only through a registered dealer, who must be in receipt of Sharps BCSC order.

Sharp is also banned from advising or otherwise acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities or derivatives markets and from engaging in promotional activities by or on behalf of a public company or registrant.

Although Sharp was provided the opportunity to be heard, he did not provide any evidence or submissions, stated the panel.

Meanwhile, Sharp was in B.C. Supreme Court this month to face ongoing proceedings by the SEC to seize his assets after he was issued a US$24-million civil penalty and found liable for repayment of US$21.8 million plus US$7.2 million in interest.

Sharp, along with Mike Veldhuis of Vancouver and Courtney Kelln of Surrey, also stand accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of one criminal count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one criminal count of securities fraud, in a case associated with the $1 billion of trading. The criminal case, launched in August 2021, has yet to proceed to a trial.

This case concerns a sophisticated, multiyear, multinational attack on the United States financial markets and retail United States investors by foreign and domestic actors. These actors schemed to sell fraudulently hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks in the United States markets, stated the SEC complaint at the time.

In May 2016, Sharp became more widely known across the country as the Canadian face of the Panama Papers  a massive leak of documents of Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca that revealed a vast network of offshore companies acting as tax havens. He helped register 1,167 offshore entities from his Vancouver office, according to the documents.

Sharp is also presently responding to Canada Revenue Agency investigations, via court proceedings.

Sharp, 71, was called to the B.C. bar in May 1981.

In 1995, his name first became publicly linked to improper activity, when he was suspended by the Law Society of BC for one year.

In 1997, Sharp relinquished his licence to practice law and went on to incorporate the Vancouver office of Panama investment firm Mossack Fonseca the following year. Although it dissolved in April 1999, Sharp carried on business under different corporate entities elsewhere.
The recent Ohio train derailment, in which carriages from a 150-car freight liner carrying toxic chemicals crashed off the tracks in the town of East Palestine, is just one of more than a dozen rail accidents reported to have already taken place in the US since the start of 2023.

The accident was not even the first to have occurred in Ohio this year, according to Newsweek, with another derailment having taken place on 19 January between Trinway and Adams Mill.

In that incident, an Ohio Central Railroad train comprising 97 cars and stretching for 1.2 miles slid off the rails, although they were empty at the time so leaked no cargo and no one was hurt.

A thorough investigation into the cause is still underway, a corporate spokesman told The Zanesville Times Recorder in its aftermath, adding that he expected his crew to have the cars upright and the scene cleared within a week.

Newsweek counts no fewer than three further accidents in South Carolina alone already this year  near Lake City on 9 January, near Loris on 21 January, and another near Enoree on 12 February  as well as two in rural California, one each in metropolitan Detroit and Philadelphia and others in Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana and Texas.

But it is the East Palestine incident that has cast new light on Americas under-reported railroad sector and the challenges it faces.

The accident occurred shortly after 9pm on Friday 3 February, when 38 Norfolk Southern carriages crashed off the rails as the result of what investigators later determined was a broken axle, 10 of which were transporting hazardous materials cross-country.

Fortunately no one was harmed but more than 2,000 East Palestine residents out of approximately 4,800 had to be temporarily evacuated from the area due to health concerns arising from the chemical spill.

As part of the clean up operation, five of the tankers containing vinyl chloride  a compound used to make plastic pipes, wires, cable coating, car parts and packaging but which can cause cancer  had to be intentionally breached by emergency crews, who diverted the substance into an excavated trench and carried out a controlled burn to prevent an explosion, sending noxious black clouds billowing into the atmosphere.

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The evacuated residents have since been allowed to return home after the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, monitoring air and water contaminants since the accident, reported that the detected levels are not significant enough to cause a lasting health impact.

But that has not done much to reassure the locals, some of whom have nevertheless reported symptoms such as runny noses, sore throats and headaches in the aftermath of the disaster, while an estimated 3,500 fish have turned up dead in surrounding waters.

Rail accidents like this are actually relatively common in the US, although the consequences are seldom so dramatic.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics records 54,539 train derailments between 1990 to 2021, an average of 1,704 per year.

While that might sound like a lot, the fatality rate from such incidents is low, averaging just four deaths per year over the same period.

A black plume rises over East Palestine (AP)

Rail experts have argued, however, that the East Palestine crash was the inevitable result of compromised safety measures and reduced workforces, part of an effort to boost rail company profits.

Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), told investigative news outlet The Lever that the severity of the crash may have been aggravated by the lack of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brakes.

Former US president Barack Obama passed legislation making it mandatory for trains carrying hazardous, flammable materials to have ECP brakes but the order was rescinded in 2017 under a Donald Trump administration assault on red tape.

The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that the trains that were derailed in East Palestine were not equipped with ECP brakes, The Lever reports.

The Railroad Workers Union has meanwhile argued in The New Republic that a management practice adopted by rail companies called Precision Scheduled Railroading  which organises freight scheduling based on individual cars, rather than considering the balance of the train as a whole  may have played a role and could contribute to future accidents by sidelining safety concerns.

Ian Jefferies, head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, has moved to reassure the public about the safety of chemical freight by insisting that 99.9 per cent of all hazardous materials shipments reach their destinations safely.

FRA data showed that dangerous chemicals were released in only 11 train accidents across the US in 2022 out of roughly 535 million miles covered, comparing favourably to the decade highs of 20 recorded in both 2018 and 2020.

Railroads are the safest form of moving goods across land in the country without question, Mr Jefferies said.

But railroads are also working to drive toward zero incidents. Until we reach that goal, we havent got to where we want to be.
Tom Brenner/Reuters

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will not be charged in connection with a years-long federal sex trafficking investigation, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Isabelle Kirshner, one of two attorneys representing Gaetz, told The Daily Beast in a statement that the Justice Department informed them of the decision on Wednesday.

We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges against him, Kirshner wrote in the statement.

Bombshell Letter: Gaetz Paid for Sex With Minor, Wingman Says

CNN first reported that no charges would be brought. A Gaetz spokesperson also confirmed the decision to The Daily Beast.

The feds initially relied heavily on the firsthand account of Gaetzs wingman, Joel Greenberg, a local Florida tax official who was taken down on corruption charges but turned into a cooperating witness. But as the investigation progressed, the DOJ collected mounting evidence that the congressman regularly interacted with young women for sexmaking their ultimate decision all the more frustrating for Greenberg and his lawyer, Fritz Scheller.

While the decision is troubling, its not surprising. After so many years of defense practice, I've slowly come to the realization that our country has a two-tier system of justice, he told The Daily Beast. To be fair, why expend resources prosecuting the privileged, when theres undoubtedly a minority out there with a small amount of pot?

The investigation into Gaetz stemmed from allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

The feds were reportedly working to determine if Gaetz had paid or illegally trafficked across international lines to have sex with the girl. And Gaetzs ex-girlfriend was granted immunity last year in exchange for her testimony in front of a federal grand jury.

The congressman denied all allegations against him vehemently, even after his buddy, disgraced Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, penned a confession letter in 2021 that said he and Gaetz paid to have sex with multiple women, including the 17-year-old girl. Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December after striking a plea deal related to his own sex trafficking probe.

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Gaetzs federal probe, launched in March 2021, appeared to trouble the congressman in its early days. It emerged during the Jan. 6 insurrection investigation that Gaetz had begged multiple aides of former President Donald Trump to have him issued a preemptive pardoneven before the feds had officially launched an investigation into him at all.

Gaetz Paid Accused Sex Trafficker, Who Then Venmod Teen

Gaetz reportedly told Trump aide Johnny McEntee that he didn't do anything wrong, but they were trying to make his life hell, McEntee reportedly testified.

In the weeks after The New York Times first broke news that Gaetz was under investigation, The Daily Beast revealed the key evidence that supported the case. Sources familiar with the arrangement between Gaetz and Greenberg described how Greenberg was the congressmans fixer of sorts.

Private Venmo transactions showed how Gaetz sent Greenberg $900 late one night in May 2018, only to have Greenberg send the same amount of money to three young women the very next morning. During the years when the two were close, Greenberg made more than 150 Venmo payments to dozens of young women, and to a girl who was 17 at the timeone whom the congressman had named in a private message.

The Daily Beast also obtained several drafts of Greenbergs confession letter, where he detailed how the congressman regularly relied on him to hook up with college studentsas well as the underage teenager who became central to the feds investigation.

On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Floridas 1st Congressional District and myself, Greenberg wrote in reference to the 17-year-old.

From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.

As the FBI dug in, The Daily Beast also exposed how Gaetz had snorted cocaine at a party with an escorta young woman who managed to secure a no-show job at a Florida county office at taxpayers expense.

Meanwhile, few details ever emerged about an event that played a central role in the investigation: a 2018 getaway in the Bahamas where Gaetz and his pals allegedly hung out with young womenincluding the teenand allegedly paid for sex. That trip, which Greenberg did not attend, also involved then Florida state Rep. Halsey Beshears, and was reportedly part of a public corruption probe involving marijuana law.

Matt Gaetzs Ex Testifies Before Grand Jury in Sex Trafficking Probe

The breadth and scope of the evidence makes it all the more frustrating that the feds wont pursue the case, Greebergs lawyer said on Wednesday.

Youve got multiple witnesses. Youve got Venmos. Youve got Uber receipts. Youve got flight receipts and text messages, Fritz fumed.

The ultimate decision to not prosecute the congressman was far from a forgone conclusion. Several witnesses and lawyers who spoke to The Daily Beast for the past two years on condition of anonymity regularly expressed disappointment that he hadnt yet been indictedbut still held out hope, because local and federal investigators continued to unravel a web of crime that surrounded Greenberg and his associates.

Last year, Seminole County Republican Party chair Ben Paris was found guilty of hatching a scheme to run a non-existent ghost candidate. That corrupt operation siphoned votes away from a Democrat and propelled the Republican candidate, Jason Brodeur, notably a Gaetz ally, into the Florida state senate. The feds also successfully convicted a former radio shock jock who went by Big Joe Ellicott, a tag-along who knew all about the alleged Gaetz-Greenberg underage sex trafficking. The Daily Beast managed to obtain text messages in which Ellicott discussed his intimate knowledge of the sexual crimes. The Daily Beast also exposed how Ellicott was present at a key moment when Greenberg said he phoned Gaetz to inform him that one of the teens theyd allegedly paid for sex was underage.

As late as August, people familiar with the investigation were told that the feds were continuing to investigate the congressman.

This fall, several outlets reported that prosecutors had recommended against charging Gaetz, citing issues with the perceived credibility of the two central witnesses in the caseGreenberg and the 17-year-old girl, who has since gone on to a career in pornography and, according to The New York Times, has said she does not believe she was a victim.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden is being sued in connection with an inmates death that occurred in 2021, according to court documents.

Reports said the family of John Devin Haley is suing after he committed suicide while inside the Mecklenburg County Jail on May 22, 2021.

The family is alleging that the facility had poor medical oversight and Haley did not receive proper medication.

The family also said Haley was not watched like he should have been given his known mental health issues.

According to the reports, Haley was found hanging below his cell window at the Mecklenburg County jail with a strip of blanket tied around his neck.

Channel 9 learned that he had a history of addiction and mental health problems when he entered the jail on April 3 and was temporarily placed on suicide watch.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: State inspectors find repeated deficiencies at Meck County Jail, including supervision of inmates

In October 2021, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation began probing into the deaths of two inmates after the jail violated regulations requiring guards to observe them at least twice an hour.

In North Carolina, jailers are required to observe each inmate at least twice an hour on an irregular basis, with no more than 40 minutes between rounds, according to state regulations. That standard was repeatedly violated in the hours leading up to the two deaths, according to investigators with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to reports, the investigation into Haleys death also found that jail staff repeatedly failed to meet the twice-an-hour observation standard. In all, jailers made a dozen fewer trips than state regulations required to observe Haley on May 21 and May 22, according to the report.

Channel 9 reached out to McFadden for a comment regarding the investigation but has not heard back.

VIDEO: 25-year-old inmate dies in Mecklenburg County jail












Nikki Haley is in  but can she really win?

Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and as the first female governor of South Carolina, made her entry into the 2024 presidential race official with a Tuesday morning video. On Wednesday, she will hold an in-person launch in Charleston, S.C.

It is clear what Haley is selling. The question is whether the GOP primary electorate right now is in the mood to buy.

Haleys appeal is that she can expand the tent of the Republican Party while still remaining faithful to conservative principles. She models herself as a conservative who embraces modernity rather than recoiling from it.

The opening seconds of her video emphasized her heritage as the daughter of immigrants from India  and her experience as a young girl in South Carolina who was not Black. Not white. I was different.

This, together with her gender and her comparative youth at 51, strike a sharp contrast with the prevailing image of her party  and with her old boss.

Former President Trump, at 76, is the only other declared candidate in the race so far. He shows no sign at all of backing away from incendiary rhetoric on topics such as crime and immigration.

Haleys implicit argument is that the GOP will condemn itself to future political defeats unless it can shake itself free of Trump and Trumpism.

Her launch video did not make any frontal attack on Trump, but she emphasized that Republicans had lost the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections.

Are GOP primary voters in the mood to embrace that message? In early opinion polls of the race, Haley lags way beyond Trump and another right-wing populist, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Moderate Republicans and those who have quit the party over Trump tend to believe that Haley is caught between two stools.

They say she is too close to Trump, having served in his administration  yet also too far down the list of candidates who can give a GOP base the rhetorical red-meat that it craves.

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Nikki Haley is a Republican for another time, said Lucy Caldwell, a political strategist who now terms herself a former Republican.

Caldwell noted that a Haley-like candidate would have had a better chance about a dozen years ago, when the GOP nominated Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) as its presidential standard-bearer.

Caldwell added that, in many polls, most Republican voters believe false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

This is not a base that is looking for generational change, she said wryly.

John Mac Stipanovich, a veteran GOP operative in Florida and a fierce Trump critic, told The Hill, I think of myself as a center-right conservative and I couldnt tell you where Nikki Haley falls on that spectrum.

Stipanovich added, I just dont see the need for Nikki Haley. If you want Trump, youve got Trump. If you want Trump without the tremendous amount of baggage, youve got DeSantis. And if you want what I would call a mainline, traditional Republican, there are better candidates for that than Nikki Haley  who in my judgement, at least, is contaminated by her service to Trump.

But there is a more optimistic case to be made for Haley as well.

For a start, she has repeatedly been underestimated. As she likes to note, she has never lost an election. The standout example was her come-from-behind victory to win the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor back in 2010.

While governor, she rose to meet one particularly sensitive moment. She backed the removal of a Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds after a racist attacker killed nine Black congregants at a historic African American church in Charleston in June 2015. It was no small thing for a Republican governor of a southern state.

Haley also can point to her time as United Nations ambassador as giving her a grounding in foreign affairs. She portrays herself as having stood up to foes like China and Iran in that role  even as some other Trump administration veterans look askance at her decision to resign after less than two years.

Too many  came in, punched their ticket and went on, and for those who made that decision, I just dont have any time, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told The Hill in an interview Monday, when asked about Haley. 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.

Some independent experts feel Haley could be being underestimated once again.

Part of the pro-Haley case is that, as neither a MAGA Republican nor a Never Trump dissenter, she could perhaps bridge the partys fissures, much as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) did in his successful 2021 campaign in the commonwealth.

Theres another argument, too: that Haley would be better placed than most alternatives to win a general election.

It is going to be a lot harder for any Democrat to paint her as a fringe, dangerous candidate, said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse Universitys Maxwell School.

If Republicans get in the mindset of, The first attribute we need is the ability to beat Joe Biden, then she becomes a very attractive candidate.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Michigan State University student said in an interview Wednesday that the system failed her after surviving her second mass shooting within a fifteen month span.

Student Ava Ferguson told CNN This Morning that she did not think she would have to go through the experience again, noting the recent mass shooting incident at her former high school.

Ferguson was a senior at Oxford High School in November 2021 when a gunman opened fire inside the school, killing four students and injuring seven others. The gunman, Ethan Crumbley, pleaded gulity in October to 24 charges related to the incident.

I was flabbergasted, to say the least. You know, after Oxford, they said that this wasnt going to happen again, that we were going to be safe going back to school. And thats just not the case, she told the hosts. The other night I was in shock. I didnt think it was real, honestly.

Ferguson, a cancer survivor, said it was traumatizing to go through another mass shooting, adding that she may have to resume therapy sessions as a result of the incident.

Do you feel like the system failed you given that this happened to you twice? CNNs Kaitlan Collins asked Ferguson. She answered, 100 percent.

There should have been laws made years ago when Sandy Hook happened, and it never did, Ferguson said. And I feel like nows the time people need to start realizing there is people dying every day because of gun violence. And something needs to be done about it.

Her remarks came in the aftermath of a school shooting that happened at Michigan State University on Monday night, where a gunman opened fire at two locations on the schools East Lansing campus. The incident resulted in the deaths of three students, and left five other individuals with critical injuries.

Authorities said the suspect, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Michigan State Universitys Police and Public Safety Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said the motive for the shooting is unclear, as McRae  who had previous gun violations  had no affiliation with the university.

The incident at MSU comes in the wake of several mass shootings this year alone, including an incident last month that left 11 people dead in Monterey Park, Calif., during Lunar Year celebrations.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In this episode of "Intelligence Matters," host Michael Morell speaks with former senior CIA analyst and national intelligence officer for East Asia John Culver about the rippling implications of the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down over U.S. territory. Culver and Morell discuss Beijing's possible intentions behind deploying the balloon, as well as the potential information it  and other Chinese surveillance efforts  may have targeted. They also discuss the ways in which heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing could raise the risks of conflict over Taiwan.

What we know so far about the Chinese spy balloon and the other objects shot down

Highlights:

China's possible rationale: "[T]he U.S. flies a lot of intelligence collection on China's periphery, especially off their east coast. We don't violate the 12-mile limit. We strictly abide by international law. But it's long been a sore point and they had no means to reciprocate. So I wonder if the idea about sending high altitude balloons over the United States wasn't in and of itself something that would have been attractive to them. They've always had a desire to be able to strike back, not in a kinetic sense, but to conduct surveillance and then see how we feel about it."Heightened U.S.-China tensions: "I think the atmosphere has degraded to the point where we could have a crisis at any point. And I think the balloon incident over the last week or so has really underscored the nature of the political environment for a major crisis with China. You know, you had the kind of resonance with the U.S. public, with U.S. Congress that I don't recall that we had in earlier incidents involving China. It's become, in some ways a domestic political issue in the United States. And I think the Biden administration seems especially, you know, sensitive to the idea that it cannot be soft on China." Possibility of nuclear conflict: "China is a very capable nuclear power. They've probably got around 200 nuclear warheads that can target the U.S. today. And they're building out toward about 1,500 over the next 12 years or so. So very credible, large-scale nuclear capability. I don't think they plan to wage nuclear war. They're not suicidal. But it's the kind of calculus that really no president has ever had to sort of present to the American people."

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Intelligence Matters transcript - John Culver

Producer: Olivia Gazis

MICHAEL MORELL: John, welcome back to Intelligence Matters. It's great to have you on the show again.

JOHN CULVER: It's great to be on here. And I suspect I know what you're going to ask me.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, as you know, we wanted to spend the entire time talking about China, Taiwan. And I do want to get to that since there's so much discussion about it. But obviously, there's great focus last week and this week on the Chinese reconnaissance balloon and maybe balloons. We still don't know yet if the additional ones over the weekend that were shot down were Chinese or not.

But I'd love to ask you just a couple of questions about the balloons. One is that the White House today  today being Monday, this will run on Wednesday  but the White House today said that they didn't think that the Chinese were gaining much additional intelligence here compared to what their spy satellites were capable of producing.

And I just wonder what your reaction to that is. Is it too early to come to that conclusion since we haven't actually seen what they've collected yet? How do you think about that question?

JOHN CULVER: Well, yeah, I think it might be a little too confident at this stage, but I don't  I was not a balloon expert until last week. And so, you know, I'm still not a balloon expert but at least I'm conversant on this particular topic.

Until we finish exploiting the recovered parts that were being picked out of the Atlantic and any other material they get from the other three - whatever they were - shot down over the weekend, I think it's a little premature. Maybe he was informed. I think it also presumes a lot about what we may or may not know about Chinese satellite collection. And I wonder if our former colleagues are now scrubbing their assessment about the proficiency of Chinese satellite collect.

But I think there's also - we have to consider non-intelligence related reasons for doing this. I mean, it could have intelligence benefits, but there's also a political dynamic, always, with China. And from their perspective - and I'm not defending their perspective, but I'll just tell you what I think it is - the U.S. flies a lot of intelligence collection on China's periphery, especially off their east coast. We don't violate the 12-mile limit. We strictly abide by international law. But it's long been a sore point and they had no means to reciprocate.

So I wonder if the idea about sending high-altitude balloons over the United States wasn't in and of itself something that would have been attractive to them. They've always had a desire to be able to strike back, not in a kinetic sense, but to conduct surveillance and then see how we feel about it.

They don't have aircraft, you know, they could fly nonstop and surveil our coast the way we do, and they don't have bases in the Western Hemisphere.

So this is an interesting option. I also wonder if we're too focused on what this balloon may or may not have collected  and maybe we come back to this  is what could be the wartime potential of China's ability to conduct high-altitude balloon operations, particularly at scale.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, when you talked about the U.S. government exploiting the debris to learn more, in your experience, roughly how long will that take? JOHN CULVER: I'm trying to think of anything similar. It's going to be looked at hard, first by, it sounds like, the FBI  and I don't know that they have great experts on signals, but, sure, and then probably be turned over to the requisite authorities across the DOD services and intelligence community. I wouldn't expect them to have anything definitive for, you know, weeks and perhaps even a matter of several months.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, in terms of the Chinese President Xi, would he have knowledge of this program? Would he have approved this program? Would he approve individual flights? What's your sense on that?

JOHN CULVER: Well, again, I mean, instant balloon expert. But it appears now the Chinese were doing these since at least 2018, although sometimes the U.S., usually unnamed officials, say it's been going on for five years, but at least since 2018 and until two weeks ago or, really, just last weekend there had been no public reaction by the United States. I have no idea if we privately demarched them.

But in a way, let's assume we hadn't, then they've been getting away with it. And so either they decided that doing this directly over the central part of the U.S. would have been no big deal because we wouldn't see it. Or it was worth it, for either intelligence or political reasons.

And typically, Xi Jinping would have approved the program. He's chairman of the Central Military Commission. This thing has a budget. They would have approved the existence of the program. They would have approved especially early flights. He would have been privy, if not interested, I don't know, about anything gleaned from these activities.

And so it's, to me, it's less likely that he would have been personally briefed or had personal approval authority over the individual flight that we shot down over the Atlantic a few days ago.

MICHAEL MORELL: And then last question, John, on the balloons, any risks here that people should be concerned about - risk of escalation, how the Chinese are likely to respond to our shooting down one of the balloons. How do you think about that?

JOHN CULVER: I think, somewhat perversely, the fact that China's flying balloons over the United States for reasons I mentioned earlier is probably popular in China; although I've seen that they are censoring the U.S. accounts of this as an espionage platform and are sticking with their story and compelling their Internet to stick to the story that it was weather balloon, and then taking kind of a high, you know, high-profile view that it is the US who conducted a violent act against a peaceful balloon.

Well, you know, that's all a little silly and probably primarily for domestic consumption. I don't, I think by now if they were going to escalate, if Xi Jinping had allowed that, we would have heard about Chinese reactions, aggressive reactions against U.S. reconnaissance flights off their coast, which happen pretty regularly, I would, you know, think several times a week.

So if there was some kind of direct heel-to-toe response, we, I think, we'd already know it, although I'm not in government and I'm not sure.

So I think it's going to be more subtle than that. I saw today that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a counter-accusation that the U.S. has flown ten balloons over China. And I don't put a lot of weight in that. I mean, where would we have launched from? You know, the prevailing winds are going to carry everything west.

So either we would have launched from the U.S. and circumnavigated the globe, almost, or we would have had, you know, accomplices in the central republics or India, I suppose. So I think that's also for domestic consumption.

MICHAEL MORELL: Okay, John, thank you for that. Let's turn to what we were planning to talk about, which is China-Taiwan. And let me ask the first question here. What is China's long-term objective regarding Taiwan and what is its approach today to achieving that objective?

JOHN CULVER: Officially, their objective is and always has been something they call reunification. You know, their view is that Taiwan, prior to Japan taking control over Taiwan as a colonial possession in 1895, has always been a part of China and is still a part of China.

At a more practical level, their approach has been to move toward either peaceful reunification through improved economic people-to-people and political ties across the strait, and then have a coercive capacity in the form of threatened PLA action, People's Liberation Army, military action in the event that Taiwan permanently moves toward separation, toward political independence.

Taiwan has not done that. So we're kind of been sitting in the status quo now for, well, since 1949. And the last time military force was attempted by the Chinese was around 1958. So, you know, decades.

And so there's, as you can imagine and no doubt and have seen, there's sort of an active debate in the U.S. analytic community about whether China has changed its position and is now shifting toward accelerated moves toward unification, including the use of military force, or if things are basically the same as they have always been. That is, China reserves the right to use military force but hasn't done so and probably wouldn't do so unless Taiwan moves toward permanent independence.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, what is your view on that debate? Where do you fall?

JOHN CULVER: I think that we're closer to war than we've been. So it isn't this static situation that hasn't been affected by five years of intensified U.S.-China rivalry.

The modernization of the Chinese military, which hasn't been a crash modernization, but has been going on for, you know, 20 years and has certainly achieved capabilities that give us more cause for concern that they have an assurance or the capability to actually conduct compellence operations to try and resolve this by force.

I think Xi Jinping has had an impact on China's attitude toward Taiwan, but I don't think it is direct as, 'Xi Jinping's prepared to go to war on his own timeline within the next few years.'

My main concern is that the factors that create stability on the Taiwan Strait since we normalized relations with China in 1979, that, if you will, there are three pillars of stability and they've all eroded in the last five or six years.

So the first one is that military balance. Taiwan used to actually have a pretty big qualitative advantage over China. But the the rise of the People's Liberation Army as a modern multi-service military force has really eclipsed that. And there's there's really no military balance on the strait between China and Taiwan, absent, you know, large-scale U.S. intervention.

The other pillar that's eroded is that Taiwan is a vibrant democracy, that this isn't a deal that can be cut between, you know, leaders in Taipei and those in Beijing without concern for the feelings of the Taiwan people. You know, Taiwan is an extremely robust, free, democratic entity. And the United States increasingly has had to concede that the people of Taiwan will have a say on this. It's not going to be an agreement that can be reached either across the street through, you know, political back channels or, God forbid, the United States. I think it would be terrible for the U.S. to involve itself directly in this.

The third thing is that  you know, this is a little abstract. China is no longer a weak country. It's got a generation of people who, their whole life, all they've known is a rising China. The image of a powerful People's Liberation Army is reinforced in Chinese media every day. And the kind of control we used to see  like after the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgorod, the former Yugoslavia, in 1999, China was very angry. The U.S. admitted that it had committed a mistake and error. It resulted in the death of three Chinese citizens at their embassy in Belgorod. But they were frustrated that they couldn't respond more proportionally.

Similarly, after one of their fighters collided with the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea in 2001, the so-called EP-3 incident, they didn't feel that they had the requisite political, military or diplomatic clout to respond more vigorously.

But China today is a strong country. I think domestic public opinion there, if there were similar slights or if there was a new crisis on the Taiwan Strait propelled by, say, a president elected after 2024 who's more overtly pressing for permanent separation, then I think that China would be mindful of its own domestic opinion and there would be a greater compulsion to respond strongly to any provocation.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, can you imagine a situation where the Chinese respond aggressively to the point of of an invasion or a blockade of Taiwan if the U.S. made a significant policy change, if we changed our One China policy, if we changed our policy, strategic ambiguity, with regard to the conditions under which we would come to Taiwan's defense. Could we trigger something here?

JOHN CULVER:I think the atmosphere has degraded to the point where we could have a crisis at any point. And I think the balloon incident over the last week or so has really underscored the nature of the political environment for a major crisis with China.

You know, you had the kind of resonance with the U.S. public, with U.S. Congress that I don't recall that we had in earlier incidents involving China. It's become, in some ways, a domestic political issue in the United States. And I think the Biden administration seems especially, you know, sensitive to the idea that it cannot be soft on China.

MICHAEL MORELL: Right.

JOHN CULVER: So you've seen adjustments in U.S. policy, but not without sort of breaking the standard rubrics you mentioned about strategic ambiguity or U.S. definition of commitment to One China. But that doesn't mean that we aren't changing things.

So we've expanded our arms sales to Taiwan and added a new capability to fund weapons sales through loans to Taiwan rather than their direct purchase, you know, cash on the barrelhead, which is what we've always done.

So I think it's likely you're going to have much larger weapons sales to Taiwan in a more compressed period. I also think that the visit by Speaker Pelosi last August and a prospective visit later this year by Speaker McCarthy are setting a kind of a new normal. And the Chinese are frustrated by that because they prefer to pretend that they don't understand that Congress is a separate, co-equal branch of government, and they demand that the Biden administration somehow stop this. Well, I don't think that's feasible, likely or even the right move.

But it just sort of adds to this atmosphere where another incident like an EP-3 collision or some other, you know, incident involving our military forces in the South China Sea or of Taiwan, I think would escalate much more quickly and probably much more deeply than any crises that we usually refer to in our lexicon.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, if Xi were to take military action today for whatever reason, how confident, given the military balance, how confident could he be of victory and how much risk in his mind would he be taking at this point?

JOHN CULVER: Well, as you know, the People's Liberation Army is a very large and increasingly modern force, but it's also one that hasn't actually engaged in combat on a large scale since 1979. So he has a very shiny toy, but he doesn't know if it will actually work the way he intends.

So the riskier the operation  an invasion, certainly we'd be at the upper end of what I would consider a highly risky operation for any any military to undertake, let alone one that isn't battle tested. And so I think that he would have to consider sort of the full spectrum of coercive and other pressure options and not maybe put all of the weight on the PLA to succeed in a single throw of the dice, you know, through an invasion. And certainly they have a lot of options.

Taiwan's economy depends to a large extent on trade with China. Before the pandemic, there were 2 million Taiwanese living in the mainland, usually in all the factories in this pretty integrated economic relationship. And you had a million Chinese visitors to Taiwan every year before the pandemic.

So they can certainly, and have  the pandemic cut off tourism and travel pretty much. Trade continues to be robust. But China has a lot of options. You know, they could launch a blockade under different guises. You know, they could call it a quarantine to prevent delivery of U.S. arms. And they certainly have the means to enforce that kind of quarantine for a while. They have the largest Coast Guard in the world, also very modern. They have a large Chinese navy, which is building very rapidly, far more rapidly than we are. And the thing is, that would still be sort of a Rubicon crossing.

Once China uses lethal force or even threatened to use lethal force for the first time since 1958, we live in a new world. And you know, China, after watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has to understand that China won't be the only one using a stick, that they're going to face deep economic sanctions led by the United States, in all likelihood, and probably with support from much of the rest of the developed world, as we have with Russia.

And I think then that the idea that they're going to achieve peaceful reunification or patient is going to, you know, the last shreds of that will be lost. And so then Taiwan will suddenly be arraigned to defend itself in a way that they really haven't up to this point.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, both  or I should say all three, right, China, the United States and Taiwan. And then I guess you could put out a fourth, our allies, you know, Japan, Australia. We're all trying to build capabilities, right, with this fight in mind down the road.

Which way is the balance headed? Is it headed in China's favor? Is it heading in our favor? How do you think about where the balance is today and where the trend lines are?

JOHN CULVER: The DOD reports to Congress, statements by the president and others underscore that China, now, today poses a really significant military threat not only to Taiwan, but also to our allies and, you know, at least U.S. Pacific forces. So they have been modernizing very steadily and very broadly, now, for quite a while with greater intensity since about 2009.

And they have a lot of material advantages, even if you consider that they have a combat force that hasn't seen combat, as I said. And so I don't know how it turns out. I don't think they do. So that almost certainly imposes constraints.

They have a lot of inherent kinetic capability. So even if they can't get an invasion across or they can't reinforce it and get the follow-on forces they'd need to actually win the war through an invasion option. They have the ability to strike all of the U.S. bases in the western Pacific, all of our bases on Japan, Guam, northern Australia.

And so it would be  there's no recent conflict, even the one in Ukraine, that you could really use to compare. It would be a maritime and air conflict with some involvement of ground forces over island seizure. And it would probably be a long war. Now, the problem that confronts for the United States is you've heard different senior U.S. officials, officers in the military usually, worrying that there could be a war by 2027.

MICHAEL MORELL: Yeah. Yeah.

JOHN CULVER: I think General Minihan just a couple of weeks ago worried that it could be even by 2024 because of Taiwan's election cycle. The problem is, is that kind of, you know, near-term uncertainty makes our decisions about modernization harder rather than easier, because if you really believe there's going to be a war in two or five years, then you're not going to have time to build major platforms and really address some of the deeper implications of China's massive shipbuilding and aircraft building.

You're going to have to spend, really, all of your money in the next two or five years on munitions and infrastructure. You have to harden your forward bases in the Western Pacific. You won't have time to build a lot of new ships because we have a very limited number of shipyards, especially compared to China, which produces 43% of the commercial shipping in the world, whereas we produce virtually 0% of the commercial shipping in the world.

So I hope I see coherence, especially out of the most senior parts of DOD and the administration, on exactly what the plan is. Because if we are really worried about near-term conflict, then the defense budget, currently, even with the increases we saw for the current fiscal year, they don't really reflect that.

If you really think you're in a fight, a war, with China within 2 to 5 years, you don't have an $812 billion defense budget, you have about a trillion and a half dollar defense budget. So, you know, I pay less attention to generals and admirals on this point than I do the heads of intelligence, both the DNI and the director of CIA. And I like the way they frame it.

I think, you know, it feels correct to me that they're saying Xi has not made a decision to use military force, but he certainly has told the PLA to be prepared to use military force at any time, which is what militaries do. They are situated and tasked with being ready to respond on order, just as our military is.

MICHAEL MORELL: Yeah. I wonder how much of what we hear sometimes from our military officials about more of a near-term fight is designed to win budget battles on the Hill, as opposed to what you hear from our intelligence leaders, which is, you know, the reasoned judgment of their analysts.

JOHN CULVER: And I think that talking to the troops  I think that they don't want any kind of lackadaisical attitude. And there's a term that was coined in Pacific Fleet after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, which is, I refer to it as a 'fight tonight' mentality, that the job of especially frontline commanders is to ensure that their forces, no matter what, how passive the geopolitical situation may appear, has to be prepared for any contingency.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, one of things I wanted to ask you is Taiwan's ability to defend itself. I think you talked the last time you were on about the decline over time in Taiwan's investment in its own defense. I think you talked last time a little bit about, it hasn't bought the right weapons systems. And I'm wondering to what extent you see the folks on Taiwan changing course and moving in the right direction.

JOHN CULVER: President Tsai and senior officials under her and her national security are saying the right things. So they've announced recently that they're going to return to one-year conscription instead of four months of conscription, and they're going to improve the content of that training that young people get when they go in the Taiwan military for a year. And they've also announced the largest increase in their defense spending.

But it's still, you know, even with the increase, it means they're going to spend $19 billion a year, instead of $16 or $17 billion a year. So it's not nothing, but it's also not the actions of a country or a government that thinks that it's an imminent threat because this is still kind of a hotly debated issue in Taiwan.

A lot of people either don't think the war will ever happen, even now, or they think that Taiwan could not prevail unless the U.S. military shows up very quickly. And that's part of what the U.S. has been telling Taiwan, that, 'In the event, you have to be able to give us time to flow force and be able to make a material contribution to defense.'

So they're doing the right things. I'm still going to wait and want to see exactly what they do in terms of acquisitions. If they really move away from big ticket items that would have little utility in conflict and I'll be a little less convinced that they're really moving with alacrity.

But if they really build, like not only military, but the national resilience, increase their stockpiles of fuel so they can generate power even under pressure from China, you know, beyond words, that they can take care of their own defense to some extent, that they can make a material difference, especially for a counter-amphibious operations, then I think that would do a lot to improve deterrence against China. It would make it a riskier proposition if Xi, Xi Jinping ever thought that it was something that was achievable.

It's better to break your adversary's war plan that they have to defeat their military. So anything you can contribute that lowers Chinese confidence in the efficacy of a direct military attack on Taiwan would probably be a good thing.

But I still believe that a Chinese decision to use military force is not capabilities-based. It's conditions-based, meaning that Xi Jinping is not waiting for the PLA to give him the thumbs up, that they're good, and then he's going to launch an attack. In fact, that if we had elections in Taiwan in 2024 and a pro-independence, very active, pro-independence candidate won the election and Taiwan started to move toward permanent separation and announced that, the Chinese would go to war the next day.

Now, that war would look different from one that the Chinese might launch in ten years, but we would still be in a state of conflict across the Taiwan Strait and probably directly involving the United States.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, when we talk about U.S. military capabilities, you hear oftentimes the Pentagon talk about numbers of ships and numbers of aircraft, and you don't hear them talk about new concepts of war fighting. And I'm wondering to what extent you think that needs to be a bigger part of the discussion in the planning  perhaps it is, right.

But we're going to have to fight the Chinese different than fought past wars. And I wonder to what extent we're actually thinking that through and working on it.

JOHN CULVER: I think the services and the U.S. military have actually embraced the idea that they need a new way of waging war should it come to that. And so it means that, in the past, the way that we would do things was that we would flow massive men, materiel, weapons and ammunition across the Pacific. We would build up large logistic and force postures, probably with our allies in Japan, northern Australia, other places where we have security relationships and, you know, then conduct operations at a time of our choosing.

The problem is that Chinese missile capabilities, both ballistic and cruiser, are so robust that you have to consider that there are no sanctuaries to do a logistics build-up. So you have to be able to operate with a lot of kind of time-space agility where you can build up forces to conduct an operation and create effects that positively shape our intentions for battle and cause harm to China's operations, but don't do it so in a way that there's a large footprint that becomes a compelling target for them.

And all services have adopted a version of this, they're all kind of early in the implementation phase. The visit by Secretary of Defense Austin to the Philippines last month was a really strong signal, as was the recent improvement, even further of our defense relationship with Japan. So the U.S. is doing the necessary things, assuming that, you know, we still have a time and I think we do have time.

But I think we don't have the kind of wholesale changes that you see in Washington, especially in defense acquisitions, where, from the time that you design a ship until you build it, 17 years will go by. And the same thing is true of aircraft.

So we're going to need more platform agility. There seems to be a pretty good consensus that large aircraft carriers and large bases close to Chinese missiles are probably not a winning strategy, but, it's going to take time, I think, for the services to adjust to that and really build the weapons and then train for the kind of war that a war with China would look like.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, if the Chinese didn't need to respond in a day, right, to a declaration of independence by Taiwan, but had more time and were able to to take their time in planning for war, how much warning time would we have of a Chinese military move?

JOHN CULVER: I think we'd have a fair amount of warning time if they really decided that political actions by Taiwan and/or the United States compelled conflict. Then they have to mobilize their entire defense industrial base and even their entire society. You know, they have to start by adjusting the expectations of their population that, if their idea of the future hinged on constantly rising standards of living and better opportunities for their kids, well, they're going to have to change. You know, the Chinese are going to be engaged in the great battle for the unification of the motherland. And there are going to be sacrifices. And that will include the sacrifice of lives for the first time in the in the history of most of the people living in China. The last time that was a factor was the again, the late 1970s.

So I think that at a minimum, we'd have several months if we're paying attention. We'd have to see to try to make the same moves that I just talked about the U.S. military having to make. They'd have to build a lot of munitions. Modern warfare, especially with precision-guided weapons and persistent surveillance is a very munitions-intensive thing.

I think in the first few weeks of our invasion of Iraq, we used 20,000 precision-guided weapons. And so all armies are going to have to build for that eventuality. I think there's actually a risk that we sort of hit an exhaustion phase in conflict and shift to sort of a more sustainable long war frame.

But in terms of warning, too, I think we're going to see them mobilizing and alerting their public. We're going to see them mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people for national defense, not just soldiers, but also people organized into groups to repair bomb damage that the U.S. or Taiwan might cause along their coast. You're going to see wholesale industrial transformation then turn over to defense production.

And I don't think it'll be subtle, in other words. I don't think there's the secret plan, you know, for a Chinese attack on Taiwan. I don't think that's how their system operates. It will be a political decision that will then spill out across the whole of Chinese society and China's economy and the entire regime.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, you don't have any doubts, do you, that a Chinese leader would have public support for military action against Taiwan?

JOHN CULVER: No, not much. I mean, Taiwan is an issue that Chinese are inculcated in from grade school. Literally, the version of history that's taught to every Chinese kindergartner and up to senior, middle school is that Taiwan is Chinese territory, that it was basically stolen from them, first by the Japanese in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 and then sold again with U.S. help by the, you know, ROC Guomindang party that fled to the island in 1949. And that Taiwan has been separated from China only by the military interference of the United States. So there's already a strong understanding from that perspective across the body politic.

I think where it gets a little dicey for Chinese leadership is when casualties start coming. Because I think a lot of, again, this idea that China is strong, that imbues kind of the thinking, especially the younger people, that hasn't been tested. And so, you know, you've got a country where the military, like the rest of society, consist of one child per family, soldiers and officers. And so every family is going to be touched if the PLA ends up getting involved in Taiwan and you have the kind of intensive combat that I think would occur. It's going to mean a lot of casualties, both for Taiwan and for the United States.

I mean, it's likely the U.S. would see casualties in the first month of intense combat with the Chinese, especially in Navy and air combat, that would exceed losses we've had in every war since Vietnam. In a matter of a couple of weeks. Well, the same thing would be true in China. So I think that will be one where the surveillance state of China will kick in. You'll see a lot of intense filtering of the Internet because they know that  you know, people in China, and you know how things are, people usually think the war will be over by Christmas or I guess in the Chinese Lunar New Year; that's probably not going to happen.

And so it gets harder as time goes by and you see deprivation. Chinese exports are cut by international sanctions. Incomes fall and they'll be falling globally. Trade will be disrupted globally. And that's when becomes a test for the regime, whether  not whether Taiwan's worth it, but whether the sacrifices people are making in what may appear at some point to be an open-ended contest, if that's going to end up, you know, creating longer term problems in a regime that's had nothing really, but  COVID notwithstanding  kind of good news for the last 40, 50 years.

MICHAEL MORELL: So, John, I just want to explore something with you here as we head to the end of the podcast. A president of the United States in deciding to join Taiwan in a fight against China would have to accept some pretty significant things. Right?

You have to accept mobilizing the U.S. military for one of the most significant fights in American history. Would have to accept risking escalation into a nuclear exchange and would have to accept creating essentially a global economic meltdown. Right. These are the two largest economies in the world. Trade between them is is hugely significant.

JOHN CULVER: And we just hit a new record this year of over $800 billion.

MICHAEL MORELL: Exactly. So I just want to get your reaction to what I just said.

JOHN CULVER: Well, I think I'm probably a pessimist on this, so you might want to discount a bit.

But I think the balloon incident sort of showed us where we are, collectively. I think there would be a big appetite in the United States for confrontation, if not war, with China. I think people right now don't think war is likely. I hope they're right. But I think that initially there would be strong support for a president.

But I think the same kind of calculation I made for Xi Jinping: it's going to be very intense. Would be, as you noted, the first combat we've ever undertaken with another nuclear power. And China is a very capable nuclear power. They've probably got around 200 nuclear warheads that can target the U.S. today. And they're building out toward about 1,500 over the next 12 years or so. So very credible, large-scale nuclear capability.

I don't think they plan to wage nuclear war. They're not suicidal. But it's the kind of calculus that really no president has ever had to sort of present to the American people.

So he's going to have to make a point that the goal here is to defend Taiwan because of U.S. commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. But our goal is to prevent the conquest of the island. It'll be a little bit of a trick, but, you know, we're going to be saying we want to prevent China's conquest of Taiwan, which we don't necessarily even then support Taiwan independence, because we're going to be looking for off ramps.

And I think that that will be a key characteristic of this war that I hope doesn't obtain, is that you're going to have a situation kind of like Ukraine, where I think stalemate, at least after initial high-intensity combat, is going to be an option or an opportunity to try and look for ways to seek resolution.

I think those will be difficult to find, especially kind of in their current, you know, environment, where the president's going to be second-guessed only by the public, but of course, by Congress.

So I think, you know, the president seems to indicate that he understands that. And I think his statements about support for Taiwan are designed to bolster deterrence. But I worry that we are in some ways kind of walking along the edges of a deterrence trap where the actions we take unilaterally by ourselves, with our allies, and with Taiwan create the conditions for the war that we're trying to deter.

MICHAEL MORELL: John, thank you very much for joining us to talk about this incredibly important topic. Thanks for taking the time.

JOHN CULVER: Yeah. I'd say it was my pleasure, but I always bum myself out when I talk about this.

MICHAEL MORELL: Well, that's what analysts do. Thanks very much, John.

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Photo: The Canadian Press Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai sits during a media availability with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Yukonstruct building in Whitehorse, Yukon, on Feb. 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Thomas

Yukon's premier says federal health-care money specifically for the territories is "critical" to service delivery.

Premier Ranj Pillai says health-care delivery can cost three to four times as much for the territory where people often have to leave home to get specialized treatment.

"Many of the procedures that we need, some of the specialized health-care supports that we have, we're really seeking in British Columbia in some cases, and in Alberta," he said Tuesday.

"So first and foremost, there are some really significant costs."

Earlier this week Canada's premiers agreed to a deal with the federal government that will add $46.2 billion in new health-care funding over 10 years.

It includes $150 million over five years for the territorial health investment fund (THIF) to help cover medical travel and the cost of delivering health care in the territories.

Pillai said Yukon expects to sign additional agreements with Yukon First Nation governments and work on developing a First Nations Health Authority.

"And that is not the similar process that's happening in other parts of the country," he said.

"So having ... the territorial health investment fund, and some flexibility around that gives us the tools to implement a new system, but also supports the extra cost that we have to shoulder with our health-care system.

Under the new health-care deal, Yukon is expecting to receive $193 million over the decade from the Canada Health Transfer.

The federal government is also negotiating individual bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories for a share of $25 billion that is to focus on supports for families, front-line workers, mental health and modernizing the system.

Pillai met Tuesday with federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos to discuss that agreement.

He said the territory has already invested a lot in those areas and the new agreement will be a chance to invest more.

"The themes that are in place right now in the bilateral are very consistent with our priorities. So we feel good that that'll match," he said.

He said he hopes to have a final deal completed this year.
Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore. Maarten de Boer/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Milo Ventimiglia revealed that what he misses most about filming "This Is Us" is Mandy Moore.

He told InStyle he's exchanged messages with her recently to check in on her family.

The pair have both acknowledged that they have amazing chemistry as spouses on "This Is Us."

In a new interview with InStyle, Milo Ventimiglia revealed that what he misses most about "This Is Us" is working with his former on-screen wife.

"Mandy Moore," he replied to reporter Jenna Brillhart when asked what he misses most about playing the Pearson family patriarch. "I miss my friend."

The actors were living on different coasts for a while as Ventimiglia filmed "The Company You Keep" in Los Angeles and Moore shot one of her upcoming projects in New York.

Moore and Ventimiglia on set of "This Is Us." Ron Batzdorff/NBC

"We've recently sent some messages back and forth," Ventimiglia continued. "I was checking in on her and her husband, and the babies, and whatnot, and she [was] checking in on life over here."

Moore gave birth to her son Oscar Bennett in October 2022. She and her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith, are also parents to August "Gus" Harrison, 2.

Their real-life relationship is purely platonic, but the world fell in love with Ventimiglia and Moore as spouses Jack and Rebecca Pearson. As Ventimiglia revealed to Jimmy Fallon in January 2022, when the cameras were rolling, they took their fake marriage very seriously and even made real vows about their commitment to each other.

He recalled to Fallon that early on while promoting "This Is Us" at NBC upfronts, the pair "almost took vows with one another."

Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia at the 33rd Annual Television Critics Association Awards during the 2017 Summer TCA Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 5, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Image

The "Gilmore Girls" actor went on to recite some of those promises: "I promise to always communicate. I promise to not be happy until you're happy. I will always look out for you."

"And we have stayed very true to what we said in the beginning," Ventimiglia explained, calling Moore "the best partner I've ever had."

Moore has echoed Ventimiglia's sentiments in the past. She once told Popsugar that Ventimiglia asked to nuzzle "into my neck and pretended to be my husband."

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"I was like, 'Oh, wow, this is how it's supposed to feel.' It was great," she recalled.

Ventimiglia's new show "The Company You Keep" airs Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Read the original article on Insider
Minnesota AG Keith Ellison. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Minnesota shut down student-debt relief company Direct Account Management over fraudulent behavior.

It accused the company of illegally taking money from borrowers for services that are otherwise free.

The company is required to pay the state $20,000, which will be distributed to impacted borrowers.

Minnesota just shut down a student-loan forgiveness company after finding it was accused of illegally taking money from borrowers.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced his office reached a settlement that requires California-based student-debt relief company, Direct Account Management, to cease its operations in the state and pay back $20,063.12  the full amount it collected from Minnesota borrowers. This marks the 13th time Ellison has shut down a student-debt relief company in the state over fraudulent behavior.

According to the press release, the company falsely promised debt relief to consumers when that power only lies within the federal government, and it "pocketed exorbitant fees to enroll consumers in federal repayment programs that consumers can enroll themselves in for free." It sometimes used the name Student Loan Advisory to communicate with borrowers.

"Minnesotans take out student loans in good faith so they can get educations that will help them better afford their lives. My office is showing once again that when companies take advantage of that good faith to rip Minnesotans off, we will come after them," Ellison said in a statement. "I encourage any Minnesotan who's been preyed upon by this company or others like it to contact my office so we can hold these bad actors accountable."

Per the terms of the settlement, the company will pay the $20,000 fee to the state, which will then be distributed to all impacted borrowers as restitution payments.

This comes during a time of significant uncertainty for student-loan borrowers  President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers is currently on hold due to two conservative-backed lawsuits that blocked the implementation of the relief. The cases are headed to the Supreme Court on February 28, and at this point, millions of borrowers relying on that relief don't know if they will see a reduction to their balances this year.

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In light of the uncertainty, and the potential of broad relief, the Education Department launched a communications campaign to protect borrowers from scams. In October, before the application for debt relief was released, the department released a list of ways it will crack down on scammers, including publishing a "Do's and Don'ts" list to outline actions borrowers should and should not take as the application for relief becomes available.

The Federal Communications Commission also cracked down on a robocall campaign that was misleading borrowers after Biden's relief was announced, saying that "scam robocalls try to pull from the headlines to confuse consumers. The newest trick in their playbook? Trying to take advantage of people who want help paying off their student loans."

It's unclear if the department is planning additional actions to prevent fraudulent behavior in the student-loan industry, but with the student-loan payment pause expected to end later this year after over three years, it's likely there will be increased scrutiny over the types of communications borrowers are receiving as they prepare to enter repayment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
It was the middle of the night when Seminole County resident Maria Valentin received a knock at the door, outside were two deputies who told her they were checking up on some car break-ins in her apartment complex.

There had been no break-ins. Instead, deputies were at her door to try and serve a warrant from the state. The problem was that they were at the door of the wrong Maria, a fact they did not discover for almost 2 hours, long after Maria was placed in handcuffs in front of her son.

I trip and I fall, so I turn quickly on my back. Hes already towering over me and hes grabbing me. So I now am struggling with this deputy and Im like, Whats going on? Whats going on? What happened? What happened? Hes like, Stop resisting. Stop resisting. Im like, Whats going on? I am confused. I dont know whats going on, Maria said recounting the events of that night.

Maria said as she was on the ground, her son approached the deputies and a deputy pointed a gun at him. The deputys body camera was not recording at this moment, and the report does not mention a weapon, with the Seminole County Sheriffs Office saying there is no indication that a gun was pulled, although the department would not elaborate on additional details.

Read: My house is gone: Street race ends when 2 cars crash into Orlando home

Seminole County deputies had been given a warrant from the Brevard County Sheriffs Office, Brevard County had received the warrant from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and DBPR had been investigating a different Maria Valentin, one who lived in Orange County. Yet somehow on this muggy August night at 4:14, two deputies arrived at the wrong Marias door.

The Maria who DPBR was investigating has the same first and last name and same middle initial, however, the two women have different addresses and different dates of birth, facts Maria and her son tried to tell the deputies as Maria sat in the parking lot of her apartment complex with her hands cuffed behind her back.

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Read: First nonstop Disney to Disney flight from one Orange County to another to take off from Orlando

He claimed I was Maria Valentin, but it was a different date of birth. And when I was thrown into the car, handcuffed, I immediately looked at the laptop that they had. The picture of the woman wasnt me, Maria said.

The Seminole County Sheriffs Office declined to comment on this incident but did provide bodycam video of the arrest. The video begins with deputies approaching the door then stops resuming only after Maria is already on the ground and in handcuffs.

In the video, Marias son can be heard questioning the arrest eventually offering to return to the apartment and retrieve his mothers ID.

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Just before six oclock, deputies realized they arrested the wrong person, apologized and Maria was set free. However, Maria is not given a copy of the warrant in fact neither Seminole nor Brevard nor the state has offered to produce the document saying the other Maria may not have been arrested yet.

She very well could be arrested again by the same police agency and kept in jail this time, attorney Randall Kallinen said.

Kallinen is representing David Sosa of Martin County, Florida. Sosa has been arrested not once but twice by Martin County deputies due to a warrant for another David Sosa out of Harris County, Texas.

Read: Actress Raquel Welch dead at 82

Sosa, who after the second arrest in four years on the wrong warrant filed a lawsuit against the county and the sheriffs office, recently had his case denied by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, citing a 1979 Supreme Court case giving law enforcement wide discretion to arrest someone and hold them for days, even if the person on the warrant is not the person in custody. The court wrute, under Baker, no violation of due process occurs if a detainees arrest warrant is valid and his detention lasts an amount of time no more than the three days.

The 1979 case of Baker versus McCollan controls and that doesnt take into account the technologies that they have nowadays where you can just check a persons story just like that and you pitchers pop up, photographs pop up of a person and, you know, records are the snap of a finger or at the key at a keystroke, Kallinen said. You can find them, and you can check this information, so thats whats lacking here.

SEE: What is Marburg? 9 things to know about the deadly virus

Attorneys for Sosa are hoping the Supreme Court will re-visit the Baker decision, updating it to encompass modern technology, meanwhile, Maria is worried the next knock at the door, or next traffic stop will end with her in cuffs again, again facing the same warrant for another person with the same name.

I get anxiety when I see the cars, especially when theyre in my community, Maria said. So even just talking about it gives me anxiety because Ive never once had an encounter this way. I usually I mean, you speak to a deputy, anyone of authority, and you want to feel safe when youre speaking to them.

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.
One of the quintuplets. NurPhoto/Getty Images

Dominika Clarke gave birth Sunday to quintuplets in Poland.

She already had seven children, including two sets of twins.

This is the second set of quintuplets to be delivered at the hospital she went to.

A Polish mom has delivered quintuplets, rounding out her family at a dozen children.

"We were planning on having an eighth child, but it turned out that there would be a few more children," Dominika Clarke, the 37-year-old mother, said, according to The First News.

The babies, who were delivered at 28 weeks of gestation on Sunday, weighed between 1.5 and 3 pounds. They were all doing well, and Clarke said at a news conference Tuesday that she was feeling "much better than I had expected" after delivering her babies.

The three girls and two boys are named Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose, Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, and Henry James. They join siblings who range in age from 10 months old to 12 years old. The family already included two sets of twins.

Speaking with reporters, Clarke was optimistic about managing her large family.

"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," she said, according to The Washington Post.

Quintuplets are super rare, but this Polish hospital has delivered 2 sets

The chances of spontaneously conceiving quintuplets are about 1 in 60 million. But the use of assisted reproductive technology has made quints slightly more common, at once in every 52 million pregnancies, according to the hospital. An estimated 99% of quintuplet pregnancies come from assisted reproduction, though it's not clear whether Clarke and her husband, Vincent, used medical interventions.

Clarke's delivery was in good hands. The University Hospital in Krakow, where she received care, delivered another set of quints in 2015.

Dominika Clarke and Vincent Clarke, the parents of the quintuplets, during a press conference at the University Hospital in Krakow, Poland. NurPhoto/Getty Images

"It is said that 'nothing happens twice,' and yet at the University Hospital, miracles like to repeat themselves!" the hospital said on its website. "We are extremely happy and touched that once again we can participate in such an extraordinary event, and the knowledge and experience of our specialists ensure that such multiple pregnancies will have a happy delivery."

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The babies will spend a few weeks in the hospital

Higher-order multiples like quints come with a host of health risks for the mother and the babies. Mothers are at increased risk for preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and anemia, among other conditions. The babies, who are nearly always delivered prematurely, are at risk for infections, developmental delays, breathing trouble, and more.

The hospital said the Clarke quints "will spend the next few weeks" in its neonatal department. It's a great sign that the quints were born at 28 weeks, since delivery before that gestational age increases the risk for complications.

When it's time to leave the hospital, "seven siblings are eagerly waiting for them at home," the medical center said. For the Clarkes  who met in London, where Dominika was teaching English and math  adding five healthy babies to their brood is a wonder.

"A miracle has happened," the mother said.

Read the original article on Insider
Anna Ruzinski, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announces 114 arrests of violent offenders made during Operation North Star II.

More than 110 violent fugitives were arrested in a 30-day span as part of a multi-department initiative between Milwaukee County, Racine County and federal and state law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Marshals office announced Wednesday.

The arrests of 114 fugitives were made starting in January, and took place in Milwaukee and Racine counties as part of a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force initiative called Operation North Star II.

This was the second initiative that involved Milwaukee, one of 10 cities nationally to take part in the operation, which targeted violent offenders. The previous effort, called Operation Triple Beam Honey Badger, occurred last summer and ended with 268 violent offenders arrested between May and July.

Those targeted and arrested in the operation included suspects in homicide, armed robberies and assault with a firearm, said Anna Ruzinski, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Operation targeted some of the 'worst repeat offenders'

In all, 213 warrants - including 11 for homicide - were cleared, and 45 firearms and nearly 20 pounds of illegal narcotics were recovered as part of the operation. This was in addition to the arrests of 1,086 violent offender arrests including 153 for homicides, 3,487 cleared warrants and 266 recovered firearms by the task force in 2022.

Ruzinski credited the operation's success on cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies.

"The fugitive task force devotes everyday to locating and apprehending violent fugitives trying to evade the justice system," Ruzinski said. "We are not naive enough to think this is the answer to ending violent crime, but when we can remove some of the worst repeat offenders from the community, we start to have an impact."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, Racine Police Department and Racine County Sheriff's Office were among the departments involved in the operation.

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Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson lauded the efforts and collaboration of all the agencies and said while operations like this are a step in the right direction, there's still work to do to bring crime rates down.

"When people cause death, cause harm, cause destruction in Milwaukee, theyve got to be held accountable," Johnson said. "Every accused individual deserves a fair and judicial process, and the states got to prove that in court. The first step in that process is having accused criminals be brought to the courtroom, and thats whats happening with Operation North Star II."

Ruzinski mentioned future efforts will be made to combat crime in southeastern Wisconsin. One of those efforts, which she said will be implemented later this year, is Operation Safe Surrender. It will give those who are out on warrants an opportunity to turn themselves in in a safe environment for the community, themselves and law enforcement, Ruzinski said.

"We know that enforcement is not the answer," she added. "We know we need the community working together. We need programs and we need to get our young people engaged before they get to a point where law enforcement is seeking them."

Crime Trends in Milwaukee

Officials have reported that general crime in Milwaukee dropped 7% last year, despite the city breaking its homicide record for a third year in a row.

So far in 2023, those trends have mostly continued. As of Tuesday, reports of aggravated assault, burglary, theft and car theft were down between 8% and 29% from the year before.

The citys homicide count has dropped 48% so far this year. That drop could be expected, given that violent crime tends to recede in colder months and because January and February 2022 was an unusually violent period in the city, with 36 homicides reported, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission.

The citys homicide rate so far this year still tracks closely with that of 2021, which at the time was another record-breaking year for homicides in Milwaukee, according to police data. Nonfatal shootings in 2023 have also continued at the same elevated pace as last year.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Federal operation leads to more than 110 arrests in Wisconsin
Thousands of people were without power in the Miami Valley Tuesday afternoon.

Outages begin being reported at 9:00 p.m.., at its peak, over 3,700 AES Ohio customers reported not having power, according to the AES Outage Map.

>> Cloudy, mild tonight with winds increasing; Wind Advisory in effect Wednesday

The majority of outages were reported in Montgomery County.

Mary Ann Kabel, director of corporate communications at AES Ohio said the outage was due to a transmission line issue at their Northridge substation.

As of 2:00 a.m., Wednesday, power has been restored to AES customers.

Approx 3,700 customers are without power due to a down transmission line in the Northridge substation. Crews are onsite... Posted by AES Ohio on Tuesday, February 14, 2023




At the ninth Contact meeting for the Defence of Ukraine in Brussels, the Western partners of Ukraine confirmed that Ukraine would receive more air defence systems, tanks, artillery and shells, as well as more training for its military.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, in an evening address on 14 February

Quote: "Today is the day of another Ramstein format, the meeting of the Contact group of military support of Ukraine. 54 partner states. Ninth meeting of this format. And new powerful decisions in favour of the defence of our country and strengthening our troops were made.

Supply of more air defence systems was confirmed by our partners. Supply of a bigger quantity of tanks was confirmed. More artillery and shells. More training for our troops. As it was stated today, Ukraine must be successful. Here we agree: there must be success.

Of course, not all decisions made at the Ramstein meeting can be made public. Many of the agreements and discussions should be left behind closed doors of the Contact Group meeting. But I can say for sure that basic tendencies remain unchanged. Ukraine and its partners are making joint efforts to defeat the terrorist state as soon as possible."

Details: Zelenskyy stated that "the Kremlin is trying to squeeze all aggression potential out of Russia" and Russians are in a hurry because they know that "the world is stronger anyway but needs time to gather its forces."

The Ukrainian leader stressed that speed is very important everywhere: in making and fulfilling decisions, in armament supplies and training of troops.

He thanked Ukraines partners who realise that speed saves peoples lives and "brings back safety". In particular, he expressed his gratitude to Americans for their leadership and systematic coordination of the Ramstein meetings.

Quote: "Today I met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada who was on a visit in Ukraine. Our conversation was also, so to say, Ramstein-inspired. Above all, we discussed the defence support, new armament for Ukraine, new sanctions against Russia.

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I thanked Canada for the support already provided. We discussed with the Minister in detail what Ukraine needs to continue pushing the occupiers away from our land.

We are actively preparing for the foreign policy measures of the second half of this week. We must stride through this week with the same spirit that Ramstein started it with  adding results in favour of Ukraine every day."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) - Sixty-two percent of Americans say race and ethnicity should not be considered at all in college admissions, according to new Reuters/Ipsos polling on policies at the center of high-profile cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this spring.

The public opinion poll, which surveyed 4,408 adults from Feb. 6-13, found that 73% of Republicans and 46% of Democrats said they were against race-conscious admissions, or affirmative action, which is a practice used by colleges and universities to boost racial diversity within their student bodies.

Sixty-seven percent of white respondents said they were against considering race at all in admissions, compared with 52% of minority respondents.

The conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court will issue rulings this spring in cases questioning the legality of race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC).

Most Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy last year for the arguments made against affirmative action. The court's decisions could imperil the practices, which are used to boost enrollment of Black and Hispanic students at U.S. colleges.

The group behind the lawsuits, Students for Fair Admissions, says that UNC discriminates against white and Asian American applicants and that Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants. The schools disagree.

The cases have given the court an opportunity to reverse precedents - one as recent as 2016 - that allowed schools to use race as a factor in admissions if other issues were also considered.

Harvard and UNC have said that race is only one of many factors in their admission processes and that curbing its consideration would cause a significant drop in enrollment of students from under-represented groups.

Proponents of affirmative action say taking race into account in college admissions is a necessary step to remedying racial inequity in American life and ensuring a range of perspectives on campuses. Critics say it unfairly boosts some minority applicants over other groups.

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The president of Students for Fair Admissions declined to comment on the poll results.

In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 46% of respondents said social policies such as affirmative action discriminated unfairly against white people. That view was held by 49% of white respondents and 39% of minority respondents.

While most poll respondents said they did not think college admissions offices should consider race at all, 58% of all respondents said they supported programs aimed at increasing racial diversity of students on college campuses. The poll question did not offer specific examples of such programs.

Jane Sujen Bock, a board member of Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, said the support for increasing campus racial diversity from 58% of respondents indicated that backing for affirmative action was broader than the poll's other responses reflected.

"That's exactly what affirmative action is" - just part of a process that ensured the accomplishments and potential of disadvantaged students were considered, Bock said.

Respondents also were asked how significantly other factors ought to play into college admissions. Sixty-eight percent said grades should be a major consideration. Fifty-six percent said candidates whose relatives had attended the school should not be given different consideration; similarly, 37% said athletic ability should be ignored.

The poll's credibility interval, a measure of precision, was about two percentage points for all respondents.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bradley Perrett)
View over Kyiv, January 19, 2023

Preliminary data indicates that they were balloons, the administration added, and most were shot down.

Read also: Historian Timothy Snyder raises nearly $1.3 million for Shahed Hunter drone-catching system

Kyiv authorities said that the objects may have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment, likely for the detection and depletion of air defenses.

The final determination of the type and characteristics of the aircraft and their equipment will be made after a detailed study and analysis of the remains of the downed objects, the KMVA said.

Spokesman for the Air Force Yuriy Ihnat said that Russians use such old-fashioned methods to divert attention, overload air defense and for other, alike purposes.



"It's neither a weather nor stratospheric balloon - its just a simple balloon carrying a piece of metal," he explained.

"It flies wherever the wind blows. We conduct radar surveillance around the clock. No one will use special weapons against the air balloons."



Read also: Mobile air defense units are created in Kyiv  photo report

An air alert sounded in Kyiv at about 3:00 p.m. and lasted for almost an hour. Before that, it was announced in Kyiv Oblast.

On Feb. 14, the Air Force announced that the Russian invaders had again launched balloons with corner reflectors into the airspace of Ukraine for reconnaissance and to divert Ukrainian air defenses.

A prior mass Russian missile attack on Ukraine was conducted on Feb. 10. At the time, air defense forces shot down 61 out of the 71 missiles fired. Before that, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with kamikaze drones at night: the Air Force destroyed 20 Shahed-136/131 attack aircraft during that attack.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Photo: The Canadian Press

Canadians have been inundated with reports of unidentified objects being shot down by American fighter jets over the U.S. and Canada. So what do we know about what is happening  and what don't we know?

What is going on?

You have to go back to Jan. 28: Thats when U.S. officials say they first detected an alleged Chinese spy balloon entering Alaskan airspace over the Aleutian Islands. The public only learned about the balloons existence a few days later when it was spotted over Montana. By that point, it had already flown through Alaska and western Canada before re-entering the U.S. That balloon, which China says was actually a weather-research balloon blown off course, was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. Fast-forward to last Friday, when the U.S. announced it had shot down an object off the coast of Alaska. A second object was shot down over central Yukon on Saturday, and a third over Lake Huron on Sunday. Both countries are now working to recover the wreckage of all four.

So what are they?

American and Canadian officials quickly blamed the first balloon on China, saying it was part of a surveillance program developed by Beijing. Officials have been far more circumspect when it comes to the other three objects, which have been described as smaller and flying at lower altitudes than the Chinese balloon. However, there have been numerous hints that these were also balloons. Defence Minister Anita Anand on Saturday said the object shot down over Yukon was potentially similar to the Chinese balloon. A senior Canadian military official also described them as suspected balloons on Monday. It's unclear whether they are also from China or another country, or were put in the air by enthusiasts or for some other non-threatening reason. Officials have said they wont know more until they recover the wreckage of each, including exactly what the Chinese spy balloon was trying to do and how it worked. But they have said there is no indication the objects are from outer space.

Why are there so many all objects all of a sudden?

The U.S. military alleges at least four other Chinese spy balloons have violated American airspace since 2019, some of which it only learned about after the fact. (Ottawa says none of those entered Canada.) While such balloons may seem silly in the era of satellites and high-speed communication, they actually exploited what the top U.S. military officer responsible for protecting North America has described as a gap in the continents defences. Norad commander Gen. Glen VanHerck says that gap has since been closed by changing the air-warning systems filters. Previously configured to detect aircraft and missiles, it can now find slower-moving and smaller objects like balloons that don't follow normal flight patterns and rules. Its believed that has resulted in more potential threats being identified. However, VanHerck has also acknowledged that it means more non-threatening objects and anomalies are also being detected.

Why are they being shot down?

The Chinese balloon was shot down by an American F-22 on Feb. 4 over the Atlantic after having flown from Alaska through Canada and across much of the United States. U.S. President Joe Biden has said that he ordered it shot down as soon as he learned about it, but that military officials recommended waiting until it was over water to minimize the risk of damage on the ground. VanHerck also said military officials wanted to see what the Chinese did with the balloon before bringing it down. But in the aftermath, both Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced criticism for not taking it down sooner. Both governments have said they decided to act faster in bringing the three objects because they posed a threat to civilian flights, though not everyone is buying it.

Should I be worried?

Probably not. But until we learn more, its still too early to say exactly what North America is dealing with. Officials say they have learned how to identify, track and destroy such slow-moving objects if there is reason for concern. However, the need to find and destroy such objects if they pose a threat represents a new and difficult challenge for the Canadian and American militaries. And while officials dont believe the balloon and three objects posed a physical threat, that wouldnt have been the case if one of them had been carrying a nuclear, chemical or biological weapon. Some have pointed to this new threat as another reason to modernize Norads aging systems, which Ottawa and Washington have promised to do over the next decade.
Getty Images

The other day I passed a dead cockroach on the sidewalk that appeared to have been violently stomped to death by an earlier passerby and I was like, Awh! It honestly warmed my cold, hard, New York City heart to stumble upon this reminder that I live in a community of like-minded individuals united by a shared hatred of this universally reviled creature that we would all very much like to see eliminated from the freaking planet.

If this is how you wish the world saw your ex, then same. Unfortunately, most peoples exes arent widely despised pests people are desperate to exterminate, but beloved human beings with loving families and cherished friendships. (Rude.) This can be pretty inconvenient, especially if you share mutual friends after the split who refuse to talk shit because they're still our friend, sorry. Like, grow up and pick a side, traitor.

If you would like the rest of the world to kindly get on your wavelength, might we suggest naming a roach after your ex? Yes, this is an actual thing you can do thanks to the Bronx Zoo's Name-a-Roach program, to be specific. This off-beat Valentine's Day tradition has been around since 2011 and invites lovers and spurned exes alike to give their (ex-)valentine the gift of a roach named in their honor. Its worth noting that the Zoo seems to market this gift package as a romantic (??) gesture to be bestowed upon loved ones, but were gonna go ahead and save this one for, uh, less endeared folks in our lives. So while you cant pull a full Kafka and actually turn your former lover into a creature of widespread disgust, you canfor the low price of just $15 dollarsget a certificate confirming the ex of your choice now has a nasty little critter in their name. (And you're making a donation to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is, you know, also very nice.)

Shop Now Bronx Zoo Name-a-Roach Digital Certificate $15.00 wcs.org

And if you thought that was all you could gift your favorite ex, for an extra $20, you can splurge on the package that includes either a roach tote bag or a tumblerbecause this is a reminder they deserve to look at every damn morning.



To be fair, these roaches are technically not the same as the pests you live in low-key constant fear of seeing in your apartment. Theyre Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which, according to the zoo, are not considered pests and rarely enter homes. Still, theyre pretty gnarly to look at, so it feels safe to say that naming one of these bad boys after the one who broke your heart should probably get the point across. Our exes are absolutely going to hate this announcement, but our exes dont run this city: we do.

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EVANSVILLE  Got $8.5 million? Steven E. Chancellor is selling his 45-acre Henze Road luxury estate, which has hosted high-dollar fundraising events attracting the biggest names in American politics, entertainment and the U.S. Armed Forces.

It is the highest list price for any residential property in Vanderburgh County's history, said Ryan Farmer, a veteran local real estate appraiser and realtor.

"That's by far and away the highest asking price ever noted," Farmer said, noting the property's website at 7700Henze.com.

Potential buyers for such properties typically must submit pre-approval letters seven days in advance and must submit to background checks, Farmer said. The property has an assessed value of nearly $5.9 million, according to the county.

Steven E. Chancellor is selling his 45-acre luxury estate at 7700 Henze Road for a cool $8.5 million. The estate has hosted high-dollar fundraising events attracting the biggest names in American politics, entertainment and the U.S. Armed Forces.

"When you get into this kind of price range, you're dealing with titans of industry, and they've got a whole other level of layers of security they want you to go through," he said.

Chancellor, 75, declined by text to discuss the sale of his home, saying he "cannot at this time." He said he would contact the Courier & Press later.

The sale comes against the backdrop of financial trouble Chancellor may not have envisioned when he was hosting fundraising events for which patrons paid $10,000 per couple as a minimum.

Bankruptcy and unpaid taxes

American Patriot Group LLC, owner of the White House-style corporate headquarters that housed White Stallion at 250 Cross Pointe Blvd., is more than $28,000 in arrears on its Vanderburgh County property taxes.

In December 2020, White Stallion Energy LLC, the Evansville-based company Chancellor headed as chairman, president and CEO, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chancellor and other White Stallion executives and 260 full-time employees were terminated ahead of the company's bankruptcy filing, according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

White Stallion Energy cited the distress of the COVID-19 pandemic on the coal market as severely impacting the company.

More:White Stallion Energy files for bankruptcy, terminates all 260 employees

Other American coal companies had shared similar concerns about the impact caused by COVID-19 on the industry. Bankruptcy filings showed U.S. coal production in the second quarter of 2020 was the lowest it had been in almost 50 years.

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White Stallion was struggling in 2019, and the dire financial situation was exacerbated by the decline in coal consumption at power generation facilities caused by the economic slowdown resulting from the pandemic, according to the bankruptcy declaration.

The complex White Stallion Chapter 11 reorganization remains ongoing, addressing assets and liabilities in several states. It does not address the personal assets of management and shareholders such as Chancellor.

Steven E. Chancellor is selling his 45-acre luxury estate at 7700 Henze Road for a cool $8.5 million. The estate has hosted high-dollar fundraising events attracting the biggest names in American politics, entertainment and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, American Patriot Group LLC, owner of the White House-style corporate headquarters that housed White Stallion at 250 Cross Pointe Blvd., is more than $28,000 in arrears on its Vanderburgh County property taxes. The county did not receive last fall's installment of property taxes on the structure, which had an assessed value of nearly $1.6 million at the time. With a 10% late payment penalty, American Patriot owes $28,137.

Under Indiana law, the property will go to tax sale in spring 2024 if American Patriot fails to pay two more consecutive seasonal installments of county property taxes, which would mean not paying for the remainder of this calendar year.

Another property also is delinquent on its county property taxes  the luxury estate Chancellor wants to sell. As of Tuesday morning, county data indicated Chancellor owes slightly more than $38,000 on last fall's installment of property taxes. Before that, according to the Vanderburgh County Treasurer's Office, he had been late paying property taxes just once  the fall of 2021.

'North of a $1 million' raised in event for Trump at home

In its heyday, Chancellor's opulent spread brought some of the most influential figures in American politics to Vanderburgh County.

Chancellor hosted a "Trump Pence Victory" fundraiser in August 2016, in the heat of Donald Trump's ultimately successful campaign for the presidency that year. Trump, running mate and then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attended the event, which Chancellor later said raised "north of a million" for Trump.

A January 2004 Republican National Committee event at his residence generated about $500,000. Guests included former President George H.W. Bush, former Vice President Dan Quayle, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and actress Bo Derek. Chancellor hosted a similar GOP event in July 2000 that generated more than $1.4 million.

Steven E. Chancellor is selling his 45-acre luxury estate at 7700 Henze Road for a cool $8.5 million. The estate has hosted high-dollar fundraising events attracting the biggest names in American politics, entertainment and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Wayne Parke, a retired executive of Peabody Energy Co. and Black Beauty Coal Co. and an employee of Chancellor's for about 10 years, has attended several fundraisers in Chancellor's 33,000 square foot home.

Parke, former chairman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party, told the Courier & Press in 2016 that attendees at a Chancellor-hosted fundraiser typically passed through a security checkpoint upfront, drove down to the house and handed off their keys for valet parking.

The scene inside was heady with access to power and the trappings of an obviously wealthy man, Parke said then.

Things typically began with a cocktail party  h'ordeuvres, drinks  preceded by warm greetings from Chancellor and his wife, Terri. Attendees were free to wander around the property and ogle Chancellor's collections of cars, big game trophies, guns and stabled horses.

Dinner was followed by formal introductions and remarks by candidates and others, Parke said. The local GOP chairman recalled once getting his photo made with former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, at a Chancellor fundraiser. Parke's wife chatted with Barbara Bush.

Steven E. Chancellor is selling his 45-acre luxury estate at 7700 Henze Road for a cool $8.5 million. The estate has hosted high-dollar fundraising events attracting the biggest names in American politics, entertainment and the U.S. Armed Forces.

On Aug. 30, 2018, when Trump flew to Evansville for a rally at the Ford Center while he was still president, Chancellor and U.S. Sen. Mike Braun and their wives greeted Trump's arrival on Air Force One at Tri-State Aero. The Braun and Chancellor parties joined Trump in his limo for the ride into town.

Parke, a major funder of local GOP operations when he was party chairman, said Monday he has heard of no fundraisers at the Henze Road property in years.

Parke was aware of Chancellor's financial trouble, but that was about it.

"I haven't talked with (Chancellor) for a long time," he said.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Steve Chancellor's Evansville-area estate is for sale
Deven Slade Brooks

Deven Slade Brooks' neighbor began crying on the witness stand Wednesday, testifying that she remembers the way he looked at her as he was being led away from his Ball apartment.

Latoya Jones said Brooks was bound and had tape over his mouth as he was put into the car. She couldn't remember much about those who were taking him, but she recalled how it looked like he was being taken against his will.

"I called 911 because it didn't look right," said Jones, who said she couldn't in good conscience ignore what she saw. "I was just trying to do the right thing."

Jones' revelation came on the first day of testimony in the second-degree murder trial of Jamaria Xavier Randle, which was her 23rd birthday.

She and two others, husband Terrance Lavalais and cousin Tremaine Veal, were arrested by the Alexandria Police Department after Brooks' body was found at Levee Park on Jan. 11, 2022. They were indicted in April 2022.

Lavalais pleaded guilty to the charge during the second day of jury selection. He was sentenced to the mandatory life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension. But Lavalais, who prosecutors have said fired the shot that killed Brooks, has an opportunity to get a reduced sentence if he cooperates during the trials of Randle and Veal.

Randle's attorney, Chad Guillot, asked jurors during his opening statement to remember that deal and consider the credibility of the state's witnesses. He asked them to keep an open mind before they retire to deliberate. He had few questions for the state's witnesses, though.

The first witness Wednesday was Brooks' mother, Candace Blood. She said she and Brooks, as well as other family members, had daily contact. She said he always took one of his grandmothers to her doctors' appointments locally and in Monroe.

'I knew something was wrong'

But he didn't show up for one on Jan. 10, 2022. After learning about that from the grandmother, Blood tried contacting her son but couldn't reach him. Her concern was heightened when she couldn't reach him early the next morning.

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"I knew something was wrong," Blood told Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Lea Hall.

In his opening statement, Hall said Randle and Brooks had met while she worked as a stripper. He said some strippers can be "parasitic" toward men who give them money and gifts, and Brooks was doing just that.

He bought her a car, a blue Hyundai Sonata and gave her money, he said.

"He picked the wrong person to shower with money," Hall said.

He described Brooks as socially awkward and said Randle was his first girlfriend. The only problem, he said, was Randle already was married to Lavalais, who was in Shreveport for job training when the pair met.

Lavalais eventually returned, and the couple was living together. Hall said Lavalais somehow found out about the relationship with Brooks, but he didn't seem too bothered by it.

He told jurors he believed their two-month relationship was sexual and that it fractured when Randle began demanding more money.

The motivating factor in Brooks' death wasn't jealously, he said, but greed.

Captured on video

Brooks had inherited some money, and Hall said Randle soon was talking every day about a plan to get it. They involved Veal because he had a gun, he said.

The plan was to demand Brooks hand over his financial information at gunpoint. He also told jurors neither Lavalais nor Veal knew Brooks.

During testimony Wednesday, jurors were shown videos from a traffic stop with the Ball Police Department, Walmarts in Alexandria and Pineville, the Target in Alexandria, various automated teller machines and from the Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville.

DetectiveInvestigators believe Deven Brooks killed for iPhone, credit card

Terrance Lavalais:Man pleads guilty to murder of Ball resident Deven Brooks during 2nd day of jury selection

The first video played for jurors was the body camera video from Jason Vogel, a former Ball Police Department officer who now is employed by the Duson Police Department in Lafayette Parish.

Vogel pulled Randle over as she was driving Brooks' red Honda Accord the night of Jan. 9, 2022, because the taillights weren't on. As he talks to Randle, she is calm and tells him the car belongs her her boyfriend. She identifies Lavalais, who is in the passenger seat, as her brother.

Hall called Randle's demeanor "psychotic" and "completely detached."

Vogel did write two tickets for Randle not having proper insurance or registration for the car.

The pair was headed to the Kingsville Walmart. They already had been to the Walmart on North Mall Drive in Alexandria, where Randle tried to buy  but then stole  steel bicycle locks, Gorilla tape and zip ties they used on Brooks.

'Wondering what his fate will be'

They tried to buy prepaid gift cards and a cellphone using Brooks' financial information, but they were unsuccessful. But shortly after, they were able to withdraw $800 from Brooks' bank account before going back to his apartment.

Hall said Brooks was "just sitting on the floor, wondering what his fate will be."

As the trio prepared to leave Brooks' apartment, they took a television, a bong and an Xbox. The glass bong fell out of the box Veal was carrying. It broke, and Veal cursed, which attracted the attention of a neighbor.

She called her niece, witness Latoya Jones. When Jones called 911 to report what she saw, she at first thought she'd seen a white woman being abducted. She later realized it was Brooks.

The officer who responded to the call was Vogel, who at first thought Randle might be in danger. Since he had her cellphone number from the traffic stop, he called to check on her.

Randle answered and assured him she was not in danger. He also issued a BOLO, or be on the lookout, to area law enforcement agencies for Brooks' Accord.

But Brooks was killed not long after. Forensic pathologist Dr. Christopher Tape testified that Brooks died quickly after being shot once on his neck, behind his left ear. The .40 caliber bullet then exited through Brooks' right jaw area, breaking it, Tape said.

The gun used to kill Brooks has not been found, but investigators found the cartridge casing at the park.

Brooks also had stippling from gunpowder around the entry site, and Tape estimated the gun was within a foot from Brooks' head when fired.

For the last few hours Wednesday, lead detective Jason Mouliere was on the stand as videos were played for jurors in sequential order. They backed up what Hall had told jurors in his opening statement, that the three tried several times to withdraw money from Brooks' bank account.

They were successful a few times, but denied other times because they'd already taken the maximum daily amount Brooks was allowed to take, which was $800.

Video also showed Randle and Lavalais checking into a room at the Paragon wearing matching tie-dyed hoodies. The two left the next day, about an hour before Brooks' body was found at the park. After leaving, they again went to an ATM to withdraw more money, according to one of the videos.

Prosectors will continue to present their case Thursday morning.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Prosecutors say greed the reason for Deven Brooks' kidnapping, death
The 43-year-old man accused of killing three and wounding five in a shooting at Michigan State University before turning the gun on himself was found with a note detailing threats to two other schools, authorities say.

Police identified the gunman in Mondays shooting as Anthony Dwayne McRae. He is not believed to have any connection to MSU.

On Tuesday morning, reports claimed that a note was found with McRaes body after he killed himself. The note allegedly indicated threats to two New Jersey schools.

Meanwhile, it emerged that McRae had been living with his father, had firearms convictions and was known for firing weapons on the property, according to neighbours.

Megan Bender, who lives on the same street as McRae and his father, Michael, in Lansing -- just over five miles from the MSU campus - told The Detroit News that the suspect would fire out of the back door of the home, she believed for target practice, and police had previously been called to the address.

Michael McCrae, a well-known scrapper in the neighbourhood, has never done any harm to anyone, Ms Bender told the outlet. Hes just an old man, minds his business.

Anthony McRae was charged in 2019 with carrying a concealed pistol without a permit, a felony, and possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, a misdemeanor, according to records obtained by the Detroit News. He pleaded guilty to the second charge, the felony was dismissed and he was sentenced to probation, which ended in May 2021.

According to records, the suspect has also listed addresses in Bear, Delaware -- the same hometown as Barry Croft, 47, who was sentenced in December for the plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan.
DETROIT  The toll of Monday nights massacre at Michigan State University, where three students died and five others suffered grievous wounds, is going to be felt in these parts for a long time.

Arielle Anderson, a sophomore, wanted to become a pediatric doctor. Brian Fraser, also a sophomore, was president of his fraternity. Alexandria Verner was a junior and a three-sport athlete in high school.

Thats three lives cut short, five more who carry around the scars forever, plus countless more who will deal with emotional trauma that is no longer unusual in American life.

But, usually, that experience is a novel one. For a handful on Monday, it wasnt.

Among the students at MSU were several who were at Oxford High School, north of Detroit, where a gunman killed four and wounded seven others in late 2021. One texted her mother, according to an account in the Detroit Free Press, and said Mom, I just want to come home, I want to hold you.

That was to be expected, perhaps, given that MSUs student body includes graduates from virtually every major public high school in Michigan. But it wasnt just Oxford alumni reliving that kind of trauma.

People leave flowers, mourn and pray at a makeshift memorial at

People leave flowers, mourn and pray at a makeshift memorial at "The Rock" on the campus of Michigan State University on Feb. 14, 2023. A gunman opened fire at two locations on the campus the day prior, killing three students and injuring several others.

Among those currently attending MSU is Jackie Matthews, a senior who went into lockdown at a nearby middle school during the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, 10 years ago. A little after midnight, in a room across the street from where the shooting took place, she put her thoughts into a TikTok video.

I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through, Matthews said. She went on to describe her memories of the day of the Sandy Hook shooting  of crouching under desks with her classmates for so long that she actually fractured vertebrae, an injury that to this day flares up when shes under stress.

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The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible, she added.

Incomprehensible  except, again, maybe its not so incomprehensible.

MSU has 50,000 students, many of them from outside Michigan. Its not all that surprising to find some who survived prior school shootings, given how common theyve become, to say nothing of students whose lives gun violence has touched in some other way.

Every day in America, 22 children and teens are the victims of gun violence, according to the Brady organization. That number includes homicides and suicides, attempted and successful, sometimes in the course of other crimes and sometimes as singular acts.

Matthews ended her TikTok with a plea for action. We can no longer just provide love and prayers, she said. It needs to be legislation.

So will there be?

Americas Gun Violence Problem Is Unique

The case for action is strong. No other economically advanced country has so many firearm deaths or so many firearms in civilian hands. And theres no mystery why guns here are so prevalent: Its much easier to obtain and possess them.

Whether that easy access was a factor in the MSU shootings remains to be seen, with details of the incident and the alleged perpetrator still emerging.

He was a 43-year-old man who died hours after the killings, apparently after shooting himself. He had a prior misdemeanor conviction that, according to the Free Press, his lawyers pleaded down from a more serious felony gun charge, which may have been enough to make possession legal in his case.

Michigan State University students react during an active shooter situation on campus on Feb. 13, 2023, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Michigan State University students react during an active shooter situation on campus on Feb. 13, 2023, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Neighbors described the man as a loner who had difficult relations with family members, according to several media accounts, and recalled the sound of him taking target practice with an automatic weapon in the yard.

The shooters father has told reporters he asked his son whether he had a gun in the house, and the son denied it.

The full accounting of what happened may end up strengthening the case for more aggressive prosecution of gun crimes. The story could also be another argument in favor of more investment in mental health care.

But inconsistent prosecution of crime and high prevalence of mental illness are not uniquely American phenomena. Only the high number of guns and gun crimes are.

Theres no reason lawmakers cant address all of those at once  which, to be clear, doesnt mean they will.

A History Of (Mostly) Futile Legislative Efforts

For nearly a quarter-century now, demands for action have followed every mass shooting, going back to the Columbine High School massacre near Denver, Colorado, in 1999 and then Sandy Hook in 2012  after which President Barack Obama, speaking as a father as much as a president, teared up while vowing to enact new legislation.

He didnt succeed, even though it was just months after hed won a resounding reelection bid and even though polls showed the public behind him  and even though, in the Senate, a compromise bill from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) had support from most Democrats and a few Republicans as well.

It was a modest package focusing on background checks, scaled way back from what Obama had originally proposed. But even those concessions werent enough to pry the votes necessary to prevail in a chamber where rural, more conservative states have disproportionate power  and where, then as now, it took a supermajority of 60 votes to pass legislation.

One of the few exceptions took place last year, when the outrage over yet another massacre of small children  this time in Uvalde, Texas  led to a bipartisan gun bill that President Joe Biden signed. The law strengthens the existing background check system and seeks to cut down on so-called straw purchases, while putting money into mental health services.

That bill also provides states with funding for red flag laws, which set up a legal process for taking guns away from somebody that loved ones can demonstrate is a danger to others or themselves. (These are known as extreme protection orders.)

President Barack Obama wipes tears as he makes a statement in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

President Barack Obama wipes tears as he makes a statement in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

But enactment of that legislation took place against the backdrop of a landmark Supreme Court decision striking down a New York law restricting the ability to carry a gun in public  and, with it, jeopardizing similar laws on the books across the country.

It was an extension of earlier decisions protecting a constitutional right to personal gun ownership, something the Supreme Court didnt even recognize until 2008, and just this month two separate federal judges have cited that ruling as a reason to throw out state laws prohibiting gun possession by people who are subject to domestic violence orders.

Gun Legislation Finally Has A Chance In Michigan

Here in Michigan, passing gun laws has also been a struggle.

After the Oxford shooting, Democrats in the state legislature proposed a series of measures  to create a more comprehensive background check system, to set new rules for gun storage and to set up a red flag system. Republican leaders in the legislature would not even give the proposals a hearing in committee.

That was possible because theyd dismissed previous efforts with no political consequences, thanks in part to support from gun rights advocacy groups and a deeply partisan gerrymander that gave Republicans an effective lock on control. But that gerrymander ended when Michigan voters approved an initiative to create a nonpartisan redistricting commission, and with those new districts in place, Democrats won control of the legislature for the first time since the 1980s.

Today, we begin to collectively heal from the horrific events which transpired, tomorrow we work.



My official statement regarding the Michigan State University shooting is below:



Fuck your thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/iHCOxOmDA3  Rep. Ranjeev Puri (@RanjeevPuri) February 14, 2023

Even before Mondays shooting, Democratic leaders in the legislature had vowed to make those gun laws among their top priorities. After the shooting, they made clear they intended to press ahead  and they didnt mince words.

Fuck your thoughts and prayers, tweeted Rep. Ranjeev Puri, a Democrat whose district is in the western Detroit suburbs.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrat who won reelection in November, didnt use the same colorful language at a Tuesday morning press conference. She didnt even mention legislation explicitly.

But she, too, has identified those gun proposals as a top priority, and she alluded to them in an emotional appearance when, like Obama 10 years ago, she had to hold back tears.

This is a uniquely American problem, said Whitmer, whose own kids now attend college in Michigan. Our children are scared to go to school ... words are not good enough.

Evidence On Gun Laws Tells A Complex Story

The tough question about these measures is just how much good they will do.

The sheer number of guns now in circulation here in the U.S. means that gun violence is a reality that wont go away easily. The most far-reaching response would be significant restrictions on gun ownership and possession, coupled with the kind of buyback that Australia launched following a high-profile massacre there.

But that action has no prospect of passing Congress right now. Even if it did, it wouldnt get past this Supreme Court.

That leaves the kind of modest regulations now on the agenda in Michigan, among other states.

The evidence of their effectiveness is more suggestive than dispositive, as Rand Corporation researchers have found in a series of widely cited literature reviews. One reason is that, until recently, federal restrictions on funding gun violence research meant it was difficult to conduct the kind of studies necessary. Those restrictions were the handiwork of National Rifle Association allies on Capitol Hill.

But theres enough research to suggest that some measures could make a difference. And it doesnt take a ton of imagination to think a red flag law might have deterred the MSU shooter or others like him, especially if people were aware of the law. (Thats turned out to be a key issue in states that have passed these laws already: Not enough people know about them to make use of them.).

The main tradeoff of these systems is the process and scrutiny that prospective gun owners must go through and whether they represent an unforgivable infringement on liberty. The NRA and its supporters see it that way. So do plenty of elected officials, most of them Republican, still serving in Congress and state legislatures.

But the majority of Americans dont seem to agree. Ideas like background checks consistently draw high approval numbers in surveys, across partisan lines, including a poll of Michiganders that the firm EPIC-MRC released in September.

Voters who support these measures may change their minds as the debate goes forward. Its happened that way before. But its also possible the majority of Americans think liberty means the freedom to attend school without getting caught up in a massacre  and then having to go through that experience all over again.

Related...
The man accused of murdering three Michigan State University students and shooting five others has a troubling history with guns that led to at least one arrest and prompted concern from those closest to him that dates back much further than Monday's mass shooting.

Court records, official statements and interviews with people tied to Anthony Dwayne McRae paint a picture of the 43-year-old, who shot himself as police closed in on a Lansing street hours after the initial violence. A Free Press review of this information shows warning signs about McRaes capacity to safely own and use a firearm, and potential red flags leading up to the massacre at MSU.

McRae was arrested in 2019 in Lansing and charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon, a felony that could have prevented him from legally owning a weapon if convicted. His defense attorney raised questions about the constitutionality of the arrest, and ultimately prosecutors agreed to a deal that allowed McRae to plead to a misdemeanor.

That charge did not prevent him from buying a gun in the future, something McRae did, according to an interview his father gave to the Washington Post.

A house linked to 43-year-old Anthony McRae, the suspect in the campus shooting at Michigan State University that left three dead and multiple people injured is seen on East Howe Avenue in Lansing on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023.

After McRae was successfully discharged from serving probation in May 2021, family and neighbors of the Lansing resident say he dangerously fired a gun in his backyard. And law enforcement officials in New Jersey, where McRae previously lived, indicated he had a history of mental health issues, although they did not release any details about these alleged challenges.

The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety continued to search for a motive in the mass shooting. But warning signs about McRae were there before the attack.

More:3 Michigan State University shooting victims identified: What we know

More:Michigan State University student: I survived Sandy Hook, now this shooting

Previous arrest was gun-related

In June 2019, a Lansing Police Department officer approached McRae as he sat outside a building, court records show. It was about 2 a.m., and the officer would later say burglaries prompted a request for patrols in the area early that morning.

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The officer asked McRae whether he worked at a nearby building.

Smoking a cigarette, McRae said he did not. Then the officer asked whether he was carrying a weapon. McRae acknowledged he had a gun, prompting the officer to detain him.

McRae had a Ruger LCP .380 semiautomatic handgun in his pants pocket, and a magazine in the breast pocket of his shirt, according to court records. He also admitted that he didnt have a concealed carry permit, as required under Michigan law.

Court records show this interaction led police to charging McRae with illegally carrying a concealed weapon. Thats a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, current Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane told the Free Press in a statement.

More:MSU shooting suspect Anthony McRae previously pleaded guilty to gun-related charge

More:Brother of Michigan State University shooting suspect Anthony McRae: He 'secluded himself'

However, McRaes lawyer would later argue the arrest violated his clients constitutional rights. He called the incident what legal experts frequently deem a Terry stop, after a prominent court case that regulates when an officer can legally detain and search someone.

Police had no reason to search McRae, rendering that search unconstitutional, the lawyer argued. If the search was illegal, the police could not use any evidence found during that search  namely, the gun and magazine  in any prosecution, the lawyer suggested in a motion to suppress any evidence related to McRae having the gun.

Prosecutors disagreed, arguing the officer followed proper procedure. But before a judge could rule whether the evidence was inappropriately obtained, both sides agreed to a deal.

Dewane was appointed prosecutor in late 2022, and was not in charge of the Ingham County office at the time McRae was charged.

McRae pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally possessing a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle, Dewane said. Its unclear what vehicle police may have referenced; family and neighbors told the Free Press that McRae typically either rode a bicycle or used public transportation.

The plea required McRae remain on probation for at least a year, but allowed him to avoid any prison time.

Any offender who is convicted and facing sentencing in Michigan is provided a Sentence Guideline (SGL) score during their pre-sentence investigation. The SGL score provides the court with guidance for a sentence recommendation. It is a routine matter in nearly all criminal cases that the recommended sentence is not the same as the legal maximum, Dewane said in a statement, noting he is also the parent of an MSU student.

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 later acknowledged the felony conviction would have barred McRae from legally owning a gun, while the misdemeanor did not.

McRae successfully completed his probation in May 2021, said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz.

Brother says he was isolated

McRaes older brother, Michael McRae, told the Free Press he doesnt have a clue what prompted his brother's shooting spree.

This just dont seem real, that he would be able to do anything like this, Michael McRae, 45, told the Detroit Free Press the morning after the violence. I am still trying to process this whole thing.

Michael McRae, who lives in Delaware and shares the same first name as his father, said his brother stayed to himself and they had grown apart over the years.

The brothers grew up in New Jersey. But Anthony McRae and his parents moved to Lansing about 20 years ago after his father transferred from a General Motors plant in New Jersey.

MSU police confirmed they found a note when they searched McRae's body.

More:Police: Suspect in Michigan State shooting had no clear ties to university

More:Michigan Democratic leaders to introduce 3 gun safety measures in wake of MSU shooting

At least a portion of it included threats against a school in Ewing, New Jersey, according to local police there. Ewing officials eventually determined there was no active threat while also reporting that Anthony McRae had a history of mental health issues.

The last time the brothers spoke was their moms funeral two years ago in Lansing; Michael McRae said the conversation wasnt good.

Anthony McRae had no children, no spouse and no friends his brother knew of. He worked at warehouse jobs in Lansing.

He stayed to himself, Michael McRae said. He kind of secluded himself.

Definitely a loner.

While the brothers' relationship was rocky, he would "never in a million years" have imagined something like what happened Monday night.

I am deeply sorry for this whole thing, said Michael McRae, who plans to travel to Lansing to be with his father.

Michael McRae learned what happened from their father earlier on Tuesday.

Father told son to get rid of gun

Anthony McRae lived with his father, Mike McRae, 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.

More:Several vigils, memorials scheduled for victims of MSU shooting

More:Biden responds to Michigan State shooting, calls on Congress for gun control laws

Mike McRae, the father, did not respond to requests for comment from the Free Press. But he told the Washington Post that he repeatedly implored his son Anthony to throw away his gun.

Anthony bought the gun sometime after his 2019 arrest but never admitted to having it in the house, the older McRae told the Post.

I told him to get rid of the gun, the 66-year-old said, according to the Post. He kept lying to me about it and told me he got rid of it.

Mike McRae confronted his son once after he heard gunshots in the backyard, he told the Post; its unclear when this happened. At the time, Anthony McRae reportedly said his father had heard fireworks, despite Mike McRae saying he saw bullet casings in the grass.

A Lansing Police Department spokesperson declined to provide any comment about the 2019 arrest or any more recent calls about Anthony McRae.

Free Press staff writers Gina Kaufman and David Jesse contributed to this report.

Contact Dave Boucher: dboucher@freepress.com. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Anthony McRae, MSU shooting suspect, had trouble with guns
JIM LO SCALZO / EPA-EFE

President Joe Biden is set to name Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard as top economic advisor. Replacing National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Brainard will be a key decision maker in the administrations economic policy and legislative agenda as it relates to finance and spending.

Learn: How Rich Is Nikki Haley As She Announces Bid for President?

Find: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

But what do Brainards own finances look like? What is her net worth?

Lael Brainards Net Worth

Market Realist lists Brainards net worth at $2 million. According to Federal Reserve website, the Vice Chair made $183,100 in 2019.

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Board of Governors as the only Democrat on the board in 2014, Brainard worked as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury. The average salary for a Department of Treasury worker in 2015 was $106,712, according to FederalPay.org. Since undersecretary is a higher position, Brainard possibly took home more for her role.

Brainard grew up in West Germany in her early years until she moved to Poland with her family prior to Germanys reunification. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts and then received her masters and PhD in economics from Harvard.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much Is Feds Lael Brainard Worth Upon Being Appointed Bidens Top Economic Adviser?
A murder charge was dismissed on Wednesday against a Fort Worth man who had been accused of being involved in the shooting death of a rapper outside of a nightclub, according to his attorney and Tarrant County court records.

The charge against 30-year-old Bobby Lee Dow was dropped.

Defense attorney Christy Jack said the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorneys Office dismissed the case due to prosecutorial discretion.

Since Bobbys arrest more than four years ago, he has always maintained his innocence, said Jack, of the Fort Worth law firm Varghese Summersett, in a Wednesday news release. There were multiple individuals armed with guns captured on video near the scene of the crime that night. Bobby was not one of them.

Jack said it took years to obtain the outcome, but the delay was worth the wait.

I credit the new administration at the Tarrant County District Attorneys Office for finally giving their prosecutors the discretion to thoroughly reevaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this case and act accordingly, Dows attorney said. Bobby is looking forward to jumping back in the saddle and racing again.

Dows cousin, Jamie Harris, also was charged with murder after he was accused of being involved in the deadly shooting.

But court records indicated that Harris was sentenced on Tuesday to five years of probation on a charge of deadly conduct in the case.

Prosecutors have not released any comments on the charges or case.

Jamie Deshawn Harris and Bobby Lee Dow were not accused of actually shooting 43-year-old Manuel Brown on Dec. 9, 2019, but of causing his death by firing a gun from a moving car while trying to flee from the commission or attempted commission of a felony  aggravated assault.

The shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m. as Brown stood near his BMW, parked alongside a curb near Club New Start, 4505 Miller Ave.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the shooting had apparently been sparked by an argument that started in the club and involved several people, including Brown.

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Everyone involved then went outside where the argument continued and escalated into a shooting, homicide Detective J. Cedillo stated in the affidavit. After the shooting, Manuel stumbled into the club and stated he had been shot.

Brown, a rapper who was known for helping the community, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Investigators determined a separate but related drive-by shooting occurred a short time later in the 4400 block of South Edgewood Terrace in which Dows father was shot three times. Harris returned fire with a .45 caliber gun in that shooting, the affidavit states.

When interviewed by Cedillo, Harris denied being at Club New Start or being involved in Browns shooting.

Surveillance video from the club showed Harris had been at the club and been among those involved in a disturbance with Brown inside, the affidavit states. Detectives also were able to determine that Dow had been at the club with Harris.

In a Dec. 19, 2019 interview with Cedillo and homicide Detective E. Pate, Dow acknowledged being involved in the disturbance with Brown, Harris and others inside the club. He told the detectives that after the group had moved outside, someone fired a gun, and the crowd dispersed.

Dow told investigators that he had handed Harris a gun as they got in his Chevrolet pickup to leave. As Dow drove off, Harris fired the gun from the passenger window because they were being shot at, Dow told investigators.

Dow said he dropped his truck off at another location. He, Harris and two others were later sitting inside a Ford Crown Victoria outside his grandmothers house on South Edgewood Terrace when someone shot at the residence, the affidavit states.

Dows father, who had stepped outside the house to see who was shooting, was hit three times in the gunfire. He survived his injuries, police say.

Harris returned fire with a .45-caliber gun. Police confiscated his gun and shell casings as part of their investigation.

Harris agreed to be interviewed a second time on Dec. 20, 2019. This time, he admitted to being involved in the disturbance at the club with Brown and firing a .45 caliber gun that his cousin had handed him through the passenger window, the affidavit states.

But Harris told detectives he had fired in the opposite direction of where Brown was standing because several individuals were in the parking lot with guns, the affidavit states.

Police had found a number of .45 caliber casings near the front of the club and around Browns BMW. Also found near the car were multiple 9mm casings and a .40-caliber casing, the affidavit states.

Ballistics tests later showed a projectile recovered from the rear quarter of Browns BMW had been fired from the same .45-caliber gun taken from Harris, the affidavit states.

Cedillo wrote that based on the evidence obtained in the investigation, he believed the two cousins actions resulted in Browns death.

This report contains information from the Star-Telegrams archives.
(Reuters) - Tesla chief executive Elon Musk donated shares worth $1.95 billion in the world's most valuable automaker to charity last year, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Tuesday.

Musk donated about 11.6 million shares between August and December last year, according to the filing, which did not say which organization or organizations were the recipients.

The world's second-richest person now owns around 13% of Tesla.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an email seeking details on which charity or charities got the donations.

Musk donated about $5.74 billion in 2021.

Analysts have said that Musk might benefit from gifting Tesla stock if he donated it to charity, since shares donated to charities do not have to pay capital gains tax, as they would if they were sold.

Musk signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, a commitment by some billionaires to give at least half their wealth to philanthropy in their lifetime or upon their death.

In 2001, he set up the Musk Foundation, offering grants for the "development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity" among other causes, according to its website.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
Photo: The Canadian Press

A former SNC-Lavalin vice-president found guilty of bribing foreign officials  including the son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi  and pocketing millions of dollars lost his appeal on Monday and was given 48 hours to report to prison.

Sami Bebawi, 76, appealed his 2019 conviction on the grounds that evidence gathered through an RCMP undercover operation that targeted his former lawyer should not have been admitted.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial judge that while police should have obtained judicial authorization earlier in their investigation, the evidence collected was admissible.

The trial judge ruled that the communications obtained from a wire tap of Bebawi's lawyer was not a professional secret. The wiretap was launched after a government witness told police that Bebawi had offered him a multimillion-dollar bribe to change his testimony.

As Bebawi's lawyer was part of a criminal plan to obstruct justice, that "annihilates any privilege attached to the professional secret," Justice Francois Doyon said, writing on behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal panel.

Bebawis lawyers argued that some of the acts for which he was convicted shouldn't have been considered fraud because he didn't put his victims financial interests at risk, and as a result, they said the trial judge should have partially acquitted him.

The appeal panel also rejected that argument.

The Appeal Court highlighted the "colossal" kickbacks that Bebawi  while he was working for SNC-Lavalin  paid to Saadi Gadhafi, which included $40 million in cash and two yachts worth a total of $37 million.

"They created a system of corruption that brought them large sums of money through fictitious cost increases, which camouflaged large commissions from which they partly benefited. These fictitious price increases could have led to economic prejudice or, at least, to a risk of economic prejudice, which would jeopardize the pecuniary interests of the other contracting parties," Doyon wrote, adding that prejudice or risk of prejudice is an "essential element" of fraud.

The Appeal Court, however, gave Bebawi more time to pay a fine equivalent to the proceeds of his crimes. He had been ordered to pay the $24.69-million fine, in addition to $4 million that was already confiscated, or face an additional 10 years in prison.

Pleading that he only had $22.8 million left and was more than $100 million in debt, Bebawi had asked for a delay to pay the fine until 10 years after he is released from prison  and for the penalty for nonpayment to be reduced to five years in prison.

The Appeal Court gave Bebawi two years from Tuesdays ruling to pay.
Too many teenagers in Knoxville have died from gun violence. Too many teenagers are perpetrators of that violence. And the tragedies are not likely to end soon. As long as guns are available and bad attitudes control the use of them, the situation is apt to get worse. We Americans love our guns, and our irresponsibility in selling, sharing and storing them help create today's turbulent society.

Guns at home in the drawer, closet or headboard of the bed are vulnerable to misuse. They are easy targets for burglars and irrational family members. Although most of those weapons are purchased by well-intentioned, responsible people for personal and home protection, they can become instruments of unintended consequences.

Candles surround a photograph of Stanley Freeman Jr. during during a candlelight memorial service for the teenager in the parking lot of Jarnigan & Son Mortuary on Feb. 14, 2021. Freeman was shot and killed Feb. 12, 2021, as he drove home from school.

Guns are a part of the American psyche and have become an extension of our temperament. We carry them to the range or the woods to improve our shooting skills. They help us let off steam from stressful situations. We satisfy that psyche shooting at targets or animals. Depending on our ego, we take pride in owning a simple handgun or the most powerful weapon on the market.

Those weapons are, indeed, an extension of the cap pistols, slingshots and BB guns of our youth. Shooting at tin cans, bottles, birds, rats or imaginary villains was a part of growing up. But too many of today's youth skip the BB guns and slingshots and go directly to the real thing.

They don't get the chance to feet bad about having killed a robin or a blue jay. They don't experience the agony of accidentally shooting a friend in the butt with a BB gun. But they suddenly face prison time for murdering a human being.

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People in government and the organizations that work with young people must become realistic and examine and expose the root of the killings. Two or three years ago they said those doing the crimes had nothing to do. Taxpayers and private organizations heard that call and spent millions of dollars constructing the Change Center in East Knoxville and the Emerald Youth Foundation's Haslam-Sansom Ministry Complex in Lonsdale. They beefed up other youth support groups, yet the killings continue.

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The public is now told that the causes are due to poverty and the lack of opportunity. I don't think so. The problems are much deeper. The warped egos of young men are out of control. They have too much anger, and they see the need to avenge any real or perceived transgression against them. They are immune to empathy and don't consider the consequences.

We read of a shoplifter who defended his actions with a gun. We hear of a gun fight at a rap concert after an altercation. We know of students who were ambushed leaving school. It seems that for some, just pulling the trigger of a loaded gun is cathartic.

We must discover why students want to go to school with guns. We need to know why it is necessary to go to a concert or social gathering with a gun. Are they expecting trouble or asking for trouble? I have yet to read that a teen shot someone in self-defense. Patting them down or using a magnetometer at the door only delays the inevitable. With a weapon in a car or hidden nearby, the safest of places can become a danger zone.

And where are the parents in this epidemic? Are they aware their son owns a gun and for what purpose? How many parents accept the fact that their children have money but no visible employment? Are today's norms akin to those of yesteryear when it was winked at to sell illicit whiskey or run numbers? Are guns bought to protect them in their trade?How many parents monitor the temperament of their children and know what it takes to set them off? How many are aware of their fusses and feuds that might have a tragic ending? If our community can find the money for recreation programs, surely it can find funds to learn why youth violence here is epidemic.

Robert J. Booker is a freelance writer and former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. He may be reached at 865-546-1576.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why does gun violence tear through Knoxville's youth? | Opinion
The NAACP is calling for more to be done to stop the spread of white supremacist violence after Payton Gendron  the 19-year-old who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket last May  was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday.

The sad reality is that the Black community lives under the constant threat of violence, Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the organization, said in a statement after Gendrons sentencing.

Every time we visit our churches, the grocery store, we are forced to consider the fact that we may never return home, the statement reads. While we understand that the pain of losing a loved one, especially under these horrific circumstances, will never truly be healed, it is our hope that these families can find some comfort in the fact that this white supremacist will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Gendron opened fire at the Tops Friendly Markets wearing body armor on May 14, 2022. Wielding a legally obtained semi-automatic rifle, he livestreamed his attack with a helmet camera on the gaming platform Twitch, as he shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others.

Investigations after the attack found that Gendron specifically chose the market because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood. In a manifesto, Gendron explained he was motivated by the racist great replacement theory, which falsely claims increased racial diversity will lead to the end of the white race in the U.S.

At his sentencing on Wednesday, Gendron apologized for his actions.

Im very sorry for all the pain I forced the victims and their families to suffer through. Im very sorry for stealing the lives of your loved ones, Gendron said. I cannot express how much I regret all the decisions I made leading up to my actions on May 14.

I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I cant believe I actually did it, he added. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I cant take it back, but I wish I could, and I dont want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did.

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Gendron pleaded guilty to charges of murder, murder as a hate crime and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in November.

Let me be clear  there is no place for hate in a democracy, Johnson said on Wednesday.

Johnson specifically called out Fox News, where hosts like Tucker Carlson have perpetuated the great replacement theory.

Everyone, including Fox News, Twitter, and all other media giants, has a responsibility to stop the spread of misinformation that directly contributes to the proliferation of racist conspiracy theories that motivate domestic terrorists such as this one, Johnson said.

And when these corporations fall short on their responsibilities, it is up to our federal law enforcement officials to hold them accountable for their role in the tragedies that occur as a result, he added. The NAACP will continue to fight back against white supremacy and advocate for the policies necessary to dispel the spread of hate and extremist agendas in order to ensure our communities are protected.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court has said a lot recently about what the Second Amendment means. The next question for the justices may be: Who does it not apply to?

A series of criminal cases percolating in lower federal courts are striking at a question about when the government may deny someone  such as a person convicted of a nonviolent felony  access to a gun. Experts on both sides of the gun debate say the question is likely to make its way to the Supreme Court soon.

A Philadelphia appeals court heard one such case Wednesday as the nation grapples with the latest mass shooting that killed three Michigan State University students.

What's at stake for the gun debate?

A landmark Supreme Court ruling last year set a higher standard for gun regulations. To pass constitutional muster, the court said, a prohibition must be consistent with the nation's "historical tradition of firearm regulation." Some criminal defendants are relying on the decision to challenge the prosecution of gun crimes.

Some lower courts are now tossing gun laws that don't have historical roots. Some of the cases will likely wind up at the Supreme Court.

Protective orders and gun ownership

Zackey Rahimi was involved in five shootings around Arlington, Texas, from late 2020 to early 2021. Police identified him as a suspect in those shootings, obtained a warrant to search his home and found a rifle and a pistol.

Authorities also learned Rahimi was the subject of a protective order following an alleged assault of his ex-girlfriend  an order that explicitly prohibited him from possessing a firearm. A grand jury indicted Rahimi for possessing a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order in violation of federal law.

Ruling: Supreme Court's guns decision demands courts look to history, tradition

Standard: Supreme Court's guns ruling prompts tests of Second Amendment's limits

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A federal appeals court in Louisiana this month ruled that law unconstitutional  and it tossed Rahimi's conviction. The decision from the three-judge panel  all of whom were nominated by Republican presidents  said the law was a historical "outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted."

The Biden administration said it would "seek further review" of the decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen through the perimeter fence, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, ahead of the Tuesday evening State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) ORG XMIT: DCMZ305

What do advocates say?

"It's not straightforward, based on the text of the Second Amendment, who is and isn't part of the people who are covered," said Esther Sanchez-Gomez, litigation director at Giffords Law Center, which advocates for stronger gun laws. But, she said, courts have found "for a long time" that people "who are considered dangerous may not hold Second Amendment rights categorically."

What that means, Sanchez-Gomez said, is that the historical approach the high court adopted in its gun case last year jibes with laws that bar some from owning guns.

Declined: Supreme Court declines to take felon's Second Amendment challenge

Decision: Supreme Court strikes down New York gun law, making it easier for Americans to carry handguns

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, agreed that the Supreme Court hasn't directly addressed the question and described the case law surrounding the question as fluid. From Gottlieb's perspective, the government shouldn't be able to deny an American access to a gun just because they might smoke marijuana  now legal in many states  or once committed a nonviolent crime.

"Eventually," he said, "a case like this is probably going to work its way up to the Supreme Court."

Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a concurring opinion joined by Chief Justice John Roberts in the gun case last year, stressed the court's decision should not be read to cast doubt on prohibitions on the "possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill." But others have countered it may be hard to square the court's history-based standard with some of those laws. The court's 6-3 majority opinion in the case doesn't directly deal with the issues raised in Kavanaugh's concurrence.

Nonviolent gun-owning felons

Nearly three decades ago, Bryan Range pleaded guilty to making false statements about his income to obtain $2,458 of food stamp assistance, court records show. Range was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay back the money along with a $100 fine.

Because the crime was a "felony-equivalent"  a state misdemeanor punishable by more than two years imprisonment  Range is barred by federal law from possessing a gun. That law has already been the subject of several appeals to the Supreme Court, which has so far declined to take the issue up.

A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Philadelphia  including two judges nominated by Democrats and one by a Republican  ruled unanimously last year that Range's "conviction places him outside the class of people traditionally entitled to Second Amendment rights." The full appeals court will hear the case Wednesday.

Guns for marijuana users?

Jared Michael Harrison was pulled over in Oklahoma last year for running a red light. When he rolled down his window the police smelled marijuana, according to court records. A search of Harrison's car turned up both pot and a loaded revolver. Harrison was charged under a federal law that makes it a crime to possess a gun while also being an "unlawful user" of a "controlled substance," which includes marijuana.

But a federal court in Oklahoma tossed Harrison's indictment this month, ruling that the law violates the Second Amendment in light of the Supreme Court's decision last year. There is "little existing historical evidence" to back up the idea that people can be deprived of guns absent evidence that they are violent, wrote U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump.

"Harrison may well have such a proclivity," Wyrick wrote, "but the mere fact that he uses marijuana does not tell us that."

If the case is appealed, it's not clear how much appetite the Supreme Court has for the issue: It passed on a similar question raised by a Missouri man last year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guns: Courts grapple with who can be denied Second Amendment rights
National Grid was forced to spend more than 4bn to keep the lights on during 2022 - REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

National Grid was forced to spend more than 4bn to keep the lights on during 2022 following a surge in power prices and a jump in intermittent wind and solar power.

The company spent a record 4.2bn on balancing payments - taking actions such as importing power from abroad, ramping up gas stations, or turning off wind turbines, to make sure supply always matches demand.

The so-called balancing costs are ultimately added to consumers bills, on top of high energy costs which are fuelling a costof-living crisis.

The Nuclear Industry Association, which calculated the figures using data published by National Grids electricity system operator (ESO), said it was the first time annual balancing costs had shot past 4bn.

It argues the figures show the need for more stable sources of power, such as nuclear power stations.

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the NIA, said: We urgently need to get going with a pipeline of large-scale stations and a fleet of small-modular reactors to provide stable, predictable, clean power alongside renewables.

If we dont act urgently with a clear policy framework, other countries will leapfrog us in attracting investors who want to develop in Britain, and we risk not delivering on energy security and net zero.

Electricity supply and demand must be constantly matched to avoid triggering blackouts.

National Grid ESO intervenes in the market throughout the day to smooth out any mismatches between supply and demand, and make sure there is always a healthy buffer of supplies.

It can, for example, pay power stations to quickly ramp up if there is a looming shortfall, or it can buy in power via undersea cables from France, Belgium or other neighbours.

It can also pay wind farms to switch off if it is too windy and turbines risk overwhelming the grid. This often happens because cables are not large enough to move the electricity from windy areas to where it is needed.

The ESOs task in balancing the market is getting more complicated with more wind and solar power on the system, as the supplies are intermittent and not completely predictable.

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The National Grid can pay wind farms to switch off if it is too windy and turbines risk overwhelming the sysrem - Ian Forsyth/Bloomberg

Wind power supplied more than a quarter of Britains electricity last year for the first time.

Meanwhile Britains ageing nuclear stations, which provide a steady flow of power once on, have been closing down because of their age, with replacements yet to be built.

The high bill for balancing the system in 2022 has also been driven by exceptionally high electricity costs over the past year.

These were largely a knock-on effect of high gas costs which started climbing in 2021 due to shortages as countries re-opened from the pandemic, worsened by Russias war on Ukraine.

Gas is used to generate more than a third of Britains electricity, meaning the price of electricity generated in gas-fired power plants affects the price of electricity from all sources.

Meanwhile, generators being paid by the ESO to balance the system have been able to charge high prices for their electricity, as they knew the supplies were tight.

At one point in July, the ESO had to pay almost 10,000 per MWh to import power from Belgium amid constraints on the network in the south-east.

According to the figures calculated by the NIA, balancing electricity supplies has cost 9.83bn in the four years between 2019 and 2022.

It said 5.6bn was spent between September 2021 and December 2022, compared to 2.62bn between September 2019 and December 2020.

The Hinkley Point C nuclear plant being built in Somerset is expected to cost developers up to 26bn - Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Building new power stations and networks is also expensive, however, and there is debate within industry over the best way to design a cleaner electricity system, with acceptance that there will always be some balancing costs.

The new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant being built in Somerset is expected to cost developers up to 26bn, with bill-payers guaranteeing them a fixed electricity price once it is built.

The figures are highlighted amid concerns that clean energy and other investors are being lured away from the UK by huge subsidies in the US and EU.
(Courtesy photo)

Join Native News Online Publisher Levi Rickert and health reporter Jenna Kunze on Friday, Feb. 17 at noon EST as they interview Dr. Jessica A. Rickert, the first-ever Native American female dentist.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month. This week's episode is part of the Native News Health Desk reporting initiative to cover health care in Indian Country.

Unfortunately, preschool-aged Native American children had four times more cases of untreated tooth decay than white children43 percent compared with 11 percent, according to a Pew study.

Dr. Rickert will discuss the need for early oral health care for Native American children on and off reservations.

When she graduated from the University of Michigans School of Dentistry in 1975, Dr. Rickert became the first female Native American dentist and the second Native American dentist.

To watch this episode, tune into the live stream on Friday, Feb. 10 at Noon Eastern Time. on the Native News Online Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube social media accounts, and subscribe to our channel.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
A 55-year-old man at a hit-and-run scene was arrested after authorities say he told a North Carolina sheriffs deputy he had a large amount of liquid fentanyl in his Lake Norman-area home.

An Iredell County sheriffs deputy found 128 ounces of the drug in a sink of the mans home, Sheriff Darren Campbell said Wednesday.

The home is located on Mount Mourne Loop. Thats off Langtree Road off Interstate 77 Exit 31 in southern Iredell County.

The deputy found several chunks of a white substance covered in water in the kitchen sink of Ronnie Lynn Benfields home on Sunday, Feb. 5, Campbell said in a news release on Facebook.

The deputy also found a loaded Ruger 9mm handgun in the home, Campbell said.

Benfield was charged with trafficking in heroin (fentanyl), maintaining a dwelling for the sale or use of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Statistics Canada numbers reveal the percentage of permanent residents who become Canadians has plummeted over the past 20 years.

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship says Statistics Canada data points to a 40 per cent decline in citizenship uptake since 2001.

The group's CEO, Daniel Bernhard, calls the drop alarming and says it should serve as a wake up call to improving the experience newcomers have in Canada.

In 2021, nearly 45.7 per cent of permanent residents who'd been in Canada for less than 10 years became citizens.

That's down from 60 per cent in 2016, and 75.1 per cent in 2001.

The StatCan data did not identify reasons for the drop, but Bernhard suggests Canada's cost of living and job prospects are likely factors.

He says the institute is investigating root causes.

There are a myriad of issues, said Bernhard.

But ultimately, whats changing is that people have decided that theyre less interested in being Team Canada.

Bernhard said the decline affects Canadas long-term economic and social outlook.

This is a problem for all of us who care about Canada's future prosperity and dynamism, he said. We need to solve this for the future of our country.

The federal government has said it wants to boost immigration by adding 1.45 million permanent residents over the next three years, starting with 465,000 in 2023 and increasing to 500,000 in 2025.
A 17-year-old girl is still in the hospital after someone sprayed her home with bullets in a drive-by shooting in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.

Channel 2s Audrey Washington spoke to neighbors who told her they heard the shots and ducked for cover.

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

People who live in this area told Channel 2 Action News they heard anywhere between 40 to 50 gunshots.

It was so scary, it was like so scary to me, one woman said, asking not to be identified.

Atlanta police said it happened on Venus Place at around 9:40 p.m.

According to neighbors, someone pulled up in a car and opened fire on the home.

I grabbed my niece and hit the floor. Then I heard my sister say everybody get down, the woman said.

TRENDING STORIES:

The teenager survived.

At first I just heard some gunshots, it was like pew, pew, pew. Then I heard boom, boom, pow, pow pow, the woman said to Channel 2 Action News. Im just grateful to be here because thats how bad it was.

The investigation revealed that the girl was inside when shots were fired into the home from outside.

Police told Channel 2 Action News on Wednesday that they are still searching for the people involved in this shooting.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
This is an excerpt from Incoming, BuzzFeed News morning newsletter dedicated to making sense of this chaotic world we live in. Join the club.

Three students were killed in a shooting at Michigan State University

Michigan State University students hug during the active shooter situation. Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

In the 67th mass shooting in the US this year, a man opened fire on the Michigan State University campus Monday evening, killing three people and critically injuring five more . All eight were students at the university.

After a three-hour search, police found the suspect off campus, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. The suspect was identified as Anthony McRae, 43. According to campus police, he had no affiliation with the school, and the motive remains unclear.

Gun violence is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually . In the aftermath of the shooting, footage of the terrified students showed one wearing a sweatshirt commemorating the Oxford High School shooting , which killed four students in Michigan in November 2021. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan called it the most haunting picture of last night.

We have children in Michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half, she said at a news conference Tuesday. If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I dont know what is.

These are the students killed in the MSU shooting

The three deceased victims were identified as Alexandria Verner , a junior from Clawson, Brian Fraser , a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, and Arielle Anderson , a junior also from Grosse Pointe.

Verner was studying biology and anthropology and was expected to graduate in 2024, according to her LinkedIn. She is survived by her parents, brother, and sister. Her father, Ted Verner, told the Washington Post , Its going to be my mission in life to make sure that families dont go [through] what we went through, he said.

Andersons loved ones remembered her for her sweet and gentle nature. The 19-year-old loved children and hoped to become a pediatrician after graduating, family members told 7 Action News . Her uncle, Tim Davis, described her to the Detroit News as "kind-hearted" and "always helpful."

Frasers family is grieving privately, his sister Micaela told the Detroit Free Press , but she said she wants her brothers name to be remembered. She also asked the reporter whether they have any siblings; the reporter said yes, an older brother. Tell him you love him, Micaela replied.

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SNAPSHOTS

California Sen. Diane Feinstein announced her retirement, and then seemingly got confused. Senator, we put out your statement, one staffer said, to which Feinstein responded , You put out the statement? I didnt know they put it out. So, it is what it is. I think the time has come.

The body of a missing 16-year-old girl was found in the woods, and a police officer has been accused of concealing her death. 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.

Dave Hollis, a former Disney executive and Rachel Hollis's ex-husband, has died at 47. From 2011 to 2018, Dave led theatrical distribution at Disney during major milestones for the movie studio. Prior to his and Rachel's divorce in 2020, the two rose to fame through Rachels popular Instagram account where they espoused hard work, humility, and the importance of family.

Emily Ratajkowski and Eric Andre responded to rumors that they're dating with a nude Valentine's Day post. In the photo, a nude Andre reclines on a couch holding a glass of wine with pink heart emojis covering his crotch.

How the invention of skin tone emojis kickstarted a legal battle against Big Tech

Diverse emojis designed by Parrott Courtesy Katrina Parrott

In 2013, Katrina Parrott came up with the idea of emojis in diverse skin tones. 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 .

This week, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas 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.

According to one study , over 50% of new US patents went to the top 1% wealthiest patentees in 2020. 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.

IMAGE OF THE DAY

People attend a candlelit vigil in memory of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey on Feb. 14, 2023, in Liverpool, England. Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

The Eve 6 guy gives advice for those who feel unlucky in love

John J. Custer for BuzzFeed News

I just turned 27, and Ive never been in a committed relationship. When the pandemic hit, my social life died and never fully recovered. I now find myself still single but much older and missing out on experiences that are probably important for my growth as a person.

Now I realize Im old as shit  Im 44  but if 27 isnt young, Ill eat a plane. Twenty-seven is young. You are not weird or defective for not having been in a long-term relationship yet, and, as you said, the COVID quarantine years are highly extenuating circumstances. I would bet real-ass money that there are millions of people your age who never had a long-term relationship pre-COVID, had their dating lives put on hold, and are now in a similar situation to yours.

Own your experience of never having been in a long-term relationship at 27. You dont have to make it your whole personality, and you dont have to shy away from it. Be open and honest with the people in your life. As for your peers and dating prospects, I think youll find that not having been in a long-term relationship isnt something that separates you from them, but may in fact be a place of common ground. Oftentimes our secrets are extremely relatable, but we dont realize it because were too scared of rejection to say them out loud. Max Collins

This is an excerpt from Maxs full response to this query. Read what else Max said  and his response to another advice-seeker in a controlling relationship  here .

Still reading, eh? Seems like you might want to get this in your inbox. No pressure though. Just some food for thought.
The suspect who shot eight Michigan State University students  three fatally  on Monday evening had no evident ties to campus, police said at an 8 a.m. press conference.

Police are still searching for why Anthony McRae, 43, allegedly walked into two campus buildings and opened fire. He had no known current or past ties to the university, police said. After police published a photo taken from a security camera of McRae, a member of the public phoned police with a tip on where he was. Shortly after police made contact with him, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot.

A house linked to 43-year-old Anthony McRae, the suspect in the campus shooting at Michigan State University that left three dead and multiple injured is seen on East Howe Avenue in Lansing on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023.

Three victims died on campus, two in Berkey Hall and one in the Union on the northern edge of MSU's East Lansing campus, on the border with downtown East Lansing. The remaining five victims were transported to Sparrow Hospital. Four of the five required surgery last night and all are listed in critical condition.

More:Suspect identified in Michigan State University shooting: 3 dead, 5 in critical condition

During the press conference federal, state, local and university officials gave updates. Many of them spoke with audible sadness tremors in their voices. Dr. Denny Martin, chief medical officer at Sparrow Hospital, broke down in tears as he recalled hospital staff rushing to hospital to help treat victims.

Police walk around Berkey Hall early on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing.

Whitmer, Slotkin express sadness and worry

Politicians also spoke, railing against yet another campus shooting.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin said, "I am filled with rage" that officials had to hold another press conference to talk about children killed in schools.

"If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I don't know what is."

More:Oxford student relives horror at MSU: 'Mom  get me out of here'

More:Some students find refuge during Michigan State shooting at familiar bar

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a MSU graduate, expressed similar concerns.

"We mourn the loss of beautiful souls today. Every Spartan  should know that Michiganders are thinking of you today," she said with noticeable sadness in her voice as she talked about students trying to decide who their last phone call would be to and of parents calling students to tell them to be safe and that they were loved. "We cannot continue to live like this.

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"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."

'Our Spartan hearts are broken'

MSU has canceled all classes and activities through Wednesday. Tuesday morning, interim President Teresa Woodruff said all classes would be canceled through Monday. It was unclear if other activities would restart. Counseling services are being offered to students.

Woodruff, voice breaking, summed up what her campus was feeling.

"Our Spartan hearts are broken."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MSU shooting suspect Anthony McRae had no ties to school, cops say
Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

A man claiming to be a former employee of the famous Tupolev aircraft company is seeking asylum in the U.S.

The man claims he used to work on the Tu-160 strategic bomber.

The Tu-160 is Russias most advanced bomber, designed to launch nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at the U.S.

The new Cold War between the United States and Russia has apparently played out in an unlikely place: the U.S.-Mexico border. A man claiming to be a former employee of a major Russian defense contractor showed up at the border, offering Russias military secrets in return for political asylum. The man claims to have worked on the Tu-160 bomber, Russias dual-capable, semi-stealthy, cruise missile flinging bomber.

The man, according to Yahoo! News , drove up to the border with his familyin an armored SUVasking for political asylum. The man identified himself as a former civil engineer who worked at the Kazan Aviation Plant. The man claimed to have worked on an attack jet, but was worried that his past support for Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny would get him in trouble.

The man reportedly told officials he worked at Tupolev from 2018 to 2021, and referred to the Tu-160 as the White Swan, a Russian nickname for the Tu-160, known to NATO by the code name Blackjack due to its white paint and graceful, swan-like appearance.

Bettmann - Getty Images

The Soviet Unions Tupelov Design Bureau developed the Tu-160 in the late 1970s. The aircraft resembles the American B-1 bomber both in appearance and mission, with a sharp, pointed nose, a variable geometry wing that can swing forward or back, and an overall sleek appearance.

The Blackjack primarily serves as a cruise missile carrier. It can carry up to six Kh-55SM land attack cruise missiles, each with a 200-kiloton thermonuclear warhead, or the Kh-555, armed with a conventional high-explosive warhead. (The B-1 bomber is no longer a nuclear-capable aircraft.)

As a cruise missile carrier, the Tu-160 typically flies at Mach .77 and a maximum altitude of 39,000 feet. However, also like the B-1 bomber, it can penetrate enemy airspace at low altitudes, flying at 640 miles per hour with the help of a terrain avoidance system.

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Heres a video, courtesy of Russias Ministry of Defense, of a Tu-160 launching Kh-101 land attack cruise missiles against targets in Syria:

Russias economic troubles after the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading into the 2000s, meant that it relied on ex-Soviet military hardware to keep the Russian armed forces fully equipped. Russias bomber fleet was no exception: It flies a mixed fleet of 66 Tu-95 Bear bombers, 42 Tu-22M Backfire bombers, and 16 Tu-160s. The Tu-160s are based at Engels Air Base near Saratov, 300 miles south of Kazan.

All of the Tu-160s are at least 34 years old, and an upgrade program only began in 2014. Just a handful of bombers have been upgraded from Tu-160 to Tu-160M status, but eventually, the entire fleet of White Swans will get a new glass cockpit, new navigation systems, and new satellite communications equipment. At the same time, Russia is restarting Tu-160 production, aiming to produce between 40 and 50 new bombers. The new bombers will reportedly receive new engines.

If the unnamed engineer is who he says he is, he could be very useful to U.S. intelligence. The Tu-160 is part of Russias nuclear triad that includes bombers, missile submarines, and land-based missiles. In the event of war, Tu-160s would fly over the Arctic Circle, their weapons bays filled with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, and launch against targets in the U.S. and Canada. The new-build Tu-160s are supposed to fly for 40 years, so the more U.S. intelligence knows about them, the better.

Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

According to the report, officials are particularly interested in whether or not the upgraded Blackjack bombers are being modified to carry hypersonic weapons. This is likely the Kh-47M2 (Kinzhal, or Dagger) , a land-based, short-range ballistic missile modified to be carried by aircraft.

Kinzhal has a range of 1,200 miles, about the range of the Kh-55SM nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The Kh-55SM, however, flies at about 500 mph, while Kinzhals top speed is about 7,672 mph (Mach 10). Fired at maximum range, a Kh-55SM would reach its target in about 2 hours and 20 minutes, Kinzhal in about 12 minutes. The introduction of hypersonics would immensely complicate NORADs efforts to destroy a Tu-160 bombers missiles once launched.

The unnamed Russian seeking asylum is what is called in intelligence circles a walk-in: someone who literally approaches U.S. officials, instead of being secretly recruited, and offers information, often for a price. If this individual is who he says he is, his information is a lot more useful than it was a year ago. As relations between the U.S. and Russia turn frosty over the war in Ukraine and Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons, Moscows nuclear secrets are more valuable than theyve been in decades.

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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.

Story continues

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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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) leaves a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in April 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

I used to visit Sen. Dianne Feinstein every year when I went to Washington. Its always a thrill, even now that Im in my 60s, to enter a U.S. senators office. Its partly the super-tall windows and the heavy doors. Feinstein worked on the third floor of the Hart Senate Office Building, across the street from the Capitol.

On Tuesday, she announced that she wont run again in 2024, that at age 89  the oldest member of the Senate, where shes served for 30 years  she has decided to finish her term and be done with it.

The end of the Feinstein era couldn't help but bring back memories of my meetings with her over the years when I was The Times' editorial page editor. Inevitably, Id be ushered in and wed sit at the round coffee table in the center of her office, and just as inevitably, shed offer me a glass of wine, even though it was generally 3 or 4 in the afternoon. She always seemed both surprised and a little disappointed when I said no.

Sometimes it was just us, but more often there were one or two aides in the room. Delegations would be waiting outside, and there were meetings to get to and phone calls to return, but I never felt rushed.

On several occasions she had a little lapdog with her  I cant remember the breed  and periodically, if it appeared to be causing trouble, shed pick it up and hold it.

She was already about 80 by the time I started making these visits. So in a sense it was like visiting your grandmother  but only if your grandmother was also an expert on arcane matters of California water policy and deeply steeped in the gory details of CIA torture. And if your grandmother had a lot of assistants bustling around to do her bidding and get her stuff.

Feinstein always had a complaint or two to make about our editorials in the L.A. Times, especially on water-related issues. That was how she opened most of our meetings. I struggled to keep up with her level of detail.

When we talked about CIA torture after she released the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's devastating report on "detention and interrogation," she danced easily between what was unclassified and what she couldnt tell me because it was still secret. Her outrage at the behavior of the CIA then was obvious and heartfelt.

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She was tough, no-nonsense and could occasionally be tetchy. A television was sometimes on in the background; once, when news was breaking, she made me watch President Trump on CNN with her for almost half an hour during my allotted meeting time, then rushed out for an unexpected floor vote in her jacket and pearls, leaving me unable to ask her a thing. Her aides shrugged. Thats the way it went.

Our meetings were held on background, so I wont quote her. But I can report that she wasn't averse to a little off-the-record political gossip.

The word from my progressive friends was that Feinstein wasnt sufficiently liberal or enough of a firebrand. But I appreciated her sense of decorum.

She was consistently who she was  a throwback to an earlier, more genteel era, one where Democrats and Republicans could fight all day and have dinner together at night, where opponents at least occasionally reached across the aisles and sought bipartisan deals. She seemed surprised and saddened by the bitter partisanship of today's politics.

I wasnt at all surprised when she got in trouble with her fellow Democrats for hugging and congratulating Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) after the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee (and now justice) Amy Coney Barrett. She was accused in recent years of being insufficiently partisan and aggressive in fighting Republicans.

That, as much as any sign of cognitive decline, was what made you feel she was a senator whose time had come and gone.

Still, she was unquestionably slowing down by the last time I saw her. She was more reliant on aides for information and reminders than she had been. They had to correct her a few times. There was a bit of discombobulation. And that was pre-pandemic, so it was several years ago.

Even before her 2018 reelection race, I found myself wishing she would step down rather than run again, for her own sake. Last year, just a week after her 89th birthday, I wrote a column describing her age as a problem. Not her age, per se, but the fact that her aides and colleagues were whispering about rapid deterioration and increasing befuddlement.

I didn't hear a word from her or her office.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that she now struggles to recall colleagues names and often has little recollection of meetings or phone conversations.

Im glad shes made the obviously correct decision not to run again.

She can look back with pride on an admirable career, including her work on gun control. Her commitment to that issue was forged in part by her experience in San Francisco when she was the person who found the body of Supervisor Harvey Milk after he was assassinated in 1978.

She can also be proud of her work investigating the CIA torture program. I still have the copy of the report she signed for me: To Nick Goldberg, Never Again. Dianne Feinstein. Its a remarkable piece of work about a shameful moment in U.S. history.

And she's done much more over 30 years in the Senate: helping to create Joshua Tree National Park, passing early legislation to fight climate change and working to mitigate the effects of drought.

The senator deserves to go out with her honor and dignity intact. And with our thanks.

@Nick_Goldberg

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Police are still searching for any clues into what happened to Nicola Bulley. (SWNS)

Police have addressed a number of theories and unanswered questions amid the search for missing Nicola Bulley.

Bulley disappeared while walking her springer spaniel Willow in the village of St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire, after she dropped her two daughters  aged six and nine  at school on 27 January.

Speculation about what might have happened to her has continued to grow in the 19 days since she vanished but detectives have so far maintained that her disappearance is not being treated as suspicious.

The bench by the River Wyre where Nicola Bulleys mobile phone was found. (PA)

Lancashire Police held a press conference on Wednesday about the search as they sought to combat disinformation, following the arrests of a 49-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman on suspicion of malicious communications offences in relation to emails allegedly sent to Wyre Council members.

Here are some of the theories, rumours and questions police attempted to answer:

Nicola's Fitbit

Bulley exercised often and wore a Fitbit to track her steps and movements, which had been hoped to give police clues as to her whereabouts.

But during Wednesdays press conference, detective superintendent Rebecca Smith said the Fitbit gave no clues.

She said: Despite many technicians investigating the Fitbit, no further information can be gained from that as it hadnt been synced for a number of days.

Nicola's phone

Mystery has surrounded Bulleys phone after it was found sitting on a bench by the river, still logged onto the Teams work call that she had joined at around 9am that morning

But, in an attempt to explain it, Supt Smith said she could say with confidence that Bulley had her phone out in front of her listening to the Teams call.

She said it was normal for Bulley to listen to calls this way, and that it explains why she did not have it in her pocket.

Supt Smith said exhaustive work was being done on the phone and social media accounts showing Bulley as active and that investigators were logging in to the accounts to carry out their work.

Story continues

Watch: Handwritten messages on yellow ribbons left for missing mother Nicola Bulley

The derelict house

Supt Smith told of persistent myths about the case  including a derelict house across the river, which some have urged police to search.

She said on Wednesday: The derelict house which is across the other side of the river has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there.

Heather Gibbons, a friend of Bulley, previously dismissed the theory that the house was key to the investigation as it was "owned by a lovely family" who "would do anything they can to help in the search for Nikki".

Assistant chief constable Peter Lawson and senior investigating officer, detective superintendent Rebecca Smith of Lancashire Police hold a press conference into Nicola Bulleys disappearance. (Getty)

Red van

Police have been making efforts to identify the owner of a red van that was spotted on the day of Bulleys disappearance.

A witness told The Times that the tatty van had been spotted outside a barn close to where Bulley vanished and that they had informed police after news of her disappearance spread.

However, Lancashire Police played down the reports during the press conference, saying that while they were trying to track down the owner, it was not being treated as suspicious.

Supt Smith said: The red van, were really grateful to members of the public for ringing into the inquiry, we wouldnt have got this far without everyones help.

But its also really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations and rumours which is distracting us from our work.

A missing person appeal poster for Nicola Bulley and yellow ribbons with messages of hope written on them tied to a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire. (PA)

'Suspicious' fishermen

An anonymous witness told The Sun that he saw two men trying to hide their faces close to the route that Bulley walked her dog.

He said he saw the men wearing hats or hoodies and carrying fishing rods that covered their faces on the day before Bulley vanished, which he described as odd.

Responding to that report, Supt Smith said she didnt find it suspicious that fishermen would be in the area.

She added that police had nevertheless made numerous appeals and contacted local angling clubs and checked CCTV but cannot see any of those fishermen at the time of Bulleys disappearance.

Supt Smith added that police were still trying to trace the men to make sure there is no further information they can give.

Paul Ansell said he is not ruling out the possibility that Nicola Bulley did not fall into the river. (PA)

'Stained glove'

Officers have been handed a stained glove from a field close to where Bulley was last seen, according to The Telegraph.

The glove was found by two walkers, some seven miles away from the bench where Bulleys mobile phone was found.

But Supt Smith said the glove was not believed to be relevant to their investigation.

CCTV at caravan site

Armchair sleuths had urged police to investigate a nearby caravan site, alleging that CCTV at the site had not been working.

However, Supt Smith said this was not the case and police had been helped by caravan owners.

Friends of Nicola Bulley hold missing person appeal posters along the main road in the village in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire. (PA)

Where are her car keys?

Bulleys partner, Paul Ansell, has urged Mercedes to track her car keys, which are not in the ignition of her car.

The couples neighbour, Charlotte Drake, rejected claims the keys were in the car, telling Metro they were definitely on her at the time of her disappearance.

Heather Gibbons, a friend of the pair, told The Sun that one of the first things Ansell did was to contact Mercedes to see if they could track the whereabouts of the keys.

A search of the area was also conducted by local residents at Ansells urging, some using metal detectors to find the keys  which have so far not been found.

A police Search and Rescue team in Knott End-on-Sea, Lancashire, on the southern side of Morecambe Bay. (PA)

Rumours affecting family

Supt Smith also said the speculation and online rumours about what happened to Bulley were affecting the family and urged people to not continue with their theories.

She said the family were being regularly updated with the process.
Nicola Sturgeon lamented the brutal nature of politics as she announced her resignation as first minister after more than eight years in the job.

The outgoing FM insisted that recent pressures had no role to play in her decision to resign.

The SNP leader said she was confident of leading her party to further electoral success but that the time was right for her to step aside.

Speaking at a news conference in Edinburgh earlier, Ms Sturgeon said: In my head and in my heart I know that the time is now, that its right for me, for my party and my country.

She had been heavily criticsed by some in her own party over her stance on transgender issues and her handling of the Isla Bryson case.

The outgoing FM had also come under fire for saying that her party would fight the next general election as a de-facto referendum on independence, an issue she said the SNP was now free to decide following her exit.

Key Points

Nicola Sturgeon resigns

Corbyn banned from standing for Labour at election

No 10 ethics adviser to take over probe into claims of Islamophobia in Tory Party

Could a new Brexit deal really end the Northern Ireland protocol saga?

14:35 , Matt Mathers

The DUP is undeterred in its opposition to the protocol, writes Sean OGrady.

Read Seans full piece here:

Could a deal with the EU really end the Northern Ireland protocol saga?

Analysis shows absence of levelling up in council funding

14:06 , Matt Mathers

Large disparities in the core spending power of councils in the poorest and wealthiest areas caused by previous austerity measures have only marginally narrowed in the last two years, new analysis shows.

Data shared exclusively with the PA news agency shows that a reliance on council tax to fund frontline services continues to provide financial protection for local authorities in prosperous areas, raising questions over the Governments levelling up agenda.

Jonathan Bunn reports:

Analysis shows absence of levelling up in council funding

Story continues

Why has Nicola Sturgeon resigned?

13:34 , Matt Mathers

Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation, saying that in my head and in my heart I know that the time is now.

She insisted that recent short-term pressures played no role in her departure.

So why did she resign? Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:

Why has Nicola Sturgeon resigned?

FM - I wont comment on successor

13:15 , Matt Mathers

Scotlands first minister said she would not give an opinion on who she wanted to succeed her as SNP leader.

Taking questions from reporters after announcing her intention to step down, Nicola Sturgeon said: This is a question that no matter how many times you ask it of me over the next few weeks, no matter how many inventive ways you find of asking it, Im not going to say who my preference will be to succeed me.

What I do know is that the SNP is awash with talented individuals.

One of the things Ive often reflected on is that when a political party, any political party in any country, has very dominant individuals, others  through no fault of the dominant individual, I should say, and often not through want of trying  become eclipsed.

So what Im looking forward to, and I think the country will enjoy over these next few weeks, is seeing that talent and seeing that array of talent.

She added: I believe I have led this country closer to independence, I believe we are in the final phase of that journey.

I believe that my successor, whoever he or she may be, will lead Scotland to independence, and Ill be there cheering him or her on every step of the way.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaking during a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh where she has announced that she will stand down as First Minister of Scotland after eight years. (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Wire)

SNP MP calls for reform and headling of party

12:55 , Matt Mathers

SNP MP Joanna Cherry has called for reform and healing in her party, asking for it to react to the resignation of Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon in a way that is beneficial to the country and the cause of independence.

It is vital that (the SNP) reacts to the resignation of #NicolaSturgeon in a way that is beneficial to the country and the cause of independence, the MP for Edinburgh South West tweeted.

Our party needs a leadership election that is about policies and not personalities.

We must restore the SNPs tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour and we must also put the welfare of everyone living in Scotland back at the heart of our endeavours.

There are some huge challenges facing our country and our government. There is also a need for reform and healing within our party. Im looking forward to playing my role in this process.

(PA Media)

Ian Blackford pays tribute to finest FM Scotland has had'

12:40 , Matt Mathers

Ian Blackford, Scottish MP and former leader of the SNP in Westminster, has said Nicola Sturgeon is the finest first minster Scotland has ever had.

Nicola Sturgeon is the finest First Minster Scotland has ever had, and the finest friend anyone could hope for, he tweeted.

When Scotland wins independence, she will have been its architect and builder. She has laid the foundations we all now stand on.

We owe it to her to finish the job.

Sunak pays tribute to outgoing FM

12:25 , Matt Mathers

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has thanked Nicola Sturgeon "for her long-standing public service.

I wish her all the best for her next steps, he said.

We will continue to work closely with the @scotgov on our joint efforts to deliver for people across Scotland.

My thanks go to @NicolaSturgeon for her long-standing service. I wish her all the best for her next steps.



We will continue to work closely with the @scotgov on our joint efforts to deliver for people across Scotland.  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) February 15, 2023

Thank you'

12:05 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon finishes by paying tribute to the Scottish people, whether you voted for me or not.

She says serving the country has been the privilege of my life.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, I do in future will ever come anywhere close, she adds.

Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

SNP must reach across political divide - FM

12:00 , Matt Mathers

She says that support needs to grow further if Scotland were to prosper outside the UK if it eventually left.

FM says to achieve that her party must reach across the political divide.

My judgment now is that a new leader will be able to do this.

I believe there is a majority for independence

11:57 , Matt Mathers

FM says that one of the difficulties in coming to her decision was that she was confident that she would lead her party to further electoral success.

She points out, at this moment in time, SNP is well ahead of other parties in the polls.

But the longer a leader is in office, Sturgeon adds, the more opinions about them become fixed and very hard to change.

Sturgeon says that polls come and go before saying she believes that there is now a majority for independence.

But that support needs to be solidified, she adds.

SNP free to choose own course on de-facto referendum

11:50 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon says her views as a leader would carry enormous and probably decisive weight when the SNP conference meets next month.

She says she cant in good conscience force her party to choose an option endorsed by her but one which she would not be able to see it through.

FM adds that her decision to stand down leaves the SNP free to choose its own course on the issue of a de-facto referendum.

Critical moment'

11:46 , Matt Mathers

She says she owes it to her party to step aside during what she describes as a critical moment in Scotlands politics.

FM cites UK government blocking of a second referendum, saying this puts the onus on us to decide how democracy can be protected in Scotland.

She said her plan to use the next Westminster elections as a de-factor poll on independence is well known.

Ive never pretended its perfect - no second-best option is, she adds, saying there is no alternative.

I have a duty to go now

11:42 , Matt Mathers

FM says she could have battled on for another few months.

But if the question is, can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year? - let alone for the remainder of the parliamentary term...the answer is different.

Sturgeon says that is her conclusion, adding that, given the scale of the challenges the country faces, she has a duty to walk away now.

11:38 , Matt Mathers

She says all of these factors take a toll on a person and those around you.

FM says leading Scotland through Covid pandemic was the toughest thing she has done.

It was only recently that I began to process the mental and physical stress of that time, Sturgeon adds.

Watch: Nicola Sturgeon says she has been wrestling with decision to resign as first minister

11:35 , Matt Mathers

Brutal'

11:35 , Matt Mathers

FM cites the difficulties of modern life as a politician.

She says that even going for a walk by yourself or a coffee with friends can be difficult.

She also references the coarsening of political discourse in recent years, saying it has become almost brutal.

Danger of becoming too long'

11:33 , Matt Mathers

FM says that giving everything to the job is the only way to do it.

She says it has been difficult not spending enough time with her family and would like to do this when she steps down.

She adds that the job can only be done - by anyone - for so long.

For me, it is in danger of becoming too long

These jobs are hard'

11:30 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon says she has concluded that the answer is no, she is not the person to continue leading.

She says, referencing her time as deputy FM, these jobs are hard.

In the case of FM this was relentlessly so, she adds.

Ive been wrestling with the decision for weeks

11:28 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon claims she has been wrestling with the decision to stand down for some weeks.

FM says she has been trying to answer two questions: is carrying on right for me and more importantly is carrying on right for the country, the part and the independence cause I have devoted my life to.

FM says she has been having to work harder recently to convince herself that she is the right person to lead both her party and country.

FM insists decision not due to recent pressure

11:23 , Matt Mathers

To those who might be upset by my decision, Sturgeon says, please know that, while hard - be in no doubt this is really hard for me - my decision comes from a place of duty.

Sturgeon now starts setting out her reasons for quitting the role.

She insisted the decision is not influenced by short-term pressures.

Sturgeon says the decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment.

Ill remain in post until successor chosen

11:18 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon officially confirms her intention to stand down as SNP and first minister.

She says she has already asked her party to begin the process of finding a new leader.

I will remain in office until my successor is elected, she adds.

In my heart I know'

11:16 , Matt Mathers

She adds that some in her party might feel that her decision has come too soon.

But in my heart I know that time is now, she says.

Sturgeon adds that it is the right time for her, her party and the country.

Who will replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader?

11:15 , Matt Mathers

Who could replace Sturgeon in the top job and lead the charge for Scottish independence? The Independent takes a look at the most likely replacements:

Who will replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader?

Time is right to stand down - Sturgeon

11:14 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon says she is proud to be the first female and longest-standing incumbent FM.

She adds that she is very proud of what her government has achieved over the past eight years.

However, she adds, she has always known that part of good governing is knowing when to stand aside.

She says that time is now.

11:11 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon is speaking now.

She thanks reporters for attending the news conference.

Starts by saying the role of FM is the best in the world.

Strugeon to remain in post until successor chosen

11:09 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon will remain in her post as first minister until a successor is chosen, Sky News reports.

Angus Robertson, the partys former leader at Westminster, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf are among some of those tipped to replace her.

The FM is expected to speak shortly.

Told Sturgeon will remain in post until her successor is chosen. Press conference 11am  Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) February 15, 2023

Sturgeon about to speak

10:57 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeon is about to speak at a press conference in Edinburgh.

Well bring you updates throughout the address.

Stay tuned for updates as the first minister announces shes quitting after eight years.

You can also watch the news conference on our YouTube channel:

Live: Nicola Sturgeon expected to announce resignation as Scotland's first minister

Completely dumbfounded'

10:56 , Matt Mathers

Many in the SNP are dumbfounded by todays news, says Lewis Goodall, host of the popular Newsagents podcast.

General feeling among SNP sources right now is one of being completely dumbfounded, he writes on Twitter.

 They knew she was under real political pressure but didnt expect this- certainly not now.

Bad news for Tories'

10:53 , Matt Mathers

Sturgeons resignation could be bad news for the Conservatives, ITVs Paul Brand has suggested.

He says if Labour performs well north of the border then Rishi Sunaks party could be in trouble, having benefited from political polarisation at recent polls.

And of course if Labour perform well in Scotland, that is conversely bad news for the Tories, who have benefited from political polarisation having squeezed out Labour in recent elections.  Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) February 15, 2023

SNP MP pays tribute to Sturgeon

10:48 , Matt Mathers

SNP MP Stewart McDonald described Nicola Sturgeon as the finest public servant of the devolution age amid reports of her expected departure as Scottish first minister.

Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age, the MP for Glasgow South tweeted, sharing a photograph of himself with Ms Sturgeon.

Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else. She will be an enormous loss as First Minister and SNP leader. Thank you!

Gutted'

10:46 , Matt Mathers

Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the partys home affairs spokesperson, said she was gutted at news of Nicola Sturgeons impending resignation.

She tweeted: Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.

Theres plenty left in the tank at the moment'

10:45 , Matt Mathers

A video has resurfaced showing Sturgeon saying theres plenty left in the tank when asked if she would be the SNP leader who takes Scotland out of the UK.

The clip was posted by BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg on Wednesday morning after it was reported Sturgeon would announce her resignation.

Kuenssberg interviewed Sturgeon last month on her Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show. Watch the exchange below:

'There's plenty in the tank at the moment' - said Sturgeon https://t.co/3UMNVTUHQg  Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) February 15, 2023

She just had enough'

10:32 , Matt Mathers

More coming in on the Sturgeon story now.

An SNP source has told Sky News that the party leader had just had enough.

Ms Sturgeons popularity has taken a tumble of late and support for independence has dropped in recent weeks, after a bounce in the immediate aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling that said Scotland could not hold a second poll without consent from Westminster.

Sturgeon has also been criticised over trans issues, with her government having recently passed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

No 10 ethics adviser to investigate claims of Islamophobia in Tory Party

10:23 , Matt Mathers

Rishi Sunaks ethics adviser will take over an investigation into alleged Islamophobia following claims by an MP that she was sacked as a minister because of her faith, it is reported.

It comes after The Independent revealed that Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairwoman, wrote to her opposite number Greg Hands calling on him to reopen an investigation into claims made by Nusrat Ghani, who said she was told by party whip she was sacked because her Muslimness had been making colleagues uncomfortable.

Mark Spencer, chief whip at the time, rejected the claims and described them as completely false and defamatory.

The BBC said when asked about the probe, head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Marcial Boo said he would be following up on it with Sir Laurie.

Corbyn will not stand as Labour candidate at next election, Keir Starmer says

10:16 , Matt Mathers

As we mentioned earlier, Jeremy Corbyn has been effectively sacked by Keir Starmer.

Mr Corbyn, who had the whip suspended over his handling of anti-semitism while leader, has been told he will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next election.

Jon Stone has more on that one too:

Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as Labour candidate at next election, Keir Starmer says

Nicola Sturgeon set to resign as Scottish first minister

10:14 , Matt Mathers

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more on the Sturgeon resignation:

Nicola Sturgeon set to resign as Scottish first minister

10:11 , Matt Mathers

Good morning and welcome to the Independents live politics coverage.

So much for the quiet recess: Nicola Sturgeon is expected to resign later today and Jeremy Corbyn has been banned from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

Stay tuned for all the latest updates.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley arrives for an event launching her candidacy for the U.S presidency February 15, 2023 in Charleston, South Carolina. Haley officially announced her candidacy yesterday, making her the first Republican opponent to challenge former President Donald Trump. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Nikki Haley, 51, is the second person to announce a presidential bid.

She bashed the ages of Trump and Biden, without mentioning them by name.

Among her policy promises were term limits and mental competency tests for politicians over 75.

Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley name-dropped former President Donald Trump only once during her kickoff presidential campaign on Wednesday, but the message about her challenger and former boss was clear.

Haley, 51, leaned heavily into a narrative focused on a new generation of leaders as she launched her campaign in Charleston, South Carolina. By doing so, Haley became the first person to enter the 2024 presidential race since Trump announced and the first Republican woman of color to make a bid for the US presidency.

"We're ready," she said, "ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past. And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future."

Haley promised if elected that she'd mandate mental competency tests for politicians who are older than 75  a topic that came up frequently in Congress when Trump was in office. She also called for term limits in Congress, promising "the permanent politician will finally retire."

"America is not past our prime," Haley said. "It's just that our politicians are past theirs."

Donald Trump would be 78 if elected in 2024. Joe Biden would be 82.

The White House's occupants haven't been the only leaders in Washington of advanced age. Insider's 2022 "Red, White, and Gray" series explored the costs, benefits, and dangers of life in a democracy helmed by those of advanced age, where issues of profound importance to the nation's youth and future  technology, civil rights, energy, the environment  are largely in the hands of older politicians.

Leaning into portraying Trump as a leader of the past, Haley noted that Republicans failed to gain a majority of support from voters during numerous election cycles. Trump won the 2016 election thanks to his electoral college count, but lost the popular vote by roughly 3 million.

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"If you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation," she said.

Haley's only mention of Trump was that he'd tapped her as UN ambassador. Still, she tied that portion of her resume to being a fresh face in Washington.

"People said I didn't have the experience," she said. "Then I went to work."

Trump and Haley in the Oval Office at the White House on October 9, 2018. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Trump hit back at Haley soon after the announcement

Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who introduced Haley ahead of her speech, was more explicit in speaking about Trump. He said the former president had once been what the US needed to remind the GOP "how to stand boldly for our beliefs and commitments to the freedoms that we enjoy today."

"I want to thank Donald Trump for his service and his place as one of the great leaders of all time during the Trump years," he said, but Haley had "those very qualities desperately needed in America today."

Still, Haley did echo many of the themes that have defined Trump's movement in the GOP, including homing in on illegal immigration and crime and accusing Democrats of embracing socialism. She painted a bleak picture of America under Biden's presidency, one mired in high prices and trepidation about threats from Russia and China.

"America is on a path of doubt, division, and self-destruction, a path of fading patriotism and weakening power," she said.

Haley, a daughter of immigrants, opened up about being the only Indian family in her small town in South Carolina, admitting "it wasn't always easy" and calling herself "a brown girl growing up in a black-and-white world." Still, she insisted in her speech that "America is not a racist country" given that she was the first woman of color to become South Carolina's governor.

While she also maintained her candidacy was "not about identity politics," she embraced her sex, declaring "may the best woman win" and called herself a "tough-as-nails" woman. She dressed in white, the color of the suffragette movement that gave women the right to vote.

The Trump campaign was quick to hit back at Haley on Wednesday, sending an email titled "The Real Nikki Haley" to reporters. It noted Haley previously promised she wouldn't enter the race against Trump and then reversed herself, and linked to a 2012 New York Times article in which Haley said Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who lost to Trump in 2016, inspired her to enter politics.

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt this month, Trump described Haley as "overly ambitious"  a term he did not use for some of the male Republicans potentially entering the race, even though some would be younger than Haley.

Read the original article on Business Insider
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  Nikki Haley launched her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday with a call for generational change in Washington and a rejection of what she derided as identity politics dividing the United States.

Speaking from the historic coastal city of Charleston, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador struck themes intended to resonate with the Republican voters she will court as the first major GOP challenger to former President Donald Trump.

She blasted President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats as too liberal and insisted there's not a problem with racism in the U.S. as they contend. But there were occasional notes that could appeal beyond the GOP base, including appeals for unity and criticism of corporate bailouts.

Haley, who is 51, said that Republicans have repeatedly lost the popular vote in recent elections because they failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. The solution, she said, was to put your trust in a new generation.

America is not past its prime, she told a crowd of several hundred people gathered near Charlestons visitors center. Its just that our politicians are past theirs.

That was an obvious knock on Biden, who, at 80, is the oldest president in history, a fact that makes even some Democrats uneasy. But it was also a slight of Trump, who has launched a third White House bid and remains popular with wide swaths of Republican voters. Trump is 76 and has had an up-and-down relationship with Haley from the early days of the 2016 campaign through her time in his administration.

Haley said she would support a mandatory mental competency test for politicians over 75 years old.

While Haley is the first major Republican to officially challenge Trump, she will hardly be the last. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those expected to launch campaigns in the coming months. Haleys fellow South Carolinian Sen. Tim Scott is also weighing a White House bid.

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At a time when Biden is holding together a Western alliance against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and facing scrutiny for his handling of unidentified aerial objects, Haley leaned into the national security credentials she said she gained at the U.N. Among the speakers who introduced her was the mother of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea and died shortly after his release.

In her remarks, Haley criticized Biden's presiding over the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, North Korea's launch of missiles, heightened Russian aggression and an emboldened China.

Today our enemies think that the American era has passed," she said. Theyre wrong.

As the presidential primary season comes into focus, the biggest question is whether anyone in the field will be able to push Trump from his position at the top of a party that he transformed with his first campaign in 2016. Though he enjoys enduring support with some Republican voters, he's been blamed by some party officials for the GOPs lackluster performance in last years midterms.

As in 2016, a crowded field could work to Trumps advantage, allowing him to march to the nomination while his opponents divide support among themselves.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said he was glad Haley is running.

I want her to follow her heart  even though she made a commitment that she would never run against who she called the greatest president of her lifetime," he said.

Pence hasn't yet announced a campaign. But during a visit Wednesday to the early voting state of Iowa, he said she did a great job when she worked in the Trump administration.

I wish her well, Pence said. "She may have more company soon in the race for president, and I promise folks here in Iowa and all of you Ill keep you posted.

During a visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, another possible presidential contender, said Haley's announcement was highly anticipated.

So we'll let her have her day, Noem said.

During her launch, Haley made clear that she would seek to distinguish herself in the GOP field in part by emphasizing her biography. She spoke of growing up in a small South Carolina town as the daughter of immigrants who experienced racist taunts. Still, she insisted that America was not a racist country.

This self loathing is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic, she said.

But the nation's complicated experience with race was hard to dismiss. As Haley spoke, a white racist who killed 10 Black people last year at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

And the very venue from which Haley spoke was just a few blocks from Mother Emanuel AME Church, where nine Black parishioners were murdered in 2015 by a self-avowed white supremacist who had been pictured holding Confederate flags. One of the survivors, Felicia Sanders, was in attendance Wednesday. Sanders son Tywanza was killed in the massacre.

The Charleston shooting was a defining moment of Haley's governorship. For years, she resisted calls to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even portraying a rivals push for its removal as a desperate stunt. But after the church shootings and with the support of other leading Republicans, Haley advocated for legislation to remove the flag. It came down less than a month after the murders.

A campaign video that Haley released on Tuesday referred to the shooting, but made no reference to her work to remove the flag.

In unveiling her campaign in Charleston, Haley sought to show some strength in her home state, which holds a critical early primary that influences the GOP nomination. Ahead of Wednesday's event, Rep. Ralph Norman  whom Trump backed in the 2022 midterm elections  became the first House member from South Carolina to publicly endorse Haley.

Those in the crowd said they were excited by the prospect of a Haley presidency. Retiree Connie Campbell said she was all in for the former governor, who she said has got so much to offer.

Shes very experienced in politics and as a family person, a mother, a wife, said Campbell, noting her admiration for the way Haley led South Carolina through tragedies including the Charleston shooting. She had a lot to go through as our governor.

If elected, Haley would be the first woman as well as woman of color to assume the presidency, a historic fact that she embraced  to an extent. She said she rejects identity politics and also doesn't believe in glass ceilings. That phrase became popular in politics when Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama after a bitter primary fight in 2008, noting that she wasn't yet able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling.

Still, Haley wore white on stage in a nod to the suffragette movement and leaned into gender as she wrapped up her remarks.

As I set out on this new journey, I will simply say this  may the best woman win, she said to roars of approval.

___

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE - Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is questioned by reporters, Jan. 6, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gaetz says Justice Department has informed him he wont face charges related to sex trafficking investigation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican firebrand known for his strong support of former President Donald Trump, said Wednesday that the Justice Department has ended a sex trafficking case with no charges against him.

The conservative who represents much of the Florida Panhandle issued a statement through his congressional office that the long-running investigation was over. Gaetz had insisted throughout he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

The Department of Justice has confirmed to Congressman Gaetzs attorneys that their investigation has concluded and that he will not be charged with any crimes, the statement said.

While he is a relatively junior member of Congress, Gaetz has gained national attention through his frequent cable news appearances in recent years in which he offered an unvarnished defense of Trump. The decision not to charge Gaetz removes a shadow that had threatened his political career.

Federal prosecutors were investigating whether Gaetz and political ally Joel Greenberg paid underage girls and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex, according to two people familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity during the ongoing investigation.
Former SC Governor Nikki Haley Launches Presidential Campaign With Event In Charleston

Former South Carolina Gov. and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley arrives for an event launching her candidacy for the U.S presidency February 15, 2023 in Charleston, South Carolina. Credit - Win McNameeGetty Images

When she gave a speech declaring her 2024 presidential candidacy, raven-haired former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley began to carve out her lane by focusing on a salient difference between her and the two most recent Presidents: age.

Were ready, Haley, 51, said Wednesday in Charleston. Ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future.

When she reached the portion of her remarks dedicated to Americas place on the world stage, she declared, America is not past our prime, its just that our politicians are past theirs. Laughter and cheers erupted. Many of Haleys biggest applause lines critiqued elderly politicians and their old way of doing things. We wont win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century, she said.

In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire, she said. Well have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old, naming a cutoff age just below that of the only other major Republican in the raceDonald Trump is 76 years old.

Haleys generational change argument isnt just aimed at Trump. At 80, President Joe Biden is the oldest President in American history. Critics frequently question whether hes fit for office, highlighting potential signs of mental or physical deterioration. Numerous polls indicate that voters are not excited about the prospect of a 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump, and a majority of Americans tend to say they want a chief executive under 75, if not much younger. Haley, who would be Americas first female and first Asian American President, checks that demographic box. But while her promise of generational change may deliver applause, experts say it wont be enough on its own to win her the Republican nomination.

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Its not specific to Nikki Haley and I dont understand it as a message, says anti-Trump Republican strategist Sarah Longwell.

Haley isnt the only Republican politician who could argue that their election would usher in a new generation of leadership. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, widely considered Trumps strongest competition for the nomination should he jump in the race, is 44. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, also reportedly considering a bid, is 57.

Read More: The Role Nikki Haleys 2015 Decision to Remove the Confederate Flag Could Play in Her Presidential Run

Haleys supporters have doubled down on her generational change message. South Carolina Republican Party Katon Dawson said at Haleys announcement, New faces, were going new places. Rep. Ralph Norman, the first South Carolina congressman to endorse Haley, told Fox News, In 2016, President Trump was exactly who the Republican Party needed at the time However, the Republican Party has entered a season of change. Were at a pivotal juncture, and most of the Republicans I know are now looking for new leadership with a new vision at the top of the ticket.

Experts say age is not the most important factor for voterseven when the candidate is trying to take up the mantle of generational change. After all, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who sought the Democratic nomination for President, built a movement among young supporters despite being well into his 70s.

I think its a second-tier consideration, says John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and author of FIGHT: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America. In the first tier are questions related to character, integrity, values, experience in government.

Perhaps its a way she thinks she can differentiate herself, Della Volpe says of Haleys focus on age, in what many expect to be a crowded primary field.

Haley has spent the past eight years threading the needle on Trump, as shes both criticized him and served as his ambassador to the United Nations. Though she did not mention him by name in her launch video or her Wednesday speech, highlighting their age gap allows her to draw a contrast with him without directly repudiating his policies or style in a way that could repel his voters. A Morning Consult poll conducted over the weekend found that 47% of potential Republican primary voters would vote for Trump if they had to decide now, with 31% opting for DeSantis and only 3% backing Haley.

Alex Shieh, the 18-year-old chief pollster and co-founder of the Phillips Academy Poll, says that generational change could be an important component of the general election and that Democrats shouldnt take Gen Z votes for granted. He thinks young voters are tired of polarization and turned off by the extremist segments of the Republican Party, but he believes a candidate like Haley could change that. Trump, but also people like DeSantis, who are thrown around as alternatives to Trump, they both built their political personas around this culture war, Shieh says. That obviously gets a lot of press, but that also alienates a lot of Gen Z-ers, whereas Nikki Haley likes to portray herself as a more moderate presence by staying away from the culture wars.

Indeed, one of the signature achievements of Haleys tenure as South Carolina governor was her leadership of the effort to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol. She said in 2016 that she didnt think a proposed transgender bathroom bill in the state was necessary. Though she invoked culture-war controversies over critical race theory in her launch video and her announcement speech, her pitch to become the GOPs avatar of generational change may be less about her biological age, and more about her ability to help the party age out of its Trump era.

Its not yet clear thats what voters want. During a focus group with Trump voters Monday night, Longwell asked for participants thoughts on Haley and found, Thats not what Republican primary voters are looking for. she says. They want to know, Does the media hate you? You know, are the Libs mad at you all the time?  They want people from the Make America Great Again cinematic universe.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Nikki Haley has launched her uphill battle for the Republican presidential primary in disastrous fashion with an invocation from John Hagee, an antisemitic, homophobic, doomsday-believing pastor.

Haleywho has tried to paint herself as a more traditional Republican to guide the party into a post-Trump eraproudly took the stage following Hagees prayer, co-signing the unhinged pastor.

To Pastor Hagee, I still say I want to be you when I grow up, she said with a smile as she launched her campaign in South Carolina Wednesday.

Taking the stage, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley praises controversial pastor John Hagee:



To Pastor Hagee, I still say I want to be you when I grow up. pic.twitter.com/R8rmilsyW9  The Recount (@therecount) February 15, 2023

Hagee has made a controversial name for himself through his claims that Hitler was a half-breed Jew, that the Antichrist is gay, and that Catholics were somehow to blame for the Holocaust.

In 2008, he claimed that Hurricane Katrina was Gods punishment for homosexuality, although he later retracted the statement.

The San Antonio pastor, who has also spread doomsday beliefs that the end days began in 2014, tried to sue schools to force them to reopen during the pandemic in 2020, before he contracted COVID himself.

Haley is the first Republican to jump into the race against former president Donald Trump, whos already firing shots at her over her claims she wouldnt run against him and her 2012 quote that Hillary Clinton inspires her.

You should know this about meI dont put up with bullies, Haley said Tuesday in an announcement video. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if youre wearing heels.

A Morning Consult tracking poll shows Haley coming in at 3 percent of the prospective vote, while the former president still carries 47 percent.

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CHARLESTON, S.C.  Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley laid out a vision for her 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday, calling for a new generation of Republicans to move into power and reinvigorate the party.

We lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. We have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans, Haley told a crowd of well over 1,000 people in an open-air pavilion in Charleston, South Carolina. Well, that ends today. If youre tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.

The event was Haleys official campaign launch after filing her paperwork to become Donald Trumps first declared challenger on Tuesday. Haley didnt mention Trump by name once, but alluded to a GOP electorate thats ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past.

Haley, South Carolinas first female governor and the first woman of color ever to lead the state, argued that shes uniquely suited for the role of ushering the GOP into a new era after the party lost the 2020 presidential election.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley greets supporters after her speech on Feb. 15 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley greets supporters after her speech on Feb. 15 in Charleston, South Carolina.

She called for mandatory term limits and mandatory competency testing for politicians over 75, a subtle dig at both Trump and President Joe Biden, her two biggest rivals. She also called for stricter voter ID laws, a stronger border and tougher relations toward China  bread-and-butter issues for the party that dont, on their face, signal a striking new direction for Republicans.

America is falling behind. Our future is slipping. Our leaders are failing. And no one embodies that failure more than Joe Biden, Haley said.

Haley, 51, is walking a tightrope with the former president. A onetime ally and Cabinet member whod previously vowed not to challenge Trump in 2024, Haley dealt with her only declared rival Wednesday by ignoring him. Critics accuse Haley of trying to have it both ways with the former president, and of veering from her earlier principled stances. Haley served as Trumps ambassador to the United Nations for less than a year  an eternity for public servants in Trumps orbit. She was praised for leaving on her own terms with her career intact.

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Moments after Haley wrapped up her remarks in Charleston, Trump blasted out a press release with a smattering of unflattering media hits, including a link to a 2012 piece in which Haley credited Hillary Clinton with inspiring her to run for office.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of the Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results for Biden, was the only speaker to acknowledge the former president head-on. He did so diplomatically, mirroring Haleys high-wire act.

In 2016, President Trump was exactly what the Republican Party in this country needed ... I want to thank Donald Trump for his service, Norman said, adding that Haley is whats desperately needed in America now, a leader with real solutions instead of political rhetoric.

Ross Ward, a former South Carolina House candidate, said he loved Trump in 2016 but believes hes not the right candidate now. When you become president, you have to work with both sides and not say ridiculous, ludicrous things, he said.

Haley, a former accountant, entered politics after managing the finances of her familys clothing business. She ousted a 30-year incumbent for a seat in the South Carolina House, and in 2010 she became, at the time, the nations youngest governor. Nikki Haley has always been underestimated in every race and adventure shes undertaken, said Katon Dawson, a former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

A daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley criticized identity politics after declaring that America is not a racist country.

Every day were told America is flawed, rotten and full of hate. Joe and [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] even say America is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth, Haley said.

Trump wasnt the only Republican whose presence hung over Haleys launch. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is expected to mount a presidential campaign in the coming months. Shortly after Haley teased a special announcement in Charleston, Scott, the Senates only Black Republican, announced an event with the local GOP the following day. Both Republicans then plan to head to Iowa, the partys first presidential nominating state.

Every day were told America is flawed, rotten and full of hate. Joe and Kamala even say America is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.Nikki Haley, at the launch of her presidential campaign

A South Carolina-based political strategist, who requested anonymity because of dueling loyalties, said Scotts message is more positive and better suited for a national electorate thats tired of divisiveness.

This presidential election requires a new way of thinking and unfortunately, I dont think Nikki has distinguished herself enough from Trump. Shes riding his coattails too much, and the coattails are getting shorter, this person said.

Nikki has veered from her sunny conservatism toward the culture wars, they said. Midterm voters said pretty clearly thats not a winning national message.

At the same time, this person acknowledged that Haley is a skilled political operator. Nikki Haley has always been her most senior adviser. Shes probably the most politically savvy governor South Carolina has ever seen. She reads a room with Bill Clinton-level ability. Shes just as good with students in underprivileged areas as she is with billionaires.

Haleys supporters traveled from all over the country to see her launch her campaign. Many said they had been fans for a while. Women especially were excited about the prospect of a woman at the top of the Republican ticket.

I like that shes polite, firm and has integrity, said Susan Harris, a retired accountant who traveled from Tennessee to see Haley. Being a Republican, I got so such much grief [in 2016]. You need to vote for Hillary [Clinton] because shes a woman. But Im not going to vote for someone without integrity. [Haley] is the right woman.

I would love to see the swamp drained  by a man or a woman, said Sabrina Parker, an occupational therapist from Georgia who waved a Haley sign in the audience but is waiting for the field to firm up before picking a favorite candidate.

Related...
Nikki Haley. Illustrated | Gettyimages

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as former President Donald Trump's U.N. ambassador, announced Tuesday that she is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Haley is the first member of the party to formally oppose Trump, who had been the only candidate in the field before Haley made it official. But she is likely to have to contend with a number of rivals, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who looks like the most formidable challenger to Trump's dominance in early polls.

When the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier reported two weeks ago that Haley would be launching her campaign in mid-February, Trump took the opportunity to remind Haley, and everybody else, that Haley said two years ago she wouldn't run if he did. "She said she would never run against me because I was the greatest president, but people change their opinions, and they change what's in their hearts," Trump told WIS-TV. "So I said, if your heart wants to do it, you have to go do it." What changes for the GOP with Haley joining the primary field?

Haley is staking an early claim to be the 'anti-Trump'

This is a "jump into the unknown for Haley" as Trump's first official challenger, said Max Greenwood and Julia Manchester in The Hill. "It's a role that few other Republicans are eager to fill, given Trump's penchant for trying to humiliate any of his political opponents, real or perceived." But Haley's record and background put her in "a unique lane in a potentially crowded GOP primary field that could help her cut through the noise, especially at a time when many Republicans are wavering on Trump's candidacy."

There are plenty of Republicans who want a steady, policy-oriented voice in the primary field. And Haley offers experience and "generational change" after two of the oldest presidents America has ever had. And even if she doesn't win the nomination, she could enhance the GOP ticket. Some Republicans have "floated Haley as a potential running mate for the eventual nominee, suggesting that her coming presidential bid could be a way for her to raise her profile."

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Haley adds a lot to the field, but she's a longshot

There is no question that Haley will have the GOP's attention, said Jonathan Bernstein in Bloomberg. Haley is one of just a few women who have run for the GOP presidential nomination. Her candidacy is a "significant landmark in terms of normalizing women as presidential candidates on a bipartisan basis." She's only the second woman with conventional political experience to go for the GOP nomination, after Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who entered a few primaries in 1964. Plus, "as the child of Indian immigrants, Haley also contributes to the history of ethnic diversity among Republican candidates.

Still, "when it comes to party support, Haley is not off to a good start." The governor and senior senator in her home state "already support Trump." And South Carolina's junior senator, Tim Scott, "is a potential candidate himself." Haley has her work cut out for her to become the most popular Republican presidential hopeful in her own state, which doesn't bode well for her odds nationwide.

Haley threw away her chance to be a great anti-Trump candidate

Haley, a former Trump critic, once had "everything the party thought it needed to win," said former GOP political consultant Stuart Stevens in The New York Times. She appealed to immigrants, young people, and people of color as much or more than any other Republican leader. She once "eviscerated Trump as a racist," saying someone who refused to disavow the K.K.K. wasn't fit to lead the GOP. She was "perfectly positioned" to run as the party's 2024 savior. "Then she threw it all away" by jumping on Trump's bandwagon and "embracing her inner MAGA." Nobody "better illustrates the tragic collapse of the modern Republican Party than Nikki Haley."

And the time to win over the party faithful might have passed. In a recent Morning Consult poll, she had 3 percent support, one point ahead of Liz Cheney. "The female star of the current Republican Party isn't the daughter of immigrants" who once showed the courage to lead toward a new future by "taking down the Confederate flag" at the South Carolina statehouse. The new star is "Marjorie Taylor Greene, who sells 'Proud Christian Nationalist' T-shirts while becoming arguably the second-most powerful member of the House in little more than one two-year term."

She could be the anti-Trump candidate who saves Trump

Haley has a slim chance of winning, but she could be a spoiler in the primaries, said Martin Pengelly in The Guardian. Trump has his hands full right now, with polls showing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posing a real threat, assuming he jumps into the ring. But a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll suggests that she could change the race just "enough to split the vote and keep Donald Trump ahead of Ron DeSantis, his only current close rival."

In a head-to-head race, Desantis leads Trump 45 percent to 41 percent in the poll. In a hypothetical three-way matchup, Haley would win 11 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Almost all of her votes would come from DeSantis, dropping him behind Trump, 35 percent to 38 percent. Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative website, wrote recently that the Trump challengers need to "coalesce around a frontrunner by February 2024 to avoid the same scenario that gave us Trump in 2016."

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A community member tends to a memorial outside of a Tops supermarket in Buffalo. AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Payton Gendron, the 19-year-old gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racially-motivated supermarket shooting last spring, was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison without parole following what The New York Times described as an "emotional and dramatic hearing."

Proceedings were interrupted twice: once after a man lunged at Gendron, and again when "a member of the audience began screaming and cursing" at the defendant as he issued a brief apology, per the Times.

Before hearing his sentence, Gendron was confronted by the family members of his victims, who denounced him as a "cowardly racist" and a "weak human."

"The world says you have to forgive in order to move on," said Zeneta Everhart, whose son was injured but survived. "But I stand before you today to say that will never happen."

"We are extremely aware that you are not a lone wolf, but a part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists," added Simone Crowley, whose grandmother was killed in the attack. "And to that network, we say we as a people are unbreakable."

Gendron carefully plotted the devastating May shooting for months, after having bought into white supremacist and antisemitic ideology online, and purposely chose to target a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. He even went so far as to live-stream the incident on social media.

The 19-year-old later pleaded guilty to state murder and domestic terrorism charges in November, but "still faces federal hate crime and firearm charges that could make him eligible for capital punishment," per The Washington Post. A decision on the matter is still forthcoming.

"There is no place for you and your ignorant, hateful ideology. There can be no mercy for you. No understanding. No second chances," Judge Susan Eagan told the defendant on Wednesday. "The damage you have caused is too great. And the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again."

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A Christian service at a college chapel in Kentucky has ballooned into a nonstop prayer and worship session that some are calling a "revival"  and people are traveling thousands of miles to take part in it after seeing viral videos on TikTok.

The growing event started as a routine chapel service at Asbury University, a small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky, according to university employees. At the tail-end of the meeting, a couple dozen lingering students assembled informally in a gathering thats been going now for seven days straight, 24 hours a day.

The first day we had a very ordinary service, I would call it unremarkable, said university President Dr. Kevin Brown. Following a morning service on Feb. 8, a multicultural gospel choir sang on stage. Some students stuck around afterward, and by evening more and more had trickled into the sanctuary creating something special, said Brown.

It has absolutely been social media that is the mechanism that people found out about this, said Mark Whitworth, Asbury Universitys vice president of communications.

The setup is simple. No projector screens or high-tech integrations, just wooden sanctuary chairs filled with people, and an open altar call with an invitation to prayer that still hasnt ended.

That equation has been a powerful recipe on social media.

On TikTok and Instagram, videos hashtagged Asbury Revival are racking up millions of views. At the time this article was published, the hashtag #asburyrevival had 24.4 million views on TikTok.

A photograph of Asbury University's campus, filled with students marching towards the church. (nickhallpulse / Instagram)

The phrase spiritual revival can carry different meanings; in Christianity, they generally refer to a resurgence in interest in the church from believers and nonbelievers. Many attendees of the Asbury gathering say they were drawn by a spiritual presence they felt was at the event.

In the TikTok videos of the event, some people are seen crying to worship music, with hands extended high, while others group up and place hands on those seeking prayer. The response of many TikTokers has gone beyond the typical "like" or comment on the videos, which in some cases have stirred viewers to make the trek to Asbury for themselves.

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Tuesday night capped the largest crowd yet: 3,000 worshipers piled into the college chapel and four overflowed facilities throughout the college town. At least two-thirds of the attendants are from out of state, according to Brown.

Students and staff from 22 schools have visited so far, alongside groups from Hawaii to Massachusetts, university faculty said. Travelers from Singapore and Canada are expected to arrive soon, they added.

Although social media has served as a lightning rod for the event, Asbury faculty said they were cautious not to market or brand what was happening.

The university made an intentional decision not to publicize this because we wanted to place an abundance of respect towards the experience of our students, said Brown.

With the exception of the regular three hours of weekly livestream from the chapel, the videos seen online have all come from participants.

Asbury University's revival. (Nick Hall / via Instagram)

Historically, Christian revivals, like The Great Awakening, are marked by conversions and wildfire growth  a reason why  for now, at least  many are cautiously referring to Asbury as an outpouring, a gathering, or a nonstop worship meeting.

Nick Hall, an attendee who purchased a one-way plane ticket from Minneapolis when he saw a viral video on Instagram, emphasized that the gathering was notably low-key for something that people are calling a revival.

This is acoustic guitars, pianos and very noncharismatic speakers. This is as un-sensationalized as it could be, he said.

And according to Hall, leading the charge in the sanctuary and on social media is the Gen Z generation.

Theyre the ones that started it, theyre the ones that sustained it, and theyre the ones that have been on the platform the whole time, he said.

Many of the now thousands in attendance acted swiftly, embarking on the trip just a day or two after learning about the assembly on social media.

J.T. Reeves, a senior at Wheaton College in Illinois, said he first heard of the gathering from an Instagram video and shortly after made the 6 1/2-hour drive to Wilmore. He said he left without a plan.

In chapel at Wheaton there was an encouragement to pay attention to a move of the Lord in Asbury, said Reeves. Just hours later, Reeves was there in person.

As attendance swiftly rises, some students who joined the spiritual movement at Asbury over the past week have returned to their own schools, where separate worship and prayer gatherings have broken out. Students at Lee University in Tennessee started a nonstop prayer vigil Monday morning that is still ongoing, said Brian Conn, director of communications at Lee University. Other schools with similar reports include Anderson University in Indiana, Ohio Christian University near Columbus, and a handful of others.

Asbury University is no stranger to events like this, as 50 years ago a similar prayer and worship event took place across the campus.

Never, though, had a gathering of this sort lasted as long as this one, which also benefits from the colossal propagating force of social media.

Scenes from Asbury revivals 1970 & 2023. Methodists know how to revive! pic.twitter.com/j6Jus8Z8me  Leah Payne (@drleahpayne) February 11, 2023

CORRECTION (Feb. 17, 1:44 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the first name of a senior at Wheaton College in Illinois. He is J.T. Reeves, not T.J.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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.

Norfolk Southern Corp. is facing multiple lawsuits over the East Palestine train derailment.

At least five federal lawsuits had been filed as of Thursday morning in the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Ohio. Another lawsuit has been filed in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

The suits claim Norfolk Southern was negligent and careless in connection with the train derailment, resulting in toxic chemicals dispersing into the atmosphere and environment. Attorneys expect all the lawsuits to eventually be merged into a single class-action lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the railroad company declined comment on the pending litigation.

Reasons more disasters could happen:Trains are becoming less safe

A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals caught fire and derailed Feb. 3, forcing evacuations near East Palestine in Columbiana County. The village of 4,700 residents borders Pennsylvania.

Five of the cars contained a colorless gas called vinyl chloride, which is used to make hard plastic resin and is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. A controlled release of the flammable chemical was conducted on Feb. 6 to prevent a possible explosion.

This photo taken 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 Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

East Palestine residents are concerned for their safety

Attorneys Gary Corroto and Lee Plakas with the Canton-Akron firm Tzangas Plakas Mannos, which filed one of the lawsuits, said their clients are concerned that East Palestine may no longer be a safe place to work or live.

"First and foremost, we are seeking the truth and we are seeking good and reliable information for the people of East Palestine, so they can be assured their homes are safe," Corroto said. "We don't believe we've been getting the full information."

He added: "We don't know the short-term impact and we certainly don't have any information what the long-term impact might be."

How much gas was released?Lawsuit alleges Norfolk Southern released 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride into air

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Norfolk Southern engaged "in an ultra-hazardous and/or abnormally dangerous activity, namely, the handling and transportation of highly volatile chemical substances for industrial and commercial purposes, including, but not limited to, vinyl chloride," says the lawsuit filed by Corroto and Plakas.

Melanie Bailey, an attorney for the Cincinnati firm Burg Simpson, is co-counsel in another federal lawsuit. She said residents have told them they are suffering from respiratory issues and irritations.

"We are concerned with the toxic chemicals that were released and any fallout that may have happened in the waterways and the airways," she said in a phone interview.

Corroto said they want Norfolk Southern to test and monitor the health of residents in and around East Palestine.

"We want to make sure moving into the future no conditions surface," he said, "but there is concern it is much worse than what has been reported."

East Palestine has a stigma now after chemicals released

Plakas said a number of their clients have expressed a desire to move but that might be difficult or costly because East Palestine  fairly or unfairly  has a stigma now that could hurt property values.

"What would you pay for that house?" Plakas asked.

The same stigma could hurt farmers in the area, too, he said.

"What happens to the products from those farms? Will there be a market for them? They're really scared," Plakas said.

Feb 14, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, 43215; Gov. Mike DeWine speaks about the East Palestine train derailment with his cabinet officials during a press conference. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

Attorneys: Don't rush into Norfolk Southern compensation

Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern has offered $1,000 checks to residents and business owners affected by the derailment and evacuations. The company also announced Tuesday that it will create a $1 million charitable fund to support the East Palestine community.

"Norfolk Southern continues to provide reimbursement for expenses incurred by residents affected by the evacuation, in addition to compensation for inconvenience during the evacuation, through our Family Assistance Center," a company spokesperson said in an email. "Acceptance of these reimbursements and/or inconvenience compensation is not a settlement of any future claim."

However, attorneys warned residents about signing any documents or accepting payments without making sure it does not waive their rights to future compensation.

"We don't know what the financial impact will be on these families, but certainly, it will be more than $1,000," Corroto said. "We think everybody should be leery ... until the full scale and scope of this disaster is known."

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com.

Follow on Twitter @bduerREP

Anderson lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

Eisley lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

feezle lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

Hall lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

Kinder Lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

Canterbury lawsuit by Rick Armon on Scribd

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Norfolk Southern faces federal lawsuits over Ohio train derailment
In 2013, a train derailment and subsequent fire in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killed 47 people and required all but three downtown buildings to be demolished for safety reasons. The following year, a derailment in Casselton, North Dakota, spilled nearly 500,000 gallons of crude oil and caused $13.5 million in damage, prompting the Obama administration to push for a new safety rule to govern the transportation of hazardous materials, avoid environmental disasters and save lives.

The effort to create a new safety rule was fought by industry lobbyists, including Norfolk Southern Corp., the Atlanta-based company whose train derailed Feb. 3 in eastern Ohio and spilled chemicals, leaving residents in East Palestine worried about their air, soil and water quality.

The safety rule, issued in 2015, required electronically controlled brakes  which apply braking simultaneously across a train rather than railcar by railcar over a span of seconds  to be installed by 2023. However, the rule was narrowly crafted and only applied to certain high-hazard flammable trains carrying at least 20 consecutive loaded cars filled with liquids such as crude oil.

The Trump administration repealed the brakes requirement three years later, stating that its cost exceeded its benefits.

A train fire is seen from Melissa Smith's farm in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this month. A train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order in the Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line.

Efforts to reduce costs, including lobbying against costly regulation, increasing train lengths, reducing inspection times and making major cuts to the railroad workforce have made trains less safe, labor representatives and industry experts told USA TODAY. That has increased the potential for accidents like the one in Ohio to become more common.

Still, in general, major derailments leading to public evacuations, chemical spills or loss of life are relatively rare compared with the vast amounts of hazmat cargo railroads transit.

We crunched the numbers: How often do train wrecks spill hazardous chemicals into neighborhoods?

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Had industry lobbying interests not prevailed on the 2015 rule, the Norfolk Southern Railway train involved in the Feb. 3 derailment may have been equipped with the better braking system, shown in studies to reduce the size of a derailment pile up when emergency braking is applied.

"ECP brakes would have avoided that monster pile up behind the derailed car," said Steven Ditmeyer, a former senior official at the Federal Railroad Administration. "In fact, depending on when the crew got the (error) notice from the wayside detector, applying the ECP brakes would have stopped everything very quickly.

"So I think it would have helped."

Norfolk Southern referred questions regarding lobbying against ECP brakes to the industry group the Association of American Railroads for comment.

Association of American Railroads spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said in an emailed statement that several railroad operators have tested ECP brakes and found them to have a "significant" failure rate and lengthy repair time that makes them impractical.

When such electronically controlled brakes fail, she said, trains become immovable and it can cause major disruptions. So railroads instead space locomotives throughout a train, which can more quickly distribute a brake signal among cars than a single locomotive can, Kahanek said.

In a 2017 report, the National Academy of Sciences said it was unable to "make a conclusive statement about the emergency performance of ECP brakes" compared with other braking systems based on the results of the provided DOT testing and analysis.

What is precision scheduled railroading?

The rule-making saga and its ultimate repeal are emblematic of the politically and financially difficult task of making improvements to the nations railroad system, which has left the industry mostly stuck with post-Civil War-era technology in its braking systems, even as other new technologies meant to streamline operations, are adopted.

Railroad operators have seen increasing competition from long-haul truck drivers for transporting goods to such a degree that over the last decades its executives have instituted a business philosophy known as precision scheduled railroading, which focuses on maximizing the use of trains by the individual carload, that has led to longer, heavier trains crisscrossing the nations railroad tracks in the name of efficiency and better shareholder returns.

But heavier and longer trains also mean that when something goes awry, the consequences can be far more catastrophic.

"If you have a very small error of some sort, most often a mechanical failure, you can all of a sudden have a very expensive derailment," said Karl Ziebarth, a longtime transportation consultant who has contracted for the Federal Railroad Administration.

"All of these things (industry trends) together show the pursuit of lower operating ratio (or costs) may spin off in other directions and cause catastrophic failures," Ziebarth added.

The Ohio National Guard's 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 earlier this month.

The Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine was carrying flammable liquids, benzene and butyl acrylates, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The tank car carrying butyl acrylates was breached and the entire load was lost in the spill and subsequent fire, according to EPA documentation.

The train also had five derailed tank cars of vinyl chloride, a flammable gas not captured by the Obama-era rule despite efforts by the National Transportation Safety Board at the time to have the agency adopt a broader definition for high-hazard flammable trains that would include those carrying flammable gasses.

The derailed Norfolk Southern train in Ohio resulted in large plumes of black smoke over the rural 5,000-person community, as crews did a controlled release of the hazardous materials on board to avoid an explosion. Residents were forced to leave their homes for days, and upon returning, complained about the smell in the air, burning in their eyes, and sick animals. Environmental authorities continue to monitor the air quality, and residents and business owners have banded together in a federal class-action lawsuit accusing Norfolk Southern of negligence.

In a Norfolk Southern 2015 lobbying disclosure, the company noted that it lobbied both Congress and the executive agencies working on the Department of Transportation rule, and opposed additional speed limitations and requiring ECP brakes.

Norfolk Southerns vice president of government relations, Rudy Husband, told Pennsylvania lawmakers in June 2015 that while the rail industry would comply with the new rule, it has serious concerns about the ECP brake requirements and the potential adverse impacts on the fluidity of the national freight network.

'Very long trains' emerge amid efforts to increase profits

In the companys 2021 annual report, Norfolk Southern Corp. told investors it had concluded its three-year plan to transform into a more innovative and efficient railroad, reaching record levels of productivity across its operations, including increasing average train weight by 21% and train length by 20%.

The Atlanta-based companys railway subsidiary operates across 22 states and Washington, D.C., but its not the only company with trains that have grown in length.

Average train lengths in 2017 were between 1.2 and 1.4 miles, according to data provided by two major railroads to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an increase of 25% since 2008. And the Association of American Railroads found that most trains have grown by roughly 2,700 feet, or 26 additional cars per train, over the past decade.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train.

Norfolk Southerns train in Ohio, at roughly 150 cars long, stretched nearly 1.9 miles, the company said. Preliminary indications are that a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure occurred moments before the derailment and may have caused the crash, the NTSB said Tuesday. The trains crew received an alarm from a wayside defect detector  a sensor often integrated into railroad tracks to detect problems along the way  shortly before the derailment indicating a mechanical issue and then an emergency brake application was initiated, according to the NTSB.

The labor union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, has noted that very long trains can lead to interruptions in radio communications with crew members or wayside defect detectors. There are no regulatory standards for wayside detectors. The labor union also noted in a presentation last month that very long trains can impact braking performance, decrease time for thorough inspections and increase the likelihood of catastrophic derailments.

The Federal Railroad Administration does not place limits on freight train length, but the agency states in documents that existing safety issues may be exacerbated as train length continues, including insufficient time for human inspection of rail cars, losing communication with equipment and people, and wearing out equipment more quickly.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is now studying the impacts of trains longer than 7,500 feet, with federal officials looking to see if new regulations are necessary. That study is expected to be completed in November, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Longer, heavier trains make it harder to brake in an emergency

When a train using conventional air brakes tries to stop, the air pressure signal is sent sequentially at a speed slightly slower than sound from railcar to railcar, generating increasing amounts of in-train forces because of individual cars pushing and pulling against one another, as cars at the front of a train begin to reduce speed before cars at the back.

The longer the train, the more difficult it is to skillfully stop, and the more likely it is an emergency braking scenario goes awry.

Over the past decade, as trains have grown longer and heavier, both the total number of reported accidents and the percentage of accidents on major tracks with 150 or more railcars have both gone up, according to a January presentation by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Freight train cars sit in a Norfolk Southern rail yard in 2022 in Alanta. President Joe Biden said then that a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a strike that could have been devastating to the economy before pivotal midterm elections.

Having fewer and longer trains means data about overall railroad accidents can make it appear as if there have been fewer accidents over the past decade. But a USA TODAY analysis of federal safety data by rate of train accidents per million train miles shows that the rate of accidents has been ticking up for Norfolk Southern progressively over the past decade. So too have the numbers around hazmat cars damaged or derailed, with 14 damaged or derailed in 2012, a peak of 117 in 2020 and 85 in 2021.

In 2017, a 121-car Norfolk Southern train derailed in Pell City, Alabama, leading to a release of hazardous material with minor evacuations. In 2020, a 230-car Norfolk Southern train with 78 hazmat cars derailed in Rocky Gap, West Virginia. Three of the hazmat cars were damaged, with the company chalking up the cause to railcars not being put in proper order.

Connor Spielmaker, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said the company's data on accidents along major railroad tracks, which impact the public more directly than incidents at one of the company's facilities, shows that accidents are on a flat or downward trend depending on the years selected for analysis.

But USA TODAY's review of the rate of "main line" train accidents per million train miles, also consistently trended slightly upward over the past decade ending in 2021, federal safety data shows.

Railroads shed workers as safety incidents rose

The railroad industry has cut roughly 30%, or 45,000 total workers since 2015, and since deploying precision scheduled railroading. Norfolk Southern has shed roughly 40% of its 30,456-person workforce. By the end of 2021, the company employed 18,100 workers, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Meanwhile, major railroad operators including Norfolk Southern have paid out $196 billion in buybacks and dividends since 2010, much more than the $150 billion spent on infrastructure improvements during that time, said Martin J. Oberman, chairman of the North American Rail Shippers Association, in a 2021 speech.

A train fire is seen from Melissa Smith's farm in East Palestine, Ohio.

In our view, I dont think you can separate the drastic reduction in workforce over the past seven or eight years, from the increase in accidents, the rate of safety incidents, said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the union representing rail labor. What people see on the ground is a really big amount of pressure on moving as fast as possible, as lean as possible, and generating as much profit as possible.

Regan noted that because there is no minimum inspection time required for railcars, the time taken for workers to inspect cars has dropped from two minutes to 40 or 45 seconds.

There has also been an effort to introduce more technology in lieu of human workers or in place of a physical inspection, Regan said, but when such technology fails, the lack of eyeballs and workers to address an issue can lead to accidents.

East Palestine resident Kathy Burr waits for help at the Norfolk Southern Assistance Center at the East Palestine Community Center in East Palestine, Ohio. She says she had smoke from the train derailment billowing in her home.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Norfolk Southern's Ohio train disaster could happen again. Here's why
Chinese premier meets Iranian president

Xinhua) 08:25, February 15, 2023

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)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Photo: The Canadian Press NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a news conference following. Meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Olivier Matthys

The head of NATO is raising the prospect of hard targets for military spending which could put more pressure on Canada to invest billions more on defence.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg today urged the military alliance's 30 members to recommit to spending at least two per cent of their GDP on defence.

He said they should set firm requirements and timelines for meeting the target, unlike when it was first set in 2014.

Canada has long lagged most of its allies on spending as a share of GDP, and refused to fully commit to the target.

Successive Canadian governments have instead insisted that the two-per-cent target is a guideline rather than a requirement.

But if other allies heed Stoltenberg's call, it would put real pressure on Canada to invest billions more into the military.
By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may have launched a military unit tasked with operating new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in line with its recent restructuring of the military, state media video footage suggested.

During a nighttime parade last week, North Korea showcased multiple ICBMs that are large enough to strike nearly anywhere in the world. The missiles included what some analysts said could be a prototype or mockup of a new solid-fuel ICBM in canister launchers.

A video aired on Feb. 9 by the reclusive country's official broadcaster and seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed that a previously unknown flag was attached to the new ICBM's launcher, indicating the military might have created a separate unit to operate the weapons.

Cho Han-bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said the flag "effectively confirmed the new ICBM unit" and could signal a forthcoming test of a solid-fuel weapon.

Many of North Korea's specialised units have their own flags. The ICBMs shown at past military parades were decorated with the national flag or nothing.

The new red-gold flag, with a black missile soaring into the sky inside a circle, was also displayed among other military flags when leader Kim Jong Un and his family walked into the parade venue.

Another flag was seen at the parade, apparently featuring the massive Hwasong-17 ICBM, which can most likely reach the U.S. mainland. It was marked with "2022.11," which could refer to the date when the North successfully launched the Hwasong-17 as it resumed ICBM testing for the first time since 2017.

The potential creation of the ICBM unit came after Kim called for developing more ICBMs and a larger nuclear arsenal this year to counter threats from the United States and its allies.

North Korea's state media reported on a restructuring of its Korean People's Army (KPA) and redesign of its flags this week, saying the change was in line with its push for "building a powerful army."

"Many units of services and arms of the People's Army have been expanded and reorganised, major operational combat duties assigned to them as required by the new situation and environment and the strategic and tactical missions of overall units changed," the official KCNA news agency said on Monday.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Hyun Young Yi; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
By Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) -A North Korean food crisis appears to have deteriorated, South Korea said on Wednesday, as a newspaper reported that North Korea has cut rations to its soldiers for the first time in more than two decades.

North Korea has effectively acknowledged serious food shortages, South Korea's unification ministry said, referring to a North Korean state media report this month about plans for an "urgent" ruling party meeting on agriculture.

"Its food situation seems to have deteriorated," the South's unification ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said in a statement.

North Korea has over recent decades suffered serious food shortages, including famine in the 1990s, often a result of natural disasters such as floods damaging harvests.

The isolated country is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually choked off by self-imposed lockdowns aimed at preventing COVID-19.

South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper said on Wednesday that North Korea has reduced daily food rations to its soldiers for the first time since 2000, citing an unidentified senior South Korean official.

The unification ministry said it could not confirm details of the media report but it and other agencies were monitoring the situation.

North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Feb. 6 that the Workers' Party of Korea had called a meeting of the party's Central Committee for late February for the "very important and urgent task to establish the correct strategy for the development of agriculture".

The South's unification ministry said it was rare for North Korea to call such a special meeting.

Last month, the U.S.-based monitoring group 38 North said North Korea's "food availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs", with food insecurity at its worst since the famines of the 1990s.

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South Korea's Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said recent North Korean media reports of leader Kim Jong Un's daughter appearing at state functions could be aimed at drumming up unity and shoring up loyalty to the ruling family amid deepening humanitarian woes.

"North Korea's food situation doesn't seem very good," Kwon told parliament. "We're seeing a number of signs ... though it doesn't yet look like there's a stream of people starving to death."

Kwon also said North Korea has asked the U.N. food agency, the World Food Programme, for help but talks did not progress because of differences over the monitoring of any aid.

The WFP, which has helped North Korea over the years, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Metro Atlanta could soon have another Level 1 trauma center to handle the most critical injuries.

Northeast Georgia Medical Center is applying for the title, which would make it the fifth health system in Georgia designated as a Level 1 center.

This comes as Atlanta deals with the loss of Atlanta Medical Center in November. Its closure left only one Level 1 trauma center in the region  Grady Hospital.

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Were already very busy, were a busy level 2, Jesse Gibson, the trauma program director for Northeast Georgia Medical Center told Channel 2s Brian Mims. I think we have one of the top volumes (for Level 2) in the state.

As a Level 2, the hospital can begin care for all injured patients, but may have to send the most severe cases to a Level 1 trauma center, such as Grady. A Level 1 hospital can provide for every aspect of the most severe traumatic injuries  from prevention to rehab  without having to transfer patients.

Gibson said Northeast Georgia is operating as a Level 1 now. Were already a very high-functioning Level 2 trauma center, she said.

The American College of Surgeons recently performed a survey of the hospital see whether it has the staff and services to qualify as a Level 1 center. Its expected to decide on the hospitals Level 1 status this spring.

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It really furthers our goal to be the sold medical provider for the region of northeast Georgia, said Dr. Matthew Vassy, the trauma medical director. He said advancing to a Level 1 center would help the hospital attract talented doctors and specialists, and bolster its research programs.

Certainly research in terms of clinical treatments and becoming leaders in establishing what the leading edge of clinical care is in trauma, Vassy said.

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But he said patients likely wouldnt see much change in clinical care if the hospital becomes a Level 1 health system. In terms of the clinical care that well provide, theres not a lot of difference in terms of requirements, Vassy said. What I think it will allow us to do is to continue to recruit at a high level.

He said a growing area like northeast Georgia needs a hospital that can provide for the most critical emergencies. I think its greatly needed, he said. We serve a very large rural population thats pretty much all northeast of us.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Spring break in New Smyrna Beach, Thursday, March 17, 2022.

In preparation for spring break next month, New Smyrna Beach officials proposed a youth curfew ordinance after police reported an 89% increase in juvenile arrests during the same time last year.

In 2022, hundreds of teenagers flocked to the city during the week off, and police reported several instances of disruptive behavior toward residents and businesses, especially during the night.

The events led to an emergency City Commission meeting where members approved a 60-day curfew to help law enforcement officers deal with crowds of approximately 400 teenagers, mostly high-schoolers, according to police.

Spring break 2022:NSB issues youth curfew, requests mutual aid following emergency meeting

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In New Smyrna Beach:Parking task force returns, hopes to alleviate issues while maintaining city's charm

This year, spring break takes place March 13-17. The ordinance, as currently written, proposes a permanent curfew.

A review of case statistical data by the New Smyrna Beach Police Department showed that, in addition to an increase in juvenile arrests between 2021 and 2022, the number of citations issued also increased 56%.

The department believes that the proposed curfew would serve as an effective tool in curbing criminal activity committed by or against youth during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights, according to a report by Interim Police Chief Eric Feldman.

Spring break in New Smyrna Beach, Thursday, March 17, 2022.

It would also serve as a deterrent to large groups of juveniles congregating on public streets and sidewalks during these hours, which has previously served as a cover for those who would commit crimes against persons and property without fear of identification, Feldman added.

What the police data shows

According to the data, the set of crimes responsible for the significant increase are referred to as Part II crimes. While these include more than 15 different types of crimes, those reported by residents and business owners last year included intimidation, DUI and liquor law violations.

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The number of arrests for those crimes went from three to 13 between 2021 and 2022  a 333% jump. The number hasn't been that high since 2019, when police arrested 19 people.

Graph released by the New Smyrna Beach police department shows increase in juvenile arrests between 2021 and 2022.

Police also reported four juvenile arrests for Part I crimes (aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft and others), compared to two in 2021.

The number of juvenile citations went from 18 to 28.

Juvenile civil citations, Feldman explained in the report, are a diversionary pre-arrest program that allows youth to complete certain requirements in lieu of a misdemeanor prosecution.

These requirements, according to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, can include family counseling, drug screening, substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment. On a local level, they can also include a letter of apology to the victim, restitution, school progress monitoring, or prevocational skill services.

What happens if you break curfew in New Smyrna Beach?

According to the proposed ordinance, no individual person under the age of 18 will be able to remain, stay, move about, wander or stroll in any public place, semi-public place, or establishment in the city  either on foot or in or upon any vehicle during youth curfew hours.

Those who violate the curfew will receive a written warning for the first violation, followed by $50 fines for each subsequent violation. Parents and/or businesses who knowingly permit underage people to violate the curfew will receive the same penalties.

On Tuesday, at the request of the interim police chief, the city removed language from the ordinance that previously made it so that only people gathered in groups of 30 or more would be in violation of the curfew.

The ordinance will take effect immediately if adopted.

The City Commission will conduct a public hearing and vote on the ordinance at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the City Commission Chambers, 214 Sam Ave.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Smyrna Beach proposes permanent youth curfew ahead of spring break
NEW YORK (AP)  In his battle against rats, New York City Mayor Eric Adams scored a split decision Tuesday when a hearing officer dismissed one summons while upholding another issued by a city inspector citing him for not doing enough to keep rodents at bay from his Brooklyn townhouse.

In a city where some residents consider rats Public Enemy No. 1, the mayor's own troubles with rodents has been the source of amusement among those keeping score of the city's mostly losing battle against the vermin.

The hearing officer, noting the thousands of dollars Adams has invested in addressing his rat problems, credited the mayor for taking credible steps to control the rat population at his rental property.

But the hearing officer admonished the mayor for not sufficiently heeding his health department's advice for the proper disposal of trash and recyclables, saying that the presence of several bags on the ground could provide shelter or protection for rodents, which amounts to a harborage condition.

For that offense, the hearing officer ordered Adams to pay a $300 fine.

The mayor's spokesperson, Fabien Levy, said in a statement the mayor was grateful that one of the summonses was dismissed. The mayor would consider his options about the second decision, Levy said, adding: One decision is clear, however: The mayor still hates rats.

Last week, Adams via telephone contested the two summonses he got on Dec. 7, just a day after another hearing officer dismissed an earlier $300 ticket for failing to control the rat population at the same property.

Participating via telephone, Adams contested the findings of an inspector who found rat burrows along a fence line and fresh rat droppings in front of the mayors garbage bins.

Adams denied he has a rat problem, telling the hearing officer last week that his own inspections produced no signs of rodents.

The hearing officer was swayed by the the mayor's arguments that he's made good efforts to address rodents at his property, which he rents out.

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Adams said he pays an exterminator monthly and spent $7,000 a year ago to keep the property rodent-free and produced receipts showing that he continued to rely on outside expertise to assure the his property would remain free of rats.

Before he became mayor, Adams, as the Brooklyn borough president, was known for his dislike of rats. He famously turned stomachs when he demonstrated a trap for reporters that relied on a bucket filled with a vinegary, toxic soup to drown rats lured by the scent of food.

The trap wasnt very effective, nor was every other attempt by previous mayors to vanquish the citys rat population.

Adams has often professed his dislike for rats. Last fall, he began looking for a rat czar to help him control the city's rat population.

Lets be clear: I hate rats, and we have too many of them and we have to get rid of them, he said in June while announcing a proposed city spending plan.
By Brad Brooks and Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) - Cleanup is moving quickly after a train carrying toxic materials derailed in Ohio 11 days ago, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Tuesday, while residents and observers questioned the health impacts of pollution that spilled into the Ohio River.

The Norfolk Southern Railroad-operated train derailed on Feb. 3, causing a fire that sent a cloud of smoke over the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. After railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars, DeWine on Feb. 8 said that residents could return to their homes.

While DeWine said the pollution did not pose a serious threat to five million people who rely on the river for drinking water, he and several Ohio health and environmental officials cautioned at an afternoon press conference that residents using private wells near the derailment should only use bottled water.

Reporters pressed DeWine and other officials about some residents' complaints of headaches and concern that the government or the railroad were not telling them the entire truth about the pollution and potential harm.

One of the chemicals on the train was vinyl chloride, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is highly flammable and carcinogenic, especially through inhalation. When burned, it decomposes into other toxic compounds including hydrogen chloride.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said the compounds spilled can cause headaches, eye and nose irritation even at levels considered safe, but that the "measured facts" show air sampling is not reporting any dangers.

The plume of pollution in the Ohio River is moving at one mile per hour (1.61 km per hour) toward the Mississippi River, nearing Huntington, West Virginia, on Tuesday afternoon, said Tiffany Kavalec, chief of the surface water division of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

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Cities in the plume's path can turn off their drinking water intakes as it floats by, Kavalec said. Drinking water tests have not raised concerns and normal water treatment would remove any small amounts of contaminants that may exist, Kavalec said.

Officials said the volume of the river diluted the plume and the plume did not pose a serious threat.

UNION WARNINGS

Railroad union officials said they have been warning that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures.

Asked about the union accusations, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern Railroad said in an email that "our record (and that of most US Class I railroads) is trending safer."

The train of three locomotives and 150 freight cars was headed from Illinois to Pennsylvania when it derailed. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said 20 of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, including 10 that derailed.

The NTSB said 38 cars in total left the tracks and that the ensuing fire damaged an additional 12. The NTSB has not commented on the derailment's cause.

Clyde Whitaker, chairman and director of the Ohio State Legislative Board for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Transportation Division (SMART-TD) said he had notified federal railroad inspectors that crews at one railroad, which he would not name, were disregarding warnings from detectors designed to prevent accidents and was told that their use is voluntary and not subject to regulation.

"No one wants to listen until we have a town blown off the face of the earth, then people listen," said Whitaker, whose union is the largest U.S. railroad union representing conductors, engineers and other workers.

DeWine said that he spoke with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Tuesday morning.

"I asked if he would personally guarantee that the railroad would stay there until absolutely everything was clean. He gave me his word and his commitment that the railroad would do that, they would not leave until that was done," the governor said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had earlier notified the company it may be liable for cleaning up under the U.S. Superfund law.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks and Lisa Baertlein; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Donna Bryson and Josie Kao)
Photo: The Canadian Press A sign showing where Indigo plans to open a new store this fall is seen at the Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, N.J., on July 22, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Craig Wong

The risks of reputational damage are growing for Indigo Books & Music Inc. as its website remains off-line more than a week after a cyberattack, experts say.

The company first announced on Feb. 8 that its website was knocked out and it was only able to accept cash payments in stores. Shoppers can now use payment cards in store, but still can't process returns or exchanges while the website is fully off-line and only shows the latest notification from the company.

Those updates, which have also gone out across social media, have been an important part of minimizing the damage, said retail expert Lisa Hutcheson.

"There is going to be some fallout on reputation, but I think that can be offset by all the things that they did do right in terms of being transparent, they informed the customer quickly.

The company has been responding to customer questions through various social media channels, including an update Tuesday that said customer credit and debit card information was not compromised as it doesn't store full credit or debit card numbers in our systems.

The latest notice also said the company is working hard with third-party experts to investigate and resolve this cybersecurity incident.

Updates only go so far and it's still not clear what, if any, other personal data was affected or what the nature of the incident is, so the company has work ahead of it, said Hutcheson.

"Customers do get a little nervous, regardless, so I think they'll probably be still some work to do on making sure that the customer is fully comfortable returning to the stores and on their website and making those purchases.

Indigo has also yet to say when it expects to be fully up and running, and the longer it goes on the worse the effect, said retail analyst and author Bruce Winder.

"If they let this drag on a lot more then there is going to be some serious reputational damage, because people will say, 'What's wrong with Indigo? Why don't they have their act together?'

Customers are understanding to a degree as high-profile cyberattacks come up regularly. LCBO was hit in January in an attack that left its website down for two days, while Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. left customers unable to fill prescriptions at the chain's pharmacies for four days, while other in-store functions like self-checkout machines, gift card use and the redemption of loyalty points were off-line for about a week.

Overall about one-fifth of businesses are affected by cybersecurity incidents annually, Statistics Canada data shows.

The understanding only goes so far though, said Winder.

"Customers will give them a little bit of slack because they realize we live in an environment where hackers are everywhere and taking many companies hostage, but at some point they've got to end this quickly and apologize to customers."

Besides the reputational hit, Indigo's website being down also knocks out an important revenue stream for the company as online sales grew substantially as a portion of total sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About 30 per cent of revenue came from online for the company's last fiscal year that ended in April 2022, while online sales made up 17 per cent of revenue for the year ending March 2020.

The company noted in its last annual report that it had undergone a major update to its online presence, including entering into an agreement with Salesforce to provide its cloud-based e-commerce solutions that would function as a critical pillar for its digital architecture.

"These efforts will deliver an innovative and agile platform that will allow the company to fully realize the potential of the eCommerce opportunity," the company noted.

The incident also comes as the company works to deal with wider structural issues for its retail business after reporting profits were down in the last quarter, while its share price is down about 90 per cent from where it was in 2018.

It is a short term distraction," said Winder. "There are other issues they have, there's bigger fish to fry, so to speak in terms of their viability long term.
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?

RELATED LOCAL COVERAGE >>> Gov. Josh Shapiro meets with emergency leaders in Beaver County regarding train derailment

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 Southerns 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 dont 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.

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is calling on Congress to re-examine some federal railroad regulations, after the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in his state triggered an explosion that sent toxic chemicals into the air and nearby waterways.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, DeWine, a Republican, said he was informed that the railroad company was not legally required to alert anyone in Ohio about the toxic cargo because only some of the cars on the Norfolk Southern train that derailed earlier this month were carrying hazardous materials.

Frankly, if this is true, and I'm told its true, this is absurd, DeWine said. Congress needs to take a look at how these things are handled.

DeWine did not elaborate on the specific regulation he was referring to, but his comments come amid mounting questions about whether rollbacks to federal railroad safety regulations were to blame for the Feb. 3 derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border of roughly 50 freight train cars, 10 of which were carrying hazardous chemicals.

Days after the initial crash, which caused a massive fire near the town of East Palestine, railroad crews conducted a controlled release of toxic chemicals from some of the derailed cars that were at risk of exploding, sending an ominous plume of black smoke into the sky.

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, in this screengrab from a handout video released by the NTSB. (NTSBGov/handout via Reuters)

Speaking alongside several state health and safety officials in Columbus, DeWine also sought to address growing health and safety concerns expressed by some local residents, who have reported strange odors, burning eyes and sick animals, even though they had been assured it was safe to return to their homes. DeWine called for a full evacuation of the area last Monday, before the state said it was safe for everyone to return two days later.

Asked whether he would return to his house if he lived in East Palestine, DeWine said, Look, I think that I would be drinking the bottle of water, and I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air. I would be alert and concerned, but I think I would probably be back in my house.

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I understand their skepticism, and I understand their anger, the governor said of residents who were affected. And, you know, if I lived in the community, I would be angry, too. [Norfolk Southern] caused this problem, theyre going to be held accountable.

DeWine said he spoke to the CEO of Norfolk Southern, who gave me his word and his commitment that the railroad company would stay in East Palestine until the damage from the derailment was completely cleaned up. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Norfolk Southern saying that it had failed to properly dispose of contaminated soil at the crash site in its effort to get the railway reopened.

Shortly after DeWines press conference, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, sent a letter to Norfolk Southern expressing "serious concerns" about its handling of the accident. Shapiros accusations included claiming that the company caused confusion with its response, gave inaccurate information about the impact of the chemical release, and didn't explore alternative courses of action.

Map of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment. (Yahoo News)

Ohio state officials at the Tuesday afternoon press conference said they were not concerned about anecdotal reports of residents developing symptoms like headaches, sore throats and rashes, while discounting reports of dead livestock.

Dr. Bruce T. Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said that while it was possible that residents were smelling some of the chemicals at low levels and experiencing common symptoms, air sampling in that area really is not pointing toward an air source for this.

Everything that we've gathered thus far is really pointing toward very low measurements, if at all, Vanderhoff said. And what I would encourage people who are having those symptoms to do is No. 1: Contact your medical provider. And No. 2: Call the local hotline to let them know that you're experiencing this. So a team can get out and check their environment.

Brian Baldridge, who leads the states Department of Agriculture, said: There's nothing that we've seen in the livestock community that causes any concerns to the state. Nevertheless, he encouraged residents to reach out to their local veterinarians if their animals developed symptoms.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said that while 3,500 fish were killed in the immediate aftermath of the derailment, There doesn't appear to be any increase in the fish or aquatic creatures killed since the first couple days of the derailment. So wildlife officers have been there every day on the scene, working with contractors who are in the water, doing the net sampling, making the estimates. And we will continue to monitor and watch what's going on and eventually hold those responsible accountable for the loss of wildlife in the area.

Railroad employees are hopeful that the focus on the latest derailment helps gain public support for a change in the way business is done. Matt Weaver, the Ohio Legislative Director for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED-IBT), told Yahoo News that he thought derailments are far more common than the public know, adding the only ones that are spoken about are the ones that are Federal Railroad Administration reportable.

Asked about the response from Biden and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Weaver said he felt that it was insufficient, adding, They should strike while the iron is hot and enforce these regulations and make things safer."

He added: I think perhaps [Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg] has dropped the ball here. Let's do an investigation, let's have the NTSB get a report out and find out how we can make things better. And I feel that not getting feedback from the Department of Transportation and even the administration is a bit frustrating.

Aftermath of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 4. (Dustin Franz/AFP via Getty Images)

Railway unions have been particularly critical of Buttigieg, who did not issue a statement on the Feb. 3 crash until the evening of Feb. 13. He then began a series of tweets by 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.

The noted environmental activist Erin Brockovich was also critical of the Biden White House, writing Monday night, Doing better than your predecessor, is not doing enough. The Biden administration needs to get more involved in this [Ohio] train derailment now. We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye. STEP UP NOW.

DeWine was more positive on the federal response, saying that Biden had called him last week. He told me that he wanted to just assure me that anything I needed from the federal government they would supply," he said, "and told me to call him personally if there was anything we needed at that point.

Weaver said one change that would help is a mandated improvement to electronic braking systems versus the current mechanical air brakes, which date back to the 19th century. He added, The government should require them to do better. Let's make things safe for the public and the workers.

Another issue pointed to in recent years by railroad workers is the use of Precision Scheduled Railroading, which results in longer trains with more cars, and less time for inspections.

It also resulted in major cuts to the number of railroad workers, complicating train scheduling. Railway unions nearly went on strike over these issues last year, but were forced back to work by Congress and the Biden administration, disappointing many labor leaders.

With the man-count being decimated by this Precision Scheduled Railroading, PSR, we're suffering on deferred maintenance, we're not doing preventative maintenance on track bridges and buildings, and we don't have enough manpower to get the work done. I think that they've cut extra boards, Weaver said, referring to the pool of workers used to back up regular employees.

So transportation is really suffering on being on call all the time. Lack of good rest and good, defined, work times are a big issue with train crews.
The entrance to election site in the Tuscarawas County Courthouse.

NEW PHILADELPHIA  Beginning with the May 2 primary, Ohio residents will be required to show photo identification to be able to cast a ballot in person.

House Bill 458, signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in January, created the photo ID requirement. Previously, residents could use such things as a utility bill, bank statement or paycheck to show their current address.

More on voting:How Ohio's new voter ID law compares to other states

More on voting:May 2023 ballot: Contested primaries brewing for Dover, Uhrichsville mayor positions

"People who come in to early vote and people who go to their polling locations must have a photo ID to vote," said Gail Garbrandt, director of the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections. "That's either an Ohio driver's license or an Ohio ID card. A military ID is also acceptable and now a U.S. passport, which was never acceptable in the past."

Photo ID is required unless a voter has a religious objection to being photographed and attests to that on the form prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

If residents are casting an absentee ballot, they have to provide one of three types of identification  the last four digits of their Social Security number, their driver's license number or a photo ID. If they use their photo ID, they have to send the elections board a copy of both sides, Garbrandt said.

Early voting at the board of elections office

The state also made changes to early voting hours.

The Tuscarawas County Board of Elections office at the courthouse in New Philadelphia will be open:

April 4 through April 7: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

April 10 through April 14: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

April 17 through April 21: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

April 24: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

April 25: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

April 26 through April 28: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

April 29: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

April 30: 1 to 5 p.m.

Early voting on the Monday before the primary has been eliminated.

Anyone with questions about early voting should call the Board of Elections at 330-343-8819.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Early voting hours change for May primary in Ohio
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has insisted there is no lingering danger to residents of East Palestine after a train carrying toxic substances derailed nearly two weeks ago.

The Norfolk Southern freight train carrying 20 cars of hazardous materials derailed near the state border with Pennsylvania on 3 February, sparking concerns of lasting environmental damage and health issues for residents.

Officials carried out a controlled detonation which sent noxious black clouds billowing into the air.

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Mr DeWine said that tests on air and water around the site of the train derailment showed no cause for concern.

There had been no significant change in the air quality since the 3 February derailment, and the fish that were killed died very soon after the crash, he said.

Residents had been advised to drink bottled water out of an abundance of caution, he added.

Some residents have complained of suffering respiratory infections in the aftermath of the crash, while there have been reports of animals dying mysteriously in surrounding towns.

A planned Q and A session to answer concerns of East Palestine residents was scrapped on Wednesday, officials said.

Key points

DeWine promises to hold Norfolk Southerns feet to the fire

Animals drop dead as ecological disaster unfolds

Map shows area affected by toxic spill

Jon Stewart blasts Tucker Carlson and JD Vance

Pete Buttigieg speaks out about Ohio train derailment

Officials scrap planned Q&A session

Lawsuit alleges Norfolk's clean up efforts 'made it worse'

04:30 , Stuti Mishra

A lawsuit filed in the United States District Court by some residents in the area alleges the efforts of authorities to clean up and mitigate the calamity have instead worsened the situation, demanding punitive damages and medical monitoring.

The case filed by law firm Morgan & Morgan alleges after authorities "purportedly blew holes in the cars containing vinyl chloride, dumping 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride" into the area.

Story continues

According to the EPA, this is more than double the amount of vinyl chloride all industrial emitters release in the United States  combined  over the course of a year. Vinyl chloride is a known carcinogen, to which there is no safe level of exposure.

Im not sure Norfolk Southern could have come up with a worse plan to address this disaster, said attorney John Morgan.

Residents exposed to vinyl chloride may already be undergoing DNA mutations that could linger for years or even decades before manifesting as terrible and deadly cancers."

"The lawsuit alleges that Norfolk Southern made it worse by essentially blasting the town with chemicals as they focused on restoring train service and protecting their shareholders.

The complaint goes on to allege that, rather than engaging in safer, more prudent and more costly efforts to properly contain and clean up the spill, Norfolk Southern chose a cheaper, less safe containment method  setting the spilled chemicals on fire, creating a 1-million-pound-plus chemical burn pit, and releasing Phosgene Gas into the atmosphere. Phosgene gas is a deadly chemical warfare agent banned under the Geneva Protocol.

From chemicals that cause nausea and vomiting to a substance responsible for the majority of chemical warfare deaths during World War I, the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities are facing an unprecedented array of threats to their health, said Morgan & Morgan attorneys Frank Petosa and Rene Rocha.

While the lives impacted by this wholly preventable catastrophe may never be the same, we are committed to holding Norfolk Southern accountable for its actions and inactions and securing justice for those whose lives have been disrupted and remain in danger.

Plaintiffs are seeking relief including medical monitoring, injunctive and declaratory relief, punitive damages, and damages related to injuries, emotional distress, loss of property value, and increased risks of future illness.

Map: Where the Norfolk Southern train derailed

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:00 , Bevan Hurley

Thousands of Ohio residents had to evacuate their homes after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic materials derailed on 3 February.

Since then, air and water testing has shown the area is safe to return to, according to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

However, the hazardous substances that were deliberately burned off to avoid an explosion created enormous plumes of black smoke toxic. Residents have reported skin and respiratory illnesses and chemicals have seeped into water supplies and earth.

'They screwed up our town': Angry Ohio residents seek answers on train's toxic spill

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Hundreds of irate residents of the Ohio town where the train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals packed into a high school gym yesterday, seeking answers to what health dangers they face.

East Palestine mayor Trent Conaway, looking angry and tired, said he wanted to help provide some reassurance for the 4,700 citizens of his town, and hold to account those responsible for the train derailment.

"We need our citizens to feel safe in their own homes," Mr Conaway said as the meeting began. "I need help. I'm not ready for this. But I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere."

Mr Conaway said Norfolk Southern, which operated the toxins-laden train that derailed on 3 February in East Palestine, was working closely with him. "They screwed up our town, they're going to fix it," Mr Conway said.

Mr Conaway addressed citizens seated in bleachers, speaking through a bull horn as he paced around the gym floor.

Norfolk Southern officials did not attend the meeting, saying they feared violence.

"After consulting with community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties," the company said in an emailed statement.

Members of the community gather to discuss their safety and other environmental concerns at a town hall meeting following a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals, in East Palestine (REUTERS)

All we know about affected areas and a cancer-causing chemical

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

More than a week after the Ohio train derailment, information is still trickling out about what exactly happened and what risk the 5,000 residents of East Palestine  and the millions in the surrounding region  may face as a result of the crash.

Graig Graziosi takes a comprehensive look at what we know about the train derailment, its causes, and what effect it has  and may have  on the people and the environment.

Train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio: Everything we know

Pete Buttigieg blames Trump for Ohio train derailment

06:00 , Stuti Mishra

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg partly blamed the Trump administration for the recent train derailment that carried toxic chemicals in Ohio.

Mr Buttigieg claimed that the Department of Transportation had made significant investments in rail safety, but their efforts were hindered by the Trump administration's decision to withdraw a proposed rule in 2018 that would have required trains carrying dangerous chemicals to use electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.

Mr Buttigieg tweeted that his agency had been working diligently to improve rail safety but was constrained by law in certain areas of rail regulation, including the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018.

"In the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents, we're seeing lots of newfound or renewed (and welcome) interest in our work on rail safety, so I wanted to share more about what we've been doing in this area," Mr Buttigieg tweeted.

"But we are constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe," he added.

"And of course, I'm always ready to work with Congress on furthering (or in some cases, restoring) our capacity to address rail safety issues."

In the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents, were seeing lots of newfound or renewed (and welcome) interest in our work on rail safety, so I wanted to share more about what weve been doing in this area:  Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) February 14, 2023

Train did not break down for the first time, employee says

05:30 , Stuti Mishra

The Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio earlier this month had experienced problems earlier and had concerns around its size, an employee has said.

A report by CBS News quoting unnamed staff members said broke down at least once before derailing in East Palestine, Ohio.

The employees were also quoted saying there were concerns among those working on the train over what they believed was the train's excessive length and weight  151 cars, 9,300 feet long, 18,000 tons  before it reached East Palestine, which contributed to both the initial breakdown and the derailment.

"We shouldn't be running trains that are 150 car lengths long," one of the employees told CBS News.

"There should be some limitations to the weight and the length of the trains. In this case, had the train not been 18,000 tons, it's very likely the effects of the derailment would have been mitigated."

HEPACO workers, an environmental and emergency services company, observe a stream in East Palestine, Ohio (AP)

Ohio derailment aftermath: How worried should people be?

05:10 , Stuti Mishra

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?

The Associated Press takes a look at the immediate dangers to residents.

Ohio derailment aftermath: How worried should people be?

Arizona interstate reopens after deadly crash, leak

04:50 , Stuti Mishra

The main freeway in southern Arizona reopened in both directions a few hours ago and officials said people living southeast of downtown Tucson could return home a day after a deadly crash sent acrid plumes into the desert sky and prompted evacuation.

The public may resume normal activities, Arizonas Department of Public Safety said in statement late night.

Less than 3.2km of Interstate 10 had been closed in both directions for more than a full day after a truck tractor pulling a box trailer crashed Tuesday afternoon.

Residents within a half-mile of the crash initially were told to leave, and those within 1.6 kilometres were told to shelter in place after liquid nitric acid was determined to be leaking from the wreck.

The shelter in place order was extended for a time to 4.8 kilometres but was lifted altogether by night. Before that, area residents were told to turn off heaters and air conditioning systems that bring in outside air.

Officials have been dealing with Arizonas hazardous crash as Ohio residents continue to raise concerns about the release of toxic chemicals on board a freight train that derailed and left 50 cars in a fiery, mangled mess.

How many train derailments have there been in the US in 2023?

04:00 , Bevan Hurley

The recent Ohio train derailment, in which carriages from a 150-car freight liner carrying toxic chemicals crashed off the tracks in the town of East Palestine, is just one of more than a dozen rail accidents reported to have already taken place in the US since the start of 2023.

The accident was not even the first to have occurred in Ohio this year, according to Newsweek, with another derailment having taken place on 19 January between Trinway and Adams Mill.

In that incident, an Ohio Central Railroad train comprising 97 cars and stretching for 1.2 miles slid off the rails, although they were empty at the time so leaked no cargo and no one was hurt.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad has more details.

How many train derailments have there been in the US in 2023?

The DC blame game begins over Ohio train derailment

03:00 , Bevan Hurley

Experts say that industry practices, mechanical issues, regulations, and labour problems all contributed to the 3 February crash, writes The Independents Josh Marcus.

The immediate cause of the derailment, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards preliminary investigation, was a wheel bearing on one of the trains cars becoming overheating and failing just before the crash.

The deeper reasons for the crash are more complex.

Read Joshs full story below examining who is to blame for the derailment.

The DC blame game begins over Ohio train derailment. Whose fault is it?

Couple and toddler diagnosed with respiratory infections

02:00 , Bevan Hurley

A couple and their three-year-old child are suffering from upper respiratory infections in the wake of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Local residents, Chris and Jamie Wallace, and their toddler, went to hospital with breathing issues which they said developed after the train crash.

I knew something was different when we left town and there was that chemical smell in your nose, as if you were in the bathroom cleaning with bleach and you walk out and you still smell that bleach in your nose, Jamie Wallace told NewsNation on Tuesday.

Louise Boyle has the story.

Ohio toxic train derailment: Couple and toddler diagnosed with respiratory infections

Deaths, silenced whistleblowers, and $10bn for shareholders: a look at Norfolk Southern

01:29 , Abe Asher

Norfolk Southern has repeatedly been criticised in recent years for failing to prioritise worker and rail safety  and now The Independent is reporting that the company chose to authorise $10bn stock buybacks for shareholders rather than invest in maintenance.

Bevan Hurley and Louise Boyles look at the rail company paints a picture of a company that routinely cut corners in pursuit of profit  cutting its workforce by a fifth over the last few years and getting hauled before Congress along with the other three major rail companies over federal regulators concerns about the detrioration of the industry.

The controversial company behind Ohios toxic train disaster

OSHA found that Norfolk Southern also retaliated against employees for reporting work-related injuries and was ordered to pay $1.1m to three whistleblowers wrongfully fired for reporting injuries.

The derailement that has endangered the town of East Palestine, Ohio was, according to Hurley and Boyles piece, a disaster was years in the making.

Charges dismissed for reporter arrested while covering DeWine press conference

01:00 , Bevan Hurley

While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in dismissing criminal trespassing and resisting arrest charges against NewsNations Evan Lambert on Wednesday.

Full story below.

Charges dismissed for reporter arrested while covering train derailment

Derailment indicative of industry regulation issues

01:00 , Abe Asher

The train derailment that has endangered East Palestine is far from the only derailment that the US has seen this month.

Just this week, a collision between a truck driver and several freight train cars in Houston left the truck driver dead and a team of hazardous materials monitors from Union Pacific monitoring air quality. The town of Enoree, South Carolina experienced a derailment as well.

Workers and activists with organisations like Railroad Workers United say these derailments will become the norm if the major changes arent made to prioritise safety in the freight rail industry.

Not making those changes could, if their forecast is accurate, have more devastating consequences. Around 12,000 train cars carrying toxic materials pass through US cities each day, with The Guardianreporting that 25 million Americans currently live in an oil train blast zone.

Train had a reputation among rail workers

00:31 , Abe Asher

The 32N train that derailed in East Palestine was notorious among rail workers who nicknamed it 32 Nasty, Aaron Gordon reported Wednesday in VICE News.

The freight rail industry has been in the headlines for months since President Joe Biden signed a bill blocking a rail workers strike in December, with Norfolk Southern coming under particular scrutiny for jeopardising worker safety to increase efficiency and maximise profits.

The train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio had a reputation among railroad workers for being dangerous. The train's official name is 32N, but they called it "32 Nasty." It the embodiment of PSR, and it almost blew up a town. https://t.co/ciq4DkgkgV  Aaron W. Gordon (@A_W_Gordon) February 15, 2023

This train was a particular concern due to its weight distribution. According to Gordons reporting, 40 percent of trains weight was located in the back third of the trains length  a serious potential safety hazard, given that the common wisdom is that trains should be frontloaded with their lightest cars, not their heaviest, placed at the back.

Norfolk Southern, which pulled out of a community meeting in East Palestine on Wednesday night, denied the claim that the train had a disporportiante amount of weight at the back.

Jon Stewart blasts Tucker Carlson and JD Vance over Ohio train derailment remarks

00:00 , Bevan Hurley

Jon Stewart has taken a swipe at Right populist figures Tucker Carlson and JD Vance over the Ohio train derailment disaster.

On the latest episode of his podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart, the former late night comedian took aim at the pair for play acting concern for working people while railing against infrastructure spending.

Im so annoyed at... these like very on the Right populist figures talking about how weve gotta fix this. Meanwhile, these are the motherfuckers that would never spend money on infrastructure that always shoot those budgets down, that make it impossible for any government to regulate anything, Mr Stewart said, according to Mediaite.

Man, they get up on that high horse, The Biden administration, and This, inflation reduction act wont fix it. Well, you know what caused it in the first place? Your f***ing policies. Man, that drives me nuts, Mr Stewart said.

Mr Vance attracted criticism for taking 10 days to make a substantive comment about the train derailment.

His first public comment on 13 February coincided with an appearance on Carlsons Fox News show, where he blamed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig for caring more about diversity hiring than fixing infrastructure.

Mr Stewart last year successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation giving healthcare to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits overseas. He has also been a longtime supporter of 9/11 survivors.

Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart (Getty Images)

Residents brace themselves for public meeting

Wednesday 15 February 2023 23:51 , Abe Asher

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio are still searching for answers about the threats theyre facing to their health nearly two weeks after the train derailment that has forced many of them from their homes, and theyre hoping to get answers at tonights public meeting at the East Palestine High School at 7pm local time.

A line of residents waiting to get into a public meeting in East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday night (Graig Graziosi/The Independent)

WEWS-TV reported Wednesday that multiple tables will be set up inside the meeting where residents will have the opportunity to meet with officials including the towns mayor about their concerns.

They will not, however, have the opportunity to question officials with rail operator Norfolk Southern after the rail company pulled out of the meeting due to what it said were concerns about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community.

What chemicals were spilled and how toxic are they?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 23:00 , Bevan Hurley

Residents of the small town of East Palestine, Ohio are still dealing with the environmental consequences of a major train derailment this month.

Some 50 cars derailed from a Norfolk Southern freight train on 3rd February. Around 20 of those cars were carrying hazardous materials when it careened off the tracks after suffering a broken axle, investigators said.

No one was killed in the incident but more than 2,000 residents were temporarily evacuated from the area due to health concerns.

Some of the rail tankers contained vinyl chloride which was at risk of a chemical explosion. Crews carried out a controlled burn of the substance to prevent a blast but still sent noxious black clouds billowing across the region.

The fire released phosgene, a gas deployed as a chemical weapon in the First World War, which causes eye irritation, dry burning throat and vomiting.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad has the story.

What chemicals were spilled in the Ohio train derailment and how toxic are they?

East Palestine officials scrap plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment as health concerns mount

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:45 , Bevan Hurley

Authorities in the Ohio town where a train derailed carrying toxic chemicals have scrapped plans for a question-and-answer session for residents.

Health concerns are mounting among the citizens of East Palestine amid reports of dead animals and local people falling sick.

The local mayor originally had announced that a Q&A town hall meeting would take place on Wednesday at 7pm at East Palestine High Schools gymnasium, WKBN reported.

East Palestine officials scrap plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment

Norfolk Southern wont attend community meeting tonight over safety concerns

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:26 , Bevan Hurley

Norfolk Southern representatives wont be attending a community meeting in East Palestine tonight due to safety fears, NewsNations Brian Entin says.

The railway company says it has become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees, according to Mr Entin.

Norfolk Southern will not be at tonight's community meeting in East Palestine, Ohio. They say they have become "increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees."

They say they are committed to the community through their Family Assistance Center.  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) February 15, 2023

The DC blame game begins over Ohio train derailment

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:54 , Bevan Hurley

Experts argue industry practices, mechanical issues, regulations, and labour problems all contributed to crash, writes The Independents Josh Marcus.

The immediate cause of the derailment, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards preliminary investigation, was a wheel bearing on one of the trains cars becoming overheating and failing just before the crash.

The deeper reasons for the crash are more complex.

Read Joshs full story below examining who is to blame for the derailment.

The DC blame game begins over Ohio train derailment. Whose fault is it?

Watch: Devastating aftermath of Ohio train derailment revealed in shocking drone footage

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:30 , Bevan Hurley

Drone footage has revealed the devastating aftermath of the Ohio train derailment.

Thirty-eight cars, with some carrying hazardous materials, on a freight train careered off the tracks after suffering a broken axle in East Palestine on 3 February.

Due to the risk of a chemical explosion, a controlled burn of the materials was carried out.

Footage from Rubber City Drones shows cars scattered off the tracks, surrounded by scorched buildings.

Environmental group calls for Ohio governor to declare a state of emergency

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:00 , Bevan Hurley

Environmental advocate organisation Earthjustice has called on Ohio governor Mike DeWine to declare a state of emergency after the 3 February train derailment.

A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous gases derailed in East Palestine, contaminating nearby waterways and soil.

Residents have reported smelling chlorine, and have had trouble breathing.

Earthjustice Legislative Counsel Julian Gonzalez said in a statement that Mr DeWine must explore emergency options to mitigate the damage caused by this preventable disaster.

Environmental activists have called on Ohio governor to declare a state emergency (Associated Press)

Where did toxic chemical spill happen in East Palestine?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:30 , Bevan Hurley

A small town in eastern Ohio has been rocked by a train derailment that spilled a number of hazardous chemicals into the air and ground, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate and sparking fears of lasting ecological fallout.

East Palestine was thrown into chaos on the night of 3 February when a 150-car Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals and other materials suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure, hurtling the cars off the tracks.

More than a week later, information is still trickling out about what exactly happened and what risk the 5,000 residents of East Palestine  and the millions in the surrounding region  may face as a result of the crash.

Ohio train derailment map: Where did toxic chemical spill happen in East Palestine?

Ohio residents fear animal deaths are linked to toxic burnout

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:30 , Bevan Hurley

Amanda Breshears, resident of North Lima, Ohio, says that her chickens died suddenly after toxic chemicals from a train derailment were burned off to avoid an explosion.

Ms Breshears lives about 10 miles from East Palestine and told WKBN that she had discovered five hens and a rooster that appeared to have dropped dead last week.

She said she had smelt chlorine and was afraid to let her dog outside.

Footage of the lifeless chickens, lying in practically in the same position where she had left them, has since gone viral online.

A resident of North Lima, Ohio reported that her chickens died in the days after a chemical fire caused by a train derailment about ten miles away (WKBN)

Couple and toddler diagnosed with respiratory infections

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:15 , Bevan Hurley

A couple and their three-year-old child are suffering from upper respiratory infections in the wake of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Local residents, Chris and Jamie Wallace, and their toddler, went to hospital with breathing issues which they said developed after the train crash.

I knew something was different when we left town and there was that chemical smell in your nose, as if you were in the bathroom cleaning with bleach and you walk out and you still smell that bleach in your nose, Jamie Wallace told NewsNation on Tuesday.

Louise Boyle has the story.

Ohio toxic train derailment: Couple and toddler diagnosed with respiratory infections

DeWine: Were going to hold Norfolk Southerns feet to the fire

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:00 , Bevan Hurley

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday morning, Ohio governor Mike DeWine said that tests on air and water around the site of the train derailment in East Palestine continued to show no reason for alarm.

There had been no significant change in the air quality since the 3 February derailment, and the fish that were killed died very soon after the crash, he said.

Residents had been advised to drink bottled water out of an abundance of caution.

Mr DeWine said he had spoken to the CEO of rail company Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, and he had pledged to remain in the area until the clean-up operation was complete.

Were going to hold them accountable, Mr DeWine said. They are responsible for a very serious train wreck that occurred with some very toxic materials. Were going to hold their feet to the fire. Were going to make sure they pay for everything moving forward.

Charges dismissed for reporter arrested while covering DeWine press conference

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:30 , Bevan Hurley

While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in dismissing charges against NewsNations Evan Lambert.

Full story below.

Charges dismissed for reporter arrested while covering train derailment

Jon Stewart blasts Tucker Carlson and JD Vance over Ohio train derailment remarks

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:15 , Bevan Hurley

Jon Stewart has taken a swipe at Right populist figures Tucker Carlson and JD Vance over the Ohio train derailment disaster.

On the latest episode of his podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart, the former late night comedian took aim at the pair for play acting concern for working people while railing against infrastructure spending.

Im so annoyed at... these like very on the Right populist figures talking about how weve gotta fix this. Meanwhile, these are the motherfuckers that would never spend money on infrastructure that always shoot those budgets down, that make it impossible for any government to regulate anything, Mr Stewart said, according to Mediaite.

Man, they get up on that high horse, The Biden administration, and This, inflation reduction act wont fix it. Well, you know what caused it in the first place? Your f***ing policies. Man, that drives me nuts, Mr Stewart said.

Mr Vance attracted criticism for taking 10 days to make a substantive comment about the train derailment.

His first public comment on 13 February coincided with an appearance on Carlsons Fox News show, where he blamed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig for caring more about diversity hiring than fixing infrastructure.

Mr Stewart last year successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation giving healthcare to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits overseas. He has also been a longtime supporter of 9/11 survivors.

Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart has blasted Carlson and Vance (Getty Images)

East Palestine officials scrapped plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment as health concerns mount

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:00 , Bevan Hurley

Amid mounting fears of the potential health dangers from the Ohio train derailment, East Palestine officials scrapped plans to hold a Q&A session this evening.

The local mayor originally had announced that a Q&A town hall meeting would take place on Wednesday at 7pm at East Palestine High Schools gymnasium, WKBN reported.

Louise Boyle has more details.

East Palestine officials scrap plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment

Trump regulatory rollbacks to blame for Ohio derailment, senator says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:41 , Bevan Hurley

Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, blamed regulatory rollbacks during the Trump administration for the East Palestine derailment on Wednesday.

I mean, every chance Republicans get they weaken worker safety rules, they weaken environmental rules, Mr Brown told The Independents Eric Garcia a few minutes ago in Washington DC.

They weaken consumer protection rules. So we want to know if weve got to fix that. But that doesnt help East Palestine now.

Asked about the Biden administrations response, the senator said it what we need it to be.

Experts say the severity of the 3 February derailment was likely increased by the lack of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brakes on the train.

Barack Obama passed legislation requiring trains carrying hazardous substances to have ECP brakes.

That law was rescinded by the Trump administration in 2017, after lobbying from the rail industry.

We are concerned that the Trump administration rolled back some of the safety rules and some of the the railroad safety and worker safety rules, Mr Brown added.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (Associated Press)

Chemicals from Ohio train derailment may have reached West Virginia, JD Vance says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:32 , Bevan Hurley

Ohio Senator JD Vance said chemicals from the East Palestine train derailment may have made their way as far south as Cincinnati and even into West Virginia.

Speaking to reporters including The Independents Eric Garcia Washington DC a few minutes ago, Mr Vance said he was still trying to get answers from the Environmental Protection Agency about what safe levels of contamination looked like.

We have asked, now for about 24 hours, I think there are a lot of secondary concerns, he said.

Mr Vance said he was focused on making East Palestine residents safe and avoiding future disasters.

Mr Vance added that he had just spoken to the Biden administration about the clean-up operation, and was in constant contact with Ohio Governor Mike DeWines office.

A large plume of smoke over the site of the train derailment (Associated Press)

Dead animals and reports of sickness after Ohio toxic train derailment

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:30 , Bevan Hurley

The ecological fallout from the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic materials in rural Ohio is still being determined ten days after the disaster.

Around 50 train cars derailed on 3rd February in the small town of East Palestine including about 20 cars carrying hazardous substances.

No one was killed after a broken axle sent the Norfolk Southern train careening off the tracks, investigators said. More than 2,000 residents were evacuated due to health concerns over the chemical leak but have since been allowed to return.

The Independents Senior Climate Correspondent Louise Boyle takes a closer look at the possible ecological impacts.

Dead animals and reports of sickness after Ohio train derailment in East Palestine

Ohio train derailment: What chemicals were spilled and how toxic are they?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:00 , Bevan Hurley

Some 50 cars derailed from a Norfolk Southern freight train on 3rd February. Around 20 of those cars were carrying hazardous materials when it careened off the tracks after suffering a broken axle, investigators said.

Some of the rail tankers contained vinyl chloride which was at risk of a chemical explosion. Crews carried out a controlled burn of the substance to prevent a blast but still sent noxious black clouds billowing across the region.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad takes a closer look at the toxic substances spilled in the 3 February derailment.

What chemicals were spilled in the Ohio train derailment and how toxic are they?

Video footage shows train on fire

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:40 , Bevan Hurley

Footage has emerged reportedly showing a Norfolk Southern train with flames and sparks under one of its cars shortly before it derailed.

The footage, obtained by an ABC News reporter, apparently shows the ill-fated train travelling through Salem, about 18 miles from the crash site at East Palestine, on 3 February.

Sparks and flames can be seen coming from the undercarriage of the train.

OHIO - Security camera footage captured the Norfolk Southern train passing by Salem, OH with flames and sparks under at least one of the cars. #ohiotrainderailment pic.twitter.com/bh1WgiPpSr  Emmanuelle Saliba (@_esaliba) February 15, 2023

NewsNation reporter says he hopes arrest shines further attention on people of East Palestine'

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:17 , Bevan Hurley

NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert has responded after charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest against him were dropped.

Mr Lambert said he was still processing the traumatic event, and thanked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Governor Mike DeWine.

I am doing alright, and I will be OK, he wrote in a message posted to Twitter.

I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard.

Charges dropped against reporter arrested while covering Ohio rail disaster press conference

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:59 , Bevan Hurley

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has announced he was dismissing criminal charges against a NewsNation reporter who was arrested while covering the toxic train derailment.

Evan Lambert was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest while trying to record a live broadcast from a Mike DeWine press conference on 8 February.

Bodycam footage showed two highway patrol officers confront Mr Lambert for being too loud, and then push him to the ground.

In a statement, Mr Yost said the charges were not supported by evidence.

While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them.

He added that tensions had been running high after the 3 February derailment.

Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter.

Evan Lambert was arrested at an 8 February press conference for being too loud

East Palestine officials scrap plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment as health concerns mount

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:40 , Bevan Hurley

Authorities in the Ohio town where a train derailed carrying toxic chemicals have scrapped plans for a question-and-answer session for residents.

Health concerns are mounting among the citizens of East Palestine amid reports of dead animals and local people falling sick.

The local mayor originally had announced that a Q&A town hall meeting would take place on Wednesday at 7pm at East Palestine High Schools gymnasium, WKBN reported.

Louise Boyle has more details.

East Palestine officials scrap plan for Q&A session on Ohio train derailment

DeWine: Were going to hold Norfolk Southerns feet to the fire

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:20 , Bevan Hurley

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday morning, Ohio governor Mike DeWine said that tests on air and water around the site of the train derailment in East Palestine continued to show no reason for alarm.

There had been no significant change in the air quality since the 3 February derailment, and the fish that were killed died very soon after the crash, he said.

Residents had been advised to drink bottled water out of an abundance of caution.

Mr DeWine said he had spoken to the CEO of rail company Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, and he had pledged to remain in the area until the clean-up operation was complete.

Were going to hold them accountable, Mr DeWine said. They are responsible for a very serious train wreck that occurred with some very toxic materials. Were going to hold their feet to the fire. Were going to make sure they pay for everything moving forward.

Ohio man forced to evacuate was in Netflix movie about eerily similar disaster

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:00 , Bevan Hurley

When Ben Ratner was selected to be an extra in the film White Noise  which follows a train that derails and spills toxic chemicals  he could not have known that less than two years later he would be living the movie.

Mr Ratner, 37, lives in East Palestine and is one of the many residents seeking answers after the Ohio train derailment that spilled dangerous chemicals near the town.

The similarity between the film and his real life is not lost on him.

Talk about art imitating life, he told People. This is such a scary situation. And you can just about drive yourself crazy thinking about how uncanny the similarities are between whats happening now and in that movie.

Graig Graziosi has the story.

Man evacuated in Ohio derailment was in Netflix movie about eerily similar disaster

Dead animals and reports of sickness as ecological disaster unfolds after Ohio toxic train derailment

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:40 , Bevan Hurley

The ecological fallout from the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic materials in rural Ohio is still being determined days after the disaster.

Around 50 train cars derailed on 3rd February in the small town of East Palestine including 20 cars carrying hazardous substances.

No one was killed after a broken axle sent the Norfolk Southern train careening off the tracks, investigators said. More than 2,000 residents were evacuated due to health concerns over the chemical leak but have since been allowed to return.

Some of the crashed cars were carrying toxic chemicals - vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether - which were released into the air, surface soils, and surface waters.

The Independents Senior Climate Correspondent Louise Boyle reports.

Dead animals and reports of sickness after Ohio train derailment in East Palestine
Thousands of animals have died in East Palestine, Ohio, in the aftermath of the train derailment that sent numerous hazardous substances into the surrounding area. Officials said on Tuesday that in the immediate days following the Feb. 3 incident, there were 3,500 dead fish as local waterways, including the Ohio River, became contaminated.

During the incident, 38 train cars derailed, including several cars that were carrying hazardous materials that each pose a set of their own health risks. On the day of the derailment, there was evidence that one of the train cars was releasing vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen that has been linked to a rare and "exceptionally deadly" form of liver cancer.

Three days later, on Feb. 6, crews conducted a controlled release of toxic chemicals from train cars that were in danger of exploding. It didn't take long for a massive dark plume to develop above the site  and for people near the area to see and smell the toll of the incident on their environment.

In a now-viral TikTok, one person shows numerous dead fish within an eerily foggy creek that he says is 2 miles from the train derailment.

Thousands of dead animals

Mary Mertz, the director of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources, said on Tuesday that an estimated 3,500 dead fish have been found in local streams, tributaries and waterways, accounting for at least 12 different species.

"The good news is that none of those species are threatened or endangered, but that is still a loss of wildlife," she said. Among the dead fish species are creek chub, mottled sclupin and stonerollers, she said. The department is also monitoring the derailment's impact on hellbender salamanders, the state's largest species of amphibian, that is also endangered. According to the department, the animals are "susceptible to poor water quality and excessive siltation of streams."

The majority of the fish and aquatic creatures counted in the estimate seem to have died within the first couple days of the derailment, she added.

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"Wildlife officers have been there every day on the scene, working with contractors who are in the water doing the net sampling, making the estimates," she said, "and we will continue to monitor and watch what's going on and eventually hold those responsible, accountable for the loss of wildlife in the area."

However, Mertz said, "we don't have any evidence of non-aquatic species suffering from the derailment."

"Not only here, but we also communicate with the Pennsylvania game commission as well, and they haven't heard about that either," she said.

Anecdotes of sick pets

Pet owners and caretakers, however, say their animals are suffering, and some, dying.

Taylor Holzer was caring for more than a dozen animals when the accident happened, and said several of his foxes now have "swollen faces and runny eyes." One of his foxes, who was on a property within the evacuation zone, suddenly died after he wasn't able to evacuate it. He had learned of the evacuation orders too late, he said.

"He went downhill very fast," he told Newsweek, saying that the fox had developed 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."

"The animals are going through a lot right now," Holzer says in his TikTok. "They are scared and don't understand what is happening. ... I'm doing everything I can to keep them safe and calm and to get them through this without more stress."

Andrea Belden says her 2-year-old cat Leo had to be put down after vinyl chloride from the Ohio train derailment triggered him into congestive heart failure. / Credit: Andrea Belden/GoFundMe

Another woman, Andrea Belden, was staying with her boyfriend, their two cats, and his grandparents in East Palestine when the derailment occurred. Despite getting the animals out when evacuations were announced, one of their cats, a 2-year-old named Leo who was "perfectly fine" at a vet appointment just weeks before, was significantly sickened.

"His heart was racing, he wasn't moving, and his breathing was very hard and labored," Belden says in a GoFundMe for help paying emergency vet bills. "I thought he was just having a panic attack."

But it was much more serious than that. An emergency vet told her he had congestive heart failure, she says, and he was admitted to the hospital.

"The next day they called and told me that his heart was enlarged, he had fluid around his heart and in his lungs, his blood pressure was severely low, and his liver enzymes were at 6.9%. A cats normal liver enzyme levels are 1%."

The vet told her that her cat likely had an underlying genetic heart disease "that was triggered by the vinyl chloride poisoning," she said.

And When Belden  faced with vet bills rapidly mounting to $11,000  went to the railway company to ask for financial assistance with a letter saying the heart failure was likely caused by the chemicals on the train, she says she was told "that this was not something they would pay for now because it isn't an emergency."

"They would possibly entertain paying this in the future and that I should file a damaged property claim but it would take weeks. At this point we couldn't afford to keep going with Leo's treatment and he wasn't improving," she said. "Our options were come up with $11,000, take him home to suffer and eventually die, or put him to sleep. We didn't want him to suffer anymore so we made the impossible decision to put him to sleep."

She told CBS affiliate WKBN-TV that the railway company has since contacted her about the situation. CBS News reached out to Norfolk Southern for comment on Belden's claims.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday about anecdotes of animals that had become ill from the chemicals in the derailment, Bruce Vanderhoff, the director of the state's Department of Health, said, "anecdotes are challenging because they are anecdotes."

While he didn't dive further into the effects on animals, he did say that the compounds that spilled out of the train can cause "very common" health symptoms in people, even at lower levels.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson also said they have yet to see anything among livestock that causes concern.

Contaminated waterways

The derailed train immediately had an impact on local bodies of water. According to a remediation plan from the railway company, "resulting releases affected stormwater infrastructure and surface water, including Sulphur Run and Leslie Run." Video posted on the City of East Palestine Facebook page shows Leslie Run filled with a shimmery substance on Feb. 13.

On Tuesday, Mertz said that Sulphur Run was the waterway initially affected, and that contamination followed through to Leslie Run, Bull Creek and a portion of North Fork Little Beaver Creek in a space of about 7.5 miles.

As of yesterday, the Ohio EPA said that Sulphur Run remains contaminated, although officials are "confident that it is contained."

Data from the day after the derailment shows "very low detection levels of contaminants, and mostly from fire residual chemicals," Ohio EPA Division Chief Tiffany Kavalec said Tuesday. But data from just five days ago shows that there are "low levels" of butyl acrylate, a combustible liquid that can cause respiratory and skin issues, and Ethylhexyl acrylate, which along with the aforementioned symptoms, is "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and can cause fluid to build up in the lungs.

"In Leslie Run, the one that's directly below Sulphur Run, the butyl acrylate dissipates to non-detectable levels once it gets to the North Fork of the Little Beaver Creek," she said. "And then the other one, Ethylhexyl acrylate, dissipates to non-detectable levels once we get to Little Beaver Creek."

She said that so far, the Ohio EPA has not detected vinyl chloride in any of the downgradient waterways.

However, the toxic chemicals have emptied into the Ohio River, one of the country's major rivers that spans nearly 1,000 miles and provides drinking water for more than 5 million people, according to the Ohio River Foundation, and more than 25 million people  about 10% of the nation's population  live in the Ohio River basin.

But Kavalec says that the river is "very large" and that it's "able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly."

"Ohio EPA and other state agencies have been working with the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission to track the contaminant plume in real-time," she said. "It's moving at about a mile an hour."

They currently believe that most of the chemicals in the water will pass, and that with some water treatment, it should be safe to consume. Preliminary results of the public drinking water show "no indication of risk to East Palestine Public Water customers," the Ohio EPA says on its website.

"We're pretty confident that these low levels are not getting passed onto the customers," she said.

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In 2007, railroad giant Norfolk Southern Corp. boasted it was making railroad history by operating the nations first freight train equipped with electronically controlled pneumatic brakes  a modern technology that the company noted could make trains safer by significantly decreasing how long it took them to stop.

Norfolk Southern said at the time that it planned to add ECP brakes  which the company said had the potential to reduce train stopping distances by as much as 60 percent over conventional air brake systems  to dozens of locomotives and cars in its coal train fleet.

Fast forward to 2014, when the Obama administration unveiled new safety rules that, among other things, required ECP brakes on trains hauling a certain amount of crude oil and other so-called high-hazard flammable materials. The Association of American Railroads, an industry lobbying group of which Norfolk Southern is a member, fiercely opposed the regulations.

ECP brakes would be extremely costly without providing an offsetting benefit, the trade group wrote in public comments on the rule. It argued the push to mandate the technology lacked a safety justification.

At the urging of AAR and other rail interests, the industry-friendly Trump administration repealed the Obama-era ECP brake rule in 2018.

The railroad industrys history of fighting stricter safety regulations, which investigative news outlet The Lever first reported last week, is taking center stage in the wake of a fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in rural eastern Ohio.

Officials are in the early stages of investigating what went wrong in East Palestine. But the derailment has sparked fear in rail towns across the country, and both industry experts and lawmakers have renewed calls for stronger safety standards for trains transporting hazardous materials before another similar disaster strikes.

On February 3, a horrifying railroad accident took place. A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. You might've seen images of the flames, but you probably haven't heard that unions were trying to prevent this exact accident. pic.twitter.com/pnynoFHSnm  More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) February 10, 2023

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic and flammable materials careened off the tracks in East Palestine, a town of approximately 5,000 people on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Of the 50 train cars that either derailed or were damaged in the resulting fire, 20 contained hazardous material, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That toxic cargo included hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a common organic chemical used in the production of plastics that has been linked to several types of cancer.

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The wreckage burned for several days, and on Feb. 5, authorities ordered an urgent evacuation for everyone within one mile of the site due to the potential for a catastrophic tanker failure which could cause an explosion with the potential of deadly shrapnel traveling up to a mile. To prevent such an explosion, officials eventually conducted what they described as a controlled burn of vinyl chloride, releasing black clouds of phosgene, hydrogen chloride and other gases into the air. Phosgene was used as a chemical weapon during World War I, and exposure to it can cause vomiting, eye irritation and breathing difficulty.

Federal and state agencies have monitored air and water quality since the incident. The EPA says air samples have not detected elevated levels of vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride or other toxins in the community, including inside homes that have undergone screenings. But contaminants have been detected in the Ohio River.

In a letter to the CEO of Norfolk Southern, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) on Tuesday accused the company of mismanaging the derailment and refusing to explore alternatives to venting and burning toxic chemicals.

Prioritizing an accelerated and arbitrary timeline to reopen the rail line injected unnecessary risk and created confusion, Shapiro wrote.

Others have similarly condemned the railroads decision.

We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open, Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, told an Ohio TV station.

Hazmat On The Tracks

Preliminary information indicates a mechanical issue on a rail car axle triggered the disaster in Ohio, according to Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, a government agency that investigates civil transportation accidents. Security camera footage obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shows flames and sparks beneath one of the cars approximately 20 miles before it derailed, raising questions about when the crew would have known about a problem and why the train wasnt stopped sooner.

When HuffPost asked about the accident and the companys history of opposing stricter safety rules, Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said the company is a member of AARs Tank Car Committee that sets standards that meet and even exceed DOT regulations. He referred HuffPost to AAR for industry-level questions on ECP brakes and to the NTSB for information about the derailment.

In public statements, company officials have said that safety is No. 1 for Norfolk Southern and that they are committed to East Palestine today and in the future.

The Obama-era brake rule would not have applied to the type of train that derailed in Ohio. But Steven Ditmeyer, a former senior official at the Federal Railroad Administration, and other rail experts told the Lever that the derailment would have been less severe if the train had the upgraded brake technology.

NTSB confirmed to HuffPost that the Ohio train was not equipped with ECP brakes.

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 on Feb. 6, 2023.

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 on Feb. 6, 2023.

Along with lacking the modern brakes that Norfolk Southern once embraced, NTSB said the Ohio train did not qualify as a high-hazard flammable train  a federal classification that triggers speed limits and other safety requirements.

As the Lever reported, when the Obama administration was drafting new safety standards for oil trains, NTSB advocated for a broader definition of high-hazard flammable trains that covered Class 2 flammable gasses. Vinyl chloride falls in that category.

We believe the definition should include a broad range of hazardous materials, Christopher Hart, then the acting chairman of NTSB, wrote to the Department of Transportation in 2014. He went on to highlight internal guidance from the Association of American Railroads that he said demonstrated that the railroad industry recognizes that additional safety precautions, including speed restrictions, are needed for key trains that transport any hazardous materials.

The Obama administration ultimately settled on a narrow definition that applies only to trains carrying a certain amount of Class 3 flammables like crude oil and ethanol. Some environmentalists slammed the standards as weak and watered down.

Theres Just Less Attention

The Ohio disaster has led to renewed calls for stronger safety standards for trains transporting hazardous materials, nearly a billion tons of which travel by rail each year in the U.S.

In his letter to Norfolk Southern, Shapiro noted the companys well known opposition to modernized regulations and said he has urged the Biden administration to reexamine what qualifies as a high-hazard flammable train and the need for more advanced safety equipment aboard such trains.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said it is absurd that the Norfolk Southern train didnt meet the high-hazard classification.

Democrats and Republicans have both criticized Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his handling of the accident.

We need Congressional inquiry and direct action from @PeteButtigieg to address this tragedy, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) wrote in a Twitter post.

When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded that he fully agreed, Omar asked, 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?

Cruz did not respond.

Cars from the derailed Norfolk Southern freight train are scattered along the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023.

Cars from the derailed Norfolk Southern freight train are scattered along the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023.

Buttigieg finally weighed in on Monday, after 10 days of silence, writing that I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the derailment. He said DOT would look at the results of NSTBs investigation, once final, and use all relevant authorities to ensure accountability and continue to support safety.

Asked if the Biden administration has considered restoring the Obama-era brake rule, a DOT spokesperson indicated the agency is handcuffed by legislation that Congress passed in 2015.

Republicans in the House and Senate required a cost-benefit analysis that allowed the Trump administration to repeal the rule in 2017, which now makes it very challenging to reinstate the rule, the DOT official wrote, adding that the Federal Railroad Association is exploring the potential for usage of ECP brake equipment to improve railroad safety and braking performance, such as researching the potential development of other enabling technologies to support adoption.

That mandated cost-benefit analysis ultimately concluded that the costs of the brake rule significantly outweighed the benefits  a finding that essentially forced Trumps DOT to rescind the rule.

Ross Grooters, a longtime locomotive engineer and co-chair of Railroad Workers United, told HuffPost that deregulation is part of a larger systemic crisis in the industry. Major railroads, including Norfolk Southern, have adopted a cost-cutting strategy called precision-scheduled railroading, which involves reducing railroad employees and increasing the length of trains.

Its a perfect storm and theres just less attention on the things that need to be paid attention to, Grooters said.

The Government Accountability Office found that staffing at the nations seven largest freight rail companies decreased approximately 28% from 2011 to 2021. The Ohio train that derailed had 150 cars, spanned more than 1 mile and had a crew of three people. Freight rail crews have declined from as many as seven after World War II to typically just two today. And railroads have sought to reduce that to a single engineer.

Grooters is hopeful that the Ohio incident will result in necessary regulatory changes, but said workers have been trying unsuccessfully to draw attention to problems for years and that accidents like the one in Ohio are inevitable under current policies.

Its not a matter of if, but kind of when and where, Grooters said. I would still say thats true after East Palestine.  Unless we get these changes, were going to see increased derailments.

CORRECTION: This article previously contained errors about the characteristics and historical uses of vinyl chloride and phosgene.
By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil futures were flat to lower on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and investors worried that rising interest rates would slow the economy and cut fuel demand.

Oil's losses were limited as the market discounted a big build in U.S. crude stocks due to a data adjustment and as the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast higher global oil demand growth.

Brent futures slid 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.38 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 47 cents, or 0.6%, to $78.59.

The U.S. dollar rose to a near six-week high against a currency basket on strong U.S. retail sales data last month and recent U.S. inflation data, suggesting the Federal Reserve (Fed) will keep monetary policy tight.

"Crude prices are under pressure as the dollar rallies following impressive economic data that paves the way for more Fed tightening," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at data and analytics firm OANDA.

A stronger dollar can cut oil demand, making crude more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Federal Reserve officials said the U.S. central bank will need to maintain gradual interest rate increases to fight inflation. Investors worry higher rates could slow the economy.

U.S. crude stockpiles jumped by 16.3 million barrels last week to 471.4 million barrels, their highest since June 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

That was much bigger than the 1.2 million-barrel increase analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S] [API/S] But analysts said an unusually large crude oil supply adjustment contributed to the outsized build.

"Once everyone realized the adjustment threw off the EIA data, scepticism about the big (crude storage) build crept into the market," said John Kilduff, a partner at investment advisory Again Capital LLC in New York. "It's a one-off."

The IEA raised its forecast for 2023 oil demand growth and said there could be a supply deficit in the second half due to restrained production from OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other oil suppliers including Russia.

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The IEA said China will make up nearly half of this year's oil demand growth after it relaxed its COVID-19 curbs, and also said about 1 million bpd of production from Russia will be shut in by the end of the first quarter, citing a European ban on seaborne imports and a Group of Seven (G7) price cap.

The G7 group of wealthy countries includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States.

On Tuesday, OPEC also raised its projection for global oil demand growth and pointed to a tighter market in 2023.

(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Laila Kearney in New York and Muyu Xu in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Mike Harrison and David Gregorio)
Olaplex customers are suing the popular hair care brand and claiming that the companys products caused them serious injury to their hair.

The lawsuit, which was filed on 9 February, includes claims from 30 women who used products from Olaplex, as reported by CNN. The brand is notably sold at retailers such as Sephora and Ulta and is frequently advertised by influencers on TikTok.

The women involved in the lawsuit allege that Olaplexs products caused serious injuries including hair loss, breakage, bald spots, and scalp irritation. The plaintiffs are collectively seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

In one section of the lawsuit shared by Bloomberg, the allegations say: Far from repairing and protecting hair from damage, the products have instead left plaintiffs hair dry, brittle, frizzy and dull.

One woman involved, Jessica Auriana, opened up about her hair care journey during an interview with Good Morning America this week. She said that when she was struggling with dry and brittle hair, a peer had recommended Olaplex to her.

However, she claimed that after she used the companys shampoo, conditioner and clarifying shampoo for two months, she experienced hair loss.

I think by that point I had probably lost 20 per cent of my hair, Auriana said. Im outside daily ... I started to feel the wind and air on my scalp in places that Ive never felt it.

On its official website, Olaplex notes that it offers building treatment products that will repair, strengthen and leave hair healthier. The brand has also specified on its health page that their products have been tested and do not cause hair loss or hair breakage.

Rachel Bentley, who is co-counsel on the lawsuit, also told GMA that the $75,000 is for the injuries [that their] clients sustained.

We are seeking punitive damages to deter Olaplex from engaging in any further wrongful conduct, she added.

In a statement to GMA, Olaplex denied the claims made in the lawsuit and says its products are safe and effective, as millions of our customers can happily attest.

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We have full confidence and believe in the safety and efficacy of our products, the statement read. There are a wide variety of reasons for hair breakage or hair loss, as medical and scientific experts have publicly stated, including lifestyle, various medical conditions and medications, the aftereffects of COVID, skin conditions and more. Anyone experiencing consistent hair breakage should consult their stylist and dermatologist to best understand their unique hair and skin needs.

The company also responded to Aurianas complaint and said that its a fact of life in [their] industry. Olaplex also claimed that these kinds of complaints have been made against other brands in the category for years.

We are prepared to vigorously defend our Company, our brand, and our products against these baseless accusations, Olaplexs statement continued.

In addition, the company said it has gone above and beyond industry beauty standards by sharing test results from its independent third-party laboratories on its website.

This lawsuit comes almost one year after Olaplex first made headlines when it announced that it was removing lilial, a common fragrance that has been linked to infertility, from its No.3 Hair Perfector. This decision came in response to the European Union placing a ban on the ingredient in March 2022.

At Olaplex, lilial was previously used in small amounts as a fragrance in No. 3 Hair Perfector. It is not an active or functional ingredient, the company said in a statement to The Independent. While this phase out is limited to the EU, out of an abundance of caution, Olaplex proactively removed lillial from our No.3 Hair Perfector globally. Since January 2022, Olaplex no longer sold products using lilial in the UK or EU.

The Independent has contacted a representative for Olaplex for comment.
Photo: Facebook/Charles Jospeh Jordan Peterson is known for his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Controversial Canadian psychologist and best-selling author Jordan Peterson has launched a GoFundMe to help a man in Williams Lake whose house burned down.

Peterson, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toronto, is known for his book 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos which has sold millions of copies and he's known for attracting both support and criticism for his views on political correctness and identity politics.

He is now raising money to in support of Charles Joseph, also known as Boone, an internationally acclaimed Kwakwaka'wakw carver living in Williams Lake.

Joseph is renowned for making masks, totem poles, canoes and other carvings including a 55-foot pole that now resides at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

However, he has suffered multiple hardships in the past few weeks as in early 2023 his wife Frankie died and then on Feb. 11 a fire started in his workshop.

The fire quickly spread to his home and destroyed everything. He made attempts to recover art he was working on and had recently competed but the fire was spreading fast in the shop fuelled by the cedar he works with.

Joseph and his children are currently camped out in a motel and he has no way to continue working on his art.

Peterson has donated $10,000 of his own dollars to the GoFundMe campaign.

In the campaign, he explains he met Joseph about 20 years ago in Comox, on Vancouver Island when he bought a few pieces of his work.

Then eight years ago Joseph came to stay with Peterson and his wife to help them design the third floor of their home in Toronto in the style of a Kwakwaka'wakw Big House.

Joseph was also interviewed about his life story on one of Petersons podcast episodes released in 2022.

We've talked a fair bit over the last few months about Frankie's death, its impact on the children, and the sequelae for Charles. It's been a brutal time for his family. I was therefore shocked to hear the additional bad news from him a few days ago, said Peterson.

I have reached out to Charles to offer help, as have other people in his social network. But it's quite the catastrophe. The insurance situation is not clear: Charles had just recently moved into this house and the transition from previous owner to current had not been finalized.

Peterson said he spoke to a few of Josephs friends and decided to set up the GoFundMe page to help Joseph get back on his feet.

I'm planning to help Charles re-establish his shop, and his house, and to help out his kids -- to set him up to carve again as soon as possible. If you'd like to aid in the effort, that would be much appreciated.

As of publication, the GoFundMe campaign has since raised $31,454 of a $180,000 goal. You can also find out more about Charles Josephs work through his website.
A baby girl who was born under the rubble caused by an earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey receives treatment inside an incubator. Ghaith Alsayed/AP Photo

A newborn rescued from the ruins of a major earthquake in Syria has been moved to a safe location.

The move is a precaution against possible kidnapping attempts, a source told BBC News.

Thousands of people have offered to adopt orphaned Aya after a video of her rescue went viral.

An orphaned Syrian baby who was saved by rescuers following last week's deadly earthquake in Syria and Turkey has been moved to a "safe location" by health authorities as a precaution against possible kidnapping attempts, BBC News reported.

The baby, who has been named Aya, is the only survivor of her immediate family. Her parents and four siblings died in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which has, so far, resulted in more than 40,000 deaths.

Her mother died soon after giving birth to Aya, who was still connected by her umbilical cord when rescuers found her in the ruins of a devastated building, Agence France-Presse reported.

After a video showing a rescuer pulling Aya from the rubble went viral, there was an outpouring of support for the baby, with thousands of people from around the world offering to adopt her.

But Aya has now had to be moved to a safer location to protect her from possible kidnapping or adoption fraud, a source told BBC News.

The Indian newspaper Firstpost reported that Aya was put under police protection after several strangers turned up at the hospital claiming to be related to her.

Meanwhile, on Monday a violent incident took place at the hospital in Afrin, Syria, when a male nurse and two armed men allegedly attacked the hospital manager, BBC News reported.

According to social media posts reviewed by BBC News, the head of Afrin's health directorate said that claims that the incident was related to a kidnapping attempt were a "misunderstanding."

Aya is currently being cared for by the hospital manager, Khalid Attiah, and his wife, who are looking after the orphaned baby alongside their own four-month-old daughter, according to reports.

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The couple said they would look after the baby until a distant relative is able to take her in, per the Associated Press.

The Guardian reported that Aya's great-uncle intends to adopt her once she is released from the hospital.

Read the original article on Insider
A consulting firm presented an analysis of the Columbus Police Department to the city council Tuesday that detailed what it believes are issues with the departments staffing, command structure and gang enforcement strategy.

The Columbus City Council voted to have the police department produce an action plan in response to the analysis by the consulting firm Jensen Hughes by March 14.

The privately funded report called for CPD to provide a plan to rebuild the Special Operations Unit and emphasized the need for community-oriented policing and gang enforcement strategy.

Gang enforcement

The Jensen Hughes report critiqued the department for taking a public relations role to policing instead of a community-oriented/problem-solving mindset and highlighted the need for an overall strategy for responding to local gang activity, noting the following:

That 1,800 gang members live in Columbus, according to Georgia Department of Corrections data

That 80% of Columbus homicides in 2021 were linked to gangs

A recent report by the L-E noted that both the county sheriff and coroner said young men involved in gang battles were a driving force behind 70 homicides reported in 2021.

In an interview for that story, Columbus Deputy Police Chief Roderick Graham said the police department doesnt believe gun violence is concentrated in any one area, or confined to a single age group or to gang operations.

Staffing

Columbus, like many Georgia cities and counties, has struggled to hire and retain law enforcement personnel. According to the report, CPD is understaffed, impacting its ability to engage in proactive policing and community policing and its ability to investigate crime and effectively address gang activity in Columbus.

CPD has 444 positions budgeted but only 296 officers on staff, according to data Police Chief Freddie Blackmon shared Tuesday at the council meeting.

Fewer people are applying to the department each year. CPD had 709 applicants in 2019 compared to 233 last year.

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In 2021, 74 police officers resigned  the most in a 12-year period dating back to 2009. The department hired 37 officers that year, the fewest in that same period.

Expanding the Special Operations Unit

The Special Operations Unit covers drugs, prostitution, gambling, firearms, illegal alcohol and organized criminal activities, and is currently understaffed, per the report, which suggests CPD expand the unit as most of its personnel currently are assigned to fugitive apprehension duties.

Blackmon was criticized last February by the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police for being more reactive than proactive, and for the departments staffing level. A draft version of the Jensen Hughes analysis sent to city leaders reported that low morale in the department was partially due to the current leadership and management issues.

Mayor Skip Henderson and City Manager Isaiah Hugley have defended Blackmon against the criticism.

There are a few areas of this assessment that present some concerns, Blackmon wrote the mayor on Nov. 23 in response to the draft. For example, the report relies heavily upon an external survey from the Fraternal Order of Police. This survey has not been verified in its processes or documentation, and its neutrality is certainly in question.

The last outside operational assessment of Columbus police department was conducted in 2013, according to previous L-E reporting.

Councils response

Council members responded to the report with calls for change and for unity.

I want this fixed and I want it fixed now, as soon as we can do that, said District 9 Councilor Judy Thomas.

District 1 Councilor Jerry Pops Barnes asked for the finger-pointing to stop.

I just think its time for all of us to come together, said District 3 Councilor Bruce Huff. Were all on different sides and we need to come together.
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Reuters

For those of us who admire Dianne Feinstein, its been painful to watch her being sidelined as her staff tries to protect her from the whispers of her colleagues and the indignities of her not knowing when its time to retire. Running for a six-year term at age 85 was pushing it, but after three decades as a U.S. senator representing California, giving up her Senate seat was out of the question. It was her life. It was in her DNA.

Then last year, her husband, Richard Blum, died after a long battle with cancer. He was thought to be the only one who could convince his wife there was more to life than flying cross-country to serve in Washington. With his death, the questions only increased about when she would retire. She turned 89 last June, and her response to those questions was to say she was getting over the loss of her husband. She needed time.

Now, with at least three announced candidates for her seat, she made it official. Or at least her staff made it official, and she can run out the clock for the next two years to fulfill her fifth six-year term in the Senate, which doesnt end until January 2025. She is still pushing it considering the demands of the office, her faltering memory, and the travel involved.

This is the soft landing she wanted, maybe even demanded, and its been a long time coming. After the November 2020 election, Feinstein announced that she would not seek the chairmanship or ranking position on the Judiciary Committee, bowing to concerns spelled out in devastating detail in a New Yorker article about her memory lapses.

She deserves better than to end her career addressing questions about her cognitive lapses, when she has done so much to serve her constituents and the country. From the moment she arrived in Washington in 1992 as a new Democrat, she quickly carved out an important role as a centrist forged in local city politics who could find compromise among competing factions within her party and across the aisle.

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Dianne Feinstein Announces Retirement in Confusing Fashion

In 1994, as a freshman lawmaker, she wrote the bill that banned military-style assault weapons. It expired after 10 years, and efforts to renew it languished until the Sandy Hook massacre. In the wake of that tragedy, Feinstein tried again to ban assault weapons. On the day of the vote, she displayed a New York Daily News front page that showed photos of the deceased children underneath the headline, Shame on U.S.

Show some guts, Feinstein urged her colleagues. The vote wasnt even close, and for Feinstein, gun control was personal. She was the first to find the body of city supervisor Harvey Milk, San Franciscos first openly gay elected official. Checking for a pulse on his wrist, her finger went through a bullet hole.

The 1978 assassination of Milk and Mayor George Moscone by a crazed former cop prompted Feinstein to run for mayor, launching her as a national figure with a platform of gun safety and gay rights.

Standing at 5-foot-10, and with an air of self-confidence, Feinstein could easily command a room and hold her own with all the men around her.

Ive had to get along in a male world, she said after winning her senate seat in 1992. I am of an age where when I first applied for a job, it was women need not apply. So the way Ive chosen to go is to show that I can be effective.

She quickly became one of the stand-out stars of the Senate, trusted by both sides to serve on the Select Committee on Intelligence since early 2001, before the 9/11 attacks. She chaired the committee from 2009 to 2015 and was vice-chairman or ranking member from 2015-2017.

She gained notoriety in 2014 when she successfully fought to release parts of the committees report on the CIAs torture program, which she had helped to expose and investigate, and which she called in a speech on the Senate floor a stain on our values and on our history. It detailed the enhanced interrogation of terrorists sanctioned by the Bush administration in its war on terror. This is too important a report to shelve, she said, explaining why she took on the CIA. I came to the conclusion that Americas greatness is being able to say we made a mistake and we are going to correct it and go from there.

Feinstein Befuddled by Reporters Question About Line of Presidential Succession

We shouldnt let Feinsteins reluctance to leave a job she has done so well overshadow the very real contributions she has made and will continue to make as she serves out the remainder of her term.

Big things were always expected of Feinstein. She was the mayor of San Francisco when she was first touted as a potential vice-presidential candidate. It was 1984, and Democrat Walter Mondale was looking to make history and choose a woman as his running mate. Feinstein found it preposterous. Im on my third marriage, she exclaimed. This job is hell on my private life. My husband, Dick Blum, is a most patient man. President? Me? Im not ambitious for higher office. Ive got to survive as mayor.

Over the years, as various women were considered presidential material, Feinstein always made the list. She would have none of it and was even somewhat amused that the media attributed to her an ambition for higher office that she didnt possess. She had found her calling in the Senate. Now she will be leaving on terms that will allow her to step back and savor the moment.

Her retirement only serves as the starting gun for the race of the century in California to succeed the indomitable Di-Fi.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  A Pakistani court on Wednesday acquitted the parents of an exiled female human rights activist, a defense lawyer said, three years after the couple was arrested on charges of terror financing and sedition.

The 2019 arrests of Gulalai Ismail's parents, Mohammad and Uzlifat Ismail, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, had drawn widespread condemnation. The U.S. State Department also expressed concern over the arrests.

On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court acquitted the couple, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges, according to the couple's lawyer, Shabbir Hussain Gigyan.

Mohammad Ismail is a teacher and a social activist. His daughter fled to the U.S. in 2019 and she sought asylum there to avoid harassment by Pakistani security agencies over her investigations into alleged human rights abuses by soldiers.

In recent years, Pakistani activists and journalists have increasingly come under attack by the government and the security establishment, restricting the space for criticism and dissent. The criticism of the military can result in threats, intimidation, sedition charges and in some cases, being arrested with no warning.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said on Tuesday that she thinks Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) should stay governor for the time being, as he continues to attract speculation about a potential 2024 presidential bid.

DeSantis doesnt need to [run], Palin said in an interview with Newsmax. I envision him as our president someday but not right now.

He should stay governor for a bit longer, she added. Hes young, you know. He has decades ahead of him where he can be our president.

Although DeSantis has yet to announce a 2024 presidential bid, he is widely viewed as former President Trumps biggest competition for the Republican nomination.

A recent poll from Monmouth University showed Trump and DeSantis tied as the leading choice among Republican voters for their partys nominee.

However, Palin appeared confident in Trumps 2024 prospects on Tuesday.

Im all about healthy, competitive primaries, Palin said. That makes everybody debate more articulately and work harder and let the people know what [their] records are and visions for this country are. And so, I love healthy debate and competitive primaries.

But when you talk about the specific people, the individual people who are looking at putting their hat in the ring  they got a lot of guts thinking theyre gonna go up against Trump, she continued.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) officially launched her 2024 presidential bid on Wednesday, becoming the first major Republican to challenge Trump. However, Haley is currently polling well behind both Trump and DeSantis, securing only 1 percent of GOP support in last weeks Monmouth poll.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina is calling on embattled City Council Member Peter Filiberto to resign in the wake of his Saturday arrest on cocaine possession and DUI charges.

"As public officials serving our city, it is incumbent upon us to reflect on how our actions affect those we serve. This situation has cast a shadow over the good work that our City Council and leadership team are accomplishing," Medina said in a Tuesday afternoon press release.

"It has become a distraction as we conduct our city business. As a city, we are striving every day to serve our citizens in a transparent and accountable manner, and I feel strongly that resignation would be in the best interest of our community," Medina said.

What's next?Council Member Filiberto's cocaine-DUI arrest raises questions for fellow Palm Bay council members

Original story:Palm Bay councilman charged with DUI, cocaine possession

Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina.

Filiberto was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, after Palm Bay police pulled him over on his motorcycle and arrested him during a Saturday night traffic stop. At the police department's booking center, police found 10.6 grams of cocaine packed away in his shoe and sock, a probable cause affidavit said.

He also faces charges of reckless driving, DUI, no motorcycle endorsement on drivers license, refusal to submit breath test, and driving with a suspended license.

The Palm Bay City Council is scheduled to next meet at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. Tuesday afternoon, City Council Member Kenny Johnson requested a council discussion about directing the city attorney to draft a letter asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend Filiberto.

Palm Bay City Council Member Peter Filiberto.

Messages seeking comment were left for Filiberto after Medina's press release was issued. Messages were also left Tuesday with DeSantis' press office and Brevard Republican Executive Committee Chairman Rick Lacey, who was out of town. Medina and Filiberto are both Republicans.

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No upcoming court dates had been scheduled in Filiberto's case as of Wednesday morning.

"Please know that I have not come to this decision lightly, and my prayers continue to go out to Pete and his family," Medina said in the press release. "I truly hope that he will get the help that he needs to overcome his personal challenges.

"Restoring and maintaining the public trust is critically important for our city. Part of restoring the public trust is doing the right thing. In this situation, I believe that voluntary resignation would be the right thing for Pete to do," he said.

Medina has also requested a discussion about "immediate drug testing for council members" during Thursday's City Council meeting.

Filiberto, 34, a federal contractor with the Department of Veteran Affairs, also serves on the Brevard County Planning and Zoning Board/Local Planning Agency.

Brevard County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Zonka has put an item on the Feb. 21 commission agenda to remove Filiberto from the board. He had been one of Zonka's nominees, and his current term began on Jan. 1, 2022.

Zonka, who represents District 5 in south Brevard, said, in light of Filiberto's arrest, "he was not a good representative for the District 5 office."

Zonka said she will nominate a replacement for Filiberto at a later date.

The Planning and Zoning Board serves as the recommending body for the County Commission in matters concerning comprehensive planning, zoning and land-development matters. Each commissioner nominates two members and one alternate to the board, and a representative of Brevard Public School also serves on the board.

Business Editor Dave Berman contributed to this report. Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay Mayor calls for Peter Filiberto to resign after DUI arrest
Philip Mehrtens Papua rebels hostage Indonesia Asia pilot New Zealand - West Papua Liberation Army via AP

Papua separatists have released video footage of a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage a week ago.

Philip Mehrtens was seized by rebels who stormed the single-engine plane he was flying after it landed in the remote mountainous province of Nduga.

They set the plane alight, releasing the five passengers, but detaining the 37-year-old pilot.

The separatists, members of the West Papua National Liberation Army, which is fighting for independence from Indonesia, had promised to treat him humanely.

In the video, which was sent to the BBC, Mr Mehrtens was wearing dark shorts, a denim jacket and a black T-shirt, and was surrounded by rebels armed with guns, bows and arrows.

He also appeared to read a statement from the rebels repeating their demands, in a dispute dating back to Indonesia seizing control of the region in the Sixties.

Philip Mehrtens Papua rebels hostage Indonesia Asia pilot New Zealand - West Papua Liberation Army via AP

Papua, formerly a Dutch colony, had declared independence in 1961. However, the region came under Indonesian control in 1969 following a controversial UN-sponsored referendum.

Mr Mehrtens had been moved to an area under the rebels control and was being held as a bargaining chip.

Sebby Sambom, the groups spokesman, had told The Telegraph that the rebels were unwilling to speak to the enemy in Jakarta, but would negotiate the pilots relief with Australia and New Zealand.

If New Zealand and the Australian government dont want to respond to our demands, we will not release him, he said

But he will stay with us and we will ask him for training for our young people training for flying.

Mr Mehrtens was being held because New Zealand had co-operated with the Indonesian government.

The rebels have demanded New Zealand cut links with Jakarta, which it accuses of carrying out genocide against the Papuan population.
Passenger Describes United 777s Harrowing Plunge to Ocean

By Gregory Wallace, David Williams, and Gabe Cohen, CNN

(CNN)  A passenger onboard the United Airlines 777 that plunged to within 775 feet of the ocean shortly after takeoff from Hawaii last December has spoken out about the harrowing experiences.

Passenger Rod Williams II told CNN the plane seemed to be flying normally at first, but then he said the plane climbed at a concerning rate for a few seconds.

It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster. It was at that point, Williams said. 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 fell for a full 21 seconds and lost more than half its altitude, according to the data from FlightRadar24. The plane gained speed as it dropped 1,425 feet from 2,200 feet before regaining its climb out of Kahului on the island of Maui.

Neither United nor the Federal Aviation Administration indicated anyone was injured on Flight 1722 on December 18.

Multiple screams

Williams and his family were sitting near the back of the plane when the Boeing 777 made the terrifying plunge shortly after taking off from Kahului Airport in Hawaii.

He said the plane then went into a dramatic, nose-down dive for about eight to 10 seconds before it climbed steeply again and resumed normal flight.

The experience was harrowing.

When the plane started to nosedive, multiple screams are being let out, at that point, Williams said. Youre trying your best to maintain your composure  theres obviously kids on the flight  nobody really knows whats going on, but at the same time, youre concerned. You dont know if this is an issue, but it was certainly out of the ordinary.

Williams said he and his wife were sitting on either side of their children and glanced at each other during the steep descent.

Its tense, you dont really have a chance to speak or to conjure up words, youre 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.

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Flight attendants comforted some passengers after the incident and there was an announcement on the loudspeaker about 10 minutes later.

Someone from the cockpit got on the intercom and said, Alright, folks, you probably felt a couple Gs on that one, but everythings gonna be OK. Were gonna be alright, Williams said.

Williams studied aviation in college, so he had some idea of what was happening, but his daughter, 10, and son, 7, had never flown before their trip to Hawaii, so they didnt really know what was happening. They were scared, Williams said, but his son still wants him to play United by flying him on his shoulders.

The rest of the flight went smoothly, but Williams said there was a strong crosswind when they landed in San Francisco. They then took another flight home to Ohio.

Counting my blessings

Williams wasnt aware of how close the plane came to the water until Sunday night  eight weeks after the flight  when his father showed him the report on the incident.

Williams said he has tried to focus on the wonderful memories they made on what he called a once-in-a-lifetime vacation and that he didnt want his kids to be afraid to fly so they can enjoy future trips.

Now that I know, statistically what had happened, and that we were about 5 to 5.2 seconds from hitting the water, you know, Im definitely counting my blessings, he said. Im reminded that when my wife and I pray together before the flights that, you know, there's a God that's here in that."

He said he was grateful for the pilots amazing, amazing recovery efforts, and said they should be praised for that.

You read about these things, but then when you get to experience it, its just, sobering, you know. Im very thankful to be here today.

The NTSB will launch an investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter on Tuesday that it would investigate the incident. The NTSB previously said that it was not planning to investigate. CNN has asked the agency why it reversed its decision.

The FAA did conduct an investigation into the incident but has not shared the results of its probe. The agency told CNN that its safety investigation could not be shared because the confidentiality of this program is critical to its success.

The NTSB typically shares the results of its investigations with the public. The agency tweeted that a preliminary report is expected in 2-3 weeks.

United said it conducted an investigation with the FAA and the pilots union that ultimately resulted in the pilots receiving additional training, adding the investigation is ongoing.

The pilots have a combined 25,000 hours of flight time.

The United Airlines flight crew reported the incident to the FAA as part of a voluntary safety reporting program. The agency reviewed the incident and took appropriate action, the FAA told CNN on Monday.

Although the weather at the exact time is unclear, the National Weather Service reported the day set a daily record for rainfall at Kahului.

The incident, which is coming to light only now, was first reported by the website Air Current.

The-CNN-Wire

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Photo: The Canadian Press Barclays PLC, once a major oilsands funder, says it will no longer provide financing to the emissions-heavy industry. A view of Barclays headquarters at London's Canary Wharf financial district, Thursday, June 28, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Lefteris Pitarakis

Barclays PLC, once a major oilsands funder, says it will no longer provide financing to the industry.

The London-based bank had already set restrictions around oilsands financing that had cut its lending exposure to zero as of the end of 2022, while the policy update released Wednesday formalizes the ban that also excludes the financing of new oilsands pipelines.

The decision marks a notable shift from just a few years ago, when between 2016 and 2021 the bank provided US$4.3 billion to oilsands companies to make it the seventh-largest funder, according to the Banking on Climate Chaos report.

Canada's TD Bank Group and RBC were by far the largest funders in that period, each providing more than US$27 billion in financing, according to the report.

Stand.earth climate finance director Richard Brooks says Barclays' decision shows international banks are walking away from the emissions-heavy industry, even as Canadian banks continue to finance it.

HSBC said in December that it would stop funding new oil and gas fields, though the commitment didn't extend to its Canadian division that RBC has agreed to buy.
I live near the railroad tracks. When the train goes by, one window in my bedroom rattles. I can feel vibrations.

This has worried me from time to time. What is all this vibration doing to my house? But then I reason that the house has been here since 1905, so it probably will not fall down.

I enjoy traveling by rail precisely because you get to go through town after town with houses just a few feet from the tracks. A lot of rail lines were in place before the Civil War.

The railroad ran through the middle of my hometown in North Carolina. It also ran through the middle of my mothers hometown of Thomasville. Her uncle was killed by the train. Her brother heard the crash, and when he saw the car that had been dragged down the tracks, he knew it was Uncle Johnny. Gates were put up in response to that accident.

When I was a child, I loved hearing the Southerners whistle in the middle of the night as I lay in my bed. My sister lived her entire adult life in New York City, and I would take the train to visit her. I have never lost my love of trains.

So when I learned of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, it got my attention. What had gone wrong? Derailments are very common all over the country, over 1,000 per year. If a similar accident were to occur in Staunton or nearby towns, it could be catastrophic. What is going on with railroads?

Part of what has happened we are aware of from many industries. To make more money, costs have been cut. Understaffing is all too common in hospitals and nursing homes. It is hard on patients, workers, and the people who care about them.

People who work for railroads report similar working conditions. There are 7 Class 1 railroad companies in the U.S. There are the big freight companies. Six of them have adopted something called Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR). Its purpose is to use technology to improve efficiency and thereby reduce costs. The goal is to make sure 60 percent of every dollar goes to running the railroad leaving 40 percent to pay dividends to stockholders and for executive pay.

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How do they accomplish this? Cut costs. Cut the number of employees, which means the remaining employees have to work more hours. You cut the time it takes for inspections of each car from 3 minutes to less than 1.4 minutes. You defer maintenance as long as possible. Work faster.

According to an article in Vice, workers that used to inspect perhaps 300 cars a day are now inspecting three or four times that.

There is evidence that there was a fire on the train traveling through East Palestine 20 miles before the derailment. What went wrong? Not all accidents are preventable, but many are.

You know what happens at your job if there are fewer employees and you are pushed to work faster and faster. Eventually quality suffers. The employees suffer because they know that quality is suffering, and the work schedule begins to take a toll on them.

We have seen this happen in many industries. We read about nursing home problems when staffing is inadequate, often due to pressures to produce more income. We witnessed what happened to Boeing, once the most highly regarded producer of airplanes in the world. Pilots had a saying, If it aint Boein, I aint goin. Boeing ended up with two crashes that killed hundreds of people. Why? The push for profits.

Appropriate regulations are good for employees, good for the general public and even good for the companies that are regulated. With too little regulation, they are pushed to cut corners that eventually cause expensive catastrophes.

Do you think the executives and employees at Norfolk Southern are not working overtime trying to deal with the situation? Do you imagine for a minute that they dont wish this had never happened? We do not do them any favors by refusing to regulate in ways that protect the companies as well as the rest of us from the folly of allowing hazardous situations to develop.

There will be controversy over how much regulation is too much, but too little will continue to result in what has happened in East Palestine and to Boeing.

I dont think it is possible for me to shake my love of trains. I hope to take a rail trip across the Rocky Mountains sometime in the next few years. I will linger by the tracks when I hear a train coming through. I will wave at the Amtrak engineers. I will listen for the whistle, and I will actually appreciate the sound of my window rattling in the middle of the night. But I want the trains to be safe for all of us. We can do better.

Pat Hunt is a columnist for The News Leader.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Columnist: Is the rush to meet quota causing train inspectors to get sidetracked?
On Patrol: Live, the TV police docuseries that recently broadcast video of a four-year-old Beech Grove boy handling a gun and the subsequent arrest of his father, has been renewed through January 2024.

The shows Twitter account and host Dan Abrams on Tuesday tweeted reports saying cable TV network Reelz has ordered an additional 90 episodes.

A screengrab from the TV show "On Patrol: Live" allegedly shows a boy in Beech Grove waiving a firearm above his head outside of an apartment.

The show broadcasts real-time feeds of police agencies  Beech Grove's among them  around the country.

It launched in July 2022 with an initial 60-episode order that runs through the end of February and reached almost 4 million viewers each week.

Deadline Hollywood reported the show increased the networks primetime audience by 270% in 2022.

In January, the series showed video of a young boy in Beech Grove waving a handgun in the air and pointing the weapon at his head with his finger on the trigger.

Related:Beech Grove father jailed after boy waves gun during 'On Patrol: Live,' records show

It later showed his father being taken into custody facing a preliminary neglect of dependent charge.

"On Patrol: Live" is derived from the A&E Network series Live PD, which was canceled in June 2020 after producers acknowledged they destroyed video of a Black mans death during a 2019 police stop in Texas. That show was scrutinized following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter:@cherylvjackson.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'On Patrol: Live' featuring Beech Grove police department gets extended
Pennsylvanias highest court rejected Wednesday an appeal of a former truck driver convicted in the 1993 killing of teenager in Centre County.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to review an April ruling from the state Superior Court that found an analyst whose testimony was central to the trial of James R. Cruz Jr. did not commit the errors that were alleged.

The decision from the state Supreme Court likely puts an end to any state appeals, though Cruz may pursue appeals at the federal level. His life sentence for the murder of Dawn Marie Birnbaum, 17, remains undisturbed.

Defense lawyer Steve Trialonas declined an opportunity to immediately comment.

The District Attorneys Office is grateful to the dedicated professionals, past and present, responsible for holding Cruz accountable for the 1993 murder, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said in a statement. The closure of this case represents an important success in the history of the District Attorneys Office.

Cruz, 65, of Ohio, strangled Birnbaum in March 1993. Her body was found on a snowbank near Interstate 80 in Spring Township.

Birnbaum had run away from a boarding school in Maine. She was last seen at a truck stop where she made a call on a pay phone before running toward the trucks. Cruz claimed he never met Birnbaum, but DNA tests showed the two had sex.

Her wrists were bound and a yellow rope was drawn around her neck. An FBI microscopic hair comparison analyst testified during the 1994 trial that hairs found under the rope, on her body and clothing matched Cruzs. A hair found in his truck matched Birnbaums.

Cruz sought a new trial after an April 2015 press release from the FBI made known there was widespread, systematic error in the conclusion of microscopic hair comparison analysis before 2000. His request was denied after more than six years of litigation.

Jurors deliberated at the end of Cruzs seven-day trial in June 1994 for about 15 hours. He was convicted of first-degree murder, but was acquitted of kidnapping, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and robbery.

Nothing, other than I didnt do it, Cruz told former Centre County Judge David E. Grine after his trial when asked if he had a statement to make.

Cruz did not testify during his trial. He is detained at Fayette state prison in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., underwent surgery for prostate cancer Tuesday, just over a month after he revealed his diagnosis.

A spokesperson said that the surgery was performed Tuesday afternoon and that Casey planned to return to the Senate in the near future.

His doctor reports that, as expected, the procedure went well and he confirmed that the Senator should not require further treatment," Mairead Lynn said in a statement.

"Senator Casey and his family appreciate the well-wishes and extraordinary support from every corner of the Commonwealth, and he looks forward to getting back to a normal schedule after a period of rest and recovery, Lynn added.

Casey's absence from the Senate comes shortly after a fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman, spent a couple of days in the hospital for tests and observation last week after he felt lightheaded. A spokesperson Fetterman, 53, who had a stroke in May, said Thursday that doctors ruled out a new stroke after they reviewed his MRI results.

Casey said last month that learning he had cancer "came as a shock." In announcing plans to undergo surgery in the coming months, he said at the time that he was "confident" that his recommended treatment would permit him to continue serving in Congress "with minimal disruption."

Casey, 62, was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and secured re-election in 2012 and 2018 even as the state swung between Republicans and Democrats in presidential contests. He is up for re-election next year.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
PHOTO: RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN ROMAN ABRAMOVICH ON NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN DELEGATIONS OF RUSSIAN AND UKRAINE IN ISTANBUL (TURKIYE) ON 29 MARCH 2022. PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

Since March 2022, negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv have been limited to prisoner of war exchanges and rare informal contacts with the participation of Roman Abramovich, a Russian businessman. However, other unexpected people have recently joined the communication process between Ukraine and Russia.

Source: Latvia-based Russian independent outlet Meduza citing its sources

Quote from Meduza: "Since recently, another person from Abramovichs circle has joined the negotiation process  Sergey Kapkov, former head of the Department of Culture in Moscow. For instance, he has recently been in Kyiv and Istanbul as per the instruction of Abramovich."

Details: Meduza has pointed out that Kapkov has old work relations with Abramovich  he was his deputy in the 2000s when Abramovich was the governor of Chukotka.

It is reported that Abramovich engaged Kapkov in the dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow because he considers him to be a "sane person" who is, in addition, not under any sanctions and can freely travel.

In particular, Kapkov can enter Ukraine, same as before. He received Israeli citizenship in addition to his Russian one a little less than a year ago.

Sources of Meduza that are familiar with the course of negotiations have said that Kapkov takes part not only in prisoner exchanges but in "separate industrial things". For instance, in discussing the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Kapkov performs "a simple function" of coordination with the Russian side.

Meduza has revealed that it is Abramovich who calls Russian dictator Putin or Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu if necessary. And Kapkov takes care of calling generals, since "there are connections and everyone knows everyone", as Ukrainian and Russian military servicemen hardly communicate directly.

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Assistants of Abramovich also carry out some technical tasks  they take care of preparation documents, analytics that will then be voiced in the negotiation process directly.

In addition, Abramovich also involved David Davidovich in the negotiations earlier. Davidovich is his old business partner and Deputy Director General of the Millhouse Ltd. (it is affiliated with Millhouse LLC, owned by Abramovich and manages his assets).

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, another old friend of Abramovich was participating in the negotiations  Alexander Voloshin. He is a former head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation (1999-2003) and the current head of the board of directors of the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo.

He has supposedly communicated with the Ukrainian government only by phone. He has allegedly called Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People faction, who was part of an official negotiation delegation from Ukraine.

Another participant of the negotiation process was Oleksandr Rodnianskyi, Russian-Ukrainian film producer and a close friend of Abramovich. Rodnianskyi said in his interview in January 2023 that Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, called him on the day of the full-scale invasion and offered to link him with Abramovich trying to "achieve a fast peace solution".

Meduza has pointed out that Ukraine has not confirmed this information.

It is also noted that Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to Yermak, has refused to comment on the role of Kapkov, Davidovich, Voloshin and Rodnianskyi in negotiations. Moreover, Kapkov and representatives of Abramovich have not replied to Meduzas questions, as well.

Meduza has information that Abramovich is still informally in touch with representatives of both sides and "gives all his time to matters related to prisoner exchanges".

Nevertheless, the same sources have stated that after Bucha, the negotiation process is only about prisoner exchanges and separate questions, such as the Grain Initiative, and "there is no political component"; full peaceful settlement is not on the table in the negotiation process in 2023.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Chelsea Handler recently sparked backlash from conservatives when she shared a comedy sketch about the joys of life without children. Now, it seems that men on Fox News are just learning that women can choose to be childfree.

The comedian  who has temporarily taken over as The Daily Show host after Trevor Noahs exit  shared a video last week celebrating a A Day In The Life of a Childless Woman, which included a number of exaggerated daily tasks.

This is a day in the life of a childless woman, Handler, 47, began the satirical video. I wake up at 6am. I remember that I have no kids to take to school, so I take an edible, masturbate, and go back to sleep.

I wake up at 12:30pm and get ready for a busy day of doing whatever the f*** I feel like, she said, before putting on my most impractical and stylish shoes since I wont be chasing a child around the grocery store.

Handlers day as a childfree woman also included a day trip to Paris for a croissant, a workout on Mount Everest for a quick climb, and a night out with whatever hot guy the comedian met on Raya that morning.

I do a meditation sesh on the plane since I have no screaming kids, allowing me all the time in the world to become enlightened. The weightlessness of my existence has granted me superhuman powers, she joked. Its amazing what you can do when you have this much free time and thats a day in the life of a childless woman!

The sketch received nearly 21m views since it was posted to Twitter on 10 February. Unsurprisingly, Handlers satirical video didnt go over well with some conservatives, who blasted Handler for living a sad, selfish existence without children.

This is extremely sad, tweeted anti-abortion activist Lila Rose.

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Yes, youre really living your best life, arent you. Just to be clear, because it apparently needs to be said by parents, I wouldnt trade 10,000 of your supposedly carefree childless days in Paris and sleeping in until noon for one smile from my baby girl, replied Fox News writer Justin T Haskins.

It would be difficult to concoct a more sad, selfish existence than the one youve just put forth.  T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) February 14, 2023

This is extremely sad  Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) February 14, 2023

Yes, youre really living your best life, arent you. Just to be clear, because it apparently needs to be said by parents, I wouldnt trade 10,000 of your supposedly carefree childless days in Paris and sleeping in until noon for one smile from my baby girl.  Justin T. Haskins (@JustinTHaskins) February 14, 2023

Conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler tweeted: I wouldnt trade my beautiful, sweet daughter for all the self love in the world because you know what? Self love is just materialism & self-idolatry. Its nothing. Its empty. Its vapor in the wind. But the tiny precious soul Im shepherding? Thats eternal. Its real love.

You cant hide your misery, said Robby Starbuck, Republican candidate for Tennessees 5th Congressional District.

I wouldnt trade my beautiful, sweet daughter for all the self love in the world because you know what? Self love is just materialism & self-idolatry. Its nothing. Its empty. Its vapor in the wind. But the tiny precious soul Im shepherding? Thats eternal. Its real love.  Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) February 14, 2023

You cant hide your misery.  Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 14, 2023

Handlers viral video even caught the attention of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who dedicated an entire segment during Tuesdays broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight to the comedy skit.

On 14 February, the television pundit invited conservative radio host Jesse Kelly on his show, where he went on a sexist rant claiming feminist women are being lied to by society and compared Handlers womb to a dried-up tumbleweed.

Jesse, does narcissism  does living for yourself, when its always about you, is that the road to joy and fulfillment, I wonder? Carlson asked the host of The Jesse Kelly Show.

You know, I wonder why you called me a wise man, Tucker, because Im actually very stupid, he began his response. See, when I was a kid I thought I was wise, I thought I was very intelligent, and you know why I thought that, Tucker? Because I had a mom who loved me.

Then, Kelly bragged about his own 0.0 grade point average in college, before making an argument about the autonomy of womens bodies.

One day Im 18 years old and I got a 0.0 grade point average in college  Im not making that up  and I realised, Youre not actually smart. Everything youve been told is a lie, Jesse. Youre actually quite stupid and youre going to have to deal with that. Thats what you see women like Chelsea Handler, feminists like Chelsea Handler, going with now. Theyve been lied to by their society forever, that you can be a girlboss and you can do anything a man can do  which, everyone whos ever seen a woman back up a vehicle knows thats not true.

This sexist rant is so unbelievably unhinged.



I literally watch Tucker Carlson as my job and even I'm sitting here like, "Jesus Christ, dude." pic.twitter.com/eEEKGKBQGc  Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) February 15, 2023

Either way, theyve been told they should do a career and dont do a family, and soon youre Chelsea Handler, he continued. Soon its Valentines Day and your womb resembles a dried up tumbleweed blowing down an old Western town and your Valentines Day date for the 10th year in a row is a 10-year-old copy of Magic Mike and half-full bottle of Xanax and youre trying to pretend like youre happy, but youre not happy and its actually not her fault. Shes been lied to by a country thats lost its way.

Perhaps the Tucker Carlson Tonight segment was in retaliation against Handler calling Carlson a whiny little b*tch during her second night as guest host of The Daily Show earlier this month. Still, Jesse Kellys appearance on Fox News was widely criticised online, with one Twitter user saying: This sexist rant is so unbelievably unhinged.

My man really followed up I got a 0.0 GPA in college with women cant backup a car, another said.

My man really followed up I got a 0.0 GPA in college with women cant backup a car pic.twitter.com/XE2PwUwhqy  Jordan - Sportsball Disrespecter (@SLCLunk) February 15, 2023

Others were simply amused by the number of outraged conservatives in Handlers comments section after she posted her Childless Woman comedy sketch.

the absolute seething in the replies is the funniest part of the bit, i love chelsea handler now, tweeted one newfound fan.

The conservatives are so incredibly triggered by this (in the replies) and its just delicious, another user said.

the absolute seething in the replies is the funniest part of the bit, i love chelsea handler now https://t.co/SeIimcKUWH   (@abortsons) February 15, 2023

The conservatives are so incredibly triggered by this (in the replies) and its just delicious  https://t.co/dZ43oetHbL  Samantha Sokol (@samiandzoe) February 15, 2023

The replies to this are deranged. Bravo Chelsea, wrote someone else, while one person pointed out: Something about women choosing things and being happy with those choices always gets people upset.

The replies to this are deranged. Bravo Chelsea  https://t.co/gGwXoFBnWI  Declan Cashin (@Tweet_Dec) February 15, 2023

Im trying to understand why people who chose to have children are so triggered by a person who chose not to

Something about women choosing things and being happy with those choices always gets people upset https://t.co/vOvLbOZ3Zm  Pagan Trelawney  (@PaganTrelawney) February 15, 2023

Chelsea Handlers viral video may not come as a surprise to some, considering the stand-up comedian has spoken out frequently about her choice to not have children. Just last month, she spoke about the constant pressure for women to have children and the lack of representation of child-free adults in society.

[There are] some overtures to women and men out there, and anyone who doesnt identify as either, that you are not defined by the children that you bring into the world [and] that youre not defined by your relationships or being married, Handler said during an appearance on the Today show.

The former Chelsea Lately host added that the pressure to have children is strong, especially for women.

As a woman, Im so sick  and have been so sick  of being asked that question repeatedly when Ive made my views so clear to people, she said, before admitting that there needs to be more representation for people in this world that just want to be living their lives and live out loud and loving hard without a family and without that kind of societal construct.

Handler went on to explain how she feels that many adults think they need to have children in order to feel fulfilled.

A lot of people just think, Oh, I have to do that. Thats the next step, she told Today. And its so annoying, because its not what you have to do.
Kremlin

The petition was registered by Valeria Shakhvorostova on Nov. 23, 2022. Now President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must provide a response to it.

Read also: Russia campaigning to mobilize leading scientists in Moscow, says General Staff

The historical name of Russia is Moscovia, the petitions initiator said.

The same applies to the state entities of the Moscow principality, the Moscow kingdom, and the empire. On Oct. 22, 1721, i.e. 301 years ago, Tsar Peter I of Moscow proclaimed the Moscow kingdom the Russian Empire. Russia has existed for only 301 years.

Read also: Representative of Moscow Patriarchate is detained due to calls for capture of Kyiv

According to Shakhvorostova, the name change gave grounds for further encroachment on the history of (Kyiv) Rus. In particular, for foreigners, Rus and the names Russia, Russie, Russland (Russia) look almost identical, the initiator believes.

This leads to confusion at the international level, the author said.

Fictional books are being written, films are being shot where Russia is presented as Rus, which is unacceptable.

Read also: SBU says Russian propaganda found in raids of Moscow Patriarchate church premises

Shakhvorostova believes that the official change of the states name is a powerful information move at the international level.

This will lead to the debunking of the Kremlins myths about the historical past of the great Russian people for Russians and citizens of other countries, who considered Ukraine and Russia to be a single whole before the start of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine, she added.

In November 2022, Ukraines Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Serhiy Kyslytsya, called on Ukrainian officials and legislators to pass a law according to which Ukraine would officially call Russia Moscovia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines and the United States will this year carry out their biggest joint military drills since 2015, Manila's army chief said on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing tensions with China in the South China Sea.

The exercises underscore improved ties with the United States under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and come as the Philippines condemns China's "aggressive" actions in the disputed waterway, including its use of a "military-grade laser" against one of Manila's vessels earlier this month.

The annual 'Balikatan' exercises will be conducted in the second quarter and involve more than the previous year's 8,900 troops, army chief Romeo Brawner told reporters.

"All of these exercises that we are doing are in response to all types of threats that we may be facing in the future, both man-made and natural," Brawner said.

President Marcos on Tuesday summoned China's ambassador to express "serious concern" over the intensity and frequency of China's activities in the South China Sea, most of which China claims as its territory.

China's use of a laser against a Philippine vessel on Feb. 6, which its foreign ministry insists was legal, has sparked expressions of concerns and support from Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Washington "will redouble its efforts with our Philippine ally" to bolster the Philippine military and coast guard's defence capabilities "as we work shoulder-to-shoulder to uphold the rules-based international order," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said on Twitter.

The Philippines has granted Washington greater access to its military bases as part of the latter's efforts to deter China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and tension over self-ruled Taiwan.

In 2015, more than 11,000 troops from both countries participated in the joint military exercises.

"The exercises will involve a myriad of activities, not just focused on developing the war fighting capability of both armed forces, but also of the other non-traditional roles such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response," Brawner said.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
[Source]

Netflix has announced that an animated series of Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasakis best-selling manga Pluto is now in development.

On Tuesday, Netflix shared a four-minute sneak peek at the upcoming series, which is produced by Genco with animation production by M2 Studio.

I applaud the courage of everyone that has taken on the challenge of making an anime based on Pluto. I am excited about the birth of this new series to win over peoples hearts. I hope that now more than ever, Osamu Tezuka's message reaches the world, Urasawa said in a press release.

Pluto inherits the philosophy of Tezuka and does not merely convey a message of anti-war, but reminds us that there is suffering on both sides but still, the only remaining answer is peace, Nagasaki added.

More from NextShark: BIGBANGs T.O.P might travel to outer space with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa

The Japanese voice cast for Pluto includes Shinshu Fuji as German robot detective Gesicht; Minori Suzuki as Uran, Astros younger sister; and Yoko Hikasa as Atom, the series version of Astro Boy.

Set in a neo-futuristic world harmoniously cohabitated by humans and high-functioning robots, Pluto is based on Osamu Tezukas 1964 Astro Boy manga arc The Greatest Robot on Earth.

The animated Pluto is the real deal, and in addition to this being Urasawas latest work, this is also a new Tezuka anime. I can hardly wait to see how this new generation of anime turns out, Macoto Tezuka, the son of the late legendary mangaka, said.

More from NextShark: DC announces titles featuring new Asian superheroes for AAPI Heritage Month

Pluto was first released on Sept. 9, 2003. The manga series ran for eight volumes and 65 chapters before it ended on April 5, 2009.

The series has sold over 8.5 million copies and has been the recipient of several awards, including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

An official release date has yet to be announced, but the project will be available for streaming later this year.

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More from NextShark: Japanese American comedian gets standing ovation from Simon Cowell on Americas Got Talent

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Olivia Munn's baby's Vietnamese middle name Hiep compared to Elon Musk's baby's name X  A-XII
University of Kentucky officials say there was a report of shots fired on campus early Wednesday, but they have since cleared the incident.

The campus-wide alert about the shooting went out at approximately 1:30 a.m. Officials said the shooting happened near parking structure No. 1 at Cooper Drive and University Drive.

UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said a gun was fired from inside a vehicle and that it wasnt an active shooter situation.

No injuries and no victims were reported, according to university officials. Officials said the emergency situation had passed roughly an hour after the first alert went out.

There are no victims reported, UK said in its second alert, clearing the incident. We will share more information as it becomes available.

Monroe said campus safety is the departments top priority and highlighted some steps theyve made to enhance student well-being, such as added investments towards the schools emergency notification technology and active aggressor training





Safety is a shared responsibility but an incident like this reinforces why these efforts are so important  this morning, our emergency notification system was activated immediately and police responded in less than two minutes, Monroe said in a statement Wednesday. We will continue to work to make our campus safe and prepared for any emergency.

The shooting was still under investigation by UK Police Wednesday morning.
JACKSON, Miss.  Mississippi authorities said Wednesday theyre investigating sheriffs deputies involved in the shooting of a Black man who was hospitalized for nearly three weeks after being wounded last month in the late-night raid of a home.

There is a stark discrepancy in how police say the Jan. 24 incident unfolded and what lawyers for the family of Michael Corey Jenkins say occurred. The lawyers claim it was a racially motivated attack while police say the shooting occurred after someone pointed a gun at deputies during the raid.

Attorneys for Jenkins say he was critically injured by white Rankin County deputies who beat Jenkins and shot him in the mouth. Jenkins, who was hospitalized until Tuesday, planned to attend a news conference with his lawyers Wednesday afternoon.

More:After video shows police Tasing, Lumumba contradicts Police Chief Davis on cause of death

Michael would be dead like (Tyre) Nichols had he not have been lucky enough to survive this near deadly attack by 6 white Rankin County Deputies, attorney Malik Shabazz said in a statement. Nichols died after being beaten by Memphis police in January.

Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said the agency is investigating the incident and declined further comment.

In a news release on Jan. 25, the bureau said the deputies were conducting a narcotics investigation when they entered the home in Rankin County east of Jackson. The bureau said the shooting occurred after someone pointed a gun toward the deputies.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said in a statement that he immediately sought a state investigation. The sheriffs office gave few details but said Jenkins was charged with assaulting an officer and drug possession. Another man detained during the home raid, Eddie Terrell Parker, has been charged with possession of paraphernalia and disorderly conduct.

More:MBI investigating fourth Capitol Police officer-involved shooting in Hinds County

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"Rest assured, if any deputy or suspect involved in this incident is found to have broken the law, he will be held accountable in accordance with the law, the sheriff said.

Bailey did not respond to written questions about whether deputies had a warrant or if the deputies involved had been placed on administrative leave.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MBI investigates shooting of Black man by Rankin County deputies
An Australian hotel chain has apologised after Post Malone said they denied him entry to their bar because of his face tattoos.

The Sunflower was reportedly denied entry to QT Perths rooftop bar as its dress code policy prohibits face, neck, and offensive tattoos.

Malone  real name Austin Richard Post  told The West Australian: They turned me away for my tattoos.

Ive never really experienced anything like that, he added.

Malone has more than 65 tattoos, according to Insider, including barbed wire under his hairline and the words Always Tired under his eyes.

QT Hotels later said they sincerely apologise for denying entry to the 27-year-old and his entourage on Saturday (11 November) night.

Post Malone performing in Melbourne on 7 February 2023 (Richard Nicholson/Shutterstock)

At QT, we aim to welcome everyone and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. QT has recognised this for many years.

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.

The artists father recently confirmed that his son was healthy following fan concerns surrounding his recent weight loss.

Fans had noticed that Malone seemed to have lost significant amounts of weight during his recent tour appearances in Australia.

Responding to an Instagram post questioning Malones health, the artists father Rich Post wrote: Healthiest hes been in years! Mentally and physically.

Back in September, Malone was admitted to hospital after tripping over on stage in St Louis and struggling to breathe.
Imaging Director wins Wentworth-Douglass Presidents Award

From left to right are Kevin Sweeney and Jeffrey Hughes

DOVER  Kevin Sweeney, Wentworth-Douglass Hospitals Director of Imaging, was awarded the 2022 Presidents Award last Thursday  the organizations highest honor.

Sweeney has worked at Wentworth-Douglass for more than 14 years, leading the medical imaging team that conducts diagnostic scans for patients.

Kevin is a long-serving leader with a tremendous and consistent record of success, said Jeff Hughes, President and CEO of Wentworth-Douglass. He is patient, understanding, a good listener, and exemplifies all aspects of an amazing leader. Not only does Kevin juggle a busy and growing department, but he also cares for his staff and is genuinely concerned about their happiness.

Sweeney, who was surprised during the ceremony by his wife Maria, said he was in a state of shock.

Its so extraordinary just to be nominated. The thought of winning it never would have come into my imagination, Sweeney said. We talk about values all the time. Thats something that we press ever single day. And I have to tell you that makes a difference. That sense of value drives all of us. Wentworth-Douglass Hospital is a very, very special place.

In addition to his leadership responsibilities, Hughes mentioned that Sweeney can often be seen talking to patients while they anxiously await their exams, offering comfort and even transporting them to other departments if needed.

His kindness, compassion, and knowledge really make him stand out, said Hughes.

Sweeney also promotes the field of radiology in the community, partnering with Dover High School and NHTI to showcase imaging technology and partner on clinical placement for additional training on state-of-the art equipment.

This was the first time an individual has received the award since Stacey Savage in 2020. The award was given, for the first time, to all employees in 2021 in recognition of their contributions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

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NHAIMH announces winner of Annual Mental Health Award

CONCORD  NHAIMH announced today the winner of the 2023 Outstanding Contributions to Infant Mental Health Award. Nicole Dionne, MA, LCMHC, BCBA, was chosen for her outstanding accomplishments and contributions to improve the outcomes of infants and toddlers around New Hampshire. She is generously donating her $250 award to Waypoint at Richie McFarland and the Seacoast Mental Health Center. She will receive her award at the NHAIMH Annual Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m.

In her role at Seacoast Mental Health Center, Nicole teamed with the Waypoint Family Centered Early Supports & Services program to increase the service providers ability to assist families experiencing anxiety, trauma and PTSD. Since the Covid-19 Pandemic, there has been an increase in young children experiencing these, and other, mental health concerns and this partnership has allowed for an improved system of care. Nicole provided workshops on Compassion Fatigue, Anxiety/Trauma, and Mental Health Diagnoses in Early Childhood to the FCESS team. In addition, she has provided an on call consultation service to FCESS providers to access professional support on complex cases.

In addition to the award ceremony, members of the NH Association of Infant Mental Health and non-members are invited to attend Strengthening Families through Screen Time Management Skills presented by Jean Rogers, M.S. Ed (Screen Time Action Network at Fireplay), and Patricia Cantor, Ed.D. (Plymouth State University).

Using the national Strengthening Families Framework as well as the Appreciative Inquiry approach to parent education, participants will learn to apply the five Protective Factors  parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, and childrens social and emotional development  to increase knowledge of the impact of screen time on early development. Research-based recommendations and resources will be shared for talking with families about very young childrens screen exposure and strengthening families awareness of the potential impact of screen time and ability to manage it as their children grow.

Members of NHAIMH will be admitted free of charge and members of the public are welcome to attend for a $25 fee. No prior registration required.

Oceanside Physical Therapy opens a second location in Dover

DOVER  Oceanside Physical Therapy is expanding to a second location in Dover after 10 successful years with a single location in Stratham. Specializing in disorders and injuries of the pelvic floor muscles, Oceanside PT works with all genders and brings an integrated, holistic approach to pelvic health.

The field of pelvic health is catching on, says Cristin Zaimes, PT, DPT the founder and owner of Oceanside PT. People are hearing their friends talk, and doctors are referring more and more patients to us. The Stratham office has been operating at capacity for years, with many people driving as much as two hours away for the specialized care. We can help with persistent back pain, urinary leakage, joint replacement recovery, the list is so long. We know now that trauma directly affects the pelvic floor. It is protective and therefore any trauma can cause a physical response that doesnt just go away. The pelvis is the center of gravity for the body; it affects running, walking, standing, movement. It is just everything, and its all connected.

The location in Dover also includes The Tide Strength Studio, a private gym with personal trainers who work closely with the physical therapists to develop ongoing strength training. We added our strength training service this year and many have called it the missing piece in their recovery. Finding strength without fear is vital for recovery and is healthy for everybody. In the new Dover location, we also have a sauna, and offer massage and wellness services with our PTs, says Cristin.

The Dover location is accessible to Portsmouth, Portland, and the college community, widening the availability of this unique approach to physical therapy. Dover has been on our radar since Oceanside began, it is home to great provider networks and medical clinicians that deserve to have resources for their patients, says Director of Operations Hope Hartley.

Both the Stratham and Dover locations are open and scheduling appointments for new patients and the Dover location will be hosting an open house in March to welcome the community to the new space. To learn more about their locations and services, visit oceansidept.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Presidents Award, Infant Mental Health Award: Seacoast health news
Priscilla Presley has denied giving the late King of Rock and Roll's personal belongings to former 'Jackass' star Bam Margera. Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach

Priscilla Presley has denied claims that she gave Bam Margera one of Elvis' robes and a ring.

She said in a statement to People that the "Jackass" star is a "dishonest and unstable individual."

Margera posted about his meeting with Presley and her son Navarone Garibaldi last week.

Priscilla Presley has responded to claims that she gifted "Jackass" star Bam Margera some of her former husband's belongings following his meeting with her last week.

In a statement, the 77-year-old former "Dallas" star, who was married to Elvis Presley between 1967 and 1973, said that Margera's claims that he is in possession of a robe and a ring that once belonged to the music icon are false.

"At no time during the visit did I give him anything of Elvis'. I still have everything he ever touched," she wrote in a statement, per People.

"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," Presley continued. "Elvis belonged to all of you, and I cherish my life with him too much to ever squander anything. I do hope this man gets the help he needs and does what is right."

Presley said of the "Jackass" alum, who posted about his meeting with Presley and her son Navarone Garibaldi last Wednesday: "He came over, talked nonstop about his new ventures and personal struggles and asked for a photo with me for his father, who is a big fan."

She added that although she is always happy for "fans to take photos," she was left feeling betrayed after Margera took several pictures of the inside of her private home, and shared these online in a now-deleted Instagram post.

One of Margera's posts remains online and shows him and Presley taking a selfie together while sitting on a grey couch.

"When I was asked by my son to have a 'new friend' come over for a visit, I had no idea who he was or that later he would choose to post photos and false stories," Presley said of the meeting, which was arranged by her 35-year-old son whom she shares with producer Marco Garibaldi.

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"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," her statement continued. "I had no idea who he was or that he was filming in my home without my consent."

It is not known if the meeting took place at Graceland, the family's estate in Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis died in 1977, or another one of Presley's residences.

Margera has since apologized to Presley for his behavior but insisted that Presley's son really did gift him the items, which he has now passed on to his superfan father, Phil Margera.

In an Instagram post, he wrote: "I want to apologize to @priscillapresley and Navarone Presley for my behavior. I'm very sorry and embarrassed, and I can't apologize enough for acting like a jackass."

"Navarone gave me a robe and ring that I gave Phil to be a part of Phil's Elvis stuff," he continued, adding that as a thank you he is "making Navarone a $10,000 Heartagram necklace because I love his band @themguns with hopes to record and tour. I'm sorry."

Read the original article on Insider
The Supreme Court will have its sights set on Big Tech next week when it hears arguments involving Section 230, a controversial liability shield for online platforms, in cases in which Twitter, Google and Facebook are at the center.

But the dispute may have broader impacts for diplomats and international organizations.

It was brought about by families of terrorist attack victims for pro-ISIS content posted to and recommended on social media, but the companies also are arguing they dont need Section 230 protections because they werent liable under a federal anti-terrorism law in the first place.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and some legal scholars argue taking Big Techs position would let terrorism sympathizers off the hook, while other observers contend that holding the companies liable would lead foreign countries to reciprocate in their courts against the U.S.

This is the first time the court is looking at the intersection of social media platforms and material support provisions or aiding and abetting terrorism, and nobody really knows, said Steve Freeman, vice president of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which filed an amicus brief supporting one of the families.

The justices will consider the dispute through two separate cases that present the same material issues.

After considering how Section 230 applies in Gonzalez v. Google on Tuesday, the justices will turn to the anti-terrorism portion in Twitter v. Taamneh the following day. Rulings in the cases are expected by the summer.

The latter case arose after an ISIS-linked attacker killed Nawras Alassaf and 38 other people at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017.

Alassafs family sued Twitter, Facebook and Google by alleging the companies contributed to ISISs growth and that they could have taken more aggressive enforcement action to combat pro-ISIS content.

The relatives brought the lawsuit under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which in 2016 amended the nations anti-terrorism laws to allow civil suits against entities that aid and abet terrorism.

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Congress passed JASTA to allow families of victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia, nearly unanimously overriding then-President Obamas veto for the only time during his presidency.

Obama at the time warned in his veto message, Enactment of JASTA could encourage foreign governments to act reciprocally and allow their domestic courts to exercise jurisdiction over the United States or U.S. officials  including our men and women in uniform  for allegedly causing injuries overseas via U.S. support to third parties.

A group of former State Department legal advisers penned an amicus brief in the Twitter case raising reciprocity concerns, asserting that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expanded the scope of the laws liability beyond what Congress intended.

The group argued the broader interpretation would backfire against American interests if allowed to stand, because the United Kingdom, Pakistan and other countries have laws that would automatically reciprocate the standard against the U.S.

You should be very worried, because a lot of countries dont like humanitarian organizations, and some of them just throw them out, right, and they would find quite a lot of pleasure in going after them, said Abraham Soafer, a former federal judge and State Department lawyer who co-authored the brief.

And also going after individual diplomats who they think are aiding and abetting a terrorist organization by adopting various policies, he added.

The former State Department officials, the Justice Department and others who oppose the lower courts ruling believe that violating the law requires a nexus to a specific act of international terrorism, not just ISISs broader criminal enterprise.

Plaintiffs allege that defendants knew that ISIS and its affiliates used defendants widely available social media platforms, in common with millions, if not billions, of other people around the world, and that defendants failed to actively monitor for and stop such use, the Justice Department wrote to the justices. Those allegations do not plausibly allege that defendants knowingly provided substantial assistance to the Reina attack.

Grassley, one of JASTAs original co-sponsors, sided with the family in an amicus brief and argued more general support of ISIS is enough to hold companies liable under the statute.

If this Court accepts petitioners argument, knowingly facilitating a billion-dollar payment to ISIS would not be actionable unless the payment was earmarked for a specific terrorist attack or funds from that payment could be traced to the financing of that attack, Grassley wrote. Such a result would be absurd and discredits any rule that compels it.

That argument is bolstered by several anti-terrorism legal scholars, hundreds of terrorist attack victims and the ADL, all of whom wrote amicus briefs ahead of next weeks oral argument.

ADL did not take any position on the merits of the familys specific allegations, but Freeman, the groups vice president of civil rights, stressed that social media is a dangerous tool for terrorists if platforms do not adequately respond.

Anti-terrorism laws should not be so narrowly construed as to eliminate any possibility of holding a social media platform accountable if they knowingly provide substantial assistance to a terrorist group, said Freeman.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Vladimir Solovyov (r) at an awards ceremony in Moscow, Russia, December 2013. AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Mikhail Metzel, Presidential Press Service

Vladimir Solovyov has been a strong proponent of the war in Ukraine, encouraging young men to fight.

But after his son was called out for not joining the war he erupted on live TV, per The Daily Beast.

He said his son was living the life of "an average young person" and threatened to sue critics.

A pro-Kremlin propagandist who has long supported Russia's war in Ukraine erupted on live television after his son was accused of avoiding the war.

Vladimir Solovyov, who has a strong following and is popular with Russian President Vladimir Putin, attacked critics on-air on Tuesday, after a tweet went viral accusing him of hypocrisy because his 21-year-old son, Vladimir Solovyov, was working as a model in London and wasn't involved in the fighting.

The tweet referred to Vladimir as Solovyov's "draft-dodging son."

Solovyov hit back, saying his son, who had previously studied in London, was in Moscow, where he was "living a difficult life of an average young person" and was "not trying to dodge anything," according to The Daily Beast's translation.

He added that his critics are "beasts" who could be in the pay of Ukraine.

Solovyov further said that he would sue anyone who published the allegation that his son was a model now working in London, according to The Beast.

Solovyov's reaction came after he has repeatedly advocated for young Russians to join the fight in Ukraine.

He has encouraged every able-bodied Russian male to join the army, and on Monday, the day before he addressed allegations about his son, said on his show that every young Russian male should help the war effort as part of their patriotic duty, The Beast reported.

It is not clear if Solovyov's children are exempt from military service due to his role.

Last September, hundreds of thousands of military reservists were called up by Russia to fight. At the time, Russia's Ministry of Defense released a list of those who were exempt from mobilization, which included state media staff.

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Solovyov is considered one of the most influential pro-war figures in Russia, and has repeatedly traveled to the front line of the conflict in Ukraine.

During the course of the war he has made some of the most outlandish threats and statements against the West, advocating strikes on the UK and Germany with nuclear weapons, and threatening war against the rest of Europe.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Andriy Yusov

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is planning a series of public statements, assurances, calls, and concerts to "fuel the propaganda with something," with the main purpose being to prepare the population for this new mobilization, Yusov said.

Read also: Russia likely preparing for another round of partial mobilization

"This is done to support the Kremlins narratives, he explained.

We will hear that the (special) operation is going according to plan. That they are not at war with Ukraine, but are protecting Russia from all of NATO. Another thing is that NATO didnt show up, but who cares?"

Read also: UK intelligence lists typical problems of mobilized Russian troops

According to him, the propaganda is being used to explain to Russians why they should follow the Kremlin's instructions, even if it means going to war.

"It is explained to them why they should silently go to the slaughter, following some baffling instructions by the Kremlin elders, he said.

These are probably not citizens, they are rather subjects of the Russian Federation, because citizens would defend their own rights and ask certain questions. Maybe it will get to that point too.

Earlier, the HUR said that Russia was trying to create a two-million strong army of invaders and form strategic reserves.

Read also: Russia campaigning to mobilize leading scientists in Moscow, says General Staff

Russia has lost nearly 140,000 soldiers in its full-scale war against Ukraine so far, as of Feb. 15.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
WEST PALM BEACH  As a courtroom clerk read the verdict aloud, Lawrence Padgett started to cry.

Jurors found the 31-year-old Royal Palm Beach man not guilty of third-degree felony murder on Jan. 26, almost six years after he accidentally shot and killed Jevaughn Suckoo while trying to wrestle a gun from his hands.

The fight stemmed from a dispute over money. Padgett said he met Suckoo at his West Palm Beach apartment on July 11, 2017, to buy marijuana but called off the deal because of the drugs poor quality. That angered Suckoo, Padgett said, and he drew a gun.

"I didn't go up there to harm nobody, Padgett said after the trial. When I came home from work that day, I was supposed to buy pot, and me and my brothers thought we was going to play basketball right before they go off to college."

The death of Jevaughn Suckoo: Slain West Palm man was father, with twins on way, dad says

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Instead, they spent the evening dressing a gunshot wound in the arm of Padgetts younger brother, Marqavious McCatty. He had followed Padgett into the apartment after deciding the drug deal had taken too long, then threw himself between the two men when he saw them fighting.

The gun in Padgetts hand discharged, a bullet traveling through McCattys arm and into Suckoos head.

Suckoos girlfriend, the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, returned home to find Suckoo dead in the living room. She gave birth to twins three days later and died of an infection from her C-section on the day of Suckoos funeral.

Jevaughn Suckoo poses with his girlfriend Stephanie Caceres for a baby shower. Suckoo was shot and killed on July 11, 2017 and the twins Caceres carried were born three days later. Caceres died Wednesday, July 26, 2017 due to an infection stemming from her C-section, according to friends and family.

The maximum penalty for third-degree felony murder  unintentionally killing someone while committing, or attempting to commit, a nonviolent felony  is 15 years in prison. Assistant State Attorney Chrichet Mixon offered Padgett a nine-year deal in exchange for pleading guilty and forgoing a trial. He turned it down.

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The evidence didnt support the charge, said Padgetts defense attorney, Scott Skier. The fight that led to Suckoos death began after Padgett called the drug deal off, he said; not as a sale was being carried out.

Prosecutors called Padgetts brother to testify against him, but Skier said even his testimony underscored Padgetts defense. Jurors rejected the felony murder theory. To convict him of manslaughter instead, Mixon would have needed to prove that Padgett acted unreasonably when he tried defending himself from Suckoo. Jurors rejected that theory, too.

Padgett, a Wellington High School graduate with no felony convictions, returned home to his wife and daughter in the wake of his murder trial, feeling relieved. Hed been forbidden from leaving, even to work or to drive his toddler to day care, for three years.

Within a week, he landed a job in construction.

I want to help out my wife. She'd been doing this for three years, taking care of all the work, all the bills, Padgett said Tuesday. So you know I went straight to work.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lawrence Padgett found not guilty of felony murder for fatal 2017 shooting
EUTERS/Anton Vaganov

A 20-year-old Russian conscript has reportedly committed suicide at his military base to avoid being sent to Ukraine to take part in the war.

Sergei Gridin was found hanged earlier this month in his base outside Moscow by fellow service memberswho managed to snap a photo of the suicide note he left before commanders arrived and swept the whole incident under the rug, according to multiple reports.

The independent outlet Siren reports that Gridins family confirmed his suicide and the contents of his note. His death came shortly after he said hed been told he was being sent to the battlefield in Ukraine.

I dont want to submit to people who inspire nothing but fear and disgust. You didnt manage to break me and you already never will. Thats why I decided to die here on native land without others blood on my hands, Gridin wrote in the letter.

Of his commanders, he said: I would like them to be imprisoned for driving a person to suicide, but in Russia that is not practiced.

Gridin said hed made clear to commanders he wouldnt join the war in Ukraine but they reacted by tormenting him.

Kremlin TV Star Erupts After His Son Is Accused of Dodging War

His family said they had seen signs of a beating on the 20-year-olds body, though the death certificate made no mention of any such findings. They said military brass gave them no cause of death and didnt inform them of the suicide note, which they later found out about from other service members.

Gridins commanders reportedly confiscated the note at the scene and tried to keep its contents under wraps, as there was also no mention of it in official documents about the investigation into the young conscripts death.

He is not the first and probably not the last to take his own life as the Kremlins war machine plows ahead in search of fresh cannon fodder. The BBCs Russian Service reported earlier this week that at least eight Russian draftees have committed suicide before they could be sent to the front line.

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The Kremlin repeatedly promised at the start of the war that it would not send conscripts to Ukraine, but the defense ministry was then forced to admit to the practice a short time later, leaving Vladimir Putin humiliated and vowing punishment for military officials.

Numerous reports have emerged in independent media about young conscripts, many of whom are students, being tricked into going to the front line under false pretenses. All Russian men aged 18-27 are required by law to register for conscription, but they are not considered professional troops and are prohibited from being deployed to war zones without at least four months of training.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion last year, the Kremlin has tried but failed to suppress protests from both conscripts and those called up under Putins partial mobilization order.

But theyre still trying to keep the growing discontent under wraps.

Just this week, two draftees in the Samara region were arrested for discrediting the army after they released a video appeal urging Putin and the defense ministry to do something about the chaos in their ranks.

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.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Members of a Ukrainian artillery unit prepare to fire an M109 self propelled artillery unit at Russian mortar positions around Vuhledar from a frontline position on December 19, 2022 in Donetsk Region, Ukraine. Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images

New Russian soldiers are struggling on the battlefield in Ukraine's east, The Guardian reported.

The small mining town of Vuhledar is the site of ongoing fighting as Russia aims to take more territory.

But Ukraine has managed to maintain a strong defense in recent weeks.

Russian forces are floundering in east Ukraine as new recruits and poorly-trained conscripts fail to make significant headway amid ongoing battle near the small mining town of Vuhledar.

Vuhledar and its surrounding villages in the Donetsk region 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 area after Kremlin officials downplayed reports of casualties following a failed assault.

But renewed fighting in Vuhledar began in earnest late last month, prompting Ukraine to double down on its efforts to hold the advantageous town which offers an elevated position and collection of high-rise buildings that give Ukrainian defenders a literal leg-up in combat, as well as sufficient cover from Russia's bombardments.

Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the region told The Guardian this week that Russia's attacks in Vuhledar are daily and often begin in the early hours of the morning around 4 a.m; artillery fire is near constant in the area and losses are mounting on both sides, but losing the town would be a major blow to Ukraine's strategy in the east, as well as a decisive win for a flailing Russia.

Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade, an armored unit, has been leading Vuhledar's defense, aided by members of the country's 68th Jaeger infantry brigade, The Guardian reported. The servicemen are relying on technology, including drones that can gather Russian intelligence, and Javelin anti-tank missiles in their defense, they told the outlet.

Ukraine has managed to lose little ground in the fight thus far  though it helps that Russia seems to be putting forth a particularly weak offense, one soldier said.

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"We can see very clearly that they're poorly trained," a senior lieutenant who goes by the call sign of Tykhyi, told The Guardian. "They don't have any tactics. It's as if they were told, you have this task, go and do it, but they were not told how to do it. So they just improvise."

Russian forces near Vuhledar are primarily made up of members of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, according to The Institute for the Study of War, more than 80% of whom are newly mobilized soldiers. Military experts and commentators have chalked up Russia's ongoing problems in the area to a combination of poor leadership by top generals and insufficient troop training among the new conscripts, CNN reported.

The new recruits often "gather in one pile of people" making them easy to target, Tykhyi, 23, told The Guardian. One Ukrainian estimate cited by The Guardian suggested Russia is losing 17 soldiers for each slain Ukrainian defender.

A representative of the Ukrainian Tavriisk operational direction, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, said the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade will be forced to restaff for a third time following the heavy losses, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

One particularly egregious attack by Russia last week prompted the country's forces to abandon at least 30 armored vehicles, reports and photos indicate.

 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 9, 2023

Satellite photos and video from the region depict carnage and chaos in Vuhledar and its surrounding villages, even as Russian officials continue to claim that all is going according to plan nearly a year into the unprovoked war.

Russia's struggles in the east come amid reports that the country has begun its long-awaited escalation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Quincy man accused of hurling racial slurs at a man he allegedly hit with his car in December has been indicted on a hate crime charge.

John Sullivan, 77, allegedly used his vehicle to purposely strike an Asian man who told him to slow down his car on December 2, according to the U.S. District of Massachusetts.

Desiree Thien told Boston 25 News that Sullivan hit her brother with the car and yelled Go back to China! to the man of Asian descent before striking him again.

Police arrested Sullivan after a witness followed him from the scene.

Hate has no place here in Massachusetts. As this case demonstrates, we will aggressively prosecute hate crimes and other civil-rights offenses committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any individual or group. Confronting hate crimes is a priority of my administration. I have established a standalone Criminal Civil Rights Unit and a hotline dedicated to the investigation and potential prosecution of civil rights violations, said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins in a statement.

The hate crime charge contains a maximum sentence of 10 years, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

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
Author Rachel Hollis issued her first statement on social media following the death of her ex-husband, Dave Hollis.

"We are devastated," Rachel Hollis shared to Instagram following the announcement of her ex-husband's death on Tuesday, Feb. 14. "I have no words and my heart is too broken to find them."

She continued, "Please wrap the kids up in prayers as we try and navigate through the unthinkable."

The Girl, Wash Your Face author captioned the post with a broken heart emoji.

Rachel and Dave Hollis share four children: Jackson, Sawyer, Ford and Noah.

According to a statement to TODAY.com from a family rep, Dave Hollis, who would have turned 48 on Feb. 14, passed peacefully at home in Austin, Texas on Feb. 11.

"Though exact cause of death has yet to be determined, his family confirms he had been hospitalized recently for some heart issues," the statement read.

Dave Hollis left Disney in 2018 to pursue a career alongside his then-wife, Rachel Hollis, whose self-help books include Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing.

Ex-wife Rachel Hollis went viral in 2015 when she shared a bikini photo that proudly revealed stretch marks from her pregnancies and the couple rose to internet fame writing books, producing podcasts and running conferences focused on inspirational messaging. Together, they launched The Hollis Company.

The couple, who wed in 2004, announced their divorce in 2020.

We started out as best friends 18 years ago and the truth is, that core friendship and the parts of us that work so well, have become a band-aid for the parts of us that dont," Rachel Hollis wrote at the time in an Instagram post. "We have worked endlessly over the last three years to make this work and have come to the conclusion that it is healthier and more respectful for us to choose this as the end of our journey as a married couple.

Related video:

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after the controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train, on Feb. 6. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

The response of the railroad company Norfolk Southern to the derailment of a train carrying toxic materials earlier this month near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is under scrutiny, after the company carried out a controlled burn of a known carcinogen.

In a scathing letter to the companys CEO, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro expressed serious concerns about the railroad's handling of the aftermath of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, just across the border from the Keystone State.

In the letter, which was also sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a number of other state and local officials, Shapiro claimed that, in the immediate aftermath of the crash, railroad company employees broke off from the rest of the state and local emergency management officials on the ground, making unilateral decisions and creating confusion for first responders.

Whats more, Shapiro accused Norfolk Southern of providing inaccurate and conflicting information about the impact of the proposed chemical release, writing that the railroad was unwilling to explore alternative courses of action, including some that may have kept the rail line closed longer but could have resulted in a safer overall approach for first responders, residents, and the environment."

In an email to Yahoo News, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern said the company has called the Governor to address his concerns, and insisted that it is committed to ensuring health and safety through ongoing environmental monitoring and support for their needs.

Norfolk Southern was on-scene immediately following the derailment and began working directly with local, state, and federal officials as they arrived at the unified command established in East Palestine by local officials, including those from Pennsylvania, the email statement read. We remain at the command post today working alongside those agencies to keep information flowing from our teams working at the site.

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This Feb. 4 photo taken by a drone shows the Norfolk Southern freight train still ablaze, the day after the derailment. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

On Feb. 6, Norfolk Southern released toxic chemicals from five of the derailed tanker cars in what it said was an attempt to preempt a larger explosion. One of the chemicals it was most concerned about was vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used in the making of plastic products. According to the National Cancer Institute, exposure to the gas 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. The chemical can also leach into the water supply and subsequently be ingested.

Residents who were ordered to evacuate ahead of the controlled burn release have since been assured that it is safe to return to their homes, but many have reported unopleasant odors, watering eyes and sick animals on their properties, raising concerns about its lingering health and safety effects.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sought to quell some of those concerns by holding a press conference with several state health and safety officials in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday afternoon. DeWine, a Republican, began the press conference by providing a recap of his offices response to the Feb. 3 train derailment, including the discussions that ultimately led to the controlled release of toxic chemicals from some of the derailed train cars.

DeWine said that on a conference call two days after the initial derailment, concerns were raised about one of the derailed cars, whose temperature was described as very volatile and rising. The fear was that this car might explode, sending deadly shrapnel in all directions, he said.

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine provides an update on the train derailment Tuesday. (Patrick Orsagos/AP Photo)

The next morning, he said he traveled to East Palestine to meet with those responding to the crash on the ground, including representatives from Norfolk Southern as well as the federal government. DeWine then said he called Pennsylvania's governor, Shapiro, a Democrat, on his cellphone to join in an extended discussion with representatives from the railroad, who provided them with two bad options for how to deal with the car in question. They could either do nothing and wait for the car to explode, which, DeWine said he was told, would be catastrophic. The alternative the company presented was a controlled release of the chemicals inside the car, which is what the railroad felt should be done, he said.

DeWine said the Ohio National Guard, with the help of the U.S. Defense Department, conducted a modeling exercise to assess the risks of the controlled release. After deliberating with Shapiro for roughly two hours, DeWine said the governors agreed to go ahead with the controlled release, issuing a wider evacuation order for the area around the derailment where, they warned, deadly fumes would be released into the air.

However, the letter from Shapiro, which was made public shortly after DeWines press conference, casts doubt on the information that led to that decision. For example, Shapiro accused Norfolk Southern of failing to immediately inform authorities as to the number of rail cars that contained dangerous chemicals, noting that chemicals were ultimately released and burned from more than just one train car.

Norfolk Southern failed to notify state and local response agencies initially of their intention to vent and burn all five cars containing vinyl chloride, rather than just the single car Norfolk Southern personnel identified originally, he wrote.

Shapiros comments came a day after the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Norfolk Southern saying that the company had failed to properly dispose of contaminated soil at the crash site in its effort to get the railway reopened.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks Feb. 4 in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Throughout his political career, Shapiro has relished public fights, serving two terms as the state attorney general before winning the governors race in November. Part of his gubernatorial campaign was pushing some of the victories he achieved as the states top law enforcement officer, including an investigation of the Catholic Church for abuse and earning a 10-figure settlement over predatory student loans.

Some in the area have questioned whether elected officials or Norfolk Southern were leading the response. Critics include Silverio Caggiano, a former battalion chief with the Youngstown, Ohio, Fire Department and a hazardous materials expert, who said: We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open, he told WKBN, a local TV news affiliate.

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 said, adding, Theres a lot of what ifs, and were going to be looking at this thing five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know. Well water could go bad.

Asked about Shapiros concerns, the White House directed Yahoo News to comments made by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the daily briefing Tuesday, stating that the EPA had been on site since the day after the crash.

They are, clearly, closely monitoring the situation in East Palestine. And our top priority is, of course, the health and safety of the community, Jean-Pierre said. And since Feb. 4, EPA has been leading air quality testing and supporting the Ohio EPA with surface and groundwater testing. The National Transportation Security Board has also been on site for over a week to lead the investigation into the cause of the derailment.

The administration has been criticized by rail workers for its response to the derailment, and for the fact that Buttigieg took 10 days to make a statement after the crash. Railway unions were already upset with the White House after it sided with the rail companies over striking workers in a labor dispute over paid sick days last year. Many in the industry have warned for years that a new scheduling system implemented by rail companies that results in longer trains and fewer staff would lead to more derailments, like the one in East Palestine.

Matt Weaver, the Ohio Legislative Director for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED-IBT), told Yahoo News Tuesday that the administration should strike while the iron is hot and enforce these regulations and make things safer,

He added: I think perhaps Buttigieg has dropped the ball here. Let's do an investigation, let's have the NTSB get a report out and find out how we can make things better. And I feel that not getting feedback from the Department of Transportation and even the administration is a bit frustrating.
Paczki, a deep-fried, yeast-based, stuffed doughnut, originated in Poland as a way to use up butter, eggs and other ingredients that were off-limits during Lenten fasting. Polish immigrants brought the tradition to Chicago, and bakeries offer prodigious amounts of the decadent treat around Fat Tuesday or Paczki Day, which falls on Feb. 21 this year. Paczki are also eaten on Fat Thursday in Poland, so celebrations will kick off at many places on Feb. 16 or even earlier.

At the citys most popular and longest-running bakeries, preorders often sell out and walk-ins can involve waiting in lines that snake around the block. Its best to pick your paczki well in advance, choosing from classic flavors like plum and custard and novel varieties packed with tiramisu or peanut butter.

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Many spots also combine Fat Tuesday traditions, offering French galette de rois or its showier New Orleans cousin, king cake, as well as other Mardi Gras-themed sweets. In the gloom of February winter, these indulgences will make your day so much sweeter.

Alliance Bakery

The Wicker Park bakery offers six varieties of paczki Feb. 16-22, including vanilla bean ganache ($4.75) and blueberry lemon ($4.25). You can also get a 10-inch king cake for $38. 1736 W. Division St., 773-278-0366, alliancebakery.com

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Vanilla custard and raspberry paczki are available at all Beatrix locations. (Cara Yaffe)

Beatrix

Grab a vanilla custard paczki with dark chocolate icing or a raspberry version coated with powdered sugar for $4.95 at the bakery counter on Paczki Day. Multiple locations, beatrixrestaurants.com

Bennisons Bakery

Expect long lines at the North Shore staple, which offers 10 varieties of paczki through Feb. 24 including apple sprinkled with cinnamon, cream cheese with powdered sugar and sliced pastry stuffed with banana cream. Youll also find galette de rois and five types of king cake. 1000 Davis St., Evanston; 847-328-9434; bennisonscakes.com

Beverly Bakery & Cafe

Eleven varieties of paczki are available for $2.99 each or $32 for a dozen including apricot, pineapple and prune. Fresh strawberry paczki are $3.50 each or $20 for a half dozen and king cake is available for $20. Orders can be picked up from 3-6 p.m. Feb. 20 and 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 21. 10528 S. Western Ave., 773-238-5580, beverlycoffeeroasters.com

Bittersweet Pastry Shop

Order a $26 box of six brioche paczki filled with vanilla cream or berry jam for pickup or delivery on Feb. 21. The Lakeview bakery also offers mini- ($6) and full-size king cake ($36). 1114 W. Belmont Ave., 773-929-1100, bittersweetpastry.com

Bridgeport Bakery 2.0

Walk-in service hasnt been available at Bridgeport Bakery due to remodeling, but itll be an option from Feb. 19-21 so you can grab 20 varieties of the pastry, including fresh-cut strawberries with powdered sugar, apple, poppy seed and chocolate buttercream ($2.25-$3.79). 2907 S. Archer Ave., 773-523-1121, bridgeportbakerychicago.com

Cafe Selmarie

Place an order by Feb. 17 to pick up paczki from the cafe on Feb. 21. The eight flavors include lemon curd ($3.25) and praline chocolate mousse ($4.40) and you can get an assorted box of a dozen for $38. Get your orders in soon because they regularly sell out. A limited number will be available for walk-ins. 4729 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-989-5595, cafeselmarie.com

Deerfields Bakery

Deerfields is usually closed on Monday, but theyll be open the day before Paczki Day to give you more time to get your fix of more than 20 flavors, including raspberry ($2.49), salted caramel ($2.99) and peanut butter ($3.99). If youre treating a big group, order a dozen assorted paczki for $32. Chocolate- and almond-filled king cake is available for $22 along with Mardi Gras-themed cookies ($3.50-$3.95). 201 N. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove; 813 N. Waukegan Road, Deerfield; 847-520-0068; deerfieldsbakery.com

Paczki from Delightful Pastries. (Delightful Pastries)

Delightful Pastries

Try the new dulce de leche flavor this year, which adds to the Jefferson Park bakerys large assortment, including plum butter, passion fruit jelly and vodka with vanilla bean custard. Walk in or place an order by Feb. 17 for a dozen or more. The bakery is normally closed on Sundays, but theyll be open Feb. 19 for pickups. 5927 W. Lawrence Ave., 773-545-7215, delightfulpastries.com

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Do-Rite Donuts

The chain offers raspberry vanilla bean, blackberry lemon sugar and salted caramel custard paczki for pickup at all of its stores Feb. 17-21. Multiple locations, doritedonuts.com

Familiar Bakery

Visit From Here On or Revival Food Hall Feb. 20-21 to pick up a $27 box of six milk bread paczki in complex flavors, including chili cinnamon chocolate cream and blueberry chamomile. The bakery also serves raspberry and sweet cheese king cake ($40) and galette de rois, the more traditional French version of the pastry, made with pistachio, dark chocolate and green chartreuse ($50). 433 W. Van Buren St.; 125 S. Clark St., familiarbakery.com

Firecakes

Preorders open Feb. 15 for chocolate hazelnut, strawberry mascarpone, blueberry and blood orange paczki available for pickup Feb. 17-21. Multiple locations, firecakesdonuts.com

Hewn

Hewns version of paczki is baked instead of fried and stuffed with chocolate pastry cream. Place an order by 8 p.m. Feb. 16 to pick up an $18 four-pack on Feb. 19. King cake is available for $20. 1733 Central St., Evanston; 847-869-4396; hewnbread.com

Ideal Bakery

The Portage Park bakery offers paczki year-round, but you should be sure to order ahead if you want to get some Feb. 20-21. New flavors this year include tiramisu mousse, hazelnut and Oreo cookie ($3.99), though you can also opt for a classic like plum ($1.99) or cream cheese ($2.49). 4765 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-631-6897, idealbakery.net

Kolateks Bakery & Deli

The Polish market offers paczki for Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday in a dozen classic and premium flavors, including rose, plum butter, limoncello and tiramisu. 2445 N. Harlem Ave., 773-637-3772; 1916 N. Rand Road, Palatine; 847-221-8271; kolateksbakery.com

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Liberation Kitchen

A $26 box available on Fat Tuesday offers six cherry-stuffed vegan versions of the pastry, three glazed and three dusted with powdered sugar. 2054 W. Grand Ave., 312-872-7838, uptonsnaturals.com/restaurants

Marz Community Brewing Co.

The brewery celebrates its Polish heritage with the annual release of a paczki double milk stout made with lactose and cocoa nibs. Running from noon to 8 p.m. Feb. 19, the Paczki Fest features boxes of paczki from Bridgeport Bakery and music from the Environmental Encroachment marching band at 4 p.m. 3630 S. Iron St., 773-579-1935, marz.beer

Oak Mill Bakery

Choose from several variety packs such as a gourmet assortment featuring six halved paczki filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, sour cherry and cream cheese, or chocolate with raspberry preserves ($30), or a box of 12 traditional Polish flavors such as custard, rose and prune ($47). Orders must be placed by Feb. 16 for pickup on Paczki Day. Multiple locations, oakmillbakery.com

Pticek & Son Bakery

Orders must be placed by Feb. 15 if you want to pick up one of their many types of paczki on Feb. 21, including cheese, peach, buttercream and lemon. 5523 S. Narragansett Ave., 773-585-5500

Racine Bakery

Specializing in Polish and Lithuanian fare, Racine Bakery offers 11 flavors of paczki, including raspberry, apricot and poppy seed, with some versions available in small or large sizes. Orders must be placed by Feb. 14 or Feb. 18 to pick up on Fat Thursday or Fat Tuesday, respectively. 6216 S. Archer Ave., 773-581-8500, racinebakery.com

Roesers Bakery

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Open at the same location since 1911, Roesers offers two dozen types of paczki for Fat Thursday and Paczki Day, including peach ($2.49), caramel custard ($2.05), prune ($2.25) and Nutella ($2.75). King cake is also available for $19. 3216 W. North Ave., 773-489-6900, roeserscakes.com

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Smack Dab

Preorders are required if you want to pick up three raspberry lemon curd, chocolate or vanilla pastry cream paczki ($8.25) or two of each of the flavors ($16) on Feb. 21. The Rogers Park breakfast spot also offers a taste of New Orleans with mini king cakes ($10), jambalaya ($13) and red beans and rice ($18). 6730 N. Clark St., 872-241-9111, smackdabchicago.com

Paczki from Stans Donuts & Coffee. (Emma McGregor)

Stans Donuts & Coffee

Start celebrating early with cherry, chocolate cream, pastry cream and cannoli paczki available through Feb. 21. Multiple locations, stansdonuts.com

Sweet Alis

The gluten-free bakery offers custard, chocolate custard, raspberry and apple cinnamon paczki, and you can get a $13 four-pack with all fruit, all custard or one of each type to pick up Feb. 17-21. You can also buy a mini king cake that serves four ($14) or a version thats big enough for eight ($28). 13 W. 1st St., Hinsdale; 630-908-7175; sweetalis.com

Webers Bakery

Lines often reach around the block for Webers paczki, which are offered Feb. 16-21. Flavors include custard topped with powdered sugar or chocolate, strawberry buttercream and lemon custard. 7055 W. Archer Ave., 773-586-1234, webersbakery.com

Paczki from West Town Bakery. (Pamela Perez)

West Town Bakery

Blueberry streusel, coffee cream, chocolate and raspberry paczki are all available for $4 each. Preorders must be placed 72 hours in advance. Multiple locations, westtownbakery.com

Samantha Nelson is a freelance writer.
(Getty Images)

Hollywood star Raquel Welch has died at the age of 82.

The star, who appeared in films including Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years BC, died on Wednesday (15 February) following a brief illness.

Welchs rep confirmed the news to ABC, writing: The legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness.

Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs.

Raquel leaves behind her two children, son Damon Welch and her daughter, Tahnee Welch.

Tributes have quickly flooded in for the star whose breakout role came in 1965s Fantastic Voyage, with One Million Years BC arriving the next year.

While Welch had just three lines of dialogue in the latter, a publicity shot depicting her in a bikini costume went on to become one of the decades biggest-selling posters.

The poster appears on the wall of Andy Dufresnes prison cell in 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption at the time of Tim Robbins characters escape.

The multi-talented star went on to become one of the most successful actors of the 1960s and 1970s.

High-profile roles in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968) and 100 Rifles (1969) followed, and in 1968, she starred opposite Frank Sinatra in detective film Lady in Cement.

Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC (Moviestore/Shutterstock)

Welch successfully escaped the sex symbol label she was given in the 1960s by producers and directors, many of whom tried to get her to perform nude scenes. She always refused.

She is quoted as saying: I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one. The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous and fortunate misunderstanding.

She added: What I do on the screen is not to be equated with what I do in my private life. Privately, I am understated and dislike any hoopla.

In the 1970s, Welch continued proving her mettle with roles in Hannie Caulder (1971), Kansas City Bomber (1972) and The Last of Sheila (1973). She won a Golden Globe in 1972 for her role in The Three Musketeers.

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Welchs role in the revenger Western Hannie Caulder was one of Quentin Tarantinos primary inspirations for his Kill Bill films (2003-04), starring Uma Thurman.

Frank Sinatra and Raquel Welch in Lady in Cement (20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock)

While she never won an Oscar, the actor did accept one on behalf of her friend Goldie Hawn, who won Best Supporting Actress for the comedy film Private Benjamin in 1981.

The actor, who had a small role in Legally Blonde (2001), had many variety specials, one of which, in 1970, saw her receive more than a 51 per cent share of the TV viewing audience in the US.

Her other TV appearances included The Muppet Show (1978), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) and Right to Die, in which she played a woman with Lou Gehrig's disease. She received a Golden Globe nomination for the 1987 performance.

Welch also appeared opposite in the sitcom Seinfeld, and opposite Robin Williams in an episode of Mork and Mindy.

Welch also performed on stage, with one of her most notable roles arriving in a Broadway production of Victor/Victoria. She starred in the role after Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli.

Raquel Welch with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show in 1978 (David Dagley/Shutterstock)

As well as acting, Welch also sang and regularly performed a one-woman musical act in a Las Vegas nightclub.

In 1989, she released her first and only single, the dance track"This Girl's Back In Town", which reached No. 29 on Billboard's dance chart.

Welch was married four times: to high school sweetheart, James Welch, in 1959, to producer Patrick Curtis in 1967, to Andre Weinfeld, also a producer, in 1980, and to Mulberry Street Pizzeria owner Richard Palmer in 1999.
US-NEWS-FLAGOV-EXECUTIVE-PRIVILEGE-BR

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 31, 2023. Credit - James A. Jones Jr./The Bradenton Herald/Tribune News ServiceGetty Images

Marlon Williams-Clark started the 2022-2023 school year teaching AP African American Studies to a predominantly Black group of high school students in Tallahassee, Fla. His class was part of the College Boards pilot program, meant to test the new curriculum in 60 schools nationwide. Its one of only five in Florida.

But by the time Black History Month started on Feb. 1, Williams-Clark was told by his school district he could no longer teach the course. Hes now left to design a new curriculum for the rest of the yearone that wont run afoul of the Florida Department of Education and Governor Ron DeSantis.

The state education department publicly announced in mid-January that it would reject AP African American Studies. Frustration and confusion, thats what its like to be in the class right now, Williams-Clark told TIME.

The hardest part of this situation for him has been seeing his students disappointment. A lot of them were ready to protest, they were upset about it, he adds.

Read more: The Real Reason Florida Wants to Ban AP African-American Studies, According to an Architect of the Course

Since Feb. 1 when the College Board published the final framework for its first new AP class in eight years, educators have been unsure about what is actually in it and why some topics like intersectionality were required reading in previous drafts of the framework but not in the end product.

The course material that Williams-Clarks students liked the most 42 Million Ways to Be Black from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the nations foremost African American history scholarsis one such resource, appearing as required content in an earlier version of the pilot framework distributed to teachers, but not in the final version.

There have also been a lot of questions about whether Florida, the nations third most populous state, had any say in what went into the course and the nature of the College Boards conversations with state education officials. While the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) is taking credit for the removal of material that was in previous drafts of the framework, the College Board said in a statement on Saturday that the educational nonprofit was never asked to remove any of those topics. The College Board says it spent a lot of time last fall fielding vague, uninformed questions from the FDOE, like What does the word intersectionality mean?referring to a common term for undergraduate-level humanities studentsand Does the course promote Black Panther thinking? The College Board says the FDOE didnt make any specific requests or suggestions.

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However, in its statement on Saturday, the College Board said it should have been clearer about what topics were optional from the get-golike Black Lives Matter and reparationsand that it should have revealed more about the process of how AP curriculums are approved, a process that can include rejections like FDOEs initial reaction last September.

Read more: What a Florida Reparations Case Can Teach Us About Justice in America

Since Florida moved last spring to enact the Stop WOKE Act, designed to regulate the way race is talked about in public schools and workplaces, the state has been on the forefront of the culture wars and the debate over how much of Americas history of racism should be discussed in diversity, equity and inclusion trainings and in classrooms.

In a press conference on Jan. 23, Governor DeSantis called AP African American Studies indoctrination and claimed it is pushing an agenda on our kids. On Saturday, the College Board fired back: 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.

Meanwhile, Williams-Clark hasnt had time to look closely at the final AP African American Studies framework because hes been busy trying to reorganize his class, which will still be taught as an honors Black history course. But inevitably the curriculum might overlap with the material that was in the AP pilot because it covered so much ground.

Plus, he says the AP class framework provided much-needed structure to teachers who wanted to teach more in-depth Black history at the high school level, but didnt know how. Florida says it requires curricula on Black history, but the quality of the instruction can depend on the region and how knowledgeable the teacher is, Williams-Clark says.

Thats true nationwide, too. Williams-Clark says teachers who want to start teaching more Black history topics often felt like they were on an island by themselves, creating the class from scratch, and the AP pilot course gave a comprehensive story of the Black experience.

Now, he says his students are watching history repeat itself, comparing Florida pushing back on AP African American Studies to the opposition to Black studies departments at universities more than 50 years ago in the civil rights era, arguing, For whatever reason, whenever it came to the teaching of the African American experience, it has always been divisive.
Ive looked at websites around the internet and could find no one who said that the gunman who on Monday killed three Michigan State University students and wounded five others before killing himself had gone postal.

Apparently, thats no longer a thing.

Id guess there is at least one generation, perhaps two, who may not even understand the reference. Thats how far down the purgatory road of mass shootings we have traveled.

I was there, in a way, after some of the first bloody footsteps.

On Aug. 20, 1986, a 44-year-old mail carrier named Patrick H. Sherrill walked into the post office where he worked in Edmond, Okla., and opened fire with a couple of handguns, killing 14 coworkers and wounding six others. He then killed himself.

Mass shootings were unheard of then

It was such an unheard of atrocity that I was immediately dispatched to the scene, along with journalists from all over the country. Variations on the phrase going postal oozed their way into the vernacular.

What happened in Edmond that awful day, and what followed, also became the prototype for how we react to gun massacres. And its useful, since so many of them followed.

You know how it works.

After Uvalde:How Arizonans feel about bipartisan gun deal

First, we express shock. Then we collect details of the event. We investigate the shooter. We tell the stories of heroic first responders. We honor the victims. Then we tell ourselves something must be done.

But not too soon.

Now, we forget deadly anniversaries

A sign was left with flowers at the base of the Sparty statue following an active shooting incident on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, that left three people dead and multiple injured.

Politicians in the pocket of the gun lobby say we must not act in haste. They say we must not be driven to action by an emotional response to the killings. They tell us we must give ourselves time to mourn. To grieve.

By which they mean time  to forget.

And we always do.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said of the shooting at Michigan State University, We know this is a uniquely American problem. She pointed out that Tuesday was the five-year anniversary of the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., during which a gunman killed 17 people.

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I didnt remember that Tuesday was the anniversary. Did you?

There are so, so many.

A very dull ax to 'cleave' the Bill of Rights

In late April of 1999, I was sent by The Arizona Republic to Littleton, Colo. Dozens of other journalists were already there. Hundreds.

A few days earlier two armed young men, one 18 and one 17, walked into Columbine High School and opened fire, killing 12 students and a teacher and wounding more than 20 others.

I stuck around when the National Rifle Association decided that, not many days after the killings, it was going ahead with its planned convention in nearby Denver. Thousands of protesters turned up, demanding national action on gun violence.

At the convention, the late actor and NRA president Charlton Heston told a cheering crowd, Each horrible act cant become an ax for opportunists to cleave the very Bill of Rights that binds us.

He need not have worried.

One thing we've learned: Resupply the flowers

According to the Gun Violence Archive there were 647 mass shootings just last year, part of a 12-month period when gun deaths of all manner totaled 44,307, close to what it would mean if the entire population of Prescott was wiped out.

As for Patrick Sherrills murderous rampage in Edmond, Okla., all those years ago, it has dropped all the way down to a 12th place tie on the list of deadliest mass shootings in the U.S.

Imagine that.

So, no one goes postal anymore. Our numerous mass killers have come in all shapes and sizes, ages and professions, while the lack of protection from gun violence has remained the same.

Not that we havent learned a few things.

When I first got to Edmond a few days after the post office shooting I stopped at the local flower shop, thinking I might leave a bouquet outside the post office, where there already was a considerable makeshift memorial.

Im sorry but were temporarily out, the shop owner told me, adding that since the event every florist for miles around had been inundated with orders.

In those days, no one could not have foreseen the demand.

Now, we can.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

For more opinions content, please subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Michigan State shooter did not 'go postal.' Here's why
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has explained why the annexation of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be recognised, as he believes that it will clear the way for all aggressors to do the same.

Source: Blinkens interview to the news outlet NPR

Quote from Blinken: "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.'"

Details: Blinken did not indicate Russia's war in Ukraine was nearing a resolution as it approaches the one year mark. He said in order to achieve lasting peace in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin must first "give up on his notion that Ukraine is not its own country."

Background:

At the end of January 2023, Blinken pointed out that only Russia was capable of stopping the war at that time, and the US would stand with Ukraine until this happened. "Only Russia can end this war today. Until it happens, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," he said.

On 13 February 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that Putin was launching new offensive operations instead of preparing for peace in Ukraine. "Almost a year after the invasion, and Putin is not preparing for peace, he is starting new offensives," Stoltenberg pointed out and added that this is why military support with everything necessary on the battlefield for Kyiv is crucial.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ford

Ford executives outlined to auto analysts on Wednesday how the Blue Ovals latest Ford+ reorganization will eventually earn 8% profit margin on battery-electric vehicles.

CEO Jim Farley (pictured above at last years F-150 Lightning launch) says Ford has an opportunity to throw out old prejudices in designing and engineering its next EVs.



Did I think wed be No.1 in (EV) pickup trucks? No. I thought thered be three competitors in the pickup segment last year, Farley says.

Throwing out 120 years of internal-combustion development prejudices, Ford Motor Co. can engineer an extra 75 miles of EV range in next-generation F-150 Lightning pickup trucks from better aerodynamics alone, CEO Jim Farley says. This requires the best aerodynamic engineers in the auto industry, as well as the best auto engineers in the world, CFO John Lawler adds.

Why do you think were doing Formula 1? Farley says. Because they have the best aero people in the world.

Can hardly wait for the Lightning Red Bull edition.

Farley and Lawler outlined to auto analysts and Wall Street how the Blue Ovals latest Ford+ reorganization will go from leaving $2 billion in profits in 2022 to eventually earning 8% profit margin on battery-electric vehicles, in their fireside chat at the Wolfe Global Auto, Auto Tech and Auto Consumer Conference in New York City, moderated Wednesday by Wolfe Research Director Rod Lache.

More than half of Fords leadership team is new to the automaker, Farley says. Ford has an opportunity to throw out old prejudices not only in designing and engineering its next EVs, but also for its traditional combustion-powered vehicles.

Last March, Ford split into three distinct business units: Model-e (the name Elon Musk tried to snag years ago for what became the Telsa Model 3); Blue, the gas-powered legacy models; and its Pro commercial-vehicle business, which claims more than 50% of the segment and is quickly adding EVs to its portfolio.

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Fords presentation at Wolfe Global Auto included a display of how large castings could replace many smaller parts more common in ICE architectures. At least, thats what we could glean from live audio provided by FordWolfe Research does not invite media to its events.

The wiring harness in a Ford Mustang Mach-e is 1.6 kilometers (0.99 miles) longer and 61 pounds heavier than in the similarly sized Tesla Model Y, Farley says, and even the cooling system had to hold four times the pressure necessary for a Mach-e because it was engineered under Fords ICE prejudices.



By embracing the prejudices of an automaker that has only made EVs (Tesla and Rivian, for example), Fords next generations of EVs (and even its remaining ICE models) can be designed and built with half the labor, half the fasteners, and radical simplicity, according to Farley. This is already playing itself out with Ford of Europe, to the detriment of part of its workforce.

Ford

Ford is about finished with its second cycle of EV models, which will start to launch mid-decade, Farley told the Wolfe conference. Engineering work has begun on the third cycle of EVs, which will enable the new electrical architecture to make constant over-the-air software updates for product features, driver-assist systems, and safety and security. The new electrical architecture will not necessarily give Ford an advantage, though because no one is going to stand still among its competitors.

While Ford became the No.2 EV manufacturer in the US in 2022well behind Tesla in unit saleslast fiscal years $2 billion left on the table includes the costs of converting the ICE-powered F-Series to the all-electric Lighting. Meanwhile, Detroit rival General Motors, though well behind Ford and Hyundai-Kia in EV sales, has made big noise about its Ultium clean-sheet electric-vehicle platform, which will underpin a raft of new BEVs.



Did I think wed be No.2 in EVs? No, Farley says. Did I think wed be No.1 in (EV) pickup trucks? No. I thought thered be three competitors in the pickup segment last year.

The company also is changing its marketing and distribution prejudices. Farley described a Tesla-like sales model, though by necessity retaining dealership franchises, with online sales, no-haggle pricing, and delivery and pickup without the need for the customer to go to the physical showroom.

While Ford traditionally has relied on selling vehicles from inventory, Farley says half of recent sales associated with Fords legacy combustion-powered Blue division are based on custom orders.

Farley says pre-orders account for half of sales for Ford Blues ICE-powered models.

How do you think Fords interest in F1 aerodynamics will impact the design of upcoming battery-electric vehicles? Please comment below.
The American Red Cross is looking for people of all blood types to donate blood this month.

Anyone who donates blood beginning on February 15 through February 28 will receive a $10 Amazon gift card, the release said.

Those who donate also have the chance to win a trip for two to Clearwater Beach, Florida.

>>Area animal shelter seeking donations after 39 cats rescued from Piqua home

Red Cross will be holding the following donation events across the Miami Valley through February:

Montgomery

Dayton : Feb. 28, from 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. at Red Crosss Dayton Office, 370 W First Street

Kettering: Feb. 27, from 12:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., at the American Legion Kettering-Post 598, 5700 Kentshire Dr.

Greene

Beavercreek : Feb. 24, from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Fairfield Commons Mall, 2727 Fairfield Commons

Beavercreek: Feb. 27, from 1:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m., Be Hope Church, 1850 North Fairfield Road

Wilberforce : Feb. 28, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at Central State Univ Student Center, 1400 Brush Row Road

Xenia: Feb. 26 from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the Xenia Church of Christ, 444 Country Club Drive

>> UC Health providers receive key to city for Damar Hamlin medical response

Champaign

Urbana: Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Champaign Family YMCA, 191 Community Dr.

Logan

Belle Center: Feb. 20 from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Belle Center United Methodist Church, 101 S. Center St.

You can now book by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, calling 1-800-733-2767, or visiting redcrossblood.org.




Police are investigating reports of an assault at a Springfield Elementary School involving two groups of students.

Monday morning Springfield police were called to Kenwood Elementary School about an incident that happened during recess Friday, according to an incident report obtained through a News Center 7 public records request.

Police were informed by the schools principal that a group of Black students had gathered several white students on a specific spot of the playground and forced them to state Black Lives Matter against their will,, the police report states.

Students who tried to avoid the situation were chased down and escorted, dragged, or carried to the playground, the report alleges. The group of students also allegedly filmed the students who were forced to make the statement.

>> Deputies: 81-year-old man with dementia arrested after stabbing wife in Shelby County

One student was punched in the head by one of the suspects, the police report states.

Springfield police have questioned multiple juveniles in the incident, according to the report.

Ryan Springer and Ashley Henthorne said their 12-year-old son was one of the students forced on the playground.

I mean Im angry as a parent but I understand they are children. Its not okay to hate anybody because of their skin color, or their gender or sexual orientation, or anything like that. Nobody should be hating anybody, Springer said.

He said there are things that he doesnt believe children should have to worry about.

They should just be worried about being children, he said.

Springer said he does not understand why the staff did not intervene and that the incident should not have escalated.

>> At least 1 injured in 2-car crash at Darke County

Where was the school staff when all of this was taking place? And why? Why did it get so far? he said.

Henthorne said she was not notified of the incident when it happened Friday, but noticed a change in her son. When she was notified of what happened Monday she said the changes she saw in her son made sense.

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I kept asking him all weekend, are you OK? And he kept saying, yeah, Im just tired And then when I got the phone call Monday about it, I was like, that explained a lot. Henthrone said.

Their son has not wanted to return to school and Springer said he is traumatized.

Hes like hes kind of traumatized... hes not a very confrontational kid. Hes got one of the biggest hearts of any kid around, he said.

News Center 7 reached out to Springfield School District for a statement in response to the alleged assault.

The Springfield City School District is committed to providing our students with a safe learning environment, where they look forward to attending every day. The District is aware of a situation that occurred at Kenwood Elementary. We are working closely with the Springfield Police Division on this matter to ensure that we maintain that safe environment. Because this is now a police matter, no additional information is available at this time. a spokesperson said.

Springfield police told News Center 7 they are investigating whether the incident is a hate crime and working with prosecutors to review any possible formal charges.

This is a developing story and we will continue updating this story as we learn more.
















Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), the lawyer who ousted former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from Congress last year, endorsed former President Trumps 2024 bid for president on Wednesday.

The endorsement came one day after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, formally entered the race, giving Trump his first GOP primary opponent.

President Trump stood with me for my election in 2022, and I am proud to stand with him in 2024, Hageman told Breitbart in a statement. Trumps Make America Great Again PAC also sent out her comments.

Trump endorsed Hageman in 2021, shortly after she announced her bid for Wyomings at-large House seat. Trump had vowed to remove Cheney from her perch in Congress and he chose Hageman as the person to do just that.

The then-congresswoman became one of Trumps top targets after she opposed his claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Hageman went on to beat Cheney in Wyomings Republican primary in August by more than 35 percentage points, and she later sailed to victory in the November general election.

Cheney in September said she would not vote for Hageman in the general election. The ex-congresswoman and scion of former Vice President Dick Cheney has since said she is thinking about running for president.

Hagemans endorsement of Trump came the same day that Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, threw his support behind Haley. He previously supported Trump and on Jan. 6, 2021, he voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results from Pennsylvania.

We are at a pivotal point in our nation. While the Republican candidates, values, and messages have done very well here in South Carolina, that hasnt been the case everywhere across our great nation, Norman wrote on Twitter.

Its time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and theres no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my good friend, Nikki Haley! he added.

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Hageman on Wednesday said Trump was one of the best presidents of my lifetime.

His policies were great for Wyoming and the Country as a whole. He understood that we must promote and support our domestic energy industries, allow states to responsibly develop their own natural resources, enforce immigration laws and protect our southern border, and lead the country with strength so that our allies respect us while our enemies fear us, she added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Arizona officials have extended a shelter-in-place order instated after a nitric acid spill caused by a truck crash in south Tucson.

The crash on Tuesday afternoon reportedly involved a truck tractor pulling a box trailer that overturned and rolled on its side and released liquid nitric acid on Interstate 10. The driver was killed.

People within a half mile of the site of the spill were immediately directed to evacuate as a yellow cloud of gas erupted from the crash site.

People within a mile of the site were directed to shelter-in-place for several hours on Tuesday. Locals were also advised to turn off their air conditioning and heating units to avoid bringing outside air into their buildings.

On Wednesday morning, the shelter-in-place order was reinstated.

Unified Command has reinstated the shelter in place order for a one-mile perimeter around the incident, the Arizona Department of Public Safety tweeted. While crews were attempting to remove the load from the commercial vehicle, gassing occurred. I-10 remains closed in both directions between Kolb & Rita roads in Tucson.

Tucson Fire Hazmat Team working with our partners at @Arizona_DPS to control the hazmat and brush fire incidents at Rita and I10. Continue to avoid the area, I10 will remain closed an extended period of time. Stay safe @cityoftucson pic.twitter.com/oM4WKD5C0E  Tucson Fire Department (@TucsonFireDept) February 14, 2023

According to reporting from the Arizona Daily Star, multiple schools were affected by the crash. The University of Arizona Tech Park also evacuated, while some schoolchildren in Rita Ranch sheltered-in-place.

The Tucson Fire Department, the Pima County Office of Emergency Management, Arizona DPS, and the Department of Public Safetys Hazardous Materials Response Unit were all working in tandem to respond to the incident, which saw orange-yellow smoke billow into the sky near the site of the crash.

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The Tucson Fire Department tweeted on Tuesday evening that a portion of Interstate 10 will remain closed for the forseeable future. The Arizona Department of Public Safety wrote on its website that motorists should anticipate an extensive closure.

be safe everyone, dont breath this in @whatsuptucson pic.twitter.com/Uv8EVtpS1t      (@bertsinatra) February 14, 2023

The spill comes the community of East Palestine, Ohio appears to be in serious danger following a train derailment that prompted the release of a number of toxic chemicals. Residents of East Palestine and nearby towns have been ordered to evacuate their homes as well.
SANTA FE. N.M.  Production is expected to resume this spring on the movie Rust that was halted in October 2021 after a fatal shooting on the set involving actor-producer Alec Baldwin.

Rust Movie Productions also announced Tuesday that a related documentary will detail the completion of the film and the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

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Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the set of the Western, were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins shooting death.

Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

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Hutchins parents and sister have filed a lawsuit over the shooting after a similar suit filed by her husband and son was settled.

Rust Movie Productions said Hutchins widower, Matthew Hutchins, will serve as the films new executive producer with Blanca Cline as the new cinematographer.

Souza will return as director when production resumes although its unclear in what state the filming will take place.

Rust Movie Productions officials said the use of working weapons and any form of ammunition will be prohibited on the movie set.
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were told Wednesday afternoon that municipal water is "safe to drink" after officials received new water testing results. The update from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's office comes just one day after officials urged residents to only drink bottled water amid concerns that chemicals from the Feb. 3 train derailment may have seeped into local water sources.

As of Wednesday afternoon, municipal water testing results showed "no detection of contaminants in raw water from the five wells that feed into East Palestine's municipal water system," the governor's office said in a news release.

The new results also show that the treated water from the wells  located about one mile from the train derailment site  showed "no detection of contaminants associated with the derailment."

"With these test results, Ohio EPA is confident that the municipal water is safe to drink," the state said.

The wells are at least 56 feet below the ground and covered by solid steel that protect them from contamination, the state said, adding that the water from the wells is treated before being made available for consumption.

At the time of the accident, the train was carrying several hazardous chemical compounds known to cause health impacts when ingested.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Bruce Vanderhoff, the director of the state's Department of Health, said that most of the chemicals of concern are in a group known as Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs. Many VOCs are human-made chemicals used in a variety of products and that can be emitted by paints, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and more, according to the EPA.

These compounds, Vanderhoff said, are "a part of our everyday life."

"So if you go this afternoon on your way home to pump gas in your car ... if you're burning wood or natural gas in your home, you're being exposed," he said. "And certainly if you are smoking or you live with someone who smokes, you are being exposed to actually fairly substantial levels of volatile organic compounds."

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At low levels, the health impacts of these compounds are not usually felt, he said, but once they reach higher levels over a longer period of time, that's when people tend to see the long-term health effects.

"The goal from a health point of view in a situation like this, is really to make every effort we can to reduce the risk that we're going to take these Volatile Organic Compounds into our bodies," he said, adding that they are typically ingested through either inhalation or consumption.

Officials have been testing the air quality of East Palestine since the derailment. After initially evacuating residents, Vanderhoff said that they were permitted to return to their homes because "the air really looked pretty much like it did before this event happened."

"That gave us really great confidence," he said, but added that they made it clear that water sources still had to undergo testing.

Most East Palestine residents rely on municipal water from deep wells, he said, but still, "quite a number of people" use private water systems. Those individuals have been "strongly encouraged" to test their private wells, the cost of which, he said, will be covered.

A 2019 drinking water source assessment conducted by the Ohio EPA found that East Palestine's source of drinking water has a "high susceptibility to contamination" because of a lack of clay helping protect the aquifer and "the presence of significant potential contaminant sources in the protection area."

"This susceptibility means that under currently existing conditions, the likelihood of the aquifer becoming contaminated is relatively high," the document says, adding that the village should put an effective water protection plan into place.

East Palestine was among several communities in northeast Ohio to receive funding from the state EPA in 2020 to improve wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. They received $61,000 as part of the investment.

As part of its remediation plan, the railway company said that groundwater monitoring wells will be installed within and near where the derailment occurred. The number of monitoring wells wasn't finalized as of the Feb. 10 plan. The company also said that the groundwater wells located between the two active tracks of the railroad will be "avoided wherever possible."

"Collection of data from these locations involves substantial additional risk at little additional value relative to wells outside of the immediate track footprint," the document says.

Even though the municipal water wells were deemed safe, the state said that private water wells should still get tested by an independent consultant. In the meantime, residents who rely on private drinking sources should continue to use bottled water, the governor's office said.

Vanderhoff said Tuesday that residents should use bottled water, especially if they are pregnant, breastfeeding or using water to make baby formula.

"The bottom line is that from the very start of this, we have taken every step possible to assure that people's safety was first and foremost," he said.

When asked if he would be comfortable returning home, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday, "I think that I would be drinking the bottled water and that I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air."

"I would be alert and concerned, but I think I would probably be back in my house," said.

CBS News investigates alleged torture and war crimes by Russia in Ukraine

Ohio officials say East Palestine water is safe to drink as residents complain of health issues

Pence to fight special counsel subpoena, teases possible 2024 campaign in Iowa
Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, The Herald-Times is publishing Black stories, both current and historical, throughout the month of February. Look for them on weekdays. Send your feedback and suggestions about this series to rksmith@heraldt.com.

For over a hundred years, Andrew Ferguson's remains laid in an unmarked grave somewhere in the Rose Hill Cemetery, his army service and contributions to Monroe County largely forgotten by his chosen community. The veteran was among thousands of Black soldiers who fought against British forces during the Revolutionary War, contributing to a number of key battles that ultimately secured the United States' sovereignty.

However, in the century since, Ferguson's history has been brought to the forefront and re-examined. Here's everything historians have been able to gather about one of Monroe County's earliest Black settlers.

Andrew Ferguson is the only known Black Revolutionary War veteran buried in Bloomington's Rose Hill Cemetery.

How a Black Revolutionary War veteran ended up in Indiana

Andrew Ferguson was born around 1760 in Virginia, about 16 years before the U.S. would gain independence. Ferguson was 15 when he enlisted in the Continental Army, his decision believed to have been influenced by a traumatic altercation with British troops, who harassed him and his father for information on the Patriots. When Ferguson and his father refused to help, they were whipped with a cat-o-nine tail and held prisoner.

After escaping captivity, the two men met up with some Patriot troops stationed in Virginia and ultimately both enlisted to serve the U.S. cause. Though rarely acknowledged, it wasn't unheard of for Black soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary War. Modern historians project the number of Black soldiers to be somewhere around 5,000.

Ferguson was still a teenager when he participated in a number of pivotal battles, including Kings Mountain, Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse. He re-enlisted several times with his war pension application stating he served a total of five years and six months.

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Though he kept his life, Ferguson is not believed to have left the war unscathed, as noted in a past H-T article. He suffered injuries in the head and leg, the former having been treated by the insertion of a plate made of hammered silver coins and the latter continuing to cause complications later in his life. After the war was over, Ferguson spent time in North Carolina and Virginia before ultimately moving to southern Indiana. He lived in Vincennes around the early 1820s, where his war pension was initially denied by officials because he was Black.

He had settled in Bloomington by 1830. At that point, Monroe County, first formed in 1818, was in its infancy. During Ferguson's time in the area, the county's Black population wildly fluctuated. As noted in the 1830 census, 70 free people of color were living in Monroe. That count sharply declined to 13 residents by 1840. Ferguson was among the few who stayed long-term, living in Bloomington for more than two decades. Ferguson later found love here, marrying Jane Jenny Murphy in the mid-1840s. The couple lived together in a cabin on South Lincoln Street.

In addition to receiving his army pension of $20 per year, he worked odd jobs around the city for income. Due to his military service, Ferguson was eligible for a land warrant of 160 acres, but he and his wife died before final approval arrived. He died in 1855, believed to have been around the age of 95.

How Ferguson is remembered, immortalized today

The Indiana Historical Society recognizes Ferguson as one of Monroe County's most prominent African American settlers in its early formation. In 1984, he finally received a headstone, dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2016, a bronze marker was placed at Kings Mountain National Military Park to memorialize Black soldiers who served during the Battle of Kings Mountain; Fergusons name is engraved on it.

With surviving historical records about Ferguson being scant, it was a major local effort to research this veteran's life, but the work proved to be invaluable. Ferguson's legacy as a soldier and early resident of Monroe County will continue to live on in stone and bronze.

"He possessed an inspiring grit and determination to succeed in a world that was less than kind to him simply because of the color of his skin, Sheryl Vanderstel, local historian, told the Herald-Times in 2018. I admire him tremendously. His long life is a testament to perseverance, honesty and honor. We should all aspire to a life like that.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Black Revolutionary War veteran helped settle southern Indiana
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Reznikov stated that getting Western equipment is only one half of the question of a new Ukrainain offensive, as the other half depends on the relevant training  that takes time, he noted.

Read also: Russian invaders continue offensive operations in five areas, says General Staff

"Our crews... need to be prepared, Reznikov explained.

And not only crews themselves but in cooperation with an entire unit, for example, a tank battalion, and so on. Because they have a task, a task that is set by the Ukrainian General Staff. Above all, it's about the liberation of the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine. It takes time. We are speaking about several months that we needed to be completely ready. And from then on, some events will happen according to the General Staff's decisions.

Read also: Oleksii Reznikov holds onto post of defence minister, for now

Read also: Russian offensive began with the appointment of Gerasimov

Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to London, the UK announced that its military training program for Ukrainian servicemembers will be expanded to include fighter jet pilots and marines. It also announced new sanctions against Russian individuals and entities. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged the support to Ukraine until its victory over Russia. Zelenskyy also confirmed that the UK will be sending a new military aid package, which will include long-range weapons.

Commenting on issue of fighter jets for Ukraine, Sunak stated that no final decision had been made, but that the British government was considering the matter.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that he would remain in his post by the decision of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Guardian reported on Feb. 15. Earlier, the ministry was beset by a high-profile corruption scandal that led to the firing of several top officials and put Reznikov's role in doubt.

"Yes, it was my president's decision," Reznikov replied when asked whether he plans to remain in the position of Defense Minister in the coming months, according to the Guardian.

Ukrainian newspaper ZN.UA reported on Jan. 21 that the Defense Ministry procured large amounts of food products for the military at inflated prices. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has since opened an investigation into the alleged scheme.

On Feb. 5, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party's faction in parliament, said that Reznikov would be replaced by the Defense Ministry's Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov but then announced the postponement of this decision.

Following the outbreak of the scandal, 497 officials in Ukraine's Armed Forces and Defense Ministry were fined, and 124 faced disciplinary liability following internal audits in 2022.

One of Reznikov's deputies resigned, and two others were dismissed. The minister later announced personnel changes and appointed three new deputies on Feb. 14.




When Richard Kind signed up to learn about his ancestry on the PBS show "Finding Your Roots," never expected to hear that one of his ancestors was murdered.

But that's exactly what host Henry Louis Gates Jr. tells him in the show's latest episode, which aired on Feb. 14 and also featured David Duchovny as a guest.

The 66-year-veteran actor, who is known for starring in hit sitcoms like "Spin City" and "Mad About You," begins the episode by talking about his "stern" paternal grandfather, Alvin Berson ("sometimes horribly stern," Kind says).

Bursin was born in Manhattan in 1901. His parents were from the Pale Of Settlement, a region of czarist Russia where Jews were permitted to live, but also subject to humiliating restrictions and acts of anti-Semitism.

Growing up, Kind says he never understood his paternal grandfather's serious demeanor. By the end of the episode, he gains a new understanding of his grandfather's character, and how a tragedy he experienced at 31 may have informed his outlook.

In 1933, Alvin Bersons father Hyman Berson was murdered. One of his business partners was accused of committing the crime.

Kind seems bewildered to hear the news. "Well ain't there a skeleton in my closet huh? Wow, I can hear them jingling," he says.

Kind's great-grandfather Hyman Berson, when he came to the U.S., worked as a peddler on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which Gates says was a common occupation for Jewish immigrants at the time. Hyman was one of the few who made a profit, and eventually was able to start his own business  in crayon manufacturing.

"Your great-grandfather went from peddling to running his own company," Gates says. He eventually went on to own a factory and amass a fortune worth the equivalent of $1.7 million today.

Kind is initially amused to hear his family was in the "crayon business," but his reaction is tempered when he learns of Hyman Berson's fate. Hyman Berson died at 55, and death certificate lists "gunshot wounds of neck" as his cause of death.

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All of this comes as a surprise to Kind. The actor explains that his grandfather never addressed the tragedy with him.

Who talks about that?" he says. "My grandfather, no he would never talk about it."

The accused gunman, Simon Stern, also shot Hyman Bersons nephew Charles, who later died from his wounds. According to records that the shows researchers dug up, Stern may have killed Kind's great-grandfather in order to cash in on an insurance policy.

But the accused insisted that Hyman Berson was involved in organized crime and was perhaps killed by some enemies. Stern was later acquitted of the crime and no one else was ever charged.

While learning about the tragedy Alvin Berson experienced at such a young age, Kind wonders if it influenced his personality.

My grandfather was a very moral man ... maybe he really was affected by the death of his dad, he says.

Gates says this kind of revelation is a rarity for "Finding Your Roots."

We havent had many murdered ancestors sitting in the seat across the table from me. How about that?" he says.

"And let me tell you something, I didn't think I'd be the one," Kind muses.

During the episode, Kind also learns that he descends from a long line of Jewish religious leaders. He says revelation makes him feel "smarter."

Ancestors on both sides of Kind's family tree immigrated to the United States. But one ancestor ended up returning to Poland with his family and was caught in the thick of World War II, living in a ghetto with other Jewish people.

As he hears about the horrors that Jews endured during the Holocaust, Kind says he feels more connected to his ancestors than ever before.

"I hold the Holocaust as the great inhumanity. It's awful. And yet to try and find a personal place other than being a Jew, I never could. (Now) I can," he says.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and J.D. Vance (Ohio) on Wednesday questioned Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over the departments oversight of the U.S. rail system in the wake of a train derailment in Ohio that has been spilling toxic chemicals since the crash.

We write to convey our alarm over the Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailment that occurred in Ohio earlier this month, the senators wrote in a letter to Buttigieg. In particular, we request information from the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding its oversight of the United States freight train system and, more generally, how it balances building a safe, resilient rail industry across our country in relation to building a hyper-efficient one with minimal direct human input.

A 150-car train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing fires at the site of the pileup and causing chemicals to leak from one of several cars noted to be carrying hazardous materials. Nearby residents were evacuated due to fears of a possible explosion while officials conducted a controlled release to try and alleviate the danger.

Evacuation orders have since been lifted, but the cancer-causing chemical vinyl chloride and other toxic substances have leaked into nearby air and water, sparking environmental and health concerns.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash, but the senators in their letter said it appears that a mechanical failure in one of the rail cars may have played a critical role.

Rubio and Vance highlighted that the 150-car train had just a three-member crew to oversee the locomotives operations.

It is not unreasonable to ask whether a crew of two rail workers, plus one trainee, is able to effectively monitor 150 cars, they wrote, noting concerns about this administrations prioritizing of efficiency over resilience in its national infrastructure and transportation systems.

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The senators, in their letter, requested the Department of Transportation to respond to a number of questions about the agencys practices, including the effects of its precision-scheduled railroading and its classification system for trains carrying hazardous materials.

The Hill has reached out to the agency for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The situation in the Kreminna and Bilogorivka regions has worsened

"We're seeing that escalation is quite serious, especially in the direction of Bilohorivka and Kreminna, he said.

Read also: Russian occupiers are to relaunch mass attacks in Luhansk Oblast soon, Hayday says

Shelling is intense; the enemy is currently engaging aviation. Attacks are constantly coming in waves from different sides.

Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak stated that the Russian army has already launched a new large-scale offensive, which Ukrainian intelligence had warned about.

Read also: Luhansk governor names sectors of the front in oblast seeing fiercest fighting

According to Bloomberg, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin expects that this new offensive in February-March 2023 will allow the invaders to seize the initiative from the Armed Forces. Putin is determined to continue the full-scale war against Ukraine for many years, the publication wrote.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russia has started deploying tactical nuclear weapons-armed vessels in the Baltic Sea for the first time in three decades, according to a Norwegian intelligence report.

The annual report released by the Norwegian Intelligence Service on 13 February states that the vessels belonged to Russias Northern Fleet, reported The New Voice of Ukraine.

The fleets warships regularly went to sea with nuclear weapons during the Soviet era, but this is the first time the Russian Federation has deployed them, the report stated.

The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet, it said.

Tactical nuclear weapons are a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which Nato countries may be involved.

The intel report added that Russia also has submarine capabilities, anti-satellite weapons, and cyber capabilities that could threaten Norway.

The report comes ahead of Russias ongoing war in Ukraine touches the one-year mark on 24 February.

The Norwegian intelligence report stated that the deployment of the vessels imply that Russia will continue to pose a threat to Norway and Nato.

The ongoing tensions between Russia and the West mean that Russia will continue to pose the greatest nuclear threat to Nato, and therefore to Norway, it said.

It cannot be ruled out that a localised war could escalate into a wider conflict with direct military involvement of Russia, the United States, Nato, and Norway.

Ukraine on Wednesday urged its allies to speed up the pace of military aid as Nato defence ministers prepared to meet for a second day on Wednesday.

That is why speed is of the essence, Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky said as Nato defence chiefs met in Brussels for two days of talks that continue on Wednesday.

Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves peoples lives.

Russia has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.

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The Russian Defence Ministry said on Telegram that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front.

Russia has called its war in Ukraine a special military operation and accused Nato of interfering.

Mr Putin has also issued warnings over the last year against nuclear blackmail, implying that he could be attempt to respond to threats with his own arsenal.

Additional reporting by agencies
By Mario Fuentes and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday gave Cuba an "emergency" donation of 25,000 tons of wheat to combat shortages on the island, a sign of deepening ties between the two long-time allies.

The Russian ambassador in Havana, Andrei Guskov, said in a brief dockside ceremony in the Cuban capital that Moscow "accompanies Cuba's efforts in its development in areas such as industry, machinery, transportation and energy."

The substantial donation of wheat - used to make the bread that is a basic, government-subsidised staple in Cuba - marks the latest overture between the communist-run island and Russia.

Russia, hit by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, is looking to strengthen political and economic ties with other countries opposed to what it calls U.S. hegemony. Cuba has been under a U.S. economic embargo since 1962 after the Communist revolution led by Castro.

Ana Teresita Gonzalez, Cuban deputy minister of foreign trade, told Reuters on the sidelines of the ceremony that the Russians had provided Cuba with food and medicine recently, part of an "enduring relationship" between the two countries.

"The Russian government and people have been by our side in difficult times since the pandemic," she said in a brief interview.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel in November unveiled a monument in Moscow to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, pledging to deepen their friendship in the face of U.S. sanctions against both countries.

Days before invading Ukraine, Russia had also agreed to postpone debt payments owed by Cuba until 2027.

Cuban state-run media said in December the grains deliveries were part of 800 million rubles ($10.8 mln) earmarked by Russia to purchase and deliver wheat to Cuba.

Russia in April shipped 20,000 tonnes of wheat to Cuba as prices globally spiked early in the Ukraine conflict, prompting bread shortages on the island.

(Reporting by Mario Fuentes and Nelson Acosta in Havana, additional reporting by Alexander Frometa, editing by Dave Sherwood and Sharon Singleton)
Music director Riccardo Muti conducts members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Coleridge-Taylors "Solemn Prelude" at Symphony Center Sept. 22, 2022, in Chicago for opening night of the current season. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced its 2023-24 programming Wednesday, its first without a music director since Riccardo Mutis appointment in 2010.

Muti, who leads the CSO through the end of this current season, will return for two high-profile engagements with the orchestra: its season-opening concerts and its first European tour since 2020. For those concerts, the CSO has commissioned a new work from Philip Glass after its rapturously received 2021-22 season performances of the composers Symphony No. 11. The commission, The Triumph of the Octagon, is inspired by the unusual eight-sided footprint of the 13th century Castel del Monte in Apulia, Italy. Muti spent much of his childhood in the region and owns a plot of land overlooking the castle.

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According to CSO Association president Jeff Alexander, Glass was drawn to the picture of the castle that Muti keeps in his dressing room. Their conversations about the building last February became the genesis for the composition.

While he was still here, actually, Muti said to (Glass), Why dont you write a new piece for the orchestra? And he had that photo fresh in his mind, Alexander says.

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After the works premiere in subscription concerts Sept. 28-30, Muti and the CSO will reprise The Triumph of the Octagon during their three-week European tour in January 2024, as well as Florence Prices Symphony No. 3, which the orchestra played for the first time in May 2022. The tour will hit 11 cities in seven countries; further details, including venues and additional programming, will be announced later this year.

Jeff Alexander, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, in 2016. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Other notable commissions this season  all by American composers  spotlight members of the orchestra. Christopher Theofanidis Indigo Heaven will be performed by principal clarinetist Stephen Williamson Nov. 9-11, conducted by BBC Philharmonic chief conductor John Storgards. Lowell Liebermann is writing his second flute concerto for the CSOs Stefan Ragnar Hoskuldsson, premiering March 21-24, 2024, under the baton of Susanna Malkki. Now in her third season as Mead composer-in-residence, Jessie Montgomery is composing a percussion concerto  her first  for CSO principal percussionist Cynthia Yeh; Pittsburgh Symphony music director Manfred Honeck conducts those concerts May 30, 2024, to June 1, 2024.

Montgomery is also among the composers of The Elements, a collaboratively written concerto for violinist Joshua Bell (June 13-15, 2024, conducted by Juraj Valcuha); Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Edgar Meyer and Kevin Puts also contributed.

Meanwhile, Hilary Hahn has extended her affiliation with the CSO as its inaugural artist-in-residence for another season. In addition to her community initiatives, Hahn plays the Brahms violin concerto Dec. 7-9 with Mikko Franck and a June 9, 2024, chamber program.

Now that the New York Philharmonic has sprung for its new music director, Gustavo Dudamel, all eyes will be on the CSO as it prepares to fill its own high-profile vacancy. This season includes podium debuts by Gemma New (Feb. 8, 2024, and Feb. 10, 2024), Elim Chan (May 2, 2024, and May 4, 2024) and Kazuki Yamada (May 16-21, 2024), as well as reunions with decades-strong collaborators like Michael Tilson Thomas (Nov. 30 to Dec. 5), Herbert Blomstedt (March 1-5, 2024) and James Conlon (Apr. 11-13, 2024).

Somewhere between the two extremes are the most viable candidates: Malkki, Honeck, Jaap van Zweden (Oct. 12-15), James Gaffigan (Oct. 19-24), Semyon Bychkov (Dec. 14-16), Paavo Jarvi (Feb. 15-18, 2024), Hannu Lintu (Feb. 22-27, 2024) and Klaus Makela (April 4-6, 2024).

But already, some podium guests are enjoying premium billings. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider leads two subscription programs this season and doubles as violin soloist in one to boot (in Mozarts Violin Concerto No. 2, May 9-11, 2024, after his Oct. 26-28 concerts). Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa also leads two weeks of programs in March with violinists Gil Shaham (playing Mendelssohn, March 7-12, 2024) and Josef Spacek (in Martinu's Violin Concerto No. 1, March 14-16, 2024). Then, fresh off a well-received February appearance with the CSO, Israel Philharmonic director Lahav Shani takes the coveted season-ending slot on June 20-23, 2024, alongside Daniil Trifonov playing Mason Bates piano concerto.

Well, kind of: Joe Hisaishi technically gets the last word, conducting his own Symphony No. 2 and music from Princess Mononoke in a CSO at the Movies program (June 27-29, 2024). The film composer, renowned for his partnership with animator Hayao Miyazaki, makes his CSO debut with these performances.

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Former Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Daniel Barenboim conducts members of the orchestra at Symphony Center Nov. 1, 2018. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle both make their long-awaited returns to Symphony Center with the Staatskapelle Berlin (Nov. 28) and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (April 28, 2024), respectively.

Chamber programming includes a quintessentially stacked piano series, with appearances by pianists Sir Andras Schiff (Nov. 12), Helene Grimaud (Feb. 4, 2024), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Feb. 25, 2024), Mitsuko Uchida (with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, March 26, 2024), Yefim Bronfman (April 14, 2024) and Evgeny Kissin (May 19, 2024). Two supergroup piano trios also perform this season: pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capucon (Oct. 22), and the now-customary trio of pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Feb. 3, 2024). Also of note: a solo recital by sitarist Anoushka Shankar (Oct. 13) and a Symphony Center co-commission by Brett Dean, played by pianist Benjamin Grosvenor (March 10, 2024).

As usual, Wednesdays announcement is an incomplete one. SCP Jazz programming wont be announced until spring, though regulars Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra play a movement from Marsalis Swing Symphony on a mainstage program conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero (April 25-27, 2024). Dates for the CSOs MusicNOW series have been set, including new Sunday afternoon dates, though programming remains TBA: Oct. 30; Dec. 3; March 3, 2024; and May 20, 2024.

Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.

The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.
Damaged Russian tanks in eastern Ukraine (AP)

Russia is estimated to have lost almost half of its best tanks during its invasion of Ukraine, with Vladimir Putins troops stepping up attacks in the countrys eastern regions including Donetsk and Luhansk.

The assessment, from military think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), suggests that Moscow's pre-invasion fleet of modern T-72B3 and T-72B3M main battle tanks has been hit particularly hard, with a loss rate of up to 50 per cent. The director general of the IISS, John Chipman, said that Moscow has been forced to rely on its older stored weapons thanks to production of the newer models being slow. That means falling back on its Soviet-era tanks.

Theyre producing and reactivating nowhere near enough to compensate for those loss rates. Their current armoured fleet at the front is about half the size it was at the start of the war, said Henry Boyd, research fellow at the IISS. The broader loss rate across all models of tank is thought to be around 40 per cent, the IISS said in its annual Military Balance report.

It comes as Russian forces claimed to have broken through two fortified Ukrainian defence lines on the eastern front, with Kyiv describing conditions there as difficult. The Russian Defence Ministry said the Ukrainians had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region, but did not say exactly where. Luhansk and neighbouring Donetsk make up what is known as the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland, which Russia is keen to control.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskys office said Ukrainian forces had repelled some Russian attacks in Luhansk, but added: The situation in the region remains difficult. Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia was pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into Luhansk.

The attacks are coming from different directions in waves, Mr Haidai said. [But] those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border [of Luhansk]  this does not correspond to reality.

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Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraines eastern military command, told Ukrainian TV on Wednesday that fierce battles were being fought in Bakhmut, a city in Donetsk where a significant amount of Russian firepower has been concentrated. Bakhmuts capture would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

Mr Zelensky said that his government believes Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine gathers strength for what many expect to be a spring counteroffensive.

Meanwhile, the UKs defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said that Russia had not been able to amass a single force strong enough to punch through Ukraines defences.

Putins land forces are in a dire state. It will leave him the options of what he does with his air force and his navy  which are not as remotely as badly affected, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. We now estimate 97 percent of the Russian army, the whole Russian army, is in Ukraine, added Mr Wallace, explaining that there had been a very, very high attrition rate among Russian troops and that potentially their combat effectiveness [has been] depleted by 40 per cent. Further, he said, nearly two-thirds of their tanks are thought to have been destroyed or broken.

The UK also announced that Ukraine will receive support including artillery ammunition, maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, and spare parts for Ukraines current tanks, via the first package of funding from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU). The first equipment package was agreed by the UK, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and is worth more than 200m.

Meanwhile, on the second day of meetings between Western defence chiefs 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. 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, he said.

The US 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. Mr Austin said that for every new system Nato provides to Kyiv, it will train troops to use it. Were laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform, he said.

Reuters contributed to this report
At least 6,000 of Ukrainian children have been taken to camps and other facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territory, prevented from communicating with their families and subjected to pro-Russian re-education, according to a report from the Conflict Observatory, a research group that monitors alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The children, who range in age from four months to 17 years, have in some cases been forced to attend classes on Russian culture and patriotism as part of "integration programs," said the observatory, which is independent but, as part of the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), receives support from the U.S. State Department. Moscow claims some, but not all of the children taken into Russian custody since the start of the war almost a year ago were orphans.

"The total number of children is not known and is likely significantly higher than 6,000," the report says.

Ukrainian children attend classroom instruction as part of Russian re-education programming in an undated photo included in a report published on February 14, 2023 by the U.S. government-supported Conflict Observatory at the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL). / Credit: Handout/Conflict Observatory

"In many cases, Russia purported to temporarily evacuate children in Ukraine under the guise of a free summer camp, only to later refuse to return the children and to cut off all contacts with their families," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday. "Putin seeks to rob Ukraine of its future by taking its children."

According to the report, there is a network of at least 43 facilities, including camps and other locations, being used to house Ukrainian children, both in Russia and in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. The observatory said some of the sites were almost 4,000 miles from Russia's western border with Ukraine.

At least 78% of the camps are putting the Ukrainian children through Russian patriotism programs, which the authors of the report say have "the apparent goal of integrating children from Ukraine into the Russian government's vision of national culture, history, and society."

The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians. Russia cannot hide the harm its mass-scale relocation operations are doing to Ukraines kids. #ConflictObservatory https://t.co/rBRtsI45Ut  Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) February 14, 2023

In the cases of Ukrainian parents who have allowed their children to attend these camps, their consent was often completely violated or acquired under duress, the report alleges. At least 10% of the camps have suspended all returns, meaning the children are not allowed to rejoin their families in Ukraine, it says.

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The entire program is being coordinated centrally by the Russian government, the report says, in an effort involving officials from the federal to local levels.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of systematically "kidnapping" the country's children for months and stripping them of their identities.

"Russia continues its kidnapping of Ukrainian children," Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the global body in May, adding that many were being "illegally adopted by Russian citizens."

Since the early days of the war nearly one year ago, Ukraine has faced an acute child protection crisis, CBS News correspondent Pamela Falk reported, including family separations, violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking, as well as the transporting of children to Russia.

CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay met people working to bring the children back home  and he met Ukrainian teenagers who had been swept up in the Russian program, but rescued. (Watch Livesay's full August 2022 report at the top of this article.)

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(Reuters) - Several Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets were intercepted by North American air defence forces as they flew over international airspace near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) said, in routine incidents unrelated to tensions over the war in Ukraine.

The aircraft, which were identified on Monday, did not enter U.S. or Canadian airspace and did not pose a threat, the joint U.S.-Canadian centre said in a statement dated Feb. 14.

It added that the Russian flights were in no way related to the mysterious spate of airborne objects shot down by the U.S. military over North America in the past few weeks, the details of which remain unknown.

"NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity ... Two NORAD F-16 fighters intercepted the Russian aircraft," it said.

The United States also frequently carries out surveillance operations that do not enter other countries' airspace and such flights are a common part of military operations.

"NORAD routinely monitors foreign aircraft movements and as necessary, escorts them," the statement added.

Russia said on Wednesday that it had carried out several flights over international waters in recent days, including in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

It said two of its Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers had flown over the Bering Sea accompanied by Su-30 jets, and that it had made similar "routine" flights north of Norway and over international waters near Russia's far east.

It did not say whether its aircraft had been intercepted.

"Long-range aviation pilots regularly perform flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific Ocean," Russia's defence ministry said.

North American security forces have been on high alert since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon crossed into U.S. airspace, prompting the United States to shoot it and other objects down as it combs the skies.

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While Russia has carried out flights over the Bering Sea before, its neighbours in the region have become more concerned about Moscow's military activity since its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out, the Netherlands' defence ministry said in a statement late on Monday.

NATO member states have also ramped up military exercises in the Arctic in recent years, as Russia has expanded and renewed its military infrastructure in the region.

(Reporting by Caleb Davis; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Kevin Liffey and Deepa Babington)
A Russian businessman with ties to President Vladimir Putin was convicted Tuesday of participating in a $90 million insider trading scam that relied on confidential information stolen from U.S. companies through computer hacking.

Vladislav Klyushin, 43, of Moscow, was accused of stealing earnings information for hundreds of publicly traded Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange-listed companies, including well-known firms like Roku, Snap and Tesla. Prosecutors said that Klyushin and four co-conspirators used that data to make profitable trades in advance of the public release of the information.

"The jury saw Mr. Klyushin for exactly what he is  a cybercriminal and a cheat," U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins said in a statement. "He repeatedly gamed the system and finally got caught. Now he is a convicted felon."

The Russian passport of Vladislav Klyushin, part of the government evidence entered into the record as exhibits in Klyushin's trial. (U.S. Attorneys Office via AP)

Klyushin was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges following a 10-day trial in Boston. The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of more than 50 years.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Klyushin was arrested when he flew in a private jet with his family to Switzerland for a ski vacation in March 2021. He was held there until he was flown to Boston in January 2022.

In an unsuccessful bid to stop the extradition, Klyushin's lawyer argued that this is not a simple case of insider trading  the insider trading charges are disingenuous.

Its not a secret that his company had a series of government contracts in Russia, including with some of the national intelligence agencies," the lawyer, Oliver Ciric, said.

U.S. officials described Klyushin as being close to Putin, and his company website touted its ties to the Russian government.

U.S. prosecutors alleged that his company, M-13, offered services that seek vulnerabilities in a computer system that can be exploited through hacking techniques. Its website indicated that the companys "IT solutions" were used by the administration of the President of the Russian Federation" and "the government of the Russian Federation, according to prosecutors.

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Klyushin is set to be sentenced May 4.

The four other Russian nationals charged in the scheme remain at large, including Ivan Ermakov, who was among the Russian intelligence operatives charged in connection with the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee.

Ermakov was also charged in federal court in Pittsburgh in 2018 in connection with allegations that he played a role in hacking and related disinformation operations attributed to the Russian government that targeted international anti-doping agencies, sporting federations and anti-doping officials.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The Russian military commissariats, together with the management of educational institutions, force students to sign consent for early conscription. This will make it possible to conscript young people in April, instead of doing so in summer, when they finish their studies.

Source: Verstka publication

Quote: "Military commissariats, in cooperation with college administrations, began to require graduating students to write applications for early medical examination and draft board meetings."

Details: In particular, students are told that they will be able to take exams early if they sign such statements. Then the students receive summons with an obligation to show up at a military commissariat. At the military commissariat, they pass a medical examination and join the army.

According to Russian law, students receive a deferment from conscription until graduation; however, in 2021, military commissars first began to persuade young people to enlist early.

Human rights activists say that, in particular, Moscow universities and colleges arrange meetings with the military commissariat, where students are handed out summons with an obligation to show up with a passport and a registration certificate.

The military commissars used similar tactics during 2022, and on the eve of the spring draft of 2023, they resorted to it again.

"They make fools of eighteen-year-old boys, who, of course, do not understand the legal consequences of such statements. Under various pretexts, with the help of persuasion and threats, they force them to sign statements,"  stressed Aleksey Tabalov, the head of Conscript School, a human rights organisation.

Background:

In November 2022, The Federation Council [the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament  ed.] has decided to hold consultations with law enforcement agencies regarding bringing back two-year service in the army.

On 12 January, it was reported that Russia decided to raise the conscription age  citizens under the age of 30 will be drafted in the military as early as this spring.

On 18 January, The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine claimed that Russia was preparing for a new mobilisation wave, during which Moscow residents would be targeted in particular.

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A shell of the Russian occupiers hit a high-rise building, some of the apartments on the fifth floor were destroyed

Two people were injured, the governor stated.

Read also: Border guards stop enemy attack in Donetsk Oblast, killing five Russian soldiers

He published a photo of the damaged five-story building, where apartments on the last floor are clearly destroyed.

According to preliminary reports, the invaders used missiles against the town.

Read also: Russia aims to encircle Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast

The head of Pokrovsk military administration, Serhiy Dobriak added, that the building was hit at about 10:00 a.m., Ukrainian Suspilne TV reported.

"There is almost no fifth floor anymore," he said.

  Telegram

Rescuers have been clearing up the debris as of publication time.

  Telegram

The situation in Donetsk Oblast remains tough as Russian troops have constantly shelled the settlements across the region.

  Telegram

In the past day, the Russian invaders shelled Chasiv Yar with multiple launch rocket systems, and attacked Kostyantynivka with missiles. The Russian army continues to storm the area of Bakhmut and Vuhledar.

Read also: Russians forces in Bakhmut attempting to adapt their tactics, says military

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian forces attacked three hromadas in Sumy Oblast during the day on 14 February 2023 [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.]. There were about 34 strikes detected.

Source: Sumy Oblast Military Administration on Facebook

Details: Russian troops used mortars to fire on Yunakivka hromada; there were four strikes. The occupiers also dropped two explosives from drones on the hromada.

The invaders attacked Bilopillia hromada with grenade launchers. There were 28 strikes and 6 rounds of machine-gun fire.

Russian forces deployed mortars to hit Seredyna-Buda hromada, causing two strikes.

There were no casualties in any of the cases.

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On Tuesday, border guards and soldiers of Ukraine's Armed Forces repelled an attempt by the occupiers to break through the defence lines of the State Border Guard Service in Donetsk Oblast; the Russians lost 60 people and retreated.

Source: Press service of State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Details: Ukraines State Border Guard Service reports that the Russian occupiers attempted to break through the defence line of the Border Guard unit on one of the fronts in Donetsk Oblast.

Since dawn, the artillery of the Russian occupying forces has carried out a massive shelling of the border guard unit's stronghold. After the shelling was over, the Russian infantry launched an offensive. The border guards determined the direction of the main attack, manoeuvred the unit and began to repel the attack.

The occupiers expected to succeed in the assault due to their significant advantage in manpower.

Quote: "Our defenders stopped several waves of attackers with mortar, grenade launcher and small arms fire. In the battle, the Armed Forces of Ukraine provided a reliable supporting shoulder to the border guards.

Ukrainian artillery struck the area where the enemy was concentrating its reserves for further engagement."



More details: Border guards report that the Russians have retreated to regroup. More than 60 invaders were killed during the day.

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KIGALI, Rwanda (AP)  Rwandas army said its troops briefly exchanged fire with soldiers from Congo early Wednesday, in a new spike in tension between the neighbors who have accused each other of supporting armed rebel groups on the other side of the border. Congo denied that account.

A statement said that twelve to fourteen Congolese soldiers entered the no mans land near the western district of Rusizi and opened fire at a Rwandan border post, in an act of provocation.

Our security forces responded and (the Congolese) soldiers withdrew, the Rwandan statement said. There were no casualties on the Rwanda side and the situation is calm.

Congos government said there were clashes between its military and a group of bandits near the border in Bukavu, but denied entering the neutral zone.

In no case did the (army) cross the neutral zone, let alone open fire in the direction of Rwanda, Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, governor of South Kivu province, said in a statement.

Congo for months has accused Rwanda of supporting an armed rebel group called M23, thats fighting in eastern Congo.

The conflict in eastern Congo has gone on for decades, with more than 100 armed groups fighting for control of valuable mineral resources while others protect their communities, and has triggered an exodus of refugees.

Rwanda in turn accuses Congo of supporting the FDLR, a Rwandan armed rebel group based in Congo that has carried out raids into Rwanda in the past. The FDLR has been accused of participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which ethnic Hutus killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.

United Nations experts in December said they had substantial evidence of Rwandan government forces crossing into Congo to reinforce M23 rebels or to conduct operations against the FDLR. The United States, France and Germany have urged Rwanda to stop supporting the rebels.

The Rwandan government has denied supporting M23 and says the accusations are part of a tired old blame game undermining efforts for peace, to which Rwanda is fully committed.

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Rwandas President Paul Kagame has said Congolese authorities should solve their own problems. In January he said that the crisis in Congo is not Rwandas problem, and we are going to make sure that everybody realizes it is not Rwandas problem.

Last month, Rwanda said it fired on Congo military aircraft it accused of violating its airspace and urged Congo to stop the "aggression.

But Congos government said the incident occurred in Congolese airspace near the city of Gomas international airport. It said the plane landed without major damage.

Congo had described the attack on its aircraft as a deliberate act of aggression that equals an act of war with the goal of sabotaging regional peace efforts.

Regional leaders called for a cease-fire in eastern Congo and ordered a withdrawal of rebels from major towns under M23 control  which hasnt happened.
Farah Zerehi is a licensed marriage and family therapist who recently went viral for explaining why a lot of therapists don't accept insurance with a little storytime about her experience:

In her TikTok, which has been viewed over 12 million times, Farah explains how she applied to be in-network with an insurance company in January 2022. The insurance company told her it would be 3045 business days before she would get a response from them.

After 45 days went by with no response, Farah checked on the status of her application. She was told the timeline was "extended," and when she asked for a reason, they told her they weren't obligated to give her that information. She was told to call back in 60 days to check on the status then. And this time, with no response after 60 days, she called once again, only for them to inform her this time around that they needed an additional 30 days on their end.

Katleho Seisa / Getty Images

Then, for the next several months, Farah was told the same thing  to wait 30 more days. She even ended up hiring a professional to help her speed along the process, but it didn't help. Finally, after nine months  and after Farah threatened to report the insurance company to the state  the company sent over the approved contract within days, and Farah immediately signed it.

Nazarkru / Getty Images/iStockphoto

After signing, she followed up with the insurance company to make sure she was good to go, but they told her to wait another 3045 business days for them to execute the contract.

Peter Dazeley / Getty Images

Finally, after a full year, the contract got executed, so she could start accepting insurance...

Tom Hanks saying "Just wait"

CBS

...however, after she saw her first client with insurance, the insurer denied the claim. Farah has had to go through numerous hoops (and is now waiting 3045 more business days) while not knowing whether she is actually going to get paid. You can watch her Part 2, which details everything, below:

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BuzzFeed spoke to Farah, who owns the Hive Therapy Collective , a budding group practice that is rooted in values around social justice, increasing access to care for mental health, client-centered practices, and also work-life balance for staff.

Farah Zerehi

Farah made her TikToks to show just how egregious the process of getting paid by insurance can be.

"I was reflecting on the last year and how I was so frustrated about the opaque nature of the whole process, and realized for myself firsthand why so many therapists avoid insurance reimbursement for services. I also see comments all the time about how therapists charge too much or dont accept insurance, and how therapists should do more to make it accessible to have mental healthcare. I dont disagree with those statements to some extent, but we therapists catch a lot of the blame around accessibility, and the conversation about how we meet the roadblocks Ive named here are rarely highlighted," she said.

Over the last year, she estimates, she has spent 6070 hours on the phone with this insurance company. "I have been given incredibly confusing and conflicting information, and had deadlines they set to begin with extended with no warning and no reason provided. That time is all unpaid. It's so wild to reflect on that," she said.

"And the wildest thing of it all? After all that, the rates they offered me were a fraction of my professional fee (which is average in my market), and the claims take  you guessed it  30 business days to process, with no guarantee whether they will be paid out or denied," she said. "Paying for any medical need out of pocket in the US can be extremely costly. And I am not saying the cost is not directly proportional to the value in the system we are currently operating in. I believe it is a valuable service that my professional community provides, but most people I know (including me!) cannot really afford to pay $150$250 a week for services. That ends up being almost $10,000 out of pocket each year." JGI / Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Farah feels that everything professionals have to deal with when being paid out by insurance companies is overwhelming, difficult, and confusing. "I do understand that there are a lot of moving parts, and I want to be clear, I dont currently have a better idea in mind that I can write down and present to the world. But this all just feels a little bit too much like insurance companies dont want to pay for mental healthcare, and like our government isnt paying attention," she said.

Photoalto / Getty Images/PhotoAlto

"There are currently very few benefits to accepting insurance as a therapist  the biggest being the fact that it makes care more accessible to the public  but I want people to see the realities behind it too. For every clinical hour I see a client with health insurance being their source of payment, I spend at least two hours on the back end dealing with it, totally unpaid," she explained, emphasizing that she has to submit a claim for every single session or service provided.

And Farah acknowledges that she has a lot of privileges in her life. "I work for myself, I am able-bodied, I dont have dependents who need me to care for them financially and emotionally, or health issues that prevent me from spending the extra time outside of my clinical hours fighting for these insurance contracts and claims to be handled. Not every therapist has those privileges. I want the public (and maybe lawmakers?) to see that the system is deeply flawed and might need to be changed or rebuilt from scratch," she said. JGI / Getty Images/Tetra images RF

All Farah wants is more conversations around care for mental health, accessibility, and ways that big systems (like insurance companies) make it harder to provide accessible care. "Let's not forget that what we are talking about here is the difference between someone being able to afford getting the mental healthcare they need andwell, not being able to."

Luis Alvarez / Getty Images

With that in mind, Farah shared with us a few "call to action" items for insurance companies, the US government, and practitioners like herself:

FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES:

1. Pay clinicians more, what they are worth.

2. Dont gate-keep therapy from folks whose conditions dont meet your approved list of diagnoses.

3. Make the process to get on insurance panels (groups of healthcare providers that an insurance company will pay for services given to their customers) shorter, easier, and clearer.

4. Make the process to follow your guidelines for documentation clearer and easier.

5. Dont claw back money from clinicians unless something illegal or unethical happened. (A "clawback" is when an insurance company, even months after claims have been paid out, requests records to review for medical necessity and literally go into your bank account and take the money back. You can read more about the clawback contractual provision here.)

6. Make the process to talk to representatives easier.

7. Let therapists talk to their colleagues about how much money they are making so they can negotiate better, because they arent legally allowed to share what their contract pays out.

FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

1. Step in and regulate application timelines.

2. Regulate what insurance companies can do to deny claims and claw back money.

3. Set policies that make mental health a clear and core part of healthcare.

4. Step in and regulate tech companies that are engaging in opaque and unethical business practices in the mental health field.

5. Consider student loan or tax benefits for therapists who are paneled and actively seeing clients with insurance payments.

FOR THERAPISTS:

1. Get comfortable sharing information with your colleagues. Obviously, dont violate your contracts or do anything unethical or illegal, but teach one another.

2. Be open to consultation about getting paneled and billing.

3. Keep having these conversations with your colleagues AND your elected representatives.

Farah also wrote an article that highlights everything you need to know about therapy  you can read it here
Flowers and crosses are set at the base of "The Rock" statue on the campus of Michigan State University as a tribute to the students killed and wounded in Monday's shooting on Feb. 16, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

EAST LANSING, Mich.  They broke out windows to escape, barricaded doors and hid under blankets. They silenced their phones  afraid to make even the slightest sound for hours as police searched for a gunman who had already killed three students and critically wounded five others on the Michigan State University campus.

The terror felt by thousands of students was evident in texts to parents, posts on social media and in 911 calls  as some feared that the police coming to rescue them were actually the shooter.

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It started around 8:30 p.m. Monday when Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old with a previous gun violation, opened fire inside an academic building and the student union.

Alerts sent out to students urged them to Run, Hide, Fight and video showed them fleeing as police swarmed toward the chaos. The massive search that ensued ended roughly three hours later when McRae fatally shot himself in a confrontation with police miles from campus, officials said Tuesday.

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McRae was neither a student nor an employee of the university. The motive is a mystery.

Jaqueline Matthews, a member of the Michigan State rowing team, crouched for so long when gunfire erupted at Sandy Hook Elementary that her back is permanently injured. Now a decade later, the 21-year-old international law major was watching chaos outside her campus window, stunned to find herself here yet again.

The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible, she said in a TikTok video that she recorded in the early morning hours, demanding legislative action. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.

She wasnt the only one experiencing her second mass shooting. Jennifer Mancini, told the Detroit Free Press, that her daughter also had survived the November 2021 shooting that left four students dead at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. Now a freshman at Michigan State, her daughter was traumatized anew.

I cant believe this is happening again, said Mancini, who didnt want her daughters name used.

Ted Zimbo, a 26-year-old astrophysics major, said he was heading back to his residence hall after an off-campus meeting when he saw police cars everywhere and a blood-covered woman hiding behind a car. She told him that someone came into her classroom and started shooting.

Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes, he told The Associated Press. She said, Its my friends blood.

That, he said, is when it hit him: There was a real shooting, a mass shooting.

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The woman picked up her phone and started crying, unsure of what happened to her friend. Zimbo spent the next three hours hunkered down in his Toyota SUV, a blanket tossed over him.

Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives about a half-mile east of campus, said he hid with his roommate, locking his doors and covering windows as another roommate was locked down on campus.

Its all very frightening. And then I have all these people texting me wondering if Im OK, which is overwhelming, he said.

Annie Heitmeier, a third-year student and volunteer with the gun-control advocacy group Students Demand Action, said it was horrifying that the shooting was the second for some students.

We wont stand for any more inaction from our legislators because no one should ever experience the terror and fear that we lived through last night, she said in a news release.

Ryan Kunkel, a 22-year-old student, said he and his classmates turned off the lights and acted like there was a shooter right outside the door. For more than four hours, as they waited, nothing came out of anyones mouth, he recalled.

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This is supposed to be a place where Im coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.

Dominik Molotky said he was in a Cuban history class around 8:15 p.m. when he and the other students heard a gunshot right outside the classroom. He told ABCs Good Morning America that a few seconds later the gunman entered the classroom and fired three to four more rounds while the students took cover.

After that we broke out the window and I climbed out of there and then I booked it back to my apartment, he said.

Claire Papoulias, a sophomore, told NBCs Today Show she was listening to a history lecture when she heard gunshots and dropped to the floor.

At that moment, she said, I thought that I was going to die, I was so scared.

She said she quietly called her mom while classmates opened a window and helped people to jump to safety. Once outside, she grabbed her backpack and phone.

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And I remember, she said, I just ran for my life.

Sophomores Jake Doohan and Nicole Stark were walking off campus when they heard about the shooting and took shelter, barricading a door with a dresser.

With the blinds closed so not a speck of light could get out, Stark said she felt like they were watching the news, as though its not actually happening to us.

The senselessness of it left Doohan stunned.

Its sad to think, he said, that things like this will happen just out of the blue to anybody or anywhere.

John and Rona Szydzik, who both graduated from Michigan State University, left flowers on the campus Tuesday after spending the previous night hiding as ambulances wailed past their home.

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As a high school teacher, Rona Szydzik has drilled for years to Run, Hide, Fight But she added: To actually be in it, thats very shocking. For her husband, the flowers were a way to let the victims families know they cared, that they were praying.

It really was tough, he said, becoming emotional as he spoke.

Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Rick Callahan in Indianapolis, Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Instagram: santos4_congress

The woman Rep. George Santos called his best friend is a Republican fundraiser and conspiracy-theory spreader who spent years promoting an Albanian politician barred from entering the United States for corruptionwork that raised concerns among legal and ethics experts who spoke with The Daily Beast.

In the space of two election cycles, Evi Kokalariwho sometimes uses her ex-husbands surname Angelakiswent from a small-time Queens real estate broker whose dabbling in politics never extended beyond a couple gifts to local campaigns, to a jet-setting Republican operative who hosted events for Santos and GOP luminaries including former Rep. Lee Zeldin and Trump acting intelligence director Ric Grenell.

In the same period, beginning around 2019, social media showed her attending parties at Mar-a-Lago, commanding meetings with Eric Trump; ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Ilir Meta, then the president of Albania; and Yuri Kim, former U.S. ambassador to Albania. Posts showed she regularly visited her home country in the Balkans and such destinations as London, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos.

Her access to U.S. politicians allowed her to propagate a narrative in the United States and in Albania that blamed liberal billionaire George Soros for American sanctions against ex-Prime Minister Sali Berisha, whom the State Department had declared persona non grata for his involvement in public corruption. Following her events with Zeldin and Grenell, the two Republicans began to echo her talking points about Berishas supposed persecution, and she claimed online to have recruited multiple members of Congress to her anti-Soros cause.

But at the same time that her profile in both her native and adoptive nations rose, and as her lifestyle grew increasingly ostentatious, public records and her own statements show her tiny property sales and rental business faltered.

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Albanian news outlets have questioned how the newly minted pundit and activist financed her travel bills and incessant activism, and wondered whether the funds had come from Berisha and his supporters. Experts on U.S. lobbying regulations expressed the same concerns.

The fact pattern certainly raised additional questions for me, said Joshua Rosenstein, an attorney with the firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock.

Rosenstein, like all of the legal authorities The Daily Beast consulted for this story, stressed that the crucial question is whether Kokalari had met the criteria to be considered an agent of a foreign principal under the federal Foreign Agent Registration Act. Crucial to this is whether Kokalari was ever compensated for her work, and whether she operated under the direction or control of another foreign actor.

If shes flying back and forth between the United States and Albania, and coming back here to lobby on behalf of Berisha, and if shes paid by him or his party, or directed by him, she must register, said James Thurber, professor emeritus at American University, who has written extensively on foreign lobbying.

Thurber, like other experts, highlighted the broad language of the statute and uneven historic enforcement. Shes swimming in a gray area.

In conversation with The Daily Beast, Kokalari cast aspersions on the accuracy and integrity of the Albanian outlets, and insisted she has never accepted any form of compensation, honorarium, or reimbursement for any of her advocacy. However, she declined to provide details about how she paid for her activities.

I have nothing to report to the Department of Justice, she said. If you think that my involvement in politics in America has something to do with Albania, youre losing your mind.

Santos did not respond to questions for this story, and Kokalari maintained she severed their relationship in 2021.

Evi Kokalaris sudden transformation

What is known is that Kokalaris involvement in U.S. national politics is a recent phenomenon. She made her first federal political contributionto then-President Donald Trumps re-election campaignin September 2019. Soon, she began pouring out thousands to both federal and New York State Republican interests, and her social media pages suddenly came alive with conservative memes and videos from pro-Trump events.

Within a little more than a year, Kokalari was not only attending such events but organizing them. These included a pro-Trump flotilla off Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11 that earned her an appearance on Steve Bannons War Room podcast, the fundraisers for Santos and Zeldin, a panel with Bannon on Albanian language television, andjust weeks before the electiona Trump campaign fundraiser with Detroit-area Albanian-American leaders featuring Grenell.

But Kokalaris sudden explosion in activism, travel, and political giving coincided with desperate times for the New York City real estate marketand for Kokalaris business, Golden Key Realtythanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns.

Tourism in New York is dead, office buildings are closed. Its difficult to survive at this point, she told the International Business Times that August. A few months before, Golden Key Realty had secured a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $40,000 to help it bridge the crisis. Early in 2021, Kokalari obtained a $20,833 loan through the program in her own name.

Kokalari admitted to The Daily Beast she has not updated the listings on her businesss website in the nearly three years since the pandemic began. She appears to have last brokered a major property sale in January 2019. StreetEasy, one of the biggest and most popular real estate listing services in New York City, shows Golden Key handled three apartment rentals in 2022, the costliest of which leased for $2,000 a monthand the site shows no other transactions since 2017. Her listings on Zillow are even older than that.

Kokalari insisted she had been involved in other property transactions, though she refused to provide dates or addresses. Industry sources told The Daily Beast there was little evidence of activity by her firm, and the Real Estate Board of New Yorka trade groupsaid that it rescinded her membership in June 2021 for nonpayment of dues. The organization did not answer queries about how long she had been delinquent.

Kokalaris political activities somehow escalated as her company stagnated. An archived version of her Twitter account from late 2020 shows she represented herself as a member of the finance committee of the Trump Victory Committee, the joint fundraising effort of the Republican National Committee and the then-presidents re-election bid. A person familiar with the committee, however, told The Daily Beast that this was not true and Kokalari had no involvement in the joint entity, though she did bundle contributions for the campaign proper.

Kokalari declined to comment when asked about this discrepancy.

Trumps 2020 election loss, and his subsequent lies about election fraud, gave her a chance to begin linking American affairs with those in Albania. On Nov. 19, 2020, she appeared on One America News, where an anchor presented her as a person familiar with communism and socialism and how it works and doesnt work versus capitalism.

In this appearance, Kokalari alluded vaguely but ominously to a series of supposed connections between Dominion Voting Systems, the Clinton Foundation, and the Soros family, all of which she claimed had a sinister presence in both Albania and the U.S.

When you see weak states like those, this is the perfect playground for George Soros, she said, before repeating debunked claims about a conspiracy between Dominion and fellow voting technology company Smartmatic. In 2016, right before the election in 2016, Hillary Clinton was so sure she was going to win. The only reason she was sure she was gonna win, is because they knew Dominion and the software, SmartechSmartmatic was in existence, and thats how they were going to get the election.

The Soros springboard

These comments later wound up in the defamation complaint Smartmatic brought against OANN, but the firm did not name Kokalari as a party to the suit. She further outlined her views on Soros and her homeland in a brief piece on the far-right website Revolver on Nov. 30. In the article, she claimed to have fraternized with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and a Soros operative in Paris after the collapse of the countrys communist dictatorship in the 1990s.

Offering what she described as a cautionary tale, Kokalari fantastically characterized the Hungarian-born financier as the master strategist who had engineered a takeover of the Albanian courts, pro-democracy Color Revolutions across Eastern Europe, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and the supposed rigging of the 2020 election.

Albanias highly-unpopular Rama will stay in power so long as he maintains his cozy relationship with George Soros, she asserted. If we let the election go and hand it to Joe Biden, we know where this is headedAmerican elections will have the same amount of legitimacy as those in the Balkans, and Biden or the next Soros puppet will remain in power indefinitely.

Absurd and unsubstantiated as these claims were, they cast the mold for the next stage of her political career. In her author bio on the Revolver piece, she described herself as the founder of Immigrants for Trumpa distinction she would continue to tout in the year ahead, later adding the establishment of an Immigrants for Freedom political action committee to her list of putative accomplishments.

Neither of these organizations have registered with the Federal Election Commission or maintain a website or other presence online. Kokalari insisted she did form the groups, but later abandoned them, though there is no publicly available evidence to support that.

The coming year would also avail her of opportunities to utilize her newfound American political connections to cultivate relationships with the Albanian elite and to promote Soros-related conspiracy theories on two continents.

Multiple experts on Albania that The Daily Beast consulted for this story agreed that America enjoys overwhelming support and admiration in the small Balkan state, and that access to U.S. political figures can be converted into huge quantities of political capital there. For this same reason, a lack of allies in D.C. can practically disqualify an Albanian politician from holding power.

No country is more important to Albania than the United States, and the U.S. has no better friend worldwide than Albanians, said David L. Phillips of Columbia Universitys Institute for the Study of Human Rights, an expert on the Balkans. Albania doesn't want to do anything that will spoil relations with Washington.

The Berisha connection

In May 2021, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken barred Sali Berisha, the former Albanian prime minister, and his entire family from entering the United Statesciting Berishas misappropriation of public funds and interfering with public processes. It was a devastating blow to Berishas ambitions to recover leadership of the country he led between 2005 and 2013, and threatened even to undercut his bid to resume the chairmanship of the Albanian Democratic Party. In September of that year, Berishas former protege and successor as party chair Lulzim Basha expelled him from its conference in the countrys parliament.

According to Fred Abrahams, the author of a book about Albania and a visiting professor at Bard College Berlin, there is little doubt as to Berishas guilt; corruption is so pervasive in the country as to be universal and inescapable. But the timing, he argued, reflected a U.S. and European Union effort to strengthen and rejuvenate the Albanian Democratic Party by helping it shed Berisha, who has dominated the organization since its formation in the 1990s.

The allegations against Berisha landed in a moment when the Democratic Party was trying to move beyond Berisha to new leadership, and the E.U. and US governments were supportive of that, Abrahams explained. They wanted a viable, competitive opposition, and they didnt think Berisha could be that.

But Kokalari, who had already boosted Berisha in Albanian media, immediately began pushing the notion that the Soros family was behind the U.S. move. Zeldin soon echoed this insinuation when questioning Blinken at a June House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

For many, this seemingly came out of nowhere, the congressman said. He was a guest and ally of the Bushes. He was also known to be an aggressive opponent of George Soros.

Zeldin also fired off the first of what would ultimately be three letters to the State Department demanding access to the intelligence that led to Berishas designation.

In this, Phillips saw the possible influence of Kokalari, who had remained in contact with the congressman.

Its fairly routine for U.S. citizens to raise money for members of the House, and then ask those House members to act on behalf of their issues, he said. As is the case with anything else in Albania, it was transactional, and there was support provided to Lee Zeldin by Albanian-Americans as a result.

Zeldin did not respond to calls, emails, or text messages for comment. Kokalari said that she never, ever discussed Albanian issues with the then-congressman, and insisted he had come by his concerns about Soros and Berisha through a third party whom she refused to name.

But Kokalari quickly took to Albanian television to promote Zeldins comments after the hearing, trumpeting the event she had held for him the year before.

For Mr. Berisha, we have some very prominent friends in America, who have done a lot for Albanians and will continue to do so in the future, she told host Cim Peka the night of the hearing. Today, all it did was give us a voice in Congress.

She also claimed in a Facebook post that Pompeo had assured her in a meeting that he had had no role in opening a file on Berisha during the Trump administration, and that he vowed to contact Zeldin about the issue. Neither Pompeo nor his political action committee responded to repeated requests for comment.

By fall, Kokalari had launched an all-out multinational campaign advocating for Berishas exoneration and return to power. In late September, she held a joint press conference with the former prime minister, where she vowed he and his supporters will have the help of the American Republicans.

In late September, she vowed on Albanian television to use her connections in America to sway the government on Berishas behalf.

I have relations with American congressmen. I have Yuri Kim as a friend and I protect Berisha.

Kokalaris echo chamber

In October, she interviewed Bannon on Albanian television. A representative for Bannon did not respond on the record to requests for comment.

Days later, Kokalari shared a stage with right-wing provocateur Jack Posobiec at the conservative summit AMPFest at the Trump National Doral in Miami, where she talked up her efforts to help Berisha recover control of the Albanian Democratic Party and bewailed Soros supposed capture of the State Department.

Just a few weeks later, Grenellwhom Kokalari had feted that June at a cocktail reception attended by New York City Republican donorspenned an article titled Blinken Acts as Agent of George Soros in the Balkans, echoing many of the same bizarre talking points favored by Kokalari. Kokalari asserted to The Daily Beast, however, that she never discussed Berisha and his predicament with Grenell.

One day after that piece ran, Kokalari posted a photo of herself at Mar-a-Lago, where the Log Cabin Republicans were holding their Spirit of Lincoln gala, in which the LGBT GOP group presented awards to Grenell, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and former First Lady Melania Trump.

In early December, Kokalari and National Young Republican Federation head Rick Loughery held a virtual conference with Berisha at a Marriott Hotel in New Jersey. Early in 2022, she brought Loughery and conservative author Matt Palumbowhose book on Soros Man Behind the Curtain cites Kokalaris Revolver article as a source in building a pro-Berisha narrativeto Albania to do multiple media and public events, including at least one with the ex-prime minister himself.

On the dais at one of those events, Loughery presented Kokalari with a flag from the U.S. Capitol, courtesy of Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas). On another occasion, the group met with Albanian President Meta, a Berisha ally. Palumbo declined to comment for this piece, while Loughery did not respond to repeated outreach by The Daily Beast. Estes office would not comment on the record.

Evi floods the zone

Month after month, right up until she and Berisha had a public falling out at the end of 2022, social media shows Kokalari kept up this frenetic pace: a near-constant presence on Albanian television as well as a regular at Republican functions, broken only by the occasional vacation.

To one Albanian politics insider who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, in order to avoid public reprisals, the strategy was obvious: sell a story to the Albanian public that would make Berisha palatable again, despite the U.S. sanctions. The former prime minister had spent several years as a grey eminence within his party, retaining considerable informal influence, but wanted a cover story to give the populace at large as he returned to his old official position as chairman.

It strengthened Berishas position again to come back. It created a narrative, the source said. The whole narrative created was this was not the U.S. government, this is a left-wing conspiracy.

What speaks right now in Albania is: Do you have access to government officials here in the U.S.? or Do you have money? the insider continued.

That narrative was explicit in the speech Kokalari made to the internal assembly of the Albanian Democratic Party, shortly before Berisha successfully recaptured the chairmanship.

Our loyalty belongs to America and not special interests. We have vowed to protect the U.S. from enemies like Soros, she told the internal party conclave. If Trump were still in the White House Berisha would not be non grata, the war in Ukraine would not have happened, and Albania would not be in this political chaos.

But the press was paying attention to more than her speeches. In July 2022, the Albanian outlet CNA discovered through flight records that Kokalari had taken at least nine trips between the U.S. and Albania as part of her advocacy for Berisha, likely running up bills in the tens of thousands of dollarsand doubtless had incurred thousands more in food and hotel bills. The outlet did not call attention to expenses she would have inevitably incurred while attending political events in the U.S., or on the various vacations she displayed on social media, or note that her real estate business appeared to be all-but defunct.

But the article did note that American law requires persons lobbying on behalf of foreign interests to register with the Department of Justice.

The blame game

In an angry Facebook post blaming the article on a rival within the Albanian Democratic Party, Kokalari insisted that she had consulted legal counsel to be sure she was in compliance with FARAbut added that even if she had violated the law, it was worth it to uplift Berisha.

I dont need to declare my travel and personal expenses to the Department of Justice. Your ignorance of how things work in America is astounding, she wrote in Albanian. I have consulted with the best lobbying lawyers in America precisely to be precise with the law, and I will remain so until the end.

Even if I had broken the rules to help Sali Berisha and the opposition in Albania during such a difficult period, this should have been appreciated and not denounced, she added.

Kokalari insisted that she had consulted an attorney and was in complete compliance with the law, but she refused to share the lawyers name. Some hours after The Daily Beast interviewed Kokalari, an antitrust and business attorney from the Atlanta areawho is also a member of the Republican National Lawyers Associationreached out.

Ms. Kokalaris conduct has been reviewed and approved by her counsel, and as she mentioned to you, she has not received any personal benefit for her political activities, attorney C. Robert Barker wrote. Your questions are based on no evidence.

She further maintained that she had self-financed all her activities, thanks to certain real estate investments. She declined to provide any details about such investments, but public documents show she co-owns a two-story mixed-use building in Queens with at least one partner, which has served as her brokerage's offices. New York City property tax records reveal that the limited liability company behind the property repeatedly missed quarterly payments during 2021 and 2022.

But Kokalari pointed to her recent falling out with Berisha as proof she has never been on anybodys payroll.

If I was paid for lobbying for Berisha or anybody else, how would I turn around and just do this to the guy? she said, noting she had criticized him on Facebook in recent weeks. Im not going to get in trouble in America. I have an excellent life, I have a beautiful life, I have a personal life, I have a business life, I have a political life, and I have plenty of friends, and Im just not going to get involved with that.

Kokalari is not the only Albanian-American recently entangled in political scandals on both sides of the Atlantic. The allegations against Charles McGonigal, the former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations New York office, include charges that he received bribes from a former Albanian intelligence agent residing in New Jersey to take actions benefiting the Rama governmentspecifically, that he open a probe into a lobbyist hired by Lulzim Basha, Berishas protege-turned-rival in the Albanian Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, The Daily Beast revealed last year that the brother of an Albanian politician was deeply involved in the company at the center of the latest federal investigation into Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey). The Garden State-based sibling, who previously served as foreign relations secretary of a fringe monarchist party in Albania and as the operator of an illegal gambling den in the U.S., had previously lobbied Washington to lift sanctions on an Albanian prosecutor.

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Utah's Great Salt Lake. Illustrated | Gettyimages

Utah's Great Salt Lake is in imminent danger of drying up to the point of ecological collapse, putting Salt Lake City and the majority of Utah's population in serious danger of being plagued by a toxic cloud of carcinogenic dust laced with arsenic and other heavy metals. And the Great Salt Lake isn't the only endangered saline lake in the Great Basin of the U.S. West.

Things are so dire in the Great Basin that leaders and policy makers in Utah and Washington, D.C., are paying attention. Here's how they are trying to save America's salt lakes, great and small.

What's happening to the Great Salt Lake?

The Great Salt Lake, the largest remaining saline lake in the Western Hemisphere, is disappearing. The lake has shrunk by two-thirds since the late 1980s and hit its lowest level in recorded history in fall 2022.

The receding water exposed 800 square miles of lake bed salted with natural and manmade toxins, including mercury, arsenic, and selenium.

The Great Salt Lake, like the other saline lakes, is a "terminal lake"  so called because the rain, snow runoff, and other water that feeds the lakes have no exit point. It loses some 2 million acre-feet of water through evaporation each year, and in 2022 only about 1.2 million acre-feet flowed into the lake. Rapid population growth in Salt Lake City and the surrounding Wasatch Front valley has combined with the changing climate, lengthy drought in the U.S. West, and diversion of the feeder rivers to farms to keep the lake from being replenished.

The situation improved over the winter with an above-average snowpack in the surrounding mountains that, when it melts, could raise the lake level by maybe 3 feet. The docks are already floating again, though barely, in the Great Salt Lake State Park marina. But that's just a band-aid. A recent study from Brigham Young University warned that without action, the Great Salt Lake could "evaporate into a system of lifeless finger lakes within five years, on its way to becoming the Great Toxic Dustbowl," CNN reports.

Story continues

What about the other saline lakes?

The U.S. Geological Survey and its partners have identified 20 saline lakes, including the Great Salt Lake, as ecosystems in need of saving in four states of the Great Basin  California, Nevada, Oregon, and California.

Map of Great Basin Saline Lakes

U.S. Geological Survey

The Great Basin is an area covering more than 190,000 square miles of arid valleys and ridges between the Sierra Nevada and Cascades mountain ranges on the west and Wasatch Mountains on the east, with the Columbia Plateau marking the northern edge and the Mojave Desert on the less-defined southern border. The defining hydrologic feature of the Great Basin is that the water all drains inward, not into the ocean or a river that leads to the ocean.

The Great Basin's saline lakes "tend to be what are called terminal discharge points where water, either surface or groundwater, is the end of the flow path," David O'Leary, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Utah Water Science Center in Salt Lake City, tells Deseret News. "Typically the only way for water to leave is through evaporation, and that leads to the saline buildup."

"There is a concern for the long-term viability of these lakes," O'Leary added.

Why bother saving lakes unfit for drinking or fishing?

The saline lakes may not be potable or teeming with bass, but they aren't lifeless either. The brine shrimp and flies that live in the Great Salt Lake are an important food source for the 10,000 migratory birds that flock to its placid waters. And people depend on the lakes, too, for recreation and mining, among other things.

"These lakes are relics of the past, and they hold a lot of answers to the way Mother Earth changes," Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, tells Deseret News, "and I think we need to use them as a barometer about the future  where we have been and where we are now."

Further depletion of the saline lakes "threatens the canals and infrastructure that a multi-million dollar mining industry needs to extract salts from the lakes," The Salt Lake Tribune reports. In Utah, "ski resorts worry about a future without lake effect snow." And when the lakes dry up, they leave behind dust that can be blown into the air, endangering the health of nearby communities. That's a huge issue for Salt Lake City and Utah's other population centers, but not just those cities and towns.

As a cautionary tale, proponents of saving the saline lakes "point to California's Owens Lake, which was notoriously drained by developers in the 1920s to build Los Angeles and inspired the watery, 1974 noir Chinatown," CNN reports. "By 1926, the terminal lake was dry and producing billowing clouds of fine, toxic dust which became known as 'Keeler fog' after it forced people in the town of Keeler to relocate." Los Angeles is still paying to clean up that mistake  $2.5 billion and rising.

"It was human choices that led to that catastrophic event," Brian Steed, executive director of Utah State University's Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air, tells CNN. "We're looking at the Great Salt Lake in a position right now to where we can avoid that catastrophe, where we don't have to spend those billions of dollars in remediation in the future if we make choices today."

What are people doing to save the lakes?

Utah and the federal government are pouring money into researching the issue to come up with long-term solutions, and Utah is also taking short-term steps to stave off disaster.

President Biden in late December signed the bipartisan Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act, which allocates $25 million over five years to USGS to establish a program to "assess, monitor, and benefit the hydrology of saline lakes in the Great Basin," plus the migratory birds and wildlife that depend on those ecosystems. Efforts to save the Great Salt Lake and other Great Basin lakes also got $40 million from Utah's Legislature last year and $10 million from the federal government through a defense spending earmark for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Utah lawmakers are also considering a range of mitigation measures, from restricting lawn irrigation to conserve water in some cities to less plausible ideas like cloud-seeding, thinning forests in the mountains around the Great Salt Lake, and building pipelines to suction up water from the Pacific Ocean. "We are getting some really fantastical suggestions from some of our lawmakers as to how to solve this," says Dr. Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, who advocates buying out water-intensive alfalfa farms to divert less water from feeding the lake.

About 63 percent of the water diverted from the Great Salt Lake goes to farmers, so they are an obvious part of the solution. "I think that the cheapest solution is for the state to buy some of the farmers out of their water rights and release some of this water in the natural system," Bonnie Baxter, director of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College, told CNN. "I know the farmers that I've talked to, they want to be part of the solution. They live here too."

Other ideas include limiting mining in the lake if the level gets too low, paying for farmers to install more water-conserving irrigation, and freezing any new developments that use more water than they save. Gov. Spence Cox (R) split the Great Salt Lake in two with a Feb. 3 executive order that instructed the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to raise the berm in the Great Salt Lake railroad causeway by 5 feet, in an effort to raise the water level in the southern, less salty arm of the lake, protecting it from the super salty northern end. The berm was raised 4 feet last year for the same purpose.

Raising a dam to save half the lake works as a temporary fix, but too may "pie-in-the-sky" ideas and the federal government will have to step in, BYU ecosystem ecology assistant professor Ben Abbott told ABC 4. "The safest and most cost-efficient route is to conserve water," he added. "That's the only option that doesn't have a big trade off."

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School is back in session at Franklin Middle School Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after a student was fatally struck by a school bus Tuesday afternoon.

Wayne police are continuing to investigate the details surrounding the tragic incident that left one family mourning the loss of their 12-year-old son, Jacob Dawson-Escobedo. According to police findings thus far, Jacob was hit by a school bus at approximately 2:50 p.m. Tuesday, but details on what led to the incident are still unknown.

Fellow students were on board the bus when the incident occurred, police confirmed to the Free Press Tuesday night, and none were injured as a result. Authorities do not drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash, and the driver is not in police custody.

"Jacob was a wonderful student and friend who was always smiling," Wayne-Westland Community Schools district superintendent John Dignan wrote in a statement Wednesday. "He was also creative and smart and was working on a fantasy book. Jacob will be missed by his teachers and classmates."

More:3 Michigan State University shooting victims identified: What we know

Jacob has three siblings who also attend schools within the district, Dignan said. In a letter to families in the school district Tuesday night announcing the incident, Dignan said, "There is no tragedy more awful than that of losing a child."

A spokeswoman for the Wayne-Westland school district declined to confirm whether the school bus driver is still employed by the district.

A GoFundMe campaign to assist Jacob's family with funeral expenses has reached nearly $13,000 as of Wednesday at noon.

Emotional support teams are expected at Franklin Middle School Wednesday to offer assistance to students and staff coping with this tragedy.

mmarini@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: School bus fatally hits middle school student in Wayne
Feb. 14Graduating at the end of fall semester with an associate degree or technical diploma from the LaCrosse, Wisconsin, school was:

Litchfield: Emma Brown

Graduating at the end of fall semester with a bachelor's degree from the Winona school were:

Bird Island: Gio Adamski

Raymond: Melissa Marcus

Graduating at the end of fall semester with a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin school in River Falls were:

Bird Island: Brenna Weis

Paynesville: Rachel Ampe

Willmar: Faith Swenson

Graduating at the end of fall semester from the Duluth school was:

Buffalo Lake: Claire Almich

Graduating at the end of fall semester from the Storm Lake, Iowa, school was:

Willmar: Michael Miller, Master of Education in teacher leadership, curriculum and instruction

Graduating at the end of fall semester from the Grand Forks with a bachelor's degree unless otherwise noted school were:

Glenwood: Abbie Massmann, Master of Social Work

Granite Falls: Natalie LeBlanc

Redwood Falls: Janine Miller, Master of Business Administration

Willmar: Abby McCormack, Master of Science

Named to the fall semester dean's list with a GPA of 3.5 or higher at the Fargo school were:

Appleton: Evan Hegland, Braden Koosman, Payton Sterud

Atwater: Conner L. Dilley, Noelle J. Dilley, Conner M. Sixta

Belgrade: Emily C. Ardoff, Madison M. Baker, Nathaniel H. Ley, Katherine Mastey

Benson: Destiny Aranda, Dylan A. Ascheman, William H. Enderson, Andrea A. Rud, Katelyn E. Tolifson, Matthew Tolifson

Blomkest: Ethan R. Hurley

Brooten: Elijah S. Buchholz, Victoria A. Reed, Sarah Schmitz

Clara City: Parker S. Ruiter

Clarkfield: Brennin Aguirre, LeeAnn L. Stensrud

Clontarf: Matthew T. Thompson

Danvers: Hannah Andrews

Darwin: Makenna G. Holtz, Dustyn D. Terning

Glenwood: Walker M. Bents, Jack Blevins, Leah A. Hagen, Brenna Larson, Brooklyn T. Larson, Evan G. Palmer, Ella G. Richards, Olivia Richards

Granite Falls: Patrick S. Hoernemann, Chloe Van Sickle

Grove City: Shelby A. Geislinger, Anders E. Grimsgard

Story continues

Hancock: Carlee J. Hanson, Morgan M. Kisgen, David T. Milander, Peyton Rohloff

Hawick: Nyla B. Johnson

Hector: Stefan A. Johnson

Kerkhoven: Jacob D. Anderson, Morgan E. Lesteberg

Lake Lillian: Blaine R. Schmoll

Litchfield: Hazel E. Chvatal, Cora L. Huhn, Kaitlyn M. Kusler, Nora A. Lagergren, Jocilyn C. Olson, Elijah J. Schacherer, Katherine Spanos, Dominick L. Wendler

Madison: Laura Baldwin, Dain S. Haas, Regan S. Johnson, Cole J. Wangler

Maynard: Logan D. Cronen, Blaine S. Sederstrom

Montevideo: Megan K. Anderson, Ashton M. Christopher, Willa B. Dissell, Meghan E. Erp, Aaron T. Roelike

Morris: Angel J. Gallegos, Makenna M. Hufford, Carissa Mohrman, Carissa Oberg, Andrew I. Olson, Josh Rohloff, Hannah L. Zimmel

New London: Seth Arvila, Tayler M. Harrier, Grace A. Haugen, Ashlyn G. Leindecker, Jade A. Lindquist, Payton Mages, Jake Schmidt, Katherine G. Schmidt, Jack D. Weber

Olivia: Jordan D. Amberg, Noah J. Boen, William Hanson, Maxwell Marks, Abigail E. Meyers, Ethan A. Whited

Paynesville: Spence D. Evans, Abigail J. Feigum, Caitlin R. Meyer, Jessica S. Miller, Molly J. Mogard, Aubrie E. Spanier, Caden T. Spanier, Matthew L. Stang, Tanner A. Stanley, Sophia C. Strand

Pennock: Cade A. Melin

Raymond: Connor D. Ruschen

Redwood Falls: Sydney N. Mertens, Carter P. Peterson, Brayden L. Reynolds

Spicer: Sophia Austvold, Tyler A. Bulthuis, Taylor K. Knudsen, Abby N. Stauffenecker

Starbuck: Sienna Boelke, Zoe Doscher, Amanda F. Drechsel, Quinn I. Hanson, Riley P. Hoffmann

Sunburg: Brandon Rasmusson

Villard: Shawn S. Carsten, Maxwell Reichmann, Tate E. Reichmann, Ty M. Werven

Willmar: Andrew D. Baumgart, Allie Evink, Amber Evink, Kylie J. Gibson, Logan M. Nelson, Aidan M. O'Meara, Jack Roehl, Ella G. Swenson, Aaron B. Watland, Ethan A. Weber

Named to the fall semester dean's list with a GPA of 3.6 or higher at the University of Wisconsin school in Eau Claire were:

Glenwood: Elizabeth Winter

Montevideo: Tatum Christenson

Starbuck: Hannah Hoffmann

Named to the fall semester dean's list with a GPA of 3.5 or higher at the Sioux Falls, South Dakota,school were:

Appleton: Jordan Alan Hastad

Benson: Jack Dylan Churchill

Dawson: Kyndall Jo Franzky, Avery Payge Gilman, Brayden W. Hahn

Glenwood: Annika Stensrud

Granite Falls: Cody Jeffrey Zimmer

Madison: Rachel Lynn Halvorson

Maynard: Bentley William Boike

Murdock: Madeline Luella Stallings

Paynesville: Annika Grace Jacoby, Evan Jacob Laning

Pennock: Jessica Faith DeLair

Raymond: Piper Asche

Redwood Falls: Andrew Kenneth Stephens

Sacred Heart: Erika Evelyn Hoff

Spicer: Drey Gary Dirksen, Madelyn Marie Powell, Lili Ann Sampson

Willmar: Sophia Isabella Curriel, Ellary L. Lange
The Seattle Police Department announced a new shift schedule on Tuesday that aims to encourage retention and wellness, SPD said.

The change comes from an extensive review process to ensure SPD has adequate staffing during peak hours, despite having a limited staff.

Patrol shifts will now have overlapping hours to reduce low staffing during shift changes. The change will also give more flexibility to address short staffing during the week.

The new shifts will also make SPD more competitive with other agencies by offering a better work schedule, SPD said.

The department said they hope the new schedule will encourage officer wellness.

Instead of working 9-hour shifts, officers will now work 10-hour shifts and have an extra day off during the week.

By offering officers an additional day off each week, SPD hopes to reduce the toll on their physical and emotional health, which have led to an increase in retirements and resignations, SPD said.

SPD leadership will make any adjustments necessary to limit potential impacts on SPD response times and public safety.

The new schedule starts Wednesday.
The Seattle Police Foundation is looking to raise $10,000 to purchase bulletproof vests for the police departments K9 dogs.

SPF said it chose to launch the fundraiser on Valentines Day because of all the love the community has shown for SPDs K9 Unit over the years.

Each vest will be custom-made for four of the Seattle Police Departments patrol dogs: Frodo, Lex, Delta, and Shadow.

According to SPF, these dogs are regularly deployed on high-risk incidents, and the vests will help protect the dogs from gunfire or sharp objects.

Donors who give $25 or more will receive a 2023 Animals of SPD calendar, while supplies last.

SPF has set up a fundraising page to collect donations on its website.
Senate Republicans are growing increasingly worried that a crowded 2024 presidential field could ease the path for former President Trump to once again clinch the partys nomination.

The field isnt crowded yet, but former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haleys announcement Tuesday that she will run for the GOP nomination is seen as a harbinger of things to come.

A number of prominent former Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence, are seen as likely to run. South Carolina itself may have an additional GOP candidate in Sen. Tim Scott.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen as a likely candidate, while possible entrants include New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

In a typical year there are also presidential candidates from the Senate, though 2024 may be an anomaly in this regard.

Look, we were all concerned with the fact that we had 15 or 16 or 17 individuals vying for attention in the last one. We really dont want to see that happen again, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told The Hill. We just dont.

Most GOP senators are staying neutral in the race so far and few are offering any public criticisms of Trump, or comments specifically stating that they do not want him as their partys nominee.

But Republicans in the Senate are tired of losing, and many blame Trump for the party losing the House in 2018, losing the White House and Senate in 2020 and failing to pick up the Senate in 2022.

They are now feeling anxious over the possibility that Trump could again steamroll through a crowded field and waltz to the partys nomination.

I do worry about that, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, adding that unfortunately, I dont have any control over that.

According to recent polling conducted for the Club for Growth, Trump trails DeSantis in a one-on-one match-up  49 percent to 40 percent. However, when the field expands to include Pence, Haley, Pompeo, Scott and Youngkin, Trump leads the Florida governor with 37 percent to 33 percent, prompting some concern.

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I think shes an impressive person, Cornyn said of Haley. I dont envy her [for] all the attacks shes going to receive, but unfortunately thats part of the process.

Those came swiftly on Tuesday as a spokesperson for the Make America Great Again PAC dinged her as a career politician, while noting all of the contours Haley has made since Trump burst on the scene. That includes her time as an anti-Trump figure to working in his Cabinet to giving paid speeches in recent years.

Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself, said Taylor Budowich, who previously served as Trumps spokesperson.

However, a number of Trump-backing senators had kind words to say about the former Palmetto State governor. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters that she would be a great candidate. He also noted that he told Trump recently that he hopes they all get in.

He needs the challenge as well as anybody, Tuberville said. They need to work for it. They need to fight for it.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who endorsed Trump at his South Carolina kickoff event recently, hailed her tenures as governor and ambassador, adding that she will acquit herself well as a candidate for president.

We have an embarrassment of riches on our side, Graham said of the emerging GOP field.

In total, five Senate Republicans have thrown their support behind the ex-president: Graham, Tuberville, J.D. Vance (Ohio), Eric Schmitt (Mo.) and Markwayne Mullin (Okla.).

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whom Haley supported and campaigned for in the 2016 race, predicted that the former governor will do well this cycle. However, he dismissed any possibility that the field might be on the smaller side, saying that those days are done with.

If people want to run for president, theyre going to run, Rubio said in a brief interview. For the foreseeable future, I think presidential races, on both sides, will generally be crowded, especially if theres not a sitting president of the other party.  I think thats going to be, for the foreseeable future, just the nature of these races.

When asked if hes still keeping his eye on a 2024 bid, the Florida senator told The Hill that he doesnt have any plans to run for anything in the immediate future.

According to a number of Senate Republicans, another one of those is Scott, whom Haley tapped to replace former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in 2012.

I think Tim has some real potential. I think he could bring the country together, Rounds said. My plan right now is to give Tim the first look.

Following her official announcement Wednesday morning in Charleston, S.C., Haley will appear in New Hampshire on Thursday and Iowa on Monday and Tuesday in her inaugural swings to the pair of early voting states.

At least one lawmaker representing Iowa, and eager to see many candidates coming to the state, said shes not against a larger field.

Im not worried about too many getting in, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said. Im excited to welcome all of them in.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US sailors secure material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a downed Chinese spy balloon. - RYAN SEELBACH/AFP

Important sensors and electronics parts are among the "significant" debris recovered from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down over the Atlantic earlier this month, according to the US military.

"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 US Northern Command said in a statement on Monday.

China insists the balloon, which spent several days flying over North America, was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but the United States says it was a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle that is part of a program with global reach.

A US F-22 Raptor fighter jet shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb 4, and teams have since been working to recover the debris for analysis.

A US sailor conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle during recovery efforts of the Chinese spy balloon downed in the Atlantic Ocean. - RYAN SEELBACH/AFP

It came as Beijing expanded on its earlier claim that the US has been flying its own spy balloons over Chinese airspace, accusing Washington on Tuesday of letting the devices drift over other countries.

China's foreign ministry said the United States had released more than ten high-altitude balloons since May 2022, which then illegally flew into its airspace and that of other countries.

The US needs to make a thorough investigation and give China an explanation on this, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry, adding that US balloons had been floating over China since last May.

Washington on Monday said there were no US surveillance aircraft of any kind in Chinese air space.

Chinas claims are sowing confusion in the bizarre balloon saga that has further deflated bilateral relations with the US and sparked worries about growing military tensions.

Earlier this month, the US shot down a Chinese balloon that it believed served surveillance and espionage functions. Since then, the US has downed three other airborne objects.

China has continually denied the balloons were linked to the military, saying instead that the one the US downed over the Atlantic Ocean was a weather research airship that had merely blown off course.

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Other countries, including neighbouring Taiwan, have said theyve spotted similar balloons in recent years.

The Financial Times this week reported that Taipei had observed dozens of Chinese military balloons in flight in recent years, on average of about once a month, far more than previously known.

Taiwans defence ministry has not commented on this report.

But a general denied that they were a security threat on Tuesday.

The majority of the balloons near our waters were used for meteorological purposes, said Taiwan Major General Huang Wen-chi on Tuesday.

Beijing claims Taiwan  an island nation with its own democratically-elected government, military, foreign affairs and currency  as its territory. Increased military activities have raised concerns that leader Xi Jinping might try to annex the island by force.

Taiwan has rejected Beijings sovereignty claims, as the Peoples Republic of China has never governed the island.
Pic story of flower-selling live streamer in China's Yunnan

Xinhua) 08:35, February 15, 2023

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Dounan Flower Market in Kunming is Asia's largest fresh cut flower trading market. Every day as night falls, florist Bi Xixi will join the hustle and bustle of the flower trade here.

Besides growing flowers, Bi is also a live streamer. Three years ago, while weeding one of her flower fields, Bi accidentally opened a live streaming app on her phone. To her surprise, the live show not only gained her a large number of followers, but also provided her with ideas for selling fresh cut flowers.

Unlike many sales-oriented live streamers, Bi acts more like a tour guide, taking online viewers from the flower field to the flower market and sharing flower lore with them.

At Dounan Flower Market, often referred to as Asia's flower capital, traditional flower vendors have long been acquainted with flower-selling live streamers like Bi and their business mode. They are fully aware that thousands of flower lovers may be watching a live stream of the market on a mobile phone.

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi (1st R) and family members transfer fresh flowers before packing them at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi sorts fresh flowers at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi introduces fresh cut flowers in a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows Bi Xixi transferring fresh flowers to be packed at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

This photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows flowers ready for sale at Bi Xixi's own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi selects flowers at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi displays flowers collected from her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi picks fresh flowers at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi (1st R) and family members transfer fresh flowers before packing them at her own flower field in Qujing, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi introduces fresh cut flowers in a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Bi Xixi hosts a live streaming show at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough gives flowers, candy and a card to Susie Lewis, 111, for being the oldest Cook County voter during a visit to her Maywood home on Feb. 14, 2023. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

If love comes with time, then Susie Lewis has surely earned it from Cook Countys election authorities. As the countys oldest voter, Lewis, 111, has been voting for more than nine decades.

To honor Lewis long voting history, Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough made Lewis her valentine Tuesday by bringing her a heart-shaped box of chocolates, a large card, red and pink flowers and a balloon to the womans Maywood home. And after early voting expanded to sites in each of Chicagos 50 wards, Lewis had advice for voters across the county.

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Try to put the best person in there, she said.

The civically engaged centenarian said she prefers to mail in her ballot, as it has become difficult to vote in person. She urged every voter in Cook County to cast a ballot in upcoming elections.

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They should vote if theyre able to vote, she said. I think everybody should vote.

Yarbrough noted that some people dont think voting is important.

If shes still here having her voice heard, what does that say? Yarbrough asked. It makes a difference, it really does. When people arent engaged, things can go awry ... If she votes, everybody should vote.

Access to voting has changed tremendously since Lewis cast her first ballot as an 18-year-old, Yarbrough noted. Indeed, during Lewis life, American women finally got a constitutional right to vote and the Voting Rights Act helped end many of the once-legal efforts used to prevent Black people from casting ballots.

But the fight to push for the right to vote continues as some places across the country experience voter suppression and intimidation efforts, Yarbrough added.

Im glad I live in Illinois and access is paramount, Yarbrough said.

While Chicagoans will soon elect 50 aldermen, dozens of new police district council members and a mayor, suburban Cook County will also be electing leaders in Dolton, Harvey and Riverdale. Other suburban voters will be asked to cast ballots on April 4.

[ Community policing and vote for police district councils becoming a focus of upcoming election, candidates for mayor ]

Voting is important because it changes things, Lewis said. But change doesnt always come overnight, she indicated. When a reporter asked the 111-year-old to recall the good thats come from her many years partaking in the democratic deed, she pushed back.

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It aint too good, but its better, said Lewis, a Black woman who moved from Arkansas to Chicago as a toddler.

Anna Henry wheels her grandmother, Susie Lewis, 111, forward in their home on Feb. 14, 2023, in Maywood. Lewis is the oldest living voter in Cook County, living in the county since 1914. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Lewis instilled a respect for voting in her three children, talking with them regularly about politics. While her kids  one girl and two boys  have since passed away, that value lives on in their children.

Lewis grandson Carlton Henry, 67, recalled his own mother, Constance Henry, being politically active and deeply concerned with civil rights. Shed call on the day of every election and ask her kids if they had voted yet.

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 >

She worked to get Harold Washington in, Henry remembered. It didnt matter how old you were, shed call, Did you vote? and make sure we got out there and voted.

When his mother was casting ballots during the civil rights movement, it was hard to get change passed, he said.

It seems like we have come far, he said, but we havent come that far. A lot of the fights we fought then, were still fighting today. And we still believe the voting system will eradicate them.

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Lewis, who was 17 years old when Chicagos St. Valentines Day massacre occurred, survived a bout with COVID-19 and was lucky enough a century ago to avoid the Spanish Flu, sees much on the line in elections.

She views voting as a way to try to stay free and create more equity among Black and white people, she said.

We are not free now, she added. No, we are not free.
BELGRADE (Reuters) -Hundreds of hardline Serb nationalists and pro-Russia activists rallied in downtown Belgrade, threatening riots if Serbia accepts a Western-backed plan aimed at mending ties with Kosovo, its former mainly Albanian southern province.

Pro-Russian sentiment is running high in Serbia which regards Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, as a main ally in its opposition to the 15-year-old independence of Kosovo.

Protesters, carrying posters reading "Kosovo-No Surrender", cheered "Serbia-Russia" when ultranationalist Damjan Knezevic called for rioting if Belgrade seeks to improve ties with Kosovo.

"You (government) are fearing riots. I swear to you, we are ready for more than that," said Knezevic, whose People's Patrol supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine and is active in the persecution of migrants at home.

Knezevic admits ties with Russia's Wagner mercenary group which is fighting in Ukraine.

After the protest, President Aleksandar Vucic, who is balancing between Serbia's EU ambitions and ties with Russia, said he was not sure whether protesters "were pro-Russian," but that he was sure "they were anti-Serbian."

"All who threatened with murders and beatings will answer to Serbian laws," he said in a TV broadcast after meeting chiefs of state security and law enforcement bodies.

Earlier in the day, police said two supporters of Knezevic's organisation heading to the rally had been detained in the north of the country and that a sniper rifle and ammunition had been found in their car.

"If our state leadership ... fails to prevent Kosovo from joining the U.N., we are asking the Russian leadership to use its veto and to give us at least a month to remove this traitor," Knezevic told the cheering crowd, referring to Vucic.

Although it has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the United Nations and other international forums, Serbia has been criticised by the West for not formally introducing sanctions against Moscow.

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On Friday, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the level of Serbia's alignment with common foreign and defence policies of the EU including the introduction of sanctions to Russia "is a condition above all conditions" for joining the bloc.

Last December, Vucic said Serbia had clamped down on those who attempted to bypass sanctions against Russia through Serbia and in January he criticised efforts by the Wagner group to recruit mercenaries from the country.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alistair Bell)
In a murder case that has had its fair share of drama, there was some drama when Virginia Hayden appeared in federal court Tuesday afternoon to plead guilty to a charge related to Social Security fraud.

The U.S. Attorneys office and her attorney, Craig Kauzlarich, had negotiated a plea deal. Hayden would plead guilty to a single count of something called conversion of government funds  a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison  and in return the government would drop the remaining 14 charges included in the indictment.

Thomas Hayden Sr. disappeared in the fall of 2011. His wife, Virginia Hayden, was accused of his murder. His body hasn't been found. (Photo: Submitted)

Hayden, in September, had pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in the killing of her husband, Thomas Hayden, who disappeared in the fall of 2011, and was sentenced to 6 to 20 years in state prison. The government alleged that she had continued to collect her husbands Social Security payments  totaling $113,471 between 2011 and 2017.

Hayden was scheduled to appear in court to enter her guilty plea on Tuesday. Two U.S. Marshals wheeled her into Courtroom No. 2 in the federal building in Harrisburg. At 71, the grandmother was in a wheelchair, her hands cuffed in her lap. She wore blue prison scrubs, the uniform at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, her formerly feathered blonde hair now long and hanging lankly, framing her ruddy face.

True crime - the Hayden case: The inside story of how a bloody scalp found on a rural PA road led cops to a killer

Previously:Killed, mutilated and hidden: Woman sentenced to prison in husband's 2011 death

U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher Conner asked her whether she understood what was happening. She said she did. He informed her of her rights, including the right to a jury trial, and told her that by pleading guilty, she was waiving that right. She said she understood.

Then, when the judge asked whether she intended to change her plea to guilty, she paused. She began to weep, covering her eyes with her hands.

This is very hard for me, she croaked with a slight southern drawl. I guess I will take the plea.

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The judge told her she had to be sure, that I guess does not sound sure. If she wasnt sure, the judge said he would end the hearing and schedule the case for trial.

He gave her some time to speak with her attorney. It appeared that Hayden had changed her mind about pleading guilty to the charge. After a few minutes of discussion, Kauzlarich told the judge they were ready to proceed.

The judge asked if she was willing to waive her right to a jury trial and plead guilty.

Yes, sir, Hayden said.

Are you absolutely certain of that? the judge asked her.

Hayden replied, "Yes, sir.

It was another twist in a case that has had more twists than a mountain road.

The case began in January 2012 when a vacuum-sealed plastic bag  a FoodSaver bag  was found by the banks of a creek along Schoolhouse Road in Dover Township. The bag contained a piece of scalp and bloody bedding.

The evidence sat for five years. In 2017, Thomas Haydens daughter, Kim Via, called police to check on her father, whom she hadn't heard from in 11 years. Every time she tried to call him and talk to him, she said, Virginia Hayden would not permit it.

Hayden gave police several different explanations for her husbands absence. Police investigated and found that she had told neighbors different stories. They also found she bought a handgun not long before Thomas Hayden disappeared and discussed methods to dispose of bodies with her grandson. One method was to feed it to pigs.

The case unfolded from there. In April 2019, she was charged with the murder of her husband. Forensic examiners had determined that Thomas Hayden was shot in the head as he lay in bed.

When she was about to stand trial for the murder last September, the trial was derailed when a last-minute witness stepped forward. The witness was a sheriffs deputy, who, while driving her and other prisoners to jail after she was arrested, overheard her say, I killed my husband to another prisoner.

Virginia Hayden's booking photo, April 29, 2019.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Ford recited an abbreviated version of the facts of the case, including that Hayden pleaded no contest to third-degree murder.

As part of the plea deal, any sentence she would receive for the Social Security charge would run concurrent with her murder sentence. The judge also mentioned that any sentence would run at the top of the sentencing guidelines, her previous conviction contributing to that.

The judge ordered a presentence evaluation and scheduled sentencing for July 5.

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Virginia Hayden pleads guilty to Social Security fraud
Fast-food chain Shake Shack on Monday agreed to pay $20,000 to a former employee who alleged that co-workers engaged in harassment and discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The compensation is part of the settlement in the case, in which the disgruntled staff member, who identified as a man but was born a woman, claimed to experience misgendering in the workplace, according to a California Civil Rights Department press statement released Monday.

The unnamed employee filed a complaint with the department detailing accusations of discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on gender identity and gender expression. In the complaint, the employee said Shake Shack also failed to take reasonable steps to correct the behavior of misgendering staff, who allegedly continued the habit after management was made aware of the issue.

Management allegedly urged the employee to explain their gender identify to misunderstanding coworkers, according to the complaint. The employee quit working at Shake Shack after one month.

After first receiving training at a San Francisco-area location, the unidentified employee was transferred to work at the Oakland location, where the alleged mistreatment occurred. In addition to forking out $20,000, Shake Shack also agreed to revise its policies dealing with retaliation and discrimination in the workplace. The company pledged to impose gender-inclusivity employee training.

Creating a welcoming and fulfilling environment for all our employees and guests is critical, a Shake Shack spokesperson told Business Insider. We are constantly taking steps to ensure our policies and culture reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Kevin Kish, the director of the California civil rights department, told the publication that state law outlaws intentional misgendering in the workplace.

Intentional misgendering and other forms of discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression can be stressful and traumatic, Kish said. CRD appreciates Shake Shacks acknowledgement of its responsibility to provide a discrimination-free environment to its workforce.

More from National Review
 Read the full article on Motorious

He leaves behind quite the legacy

Shoichiro Toyoda, son of the founder of Toyota and credited with pushing the automaker into international markets, has died at the age of 97. Reports indicate he passed away on February 14 of heart failure. Made Honorary Chairman in his later years, he was largely responsible for the companys aggressive push into North American, including manufacturing vehicles on this continent.

Car enthusiasts are looking for love here.

Born February 27, 1925 in Nagoya City, Toyoda was able to experience the height of Imperial Japan, its demise, and the rebuilding of the country with foreign help. It wasnt until 1982 that he became president of his fathers company, using his vision of Toyota becoming an international force to push into markets around the globe. He served as president of Toyota until 1992.

Rapidly, the Toyota name came to become respected as it stood for reliability, durability, and all-around quality with legendary models like the Hilux pickup and Land Cruiser. Countless books and articles have been written about the automakers engineering and manufacturing methods developed in part under Toyodas watch, with many competitors trying to incorporate elements of them into their own operations.

Also under Toyodas direction Lexus was formed, forever altering the luxury car market in North America. Today it is often ranked as one of the most desirable and reliable luxury brands.

In 2007, Shoichiro Toyoda was inducted into the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame. Such a move was unthinkable when he became president of the company, enduring a smear campaign in the 80s that accused Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers of stealing manufacturing jobs from American workers. However, Toyota manufacturing in the US surged 49% from 1981 to 1990.

A private funeral for Toyodas family will be held. Toyota Motor Corporation says it will hold a farewell gathering at a time to be announced later.

Story continues

Image via Toyota

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Karima El-Mahroug, a.k.a. Ruby the Heart Stealer, outside the Milan special courthouse - PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP

Silvio Berlusconi has been found not guilty of bribing young models and actresses to lie about the nature of the notorious bunga bunga parties he hosted when he was Italys prime minister.

The verdict from a court in Milan came after a trial that lasted six years  by no means a rarity under Italys tortuous legal system.

In a ruling read out in court, the judge said there was no case to answer.

"I can only be enormously pleased," Federico Cecconi, the lawyer for the 86-year-old media mogul and senator, told reporters after the verdict.

Mr Berlusconi, who is part of the governing coalition led by prime minister Giorgia Meloni, was accused of paying out hundreds of thousands of euros in bribes to showgirls and starlets so that they would lie about the bacchanalian bunga bunga gatherings that he organised at his residences in Milan and Sardinia.

He allegedly bought them cars, gifts, gave them cash and paid for their rent.

Lawyers for Mr Berlusconi said the gifts and money were compensation for the reputational damage that the women had suffered as a result of being swept up in the bunga bunga scandal, which helped bring Mr Berlusconi down as prime minister in 2011.

Silvio Berlusconi (C), Leader of Forza Italia Party, answers questions of press members after casting his vote during the Lombardy regional elections in Milan, Italy - Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

They insisted that the former premier had been put on trial simply for the crime of generosity.

They argued that Mr Berlusconi was no satrap, using the term for a powerful governor in the ancient Persian empire.

He simply gave money to the girls like a doting uncle would give pocket money to his nieces.

The former premier had surrounded himself with young and beautiful girls but that doesn't make him a satrap or the girls prostitutes, lawyers said during the trial.

But in her closing arguments in May, prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano described the former premier as a sultan who used to liven up his evenings with a group of concubines, in the sense of sex slaves, who entertained him for a fee.

Wiretapped conversations obtained by prosecutors revealed that the women dressed up in police uniforms, performed strip teases, and danced around a statue of Priapus, the ancient Roman god of fertility.

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The women were accused of giving false testimony in an earlier trial in which Mr Berlusconi was accused of having sex with an underage prostitute, a 17-year-old Moroccan-born exotic dancer nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer.

He was ultimately acquitted of those charges, with judges ruling that he did not know that Ruby, whose real name is Karima El Mahroug, was under the legal age at which women are allowed to sell themselves for sex in Italy.

In the latest false testimony trial, prosecutors requested a prison term of six years for Mr Berlusconi, who was prime minister of Italy three times and is still at the forefront of the political scene.

They requested a five year jail term for Ms El Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heart Stealer, who is accused of lying on his behalf.

After the verdict was announced, she said she was hugely relieved. "I am so happy. It's a liberation from years that were tough to say the least. It overwhelmed me when I was 17 and it carried on until I was 30. It was a nightmare," she told reporters.

Another 28 defendants were involved in the trial, including 20 showgirls and a politician from Mr Berlusconis Forza Italia party. They were all accused of perjury.

Mr Berlusconi, nicknamed Il Cavaliere or The Knight, had long maintained that his bunga bunga gatherings were elegant soirees involving fine food and a little light piano playing.

He denied paying anybody to lie in court on his behalf.

Marysthell Polanco, one of the girls who attended the parties, arrives at the bunker room of Milan's San Vittore jail, Italy on Feb. 15 - Claudio Furlan/LaPresse

Mr Berlusconi was not in court for the verdict.

Former showgirl Marystell Garcia Polanco, one of the women on trial, said: "These past few years have been hell." She insisted that she had never done anything wrong. Like the other defendants, she had denied the charge of perjury.

The bribery case was split between three cities - Siena in Tuscany, Rome and Milan -- because of where the various witnesses lived. All three trials have now ended in not-guilty verdicts, although the prosecutors in Siena are appealing.

Ever since he entered politics in 1994, Mr Berlusconi's career has been dogged by court cases.

He was temporarily banned from political office after a conviction for tax fraud in 2013. That ban has long expired and he returned to the upper house of parliament last year after the general election that brought Ms Meloni to power as prime minister.
Some thieves who are targeting newer Kia and Hyundai models have found out how to steal the vehicles without triggering alarms.

Car manufacturers Kia and Hyundai announced Tuesday it will provide a theft deterrent software update for millions of their vehicles that lack an engine immobilizer. The update will require the key to be in the ignition switch to turn the vehicle on and the length of the alarm sound will be changed from 30 seconds to one minute.

Kia and Hyundai models have been targeted across the country following a TikTok social media challenge that encourages the stealing of these vehicles and shows viewers how to steal the vehicle without a key.

The vehicles being targeted are Kia models from 2011-21 and Hyundai models from 2015-21 with turn-key ignitions, as opposed to a push-button start. The models don't have electronic immobilizers, which confirms that the key belongs with that vehicle.

The rise of stolen Kias and Hyundais started in Milwaukee with a notorious car-theft group known as the "Kia Boys" because they primarily target Kias and Hyundais. The group learned how to easily steal the cars using nothing but a screwdriver and USB charging cord from watching videos online.

Certain models of Kias and Hyundais have also been found to have a design flaw that makes them vulnerable to theft without setting off an alarm.

The local car-theft group went on to gain more notoriety from a viral YouTube video last year. The video led to a Milwaukee Police investigation and resulted in criminal charges for one the video's participants, 17-year-old Markell Hughes. His trial will begin in mid-March.

According to police, Milwaukee saw a record 10,487 car thefts in 2021, which were mainly Kias and Hyundais. There was a reduction in car thefts of 23% in 2022, and year-to-date in 2023, car thefts are down 29%.

Despite the decline in car thefts in Milwaukee, other cities began to experience a rise in car thefts of Kias and Hyundais due to promotion on social media. The latest trend is the TikTok challenge, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said has resulted in 14 crashes and eight deaths.

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According to the NHTSA, Kia and Hyundai will provide the software update free of charge and will be handled in a phased approach. Hyundai also will provide customers with a window sticker alerting would-be thieves that the vehicle is equipped with anti-theft protection.

The upgrade modifies vehicle control modules on Hyundai vehicles that have standard turn-key-to-start ignition systems. Once the systems are upgraded, locking the doors with the key fob will set the factory alarm and activate an ignition kill feature so the vehicles can't be started when thieves try to take off with them.

Customers have to use the key fob to unlock their vehicles and deactivate the ignition kill feature, Hyundai said.

Kia has also promised some customers enhanced security software that should be available over the next few months, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Highway Loss Data Institute said the vehicles are easier for car thieves to steal because they don't have electronic immobilizers to prevent thieves from taking them. Because of this, people can break in and bypass the ignition.

According to Hyundai, all of the company's vehicles produced since November 2021 have an engine immobilizer.

Kia and Hyundai said they will also continue to give impacted customers free steering wheel locks through law enforcement agencies.

Last month, Alds. Milele Coggs and Khalif Rainey issued a joint statement calling on the two car manufacturers to provide long-term solutions to car owners, after Progressive and State Farm announced they were dropping insurance coverage of some older Kia and Hyundai models because of a rise in thefts.

"Frankly, we believe the city should seriously consider suing them both," Coggs and Rainey said. "We are asking both Kia and Hyundai to step up and provide a long-term, effective and free solution to the ongoing issues caused by their cars. Our residents deserve nothing less.

Coggs and Rainey were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

NHTSA urges owners of these vehicles to contact Hyundai (toll-free at 800-633-5151) or Kia (toll-free at 800-333-4542) for information on the free update.

USA Today contributed to this report.

Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS.

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: Kia and Hyundai announce software update, said to deter theft
A pair of South Fulton city councilwomen are flipping allegations of a hostile work environment back onto the city manager who blamed them last week.

Channel 2s Tyisha Fernandes reported last week that City of South Fulton city manager Tammi Sadler Jones sent a four-page letter to the mayor and city council claiming their recent conduct is an attack on her character and have created a hostile work environment.

On Monday, those council members are saying those claims are nothing more than a distraction from the person who is really not doing their job: Sadler Jones.

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

Councilwomen Helen Willis and Natasha Williams said in a news conference Tuesday that the city certainly has its own issues, but those should be handled internally, not by leaking letters to the media. They added that the only reason they held a news conference was because Sadler Jones gave her letter to Channel 2 Action News on Friday.

The letter specifically accused Willis and Williams of bullying, intimidation and harassment.

The two women said during the news conference that employees who have quit over the last two years and blamed it on their working environment all fell under the leadership of Sadler Jones.

We have documentation that goes back to 2021 of employees who have filed grievances, of employees who sent emails straight to staff complaining that the work environment was hostile, Willis said.

TRENDING STORIES:

Willis and Williams say that Sadler Jones claims that they are the problem is nothing more than a smear campaign because they say she has been mishandling money.

Williams says Sadler Jones is not keeping the council informed of the citys financial status and thats why she and Willis have been holding her accountable.

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As we have done that, the attacks and the smear campaigns have increased to the point where they are now a daily deluge of misinformation, Williams said.

Immediately following the news conference, all three women began a regularly scheduled city council meeting, which Fernandes learned came to an intense, abrupt ending Tuesday evening.

Fernandes has reached out to Sadler Jones for comment about Willis and Williams allegations, but she has not been able to respond due to the council meeting.

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Robert Kowalski leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago following his arraignment on bankruptcy fraud charges stemming from the collapse of a politically connected Bridgeport bank on Feb. 13, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Justice Department prosecutor is asking a federal judge to force a lawyer for former President Donald Trump to give additional testimony to a grand jury investigating how scores of documents with classification markings wound up at Trumps Florida home, according to several news outlets.

Special counsel Jack Smith is trying to defeat attorney-client privilege claims from Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran by arguing that the privilege has been voided because Corcoran was being used to carry out a crime or fraud, The Associated Press and other news outlets reported on Tuesday night, citing unidentified sources familiar with the situation.

Corcoran, a former federal prosecutor, was involved in delivering some of the documents with classification markings in response to a grand jury subpoena last year. He also helped prepare a declaration attesting that all responsive records had been provided, although another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb, ultimately signed that document after modifying it.

Its unclear what criminality Smith contends Corcorans testimony could expose, but previously unsealed court records show that prosecutors convinced a magistrate who issued a search warrant in August for Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate that there was evidence of obstruction of justice as well as potential offenses related to classified information.

The search found about 100 documents with classification markings that prosecutors contend should have been returned to the National Archives.

Corcoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Smith declined to comment.

A Trump spokesperson referred to the special counsels investigation as a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt, adding: The weaponized Department of Injustice has shown no regard for common decency and key rules that govern the legal system.

Under court rules, Smiths motion to compel Corcorans testimony would be heard by the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. Such proceedings are typically held in secret, although rulings sometimes become public.

Howell is set to turn over the chief judges post next month to a colleague, James Boasberg, also an Obama appointee.

Attorney General Merrick Garland named Smith as a special counsel in November, assigning him to take over the ongoing investigation into the sensitive documents at Trumps home, as well as separate probes into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and issues related to fundraising associated with the election and its aftermath.
The special counsel investigating Donald Trumps handling of classified documents is seeking to compel a lawyer for the former president to testify before a grand jury, a source familiar with the matter said.

Prosecutors allege in a sealed filing that they have evidence that some of Trumps conversations with the attorney were in furtherance of a crime, the source said.

In a sign of an aggressive new legal strategy, first reported by The New York Times, the source said special counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to allow prosecutors to invoke whats known as the crime-fraud exception, which would let them sidestep protections afforded to Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran through attorney-client privilege.

The source did not say what questions the government is trying to force Corcoran to answer.

NBC News has asked Corcoran and a Trump spokesperson for comment.

FBI agents with a warrant searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Florida in August to recover classified material after they determined that a certification signed by his custodian of record, which claimed all sensitive records had been returned, was inaccurate.

NBC News reported earlier that Trumps custodian of record at the time, Christina Bobb, told investigators that Corcoran had drafted and told her to sign a letter certifying that all sensitive records in Trumps possession had been returned to the government.

Trump, who announced a third White House bid in November, has called the search for classified documents a witch hunt, claiming it's an effort by Democrats to weaponize the Justice Department against him.

The Justice Department in January said that Robert Hur would examine Obama-era classified material found in President Joe Bidens Delaware home and an office he used in Washington during the Trump administration.

Smith's office has subpoenaed Trump administration officials like former national security adviser Robert OBrien as he also oversees an investigation into Trumps role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Last week, Smith issued a subpoena to former Vice President Mike Pence. A source close to Pence said Tuesday that he plans to fight the subpoena.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Linda and Ron Brammer met in a high school band class, and have been together for the past 56 years  "our whole lives, it seems like," Linda said in an interview with the News-Leader. Together, they moved from their hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Springfield early in their marriage.

In 2017, Ron began experiencing symptoms of Lewy body dementia, a disease where abnormal protein deposits in nerve cells disrupt thinking, memory and movement.

Ron and Linda, as well as Harrison Sand with the Alzheimer's Association, offered their advice for someone whose loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia.

Slow it down

Whether you're listening to someone who has dementia or are conducting a conversation with them, one of the simplest things you can do is slow down, Ron said.

It would be nice if you could just stop everybody and say, Woah, start over. Slow down. Because so many people  and I was one of them  that first paragraph comes out of their mouth easily and quickly, Ron said. But now, Lewy body dementia has affected his cognition skills, including his speech and his memory.

More:As Missourians age, dementia is expected to increase. Is the state set up to handle it?

According to the National Institutes of Health, Lewy body dementia affects thinking, meaning someone may have trouble with keeping their attention in one place, trouble with language, or their ideas may not be clear.

"Sometimes it's going to be about  I think (Ron Brammer) said it perfectly  slowing things down. Giving opportunity for the person living with dementia to finish their sentence," said Sand, who is a care consultant manager with the Greater Missouri chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. "Giving them the opportunity to try and do something on their own even if they don't succeed in the same way they're used to. They might succeed in a different way."

Be patient

For those whose loved ones just received a diagnosis, Sand emphasized the importance of having patience.

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"In the early stages, it's important to recognize that the person living with dementia is not just their disease," Sand explained. "They're still your loved one and they want to live their lives."

More:Study: Soda, breakfast cereal, frozen foods associated with long-term cognitive decline

Linda encouraged people to take things a day at a time, and recognized that she could work on her own patience.

"Just try to be patient, which is definitely not my strong suit. (Ron) would agree with that. Just pray for more patience, Linda said.

Gather with friends and family

Ron said he and his wife are in the age group where there are a lot of funerals, and encouraged people to have get-togethers before a tragic event forces them together.

If you had the opportunity to know in advance, enough to know that lets have a family gathering here so we can laugh, so we can talk about the stories, so we can do all that stuff, Ron said. These occasions let you tell that person thank you for being here for me and for others."

For more information and resources, including support groups and classes, visit the Alzheimer's Association website or call the Alzheimer's Association's 24/7 helpline at 800-272-3900.

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: Springfield couple offers advice for caregivers of those with dementia
Customer experience firm Sprinklr has laid off roughly 4% of its global workforce  or more than 100 employees  as it realigns its headcount amid the ongoing economic slowdown.

Sprinklr started the layoff drive last week and is cutting its workforce in India, the U.S. and other regions, TechCrunch learned from people familiar with the matter and confirmed with the company through an email.

A Sprinklr spokesperson said that the "strategic business decision" affected employees across certain targeted regions, segments and support functions.

"While these decisions are extremely hard to make, it is the right decision for our long-term success as we shift from a capacity-driven to productivity-driven business model," the spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "Our first priority is to support our employees with the greatest care and respect, show appreciation for their contributions to Sprinklr, and to assist them in their transition. We then will realign with a focus on making it easier to sell, and to deliver profitable growth to the business."

On February 7, the New York-based firm notified the initial batch of its affected employees. It confirmed to TechCrunch that the decision did not impact any C-level executives.

Sprinklr did not disclose the exact number of employees being laid off due to the decision. The company had 3,245 employees as of January 31, 2022, according to an SEC filing (PDF). Of the total headcount at the time, 933 were based in the United States and 2,312 were based internationally, including 1,580 in India.

In the last few months, Sprinklr has partnered with entities -- including Samsung, Sitel Group and Europe's largest department store, El Corte -- to enhance shopping experiences for their customers. However, the current economic uncertainty in the market is likely to push companies to cut back on non-essential expenses, including marketing and social media management, which may lead to a decrease in demand for Sprinklr's services.

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This is not the first time that Sprinklr laid off its employees in the past year. In July, the company reportedly cut at least 50 roles in its global marketing department.

In its Q3 earnings, Sprinklr reported a 24% year-on-year increase in its revenue to $157.3 million from $127.1 million a year ago. The company's operating loss in the quarter was $4.6 million, down from $24.8 million a year ago.

Sprinklr's shares traded at $11.02 per share on Tuesday, with a market cap of $2.87 billion.
Joe Biden is expected to deliver his most in-depth public remarks early on Thursday over the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that entered US airspace, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The US president will use his address to explain how his administration is tackling the issue of aerial balloons and other unidentified objections and the future strategy, NBC news reported today.

His speech is expected to answer swirling questions over the shooting down of aerial objects by the US military as federal investigators salvage and analyse the wreckage.

US agencies tracked a Chinese balloon for several days after it launched from Hainan Island near Chinas south coast, though intelligence officials are reportedly considering the possibility that strong air currents may have inadvertently pulled the balloon off its planned course to send it over mainland America.

At least three objects were shot down by American fighter jets in recent days which were likely used for commercial or other benign purposes, officials have said.

The Chinese authorities, meanwhile, have continued to deny the balloon was being used for surveillance and suggested they will take countermeasures.

Key points

Balloon may have mistakenly  at least partially  entered American heartland

China suggests taking countermeasures against US

White House says three unidentified objects believed to be benign

US military says it has recovered significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

US military takes down fourth object in a month  this time above Lake Huron

ICYMI: First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed its target

03:00 , Alex Woodward

US officials confirmed on 14 February that the object above Lake Huron  the third spotted above North American airspace in as many days  was taken down with a second shot when it appeared above the lake on 12 February. The first shot landed in the waters straddling the state of Michigan and the Ontario province of Canada.

Story continues

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

China mocks Americas balloon obsession while seemingly ignoring Ohio

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying mocked Americas scrutiny into the suspected surveillance balloon, accusing the nation of ignoring the threats posed by the train derailment in Ohio that has sparked widespread contamination fears, with Hua Chunying comparing it to the disaster at Chernobyl.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl, she wrote on Twitter.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl pic.twitter.com/uBEfG3HMXN  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) February 14, 2023

The Independent is covering the Ohio disaster here:

East Palestine scraps town hall as chemicals suspected of causing illness  live

New details emerge about China and US diplomatic attempts to resolve balloon chaos before its destruction

00:00 , Alex Woodward

Emerging details about the decisions made among US and Chinese officials as a balloon made its way across America reveal some confusion and critical misreadings among the world powers that boiled over into partisan battles and media frenzy.

US officials reportedly told The New York Timesthat a self-destruct function did not operate when the Chinese surveillance balloon entered North American airspace over Alaskas Aleutian Islands, though it is unclear whether the operators refused to detonate the device or if it failed.

Officials also told the newspaper that they believe that China then may have been reluctant to detonate the balloon once it was over the mainland, fearing political fallout if the debris had caused any damage below.

It also is unclear whether operators misread wind currents that carried the balloon in and out of American airspace or allowed it to drift to see what it could collect, The Times reported, echoing similar findings from intelligence officials who spoke with The Washington Post.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and deputy secretary Wendy Sherman reportedly issued a formal notice to a senior Chinese diplomat at about 6.30 pm ET on 1 February, telling him that his government must do something about the balloon.

More than 24 hours later, Chinese foreign ministry officials in Beijing spoke privately to diplomats in the US Embassy to tell them the balloon was a harmless civilian machine that had gone off course, according to the newspaper.

Early on 4 February, Chinese officials told their US counterparts that operators were trying to speed it out of the country, but by then the Biden administration was planning to shoot it out of the sky once it reached the coast of South Carolina.

Chinese spy balloon may have drifted into American mainland by mistake

Here is everything we know about the objects shot down by American fighterjets

Wednesday 15 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

Four objects were shot down by US Air Force fighter jets within eight days across North America.

After an F-22 struck down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February, US military discovered three other objects in North American airspace within as many days.

What are they, why are we suddenly seeing them, and why did the US shoot them down?

Heres what we know:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:30 , Alex Woodward

They could be sky trash or benign weather balloons or any number of other objects, and may or may not have come from China.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on 13 February that the US has not yet seen any indication that three objects shot down US fighter jets were part of Chinas spy balloon program or any other intelligence-collecting efforts.

While the White House and members of Congress stay mum on what theyve heard in classified briefings, speculation and conspiracy theories are thriving.

The US military, meanwhile, has widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

That means objects that have been in US airspace for some time could now literally be on the nations radar, revealing information that otherwise would have been filtered out as clutter in the past.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

State Department: US acutely aware of Chinas challenges but relationship has not strained in balloon aftermath

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Asked about TikTok and the aftermath of the spy balloon, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US is acutely aware of challenges that China presents to the US, pointing to incidents of espionage and the misuse of private or confidential information.

The US is determined to do everything we can to counter it, stressing the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between Washington and Beijing.

He also echoed other US officials who are adamant that the balloon incident has not fractured the relationship between the two nations.

Americas relationship today is where it has been some time, he told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday, adding that the US relationship with China is the most complex and consequential we have on the face of the earth.

The same could be true of any number of countries around the world in their own bilateral relationship with China, he said. We are clear eyed to these areas of competition, and it is competition that we think dominates this relationship.

The administration has sought to establish guardrails to prevent that competition from veering into conflict, he said.

As two leading powers in the world, there are challenges the world simply cannot address unless the United States and China cooperate together, he said, pointing to efforts to address the climate crisis as a prime example of that necessary cooperation.

State Department: Chinas allegations that US deployed balloons are misinformation'

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

Asked to respond to Chinas threats of countermeasures in the wake of the balloon incident and Chinas accusations that the US has deployed spy balloons of its own over the nation, State Department spokesperson Ned Price defended a decision to shoot down the balloon and rejected allegations that the US launched a similar surveillance program.

The United States is always going to take responsible, prudent and appropriate actions, he told reporters on Wednesday. Thats precisely what this government did in response to the PRC violating our sovereignty [and] violating international law by sending a high-altitude surveillance balloon deep into the heartland of the United States.

Chinese authorities have claimed that the US sent surveillance balloons over China 10 times since May 2022, which the White House and US officials have denied.

This is not the type of program that the United States is conducting over China, Mr Price said. The PRCs attempts to accuse [the US] of doing the same, it is just more misinformation, disinformation. It is just not true.

Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

In the decades after the Roswell incdient, 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, then, 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin reports:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

ICYMI: Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:30 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Satellite images reportedly show Chinas launch facility

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

US intelligence officials believe Chinas surveillance balloon launched from its southern province of Hainan, the nations largest and most populous island, known as the Hawaii of China for its sandy beaches and resorts.

Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies identified the facility in satellite imagery captured by space imaging firm Planet Labs, according to Rolling Stone.

We believe this is the best launch site candidate on the island, especially as it has previously hosted aerostats, Sam Lair, a Middlebury Institute of International Studies researcher, told Rolling Stone.

The facility is surrounded by security fence and three large radomes to house radar antennas, according to Lair. Images also appear to show a 140-meter launch pad and other launch equipment, he said.

Japan strongly presumes Chinese balloons have entered airspace

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:45 , Alex Woodward

Japans defence ministry has reported that after an analysis of specific balloon-shaped flying objects previously identified in Japanese airspace, including those in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, we have concluded that the balloons are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China.

The statement said that it had strongly demanded Chinas government confirm the facts of the incident and that such a situation not occur again in the future.

Violations of airspace by foreign unmanned reconnaissance balloons and other means are totally unacceptable, the statement added.

Now Japan says objects over its airspace could be Chinese spy balloons

Biden could deliver remarks this week on shot-down objects, report says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden could deliver remarks this week addressing the Chinese surveillance balloon and three other objects recently shot down by fighter jets in North American airspace.

CNN reports that administration officials are actively weighing a potential address, noting that officials have been wary of the president giving public remarks until more information was uncovered.

Members of Congress over the weekend were calling on the administration to provide them with more information on the three latest objects after receiving closed-door briefings on the surveillance craft. Senators were briefed in classified hearings on Tuesday, and Republican Senators later demanded that the president address the public on the issue.

The American people deserve to hear more from the president on all of these issues, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

Washingtons UFO lobbyist isnt buying White House denial on extraterrestrials

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Stephen Bassett has spent years lobbying Washington DC to take UFOs more seriously as the only registered lobbyist demanding that the federal government acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race, according to his filing.

After the White House playfully dismissed speculation that aliens had anything to do with recently shot-down objects above North American airspace, he isnt so sure.

Theyre not saying there is not an extraterrestrial connection, he told the Washingtonian magazine.

Theyre saying theres no indication yet. So its not a false statement, but it does not rule out extraterrestrials at all. So theyre playing this carefully. I get that, he added.

He called White House statements suggesting that debris might not be recovered utterly ludicrous: We recovered the Titanic. Weve recovered submarines. So the idea that this debris may never be recovered is, of course, utterly ludicrous.

When I hear things like, We dont think we can recover the records, that gets my attention, he added. So this thing is still unknown. Its unprecedented. Its exciting. And as long as it advances and increases the intensity and the pressure to get the hearings weve been waiting for  the real hearings, the witness hearings then its wonderful.

Former NORAD director believes balloon and shot-down object are evidence of our adversaries at work

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Scott Clancy, a retired major general and the former director of operations for NORAD, told CBC Radio that the Chinese surveillance balloon and three objects recently shot down over North American airspace in as many says are likely signs of our adversaries at work.

Theres something going on here, he said. I dont have any proof behind it, and well wait and see, but it is my estimation that this is the intelligence gathering activities of our adversaries at work.

He believes that the recent sightings are due to both military agencies taking a closer look at airspace and the frequency of objects being deployed.

Part of that is that you can detect more. Therefore, youre going to be in a position to take action more. And, therefore, you do, he said. I also think that this is pointing to a concerted and co-ordinated effort by one or some of our adversaries to garner intelligence information over our critical infrastructure, our ability and capacity to respond, and perhaps the political will from Canada and the United States to do something about it.

Search interest in UFOs and extraterrestrial life has exploded with the latest aerial objects and White House comments

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:15 , Alex Woodward

Google search interest in what is in the sky reached an all-time high in the US this week, and Americans asking if aliens are real more than tripled within the past day, after the White House rejected claims that extraterrestrial life forms are responsible for a series of unidentified objects shot down by American fighter jets.

The administrations own discussion of the topic appeared to inflame social media speculation and fuel conspiracy theories, as officials and experts contend that there is no evidence to support the idea that the objects came from China or another planet. Intelligence officials and analysts have said that the objects are likely to be another kind of aircraft caught up in a broadening radar scope after the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.

But search interest in the US for extraterrestrial life is eight times greater than that of surveillance over the past day. The most-asked questions are related to shooting down UFOS, how many there are, what aliens are, and what UFO means.

(Unidentified flying object, by the way.)

(CHASE DOAK/AFP via Getty Images)

Top US and China official could meet face to face in Munich

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:45 , Alex Woodward

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering a meeting with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference starting this week, marking what would be the first face-to-face talks between the nations after the US shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February.

Sources told Reuters that a meeting was possible at some point during the conference, though nothing has been confirmed.

If they dont meet there, Mr Blinken also could meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at the G-20 Foreign Ministers meeting in India next month, where both officials are scheduled to attend.

(AP)

Vice President Harris also is attending the Munich conference, potentially setting up the first in-person encounters between American and Chinese officials after the balloon incident.

US officials including Ms Harris have insisted that the incident has not changed the nations relationship with China, though Chinese authorities have repeatedly accused the US of violating international accords and have threatened countermeasures after alleging American surveillance balloons were deployed in their own airspace. The White House has denied the allegation.

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin also tried calling his Chinese counterpart in the balloon aftermath, but he refused.

Balloon incident has not impacted US-China relationship, Kamala Harris says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:20 , Alex Woodward

Days before White House officials are expected to see top Chinese diplomats for the first time since the US shot down the surveillance balloon, Vice President Kamala Harris says that the incident has not damaged the nations relationship with China.

I dont think so, no, she told Politico on Tuesday.

Her remarks come before her departure for Germany, where she will lead a US delegation at the Munich Security Conference, where Chinese officials are expected in attendance.

We seek competition, but not conflict or confrontation, she said when asked about the Biden administrations approach to Beijing. Everything that has happened in the last week and a half is, we believe, very consistent with our stated approach.

Ms Harris also is expected to address the conference on Saturday.

(EPA)

Blinken explains why he cancelled his trip to China

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:00 , Alex Woodward

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he intended to keep lines of communication open with Beijing to reflect the Biden administrations push for diplomacy and engagement with China, but the surveillance balloon sighting did not create the right conditions for his trip to China that was abruptly canceled.

Were committed to responsibly managing the competition between the United States and China, and we look to Beijing to do the same, he told NPR.

The balloon incident was an irresponsible act and a violation of our sovereignty and international law, he added.

But it doesnt take away from the fact that we are committed to finding ways to responsibly manage it. We believe that diplomacy and engagement are important, Mr Blinken said. In fact, this only underscores the importance of having lines of communication. That was in part the purpose of the trip I had intended to take, but in the context of the surveillance balloon, those werent the right conditions to go forward with the trip.

(REUTERS)

The trip was canceled as administration officials weighed their response to the balloon sighting. It was ultimately shot down over the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of South Carolina on 4 February.

The White House has said the trip was not canceled but postponed and stressed that the incident has not stopped diplomats from both countries from keeping up talks and open lines of communcations.

We still have an embassy there, the National Security Councils John Kirby said on Tuesday. We still have an ability through Secretary Blinkens good offices to communicate with senior Chinese leaders.

Hours after the balloon was shot down, however, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins Chinese counterpart refused his call.

Full story: Chinese spy balloon may have drifted into American mainland airspace by mistake, officials reveal

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

A Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by an American fighter jet may have drifted into the mainlands airspace at least partially by mistake, officials have revealed.

For one week before it was shot down on the other side of the country, monitors reportedly watched the balloon settle on a flight path that appeared to have sent it towards the US territory of Guam, thousands of miles from Alaska and far from previous Chinese surveillance efforts near military installations in Guam and Hawaii, officials told The Washington Post.

Military officials and the White House are studying whether that apparent sudden turn was intentional.

The paper reported that the balloons surprise drift across the US reportedly sparked confusion among Chinese agencies and diplomats, who scrambled to assemble a cover story to describe the aircraft as a civilian weather balloon that had drifted off course. US analysts are apparently examining the possibility that China didnt intend to enter the US mainland at all, The Post reported.

Chinese spy balloon may have drifted into American mainland by mistake

Biden administration to brief John Bolton on Trump-era balloon incidents

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:18 , Alex Woodward

Biden administration officials will brief Donald Trumps former national security adviser John Bolton this afternoon on Chinese surveillance balloons that flew into US airspace during the former presidents time in the White House.

Mr Bolton told Politico that he intends to ask for all the details, top to bottom.

He said the hearing is scheduled at Liberty Crossing Intelligence Campus in Virginia but he did not disclose who is leading the briefing.

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 told Politico.

Following the balloon incident, White House and military officials have revealed that similar crafts briefly entered US airspace during the Trump administration at least three times, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance program.

Former administration officials have suggested that the Pentagon may have withheld that information from them, if accurate, or have denied that such intelligence was ever passed on to them.

Biden administration enhancements to air surveillance found evidence of previous balloon flights, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

John Bolton and Donald Trump in the White House (Getty Images)

China suggests taking countermeasures after US balloon incident

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:20 , Alex Woodward

Chinese authorities warned on Wednesday that it will take countermeasures against US entities after shooting down a suspected surveillance balloon earlier this month.

China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant US entities that undermine Chinas sovereignty and security, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing, adding that Beijing will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and its legitimate rights and interests.

Wang did not specify what those countermeasures would include or who or what could be targeted.

China also has accused the US of deploying high-altitude balloons over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions after earlier this week claiming that the US sent balloons without permission into its airspace more than 10 times since May 2022.

Without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities, it has illegally flown at least 10 times over Chinas territorial airspace, including over Xinjiang, Tibet and other provinces, Wang said.

The White House has denied the allegations.

(AP)

Defense secretary not aware of any other objects in US airspace in last 48 hours

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:30 , Alex Woodward

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters on Wednesday that he is not aware of any additional objects that have been reported operating in North American airspace within the last 48 hours.

The debris from previously shot-down objects, however, is absolutely important for US officials to determine what they were and how to develop policy around them.

The US will do everything we can to recover debris if its possible, he told reporters after a briefing with Nato officials in Brussels.

That will help us learn a lot more about what these objects are, he said.

(EPA)

Did China intend to send spy balloon over continental US?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:00 , Rachel Sharp

US officials are said to be exploring the possibility that China did not intend to fly its spy balloon over the continental US and Canada earlier this month.

Intelligence officials told The Washington Post that US intelligence agencies had been monitoring the balloon as soon as it left its base on Hainan Island near Chinas south coast.

The balloon was under close watch as it began charting its flight path to the US territory of Guam.

But, the craft veered off course along the route, taking it over Alaskas Aleutian Islands, Canada and Montana.

It was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February.

The change in direction indicates that the incident was in part a mistake by Beijing, the Post reported.

Japan says it strongly suspects China sent spy balloons to its airspace

Wednesday 15 February 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Japan has said it strongly suspects that China sent spy balloons into its airspace in the past.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that three balloon-shaped flying objects were spotted in Japanese airspace between November 2019 and September 2021.

The ministry said that it strongly presumed they were sent by China and that it had asked Beijing about the incidents.

In the same stance given to the balloon that entered US airspace in early February, China denies the allegations.

We firmly oppose the Japanese sides smear campaign against China in the absence of conclusive evidence, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference.

Jon Tester will lead Senate probe into flying objects

Wednesday 15 February 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday that Montana Senator Jon Tester will lead probes into the objects that were shot down over North American airspace in recent days.

The Democratic senator led a panel last week to hear from military officials about the ballon that was spotted above his home state near sensitive military sites.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Mr Schumer said on Tuesday. Senator Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this.

(REUTERS)

Mr Tester said on Sunday that the Biden administration and US military need to have a policy about unidentified objects in US airspace to recommend to the president to swiftly handle any future incursions.

Whats been going on the last  10 days has been nothing short of craziness, he told CBS Face the Nation. The military needs to have a plan to not only determine whats out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.

China calls Ohio train crash OhioChernobyl as it mocks US for caring too much about spy balloon

Wednesday 15 February 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp

The Chinese foreign ministry mocked the United States on Tuesday for its concerns over an alleged Chinese spy balloon while a toxic chemical leak from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio threatens to become one of the most damaging environmental disasters in the countrys history.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted.

US officials and national media outlets have thoroughly covered the journey of the alleged spy ballon, which the US shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. Meanwhile a train derailment has forced residents of East Palestine and surrounding communities to vacate their homes.

Read more:

China mocks US for focusing spy balloon during train derailment

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the leading theory behind the three recently shot-down objects are they were used for commercial or other benign purposes.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, he said.

Officials have ruled out that the objects are government vessels, and intelligence suggests they are not linked to China, he said.

We dont know of any evidence right now that that confirms that they were in fact doing intelligence collection by another government, he said.

(Getty Images)

US tracked Chinese spy balloon since it left Hainan Island  meaning it was under surveillance for week before entering airspace

Wednesday 15 February 2023 11:31 , Rachel Sharp

The US had been tracking the Chinese spy balloon ever since it left Hainan Island near Chinas south coast  meaning it was under surveillance for almost a week before it entered American airspace, according to unnamed officials.

The spy balloon was ultimately shot down by the US military on 4 February and officials have been retrieving debris from the Atlantic Ocean for analysis.

But, The Washington Post has now reported that US intelligence agencies were monitoring the balloon as soon as it left its base on Hainan Island and began charting its flight path to the US territory of Guam.

The craft veered off course along the route, taking it over Alaskas Aleutian Islands, Canada and Montana, before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Officials told the paper they are exploring the possibility that it was indeed an accident for China to fly over North American airspace.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward

A massive surveillance balloon that drifted across the US before it was shot down by an American fighter jet is believed to be part of a Chinese military fleet of similar intelligence-gathering aircrafts.

But military and White House officials say there is no indication that three smaller unidentified objects that were shot down above North American airspace in as many days are part of the same program, and may not have come from China at all.

The balloons intrusion into North American airspace was likely one of several from similar aircrafts in recent years, including three sightings during President Donald Trumps administration, a revelation that has prompted the military to begin filtering in all kinds of other aerial objects on its radars.

The US military has reportedly widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

While the White House tries to tamp down on baseless speculation and conspiracy theories, other US officials and members of Congress, who have received several classified briefings and testimony about the intrusion, continue to suggest that the other objects came from China.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Wednesday 15 February 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward

In the decades after the Roswell incdient, 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, then, 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin reports:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Here is everything we know about the mysterious objects shot down by US warplanes

Wednesday 15 February 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward

Four objects were shot down by US Air Force fighter jets within eight days across North America.

After an F-22 struck down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February, US military discovered three other objects in North American airspace within as many days.

An unidentified object was brought down on 11 February above Alaskan waters. The following day, an American F-22 fighter shot down a small and cylindrical object hovering 40,000 feet above Canada. One day later, US officials announced a third object was shot out of the sky above Lake Huron near Michigan.

What are they, why are we suddenly seeing them, and why did the US shoot them down?

We answer it all, with everything we know, so far:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Wednesday 15 February 2023 08:00 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Wednesday 15 February 2023 07:00 , Alex Woodward

The first missile fired by an American F-16 fighter jet in an attempt to take down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron missed its target.

US officials confirmed on 14 February that the object - the third spotted above North American airspace in as many days - was taken down with a second shot when it appeared above the lake on 12 February. The first shot landed in the waters straddling the state of Michigan and the Ontario province of Canada.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed the incident in separate briefings with reporters.

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Senate intelligence chair tells The Independent that US needs a better reporting system for knowing whats in the sky

Wednesday 15 February 2023 06:00 , Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Independents Eric Garcia that Americans will have more information about the objects that were shot down above North American airspace in the recent days once that debris is collected.

But the US needs to acknowledge that there is not a good reporting system in place that if youre a weather balloon or commercial balloon or some other kind of activity, you just dont have that kind of visibility, he told The Independent on Tuesday.

Mr Warners remarks followed classified closed-door briefings with lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday to learn more about the objects that were shot down by US Air Force fighter jets over Alaska, the Yukon territory of Canada and Lake Huron in Michigan.

(EPA)

Object over Lake Huron likely passed by sensitive military sites and posed surveillance threat, Pentagon says

Wednesday 15 February 2023 05:00 , Alex Woodward

A statement from the US Department of Defense on Sunday evening reported that President Joe Biden acted on guidance from military officials to shoot down the object that was flying at about 20,000 feet above Lake Huron.

Officials also confirmed that the object was likely the same that was picked up as a radar anomaly over Montana on Saturday night, when the object was in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites, the statement said.

We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities, it continued.

NORAD tracked the object on Sunday morning, and an F-16 jet fired a single Sidewinder missile at about 2.24pm ET.

Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation, according to the statement.

Taking it down over the lake avoided impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery, the Pentagon said.

There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected, the statement added.

Federal agencies are now working to recover the debris.

ICYMI: Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

Wednesday 15 February 2023 04:00 , Alex Woodward

Astronomers reported that a Chinese satellite fired green laser beams over the US state of Hawaii during mounting between Beijing and Washignton after several foreign objects including a Chinese spy balloon were shot down over the US in recent days.

Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan captured the mystery beams of light on video through its Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea back on 28 January.

Footage of the incident shows green laser light beaming over the cloudy sky over Maunakea in Hawaii.

Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

Wednesday 15 February 2023 03:00 , Alex Woodward

US Northern Command reports that crews working at the site of the shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina 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.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

The planes and weapons that brought down objects in North American airspace

Wednesday 15 February 2023 02:00 , Alex Woodward

Two F-22 Raptor fighter jets flew out ofJoint Base Elmendorf in Alaska to take down the unidentified object above Alaskan airspace on Friday.

One missile  an AIM-9X Sidewinder  was fired, according to the Pentagon.

Several military planes and helicopters are assisting in the recovery operation.

The military deployed two kinds of helicopters  the HH-60 Pave Hawk and CH-47 Chinook  as well as the HC-130 search-and-rescue plane.

A Raytheon-built Sidewinder missile has been used to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon and three smaller objects above North American airspace in recent days. (AP)

Two F-22 jets tracked another object across Alaska as it entered Canada on Saturday. Canadian CF-18 fighters and CP-140 maritime patrol craft joined the operation. The American jet fired a single Sidewinder missile, bringing the object down roughly 100 miles from the US-Canada border in Canadian territory in central Yukon.

Canadas defense minister Anita Anand said the operation is likely the first using NORAD to shoot down an object in Canadian airspace.

The following day, two F-16 fighter jets were deployed above Lake Huron in Michigan. A Sidewinder missile was fired but missed, according to military officials and the White House. The missile reportedly landed on the lake. A second missile struck the object.

John Kirby: Recovering shot-down debris will take some time'

Wednesday 15 February 2023 01:00 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

Were dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So were up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

Were going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that thats the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

Wednesday 15 February 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward

A massive surveillance balloon that drifted across the US before it was shot down by an American fighter jet is believed to be part of a Chinese military fleet of similar intelligence-gathering aircrafts.

But military and White House officials say there is no indication that three smaller unidentified objects that were shot down above North American airspace in as many days are part of the same program, and may not have come from China at all.

The balloons intrusion into North American airspace was likely one of several from similar aircrafts in recent years, including three sightings during President Donald Trumps administration, a revelation that has prompted the military to begin filtering in all kinds of other aerial objects on its radars.

The US military has reportedly widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

While the White House tries to tamp down on baseless speculation and conspiracy theories, other US officials and members of Congress, who have received several classified briefings and testimony about the intrusion, continue to suggest that the other objects came from China.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

China calls Ohio train crash OhioChernobyl as it mocks US for caring too much about spy balloon

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:30 , Alex Woodward

The Chinese foreign ministry mocked the United States on Tuesday for its concerns over an alleged Chinese spy balloon while a toxic chemical leak from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio threatens to become one of the most damaging environmental disasters in the countrys history.

Abe Asher reports:

China mocks US for focusing spy balloon during train derailment

Jon Tester will lead Senate probe into flying objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Montana Senator Jon Tester will lead probes into the objects that were shot down over North American airspace in recent days.

The senator led a panel last week to hear from military officials about the ballon that was spotted above his home state near sensitive military sites.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Mr Schumer said on Tuesday. Senator Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this.

Mr Tester said on Sunday that the Biden administration and US military need to have a policy about unidentified objects in US airspace to recommend to the president to swiftly handle any future incursions.

Whats been going on the last  10 days has been nothing short of craziness, he told CBS Face the Nation. The military needs to have a plan to not only determine whats out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.

(AP)

Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham reassured after briefings on objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:39 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Mitt Romney said the recently shot-down objects above North American airspace are not very high on my worry chart following closed-door briefings with lawmakers on Tuesday.

The reality is we dont know a lot about what these items are, yet, he said.

Sen Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham talk to me after a classified briefing on the balloons, both saying they are reassured by what they have heard pic.twitter.com/i3sfb0uzZn  Dan Rivers (@danriversitv) February 14, 2023

Mr Romney also told CNN that there a lot of these things that are up in the air from time to time, some commercial, some government and maybe theres some things we dont know, adding he wasnt worried in the slightest over whether the objects posed any threats.

Senator Lindsey Graham also told ITV that he is not unnerved after he participated in classified briefings with other members of Congress.

I didnt hear anything in there that unnerved me, he said.

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:09 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the leading theory behind the three recently shot-down objects are they were used for commercial or other benign purposes.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, he said.

Officials have ruled out that the objects are government vessels, and intelligence suggests they are not linked to China, he said.

We dont know of any evidence right now that that confirms that they were in fact doing intelligence collection by another government, he said.

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby speaking from the briefing room on 13 February (Getty Images)

Republican senators use balloon incident to attack Biden as they call on president to hold national address

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:05 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana characterised the Biden administrations decision to wait to shoot down the surveillance balloon as a weakness and indecision, though the president initally ordered the US military to do so at first sight.

Military officials, who claimed to have blocked any intelligence-gathering capabilities and said that the balloon posed no physical threat, advised against shooting it down until it was clear of people and buildings below, and so that the materials from the balloon could be recovered and investigated.

Those decisions and likely many others were shared with lawmakers over a series of hearings, including closed-door classified briefings, but Republican senators have not shared what they learned, instead using the incident as ammunition for their attacks on the administration and its policies regarding China.

GOP leader Mitch McConnell and Mr Daines have urged the president to hold a national address to speak on the issue.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She then compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Mitch McConnell: The American people deserve to hear more from the president on balloons

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:52 , Alex Woodward

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that the president basically was watching the balloon go all across America earlier this month, making only a passing reference to the aircraft, which he ordered to shoot down, in State of the Union address

The GOP leader tied the balloon event to a series of foreign policy decisions under President Biden, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The American people deserve to hear more from the president on all of these issues, he said.

Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso called the balloon incident a majority security breach, refuting characterisations from the Pentagon and the White House that the balloon did not pose any intelligence or physical threat.

(REUTERS)

China mocks Americas balloon obsession while seemingly ignoring Ohio

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying mocked Americas scrutiny into the suspected surveillance balloon, accusing the nation of ignoring the threats posed by the train derailment in Ohio that has sparked widespread contamination fears, with Hua Chunying comparing it to the disaster at Chernobyl.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl, she wrote on Twitter.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl pic.twitter.com/uBEfG3HMXN  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) February 14, 2023

The Independent is covering the Ohio disaster here:

Ohio train derailment puts millions at risk as toxic chemicals enter river

Senate intelligence chair tells The Independent that US needs a better reporting system for knowing whats in the sky

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:40 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Independents Eric Garcia that Americans will have more information about the objects that were shot down above North American airspace over the last several days once the debris is collected.

But the US needs to acknolwdge that there is not a good reporting system in place that if you're a weather balloon or commercial balloon or some other kind of activity, you just don't have that kind of visibility, Mr Warner told The Independent on Tuesday.

His remarks, echoing earlier statements, follow closed-door briefings with lawmakers to learn more about the objects that were shot down by the military.

(Getty Images)

Lisa Murkowski tells The Independent that administrations lack of answers and honest unknowns is frustrating

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:35 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Republican US Senator Lisa Murskowski was furious with military officials during a Senate hearing last week as she grilled defense chiefs about the surveillance balloon that flew into the US from her home state of Alaska and was allowed to travel across the US.

She told The Independents Eric Garcia that senators are still waiting to really understand the origin, the nature of these objects  two of which also flew in across her state before they were shot down. One was shot down in Alaskan waters.

While the US has had some success recovering materials from the downed balloon off the South Carolina coast, were still in search of the debris from the other areas.

Im very anxious to know more about that, she said.

Its frustrating, she added, with a lot of outstanding questions after several briefings, including classified briefings with administration officials, with answers that are frustratingly opaque or provide little more than honest unknowns.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene compares balloon to 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

Far-right Georgia US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene drew a wild comparison between the Chinese surveillance balloon and United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 11 September, 2001.

Military officials contend that it was safer  with a better chance of recovering crucial components  for the US to shoot down the balloon once it crossed into accessible waters, rather than shoot it out over the sky above people and buildings.

During an event in Idaho over the weekend, Ms Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon and military officials pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner that crashed on 9/11.

Remember that? It didnt kill anybody on the ground. Killed everyone on board. But it didnt kill anyone on the ground, Ms Greene said. So they want to tell all of us that it was too risky to take down that Chinese spy balloon over rural Idaho or Montana, or any of these other states, or Alaska? Theyre liars.

She suggested that President Joe Biden deliberately kept the balloon above US airspace because he sold out to China.

You can only see it two ways, she said, offering up three. Either theyre liars or theyre cowards or our president is sold out to China. You know what? Ill go with all three.

Marjorie Taylor Greene used the death count from hijacked 9/11 Flight 93 to minimize the risk of shooting down the spy balloon.



MTG: Do you guys remember on 9/11 when an airplane crashed in Pennsylvania? It killed everyone on board, but it didnt kill anyone on the ground. pic.twitter.com/uznQZ4zmk6  PatriotTakes  (@patriottakes) February 13, 2023

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:20 , Alex Woodward

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 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin writes:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Search interest in UFOs and extraterrestrial life has exploded with the latest aerial objects and White House comments

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Google search interest in what is in the sky is at an all-time high in the US, and Americans asking if aliens are real has more than tripled within the past day, after the White House rejected claims that extraterrestial life forms are responsible for a series of unidentified objects shot down by American fighter jets.

The administrations own discussion of the topic has inflamed baseless speculation and fuelled conspiracy theories, as officials and experts contend that there is no evidence to support that the objects came from China or another planet, but could more likely to be another kind of aircraft caught up in a broadening radar scope after the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.

But search interest in the US for extraterrestrial life is eight times greater than that of surveillance over the past day. The most-asked questions are related to shooting down UFOS, how many there are, what aliens are, and what UFO means.

(Unidentified flying object, by the way.)

(REUTERS)

Senate intelligence committee chair wants more aggressive system for tracking civilian crafts in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the US needs a better system for keeping track of objects in US airspace.

My hope would be that we are much more aggressive about trying to make sure that objects are up there for legitimate scientific, weather or other purposes and that there is a much better notification process with authorities, he told reporters on Tuesday.

Members of Congress received closed-door briefings on the latest objects shot down by American fighter jets on Tuesday.

(REUTERS)

Watch: Mark Milley confirms F-16 missed Lake Huron object

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed on Tuesday that a missile fired by an F-16 fighter jet aimed at an object over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday missed the target. A second missile successfully brought it down.

He said the first missile landed harmlessly in the water.

Top Democrat on House Armed Services Committee claims China almost certainly responsible for objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:30 , Alex Woodward

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee alleged that China almost certainly launched the three objects shot down by American fighter jets, though the White House, Pentagon officials and intelligence analysts have not yet made any such definitive answers about their origin.

US Rep Adam Smith told USA Today that the objects are almost certainly a case of the Chinese trying to come up with new or creative ways to spy on us.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Mr Smith said the US needs to respond and block this avenue but stressed that global surveillance efforts between world powers are nothing new.

Its not like theyre learning some deep dark secret that makes us extra vulnerable here, he added. We definitely want to stop them from doing it, as we want to try and stop all efforts of surveillance on the US by China or anybody else for that matter. But, no, I dont think its something that the American public needs to worry a great deal about.

US military has not yet recovered debris from downed objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:01 , Alex Woodward

While crews have recovered significant debris from the Chinese surveillance balloons, recovery operations that began this weekend for the other three downed objects have so far yielded nothing.

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 US militarys Northern Command said in a statement on Monday.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson told reporters that recovery teams are dealing with some pretty tough conditions on Lake Huron and in the frozen seas near Alaska.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

Everything we know about the mysterious objects shot down by US warplanes

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

For three days in a row, US military fighter jets brought down similar high-altitude objects, all within a week after a large airship, allegedly sent by China to spy on the US mainland, seized the national news agenda.

This is everything we know, so far:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Full story: First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

In separate briefings with reporters on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed that it took two attempts to take down unidentified object above Lake Huron on Sunday.

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

John Kirby: Could be some time before US recovers debris from shot-down objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:33 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

We're dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So we're up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

We're going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that that's the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Milley: F-16 missed object over Lake Huron with first shot

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:25 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday that the F-16 jet that brought down an object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the first time.

The object was shot down with a second shot, he said during a briefing alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels.

Just in: Romania spots balloon-like craft in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:39 , Alex Woodward

The Romanian Air Forces surveillance system detected an airborne object that looked like a weather balloon flying in the countrys airspace, Romanias defense ministry announced on Tuesday.

The balloon-like craft was reportedly flying at about 11,000 meters, or roughly 37,000 feet, though two MiG jets scrambled in southeast Romania 10 minutes after the sighting could not confirm the target, according to Reuters.

Trumps secretary of state claims latest balloon incidents brought global shame to the US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:32 , Alex Woodward

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is reportedly mulling entry in the 2024 presidential race, said that the Biden administration made an enormous mistake that caused global shame with its handling of the Chinese surveillance balloon.

As it traveled across the US earlier this month, it created an an enormous geopolitical advantage for China, he told The Hill during an interview promoting his memoir.

I cant imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame, he added.

Mr Pompeo conceded that he does not know what information, if any, it collected or what intelligence it had or what imagery it captured.

Justin Trudeau suggests pattern between objects shot down

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:00 , Graig Graziosi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was a pattern between the objects that were shot down over North America over the last several days.

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, he said.

Admiral John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said he could not comment on the assertion, saying he was unfamiliar with Mr Trudeaus statement.

He said the objects shot down over the last several days were unlike the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier in January. Mr Kirby also said the origins of the three objects shot down over North America are still currently unknown.

John Kirby says Chinese spy balloon program was operational during Trump administration, but they did not detect it

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:30 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, told reporters that a Chinese high altitude spy balloon program was known to defense officials during Donald Trumps tenure in the White House, but noted that his administration failed to detect the objects.

...But we were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection thats connected to the Peoples Liberation Army, he said. It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it.

Mr Trump denied any balloons entered US airspace during his administration in a furious post on Truth Social.

Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the heat off the slow moving Biden fools, he wrote. China had too much respect for TRUMP for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!

Read more:

Biden White House says Trumps team failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme
The US had been tracking the Chinese spy balloon ever since it left Hainan Island near Chinas south coast  meaning it was under surveillance for almost a week before it entered American airspace, according to unnamed officials.

The spy balloon was ultimately shot down by the US military on 4 February and officials have been retrieving debris from the Atlantic Ocean for analysis.

But, The Washington Post has now reported that US intelligence agencies were monitoring the balloon as soon as it left its base on Hainan Island and began charting its flight path to the US territory of Guam.

The craft veered off course along the route, taking it over Alaskas Aleutian Islands, Canada and Montana, before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Officials told the paper they are exploring the possibility that it was indeed an accident for China to fly over North American airspace.

The revelation comes as the White House announced on Tuesday that the three other objects shot down by American fighter jets were likely used for commercial or other benign purposes.

Key points

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Republicans use balloon incident to attack Biden as they call on president to hold national address

US military says it has recovered significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

China accuses US of illegally flying spy balloons into airspace

US military takes down fourth object in a month  this time above Lake Huron

US tracked Chinese spy balloon since it left Hainan Island  meaning it was under surveillance for week before entering airspace

11:31 , Rachel Sharp

The US had been tracking the Chinese spy balloon ever since it left Hainan Island near Chinas south coast  meaning it was under surveillance for almost a week before it entered American airspace, according to unnamed officials.

The spy balloon was ultimately shot down by the US military on 4 February and officials have been retrieving debris from the Atlantic Ocean for analysis.

Story continues

But, The Washington Post has now reported that US intelligence agencies were monitoring the balloon as soon as it left its base on Hainan Island and began charting its flight path to the US territory of Guam.

The craft veered off course along the route, taking it over Alaskas Aleutian Islands, Canada and Montana, before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Officials told the paper they are exploring the possibility that it was indeed an accident for China to fly over North American airspace.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

11:00 , Alex Woodward

A massive surveillance balloon that drifted across the US before it was shot down by an American fighter jet is believed to be part of a Chinese military fleet of similar intelligence-gathering aircrafts.

But military and White House officials say there is no indication that three smaller unidentified objects that were shot down above North American airspace in as many days are part of the same program, and may not have come from China at all.

The balloons intrusion into North American airspace was likely one of several from similar aircrafts in recent years, including three sightings during President Donald Trumps administration, a revelation that has prompted the military to begin filtering in all kinds of other aerial objects on its radars.

The US military has reportedly widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

While the White House tries to tamp down on baseless speculation and conspiracy theories, other US officials and members of Congress, who have received several classified briefings and testimony about the intrusion, continue to suggest that the other objects came from China.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

10:00 , Alex Woodward

In the decades after the Roswell incdient, 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, then, 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin reports:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Here is everything we know about the mysterious objects shot down by US warplanes

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Four objects were shot down by US Air Force fighter jets within eight days across North America.

After an F-22 struck down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February, US military discovered three other objects in North American airspace within as many days.

An unidentified object was brought down on 11 February above Alaskan waters. The following day, an American F-22 fighter shot down a small and cylindrical object hovering 40,000 feet above Canada. One day later, US officials announced a third object was shot out of the sky above Lake Huron near Michigan.

What are they, why are we suddenly seeing them, and why did the US shoot them down?

We answer it all, with everything we know, so far:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

08:00 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

07:00 , Alex Woodward

The first missile fired by an American F-16 fighter jet in an attempt to take down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron missed its target.

US officials confirmed on 14 February that the object - the third spotted above North American airspace in as many days - was taken down with a second shot when it appeared above the lake on 12 February. The first shot landed in the waters straddling the state of Michigan and the Ontario province of Canada.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed the incident in separate briefings with reporters.

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Senate intelligence chair tells The Independent that US needs a better reporting system for knowing whats in the sky

06:00 , Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Independents Eric Garcia that Americans will have more information about the objects that were shot down above North American airspace in the recent days once that debris is collected.

But the US needs to acknowledge that there is not a good reporting system in place that if youre a weather balloon or commercial balloon or some other kind of activity, you just dont have that kind of visibility, he told The Independent on Tuesday.

Mr Warners remarks followed classified closed-door briefings with lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday to learn more about the objects that were shot down by US Air Force fighter jets over Alaska, the Yukon territory of Canada and Lake Huron in Michigan.

(EPA)

Object over Lake Huron likely passed by sensitive military sites and posed surveillance threat, Pentagon says

05:00 , Alex Woodward

A statement from the US Department of Defense on Sunday evening reported that President Joe Biden acted on guidance from military officials to shoot down the object that was flying at about 20,000 feet above Lake Huron.

Officials also confirmed that the object was likely the same that was picked up as a radar anomaly over Montana on Saturday night, when the object was in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites, the statement said.

We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities, it continued.

NORAD tracked the object on Sunday morning, and an F-16 jet fired a single Sidewinder missile at about 2.24pm ET.

Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation, according to the statement.

Taking it down over the lake avoided impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery, the Pentagon said.

There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected, the statement added.

Federal agencies are now working to recover the debris.

ICYMI: Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Astronomers reported that a Chinese satellite fired green laser beams over the US state of Hawaii during mounting between Beijing and Washignton after several foreign objects including a Chinese spy balloon were shot down over the US in recent days.

Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan captured the mystery beams of light on video through its Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea back on 28 January.

Footage of the incident shows green laser light beaming over the cloudy sky over Maunakea in Hawaii.

Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

03:00 , Alex Woodward

US Northern Command reports that crews working at the site of the shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina 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.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

The planes and weapons that brought down objects in North American airspace

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Two F-22 Raptor fighter jets flew out ofJoint Base Elmendorf in Alaska to take down the unidentified object above Alaskan airspace on Friday.

One missile  an AIM-9X Sidewinder  was fired, according to the Pentagon.

Several military planes and helicopters are assisting in the recovery operation.

The military deployed two kinds of helicopters  the HH-60 Pave Hawk and CH-47 Chinook  as well as the HC-130 search-and-rescue plane.

A Raytheon-built Sidewinder missile has been used to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon and three smaller objects above North American airspace in recent days. (AP)

Two F-22 jets tracked another object across Alaska as it entered Canada on Saturday. Canadian CF-18 fighters and CP-140 maritime patrol craft joined the operation. The American jet fired a single Sidewinder missile, bringing the object down roughly 100 miles from the US-Canada border in Canadian territory in central Yukon.

Canadas defense minister Anita Anand said the operation is likely the first using NORAD to shoot down an object in Canadian airspace.

The following day, two F-16 fighter jets were deployed above Lake Huron in Michigan. A Sidewinder missile was fired but missed, according to military officials and the White House. The missile reportedly landed on the lake. A second missile struck the object.

John Kirby: Recovering shot-down debris will take some time'

01:00 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

Were dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So were up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

Were going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that thats the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

00:00 , Alex Woodward

A massive surveillance balloon that drifted across the US before it was shot down by an American fighter jet is believed to be part of a Chinese military fleet of similar intelligence-gathering aircrafts.

But military and White House officials say there is no indication that three smaller unidentified objects that were shot down above North American airspace in as many days are part of the same program, and may not have come from China at all.

The balloons intrusion into North American airspace was likely one of several from similar aircrafts in recent years, including three sightings during President Donald Trumps administration, a revelation that has prompted the military to begin filtering in all kinds of other aerial objects on its radars.

The US military has reportedly widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

While the White House tries to tamp down on baseless speculation and conspiracy theories, other US officials and members of Congress, who have received several classified briefings and testimony about the intrusion, continue to suggest that the other objects came from China.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

China calls Ohio train crash OhioChernobyl as it mocks US for caring too much about spy balloon

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:30 , Alex Woodward

The Chinese foreign ministry mocked the United States on Tuesday for its concerns over an alleged Chinese spy balloon while a toxic chemical leak from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio threatens to become one of the most damaging environmental disasters in the countrys history.

Abe Asher reports:

China mocks US for focusing spy balloon during train derailment

Jon Tester will lead Senate probe into flying objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Montana Senator Jon Tester will lead probes into the objects that were shot down over North American airspace in recent days.

The senator led a panel last week to hear from military officials about the ballon that was spotted above his home state near sensitive military sites.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Mr Schumer said on Tuesday. Senator Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this.

Mr Tester said on Sunday that the Biden administration and US military need to have a policy about unidentified objects in US airspace to recommend to the president to swiftly handle any future incursions.

Whats been going on the last  10 days has been nothing short of craziness, he told CBS Face the Nation. The military needs to have a plan to not only determine whats out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.

(AP)

Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham reassured after briefings on objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:39 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Mitt Romney said the recently shot-down objects above North American airspace are not very high on my worry chart following closed-door briefings with lawmakers on Tuesday.

The reality is we dont know a lot about what these items are, yet, he said.

Sen Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham talk to me after a classified briefing on the balloons, both saying they are reassured by what they have heard pic.twitter.com/i3sfb0uzZn  Dan Rivers (@danriversitv) February 14, 2023

Mr Romney also told CNN that there a lot of these things that are up in the air from time to time, some commercial, some government and maybe theres some things we dont know, adding he wasnt worried in the slightest over whether the objects posed any threats.

Senator Lindsey Graham also told ITV that he is not unnerved after he participated in classified briefings with other members of Congress.

I didnt hear anything in there that unnerved me, he said.

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:09 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the leading theory behind the three recently shot-down objects are they were used for commercial or other benign purposes.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, he said.

Officials have ruled out that the objects are government vessels, and intelligence suggests they are not linked to China, he said.

We dont know of any evidence right now that that confirms that they were in fact doing intelligence collection by another government, he said.

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby speaking from the briefing room on 13 February (Getty Images)

Republican senators use balloon incident to attack Biden as they call on president to hold national address

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:05 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana characterised the Biden administrations decision to wait to shoot down the surveillance balloon as a weakness and indecision, though the president initally ordered the US military to do so at first sight.

Military officials, who claimed to have blocked any intelligence-gathering capabilities and said that the balloon posed no physical threat, advised against shooting it down until it was clear of people and buildings below, and so that the materials from the balloon could be recovered and investigated.

Those decisions and likely many others were shared with lawmakers over a series of hearings, including closed-door classified briefings, but Republican senators have not shared what they learned, instead using the incident as ammunition for their attacks on the administration and its policies regarding China.

GOP leader Mitch McConnell and Mr Daines have urged the president to hold a national address to speak on the issue.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She then compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Mitch McConnell: The American people deserve to hear more from the president on balloons

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:52 , Alex Woodward

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that the president basically was watching the balloon go all across America earlier this month, making only a passing reference to the aircraft, which he ordered to shoot down, in State of the Union address

The GOP leader tied the balloon event to a series of foreign policy decisions under President Biden, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The American people deserve to hear more from the president on all of these issues, he said.

Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso called the balloon incident a majority security breach, refuting characterisations from the Pentagon and the White House that the balloon did not pose any intelligence or physical threat.

(REUTERS)

China mocks Americas balloon obsession while seemingly ignoring Ohio

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying mocked Americas scrutiny into the suspected surveillance balloon, accusing the nation of ignoring the threats posed by the train derailment in Ohio that has sparked widespread contamination fears, with Hua Chunying comparing it to the disaster at Chernobyl.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl, she wrote on Twitter.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl pic.twitter.com/uBEfG3HMXN  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) February 14, 2023

The Independent is covering the Ohio disaster here:

Ohio train derailment puts millions at risk as toxic chemicals enter river

Senate intelligence chair tells The Independent that US needs a better reporting system for knowing whats in the sky

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:40 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Independents Eric Garcia that Americans will have more information about the objects that were shot down above North American airspace over the last several days once the debris is collected.

But the US needs to acknolwdge that there is not a good reporting system in place that if you're a weather balloon or commercial balloon or some other kind of activity, you just don't have that kind of visibility, Mr Warner told The Independent on Tuesday.

His remarks, echoing earlier statements, follow closed-door briefings with lawmakers to learn more about the objects that were shot down by the military.

(Getty Images)

Lisa Murkowski tells The Independent that administrations lack of answers and honest unknowns is frustrating

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:35 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Republican US Senator Lisa Murskowski was furious with military officials during a Senate hearing last week as she grilled defense chiefs about the surveillance balloon that flew into the US from her home state of Alaska and was allowed to travel across the US.

She told The Independents Eric Garcia that senators are still waiting to really understand the origin, the nature of these objects  two of which also flew in across her state before they were shot down. One was shot down in Alaskan waters.

While the US has had some success recovering materials from the downed balloon off the South Carolina coast, were still in search of the debris from the other areas.

Im very anxious to know more about that, she said.

Its frustrating, she added, with a lot of outstanding questions after several briefings, including classified briefings with administration officials, with answers that are frustratingly opaque or provide little more than honest unknowns.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene compares balloon to 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

Far-right Georgia US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene drew a wild comparison between the Chinese surveillance balloon and United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 11 September, 2001.

Military officials contend that it was safer  with a better chance of recovering crucial components  for the US to shoot down the balloon once it crossed into accessible waters, rather than shoot it out over the sky above people and buildings.

During an event in Idaho over the weekend, Ms Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon and military officials pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner that crashed on 9/11.

Remember that? It didnt kill anybody on the ground. Killed everyone on board. But it didnt kill anyone on the ground, Ms Greene said. So they want to tell all of us that it was too risky to take down that Chinese spy balloon over rural Idaho or Montana, or any of these other states, or Alaska? Theyre liars.

She suggested that President Joe Biden deliberately kept the balloon above US airspace because he sold out to China.

You can only see it two ways, she said, offering up three. Either theyre liars or theyre cowards or our president is sold out to China. You know what? Ill go with all three.

Marjorie Taylor Greene used the death count from hijacked 9/11 Flight 93 to minimize the risk of shooting down the spy balloon.



MTG: Do you guys remember on 9/11 when an airplane crashed in Pennsylvania? It killed everyone on board, but it didnt kill anyone on the ground. pic.twitter.com/uznQZ4zmk6  PatriotTakes  (@patriottakes) February 13, 2023

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:20 , Alex Woodward

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 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin writes:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Search interest in UFOs and extraterrestrial life has exploded with the latest aerial objects and White House comments

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Google search interest in what is in the sky is at an all-time high in the US, and Americans asking if aliens are real has more than tripled within the past day, after the White House rejected claims that extraterrestial life forms are responsible for a series of unidentified objects shot down by American fighter jets.

The administrations own discussion of the topic has inflamed baseless speculation and fuelled conspiracy theories, as officials and experts contend that there is no evidence to support that the objects came from China or another planet, but could more likely to be another kind of aircraft caught up in a broadening radar scope after the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.

But search interest in the US for extraterrestrial life is eight times greater than that of surveillance over the past day. The most-asked questions are related to shooting down UFOS, how many there are, what aliens are, and what UFO means.

(Unidentified flying object, by the way.)

(REUTERS)

Senate intelligence committee chair wants more aggressive system for tracking civilian crafts in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the US needs a better system for keeping track of objects in US airspace.

My hope would be that we are much more aggressive about trying to make sure that objects are up there for legitimate scientific, weather or other purposes and that there is a much better notification process with authorities, he told reporters on Tuesday.

Members of Congress received closed-door briefings on the latest objects shot down by American fighter jets on Tuesday.

(REUTERS)

Watch: Mark Milley confirms F-16 missed Lake Huron object

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed on Tuesday that a missile fired by an F-16 fighter jet aimed at an object over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday missed the target. A second missile successfully brought it down.

He said the first missile landed harmlessly in the water.

Top Democrat on House Armed Services Committee claims China almost certainly responsible for objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:30 , Alex Woodward

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee alleged that China almost certainly launched the three objects shot down by American fighter jets, though the White House, Pentagon officials and intelligence analysts have not yet made any such definitive answers about their origin.

US Rep Adam Smith told USA Today that the objects are almost certainly a case of the Chinese trying to come up with new or creative ways to spy on us.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Mr Smith said the US needs to respond and block this avenue but stressed that global surveillance efforts between world powers are nothing new.

Its not like theyre learning some deep dark secret that makes us extra vulnerable here, he added. We definitely want to stop them from doing it, as we want to try and stop all efforts of surveillance on the US by China or anybody else for that matter. But, no, I dont think its something that the American public needs to worry a great deal about.

US military has not yet recovered debris from downed objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:01 , Alex Woodward

While crews have recovered significant debris from the Chinese surveillance balloons, recovery operations that began this weekend for the other three downed objects have so far yielded nothing.

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 US militarys Northern Command said in a statement on Monday.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson told reporters that recovery teams are dealing with some pretty tough conditions on Lake Huron and in the frozen seas near Alaska.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

Everything we know about the mysterious objects shot down by US warplanes

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

For three days in a row, US military fighter jets brought down similar high-altitude objects, all within a week after a large airship, allegedly sent by China to spy on the US mainland, seized the national news agenda.

This is everything we know, so far:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Full story: First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

In separate briefings with reporters on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed that it took two attempts to take down unidentified object above Lake Huron on Sunday.

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

John Kirby: Could be some time before US recovers debris from shot-down objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:33 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

We're dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So we're up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

We're going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that that's the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Milley: F-16 missed object over Lake Huron with first shot

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:25 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday that the F-16 jet that brought down an object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the first time.

The object was shot down with a second shot, he said during a briefing alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels.

Just in: Romania spots balloon-like craft in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:39 , Alex Woodward

The Romanian Air Forces surveillance system detected an airborne object that looked like a weather balloon flying in the countrys airspace, Romanias defense ministry announced on Tuesday.

The balloon-like craft was reportedly flying at about 11,000 meters, or roughly 37,000 feet, though two MiG jets scrambled in southeast Romania 10 minutes after the sighting could not confirm the target, according to Reuters.

Trumps secretary of state claims latest balloon incidents brought global shame to the US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:32 , Alex Woodward

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is reportedly mulling entry in the 2024 presidential race, said that the Biden administration made an enormous mistake that caused global shame with its handling of the Chinese surveillance balloon.

As it traveled across the US earlier this month, it created an an enormous geopolitical advantage for China, he told The Hill during an interview promoting his memoir.

I cant imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame, he added.

Mr Pompeo conceded that he does not know what information, if any, it collected or what intelligence it had or what imagery it captured.

Justin Trudeau suggests pattern between objects shot down

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:00 , Graig Graziosi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was a pattern between the objects that were shot down over North America over the last several days.

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, he said.

Admiral John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said he could not comment on the assertion, saying he was unfamiliar with Mr Trudeaus statement.

He said the objects shot down over the last several days were unlike the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier in January. Mr Kirby also said the origins of the three objects shot down over North America are still currently unknown.

John Kirby says Chinese spy balloon program was operational during Trump administration, but they did not detect it

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:30 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, told reporters that a Chinese high altitude spy balloon program was known to defense officials during Donald Trumps tenure in the White House, but noted that his administration failed to detect the objects.

...But we were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection thats connected to the Peoples Liberation Army, he said. It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it.

Mr Trump denied any balloons entered US airspace during his administration in a furious post on Truth Social.

Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the heat off the slow moving Biden fools, he wrote. China had too much respect for TRUMP for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!

Read more:

Biden White House says Trumps team failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme
St. Petersburg Police have arrested a second suspect in the December shooting death of 15-year-old Zykiqurio Lofton.

David Moore, 18, was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree felony murder charge in connection with Loftons death. Moore was being held at the Pinellas County jail on Wednesday.

Lofton was shot on Dec. 29 while he was walking near 9th Avenue S and 16th Street S, police said. Loftons family said he was visiting from Georgia for the holidays and had been walking back from hanging out with his brother and their friends when he was shot.

Deonte Bishop, 17, was arrested on Dec. 30 on a first-degree felony murder charge in connection with Loftons death. Bishop is also facing charges in connection with a fatal crash where police said he was driving without a license and fled the scene.

No other details about what led to Moores arrest were immediately released.
In one letter to the court, Duxbury mother Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of killing her three young children, is called a ray of sunshine.

In another letter, she is described as balanced and calm and in yet another letter, Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse, is recounted by a work colleague as a Kind, compassionate, patient, empathetic nurse and mother who was devoted to her children.

She is a great human being and you would be hard pressed to hear anything but positive remarks about our dear sweet Lindsay, wrote Laura Sanders, a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital who worked the night shift alongside Clancy for seven years, in a letter dated Feb. 5.

Sanders is among dozens of people who have either written, signed or sent letters and emails of support for Clancy, who is accused of using exercise bands to strangle her three children: 5-year-old daughter, Cora, her 3-year-old son, Dawson, and her 8-month-old baby, Callan, at the familys home on Jan. 24, court documents show. The elder children were pronounced dead that day; the infant died days later.

Close to 100 mothers from Foxboro, Mansfield and North Attleboro signed a letter dated Feb. 6 to a judge outlining their support and empathy for the 32-year-old Clancy, who tried to kill herself by jumping out of a second-story window at her home the same day her childrens bodies were found. She suffered serious spinal injuries that left her paralyzed, said her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, who argued in court that Clancy had been fighting mental health issues and had been overmedicated as she sought treatment.

Some of the mothers who signed the Feb. 6 letter know Clancy personally, while others solely know of her from media reports, they wrote.

No one understands what Lindsay has experienced better than a mother who has had a difficult time after giving birth, and who has also experienced postpartum-related mental health issues, the mothers wrote in their letter. Many of us have felt despair, that we could not go on. We are so saddened we were not able to help her, but we know her family was doing everything they could to get her the help she needed.

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The outcome, the mothers wrote, was devastating for the entire Clancy family.

Lindsay will have to live with the aftermath of her postpartum depression, and that is a sentence we would not wish on any grieving mother. None of us can even begin to imagine what she is feeling, nor do we want to, the mothers wrote. As mothers, we know Lindsay was not in a healthy space to carry out the acts she is accused of, and we want to stand by her in her darkest hour as we wish any other mother would do for us, if we found ourselves struggling, too.

Chilling timeline: Lindsay Clancy accused of planning murders of her 3 children, prosecutor says

Several current and former colleagues of Clancy echoed their support for her.

She is a compassionate, supportive & excellent nurse. There wasnt anything she loved more than her children Cora, Dawson, Callan & her husband Patrick. I am proud to stand beside her, wrote Grace McNulty, a nurse, in a Feb. 6 email to Reddington.

Jenni Hennessey wrote that she met Clancy seven years ago when they were graduate nurses before more recently helping to deliver Clancys third child, Callan.

As the years went on and she had her children, she blossomed into the most wonderful mother. She lived and breathed for her children, wrote Hennessey. I was able to care for Lindsay and her family in the hospital when she had Callan. You could see the sheer joy and contentment in her eyes when she had her baby on her chest, taking in every sweet new moment of motherhood. It goes without saying that this terrible tragedy just was not in Lindsays character.

Patricia Cody, an obstetric nurse, pleaded to the judge that Clancy not be jailed.

This is a lovely woman. There is no doubt in my mind that Lindsay suffered from postpartum psychosis, wrote Cody in a Feb. 5 email. Dear judge, please have compassion and allow her to recover in an environment other than a jail cell. I believe this will change the way we treat woman who suffer from postpartum depression. Even in the most horrific moment of her life, Lindsay is still helping people.

Heather Fraser, a nurse in the labor and delivery unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote in a Feb. 5 letter to the judge that she has worked with Clancy since 2015. The year prior, Clancy was her teaching assistant in nursing school.

Shock and pain: Husband of Duxbury mother charged in childrens deaths gives statement

I have always admired her maturity level and aspirations to be a devoted mother outside of her role as a labor and delivery nurse, Fraser wrote. Since I have known Lindsay, I knew she wanted a large family. She would often tell us at work that she wanted six children. I feel privileged to have been able to watch her dreams unfold in becoming a mother, all while remaining a focused and hard working nurse to her patients and an asset to the labor and delivery team.

Fraser wrote Clancy often spoke fondly of her children and there was never a doubt the amount of love she had for each one of them.

In fact, I have never heard Lindsay voice a negative word about anyone in the 9 years I have known her, Fraser wrote. While she loved her job, her priority above all else was her role as Cora, Dawson and Callans mother. She brings a calming presence to any room and never engages in nonsense or gossip. She is level headed and an unbelievably strong and positive human being. She is the nurse you would want caring for your wife, sister, or daughter as they welcome their child into the world.

Patrick Clancy and his children

Another colleague, Jonatha Kerr, wrote that Clancy was always a team player and worked hard on the labor floor.

The Lindsay I know would NEVER do what happened 2 weeks ago, which is what is so shocking to me, Kerr wrote. She loved her kids and her husband so much. She loved being (a) mother. She loved being a nurse.

Kerr also wrote: I wish I had known Lindsay was suffering. I now know she was getting help, but maybe not the right kind of help. The tragedy that happened in the Clancy household was not Lindsay. I would bet my life on it. Please consider this letter as testimony for her.

MGH co-workers of Duxbury mom charged in deaths of her kids share words of support as GoFundMe grows

Shelby Oster wrote that Clancy was her labor and delivery nurse when she delivered her first child in 2021.

Lindsay demonstrated emotional stability as she always remained balanced and calm, even during the many stressful situations that developed during our labor and delivery experience, Oster wrote in a letter dated Feb. 5 to the judge.

Clancys friends also shared letters and emails of support, including a sixth-grade classmate of Lindsays and a bridesmaid in her wedding.

The childhood friend wrote that Clancys personal accomplishments were always impressive.

A top-of-the-class student, talented athlete, a caring nurse, a passionate teacher... She always had an admirable drive and an ability to excel in anything she took on, she wrote in a letter dated Feb. 6, adding that Clancys joy, passion, pride, and purpose was being a mother.

On Feb. 7, Lindsay Clancy was Zoomed into Plymouth District Court and arraigned on charges of murder, strangulation or suffocation, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, an exercise band, in the deaths of her children. During her arraignment, Clancy lay in a hospital bed, wearing a white mask and a neck brace.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague argued that Clancy planned the killings of her children, and outlined a timeline of events on Jan. 24, a day that began with Clancy taking her daughter to the pediatrician for a morning appointment. In the days leading up to the childrens deaths, Sprague said Lindsay meticulously detailed her activities and never showed signs that she was hallucinating or delusional.

Reddington argued that Clancy was on significant dosage of medication and that she had been prescribed and taken several medications including Prozac, Ativan, Benadril, Seroquel, Amitriptyline, and Trazodone.

Lawyer for Duxbury mother accused of murdering her three children says she was over medicated

While most of the letters to the court showing support for Clancy are from women, Michael Petta, a father of three, wrote to Reddington to share his daughters experience with SSRI and antipsychotic medications, court documents show.

While on these drugs, her mental state deteriorated intensely, leaving her delusional and uncharacteristically angry and randomly violent, said Petta, a retired military attorney. At the most dire moment, she attempted to jump from a window in our 5th floor apartment. Fortunately, I was present and pulled her to safety. Shes now 28 years old, married, and expecting her first child--a son.

Petta wrote he was compelled to offer his help in the Clancy case because It reminded me of my daughters difficult time 10 years ago.

Lindsay Clancy: Attorney Peter Elikann calls murdered children case a potential battle of experts

A GoFundMe taking donations for Patrick Clancy has raised more than $1 million as of Feb. 14. The donations are intended for medical bills, funeral services, and legal help, according to the GoFundMe page.

Late last month, in a statement posted to the GoFundMe page, Patrick Clancy urged people to forgive his wife.

I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have, he wrote.

Lindsay Clancy is due back in court on May 2.

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz declined an invitation from 11 senators to testify on March 9 on the coffee company's compliance with federal labor law, according to a letter seen by Reuters late on Tuesday.

Last week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs a committee on labor issues, and 10 other members of the committee asked Schultz to answer by Feb. 14 whether he would take part.

Schultz, who rejoined Starbucks as interim CEO in April 2022, will "fully transition" out of the role next month, Starbucks acting executive vice president and general counsel, Zabrina Jenkins, said in the letter.

"Given the timing of the transition, his relinquishment of any operating role in the company going forward and what we understand to be the subject of the hearing, we believe another senior leader with ongoing responsibilities is best suited to address these matters," Jenkins wrote.

Sanders, who last month took over as chair of the Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said Wednesday he intends "to hold Mr. Schultz and Starbucks accountable for their unacceptable behavior and look forward to seeing him before our committee."

Sanders said "if Mr. Schultz believes that a multibillion-dollar corporation like Starbucks can break federal labor law with impunity he is mistaken."

Starbucks said executive vice president and chief public affairs officer AJ Jones II is available and is the best person to address workforce policy matters. Jones is a former senior aide to Democratic Representative James Clyburn.

Starbucks Workers United has won elections at more than 260 U.S. stores and has lost about 70 elections since late 2021. The union is seeking increased pay and benefits, improved health and safety conditions and protections against unfair firings and discipline.

Starbucks has said it respects the right of its employees to organize and to engage in lawful union activities. The company said it has held more than 80 single-store contract bargaining sessions since October.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Jacqueline Wong and David Gregorio)
An inmate looks out a window in his solitary confinement cell at the main jail in San Jose, California, in 2019. (Ben Margot / AP)

Texas prisoners living in solitary confinement are leading a hunger strike and risking starvation to highlight the cruelty they face on a daily basis  and that is only the most recent high-profile reminder of the horrors of long-term solitary confinement. Prolonged isolation is a devastating practice and a moral outrage. As a prisoners rights lawyer for much of my career, I have witnessed too many minds destroyed by isolation.

Long-term solitary confinement needs to be abolished. Illinois has the chance to do so right now by passing the Nelson Mandela Act, which would limit isolation to 10 consecutive days.

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Seclusion practices that amount to torture plague prisons in many states  Illinois included. Solitary confinement drives people to madness, self-mutilation and suicide. No wonder hunger-striking prisoners are willing to give up food and risk death to stand up against solitary confinement. Right here in Illinois, prisoners went on hunger strikes in 2014 and again in 2016 to protest extreme isolation.

To be sure, solitary confinement is particularly unhinged in Texas. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, more than 680 people had been in solitary confinement between six and 10 years. . That said, a Yale University Law School report found that as of July 2021, each day, 41,000 to 48,000 people languish in solitary confinement in American prisons.

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According to the Uptown Peoples Law Center in Chicago, as of late last year, the Illinois Department of Corrections relegated more than 900 prisoners to solitary confinement, with dozens of them in isolation for one year or more.

Solitary confinement generally means keeping a person alone in a cell, in conditions designed to sharply curtail human interaction, for 22 to 24 hours a day, and a handful for more than a decade. Isolation cells in Illinois Menard Correctional Center typify solitary confinement quarters: small, gray, windowless chambers with solid metal doors.

No one who understands solitary confinement denies its crushing effects. Pope Francis condemns solitary confinement as a form of torture that increases the chances of suicide. Reams of evidence support him. As just one example, Craig Haney, the preeminent psychologist studying solitary confinement, explains that seclusion of prisoners results in mental and physical injuries that include panic, hallucinations, aggression, rage, depression and self-mutilation.

South African politician Nelson Mandela spent decades in solitary confinement. International law has now adopted the Mandela Rules, which limit solitary confinement to 15 days. The United Nations considers a period of more than 15 days in solitary confinement to be a form of torture prohibited by international treaties. In contrast, Illinois has kept people in solitary confinement for more than 15 years.

Even more alarming, growing evidence reported in Scientific American shows that solitary confinement may literally cause a portion of the human brain to shrink in size. This cutting-edge research provides physical confirmation for whats been known for well over a century  solitary confinement irreparably ravages the mind.

As early as 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court observed in the James Medley case that solitary confinement prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide.

Today, the law fails to place meaningful guardrails on the use of solitary confinement, enabling prison officials to isolate people without checks and balances. Infractions as minor as having underwear not authorized by the prison have resulted in days or even months of solitary confinement, while rule violations such as assault or contraband possession can result in years of isolation. In fact, some prisoners do not even know why they are in solitary confinement or what they need to do to get out.

This state of affairs  the extreme length of solitary confinement and the ease with which it is routinely imposed  represents an abandonment of historical restraint. As I showed in research published in the Harvard Law Review in late 2019, solitary confinement was first practiced in the United States in Philadelphia in the 1790s, at a jail just a stones throw from Independence Hall. Prisoners at Walnut Street Jail served very short periods of solitary confinement by modern standards, and strong mechanisms of judicial and governmental oversight helped keep the practice in check.

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Solitary confinement all but vanished for well over a century because of its cruelty and utter failure as a tool for reformation. The practice came roaring back in the 1980s and 90s as tough-on-crime rhetoric led to a frenzy to build supermax prisons.

Isolation feeds isolation  shunting people into far-flung prisons distant from families, communities and lawyers makes them easy to forget, and on top of that, prisoners face extreme restrictions on their ability to communicate with the world outside of prison. For those who do not know anyone in prison, it can be easy and convenient not to think about people who are locked up.

Solitary confinement represents extreme isolation  the very bottom of a very deep hole.

Nonetheless, across the country, prisoners in solitary confinement, often standing with their families and communities, are refusing to be silenced. Their efforts are delivering meaningful reform, triggering major reduction in the total solitary confinement population. Much more remains to be done.

In Illinois, lets not wait for the next hunger strike to abolish prolonged solitary confinement.

David M. Shapiro recently became executive director of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, an organization that has fought for a broad range of civil rights in its 50-plus-year history. Shapiro is co-author of Incarceration and the Law: Cases and Materials.

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Updated

Stockton Unified school officials could face criminal charges and be forced to repay millions of dollars in relief funds to the federal government after an investigation released Tuesday found sufficient evidence of fraud.

The audit by an independent California agency largely focused on a questionable $7.3 million contract paid for with pandemic relief funds. In 2021, former officials appeared to ram through the purchase of 2,200 ultraviolet air filters designed to kill COVID despite multiple warnings that they werent following laws and procedures, the report said.

In new details described by the auditors, two district employees  a purchasing manager and Stocktons chief business officer  eventually quit rather than help the board approve a proposal from a company that seemed to be trying to manipulate the bidding process.

This article is part of an ongoing investigative series on how school districts are spending $190 billion in federal pandemic relief money. With many parents in the dark about where the funds are going, reporters Linda Jacobson and Asher Lehrer-Small dig deep into the efforts of 13 school districts and two charter networks. Is the cash helping the students who need it most?

Auditors who conducted the review on behalf of the San Joaquin County Office of Education said the school board, former Interim Superintendent John Ramirez Jr. and former Chief Business Official Marcus Battle failed to perform their fiduciary duty.

Reached Wednesday afternoon, Battle strongly denied that he was at fault and said Ramirez faced extreme pressure from the board to move the contract forward.

This district was a disaster before I walked through the door, Battle said. We wanted to right a ship that had been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

The next step could be criminal charges.

I look forward to thoroughly reviewing the independent auditors report, San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement. Make no mistake, any attempt to commit fraud on the backs of our children will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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The release of the long-awaited report  presented to the board Tuesday night  was the latest rebuke of a Central Valley district that has been mired in controversy throughout the pandemic and faces a $30 million deficit next year. A civil grand jury report released last summer and reporting this week by The 74 point to sloppy business practices, petty board disputes and expenditures that gave the appearance of a conflict of interest. Now, a new board majority is promising to root out corruption and offer transparency on how the district is spending $241 million in pandemic aid.

Related: Stockton, California: What Happens When a Dysfunctional District Gets $241 Million

We could not in good conscience sit by and do nothing, Troy Brown, county superintendent of schools, told the board, as members of the audience gasped and applauded. The county office has oversight of districts finances.

Some attendees directed shouts of Resign at the three members still on the board who voted for the contract  Alicia Rico, Ray Zulueta Jr. and Cecilia Mendez. The county gave leaders of the 36,000-student district until March 1 to respond to a list of recommendations, including revising purchase policies, completing required paperwork and ensuring ethics training for board members.

Troy Brown, superintendent of schools for the San Joaquin County Office of Education, entered the Stockton Unified School Districts headquarters to give his presentation on the findings of the fraud review. (Courtesy of Silvia Cantu)

Board President AngelAnn Flores told attendees that the findings didnt surprise her.

I promise you that everybody involved in this will be held accountable, she said. I am just really upset [and] disappointed that we got here.

The 74 previously reported that a former board trustee, Scot McBrian, initially recommended that the company, Alliance Building Solutions, make a presentation on the filters to the board, which the grand jury said was unusual and could be perceived as a conflict of interest. McBrian said he heard about the filters from former Stockton mayor Anthony Silva, who has had a string of legal problems since 2012.

The audit added further details. Silva hosted a holiday party where Alliance representatives initially briefed McBrian and others about the filters. Zachary Avelar, a colleague of Silvas who was later appointed to the school board in July 2021, was also at the gathering. At the time, Avelar was also on the board of the Stockton Kids Club, where Silva was CEO.

Avelar and Silva did not respond to requests for comment. In a previous interview, Avelar said, Im nobodys puppet, and that its BS to say he was voting a certain way for someone else.

Avelar joined the board 7 months after Silvas party. Less than two weeks after he took office, the board voted 6-1 to approve the contract with IAQ Distribution, a subsidiary of Alliance, even though district staff rated the companys proposal the lowest in quality out of five. Flores was the lone dissenter.

The board chose IAQ despite the fact that it was not a licensed contractor in California and had been the subject of complaints the district received about labor violations.

In January 2021, a representative from Alliance wrote interim Superintendent Brian Biedermann and referenced working with your team to develop the proposal. The wording, the auditors said, suggested the company was trying to evade the normal bidding process.

Susanne Montoya, then-chief business officer, expressed concerns about the bid to Ramirez. But in an email included in the report, which the auditors described as intimidating, Ramirez insisted there was no conflict of interest with the bid and suggested the only problem was that staff had defied a directive to include Alliance in the pool of potential vendors.

Montoya later resigned, as did Nick LaMattina, a purchasing manager who wrote a memo to Montoya and Ramirez about the appearance of impropriety. Thats when Battle became chief business officer.

Battle said he was only in the district for a month when the proposal first went before the board in July 2021 and that he opposed it.

Department directors, he said, reported receiving visits from Mendez and other board members who often utilized threats, intimidation and their board power to get what they wanted.

Mendez declined to comment and referred The 74 to a district spokesperson. During the Tuesday meeting she pledged to move forward and get the training that we need.

Battle added that the county also bears some responsibility for allowing the district to reach this point.

Related: Facing Pandemic Learning Crisis, Districts Spend Relief Funds at a Snails Pace

Ultimately, only 800 of the filters were installed in classrooms. The remainder sit unused in a district warehouse.

According to the audit, The district and board ignored their own policies, procedures and past practice in order to award the contract to their preferred vendor.

Legal services

At Tuesdays meeting, Zulueta turned criticism back on the county and argued that it had approved previous budgets, regardless of a deficit. He blamed the decline in revenue on the districts past approval of charter schools.

He previously told The 74 in an email that he believes the board took every measure to ensure that all decisions were vetted through appropriate legal counsel when recommendations were made by staff.

But the audit team also found fault with the districts hiring of the attorney who provided that advice. The board didnt follow its proposal process when it hired attorney Jack Lipton in February 2020, the audit said. The report includes notes from Flores and a former board member, who said they didnt get a chance to weigh in on the decision to hire him.

And Mendez, board president at the time, drove Lipton to the meeting, raising questions about the attorney advising board members even before he was hired, investigators found. The contract to hire him, they said, was also written by his law firm, not the district.

It is of concern that the board set a policy and then ignored it, the auditors said. Even more irregular and of equal concern is that the board would contract for services from a legal firm that would not advise their prospective client to follow their own policies.

In January, at the first board meeting to feature the new majority, members voted to fire Lipton.

Related: As Districts Spend Relief Funds, Auditors Say Business is Booming

In an interview, Ramirez said he was alarmed by the districts fiscal condition when he became interim superintendent in early 2021. Thats why he called in the auditing team to look at the districts finances. An initial audit report in 2022 warned that the district was paying for essential positions with COVID relief funds and failing to plan for the future when that money dries up.

The district provided The 74 with records showing that relief funds have paid the salaries of 21 current and former central office employees, including 14 making over $100,000. That includes Motecuzoma Sanchez, the districts family resource center director, who also runs a tabloid-style website that targets political opponents in the district.

Ramirez, who signed a non-disparagement agreement when he resigned last June, said he couldnt comment on the findings of the new audit, but added, I have no concerns about what Ive been involved in.

He said he hoped the county superintendent would move quickly to bring closure to the community.

I dont feel that the challenges [in Stockton] are unique, he said. I think theyre a lot more extreme maybe, but I dont think theyre unique.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Feb. 15 that the alliance members had pledged new commitments to support Ukraine with heavy equipment and military training at the meeting of the alliance's defense ministers.

Ukraine has a window of opportunity to change the balance of power, and time is of the essence, he said.

Stoltenberg didnt elaborate on the type of military aid committed.

NATO members have also agreed to increase their defense production amid Russias war and to adopt a multinational project on the creation of NATO ammunition depots.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has started new offensive actions in Ukraine, sending in thousands and thousands more troops, Stoltenberg said on Feb. 13, as quoted by the Financial Times.

It is clear that we are in the race of logistics. Key capabilities like ammunition...must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield.

According to Ukraine's intelligence, Russia has started a new major offensive in the east to try to capture the entire Donbas, an industrial heartland comprising Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, by March.

Stoltenberg earlier told reporters that NATO needed to increase ammunition production, which is expected to be the key subject of discussion at the Feb. 14 meeting, according to the Financial Times.

The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles. The current rate of Ukraines ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain, said the NATO chief.

He added that the faster Ukraine could be provided with weapons, ammunition, and other equipment, the more lives could be saved.


An Orlando woman was in the shower when a car involved in a street race crashed through the front of her home.

I found me some clothes and climbed out the window, Neshay Singleton said.

Police said two cars were racing, when they lost control and crashed into Singletons home on Ivey Lane.

My car is gone, my house is gone, so everything i worked for since 2016 ive been staying here is gone, she said.

Police said the driver and passenger in the car that crashed into Singletons home ran from the scene of the crash. One of them was transported to the hospital and the others have yet to be taken into custody.

Read: Heres when Brightline wants to start local service

West units are responding to a multiple vehicle accident located at the 400 block of S Ivey Ln. No injuries at this time but 2 of the vehicles came off the roadway and struck a house. Ivey Ln is partially blocked and OFD is on scene. The investigation is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/dejVblnJav  Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) February 15, 2023

Stay tuned to Channel 9 Eyewitness News for updates.

See a map of the scene below:

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Powerful winds kicked up a sudden and dangerous swirling dust storm Tuesday, causing a 10-vehicle pileup that killed a driver on US Highway 54 in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The blowing dirt and dust became so thick that officials said it rapidly reduced visibility to "near-zero conditions" for motorists near Goodwell, about an hour north of Amarillo, Texas. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the chain-reaction crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. local time when a car struck a vehicle that had stopped on the highway due to an earlier accident. That second crash, in turn, caused several collisions involving five tractor-trailer trucks and five cars that were unable to stop in time, police said.

Authorities said one driver, identified as Scott D. Morrell, 69, of Tyrone, was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. Police said he was traveling too fast for the conditions.

US 54 was shut down for miles starting southwest of Goodwell and up toward Optima.

One of the 10 vehicles involved in the pileup along US Highway 54 Tuesday morning, Feb. 14, 2023, near Goodwell in Oklahoma's panhandle. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol)

The Texas County Sheriff's Department said the "hurricane of dust" produced "near-zero visibility" conditions, as seen in a video shot from a police vehicle heading to the crash scene. The footage, shot by Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Brown as he and an officer followed an ambulance to the scene, shows thick clouds of dust enveloping the highway. In a separate video, the Sheriff's Department shot footage of the subsequent wreckage once on the scene. Mangled vehicles and blown tires can be seen along the highway after the dust dissipated.

Wind gusts of up to 78 mph were reported in the panhandle, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, which earlier had alerted drivers to expect reduced visibility of about 1 mile. The Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation also issued warnings to drivers in the area. "The high winds are affecting driving conditions in the panhandle. It's kicking up the dirt so much that visibility is very low," the Highway Patrol posted on social media.

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The closed section of US 54 was reopened around 3 p.m. local time.

A closeup of the mangled trucks and cars involved in the 10-vehicle pileup along US Highway 54 Tuesday morning, Feb. 14, 2023, near Goodwell in Oklahoma's Panhandle. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol)

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A top source of fentanyl supply in Carrollton has been arrested and charged with federal drug crimes, the U.S attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced Wednesday.

The suspect was arrested Tuesday and made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, was charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance.

According to the complaint, Villanueva allegedly worked through a juvenile dealer to supply fentanyl-laced pills to Luis Eduardo Navarrete, 21, and Magaly Mejia Cano, 29, who are accused of peddling pills to teenage dealers in Carrollton. Villanueva also allegedly transacted with some of the teenage dealers directly.

Navarrete and Cano were charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances last week and remain detained pending trial.

A criminal complaint is an allegation of criminal conduct and is not evidence. Navarrete, Cano and Villanueva are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The defendants face up to 20 years each in federal prison if convicted.

All three defendants allegedly trafficked pills, mostly blue tablets inscribed M-30, to juvenile dealers in Carrollton, who went on to sell to friends and classmates, according to a news release from the United States Attorneys Office.

The drugs led to as many as 10 overdoses, including nine teenagers from Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District. Three students died as a result. The victims, all middle and high school students, ranged from 13 to 17 years of age and referred to the pills with slang terms such as percs, yerks, blues, or M-30s.

Fentanyl is killing our kids. We are angry about it. We are heartbroken about it. And we are determined to do all we can about it, said Leigha Simonton, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Make no mistake: Unless it comes from a licensed medical provider, that pill your child thinks is Percocet, or OxyContin, or Xanax, or Adderall, may actually be fentanyl. And if it is fentanyl, chances are, even a small part of one pill may be deadly.

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Three of the surviving overdose victims identified two juvenile dealers as their sources for pills, according to the complaint. Evidence showed that both juvenile dealers corresponded with Villanueva over social media about drug purchases. One of the two juvenile dealers admitted to law enforcement that Villanueva was his supplier.

In an interview with law enforcement following his arrest, Navarrete allegedly revealed that he, too, obtained the drugs he allegedly dealt to minors from Villanueva through one of the juvenile dealers.

Villanueva allegedly posted photographs of M30 pills, money and guns on social media. He used a social media app to negotiate drug transactions with juvenile dealers and described the quality of the pills he was selling to his customers, according to the release.

Following Navarrete and Canos arrests last week, Villanueva posted on social media, Only thing thats gonna stop us is feds.

We take this seriously in our community; we will leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety of our children, said Roberto Arredondo, Carrollton police chief.

The Drug Enforcement Administrations Dallas Field Office and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of school resource officers from the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Phelesa Guy and Rick Calvert are prosecuting the case.

Illicitly produced, fentanyl-laced pills often look similar to legitimate prescription pills such as Oxycontin or Percocet, but can pose significantly more danger. On the street, these pills are often referred to as M30s (a reference to the markings on some of the pills), blues, perks, yerks, china girls, or TNT.

Fentanyl does not discriminate by age, race, gender, or socio-economic status. Its addictive properties cannot be compared to anything else on the streets today. The overdose and poisoning margin of error between life or death is microscopic, said Eduardo Chavez, DEA Dallas special agent in charge, at Wednesdays press conference. We all have a role in this fight. Because it is a fight. It is a fight for our families, it is a fight to curb substance abuse, and it is a fight to hold criminal drug networks accountable for their actions.

DEA research shows that six out of 10 pills laced with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. For resources or more information, visit https://www.dea.gov/onepill.
Voters in both major US political parties are looking for fresh faces to run for president in 2024, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll

A majority of Democratic voters, at 52 per cent, do not want Mr Biden to seek a second term, while 40 per cent of Republican voters do not want Mr Trump to seek another term in 2024.

Mr Trump, who lost the presidency in 2020 and was impeached by Congress for inciting a riot at the US Capitol but ultimately acquitted by the Senate, announced he would run again in November.

But he has only recently started to hit the campaign trail and with less vigor than his 2016 presidential run. Reuters/Ipsos conducted the survey between 6 February and 13 February and polled 4,408 adults.

On Tuesday, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations during Mr Trumps presidenncy, announced she would run for president. Ms Haley, in her announcement video, noted how Republicans have lost the popular vote for the presidency seven out of the eight recent presidential elections.

But Ms Haley so far poses little threat to the former president, often barely registering in polls. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has focused intensely on targeting LGBT+ rights and teaching about race and racism in Florida, is Mr Trumps most formidable opponent, with 31 per cent of Republicans supporting him.

Mr Biden, who turned 80 in November and would be 82 on 20 Janaury 2025, has not indicated whether he will seek another term, though few challengers have emerged against him so far.

At the same time, both Mr Trump and Mr Biden lead their partys field in polling, with 43 per cent of Republicans supporting Mr Trump and 35 per cent of Democrats supporting Mr Biden.
Most Americans favor some role in helping Ukraine in its war with Russia, but support for supplying weapons and money is declining, a new survey suggests.

The survey by The Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center showed 48% of those interviewed supported providing weapons to Kyiv, 29% opposed it and 22% had no opinion. In the last survey, taken in May, 60% of Americans supported supplying weapons to Ukraine.

A majority of Democrats supported accepting Ukrainian refugees, supplying Ukraine with weapons and sending money directly. But there was less support among Republicans, the survey showed. And economic concerns were gaining import over Russian sanctions.

"Democrats and Republicans alike are increasingly likely to prioritize limiting damage to the U.S. economy over effective sanctions," according to the survey of more than 1,000 adults Jan. 26 and Jan. 30.

'LITTLE BY LITTLE THEY ARE WINNING':Tide turns in key Ukraine city: Updates as Russian offensive begins.

Developments:

U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says 97% of the Russian army is now in Ukraine. The Russians are facing "First World War levels of attrition," he told the BBC.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Wednesday that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked him to remain in his post. Renzikov has been under scrutiny because of a corruption scandal linked to his ministry.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson pledged to send artillery systems to Ukraine as soon as possible. Sweden applied for membership in the NATO military alliance soon after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Rescue workers clear the rubble of the residential building which was destroyed by a Russian rocket in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023.

NATO pledges increased support for Ukraine

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the alliance members had pledged new commitments to support Ukraine with heavy equipment and military training. NATO members also agreed to increase their defense production and to develop international NATO ammunition depots, he said at a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.

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"NATO Ministers meet at a critical time," he tweeted. "Moscow underestimated #Ukraine's bravery & NATO unity. We will step up & sustain our support for as long as it takes."

Russia claims breakthrough in Donbas region

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its troops broke through two Ukrainian defensive lines in the eastern Luhansk region and pushed Ukrainian forces back 2 miles, forcing them to leave behind equipment and the bodies of those killed. It wasn't possible to independently verify Moscows claim, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. A new Russian offensive in the nearly yearlong war has begun to show gains in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces that make up the highly contested Donbas region.

Reznikov said his countrys forces would need a few months to learn how to use new Western weapons, including advanced tanks, before they can try to push the Russians out of his country.

US intercepts Russian planes

U.S planes intercepted four Russian aircraft flying near Alaska airspace earlier this week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said in a statement. Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. The statement said NORAD had anticipated Russian activity and was prepared to intercept.

"This Russian activity in the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative," the statement said.

NORAD said the Russian flight activity was "in no way related" to a series of objects the U.S. has shot down this month, including a Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed off the coast of South Carolina.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine Russia updates: Support fading for giving Ukraine weapons
Prospect Lake Wire, a new apartment complex at the old Florida Tile site, is under construction. It's one of the primary landmarks in the area the city is calling Downtown West. The city is having a public forum on Thursday to discuss the area's future.

LAKELAND  Lakeland officials are seeking ideas from residents and business stakeholders on what the future development in Downtown West should look like.

A public forum will be held Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Yard on Mass, 802 N. Massachusetts Ave., by engineering firm GAI Consulting Inc. The consultant was hired by the city to spend nine months reviewing the Downtown West area and suggest ideas for the region.

The targeted Downtown West zone runs from Florida Avenue west to Brunnell Parkway, and from Memorial Boulevard south to North Ruby Street/Palmetto along the edge of Lake Hunter. It's nearly 1,140 acres.

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"This plan will help develop a unified vision and recommend specific actions to fill gaps in infrastructure, access and land use," Valeria Ferrell, Lakeland CRA's manager, said in a press statement.

Key landmarks in the area include Bonnet Springs Park and the former Florida Tile site, where construction has begun on the Prospect Lake Wire apartment complex. It covers the North Lake Wire, Crescent Heights, Lake Bonnet, Lake Beulah and Westgate Center neighborhoods.

Farrell said the public forum will have an informal structure where residents and community stakeholders will be encouraged to share ideas for what they would like to see in the area. The city has purposefully held off releasing specific suggestions from the consultants, Ferrell said, to avoid influencing residents' requests.

"This is the chance actually to focus on Downtown West as a place and talk about how we improve its relationship to the rest of downtown," Blake Drury of GAI Consultants said in a January presentation to Lakeland CRA's board. "How do we go from a place that is sort of surviving to thriving?"

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This aerial view of Carter's proposed redevelopment of the former Florida Tile site shows two commercial buildings in the foreground along Kathleen Road. Behind it, there is a mixed-used retail and residential apartment complex proposed at the south end of the property along George Jenkins Boulevard.

Drury said it's easy to see how the railroad, Sikes Boulevard and Kathleen Road divided the city's western communities. Some of the biggest changes have included the dismantling of the Morehead community, once located where the RP Funding Center is now, and the creation of the In-Town Bypass for U.S. 98.

One of GAI Consultants' early insights from their study of the region is related to Bonnet Springs Park.

"Bonnet Springs Park is a community asset, but it needs better access from the community," Drury said.

The city consultants working on a vision for Downtown west have said that Bonnet Springs "is a community asset, but it needs better access from the community."

The consultants found there are several areas where residents can walk down a block to see the fence and buildings from their neighborhoods, Drury said, but in some cases have to travel a mile or more to reach the main entrance off George Jenkins Boulevard.

"We need to change that," he said. "We could do a lot better job getting people into and out of the park that aren't in a car and aren't coming from Winter Haven or Plant City. I think it needs to be better for the people who live right next to it."

GAI Consultants expects is final suggested plans may include city policy changes, infrastructure needs or specific building plans.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland wants a vision for Downtown West. A public forum is Thursday
Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, one of 11 defendants accused in the plot to kidnap and kill Haitian President Jovenel Moise, was so emboldened as an FBI informant that the Miami-area resident met with agents and promoted regime change in Haiti ahead of the brazen presidential assassination.

Ortizs FBI ties, first reported by the Miami Herald in a series about how the plot to overthrow Haitis president was partly rooted in South Florida, were laid out in a criminal complaint Tuesday charging him and two others with supporting a conspiracy to kidnap and kill the president of Haiti.

A fourth defendant, Frederick Bergmann Jr., is charged with conspiring to smuggle ballistic vests to former Colombian soldiers who allegedly carried out the deadly July 7, 2021, attack that left Moise dead and his wife, Martine Moise, seriously wounded.

Ortiz had his first appearance Tuesday in a Miami federal court along with his three co-defendants. The other two men are Antonio Tony Intriago, owner of Doral-based Counter Terrorist Unit Security, or CTU, which was an affiliate of Ortizs CTU Federal Academy LLC, and Walter Veintemilla, head of Miramar-based Worldwide Capital Lending Group.

Ortiz and Intriago actually devised the plan to depose the president, said Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. Attorney for South Florida.

As part of the investigation, clearly law enforcement learned those things, Lapointe said, addressing a question about what the FBI knew about Ortizs involvement in the plot. But those were not things that law enforcement would have known prior to them happening.

The use of U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, played a central role in the defendants scheme. A lawyer for two jailed defendants in Haiti previously told the Herald that several of the accused posed as federal agents in a meeting with his clients to discuss an elaborate U.S. government plan to bust drug-trafficking Haitian government officials using FBI and DEA agents.

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Not only was Ortiz involved in meetings to discuss how to forcibly remove President Moise, according to the complaint, he even arranged a meeting with the FBI by advising the FBI that those accompanying [him] had information to provide the FBI about terrorism.

At the time, the complaint said, Ortiz was a confidential source for the FBI in a matter unrelated to the plot to remove Moise. The complaint said Ortiz may have tried to use that pre-existing relationship and the meeting, which occurred around April 6, 2021, to suggest to others that CTU was affiliated with the FBI and/or the Department of Justice.

It was not, and Ortiz did not disclose to the FBI [the] criminal conduct alleged herein, the complaint said. After the events ... Ortiz was deactivated as a source.

Ortiz, wearing a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt, blue shorts and flip-flops, used an interpretation device and spoke in Spanish Tuesday as federal Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis posed questions to assess his ability to pay for legal representation. Ortiz, a Colombian national who is a permanent U.S. resident, told Louis that he was a shadow driver for a hotel making about $1,800 a month plus an extra $1,000 with tips.

He does not own any land and has about $3,200 in savings, he said. His car is worth about $7,000 or $8,000.

Louis appointed a federal public defender to represent Ortiz, but federal prosecutors said they would appeal the decision.

According to the criminal complaint, Ortiz was referred to as Colonel Gabriel and was in constant communication with several of the suspects charged in the assassination plot, including James Solages, a Haitian American who had quit his job working for a nursing home in Palm Beach County to work for CTU Security, run by Intriago, Ortizs business partner.

At April meetings, CTU represented itself as being associated with the U.S. Justice Department and/or the FBI, the complaint said, and took steps to falsely suggest the United States government sanctioned its operational plan.

The lies didnt stop there, the FBI said. Solages, the criminal complaint said, falsely claimed that he had been in the U.S. military, and Joseph Vincent, another suspect currently in U.S. custody, wore a pin that created the false impression that he was affiliated with the Department of State and he also had fake CIA credentials.

The criminal complaint notes that the plan to oust Moise had focused on the presidential palace as far back as April 27, 2021, when Ortiz sent a text message to one of the suspects with a photo of a whiteboard with a drawing of the assault plan for the building. The plot later shifted to the presidents private residence in the Pelerin 5 neighborhood.

One reason may have been that in the final weeks he was alive, Moise had stopped going to the palace, as he increasingly became concerned about an attack on his life, sources previously told the Herald. He also got wind of a possible coup in the making, writing the name of Christian Emmanuel Sanon and coup in a notebook that Haitian investigators found.

The plot gained momentum as the suspects exchanged text messages in coded language about weapons and the operation, which they referred to as the party. On June 20, 2021, according to the complaint, Solages texted Ortiz that they needed 10 DEA velcro patches  the same patches that Solages and others wore during the deadly assault on July 7, when he falsely yelled out that the presence of armed men was a DEA operation. The day that Moise was killed inside his bedroom in the hills above Port-au-Prince, Solages yelled through a bullhorn that the operation was a DEA sting, even though it was not. Haitian police later recovered DEA patches from the scene.

Solages, Vincent and two other defendants, Sanon and German Rivera Garcia, were transferred from a prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to Miami late last month. Solages, Sanon and Rivera were arraigned Wednesday in federal court and pleaded not guilty; Vincent is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 24. While Rivera is the alleged co-leader of the Colombian commandos accused of shooting Moise, Sanon is the Haitian-American pastor and physician who was in position to replace the president until two weeks before the killing. Solages mentioned that he lacked the constitutional requirements.

To be president of Haiti, one needs to live in the country for at least five years and hold no other nationality. Sanon held both U.S. and Haitian citizenship and lived in South Florida.

On Tuesday, during the first court appearance by the latest group of arrested suspects, all but Veintemilla, the Weston financier, received court-appointed attorneys.

Accused of paying for the airline tickets for the Colombian nationals to travel to Haiti, among other things, Veintemilla barely spoke in court. His lawyer, Tara Kudman, also quickly left the courthouse.

Intriago who for the past 20 months has had a private attorney, said he could no longer afford the fees. Wearing a plaid shirt, brown pants and brown boots, he initially had a translation device but then asked that it be removed and spoke in English.

I used to have one, Intriago, a Venezuelan national, said about his attorney, but during the last year all my accounts were closed. I have no money. Attorney Emmanuel Perez was appointed to represent him, but declined to comment on the case.

Asked about work, Intriago said he had become a Realtor and had worked jobs here and there during the last year but wasnt making any significant amount of money. Just enough to pay rent, he said, remarking that he has made just about $5,000 so far this year.

While few details are public about the manner in which the arrests occurred, one detail did emerge during the questioning of Bergmann, who lives in Tampa and is listed on several companies with Sanon.

When asked if he had a lawyer, he told the judge, Im from Tampa. I dont have any money. I dont even have my license with me.

He gets paid about $1,700 a month, he said, to take care of his parents, and receives about $1,800 in Social Security benefits. Bergmann said that he sold his business and is receiving $2,500 a month for the next four months.

A federal prosecutor told the magistrate judge that Bergmann was a flight risk. The prosecutor, Monica Castro, said that when federal agents went to arrest him, the businessman opened the door with a curtain rod in his hands and displayed extreme agitation.
The free speech wars are escalating at North Carolinas flagship university.

At its January, meeting the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill board of trustees directed the university administration to accelerate its development of a School of Civic Life and Leadership. Not surprisingly, the mandate has led to objections from UNC faculty members asserting that it is their province to determine curriculum. The president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, Belle Wheelan, has weighed in suggesting that the universitys accreditation may be at risk if the trustees dont rescind their directive.

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Before engaging in a battle over the legitimate roles of the UNC board and the faculty, the trustees should be asking themselves whether the creation of a new school to promote freedom of expression will advance that meritorious objective. Or will an independent school create only a safe space for the open exchange of ideas while the rest of the university proceeds as usual?

The boards proposed school comes on the heels of earlier measures to counter the suppression of speech and ideas found by some to be offensive or false. In July, after observing that a healthy democracy not only tolerates dissent but welcomes it, board members each voluntarily pledged to treat all students, faculty, staff, and our entire university community with respect, dignity, courtesy, and generosity of spirit. The board also adopted a resolution reaffirming its commitment to academic freedom as embodied in the Chicago Principles and the Kalven Committee Report on the Universitys Role in Political and Social Action.

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The University of Chicago issued the Chicago Principles in 2015, and several universities have adopted them in the face of efforts to suppress the free and open expression of ideas. The 1967 Kalven Report, also from the University of Chicago, committed the institution to neutrality on matters of public policy to encourage robust debate and avoid a chilling effect on the free exchange of ideas, which is essential to any university.

The UNC boards continued attention to these issues is good news for those who envision universities as crucibles for the free exchange of ideas and the pursuit of truth. The board deserves plaudits for taking the lead in the face of the type of resistance that has led most university trustees and presidents to run for cover. But it is doubtful that a free-standing school of civic life and leadership will do much to affect the broader, deeply embedded university culture.

Although clearly not the trustees intent, a lesson students will learn from the creation of an independent program inspired by a commitment to free speech and the civil exchange of ideas is this: If you value unconstrained exchange of ideas, enroll in the school that allows for that. Otherwise, you can sign on with the established departments and accept whatever rules of inquiry and debate they declare.

The UNC boards adoption of the Chicago Principles and the Kalven Report and its pledge to value differing opinions is noble and necessary. But as generations of academic trustees can attest, a university culture is not easily changed. Faculty members see themselves as independent actors, and administrators live in fear of faculty and student criticism. Unless trustees, presidents and deans impose serious consequences on those who suppress disfavored or controversial ideas, little will change. Unless agreeing to the Chicago Principles means that everyone at the university will abide by those principles, it is little more than posturing.

So two cheers for the UNC trustees. They have demonstrated a commitment to the values that make a university a university. But the creation of what likely will become a free speech enclave, a safe space for the free exchange of ideas, will only encourage the rest of the university to keep on keeping on.

The not inconsiderable resources required to support a new school of 20 faculty members would be better invested in a pervasive effort to build a university culture of free expression and the unrestrained exchange of ideas. Central to that effort would be replacement of the hundreds of administrators who promote and protect the existing culture with faculty members committed to the pursuit of truth.

The savings might just pay for the effort.

James Huffman is a professor and former dean at Lewis & Clark Law School. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.

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A woman charged in the death of a Georgia 3-year-old found at a New Mexico compound has signed a tentative plea agreement to weapon charges in exchange for a reduced sentence, according to the Associated Press.

Abdul-Ghani Wahhajs remains were found on Aug. 6, 2018 on what would have been his fourth birthday. The boy, who was from Clayton County, had previously been reported missing in November 2017.

Prosecutors charged five people in his death, including the boys father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and his partner, Jany Leveille.

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Channel 2 Action News has been following this case since the childs remains were found in 2018.

The plea agreement would ignore Leveilles kidnapping and terrorism-related charges and allow her to accept a potential 12 to 15 year sentence and possible fines.

The childs remains were found alongside 11 other starving children.

The surviving children told investigators about religious rituals performed on Abdul-Ghani, saying the boy would cry with his eyes rolling back into his head as jinn and shayateens, or spirits and demons, were cast out of him, sometimes for up to five hours a day.

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After the childs death, they said regular washing of his body would be used as a tool of punishments against one of the children, if he disobeyed the requests of the adults or showed disrespect.

Excerpts from Leveilles journal, obtained by Channel 2 Action News in 2018, revealed that Abdul-Ghani died on Christmas Eve when his father was trying to remove a spirit from his body. The journal says his heart stopped, started again and stopped permanently, but Leveille believed hed be resurrected as Jesus.

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She goes on to say in her journal that she believed the Abdul-Ghanis birth mother, Hakima Ramzi, used black magic to steal the boy from her womb.

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The Associated Press contributed to this article.
A 2006 Buick is being credited with capturing a burglary suspect, after the man slid into the drivers seat and somehow couldnt get out.

It happened Jan. 22 in Haines City, Florida, and the suspect claimed to have superpowers as he was being arrested, according to the Polk County Sheriffs Office. Haines City is about 35 miles southwest of Orlando.

The car was parked in a cow pasture when a property owner noticed someone unfamiliar inside, officials said.

While the witness was at his gate unlocking the fence ... he observed a (man) sitting in the driver seat looking through the center console, the sheriffs office reported.

The witness then closed the (car) door on the suspect and called 911.

When a deputy arrived around 7:15 p.m, he found the 27-year-old suspect still sitting in the driver seat with his head looking toward the steering wheel with the driver side door closed.

Why he remained in the car  a four-door vehicle  was not revealed, but illegal drug use may have been a factor.

After the suspect was arrested, a plastic bag of a white powdery substance was found hidden in his pants, officials said. The powder tested presumptive positive for cocaine, the arresting deputy reported.

I asked the suspect if he knew where he obtained the narcotics to which he replied: Its my prescription ... It gives me superpowers. the deputy wrote.

The suspect was also in possession of a handcuff key, which he said did not belong to him, officials said.

When asked what he was doing in the Buick, the suspect said he was thirsty as he walked by the pasture and was in search of coins to buy a drink, officials said.

Coins identified as being from the vehicle were found in his pocket during the search, the report said.

The man, who lives in Bartow, was arrested and charged with burglary of an unoccupied conveyance; larceny petit theft; possession of cocaine; possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a concealed handcuff key while in custody, officials said.

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Jas 39 Gripen

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a summit in Brussels on Feb. 9 asked Stockholm to provide Kyiv with Jas 39 Gripen jets, but the Swedish prime minister said this was not an option.

Read also: Germany and Sweden to further bolster Ukraines air defenses

According to Jonson, today the priority is to strengthen Ukraines air defense.

When it comes to Gripen, were currently facing restrictions since these aircraft are crucial for maintaining our territorial integrity and sovereignty, he said.

Read also: Boris Johnson calls for fighter jets and more tanks for Ukraine

So, it will be a serious obstacle in terms of our national defense resources.

The Swedish defense minister noted he had discussed the strengthening of air defense with his Ukrainian colleague, Oleksii Reznikov, and they would continue working on this issue with other countries.

In addition, according to Jonson, Sweden is ready to boost military aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Read also: Sweden not sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine yet, but open to transfer Stridsvagn 122

Were significantly strengthening our support to Ukraine, he said.

Well start transferring and training the Ukrainian military on more than 50 CV-90 combat vehicles next week. Were providing various air defense equipment, winter clothing, and are determined to increase our support to Ukraine.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Feb. 14 the latest Ramstein format meeting had brought no news about potential transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine.

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.

On Feb. 8, Zelenskyy made an official visit to the United Kingdom. The Ukrainian president met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and addressed the Parliament.

Read also: Sweden approves $400 million package of military aid to Ukraine

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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. A final decision has yet to be made, however.

After addressing the European Parliament and at the EU summit, Zelenskyy 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
Sweden received a request from Ukraine to transfer Gripen fighter aircraft, and it is being considered, Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson said on Feb. 15. But these aircraft are very important for Sweden's defense, he said.

According to Johnson, the priority for Sweden is to strengthen Ukraines air defense for now.

The Swedish government has provided Ukraine with military aid in the amount of about 1 billion euros and is ready to continue its support, he said.

The decision on whether to provide 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 alliances defense ministers.

Earlier, several Western officials also told the Financial Times that Ukraines needs for ammunition and air defense outweighed longer-term requests, such as fighter jets, as Russia has started its new offensive.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 9 that several European leaders expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and other necessary weapons without 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 after green-lighting modern tanks for Ukraine amid fears of escalating tensions with Russia.


(Bloomberg) -- Swedens Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signaled the Nordic nation was preparing for the possibility of joining NATO after neighboring Finland, following comments from the defense alliances chief that a joint entry isnt the main question.

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Sweden and Finlands effort to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been blocked by Turkeys refusal to ratify their membership bids, with Hungarys approval also pending. Kristerssons remarks on Tuesday are the clearest indication yet that a possibility of separate paths to membership is now being accepted by Stockholm, even as the premier said his country has no other plans.

A separate entry would be unfortunate, Kristersson told a news conference on Tuesday. It would not be a failure but a result of Turkey making Turkish decisions.

His comments followed a statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier on Tuesday that the main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together but that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible. Stoltenberg reiterated on Tuesday the enlargement process, ratified by 28 of 30 members already, has been the quickest in NATOs modern history.

Turkey is nearing a decision to approve Finlands accession to NATO by next month at the latest, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vetoed the Swedish bid over the nations alleged support for Kurdish militants, though its unclear whether he will change his mind and when.

Following Erdogans move, Finland opened the door to potentially decoupling its application from that of Sweden, though Helsinki has insisted a joint entry remains the preference. While the two countries had applied together in May, their bids are technically separate as each filed its own letter seeking admission and NATOs rules recognize no joint memberships.

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In recent weeks, focus has shifted to completing the enlargement by NATOs summit in Vilnius mid-July following elections in Turkey  seen as a watershed in the process. That time line would also allow Swedens new, tighter anti-terror laws to take effect.

Speaking in Stockholm on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Ankara and Budapest to act swiftly on the issue.

Its our expectation that all NATO members, including Turkey and Hungary, now implement the accession of Sweden and Finland and dont introduce any further delay in ratification, she said.

The US has also thrown its weight behind the Nordic nations, with the Biden administration repeatedly calling for a quick ratification. A bipartisan group of Senators earlier this month told President Joe Biden that Congress shouldnt consider F-16 fighter jet sales to Turkey until the country ratifies protocols accepting Sweden and Finland as members of NATO.

--With assistance from Iain Rogers and Kati Pohjanpalo.

(Updates with details on applications, time line from fifth paragraph)

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Ulf Kristersson and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 15, 2023

Read also: Sweden considering Ukraines request for Gripen jets, but restrictions exist, says defense minister

Kristersson recalled that Sweden doesnt exclude the supply of fighter jets, but in order to achieve this, an international coalition must be created.

We fully understand that for Ukraine this issue shouldnt be dragging on, the PM said.

Ulf Kristersson, who has been the head of the Swedish government since October 2022, arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 15. He and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed support for Ukraine, rebuilding of the Ukrainian energy system, economic cooperation, and also Kyivs European aspirations.

It is very important to ensure that the international community continues to support Ukraine, its integrity and independence, Kristersson said.

Ending Russias war against Ukraine is a matter of global security and peace.

Read also: Swedish investigation confirms sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines

He also paid a visit to Borodyanka and the village of Kalynivka in Kyiv Oblast, which suffered Russian occupation in the early stages of the war.

U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have previously said they wont transfer aircraft to Ukraine.

Read also: Every country has right to transfer military aircraft to Ukraine, says White House

On Feb. 8, Zelenskyy made an official visit to the UK. The president met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and addressed the Parliament.

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. A final decision is yet to be made, however.

Read also: No news about fighter jets for Ukraine, Pentagon head says

After addressing the European Parliament and at the EU summit, Zelenskyy 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 deliveries.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
By Khalil Ashawi

JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) - An aid convoy has reached earthquake-hit northwestern Syria from the eastern Deir al-Zor province, an example of assistance making it across a frontline of the country's 11-year-long civil war since the disaster struck more than a week ago.

Organised by Arab tribes, trucks loaded with blankets, food, medical supplies and tents arrived overnight in the insurgent-held rebel northwest from a region controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Reuters witness said.

More aid was being collected, said Hamoud Saleh al-Darjah, an organiser. The aid would be distributed in the north without discrimination, he said. "This isn't the last campaign," he said.

Many of the Syrians displaced from Deir al-Zor to the rebel-held northwest during Syria's civil war are members of Arab tribes which wield significant influence.

Civil war enmities have obstructed at least two attempts to send aid across frontlines into northwest Syria.

A convoy sent to the rebel-held northwest by the Kurdish-led authorities in the east and northeast was turned back last week. Sources on both sides blamed each other for the failed attempt.

More than 4,400 people have been reported killed and 8,600 injured by the earthquake in northwest Syria, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The death toll reported in Syrian government-held parts of the country stands at 1,414.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Christina Fincher)
Tank Leopard

Read also: U.S. signs contracts worth more than $1.5 billion for production of ammunition

I want to say that we have equipped a battalion of Leopard 2A4 tanks, said Blaszczak.

He added that Poland transferred 14 tanks, Norway  8, Canada  4, Spain  4-6, with Finland donating an unspecified number of vehicles.

According to the minister, training of Ukrainian crews is currently underway in Poland, with help from Canadian and Norwegian instructors.

On Feb. 14, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that a group of countries, including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, are working on the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Read also: Denmark and the Netherlands roll back decision on transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, reports Welt

On Jan. 25, after long hesitation, Germany approved the transfer of 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries. On the same day, the U.S. announced the delivery of 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks can be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.

Read also: Finland involved in cooperation on Leopard tanks for Ukraine, says defense minister

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine will receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 300-500 tanks for a major counteroffensive.

On Feb. 7, Berlin issued a license to German military companies to supply Ukraine with 178 Leopard-1A5 tanks. Pistorius stated that Ukraine would receive more than 100 Leopard-1A5s from several European countries.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
For months, experts and the Internal Revenue Service have warned taxpayers that their tax refund might be smaller this year.

Now, early 2022 tax season data is proving this, and we know just how much smaller refunds are.

Compared to last year, the average refund amount is $1,963 this year, about 11% smaller than last years average refund amount of $2,201, the IRS data shows. Thats based on nearly 8 million refunds that have already been determined and nearly 17 million tax returns that have been processed by the IRS.

The latest update compares data from Feb. 4, 2022, and Feb. 3, 2023, the IRS said.

Heres why your refund could be smaller this year and other tax season information to know.

Stimulus payments and charitable contributions

The two biggest causes of smaller tax refunds are changes to stimulus payments and charitable contribution deductions.

In recent years, many taxpayers received stimulus Economic Impact Payments to help cover their expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, no stimulus payments were issued, so taxpayers wont see the higher return as in years past.

The IRS also changed the way charitable contributions affect tax refunds.

Taxpayers who opt for the standard deduction instead of itemizing when filing their taxes will not be able to deduct charitable contributions, which is a change from past years and will be reflected in the size of tax refunds.

Tax season dates to know





The 2022 tax season started Monday, Jan. 23 and runs until Tuesday, April 18.

Jan.: IRS Free File system opened.

Jan. 23: IRS officially started accepting and processing individual 2022 tax returns.

April 18: The national due date to file a 2022 tax return or request an extension.

Oct. 16: The deadline to file a tax return for those who request an extension.

When to expect your tax refund

The IRS estimates that most refunds will be issued in 21 days or less from when you file, but there are some caveats.

Any taxpayer filing a return that includes an Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit may have to wait a bit longer, depending on when they file their return. The IRS said it is unable to issue these returns until mid-February, so early filers should start to see those returns in their accounts around Feb. 28.

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Once you file your tax return, you can check the IRS Wheres My Refund system to track your refund starting 24 hours after you file. To track your refund visit https://www.irs.gov/refunds.

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A 16-year-old boy stabbed his father to death at his familys store, cleaned up his tracks and went to school, Indiana investigators say.

Fort Wayne police found 52-year-old Tawfika Al-Malahi dead  his torso, neck and head covered in wounds  at his convenience store, on the morning of Feb. 7, according to Allen County court documents. Someone stabbed him 45 times, cut his throat and bludgeoned his head, with some of the damage having been done after he was dead.

The camera surveillance system was unplugged from its recording device and the cash register opened, as if the store had been robbed, documents said. These were attempts to stage the scene, detectives would later learn.

When investigators spoke with Al-Malahis son, he told them he had been at school since 8 a.m., documents said. But a look at Northrop High Schools attendance records showed the teen didnt arrive until 11:40 a.m.

While no video was captured inside the store itself, investigators rounded up footage from a city bus and an elementary school that allowed them to track the teens movements, according to investigators.

Video taken outside the elementary school showed the teen riding a bike up to a dumpster around 11 a.m. and tossing in a garbage bag, documents said. Inside the bag, detectives found the missing DVR for the stores camera system, two knives, clothes, plastic gloves, an empty bottle of bleach, and a metal device with bits of skin and hair sticking to it.

Sitting in an interview room with police, Al-Malahis son said he killed him, according to court documents.

The night prior to the killing, he left a door to the store unlocked, allowing him to slip in unnoticed in the morning before his father, documents said.

He hid behind a table and waited, he told detectives. When Al-Malahi arrived, he walked right past his son having no idea he was there until an arm reached out from behind and pulled him backward, while another plunged a knife into his back again and again, according to court documents.

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It was his mothers knife, the teen told investigators.

Next he battered his dads head with a piece of metal, documents read. The man fell to the floor, facing up, and his son drove the knife into his chest several times more before cutting his throat.

Then he went about cleaning the scene and getting rid of what evidence he could, documents read. He also took the money out of the cash register to make it look like a robbery.

Police charged the teen with murder and he was taken to the Allen County Juvenile Center. No motive was provided for the killing in court documents.

An initial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16, court records show.

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Planet 13 will keep the former bank buildings drive-through stations in the event Illinois allows curbside service at the states cannabis dispensaries in the future. (Steve Sadin / Lake County News-Sun)

A storefront and a onetime bank building a half-mile apart on opposite sides of the Fountain Square shopping center are under renovation to become Waukegans first two cannabis dispensaries.

Ivy Hall hopes to open its dispensary at 960 Waukegan Road in a few weeks, while Planet 13 intends to begin operating a larger one at 4000 Northpoint Blvd. over the summer.

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Workers were painting the interior of Ivy Halls 4,600-square-foot shop Wednesday after receiving a building permit from the city of Waukegan on Nov. 29. Fixtures did not appear to be installed as the interior begins to take shape.

Planet 13 recently acquired the former bank building where it will open its 15,000-square-foot dispensary. Frank Cowan, the companys director of Illinois operations, said renovations began quickly to turn a onetime financial institution into an upscale dispensary.

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Weve started our demolition of the inside, and we hope to open this summer, Cowan said. We already have billboards up on the highway.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Ivy Hall cannabis dispensary in Waukegan scheduled to open in a few weeks. (Steve Sadin / Lake County News-Sun)

Since Ivy Hall received its conditional use permit from the city over a year ago, and Planet 13 got the approval of the City Council in December, both companies have undergone changes.

Labeling itself the sensory dispensary, according to its website, Ivy Hall attempts to distinguish itself from other cannabis operations in Illinois through its environment and customer service.

Were a sensory dispensary set in a comforting neighborhood boutique environment, Omar Delgado, the companys director of retail, said in an email. A key differentiator for the Ivy Hall brand is a robust rewards program that unlocks discounts, events and experiences.

Waukegan will be the third location in Illinois for Ivy Hall. Delgado said it already has shops in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago and in Crystal Lake. It hopes to open 10 locations throughout the state.

Cowan, who was originally the 51% owner of Planet 13s Illinois subsidiary, sold his interest to the publicly traded parent corporation on Feb. 7 to comply with federal securities regulations. He said unless the parent company owned the subsidiary, it could not include its revenue in its financial reporting.

Already operating dispensaries in Nevada and California, Waukegan will be Planet 13s first Illinois venture. David Farris, Planet 13s vice president of sales and marketing, said the company is not concerned about Ivy Hall opening so close. There is room for both, he said.

We look at traffic, Farris said. Weve looked at a lot of traffic studies and know there is a lot of traffic in the area. The future casino will bring a lot more, he added, referring to American Places temporary casino.

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Nearby competition is not a concern for Ivy Hall either. Delgado said the location fits the profile because the market in Illinois continues to grow and many parts, including the Waukegan area, are underserved.

Ivy Hall looks for markets that are underserved and dont have safe, convenient access to cannabis, Delgado said. The industry continues to have dispensaries open in underserved markets. We will see the overall market expand.

When Ivy Hall opens, it will be the closest cannabis dispensary to Wisconsin, where the sale of recreational marijuana remains illegal. Planet 13 gains the distinction by less than a half-mile when it begins operations.

That was a huge part of our decision, Farris said. We see a lot of untapped potential in Wisconsin.

Currently Lake County cannabis dispensaries are located in Mundelein, Highwood, Highland Park, Buffalo Grove and Wauconda.
A Texas man fraudulently applied for more than $30 million in COVID-19 relief loans, resulting in more than $15 million in government losses, according to officials in New York.

The man, a 33-year-old from Irving, was sentenced to 42 months in prison Feb. 14, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, following the imprisonment of four other people involved in the scheme.

The five co-conspirators illegally plundered funds meant to financially support struggling businesses, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the news release. All defendants in this case will now serve substantial prison time for stealing much-needed relief intended for legitimately deserving companies.

Attorneys for the people involved could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News.

As a part of the scheme, the group, all but one of whom are Texas residents, fraudulently submitted paperwork to the Small Business Administration as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

The scam involved collaborating with people affiliated with real businesses and submitting dishonest or misleading PPP loan applications, officials said.

One application, submitted in June 2020, stated that a company in need of funds employed more than 100 people, officials said. In reality, the company only had four employees.

In total, the government sustained more than $15 million in losses as a result, including about $4 million which was doled out based on bogus applications for companies in New York, officials added.

After being charged in 2021, the Irving man pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in April 2022, according to court documents.

On top of his prison sentence, he has been directed to pay $9.3 million back to the government, officials said.

The four co-conspirators received prison sentences ranging from 18 to 90 months, and they have been ordered to pay nearly $20 million back to the government.

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Hundreds of people across the country have been charged in connection to similar pandemic scams, according to the Department of Justice.

More than $80 billion in relief loans provided during the pandemic may have been fraudulent, according to the Associated Press, citing a May 2022 report from the SBAs Office of the Inspector General.

A former U.S. attorney told NBC News that the PPP scams amount to the biggest fraud in a generation.

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Federal health agencies worked to get more nursing home residents and staff to take the latest Covid booster all winter, creating social media hashtags, putting money into vaccine hotlines and flagging the worst performing facilities to states.

But their decision to scale back on two vaccine interventions that were critical in getting residents and staff protected from Covid during the first vaccine rollout in late 2020 and 2021 has left the job mostly to facilities, resident advocates say, with disappointing results.

Today, just over half of nursing home residents and nearly 23 percent of nursing home staff have received the bivalent booster, a precipitous drop from the more than 85 percent of residents and staff who received the primary vaccine.

Thats still higher than most Americans: A scant 16 percent of the eligible U.S. population has gotten the updated shot. But when it comes to Covid, nursing home residents have never been like most Americans. Nursing home residents make up about one out of every six cumulative Covid deaths in the U.S., according to AARP, and hundreds of residents are still dying each week.



Nearly three years since SARS-CoV-2 devastated residents, their families and staff, the Biden administration is struggling to ensure the countrys most vulnerable population is protected from the virus. As the federal government loosens its grip on managing the pandemic in long-term care facilities  as it has throughout society  not all nursing homes are stepping into the breach to encourage residents and staff to get boosted, raising the question of who, in a Covid-endemic America, is ultimately responsible for continuing to protect this uniquely exposed community from an unpredictable disease.

Theres this real disconnect between the idea that we have to be hypervigilant protecting residents, but at the same time the underlying policy isn't reflecting that, said Sam Brooks, director of public policy for the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care. It's kind of back to how things were before. And thats sad. Because how it was before was why this happened.

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The Trump and then Biden administrations first nursing home vaccination campaign was a bright spot in the early pandemic response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teamed up with CVS and Walgreens to stage free, on-site clinics at thousands of long-term care facilities across the country, ultimately administering some eight million shots.

Later, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which monitors the more-than-15,000 nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars, introduced a requirement that those facilities staff must get their primary Covid vaccination.

The two policies helped push both groups Covid vaccination rates far above the nursing home vaccination rates for other diseases, such as flu and pneumococcal.

But they werent used again for the bivalent shot, which protects against the Covid strain that now comprises the majority of cases. Nursing home residents who are not up to date on their Covid vaccinations are up to 50 percent more likely to be infected than their peers who are, according to the CDC.

The CDC still partners with retail pharmacies at tens of thousands of locations around the country to administer vaccines, but has scaled back the program, putting the onus on long-term facilities to arrange most onsite vaccine clinics from pharmacies or state health departments, or administer the vaccine themselves.

CMS also has not updated its staff vaccine mandate to include the bivalent shot or previous boosters, despite research showing that higher staff vaccination rates are associated with lower rates of infection and death among residents.

For the initial vaccination campaign in 2021, we saw an extraordinary effort and we got extraordinary results. For delivering Covid boosters to nursing home residents, we saw a normal effort and we got normal results, said Ari Houser, senior methods advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. I had hoped that the lesson learned from that very successful initial vaccination campaign is that we should do this more often But it doesn't seem to have been the way things went.

Everyone agrees that vaccine fatigue among residents and staff alike  as in the rest of the country  is pervasive, but nursing homes are doing an uneven job on their own navigating that challenge, advocates say.

Administration health officials, for their part, say they have tried tackling the low booster rate from every angle.

Nursing home residents remain the nations most vulnerable group, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Feb. 8 while testifying before Congress, adding that the current booster vaccination rate is not enough.



In November, CMS reminded nursing homes that they are required to educate residents and staff about Covid vaccines and to offer to administer boosters. The agency also provided more assistance to facilities to help them set up on-site clinics and distribute vaccine education materials. The agency has sent a list of nursing homes vaccination rates to states, and last month CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure wrote to the governors of Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Texas and Mississippi  the five states with the lowest resident booster rates  and requested calls about how to improve the situation. CMS declined to say whether those have taken place.

When asked whether CMS considered updating the staff vaccine mandate to include the latest shot, a CMS spokesperson responded that boosters were not recommended at the time the rule was made in late 2021, but that the agency has continued to encourage all eligible individuals to remain up to date by receiving the latest updated bivalent vaccine.

As for the on-site clinics, when the booster was authorized, officials determined that vaccine demand wasnt sufficient at this point in the pandemic to flood nursing homes with clinics again, particularly if relatively few residents might get vaccinated at each event.

The CDC has instead focused its efforts on teaming up with national organizations trying to combat vaccine fatigue and hesitancy and help long-term care facilities link up with pharmacies, among other measures. Later this month, CDC is scheduled to host a bootcamp for long-term care facility administrators and health care providers to help them figure out how to improve vaccine confidence in their facilities.

Nursing home representatives say the current system is working as well as can be expected three years into the pandemic. Facilities arent having any problem accessing or administering the vaccines, they say, but vaccine fatigue is widespread among residents, family members and the communities where staff live.

Residents need to get boosted, but theyre not seeing the same scale of death and illness happening as they were when the first vaccine came out, said David Gifford, chief medical officer of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, which represents over 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living communities.

Its a demand problem. You can send out the National Guard to every nursing home. You're not going to see the vaccine go up, he said. How much do we want to badger the elderly to get the vaccine? Thats what it comes down to. Some people may not be badgering them as hard as other people.

It comes down to the leadership

Arizona, which has the lowest resident booster rate in the nation at 35 percent, was one of the states to get a letter from Brooks-LaSure.

It comes down to the leadership of the facilities believing in the vaccine, said David Voepel, CEO of the Arizona Health Care Association, a member association for nursing homes in the state. Once you have that leadership buy-in and that education moving throughout the facility, then it spreads like wildfire  either positive or negative.

Voepel said that expanding the CMS staffing mandate to include the booster would probably not sit well in Arizona, a sentiment shared broadly in an industry that worries another requirement would make it even harder to recruit and retain workers amid a long-running staffing crisis.

As for having more free, on-site clinics come to facilities, Voepel said the federal government probably should have done more on that end, but hindsight is 20-20.



The Arizona Department of Health Services is worried about the steep drop between the primary vaccine numbers and booster numbers in older adults, spokesperson Steve Elliott said in a statement to POLITICO.

The results have been far different from the earliest phase of the COVID-19 vaccination response, when Arizona's long-term care facilities had success getting residents the primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations through the CDC's partnership with Walgreens and CVS, he wrote. Uptake of the bivalent booster is lower than everyone wishes among all Arizonans ages 65 and older.

The state has set up a mobile vaccination program that visits individuals in their homes and at facilities, he said. But so far, since the bivalent booster was rolled out, that service has only visited about 30 of the states 155 licensed long-term care facilities as of the end of last year, he said.

Facilities struggle to attract and retain employees, and they have faced an early surge in influenza and RSV, in addition to COVID-19 remaining active in communities, Elliott said. Some facilities have told us that arranging for and holding a mobile clinic is difficult for already taxed employees.

Older Arizonans still have a lot of questions about the vaccine, including confusion over why the bivalent shot is different from the boosters that came before it, said Voepel. Both the state and federal education campaigns are underway, he said, but there are still a lot of things they have to work through.

Answering those questions  and battling vaccine misinformation and fatigue  has been a central plank of the federal effort to get more older Americans boosted this fall and winter.

Late last year, HHS ran ads about the updated vaccine aimed at older adults in several underserved communities. The CDC ran pre-Thanksgiving and holiday campaigns to reach older adults and long-term care facilities, both by sending out flyers to distribute in facilities and through social media.

But observers say those campaigns, however well intentioned, simply have not landed in a sprawling network of facilities where resident and staff attitudes toward the Covid vaccines are influenced by everything from the homes' leadership to staffing numbers to local politics.

If youre going to move the needle, its going to take a lot more than education, said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School who studies the nursing home industry. He said he was skeptical about the administrations decision to focus on education in nursing homes when it came to the booster, given that recent research has shown its impact to be limited on both nursing home staff and on resident vaccination rates. I would say put those dollars towards clinics, or something that has been shown to work, he said.

Nothing has really changed

Americas nursing homes have been at the epicenter of the pandemic since its earliest days, when the nation watched as cases of a new virus spread rapidly through a nursing home in Washington State.

That nursing home received a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating infection control regulations, one of the quality of care standards that CMS measures in nursing homes that receive federal money.

That was rare. An analysis published in May 2020 by the Government Accountability Office found that between 2013 and 2017, more than 80 percent of U.S. nursing homes had at least one infection prevention and control violation, and half of those had multiple violations.

The state surveyors who conducted the evaluations classified almost every one of the violations as not severe  meaning they believed no residents were harmed  and only about 1 percent of the violations resulted in any enforcement action by CMS, like having to pay a fine.

A year ago, the Biden administration laid out an ambitious plan to make nursing homes safer and more transparent, noting that the hundreds of thousands of Covid deaths among residents and staff highlighted the tragic impact of substandard conditions at nursing homes.



But the pandemic, while raising awareness of the need for better infection prevention and control in nursing homes, did not necessarily change how some violations of best practices were evaluated and regulated.

In 2021 and 2022, during the height of the pandemic, inspectors reported that the vast majority of infection prevention and control violations they found caused no actual harm, according to a CMS database. That level of citation typically requires a facility to create a plan of correction, but it is extremely rare for a facility to face any financial penalty, says Brooks of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.

When asked whether CMS considered changes to how it regulates infection control after the 2020 GAO report, a CMS spokesperson, in a written response, told POLITICO: Regardless of whether there is a penalty or not, nursing homes are required to correct their noncompliance in order to continue to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Plans of correction are a critical tool in this process and play a large role, prior to fines being accessed for continued non-compliance.

This winter, as Covid cases began to ramp back up, CMS reminded long term care facilities about the importance of infection control, and the White House issued a winter playbook, urging facilities to once again try to improve booster rates, test symptomatic residents and staff, make sure treatment options were available and improve indoor air quality.

But without stronger enforcement  and in particular, financial consequences  the industry doesnt correct itself, said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

Nothing really has changed. We still have the same deficiencies now, said Edelman. It's very disheartening because this is life and death for so many people.
By Andreas Rinke

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck have clashed over plans for next year's budget, according to an exchange of letters seen by Reuters that underscores growing tensions in the three-way coalition.

Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) has come under strain over some aspects of Germany's response to the Ukraine war, and all three parties suffered losses in a state election on Sunday.

Reflecting concerns among some Greens that there will be insufficient funds for some of their planned projects, especially as the government is committed to strict debt rules, Economy Minister Habeck took issue with Lindner's proposals.

He urged him not to unilaterally prioritise spending in some areas, including on the armed forces and tax reductions for the gastronomy sector, saying his party could not accept the budget plans.

"We suggest that we discuss how to improve revenues, push ahead with the reduction of environmentally damaging subsidies," wrote Habeck in a letter dated Feb. 14 to pro-business FDP leader Lindner.

In his reply, dated Feb. 15, Lindner rebuffed Habeck in blunt language.

"Tax increases or other additional structural burdens for citizens or the economy are excluded from the coalition agreement," he wrote.

"Policy projects in the coalition deal, however, are constitutionally subordinate to complying with the Basic Law," he added, stressing the need to adhere to budget discipline.

During their time in office so far - just over a year - the three parties have carefully tried to play down differences, such as whether to extend the lives of nuclear plants due to fears of an energy crisis and whether to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Tory peer has been given huge boost after judge struck out womans claim for 673,000 - Avalon

Tory peer Lord Rami Ranger has won a legal battle against a former employee who accused him of victimisation, after she was found to have destroyed crucial evidence.

In 2020, an employment tribunal found Lord Ranger had victimised, harassed and discriminated against an employee of his Sun Mark firm during a phone call, in which she claimed she had been sexually harassed by another executive.

Lord Ranger  who vehemently denied the claims  last year lost an appeal against the claims of discrimination and harassment, but won the right to have the victimisation claim re-heard. The employee subsequently withdrew it.

The Tory peer has now been given a huge boost after a judge struck out the womans claim for 673,000 in compensation from Lord Ranger, his son-in-law Harmeet Ahuja, Sun Mark Ltd and Sea Air and Land Forwarding Ltd.

Employment Judge Hyams found that the woman acted dishonestly by destroying a phone which contained a covert recording of part of her conversation with the peer.

The recording, which was played during the original tribunal, heard the pair arguing in Punjabi, with the Tory peer accusing the employee of arguing with men like a proper quarrelsome woman.

Lord Rangers lawyers asked to see the phone for the appeal hearing in the hope it contained more of the conversation. They also asked her to produce a notebook she had kept.

The employee, whom the Telegraph has not named for legal reasons, said she threw the phone in the river because it contained intimate pictures, while her husband had burnt her notebook. However the judge found these accounts differed from previous explanations she had given.

Judge Hyams concluded she had been scandalous, unreasonable and vexatious in an attempt to frustrate the doing of justice and stop any further enquiry into the evidence she had initially relied upon.

A spokesman for Sun Mark said he hoped Judge Hyams ruling would act as a deterrent to other people who believe they can abuse our legal system by behaving in a dishonest and scandalous way.

The employees lawyers said that she intends to appeal.
Ricky Kidd. Carrody Buchhorn. Keith Carnes. Floyd Bledsoe. Kevin Strickland. Lamonte McIntyre. Olin Pete Coones Jr. Missouri or Kansas threw all of them behind bars  many of them for a long, long time  for crimes they swore they didnt commit.

And all have been freed in the past few years alone after a variety of injustices came to light  perjury, official misconduct, bad forensic science  making it clear that the states got it wrong the first time.

Add to that shameful list Lamar Johnson, who will finally walk free after St. Louis-area Circuit Judge David C. Mason examined the evidence against his guilt Tuesday, and found it clear and convincing. The unjust conviction will be vacated after Johnson spent more than half his life locked up.

The National Registry of Exonerations counts 52 people exonerated in Missouri since 1991 (not yet including Johnson), and 18 in Kansas since 1992. If you believe in justice, and that the government officials we elect and police we hire are subject to basic human fallibility, then those 70-some wrong convictions we know about likely already infuriate you. And what, then, about the other innocents surely now in jail cells whose circumstances havent been reviewed?

In Johnsons case, the two men who confessed to the 1994 fatal shooting of Markus Boyd ended up convicted themselves (though one for an unrelated crime). But in too many other instances, when an innocent is incarcerated, that means the guilty still walk among us.

How is that justice? If your loved one were a victim, wouldnt you be outraged that the real perpetrator went free while someone else paid the price?

Dont confuse calls for mercy with demands for justice. Its one thing for principled death penalty opponents to ask a governor to stay an execution, or grant clemency to a prisoner sentenced to death. Its entirely different to insist that the government prove its case when serious doubts are raised about whether someone was put away unjustly.

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Missouri has a long history of resolutely defending convictions  and of getting it wrong. A state lawyer notoriously testified to the Missouri Supreme Court in 2001 that yes, even if we find that (the defendant) is actually innocent, the attorney generals office would continue to press for his execution.

Lamar Johnson will never get back the years he lost. And it remains to see whether hell get the immense compensation he deserves for the inequity. That relief is far from assured.

But if you consider yourself a law-and-order type, you have zero right to grumble today. Bad convictions dont cut down on crime. In fact, they invite more of it by keeping the wrong people on the streets. And when a crooked police officer is found out and removed from the force, thats nothing but a net good for the department.

The fight against crime is obviously one of the most important parts of self-governance. Reexamining the work of the law enforcement and courts we respect to right their mistakes  and then working to prevent more of them  is a huge part of supporting that fight.
Gwendolyn Herzig; Sen. Matt McKee Gwendolyn Herzig; Arkansas Senate

An Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked a transgender pharmacist about her genitalia during a bill hearing.

The question from state Sen. Matt McKee drew loud boos from those in attendance.

"That's horrible," Gwendolyn Herzig replied when McKee asked her, "Do you have a penis?"

An Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked a transgender pharmacist about her genitalia during a state legislative committee hearing about an anti-trans bill this week, drawing loud boos from a crowd in attendance and leaving the healthcare professional feeling "dehumanized," she told Insider.

The Monday hearing over Senate Bill 199  which would allow doctors to be sued for malpractice for performing gender-affirming care on minors for up to 30 years after the patient turns 18  devolved into chaos after state Sen. Matt McKee asked pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig, a transgender woman, "Do you have a penis?"

"You said that you're a trans woman?" McKee asked Herzig, who was testifying against the bill at the time, prompting her to respond, "A trans female, yes sir."

That's when McKee then asked Herzig about her genitalia, causing people seated in the room to throw up their hands, boo, and shout out "disgraceful" and "shameful," according to a video posted to Twitter.

A visibly stunned Herzig then responded, "That's horrible."

"You're the one that brought that into the discussion," McKee told Herzig, who shot back: "I never said anything about genitalia."

"I don't know what my rights are right now," Herzig added. "But that question was highly inappropriate."

Republican state Sen. Terry Rice then interjected, telling Herzig that she did not have to answer the question and noted, "If you're through, we'll dismiss you."

"I'm not through with questions, but I'm not going to answer that question. That's highly inappropriate," Herzig said. "I'm a healthcare professional, a doctor. Please treat me as such. Next question, please."

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Herzig told Insider on Wednesday that she felt "shock" and "disgust" when McKee asked about her genitalia.

"I kind of just like froze because I was just trying to process what just happened. I'm like, 'How do I even respond to that?'" said Herzig, who called the ordeal "just horrifying."

Herzig said that she expected to be "treated with professionalism" during the hearing, but instead, she said she was "torn down" and "dehumanized."

"It didn't matter my professional stance or who I am as a person, to be just kind of downgraded to my genitals was pretty horrifying," Herzig said.

Herzig continued, "It was just really a loss for our state."

"I felt like I had a lot of knowledge and a lot of lived experience I could have shared and hopefully opened up some eyes," she told Insider. "But they weren't even interested in hearing that. They just wanted to make a very gross and inappropriate comment."

McKee's shocking question came after Herzig said in testimony that one of the greatest hurdles transgender people endure is a lack of empathy, the Associated Press reported.

"Bills like SB199 are designed to hinder, not help, Arkansans," Herzig said, according to the news outlet.

Herzig told Insider that bills like SB199 are "devastating to the transgender community of Arkansas, but if passed the implications for this kind of legislation are far wider ranging."

"We have dozens of American medical organizations that support gender-affirming care in adults as well as minors," Herzig said.

She added, "What I find to be particularly disturbing is that we have politicians using grotesque language to flagrantly misrepresent gender-affirming care and they are effectively attempting to practice their own form of medicine by deeming who can and cannot receive established, life-saving, evidence-based healthcare."

SB199 was approved on Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee and it will next go before the full Senate for a vote.

McKee did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Insider on Wednesday.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Millburn District 24 school board members who recently criticized state regulations mandating that school buildings make menstrual hygiene products available in boys and girls bathrooms  calling them lunacy and an example of inmates taking over the asylum  were greeted by an angry crowd of 40 at a committee meeting Monday.

On Jan. 23, members of the board went into a 90-minute discussion over the installation of menstrual hygiene product dispensers in boys bathrooms in accordance with Illinois law, with a majority of the board taking issue with the move.

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During the course of that discussion, board members Jim Guziak, Peter Pettorini, Sean Coleman and Cassie Roberts voiced varying concerns, including privacy and potential danger to students.

Millburn School District 24 operates Millburn Elementary and Millburn Middle School, and covers parts of Lindenhurst, Wadsworth and Old Mill Creek.

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At Mondays Committee of the Whole meeting, school law attorneys Michelle Todd and Jeff Goelitz  of Itasca firm Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn  told board members about federal and state court cases and laws, advising them about the risks of litigation if they do not comply.

That came after a barrage of impassioned comments from people in attendance, 16 of 17 who expressed support for keeping the menstrual hygiene products in the bathrooms.

Some of the speakers ridiculed the board for its rhetoric during the Jan. 23 meeting as transphobic and embarrassing to the district.

Warren Township High School senior Sophia Runyan, a 2019 Millburn graduate, told the board its words make me sick, and asked if it was truly committed to making students feel as if they belong and are safe.

Think how far youve gone just to ensure your children wont come in contact with a tampon, she said.

Runyan pointed to the recent killing of transgender teen Brianna Ghey in England, and how two other teens have been arrested in her death, and gave Guziak a photo of Ghey at the meetings conclusion.

History is on our side, and change is inevitable, Runyan told the board. I hope that the board will tonight decide to change things a little faster, for the better, but they may not. Nevertheless, things will get better for all of us, and there are more of us than there are of them.

I am so opposed to this

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At one point on Jan. 23, Guziak sparred with board President Brendan Murphy, who opposed the board majoritys stance, over what transgender people are, and about a constituency whose concerns Guziak said he was representing.

Were not allowing girls to go into boys bathrooms, and boys to go into girls bathrooms, Murphy said, over members interruptions.

A trans person is a trans person, he continued.

Guziak replied, No, a trans person is an XX or an XY. Thats it.

I can call myself anything I want to, Guziak said, but when you take a blood test of me, youre going to find out what I am and its more scientific than that. I can say I came from freaking Jupiter.

Pettorini complained that he learned of the dispenser installations from his son, adding, Youre a boy or a girl.

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Both he and Guziak mentioned struggling to control their emotions during the discussion.

I am so opposed to this, Pettorini said. This is like the in-control version. I cant even tell you guys. Its pure lunacy that were even having this discussion. Its offensive that were even having this discussion.

A few minutes earlier, Guziak said what has happened with Illinois laws governing schools is like inmates taking over the asylum, and explained that he was speaking on behalf of a constituency that had voiced its concerns.

We have a constituency that we are responsible to, he said. People have elected us, except in my particular situation where I was appointed, but finally, finally, weve got some peoples attention here. So theyve hit the boiling point. This is it.

Im hoping that theyre going to draw a line in the sand and say, Enough of this crap, Guziak said.

He added, If my daughter was still in this school, Id be jumping up and down on this table here. I really would be.

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Former District 24 board member Denise Ide said before Mondays meeting that the school board, teachers and community were supportive back when her son came out as trans when he was in seventh grade. Ide said it was unbelievable to hear the boards Jan. 23 discussion.

To have this line of hate speech be preached by our school board, completely off-topic from the agenda, is appalling, Ide said. And as a board member, its appalling that youd be saying that were going to go against a state mandate as a public school.

Outraged, angry and even embarrassed

A tearful Suzanne Dekorsi told the board Monday that teachers were outraged, angry and even embarrassed by your words, and said the board should, spend a little bit of time in the school youre representing.

I cannot even tell you the number of teachers who texted, called or came to my office saying that this may not be the district for them, she said.

Dekorsi, who has taught more than 20 years in the district and is the president of the Millburn Federation of Teachers, also called attention to former board clerk Veronica Willis resignation from her part-time position in the lead-up to Mondays meeting.

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A strong, adult woman was so disgusted that she resigned her post, Dekorsi said. How do you think those words affected families, maybe even students who were watching the board meeting on their school iPad? A board meeting that is forever a part of our Millburn history.

Kristin Dahnert, a transgender woman who said she lives in the district and watched the video of the Jan. 23 meeting that morning, told the board Monday to focus on what you do best, educating the kids.

I just cant take it anymore, Dahnert said. My kids grew up in this area. Where is all this hate coming from? I just dont get it.

The trans kids in your school, you probably dont even know who they are, Dahnert added. We dont want (you) to know. We dont want people to know, because its a private thing. We just want to blend in with everybody else. Thats all we want.

One speaker, who said his name was Roman, spoke in favor of removing the products at the Jan. 23 meeting and again on Monday.

Nobody said anything about hate, he said. If your child is transgender, thats perfectly fine. But dont force it onto my kids.

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He said he had heard that a survey might be sent out to parents on the matter, and that he wanted the board to follow through with that.

The way you fight for your kids, we want to fight for our kids, he continued. You have no right to push this onto our kids. If a kid in this school needs a tampon, you can go into the nurses office, the girls bathroom. Theres no need to put this into the boys bathroom.

When approached after the meeting to confirm his name, the man gave another name and said, I identify as a ham and cheese sandwich.

Superintendent Jason Lind said the school district has a gender support plan for students that follows practices in accordance with the Illinois Human Rights Act, adding that there are parents of students who are transgender in our district who are not out yet, who have communicated with him but did not want to attend the meeting due to confidentiality concerns.

We have very active staff in looking after our kids and keeping all of our kids safe, no matter what, Lind said. So we will handle that. We have handled it, I think quite nicely, and have (had) a lot of positive feedback from parents over the last five or six years, and were going to continue to do that.

Anna Chang-Yen, a Gurnee resident who had three children attend Millburn, said she was really disgusted at the vitriol spewed by board members on Jan. 23.

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As the parent of a trans child, Im particularly angry at the effects these kinds of irresponsible comments can have on children. We heard somebody else give the statistics about how many transgender people and children attempt suicides, and the rates are highest among children.

Chang-Yen added that school belonging can have a major positive effect on those outcomes, and that she is sorry that in 2023 we dont live in a world with less hate and ignorance.

Guziak responded to criticism for his comments and declined demands to make an apology in a lengthy speech at the end of the meeting during which he derided state politicians who have lost their minds.

Thats an opinion, and I certainly appreciate that. Now, in my opinion, the board does not owe the community an apology, Guziak said. The community is owed an apology by politicians and bureaucrats, some who may be in this room, who have put us in this situation.

Later in his address to the crowd, he asked, Who speaks for the children who are uncomfortable or intimidated by those of the opposite gender in restrooms? Who speaks for the parents who do not want their kids exposed to the opposite gender in bathrooms and locker rooms? And lastly, who speaks for the taxpayers that need to fund the products in the boys restrooms?

Roberts said her issue was with government overreach, as it relates to why the state is dictating what specific schools do within their restrooms, and never with regard to transgender usage of bathrooms.
Hazardous Material Spill Arizona

An accident involving a commercial tanker truck that caused a hazardous material to leak onto Interstate 10 outside Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 14, 2023. Credit - Arizona Department of Public SafetyAP

A shelter-in-place order was reinstated Wednesday morning on a main highway in Tucson, Arizona, after a tractor truck carrying liquid nitric acid rolled over in a deadly crash on Tuesday, causing a hazardous spill.

Residents within a half mile of the crash on Interstate 10 southeast were initially told to evacuate the area, and residents within three miles were under the shelter-in-place order. The orders were temporarily lifted Tuesday night, but the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) reinstated the mandate on Wednesday morning after they said gassing occurred when they tried to remove the load from the commercial vehicle.

Weather conditions then limited recovery and mitigation efforts overnight, though crews have now successfully removed material from the truck and are using dirt to stop the gassing.

Nitric acid which is mainly used in the manufacturing of fertilizers, dyes and explosives, can cause serious irritation around the eyes, skin, and mucous membraneaccording to the CDC. Exposure to the highly corrosive liquid can also cause bronchitis, pneumonitis, and dental erosion.

The department is asking people within the shelter-in-place mandate to turn off heaters or air conditioning units that bring in outside air.

Authorities said that people should expect to remain displaced until midday Wednesday, and that Interstate 10 will remain closed in both directions, but a timeframe for how long was not given.

We anticipate an extensive closure, Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a tweet Tuesday night.

The driver of the truck was killed in the crash, but authorities havent released any other information about the wreck.

A separate hazardous spill from a train derailment occurred on Feb. 3 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, involving nearly 50 cars, releasing vinyl chloride in the air and causing fire and smoke to billow the town of East Palestine. Authorities asked residents on both sides of the border to evacuate out of concern of a possible explosion, though that order was lifted on Feb. 8.

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Many residents are still worried about the quality of air and water in the area amid reports that thousands of animals have died in the days following the incident.

Multiple counties and agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are currently tracking the air, soil, and water pollution in the area.

The Ohio EPA said they found two chemical contaminants in Ohio River tributaries during a press conference Tuesday, but believed water treatment processes would filter these toxins out, and that contaminants were contained.
Donald Trump. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sources tell Rolling Stone Trump has been talking about how executions could fit in campaign messaging.

Trump asked advisers about bringing back the firing squad and the use of guillotines, sources said.

Sources also told Rolling Stone that Trump has discussed the idea of group executions.

Former President Donald Trump has been asking advisers what they think of bringing back firing squads and other banned execution methods, Rolling Stone reports.

Rolling Stone spoke to three anonymous sources about the campaign-related conversations Trump has been having with his associates. According to these sources, Trump has on more than one occasion asked his aides questions like: "What do you think of firing squads?"

Two Rolling Stone sources say Trump has had discussions with his advisers about everything from bringing back group executions to using banned execution methods like the guillotine.

A third source who spoke to Rolling Stone said Trump has also privately considered if it would be possible to launch an ad campaign to promote these execution methods. This ad campaign would involve airing footage from the executions, the source said.

"The former president believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals," the source told Rolling Stone. "He wanted to do some of these things when he was in office, but for whatever reasons didn't have the chance."

A Trump spokesperson told Insider that Rolling Stone's third source's recount of a possible Trump ad campaign featuring televised executions is "ridiculous" and "fake news."

"Either these people are fabricating lies out of thin air, or Rolling Stone is allowing themselves to be duped by these morons," the Trump spokesperson told Insider.

But when asked about the sources' comments about Trump's interest in alternative execution methods, the spokesperson referred Insider to Trump's 2024 campaign announcement in November. During that speech, Trump was heard calling for the death penalty for anyone who "gets caught selling drugs."

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At a rally in September, Trump also urged Congress to immediately institute the death penalty for drug dealers. This is despite Trump himself having granted pardons to people who served time for drug trafficking charges.

Trump ended his term in office with a raft of federal executions  his administration executed 13 people between July 2020 and January 2021. Trump's administration also amended the federal execution protocols before he left office, charting a path for the government to use poison gas and firing squads in future executions.

Trump isn't the only GOP figure who's expressed interest in making it easier to execute people.

In February, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tabled a change to Florida's law that would eliminate the need for a jury to agree unanimously before someone can be sentenced to death. DeSantis' move came after a jury could not agree unanimously on whether the Parkland shooter should be sentenced to death. The shooter was given a life sentence for killing 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.

"We're going to reform the capital sentencing procedure in Florida," DeSantis said at a press conference in Florida on Tuesday  the fifth anniversary of the Parkland shooting. "You kill 17 people  what other penalty can you get other than the ultimate penalty?"

February 15, 2:00 a.m.: This story has been updated with comment from Trump's spokesperson.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(PA)

Former president Donald Trump blasted Nicola Sturgeon as the Scottish First Minister announced she would resign in a transphobic rant that cited his properties in the country.

Mr Trump made the remarks after Ms Sturgeon announced that she would resign as the head of Scotlands government on Wednesday.

Good riddance to failed woke extremist Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland! Mr Trump said in a statement. This crazed leftist symbolizes everything wrong with identity politics.

Specifically, Mr Trump cited her support for transgender rights.

Sturgeon thought it was OK to put a biological man in a womens prison, and if that wasnt bad enough, Sturgeon fought for a Gender Recognition Reform Bill that would have allowed 16-year-old children to change their gender without medical advice, Mr Trump said.
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trumps offer to provide a DNA sample to a New York writer who claims he raped her in the 1990s was rejected by a judge as too late and with too many strings attached.

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After balking at the request for years, the former president last week offered the DNA sample to his accuser, E. Jean Carroll. In exchange, he wanted her to turn over pages he says are missing from a forensic report on the dress she says she wore during the alleged attack.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a ruling Wednesday that there is no justification for any such deal, with a trial set to start in April.

Trump failed to demonstrate good cause to reopen discovery for the purpose of obtaining these pages of the DNA report, Kaplan wrote. Nor is there any legitimate basis for this court to accept Mr. Trumps offer to provide his DNA sample made contingent on the court granting his application.

Trumps lawyer Joseph Tacopina declined to comment on the ruling. Trump has long denied attacking Carroll and claims the lawsuit is part of a broader witch hunt against him.

Threats to Trump

The trial draws near as Trump, who is making his third run for president, faces legal threats on several other fronts. They include a Georgia criminal probe into his efforts to overturn the states 2020 election results, a New York investigation into hush money payments made before the 2016 vote, and a US Justice Department inquiry into his handling of classified documents.

QuickTake: What Trumps Legal Perils Mean for His 2024 Candidacy

In his ruling Wednesday, Kaplan said the request for the missing pages  the appendix to the report  comes too late because Trump has been on notice for years that his copy of the report lacked an appendix.

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Despite this obvious omission, Mr. Trump never in three years asked a court to require its production, the judge wrote. He added that Trump has frequently sought to delay the case.

Carrolls Evidence

Carroll gave up on her request for Trumps DNA earlier to move her claims to trial faster. Her lawyer Roberta Kaplan said she had already gathered enough evidence from other sources  including testimony from people Carroll had confided in about the alleged attack in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in Manhattan years ago, and other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

Kaplan declined to comment on the ruling.

The forensic report on the black Donna Karan dress that Carroll stored after the alleged attack shows DNA from an unidentified male, according to her court filings. The judge said that delaying the trial over the DNA probably wouldnt be worth it because the result could well prove entirely inconclusive.

Read More: Haley Opens Her 2024 GOP Run as First Challenger to Trump

Trump said last week he plans to testify in his own defense in a defamation suit Carroll filed against him in 2019 after he accused her of fabricating the attack to sell a book. The DNA offer related to the more recent sexual battery suit she filed against him.

Both Trump and Carroll have already been deposed under oath about the alleged attack.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, 22-cv-10016, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Read More

Trump Offers Deal to Provide DNA Sample in Rape-Accusers Suit

Trumps Attack on NY Sexual Assault Law Called Absurd by Judge

Pence to Challenge Special Counsel Subpoena in Trump Probe

(Updates with legal threats to Trump in second section and details of judges ruling in second and third sections.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Justice Department prosecutors investigating the mishandling of classified documents at Donald Trump's Florida estate are seeking to pierce the attorney-client privilege and want to again question one of the former president's lawyers before a grand jury, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday night.

The privilege protects lawyers from having to tell prosecutors about confidential conversations their clients have with them. But prosecutors can get around that privilege if they can convince a judge that the communications they want information about were made in furtherance of a crime  a principle known as the crime-fraud exception.

Prosecutors have already questioned M. Evan Corcoran before a grand jury, but he repeatedly invoked attorney-client privilege in declining to answer certain questions, according to the person who spoke with The Associated Press and insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. They're seeking to question him again, and want to be able to move past attorney-client privilege, the person said.

The request from prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith is expected to lead to closed-door arguments before the chief judge of the District of Columbia federal court about whether prosecutors can compel Corcoran to answer their questions about his conversations with Trump.

It is not the first time during the course of the investigation prosecutors have raised the specter of criminal conduct in connection with the Mar-a-Lago investigation. Last August the Justice Department revealed in a search warrant affidavit that it had probable cause to investigate the unlawful retention of national defense information as well as efforts to obstruct that probe.

It remains unclear whether Trump or anyone else will be charged, though the move is a notably aggressive act by Smith's team. A war crimes prosecutor who previously led the Justice Department's public corruption section, Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election and recently subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence as part of that probe.

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A spokesman for Smith did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday night, and Corcoran did not return an email seeking comment.

Trump's lawyers and representatives have featured prominently for months in the investigation into the retention by Trump of roughly 300 documents with classified markings at Mar-a-Lago. The Justice Department issued a subpoena last May to recover any remaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, but officials who visited the property were given a folder containing only about three dozen records.

One of Trumps lawyers, Christina Bobb, signed a letter stating that a diligent search had been conducted for classified documents and that all such records had been returned to the government. She told FBI investigators in an interview last fall that she had had not drafted the letter and that Corcoran was the one who prepared it and asked her to sign it in her role as custodian of records.

But Justice Department say they subsequently developed evidence that led them to suspect that additional classified records remained at the property. FBI agents returned in August with a search warrant, removing roughly 100 documents with classified markings.

The New York Times first reported that the Justice Department was seeking to pierce attorney-client privilege.

_____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Last year, Fortina locations in New York and Connecticut partnered with Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley and the Make-A-Wish Connecticut chapter to have children dealing with critical illnesses create their own pizzas with a net portion benefitting the Make-A-Wish chapters.

Specifically, Fortina's in Yonkers, Rye Brook, Armonk and Stamford participated.

Now, they've done it again starting with a February pie featuring marinara, shredded mozzarella and french fries. "The Pizza" was created by a 6-year-old Dutchess County resident named Will. It's available at all Fortina locations through the end of the month.

According to Abraham Almanza, director of marketing and volunteer management for Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley, Will, who was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor when he was 4, loves to make people laugh and is sure the french fries and long string of cheese atop his pizza creation will do just that. Despite his diagnosis, Will has shown bravery and courage far beyond his years and enjoys riding his bike, break dancing and playing Roblox.

Fortina in Rye Brook, Armonk and Yonkers is featuring "The Pizza," a pie topped with shredded mozzarella and French fries through the end of February. The unique pie was created by 6-year-old Dutchess County resident Will, who was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor at 4-years-old. The pie was created through a partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

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Have a heart: Heart-shaped pizzas in Westchester, Rockland

Turkey and tunes: Elmsford deli is also a musical venue

For March, diners can nosh on the "Princess Pizza" pie. The pizza, with marinara, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, bacon, and chicken tenders, was created by 3-year-old Charlotte, a Westchester resident who's been battling leukemia.

Almanza said Charlotte loves Disney princesses and was beyond excited when Make-A-Wish sent her to Walt Disney World this past September, her dream. In Florida, she met princesses and went on rollercoasters with her family. Her goal is to return someday when she's done with her treatments and tall enough for the bigger rides.

In total, Fortina is featuring seven pies from now through August, offering toppings that range from olives to garlic confit to pineapple and bacon. Diners who order these pizzas will also get cards with information on the children and the program.

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Three-year-old Westchester County resident Charlotte with Culinary Director Paul Failla at the Fortina in Stamford, Connecticut as part of a partnership with Make-A-Wish. Charlotte, who's been battling leukemia, created a "Princess Pizza" with marinara, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, bacon, and chicken tenders that will be on the Fortina menu in March.

Others include:

April: The "Bacaroni," created by 15-year-old Connecticut resident Arianna, featuring marinara, shredded mozzarella, bacon and pepperoni.

May: "The Poke Ball Pizza" by 7-year-old Roman, of Connecticut, made with marinara, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, and olives.

June: The pie's name is to come but it will be created by 8-year-old Ben, a Westchester County resident, who's battled lymphoma and who plans to use marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, bacon and pineapple.

July: Eighteen-year-old Marissa created the "Cheesy Mimi," a combo of marinara, shredded mozzarella, basil, ricotta, garlic confit and Parmesan. Marissa is from Connecticut.

August: TBA but expect something delicious from 5-year-old Ellie, from Ulster County.

All pizzas are available at Fortina locations in Armonk, Yonkers and Rye Brook.

The cooking and prepping took place last month at Fortina in Stamford led by Director of Operations Samantha Melisi and Culinary Director Paul Failla, along with four children and their caregivers (the other three will be attending a different cooking day).

Almanza said the partnership provides a unique opportunity for our kids to have a fun activity expanding on their wish experience. It keeps the joy of a wish going and helps them get through their medical journey it provides much needed hope.

The Tarrytown-based Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley spans eight counties including Delaware, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. Its mission is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Since its inception in 1986, it has granted wishes to over 3,000 children.

The foundation is currently working on over 260 pending wishes with the average cost of a wish ranging between $7,500 to $10,000. Go to wish.org/hudson for more information or wish.org/hudson/fortina.

Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @lohud_food or via the lohudfood newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Fortina partners with Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley, offers pizzas by kids
A national retailer with stores in Charlotte is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection  again.

ALSO READ: Bed Bath & Beyond: 150 more stores to close, bringing total to 400

Tuesday Morning Corp., a chain of discount home goods stores, announced on Tuesday it has filed for bankruptcy. The brand has eight stores across the local metro area, including four in Charlotte.

The announcement is the latest sign of struggle for the Dallas-based company. Tuesday Morning previously emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 after closing about 200 stores. The company named a new CEO last November and delisted its stock in December, citing liquidity issues.

Tuesday Morning is seeking a financial and operational reorganization as a means to shore up outstanding liabilities, obtain capital and evolve into a nimbler retailer that serves heritage markets in a profitable manner, a news release said. The bankruptcy petition lists assets and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

The company is planning to close stores in low-traffic areas as part of the restructuring process, though exact locations have not been disclosed.

Read more here.

VIDEO: Belk to close SC fulfillment center, laying off 300-plus workers
ANKARA (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid sent by Armenia for victims of last week's devastating earthquake in Turkey could boost the neighbouring countries' efforts to normalise their relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

A border gate between the long-feuding neighbours was opened for the first time in 35 years to allow aid for quake victims in southern Turkey. Armenia also sent a rescue team to Turkey to help in the search for survivors.

"Armenia has extended its hand of friendship, showed solidarity and cooperation with us in this difficult time ... We need to continue this solidarity," Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference in Ankara with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.

"The normalisation process in the southern Caucasus region is going on. We believe that our cooperation in the humanitarian field will support this process," Cavusoglu added.

Mirzoyan said through a translator that Armenia remained committed to "the full normalisation of relations and complete opening of the border with Turkey".

Turkey severed its diplomatic and commercial ties with Armenia in 1993 to show support for Azerbaijan, which was at the time fighting a losing battle against Armenian separatists in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

But Turkey and Armenia are at odds primarily over the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey.

Armenia says this constitutes genocide.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies it was systematic.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Helen Popper)
By Henriette Chacar and Khalil Ashawi

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria (Reuters) -Two women were pulled from the rubble in Turkey's southern city of Kahramanmaras and a mother and two children were rescued from the city of Antakya on Wednesday, as rescue efforts shifted to getting relief to survivors nine days after a deadly earthquake.

Rescuers could be seen applauding and embracing each other as an ambulance carried away a 74-year-old woman rescued in Kahramanmaras, and earlier in the day, a 46-year-old woman was rescued in the same city, close to the epicentre of the quake.

Later on Wednesday a woman named Ela and her children Meysam and Ali were pulled from the rubble of an apartment block in Antakya, 228 hours after the earthquake, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has climbed to more than 41,000, and millions are in need of humanitarian aid, with many survivors having been left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. Rescues are now few and far between.

Focus has shifted to supporting survivors and with much of the region's sanitation infrastructure damaged or rendered inoperable by the earthquakes, health authorities face a daunting task in trying to ensure that people now remain disease-free.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned by the welfare of people in northwestern Syria, a rebel-held region with little access to aid. It asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to open more border crossing points with Turkey to allow aid to get through.

The stories of how people survived for days buried under the rubble also began to emerge.

Huseyin Berber, a 62-year-old diabetic, survived 187 hours after the collapsing walls of his groundfloor were propped up by a fridge and a cabinet, leaving him an armchair to sit in and a rug to keep him warm.

He had a single bottle of water, and when that ran out, drank his own urine, he said from a bed in Mersin City Hospital.

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"I shouted, shouted and shouted. No one was hearing me. I shouted so much that my throat hurt... Someone reached their hand out and it met with my hand. They pulled me out from there. The hole I got out from was very small. That scared me a bit."

In Kahramanmaras, homeless families slept in tents set up on the field and running track of the city's stadium.

In one tent, 28-year-old Hatice Kavakdali clutched a grey teddy bear.

"I can't put the experience we had into words. It was so terrifying and I am still feeling the pain of that," she said. "I lost consciousness after the quake and I am still recovering. I couldn't remember my family or how we got out of the house."

Others worried about the lack of sanitation.

"We haven't been able to rinse off since the earthquake," said Mohammad Emin, a 21-year-old graphic design student.

Batyr Berdyklychev, the World Health Organization's representative in Turkey, has warned that the water shortage in quake-hit areas "increases the risk of waterborne diseases and outbreaks of communicable diseases."

On a ferry being used to treat survivors in Turkey's southern port of Iskenderun, pharmacist Jin Ozsaygili also worried about health risks.

"We expect cholera and typhoid epidemics. In order to prevent these diseases, the debris should urgently be removed."

Meanwhile, the government encouraged people to go back home, if and when authorities have deemed their building safe.

"We will quickly demolish what needs to be demolished and build safe houses," Turkey's Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum tweeted.

'REALLY TRAGIC'

Across the border, in Syria, relief efforts have been hampered by a civil war that has splintered the country and divided regional and global powers.

"It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, told a briefing in Geneva.

"The impact of the earthquake in areas of Syria controlled by the government is significant, but the services are there and there is access to those people."

Civil war hostilities have obstructed at least two attempts to send aid to the northwest from elsewhere in Syria, but an aid convoy reached the area overnight.

Organised by Arab tribes, trucks loaded with blankets, food, medical supplies and tents arrived overnight in the insurgent-held rebel northwest from a region controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a Reuters reporter said.

"The situation is really tragic," Abdulrahman Mohammad, a displaced Syrian originally from the neighbouring province of Aleppo, said in Idlib, where many had found refuge in the past decade from other war-torn provinces.

Parts of the provinces of Idlib and adjacent Aleppo held by Turkey-backed rebels suffered the bulk of the quake's casualties in Syria: over 4,400 of a death toll of more than 5,800, according to the United Nations and government authorities.

Some had lucky escapes.

In Syria's Mediterranean town of Jableh, Um Kanan recounted how she woke her three children and rushed them to a small closet in her bedroom for shelter.

The force of the quake brought their fourth floor apartment crashing to the ground, but the four survived.

"I kept thinking to myself: 'Can it be? Did the building just fall down? Is this a dream?' I tried to move but I couldn't," she said. "The children and I, by some miracle, we ended up in this small space that I had left empty."

(Additional reporting by Khalil Ashawi, Maya Gebeily, Daren Butler, Ezgi Erkoyun, Timour Azhari,Firas Makdesi, Ece Tobaksay, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Ingrid Melander, Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Christina Fincher, Raissa Kasolowsky and Sharon Singleton)
Platformer has interviewed Twitter employees to figure out why people's For You feeds turned into The Elon Musk show, and they said the company's engineers truly did build a system that benefited their CEO alone. According to the publication, Elon's cousin and Twitter employee James Musk sent an urgent message on the company's Slack on Monday morning. "We are debugging an issue with engagement across the platform," he wrote, calling the situation "high urgency" and asking everyone who can write code to help. The situation? President Biden's tweet about rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles got more engagement than Musk's.

Apparently, the president's tweet generated almost 29 million impressions, whereas Musk's generated 9.1 million only before he deleted it. Musk's issue with his tweets not getting as much engagement as he would like started before the Super Bowl, however. Platformer previously reported that he fired one of Twitter's two remaining principal engineers because he suggested that Musk's tweets aren't generating as many impressions anymore because people are no longer that interested in what he's saying.

Around 80 Twitter employees were reportedly tasked to investigate the possible reasons for Musk's waning engagement numbers, and they did consider the possibility that a lot of people had blocked and muted him in recent months. They also looked into legitimate potential technical issues, though, because tweets from users whose posts typically perform well should've been automatically promoted by the website's system.

The fix they came up with, Platformer says, is to deploy code that would artificially boost Musk's tweets by a factor of 1,000, ensuring that they rank higher than everyone else's in people's feeds. As a result, over 90 percent of Musk's 128.9 million followers saw his tweets, and even those who don't follow the Twitter owner kept seeing his posts on their timeline.

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Musk commented on the matter via a tweet, effectively refuting the Platformer report. "Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week," he said. "A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false. We did have a bug that briefly caused replies to have the same prominence as primary Tweets, but that has now been fixed."

Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week.



A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false.



We did have a bug that briefly caused https://t.co/nM3SgUfoM7  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023

Shortly after the glut of his tweets, Musk acknowledged the situation in his own way, specifically by posting the "forced to drink milk" meme. He also asked people to stay tuned while Twitter made adjustments to the "algorithm" (his quote, not ours) after users started complaining of seeing all Elon all the time. "Adjustments" reportedly didn't mean removing his advantage completely, though: according to Platformer, Elon's tweets are still artificially boosted, but by a factor less than 1,000. Bottom line, users will still see his tweets a lot, unless they choose to move over to the Following tab instead.

Update: 2/17/2023 at 5:47AM ET: The article has been updated with a comment from Twitter CEO Elon Musk that appears to address Platformer's report.
"The House of Gucci," starring Lady Gaga, made for a good movie but it's also a fun read for anyone who likes to read books that are turned into films. (Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc)

Books have inspired some of Hollywoods biggest blockbusters over the decades: Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, Forrest Gump Jurassic Park ... we could go on forever! But the age-old question remains: Is the book always better? Join the Amazing Book Challenge to find out!

The Amazing Book Challenges encourages adult and teen readers to broaden their reading horizons by discovering new subjects, series or authors. Readers are encouraged to choose 12 books throughout the year from 12 different categories. This month were highlighting books that have made the leap from bookshelves to the big screen in honor of awards season in Hollywood.

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For the full list of Amazing Book Challenge categories, go to www.naperville-lib.org/ABC.

If youre an adrenaline junkie, try this action book: Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka.

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Lady Bird  the self-proclaimed unluckiest assassin in the world  boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to him, hes one of five assassins on the train with missions that arent as unrelated as they first appear.

If you want to laugh until you cry, try this comedy: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

Meet Ove. Hes a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. When a chatty couple with two daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Oves mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul.

"The Power of the Dog" by Thomas Savage

If youre obsessed with tumbleweeds and suspenseful standoffs, try this western: The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage.

Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley. Phil is a vicious sadist, with a seething contempt for weakness to match his thirst for dominance; George has a gentle, loving soul. When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brothers new wife. But he reckons with an unlikely protector.

If youre into strange planets and political intrigue, try this science fiction: Dune by Frank Herbert.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Paul Atreides is tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the spice, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Pauls family will send the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as MuadDib, he will bring to fruition humankinds most ancient and unattainable dream.

Naperville Sun Twice-weekly News updates from the Naperville area delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

If you like knowing the ending of a film before its begun, try this romance: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.

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Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasnt been too great, but at least hes not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. Hes heard a little about Charlie  the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months  but hes never had the opportunity to talk to him. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner...

Book releases Sept. 20, 2016, (Courtesy photo)

If you wish you lived in a different time, try this historical drama: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue.

The Irish Midlands, 1859. An English nurse, Lib Wright, is summoned to a tiny village to observe what some are claiming as a medical anomaly or a miracle  a girl said to have survived without food for months. The Wonder is a tale of two strangers who transform each others lives, a psychological thriller and a story of love pitted against evil.

If you like shady business deals and murder, try this crime thriller: House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden.

On March 27, 1995, Maurizio Gucci, heir to the fashion dynasty, was slain by an unknown gunman as he approached his Milan office. In 1998, his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani Martinelli  nicknamed The Black Widow by the press  was sentenced to 29 years in prison for arranging his murder. Did Patrizia murder her ex-husband because his spending was wildly out of control? Did she do it because her glamorous ex was preparing to marry his mistress, Paola Franchi? Or is there a possibility she didnt do it at all?

Ashlee Conour is the marketing specialist at Naperville Public Library.
The Biden administration is holding indirect discussions with Iran on a possible prisoner exchange in a bid to secure the release of American citizens imprisoned in Iran, with Qatar and the United Kingdom playing an intermediary role in the talks, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The negotiations have made progress, but it remains unclear if a final agreement will be reached, the sources said.

The push by the White House comes after months of negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear agreement have stalled and as the administration has announced new sanctions against Tehran over its delivery of drones to Russia.

The two sides are exploring a formula that has been discussed previously, dating to 2021, that could include a possible prisoner exchange and the release of billions of dollars in funds in South Korea banks currently blocked by U.S. sanctions, three sources with knowledge of the talks said.

The proposed formula would allow Iran access to the funds but only for the purchase of food, medicine or other humanitarian purposes, in accordance with existing U.S. sanctions against Iran.

In the discussions, U.S. and Iranian diplomats have explored possible arrangements for how to transfer the frozen funds, with a third country such as Qatar possibly overseeing the transfer, the sources said.

This month, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. During the meeting, the Qatari delegation conveyed messages from the U.S. to the Iranians which included points on the prisoner release, said a source with knowledge of the talks.

In an interview this month with NPR, the Iranian foreign minister, Amir-Abdollahian, said discussions were underway on a possible prisoner swap with third parties helping to relay messages. He said a U.K. official was acting as a representative for the U.S. in the talks.

The representative in question was in Iran in the past weeks, and we updated the agreement that we had back in March, he said. Were ready to exchange our prisoners, but there are technical steps that need to be taken by the Americans. We are awaiting the technical steps to be taken.

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Asked about possible indirect negotiations, the Biden administration has suggested it has methods for relaying messages to Iran.

As we have said, we have ways of communicating with Iran on issues of concern, including on the issue of releasing U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in Iran. Those channels remain open, but were not going to detail them, a State Department spokesperson said.

We remain committed to securing the freedom of all U.S. citizens who continue to be wrongfully detained overseas, including Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, and we continue to work to bring them home, but we have nothing to announce at this time, the spokesperson added.

Irans U.N. mission in New York did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.K.s embassy in Washington declined to comment.

With the U.S. and Iran increasingly at odds over the countrys advancing nuclear program, anti-regime protests and Tehrans drone deliveries to Russia, the window for negotiations on a prisoner swap could soon close as tensions rise in coming months, said experts and advocates of the imprisoned Americans.

While it is understandable that the U.S. and the world are responding to the mass repression by Iran of nonviolent protests, President Biden cannot lose focus on the imperative to bring the American hostages home, said Jared Genser, pro bono counsel for Namazi, one of the three American citizens held in Tehran. I fear that when Irans broadening nuclear activities are added to this mix that we are rapidly running out of time to get a hostage deal done, he added.

Namazi has been behind bars in Iran for more than seven years, longer than any other American in history. Iranian authorities sentenced him to 10 years on charges of collaboration with a hostile foreign government.

The United Nations, human rights organizations and the U.S. government say that the charges are baseless and that his detention is an arbitrary violation of international law.

Two other American citizens, Tahbaz and Sharghi, are imprisoned in Iran, as well as an unknown number of permanent U.S. legal residents, including Shahab Dalili. Families of the imprisoned Americans believed their loved ones were close to release in recent years, but possible deals collapsed.

Roxanne Tahbaz holds a picture of her father Morad Tahbaz in London (Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images file)

Namazi has accused successive U.S. administrations of failing to secure his release and recently went on a weeklong hunger strike, appealing directly to President Joe Biden to meet with the families of imprisoned Americans.

In the past I implored you to reach for your moral compass and find the resolve to bring the U.S. hostages in Iran home. To no avail, Namazi said in a letter written in his prison cell, addressing Biden. Not only do we remain Irans prisoners, but you have not so much as granted our families a meeting.

Iran has denied that it has imprisoned Americans and other foreigners on arbitrary charges and says the cases were handled in accordance with its laws.

A prisoner exchange that included the release of some funds blocked by U.S. sanctions would almost certainly trigger sharp criticism from some lawmakers in Washington, particularly Republicans who already have accused Biden of failing to take a sufficiently tough stance toward Iran.

But Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, a think tank, said there were political risks to failing to win the release of the imprisoned Americans.

There will be criticism for any deal with the Islamic Republic. But leaving American hostages behind will not be cost-free either, Vaez said.

A similar prisoner swap agreement in 2015 during President Barack Obamas administration came under intense criticism.

Under that arrangement, the U.S. approved the transfer of $400 million in cash to Tehran on the same day Iran released four American prisoners and formally implemented the 2015 nuclear accord. The money, part of a settlement of a decadeslong legal dispute with Iran, was delivered on pallets by plane, prompting accusations from Republican lawmakers that the transfer amounted to ransom. The Obama administration rejected the criticism and said it was used as leverage to ensure the release of imprisoned Americans.

Having tried to revive the 2015 nuclear deal through diplomacy, the Biden administration has been tightening economic pressure on Iran and has sent a signal that military force remains an option if all other means fail to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The 2015 accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action or JCPOA, was designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and imposed strict limits on Tehrans nuclear activities in return for an easing of U.S. and international economic sanctions. Then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018 and reimposed an array of sanctions.

The U.S. and Israel last month held what the Pentagon called the largest ever joint military exercise, involving more than 140 aircraft and 12 naval vessels.

Dubbed Juniper Oak, the exercise enhanced the United States ability to respond to contingencies and underscores the U.S. commitment to the Middle East region, the Pentagon said during the drill.

American and Israeli aircrafts fly over Israel during the Juniper Oak military exercise (Israel Defense Force/U.S. Military's Central Command via AP file)

The exercise with Israel was meant to convey to Iran that the U.S. has not ruled out military action if required, regional analysts and former officials said.

After the exercise, Iranian state television showed what it called an underground base for fighter jets and drones at an undisclosed location.

To ramp up pressure on Iran, the administration is weighing whether to enforce sanctions more strictly against Chinese and other companies that are involved in Iranian oil exports to China, former U.S. officials and congressional staffers said. Israel has long urged the White House to make such a move as have lawmakers in Congress favoring a more hawkish approach.

Iran is banned from exporting its oil but has sought to evade the sanctions. Iranian oil sales have been surging in recent months, according to firms that track the global oil market. Much of its exported oil is ending up in China, sometimes via vessels bearing the flags of other countries, market analysts say.

Iran does not publish statistics about its oil sales.

The Biden administration says that it has warned China and other governments against flouting the sanctions and that it plans to ramp up enforcement.

We do not hesitate to take action against sanctions evaders, and we are determined to step up our enforcement in light of Irans continued, alarming nuclear advances, a State Department spokesperson said.

We regularly engage with the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) and other countries and strongly discourage them from taking steps vis-a-vis Iran that contravene U.S. sanctions, the spokesperson said.

The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, delivered the same message to Chinas director general for arms control and disarmament, Sun Xiaobo, in a phone call this month, the spokesperson added.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
GENEVA (Reuters) - Two agencies at the United Nations on Wednesday made an appeal to raise $5.6 billion to support the Ukrainians most affected by the Russian invasion.

The announcement, made jointly by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), comes days before the one-year anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine, which includes hundreds of local Ukrainian organizations, is seeking $3.9 billion in funding, while the Refugee Response Plan for refugees from Ukraine called for $1.7 billion.

"I urge all those generous governments, people and civil society, and people like you and me around the world to give generously today," Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told a briefing in Geneva.

"You can be sure that the funding will go to those who need it in Ukraine."

Griffiths said the funds would be destined for more than 11 million Ukrainians to provide them with food, health care, cash and other necessary assistance.

Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Refugee Response Plan included 10 countries that had welcomed a large number of Ukrainian refugees since the war broke out, including neighbouring Moldova, Poland and Romania.

"Refugees have not only been welcomed, but temporary protection arrangements have provided refugees with the right to work, access services and to be included in national systems," Grandi said in a statement. "We must not, however, take this response, or the hospitality of host communities, for granted."

Russia has intensified attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive ahead of the one-year anniversary of the invasion has been widely anticipated.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican senators sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday questioning U.S. freight rail system oversight in the aftermath of a toxic train derailment in Ohio on Feb. 3.

The derailment of a Norfolk Southern operated train caused a fire that sent a cloud of smoke over the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and forced thousands of residents to evacuate while railroad crews drained and burned off toxic chemicals. There were no reported fatalities or injuries.

Since the accident, residents have complained about headaches and questioned the impacts of pollution, while railroad union officials said they have long warned that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures.

Senators Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance questioned Buttigieg about railroad safety, saying "it is not unreasonable to ask whether a crew of two rail workers, plus one trainee, is able to effectively monitor 150 cars."

The Department of Transportation (USDOT) did not immediately comment but Buttigieg addressed the criticism in a series of tweets.

Senator Ted Cruz, the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, tweeted on Wednesday that he agreed with Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar that they needed a congressional inquiry and direct action from Buttigieg.

Buttigieg responded to Cruz on Twitter that "we could start by discussing immediate steps Congress could take to address rail safety & reduce constraints on USDOT in this area. Give us a call, we can do some good work."

Buttigieg added that Congress constrained the department in some areas of regulation, noting the Trump administration in 2018 withdrew a proposed braking regulation because of a law that Congress passed in 2015, "but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe."

After railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Feb. 8 said that residents could return to their homes.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Josie Kao)
Astronomy professor Jean-Luc Margot is part of the UCLA SETI group, which has launched a new citizen science project that seeks the public's help in identifying unexplained radio signals from outer space. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Imagine that you live alone in a dark, hilly wood that stretches for miles in all directions. You know your own forest well, having hiked and surveyed it as far as your feet and your tools allow. In all these explorations, you have never met another soul. For all you know, youre the only person there is.

Then one day, at the top of the highest point in your forest, you see a light in the distance. Its too far away to tell who or what is generating it. You have no idea if its meant to catch your attention, or if youre merely observing the activity of something that has no idea that you are there.

But the light confirms a suspicion youve harbored for some time: You are not alone.

If there is intelligent life beyond this planet, this is the way astronomers and planetary scientists believe we will first notice it.

Forget weird balloons and flying saucers. Consume reports of alien abductions with a heavy shake of salt. Given the physics of space and the extraordinary distances between potentially habitable solar systems, the first sign were likely to get of any other civilization would be an unusual pulse of energy intercepted by a telescope.

Earth-bound telescopes have picked up tens of millions of electromagnetic signals. Most of them are the byproduct of terrestrial technology, satellites or other identifiable sources.

A team of scientists at UCLA is sifting through all of that noise for a very specific type of signal that cant be generated by any natural source in the known universe. And theyd like you to help them find it.

On Tuesday, the UCLA SETI group launched Are we alone in the universe?, a citizen-science effort to sort data collected by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the largest fully-steerable telescope on Earth.

No formal training or scientific background is needed: If youre able to distinguish visual patterns, a few minutes tutorial on the website is all you need to evaluate some of the tens of thousands of images in the sites database.

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Like most scientists in the SETI  shorthand for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence  community, team leader Jean-Luc Margot readily acknowledges that finding conclusive proof of intelligence beyond Earth is an extremely long shot. No sign of civilization has been found in any space mission so far. Every single lead thats ever caught researchers attention has turned out to have a non-alien explanation.

Jean-Luc Margot uses the "Are we alone in the universe?" website in his office at UCLA. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

Yet Margot reasons its entirely possible something else is out there in the fathomless expanse of this 13.7-billion-year-old universe.

And if there is, it would be super-cool to find it.

Its sort of unimaginable what we could learn, Margot said. If we could decode the signal and extract the information from it, we have the potential to establish contact with a civilization that's far more advanced than we are.

The Belgian-born Margot became interested in SETI as a graduate student at Cornell University, the academic home of astronomer Carl Sagan, an enthusiastic proponent of the scientific search for extraterrestrial life.

He got more serious about SETI after what he called the Kepler revolution  the discovery by the Kepler Space Telescope that there are more planets in the universe than there are stars, and that many of these planets are small, rocky orbs a comfortable distance from their host star, just like Earth.

An artist's illustration of the Kepler Space Telescope searching for exoplanets. (NASA)

There are 100 billion stars in our galaxy, many with planets of their own. Even if the probability for life arising on any single planet is small, the fact that we have tens of billions of them makes it statistically plausible, he said.

In his own search for intelligent life, Margot focuses on radio waves. Given that they are easy to generate and travel at the speed of light, many SETI researchers agree that radio waves are one of the more likely contenders for the first thing we notice from an alien civilization.

Using the Green Bank Telescope, the SETI Group is looking for narrowband signals of 3 Hz or less, much smaller than the transmission frequencies used by radio stations. Nothing in nature generates signals anywhere near that size. They'd have to come from a built instrument.

The team has collected more than 64 million such narrowband signals from 42,000 stars. Every single one theyve analyzed so far can be attributed to human-made technology, such as satellites and GPS systems.

The labs algorithms are able to recognize roughly 99.5% of the signals collected by the telescope. Given the size of the dataset, however, that still leaves hundreds of thousands of signals the machines cant easily identify.

Thats where citizen scientists come in. The team is uploading images of the signals dynamic spectrum in batches of 20,000. Users will be asked to visit the project's website to click through the images and answer multiple-choice questions about them: Do the visible lines look mostly vertical, mostly horizontal, or somewhere in between? Is the space between them regular or irregular? Images that dont neatly fit any of the categories will then be further analyzed by the experts of the SETI group.

In addition to identifying the most unusual and potentially interesting images, the volunteers work will also help train the groups algorithms to get smarter about what theyre seeing, said Bruce Betts, chief scientist at the Planetary Society. The nonprofit gave Margot a $50,000 grant to initiate the citizen science project.

Humans are better at pattern recognition, right off the bat, and adapting when we dont quite know what we're looking for, Betts said. This will help make the system faster, more efficient and more accurate.

The best-known previous attempt to harness volunteers in the search for extraterrestrial life was SETI@home, a project launched at UC Berkeley in 1999. (Initial funding came from the Planetary Society and from Paramount Pictures to promote its film Star Trek: Insurrection.)

At a time when computing power was harder to come by than it is now, SETI@home distributed the work of analyzing radio signals to volunteers who downloaded a program on their home PCs and donated their surplus computing cycles to let the program run in the background.

Margot is far more focused on identifying any potential signals than he is on imagining what kind of being might have sent it. The one thing he is certain about is that if another intelligent civilization is out there, it's almost certainly far, far more advanced than ours.

Our species has industrialized only in the last 200 years, a practically imperceivable sliver of time in the universes 13.7-billion-year history, Margot pointed out. And given how far the waves must travel, any signal we receive now would have been generated thousands of years ago.

He is also not interested in establishing communication with any other society in the universe. Practically, its a moot point. Even traveling at the speed of light, any signal intentionally sent from Earth to another star would take years to get there, and then a reply would take years to travel back.

Nor does he think it a smart diplomatic move.

I think most SETI scientists would agree that it's not the right time or place for us to be doing that, especially since we haven't really consulted globally about doing this, Margot said. Even if we did it, again, it would take thousands or tens of thousands of years for the signal to get anywhere useful. I'm more of a pragmatist, and would rather try to do the listening than sending.

Margot dismisses the idea that intercepting these signals could tip off whatever generated them that someone here is listening. Radio waves do not come with an intergalactic version of read receipts, he said.

Think of yourself when you're listening to NPR, right? There's no way for NPR to know that you're listening. You're just receiving radio waves. You're not sending anything back, he said. Im not losing sleep about somebody coming to colonize Earth.

What excites Margot, and others who work in the SETI field, is the prospect of decoding whatever information an extraterrestrial intelligence might transmit along with its signal  not to mention confirming that the life on this planet is not the only kind in the universe.

Remote as that prospect may be, its too compelling not to explore, Betts said.

We don't know what's out there, or if anything's out there. What we do know is if we don't look for these signals, we won't see them, Betts said. "To use a baseball analogy, youre swinging for the fence. And you're probably gonna miss.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Simferopol (Akmesdzhit)

Simferopol (also known as Aqmescit in the native Crimean Tatar language) is the second-largest city of the Crimean Peninsula and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The Ukrainian city has been temporarily occupied by Russia since March 2014, the video description reads.

Thousands of Simferopol residents were forced to flee their home over Russian aggression, however many people who remained in the city don't support the occupation authorities and are looking forward to Ukraines return.

Read also: Explosions rock Simferopol in Ukraines Russian-occupied Crimea

The locals call Simferopol the heart of the Crimea as it was the final destination for most of the trains that were running between the peninsula and the mainland Ukraine. The hot southern city under the deep blue sky was always crowded and attracted many tourists. The aroma of oriental spices from the stalls at the Central Market, dark prints on the asphalt from overripe fruit falling right under feet, tarragon tea with tart notes of wormwood, freshly fried chebureki, and spicy pilaf, picnics on the shore of a water reservoir  these are the memories of Ukrainian Simferopol that remain in peoples hearts forever.

I wanted to write a really heartfelt song that could warm the soul and inspire a bright thought that anyone who has suffered loss can get their dreams, their tranquility, their hometown back and create the future they want, Lely45 commented.

Read also: Telegram channels report explosions near Simferopol, Sevastopol and Dzhankoy airfields

The Brave Cities project of the Ukraner platform was created to encourage people in temporarily occupied Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages which didn't want to be liberated by Russians. Now, their residents are brave to resist invaders or had to temporarily leave their homes. Videos about Nova Kakhovka, Berdyansk, Melitopol, Kherson, Mariupol, Skadovsk, Severodonetsk, Starobilsk, Donetsk, and Luhansk are available so far. A new season is dedicated to Crimea, with three videos and songs to be released.

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Read also: Ukraine may need to bring in about 50,000 officials to Crimea after its liberation, says envoy

The videos are about the spirit of these cities and towns, about each and every resident who currently can't feel safe at their home.

The author of the project is Bogdan Logvynenko, a Ukrainian writer, journalist, TV presenter, literary critic, editor, and public figure. The lyrics are by Lyudmila Bilousova, music is by Illia Tkachuk.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Jens Stoltenberg

According to Stoltenberg, NATOs position on Ukraine has not changed and Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance, but today the focus should be on ensuring that Ukraine wins the war.

Read also: In many ways, Ukraine is already in NATO, minister Reznikov says

The secretary general noted that Ukraine has a window of opportunity to tip the scale in its favor, and time makes all the difference.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 11 that Ukraine could join NATO after the end of the war with Russia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
VIENNA (AP)  Ukraine has informed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that it won't attend the next meeting of its parliamentary assembly if sanctioned Russian lawmakers are allowed to participate.

The meeting is scheduled to take place in Vienna on Feb. 23-24, during the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mykyta Poturaiev, wrote, We do not find ourselves in a position to attend the winter meeting in case of Russias participation.

The letter, which was dated Feb. 10 and addressed to Parliamentary Assembly President Margareta Cederfelt, noted that Russia's decision to invade Ukraine was widely supported by Russian politicians, including members of the Russian delegation to the OSCE.

We have no doubts that the Russian delegation will use the OSCE ... for justification of the aggression against my country as well as for whitewashing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Ukrainian people, Poturaiev wrote.

He suggested the meeting's postponement to preserve the integrity of the assembly, which is a separate body consisting of 323 parliamentarians from the OSCEs 57 member states,

The Vienna-based OSCE was created during the Cold War as a platform for dialogue between East and West. The group has a wide-ranging mission, including peace, human rights, arms control and other security issues. The invasion of Ukraine has complicated its work, with many Western countries joining Ukraine in protesting Russias participation.

The Austrian government has granted visas to the Russian delegates to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly even though they are under European Union sanctions and despite protests from 20 countries including Britain, France and Canada. The Austrians said as host nation they were obliged to grant visas to representatives from all OSCE member states.

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After a meeting with members of the assembly and Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk on Tuesday, Cederfelt decided to go ahead with next week's meeting as planned, given the rules of the assembly which say the group's winter meeting needs to take place during the first two months of the year.

Nat Parry, a spokesperson for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said its too late to postpone the gathering.

Lithuania is so far the only other country to have announced publicly that it will boycott the meeting. Other nations are still weighing their options. Latvia will decide Thursday, Katrina Kaktina, the countrys ambassador to the OSCE, told the AP.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A Hammond man, who is charged in the murder of a Gary woman over $10 on Sunday, is in custody after leading police on a chase in Fowler, Indiana, later that day.

Kevin Scott Varner, 51, has been charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony, in the death of Danielle Brown, of the 1100 block of Durbin Street, according to court documents. An associate of his  Steven Joshua Nash, of East Chicago  also was charged with murder; assisting a criminal when the criminal committed murder, a Level 5 felony; unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony; and misdemeanor assisting a criminal defendant, not being a parent, child or spouse of another person in the womans death, court records indicate.

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A probable cause affidavit said a witness told Gary police that Brown had gone to East Chicago around 9 a.m. Feb. 12 to purchase marijuana from Varner but shorted him $10. After shed returned, the witness went to the store and returned to the 1100 block of Durbin Street to see Varner walk into Browns residence with an AK-47-style gun and a second man later identified as Nash standing armed on the porch as if he were a lookout. The witness asked Nash what they were doing, to which Nash told him getting their $10, after which at least 18 rounds were shot off, according to the affidavit.

Varner then walked out of the residence, pointed the gun at the witness and said he should kill everyone in the house, records said. The witness got scared and ran but saw Varner and Nash get into a dark vehicle and drive away, records said.

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After the witness called 911 and officers arrived, Varner called the witness, court records said, and the witness asked why he shot Brown over $10 when the witness wouldve given him the money. Varner, the witness told police, said it wasnt about the money, it was about the principle, and told the witness he would send someone back to retrieve Browns body, court records said.

Later that day at around 5 p.m., a Fowler, Indiana, Police officer was patrolling U.S. 52 near 5th Street when he tried to stop a 1996 Chrysler Concorde for a traffic violation. When the officer discovered it was Varner driving the car, he attempted to stop him, but Varner fled east on U.S. 52, Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Piers said in a release.

The Fowler Police Officer continued chase Varner east on U.S. 52 to County Road 300 East, at which point he ran off the north side of the road at the intersection for an unknown reason. Varner then fled on foot but was found and taken into custody, he said.

Further investigation revealed that Varner fired at least one shot, shattering the back window during the pursuit Piers said. Officers on the scene also found a rifle in the area where the vehicle was being pursued.

Varner sustained minor injuries in the crash and was transported to a Lafayette area hospital for treatment, Piers said, after which he was taken to the Benton County Jail, where he now awaits extradition to Lake County.

The Benton County Prosecutors Office charged Varner with 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.

Nash was arrested in East Chicago after a traffic stop later that evening.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
(Bloomberg) -- Russia is likely to continue suffering mounting casualties as it recruits more ill-equipped and ill-trained soldiers into the fight and intensifies attacks in eastern Ukraine, according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Thats their strength  they have a lot of people, Austin told reporters after a two-day NATO meeting in Brussels. Our goal is to make sure we give Ukraine additional capabilities so they can be decisive on the battlefield in their upcoming offensive.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signaled that western allies are struggling to assemble two full battalions of Leopard 2 tanks to send to Ukraine as promised, with Germany and Portugal the only nations to pledge high-end A6 models. We will not reach the size of a battalion, he said.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

EU Sanctions Seek to Make Banks Divulge Frozen Russian Assets

Germany to Lift Defense Spending by Up to 10 Billion Next Year

Central Bankers in Bunkers Keep Ukraines War Economy Afloat

Iranian Drones Hitting Ukraine Struck a Tanker Earlier, US Says

On the Ground

The threat of further Russian air and missile strikes remains high across Ukraine, the latters Military Staff said in its update early Wednesday. Russia is making further attempts to gain full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while focusing its efforts on offensive operations on the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Shakhtar axes. The Institute for the Study of War said that Russian forces made marginal territorial gains near Bakhmut and continued ground attacks across the Donetsk region. The Russian army also unsuccessfully attacked Ukrainian positions in the western Zaporizhzhia region while continuing to fortify positions in the area.

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(All times CET)

Kyivs Trolleys and Trams Move Again After Two-Month Halt (9:42 p.m.)

Kyiv is gradually restoring the capital citys electric-powered transport operations, after they were halted in late December due to Ukraines significant energy deficity, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Telegram. According to him, first 31 trolleybus and 13 tram routes will be available on Thursday.

The current week became the first within several months without either scheduled or emergency power cuts in Ukrainian capital.

Blinkens Travels to Include Talks With Turkey (9:17 p.m.)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinkens travels in coming days will include a visit on Sunday to Turkey, as it copes with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

Relief efforts will top the agenda, but Blinkens visit will occur against a backdrop of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans refusal to sign off so far on NATO membership for Sweden and Finland. Other NATO members have sought to accelerate the two countries ascension to NATO to bolster the military alliances stance against Russias invasion of Ukraine.

After that, the war in Ukraine is likely to be high on the list of topics as Blinken heads to Germany for the Munich Security Conference and then on to Greece to meet senior leaders.

Envoy Calls Notion US Blew Up Pipelines Preposterous (7:03 p.m.)

The US can say definitively that it bears no responsibility for the Nord Stream explosions and any suggestion of that kind is preposterous, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said in an interview.

Smith said its still not known who was responsible for the blasts that hit the pipelines last fall, and she said that the US wants investigations to continue. Russia embraced the notion that the US was behind the attacks after an American writer made the allegation, citing sources he didnt identify.

The comments come after a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, where the topic of protection of subsea critical infrastructure was discussed. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier said the alliance would establish a Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell to facilitate engagement between industry, military and civilian stakeholders.

US Senator Revives Bid to Declare Wagner a Terror Group (5:24 p.m.)

Republican Senator Roger Wicker said he is reintroducing legislation to designate the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary force, as a foreign terrorist organization.

Vladimir Putin is a thug who will stop at nothing to win, and the Wagner Group is among his favorite and most vicious tools, said Wicker, who is also a ranking member of the US Helsinki Commission. The US should call this shadow army what it is: a foreign terrorist organization.

Wicker and a bipartisan group of senators introduced the bill in the last Congress, but it failed to become law. The Biden administration has resisted the idea and instead labeled the Wagner Group a transnational criminal organization last month.

Ukraine to Receive Fewer Battle Tanks Than Promised (5:12 p.m.)

Poland has assembled about 30 units of the older A4 version of the Leopard 2, which is almost enough for the standard Ukrainian battalion of 31, but many of them are in poor condition and need repairs before they can be deployed, Pistorius said in Brussels.

Those tanks will only get to Ukraine at the end of April, he added. The comments mark a setback in the bid by western allies to help the Ukrainian army deal with an expected intensification of fighting in the coming weeks.

Read More: Ukraine to Receive Fewer Battle Tanks From Allies Than Promised

Sweden Isnt Ruling out Fighter Jet Deliveries (3:35 p.m.)

During a visit to Kyiv, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his government wont rule out supplying fighter jets to Ukraine as long as it was part of a joint effort with allies.

This is not the time to exclude anything, but at the same time we should acknowledge that we need an international coalition to take further steps, Kristersson said at a briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Ukrainian Air Defense Says Russian Balloons Seen Over Kyiv (1:23 p.m.)

Objects seen floating in the sky over the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital were Russian military balloons, air defense spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in a televised interview. A total of six balloons were detected, most of which were shot down, the military said earlier.

Ihnat characterized the objects as primitive balloons carrying pieces of metal, which were picked up by radar and triggered an air-raid alert in the Kyiv region. The balloons were designed to fool air defenses and possibly mask reconnaissance drones that might be flying nearby, Ihnat said.

Swiss Say Confiscating Russian Assets Would Undermine Law (1:17 p.m.)

Switzerland said confiscating frozen Russian assets and providing them for the reconstruction of Ukraine would go against the constitution, in a move likely to be welcomed by the countrys banks.

A working group led by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice concluded that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Federal Constitution and the prevailing legal order, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Support for Ukraine will continue, it said, regardless of this conclusion.

Germany to Lift Defense Spending (1 p.m.)

Germany is poised to increase its defense budget by as much as 10 billion ($10.7 billion) next year to help fund additional spending needs triggered by Russias war on Ukraine, according to people familiar with the plans.

Defense Minister Pistorius is pushing for the extra cash in the 2024 finance plan, which would lift the total allocated to 60 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Germany Slams Swiss Over Ammunition (1 p.m.)

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck criticized Switzerland over the countrys decision last year to reject a request to allow the re-export of Swiss-made ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft gun from Germany to Ukraine.

Some countries still have ammunition but are reluctant to supply it to Ukraine for historical reasons, Habeck was quoted as saying by weekly newspaper Die Zeit. We are in talks with Switzerland, and I have to say very clearly: I cannot understand why Switzerland does not provide Gepard ammunition, he told the paper.

EU Sanctions Aim to Make Banks Divulge Frozen Russian Assets (11:58 p.m.)

The European Union is poised to force banks to report information on Russian Central Bank assets as part of the blocs latest sanctions package targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine, according to draft proposals seen by Bloomberg News.

Getting a handle on the scale of central bank and other sanctioned state-backed assets that have been immobilized in the EU is seen as a first step to exploring options to potentially using those funds to contribute to Ukraines reconstruction.

We need to know where these are located and how much they are worth, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a video statement.

Read More: EU Sanctions Aim to Make Banks Divulge Frozen Russian Assets

War in Eastern Ukraine Is Compared to World War I (9:40 a.m.)

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace compared the war in the east of Ukraine to the trench warfare of World War I. He said an attack on the mining village of Soledar in eastern Ukraine had resulted in 1,000 Russian deaths in two days.

I think what Russia is doing is trying to advance. Its doing so, in a sort of way, almost First World War-levels of attrition, and with success rates in a matter of meters rather than kilometers, Wallace told BBC radio. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals are either suffering from a gap in reality or no regard for human life.

EUs Borrell Says Sanctions are Hurting Russia (9:20 a.m.)

The EUs sanctions are starting to make a real impact on Russias economy, limiting its revenues and constraining its trade, the blocs foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament.

The sanctions are a slow-action poison, a little bit like arsenic, he said. It takes time to take an effect. He noted that Russias oil and gas revenues were 46% lower in January this year compared to the same month last year. He added that the countrys plane and car plants have lost 80% of their capacity, thanks in part to the EUs trade restrictions.

Finland Hopes for NATO Membership With Sweden Quite Soon (9 a.m.)

Finnish Defense Minister Mikko Savola said he hoped Finland and Sweden would become NATO members quite soon, adding we are ready to join.

Asked whether Finland would wait for Sweden to join, Savola said of course, its better for Finland, its better for Sweden and also for NATO that we both come to members of NATO as soon as possible, adding this was better for defense planning. We have really close bilateral cooperation with Sweden, Sweden is our closest partner, he said.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pekvur said he didnt believe Finlands and Swedens bids to join NATO would be separated. Finland and Sweden will join together to NATO, this is very important for us to secure the Baltic Sea, he told reporters.

Sweden Concedes Finland May Join NATO First Amid Turkey Spat

Germany Says NATO 2% Goal for Defense Spending Should be Floor (8:30 a.m.)

NATO members should spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defense and simply aiming to get close to the target wont be sufficient, Germanys Pistorius said in Brussels as the alliances defense ministers met.

Pistorius said Denmark and Sweden would join the German-led anti-missile shield project for Europe, which already has at least 15 countries signed up. Germany, the UK and Canada agreed on a joint paper outlining how to best protect the three Baltic states as nations leading NATO battle groups in those countries, he added.

Germany will miss the 2% goal again this year and is likely to reach it only in 2025.

NATO Struggles to Meet Spending Goals as It Mulls Higher Target

Training Started on Four Leopard 2A4 Tanks, Canada Says (8:20 a.m.)

Canadas four Leopard 2A4 tanks have arrived in Poland where training is taking place with Ukrainian soldiers, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand told Bloomberg TV, adding her country was also ensuring the delivery of trainers, ammunition and spare parts.

We as a country will join all other NATO allies in searching and making sure were procuring the aid that is necessary for Ukraine to fight and win this war, she said. The minister added that Canada has trained more than 35,000 Ukrainian soldiers since 2015 and that has continued in England.

Russian Parliament to Hold Unscheduled Meeting Feb. 22: RIA (7:45 a.m.)

Houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and the Federation Council, will hold an unscheduled meeting Feb. 22, RIA Novosti reported, citing an unidentified official from the Federation Council. The meeting will focus on the adoption of laws on the legal integration of the annexed regions of Ukraine, RIA reported, citing senator Vyacheslav Timchenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to address the parliament on Feb. 21.

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Russia has held at least 6,000 captured Ukrainian children in re-education camps since the start of the war, according to a new US-backed report.

The report said Yale University researchers had identified at least 43 camps and other facilities in Russia and Crimea 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 primary purpose of the camp facilities weve identified appears to be political re-education, Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, said in a briefing to reporters.

Meanwhile, intense fighting continues in Bakhmut as Russia has bombarded the eastern frontline in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

Volodymyr Zelensky has urged for speedy help from allies as he says Russia is in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence, he said in an evening video address after Nato defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the war and stockpiles.

Key Points

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

Children held in camps as part of large-scale systematic network,

Bakhmut under Russias crazy, chaotic shelling' in new offensive  officials

Wagner has almost certainly made gains around Bakhmut  UK intelligence

Putin changing generals like socks  White House

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

04:45 , Stuti Mishra

Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children with the aim of 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 in Russia and Crimea 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.

Story continues

The primary purpose of the camp facilities weve 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, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, and has pushed back against previous claims it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

'Extraordinary' Russian parliament session to focus on 'adoption of laws for integration of four regions'

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

More information coming on the extraordinary meetings Russias lower and upper chambers will be holding on 22 February from RIA Novosti as a senior lawmaker is quoted saying it would focus on the adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation.

Last year Moscow moved to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal.RIA quoted a source as saying that the State Duma, the lower chamber, will gather in the morning on 22 February while the Federation Councils session will start at 12pm GMT.

President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to the federal assembly - a joint meeting of Russias two houses of parliament - on 21 February.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine last February a special military operation to eliminate security threats. Kyiv and its allies call Russias actions an unprovoked land grab.

Sunak set to join world leaders for Munich conference

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Rishi Sunak will join other world leaders in Munich this weekend for a conference on international security.

The gathering comes days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister will travel to Germany for the conference, which was held last year in the days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian banks and invasion leaders in focus as EU debates new sanctions

07:00 , Stuti Mishra

Representatives of the 27 European Union countries will meet in Brussels today to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, with politicians, military leaders and four more Russian banks expected to be targeted.

Any new measures, which the bloc is expected to agree to mark the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, would require the unanimous backing of all EU member states.

"We will impose sanctions on a number of politicians and military leaders," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen after a summit last week with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We will target [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad.

"The package will include additional export bans worth more than 10 billion euros. This will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy," she said.

US officials point to Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine

06:50 , Stuti Mishra

American defence officials on Tuesday sought to dispel any doubt that Iran is supplying drones for Russias war in Ukraine, releasing photos and analysis of unmanned aircraft deployed in the conflict to demonstrate Tehrans involvement.

During a briefing in London, analysts from the US Defense Intelligence Agency displayed photos of drones that attacked Ukraine alongside images of those previously traced to Iran.

A comparison of design details such as tail fins, nose cones and landing gear shows that the weapons used in Ukraine are indistinguishable from Shahed-131 and -136 attack drones and Mohajer 6 unmanned aerial vehicles used in the Middle East.

The effort to show the homework is intended to help persuade governments or international agencies of Tehrans involvement. Iran has said it supplied a small number of drones to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine but has denied providing any more since troops crossed the border last February.

The evidence proves otherwise, an official from the Defence Intelligence Agency said while speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Iran is a partner in the conflict with Russia, the official said.

Wreckage of what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone downed near Kupiansk (AP)

Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies amid tensions with Russia

06:40 , Stuti Mishra

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.

The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia's war.

Romania's defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under Nato command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with "characteristics similar to a weather balloon."

It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 36,000 feet.

The incident in Moldova triggered widespread travel disruption and brief panic when authorities temporarily closed the country's airspace over what they later described as an object "similar to a weather balloon" spotted near the northern border with Ukraine.

Scores of flights in the country of about 2.6 million people, one of Europe's poorest, were cancelled or rescheduled. Some were diverted to Romania.

It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from.

This comes after Moldovan president Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting to overthrow her country's government and derail it from its EU accession path, an allegation Russia has dismissed as "absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated."

(via REUTERS)

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Partizan Belgrade fans have been banned from travelling to watch their side play Sheriff Tiraspol as tensions escalate in Moldova amid fears Russia may be planning a coup.Partizan and Sheriff are due to meet in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout play-off tie on Thursday in a match that will now be played behind closed doors.The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said on Monday that she feared Russia were preparing an attempt to overthrow her government.

Read more:

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary meeting next week

06:10 , Stuti Mishra

The lower and upper chambers of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on 22 February, RIA Novosti news agency reported early morning, citing a source.

The meeting will be held two days after the Russia-Ukraine war completes one year, a military operation Vladimir Putin began expecting a quick win.

Not much is known about the agenda of the meeting yet.

Russia says it has broken through defences in Ukraine's Luhansk

06:00 , Stuti Mishra

Russian troops have broken through the Ukrainian defences in part of the Luhansk region, the Russian defence ministry claimed early this morning.

"During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to three kilometres 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.

Ukraine's military has been reporting increasingly heavy Russian shelling along the frontline, with officials calling the situation difficult, but also says that its army has been able to repel many Russian attacks. Ukraine has urged allies to speed up the pace of military aid.

Russia now holds swathes of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk, including the regional capital.

US may take action against individuals mentioned in Yale report

05:50 , Stuti Mishra

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated that action could be taken against 12 individuals the report said are not yet under US 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.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children

05:40 , Stuti Mishra

Ukrainian prosecutors have said they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children as part of efforts to build a genocide indictment against Russia.

No more details have been shared at the moment.

Network stretches from one end of Russia to the other

05:30 , Stuti Mishra

Researchers behind the report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps say they believe the number of facilities in which Ukrainian children have been held exceeds 43.

This network stretches from one end of Russia to the other, Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, told reporters.

The system of camps and the adoption by Russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland appears to be authorised and coordinated at the highest levels of Russias government, the report said, beginning with president Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

Children's camps 'clear violation of 4th Geneva Convention'

05:15 , Stuti Mishra

The report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps was the latest produced by the Yale University School of Public Healths 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 Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers.

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.

Russia bombards eastern frontline as Ukraine prepares for street fighting in Bakhmut

04:15 , Stuti Mishra

Intense fighting continues in Bakhmut as Russia has bombarded the eastern frontline in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

Much of Russias artillery fire was focused on Bakhmut, a bombed-out city in Donetsk province and a principal target for president Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian troops there have fortified positions in anticipation of street fighting.

Bakhmuts capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger Donetsk cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and give Moscow momentum after months of battlefield setbacks following its invasion last February.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged for speedy help from allies as he says Russia is in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence, he said in an evening video address after Nato defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the war and stockpiles.

Dutch F-35s intercept Russia aircraft near Poland

03:45 , Sam Rkaina

Two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out, the Netherlands defence ministry said.

The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad, the ministry statement said on Monday.

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.

The Il-20M Coot-A is NATOs reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are NATOs reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.

The Netherlands defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

Putin holds talks with Azeri counterpart

02:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and noted the importance of ensuring stability and security in the southern Caucasus region, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Tensions are high between Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a largely ethnic Armenian population but is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a war that ended in a Moscow-brokered ceasefire upheld by Russian peacekeepers. Both sides accuse each other of violations and Armenia now says Azerbaijan is blockading the only road into Nagorno-Karabakh, a charge Baku denies.

The importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was noted, said a Kremlin readout of the call between Putin and Aliyev.

In this context, it was reaffirmed that all the relevant agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level should be implemented unconditionally.

Late last month Yerevan asked Putin to take a tougher line on Nagorno-Karabakh and for Russian peacekeepers to end what it called the blockade.

Germany calls for ramp up in ammunition production

01:45 , Sam Rkaina

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.

Russia is now a global pariah'

00:45 , Sam Rkaina

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave the same message about Russian President Vladimir Putins 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: theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, Milley, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

Speed is of the essence Zelensky says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest offensive before Kyiv and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence. Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves peoples lives, speed brings back security, he said in an evening video address.

Mr Zelensky - thanking allies for their promises of more air defence weapons, tanks, artillery, shells and training - said much of what had been discussed should be kept a secret.

Mr Austin said he expected Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive of their own in the spring, and Kyivs allies were working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics to make it effective.

We believe that therell 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 Ukraines momentum in the crucial weeks ahead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) welcoming Canadas Foreign Minister Melanie Joly prior to their meeting in Kyiv (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

US says Ukraine is at crucial point in war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine urgently needs more military aid, the United States and NATO said on Tuesday, pledging that western support will not falter in the face of a new Russian offensive as the war was about to mark the first full year since it began.

Western defence chiefs met 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.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a NATO meeting (AP)

Moscow accuses Japan of 'Russophobia

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russia, locked in a decades-old territorial dispute with Tokyo over a chain of Pacific islands, has accused Japan of 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 7 February 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 Russias long-standing position that it has sovereignty over the islands, accused Japan of rewriting history and ignoring post-war realities. Japans 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.

Who are the Wagner mercenaries and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of President Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner private military company, under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin, cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since contracted troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but a power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin recently led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

Click here for the full story.

Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya, Russia (Reuters)

Key developments on Tuesday so far

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:42 , Sam Rkaina

Russias army bombarded front-line Ukrainian troops and towns in the eastern Donetsk region in what appeared to be early salvoes of a new offensive, as Western allies met to weigh sending more arms to Kyiv for an expected counter-attack.

* Ukraine reported Russian shelling all along the frontline and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near the town of Bakhmut.

* In the last three days, Russias Wagner group of fighters made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine, Britains defence ministry said.

* Ukraines military said its forces had repelled attacks in five settlements in Luhansk and six in Donetsk, including around Bakhmut, over the past 24 hours.

Ukraine prepares counter offensive as Russia steps up assault  but needs more Western ammunition

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:47 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine is preparing its own counter offensive in the face of intensifying Russian bombardment as it fights Moscows invasion  but the West is in danger of running out of the ammunition and heavy weaponry components Kyiv will need.

At a meeting of Western defence chiefs in Brussels, the head of Nato  Jens Stoltenberg  said that we see no signs that President [Vlaimir] Putin is preparing for peace... What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks as the anniversary of the invasion approaches.

He added that is is clear that we are in a race of logistics and that this required a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed in what has become a grinding war of attrition.

Click here for the full story.

Bohdan, Fritz, the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires an RPG towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, Donetsk (Reuters)

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:08 , Andy Gregory

Breaking - British national has died in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:51 , Sam Rkaina

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

Well have more on this breaking news story as we get it.

Chinas Xi meets with Iranian president as Tehran seeks closer ties with Moscow

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:59 , AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed support for Iran during a visit 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.

China's Xi expresses support for Iran amid Western pressure

No signs Russia preparing for larger air attack on Ukraine, says US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:31 , Andy Gregory

There are currently no signs that Russia is amassing aircraft for a larger air attack on Ukraine, the US defence secretary has said.

In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack: we dont currently see that, Lloyd Austin said, after a meeting with allied defence ministers in Brussels.

We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory. Thats why weve emphasised that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defence capability as we possibly can, he added.

Putins forces making incremental progress in Bakhmut, says White House

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:58 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putins forces have made incremental progress over the past few days in their assault on Bakhmut  but it remains unclear whether it will fall to the Russians, the White House has said.

Answering questions from reporters, White House spokesperson John Kirby said that, if Bakhmut were to fall to Moscow, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war.

EU group to seek access to frozen Russian funds

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:30 , Emily Atkinson

The EU will on Wednesday launch an ad hoc group to investigate how frozen Russian funds can be accessed for the benefit of reconstruction in Ukraine, Swedens prime minister Ulf Kristersson has said.

The mandate is to contribute to mapping which funds have been frozen in the European Union ... and secondly how to legally proceed to access those funds, Mr Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm.

Ukraine offensive expected this spring

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:20 , Katy Clifton

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring.

Ukraine wants to create momentum ... We expect to see them conduct an offensive sometime in the spring, he told reporters after meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

He also said that Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Asked whether Ukraines allies on Tuesday discussed the issue of sending fighter jets to help the country in its war effort, Austin said I dont have any announcement to make today.

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically'

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:18 , Katy Clifton

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its war in Ukraine, US joint chiefs chair army General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, he said.

Kyiv troops blow up bridge near Bakhmut as Russia bombards city

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:10 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian forces have blown up a bridge near the embattled town of Bakhmut, reports suggest  hinting that Kyiv might be plotting a retreat.

The bridge is located between Bakhmut and Konstantivka, another town under Kyiv control, according to local Telegram news channel, which posted videos from the scene.

Moldova reopens airspace after temporary closure

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:00 , Emily Atkinson

Moldova has reopened its airspace for civil aviation just hours after closing it for security reasons, its aviation authority said.

Air Moldova, the national carrier, said earlier the small east European country had temporarily closed its air space.

In a brief statement announcing it was open again, the aviation authority said it would provide more information later.

Britain to mark first anniversary of Ukraine war with minutes silence

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:40 , Emily Atkinson

The UK will mark the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine with a national minutes silence, in an expression of solidarity with Kyiv.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 11am on 24 February and will encourage individuals and organisations across Britain to participate.

As we approach the anniversary of Russias barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people, Mr Sunak said in a statement.

Russias 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.

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:20 , Emily Atkinson

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.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has the details:

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Stoltenberg plays down dispute over Nordic Nato bids

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:50 , Emily Atkinson

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has played down the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, at the same time as Turkey refuses to ratify their membership.

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 is that both the Nordic neighbors should join at the same time.Mr 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 Natos next summit in Lithuania in July.

Norway to send 8 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:20 , Emily Atkinson

Norway will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine to aid in the war with Russia.

It is more crucial than ever to support Ukraines fight for freedom, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

Norway said it will also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.

Norway will also set aside funds for ammunition and spare parts, the defence ministry said.

Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has 36 Leopard 2 tanks in total.

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:50 , Emily Atkinson

Wagner head admits links to US election-meddling troll farm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:20 , Emily Atkinson

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias 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 US 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 Russias 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 Wests boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda, Prigozhin said.

Putin making no significant breakthroughs as Russia escalates war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:49 , Emily Atkinson

Russia is making continuous offensive efforts in eastern Ukraine, though these local attacks still remain on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough, according to UK intelligence.

The tactical Russian advance to the south of Bakhmut has likely made little progress, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its regular Twitter bulletin.

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, it added.

Ukraine renews appeal for fighter jets

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:33 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine has renewed its appeal for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion.Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded.

Finding air defences more important than fighter jet discussions, says Germany

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:00 , Emily Atkinson

German defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said that finding ammunition and air defences is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Mr 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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:30 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line, British military chiefs have said.

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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine war, MoD says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:10 , Emily Atkinson

Russia has likely suffered an average of 824 casualties a day in the Ukraine conflict in the past two weeks, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

This is the highest rate of casualties since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on 24 February last year and four times the rate reported over the June-July period.

Earlier, Russian mercenary group Wagner said it had taken control of a village near the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraines eastern Donetsk Oblast region.

Martha McHardy has more:

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine
Russia has claimed they made a breakthrough in the eastern front of Luhansk as intense fighting continued overnight.

The Russian defence ministry said the Ukrainians had retreated in the face of Russian attacks, allowing its own troops to break through two fortified lines of defence.

During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km (1.9 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.

However, no further details were provided and Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield report.

It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

Elsewhere, head of the Russian-installed administration in Kharviv said that Vladimir Putin plans to seize back all the settlements in Ukraines northeastern Kharkiv region that it surrendered to Kyiv last year.

Key Points

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

Children held in camps as part of large-scale systematic network,

Bakhmut under Russias crazy, chaotic shelling' in new offensive  officials

Wagner has almost certainly made gains around Bakhmut  UK intelligence

Putin changing generals like socks  White House

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

04:45 , Stuti Mishra

Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children with the aim of 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 in Russia and Crimea 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.

Story continues

The primary purpose of the camp facilities weve 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, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, and has pushed back against previous claims it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

Russia claims breakthrough in Luhansk region

09:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has claimed they made a breakthrough in the eastern front of Luhansk as intense fighting continued overnight.

The Russian defence ministry said the Ukrainians had retreated in the face of Russian attacks, allowing its own troops to break through two fortified lines of defence.

During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km (1.9 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.

However, no further details were provided and Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield report.

It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

EU to sanction Iran entities involved in Russian war in Ukraine - Von der Leyen

08:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU will propose sanctions targeting for the first time Iranian economic operators involved in the Russian war in Ukraine.

For the first time we are also proposing to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Irans Revolutionary Guard, Von der Leyen told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Von der Leyen said the 10th package of sanctions, worth a total of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), would target new trade bans and technology export controls, including drones, helicopters and missiles.

British national killed in Ukraine, government says

08:34 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed.

The dead person is a man, according to the BBC, which would make them at least the eighth British male to die in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last February.

The Foreign Office has not confirmed any further details but a spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

It comes after the government announced that a national one-minute silence will be held to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine next week.

British national dies in Ukraine, Foreign Office says

Russian leaders 'likely aware' of 'critical weakness' in industrial output

08:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Senior Russian leaders are likely aware that the states military-industrial output is becoming a critical weakness, particularly in light of the strategic and operational miscalculations made during the invasion of Ukraine, the ministry of defence has said in its latest update.

The MoD said production levels are almost certainly falling short of Moscows demands to resource the ongoing Ukraine campaign and also to restore its longer-term defence requirements.

Deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev called for an increase in Russian tank production earlier, while visiting the Omsk Transport Machine Construction plant on 9 February, it said.

This follows several public comments by president Vladimir Putin urging the defence industry to better support the special military operation.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 February 2023



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/XILK9JDeqM



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/KKcT027LpV  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 15, 2023

No sign that Putin is preparing for peace in Ukraine, Nato secretary general says

08:00 , Stuti Mishra

UKs commitment to Nato is enduring'

07:45 , Stuti Mishra

The Ministry of Defence has posted a series of tweets about defence minister Ben Wallaces meeting with Nato on Tuesday.

The MoD states: The UKs commitment to #NATO is enduring and we remain one of NATOs highest spending members.

The UK and our @NATO Allies are focused on our unwavering support for Ukraine. Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP met his French and Romanian counterparts @SebLecornu @RomaniaNATO in Brussels for meetings to discuss ongoing military cooperation. 

 Defence Ministers from @NATO member states are meeting in Brussels to discuss continued support for  Ukraine, ongoing defence collaboration and the modernisation of the Alliance.#NATO exists to guarantee freedom and security for its 30 members.@BWallaceMP  and @SecDef pic.twitter.com/ieN96EUgaR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 14, 2023

'Extraordinary' Russian parliament session to focus on 'adoption of laws for integration of four regions'

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

More information coming on the extraordinary meetings Russias lower and upper chambers will be holding on 22 February from RIA Novosti as a senior lawmaker is quoted saying it would focus on the adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation.

Last year Moscow moved to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal.RIA quoted a source as saying that the State Duma, the lower chamber, will gather in the morning on 22 February while the Federation Councils session will start at 12pm GMT.

President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to the federal assembly - a joint meeting of Russias two houses of parliament - on 21 February.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine last February a special military operation to eliminate security threats. Kyiv and its allies call Russias actions an unprovoked land grab.

Sunak set to join world leaders for Munich conference

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Rishi Sunak will join other world leaders in Munich this weekend for a conference on international security.

The gathering comes days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister will travel to Germany for the conference, which was held last year in the days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian banks and invasion leaders in focus as EU debates new sanctions

07:00 , Stuti Mishra

Representatives of the 27 European Union countries will meet in Brussels today to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, with politicians, military leaders and four more Russian banks expected to be targeted.

Any new measures, which the bloc is expected to agree to mark the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, would require the unanimous backing of all EU member states.

"We will impose sanctions on a number of politicians and military leaders," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen after a summit last week with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We will target [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad.

"The package will include additional export bans worth more than 10 billion euros. This will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy," she said.

US officials point to Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine

06:50 , Stuti Mishra

American defence officials on Tuesday sought to dispel any doubt that Iran is supplying drones for Russias war in Ukraine, releasing photos and analysis of unmanned aircraft deployed in the conflict to demonstrate Tehrans involvement.

During a briefing in London, analysts from the US Defense Intelligence Agency displayed photos of drones that attacked Ukraine alongside images of those previously traced to Iran.

A comparison of design details such as tail fins, nose cones and landing gear shows that the weapons used in Ukraine are indistinguishable from Shahed-131 and -136 attack drones and Mohajer 6 unmanned aerial vehicles used in the Middle East.

The effort to show the homework is intended to help persuade governments or international agencies of Tehrans involvement. Iran has said it supplied a small number of drones to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine but has denied providing any more since troops crossed the border last February.

The evidence proves otherwise, an official from the Defence Intelligence Agency said while speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Iran is a partner in the conflict with Russia, the official said.

Wreckage of what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone downed near Kupiansk (AP)

Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies amid tensions with Russia

06:40 , Stuti Mishra

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.

The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia's war.

Romania's defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under Nato command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with "characteristics similar to a weather balloon."

It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 36,000 feet.

The incident in Moldova triggered widespread travel disruption and brief panic when authorities temporarily closed the country's airspace over what they later described as an object "similar to a weather balloon" spotted near the northern border with Ukraine.

Scores of flights in the country of about 2.6 million people, one of Europe's poorest, were cancelled or rescheduled. Some were diverted to Romania.

It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from.

This comes after Moldovan president Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting to overthrow her country's government and derail it from its EU accession path, an allegation Russia has dismissed as "absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated."

(via REUTERS)

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Partizan Belgrade fans have been banned from travelling to watch their side play Sheriff Tiraspol as tensions escalate in Moldova amid fears Russia may be planning a coup.Partizan and Sheriff are due to meet in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout play-off tie on Thursday in a match that will now be played behind closed doors.The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said on Monday that she feared Russia were preparing an attempt to overthrow her government.

Read more:

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary meeting next week

06:10 , Stuti Mishra

The lower and upper chambers of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on 22 February, RIA Novosti news agency reported early morning, citing a source.

The meeting will be held two days after the Russia-Ukraine war completes one year, a military operation Vladimir Putin began expecting a quick win.

Not much is known about the agenda of the meeting yet.

Russia says it has broken through defences in Ukraine's Luhansk

06:00 , Stuti Mishra

Russian troops have broken through the Ukrainian defences in part of the Luhansk region, the Russian defence ministry claimed early this morning.

"During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to three kilometres 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.

Ukraine's military has been reporting increasingly heavy Russian shelling along the frontline, with officials calling the situation difficult, but also says that its army has been able to repel many Russian attacks. Ukraine has urged allies to speed up the pace of military aid.

Russia now holds swathes of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk, including the regional capital.

US may take action against individuals mentioned in Yale report

05:50 , Stuti Mishra

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated that action could be taken against 12 individuals the report said are not yet under US 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.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children

05:40 , Stuti Mishra

Ukrainian prosecutors have said they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children as part of efforts to build a genocide indictment against Russia.

No more details have been shared at the moment.

Network stretches from one end of Russia to the other

05:30 , Stuti Mishra

Researchers behind the report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps say they believe the number of facilities in which Ukrainian children have been held exceeds 43.

This network stretches from one end of Russia to the other, Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, told reporters.

The system of camps and the adoption by Russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland appears to be authorised and coordinated at the highest levels of Russias government, the report said, beginning with president Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

Children's camps 'clear violation of 4th Geneva Convention'

05:15 , Stuti Mishra

The report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps was the latest produced by the Yale University School of Public Healths 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 Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers.

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.

Russia bombards eastern frontline as Ukraine prepares for street fighting in Bakhmut

04:15 , Stuti Mishra

Intense fighting continues in Bakhmut as Russia has bombarded the eastern frontline in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

Much of Russias artillery fire was focused on Bakhmut, a bombed-out city in Donetsk province and a principal target for president Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian troops there have fortified positions in anticipation of street fighting.

Bakhmuts capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger Donetsk cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and give Moscow momentum after months of battlefield setbacks following its invasion last February.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged for speedy help from allies as he says Russia is in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence, he said in an evening video address after Nato defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the war and stockpiles.

Dutch F-35s intercept Russia aircraft near Poland

03:45 , Sam Rkaina

Two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out, the Netherlands defence ministry said.

The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad, the ministry statement said on Monday.

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.

The Il-20M Coot-A is NATOs reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are NATOs reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.

The Netherlands defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

Putin holds talks with Azeri counterpart

02:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and noted the importance of ensuring stability and security in the southern Caucasus region, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Tensions are high between Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a largely ethnic Armenian population but is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a war that ended in a Moscow-brokered ceasefire upheld by Russian peacekeepers. Both sides accuse each other of violations and Armenia now says Azerbaijan is blockading the only road into Nagorno-Karabakh, a charge Baku denies.

The importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was noted, said a Kremlin readout of the call between Putin and Aliyev.

In this context, it was reaffirmed that all the relevant agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level should be implemented unconditionally.

Late last month Yerevan asked Putin to take a tougher line on Nagorno-Karabakh and for Russian peacekeepers to end what it called the blockade.

Germany calls for ramp up in ammunition production

01:45 , Sam Rkaina

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.

Russia is now a global pariah'

00:45 , Sam Rkaina

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave the same message about Russian President Vladimir Putins 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: theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, Milley, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

Speed is of the essence Zelensky says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest offensive before Kyiv and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence. Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves peoples lives, speed brings back security, he said in an evening video address.

Mr Zelensky - thanking allies for their promises of more air defence weapons, tanks, artillery, shells and training - said much of what had been discussed should be kept a secret.

Mr Austin said he expected Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive of their own in the spring, and Kyivs allies were working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics to make it effective.

We believe that therell 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 Ukraines momentum in the crucial weeks ahead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) welcoming Canadas Foreign Minister Melanie Joly prior to their meeting in Kyiv (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

US says Ukraine is at crucial point in war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine urgently needs more military aid, the United States and NATO said on Tuesday, pledging that western support will not falter in the face of a new Russian offensive as the war was about to mark the first full year since it began.

Western defence chiefs met 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.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a NATO meeting (AP)

Moscow accuses Japan of 'Russophobia

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russia, locked in a decades-old territorial dispute with Tokyo over a chain of Pacific islands, has accused Japan of 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 7 February 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 Russias long-standing position that it has sovereignty over the islands, accused Japan of rewriting history and ignoring post-war realities. Japans 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.

Who are the Wagner mercenaries and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of President Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner private military company, under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin, cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since contracted troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but a power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin recently led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

Click here for the full story.

Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya, Russia (Reuters)

Key developments on Tuesday so far

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:42 , Sam Rkaina

Russias army bombarded front-line Ukrainian troops and towns in the eastern Donetsk region in what appeared to be early salvoes of a new offensive, as Western allies met to weigh sending more arms to Kyiv for an expected counter-attack.

* Ukraine reported Russian shelling all along the frontline and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near the town of Bakhmut.

* In the last three days, Russias Wagner group of fighters made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine, Britains defence ministry said.

* Ukraines military said its forces had repelled attacks in five settlements in Luhansk and six in Donetsk, including around Bakhmut, over the past 24 hours.

Ukraine prepares counter offensive as Russia steps up assault  but needs more Western ammunition

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:47 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine is preparing its own counter offensive in the face of intensifying Russian bombardment as it fights Moscows invasion  but the West is in danger of running out of the ammunition and heavy weaponry components Kyiv will need.

At a meeting of Western defence chiefs in Brussels, the head of Nato  Jens Stoltenberg  said that we see no signs that President [Vlaimir] Putin is preparing for peace... What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks as the anniversary of the invasion approaches.

He added that is is clear that we are in a race of logistics and that this required a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed in what has become a grinding war of attrition.

Click here for the full story.

Bohdan, Fritz, the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires an RPG towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, Donetsk (Reuters)

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:08 , Andy Gregory

Breaking - British national has died in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:51 , Sam Rkaina

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

Well have more on this breaking news story as we get it.

Chinas Xi meets with Iranian president as Tehran seeks closer ties with Moscow

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:59 , AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed support for Iran during a visit 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.

China's Xi expresses support for Iran amid Western pressure

No signs Russia preparing for larger air attack on Ukraine, says US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:31 , Andy Gregory

There are currently no signs that Russia is amassing aircraft for a larger air attack on Ukraine, the US defence secretary has said.

In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack: we dont currently see that, Lloyd Austin said, after a meeting with allied defence ministers in Brussels.

We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory. Thats why weve emphasised that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defence capability as we possibly can, he added.

Putins forces making incremental progress in Bakhmut, says White House

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:58 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putins forces have made incremental progress over the past few days in their assault on Bakhmut  but it remains unclear whether it will fall to the Russians, the White House has said.

Answering questions from reporters, White House spokesperson John Kirby said that, if Bakhmut were to fall to Moscow, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war.

EU group to seek access to frozen Russian funds

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:30 , Emily Atkinson

The EU will on Wednesday launch an ad hoc group to investigate how frozen Russian funds can be accessed for the benefit of reconstruction in Ukraine, Swedens prime minister Ulf Kristersson has said.

The mandate is to contribute to mapping which funds have been frozen in the European Union ... and secondly how to legally proceed to access those funds, Mr Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm.

Ukraine offensive expected this spring

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:20 , Katy Clifton

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring.

Ukraine wants to create momentum ... We expect to see them conduct an offensive sometime in the spring, he told reporters after meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

He also said that Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Asked whether Ukraines allies on Tuesday discussed the issue of sending fighter jets to help the country in its war effort, Austin said I dont have any announcement to make today.

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically'

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:18 , Katy Clifton

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its war in Ukraine, US joint chiefs chair army General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, he said.

Kyiv troops blow up bridge near Bakhmut as Russia bombards city

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:10 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian forces have blown up a bridge near the embattled town of Bakhmut, reports suggest  hinting that Kyiv might be plotting a retreat.

The bridge is located between Bakhmut and Konstantivka, another town under Kyiv control, according to local Telegram news channel, which posted videos from the scene.

Moldova reopens airspace after temporary closure

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:00 , Emily Atkinson

Moldova has reopened its airspace for civil aviation just hours after closing it for security reasons, its aviation authority said.

Air Moldova, the national carrier, said earlier the small east European country had temporarily closed its air space.

In a brief statement announcing it was open again, the aviation authority said it would provide more information later.

Britain to mark first anniversary of Ukraine war with minutes silence

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:40 , Emily Atkinson

The UK will mark the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine with a national minutes silence, in an expression of solidarity with Kyiv.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 11am on 24 February and will encourage individuals and organisations across Britain to participate.

As we approach the anniversary of Russias barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people, Mr Sunak said in a statement.

Russias 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.

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:20 , Emily Atkinson

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.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has the details:

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Stoltenberg plays down dispute over Nordic Nato bids

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:50 , Emily Atkinson

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has played down the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, at the same time as Turkey refuses to ratify their membership.

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 is that both the Nordic neighbors should join at the same time.Mr 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 Natos next summit in Lithuania in July.

Norway to send 8 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:20 , Emily Atkinson

Norway will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine to aid in the war with Russia.

It is more crucial than ever to support Ukraines fight for freedom, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

Norway said it will also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.

Norway will also set aside funds for ammunition and spare parts, the defence ministry said.

Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has 36 Leopard 2 tanks in total.

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:50 , Emily Atkinson

Wagner head admits links to US election-meddling troll farm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:20 , Emily Atkinson

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias 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 US 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 Russias 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 Wests boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda, Prigozhin said.

Putin making no significant breakthroughs as Russia escalates war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:49 , Emily Atkinson

Russia is making continuous offensive efforts in eastern Ukraine, though these local attacks still remain on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough, according to UK intelligence.

The tactical Russian advance to the south of Bakhmut has likely made little progress, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its regular Twitter bulletin.

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, it added.

Ukraine renews appeal for fighter jets

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:33 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine has renewed its appeal for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion.Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded.

Finding air defences more important than fighter jet discussions, says Germany

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:00 , Emily Atkinson

German defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said that finding ammunition and air defences is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Mr 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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:30 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line, British military chiefs have said.

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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine war, MoD says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:10 , Emily Atkinson

Russia has likely suffered an average of 824 casualties a day in the Ukraine conflict in the past two weeks, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

This is the highest rate of casualties since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on 24 February last year and four times the rate reported over the June-July period.

Earlier, Russian mercenary group Wagner said it had taken control of a village near the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraines eastern Donetsk Oblast region.

Martha McHardy has more:

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine
Ukraine opposes the presence of the Russian delegation at the official meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and offered to postpone the meeting.

Source: Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, during a conversation with the President of the OSCE PA Margareta Cederfelt, as reported by European Pravda.

Details: "Stefanchuk emphasised that the Ukrainian side is concerned about the crisis situation in which the OSCE PA turned out to be, due to the non-approval of changes to the rules of procedure of the Assembly by the Standing Committee of the OSCE PA at the previous meeting in Warsaw," according to the statement on the council's website.

Stefanchuk also noted that the possible presence at the winter meeting of the OSCE PA on 23-24 February in Vienna directly on the anniversary of the beginning of the large-scale aggressive war against Ukraine caused misunderstandings. Also, the delegations of the Russian Federation and Belarus were not denied visas to attend the official OSCE event.

"It is absolutely unacceptable that the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the aggressor state, will find themselves at the same table at the official meeting of the OSCE PA. It seems to me that this does not correspond either to the principles on which the OSCE is founded, or to common sense in general," Stefanchuk emphasised.

He also drew attention to the fact that he repeatedly reached out to fellow parliamentarians of the OSCE PA with a call to ensure full-scale international isolation of the Kremlin regime, which unleashed a war in the centre of Europe.

"I ask you to consider the possibility of applying a certain operational way out of the current situation, and I propose to consider the issue of an extraordinary meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly with the aim of making a decision on the postponement of the winter meeting of the OSCE PA. And I have preliminary signals from partners about the readiness to support such a proposal," said Stefanchuk.

Story continues

Background:

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland stated that Austria's granting of visas to the Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is a bad decision that doesnt correspond with the adopted sanctions.

Alexander Schallenberg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, defends the country's decision to allow Russian delegates under Western sanctions to the OSCE meeting in Vienna, despite criticism from two dozen countries.

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Boris Pistorius, Minister of Defence of Germany, has noted that it would be difficult for Western allies to raise two full battalions of Leopard 2 tanks to send them to Ukraine as promised.

Source: Pistorius after a meeting with NATO counterparts in Brussels on 15 February, as European Pravda reports, citing Bloomberg

Details: Germany and Portugal are the only two countries that have pledged to send the Leopard 2A6 to Ukraine: 14 tanks have been pledged by the government in Berlin and three by Portugal: "We will not reach the size of a battalion," he said.

As Pistorius states, Poland has put together about 30 pieces of the old version of the Leopard 2, which is almost enough for a standard Ukrainian battalion of 31 tanks. However, many of those are in poor condition and need repairs before they may be deployed. He added that these tanks will arrive in Ukraine only at the end of April.

At the end of January, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany and its allies would quickly form two battalions of main battle tanks for Ukraine, and the United States promised to send 31 units of M1 Abrams tanks.

On 14 February, Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defence, named the countries that had begun preparations to provide Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine or made a commitment to do so.

Background: The Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany have agreed to cooperate in order to supply about a hundred Leopard 1 tanks from industrial warehouses in Germany to Ukraine.

After meeting with his German counterpart in Kyiv, Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian Defence Minister, announced that Ukraine should receive 80 Leopard 1 tanks by the end of the year, and the first two dozen should arrive "before summer".

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A man is rescued by firefighters after an apartment block was heavily damaged by a missile strike in Pokrovsk - MARKO DJURICA/REUTERS

Six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Wednesday.

It said on the Telegram messaging app that the balloons may have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment.

It comes after the White House insisted that objects being shot down over US airspace in recent days are not of extraterrestrial origin.

Since a Chinese spy balloon was downed on Feb 4, there have been several more objects which US and Canadian officials have struggled to explain the origin of, prompting some to suggest aliens are involved.

03:48 PM

What we learned today

Six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said.

Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian Defence Minister, whose political future has been the subject of intense speculation, said on Wednesday President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked him to remain in his current post.

Russian troops are suffering "almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres" in Ukraine, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, has said.

Thanks for following along with today's Ukraine liveblog - please follow along tomorrow for all the latest updates.

03:42 PM

Ukraine will launch its own offensive in spring, says US

Ukraine has a "real good chance" of taking the initiative on the battlefield, Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, has said.

Speaking after the meeting with Nato defence ministers, he told reporters: "I think they'll have a real good chance of making a pretty significant difference on the battlefield and establishing the initiative. And being able to exploit that initiative going forward."

He also said that for every system that Nato will provide, it will train troops on that system. "We're laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform", he said.

Story continues

He added that Natos supply of tanks, weapons and ammunition will decisively tip the balance toward Ukraine in a planned counter-offensive against Russia this spring.

03:08 PM

Six Russian balloons spotted over Kyiv, most shot down

Six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Wednesday.

It said on the Telegram messaging app that the balloons may have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment.

02:43 PM

Ukraine-Russia in pictures

A still image from video, published by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be a Tu-95MC strategic bomber - RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY/via REUTERS

A still image from video, published by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be Tu-95MC strategic bombers before a flight of more than 7 hours over the neutral waters of the Chukchi and Okhotsk seas - RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY/via REUTERS

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson attend a news briefing, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv - VALENTYN OGIRENKO/REUTERS

02:20 PM

Ukraine has "real good chance" of taking the initiative on the battlefield, says Lloyd Austin

Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, said that Ukraine has a "real good chance" of taking the initiative on the battlefield.

"I think they'll have a real good chance of making a pretty significant difference on the battlefield and establishing the initiative. And being able to exploit that initiative going forward", he told reporters after a meeting with Nato defence ministers in Brussels.

He also said that for every system that Nato will provide, it will train troops on that system. "We're laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform", he said.

01:57 PM

Bern says it cannot confiscate Russian assets

Switzerland's government announced Wednesday that confiscating private Russian assets in the country to help rebuild Ukraine would be contrary to Swiss law.

Traditionally-neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 to align itself with the neighbouring European Union's sanctions against Moscow.

The wealthy Alpine nation has since frozen billions in Russian assets.

Faced with international proposals to confiscate such assets and to use the money to help rebuild Ukraine, Switzerland's Federal Council, as the government is known, had asked a justice department working group to clarify the legality of such a move.

The group concluded that "the expropriation of private assets of lawful origin without compensation is not permissible under Swiss law," a government statement said.

01:55 PM

Ukrainian village renamed after top general fighting Russia

A village in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine has been renamed Zaluzhne in honour of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the top general in the war against Russia.

Halyna Kuts, a deputy on the Kharkiv regional council, said regional deputies had backed a motion by the village council to drop the name Vatutine, after the Soviet general who commanded Red Army operations in Ukraine during World War Two.

"The village of Vatutine is renamed Zaluzhne. Kharkiv regional council has supported this decision," Kuts wrote on Facebook after an online session of the regional council. "This is wonderful news."

The village, which has just over 1,200 residents, lies about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the regional capital, Kharkiv.

Zaluzhnyi, 49, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2021. Together with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the four-star general has become the face of the war effort against Russia.

Ukraine has been renaming cities, villages and streets connected with Soviet history since 2015 under a so-called decommunisation law.

01:04 PM

Pictured: A man is rescued by firefighters after an apartment block was heavily damaged by a missile strike

A man is rescued by firefighters after an apartment block was heavily damaged by a missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine - MARKO DJURICA/REUTERS

12:45 PM

UK and European allies send military equipment to Ukraine through global fund

Britain and other European nations will provide military equipment including spare parts for tanks and artillery ammunition to Ukraine through an international fund, Britain said on Wednesday.

Britain has agreed with the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Lithuania to send an initial package of support to Ukraine with an expected value of more than 200 million pounds ($241 million), the British Ministry of Defence said.

"This equipment package will provide a significant capability boost for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will support their ability to defend their country," defence minister Wallace said following a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels

12:40 PM

Ukrainian defence minister Reznikov says Zelensky asked him to stay in post

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, whose political future has been the subject of intense speculation, said on Wednesday President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked him to remain in his current post.

Asked in a Reuters interview whether he expected to continue as defence minister in the months to come, he replied: "Yes, it was the decision of my president."

Reznikov's future was thrown into doubt in recent weeks after a senior parliamentarian from Zelenskiy's party said he would be replaced. But Reznikov remained in post.

A lawyer who became defence minister only a few months before Russia launched its invasion, he has been under pressure due to a corruption scandal linked to his ministry.

Reznikov said Zelenskiy had asked him to remain as defence minister but also discussed a future role leading a legal battle to ensure Russian war crimes are punished. Reznikov said he hoped that role would come after the end of the war.

12:09 PM

Swiss govt: confiscation of Russian assets found unconstitutional

The confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Swiss constitution and the prevailing legal order, the Swiss government said on Wednesday, citing the findings of a working group set up by the Federal Office of Justice.

"Support for Ukraine will continue, independent of the discussions on frozen assets," the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.

11:22 AM

Ukraine-Russia in pictures

Ukrainian military personnel undergo military instruction with Spanish soldiers from the Infantry Academy of Toledo - Ismael Herrero/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock

A Ukrainian serviceman smiles as he sits inside a tank outside the frontline town of Bakhmut - STRINGER/REUTERS

Soldiers of the 79th Air Assault Brigade, walk on a frontline near the town of Marinka - MARKO DJURICA/REUTERS

10:54 AM

Ukrainians still defending Luhansk

Russia is pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine but Ukrainian forces are still defending the region, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Wednesday.

Earlier today, Volodymr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces have repelled some Russian attacks in the eastern region of Luhansk but the situation there remains difficult.

It comes after Russia claimed its troops had broken through the defences of Ukrainian forces in part of the Luhansk region.

10:28 AM

Tank delivery for Ukraine came a bit late, German vice chancellor says

The delivery of German-made Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine came "a bit too late", Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said, since time was running short ahead of an expected Russian offensive.

"With the decision to send the tanks we are doing what we can," he told newspaper Die Zeit in comments published on Wednesday. "A bit too late, but it's done... Everyone is expecting a terrible Russian offensive... Time is pressing."

He added that Germany was not up for a debate on sending warplanes, which Ukraine says it needs in its war against Russian invaders. Germany does not own any of the US F-16 warplanes that are most often mentioned in this context.

10:17 AM

Russian troops suffering almost 'World War One levels of attrition, says Wallace

Russian troops are suffering "almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres" in Ukraine, Ben Wallace has said.

The Defence Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Russian effort to advance has come at a huge cost to the Russian army.

"I think what Russia is doing is trying to advance, doing so at a human wave, almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres rather than kilometres."

He continued: "I think what we have to ask ourselves is - and this is the biggest unknown - is, when you have a president and a general staff that simply bears either a gap in the reality or indeed no regard for human life of its own, how does that stop?"

Mr Wallace said an estimated 97 per cent of the whole Russian army is in Ukraine.

10:12 AM

EU chief hails Ukraine's 'tangible progress' on membership bid

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union chief, hailed what she said was Ukraine's "tangible progress" towards securing membership talks with the bloc, despite Russia's brutal invasion.

Kyiv wants to join the 27-nation union as soon as possible and has called for formal accession talks to begin as early as this year, much faster than any recent candidate has managed.

There is scepticism in several EU capitals that this will be possible, amid demands that Ukraine first pass anti-corruption reforms and clean up its political and economic life.

But Ukraine's struggle has also proved an inspiration to von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, as she told MEPs at a debate to mark the war's one-year anniversary.

09:58 AM

British medic killed in Ukraine named as Jonathan Shenkin from Glasgow

A British man killed while working as a medic in Ukraine has been named as Jonathan Shenkin, 45, from Glasgow.

In a tribute posted on social media, his family said he died in December after enlisting in the Ukrainian army.

Jonathan Shenkin is the eighth British man known to have died in Ukraine

He "died as a hero in an act of bravery as a paramedic", they said.

Read more on the story here

09:42 AM

Ukraine says it has repelled Russian attacks in Luhansk region

Ukrainian forces have repelled some Russian attacks in the eastern region of Luhansk but the situation there remains difficult, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said on Wednesday.

Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front. The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region.

Zelensky's office made no mention of any retreats but said: "The situation in the region remains difficult."

09:19 AM

Russian bomber jets intercepted by NORAD near Alaska

Multiple Russian military aircraft including fighter jets and strategic bombers were intercepted by North American air defence forces as they flew over international airspace near Alaska, US military said.

The aircraft, which were identified on Feb. 13, did not enter United States or Canadian airspace and did not pose a threat, the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) said in a statement dated Feb. 14.

It added that the Russian flights were in no way related to the mysterious spate of airborne objects shot down by the U.S. military over North America in the past few weeks.

"NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it ... Two NORAD F-16 fighters intercepted the Russian aircraft," it said.

While NORAD said it sometimes escorts aircraft out of the space near Alaska if needed, it did not say whether this was the case this time.

Russia did not say whether its aircraft had been intercepted but said on Wednesday that it had carried out multiple flights over international waters in recent days, including in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

09:00 AM

EU to sanction Iran entities involved in Russian war in Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU will propose sanctions targeting for the first time Iranian economic operators involved in the Russian war in Ukraine.

"For the first time we are also proposing to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard," Von der Leyen told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Von der Leyen said the 10th package of sanctions, worth a total of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), would target new trade bans and technology export controls, including drones, helicopters and missiles.

08:53 AM

UN appeals for $5.6 billion for aid to Ukraine in 2023

The United Nations said Wednesday that $5.6 billion was needed to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine and to the millions who have fled the war-ravaged country.

Nearly a year after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UN estimated that 21.8 million Ukrainians were now in need of humanitarian assistance.

"The war continues to cause death, destruction and displacement daily, and on a staggering scale," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement.

"We must do all we can to reach the hardest-to-reach communities, including those close to the front line," he said.

"The suffering of the Ukrainian people is far from over - they continue to need international support."

08:20 AM

UK training Ukrainians to fight in 'Western way' with less ammunition

Britain is training Ukrainian soldiers to fight in a more "Western way" and use less ammunition than the traditional Soviet way of fighting, Ben Wallace, the British Defence Secretary, said on Wednesday.

Britain along with other Western allies has been training Ukrainian soldiers and providing weapons and ammunition to support Kyiv in its battle with Russia.

"Ukraine uses huge amounts of ammunition to defend itself, partly that's why we're training them to fight in a Western way," Wallace told Times Radio.

Wallace said Britain had been buying and trading ammunition "that is Soviet" in standard while also helping the Ukrainian military convert to unlock "access to our ammunition stocks".

"At the same time we're training to make sure it's used in a way that's very productive and accurate," he said.

"The Russian or the Soviet way of fighting is very ammunition heavy, massive artillery barrages, and that's never how we have organised ourselves to fight in Nato," he said.

07:53 AM

Ben Wallace: 'What we're focusing on is delivering for Ukraine'

Ben Wallace was asked when the UK will be sending fighter jets to Ukraine.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, the Defence Secretary said: "Well, at the moment I've been quite clear with that. First and foremost what we're focusing on is delivering for Ukraine, the effects that they need, which is either the ability to strike in the deep, that's the longer range, and that's why things like the M270, or the HIMARS are in.

"And indeed the use of UAVs that can drop munitions."

He added: "In the long term, what we've got to do is help Ukraine's resilience, potentially post conflict to make sure that they can defend themselves in their skies. And that's why training people to fly fighter jets is an important step in that direction."

Pressed on the amounts of ammunition the UK is providing Ukraine with, he said: "I think we're giving them lots of ammunition and we continue to do so. If you look at the amount the international community have donated, we're talking tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition."

07:47 AM

Pictured: A Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut

A Ukrainian soldier stands in a small encampment in freezing temperatures in Bakhmut - John Moore/Getty Images Europe

07:43 AM

Latest MoD update

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 February 2023



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/XILK9JDeqM



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/KKcT027LpV  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 15, 2023

07:41 AM

UK should reconsider defence budget over Russia threat, Wallace says

Britain needs to reconsider how much it is willing to spend on defence following the increase in threat levels from the likes of Russia, Ben Wallace said on Wednesday.

"I've been very open here that the threat has increased, and just like other parts of government when ... threat increases, we should reconsider how much we fund it," the Defence Secretary told Sky News.

07:40 AM

UK supporting Ukraine on the ground, rather than with jets, Wallace says

Ben Wallace, the British Defence Secretary, said on Wednesday that Western allies could help Ukraine more quickly by supporting their position on the ground rather than focusing on the provision of jets.

Wallace has argued that fighter jets require a "very substantial pit crew" and that Britain could provide more immediate support through the provision of long range weapons and anti-aircraft missiles.

"I think we can help Ukraine sooner by delivering the effects they need on the battlefield rather than the platform specific request," he told Sky News.

07:40 AM

Good Morning

Good morning and welcome to today's Ukraine liveblog.

We will be guiding you through all the latest developments.
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have repelled some Russian attacks in the eastern region of Luhansk but the situation there remains difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said on Wednesday.

Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front. The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region.

Zelenskiy's office made no mention of any retreats in its report on the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

"Over the past day, units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine repelled attacks by the (Russian) occupiers in the Nevskyi, Kreminna and Bilohorivka districts," it said.

It said Russian forces had shelled a number of other communities in the region, and added: "The situation in the region remains difficult."

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has stated that Russia is failing the Black Sea Initiative with its systematic destructive actions, and this tendency is only enhancing now.

Source: European Pravda, citing the Ministry's statement from 15 February

Quote from the Ministry: "Representatives of the Russian Federation in inspection groups at the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul have been delaying the inspection of the ships that are going through the Bosphorus Strait to/from Ukrainian ports for the last several months. Russia's destructive policy has led to systematic reduction of cargo turnover within the Black Sea Initiative. The world has not received 10 million tonnes of Ukrainian products in the last three months, and this negative tendency is only increasing."

Details: The Ministry has pointed out once again that food security of many countries in the world, including Africa and Asia, depends on the export of Ukrainian grain.

"We call on the international community, including the UN and Turkey as guarantor of the Black Sea Initiative, to require the Russian Federation to immediately stop making artificial delays in the Black Sea Initiative, stop using food as weapons and unblock merchant shipping to Ukrainian ports of the Black Sea," the Ministry declared.

Background: At the end of October-beginning of November 2022, Russia threatened to leave the Black Sea Initiative and announced that it would not take part in it, but then it changed its mind and came back to the "grain agreement".

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied the statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine had allegedly made some new commitments.

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The world's largest floating library Logos Hope, which is currently docked at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, has welcomed over 25,000 visitors since it opened to the public on Jan. 26, a project manager has said.

With more than 5,000 books onboard, the floating library has an impressive selection of books and offers diverse cultural events and activities, such as live performances and educational workshops, Logos Hope project manager in Jordan Jabulani Mlambo told Xinhua on Monday.

"Wherever we go, we hope to share knowledge and help spread hope," he said.

The 132-meter-long ship, which belongs to the GBA Ships, a Germany-based charitable organization, has visited more than 100 ports worldwide to spread "knowledge and hope" over the years. It carries more than 350 volunteers of 70 different nationalities, according to Mlambo.
A Russian court has found a citizen of Ukraine guilty of alleged espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a high-security prison.

Source: Interfax, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, referencing the press service of the judicial department of Tula Oblast of the Russian Federation

Details: According to court documents, the Ukrainian citizen had allegedly collected intelligence in Tula between January 2020 and August 2021 in order to pass intelligence constituting a state secret to a foreign state.

Interfax does not name the Ukrainian citizen.

Interfax reports that the FSB detained him in August 2021. The court started hearings of the criminal case last November. Meetings were held behind closed doors.

The convicted person will remain in custody until the verdict becomes final.

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Russia has lost approximately 139,770 soldiers, 3,290 tanks, 6,507 armoured combat vehicles and 236 air defence systems 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 2022 and 15 February 2023 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

approximately 139,770 (+690) military personnel

3,290 (+4) tanks

6,507 (+7) armoured combat vehicles

2,303 (+4) artillery systems

466 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems

236 (+2) air defence systems

298 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft

286 (+0) helicopters

2,011 (+0) operational-tactical UAVs

857 (+0) cruise missiles

18 (+0) ships/boats

5,161 (+6) vehicles and tankers

219 (+1) special vehicles and other equipment

The data is being confirmed.

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The Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine is working with people from Russian President Vladimir Putins close circle.

Source: Andrii Cherniak, representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in an interview with the Greek news outlet Iefimerida

Quote: "In war, we use all means allowed by law. We have found a mechanism of cooperation even with people very close to Putin. These people are beyond any suspicion, they are known as supporters of great Russia."

Details: Cherniak has said that not many Russian officials are cooperating with Ukrainian Defence Intelligence out of friendly feelings towards Ukraine. However, according to him, there are many people in Putins circle that do not support the current Russian policy with regard to Ukraine, including the full-scale war.

"They are all doing this for their own benefit, it is in their interests. Some do it in order to save their lives. Some because they are losing money. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a lot of people started losing their money and influence far too quickly. They dont like it," he explained.

Cherniak believes that these people are not ready for any coup d'etat in the Russian Federation, but "if he [Putin] loses power, they will destroy him".

Background: Andrii Cherniak, a representative from Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, has stated that a Russian spy network continues to operate actively in European countries.

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KYIV (Reuters) - A village in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine has been renamed Zaluzhne in honour of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the top general in the war against Russia.

Halyna Kuts, a deputy on the Kharkiv regional council, said regional deputies had backed a motion by the village council to drop the name Vatutine, after the Soviet general who commanded Red Army operations in Ukraine during World War Two.

"The village of Vatutine is renamed Zaluzhne. Kharkiv regional council has supported this decision," Kuts wrote on Facebook after an online session of the regional council. "This is wonderful news."

The village, which has just over 1,200 residents, lies about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the regional capital, Kharkiv.

Zaluzhnyi, 49, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2021. Together with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the four-star general has become the face of the war effort against Russia.

Ukraine has been renaming cities, villages and streets connected with Soviet history since 2015 under a so-called decommunisation law.

Ukraine says such moves, often now referred to as "derussification," are necessary to undo centuries of policies aimed at crushing the Ukrainian identity. Derussification gained momentum after Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
GENEVA (AP)  The U.N.'s humanitarian aid and refugee agencies said Wednesday they are seeking $5.6 billion to help millions of people in Ukraine and countries that have taken in fleeing Ukrainians in the wake of Russia's invasion of their country nearly a year ago.

The bulk of the joint appeal  $3.9 billion  is for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which aims to help more than 11 million people by funneling funds through more than 650 partner organizations.

Refugee agency UNHCR, meanwhile, is seeking $1.7 billion to help some 4.2 million refugees who have fled to 10 host countries in eastern and central Europe.

The joint appeal, one of the largest of its kind for a single country, could draw a large outpouring of funds from Western countries, as a similar appeal did since the war began. Such U.N. appeals rarely get fully funded.

We were relatively well-funded last year," said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. I think the refugee appeal was funded in excess of 70%  not total, but quite good. We count on that to last.

The appeal comes as a string of crises around the world have stretched the generosity of wealthy donors.

Of course, this is not the only crisis in the world, Grandi added. "Theres many others that deserve  Im just back from Ethiopia, Burundi. Who talks about Burundi? Sorry, but this is the reality and people need support as much as anywhere else.

The appeal from UNHCR does not cover Russia. Its figures, which are largely drawn from numbers provided by national governments, show that more than 2.8 million refugees from Ukraine have been taken in by Russia.

Grandi said Russia gets funds for those refugees from other sources  including un-earmarked funds.

We stand ready to do more if its needed for any Ukrainian that is in need in Russia," he said. "That offer is on the table and is available.

The U.N. says humanitarian groups helped nearly 16 million people in Ukraine last year, including in areas not controlled by the Kyiv government. More than one-third of those received cash assistance, which can help prop up the battered national economy.
President Joe Biden reaffirmed his plea to Congress for tighter gun control laws Tuesday afternoon with separate statements released in response to the five-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting and Mondays attack on a Michigan university.

Jill and I are praying for the three students killed and the five students fighting for their lives after last nights shooting at Michigan State University, he said in one statement. 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.

The rampage came just one day before the anniversary of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people. In the years since, more communities have been impacted by gun violence, Biden wrote in his second statement.

Biden said that his administration is making progress on the implementation of a gun safety law that was enacted last year, and he announced $231 million in funding for 49 states and territories to support gun safety measures. Among those are red flag laws, which allow community members to obtain a court order to temporarily restrict firearm access for a potentially dangerous person.

The money will also go toward mental health and substance use treatment courts, and veterans treatment courts, according to the president.

This funding will reduce gun violence and save lives, he said.

Elsewhere in the statements, Biden reiterated his call for Congress to pass commonsense gun law reforms, which he made part of his State of the Union address last week.

We have more work to do, he wrote. The proposed measures would, among other things, outlaw military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, impose background checks for all gun sales, and strip immunity from 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, he said.

Story continues

Students hug during an active shooter situation at Michigan State University on Monday in Lansing, Michigan.

Students hug during an active shooter situation at Michigan State University on Monday in Lansing, Michigan.

On Monday night, a gunman opened fire at MSU, killing three people and wounding five others.

Officials said Tuesday that the 43-year-old suspect, who had a previous firearms violation, eventually shot and killed himself following an hourslong manhunt. The mans motive is still unknown, and officials have not yet provided details about the weapon or weapons used in the attack.

At least 68 mass shootings have occurred so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

In the years since the Parkland shooting, lawmakers have enacted hardly any significant legislation on gun reform. Following last years attacks in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that included modest restrictions on gun purchases, as well as funds aimed at improving mental health care and school security.

The legislation also strengthened background checks for those under the age of 21 and restricted abusive domestic partners from obtaining firearms.

Despite being the first gun violence prevention legislation passed at the federal level in 30 years, activists were dissatisfied with the law and have been campaigning for more reform in 2023. The passage of new legislation is likely to be a long shot in both the Republican-dominated House and the Senate, where Democrats have a slim 51-seat majority.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  A United Airlines flight leaving Hawaii in December 2022 experienced a steep dive and came within 800 feet of hitting the Pacific Ocean after takeoff, according to a recent report.

The plane, a Boeing 777, took off from Kahului Airport in Maui amid heavy rain and a flash flood warning on Dec. 18, 2022, reported The Air Current, an aviation-industry publication. According to data reviewed by the outlet, the plane had reached roughly 2,200 feet before beginning the dive  at about 8,600 feet per minute  and dipping below 775 feet above the ocean.

The dive and recovery happened over a period of only 45 seconds. The flight ultimately landed safely at the San Francisco International Airport.

News of the incident only recently came to public attention after the report, the Associated Press reported.

5 injured after American Airlines plane collides with shuttle bus at LAX

When youre in an airplane like that and its going down, you just hold tight to your faith, said Rod Williams, a passenger who spoke with Nexstars KRON about his experience on the Dec. 18 flight. You hold tight to the things you trust and believe in.

Williams added that he felt strong pressure in his head when we met that apex and took a dive.

Indeed, a dive such as the one experienced on the United flight reportedly produces 2.7 times the force of gravity on the plane and its passengers, The Air Current reported.

A spokesperson for United Airlines said an internal safety report was filed after the incident and the aircraft was inspected before its next flight. An investigation led to more training for the pilots, according to the airline.

Safety remains our highest priority, the spokesperson said.

Cloud shot up at plane before severe turbulence, according to NTSB report

The National Transportation Safety Board said the agency is still seeking information about the incident, according to a spokesperson.

Story continues

The incident occurred the same day severe turbulence rocked a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, seriously injuring 11 people. Airline officials called that an isolated and unusual event.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The plotters had hoped to reap lucrative contracts under a new administration once President Jovenel Moise was out of the way, investigators allege.

MIAMI (AP)  U.S. authorities have arrested four more people in the slaying of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, including the owner of a Miami-area security company that hired ex-Colombian soldiers for the mission, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The squad of former Colombian soldiers are among dozens of suspects who carried out the July 2021 attack that authorities say originally was envisioned to be a coup rather than an assassination. The plotters had hoped to reap lucrative contracts under a new administration once Moise was out of the way, investigators allege.

This was both a human tragedy and an assault on core democratic principles, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew G. Olsen.

Matthew Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, speaks during a news conference Tuesday in Miami. U.S. authorities have arrested four more people in the slaying of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, including the owner of a Miami-area security company that hired former soldiers from Colombia for the mission. At left is Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and at right is an image of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, (Photo: Lynne Sladky/AP)

Antonio Tony Intriago, 59, a Venezuelan-American who owned CTU Security that hired the Colombians, is charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the U.S. among other charges. CTU company representative Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 50, a Colombian-born resident of the U.S., faces the same charges.

Florida-based U.S. financier Walter Veintemilla, 54, of Weston, Fla., is accused of funding the operation. A fourth suspect, Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., 64, of Tampa, is accused of smuggling goods including 20 CTU-branded ballistic vests disguised as medical X-ray vests and school supplies.

Intriago was known among plotters as The General and Pretel as Colonel Gabriel, according to authorities.

Tama Kudman, Veintemillas attorney, told The Associated Press that he would plead not guilty to both charges.

Claude Joseph, who was serving as prime minister when Moise was killed, cheered the announcement. Justice must prevail, he tweeted.

A total of 11 suspects are now in U.S. custody, including key players like James Solages and Joseph Vincent, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first arrested after Moise was shot 12 times at his private home in July 2021. Other suspects include Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor and failed businessman whose associates have suggested was duped by the plotters.

Story continues

A power vacuum following the assassination has allowed gangs in Haiti to gain more power and control more territory, with experts estimating that they control 60% of Port-au-Prince. A spike in kidnappings, rapes and killings have prompted Prime Minister Ariel Henry to demand the immediate deployment of foreign troops. But the request in October has gone unheeded by the U.N. Security Council, which has opted to implement sanctions so far.

Federal authorities said that in April 2021, Veintemillas company, Worldwide Capital Lending Group, provided CTU with a $175,000 line of credit.

By that time, the men planned to foment a public uprising aimed at ousting President Moise and installing Sanon as president, charging documents say.

Authorities said that Intriago, Ortiz and Veintemilla expected to reap significant financial benefits if Sanon became president via anticipated contracts for infrastructure, military equipment and the provision of security forces.

Also in April, Ortiz and others met with the FBI and unsuccessfully tried to draw them into a discussion about regime change in Haiti.

Around that time, Ortiz told Solages that the current president is the thiefdelete the messages that could compromise you in case of being captured. Ortiz also sent a text message to another suspect, Colombian citizen German Rivera Garcia, with a photo of a whiteboard sketch of an assault plan including snipers and 10 warrior-neutralizers, according to court documents.

The suspects had used coded language like screws and nails for ammunition and tools or instruments for firearms, with Veintemilla providing $15,000 to Solages to buy ammunition and $250,000 for armored vests, authorities said.

Authorities have said that the original plan was to detain Moise, force him onto a plane and whisk him to an unidentified location, but that plot crumbled when suspects couldnt find a plane or sufficient weapons, according to court documents.

Sanon, who envisioned himself as Haitis new leader, was supposed to seize power, but some suspects soon favored a former Haitian Supreme Court judge to take over instead. Ortiz, Intriago, Veintemilla and others realized that Sanon had neither the constitutional qualifications nor the popular support of the Haitian people to become president, according to court documents.

Police say the judge remains a fugitive.

A day before the killing, Solages falsely told other suspects that it was a CIA operation and that the real mission was to kill the president. Shortly before Moise was killed, Solages yelled that it was supposedly a DEA operation so that the presidents security detail would comply.

Also detained are former Haitian Sen. John Joel Joseph, who had fled to Jamaica, and former U.S. government informant and Haitian businessman Rodolphe Jaar, who was extradited from the Dominican Republic.

As the U.S. investigation pushes forward, the probe in Haiti is nearly idle. Three judges have stepped down from the case amid fears of reprisals and a fourth one was dismissed. Meanwhile, no court hearings have been held yet for the more than 40 suspects arrested in Haiti, with many of them including 18 Colombian soldiers languishing in a severely overcrowded jail in Port-au-Prince that often lacks food and water.

The situation has angered and frustrated the presidents widow, Martine Moise, who lashed out in a 13-minute video she posted earlier this month, noting that things have worsened in Haiti since the assassination.

Its a huge crime that happened against the nation, she said. Where is the mother law of the country, where are the people, where is the democracy?

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The post US arrests 4 tied to assassination of Haitian president appeared first on TheGrio.
U.S. forces on Tuesday took down an Iranian-made drone that was flying near a base in northeastern Syria in an attempt to conduct reconnaissance of the area.

U.S. Central Command said the drone was shot down around 2:30 p.m. local time near Mission Support Site Conoco.

Both the U.S. and Iran conduct counterterrorism operations in Syria and support groups in the countys ongoing civil war.

American troops train and support Syrian Democratic Forces, who have fought against extremists aligned with ISIS, while Iran has long backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran are high amid the war in Ukraine, where Iranian-made explosive drones are wielded by Russian forces to bomb and attack Ukrainian cities.

Negotiations have also fallen apart recently between the U.S. and Iran to restart a pact that would lift sanctions on Tehran while ensuring the country doesnt develop nuclear weapons.

The U.S. has recently fended off several attacks against American bases in Syria, including a trio of suicide drones last month that injured Syrian Democratic Forces fighters.

In August, U.S. forces also struck back at Iran-affiliated fighters after a rocket attack at Conoco, with American troops killing four enemy fighters and destroying several rocket launchers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
To celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, the Shaanxi History Museum offered various activities for visitors during the recent Spring Festival holiday, including a public education program for children, where they could look for hidden rabbits and paint clay rabbits. The museum also rolled out a cross-year original exhibition, with the theme of "collision and aggregation between early civilizations in China", and educational activities such as "celebrating Spring Festival at the Shaanxi History Museum", and a book-exchange activity.

The increased visitor flow since the first day of Spring Festival, compared to the past few years, reignited the passion of the museum staff, who were eager to provide the best exhibitions and services to their guests.

The director of the museum's visitor service department, Zhang Jing, says that each department held morning meetings to review their requirements for Spring Festival, and the museum was thoroughly disinfected to ensure the safety of visitors and exhibits. Guides Zhang Nan and Gao Qi were also busy, providing tours of the museum throughout the day.

Educator Zhang Xingyue started the first lesson of the new year with a quiz, introducing the origin and customs of Spring Festival and the significance of rabbits in Chinese culture to students. Jie Yize, a volunteer dubbed as the "king of children", says that there were fun, interactive activities such as paper quilling and tile rubbing on the second and third days of Lunar New Year, allowing children to experience and learn about the depth of Chinese culture in a joyful and creative manner.

The educational activities of the museum have been offered for years, providing a variety of programs to help adolescents learn historical knowledge and how to appreciate Chinese culture in an enjoyable way.
Military assistance to Ukraine

Read also: NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels for ninth Ramstein format meeting

The WSJ notes that this unusual move will open up a new source of firepower that Washington and its allies can tap into as they struggle to meet Ukraine's need for military support. On Feb. 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the war in Ukraine consumes a lot of ammunition and depletes allies' stocks.

The current rate of Ukraines ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production, Stoltenberg said.

This puts our defense industries under strain.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden must find a legal justification for withdrawing weapons from one conflict and transferring them to another. The UN weapons embargo requires the US and its allies to destroy, store, or deprive seized weapons. White House lawyers are considering whether the resolution creates some room for maneuver to transfer arms to Ukraine.

Read also: Biden to visit Poland before Ukraine war anniversary

Its a message to take weapons meant to arm Irans proxies and flip them to achieve our priorities in Ukraine, where Iran is providing arms to Russia, said one U.S. official.

Read also: U.S. to continue to back Ukraine as long as needed, Biden tells Congress

Usually, the weapons are seized and destroyed by the United States and its allies, who enforce the UN arms embargo on Yemen. But U.S. officials said the global effort to provide Ukraine with arms has sparked discussion about sending confiscated military supplies to Kyiv.

The U.S. military began considering the idea late last year, after the U.S. Navy seized a million rounds of ammunition aboard a fishing boat en route from Iran to Yemen, WSJ source said.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA  WEDNESDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2023, 05:25

155 MM PROJECTILE. ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO FROM OPEN SOURCES

The US Army has signed contracts worth US$522 million with two companies for the production of artillery ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Source: Radio Svoboda (Liberty)

Details: The orders were received by Northrop Grumman Systems and Global Military Products, the publication writes.

It is noted that this decision was made by the US against the background of fears that Ukraine is quickly exhausting its reserves of artillery shells. The US plans to start delivering the new ammunition in March.

The contracts are funded by the Pentagon's initiative to support Ukraine's security.

Background: In January, the New York Times wrote that the Pentagon plans to increase the production of artillery ammunition by 500%, releasing 90,000 shells a month for 2 years.

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By Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition said on Wednesday it will hold a presidential primary on Oct. 22 to choose a candidate to face the ruling party in presidential elections tentatively scheduled for 2024.

The primary is the opposition's first since 2012. It hopes to rally supporters after years of futile attempts to unseat the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro, but it faces deep voter apathy, among other challenges.

The next move is for the 10-person opposition committee tasked with scheduling the vote to meet with the country's National Electoral Council, Jesus Maria Casal, the head of the council, told journalists. He did not give a date for when that would happen.

"We're going to demand voting centers... it's a question of rights," Casal said.

At least a dozen people from various opposition parties have said they will run in the primary, including some who are barred from participating in politics by judicial rulings the opposition considers undemocratic.

One of those barred is former state governor Henrique Capriles, who won the opposition's last primary over a decade ago, before losing the 2012 presidential vote to late former President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez's protege Maduro beat Capriles by a much-narrower margin in another vote in 2013.

The main coalition of opposition parties boycotted the 2018 presidential vote when Maduro won re-election, a victory which they and countries including the United States consider fraudulent.

Maduro, who is enjoying renewed relations with neighbors Colombia and Brazil and some loosened U.S. restrictions on the oil industry, has not yet set a date for the 2024 vote and has intimated it could be moved earlier.

The opposition, which has been repeatedly fractured by in-fighting, recently named a new three-person leadership for their parallel legislature, replacing the former interim government of Juan Guaido.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera, Mayela Armas and Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
BAKHMUT, Ukraine  What you need to worry about in Bakhmut is incoming artillery, as the city is being shelled relentlessly by Russian forces. You cant escape it, except by leaving town or by staying underground.

So you listen.

When a shell explodes far away, it makes a thud. When its closer, say a few hundred yards away, you can hear the whistle before the crash. When its closer still, you can feel a shock wave, and the crash is so loud it pulls you instinctively into a crouch.

Closer than that and its game over.

The thuds in Bakhmut, in the northeastern part of Donetsk, come about two beats per minute and the crashes about once an hour, at least where we were for five hours late last week.

Bakhmut is gray and feels lifeless  it is not, although its hard to know how many civilians are still here because they only come outside to grab a few essentials, move between shelters or to smoke. Only military vehicles are on the streets, or civilian cars drafted into service and marked with symbols in tape.

A resident carries humanitarian aid while walking through a nearly deserted downtown area on Feb. 14, 2023 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (John Moore / Getty Images)

The people who still live here are bearing the brunt of Russias slow and grinding offensive.

The only market left in the city where 80,000 once lived is two stalls in front of a hardware store. Chainsaws are lined up for sale outside. Firewood is in demand.

The biggest stall sells food, including, I was surprised to see, fresh fish. Ice fishermen still go out. There is plenty of dried and canned food in the city so I suspect they sit on their chairs over holes in the ice to do something that resembles normal life, despite the risks. There also isnt too much incoming fire before dawn, when fishermen go out. Artillery crews have to sleep, too.

The market has a coffee kiosk, and even though there is no power, water or heat in Bakhmut, the cappuccino is good and handed over with a smile.

In a basement shelter near the market we meet Dr. Olena Molchanova. She says she is one of only three doctors staying behind to help civilians, against the protests of her daughter, who has moved to the relative safety of Kyiv.

Story continues

Death is a constant here. It happens every day, Molchanova, 40, says, smiling. We have to stay strong. Crying doesnt help. But I dont want to die here. I have too much to live for.

An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Feb. 14, 2023. (Libkos / AP)

Molchanovas assistant is Viktor Nedobratenko, who looks well into his 70s but is only 45. He chops wood for the fire. The shelter is almost too warm, and jackets come off. But it isnt smoky. They know how to work wood stoves here and that, like the fishing and chopping and countless skills learned from tough lives, has allowed them to hold out for this long.

But resilience has its limits  and Russian troops and mercenaries are advancing, holding land in the south and north of the city.

The bulldozer strategy Russia is using to capture and destroy Bakhmut appears to be working. The Kremlin is throwing thousands of fighters at the city, advancing slowly behind the crashing artillery. British intelligence estimates Russia is losing fighters at a higher rate now than at any point in the war  around 800 casualties per day. While neither side releases reliable death tolls, indications are that Ukraine has suffered heavy losses, too.

Its unclear how much longer Ukrainians troops can hold the city they have been defending for six months under heavy fire. Military officials tell me Russia is willing to take heavier losses than Ukraine, especially since the Russian Wagner Group has been sending in human waves of conscripts. Speculation is rife the Ukrainian government may retreat from Bakhmut to save civilian lives and preserve troops for other battles.

After a year of battlefield trial and error, Russia seems to have landed on this bulldozer approach, and is testing it in Bakhmut.

Last February, President Vladimir Putin tried to conquer all of Ukraine with lightning strikes from land, sea and air. Fighter jets streaked across the country to attack Kyiv. Helicopter gunships dropped commandos near the capital. Columns of tanks rolled into Ukraine from the north, east and south.

Image: Russia Launches New Offensive In Eastern Ukraine As Protracted Conflict Continues (John Moore / Getty Images)

It was supposed to be shock and awe to take Ukraine in one terrifying swoop. In Baghdad in 2003, I witnessed firsthand the original shock and awe. The hotel where I stayed overlooked one of Saddam Husseins main palaces, and it swayed as bombs fell. Some of the explosions were so loud I was forced to cover my ears.

Russias invasion was not that.

Russian missiles often missed their targets. Tanks started advancing toward Kyiv only to run out of gas. Ukrainian men packed up their families and stood to fight, which apparently Russia had never seriously considered.

The bulldozer approach, which involves incessant shelling and waves of men thrown into battle, is less complicated.

As the battle for Bakhmut turns ever bloodier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urgently calling for more heavy weapons and fighter jets from Ukraines Western allies. For places like Bakhmut, the time could run out before he gets reinforcements.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
In a new update, Virgin Orbit has confirmed that the launch failure of its first UK mission was likely caused by a fuel filter that had been "dislodged from its normal position." That created a cascade of events that led to the shutdown of the second stage rocket, which ultimately fell back to Earth along with its payload, according to data gathered so far. The investigation is being led by United Launch Alliance's Jim Sponnick and Virgin Chief Engineer Chad Foerster, with oversight from the US FAA, UK Air Accidents Investigation branch and other authorities.

The company's historic "Start Me Up" mission launched from Spaceport Cornwall on January 9th and Virgin confirmed things went well at the start. "The ignition, first stage flight, stage separation, second stage ignition and fairing deployment of the LauncherOne rocket were nominal," it wrote. "Each of these milestones constituted a first-of-its-kind achievement for any orbital launch attempt from western Europe."

Weve been investigating the #StartMeUp mission anomaly. Read this update for more details on our findings so far, or follow the link: https://t.co/WzNQCnzRZ7 pic.twitter.com/r3imy3aqxV  Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) February 14, 2023

That pesky $100 filter highlights the challenges of spaceflight, though. After it dislodged from its proper place in the fuel feedline, a downstream pump was starved for fuel and began operating at a significantly higher-than-rated temperature, investigators found. Parts downstream of that and in the vicinity eventually malfunctioned, causing the engine to stop. "The early thrust termination ended the mission, and the second stage and its payloads fell back to Earth, landing in the approved safety corridor in the Atlantic Ocean."

Virgin Orbit is portraying the failure as a learning experience, but as the first UK orbital launch ever, the timing wasn't ideal. The company noted, however, that all four prior operational flights succeeded, sending 33 payloads to their required orbits.

The company is now creating a plan to replicate flight conditions to determine the root cause or causes of the failure, it said. "Numerous tests are underway to support the investigation and help lead to definitive conclusions. Ultimately, all credible causes of the failure will be addressed prior to the next LauncherOne mission."
WWF calls for global treaty to protect high seas

Xinhua) 08:43, February 15, 2023

Photo taken on May 28, 2020 shows fishes and sea anemone at a marine ranch in the sea area of Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

GENEVA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday urged governments to protect the world's oceans by finalizing a long-awaited High Seas Treaty at the United Nations (UN) in New York this March.

The first-ever treaty on high seas biodiversity would provide a globally recognized mechanism to designate marine protected areas, and is crucial in order to achieve the goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world's oceans, Jessica Battle, WWF's senior global ocean governance and policy expert told Xinhua in a video interview.

One of the main impacts of human activities on the ocean is fishing, Battle highlighted.

At the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) which took place in Vancouver, Canada, from Feb. 3-9, the WWF called on policymakers to accelerate global ocean protection from 8 percent to 30 percent within eight years.

Photo taken on July 5, 2022 shows critically-endangered sand tiger sharks in the Scientific Center aquarium, in Hawalli Governorate, Kuwait. (Photo by Asad/Xinhua)

Previously, at COP15 in Montreal in December, the goal of protecting and conserving at least 30 percent of the world's marine and coastal areas was adopted by 196 countries under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

"China played a very strong role at COP15, making sure that we did get an agreement by the 196 parties to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030," said Battle, who will attend the negotiations in New York.

In a resolution in December 2017, the UN General Assembly decided to convene an intergovernmental conference to draw up the text of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and use of marine biodiversity.

REACHING A DEAL

However, the UN's negotiations for a High Seas Treaty stalled last August as delegates said more time was needed to reach an agreement on a final text.

Governments must ensure that the ocean receives the level of attention and protection it needs in order to provide for the future, Battle said.

Photo taken on June 8, 2022 shows corals in the waters of Fenjiezhou Island of Hainan Province, south China. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

Waters which lie beyond national jurisdictions, known as the high seas, comprise nearly two-thirds of the ocean's area. However, only about 1 percent of this huge swath of the planet is protected, WWF said.

Battle said the treaty would be ratified when 30 countries sign up to it, and it is then implemented into national legislation.

It is critical that the treaty should enter into force quickly, Battle said.

SAFEGUARDING THE SEABED

WWF also said that the ocean faces new potential threats such as deep seabed mining, a nascent industry with the potential to cause irreparable harm to fragile deep-sea ecosystems.

"We are seeing a growing number of countries calling for a global moratorium ... This will be agreed at the International Seabed Authority which meets three times a year in Jamaica," Battle said.

A woman collects waste from the beach in Alexandria, Egypt, Aug. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

"We need to safeguard this very important environment in order to reach biodiversity goals, and also to safeguard the ocean as a carbon sink."

Many ocean areas play a key role for important species of shark, tuna, whale and sea turtle, and they also support billions of dollars of economic activity annually, WWF has said.

In its "Reviving the Ocean Economy" report, the organization outlined that the goods and services that flow from the ocean and coasts are worth at least 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars each year, and the overall value of the ocean as an asset is 10 times more.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
True-to-life film shines a spotlight on the plight of China's 'left-behind' children.

Director Bai Zhiqiang has long been capturing the essence of his home province Shaanxi, especially the northern regions known for being part of the Loess Plateau, the highlands in north-central China marked by yellowish soil and eroded mountains.

For years, he roamed the area and worked on documentary projects, but one fateful overnight stay at a rural primary school during one of his field trips proved to be a turning point.

In a conversation with the school's headmaster, Bai realized that almost all of the school's 160 students were "left-behind children", whose parents had left the nearby villages to find work in the cities. Some of them only had a single parent or were orphaned.

"One of the children I met once had tried to run away to the city in search of his father. He wished that he could sit on his father's shoulders and watch fireworks together. This story inspired me to make a film that brings attention to the plight of China's 'left-behind children'," Bai says.

For this film, Bai thought his usual documentary approach would be unsuitable for this subject, as he was concerned that the authentic footage might cause harm to the children.

After five years of filmmaking, Bai's first narrative film, Like Father and Son, hosted its premiere in Beijing on Feb 4 and is due to hit cinemas nationwide on Feb 25.

Set in northern Shaanxi in the 2000s, the film tells the story of truck driver Gou Ren and a "left-behind" child Mao Dou, whose lives cross paths when Gou Ren passes through Mao Dou's village and Mao Dou sneaks aboard his truck, hoping to hitch a ride to find his father.

After a sequence of unintended occurrences, the two set out on a journey to locate Mao Dou's father, searching numerous construction sites as Gou Ren gradually takes on the role of a father figure.

With its comedic yet heartwarming storyline, the film aims to draw attention to the plight faced by migrant workers and the children they leave behind in rural areas.

"The film's absolute authenticity is one of its strongest appeals," Bai says. To bring a sense of realism to the production, he chose to match a cast of novice actors with the characters.

"I thought, if I couldn't find a suitable child for the role, it must be that my script has not embodied realism perfectly," Bai adds.

The young actor that plays Mao Dou, Bai Zeze, was selected from a local primary school, and Hui Wangjun, performing as Gou Ren, was a taxi driver prior to participating in the film.

The two actors, Bai Zhiqiang and producer Tian Jiaoping shared their experiences and thoughts during a Q&A session after the premiere screening.

"I felt slightly befuddled and unsure of myself after I was told I got the part," Hui explains.

"The director encouraged me to believe the story was entirely true and see myself as the protagonist. So I continued driving my taxi, with my hair unkempt and beard untrimmed."

His disheveled look seemed to persuade some of his riders. One particularly intimidated passenger quickly disembarked without bothering to wait for his change.

A five-minute documentary recounting behind-the-scenes stories was also screened at the premiere, which shed light on some of the difficulties the crew faced while making the film.

Both the director and the producer say that, while insufficient funding made the filmmaking process difficult, the crew remained cheerful and determined.

"Although we didn't have enough money and there were too many problems, I felt that the time we spent together was filled with joy. We always found solutions and constantly lifted each other's spirits," Tian says.

Tian shared several anecdotes from the production. For instance, when preparing to shoot the fireworks scene in the film, the crew could only purchase a limited number of fireworks. As it happened to be around Spring Festival, the crew requested that the villagers hold back on setting off their own fireworks until the scene was ready to be filmed.

On another occasion, the crew couldn't even afford petrol for their vehicles. Hui had to borrow 30,000 yuan ($4,400) from his cousin, so that the filming could continue.

"We are not trying to incite sympathy. The hardships we encountered are not important. What matters is our perseverance in expressing what we wanted to convey," Bai Zhiqiang says.

The filming process involved 12 revisions of his screenplay, and he was assisted by veteran scriptwriter Lu Wei, who Bai Zhiqiang met during a previous documentary shoot. Lu later served as the film's supervisor and Bai Zhiqiang's scriptwriting mentor.

It was not until he completed the third version of his screenplay that Bai Zhiqiang was confident enough to show it to Lu, and the feedback he received said that, "the characters are believable, the story is rooted in real life, and the film has potential".That reassured him to move forward with the project.

"Some people have said that I like to film 'marginal people'. I was quite stunned when I first heard this, because these ordinary people comprise the majority of China's population, yet do not get a lot of representation on the big screen," Bai Zhiqiang says.

"Since I have access to film as a medium, 'this machine with voices', I should speak for these ordinary people and tell their stories. The ordinary people are not marginal, but the majority."

The film has appeared at multiple film festivals, including FIRST International Film Festival, Beijing International Film Festival, and Silk Road International Film Festival. It was nominated for the 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival's "Asian new talent" award and named as one of the top 10 new Chinese-language films at the 6th Cinephile Prize, held online in 2021.

The film is now available for preview in around 100 Chinese cities. The crew is also going to visit 20 major cities in China, meeting with audience members, sharing their stories and answering their questions.

"It is rare to see such nuanced down-to-earth details in a film, such as the dirt under the protagonist's fingernails and the glistening of a child's running nose in winter. Only those with similar life experiences will pay attention to these details. This is what I call the texture of a film," says Shi Chuan, professor of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
The Visalia man accused of the brutal slaying of a well-known dairyman faces life in prison after a jury found him guilty of the 2019 crime.

This week, Tulare County prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Jorge Rivera, 29, for shooting death of local dairyman Anthony Tony Dragt. Jurors convicted Rivera of first-degree murder with the special allegations of personal use of a firearm and personal discharge of a firearm, felony possession of an assault weapon, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The deadly shooting was reported on Sept. 3, 2019, at Pete Dragt and Sons Dairy on Avenue 352 and Road 112 in Visalia.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux announced Wednesday, September 4, 2019 the arrest of suspected shooter Jorge Rivera in the killing of Tony Dragt at the Pete Dragt and Sons Dairy on Tuesday. Rivera was arrested Wednesday morning.

On the day of the shooting, Rivera asked several people where Dragt was, according to witnesses. He eventually found Dragt sitting in a vehicle near the victim's home. Rivera emptied a .45-caliber pistol into the vehicle. He then fired a single 9mm round into Dragt's head.

Dragt's death shook Tulare County's agricultural community.

"We are close-knit in Tulare County," Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. "We are dedicated to making sure we protect our families... (Dragt) was a very loved and respected member of the community."

Rivera was a former employee of the Dragt. He was hired at the dairy in 2018. He stopped showing up to work in June 2019, Boudreaux said at the time of the shooting.

Using nearby surveillance video, detectives discovered that Rivera drove to the area around 1:30 p.m. in a black Chrysler 200 sedan. He was eventually found and arrested near Richgrove driving the same vehicle. When deputies searched the vehicle, they discovered several firearms, including an AR-15 assault rifle and the murder weapon.

Rivera was later charged with the murder. He also has a prior 2013 drug charge out of Arizona, according to court records.

"The taking of any human life is unacceptable. This senseless, violent, and horrific murder not only impacts a family but an entire community," District Attorney Tim Ward said in 2019. "My office will be seeking the maximum sentence allowed under California law."

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The Visalia man faces life in prison for the crime, according to DA officials. Sentencing is scheduled for March 29.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux announced Wednesday, September 4, 2019 the arrest of suspected shooter Jorge Rivera in the killing of Tony Dragt at the Pete Dragt and Sons Dairy on Tuesday. Rivera was arrested Wednesday morning.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Visalia dairyman's shooter faces life in prison after murder conviction
(REUTERS)

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Senator Jon Tester of Montana would lead Democrats inquiries into flying objects that have entered US airspace in recent weeks. The announcement came after the Senate was briefed on the influx of UFOs in recent weeks.

Over the weekend, Mr Tester, a three-term senator, tweeted was aware of a flying object in Montanas airspace and, more tellingly, said he supported the move to shoot it out of the sky.

Mr Tester is one of three Democratic senators  along with Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio  who represents a state that Donald Trump won twice but has yet to announce whether he will seek another term. But the new task gives Mr Tester a chance to look like he is holding the administration accountable about flying objects and create some daylight between himself and the White House, particularly if he ultimately decides to run again.

Sporting a flat-top haircut and clocking in at 300 pounds and six-feet tall with three missing left fingers he lost in a meat grinder as a child, Mr Tester looks the part of someone from Big Sky Country. Back home in Big Sandy, he runs a farm and regularly shoots off profanities. When I noted to him last week how Pennsylvanias Democratic Senator John Fetterman is even bigger than him, he told me yeah, no s***.

When The Independent caught up with Mr Tester on Wednesday, he described what he wanted to investigate.

I think its more about how were preparing for detection and determination and how we bring them down and how we have a plan to do what we got to do, he said. I think moving forward, weve got to do a better job of detecting of determining if theyre really a threat, and then how we bring them down.

When asked about the Biden administrations response, he said, So far so good. Theyve been theyve been responsive to me.

Mr Tester also said he will make a decision about re-election hopefully, pretty soon.

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Democrats hope that he will announce he will run for another term since they see him as the best shot to hold the crucial seat in Montana in an uphill year for Senate Democrats.

But he will face a steep challenge. He won his first Senate race in 2006, during a wave of dissatisfaction with the Iraq War and George W Bushs administration. This was back when Democrats could still appeal to rural areas. He won another term in 2012 even as Barack Obama lost the state after nearly winning it in 2008. In 2018, Mr Tester pulled off the unthinkable, winning as the one of only two Democrats, along with Mr Brown, from a swing seat that after opposing Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation to the Supreme Court (Mr Manchin voted to confirm Mr Kavanaugh).

Mr Tester will face a tougher challenge in 2024 if he seeks another term, given that President Joe Biden lost the state by double digits. Unlike Mr Manchin, Mr Tester is more of a loyal foot soldier to Mr Biden, having supported Build Back Better before it withered.

But he also made significant accomplishments this term. He was part of a bipartisan negotiating group that passed the infrastructure law, which included now-independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who has become a good friend despite Mr Testers potty mouth and Mr Romneys Latter-Day Saint disposition. As chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr Tester also led the successful charge to give health benefits service members who suffered health complications from burn pits.

Still, during last weeks State of the Union, as Mr Biden worked the room, he gave Mr Tester a hearty handshake and called him Big Jon as the senator gave the president a gigantic grin.

All in all, the UFO probe is the perfect opportunity for Mr Tester to criticise the administration  and perhaps save his seat in the process.
This article originally appeared on Velo News

Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) rode away with the overall title at the Volta ao Algarve after a strong performance in the final TT that saw him jump from seventh to first in the GC standings.

Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) dominated the stage to take the win with Remi Cavagna (Soudal Quick-Step) finishing second.

Starting the day just 20 seconds off the race lead, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was the favorite to take the GC win in the TT. He put in a strong effort to finish third on the day, but it wasnt enough to keep him at the top of the overall standings with Martinez holding his teammate to just six seconds and taking the title by two seconds ahead of Ganna.

Overnight leader Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) battled hard to limit his losses in the TT and had a small scare when he went off-road on a corner. His cyclocross skills paid dividends as he stayed upright and was able to continue.

He would ultimately slip down to seventh overall with Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) holding on for third in the GC.

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S4: Tom Pidcock takes control on Malhao hilltop

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) rocketed to stage 4 victory in the Algarve on Saturday and took control of the GC ahead of the final day of racing.

The young Brit outkicked Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Ilan van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) on the final climb of the leg-snapper Alto do Malhao hilltop.

Pidcock now carries a five-second advantage over Van Wilder into the final stage TT on Sunday, a flat 24km test around Lagoa.

As a team, we messed up two stages that we could have won, Pidcock said at the finish.

Yesterday [Friday - ed], with Filippo Ganna, I think he could have won the stage. And on the second stage, we did a brilliant job and then in the last kilometer, we kind of messed it up. Today we made sure we got it right.

After two previous misfires, Ineos Grenadiers could now be in range of the GC victory with either Pidcock or TT powerhouse Ganna, who is just 31 seconds down on the top step.

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Overnight yellow jersey Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) couldnt hold the climbing pace on the Malhao and finished 16th on the stage Saturday. The Dane is still within range of overall victory however, at just 27 seconds back on Pidcock.

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S3: Magnus Cort sprints to another win in Portugal

Cort doubles up at Volta ao algarve stage 3. (Photo: EF Education-EasyPost)

After finding himself out front in a small group, a split-second decision by EF Education EasyPost led Magnus Cort to another sprint win at the Volta ao Algarve.

The Dane finished ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineo Grenadiers) and Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) to increase his overall lead in the Portuguese stage race.

With 450 meters to go, it looked like it was all over for Cort. After winning Thursdays stage at the top of the Alto da Foia, Cort had gone for the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint on Friday and found himself in front with a powerful group. They made the split-second decision to drive it to the line, riding a team time trial ahead of the charging peloton.

I was not expecting that at all," Cort said. "The idea was just to get through the stage as easily as possible and not even try to sprint. Quickstep was keeping the break very, very close, and we came with the idea to go for the bonus sprint and see if I could get some bonus seconds for the classification, so we went there and they brought the breakaway back for the bonus sprint.

It was a hard sprint on cobbles and suddenly we were a small group with a gap. I didn't really think about it but especially the Ineos guys and Foss, they came straight away and said, Hup, hup! Let's go! I was keen straight away to go on the attack there with those guys. It was a great group to ride the last 25 kilometers. It was the perfect team time-trial teamwork."

Cort now leads the Volta ao Algarve by 18 seconds and also leads the points competition. Tomorrow, he will defend his yellow jersey on the hilly run from Albufeira to the summit of Alto do Malhao. The Volta ao Algarve will finish Sunday with a flat 24-km time trial in Lagoa.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

Volta ao Algarve S2: Magnus Cort wins with spectacular bike throw

Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) came out of nowhere in the closing 100m in an uphill sprint to snatch victory in the second stage at the Volta ao Algarve.

Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) led out a long, grinding sprint, and was raising his arms to celebrate when the cagey Dane stabbed his bike across the line.

Cort darted up the left side of the road as the finish swept left, and he found an opening late after being boxed in with 200m to go.

I was lucky to come clear and in the last five meters I came clear. It was super nice, Cort said. I was thinking about this stage, and I didnt know if I could make it up this climb. One thing is trying, but it is really amazing to win with the main GC riders from the bunch.

Cort poured on the gas and snagged the win in impressive manner. Van Wilder's pained face told the story, with Rui Costa (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) crossing the line third.

I know I am quite good in finishes like this, so I went from quite far. In the end, I thought I won, Van Wilder said. I didnt celebrate too soon, but I celebrated on the finish line. I lost by the thickness of a tire in front of me. It is a pity, but what I can do about it?

A six-rider break pulled away early, including Matthew Gibson (Human Powered Health). The speed ramped up in the closing hour with Ineos Grenadiers driving the pace. Wednesday's winner and overnight leader Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) was among the many riders who peeled off before the final climb.

Michal Kwiatkowski set the pace for Ineos Grenadiers, with the peloton lined up behind him. The peloton melted behind him to have about 40 riders left.

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S1: Alexander Kristoff barrels to sprint win for Uno-X

Alexander Kristoff celebrates victory Wednesday at the Volta ao Algarve. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Alexander Kristoff used his pure power to fend off the favorites to win a bunch sprint to open the Volta ao Algarve on Wednesday.

Kristoff timed it perfectly into a headwind to barrel to his first victory since moving across to Uno-X. Jordi Meeus (Bora Hansgrohe) crossed the line second, while Uno-X went 1-3, with Soren Waerenskjold sprinting to third.

Its nice to win so early in the season, and I had a really nice leadout, Kristoff said. It worked out so great today. We are trying to build on what were doing. The feeling when you cross the finish line first is undescribable, it is great.

Its another big win for Uno-X, the second-tier Norwegian-Danish team thats slated to race its first Tour de France this summer.

Pre-stage favorite Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step) was fourth, while Tom Pidcock was in the mix in his season debut for Ineos Grenadiers with fifth.

Pidcock was later relegated to last in the sprint, but was still clocked in at the same time as the leaders. The race jury ruled that his sprint was a bit too rowdy.

An early break was inevitably reeled in, and there were a few crashes in the nervous approach to the line for the bunch sprint.

The Volta ao Algarve continues Thursday with the 186.3km second stage from Sagres to Alto da Foia. The first-category mountaintop finish will create the first significant splits and reveal who has the legs to win the overall.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

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Channel 9 is digging into prior allegations against a gym teacher now accused of having sexual contact with a minor.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

Documents from the Daytona Beach Police Department detail two additional complaints from students during Arin Hankerds time at Mainland High School stemming from 2019 and 2020.

A spokesperson for the Volusia County School District told Channel 9 Tuesday that a full investigation was made, and Hankerd was exonerated from both incidents.

READ: Man in critical condition after being severely beaten, stomped on in downtown Orlando

Two students reported being touched inappropriately by Hankerd. He is now accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old student and is in jail with no bond.

Port Orange police said Hankerd both exposed himself on Instagram to the student and engaged in inappropriate sexual activity during the school day at Atlantic High School.

READ: New Smyrna Beach weighs citywide, permanent teen curfew ahead of spring break

Officers said the girls parents contacted them after reading concerning entries in their daughters journal.

The district said Hankerd was not fired, he resigned voluntarily and the investigation into the allegations against him continues.

READ: Man accused of killing girlfriend, 19, had history of domestic violence abuse, ex-girlfriend says

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
The U.K. will focus on ensuring Kyiv can defend itself in the long run rather than sending fighter jets to Ukraine, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told BBC on Feb. 15, citing practical issues.

Wallace said that if the British government were to give fighter jets, it would also have to provide about 200 Royal Air Force Personnel.

Wallace also said that the international community has provided Ukraine with thousands of surface-to-air missiles, drones, and longer-range missiles, which have the same effects.

The statement comes after Germany said that fighter jets were not the focus for now, and that the priority was to ensure the safety of the airspace over Ukraine, which requires an operational air defense system with enough ammunition.

Following the latest Ramstein meeting on Feb. 14, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters in Brussels that he has nothing to report regarding the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine.

A decision to provide Ukraine with Western fighter jets is not the most urgent issue now, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Feb. 14.

Earlier, several Western officials also told the Financial Times that Ukraines needs for ammunition and air defense outweighed longer-term requests, such as fighter jets, as Russia has started its new offensive.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 9 that several European leaders expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and other necessary weapons without 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 after green-lighting supplies of modern tanks amid fears of escalating tensions with Russia.
By Ali Kucukgocmen and Emilie Madi

HAREM, Syria (Reuters) - After more than a decade of bombardment, dwindling international support, and a crippling economic crisis, Syria's opposition-held northwest was already barely hanging on when calamity struck.

Instead of bombs from the sky, the earth rumbled from below early on the morning of Feb. 6  sending multi-storey cinderblock houses tumbling onto the heads of residents.

The earthquake left more than 35,000 people dead in Turkey, where international help could easily flow in. But the complex politics of humanitarian assistance in Syria's opposition-held northwest left many war-weary citizens there fending for themselves.

Walid Ibrahim lost more than two dozen of his family members  among them his brother, his cousin, and all their children. He only managed to remove their bodies from under the rubble two days after the quake.

"We were removing rock after rock and finding nothing underneath. People were under the concrete screaming, 'Get us out! Get us out!' But we'd come up with empty hands," he said.

"Your hands alone aren't enough."

Parts of the provinces of Idlib and adjacent Aleppo held by Turkey-backed rebels suffered the bulk of the quake's casualties in Syria: over 4,000 of the entire Syrian death toll of more than 5,800, according to the United Nations and government authorities.

Four Syrian towns in a stretch bordering Turkey were among the hardest hit: Salqin, Harem, Jinderis and Atareb.

On an organised press tour on Tuesday, Reuters saw around 20 men and boys trying to salvage what they could from pulverized homes in Harem and its outskirts, without protective gear or uniforms.

Only some wore work gloves, covered in the grey-white dust of smashed cinderblocks. Even their eyelashes, cracked lips and beards were coated in the chalky substance.

One man prayed among the rubble as a lone excavator cleared debris. Children chased each other around mounds of ruins and twisted rebar.

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'HARDEST WEEK'

The frontlines had become relatively quiet over a decade into the conflict - which erupted in 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad that ended up carving the country into competing cantons.

Raed Saleh, who heads the 'White Helmets' rescue force operating in opposition-held areas, is more accustomed to rescuing victims of bombardment.

He said rescuers had been allowed to go home to see their families for the first time on Tuesday, after round-the-clock operations for the last eight days that required every volunteer and every piece of equipment.

"It was the hardest week of our lives," he said.

"What happened to us  it's the first time it's happened around the world. There was an earthquake and the international community and the U.N. don't help," he said.

Saleh and others in the northwest said more lives could have been saved in Syria if the outside world had acted faster.

The earthquake hit Turkish cities where major humanitarian organisations running aid operations in Syria are based and the single border crossing from Turkey was closed for days.

Dozens of U.N. aid trucks later brought food and medicine through that crossing, authorized by a 2014 Security Council resolution that allowed aid into Syria without Assad's approval.

On Tuesday, eight days after the quake, a second border crossing for aid delivery was opened after Assad gave his assent, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the rebel enclave.

But the move was met with scepticism and even anger by many residents of Idlib, where a bulk of the 4 million residents hail from other bombed-out provinces.

"If Assad wanted to help these poor people, then he wouldn't have displaced them to begin with," said Joumaa Ramadan, a day labourer.

The trucks included none of the heavy equipment and machines that rescuers say they need to remove rubble faster  and that could have helped with reconstruction.

Syria's economic crisis may also hinder rebuilding, with 77% of households already unable to secure their basic needs, according to a U.N. assessment.

Those in Idlib have no choice but to rebuild, with Turkey, which hosts 3.6 million Syrians, no longer accepting others, while many fear to cross the frontline into areas controlled by Assad's forces. But resources are scarce.

"The situation is really tragic," said Abdulrahman Mohammad, a displaced Syrian originally from the neighbouring province of Aleppo.

"Anyone who is working as a labourer and renting a house... If you need $10 a day in expenses and you can barely get that  how are you supposed to rebuild?" he said.

Hospitals used all of their reserves of medical equipment treating the quake victims, said Abdulrazzaq Zaqzouq, a local representative for the Syrian-American Medical Society.

Health Minister Hussein Bazar, of the self-declared Salvation Government in northwest Syria, said that the displacement of tens of thousands could lead to a "massive" surge in the cholera outbreak already ravaging the water-stressed zone, as well as a spike in other diseases.

"This is not about a tent or a bite of food. That's not the essential thing for people," he said.

"People want to feel that they're seen as human beings who deserve to live in dignity in this area."

(Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen and Maya Gebeily, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Toby Chopra)
By Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) - How long can he keep it going?

Night after night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivers rousing video addresses, rallying his troops in their fight against the Russian invaders and trying to keep the world's attention focused on his nation's plight.

He has successfully lobbied the West for arms, lifting taboo after taboo in the process -- initially on the West sending lethal aid of any kind and more recently on Western deliveries of battle tanks that may help Ukraine mount a counter-offensive.

Zelenskiy, now 45 and in power since 2019, shows no sign of letting up.

Nor does Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched his "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 and appears to be preparing for a long war.

When Russian troops poured over the border, few predicted the transformation in Zelenskiy, a former TV comedian whose trust ratings had been waning as public anger rose over widespread corruption, economic malaise and bad governance.

In the buildup, as Russia massed forces on his borders, he had criticised foreign embassies and companies for leaving Ukraine, saying they were hurting the economy and - in public at least - appeared to play down the threat of a major invasion.

He is now a household name around the world, a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. In Ukraine, his popularity ratings have almost tripled and are unusually stable.

Easy-going and relaxed when meeting newcomers in his heavily fortified headquarters, dressed in military khaki whether meeting royalty or visiting soldiers near the frontline, Zelenskiy projects an image of steadiness and steadfastness.

He has huge milestones still to clear. He is yet to secure supplies of the sophisticated Western fighter jets he says are needed to push back Russian troops, or promises of fast-track membership to the European Union. Joining the NATO military alliance still looks out of reach.

But though sometimes puffy-faced, with lines under his eyes, there is no indication he is running out of steam, and last month he launched a government shake-up to quash a public outcry over a corruption scandal.

Story continues

"Zelenskiy surprised many people ... They underestimated his leadership qualities," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based analyst who said Putin misjudged Zelenskiy.

"(Putin) prepared a special operation not a full-fledged war ... because he thought Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian army were weak and that they would not be able to put up lengthy resistance. This proved to be a mistake."

'YA TUT'

As Ukraine's fate hung in the balance at the start of the Russian invasion, Zelenskiy filmed himself on a mobile phone to declare that he and his country would fight on.

"Ya tut," he said, meaning: "I am here."

It was the start of a social media blitz that he has sustained throughout the war, delivering a simple message: "We will win."

Reuters reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers cry in a dugout near the war front as he delivered a rousing New Year's address.

"This is the year when Ukraine changed the world. And the world discovered Ukraine. We were told to surrender. We chose a counterattack!" Zelenskiy said.

By contrast, Putin often seems glum and isolated, issuing threats to the West or Ukraine from the Kremlin and rarely seen in public except at choreographed events.

A steady stream of foreign leaders, dignitaries and celebrities have made the long train journey to Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy in the presidential headquarters overlooking Kyiv. Billions of dollars in foreign aid has poured in.

Aides describe an over-full schedule that since the day of the invasion has included 377 phone calls with other leaders and heads of international organisation, 41 addresses to parliaments and foreign publics, and 152 meetings and scores of other addresses.

'NOW IS NOT THE TIME'

A Russian-speaking Ukrainian from a Jewish family in the steel-making city of Kryvy Rih, Zelenskiy began his career as an actor.

He gained prominence playing the main role in the television series "Servant of the People", which struck a chord with Ukrainians fed up with the corruption.

In it, he plays an honest schoolteacher who gains fame after a classroom rant about corruption goes viral online and becomes president, going on to outwit crooked lawmakers and businessmen.

Then in 2019, life imitated art. Zelenskiy was elected president after pledging to fight corruption during a campaign that relied on quirky social media posts in a foretaste of his powerful online outreach during the war.

In a video recorded soon after Russia's invasion, he cited intelligence saying Moscow had declared him target number one and that his family - his wife Olena Zelenska and their two children - was target number two.

Anton Grushetsky, deputy director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, put public trust in Zelenskiy at 70% to 80%.

"The stability of this trust level is unprecedented in Ukrainian history," he said.

His main rivals have been largely frozen out of decision-making, and some foreign diplomats say privately that they are uneasy about the concentration of power in his team's hands.

The political truce has held and Zelenskiy has been able to launch a campaign to weed out officials suspected of corruption, including some close to his own power base.

Former President Petro Poroshenko, whom Zelenskiy defeated in the 2019 election, said giving an assessment of Zelenskiy's wartime performance would be inappropriate during the conflict.

"Since Feb. 24, 2022, I am not the leader of the opposition, because both Zelenskiy and Poroshenko are soldiers. And all Ukrainians should unite not around personalities, but around Ukraine," Poroshenko told Reuters.

"The people will give any assessment of the work of Zelenskiy and Poroshenko after our victory."

For now, he appears to have the people's support.

"He stayed here, he didn't panic," said Anton Fedorenko, a unit commander code named Mazda serving in eastern Ukraine.

"He immediately launched a series of actions and deeds. He drew public attention to Ukraine, which is also very important. He brought this problem to the world."

(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Police say a 14-year-old was wearing an electronic home monitoring device when he shot and killed a 17-year-old Monday.

Nigel Thompson was booked into jail on Wednesday afternoon.

UPDATE: An arrest warrant has been issued for Nigel Thompson, 14, in connection with this homicide.



He faces charges of Criminal Homicide, Discharge of a Firearm into an Occupied Structure, Firearms not to be Carried without a License and Possession of a Firearm by a Minor. https://t.co/CnVnS8zhv5  Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) February 15, 2023

Sources shared with Channel 11 News his dad brought him to family court Wednesday afternoon to turn him in for murder.

Police said an electronic ankle monitor gave them evidence to charge him with the crime.

But on Wednesday Channel 11 News tried to get answers about why it didnt prevent the crime.

Thompson was on home detention wearing an electronic ankle monitor when he killed 17-year-old Damonte Hardrick earlier this week.

But officials said this isnt the first time the monitoring system has failed.

The kid that shot at the funeral just came in and came out somebody released him, said District Attorney, Stephen Zappala.

RELATED COVERAGE: 17-year-old boy shot, killed in Carrick identified

Just earlier this month District Attorney Stephen Zappala criticized the system. Zappala called it a dangerous failure, after Shawn Davis - one of the teens accused of injuring six people outside a funeral was seen on video taking his ankle monitor on and off jokingly while on a video call with a friend

Sometimes they come in and they go back out within 24 hours later, imagine what that does in the neighborhood when you are trying to build trust, Zappala said.

However, according to a criminal complaint, Thompson was able to do the same thing- remove his ankle monitor after murdering Hardrick.

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Police said cameras on Brownsville Road captured Thompson leaving his home committing the crime and then returning home all within just 14 minutes. Police added that the electric ankle monitor tracked his location from his home to the crime scene which they said matched that surveillance footage.

But we still have big questions including:

Why was Thompson wearing an ankle monitor in the first place?

Will these incidents influence how juveniles are charged in the future?

And are there plans to revise the ankle monitoring system?

No one from the district attorneys office or courts would answer those today despite these comments from the da just weeks ago.

Dangerous people are being released pretty quickly, Zappala said.

Thompson is in custody at the Allegheny County Jail facing several charges including criminal homicide.
Heber Jeffs has been arrested and faces charges of kidnapping his 10-year-old niece.

Mr Jeffs is the nephew of the jailed Utah polygamous leader Warren Jeffs, the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Heber Jeffs will be sent back to Utah following a court hearing on Monday during which he waived extradition after he was arrested in North Dakota, according to the Associated Press.

He was detained on Saturday by federal agents who tracked him to Minot, a town in the northern part of the state.

Sheriff Marty Gleave of Piute County, Utah, said authorities dont know why he was there and that he was arrested following a search warrant being executed at a residence. The sheriff said the child was unharmed.

Homeland Security is trying to arrange to get her back here and reunite with her mother, he said, according to the AP.

Mr Jeffs was taken to Ward County Jail, Sheriff Bob Roed said. It remains unclear if he has retained an attorney.

In December, charges of kidnapping were filed in Utah against Mr Jeffs. At the time, authorities said he had disappeared along with his niece, seemingly in an effort to keep the child away from her mother following instructions from Warren Jeffs in his Texas prison.

Heber Jeffs has been arrested following allegations that he kidnapped his niece (Screenshot / KFYR-TV)

Legal documents state that Heber Jeffs had the child at his Kingston, Utah, home after his uncle had said months previously that he had got a revelation from God telling his followers to gather the women in the community and prepare to move to a location or locations as directed by Warren Jeffs or Helaman Jeffs, his son.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was created after the group left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church.

While the larger church left polygamy behind more than a hundred years ago, the smaller version still espouses the practice.

The church has historically been based in a small town located on the border between Utah and Arizona.

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Warren Jeffs is jailed for life at a federal prison in Texas after he was convicted of child sexual abuse charges connected to underage marriages but he still serves as the prophet for the small religious group.

Warren Jeffs watches the proceedings during his trial on September 19, 2007 in St. George, Utah (Getty Images)

Heber Jeffs and his wife Sara have taken care of their niece following the split of her parents when she was an infant, according to prosecutors.

The childs mother, Rose Jeffs, is no longer a member of the group. She was allowed to visit her child regularly but her full access was revoked in August when Heber Jeffs said she was no longer allowed to see her daughter.

The legal filings note the revelation as being a major reason for the change. Court filings also state that Ms Jeffs then demanded the return of her child, to which Mr Jeffs said he would cease communicating with her.

An arrest warrant was issued when law enforcement started looking for Mr Jeffs, and he wasnt found at his home or where he had worked.

The Independent has reached out to the Sheriffs Offices in Ward County, North Dakota and Piute County, Utah for comment.
Adaw Deng reads to students during the 4th Annual Read Your Heart Out event at Webster Stanley Elementary School on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023 in Oshkosh, Wis.

OSHKOSH  As part of a celebration of Black History Month, students and staff at Webster Stanley Elementary School participated Tuesday in the Read Your Heart Out program.

Throughout the day, students participated in activities like a drum circle, art projects and hip hop dancing. Community members read books that celebrated diversity and community engagement aloud to students.

The Read Your Heart Out program, which was first started in Madison, is now in its 19th year as a way to celebrate National African American Parent Involvement Day. In the program, family members of students or volunteers who identify as Black or African American read books to engage the students and share a diverse array of stories.

Ayak Deng, a former student at Webster Stanley who now works for the school district helping refugee students, was one of the readers at the school along with her sister, Adaw Deng. Deng read "My Name is Sangoel," a story about a refugee family moving from Sudan to the United States.

Deng, who was also a Sudanese refugee, said she was excited to see the students' positive reactions to the story and their engagement while reading.

Tanya Schmidt, a former teacher at Webster Stanley who is now the social studies curriculum coordinator for the Oshkosh Area School District, was the teacher who first brought the program to Oshkosh.

Schmidt said she wanted to find an event to celebrate the school's students of color and felt the program's use of literacy, art and music made it a great way to engage all students. After a yearlong training in 2019 and with the help from a grant from the Green Bay Packers Foundation, she put on the first event in February 2020, making Webster Stanley one of the first schools outside of Dane County to put on the Read Your Heart Out event.

Derrick Holt, Land by the Lake Edutainment, teaches principal Beth Galeazzi how to mix songs as part of a dance party during the 4th Annual Read Your Heart Out event at Webster Stanley Elementary School on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Oshkosh, Wis.

Four years on, it's become a tradition at the school, and something students have fond memories of, Schmidt said.

When she was coming into the school to help set up the event, some of her old students who were now in middle school asked why she was here. When she told them it was for Read Your Heart Out, Schmidt said the students told her "that sounds awesome."

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Current students look forward to the event as well. Dominick Witty, a fifth grader at Webster Stanley, said he always looks forward to the Read Your Heart Out day. It was his fourth time going through the program, saying his favorite part was the drum circle. Dominick, who was chosen to be a student ambassador to help some of the younger grades travel around school to participate in the activities, said he was excited to get to help the younger students.

"I liked (being a student ambassador) because I got to see people have fun," Dominick said.

Schmidt said she hopes Webster Stanley can set an example for the rest of the district and can have the event spread across all the other schools in Oshkosh.

Students play along during a drum circle during the 4th Annual Read Your Heart Out event at Webster Stanley Elementary School on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Oshkosh, Wis.

Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Webster Stanley Elementary in Oshkosh offers Black History celebration
With poetry, music, dance and colors, people in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka and elsewhere Tuesday celebrated a grand festival that waves goodbye to the shivery chill of winter in the country.

Capital Dhaka dwellers thronged parks and green spaces to celebrate Pohela Falgun, the first day of spring and of the Bengali month Falgun, along with Valentine's Day.

Amid vibrant bursts of color, a troupe of artists danced and splashed each other with powder-colored red and yellow at one of the major celebration venues -- the University of Dhaka campus on Tuesday morning.

Capital residents also flocked to the other venue for celebrations in the city.

Young couples were seen celebrating their relationship and marking their togetherness with the blazing red and yellow colors -- the representative colors of the festivals.

They gave their beloved ones candy, flowers and chocolates, among others, as gifts.

Elsewhere in Bangladesh, people also performed chorus, folk dance and music and recited poems in the open air to celebrate the festivals.

As always, women and girls in Dhaka were seen in "bashonti" (yellow or orange) colored sarees and wearing floral ornaments, while boys wore colorful Panjabis to welcome the arrival of spring coinciding with Valentine's Day.

The celebrations made business brisk for florists, and hawkers set up their mobile stalls in many places in the national capital to sell flowers at skyrocketing prices.

Florists say they are busy with the trade of the most sought-after flowers like tuberose, various types of roses, gladiolus, marigold, gerbera and daisy.
This article was first featured in Yahoo Finance Tech, a weekly newsletter highlighting our original content on the industry. Get it sent directly to your inbox every Wednesday. Subscribe!

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023

Don't expect human-like AI anytime soon

ChatGPT, Microsofts (MSFT) Bing, and Googles (GOOG, GOOGL) Bard have the world talking about AI. Whether its how generative AI, artificial intelligence that creates content, will change art or help people more efficiently browse the web, the new crop of AI offerings is generating tons of buzz.

What makes ChatGPT and its cohort so intriguing is that they provide the illusion of an artificial intelligence that can think like a human. After all, if its able to write like one of us, its surely doing some kind of thinking, right? The reality, however, is that AI that can truly think like a person, referred to as artificial general intelligence, is still potentially decades away from becoming a reality, if it ever does at all.

In the last few years, we've made pretty dramatic leaps, Rayid Ghani, professor of AI at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Heinz College, told Yahoo Finance. But were still several leaps away from something that's general purpose that can be used for critical applications.

Still, some experts say that were already on the way to reaching the kind of sci-fi inspired AI seen in films like Her and Star Trek.

If you asked mefive years ago, I think I would have said no, explained Yoon Kim, MIT assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. Now I'm less sure. It might be one of the most pivotal moments in human historyand it will obviously raise a lot of philosophical questions and have a massive impact on society.

ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard are smart, but not human-like

Ask ChatGPT to write a story about a girl who becomes a powerful mage who can summon storms and control dragons, and it will do just that. But that doesnt mean that the platform is thinking like a person.

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Instead, its been trained to recognize how certain words tend to pair based on feedback from human trainers and data pulled from the web and puts them together in an order that makes it seem like a person is writing. Its more complicated than that behind the scenes, but thats the gist of it. This process is called generative artificial intelligence, because, well, its generating something new from content it already recognizes.

ChatGPT can come up with stories on the fly based on prompts you provide it with. (Image: ChatGPT)

But that doesnt mean these platforms are thinking like you and me.

I don't think these models can think in a human sense, explained Qian Yang, an assistant professor in information science at Cornell University. There is some level of reasoning abilities there, but the mechanism in which these models produce these logical judgments are apparently very different from how humans think.

Theres also a broader discussion of what artificial general intelligence really means. If the software is supposed to replicate how a person thinks, who decides what human its based on? A 3-year-old and a 36-year-old are both people, but they think differently. People also have different thought processes based on their own experiences. How do we determine which persons experiences are considered sufficient to replicate?

There are also broader questions about what artificial intelligence actually is, according to Yang.

When machines do things that we typically associate with humansyet the machines can do it, we think of it as artificial intelligence. But of course, that's a moving target, she said.

One example Yang points to is searching and memorizing large amounts of data. In her classes, Yang says students dont typically think of searching huge piles of data as a human task, but rather associate it with search engines like Google.

If thats the case does that mean that kind of searching is no longer considered artificial intelligence?

Should we even bother making artificial general intelligence?

Thorny questions about what constitutes artificial intelligence aside, theres also a broader debate as to whether tech companies should even be pursuing artificial general intelligence in the first place.

According to Ghani, firms should be working to create technologies that assist people, rather than totally replicate their thinking.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Modern Life, Search, and Devices, speaks during a keynote address announcing ChatGPT integration for Bing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on February 7, 2023. (Image: Jason Redmond / AFP)

Let's say we replicated humans perfectly today. We would still have a world that has inequities, we will still have a world that's racist, we still have a world that's sexist. That's not a world I want to recreate, he said.

I want to try to create a better world, which means augmenting people with these tools such that it corrects where they're doing things wrong, reinforces whether they're doing things right, Ghani added.

While questions about what constitutes artificial intelligence and whether experts should pursue it as a means of replicating human thinking remain unanswered, there appears to still be plenty of time to consider them before artificial general intelligence becomes a reality.

I think were still as far away from AGI as we were two, three years ago, Kim said. I don't think the release of [ChatGPT and Bing] to the general public has changed my opinion.

By Daniel Howley, tech editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him @DanielHowley

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A Russian Su-57 fighter jet takes off during a Russian air show on July 24, 2021. Mihail Siergiejevicz/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Russia is gathering air power at Ukraine's border, according to unnamed Western officials.

US defense secretary Lloyd Austin denied this, but called on the West to rush air defenses to Ukraine.

Russia has largely held back on committing its jets to Ukrainian airspace for much of the conflict.

Western officials are warning of an accumulation of Russian aircraft on Ukraine's borders, potentially signaling a major air offensive as the invasion approaches its one-year anniversary, according to multiple reports.

NATO allies have noted both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft as part of the build-up, unnamed Western officials told the Financial Times.

An unnamed senior US official echoed the assessment, telling Politico that there is "some prepositioning of air assets" as part of wider arrangements for a new mobilization.

The reports come as Ukraine's allies embark on a renewed rush to bring air defenses to the country.

During a summit this week between NATO defense ministers in Brussels, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke of Russia's considerable air capabilities and the urgent need to bring air defenses to Ukraine.

He denied that the Pentagon was seeing evidence of Russian preparations for a "massive aerial attack." But, he added, "Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of capability left."

He said that "we need to do everything that we can" to bring air defenses to Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to protect Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

There are growing signs that a long-anticipated renewed Russian offensive  which reached an effective stalemate on the ground  has begun. Stoltenberg remarked on Monday: "We're seeing the start already."

The US is expected to announce another major aid package for Ukraine in the coming days, Sky News reported.

Despite repeated pleas from Ukraine, Western allies have long balked at providing fighter jets, both on the basis of their extensive training requirements and ongoing concerns about the potential provocation in sending offensive, rather than defensive gear.

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Russia ceased committing large parts of its piloted air force to its invasion of Ukraine after an early push, as NPR reported. As of late last year, the bulk of its aerial losses  around 300  were small, relatively cheap drones, as Forbes reported.

Russia has also primarily kept its modern Sukhoi Su-57 combat jet operations within its own airspace, over fears that they will be shot down, per UK intelligence.

Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank in London, told Insider in January that Russia fears Ukraine's NATO allies could learn from the technology of any downed jet.

But facing the full force of Russia's advanced fighter jets is a major concern for Ukraine, with its air force far outmatched, as Insider reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Alaskas senators sharply condemned any potential Biden administration move to authorize ConocoPhillips $8 billion Willow oil project with restrictions so onerous it wouldnt be viable, warning that would be seen as a rejection  and an unacceptable blow to residents across the nations largest state.

Most Read from Bloomberg

They damn well better not kill the project, Republican Lisa Murkowski told reporters in a briefing Tuesday.

At issue is the companys proposed project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which could yield 180,000 barrels of oil per day. Its won support from some labor unions and Alaska Natives in northern Alaska, who say the venture would unlock financial opportunity and new jobs. But Willow also is deeply opposed by environmental activists and some residents of a village roughly 35 miles away from the planned drilling who say it could disturb caribou migration patterns and exacerbate climate change.

The project creates a political challenge for President Joe Biden, who has sought to accelerate the US transition away from fossil fuels while also asking American oil companies to produce more crude in the meantime in a bid to tame gasoline prices. The Interior Department is expected to render its final verdict in early March.

The Interior Department has made clear its final decision on the proposed project could take the form of an outright denial or an approval with new strings attached. And some activists have quietly encouraged a two-well-only approval as a kind of compromise between the presidents climate ambitions and his appeals for more oil.

The head of ConocoPhillips has insisted that if drilling is reduced to just two well pads, or locations, at the site, the project wouldnt be viable. The company supports a plan for drilling from three locations, which was already identified by career staff at the Interior Department as the agencys formal preferred option.

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This administration knows full well that anything less  anything less  could kill this project, Murkowski said.

Read More: Fate of Alaska Oil Project Comes Down to the Next 30 Days

We think its being teed up to possibly be a ruse, to go to two pads, Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, told reporters Tuesday. It would just be an exercise of pure raw power, not science, and, importantly, not listening to the people who live there.

A spokesperson for the White House didnt immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and the Interior Department declined to comment.

Some Alaskan Natives who back the project were in Washington last week arguing for its approval. Members of the states congressional delegation have asked for another meeting with White House officials to press the case.

We want to sit down directly with the president to share with him, in no uncertain terms, what the Willow project means for Alaska, Alaska Native people and the country, Murkowski said. If the president is going to make the final decision on this, then the president needs to hear directly from the elected representatives from Alaska as to the significance of this project.

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White House aides are weighing whether to have President Biden address the public about a series of unidentified flying objects that were shot down by the U.S. military in recent days, according to an official familiar with the conversations.

Biden has faced an onslaught of criticisms by Republicans in particular who have said the president needs to be more communicative with the public about the issue, particularly after three separate unknown aerial objects were shot down three days in a row last weekend.

One White House official said there has been growing chatter in the building about Biden addressing the issue at some point, possibly this week before he leaves the country for Poland on Monday.

But the White House and its allies also believe there is little to gain from rushing Biden out when officials are still gathering information about the weekends incidents, deferring instead to Pentagon officials and White House national security spokesperson John Kirby to be the public faces addressing the actions.

To date, I think theyve been happy about having Kirby out there fielding questions on this, one White House ally said. Until we know more, its OK to have him out there taking questions and then theyll find the right moment for the president to address it.

Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau, who served as a senior communications aide to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said he understands the calculus of not putting Biden out there on the issue yet.

It would be a reiteration of whats already out there, Mollineau said. The question is, What is the end goal and are the nerves of the American people that heightened? Or is this the media and some of the presidents detractors trying to elongate a story?

Mollineau said Biden weighing in on the issue may have an adverse effect.

The moment he comes out  this might seem counterintuitive  it doesnt lower anxiety, it likely heightens it, Mollineau said.

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Kirby took questions from the White House briefing room last Friday just as news broke of an object being shot down over Alaskan airspace, and he did so again on Monday after two more objects were shot down over the weekend.

The veteran spokesman, who previously served as press secretary at the Pentagon, held a virtual briefing with reporters on Tuesday, and he has been a frequent presence on television providing updates on what is known, and what officials are still trying to learn about the objects.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin became the first Cabinet official to speak with reporters about the objects struck down over the weekend when he landed in Brussels for a NATO meeting. During a press briefing Tuesday alongside Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley confirmed to reporters that the first missile to target the object over Lake Huron on Sunday had missed its target.

But Biden hasnt spoken of the objects that were shot down over the weekend, fueling criticism by some lawmakers on Capitol Hill dissatisfied with his administrations briefings on the matters.

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 Americans sovereign airspace, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement.

Reporters have also pressed the White House at briefings this week about when Biden might address the public about the objects, noting the unusual nature of the circumstances, but officials there have been mum on the president speaking directly to the matter.

What were trying to do here is provide as much information as we can, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday. The president clearly has been briefed on a regular basis on this, on a daily basis, on what has occurred in the last 10 days or so. But I just dont have anything to preview as to if the president is going to be speaking on this in the upcoming days.

NBC News first reported on talks of Biden giving remarks about the downed objects.

On Tuesday, Kirby said there have been no indications thus far that the three objects shot down over the weekend were connected to a broader Chinese spy balloon program, or that they were connected to a foreign intelligence gathering effort.

Officials have been unable to collect the debris from the three objects to date because of weather conditions and where they were shot down. Two were shot down in frozen wilderness, while a third was shot down over Lake Huron.

Biden has addressed in interviews the Chinese surveillance balloon he ordered shot down over South Carolina more than a week ago after it traversed much of the U.S. He told PBS Newshour that he did not believe the balloon incident would worsen U.S.-China relations, and he told Telemundo that he did not view the balloon entering U.S. airspace as a major incursion.

But Biden has not spoken publicly about the three objects that were shot down last weekend, leading to Republican criticism about his silence on the issue.

I think at this juncture, the president needs to talk straight up to the American people, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Fox News on Wednesday.

Several Democrats have said in recent days the administration could be more transparent in providing information about the recent incidents, though they have largely avoided directly criticizing Biden for not delivering remarks.

You know, in the absence of information, people will fill that gap with anxiety and other stuff. So, I wish the administration was a little quicker to tell us everything they know, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday just hours before the third object was shot down.

The White House itself has had to address the potential for extraterrestrial activity after such questions rose when Pentagon officials said they wouldnt rule it out.

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, Kirby told reporters in the briefing room this week.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will lead a Senate investigation into why it took so long for the Defense Department to detect Chinese spy balloons that floated over the United States this month and in previous years, which has revealed embarrassing gaps in the nations air defense.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. Sen. Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this. Its a good question. We need to answer it.

Some have suggested that Bidens decision to not address the issue in public could leave an opening for lawmakers and commentators to fill the void with unconfirmed information that just makes the problem worse.

Its human nature to have some fear of the unknown, Mollineau said.

But, he added, Lawmakers are taking advantage of this situation to stoke fear and anxiety and perpetuate conspiracy theories. I think those that are trying to use this for their own purposes arent making this any easier.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Anger briefly turned physical at Payton Gendrons sentencing when he was charged by a man in the audience, who was quickly restrained.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)  A white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after relatives of his victims confronted him with the pain and rage caused by his racist attack.

Anger briefly turned physical at Payton Gendrons sentencing when he was charged by a man in the audience, who was quickly restrained. The proceeding resumed after about 10 minutes, with more emotional outpouring from people who lost loved ones or were themselves wounded in the attack.

Gendron, whose hatred was fueled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online, cried during some of the testimony and apologized to victims and their families in a brief statement.

Payton Gendron, a white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after listening to relatives of his victims express the pain and rage caused by his racist attack. (Photo: AP /Pool)

Some angrily condemned him; others quoted from the Bible or said they were praying for him. Several pointed out that he deliberately attacked on a Black community far from his nearly all-white hometown.

Youve been brainwashed, Wayne Jones Sr., the only child of victim Celestine Chaney, said as sobs rose from the audience. You dont even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet, and it was a big mistake.

I hope you find it in your heart to apologize to these people, man. You did wrong for no reason, Jones said.

Gendron pleaded guilty in November to crimes including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a charge that carried an automatic life sentence.

There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances, Judge Susan Eagan said as she sentenced him.

Gendron, 19, also faces separate federal charges that could carry a death sentence if the U.S. Justice Department chooses to seek it. His defense attorney said in December that Gendron is prepared to plead guilty in federal court as well to avoid execution.

Gendron wore bullet-resistant armor and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera as he carried out the May 14 attack with a semiautomatic rifle he purchased legally but then modified so he could load it with illegal high-capacity ammunition magazines.

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Tamika Harper, a niece of victim Geraldine Talley, said she hoped Gendron would pray for forgiveness.

Do I hate you? No. Do I want you to die? No. I want you to stay alive. I want you to think about this every day of your life, she said, speaking gently. Think about my family and the other nine families that youve destroyed forever.

Gendron locked eyes with Harper as she spoke, then lowered his head and cried.

Kimberly Salter, the widow of security guard Aaron Salter, explained that she and her family were wearing red for the blood that he shed for his family and for his community, and black because we are still grieving.

Christopher Braden, a Tops Friendly Market employee who was shot in the leg, said he was haunted by seeing the victims where they lay as he was carried out of the store.

The visions haunt me in my sleep and every day, he said.

Barbara Massey Mapps excoriated him for killing her 72-year-old sister, Katherine Massey. As Mapps shouted and pointed at Gendron, a person in the audience took a few steps toward him before getting held back.

You dont know what were going through, a man shouted as he was led away by court officers. For several minutes thereafter, family members hugged and calmed each other.

Eagan then ordered Gendron back in and let the proceeding resume after admonishing everyone to conduct ourselves appropriately.

In his short statement, Gendron acknowledged he shot and killed people because they were Black.

I believed what I read online and acted out of hate, and now I cant take it back, but I wish I could, and I dont want anyone to be inspired by me, he said as a woman in the courtroom audience stood up, screamed that we dont need his remarks and stormed out.

There were only three survivors among the 13 people he shot while specifically seeking out Black shoppers and workers.

His victims at the Tops market included a church deacon, the grocery stores guard, a neighborhood activist, a man shopping for a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86.

In documents posted online, Gendron said he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the U.S. He wrote that he picked the Tops grocery store, about a three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York, because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Gendrons admission of guilt in state court might help him avoid a federal death sentence. New York state does not have the death penalty.

The mass shooting in Buffalo, and another less than two weeks later that killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, amplified calls for stronger gun controls, including from victims relatives who traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before lawmakers.

New York legislators quickly passed a law banning semiautomatic rifle sales to most people under age 21. The state also banned sales of some types of body armor.

President Joe Biden signed a compromise gun violence bill in June intended to toughen background checks, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws making it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

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A close-up of the Queen Mother's coffin, the wreath of white flowers and the Queen Mother's coronation crown with the priceless Koh-I-Noor diamond.

A close-up of the Queen Mother's coffin, the wreath of white flowers and the Queen Mother's coronation crown with the priceless Koh-I-Noor diamond. Credit - CorbisGetty Images

Queen Consort Camilla wont wear one of the worlds most famousand disputedgems during King Charles IIIs coronation this spring, in an apparent recognition of the diplomatic sensitivities around the 105-carat oval jewel. The Kohinoor, or Mountain of Light, has long been the subject of a spat between India and its former colonial master Britain.

Yet while some see the gesture as a welcome step, they and others have called on Britain to return the Kohinoor diamond to India. It does feels like a big shift that the #Kohinoor is not going to be used in the #coronation. But when is the myth that the diamond was reputedly gifted going to stop being peddled? reads one tweet. An op-ed in The Indian Express called Camillas decision a distraction from the bigger issue of how colonialism robbed the Global South.

The Kohinoor diamond, which ranks as one of the worlds largest, was gifted to Queen Victoria in 1849 by the 11-year-old emperor of the Sikhs, Maharaja Duleep Singh. But Singhs mother had reportedly been a prisoner of Britain and was forced to sign it away. It has remained property of Britains royal family ever since.

Below, what to know about renewed calls for the Kohinoor diamond to be returned to India, and the crown Camilla will wear at King Charles IIIs coronation.

Why is the Kohinoors history so controversial?

Last year, a spokesman for Indias ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told the Daily Telegraph that the coronation of Camilla and the use of the crown jewel Kohinoor brings back painful memories of the colonial past.

Read More: After Queen Elizabeth IIs Death, Many Indians Are Demanding the Return of the Kohinoor Diamond

The Kohinoor was mined in modern-day Andhra Pradesh, during the Kakatiyan dynasty of the 12th to 14th centuries, and passed through the hands of various leaders of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, and later the Persians and Afghans.

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According to the Royal Collection Trust, which looks after the royal familys collection of artifacts, the diamond was eventually presented to Queen Victoria by the East India Company in 1851 and cut into a brooch for coronation crowns, the Daily Telegraph reported.

After India gained independence in 1947, the government unsuccessfully requested the precious stone be returned.

In 2010, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that the diamond would stay put in Britain and so far it has. The diamond, as part of Queen Marys Crown, has for years been securely kept in the Tower of London.

What is Queen Marys Crown that Camilla will wear?

Queen Marys Crown was made by Garrards, a luxury jewelers based in Londons Mayfair neighborhood. It was commissioned by Queen Mary, the consort of King George V, for her husbands 1911 coronation. The crowns design was inspired by Queen Alexandras Crown of 1902, and can be worn without the arches, as Queen Mary did at the coronation of her son, King George VI, in 1937.

The crown was last seen in public on the Queen Mothers coffin at her funeral in 2002.

A Buckingham Palace statement shared with TIME said that the crown has already been removed from display at the Tower of London so it can be readied and worn by Camilla at the Kings coronation in May. The statement added that the crown will be modified with minor changes and additions to ensure it is unique to the occasion and reflects the Consorts individual style.

The choice of Queen Marys Crown by Her Majesty is the first time in recent history that an existing crown will be used for the coronation of a consort instead of a new commission being made, in the interests of sustainability and efficiency, the statement said. King Charles III is a committed environmentalist, and a slimmed down coronation is expected as Britain grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

These changes will see the crown reset with the Cullinan III, IV, and V diamonds from the Queen Elizabeth IIs personal jewelry collection. Worth around $50 million, the late Queen was fond of wearing the diamonds as a brooch and would call them Grannys Chips, as she inherited them from her grandmother Queen Mary.

Four of the crowns eight arches will also be removed to distinguish the headpiece from how it was worn by its last owner in 1911.
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday will release a partial grand jury report detailing their investigation into Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Much like the city of Detroit, also a target of Mr Trumps false claims of voter fraud, Fulton Countys population is majority-Black and was a key region for the Biden campaigns voter turnout efforts throughout 2020. The surge of Democratic votes in those regions were enough to flip two states, Georgia and Michigan, that voted for Mr Trump in 2016  a costly blow in the former presidents fight for the Electoral College.

But it was Republican officials, including Georgias Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who were the target of Donald Trumps overtures in the days following the 2020 election as he desperately sought to change the results. A conference call between the White House, Mr Trumps lawyers, and Georgia state officials on 2 January 2021 has now become a crucial piece of evidence in the grand jury investigation into Mr Trump and his legal team after it first sent shockwaves through the media and political class.

The fallout from the call was immediate. Audio was published in The Washington Post just a day after it transpired, and it would go on to be a key point in the article of impeachment filed by Democrats against Mr Trump later that year.

Lets take a look at exactly why the call was so damaging for Mr Trumps credibility on the issue of his 2020 election fraud claims:

An opening monologue

Much like youd expect a phone call with Donald Trump to go, it began with a lengthy, rambling soliloquy from the president. Mr Trump spoke for several minutes, barely pausing, and diving immediately into conspiracy theories about what had supposedly occurred in Fulton County.

Thousands of unregistered voters supposedly cast ballots, he claimed. Thousands of people registered to vacant addresses supposedly voted. Thousands of out-of-state residents allegedly submitted votes. There were no poll watchers. There were no police. And, infamously, a woman was allegedly seen on camera stuffing a ballot box full of votes  all, presumably, for Mr Biden.

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It was a monologue that could have been ripped straight from one of Mr Trumps speeches. It only ended when Mark Meadows, the presidents chief of staff, interrupted him in the hopes of not overwhelming Mr Raffensperger and his fellow Georgians with nonsense.

Raffensperger responds to individual allegations

Despite the seemingly incoherent mess of conspiracies thrown at his feet by the president a minute earlier, Mr Raffensperger leapt into the conversation as soon as he had the chance and began dismantling the falsehoods Mr Trump was spreading.

Ill go through that point by point, he told the president. The first one he took down was the conspiracy about supposedly compromised voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems.

[W]e did a hand retally, a 100 per cent retally of all the ballots and compared that to what the machine said, Mr Raffensperger told the president. It came up with virtually the same results. Then we did the recount. Weve got virtually the same results. So I guess we could probably take that off the table.

Mr Trump had no real response to this; after a moment of huffing, he moved on to other conspiracies. At one point, Mr Trump accused a seemingly random poll worker of scanning ballots three times.

Mr President they did not put that  we did an audit of that. It was proved conclusively that they were not scanned three times, responded the secretary.

Trump warns Raffensperger: The people are angry

In what could be seen as a veiled threat, Mr Trump at one point in the call warned Mr Raffensperger that his own supporters were extremely upset about the election results.

[T]he people of Georgia are angry and these numbers are going to be repeated on Monday night along with others that were going to have by that time, which are much more substantial even, and the people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry, Mr Trump told the officials, who would go on to be inundated with death threats for months.

He would repeat the potential threat later on: I hate to imagine whats going to happen on Monday or Tuesday.

Trump claims local officials were dishonest or incompetent

Though the Trump campaign maintained publicly throughout late 2020 that they wanted investigators to look into the claims of election fraud the president and his allies were raising, it was clear at one point during Mr Trumps call with Mr Raffensperger that this was not necessarily the case.

Confronted with the fact that investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations as well as the FBI had looked into what had transpired when a burst water main caused a brief evacuation of one polling place, Mr Trump said that their findings didnt matter.

Well, theres no way they could [not have found wrongdoing], said the president. Then theyre incompetent. Theyre either dishonest or incompetent.

He kept raging: Theres only two answers, dishonesty or incompetence. Theres just no way. Look, theres no way.

Trump rages at Raffensperger

When it became clear that the two men differed significantly in their opinions of the integrity of Georgias elections, Mr Trump took it personally. And he lashed out at the official in response.

Told by Mr Raffensperger that he was repeating conspiracies from social media, Mr Trump fired back: No. No, this isnt social media. This is Trump media. Its not social media. Its really not. Its not social media. I dont care about social. I couldnt care less. Social media is big tech. Big tech is on your side. You know, I dont even know why you have a side because you should want to have an accurate election. And youre a Republican.

The president lashes out at Stacey Abrams

Despite Ms Abrams losing her own election, Mr Trump was convinced that she was the secret Democratic puppetmaster behind his loss in Georgia.

Look, Stacey, in my opinion, Stacey is as dishonest as they come. She has outplayed you at everyat everything, he told Mr Raffensperger.

He went on to explain that he believed a court settlement between Mr Raffenspergers office had legalised ballot harvesting in the state. Mr Raffensperger informed the president that he was mistaken.

I just want to find 11,780 votes

Finally, the most damning portion of Mr Trumps outreach to the secretary arrived. Defeated at every turn by dogged state officials who had meticulously shot down every theory and false assertion he had raised, Mr Trump told the other participants on the call that he needed state officials to find a reason, any reason at all, for nearly 12,000 votes to be added to his total.

All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more that we have because we won the state. And flipping the state is a great testament to our country because, you know, this is just, its a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it. If it was a mistake, I dont know. A lot of people think it wasnt a mistake. It was much more criminal than that. But its a big problem in Georgia and its not a problem thats going away. I mean, you know, its not a problem thats going away.

After Mr Raffensperger responded, telling the president that they had looked into his claims, he tried his luck again.

So what? So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already, or we can keep it going.

The call wound down from there; Mr Trump would go on to raise a false claim, and Mr Raffensperger would shoot it down. Rinse, repeat. A lawyer for Mr Trump pressed the officials on whether the matters had really been investigated, while outside counsel to Mr Raffenspergers office responded that they would sit down with the Trump team and explain precisely why their numbers were wrong.

One last attack

As it became clear the call was going nowhere, Mr Trump launched one last bitter attack against the assembled officials and warned them that they were costing Republicans the upcoming runoff elections for US Senate. Georgias two US Senate seats would go on to fall into Democratic hands.

You should meet tomorrow because you have a big election, election coming up and because of what youve done to the president, you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam, raged Mr Trump. And because of what youve done to the president, a lot of people arent going out to vote and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. OK?

[Y]ou would be respected ... if this thing could be straightened out before the election, the president added. Ill tell you, its going to have a big impact on Tuesday if you guys dont get this thing straightened out fast.

Finally, the call ended minutes later. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows encouraged the attorneys for the two groups to meet and discuss the results further, and so concluded one of the most shocking moments of Mr Trumps entire administration.
Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation as Scotland's first minister, amid a drop in popularity.

Sturgeon, 52, is Scotland's longest-serving first minister, having held the position since 2014, and announced her departure at a press conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Describing her time in office as a "privilege beyond measure", Sturgeon acknowledged the job was also "rightly, hard".

"Giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it - the country deserves nothing less," she said, adding that she could have continued for a few more months but "would have less and less energy to give to the job".

The minister's rocky start to the year had prompted open discussion about her future in the role; with debates on gender, and failing initiatives on healthcare and recycling among the pressures on the embattled Scottish National Party leader.

However, she insisted her decision was not "a reaction to short-term pressures" and that it came from a "deeper and longer-term assessment".

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon waves to members of the public outside Bute House in Edinburgh after she announced her resignation. (Getty)

Nicola Sturgeon resignation - key updates

Declining popularity

Sturgeon's popularity has seen a steady decline of late, most notably over the upcoming 2024 election, which the SNP leader pledged to turn into a 'de facto' referendum on Scottish independence.

Sturgeon had initially intended to hold a second referendum this year, however, her bid for another vote was blocked by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled Holyrood could not proceed with the poll without the backing of Westminster.

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And while the issue previously played well for Sturgeon, the tide has turned in Scotland, with fewer residents supporting a second referendum following the first failed attempt in 2014.

Sturgeon during a press conference in November during her campaign for a second independence referendum. (Getty)

Indeed, a poll by Lord Ashcroft for Holyrood magazine earlier this week showed the majority of Scottish voters do not back Sturgeon's plan for a de facto referendum, with just 21% supporting the move.

Another survey no doubt weighing on Sturgeon is the recent Panelbase poll, which showed 42% of Scottish voters believe she should resign from her role immediately.

And while the SNP continues to enjoy widespread support north of the border, the leader herself has found it far more challenging to find favour with voters of late.

However, at Wednesday's press conference, Sturgeon said she still believed Scotland was striving towards independence. "Individual polls come and go," she said, referencing the recent surveys that have showed dwindling support for a second referendum.

Recent controversies

The dip in popularity comes alongside a series of controversies that have marred Sturgeon in recent months.

The debate over the SNP's Gender Recognition Bill has been further ignited by the incarceration of double rapist Isla Bryson (whose transgender status sparked widespread discussion over where she should be held) and discussion over the affirmative practices of the gender service at Scotland's Sandyford clinic.

Sturgeon acknowledged in January that the bill, passed in Scotland and blocked by the UK government, would "inevitably" end up in court, teeing up another battle between Holyrood and Westminster.

At the press conference, Sturgeon referred to the discussion about trans rights, saying that while the backlash over the issue was not the straw that broke the camel's back, "one of the things I do regret is not being able to bring more of a rational approach to these debates".

Voting intention in the next general election. (PA)

She also reiterated her commitment to fighting for equality for women and trans people, stating: "I will always be a voice for inclusion, for equality, for human rights and dignity. I will always be a feminist and will stand up for women's rights every day I have breath in my body."

"I believe these things must in any progressive, liberal society find ways of coexisting," she added.

The first minister was also facing pressure over the country's Social Care Service, with waiting lists for healthcare stretching into years rather than months, and prompting an uptick in private health treatment; as well as a backlash over shakily executed environment schemes such as the single-use container returns plan.

Double rapist Isla Bryson, whose transgender status sparked widespread discussion in Scotland over where she should be incarcerated. (Getty)

Sturgeon pictured with her husband Peter Murrell, during local government elections in Scotland last May. (Getty)

Outside of government policy, Sturgeon is most notably facing the fallout from a police investigation into her husband, SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell.

Murrell is the subject of a fraud probe that began around 18 months ago, with authorities investigating whether he misused party funds.

Among the police's lines of enquiry are a missing 600,000 that was intended to be ringfenced by the party for its independence campaign as well as a six-figure loan from Murrell to the SNP.

Asked about the probe during her press conference, Sturgeon said she would not comment on any ongoing police investigation.
Netflix

African Queens: Njinga spoilers below.



Jada Pinkett Smith's docudrama African Queens: Njinga is a series that is easy to devour in one go.

That isn't to say that it can be casually consumed with one eye on the television screen whilst the other scrolls up and down the phone. No: it commands your attention with its presence and authoritative air. It's as though the series is channelling Queen Njinga herself. Watch me and be educated. Watch me and be enthralled.

Queen Njinga's story is one of perseverance, commitment and love  love for and commitment to her people and the dedication to bring them the peace and safety every human deserves.

While some of this docudrama is an exercise in filling in the blanks owing to the exact details being lost over time, there can be no denying the efforts Njinga went through for Ndongo.

She fought valiantly and tirelessly to protect the people of Ndongo from being swallowed up by the transatlantic slave trade at the hands of the greedy, self-serving Portuguese slave traders.



While her decades-long campaign led to victory, it was momentary in Ndongo's history. The country, like so many others in Africa, eventually became prey once more to the brutal slave trade following the eventual death of Njinga, her successor and sister Kambu and the three 'female kings' who came after her.

Becoming aware of Njinga's struggle to bring to fruition the vision of peace she had for her nation, only for it to be eradicated after her death, left me bitter.

Yes, I know Africa was ravaged by slavery and so the knowledge that Ndongo, the modern day Angola, also fell victim to said trade was not new to me. What was new was Njinga's efforts to protect the nation and more notably her achievements.

Somehow knowing that she was successful in keeping that corner of Africa safe, only for it to be undone sets my teeth on edge.

This might be a hard concept for some to understand given that I myself have never been enslaved, but I cannot express how much rage and emotional grief that stirred up in me, a Black woman living in present times. These events played out long ago, but the rage remains, for so many reasons.

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Among the many feelings aroused are compassion and empathy for my Black people and Njinga, who endured devastating things to ensure the peace of her people.

She suffered horrendously. The murder of her son at the hands of her brother was no doubt a knife in her stomach but she walked with that wound, supporting his initial succession for the sake of the larger goal.

Equally she committed unthinkable acts of violence, such as the killing of her nephew after her brother's death, in order to secure her place on the throne.

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It is believed that Njinga acted not out of vengeance or pride, but because she believed she had what it took to prevent the unimaginable horrors of slavery from reaching Ndongo.

Her desire to see the nation free from the violent exploitation of chattel slavery drove her.

Her calling, if one should call it that, also came with spiritual sacrifice on a grand scale. Just another heartbreaking symptom of slavery with much deeper ramifications than most people today really consider.

In order to secure the backing of the Pope, Njinga needed proof of conversion for her and all of Ndongo. Not only was she forced to publicly forgo her cultural beliefs in favour of Christianity, she had to do the same for her nation.

She erected churches throughout her kingdom and organised mass baptisms of her people, all so that she would be able to win the Pope's favour with the view to him recognising her as a sovereign Christian queen and legitimate ruler of Ndongo.

In doing so, she knew the Portuguese would have to accept her status and concede to her demands, as they too answered to the Pope. Among those demands was the banning of slave trading in Ndongo.

While she may have kept her cultural identity and practises connecting her to the ancestors close to her heart, it was important for her campaign that Ndongo be seen as Christian. Those adopted beliefs took root.

Today, "Angola's population is overwhelmingly Christian", according to Britannica. Roughly two fifths of the population is Roman Catholic and another two fifths Protestant, with only one tenth making up traditional beliefs or other religions. Just one tenth for sacred traditions to share between various other religions.

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That loss of one's cultural identity strikes me hard.

I am from Sierra Leone, more specifically a place called Freetown. Land of the freed slaves, which means my ancestors are just that, freed slaves. Survivors. Endurers. Tenacious, spirited people who clung to life with a determined spirit just long enough for the family line to survive. However, not much else did.

Our true roots, our origins have been lost. Or more aptly stolen from us in exchange for inhuman violence, backbreaking labour and separated families.

When I hear my mother's mother tongue of Creole and I in turn speak the few words I am able to, there is a sense of pride. Diminished pride, because I wish I knew more but it's there. Still, it's not really my mother's mother tongue, is it? Nor my father's because of the erasure of our true cultural identity.

I don't know what our natural language would have been.

Those customs Njinga fought so hard to maintain have been stripped from so many descendants of those once-enslaved, including those from Freetown.

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Instead we have what was cobbled together centuries ago, a blend of cultures and customs  some passed down, most borrowed and stuck together to resemble something that may be so distorted from what it once was, and of even that I can't be certain.

How much remains from my ancestors' ancestors, and how much is mimicked from other slaves' scraps of traditions they too tried desperately to hold on to? Now they are all tossed together and in their merging, there is the loss of authenticity.

It is uncertainty that makes things all the more cutting. The not knowing either way.

My mother has always taught me that religions are like buses all going to the same destination. That it doesn't really matter what route you take, Christianity or otherwise, they still all lead to God.

It is an ethos that I have adopted and believe wholeheartedly. Still, I can't pretend I don't feel a sense of loss, and ache for the route our people would have taken had it not been for the interruption of the slave trade. How would those values have shaped me? Not just in my religion but spiritually, emotionally and culturally.

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Who would I be today? This reality contributes to the sense of displacement I feel every day, and the questions I have about where I belong. Not British enough but still too Westernised for back home, a home which is only borrowed thanks to slavery.

Queen Njinga's story is important for a multitude of reasons but not least because it contextualises just a small fraction of the effects of the transatlantic slave trade.

There was so much to gain from the retelling of Njinga's story. For me, on a personal level, it gave voice to the loss of identity and the importance of those traditions.

This expansion of understanding is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the causal effect of the slave trade. It has had a massive impact that lingers on for generations and illustrates the importance of what she was trying to achieve in ensuring the independence of her kingdom  but also in trying to preserve their way of life. For that she deserves not to be lost to the archives.



African Queens: Njinga is available to stream now on Netflix.

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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 Koh-i-noor diamond is believed to be worth between US$140 million to US$400 million, but its true value is unknown and it has been said it is priceless.

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.
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.
A 29-year-old Ennis woman who had been on the run for 10 years after she was accused of the murder and burning of a 15-year-old is in custody at the Ellis County Jail.

Jennifer Samantha Puente, who was captured in October 2022 in Mexico, was extradited to Texas and booked into the Ellis County Jail on Friday.

Puente remained in jail Wednesday with bond set at $1,060,000 on charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal mischief.

Puente is accused of fatally stabbing 15-year-old Moriah Gonzales, of Ennis, on March 17, 2012, and then discarding and burning Gonzales body on the side of a road in Ellis County with the help of 40-year-old Joe Alvarado. Puente was 18 at that time.

Alvarado was convicted of murder in the case and he was sentenced to 34 years, and an additional 20 years for tampering with evidence, according to WFAA-TV.

This arrest is due to great teamwork and efforts from multiple agencies, Ennis police posted on their Facebook this week. We continue to pray for the family members of Moriah as they continue to navigate life without her.

WFAA reported that Gonzales, Puente and Alvarado had been hanging out at the home of Alvarados mother on the day of the killing.

Alvarado has claimed Puente was under the influence of drugs and threatened Gonzales playfully with a knife before stabbing her, according to WFAA.

Alvarado testified that he agreed to help Puente dump and burn Gonzales body along Knighthurst Drive.

Authorities arrested Alvarado after they received a tip that the two suspects were at a Grand Prairie hotel. At that time, Puente escaped, police said.
Johnnie Ross IV, who plays a knight at the Buena Park Medieval Times castle, came dressed for the strike in his own armor and face paint, and handed out carnations to guests and passersby Monday. (Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

1:00 p.m. Feb. 15, 2023: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Buena Park as Buena Vista in the lede. This has been corrected to Buena Park.



Newly unionized cast members are on strike at the Buena Park location of Medieval Times this week, calling for increased wages, better workplace conditions and less of what multiple cast members believe to be hostile responses from management at the world-famous dinner-theater chain.

On Monday the scent of roast meat drifted through the parking lot as the sky dimmed. Nearly 20 union queens, knights, royal advisors, trumpeters and squires gathered in and near the smoking section, some wrapped in blankets, some clutching hot drinks on the 57-degree night. One played a flute, carnations attached at the far end, while two others sparred with fake swords. Some took turns in rotation flanking the entryway to the parking lot, waving at vehicles headed to the show and an evening of roast chicken, basted potatoes and corn on the cob all eaten hands-only with steins of ale at the ready. The picketers hoisted signs for colleagues and guests to read on their way in: UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE STRIKE printed in bold, red letters.

We love our jobs, said Erin Zapcic, who plays Queen Dona Maria Isabella and serves as a steward for the new union. We're not happy to be out here. As exciting as it is to take a stand for something, we're doing this because we felt like we had to. Medieval Times has fought this every step of the way; they have drawn this out as much as they possibly can. And ... they continue to show us their true colors over and over and over again. They have flat-out told us that they can afford to pay what we're asking, but they don't want to.

The strike, which began Saturday, was spurred by a series of unsuccessful wage negotiations in addition to the deletion of hundreds of supposedly pro-union comments on social media and an October lawsuit that alleged trademark infringement on the unions part. In December the Buena Park performers  who voted to unionize in November  said they learned many of their counterparts throughout the country would be given sizable raises in 2023, while their own requests for hourly wage increases were going, in some cases, entirely ignored.

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Medieval Times LLC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Cast members of the Buena Park Medieval Times castle gather in the parking lot for their strike in front of the restaurant and performance space on Monday. (Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

According to Zapcic, non-union castles were given raises upward of 20%; at the unions first bargaining session, a representative for the company proposed a 2% raise for speaking cast, no raise for trumpeters, a 2% increase for stablehands, and raises of 2% to 8% for knights  all of whom are included in the union, which is represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The New Jersey location, which voted to unionize last July, is the only other castle to unionize thus far, and is represented by the same guild.

AGVA performers at Disneyland who do what these guys do get paid over $33 an hour, Zapcic said, and their shows are only 15 to 20 minutes long. [Here] they work hard all full eight-hour days, with lots of breaks.

The refusal to acknowledge trumpet players  a role that pays $16 hourly  is especially galling to the unions organizers. Lizbeth Figueroa has been playing for eight years and currently makes just above minimum wage. They can't really pick anyone off the street to do my job, she said. I don't think the company sees that. They make it seem as though we're replaceable when we're really not.

A pay increase, she says, would help her to fix her car and further her education. The union is proposing raises that would bring all members at least to Orange County's hourly living-wage minimum (currently listed at $23.66 for the region by Amy K. Glasmeier, professor of economic geography and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

The first days of the strike, multiple attendees requested refunds after encountering the picket line. All Monday evening many guests expressed their support of the protest, even as they walked in for the performance. One attendee, clad in a cowboy hat and black leather vest, crumpled a strike flier and threw it back at the picketing staff before entering the building  even then, the cast called out to his party, asking them to still tip their servers well.

Multiple picketers said Medieval Times LLC has flown in cast members from other castles, including those from the nearest location, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Graham Wojcik, who brought levity to the picket line by playing the flute for co-workers and guests, was knighted just three days before the strike  the early Saturday show was only his third performance before he and the other picketers walked out, and an experience he called very, very nerve-racking. Another picketer said that one of the queens who chose not to join them snickered at them as they walked out that day. But many of those picketing feel the strike is worth the discomfort in the long run.

It's $18.50 to just jump off a moving horse that goes up to like 20, 30 miles an hour, Wojcik said. Something like this especially should have union protections. You get hurt. Wojcik says that everyone he knows whos gone to perform in the arena, or in the sand, has been injured in some way.

Nearby, a knight clad in all black, vertical lines of black paint streaked across his left eye, handed out carnations just as he would in the arena. He was wearing his own armor, purchased at a Renaissance fair, and scrawled FIGHT 4 FAIRNESS across a piece of paper taped to an empty sword sheath strapped across his back.

A little more than a year ago, Johnnie Ross IV began as a squire after working as a dishwasher in a Korean restaurant. Within two months he had an apprentice knightship  a quick ascension which he partially attributes to his parkour background. When he became a knight he started earning $18.50 an hour: not enough for the grueling work conditions and danger encountered regularly, he says, especially for the knights who must attempt stunts including jousting with metal-and-wood lances and jumping from moving horses.

Hes been stepped on, and in his first week he says he was kicked in the knee by a horse. Though he was slated to become a knight earlier, it was delayed for six months due to injuries sustained from stunt falls.

I really enjoy the people who I work with but I also really need it to be safer, he said. It's not just wages in general right now  we're really striking for the unfair labor practices. When I was hurt with my [knee] injury, I wasn't really helped out much. I had just come from a dishwashing job, and I'm just like, I don't understand anything about getting injured. How am I supposed to do things?

Hes hoping the union can not only bargain for raises for all performers, but hazard pay for those who work with live animals. The workers deserve financial security, he says, especially if their injuries remove them from the workforce. According to multiple cast members, because knights are full-time employees, when not acting in the arena they are commonly put to work doing maintenance tasks such as painting or cleaning  even when injured and they cannot otherwise perform.

As the castles longest-tenured knight, Bryce Keizer has sustained multiple injuries in his 12 years at the Buena Park location, including a shattered foot when he said a horse crushed him against a brick arena wall as he was riding. His foot has a permanent bolt in it, and will most likely never be the same, he said.

My foot was a balloon: torn ligament in it, broken bones, and they were having me sit up in the back and clean dirty lights while I was in excruciating pain, Keizer said. They'll try and put you in another department so they could save money instead of just having you rest out.

Keizer is the highest-paid, non-manager knight and makes $28.50 hourly, and performs in roughly 30 shows per month. On the whole, the Buena Park location performs more often than any other castle in the country.

Trumpeters such as Lizbeth Figueroa are included in the union; during the strike, the Buena Park Medieval Times is not employing trumpeters, relying solely on prerecorded music tracks during its shows. (Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Specifically our castle makes quite a bit more money than any of the other castles, said Bradley Whitfield, an employee of the Buena Park castle for about 11 years. Some of the castles at this time of the year are only open three days a week, and we're open every day except for Mondays. (This Monday proved an exception, due to early Valentines Day dinner demand.)

Whitfield plays both the Lord Marshal and Lord Cedric, and plans on attending every day of picketing  arriving after his occasional morning shifts as a barista at Starbucks, where he says his hourly rate is more than roughly half of what the knights and squires are paid at his Medieval Times castle. Its not uncommon for this locations cast members to hold additional part-time jobs; nearly all interviewed Monday evening do, and many shared that they are barely scraping by but choose to remain due to their love of the show and the bonds theyve formed not only with their fellow cast mates but also their colleagues in other departments, as well as the horses.

On Monday, Whitfield arrived at 3:30 p.m., hoisting his picket sign while waving at oncoming cars near the entrance to the parking lot, and there he remained all night to greet both colleagues and guests. It's nice to wave at our fellow employees as they come in and get thumbs up from them, because that feels good, Whitfield said. There's been a little bit of a rumor going around that we didn't have a lot of support from a lot of the other departments and staff, and it doesn't seem to be the case at all.

All show actors are included in the union, as are the employees referred to as the stables, or those who care and handle the horses. According to Whitfield, as of Monday night none of the stables had joined the other cast members on strike.

The castles departments not in the American Guild of Variety Artists union include retail, which encompasses the souvenir-photo team; food and beverage; sound and lighting; cash management, which includes ticketing and sales; housekeeping; and event staff. Some members of these other departments, however, have taken up fliers and picket signs despite not being union themselves.

Katherine Calderon holds one of the foam swords sold in the castles gift shop, where she works as part of the retail team. In her other hand is a stack of fliers decrying, HEAR YE, HEAR YE! MEDIEVAL TIMES PERFORMERS ARE ON STRIKE in response to repeated violations of federal labor law by the company. Shes decided to join her co-workers picketing in a show of solidarity and hope for a better future for employees of the castle.

What if my son wants to work here? Or what if my grandbabies want to work here? she asked. I just feel like youve got to think about the future.

Katherine Calderon, who works in the gift shop, is not a member of the union but joined the picket line and passed out fliers Monday to show solidarity with co-workers. (Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Two non-union colleagues approached her in the parking lot and expressed their regret at not being able to strike alongside her. Multiple employees entering the castle for their evening shift expressed similar sentiments, but could not strike because of the need for pay. Calderon had texted her boss before her shift that evening, alerting them that she was choosing to picket, and says her boss left her text on read.

Its the least I could do, she said. I can't give them money, but I can stand here.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Tesla factory in Buffalo, New York.



Looking for a more sustainable future.

A group of Tesla workers in Buffalo, New York today (Feb. 14) launched a campaign to unionize, which, if successful, would mark the first union for employees of the electric vehicle company.

The workers are demanding for higher pay and benefits, as well as a voice in the workplace. We want a sustainable future, not just for the company, but also for us as its employees, said Tesla Workers United, the organizing committee, in a press release. The employees are organizing with Workers United Upstate New York, the organization that worked with Starbucks employees when they formed the coffee chains first union in 2021.

Read more

The Tesla factory in upstate New York manufactures solar panels and solar roofs as well as commercial and home batteries. The factory has about 2,000 workers, the committee estimates, and Tesla has said many of the 5,000 clean energy jobs the company will create over the next decade will be in New York. Some 800 workers contribute to developing driver-assistance software for cars, including helping to label images and videos that train the system. (No previous experience in AI or data labeling required.) Starting pay is about $19 an hour.

This is not the first time workers have attempted to unionize at the electric vehicle manufacturer. In 2021, the National Labor Relations Board reportedly found Tesla had illegally fired a worker involved in organizing at the companys factor in Fremont, California. In 2017 and 2018, workers had attempted to organize, but neither ended up petitioning for a unionization vote.

Will unionization efforts be different this time around?

The unionization efforts come as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last year, is being accused of not paying enough attention to the EV company. At the same time, Tesla faces growing competition from both newer EV startups and established automakers.

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Musk has spoken out against unionization efforts at Tesla in the past. A union is just another corporation, he tweeted last May. In 2018, he replied to a tweet asking about Tesla factory workers unionizing by noting that unionized workers would lose stock options.

Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018

The unionization attempt at Tesla is the latest in a wave that has included successful efforts at companies like Amazon, Apple, and Trader Joes.

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David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, is quitting.

He informed staff in an email seen by POLITICO on Wednesday that he would leave his job by the end of the fiscal year in June.

Malpass said it had been an "enormous honor and privilege to serve alongside so many talented and exceptional people as president of the worlds leading development institution."

The World Bank boss  who was appointed by former President Donald Trump  had come under fire after an interview last year in which he seemed to cast doubt on climate change science. His departure opens the door for the Biden administration to pick his replacement. The U.S. has traditionally selected the head of the bank, although that may be contested by other governments.

"The next few months will provide a good opportunity for a smooth leadership transition," Malpass said Wednesday.

Malpass confirmed his departure in a tweet. The World Bank put out a release announcing Malpass was stepping down and listed the banks accomplishments under his tenure.

In the email to staff, Malpass praised World Bank employees for their efforts in buffering developing countries from a series of global shocks, namely "the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, sharp global economic slowdown, unsustainable debt burdens, climate change, and food, fertilizer, and energy shortages."

Potential successors for Malpass have been circulating for months, following scrutiny in climate circles for a reputation of not doing enough to steer development dollars away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.

U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry, former Vice President Al Gore and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg are some of the more familiar names. Others include Minouche Shafik, who recently accepted a job to become Columbia University's president; Daleep Singh, who was deputy national security adviser for international economics in President Joe Biden's White House; World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and former U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Raj Shah, who now leads the Rockefeller Foundation.

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The environmental community criticism peaked last September when Malpass publicly demurred about the role humans play in driving temperatures higher, largely by burning fossil fuels.

Malpass later backtracked on those public comments, including with emails to staff.

While the World Bank has declined to officially rule out financing fossil fuels, its backing for such projects has slowed.

The organization has said its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association did not invest in new fossil fuel finance in fiscal year 2021 and that the group has not financed upstream oil and gas projects since 2019.

The bank has defended its record on climate finance under Malpass, noting it devoted a record $32 billion to the sector last year to best all other multilateral institutions combined.

But the bank nonetheless faced charges that it was not moving fast enough and that its design precluded major greenhouse gas-emitting nations from accessing cheap finance to fund their transitions off fossil fuels.

The banks role over natural gas had increasingly become the target of geopolitical tussling. Gas-rich African nations have prodded the World Bank to ease finance for developing the fuel as European nations flocked to the continent to replace Russian gas ditched after the Ukraine invasion.

"We welcome the departure of a climate and development laggard as the head of a critical international finance institution," said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director of international climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We need World Bank leadership committed to bold action to unleash more and better climate finance to meet the scale of the climate crisis and the needs of developing countries."

The World Bank and other international development institutions have come under fire as not being fit for purpose to address global crises like climate change. Global leaders like Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have called on the banks to overhaul their processes to tackle emerging challenges.

Yellen on Wednesday praised Malpass for steering the bank through multiple crises, including Ukraine, climate change and food supplies.

[W]hile we all must continue to raise our collective ambitions in the fight against climate change, during President Malpass tenure the World Bank has made important recent advances in this area, Yellen said in a statement.

U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry has also pushed the bank to increase its lending for clean energy and called for the World Bank and other multilateral institutions to deliver a plan to enhance their role in fighting climate change by April.

The exit of Malpass comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi angles to use his new G-20 chairmanship to address the multilateral development bank system. India and other nations are concerned about debt distress amid rising food and energy prices, which serves as a launchpad for discussions for changing banks practice to help lessen debt burdens.

In the climate change context, environmental advocates have floated allowing middle-income countries currently shut out of receiving below-market-rate loans to access cheaper finance to fuel clean energy installations. Many of those middle-income countries are projected to contribute a large chunk of the worlds future heat-trapping emissions.

Yellen has supported an evolution of the World Bank and other multilateral development banks to better address challenges that cross borders, such as climate change, pandemics and conflict.

The MDBs core model involves countries borrowing to make specific investments aimed at addressing development constraints in their own countries. That model is insufficient to meet the moment, Yellen said in a speech earlier this month. Such a model will always underinvest in addressing global challenges  since the benefits of investments in global challenges stretch far beyond the borders of the country where a given project takes place.

Adam Behsudi contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misstated when David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, was stepping down. He informed staff in an email that he would leave his job by the end of the fiscal year in June.
Editors note: West Texas A&M University's One West Campaign publicly launched about 16 months ago in September 2021; the timeline has been corrected below. The Globe-News regrets the error.

West Texas A&M University received a $3 million donation from the Amarillo National Bank to establish the former Department of Accounting, Economics and finance in the Paul & Virginia Engler College of Business as the newly named Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

This new school will be the university's first in more than 10 years. The announcement was made Tuesday morning in the Harrington Academic Hall of the WTAMU Amarillo Center.

The $3 million gift to the university is the largest gift in the bank's history. The presentation included words shared from Sherry and David Schaeffer as they encourage the Wares' contributions and continuation of the Ware families' generational commitment to the community.

Amarillo National Bank donates $3 million to the new Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics and Finance within the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business Tuesday morning at the Harrington Academic Hall in downtown Amarillo.

Amarillo National Bank President William Ware expresses why it is important to his family to gift $3 million, as a donation by Amarillo National Bank and the Ware family, for the new Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at West Texas A&M. This announcement was made Tuesday morning at the WT Harrington Academic Hall in downtown Amarillo.

"This is the biggest gift to date that our bank has given, because we realize the importance of WT in the region, plus it's important for the economy, for the recruiting of jobs and also the educational retainment of the region. So, we wanted to make a big impact with a big gift," said William Ware, ANB president and WT foundation board member.

"We have always been a big believer in higher education, and a majority of our employees have come from WT whether it be degrees or other programs," Ware added. "So, we owe it to WT to support their future efforts; plus, we believe having a four-year university in the region is vital to the economy. Supporting WT was very easy for our family."

According to WTAMU, a request for approval of the new naming and reconstruction has been submitted to the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board. WT will later announce the director of the ANB School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. The gift will also establish the Ware university distinguished professor, which is yet to be named.

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"This investment is the core resource for the human development and community enrichment. ... To have the largest family owned bank in the United States to bestow its name is proof of the accounting and finance at the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business," said Dr. Amjad Abdullat, dean of the WT Engler College of Business.

West Texas A&M University Present Walter Wendler talks Tuesday morning about the importance of WTAMU and the Panhandle region for the $3 million donation by Amarillo National Bank to the new Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics and Finance within the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business.

Amjad Abdullat, Dean of the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business at West Texas A&M University, expresses his appreciation of a $3 million donation by Amarillo Nation Bank and the Ware family for the new Amarillo National Bank School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. This announcement was made Tuesday morning at the WTAMU Harrington Academic Hall in downtown Amarillo.

With this gift, WT announced that it is more than 97% toward its $125 million goal as part of its One West Campaign. WTAMU President Walter Wendler stated that he is confident the university will reach its goal by April, resulting in the university reaching its five-year campaign goal in approximately a year and a half since its public launch in September 2021.

"We are going to beat this goal by about the second week in April, I'm absolutely convinced of it. And by the second week in April, we may have the first gift in the second phase of the campaign. We have got momentum, and we are not going to squander it. We are going to continue to utilize it. We have a great institution here and a great place, and we will continue moving forward," Wendler said.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo National Bank, Wares donate $3 million to WT for new school
Justice Hector LaSalle's defeat is a blow to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who won her first full term in November.

Justice Hector LaSalle's defeat is a blow to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who won her first full term in November.

A majority of the New York state Senate voted down Justice Hector LaSalle, Gov. Kathy Hochuls nominee for chief judge of the states highest court, on Wednesday, making official a stinging defeat for Hochul that had been all but assured since mid-January.

This marks the first time the state Senate has rejected a nominee for chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals in the 46 years since it became an appointed role subject to Senate confirmation.

The partisan breakdown of the state Senate vote was highly unusual, as was the legislative wrangling that led up to it.

Although Hochul is a Democrat, her fellow Democrats opposition ensured LaSalles defeat on the state Senate floor. These Democrats objected to LaSalles judicial record in the areas of union rights, civil rights and abortion rights.

The Senate ultimately rejected LaSalle in a 39-20 vote. Just one Democrat, state Sen. Monica Martinez, voted for LaSalle, and one Republican, state Sen. Mario Mattera, voted against him.

In fact, LaSalle would likely not have even received a floor vote were it not for the state Senates Republican minority.

State Senate Democrats considered the matter closed after narrowly defeating LaSalles nomination in a Judiciary Committee vote on Jan. 18. The majority party argued that a committee hearing and vote were sufficient to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities to provide advice and consent on the governors appointees.

Hochul  and state Senate Republicans  maintained, though, that the state constitution required a vote on LaSalles nomination by the entire Senate. Hochul even kept open the possibility that she would sue for a floor vote on LaSalle.

In the end, state Senate Republicans, rather than Hochul, forced action on LaSalles nomination. State Sen. Anthony Palumbo, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sued his Democratic colleagues on Feb. 9 to force a floor vote on LaSalles nomination. Oral arguments were scheduled to be heard in the case this Friday.

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State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D), who notified members of the floor vote hours before it began, said in a statement before the vote on Wednesday that the chambers ruling Democrats were seeking to end an ongoing distraction for the legislature and head off a potentially lengthy legal battle.

This court case, if allowed to continue, wouldve dragged on for months and stymied our judicial system, she said. Its time to put this matter to rest.

LaSalle, Hochul's nominee for chief judge of the Court of Appeals, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 18.

LaSalle, Hochul's nominee for chief judge of the Court of Appeals, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 18.

In his remarks on the floor, Palumbo accused Democrats of springing a floor vote on the GOP minority to avoid having to make their case in court and suffer a potentially embarrassing, precedent-setting defeat.

He noted that two state senators who were absent on Wednesday  Luis Sepulveda and Kevin Thomas  were among the few Democrats who backed LaSalles advancement out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (A third Democrat, Jamaal Bailey, who had voted to advance LaSalle out of committee in January without stating a preference on his actual confirmation, ended up voting no on LaSalles confirmation on Wednesday.)

The chief judge of the highest court in a state of 20 million people is not a distraction, and neither is the constitution, Palumbo said.

LaSalle is an incredible jurist, who calls balls and strikes, he added. And hes a plain old liberal Democrat, which apparently isnt good enough.

Palumbo and other Republicans relished the opportunity to shame Democrats for going to such lengths to stop the first Latino nominee for the top judicial post. In an effort to rebut charges that LaSalle has an anti-union record, at least one GOP lawmaker also noted that he came from a family with many union members.

But Democrats insisted that they were within their rights to reject a nominee based on a judicial philosophy that they considered unduly conservative, especially at a time when New Yorks judiciary has the chance to offset the influence of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Its not enough to say someone can call balls and strikes. It matters how you view the strike zone, said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Brooklyn Democrat. And in case after case, I found significant concerns with how Justice LaSalle views the strike zone.

The process for naming a new chief judge now starts anew, at a time on the legislative calendar when budget negotiations are likely to slow down a final confirmation vote. Before that begins, New Yorks Commission on Judicial Nomination must draft a new list of seven potential nominees from which Hochul can choose her new nominee.

Beyond the judiciary, Wednesdays vote, which locked in a short-term progressive win, could scramble party politics in the Empire State in ways that might have an unpredictable effect on the left in the future.

Hochuls informal alliance with the state Senates Republican minority recalled an earlier era when other moderate Democratic governors collaborated more explicitly with Republicans in the state Senate. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was even accused of propping up a breakaway faction of centrist Democrats that helped keep the chamber in Republican hands from 2013 to 2018.

Related...
Uber drivers in New Zealand will be pushing for better pay and working conditions through their first-ever collective agreement with the company.

Earlier this week, national trade union First Union initiated collective bargaining with Uber. According to New Zealand employment law, if a party receives a notice to initiate bargaining, they are required to enter. A period of preparation on both sides will ensue before the parties come to the table to negotiate.

The initiation of collective bargaining represents the first time Uber would have to work constructively with drivers to reach an agreement on pay and conditions since the ride-hail company arrived in New Zealand in 2014.

More than 500 drivers joined the union after the country's Employment Court last year ruled that four Uber drivers were employees, not contractors, and Anita Rosentreter, strategic project coordinator at First Union, said more are joining every day. The landmark court case granted those workers rights and protections, including minimum wage, guaranteed hours, sick leave, holiday pay, KiwiSaver (superannuation) contributions, the right to challenge an unfair dismissal and the right to unionize and collectively bargain.

While the ruling only affected the four drivers in the class action lawsuit against Uber, it set a precedent for defining employee status in the country based on how much control a company has over workers.

At the time, the court ruled that Uber's incentive schemes to reward consistency and quality and punishments for breaches of Uber's Guidelines or slips in quality levels demonstrated significant control.

Uber lodged an appeal against the decision, which will be heard in April.

We were disappointed by the Employment Courts recent decision, particularly considering the same Court in 2020 ruled a rideshare driver using the Uber app was not an employee, and have applied for leave to appeal which will be heard in April," said Emma Foley, general manager for Uber New Zealand, in a statement. "This ruling underscores the need for industry-wide minimum standards for on-demand work, while preserving the flexibility and autonomy that drivers tell us is important to them."

Foley said Uber would work collaboratively with the industry and the government throughout "the contractor policy reform process."
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 15 that the most difficult combat situations are now near Bakhmut and Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast, but Ukrainian soldiers are holding on and inflicting maximum losses on Russian forces.

He named the city of Bakhmut "a living fortress," which is allowing Ukraine to prepare its troops for the liberation of Russian-occupied territories.

"Unfortunately, the fortress is alive. I mean, it consists of living people, a kind of living wall. This war is so expensive for the history of our country," Ukraine's president said during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Kyiv.

Zelensky added that he's constantly in touch with all Ukrainian commanders fighting in these areas. "It's hard, but they're holding on."

Russian troops, along with the Kremlin-controlled mercenary group Wagner, have been attempting to capture Bakhmut for months.

Russian forces have recently captured settlements north and south of Bakhmut and are trying to cut off all supply lines leading to the embattled town.

Taking control of the town would allow Moscow to disrupt Ukraine's supply lines in the area and open up the main road leading to the two vital Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.






Aerial photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021 shows the countryside scenery of Gaoling Township in Du'an Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. [Photo/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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Amherst County Public Schools will host a career fair for prospective employees Feb. 25 in the meeting room of the school administration office, 153 Washington St. in Amherst.

ACPS representatives will be available to meet with anyone interested in jobs such as teachers, instructional assistants, bus drivers and bus assistants and custodians. An in-person fair will be held 9 to 11:30 a.m. and a virtual fair will be held 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Amherst County Public Schools is an excellent destination for aspiring teachers, administrators and support personnel, said Jim Gallagher, chief human resources officer for ACPS. We offer our employees a supportive work environment with a family-centered culture and a team-based mentality. Many of our educators have said when asked what makes ACPS special to them, Amherst County Public Schools is home.

ACPS offers two years of high-quality mentoring support to teachers new to the profession or new to the division, competitive salaries and opportunities for growth and advancement, Gallagher said.

We feel that our facilitative leadership approach and our focus on meeting the needs of Every Child, Every Day, make ACPS the best destination in the region for current and future educators, Gallagher said in an email to the New Era-Progress. Like school divisions around the region, state, and country, ACPS is facing a shortage of qualified teacher candidates relative to past years, especially in positions identified by the state as critical shortage areas.

The Virginia Department of Education identifies these areas for the 2022-2023 school year as:

Elementary Education PreK-6

Special Education

Middle Education Grades 6-8

Career and Technical Education

Mathematics Grades 6-12 (including Algebra 1)

Science (Secondary)

Foreign Language PreK-12

English (Secondary)

History and Social Science (Secondary)

Health and Physical Education

Like many other divisions in our region, ACPS has experienced the impact of these shortages in its effort to fill all vacancies across the division in the past several years, Gallagher said. This is despite the availability of hiring and retention bonuses in many of these critical shortage areas. Unfortunately, there are so few candidates available in recent years, and the numbers appear to be dwindling.

VDOE has increased its efforts to reduce barriers for teacher candidates and provide incentives aimed at increasing the number of students entering the teacher pipeline through teacher preparation programs, school divisions growing their own programs and career-switcher programs, Gallagher said.

This is a huge opportunity for us to put the word out there to have amazing qualified educators come join our family, Gallagher said of the upcoming career fair.

For more information on the fair, email hr@amherst.k12.va.us or call (434) 946-9376.
A second-degree murder charge against a Lynchburg man accused in connection with a November 2022 shooting death at the Iron & Ale restaurant will go before a grand jury, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Derek Allen Lewis, 31, appeared Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in Lynchburg General District Court. He also faces one count each of use of a firearm in commission of a felony, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted violent felon in the killing of Tyler Shane Johnson, 28.

At 9:11 p.m. Nov. 11, the Lynchburg Police Department responded to the restaurant at 106 Cornerstone St., for reports of a shot being fired. Citizens followed by first responders on the scene attempted life-saving measures on Johnson but were unsuccessful.

Two witnesses testified during Wednesdays preliminary hearing, with one witness saying he saw a man at the bar who caught his attention for being obnoxious.

Tomas Williams, a patron at Iron & Ale that night, testified in court he saw Lewis at the second-floor bar; and at one point, he saw Lewis erasing the writing on the restaurants specials board.

According to Williams, Johnson approached Lewis, asking him to leave that alone, adding it was a family restaurant.

Williams said the two went their separate ways until another interaction, where Lewis asked Johnson if he wanted to take this outside, to which Johnson agreed and said, Lets go outside.

Williams said he saw Lewis pull up his shirt at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the restaurant, where he said he saw the handle of a gun.

Williams said he heard a loud gunshot from point-blank range, and Johnson dropped immediately in the second floor of the restaurant.

Williams said immediately after the shot he saw Lewis reach down to gather some things he had dropped, and Lewis proceeded down the stairs to leave the restaurant, where another man followed after him.

Williams added he later saw a single shell casing at the top of the staircase.

Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Dianna Baker played footage Wednesday from three surveillance cameras from the incident for Judge Stephanie Maddox.

Detective David Dubie testified the Lynchburg Police Department matched surveillance footage of Lewis to a photo of him from their internal database.

Lewis was arrested the following day at the Jacksonville International Airport in Florida at about 2 p.m., according to a November LPD news release.

Maddox certified the four charges to an upcoming term of the grand jury, which does not determine guilt or innocence but rather if probable cause exists to send the matter to trial.

Lewis will remain in custody while awaiting further court proceedings.
BEDFORD  The Bedford County Board of Supervisors has unanimously authorized county staff to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE grant.

The grant program funds roadway planning and capital construction projects with significant local or regional impact, county documentation said.

Bedford County staff met recently with the Central Virginia Planning District Committee, Franklin County staff and the West Piedmont Planning Division Committee to discuss potentially partnering on a planning application targeting the Virginia 122 corridor. The route runs through Bedford and Franklin counties.

With ongoing growth, particularly in the Moneta area, observed along this corridor since the last Virginia 122 study was conducted in 2003, the time has come for an updated study of the route, Bedford County staff said.

This study would include evaluating land use along the corridor, examining how features such as sidewalks and bike lanes might be incorporated and looking at ways to improve functionality and safety as the area continues to grow. The RAISE grant would fund a study on this corridor, but no construction or turning dirt.

This would give us an opportunity to update that study, look at safety and access improvements along the corridor, and update recommendations for [Virginia] 122, Erik Smedley, Bedford County engineer, said at Mondays board of supervisors meeting.

The RAISE grant is fully funded for rural localities, so no local match would be required, according to county documentation. Staff anticipate no more than $1 million in money if the grant is awarded, to be split between Franklin and Bedford counties. It is a reimbursement-style grant, Smedley said.

The localities would have until 2027 to obligate the funds and until 2030 to spend them, should the grant be awarded and the localities accept it, Smedley said. Bedford County should know by June whether the RAISE grant will be awarded for the collaborative projects.

Smedley also said the planning application would seek additional funding to support development of full concept designs for priority locations along the Virginia 122 corridor, with could be used to pursue things like SmartScale grants in the future. Such additional funding would focus on the Hales Ford Bridge and the Smith Mountain Lake areas, staff said. This location is a high priority for Bedford County due to its significant growth and crash history.

The most recent cost estimate for the study and design services related to the corridor study is $1.6 million, Smedley said.

The board will determine at a later date whether the county will accept money from this reimbursement-style grant and pursue the study of the Virginia 122 corridor.

Farmers market at old school

Also during Mondays meeting, the board approved a request by the Montvale School Preservation Foundation to establish a farmers market at the old Montvale School, which is owned by the county.

The site will be leased starting in April for the operation of a farmers market, said Doug Coffman, director of public works.

Coffman said the farmers market would not turn into a flea market, per restrictions set by the foundation. Fresh produce, baked goods and local artisan products are among items that could be available.

It is intended as a farmers market with first-use goods, not re-sale of antique or vintage items, Coffman said.

The Montvale School Preservation Foundation is pursuing the preservation and revitalization of the old Montvale school site, including trying to get a new roof, and find the best ways to repurpose the space and turn it into a community asset.
The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is planning an extensive effort to gather public input on what people would like the museum to be like in the future.

The museum will hold a community listening session on Saturday, Feb. 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the historic 1904 Carnegie Library that houses it at 200 Pearl St. in Council Bluffs.

It will not be a formal meeting but a drop-in style open house so people can stop and share their ideas with facilitators, then go on their way, according to Patricia LaBounty, curator of the museum.

Basically, this is an opportunity for the public to let us know, what do you wish youd see more of, and what do you wish youd see less of? she said. Its an opportunity to be heard and to let us know what our community thinks we need to be doing. People can talk in person or fill out a paper form.

This is part of a larger strategic visioning process the Union Pacific Museum is involved in.

The process will also include interviews, a survey of various kinds of stakeholders and a board of directors retreat.

Of course, not everything in the museum can be changed, LaBounty said. America Travels by Rail, The Lincoln Collection and Building America are permanent galleries, although Building America changes frequently to spotlight new innovations or different aspects of the railroad industry.

However, the museum always has a temporary exhibit for those who want to see something new. The temporary exhibit is displayed for a year, then goes into a catalog of traveling exhibits that are available to other museums, she said.

For example, the current temporary exhibit, Sun Valley, will be on display until shortly before this years Railroad Days celebration in September, when a new temporary exhibit will open, LaBounty said.

Those temporary exhibits are a great little slice of railroad history, she said.

Past such exhibits included All Set for the West: Railroads and the National Parks, Move Over, Sir! Women Working on the Railroad and Wheels of War.

Individual displays are also added. Last year, the museum obtained a model of the original Big Boy locomotive with working lights, whistle and smoke machine that visitors can operate.

Kids love it, LaBounty said.

The museum also offers online programs, school programs, temporary model railroad setups, occasional films or videos and special events with hands-on activities.

LaBounty wonders if there are any barriers that keep people from visiting and whether there are things they feel are missing. Would they like more hands-on activities or displays for children? Snacks? Drinks? A small cafe?

No idea is too out-of-the-box for this, she said. Im excited to be able to do this right now and Im excited to see what the community will say.

Union Pacific opened its first museum in 1921, LaBounty said. But during most of its history, Union Pacific Railroad Corp. operated its own museum, which was housed in the corporate headquarters building.

When the museum opened in Council Bluffs, it was the first time it was operated by a nonprofit, the Union Pacific Museum Association, she said.

In the nearly 20 years since then, hundreds of thousands of visitors have come through the doors from all 50 states and countries all over the world.

The museum is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed. The museum currently offers a free History Express Tour from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. every Saturday. All of the museum is wheelchair-accessible.
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The African Union (AU) will be sending a 90-strong observer mission to Nigeria for this months elections, the AU Commission announced Tuesday (14 February), as the West African country warned of increasing election-related violence.

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. 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 Ethiopias Tigray Region and is mediating in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

As Nigeria goes to the polls on 25 February, Africas most populous country has been plunged into crisis in the run-up to the vote with dire shortages of cash and fuel. Nearly 100 million people will vote to choose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms as the West African country struggles with widespread insecurity and economic malaise. This comes as Nigerias National Peace Committee said election-related violence is spiking as the national polls draw near. On Friday, unidentified gunmen ambushed and killed three members of the security team for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In another incident, one person was killed and five arrested after a violent clash between supporters of the PDP and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party during a campaign rally in northern Jigawa state.
The Moroccan and Saudi Public Prosecution authorities have agreed to foster cooperation ties and exchange experiences in the fight against transnational organized crime, money laundering and cybercrimes.

The agreement was inked in Rabat by President of the Moroccan public prosecutor Office Hassa Daki and Saudi Attorney General Saud Bin Abdallah Al-Mujab.

The two countries public prosecution bodies pledge to strengthen coordination and cooperation in transnational prosecution of criminals and hold joint capacity building workshops for magistrates from both countries.

Morocco has signed similar cooperation accords with several countries to consolidate international legal and judicial cooperation to combat various forms of crime, especially drug trafficking, the financing of terrorism, human trafficking
Equatorial Guinea has announced its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a hemorrhagic fever nearly as deadly as Ebola, the World Health Organization (WTO) confirmed 13 February.

Nine people have died of Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea, a small central African country of about 1.6 million. A health alert had been declared in Kie-Ntem province and the neighboring district of Mongomo, after consulting with the WTO and the United Nations, and both regions were quarantined to contain the epidemic, the health minister, Mitoha Ondoo Ayekaba, said at a press conference. Last week, the government announced it was investigating suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever. Only three people with mild symptoms of the disease which are evolving favorably are currently isolated in a hospital in this sparsely populated rural area bordering Gabon and Cameroon, according to the minister.

Coming from the same family of viruses as Ebola, the Marburg virus is highly infectious and has a fatality rate of up to 88% and spreads from person to person through direct contact with bodily fluids, WHO said. Symptoms consist of high fever and severe headache, with many patients developing hemorrhagic symptoms within seven days. WHO said officials have been deployed in Equatorial Guinea to trace contacts, isolate and provide medical care to people showing symptoms of the disease.
The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of childrens books from schools on the grounds that they violate local cultural values of the Eastern African country, Nation Africa reports.

Education Minister Adolf Mkenda on Monday took aim at The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and said the government was monitoring libraries in both public and private schools to make sure they were not on their shelves, the media reports.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are written by US author Jeff Kinney. Mkenda also ordered a ban on other books including Sex Education: A Guide to Life.

We are banning these books from schools and other education institutions because they contradict Tanzanian cultural norms and morals, Mkenda told reporters in the political capital Dodoma.

The books also violate the good practices of bringing up our children, he said, calling on parents to inspect their childrens bags to make sure they did not have the books.

He added that the banned books were on a first list of unacceptable books and urged the public to report other similar books as part of an ongoing investigation.

Last week, President Samia Suluhu Hassan met university student leaders and asked them to be careful with some imported cultures, Kenyan media reports.

If you are a Tanzanian, live in accordance with our cultures, Hassan said. Her comments reportedly followed remarks by a senior member of the ruling CCM party, Frank Haule, who claimed that same sex activity was rampant in universities.

That practice is contrary to our cultures and is prohibited by religious books, Haule said.
Cocoa exporters in Ivory Coast are on the verge of defaulting on their contracts due to a lack of beans and urgently need up to 150,000 tonnes to honor their commitments, according to industry sources.

As the worlds top producer heads towards the end of its October-to-March main harvest, cocoa bean supply is tight, with exporters estimating that arrivals at its main ports stood at 34,000 tonnes for the 2nd week in February, versus 66,000 tonnes during the same period last season. Last Friday (10 February), the Cocoa and Coffee Council (CCC), Ivory Coasts cocoa regulator, met with representatives of GEPEX, which represents multinational exporters, domestic traders lobby GNI and UCOOPEXCI, which represents exporting co-operatives, to discuss the shortfall.

The sources who attended the meeting said they had asked the CCC to react quickly so domestic exporters could avoid looming defaults. At the meeting, the watchdog proposed pushing back the loading period for the contracts of struggling exporters to June so that they can buy beans between April and June during the mid-crop harvest, the sources said. Another solution proposed by the CCC included authorizing local cocoa grinders to hold only 15 days worth of beans grinding capacity instead of 45 days. But cocoa grinding companies said the solution was impracticable because the stocks are already scheduled to be processed within a few months in response to strong market demand for semi-finished cocoa products.
Photo taken with a mobile phone shows people walking along the Yongding River at sunset in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, May 30, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

Wanjiazhai, a major reservoir in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, will continue to replenish water this year to the Yongding River, a primary river flowing through Beijing, according to the Wanjiazhai Water Holding Group Co., Ltd. on Tuesday.

A total of 165 million cubic meters of water will be diverted from Wanjiazhai to Yongding River twice, in spring and autumn, to help restore the ecological environment in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

Thereinto, around 100 million cubic meters of water will be diverted during spring at an average speed of 10 cubic meters per second.

The river basin of Yongding is one of the most important water conservation areas and an ecological barrier and corridor in Beijing and surrounding areas. The amount of replenished water surpassed 1.1 billion cubic meters from 2017 to 2022.

Yongding River flows through north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, and the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, covering 759 km. The river section in Beijing is 170 km long, with a basin area of 3,200 square km.
African countries should accelerate inclusive recovery efforts to boost economic growth to eliminate the impact of the shocks caused by Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and climate change, all of which have pushed more people into extreme poverty and have increased inequality worldwide, according to Antonio Pedro, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Following the multiple financial, health, and climate crises affecting the continent, Africa is falling even further behind, with the continent now accounting for the highest proportion of the worlds poor of any region globally, Mr. Pedro warned during the 55th Session of the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM 2023). Recovery efforts must be pro-poor and inclusive, with a view to fostering a new social contract that offers equal opportunity for all, he said, adding that, It is important that our growth does not leave anyone behind and if we do so then the social contract that is key to have stability and prosperity will be completely disrupted.

Pedro indicated that pro-poor and inclusive recovery must be deliberately incorporated in the design and implementation of policies, including by securing the input of all stakeholders such as Small and Medium Enterprises in such processes. But he also warned that the growing number of newly poor and vulnerable people makes it harder to close the gap between the rich and the poor. The conference brings together ministers of finance, planning and economic development from African member states, governors of central banks, entities of the United Nations system and pan-African financial institutions. This year, the Committee of Experts and the Ministerial Segment will convene under the theme Fostering recovery and transformation in Africa to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities.
President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, starts this Wednesday a three-day working visit to Morocco for talks with government officials and leaders of the private sector and civil society.

Commenting her Moroccan trip, Ms.Renaud-Basso said the bank is committed to supporting Moroccos economic growth, regional integration and green economy potential and fostering equality of opportunity, particularly with regard to addressing youth unemployment and gender issues.

In 2022, the EBRD stepped up its financial support in the country, investing 528 million, with record levels in the private sector and in support of Moroccos green transition.

We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership under a new country strategy to be finalized later this year, which will complement Moroccos New Development Model, added the Banks Chief.

Morocco is a founding member of the EBRD and became an investee economy in 2012. To date, the Bank has invested more than 4 billion in Morocco through 94 projects and has three offices there, in Casablanca, Tangier and Agadir.
More than a dozen peopleactivists, judges, and journalists, among othershave been arrested over the past week. The UN has called on the Tunisian government to desist from cracking down on political opposition in the country and respect human rights and the rule of law.

In this connection, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has expressed deep concern over the escalating crackdown against political opponents and civil society activists in Tunisia, denouncing the measures taken by the authorities that continue to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

In a press release issued Tuesday in Geneva, the UN official said at least nine people, including former civil servants, judges, veteran politicians and a major broadcaster, have been arrested lately on security and corruption charges.

The UN Human Rights Office has rebuked Tunisian authorities for launching criminal proceedings against opponents, charging them with conspiracy against State security.

We are additionally concerned that some of those held on charges connected to criticizing the Government have been tried in military courts, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urging the authorities to cease immediately trying civilians before military tribunals.

We call on the Tunisian authorities to respect due process and ensure fair trial standards in all judicial proceedings and to release immediately all those arbitrarily detained, including anyone detained in relation to the exercise of their rights to freedom of opinion or expression, he said.

Using long-term instability and the popular perception of corruption as a pretext, Tunisian President Saied suspended and later dissolved the parliament and dismissed the government in July 2021. Since then, he has taken a series of other measures, including a new constitution and new electoral laws with far greater centralization of power. His moves have also undermined the independence of the judiciary, including dissolving the High Judicial Council and the summary dismissal of 57 judges.

We call on the Tunisian authorities to ensure that legal procedures are in line with international norms and to uphold the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, said the UN official.

The opposition has called Saieds so-called political process a presidential coup and organized numerous protests demanding his resignation. Due to their boycott calls, the referendum in July last year for a new constitution and the national elections held earlier this year saw a historically low voter turnout.
The Foreign Ministers of the US, the UK, France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning Israels decision to legalize nine outposts and advance plans for some 10,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank.

The Foreign Ministers said their countries are deeply troubled by the Israeli governments announcement that it is advancing nearly 10,000 settlement units and intends to begin a process to normalize nine outposts that were previously deemed illegal under Israeli law.

We strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution, they underlined in the joint statement.

They renewed support to a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East, which must be achieved, they said, through direct negotiations between the parties. Israelis and Palestinians both deserve to live in peace, with equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity. We reaffirm our commitment to helping Israelis and Palestinians fulfill the vision of an Israel fully integrated into the Middle East living alongside a sovereign, viable Palestinian state, they pointed out, adding that they continue to closely monitor developments on the ground which impact the viability of the two-state solution and stability in the region at large.

Later Tuesday, Canada issued its own statement condemning the move, saying it strongly opposes the expansion of settlements and that it believes such unilateral actions jeopardize efforts to achieve comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

The plans to further entrench Israels presence in the West Bank have also been lambasted by the European Unions foreign policy chief, the United Nations secretary-general, Norway, Turkey, and several Arab states which called the Israeli plan a blatantly illegal act.

The steps to further entrench Israels presence in the West Bank were unanimously approved on Sunday by the Israeli cabinet, which framed the measures as a response to a series of terror attacks in Jerusalem.
Barbecue Pot Pie with Cheese Grits Crust

Yields: 8 to 10 servings

Barbecue Pot Pie Filling Ingredients

1 large sweet onion, diced

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1  cups thick barbecue sauce

1  cups beef broth

1 lb shredded barbecued pork

Cheese Grits Crust Batter Ingredients

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 cup quick-cooking grits

2 cups (8 oz) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

 tsp salt

 tsp seasoned pepper

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

| Preparation | Start with bringing the Cheese Grits Crust Batter ingredients together. Bring water and milk to a boil in a large saucepan. Add grits and cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in Cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Stir about  of grits mixture gradually into beaten eggs. Add to remaining grits mixture, stirring constantly.

Now let's work on the Barbecue Pot Pie filling. Saute onion in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in barbecue sauce and beef broth. Cook while stirring constantly for 3 minutes, or until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in pork and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat, and spoon mixture into a lightly greased 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Spoon Cheese Grits Crust Batter evenly over hot barbecue mixture.

Bake at 425F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and set.
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A 38-year-old Washington County man died Friday after apparently shooting himself as sheriff's deputies conducted a welfare check.

According to a press release from the Nebraska State Patrol, Washington County sheriff's 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.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
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
This photo taken on Feb. 9, 2023 shows customs officials checking on ivory items seized from an imported package in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. [Photo/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.
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.

___
Here's how to follow the Unicameral from afar

Heres how to watch the Legislatures activities and follow bills by using the Unicamerals website at nebraskalegislature.org:

Click on the Nebraska Public Media logo and look under Streaming Now or Coming Soon for the schedule of livestreamed floor debates and public hearings by committees.

Floor debate also is telecast live by Nebraska Public Media on NE-W, formerly known as NET2 (Allo Communications Channel 11 or Spectrum Channel 190 in North Platte).

If you know the number of a legislative bill or constitutional amendment, type it under Search Current Bills to call up the measures text and related votes and documents. (For the language of current state laws, type their number or keywords under Search Laws.)

Computer users can leave comments of up to 500 words on individual bills by clicking the appropriate spot on the main page for that bill.

If the bill hasnt yet had its public hearing, users may ask their comments to be included in the bills official hearing record. Such requests must be made by noon CT (11 a.m. MT) on the last work day before the hearing.

Nebraskans with disabilities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act can do likewise but also can attach PDF files or supporting documents.

Click on Hearing schedules on the main Unicameral webpage, choose the appropriate week and click either Submit Comment Online or ADA Accommodation Testimony, depending on whether you qualify for the latter.

The Unicameral website offers many other documents for understanding and following the Legislature, including its online Unicameral Update newsletter.

 Todd von Kampen
On Sunday morning, a car crashed into the front of a fire station in Marvin on Highway 51, injuring one person and causing massive damage to both the building and the vehicle. The fire station is administered by the Beauregard Volunteer Fire Department.

Beauregard FD was dispatched to find a driver had collided into their station. A single vehicle was reported to have struck the front of the building.

According to Lee County Sherriff Jay Jones, officials found a female driver trapped in the vehicle upon collision with the building. A door had to be cut off the vehicle so the driver could be rescued. The driver was then transported by ambulance to a local hospital for injuries.

We were alerted to the fact and responded and of course found that the station had been damaged, Jones told Opelika-Auburn News. It hit one of the bay doors of the fire station also causing significant damage, structural, to the building itself. The station is down or out of service until they can fix it.

The accident is currently under investigation by ALEA. No other information is available at this time.
god he's such a loser. also, the "for you" page is annoying and unnecessary and i can't see tweets from half of the people i follow, anymore. everything he touches goes to shit.

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Yeah and did he get rid of the option to make the tweets chronological? I cant find it anymore. The whole platform is a convoluted mess

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my tweets are still chronological, thankfully

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Are you on the following tab or the for you tab?

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It was definitely weird to see his tweets suddenly showing up on my timeline when I wasn't even following him

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His tweets have been suggested to me for the past couple of months.



I don't care that loser has to say

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lllllllllmfao he is so desperate for attention, how sad.



this is like sadder than the people who buy fake followers on twitter/insta.

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how can someone with so much money give off such intense loser energy

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don't most of them tho?

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Not this obviously though, or at least through something that's immediately relevant and obvious to the masses.

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i feel like Bill Gates is pretttty chill for being so rich?? he just wears sweater vests and putters around.

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mte, his next investment should be a therapist

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Elon flips shit on an employee who politely told him that the views feature isnt broken, he just doesnt have enough clout.



I came to this story because a source at Twitter messaged me and said he really did fire an engineer for telling the truth https://t.co/hBOa7eu4h8  Kylie Robison is OOO  (@kyliebytes) February 9, 2023 In case anyone missed it last week, he fired an engineer after the engineer gave him the come to Jesus moment.

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He is such a crybaby omg

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yet these are the people crying about snowflakes.

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JFC of course he would. What a pathetic waste of air.

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I was going to make a post about this but didn't get around to it. He's such a loser.

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I avoid the "For you" tab like the plague so I haven't seen any of it 

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Still not showing up in my feed cause I have him BLOCKED. 



It's so funny that he ended up revealing that the reason his tweets weren't performing well is because he was mass blocked and the algorithm was adjusted so that if someone is mass blocked they think other people don't want to read that person's tweets either.



I think everyone has moved on from talking about him. He's just not interesting.

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I had him blocked as well and his bullshit was still bleeding onto my feed. That's when I decided to give up Twitter entirely because wtf?

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Mte I don't understand people complaining about this. You don't have him blocked?



It clearly hurts his feelinga which I love. Despite enjoying people clowning him I think everyone should just block and ignore him

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Yeah, I blocked him as soon as he started showing up in my timeline. I have no interest in him.

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that bitch has been blocked since before he became twitter ceo lmao

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I have him muted although I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before his feelings get hurt again and he programs twitter to get around that too. He's so desperate for attention its sad.

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i never check the for you tab so i had no clue, and i think it was best that way

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Imagine having the world at your fingertips and being this insecure. He'll always be striving to be something he just inherently isn't and never will be.

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Suggested read for this month: The Emperor's New Clothes

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Its bad enough we have the TL split into a for you and following tab.



Now this?

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what a pathetic loser

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Forces employees to change the algo to make everyone pay attention to him and they still don't like him. Mucus overpays for hellsite to be popular and finds out no one likes him.Forces employees to change the algo to make everyone pay attention to him and they still don't like him.

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i'm so glad i came into this post just for this picture, the bottom left is perfection, i'm crying lmao

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The train derailment and and truck cash are 100x scarier than a damn balloon.

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The Dems blocking the railworkers' union strike, workers warning of corporations shortchanging maintenance and crew staffing, then the derailment. It's all been a humongous debacle, imo. Like, I get that train shipping is critical for our country's functioning, but if you aren't listening to what those workers are saying, you get worse outcomes like this.... It's all so very myopic and frankly embarrassing. The Dems are setting themselves up for failure in coming elections by betraying their alleged values in favor of short-term "wins."

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This is just the cost of capitalism - we cant possibly nationalize the literal veins through which our nations lifeblood runs, thats socialism. Better to just let rail lines do whatever they want because they know the federal government will pick up the tab for repairs and clean up - if any clean up is ever done.

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It's honestly disgusting how little concern there is for anything besides profit. The wellbeing of common people and the planet itself comes second.

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Thanks Dianne for the good times... but yeah, the U.S. so desperately needs to get more young people in office. It is insane to me that Dianne is 89 years old. In her lifetime she's seen Roe v. Wade and its overturning.



There is such a disconnect, broadly, and it is a shame because it'll be our ruin tbh.

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Mayor Pete's future election hopes are in free fall

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Hopefully this will keep him out of Michigan's senate race. He moved here recently, and we are going to have an open seat in 2024, so there was some speculation he might run for it.

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mayo pete never had a chance please.

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I'm surprised every day by people thinking Pete is a good dude lol

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and if he tries anything, bring up the receipts. go as far back as you can.

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Asked by reporters about her announcement to resign, @SenFeinstein says If I haven't made that decision, I haven't released anything. A staffer then told the senator that a statement had been released. Feinstein responded saying I didnt know they put it out.  Christian Hall (@christianjhall) February 14, 2023



she is so oblivious to whats going on its really sad to watch



(and yes resign was a typo) she is so oblivious to whats going on its really sad to watch(and yes resign was a typo)

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This is so sad.

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This just strikes me as a typical politician answer trying to play coy but also having no idea that their staff has already released the statement.

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schumer had to meet with her twice to ask her to step down from being ranking member of the judiciary committee because she forgot about the conversation the first time they had it *two years ago*, this isn't just her playing coy

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it would if it was anyone else. shes been like this for a while now and its getting worse. i would not be shocked if she completely forgets shes retiring in a month and has to be reminded by a reporter.

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they wouldn't have released it without her ok, it looks like she forgot which is sad

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This kind of just makes me mad. Shes been this bad for at least six years, it shouldnt have gotten to this point.

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I feel bad for her, because having dementia/Alzheimer's is truly a living hell but it's absolutely unacceptable she was allowed to remain a senator when she can't remember what happened 5 seconds ago.

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If there arent gonna put age limits into place where people are too old to hold offices in our government then at the very least there should be some kind of mental capacity assessment. Its been clear for years shes been on the decline and its sad to see how shes just been propped up with her staff presumably running the show.

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when i read these headlines i start singing the lyrics to bitch by meredith brooks

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Toronto politics have been a fucking headache. Is Tory resigning? Yes! No! Maybe! We'll never truly know!

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Its just so frustrating that hes sticking around at least long enough to push through a budget that will do so much harm.



I dont trust Ford to do it but there really needs to be a way to hold municipal officials accountable in Ontario and remove them from office under certain circumstances. Ottawas predatory councillor stuck around for years after he was exposed.

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For real why does he still get to fuck everyone over with that budget when he JUST told us hes resigning its such bullshit.

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charlie is such a mood lol.

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the whole tory thing is like...of course he's flip flopping about doing the right thing, a thimble has more integrity than him

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The train derailment in Ohio is so scary and devastating. I had not heard about the I-10. Horrifying.



Feinstein needed to retire years ago. She has been so clearly out of it for so long and its gross that no one did anything.

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There's too much happening to respond adequately.



Nicola Sturgeon is bouncing, and like, yeah the SNP needs an overhaul. There are too many anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-abortion idiots holding seats simply because they are pro-Indie, but two of the names being bandied around to replace her are horrible little bigots, so it's not a great time to be Scottish.





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Ive been watching videos about the whole Ohio Train Derailment and this shit is so scary. Apparently fish are dying? And a men with foxes, they are getting sick? And more people around the area are loosing their smaller animals. This is really scary and the long term effects oh shit!!!



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The Ohio train derailment is bad and is something that is not gonna be resolved very soon. Entering the river plus those giant black plumes are gonna come back via rainwater.



Authorities telling townspeople its okay to come back to your homes as people report dead fish and chickens en masse. The govt is not handling the cleanup response well and years from now well still hear about how this is causing cancer and other medical issues. They will be forgotten and ignored by the govt. it is fucked up

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This is what I dont understand about the response to the derailment. A few years ago a plane didnt stop where it was supposed to and ended up skidding into our river. Once it was deemed that everyone was safe and sound (except for a few pets ), the coverage turned to the fuel within the plane. Would it affect the manatees? Would it get into our water system? Etc. It was very big news here.



And while its a big issue in itself.. I feel like the fuel they had in the plane can barely compare to the toxic chemicals being spread in this town. So why the fuck isnt anyone doing the best/fastest they can to help these people? Why is our government such absolute trash when it comes to emergency stations? How the fuck can anyone in this place call this country the greatest with its constant failures at protecting its citizens?



Sorry for the novel, Im just so angry.





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and when dewine/the EPA were saying the air/water was safe in east palestine, the tests they were referring to were from *2/4/23*, i.e. THE DAY THE DERAILMENT HAPPENED. like, the controlled burn hadn't even happened yet! and as of the 11th they were still using those old ass test results in the news even though it was obvious from all of the dead wildlife/pets that things had become way worse than anyone realized.

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there is no way the lack of gov response isn't directly tied to the government going hard against the rail strike. There is NO WAY-- which makes me even angrier. Oh, so we're going to allow a disaster to worsen because the EGO of the Biden admin doesn't want to admit they fucked up with their stance? The inability for adults to say, "hey we were focused on the short-term gains of keeping the economy running over the holiday season, and that was wrong and now we're going to work tirelessly to make sure this doesn't happen again." I CAN'T!





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you should be angry. this is truly a huge emergency and i know its that corporations fault but the govt needs to step in when its clear the corporations do not care about human life or the environment. govt still culpable for not being stronger about safety regulations and shoulda supported the rail strike related to all this.



like maybe the company will end up paying out via class action lawsuit... but we know how that goes, that will be in a decade or two. and whats the worth of a future payout when you may be forced to live a life of medical issues or possibly even die from being poisoned by this. its incredibly unfair to the townspeople and surrounding areas this may affect.

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Katie Porter and Adam Schiff have officially entered the Senate race. Barbara Lee is expected to join soon. And Ro Khanna is rumored to throw his hat in the ring too.

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I wonder if they knew before hand she was retiring or if they threw their hats in to push her to retire lol, I'm sure it's the former but I would like the Democratic Party to grow some balls so I'm choosing to believe they decided to primary her lol

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/charlottesville-tiki-torcher-teddy-joseph-von-nukem-killed-himself-before-trial One of those Nazis who got away with beating that guy in the Tiki Torch Nazi rally killed himself yesterday. Apparently he was going up the creek for smuggling Fentanyl from Mexico to the U.S.; yes, this racist moved to MEXICO with his family. Oh, well....not a thing of value was lost.

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A bye Felicia moment indeed

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5 kids under there age of 9. I both feel sad for them for losing their father (even though he was a pos) and fear what racism/violence theyll potentially release as they grow older. :(

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keep em coming.

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Finally, some good fucking news!

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tbh when I read that, I said to myself, "GOOD"

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I love when the people howling about "fentanol" coming over the border are the people smuggling fentanyl across the border.

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The train derailment in Ohio is scary enough, people really dont need to be spreading conspiracy theories started by anti vaxxers about it. Its really been so frustrating to see.

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This!

I also I see people seemingly getting off on wanting this to be a total Chernobyl-like situation. Just spreading misinformation all over the place and people eating it up.

Its a terrible and dangerous situation, but these people are not helping.

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I kind of mentally clocked out of reading about it online for that exact reason, and also because someone claimed their dog grew an extra ear. People are just making up shit willy nilly to see what sticks.

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ppl are like "WHY ISN'T ANYBODY REPORTING THIS!?" meanwhile its being reported on???

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I mean, not in any way as the balloons are and I watch local and network news. It really isn't talked about as much as many of us believe that it should be. This is absolutely dangerous and the East Palestine community will be feeling these repercussions decades from now. Environmentally, financially, and physically.

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eh. it wasn't being reported on by major outlets as more than a sidebar three sentence article until it blew up on social media again and their hands were forced. it's also a major environmental catastrophe but you wouldn't get that from your news sources right now in the way it's being reported. they'd rather talk about the missed call at the super bowl or the 18th news conference about balloons or whatever tf else they can pull up before they even bother to do a 30 second segment on this. it's not great reporting.

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IDK about y'all but if I think about the state of the world for too long ... it just feels like a lot is broken and very few conduits to making it better exist.



Burying my head in the sand is not helping... but like, I don't own an oil rig to turn off (climate change), people are fundamentally living in a different reality than I am (Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated and FOX sanctioned), and it costs too much to overcome special interests in the U.S. to attempt to run progressive candidates (thanks Citizen United).

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Yea it just makes me so sad.



I rewatched Harold and Maud recently and Ruth Gordon's character talks about fighting for the big issues when she was younger and how she's still fighting but just in her own small, individual way and I think that's maybe the best way to combat those feelings, get involved locally, helping in small ways that are actually effective and that you can see, just getting a bit of that hope back, that everything isn't completely doomed.

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Thank you for this! Starting local is crucial - I'll make sure to look for local orgs in my area.



Every little bit counts.

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IA, it makes me feel helpless. i like xtinkerbellax's take though.

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Do you ever watch Beau of the fifth column? He talks a lot about how to use your skills and influence in realistic and impactful ways.

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Arizona State OSHA Plan to Remain, OSHA Says

OSHA announced that it will be withdrawing the proposal it placed last year.

After hosting the Superbowl, Arizona has one more thing to celebrate this week: its state OSHA plan will remain in place.

Almost a year after OSHA announced that it was proposing to reconsider or revoke that states plan, the agency announced yesterday that this proposal is being withdrawn, according to a news release.

Arizonas state plan, originally approved in June 1985, came under scrutiny due to what OSHA called nearly a decade-long pattern of failures, including not adopting penalty levels and various standards, like the COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard.

OSHA sought comments on the proposal and extended the original deadline by over a month. At the end of the comment period, The Industrial Commission of Arizona and its sub-agency, the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commented about changes that were made, which include adopting standards, addressing penalty levels and authorizing adoption of an emergency temporary standard when either OSHA or the Industrial Commission of Arizona determines that grave danger criteria are met, per OSHA.

OSHA mentioned that Arizona has been performing fewer inspections, though this will not affect the agencys decision as these were not part of OSHAs April 2022 Federal Register notice.
China will launch two crews to man its Tiangong space station this year, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The agency published schedules for the Shenzhou XVI and XVII mission crews on Wednesday, saying the Shenzhou XVI team will set out for the Tiangong station in May while their peers in the Shenzhou XVII mission will fly to the massive orbiting outpost in October.

Both crews will consist of three astronauts and will be lifted by a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. Each crew will stay at the station for six months to carry out spacewalks and scientific and technological tasks, and they will also offer lectures, according to the agency.

In addition, the Tianzhou 6 robotic cargo spaceship will be sent to Tiangong in May to deliver necessities, spacewalk suits, experimental payloads, spare parts and fuel.

Tiangong now consists of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian and Mengtian science labs, the Shenzhou XV crew spacecraft and the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship.

So far, four groups of Chinese astronauts have lived and worked inside the station. The current crew  the three members of the Shenzhou XV mission  arrived in November. They carried out their first spacewalk last week to mount equipment outside the station.
As well as economic corridors to its coast, a new railway merger could create the first direct route from Albertas oil sands to Texas, providing yet another outlet.

Now, Alberta plans to establish economic corridors to the coast of Canada and Alaska to help export its landlocked crude oil and natural gas.

Albertas oil sands have come under pressure in recent years as environmental groups push for the industry to decarbonize and both Biden and Trudeau blocked new pipelines.

Despite efforts from Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to move away from oil sands  long hailed as the world's most destructive oil operation  Alberta, the countrys largest oil-producing region, is pushing to open new energy corridors with the U.S. to export its fossil fuels. As the global demand for oil and gas continues, and countries look closer to home to secure their energy needs, Alberta believes it can promote its oil sands as a means of providing the energy needed until enough green alternatives are being produced to meet the rising global energy demand.

The government of Alberta is, as always, backing the states oil industry in a big way with plans to establish economic corridors to the coast of Canada and Alaska. This is expected to allow the state to circumvent regulatory restrictions to transporting oil through new pipelines, helping Alberta to export its crude.

According to Pete Guthrie, Albertas energy minister, the energy corridors have already received pre-approved for rail, utilities, and crude oil and gas pipelines. Guthries efforts are being supported by Alberta's Department of Transportation, which has already entered into discussions with British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and First Nations communities and stakeholders. According to Guthrie, An internal committee has been formed and we are developing a strategy No timeline has been set as yet for the building of the corridors, with the focus now being on creating a strategic plan.

New corridors from landlocked Alberta could help the state gain higher revenue from its oil sands, encouraging producers to boost output for export. Once oil products reach the port of Kitimat, British Columbia, or Churchill, Manitoba they could be bound for Asia and Europe, vastly expanding Canadas energy links.

The new corridor strategy was established after several new oil and gas pipeline plans were blocked by American President Biden as well as Trudeau. Alberta has been finding it increasingly difficult to continue its production of oil sands due to environmental pressure to decarbonize operations. In addition, with several potential energy links with the U.S. and other parts of Canada halted in recent years, the industry has taken hit after hit.

But progress is being made with Albertas corridor plans, as links between the Canadian province and Texas may soon get the green light. Two major North American railways, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have proposed a $27 billion merger, which would help freight move across North America using the first unified continental rail network. The companies have signed a 10-year deal with ConocoPhillips Canada and USD Group to transport the oil across the U.S. Although the firms are still awaiting U.S. regulatory approval.

This route would provide the first direct link between oil-producing Alberta and the oil refineries in Port Arthur, on the Texas coast. The vice president of Texas-based midstream company USD Group stated, We fully expect that the combination of the two railroads will only strengthen their support for this new source of bitumen. This is not the first new oil rail link to be proposed, with Utah looking to transport oil sands from its Uinta basin.

But Texas residents and environmentalists across the country have unsurprisingly demonstrated their opposition to the merger. Residents worry about the additional freight traffic in the region causing major disruptions, as well as stating health concerns; while environmentalists are nervous about what impact a potential spill could have on the environment.

On 3rd February this year, a train carrying chemicals crashed and exploded in East Palestine, Ohio. This led to the evacuation of over 2,000 people and is threatening the local water supply. And according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were over 1,000 derailments across the U.S. in 2021, highlighting the severity of the threat. This has led both residents and environmentalists across the country to be cautious of any new freight links, particularly those carrying chemical products.

In addition to concerns about transporting oil sands via rail, environmentalists and politicians are also worried about encouraging greater oil sands production, which could be detrimental to achieving carbon-cutting goals in both the U.S. and Canada. In 2019, Alberta held the worlds third-largest oil reserves with 170 billion barrels. It had around 120 active oil sands projects, pumping 2.6 million bpd. Most of this oil was shipped as diluted bitumen, using light crude and chemicals, to the U.S. to be refined.

Operations to extract Albertas oil sands are causing immense damage to the landscape, as well as emitting extremely high levels of carbon emissions. Indigenous communities in Canada say that oil sands projects have had a huge impact on caribou, bison, moose, birds, fish, the water, the forest. Meanwhile, others argue about the anticipated cost of cleaning up after these developments, with the price of fixing mines and tailing ponds projected to cost around $195 billion.

New energy corridors could help the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta to further develop its oil sands industry, exporting its products across North America and beyond. But political and public opposition continues to pose a threat to any development. Having seen the cancellation of several pipeline projects in recent years, Albertas hopes of developing large-scale energy links with Canadas coastal cities and the U.S. may never play out. But if they do, we could see a massive expansion in Canadas oil sands sector.

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By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Whilst the U.S. and its allies appear to be taking a subtle approach to advancing their remaining interests in Iraq, as hinted at by the Qatars talks to buy a 30 percent stake in TotalEnergies US$27 billion project package, China seems to be taking a more direct route to what it wants. Last week saw six oil concessions awarded by Baghdad to three companies from China and the UAE, as part of the fifth licensing round, according to Iraqs latest Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul Ghani. In addition, according to a senior source who works closely with Irans Petroleum Ministry spoken to exclusively by OilPrice.com in the past few days, PetroChina is set to take over as the sole lead operator of Iraqs supergiant West Qurna 1 oil field as the U.S.s ExxonMobil is finally close to being able to sell its 32.7 percent stake in the site.

Looking at the second part of this turn of events in Chinas favour first, West Qurna 1, located around 65 kilometres from southern Iraqs principal oil and export hub of Basra, holds a considerable portion of the estimated 43 billion barrels of recoverable reserves held in the entire supergiant West Qurna oil reservoir that comprises the West Qurna 1 and West Qurna 2 oil fields. Originally West Qurna 1 was thought to have around 9 billion barrels of these reserves, but early in 2019 Iraqs Oil Ministry said the field had recoverable reserves of more than 20 billion barrels. The Ministry added that the plans were to boost the fields crude oil production capacity to more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2025, from the then-(and now) 450,000-500,000 bpd level. As with all of Iraqs major oil fields, West Qurna 1 crude oil has an average lifting cost of around US$1-2 per barrel (operating cost excluding capital expenditure), the lowest development cost in the world, along with Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Although PetroChina - the listed arm of the China National Petroleum Corporation  bought a 32.7 percent stake in the field at around the same time as ExxonMobil took its identically-sized stake in the field, China has long been the dominant partner in West Qurna 1. This was achieved by dint of several under-the-radar deals that on paper were for contract-only work related to various anodyne-sounding projects but together established total control for China over the field, at ExxonMobils expense. This gradual marginalisation of its role in the oil field and in the U.S. companys plans for the build-out of the crucial Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), together with the considerable potential for damage to its reputation arising from elements in the West Qurna 1 and CSSP development contracts, were key to ExxonMobils desire to leave both projects  and Iraq - as quickly as possible.

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Notable among these under-the-radar contracts, and typical of Chinas careful operational methods to accrete power across Iraq and Iran, as analysed in depth in my last book on the global oil markets, was the supposedly contract-only award made to the China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp (CPECC) for West Qurna 1 in the middle of 2021. The US$121 million engineering contract was initially to upgrade the facilities used to extract gas during crude oil production, but the project broadened and deepened in scope and scale to dovetail with the activities of PetroChina in West Qurna 1. Exactly the same contract-only model was used in Iraqs neighbouring supergiant Majnoon oil field after Britains Shell decided to exit that site in 2017, with CPECC being awarded a US$203.5 million contract-only project for engineering to treat sour gas at the Majnoon site. Before this award to CPECC on Majnoon, though, two other game-changing contracts had been signed for the supergiant field. One was with Chinas Hilong Oil Service & Engineering Company to drill 80 wells at a cost of US$54 million, and the other was with the Iraq Drilling Company - with Chinese assistance - to drill 43 wells at a cost of US$255 million. Soon after these awards, Chinas Anton Oil entered the picture, on a project management and development services contract. The plan for Majnoon, with an estimated 38 billion barrels of oil in place, is to increase oil production from the current circa-240,000 bpd Majnoon oilfield to 600,000 bpd by 2026.

It is apposite to note at this point that Majnoon is a field shared with Iran, in which it is known as Azadegan, which, in turn, is split into two supergiant fields  North Azadegan and South Azadegan. CNPC is still the lead foreign operator in North Azadegan, which went operational in November 2016 with production capacity of 75,000 bpd, and the Chinese company also held the lead developer position in South Azadegan from 2009 to 2014 when it was expelled from the field for delays in progress. Since then, though, Chinese companies have again been working on contract-only projects alongside the nominal Iranian lead developer, Petroleum Engineering and Development Co.

It is also apposite to note that at the time when ExxonMobil first stated several years ago that it wanted to leave its Iraq projects, including the vital CSSP, China  through CNPC  assured Iraqs Oil Ministry that it had the required technology, expertise, and engineering capabilities required at that time to complete the project to the required specifications. Given the scale of the CSSP  which involves taking seawater from the Persian Gulf and transporting it to oil production facilities to boost the pressure and recovery rates at key oil reservoirs  and the lack of discernible progress by CNPC on the project, it has become apparent, even perhaps to Iraqs Oil Ministry, that CNPC has none of these capabilities. What the Chinese wanted was to push ExxonMobil out of Iraq, so it could have first refusal on all other major oil and gas fields in the country, and these could then be linked in to what it was doing in Iran, and with ExxonMobils withdrawal that is what its achieved, the Iran source told OilPrice.com.

The reason why China wanted to have the West Qurna 1 field to itself, according to the Iran source and to a senior source who worked closely with Iraqs Oil Ministry at that time, both exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com, is that the understanding that China originally reached with the then-Iraq government was absolutely in line with the deal it had agreed for Majnoon at the outset. The original Majnoon deal, and by extension the deal for West Qurna 1, involved a 25-year contract but  critically  one that would only officially start two years after the signing date, so allowing China to recoup more profits on average per year and less upfront investment. The per barrel payments to China would be the higher of either the mean average of the 18 month spot price for crude oil produced, or the past six months mean average price. It would also involve at least a 10 percent discount to China for at least five years on the value of the oil it recovered and, in addition, whichever Chinse developer that took the lead would receive a 30 percent discount to the lowest mean one-year average market price at the key gas pricing hubs for the gas it captured.

Interestingly, at around the same time as last weeks awarding of oil exploration and development concessions, Iraqs President, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, played host to Russias Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. According to the official statement on the visit, Rashid highlighted the importance of enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries, pointing to the need for coordination and consultation on issues of common interest including security and peace in the region and across the world. Lavrov, in the meantime, added that Russian oil companies have made investments of over US$13 billion in Iraq, and that they have far-reaching plans with their Iraqi partners. The six exploration and development concessions were awarded to the UAEs Crescent Petroleum (which won three  Gilabat-Qumar, and Khashim Ahmer-Injana, in Diyala, and Khudher Al-Mai in Basra) and to Chinas erstwhile little-known Geo-Jade Petroleum Company (which won two - Huwaiza, in Missan, and Naft Khana, in Diyala), and its UEG (which won Sindbad in Basra). Chinas Geo-Jade Petroleum Company - which shifted its business in recent years from real estate, lease service and trading, into oil and gas exploration and development - completed the acquisition of 95 percent of the shares of Maten Petroleum for US$526 million in December 2014, and in January 2015 announced the US$$400 million acquisition of Kozhan JSC, giving it exposure to oil fields in Kazakhstan and oil exploration activity in Kazakhstan and Russia.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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Offshore Guyana is garnering considerable attention from international oil companies as a slew of oil discoveries since 2015 underscore the significant oil potential of the former British colonys territorial waters. Since 2015, global energy supermajor ExxonMobil has made a slew of high-quality petroleum discoveries in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana which the company estimates contain over 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources. In a remarkable turn of events, for a country which had no commercial hydrocarbon sector, those discoveries have catapulted Guyana into the league of Latin America and the Caribbeans leading petroleum producing nations. Growing exploration and development activity means Guyana is on-track to be pumping over one million barrels daily in less than five years and become a leading offshore oil producer as well as exporter.

At the core of Guyanas epic oil boom is the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block. It is here that Exxon, which is the operator holding a 45% interest and its partners, Hess with 30% share and CNOOC holding the remaining 25%, has made over 30 high quality discoveries. Toward the end of January 2023, the supermajors partner Hess announced yet another major oil discovery in the Stabroek Block. This occurred at the Fangtooth SE-1 well located eight miles southeast of the January 2022 Fangtooth-1 discovery. Hess stated the well found 200 feet of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The discovery will not only bolster estimated recoverable oil resources, which are already over 11 billion barrels but has the potential to underpin another field development. After that discovery it was announced that Exxon was preparing to spud the Kokwari-1 exploration well to the northwest of the Liza field.

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During February 2021, Exxon announced it had prioritized the rapid development of high return deepwater assets in offshore Guyana where it is currently constructing two petroleum projects in the Stabroek Block. First there is the 220,000 barrel per day Payara development which is forecast to start-up during 2023 and will eventually contain 20 production and 21 injection wells. The second is the Yellowtail project which is targeting the Yellowtail and Redtail oil discoveries with 26 production and 25 injection wells. It is anticipated that Yellowtail will have installed capacity of 250,000 barrels per day with startup anticipated before the end of 2025. Those two projects, on completion, will add 470,000 barrels per day to the 360,000 barrels currently being pumped from the Liza oilfield in the Stabroek Block, lifting the Exxon-led consortiums total production to 830,000 barrels per day by 2025.

Exxon is waiting on government approval for a fifth development the Uaru Project. The supermajor expects to make a final investment decision, known as a FID, for that operation by the end of the first quarter 2023. The Uaru project is targeting an estimated 1.3 billion barrels of crude oil and is expected to commence operations sometime during 2026 if all necessary approvals are received as anticipated. The asset will have nameplate capacity of 275,000 barrels per day making it the largest project in the Stabroek Block to date. On commencing operations Uaru will lift Guyanas oil production to over 1.1 million barrels per day by 2027. According to industry consultancy Rystad Energy, the former British colony will be pumping 1.7 million barrels daily 2035 making it the worlds fourth largest offshore oil producer.

There are signs Guyanas oil output could exceed predicted volumes in less than a decade because Exxon is accelerating development of the Stabroek Block due to its tremendous earning potential. That immense profitability is underscored by Exxon announcing it has recouped the $3.7 billion invested to develop Liza Phase One. This is especially noteworthy because of the relatively short time between first discovery, which occurred during May 2015, the December 2019 field startup and full production capacity being achieved during the second quarter 2022. Exxon has planned an extensive exploration program in the Stabroek Block with a 25 well campaign currently underway which is expected to conclude during early 2023 with a 35 well venture slated to begin during the second quarter. Exxon also plans to drill 12 wells across the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks in offshore Guyana which are adjacent to the Stabroek Block. There is every indication more discoveries will be made further bolstering Guyanas recoverable oil resources.

A headwind that could derail Exxons plans for the Stabroek Block is the immense discord associated with the extremely favorable production sharing agreement secured with Georgetown. The Exxon-led consortium negotiated a sweetheart deal which includes an extremely low royalty of 2%, compared to the industry average of 12.5%, on all petroleum produced and sold. There is also the ability to recover development costs from the first 75% of oil produced each month. It is argued that this is highly disadvantageous for Guyana causing the impoverished country to lose up to $55 billion in revenue. While President Irfaan Ali is committed to preserving the contract opposition groups are pressing for a revised PSA using the new royalty and tax regime developed for the agreements to be issued under the December 2022 bid round. Under those contracts it is proposed that a 10% royalty will be applied and the ceiling for cost recovery oil will be reduced to 65%. There are also plans to levy a 10% corporate tax when such an excise did not previously exist.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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The energy industry in Canada has long lamented the fact that the country is missing out on the global surge in LNG demand, first as a replacement for coal, and now, for Europe, as a replacement for Russian pipeline gas.

That Canada, which has 1,373 trillion cubic feet of gas, is late to the LNG party has been mostly the result of federal government policies and environmentalist opposition. Yet despite the multiple challenges, the countrys first LNG terminal is expected to start operating in about two years. Until then, however, one producer has found another way to get its gas to international markets.

Tourmaline Oil Corp., the largest natural gas producer in Canada, is sending its natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to the Gulf Coast in Texas by way of Chicago, where Cheniere Energy liquefies it and ships it overseas. Its a 3,000-mile journey to the Gulf Coast aloneand there are more miles to travel.

According to Bloomberg, this is a record-setting path. Tourmaline has a 15-year contract with Cheniere Energy for 140 million cu ft of gas daily, which is equal to about one LNG cargo a month, per Bloomberg. And its getting paid ten times what gas sells for on the local market.

Related: Oil Prices Fall On Renewed Inflation Fears

At the AECO hub in Alberta, natural gas trades at around $2 per gigajoule, which is about 1,000 cu ft. Under the deal with Cheniere, Tourmaline is getting $20 per 1,000 cu ft, according to the Bloomberg report. Thats gross, and there are expenses related to the pipeline transportation of the gas across the U.S. and the liquefaction and shipping. However, the bottom line appears to be still substantially above the AECO benchmark.

Yet what Tourmaline is sending to Chenieres terminal in Louisiana is a small part of what it exports to the U.S. in total on a daily basis. That amounts to 754 million cu ft daily but could grow to above 850 million cu ft this year, according to a recent quarterly conference call. This could rise further to 926 million cu ft by the end of 2024.

Recently, there have been warnings that U.S. gas producers are retreating in the production growth department after Europeanand U.S. gas pricesslumped amid the predominantly warm winter that lowered demand for the commodity.

These warnings, combined with signals to the same tune from the industry itself, have suggested the possibility of a gas shortage. While not an immediate danger, it is not unthinkable even as demand remains robust. Yet if Canadian producers can step in and close the supply gap, the risk of a shortage may get well delayed or entirely eliminated.

Natural gas in the United States is trading at much lower prices than last year, but natural gas in Canada is trading at even lower prices. And there appears to be a healthy appetite for Canadian gas south of the border if the Tourmaline deal with Cheniere is any indication. It might not be the only but the first one to close such as deal with an LNG exporter, at least until LNG Canada, which is about 70 percent built, is completed.

Some in the industry would probably laugh and shake their heads sadly at the fact that Canadian gas has to go all the way to the bottom end of the continent to get exported to international markets instead of this happening at home.

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Yet the Tourmaline-Cheniere deal proves one important fact about the energy market. This fact is that even with all the opposition that a government could mount against an industry, its still supply and demand that have the last word. Right now, this word, or rather words, are More Canadian gas, please.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Even if Egypt overcomes the geopolitical difficulties involved, there are several bottlenecks that mean it wont be able to boost output significantly in the short term.

Geopolitically, Egypt has found itself in an increasingly difficult position in recent years as it attempts to maintain relations with both Russia and the West.

As the EU looks to secure non-Russian natural gas for the future, Egypt has the potential to play an increasingly important role as a supplier of LNG.

For years, Egypt has been performing a tough balancing act between the West and Russia, with Cairo casting itself as an actor that both parties can lean on. Egypt was the Soviet Union's principal ally in the Middle East during the Cold War and remains an important partner today.

Last year, Egypt allowed Moscow to use its El Hamra oil terminal on its Mediterranean coast, with the first shipment of 700,000 barrels of oil offloaded on July 24 before another vessel collected a consignment from the port just a few hours later. That was a highly controversial move because it makes the cargos ultimate destination much harder to track, adding to a trend whereby Russian oil shipments have become increasingly obscured since European and Western buyers began to shun them following the nations invasion of Ukraine.

But Egypt also maintains strong energy ties with the West, a relationship that has become more entrenched during the global energy crisis. Back in June, Egypt, the European Union, and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost natural gas exports to Europe, with the framework hailed as the first to allow Israel to export "significant" amounts of gas to Europe. And now the parties are looking to extend the deal that will maintain "relatively high volumes" of LNG deliveries to Europe. Egypts Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla says the country hopes to match last years output when it produced about 7.5 million tonnes of LNG with 80% going to Europe.

"Now we have to solve some of the bottleneck issues. We do expect that, with the help of this MoU (memorandum of understanding), Egypt can keep the relatively high volumes of LNG that it delivered to Europe last year," Kadri Simson, EU commissioner for energy, told Reuters.

However, its going to be a real slog for Europe to squeeze much more LNG from the North African nation any time soon.

Competing Interests

According to Molla, Egypts two liquefaction plants have plenty of spare capacity with the LNG plants currently operating at less than full capacity, "They are there prepared for the time when we make the decision to increase their capacity to double or triple," he has told Reuters.

Unfortunately, rising domestic demand as well as infrastructure constraints limit Egypts ability to quickly ramp up output. Egypt has been juggling with competing interests, trying to supply more gas to its domestic market but also attempting to increase exports in a bid to ease an acute dollar shortage. Further, how much gas Egypt can actually supply to Europe will, to a large extent, depend on how much Israeli gas is delivered by pipeline to liquefaction plants on Egypt's Mediterranean coast before being shipped to Europe. Indeed, officials have conceded that any significant expansion in export capacity will take time with existing plants needing modifications while new production chains might need to be constructed.

Europe certainly needs all the gas it can get from Egypt and elsewhere. According to Kpler data, the EU imported a total of 94.73 mt of LNG in 2022, a good 65% higher compared to the previous year. African deliveries to the bloc climbed by 2.87 mt Y/Y to 19.72 mt, with more than 80% coming from Egypt, Nigeria, and Algeria combined. Egyptian exports more than tripled while those by Nigeria and Algeria contracted. Angola also managed to more than triple its LNG supplies to Europe to 1.81 mt, while Mozambique sent its first cargoes ever to the EU in November.

That said, the United States remains Europes biggest gas supplier. US-only supplies to the bloc climbed by 23.59 mt Y/Y to 38.86 mt in 2022, meaning that the U.S. kept its end of the deal after agreeing with the European Commission in March to boost LNG deliveries to the bloc by at least 11.13 mt.

Interestingly, Russia surpassed Qatar to become the EUs second biggest exporter, boosting gas deliveries to the bloc by 4.13 mt year on year to 15.12 mt. However, its important to note that almost all of that Russian LNG came from plants owned by independent producer Novatek. Qatar came in third after exporting 13.45 mt to the EU, good for a 1.66 mt Y/Y increase.

Supplies from Latin America increased by 1 mt year on year to 2.78 mt, with 90% sourced from Trinidad and Tobago. Asia only managed to supply under 1 mt, including LNG from Oman, the UAE, China, Indonesia, and South Korea. Meanwhile, Australian exports remained modest at 0.1 mt despite tripling Y/Y.

EU-27 Monthly Imports (Mt)

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Source: Kpler

France was the biggest LNG importer last year, overtaking Spain despite having less import capacity. Last year, France imported a staggering 24.9 mt, more than a quarter of all EU imports and nearly double the volumes it imported in 2021. Luckily for France, the country is endowed with more pipeline connections with its neighbors than Spain, making it easier to export regasified LNG. France has become one of Germanys top gas suppliers after the latter cut ties with Russia.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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The news of Irans planned purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 advanced fighter jets is the latest sign of deepening relations between Tehran and Moscow. This development is significant, as in recent years, similar contracts were canceled for the sale of Russian Su-35s to Algeria, Egypt and Indonesia under pressure from the United States and the threat of economic sanctions (The Eurasian Times, November 7, 2022). As a result, these countries bought US F-15 fighter jets or French Rafale fighters instead. Thus far, China is the only country that has succeeded in buying Sukhoi Su-35s from Russia, and Indias negotiations with Moscow have yet to make any notable progress (The Diplomat, April 17, 2019).

But in the new geopolitical environment brought on by Russias war against Ukraine, Iran may indeed become the new destination of the Russian fighter, which underlines a burgeoning military relationship between Moscow and Tehran. For the first time, the commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, officially announced on September 4, 2022, that the purchase of Sukhoi Su-35s is currently being discussed, rather than Sukhoi Su-30s. This issue is on the agenda, and we hope to be able to get these 4++ generation fighters in the future (Tehran Times, September 4, 2022).

While official Russian sources neither confirmed nor denied this announcement, Shahriar Heidari, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, confirmed on January 15 that the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets that Iran has ordered from Russia will arrive in early 1402 [Iranian calendar that begins on March 21, 2023]. The lawmaker noted that Tehran has also ordered other military equipment from Russia, including air defense systems, missile systems and helicopters, most of which will be received soon (Tasnim News Agency, January 15).

Some sources have alleged that Iran is receiving the Su-35s in exchange for its drone exports to Russia (Euromaidan Press, December 15, 2022). However, as of now, it is difficult to find evidence of a formal contract between Moscow and Tehran regarding the purchase. Thus, the key sources here remain Vahedis and Heidaris public confirmations. While Russia has yet to react publicly in rejecting or confirming the existence of such a contract, Moscows confidentiality could be the result of deepening relations between the two countries on defense and security matters. Hamidreza Azizi, an Iranian expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, believes that Russia will deliver 24 Su-35s to Iran but probably not more than that.  The sanctions imposed on Russia mean it cannot produce Sukhoi-35s. Some parts require special technology that cannot be found in Russia (Donya-e-Eqtesad, January 11).

Perhaps, the most immediate reason for Irans purchase of the Sukhoi Su-35s is the strong need of the IRIAF to modernize its fighters. According to recent media reports, Irans air force heavily relies on overhauled US-made planes, including F-5 and F-14 fighters purchased prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution (Amwaj Media, January 17). Furthermore, largely due to hostile relations between Iran and the United States, Tehran has not acquired any new fighter aircraft in recent years, excluding a few Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters. Other than the MiG-29, Iran mainly utilizes locally modified F-4 Phantom II, F-14 Tomcat and F-5E/F Tiger II planes from the 1970s (Presstv.ir, December 28, 2022). As such, Tehrans purchase of Su-35 fighter jets would facilitate the renewal of some of the IRIAFs capacities and possibly lay the foundation for further cooperation in defense production between Russia and Iran. According to Russian-outlet Sputnik, Even though the cost of maintaining and operating this jet appears to be high for Iran, these costs could be reduced if there are agreements on the joint production of the Su-35 engine in the Islamic Republic (Sputnik, January 20).

From another angle, purchasing the Su-35s would represent one of the most important results to come thus far from the lifting of Irans arms embargo. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, in July 2015, endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding Irans nuclear program. However, as the JCPOA broke down, all restrictions on the supplies of major arms to and all arms from Iran expired in October 2020. This means Iran will be legally able to buy and sell conventional weaponry, including small arms, missiles, helicopters and tanks (Al Jazeera, October 17, 2020). Additionally, the embargo on the export of Irans ballistic missiles is set to be lifted in October 2023.

Regarding the wider implications, as mentioned, the Su-35s will strengthen the capabilities of the IRIAF. In a recent interview with Sputnik, Iranian military expert Mohammad-Hassan Sangtarash stipulated that this aircraft will be especially effective if Iran can install original weapons on it. The Super Flanker Su-35 can play the role of a combat mini-AWACS [airborne warning and control system], and if connected to Irans radar network, it will acquire unique point defense capabilities. If Iran purchases [Russian] technologies and kicks off joint massive production [of the Su-35], it can gain a certain advantage over the fighters and warships of its neighbors, including Azerbaijan (Sputnik, January 20).

Furthermore, Irans purchase of the Su-35 fighter jets will affect the balance in regional air power vis-a-vis the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region, especially the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, all of which have fragile relations with Iran. As a result, these countries, and possible others, might turn to more weapons from the West, especially the US F-35 fighter jets. Relatedly, simmering tensions with Tel Avivincluding the alleged Israeli drone attack on Iranian territory in January 2023may also influence this deal, as the advanced fighters will improve Irans defensive and preventive defense against possible Israeli attacks (Iranintl.com, February 2).

Although, Iranian expert Mohsen Jalilvand presents a different point of view: Irans defense and military power is based on deterrence, relying on missile and drone power. This means that Irans military and defense deterrence power is not based on the air force and fighters. Therefore, advanced fighters are not a turning point in Irans defense deterrence capability (Irdiplomacy.ir, October 10, 2022).

Nevertheless, it seems that if and when the purchase of Russias Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets is finalized, it will be one of the most consequential arms purchases in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. While modernizing and increasing the capabilities of Irans air force, it will also bring the budding military and defense relationship between Tehran and Moscow into a new stage, which will have key consequences on the balance of power and deterrence throughout the South Caucasus and Middle East.

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Throughout 2022, Baku pursued a more activist foreign policy due to developments in the South Caucasus and the surrounding regions. First of all, Russian President Vladimir Putins war against Ukraine has been the single major event to influence Azerbaijani foreign policy in the past year. While the Russo-Ukrainian war has caused a great deal of international uncertainty, it has also given rise to new opportunities. Economically, Azerbaijans significance as a gas supplier to Europe has risen. Cargo freights have surged through Azerbaijan in increasing numbers as the Russian route has become dysfunctional due to the war and related Western sanctions (Gfsis.org, December, 2022).

In recent years, Azerbaijan and Georgia had experienced a cooling in bilateral relations. But now that has changed by virtue of the opportunities arising from Western sanctions against Russia. Therefore, Baku and Tbilisi are engaged in a project to raise the throughput capacity of the BakuTbilisiKars railway line, which is a key part of the east-west Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor connecting China and Europe. Moreover, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary recently signed a document to export electricity to Europe along the bottom of the Black Sea. Such an outlook necessitates a stronger commitment to cooperation between Baku and Tbilisi in maintaining their strategic partnership (Bm.ge, January 20).

Politically, the most sensible effect of Russias war against Ukraine is that Moscow has been distracted from the South Caucasus and, as a result, its position there has noticeably weakened. This has prompted other regional actors to grapple over filling the gap. As a manifestation of that tendency, an unprecedented wave of escalation was registered between Baku and Tehran in 2022. To this, Azerbaijan eventually decided to open an embassy in Israel (See EDM December 1, 2022).

Simultaneously, Azerbaijan has experienced serious tensions with France. Top Russian and US officials have not shied away from acknowledging that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which oversaw the mediation between Baku and Yerevan in resolving the Karabakh conflict, has become dysfunctional. Therefore, Washington and Moscow began to pursue their own roles independently. However, France has failed to transform its role from Minsk Group co-chair into an independent one. Before the Second Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, many debates occurred regarding the European Union assuming the role of a Minsk Group co-chair, in place of France, which never agreed to that arrangement (Commonspace.eu, March 24, 2012).

Since the 2020 war, two parallel mediation processes have emerged, one through Moscow and the other through Brussels, specifically European Commission President Charles Michel. Washington also maintains active communication in that regard with Baku and Yerevan. For its part, in Bakus view, Paris has tried to usurp the Brussels format (Xezerxeber.az, October 12, 2022). French President Emmanuel Macron has participated in the EU-brokered meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, making fierce statements directed toward Baku. Macrons comments coupled with the French Parliaments adoption of two resolutions condemning Azerbaijan have effectively derailed the Brussels format. Thus, Yerevan insisted on Macrons presence at the summit scheduled for December 7, 2022, whereas Baku categorically rejected it (President.az, January 10; OC Media, January 23).

In January 2023, the EU decided to send a long-term civilian mission to Armenia to monitor its disputed border with Azerbaijan, but without agreeing to it with Baku. Both Moscow and Baku have voiced dissatisfaction with the EUs decision (Haqqin.az, January 23). While the positions of Russia and Azerbaijan overlapped in this particular case (News.am, January 27), overall, the relationship between Baku and Moscow could be characterized as a push-and-pull approach. At different times, Baku and Moscow have traded accusations and suspicions particularly through the tongue of official channels and media outlets in 2022. A major point of discord has been related to the activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent temporarily deployed to the Karabakh region (Mikroskopmedia.com, October 25, 2022; JAM-news, November 8, 2022). This was preceded by warmer relations earlier in the year as Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a declaration on increasing cooperation between the two countries on February 22, 2022.

Yet, since Russias re-invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Baku have increasingly been at odds. For example, a Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, Ruben Vardanyan, appeared in Karabakh and was appointed as the state minister of the self-proclaimed regime on November 4, 2022. In response, Aliyev publicly stated that Vardanyan has been dispatched to Karabakh with a very clear agenda from Moscow (Ekhokavkaza.com, November 17, 2022; see EDM, February 13).

About a month after Vardanyans appointment, Azerbaijani eco-activists and nongovernmental organizations launched a campaign against the exploitation of the gold and copper-molybdenum fields in the Armenian-populated districts of Karabakh. This protest has been ongoing since December 12, 2022, on the Lachin road, which is under the purview of the Russian peacekeepers and connects the Armenian-populated districts to Armenia proper. The action has received international attention, with the United Nations Security Council discussing the issue in late December 2022 (Un.org, December 20, 2022). And on January 18, Azerbaijan initiated its first international arbitration proceeding against Armenia on environmental grounds in the UN (Mfa.gov.az, January 18).

The developments in 2022 will likely manifest themselves in 2023 for Azerbaijan in the following ways: The fallout and consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine will remain unpredictable factors for Azerbaijans foreign policy. Apart from that, it is becoming increasingly clear that Baku will push to deploy Azerbaijani checkpoints along the Lachin Corridor, especially in the case that no significant progress is achieved on opening the Zangezur Corridor to connect mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave via the southern Armenian territory. Iran vehemently opposes any opening of Zangezur (see EDM, September 23, 2022). Incidentally, a deadly armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran on January 27 epitomizes the rising tensions between Tehran and Baku, with the Azerbaijani side classifying the attack as a terrorist act and immediately evacuating all embassy staff (Trend.az, January 30; see EDM, January 31).

In February 2019, Aliyev declared that Baku was not following a balanced foreign policy approach, but rather one based on national interests (President.az, February 12, 2019). Effectively, that statement marked an end to what Azerbaijan had framed as balanced foreign policy for over 25 years. However, since then, Baku has not conceptually framed the precise style of its foreign policy objectives in serving national interests. Therefore, Azerbaijans quest for a new coherent foreign policy approach is set to continue in 2023.

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By the Jamestown Foundation

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A ship operated by giant shipping company Maersk Tankers has been denied entry into a Spanish port after its oil cargoes were found to have previously been carried by a vessel that was formerly Russian flagged. According to Spanish officials, Spains northeastern Tarragona port refused entry to the Maersk Magellan tanker after the ship picked up an oil cargo that had originated from the Cameroon-registered Nobel tanker.

Trade in oil products linked to Russia has become complicated ever since G7 nations imposed a price cap on Russian oil in December and issued separate EU measures that prohibit the import of Russian oil products into the bloc.

The Magellan is unlikely to be the last oil-carrying ship caught up in the Russian oil snafu.

The European Union is considering sanctions on Dubai-based SUN Ship Management Ltd on suspicions that it has been helping Russia bypass oil exports sanctions, unnamed European diplomats told Politicos Brussels Playbook on Tuesday.



According to those sources, SUN has acquired a fleet of oil tankers from Russian state-owned Sovcomflot that had been sanctioned and continues to operate them. The fleet is said to comprise over 90 tankers.

Oil shipping also hit another snap in December, when Turkeya key beneficiary of Russias crude exports shippingcaught the markets off-guard by announcing that it would start demanding proof of insurance for oil tankers passing through the Bosphorus shipping strait.

Ostensibly in order to comply with EU sanctions, the Turkish Ministry of Transport now requires ships hauling oil through the waterway and the nearby Dardanelles strait to provide a letter from their insurer saying that cover will be provided for that specific vessel voyage and cargo. According to the Ministry, ships sailing through the straits uninsured could result in significant damage to the waterway and vessel traffic in the event an uninsured ship has an accident. The move is likely to negatively impact Russian tankers if they struggle to obtain the necessary protection and indemnity insurance.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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The United States is likely to take further actions against banks with ties to Russia to prevent them from dodging the existing Western sanctions, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

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, James OBrien, head of the U.S. State Departments Office of Sanctions Coordination, told Reuters.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, the U.S. and the European Union sanctioned some of Russias biggest banks, froze billions of dollars worth of assets of the Russian central bank in Western countries, and cut much of Russias banking system from the global SWIFT system for payments.

However, Gazprombank, the bank of gas giant Gazprom, was spared from sanctions due to the handling of payments for energy imports into the EU. Some EU states, including Hungary and Italy, still receive Russian gas via pipeline.

The EU is now considering a tenth package of sanctions, aiming to present it by February 24, the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S.s OBrien told Reuters, commenting on possible new measures from the West, We are now looking at how sanctions, including financial sanctions, can be most effective.

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

The EU is looking to force banks to report the Russian assets frozen in the EU, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing draft proposals of the tenth package of sanctions it had seen. The mandatory reporting of frozen Russian assets in the EU could be a step toward considering channeling some of the funds to Ukraines reconstruction.

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Russia will also have to pay for the destruction it caused and will have to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine. Therefore, we are exploring with our partners how to use Russia's public assets to the benefit of Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Kyiv early this month.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A recovery in the Chinese economy after it was strangled by government COVID restrictions helped drive the rebound in the gold market.

China imported 1,343 tons of gold in 2022, the highest import level since 2018. Total gold imports for the year were up 64% over 2021.

China ranks as the worlds biggest gold consumer.

Gold demand in China picked up during the last half of the year as the government relaxed some COVID restrictions. China imported 157 tons of gold in December to close out a strong H2.

The World Gold Council called it a tale of two halves.

On-and-off lockdowns in major cities during the first half suppressed local gold demand and imports. As COVID-controlling measures eased and the local gold price premium rose to a multi-year high, imports during the second half jumped. 

According to the WGC, strength in the Chinese gold market continued into January. The Shanghai-London gold price premium charted a mild rebound, putting a stop to the declining trend since last October. Stronger gold demand during January was key.

A recovery in the Chinese economy after it was strangled by government COVID restrictions helped drive the rebound in the gold market. China experienced a COVID peak in December. According to the World Gold Council, Chinese economic activities revived in January. That drove a boom in the gold market.

According to the China Gold Association, during the 15-day period from the Chinese New Year day to the Spring Lantern Festival, Chinese gold consumption was up by 18% year-on-year.

Gold withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange totaled 140 tons in January. That was a modest month-on-month decline of 2 tons and 25% lower than January 2022. But the lower number was primarily due to the 2023 Chinese New Year holiday that limited January to just 16 trading days. That was the fewest since 2012. When compared with previous Chinese New Year months, Januarys withdrawal total was 12% higher than the 10-year average.

As weve reported, the Peoples Bank of China resumed official gold purchases in November. That continued into January, with the Chinese central bank adding another 15 tons to its reserves. Gold now accounts for 3.7% of Chinas total reserves.

The Chinese central bank accumulated 1,448 tons of gold between 2002 and 2019, and then suddenly went silent. Many speculate that the Chinese continued to add gold to its holdings off the books during those silent years.

There has always been speculation that China holds far more gold than it officially reveals. As Jim Rickards pointed out on Mises Daily back in 2015, many people speculate that China keeps several thousand tons of gold off the books in a separate entity called the State Administration for Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

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If this apparent rebound in the Chinese gold market continues into 2023, it will drive overall global gold demand higher. Gold demand grew by 18% to 4,741 tons in 2022, the highest demand in 11 years.

By Zerohedge.com Via SchiffGold.com,

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Playboi Carti has been arrested after allegedly choking his pregnant girlfriend in a row over a paternity test.

The 26-year-old rapper has been accused of grabbing the unnamed woman - who he has been dating for more than two years - by the throat and holding onto her neck until she gasped for air on December 20, TMZ reports.

The hip-hop star - whose real name is Jordan Carter - was arrested for felony aggravated assault in Georgia.

The female, who said she was 14 weeks pregnant at the time, feared for her life, according to the arrest affidavit form obtained by the outlet.

According to her statement, a witness attempted to stop the alleged physical altercation but after she ran to her car, the woman claims she ran to her car to phone 911, but Carti allegedly tried to get her out of the car and put his hand over her mouth.

Upon their arrival, Police reportedly found injuries on her neck, chest, and back.

The rapper's lawyer has branded the accusations made by the female false, and is confident the case will be dismissed.

Attorney Brian Steel told TMZ: "Mr. Carter was falsely accused.

"Pursuant to my communications with the Fulton County District Attorney's office, this case will be dismissed without any prosecution or litigation."

Meanwhile, Carti's ex, fellow rapper Iggy Azalea, admitted she is "not even remotely on good terms" with him last year.

The 'Fancy' hitmaker clapped back at claims that he took "care" of her and their three-year-old son Onyx Kelly in an interview he gave, revealing that the former couple have no "direct contact" in an array of since-deleted tweets.

The 32-year-old Australian wrote in April: "Take care of me? Lmaooooo let's not get carried away now. I laughed. A lot."

"You've been mislead. I don't f*** with a man I'm not even remotely on good terms with claiming he pays my bills. I pay my bills. Secondly saying nice things for an interview sounds great but in real life he talks to me like s*** so badly I had to stop all direct contact."

The 'Black Widow' hitmaker claimed his people had been wanting her "silence" over the interview but wanted to make it clear his words were "not reflective" of reality.

Iggy said: "His team has been calling about the interview, hoping for my silence because they know what my reaction would be. I do appreciate being called a great mom but when that's not reflective of what he has to say in real life I'd much rather be left out of being mentioned at all."

Her comments came after Carti - who split with Iggy in late 2020 - spoke about his "responsibilities" now he's a "father".

He told the magazine: "I'm a father. You know what I'm saying? You know how it is having kids. I just got responsibilities. I pay a lot of bills. I take care of a lot of people. I take care of my mom. I take care of my family. I take care of my baby mom [and] I take care of my son. There's a lot of people I take care of. So, it's like, I gotta keep doing it."
In January 1958, 19-year-old Lincoln garbageman Charles Starkweather went on a killing spree with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at his side, terrorizing the city of Lincoln and the state and leaving 10 people dead before the duo was captured in Wyoming eight days after the killings began.

Convicted of first-degree murder, Starkweather was executed in June 1959. Fugate, who at the time was the youngest person in the country to be tried for first-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison.

Framed as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, lovers-on-the run tale, the murders have been ingrained in popular culture for 60 years, inspiring Badlands, Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers, the TV miniseries Murder in the Heartland and songs, including Bruce Springsteens Nebraska, which he wrote after seeing Badlands on TV.

But The 12th Victim, a Showtime docuseries that premieres Friday, argues that the decades-long, pop culture view of Starkweather and Fugate is a myth, a tale of romantic rebel killers constructed first by the county prosecutors and police, then amplified by news coverage, books, movies and song.

The series convincingly makes the case that Fugate, as she has consistently claimed, did not take part in any of the murders and is, in fact, the 12th victim in the case, made so by police and prosecutorial malfeasance.

That malfeasance began about two months before Starkweather killed Fugates mother, stepfather and baby sister in their Belmont neighborhood home. In November 1957, he abducted and killed gas station attendant Robert Colvert, who counts as his 11th victim. Police had been pointed toward Starkweather but failed to investigate and arrest him.

The prosecutors, the film argues, then used Starkweathers trial and his testimony at Fugates trial to convince the jury to disbelieve her claims of innocence and convict her.Its always really amazing when you get the opportunity to upend a narrative that has really calcified and become kind of like lore, said director Nicola B. Marsh. I thought it was really cool to try to really break that story from Carils point of view. I know some people have done it, but it wasnt really in the mainstream telling of what happened in 1958.

Based on the 2014 book The Twelfth Victim: The Innocence of Caril Fugate in the Starkweather Murder Rampage by Linda M. Battisti, a retired U.S. Justice Department trial attorney, and Lincoln attorney John Stevens Berry, the docuseries four episodes tell Fugates story chronologically.

Opening with the 1958 crime spree in the first hourlong episode that will premiere Friday at 7 p.m., the second episode focuses on the trials of both Starkweather and Fugate, the third episode deals with her years in the Womens State Reformatory (as it was known then) in York and the series concludes by following Fugates life, and her attempt to clear herself.The thing about these crime stories is its really about perspective, said Marsh, an Englishwoman. The more you learn, and the more time you spend in Carils shoes, the more your perspective switches to her perspective. It starts as public perspective. Then it goes to Charlies perspective, and then youre in her perspective.

The episodes tried to reflect that (perspective change) a bit because I didnt want to make Nebraskans feel bad, portray them as kind of dumb, sexist punters because they thought Caril is guilty. I think its quite natural to think Caril is guilty because shes the one opening the door to the police.

Fugate opened the door of her familys Belmont house a few days after Starkweather killed her family, when the couple was locked in, with a misspelled sign on the door claiming that everyone had the flue.

Thats a pivotal moment in the first episode, which uses re-creations, shot in and around Lincoln two years ago, that were designed to set a scene that couldnt have been captured on film in 1958.

We came in January of 21 against the advice of pretty much everybody because the pandemic was really on, Marsh, an award-winning cinematographer, said of the Nebraska filming.

But, you know, in Nebraska, you cant wait till March and think theres gonna be snow. I think thats such a big part of the things during the crime spree that really shaped the nature of the crime, how they were moving, where they were moving and where the bodies were. The weather had a huge impact on the shape of that. So I really wanted to make sure that we got some re-creations of snow on the ground.

The remainder of the story is told through local television news film, recounting of the crimes by authors who have written books on Starkweather and photographs, many of them from the Lincoln Journal and the Lincoln Star, some of which were never published.

Those unseen photos, some in color, in fact, do much to undermine the romantic view of Starkweather as the James Dean-like 50s cool character with slicked-back hair, leather jacket and cigarette dangling from his lips.

I think its really interesting when you look at those pictures of Charlie and Caril in color, Marsh said It gives a totally different cadence to it. You see Charlies ugliness in a way thats quite hidden when you see him in black and white. You see that hes kind of pasty and doesnt have good skin. Hes a bit pudgy and his red hair doesnt look so cool. In black and white, he looks pretty cool. But in color, he doesnt look so cool. And I found it to be really illuminating.

Episode 2 uses Omaha TV reporter Ninette Beavers pretrial interview with Fugate  during which she looks like a tough, defiant adult  to convey the notion that Nebraskans found her guilty before the trial. Episode 3 uses television footage of Fugate, a model prisoner, talking about her case while shes seeking parole. Ultimately, her sentence was reduced and she was granted parole in 1976.

The series also uses tape recordings Battisti made while speaking with Fugate at her Michigan home for the book, allowing Fugate, whos now 79 and was severely injured in a 2013 car accident, a brief opportunity to tell parts of her story.We couldnt use that much of it because the audio quality isnt great, Marsh said, pointing out that Fugates pet bird tweets throughout the tape. But it still had value.

It really allowed me to be a fly on the wall and listen. It was really seductive and it was really hard to move away from that version of the story that Caril tells at that point in her life, she said.

While its not necessarily intended to do so, The 12th Victim also provides an enlightening view of the media in the 1950s as it largely holds out the microphone for officials to deliver their versions of the news. And it spotlights the popular culture fascination with true crime, including F. Lee Baileys 1980s Lie Detector show, on which Fugates claims of innocence were found to be true.

Berry appears in the docuseries, as does James McArthur, who represented Fugate, taking over from his father, John, who was appointed to defend her in the 1958 case. Berry has said he intends to renew the pardon effort for Fugate, which failed in 2020.

That effort, Marsh and Battisti hope, will be assisted by The 12th Victim, which will be seen by a large audience, renewing interest in Fugates innocence and in the real case rather than the myth.

I hope Caril gets a pardon; I dont think she will, Marsh said. But I think it will be nice to just have some sort of acknowledgment that there is legitimacy to her point of view and the story that she has tried so desperately hard for decades to tell.
The Bennington school district is inviting the public to offer input on its superintendent search Tuesday, about two weeks before candidate interviews are scheduled to occur.

Parents, students and community members can attend the session at 6 p.m. at the district office, located at 11620 N. 156th St., hosted by the Nebraska Association of School Boards, the firm conducting the search.

NASB also will be visiting with district administrators, along with certified and classified employees, during the day to gather feedback.

Shari Becker, director of NASB search services, told the school board during its meeting on Monday that people might feel they can speak more freely about the search if board members dont attend the public session.

The search, which launched last month, will find the replacement for Superintendent Terry Haack once he resigns at the end of the school year. Haack announced his resignation in December after leading the district for 19 years.

NASB staff estimated it could find the districts next superintendent by the end of March in a search that will cost the district about $9,000.

Becker also reviewed the rest of the search timeline at Mondays meeting, pointing out that the job application deadline is Feb. 25.

We have been actively recruiting and have some very high-quality applicants who are interested in the position, Becker said. I dont know if you will have a large group of applicants because theres just not a lot of people applying for superintendent jobs, but you will still have some qualified people.

The school board will meet March 1 to discuss the applicants before selecting finalists for interviews, which will be announced March 2. Interviews are scheduled for March 6 and 8.

Everything is done in open session as far as interviews, so anyone can come and listen to those and sit in the audience, Becker said.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
100 Black Men of Omaha, an organization that works to empower young African-American men through mentoring and educational resources, was founded 28 years ago today.

Some of the group's programs include one-on-one mentoring, goal-setting, entrepreneurship and career readiness, high school graduation and postsecondary education exploration.

Frank Hayes, an Omaha businessman, was the first president of the organization. He and a group of concerned men started the Omaha chapter after seeing the success of 100 Black Men in Jackson, Mississippi.

The organization's mission is to improve the quality of life in Omaha by helping youths reach their fullest potential.

In the Omaha community, Hayes said, oftentimes young African-American men see their future as limited, feeling like there is no hope that they can accomplish their aspirations.

The first 100 Black Men organization began in New York City in 1963. One of the founders was David Dinkins, who later was elected New York City's mayor.

Chapters began forming nationwide in the 1970s. Today the 100 Black Men of Omaha is one of over 100 chapters nationally and internationally that make up the 100 Black Men of America, an alliance of leading African-American men from a myriad of professions. The Omaha group was among nine new chapters inducted into the organization in 1995.

Hayes said he hoped that the organization could give young men educational opportunities, community resources and role models who can empower them to shape their future.

"The people who are going to lead this organization into the future are going to be the young men that we're currently mentoring," Hayes said. "I want the organization to continue to support and develop those young men so that they can take the leadership roles that will be required for this organization to continue."

100 Black Men of Omaha through the years
The families of the men and women who lost their lives on May 14 at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue came together Wednesday to stand in the same room as the man who killed them.

One by one, they prepared to tell him about the lives he took and the pain he caused that will never go away.

Shortly after it began, the proceeding was halted when a man lunged at the defendant, Payton Gendron as one of the family members of the victims spoke. Erie County Judge Susan Eagan had Gendron renoved from her courtroom while order was restored.

Kimberly Salter, the wife of Aaron Salter, was the first family member to address the court.

"We wear red and black  red for the blood that he shed for his family and his community, and black because we are still grieving," she said.

She turned to Scripture in her words to the court.

You will reap what you sow, more than you sow, she said, and she also read the 35th Psalm.

My soul shall be joyful in the Lord, she said. "Oh Lord do not be far from me."

Gendron will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after pleading guilty in November to domestic terrorism motivated by hate.

Ruth Whitfields granddaughter, Simone Crowley said her grandmother will not be present for milestones, but Gendron will go from a name to a number.

You will be nameless and faceless and we feel sorry for you, she said. Your life was meaningless before May 14, 2022.

She told Gendron that he did not value himself.

You thought you broke us, but you awakened us. We are here to tell you that you failed, she said.

Our dear grandmother, Ruth Elizabeth Whitfield, she taught us the power of love and even in our darkest hour, we will assure that her legacy will be that, she said.

Wayne Jones spoke for his mother, Celestine Chaney.

I watched you kill my mother, he said. I watched you shoot her once, reload, and shoot her again.

He said there are big and little mistakes.

"This one here is a real big one that you can't take back, he said.

He told Gendron he wants him to remember his mothers name, and what he did.

And I feel sorry for your parents, you will never get to hug them again. You will never get to see your grandparents," he said. "I hope they keep you alive so you have to suffer for the rest of your life."

Jones said he had seen Gendron at previous hearings.

"You look like a young man that could be anyone's son," he said. "You don't come across to me as a racist killer, even though that what you have done.

"I have a child your age," he added. "You've been brainwashed. The internet is the issue. You're only 18. You don't even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet.

"I don't wish the death penalty on you," he said. "I wish they keep you alive, so you have to suffer with the thought of what you did the rest of your life."

Brian Talley, who said he watched the video of his sister-in-law Geraldine Talley being killed, said he wanted to be sure he said the killer's name.

"Payton Gendron. Payton Gendron. The reason I mention your name is because so many have said not to mention your name. You need to be known worldwide," he said. What can you possibly say after putting on a video of killing people? Your words don't mean anything."

Talley said he picked a drab green shirt to wear to the hearing to remind Gendron of the prison garb he will wear the rest of his life. "I know where you're going," Talley said, "in solitary confinement the rest of your life."

Stephanie Waters spoke for her sister, Jennifer Warrington, a pharmacist at the store who was injured. She said she got a call from her sister when she was on a Zoom call.

"She said 'Steph, I'm in an ambulance,' " Waters said. "I roared in pain for my sister, my beautiful sister." Waters, who is white, told Gendron, a white supremacist, to consider that he was wrong. "Diversity makes us strong. We are stronger together."

"I'll never forgive you," said the daughter of Andre Mackniel. "It wasn't my dad's time to go."

More than a dozen people were expected to address the court today. Gendron also is expected to apologize before he is sentenced.

There is very heavy security around the courthouse today, with a second layer of screening for those entering the courtroom of Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan. A large media presence is in Buffalo, with representatives of New York Times, Reuters, CBS, CNN, AP and NPR attending.
The former Nebraska State Patrol evidence technician at the center of a plot to steal kilos of drugs she was meant to safeguard pleaded guilty Tuesday for her role in the conspiracy to put the marijuana and cocaine, some laced with fentanyl, back on the streets.

Anna Idigima, 37, will face a minimum of 20 years in federal prison up to life at her sentencing in May.

Appearing by video from the Saline County jail, she admitted she used her access at the State Patrol to get the drugs, then sold them with George Weaver Jr., her boyfriend.

Weaver has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Fullerton offered the most detailed account yet of the scheme and the investigation that uncovered it.

She said if the case against Idigima had gone to trial, the jury would have heard about how Idigima, then an employee at the State Patrols storage evidence room in Lincoln, began stealing drugs that were being held in completed State Patrol cases, which were awaiting destruction orders.

Fullerton said Idigima was providing them to Weaver, who was selling them in Lincoln.

Video surveillance from the State Patrol evidence storage facility shows Ms. Idigima opening sealed boxes, taking items from those boxes, putting them in garbage bags and loading those bags into her personal vehicle on several occasions between June 16, 2021, and Aug. 12, 2021, the prosecutor said.

She said the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force audited storage areas where Idigima had access and, among other things, found 154 pounds of marijuana, 19 pounds of cocaine and 6 pounds of fentanyl missing.

At the time, Idigima had been a State Patrol employee for more than a decade and just two years earlier had gotten a state honor for her leadership.

Fullerton said in August 2021, investigators searched Weavers Snapchat account and found a photo of several large bags of marijuana on a bed, one with a red piece of evidence tape, consistent with the evidence tape used by the State Patrol.

She said the sale of fentanyl-laced cocaine led to the overdose of a Nebraska City couple at their home on Aug. 4, 2021, and to a man in Lincoln on Aug. 18. Two of the three had to be revived with CPR and all three needed naloxone and were treated at hospitals in Lincoln and Omaha.

Fullerton said they had bought the drugs in Lincoln from separate people who told investigators that they got the drugs from Weaver.

She said when one of the sellers was arrested in August 2021 with an ounce of cocaine and fentanyl he told law enforcement that it was some of the bad stuff that was causing overdoses.

The prosecutor described other deals, too, including one where a woman bought 50 ecstasy pills from Idigima and Weaver in July 2021, sending the money to Idigimas Cash App account.

Then, Fullerton said, last month Idigima tried to send a letter from the jail to an inmate at another correctional center, identifying herself as Anna Idigima. In it she wrote: You may have heard about the case. I was the evidence tech from the Nebraska State Patrol who took $1.2 million in drugs and sold them.

In the end, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart asked Idigima how she pleaded to conspiring to distribute marijuana, cocaine and fentanyl resulting in serious injury to three people.

Guilty, Idigima said.
LINCOLN  The pesticide-laden waste left by a now-closed ethanol plant near Mead, Nebraska, slowed legislative confirmation of Gov. Jim Pillens pick to be the states top environmental official this week.

In the end, lawmakers approved the appointment of Jim Macy as director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. The vote was 38-0, with eight senators abstaining, on Tuesday.

But senators spent nearly three hours before the vote debating his handling of what some have described as an environmental disaster created by the AltEn plant, which used treated seed corn to make ethanol. The plants operations have been blamed for illness and widespread contamination in the area.

State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, who has been outspoken about AltEn, said Macy did not act quickly enough or forcefully enough to protect the people, land and water around the plant until after a broken pipe on an AltEn digester allowed 4 million gallons of polluted water to spill into a nearby creek.

AltEn shut down in February 2021 at the departments order. The department then asked the state to sue AltEn, which it did in March 2021.

But Blood argued that Macy had allowed the plant to keep operating, despite repeated violations of environmental laws and regulations since it first opened in 2015.

This has to do with the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, Blood said. If youre OK with making Nebraskans collateral damage, then go ahead and vote green (for Macy).

Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus agreed that the plant had been an ecological mess. But he said Macy had to measure his response against his legal authority. He said he would support Macy because he believes the director learned from the experience.

Another supporter, Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, the Natural Resources Committee chairman, said the Legislature passed a law last year giving the agency director authority to take action sooner. Under the prior law, the director had been required to seek voluntary compliance for a period before taking stronger action.

Bostelman also pointed out the seed companies that supplied corn to AltEn have gotten together to work on cleaning up the site. The AltEn Facility Response Group has spent a reported $28 million so far on efforts to clean up the site.

Work is being done, work has been done, he said. Its not being ignored. Its not being cast aside. The state of Nebraska takes this very seriously.

Former Gov. Pete Ricketts tapped Macy in 2015 to lead what was then the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. The agency changed names after merging with the Office of Energy in 2019. Pillen opted to retain him in the job.

Macy wasnt the only Pillen appointee to come in for criticism before being approved Tuesday. Some lawmakers raised concerns about Jason Jackson, the director of the Department of Administrative Services.

Most of the criticism focused on the DAS bidding process that led to St. Francis Ministries getting a contract to manage Omaha metro-area child welfare cases. The Kansas-based nonprofit bid 40% less than the state had been paying to the previous contractor, which state officials did not question despite concerns raised by outside advocates and experts.

St. Francis Ministries later negotiated a 55% boost in payments when financial shortfalls nearly forced its Omaha operations to shut down. The contract has since been terminated after the private agency never met contract terms or complied with state laws limiting caseload sizes.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
For the past week or so, the United States has been in the grip of rampant paranoia over what it has termed as a "Chinese spy balloon" and the alleged sighting of several other "unidentified flying objects". As a show of force, and in a display of domestic political theater, the Joe Biden administration has been shooting them down.

These objects, portrayed as threats to the national security of the United States, are being used to weaponize mass hysteria with a view to push a sporadic anti-China agenda, as the Biden administration strives to push US defence spending up to unprecedented levels, and rope in allies to militarily and strategically contain Beijing.

Recognizing how the US weaponizes fear, mass hysteria and paranoia in pursuit of its goals is key to understanding US politics as a whole. While in theory, the US is a decentralized federal democracy with many layers of government, the historical trajectory of the last half of the 20th century has conditioned a dramatic centralization of power in lieu of the challenges the country faced while emerging as a hegemonic state, including the Cold War, the counterculture revolution of the 1960s, the "global war on terror", and now the struggle against China.

Simply put, in order to strengthen unity and build a consensus on the US' international goals in a deeply divided country, US statecraft has veered toward weaponizing fear and mass hysteria to sustain its agenda and power amid the rise of mass media. The US, after all, is a populous and diverse country which, throughout its history, has sought to hold together the entire population under one ideology despite the vast socioeconomic and ethnic fractures that were once enough to trigger a full-blown civil war.

These factors have created a structural arrangement through which the US leadership strives to centralize power in a decentralized country, and likewise must secure democratic consent for policies which, by and large, are hegemonic including those promoting endless wars and encouraging political interferences in other countries' internal affairs.

And to do so, US politicians have learned to cultivate paranoia, drama and mass hysteria as a means to drive the political agenda and consensuses in their direction, by creating constant fear of a given "other" which, in each scenario, threatens the "exceptional" ideology and values of the US.

In doing so, the US constantly exaggerates and amplifies the perceived threat to its national security, interference in its internal affairs by, or the ill intentions of, its designated opponents in a bid to mandate public consent for its aggressive foreign policies. This includes highly dubious allegations of spying, espionage and subversion.

The US portrays its enemies as all-powerful, all-threatening and omniscient actors far beyond their real capabilities, which it uses to spread panic among Americans, prompting them to believe they "must act now" against it. Such portrayals include manufactured news such as Saddam Hussein possessing "weapons of mass destruction", the Democratic People's Republic of Korea planning to "launch a nuclear strike against the US", "Russia interfering in US elections" and "China purportedly spying on the US" in a whole range of areas.

The spy-balloon and UFO drama is being used by the administration and the Pentagon to manufacture support for increased defence spending and mass militarization. Last year, the Biden administration weaponized the events in Ukraine to reorient its foreign policy to much more aggressively contain China militarily.

The Biden administration places greater emphasis on the encirclement of China by deepening its alliances with other countries, which is more belligerent and provocative than the policy of the Donald Trump administration, which despite its "America First" policy was not so militaristic. This helps the administration seek domestic support for even higher military spending, and spread the same paranoia and fear into other countries to lock them into the strategic agenda it is setting.

The US has found in the balloon controversy the perfect pitch for such a narrative, reminding us once again that the calibration of orchestrated drama and fear is a critical aspect of the US' hegemonic foreign policy. Using this fear, the US strives to raise the stakes of ideological confrontation and pretends every foreign policy issue is a "do or die" moment for the country.

This has transformed US politics into a hotbed of paranoia, irrationality and instability which poses risks to the security and stability of the world at large.
LINCOLN  U.S. Rep. Mike Flood came back to his old stomping grounds Tuesday to support efforts to end the use of telecommunications equipment designated as national security threats.

The Republican congressman joined Lincoln State Sens. Eliot Bostar, a Democrat, and Suzanne Geist, a Republican, in the State Capitol to urge passage of Legislative Bill 63.

The bill, introduced by Bostar, would prohibit telecom companies from getting state Universal Service Fund money if they use equipment made by Huawei or ZTE, two major Chinese technology firms, in their Nebraska networks.

The ban would take effect in 2025, enough time, he said, for the companies to replace the equipment. The bill also would ease the process of getting permits for the replacement. The ban would apply to money provided by the state to companies for maintaining their networks.

This is common sense legislation that is necessary to protect the national security interest of our country, Bostar said.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have raised concerns that Huawei and ZTE equipment could be used for cyber espionage and have taken actions to restrict the companies. In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission designated the companies as national security threats. In November, the FCC adopted new rules banning the sale of some Huawei and ZTE equipment.

Flood said LB 63 would complement federal efforts to end the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment, especially in critical areas such as around military installations. He noted that Congress has a special select committee looking into potential threats posed by China.

This is a bipartisan effort, this is a bipartisan issue, he said.

Geist, who chairs the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, which held a hearing on the legislation Tuesday, said the proposal would put Nebraska at the forefront of state efforts to target Huawei and ZTE. She said Nebraskans expect the Legislature to protect them.

But other committee members raised questions about the potential effects of the bill on rural communities served by companies that might be cut off from maintenance dollars. They also questioned what costs it might impose on smaller telecommunication companies.

Bostar said the only company he knows to be using Huawei equipment is Viaero Wireless, which has networks in western Nebraska. He said the FCC began a program two years ago to help reimburse companies for replacing Huawei equipment, although the program does not have enough money for the replacement requests filed so far.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill. Viaero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
Nebraska corrections employees will receive 3% raises in each of the next two years under a new labor contract agreement, Gov. Jim Pillen announced Tuesday.

The State of Nebraska reached the agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents officers with the Department of Correctional Services and safety and security specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a press release from the Governors Office.

The new contract will include performance-based compensation increases for security communications specialists, security guards and military security officers, according to the release.

Our people at our correctional facilities are great public servants who work tirelessly to help ensure public safety, Pillen said in the release. This agreement shows that Nebraska is dedicated to supporting our protective services men and women as they work every day to keep our state safe.

A previous contract agreement in October 2021 secured a $3 per hour pay increase for corrections staff at 24/7 facilities, a 20% pay increase for jobs classified as high demand and a 30% pay increase for health care positions classified as critical.

The hefty pay increases were pitched as a remedy to chronic staffing shortages, and they appeared to accomplish that goal. In September, vacancies among protective service positions stood at 119, down considerably from 427 in October 2021.

Diane Sabatka-Rine, director of the Nebraska Department of Corrections, acknowledged the importance of previous labor agreements, saying they have been instrumental in recruiting and retaining NDCS team members.

These efforts result in safer prisons and safer Nebraska communities, she said in the press release

FOP President Mike Chipman said he hopes the new agreement will continue to build on the departments recent success in hiring officers.
WARSAW, Poland  A Polish mother of seven successfully gave 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 25 and 49 ounces, they were all put in incubators and given breathing support. Doctors said they are all doing fine, given their premature birth.

The quintuplets' mother, Dominika Clarke, 37, told a news conference in Krakow on 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," she said.

Clarke and her British husband's other children are aged between 10 months and 12 years, and include two pairs of twins.
BLOOMINGTON  Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe during his State of the State address Tuesday as part of his plans to make higher education more affordable.

Pritzker said Mwilambwe and Jaichan Tyrique Smith, a University of Illinois at Springfield student majoring in psychology, represent the promise of what college affordability can do for someone's future and how the state benefits from such an investment.

"Your success is our success," Pritzker told the pair.

Mwilambwe, the youngest of seven children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, came to the U.S. in 1989 to go to college, Pritzker said. And thanks to financial assistance from Illinois State University, Mwilambwe received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's in education before pursuing a career as a college administrator.

As part of his budget address, Pritzker proposed a $100 million increase to MAP grants, which he said will allow virtually everyone at or below the median income in Illinois to go to community college tuition-free.

Pritzker also proposed raising the state's direct investment to state universities and community colleges by $100 million.

"After years of decline, were seeing growth across higher education in Illinois thats well above the national average," Pritzker said. "This is our moment to take it all to the next level."

Speaking after the address, Mwilambwe said Pritzker delivered a very good speech. The governor recognized that Illinois citizens face a number of obstacles in their lives and it is important for the state to be involved, the mayor said.

However, Mwilambwe added that he would have liked to have seen a strong plan for roads and other other infrastructure.

"Infrastructure is always foremost on our mind in Illinois (with) potholes and things like that," Mwilambwe said, "and I'm sure his more detailed budget will have that, and I'm looking forward to going through that."

Pritzker acknowledged Mwilambwe one last time as an example of what Illinois citizens when the persevere through any challenge. In Mwilambwe's case, Pritzker said he took a tuition waiver from Illinois and returned it tenfold as Bloomington's mayor.

"We are a people with enough empathy to be kind to one another, enough grit to persevere, and just enough confidence to believe we can make a difference in this world," Pritzker said. "Thats the Illinois that I know.

"That's the Illinois we all represent."

9 things to know about Pritzker budget plan Pension contributions Higher education K-12 Education Temporary tax relief Rainy day fund Safety net Unemployment trust fund Public safety Revenues
SPRINGFIELD  Taking full advantage of robust post-pandemic tax revenues, Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed more than $1.2 billion in new education spending as part of his $49.6 billion spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1.

Pritzker unveiled the plan in his annual combined State of the State and budget address, delivered to lawmakers in the Illinois House chamber of the State Capitol on Wednesday afternoon.

Also related to education, Pritzker called out "a virulent strain of nationalism plaguing our nation" that has turned its focus to banning books and policing what children are taught in school, saying that he wants Illinois students "to learn our true history, warts and all."

The governor's plans for new investments in education stretch from a child's early years through college, starting with $250 million in new spending to expand access to early childhood education.

The outlay is expected to create 5,000 new pre-K spots for low-income children and is considered a down payment on a multi-year plan, dubbed "Smart Start Illinois," aimed at providing every child with access to pre-K.

"Thanks to our stronger fiscal standing, we can afford to do this, and as every provider, teacher, and parent in this state knows, we cant afford to wait," Pritzker said.

At the other end of the spectrum, Pritzker called for increasing funding for the Monetary Assistance Program (MAP), a state-funded, need-based grant awarded to Illinois college students, by $100 million.

This investment, administration officials say, coupled with federal Pell grants, would make community college free to nearly all Illinois residents at or below median income level. More than 40% of working class public university students would also have their tuition and fees covered via this combination.

Among the governor's guests in the gallery was Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe, who came to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1989 in pursuit of an education. He highlighted Mwilambwe, who received financial assistance while attending Illinois State University, as an example of the possibilities when supporting financial assistance for college.

"He became a U.S. citizen in 2008, and after a career as a college administrator, Mboka was elected Mayor of Bloomington  the first African American ever to hold that position," Pritzker said to applause in the room.

Pritzker later said that Mwilambwe "received a tuition waiver from this welcoming state and has returned it tenfold as Bloomingtons mayor."

An additional $100 million, or a 7% increase, would also be allocated to the state's public universities and community colleges for operating costs, the largest increase in two decades and a stunning reversal of fortune from just six years ago, when several public universities were coming apart at the seams during the more than two-year state budget impasse.

As he has in every budget, Pritzker also included the full annual $350 million increase for K-12 education funding called for under the evidence-based formula law enacted in 2018.

Pritzker also proposed $70 million toward improving the teacher pipeline. The funds will be allocated to 170 school districts experiencing hurdles in hiring and retaining teachers. They could be used for incentives like signing bonuses, housing stipends or help with student loans.

Universal pre-K, free college and other lofty goals had been hinted at by Pritzker last year during his campaign for a second term. He reiterated this vision in his second inaugural address delivered last month.

But it was always with a caveat that they would only be done so long as the state could continue to balance its books.

They have and then some, according to administration officials, who revised their revenue projection for the current fiscal year up an additional $1.24 billion from a November estimate that already had already projected revenues to be $3.7 billion higher than previously expected. This brings projected general fund revenues to $51.4 billion this year, a record.

Projections for the fiscal year starting July 1 have been revised up $2.34 billion, bringing expected revenues to just under $50 billion.

This leaves the projected surplus for the next fiscal year at $303 million, though about $138 million of that is expected to be transferred to the state's "rainy day" fund.

"Fiscal responsibility isnt easy, nor is it a one-time fix," Pritzker said Wednesday. "Its an annual effort that requires persistence. It requires conservative revenue estimates, as all of my budget proposals have."

"But when done right, consistent balanced budgets strengthen the institutions our residents rely upon, creates new opportunities for success, and makes life easier for the people of Illinois," he said.

Though chronically running deficits for much of this millennium, Illinois has state has consistently exceeded conservative revenue projections in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has allowed lawmakers to pay down the state's bill backlog, pump more money into pensions and stash cash away in the "rainy day" fund.

Increased appropriations are expected in several key areas of the budget, which includes $12.8 billion for education, $9.9 billion for human services, $9 billion for healthcare and about $2.5 billion for public safety.

The proposal also fully funds the $9.8 billion contribution to the state's pension system, which faces an unfunded liability of just under $140 billion.

Pritzker has also proposed contributing another $200 million payment towards pensions utilizing surplus revenue from this fiscal year.

The governor also promised funds toward rebuilding the state's social service safety net, violence prevention initiatives and towards fighting poverty and homelessness.

However, Pritzker's main focus was education.

And this extended beyond the resources he hopes to allocate in the coming year's budget, saying that "its all meaningless if we become a nation that bans books from school libraries about racism suffered by Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, and tells kids they cant talk about being gay, and signals to Black and Brown people and Asian Americans and Jews and Muslims that our authentic stories cant be told."

This was partially in reference to various culture war battles being waged by conservatives like Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

Last year, DeSantis signed legislation that critics have labeled the Dont Say Gay law. It bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade as well as material that is not deemed age-appropriate.

DeSantis also spoke out against the curriculum of an Advanced Placement Black History course that allegedly addressed "critical race theory," which examines the role race plays in shaping the country's laws, politics and social movements. The nonprofit College Board, which oversees the AP program nationwide, subsequently revised the final framework of the curriculum, which Pritzker dismissed as "a weak attempt to please extremists.

DeSantis is viewed by many as a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Pritzker has been discussed as a possible Democratic candidate should President Joe Biden forgo a run for reelection.

"Illinois young people shouldnt be kept from learning about the realities of our world," Pritzker said. "I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome, and thoughtful about what comes next."

Though Pritzker maintained a statewide focus in his 50-minute address, there were some nods to downstate. He name-dropped chocolate maker Ferrero and electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive, two companies with a major presence in Bloomington-Normal, when talking about businesses expanding in or moving to Illinois.

The budget also includes $2.8 million in funding for the Illinois State Police's Decatur forensic lab, which will fund 22 new positions and the necessary equipment to enhance the property crimes forensic analysis capabilities and DNA analysis services offered.

Pritzker's proposed budget is just the kick off of the annual process. Lawmakers will soon begin hearings and, eventually, craft a plan before adjourning in May.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
In U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 U.S. higher education.

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.
Princes Trust International (PTI), in partnership with Fidelity Bank Ghana and Environment 360, has held the pitch finals of the Enterprise Challenge, a programme which seeks to introduce Senior High School students to business concepts and entrepreneurship. Described by Forbes as one of the five leading global programs supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, the Enterprise Challenge, works with young people to develop business ideas that positively impact environmental issues in their communities.



Princes Trust International was founded by His Majesty King Charles III, formerly The Prince of Wales, to help tackle the global crisis in youth unemployment. The organisation works with local partners across 18 countries to deliver employability, education and entrepreneurship programmes, including the Enterprise Challenge.



As well as inspiring an entrepreneurial spirit and equipping young people with the requisite skill-set and know-how to run an enterprise, the overarching aim of the programme is to encourage young people to be socially responsive and responsible, by channelling their creative prowess to make a positive impact on their community. Additionally, the programme is geared towards developing the participants confidence and providing experienced guidance to enable them to make informed decisions about their future.



The inclusion of climate literacy modules provides participants with the principles of sustainable development and the importance of considering environmental impact alongside profit. Supported by business mentors, young participants explore the stages of setting up and running a business through a digital business simulation game.



Twenty-five (25) teams participated in the 2022/23 edition of the programme with five teams eventually being shortlisted for the finals. The five finalists were then given four sessions with a green business mentor to support each team to finetune their business ideas with particular emphasis on a cost and profit structure, as well as effective sales pitching techniques ahead of the final event.



Speaking at the event, the founder of Fidelity Bank and a member of the Princes Trust International Africa Advisory Board, Mr. Edward Effah, expressed his delight with the diligence and business acumen demonstrated by the students. Looking at the ideas presented by our students today, I can confidently say that Ghana indeed has a bright future. The ability of these young ones to develop environmentally friendly green business ideas and the confidence with which they articulated these ideas is quite impressive. I am particularly impressed with their level of environmental awareness, and I believe such programmes will go a long way to help Ghana and Africa achieve the SDGs.



The five (5) teams which participated in the finals included Team Mervs from Kinbu S.H.S., Team Doyen from Sacred Heart S.H.S., Teams Texco and Flow from His Majestys S.H.S. and Team Phoenix from Brainy Brain S.H.S.



The winning pitch came from an all-female team from Kinbu SHS. They presented an innovative green business concept of turning palm kernel waste, generated from making palm oil, into briquettes to replace the use of charcoal and wood cooking fuel. This environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cooking fuel is compact and smokeless and devoid of any harmful effects to human health.



Among other pluses, the judging panel were impressed that the product is ready for market with a broad immediate and potential customer base.



For their prize, the team received seed money from Fidelity Bank to start the process of registering their business and building on their business idea and turn it into a viable commercial entity. Presenting the funding to the team, the Head, of Digital and Brand Marketing of Fidelity Bank, Eric Frempong Amponsah stated that, Fidelity Bank is proud to partner with Princes Trust International on this programme. Serving the community is one of our core values and education is a key pillar of our social impact initiatives. We look forward to working with Princes Trust International on future projects.







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The Caretaker Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, MP, says Government is rigorously working on a comprehensive law to deal with consumer protection in the Country.



He said a new Consumer Protection Bill is ready, and will soon be submitted to Cabinet for its consideration and then to Parliament for passage.



The Minister disclosed this when he delivered a policy statement on Consumer Protection in Parliament on Wednesday 15th February 2023, in anticipation of the Consumer Rights Day which is celebrated on 15th March every year.



Underscoring the importance of consumer protection, the Minister said everyone in todays world depends on goods and services provided by others, making it imperative to protect the interest of consumers and ensure fair trading.



He said the current legal and regulatory framework for the protection of consumer rights is fragmented in different pieces of legislation, with different bodies overseeing different aspects of consumer protection.



According to Mr Jinapor, the current state of affairs is unsatisfactory, and has led to a significant part of the market remaining unregulated, leading to a constant violation of consumer rights without an adequate remedy.



He identified jurisdictional conflict among the various regulators on consumer protection, lack of consumer awareness, lack of access to the courts, and absence of low-cost, quick, and accessible fora and methods for resolution of consumer complaints, as some of the challenges with consumer protection in the country.



Drawing from international best practices, the Minister said the world is at a stage where a single legislation on consumer protection, with a single consumer protection authority, is the norm.



He said the overarching objective of the Bill, which is ready for Cabinet, is to protect, secure and defend the rights of consumers, through a structured institutional mechanism and legal framework, that will ensure that consumers play a significant role in keeping erring businesses in check, promote competition, and ensure regional integration through digital trade and e-commerce.



When passed, the law will, also, create a Consumer Protection Authority to facilitate consumer redress, establish codes of practice on advertising and labelling, educate consumers on their rights, strengthen consumer-oriented organizations, and ensure effective representation of consumers on decision-making bodies.



The Minister called on Parliament to support the Bill when presented to the House to ensure effective and adequate protection for the rights of consumers.



Members of Parliament from both sides of the House, who contributed to the Statement, lauded the Minister for apprising the House on the progress of the Bill.



The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa underscored the importance of the Bill and expressed his optimism that the whole House will support the Bill when presented to the House.



The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin also commended Mr Jinapor and urged other Ministers to emulate him and constantly update the House on matters pertaining to their ministries.

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Government in the statement has reiterated that Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II is the Bawku Naba, duly gazetted and a member of the National and Upper East Regional Houses of Chiefs.



In a statement by the Ministry of Information, The Government condemns developments in Nalerigu today February 15, 2023, concerning the purported enskinment of a new Bawku Naba as illegal and a threat to National Security.



"The security agencies have therefore been directed to arrest and prosecute any other person who holds himself out as a Bawku Naba.



Further, any developments that have the potential to undermine the peace of Bawku will also be dealt with swiftly and in accordance with law, government cautioned in the statement.



The Mamprusi faction in the protracted Bawku conflict was at the palace of the overlord of Mamprugu, Naa Bohugu Mahama Abdulai Sherigah II on Wedneday for the enskinment of a new Bawku Naba despite the recognition of Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II by the government and the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs as the legitimate ruler of the area.



There were reports that efforts by the government to stop the supposed enskinment from happening failed.

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NPP Loyal Ladies, a group affiliated with the ruling New Patriotic Party as part of their 7th anniversary paid visits to some hospitals and educational institutions across the country to show love to the students and patients on 14th February Valentines Day.



At the Child Health Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching hospital, staff and parents of the children at the ward were overwhelmed with the love shown and expressed gratitude to the NPP and the Loyal Ladies team that visited the Unit.



Some of the schools the group visited included, UDS Tamale Campus, University of Ghana, Legon, University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Energy and Natural Resources- Sunyani, Sunyani Technical University, Ghana Communication Technology University, Christian Service University College, Kumasi Technical University, UDS -Wa Campus, Wa Technical University, University of Professional Studies Accra-UPSA, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial ( AAMUSTED), Nurses training college, Ho and Korle- Bu NMTC.



Gloria Adu, a leader of the group, said this is a gesture in their own small way to help bring smiles to the faces of Ghanaians and remind them that the New Patriotic party loves them and is working to bring relief to Ghanaians.



In all, over 10,000 bars of locally made chocolates were distributed around the country by the group.















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Before the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Russia-US competition was the main cause of global geopolitical conflicts. Since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, the US has been fueling antagonism, conflicts and wars in different countries, and "color revolution" in many states around the world in order to maintain its global hegemony. Russia, as the successor state of the Soviet Union, was unable to continue the competition with the US on the global stage, hence it chose to retain its traditional influence in Eurasia and the Middle East. Therefore Ukraine became a key factor in the Russia-US competition in Eurasia.

Regarding Russia as a bigger threat than China, the US has emphasized both cooperation and competition with China, so it could concentrate resources in winning the competition with Russia.

After 2014, Ukraine's ties with Russia started souring as it veered toward the US-led West, becoming a bridgehead for the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization to more directly target Russia. After political upheavals and some regime changes, the disputes between the Ukraine-West combine and Russia led to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

The conflict exposed the US' ambition to use Ukraine as a front to weaken Russia and reduce its influence in Eurasia. And the US took advantage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to strengthen its hold over Europe and drive a wedge between Europe and Russia, and Europe and China.

The Ukraine crisis, along with the change of power in China, Russia and the US, prompted the three major global powers to change their global strategies. The US no longer regards Russia as a major global power and primary threat, and its policy toward Russia has shifted from strategic competition to intensive efforts to "suppress" Russia.

The 2022 US National Security Strategy labels China as "America's most consequential geopolitical challenge", and says Russia "poses an immediate and ongoing threat to the regional security order in Europe and it is a source of disruption and instability globally but it lacks the across the spectrum capabilities of the PRC". As such, the US has called on its NATO allies to continue combating Russia and stepped up its long-term strategy to contain China.

Despite China repeatedly asserting it believes in resolving differences through dialogue and adheres to the policy of peace and cooperation, the US has accused China of backing Russia in the Ukraine crisis and even sanctioned some Chinese companies for doing business with their Russian counterparts. China is not a participant in the Ukraine conflict and wants Russia and Ukraine to end it soon.

Yet the US deliberately links the Ukraine issue with the Taiwan question, when the fact is they are completely different. Washington is working hard to curb China's rise by creating tensions.

Facing the conflict with Ukraine and sanctions from the West, Russia is seeking non-Western trade and economic partners and therefore, attaches greater importance to Sino-Russian strategic partnership of coordination, which Russian President Vladimir Putin praised on Dec 30, 2022.

For China, in fact, both Russia and Ukraine are strategic as well as important cooperative partners in the Belt and Road Initiative. And the Russia-Ukraine conflict does not benefit anyone. Instead, it has harmed China's economic and cultural cooperation with both countries.

In these difficult times, therefore, China should establish a global network of partnerships and promote the building of a new type of international relations. China considers international issues and relations on their own merits and conducts in accordance with its diplomatic principles and national interests.

China's development policy is to promote win-win cooperation with other countries and help build a community with a shared future for mankind. China will not succumb to the US' diplomatic coercion on the Ukraine issue. In fact, it is working hard to prevent further deterioration of bilateral ties with the US, although it will not compromise even an inch of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

China has exchanged views with the Kyiv government on the situation in Ukraine, provided humanitarian supplies for the country, and has been working with the international community to help resolve the Ukraine crisis.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November 2022, President Xi Jinping stressed that China supports Germany and the European Union to promote peace talks. China and Germany jointly opposed the use of threat or nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict.

Later, in a meeting with US President Joe Biden, President Xi reiterated that China follows a policy of co-development and emphasized the importance of abandoning the zero-sum game.

The relationship between China and Russia, on the other hand, is a strategic partnership of coordination but it's not an alliance. China proposed "no limit, no forbidden zone, and no ceiling" in developing China-Russia strategic cooperation and believes Sino-Russian cooperation has great potential, and hopes to continue developing good-neighborly, friendly and win-win cooperation. China-Russia ties have maintained a high level of cooperation thanks to the efforts of both sides.

China has also reiterated that "nonalignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party" is the foundation of Sino-Russian ties, which was stressed, once again, by Foreign Minister Qin Gang during his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Deepening cooperation in economic, trade, security and cultural fields, and the necessity to build a more just world order, by among other things, condemning hegemonism and power politics, have prompted China and Russia to strengthen cooperation.

And the US, not able to accept this development, has created a "new normal" between the three powers, not only checking China and Russia's development, but also strengthening confrontations with the two countries. In the trilateral relations, it is foreseeable that China will mainly make active efforts to develop a stable and stronger strategic partnership of coordination with Russia, and make efforts to decrease trust deficit with the US. Thus, China can help boost global economic recovery and restore strategic stability.
A Senior Lecturer with the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has heaped kind words on NPP flag bearer hopeful Hon Alan Kyerematen after the latter's heroic reception in Volta region.



As part of his ongoing nationwide tour, Hon Alan Kyerematen was heavily welcome in the Volta region despite the open love for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) within the region.



The thousands that trooped to the various gatherings in Volta region to welcome the former Trade and Industry Minister wowed Dr Kofi Mensah and other political pundits.



In response to the historic crowed that recieved Hon Alan Kyerematen on his arrival to the region , Dr Kofi Mensah did not mince describing the political gains awaiting NPP should Alan's bid to leading the party gets endorsed by delegates.



In his usual social media interactions , the Senior Lecturer lit up the new media space with the tweet, 'Wow! Looks like Alan Cash is vibrating strongly in Volta. Interesting times ahead. Obi ni yem.....wee. #NPPContest. #NPP2023".



The deafening noise from the masses that recieved Hon Alan Kyerematen in an NDC dominated region appeared to have sent out signals across the political space.



Political experts have been wondering what that massive endorsement meant ahead of the make or break Presidential Primaries later this year.



Having served at the Trade and Industry Ministry for over a decade and under two different regimes , the industrial expert stepped down from his Ministerial position to intensify his long term Presidential dreams.



The recent mammoth crowd from Volta region confirmed his natural affection across the political divide as NPP dares to break the Traditional eight year regimes in Ghana's geopolitical space.



The Presidential Primaries is expected to be keenly contest among Hon Alan Kyerematen, HE Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Hon Kennedy Ohene Agyapong and some notable names within the New Patriotic Party.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker has asked Ghanaians to continue to put their confidence in the Akufo-Addo government.



According to him, the government has their best interest at heart and will do nothing to jeopardize their wellbeing.



Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, George Mireku Duker urged the citizenry to "have faith in this government".



He made this appeal while reacting to the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.



He called on the citizens, particularly the bondholders affected by the debt restructuring programme, to cooperate with the government in rolling out the measures he believes will alleviate the plight of the nation.



"This government will not disappoint Ghanaians and we are not determined to destroy this country. We are determined to build a country that will give some sort of future to our generation yet unborn", Hon. Mireku Duker emphasized.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Legendary highlife artiste, Kaakyire Kwame Fosu, known in showbiz as KK Fosu, has made a donation to the Royal Seed Home in Ofaakor in the Central Region.



'KKFosuVocalgod' who turned 42 on Valentines Day, February 14, is one of the greatest musicians in the country and have a respectable music career spanning two decades with a number of hit songs to his credit.



The items donated worth thousands of cedis include bags of rice, toiletries, cartons of cooking oil, soft drinks, shoes, Clothes, bag of water, foodstuffs and many more.



In an interview before the donation, KK Fosu said he has formed KK Youth Empower Foundation to support the less privileged in the society, hence he deemed it necessary to share the special day with orphans at Ofaakor in the Central Region and also support them with the items.



Special thanks to the almighty God for adding another year to my age and it is a very significant milestone in my life.



I decided to dine with these young ones and also inspire them considering their situation and also give them these items to support their daily living, he said.



He urged other people to emulate him for the benefit of the country.



I will urge everyone to look back and support the less privileged in other for them to achieve their goals. I will do whatever I can to support this opharnage home."



The CEO of the Royal Seed Orphanage Home, Mrs Naomi Esi Amoah who took the items on behalf of the children, narrated her ordeal ever since she started the orphanage home.



May God bless KK Fosu for donating these beautiful things. This is what the leaders in the country should be doing. Ghana doesnt support our work. Infact the country doesnt have love for us. I got a car and it was shipped to Ghana to aid my orphanage work but because my husband and I couldnt pay the duty it was auctioned and that let my husband got a mild-stroke for years and died just last year.

But these doesnt stop me from helping others. I am pleading with the leaders, cooperate bodies, individuals among others to come to our aid for the betterment of these kids."



Finally, she presented certificate of appreciation to the highlife legend.



KK Fosu thanked all those who supported him in cash or kind making this donation possible.

Donation

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Monoclonal antibodies. Credit: Anurag Rathore

Researchers at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, India, have investigated the effects of oxidative stress on the production of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and how antioxidants can alleviate this stress to improve their performance.

mAbs are a type of antibody produced in the lab to target specific proteins involved in harmful processes in the body (for example, antigens on the surface of cancer cells). They activate the body's immune system to attack the specific target, in the same way antibodies produced by the body identify and counteract invading pathogens.

Researcher Professor Anurag Rathore explained, "The significantly high half-life (due to their size), relatively few side effects, and incredible specificity have contributed to the popularity of mAbs."

mAbs are increasingly used in therapies for a variety of cancers and autoimmune diseases, among other conditions. Because of this high demand, it is necessary to optimize protein expression in cell cultures for efficient production of antibodies.

In this paper, published in the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology on February 7, the detrimental effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated in cells under enhanced protein expression conditions are delineated, showing that high oxidative stress caused by a build-up of ROS affects the cellular machinery, reducing cell viability.

Prof Rathore explains, "ROS triggers alterations in allosteric sites within enzymes and proteins by oxidizing the thiolate anion to sulfenic form thus altering their function. If not dealt with, this can have significant implications for the process and the product."

The study explores the effects of antioxidative ROS scavengers on cell cultures, specifically with regards to the regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential, ROS generation and apoptosis (a type of cell death), as well as the impact on antibody production and quality.

The researchers found that in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing a recombinant antibody igG 1 , the addition of antioxidative ROS scavengers such as glutathione, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and ascorbic acid to cell cultures rescued cells from damage caused by oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation during the production phase.

There was a 52% decrease in ROS levels, a 69% decrease in apoptosis (a type of cell death), and a 38% enhancement in antibody production. Conversely, treatment with oxidants resulted in decreased antibody production by 47% and an increase in acidic species by 18%.

The authors conclude that media supplementation with a combination of antioxidants during the antibody production phase in cell cultures can therefore enhance antibody production. At present, the effects of ROS are not monitored in industry, and Prof Rathore notes that an analysis of how oxidative stress impacts antibody production on a product-by-product basis would be useful, to identify where supplementation with antioxidants would be of benefit:

"The impact of ROS on productivity and product quality is likely to vary from product to product; for cases where this is an issue, appropriate consideration would help."

While this paper has laid clear the potential benefits of alleviating oxidative stress to enhance antibody production, further research is required before commercial implementation. This includes an assessment of the impact on process economics and "a detailed examination into the metabolomics of the cells when antioxidants are added," notes Prof Rathore.

More information: Rajinder Kaur et al, Role of oxidative stress in modulating CHO cell culture performance: Impact on titer and quality attributes of a monoclonal antibody therapeutic, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/jctb.7280 Journal information: Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology

Provided by Society of Chemical Industry
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Illustration of spherical explosion. Credit: Albert Sneppen

When neutron stars collide they produce an explosion that is, contrary to what was believed until recently, shaped like a perfect sphere. Although how this is possible is still a mystery, the discovery may provide a new key to fundamental physics and to measuring the age of the universe. The discovery was made by astrophysicists from the University of Copenhagen and has just been published in the journal Nature.

Kilonovaethe giant explosions that occur when two neutron stars orbit each other and finally collideare responsible for creating both great and small things in the universe, from black holes to the atoms in the gold ring on your finger and the iodine in our bodies. They give rise to the most extreme physical conditions in the universe, and it is under these extreme conditions that the universe creates the heaviest elements of the periodic table, such as gold, platinum and uranium.

But there is still a great deal we do not know about this violent phenomenon. When a kilonova was detected at 140 million light-years away in 2017, it was the first time scientists could gather detailed data. Scientists around the world are still interpreting the data from this colossal explosion, including Albert Sneppen and Darach Watson from the University of Copenhagen, who made a surprising discovery.

Their analyses have been carried out on data from the kilonova AT2017gfo from 2017. Those data are the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared light from the X-shooter spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory, combined with previous analyses of gravitational waves, radio waves and data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

"You have two super-compact stars that orbit each other 100 times a second before collapsing. Our intuition, and all previous models, say that the explosion cloud created by the collision must have a flattened and rather asymmetrical shape," says Albert Sneppen, Ph.D. student at the Niels Bohr Institute and first author of the study published in the journal Nature.

This is why he and his research colleagues are surprised to find that this is not the case at all for the kilonova from 2017. It is completely symmetrical and has a shape close to a perfect sphere.

"No one expected the explosion to look like this. It makes no sense that it is spherical, like a ball. But our calculations clearly show that it is. This probably means that the theories and simulations of kilonovae that we have been considering over the past 25 years lack important physics," says Darach Watson, associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and second author on the study.

The spherical shape is a mystery

But how the kilonova can be spherical is a real mystery. According to the researchers, there must be unexpected physics at play:

"The most likely way to make the explosion spherical is if a huge amount of energy blows out from the center of the explosion and smooths out a shape that would otherwise be asymmetrical. So the spherical shape tells us that there is probably a lot of energy in the core of the collision, which was unforeseen," says Albert Sneppen.

When the neutron stars collide, they are united briefly as a single hypermassive neutron star, which then collapses to a black hole. The researchers speculate whether it is in this collapse that a large part of the secret is hidden:

"Perhaps a kind of 'magnetic bomb' is created at the moment when the energy from the hypermassive neutron star's enormous magnetic field is released when the star collapses into a black hole. The release of magnetic energy could cause the matter in the explosion to be distributed more spherically. In that case, the birth of the black hole may be very energetic," says Darach Watson.

However, this theory does not explain another aspect of the researchers' discovery. According to the previous models, while all elements produced are heavier than iron, the extremely heavy elements, such as gold or uranium, should be created in different places in the kilonova than the lighter elements such as strontium or krypton, and they should be expelled in different directions. The researchers, on the other hand, detect only the lighter elements, and they are distributed evenly in space.

Artistic illustration of kilonova. Credit: Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science

They therefore believe that the enigmatic elementary particles, neutrinos, about which much is still unknown, also play a key role in the phenomenon.

"An alternative idea is that in the milliseconds that the hypermassive neutron star lives, it emits very powerfully, possibly including a huge number of neutrinos. Neutrinos can cause neutrons to convert into protons and electrons, and thus create more lighter elements overall. This idea also has shortcomings, but we believe that neutrinos play an even more important role than we thought," says Albert Sneppen.

A new cosmic ruler

The shape of the explosion is also interesting for an entirely different reason:

"Among astrophysicists there is a great deal of discussion about how fast the universe is expanding. The speed tells us, among other things, how old the universe is. And the two methods that exist to measure it disagree by about a billion years. Here we may have a third method that can complement and be tested against the other measurements," says Albert Sneppen.

The so-called "cosmic distance ladder" is the method used today to measure how fast the universe is growing. This is done simply by calculating the distance between different objects in the universe, which act as rungs on the ladder.

"If they are bright and mostly spherical, and if we know how far away they are, we can use kilonovae as a new way to measure the distance independentlya new kind of cosmic ruler," says Darach Watson and continues:

"Knowing what the shape is, is crucial here, because if you have an object that is not spherical, it emits differently, depending on your sight angle. A spherical explosion provide much greater precision in the measurement."

He emphasizes that this requires data from more kilonovae. They expect that the LIGO observatories will detect many more kilonovae in the coming years.

About kilonovae

Neutron stars are extremely compact stars that consist mainly of neutrons. They are typically only about 20 kilometers across, but can weigh one and a half to two times as much as the Sun. A teaspoon of neutron star matter would weigh about as much as Mount Everest.

When two neutron stars collide, the phenomenon of a kilonova occurs. This is the name of the gigantic explosion that the merger creates. It is a radioactive fireball that expands at enormous speed and consists mostly of heavy elements formed in the merger and its aftermathboth the lighter and the very heavy elementswhich are ejected into space.

The phenomenon was predicted in 1974 and first clearly observed and identified in 2013. In 2017, detailed data from a kilonova was obtained for the first time, when the detectors LIGO (in the U.S.) and Virgo (in Europe) sensationally succeeded in measuring gravitational waves from the kilonova AT2017gfo, which was in a galaxy 140 million light years away.

More information: Albert Sneppen, Spherical symmetry in the kilonova AT2017gfo/GW170817, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05616-x. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05616-x Journal information: Nature
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An airplane pilot who works in illegal mining shows gold illegally extracted from Yanomami indigenous territory, in Alto Alegre, Roraima state, Brazil, Feb. 7, 2023. Brazils Federal Police on Feb. 15, 2023 were carrying out a court order to seize money related to gold mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, then exported through an unnamed U.S.-based company. Credit: AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File

Brazil's Federal Police on Wednesday were carrying out a court order to seize more than 2 billion reais ($384 million) related to about 13 tons of gold mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, then exported through an unnamed U.S.-based company.

Police said in a statement they were also executing 27 search warrants and three arrest warrants in seven states and the Federal District related to the investigation. The operation forms part of a fresh crackdown on illegal Amazon gold mining in the wake of the government announcing a health emergency for Yanomami Indigenous people caused by prospectors.

Gold extracted from the Amazon is usually brought to nearby cities and sold to financial brokers that are regulated by Brazil's central bank. All that's required to transform the raw ore into a tradable asset is a handwritten document attesting to the specific point in the rainforest where the gold was extracted, but which is virtually impossible for the broker to verify.

The police statement said the criminal organization used shell companies to issue fraudulent receipts and lend the appearance of legality to purchases of gold in excess of 4 billion reais between 2020 and 2022.

The unnamed American company sold the gold onward to buyers in Italy, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

There has been increasing awareness that the current lack of transparency surrounding the purchase of gold contributes to illegality. This week, Brazil's central bank told the Supreme Court that it is discussing a new system of oversight that would facilitate tracing the gold to its point of extraction, including adoption of electronic receipts.

Yanomami adults and children have suffered malnourishment, disease and even death as a result of illegal gold mining on their land. Prospectors leave pools that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread illness, and use mercury that pollutes water used for fishing.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The team of researchers from more than twelve countries proposes ten actions for researchers from the Global South to promote improvements in diversity, equity and inclusion. Credit: University of Gottingen

The tropics hold most of the planet's biodiversity. In order to preserve this fragile and valuable asset, many individuals and communities need to get involved and be well informed. However, tropical ecology and conservation sciences are still often affected by colonialistic and discriminatory practices, which can hamper nature conservation success.

An international research team from leading universities in tropical research, including the University of Gottingen, has now proposed how researchers from the Global South, which consists of nations historically damaged by colonialism, could better promote solutions for a sustainable development. The team's opinion paper was published in the journal Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation.

The team of researchers from over 12 countriesacross South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and North Americagathered their experiences working in international collaborations in the field of terrestrial and marine tropical ecology and conservation, and participating in committees promoting the diversification of scientific societies.

They suggest ten actions for researchers living in the Global South to promote improvements in diversity, equity and inclusion. These include actions at institutional, national and international levels to guarantee that research teams in the Global South become more inclusive and diverse and are well prepared for equitable international research collaborations that have an impact on nature conservation practices.

The authors believe that current teams in tropical research often do not fully consider the vast diversity of people and perspectives in tropical regions, which hinders the implementation of scientific practices. However, they recognize the high initial costs associated with establishing schemes for equitable participation: "These actions require hard work and self-reflection from all of us about our actions and attitudes, but we are confident that the benefits are considerable, both for the quality of the science that we do, and the protection of tropical ecosystems," says lead author Carolina Ocampo-Ariza, Agroecology Group, University of Gottingen.

Co-author Estelle Raveloaritiana explains her research project "Diversity Turn" to local communities in Madagascar. Credit: Project "Diversity Turn"

Successful conservation actions rely on the participation of local stakeholders, including local governments and communities in rural areas. "We hope to encourage more leadership from those that live surrounded by tropical biodiversity," says Professor Teja Tscharntke, University of Gottingen. This includes researchers in the Global South increasing outreach and dissemination in research projects, co-developing research goals with local stakeholders such as indigenous communities and local farmers, and taking a leading role in international research teams.

"The ongoing international discussions about diversity, equity and inclusion will hopefully help us establish more sustainable and fair collaborations in research," adds Isabelle Arimond, Functional Agrobiodiversity, University of Gottingen.

More information: Carolina Ocampo-Ariza et al, Global South leadership towards inclusive tropical ecology and conservation, Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.pecon.2023.01.002
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Distribution of two non-native squirrel species in Japan: Pallas's squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus; left) and Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris; right). Sites of invasion are depicted in orange. The four successful eradication sites are shown in black. Credit: Noriko Tamura from Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan

Japan is home to at least three different native sciurine speciessquirrels, as we commonly call themincluding the Japanese squirrel, the Japanese flying squirrel, and the Japanese giant flying squirrel. In recent time, owing to the intentional and accidental introduction of non-native squirrels, the nationwide distribution of Japan's native squirrels has shown a general trend of decline.

There is a need for concentrated effort to address this growing ecological problem. However, most articles highlighting this issue are written in Japanese, which may hinder collaborative engagement of a wider pool of researchers, conservationists, and policymakers.

Therefore, researchers Dr. Noriko Tamura and Dr. Masatoshi Yasuda from Japan's Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) have recently published a review on this topic in English to highlight their eradication-related accomplishments and aid similar eradication in other parts of the world. This paper has been published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Elaborating on the necessity of their study, Dr. Tamura says, "Prior studies confirm the introduction of three species of alien squirrels in Japan: Tamias sibiricus, Callosciurus erythraeus, including the species complex Callosciurus finlaysonii, and Sciurus vulgaris. Japan is home to the endemic squirrel species Sciurus lis, Petaurista leucogenys, and Pteromys momonga in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, as well as to the endemic subspecies Sciurus vulgaris orientis, Tamias sibiricus lineatus, and Pteromys volans orii in Hokkaido. At this point, we need to address the ecosystem damage caused by the alien species and also focus on conserving the endemic Japanese species."

The alien invasion has historic origins. For instance, Pallas's squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) got accidentally introduced in Japan after a typhoon destroyed their breeding cages in the 1930s and also after they escaped from a Gifu City exposition in 1936. However, their population increase may also be attributed to the commercial interests of the Japanese tourism industry and to Japanese citizens who became familiar with the squirrels after visiting tourist parks based in foreign countries.

Masatoshi Yasuda from FFPRI, the coauthor of the study, says, "The Japanese squirrel, Sciurus lis, has not been observed in Kyushu for the past 100 years and is likely extinct. In 14 prefectures, especially in western Honshu, the Japanese squirrel has only a small distribution area and even if it is present, its density is extremely low, so it is designated as a regionally endangered species. The Japanese flying squirrel, Pteromys momonga, is considered endangered in most of Japan's prefectures. The Japanese giant flying squirrel, Petaurista leucogenys, is also categorized as a regionally endangered species in Kyushu."

The problem gets further confounded by the fact that neither Japan's citizens nor its government-appointed officials can easily distinguish between non-native and native sciurine species. Moreover, both entities are significantly unaware of the damage that alien squirrels cause to ecosystems, agriculture, and forestry.

To mitigate the effects of the nationwide alien squirrel invasion, researchers, including the authors of this review, stepped in to share technical advice and initiate action plans. To this end, the participating damage control teams used physical trapping methods and, in some cases, additional chemical control methods.

As part of an initial eradication program, cage traps were fastened on trees and baited with attractants such as chestnuts and peanuts. The captured squirrels were euthanized with an overdose of carbon dioxide in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Japanese government. In some areas, an incentive of 800 yen per animal was announced for promoting the capture of alien squirrels in the early stages with high density.

At the moment, the eradication program includes modern control systems and improved trapping regimes. Consequently, the alien squirrel density is seeing a significant decrease, particularly if the population is at an early stage of up to 5000 individuals.

Citizensby understanding the importance of preventionand administratorsby seeking help from trained expertscan play key roles in the eradication program. The authors conclude on a positive note by stating that eradication efforts have been successful in four Japanese locations because of the active involvement of experts and other concerned stakeholders.

In summary, this article shows that early action against invading alien species is absolutely critical for ensuring ecological balance and conserving rare endemic species.

More information: Noriko Tamura et al, Distribution and management of non-native squirrels in Japan, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1061115 Journal information: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Provided by Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
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McMaster researchers were part of an international team of experts who analyzed the remains of Pablo Neruda in an effort to determine if the pathogen Clostridium botulinum was responsible for his death. Credit: Debi Poinar

Evolutionary geneticists and forensic experts who have spent years analyzing the remains of Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda have added important new information to the case regarding a possible covert assassination.

Over the last two weeks, the scientists, including McMaster researcher Debi Poinar, evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar and other members of the McMaster Ancient DNA laboratory, along with their collaborators in Denmark, have presented their findings to a Chilean tribunal, concluding with a final presentation today to the judge overseeing the hearings.

They have spent years conducting a detailed genetic analysis of bone and tooth samples to look for and reconstruct the genomes of pathogens, specifically Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum), which may have been responsible for Neruda's death. The botulism strain produces one of the deadliest toxins known to mankind, botulinum, and is known to have been used as a biological weapon in several countries.

In 2017, scientists from McMaster, working with a forensic team from the University of Copenhagen, determined Neruda did not die from prostate cancer, which had officially been listed as his cause of death. Further analysis suggested C. botulinum was present in a molar extracted for posthumous examination.

At the direction of the tribunal, the researchers have continued to work over the last four years to confirm whether the C. botulinum was present in Neruda's remains, whether it had been present at the time of his death, and if so, was it possible the bacterium had caused his death?

The answer to the first two questions is yes, but they could not conclude that the strain of C. botulinum found in Neruda's remains killed him, nor that it was intentionally used to do so. However, in 1981, political prisoners in Chile were poisoned with C. botulinum. Should those strains be found, sequenced and compared to the one from Neruda's molar, it may provide clarity to the last question.

With only recovered fragments of DNA to work with, the researchers used the most advanced techniques and methods available to perform a painstaking reconstruction of a part of the genome of the bacterium, which is soil-dwelling and common in many environments.

Though it was found in small amounts both in Neruda's remains and at the burial site, they determined the concentration of C. botulinum in the soil surrounding the buried corpse was both extremely low and from different strains than the one present in the molar. In addition the C. botulinum DNA was damaged in a similar way as the DNA of Neruda's oral bacteria. These distinctions suggest that the bacterium in Neruda's remainsType II Clostridium botulinumhad likely been present when he died and was not due to subsequent environmental contamination.

"We've employed methods identical to those used to reconstruct the bacterial genome of the Black Death from 700 year old victims," said Hendrik Poinar, director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre and an investigator with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

However, researchers only recovered enough DNA from the molar to reconstruct a partial genome, or one-third of C. botulinum, due to degradation. Further study is required to recover enough additional fragmentary DNA to generate a more complete genome, they say.

Pablo Neruda during a U.S. Library of Congress recording session, on June 20th, 1996. Credit: USGov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Neruda died mysteriously in 1973, days after a bloody coup led by Augusto Pinochet, who remained in power until 1990. Neruda, an influential figure in the ousted regime of Salvador Allende, had been planning to flee to Mexico to lead the anti-Pinochet resistance from exile, but would die in a Santiago hospital.

"The notoriety of Neruda's suspicious death and the analysis of it is symbolic of the investigation into each unsolved death that occurred during Pinochet's dictatorship," says Debi Poinar.

"Perhaps it will be impossible to have a definitive answer as to how the poet died, but so far, the possibility of poisoning by a third party has not been ruled out by the scientific evidence we have found to date," she says.

In 2016, the Chilean government acknowledged it was "clearly possible and highly probable" Neruda had been murdered.

The judge is expected to decide in the next several weeks whether there is sufficient evidence to prove Neruda had been poisoned by the bacterium or to set up additional panels for continued work on the case.

Timeline of events

1973: Pablo Neruda died in a Santiago hotel 12 days after Augusto Pinochet seized power in a coup.

2016: Chilean government acknowledged that Neruda may have been murdered. Teams from McMaster University and the University of Copenhagen began analyzing Neruda's bones and teeth.

2017: Researchers determined Neruda did not die from prostate cancer.

2023: Scientists presented findings that Clostridium botulinum was present in Neruda's remains and suggest that it was possible he was poisoned.
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N = 2 SO(4) topological Kondo model. The box at the middle is the Majorana island and the wires (leads) at the left and right hold conduction electrons. Each wire inside a channel is connected to a Majorana zero mode (labeled by  1,2,3,4 ) in the island. (b) N -channel SO ( M ) topological Kondo model. The number of Majorana zero modes (flavors) is M and the number of layers (channels) is N . The charging energy E ci ( E c1 is zero and all others are nonzero) is essential for each channel to prevent channel mixing. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.066302

Long before Dr. Jukka Vayrynen was an assistant professor at the Purdue Department of Physics and Astronomy, he was a post-doc investigating a theoretical model with emergent particles in a condensed matter setting. Once he arrived at Purdue, he intended to expand on the model, expecting it to be relatively easy.

He gave the seemingly straightforward calculations to Guangjie Li, a graduate student with whom he was working, but the calculations yielded an unexpected result. These results were a surprising roadblock that nearly brought their research to a screeching halt. Team tenacity has taken this roadblock and turned it into a possible route to the development of quantum computing.

At the Aspen Center for Physics in Colorado, Vayrynen discussed this issue with a colleague from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, Dr. Yuval Oreg, who helped circumvent the obstacle. The team used this new understanding of their calculations to propose a quantum device that could be tested experimentally to succinctly realize emergent particles such as the Fibonacci anyon. They published their findings, "Multichannel topological Kondo effect," in Physical Review Letters on February 10, 2023.

Condensed matter theory is a field of physics that studies, for example, the properties of electronic quantum systems, with applications to technologies such as superconductors, transistors, or quantum computing devices. One of the challenges in this field is understanding the quantum mechanical behavior of many electrons, also known as the "many-body problem." It is a problem because it can only be theoretically modeled in very limited cases.

However, even in those limited cases, rich emergent phenomena such as collective excitations or fractionally charged emergent "quasi"-particles are known to emerge. These phenomena are a result of the complex interactions between electrons and can lead to the development of new materials and technologies.

"In our paper, we propose a quantum device that is simple enough to be theoretically modeled and tested experimentally in the future, yet also complex enough to display non-trivial emergent particles," says Vayrynen.

"Our results indicate that the proposed device can realize an emergent particle called a Fibonacci anyon that can be used as a building block of a quantum computer. The device is therefore a promising candidate for the development of quantum computing technology."

This discovery could be used in future quantum computers in a way that allows one to make them more resistant to decoherence, also known as noise.

According to their publication, the team introduced a physically motivated N-channel generalization of a topological Kondo model. Starting from the simplest case N = 2, they conjecture a stable intermediate coupling fixed point and evaluate the resulting low-temperature impurity entropy. The impurity entropy indicates that an emergent Fibonacci anyon can be realized in the N = 2 model.

According to Li, "a Fibonacci anyon is an emergent particle with the property that as you add more particles to the system, the number of quantum states grows like the Fibonacci sequence, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. In our system, a small quantum device is connected to conduction electron leads which will overly screen the device and can result in an emergent Fibonacci anyon."

The team also gives a number of predictions that could be experimentally tested in future quantum devices.

"We evaluate the zero-temperature impurity entropy and conductance to obtain experimentally observable signatures of our results. In the large-N limit we evaluate the full cross over function describing the temperature-dependent conductance," says Vayrynen.

This research is the first in a series that the Purdue team of Li and Vayrynen will work on. They collaborated with a senior scientist from Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany, Dr. Elio Konig, and posted a related work, "Topological Symplectic Kondo Effect" in a preprint arXiv on October 20, 2022.

More information: Guangjie Li et al, Multichannel Topological Kondo Effect, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.066302 Journal information: Physical Review Letters
China vows to address exorbitant 'bride prices,' extravagant wedding ceremonies

By Xu Keyue and Fan Anqi (Global Times) 08:45, February 15, 2023

Photo: Li Hao/GT

China unveiled its key policy document or No. 1 central document for 2023 on Monday, vowing to launch a special campaign against problems including exorbitant "bride prices" and extravagant wedding ceremonies as part of nationwide efforts to strengthen the construction of public cultural-ethical standards in the country's rural areas.

The document encouraged local governments to formulate norms for changing outdated customs in light of local conditions, strengthen the role of village rules and conventions in restraining bad behavior, and Party members and officials to take the lead in setting examples.

The "bride price" is a traditional Chinese prerequisite for marriage. Giving a "bride price" as a betrothal gift has a long history in China as a goodwill gesture between the couple and their two families. However, the "bride price" has risen from a token amount to very high levels, particularly in poorer areas, and the nature of the traditional custom has changed a lot over the years.

Some families in rural areas or low-income families have to use up their savings for their sons to get married. Some young couples, once in a good relationship, have fallen out over high betrothal prices, and some have broken up.

Recently, many cities and provinces across China have intensified their efforts to rein in exorbitant "bride prices". Last September, eight national departments jointly issued a notice to address the problems of excessive "bride prices" and extravagant wedding ceremonies in rural areas, rolling out a special work plan for a nationwide campaign.

Many cities in East China's Jiangxi Province, which have long been known for exorbitant "bride prices", are also stepping up campaigns to address the problem. On September 28, 2022, Guangchang county in Jiangxi held a group wedding for 10 couples with a "zero bride price," vigorously promoting this newlywed fashion. The livestreaming of the group wedding was watched by more than 40,000 people.

An official from Shangrao, another city in Jiangxi, who requested anonymity, revealed a surprising but typical situation: in some urban areas, the "bride price" is usually in the range of 100,000 to 150,000 yuan ($14,700 to $22,000), while in some rural areas, it's even higher. For example, prices of 188,000 and 288,000 yuan are common in less economically developed areas.

He told the Global Times on Tuesday that such exorbitant "bride prices" never used to be a folk custom or tradition of Jiangxi.

A few years ago, with the improvement of incomes and living standards, people started to ask for higher "bride prices", the official said, adding that binding the lifelong happiness of young men and women to material conditions went against traditional virtues.

The official said that it is unrealistic and unnecessary to completely stop or forcibly curb the "bride price" tradition, but excessive and unaffordable "bride prices" should be restricted.

Through the government's efforts, the exorbitant "bride price" problem is expected to be alleviated, but given that the custom is a private one that is deeply rooted in some areas, China has a long way to go before ridding itself of "bride prices", Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, told the Global Times.

It is important to advocate a more rational range for "bride prices", but how effective this will be largely depends on local economic development and people's thinking, the professor said.

The sky-rocketing "bride price" is a result of "over-materialism" and the extreme disparity that exists today between rich and poor, said Mu Guangzong, a professor at the Institute of Population Research with Peking University.

Also, the imbalance of the male to female ratio, especially in rural areas, partially due to the concept of son preference for many years, is another factor, Mu said. As some rural families found it is difficult for men to get a wife, they will raise the "bride price," he explained.

Social issues such as comparison psychology, the protection of women's interests after marriage, gender equality, and marriage values also affect the "bride price," Mu said.

In the context of declining marriage registrations in recent years, by encouraging reasonable "bride prices", young people might be more willing to get married, and the country could see higher marriage registrations, more stable marriages and fewer divorced couples due to money troubles, Mu believes.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
 Flash

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.

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2023 shows a scene after a massive earthquake strikes Antakya in Hatay Province, Turkiye. [Photo/Xinhua]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Independent craft brewers were able to weather the COVID pandemic by taking risks and being innovative, a new study has revealed.

While many businesses in the hospitality sector struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic, the study revealed that some craft brewing companiessmall independently owned businesses that rely on marking themselves out by experimenting with new flavorsbucked the trend by embracing risk and creativity.

The study at the University of York, in collaboration with Northumbria University and Anglia Ruskin University, showed that individual resilience must come ahead of evolving company strategy, in order for small businesses to face the challenges of unexpected events, such as the pandemic, which saw many independent companies fail, with around 50 brewery closures in 2022 alone.

Major crisis

Dr. Nadine Waehning, from the University of York's School for Business and Society, said, "The study showed that business opportunity in the face of a major crisis could be identified, but that personal attitudes towards the challenges, such as attitudes toward risk, investment, change, and creativity, played a more significant role as a first response to the pandemic than changing company strategy did."

"The support by local people and other local businesses were also a significant factor in how craft brewers, in the absence of pubs being open to supply products to, survived the crisis."

Facing closure

Researchers argue that the findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that suggests that if communities don't support their local businesses, such as breweries and pubs, then they will face closure.

The study highlighted examples of innovation in the craft brewing industry that could be adopted into the future, such as a craft brewing company that worked together with a local coffee company to distribute their product to the community, which meant they were saving costs by not driving to deliver to the same places.

Other innovations included using local taproomsplaces for people to experience the culture and craft of beer-makingas the new local 'corner shop' to offer more than just their own beer, but other everyday items, providing a lifeline for customers in more rural areas who struggled to access basic amenities in the pandemic.

In it together

Andy Herrington, of Ainsty Ales Brewery & Taproom, based in York, said, "The local community was key for us, and taking the attitude that we were 'all in this together', and asking ourselves early on what we could do to reach our community at a time when everyone was feeling very disconnected, was crucial."

"We realized that if we could join with other small businesses and identify common challenges, that we could actually help each other through a tough time."

"Turning our Taproom into a replacement 'Corner Shop', creating a Brewery Drive-Thru, and starting a local delivery service were practical things we did to offer our products, but it also connected us with a community who were struggling to get basic household products during COVID restrictions. These new routes to market are still with the business now which is fantastic."

Collaboration

This kind of collaborative working, along with making changes to packaging, increasing digital presence, local deliveries, as well as the willingness of local people to buy from small businesses, all meant that craft brewers who employed these methods were more successful than those who took less risks, and decided to 'wait for the storm to pass'.

Professor Gary Bosworth, from Anglia Ruskin University, said, "The pandemic had a big impact on not only breweries, but supply chains both big and small. We are still feeling these impacts today, with one third of the hospitality industry predicted to be under threat of failure at the beginning of this year."

"We found that it wasn't changing business strategy that put businesses on the right foot to move forward in the initial stages of the crisis, but individual attitudes to the pandemicthose who felt the crisis would pass were less likely to make investments during the period, and slower to innovate."

Energy costs

Professor Ignazio Cabras, from Northumbria University's Newcastle Business School, added "Smaller, independent businesses are now facing a new crisis with the cost of living rise, with the purchasing power of customers decreasing. At the same time the production costs are increasing exponentially due to the energy costs, which leaves breweries with two optionsto increase their prices to an unsustainable level for the customer or decrease an already tight profit margin."

Researchers argue that more studies are needed to understand the full extent of how impactful individual resilience is to achieve whole company resilience, but it was a clear factor in how craft brewers progressed through the pandemic.

The research is published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.

More information: Nadine Waehning et al, Resilient SMEs and entrepreneurs: evidence from the UK craft brewing sector, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research (2023). DOI: 10.1108/IJEBR-06-2021-0496
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Soil is a primary reservoir of biodiversity in urban ecosystems. Human-caused disturbance and loss of natural habitats greatly affect urban soil biodiversity. However, there are multiple mitigation options (e.g., green roofs and walls, indoor habitats, diversified and restored parks) to provide soil habitat to increase soil biodiversity in indoor and outdoor spaces. Credit: npj Urban Sustainability (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0

From China's mega-cities to Australia's sprawling suburbs, scientists are calling for grassroots action to raise awareness about the role of soil biodiversity to promote better human health and well-being.

Loss of urban biodiversity, declining green open spaces and increasing pollution in urban ecosystems around the world are reducing citizens' exposure to the age-old beneficial elements of soil microbes to promote immunity and reduce allergies and other illnesses including asthma in humans, warn experts from China, Europe and Flinders University in South Australia in a new article in the journal njp Urban Sustainability.

"With 70% of the human population expected to live in cities by 2050, we argue that we need to maintain contact with healthy soil both indoors and outdoors to maintain and improve immune fitness, help to suppress pathogens and benefit the human microbiome," says the first author Professor Xin Sun, who leads the Urban Soil Ecology Group at the Institute of Urban Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"The potential for improving human health by enhancing urban soil biodiversity is an important yet little understood field of fundamental and applied research," she says.

She joined colleague Professor Yong-Guan Zhu, Director General of the Institute of Urban Environment, Dr. Stefan Geisen and colleagues from Germany's University of Gottingen, Russia and the Netherlands, as well as experts from Flinders University College of Science and Engineering in drawing attention to the importance of soil biodiversity to human healthalong side its vital role in producing food and greenery in urban settings.

"Unfortunately, land management linked to urbanization, surface sealing, compaction, pollution and removal of vegetation can adversely affect soil biodiversity which traditionally have been one of Earth's largest reservoirs of biological diversity," says Flinders University collaborator on the study, restoration genomics researcher Dr. Craig Liddicoat.

"Cities are seeing the collapse of the natural environment, destabilized food webs and rapid changes to soil biodiversity, which in turn risks creating unhealthy urban environments," says Associate Professor Martin Breed, who is working with New Zealand's University of Waikato to investigate 'restoring health-promoting soil biodiversity'.

"We need to revisit strategies to rebuild the quality and exposure to soils via restoration and work on more creative ways of greening and rewilding our cities to improve not only the environment, but also our own health," he says.

As well as large urban parks, researchers point out that private backyards, potted indoor plants, and even road verges, footpaths and green roofs and walls can all elevate exposure to soilin tandem with efforts to remediate and remove soil pollutants to regain a balance of soil biodiversity necessary for more healthy city environments.

Conserving and restoring biodiverse green spaces and establishing more green infrastructure benefit the maintenance of soil health by increasing soil biodiversity, suppressing soil pathogens and antibiotic resistance bacteria and reducing the amount of the microorganisms associated with methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Appropriate management of soil biodiversity in cities can reduce the risk of immune-mediated diseases and improve human health in cities via reducing pathogens, purifying soil pollutants, as well as enhancing the human immunoregulation and modulating the human microbiome, the research concludes.

More information: Xin Sun et al, Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities, npj Urban Sustainability (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0
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Stranded people are airlifted from their rooftop by a military helicopter near the North Island city of Napier.

Military helicopters winched stranded storm survivors to safety in New Zealand on Wednesday, after Cyclone Gabrielle killed four people and displaced 10,500 more.

With the storm now fading into the South Pacific, rescue teams are finally reaching regions cut off by days of torrential rain and gale-force winds.

The New Zealand military deployed three NH90 helicopters on reconnaissance and rescue flights to the hard-hit Hawke's Bay area, finding families, pets and workmates clustered on sodden zinc rooftopssurrounded by a sea of murky, debris-filled floodwater.

"In some cases, floodwaters were up to the second storey of homes where people were being rescued," a military spokesperson said.

The disaster has severed roads, collapsed houses and cut power across a swathe of New Zealand's North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country's five million residents.

The human toll continues to rise. Police said the body of a child was found in a town on the remote east coast, with the youngster "believed to have been caught in rising floodwater".

Three other bodies have also been recovered, including a woman killed when her house was crushed by a landslide and a victim believed to be a volunteer firefighter trapped by a collapsing home.

The New Zealand Defence Force clear fallen trees near Matarangi, in the Coromandel area of the North Island.

"The devastation is widespread and has taken a toll beyond property and livelihoods to people," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

"There have been four confirmed fatalities and the grief must be unimaginable."

With the cellphone network disrupted, police have received over 1,400 reports of people who are still "uncontactable".

"We expect the vast majority of these people will be accounted for," Hipkins said, "but there are several people missing for whom police hold grave concerns."

At an evacuation centre in Whangarei in the far north, Margaret, 66who asked for her surname not to be publishedsaid she fled her property when floodwater poured in and the power went out.

Her daughter, who lives 600 kilometres (373 miles) away in Napier on the east coast, was also forced out of her home when a landslide hit the area.

"She'd been calling me earlier, checking I was okay and then she's had this happen; it's unbelievable, really," she told AFP.

"She's young, so it's a big setback for her and her husband. I'll be ok, I've got people up here I can stay with and things will dry out eventually."

New Zealand has declared a national state of emergency as severe tropical storm Gabrielle swept away roads, inundated homes and left tens of thousands of residents without power.

'The long haul'

Emergency minister Kieran McAnulty indicated that around 10,500 people had been displaced. Officials estimate 160,000 households are still without power.

McAnulty hailed the "phenomenal" efforts of rescue workers and military personnel who plucked "roughly 300 people from rooftops" in Hawke's Baya sprawling expanse of lush farmland, rugged mountains and hard-to-reach towns.

He said a group of 60 people were rescued from one large building marooned by floodwaters.

Aerial images from the area showed a once-bucolic landscape riven with torrents of floodwater, latticed with crumbling roads and scarred by massive landslides.

Authorities on Tuesday announced a national state of emergency for only the third time in the country's history. The other two were for the 2019 Christchurch attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyclone Gabrielle formed off the northeastern coast of Australia in the Coral Sea on February 8, before barrelling across the South Pacific.

A New Zealand Defence Force photo shows a truck stranded on a road covered with debris near Wairoa on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.

It bore down on New Zealand's northern coast on Sunday, bringing gusts of 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour.

Over the next 24 hours, coastal communities were doused with 20 centimetres (almost eight inches) of rain and pounded by 11-metre (36-foot) waves.

Many parts of northern New Zealand were already waterlogged when Cyclone Gabrielle hit, having been drenched by record rainfall two weeks ago.

Scientists say Gabrielle had fed off unusually warm seas, driven by a combination of climate change and La Nina weather patterns.

 2023 AFP
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At least 830 men, women and children were coercively sterilized in Utah, approximately 54 of whom may still be alive. They were victims of a sterilization program that lasted for fifty years in the state and targeted people confined to state institutions. Many were teenagers or younger when operated upon; at least one child was under the age of ten.

"For the first time, we have a sense of the human scale of the eugenic assault here in Utah, as well as the lasting legacy of that assault in the form of survivors still living in 2023," said James Tabery, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah and lead author of the paper reporting the results, which appeared today in The Lancet Regional HealthAmericas.

Eugenics in America and in Utah

Utah was one of 32 states that passed legislation permitting the sterilization of people on eugenic grounds. The eugenic movement was popular across the United States in the early-20th century. It mixed pseudoscientific ideas about the existence of genes for complex traits like criminality and poverty with racist and ableist biases about what lives were worth living to make judgments about who in society was "fit" and worthy of bearing children and who was "unfit" and unworthy. All told, more than 60,000 people were sterilized across America as part of the effort to mold human populations into the eugenic ideal.

Utah's sterilization law was first passed in 1925, authorizing the sterilization of people institutionalized at the Utah State Hospital, Utah State Prison and Utah State Industrial School and deemed to be "habitually sexually criminal, insane, idiotic, imbecile, feeble-minded or epileptic, and by the laws of heredity is the probable parent of socially inadequate off-spring likewise afflicted." When the Utah State Training School (now Utah State Developmental Center) opened in the early 1930s to care for the "feebleminded," the law was revised to include patients there too.

The Victims of Eugenic Sterilization

Tabery and his co-authorsNicole Novak, assistant professor at the University of Iowa, as well as Lida Sarafraz and Aubrey Mansfield, two graduate students at the University of Utahprovide several examples of the terrible harm done by Utah's sterilization program. In one case, when a teenage girl, in 1928, told her local religious leader that she'd been repeatedly raped by a family member, the man did not believe her. Instead, she was admitted to the Utah State Hospital, diagnosed as a "moron" and sterilized. After her release, that same man admitted she was probably being sold as a sex worker by another family member. In another case, in the 1970s, a teenage boy at the Utah State Training School learned that he was scheduled for sterilization. His initial reaction was violent objection, motivated by his desire to have children. As time went on, however, he resigned himself to the fact that there was little he could do to prevent the operation.

The paper, "Victims of Eugenic Sterilisation in Utah" documents how those tragic cases evolved over time. When the state-sanctioned sterilizations began in 1925, they occurred almost exclusively at the Utah State Hospital in Provo, UT and more often targeted men than women. When the Utah State Training School opened several years later, the vast majority of the sterilizations shifted to that institution in American Fork, UT, where the program captured a younger population and shifted to sterilizing more females than males. The institutionalized program peaked in Utah in the 1940s and didn't end until 1974.

Utah had a particularly aggressive sterilization program. Eugenics leaders, in fact, hailed Utah for sterilizing a far greater proportion of its residents than any other state in 1947 as an "important achievement in public health."

The "Stubborn Persistence" of Sterilizations in Utah

"One striking feature of Utah's sterilization program," according to Tabery, "is just how long it lasted." Many states ramped down their sterilization programs in the 1940s and 1950s. This was partly in response to the horrific revelations that came at the conclusion of World War II. Nazis in Germany eagerly embraced American eugenics, taking it to its grisly zenith by declaring entire racial and ethnic groups "unfit." As concentration camps were uncovered across Europe, the shocking culmination of that eugenic vision became plain for all to see. There were also scientific forces working against eugenics. Human geneticists, by the mid-20th century, made it clear that there were no simple genes for criminality or poverty, and so no amount of sterilization would eliminate those problems from society.

The Utah legislature worked around those developments by changing the rationale for its sterilization program in 1961. With no biological support for the program, the lawmakers swapped out the genetic justification with a new rationale for sterilization, arguing that institutionalized people could be sterilized if they were deemed "unlikely to be able to perform properly the functions of parenthood." As one Utah newspaper from the era summarized the legislative shift, "Instead of having to prove a genetic defect, it is now necessary only to show that a person is not and has no chance of becoming a fit parent."

Tabery and his co-authors describe the "stubborn persistence" of the sterilization program in Utah as particularly egregious. Intentionally seeking a lower scientific threshold for sterilizations allowed the program to continue well into the 1970s, long after many other states shuttered their eugenic initiatives.

A Nearly Complete Picture of Eugenic Sterilization in Utah

The publication includes demographic information (e.g. sex, race/ethnicity, year of birth) on almost every documented case of eugenic sterilization that took place in Utah. Of all the known cases that occurred, only about two dozen are missing from the data set, providing a nearly complete picture of who the eugenic program targeted over the years.

This is particularly noteworthy because there was no single eugenics board overseeing the sterilizations in Utah. Instead, they were controlled by administrative staff at the state hospital, state prison and state training school. (The Utah State Industrial School, formerly of Ogden, UT, was authorized to perform sterilizations, but no procedures were recorded there.)

Data for the study was derived from a deidentified database compiled by staff at the Utah State Developmental Center, as well as a masters thesis written by a University of Utah graduate student from 1932 which reported on cases of eugenic sterilization from that time. The research was funded by grants from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Neither the Utah state institutions nor the funder played any role in the design or administration of the study.

Estimating the Number of Survivors Living in 2023

With information about sex, year of birth and age at sterilization, the research team was able to estimate the number of sterilizations survivors still living in 2023: approximately 54 (36 women and 18 men), with an average age of 78.

Other states, when faced with their own abhorrent history of eugenics, have begun reckoning with that awful past. Governors and legislators have issued official apologies. Historical markers have been installed. Several states have even created compensation programs for the survivors of their programs. Utah, on the other hand, has expressed no such regret, lacking even an official acknowledgement of the history.

Given the advanced age of potential survivors in Utah, Tabery and his co-authors conclude that "time is running out for a reconciliation that can be experienced by those who were most harmed by the medical practice."

More information: Victims of eugenic sterilisation in Utah: cohort demographics and estimate of living survivors, The Lancet Regional HealthAmericas (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100436, www.thelancet.com/journals/lan  (23)00010-8/fulltext
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new analysis of employment timelines of Swedish workers highlights varying patterns of active work and work interruptions over 15 years, revealing factors associated with different types of interruptions. Katalin Gemes of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 15.

As populations age and birthrates decline in high-income countries, concerns are growing that there will be too few workers to cover rising costs of health care and social security. Some governments are therefore implementing policies meant to extend the number of years people spend working, such as boosting the retirement age. This situation raises questions about people's long-term working timelines and the factors that impact them; however, research on this topic has been scarce.

To deepen our understanding of employment timelines, Gemes and colleagues analyzed data from Swedish registers of economic activity and social and health-related benefits linked to the Swedish Living Conditions Surveys, a series of surveys conducted annually among thousands of people in Sweden. They applied an analytical tool known as sequence analysis to examine 15-year timelines of employment.

The analysis surfaced timelines that could be categorized into five different general patterns: 65% of the timelines showed continuous activity in employment or education throughout the 15-year period, while the other timelines showed varying combinations of active work and interruptions involving long-term parental leave, unemployment, sickness or disability benefits, or retirement.

Despite Sweden scoring highly on measures of gender equality, the researchers found gender differences in employment patterns: compared to men, women were more likely to have interruptions involving sickness or disability benefits or long-term parental leave. Among both men and women, those with low education or poor health were more likely to have timelines involving both periods of unemployment and periods of receiving sickness or disability benefits.

The authors note that their findings could generalize across Sweden and perhaps to other Nordic countries with similar welfare and economic policies. However, they also note that they only considered adults who were in paid work at the beginning of the study period, so the study may not reflect marginalized adults or adults who had yet to enter the labor market.

The authors add, "In this population-based Swedish study, we examined future working life patterns among individuals initially aged 1850 and in paid work. The majority of the women and men were working or studying without longer interruptions due to health or family-related reasons throughout the 15-year follow-up, however, women had higher odds of following working life courses with longer periods (>183 days/year) of interruptions due to parental leave and sickness-absence benefits, independent from socioeconomic-, work- and health-related factors."

More information: Working life sequences over the life course among 9269 women and men in Sweden; a prospective cohort study, PLoS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281056 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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ORNL scientists created a high-performance simulation of the Arctic tundra that found the process of soil subsidence due to permafrost thaw would be self-limited in the decades ahead. Credit: David Graham/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists set out to address one of the biggest uncertainties about how carbon-rich permafrost will respond to gradual sinking of the land surface as temperatures rise. Using a high-performance computer simulation, the research team found that soil subsidence is unlikely to cause rampant thawing in the future.

This permanently frozen landscape in the Arctic tundra, which has kept vast amounts of carbon locked away for thousands of years, is at risk of thawing and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified the possibility of soil subsidence leading to a feedback loop that could trigger a rapid thaw as a major concern in the decades ahead. Accelerated thawing caused by uneven land subsidence has been observed on smaller scales over shorter time frames, but the IPCC's assessments were uncertain as to what may happen over the long term.

That's where ORNL stepped in with its Advanced Terrestrial Simulator, or ATS, a highly accurate, physics-based model of the region's hydrology fed by detailed, real-world measurements to help scientists understand the land's evolution.

What they found is that even though the ground will continue to sink as big ice deposits melt, the uneven subsidence also leads to a drier landscape and limits the process's acceleration through the end of the century, as described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Improved drainage results in a drier landscape over a decadal timescale, and the process then becomes self-limiting," said Scott Painter, who leads the Watershed Systems Modeling group at ORNL.

An illustration of the long-term evolution likely to occur as rising temperatures and subsequent thawing of frozen Arctic soils affects the northern Alaska tundra, as predicted by a high-performance model created by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Adam Malin and Ethan Coon/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The scientists focused on a large region of the tundra characterized by ice wedgeslong pieces of ice that crack the surface and extend belowground to create polygonal forms in the Arctic landscape. The cryo-hydrology simulations were informed by measurements gathered in the polygonal tundra.

The ATS was first developed for the Department of Energy's NGEE Arctic project led by ORNL, focused on observations, experiments and modeling of the environmental processes at play in the region to improve climate predictions.

"We looked at the microtopography caused by these ice wedges in the subsurface and how that controls the flow of water," Painter said. "Ours is the first capability to capture the effect of changing microtopography and represent it in climate models."

Painter added that the team has a high degree of confidence in the model since it was developed for NGEE Arctic and has been evaluated against the project's real-world observations.

He noted that most models, including ORNL's, are in agreement in generally projecting large amounts of carbon thaw in the Arctic as temperatures rise. "But here, we have identified that one of the most worrisome processes, this runaway thawing due to subsidence, is unlikely to occur over a long time frame."

The study pointed out other implications of a drying landscape. "As the polygonal tundra gets very dry, by the year 2100 it could have ecological impacts for migratory birds, which use these ecosystems as breeding grounds," Painter said.

More information: Scott L. Painter et al, Drying of tundra landscapes will limit subsidence-induced acceleration of permafrost thaw, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212171120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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:

Analysis of the elbow joint in M. trumani and other felids. (a) Landmarks digitized to capture the three-dimensional shape of the elbow joint. The elbow of M. trumani (mirrored) as an example. From top to bottom: anterior, posterior and inferior (distal) views. (b) Bivariate graph depicted from the first two eigenvectors obtained from PCA; (c) shape changes accounted for by the first two eigenvectors. (d) Bivariate graph depicted from the first two eigenvectors obtained from PCA for the restricted sample of M. trumani, P. concolor and A. jubatus, where c is the centroid. The convex hulls are defined according to the results obtained from K-means analysisi.e. K-means analysis classified M. trumani with Puma and not with Acinonyx. Ccar, Caracal caracal; Lser, Leptailurus serval; Lwie, Leopardus wideii; Nneb, Neofelis nebulosa; Pleo, Panthera leo; Ponc, Panthera onca; Pviv, Prionailurus viverrinus. Silhouettes are not to scale. Credit: Biology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0483

The Miracinonyx trumani, commonly known as the American cheetah, lived in North America more than 13,000 years ago. Despite its name, recent studies conducted at the University of Malaga have revealed that it is more similar to the cougar than the living cheetah, but with its own characteristics that make it a unique species, of which there is no modern analogous feline today.

Paleontologists at the UMA, together with researchers at the University of Valladolid and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (U.S.), have cast light on the characteristics of this extinct feline, mainly by studying its hunting strategy, which has been the subject of discussion in recent decades.

Study of its hunting strategy

This way, by analyzing its skeleton, the experts have proved that the Miracinonyx trumani, despite having long and light legs, was not as prepared as once thought to run after its preys, like the Old World cheetahs.

The results of the study, published in the scientific journal Biology Letters, also revealed that the claws of the Miracinonyx were retractable and it had the ability to grapple with its preys, like the rest of the felines, with the exception of the cheetah.

"Although in appearance they were very like modern cheetahs, their way of hunting was more similar to that of a cougar," says Borja Figueirido, scientist of the Paleontology Area of the UMA, and main author of the study.

The experts focused specifically on the elbow-joint, which allows them to know whether the animal is adapted to hunt by holding its preys with its forelimbs or is able to chase them at high speed.

The humerus of the Miracinonyx was oval and elongated at the end closest to the elbow, which means that its forearm bones were further apart and, therefore, it had the ability to hunt its preys by grasping them, as cougars do.

"The case of cheetahs is really unusual; in a few seconds they can reach nearly 100 kilometers per hour. They are the supercars of the savanna," says Figueirido.

This is not the case of the Miracinonyx. Although it had greater manipulation capacity with its forelimbs, its physiognomy prevented it from reaching a speed similar to that of the living cheetah. It was not, therefore, such a sprinting predator, says Alberto Martin Serra, paleontologist at the UMA, and co-author of the paper.

Analysis of its bones

To reach this conclusion, the scientists examined a skeleton of Miracinonyx found in a chasm in Wisconsin and compared it with the species of other modern felines, such as cougars, lions or lynxes.

"The detailed study of the bones was conducted at the UMA. What we did was to scan in 3D the humerus of living felines and digitalize homologous points to quantify its form. The fossil was scanned using CAT scan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison," explains Figueirido.

Study of its brain architecture

Another recent study by this research team of the University of Malaga, published in the scientific journal iScience, corroborates this hypothesis. The paleontologists analyzed if the brain architecture of Miracinonyx was similar to that of cheetahs, and results evidenced, again, clear differences between them.

Using 3D technology, the scientists virtually filled the intracranial space where the brain is housed, obtaining an endocast of the Miracinonyx trumani's brain surface, which they compared to living cheetahs and cougars.

The Miracinonyx's brain surface turns out to be more like the cougar's than the cheetah's: the Old World American cheetah was not cognitively prepared to hunt by high-speed chasing, among other things, because it had an underdeveloped nasal sinus, like cougars.

"The Miracinonyx was probably an intermediate version between the cheetah and the cougar," says Figueirido, who highlights that its "particular" way of hunting "is not currently represented in nature."

After these first two studies, the researchers at the University of Malaga, the University of Valladolid and the University of Wisconsin-Madison want to continue with this R&D line and study the complete forelimbs and the anatomy of the inner ear of the Miracinonyx, in order to answer the questions that remain unresolved around this unique North American fossil feline.

More information: Borja Figueirido et al, Elbow-joint morphology in the North American 'cheetah-like' cat Miracinonyx trumani, Biology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0483 Borja Figueirido et al, The brain of the North American cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani, iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105671 Journal information: Biology Letters , iScience

Provided by University of Malaga
GLENS FALLS  Officers arrested a Glens Falls man on a driving while intoxicated charge after police said he ran a red light on Sunday.

Dylan Carter, 18, was driving a Volkswagen Jetta at around 1 a.m. when he was stopped after police said he passed through a red light on Hudson Avenue. He had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10%.

Carter also had a suspended New York state license and was arrested, booked, processed and released to appear in Glens Falls City Court on a later date.
QUEENSBURY  On Tuesday, the Queensbury Union Free School District announced all students will receive free breakfast for the remainder of the year, starting March 1.

Queensbury school officials are able to fund the breakfasts for the rest of the 2022-23 school year, according to Superintendent Kyle Gannon.

Were excited to be able to offer free breakfast for our students, Gannon said in a news release. The last two years, students were able to enjoy universal free meals for all and the number of students eating breakfast at school doubled.

During the height of the pandemic, free meals were offered nationwide, but that program has now ceased.

When kids were given the opportunity to eat breakfast, they chose to eat breakfast, said Scott Whittemore, assistant superintendent for business, in the news release.

When school began in the fall, school meal programs returned to pre-pandemic operations, so many districts transitioned back to requiring family applications for free and reduced-price meals, and requiring students of families who are not income eligible to pay for meals at the paid price.

According to the release, the Queensbury school district has been advocating with the state to provide free breakfast and lunches to all students, but universal free meals for schools was not included in Gov. Kathy Hochuls proposed budget.

The district states some neighboring school districts already provide free breakfast and lunch to their students because 50% of the students qualify for free and reduced-price meals, meaning they live with a family of four that makes $36,000 a year or less.

Queensbury is only at 39% and does not qualify.

This year, Massachusetts extended universal free meals, and legislation is being considered to make the program permanent. Vermont and Nevada also extended free meals for this school year.

All students eat free in Maine and California.

We know how important it is for kids to be able to eat and the food here at Queensbury is exceptional, Gannon said.

Looking ahead to 2023-24

The district also announced on Tuesday two new sections of universal prekindergarten, or UPK, planned for the 2023-24 school year, opening up the number of total pre-K students to 72.

The district will have four sections of UPK, instead of two, in the fall.

While the superintendent mentioned free meals were not a part of the state budget, the districts ability to add new sections of universal prekindergarten were a direct result of Hochuls budget.

The governors budget proposal allows for Queensbury to be able to add two more sections of prekindergarten, said Gannon. This is an exciting opportunity for our district to embark on and to have our students with us earlier.

The sections of UPK taught by certified teachers will be housed in the Queensbury Elementary School.

Seats are currently available for children turning 4 on or before Dec. 1, 2023, through a random lottery, which will be drawn on March 1. The lottery is open on the districts website at www.queensburyschool.org until 5 p.m. on Feb. 28.

In order to enter the lottery, students must be of prekindergarten age and not eligible for kindergarten.

Parents will be notified via email by March 3 of acceptance to the program or placement on the waitlist. They will then be informed about the registration and screening processes if their childs name has been drawn through the lottery.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing on Tuesday.

Qin said the fruitful talks held by the two heads of state resulted in broad and important consensus, provided important strategic guidance and injected strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

China stands ready to work with Iran to deepen practical cooperation, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, implement the latest consensus reached by the two heads of state and push for new progress on the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Qin added.

Qin said the two sides should continue to support each other on issues concerning core interests, strengthen coordination and cooperation on international and regional affairs, make joint efforts to promote enduring peace and stability in the region, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international fairness and justice.

Noting that Iran attaches great importance to developing relations with China, Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran is ready to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and ensure the comprehensive cooperation plan of the two countries achieves more results.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, Amir-Abdollahian introduced the latest progress in the negotiations on resuming implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and expressed appreciation for China's constructive role.

Noting that China supports Iran in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, Qin said that China will continue to promote the political and diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue, and calls on other parties concerned to make active efforts toward this end.
BUENA  Borough officials deliberated on how to administer their new marijuana policy Monday.

People interested in opening marijuana businesses in the borough weighed in on the marijuana code and argued about how borough officials could best benefit local entrepreneurs.

The discussion centered on the boroughs plan to issue requests for proposals to decide which marijuana businesses it would award the local approvals and licenses needed to operate.

Borough Solicitor Richard Tonetta said the formal RFP process would help the borough evaluate the overall impact of each prospective marijuana business.

The next step for us would be to get these RFPs provided, Tonetta said. What that will do is it gives the companies the capability to provide their proposal, what they can do for the borough.

The newly created Buena Cannabis Advisory Committee will evaluate applicants. Tonetta said the committee will generally favor applicants who have already received conditional licenses from the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission over those who have not.

When it goes to the committee, theyre not going to pick somebody who has a handful of seeds and wants to grow pot, theyre going to pick the person, the company that has the best capability of success within the borough, which is very important, Tonetta said.

Rich Marolda Jr., a borough resident and the owner of Best Budz Buena, criticized favoring conditionally licensed applicants. He said the decision would unfairly benefit larger businesses that could more quickly complete the state licensure process, disadvantaging local farmers interested in entering the marijuana industry. He also said the duration of the solicitation period for proposals, 30 days, was too short.

The only people who have a chance to move that quickly in the process are the larger outfits, Marolda said.

Desmond Singh, the owner of Best Budz New Jersey, spoke in support of Marolda during the meeting, saying the borough should concentrate on supporting local entrepreneurs who are familiar with the town and have an intergenerational presence in the borough. He said the benefit given to those with conditional licenses left the borough vulnerable to having its marijuana licenses seized by larger outsiders.

You have community here, whos been here for 80-plus years, familys all here, thats going to be knocked down in these proposals, because he doesnt have a conditional license, Singh said. If you only have one license, isnt it worth the wait to support someone in your community to go through that process?

There were local entrepreneurs, however, who stood to benefit from the conditional license benefit.

Xavian Jackson, of Millville, was at the meeting representing Taste of Earth LLC, a family-owned marijuana retail business he runs with his wife, Kelsee Jackson, and father, Fred Jackson.

Taste of Earth, he said, has obtained its conditional license and was looking to operate locally, noting that Millville prohibits marijuana retailers from operating within city limits.

Buena appoints new solicitor amid ongoing legal dispute over fire company BUENA  The Borough Council voted unanimously to appoint a new solicitor Monday following th

Xavian Jackson urged the borough to begin the process as soon as possible so his business can be given fair consideration.

We did this application ourselves, literally, Xavian Jackson said Tuesday. I would love for them to give the guys a chance around here.

Tonetta said the Cannabis Advisory Committee would take local ownership into consideration but defended the favor given to businesses with conditional licenses.

He said the Borough Council could extend the length of the request-for-proposal solicitation period, or just issue requests for proposals for conditional licenses.

Singh said marijuana businesses had previously been expected to obtain a resolution of support from the governing body of the municipality in which they intend to operate before applying for state licenses. He said the state has since been awarding conditional licenses to marijuana businesses before they obtain the local resolution, creating confusion for municipal officials and applicants.

The Borough Council adopted its new marijuana code Jan. 23, creating an extensive application process. Prospective marijuana businesses must produce several documents on its applications submitted to the Cannabis Advisory Committee, including proof of relevant licenses, a summary of ones past business experience, references, consent to a background check and generally go through the normal development processes, including review by the borough Land Use Board. The application fee is $1,000, and an annual license fee is $10,000. Several of the requirements evaluate what impact a business would have on the neighborhood in which it is located, including litter, loitering, safety, noise and odor.

Two licenses are available for marijuana cultivators in the borough, while one license will be available for all other kinds of marijuana business, including retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors and delivery.

30 people arrested in Atlantic County drug ring MAYS LANDING  At least 30 people have been charged for their roles in a drug ring spanning 

The borough did not adopt any prohibitions on marijuana, as was permitted under state law, before an August 2021 deadline  a decision that tacitly legalized all six classes of marijuana business within borough limits. Residents have since expressed anxiety about the lack of regulations, with some blaming the borough government in 2021 for not exercising its ability to opt out of the full legalization of marijuana businesses. There has since been considerable turnover in borough government, with four of the then five members of the council having since resigned or lost their bid for reelection.

Xavian Jackson said he had obtained a resolution of support prior to applying for a state license when looking to open a marijuana business in another municipality. That planned business ultimately fell through due to what he described as a lack of available storefront property in the municipality in question. Kelsee Jackson expressed frustration that towns are not giving aspiring marijuana businesses enough guidance about where and how they can operate, criticizing vague zoning rules and other unclear restrictions.

The municipalities arent even sure yet, Kelsee Jackson said.

Tonetta said the borough would refrain from issuing the request for proposals until he could confer with the council.
A Mays Landing man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the repeated sexual assault of a minor, which he also filmed, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office said Wednesday.

Christian Navarrete, 39, was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr. for the sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault of a minor, as well as endangering the welfare of a child by filming the victim in a prohibited sexual act.

Navarrete pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to committing numerous acts of sexual penetration that he also recorded between July 18, 2017, and Dec. 15, 2019, the Prosecutors Office said in a news release.

Detectives investigated after they were notified of a report of juvenile sexual assault to the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency on Dec. 19, 2019.

The prosecutors High Technology Crimes Investigation Unit analyzed Navarretes phone and found more than 80 videos he recorded while engaging in the sexual acts with the victim, the Prosecutors Office said.

DeLury said the 25-year sentence was warranted because Navarrete was at risk of reoffending and needed to be deterred.

Navarrete will serve his time at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, where he will undergo sexual offender treatment. He also will be subject to Megans Law upon release, a lifetime of parole supervision and is barred from contact with the victim.
An Ocean County detective falsely told law enforcement he surrendered three weapons hed been ordered to forfeit under a restraining order, the county Prosecutors Office said Tuesday.

Matthew Curtis, 47, of Little Egg Harbor Township, allegedly falsified a letter telling police he sold three handguns registered to him before a temporary restraining order was imposed against him May 11, 2022, the Prosecutors Office said in a news release.

The Prosecutors Office did not release details as to why the order was issued. Curtis is a member of the Island Heights Police Department.

Upon the order being issued, Curtis relinquished a number of weapons from his possession, the Prosecutors Office said. After sending a letter to police May 13, 2022, informing them he sold three other handguns registered to him, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the guns back to Curtis, indicating he had not sold the weapons, the Prosecutors Office said.

Curtis, on Dec. 11, then filed a report with Little Egg Harbor police saying three handguns were stolen from his unlocked, personal vehicle parked in front of his home. One of those guns was found to be one he claimed to have sold.

That gun was retrieved from a defendant accused in a motor vehicle theft in Essex County, the Prosecutors Office said. The Prosecutors Office did not say whether the other two weapons Curtis asserted to have sold have been recovered. Curtis is charged with providing a false report to law enforcement authorities, contempt of a judicial or protective order and certain person prohibited from possession of a weapon.

Curtis was taken to the Ocean County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday before being released pending court. Hes also been suspended with pay from the Island Heights police force, the Prosecutors Office said.

As of September, Curtis was earning an $84,061 salary with the borough police department, according to state records.
EGG HARBOR CITY  Cedar Creek High School junior Maria Maione has been selected to attend the 16th annual Disney Dreamers Academy.

Maione is the only student to be selected from South Jersey, and one of four to be selected from the state.

The four-day program is hosted at Walt Disney World in Florida and gives teens the opportunity to learn from community leaders and industry experts on how to succeed in their career-driven goals.

I was nervous because I didnt know if I would be selected, Maione said.

While thousands of applications are submitted each year to take part in the program, only 100 students are picked.

The goal of the program is for students to get a head start in succeeding at their desired career paths by giving them hands-on networking experience, as well as placing them in immersive environments to practice skills relevant to their field.

Maione is the oldest of four and acts as a role model for her siblings, Francesco, Giovanna and Giovanni. Family is important to her.

When Im home, I love spending time with my family even if were just hanging out watching a show. I also love cooking with my mom, she said.

She was born deaf, and her parents werent sure if she would ever speak.

She didnt start talking until she was almost 4, said her mother, Angela. Her first word was Pinocchio. This was her favorite movie, and she would ask her dad to watch it all the time.

Maione is 16 and has acted as a leader in her community since she was in middle school.

In 2018, she testified for the Deaf Students Bill of Rights, which was signed into law in 2019.

She is working with the office of state Sen. Vincent Polistina, R-Atlantic, to amend Graces Law, a state law that requires limited insurance coverage for childrens hearing aids, to change language to include cochlear implants and to extend coverage from age 15 to 21. The law currently ends hearing aid coverage for New Jersey children at age 15.

I use my voice to promote the well being of others, Maione said. My parents taught me to stand up for myself and stand up for others when they dont seem to have a voice.

Her parents, Giovanni and Angela, couldnt be any prouder of the progress Maione has made.

Maione plans on becoming an electrical engineer after she graduates from high school. She loves her AP Calculus class and enjoys learning how to fix electronics with her dad in her free time.

I have fixed an Xbox controller and a PlayStation 3. One of the main things I hope to learn more about on this Disney trip is the use of electronics for the animatronics in the park, she said.

She credits her case manager Mrs. Koury, guidance counselor Mr. Cade, TOD (teacher of the deaf) Mrs. Smith and ASL interpreter Mrs. Vitagliano for their help over the years.

Santa Hustle comes to Atlantic City Boardwalk for first time ATLANTIC CITY  It was time to dash away all across the Boardwalk.

For more information, visit disneydreamersacademy.com.

Press of Atlantic City intern Taylor Massey contributed to this report.
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  Christina Allen saw no reason to have her guard up when she took her two Boston terriers for a late morning walk near her condominium last week.

An attack by two dogs left her with multiple stitches and her dogs injured.

She believes if her dogs were not wearing fleece sweaters and harnesses, the attack would have been far worse.

Police did not discuss details of the attack when contacted Monday. An official with the department said that a report on the incident was not ready.

The dog attack took place about 11 a.m. Feb. 6. A week later, Allen recounted the experience, saying she is thankful it was not worse, and expressing her gratitude to the neighbors who came out to help.

Still, she described the attack as deeply traumatic. Allen, 47, said she plans to put her condominium in Mays Landing Village up for sale.

Hamilton Township animal control contractor recommends being replaced HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  The owner of the company the township hired last year to provide animal 

I dont feel safe there anymore, she said Monday.

She still has stitches on both arms and is undergoing a course of shots to prevent rabies. She is staying with her mother in Upper Township, feeling too afraid to return home. She described the two dogs as pit bulls, far larger than her two Boston terriers, Molly and Meg.

Two dogs came up to us out of nowhere and started nosing my dogs, and they started biting my dogs, Allen said. I tried to get my dogs away from the pit bulls and they started going after me.

She said she tried spraying the dogs with mace, to no effect, and yelled for help. By then, one dog was on her pets, the other was attacking her.

An upstairs neighbor, whom she described as an off-duty police officer, ran to help. She was able to get one of her dogs into the house, and other neighbors were able to get the other out of the attacking dogs mouth, but the other dog was still biting her.

By then, she said, it seemed like the dog was more interested in attacking her than in getting at her dog.

Dog-friendly bar coming to Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  People will be able to grab a drink or a bite to eat with their furry friend

Her neighbor had her pull off her heavy winter coat and give that to the attacking dog, allowing her to get in her door.

Police and an ambulance arrived.

Allen said the pit bulls had calmed down and were not aggressive to the people outside the condominium complex. She said she saw them when she was being loaded into the ambulance.

They were just sitting there like they were good boys, she said.

She had cuts, bruises and bite marks on both arms. She said she received stitches in five injuries on one arm and two on the other, as well as a stitch to a cut on her face.

She described herself as lucky, and she hopes there will not be long-term damage and minimal scarring. Allen believes the sweaters on her dogs kept them from being killed, but both were badly bruised from the bites.

Dog therapy helps kids facing the trauma of war in Ukraine Bice is an American pit bull terrier with an important and sensitive job in Ukraine  comforting children traumatized by the war.

I never thought Id be the kind of person who puts sweaters on my dogs, but they get cold, Allen said.

Her dogs are like her babies, her mother, Dorothy Griffiths, added while her daughter was being interviewed. This has totally changed her life.

Allen said she was not familiar with the dogs that attacker her, and she said no owner has come forward to claim them. Griffiths shared a Facebook post to a Mays Landing-focused page raising concerns about two loose pit bulls on Route 50, saying the owner fails to leash the animals and that someone could get bitten.

The Facebook post described the dogs as a menace and said they had charged at residents and children in the neighborhood.

Allen said she does not know whether the dogs described in the post were the same two dogs that attacked her.

The same page has other posts this winter complaining about dogs running off leash. Allen and her mother suggested there is a problem in the community that goes beyond the two dogs that attacked her.

Pit bulls went from America's best friend to public enemy  now they're slowly coming full circle With National Pit Bull Awareness Day celebrated on Oct. 26, its a fitting time to ask how these dogs came to be seen as a dangerous threat.

Allen said she was concerned about animal control in the township. In 2018, there were calls for a full-time animal control officer in the township after four dog-on-dog attacks that year and the year before.

A page on the Atlantic County website lists Animal Control of South Jersey as the municipal animal control service for the township. Animal Control of South Jersey has not yet responded to a request for comment. The Township Administrators Office has not yet returned a request for comment left with a township official about the townships animal control operations.

The two pit bulls involved in the recent attack have been taken to an animal shelter, Allen said. She described them as well fed and cared for. Some people have speculated that they may have been abandoned in the area, she said, but she had no direct information about that.

She does not want to see them returned to their owner, saying she is concerned the dogs could attack someone else and potentially do more harm.

I would want them put down, she said. There could have been a child out there.

There is a school bus stop near where she was attacked, Allen said.

Staff Writer Chris Doyle contributed to this report.
UPPER TOWNSHIP  While area communities and local representatives have called for a halt to any offshore work in preparation for proposed offshore wind power projects, Upper Township will not join them.

Resident Barbara Murphy-Leary raised the issue at the Monday meeting of Township Committee, citing the multiple other communities that have called for a moratorium.

Were always looking at it, were always concerned, but at this point were not anticipating doing that, Mayor Jay Newman told her at the meeting.

Multiple officials in the communities near Upper Township have supported a moratorium or called for more investigations into possible connections between the work and the large number of whales that have washed ashore this year.

Federal authorities say there is no indication that the work to map the ocean floor off South Jersey contributed to whale injuries or deaths.

Also on Monday, yet another dead whale washed ashore in New Jersey, this time near Whiting Avenue in Manasquan, Monmouth County. On Monday afternoon, the remains of the animal could be seen about 100 yards offshore.

Brigantine hosts third offshore wind meeting BRIGANTINE  State and federal lawmakers joined local officials and residents in expressing 

As of Tuesday afternoon, a cause of death for the animal had not been determined, according to Allison Ferreira of the Greater Atlantic Fisheries Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A necropsy has not been conducted yet, she said.

The whale was reported to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine on Monday, while it was still in the water. It washed ashore that afternoon.

Plans were to transport the remains off the beach for further investigation. Ferreira said it was a juvenile female humpback, about 35 feet long.

Working with Monmouth County, the decision was made to move the whale to the county landfill for examination and tissue sampling, Ferreira said. Necropsy teams will have access to heavy equipment and resources that will enable a complete examination.

She said the investigation is ongoing, and that humpback whales frequently visit the Jersey shore.

This was the ninth whale to wash up dead this winter in New Jersey and New York. A right whale washed up in Virginia the same day. The humpback whale population has made a dramatic recovery after hovering close to extinction, while right whales remain critically endangered.

So far, Upper Township Committee has supported plans for the Ocean Wind 1 project to bring electricity to the former B.L. England power plant in the Beesleys Point section of the township, and building a new substation on part of the land that was the site of the long-running coal-fired plant.

Township officials have had little to say about the controversy otherwise, although the township was the site of the first whale to wash up in New Jersey in December, when a juvenile humpback was found on the beach in the Whale Beach area near Strathmere.

Ocean Wind 1, a project of the Danish energy company rsted, is expected to be the first of several offshore wind power farms to begin generating power in New Jersey. Other projects are also in the works.

Ocean Wind proposes close to 100 wind turbines starting 15 miles off the coast, which are expected to be visible from the beaches of Ocean City and other communities.

Officials in Ocean City remain resistant to the project, including a plan to run power lines under the beach and across the city on the way to the proposed substation. Cape May County has promised to cooperation with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, who has proposed holding hearings on the matter.

Galloway Township was expected to discuss joining the call for a moratorium Tuesday evening as well.

Murphy-Leary mentioned that, and a letter sent by 12 mayors calling for a halt to offshore exploration until the whale deaths could be further investigated.

At the meeting, Murphy-Leary said she was satisfied with Newmans answer, saying she asked it in the interest of transparency.

That kind of clarity is really important, Leary said.

On Tuesday, the organization Save LBI, which opposed the offshore wind projects, announced it had filed a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act for all data regarding offshore survey vessel locations and other data, citing the whale deaths.

Since 2016, NOAA staff members have been monitoring an increase in the number of humpback whale deaths from Maine to Florida, in what has been declared an unusual mortality event. In more than half of the incidents reported through April 2017, investigations found blunt force trauma or propeller wounds consistent with the whale being struck by a vessel.

There has also been an unusual mortality event declared for right whales since 2017, with 97 of those whales found dead or seriously injured or ill. There may be fewer than 350 right whales in existence.
VENTNOR  The city is looking to tighten its rules on short-term rentals.

More than 100 people, a mix of rental owners and residents, weighed in on the topic last Thursday.

Airbnb has become a business. That has happened overnight here in the last couple years. People have bought properties just to run as a business, said city resident Richard Cooper.

One possible revision to the citys short-term rental rules includes eliminating one-night stays. The city is also exploring limiting the numbers of short-term rentals that one entity can operate, mandating inspections be done within 30 days of the mercantile license application date, and noise-monitoring devices.

The city plans to use the publics feedback to create an ordinance that will be introduced in March.

Ventnor pays Host Compliance LLC $20,000 per year to monitor Airbnb and other short-term rental properties, said Commissioner Lance Landgraf.

Local fans hit the supermarket hard to prepare for Super Bowl EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  The ShopRite in English Creek buzzed with excitement Sunday, with peop

Police Chief Joe Fussner said one-night rentals are not conducive to Ventnor and dont benefit the community.

A lot of repeat calls for service were for one-night rentals, or the houses advertised as a party house on the Airbnb site, said Fussner.

Im sure some situations where we were called to service have had no issues, and arent problematic, said Fussner. But my recommendation to council is to limit one-night rentals to a minimum two or three nights.

Residents complained about noise disturbances from late-night parties, a lack of parking or blocked driveways, trash and litter, overcrowding and a disregard of policies Airbnb and other rental companies have in place.

I live across the street from an Airbnb. And I am against the one-night rentals, said resident Danielle Morano. I dont see a difference between a one-night rental and a hotel or motel.

Owners of short-term rentals who attended Thursdays meeting say some of the proposed restrictions would unfairly hurt their investments.

Galloway Township Council to discuss whether to call for offshore wind work moratorium GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  The Township Council will consider joining the call from mayors in a doz

Beth Port, who owns five studio apartments on South Little Rock Avenue she uses as short-term rental units, said setting a minimum stay would be a huge detriment to her business. Port said 44% of her stays are one-night rentals but added there was a live-in superintendent in the building where her units are, so problems are mitigated quickly.

John Masseri, owner of nine short-term rental properties in Ventnor and 36 properties in total, said 40% to 50% of his renters stays are at least seven nights.

Neighboring Margate has an ordinance requiring a seven-night minimum stay for short-term rentals. Some Ventnor residents praised Margates regulations, which they said have worked for that shore town.

Cooper suggested posting maximum occupancy numbers at short-term properties, along with a contact number or name of the property owner, so neighbors can report problems quickly.

They need to know where they can call for code enforcement or how many people can be there. Nothing is more frustrating, Cooper said.

Other suggestions included adding security cameras to monitor for occupancy compliance, requiring background checks or a minimum age of 21 for renting, as well as adding inspection staff.
PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP  Longtime Pinelands Commission Planner Susan Grogan is the agencys new executive director, after a unanimous vote last week by the commissioners.

She had led the agency as acting executive director since the June 2021 death of former Executive Director Nancy Wittenberg.

Sue has served as an invaluable member of the Pinelands senior staff for nearly 35 years, Commissioner Ed Lloyd said in a news release. Her dedication to Pinelands preservation is unparalleled. Appointing her as executive director is one of the most important actions that the commission has taken in years.

The executive director manages daily operations of the commission and its staff of 41 planners, scientists, environmental reviewers, computer programmers, educators and others.

Grogan has worked at the Pinelands Commission since August 1988. She served as chief planner and was promoted to director of planning in 2020.

The Pinelands Commission has greatly benefited from Sues exceptional leadership for the past 18 months, said Commission Chair Laura E. Matos. Her wealth of experience, extraordinary knowledge, and tremendous work ethic are only a few of the reasons we are thrilled to officially appoint her executive director.

Grogan has also served as executive director of the Pinelands Development Credit Bank since 2011.

For more than 40 years, the Pinelands Commission has worked to preserve, protect and enhance the significant natural and cultural resources of the Pinelands. Ive been fortunate to be part of that effort for the past 34 years and am truly honored to be appointed today as executive director of this agency, Grogan said.

During her tenure as the commissions acting executive director, Grogan has worked on projects including:

Adopting amendments to the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan requiring the use of green infrastructure and stormwater management

Proposing rule changes pertaining to water management and the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer

Working to prepare the commission for future rule changes aimed at addressing climate change

Securing funding to refurbish the historic Fenwick Manor farmhouse

Furthering efforts to reduce the commissions carbon footprint at its headquarters

Grogan holds a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts in government and sociology from The College of William and Mary. She is a licensed New Jersey professional planner and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

The Pinelands Commission is charged with protecting the natural, cultural and historic resources of the 938,000-acre state Pinelands Area, which includes parts or all of 53 municipalities in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean counties.
 Flash

Concern is growing over the handling of toxic chemicals by U.S. authorities after a freight train derailed in the village of East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.

About 50 Norfolk Southern freight train cars derailed on the night of Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a town of 4,800 residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, due to a mechanical problem on an axle of one of the vehicles.

There were a total of 20 hazardous material cars in the train consist, 10 of which derailed, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a U.S. government agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation.

Five of derailed hazmat cars, the NTSB said, were carrying vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that burns easily and is produced industrially for its commercial uses.

After hundreds of residents evacuated their homes, emergency crew conducted a controlled release of the chemicals on Feb. 6 to avert a possible explosion, but the operations were said to have discharged toxic and potentially deadly fumes into the air.

Vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer, as well as primary liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

The controlled burn would also release phosgene and hydrogen chloride. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.

A group of state, federal, and local officials issued a statement on Feb. 8, saying that "evacuated residents in and around East Palestine can now safely return home."

"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," they alleged.

"This is one of the deadliest environmental emergencies," U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, tweeted on Monday. "And no one is talking about it."

East Palestine "is undergoing an ecological disaster" because authorities "blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals," U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reportedly sent a letter to Norfolk Southern, stating that more dangerous chemicals have been found on the derailed train.

Among the substances were ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene. Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, said that ethylhexyl acrylate is especially concerning.

Contact with ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes. Breathing it in can irritate the nose and throat and cause coughing and shortness of breath.

"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 would've far rather they did all the testing," Caggiano said.

Caggiano added it was likely that some of these chemicals could still be present in homes and on objects until they are cleaned thoroughly.

"There's a lot of what-ifs, and we're going to be looking at this thing five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering," he warned. "Cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad."

Four class action negligence lawsuits have been filed by residents and business owners who say they were impacted by the chemical train derailment in East Palestine.

All four complaints asked judges to declare the lawsuits class actions, which would allow other people impacted by the derailment to become plaintiffs. The suits estimated that there could be anywhere from 1,000 to nearly 2,000 people possibly included in the class.

The lawsuits also want the courts to order Norfolk Southern to pay damages, including any current or future medical costs for exposure to toxins.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Sunday that it continues to conduct air monitoring throughout the East Palestine community.

"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 agency wrote in an update while acknowledging that "residents may still smell odors from the site."

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, about 4.5 million tons of toxic chemicals are transported by rail each year, with an average of 12,000 rail cars shipping the materials through cities and towns each day.

The incident is "the tip of the iceberg and a red flag," Ron Kaminkow, secretary for the Railroad Workers United, a non-profit labor group, was quoted by The Guardian as saying. "If something is not done, then it's going to get worse, and the next derailment could be cataclysmic."
What's Happening in the Region

Central Asia Feels the Effects of Turkeys Earthquakes



The devastating earthquakes that recently hit Turkey have led to an outpouring of international sympathy and concerted efforts to help the victims.



The Central Asian countries are among the scores of countries that have sent aid and rescue teams to help search for survivors trapped beneath the ruins.



But Central Asia has a unique connection to Turkey as many Central Asian citizens are studying or working there and some are sadly among the dead and injured.



Uzbekistans consulate in Istanbul announced on February 13 that the body of a fourth Uzbek citizen had been recovered.



Some 45,000 Kazakh citizens live in Turkey and the bodies of two Kazakh citizens who died in the earthquakes have already arrived in Almaty.



Turkmen authorities have confirmed seven deaths among Turkmen citizens in Turkey, but have not provided any figures, but turkmen.news reported on February 10 that at least four Turkmen citizens had died.



Kyrgyzstan has reported one fatality among its citizens in Turkey so far.



The embassies and consulates of all the Central Asian countries are searching for information about the condition of their citizens in Turkey.



Why Its Important: Turkey has been an attractive destination for many years for citizens of Central Asias Turkic states  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.



So while the world mourns the tragedy in Turkey, in Central Asia the losses are felt keenly, and sometimes personally.



Thin Evidence in Kyrgyzstans Kempirabad Case



More than two dozen people are being held for plotting to overthrow Kyrgyzstans government.



The group, made up of politicians, activists, journalists, bloggers, and others, was part of a committee that opposed a border deal that gave neighboring Uzbekistan the Kempirabad reservoir.



The Kempirabad reservoir is located in the densely-populated, agriculturally-rich Ferghana Valley and Kyrgyz villagers have been using water from it for decades.



The Kyrgyz villagers are now worried they will not receive adequate water for their crops though both the Uzbek and Kyrgyz governments have promised water flows on the Kyrgyz side of the border will not be affected.



Kyrgyz police and security forces detained Kempirabad committee members in raids in late October 2022. Authorities said they were planning to overthrow the government.



Among those detained was Klara Sooronkulova, a former Constitutional Court judge and more recently leader of the opposition Reforma party.



Sooronkulova asked in late December why there appeared to be no progress in the investigation of the alleged crimes she and the others were allegedly preparing.



Sooronkulovas lawyer, Chinara Jakupbekova, confirmed on February 10 that her client is being charged with plotting to create mass unrest with the aim of seizing power.



Except the basis for that charge has nothing to do with the committee that allegedly was planning a coup.



Jakupbekova said Sooronkulovas Facebook post from early 2022 is now the reason Sooronkulova is being accused of calling for the violent seizure of power. She said Now [the authorities] decided to find fault with publications made a year ago, not finding anything on the Kempirabad case.



Sooronkulovas post was related to the detention of activist Mirlan Uraimov.



Uraimov had helped organize a protest in 2021 against transferring the Kempirabad reservoir and was detained in February 2022 for publicly calling for the violent overthrow of the government.



Uraimov was later released from custody under the condition he not leave the country.



But while he was in custody, Sooronkulova posted on Facebook to organize a flash mob in support of Uraimov and also criticized the government for detaining him.



Why Its Important: Sooronkulova and 23 others have been in custody since late October and three others are under house arrest.



As Sooronkulova said in late December, the investigation into the Kempirabad case does not seem to be making any progress.



Another Kempirabad committee member, activist Atay Beyshenbek, also had new charges filed against him in January 2023. Those charges dated back to October 2020.



It seems the Kyrgyz authorities do not have a case against the Kempirabad committee members. The increasingly authoritarian government simply wants its critics locked away so they cannot air legitimate grievances.

The Latest Majlis Podcast

This weeks Majlis podcast looks at the trials of 22 defendants charged for the violence in western Uzbekistans Karakalpakstan Sovereign Republic in July 2022.



All 22 were found guilty, but the conduct of the investigation and the trials looked very much like the show trials under the previous Uzbek government of now deceased President Islam Karimov, not the new Uzbekistan that current President Shavkat Mirziyoev has been promising.



This weeks guests are Alisher Ilkhamov, director of Central Asia Due Diligence, and Steve Swerdlow, a rights lawyer who has spent many years focusing on Central Asia, currently teaching the Practice of Human Rights at the University of Southern California.

What I'm Following

RIP Oleg Panfilov From Tajikistan



The sad news broke on February 10 that Oleg Panfilov died in Georgia. Panfilov was a widely respected authority on Tajikistan, born in 1957 in Khujand (then called Leninabad).



Panfilov wrote the book Tajikistan Journalists in the Civil War, published in 2003.



Oleg worked at RFE/RL for a time, and I was fortunate to meet him. He was intrigued that an American was so interested in Central Asia (this was the late 1990s) so we talked often.



He was a fountain of knowledge about Tajikistan and Central Asia.



Tributes to Panfilov have been coming from all quarters of Tajik society.



He loved Tajikistan and once said though he was ethnic Russian and had lived for a while in Russia, I am a Tajikistani and was born In Tajikistan.



Ozodliks New Investigative Report



RFE/RLs Uzbek service, known locally as Ozodlik, just published an investigative report How Russia and Political Insiders Cash In on Uzbekistans Lucrative Gas Sector.



The report shows how Uzbekistans natural gas and oil companies are controlled by Uzbek and Russian political insiders and how this prevents Uzbekistan from taking steps to provide adequate supplies to its citizens.



The report is available in English, in Russian, and in Uzbek.

Fact of the Week

The nomination period for Kazakhstans upcoming parliamentary and local administration elections ended on February 8. The countrys Central Election Commission said it received documents for 14,207 candidates, including 892 candidates for the Mazhilis and 13,315 candidates for deputies of the maslikhats.



The process of verifying and confirming documents will continue until February 18.

Thanks for Reading

Thanks for reading our Central Asia in Focus newsletter! I appreciate you sharing it with other readers who you think may be interested.



Feel free to contact me on Twitter or by responding to this email, especially if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to connect with me about topics concerning Central Asia.



Please consider filling out this brief survey so that I can better understand how this newsletter can be useful for you.



See you next week for more on whats happening in Central Asia.

Until next time,

Bruce
Cong leader moves SC seeking probe against Adani group, role of LIC & SBI

A Congress leader has moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking probe against (Gautum) Adani Group of companies in the backdrop of Hindenburg report, and also sought probe into the role of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the SBI for allegedly investing huge amounts of public money in the FPO of the enterprises.

The plea filed by Jaya Thakur through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma urged the top court to direct probe against Adani group of companies through chairman and his associates who have swindled lakhs of the crores of public money and money of the government exchequer, by various investigating agencies, i.e. CBI, ED, DRI, CBDT, EIB, NCB, SEBI, RBI, SFIO under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the apex court.

The plea contended that subsequent to disclosure made by Hindenburg Research report on January 24, the share price of the Adani Group of companies came down drastically. IANS

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Efforts to silence us will not work: Ramesh

Congress general secretary in-charge communication Jairam Ramesh has accused the Centre of trying to silence the party. Ramesh said, JPC was constituted in Harshad Mehta case, then in Ketan Parekh case and now our demand is legitimate in the Adani-Hindenburg issue as public sector banks and LIC money is at stake.

Modi will face power of truth, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the PM will have to face the power of truth. Truth is patient. Truth is polite. You will be forced to face the power of truth, Prime Minister, he said IANS
A fallout of India: The Modi Question documentary? I-T teams survey news outlets Mumbai studios, Delhi facility; confiscate mobile phones, laptops, tablets of staffers

A team of Income Tax (I-T) department sleuths carried out a survey at the global media conglomerate BBCs Mumbai studios and office in Delhi on Tuesday.

The BBC studio is situated in a commercial hub near the Bandra Kurla Complex in central Mumbai, where offices of several national and multinational companies are also located.

The sleuths are understood to have seized the mobiles, laptops, tablets of the staffers present there, though exact details of the investigations by the central probe agency were not available.

A large number of media persons and photographers, besides many curious onlookers out for the lunch break, converged outside the studio building awaiting the nitty-gritties of the ITD operation inside the BBC studio.

Though no insiders were available for comments, the survey of the Mumbai studio is connected with an ongoing similar operation at the BBC offices in New Delhi, which sparked off a major political furore.

The Income Tax department officials reached the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) office in Delhis Kasturba Gandhi Marg, said the sources.

The sources also said that the team reached there to verify documents and some of the employees were also asked to leave the office and go home.

Phones have also been seized, said the sources. Though the reasons behind the ITDs survey or what the sleuths were looking for are not clear, it is widely suspected to be a fallout of the recent documentary India: The Modi Question on the 2002 Gujarat riots aired by BBC that rankled the Indian government.

Editors Guild concerned

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday expressed concern over the Income Tax (I-T) surveys at BBC India offices.

Govt scared of criticism: Cong

The Congress on Tuesday termed the Income Tax departments survey operations at the BBC office as an act of intimidation and said the government was scared of criticism. IANS

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COOPERATING WITH THE AUTHORITIES

The BBC said that it was fully cooperating with the authorities. 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. IANS
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.
Two Davenport men, one of whom was released from federal prison in October, have been arrested for allegedly selling methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana.

Stephen Lamar Stokes Sr., 32, and Tommie Chester Moore Jr., 31, were arrested Friday at their Davenport home by Bettendorf Police and members of the Scott County Sheriffs Departments Special Operations Unit.

The men were arrested in connection with a continuing narcotics investigation being conducted by Bettendorf and Davenport Police and the Scott County Sheriffs Department.

Stokes is charged with one count of possession with the intent to deliver more than 5 grams of methamphetamine. The charge is a Class B felony that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

Stokes also is charged with one count of violating Iowas drug tax stamp law, a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years, and possession of a controlled substance-second offense, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of two years.

Moore is charged with possession with the intent to deliver more than 5 grams of methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. The charge is a Class B felony that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

Moore also is charged with possession with the intent to deliver marijuana and two violations of Iowas drug tax stamp law, each of which is a Class D felony that carry a prison sentence of five years. He also is charged with possession of a controlled substance-second offense, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of two years.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Bettendorf Police Officers Joshua Paul and Wyatt Flickinger, at 3 p.m. Friday, officers served a search warrant at the mens home in the 600 block of East 15th Street in Davenport.

According to the affidavits related to the arrest of Stokes, he was located in a 2017 Nissan Altima. Officers seized 14.66 grams of methamphetamine, $1,600 in cash, three Adderall pills, 5  amphetamine pills, and pieces of several other pills. All of the pills were located together in a plastic bag.

Police have said that one-tenth of a gram is the normal dose of methamphetamine, meaning officers seized 146.6 doses of meth.

According to the arrest affidavits for Moore, officers located in a kitchen cupboard two large plastic bags containing 324 grams, or about .72 of a pound, of marijuana. There was another 14.5 grams of marijuana on the kitchen counter next to a digital scale.

Also located in a kitchen cupboard were financial records and a plastic bag that contained pills on which were stamped M30. Police have said that these pills are made to imitate oxycodone pills but often contain fentanyl.

In another kitchen cupboard officers located a plastic bag containing 48 grams of an unknown tan powder with what appeared to be some crushed up pills.

Officers also located 1 gram of cocaine in the bathroom.

Located in Moores bedroom was a plastic bag that contained 50 ecstasy pills, or 40.6 grams.

During a post-Miranda interview, Moore admitted ownership of the cocaine, but denied knowledge of the rest of the drugs.

The M30 pills and the brown powder were sent to the crime lab of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for analysis. No charges have been filed for those substances as officers are awaiting test results.

Both men were booked into the Scott County Jail on Friday.

Stokes was released from the jail Saturday after posting a $5,000 cash bond. During a first appearance on his charges held Saturday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Jay Sommers scheduled a preliminary hearing for Stokes case for Feb. 21.

Moore was being held Tuesday night in the Scott County Jail on a cash-only bond of $20,000. During a first appearance on the charges held Saturday in District Court, Magistrate Sommers also scheduled a preliminary hearing in Moores case for Feb. 21. Moore also has made a motion for bond reduction. A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for March 7.

On Feb. 23, 2016, Stokes pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Davenport, to two counts of heroin trafficking.

On June 8, 2016, U.S. District Judge James Gritzner sentenced Stokes to 46 months, or three years and 10 months, in federal prison on each count to be served concurrently, or at the same time. Stokes also was ordered to serve three years on federal supervised release after he completed his prison term.

Stokes violated his supervised release and in November of 2021 was sent back to federal prison for one year with credit for time served while awaiting a revocation hearing.

Stokes was released from the U.S. Bureau of prisons on Oct. 31, 2022, less than four months ago. He was not required to serve any additional time on supervised release.
An old building in downtown Davenport is getting a new life.

The longtime home of Antonella's Pizza, 112 W. Third Street, soon will be home to R3 Roofing & Exteriors. The Davenport-based company has a number of offices in Illinois, Iowa and Florida.

Owner Matt Matthews said the corporate headquarters currently is at the corner of Kimberly Road and Brady Street. Soon, it will relocate downtown.

On the first floor will be the new corporate headquarters. The second and third floors will have seven apartments, which Matthews hopes to have ready by the summer.

Antonella's left the building last February. According to records from the Scott County Assessor's office, the property was purchased by M3 Companies, LLC, for $502,500 in February 2021. Matthews said demolition began in fall of 2022, which included an engineer's detailed evaluation of the structural damage inside.

Through the years, the building has been through a fire and a flood. The existing concrete was only an inch-and-a-half thick and cracked.

"We ended up replacing every single floor joist in the entire building," Matthews said, estimating there were about 600.

Everything had to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt according to the drawings. Once that was completed, the contractor's work could begin. Crews currently are working on framing. The fire-suppression system will be installed this week and trades, such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC, will begin work on the first floor next week.

The goal, Matthews said, is to have the commercial space ready to go by March. The focus now is finishing up the main office and moving staff downtown, he said. Once they are in, they can reassess and start creating a schedule to finish the upstairs apartments.

Although the building was a labor of love, Matthews said, it was a "no brainer" when he realized he could achieve a significant amount of equity upon completion of the improvements.

"It was a good buy on paper," he said. "A lot of real estate investors are afraid of a project like that."
If it weren't for the actions of four Davenport North YMCA staffers, Craig Kinzer may have missed some of the most important moments of his life.

After Kinzer experienced Sudden Cardiac Death while participating in a lifeguarding course in January 2022, four people rescued him from the water until medical attention arrived.

Those four received certificates for their actions Tuesday. They are Bettendorf YMCA Aquatics Director Katie McGrane, North Family YMCA Aquatics Director R.L. Aldridge, Downtown YMCA Aquatics Director Alex Vogel and lifeguard Nathan Elbe.

Red Cross Quad Cities and West Central Illinois Chapter Executive Director Trish Burnett said the organization gives out Extraordinary Personal Action certificates for life-saving actions.

"My daughter got married in September, I never would have been able to walk her down the aisle. She's expecting her first child, my first grandchild in June, so I wouldn't be around for that," Kinzer said at a press conference Tuesday. "So I thank these guys for paying attention to the training that they receive."

The certificates were awarded to them by the American Red Cross Tuesday right outside the pool where Kinzer fell unconscious at North Family YMCA, 624 W 53rd St., Davenport.

McGrane said she received her lifeguard certification from the Red Cross at 15 years old and is extremely grateful to be recognized by the organization that gave her the tools that helped keep Kinzer alive that day.

"To have that organization come back and say thank you for everything, it feels almost surreal," McGrane said. "Because I should be thanking them for providing me with the training tools necessary to do what I did."

With this honor, McGrane said she hopes others will be encouraged to get CPR certified. While it may seem like preparing for a slim hypothetical, for the staffers and Kinzer, that hypothetical became reality quickly.

Like McGrane, Burnett hopes that more young people will sign up for training, increasing the likelihood of lives being saved when the unthinkable happens.

"Hopefully, the impact of what they did will inspire other young people to take trainings and to realize that it doesn't matter how much experience you have in life or how long you've lived," Burnett said. "You have that opportunity to do amazing things."
This years St. Patrick Society Grand Parade Grand Marshal is usually the caretaker of a very different holiday tradition, and while Mr. Thanksgiving isnt Irish, hes ready to get his green on and blow the parade whistle.

Bob Vogelbaugh, who oversees the distribution of free Thanksgiving meals every November in Moline, has been named the Grand Marshal for Grand Parade XXXVII.

I feel absolutely honored, from the bottom of my heart, Vogelbaugh said Tuesday. What a wonderful, nice thing to happen.

Festivities will kick off March 17 with the Gathering of the Clan Luncheon, where Vogelbaugh, the Irish Mother of the Year and the St. Patrick Society scholarship recipient will be introduced.

Parade day  March 18  will start with 10 a.m. Mass at St. Marys, 2204 4th Ave., Rock Island. The parade will begin at 4th Avenue and 23rd Street, traveling through downtown Rock Island and over the Centennial Bridge into Davenport. Groups will make their way down W. Third Street to the RiverCenter at Perry Street.

The celebrations will continue at the Post-Parade Bash, 1-4 p.m. at the RiverCenter. The bash is member-only, but membership to the St. Patrick Society can be purchased at the door for $15.

One of Vogelbaughs favorite facets of the parade is how it bonds Iowa and Illinois together, crossing the river that divides them, he said.

St. Patrick Society President Joe Dooley said that when selecting a Grand Marshal, they look for someone who has contributed much to the community without expecting anything in return, and Vogelbaugh fits that bill.

November will be the 53rd Thanksgiving dinner hes hosted, and thousands of people (have been served) over all that time, so I just thought hed be a wonderful person to recognize, Dooley said.
More jobs would be open to Iowa teenagers under a bill House lawmakers advanced on Tuesday.

The bill would allow 14-year-olds to work in freezers and meat coolers, load non-power tools to and from vehicles, and work in laundry and detasseling. 15-year-olds would be able to do work like loading and unloading groceries from trucks, stocking shelves with items up to 30 pounds, and working as a lifeguard. People aged 16 and 17 would also be allowed to serve drinks at bars and restaurants.

Teens could also receive a waiver from the department of workforce development or education to work in industries like construction, manufacturing and mining if the job is part of a work-based learning program and meets certain safety conditions.

Business groups supported the legislation during a public hearing, saying the bill would help address Iowas workforce shortages and provide students with a hands-on way to study vocational skills before leaving high school.

The bill advanced with Republican support. Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, said the changes would allow teens to learn important lessons at earlier ages.

We need to give our kids a chance, we need to give our kids the ability to learn life lessons, he said.

But several organizations raised concerns about the bill, particularly the provisions allowing minors to work on construction sites and manufacturing with a waiver. Opponents said the loosening of the law could put children in dangerous situations.

Were not that far away from dozens of children working in a factory assembling parts, said Peter Hird, a lobbyist for the Iowa chapter of the American Federation of Labor.

ESG investing

The state would be barred from investing money with firms that have environmental, social and governance," or ESG, investment strategies at the expense of maximizing returns under a bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds that lawmakers advanced Tuesday.

State money could also not go to investment firms that boycott fossil fuel, production agriculture and firearm companies.

Republican lawmakers advanced the bill, Senate Study Bill 1094, out of a subcommittee on Tuesday.

The bill is in reaction to some large investment firms promoting investment strategies that consider the social and environmental impact of investments. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed similar legislation this year.

Reynolds legislative liaison Molly Severn said the strategy promotes a woke ideology in a public hearing on the bill Tuesday.

ESG practices are not only legally suspect, they are financially reckless, Severn said. We must ensure that ESG has no place in our states finances.

Representatives for state pensions said their investment strategy is already aimed solely at maximizing returns during a public hearing Tuesday and do not invest with ESG in mind.

Gun control grant

Iowa will receive $2.48 million in a grant funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun control law President Joe Biden signed last year.

The grant will fund intervention programs like extreme risk protection orders, in which a court can remove a persons access to a firearm if they pose a threat to themselves or others. It can also support drug, mental health and veterans treatment courts.

Iowas grant will go to the governors Office of Drug Control Policy, and the office will create a grant application for distributing the funds, according to a White House spokesperson.

Reynolds funds fitness centers

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced plans to create three elementary and middle school fitness centers as part of a campaign aimed at addressing rising mental illness and childhood obesity.

Reynolds' office announced the plan Tuesday, a partnership with the National Foundation for Governors' Fitness Councils.

Schools can apply to receive a fitness center through the program between now and March 26, according to Reynolds' office.
 Flash

Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said Wednesday that the United States violated the spirit of international law and international practice when it shot down an unmanned Chinese airship.

Zhang made the remarks when answering a query concerning the unmanned civilian airship, which the U.S. Department of Defense shot down with missiles.

Zhang said the Chinese government has explained several times that it was a civilian unmanned airship used for meteorological and other research purposes. Affected by climate factors, the airship deviated far from its planned course, a situation caused by force majeure.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the airship would not pose a military or personal threat to ground personnel, yet the U.S. side insisted on using force to shoot down the airship -- a clear overreaction that violated the spirit of international law and international practice, Zhang said.

He said the SCO has always maintained that all countries should abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, refrain from the use of force and the threat of using force, and resolve international disputes through peaceful means such as negotiation and consultation.
A bill that would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in Montana 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.
Flanked by his wife and daughter, a visibly emotional Jason Salamun announced his candidacy for mayor of Rapid City to a cacophony of applause from friends, family and community supporters at The Rushmore Hotel on Wednesday.

Hes served as a Ward 3 representative to City Council from 2016-2019, including as president from 2017-2018. He decided against re-election in 2018, however, re-entered the race two years later in 2020. He was elected again in June 2020.

I dont lack for purpose, Salamun told the media after the event. But at the same time, when youre called to do something, you go and do it.

Salamun moved permanently from his home in West Texas to Rapid City in 1989, and moved back with his wife, Gwyn, after serving in the U.S. Air Force.

He has served in a variety of roles, including vice president of operations and strategic services at Black Hills Federal Credit Union, guiding organizational development at a Fortune 500 company, and most recently as the chief of staff and executive pastor at Fountain Springs Church.

Raising a family here, becoming ingrained in this community and building the support over those decades, he said, puts him in the right position to serve as mayor.

I want you to enjoy life right here in Rapid City, he said. I want you to think about a life that outlives you. You and I will not be here someday, but the next generation  by Gods will  will be here. What kind of place will we give them? What kind of leadership?

Salamun said he is prioritizing safer neighborhoods.

"Theres a lot of work to do, he said. Thats not because our police department is not doing their job. In fact, theyre doing their job very well, but were down 30 police officers, we let people out on parole time and time again. We need more accountability There is no higher priority than the safety and security of the residents of Rapid City.

Salamun wants to work with Native American leaders, saying there is work to be done in building relationships, something he believes hes well capable of.

I think we need to make sure that we send a signal that Rapid City is a place where we believe that every person has value and worth and potential  because they do  regardless of what they look like or where they come from, he said.

A focus of his will be on smart and healthy growth for Rapid City over the next transformative decade, from the incoming B-21 mission to the general migration surge.

Will we work to get out in front of that or just let it happen, Salamun said. Just be random? I dont think we should be random. What I think that means is that Rapid City has to do a better job of partnering with neighborhood communities within our community as well as neighboring communities outside of our city.

You look at the situation to see Does this make sense?' he said. Heres the deal. You have to have common sense moving forward, and thats really what I hope to bring is common sense leadership for the challenges and opportunities that we have ahead.

Salamun and his wife, Gwyn, have two children; their son Reece who serves in the U.S. Army and their daughter, Regan, a student at Black Hills State University. Gwyn and Regan were in attendance at Wednesday's event alongside Salamuns parents and grandmother.

When I announced, my friends and family showed up, he said. This is decades in the making; these are relationships dug down deep This is a lifetime of support. You dont get this overnight, you get this by living a life with the community and that community showing up to help you.

Steve Allender was elected mayor in 2015 and made the announcement last August that he wouldnt seek re-election.

The election for Rapid Citys next mayor will be in June.
On Nov. 21, 2020, Roberto Silva Jr. opened fire inside a Sonic restaurant in Bellevue, Nebraska. 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 the bill (LB5), 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 to the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee Monday, 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.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
A federal judge sentenced a 20-year-old Pine Ridge man to 6.5 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after he shot another 20-year-old man in the stomach over an argument about a gun.

Julian Hard Heart pleaded guilty in October 2022. He went to a Pine Ridge home on Nov. 28, 2021 looking for a lighter, according to a factual basis statement he signed when he pleaded guilty.

Hard Heart and a friend smoked outside and then went into the house and joined the victim, Devon Elk Boy, in a bedroom. Hard Heart then confronted Elk Boy about a gun he supposedly stole from him.

"Elk Boy denied it," the document states.

The argument continued and Hard Heart's friend saw Hard Heart pull a gun with an extended magazine out of his waistband. The friend turned away before he heard a gunshot and saw Elk Boy take a couple of steps. He then fell to the ground, asking for help and saying he couldn't feel his legs.

Hard Heart ran away according to the witness.

When the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety arrived at the home, there were several people passed out drunk, but Elk Boy was alive and conscious, still saying he couldn't feel he legs. He died the next day at Monument Health Hospital in Rapid City, leaving behind his parents and sister, according to his obituary.

Hard Heart was arrested two days later in a car with his father. Police found a .40 caliber handgun and an extended magazine.

During his interview with law enforcement, Hard Heart said that he and Elk Boy were arguing about something he owed him when Elk Boy pulled a 9 mm handgun and they got into a fight that went to the ground.

Hard Heart claimed Elk Boy was on top of him as they wrestled for the gun, which went off. Hard Heart claimed he didn't intend to shoot Elk Boy, but he left the house after he saw Elk Boy stand up with a stomach wound.

The medical examiner, Dr. Donald Habbe, determined during Elk Boy's autopsy that he was shot from "an intermediate range," in the stomach. The medical examiner pulled a 9 mm bullet from Elk Boy's spine. The factual basis statement notes a 9 mm bullet can be shot from a .40 caliber handgun.

Elk Boy was originally charged with second-degree murder in January 2022, but the plea deal reduced his charges to voluntary manslaughter.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken also ordered that Hard Heart serve three years of supervised release once he finishes his sentence, as well as pay a routine and mandatory $100 to the federal Crime Victims Fund.
A Rapid City man will serve three years in federal prison after investigators found more than 60 images and videos of child pornography in his possession.

Zahkim Vela, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography on Oct. 12, 2022. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken sentenced Vela on Feb. 3 to prison followed by five years of supervised release. He also ordered Vela to pay a routine $100 assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Vela was arrested in December 2021 after Kik Messenger  owned by MediaLab  and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children generated a tip in March 2021 about the download of 17 files suspected for child pornography involving children from 7-12 years old.

Court documents show the IP address led investigators to Vela's family home in Rapid City, placing the case in local jurisdiction. Det. Elliott Harding, of the Rapid City Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, got a search warrant for Vela's Kik account.

The account contained 59 videos and 18 images of child pornography, including children as young as infants and toddlers.

In June 2021, law enforcement searched Vela's house and seized several devices. According to a factual basis statement he signed, Vela admitted during an interview that it was his email account associated with the messenger account. He was invited to join a child pornography group on Kik in March 2021, where he received child pornography and shared approximately 20-30 files. He also said he had files on his phone, but had deleted them.

The case landed in federal court because it involved interstate transportation and commerce. Kik Messenger operates solely online and Vela's phone was manufactured outside of South Dakota.

A federal grand jury indicted Vela in December 2021 for receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The government dropped the receipt charge in exchange for Vela's guilty plea.

Vela is currently held at the Pennington County Jail awaiting transportation to a federal prison.
PIERRE  Lawmakers want to prevent their spouses from being employed as registered lobbyists in a bill that was heard and passed out of a Senate committee 8-1 on Monday.

Brought by Sen. Michael Rohl, R-Aberdeen, SB 197 addresses two problems by providing better clarity about the role of legislative spouses and preventing them from having an advantage that other lobbyists and everyday people do not.

Rohl said currently if a legislative spouse is also a registered lobbyist, it can quickly become an awkward situation because legislative spouses tend to have more access to restricted areas and lawmakers. He added there could also be a possible path to bribery in the spouse's role as an employed private lobbyist.

Past legislators must wait two years before they can become registered lobbyists.

Mike Mueller, the husband of Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, is a registered lobbyist for Citizens for Liberty. He's unpaid. Frye-Mueller was temporarily suspended and censored for harassment-like comments she made to a legislative staffer in late January.

At the time the comments were made, the staffer reported Mueller was in the room to to discuss a draft bill, according to the complaint released at the time of a disciplinary committee's investigation into the matter.

Frye-Mueller was reinstated and censured by the Senate on Feb. 1, and SB 197 was introduced the same day, but it's unclear if the timing is directly related.

Rohl also said there's already conflict of interest-type laws for spouses in the liquor industry where a bar owner's spouse cannot own another bar.

The bill would affect lobbyists who receive direct benefits from a lobbying firm, Rohl said.

Sen. David Wheeler was the lone no vote, but did not explain during the hearing why.

The bill now heads to the Senate for discussion and voting. If it passes the Senate, it will go to the House of Representatives.
SB 193 ensures school boards develop a formal policy procedure for reviewing and selecting instructional material before it is purchased or made available in a school setting. The procedure must address all instructional material received, including those through grant programs; and allow for input from parents of students enrolled in the district.

SB 193 will also require district policy to provide a formal process in which a parent of a student enrolled in the district may request administrative or board review of instructional material that has been purchased or made available in the school setting, if the parent believes that the material is harmful to minors; or not age- or grade-level appropriate.

Material that meets the legal definition of harmful to minors is rampant in school libraries and curricula across South Dakota, regardless of school districts assuring review processes are in place. The fact is the current process in most districts is reactive, not proactive, meaning pornographic materials are already in the hands of elementary, middle school and high school students via coursework and their school library. School boards and administrators only become aware after the materials are already in use by students, and parents only become cognizant if their child tells them.

We've heard some arguments that no one can review materials before they are available to students. School districts, administrators, school boards, and even individual teachers themselves can't possibly review the materials they are providing to children, and if a child comes across something inappropriate, it is their responsibility to inform their parents. This thin excuse insinuates that teachers, schools, and districts have no culpability for what they directly provide to our children. Ultimately, they surrender responsibility to deliver quality, enriching learning materials rather than items that are the epitome of pornography. These aren't mild concerns from a prudish or puritanical perspective- some of the materials already in our schools could not be published in this newspaper. If a stranger handed this material to a minor on the street, they would be guilty of a class one misdemeanor. When parents place their children into a government-funded public school, there is an amount of inherent trust for those in charge to be stewards of our children's well-being. If a teacher would not show a rated X film, why are they allowed to share reading material, some with graphic illustrated depictions of sex acts (sometimes violent), in their classroom?

So, what exactly does harmful to minors mean? Luckily, this isn't open for interpretation, or random application- harmful to minors is already outlined in South Dakota law. "Harmful to minors" is the quality of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse when it: Predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors; Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; "Instructional material," are textbooks and any other material, regardless of format, used to support a student's learning in the school setting; and "School setting," is defined as a classroom, a school library, or any other property of a school district.

Similar legislation has passed in Utah, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. SB 193 will not impose penalties on school districts, administrators, or teachers. Instead, this bill allows for local control while requiring school boards to provide a process for parental input in reviewing and selecting instructional material, a formalized review process for when any concerns occur, and will eliminate any First Amendment concerns seen in other states.

Make no mistake, this is not a book burning. Our schools are funded by taxpayers and charged and trusted to educate our youth. We have a right to expect that our children are not provided with depictions of violent pornography in their classrooms or libraries, a formal review process of all materials before they are introduced, and a standard complaint process for when something is discovered.
B.E.A.R., an outdoor-based youth mentoring summer program, was recently awarded funding for wilderness education and stewardship lessons for students in grades 4-12.

B.E.A.R. received the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation Connie Saylor Johnson Wilderness Education Grant for "Wilderness Connection Days."

The grant will benefit the youth of the Bitterroot Valley, said B.E.A.R. Executive Director Diane Olsen.

We are excited to partner with the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Wilderness Foundation, having admired their work for many years, Olsen said. B.E.A.R. is also partnered with an evidence-based mentoring program, Project Venture, which is recognized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA).

Olsen said the SAMSHA program is led by the National Indian Youth Leadership Project and is comprised of many wilderness themes, ethics and service-learning projects.

As a result of the SBFWC funding, we will be adding wilderness camp days specifically focused on Wilderness Education and Stewardship which incorporate experiential education around wilderness legislation and history, Leave No Trace, and ways to contribute wilderness stewardship into our lives, she said. Through this funding, staff and peer mentors leading the camps are preparing engaging lesson plans and will do pre- and post-surveys with youth to measure what they've learned.

The benefits of the "Wilderness Connection Days" will also be highlighted at B.E.A.R.s annual end of summer barbecue in which community members and families are invited to attend.

We're honored to be chosen with the other grant recipients to carry on the legacy of Carol Saylor's work, who is celebrated through this grant as a tireless and lifelong wilderness advocate and educator, Olsen said.

Other organizations receiving funding include:

Salmon Valley Stewardship, Salmon, Idaho, for Salmon Valley Experts in the Field: Wilderness Connections"

The Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association, Stanley, Idaho, for "2023 Sawtooth Wilderness Trailhead Portals Project

Opt Outdoors School, Bozeman, for Opt Out Wilderness Stewardship Project" teaching Leave No Trace practices

The University of Montana, Missoula, for a five-day "Wilderness Pack Trip experiential learning course for 10 students this summer

Polk County Conservation Youth Corps, Granger, Iowa, for "Polk County Youth Corps  Finding Wilderness" where underserved teens from Des Moines will participate in a land stewardship project in partnership with the Black Hills National Forest and the Black Elk Wilderness Area

Waterloo Schools, Waterloo, Iowa, for "Driftless Wilderness in Iowa" teaching students about Iowas geology and ecology, cliff vegetation and talus slopes within the Yellow River State Forest and Effigy Mounds (a National Monument)

A Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation press release said the grant program honors the late Connie Saylor Johnson, a life-long educator, and champion of Idaho and Montana Wilderness.

After moving to Idaho from Iowa after a career as a high school teacher, she sustained a decades-long effort to introduce Midwestern teachers and students to the Idaho wilderness through hands-on service projects, the press release said. The expansion of this years program to include Iowa schools is in honor of that legacy."

The CSJWEF Fund was established in 2019 by Connies friends and family to honor her commitment to hands-on wilderness education experiences to people of all ages. The fund has grown steadily since Connies death in 2018 through contributions from supporters of wilderness education. The fund is administered by the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation, where Connie served as a staff and board member from 2009 to 2018.

Any nonprofit organization, institution, individual, or ad-hoc group working to further wilderness education can apply for a CSJWEF grant from April 1 through Oct. 31 at selwaybitterroot.org/csjwef-grant.
The Montana Department of Transportation Aeronautics Board has allocated $17,000 to conduct a study and update of the Stevensville Municipal Airport master plan.

The money is part of more than $2.85 million in funding approved by the MDOT Aeronautics Board announced last week. The board awarded funds for 58 of 69 different project requests for 27 of Montana's public airports at their general meeting in Helena.

The Stevensville Airport is a general aviation airport owned by the town of Stevensville. The 117-acre airport has one paved runway that is 75 feet wide and 3,800 feet long, along with 27 hangars. The runway was resurfaced in 2016 after receiving a $2 million grant. In 2019, the airport was awarded a $650,000 federal airport infrastructure grant to help pay for an apron replacement project as well as a $910,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Ravalli County Airport in Hamilton will receive $8,550 for weather cameras. The Ravalli County airport has two quarter-mile long, 400-foot-wide runways  one going north-south, the second running east-west.

According to a 2017 report from the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority, Ravalli Airport ranks among the top six county employers with a payroll of nearly $8 million, and is one of the top 14 taxpayers.
" " Vanilla, from orchids native to the steaming jungles of Mexico and Belize, has enchanted people for centuries to become the world's most precious spice after saffron. MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Ah, vanilla ... there's nothing plain about it. Ever since the discovery of vanilla in the 15th century by the Totonac people who lived in the mountains of Mexico, our collective tastebuds have benefited from this aromatic and tasty additive.

Today, vanilla in all its forms remains one of the most popular flavorings in the world. The signature piquancy of vanilla is found in baked goods and ice creams, and its flavor even makes medicines more palatable.

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The scent of vanilla is so pleasant that it has become an essential ingredient in everything from expensive perfumes to ubiquitous air fresheners.

There's one big problem with vanilla, though. There just isn't enough pure vanilla to go around.

And that's where vanilla flavoring comes into play. Where does vanilla flavoring come from? There are an estimated 19,841 tons (18,000 metric tons) of vanilla flavor produced annually, 85 percent of which is vanillin created from a petrochemical called guaiacol. Less than 1 percent of vanilla flavoring consumed in the world actually comes from pure vanilla produced by vanilla orchids.

So, what, exactly, are you eating in all those vanilla-flavored foods? The answer begins with the discovery  and centuries later, the synthetic duplication  of a very special bean.
Eight companies have been selected for Lighthouse Labs spring 2023 startup accelerator program, including five companies from Virginia. Now in its 11th year, the accelerator program has helped over 100 companies and invested over $2 million.

This most recent cohort  Lighthouse Labs 14th overall  is one of the most diverse in the accelerators history, with over 70% of the founders coming from traditionally underrepresented groups. Three of the teams are focused in health or health and wellness while the remaining five teams are in high-tech, high-growth industries.

This cohorts companies offer bold solutions to address current-day problems in industries ranging from logistics to cybersecurity, health/wellness to retail, and real estate to software, said Paul Nolde, managing executive director at Lighthouse Labs in a statement. This group of startups represents the best of innovation and entrepreneurship across the Commonwealth and beyond.

Project Mongoose represents the sole Richmond startup in the Spring class. Founded by Jen Finn, Bernard Harkless and Alex Otanez, the company calls itself a Smart-home-as-a-Service Platform. Its software is designed to give multi-family property owners and managers a better experience with their investments in smart technology.

Remaining companies involved in cohort 14:

E-Sentience  Durham, N.C.  A developing technology platform for non-invasive wearable devices to help people better understand and moderate their mental and physical health in real time. The founders are developing the first commercially-available device to measure stress directly through cortisol, with plans to add other natural biomarkers. Founders: Julio Fredin, Sloane Tilley and Fernando Webb.

Healp  Fairfax Station  Uses artificial intelligence, crowd sourcing and big data to help patients with chronic and incurable conditions find health answers the medical world cannot provide. Their two-pronged approach works to solve the emotional side of diagnosis and alleviate the uncertainty by combining community and big data. Founder: Elizabeth Tikoyan.

Heroshe  Houston, Texas  Makes it easy for marketplace sellers to find and sell products anywhere online. The company offers shipping solutions, with package tracking and no customs duties from the U.S. to Africa, with plans to expand into additional markets. Founder: Osinachi Ukomadu.

Karambit.AI  Annandale  Company mission is to stop software supply chain attacks. Their focus is making sure software is safe and working as intended, automating detection of potentially malicious modifications, reducing manual analysis backlogs and analyzing software supply chains. Founders: Andrew Hendela and Eric Lee.

Kilsar  Virginia Beach  Building AI and AR software for the Department of Defense and other commercial clients. Primary applications use advanced head-wearable displays and AI-enabled software to help people more easily and effectively do their jobs. Founders: Zach Casey and Brendan Lawlor.

Luminoah  Charlottesville  A medical technology company driving value-based care in the home for patients requiring enteral nutrition. With a wearable device and digital health platform, the company hopes to provide personal health insights for patients managing diseases like cancer and GI disorders. Founder: Neal Piper.

Modi  Miami, Fla.  Brings the fitting room to online shoppers with AI-driven tools. Founders: Andrea Del Risco, Catalina Del Risco and Ileana Del Risco.

The 11-week program kicks off on March 13. Companies were selected from a pool of nearly 200 by local innovation leaders, startup supporters, key investors, healthcare entrepreneurs and Lighthouse alumni founders.

Companies receive $20,000 in equity-free funding. They also receive weekly educational programing, mentorship from Lighthouses mentor network and direct connections to local partners and investors.

$1.67 million home in western Henrico tops list of Richmond-area home sales for January 1) $1,670,000 2) $1,600,000 3) $1,515,000 4) $1,150,000 4) $1,150,000 6) $1,137,500 7) $1,125,000 8) $1,025,000 9) $1,024,024 10) $989,950
Restaurant Adarra has purchased and will be moving into the former Mamma Zu space in Oregon Hill at 501 S. Pine St.

Adarra, which is owned by Randall and Lyne Doetzer and serves Basque cuisine, is currently located in Jackson Ward at 618 N. 1st St.

Our goal has always been to find a forever home, and we could not allow this legendary space to be destroyed for more apartments, Randall Doetzer said via email. The opportunity is one we enthusiastically took in the interest of our beloved Adarras future.

Mamma Zu, from Ed Vasaio, was a beloved Richmond institution in Oregon Hill, serving up delicious pasta and garlic-laden dishes for over 20 years. Mamma Zu closed during the pandemic and the building was listed for lease in 2021. The building was eventually listed for sale for $875,000.

Vasaios other restaurants, Edos Squid, Dinamo and 8 1/2, remain open serving a mix of Italian, pasta, pizza and seafood dishes.

In 2019, Richmond Times-Dispatch restaurant reviewer Justin Lo awarded Adarra a four star review, calling it a masterpiece. Lo praised Adarras dishes, especially the octopus stew, stuffed squid and snails.

Most great restaurants succeed in capturing a perspective thats creative and interesting. But hardly ever do they make me feel as if Im experiencing the world again for the first time. Adarra is the rare exception. Through the lens of Basque cuisine, the perspective it captures is dazzlingly original and truly extraordinary, Lo wrote.

In 2020, Esquire magazine named Adarra one of the 20 best new restaurants in America.

Doetzer said that Adarra will continue to serve its unique take on traditional Basque cuisine in the new Pine Street location, although it will be refined and adapted considering everything weve learned the last four years.

Scott Stephens of SMS Architects will be working on the new space, as well as designers Ronnie and Tayne Renmark of Renmark Design.

The renovations will take some time, so an exact date for our move is unclear at this point. We look forward to joining the Oregon Hill community and adding our story to the legacy of this building, Doetzer said.

PHOTOS: Adarra
Hip-hop artist, business owner and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams is the new mens creative director for Paris-based Louis Vuitton.

The fashion houses parent company, LVMH, announced today that Williams appointment overseeing the iconic brands new menswear was effective immediately.

The announcement called Williams a visionary who over the past two decades had established himself as a cultural and global icon. It noted his activism against racial injustice and his nonprofit work through his foundation, YELLOW, which provides educational opportunities to children.

His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton toward a new and very exciting chapter, said Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuittons chairman and CEO in a statement on the companys website.

Williams, a 13-time Granny Award winner, will release his first fashion collection for Louis Vuitton in June at Mens Fashion Week in Paris.

Pharrells music festival Something in the Water returns to Virginia Beach in April.
A Chesterfield County judge who was asked to appoint a special prosecutor to further investigate a controversial sexual solicitation case involving a Virginia Beach pastor chided the countys police chief and commonwealths attorney for their unseemly public squabble about the matter, calling it irresponsible and damaging to the publics confidence in the judicial system.

The Commonwealths Attorney and the Chief of Police pursued an unseemly public disagreement without any apparent regard for how their words might impact the publics view of a serious matter involving the liberty of a citizen, the public safety concerns of the community, the protection of minors and the integrity of the judicial process, Chief Chesterfield Circuit Judge David E. Johnson wrote in his 11-page ruling on Feb. 3 that appointed a Brunswick County prosecutor to investigate the case involving pastor John Blanchard.

Further, Johnson said the matter presents one of the best examples of the worst menaces to our system of justice: the transformation of the sober and serious investigation of guilt into a grotesque media carnival.

The judge noted that law enforcement leaders carry serious responsibilities and, as such, they should appreciate that trials should be conducted in the courts of law, not in the courts of public opinion. The last thing that is needed in an already difficult decision-making process is the injection of gratuitous insults, self-righteous posturing and finger-pointing.

The back-and-forth between Police Chief Jeffrey Katz and Commonwealths Attorney Stacey Davenport stems from how Davenports office handled the case. Blanchard, 52, the pastor of Virginia Beach megachurch Rock Church International, was one of 17 men arrested during an October 2021 police online chatting sting in Chesterfield. He was charged with solicitation of prostitution from a minor 16 years of age or older, and using a vehicle to promote prostitution.

A year later, on Oct. 18, 2022, Davenports office asked a Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court judge to nolle prosequi  not prosecute  the charges, and the judge granted the request.

At the time, Davenport believed there was insufficient evidence to proceed. At least one other defendant among the 17 arrested also had his charges withdrawn.

Woman admits guilt in hit-and-run death of a man who was taking out his trash on Monument Avenue Thomas Sotos was putting his trash can at the end of the driveway of his Monument Avenue home for collection last spring when the unthinkable happened.

The decision drew a rebuke from Katz, who criticized the decision in postings on his Facebook page. On Jan. 10, he wrote the decision to not prosecute the pastor was NOT due to a lack of evidence or a substandard investigation. Katz called on Davenport to provide a public explanation for her decision.

In his ruling, the judge listed the series of public comments between Katz and Davenport, as well as those of Del. Tim Anderson, R-Va. Beach. Anderson entered the fray after obtaining police incident reports through the Freedom of Information Act and posted comments on his law firms Facebook page, the judge noted.

The dispute intensified in January after Anderson, Katz and Davenport appeared separately on WRVA radio to discuss the case. By the judges count, Anderson appeared four times, including twice in one day, while Katz and Davenport each appeared once.

Davenport held a press conference Jan. 18 outside the courthouse to announce she had received new information less than 48 hours earlier, and would ask the court to appoint a special prosecutor to review the matter.

Due to what she called the repeated public comments and unfounded political attacks levied against her office by Katz and Anderson, Davenport said she could not ethically make any decisions on whether or not this new information should impact future prosecutorial decisions.

In his ruling, Johnson said he found it would be improper for Davenports office to further act on the case, but not because of Davenports stated reason of an appearance of a conflict of interest due to the politicization of this case.

What the Commonwealths Attorney asserts is an ethical bar to her making a prosecutorial decision appears to this Court to be the Commonwealths Attorneys unwillingness to make a controversial prosecutorial decision, the judge wrote.

In his remarks, the judge said he was not challenging the ability of Davenport, Katz or any other member of the community to exercise their right to free speech, but that freedom of speech must be exercised responsibly.

The judge said, had Davenport and Katz refrained from making any public comments, Davenport would have been able to make a decision on whether to reopen the case  rather than pass it to a special prosecutor  after Katz, through his department, produced new evidence in the matter.

Ordinarily, none of this tawdry episode would merit comment by a court, Johnson said. However, Davenports motion to appoint a a special prosecutor requires this court to review the events leading up to her motion to assess if she is so situated with respect to Mr. Blanchard as to render it improper for her to act.

The judge noted that, in one of Katzs and Davenports early exchanges, Davenport stated, Some of the cases had sufficient evidence to support felony convictions, some did not.

To that, Katz responded, in part, Absent a reasonable explanation, any discontent associated with the handling of this case should be directed to the Commonwealths Attorneys office.

The judge said he found it shocking that an officer of the law would direct discontent to any other public office.

The judge also was critical of an exchange that began with Katz, on Jan. 10, publicly listing the alleged facts of his departments investigation of Blanchard, stating, a jury of Chesterfield County residents deserves to weigh in on the matter of criminal culpability.

To that, Davenport responded: Moral outrage is no substitute for evidence.

Both the Commonwealths Attorney and the Chief of Police ignored the degree to which this publicity  magnified by appearances on WRVA radio  might prejudice the potential defendants right to an unbiased jury, thus depriving the citizens of Chesterfield the very right the Chief asserts they deserve, Johnson said.

While pretrial publicity  even pervasive, adverse publicity  does not inevitably lead to an unfair trial, those tasked with ensuring the unbiased, impartial and equal application of the rule of law under the Constitution have a heightened duty to act so that a fair trial is never threatened. This degradation of the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury apparently did not enter the minds of two public officials who should always have this constitutional right foremost among their respective concerns.

Reached this week, Davenport said the public was clamoring for a statement out of my office as the Blanchard case heated up, and she had a duty as an elected public official to respond.

To suggest that I somehow was behaving beyond the scope of what is appropriate for my position by speaking to the public is surprising to me, Davenport said. Because I dont believe anything that I said... was inflammatory, or for the purpose of continuing to engage in any type of squabble or disagreement.

Davenport said that her statements that the judge quoted in his ruling are very vanilla statements, where Im trying to say something to the public without getting into the meat and potatoes of the facts of the case, because Im not allowed to do that as an attorney.

Further, the prosecutor believes the judges critical remarks are tied, at least in part, to a joint news conference she and Katz held in July 2021 in which they lambasted Johnsons decision to overturn a jurys guilty verdict in a murder case.

Its really no secret that since we had that press conference  which I think we had every right to do to explain to the public what happened  that Judge Johnson has had animosity towards the chief and I both, she said.

Asked for his thoughts on the ruling, Katz opted not to address the judges criticism of his public statements. Instead, the chief thanked the judge for appointing a new prosecutor to review the Blanchard case.

Through his order, he and he alone has reactivated the wheels of justice that had been frozen by the CAs decision to set these charges aside, Katz said in a statement. The sad irony is not lost on me that the public nature of this debate  while unfortunate  is the very thing that ultimately put this matter before Judge Johnson to remedy.

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Richmond police have arrested a man in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend inside a Northside apartment unit Monday evening.

The suspect, Dajon Baskerville, 29, of Richmond, was taken into custody after officers responded to a residence in the 4200 block of Chamberlayne Avenue. Baskerville was charged with attempted murder and felony use of a firearm in the slaying of Summer Fuller, 31. Additional charges are pending.

Police said they were called to the residence about 10:10 p.m. after Baskerville reported he shot his girlfriend. Upon arrival, officers attempted to make contact with Baskerville before hearing a shot inside the apartment.

Officers then breached the door, located Baskerville and took him into custody, seizing a firearm. Police located a woman, identified as Fuller, suffering from a gunshot wound.

Fuller died after being taken to a local hospital.

Police said officers were able to take Baskerville into custody without firing their service weapons.

Police said they are continuing to investigate the shooting and urged anyone with information to call Major Crimes Detective M. Gouldman at (804) 646-3915 or Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000. Tips can also be submitted using the P3 Tips Crime Stoppers app. All Crime Stoppers reporting methods are anonymous.

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Virginia Union University can keep its logo atop a historic tower on campus, the Richmond City Council decided, three years after the university erected four glowing signs without a permit.

The council issued an ordinance Monday, ending a drawn-out debate regarding the signs, which violated city guidelines and a contract between the university and the state.

To keep the signs in place, VUU agreed to inspect the tower for structural integrity, pay a $35,000 annual fee and take down the signs if they pose a risk to the safety of the tower.

The VUU signage on the tower will provide a lasting bright-shining symbol of justice, hope and equality, the university said in a statement.

In 2020, VUU installed 17-foot-tall glowing logos on all four sides of the Vann Memorial Tower, which is connected to the Belgian Building on the schools North Side campus.

The signs violated a contract VUU made with the state a decade earlier. Under the agreement, VUU received $340,000 from the National Park Service to pay for restoration of the tower, and the university promised not to alter the 165-foot tower, which was designated as a historic landmark.

Authorities worried the old tower would not support the weight of the signs. The Vann tower was built for the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, and was later shipped to Richmond.

Last summer, the university and the states Department of Historic Resources came to a compromise that allowed the signs to stay. The agreement included the annual fee, the inspection of the tower and the promise to remove the signs if they damage the structure.

The state was not the only government entity upset. The university never obtained a permit from the city, and the Commission of Architectural Review determined the signs were larger than ordinances allow, obscured the architectural importance of the tower and detracted from the character of the building.

City officials began reviewing the matter almost two years ago. On Monday, City Council approved an ordinance authorizing special use of the property, finally bringing the case to an end.

A spokesperson for VUU said the long period of time reflected everyone treating the issue with seriousness, and it has been heartening to see everyone work in good faith.

From the archives: In 1960, The Richmond 34 were arrested during a sit-in at the Thalhimers lunch counter
Residential and business property owners in Henrico County could receive tax relief for the second consecutive year with the countys proposed 2023 real estate tax credit.

The total credit amounts to 2 cents per $100 of the real estates taxable value. An owner of a single-family home valued at $367,000, the median price in Henrico, would gain $73.40 in credit.

This Board of Supervisors recognizes the economic challenges our homeowners, families and taxpayers are facing each day, said Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, who made the announcement Tuesday. Were announcing a proposal that further demonstrates that Henrico is a county with a heart.

The tax relief proposal will be formally introduced at the Board of Supervisors meeting in May, with a vote being held in June.

17,000-seat arena planned for Henrico County If you build it, they will come  and it will be good for the environment.

Checks of $30 or more would be sent to property owners in September if the ordinance passes. If the amount is under $30, it will be applied as credit to bills issued to property owners in October and due in December.

According to Vithoulkas, many Henrico homeowners are facing increases in their 2023 assessments due to state laws requiring that local real estate assessments reflect 100% of property fair market values.

State code requires that the tax relief comes from surplus real estate tax dollars from the previous fiscal year. The credit will not affect funding for education, public safety, recreation or other county services, according to Sheila Minor, Henricos director of finance.

One of the things we wanted to emphasize about this tax credit is that it doesnt affect those programs, Minor said. In our operating budget, we have continued to make sure that those things are a priority.

Henrico offered a similar credit in 2022, becoming the first locality in the commonwealth to return surplus dollars to taxpayers under the 2005 law.

Were empathetic to the financial strains of our residents, Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Tyrone Nelson said. As we saw last year, tax credit can make a real difference for our community.

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Richmond is going all in on being green.

The City Council has announced its commitment to developing a plan and taking the necessary actions to address the climate crisis through its unanimous support of the RVAgreen 2050: Climate Equity Action plan.

The plan, which is deemed an equity-centered community based, integrated climate action and climate resilience plan, will serve as a roadmap for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, with a decrease to net zero emissions by 2050. It will also help the city adjust and navigate around climate impacts like extreme heat, precipitation and flooding.

In practice, this includes designating funds to improve transportation, cut waste output, develop better infrastructure, make homes and businesses more energy efficient and ensure equitable access to green spaces across the city.

How Richmond will spend $155 million in pandemic relief aid Richmond is well on its way to spending the $155 million allocated for the city in the American Rescue Plan Act, with more than the half fundi

The decision to approve the plan came after numerous people, many of them high school and college students, came forward to ask the council to pass the resolution.

For Kelly, a freshman at Open High School, the climate crisis is a great concern for both herself and her peers.

Im scared for my future and Im scared for my friends and family and I dont know where I see myself in 10 years because the climate crisis will affect all of us for the rest of our lives, Kelly said. Im so angry and frustrated that I have to be here to find some reason to tell you why to vote yes on this and continue to push for it in the future.

Many argued that there needs to be adequate transportation and better infrastructure, citing that the walkability of parts of the city is poor. Others highlighted the importance of maintaining Richmonds historic natural amenities like the James River.

Council President Mike Jones pointed to climate-related issues in his own neighborhood, which is lacking in green spaces.

I live in a heat island. We know that it is 10 degrees hotter in parts of South Richmond, especially the parts that I live in, we know that when it drizzles, it floods, Jones said. I cant do No Car November and keep a schedule, and everyone should be able to do something as simple as that.

The 571-page plan has been in the works for several years following Mayor Levar Stoneys 2017 introduction of the initiative.

Since then, it has been a community-wide, interdepartmental effort to create a thorough, comprehensive plan that includes 17 objectives, 49 strategies and 134 actions to better address current issues and prepare for any future ones.

Laura Thomas, the citys director of the Office of Sustainability, appeared before the Land Use, Housing and Transportation Committee this month to emphasize some of the key results that would occur if the plan were fully implemented.

It would create nearly 11,000 new jobs in the next 27 years, create $3.6 billion in net benefits and save $231 million in health costs.

While the plan is extensive, the city is estimated to have reduced more than 20% of its greenhouse gas emissions in the past 15 years and, with more focused initiatives in place, is already on its way to hitting its 2030 benchmark.

Mainly, these initiatives include retrofitting homes and businesses with more energy efficient equipment, pushing for renewable energy and incentivizing development that results in net zero energy consumption.

Additionally, the plan focuses heavily on ensuring equitable access to resources.

With the adoption of the resolution, the RVAgreen 2050: Climate Equity Action Plan will serve as the citys official sustainability plan.

According to Councilmember Katherine Jordan, who has advocated heavily for climate crisis-related reform, the plan will serve as an adequate guide for the upcoming years.

We are getting things done, Jordan said. I really feel confident that this equity plan is a roadmap that is going to take us forward.

While all of the council spoke in favor of the initiative, with several of the members cosponsoring the resolution, several residents said they want to see its efforts come to fruition.

With the mayor set to roll out his budget in the upcoming months, people should anticipate items outlined in the sustainability plan.

I struggled with coming to this meeting because Im scared that if this passes, you wont follow through on it, Kelly said. But, Im here to tell you that we will continue to come and we will continue to push for this and we will continue to push for climate justice and that we will hold you accountable if you do not act.

8 things to do right now in your community to prepare for climate change 8 things to do right now in your community to prepare for climate change Plant a rain garden or install a rain barrel Remove invasive plant species from parks Replace grass lawns with eco-alternatives Use renewable energy options Use natural methods to repel mosquitoes Plant trees Support local farmers Get elected to HOA or neighborhood association
Two bills aimed at enhancing how Freedom of Information Act requests take place in Virginia have cleared the House of Delegates and the Senate. The next step is for Gov. Glenn Youngkin to review them and decide whether or not to sign them into law.

The Freedom of Information Act allows anyone in Virginia to request records from public entities like school divisions or governments. The process comes at a cost, however, as entities charge the requester for the time and staff it takes to locate and compile information.

Carried by Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, House Bill 2006 would allow localities that already accept electronic payments to also do so for FOIA requests. Roems House Bill 2007 would require localities to post FOIA fee policies on their websites.

The transparency, Roem said, should benefit constituents and governments alike.

Fulfilling FOIA requests, she said, has been treated as a burden by Democrats and Republicans.

The passage of the two bills may signal a shifting tide on FOIA law.

During a subcommittee meeting last month concerning the bill on electronic payments, Roem said it would help her constituents who have to drive sometimes 30 to 45 minutes across Prince William County to drop off checks when paying for their FOIA requests  something she said can be a deterrent to those who cannot make the trek.

For years Roem has also introduced legislation to cap the price on FOIA fees, though the bills have not passed.

The two measures that recently did pass did so unanimously. However, adjustments to the bill on electronic payments occurred in the process.

During a subcommittee meeting last month, an association expressed concern over House Bill 2006.

This bill tells a locality how they can or cannot accept financial payments, said Phyllis Errico, counsel for the Virginia Association of Counties.

But Roem said the bill applies to localities that already accept electronic payments for other things.

As the measure went through the House and Senate, Roem reached a compromise on the wording so that localities may accept electronic payments, not that they shall.

Compromise sucks sometimes, but you have to do it, she said.

As some inspiration to carry the bill stemmed from stories from her constituents, she hopes if it is signed into law that it can be a nudge to the Northern Virginia county and others.

So what Im telling them in this bill is hey, Prince William, you may do this now. It would be super cool if you did, Roem said.

Having championed adjustments to FOIA laws since her first term in the House, Roem said shes proud House bills 2006 and 2007 have now cleared both chambers. She noted how Democrats and Republicans alike have not always been warm on adjusting FOIA law but hopes to continue building consensus  and for more constituents to see it as a core issue when heading to the ballot.

I think that both parties should embrace that hardcore, she said.

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Senate Democrats voted down a slew of hot-button GOP education bills on Wednesday in a subcommittee meeting, including one that LGBT advocates dubbed a forced outing bill.

The bill would have required school staff to notify a students parent if the student identifies as transgender or wants to use pronouns that are inconsistent with the students birth sex.

LGBT advocates strongly opposed the bill, while supporters of the bill said that parents deserve to know what is going on with their children.

This legislation will not minimize or decrease the number of trans students we have in Virginia. What it is only going to do is remove supportive systems and systems of care for these kids, said Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia during testimony on Wednesday.

The bill also included language that would have required school staff to ask if parents wanted to obtain counseling for their student when staff notified parents of their childs mental state.

Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, cited what he termed the high propensity of mental health problems and suicides for children who are undergoing gender identity issues and a much higher rate of suicide.

So it concerns me that parents would not know or that we would not share that with the parents so that they could be on the lookout for what their children may be going through.

The Democrat-led panel on Wednesday also shot down a bill from Del. Tim Anderson, R- Virginia Beach, that would have let parents bar their own children from access to books in school libraries with graphic sexual content.

For at least the second time this session, Anderson said the phrase spank that fat ass while reading from a book he said is available in Virginia Beach Public Schools libraries.

In addition, subcommittee members rejected a bill that would have required the state department of education to create model policies for how school divisions should regulate the selection and removal of books.

The Senate panel on Wednesday voted down legislation that would have allowed local school boards to hire on a contract basis non-law enforcement K-9 detection teams. The canines can sniff out drugs, guns, narcotics and vapes.

The goal here is to prevent the school to prison pipeline, said bill patron Del. Emily Brewer, R-Suffolk. The schools get to decide the disciplinary action once any item is found, because this is a private company.

Peake, the only Republican present on the subcommittee Wednesday due to the absence of the other, expressed frustration that piles of GOP bills were shot down, including one that passed the House unanimously.

The bill would have allowed children of certain foreign service employees and civilian employees of the Armed Forces to attend Governors Schools.

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Dominion Energy wants to reinstate a large surcharge it suspended last year to cover the costs of complying with Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative caps on carbon dioxide emissions.

It suspended the surcharge, called a rider or rate adjustment clause, in response to Gov. Glenn Youngkins promise to pull Virginia out of the multi-state cap and trade market.

If the State Corporation Commission approves, the surcharge would boost a benchmark 1,000 kilowatt-hour a month bill, which now costs $137, by $4.64.

That would generate the $373 million Dominion said it needs to receive from its customers to cover its costs of complying with RGGI from August of last year through December 2023.

That sum would pay for RGGI allowances to cover approximately 31 million tons worth of CO2 emissions above its cap, Dominion said in a filing with the SCC.

Dominion director of regulatory accounting Paul McLeod said the electric companys costs for complying with the RGGI cap  that is, buying allowances to cover emissions that exceed that cap  totaled $267 million for the time between 2021, when Virginia joined RGGI, and August 2022.

The utility recovered $84 million of that from its RGGI surcharge before it suspended it in May of last year, he said.

The rest, $183 million, was recovered through the utilitys base rate  the portion of customers bills, which accounts for roughly half, that has been essentially unchanged since 2007.

Bills now pending before the General Assembly would allow the SCC to review the base rate, which is meant to recover Dominions investment in its plant and equipment.

Since the current base rate is pegged to plant and equipment in place in 2007, with later investments recovered through two dozen surcharges like the RGGI rider, legislators expect the SCC review would produce a drop in customers bills since the value of plants and equipment for most businesses declines over time.

Dominions filing still assumes Virginia will leave RGGI in December, as Youngkin wants.

Youngkin argues that the decision is up to the executive branch; Democratic legislators say it is up to the General Assembly, which has not authorized withdrawal from the pact.

Environmentalists say RGGI is a key tool in Virginias efforts to slow down climate change and prevent sea level rise which threatens Virginias coastal and Bay communities. Virginia gets money back from RGGI from the allowances utilities buy, and those funds are allocated to the states efforts to deal with climate change.

Youngkin, whose time at the multi-billion-dollar Carlyle Group saw the firm move into carbon-reducing investments in a major way, does not buy that argument.

He has said RGGI is not a market-based incentive to cut greenhouse gas emissions because Virginias approach to regulating Dominion means they dont have to worry about it because they can pass it right on to the consumer and the consumer Has. No. Choice.

5 unexpected costs when starting your own business 5 unexpected costs when starting your own business Hiring Trademarking/patenting Brand design Advertising Legal and accounting
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that four biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing efforts tied to the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech will receive $67 million in state funding.

The grants, which were allocated in the 2023 fiscal year budget, will bring jobs and position Virginia as a national leader in life sciences, Youngkin said.

The Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority will receive $10 million to help build a 102,000-square-foot life sciences lab in downtown Richmond as part of the VA Bio+Tech Park near the Coliseum.

The 34-acre campus houses more than 70 companies, research institutes and government laboratories and operates at capacity.

The facility, first announced in 2020 before the pandemic, will offer lab and office space to a range of companies. The building is being called an innovation center and will be located on East Leigh Street between North Seventh and North Eighth Streets.

Kipton Currier, a vice president at Activation Capital, said the plan complements Mayor Levar Stoneys vision for transforming downtown into an innovation district. Activation Capital is a nonprofit that supports the startup business community with grants and other services.

The state allocated $5 million to the development of the basic ingredients of medicines in the Richmond region. Initiatives such as VCUs Medicines for All, Civica Rx and Phlow Corp. design and manufacture medicines.

The coalition received $53 million last year in funding from the federal government.

Little, if any, manufacturing of key starting materials currently occurs in the U.S., creating a significant gap in achieving an integrated and secure supply chain for essential medicines, said Joy Polefrone, executive director of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine.

The University of Virginias recently announced Institute for Biotechnology will receive $36 million to hire 150 research scientists to study gene therapy and drug delivery.

The city of Roanoke will get $16 million to create an incubator to develop new biotechnology companies in Southwest Virginia. The project, which has numerous partners, including the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, will provide a hub for Johnson and Johnson Innovations.

Highest-paying science jobs in Richmond Highest-paying science jobs in Richmond #23. Forest and conservation technicians #22. Biological technicians #21. Environmental science and protection technicians, including health #16. Microbiologists #15. Forensic science technicians #14. Conservation scientists #13. Zoologists and wildlife biologists #9. Occupational health and safety specialists #8. School psychologists #5. Chemists #3. Clinical and counseling psychologists
Budget standoffs at Virginias Capitol are standard operating procedure and have been for the past two decades. They are telling measures of our bright-line politics: suburbs vs. countryside, tax-raisers vs. tax-cutters, government-as-ally vs. government-as-adversary.

This time, the impasse could be a rerun of a historic first: In 2001, the legislature failed to act on the budget, leaving it to the governor, Republican Jim Gilmore, to do single-handedly  by way of cuts here, and increases there  as the Virginia Constitution requires: balance the states finances.

Fast forward to 2023: We are, procedurally, where we were in 2001. A full budget is in place, having been approved last year by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Because Virginia writes its budget two years at a time, the issue now  as it was 22 years ago  is revisions to the second half of an existing budget.

If the Republican House of Delegates and the Democratic Virginia Senate do not agree on tweaks to the current budget, worth a whopping $177 billion, there is still a spending plan in place, which ensures that the government will stay open. It is the revised spending guidelines that will not apply because they were not approved.

For Youngkin, that means no additional tax breaks. He wants another increase in the standard deduction Virginians take on their income taxes. The Republican also is seeking a reduction in individual and corporate tax rates. Local schools will not get that $201 million fix in state aid required because of a miscalculation by Youngkins bean counters.

For Democrats, gridlock means no bump-up in mental health spending. It is a program on which Youngkin and Democrats agree, though Democrats want to spend more. Ditto on additional pay raises for state employees to slow the bureaucratic brain-drain. Democrats could also forget about tax credits for low-income workers.

Without a budget, there is pain: actual pain, as in those school districts  many of them rural and Republican  that will have to make do with fewer dollars, and perceived pain, as in the invective hurled by Democrats and Republicans in the fall elections for House and Senate over who is to blame for budgetary inertia.

With legislators scheduled to close their 46-day session on Feb. 25  and delegates and senators $1 billion apart on spending  the murmurings they could repeat the 2001 embarrassment may be nothing more than an effort to shame both sides into action.

That said, 2023s parallels with 2001 are numerous and prophetic, spotlighting the business of budgeting and the business of politics. One cannot happen without the other. Both become more difficult when consensus is construed as weakness rather than evidence an imperfect system can work.

The budget fights then and now are about taxes: At a cost of $265 million, Gilmore wanted to accelerate the rollback of the local tax on personal cars and trucks. This was the program on which he won in a landslide in 1997. It was the first GOP sweep, setting up takeovers of the House and Senate, and, for the first time in over a century, total Republican dominance of state government.

Gilmores insistence on expanded car-tax relief unfolded  as Youngkins demand for further reductions in the income tax is unfolding  against a backdrop of economic uncertainty. With recession in bloom and revenues withering, Gilmore proposed paying for his tax cut with spending cuts.

Youngkin is warning of a recession, but confident revenue growth will be sufficient to finance his tax breaks. That is good enough for House Republicans, but not for Senate Democrats.

In a little-noticed language amendment, they want dibs next year on any unanticipated surplus funds for roads, education, housing, child care, dam repairs and pensions. Think of it as contingent budgeting  unusual for a state with a long history of fiscal discipline.

Should Virginia go budgetless, there is only so much Youngkin can do. He cannot cut or raise taxes. There are restrictions on how deeply a he can cut spending. The budget sets six conditions under which a governor can freely shuffle dollars. Among them: emergencies and to maintain services at levels set by law.

This years gridlock structurally mimics that of 2001: It is the governor and House against the Senate.

Though back then it was Republican-on-Republican and this time it is Republican-on-Democrat, the House alignment with the governor speaks to the here-and-now mentality of a chamber whose members face election every two years.

Senators, elected to four-year terms from larger districts, tend to take a longer view of policy. That reflex may be stronger in 2023 because many Senate budget negotiators are tops in seniority and anticipating retirement  voluntary or involuntary. This may have them more willing to go to the mat on matters of principle.

Such was the case in 2001. Among its effects: Gilmore unleashed a political campaign against his fellow Republicans in the Senate, accusing them of breaking faith with Virginians and arguing that the senators were raising taxes by refusing to cut them.

It is not difficult to imagine Youngkin, knowing a divided or Democrat-controlled legislature elected in November could doom him in the second half of his non-renewable term, would be similarly sulky, if not more so given that his targets would be Democrats. In warring on his party, Gilmore gave voters an excuse to give Republicans the boot. They installed as governor Democrat Mark Warner, a tel-com multimillionaire whose personal fortune supposedly qualified him to manage Virginias finances.

Even Warner would admit his private-sector experience did not fully prepare him for his public-sector job. He tried to make up for it by hiring people who knew their way around Richmond.

And Youngkin, who amassed millions in high finance, is clearly still learning his new job.

The General Assemblys eyes and ears on the bureaucracy, the Auditor of Public Accounts, seems to be saying as much. In a just-out snapshot of the finance secretariat, which oversees state spending  and where Youngkin cleaned house in 2022  the auditor says the administration needs to strengthen info-tech systems, payroll management and pension documentation.

First things first: pass a budget.
The General Assembly has passed a bill setting staffing requirements for certified nursing homes and imposing sanctions on facilities that are not compliant.

Supporters of such legislation have worked on it for about 20 years. But in 2023, it sailed through. The House approved House Bill 1446, sponsored by Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, by a vote of 95-2. And Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed it.

It now goes to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his consideration.

Virginia is one of 15 states without minimum staffing standards, and nursing homes in the Richmond area have come under scrutiny for their low ratings.

The General Assemblys Joint Commission on Health Care reported last year that about 20% of nursing homes in the state did not meet federal staffing standards. Homes run by for-profit companies tend to have the worst staffing, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determined.

The bill would require facilities to provide an average of 3.08 hours of nursing care to each resident each day. The staffers could be certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses or registered nurses.

The law would take effect in July of 2025.

Homes that are not compliant would be required to submit a corrective action plan. A home that is out of compliance two years in a row could be fined $50,000. Facilities out of compliance for three years could be placed on probation.

The State Health Commissioner could choose not to impose sanctions if he or she determines the facility made an effort to recruit and retain staffers, but was not able to.

Orrock adjusted the bill recently, lowering the amount of time a home would have to reach the standard. A previous version allowed as much as five years for a home to correct its staffing, which drew concern from lawmakers.

Derrick Kendall, who runs Lucy Corr Continuing Care Retirement Community in Chesterfield, said he had to close some of the 216 beds in his facility because he did not have the nurses to cover them.

Nursing homes are not understaffed because they do not want to pay employees salaries, he said. They are understaffed because they cannot find enough people willing to do the work.

Ive never had worse staffing and lower occupancy than I have now, he said.

Kendall said he still supports a law creating a staffing requirement.

The bill ties in Medicaids value-based purchasing program, in which facilities that hire more staff receive higher reimbursements. This provision helped the bill gain approval where other bills have failed.

Medicaid patients make up about 60% of nursing home residents in the state, and hiring more staff will increase the cost of caring for the residents. The bill is expected to cost $11 million per year.

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American detained at Cancun International with $61,000 in cash

Cancun, Q.R.  An American traveler has been detained at the Cancun International Airport for carrying $61,000 in cash. The National Guard (GN) reported on the arrest Tuesday, which they say, took place in coordination with elements of the National Customs Agency of Mexico.

The American was attempting to board a plane bound for Atlanta, Georgia. During an x-ray luggage scan in the international lounge for private flights, authorities detected several packets inside the hand luggage.

When questioning the American, the man stated that he was carrying $25,000 in cash. To corroborate the information, he agreed to a manual inspection. During that manual inspection, authorities located a total of $61,000 in cash for which the man could not provide legal origin.

In their statement, the agency said The National Guard and the National Customs Agency of Mexico endorse the commitment to fulfill the tasks entrusted to eradicate corruption and tax evasion in strict adherence to the rule of law.

Earlier this month, American Nascar driver Kyle Thomas B was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for entering Mexico with a gun. The Nevada native was arrested from Cancun International on January 27, 2023.

Through an abbreviated procedure, he was back in court on January 29 and sentenced February 3, 2023 to three-and-a-half years in Cancun prison. He was arrested after a gun and magazine were found in his luggage.
Construction worker killed in Riviera Maya hotel roof collapse

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  One worker was killed Tuesday after a roof collapse at a Riviera Maya hotel. The accident scene was attended to by State Civil Protection who confirmed the death.

In a brief statement, the Coordinacion Estatal de Proteccion Civil Quintana Roo said In coordination with corporations of the federal, state and municipal governments, an incident is attended to at the Paladium Hotel in Playa del Carmen.

Elements of the State Civil Protection Coordination, firefighters, National Guard, State Police, Municipal Police, Municipal Civil Protection and paramedics arrived at the scene around 9:15 a.m.

There, they located a construction worker who was killed after a slab of supported concrete collapsed and fell on him. The supported concrete was part of a new roof. It is believed the supports used to hold it in place gave way, crushing the construction worker. The collapse left a second worker with minor injuries.
Ejidos respond with road block threats after announcement of Maya Train station change

Costa Maya, Q.R.  After the announcement of a section 7 station change in the south, ejidos responded by threatening to block workers and trucks starting next week.

Ejidatarios from Laguna Om are threatening to block work on section 7 of the Maya Train after the federal government announced a station change. Over the weekend, the government said the station that was set for construction in Nicolas Bravo would be moved.

The station will be relocated to the town of Francisco Villa in the municipality of Othon P. Blanco, which they say, is a strategic point for tourists to visit the archaeological remains of Kohunlich, Kinich-Na and Dzibanche in the south of Quintana Roo.

After the announcement, the more than 500 members of the ejido expelled their Agrarian Attorney, Alexis Ballinas Ruiz, after claims he is working with other commissioners in the orchestration of the station change.

We are going to do what has to be done so that the station stays in Nicolas Bravo because we were victims of fraud. In November, we approved ceding the 120 hectares that would be needed for the project and the construction of that building was part of the agreements in order to boost the local economy.

Now they come and tell us that we approved the change when that never happened, said Sonia Martinez Leon, one of the affected ejidatarias.

The group held an assembly over the weekend where they agreed to block work and protest outside the Fonatur building of Chetumal. A date for the blockade and protest was not determined.
Mexico begins rescue withdraw process from Turkey

Mexico City, Mexico  Marcelo Ebrard has reported that the process to withdraw rescuers from Turkey will begin. The Foreign Minister said that Mexico will begin to withdraw its canine rescue pairs starting Wednesday.

Through a notice to the Mexican government from Turkish authorities, it was announced that as of Wednesday, rescue teams can begin to withdraw from the affected areas due to the start of large-scale demolition work.

Ebrard made the announcement Tuesday at the morning conference at the National Palace.

Mexico contributed 150 elements including personnel from the Army, Navy, Red Cross and representatives of the SRE, as well as a plane, which has remained on Turkish soil since its landing on February 10.

We are awaiting instructions from the Turkish government to begin the return of all the displaced elements in that country. Up until now, Mexico helped with the rescue four people alive and the recovery of 33 bodies.

There have been 96 consultations and a total of 55 cubic meters of rubble have been removed, explained Ebrard.

Ebrard also said that on Tuesday, $6 million dollars will be sent by the Government of Mexico for aid to Syria.

The death toll in the Turkey  Syria earthquake has topped 41,000 after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake the week before.
New French consular office inaugurated in Cancun

Cancun, Q.R.  On Monday, the French Ambassador in Mexico, Jean-Pierre Asvazadourian, inaugurated the new consular agency in Cancun. The new office is headed by Emmanuel Cyril Grimbaum.

This consular office aims to provide services and support to compatriots residing or vacationing in the country.

On social media, the diplomat revealed that the agency belongs to an extensive network of 17 honorary consuls of the French country on Mexican soil.

It was Monday morning when the French representative in Mexico announced his arrival in Quintana Roo and said that as part of his agenda, he has scheduled a working meeting with the state governor, Mara Lezama Espinoza for February 14.

Qunitana Roo FGE head Oscar Montes de Oca, also attended the February 14 meeting.

He posted The head of the FGE of Quintana Roo, Oscar Montes de Oca, accompanied the Governor to the working meeting she held with the French ambassador in Mexico, and the new French Consul in Cancun, Emmanuel Grimbaum.

At the meeting, they discussed issues related to the safety of French tourists in Quintana Roo, in which the Prosecutor endorsed his commitment to seek timely justice for the population of Quintana Roo and visitors.
Pair stopped for urinating in public arrested after assaulting Cancun officer

Cancun, Q.R.  Two males were arrested Tuesday after assaulting a female Cancun police officer. Benito Juarez Police arrested 37-year-old Gustavo N and his 26-year-old companion Ricardo N on charges of injuries to a policewoman.

The arrests were made after patrolling officers in SM 22 noticed two individuals physically assaulting a fellow officer. The unidentified female officer said moments before, she stopped the men after seeing them urinating in public.

When she explained that urinating on a public road was an administrative offence, they became aggressive, first verbally assaulting her before one of the men grabbed her cell phone and threw it to the ground.

The men, who were allegedly under the influence of alcohol, were seen assaulting the female officer by other officers passing in a patrol unit. The unit stopped and assisted her in arresting the two men.
Quintana Roo leads way in Mexico with highest home price increases

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  The Federal Mortgage Society (SHF) says the price of homes across Mexico rose 9 percent during 2022. The Society also said that the sharpest increases were felt in the countrys tourist states such as Quintana Roo.

According to the Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF), housing prices in Mexicos tourist states experienced a 14 percent increase. The increase is being blamed on foreigners looking to invest in Mexicos real estate market.

The states of Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur are two whose economy depends mostly on tourism. According to SHF figures, both showed price increases of 14.6 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively, the highest in the country.

Despite this, the number of units sold in 2022 also grew. According to data from JLL, the sale of luxury homes in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, increased 8.7 percent annually.

Last year, of the 2,845 residential units that were sold in the state, 74 percent were sold only in the Los Cabos region. The average price was $1.2 million USD, the company detailed.

Chart: SHF

Other destinations that gained popularity among foreign buyers were Riviera Maya (Solidaridad/Playa del Carmen) in Quintana Roo, the Pacific Coast and the Baja California Peninsula.

In cities close to the U.S. border, increases were also observed, for example, the price of housing in Tijuana rose by 13 percent.

The SHF highlighted that this upward trend occurred in a context in which GDP grew 3.6 percent in 4Q of 2022. In addition, according to the Timely Estimate of GDP published by INEGI, the number of workers registered with the IMSS grew 3.2 percent in the same period.

According to their report, in 2022, at the national level, the average price of a home was 1,535,000 pesos and the median price was 893,000 pesos. During 2022, there was a decrease of 11.7 percent in the number of appraisals compared to 2021.

Chart: SHF

The SHF Index of new housing presented a variation of 9.9 percent, while that corresponding to used housing increased 8.1 percent during 2022. In this period, a proportion of used housing of 60 percent and 40 percent of new housing was observed, the SHF published.

The SHF Index for single houses grew 8.7 percent and that of houses in condominiums and apartments (considered together) appreciated 9.1 percent, they added.
RADFORD  A former funeral director used a childs funeral to begin grooming the deceased childs sister for sexual abuse, a prosecutor said Tuesday in Radford Circuit Court.

Ralph Levi Brewer, 34, worked at a funeral home in Wythe County when he organized the services for a child, then befriended the childs family, according to Commonwealths Attorney Chris Rehak.

He was very compassionate  This was the beginning of the grooming process, Rehak said.

At Tuesdays hearing, Brewer entered no contest pleas to two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two of sexual solicitation of a minor. Two other solicitation charges were dropped in a plea agreement, and Judge Joey Showalter imposed the agreements recommendation that Brewer serve 10 years in prison, with another 50 years to be suspended.

Defense attorney Rob Dean of Roanoke said that Brewer maintained his innocence but agreed that the prosecutions evidence was sufficient for conviction. He said that Brewer, who had a jury trial scheduled to begin Thursday, was entering pleas to avoid the threat of a longer sentence.

Rehak, summarizing the prosecutions case during the hearing, said that Brewer initially seemed kind and helpful as he worked with a family still processing the death of a child. After the funeral services, Brewer stayed in communication, eventually loaning the family money and having dinners with them, Rehak said.

Brewer moved to Radford, and invited the familys children to come to his house to play with his own children, swim in his pool, and soon, to sleep over.

There were hugs, kisses at first, then sexual abuse, Rehak said. At sleepovers in 2021, Brewer twice reached into the pants of a 12-year-old girl, Rehak said.

Brewer claimed that he had been sleepwalking when he did this, the prosecutor said.

Rehak said that besides the groping, Brewer sent phone messages to the 12-year-old and to one of her friends, also a minor, asking for nude pictures. He sent the 12-year-old a picture of his genitals and received in exchange a picture of her chest, Rehak said.

By the time police were involved, Brewer had moved to Florida. U.S. Marshals located Brewer there as he packed a U-Haul, apparently preparing to move again, Rehak said.

Court records showed an Ormond Beach, Florida, address for Brewer.

Dean said that with the time served since Brewers arrest and with good behavior, Brewer probably can leave prison in about seven years. Showalter said that for 30 years after Brewers release, the suspended sentence can be re-imposed if Brewer gets into trouble.

Brewer will be supervised by the probation office for five years after his release, the judge said.

Also, Brewer must register with the Virginia Sex Offenders Registry if he remains in the commonwealth, can have no contact with the victims or their families, and must pay $1,000 in fines, Showalter said.
Virginia announced a $15.7 million grant Tuesday to build a large laboratory and work space in Roanoke for biotechnology company development.

The project will be a joint effort by local economic development, government, health care and education organizations to cater to technology based companies that pay top wages.

Organizers expect to begin construction of the planned new Roanoke research and business development facility this year, using a Carilion Clinic-owned building at 1030 S. Jefferson St.

It should open in late 2024, officials said.

The project combines efforts of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at the Virginia Tech Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia Techs Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Carilion Clinic, Virginia Western Community College, local tech collaborators and the city of Roanoke.

The Corporate Research Center, an expansive presence in Blacksburg, will plan and execute the improvements and operate the new center as its first facility in Roanoke.

Additionally, Johnson & Johnson, the global health care and consumer products corporation, will provide services to selected companies at the Roanoke center and elsewhere in the region through its virtual residency program, which includes expert mentoring, programming and other resources.

Officials said they expect to announce details about that initiative, including which companies will participate, later.

One key player in the venture announced Tuesday predicts it will spawn a new commercial biotech sector in the Roanoke Valley.

This region has really come together around technology and biotech to have integrated partnerships, said Erin Burcham, president of VERGE, a regional alliance of tech resources and executive director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council. Its more than just, like, an organization putting in money for a project and one organization leading it. This is not possible without all the partnerships.

Roanoke is building a strong case for companies to look at this region and say, This is a place where I want to be, said Marc Nelson, Roanokes director of economic development, said in a prepared release.

The city will not only administer the state grant, but will contribute $1.9 million of its federal pandemic relief funds for building improvements. Plans call for a 40,000 square-feet laboratory and work space hosting a variety of users.

Carilion President and CEO Nancy Agee said in a news release that the physical space is one small step. Most importantly, the building will be an innovative gathering place for our regions greatest minds to collaborate with those who have promising new ideas about exciting and challenging projects.

Carilion Clinic physicians and other personnel with novel ideas to advance health care will use the space to further their concepts, Agee said.

VERGE plans to create whats being called an innovation studio to support company creation. The Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, a membership organization and provider of company support resources, will launch new workforce programs. Virginia Western plans to expand its biotech-related classes.

RAMP, a company accelerator in Roanoke focused on the business-side issues such as capital and management, also plans to contribute to the effort.

A release from Gov. Glenn Youngkins office said four new life sciences initiatives statewide, including the one in Roanoke and others in Charlottesville and the Richmond area, will bring jobs and opportunity across the commonwealth and further our position as a national leader in these business sectors.

Michael Friedlander, who directs the Fralin institute, added his endorsement. This will be a magnet to attract biotechnology companies including those that spin out from the research institute, he said in the release.

A business-led, state funded growth program, GO Virginia, paid for a study that found a severe need for lab space, access to industry experts and mentoring as the regions biotechnology sector grew to keep it growing. A laboratory in Blacksburg has been under construction.

We started with a life sciences feasibility study that led into an infrastructure project to meet demand from biotechnology companies and support the commercialization of our regions research, said Brett Malone, who directs the Corporate Research Center, in the release. This [Roanoke] facility, as well as the labs in Blacksburg, provide the necessary capacity and access to collaborations with companies such as Johnson & Johnson Innovation for researchers here.

Officials estimated that the project will create 250 jobs within five years of opening.
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Another name for the numbers generated in the Collatz conjecture is the "hailstone sequence." As you can see from the sequence listed above, the numbers go up and down and up and down like hailstones in a storm cloud, being lofted up, collecting ice and, after falling into a lower part of the cloud, blown upward again. At some point they plummet to the ground. There are certain numbers that, once you reach them in your calculations, fall most rapidly, but they all fall eventually to one.

So, the Collatz conjecture works for millions upon millions of numbers  anything with fewer than 19 digits, in case you were thinking about trying your luck with anything smaller  but one of the problems mathematicians are trying to solve is why. If they understood that, they would have a way of saying with certainty that it works on all natural numbers.

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One thing that makes the Collatz conjecture so confounding is that it involves an infinite number of integers. Even the most powerful supercomputer can't check every single number to see if the conjecture holds true. Not yet, at least.

One mathematician in recent years has made a bit of a breakthrough on the Collatz conjecture. Terence Tao, one of the most gifted mathematicians of the past century, published a paper in 2019 titled "Almost All Collatz Orbits Attain Almost Bounded Values." Tao is no slouch  he earned his Ph.D. from Princeton at the age of 21 and became the youngest-ever math professor at UCLA at 24. He won the Fields Medal, the highest math award in all the land, at the age of 31. And yet his big news about his Collatz breakthrough has two "almosts" in it.

Basically, Tao's results point to a new method for approaching the problem and note how rare it would be for a number to diverge from the Collatz rule. Rare, but not necessarily nonexistent.

And that, friends, is the closest anybody's come in recent years to solving the Collatz conjecture. Remember, if you're going to try to solve it yourself, begin with numbers starting with at least 20 digits.

Now That's Interesting Fermat's Last Theorem is a math problem which remained unsolved for 365 years. It was finally proven in 1995.
Credit: ADIS Consortium

From 31 January to 1 February (Tel Aviv, Israel and online), partners from the ADIS project met for their biannual General Assembly meeting.

The "Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease by Immune Profiling of Cytotoxic Lymphocytes and Recording of Sleep Disturbances"short ADIS projectis a EU Joint ProgrammeNeurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND)-funded 1.3 million EUR three-year project, coordinated by Fraunhofer SCAI.

The goal of ADIS is to thoroughly characterise the role of peripheral blood cytotoxic lymphocytes as potential markers for the early prediction of Alzheimer's disease, and to investigate the influence of digitally assessed sleep disturbances on these markers.

The project meeting kicked off with opening remarks by project coordinator Prof. Holger Frohlich (Fraunhofer SCAI), as well as meeting host and project collaborator Prof. Uri Nevo (University of Tel Aviv) welcoming all participants and providing an overview of the agenda for the two-day meeting.

Next, Vanessa Lage-Rupprecht (Fraunhofer SCAI), provided an overview of the latest work with regard to project management and the progress in terms of reporting, noting that all of the tasks are on track. This was complemented by Christophe Bintener (Alzheimer Europe) with an introduction to the work done for the dissemination and communication tasks for ADIS, including an introduction to the brand identity, website, project channels, Alzheimer Europe's network that will be leveraged to support the visibility of the research efforts, concluding with an overview of future work such as a project clip.

After that, Raquel Sanchez-Valle (Fundacio Clinic per a la Recerca Biomedica) provided an update with regard to the ongoing work focussed on experimental approaches as well as data collection. The ethics approval was already received in May 2022, and 15 participants have been enrolled in the study. Raquel then provided an overview of the sleep data that is being collected, this was followed by a discussion focused on the material transfer plans among study partners.

Hereafter, Prof. Anat Mirelman (Tel-Aviv Medical Center) gave a special lecture on markers in neurodegenerative diseases, introducing the current state of knowledge as well as future research directions before the lunch break.

Credit: JPND

The afternoon focused on an overview of plans for data analysis and modeling presented by Sophia Krix (Fraunhofer SCAI), where she introduced research questions that are focused on the use of data from pre-existing studies and the use of Artificial Intelligence to disentangle the dependencies between variables to better understand Alzheimer's disease and how that could be set up through an innovative modeling approach.

The day concluded with a dinner in Goshen.

The second day kicked off with a special lecture by Prof. Michal Schwartz (Weizmann Institute of Science) who spoke about the role of the immune system in brain function and repair.

Last but not least Soraya Moradi-Bachiller (Alzheimer Europe) spoke about the set up of an Advisory Board comprised of five people (living with Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer's disease) from Spain who participate in Spanish consultations as well as members of the European Working Group of People with Dementia who participate in English consultations. The consultations currently focus on the informed consent process in research projects with the aim to lead to the development of guidelines on how to design a participant information sheet and informed consent form for research studies on Alzheimer's disease in a user-friendly and understandable way. These guidelines are aimed at researchers.

After that, partners discussed a potential publication and held round table discussions. The meeting was then formally closed by Holger Frohlich who thanked all attendees for their contributions and the lively scientific exchange.

The following day, project partners traveled to the Dead Sea and visited Massada as part of a social day including a guided tour.

This is an EU Joint ProgrammeNeurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) project. The project is supported through the following funding organisations under the aegis of JPNDwww.jpnd.eu: Germany, Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Hungary, National Research, Development and Innovation Office; Israel, Ministry of Health; Luxembourg, National Research Fund; Spain, National Institute of Health Carlos III.

Provided by Alzheimer Europe
 New Sentencing Project report: "Counting Down: Paths to a 20-Year Maximum Prison Sentence" | Main | Some notable SCOTUS sentencing stories from the relist watch 

Though New York in 1995 brought back the state's death penalty legislatively, New York's highest court in June 2004 decided that the state's death penalty statute violated the New York Constitution. Consequently, the harshest sentence that a mass killer in New York can get under state law is life without parole, and this New York Times piece reports on just such a high-profile sentencing today in Buffalo. Here are some details:

The gunman in a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket last year was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on Wednesday, after apologizing for his attack amid a torrent of raw emotions from the victims families, including one man who lunged at him in court.

You will never see the light of day as a free man again, the judge, Susan Eagan, said after reading a statement about the harmful effects of institutional racism and white supremacy, calling it an insidious cancer on our society and nation.

The sentence reflected the outcome of a guilty plea to 10 counts of first-degree murder and a single count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment without parole. Judge Eagans sentence came after a brief apology by the gunman, Payton Gendron, who said he was very sorry for the attack and blamed online content for the shooting rampage on May 14, in which 10 people were killed, all of them Black, and three people injured. He said he didnt want to inspire other racist killings....

As Mr. Gendron spoke, a member of the audience began screaming and cursing at him, the second such interruption in an emotionally raw hearing. Earlier, the sentencing was dramatically interrupted and the courtroom cleared after a man lunged at the defendant. Judge Eagan emptied the courtroom and reconvened the hearing a short time later, pleading for decorum while saying she understood the anger toward the gunman. We are all better than that, she said. Before Mr. Gendron heard his sentence, families of the victims testified as to the insurmountable damage done by the attack.

You are a cowardly racist, said Simone Crawley, whose grandmother Ruth Whitfield, 86, was killed in the shooting. She asked for accountability for others who aided or turned a blind eye to Mr. Gendrons growing radicalization....

Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was injured, but survived, said: The world says you have to forgive in order to move on. But I stand before you today to say that will never happen.

Kimberly Salters husband, Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, did not survive: He was shot and killed in the attack. Ms. Salter quoted the Bible as she stood just feet from Mr. Gendron, who wore an orange jumpsuit and spectacles. You will reap, she said, what you sow....

Mr. Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty in November to the state charges. He is also charged with federal hate crimes and weapons violations, some of which could carry the death penalty if the Justice Department decided to seek it. Those charges are still pending....

His video feed of the attack was briefly online, before being shut down by social media companies. Still, the Buffalo attack remains one of the nations deadliest racist shootings, joining a list that includes the killing of nine Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015; an antisemitic rampage in Pittsburgh, at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 where 11 people were killed; and an attack at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019 in which more than 20 people were killed by a man who had expressed hatred of Latinos.
By YP Rajesh and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India embarked on an income tax survey of BBC offices after the British news organisation failed to offer a convincing response to earlier tax notices, a government official said on Wednesday, weeks after India blocked a BBC documentary as propaganda.

Tax officials searched BBC premises in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second day on Wednesday, remaining in the buildings late into the evening. The action drew criticism from prominent media bodies inside India.

The documentary focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims. Activists put the toll at more than twice that number.

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.

Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, said the BBC was served tax notices in the past but the organisation had not provided a "convincing response" to tax authorities.

The tax survey relates to transfer pricing rules and alleged diversion of profits. It was neither "vindictive" nor "done out of a sense of pique", he told Times Now news channel.

In an internal memo circulated before Gupta's comments, BBC World Service director Liliane Landor said the Income Tax Department was conducting a survey of the organisation's "tax status and affairs in India", with which the BBC was cooperating fully.

"If you are asked to meet with the officers you should answer their questions honestly and directly.

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"Questions about the BBCs structure, activities, organisation, and operations in India are within the remit of the investigation and should be answered," Landor said in the note, seen by Reuters.

"It goes without saying that you should not delete or conceal any information on any of your devices."

A spokesperson for the BBC did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

India's Income Tax Department has so far declined to comment on the reason for the search.

Media organisations inside India criticised the search.

"We demand that this intimidation be stopped and journalists are left to do their jobs without fear or favour," the Mumbai Press Club said in a statement.

An editorial in the Indian Express newspaper said the government's action "smacks of bullying".

India ranks low on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, falling eight places last year to No. 150. The government has said it does not agree with conclusions drawn by the index.

(Reporting by YP Rajesh, Aditya Kalra, Sudipto Ganguly, Rupam Jain and Aftab Ahmed; editing by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet)
Two local actresses, Chen Liping (left) and Lin Meijiao (right), gave Ms Soh a total of $460,000 to invest with Wu Hong. (PHOTO: Instagram/Lin Meijiao and Instagram/aiyoyochenliping)

SINGAPORE  Using fictitious foreign exchange investment schemes, a woman defrauded two individuals of more than $2.1 million.

Two prominent Singapore media personalities - actresses Chen Liping and Lin Meijiao - were also tricked into giving her money for the fake schemes.

The Straits Times reported that Wu Hong, 41, was sentenced to 12 years' jail on Tuesday (14 February); the District Judge had also earlier convicted her of five cheating charges after a trial.

The Chinese national, who was described as a "heartless con artist" by the prosecution, had duped Tam Kwong Yoeng, 50, into delivering more than $1.4 million to her; and Soh Choon Heong, 61, into handing over $734,000.

Wu had committed the offences between 2016 and 2019.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jonathan Tan explained in his submissions, "They were so deceived that not only did they part with their own funds, but they also obtained funds from their friends and family as a result of a genuine belief in the accused's false representations."

The accused had also used the monies for her own expenses and did not make any restitution to the victims, causing them to suffer debilitating losses that they are still grappling with to date, DPP Tan added.

'Heartless con artist' deceived with fake investment schemes

In 2013, Wu met Tam at a pub and was introduced to Soh by a fengshui master on an unspecified date.

According to The Straits Times, Wu deceived them by offering fictitious investment schemes for Chinese citizens with Singapore currency for their expenditures here, mainly to gamble in local casinos.

To entice them to invest, she had purported to offer attractive returns.

The Straits Times reported that two prominent media personalities - Tan Lee Peng, popularly known as Chen Liping, and Lim Mooi Keow, who goes by Lin Meijiao - also gave Soh $460,000 for her to invest with the accused.

Wu's representations were false, as the purported investment schemes did not exist. DPP Tan pointed out that Wu also failed to explain why, both during trial and in her statements, she failed to provide any information about the alleged clients for whom she claimed to have gambled.

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Tam testified that Wu had used two schemes to defraud him into giving over money and that he persisted in giving it to Wu because he trusted her.

This was also why he failed to keep any formal record of his transactions with her until he started to get suspicious once she began to evade him. He later recorded their phone conversations, according to DPP Tan.

Soh also testified that she had also trusted Wu and had alerted the police in February 2020, while Mr Tam made a police report against Wu in January 2018.

DPP Tan said Wu alleged that the pair framed her during the trial.

Offenders who cheat can be jailed and fined for up to 10 years for each count of cheating.

The Straits Times reported Lin Meijiao's manager thanked everyone for their concern on her behalf, and added that the actress would like to close the chapter and move on.

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.
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A columnist for the Guardian suggests it is, and she is getting rid of her own books.

Sometimes when I read an opinion piece I wonder how sincerely the writer believes what they wrote, and how much of it was written to provoke.

I wondered this the other morning after reading an opinion piece in the Guardian of London by a writer named Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett. (You can find the column at http://bit.ly/3HswK0F) I wasn't familiar with her, but Google tells me she is the author of a novel called "The Tyranny of Lost Things" as well as a memoir about her cat.

In the Guardian, she wrote about how she is getting rid of her books. After finishing a book, "Why keep it on my shelves when I'm finished, when someone else could delight in it as I did?" she writes. I get this  there is real joy in giving away books.

But then the column began to take a strange, judgmental turn. She might give a book away, she said, or she might toss it into a recycle bin if she deems it "really objectionable." This makes me twitchy (the banning of "Maus" and other books comes to mind).

Where she really lost me, though, was when she began to judge others for not getting rid of their books. The "cult" of book ownership, she writes, is "smug and middle-class." (To which I say: Whoa, what's wrong with being middle-class?)

She goes on to draw sweeping conclusions about people who own books  many of them brag about "having a lot of books ... treating having a lot of books as a stand-in for your personality, or believing that simply owning a lot of books makes one 'know things.' "

This made me deeply uncomfortable, and not just because I happen to own a lot of books. That kind of broad-brush leap from seeing books in a person's house to deciding that that means the person is vain and shallow seemed inordinately unfair. Downright smug, I'd say.

Judging from the comments on the Guardian site and on Twitter, Cosslett got a lot of backlash for this column, which bothered her. (The headline changed over the course of the day from one that used the words "cult" and "smug" to one that was much milder, and the Guardian turned off comments.)

Still, her words made me think: Is there a bit of superiority in those of us who have a lot of books? Do we look down on people who don't have books? Do we think owning a lot of books makes us somehow better than someone who owns a lot of something else  Hummel figurines, maybe? Or DVDs?

All I can tell you is that I am grateful that I grew up in a house full of books, in a home that valued reading. It meant a lot to browse my older sisters' shelves and borrow books that were beyond my understanding, and to sit for hours in the basement room where my father kept the texts he taught at the university and try to puzzle out Shakespeare.

I don't think a house full of books is a sign of pretension. In my experience, a house full of books simply means that a person who loves books lives there.

I would love your thoughts on all of this. It's easy to flame Cosslett, but her column did make me stop and think, and that is a good thing. Write me at books@startribune.com.
West Lyon teacher wins Iowa STEM award

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 Governors 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.

With Peterson in particular, the Iowa STEM Advisory Council noted the work hes 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 Petersons 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 Petersons discretion.

Peterson will be recognized once more, as a part of STEM Day, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in August.

Man sentenced to prison for peddling fentanyl

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. Attorneys 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.

Woman sentenced for theft from dependent adult

ORANGE CITY, Iowa  A Remsen, Iowa, woman was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for stealing thousands of dollars from a dependent adult who was unable to make his own decisions.

Samantha Hagemann, 44, pleaded guilty in September in Sioux County District Court to one count of second-degree theft, which was amended from first-degree theft as part of a plea agreement. A charge of forgery was dismissed.

Hagemann also must pay $19,450 in restitution to the victims estate.

Hagemann obtained money from May 2021 through November 2021 through ATM withdrawals, transactions at businesses and checks from the victim, who lived in a Hull, Iowa, nursing home.

Knowing the victim could not make decisions for himself, Hagemann continued to withdraw money from his account and went to the nursing home to collect checks, written out to her, from the victim.
SIOUX CITY  A 38-year-old Anthon, Iowa, man pleaded guilty in federal court this past week to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.

During a plea hearing at the U.S. District Court in Sioux City, Brett Sauser confessed to taking part in the distribution of 350 grams of meth as well as possessing at least 20 grams, a piece, of fentanyl, ketamine and MDMA (ecstasy) from January 2019 until August 2022.

Sauser was able to get the drugs through the dark web and the U.S. Postal Service, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

"In August of 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sauser's residence after a covert delivery of a package containing 1/4 pound of methamphetamine," the U.S. DOJ said. "The evidence seized included three separate baggies of methamphetamine, approximately 3.5 grams each, plus small amounts of MDMA, heroin, ketamine, LSD, marijuana (including a nearly full-sized marijuana plant), three bags of mushroom roots (for manufacture of psilocybin mushrooms) and various drug use and distribution paraphernalia."

In addition to the conspiracy to distribute charge, Sauser also pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine within a protected location. Per the U.S. DOJ, Sauser lived within 1,000 feet of Memorial Park and Anthon Elementary School.

For the charge of conspiracy, Sauser faces at least 10 years in federal prison and could receive a possible life sentence. As for the possession with intent charge, Sauser would see at least five years imprisonment.

In March 2018, Sauser pleaded guilty to single counts of explosive permit violation and third-offense possession of a controlled substance after authorities located explosives on his property after an investigation into a fire that damaged his garage.

For those charges, Sauser received a 10-year prison sentence from the Woodbury County District Court.
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.
WASHINGTON  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.

"I'm very much focused on the dissension within my own party on this," Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press.

He plans to hold a hearing in the spring focused on Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, to try to bring home the war's 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 nation's leading defense hawks, eager for the U.S. to defend its interests, former President Donald Trump's "America First" approach emboldened a noninterventionist wing that is clamoring to end the Ukraine aid.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, said of Republicans: "There are some that I've talked to, they don't 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 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. provided four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia's invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of the money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment sent to the front lines.

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 Ukraine's 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.

"We've 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. "We've 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.

"It's not a question of either or," he said. "We're 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 how the U.S. security aid is being allocated.

The briefings will be every two weeks for key staff, Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama said, and a public hearing is in the works "to try to get more visibility for the public into the tracking that we're 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 and Javelin missiles to take out tanks, but also for food, water and shelter for refugees, as well as 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 don't end up in the wrong hands.

Recent polling from Gallup found about two-thirds of Americans support aid for Ukraine to help it regain its territory. But 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 pressed for more robust action to help Ukraine win the war.
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.

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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 10 richest cities in Nebraska for 2023 10.Bellevue 9. South Sioux City 8. Gering 7. La Vista 6. Columbus 5. Ralston 4. Papillion 3. Schuyler 2. Seward 1. Gretna
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.
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 the bill (LB5), 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 to the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee Monday, 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.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
It was time to consider calling it a night. Sheila Liming and I had talked all dayat a taco joint for lunch, and walking around Burlington, Vermont, running errands, and at dinner at a restaurant in a former warehouse. I had no shortage of good quotes for the story I planned to write about Liming and her interesting new book. Now, at 9 p.m., as I hopped my way around frigid puddles in the parking lot, laughing with Liming and her husband, I considered my 5:45 a.m. flight. For sure, the healthiest thing for me to do would be to get dropped off at my airport La Quinta.

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But it was not because I thought her book was interesting that I had reached out to Liming. It was because I passionately believed that her book was right. Ive become an accidental witness to a growing crisis, she writes in Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time. People struggling to hang out, or else voicing concern and anxiety about how to hang out. I, too, see a crisis brewing, among not only people my age but among the peers of my teenage children and the college students I teach. Pushed further into isolation by the pandemic, were all losing the ability to engage in what I view as the pinnacle of human interaction: sitting around with friends and talking shit. I agree with Liming that no one is down to hang out anymore, and agree with her that its a quiet catastrophe.

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I didnt merely want to write about Hanging Out. I wanted to enact itto meet the challenge Liming offers her readers. Take risks, she writes. Create opportunities to spend unproductive, unstructured time doing nothing with other people. Thats why I asked Liming, a complete stranger, if I could fly up to Vermont and hang out for a day. Because she is down to hang, she said sure. So, after dinner, when her husband, Dave Haeselin, asked if I wanted to come over to their house and continue the hang, I said, Yeah, I can stay out a little later.

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I cant be the only one for whom memories of ages 16 to, say, 25 consist mostly of sitting around bedrooms, crappy dorm rooms, and crappier apartments, doing nothing much at all. I had jobs that didnt pay a lot, so I didnt have a ton of money to go out to bars or clubs, which is why instead I hung out for hours with groups of friends: telling jokes, venting about life, talking earnestly about politics and sarcastically about art (or vice versa).

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In 1990, 63 percent of Americans reported having five or more close friends. In 2021, only 38 percent did.

Those years, as Liming writes, were almost effortlessly social. But nowadays, though hanging out with friends still happensaround living rooms and fire pits, on scheduled and rescheduled college-friend weekendsits an effortful pastime that requires coordination of calendars and a flurry of planning texts. I remember once, when I was in college, wandering over to my friend Ehrens apartment, letting myself in, and watching whatever he had going on the TV. I knew he was there; I could hear him peeing in the bathroom. When he came out, he exhibited zero surprise to find me on the couch. Its impossible to imagine doing such a thing now, even with my closest friends.

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And Im luckyI still do have friends who, with sufficient planning, are generally down to hang. Thats becoming more and more rare in the 21st century. In 1990, 63 percent of Americans reported having five or more close friends. In 2021, only 38 percent did. On an average day 20 years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Time Use Survey, 38 percent of Americans socialized or communicated with friends. By 2021, that number was down to 28 percent.

Meanwhile, I see young people struggling every day with an inability to simply get together to do somethingor even to do nothing. My daughters, both teenagers, yearn for outside-of-school socializing, yet often neither they nor their friends are willing to take the step of suggesting a get-together. When they do, often they find that the kids they ask are so overscheduled they simply have no downtime of the type that might profitably be filled with hanging out.

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Liming, who teaches writing at Champlain College, worries that some combination of smartphones, the COVID pandemic, and changing social norms have rendered an entire generation incapable of casual socializing. Have you been to a college classroom lately? she asked. In mine, where these kids have self-selected to be in the same writing class, they have so much in commonbut I walk in the room and its dead silent.

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Liming told me this at lunch at a downtown taco restaurant whose charm was only increased by our waitress upfront admission, 20 minutes after we ordered our food, that she had just straight-up forgotten to put our order in. We had, that is to say, a lot of time to talk, and I could feel us both pushing hard to get past the awkwardness of a first meeting, one wed engineered for the purposes of exploring ideas about unforced, natural socializing.

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I reflected on my own difficulty making friends when I reached my 30s, and how it took years for my wife and me to find friends who shared with us not only a desire to hang out but a willingness to open themselves up that we felt able to match. Had Liming made friends in Burlington, a town shed come to in the middle of the pandemic? Real friends? The friends of her heart? I dont know yet, she said. They could be. She told me that she had recently gone to a neighbors house and, after theyd been sitting on the couch for a while, the neighbor said, Oh! I was about to put my feet up on the couch and tuck them under your legs!

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Oh, man, I wish she had, I said. Wouldnt it have been easier if shed just done it?

She said she didnt know if we were at that point yet, Liming said. But it means something that she almost felt like she could.

Hanging Out is rich with illuminating stories with that same surprising vibe, from a hair-raising tale of a wild night spent with a group of strangers in Scotland to a bridge-burning chronicle of the university chancellor who stuck her with a $200 tab. It reads like a book written by someone who goes out intending to make some new memories as often as possible, and then saves them up for the perfect moment to retell them. Real hanging out, Liming writes, is about stories, indeed consists mostly of stories. Its a process that sees old stories getting launched into recirculation at the same time that new ones are brought into being.

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Over an afternoon spent running errands through downtown Burlington, we fell into an easy exchange of stories, the best ones we could come up with. The story of the graduate student who flooded Limings basement and filled it with frogs while housesitting. The time my daughter and I ended up staying at a hotel that was hosting a bodybuilding convention, and all the furniture in the lobby was covered with protective white sheets imprinted with spray-tanned butts. Her long-running annual job as a bagpiper accompanying Pittsburghs Miller Lite girls from bar to bar, encouraging revelry on St. Patricks Day. Once, I was in the middle of playing a song, and someone just lifted me up and set me onto the bar, she marveled. How did he do that?

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We talked about big nights out, and the way that a prolonged hang creates a kind of intimacy through shared experience. In an age of shortened attention spans, to go through hours of anything together with someone else is so unusual that it can throw our brains into a kind of joyful crisis state. Liming said that many years ago, she and her husband, attending a conference in Kansas City, had gone out for dinner with a bunch of strangers theyd met at the last panel of the day. They ended up at a jazz club where the musicians continued playing as long as people kept ordering drinks. We got out of there at 5 in the morning, she remembered, and called one of those minivan cabs back to the hotel. And I have all these pictures of that night of us with our arms around each other, you know, like Here she made the face you make in those kinds of photographs, a face of oversize happiness and adoration. Then she laughed. We have never spoken to any of those people ever again.

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At a glass shop, Liming picked up a framed print of Bruegels grotesque Big Fish Eat Little Fish. We hang this in the bathroom, she said. Its a real conversation starter.

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Do you have a story where, when you hang out with someone new, youre looking for a time to tell it? I asked. Like, you know, This is a great new-friend story. This story kills.

I have a bunch of them, she said. They require certain kinds of situations. Well see if we get there.

In the spirit of Jenny Odells bestselling How to Do Nothing, which it frequently cites and with which it shares the small-press publisher Melville House, Hanging Out is meant to be not only diagnostic but instructive. Liming offers some practical tips to encourage readers to hang out more: separating from devices, carving out time in your life that is unscheduled and unproductive. Most of all, she writes, its important to take heartto remember that we are always building a better future, even when things are hard. Hanging out requires the repeated exertion and application of ones social capacities, she writes. That can feel exhausting. But for the future we all wantwe all needit is crucial to use the energy weve drawn from all our previous hangings-out, the memories of those good times, to push ourselves to commit, and recommit, to lives of sociability and mutual affection.

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Her advice is sprinkled across chapters addressing all kinds of hanging out: hanging out at parties, hanging out on the internet, hanging out while jamming. (In addition to the bagpipes, Liming plays guitar and accordion.) Theres even a chapter on pretending to hang out for the benefit of reality TV. But now, at 9:30, as we made our way up the wet back steps of their cozy house, I felt a great wave of happiness, because we were embarking on the kind of hanging out I care most about: hanging out on the couch, listening to music and talking.

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The guest always gets to pick out the first record, Sheila told me, so after I left my shoes by the door, I browsed their collection, conscious of the responsibility I was shouldering. Contemporary indie rock? The Dead? Maybe Fleetwood Mac, Americas most universally appreciated band? From the kitchen, I heard the clank of bottles as Sheila and Dave mixed drinks. Dave returned to the living room, took the record Id chosen, and called to Sheila, Youre going to be happy! When she came in, bearing three tiki mugs, she stopped short to hear the opening notes of Fairport Conventions Liege & Lief. Are you kidding me? she yelled. I love this album!

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Sheila invited me to sit on the big tan couch. Its brand new! she said. They used to have a love seat, but it was uncomfortably small for three people. Dave noted that I would be the first person ever to hang out on their new couch with them. We toasted to that.

Dave had turned the music up so loud we really had to talk right at one another to be heard. Sheila told me about her love of tiki bars. I asked about the framed Labyrinth soundtrack on the wall. Dave filled a bowl with single-serving bags of chips hed gotten for free at the software company where he works, and we debated: Nacho Cheese or Cool Ranch? I got up to inquire about specific books on the bookshelves. Sheila got up to play a song that had been important to her in conceptualizing her book. Dave got up to go to the bathroom, and Sheila and I discussed how, at a certain point in hanging out, youre going to end up listening to someone stridently pee just steps away from you.

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Dave chose the next record, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, by Richard and Linda Thompson. My tiki drink, which apparently contained three different types of rum, was really doing me in. I wanted to know if Sheila worried that so much of her advice was about withdrawing from technology, talking in person, even listening to records. Youre advising readers to retreat from contemporary modes of being, I asked, more or less. Do you worry that youre just becoming a fogy?

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Look, Im a progressive, she said. I have to be optimistic for the future. I know that loving old things, recommending them to young peoplethats a trap. I know delving too deeply into nostalgia is problematic. I was writing furiously and illegibly in my notebook. But when the future feels bleak, you have to develop survival structures to make it through. Mine arent all things from the past, but theyve worked before, and they can work now.

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We asked one another searching questions. How do you deal with the fact that nostalgia is a trap? OK, but what was the first concert you ever attended? Where would you want to live if money were no object? Can you fucking believe this sexy photo of the founder of the 1980s new-age record label Windham Hill? We were halted into silence by the husband-and-wife duo singing in unison, her voice a clarinet, his a mournful baritone sax. I didnt slip my stocking feet under Daves legs, because Im not a weirdo, but I would have liked to.

A person does not excel or fail at hanging out so much as they do it or they dont, Sheila writes, but after spending a day with her, I dont think I agree. Sheila excels at hanging out, and thats not purely a matter of extroversionits not only about the accident of personality. Despite the drinks wed consumed, its not about the lowering of inhibitions either. She works at itshe puts effort into this seemingly effortless phenomenon. Sheila and Dave have constructed a schedule, a way of viewing the world, and even a home thats conducive to hanging out, because to be a person who cares about hanging out means building a life that nurtures this passion. It means making space in your day to day for hanging out, sometimes at the expense of productivity. It means having rules about who picks out the first record, to make guests feel at home, and it means expressing loud enthusiasm about their pick, no matter what. It means hanging interesting art in your bathroom to give people something to talk about! It means having something to say, and knowing how to listen.

And it means being free with your stories. Late, late in the evening, Sheila told me about a catalyzing moment in her artistic life, a performance by a cabaret ensemble called Circus Contraption, which gave her direction and inspiration when she needed it. Two members of the troupe were later killed in a mass shooting at a Seattle cafe, and as Richard Thompsons guitar rang through the living room, Sheila told us she often longed to revisit that night. She wished that she could feel that specific creative fire once more. She felt piercingly the sorrow that the troupes future was foreclosed by tragedy. I dont think this was one of the stories she was talking about when Id asked her, earlier, about new friend stories. It was the kind of story that wasnt exactly a story, that didnt have a neat beginning or end, that felt more like an offering. You are here with me, right now, she was saying, and here I am.

When I left, the temperature had finally dropped below freezing. I precariously made my way to my Lyft, on a sidewalk now glazed with ice. My flight was in precisely five hours. I couldnt remember the last time Id had more drinks in a night than hours of sleep. We might never speak to one another ever again. But I took heart. I was full to bursting.
And so it seems the Chinese spy balloons trek across America was a big misunderstandinga string of bad luck and misperceptions on both sidesafter all.

In a major piece by three of the Washington Posts top national security reporters, officials say that the U.S. tracked the balloon from the moment it lifted off from Hainan Island on Chinas southeast coast. Its route suggested it was meant to fly over Guam, but sharp winds swept it northeast to Canada, then southward across the United States.

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It was not a weather balloon, as the Chinese government first claimed. Rather, its mission, like that of Chinas vast fleet of similar balloons, was to spy on military facilities in the Pacific. But once it was sailing over the U.S., officials back in Beijingas the Post puts itapparently decided to seize the opportunity to try to gather intelligence on military sites here.

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However, if this account is true, it is not the caseas many critics and commentators have claimedthat China was testing President Joseph Bidens resolve, or doing a trial run for some sort of balloon-borne attack later on, or anything of the sort.

Nor should it have triggered the diplomatic crisis that ensued, compelling Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a long-scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinpingthe first time in six years that any secretary of state would have made such a trip, which many had hoped would soften the sharpening tensions between the two countries.

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Both Washington and Beijing are to blame for the diplomatic crisis. Biden succumbed too quickly to the panic stirred by Republican critics and hawkish commentators, who viewed the specter of a 12-mile-high balloon as tantamount to an attack on the homeland. Still, the balloon did violate U.S. sovereign airspace, and Xionce aware of the mistake and the resulting meleecould have calmed things down, and perhaps put diplomacy back on track, by coming clean on what happened. Instead, his spokesmen first claimed that it was a weather balloon, then charged that the U.S. had sent many spy balloons over Chinese territory, too. This only thickened the air of distrust.

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This isnt the first time that misperceptions have heightened tensions between two adversaries. The good news is that, this time, the ensuing spiral of charges and counter-charges didnt spark a warthough, if tensions had been sharper or if some other crisis had been going on at the same time, it could have.

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In any case, we should all come away from this episode with some very serious lessons.

First, worst-case explanations of a surprising event arent always accurate, even if they seem obvious. In the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq war, the U.S. intercepted a phone call between two Iraqi officers discussing whether a chemical-weapons site had been cleaned up in advance of a visit by U.N. inspectors. This seemed a clear sign that the Iraqis, in violation of a U.N. resolution, were moving chemical weapons in order to deceive the inspectors. However, as the U.S. learned from interviewing those officers after the war, they were simply making sure that the site had been completely cleaned up back in 1991, in compliance with a U.N. resolution after the first Gulf War.

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Second, at least as long as two countries arent at war with each other, they should keep communications channels open, especially between top military officers, who can sometimes speak frankly outside the confines of political talking-points or propaganda. It may be significant that U.S.-China tensions have resulted in the shutdown of many such channels. Had they remained open, the true mission of the balloon and the reason for its flight across North America might have been cleared up from the get-go.

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U.S. and Chinese diplomats have managed their way through much thicker crises than this one. In 2001, a U.S. EP-3 signals-intelligence aircraft and a Chinese J-8 fighter plane collided in mid-air off Hainan Island, killing the Chinese pilot and resulting in the detention and interrogation of the 24 EP-3 crew members. Officials in Washington and Beijing hammered out a suitably ambiguous statement that allowed both sides to save face and that kept tensions under wraps. Todays officials should study the resolution of this incident very closely.

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It is noteworthy that, when Blinken called off his trip to Beijing, he said the meeting was postponed, not canceled. A few days later, John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, stressed the distinction. When its re-scheduled, it will probably be not with Xi but with Blinkens Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi; in fact, it may happen this weekend at the Munich Security Conference, which both officials plan to attend. If they and their bossesBiden and Xiare willing, these two top diplomats should be able to clear away the dust, perhaps release a statement that declares mutual understandings about overflight rights (in non-judgmental language), and re-pave a path to something like normal (if still competitive, somewhat adversarial) diplomatic relations.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union cooperated in many productive peace-building ways through the far more hostile decades of the Cold War; the U.S. and China should be able at least to set up some forums that prevent something like the balloon folly from blowing up into a war.
When Ed Kilgore found out that Nikki Haley was planning to run for president, he wasnt exactly surprised. Kilgore is a political columnist for New York magazine, and hes been keeping tabs on Haleys career for a while. Anybody whos followed her career knows that shes shown every indication of the affliction by which politicians look in the mirror and see a future president of the United States, he said.

Haleys only the second person to declare her intent to run in 2024. The other one, of course, is Donald Trump. Haley achieved a national profile when she served as Trumps ambassador to the United Nations. Now, shes the first one to challenge him for the Republican nomination. To announce her candidacy, Haley released a video making her first presidential pitch to the country. Kilgore wasnt too impressed.

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Its sort of the nonwhite person who offers moral authority in absolving white conservatives of any implications of racism. Theres nothing that white conservatives love more than being reassured that theyre not racist by nonwhite voices, he said. And thats what Haley is taking advantage of.

According to Kilgore, Haleys biggest problem is that she cant seem to articulate why she should be the next commander in chief. Shes got no catchy slogan, no major endorsement, no particularly remarkable achievements to point to. Shes actually a pretty well-known national Republican figure. Yet shes mired in the low single digits in every poll that shows her going up against Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis. So Im not very impressed at how she seems to be proceeding at this point.

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On Wednesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Kilgore about how Nikki Haley wants to take on Donald Trumpand how even though its February 2023, she might already be falling behind. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Mary C. Curtis: Can you introduce our listeners to the Nikki Haley story, starting with her early life in South Carolina?

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Ed Kilgore: She grew up in South Carolina, the child of Indian immigrants who were actually Sikhs. She followed the Sikh religion until well into her adulthood, when she converted to Methodism. And as a fairly young woman, she had a couple of business ventures. She was elected to the state Legislature from a Columbia suburb and very quickly identified herself with the hard-core right-wing portion of the South Carolina party, but one that thought of itself as modern and free of the kind of racism that it afflicted there for a long time.

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So she was sort of a reform conservative figure in South Carolina. In 2010 when she ran for governor as very much a long shot, she either was afflicted by or got lucky because ofdepending on how you look at ittwo different men who made apparently baseless accusations of sexual infidelity on her part, that they had had flings with her. They never supplied any concrete evidence. And that naturally made Nikki Haley a sympathetic figure to a lot of voters who had never heard of her. That also made her a great object of affection from Sarah Palin, who dubbed her a mama grizzly and came in to South Carolina and campaigned, probably at the peak of Palins popularity. And so at a pretty young age, she got the launch she needed and became governor of this very Republican state.

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I remember that race, and members of her own party did subject her to quite a bit of racist abuse as well. What kind of platform did she run on and what were her political priorities? Did she make them clear?

Her messageand again, this nicely meshed with the alleged scandals and efforts to smear her as a womanwas that she was running against the good ol boys of the South Carolina Republican establishment. And in South Carolina, that doesnt just mean old men. It also means people that really were old Dixiecrats that migrated out of the Democratic Party to the Republican Party for convenience and brought a lot of their racist baggage along with them. Like a lot of other Southern states, there was a modern Republican movementthey called themselves at the time reform conservativeswho wanted really hard-core right-wing fiscal and economic policies but without the racism. And she was a perfect profile for that, not just because of her message, but because of her identity. And sure enough, she did beat the good ol boys.

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Its interesting that the thing probably many national folks know her for was that stand taking down the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds after the massacre in 2015. We all remember in Mother Emanuel, where nine African Americans were shot and killed, including a legislatorClementa Pinckneyand a reverend. What do you make of that and what folks perceived and what the reality was?

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She hit all the right notes at the time. Theres no way I could criticize her reaction, her pretty much heartfelt sympathy for what happened, her efforts to unite Black and white South Carolinians in mourning, what happened in Charleston.

But she got adulatory national press for that gesture. And I might add, it was a good 20 years after a previous Republican governor of South Carolina tried to do the same thing and really got into political trouble for it. I would argue that by the time Nikki Haley took down the flag, it was pretty much noncontroversial, which showed some excellent timing on her part. But I think she got a little bit too much credit for being something that shes not, which is some sort of progressive or even moderate.

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I find it very interesting that she does not mention that in her announcement video. There are images of the days after the massacre, but no reference to her taking down the Confederate flag from the Statehouse. She has subsequently, by the way, said that Dylann Roof, the murderer in Charleston, hijacked the Confederate flag, which was basically suggesting that it was a perfectly acceptable, noble symbol before he hijacked it in his murderous rage. So Im not quite sure if shes soft-pedaling that to placate neo-Confederates in the Republican Party or what.

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She also made a pretty big show of not supporting Trump in 2016 because of his rhetoric. And she tied the rhetoric to the violence like Charleston. But in 2017, she flip-flopped and joined his administration as United States ambassador to the U.N. So why the change of heart and what was her tenure there like?

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Shes hardly alone among Republicans in moving all over the place in her relationship with Donald J. Trump. Her senior U.S. senator, Lindsey Graham, is dancing like Arthur Murray, going back and forth on Trump for years. So I dont know that shes distinguished herself in duplicity on the question of trial, but she has moved around an awful lot. She said harsh, harsh things about him in 2016, but then supported his general election campaign. She accepted a position in this administration but seemed to be whispering to media that she wasnt really his person.

She was appointed U.N. ambassador, checked that all-important foreign policy box, andthis really did impress me at the timemanaged to vaguely convey the sense that she was independent of Donald Trump in terms of what she said and did at the U.N. without ever really criticizing him, either. So she developed this reputation as an independent figure who wasnt opposed to Donald Trump but certainly wasnt his creature.

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All that changed on Jan. 6  sort of. At the RNC the day after the insurrection, Haley told her fellow Republicans that Trumps actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history. That level of conviction didnt last long, though.

After Jan. 6, she said some very negative things about Trump, said he had disqualified himself, frankly, from further national leadership. Then, not too long after that, she backtracked and said, in fact, if he ran for president in 2024, she would support him. Obviously thats not happening. Her constituency in the Republican Party, if shes going to succeed in a presidential campaign, is going to be among people who are tired of Trump, whether they liked him or not or supported him or not in the past.

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Much of Haleys career is built on her ability to play both sideson the issues, on Trump, on pretty much everything. But that wont be as easy in a presidential campaign.

If shes serious about running for president, shes going to be spending a lot of time at Pizza Ranches in Iowa very soon, where regular Republican voters are going to ask her a lot of questions about who she is, what shes done, what she wants to do. And its pretty serious scrutiny. To the extent that maybe she has benefited from some ambivalence about what she stands for, and fromfranklyunearned positive media attention, that could wear off pretty quickly in a presidential campaign.

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Do you think her announcement is amounting to maybe hopes that folks are finally casting Trump aside, both voters and the party?

I think thats the calculation. The problem is thats also the calculation of Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Mike Pompeo; Lord knows who is going to wind up in this race. And all of them not named Donald Trump are going to be calculating that Republicans are tired of Donald Trump. Why Nikki Haley, though, as opposed to some of these other candidatesparticularly DeSantis, who started way, way, way ahead of her early in the going?

She is from an early state, South Carolina, which votes third in the Republican presidential nominating contest. Donald Trump had an event there recently where he locked up really about half the well-known politicians in the state, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, the current governor, the current lieutenant governor, the state treasurer, three members of the U.S. House. So, shes got some catching up to do in her home state. And then, Ron DeSantis will clearly be strong there, just like he is everywhere else at the moment. If she loses her home state, her presidential campaign is done.

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I want to talk a little bit about her relationship with Trump. He usually goes harshly after someone who has criticized him so much in such stark condemnation as she did when it came to Jan. 6. But he really hasnt come out yet. Does he see her as real competition?

Frankly, Trumps public attitude toward her can only be described as condescending. Its going to be interesting how he talks about Haley. But his general posture right now is that he doesnt take her seriously enough to go after her the way he normally does his political rivals. And who knows? In any given moment, Donald Trump can erupt, and he may give her a nasty nickname or go after her personally. Who knows? The problem for Nikki Haley is thats not within her control. So if shes going to define her relationship with Donald Trump in a way that improves her prospects, shes got to get on it right now and not just wait around to see what hes going to do.

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The open question is exactly what shape Haleys ambitions will take if being president isnt on the table. Some commentators have already begun positioning her as a possible vice presidential candidate on Trumps ticket.

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Lets just say, for the sake of argument, she does want to be vice president and Trump wins the nomination and shes on his list. (There have been reports already that Trump is maybe exclusively considering women as a running mate for all kinds of obvious reasons.) I do think that if she winds up in that position, shes not going to have the independence from Trump that she implied that she had as a member of his administration. The perpetual role model for a Trump vice president is Mike Pence prior to Jan. 6, the craven toadying to the president, with his big shoulders, as Mike Pence said about a thousand times. The bigger question about the vice presidency is whether Haley really wants to do that. And, of course, theres also the very strong possibility that the nominee is not going to be Donald Trump. Its going to be Ron DeSantis.

Shes 51 years old, which is pretty young in terms of contemporary presidential expectations. Shes basically a quarter-century younger than Donald Trump. She doesnt have to run for president right now, which is part of the reason I wonder why shes doing it right now. But nobody really knows what the post-Trump Republican Party is going to look like. Its probably going to be a little Trumpier than shes shown herself to be so far. And theres competition. So maybe she is the future of the Republican Party, but it may be a really distant future at this point.
A longer version of this post originally appeared on the Can We Still Govern? Substack.

The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government began its business last week with an opening hearing replaying old grievances of how Donald Trump had been mistreated. So stale was the hearing that the star witness was an FBI whistleblower who turned out to have left government in the last century.

What is more interesting than the hearing is the way in which the idea of weaponization itself has emerged and been, well, weaponized.

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The idea of weaponization is not new. You can find the term in past Fox News coverage, for example, including as early as 2017.

Weaponization of course implies a martial aspect. It is similar to the linguistic trick of calling the Biden administration the Biden regime to evoke an illiberal approach to governing. It carries the whiff of a rogue state implementing Stasi-like operations to suppress dissent. Federal agencies have a long and sordid history of illegally targeting American citizens to gain political advantage, writes the Center for Renewing America in one recent example. Government agencies like (but not limited to) the FBI, DHS, and DOJ are actively working to silence and suppress citizens who subscribe to ideas that differ from the regimes.

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You probably have not heard of the Center for Renewing America, but it offers an important insight into both the origins and meaning of the weaponization trope.

The Center for Renewing America is a Trump-aligned think tank. As best as I can tell, the center promoted the idea of a weaponization committee in the form it has now taken before anyone else. Last October, characterizing the idea as a Church-style committee, the center stated: we call on Members of Congress to assemble a stand-alone committee with broad investigative powers focused on woke and weaponized agencies and personnel within the federal government. GOP hardliners who opposed Kevin McCarthys speakership bid used similar terminology when they successfully demanded, in a Dec. 8 letter, that McCarthy: Form a Church Commission-Style Committee to Target Weaponized Government.

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The Center for Renewing America is led by Russ Vought, a Christian nationalist and the former head of Trumps budget office. Vought has not just helped to popularize the weaponization trope (he has been using this language since at least 2021), but he also embodies its intent and hypocrisies.

Vought is an extreme partisan who, when given the chance to govern, damaged the institutions of government. He weaponized government in the worst ways while in power:

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 As the Office of Management and Budget chief, Vought pushed the Schedule F executive order that would have made it possible to fire career employees for political reasons.

 Vought OKd the withholding of aid to Ukraine even though his career OMB lawyers warned him it was illegal.

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 Weeks after it was clear that Trump had lost the election, Vought blocked career officials from cooperating with the Biden transition at a crucial moment during the pandemic.

So that is Vought when working in government.

When out of power, Vought characterized legitimate uses of government power as weaponization, such as when the FBI searched, under court order, the home of a key player in Trumps efforts to overturn the election. Vought is now building an army of far-right ideologues with a biblical worldview to take control of federal agencies when a Republican administration returns to power. Vought told Axios: We are consciously bringing on the toughest and most courageous fighters with the know-how and credibility to crush the deep state.

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The weaponization trope therefore originates from the far right of American politics. It serves the conspiratorial and anti-statist element of the Republican Party in several ways.

At a prosaic political level, an oversight committee generates headlines that damage your political opponents and show your base you are taking their concerns seriously. The formalization of the weaponization trope does so in a way that gives Republicans the opportunity to mainline conspiracy theories.

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Weaponization also serves to strengthen a victimhood narrative that is the hallmark of dangerous populist movements, reinforcing the idea that the deep state is seeking to steal not just your elections, but your entire way of life.

Accusations of weaponization further help to work the refthat is, to give policy decisionmakers reason to pause if they take action against legitimate targets. For example, during the Obama administration, the IRS targeted political groups claiming a tax deduction on the fiction that they were social welfare groups not actively involved in politics. It targeted both conservatives and liberals, but the outrage was all on the conservative side. IRS budgets were cut. As a result, the agency has largely given up on policing violations of tax law by political activists, to the point that what seem like obvious misdeeds go unpunished.

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Policymakers will know that if they take regulatory, investigative, or police action that intrudes on conservative stakeholders, they will be accused of weaponization. Hearings and subpoenas will follow, such as the ones now faced by Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona because of investigations into harassment of school officials that Republicans characterized as an infringement on free speech.

The weaponization trope also helps to selectively ignore the misuse of government power, largely by Republicans, that has fueled American democratic backsliding. Supporters focus on the alleged misdeeds of their enemies, while the media will be pulled into a perpetual cycle of whataboutism if they accurately castigate one side as being more guilty than the other of abuses.

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Discrediting government also provides Republicans a populist logic for disempowering those within it that they distrust, such as the career bureaucracy, and justifies asserting loyalty to narrow partisan values as a primary governing value.

This, ultimately, is the payoff of the weaponization trope: To save government, we must burn it down, and rebuild from the ashes. Illustrating these anti-statist tactics, Russ Vought released a budget blueprint for the new GOP House to follow. It relies on culture-war tropes as a means to deconstruct much of the state. While mentioning woke 77 times, and weaponize(d) 42 times, it calls for massive cuts in federal discretionary programs: $9 trillion over the course of a decade.

Voughts budget is also explicitly pro-weaponization. While calling for cuts to parts of the FBI that monitor extremist groups, it advocates for a $618 million increase for FBI investigations of progressives: to thwart the increasing societal destruction caused by progressive policies at the state and local levels that have defunded police, refused to prosecute criminals, and released violent felons into communities.

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Vought reflects the emerging view on the far right that the era of small government conservatism is over: Instead, hard-right populists feel that they should actively take control of government to pursue their goals. This helps to explain the right-wing adoration of Victor Orban in Hungary, and serves as the basis for the DeSantis rise in the Republican Party. John Daniel Davidson wrote an essay in the Federalist summarizing this view, titled We Need to Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives:

To stop Big Tech, for example, will require using antitrust powers to break up the largest Silicon Valley firms. To stop universities from spreading poisonous ideologies will require state legislatures to starve them of public funds. To stop the disintegration of the family might require reversing the travesty of no-fault divorce, combined with generous subsidies for families with small children. Conservatives need not shy away from making these arguments because they betray some cherished libertarian fantasy about free markets and small government. It is time to clear our minds of cant. In other contexts, wielding government power will mean a dramatic expansion of the criminal code. It will not be enough, for example, to reach an accommodation with the abortion regime, to agree on reasonable limits on when unborn human life can be snuffed out with impunity.

All of this sounds an awful lot like the weaponization of government, free of concerns about individual rights.
Justice Karofsky spoke about this experience on this past Saturdays Amicuslisten to that conversation here.

In a democracy there are legitimate ways to effectuate change. You can vote, seek public office, enact legislation, and file suits in courts of law. There are also illegitimate ways to make changedisenfranchising legitimate voters, rigging legislative districts, and intimidating and harassing elected officials. As an elected state supreme court justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I sometimes have to navigate in both lanes. But recently, I found myself personally involved in the latter in a way that I never imagined. Specifically, I faced such harassment and intimidation after participating in oral argument in a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that I feel obligated to tell my story.

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Within days of the 2020 election, it was clear that Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris had won nationally by 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes. In Wisconsin, the Biden-Harris ticket had won the election by a margin of 20,427 votes. The Trump campaign requested a recount in only two of Wisconsins 72 counties. It was the campaigns right to ask for a recountthe margin was thinner than 1 percentbut the recount didnt change the results. Even after receiving a definitive conclusion that the results were accurate, President Trump falsely continued to beat the voter fraud drum. At one point, he tweeted, The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over

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Nonetheless, the election was certified by the chair of the Wisconsin Election Commission, and Wisconsin decided it would send 10 Electors to vote on Dec. 14, in the state capitol, for President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris. Before this could happen, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit appealing the recount determinations. The suit sought a remedy of drawing downessentially throwing out227,000 votes, only in Dane and Milwaukee counties. Oral argument was scheduled before the Supreme Court for an extraordinary session on Saturday, Dec. 12.

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In reading the briefs and preparing for the oral argument, I became increasingly concerned about several aspects of the Trump campaigns position. First, I was troubled by the fact that Trumps attorneys were perpetuating the Big Lie. That is, they were claimingwithout any evidencethat the election was stolen and that voter fraud was rampant. Rudy Giuliani, then serving as an attorney for the president, was going around the country saying that cities with larger populations of Black votersincluding in Wisconsinhad a reputation for voter fraud. Giuliani was making these unfounded statements in court as part of the avalanche of litigation being filed that they were hoping might overturn the 2020 election. (He would eventually be disciplined for those false comments.)

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Second, they were seeking to disenfranchise voters in only two of Wisconsins 72 countiesDane and Milwaukee, even though election processes are essentially the same in all counties. These are, not coincidentally, Wisconsins two most urban and diverse countiesaccording to the latest census, Black residents make up 26 percent of the population in Milwaukee County, compared to a 6 percent Black population statewide; Dane County meanwhile has the states fourth-highest Black population. In this election, as in many others, these two counties held the most Democratic votes.

Third, they were seeking to draw down the votes of voters who had cast their ballots legally according to guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, in the midst of a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Fourth, several of the complaints could have been lodged weeks, months, and in some instances, years before the election took place, given what they were disputing, and yet they had waited until after losing the election to file their lawsuit. When I arrived at the Wisconsin Capitol building on that snowy Saturday morning to hear the oral argument, there were several protesters on the grounds. I went into my chambers to hear the argument by Zoom, which was the protocol at the time due to COVID restrictions. When I looked out my window, I realized that several of the protesters were armed. They continued to march around the Capitol throughout the morning.

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During oral argument, my colleagues and I asked several pointed and challenging questions, as is our customary practice. In particular, I challenged Trumps attorney by remarking that the lawsuit smacks of racism for its attempt to disenfranchise voters in only Dane and Milwaukee Counties. I asked him for evidence of voter fraud. Later, I analogized their attempts to keep Trump in power to a monarchy. Two days after the argument we issued a very close 43 decision upholding the election results in favor of Biden-Harris. Its worth noting that I was not the only public official to note the racism inherent in the Trump campaign specifically attempting to disenfranchise communities with large Black populations. As then-Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said at the time: No surprise, Donald Trump has been consistent. Hell go after communities of color, and hell go after communities where there are lots of Democrats.

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For several weeks after the oral argument, I endured threats and harassment by email, phone, and social media. Several of the communications were antisemitic and misogynistic. The courts marshal insisted on additional security for my family and me. When, on Jan. 6, we watched with horror as the insurrection took place at the U.S. Capitol, it was evident that I had witnessed a dress rehearsal outside the Wisconsin Capitol just weeks prior.

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Several months later, I was on the receiving end of a complaint filed with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission asking that I be disciplined for my comments and questions during the oral argument. The accusations were baseless, including allegations that I made certain facial expressions, spelled out the word application, and was reviewing notes during the hearing. The complaint also focused on my calling the lawsuit racist, a view for which I believe there is ample supporting evidence, and analogizing Trumps lawsuit as an attempt to keep their king in power.

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I hired a lawyerpaid out of my own pocketand we filed a response emphasizing that:

the Judicial Code requires judges to act with impartiality towards the parties, but it does not require a judge to turn a blind eye to dangerous, bad-faith conduct by a lawyer or litigant. It is beyond reason to read the Code to require judges to be mouse-like quiet when parties are arguing in favor of a slow-motion coup.

I further noted that:

the Code does not prohibit judges or Justices from speaking from the bench about arguments or positions (we) find abhorrent, frivolous, or even contrary to law in more mundane ways. That is what happened here. (I) chose not to let the Court be used to spread falsehoods laced with racial animus to a national audience champing at the bit for confrontation. (I) maintained high standards of conduct in order to promote public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.

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And then, I waited. I waited and waited and waited for the Judicial Commission to engage in an investigation, or forward the case to the Supreme Court recommending discipline, or dismiss the matter. Sixteen long months later, seemingly without ever engaging in an investigation, the commission dismissed the complaint this past November.

What happened to me has undoubtedly happened to other members of the judiciary. In the wake of a lost election, Trump and his supporters went to the courts. That was their rightup to a point. But when they lost in the courts, they didnt accept the outcome and move on. Instead, they used threats and intimidation in an attempt to influence individual judges and justices. In this instance the intimidation efforts included weaponizing the Wisconsin Judicial Commission in a process that was lengthy, costly, and completely meritless.

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I am coming forward to tell this story because I fear the complaint against me is very likely a harbinger.

I am coming forward to tell this story because I fear the complaint against me is very likely a harbinger, just like the protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol in December 2020 felt like a preview of what happened at the U.S. Capitol that January. Although baseless and ultimately dismissed, the investigation into my conduct dragged out for 16 months. But something so frivolous should have never been grounds for an investigation.

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The Wisconsin Judicial Commission, and others like it around the country, simply cannot allow partisan actors to proceed in bad faith and hijack the disciplinary system. This was simply an attempt to silence me after I helped to stop the frivolous and dangerous arguments that Trumps team was making to try to undermine our democracy. In engaging this complaint about my behavior, the commission risks setting a dangerous precedent. It allowed itself to be weaponized and in doing so became a pawn of those determined to undermine an independent judiciary.

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I stand by every word I uttered during the oral argument. Judges and justices offer hypotheticals and offer analogies every single day. It is how we arrive at an understanding of the issues in a case. The lawsuit did smack of racism and the attempt to keep their king in power was antidemocratic. I was pushing back against what I viewed as an attempted coup against the lawful government of the United States. I pushed back because the voters of Wisconsin elected me to protect the rule of law. Additionally, my oath of office requires me to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States and the State of Wisconsin. My actions were not partisanthey were an attempt to protect our democracy, and its democratic systems. I worry that unless I speak out, jurists around the country may be chilled from doing the same.
While China and Russia have strengthened ties since the Kremlin's brutal invasion of Ukraine, the US has not seen evidence that China has prov
Hiring confidence among employers said to be low in early 2023, survey shows.

Bus drivers are in demand in almost all regions of Slovakia. (Source: TASR - Dano Veselsky)

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Despite the energy crisis contributing to the rising costs of employers and the economic uncertainty, the Slovak labour market remains stable.

Last year, employment increased in the most monitored sectors, particularly in hospitality. This is because the sector was rehiring people that it had lost during the coronavirus pandemic. Conversely, employment decreased in industry, by 0.9 per cent, the Statistics Office announced on February 10.

ManpowerGroup Slovakia, the largest recruitment agency in the country, also confirms the stability of the labour market in its employment outlook for the first quarter of 2023, for which the agency surveyed over 500 employers. Though the numbers within the labour market index, which projects how eager employers are to hire new people, show a drop if compared to the previous quarter or year-on-year, the overall figure for the current quarter is not negative and stands at 5 per cent.
Slovakia on the lookout for foreigners to fill jobs, Petrzalka tram extension facing problems again. Learn more in today's digest.

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Good evening. Here is the Wednesday, February 15 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Slovak woman linked to ISIS facing terror charges

(Source: SME)

A woman repatriated to Slovakia on a special government flight has been charged with terror offences over her alleged links to the ISIS terror group.

According to the information obtained by daily SME, the Slovak woman, who has not been identified, was related to an ISIS fighter. After she was brought back from Iraq, she was handed over to the National Criminal Agency and is now facing three separate charges.

More stories on Spectator.sk

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Kosice public transport strike that left only a handful of lines operating ends after an agreement was reached.

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 today

Although uncertainty appears to be dictating trends on the labour market at the moment, Slovakia is facing a shortage of workers across a number of sectors. But to help with this, since January 1 the process of employing third-country workers has become easier across the country.

Slovakia hunts for foreigners to fill these jobs Read more

Music tip of the day

On Thursday, Valer Miko's Zero Gravity Project will perform in Kafe Scherz in Bratislava's Palisady area. Miko is a pianist and composer. For ten years he has been part of the Pressburger Klezmer Band. Miko has also recorded many albums as part of various trios.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/xOb79UUXFCI

In other news

A Belgian court has rejected a request from the Slovak Justice Ministry to further investigate the death of Slovak citizen Jozef Chovanec. Slovakia has appealed against the decision and could also consider initiating proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights. Chovanec died in hospital on February 28, 2018, three days after being held in a cell at Belgium's Charleroi airport.

Slovakia has appealed against the decision and could also consider initiating proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights. Chovanec died in hospital on February 28, 2018, three days after being held in a cell at Belgium's Charleroi airport. The extension of the tram line in Petrzalka has been pushed back again. It was supposed to be completed this year, but city authorities say it will more likely be finished in the first half of 2024.

Work on the site of Petrzalka tram extension. (Source: TASR)

Consumer prices of goods and services rose by 15.2 percent year-on-year in January. According to the Statistical Office, this is a decrease after 23 months, but only a very slight one.

According to the Statistical Office, this is a decrease after 23 months, but only a very slight one. OLaNO chief Igor Matovic will submit a proposal to reduce MPs' salaries to the average national wage. They currently get paid three times as much.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter following a collision at the Velka Raca ski resort last week which left an 8-year-old boy dead. Mountain rescuers and paramedics have reported a huge increase in the number of accidents on ski slopes, especially collisions, in recent weeks.

a collision at the Velka Raca ski resort last week which left an 8-year-old boy dead. Mountain rescuers and paramedics have reported a huge increase in the number of accidents on ski slopes, especially collisions, in recent weeks. After heavy snowfall and strong winds, a large number of trees fell on hiking trails in the Slovak Paradise. According to Tomas Drazil, Director of the Slovak Paradise National Park Administration, the worst situation was on the southern side of the park. "The trails in Zejmarska Roklina and Male Zajfy are very difficult, even impassable," he says.

According to Tomas Drazil, Director of the Slovak Paradise National Park Administration, the worst situation was on the southern side of the park. "The trails in Zejmarska Roklina and Male Zajfy are very difficult, even impassable," he says. The Interim Government decided that provision of contributions for accommodating refugees from Ukraine will be extended until May 31, with the level of the contributions remaining unchanged.

Part of the Prielom Hornadu trail in the Slovak Paradise on February 14. (Source: TASR)

Weather for Thursday

Mostly cloudy, with daily temperatures between 4 and 9 degrees Celsius expected.

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
Renata D. was brought back to Slovakia on secret government flight.

A Slovak woman and two children related to ISIS mercenaries were brought to Slovakia. (Source: SITA)

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A Slovak woman linked to Islamic terrorist group ISIS has been charged with terror offences after she was secretly transported back to Slovakia from Kurdistan.

The woman, who has been identified as 44-year-old Renata D., arrived in Slovakia on a special government repatriation flight on Sunday night, February 12. She was then handed over to the National Crime Agency and has since been charged with offences including support of a terrorist group.

Syrian news agency Hawar confirmed that "a woman and two children of Slovak nationality from the families of ISIS mercenaries were handed over".

The SME daily has claimed the woman is related to a fighter in Islamic State or ISIS and lived in eastern Syria. The fighter is alleged to be her husband and doctor from Egypt. She met him almost 20 years ago.

It is the first known case of a Slovak citizen having joined the terror group.

Woman rejects guilt

The woman, who is now in custody, is alleged to come from Rimavska Sobota, a town in the south of central Slovakia.

According to her lawyer Juraj Remsik, the Slovak denies the guilt. She claims she was never an active member of the Islamic State and only followed her husband to Syria, who went there as a doctor for work in 2014, the Markiza television channel reported.

From 2019, when the Kurds detained her, she was involuntarily detained in an intervention camp without freedom of movement and any contact with her family until the time of repatriation, her lawyer has told the JOJ television channel.

The Slovak police put the woman on the list of wanted persons in 2019. She is no longer on this list.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/denmark-netherlands-will-reportedly-not-supply-leopard-2-tanks-to-ukraine-1107441333.html

Denmark, Netherlands Will Reportedly Not Supply Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine

Denmark, Netherlands Will Reportedly Not Supply Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine

Denmark and the Netherlands will not take part in the delivery of more modern versions of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, German media has reported.

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Media reports indicated the Dutch and Danish governments, once willing to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, said they will not take part in the delivery. As compensation, the two countries have expressed their willingness to participate in the repair and maintenance of Leopard 1 tanks, the report said. Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, Germany has been supplying Ukraine with various types of weapon systems, including air defense missiles, multiple-launch rocket systems, self-propelled artillery, and anti-aircraft guns. In January, the German government said it would send 14 Leopard 2A6 battle tanks to Ukraine. In the near future, Germany will prepare two battalions of around 60 tanks in total for Kiev. In addition, Berlin agreed to provide re-export licenses for other countries willing to supply these German-made tanks. Since then, Warsaw, Ottawa, Lisbon, and Oslo have also said they could send various modernizations of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with up to 14 tanks coming from Poland, four tanks from Canada, three tanks from Portugal, and eight tanks from Norway. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against further escalation leading to the United States and NATO's direct involvement in the conflict.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/us-sen-feinstein-to-retire-at-term-end-opening-up-california-seat-for-2024-election-1107440055.html

US Sen. Feinstein to Retire at Term-End, Opening Up California Seat for 2024 Election

US Sen. Feinstein to Retire at Term-End, Opening Up California Seat for 2024 Election

Feinstein, 89, will be 91 by the time she retires, which will make her the fourth oldest senator to ever serve, behind only Robert Byrd, 92, Theodore F. Green, 93 and Strom Thurmond, 100.

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Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the US Senate and Californias longest-serving senator will retire when her term ends at the end of 2024.Feinstein made her announcement on Tuesday through her official Twitter account and website. Most expected Feinstein to retire after her term, but she previously stated that an announcement would not be coming until spring.However, that has not stopped California Democrats from vying for her seat. Two Representatives from California - Katie Porter and Adam Schiff - have already announced their campaigns for Feinstein's seat. Fellow Golden State Reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna are both said to be tossing their respective hats into the ring in the coming months.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.Last year, there were 54 wildfires in California. The state also has the nations largest homeless population (third largest per 100,000 residents) and 3.2 million California residents lack comprehensive health care.Despite her long tenure, she has fallen out of favor with California voters more recently. A 2021 poll by Berkeley IGS found that only 30% of California voters approved of the job she was doing.In recent years, Feinsteins mental acuity had been questioned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Reports from the New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, and others quoted Democratic sources that questioned the senators memory and mental functions. The Feinstein campaign continued to insist she was not suffering from mental decline, but the cracks started to show.Feinstein was the expected front-runner for presidential pro tempore, the ceremonial head of the Senate and third in line to the presidency, but she decided against campaigning for the position after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declined to say if he had confidence in her ability to do her job.The pressure seemed to mount on Feinstein when Democratic officials started endorsing potential replacements for her. Last week, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Schiff if Feinstein steps down, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) endorsed Porter without preconditions.Feinstein was elected in 1992 after serving as San Franciscos first female mayor. Her campaign ran during the year of women, after the Anita Hill testimony showcased a lack of female representation in Congress.Hill was testifying that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her. The all-male panel, including then-Senator Joe Biden, demeaned and dismissed her claims. The next year, Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were elected the first female senators from California.As a senator, Feinstein received praise for authoring the nationwide assault weapons ban that stood in place for 10 years before the Bush administration allowed the restriction to lapse. She was also instrumental in releasing documents that detailed CIA torture techniques used during the war on terror.But the left wing of the democratic party has seen her in a less favorable light in recent years. An avowed centrist, Feinstein was criticized for being against the removal of the filibuster, which has been used by Republicans to consistently block the Democrats and Bidens agenda.Feinstein also seemed less than engaged during the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. After the hearing, Feinstein said it had been one of the best set of hearings that Ive participated in. The comments ran counter to the Democratic Partys narrative that the hearings were a sham, rushed to finish before the 2020 presidential election that occurred days later.Climate activists have also frequently targeted Feinstein. Last year, a group of climate activists dropped wildfire ashes on the front porch of Pelosi and Feinstein. In 2019, Feinstein took significant heat for her dismissive attitude towards a group of schoolchildren who were asking her to support the Green New Deal. Ive been doing this for 30 years, I know what Im doing, she told the schoolchildren, adding you didnt vote for me, when the school-aged advocates reminded her that she works for voters.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220415/its-bad-and-getting-worse-fellow-dems-voice-concerns-over-dianne-feinsteins-job-performance-1094772989.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/what-do-we-know-about-the-deadly-michigan-state-university-shooting-1107439295.html

What Do We Know About the Deadly Michigan State University Shooting?

What Do We Know About the Deadly Michigan State University Shooting?

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, another mass shooting unfolded in East Lansing, Michigan, on one of the largest university campuses in the United States.

2023-02-14T22:05+0000

2023-02-14T22:05+0000

2023-02-14T22:05+0000

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mass shooting

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On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, another mass shooting unfolded in East Lansing, Michigan, on one of the largest university campuses in the United States.What Happened?A little after 8 p.m. local time on Monday night, students and staff on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU) received an alert message advising them about reports of gunshots on campus and for them to run, hide, fight, meaning they should first try to escape, then try to hide, and if all else fails, prepare to defend themselves from the attacker or attackers.The shots were reported in Berkey Hall and the MSU Union. A massive police response followed as officers attempted to secure the huge campus of 50,000 students and 5,200 acres. For five hours, students, staff and residents of the local community were under a shelter-in-place order as the manhunt continued.How Many Were Killed or Wounded?Two people were killed at Berkey Hall: Alexandra Verner, a junior, and Brian Fraser, a sophomore. Frasers family has refused to speak with the press thus far, saying they are still processing their grief.A third, 19-year-old Arielle Anderson, a sophomore who was studying to be a pediatric doctor, was shot and killed in the MSU Union. Andersons grandmother, with whom she stayed, described her as kind, loving, caring, compassionate, driven, and "very family oriented.Four other people were also wounded, with area police saying some of them had suffered life-threatening injuries.Who is the Suspect?Police said at a Tuesday news conference that 43-year-old Anthony McRae was the sole suspect. However, he was found off campus about nine hours later from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They have not assigned a motive to McRae. He was identified using security camera footage from the shooting.According to local news, McRae was arrested in Lansing and charged in June 2019 with carrying a concealed pistol without a concealed carry permit. He agreed to plead guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge, and prosecutors dismissed the felony charge against him. McRae was sentenced in November 2019 to 12 months probation, with six more being added in October 2020, such that it expired in May 2021. During his probation, he was barred from owning any type of firearm, but that restriction ended with his probation.McRae was a working-class man who lived in northern Lansing in a home owned by his father, who told local news: "God knows youll never know what a kid is going to do. He said he believed his son bought the weapon he used at a local pawn shop and that he had confronted his son about owning the weapon in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to get rid of it.How Have Officials Reacted?US President Joe Biden said he and his wife Jill Biden "are praying for the three students killed and the five students fighting for their lives after last nights shooting, adding that "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.""Action is what we owe to those grieving today in Michigan and across America," the president said.Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a proponent of stronger gun control laws, said on Tuesday that 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. As parents, we tell our kids its going to be OK. But the truth is words are not good enough. We must act and we will.Survivor of Two MassacresIn addition, one of the students on campus on Monday night was Jackie Matthews, a senior at MSU and a survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut in 2012, in which 26 people were killed, most of them small children.My heart goes out to all the families and the friends of the Michigan State shooting, she continued. But we can no longer just provide love and prayers. It needs to be legislation, it needs to be action. Its not okay. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230131/florida-police-at-least-10-injured-after-drive-by-shooting-gunmen-not-apprehended--1106840795.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230125/us-secret-service-finds-25-of-mass-shootings-driven-by-conspiracy-theories-hateful-ideologies-1106707372.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230128/new-mass-shooting-in-us-california-kills-at-least-3-people-injures-4-others---reports-1106792873.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/african-unions-foreign-ministers-convene-in-addis-ababa-to-discuss-regional-issues-1107453462.html

African Union's Foreign Ministers Convene in Addis Ababa to Discuss Regional Issues

African Union's Foreign Ministers Convene in Addis Ababa to Discuss Regional Issues

Foreign ministers of African countries are going to meet on Wednesday at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the most topical problems of the continent.

2023-02-15T08:42+0000

2023-02-15T08:42+0000

2023-02-15T10:09+0000

africa

african union (au)

addis ababa

african union commission

council

foreign ministry

meeting

session

regional cooperation

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The foreign ministers of African countries are going to meet on Wednesday at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the most topical problems of the continent.The session of the executive council of the AU will be held for two days on 15 and 16 February. It is expected that during the session, the heads of foreign ministries, with the help of the organization's staff, will discuss and prepare materials on the most important issues facing the continent, which will be raised at the 36th summit of the heads of state of the regional association in a few days.The forthcoming meetings within the African Union will be held without its four permanent members: Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Membership of the last three countries in the organization has been suspended over the past few years because of military coups that took place there. Khartoum's membership in the African Union was frozen in 2021 when the country's ruling military toppled the transitional government formed by Abdullah Hamdok.The political situation in these countries will be one of many issues that will be raised during the meeting.According to experts interviewed by Sputnik, particular attention will be paid to the implementation of the peace agreement between the government and the rebels from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), signed in November last year. The conflict in northern Ethiopia between Addis Ababa and the rebels has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, according to the most conservative estimates of observers,.The experts also stated that the participants of the meetings at the level of the executive council of the African Union, and then the Assembly, will call on the countries of the region to cooperate in the construction of the Renaissance hydroelectric power station by Ethiopia, against which Egypt and Sudan raised objections. Apart from that, they will focus on ways to ease tensions in the African Great Lakes region, review the situation in the Central African Republic, and discuss the possibility of intensifying the deadlocked inter-Libyan negotiations, which are expected to be marked by the long-awaited presidential elections in Libya.It is expected that first the African ministers in Addis Ababa, and then the countries' leaders, will also touch upon the situation in and around Ukraine, which, according to some states, affects the economic situation in Africa.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230210/mali-burkina-faso-and-guinea-seek-reinstatement-into-ecowas-and-au-1107290574.html

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Yellow River reservoir to replenish Beijing's major river

Xinhua) 08:46, February 15, 2023

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows people walking along the Yongding River at sunset in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, May 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

TAIYUAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Wanjiazhai, a major reservoir in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, will continue to replenish water this year to the Yongding River, a primary river flowing through Beijing, according to the Wanjiazhai Water Holding Group Co., Ltd. on Tuesday.

A total of 165 million cubic meters of water will be diverted from Wanjiazhai to Yongding River twice, in spring and autumn, to help restore the ecological environment in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

Thereinto, around 100 million cubic meters of water will be diverted during spring at an average speed of 10 cubic meters per second.

The river basin of Yongding is one of the most important water conservation areas and an ecological barrier and corridor in Beijing and surrounding areas. The amount of replenished water surpassed 1.1 billion cubic meters from 2017 to 2022.

Yongding River flows through north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, and the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, covering 759 km. The river section in Beijing is 170 km long, with a basin area of 3,200 square km.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/bolsonaro-planning-to-return-to-brazil-in-march-to-lead-opposition-against-lula-1107442467.html

Bolsonaro Planning to Return to Brazil in March to Lead Opposition Against Lula

Bolsonaro Planning to Return to Brazil in March to Lead Opposition Against Lula

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he was planning to return to Brazil in March to lead political opposition against... 15.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-15T01:34+0000

2023-02-15T01:34+0000

2023-02-15T01:34+0000

americas

jair bolsonaro

brazil

lula da silva

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"The right-wing movement is not dead and will live on... Losing is part of the electoral process... Im not saying there was fraud, but the process was biased," Bolsonaro said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, adding he would work with supporters in Congress and local governments to promote what he called pro-business policies, fight abortion, gun control, and other policies that contradict family values. Bolsonaro said he is innocent of any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation into attacks on government buildings in Brazil in January. "Coup? What coup? Where was the commander? Where were the troops, where were the bombs?" he said. Bolsonaro also said he still did not make a decision whether to run for the presidency again, saying the job was "much harder" than he imagined and acknowledging that legal actions against him could follow. Lula won the Brazilian presidency in October, beating Bolsonaro, whom Lula has compared to former US President Donald Trump. In January, supporters of Bolsonaro stormed several government buildings in Brazil as part of demonstrations against the election outcome. The situation has been compared to Trump supporters delaying election certification results by storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Bolsonaro has since lived in the US and applied for a visa to stay in the country amid lawsuits in Brazil. In his first speech in the US since leaving office, Bolsonaro said he would "not give up" on Brazil and will take the moment to "recharge." Lawyers representing Bolsonaro have denied there was any evidence that he committed a crime related to riots, the reports said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230210/biden-ahead-of-meeting-with-brazils-lula-both-of-our-democracies-have-been-tested-1107331943.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/buffalo-mass-shooter-sentenced-to-life-without-parole-1107476828.html

Buffalo Mass Shooter Sentenced to Life Without Parole

Buffalo Mass Shooter Sentenced to Life Without Parole

The young man who launched a attack on a Buffalo, New York grocery store on May 14, 2022 and killed 11 African Americans, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday.

2023-02-15T20:43+0000

2023-02-15T20:43+0000

2023-02-15T20:43+0000

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The sentencing was tense and emotional particularly as family members of the deceased and survivors made impact statements detailing the tremendous destruction the May 14 attack had on their loved ones before Egan was sentenced.At one point, Gendron was removed from the courtroom after he was charged by a man while those who lost loved ones in the mass shooting gave their impact statement. The individual was quickly restrained, with testimonies resuming about 10 minutes afterwards.Gendron still faces 27 felony charges in federal court, including several counts of hate crimes that resulted in death. He has pleaded not guilty.Gendron committed the 14 May 2022 rampage at the Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in the Kingsley area. Ten people were killed and three others injured; most of the dead were African-American.At the time of the massacre, the gunman was broadcasting online. Before the attack, he wrote a manifesto in which he described himself as a supporter of white supremacy. He kept a personal online diary. According to police, the convict was not from Buffalo and had driven three and a half hours to the scene of the shooting from his hometown.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220616/buffalo-shooter-payton-gendron-charged-with-hate-crimes-faces-potential-death-penalty-1096356707.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/burundi-sends-rescuers-to-turkiye-after-deadly-earthquake-1107456106.html

Burundi Sends Rescuers to Turkiye After Deadly Earthquake

Burundi Sends Rescuers to Turkiye After Deadly Earthquake

Burundi deployed ten officers specialised in disaster management to Turkiye as part of the efforts to save earthquake victims.

2023-02-15T14:28+0000

2023-02-15T14:28+0000

2023-02-15T14:29+0000

africa

east africa

earthquake rocks turkiye and syria

rescuers

turkiye

earthquake

burundi

syria

senegal

south africa

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Burundi has sent a number of specialists in disaster management to Turkiye as part of the efforts to save earthquake victims. According to Burundi's Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro, the rescue teams consist of 10 rescue and recovery specialists. Accordance to reports from the local authorities, 35,418 people in Turkiye and 1,414 in Syria have died as a result of the disastrous earthquakes that hit the two countries last week. However, the media has estimated that the death toll has exceeded 41.000. The consequences have been catastrophic. The city of Nurdagi in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, which was severely damaged, will be completely demolished and rebuilt, the city's governor Osman Bilgin has announced. Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the country is to begin the construction of 30,000 residential buildings in the earthquake zone away from seismic fault lines in March.Fortunately, morale has been kept high by reports of what seem to be miracles, such as rescue teams managing to save people who have been stuck under rubble for a week. The disastrous earthquakes hit Turkiye and Syria on 6 February. Today more than a dozen countries all over the world are involved in the life-saving mission in both Turkiye and Syria. Burundi has joined fellow African nations Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan in contributing to the rescue in Turkiye. However, it's unclear how many people are still trapped under the rubble.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/man-rescued-by-russian-team-in-turkey-over-6-days-after-earthquake--1107360687.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/china-planning-two-manned-missions-to-tiangong-space-station-in-2023-space-agency-1107446354.html

China Planning Two Manned Missions to Tiangong Space Station in 2023: Space Agency

China Planning Two Manned Missions to Tiangong Space Station in 2023: Space Agency

China is planning to carry out two manned missions to its Tiangong space station in 2023 with six taykonauts aboard two spacecraft

2023-02-15T04:59+0000

2023-02-15T04:59+0000

2023-02-15T04:59+0000

science & tech

china

space station

tiangong space station

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The Shenzhou 16 manned spacecraft with a crew of three taykonauts are scheduled to dock the station in May 2023, while the flight of Shenzhou 17 with the other three crew members is scheduled for October 2023. Both spacecraft will be launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia. In May, China is also planning to launch the Tianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft to the station, which will deliver into orbit cargo for the work and life of taykonauts, spacesuits, spare parts, and fuel. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said in January that Beijing was planning to carry out over 60 space missions in 2023, launching more than 200 spacecraft into orbit. By the end of 2023, China aims to break the national record for the number of space launches  64 space missions, with 188 spacecraft launched into orbit  achieved last year. In particular, Beijing intends to send the Tianzhou-6 unmanned cargo spacecraft, as well as Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft, to the Tiangong space station. China actively developed its space program in 2022 and finished the construction of its orbital station  Tiangong. The basic structure of the T-shaped station consists of the Tianhe core module and two laboratory modules  Wentian and Mengtian  docked to it. The station can host up to six people at the same time during a crew rotation change. The operational life of the station is 15 years and should end in 2038. In December, Chinese taikonauts held a successful in-orbit rotation of crews at the Tiangong space station for the first time in the country's history. In late November, China's Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft carrying a crew of three taykonauts docked with the Tianhe module of the Tiangong space station. The Shenzhou-15 crew will work at the Tiangong space station until May 2023.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/chinas-wang-yi-embarks-on-trip-to-mend-rift-with-europe-amid-us-decoupling-attempts-1107471195.html

Chinas Wang Yi Embarks on Trip to Mend Rift With Europe Amid US Decoupling Attempts

Chinas Wang Yi Embarks on Trip to Mend Rift With Europe Amid US Decoupling Attempts

Wang Yi, the Communist Party of Chinas chief diplomatic official, is touring several countries in Europe over the next week as part of an attempt to shore up... 15.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-15T17:53+0000

2023-02-15T17:53+0000

2023-02-15T17:53+0000

world

china

europe

wang yi

munich security conference

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang was invited to visit France, Italy, Hungary, and Russia on a trip lasting from February 14 until February 22. Several of those days will also be spent at the Munich Security Conference in southern Germany, where unconfirmed rumors have indicated he may meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Analysts speaking with Chinese media noted that the Munich conference is significant because it comes as Russias special operation in Ukraine nears its one-year mark, but also because the US has significantly ramped up tensions across the Taiwan Strait by supporting the rebel movement in Taiwan.Wang is also expected to discuss trade ties with members of the 16+1 trade group, a group of Central and Eastern European nations with which Beijing has worked to improve trade ties since 2012. However, several states have left the group in recent years in protest over what they claim are human rights violations in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Chinas westernmost province and the home of the Uyghur people.Analysts have noted that Beijing occupies a precarious political position: it wants to trade and have friendly relations with the West as well as countries that, like China itself, the US and its allies have declared a threat to the rules-based international order, such as Iran and Russia. Beijing cannot afford to become decoupled from either group, which is a major reason it has not taken sides in the year-long conflict in Ukraine between Russia and NATO-armed Ukrainian forces operating largely as a Western proxy army.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters earlier this week that the two nations are comprehensive strategic partners of coordination for a new era and have maintained the momentum of sound and steady development and cooperation in various areas has yielded fruitful outcomes in recent years.China is ready to take this visit as an opportunity and work with Russia to promote steady growth of bilateral relations in the direction identified by the two heads of state, defend the legitimate rights and interests of both sides, and play an active role for world peace.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-high-altitude-balloons-repeatedly-flew-over-china-chinese-foreign-ministry-says-1107463899.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230207/taiwan-test-fires-cruise-missile-capable-of-striking-deep-inside-china-reports-say-1107051786.html

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2023

Fantine Gardinier

Fantine Gardinier

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Fantine Gardinier

china, europe, wang yi, munich security conference
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/concerns-regarding-gender-equality-hobble-finlands-fgm-ban-1107451200.html

Concerns Regarding Gender Equality Hobble Finland's FGM Ban

Concerns Regarding Gender Equality Hobble Finland's FGM Ban

A ministerial working group voiced concerns that a specific ban on FGM alone would be problematic for equality reasons, as the circumcision of boys would left unlegislated against.

2023-02-15T09:06+0000

2023-02-15T09:06+0000

2023-02-15T09:07+0000

world

finland

scandinavia

news

health

female genital mutilation (fgm)

circumcision

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Finland's bid to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM) has been delayed over concerns that the law doesn't include male circumcision as well.Although MPs voted to make the ban on FGM - an excruciatingly painful procedure with no health benefits - more explicit in Finnish law, a Ministry of Justice working group proposed keeping the law as it is.As of now, FGM is currently punishable under the provisions of the Criminal Code on assault. Nevertheless, human rights groups have been pushing for a more comprehensive ban as a useful tool in prevention work.A school health survey carried out by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in 2019 found that about 80 girls reported having undergone FGM that year, suggesting the practice is far from having been stamped out.In the wake of a citizens' initiative demanding a specific ban on the practice of FGM in Finland, which gained much more than the 50,000 signatures needed, MPs voted by a wide margin to make a ban on FGM more explicit in Finnish law. Subsequently, the Ministry of Justice established a working group in 2021 to consider how this might be done. Notably, it was the nationalist Finns Party members who filed dissenting opinions asking for male circumcision to be included.The ministerial working group felt that changing the present legislation would create "knock-on effects" on issues such as gender equality, the status of children as well as the legal definition of mutilation. Furthermore, the group reportedly stressed that a specific law banning FGM alone would be problematic for equality reasons, as the circumcision of boys would not be legislated against.Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an insufferably painful procedure occurring in the Islamic world, including parts of the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of the Middle East. The highest incidence of FGM worldwide is in Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Gambia.The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the number of FGM survivors at 200 million. The incidence of FGM in Nordic countries - and Finland in particular - has increased in lockstep with mass immigration from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.In 2021, the National Swedish Board of Health and Welfare estimated that there are at least 38,000 genitally mutilated girls and women living in the country, warning that there was a dangerous lack of knowledge of how to deal with this issue that was unheard of in Scandinavia barely decades ago.Previously, fellow Nordic nations Iceland and Denmark discussed banning male circumcision on minors, practiced by millions of Muslims, Jews, and even members of some Christian denominations, as physically and psychologically harmful, yet reversed their decision under pressure from the US, Israel and Jewish groups from around the world.Remarkably, the present Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made a spectacular U-turn on this issue. More than a decade ago, she claimed that religion "cannot legitimize inflicting physical defects on children". In 2020, she said that ban is not the right path to follow, as it would "endanger Denmark's Jewish community and its way of life".

https://sputnikglobe.com/20211102/at-least-38000-girls-and-women-in-sweden-are-genitally-mutilated-survey-estimates-1090405707.html

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Igor Kuznetsov

female genital mutilation, health issues, male circumcision, equality concerns, mass immigration
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/copenhagen-washington-discuss-us-presence-on-danish-soil-1107447203.html

Copenhagen, Washington Discuss US Presence on Danish Soil

Copenhagen, Washington Discuss US Presence on Danish Soil

Following a similar agreement with Norway, which may offer a glimpse of what may come, the US gained the right to unimpeded access four "agreed" military areas in the country.

2023-02-15T06:51+0000

2023-02-15T06:51+0000

2023-02-15T06:51+0000

military

denmark

us

military & intelligence

lars lokke rasmussen

antony blinken

military cooperation

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Denmark and the US are negotiating a new defense cooperation agreement against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen confirmed after meeting with his US counterpart Antony Blinken.In a separate press release, the US State Department stressed that the US has a "long, close, and mutually beneficial relationship with Denmark" and that "ways to further our partnership and engagement" have been discussed.The defense agreement was proposed by Denmark last year in February. The US welcomed the proposal by stating that it would "deepen our close security partnership, further strengthen cooperation in NATO operations, and together, contribute to continued growth in transatlantic security."No details of the negotiations have been shared so far.However, in 2022, after approval by the Norwegian parliament, an additional agreement on defense cooperation with the US came into force with Norway, which may serve as a prelude for what is to come in Denmark.In that agreement, the US gained the right to unimpeded access to and use of four "agreed" military areas in Norway, including Evenes Air Station and Ramsund Naval Base. In addition to exclusive access and the right to use these bases, the agreement granted the US extensive authority over Norwegian citizens who may come into contact with these areas.At Evenes Air Station, which is the Norwegian Air Force's advanced base for the F-35 fighter jets and NATO's fighter jet preparedness, the aim is to boost cooperation between Norwegian, UK, and US P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft. Numerous Norwegian and UK officials admitted that the goal is to keep an eye on Russian submarine activity in the Arctic.The deal sparked both popular and political opposition, as the Reds, the Greens and the Socialist Left all voted against it. Opponents of the arrangement claimed that the agreement utterly defied Norway's basic policy that categorically excludes any permanent presence of "foreign powers" on its territory in peacetime. Norwegian and US officials countered such fears by claiming that the arrangement is only temporary.Denmark has been a close NATO and US ally in recent decades and a regular contributor to their overseas operations. Overall, Danish forces have been deployed worldwide to nine NATO missions and UN operations, as well as US-led coalitions in Iraq. Denmark also plays a key role in US military plans because Greenland - the world's largest island - hosts the world's northernmost military base at Thule.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221116/norway-signs-historic-arms-contract-with-us-buying-missiles-for-f-35s-1104269833.html

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danish-us military cooperation, us military presence, overseas military presence, unrestricted access, defense cooperation agreement
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/descending-into-the-abyss-12-years-since-civil-war-began-in-libya-1107431531.html

Descending Into the Abyss: 12 Years Since Civil War Began in Libya

Descending Into the Abyss: 12 Years Since Civil War Began in Libya

Over several decades, Libya had enjoyed a period of economic prosperity, as its vast oil reserves and small population made it one of the richest African countries. However, the era of peace abruptly ended with the protests of Arab Spring.

2023-02-15T07:30+0000

2023-02-15T07:30+0000

2023-02-15T09:37+0000

multimedia

photo

libya

civil war

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As tensions flared up, violent protests got out of control, and on 15 February 2011, the civil war erupted.Within a couple of months, Libya was engulfed in conflict. NATO countries backed anti-government militants and launched an intervention, blockading Libyan water supplies and bombarding military facilities.In October 2011, decades-long Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed, and the African nation was torn by warring factions. Thousands of Libyans joined the endless flow of refugees, trying to reach Europe at any cost, and the clashes between various armed groups continue to plague the nation.Check out Sputnik's gallery to discover more!

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/european-commission-proposes-new-sanctions-against-russia-worth-over-117bln-1107455587.html

European Commission Proposes New Sanctions Against Russia Worth Over $11.7Bln

European Commission Proposes New Sanctions Against Russia Worth Over $11.7Bln

The European Commission has proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia in the amount of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), Ursula von der Leyen

2023-02-15T08:53+0000

2023-02-15T08:53+0000

2023-02-15T09:16+0000

russia

russia

european union (eu)

sanctions

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"We are suggesting a 10th tranche of sanctions with trade bans and new checks on exports to Russia, exports of technology, we are talking about 11 billion euro," she said at the European Parliament plenary session.The European Commission proposes to introduce export sanctions to ban supply of electronics used by Russia in drones and helicopter production, Ursula von der Leyen said.The head of the European Commission added that it is also proposed to impose new sanctions against Iranian drone producing companies.Western countries have repeatedly accused Tehran of supplying combat drones to Moscow for use in Russia's special operation in Ukraine. Moscow and Tehran reject the allegations.After Moscow launched its special operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the US, European Union, and Britain imposed economic restrictions against Russia.

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new package of sanctions, sanctions against russia, european commission
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/five-years-after-the-parkland-shooting-not-much-has-been-done-to-combat-us-gun-violence-1107443567.html

Five Years After the Parkland Shooting, Not Much Has Been Done to Combat US Gun Violence

Five Years After the Parkland Shooting, Not Much Has Been Done to Combat US Gun Violence

Five years ago Tuesday, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people died and another 17 were injured.

2023-02-15T03:47+0000

2023-02-15T03:47+0000

2023-02-15T03:50+0000

analysis

gun violence

mass shootings

school shootings

uvalde

parkland shooting

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Five years after the Parkland massacre, where are we in our quest to end school shootings, and is there a light at the end of the tunnel?The massacre caused an outburst of protests and activism, led by some of the survivors of the shooting. Students Cameron Kasky, Alex Wind, David Hogg, and X Gonzalez organized and led a protest dubbed March for our lives that same year, supercharging the debate on national gun control.Since the Parkland massacre, politicians have promised action. Republicans have promised more access to mental health care, placing the blame for the shootings on mental deficiencies in the populace and, significantly, off of guns. Democrats, meanwhile, have proposed a variety of gun control laws, but have been unable to pass even popular regulations that have real teeth.After the Uvalde massacre in 2022, which resulted in the death of 19 children and two teachers, some progress toward gun control was made, but it has not slowed down school shootings.So far in 2023, there have been six school shootings in K-12 schools either during class or an after-school event. That number does not include shootings on college campuses, like the Michigan State University shooting that killed three people on Monday. In 2022, including the Uvalde massacre, there were 51 school shootings with injuries or deaths, the worst year since media outlets started tracking that number in 1999 after the Columbine mass shooting.The Uvalde massacre, along with several other mass shootings, did enough to convince Congress they couldnt avoid the issue any longer. On June 25, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first significant federal gun safety regulation to pass since the assault weapons ban of 1994, which was allowed to expire in 2004.The law gave states $750 million to implement a variety of crisis intervention programs, including red-flag programs that allow courts to temporarily seize weapons from someone believed to be a danger to others, but the legislation largely allowed states to spend that money how they wished.The bill also cracked down on who has to register as a Federal Licensed Firearm Dealer, lowering the requirement to anyone who sells guns as a primary source of income. It also required that juvenile records be included for background checks on gun purchasers aged 18-21, limited gun ownership for anyone convicted of domestic violence, and cracked down on straw purchases, which is when someone buys a gun for someone not legally able to purchase one.Additionally, at least 11 states implemented their own gun regulation laws. Most of the laws focused on increased background checks, prohibiting ghost guns, outlawing high-capacity magazines, or limiting where guns can be carried.Two Republican-led states responded to the crises without gun legislation. Florida, in response to Parkland, allowed some teachers to be armed in the classroom and Texas, in response to Uvalde, authorized $110 million for school safety.But a state-by-state piecemeal solution has proven ineffective. There are no physical borders between states. A gun purchased in Texas can easily be carried into California. While studies have shown some correlation between lax-gun laws and increased gun violence within the United States, it is clear by how much violence still happens even in the strictest states that a state-by-state solution is insufficient.Second, many of the school safety measures are questionable in their effectiveness. For example, of the $110 million the Texas legislature set aside for school safety, more than half of it went to ballistic shields for campus police officers. But those shields are unlikely to help in an active shooter situation because officers are trained to engage the shooter immediately, not head to their office for their shield.Additionally, planning and security measures are oftentimes already known by the shooter who, in the vast majority of school shootings, is either a current or former student. No amount of preparation will help if the shooter knows the plan as well as anyone else.While solutions like bullet-proof furniture sound good in theory, they could just as easily be used by the shooter to protect themselves from police.The experience of going through a lockdown, as 4.1 million students did in the 2017-2018 school year due to either campus violence or the threat of violence, can also cause stress and anxiety. If mental health truly is at the heart of school shootings, making institutions of learning feel more like a prison is not likely to help the situation.What may help the situation, is something Congress hasnt truly attempted since 1994: comprehensive gun control on the federal level.We need to put our politics aside, and get something done, Hogg told CBS in a recent interview, because ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, we all have people that we care about, and none of us want gun violence to continue.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/what-do-we-know-about-the-deadly-michigan-state-university-shooting-1107439295.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220626/biden-signs-first-gun-control-legislation-in-decades-1096663637.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220629/two-thirds-of-americans-support-tighter-gun-control-laws-poll-shows-1096806985.html

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Ian DeMartino

parkland shooting, anniversary, uvalde shooting, marjory stoneman douglas, florida, texas, david hogg
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/guyana-auctioning-part-of-its-oil-fields-for-future-development-1107452130.html

Guyana Auctioning Part of Its Oil Fields for Future Development

Guyana Auctioning Part of Its Oil Fields for Future Development

Guyana has auctioned off 14 of its offshore oil fields to finance the country's future development

2023-02-15T06:33+0000

2023-02-15T06:33+0000

2023-02-15T06:33+0000

americas

guyana

oil fields

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"We want multiple investors coming in here they can start simultaneously," Jagdeo said during the International Guyana Energy Conference and Expo 2023, as quoted by Guyanese newspaper News Room. Future investors will be allowed to develop only three oil fields simultaneously, the official was cited as saying. The bidding round for 14 oil fields was launched last December and is expected to be completed by April 2023, with the Guyanese government hoping to sign contracts by the end of May, the report added. According to Jagdeo, Brazil, Qatar, India, and Kuwait are interested in developing the Guyanese oil fields, and the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates have also expressed interest in investing in the Guyanese oil sector. The country's authorities want to conclude more favorable agreements with new investors compared to the agreement concluded with the ExxonMobil-led consortium for the Stabroek oil block, the newspaper reported. The new agreement will include a 10% royalty rate, compared to the 2% provided by ExxonMobil. The government will also introduce a 10% corporate tax, lower the cost recovery cap from 75% to 65% and retain a 50/50 post-recovery profit sharing between the government and the contractor, the report added. Guyana started exporting oil in 2020 and since then has been supplying raw materials mainly to the nearby Caribbean countries and the United States, as well as to China. In March 2021, Guyana shipped its first oil tanker to India, which was trying to reduce its dependence on raw materials from the Middle East.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210205/guyana-cancels-us-backed-taiwanese-mission-in-favour-of-one-china-policy-1081988431.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/hungary-other-eu-countries-have-different-views-on-achieving-peace-in-ukraine-szijjarto-1107445650.html

Hungary, Other EU Countries Have Different Views on Achieving Peace in Ukraine: Szijjarto

Hungary, Other EU Countries Have Different Views on Achieving Peace in Ukraine: Szijjarto

The positions of Hungary and other EU countries regarding a peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine differ, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

2023-02-15T04:49+0000

2023-02-15T04:49+0000

2023-02-15T04:49+0000

world

ukraine

hungary

european union (eu)

peace

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We absolutely agree on one thing: both Hungary and France would like peace... But it is also clear that our approaches differ in how, what tactics and what steps can be taken to achieve peace, Szijjarto said after talks with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna. The speech was broadcast on Facebook (an extremist social network banned in Russia). Hungary, he said, as a neighboring country, would like an immediate ceasefire and the start of peace talks. Since the beginning of the conflict, Hungary has consistently opposed sanctions on Russian energy resources and spoken against sending weapons to Ukraine.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/hungary-ready-to-participate-in-french-military-missions-in-africa-foreign-minister-says-1107455707.html

Hungary Ready to Participate in French Military Missions in Africa, Foreign Minister Says

Hungary Ready to Participate in French Military Missions in Africa, Foreign Minister Says

Hungary is ready to take part in French military missions in Africa, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto.

2023-02-15T11:09+0000

2023-02-15T11:09+0000

2023-04-12T17:05+0000

africa

europe

hungary

mali

burkina faso

niger

sahel region

conflict

european union (eu)

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Hungary is ready to take part in French military missions in Africa, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto said.Szijjarto also said that France and Hungary are closely cooperating in the space industry and developing their economic relations, with French companies "generally thriving" in Hungary and "contributing to Hungarian economic growth."The EU ended the mission of its Takuba Task Force (aimed at supporting Malian forces in their fight against terrorists) in June 2022 during the withdrawal of troops that were part of French Operation Barkhane.The latter, an anti-terrorist operation in the Sahel region, was launched in 2014 and terminated in November 2022 against the backdrop of worsening relations between France and Colonel Assimi Goita's transitional government in Mali, which came to power in May 2021 and which the following year accused the European state of supplying information, arms, and ammunition to terrorists. The French Foreign Ministry called the allegations made by the Malian side "manipulation of information."The terrorist threat still persists in Sahel following the end of Operation Barkhane. On the day of the formal termination of the mission, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that his country's army was incapable of participating in "large-scale operations," and was thus not very effective.In the summer of 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris would change the model of its military presence in the Sahel: Operation Barkhane would be replaced by an international coalition that would include the countries of the region and other partners.The policies of the military government in another conflict-troubled Sahelian country, Burkina Faso, are also characterized by a colder attitude towards France. The government came to power in September 2022 and has since suspended the broadcast of French state-owned RFI Radio and declared the French ambassador a persona non grata.Mali, Burkina Faso, as well as Niger have seen a series of anti-French demonstrations, with protesters waving Russian flags, among other things, and demanding the departure of the "colonial" French military. In response to this, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, commented on the rallies, doubting the sincerity of the protesters and claiming that they "did not know where the Donbass is and who President Vladimir Putin is."In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that Africans know where Russia is and what role the country played in the process of liberation from colonialism.Speaking at a press conference in Eswatini during one of his recent African tours, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the EU's policies are characterized by a neocolonialist attitude and cited one of his talks with top EU diplomats, who described Africa as an "area of special interest of Europe."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/cameroonian-bishop-france-has-affairs-of-former-african-colonies-in-iron-grip-1107366444.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230203/burkina-fasos-pm-suggests-forming-federation-with-mali-1106944458.html

africa

hungary

mali

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Petr Baryshnikov

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Petr Baryshnikov

hungary france, hungary africa, france africa, france mali, france burkina, hungary mali, russia africa, russia mali
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/japan-considering-easing-terms-for-shooting-down-flying-objects-over-country-reports-say-1107454270.html

Japan Considering Easing Terms for Shooting Down Flying Objects Over Country, Reports Say

Japan Considering Easing Terms for Shooting Down Flying Objects Over Country, Reports Say

The Japanese government is considering easing the requirements for the use of weapons against flying objects violating its airspace amid reports of alleged Chinese surveillance balloons being sighted over Japan several years ago

2023-02-15T08:17+0000

2023-02-15T08:17+0000

2023-04-06T12:15+0000

world

chinese balloon over us

us

china

japan

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According to the Japanese news agency, at present, the Japanese armed forces can only use weapons to avoid clear and present danger. On Tuesday, the Japanese Defense Ministry reportedly said that three unidentified flying objects spotted in Japanese airspace from 2019-2021 were Chinese "spy balloons." The announcement comes amid recent US statements that the Pentagon spotted and then shot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon over Montana. China has refuted the allegation saying its balloon was a civilian airship engaged in scientific research that veered off course. The Pentagon said that a total of four unidentified airborne objects had been downed over Canada and the US states of Alaska and Michigan since the start of February. The US Department of Defense said that the nature of the airborne objects was yet to be determined.

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weapons against flying objects, chinese surveillance balloons
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/lavrov-russia-preparing-special-unsc-meeting-on-nord-stream-pipelines-attack-1107458328.html

Lavrov: Russia Preparing Special UNSC Meeting on Nord Stream Pipelines Attack

Lavrov: Russia Preparing Special UNSC Meeting on Nord Stream Pipelines Attack

Russia is preparing a special meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the need for an international investigation into the explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines

2023-02-15T10:41+0000

2023-02-15T10:41+0000

2023-02-15T10:41+0000

nord stream sabotage

russia

un security council (unsc)

nord stream

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"We appealed to the UN, raised this issue. We are preparing a special meeting of the Security Council. We will demand to determine some kind of investigation," Lavrov said during his speech at the State Duma. The minister added that Russia disagrees with UN that says it has no right to investigate the explosions at Nord Stream pipelines. On September 26, 2022, three of the four strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged after an underwater blast. The pipeline's operator Nord Stream AG reported that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the timeframe for repairs.Germany, Denmark, and Sweden launched separate investigations into the suspected sabotage, with German media reporting trust issues among the three EU nations. The Russian chief prosecutor's office said it had opened an inquiry into possible international terrorism.

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Over 7,500 International Personnel Working in Earthquake-Hit Areas in Turkiye: Cavusoglu

Turkiye Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that 100 countries have offered their assistance in tackling the aftermath of deadly earthquakes in the southeast of the country, with over 7,500 personnel working in the region.

"We see great support and solidarity from the international community. Some 100 countries have offered assistance, and there are currently 76 teams and 7,606 personnel on the ground. Two more countries will send teams, 712 people will arrive," Cavusoglu told a briefing with his counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konakovic in Ankara.



Cavusoglu noted that some rescue teams have already completed their missions and returned back to their countries.



"Some want to continue working elsewhere, some are returning home. Twelve search and rescue teams have completed their missions and returned [to their countries]," Cavusoglu added.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/moscow-slams-nordics-for-sweeping-nord-stream-blast-under-carpet-as-hersh-warns-of-dire-costs-for-1107474026.html

Moscow Slams Nordics for Sweeping Nord Stream Blast Under Carpet as Hersh Warns of Dire Costs for US

Moscow Slams Nordics for Sweeping Nord Stream Blast Under Carpet as Hersh Warns of Dire Costs for US

Last week, bombshell reporting by veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the Biden administration was directly responsible for Septembers attacks against the Nord Stream network.

2023-02-15T18:56+0000

2023-02-15T18:56+0000

2023-02-15T19:26+0000

world

sergey lavrov

russia

us

nord stream

sweden

denmark

/html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content

https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/0a/06/1089711168_0:0:1200:675_1920x0_80_0_0_b9e9b4c17b7bcd7adeaf5627ff155096.jpg

Denmark and Sweden have failed to respond to Russian overtures to discuss the Nord Stream blasts for nearly six months now, with their behavior constituting nothing short of a boorish attempt to hide Washington's responsibility for the sabotage attack, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.If since September the head of the Russian government is waiting for a reply from the absolutely independent sovereign states in question, if our ambassadors remind the prime ministers of these countries about once a month that they've been contacted, at least tell him 'yes mister prime minister, we have received your appeal but we're busy at the moment'. But we haven't got even that. I think this is boorishness. But this boorishness masks the total failure of attempts to obscure the responsibility of the collective West, led by the United States, for this sabotage, for organizing this terrorist act, the Russian top diplomat added.Lavrov characterized the sabotage of Nord Stream a final solution to the German gas issue by its overseas partners. Just as they are now trying to resolve the 'Russian question,' so did they want to resolve the 'German question,' so that Berlin would never try to play any kind of independent role in the foreseeable historical perspective," Lavrov said, recalling how competitively-priced and dependable Russian energy had enabled Germany to become Europe's leading economy.Lavrov suggested that the modern history of Europe has shown that whenever Russia and Germany enjoy good relations and are able to cooperate economically, in logistics and even militarily, Europe enjoys calmer, more peaceful times, to the irritation of forces across the ocean or across the English Channel, who seek to command Europe's destiny.1984-Style Blackout on Hersh RevelationsCommenting on Hershs bombshell reporting on the Nord Stream blasts, and the media blackout in coverage of the story except to attack or smear the veteran investigative reporter, Lavrov compared Western governments behavior to a trend straight out of a George Orwell novel in which the state keeps media firmly under control.Look at the reaction in the West to Hershs precise, fact-based revelations in connection with the explosions of Nord Stream 1 and 2, Lavrov said. The Russian diplomat pointed out that if Moscow was to be blamed, for instance, for the disruption of an oil pipeline between Canada and the US, the media would be forced to write about it non-stop. But with Hershs story  grounded in facts, the reaction has been zilch.Lavrov urged the foreign press to conduct fact-based investigations into the costs being borne by European economies after the rejection of Russian energy, and to dig more closely into the details of the revelations uncovered by Hersh.ConsequencesAs the potential implications of his reporting for international politics continue to reverberate, Hersh said Wednesday that he expects the enormous political consequences of the US attack on Nord Stream to last for many years, looking even at the potential of countries walking out of NATO.The investigative journalist, who has an unimpeachable reputation for accuracy and over 60 years of journalistic experience under his belt, has also blasted his detractors for their cowardice, pointing out that despite his long careers with both the New York Times and the Washington Post, neither paper has run a word this point about the pipeline story, not even to quote the White Houses denial of my reporting.The Russian mission to the United Nations plans to organize a Security Council meeting on the attack on Nord Stream on February 22, citing new information about the attack unveiled in Hershs reporting.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221128/german-statesman-slams-eu-leaders-spinelessness-demands-natos-dismemberment-closure-of-us-bases-1104796406.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/seymour-hersh-only-6-out-of-8-bombs-planted-under-nord-stream-pipelines-were-detonated-1107443240.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/russia-requested-unsc-meeting-on-feb-22-on-nord-stream-pipeline-blast-1107471111.html

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sergei lavrov, sergey lavrov, nord stream, sweden, denmark, united states, sabotage attack, terrorist attack, sabotage
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/nearly-one-third-of-americans-oppose-providing-military-assistance-to-kiev-poll-1107459707.html

Nearly One-Third of Americans Oppose Providing Military Assistance to Kiev: Poll

Nearly One-Third of Americans Oppose Providing Military Assistance to Kiev: Poll

Support for military assistance to Ukraine is waning among Americans, with 29% opposing weapons supply to Kiev

2023-02-15T11:22+0000

2023-02-15T11:22+0000

2023-02-15T11:22+0000

americas

ukraine

us

us arms for ukraine

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According to the poll, 48% of respondents are still in favor of providing military assistance, however, this figure has decreased compared to last May's rate of 60%. At the same time, 22% did not indicate their clear position on this issue, the poll added. In addition, Americans are divided on the issue of direct provision of state funds to Ukraine, as 38% are against such assistance, 37% are in favor, and 23% do not have a definite position. The poll also showed that 19% of respondents were confident in the ability of US President Joe Biden to cope with the situation in Ukraine, while 43% had almost no such confidence. Another 37% say they have only some confidence, the poll noted. The 63% majority of Americans are still in favor of economic sanctions against Russia, but this figure has also decreased from 71% in May, the poll showed. The poll was conducted from January 26-30 and surveyed 1,068 people.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-awards-522-mln-worth-contracts-for-artillery-shells-to-ukraine-amid-fast-depleting-stockpiles-1107453766.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/nikki-haleys-2024-bid-could-mike-pompeo-in-a-skirt-win-hearts-and-minds-of-gop-voters-1107465946.html

Nikki Haley's 2024 Bid: Could 'Mike Pompeo in a Skirt' Win Hearts and Minds of GOP Voters?

Nikki Haley's 2024 Bid: Could 'Mike Pompeo in a Skirt' Win Hearts and Minds of GOP Voters?

Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley announced her 2024 presidential bid on February 14. She is seen as a major competitor to challenge former... 15.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-15T15:03+0000

2023-02-15T15:03+0000

2023-02-15T15:14+0000

analysis

us

opinion

donald trump

nikki haley

neoconservatism

neoconservative

john bolton

mike pompeo

russia

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https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/0f/1107468548_0:0:2656:1495_1920x0_80_0_0_d16d916bff2d201793757564a95d3291.jpg

"I think [Nikki Haley has] got a shot," Dan Eberhart, a major GOP donor and CEO of Canary, one of the largest privately-owned oilfield services companies in the United States, told Sputnik. "She's a credible person and she's accomplished a lot. Haley's never lost a race. I think merging being UN ambassador and being governor of a Southern state, while being a female and an Indian-American is a very poignant resume. She's certainly a credible entrant into the race, but in terms of who's ultimately victorious, I doubt that her star has the proper mass to get her there."On Tuesday, Haley released a video in which she announced her decision to toss her hat into the ring in 2024.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 in the video.Notably, back in 2021, Haley made it clear to the US mainstream press that she would not run if Donald Trump opted to seek another term in the White House. Still, American reporters noted that the former president, who announced his bid in 2022, appears to have given her his blessing. Trump said that Haley had informed him about her decision to launch a campaign and he had responded: "You should do it."Neoconservative StanceSo, which wing of the Republican Party precisely does Nikki Haley belong to? Sputnik's interlocutors believe that her political standing could be described as "neoconservative."Nixon went on to suggest that Haley is "very close to Lindsey Graham, who is an extremely hawkish and an aggressive neoconservative." He specified, however, that he would say that neoconservatives are neither "neo" nor "conservative.""That's just a term that was applied to them. They are essentially internationalists, globalists. They are interventionists and they believe in militarism or military interventionism," the attorney clarified.When it comes to foreign policy, Haley is "extremely pro-Israel," and, thus, anti-Iran, according to Nixon. She also belongs to the Republican wing that promotes a very muscular foreign policy in the Middle East and wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out. Their bellicose stance is not surprising, given that a lot of hawkish Republicans have stakes in the defense industry, according to the political analyst.Interestingly, despite holding diplomatic positions, Haley cannot be called very diplomatic, according to the attorney. On the contrary, she preferred lecturing and making demands. She had no scruples about calling out countries "that failed to endorse the US." However, he does not think that it will affect how Haley is perceived domestically in the run for president.Haley: 'Non-Abrasive Fighter'In the eyes of Republican voters, Haley and Trump agree on most domestic policy terms, according to Sputnik's interlocutors. Haley even subjected the US establishment to criticism in her Tuesday announcement akin to the former president.Hagle has also drawn attention to the fact that Haley raised the issue of "a generational change" in her video. According to him, that was a polite way of saying that some candidates, meaning Trump and US President Joe Biden, are too old at this point."Trump is certainly very vigorous, but styles, preferences, and approaches change and what worked before may not work again," the political scientist remarked. "If Haley can make that point without angering Trump supporters she might make some headway."At the same time, Hagle believes that Haley's presidential ambition is a longshot, given that many Republicans still support Trump or consider Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a better alternative.However, it is far more likely that if Haley raises her national profile, she might be someone to consider as a vice presidential candidate or member of the Cabinet, should a Republican win in 2024, he underscored. When it comes to GOP donors, they could truly hail her, given that she is not as aggressive and "abrasive" as Donald Trump, according to Hagle.Nonetheless, Haley still needs "to articulate her specific views (as opposed to those of Trump given that she was part of his administration)." And if she is inclined to pursue an interventionist agenda, she needs to explain to US voters "why that's important and why it won't necessarily lead to another extended war," the political scientist remarked.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/ex-south-carolina-governor-former-trump-toady-neocon-darling-who-is-2024-candidate-nikki-haley-1107434921.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220720/outrageous--extremist-kamala-harris-slammed-by-nikki-haley-over-statement-on-abortion-ruling-1097623724.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/20230215/ohio-residents-bear-witness-to-environmental-disaster-cover-up-1107469360.html

Ohio Residents Bear Witness to Environmental Disaster Cover-Up

Ohio Residents Bear Witness to Environmental Disaster Cover-Up

Residents of the Ohio town of East Palestine say authorities have kept them in the dark about the risks of a chemical spill on a nearby railway line, while they suffer unexplained health problems and witness wildlife dying out.

2023-02-15T18:02+0000

2023-02-15T18:02+0000

2023-02-15T18:53+0000

us

americas

us environmental protection agency (epa)

ohio

environmental disaster

environmental disaster

chemical leak

train derailment

mike dewine

pete buttigieg

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https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/0f/1107471565_0:0:2500:1407_1920x0_80_0_0_3979b8bc937a5090093530501ded0b37.jpg

Two residents of the US state of Ohio have born witness to the government cover-up of an unfolding environmental disaster.A train hauling tanks of the flammable, cancer-causing chemical Vinyl Chloride derailed near the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, on Friday February 3, causing an explosion that created a huge black mushroom cloud over the area.Firefighters later conducted a controlled burn of the remaining chemicals, releasing tons of acidic hydrogen chloride and phosgene  an extremely toxic, heavier-than-air gas used as a chemical weapon in the First World War  into the environment.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials evacuated some residents from the area on the Pennsylvania border, between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. The agency later told them to return home, claiming there was no long-lasting or dangerous contamination.But locals say the spill has left hundreds of wild animals dead around the town.Authorities have been reticent to answer questions about the accident. Journalist Evan Lambert was even wrestled to the ground and handcuffed at a press conference with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine."The governmental regulators are saying everything's fine, guys just go home," Misty Winston, a political activist, told Sputnik. "And that's absurd." "The chemicals that were in these railcars are no joke," she stressed, pointing out that vinyl chloride, used to make PVC, boils at eight degrees Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) and that hydrogen chloride combines with water  including vapour in the atmosphere  to form hydrochloric acid.The resident said she had heard of people up to 40 miles away from the crash who complained of headaches, burning eyes and the smell of chemicals including chlorine in the air. "It rained there a few days ago, and cars drove through and you could see the damage to the vehicles from the stuff that's in the air," Winston said.US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been quiet on the disaster, focussing instead on the hysteria about Chinese weather balloons drifting over US airspace.Northeast Ohio resident and community activist Jack Slater told Sputnik that locals were feeling a mixture of "confusion and frustration and desperation" as they face "a whole lot of unanswered questions about what the impact of any of these chemicals are going to be on this community."Th activist said the EPA was being more open than other branches of government, but was still "politically hamstrung about how to respond to something like this.""The EPA cut back the evacuation order," Slater said. People were only gone for a few days and then they told everybody to go home." Those who wanted their homes screened for contamination were told to pay for it themselves, he added. "So people have all been completely left in the lurch here as government agencies that are supposed to be responsible for this have completely failed their duties."While Slater believed DeWine was not directly responsible for the arrest of Lambert, he accused the governor of trying to "wash his hands" of the incident.He recalled that the journalist was standing near the back at the press conference, and was accused of being too loud.Lambert "stood up for himself, said 'I'm a journalist and covering this'," he continued. While the police were initially unsure of how to respond, "they decided to side with the National Guard, no surprise, and started taking Lambert to the ground and arrested him."On Wednesday, however, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office said it dismissed charges against NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert."Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced that the criminal charges filed against NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert have been dismissed," the attorney general's office said in a press release.Yost said his office reviewed evidence and found that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges the Columbiana County Prosecuting Attorney filed against Lambert.Yost added that Lambert was lawfully present at the press conference where he was arrested and his conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/some-3500-fish-dead-after-train-derailment-in-ohio-says-official-1107441463.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/chinese-social-media-users-accuse-us-of-withholding-info-on-ohio-train-derailment-1107406549.html

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James Tweedie https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/08/1c/1080307270_0:3:397:400_100x100_80_0_0_7777393b9b18802f2e3c5eaa9cbcc612.png

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Interview with Misty Winston Interview with Misty Winston 2023-02-15T18:02+0000 true PT24M00S

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us, ohio, east palestine, chemical spill, train derailment, environmental disaster
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/over-half-of-democrats-dont-want-biden-to-seek-second-term-in-2024---poll-1107441927.html

Over Half of Democrats Don't Want Biden to Seek Second Term in 2024 - Poll

Over Half of Democrats Don't Want Biden to Seek Second Term in 2024 - Poll

More than half of registered Democrats want US President Joe Biden to refrain from running for president in 2024, makes him less popular with Democrats than his predecessor is with Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

2023-02-15T00:24+0000

2023-02-15T00:24+0000

2023-02-15T00:24+0000

americas

democrats

republicans

2024 us presidential elections

polling

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Of Democrats polled, 52% said Biden should not seek a second term, compared to 40% of Republicans who don't want former US President Donald Trump to run again, according to the poll, which tallied responses from nearly 4,500 adults between February 6 and February 13 of this year. Though both Biden and Trump garnered the highest percentages with respective polled party members, neither of the potential candidates grabbed enough support from a majority of voters, with Biden taking 35% of the votes from Democrats and Trump 43% of votes from Republicans, according to the poll. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor and rumored Republican presidential contender, was the voters' second-favorite with 31% while former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley both received single-digit support, the poll showed. For the Democrats things are far less defined, with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg receiving 13%, 12%, and 10% of the votes, respectively, the poll showed. President Joe Biden has yet to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, but is currently expected to run unopposed in the Democratic primaries.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230210/biden-says-not-ready-yet-to-make-decision-about-running-for-re-election-in-2024-1107324065.html

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democrats, republicans, 2024 election, joe biden, donald trump, polling
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/rare-footage-from-1986-exploration-of-titanic-wreck-released-on-blockbuster-films-25th-anniversary-1107478500.html

Rare Footage From 1986 Exploration of Titanic Wreck Released on Blockbuster Film's 25th Anniversary

Rare Footage From 1986 Exploration of Titanic Wreck Released on Blockbuster Film's 25th Anniversary

Never-before-seen footage from the 1986 expedition to the wreck of the RMS Titanic on the Atlantic seafloor was released on Wednesday, timed to coincide with the re-release of the Hollywood film about the disaster on the 25th anniversary of it entering theaters.

2023-02-15T22:01+0000

2023-02-15T22:01+0000

2023-02-15T22:01+0000

viral

titanic

footage

film

james cameron

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The new footage, filmed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in Massachusetts in conjunction with the French oceanographic research group IFREMER, was captured during a 1986 expedition. It totals more than 80 minutes and is in both black-and-white and full color. A short preview was given to US media ahead of the full release on Wednesday night.Much of it has never been seen by the public before.The wreck was found in 1985, more than 73 years after the Titanic sunk on a cold night in April 1912, about 400 miles east of Newfoundland. The massive passenger liner, which had been boasted to have a high-tech compartmentalized design that rendered her unsinkable, struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. The gash in the ships hull was more than the design could handle, and the ship rapidly filled with water, snapping in two before sinking to the bottom of the ocean.Roughly 1,600 people died in the disaster and more than 700 survived, although the exact numbers are unknown due to inconsistencies in the passenger manifest and the chaotic way in which the ship was evacuated as it sank. More than 300 bodies were recovered from the sub-freezing seas, so most are assumed to have been trapped inside the ship.The survivors were found by the passenger liner RMS Carpathia at about 4 a.m., which had steamed at recklessly high speed after receiving Titanics distress call. It was roughly 4.5 hours after the Titanic had struck the iceberg and about two hours after the last of the Titanic had disappeared beneath the waves.Titanic was found in two pieces, having snapped in half likely due to hull stress as it sank unevenly, in more than 12,000 feet of water. The debris field was scattered for miles around the wreck, and was how Woods Hole oceanographer Robert Ballard and French explorer Jean-Louis Michel spotted it. After exploring it with an underwater drone, Ballard descended to view the wreck in-person in a deep-sea submersible called ALVIN.The wreck is steadily deteriorating in the salt water, with about 1 ton of iron turning to rust every day. Eventually, it will collapse on itself and become a pile of oxidized iron on the seafloor.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220901/video-first-ever-footage-of-rms-titanics-bow-in-8k-shows-wrecks-heavy-deterioration-1100249600.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20200920/not-an-iceberg-new-study-reveals-what-else-could-have-been-behind-titanic-disaster-1080518881.html

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Fantine Gardinier

rare footage, titanic wreckage, 25th anniversary, never-before-seen footage
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/russia-doing-its-best-to-protect-ukrainian-children-fleeing-country-embassy-in-us-1107451370.html

Russia Doing Its Best to Protect Ukrainian Children Fleeing Country: Embassy in US

Russia Doing Its Best to Protect Ukrainian Children Fleeing Country: Embassy in US

Russia has been doing "everything possible" for the protection and safety of Ukrainian children, who were forced to flee the country because of "atrocities" of Ukrainian troops,

2023-02-15T06:03+0000

2023-02-15T06:03+0000

2023-02-15T06:03+0000

russia

russia

ukraine

donbass

children

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"Russia accepted children who had been forced to flee with their families from the shelling and atrocities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We do our best to keep minors in families, and in case of absence or death of parents and relatives, to transfer orphans under guardianship. We ensure the protection of their lives and well-being," the embassy said on Telegram. The embassy also said that Washington should give "adequate assessment of the actions of the Kiev regime," which "kills and injures children" in the course of the conflict. The statement added that 153 children were killed in the Donbass region in 2022 and 279 others were injured as a result of shelling conducted by Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, the US State Department accused Russia of "forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children" to the Russian territory.

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ukrainian children, atrocities of ukrainian troops, protection and safety
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/russia-launches-tests-of-first-unmanned-tiltrotor-with-smart-wing-funding-agency-1107460389.html

Russia Launches Tests of First Unmanned Tiltrotor With Smart Wing: Funding Agency

Russia Launches Tests of First Unmanned Tiltrotor With Smart Wing: Funding Agency

Russia launched bench tests of the first unmanned tiltrotor for cargo transportation with smart wing and vertical takeoff and landing

2023-02-15T11:28+0000

2023-02-15T11:28+0000

2023-02-15T11:28+0000

military

tiltrotor

russia

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"Bench tests of the Vezdelet project, an experimental vehicle capable of carrying up to 50 kilograms [110 pounds] of cargo, have started. Tests are taking place at the site of the technopark of TsAGI [the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute]. During the test program, we will work out the automatic control system and the ability to take off and land autonomously," CEO of tiltrotor manufacturer M-Industries Mikhail Lipatov said, as quoted in the NTI statement. He also said that the company planned to create an experimental unit by the summer, and flying tests would be launched in the fall. The NTI noted that the unmanned tiltrotor with vertical takeoff and landing had an increased level of safety due to the variable geometry of the wing and was equipped with an autopilot. It will fly at over 100 kilometers per hour speed (60 miles per hour) and carry up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of cargo. The device will be able to spend at least 1.5 hours in the air with full load. The maximum flight altitude is 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). According to the designers plan, the tiltrotor will be equipped with eight electric propulsion units, the average service life of which is higher than that of internal combustion engines, and two wings. During takeoff, landing and hovering, the drones engines will be located vertically, and it will gain altitude due to the thrust force of the propellers. After switching to airplane mode, they will turn horizontally, and the tiltrotor will hold in the air thanks to the lifting force that occurs on the wing and walls of the impellers. The wings will fold during takeoff and landing, and extend at a safe altitude.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/seymour-hersh-only-6-out-of-8-bombs-planted-under-nord-stream-pipelines-were-detonated-1107443240.html

Seymour Hersh: Only 6 Out of 8 Bombs Planted Under Nord Stream Pipelines Were Detonated

Seymour Hersh: Only 6 Out of 8 Bombs Planted Under Nord Stream Pipelines Were Detonated

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said on Tuesday that only six out of eight bombs planted under the Nord Stream pipelines went off as US President Joe Biden postponed the special operation and the bombs were under water for too long.

2023-02-15T03:03+0000

2023-02-15T03:03+0000

2023-02-15T03:04+0000

nord stream sabotage

seymour hersh

nord stream

bombs

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Last week, Hersh published a report saying that US Navy divers during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022 planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. According to the report, Biden decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team. He added that the two bombs did not explode as they spent too much time underwater because Biden postponed the special operation on the destruction of the pipelines. The journalist said that Biden did not have an elaborate plan for the blowing up of pipelines during the meriting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022. "We Americans did not have a plan worked out at the time, but we knew we had an opportunity to implement it," Hersh said, referring to January-February 2022. He said it was clear to the White House team they could blow up the pipelines using an "incredibly powerful" explosive called C4, adding that the detonation could be controlled remotely by underwater hydroacoustic instruments. In early January, according to Hersh, the option was reported to the White House, and two or three weeks later, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland herself said that Washington "could do it." The operation was top secret, and the president should not have told anyone about US capabilities, but "he likes to talk and sometimes says things he should not say," Hersh told the media, adding that Scholz at the time found nothing to object to and expressed himself very "vaguely." Moreover, the journalist added that Biden decided to go on with the operation out of fear that Germany could lift sanctions, imposed against Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine. The US government has repeatedly denied involvement in the blowing up of the Russian pipelines, while the Russian government has said the United States should explain itself and an open investigation into the blast needs to be undertaken. On September 26, 2022, three of the four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged after an underwater blast.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/scott-ritter-on-hersh-nord-stream-bombshell-us-sabotaged-russia-ukraine-peace-deal-to-stop-pipeline-1107436609.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/starmer-confirms-corbyn-banned-from-standing-as-labour-candidate-1107463016.html

Starmer Confirms Corbyn Banned From Standing as Labour Candidate

Starmer Confirms Corbyn Banned From Standing as Labour Candidate

Sir Keir Starmer personally ordered Jeremy Corbyn's suspension from the party he led for five years in October 2020 over his response to a report into anti-Semitism. Later attempts to have him reinstated failed.

2023-02-15T14:57+0000

2023-02-15T14:57+0000

2023-02-15T14:57+0000

world

uk

keir starmer

jeremy corbyn

british labour party

uk labour party

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British opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that his left-wing predecessor Jeremy Corbyn is banned from standing as a Labour Party candidate.The Labour leader was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday to mark the end of the party's two-year period of monitoring by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over allegations that it failed to deal with anti-Semitism in its ranks.Reporters asked whether Corbyn would be allowed to defend the Islington North seat he has held since 1983 as a Labour candidate."What I said about the party changing, I meant that. We are not going back," he added. "And that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election."Starmer said the end of the EHRC oversight period was an "important moment in the history of the Labour Party" which had taken "many, many months of hard work and humility."A motion at the annual Labour conference in Liverpool last September to allow the Islington North party branch to re-select him was defeated by 59 per cent of the vote to 41. An earlier attempt by left-wing members of the party's National Executive Committee to have him reinstated was also defeated.The party has launched a purge of other left-wingers since Corbyn's suspension.Starmer ordered Corbyn suspended from Labour and to have the whip withdrawn over his statement in response to the EHRC report in October 2020."The scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents," Corbyn said at the time, while also condemning anti-Semitism and racism. He later apologised for the comments.A separate report into the row by barrister Martin Forde KC accused right and left factions in Labour of "weaponizing" anti-Semitism accusations against each other.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220926/corbyns-career-effectively-over-as-labour-conference-votes-against-lifting-ban-1101235578.html

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keir starmer, jeremy corbyn, labour party, anti-semitism, uk
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/sweden-17-nato-states-agree-on-joint-use-of-satellite-networks-uk-defense-ministry-1107468970.html

Sweden, 17 NATO States Agree on Joint Use of Satellite Networks: UK Defense Ministry

Sweden, 17 NATO States Agree on Joint Use of Satellite Networks: UK Defense Ministry

Sweden and 17 NATO countries have signed a declaration of intention on the joint use of satellite networks to improve surveillance from space at NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, the UK Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

2023-02-15T15:21+0000

2023-02-15T15:21+0000

2023-02-15T15:21+0000

military

uk

nato

intelligence

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"Following this morning's NATO meeting, 18 European nations, including the UK, agreed to sign a joint letter of intent to explore and develop a framework for improved surveillance from space, through multinational cooperation and sharing of national space-based capabilities," the ministry said in a statement. Besides the United Kingdom, the document was also signed by Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and Sweden. The countries plan to explore the potential of sharing data from national surveillance satellites, processing, exploration and dissemination of data from within national capabilities, as well as means to purchase data from commercial companies.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20200801/star-wars-2-uk-media-claims-russia-has-reignited-space-arms-race-but-ignores-us-spending-spree-1080033634.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/uk-lifts-sanctions-on-humanitarian-aid-to-earthquake-hit-syria-for-6-months-1107477379.html

UK Lifts Sanctions on Humanitarian Aid to Earthquake-Hit Syria for 6 Months

UK Lifts Sanctions on Humanitarian Aid to Earthquake-Hit Syria for 6 Months

London issued two general licenses allowing international organizations to carry out humanitarian activities during six months in earthquake-hit Syria, whose authorities are under the UK sanctions, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.

2023-02-15T21:13+0000

2023-02-15T21:13+0000

2023-02-15T21:17+0000

world

earthquake rocks turkiye and syria

uk

sanctions

humanitarian aid

syria

turkiye

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The first general license was issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to help deal with the aftermath of earthquakes, authorizing activities "which would otherwise have been prohibited by the asset freeze for specified groups or organisations, and their service providers." The second license was issued by the Export Control Joint Unit, extending the "protection offered by the current humanitarian exception to petroleum prohibitions for UK-funded persons to all those conducting earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey."Both licenses are valid from February 15 to August 15.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said earlier in the month that sanctions should not interfere with humanitarian assistance to the Syrians. On February 9, the US Treasury also issued a general license, which authorized for 180 days all transactions related to earthquake relief that would be otherwise prohibited due to sanctions.Parts of Turkey and Syria were hit by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks on February 6. The Syrian Health Ministry said late Tuesday that the final death toll from the earthquake had reached 1,414 people, while 2,357 others were injured. However, this data does not include information on non-government controlled territories. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated the number of deaths in northwest Syria, which is not controlled by Damascus, at 5,000.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/western-backed-jihadists-prevent-syrians-from-getting-humanitarian-aid-after-earthquake-un-says-1107408373.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/uk-us-accused-of-crimes-against-humanity-over-chagos-indigenous-population-1107463496.html

UK, US Accused of Crimes Against Humanity Over Chagos Indigenous Population

UK, US Accused of Crimes Against Humanity Over Chagos Indigenous Population

The UK and US governments should provide reparations to the Chagossian people and their descendants who were affected by the forced displacement in the 1970s, which is seen as a crime against humanity, HRW has stated.

2023-02-15T14:12+0000

2023-02-15T14:12+0000

2023-02-15T14:12+0000

africa

human rights watch

chagos islands

uk

us

mauritius

colonial past

colonialism

british colonialism

human rights violations

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The UK and US governments should provide full, unconditional, and effective reparations to the Chagossian people and their descendants who were affected by the forced displacement of islanders in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which is seen as a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated in a recent report. The organization has drawn the attention of the international community to the issue by urging the UK and US to admit the crimes carried out against the indigenous population of the Chagos archipelago and hold individuals responsible for the violations through investigations and fair trials. The report is based on interviews with Chagossian people, as well as UK, US, and Mauritian officials. It represents a review and analysis of documents that expose the abuses committed by the UK and US against the Chagossians, including abuses they have faced since their eviction from the islands.Forced Exile The deportations started about 60 years ago, when the British government agreed with the US to set up a US military base on the the largest island of the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia, and thus remove its inhabitants. Back then, the Indian Ocean islands were part of Mauritius, which was a UK colony. London decided to split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, creating a new colony in Africa, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). According to HRW, the UK "falsely declared that Chagos had no permanent population," that allowed it not to report to the UN about its continued colonial rule. The islands were inhabited by descendants of African slaves, who were forcibly brought from the continent and Madagascar to the then-uninhabited Chagos archipelago. They lived there for centuries, forming a distinct community with their own culture and Chagossian Creole language. The report claimed that the UK and US governments, in a bid to make way for a military base, committed a crime against humanity by treating the islanders as people without rights and forcing them to leave their homes. The entire population of all the inhabited Chagos islands, not only Diego Garcia, but also Peros Banhos and Salomon, was displaced with no consultation or compensation. It was noted that people were "abandoned in Mauritius or Seychelles, where they lived in abject poverty."Crimes Against HumanityThe report said the violations and crimes against the Chagossians were not confined to forced exile. It was stated that the people faced "blatant racism" from UK officials during the expulsion and later on, saying that their treatment was discriminatory in nature. According to the organization, the colonial rule in the islands, unlike in most other British colonies, didn't end in the 1960s, and "has continued at extraordinary cost to the people of Chagos." After the expulsion, the Chagossians lived in extreme poverty and experienced serious difficulties finding food, work, and housing. The report, citing interviewed islanders, highlighted that some of the displaced, among whom were children, died due to economic hardships and "emotional devastation" as they were torn from their homeland. It could also be connected with the discrimination they faced in their new communities. In 2002, some Chagossians were granted UK citizenship. However, the organization underlined, their assimilation wasn't easy either, as they were not accepted there, having no work or housing, and experiencing discrimination.Another crime against humanity against the Chagossians, according to the organization, was connected to the fact that people are prohibited from returning to the islands. Struggle to ReturnThe Chagossians have been struggling for years for recognition of the abuses carried out against them and their right to return home. In 2000, a UK court declared the BIOT Immigration Ordinance of 1971, which authorized the displacement of the Chagossians, unlawful. As a result, the then-UK government revoked the laws that prevented the people from returning and living in Chagos, except for the island of Diego Garcia. However, four years later the government reversed its position and reinstated the ban, saying that it is not possible for the Chagossians to return, described by HRW "based on vague assertions of security and cost." In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it was unlawful to detach Chagos from Mauritius and create the BIOT, stating that the rights of the Chagossians to return should be addressed by the UN General Assembly. As of now, the Chagos archipelago is a disputed territory between the UK and Mauritius. From the British point of view, the archipelago forms the British Indian Ocean Territory, while from Mauritius' perspective, the Chagos archipelago is part of the Mauritian Outer Islands. Most UN member states consider the archipelago part of Mauritius.The report claimed that the ruling by the ICJ was ignored by the UK government until November 2022, when the country announced it had started negotiations with Mauritius on the future of the Chagos islands, aimed at securing "an agreement on the basis of international law to resolve all outstanding issues, including those relating to the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago." The organization highlighted that the negotiations must include "meaningful and effective consultations" with the Chagossian people. HRW's RecommendationsThe report called for the UK to recognize the Chagossian people's right to permanently return to Chagos, including Diego Garcia, and, along with the US, ensure that the islands are restored so that people can return to live there "in dignity and prosperity, at a minimum standard equivalent to how they would live today had they not been expelled over 50 years ago."It also urged the governments to provide financial compensation to all Chagossians, to thousands of them who live around the world, mostly in Mauritius, the UK, and the Seychelles, for all the harms caused to them. In particular, the report stated that "King Charles III should issue a full and unreserved apology to the Chagossian people for the crimes and other abuses committed against them by the United Kingdom."Moreover, HRW recommended that the governments of the UK and US, as well as Mauritius, call for accountability for those responsible for crimes carried out against the Chagossian people.The UK government reportedly responded to the requests by saying that the country had already "made clear its deep regret about the manner" in which Chagossians were treated and forcibly displaced from the islands. However, it underscored that the government categorically rejects the characterization of events outlined in the report. At the same time, it reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Chagossians, including through support packages and "a new British citizenship route launched last November."The report recalled that 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of the final forced exile of the Chagossians. It highlighted that the wrongs done against them should come to an end this year. According to the report, the abuses are serious violations of international human rights law and international criminal law. These violations are also continuing, as their descendants are now denied their right to permanently return. The organization noted that people should be compensated for their suffering, which can be done "if a commitment to full reparations to Chagossians is at the heart of any agreement about the future of Chagos."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230102/mauritius--britain-launch-talks-over-disputed-islands-hosting-uk-us-military-base-1105996777.html

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Maria Konokhova

chagos archipelago, uk, usa, mauritius, human rights watch (hrw), report, human rights violations, crimes ahainst humanity
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/unidentified-flying-shapes-1107477974.html

Unidentified Flying Shapes

Unidentified Flying Shapes

Reports of several unidentified flying objects made headlines over the weekend after the Pentagon declined to say what the objects were, only offering vague descriptions of their size and shape.

2023-02-15T21:38+0000

2023-02-15T21:38+0000

2023-02-15T21:38+0000

americas

ufo

unidentified aerial phenomena (uap)

unidentified flying object

ted rall

cartoons

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The Pentagon admitted to shooting down three of the objects but said they were still trying to determine their purpose and origin.The development led to theories ranging from the Chinese government to extraterrestrial aliens being behind the phenomenon. Some believed the whole thing to be a hoax orchestrated by the government to distract from other issues, like the train derailment and subsequent chemical explosion in East Palestine, Ohio, or the Nord Stream sabotage revelations aired by US journalist Seymour Hersh.On February 10, the first object was taken down off the Alaskan coast. Authorities described it as the size of a small car. The following day, an American fighter jet downed a cylindrical object over Canada, with the only other details being given that it was smaller than the suspected Chinese spy balloon downed the week before. On Sunday, an octagonal structure with strings hanging from it was shot down over Lake Huron, no further details have been released.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/and-then-there-were-four-what-we-know-about-the-high-altitude-objects-shot-down-by-usaf-1107384826.html

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ted rall, ufos, uaps, objects over alaska, lake huron,
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-awards-522-mln-worth-contracts-for-artillery-shells-to-ukraine-amid-fast-depleting-stockpiles-1107453766.html

US Awards $522 Mln-Worth Contracts for Artillery Shells to Ukraine Amid Fast-Depleting Stockpiles

US Awards $522 Mln-Worth Contracts for Artillery Shells to Ukraine Amid Fast-Depleting Stockpiles

The US has awarded $522 million contracts for producing artillery ammunition for Ukraine.

2023-02-15T09:17+0000

2023-02-15T09:17+0000

2023-02-15T09:17+0000

us

ukraine

jens stoltenberg

nato

northrop grumman

us defense department

americas

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https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/02/1106910204_0:159:3079:1890_1920x0_80_0_0_038ddebd3c96ffe5d08f35541a8a1225.jpg

The US Army has awarded $522 million in orders to two companies to manufacture 155 mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine, where the Kiev regime's forces are depleting stockpiles of artillery shells gleaned from the West at lightning pace.The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technologys Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition awarded the contracts to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. and Global Military Products Inc. on January 30, the Army said in a press release Tuesday. Funded by the Pentagon's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, deliveries of new ammunition in line with the contracts are scheduled to begin in March, the Army said. The money is being awarded against a competitive multiple-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for non-standard ammunition, the statement added.Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, added on the same day that the multiyear contracts were an inherent part of the overall strategy tailored to boost production of munitions such as Stingers, Javelins and 155 mm GPS-guided Excalibur rounds.The acquisition chief had hinted last month that the Pentagon would be seeking to replenish US. stockpiles, which were being bled dry by billions of dollars worth of weapons funneled into Ukraine over the past year.There are going to be several big awards coming in February and March that will just move us further down that path, Doug Bush had stated at a January Pentagon briefing.The move comes as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged recently that, "the war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions, and depleting allied stockpiles." Such acknowledgements apparently fail to put a dent in Washington's determination to push ahead with arming Ukraine, whatever the costs. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of a meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday afternoon said the alliance needs to be prepared to provide Ukraine with military assistance for a long term.Western countries have been supplying Ukraine with various types of weapon systems, including air defense missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In April 2022, Moscow sent a note to NATO member states condemning their military assistance to Kiev after Russia started its military operation in Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that any arms shipments on Ukrainian territory would be "legitimate targets" for Russian forces. Amid the frenzy to pump Ukraine with weapons and ammunition that was fraught with further escalating the conflict, Washington has been largely benefiting, particularly from European countries weapon supplies to Kiev, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik in January. He added that Washington considers Ukraine as a testing ground for its military-industrial products. This "cynical game", Ryabkov warned, "will end badly" for those involved.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221029/top-pentagon-contractors-to-face-further-parts-shortages-amid-us-aid-to-ukraine-1102818157.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230201/us-prepping-2bln-ukraine-weapons-package-including-longer-range-rockets-report-says-1106871154.html

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Svetlana Ekimenko

Svetlana Ekimenko

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Svetlana Ekimenko

us has awarded $522 million contracts,artillery ammunition for ukraine, orders to two companies, northrop grumman systems corp. and global military products inc., manufacture 155 mm artillery ammunition, depleted stockpiles, pentagon's ukraine security assistance initiative,
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-military-downs-suspected-iranian-made-drone-in-syria---centcom-1107444332.html

US Military Downs Suspected Iranian-Made Drone in Syria - CENTCOM

US Military Downs Suspected Iranian-Made Drone in Syria - CENTCOM

The US military has shot down a suspected Iranian-manufactured drone in Syria that allegedly attempted to conduct reconnaissance of a US military base in the northeast of the country, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday.

2023-02-15T04:01+0000

2023-02-15T04:01+0000

2023-02-15T04:01+0000

military

us central command

drone

syria

iran

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"On February 14th, at approximately 2:30 PM local time [11:30 GMT], US forces in Syria engaged and shot down an Iranian-manufactured UAV attempting to conduct reconnaissance of Mission Support Site Conoco, a patrol base in northeast Syria," CENTCOM said on Twitter. The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011, with President Bashar Assad's forces fighting different insurgent groups, including terrorists. Along with hostilities, the Middle Eastern nation has been suffering acute health, energy, and economic crises. The United States backs Kurdish armed groups in Syria despite protests from Damascus. The US military currently controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, and Deir Ez-Zor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located. The Syrian government does not recognize the so-called autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria and calls the presence of the US military in its territory occupation.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-must-offer-alternative-as-china-russia-seek-to-change-intl-order-senator-1107469780.html

US Must Offer Alternative as China, Russia 'Seek to Change Int'l Order': Senator

US Must Offer Alternative as China, Russia 'Seek to Change Int'l Order': Senator

The United States must offer the world an alternative, as China and Russia allegedly attempt to change the international order, and the world enters a new era of trilateral nuclear competition, US Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jack Reed said Wednesday.

2023-02-15T15:34+0000

2023-02-15T15:34+0000

2023-02-15T15:34+0000

americas

us

jack reed

multipolar world

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"We have to recognize that America faces an existential struggle between democracy and autocracy. Beijing and Moscow seek to change the international order by exploiting vulnerable nations through coercive economic and military pressure," Reed said during a committee hearing. "America must offer an alternative to this kind of foreign policy." Reed also warned that the world had shifted from a bilateral rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War to "entering an era of trilateral nuclear competition" given Chinas "growing nuclear arsenal." He said that strategic competition in the long term was not only a matter of military or economic power, but of "ideas."

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-says-ukraine-at-pivotal-moment-nato-to-focus-on-undersea-infrastructure-media-censorship-1107442230.html

US Says Ukraine at Pivotal Moment; NATO to Focus on Undersea Infrastructure: Media Censorship

US Says Ukraine at Pivotal Moment; NATO to Focus on Undersea Infrastructure: Media Censorship

In an ironic twist, NATO has announced that it will set up a new coordinating body to address threats to undersea infrastructure. 15.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-15T04:06+0000

2023-02-15T04:06+0000

2023-03-29T10:38+0000

the critical hour

radio

nord stream

japan

taiwan

uhuru kenyatta

mexico

cuba

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https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/0f/1107442084_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_f29d459821a487787cad0de1269ddada.png

US Says Ukraine at Pivotal Moment; NATO to Focus on Undersea Infrastructure: Media Censorship In an ironic twist, NATO has announced that it will set up a new coordinating body to address threats to undersea infrastructure.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. An Austrian diplomat describes the Ukraine conflict as Europe being kicked out of paradise. Also, NATO is running out of ammunition for Ukraine.Jon Jeter, journalist, and author, joins us to discuss foreign policy. The president of Mexico has vowed to lead the worldwide push to end the US sanctions against Cuba. Also, members of Congress plan a trip to Taiwan, and the US warns that Ukraine is at a pivotal moment in the war.Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss the Nord Stream attack. In a turn of irony, NATO has announced that it will form a new body to protect undersea infrastructure. Also, Germany's quisling government also pushes Finland and Sweden to enter NATO quickly.KJ Noh, writer, teacher, and activist, joins us to discuss China. A US air force commander argues that a Chinese attack on Taiwan is not imminent. Also, President Xi met with Iranian president Raisi and vowed to advance the strategic relationship between the two nations.James Carey, host of The Left is Dead podcast, joins us to discuss the Middle East. More than 33 thousand people died in the tragic earthquake. Also, Israel continues to kill Palestinians, and 100 thousand Israelis protest against judicial reforms.Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst, joins us to discuss Cuba and FBI corruption. The FBI is attacking the Uhuru movement. Also, Mexico is pushing to derail US sanctions against Cuba.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss the media. Matt Taibbi has helped to reveal that Russia Gate was a disinformation operation perpetrated by the US government. Also, media objectivity is a thing of the past in the US.Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, joins us to discuss Israel. The new Israeli regime is pushing for complete ethnic cleansing of occupied Palestine.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, nord stream, japan, taiwan, uhuru kenyatta, mexico, , cuba
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230215/us-using-sham-woke-makeover-to-sell-its-proxy-wars-analyst-says-1107461022.html

US Using Sham Woke Makeover to Sell Its Proxy Wars, Analyst Says

US Using Sham Woke Makeover to Sell Its Proxy Wars, Analyst Says

The US has been using a sham 'woke makeover to sell its proxy wars, analyst says.

2023-02-15T15:26+0000

2023-02-15T15:26+0000

2023-02-15T15:26+0000

us

ukraine crisis

proxy war

joe biden

anti-war

donald trump

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The Joe Biden administration's "limitless" military aid to Kiev and increasingly hawkish stance towards Russia have prompted a chorus of voices in the US to deplore the destructive ideology exposing the entire world to the risk of nuclear war."However, for anti-war sentiment to gain any traction in the country, it needs a total overhaul, Caleb Maupin, an American journalist, told Sputnik.There is a massive anti-war sentiment across the United States, he insisted, yet the movement itself in the US has been plagued by infighting. Furthermore, it has essentially been hijacked by certain forces that have "stage-managed" the protest movement in Washington, DC for several decades, he added. Since the Iraq War protests of 2003-2004, rallies have shrunk in size and, in recent time, forces dominating the anti-war protest movement in the United States are tied in with the Democratic Party and its Stop Trump agenda, the analyst emphasized.The American journalist added that these puppet masters of the rallies make sure that those in attendance are attached to the woke agenda, and ensure that "no one who is a libertarian, nobody who is the wrong kind of socialist in their view or the wrong kind of leftist in their view, gets access to their gig.A case in point, according to Maupin, is the upcoming Rage Against The War Machine rally, set for Sunday, February 19, in Washington, DC at the Lincoln Memorial. The rally is expected to bring together a very broad political spectrum of those who vociferously denounce Washingtons "war lobby" and argue that not one more penny should be spend on Ukraine. Caleb Maupin's organization, the Center for Political Innovation, is a sponsor of the rally. However, it has found itself targeted by a "despicable" Internet smear campaign, he said, with algorithms rigged to promote the onslaught.However, the monopoly on anti-war rallies, according to Caleb Maupin, is gradually being broken by forces that represent the broader opinion. It makes sense that people who are opposed to these wars might come to things from a more right-wing or a libertarian perspective, the analyst insisted, especially after the mainstream left has broken with any anti-war sentiment.Anti-war Americans are not woke and the woke movement is more pro-war and more pro-imperialist and more pro sending weapons to Kiev than the average Americans are, according to the analyst.'Woke Makeover'The United States has been setting itself up as a bastion of human rights, progressivism, and wokeism in order to justify attacking countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Russia, and China for not being woke and progressive like the West, Maupin noted. In actual fact, the banner of wokeism has been brandished by the US to build a case for multiple wars, the political analyst said. The Soviet Union, and, now, Russia, have long called out Washington on this so-called "moral justification" sham, revealing its true purpose: demonizing other countries, backing anti-government militants there, launching interventions to serve Washington's own interests.In October 2011, decades-long Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed as a result of an intervention, leaving the once-rich North African nation torn apart by warring factions.However, now the US generals fighting the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine are trying to play the chess game differently.Playing Up Anti-China HysteriaWeighing in on the escalating row with China over the shootdown of its balloon by Washington under the claims that it was a spy craft (something Beijing has vehemently denied) Caleb Maupin warned of the dangers such rhetoric was fraught with.There are voices that are critical of US support for Kiev, but are "playing up the anti-China hysteria," Caleb Maupin said, adding that this is disturbing because it is "the same playbook." However, he concluded by saying:"Politics are rapidly changing around the world and in the United States. And the anti-war movement is going to reflect that."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/neo-nazis-are-returning-from-ukraine-to-the-us-1107389245.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230214/biden-ufo-shootdown-policy-designed-to-distract-public-from-real-crises-experts-say-1107439027.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230202/us-nato-proxy-war-in-ukraine-not-sustainable-in-long-run-observers-say-1106925076.html

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Svetlana Ekimenko

Svetlana Ekimenko

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Interview With Political Analyst Caleb Maupin Interview With Political Analyst Caleb Maupin 2023-02-15T15:26+0000 true PT24M46S

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us woke makeover, to sell its proxy wars, joe biden administration's military aid to kiev, destructive ideology, anti-war sentiment, attached to the woke agenda, wokeism to justify attacking countries, demonizing other countries, chinese balloon, playing up anti-china hysteria
The Gering City Council approved a resolution to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds for redeveloping property owned by a local business at its regular meeting on Monday evening.

The redevelopment plan was submitted by B & C Steel Corporation as part of an expansion project planned for its location on 10th Street. The main focus of the project is the addition of a new warehouse for retail and storage use, which the company said will enable them to create four to five new jobs in the community.

According to City Engineer Annie Folck, the project would increase the property value by around $118,500, making that amount of TIF funding available. B & C Steel requested $106,783 of that amount in order to offset their own expenses on the project.

Folcks presentation on the subject included a handful of factors for the council to consider, including how the project fit into the citys comprehensive plan, whether it conformed with community development law and a cost-benefit analysis.

Approval of the plan was recommended by city staff, the community development agency and the planning commission.

The redevelopment plan submitted by B & C Steel outlined what the TIF funds would be used for, with the largest expenses being site prep and excavation and installation of a fire hydrant.

Thats part of our fire code that currently there arent any hydrants close enough to where theyre building their new building, so that is something they would be required to do. This would help cover some of those costs, said Folck.

Other uses of the TIF financing will include survey and design, storm sewer work and sidewalk improvements, which will be conducted in coordination with the 10th Street Improvement Project.

In addition to the TIF financing approved by the council, B & C Steel will be shouldering an additional $370,000 in private costs to complete the project.

Other council business included the approval of a Keno Funds Request for the annual High Plains Auto Show for the amount of $3,500. The show drives a significant amount of tourism to the area each year, and the funds will be utilized to help pay for its Friday night barbecue.

The board also approved the planning of two committee meetings. The first was a meeting of the Administrative Committee with agenda items including proposed amendments to planning and zoning permit fees; building, mechanical, and plumbing fees; and contractor permit and licensing fees.

The second was a meeting of the Recreation Committee with agenda items including review of a proposed agreement between the city and the Western Nebraska Pioneers and review of an addendum to the lease agreement between the city and B & S Rask Grill, LLC.
Scottsbluff High School senior Riley Ibero has been selected as a finalist in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Ibero was informed of his selection on Tuesday afternoon and awarded a certificate by Scottsbluff High School principal Justin Shaddick, who spoke a few words to recognize the achievement.

Youre one of a very few elite in the history of Scottsbluff High School, so this is a huge honor, said Shaddick.

Ibero said that reaching this point in the selection process feels very rewarding, considering how much effort has gone into his academic career.

It feels pretty good knowing that all of my hard work and studies have paid off, he said.

Rileys parents, Frank and Shannon Ibero, were also in attendance at the presentation. His father, Frank Ibero, said that they couldnt be more proud of the heights Riley continues to reach.

Hes put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time, he said. Were proud of him, and hes growing into quite a young man. I cant wait to see what he does going forward.

About 1.5 million juniors in some 21,000 high schools entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Ibero is one of only 15,000 finalists from across the United States.

To reach this point, Ibero had to submit a detailed scholarship application in conjunction with a high school official providing information about his academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

Other requirements included an outstanding academic record throughout high school, endorsement and recommendation by a high school official, an essay, and SAT or ACT scores that confirm the students earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Ibero will learn whether he will be awarded a National Merit Scholarship when results are announced, a process which will begin in April and continue until July. He said that he plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the fall and major in civil engineering.
Fifth Street Ministries will host Empty Bowls on March 26 from 12:30-2 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 125 N. Meeting St., Statesville. The event will feature four types of soup from local restaurants (one vegetarian option), drinks and dessert. Michele Knapp, Fifth Street executive director, will speak to the challenge of hunger in the community.

There are two ticket options. The first is a $25 ticket that includes the meal and a keepsake bowl. The other option is a $10 ticket that includes the meal and does not include a bowl to take home. Tickets at the door will be $30.

Tickets may be purchased via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/empty-bowls-2023-tickets-484474956637. They may also be purchased by visiting www.fifthstreetministries.com and going to the Events tab. Or, check out the Facebook page.

Donations help support programs for those most in need: shelter services, community kitchen, My Sisters House, Veterans Transitional Housing and the PATH house (street outreach for the chronically homeless).

The handmade bowls are provided by CrEaTe Pottery Studio.

This event is sponsored by Iredell Health System.
Sheriff Darren Campbell attended the State of the Union address last week in Washington, D.C., sitting in on President Joe Bidens yearly speech to Congress and the United States.

Seeing the pomp and pageantry surrounding this historic address in The Peoples House most definitely pulls on ones patriotic heartstrings, Campbell said in a Facebook post.

The Iredell County sheriff was there as a guest of Rep. Patrick McHenry. Campbell was also there earlier in the week to attend the National Sheriffs Conference.

It is always a privilege to represent Iredell County, as your sheriff. It is always a time of tremendous learning and growth for me, as we discuss the challenges facing law enforcement today, but most importantly, as we discuss methods and tactics to keep the citizens of our respective counties safe, Campbell said.

While in the nations capital, Campbell also met with newly elected Sen. Ted Budd, Rep. Richard Hudson, McHenry, and other lawmakers including the Speaker of the House. Campbell said the ability to discuss and have the attention of those elected officials allows him to let them know what law enforcement sees in the community and what legislation can help or hurt their efforts.

The ability to discuss and bring attention to the things that the deputies of the Iredell County Sheriffs Office are seeing on a daily basis, that threatens the safety of citizens, including our most vulnerable residents, our elderly and our children was important, Campbell said.
A former Smyth County deputy is facing a felony charge of obtaining money by false pretenses after he was accused of inflating the number of hours he was on duty.

A reconvened Smyth County grand jury handed down the direct indictment against Daniel A. Hamm on Monday.

Smyth County Sheriff Chip Shuler said Hamm was placed on suspension late last fall after his supervising officer noticed an irregularity with the deputys timesheet. Two weeks later, following an internal investigation, Hamm was terminated and the sheriffs office turned the matter over to the Commonwealths Attorneys Office for prosecution.

I wont put up with this kind of conduct, Shuler said. I never have, and I never will.

Additionally, Shuler filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to have Hamm decertified as a police officer.

Shuler said Hamm started with the sheriffs office in 2011, leaving from 2012 to 2016 for employment with the Marion Police Department and again briefly in 2020 for employment with the Virginia State Police before returning to the sheriffs office later that year.

According to the indictment, the offenses occurred between July 2019 and November 2022.

Shuler described Hamm as a good deputy and a good person who made a bad decision. Though it pained him to terminate and have charges placed against his deputy, Shuler said it was the right thing to do.

Its heart-breaking for me because were like a family here, but our credibility is all we have, Shuler said

Arrested on Monday, Hamm was released on a $1,000 unsecured bond on Tuesday and is scheduled for arraignment on Mar. 2.
Bland County High School welcomed a new principal in January when Debra Hall joined the staff.

Hall came from McDowell County, West Virginia, where she had served as principal for the past decade at Mount View High School.

I just got the urge that it was time to leave, said the West Virginia native of deciding to come to Bland County. Going through COVID was really difficult. Its a really challenging place. I made tons of friends and people that I will always remember.

One of the challenges was the increasing number of teacher vacancies especially during COVID. Hall is thrilled with the staff at Bland County High School and their dedication and involvement with students.

Its a real pleasure to work with the staff here, she said.

A pilot program implemented at Mount View High School greatly improved student attitudes and she is already planning to introduce it at Bland.

Hall is bringing Positive Behavior Interventions and Support, or PBIS, to Bland County and she introduced it to the School Board last week.

We saw our behavior problems and referrals went down. Kids got happier. We had a lot of fun doing that, she said.

It worked so well and Im really committed to that. We have professional development meetings here every Monday and the staff came up with a process for Bears (the schools mascot name) that goes along with PBIS.

The system involves expectations for students in individual classrooms and school-wide. These are not rules, Hall said, but expectations for students that encourage positive behavior and language that focus on the positive rather than the negative.

It really helps to improve the culture of the school, she said. It made a big difference at Mount View.

Training for PBIS is extensive Hall said, and the teachers at BCHS are enthusiastic about the program.

Hall is encouraged by the number of clubs and organizations and activities for students at Bland County High School, something she didnt have at her former high school.

Im real excited about working with staff, she said. Theyre not just here from 8 to 3:30. Theyre here. I love the fact that they all help with bus duty, with lunch duty. Everybodys doing something. They dont say thats not my job or whatever. Theyre committed.

Hall served as assistant principal in Mercer County, West Virginia, for four years before her position in McDowell County and she taught science before going into administration.

Born in Princeton, West Virginia, and growing up on a farm in Mercer County where she still lives along with five Siberian Huskies, Hall was familiar with Bland County from driving through for many years. Her daughter is also a dog lover working as a groomer and trainer.

Hall was inspired to go into education by educators in her family. Her mother was a teacher and her aunt a principal. Her father and grandmother encouraged her to go into education. She chose to study science and in her second year in college decided on education.

She taught four years in Mercer County before choosing to go into retail management; then decided that was not the career for her so she went back to college to get a graduate degree and administration leadership degree. She attended Concord University in West Virginia and Marshall University in Georgia for her studies.

Hall said she never regretted going into education and making it her lifelong career. She said she loves working with dedicated staff and helping students prepare for their futures.

Im very passionate about students, Hall said. They are the number one priority. Its our job is to get them where theyre supposed to be. I want them to reach as far as they can go. Because they are our future.

Im really super impressed with the students here and you wouldnt have that without the teachers, she said. Behind successful kids are great teachers.

Hall said she will spread her passion against bullying by encouraging students to be kind to others and to make that a way of life at the school.

I just want bullying to become obsolete, she said. Its so hurtful.

Thats my number one thing, Hall said. I want the culture of the school to be inviting. Make it where the kids will want to be here so that they can be successful. To discover the real reason for an education.
A man who died in 2015 but whose life and legacy continue to bolster Marion was honored posthumously Monday evening.

For some years, the town council has annually recognized citizens who have gone the extra mile for their community. At the urging of Councilman Avery Cornett, earlier this week, the council celebrated the life of the late Malcolm Mal Brown III, a native son of the town, a leading businessman, and supporter of many causes.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution in recognition of Brown, and Cornett shared remembrances of the man.

Cornett told the gathering, Malcolm Brown III loved his family, his community and life. When he saw a need he could fill, he responded with a vigor and exuberance not to be matched. He gave in abundance and selflessly.

Cornett felt certain that most people in the audience possessed their own Mal Brown story.

He shared that especially during a crisis Mal showed up with just what was needed or at least provided comfort where he could. Mal gave of himself, his time, his expertise, his ability to talk with people and comfort them, his sense of humor, and his giving knew only the limits of what he had to give.

Brown, Cornett said, also passed on his sense of giving to his son, Malcolm, who was in attendance. He noted that Malcolm was recognized in those council chambers when he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. His father, Mal, was an enthusiastic supporter of Marions Boy Scout Troop 93.

Through written comments, Dr. Paul Brown shared some of his memories of Mal Brown and Troop 93.

Brown recalled how Mal Brown once brought a huge trailer loaded with cooking equipment for a Scout competition when they usually prepared food with the equipment in a 3x3x2 Chuck Box.

Several years later, Dr. Brown wrote, Mal joined his son for an 80-mile backpacking trip at Philmont, New Mexico, the Boy Scouting premier high-altitude camp. We carried everything we ate on our backs! To fortify our meals with flavor, however, Mal had Malcolm carry in the urgent access portion of his pack, an entire array of spices. And they prepared our meals to perfection and just so they would be palatable. After a long day, dusty miles, those dinners were something we all savored!

Cornett held up a Troop 93 T-shirt and recalled Mals admonition that there is no substitute for glory, which was emblazoned on the shirt.

The councils resolution noted that Mal was the fifth generation to lead his family business, Seaver-Brown Funeral Service and that he a founding member of the Independent Funeral Homes of Virginia

Association, helped pioneer Veterans Funeral Care, founding member of the Cremation Society of Virginia, served on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Funeral Directors Association, and was awarded the Pursuit of Excellence by his peers at the National Funeral Directors Association.

The resolution noted some of his community service, including Big Brothers of Smyth County, the Smyth County Crisis Hotline, Marion Noon Rotary, and, of course, Troop 93.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church, where he served as a childrens Sunday School teacher. He was also an avid supporter of Marion Wrestling and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Mal Brown died Oct. 15, 2015, leaving a tremendous legacy as well as a tremendous hole in the heart of our community, said the resolution, which in conclusion lifted up Mal Brown as the hallmark of citizenry that epitomizes the very best of Marion.

Cornett reflected, We would have a utopia if only more people thought about how they can give back to the world, instead of what they can get from it. Mal Brown left a legacy. He left the world in better shape than what he found and he inspired others to recognize that same instinct within themselves.

Representatives of Troop 93 took part in the council meeting, including leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
On this version of Hot off the Wire:

 Some voters in last year's midterm elections were open to supporting Democrats even if they werent fond of President Joe Biden. Roughly 1 in 6 voters for Democratic House candidates said they disapproved of Biden's job performance, but most said Biden wasn't a factor in their midterm decision. The findings from AP VoteCast are a warning sign for both parties at the outset of the 2024 presidential campaign.

 In the opening stages of the Republicans' 2024 presidential race, the parents rights movement and lessons for schoolchildren are emerging as flashpoints.

 The Army is trying to recover from its worst recruiting year in decades, and officials say those recruiting woes are the result of traditional hurdles. Young people dont want to die or get injured, they don't want to deal with the stress of Army life and they don't want to put their lives on hold.

 Recent revelations about Republican election strategies targeting minority communities in Wisconsins biggest city came as no surprise to many Black voters.

 International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach says the organization is not on the wrong side of history by aiming to help Russians and Belarusians qualify for the 2024 Paris Games.
"Boone was operating his motorcycle and traveling northbound in a curve when it appears he and his motorcycle went down and traveled into the southbound lane into the path of an oncoming motorcycle," the park service said in a news release. "The oncoming motorcycle operator attempted to avoid hitting Boone but was unsuccessful. Preliminary investigations indicate Boone may have suffered a medical emergency."
Longview police announced the arrest of 47-year-old Longview resident John David Roach in connection to the 2021 murder of Lisa Jo Patterson, who was found dead behind the YMCA of Southwest Washington on 15th Avenue.

The department says Roach was arrested on Monday. He was booked on a first-degree murder charge and the case has been turned over to the Cowlitz County Prosecutors Office.

Roach appeared in Cowlitz County Superior Court at 1 p.m. Tuesday. He is scheduled to be in court on Friday to see whether he will continue to be held without bail.

The investigation incorporated the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington State Patrol Crime Labs, Cowlitz County Coroner and the Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorneys Office, according to the department.

Longview Police Detective Sgt. Marc Langlois, who supervised the departments crime unit, said the investigation was long and tedious.

According to an earlier report in The Daily News, at roughly 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, patrol officers found Pattersons body behind the YMCA of Southwest Washington in Longview.

Authorities once had to dispel rumors that a serial killer was in the area after a string of suspicious deaths before and after the Patterson killing.

Roach has a lengthy criminal history. In 2015 he was sentenced for second-degree robbery; in 2017 and 2018 for indecent exposure; and in 2022, he was sentenced to prison for second-degree arson.
Longview police say they apprehend a homeless man during Washington Gov. Jay Inslees visit to HOPE Village Tuesday.

Longview Capt. Branden McNew said 41-year-old Longview resident Micah McClendon behaved hostile toward protestors at the Alabama Street pallet-home site for the homeless. Inslees tour of the village started around 11 a.m.

McClendon, a former resident of the Alabama Street camp, had what McNew called a large knife/machete.

McClendon was taken into custody by Longview police without any incident, said McNew, and he was cited and then later released on misdemeanor charges. McNew did not disclose the charges.

McNew said McClendon has a history of some mental health-related issues, but it is unknown what his issue was with the protesters or the event in general.
Lower Columbia Colleges speech and debate team competed in two recent tournaments and are now ahead of local rivals.

The Longview team went head to head against 25 other colleges and universities on Feb. 11 and 12 during a virtual tournament hosted by Oregon State University, where they finished second among community colleges and fifth overall, according to the school.

This placed LCC ahead of regional rivals Oregon State and Pacific University, as well as strong national programs including Tallahassee Community College and Louisiana State University, the school reports.

The Fighting Smelt also hosted the 50th annual Michael Dugaw Smelt Classic Jan. 27-29. Twenty colleges and universities from six states attended, with over 150 students competed across 14 different speech and debate events.

Cameron Richey, a Running Start student who also attends R.A. Long High School, won the novice division of extemporaneous speaking and placed fourth in novice impromptu speaking in February. At the January event, Richey finished as runner-up in novice impromptu speaking and novice extemporaneous speaking.

Charlotte Curry won silver in novice a debate in February using International Public Debate Association rules.

Tungalagbolor Shinetulga, an international student from Mongolia, finished as runner up in novice informative speaking in February and novice persuasive speaking in January.

The schools says the public is invited to attend a public exhibition debate with the team from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. March 2 online and on campus. For more information, visit lowercolumbia.edu.
Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday learned about several Cowlitz County homeless and behavioral health programs, while spreading the word about his proposal to pay for more housing statewide.

Inslee toured CORE Healths Ascent Youth Activity Center, the CORE Health Support Center, Community House on Broadway and HOPE Village in Longview. He later held a roundtable discussion with city officials, Cowlitz County judges, law enforcement, corrections and behavioral health professionals.

Inslee said the state needs increases across the whole spectrum of housing  emergency shelter, transitional housing, vouchers and permanent units  which is why hes asking for a $4 billion bond to build housing and shelters.

Were trying to increase the housing component of this, he said. Because if someone can get stable, get into a place, they can deal with mental health challenges.

The bond is a major part of Inslees 2023-25 budget proposal announced in December. The state would borrow the $4 billion over six years by selling general obligation bonds and would incrementally pay that money back over a longer period of time.

The plan requires approval by legislators and voters to allow Washington to borrow more than the debt limit set in the state constitution.

HOPE Village visit

On Tuesday, Inslee met Salvation Army and city of Longview leaders at the HOPE Village pallet-home site and heard from two residents about their experiences.

Tasha Krackenberg told the governor that she lived in a tent at the Alabama Street encampment for about eight months before moving into one of the 50 pallet homes. Krackenberg said she recently got a job for the first time in a few years and is working with a case worker on her next steps.

Inslee said it is very inspiring to see people get their feet under them after a little investment.

About 15 people protesting outside HOPE Village argued the price of the program was too high, with signs that read The most expensive homeless camp on the planet?

The city of Longview paid about $1.15 million to purchase pallet homes and set up the site, and contracted with the Salvation Army to run the program for an amount to not exceed $1.4 million for one year.

Inslee said the site sells itself with 50 people living in the pallet homes instead of in squalor. As with other tiny home sites in the state, getting people into safe housing helps them get into treatment, he said.

Were learning theres no one thing to solve this problem, Inslee said. Housing, treatment, job training, get people off the streets, out of encampments.

CORE Health programs

Earlier Tuesday morning, Inslee toured the CORE Health and Community House buildings and heard from staff about the organizations programs for adults and youth.

At the Ascent Youth Activity Center, Inslee, Executive Director Frank Morrison and CORE staff talked about the increase in youth mental health concerns.

In 2022, CORE Health served 1,060 youth through the center and at schools. The organization offers behavioral health services, substance use treatment and counseling, as well as a safe place for teens to go after school.

Morrison showed the governor the building where Community House is planning on opening a overnight shelter for unaccompanied homeless teens.

The organization applied for a state grant to purchase and renovate the building on the corner of 12th Avenue and Broadway.

Inslee said Community House has a good plan for the youth shelter.

PHOTOS: Gov. Jay Inslee visits Longview Close From left, Trudi Inslee, Gov. Jay Inslee and Frank Morrison, of CORE Health, chat outside of the Community House during the governor's visit to Longview on Tuesday. He toured Ascent Youth Center, CORE Health Social Support Center, Community House on Broadway and HOPE Village. Gov. Inslee chats with James Robbins, a former resident of Community House, about the impact of the Community House's positive impact on his sobriety on Tuesday. Gov. Inslee tours a pallet house in HOPE Village on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Longview. Frank Morrison gives Gov. Inslee a tour of Ascent Youth Center's weight room on Tuesday, Feb. 14 in Longview. CORE Health Social Support Center employees chat with Gov. Inslee about the importance of providing housing during a drug detox program. Governor Jay Inslee, and his wife, Trudi, left, during a roundtable discussion at Ascent Youth Center on Tuesday, February 14, in Longview. HOPE Village resident Tasha Krackenberg chats with Gov. Inslee about her pallet home on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Longview. Protest signs can be seen from inside HOPE Village during Gov. Inslee's visit on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Longview. About a dozen people showed up at the shelter's gate to protest Gov. Inslee and his request of a $4 billion bond to build housing and shelters throughout the state. +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7
Hanford will be allowed years more time to test and start using technology to capture and destroy chemical vapors that have sickened workers.

As a concession for allowing more time for testing with the hope of then using chemical-destroying technology, the plaintiffs in a 2015 lawsuit are requiring more transparency in reporting possible vapor incidents at the nuclear reservation.

The changes are included in a modification and extension of a 2018 settlement agreement reached in the lawsuit.

It was filed against DOE by Hanford Challenge, a Seattle-based worker advocacy group, and the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598.

This agreement represents our priority of transparency for our community and reaffirms our expectation for innovation and deployment of expanded engineering controls at the tank farms, said Nickolas Bumpaous, business manager for Local 598 in Pasco.

Since at least the 1990s, Hanford nuclear reservation workers have raised worries about exposure to tank vapors.

Reported symptoms have included headaches, nausea, shortness of breath and dizziness. Some Hanford tank farm workers have had serious and even fatal respiratory and neurological illnesses they or their families believe are linked to exposure to chemical vapors.

When the initial settlement agreement was reached, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the chemical-destroying technology could be in use in three years, or fall 2021.

However, permitting of the system continues and then pilot testing of the technology could be done on the Hanford site.

An amendment to the settlement agreement says that Phase 3 testing of the chemical-destroying system now is projected to be completed in August 2027. The settlement agreement has been extended from 2022, through Feb. 1, 2028.

In the meantime, other methods to help protect workers from breathing in the hazardous chemicals will continue to be used, such as requiring supplied air respirators or air-purifying respirators in some areas and using monitors to check for ammonia, one of the most plentiful chemicals in the vapors.

Chemical vapor reporting

Now DOEs tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, posts reports online when ammonia is detected, including when monitors alarm at or near tank farms with 177 underground tanks for holding waste.

Sixteen of the reports were posted in 2022, which is about equal to the number of the previous two years when work slowed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The amended agreement requires reports to be posted when any suspicious odors are reported.

In the most recent report posted on Nov. 30, three laborers were removing snow along the east side of the A Tank Farm and five along the west side when the ammonia monitor worn by one of the workers alarmed.

All left the the A Tank Farm and access was restricted until more testing was done without findings of concern.

None of the workers had symptoms or smelled any chemical, and all declined medical evaluation. All were wearing full-face air purifying respirators.

The monitor that alarmed was tested and found to be giving an erroneous alarm for ammonia during abrupt movements, such as those that would have been done during snow shoveling, according to the report on the incident.

A finding of no employee chemical exposure was made and the monitor that alarmed was taken out of service.

Through the years workers have reported smelling suspicious odors in the center of Hanford near tank farms. Sometimes the tank farm contractor has concluded the odors were from other activities such as pesticide spraying.

Any change of procedures related to tank vapors also must be made public under the revised settlement agreement.

Hanford built 149 single-shell tanks as early as World War II to hold radioactive and hazardous chemical waste created by chemically separating plutonium from uranium fuel.

The site near Richland in Eastern Washington production almost two-thirds of the plutonium for the nations nuclear weapons program from WWII through the Cold War.

Underground tanks continue to hold 56 million gallons of the waste, with waste being transferred from leak-prone single-shell tanks to newer double-shell tanks until it can be treated for permanent disposal.

Hanford chemical vapor protections

More than 1,800 chemicals have been identified in the tank waste, including 1,500 that are released as vapors into the head space of the tanks. They include harmful chemicals such as nitrous oxide, mercury and benzene.

The vapors are vented into the air to prevent potentially flammable concentrations of gasses in the tanks. When waste is disturbed, such as when work is being done in the tanks, vapors are more likely to be detected.

To reduce the risk to workers breathing in harmful vapors, the tank farm contractor uses controls such as requiring respirators, raising the height of stacks that release vapors well above workers breathing space, powered ventilation for some tanks, and monitoring and detection equipment.

Ammonia is used as a sentinel chemical. Not only is it plentiful, but even small amounts have a strong odor that workers may smell.

One former longtime Hanford worker, Abe Garza, who spoke at a news conference when the initial settlement agreement was signed in 2018, said he had been repeatedly hospitalized for breathing issues, had nerve damage in his hands and feet, and had been diagnosed with a brain disorder, toxic encephalopathy, that can be caused by exposure to chemicals, such as heavy metals.

We are hopeful that the renewed commitments will ultimately prevent vapor exposure and lead to a future for Hanford that prioritizes safety and accountability in cleanup efforts, said Nikolas Peterson, executive director of Hanford Challenge, after the revised agreement was signed.

Before the lawsuit was filed, DOE was exploring new technology to protect workers  including by destroying vapors. It was one of dozens of recommendations made by a team of independent experts commissioned in spring 2014 and led by Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina.

Testing is being done on a system that pulls tank vapors into a combustion engines induction system, where they are destroyed by heat in the engine cylinders.

It has taken longer than expected, including a lengthy permitting process and issues to be resolved on a power source for what is planned to be a mobile unit.
Emotions ran high in a Spokane courtroom during a sentencing Monday morning that led to multiple outbursts from those in attendance and at least two threats to hold two people in contempt of court, including the defendant.

About two dozen people filled the courtroom pews to witness the sentencing of Diandre Johnson, a 26-year-old who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday in a deal that provided he drop an appeal for a separate court ruling. Johnson shot and killed Steve Stevie Cavitt, who was 24, in a parking lot in downtown Spokane in October 2021 in an altercation described by investigators as a beef between gang members.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Raymond Clary sentenced Johnson to 31 years in prison, which would keep him behind bars until his late 50s.

Friends and family of Cavitt, who appeared in person and via video conference, described him as a dedicated father who was destined for success.

Now hes gone, at the hands of this killer, said Cavitts grandmother, Vicki McCabe, pointing to Johnson, who reclined in his chair. This plea deal is a slap on the wrist to him and a slap in the face to the family.

Family members also asked the judge for a harsher penalty.

I have a lot of anger in my heart today, which is why Im not in the courthouse, because of what I would do there, said Daija Allen, Cavitts longtime girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, who appeared via video conference. A life sentence would be the best thing possible. Diandre, I hope you rot in there. You deserve it.

Donna Dansby, Cavitts mother, sporting a Stevie G jacket with a portrait of her late son on it, said she was disappointed by the sentencing.

Everything is a joke to him, Dansby said of Johnson. Diandre is a callous monster and beyond stupid.

Dansby, as well as other family members, described Johnson as remorseless. She played a rap song she said Johnson produced and uploaded to YouTube from jail that mocked Cavitts death.

Defense attorney Nathan Poston described his client as having come from a broken home and relying on gang activity as a support system. The 31-year sentence may as well be a life sentence, he said, considering the life expectancy for inmates is much lower on average.

However, Poston was interrupted multiple times during outbursts from those attending the courtroom via video conference, which prompted the judge to threaten a contempt charge.

In a statement to the courtroom, Johnson said he was there to take responsibility, but came short of expressing any regret for Cavitts death.

I understand the misplaced anger, but I wish the family knew what happened that night, Johnson said in a statement to the courtroom. I felt that I protected myself.

Court documents said Johnson confronted Cavitt and one of his friends, according to a witness statement. Cavitt slapped Johnsons hand out of his face during the altercation, which prompted Johnson to shoot Cavitt, documents said.

When urged by Clary about whether he felt any remorse about killing Cavitt, Johnson replied: Death doesnt really affect me that much.

As the judge began to process the paperwork for Johnson, an attendee in the video conference blurted out an insult, calling Johnson a  weirdo. Johnson retorted Youre a rat!

Judge Clary scolded Johnson for the outburst and threatened to hold him in contempt of court.

Johnson blew kisses at Cavitts family members during his arraignment and again as he was escorted out of court.

Pleas are often a compromise, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Preston McCollam said after the sentencing. This resolution takes a very dangerous individual off the streets for 31 years. Im hopeful well have a reprieve from Mr. Johnson for a while.
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Fraunhofer IDMT's click detection can be integrated into the reporting system and be displayed via an interface. The microphone can be integrated into a work glove and can also be combined with a smartwatch. Credit: Fraunhofer IDMT / Anika Bodecker

Manufacturers often rely on practical plug connections during the production of automobiles. However, time and money are wasted if an incorrectly plugged-in connection goes unnoticed. The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg has therefore developed a solution. An audio-based technology analyzes the clicking noise that is generated when a connection is plugged in. Should a connection fail to click into place, employees or the "colleague robot" will be alerted via an error message.

This technology will be presented for the first time with a practical demonstration at the Hannover Messe Preview on February 15, 2023.

When it comes to modern industrial production, particularly in the automotive industry, many connections between individual components are no longer screwed, glued or welded, but are instead held together by plug connections. But are all these connections really plugged in correctly?

Researchers from the Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA at Fraunhofer IDMT are presenting a new way to check this at the Hannover Messe. An innovative test system detects whether parts are correctly connected based on the noise that occurs whenever they are plugged in. Microphones first record the noise, which is then analyzed by software algorithms. Finally, the system provides positive feedback or sends a warning if it has not clicked correctly.

This will have benefits for both employees and automated robotic systems. A human can receive the feedback via acoustic, visual or even tactile means, for example via vibration. A robot then receives the necessary information directly from the sensor system.

"This technology addresses a common challenge in automobile assembly," says Danilo Hollosi, head of Acoustic Event Detection.

"Automobiles usually have several hundred connectors. If any one of these connections doesn't engage properly during production and it's not noticed until after the car has been delivered to the customer, then the car has to be returned for repair. That's frustrating for the owner, and the car manufacturers end up wasting time and money. Given the low margins in mass production, this turns into a serious problem." This is where audio-based monitoring can help.

This demo device for click detection illustrates the reliable engagement of plug connections. The industrial traffic light indicates incorrect or correct engagement. Credit: Fraunhofer IDMT / Hannes Kalter

Innovative acoustic processes

The HSA team's audio technology revolves around sophisticated software algorithms. These can even isolate and analyze individual clicks within the noisy and dynamic environment of a factory floor.

This was a great challenge for the researchers since clicking noises often sound very similar. "We have been developing acoustic methods for noise detection and analysis for many years. Our system is now able to reliably differentiate and examine acoustic signals that are very similar to each other," Hollosi explains.

The specialists from Oldenburg have also further developed the noise reduction function so that ambient noise is effectively filtered out without impairing the signal quality of the click noise. Additional sensors can be added for an even more reliable detection, if required.

The test technology can be integrated into production in a number of ways. On one hand, it can be a component of the sensor system in the automated factory, for example, on the arm of a robot.

On the other hand, a compact hardware box equipped with a microphone and an integrated mini PC for processing audio data could be installed at the respective workstation. But the microphone could also be integrated into a worker's work glove. "It could even be combined with a dedicated smartwatch," Hollosi explains.

Customized audio monitoring for industrial customers

The system can be configured as desired and adapted to individual needs in the case of industrial customers. Not only does audio-based technology fit into the trend of using sensors to monitor manufacturing steps in production, making them safer and more reliable, but it also makes a noticeable difference in increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Customers are also pleased when their eagerly awaited car leaves the factory in perfect condition.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Dutch officials urged the creation of clear definitions on how artificial intelligence can be used in war, as a conference billed as the first of its kind to tackle the issue opened on Wednesday.

The two-day meet in The Hague aimed at taking a first step towards international rules in regulating the use of AI on the battlefield in an agreement similar to those on chemical and nuclear weapons.

The United States and China were among 50 countries attending, with hopes set on a declaration on Thursday on the issue.

Russia has not been invited over the invasion of Ukraine.

"Together, we must seek common grounds on the definition of these technologies, starting with two actually quite basic questions: what is AI and who is responsible for its actions?" Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in an opening address.

"AI is everywhere, it's changing the way we live, it's changing the way we work and it's clearly changing the military," he said.

Hoekstra used the example of building hit by a missile, saying "in a split second AI can detect its impact and where the survivors may be located."

"Even more impressive, the AI could have intercepted the missile in the first place," he said but added "AI also has the potential to destroy in seconds, and that's worrying."

Militarily, AI is already used for reconnaissance, surveillance as well as analysis and in the future could be used to pick targets autonomously just over the horizon.

These include so-called drone swarms and the use of AI in nuclear command and control systems.

Hoekstra said the effects of new technology was already visible following Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago including drone and cyber attacks.

"We are also witnessing how Russia is violating humanitarian law in the most brutal way," he added.

China was invited to the conference as a key player in tech and AI, Dutch officials said.

Ministers and high-ranking diplomats are at the so-called REAIM (Responsible AI in the Military Domain) summit along with tech firms and experts.

 2023 AFP
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Elon Musk is angling to appoint his successor as Twitter CEO by the end of 2023.

"I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out," Musk said at the World Government Summit in Dubai per CNBC.

"I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company because I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year."

Musk late last year emphasized he had no interest in staying on as the company's CEOgoing as far as to post a poll about his own reign over the company. Users effortlessly voted him out of the top spot, prompting memes and Musk's promise to find a replacement.

Musk formally acquired Twitter back in October for a cool $44 billion. The social media platform in April announced it had agreed to sell to the Tesla Tycoon for $54.20 a share, a deal Musk then repeatedly tried to escape. Despite his best efforts to renege, he took over the site late last year and immediately started making movesbut it has not been without backlash.

The same day the deal closed, Musk fired top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, legal chief, Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett. He also removed the company's board of directors and installed himself as the lone board member. Twitter has laid off approximately half of its 7,500-member workforce since Musk's takeover.

Most recently, he called for an update to the algorithm on the website. The Tesla tycoon reportedly pressed engineers at Twitter to modify the social network's algorithm this weekend, after his Super Bowl tweet floundered in comparison to President Joe Biden's.

Biden's post generated nearly 29 million impressions compared with Musk's 9.1 million before he deleted his tweet altogether.

2023 New York Daily News.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. Musk said Wednesday, Feb. 15, that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter probably toward the end of this year." Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him. Credit: AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy, File

Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter "probably toward the end of this year."

Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him.

"I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financial healthy place," Musk said when asked about when he'd name a CEO. "I'm guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company."

It remains unclear how seriously Musk will take that timeline. His comment came only hours after he posted images of his shiba inu dog, Floki, on Twitter as the company's "CEO."

"So much better than that other guy!" wrote Musk, who often posts memes. After making the posts, a cryptocurrency known as Dogecoin, based around the image of a shiba inu meme, rose in value by around 5%. Musk previously has suggested Twitter accept Dogecoin in transactions.

Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla. In recent months, however, more attention has been focused on the chaos surrounding his $44 billion purchase of the microblogging site Twitter.

Elon Musk talks virtually to UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Al Gergawi during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military's use of Musk's satellite internet service Starlink as it defends itself against Russia's ongoing invasion has put Musk off and on at the center of the war.

Musk offered a wide-ranging 35-minute discussion that touched on the billionaire's fears about artificial intelligence, the collapse of civilization and the possibility of space aliens. But questions about Twitter kept coming back up as Musk described both Tesla and SpaceX as able to function without his direct, day-to-day involvement.

"Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse," he said. "There's work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering."

Musk also sought to portray his takeover of San Francisco-based Twitter as a cultural correction. Since taking over the company, he's restored Donald Trump's access to the platform after the then-president lost access to the website after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Musk also reinstated the accounts of several people who spread misinformation about the coronavirus, including that of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

"I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world," Musk said. "And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche."

Musk's takeover at Twitter has seen mass firings and other cost-cutting measures. Musk, who is on the hook for about $1 billion in yearly interest payments for his purchase, has been trying to find way to maximize profits at the company.

Elon Musk talks virtually during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

However, some of Musk's decisions have conflicted with the reasons that journalists, governments and others rely on Twitter as an information-sharing platform.

Musk on Wednesday described the need for users to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. However, a confused rollout to a paid verified account system saw some impersonate famous companies, leading to a further withdrawal of needed advertising cash to the site.

"Twitter is certainly quite the rollercoaster," Musk acknowledged.

Forbes estimates Musk's wealth at just under $200 billion. The Forbes analysis ranks Musk as the second-wealthiest person on Earth, just behind French luxury brand magnate Bernard Arnault.

But Musk also has become a thought leader for some as well, albeit an oracle that is trying to get six hours of sleep a night despite the challenges at Twitter.

Musk described his children as being "programmed by Reddit and YouTube." However, he criticized the Chinese-made social media app TikTok.

Elon Musk talks virtually to UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Al Gergawi during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

"TikTok has a lot of very high usage (but) I often hear people say, 'Well, I spent two hours on TikTok, but I regret those two hours,'" Musk said. "We don't want that to be the case with Twitter."

TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated "very carefully," describing it as akin to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs. He also cautioned against having a single civilization or "too much cooperation" on Earth, saying it could "collapse" a society that's like a "tiny candle in a vast darkness."

And when asked about the existence of aliens, Musk had a firm response.

"The crazy thing is, I've seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever. And I think I'd know because of SpaceX," he said. "I don't think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Kirsten Martin, director of the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, teaches a class in January. ND TEC offers a 15-credit undergraduate minor in tech ethics that is open to all Notre Dame undergraduates, regardless of major. Credit: University of Notre Dame

While social media companies court criticism with who they choose to ban, tech ethics experts say the more important function these companies control happens behind the scenes in what they recommend.

Kirsten Martin, director of the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center (ND TEC), argues that optimizing recommendations based on a single factorengagementis an inherently value-laden decision.

Human nature may be fascinated by and drawn to the most polarizing contentwe can't look away from a train wreck. But there are still limits. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter constantly struggle to find the right balance between free speech and moderation, she says.

"There is a point where people leave the platform," Martin says. "Totally unmoderated content, where you can say as awful material as you want, there's a reason why people don't flock to it. Because while it seems like a train wreck when we see it, we don't want to be inundated with it all the time. I think there is a natural pushback."

Elon Musk's recent changes at Twitter have transformed this debate from an academic exercise into a real-time test case. Musk may have thought the question of whether to ban Donald Trump was central, Martin says. A single executive can decide a ban, but choosing what to recommend takes technology like algorithms and artificial intelligenceand people to design and run it.

"The thing that's different right now with Twitter is getting rid of all the people that actually did that," Martin says. "The content moderation algorithm is only as good as the people that labeled it. If you change the people that are making those decisions or if you get rid of them, then your content moderation algorithm is going to go stale, and fairly quickly."

Martin, an expert in privacy, technology and business ethics and the William P. and Hazel B. White Center Professor of Technology Ethics in the Mendoza College of Business, has closely analyzed content promotion. Wary of criticism over online misinformation before the 2016 presidential election, she says, social media companies put up new guardrails on what content and groups to recommend in the runup to the 2020 election.

Facebook and Twitter were consciously proactive in content moderation but stopped after the polls closed. Martin says Facebook "thought the election was over" and knew its algorithms were recommending hate groups but didn't stop because "that type of material got so much engagement." With more than 1 billion users, the impact was profound.

Martin wrote an article about this topic in a case study textbook ("Ethics of Data and Analytics") she edited, published in 2022. In "Recommending an Insurrection: Facebook and Recommendation Algorithms," she argues that Facebook made conscious decisions to prioritize engagement because that was their chosen metric for success.

"While the takedown of a single account may make headlines, the subtle promotion and recommendation of content drove user engagement," she wrote. "And, as Facebook and other platforms found out, user engagement did not always correspond with the best content." Facebook's own self-analysis found that its technology led to misinformation and radicalization. In April 2021, an internal report at Facebook found that "Facebook failed to stop an influential movement from using its platform to delegitimize the election, encourage violence, and help incite the Capitol riot."

A central question is whether the problem is the fault of the platform or platform users. Martin says this debate within the philosophy of technology resembles the conflict over guns, where some people blame the guns and others the people who use them for harm. "Either the technology is a neutral blank slate, or on the other end of the spectrum, technology determines everything and almost evolves on its own," she says. "Either way, the company that's either shepherding this deterministic technology or blaming it on the users, the company that actually designs it has actually no responsibility whatsoever.

"That's what I mean by companies hiding behind this, almost saying, 'Both the process by which the decisions are made and also the decision itself are so black boxed or very neutral that I'm not responsible for any of its design or outcome.'" Martin rejects both claims.

An example that illustrates her conviction is Facebook's promotion of super users, people who post material constantly. The company amplified super users because that drove engagement, even if these users tended to include more hate speech. Think Russian troll farms. Computer engineers discovered this trend and proposed solving it by tweaking the algorithm. Leaked documents have shown that the company's policy shop overruled the engineers because they feared a hit on engagement. Also, they feared being accused of political bias because far-right groups were often super users.

Another example in Martin's textbook features an Amazon driver fired after four years of delivering packages around Phoenix. He received an automated email because the algorithms tracking his performance "decided he wasn't doing his job properly."

The company was aware that delegating the firing decision to machines could lead to mistakes and damaging headlines, "but decided it was cheaper to trust the algorithms than to pay people to investigate mistaken firings so long as the drivers could be replaced easily." Martin instead argues that acknowledging the "value-laden biases of technology" is necessary to preserve the ability of humans to control the design, development and deployment of that technology.

The debate over online content moderation traces back to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. In 1995, an online platform was sued for defamation over a user's post on its bulletin board. The suit was successful in part because the platform attempted to remove harmful content, implying that moderation led to full responsibility, which discouraged any attempts.

In response, Congress passed Section 230 to protect the platform business model and encourage self-moderation. "The idea is even if you get in there and try to moderate it, we're not going to treat you like a newspaper," Martin says. "You're not going to be held responsible for the content that's on your site."

Social media companies have been successful and proactive about some types of moderation. When there is a consensus against a type of content, such as child porn or copyrighted material, they are quick to remove it. The problems start when there is widespread debate over what is harmful.

In tough cases, the companies sometimes use Section 230 to take a hands-off approach, claiming that only more content can overwhelm lies. Martin says they argue that there is no way to do any better: "If you regulate us, we're going to go out of business."

She compares this to General Motors in the 1970s asserting that they couldn't put seat belts in cars to make them safer, or steel companies claiming that they couldn't avoid pollution.

"It's kind of this normal evolution of an industry growing really quickly without too much regulation or too much thought," Martin says. "People push back and say, 'Hey, we would like something different.' They'll come around. GM added seat belts. Eventually, we'll have better social media companies."

Martin may be optimistic because she's a fan of technology.

"It's not as though the people that critique social media want it to go away," she says. "They want it to fulfill everything that it can be. They like the positive side."

Social media can connect kindred souls with a specialized interest or people who feel lonely. That was especially valuable during the pandemic. People living under totalitarian regimes can communicate quickly and easily, avoiding government control of older technology.

In the early 2010s, Facebook was seen as a powerful force of freedom during the Arab Spring, when protesters organized online and toppled authoritarian leaders in North Africa and the Middle East.

Brought home, that power can also have a downside, depending on perspective. "If I can communicate with someone else who's just like me, that means if I want to plan an insurrection, I can find someone else that wants to plan an insurrection," Martin says.

"A lot of times, the people that are loud with hate speech have followers that see it as a call to arms," Martin says. "It's not just one person, like Alex Jones saying to Sandy Hook victims, 'You don't exist and that never happened.' It's that there's thousands of people that will then also target those people online and offline. I think it's misunderstanding the asymmetry of the bullies."

Recent phenomena, from Facebook's COVID-19 disinformation to Instagram's effect on teenagers' body image, may have soured some people on social media since its early promise. Martin identifies Gamergate in 2014 as the impetus of change in many people's perception. A loosely organized online harassment campaign targeted feminism and diversity in video game culture, spawning many of the worst behaviors that have followed.

Martin says social media users must demand moderation when hate speech goes too far. Advertisers can be another powerful force. "Brands don't want the new electric Cadillac to be right next to a white supremacist post," she says.

Musk may care more about speech he wants to promote than targeted groups right now, but that choice could open the door to a competitor like Mastodon. For her part, Martin will continue to identify the problems and trust that technology can correct course to provide a social benefit.

"I always think of tech ethics as having two prongs," she says. "One is a critical evaluation examination of the technology. But the other side is to help people figure out how to design and develop better technology. The skill set to do both aren't necessarily in the same person.

"You need people that are calling out what's wrong and then you need other people to say, 'Oh, I could fix that and this is how I would do it differently.'"
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used in a variety of ways, such as building new kinds of credit scores that go beyond the traditional FICO score. However, while these tools can powerfully and accurately predict outcomes, their internal operations are often difficult to explain and interpret. As a result, there is a growing demand in ethics and regulation for what is called explainable AI (xAI), especially in high-stakes domains.

In a new article, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) suggests that explanations of AI are valuable to those affected by a model's decisions if they can provide evidence that a past adverse decision was unfair. The article is published in Frontiers in Psychology for a special issue on AI in Business.

"Recently, legislators in the United States and the European Union have tried to pass laws regulating automated systems, including explainability," says Derek Leben, Associate Teaching Professor of Ethics at CMU's Tepper School of Business, who authored the article. "There are several existing laws that impose legal requirements for explainability, especially with respect to credit and lending, but they are often difficult to interpret when it comes to AI."

In response to demands for explainability, researchers have produced a large set of xAI methods in a short period of time. These methods differ in the type of explanations they can generate, so Leben says we must now ask: What type of explanations are important for an xAI method to produce?

In the article, Leben identifies three types of explanations. One type explains a decision by providing the relative importance of its causal features (for example, "Your income of $40K was the most significant factor in your rejection"). Another type explains a decision by offering a counterfactual change in past states that would have led to a better outcome (for example, "If your salary had been higher than $50Kall else being equalyou would have been approved"). The third type provides practical recommendations on what individuals can do to improve their future outcomes (for example, "The best way for you to improve your score is to increase your savings by $5K").

While there has been much debate about what type of explanation is most important, Leben supports xAI methods that provide information about counterfactual changes to past states based on what he calls the evidence of fairness view. In this view, individuals affected by a model's decisions (model patients) can and should care about explainability as a means to an end, with the end verifying that a past decision treated them fairly.

Counterfactual explanations can provide people with evidence that a past decision was fair in two ways. The first is to demonstrate that a model would have produced a beneficial decision under alternative conditions that are under the model patient's control (which the author calls positive evidence of fairness). The second is to show that a model would not have produced a beneficial decision when irrelevant behavioral or group attributes are altered (which Leben terms negative evidence of fairness).

Put another way, Leben suggests that xAI methods should be capable of demonstrating that a decision was counterfactually dependent on features that were under the applicant's control (e.g., late payments) and not counterfactually dependent on features that are discriminatory (e.g., race and gender).

Leben says his work has practical implications. Not only can these ideas inform legislative efforts and industry norms around explainability, but they can also be used in other domains. For example, engineers designing AI models and their associated xAI methods can use the evidence of fairness view to help evaluate them.

More information: Derek Leben, Explainable AI as evidence of fair decisions, Frontiers in Psychology (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1069426 Journal information: Frontiers in Psychology
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Combined with artificial intelligence, the Israeli-developed robots are designed to carefully grasp and pack a variety of items.

Behind a dark and opaque storefront in Tel Aviv, an Israeli company is speeding up online shopping by replacing staff with robots that manoeuvre around small storerooms.

Whirring along a rail between two long shelves packed with coffee capsules, a robot stopped, pivoted to the right, shone a light before grabbing an item and dropping it into a paper bag.

"Shoppers want to receive their items faster and faster," said Eyal Yair, co-founder and CEO of 1MRobotics, which built the automated storeroom late last year.

"If once you'd be looking at a two-day delivery, which then became a one-day delivery and then two hours, now we're looking at 10 minutes," he said.

The robot toils in the custom-made 30-square-metre (320-square-feet) space storing the capsules, fitted with a streetside hatch for couriers and shoppers to collect online orders.

The unassuming robot receives the orders, packs and prepares them, with humans only needed to restock the warehouse and dispatch deliveries.

While robots are used to pack groceries in large supermarkets around the world, Yair said the size of 1MRobotics's warehouses makes them "pioneers".

"We are hardly seeing any players talking about small warehouses, of a few dozen square metres," he told AFP.

The robot receives the orders, packs and prepares them, with humans only needed to restock the warehouse and dispatch deliveries.

'No sense' in supermarkets

A swift centrally-located operation run by human staff rather than robots is only financially viable for smaller businesses that deal with few orders, Yair argued.

But "once you begin to scale up and deal with dozens of orders a day, you need lots of people," he said. "Then it becomes less economical."

The COVID-19 pandemic energised the already rapidly evolving e-commerce market, with sellers struggling to meet the increasing demand for swift processing and deliveries.

The solution "requires small warehouses, very close to the clients, and at the end of the day, these small warehouses have to be automated", said Yair.

In the south Tel Aviv headquarters of 1MRobotics, young men and womennearly all of them graduates of the Israeli army's robotics and technological unitswere customising off-the-shelf robots.

Eyal Yair, co-founder and CEO of 1MRobotics, says an automated operation can save money for big businesses.

The robot toils in the custom-made space, fitted with a streetside hatch for couriers and shoppers to collect online orders.

Combined with artificial intelligence, these robots are designed to carefully grasp and pack fruit and vegetables, as well as frozen items thanks to a method that prevents the robots' oil from freezing.

The company also builds the containers that will serve as the mini-warehouses, with Yair saying their robots and storage units would soon be working with an alcohol shop in Brazil, minimarkets in Germany and a cellphone company in South Africa.

In his view, it is just a matter of time before "hyper-local logistics infrastructure" like his robotic warehouses make supermarkets redundant.

"Once you have a service where you know you can order 10 items a few times a day and get them within 10 minutes, there'll be no reason to shop once a week for the entire week," he said.

"It just doesn't make sense."

 2023 AFP
Members of the Bryan City Council unanimously approved updating attendance requirements for communities and boards within the community.

According to Bryan City Secretary Mary Lynn Stratta, Mayor Bobby Gutierrez requested the preparation of this agenda item for the council's consideration during the Feb. 7 meeting.

We already had a rule that all boards and commissions and appointees were expected to attend 66% of the meetings in any given six-month period," she said. "Mayor Gutierrez felt like that was OK for the advisory boards, which were left the same at 66%. But the boards and commissions with rulemaking authority, he felt their responsibilities and duties are so important that the citizens that are on those be engaged and attend the meetings.

Stratta also said she believes the call for this change wasnt spurred by a problem with attendance.

I dont think there was a problem, I think that is what he felt like and that is what he presented to the council and they approved it, she said.

Gutierrez said Tuesday that he feels it is crucial for members to attend meetings.

"it is very important that those appointed to the city's boards, commissions and committees make a concerted effort to attend meetings and be engaged throughout their tenure," he said. "Their attendance and advice are vital to council, citizens, stakeholders, business leaders and the city as a whole."

The resolution identified attendance requirements for quasi-judicial board, committee or commission appointees be 80% in any given six-month period.

These quasi-judicial board, committee or commission appointees include: Planning and Zoning Commission, Board of Adjustments and Appeals, Bryan Texas Utilities Board, Building and Standards Commission, Civil Service Commission, Historic Landmark Commission and the Zoning Board of Adjustments.

In addition, for advisory boards and committees, the requirement is now 66% attendance in any given six-month period, which is the same as it currently resides. The resolution also sets out those appointees who do not meet the attendance requirements will be removed unless an exception is granted by the council, Stratta said.

The previous resolution had not been updated since 1987. Stratta said that staff liaisons working with each board, committee and commission are responsible for maintaining a record of attendance and reporting it to her, should an appointee fail to attend.

Stratta said this requirement does not apply to council members.
The Brazos County Commissioners Court passed a proclamation to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Texas Constables at its regular scheduled meeting Tuesday morning.

Brazos County Judge Duane Peters, himself a Brazos County constable from 1993 to 2002, read the proclamation to honor the state and countys constables.

We really appreciate all that constables do, Peters said. Its a dangerous job no matter what you are in law enforcement.

The proclamation outlined the history of constables which said they are among the earliest recorded peace officers in the world and date back as far as the start of the fifth century. The proclamation noted that on March 5, 1823, John Tumlinson, a newly elected alcalde in Stephen F. Austins first Texas colony, wrote to Baron De Bastrop in San Antonio that he had appointed but one officer who acts in the capacity of constable to summon witnesses and bring offenders to justice. Today, there are around 780 constables in Texas and they are the only law enforcement mandated by the Texas Constitution.

When we found out that [March] 5 was the anniversary, I was kind of taken aback that we had been around that long, said Jeff Reeves, Brazos Countys Constable for Precinct 1, after Peters read the proclamation.

In honor of the constables 200th anniversary, Brazos Countys constables will wear a commemorative badge on their uniform for the remainder of the year. The round badge reads Texas Constable 200 years around the edge and has a gold star in the middle with the dates 1823-2023. Reeves said Peters will receive a special badge since he once served as a Brazos County constable.

Theyre very nice, Reeves said.

There are four constables in Brazos County who are all elected officials. Constables serve as peace officers and their law enforcement duties include serving as a bailiff for the Justice of the Peace Court and serving warrants and civil papers. Reeves also noted that the Brazos County constables are responsible for the six counties  Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson and Washington  that touch Brazos County.

They have citizen contact constantly and we have to keep a good report and good reputation with them because we help them, said Donald Lampo, Brazos Countys Constable for Precinct 2 who has served as a constable for 22 years.

Reeves has spent over 40 years as a law enforcement officer with previous stints at the Bryan Police Department and Brazos County Sheriffs Office. Reeves said when he became a constable, he felt like a rookie all over again. Constables are required to take 40 hours of continued education biannually, including 20 hours in civil process.

I didnt know [any] of this stuff, so it was a learning deal I had to go through, Reeves said.

After Peters read the proclamation, at least 15 members of the Brazos County Constables Department joined the county commissioners for a photo.

We appreciate the recognition and the history thats behind it, Reeves said.
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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.

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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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 O'Rourke, an attorney for the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which had opposed the legislation. "It's 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.

O'Rourke's 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 VEC's attempt to dismiss appeals that allegedly were not filed on time.

"We are in discussions with stakeholders about our options to respond to this," O'Rourke 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 Virginia's 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 governor's 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 don't 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.

"We're very worried about what's going to happen," said Alina Launchbaugh, public benefits attorney at Legal Services of Northern Virginia Inc.

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The North Korea-linked threat actor tracked as APT37 has been linked to a piece of new malware dubbed M2RAT in attacks targeting its southern counterpart, suggesting continued evolution of the group's features and tactics.

APT37, also tracked under the monikers Reaper, RedEyes, Ricochet Chollima, and ScarCruft, is an element within North Korea's Ministry of State Security (MSS) unlike the Lazarus and Kimsuky threat clusters that are part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

According to Google-owned Mandiant, MSS is tasked with "domestic counterespionage and overseas counterintelligence activities," with APT37's attack campaigns reflective of the agency's priorities. The operations have historically singled out individuals such as defectors and human rights activists.

"APT37's assessed primary mission is covert intelligence gathering in support of DPRK's strategic military, political, and economic interests," the threat intelligence firm said.

The threat actor is known to rely on customized tools such as Chinotto, RokRat, BLUELIGHT, GOLDBACKDOOR, and Dolphin to harvest sensitive information from compromised hosts.

"The main feature of this RedEyes Group attack case is that it used a Hangul EPS vulnerability and used steganography techniques to distribute malicious codes," AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC) said in a report published Tuesday.

The infection chain observed in January 2023 commences with a decoy Hangul document, which exploits a now-patched flaw in the word processing software (CVE-2017-8291) to trigger shellcode that downloads an image from a remote server.

The JPEG file uses steganographic techniques to conceal a portable executable that, when launched, downloads the M2RAT implant and injects it into the legitimate explorer.exe process.

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While persistence is achieved by means of a Windows Registry modification, M2RAT functions as a backdoor capable of keylogging, screen capture, process execution, and information theft. Like Dolphin, it's also designed to siphon data from removable disks and connected smartphones.

"These APT attacks are very difficult to defend against, and the RedEyes group in particular is known to primarily target individuals, so it can be difficult for non-corporate individuals to even recognize the damage," ASEC said.

This is not the first time CVE-2017-8291 has been weaponized by North Korean threat actors. In late 2017, the Lazarus Group was observed taking advantage of the flaw in attacks targeting South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges and users to deploy Destover malware, according to Recorded Future.
Donald Anthony was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for the 2022 murder of Said Abdullahi Farah in Grand Island.

A Hall County District Court jury in December found Anthony guilty of first-degree murder, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person.

Anthony, 35, fatally stabbed Farah, a 30-year-old homeless man, inside an apartment complex at 303 Pine St. on Feb. 15, 2022. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Grand Island Fire Department paramedics.

Hall County District Court Judge Patrick Lee gave Anthony the life sentence for first-degree murder and sentenced him to 30 to 50 years for use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony. Anthony was also sentenced to three to four years for possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person.

The Grand Island man was given credit for 330 days already served.

The case was prosecuted by deputy Hall County attorneys Sarah Hinrichs, David Medlin and Matthew Boyle. Anthony was defended by Hall County Public Defender Gerard Piccolo.
Ken Schroeder, Grand Island Public Schools Chief Financial Officer, is resigning his position as of June 30.

Schroeder was the districts CFO two years. As leader of the financial department, he helped facilitate and update comprehensive budgeting best practices. He also collaborated with Buildings & Grounds on a new districtwide Master Facilities Plan.

Schroeder is returning to familiar territory, repeating his pre-GIPS role as Superintendent of Ravenna Public Schools.

Schroeder is a 1991 Palmer High School graduate, and earned his bachelors degree from Doane College in 1996. He also holds a language arts education endorsement from Concordia University, a masters degree in educational administration from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, an education specialist degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a doctorate in educational leadership degree from UNL.

A release from GIPS states: As Dr. Schroeder finishes out the school year, GIPS is committed to finding the right new leader to helm the Financial Department of the district which will include a statewide and nationwide search. We will share more about the opportunity as the process develops.
Joined by three local judges, the Hall County Commission on Tuesday discussed courtroom needs for the future, which are clearly not going away.

Hall County District Court Judge Andrew Butler and County Judges Al Corey and Arthur Wetzel were invited by commissioners to talk about their caseloads and judicial needs.

Corey shared figures compiled from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. Even though Sarpy Countys population is three times that of Hall County, Sarpy Countys juvenile court system handled only about more 20 more cases than Hall during that time period. The number in Sarpy was 626, compared to a little more than 600 juvenile cases in Hall County.

Hall County does not have a juvenile court system because to have such a system, a county needs to have more than 75,000 residents. If that figure is surpassed, voters would still have to approve a juvenile court system.

Corey doesnt see that happening anytime soon. Instead, Hall County is pursuing a third county judge and a juvenile hearing officer. Both of those efforts are well underway.

Wetzel pointed out that plans for court expansion were drawn up in 2014. Three options were proposed at the time, but no action was taken.

When new courtroom facilities are built, they should be designed with expansion in mind, Wetzel said, because theyll be full the minute they open.

Wetzel focused on the juvenile caseload in Hall County, where were busting at the seams, quite frankly.

If a bond issue were to fail, the county would be right back at square one, Wetzel said.

Butler told commissioners the county needs two county courtrooms and a new district courtroom.

A small, third courtroom currently used by county court is a laughingstock, Butler said.

In addition to space requirements, Butler has safety concerns about District Courtroom 3. The court is not currently equipped to handle a case in which a super jury of 80 to 100 potential jurors is called.

Butler believes a bond issue is going to have to be looked at.

Commissioner Gary Quandt said the board was told last year that it had at least five years to respond to courtroom needs. Now, commissioners are being told nine months later the needs are urgent.

Board members, Quandt said, are not sitting on their hands. We know weve got a problem, and were going to fix it, he said.

Commissioner Pam Lancaster agreed, saying the board fully understands that this has to be done.

Jane Richardson also agreed, saying the court expansion will be done, one way or another.

Later in the meeting, Quandt estimated, without doing any figuring, that the courtroom work might cost $30 million to $50 million.

The subject of judicial expansion arose later in the meeting, when needs for the Administration Building and Hall County Jail were discussed.

During the meeting, the board set bid opening dates for HVAC systems for both buildings.

Both projects will be paid for with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money.

Quandt said the money for both projects could be set aside for the courtroom project. In the case of the Administration Building, the cost will be about $1.5 million.

The systems are currently working fine, Quandt said, and warranties for some new units now last only a year or two. When those warranties expire, the current systems might still be running. To spend this ARPA money just to spend it, thats wrong, he said.

Lancaster said that ARPA funds cannot be put aside for later use. They must be fully committed by December of 2024. But, she said, shes just as concerned about county spending as Quandt is.

The commission approved bid dates for both projects, with Quandt the only one opposing.

With the need for courtroom expansion so important, Quandt said he will be asking if theres money in the budget for every project that comes before the board.

Board member Scott Sorensen said some of the projects the board is addressing have been put off for 20 years. He also said hes tired of Quandts theatrics, and the board members must work together.

Later in the meeting, the board voted to go into executive session to discuss courthouse expansion. Television reporter Steve White protested, saying the lack of specificity violated the states opening meeting law.

County Attorney Marty Klein said the reason for the closed session was valid. The fact that it might include some frank conversation placed it within the realm of protecting the public interest, Klein said. Discussion of funding sources might touch on courtroom staff, he said.

After the executive session, Lancaster made a motion to ask the architects, already hired, to work on options for expanding the courts.

White objected to the motion. Lancaster said that no action was actually needed, and withdrew her motion.
Hall County Veterans Service Officer Don Shuda wants people to step up to support Nebraska legislative bill LB80, which would appropriate funds for the construction of a State Veterans Cemetery in Grand Island.

Shuda, who spoke to the Hall County Commission Tuesday, hopes as many people as possible can attend a hearing for the bill at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 28. The Appropriations Committee will hold the hearing in Room 1524 of the State Capitol building.

If people cant attend the hearing, Shuda would like them to call or email all members of the Appropriations Committee.

The committee is chaired by Sen. Robert Clements. Other members of the committee are Sens. Christy Armendariz, Myron Dorn, Robert Dover, Steve Erdman, Loren Lippincott, Mike McDonnell, Tony Vargas and Anna Wishart.

If the bill doesnt come out of the Appropriations Committee, its not going anywhere, Shuda said. I think its important we support the project, Shuda said. He would like to see as many veterans and community leaders as possible attend the hearing.

The Hall County Commission voted Tuesday to send a letter of support to each member of the Appropriations Committee.

Hall County is requesting $8 million to build the 20-acre cemetery.
Matt Fisher wasnt necessarily looking to return to school district leadership, but the timing being just right, Grand Island Public Schools new interim superintendent is committed to the role.

Fisher found about Grand Island Public Schools superintendent search like many did.

I found out about it just through newspaper and other medias advertising  that (then-Superintendent) Dr. (Tawana) Grover was leaving.

At the time Fisher was still director of public finance at First National Capital Markets.

Before then (2012-2019), he was superintendent of Northwest Public Schools.

Soon after the news Grover was moving on, Fisher was pleasantly surprised to find out the new superintendent wouldnt necessarily be hired internally, he said.

Instead, the district was seeking an 18-month interim superintendent.

I started wrestling with well, is that a direction that I would want to go or not? Fisher said. It was kind of back and forth.

Once Fisher found out more details from Nebraska Association of School Boards, he knew.

(I) ultimately decided to throw my name in.

During his interview with the GIPS Board of Education in early January, board members were visibly pleased when Fisher expressed hed be interested in staying beyond an interim period, should it be the right fit.

My sense was to just approach the job as if I was going to be there beyond the year and a half. As I look at my career, Im probably going to work beyond another year and a half, he said. I would prefer  if the fit is right  to stay in this job, probably until Im ready to retire.

Fisher wont have a free pass to become the next long-term superintendent. He said he doesnt approach the interim position any different than a longer-term hire.

There are some things to be addressed, and certainly some opportunities to be realized  we dont want to march in time and let those things go.

Things like employee recruitment and retention, which he called priority one.

Starting from the teacher level, right on down through all of our classified positions, I think its really critical that we hang on to the good people that we have,  then figuring out ways to bring new people into all those different roles that we have to fill.

There comes the realization that equity is not just student-centered.

As I think about all of our staff, certainly, the diversity that we have in our teaching ranks is less than the diversity that we have in some of our classified positions.

Those factors are important, Fisher said, especially when thinking about how we make sure were serving their needs, or their needs might be a little bit different than some of their colleagues.

When youre talking about employees, you have to have some fairly clear-cut expectations. I think sometimes we have to be cognizant of how family  or household situations differ from this employee to that and make sure that the guidelines that were creating allow for those differences.

Fisher is originally from a small town, over the years leading and teaching in smaller school districts. He said living, teaching and leading smaller schools means equity is easier to manage than in a large district like GIPS.

The main factor, Fisher indicated, is knowing the districts staff, students and community.

There are so many moving parts, he said of his new school district. I always want to be pretty hands on in terms of knowing whats going on in different buildings, really trying to get into buildings and be able to get a sense for, heres some really great things that are going on in this school; maybe heres some challenges that this school has that were not seeing in other areas.

I think its part of how Ive always approached administration.

He doesnt exactly want to be that man behind the curtain, then?

Fisher chuckled.

No, I dont.
Expert Viewpoint

Shifting from Paper to the Cloud: How K-12 Schools are Digitizing Operations

While COVID-19 changed every aspect of our daily lives  impacting our families, our businesses and how we work  one area most radically transformed was how our kids learn and the function of K12 schools.

We may be discovering the impact of distance learning for decades to come, but the bottom line is that, thanks to collaborative technologies like Zoom, schools stayed in session, and online learning saved the day. As learning continues transitioning to a new normal, the question now is whether schools can continue to digitize administrative tasks and implement technologies to help teachers and administrators create a better learning experience for their students.

Schools that have traditionally been underfunded now have the access to funds they didnt prior to the pandemic through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, which allocates an unprecedented federal investment of $190 billion to schools across the country. School districts must use their share of the funding by September 24, 2023, so the clock is ticking for districts to make the most of this windfall opportunity.

Recent McKinsey research found that 90% of district administrators surveyed reported they have faced challenges related to making effective use of stimulus funds. Administrators participating in the survey were asked to identify the issues preventing or slowing their stimulus spending:

37% cited the lack of quality vendors or suppliers

42% cited problems navigating reporting and compliance requirements

McKinsey also reported that at the end of the 2021-22 school year, districts had spent just $45 billion of the total funding available, leaving approximately $130 billion that must be spent over the next three budget cycles.

School districts now have the opportunity to use the extra funding to upgrade online learning systems and back-office technologies. They also can provide staff and teachers the tools they need to create a more efficient organization that better supports delivering quality education and overcomes some of the serious gaps that the pandemic revealed.

Digitization Streamlines Paper-Heavy Processes

The massive amount of ESSER funding available to K12 schools could help districts move forward after a few years of chaos and upheaval. Even now, as the worst of the pandemic seems to have passed, schools still face enormous challenges, including a shortage of qualified teachers and staff who are vital to keeping classroom and school operations running smoothly and delivering a quality education to students.

Besides the ups and downs of a stubborn virus and changing health protocols, teachers and administrators are tasked with running a tight ship that includes managing student and employee records.

Digitization is the key to eliminating backlogs of paper processes made worse by staff shortages and other post-pandemic challenges. By leveraging a combination of software and hardware, schools can create modern and digitized systems that make documents searchable and accessible  eliminating the time required to file and search through boxes for old student transcripts, test scores, health records, and more.

Not only does digitization make files and documents accessible, it also helps schools reduce their reliance on paper, saves time, streamlines processes, and makes documents instantly available on secure district-wide portals.

An Oklahoma School Districts Digitization Project

Take, for example, a school district in Oklahoma, where state law requires schools to store student records for up to 80 years. This district recently committed to completely digitizing operations. Each school was storing a large volume of student transcripts, IEPs, forms, reports, assessments, and more in boxes and filing cabinets across warehouses, closets, attics, and storerooms  all of which needed to be digitized.

When the Oklahomas school districts residency requirements took effect, they used digitization to streamline the enrollment process. This allowed staff to immediately scan the enrollees proof of residency documents and save them to the students folder, which was stored in the cloud.

Using Chromebooks and a simple app that allows district staff to scan paperwork and save everything to Google Drive, the school district eliminated the need for a PC and software. They sent documents directly to the cloud to make them available to those with administrative credentials. The district then tackled a more time-consuming project: digitizing the student records legally mandated for retention, which were spread across 100 file cabinets.

Once the final leg of the digitization project is complete, the district registrar will no longer have to spend time rifling through multiple file cabinets to find files. Instead, they can simply type in a students name to find exactly what is needed. By having all student documents in one cloud file, anyone with permission can quickly search for a name and then scan through the file for what they need. This has also cut down on the time it takes to share records between school districts.

While digitization may seem like common sense to many, a lot of school districts have not taken the step to modernize operations and are still chained to using paper copies and file cabinets that are taking up valuable school space that could be put to better use.

As weve seen with distance learning, digital technologies have the potential to evolve education and school operations as we know it. By using ESSER funding to purchase new Chromebooks, projectors and smart boards, as well as scanners and other devices to modernize and transform administrative operations, school districts are investing in the success of future generations as well.
Photo by N.A. and R.A. Moore (Nelson Augustus Moore and

his brother Roswell) of Hartford, Connecticut, 1864

I never knew this until robert e pointed it out yesterday: there exist photographs of Revolutionary War veterans. Some of the youngest soldiers lived into the era of photography. Evidently no one thought to photograph them in the 1840s, but the Reverend E.B. Hilliard wrote a book in 1864 called The Last Men of the Revolution that recounted the biographies of some of the last remaining veterans, and the book contained six albumen prints. The Library of Congress has a set, in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Lemuel Cook, pictured above, lived through the entirety of the Civil War and died just after it ended at the age of 106, the fourth-to-last living Revolutionary War veteran. He fought with the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons in the Virginia campaigns and at Brandywine, and was wounded more than once. He was present at the 1781 surrender of Lord Cornwallis to George Washington at Yorktown. His discharge papers in 1786 were signed by General Washington. Cook lived out most of the rest of his life in various counties here in Western New York State.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Mani Sitaraman: "This is simply extraordinary. Seeing the photograph and reading the account gave me the chills. Thank you, Mike.

"And thank goodness for the French photographer Disderi's brilliant idea; he patented the idea of carte de viste photographs in the 1850s, which were trading-card-like photographs of famous people, for people to buy, collect in albums, or trade. That innovation ensured that so many portraits from that early age of photography have survived, as the commercial incentive ensured that numerous copies of each portrait were printed."





Carl Siracusa: "The closing exhibit of the Museum of the American Revolution here in Philadelphia, 'The Revolution's Veterans,' is a whole wall of photos of people who fought in, or simply lived through, that war. When I first saw it I had the same amazed reaction as most people, I assumethere are photos of them?!? Extraordinary, really. Worth visiting this excellent museum for that alone."

robert e: "Hi Mike, Just wanted to point out that even older photographs have turned up since the Hilliard book was published, including from the 1840s and 1850s. Some of them can be seen in this article. And I just learned today that Maureen Taylor, who calls herself 'The Photo Detective,' has published two volumes of photographs (and paintings based on photographs) of people who lived through the American Revolutionary War. The names of the over 100 subjects are on Taylor's own page about the project."

Michel Hardy-Vallee: "Reminds me of that comment by Roland Barthes about the photographs of the last surviving members of Napoleon's Grande Armee: 'these eyes have seen the Emperor.'"

Daniel: "One fact many don't realize is that until the invention of the permanent photographic image we do not know what anyone actually looked like. Many portrait painters through history did a good job but had to please the one who commissioned the painting. How accurate were these portraits? Maybe as accurate as many Photoshopped portraits being done now? Vanity interferes with historical truth."

Mike replies: Some of the Gnostic gospels refer to Jesus as being physically ugly, which might have been one of the reasons why those accounts were nixed at the Conference of Nicea and in St. Jerome's Vulgate.
MARION  On the sixth day of the Julia Bevely murder trial, the prosecution wrapped up its case with testimony from Jade Beasleys parents, Illinois State Police special agents and others.

Eleven-year-old Jade Beasley was stabbed to death Dec. 5, 2020, at her home. Bevely is charged with three counts of murder relating to Beasleys death.

Gregory Michael Beasley told the jury his then-wife, Jessica Bradley, gave birth to Jade Beasley on Aug. 3, 2009. The couple separated when Jade was nine months old. The agreed to share custody. Jade spent one week with her mom and the next week with her dad.

After their divorce, they maintained a pretty good relationship and would adjust days to meet Jades needs.

Jade was kind and loving, liked art, animals, church and video games, Gregory Beasley said.

He said both he and her mom had good relationships with Jade. He also said Jade and Bevely had a good relationship. He did think Bevely was a little dismissive of Jade.

On Dec. 5, 2020, Gregory Beasley was up at 7 a.m. to head to work at Cracker Barrel. He said Jade was fixing herself breakfast when he left, and Bevely was working at her computer. (She worked from home.)

Because business was slow during the pandemic, Gregory Beasley often got off work a little early. They were slow on Dec. 5 and he left work around 12:50 p.m.

It took Gregory Beasley 10 to 15 minutes to drive home.

I saw a lot of cop cars, an ambulance and emergency services parking in the driveway and along the road, Gregory Beasley said.

He testified that the blended family had four children. In addition to Jade, Bevelys son lived with them and Gregory Beasley, and Bevely had two little girls. The family also had two dogs. Gregory Beasley said it was not usual for them to leave the dogs outside. If they left home, the dogs were inside and the door was locked.

Gregory Beasley and Bevely started dating in 2013 and moved in together. They were never married.

Defense Attorney Therese Thien asked him what the family liked to do together. He said they played outside, swam and played video games.

Gregory Beasley said he and Bevely had a few arguments or disagreements. There was no sign of violence in the home.

Jessica Bradley also told the jury about her daughter. She said Jade was smart, artistic and loving.

She was a good kid, Bradley said.

The prosecution admitted two photos of Jade into evidence.

Bradley testified that she had talked to Jade about fighting back if she faced any violence and how to do that, including taking part of the assailant with her.

Prosecutors Jennifer Mudge and Phillip Butler called ISP Special Agents Zach Hanratty, Lee Stewart and Dewayne Morris, Marion Police Officer Stephen Sloan, Herrin Detective Toby Coffey, Marion resident Aaron Newlin and Nancy Deason of Hucks Convenience Store.

Newlin, Coffey, Hanratty and Stewart talked about videos.

Coffey viewed videos at Walmart of their parking lot Dec. 5, 2020, looking for Bevelys 2018 gray Nissan Pathfinder. It was not found in any of their videos from 8 a.m. to noon. They then obtained footage from Carbondale Police Department of the intersection of Illinois 13 and Reed Station Road. The footage from 10 a.m. to noon did not show Bevely's vehicle.

The police also collected video from Newlins home security camera, John A. Logan College and Pin Oak Bar.

Bevelys car did show up on video at Hucks at 701 E. DeYoung St. in Marion.

Hanratty assists with the technical side of an investigation. He reviewed videos and data from Bevelys cell phone creating a timeline for Bevely.

Bevely leaves her home on Songbird Road on Dec. 5 at around 11:36 a.m. Her vehicle pulls into Hucks at 11:42 a.m. In their video, she is seen throwing something in their trash can.

The Pathfinder leaves Hucks at 11:46 a.m. At 11:48 a.m., she is near her home. Bevely returns home at 11:53 a.m. She called 911 at 12:24 p.m.

Stewart helped obtain a search warrant for the landfill to search for items Bevely might have thrown away at Hucks because their trash was collected before the police came to search it.

At the landfill, police found a purple curtain and two portions of knife blades. Stewart said there is no evidence to tie the item to the home on Songbird Road.

Morris was qualified in court as a blood pattern analytics expert. He went through each of 90 photos of the home explaining the blood patterns seen. He found 39 separate transfer stains and 12 blood spatter stains.

Sloan testified to being the second person to the home after being dispatched Dec. 5, 2020. Before arriving at the home, he briefly stopped and questioned a person wearing similar clothing to the assailant Bevely described leaving her home.

Thien asked if he got her name or address. Sloan did not get any information from her. He also doesnt remember seeing the dog she claimed to be walking.

After the prosecution rested its case, Thien asked for a direct verdict from Judge Steven Green based on testimony from Dr. Wold and that the prosecution has not proved the elements of the case. The motion was denied.

Court will resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
CAMBRIA  Just like invisible viruses such as COVID-19, hunger is a hidden pandemic, and like the hungry, those who fight against it often go unnoticed.

Off the main street, tucked away in an old grey building sits the Cambria Food Pantry, an old school converted into a community center. You wouldn't think it, but there are rooms inside filled with food which help feed dozens of Williamson county residents every month, most of whom are senior citizens.

Disability, rental housing, and low and fixed income are a few factors which make food insecurity worse for seniors, according to The State of Senior Hunger, a report made by Feeding America, a non-profit organization which networks food banks all over the country. Seniors in Illinois are among the most vulnerable to food security. In Illinois, 7.1% of the population is food insecure, compared to the nation's best fed, North Dakota, at only 2.9%.

"Seniors with a disability had food insecurity rates over double the rates of seniors without a disability (11.6% and 5.3%, respectively). Living with a disability may lead to higher medical costs, and even at the same income level, people with disabilities are more likely to be food insecure than people without disabilities. As seniors age, they may develop health problems and disabilities, which can make traveling to stores, carrying groceries, and cooking more difficult. Furthermore, without sufficient nutritious food, disabilities and chronic health conditions can worsen and become more severe," the report stated.

"Food insecurity among seniors aged 60 and older living in the United States has a negative impact on their nutrition and health. Poor health can be both a cause and a consequence of food insecurity for seniors. For example, disability and disease contribute to employment instability and income challenges," the report stated.

The report also noted that senior food insecurity is combated by The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the Child and Adults Care Food Program (CACFP) at the governmental level. There is also assistance in the charitable sector, too, like traditional pantries.

This food pantry has been in existence for 45 years, said Gala Pottorff, Cochair of the Cambria Food Pantry. It started out with government cheese and commodity peanut butter. You got two items. Then they added butter. Now, the boxes are full of meat, rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, and, yes, peanut butter. The boxes vary in quantity and variety from month to month, but Pottorff and the Cambria Food Pantry volunteers try to make each of the boxes for the month the same.

Its the donations that keep us afloat. We dont rely solely on St. Louis, said Pottorff who, along with her faithful team of volunteers, has to ensure about 80 boxes are filled with wholesome and nutritious food for Williamson county residents every third Tuesday of the month. The St. Louis Food Bank helps to supplement the Cambria Food Pantry, but the food boxes are mostly filled by local donors, churches, businesses, and individuals.

Many of the volunteers at the food pantry are elderly, just like the one's they serve.

Our biggest clientele is the seniors in the area, and they really appreciate having that extra (food), Pottorff said.

For those who are 60 or over and who meet the income guidelines, Cambria Food Pantry also offers senior food boxes, filled with juice, dry milk, cereal, chicken, vegetables, with even a recipe and crossword thrown in.

With the Cambria regular food boxes and the senior boxes, food needs for seniors are about covered.

Ive had people tell me that saves them, with their money they have to spend on doctor bills. Were not here to feed them every day of the month. Were here to help them so they have more income for other things," Pottorff said.

COVID-19 may be in the past, but the pandemic of hunger persists, especially for the elderly who feel it most. If you know someone in your neighborhood who you think may be struggling with hunger, chances are there is a food pantry just around the corner, hiding behind some church or fire station doing life-saving work all the same.
SPRINGFIELD  Gov. J.B. Pritzker's fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, to be presented in an address to the legislature today, will include $250 million in new spending to expand access to early childhood education.

The quarter-billion dollar investment will serve as as a down payment on a multi-year plan aimed at providing every Illinois child with access to pre-K.

"Thanks to our improved fiscal standing, we can afford to do this," Pritzker said on a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon. "And as every provider, teacher and parent in this state will tell you, we can't afford to wait."

Pritzker's plan, dubbed "Smart Start Illinois," includes an additional $75 million in early childhood block grant funding that will create 5,000 new pre-K spots for low-income children.

The eventual goal is to ramp up funding levels to create 20,000 total spots, which state officials say is the amount needed for every child that wants one. This will be done over multiple budgets, Pritzker said.

The governor's proposal also includes $130 million to stabilize the state's childcare system and to increase wages for caregivers, $40 million for early intervention programs and $5 million to expand the Department of Human Services' home visiting program.

Pritzker's proposal appears to make good on a promise he made in his second inaugural address last month to go all in for our children and make preschool available to every family throughout the state.

In that speech, Pritzker also called for making college tuition-free for every working-class family" in the state, though he did not offer any hints Tuesday regarding new funding for that initiative.

He also did not confirm whether the additional $350 million in K-12 spending  a separate but related topic  called for under the state's evidence-based funding formula would be included.

However, the rollout of the new pre-K initiative confirms that Pritzker, after years of holding the line on the creation of new spending programs, has green-lit outlays that extend beyond the next fiscal year.

This reflects growing optimism about the fiscal condition of the state. Illinois has experienced a series of credit rating upgrades and run budget surpluses in the past couple of years, buoyed by robust post-pandemic revenue growth in income and sales taxes, and federal stimulus funds.

This strong revenue performance led the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Governor's Office of Management and Budget to revise their revenue estimates $4.9 billion and $3.7 billion higher, respectively, for fiscal year 2023.

These unanticipated revenues have given Pritzker a level of budget flexibility that no governor has had in more than two decades.

Over the past few years, Pritzker and state lawmakers have largely spent these excess funds on one-time expenses related to the pandemic, making extra payments towards the state's colossal pension obligation and replenishing the the "rainy day" fund.

While the governor's budget office, in its November report, projected a $357 million budget surplus in fiscal year 2024, it projects a deficit of $384 million in 2025 and even more in subsequent years.

Still, the state has taken major steps in just a few years. In October 2019, GOMB had projected multibillion dollar deficits in the coming years. Now, they are far less, signaling that the state has made a dent in dealing with its structural deficit even as long-term obligations like pension payments remain.

With money available in the budget this year, Pritzker said now is the time to make the investment in early childhood.

"Our budgets have been balanced and we've been running surpluses," Pritzker said. "We're in a much better fiscal position today. And so when I say that we're aiming to continue to invest in early childhood, it's based on the knowledge that we finally have our fiscal house in order and ... we ought to be investing in this."

Pritzker cited a study that found that taxpayers save $7 for every $1 spent on early childhood education, with long-term benefits including better health outcomes, less welfare dependency, higher employment levels and income and lower crime rates.

"We're now in a position to make a big leap forward and that's why I've made this proposal," Pritzker said.

Pritzker's budget will also include an additional $100 million for improvements to early childhood provider buildings and facilities.

It also includes $70 million to cover increased Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP) participation. Currently, the state offers childcare assistance for families at up to 225% the federal poverty level.

Pritzker had previously voiced support for raising that number to 300% of the poverty level, but it is not clear if funding will be provided for that level.

The governor's address will mostly focus on the state's general fund budget, which includes most of the lawmakers' discretionary spending priorities.

General fund spending is typically split between obligations including Medicaid, human services, pensions and public safety.

Over the years, growing pension costs have taken up a greater portion of the state's operating budget. The state is also weighed down by a nearly $140 billion unfunded pension liability caused by years of lawmakers shortchanging the system.

Pritzker will deliver his combined State of the State and Budget address in the Illinois House chambers in the state Capitol at noon. It is the first time since 2020 that the address has returned to its typical venue.

Pritzker delivered a remote address in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in-person at the Old State Capitol in 2022, a last-minute change brought on by a major snowstorm that forced the legislature to cancel session days.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Jesse White.JPG JB Piitzker 13 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 12 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 11 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 10 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 9 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 7 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 5 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 3 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 2 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 1 010923.JPG Juliana Stratton 1 010923.JPG Stratton 2 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 1 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 2 010923.JPG Michael Frerichs 010923.JPG 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball Tiffany Mathis 1 011023.JPG dance gov 7 010923.JPG dance gov 13 010923.JPG dance gov 12 010923.JPG dance gov 11 010923.JPG dance gov 10 010923.JPG dance gov 9 010923.JPG dance gov 8 010923.JPG
A 28-year-old Denmark man says he was shot around 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to Denmark Police Chief Leroy Grimes.

The injured man said he was shot as he was standing on a Progressive Way sidewalk, smoking a Black & Mild cigar.

A vehicle passed him and someone inside fired a gun, the man said.

The injured man went by private vehicle to the Bamberg-Barnwell Emergency Medical Center hours after he was shot in his left leg, Grimes said.

Denmark police werent made aware of the shooting until about 1 a.m. Wednesday, when the man was receiving medical treatment, the chief said.

If anyone has information about the shooting, they are asked to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. Callers dont have to give their names.
On the same day former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley announced she is running for president, a fellow South Carolinian sought to paint the Republican candidates as extremists.

This messy primary is just kicking off and its already shaping up to be a race to the extreme to capture the MAGA base, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said.

Harrison is a native of Orangeburg, which is next to Haleys home county: Bamberg.

Haley made her announcement Tuesday, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Harrison said, There's a lot of questions about Nikki Haley and about what she really stands for.

He claimed she pushed for tax cuts that would benefit the wealthy and corporations and refused to expand Medicaid to provide access to affordable health care for hundreds of thousands in South Carolina

If she says that she wants to do for the nation what she did for South Carolina, God bless us all, he said.

Harrison claimed that Republicans have embraced the extreme plans on abortion, Medicare and Social Security.

Supporting abortion bans is already the key litmus test for Republican presidential hopefuls, he said.

Harrison also claimed Republicans will be in a contest to prove who will propose cutting Social Security and Medicare.

Targeting Social Security and Medicare is a crucial part of the MAGA agenda and Republicans will lean in on jeopardizing those critical programs, Harrison said.

No matter who survives the GOP primary  it doesnt matter who wins  the future of our country and our democracy is at stake, Harrison said.
Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator and former state representative, will be Denmark Technical Colleges 2023 Black History Month program speaker.

We are elated to announce Bakari Sellers as our 2023 Black History Month program speaker, Denmark Tech President and CEO Dr. Willie L. Todd said.

Sellers is a scholar, activist and revered media personality with deep roots in our service area. There's no doubt that his message will be profoundly impactful to our students, Todd said.

The annual Black History Month program takes place at 10 a.m. on Feb. 22 in the William L. McDuffie Student Life Center and is open to the public.

The Black History Month program is the centerpiece to a month-long celebration including cultural events, community service projects and a block party.

This year's Black History Month theme is Engage. Educate. Empower. The Power of Black Resistance, based on DTC's mission statement and the theme for the national Black History Month celebration.

Sellers is the son of civil rights leader and former Voorhees University President Dr. Cleveland Sellers.

In 2005, Bakari Sellers earned a bachelors degree in African American studies from Morehouse College. He continued his education at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2008, earning a juris doctor.

He currently practices law with the Strom Law Firm in Columbia, where he heads the firms strategic communication and public affairs team and has recently added diversity, equity and inclusion consulting to the list of services offered.

Sellers made history in the 2006 South Carolina state legislature as the youngest African American elected official in the nation, at the age of 22.

In 2008 he served on President Obamas South Carolina steering committee.

Bakari Sellers recently released his new childrens book Who Are Your People? inspired by his 3-year-old twins. Its designed to teach young Black readers about their history.

He also authored a New York Times Best Seller, My Vanishing Country, described as part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis illustrating the lives of Americas forgotten Black working-class men and women.

He recently expanded his audience with the Bakari Sellers Podcast, a twice-a-week show that is part of the Ringer Podcast Network. His podcasts discuss a variety of topics, including politics, race, sports, media and the presidential campaign.

Sellers is married to Dr. Ellen Rucker-Sellers and is the father to twins Sadie and Stokely.
(TBTCO) - Su suy giam trong doanh so ban le cua My cho thay lai suat cao hon ang lam cham nen kinh te, nhu FED a tinh toan khi cho rang, hoat ong kinh te can giam bot e giam lam phat von a ha nhiet gan ay nhung van o muc cao. Cac quan chuc FED a phat i tin hieu co the tang lai suat mot lan nua tai cuoc hop vao au thang 5 toi e duy tri ap luc giam lam phat.
'Serious' Ohio chemical leak being ignored by US govt, media; aftermath could linger for 20 yrs

By GT staff reporters (Global Times) 08:51, February 15, 2023

The aftermath of an Ohio train derailment accident, which released toxic chemicals into the environment, has been haunting residents in the affected area for more than a week, but the accident had barely caught attention of American mainstream media outlets until very recently. Chinese experts warned that the chemical leak accident, "underestimated by the US," poses a serious safety hazard for Americans living in the affected area, with lingering effects of at least 20 years. They also believe US authorities' "controlled burn" of the toxic gas could release more lethal substance into the environment, which they said fully exposed US government's irresponsible attitude toward people's health.

The fact that such a catastrophe occurred for more than a week without being extensively reported also reflects toxic trend in US political and media circle, who are too obsessed with creating imaginary enemies, and hyping outside "threats", such as the Chinese balloon, that they pay little attention to their own people's calls.

On February 3, a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. About 50 of the train's 150 cars ran off the tracks. Vinyl chloride was slowly released into the air from five of those cars before crews ignited it to get rid of the highly flammable, toxic chemicals in a controlled environment, creating a dark plume of smoke.

The next day after the derailment, an official alert warned that local residents needed to move even further away from the disaster zone. The controlled burn reportedly worked and the evacuation order for East Palestine residents was officially lifted on February 8 after authorities claimed real-time air and water monitoring did not find any contaminant levels above screening limits.

Yet residents feared for their health as concerns have mounted about the aftermath the chemical leak caused to the environment. Many residents living near the affected area took to social media to report their symptoms after the accident. A Twitter user said on Monday that it "smelled like a campfire mixed with burning rubber in Pittsburg today. Lots of folks reported headaches."

A Chinese student who lives about two hours' drive from the affected area told the Global Times that she did not feel discomfort immediately, but she is now suffering from rhinitis and dizziness, which never occurred to her before.

Four Chinese students in Pittsburg, which is about one hour away from East Palestine, Ohio, said that the local government has tried to whisk away danger of spillover of the incident, yet the public is suspicious. Many people are now stockpiling mineral water, for fearing the water may be contaminated, some supermarkets are even out of stock of bottled water, said one Chinese student surnamed Xu.

On Sunday, the US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], after monitoring the air, said it had not detected contaminants at "levels of concern" in and around East Palestine, although residents may still smell odors. Working with Norfolk Southern and the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, the EPA had screened the air inside about 290 homes as of Monday, and said it had not detected vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, which can cause life-threatening respiratory issues.

The EPA did not respond to the Global Times as of press time.

Peng Yingdeng, an expert from China's central government supervision center for environmental protection and emergency management, said that the chemical leak constitutes a serious safety accident, and may impose "long-term" health threat to populations nearby. Vinyl chloride is highly inflammable, said Peng, noting that if the vinyl chloride is not burnt completely, it will release more toxic dioxins and phosgene. Dioxins is very difficult to degrade naturally, and once it permeates into soil, may remain there for decades, Peng said. He noted that the grains produced from this soil will cause cancer and mutation inside human bodies.

Health experts also called US authorities' handling of the Ohio derailment "irresponsible and unscientific."

Ding Xuejia, a professor from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, said that controlled burn is a wrong way to deal with vinyl chloride, noting that after being burnt, the vinyl chloride will release substances that are many times more toxic as the gas itself. Those toxic substances can enter human bodies, go into water body and air, and cause serious damage to people and the environment, said Ding.

He predicted without further interference, the aftermath of the incident will linger for at least 20 years or even longer, and probably will lead to surge of number of cancer patients. He urged local residents to take timely health check just in case.

The US, as a benchmark that leads global technology, has set up a very bad example in handling such hazard situation, which will cause negative impact on handling risks in chemical industries globally, said Ding.

Toxic politics

Apart from fear, some Americans also expressed outrage as they believe the government is hiding information from the public, and that the mainstream media barely reported the accident until most recently.

Stew Peters, a US journalist, posted on Twitter on Monday with shocking video of the explosion saying that "This is Ohio's Chernobyl. Ohio: Dead fish and cattle being reported as far as 100 miles away from the site. Journalists covering the story have been arrested. What the HELL is going on?"

US law enforcement officers interrupted NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert as he broadcast from the disaster zone and arrested the journalist on February 8 under the name of criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. The police insisted that a confrontation occurred between Lambert and a National Guard official after the journalist was told to stop speaking during the Ohio governor's remarks on the train derailment.

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a Tuesday briefing that why some self-labeled free and unbiased media have deliberately ignored the incident such as the Ohio train derailment, which is detrimental to American people's health?

The incident, however, has picked up steam on Chinese social media in recent days. As of time of press, three or the 50 most searched topics on China's Sina Weibo were related to the Ohio incident. Hashtag "release of vinyl chloride in Ohio has caused evacuation of residents" has been read on Weibo more than 59 million times as of press time.

Many netizens even wondered whether the US recent hyping of Chinese balloon, which happened at almost the same time as the train derailment incident, is a move deployed by the US government to divert the public's attention. Zhang Zan [pseudonym], a Chinese student in Ohio said she saw little mainstream media coverage of the story in previous days. "The newspaper is full of the Chinese balloon stories, and now the media is dominated by the Super Bowl."

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, believes that the US media's early ignorance of Ohio chemical leak incident is aimed at deliberately diverting public's attention, and reflected a toxic trend in the US media and political circle.

"US media are very biased and selective of news topics. Compared with such a terrible incident that concerns lives of hundreds of thousands, they believe a balloon story is more eyeball-grabbing," said Li, explaining that media's ignorance of the incident is a result of a domestic political atmosphere that has been poisoned for years with the so-called China threat, and Washington has long hyped outside "threat" to divert public dissatisfaction on US domestic affairs.

The Ohio accident actually exposed the fact that US is suffering from "political cancer" as the government now whisked away simmering public concerns over a health catastrophe, but politicians tried a repertoire of tricks to make a fuss about a harmless Chinese balloon, said Li.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce and Lanton Cloud Service Technology Co., Ltd. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation to promote the kingdom's e-commerce, said a ministry's news release on Wednesday.

The MoU was inked here on Tuesday between Lay Soksaokunthea, director-general of the Administration and Finance of the Ministry of Commerce, and Li Kun, chairman of Lanton Cloud Service Technology Co., Ltd., under the presence of Cambodia's Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak.

Under the deal, the two parties will carry out coordination and cooperation in Cambodian e-commerce through "Lanton Cloud" e-commerce platform, such as electronic payment, digital services, agricultural product export and global supply chain services.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Sorasak said the MoU was a major new achievement of the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce in the construction of public-private partnerships.

"It will promote the development and cooperation of Cambodian e-commerce, connect the automation system of the Ministry of Commerce and the private sector platform, and use "Lanton Cloud" APP to enhance the promotion of Cambodian products in local, regional and global markets," he said.

Licensed by the Ministry of Commerce in 2021, Lanton Cloud Service Technology Co., Ltd. is the first fully licensed e-commerce company in Cambodia.

"Lanton Cloud" is an e-commerce platform under the Lanmei Aviation Group, whose mission is to bring wisdom into life and make services interconnected. At present, the "Lanton Cloud" e-commerce platform --"Lanton Cloud" APP -- has reached strategic cooperation with the Chinese e-commerce platform and the source factory.

It has realized direct sales of air tickets of China Southern Airlines and many other airlines, and the tickets can be purchased through Alipay, WeChat, ABA Bank, and Wing among others, with convenient payment in RMB and U.S. dollars. 
Wyoming will receive nearly $19 million to help the state reduce levels of forever chemicals in drinking water, the Biden administration announced late Monday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to distribute $2 billion, made available by the 2021 infrastructure law, to protect drinking water across the country.

Its part of a five-year, $5 billion investment targeting contaminants of increasing concern  especially per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been found to accumulate in the human body and are linked to cancer and a number of other health problems.

Most exposure to substances occurs through ingestion, mainly via contaminated drinking water, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

The current round of EPA funding will prioritize initiatives that promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities while supporting local economies, a press release said.

Now that state environmental regulators know how much grant money theyll receive, they can start figuring out what to prioritize, said Kimberly Mazza, the state agencys public information supervisor.

Were very excited to have received this news and have received these dollars for the benefit of the community, Mazza said.

Addressing PFAS levels has been a concern for the EPA for years. Many of its actions have been aimed chiefly at improving monitoring and better understanding their health risks. But it proposed in August to designate two such chemicals as hazardous substances and regulate them accordingly.

The roughly $18.9 million EPA investment will safeguard Wyomings drinking water for years to come, said KC Becker, the agencys regional administrator, in a statement. These funds will help water providers invest in treatment technologies and solutions to contamination concerns in the communities that need them most.

It comes a little more than a year after the EPA announced $63 million for drinking water and wastewater projects in Wyoming, also under the infrastructure law, and it said it planned to give out $43 billion to states, tribes and territories over five years. The agency encouraged Wyoming and other recipients to use that money toward concerns like lead contamination and PFAS, particularly in historically underserved communities.

We are investing in America, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said at a Monday event in North Carolina, and providing billions of dollars to strengthen our nations water infrastructure while safeguarding peoples health and boosting local economies.
CHEYENNE  Some of the earliest memories of Jacob Weisz, a Cody resident, are of driving around with his dad on Wyoming dirt roads looking for public lands to hunt on.

But over decades of doing this, he said he's encountered multiple instances of public lands that were improperly gated or marked with no trespassing signs. This past fall, he and his wife were antelope hunting on state trust land when they encountered a gate with such signs on it.

"Now I have the knowledge and resources to know that the signs don't hold water," Weisz said before a House committee last month.

"But as other people have testified, there's sometimes some physical persuasion that happens, and I can see how other people, many new adult onset hunters, could get persuaded by the scare tactics and be deprived of a hunting experience on our cherished Wyoming public lands."

The Legislature passed on Tuesday a bill aimed at addressing that problem.

House Bill 147, sponsored by Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, bars people from knowingly posting no trespass signs on state and federal land with "the intent to prevent or hinder the lawful taking of any wildlife." Under current state statute, violation of the proposed law would result in a misdemeanor.

The bill, which has nine cosponsors, specifies that "knowingly" means the person has received prior notice from law enforcement that the sign is located on public land. The legislation specifies that it won't interfere with landowners' rights to prevent trespass on their private property.

The legislation would take effect in July.

Provenza said at a committee meeting last month that she had "heard from folks across the state" about no trespassing signs being posted in areas that are clearly public land.

Several Wyomingites shared their own experiences of this during public comment.

Wyoming resident Josh Metten was hunting elk with his son when a landowner on a four wheeler chased off the elk they were pursuing and yelled at them to get off his property, even though maps showed they were on public land. Buzz Hettick, co-chair of Wyoming Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, recalled a landowner posting a no trespassing sign on a swath of public land where he had been elk hunting. The county sheriff told him to ignore the sign and continue his hunt.

"This is the kind of thing that this bill is trying to address," Hettick said. "I don't appreciate having my public lands blocked like this. It's not appropriate. It's not fair. It's dishonest."

The bill sailed through both chambers of the Legislature with strong support, receiving just one no vote in the House and six no votes on its last reading in the Senate. Gaining Gov. Mark Gordon's signature is the last hurdle the bill has to clear before becoming law.

Wyoming's highest-scoring trophy animals in the Boone and Crockett record books First place, whitetail deer (typical) First place, whitetail deer (non-typical) Second place, whitetail deer (non-typical) Third place, whitetail deer (non-typical) Second place, mule deer (typical) Third place, mule deer (typical) Fourth place, mule deer (typical) Third place, mule deer (non-typical) First place, American elk (typical) First place, American elk (non-typical) Second place, American elk (typical) First place, moose Second place, moose Third place, moose First place, pronghorn Second place, pronghorn First place, bighorn sheep Fourth place, bighorn sheep Third place, mountain lion Fourth place, mountain lion 12th place, black bear 13th place, black bear First place, Rocky Mountain goat Second place, Rocky Mountain goat Third place, Rocky Mountain goat First place, bison Second place, bison Third place, bison Top-ranked trophies without photos Here are the state record-holding trophies for which there are no photographs available. Mule deer (typical) SCORE: 217

HUNTER: Unknown

LOCATION: Unknown

DATE: 1925

OWNER: Jackson Hole Museum Mule deer (non-typical) SCORE: 293 7/8

HUNTER: J.B. Marvin, Jr.

LOCATION: Unknown

DATE: 1924 Black bear SCORE: 22 11/16

HUNTER: Quinn M. Ruonavaara

LOCATION: Teton County

DATE: 2013 Mountain lion SCORE: 16 1/16

HUNTER: Scott M. Moore

LOCATION: Park County

DATE: 1993 Grizzly bear SCORE: 25 10/16

HUNTER: Picked up

LOCATION: Eagle Creek

DATE: 1961

OWNER: L.L. Lutz & H. Sanford
A Laramie church elder received a trespass warning from police in December after he showed up in his car outside the University of Wyoming sorority that admitted a transgender woman whom he targeted in a sign days earlier, emails between university administration and staff show.

The encounter occurred only hours before the university suspended Todd Schmidts tabling privileges for a year for naming the student on a sign that challenged her gender identity. But the school says the trespass warning did not factor into its decision.

Schmidt told the Star-Tribune on Wednesday that he rang the doorbell of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house after making a DoorDash delivery there with the intention of having "a conversation" with sorority members. He said that he specifically wanted to talk with the transgender student.

While the university has previously acknowledged the tabling incident involving Schmidt, emails obtained by the Star-Tribune in a public records request revealed for the first time that Schmidt had shown up outside the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority five days later.

This afternoon our staff was called to the [Kappa Kappa Gamma] sorority in reference to additional activity related to Fridays Union incident, University of Wyoming Police Chief Michael Samp wrote in a Dec. 7 email to university officials, including General Counsel Tara Evans. The preacher in that case showed up outside the sorority in his vehicle and started asking questions about the house leadership. Our staff located Schmidt and issued him a trespass warning for that location.

A female student who was not part of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority called police from sorority row at around 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, a police call log included in the records request shows.

University of Wyoming spokesperson Chad Baldwin said this week that Schmidt, who has preached at the campus for years and is a Laramie Faith Community Church elder, had asked the student's "opinion about a biological male being a part of a sorority." The student asked to be left alone several times, but Schmidt persisted with questions until she walked away, Baldwin said.

Sign controversy

In September, the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority accepted a transgender student into its ranks, becoming the first sorority to do so in the university's history, the UW Branding Iron first reported. News of the sorority's acceptance of a transgender student soon spread across state and national media.

On Dec. 2, Schmidt set up a table at the University of Wyoming's union breezeway with a sign targeting the transgender student. The sign stated that "God Created Male and Female and [the students name] is a male." A university official told Schmidt to remove the students name. He complied and was allowed to stay in the breezeway.

The breezeway incident followed what multiple people in the UW community have said is a pattern of behavior for Schmidt that spans over a decade, interviews and emails turned over with the public records request show.

Students have told the Star-Tribune that Schmidt is well known for making inflammatory remarks about LGBTQ issues and persistently approaching students who dont want to engage in conversation. Emails from alumni and staff to UW administrators reiterate similar descriptions of his reputation on campus.

The Dec. 2 incident, however, was the first time Schmidt had named a specific student on a sign, Schmidt previously told the Star-Tribune. He said he chose to do so because the student was already well known.

Schmidt called the directive to take down the student's name from his sign a violation of his free speech rights and maintained that he doesnt hate anyone, but is trying to preach the Gospel.

"They don't like what we have to say because we tell them what the Bible says. But it's because we love people and they need to know what the Bible says about sin so that they see their need for a savior, and they'll be saved," Schmidt told the Star-Tribune on Wednesday. "That's the point, but I understand that people don't like what the Bible says. I understand that. That doesn't mean we're going to stop saying what it says."

University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel said in a Dec. 5 message to the UW community that while Schmidt "engaged in heated exchanges with students and perhaps others throughout the afternoon, these interactions were not in obvious violation of UW policies."

Seidel's initial message regarding the tabling incident was met with considerable condemnation from the UW community for not taking stronger action against Schmidt. Many said that his singling out of the student could be a safety concern, particularly given the current political climate around transgender issues. Seidel issued another message on Dec. 7 announcing that UW administration had decided to suspend Schmidt's tabling rights for a year.

Call to police

Schmidt had received the trespass warning shortly before the school announced the suspension of his tabling privileges, the emails show.

The University of Wyoming Police Department's daily activity report for Dec. 7, which was included in the records request, shows that the police department received a call around 2 p.m. from the student Schmidt had encountered on sorority row. One officer responded and ultimately asked Schmidt to come to the University of Wyoming Police Department, where he was issued a notice of trespass, Baldwin said. That notice was a warning, Samp indicated in his email.

According to Baldwin, Schmidt said he was doing a DoorDash delivery on sorority row.

Schmidt told the Star-Tribune that the DoorDash delivery was specifically for the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. He said he doesn't frequently make deliveries to houses on sorority row. After he had dropped off the order, he decided to go back to the house and ring the door bell with the intention of speaking with sorority members, and specifically with the transgender student. (According to the emails, the student doesn't actually live at the house.)

No one came to the door, so he went back to his car.

Back in his car, Schmidt said he saw the female student walking by and rolled down his window to ask her thoughts about the transgender student being a member of the sorority. He said the student recognized him as the person involved in the tabling incident and didn't want to engage in conversation, after which Schmidt drove away.

Schmidt said a university police officer called him at his home about an hour later and asked him to come to the police department, where the officer asked him to stay away from the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house.

Baldwin said university police increased patrols in the area in response to the incident, something which he said is standard practice. There continues to be extra patrols in the area.

According to Baldwin, Schmidt has had four other interactions with university police before: three as a suspect in disturbances, and one as a subject of harassment. Schmidt has not received citations or other warnings from university police. Schmidt said he didn't know about these other interactions and had never called university police himself before.

Baldwin said that the trespass incident didn't impact or inform the school administration's decision to suspend Schmidt's tabling rights.

"Per the Wyoming Union Policies and Operating Procedures, Schmidt will be eligible to return to reservation-making in the breezeway in spring 2024, with the continued expectation of adhering to the Wyoming Union and university policies," Baldwin said in an email.

Though Schmidt is barred from tabling in the Wyoming Union for a year, he is still allowed on other parts of UWs campus. On Dec. 9, following the suspension of his tabling rights, the Star-Tribune encountered Schmidt preaching outside the Wyoming Union in Simpson Plaza, one of the campus First Amendment zones.

PHOTOS: University of Wyoming community responds to breezeway incident University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming Riley Skorcz Todd Schmidt Todd Schmidt University of Wyoming
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.
CHAGUANAS nightlife is said to be declining as random crimes increase, with food vendors and bar operators calling yesterday for better arrest rates to stop repeat criminals.

Once booming mostly as a result of plentiful fast food options, the Chaguanas Main Road is still a go-to for doubles and gyros but now shows much less activity after dark than in years past.
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.
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 14, 2023 shows tourists visiting Kelingking Cliff in Nusa Penida Island of Bali province, Indonesia. Steep cliffs, clear beaches, and different shapes of small islands make it a place for many tourists both home and abroad to see its beauty. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)
A deadly crash on Interstate 10 on Tucson's southeast side that caused a nitric acid spill on Tuesday afternoon is expected to continue to snarl traffic Wednesday morning, officials said.

The crash forced the closure of I-10 between Kolb and Rita roads on Tuesday, Feb. 14, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety warned that motorists in the area should anticipate disruptions Wednesday morning.

Both directions of traffic near Kolb Road remained closed Wednesday morning as crews continued to deal with the wreckage.

All eastbound traffic was being forced to exit at or before Kolb Road; westbound traffic had to exit at or before Houghton Road, the state Transportation Department said Wednesday morning in a news release.

In addition, the agency said following ramps were closed Wednesday morning:

Kolb Road (eastbound)

Houghton Road (westbound)

Rita Road (westbound)

In Tuesday's crash, a commercial truck hauling liquid nitric acid in a box trailer rolled over on I-10 about 2:45 p.m. near Kolb Road. The driver was killed.

Nitric acid can be used to make ammonium nitrate for fertilizers and in the manufacture of plastics and dyes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nitric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless liquid with yellow or red fumes and can cause an acrid smell, the Associated Press reported.

Exposure to nitric acid can irritate the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes. Depending on the dosage, it also can also cause delayed pulmonary edema, pneumonitis, bronchitis, and dental erosion, AP reported.

No information about the driver has been released.

Soon after the crash, an emergency alert told people within one mile of the wreck to shelter in place while people within a half-mile were evacuated, the state Department of Public Safety said. The larger affected area was loosely bound by Kolb and Houghton roads between Valencia and Voyager roads.

People also were advised to turn off heaters and air conditioning units that bring in outside air, the alert continued.

Another alert was issued early Wednesday recommending people in the area continue to shelter in place.

Vail schools disrupted

The Vail School District, with campuses in the area, asked parents to pick up children as soon as possible and moved children who were participating in outdoor afterschool activities indoors. On Tuesday night, the district alerted parents that due to the ongoing traffic concerns, school start times and bus routes would be pushed back by two hours on Wednesday.

"We are being told that clean-up is expected to take until roughly 8 a.m. tomorrow morning," Vail Superintendent John Carruth said. "DPS is already warning of disruptions to morning commutes in our area."

Early Wednesday morning, the district announced that classes at five campuses would be canceled completely.

Vail Academy and High School, Cottonwood Elementary, Desert Willow Elementary, Desert Sky Middle and Mesquite Elementary were closed after DPS reissued a shelter in place order at 4:55 a.m. for areas within a one-mile radius of the accident scene.

The district also canceled zero hour classes for high school students, its Vail Inclusive Preschool and Prekindergarten morning sessions at two campuses, and field trips scheduled before 11 a.m.

Despite the late start, school dismissal times will remain the same, afterschool activities will be held and bus routes will run as scheduled, Carruth said.

For more information about the closure and crash, go to azdps.gov/news/ims/92. For more information about the Vail School District's delayed start, go to facebook.com/vailschooldistrict.
Outlying areas of the Tucson Metro area reported snowfall early Wednesday.

Portions of southeast Arizona also were reporting snow this morning, the National Wether Service in Tucson said in Facebook.

A band of precipitation was moving to the east. It was expected to lease the area by 10 this morning, the Weather Service says.

It said a hard freeze warning is in effect for much of southeast Arizona Thursday morning.

Cold temperatures are expected overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning.

Near record to record low temperatures are a possibility at some locations, the agency forecast.

Today's high temperature was expected to be about 50 degrees in Tucson. The low temperature on Thursday was forecast to be about 30 degrees.

Real-time highway conditions are available on ADOTs Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov, downloading the AZ511 app, by calling 511 and through ADOTs Twitter feed, @ArizonaDOT.
Daves Hot Chicken, the national chain that got its start in a Hollywood parking lot and now has more than 100 locations in the U.S., Canada, UAE and Qatar, is opening its first Tucson location on Friday, Feb. 17.

The restaurant, at 5615 E. Broadway, near Craycroft Road, is the first of three Tucson locations franchisee Lawrence Kouri plans to open.

When I tried it at their first location in Hollywood I was blown away by the quality of it, said Kouri, who said he was impressed by the streamlined menu and that the company uses halal chicken.

Daves Hot Chicken got its start in spring 2017 when friends Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganeshyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan opened a street stand in an East Hollywood parking lot, selling spicy chicken to late-night customers. Instagram posts of the chicken and lines of customers created an immediate buzz that attracted the attention of Eater Los Angeles, the popular foodie blog whose review prompted even longer late-night lines.

By late 2017, the friends left the stand for a brick-and-mortar location in a nearby strip mall. Two years later, franchises opened up throughout Southern California, which led to national franchises in 2021; the first and only other Arizona location opened in Gilbert last year.

Daves menu is fairly simple: chicken tenders served as sliders or on their own with fries and pickles. You also can get mac and cheese or kale slaw on the side. Chicken comes in seven degrees of hot, from No Spice to Reaper.

The restaurant has attracted celebrity fans whove become stakeholders in the brand including the rapper Drake, Samuel L. Jackson, Maria Shriver, Michael Strahan and Boston Red Sox owner Tom Werner.

Despite the celebrity attention, Kouri said Daves founders never forgot how they started.

We started with a single fryer in a parking lot, he said. For us, its all about community. We want people to love our food and we give back to the community and are very involved in the community. Were extremely humbled to be in Tucson and the community has really embraced us.

The other two future Daves locations have yet to be determined.

While Tucson has a reputation for being behind on national trends, we were on track with the hot chicken craze. For the past several years, homegrown purveyors including Pops Hot Chicken and The Parish have attracted loyal followers.

Daves Hot Chicken will open at 11 a.m. Friday and will stay open until midnight. Hours after Friday: 11 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Get more information at daveshotchicken.com.
WASHINGTON  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.
A two-day severe weather threat across the South begins Wednesday with more than 20 million people under the threat of possible strong tornadoes, hail and damaging winds.

The storms will stretch from eastern Texas to western Kentucky.

Parts of eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee face the greatest threat of severe weather Wednesday, a Level 3 of 5. Late Wednesday into Thursday the area, including the cities of Memphis and Greenville, Mississippi, has the greatest potential for tornadoes, some possibly EF-2 or stronger, which can pack winds up to 135 mph.

Additionally, widely scattered severe thunderstorms are expected over parts of Texas and Oklahoma in the evening, where a Level 2 of 5 severe storm threat is present. Large hail, greater than 2 inches in diameter, is possible, in addition to damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

The same system is also bringing snow across the Four Corners region Wednesday and will produce a swath of snow from northern Kansas through southern Nebraska and central Michigan over the next 48 hours. Winter weather alerts are posted for these areas.

On Thursday, the threat of severe weather expands to nearly 50 million people from the central Gulf Coast to the eastern Great Lakes.

The morning will start with marginally severe thunderstorms in Arkansas and Louisiana. As the day goes on and temperatures rise, the storms will become stronger as they enter Mississippi and Alabama.

There will again be the threat of tornadoes, including some that could be strong, this time over eastern Mississippi and western Alabama in the afternoon and early evening hours.

The Ohio Valley will also be under threat of damaging winds and possible tornadoes in the afternoon and evening.

As the sun sets Thursday, the severe threats will diminish as the line of storms moves into eastern Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida panhandle.

The-CNN-Wire
BRUSSELS  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg played down on Tuesday the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the worlds 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 Russias 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.
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."
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writers:

This statement is from the Cotter Family  the mother and siblings of Kathleen Meixner, widow of Thomas Meixner. (Jocelyn Cotter, Lisa Kirsch, Kevin Cotter, Amy Monreal and Colin Cotter).

We are deeply appreciative of the U of A Faculty Senate committees safety report and are disgusted by the U of A administrations response.

Our brother-in-law and son-in-law Tom Meixner was murdered in his campus building after teaching a class last Oct. 5. Shortly after Toms murder, the University of Arizona Faculty Senate, under the leadership of Dr. Leila Hudson, commissioned an investigation of campus safety. This meant a lot to our family because the committee members, led by Dr. Jenny Lee, care deeply for the university and its students, staff, and faculty, just like Tom did in his professional life. They want to make sure that colleges and departments can move forward knowing that their leadership has an active plan to create a safe environment on campus. We know Tom would stand and work with them.

The interim report by the General Faculty Committee on University Safety for All exceeded our expectations in terms of its scope, depth, and meaningful conclusions. The committee members volunteered 1,000-plus hours of their time, engaging in interviews of diverse groups, and researching the circumstances of Toms murder and three other safety-related incidents on campus. 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. The fact that the report was unanimously approved by the UA Faculty Senate speaks volumes about the importance of the committees work. They have demonstrated courageous leadership.

We were extremely disappointed and angry with the U of As response to the Safety for All report.

There was no acknowledgment of the importance of the committees work. Particularly upsetting, the administration made a specific statement that the interim report represents 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, We encourage everyone to await the comprehensive PAX Group report, which will contain the assessment of experts based on countless hours of interviews and a thorough review of all relevant information and documentation. Rather than acknowledging the thorough work of the committee and reserving judgment until the PAX Group shares its findings, the university communicates a posture that is dismissive of dedicated faculty members who want to protect their UA 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.

We were grateful to have the opportunity to virtually attend the Faculty Senate meeting last week to learn how the members responded to the Safety for All report and to witness the unanimous vote for its approval. We were also grateful that a Senate member asked President Robbins about accountability, and he responded, 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...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. Mistakes that were made in terms of communication, I believe, I think as we go through and give time for due process and the full report, I think that we can have those discussions at the end.

Our family does not accept Robbins taking sole responsibility, given that he did not know about the threats ahead of time. What does accountability mean in this situation at the highest level of the University of Arizona administration? Legitimate accountability needs to occur in all of the specific areas of incompetence and weakness in the system.

It is our hope that the Safety for All report and the PAX report in tandem will provide a roadmap for safety improvements at the University moving forward, but that cannot happen unless the U of A reckons with the road that led to Toms murder, which was reported in depth by the General Faculty Committee on University Safety for All. The University of Arizona needs courageous leadership at this moment. 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.

On Feb. 13, the UA responded to this family statement that safety on campus is a top priority for President Robbins. It is our greatest hope that not just President Robbins, but the entire UA administration, is committed to making real safety improvements.

However, words from all UA representatives matter to build trust with the campus community to move forward from this tragedy. And actions matter even more.
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani officials gave the credit for ending hours-long power outages to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which enabled it to overcome the energy crisis, the country's ministry of planning, development, and special initiatives said here.

In an interaction with officials from Kuwait during a conference, "Effective Nuclear and Radiation Regulatory Systems: Preparing for the Future in Rapidly Changing Environment," taking place in Abu Dhabi, the officials also discussed opportunities offered by the CPEC for the investors, a Tuesday night statement by the ministry said.

Ahsan Iqbal, the planning minister, who is representing Pakistan at the conference, discussed enhancing access to the Kuwaiti market for Pakistani products as well as the labor force during the interaction.

Kuwait's Minister for Finance Abdul Wahab Al-Rasheed said at the meeting that there is a lot of room for expanding the economic cooperation between both countries and proposed follow-up meetings to implement the ideas which were discussed during the meeting.

"It is hoped that the meeting will help expand the ambit of Pak-Kuwait relations by tapping the potential that both markets have presented," the statement said. 
A Tulsa woman died Wednesday morning after a car crash about a mile south of Sand Springs.

Virginia McGlothlin, 60, was a passenger in a 2016 Chevrolet Trax when the crash with a 2013 Honda Pilot occurred on Oklahoma 97 at 61st Street just after 7:15 a.m., according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Troopers said the driver, a 17-year-old, failed to yield at a stop sign, according to an OHP spokeswoman.

McGlothlin and the 17-year-old driver were taken to hospitals, and McGlothlin later died, troopers reported. The teenager was admitted and was stable, troopers reported.

Troopers said the Honda driver, a 34-year-old Sapulpa woman, and her 8-year-old passenger were also hospitalized.

The collision remains under investigation, according to the preliminary crash report. Its unclear whether those involved were wearing seat belts.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  A state Senate panel on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation to boost teacher pay.

The Senate Education Committee approved a bill that would increase state minimum teacher salaries, which would give all public school educators a bump of $3,000 to $6,000 based on their years of experience.

While the decision on whether to grant teachers pay raises this year will ultimately be worked out through the state budget process, Tuesdays committee hearing signaled growing legislative support for an across-the-board pay hike.

Senate Bill 482 by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, proposes raising the state minimum teacher salary from $36,601 to $39,601 annually. The bill is part of a package of education reforms Pugh is pushing this year.

I think there are significant steps the state needs to intentionally and very publicly take to show teachers that were serious about the work that theyre doing, Pugh said.

Amid a widespread teacher shortage, Oklahoma needs to do something to keep its educators from leaving the profession or going to teach in neighboring states, he said. Pugh noted that Arkansas governor just called for a $14,000 increase in minimum teacher pay that would start salaries at $50,000 a year.

Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, also noted that the governor of Texas is calling for $15,000 teacher pay raises.

Are we concerned that as were in this national competition for talent that what were doing is woefully behind? she asked Pugh in the committee hearing.

He responded that Oklahomas cost of living is more affordable than Texas. He also said he hopes the Legislature boosts teacher pay this year and talks about pay raises again next year.

Under SB 482, first- through fourth-year teachers would see $3,000 pay raises. Teachers with between five and 14 years of experience would receive pay raises of $4,000 or $5,000. Teachers with 15 or more years of experience would see $6,000 pay bumps.

The pay raises would cost about $241 million.

Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters are pushing for merit-based teacher pay raises. The details of any teacher pay raises granted this year are likely to be worked out later this legislative session in closed-door budget talks between top lawmakers and representatives from the Governors Office.

On average, Oklahoma teachers earn about $54,000 annually.

The Legislature last boosted teacher pay in 2019 with an across-the-board raise of about $1,200. Lawmakers approved teacher pay raises of $6,100 in 2018.

The committee also passed several other bills that are part of Pughs education plan.

Pugh found bipartisan support for legislation to offer 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and to provide $500 stipends to mentor teachers who help first-year educators.

The committee also approved legislation to create what Pugh called the most aggressive scholarship program in the state aimed at graduating more teachers from colleges and universities and getting those graduates into classrooms.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  The governing board over Oklahomas online public charter schools heard Catholic leaders pitch for state sponsorship and taxpayer funding for what would be the first religious charter school in the country.

Critics of the idea, meanwhile, urged the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to deny the application for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, named for a sixth-century Catholic bishop and scholar who is patron saint of the internet and technology.

The application calls for a Catholic school, not a public school, that could enroll as many as 500 students at the outset and 1,500 by the fifth year of operation  and be funded by Oklahoma taxpayers.

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa worked with attorneys at the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Clinic for 18 months on the application, which is considered a test case bound for litigation.

Lara Schuler, senior director of Catholic education at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, told the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board on Tuesday that there are 180 to 190 Catholic parishes across Oklahoma but only 32 Catholic schools, located primarily in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas, with the exception of Ponca City and Enid.

She said St. Isidore could serve families in rural Oklahoma for whom distance and cost are barriers to a Catholic school education, as well as current Catholic school students in need of access to additional coursework.

Board Chairman Robert Franklin asked if such needs for online Catholic school exist, why hasnt the church addressed those on its own without seeking to take on the additional bureaucracy and oversight of government involvement?

When we get away from the metropolitan areas and we are looking at the population and their ability to afford tuition for Catholic virtual school, thats a real consideration, Schuler said. And if were competing against all other virtual schools, but all of the other ones are free, thats a problem. And the taxpayer dollars are paying for all of those other ones, but our parents are paying taxes, too.

Oklahomas current law states that charter school sponsors may not authorize a charter school or program that is affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution. And any charter schools programs, admission policies, employment practices and all other operations shall be nonsectarian, which means not involving or relating to a specific religious sect or political group.

But late last year before leaving office, then-Oklahoma Attorney General John OConnor issued an advisory opinion that the states current ban on publicly funded charter schools being operated by sectarian and religious organizations could be a violation of the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment and therefore should not be enforced.

Advisory opinions from the Attorney Generals Office are legally nonbinding unless an Oklahoma district court determines that it should be binding, but OConnors opinion served as a green light to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to proceed.

Schuler gave a lengthy presentation about Catholic leaders vision for the new online school, including standards for attendance and an academic program infused with religious faith.

Franklin asked how religious indoctrination is incorporated into instruction in Catholic schools, such as the proposed St. Isidore.

Schuler responded that it is required every day.

For example, she explained that theology is incorporated with history and social studies classes and that social-emotional learning programs include ones named Friendzy and Responsive Classroom, as well as Virtues in Practice, which she described as specifically Catholic in nature and illustrated with the virtues that various saints represent.

Catholic faith is a required course all the way through. It is a spiraling curriculum, she said.

The boards newest member, Nellie Tayloe Sanders, asked about differentiated instruction to be offered for students with special learning needs, and Schuler said dyslexia is the area of greatest need for existing Catholic schools in the state. Franklin asked about the proposed Catholic schools capacity to enroll high needs special education students.

Currently in our schools, we dont see that very often. That is something we will need to develop, Schuler responded.

In explaining St. Isidores proposed governance and operations, she said the Archdiocese Education Management Service  the same one that serves existing Catholic private schools  would provide such things as curriculum design, information technology components and marketing.

After the meeting, Franklin said the St. Isidore application presentation left him with many questions unanswered.

Im wondering where is the need? Where are those employees? Where are those students theyre looking to serve  and was it generated from interest in the legal process, or was it generated from a clamoring that says we need this desperately? Franklin told the Tulsa World. Hurdle one is: Is it constitutional for us to do it or not? And that is obviously open to legal interpretation.

The board has 90 days from the date of application to approve or deny it, which means a vote must be taken by the end of April at the latest. But Franklin said that as far as he is concerned, he would like the applicants to receive the boards response as soon as possible.

The boards next scheduled meeting is March 14.

Critics offered public comment

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written to the board twice in the last two weeks explaining its stance that former Attorney General John OConnors opinion misinterprets the nature of Oklahoma charter schools under the states existing law.

The organizations senior litigation counsel, Kenneth Upton, a native of Oklahoma and an Oklahoma City University School of Law alumnus, signed up for public comment on Tuesday and told the board on that state sponsorship of a proposed charter school that has vowed to teach religion, sponsor prayer and be a place of evangelization would represent a sea change in the law and not be in Oklahomas best interest.

Do your duty to uphold the constitution, Upton said.

Sherri Brown, with the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee, or OKPLAC, a statewide, nonprofit coalition of education advocacy groups, urged board members during public comments to keep solid the wall between church and state established in our states constitution in how they vote.

One of the most fundamental principles of religious freedom is that the government should never tax any of its citizens to pay for somebody elses religion, Brown said. Do not sacrifice constitutional rights at the altar of school choice.
Related Content DOCUMENT: Sample ballot for Broken Arrow vote on PSO franchise agreement

Broken Arrow residents have voted to continue a 25-year franchise agreement between the city and Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

In a special election Tuesday, more than 68% of voters approved the agreement, in which customers will pay a new 1% fee to be used at the citys discretion for economic development initiatives. The average residential customer can expect to pay about $1.25 more per month when the new agreement takes effect within 30 days.

A 2% franchise fee, in place since the previous agreement was approved in 1998, generates about $2.4 million annually and funds multiple government services, City Manager Michael Spurgeon said. The additional 1% would be earmarked for economic development initiatives, including infrastructure improvements and incentives for businesses expanding or relocating to Broken Arrow.

The private sector has choices about where to locate its operations, and we are consistently competing with other communities to attract new business to Broken Arrow, he said in a statement.

The 1% fee is estimated to raise just over $1 million annually, Spurgeon said, with about 50% to 60% of the revenue used for maintenance and repair of rights of way, as well as public health and safety improvements, and the balance going toward an incentive fund.

The most important part of the franchise agreement is that it gives PSO the right to use city streets, alleys and rights of way to service its electrical grid, PSO spokesman Wayne Greene said ahead of the vote. That speeds our response to storms and to extending service to new customers in a fast-growing city.

Mayor Debra Wimpee said city staff began working on the new franchise more than a year ago. She said it allows PSO to respond most efficiently during weather emergencies and when power outages are reported.

It is encouraging to see residents exercising their right to vote and approving this agreement to help improve BA for the next quarter century, Wimpee said in a statement.

PSO President Leigh Anne Strahler thanked the community for the vote of confidence Tuesday.

PSO and Broken Arrow have been partners for decades, Strahler said in a statement. Franchise renewal means that successful relationship will continue for years to come.

Featured video: State receives $85 million mega grant for I-44/U.S. 75 interchange
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and four others injured in an explosion in a coal mine in Kohat district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the rescue service said.

According to the reports, the incident took place on Tuesday in a coal mine, located in Darra Adam Khel area of the district, in which four miners got trapped following the blast.

The rescuers reached the site and recovered the victims after a rescue operation with the help of local volunteers, local media said, adding that one person died while four were injured.

One of the victims included a volunteer who got injured during the rescue operation, the rescue service said.

An investigation was underway to determine the reason for the blast. 
Two prominent House members targeted by big school-choice money in last years Republican primaries played an interesting card Tuesday in the high-stakes fight for control of the states public education system and the $7 billion that passes through it each year.

House Bill 2562, by state Reps. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, and Mark McBride, R-Moore, would dilute the governors near-total control of the Oklahoma State Board of Education. It cleared the House Common Education Committee, which Baker chairs, on a unanimous 9-0 vote with no discussion or debate.

Baker and McBride, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education, are listed as HB 2562s authors on the bill and the committee agenda, but McBride presented it and is described as the author in a press release issued by the two later in the day.

I wanted the House and the Senate to have seats at the table where education decisions are being made that affect the entire state of Oklahoma, McBride said in that release. And I wanted to ensure we are picking people with actual real-world public school experience.

McBride and Baker have opposed the sort of private school subsidization promoted by Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Superintendent Ryan Walters. Along with several others, they were subjects of an expensive attack ad campaign during last years Republican primaries.

HB 2562 would add four members to the existing seven-member State Board of Education. Two would be appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives and two by the president of the Senate.

The bill further specifies that at least one of the speakers appointees must be a former superintendent of a district of fewer than 10,000 students and that one of the president pro tems must be a former superintendent of a district with more than 10,000 students.

The latest student data lists only 13 districts, including Epic Virtual Charter, with headcount enrollments of at least 10,000.

Currently, the state board consists of the elected state superintendent and six members appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate. A 2011 change in the law, though, allows the governor to replace the six appointed members at will; previously, members could be replaced only for cause.

The governors appointments represent each of the states five congressional districts plus one at-large member.

A companion bill, HB 2678, bars serving on both a local and the state school board simultaneously.

Also Tuesday, the House Public Safety Committee advanced legislation that would essentially outlaw the sort of citizen law enforcement oversight body that Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and local policing reform activists have sought in recent years.

HB 2161, by Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, would require that two-thirds of the members, staff, (and) employees of any entity that investigates or recommends discipline for officer misconduct must be certified law officers.

Ford, a former Tulsa police officer, acknowledged that the requirement is so restrictive that it would have excluded the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation from looking into such charges had the bill not been amended.

Bynum and the others tried for several years to implement an office of independent monitor, separate from the Tulsa Police Department, to review use-of-force incidents and policy.

State Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, said the bill is another example of law enforcement protecting itself at the expense of citizens with legitimate complaints.

All of this has to do with issues were dealing with today and have for 30 or more years, chipping away at the rights of citizens, Goodwin said.

Ford disagreed.

We want to make sure we have experts judging these tactics and actions, he said. If you have a complaint against a doctor, you go to the medical board. All of them are doctors. If you have a complaint against a judge, you go to a judiciary board. Were saying only two-thirds have to be law officers.

We want to make sure law officers are treated right, he said. We want to make sure the public is treated right.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit gender-affirming care to minors who are transgender.

Senate Bill 613, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, passed 40-8 with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposing it.

Violations would be a felony subject to license revocation and a civil suit brought by a parent, guardian or next of friend to the child. Next of friend is not defined in the act.

A child could file suit until the age of 45, Daniels said.

Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, asked why the Legislature wanted to take away a parents right to make medical decisions about their child.

Daniels said the law would hit the pause button until transgender children reach a level of maturity.

My main concern with this bill is very, very simple, Floyd said. This is an attack on parents rights. This is taking away from parents their right to make medical decisions for their child. You may not agree with that medical decision, and that is fine.

She said letting the Legislature pick and choose what medical procedures are allowed is a very slippery slope.

Sen. Jo Anna Dossett, D-Tulsa, said lawmakers heard that parents are helpless pushovers and need government to hold their hand until a child turns 18.

Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, said kids are being told lies that they can transition from one gender to another.

There is no spectrum of choice, he said. You are a boy. You are a girl.

He said people are cashing in on transgender care and said it involves horrific surgeries with cascading consequences.

Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, assured senators that they were doing the right thing by passing the measure.

You cannot cure confusion with a knife, Bullard said.

Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, said he disagreed vehemently with those who accuse supporters of the bill of not caring or having compassion.

We do care, and that is why we are supporting this bill, Bergstrom said.

The measure now moves to the House for consideration.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has expressed support for the concept.

Tamya Cox-Toure, ACLU of Oklahoma executive director, said there is no evidence that people are being pushed into care.

Gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and the ACLU of Oklahoma and our partners are determined to fight these baseless laws at the Capitol or in the courts, she said.

Going against the guidance of every major medical and mental health association, this bill brings the state one step closer toward stripping transgender and nonbinary young people of their right to receive best-practice medical care, said Troy Stevenson, director of state advocacy campaigns at The Trevor Project.

At the same time, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs praised the measures passage.

The idea that we would ban a child from smoking cigarettes but allow them to receive life-altering surgeries or cross-sex hormones has never made sense, and members of the Senate deserve credit for advancing this common-sense protection for minors, said Jonathan Small, OCPA president.

Also Wednesday, the Houses version of the legislation  House Bill 2177 by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore  advanced from the House Public Health Committee over the strenuous objections of the panels lone Democrat, Trish Ranson of Stillwater.

Similar to the Senate measure, HB 2177 would ban gender-reassignment treatments for minors and would forbid health insurance plans from covering such procedures. It also would bar state-supported medical facilities from such procedures on all patients, regardless of age.

Lifting language from child sexual abuse statutes, the bill would allow individuals who do undergo gender reassignment procedures to sue those involved until the patient reaches age 45.

Randy Krehbiel contributed to this story.

Tulsa-area state legislators and how to contact them Sen. Nathan Dahm Sen. Dana Prieto Sen. Jo Anna Dossett Sen. John Haste Sen. Todd Gollihare Sen. Kevin Matthews Sen. Joe Newhouse Sen. Dave Rader Sen. Cody Rogers Rep. Meloyde Blancett Rep. Jeff Boatman Rep. Amanda Swope Rep. Suzanne Schreiber 032823-tul-nws-davis-dean Rep. Mark Tedford Rep. Scott Fetgatter Rep. Ross Ford Rep. Regina Goodwin Rep. Kyle Hilbert Rep. Mark Lawson Rep. T.J. Marti Rep. Stan May Rep. Monroe Nichols Rep. Clay Staires Rep. Terry O'Donnell Rep. Melissa Provenzano Rep. Lonnie Sims Rep. John Kane Rep. Mark Vancuren Rep. John Waldron Check out our latest digital-only offer and subscribe now
WELLINGTON, New Zealand  A cyclone that left a devastating wake of extensive flooding and landslides in New Zealand has claimed at least four lives and police have "grave concerns" for other residents who remain unaccounted for, the prime minister said Wednesday.

Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Monday and brought more destruction to this nation of 5 million than any weather event in decades.

Police said at least four people were confirmed killed by the storm, including a child caught in rising water on Hawke's Bay. All four fatalities occurred near the same North Island east coast bay  two in landslides and two by drowning.

A weather station in the Hawke's Bay region recorded three times more rain over Monday night than usually falls for the entire month of February, authorities said.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said it was unclear how many people remained unaccounted for, with several communities still isolated by floodwaters, landslides and telecommunications outages.

Police said 1,442 people were reported uncontactable in the North Island as of Wednesday afternoon.

"We expect the vast majority of these people will be accounted for. However, there are several people missing for whom police do hold grave concerns," Hipkins said.
In July 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still complicated, a Vietnamese girl came to the U.S. to teach her mother tongue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). This was the first Vietnamese teaching course at the university after a 15-year hiatus. The girl, named Ton Nu Tuong Vy, has traveled to 36 countries and territories worldwide to learn about the education, culture, and daily life of local residents. Different reasons to love Vietnamese The Vietnamese language course at UNC was organized in the framework of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program, which lasts for nine months. As it was an optional subject, students channeled great effort into their studies. In Vys class, there were mainly Vietnamese Americans, together with two native students with various reasons to learn Vietnamese. One of them had a Vietnamese friend and wanted to understand her friend better. Another students grandmother is Vietnamese but she could not understand what her grandmother said. Due to her love for her late grandmother, she wanted to learn Vietnamese as a way to connect with her origin. Although she is a unique student [in my class] who has had no opportunity to speak or write Vietnamese in her family like other students, she tries harder to learn Vietnamese than anyone, Vy said. Vy recalled that 15 years ago, an American teacher, after a trip to Vietnam, decided to open a class to teach Vietnamese to help Americans understand the Southeast Asian country better. After the professor retired, no one took over his class and the Vietnamese course was put on hold. Until 2021, when the number of UNC students who had a demand for learning Vietnamese increased, the university resumed the Vietnamese class. Vy came to the U.S. and got the job in early August. Teaching a special curriculum, Vy had to find books and documents to prepare her lesson plans. She visited many bookstores, searched on the Internet, and asked her acquaintances to summarize and select materials for her lessons. Vy also organized extracurricular activities, let her students watch and discuss movies, such as Mat Biec (Dreamy Eyes) and Da Co Hoai Lang (Missing Husband at Nightfall), and held activities centered around Tet and Valentines Day. In addition, Vy invited students from Fulbright University Vietnam to share Vietnams folklore online. During these activities, Vys students in the U.S. asked many questions. For example, after watching Mat Biec, they asked about the Hue University of Education and wondered why Vys ao dai (a Vietnamese traditional outfit) was colorful, while schoolgirls in Thua Thien Hue Province, central Vietnam wore only white ao dai to school. This was an exchange and pronunciation practice opportunity for students. Vy was always willing to give private tuition to students who failed to keep pace with their classmates. A formal class lasts for 50 minutes, while private classes take two hours each. I voluntarily help and hope my Vietnamese knowledge and understanding as well as pedagogical approaches improve to help my students, Vy shared. Fruitful results In a final-term project encouraging creativity, Vy said she was surprised and impressed at her students ideas and stories. A student who was born into a Vietnamese, Chinese, and Khmer family and had great passion for languages made a representation on comparing the three languages. Another student shared his mothers pho (Vietnam's national noodle dish served with hot broth cooked from beef or chicken) recipe by drawing materials, including star anise, cardamom, and beef. Meanwhile, a student painted a picture and made a video about her family history. After the course, the students reading and writing skills improved significantly. Vy was satisfied the most with her students connectivity with their families and Vietnamese characters. Some said they would definitely come to Vietnam with their families one day. In her nine months working at UNC, Vy received considerable support from her colleagues and students as they knew that it was her first year teaching at the university and it is not easy for everyone to adapt to life in the U.S.. During her time in the U.S., Vy also studied education, linguistics, religion history, American studies, and music. She attended an Asian study seminar in Hawaii to improve her pedagogical skills and understanding of American culture. Moreover, Vy spent time visiting local high schools to talk about Vietnam. Introduction of Vietnam Elizabeth Hunter, a teacher at Lakewood Montessori School, said Vys sharing helped her students garner a better understanding of Vietnam and changes in the Vietnamese society. The teacher said videos screened by Vy helped them see wonderful images of Vietnam and know stories about unyielding Vietnamese people, who ceaselessly strive to improve themselves and their culture and nation. We feel like our horizons miraculously widened about that special land. We are grateful for the opportunity to talk with her, Hunter added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

In July 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still complicated, a Vietnamese girl came to the U.S. to teach her mother tongue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).

This was the first Vietnamese teaching course at the university after a 15-year hiatus.

The girl, named Ton Nu Tuong Vy, has traveled to 36 countries and territories worldwide to learn about the education, culture, and daily life of local residents.

Different reasons to love Vietnamese

The Vietnamese language course at UNC was organized in the framework of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program, which lasts for nine months.

As it was an optional subject, students channeled great effort into their studies. In Vys class, there were mainly Vietnamese Americans, together with two native students with various reasons to learn Vietnamese.

One of them had a Vietnamese friend and wanted to understand her friend better.

Another students grandmother is Vietnamese but she could not understand what her grandmother said. Due to her love for her late grandmother, she wanted to learn Vietnamese as a way to connect with her origin.

Although she is a unique student [in my class] who has had no opportunity to speak or write Vietnamese in her family like other students, she tries harder to learn Vietnamese than anyone, Vy said.

Vy recalled that 15 years ago, an American teacher, after a trip to Vietnam, decided to open a class to teach Vietnamese to help Americans understand the Southeast Asian country better.

After the professor retired, no one took over his class and the Vietnamese course was put on hold.

Until 2021, when the number of UNC students who had a demand for learning Vietnamese increased, the university resumed the Vietnamese class. Vy came to the U.S. and got the job in early August.

Teaching a special curriculum, Vy had to find books and documents to prepare her lesson plans.

She visited many bookstores, searched on the Internet, and asked her acquaintances to summarize and select materials for her lessons.

Vy also organized extracurricular activities, let her students watch and discuss movies, such as Mat Biec (Dreamy Eyes) and Da Co Hoai Lang (Missing Husband at Nightfall), and held activities centered around Tet and Valentines Day.

In addition, Vy invited students from Fulbright University Vietnam to share Vietnams folklore online.

During these activities, Vys students in the U.S. asked many questions. For example, after watching Mat Biec, they asked about the Hue University of Education and wondered why Vys ao dai (a Vietnamese traditional outfit) was colorful, while schoolgirls in Thua Thien Hue Province, central Vietnam wore only white ao dai to school.

This was an exchange and pronunciation practice opportunity for students.

Vy was always willing to give private tuition to students who failed to keep pace with their classmates. A formal class lasts for 50 minutes, while private classes take two hours each.

I voluntarily help and hope my Vietnamese knowledge and understanding as well as pedagogical approaches improve to help my students, Vy shared.

Fruitful results

In a final-term project encouraging creativity, Vy said she was surprised and impressed at her students ideas and stories.

A student who was born into a Vietnamese, Chinese, and Khmer family and had great passion for languages made a representation on comparing the three languages.

Another student shared his mothers pho (Vietnam's national noodle dish served with hot broth cooked from beef or chicken) recipe by drawing materials, including star anise, cardamom, and beef.

Meanwhile, a student painted a picture and made a video about her family history.

After the course, the students reading and writing skills improved significantly.

Vy was satisfied the most with her students connectivity with their families and Vietnamese characters. Some said they would definitely come to Vietnam with their families one day.

In her nine months working at UNC, Vy received considerable support from her colleagues and students as they knew that it was her first year teaching at the university and it is not easy for everyone to adapt to life in the U.S..

During her time in the U.S., Vy also studied education, linguistics, religion history, American studies, and music.

She attended an Asian study seminar in Hawaii to improve her pedagogical skills and understanding of American culture.

Moreover, Vy spent time visiting local high schools to talk about Vietnam.

Introduction of Vietnam

Elizabeth Hunter, a teacher at Lakewood Montessori School, said Vys sharing helped her students garner a better understanding of Vietnam and changes in the Vietnamese society.

The teacher said videos screened by Vy helped them see wonderful images of Vietnam and know stories about unyielding Vietnamese people, who ceaselessly strive to improve themselves and their culture and nation.

We feel like our horizons miraculously widened about that special land. We are grateful for the opportunity to talk with her, Hunter added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
ANTAKYA, Turkey -- Nine survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday, more than a week after a massive earthquake struck, as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the bitter cold. The disaster, with a combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria exceeding 41,000, has ravaged cities in both countries, leaving many survivors homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck early on Feb. 6 but has said the situation is now under control. "We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara. People gather boxes on the remains of a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya rescued after over 200 hours in the rubble. There could be further people alive still to find, said one rescuer. But U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling. "People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive a tent, aid, or something, but up to 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. A toy bear is seen on a pile of bricks and concrete in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters Saimoua and other Syrians 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 in the playground. "The needs are huge, increasing by the hour," said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization'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." People walk with plastic bags in the street next to destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters 'Dad, aftershock!' At a Turkish field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun, Indian Army Major Beena Tiwari said patients had initially arrived with physical injuries but that was changing. "Now more of the patients are coming with post-traumatic stress disorder, following all the shock that they've gone through during the earthquake," she said. Families in both Turkey and Syria said they and their children were dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake. "Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again," Hassan Moaz said of his 9-year-old in Aleppo, Syria. "When he's sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: 'Dad, aftershock!'" People watch an excavator working in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters A first convoy of U.N. aid entered rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey via the newly-opened Bab al-Salam crossing. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed on Monday to allow U.N. aid to enter from Turkey via two more border crossings, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the rebel enclave. Nearly 9 million people in Syria were affected by the earthquake, the United Nations said, as it launched a $400 million funding appeal. People gather boxes on the remains of a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters Survivors' exodus The search for survivors was about to end in the north west of Syria, said the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh. Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw. The Turkish toll was 35,3418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency. A man walks next to a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters Survivors joined a mass exodus from earthquake-hit zones, leaving their homes and 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 Antakya, in southern Turkey, for 12 years but prepared to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey. More than 2.2 million people have left the worst-hit areas already, Erdogan said, and hundreds of thousands of buildings have become uninhabitable.

ANTAKYA, Turkey -- Nine survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday, more than a week after a massive earthquake struck, as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the bitter cold.

The disaster, with a combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria exceeding 41,000, has ravaged cities in both countries, leaving many survivors homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck early on Feb. 6 but has said the situation is now under control.

"We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara.

People gather boxes on the remains of a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya rescued after over 200 hours in the rubble. There could be further people alive still to find, said one rescuer.

But U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling.

"People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive a tent, aid, or something, but up to 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.

A toy bear is seen on a pile of bricks and concrete in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Saimoua and other Syrians 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 in the playground.

"The needs are huge, increasing by the hour," said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization'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."

People walk with plastic bags in the street next to destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

'Dad, aftershock!'

At a Turkish field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun, Indian Army Major Beena Tiwari said patients had initially arrived with physical injuries but that was changing.

"Now more of the patients are coming with post-traumatic stress disorder, following all the shock that they've gone through during the earthquake," she said.

Families in both Turkey and Syria said they and their children were dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake.

"Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again," Hassan Moaz said of his 9-year-old in Aleppo, Syria. "When he's sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: 'Dad, aftershock!'"

People watch an excavator working in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

A first convoy of U.N. aid entered rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey via the newly-opened Bab al-Salam crossing.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed on Monday to allow U.N. aid to enter from Turkey via two more border crossings, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the rebel enclave.

Nearly 9 million people in Syria were affected by the earthquake, the United Nations said, as it launched a $400 million funding appeal.

People gather boxes on the remains of a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Survivors' exodus

The search for survivors was about to end in the north west of Syria, said the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh.

Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw.

The Turkish toll was 35,3418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.

A man walks next to a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey February 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Survivors joined a mass exodus from earthquake-hit zones, leaving their homes and 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 Antakya, in southern Turkey, for 12 years but prepared to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.

More than 2.2 million people have left the worst-hit areas already, Erdogan said, and hundreds of thousands of buildings have become uninhabitable.
Former Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe, who is now Mayor of Le Havre City, is leading a delegation of representatives from French enterprises and universities to Vietnam for a visit from Monday to Thursday. Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son hosted a reception for the delegation in Hanoi on Tuesday. Philippe expressed his pleasure on his visit to Vietnam on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries and the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership. He also expressed his impression of Vietnams achievements and strong development since his first visit to the Southeast Asian country as the prime minister of France five years ago. As the mayor of Le Havre City, he returned to Vietnam to boost the relations between localities of Vietnam and France as well as the strategic partnership between the two countries. He affirmed a desire to expand the cooperation with ministries, agencies, and localities in Vietnam in sectors that Le Havre has strengths, such as seaports, shipbuilding, logistics, university education, and official training. Le Havre will attend the 12th conference on the cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities in the coming time. For his part, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Son said the strategic partnership between Vietnam and France has developed more effectively and practically in all aspects. Son hoped the two countries would take advantage of opportunities ushered in by the European Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. The Vietnamese minister also called on France to ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement to give encouragement to Vietnamese and French investors. He also expected France to urge the European Commission to soon lift its 'yellow card' imposed on Vietnams seafood to maintain the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and ensure the benefits to millions of European consumers. Former French PM Philippe also met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday afternoon. France has been a leading European trade partner, investor, and sponsor of Vietnam. The two countries bilateral trade reached 5.3 billion euros (US$5.7 billion) in 2022, up 10 percent over the previous year. The potential to boost their trade cooperation remains great, the government news site baochinhphu.vn reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Former Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe, who is now Mayor of Le Havre City, is leading a delegation of representatives from French enterprises and universities to Vietnam for a visit from Monday to Thursday.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son hosted a reception for the delegation in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Philippe expressed his pleasure on his visit to Vietnam on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries and the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership.

He also expressed his impression of Vietnams achievements and strong development since his first visit to the Southeast Asian country as the prime minister of France five years ago.

As the mayor of Le Havre City, he returned to Vietnam to boost the relations between localities of Vietnam and France as well as the strategic partnership between the two countries.

He affirmed a desire to expand the cooperation with ministries, agencies, and localities in Vietnam in sectors that Le Havre has strengths, such as seaports, shipbuilding, logistics, university education, and official training.

Le Havre will attend the 12th conference on the cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities in the coming time.

For his part, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Son said the strategic partnership between Vietnam and France has developed more effectively and practically in all aspects.

Son hoped the two countries would take advantage of opportunities ushered in by the European Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

The Vietnamese minister also called on France to ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement to give encouragement to Vietnamese and French investors.

He also expected France to urge the European Commission to soon lift its 'yellow card' imposed on Vietnams seafood to maintain the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and ensure the benefits to millions of European consumers.

Former French PM Philippe also met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday afternoon.

France has been a leading European trade partner, investor, and sponsor of Vietnam.

The two countries bilateral trade reached 5.3 billion euros (US$5.7 billion) in 2022, up 10 percent over the previous year.

The potential to boost their trade cooperation remains great, the government news site baochinhphu.vn reported.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Read what is in the news in Vietnam today: Politics -- Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son hosted a reception in Hanoi on Tuesday for former Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe, who is now Mayor of Le Havre City. Society -- One more person died after a passenger van hit a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam early on Tuesday morning, increasing the fatalities to nine. -- South Korean parliamentarians, history researchers, and students visited families who lost their loved relatives in a massacre by South Korean soldiers in Quang Nam Province 55 years ago on Tuesday. -- Vietnams state-run lottery company Vietlott awarded the American-style Mega 6/55 jackpot, which is worth over VND92 billion (US$3.9 million), to the winner on Tuesday. -- Vietnam has been selected as an eligible country, alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S., to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023 global programming contest. Business -- Ho Chi Minh Citys deputy chairman Vo Van Hoan said on Tuesday that the municipal administration will recall the investment certificate issued for the construction of the $40-million Saigon Silicon City Center, a 52-hectare study and development project in Thu Duc City, that started seven years ago due to little progress. Education -- A representative of the APAX Leaders English-language center system told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that the chain is going to reopen 79 centers nationwide, including 24 in Ho Chi Minh City, in June after recent tuition scandals while the municipal Department of Education and Training denied receiving any document regarding the reopening from the firm. World news -- Vietnam will provide Turkey and Syria with $100,000 each as relief aid to support their recovery efforts following a devastating earthquake that hit both countries on February 6, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son hosted a reception in Hanoi on Tuesday for former Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe, who is now Mayor of Le Havre City.

Society

-- One more person died after a passenger van hit a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam early on Tuesday morning, increasing the fatalities to nine.

-- South Korean parliamentarians, history researchers, and students visited families who lost their loved relatives in a massacre by South Korean soldiers in Quang Nam Province 55 years ago on Tuesday.

-- Vietnams state-run lottery company Vietlott awarded the American-style Mega 6/55 jackpot, which is worth over VND92 billion (US$3.9 million), to the winner on Tuesday.

-- Vietnam has been selected as an eligible country, alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S., to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023 global programming contest.

Business

-- Ho Chi Minh Citys deputy chairman Vo Van Hoan said on Tuesday that the municipal administration will recall the investment certificate issued for the construction of the $40-million Saigon Silicon City Center, a 52-hectare study and development project in Thu Duc City, that started seven years ago due to little progress.

Education

-- A representative of the APAX Leaders English-language center system told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that the chain is going to reopen 79 centers nationwide, including 24 in Ho Chi Minh City, in June after recent tuition scandals while the municipal Department of Education and Training denied receiving any document regarding the reopening from the firm.

World news

-- Vietnam will provide Turkey and Syria with $100,000 each as relief aid to support their recovery efforts following a devastating earthquake that hit both countries on February 6, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A group of 37 South Koreans have arrived in a hamlet in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam to attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of a massacre committed by Korean troops 55 years ago in the hamlet during the war in Vietnam. As members of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation (KVPF), these people attended the ceremony that was conducted by local authorities in coordination with KVPF in Ha My Hamlet, Dien Duong Commune, Dien Ban District, on Tuesday morning. Kim Chang Sup, the head of the group, read an apology letter in front of the ceremony attendees and the stone stele engraved with the names of 135 civilians who died in the massacre in Ha My on February 21, 1968, or the 24th day of the first lunar month of the year. Kim said the group members extended their deep apologies to all the massacre victims relatives, who feel heartbroken whenever spring comes and offer incense to their deceased loved ones every morning and evening. After he concluded the letter, all the members bowed on the ceremony stage as an apology in front of the deceased's relatives who shed tears. As shown on the stele, the killing occurred in Ha My on the day, when troops of South Korea's Blue Dragon Brigade raided the hamlet and made a mass shooting that claimed 135 lives, most of whom were women and children. Many families were completely wiped out following the incident and many children became orphans and had to rely on their neighbors. Since then the lunar January 24 of every year has become the collective anniversary of the death of all the massacre victims in Ha My, Nguyen Toai, a local man who had five relatives killed and two others injured in the bloodshed, was cited by Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper as saying. Kang Min Jung, a member of the group and also a South Korean National Assembly member, said the KVPF message is to heal the wounds of war, offer apologies for the mistakes in the past, and pray for peace. Besides attending the memorial ceremony, the KVPF members have also visited relatives of the massacre victims and offered scholarships to poor students. KVPF is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in September 2016 to raise awareness of and redress Korean wrongdoing during the war in Vietnam. On February 7, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea ordered the central government to pay more than 30 million won (US$23,360) in compensation to Nguyen Thi Thanh, 63, a survivor of the killing of civilians by South Korean troops in Ha My in 1968. Thanh filed a suit against the South Korean government in 2020 seeking such compensation, saying she lost her family members and suffered wounds herself in the massacre. The court ruling marked the first acknowledgement of South Koreas liability in compensating the victims. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A group of 37 South Koreans have arrived in a hamlet in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam to attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of a massacre committed by Korean troops 55 years ago in the hamlet during the war in Vietnam.

As members of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation (KVPF), these people attended the ceremony that was conducted by local authorities in coordination with KVPF in Ha My Hamlet, Dien Duong Commune, Dien Ban District, on Tuesday morning.

Kim Chang Sup, the head of the group, read an apology letter in front of the ceremony attendees and the stone stele engraved with the names of 135 civilians who died in the massacre in Ha My on February 21, 1968, or the 24th day of the first lunar month of the year.

Kim said the group members extended their deep apologies to all the massacre victims relatives, who feel heartbroken whenever spring comes and offer incense to their deceased loved ones every morning and evening.

After he concluded the letter, all the members bowed on the ceremony stage as an apology in front of the deceased's relatives who shed tears.

As shown on the stele, the killing occurred in Ha My on the day, when troops of South Korea's Blue Dragon Brigade raided the hamlet and made a mass shooting that claimed 135 lives, most of whom were women and children.

Many families were completely wiped out following the incident and many children became orphans and had to rely on their neighbors.

Since then the lunar January 24 of every year has become the collective anniversary of the death of all the massacre victims in Ha My, Nguyen Toai, a local man who had five relatives killed and two others injured in the bloodshed, was cited by Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper as saying.

Kang Min Jung, a member of the group and also a South Korean National Assembly member, said the KVPF message is to heal the wounds of war, offer apologies for the mistakes in the past, and pray for peace.

Besides attending the memorial ceremony, the KVPF members have also visited relatives of the massacre victims and offered scholarships to poor students.

KVPF is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in September 2016 to raise awareness of and redress Korean wrongdoing during the war in Vietnam.

On February 7, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea ordered the central government to pay more than 30 million won (US$23,360) in compensation to Nguyen Thi Thanh, 63, a survivor of the killing of civilians by South Korean troops in Ha My in 1968.

Thanh filed a suit against the South Korean government in 2020 seeking such compensation, saying she lost her family members and suffered wounds herself in the massacre.

The court ruling marked the first acknowledgement of South Koreas liability in compensating the victims.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Police in Vinh Phuc Province, northern Vietnam confirmed on Tuesday they had arrested the suspect who robbed a local mobile phone store with a gun.

Preliminary information showed that the robbery took place at a mobile phone store in Phuc Yen City, Vinh Phuc Province at around 9:45 pm on Monday.

A man with a hat and face mask with a gun entered the shop and started threatening the attendant, according to CCTV footage.

He took VND70 million (US$2,960) and 28 phones before escaping.

After the incident was reported, police in Phuc Yen City launched an investigation and coordinated with the provincial Department of Public Security to hunt for the suspect.

The suspect was later arrested when he was hiding in Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

He has been taken back to Vinh Phuc Province to facilitate the investigation.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnam has been selected as an eligible country, alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S., to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023 global programming contest. Blockchain platform Solana recently announced the launch of a global programming competition called Solana Grizzlython 2023. The contest will be held in the form of a hackathon with a total prize pool of up to US$5 million, aiming to build a sustainable blockchain ecosystem connecting people around the world. Many Web3 developers see this as an opportunity to focus on finding and fostering talents and investing in quality projects. According to the organizing board, Vietnam is considered one of the countries with strong potential for Web3 technology with the percentage of users and employees among the top in Asia. Therefore, Solana decided to choose Vietnam alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S. to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023. The contest will be accompanied by Solanas partners including Syndica, CoinDesk, QuickNode, Backpack, Helius, Symmetry, and Triton. Seven award categories include Mobile, DeFi, Payment, Gaming, Web3 Consumer, DAO, and Infrastructure. Besides the prizes, participants with highly rated projects will have the opportunity to introduce their ideas directly to large investment funds such as Coinbase Ventures, Placeholder Capital, Electric Capital, Solana Foundation, Race Capital, and Apollo Global Management. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnam has been selected as an eligible country, alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S., to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023 global programming contest.

Blockchain platform Solana recently announced the launch of a global programming competition called Solana Grizzlython 2023.

The contest will be held in the form of a hackathon with a total prize pool of up to US$5 million, aiming to build a sustainable blockchain ecosystem connecting people around the world.

Many Web3 developers see this as an opportunity to focus on finding and fostering talents and investing in quality projects.

According to the organizing board, Vietnam is considered one of the countries with strong potential for Web3 technology with the percentage of users and employees among the top in Asia.

Therefore, Solana decided to choose Vietnam alongside Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, and the U.S. to send contestants to the Solana Grizzlython 2023.

The contest will be accompanied by Solanas partners including Syndica, CoinDesk, QuickNode, Backpack, Helius, Symmetry, and Triton.

Seven award categories include Mobile, DeFi, Payment, Gaming, Web3 Consumer, DAO, and Infrastructure.

Besides the prizes, participants with highly rated projects will have the opportunity to introduce their ideas directly to large investment funds such as Coinbase Ventures, Placeholder Capital, Electric Capital, Solana Foundation, Race Capital, and Apollo Global Management.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Id argue everything is about Love, deep down. Or it should be, says Sarah Thornton says.

You want to be taken on a journey, but at the heart of it theres love, right?

As Paramount ANZs Head of Popular Factual, Thornton has oversight of such shows The Dog House, Mirror Mirror, Couples Therapy, The Bridge, Undressed, and upcoming shows Location, Location, Location and Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly.

Her portfolio even includes the newly-launched Taskmaster.

Im genuinely a super fan. Ive seen every English speaking episode, so thats 14 seasons in the UK, the Champions or Champions and I even watch the US and all the New Zealand series.

So Im genuinely a superfan. I dont think theres many shows where Im that big a fan and to get to make it has been my dream come true.

Theres plenty of love to be found in hit series The Dog House, filmed at Animal Welfare League NSW. The simple format, based on a UK series, pairs rescue dogs with prospective new owners. But it invariably shoots an arrow to the heart and tells stories about those seeking a new pooch in their lives.

We have this wonderful, diverse cast of people with fabulous stories to show. It just happens naturally, that the types of people who want to adopt dogs are from all across the state  everyones got an interesting story to tell, she explains.

There was a perfect location where they already had this process running

We really lucked out finding the AWL because its a beautiful set-up out there. There was a perfect location where they already had this process running, where people would meet dogs. So it felt very natural for us to set up there. We have a little control room with our team but the AWL conduct their daily business in and around us.

Our crew will even go out and walk a dog in their lunch break, in order to help the AWL out. Theyve really helped allowed us to integrate into the day to day, which were really grateful for.

They draw on dogs from pounds all over the country

Central to the format is the reveal when doggies come face to face with new owners, filmed in an outdoor meeting pen.

We have the family come in for the pre-interview where we get to know them. They meet the matchmakers a really large part of the production is working with the AWL on making sure weve got the right dogs for the families that are coming through. They draw on dogs from pounds all over the country and foster carers to ensure that there is a variety and the right type of dog for the right applicant, and that the match has genuine chance of longevity, Thornton explains.

We are reflecting their genuine processes but I guess we stage that moment of love at first sight.

Next month Thornton will moderate a documentary panel at the Australian International Documentary Conference: True Romance  The Ethics Of Love, Sex And Relationships In Documentary.

Recently producing Couples Therapy on Paramount+, Thornton was impressed by the formats arms-length approach to intimate conversations as couples underwent genuine counselling. To replicate a genuine counselling space, production went to great lengths.

They would go in and have a genuine session and leave.

It needed to feel like it was a place where Therapy rooms existed. We had a corridor with other doorways leading off to all other manner of offices. The waiting room was a real waiting room. They would go in and have a genuine session and leave.

Then around that you have a camera behind two way mirrors. Apart from miking up the contributors there is no other contact with the production team on the day. they really only touched base to make sure that they found the filming experience okay. It was never to talk about the therapy.

Its an incredible hands-off production but still enables you to film something beautifully

So its an incredible hands-off production but still enables you to film something beautifully. The camera work is beautiful and intimate, the lighting is beautiful, and it feels kind of filmic and lovely. But youre getting this raw, unfiltered therapy session where people are genuinely looking to change something quite important in their relationship.

Participating in the AIDC session will be the US creators of Couples Therapy (Paramount+) plus creators from The Matchmakers (SBS) and Better Date than Never (ABC).

In terms of what Thornton is looking for at Paramount ANZ she adds, Across our platform, there is definitely room for another ob-doc series if it was in the right space that felt that it bringsgravitas of storytelling that you get from things like Ambulance, Bondi Rescue and The Dog House. Were always in the market, for documentary series that tap into very distinctly Australian conversations and feel of the moment.

Australian International Documentary Conference

5  8 March, Melbourne

9  11 March International Market (Online)
Queensland based Sunrise reporter Bianca Stone is departing after 6 years with the show, understood to be for family reasons.

On Instagram she said, I will be signing off from Sunrise for the final time on Friday. This has been a difficult decision- Sunrise is like a family (albeit a little dysfunctional at times) and I have experienced some incredible career highlights over the past 6 years from swimming with sharks to jumping out of a plane.. sleeping in an underwater hotel and flying over the Great Barrier Reef. Ive travelled across the country and around the world, covering terror attacks, Royal visits, the death of the Queen, 2 Commonwealth Games, floods, fires, cyclones and too many tragedies.

She first joined Sevens Gold Coast bureau in 2008 but will continue in a freelance capacity for Seven News.

Thank you to all of those who have trusted me to share their stories  many of you have now become friends. A special shout-out to my work husbands, master camera operators Luke Miers and Paul Croll, thank you for putting up with my predawn demands. Cheers to the viewers for (sometimes) laughing at my bad jokes and continuing to watch the show. As for the future.. the only thing Ive committed to is taking a short break and turning off the 2am alarm.
February 14, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.

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.

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.

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.

Story continues

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.

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.

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005628/en/

Contacts

Keysight Media Contacts

Geri Lynne LaCombe

Americas/Europe

+1 303 662 4748

geri_lacombe@keysight.com

Fusako Dohi

Asia

+81 42 660-2162

fusako_dohi@keysight.com
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the construction site of NordLink subsea interconnector power cable to connect Norway and Germany at the Vollesfjord fjord near Flekkefjord

By Terje Solsvik

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's government said on Wednesday it would consider taxing electricity exports and impose other changes to its energy market to preserve more power for domestic use and keep a lid on prices.

An expert commission was appointed to evaluate six proposals that also included the creation of separate electricity auctions for domestic and foreign use and the carving out of some power consumption from the spot market.

Under heavy domestic pressure to lower electricity prices for households and industries to help ease the cost of living, the minority centre-left government earlier on Wednesday said it will subsidise a bigger part of household electricity bills.

The Labour-led government has also faced a domestic backlash over new power exchange cables to Britain and Germany, which have been partly blamed for higher electricity prices.

Previous Norwegian plans to curtail power exports have been met with criticism from neighbouring Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which argued that such moves may force others to adopt similar measures, weakening regional energy security.

While Norway is not a member of the European Union, it takes part in the EU's common market and is thus bound by rules and regulations governing competition, limiting the country's ability to act on its own.

Still, the government on Jan. 27 announced plans that could lead to exports being restricted if water reservoirs at hydropower stations fall to very low levels, which it said was consistent with EU rules.

The new commission will deliver its report to the government by Oct. 15.

The European Commission is itself drafting a revamp of EU electricity market rules, with the aim of cushioning consumer bills and avoiding a repeat of the surge in prices triggered last year by cuts to Russian gas supply.

Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Latvia have warned Brussels not to rush into major changes, however, calling instead for limited tweaks to the system.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Nora Buli and Bill Berkrot)
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South Korean securities firms and token issuers now have some clarity on how security tokens are defined under new guidance published Monday.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission has defined security tokens as tokens that are digitized using distributed ledger technology, thus bringing the country in line with other jurisdictions in the wider Asia region.

Under this guidance, the onus will first fall on firms to regulate themselves.

South Korea's approach of tying the scope of security token offerings back to the definition of securities is broadly aligned with other regulators such as Singapore and Hong Kong, said Angela Ang, senior policy adviser at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs and a former regulator at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The regulatory clarity should encourage digital asset innovation in South Korea's capital markets, Ang said.

Before the guidance was released, traditional securities firms had been cautious about entering the market.

The basic stance that the securities law may apply to tokens was similar [to the U.S.], said Mooni Kim, foreign attorney at law firm Kim & Chang. The question of How? always followed.

Players in traditional finance that already hold securities licenses are already responding. One is Shinhan Investment and Securities, one of the countrys largest securities companies, which has invited other companies to join an alliance to inform investors of the benefits of token securities and set standards and best practices for issuing and trading.

Securities firms seem to have some hope for it, but I dont think it will impact our business that much, said a crypto exchange executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve his relationship with local regulators. He said that he did not see the guidance as a sign that the regulators were encouraging the crypto industry.

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Securities are already available on the securities market, he said. Perhaps accurately defining the asset types should come first.

He said that he was waiting on the outcome of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit again Ripple. He doesnt want South Korea to rush ahead of the rest of the world when it came to regulating.

Its good for investors, this executive said of the guidance, because the Korea Securities Depository will control the total amount of issued assets and keep an eye on token issuers.

Last year, South Korean gaming company Wemade allegedly gave a false disclosure on the number of Wemix tokens it issued, leading to major crypto exchanges to delist Wemix.

Self-assessment

Legislators will next reshape key existing laws to cover security tokens. Regulators will propose amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act, which will be put forward to the National Assembly in the first half of this year.

Following the collapse of the Terra system's UST stablecoin last year, South Koreas regulators have worked towards tougher protections for consumers and drafting a regulatory framework for the crypto industry, which will eventually take shape in the Digital Asset Basic Act.

Still, firms will be taking the first step by self-regulating. The guidance requires interested parties, such as issuers and brokers, to determine whether or not a token is a security.

Crypto players will have to go through their own classification and assess their related tokens to see if they have to put themselves forward to be regulated under the securities regime, Kim said.

Firms that dont hold securities-related licenses will have to go through the process of obtaining licenses which can take one to two years, depending on the licenses and the business model of the company.

Ang expects to see growing pains as businesses and regulators reach agreement on what is and what is not a security.

Still, the FSC provides detailed guidance to help inform that decision and will likely assess each determination on a case-by-case basis, Ang said.
Detail of Rita and Hubert, 1954 by Alice Neel (The Estate of Alice Neel)

Among the many arresting, unforgettable moments in this marvellous survey are two portraits of artists in states of undress. In one, the first painting we see, Alice Neel paints herself, aged 80, naked, sitting on a striped chair that we see time and again in her late period (she made it in 1980, and would die four years later). She holds a paintbrush in one hand, a rag in another, but omits the canvas itself, perhaps to expose the rawness of her being more, to force us to look harder. Once we meet her gaze, we realise shes in conversational mood: shes arching an eyebrow. Well, what do you make of this? she seems to ask.

Then theres a portrait of Andy Warhol, from a decade earlier. This is not the celebrity Andy, the glitzy Pop king feted by all of New York. It is wounded Andy, huge scars across his torso, a corset above his waist, a man barely held together after the shooting that nearly killed him a few years earlier.

Unlike the self-portrait, theres no wit here. Warhols face is beautifully described in pink, peach and green, with trademark Neel blue lines defining its contours. And its almost beatific. When Neel was dying in 1984, she asked the great photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to photograph her as if she was taking her final breath. This rings true for Neels vision of Warhol: its like a death mask. Ive seen both paintings before, but still they shock and move me as much as ever.

This is the second major London exhibition of Neels work, after the Whitechapels 13 years ago. That was her first major show in Europe. This one has come from the Pompidou in Paris; Neels star has only risen in those intervening years. She achieved some fame in her lifetime in the US  a big show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; endearing appearances on Johnny Carsons chat show. But that was hard won.

Andy Warhol, 1970 (The Estate of Alice Neel)

She began in earnest as a painter in Cuba alongside her husband Carlos Enriquez, creating intense, fluid portraits of him and people she encountered in Havana. Soon their relationship ended in tragedy: a daughter died of diphtheria and Enriquez took another to live with his family in Havana. After a period of mental illness, Neel recovered and spent time in bohemian Greenwich Village, depicting the Village eccentric Joe Gould (a painting with some five penises) and making tender watercolours of herself with her lover John Rothschild  one with her peeing in the loo, him in the sink.

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She also captured the fervent atmosphere of New York in the 1930s and 1940s, with its labour disputes and protests against racial injustice and fascism, and made intense portraits of everyday people around her in Spanish Harlem, as well as the artistic and communist community  she was investigated by the FBI for her own communist leanings, though described herself as an anarchic humanist.

Anarchic humanist figuration was out of step with the art world, though, especially in the post-war years, when Abstract Expressionism dominated. Add to that a misogynist establishment and its perhaps not surprising that it wasnt until the 1960s that Neel achieved due recognition. Theres a wonderful moment in the show where you head into the airier, larger downstairs galleries from the more compressed upstairs rooms, and you feel a surge of new confidence.

Rita and Hubert, 1954 (The Estate of Alice Neel)

Late Neel is relentlessly impressive: expanses of canvas left bare and chunks of the figures barely drawn in while others are immaculately detailed. In every painting, theres an anchor that pulls you in, though, whether in the pose, details of dress, or Neels endlessly fascinating treatment of hands. Always, you feel a communion between artist and sitter, as Neel seeks to paint what the world has done to them and their retaliation.

Apparently, the process could be painful for Neel. She was utterly myself, she said, when she painted and sought to tell her truth with the brush, even seeing it as a form of therapy. Its almost as if in every painting, she is laid as bare as she is in the self-portrait.

But she was years ahead of her time. Theres nothing remote about these paintings, decades after they were made: her struggles and her subjects remain current. Unlike so many of her contemporaries and even followers, the community we see in her work is enormously diverse in race, class and sexuality. They still speak to us. No wonder contemporary painters cant get enough of her. That humanism, anarchic or otherwise, is enthrallingly abundant.

Barbican Art Gallery, February 16 to May 21; barbican.org.uk
Europe's top rights court has ruled in favour of a whistleblower who exposed data about Luxembourg's tax deals with large corporations, in a scandal known as LuxLeeks.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled French accountant Raphael Halet's conviction in 2016 was a violation of his right to freedom of expression, thereby winning the right to be recognised as a whistleblower.

The former PricewaterhouseCoopers employee was fined around 1,100 in 2015 for leaking secret Luxembourg tax documents.

But the ECHR on Tuesday overturned its own 2021 decision, with the judges writing The public interest in the disclosure of that information outweighed all of the detrimental effects arising from it.

The ECHR ordered Luxembourg to pay Raphael Halet 15,000 in damages and 40,000 in legal costs.

Halet described the decision as a "big victory" for whistleblowers against tax havens and major corporations.
A former prisoner and drug addict who got a swastika tattoo on his wrist after joining a far-right army regiment aged 16, making his life a nightmare, has said he feels reborn after getting the ink removed.

Ilario Guiducci, who grew up in Lucca, Italy, but now lives in London, got the tattoo in 1977 after joining the army as a cadet in Italy.

He said he was a little bit wild in his youth and, after getting the swastika tattoo, he developed a drug addiction, which later led to several arrests and a prison sentence which saw him jailed for nearly nine years in the UK.

Ilario Guiduccis swastika tattoo (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

Ilario said he hid the tattoo from everyone, including his now-wife Karen, 60, a teacher, who was surprised and very confused as to why he had the extreme tattoo inked on his wrist when she first saw it one year into their relationship.

Recently, however, Ilario, who runs his own catering company, was put forward for NAAMA Studios Second Chances programme  an initiative designed to empower those imprisoned by their ink  and his swastika tattoo has been removed.

The 62-year-old said the tattoo removal has been life-changing and he now feels more confident than ever.

Ilario said he spent decades hiding his tattoo (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

Its been a nightmare over the years, but Im here and Im looking at my arm and I cant believe its not there anymore, he said.

I really cannot believe it.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the swastika is an ancient symbol used in many cultures that was adopted by Adolf Hitler and turned into a symbol of hatred, antisemitism, and infamy.

Ilario said he got the swastika tattoo on his left wrist aged 16, along with some of his fellow army comrades, as he was blind and young.

Ilario when he joined the army in Italy (Collect/PA Real Life)

Initially, he said he was proud to have the symbol inked on his skin, as his far-right regiment was the best one and he wanted to fit in.

However, even though he was not the only person to get the swastika tattoo, he soon realised how completely naive he was.

That kind of regiment, it was far-right, and I let myself be blinded by what they had to offer, he said.

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We (thought we) were better than everybody  we were special people, strong, fantastic, everybody was afraid of us; that is when I got my tattoo.

But in the meantime, it wasnt just that. I became a user of drugs and was behaving badly, so it wasnt really something I cared about, (having) a swastika tattoo.

Ilario said the tattoo was a nightmare (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

Of course, I have grown up and I found out, with maturity, it wasnt just the tattoo that was the problem, so I regretted having that done.

When Ilario got the swastika tattoo, he said he also started taking drugs, including cannabis, heroin, and cocaine  anything (he) could get hold of.

He said he wasted all of (his) youth taking drugs, and his addiction led to him facing dishonourable discharge from the army at the age of 22.

Prior to this, at the age of 20 in 1981, he moved to London  and this is where he said his criminal career began.

Ilario with his wife Karen (Collect/PA Real Life)

Ilario said he started selling drugs and was living a lavish life, but he was arrested several times over the following years.

In 1989, he said he was sentenced for possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possession of firearms and spent nearly nine years behind bars in several prisons across England, including HM Prison Blundeston, in Suffolk, which has since closed.

During the sentencing hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Ilario said he was described as a Machiavelli of the organisation by the judge  referencing Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian political philosopher  as he was cunning, lovely and manipulative.

Ilario said he was completely naive when he got the tattoo (Collect/PA Real Life)

Ilario said that at that time, his life was all about drugs and so his nasty addiction continued, even in prison.

I became a junkie on his own; a foreign junkie in the English prisons, he said.

Of course, I still liked to use (drugs), and the addiction was stronger (than my ability) to just keep my head down, so the only thing I did was fight  what the army taught me  so I became a mad wolf in prison.

Ilario said he started conning people in prison to obtain drugs and sustain his addiction.

Ilario now runs his own catering company (Collect/PA Real Life)

However, during his time at Blundeston, he was referred to Forward Trusts (formerly RAPt)  a national organisation which empowers people to break the cycles of addiction or crime to move forward with their lives  abstinence-based programme.

With some persuasion and encouragement, he completed the programme and eventually stopped taking and selling drugs in 1996.

After leaving prison in 1997, Ilario said he started going to AA meetings and has never looked back. He said his life changed completely and he has now been clean for 27 years.

Ilarios company Cocoa Delight caters for a range of events in London, including weddings and parties (Collect/PA Real Life)

In 2000, Ilario set up his own company, Cocoa Delight, which caters for a range of events in London, including weddings and parties.

However, Ilarios swastika tattoo served as a constant reminder of his former self and the poor decisions he had made in his youth, and it continued to have a massive impact on his life.

Ilario did not want anyone to see it, including his wife Karen who he first met in 2000, and so he did his utmost to hide it every day and keep it secret.

He said he painted over it, wore a watch, and considered getting another tattoo to cover it, but he was too ashamed to go to a tattoo parlour.

Ilarios swastika tattoo was removed by NAAMA Studios (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

He even bought his own tattooing equipment, but he did not know how to use it, and so the tattoo continued to affect his everyday life.

For years, its been a nightmare. For years, I have covered it up, he said.

Sadly, a few times I made mistakes, especially in the summertime when I washed my hand not realising the paint had gone; I realised a few people saw it.

Until I was in prison, it was OK, until I was in the criminality, it was OK, but when things had changed, it was very bad.

Ilarios swastika tattoo has been removed (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

Recently, Ilario said he was given the opportunity to have his swastika tattoo removed by NAAMA Studios, which is running its Second Chances initiative, providing a premium tattoo removal service free of charge to those who need it most.

Initially, Ilario said he did not believe it could be true, but he has now had several sessions and the tattoo has disappeared.

He said he is so happy, adding: I dont have to hide it anymore.

Ilario said he feels more confident now (NAAMA Studios/PA Real Life)

Im feeling more confident and I dont have to worry about people seeing me.

My life has changed, it has been fantastic since its been removed. I really mean it.

After my recovery, this is the best thing Ive ever done.

You can find out more about the initiative by visiting NAAMA Studios website here: www.naamastudios.com/
Members of the European Parliament have expressed outrage and calls for resignation after Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, appeared to refer to them as "idiots" in a hot-mic moment during Tuesday's plenary session.

Varhelyi said on Wednesday morning that he regrets what he described as a "misunderstanding", adding his comments were "taken out of context".

The incident took place while the Hungarian commissioner was facing a Q&A session with lawmakers centered on strengthening enlargement policy in the Western Balkans, where most countries are official candidates to join the bloc.

The session stretched for almost one hour and a half on Tuesday afternoon and saw a succession of MEPs asking questions directly to Varhelyi on issues related to this portfolio.

Towards the end, Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol took the floor and condemned Serbia for not following the EU sanctions against Russia in response to the Ukraine war, an issue that has attracted a great deal of attention over the past year.

Serbia's alignment with the bloc's foreign policy dropped from 64% in 2021 to 45% in August 2022, the European Commission in a report released in October, pointing out "a number of actions and statements" made by Serbia that went against the EU's own positions.

"Is the EU ready to suspend the accession negotiations until Serbia has met all the conditions?" Sokol asked.

Varhelyi said that lack of alignment with the foreign policy was not part of the criteria "on the basis of which you can suspend accession negotiations."

"As you know, suspending accession negotiations is only the last resort," he told Sokol.

"I'm still hopeful that Serbia understands the importance of them helping us in this fight against the impact of the war," he went on. "We're hopeful that Serbia will also come around in the end."

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Varhelyi then sat down and was heard saying "Hany hulye van meg?" in Hungarian, which translates as "How many idiots are still left?"

The audio and translation were verified by the Hungarian-language edition of Euronews.

In a short statement on Wednesday morning, Varhelyi wrote: "I sincerely regret the misunderstanding around my remark."

He said that his comment was "linked to a private and ongoing conversation in Hungarian between me and my Head of Cabinet on a completely different matter, which was taken out of context."

"I fully respect all the EU institutions, including the European Parliament and its Honourable Members," he continued.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said President Ursula von der Leyen, who is effectively Varhelyis boss, had taken "due note" of the statement and urged commissioners to "refrain from any type of comment that could lead to this sort of interpretation."

A spokesperson for European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said she has asked her services to "look into" the incident.

Calls for resignation

The off-the-cuff remark was not translated by the European Parliament's services and went initially unnoticed until Hungarian MEP Sandor Ronai, who belongs to the socialist group, posted a video of the moment on his Twitter account.

Ronai's video garnered thousands of views and prompted outrage from other lawmakers.

"Insulting members of the European Parliament that do their job by asking critical questions needs to have consequences," said German MEP Delara Burkhardt, calling the apology a "joke."

"At least, idiots know when their mic is open. This is what differentiates them from big idiots," quipped French MEP Valerie Hayer.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen "has to sack him immediately... otherwise she risks losing the trust of the whole European Parliament," wrote Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstad, from the liberal Renew Europe group.

Some MEPs quickly linked Varhelyi's comment to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been repeatedly criticised for undermining the EU's political unity by pursuing softer policies on Russia.

"Great to hear what Orbans man in Brussels thinks of (EU) democracy," said German MEP Damian Boeselager, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "Oliver Varhely should resign. I dont want to see him in our House again."

"The contempt for Parliament which Orbans Commissioner demonstrated today is unacceptable," said Dutch MEP Thijs Reuten.

Socialist MEP Gaby Bischoff simply said: "Time to act."

The reaction reflects an increasingly tense relationship between Varhelyi and the hemicycle.

Last month, MEPs accused the commissioner of "deliberately evading and weakening" the issue of democratic reforms and the rule of law in the accession process of candidate countries.

Lawmakers called for an "independent and impartial" investigation into Varhelyi's conduct and expressed concern about his supposedly amiable attitude towards the Bosnian Serb leaders of the separatist movement inside Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Back in December, Varhelyi was interviewed by Euronews and asked about his testy relationship with MEPs.

"Accusing me of downplaying the rule of law... How should I put it?" he said. "Sounds more like a political game than a real and founded criticism."

This story has been updated to include new reactions.
Want to eat your way round Europe? 7 of the best foodie trips for endless pasta, tapas and wine

Weighing up where to travel next in Europe? Following your stomach isnt always the best advice in life, but a holiday built around food can be the perfect cultural ticket to a country.

Food adventures are an increasingly popular genre of getaway, so theres plenty of options to choose from.

Theyre a cut above a holiday that simply features a food experience - like making halloumi in Cyprus or a Pintxo tour in San Sebasatian. When food is the main ingredient, your whole itinerary is planned around having the best gastronomic time imaginable.

Here are some of the top picks from Intrepid Travel, which specialises in small group experiences, and other operators in the field.

Italy: Set out on a real food adventure

The eat in Eat Pray Love, the home of pizza, pasta and Peroni, Italy is a food-lover's dream.

Food envy always rears its head when a friend tells you theyre off to the south mediterranean country, and you can expect to see gelato galore in their Instagram grid, or a simple looking but clearly delicious carbonara.

But to give the food fest some structure, Intrepid have planned an eight day tour that takes you from Venice - with its rich risottos, saline baccala (salted cod) and creamy polenta - to Rome.

A pasta making class in Bologna. - Intrepid Travel

And eating isnt the only part of the food chain that travellers partake in. Watching farmers unload their canal boats; making pasta in Bologna; visiting a Parmigiano Reggiano factory in Emilia-Romagna, youre guaranteed to emerge with a far richer sense of Italys food sector.

Prices start at 2,418, with group sizes from one to 12 and a minimum age of 15.

Porto: Drown yourself in port and experience a Michelin-starred restaurant

A collaboration between luxury travel company Black Tomato and specialist food guide website Eater is behind this sensational itinerary in Porto.

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The Portuguese citys eponymous port and wine industry of course gets a strong billing here, with private tastings at cellars around the Douro Valley.

Porto is a dream destination for food lovers. - Canva

A two-Michelin star restaurant sets the bar high for your first evening meal. Your appetite is unlikely to dip however, with day two bringing a private cooking class in the nearby town of Guimaraes.

In total there are six days, priced at 6,000 and upwards depending on how you tailor your trip.

Greece: Go on a food odyssey

This food adventure to Greece is an active one, whisking you round the countrys gorgeous coastline in search of its finest meals.

Theres an accent on learning from locals; making traditional lalgia donuts on a countryside farm in Kardamyli, and picking up tricks of the trade from a chef on Poros island, renowned for its lamb and olive groves.

An al fresco dinner in Athens, Greece. - Intrepid Travel

Other highlights include a family-run bee-yard, plenty of cheese and olives, and visits to some of the most incredible sights in Athens, Epidaurus and Mycenae.

A good food adventure is more than the sum of its parts, and youre sure to dine out on the tales from your personal Greek odyssey for years.

Intrepids trips start at 2,635, with group sizes from one to 12 and a minimum age of 15.

Northern Spain: Explore the delicacies of this lesser known food mecca

Northern Spain is another region that has long been on food-lovers maps.

The Intrepid tour begins in Barcelona, where you can get into the holiday spirit with some locally-produced cava before your first tapas crawl.

Of course theres loads to feast your eyes on in Barcelona too, including Gaudis Casa Mila and La Sagrada Familia. But it's the art of cooking that takes centre stage as youre taught how to craft the Spanish classic paella.

Intrepid's trip will teach you the difference between pinxtos and tapas. - Intrepid Travel

The tour continues westwards by train to Logrono and the seaside city of San Sebastian, jewel of the Basque country and a city obsessed with food.

It takes 10 days to complete your route to Santiago de Compostela, and costs around 3,175 in total.

Armenia and Georgia: Get off the beaten track in eastern Europe

If you want to eat off the beaten track on the edge of Europe, one of Responsible Travels tours to Armenia and Georgia could be the holiday youre craving.

Both countries in the Caucasus have delicious traditional cuisines and long wine making histories.

Over 10 days, a local guide will transport you between the capitals of Yerevan and Tbilisi, through towns, markets and vineyards where food and folklore are intimately intertwined.

Cooking masterclasses and a visit to the oldest winery in the world await, with prices starting at around 1,455.

Germany: Go by train for a slow food adventure

You dont have to be guzzling air miles before youve even got started on your food adventure.

Flight-free travel agency Byway helps you to build holidays by selecting destinations reachable by train plus experiences. You can pair food and drink with history, nature, nightlife, relaxation or arts and culture to create the perfect adventure for you.

They also cater to vegetarians and vegans, so theres no stress down the line trying to find the right place. A tailor-made trip from London to Germany, for example, might start with catching the Eurostar to Amsterdam and a night in a Conscious Hotel, with a tasty range of vegan foods for breakfast.

Another train ride takes you to the vegan capital of Berlin, where you can try local street food currywurst, delicious donuts, authentic Georgian cuisine and Michelin starred dining.

And onwards to a plant-based hotel in Frankfurt, before looping back home through Paris.

Croatia: Get adventurous with kayaking and cool off with a BBQ

If Croatia is still on your bucket list, why not incorporate a mini food adventure within your visit?

This eight day itinerary from Flash Pack includes an immersive food experience in Zagreb - winding through the capitals backstreets - a wine-tasting en route from Split to Dubrovnik, and a day of gourmet cooking with a local family.

It weaves in plenty of adventure in between, like an al fresco BBQ party at the end of a river youve just kayaked down waterfalls on. And the chance to make new friends for life, since Flash Packs trips are geared towards solo travellers.

The price for this package starts at around 3,452.
Two men who admitted helping a pair of killers who evaded police and fled the country have been given increased sentences by judges at the Court of Appeal.

Kane Hull and Liam Porter went on the run for 10 days, including travelling to Ireland, before being arrested over the murder of Ryan Kirkpatrick who was stabbed to death during a night out in Carlisle in September 2021.

The pair  both later handed life sentences  were supported in their bid to escape justice by Ross Neville, 32, and Michael Celmins, 33, who helped provide transport, accommodation and a stolen car.

Neville, who admitted two charges of assisting an offender, was handed a 12-month community order at Carlisle Crown Court in December, while Celmins, who pleaded guilty to one like offence, received a 12 month prison term.

But on Tuesday, senior judges ruled that Neville should receive a 22 month total prison sentence and Celmins jail term should increase to 24 months after both their cases were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Lady Justice Thirlwall, sitting with Mr Justice Picken and Judge Robert Altham, rejected a bid to increase the 19-month sentence of Olivia Memmory, 23, who previously admitted one charge of assisting Hull and Porter by booking accommodation for the pair in the UK using false names.

At a hearing in London, Bill Emlyn Jones KC, for the AGO, argued each of sentences for Neville, Celmins and Memmory fails to reflect the seriousness of the offending.

A written reference from the AGO said Mr Kirkpatrick was victim of a brutal and public murder amid a history of hostility between the 24-year-old and Hull and Porter.

Mr Kirkpatrick was out with friends celebrating a family christening on the evening of September 18, 2021, when he was repeatedly knifed by Hull, who acted with the help and encouragement of Porter.

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On the night of the murder, Neville, of Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway, drove the two killers to Scotland where they stayed at his home, before he took Hull to pick up an Audi car at an industrial estate the next day.

On September 21, Celmins, formerly of Irthington, Carlisle, collected a stolen Skoda car from Manchester and drove to meet the two murder suspects where the vehicle was exchanged for the Audi. The Skoda was later used by Hull and Porter to travel to Ireland.

Memmory  who was in a relationship with Hull  booked accommodation for him and Porter in Cumbria, Scotland and Northern Ireland and travelled to Belfast to join them at a hotel.

Hull and Porter were eventually arrested on September 28 at a rural retreat in Irelands County Mayo  booked by Memmory  where they were found with a shopping list featuring items intended to be used to disguise themselves, including wigs, glasses, and hair dye, the AGO said.

The pair resisted extradition and were not returned to England until March 23 last year.

The AGO said their belated arrest delayed the release of Mr Kirkpatricks body by the coroner, meaning his funeral was not held until almost four weeks after his death.

This delay significantly added to the distress of the victims family, Mr Emlyn Jones told the court.

Hull and Porter, then aged 29 and 33, were convicted of murder after a trial and sentenced in October to life imprisonment with minimum terms of 28 and 26 years respectively.

The AGO said they had received substantial assistance from Neville, Celmins and Memmory in their determined attempt to avoid detection and arrest.

Jason Pitter KC, for Neville, argued on Tuesday that the judge who sentenced him had taken exceptional care with the facts of the case when coming to his conclusions.

He said Neville, who had 18 previous convictions for 42 offences including theft and fraud, was not initially aware that a murder had been committed and the help he gave Hull and Porter lasted less than 24 hours.

Rosalind Scott Bell, representing Celmins, said his role was limited to just one day and that while at first blush his sentence appeared lenient it was not unduly so.

He is utterly remorseful about his actions on that day, she said, adding that Celmins, who had 17 previous convictions for 39 offences, had made very good progress at HMP Northumberland from where he joined the hearing via video-link.

Rosalind Emsley-Smith, for Memmory, formerly of Cummersdale, Cumbria, referenced her history of trauma and said her sentence was not unduly lenient.

Lady Justice Thirlwall said judges could not identify any flaw in the handling of the sentence of Memmory, who joined the hearing via video-link from HMP Low Newton.

She said that the seriousness of the offences committed by Neville meant that an immediate sentence of imprisonment is necessary, ordering him to report to a police station by 6pm on Tuesday.

The judge also said Celmins sentenced should be increased.

Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson said after Tuesdays ruling: Today I wish to express my sympathies to the family of Ryan Kirkpatrick.

Ross Neville and Michael Celmins shamefully assisted two brutal murderers flee the UK in a cowardly attempt to evade justice.

It was clear to me that the original sentences given to the pair were not appropriate, so I welcome the decision of the court to hand down sentences which better reflect the crimes that have taken place.
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.
Holly Downer and Joe Plumb in the Horse Box Theatre Company's production of One Man, Two Guvnors. (Image: Horse Box Theatre Company.)

Brighton, 1963 - expressed in swirly orange and brown wallpaper, on-point suits and short skirts and a carefully chosen soundtrack.

The scene was set for an Isle of Wight performance of One Man, Two Guvnors, by Richard Bean.

Inspired by an Italian comedy, dating to 1783, it's the tale of a hapless anti-hero, a pair of lovers, parted by both events and geography, and some all-round dodgy dealings.

One Man, Two Guvnors first opened in London, in 2011, before touring - taking on the bright lights of Broadway, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

Isle of Wight County Press: Ashley Hetherington and Megan West in One Man, Two Guvnors.

Ashley Hetherington and Megan West in One Man, Two Guvnors. (Image: Horse Box Theatre Company.)

In what was arguably its most famous run, James Cordon played the leading role.

Now...flash forward to 2023.

Clothes-store-turned-venue, Department Ryde, was transformed for February's sold-out run of shows, presented by the Horse Box Theatre Company.

In the titular role of the 'One Man' - aka Francis 'Confidential' Henshall - Joe Plumb confidently and enthusiastically combined slapstick physical comedy, tongue twister lines and a series of misunderstandings to keep the audience laughing.

Charmed by his apparent naivety, yet so much more than a love-interest, Holly Downer played Dolly, to coquettish perfection.

The chalk and cheese 'Two Guvnors' (brilliant street-smart Zoe Divers and Posh-boy Robbie Gwinnett) brought the drama.

At one point, their precarious balancing act on a bannister, which doubled as the dock of a bay, meant we audience members had to twist our necks around to keep track of the action.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of applause for mob-matriarch Charlie (actor Fiona Gwinett rocks a faux fur, by the way); Paul Gwinett's long-suffering Lloyd; hilarious Harry Dangle, portrayed by simpering Ashley Hetherington; and Pauline (Megan West), on her personal journey to learn how not to be a wallflower.

The production was a stylish and thoroughly entertaining romp.

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Isle of Wight County Press: Joe Plumb and Ashley Hetherington in One Man, Two Guvnors.

Joe Plumb and Ashley Hetherington in One Man, Two Guvnors. (Image: Horse Box Theatre Company.)

Horse Box Theatre Company will be performing The Lighthouse Keeper at the Isle of Wight Story Festival on Friday, February 17, at 1.30pm. For tickets to the show at Quay Arts, CLICK HERE

Read more:

I managed to escape the plentiful dreaded audience participation, after arriving late (less fashionable, more embarrassing - I tried to use the wrong door).

Perched on the end of a row, my companion for the evening was chosen to get involved, however, and he took it on the chin.

This production looked and sounded great.

It was easy to pretend were were all in it together, back in the swinging sixties and dodging the heavies, and there was a good old fashioned sing-a-long, for good measure.

One Man, Two Guvnors delivered on laughs and delighted its audience - catch it if it pops up again at an Island venue near you.
The dates for Passover change every year. Here's when you'll celebrate in 2023.

Tomertu/Getty Images

Passover (also known as Pesach) has been an integral part of the Jewish faith for centuries, as a celebration of when the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt. (In the Biblical story of their escape, the Jews were spared by the Angel of Death after they marked their doorways with lamb's blood.)

The celebration begins on the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, which coincides with a full moon. But as a lunar calendar, the Jewish calendar is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar (AKA the solar calendar that most of the world uses), so Passover dates change year to year, within March and April.

In 2023, Passover runs from the evening of April 5, 2023, to the evening of Thursday, April 13, 2023. (In 2024, Passover will run from April 22 to April 30, if you're looking to plan ahead.)

Want to learn more about the timing of this popular Jewish holiday? Check out our Passover FAQs.

Related:An Introduction to Passover Traditions

Passover FAQs

Why does Passover stretch from sundown to sundown?

Most Jewish holidays (and the Jewish Sabbath) start at sundown. That's because the creation story in the Bible says God created night before dayso most celebrations or holy days begin in the evening, according to ReformJudaism.org.



Is Passover seven or eight days long?

The short answer: It depends! In Israel, Passover is only seven days long, while many celebrants outside Israel opt for eight daysa practice which began because Jews who had moved outside of Israel centuries ago weren't always able to know exactly when the holiday began, but could narrow it down to two days. (They celebrated both, to be safe!)

While some Reform Jews outside Israel have reverted to the seven-day calendar followed in Israel, many people of Jewish faith continue to celebrate Passover for eight days.

Why does Passover last for several days?

The timing of Pesach is meant to coincide with the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to their new homea journey that took seven days.

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When is the Seder dinner held?

Traditionally, the Seder dinner is held on the first night of Passover (or the first and second nights, if you're following the eight-day Pesach tradition). The meal includes several specific dishes and ingredients, like matzah (an unleavened, cracker-like bread), bitter herbs, wine, and charoseta wine, fruit, and nut paste. There are some rules about what can be served at a Sederand we have some simple and delicious Seder recipes to add to your meal this yearand don't forget Passover desserts!

Related:Preparing for the Seder Meal Checklist

How long does the Seder meal last?

There are a number of readings, songs, and other parts of the celebration (15 steps, to be exact) that take place before you dig into the Seder meal. So if you're lucky enough to be invited to a friend's Seder, don't arrive with your belly rumblingit'll be a little while before dinner is served.

How do Passover and Easter work together?

If you celebrate common Christian holidays, you're probably aware that Easter also shifts around during the spring monthsand Passover is part of the reason. In the New Testament, the Last Supper was Jesus was celebrating Passover with his disciples. After he was crucified, he was resurrected the following Sunday. While early Christians often celebrated Easter on Passover, in modern times, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the beginning of Paschal full moonwhich makes it April 9th in 2023. (Because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, Easter is often held during Passover as a result.)



Related:The Most Popular Easter Traditions, Explained

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Read the original article on Real Simple.
Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Ho Wei Hong (right) expressed his support to Mayor Michael Rama's vision of transforming Cebu to become a world class city like its wealthy Southeast Asian neighbour. (Inset) A view of the Merlion and SIngapore financial district is shown. (Photos: SunStar Cebu/Facebook; Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Singapores ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Ho Wei Hong expressed his support for Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama's vision of transforming the central Philippine city into a world-class destination with efficient transportation systems and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

During his courtesy call with Rama at the Cebu City Hall on Monday (13 February), Ho expressed his willingness to share his experiences to help realise Rama's vision, saying Singapore has companies that can offer solutions to support Cebu City's transformation.

Name it and we have companies that can help you with the solutions, Ho said, according to a report by SunStar Philippines, as Rama showed him a Singapore-inspired promotional videos pushing for the citys plans to attain the same status as a progressive and prosperous city.

Building a cruise terminal

Ho recommended building a cruise terminal, similar to Singapore's, to boost the local tourism and economy.

You have a beautiful city  and a beautiful province, you should have a cruise terminal, the ambassador said.

Singapore-like vision for Cebu

Rama revealed his plans to transform the city during his inaugural speech as the newly-elected mayor on 30 June 2022.

Among his immediate plans is housing homeless locals, city hall employees, and informal settlers by building 200 medium-rise buildings similar to Singapore's Housing Development Board's (HDB) flats.

Ho commended Rama's plans and shared Singapore's challenges during its early days as a city-state, stating that they had learned from their mistakes.

We have made a lot of mistakes, and we learned from it, Ho said on the challenges Singapore faced during its nascent period as a city-state.

As a token of appreciation, Rama presented Ho with a golden key that symbolises opening all doors in Cebu.

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.
"We hope to provide professional development and supplement salaries with these funds, but it is ultimately up to the school district," Dr. Carly Wynne, program co-coordinator with Dr. Paula Tench, said. "This funding will help us better prepare and support candidates who participate in the teacher residency program over the next year. Their participation will be a critical step toward addressing the coming teacher shortage in the state and nationally."

Dr. Sheri Hardee, College of Education dean, began the proposal prior to the establishment of the current research team and worked with Forsyth County and Bourdeaux to get the funds.

"We have current students involved, but they will not receive the benefits of these funds, since the incoming funds will be for next year's seniors, but they are participating in this year's pilot program in Forsyth County," Hardee said.

In addition to Forsyth County, the Gwinnett, Hall and Stephens county school systems and Gainesville City Schools will also be participating.

"In this day of teacher shortages throughout our state and nation, the UNG teacher residency program has bolstered our ability to ensure each classroom in our district has a qualified, prepared professional to work with our children," Dr. Jeff Bearden, Forsyth County Schools superintendent, said. "Forsyth County Schools hires many UNG graduates. We know they are well-trained and well-prepared. This latest initiative allows us to employ UNG students during their final year of study. This is a win for the UNG student and a win for Forsyth County Schools."

Tiffany Henry, a senior pursuing a degree in elementary and special education, is working at Settles Bridge Elementary School.

"My experience in the teacher residency program has been such a fun learning experience. Although it has been challenging juggling between teaching full time and all the work in our classes, I have really enjoyed this opportunity," Henry said.

Casey Abernathy, a senior pursuing a degree in English with teacher certification, was placed at Liberty Middle School. The Gainesville, Georgia, native was appreciative of his opportunity.

"The residency program has been by far the best experience I have had while in the education program at UNG," Abernathy said. "Not only is it a great career opportunity, but it is trial by fire. The residency has given me the chance to flex my teaching muscles as well as learn just what it takes to be an educator and how fulfilling the career can be."
Cadet 2nd Lt. Jessica Calderon holds a variety of leadership roles as a student at the University of North Georgia (UNG) including platoon leader in the Corps of Cadets and executive officer for the Ranger Challenge specialty unit. She also serves as vice president of the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) in 2022-23.

Calderon, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with an expected graduation date of December 2024, sees leadership as a function of teamwork.

"Leadership is leading from the front as you're also taking care of your comrades. You make sure they're prepared and on the pathway to success," she said. "You help them reach their goals. I can guide people who want assistance in the right direction."

Calderon is a recipient of the Georgia Military Service Scholarship (GMSS). Each year, the state offers the GMSS, which is worth more than $85,000 per cadet, to 42 Georgia high school seniors who attend UNG, serve in the Georgia Army National Guard while in the corps, and commission as second lieutenants in the Georgia Army National Guard after graduating with bachelor's degrees.

She appreciates the perspective the National Guard has provided.

"Always be willing to learn. No matter what position you're in, there's always something you can learn from someone else," Calderon said. "It's always good to be humble."

She said her approachability and relatability are the foundations of her relationships.

"People know I'm not going to boss them around. They can come to me and know I won't yell at them and tell them they're wrong," Calderon said. "Let other people know you're a person and a college student, and we're all here for our main goal, which is to get an education."

That mentality is also part of what inspired her desire to enter the medical field, particularly the Army Nurse Corps.

"For as long as I can remember, it's what I've wanted to do. I'm a people person," she said. "Knowing I can save a life or be the difference between sickness and health warms my heart."

Through it all, Calderon sees the support of family, friends, fellow students, faculty, and staff as instrumental in her success thus far at UNG. Those individuals have emboldened her for the future, as well.

"Im here and I'm doing it," Calderon said. "I can't look back. I can only look forward from here."
Skapa.ai, a social tech company, has announced it will launch another social network specifically for Generation Z at the end of February, called Leka. Instead of focusing on connection-based content recommendations, Leka will offer an app experience that reflects what users themselves like, with AI support. Previously, Skapa.ai also launched the Fika dating app, which also uses AI to meet unique needs.

AI wave set to sweep tech market, illustration photo/ Shutterstock

The only way we can deliver the experience that our vision dreams of is through big data and AI. The recommendation algorithm is carefully crafted for a healthier social media world. It will allow our users to feel encouraged to post and not to be judged in ways that are ever so prevalent in current social media, said the tech companys co-founder and Oscar Xing Luo.

Skapa.ai is not alone in the journey to find opportunities and develop products from the AI technology platform, both in Vietnam and in the world.

The emergence of AI combined with big data has created a lot of added value and convenience for users and has been interested in development by many technology businesses around the world for many years.

According to research by International Data Corporation, governments and businesses around the world will invest up to $500 billion in AI technology in 2023. Recently, leading chipmakers Intel and AMD have both unveiled new hardware acceleration for AI-based software in their latest CPUs.

In Vietnam, the popularity of AI has come earlier than expected. The country currently has more than 70,000 digital businesses that have been applied in fields from finance, industry, smart cities, healthcare, insurance, smart agriculture, and environmental technology, and more, with the participation of leading groups in the field of technology.

FPT, a pioneer in digital transformation and the largest IT service provider in Vietnam, currently owns the FPT.AI platform, including more than 20 advanced services deployed in 15 countries with 11 million users and 200 million communicators. AI will continue to be FPTs spearhead in the next three years, and this business is expected to invest at least VND300 billion ($13 million) to continue developing the ecosystem.

In the middle of last year, Viettel became the first player in Vietnam and one of five businesses in Southeast Asia to officially establish a strategic cooperation with NVIDIA, one of the largest corporations providing solutions for AI. NVIDIAs solutions are being widely applied, with more than two-thirds of the worlds fastest supercomputers using this corporations technology.

Viettel will join NVIDIAs global partner network, contributing to accelerating the speed of research and application in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, digital copy, and robotics.

Nguyen Dinh Chien, Viettels deputy general director said, The strategic cooperation relationship between Viettel and NVIDIA will be the foundation for the development of the field in Vietnam and the region.

The government AI Readiness Index 2022 report published by Oxford Insights in January shows that Vietnam ranks 55/181 globally and ranks six out of 10 in ASEAN, reflected in the use of AI to operate and provide services. Compared to last years results, Vietnams ranking has increased by seven places on the global AI readiness index, thanks to the strengths of a young population, high digital skills, and the ability to quickly adapt to new digital solutions.

Nguyen Minh Tu, Zalos technology director, said the wave of technology would change drastically day by day, and the AI race in Vietnam has just begun and will explode in the near future.

If we do not make good use of the advantages and potential, we will be left behind, Vietnamese businesses may become outsiders in the future, said Tu.

Phan Duc Trung - Vice president Vietnam Blockchain Association In Vietnam, AI is one of the technology fields considered by the prime minister to be the foundation of Industry 4.0 and issued Decision No.127/QD-TTg in 2021 about national research, development, and application of AI by 2030. In a report by Oxford Insights, in 2021, Vietnam ranked 62nd out of 160 countries evaluated, up 14 places compared to with 2020. AI in Vietnam is being applied in many fields such as smart cities, healthcare, agriculture, and environment. During the past few years, many AI applications were developed for diagnosis and other pandemic issues. AI voice assistant is also a trend that is expected to explode in the near future. Blockchain and AI can combine and complement each other. Blockchain is considered a decentralised, tamper-proof, and transparent information storage ledger. Meanwhile, AI is a data processor under a centralised model, which develops quickly but lacks transparency in the output results. Right now, blockchain has scalability and performance problems, and AI has mixed opinions due to lack of transparency and copyright infringement. But these two technologies combined can solve the weakness of the other. Blockchain provides trust and privacy, while AI enhances efficiency and speed, particularly in the financial services industry. They eliminate barriers between multi-party transactions, accelerating transaction speed. AI automates manual processes and makes real-time decisions, while blockchain reduces transaction clearing time and costs. Also, AI can analyse customer data to make personalised investment recommendations, while blockchain can provide real-time access to account information and reduces transaction processing times. The ChatGPT founders, OpenAI, say it now has more than one million registered users. OpenAI is also the company behind the AI-based image generation platform Dall-E 2 and the automatic speech recognition system Whisper. In a period where the value of tech companies has plummeted 50-70 per cent, ChatGPTs current doubled valuation is impressive, and OpenAI even received a commitment to invest $10 billion from Microsoft last month. Denise Sandquist - CEO and co-founder Skapa.ai Vietnam is currently ranked 55 out of 181 countries in applying AI, and has over 70,000 digital businesses. I believe that the products coming out of Vietnam have strong potential to be world-leading because we have the talent here and the government encourages digital innovation. For businesses applying it or startups like us developing apps, Vietnam definitely has what it takes in terms of human resources and ecosystem to become a base for leading AI companies. After the blockchain wave in Vietnam in 2020, the country has become a blockchain factory, and I will not be surprised if Vietnam catches the AI wave too. We are headquartered in Vietnam. Our first app Fika is a female-focused AI social and dating app. With Fika we are using AI to optimise around long-term relationships for users, while in other dating apps the algorithm optimises on likes and short-term relationships. For our new app Leka, we are building social networks with the help of AI, by helping people engage with others in communities based on interests. AI decides what content that will be pushed up, based on what the unique user is likely to engage with and content from who they are likely to build a meaningful relationship with. We have always wanted to combine building social networks with AI and individualisation, helping people to understand more about themselves, daring to be authentic, and finding and engaging with others based on who they are. Nguyen Trung Thanh - Founder Trustkeys Network AI is capable of rapidly evolving and unpredictable development, opening up a lot of potential. Previously, it only supported searching and sorting information, now this technology has reached the threshold of self-generating information and even suggesting users. In terms of technology and application development, I think that depending on the field, there will be many models for applying AI in practice. The financial sector over the years has used it to support forecasting, the more difficult challenge is to create a natural interaction between people and machines, but the introduction of software like ChatGPT has initially solved the problem. About six years ago, we studied a number of projects on AI, and some students participating in the project also developed AI-powered face recognition and for licence plate models. I think the next trend of technologies will be to combine different elements, such as the combination of AI and blockchain, to bring out new applications to solve real business problems in the field of securities or customer care and payment, in parallel with traditional solutions.

5G to accelerate Vietnams digital transformation Vietnam is yet to commercialise 5G despite detailed preparations and the expectations of the business community. Denis Brunetti, president of Ericsson in Vietnam and Myanmar, talked to VIRs Bich Thuy about the crucial factors that will make 5G happen.

AI in insurance - The inevitable trend in digital transformation With digital transformation being an inevitable movement, partnering with insurtech companies is an effective way for insurance companies in Vietnam go faster and smarter in the digital race.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is conducting consultations about the draft National Energy Master Plan (NEMP) for this decade, with a vision for 2050. What are your thoughts on the status of this plan?

The well-drafted NEMP draft incorporates several elements and demonstrates that it has reviewed international publications and learned from earlier planning efforts.

However, this plan does not clarify the connection between the NEMP and PDP8, nor the functions of the three subsectors of electricity, coal, and oil and gas.

This plan forecasts using a mix of top-down and bottom-up methodologies, which is a typical strategy but would need trustworthy data; without such data, the outcomes of the forecast would be erroneous.

Local GDP growth figures are typically 1.5-2 times greater than the numbers produced by the General Statistics Office. Calculated bottom-up from the GDPs aggregate elasticity coefficient, the resultant price elasticity is similarly not particularly positive.

Assessing the dual features of nations energy plan and PDP8, Source: Shutterstock

Are you referring to the discrepancy between present projections and future performance?

Electricity and energy demand forecasting is a crucial phase in the creation of any strategy. If the approach is flawed, and particularly if the data are insufficient and unreliable, the results of the demand prediction will surely be inaccurate.

In earlier plans, it has been seen that the outcomes are all excessive, influencing the building of the power source and the power grid. They will be costly, and it will be tough to assure progress, and even the regulations and measurements are biased and erroneous.

Vietnams energy infrastructure is in its infancy and is uneven and unreliable. Forecasting and planning, on the other hand, are insufficient because they lack content of computation, are difficult to apply, or do not account for progress.

Can you elucidate further?

I discovered that the innovation of the draft PDP8 was not in accordance with the law on planning and electricity, regardless of the fact that the necessity for an electricity master plan is to be based on the Vietnamese socioeconomic development strategy and the national primary energy stability.

The draft PDP8 states that the electricity demand will increase at a rate of over 8 per cent per year between 2021 and 2030 and about 6-5 per cent per year between 2031 and 2045; the electricity produced in 2030 and 2045 will be 537 and 959 billion kWh, respectively; the respective elasticity coefficients are 1.15 and 0.58; and the power source capacity will be 138,000-300,000MW.

These figures are attractive, but reaching them is difficult. This decade will need around $13.3 billion per year, while the period from 2031 to 2045 will require approximately $12.5 billion per year. These investments are not modest, with a net investment of approximately 26 to 28 per cent.

In the PDP8 draft, planners predict a high level of consumption, up to 959 billion kWh. They should recognise that the decline in the electrical elasticity of the GDP is merely one of many factors that are more significant than the decrease in electrical intensity.

This indicator in Vietnam is $1 for a kWh, which is two to three times more than in developed nations. The projection must take into account the importance of utilising energy effectively, inexpensively, and cleanly as opposed to growing the source.

If approved, do these master plans, in your opinion, meet the energy transition requirements to achieve zero emissions by 2050?

This is hard to pinpoint. In the renewable energy component of the present plans, wind energy needs fundamental research; solar energy lacks regional usage summaries and regulations; and biomass energy lacks survey and planning.

Wind and solar energy investment costs are reducing significantly in Vietnam but are still more expensive than conventional sources. Prior to 2010, the investment rate for wind power in Vietnam ranged from $3,500 to $4,000 per kWh, which corresponded to an electricity price of 15-17 cents per kWh. However, by 20152016, the investment rate dropped to $2,000$2,500 per kilowatt, and the electricity price dropped to 9-10 cents per kWh. It is anticipated that by 2025, the investment rate for wind power will decrease to $1,500 per kW and the price of energy will drop to 7 cents per kWh. Due to the properties of this kind of energy, the operating capacity is quite low. The technique of estimating the source, the grid to maintain stability, the reserve capacity, the storage of power, and the related investments remain unclear. The government must learn from the PDP7s experience, which has shown that adopting more than one programme at a time is inappropriate and must be amended.

Rising energy costs to require roadmap for businesses timely adjustment of strategies The Vietnamese industrial sector may need to reevaluate in order to minimise the effect of rising power costs.

Vietnam fosters shift to renewable energy With an emphasis on sustainable power, the Vietnamese government has enacted several procedures and regulations to foster an equitable energy transition.

$15.5 billion in financing for green energy from Just Energy Transition Partnership 2023 could be an interesting year for Vietnams energy sector, as $15.5 billion of financing is set to be mobilised for Vietnams green energy transition through a recent energy partnership.
On February 12, witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Boltuns fastener and stamping manufacturing project was awarded a fresh investment certificate worth $165 million.

Certificate granting for Boltun Vietnam

Funded by auto fastener and metal parts group Boltun Corporation and QST International, the project aims to produce components for US and European electric car manufacturers.

The Taiwanese investors envisage building a 35.27 hectare facility in Bac Tien Phong Industrial Zone (IZ), developed by DEEP C IZ in Quang Yen Coastal Economic Zone, northeast of Quang Ninh. The project will be executed in two phases, with a total capacity reaching 60,000 tonnes per year. Construction of the first phase is set to start in the next few months.

Boltun's factory in Fujian, China

To date, Boltun Corporation and QST International have been operating four factories in Taiwan, seven in China, and one in Germany. With this new factory in Vietnam, the two partners seek to expand their global supply chain network and support their long-term growth strategy in Southeast Asia.

The fresh project is also expected to drive forward the development of e-vehicle wave in Quang Ninh and give way to the formation of a new auto hub within Bac Tien Phong IZ.

The swift and efficient licensing process by Quang Ninh Economic Zone Authority has helped us achieve our tight project timeline driven by the growing demand of our clients, said Kevin Hsu, vice president and CFO of Boltun Corporation. This is among the major factors behind our decision to invest here, together with abundant land supply for industrial development and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Quang Ninh has topped the national rankings as the most business-friendly province for five consecutive years. Despite that success, the province is continuing to ramp up efforts to smooth out admin procedures further to provide investors with timely response and support.

The fresh project is also expected to drive forward the development of e-vehicle wave in Quang Ninh and give way to the formation of a new auto hub within Bac Tien Phong IZ.

Bac Tien Phong IZ - DEEP C Quang Ninh II

From a developers perspective, Koen Soenens, general sales and marketing director of DEEP C IZ, noted that the rapid growth in demand has stimulated auto manufacturers and their supply chain to jump into Vietnam.

This year, DEEP C will focus on building Bac Tien Phong IZ infrastructure to become ready for large high-tech projects. Having high-quality infrastructure in place is one of the important factors for DEEP C to contribute to Quang Ninhs 2023 target of attracting $1.2 billion in foreign investment into its IZs, he said.

In 2022, more than one-fifth of land lease requests at DEEP C related to vehicles, making it the third-largest industry in DEEP C after electronics and petrochemicals.

DEEP C is currently the only European-managed industrial zone developer in Vietnam, covering a scale of 3,400ha near Lach Huyen international deep-sea port in northern Vietnam. Bac Tien Phong IZ is also jointly developed by DEEP C and Hateco Group in Quang Yen Coastal Economic Zone of Quang Ninh. It aims to become an all-in-one IZ, including a dedicated petrochemical park and a built-in seaport complex with general cargo terminals and liquid jetties.

Localities benefiting from industrial zone squeeze Many emerging localities in the north and north-central coast become a magnet to attract foreign investors in the context that many industrial zones in large cities and provinces are full.

Bac Giang welcomes two projects worth $700 million On the first days of 2023, the northern province of Bac Giang is welcoming two projects from Singapore and China with the total investment capital of $760 million.
Hoang Trung Thanh, general director of Viettel Post, said that competition has been intensified in logistics, delivery, and e-commerce. Foreign players with strong financial capability and technology are expanding the market share via franchise, indirect investments and other strategies.

Disruptors and array of key players to support logistics, illustration photo/ Le Toan

In this fierce competition, Viettel Post is restructuring its infrastructure and operations through large warehouse centres and 1,500 post offices. The company also has a plan to develop a logistics system for cross-border e-commerce.

General director Chu Quang Hao said that the company had launched a northern regional transportation and logistics centre in Hanoi. Thus, the company can complete its closed ecosystem including seven regional warehouse centres, 700 district-level centres, and 10,600 service and exchange points.

Going forward, the company will develop Vietnams largest automatic order fulfilment facility, contributing to facilitating goods flow and the growth of the e-commerce market, Hao said.

Since the logistics market as a whole is especially a huge market with diverse sub-sectors and business models, the number of businesses participating in the industry is huge. In 2021, the number of newly established businesses in the transportation and storage sector was about 6,000 in Vietnam. The main type of business contributing was traditional logistics and transportation services providers.

However, sections of the market are also being grabbed by popular international incumbents like Maersk, DB Schenker, and Samsung SDS. But more and more, local players with newly updated business models, including rising startups, are competing aggressively in the region to grab a piece of the action.

Express delivery service as a sub-category of last-mile delivery service, a rising sector of the logistics market, is governed by a few major players such as Viettel Post and Vietnam Post. The advantages they have, including the post office network, the number of shippers, office staff, and transportation vehicles, is the main motive incentivising them to grab market share, followed by business expansion and product launch.

According to the latest report by South Korea-based venture capital firm Nextrans, the size of the logistics service market in Vietnam is estimated to hit $73.6 billion in 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 23 per cent in the 2020-2022 period. Players in the market follow sustainable development, at a growth rate ranging from 12 to 15 per cent depending on the line of business.

The report pointed out that throughout a 5-year period, total funding amounts raised by logistics companies reached a CAGR of 102 per cent at $75.4 million funded in 2022. The optimistic forecast for the market is exhibited through the growth of average deal value.

In 2020 and 2021, on-demand last-mile delivery platforms were the model receiving the largest funding value as a consequence of strong demand. However, by 2022 the capital raised mainly went to the road freight marketplace, warehousing platforms, and ecommerce fulfilment.

Prominent deals include Be Groups $60 million loan from Deutsche Bank; and Boxme, a Vietnam-based ecommerce logistics startup bagging $6.4 million in a funding round from local technology firm NextTech Group and digital payment platform Ngan Luong. Meanwhile, Wareflex, a Vietnamese on-demand warehousing platform, raised $785,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Genesia Ventures and joined by Antler.

It is expected that more startups will evolve to become mature disruptors in their respective industries. Similar to existing incumbents, many are developing a global footprint. In the near future, major competition with established incumbents with a global end-to-end product is improbable, yet upstart businesses are emerging as more competitive in particular areas and regions.

With the ballooning volume of e-commerce, these startups have focused on technology to optimise operation and provide more digital offerings. Wareflex CEO Rajnish Sharma told VIR, Because of rising customer concerns, companies are adopting Internet of Things devices to rapidly, precisely follow their product flows. It helps improve visibility of the supply chain, and understand their processes better. This technology guarantees to enhance overall supply chain efficiency.

Integrating AI in logistics is another game-changer when it comes to business optimisation and Wareflex is bringing some AI-powered features for its customers, according to Sharma.

He also noted that companies are applying data mining in analytics, which involves analysing large volumes of information to detect and extract patterns automatically. In Logistics 4.0, automatic data methods are redefining business management. It will also enhance demand forecasting, identifying bottlenecks to solve challenges in the supply chain. With the advanced data analytics, strategic decisions will be improved, Sharma insisted.

Seaport and logistics advances get European flavour Vietnam is seeking European experiences and support in developing seaport and logistics infrastructure projects, with opportunities available for investors who are showing increased interest in the Southeast Asian market.
In his opening remarks at the forum, held today at the Hotel du Parc, Hanoi, Pham Tan Cong, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), noted that the occasion was the first of a series of planned events between the two countries, to be organised by the VCCI and its Japanese partners throughout 2023.

I believe that following the great achievements during the last five decades of Vietnamese - Japanese relations, and through the aspirations of the business community and the determination of both governments, bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries will be strengthened further, said Cong.

As for investment cooperation, Japans FDI flow has left footprints in 57 out of 63 localities across Vietnam.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, also in attendance at the event, stressed the importance of Japan as, "One of Vietnam's leading economic partners".

The DPM proposed Vietnam and Japan continue promoting economic cooperation, especially in key industries, with the expectation that Japan will accelerate its technology transfer to Vietnam, thereby aiding sustainable development in the country.

Japan is currently Vietnam's largest official development assistance (ODA) provider, its second-largest labour cooperative partner, third-largest investor and tourism partner, and fourth-largest trading partner. The two nations have been cooperating closely in many key areas such as transport infrastructure, high-quality human resource training, economic reform, science and technology, and education, among others.

As for investment cooperation, Japans foreign direct investment (FDI) flow has left footprints in 57 out of 63 cities and provinces across Vietnam. As of last December, Vietnam was home to 4,978 Japanese-invested projects with a total registered capital surpassing $68.89 billion, ranking third among the 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

The forum also marked the occasion of a visit by Yoshihisa Suzuki, chairman of Japan-Mekong Business Cooperation Committee of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), together with an entourage of Japanese business delegates from such diverse fields as high-tech agriculture, renewable energy, IT, and manufacturing. The JCCI chairman noted that as a country with a population of almost 100 million, mostly young people, Vietnam had become an attractive market for Japanese businesses.

With Vietnamese people's growing interest in Japan and its culture, the Vietnamese community in Japan has reached half a million people, accounting for 16 per cent of the total number of foreigners in Japan, second only to China.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Japan, the VCCI and its Japanese partners will coordinate a string of activities this year, the two most prominent being the Vietnam-Japan trade and investment promotion forum in Japan, and the Vietnam-Japan Trade and Cultural Exchange Week in the Mekong Delta, which hopes to attract some 300 Vietnamese and 200 Japanese enterprises to join the event.

The two events are expected to take place towards the end of the summer.

Vietnam Economic Forum 2022 identifies challenges and solutions for growth The 5th Vietnam Economic Forum, one of the most prestigious and large-scale annual forums in the country, attracted the participation of many domestic and international delegates this month.

Strengthening Vietnam-Ireland cooperation in agritech A conference on agriculture cooperation between Ireland and Vietnam was held on September 8 by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine in collaboration with Vietnams Ministry of Planning and Investments (MPI) Agency for Enterprises Development.
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) suggested to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) two weeks ago that the price of power transmission be increased to 0.3 US cents per kWh. EVN believes that this adjustment will assist National Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) in reducing losses, maintaining its credit rating, ensuring obligations with borrowing organisations, and continuing to raise capital for investments in the construction of the power transmission system.

Fresh approaches sought for electricity transmission, photo Le Toan

The price of electric utilities, one of the components of the cost of power, is changed yearly. The MoIT has authorised a transmission tariff of 0.3 US cents per kWh for 2022, based on criteria such as the estimated transmission power production of 216,033 billion kWh, which is much higher than the actual EVNNPT output of 211.47 billion kWh.

In 2022, EVNNPT lost nearly $29 million, primarily due to the exchange rate difference and the fact that the transmission output was not updated in the MoIT transmission price plan approved in May 2022. Other costs were incurred with a transmission price of 3 US cents per kWh, and EVNNPTs return on equity was zero.

Vietnam must raise the transmission cost from 22.37 to 52.9 per cent, based on the capital level of participation of non-state economic sectors and data from the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise for 2022.

The state owns a transmission monopoly in Vietnam, according to the Law on Electricity of 2018. Do Duc Hung, planning director at EVNNPT, said it operates most of the transmission system infrastructure, comprising 178 substations and more than 28,600km of transmission lines.

Unidentified investment criteria have caused a delay in the execution of power grid projects for the next few years, particularly those that must be operational beyond 2025-2030, Hung said.

In 2023, EVNNPT is projected to invest around $816 million to enhance transmission power production by 2.97 per cent compared to 2022, reaching approximately 217.8 billion kWh, which is comparable to 35 projects commencing and concluding and 44 power grid projects coming online.

Vietnam requires a substantial amount of capital to rectify the situation in which the development of power sources is incompatible with distribution and load growth, resulting in an imbalance between supply and demand in each region and putting pressure on transmission up and down the country. According to the draft Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8), the transmission network would require an annual investment of approximately $1.44 trillion between 2021 and 2030, which is 1.8 times the 2016-2020 level.

The MoIT has released a circular outlining the transmission price calculation process and has applied it clearly to all participating investors. The PDP8 also includes a list of grid projects that need investment and defines the locations of several transmission works, such as the 500kV grid and substation, for which permission is required.

Several other economic sectors invest in distribution networks in metropolitan areas, industrial zones, and municipalities, although the volume and voltage level of these investments are quite limited. During 2019-2020, certain private investors invested in transmission lines, including Trung Nam Group in Ninh Thuan province and Xuan Thien Group in Dak Lak province. They invested in 220 out of 500kV transmission lines and substations, but primarily provided electricity transmission service from the plant they invested in to EVNs connection point.

Bui Quoc Hung, deputy director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, said that the private sector will not engage in power transmission due to lack of interest. He said that the estimated rate of return on EVNNPT is very low, barely 3 per cent per year, and that private investors find it difficult to accept this rate.

In Vietnam, the transmission price is controlled at a consistent rate. However, since the transmission works are located in various areas, the construction costs would vary. Private businesses could lose their investment if the project were not connected to the power plant and could not produce transmission output, Hung added.

Private investors such as Trung Nam and Xuan Thien may recoup transmission investment expenses via power sales contracts to EVN or from other investors subleasing the transmission line to the connecting point.

Electricity purchases from Laos expanded to avert shortages With Vietnam close to being short of electricity, the government has requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to review and promote cooperation in electricity purchases with Laos beyond 2025.

500 kV transmission line Vung Ang-Quang Trach-Doc Soi-Pleiku 2 officially energises Energising the third circuit of the 500kV transmission line Vung Ang-Quang Trach-Doc Soi-Pleiku 2 will contribute to undertaking electricity supply and energy security for the South and releasing the power of renewable energy projects.

Energy-saving taking top spot in solutions for electricity crisis With the demand for electricity increasing rapidly and supply and a sense of economical use more limited, saving electricity is deemed an important tool during possible periods of crisis in the future.
In the textile industry, businesses said demand will recover, photo Duc Thanh

At Garment 10 JSC, 12,000 employees across nine cities and provinces returned to work in the last days of January after the festive break. In 2023, Garment 10 targets revenue higher than the previous year, along with developing human resources to meet the development trend of the global textile and garment industry, continuing to diversify product lines, and applying technology solutions and digital management to enhance quality and performance.

Against the forecast of 2023 containing many difficulties, we will do our utmost to achieve the goals for the year, said CEO Than Duc Viet. In addition to Canada and South Korea, which we have been focusing on for the past few years, China will also be a promising land for us.

In Hanois Thanh Oai district, 250 employees of Supertex Textile JSC started the first official production shift of the new year to work for the order of exporting over one million socks to Japan.

CEO Le Dai Quang said, At the beginning of the year, everyone wishes for a smooth and convenient job, contributing to the development of the companys business activities. Despite many woes, the company has taken care of its employees and this is the motivation for employees to do their utmost.

In 2023, Supertex expects its orders to grow by about 120-130 per cent compared to 2022, equivalent to an export value of $5.5-6 million, as well as expand the market to other big partners and markets such as the US and Europe. In addition to boosting production, Supertex is looking for domestic yarn mills whose products meet the requirements of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, instead of depending on raw materials from China.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), total export value in January when the Tet festival took place was estimated at $25.08 billion, down 13.6 per cent on-month, and 21.3 per cent on-year. Of this, domestic enterprises gained $6.44 billion, down 18 per cent, and foreign-invested ones did $18.64 billion, a decrease of 12 per cent. This is not very surprising because in recent days, the number of working days is less than in other months and less than in January the previous year, highlighted the GSO report.

Particularly, the total export turnover of the garment and textile industry in January was $2.5 billion only, down 30.7 per cent on-year, while that of footwear was $1.6 billion, a decline of 17.7 per cent. In addition to the festive holiday, this was caused by the drop in demand in major exporting markets, which are forecasted to struggle with numerous uncertainties of the worlds economy in the first quarter of 2023 at least. However, the grey status does not cover all industries or all exporters in Vietnam, especially in industries in which Vietnam has got high positions and reputations in the global supply chains. In the garment and textile industry, firms believe that the demands will recover despite being on a decreasing trend.

Buyers over the world do not cut orders from all suppliers. They are selecting and prioritising high-profile vendors. Thereby, against common burdens, there are still opportunities for some Vietnamese garment and textile businesses to welcome big orders, said Le Tien Truong, chairman of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group.

Enterprises that have different characteristics and competitiveness compared to their competitors from other countries can meet small medium-sized orders with various product lines and techniques. Therefore, small orders are still the trend in the coming time, he added.

The garment and textile industry has set the export target of $47-48 billion in 2023, after the value of $44 billion last year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade aims to support businesses to effectively exploit the signed free trade agreements, enhance competitiveness, and build brand names for sustainable export.

Garment and textile groups bemoan curbs With the autumn-winter season coming up, Vietnams garment and textile industry could cash in on the increased demand for clothing. However, amid social distancing, a resulting labour shortage, and vastly increased shipping costs, domestic apparel producers are struggling to make use of such opportunity and keep up with orders.

Garment and textiles going green in push to hit turnover goals The garment and textiles industry in Vietnam is going green, with a series of companies and factories embracing eco-friendly initiatives firmly in line with global trends.
FDI is set to see a large uptick in activity in 2023, photo Le Toan

A series of investment projects have been awarded, and investment commitments signed at a conference on February 5 in which local authorities in the north-central and central coast regions also granted 16 investment certificates totalling $5.6 billion and five MoUs on investment cooperation with a capital of nearly $700 million. The highlighted project is the $1.8 billion Son My II combined cycle gas turbine power plant invested by US energy major AES.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has also handed over a decision approving the investment policy for a project to build a combined gas turbine thermal power plant using liquefied natural gas, with a total investment of $2.1 billion in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan.

Seven international partners will support about $1.7 billion to invest in infrastructure, transport, urban development, and climate response.

There was a sharp increase in the number and value of new foreign investments in Vietnam in January, signifying an increase in confidence for further ventures this year. Some 153 new foreign-invested projects, valued at $1.2 billion, were granted licences, up 48.5 per cent in number and 3.1 times in value compared to last year.

These positive signs will contribute to reinforcing the ability to reach $36-38 billion of foreign-invested capital in 2023, which was predicted by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The total disbursement of foreign investment this year is expected to hit $22-23 billion. The registered capital predicted for 2024 will increase by 30 per cent on-year.

Vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign-Invested Enterprises Nguyen Van Toan told VIR, The forecasts from the FIA in Vietnam have a foundation. The agency usually works with large investors but details take time to be released. The opening of Chinas economy might also change things.

Statistics from the FIA have showed that in the last two years, China is in fourth position in the list of largest foreign investors in Vietnam with the total investment capital of $2.9 billion in 2021, and $2.52 billion in 2022.

In general, there we have both positive and negative factors, impacting the foreign investment capital attraction of Vietnam. If we put these factors on the scale, the positive impact will be seen more clearly, Toan said.

The demand for expanding operations in Vietnam still exists. Many large-scale foreign-invested manufacturers, such as Foxconn in the northern province of Bac Giang, are expanding their facilities to prepare for long-term investment plans.

Wu Ming Ying, president of the Dong Nai branch of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said, Taiwanese investors funded 270 projects in the province with a total investment capital of $5.5 billion, becoming the second-largest investor in Dong Nai. Their investment was successful, so they have the intention to expand their operation and invest in new projects. Once the province expands the industrial infrastructure, it will lure a large capital inflow from both Taiwan and other regions.

Along with the industrial sector, foreign investors are paying attention to the other investment sectors in Dong Nai, such as real estate, logistics, technical infrastructure, and renewables. They have available capital, but are waiting to complete procedures to implement investment projects.

For example, Japans AEON Mall has plans to build a $268-million shopping centre in Bien Hoa city of Dong Nai, which will contribute to its plan to build 30 trade centres in Vietnam this decade. Amata Group from Thailand is waiting for the procedure to develop four projects in Long Thanh district worth a half billion dollars, while LG group is paying attention to smart city projects in the province.

Ho Chi Minh City is also trying to work with Intel Products Vietnam to lure new projects.

Pham Tuan Anh, deputy head of the Foreign Economic Relations Division at Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment, said, Intel Products Vietnam plans to develop $3.3 billion in projects. If the city succeeds in attracting this project, the city is estimated to lure $7.4 billion in foreign-invested capital for the year.

Strong 2022 export results set to continue on front foot Vietnams goods export landscape for 2023 is expected to continue enjoying a surge as it did last year, on the back of a rebound in global demands and domestic production.
Data that ChatGPT owns is limited to 2021 and is not suitable for current market prices, Photo Le Toan

If before, real estate agents had to write plenty of descriptions of the house they wanted to sell, now ChatGPT could help them do it in seconds.

Hoang Duc, a private real estate broker in Ho Chi Minh City, wants to advertise for sale a 4-bedroom house in Thu Duc city. With just entering a few keywords, an AI chatbot tool can create an extremely attractive description. Duc said that it would have taken him an hour or more to write such a paragraph himself.

Although it was just an experiment, it saved me a lot of time. Its not perfect, but its a great start, Duc said.

According to Tong Duong, CEO and founder of Homenext Corporation, more people in his area of expertise are wondering if AI will replace humans at some tasks sooner rather than later. I think, if ChatGPT or a similar platform is officially released in Vietnam, it will become a tool which will impact education, business, and technology, Duong told VIR.

According to Duong, from a business perspective, people will either quickly adapt and control the new ways of working, or be replaced or eliminated because of their slow process to adapt.

However, there is one thing that AI cannot replace, which is human connection and emotional stories that only humans can write, stressed Duong.

In less than two months, ChatGPT has sparked discussions about the potential to disrupt other industries, from publishing to law. It is made up of large amounts of online data, to answer users questions. It can write essays, stories, song lyrics, and research paper summaries, and some CEOs are using it to write emails or do accounting work.

Although not yet used in Vietnam, the system is currently being discussed enthusiastically throughout the real estate market, from investors and professionals to brokers and end-users. ChatGPT is currently free, but owner OpenAI is considering a $42 monthly fee. Real estate broker Duc said he is willing to pay hundreds of US dollars a year for a tool like this.

However, for questions surrounding the Vietnamese real estate market, this chatbot has revealed certain limitations. Although the product from OpenAI does not officially support Vietnamese users, the words and expressions of the chatbot are still relatively easy to understand. For those who only need to find basic information, the data it provides is relatively accurate.

However, for experts or those who want to look up more detailed information, results are deemed unsatisfactory. Data that ChatGPT owns is also limited to 2021 and is therefore not suitable when looking at current market prices.

Although OpenAI has updated calculation capabilities, many users acknowledge that the software incorrectly answers basic calculations.

According to Daniel Vu, a private broker, all advice is for reference only, even if it is advice from an expert.

Investing is an individual decision. ChatGPT is ultimately just a reference channel. The investment depends on each persons perception of the future picture of the market. This is a factor that depends on the analytical ability and sensitivity of investors. Meanwhile, the answer of the other AI is based entirely on past data, commented Vu.

However, he said that he highly appreciated ChatGPTs ability to create documents. He thinks that if it is to write documents or contracts, this chatbot could completely perform well. Even the team in the companys marketing department could use it to support ideas and any content creation.

Damian Sung - Institutional sales director Asia Bankers Club As the utilisation of ChatGPT technology continues to rise within Vietnams real estate sector, it is imperative that executives and decision-makers consider its potential impact on the industry. While the tool holds promise in streamlining certain aspects of the process, such as providing basic information and answering routine questions, it must be noted that ChatGPT is a language model and not a substitute for professional real estate agents, appraisers, or investment advisors. Reliance on similar AI-powered platforms as the sole source of information and counsel in real estate ventures could result in incomplete or inaccurate insights, presenting a risk to business objectives. To mitigate this risk, executives are advised to conduct due diligence by cross-referencing information obtained from these tools with multiple trusted sources, including professional organisations like Asia Bankers Club, Savills, JLL, and CBRE. While the trend of utilising such technology in the Vietnamese real estate market offers some advantages, it is crucial for executives to seek out the expertise of seasoned professionals and to verify information obtained through AI platforms in order to make informed decisions and achieve business objectives. Duong Dung - Executive director CBRE Vietnam Although in its infancy, ChatGPT boasts considerable benefits and it is impossible to assess the limit this technology can bring at this moment in time. Service and brokerage activities in Vietnams real estate market could save time in aggregating information and providing market summaries. Brokers may also use it to reach out to new customer groups to understand customer needs, something that a broker can take days or even months to gather the necessary information. In addition, its human likeness is an advantage that can reduce the time it takes to answer common questions. AI in the real estate market is no longer a new concept, with some large US corporations already using AI in property valuation. The direct impact of an AI like ChatGPT may not be precisely determined, but the result is effective. Time is a significant asset for any market, real estate especially will be much more efficient with the time that an AI offers. However, AI is not without risks. Information and accuracy of information are significant, especially for a sensitive market like real estate. A user can use it to aggregate basic information, but an in-depth understanding requires real-world experience. Currently, ChatGPTs aggregate database only contains information up to 2021. Therefore, the effectiveness of ChatGPT for a time-dependent market like real estate can be minimal due to outdated market information. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc - CEO and founder Sen Vang Real Estate JSC ChatGPT has caused a global fever since early December, with more than one million registered users after just one week. We should look at it as a useful tool for giving customers intensive, transparent, and integrated information about products and the real estate market. In addition, other AI applications will optimise marketing and real estate sales activities such as writing content for real estate sales, writing PR content for products, or other marketing content to support and attract customers, appraise customers, and define the target audience. Because AI is based on a large database, it is possible that in the near future, there will be new jobs or new trends that are creating commands and keywords for ChatGPT to produce results and so there will be a lot of data generated intentionally, but no longer transparently. Especially since information on Vietnams real estate market remains at a low level, data falsification can completely happen for unfair competition and data navigation. And that is why, successfully choosing good information from reliable sources is important. Alex Crane - Managing director Knight Frank Vietnam While AI as well as proptech is in its infancy, there will inevitably be hurdles and risks to overcome through adoption. Naturally, with continued learning in AI platforms in our sector, it is something certainly to watch with interest. There is a hype-cycle to new technologies that can take some time before mass adoption, but these steps and innovation are welcome. Specifically for ChatGPT, it is astute at answering questions that are relevant to content, so is likely to be most prominent in our sector around report writing and marketing. It no doubt is a great step already to help content writers for inspiration or in the structuring of prose and helping with some key discussion points. Relating to our wider industry, AI is still a long way from providing solid technical reasoning and experience in specific disciplines such as valuation, construction, surveying or conveyancing. Indeed, the human element of decision-making, design or occupancy of the built environment involves so much human emotion we may be waiting a long time before AI can replicate human response to the point it will be adopted in the sector in a meaningful sense. That said, we might expect some improvements through this kind of technology for content and marketing and users must then be aware that AI is only an output of data that it can source or is trained on which may be open to biases, errors, or inaccuracies. In order to avoid these risks, it is important for users to corroborate information provided by the ChatGPT tool with other reliable sources, and to consult experienced professionals.

AI wave set to sweep tech market The trend for digital transformation and the push from new technology have created momentum for platforms and products applying AI to develop in Vietnam.

ChatGPT and AI booms in Vietnam AI and ChatGPT technologies are forecasted to explode, creating a new wave of technology this year.

ChatGPT and its potential legal implications in Vietnam ChatGPT is the topic on almost everyones lips at this great juncture in Vietnam. Even high school kids will be trained for this technology so that they can know how and when to use and not to use it in their studying and future careers. The big question remains, nonetheless, as to the legal implications this technology carries.
A street in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo source: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok  The Thai Board of Investment (BoI) on February 14 unveiled its strategies to attract foreign investors over the next three to five years.

BoI Secretary-General Narit Therdsteerasukdi said the board's strategies are in line with the country's long-term socio-economic development plans and they support manufacturing and industrial sectors so that local and foreign companies can develop the foundation for their growth in Thailand.

Under the new strategies, BoI plans to focus more on promoting the bio-circular-green economic model, electric vehicles, and digital and creative businesses.

Bangkok will play a key role in convincing foreign investment and global companies to set up regional hubs thanks to its advantage of electric trains serving all areas of the city and its vicinity, including airports and ports.

According to Narit, countries and businesses looking to draw investment are facing challenges, including carbon dioxide emissions, geopolitical conflicts, shortages of raw materials, technological disruption, epidemics, and an ageing population.

However, Thailand has advantages as it is located in the centre of Southeast Asia, not largely affected by the US-China trade war.

The country has fewer conflicts with other nations, and possesses a flexible supply chain, said Narit.

He added that Thailand also proved its ability to handle crises like the pandemic and supply renewable energy.

Businesses should follow new investment trends such as diversification, green investments, and smart manufacturing, he said, adding that foreign direct investors tend to consider factors such as availability of infrastructure and logistics, qualified personnel, regulations favourable to the business sector, supporting industrial bases, reasonable costs and government benefits.

He said the private sector and government agencies should introduce measures such as reskilling and upskilling their workforces, raising the level of Thai industry to a smart and sustainable basis, and strengthening and creating business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups.

Meanwhile, large companies should be encouraged to play a greater role in three areas of human development, SME development, and community development.

Thailand, EU to resume FTA talks in March Thailand and the EU have agreed to pursue free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in the first quarter this year, after nearly a decade of stagnation.

Thailand's industrial production index falls sharply in December Thailand's industrial output further declined more than expected in December 2022, as a global slowdown hit demand for Thai exports, according to the Ministry of Industry.
Illustrative image (Source: AFP/VNA)

Phnom Penh - Cambodia will start benefiting in April from the UKs Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), a new type of customs preference unveiled by the European country in August 2022.

British Ambassador to Cambodia Dominic Williams said that the DCTS will replace the former Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and will be put into force in April. Cambodia will automatically be listed as one of the beneficiary countries.

Cambodia already benefits from the UK's GSP which grants exports tariff-free and quota-free access to the UK market.

But the DCTS will replace and improve the former trade preference scheme, with a new approach being taken regarding the origin of the goods exported from Cambodia to the UK, according to the diplomat.

The key change between the two is about rules of origin, said Williams, explaining that the new trade scheme should make it easier for goods that are partially manufactured in Cambodia and partially manufactured in another country to be exported to the UK.

Goods that are 100 per cent manufactured in Cambodia already have tariff-free access to the UK, he stressed.

In 2022, the UK was the final destination of 3.94 per cent of Cambodias total exports, according to data from the General Department of Customs and Excises. Most of them were clothing products.

Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Pen Sovicheat said that Cambodia will further boost exports to the UK market through the DCTS, expressing his hope for a rise in the export of agriculture-related products, especially in those with geographical indications (GI), such as the Kampot pepper or palm sugar.

British official in Vietnam to boost accession to CPTPP Minister of State Greg Hands of the UK Department for International Trade arrived in Hanoi on February 1 for high-level trade talks on how the UK joining of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will boost the economic firepower of the worlds most dynamic trade bloc, according to the British Embassy.
The ancient riverbank city of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam is a popular tourism destination for both domestic and international visitors. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Vietnam has great potential to develop a toursim market segment for young travellers, heard a workshop organised by the Institution for Tourism Development Research (ITDR) under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Speaking at the workshop on the youth's tourism trends and solutions to attract young travellers in Vietnam, ITDR Director Nguyen Anh Tuan said that in the past, tourists are mostly middle-aged with quite stable incomes.

But now, thanks to the development of global tourism and improved living conditions, young people have an increasing demand for travelling, he said.

Le Quang Dang, a researcher from ITDR who led a study on the tourism trends of Vietnamese young people, said that Vietnam is amidst the golden population structure period with people aged from 15 to 35 making up 30 per cent of its population.

Young people are the generation with the most potential for tourism and a promising segment for the breakthrough of the country's smokeless industry, he said.

To young people, travelling is not simply about discovering a place with sightseeing but gaining experiences and looking for long-term meaningful values, Dang said.

With dynamism, youth, passion for travelling and exploring new things, Vietnamese young people have updated a series of interesting travel trends such as solo travel, check-in tourism, green tourism, charity tourism, or backpacking.

Dangs study found that Vietnamese young travellers usually choose destinations with beautiful and pristine natural landscapes to experience and explore with main activities such as check-in photography, camping, walking, mountain climbing, stream bathing, beach bathing, and team building.

Big, bustling cities with festivals, musical shows, walking streets, and night markets also attract young travellers, he said.

According to experts, their spending level for a trip is usually not too high but they have high travelling demand, especially since they are willing to plan many trips in the year.

Young travellers are a source of tourists in the future as their travelling needs can last until they enter middle ages and old ages, so building a business strategy to promote the market share of young tourists is extremely important.

Young tourists usually care much about prices, so businesses also need to have an appropriate strategy to create tourism value chains, increase experiences to stimulate spending as well as keep attracting them.

In addition, instead of choosing a package tour, young people prefer self-designated schedules, customised tours, and book services online.

Therefore, localities and businesses need to invest more in digital transformation in business activities, and tourism management.

They are advised to actively conduct online communication activities through online platforms or social networks and increase digital experiences for young tourists during their trips.

Vietnam listed among top places to visit in the New Year Vietnam has been named one of the top 20 places to visit at the beginning of the new year by UK travel magazine Wanderlust for its beautiful natural sights, festive atmosphere, and favorable weather.

Rejuvenation with a local touch at an lam retreats Located on a secluded peninsula of Khanh Hoa province where natural surroundings create ultimate privacy and tranquility, An Lam Retreats Ninh Van Bay offers a private hideaway of sensory, filled with rich experiences and intimacy.

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.
Vietnams infrastructure luring Chinese investment, illustration photo/ Le Toan

China Pacific Construction will soon establish a representative office in Vietnam to explore investment potential in the transport infrastructure sector, said Jiehe Yan, president of China Pacific Construction Group, last month.

Dr. Jonathan Choi, chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, was in Vietnam one month ago to encourage capital investments in the infrastructure and regional economy, commerce, services, and industrial sectors. He said that Vietnam is an interesting centre of attraction for Chinese investors.

Hong Kong is also an essential gateway for Chinese corporations to invest in Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of January 20, Hong Kong was the fifth-biggest economic partner of Vietnam, following South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan, with nearly 2,180 investment projects totalling $29.6 billion in investment capital.

When Vietnam recognises infrastructure development, including transport infrastructure, as one of three strategic breakthroughs, it will provide new long-term driving factors for foreign investment. The Vietnamese government is now undertaking its plan to construct an additional 3,000km of motorways by 2025 and 5,000km by 2030. According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam has barely constructed more than 1,000km of roadways during the previous two decades.

Chinese investors who went directly to Vietnam to encourage investment employed a strategy that was prevalent several years before the emergence of the pandemic. A number of experts believe this strategy will have a long-term influence on Vietnams infrastructure.

Chinese investment in Vietnam increased at a compound annual rate of 17 per cent between 2015 and 2022. Despite strict lockdowns, investment flow continues as several important projects from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have extended or boosted cash to improve output in Vietnam.

As of January 20, the number of foreign-invested projects in Vietnam continued to rise, and China retained its position as the sixth-largest investor in Vietnam, registered at $23.6 billion.

Despite difficulties, Chinese groups still have the potential to invest in Vietnams transport infrastructure. Vietnam is mobilising funding sources for road network investment of about $17.06 billion to 2025 and $14 billion during 2026-2030, including cash for transitional projects over the next few years.

Chinas re-opening to impact Vietnam Chinas re-opening will boost Vietnams economy in tourism, exports and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Businesses exporting medicinal herbs to China required to register Vietnamese businesses which want to export medicinal herbs to China must submit information about growing areas and packaging establishments to the provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Police arrested a Waco woman last week after she kicked her partner and tried to stab him with a sharpened pen, according to an arrest affidavit.

Canzetta Denise Washington, 60, appeared drunk and was kicking the man at about 8:30 p.m. Friday when police responded to a domestic disturbance call at a home in the 2300 block of Herring Avenue, an arrest affidavit says.

He did not want to press charges and referred to the fight as scuffling, according to the affidavit. He said they have been in a relationship for 20 to 35 years and she acts out when intoxicated, the affidavit says.

Two witnesses said Washington placed the man in a headlock and tried to stab him with a sharpened pen, the affidavit says.

One witness said Washington was the aggressor, according to the affidavit.

Washington remained in McLennan County Jail on Tuesday with bond set at $15,000 on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a weapon, family violence.
Baylor University professor Greg Garrett, the organizer behind the Racism in the White Church conference this week at Truett Seminary, said the theme to the conferences second year lies in its subtitle: Time to Wake Up.

Not only is it a mild dig at critics who label efforts toward racial equity and justice as a woke agenda, it also signals the conferences shift toward action with presentations more geared to how churches can work to attack racism and its effects.

Last years conference outlined and identified the problem of racism in the white American Christian church with national scholars including Kristin Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne; Robert Jones, author of The End of White Christian America; and Catherine Meeks, author of Passionate for Justice.

Garrett said Time to Wake Up, which begins Thursday, will look at moving beyond recognition of a problem to action, with a lineup equally as impressive, including popular Bible teacher Beth Moore, best-selling author Jemar Tisby and New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley.

This is a deeper dive in conversations and relationships, and will look at how do we live in relationship with the people most affected (by racism), Garrett said.

The Baylor English professor and author is studying racial mythologies and how they underlie attitudes among white Christians, underwritten by a $488,000 Eula Mae & John Baugh Foundation grant that is also supporting the conferences at Truett Seminary.

The dialogue between Du Mez and Baylor history professor Beth Allison Barr at last years conference drew more than 300,000 views online and Garrett anticipates the presence of Moore and Tisby may boost attendance and national attention this year.

Moore, a best-selling author and popular Bible teacher well respected in Southern Baptist circles, will speak at 2:30 p.m. Friday on The Bible and Race, followed by a conversation with Truett Seminary Dean Todd Still at 4 p.m.

Moore, president of Living Proof Ministries, drew national attention in 2021 for publicly splitting with the Southern Baptist Convention over issues of sexual abuse in churches, female leadership and the conventions support for Donald Trump. She comes to Baylor days before the release of her latest book, a personal memoir spanning her childhood to the present, All My Knotted-Up Life. She spoke at Truett Seminary last fall for its National Preaching Conference.

It is a return trip to Waco as well for Tisby, author of the national bestseller The Color of Compromise. Tisby will talk about Racism, Repair and the Church at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, followed by a conversation with Baylor historian Barr at 11 a.m.

McCaulley, Wheaton College associate professor of New Testament and author of Reading While Black, will speak on Policing and the New Testament at 9:30 a.m. Friday, followed by a conversation with Baylor associate Vice President Torie Johnson at 11 a.m.

Garrett and Sean Palmer, teaching pastor of Ecclesia Houston church, will lead the conferences opening day programming. Palmer will speak on The Violent Injustice of Arbitrary Loves at 3 p.m. followed by Garrett and a workshop on racial mythologies at 4 p.m. The two will guide discussion after a 7 p.m. Thursday screening of the film I Am Not Your Negro, a 2016 documentary drawn from an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin.

Film also is on the schedule Friday night when Stephanie Boddie, Baylor assistant professor of church and community ministries, and Jon Singletary, dean of Baylors Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, will screen Unfinished Business, her film based on oral histories of the Great Migration, and lead a post-film discussion.

Garrett said Baylors recent work in grappling with race and slavery in the universitys founding and Truett Seminarys support of Black preaching and worship studies provide a fitting and timely context for the conference and its content.

I believe intensely we have to talk about race. Its at the heart of the problems we face, he said.

Conference sessions are open to the public and free for Baylor students, faculty and staff. In-person registration is $29, but a virtual registration to view the sessions online is free. Session videos will be recorded and posted online as well.
WAHOO  After being selected by the Nebraska Department of Transportations County Bridge Match Program, a bridge in western Saunders County is set to get an upgrade.

Improvements to a bridge near county roads 28 and L was selected as a project to receive matching funds from NDOT, and the Saunders County Board of Supervisors approved the states contribution at the Feb. 7 board meeting.

County Highway Superintendent Andy Nordstrom said the bridge is narrow and supports a low tonnage, but it will be bolstered after the state contributes up to $250,000 to the project. The bridge is frequently traveled by farmers, Nordstrom said.

I know a lot of people like to use County Road L instead of Highway 92 with farm equipment, and stuff, he said. Its probably a $500,000 bridge.

The board also approved the appointment of John Cantrall of Colon to the Saunders County Extension Board. According to his application, Cantrall has ranched in central Nebraska, worked as a hired hand on a dairy farm near Wahoo and as a senior merchant at ag company Scoulars Fremont offices.

The board is still in the process of finding a public defender to replace Tom Klein, who was appointed to the judgeship of the County Court, in the Sixth Judicial District, and assumed that role in late January.

Emily Mathews has served as interim public defender since January and is in the running for the position. Mathews was the deputy public defender in Scotts Bluff County from 2016 to 2017 and was an assistant public defender in Douglas County from 2018 to 2021, according to her LinkedIn page.

Also in the running is Scott Tingelhoff, who served as the Saunders County attorney from 2002 to 2014 and has run Tingelhoff Law in Wahoo since 1999. Tingelhoff has also served as the general manager at AltEn, LLC in Mead since 2018.

Timothy Sopinski of Fremont has also applied for the position. Sopinski served as chief deputy county attorney in Dodge County from 2010 to 2016 and has operated Sopinski Law Office in Fremont since 2018.

The final candidate is Jerrod Jaeger, also of Fremont, who served as the Dawes County public defender in Chadron from 2013 to 2018 and has run Jaeger Law Office since 2005.

County Board President David Lutton said discussions regarding the public defender applicants will continue at board meetings, but there is no set decision date.
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
DES MOINES  Iowas state transportation commission would be required to prioritize making U.S. Highway 30 four lanes under a bill advanced by a panel of state lawmakers.

A Senate transportation subcommittee Monday advanced to full committee Senate File 111 by Sen. Chris Cournoyer, R-Le Claire, which would require the state to make the entire length of Highway 30 four lanes  including a 40-mile stretch between DeWitt and Lisbon and between Carroll and Ogden in Western Iowa.

Economic developers, business leaders and government officials in Clinton County have advocated for the better part of two decades for the state to modify and expand Highway 30 between DeWitt and Lisbon to four lanes.

Representatives with Grow Clinton County, which works to promote business growth in the region, told lawmakers such a project would spur rural business development, foster population growth, improve roadway safety, lessen congestion on Interstate 80 and match the majority of Highway 30s cross-state footprint.

Cournoyers district includes Clinton County.

Instead of a four-lane layout, the Iowa Department of Transportations five-year highway plan calls for changing the current two-lane layout of Highway 30 from Lisbon to Stanwood to a super-two configuration that would enable the construction of wider lanes, a hard shoulder and occasional turning and passing lanes. Construction is slated to occur in 2025 and 2026.

Meanwhile, work is ongoing to finish four-lane construction in Benton County, which is slated to be completed by next year, according to the DOT.

Stuart Anderson, director of transportation development for the Iowa DOT, said the DOT decided against a four-lane layout in favor of the super two alternative due to cost savings. He said the DOT estimated it would cost 15 to 20 percent of the cost of upgrading to a four-lane highway and wouldnt require nearly as much property acquisition.

DOT officials too doubt that expanding the highway to four lanes would, on its own, spur an economic boom.

Im really just trying to keep this in front of the commission to make sure that they understand how important the full four-lane Highway 30 is to the rural parts of our state and what it can do for economic development, and in terms of taking pressure off of I-80 and just helping move goods and people across the state in a safe way, Cournoyer said. So Im going to recommend passage so we can keep the conversation going.
More jobs would be open to Iowa teenagers under a bill House lawmakers advanced on Tuesday.

The bill would allow 14-year-olds to work in freezers and meat coolers, load non-power tools to and from vehicles, and work in laundry and detasseling. Fifteen-year-olds would be able to do work like loading and unloading groceries from trucks, stocking shelves with items up to 30 pounds, and working as a lifeguard. People aged 16 and 17 would also be allowed to serve drinks at bars and restaurants.

Teens could also receive a waiver from the department of workforce development or education to work in industries like construction, manufacturing and mining if the job is part of a work-based learning program and meets certain safety conditions.

Business groups supported the legislation during a public hearing, saying the bill would help address Iowas workforce shortages and provide students with a hands-on way to study vocational skills before leaving high school.

The bill advanced with Republican support. Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, said the changes would allow teens to learn important lessons at earlier ages.

We need to give our kids a chance, we need to give our kids the ability to learn life lessons, he said.

But several organizations raised concerns about the bill, particularly the provisions allowing minors to work on construction sites and manufacturing with a waiver. Opponents said the loosening of the law could put children in dangerous situations.

Were not that far away from dozens of children working in a factory assembling parts, said Peter Hird, a lobbyist for the Iowa chapter of the American Federation of Labor.

ESG INVESTING: The state would be barred from investing money with firms that have environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investment strategies at the expense of maximizing returns under a bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds that lawmakers advanced Tuesday.

State money could also not go to investment firms that boycott fossil fuel, production agriculture and firearm companies.

Republican lawmakers advanced the bill, Senate Study Bill 1094, out of a subcommittee on Tuesday.

The bill is in reaction to some large investment firms promoting investment strategies that consider the social and environmental impact of investments. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed similar legislation this year.

Reynolds legislative liaison Molly Severn said the strategy promotes a woke ideology in a public hearing on the bill Tuesday.

ESG practices are not only legally suspect, they are financially reckless, Severn said. We must ensure that ESG has no place in our states finances.

Representatives for state pensions said their investment strategy is already aimed solely at maximizing returns during a public hearing Tuesday and do not invest with ESG in mind.

GUN CONTROL GRANT: Iowa will receive $2.48 million in a grant funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun control law President Joe Biden signed last year.

The grant will fund intervention programs like extreme risk protection orders, in which a court can remove a persons access to a firearm if they pose a threat to themselves or others. It can also support drug, mental health and veterans treatment courts.

Iowas grant will go to the governors Office of Drug Control Policy, and the office will create a grant application for distributing the funds, according to a White House spokesperson.

FITNESS FUNDING: Gov. Kim Reynolds announced plans to create three elementary and middle school fitness centers as part of a campaign aimed at addressing rising mental illness and childhood obesity.

Reynolds office announced the plan Tuesday, a partnership with the National Foundation for Governors Fitness Councils.

Schools can apply to receive a fitness center through the program between now and March 26, according to Reynolds office.
CHARLES CITY  A Charles City man who made bombs in 2020 has been sentenced to prison on drug and explosives charges.

Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Thomas Jay Downer, 34, to up to 14 years in prison on charges of distribution of meth, possession of destructive devices and felon in possession of a firearm during a Friday hearing in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

Following prison, Downer will be on supervised release for five years.

An associate of Downer, 34-year-old Cody Robert Winters, was sentenced to five years in prison for meth charges in connection with the investigation in December.

According to prosecutors, Downer admitted he distributed more than 5 grams of pure methamphetamine on Oct. 27, 2020, and possessed and sold five pipe bombs three days later. The bombs were made of plastic plumbing pipe and included BBs and nails as shrapnel, prosecutors said.

The defense said in a sentencing memo that the bombs appear to have been made just for fun.

According to police and court records, Charles City police investigated explosions in the city in June 2020 that caused about $2,500 damage to two homes and a vehicle.

Authorities searched Winters home on Nov. 13, 2020, and found a .223-caliber Diamondback AR-15 rifle and a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun. Downer was found with a 9mm Taurus TH9C handgun when they searched his home that same day, records indicate.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Reinert and investigated by Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
WATERLOO  Police are talking with witnesses after a man was shot in the mouth at a Waterloo home Wednesday afternoon.

The victims name hasnt been released but Waterloo police said he is expected to survive. The shooting happened inside 911 Leavitt St. at about 1:25 p.m.

Officers administered life-saving measures until paramedics with Waterloo Fire Rescue arrived. The man was taken to MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center and then flown to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for further treatment, police said.

The shooting remains under investigation, and police said there is no danger to the public.

Photos: Shooting, Leavitt St., Waterloo Feb. 15, 2023 Leavitt Street police 021523jr-shooting-leavitt-3 021523jr-shooting-leavitt-2 021523jr-shooting-leavitt-4
CEDAR FALLS  Joey Bearbower wants to replace any negative thoughts kids might have with positive ones.

The artist and entrepreneur made that his mission after watching a video of teen expert and motivator Josh Shipp speaking, and hes responded by taking action to help his own community thrive.

This week, Bearbower rolled out the first-ever Its All Love project to Orchard Hill Elementary School in Cedar Falls and Orange Elementary School in Waterloo as well as at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley.

I wanted to create a chain reaction of positivity, said Bearbower, a Cedar Falls resident and 2005 Waterloo West High School graduate. The mission for this project was for the students to realize what it feels like to receive and give a random act of kindness. The teachers would talk about what it means and brainstorm ideas, and then the students would be encouraged to go home to their parents to see how they can further impact their communities.

About 1,000 elementary school students received a gift from Bearbower as part of the community kindness project.

They each received a rubber wristband with the word original and a thumbprint printed across it, in recognition that every human is unique.

The gift also included a thoughtfully typed-out message about the value of kindness and a card students are supposed to pass along to others after demonstrating a random act of kindness, encouraging the recipient to join the movement by performing one for someone else.

In other words, they became kindness ninjas that day and were tasked with spreading as much kindness as possible on their own without an adult directing them to do so.

Kindness is our favorite word today, said first grade teacher Renae Drey. I think with the physical card, theyll feel empowered.

Orchard Hill Elementary School students were especially shocked on Tuesday to hear that the ripples of their actions could be felt around the world. They learned how the mission could be fulfilled by an act as simple as a hug, helping someone pay for a cup of hot cocoa or visiting someone who may be sick.

At Orange Elementary School, the fifth-grade connector leaders were responsible for delivering Bearbowers gifts to classrooms throughout the school.

Hopefully, our actions lead to no harm in the world, said Owen Henry, 10. Life would be much easier and everyone would much happier.

For him, kindness could range from smiling at someone to offering them a compliment or holding a door open.

Fifth grader Jayden Smith, 11, noted, as well, that its the small things that go a long way. It could be a compliment, or a high five.

At Orchard Hill Elementary School, second grader Jorno Latdrik, 7, was helping deliver the gifts with Principal Andrea Christopher while wearing his free hugs T-shirt. Hes someone educational leaders have pointed out as an inspiration to his classmates, which has won him the honorary title of assistant principal.

You hope they dont lose the card, and help to spread kindness, he said.

Everett Bolthouse, 7, said he planned on fulfilling the mission and giving out the card.

Its Valentines Day, and (classmate) Nora Taylors birthday, he pointed out. I like to give out hugs at school and to my family.

Nora Taylor, 7, who has her birthday party Saturday, said she may use that special time to give back and share her kindness with those who attend.

I might put the card in someones goodie bag, she said.

Charlotte Rinehart, 7, noted how shes a hugger too. She may deliver kindness to someone whos ill.

The card could find itself all the way across the country, exclaimed Robert Goodwin, 7. He pointed out how he plans to stand up for other people as his act of kindness.

Photos: UNI wrestling vs. Iowa State, Feb. 10 WR UNI vs. ISU 1 WR UNI vs. ISU 2 WR UNI vs. ISU 3 WR UNI vs. ISU 4 WR UNI vs. ISU 5 WR UNI vs. ISU 6 WR UNI vs. ISU 7 WR UNI vs. ISU 8 WR UNI vs. ISU 9 WR UNI vs. ISU 10 WR UNI vs. ISU 11 WR UNI vs. ISU 12 WR UNI vs. ISU 13 WR UNI vs. ISU 14 WR UNI vs. ISU 15 WR UNI vs. ISU 16 WR UNI vs. ISU 17 WR UNI vs. ISU 18 WR UNI vs. ISU 19 WR UNI vs. ISU 20
WATERLOO  The Salvation Army of Waterloo/Cedar Falls is urgently seeking volunteers to assist with what has become an important community staple, the Tuesday/Thursday perishable goods pantry.

With the high cost of living and employment still a concern for many, the pantry continues to see an increase in those requesting assistance.

The increase has been clearly documented, Kathy Ford, food programs manager, said in a news release. In 2020, we assisted 8,022 community members with 221,292 pounds of food. In 2021 we assisted 9,819 community members with 391,057 pounds of food. As we entered 2022, we would never have anticipated the increase we experienced; 19,365 community members were assisted with 402,556 pounds of food.

The perishable goods pantry saves hundreds of thousands of pounds of food from the garbage each year and helps individuals and families stretch their food budgets each month, according to the release. This is only possible through the generosity of donors and the volunteers who give their time.

Volunteers and the times theyre needed every Tuesday and Thursday include:

Sorters, 9-11 a.m.  Volunteers sort through the days donations, breaking down bulk items into family size packages. Distribute donations to the correct sections (e.g.: meat, dairy, breads, etc.).

Cart fillers, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.  Volunteers begin building family size boxes of equal size in preparation for distribution.

Car loaders, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.  Volunteers will load food boxes into cars.

To volunteer, for additional information, or to get questions answered, contact Katie Harn, volunteer and community relations coordinator, at (319) 235-9358 ext. 103 or katie.harn@usc.salvationarmy.org.

Photos: UNI wrestling vs. Iowa State, Feb. 10 WR UNI vs. ISU 1 WR UNI vs. ISU 2 WR UNI vs. ISU 3 WR UNI vs. ISU 4 WR UNI vs. ISU 5 WR UNI vs. ISU 6 WR UNI vs. ISU 7 WR UNI vs. ISU 8 WR UNI vs. ISU 9 WR UNI vs. ISU 10 WR UNI vs. ISU 11 WR UNI vs. ISU 12 WR UNI vs. ISU 13 WR UNI vs. ISU 14 WR UNI vs. ISU 15 WR UNI vs. ISU 16 WR UNI vs. ISU 17 WR UNI vs. ISU 18 WR UNI vs. ISU 19 WR UNI vs. ISU 20
COLWELL  Six people were injured Tuesday afternoon when a pickup truck collided with an Amish buggy near 3160 140th St. just west of Colwell

According to the Iowa State Patrol crash report, 66-year-old Jim Whitmarsh of Charles City was traveling eastbound in a 1998 Chevy 1500 when his truck collided with the rear of the eastbound buggy, ejecting the buggys occupants.

Lavern Stauffer, 32, Teresa Stauffer, 27, and four children  one less than a year old and the others ages 2, 4 and 6  were injured and transported to Floyd County Memorial Hospital via ambulance. The extent of the injuries was not released in the report. The accident remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

No charges have been filed as of Wednesday morning. Whitmarsh was not injured.

The Floyd County Sheriffs Office, Colwell Fire Department, Floyd Fire Department, Chickasaw EMS and AMR out of Charles City assisted at the scene.
There was rage. There were tears. There were words from the Bible and there were calls to action.

The raw emotions of the May 14 massacre at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue spilled out into a packed courtroom in Buffalo on Wednesday morning as the killer, Payton Gendron, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Gendron, whose hatred was fueled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online, cried during some of the testimony.

His victims at the Tops Friendly Market  the only supermarket and a neighborhood hub on Buffalo's largely Black East Side  included a church deacon, the grocery stores guard, a man shopping for a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86.

Gendron, now 19, pleaded guilty in November to crimes including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a charge that carried an automatic life sentence.

He is due in a federal court Thursday for a status update in a separate case that could carry a death sentence if prosecutors seek it. His attorney said in December that Gendron is prepared to plead guilty in federal court to avoid execution. New York state does not have the death penalty.

Before Wednesday's sentencing, the families of the 10 people killed and three who were wounded and survived had their chance to tell the judge, the killer and the world what they lost on that day and have had to endure ever since.

One by one they stood at a podium and shared their grief. Many spoke directly to Gendron, who was shackled and wore an orange jail jumpsuit, and was surrounded by three attorneys and half a dozen court officers and deputies.

Kimberly Salter, the widow of Aaron Salter, was the first family member to address the court.

"We wear red and black  red for the blood that he shed for his family and his community, and black because we are still grieving," she said.

Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, was the security guard on duty on May 14 when Gendron, armed with AR-15 and dressed in combat gear, began shooting his way into the store while livestreaming his rampage from a camera mounted to a helmet.

Salter confronted him in the front of the store, exchanging gunfire. Salter managed to shoot Gendron, but his body armor stopped the bullets. Salter was fatally wounded. By engaging Gendron, Salter has been credited with saving many lives by giving people time to escape through the back of the supermarket.

Salter's widow turned to Scripture in her words to the court.

You will reap what you sow, more than you sow, she said, and she also read the 35th Psalm.

My soul shall be joyful in the Lord, she said. "Oh Lord do not be far from me."

Ruth Whitfields granddaughter, Simone Crawley, said her grandmother will not be present for milestones, but Gendron will be nothing but a number.

You will be nameless and faceless and we feel sorry for you, she said. Your life was meaningless before May 14, 2022.

Whitfield was shopping at Tops on that day after visiting her husband at his nursing home when she was killed. She was 86, the eldest of the 10 victims.

Crawley looked at Gendron and told him he did not value himself.

You thought you broke us, but you woke us. We are here to tell you that you failed, she said.

Wayne Jones spoke for his mother, Celestine Chaney, who was shopping at Tops when she was killed. He talked of the gut-wrenching pain of watching the video of Gendron's attack that quickly spread on social media.

I watched you kill my mother, he said. I watched you shoot her once, reload and shoot her again.

"I have a child your age. You've been brainwashed," Jones said. "You're only 18. You don't even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet."

In an especially emotional moment, Barbara Mapps, the sister of Katherine "Kat" Massey, spoke angrily at Gendron.

"I'm not going to be nice," she said, staring at him and sometimes pounding the podium with her hand.

She spoke of the anguish she felt as she waited for eight hours, pleading with police for information, before she learned that her sister was one of the victims.

"You're going to come to our city and decided you don't like Black people? You don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human  We love our kids," she said.

Just then, her son, who was standing beside her, rushed toward Gendron.

Court security staff quickly escorted Gendron out of the courtroom as others held the man back. Prosecutors later said he wouldnt be charged. As he the man was escorted out, he punched a hole through a wall in the hallway.

Gendron, reading later from a written statement and not looking up, spoke briefly.

"I am very sorry for the the pain I forced all the victims and their families to suffer through," he said. "I did a terrible thing that day."

He said he did not want anyone to be inspired by what he did.
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.

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. He was released after posting 10% of a $36,300 bond through a bonding company. He will make a first appearance on the charges in Scott County District Court at a later date.

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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.

Counties with the longest life expectancy in Iowa Counties with the longest life expectancy in Iowa #47. Osceola County #47. Henry County #43. Washington County #43. Howard County #43. Wright County #43. Boone County #41. Floyd County #41. Marion County #37. Sac County #37. Winnebago County #37. Warren County #37. Grundy County #35. Jasper County #35. Hardin County #34. Poweshiek County #32. Clay County #32. Madison County #27. Crawford County #27. Keokuk County #27. Delaware County #27. Shelby County #27. Benton County #26. Plymouth County #24. Greene County #24. Linn County #21. Adams County #21. Carroll County #21. Buchanan County #19. Kossuth County #19. Jefferson County #18. Humboldt County #16. Worth County #16. Dubuque County #13. Clayton County #13. Guthrie County #13. Mitchell County #12. Buena Vista County #11. Dickinson County #10. Bremer County #9. Cedar County #7. Jones County #7. Lyon County #5. Hancock County #5. Dallas County #4. Story County #3. Johnson County #2. Sioux County #1. Winneshiek County
DES MOINES  As Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans seek to bump up funding for pregnancy centers that discourage abortion, abortion rights advocates warned about the credibility and safety of the facilities, known as crisis pregnancy centers.

Crisis pregnancy centers are often religiously affiliated, non-medically licensed facilities that discourage abortions and provide things like free ultrasounds, counseling, and baby clothes and other supplies. Critics, including some medical associations, say the centers provide misleading information and delay legitimate medical attention.

Representatives from Planned Parenthood advocates of Iowa, as well as people who have experience working in and receiving care from crisis pregnancy centers, said at a press conference Wednesday the proposed $1.5 million increase in funding to the 55 centers in the state would further erode reproductive health care.

They do not provide actual medical care, said Mazie Stilwell, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. Instead, they push false, religiously laced propaganda on people to dissuade them from having an abortion.

A wide-ranging bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds moving through the Iowa Legislature would increase funding to crisis pregnancy centers from $500,000 to $2 million and expand the program to include initiatives that support expecting fathers.

In a statement, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the centers provide ultrasounds, counseling, and supplies to expecting mothers. She noted the centers are more widespread, with 55 centers around the state, compared to 9 Planned Pregnancy centers.

Through their criticism of these cost-free options, Planned Parenthood proves they are not interested in promoting healthy families, but rather just promoting abortion, Reynolds said. As a pro-life governor, I will do everything I can to support healthy families, not destroy them.

Ray Garbers, who is a transgender man, said he went to a crisis pregnancy center when he was 19 after finding out he was pregnant. Garbers received unwanted religious information at the first appointment, he said. The center provided an ultrasound but they were unable to locate the pregnancy.

I assumed she was a doctor or nurse, as they had told me she was a nurse, Garbers said. I didnt know that it was a medically unlicensed facility.

The center said Garbers was likely going to miscarry or the pregnancy was not as far along as the center thought, Garbers said. Instead, Garbers found out he had had an ectopic pregnancy when he visited an emergency room with intense abdominal pain two days later.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, and it can be life-threatening if left untreated. Doctors told Garbers the pregnancy had ruptured in the fallopian tube, and he was hemorrhaging blood, and he could have died if his visit to the emergency room was delayed.

As a crisis pregnancy center, or anti-abortion center, they should be required to tell they arent medical professionals Garbers said. They should have to disclose what they are doing right away during the first appointment.

Abortion is currently legal up to 20 weeks in Iowa. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a district court decision that blocked a 2018 law that would have banned abortions once cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, usually around six weeks.

Republican leaders have said they will wait on the courts decision before proposing any more abortion restrictions, but some Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban abortion pills, also known as medication abortions, in the state.

Reynolds bill also includes provisions creating a family medicine obstetrics fellowship program, paid parental leave for state employees, and allowing pharmacists to dispense birth control without a prescription. A Senate panel advanced a pared down version of the bill on Tuesday that did not include the birth control provision. A House committee is set to consider the bill next week.

Rep. Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge, the chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, said she disagreed with the characterization that crisis pregnancy centers are misleading. They conform to health privacy laws and provide important resources, including supplies and parenting classes, to expecting parents, she said.

They dont provide medical care, generally speaking, she said. But what they do provide is resources, and they make appointments for you to see a doctor  We want to see babies not only survive the womb, but we want to see them thrive outside the womb.
South Africa: SA plans to raise R2 trillion by 2028 through intra-Africa trade

South Africas diplomatic missions across the globe stand ready to mobilise R2 trillion by 2028, with a particular focus on increasing intra-Africa trade, which stands at 17% of total trade.

This is according to the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, who participated in the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday.

Members of Parliament from both Houses gathered at the Cape Town City Hall to debate the address.

Mr President, because of your leadership, in 2021, we exported more to Africa -- R385 billion -- than to the European Union's R355 billion.

According to Botes, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) would cover a market of 1.2 billion people in Africa, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.5 trillion.

He told Parliament that this would increase intra-African trade by up to 52.3% and expand the size of Africas economy to US$29 trillion by 2050, as estimated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, enjoined by its seven aspirations to realise inclusive prosperity.

A South African, Wamkele Mene, is the Secretary-General and the penholder on implementation of the prescripts of the Abuja Treaty and Lagos Plan of Action. The promotion of economic diplomacy has dialectically contributed to your investment target of R1.2 trillion, Mr President, Botes said.

Global governance

As the only African country in the G20 or Group of Twenty and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), as well as a key strategic partner of the European Union (EU), the country continues to place the African continent and the global South on the agenda.

He said a critical priority for 2023 is South Africas Chairship of BRICS under the theme: BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism.

The Global South is elated with the re-election of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and we welcome his support for your leadership in BRICS.

In addition, he said one of the issues that will be discussed in BRICS, is how to restructure the global, political, economic and financial architecture so that it becomes more balanced, representative, inclusive, and equitable.

Under President Ramaphosas leadership, Botes said the international community voted overwhelmingly for South Africa to be a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the next three years (2023-2025).

He also announced that the eighth South Africa-European Union Summit will be hosted on home soil in the first half of 2023.

I wish to reiterate the South African governments appreciation for the continued EU support to development cooperation and EUs support during the pandemic and to Biovac and the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, he said.

We further appreciate the technical assistance received from the EU related to the possible greylisting of South Africa by the Financial Action Task Force.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese rescue team will proceed without hesitation in Turkiye: female team member

Ecns.cn) 09:04, February 15, 2023

Two members of China's Blue Sky Rescue Team carry out rescue operations in Turkiye. (Photo provided to China News Service )

(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.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
 Top News Today

In Kupyansk direction, Army Aviation and artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces inflicted a fire damage on manpower and military hardware of the 14th Mechanised Brigade and 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) close to Dvurechnaya and Kotlyarovka (Kharkov region).

In Krasny Liman direction, Army Aviation strikes and artillery fire of the Tsentr Group of Forces hit units of the 67th, 92nd Mechanised and 25th Airborne brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of Chervonaya Dibrova, Stelmakhovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic) and Yampolovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

In Donetsk direction, up to 190 Ukrainian troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, one armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, a Msta-B howitzer, and a US-made M777 artillery system have been neutralised during the day by the Yug Group of Forces offensive and artillery fire.

In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the Vostok Group of Forces hit Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of Ugledar and Novoselka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

 Russian Defence Ministry shows Grad MLRS, Russias Su-30SM and Su-35S aircraft, AFU stronghold seized by troops of Central MD in Lugansk Peoples Republic, Tor-M2 SAM systems, and Russian paratroopers in combat action within the special military operation.

 Another POW from the 72nd Separate Mechanised Brigade: I survived only because I surrendered.

In Rostov-on-Don, Colonel General Sergei Kuralenko, the Head of the Main Directorate of Military Police of the Russian Defence Ministry, presented state awards to servicemen who had demonstrated courage and heroism in combat missions within the special military operation.

 Two Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers made a routine flight over neutral waters of Chukotsk and Okhotsk seas.

#MoD #TopNews #Russia #Ukraine

@mod_russia_en

WtR
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. &&


bp and Deep Wind Offshore have formed a joint venture to develop offshore wind opportunities in South Korea. As part of their agreement, bp has acquired a 55% stake in Deep Wind Offshores early-stage offshore wind portfolio, which includes four projects across the Korean peninsula with a potential generating capacity of up to 6 GW.





The permitting process for the four projects is already underway having installed wind measurement devices during 2021 and 2022. bp and Deep Wind Offshore will now look to install additional wind measurement systems and secure electricity business licenses in the coming period.



The joint venture will see bp enter the South Korean offshore wind market through Deep Wind Offshores existing presence in the region. This includes teams in four offices around the country, and a history in South Korea since 2006 through its owner Knutsen Group, which is currently one of the biggest clients to the Korean yards in the shipbuilding segment.



bp has a 40-year history in the country, including sizeable oil and LNG trading activities and its Castrol lubricants business.



Matthias Bausenwein, bps Senior Vice President of offshore wind, said: South Korea is an exceptional market to expand our growing offshore wind footprint. We are very happy to be working with a partner as strong as Deep Wind Offshore, which has managed to build a strong local team and develop these projects in collaboration with a variety of Korean stakeholders. We look forward to developing these gigawatts further so we can integrate these electrons in the wider energy system and help the global and South Korean energy transition.



Knut Vassbotn, Deep Wind Offshores CEO, said: We are extremely excited about partnering with bp to help realize our quality portfolio of projects in South Korea. There is a great fit between our highly competent development team and the bp execution capabilities. We look forward to integrating our teams to realize the projects in a sustainable manner, in close collaboration with local stakeholders to bring both clean electricity to the country and opportunities to local supply chain and communities.



bp is building its offshore wind presence with a 5.2 GW net capacity pipeline. In the UK, with partner EnBW, bp is developing the

Morgan

and

Mona

projects in the Irish Sea and

Morven

in the North Sea off Scotland  together, the projects have potential gross generating capacity of around 6 GW. In the US, bp with Equinor are developing up to 4.4GW through two projects off the East Coast 

Empire Wind

and

Beacon Wind

.



Deep Wind Offshore is an international developer and owner of offshore wind projects, with headquarters in Norway and offices in Sweden and Korea and projects under development in numerous other markets. In Norway, Deep Wind Offshore is developing its proposal for

Srlige Nordsj II

and

Utsira Nord

together with EDF Renewables.


Hexicon and IX Wind have teamed up to provide services for the development and construction of a 1,300+ MW floating offshore wind project in Taiwan.







The partnership, secured in December 2022, will offer project management, consultancy and engineering services to the project. They aim to achieve commissioning for the project as early as 2028.







Stockholm-based Hexicon was founded in 2009 and has experience developing floating offshore wind projects with other established industry partners in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. It develops wind power projects in deep water areas based on a patented technology for floating wind farms and has a 17,000 MW gross project portfolio in development through various partnerships.



IX Wind, part of the IX Renewables group and an international consultancy and EPC-Management company, has over 15 years of experience in the renewable energy sector and has been active in Taiwan since 2012, contributing to the completion of the country's first offshore wind project.



With Hexicon, we have found a knowledgeable and strong partner in this emerging floating wind market, said Eric Kamphues, CEO of IX Wind. Their track record of securing floating offshore wind projects in cooperation with large players is a testament to their expertise. Furthermore, there may be opportunities to implement their patented TwinWind foundations in the future.



Steve Seo, Managing Director of HexiconKorea, added: "We are excited to be entering the Taiwanese market with IX Wind who has been committed to Taiwan for a long time by providing international expertise and cultivating local talent for the offshore wind sector. Our joint venture represents a significant step forward in the transition to sustainable energy and demonstrates our joint commitment to leading the way in floating wind development on a global scale."


Shallow Clay Rare Earth Results

Perth, Feb 16, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to announce assay results from drilling conducted by Metalhawk Limited from the 100% owned Cannon and Golden Ridge project areas located near Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the heart of the Western Australian goldfields (Figure 1*).



Commenting on the new REE-Sc mineralisation, Horizon Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:



"It's encouraging to see this new REE and scandium mineralisation discovered so close to Kalgoorlie. As rare earth prices steadily improve, we have noted there has been a substantial increase amongst explorers discovering clay hosted rare earths in Western Australia over the last 12 months.



Although our primary focus has, and remains, on building resources and developing near term gold mines at Cannon and Pennys Find, this is a relatively easy opportunity where we can potentially add REO's and scandium to Horizons expanding multi-commodity interests (Ag, Zn, Ni, Pt, Pd, Li) by initially collecting some of the drill samples and submitting them to a laboratory for sighter metallurgical recovery work for both the REE and scandium. We will then assess the potential economics."



In 2022 Metalhawk completed a regional 123 hole, Air Core program about 25 km southeast of Kalgoorlie, close to the Golden Ridge and Cannon Projects. The drilling focussed on discovering new nickel mineralisation where Metalhawk have the Ni rights over a number of Horizon tenements in this area.



In addition to the nickel suite of elements, Metalhawk Limited routinely assayed 5m composite samples for a multi-element package that included Ce, La. This data was made available to Horizon Minerals. Subsequently 8 holes with anomalous levels of Ce and La, were then selected for resampling as single meter intervals and tested for the complete Rare Earth Element (REE) suite, in addition to Sc, Y and La.



Project Geology



The Cannon deposit occurs within Horizon's Bulong South gold project located 30km east-southeast of Kalgoorlie in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, on granted mining lease M25/333.



The geology comprises a thickly interbedded sequence of ultramafics, high Mg basalts and shales with felsic porphyry and lamprophyric intrusive dykes. Gold is typically found in quartz veins in the basalt.



The Cannon deposit was discovered by Southern Gold Limited in 2008 following up geochemical anomalies testing for strike extensions of the George's Reward mineralisation immediately north of the Bulong South deposit. The George's Reward prospect was initially held by Northern Mining Limited and comprised an Inferred Mineral Resource of approximately 23,000 ounces when purchased by Westgold Limited in 2015.



The Golden Ridge area is largely associated with the north-south trending, sub vertical quartzfeldspar porphyry located between ultramafic, shales and cherts to the west and an ultramafic (talccarbonate) sequences to the east. Gold mineralisation is similar to Boorara and observed in flat lying vein arrays and thicker, steeper dipping, contact style lodes.



Summary of Results



Drillhole resampling was undertaken on the 8 anomalous air core holes and specific composite intervals showing the highest Ce and La grades. The single splits were submitted to Intertek for aqua regia (partial) digest and multi-element assaying including the REE suite (Table 5a-5c*). More complete (full digest) work is planned during the metallurgical test work phase.



Metalhawk completed 4 air core lines south of Cannon, three lines were barren but one line in particular returned significant amounts of saprolitic hosted REE enrichment. The mineralisation was about 30m deep, flat lying and laterally extensive. There is very little other REE data around this area, further work would focus on testing the REE thickness and grade potential to the north and south.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/G7U267F2





About Horizon Minerals Limited





Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Supply feminine hygiene products

NEW MEXICAN children deserve access to the necessities, and this includes menstrual hygiene products.  The average menstruator spends $9,000 over the course of their life to manage their period.  One in four people who menstruate struggle to afford these products. With New Mexico ranking 48th nationally in child poverty, we might deduce that menstruating students may not be able to afford period supplies. In fact, nationally, 80% of students have missed class or know someone who has because they do not have access to period products. House Bill 134 aims to solve this problem by providing free access to necessary menstrual products in schools around New Mexico. To help menstruators succeed in school  I urge you to contact your state representatives and encourage them to support this bill. Lets put our children first. Period.

Amanda Collar, Albuquerque

Steer students to college or careers

WITH RESPECT to House Bill 126, cutting graduation requirements: If the purpose of public education is to create good citizens that contribute to society and prepare them for careers, does Algebra II contribute to that goal? For technical and college-bound students, sure. But what about students on the other career paths?

I would recommend taking a note from the excellent German education system. In their system, everybody takes a test, abitur, around the age of 15. This test is a guideline if a student will be college bound or take another path such as trade school. Though Im sure its not perfect, it may lead to a more effective way to allocate scarce educational resources.

As for good citizenship, I would recommend requiring all students to take civics: what it means to be a good citizen, media literacy: how do you know when they are lying to you, and basic money management: how to not end up living out of a shopping cart. These are skills that everyone needs to be a successful adult.

Marc Bonem, Santa Fe

More school = more of broken K-12

AS STATE legislators debate the merits of increasing instructional hours in the illustrious buildings of the state capitol, the rest of the state looks on in jaw-dropping horror. In the last several years, people who know students best  parents and teachers  have shown their opposition to extended school year proposals by absolutely smashing them in democratic processes.

Critical questions about at-risk students and improving schools lose their critical nature when detached politicians respond with inane solutions that would have us do more of what is already deemed broken. A few extra days or hours to solve all our educational woes? Most people, a vast majority in fact, say no.

Part of the horror, at least for teachers, is watching (the unions) AFT and ATF support these proposals. From where are union leaders generating this position? Certainly not from the teachers, who have expressed with clarity this solution will yield negative results. What exactly are these union leaders doing if they are ignoring the will of those they ostensibly represent?

What will help students? Being in the classroom every day. Universal free breakfast and lunch. Increased mental health and social work services. Teachers who are flush with time, resources and support. And most importantly, a system that values people over profit, a society that cares for its people, and an educational system that cares about kids.

Mary Kelly, Albuquerque
A man who alleges he was beaten by other inmates at the direction of prison officials filed a lawsuit this week against the state Corrections Department.

The suit alleges prison officials ordered inmates to beat the man last year after he refused to grind paint off a cell-block floor without eye or respiratory protection.

The inmate, Nickolas Milligan, refused the order out of concern that the paint contained lead or other dangerous substances, according to the suit filed Monday in 1st Judicial District Court.

The suit also alleges medical staff at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County falsified documentation by indicating that Milligan refused medical treatment after the 2022 attack.

A spokeswoman for the New Mexico Corrections Department said the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

The suit comes as lawmakers consider legislation that would create an 11-member corrections advisory board to provide independent oversight of inmate safety and personnel issues in New Mexico prisons. House Bill 297 remains in the House Judiciary Committee.

New Mexico spent about $1.9 million to settle 29 legal claims against the Corrections Department in a recent 12-month period, including a $450,000 settlement stemming from an inmates accusation that a corrections officer raped her twice.

The new lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the Hall Monagle Huffman and Wallace law firm, identifies as defendants the New Mexico Corrections Department and two corrections officers, Cameron Watson and Capt. Jessie Diaz. It seeks unspecified damages.

It was unclear Tuesday if Watson and Diaz have attorneys.

On Aug. 10, 2022, Milligan was assigned to a work crew, which was often used as a punitive work detail for noncompliant inmates, according to the suit.

After Milligan refused Watsons order to grind paint off the floor, Diaz arrived on the scene with three inmates and threatened Milligan with punishment including physical violence if he didnt comply, the suit alleges.

Diaz ordered the three inmates to punish Milligan, according to the suit. A fourth inmate participated in the attack as Watson and Diaz watched this beating take place and made no effort to intervene, it said.

Milligan sought treatment at the prisons medical unit for substantial physical and psychological harm, the suit said.

While waiting for treatment, Diaz allegedly mocked Milligan and asked was it worth it? the suit alleges. When Mulligan argued that the beating was unjust and unlawful, he was refused medical treatment and sent back to his cell, it said.
A traffic stop by New Mexico State Police on Thursday led to the discovery of more than $100,000 in cash and 50 pounds of fentanyl pills.

Edward E. Vallez, 42, was arrested and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on DWI, resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, speeding and other charges. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

Officers searched the SUV Vallez was driving and found about $130,000 in cash and approximately 230,000 fentanyl pills inside, according to a search warrant return and affidavits filed in U.S. District Court.

The traffic stop also piqued the interest of the FBI because Vallez is an alleged member of the Surenos gang who was on probation at the time.

The affidavit stated that Vallezs home was one of 15 properties searched during a large-scale FBI investigation in September, where the agency seized $1.8 million, more than 35 guns and 142 pounds of methamphetamine.

Federal agents said Vallez was wanted for a probation violation at the time of the traffic stop due to agents finding marijuana in his home during that investigation.

Vallez has a lengthy criminal history in New Mexico, according to the affidavit, having been convicted of aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon, cruelty to animals, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, trafficking a controlled substance and other charges.

A State Police officer was driving along Interstate 25 at around 11 p.m. Thursday when he spotted a white Dodge SUV speeding near the Big I, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Police said the driver of the SUV  later identified as Vallez  took the exit at Avenida Cesar Chavez and fled when the officer attempted a traffic stop at near Broadway SE.

The officer found the crashed SUV farther along the street, and another officer had detained Vallezs passenger at the scene, according to the complaint. Vallez fled the scene on foot and was found minutes later half a mile away.

Police said they arrested Vallez, who smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Vallez declined to speak with police.

Vallezs passenger told police the pair had just left the strip club.
SANTA FE  The Senate voted 33-7 on Tuesday to approve a plan to use some of New Mexicos revenue windfall to set up two new trust funds that would, working together, provide a steady funding stream for conservation programs.

An initial appropriation of around $100 million  the exact dollar amount is still being hammered out  could launch the two funds intended to generate annual funding for forest restoration, outdoor recreation and similar programs.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan proposal, said New Mexico is the only western state that does not have a dedicated funding stream for land and water conservation projects.

As we deal with the challenges of wildfires, flood, drought and the discussions weve been having about water, it is more important than ever we be proactive  and not just reactive, Wirth said.

He said the proposal would not create new programs, but instead would create reliable revenue stream for already existing programs run by the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and other state agencies.

The proposal, Senate Bill 9, is backed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams administration and a broad coalition of environmental and landowner groups, with the governor saying the bill would protect New Mexicos lands and waters for generations to come.

It also marks a new approach of sorts, as a push during last years legislative session for a $50 million bond proposal to fund conservation projects stalled at the Roundhouse.

While this years proposal won support from some Republican senators, several others expressed misgivings.

Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, said during Tuesdays floor debate he supports the basic concept of the bill, but voiced concern the additional funding could be used by the State Forestry Division to buy large tracts of land, which could have impacts on local property tax collections.

I would vote for this if there was a limit on how much land could be purchased without legislative approval, Sharer said. Thats my hang-up.

Meanwhile, the push for more funding for conservation projects comes as state climate experts have said New Mexico is likely to face earlier snow melts, higher temperatures and a more arid climate for at least the next 50 years.

In addition, the state had its worst wildfire season in modern history last year, with the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire scorching more than 340,000 acres in northern New Mexico and the Black Fire burning more than 325,000 acres northeast of Silver City.

The bill approved Tuesday could lead to funding increases for some fire suppression efforts, including prescribed burns. It could also be used to preserve bosque areas and add wildlife viewing areas at state historic sites.

Specifically, the bill would be create a Conservation Legacy Permanent Fund that would be managed by the State Investment Council, which also oversees other New Mexico endowment funds.

That fund could eventually spin off money on a yearly basis for the other new fund  called the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund  that would distribute at least $12.5 million annually for the different conservation programs.

The two funds would not be established in the state Constitution, however, meaning lawmakers could attempt to divert money from them in the future for other uses.

For now, however, backers expressed optimism about the legislation, which now moves on to the House.

There will be a lot of land owners that are very happy that weve passed this bill, said Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec.
SANTA FE  Racing to beat the spring runoff, New Mexico lawmakers passed emergency legislation Tuesday authorizing $100 million to repair roads, culverts and other public works damaged by last years massive wildfires and flooding in northern New Mexico.

The bill will head next to the desk of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose administration backed the quick action.

In debate Tuesday, Democratic state Reps. Joseph Sanchez of Alcalde and Ambrose Castellano of Las Vegas urged their colleagues to adopt the legislation as part of a strategy to get cash to municipalities and other local governments quickly so they can put it to use now  before melting snow adds to the damage in fire-scarred areas.

The state money will serve as a no-interest loan until the federal government delivers its own funding.

This is a bridge-way to get that money to them quicker, Sanchez said.

The proposal won House approval 66-0, just six days after Senate passage.

Its designed to help repair or replace public roads, culverts, acequias and similar infrastructure  but not private property  damaged by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire or the flooding that followed the fire.

The fires began as prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service and eventually grew out of control, merging into one wildfire, the largest in New Mexicos recorded history.

Rep. Jack Chatfield, R-Mosquero, said he visited the area to see the devastation first hand.

Hundreds of homes burned as flames scorched 340,000 acres of national forest, Pecos Wilderness and private land, or 534 square miles. Tens of thousand of residents were forced to flee the area, and subsequent flooding washed out roads and inflicted other damage.

Its not a pretty sight in many of these areas, Chatfield said. Its a long road back.

In a statement to legislators, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said many communities have exhausted their financial resources responding to the fire.

It would not be an overstatement, the department said, to say that without the availability of these funds, some of New Mexicos towns and communities may not be able to have any longterm recovery options.

The legislation, Senate Bill 6, has an emergency clause, meaning it would go into effect immediately upon the governors signature.

Lujan Grisham thanked legislators for the quick passage.

These communities faced unimaginable losses last summer, she said in a written statement, and I am proud that our state is standing up for these communities to jump-start public infrastructure projects.

In an interview, Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujillo said the bill would be an enormous benefit to local governments dealing with the aftermath of the fire and flooding.

This is an excellent piece of legislation, he said.

Passage of the bill comes as victims of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire have visited the Roundhouse to share their stories of hardship.

Congress last year passed legislation to make almost $4 billion in relief available to victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was targeting March to open a claims office.

The bill adopted by state lawmakers Tuesday is jointly sponsored by Castellano and Sanchez and Sens. Pete Campos of Las Vegas and Liz Stefanics of Cerrillos, all Democrats.

The people of this region are grateful for the states quick response, Campos said, and together, were focused on recovery.

The state loans would go to governments already in line to receive federal assistance, and the state would be repaid once the federal funding comes through.

The goal is to get public funds to local agencies who need them now rather than forcing them to wait months  perhaps more than a year  for the federal cash. Much of the repayment, for example, may take place in the fiscal year beginning in mid-2024 and stretching into 2025.
Albuquerque police announced a pilot project on Tuesday that would divide the Southeast Area Command  the busiest in the city  by creating the University Area Command.

Rebecca Atkins, an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman, said the experiment will last a full year and, afterward, the department will assess if it should become a permanent fixture. She said the area command will be fully operational in early March. It will be staffed with 30 officers, six sergeants, two lieutenants  headed by Deputy Cmdr. Ray Del Greco.

The officers will cover 30 square miles. The boundaries will be Interstate 40 to the north, San Mateo to the east, Interstate 25 to the west and the city limits to the south  an area which previously represented a large portion of the Southeast Area Command.

Atkins said the University Area Command will be headquartered at 1900 Bradbury SE, near University and Avenida Cesar Chavez, in a building owned by the University of New Mexico.

UNM has allowed APD to use the space free of charge for the pilot program, Atkins said.

Mayor Tim Keller said the city has a $4 million ask of the Legislature to fund a permanent home for the University Area Command.

He said the change will allow police to provide a more focused, community driven, intensive ability to keep people safe in the university area and the neighborhoods in the International District.

He said it will also lighten the load for the Southeast Area Command  one of the areas hardest hit by crime historically  which has always been too big.

APD Chief Harold Medina said having officers from one area command covering such a wide area was kind of unfair to the community. For example, an officer could be patrolling on East Central one day and responding to an incident near UNM the next.

As part of the changes, Medina said, APDs former Open Space Unit will be part of a proactive squad clearing warrants in the University Area Command and APD will be able to keep a better eye on some troublesome motels, many of which are in the university area.

Southeast Area Cmdr. Luke Languit said the pilot project will help people get the help they need, when they need it  along East Central and closer to UNM.

So when you call for help, we can get there faster, we could get there more efficiently, and we can provide that safety, he said. So from a call for service response and also a community engagement response, this is going to be huge.

Del Greco said the division has already paid off, such as on Saturday when a hit-and-run crash happened at Morningside and Lead. He said the officers in the new area command were able to respond in quick enough time to find the driver, who ran away on foot, and arrest him for DWI.

That would have been a little more difficult under the old system, Del Greco said.

City Councilor Pat Davis, whose district encompasses Southeast Albuquerque, said the idea for the split had been rattling around for more than a decade.

Davis said he was happy the department and city took a data-driven approach to address the lack of resources for those in his district.

As a former cop way back in the day, it does matter a lot if our officers have more time to spend in their neighborhood, to get to know our residents, to get to know their resources, he said.  And as our Commander Del Greco said, it matters for response times because when somebody calls and there were more officers a few minutes closer, it makes all the difference.
Albuquerque Public Schools has canceled East Mountain schools again Wednesday and placed all other classes on a two-hour delay as a winter storm hits the metro area.

East Mountain schools affected include A. Montoya and San Antonito Elementary schools and Roosevelt Middle School. Manzano High School students who live in the East Mountains are not required to attend today. For Manzano High students who live in Albuquerque, the school will be on a two-hour delay, like the rest of schools in the district.

Rio Rancho Public Schools has also canceled classes Wednesday, according to Journal partner KOAT.

Meanwhile, National Weather Service warned drivers to expect a layer of ice underneath the snow on metro-area roads.

Earlier rain and melting snow will freeze during the next hour or so, the services Albuquerque bureau said in a tweet at about 5 a.m. Stay home if at all possible.

Journal partner KOAT has a complete round-up of closures and delays across the state.

Tweets by NWSAlbuquerque
LONDON (AP)  Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday that she plans to step down after more than eight years in office, amid criticism of her drive to expand transgender rights and her strategy for achieving independence from the United Kingdom.

Sturgeon made the surprise announcement during a news conference at her official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, saying the decision wasnt a response to the latest period of pressure. But she added that part of serving well was knowing when to make way for someone else.

In my head and in my heart I know that time is now, she said. That its right for me, for my party and my country.

Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. While the referendum was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party have pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britains departure from the European Union had changed the ground rules.

The U.K. government has refused to allow a second referendum.

The first female leader of Scotlands devolved government, Sturgeon won praise for her calm, measured public communications during the pandemic  a contrast to the erratic messaging of then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

She led her party to dominance in Scottish politics but leaves office with the goal of her political life  independence  unfulfilled.

Sturgeon said she planned to remain in office until the SNP elects a new leader. Scotland is part of the U.K. but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care.

Sturgeons announcement caught political observers by surprise amid her staunch support for both independence and legislation that would make it easier for people in Scotland to legally change genders. Just two weeks ago she scoffed at resignation rumors, saying she still had plenty in the tank.

This is as sudden as Jacinda Ardern  Geez, tweeted SNP lawmaker Angus MacNeil, referring to the resignation last month of New Zealands prime minister.

Sturgeon came under pressure in recent weeks after she pushed the gender recognition bill through the Scottish parliament over the objections of some members of her own party. That raised concerns that Sturgeons position on transgender rights could undermine support for independence, the SNPs overarching goal.

Joanna Cherry, an SNP member of Parliament who opposes the new gender law, said the resignation provided an opportunity for the party.

We must restore the SNPs tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour and we must also put the welfare of everyone living in Scotland back at the heart of our endeavours, Cherry said on Twitter.

Sturgeon said she had been wrestling with whether it was time step down for weeks. She said she wasnt resigning because of recent criticism, though she acknowledged that the physical and mental impact of the job had taken their toll.

Sturgeon led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and guided her party during three U.K.-wide elections and two Scottish elections.

If the question is, can I battle on for another few months, then the answer is yes, of course I can, she said. But if the question is, can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year, let alone for the remainder of this parliamentary term, give it every ounce of energy that it needs in the way that I have strived to do every day for the last eight years, the answer honestly is different.

Sturgeon weathered a period of scandal after her predecessor and former mentor Alex Salmond was tried and acquitted in 2020 on charges of sexual assault and attempted rape. A parliamentary investigation found that Sturgeon had misled lawmakers about what she knew, though she was cleared of major wrongdoing. In 2021 Salmond opened a rift in the independence movement by quitting the SNP to form a rival party, Alba.

For the past few months, much of Sturgeons energy has been focused on a renewed drive for independence and the gender recognition bill, which would allow people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designations on identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Hailed as a landmark by transgender rights activists, the legislation faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.

Criticism of the bill increased after reports that a convicted rapist was being held in a womens prison in Scotland while transitioning. The inmate was transferred to a mens prison after being assessed by prison authorities.

While the Scottish parliament approved the legislation, it has been blocked by the British government because it would present problems for authorities in other parts of the U.K., where a medical diagnosis is needed before individuals can transition for legal purposes.

Sturgeon had vowed to take the British government to court, arguing that Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks administration had made a profound mistake by vetoing the legislation.

Sturgeon also came under fire for saying she would make the next Scottish parliament election a de facto referendum on independence after the government in Westminster refused to sanction a new vote on Scotlands links to the U.K.

The party is set to hold a conference on the strategy next month, with some members saying it wont work and others criticizing Sturgeon for waiting too long to press ahead with independence.

Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank, said Sturgeon had made her mark, being both influential and divisive. But she failed to secure the ultimate prize.

Shes been more successful in one way of being a figurehead, leading her party and leading the Scottish government, but she has failed to do the one thing she really set out to do, which is to secure independence, Maddox said.
SANTA FE  New Mexico would prohibit the carrying of a firearm within 100 feet of a polling place under legislation that won Senate approval Wednesday after intense debate over whether to create exceptions to the ban.

The proposal, Senate Bill 44, would apply during elections, with just one exception, for law enforcement and security personnel.

Passage came over the objection of Republican lawmakers who pushed  unsuccessfully  to amend the bill to extend the exception to individuals with a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said schools that operate as polling places already prohibit firearms  concealed or not  and extending the ban to other sites would promote safety.

Given where we are in our political discourse, Wirth said, I would say that elections and firearms really dont mix. This bill simply creates a level playing field for our polling places.

The bill won approval 28-9 with two Republicans  Crystal Diamond of Elephant Butte and Steven Neville of Aztec  joining Democrats in favor.

A Republican-sponsored amendment to create an exception at polling places for individuals with a permit to carry a concealed firearm failed on a 13-23 vote.

Supporters of the amendment said it would provide a deterrent effect  making a potential mass shooter wonder whether someone will shoot back  and allow the bill to pick up broad bipartisan support.

This will keep our polling places safe, said Sen. Cliff Pirtle, a Roswell Republican who offered the amendment.

Democrats who opposed amendment said the legislation already allows law enforcement and security personnel to carry weapons, providing sufficient protection for voters if needed.

The measure is among a host of gun bills advancing at the Roundhouse this session. The ideas include raising the age to purchase some firearms, imposing a 14-day waiting period for firearm purchases and banning the possession or sale of certain firearms, such as AR-15-style rifles.

Besides the polling place restriction, the only other gun proposal to pass a chamber of the Legislature so far this year is a proposal, House Bill 9, to make it a crime to store a firearm in a way that negligently disregards the ability of a minor to access it.
As intense as the rivalries can be between universities, some issues are so important that squabbles are set aside to tackle a problem together.

Thats exactly what the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and the University of Texas-El Paso student government organizations did in the face of an influx of people arriving to the U.S.-Mexico border in search of asylum in the U.S.

The Rivals for Relief initiative, sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, the Associated Students of New Mexico State University, and the University of Texas El Paso Student Government Association, on Friday announced a plan to raise $30,000 in donations to help migrants by Feb. 17, according to a UNM press release.

Having students come together for something like this will show how much we care and will hopefully provide an outlet for that empathy, ASUNM President Ian May said in the press release.

The funds will be issued as grants to area nonprofits working with those populations, the press release said.

Those interested in donating can do so through the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico website. As of Wednesday, the fund had $1,085 in donations.
SANTA FE  With the states coffers flush due to an oil-fueled revenue boom, a key New Mexico House committee rolled out a $9.4 billion spending plan Wednesday that would provide pay raises to state workers and teachers, increase Medicaid provider rates and fund a longer school year.

In all, the budget plan would increase spending by slightly more than $1 billion  or about 12.3%  over current levels.

It would also continue a recent trend of big New Mexico spending growth, as recurring spending would have risen about 35% since Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took office in 2019.

However, the budget plan would still leave about $1.2 billion available for tax cuts and rebates this year  they would have to be separately approved by lawmakers  and would also funnel more than $1 billion into state trust funds for future spending.

The value of those funds could eventually grow after being invested, prompting Rep. Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque, to compare the approach to depositing a bonus check into a money market account.

For his part, Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, the chairman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, described the strategy as an investment in New Mexicos future, saying the state is currently in the midst of a revenue upswing thats projected to last for roughly a decade.

Were creating new sources of long-term future money, Small told the Journal.

New Mexicos record-high revenue levels, driven by booming oil production and an uptick in consumer spending, has allowed for a wide range of spending initiatives to be proposed during this years 60-day legislative session.

Those proposals range from creating a new high-speed train that would crisscross New Mexico to expanding rural health care services.

Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, said the states revenue largesse provides opportunities, but has also increased the pressure on lawmakers tasked with crafting the annual budget bill.

Its even harder because people come out of the woodwork asking for money, asking for raises and asking for increases, Armstrong said during Wednesdays hearing.

But she expressed support for the $83 million in proposed spending to provide Medicaid provider rate reimbursement increases of more than 10%, as New Mexico has grappled in recent years with a declining number of doctors.

I just think its imperative we be able to recruit and retain doctors in the state, Armstrong said.

The spending bill, House Bill 2, ultimately passed the House Appropriations and Finance Committee on a 14-3 vote, with three Republicans casting no votes  Reps. Rod Montoya of Farmington, Randall Pettigrew of Lovington and Cathrynn Brown of Carlsbad.

It now advances to the full House as lawmakers near the Thursday halfway point of the session.

Once the spending bill wins approval in the House, the Senate would have the chance to make adjustments to it in the weeks leading up to the sessions March 18 adjournment.

More classroom time and pay raises

The budget bill passed Wednesday funds some  but not all  of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams session initiatives.

For instance, it would provide funding to increase how much of educators health care premiums the state pays for to bring the amount in line with other state workers, but would not fully cover the cost as proposed by the governor.

But the bill does include some of the funding initiatives sought by Lujan Grisham, including the increased Medicaid provider rate reimbursement increases and money to expand a tuition-free college program launched last year.

Meanwhile, public school spending would make up nearly 45% of the proposed spending under the budget plan, though school spending would grow by a smaller amount than the overall budget.

Much of the public school spending increase  or about $300 million in all  would be targeted at extended learning in an attempt to improve New Mexico students academic proficiency, after recent studies showed an alarming dip in test scores during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding infusion would depend on the passage of a separate bill, House Bill 130, that would increase the minimum amount of annual class time for elementary school students to 1,140 hours  or about 163 school days.

Currently, only 41 of the states 189 school districts and charter schools meet that threshold, according to a legislative analysis of the bill, meaning they would have to extend the school year if the legislation wins approval.

As for teacher pay, the spending plan calls for average 5% pay raises that would kick in for the budget year that starts in July. State workers would get the same size pay increases, though agencies would have the ability to give larger increases to some employees and smaller raises to others.

A new approach, but familiar complaints

This years legislative session began with turnover in the House budget committee, with House Speaker Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, replacing former committee chairwoman Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, with Small, a four-term lawmaker.

Since taking the committees reins, Small has made some changes to the budgeting process that include accepting public testimony.

But some committee members still complained Wednesday about not having sufficient time to review the final version of the budget bill before voting on it.

Government is not a business, but you would not run a business this way, Montoya said.

Other members expressed satisfaction, however, saying the creation of new endowment funds for land and water projects could help diversify the states revenue base and prepare the state for the possibility of cash-lean future years.

We still have so much more to do, but this is a great start, said Rep. Tara Lujan, D-Santa Fe.
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The 21-year-old MC admits to struggling with PTSD months after he was shot seven times during an attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey in the early hours of June 22, 2022.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Having experienced a near-fatal shooting is not easy for anyone, including Lil Tjay. Around seven months after he got shot multiple times in New Jersey, the "Calling My Phone" rapper opened up about his PTSD struggle.

Making use of Twitter, the 21-year-old MC shared, "I be feeling like Im gonna die but I ain't trynna go." He added, "that's y I be steady going thru what I go thru I got ptsd."

Tjay was shot seven times during an attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey in the early hours of June 22, 2022. It was reported at the time that there were two shooting sites, one at a Chipotle Restaurant and another at a nearby Exxon Gas station. Antoine Boyd, 22, also of the Bronx, who was with Tjay, was shot in the back but survived.

When addressing the ordeal through an Instagram video, the Bronx native first greeted his fan, "Hey, what's going on, y'all?" He continued, "It's your boy Tjay, man. I'm just checking in with y'all. I just wanna say, thanks for the love, thanks for the support."

"I been looking at the DMs, comments and everything else and I feel love," the rap stat further stated. "Seven shots, it was tough, you know. Most people don't survive it. But I'm here, here for a reason. New music coming soon. We gon' come back stronger than ever, man."

In January of this year, Tjay got arrested twice. He was previously taken into custody for gun possession after being pulled over by cops on East 183rd Street in the Fordham Heights section of New York when driving with four other people.

The rhymer, born Tione Jayden Merritt, was later released after posting his bail. However, he got arrested once again for missing a court appearance due to a misunderstanding but was eventually let go from prison.

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The 'Whole Lotta Red' rapper has been taken into police custody for allegedly grabbing his pregnant girlfriend by the throat during an argument over paternity test.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Playboi Carti has been detained after allegedly choking his pregnant girlfriend in a row over a paternity test. TMZ reports the 26-year-old rapper has been accused of grabbing the unnamed woman - whom he has been dating for more than two years - by the throat and holding onto her neck until she gasped for air on December 20.

The hip-hop star - whose real name is Jordan Carter - was apprehended for felony aggravated assault in Georgia. According to the arrest affidavit form obtained by the outlet, the female, who said she was 14 weeks pregnant at the time, feared for her life.

According to her statement, a witness attempted to stop the alleged physical altercation but, after she ran to her car to phone 911, Carti allegedly tried to get her out of the car and put his hand over her mouth. Upon their arrival, Police reportedly found injuries on her neck, chest, and back.

The rapper's lawyer has branded the accusations made by the female false and is confident the case will be dismissed. Attorney Brian Steel told TMZ, "Mr. Carter was falsely accused. Pursuant to my communications with the Fulton County District Attorney's office, this case will be dismissed without any prosecution or litigation."

Meanwhile, Carti's ex, fellow rapper Iggy Azalea, admitted she is "not even remotely on good terms" with him last year. The "Fancy" hitmaker clapped back at claims that he took "care" of her and their three-year-old son Onyx Kelly in an interview he gave, revealing that the former couple have no "direct contact" in an array of since-deleted tweets.

The 32-year-old Australian wrote in April, "Take care of me? Lmaooooo let's not get carried away now. I laughed. A lot. You've been mislead. I don't f*** with a man I'm not even remotely on good terms with claiming he pays my bills. I pay my bills. Secondly saying nice things for an interview sounds great but in real life he talks to me like s*** so badly I had to stop all direct contact."

The "Black Widow" hitmaker claimed his people had been wanting her "silence" over the interview but wanted to make it clear his words were "not reflective" of reality. Iggy said, "His team has been calling about the interview, hoping for my silence because they know what my reaction would be. I do appreciate being called a great mom but when that's not reflective of what he has to say in real life I'd much rather be left out of being mentioned at all."

Her comments came after Carti - who split with Iggy in late 2020 - spoke about his "responsibilities" now he's a "father." He told the magazine, "I'm a father. You know what I'm saying? You know how it is having kids. I just got responsibilities."

"I pay a lot of bills. I take care of a lot of people. I take care of my mom. I take care of my family. I take care of my baby mom [and] I take care of my son. There's a lot of people I take care of. So, it's like, I gotta keep doing it."

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The 'Pitch Perfect' actress talks about her 'lonely' days during school years when she pretended to be 'so popular' and purchased gifts for herself on February 14.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Rebel Wilson gave herself flowers on Valentine's Day in the past. The 42-year-old actress - who is in a relationship with Ramona Agruma - has opened up that she used to send herself gifts during her school years, admitting that it was always a "lonely day" for her.

"I bought myself flowers and pretended it was from an anonymous admirer because a lot of the girls would get flowers on Valentine's Day. And I didn't have anyone to send, so I bought myself. I was like, 'Oh my God, I must have a secret admirer ... I'm so popular.' ... But I think people were just looking at me like I was an idiot," Rebel shared.

"But then it would always be a bit of a sad, lonely day, I think. But especially in the last few years, I really worked on myself and have done a lot of healing and a lot of positive things. And then I was like, well, maybe it's not a coincidence that then I did find a really deep loving connection that's working really well."

Rebel went public with her romance with Ramona in 2021. And the Hollywood star - who welcomed her first child, a daughter called Royce, via surrogate in November 2022 - has admitted to being "shocked" by their romantic connection.

She told PEOPLE, "I always was a bit of a girls' girl and had deep friendships with women, but this was the first time that it was a romantic connection and I was just shocked. And then I was like, 'Oh, well, what if that was just part of my personality that I was repressing and wasn't exploring?' And maybe I should have ten years earlier. My journey is what it is, but it's just awesome now to be in a relationship."

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The Instagram post includes some PDA-filled snaps of the couple sharing kisses as well as pictures of the pair going on a hike and other low-key dates such as pumpkin carving and apple picking.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Chris Evans is making fans jealous with his tribute to Alba Baptista. When celebrating Valentine's Day, the "Captain America: First Avenger" actor unleashed rare pictures of him and his girlfriend throughout their relationship.

The 41-year-old shared the photos on his Instagram Story on Tuesday, February 14. They include some PDA-filled snaps of the couple sharing kisses, pictures of the pair going on a hike and other low-key dates such as pumpkin carving and apple picking.

Not stopping there, Chris also uploaded a video of Alba excitedly playing the video game. "I introduced her to Mario Bros 3," he captioned the clip. "(She hates this video but I LOVE it)."

Chris and Alba were first reported to be an item in November 2022. At the time, PEOPLE reported that the two had been secretly dating for more than a year and the romance is "serious." A source told the outlet, "They are in love and Chris has never been happier," adding, "His family and friends all adore her."

Shortly after their dating news broke, the lovebirds were caught on a date in New York City. They were photographed holding hands while going on a stroll through Central Park. In pictures obtained by Page Six, the pair held on tightly to one another as they made their way through the crowded streets.

In January, "The Gray Man" villain finally gave the first glimpse at his goofy romance with the Portuguese actress. Taking to Instagram Story, he shared a "look back" video in which he compiled footage from different times he and the "Warrior Nun" star scared each other over the past year.

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The Australian female rapper, who previously revealed that she is not on 'good terms' with her baby daddy, also insinuates in a tweet that she was also assaulted by the emcee when they were together.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Iggy Azalea has weighed in on Playboi Carti's arrest. After news broke that her baby daddy has been detained for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, the "Fancy" hitmaker said she's having "an actually amazing day."

The 32-year-old offered her two cents via Twitter on Tuesday, February 14. "Imagine having a pregnant girlfriend and pretending they don't exist until it comes out you like to abuse them too," she first wrote.

"[And] rarely visiting your actual son unless it's because you're running from whatever problems ya got going on in Atlanta and the press with your serial abuse of [women]," the Australian native added.

Iggy followed it up with a tweet that read, "Anyway, I'm having an actually amazing day. karma's real." She then told her fans, "Treat the people you love well. Happy Valentine's Day."

Prior to that, Iggy shared a cryptic post, insinuating that she had a similar experience with Carti's girlfriend. "Been there. Done that. Warned you," she penned.

Carti has been held in prison for allegedly grabbing his partner by the throat and holding onto her neck until she gasped for air on December 20, 2022. The emcee was apprehended for felony aggravated assault in Georgia.

According to the arrest affidavit form obtained by TMZ, the female, whom Carti has been dating for more than two years, feared for her life. She also said a witness attempted to stop the alleged physical altercation, but after she ran to her car to phone 911, Carti allegedly tried to get her out of the car and put his hand over her mouth. Upon their arrival, police reportedly found injuries on her neck, chest, and back.

Carti's lawyer has shut down the accusations. Attorney Brian Steel told TMZ, "Mr. Carter was falsely accused. Pursuant to my communications with the Fulton County District Attorney's office, this case will be dismissed without any prosecution or litigation."

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In a video, which surfaced online on Tuesday, February 14, the 'Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See' spitter can be seen walking with his entourage at what appeared to be an airport terminal when the woman touches his backside.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Busta Rhymes' fan has broken her silence after being thrown a drink by the rapper. Nikita Mathis, who was seen touching Busta's butt in a now-viral video, offered her clarification when speaking to The Shade Room.

"I didn't mean to touch his behind," Nikita told the outlet. "Honestly I was just happy to meet him and wanted a pic been a long time fan I admit I shouldn't have [touched] him at all but he's BUSTA. I felt like I could possibly get a pic"

In the said footage, which surfaced online on Tuesday, February 14, the "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" spitter was seen walking with his entourage at what appeared to be an airport terminal. Many people then followed the rap star, including Nikita who later grabbed his backside.

Clearly upset by the incident, the New York native turned around and tossed his drink directly at her. The 50-year-old star has yet to address the matter.

Back in August 2022, Busta called out a female fan for trying to touch him during his performance. "Stop the music," yelled the rap icon in the middle of performing after slapping the woman's hand. The hip-hop artist then asked the fan, who was in the front row, "Ayo, shorty, you're with your man, right?"

Before the girl got to answer, Busta put his attention to the boyfriend, who was also standing in the front row with her. "That's your girl? What kinda s**t are you on that you're gonna let her continue to grab me up?" he asked. "See, I'm a grown man. I'll f**k your girl, bro. I don't want to f**k your girl. Tame your girl."

"This is a weird time. She touch me and s**t, gotta funny a** cameraphone being filmed, and I don't agree with that. She might do some police s**t. I'm not with it," he continued scolding the man. "In my time, we ain't f**k with all these cameras. Take your girl and tell her to stand behind you! Have your girl stand behind you, bruh!"

Putting his attention back to the girl, the "Make It Clap" rhymer said, "Stand behind your man, sweetheart." The folks in the crowd, meanwhile, dragged the woman away from the stage.

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Back in October, the 'Don't Worry Darling' filmmaker and her ex's former nanny Ericka Genaro detailed the alleged details about the actors' breakup in an interview with Daily Mail, but the stars denied the 'false' narrative.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis have been slapped with a lawsuit by their former nanny. The nanny, Ericka Genaro, has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the pair, alleging she was fired due to her mental health.

Ericka, who began working for the former couple in 2018, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, February 14 in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the complaint she details the alleged "unbearable" anxiety and stress she faced while caring for the pair's two kids, daughter Daisy and son Otis, after the "Don't Worry Darling" director moved out around November 2020.

"[Olivia]'s sudden absence from the home had an adverse consequence on its emotional state, including [Jason] leaning on the presence of [Ericka] for support," read the complaint. "As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly," they previously said.

"Her now 18-month-long campaign of harassing us, as well as loved ones, close friends and colleagues, has reached its unfortunate apex," it continued. "We will continue to focus on raising and protecting our children with the sincere hope that she will now choose to leave our family alone."

Ericka alleged that Jason would ask her to "stay up at night after the kids were put to bed to talk," noting that the subject matter "naturally evolved to speaking about [Olivia]." The former nanny claimed these conversations caused "extreme anxiety" as she "felt she had to 'pick sides' " between the former couple.

Ericka's role in the kids' lives allegedly "increased exponentially," according to the complaint. "The pressure of [Ericka] not only being the primary caretaker of the children, but also filling in [Jason]'s absence for the children, became debilitating." At one point, she allegedly met with Olivia in Palm Springs, California, to discuss "becoming anxious and stressed with the situation at the home."

Ericka said she felt a "genuine sense of relief and comradery" with Olivia, but claimed that about a month later, Jason told her that the 38-year-old actress "shared with him the entire conversation."

As the news of Olivia and Jason's split hit the media, Ericka claimed her "anxiety and stress did not get any better." The exes eventually attended group therapy with Ericka as the former couple recognized the "emotional toll" of the situation, according to the complaint.

Ericka also claimed she began seeing an osteopath for her "physical pain, anxiety and stress." She alleged that her osteopath suggested she take a "three-day medical leave of absence because of her mental health" also known as a "stress leave."

The complaint added, "When [Ericka] responded she is under the osteopath's orders to not speak with anyone because of her anxiety, [Jason] terminated her on the spot. Ericka is now seeking damages for "loss of earnings, deferred compensation, and other employment benefits."

Previously, Olivia and Jason's former nanny detailed the alleged details about the stars' breakup in a bombshell interview with the Daily Mail in October last year. Upon learning of the story, both the actors called the accusations "false and scurrilous" in a joint statement.



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On the night of the tragic mass shooting, the model took to Instagram to ask her followers for help to locate her niece Arielle Diamond, who was a student at Michigan State University.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - The latest deadly mass shooting in the U.S. has hit Deelishis too close to home. Her niece Arielle Diamond was one of the victims killed in the tragic mass shooting at Michigan State University on Monday, February 13.

Deelishis, whose real name is Chandra Davis and also known as London Charles, began her frantic plea for help to locate her niece on the night of the shooting. "My beautiful niece @ariellediamond_ is a student at MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY," she wrote on Instagram on Monday night along with a photo of Arielle.

She told her followers, "she was in her classroom in the same building as the active shooter and we have not heard from her. If you know her whereabouts please dm me  in the meantime my family and I ask for your prayers !!"

Unfortunately, Arielle never returned home to her family. Deelishis later seemed to confirm her niece's passing as she pinned a comment by another family member that read, "my sweet beautiful niece... RIP baby girl."

Messages of condolences came soon came in from fellow celebrities and TV personalities, such as Brooke Bailey who commented on Deelishis' post, "I am praying for you and your family. I am so sorry that you and your family have to experience the gut wrenching hurt from this tragic loss. RIP baby girl."

Brandi Maxiell wrote, "praying for you hard mama." Sheree Whitfield weighed in on the devastating news, "Praying for you and your family's strength." Comedian Michael Blackson penned, "Omg so sorry your family has to go thru this. May God heal you and your family thru these rough moments." Karlie Reed added, "Praying for your family," while Shaun King said, "I am very sorry."

On Monday night, a gunman, who has since been identified as Anthony McRae, went on a shooting rampage at MSU, killing 3 students and critically injuring 5 others. He entered two buildings on campus and shot at random people as students ran for cover and heavily armed police officers stormed the area looking for the assailant. Hours later, Anthony was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

MSU Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman addressed the attack at a news conference. "I can't even begin to imagine what that motive would be. That will obviously be part of our investigation," he said. "We are unsure of any affiliation that the suspect had to the University."

As noted by CNN, the MSU shooting marks the 67th mass shooting in the country so far this year.

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In Instagram Stories, the 42-year-old reality TV star shares pictures of the 9-year-old's pencil drawings of her little brother Psalm and grandmother Kris Jenner.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kim Kardashian is a proud mom. "The Kardashians" star took to her Instagram account on Monday, February 13 to share more impressive creations by her oldest daughter North West.

In Instagram Stories, the 42-year-old star posted a picture of North's pencil drawings of her family members. In one slide, Kim shared a picture of North's portrait of her little brother Psalm who was wearing a T-shirt and a chain with his hair tousled.

In a separate picture, the SKIMS founder showed off North's drawing of her grandmother Kris Jenner. The momager was seen donning a blazer.

Kim Kardashian's shared more artworks by North West.

Prior to this, North treated her TikTok followers to a video of her drawing raptress Ice Spice. Set to the raptress' "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2", the clip showed the 9-year-old flaunting her artistic skills.

Catching wind of the artwork, the "Munch" rapper responded by reposting North's video on Instagram Story. The Bronx rapper also praised North's skills in an interview in Brooklyn.

Speaking with TMZ, Ice described it "so cute," adding, "Thank you, North." The 23-year-old star also called the young artist "so talented."

This wasn't the first time for Kim to proudly share her daughter's artworks on Instagram. Back in February 2021, the reality TV star defended her daughter after Internet users doubted that the then-7-year-old was truly the artist behind the impressive paintings Kim previously shared on her page.

"DON'T PLAY WITH ME WHEN IT COMES TO MY CHILDREN!!!" the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" alum wrote on her Instagram Stories at the time. "My daughter and her best friend have been taking a serious oil painting class where their talents and creativity are being encouraged and nurtured."

She continued, "North worked incredibly hard on her painting, which took several weeks to complete. As a proud mom, I wanted to share her work with everyone. I'm seeing op-ed pieces in the media and social media from grown adults breaking down whether or not my child actually painted this."

The former wife of Kanye West then slammed the haters, "How dare you see children doing awesome things and then try to accuse them of NOT being awesome!?!?!" Concluding her rent, she wrote, "NORTH WEST PAINTED THAT PERDIOTDDDABCDEFGZFDT!!!!"

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Joel Souza, who was also injured in the accidental shooting in 2021, confirms that production on the western movie will resume later this year with Alec Baldwin also returning.

Feb 15, 2023

AceShowbiz - "Rust" will resume filming in the spring. The production was paused in 2021 after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed when a prop gun went off on the set of the movie, but producers have now confirmed that filming will resume later this year.

Director Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting, said in a statement, "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. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honouring Halyna's legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf."

A documentary about Hutchins' life is also in the works. The project will include the completion of the movie and is being developed with the support of her husband. Alec Baldwin, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January, will also return to complete the movie.

However, filming is being moved from New Mexico to another location, according to Sky News. Baldwin, 64, previously vowed to "fight" his involuntary manslaughter charge. His attorney, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, said in a statement, "This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins' tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun - or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds."

The Hollywood star has always denied any wrongdoing, and he's determined to clear his name. His attorney added, "We will fight these charges, and we will win." The actor and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's head armorer, are facing the same charge and they will both face a maximum of five years in prison if they are found guilty.

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The 'Mysterious Girl' hitmaker admits he's 'always a bit freaked out about turning 50, but it's coincided nicely with me celebrating 30 years in the industry.'

Feb 16, 2023

AceShowbiz - Peter Andre will celebrate his 50th birthday in Dubai. The "Mysterious Girl" hitmaker will turn 50 on February 27, and Peter has revealed how he plans to celebrate his landmark birthday.

Pete, who has Amelia, nine, and Theo, six, with his wife Emily, as well as Junior, 17, and Princess, 15, with Katie Price, told OK! magazine, "I'll be in Dubai with the whole family. I guess it's a bit of a birthday celebration. I mean, I'm not 50 until the end of the month so I'm getting in early - lol. I was always a bit freaked out about turning 50, but it's coincided nicely with me celebrating 30 years in the industry. Focusing on the 30 and not the 50 sounds better!"

Peter also insisted that he still feels "so young," even though his 50th birthday is on the horizon. He shared, "It sounds old but it really isn't. I feel so young. I train, I love food, I love life." In 2022, Pete claimed that he and his wife "love the idea" of having another baby.

Despite this, the pop star and Emily were undecided about having another child together. Peter, who married Emily in 2015, said, "We do talk about it all the time, but one minute we're a 'yes', and the next were a 'no.' We love the idea of having one more child, because the two we have together are the most amazing kids - but that thought usually lasts until we see other people with screaming babies! I don't know. Maybe Junior will be bringing our grandchild to visit in the next 10 years. Ha!"

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The '3 Headed Goat' hitmaker tries to win his ex-girlfriend back by giving a shout-out to the fashion blogger on Instagram Story, only to be turned down by her.

Feb 16, 2023

AceShowbiz - Lil Durk is seemingly still not completely over India Royale and he made use of Valentine's Day to try to win her back. The rapper gave a shout-out to his ex on Instagram Story on the special day, only to be turned down by her.

On Tuesday, February 14, the "Backdoor" rhymer posted a tribute to India. "Happy Valentine's day to the wonderful woman that made me a man I love you @indiaroyale," he wrote over a snap of his former girlfriend.

The Voice set it to Kanye West and Future's "I Won" collab. On the song, Future raps, "I just wanna take you out and show you off/ You already know that you the perfect one/ Girl when I'm with you, feel like a champion/ Ever since I got with you I feel like I done won me a trophy."

Apparently not swooned by Durk's tribute, India took to Twitter to seemingly react to the post. "People really do not respect boundaries at all. I try me best to be respectful and not put on a show but people don't respect my choices," she wrote, before shutting down any chance of future reconciliation, "Let it go."

Durk was understandably disappointed by India's reaction. In what seemed to be his response to her tweet, he explained why he made the post, "I post 'cause I wanted to[.] The internet don't run durk." He went on suggesting that India was playing with him, writing, "Try the troll with another mfr leave certain people alone."

This isn't the first time Durk expressed his lingering feelings for India despite their split. In September, after India declared that she's single, he wrote on his Story, "That [p***y] mines 4ever welcome to death row b***h."

In October, the 30-year-old also posted and deleted a TikTok video, tagging India with audio of a snippet with the bar, "I gave that b***h my heart, welcome to death row." He captioned it by writing, "The Voice x The Blessing," adding a heart eyes emoji and hashtag #india.

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The 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' actor responds to one Twitter user who mocks the tight dress that the rapper's wife donned at the 2023 Grammy Awards on February 5.

Feb 16, 2023

AceShowbiz - Ice-T is always standing up for his family. The "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actor responded to one Twitter user who mocked the tight dress that the rapper's wife Coco Austin donned at the 2023 Grammy Awards on February 5.

In their post, the social media user, who went by the name Maureen, compared Coco to Adele. The person claimed, "I see Adele at the Grammies. [sic] She looks fabulous. When she was heavier, she was classy, that is a woman who knows her beauty doesn't have to be wrapped in a dress 3 sizes too small."

Catching wind of the diss, Ice-T replied to the hater on Monday, February 13. "When was the last time you had some D**k. That's the problem. Lol," the 64-year-old continued.

The actor went on to say, "I gotta say Maureen. You're Hot as F." The "99 Problems" rapper added, "We NEVER attack But we RETALIATE."

After Ice-T's fans came at her, Maureen insisted that her opinions on Coco were "just an observation." She doubled down, "Women should be proud of their natural beauty. Instead of being done doctors Frankenstein."

Meanwhile, Ice-T concluded his social media clap back by urging his fans to take the high road. "Ya know what Kills people that Hate you the most?? That OTHER people Love you," he tweeted.

Earlier this month, Ice-T commented on one attendee checking out his spouse at the big event. The 64-year-old rapper/actor reshared a video from the moment on his Instagram page.

In the accompanying message, he wrote, "Lol I love how the white dude looked at me then took time to check Coco out. I TOTALLY understand.. #2023Grammys."

The post quickly earned comments from many. One in particular was Busta Rhymes, who sent out a series of crying laughing emojis. A fan then chimed in, "Ice ain't payin' attention, now's my chance." One user then quipped, "He thought he was slick."

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The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) has recommended Abhay Ojha to be appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Key Managerial Personnel of the company.

The Committee has advised the ZMCL management to file the necessary application with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for obtaining the prior approval of the Ministry for Ojhas appointment, as required under the Up-linking Guidelines.

This was informed by ZMCL to the bourses.

Ojha was appointed Chief Business Officer for all linear channels, excluding Zee Business and WION, in November last year. Upon joining ZMCL in February 2022, Ojha was appointed Head of P&L for Cluster 3. He was previously CEO of Changa. Additionally, he has held leadership positions at HUL and Star.
From best friends turned lovers, young love, and twisted love check out our  Love is in the Air  collection this Valentines Day. Have endless movie nights throughout the month of February with your loved ones with these new premieres for all the romance your heart desires.

February 14

The Romantics

A love letter to Indian cinema from over 35 of its biggest names. Watch the story of how legendary Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra and his son Aditya Chopra changed the history of Indian cinema as they launched their independent film studio.

February 9

You: Season 4 Part 1

Starting anew in London, Joe vows to bury the past and be his best self. But on the rocky road to redemption, a new obsession starts to take hold.

February 9

Dear David

A straight-A high schooler's life is turned upside down when her risque fantasy blog about her crush is leaked to everyone at school.

February 10

Your Place or Mine

When best friends and total opposites Debbie and Peter swap homes for a week, they get a peek into each other's lives that could open the door to love. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher.

February 10

Love to Hate You

For an attorney who despises losing to men and an A-list actor who distrusts women, love means nothing  until theyre forced to date each other.

February 10

Love is Blind: After the Altar Season 3

Check in with this season's former fiances, one year since their big decisions to get married or walk away single.

February 14

In Love All Over Again

Ever since they met, Irene and Julio have been falling in love, splitting up, and then trying again. Will they ever find their happy ending?

February 16

OMG! Oh My Girl

Over the years, awkward Guy keeps falling for confident June in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading him to believe fate is playing tricks on them.

February 17

A Girl and an Astronaut (POLAND)

An astronaut's return after a 30-year disappearance rekindles a lost love and sparks interest from a corporation determined to learn why he hasn't aged.
An Avon lawyer is facing DUI charges after allegedly fleeing the scene of a crash he caused on an Interstate 84 off-ramp in Farmington on Sunday, according to the Connecticut State Police.

State police were called to the scene of a crash on the I-84 Exit 39 off-ramp just after 6 p.m. on Sunday. Troopers saw two vehicles blocking the right center lane of traffic when they arrived. According to the drivers, three cars, including a Volkswagen Atlas, Honda Fit and BMW X5, were heading west on the I-84 Exit 39 off-ramp in the right center lane. The Volkswagen and Honda were stopped at a red light when the BMW driver allegedly failed to stop and hit the back of the Honda, causing it to hit the back of the Volkswagen, state police said.

The driver and passenger in the Volkswagen and the Honda driver all said they were wearing seatbelts and claimed no injuries, state police said.

The drivers told troopers the BMW driver drove off after the crash, and Troop H was notified. The Farmington Police Department located the car and attempted to make a stop, state police said. The driver allegedly ignored the lights and sirens and drove to his home before jumping out of the car and running inside, according to state police.

Farmington police identified the driver as 54-year-old Jeffrey Gostyla of Avon. He was detained until troopers arrived at the home, state police said.

State police alleged that Gostyla had bloodshot and glossy eyes, appeared to be disoriented and had the smell of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. State police said Gostyla was asked to perform standardized field sobriety tests, which he allegedly refused.

Gostyla was placed under arrest and transported to Troop H where he was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the Influence of alcohol and/or drugs, following too closely resulting in an accident and evading responsibility. He was released on a $1,500 cash/surety bond and is scheduled to appear at Hartford Superior Court on March 6.

Gostyla, who lists himself as a partner at the Hartford law firm Halloran Sage on his LinkedIn page, is no longer listed on the firms website. Kenneth R. Slater, Jr, managing partner of Halloran Sage, said the arrest is a personal matter. The firm has no further comment.
Ninjacart, India's leading agri-startup that leverages technology and data to organize the Indian agriculture ecosystem has appointed Publicis Business as its creative partner. Publicis Business won the Ninjacart account after a multi-agency pitch.

Ninjacart aims to build Indias largest digital agri ecosystem empowering all participants including farmers, traders, dealers, wholesalers, and retailers through state-of-the-art technology, products, and services.

The account mandate includes a refreshed brand identity for Ninjacart along with a strategic creative design, marketing and advertising strategy for its multiple business verticals. Furthermore, enhancing the brand's social media presence, digital marketing, and communication and branding strategy with an eye on both internal and external audiences, including employer branding, is an important element of the mandate.

Speaking about the association, Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Co-Founder, Ninjacart said, We are delighted to have Publicis Business on board as our communications partner and will lead the 360-degree creative mandate for us right from brand identity creation. As Ninjacart takes its next big step to being Indias largest agri-tech platform and reshaping the Indian agricultural ecosystem, we are confident that Publicis Business will help us achieve our ambitious goals with their new-age thinking, creativity, and strong execution skills. We look forward to the association.

Nidhi Lall, Senior VP, Publicis Business, said, Ninjacart is on the cusp of a tremendous growth journey and to get a chance in being a part of their success story is something all of us at Publicis Business are looking forward to. This mandate offers us the opportunity to truly flex all our B2B offerings and create clutter-breaking work which will in turn also impact Indias agricultural ecosystem. We are looking forward to a great and mutually rewarding partnership.

Hemant Vasudevan, Head of Marketing, Ninjacart, added, Ninjacart is at an interesting pivotal stage in its growth trajectory and marketing will play a key role in helping us get to the next level, by staying relevant and being innovative in reaching out to our evolving audiences. Publicis Business resonated most with our vision, ethos, and mission as a brand and I look forward to working with them as our strategic marketing partner. Their unique approach and understanding of B2B marketing will enable us to co-create engaging and impactful campaigns."

Publicis Business is a specialist knowledge-driven full-service B2B communications agency of the Publicis Groupe. Its key clients include Bosch India, Adani ConneX, Airtel Business, and other leading players across several industry verticals.
Please check out Lou Conte's SubStack called "Truth Be Told." Lou's super power (one of them) is that his decades of law enforcement work in the Westchester County (NY) Sex Offender Probations department gave him a keen insight into LIARS. And that comes in handy in the autism vaccine injury world. After his retirement, Lou became a LIE DETECTOR. He's a forensic Psychophysiologist (Polygraph Examiner). He viewed the Project Veritas video of the date gone bad with his own insight into body language and verbal language. Subscribe for free, or with a paid subscription, to his SubStack today.



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In Vino Veritas



Ive been asked to weigh in on a recently released video from Project Veritas in which a Pfizer Company administrator named Jordan Trishton Walker discloses alarming information. Dr. Walker lost control of himself after being confronted about research he reported to be underway at Pfizer. Walker then says he was lying. Was he?

The questions Ive been asked are:

1. Is Walker really employed by Pfizer?

2. Is the video in which Walker makes the disclosures real?

3. Could someone who is smart enough to be a scientist stupidly reveal damaging information?

4. Is Walker being truthful when he says Pfizer is conducting research on coronaviruses that involves Directed Evolution (a form of Gain of Function research) on monkeys to mutate the viruses for future vaccines?

5. Was Walkers only lie his claim that he was lying?

Answers:

1) Yes, 2) Yes, 3) Yes, 4) Yes, and 5) Yes.

1. Jordan Trishton Walker has been employed by Pfizer as the Director of Research & Development  Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning at Pfizer, New York. Sources have confirmed his employment, which was reported by Tucker Carlson on Fox News. Walker is supervised by another administrator who reports directly to Pfizer CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla.

2. A private investigator who is a trusted colleague of mine analyzed the video and affirmed that it was real. Mr. Walker was unaware that he was being recorded by a device that placed on the table.

I believe that the recordings are real, and Mr. Walker was a Pfizer employee (at the time of the video). According to his job title, he would have inside knowledge regarding Pfizers vaccine development.

The video disappeared from most social media within twenty-four hours of its release  a sign of its veracity. However, the video was viewed more than fifteen million times.

3. Smart people can and do make inexplicably bad decisions. In this instance, Walker disclosed important information in order to impress a date. His nonverbal behaviors (body language) signal sexual interest in the person conversing with him. His smile appears coy, and his constant eye contact are indicators of his interest. His eyebrows move up and down as he nods denoting that he finds the attention of the other person to be stimulating.

Walker has inside information that seemingly makes him feel special, powerful and, sexy. He uses his insider knowledge like a peacock fanning his feathers, hoping to impress a prospective mate. Many people do find people presenting themselves in this manner to be alluring and attractive. At one point Walker reaches out and touches the person and says, You got to promise you wont tell anybody, okay? Initiating a quick touch while smiling and nodding is a clear sign of sexual interest, as is the sharing of secrets. Read more and subscribe HERE.

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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.




The Connecticut State Police identified two of the three people found dead in a home in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.

Troop D in Danielson received a report of a suspicious incident at a home on Middle Street in Brooklyn just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Responding troopers found two adults and one child inside the home who were pronounced dead at the scene, according to state police. Two of the victims were identified as 33-year-old Lury Pizarro and her son, 3-year-old Emmanuel Perez, of Worchester, Massachusetts, according to state police on Thursday.

Pizarro died of gunshot wounds to the head, neck and torso, according to the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Her death was ruled a homicide, officials said. Perez died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to officials. His death was ruled a homicide.

Police Friday identified the third deceased person as Jose A. Perez, 31, also of Worcester.

A GoFundMe was started to cover the funeral expenses for Pizarro and her young son. Leyshaliz Otero, who started the fundraiser, said Pizarro was an amazing and beloved mother, daughter, sister and cousin.

Lury was a kind and generous person who touched the lives of many, Otero said in the GoFundMe. She was selfless and always helping others. Emmanuel was a smart, loving, caring, playful 3-year-old.

The third person has not been identified due to next of kin notification, state police said.

The state police said it appeared to be an isolated incident and there was no ongoing threat to the public based on their initial findings.

Brooklyn Superintendent of Schools Patricia Buell sent a letter to families and staff offering support.

You may already be aware of a tragic incident that occurred in Brooklyn last evening, Buell said in the letter. There are three people who have died, one is a child. The child is not a student of the Brooklyn Public Schools, but our hearts break for their family and loved ones.

Buell also stated that staff and students had access to counselors on Wednesday.

Tragic events such as this can impact people differently, she said in the letter. Please reach out to counselors at the school or 211 to find counseling support if needed. We will address any needs as they arise. Please keep the family, neighbors, and first responders in your thoughts as we deal with this sad situation in Brooklyn.

The Eastern District Major Crime Squad is investigating the incident, state police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Ethan Tanksley at ethan.tanksley@ct.gov.
An Essex man is facing multiple charges including DUI after allegedly driving erratically over the Gold Star Bridge on I-95 in Waterford and engaging troopers in pursuit on Tuesday, state police said.

The Connecticut State Police received multiple 911 calls reporting an erratic driver traveling south on Interstate 95 over the Gold Star Bridge just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Responding troopers caught up to the car, a 2008 Saturn Aura XE, on I-95 at Exit 82 in Waterford, where state police allege that the driver was weaving between the left lane fog line and right lane fog line.

As troopers attempted to make a motor vehicle stop using lights and sirens, the driver allegedly took off for approximately one mile before being boxed in, state police said. As troopers got out of their vehicles, the driver allegedly attempted to flee by driving his car around police cruisers. Troopers repositioned their cruisers and prevented him from leaving the scene, state police said.

State police made contact with the driver, identified as Kevin Harris, 43, of Essex, and told him to exit the vehicle. State police said Harris did not comply and allegedly began to fight with troopers in the right lane of the interstate as they got him out of the car. Harris was then put in handcuffs and placed under arrest, state police said.

Troopers allege that they detected a strong smell of alcohol emanating from Harris well as other signs of impairment. State police said they did not give any field sobriety tests on the side of the interstate due to safety concerns. Harris was then transported to Troop E where he declined the tests.

Harris was charged with engaging police in pursuit, disobeying the signal of an officer, operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, interfering with an officer and failure to maintain proper lane, state police said.

He was held in lieu of a $10,000 bond pending his arraignment at New London Superior Court on Wednesday.
If you're gonna fight, fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark... and brother its starting to rain.
We celebrate the acquittal of pro-life activist Mark Houck of the phony federal charges in Philadelphia on Monday, January 30. We celebrate the savvy and grit of the Thomas More Society for standing in the legal breach to give Mark back to his wife and seven young children.

But let's be clear: the acquittal was less about justice being served and more about averting further injustice. The sword of government appears to have turned away from protecting peaceful citizens to attacking them. The very existence of a trial was a display of injustice, as the Department of Justice under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland and the prosecution of Sanjay Patel abused taxpayer resources, targeting peaceful pro-lifers on trumped up FACE Act violations.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances is a federal law designed, and almost exclusively used, to cool public pro-life speech around abortion facilities. The FACE Act, on its face, is unconstitutional, robbing states of their Tenth Amendment rights to self-govern while unfairly targeting pro-life people. The vast majority of the nearly 230 attacks on pro-life entities in 2022, many of which qualified as FACE Act violations, have gone unanswered by law enforcement. Compare that to the 26 people, all peaceful pro-lifers, indicted for being publicly, peacefully pro-life. But what does the DOJ do when real violence and conspiracy to deprive rights occur against pro-life people? And what should be done to get America's justice system back on track?

Over eight months have elapsed since the arson attack of CompassCare's pro-life medical office as part of an organized nationwide terrorist campaign to shut down all public pro-life activity. And only two indictments of Antifa-connected graffiti artists...but only after significant pressure on the DOJ and FBI from the media and Congress, accusing the DOJ of abdicating its duty to investigate the domestic terror and the abhorrent FBI SWAT raids of the homes of pro-life people. The FBI attacks were joined by pro-abortion politicians' seditious rhetoric fomenting more violence and backed by Big Tech censorship, all with the express goal of shutting down, if not criminalizing public pro-life activity.

Justice will not be served for Houck or the American people until integrity is restored to the DOJ and FBI. How deep does the rabbit hole go? The DOJ not only has 1) abdicated its duty to investigate organized violent crime against Christian pro-lifers and 2) irresponsibly misused federal law enforcement to attack, indict, and prosecute those whose only crime is being pro-life, but also 3) now refuses to enforce the law regarding illicit and brazen chemical abortiontrafficking.

As members of Congress noted in an open letter to A.G. Garland on January 25, those pharmaceutical companies, abortionists, and online purveyors of the drugs are violating sections 1461 and 1462 of title 18 in the U.S. Code. It is the attorney general's job to enforce the law. The Biden administration's FDA deregulating the dangerous chemicals on January 3 and insisting that the drugs can be purchased and shipped via U.S. mail blatantly contradicts current U.S. law. The abortion industry is flouting the law, and the DOJ and FBI are oath-bound to stop it.

According to the law, current large-scale chemical abortiontrafficking requires prosecution under federal racketeering and money-laundering charges. Should Garland and the DOJ persist in their dereliction of duty, there is hope for future prosecution with a five-year statute of limitations. The longer the abortion industry flouts the law, the longer the jail time and the steeper the fines  including triple damages. This means that those who participate in the chemical abortion industry can be indicted under an attorney general willing to keep his oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States.

While flouting the law is bad enough, what is worse is the danger this drug, dubbed the chemical coat hanger, poses to women and their preborn babies. The chemicals are so dangerous  five times more dangerous than surgical abortion  that the FDA placed them on the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy list along with only a handful of other drugs deemed high-risk. Yet some online peddlers and recent abortionists fraudulently claim that they are "Safer than Tylenol," sending them to women without even diagnosing pregnancy and ruling out any dangerous health conditions that could put a woman at even greater risk.

No. Justice will not be done for Mark Houck or for any American until the searchlight of truth penetrates the ranks of the FBI, the DOJ, and the Biden administration, indicting all those involved in conspiring to deprive pro-life people of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection, while refusing to protect women and children from being victimized by a mercenary abortion racket.

As a pro-life citizen and victim of organized pro-abortion terror, I humbly suggest that Congress take the following steps to get America back on the path to true justice:

1) Repeal the unconstitutional and bigoted FACE Act

2) Demand that the DOJ drop all FACE Act charges against peaceful pro-lifers

3) Compel the DOJ to pay for all legal expenses incurred by the Thomas More Society and others for their heroic defense of citizens against unjust federal charges brought by the DOJ

4) Demand that Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher Wray be fired

5) Ask Department of Homeland Security immediately allocate resources for a sweeping investigation into DOJ and FBI corruption, and

6) Request that all state attorneys general commence investigations into abortion industry consumer fraud, serial medical malpractice, sex crime cover-ups, racketeering, and money-laundering.

Rev. James R. Harden, M.Div. is the CEO of CompassCare Pregnancy Services and pioneered the first measurable and repeatable medical model in the pregnancy center movement. He has written extensively on medical ethics, executive leadership, and pro-life policy. Rev. Harden has also developed materials and strategies used by hundreds of pregnancy centers nationwide.

Image via Max Pixel.
Perhaps the most difficult thing in life is finding genuine contentment. We set goals for ourselves, we strive to reach them, and when we do, any momentary happiness goes poof awfully quickly, as we seek and set new goals once again. At some point, even the most driven and ambitious among us will wonder, "What am I doing, and why am I doing it?"

That is a good thing. I don't have much figured out about this life, but I do believe we are meant to constantly ask ourselves the big questions: Why am I here? What is the point of our existence? Are there lessons I am supposed to learn along the way? What comes next?

The funny thing about asking big questions is that doing so tends to put all the things in life that ordinarily drag us down into startling perspective. It is only natural to get upset about domestic politics, higher fuel and food prices, growing censorship, and encroaching State tyranny. It is much more difficult to rise above those problems and keep trudging ahead. Eventually, all the turmoil either gets the better of us, or we realize that the turmoil  no matter how large in scope  still pales in comparison to the meaning of life. When you think in terms of why am I here and what am I meant to do, well, the terrible things around us start to look more like opportunities than problems.

That is also around the time when you realize that there is a distinction between happiness and joy. Whereas happiness brings a sense of pleasure and personal satisfaction, it is both ephemeral and misleading. What makes us happy today may leave us bored, distraught, or even angry tomorrow. Just as with setting and achieving goals, happiness won is soon lost. Joy, on the other hand, is a much more enduring state of being, a kind of spiritual triumph that exists when a person sees beyond the struggles of life and feels connected with something more. Can you find meaning and keep moving forward when nothing seems to be going your way? Can you distinguish between the things within your control and those that are not and accept the difference? Can you recognize that life is more than a quest for pleasure and comfort and see the value in struggle and pain? Do you have a bond with a loved one that is indestructible? If so, then you have no doubt experienced some measure of joy that is entirely yours and can never be taken away.

Experiencing joy connects us with the divine. We become acutely aware that we are both part of something much bigger than ourselves, as well as singularly in charge of our fates. Joyfulness clears out the clutter that keeps us from seeing truth clearly. It is a path toward inner peace. One breath at a time, recognize your life as something more than just a collection of days. Once you find joy and learn to guard it from the outside world, then problems look much different and sometimes melt away.

Most atheists I've met describe their understanding of existence in one of two ways: either as the mathematically preordained result of deterministic events or as the strange conclusion of a long string of random occurrences. Either the laws of physics determined that roughly 13.8 billion years after the Big Bang we would all be sitting around reading American Thinker together, or the unpredictable chaos of the universe took one wacky turn after the next until stumbling into our present reality. Either way, neither random chaos nor mathematical determinism leaves much room for notions of free will or a sacred understanding of life.

Since atheism is far more prevalent among political leftists, it seems counterintuitive that they get so angry when they do not get their way. I always think, "If there is no God and free will is imaginary, then why is it so imperative that the left's worldview be imposed on everyone else? If life is no different than a pile of rocks and our choices are nothing more than complex math equations, then why can't leftists stand back and accept the world as it unfolds?" Just as there never seem to be any atheists in a foxhole, there never seem to be any leftists inclined to forfeit the exercise of their own free will  especially when doing so would sacrifice their control over everyone else.

No matter how strenuously leftists describe human beings as nothing more than algorithms that can be hacked and programmed for optimal control, their efforts evince an uncomfortable understanding that we humans are much more than biological robots or complex chemical reactions with moving parts. Humanity's future is predicated on deliberate choice  the choices of those who seek substantial control over everyone else and the choices of those who will refuse to be controlled. A battle is shaping between competing forces of free will. Within that battle, certain things ring true. To be alive is special. To be a part of this universe is special. To be conscious of our existence in such a vast world and yet to feel intimately connected to that vastness is special. We are not ones and zeroes. We are not simple code. We are part of something much greater.

Seen from this perspective, the events that dominate our days are very small. Joe Biden's reckless policies do not matter. The Federal Reserve's money printing does not matter. The growing national security surveillance State does not matter. The World Economic Forum's attempts to remake and dominate the world do not matter. What matters is how each one of us responds to those threats and the choices we individually make.

People and institutions with power have a strong interest in convincing everyone else that fighting back is useless. They have a clear interest in convincing those they rule that there is no God by the side of the faithful who choose to pray. They have a Machiavellian interest in convincing human beings that they are not as worthy of protection as planet Earth's rocks. They have an enduring interest in convincing each one of us that we are weak, alone, and small. They have every interest in keeping us from feeling connected to a greater purpose.

When we refuse to abide the will of powerful interests and instead ask the big, important questions in life, we make those with power feel uncomfortably small. We connect to things much larger than ourselves. We place ourselves on a path toward finding authentic joy. We open our lives to the helping hands of God. One breath at a time, one choice at a time, an amazing thing happens when you put yourself in His hands: the powers that be here on Earth become astonishingly weak.

Perhaps being a "joyful warrior" merely requires a willingness to trust in God so completely that courage vanquishes fear and the joy of righteous struggle replaces doubt. Rebellion to tyrants, Benjamin Franklin said, is obedience to God. That sentiment will always win out.

Image: Jeff Turner via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Since President Trump left office, many of the trustworthy media outlets have created a talking point that is now held by a minority, yet noticeable number of Conservative Americans. The belief is DeSantis is Trump, without the baggage. This group supported President Trumps policies and felt he did a tremendous job as president, but now feel the baggage that came with Trump would not be present with Ron DeSantis. Many have taken this a step further and believe this baggage would give DeSantis (or others) a better chance of winning in a general election against the Democrat nominee than President Trump.

The first and most important angle to consider when analyzing this stance is the present reality of American elections. President Trumps seemingly insurmountable election night leads in 2020, which were significantly larger than his leads throughout the night in 2016, somehow vanished into slim Biden victories. In other words: Without our corrupt election systems being corrected, it doesnt matter who runs since the winner is predetermined. Trump didnt cost us; the election was stolen. But for the sake of this discussion, well say that our elections are free and fair.

Despite his alleged loss, Trump gained more than 12 million votes from 2016 (and likely more,) the largest increase in vote total for any sitting president in American history and the highest vote total by any presidential candidate ever, aside from Bidens highly suspicious 81 million votes that same year. So, the media-manufactured Trump baggage has not had any negative impact on voter enthusiasm for Trump. Based on his vote increasing by millions, you could make the argument the baggage led to more people rallying to support him.

Prior to 2016, Conservative voter enthusiasm in the previous two presidential elections was abysmal. John McCain and Mitt Romney both lost convincingly to Barack Obama due in large part to their politically correct, low energy approach to politics when conservatives were looking for the exact opposite.

The Trump baggage can be summarized as a combination of his brash style of politics and the never-ending war waged on him by the media. Ironically, Trumps style was the change America sought, and his exposure of the corrupt media is what has kept him so popular. In essence, Trump is a product of the corrupt environment the media has created, and their hatred towards him makes him more popular. The Trump baggage is what was needed to move the needle enough for Trump to win states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania that Republicans had not won since the 1980s.

Most of the baggage from the Trump presidency was completely manufactured by media with the purpose of doing exactly what it is accomplishing to an extent now: Diminish enthusiasm for Trump at any cost, no facts needed. The goal was never to prove any of the false accusations against Trump. They knew this was impossible; they created them.

Instead, they wanted to spread the false accusations enough that people either began to believe them or became so fatigued with the smears that they would abandon him. The Russia collusion hoax, both impeachments, the Stormy Daniels saga, and the now-concluded Trump tax returns are just a few examples of baggage that, in reality, were purely propaganda exercises to take him down. If there were anything of substance that could truly take down Trump, it would have been revealed long ago.

If those examples are considered too much baggage, could you imagine the media frenzy with issues of actual substance? Enter Ron DeSantis. To this point, it is obvious why the Florida Governor does not seem to have much baggage, and it isnt because he has a squeaky-clean past. He currently has not declared a run for the presidency which is when most baggage is exposed (or manufactured.) There already are accusations ready to be weaponized when the time comes. Important to note, as seen with Trump: truth and facts are not needed to create baggage.

If DeSantis chooses to run for president, whether that is in the next election or sometime down the road, his opponents (from both parties) and leftist media will have no shortage of ammunition to create baggage specific to him. As Governor of Florida, DeSantis's image as a protector of school children and being anti-groomer has gone unchallenged. His press secretary Christina Pushaw (more on her later) took to Twitter to categorize his signing of the Parental Rights in Education Act as an Anti-Grooming Bill. Recently, he has been accused of partying with his own female students when DeSantis was a 23-year-old teacher in Georgia in 2001. Photo evidence shows DeSantis surrounded by 3 girls holding what looks like an alcoholic beverage. For someone whose appeal is largely due to his reputation of protecting students from groomers, photo evidence of DeSantis having a little too much fun with his own pupils is an ironically awful look and certainly baggage fuel.

Shortly after his teaching stint, DeSantis began a military career where he was a Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer. The general consensus is that Liberals typically oppose wars more than Cconservatives do. However, Conservative opposition to U.S. involvement in military conflicts has become more common than during other eras. Which means accusations of DeSantis greenlighting cruel and inhumane forms of torture on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including force feeding detainees through a nasal feeding tube pushed down their throats while DeSantis allegedly watched in amusement, will eventually be addressed.

With the current, fragile state of foreign affairs, Americans now more than ever want to be sure the commander-in-chief is not being influenced by any foreign countries (such as now.) The American perception of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is unique, because while the majority of Americans oppose Putin and Russia, support for the U.S. to continue sending money to Ukraine is also dwindling. Which is why DeSantis GOP opponents will undoubtedly question him on his Press Secretary, Christina Pushaw, who recently had to register as a foreign agent because of her paid work with, of all people, a Ukrainian politician named Mikheil Saakashvili. She also shared a tweet in February of 2022 stating she supported Zelensky, was in Ukraine when Zelensky won the primary and that a big party ensued. While U.S. support for Ukraine heavily outweighs support for Russia, having close ties to a foreign agent of a country the U.S. continues sending endless amounts of money to will certainly create baggage within the GOP should DeSantis choose to enter the race.

Try picturing the amount of baggage that would come with accusations of DeSantis drinking and partying with his own female students, alleged first-hand accounts about his role in inhumane forms of torture that violate international law, his former press secretary and current rapid response director registering as a foreign agent, and recently having warmonger John Bolton promote him. Again, allegations are all that is needed to create baggage, not facts. The baggage potential for DeSantis makes Trumps look like peanuts.

So, if DeSantis does run, those pulling for him solely for baggage purposes will be severely disappointed. When DeSantis is faced with his own, two things are possible. He could cave and apologize under the pressure, which is the opposite of what Conservatives want. Or the more likely scenario would be him refuting, defending, or denying the attacks, which is exactly what President Trump has always done. But whichever response occurs, there is no scenario where DeSantis would be baggage-free. So, the DeSantis is Trump without baggage group must shift the question they ask themselves to this: Which of the two is better equipped to withstand the attacks? There is no doubt the answer to that question is Donald Trump.

Matt Kane is a writer who graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science. Follow on Truth Social: @MattKane

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore (cropped) CC BY-SA 2.0 license
The Constitution is our pact of civilized behavior. From it we've derived a system of institutionalized justice, which we call our criminal justice system. It's intended to include checks and balances to protect defendants from biases and ensure fair adjudication of their charges. Those safeguards include the following:

a presumption of innocence

a right to due process

a right to legal defense

a right to a trial by one's peers

a right to trial before an impartial judge

Given our presumption of innocence, absolute justice can't be guaranteed because conviction depends on the presence of evidence. Instead, we have agreed to accept equal treatment under the law. We agree to abide by the law in exchange for a system that treats us equally and is administered by officials who swear an oath to defend our constitutional protections.

Then Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, and Merrick Garland came along as the country's top law enforcement officials and flushed it all. Under them, the application of justice has become decidedly unequal. Perfection was never possible, but now the claim of equal treatment has become laughable. The foundation of our legal system is being eaten away by government termites  whose lust for power far exceeds their wisdom to wield it.

The presumption of innocence seems like a quaint idea from the past. Was New York attorney general Letitia James presuming innocence when she made a campaign promise to initiate a criminal investigation of Donald Trump before she even entered office or saw any evidence of wrongdoing? Or was she promising to operate her office using the Beria methodology? Clearly, she had her target and was promising to find the crime. Yet she faces no accountability for this flagrant violation of her oath.

Was due process followed when the FBI destroyed evidence of Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified documents  at Clinton's request? Did the FBI have a legal predicate when it launched an investigation of an incoming president  based on fabricated evidence provided by his political opponent? How about when they raided the homes of reporters  with armed agents  to recover Ashley Biden's diary? Had a crime even been committed?

Is our right to competent legal representation being undermined when attorneys face disbarment for taking legal actions challenging election practices? Will this trend prevent conservative defendants from hiring competent lawyers in the future  when those lawyers fear cancellation for representing an unfavored client?

Was a conservative from Montana tried by a jury of his peers  when that jury comprised mostly Democrats from Washington, D.C.? Was Derek Chauvin  a police officer accused of murdering a black man  tried by an impartial jury when one of his "peers" was a Black Lives Mattersupporter?

Was General Michael Flynn given an impartial judge for his trial? Was Judge Emmet Sullivan being impartial when he refused to let the DoJ drop charges, and instead appointed his own counsel to argue the case before him  making himself both the judge and prosecutor? How was he ensuring that General Flynn would receive fair or equal treatment with such an arrangement?

When the core principles of our criminal justice system are no longer honored, the citizens of a self-governed country will judge the pact of civilized behavior to be breached. When they no longer believe that they'll be treated according to those principles, they'll decide that the pact no longer applies to them, either.

What comes next? Will citizens embrace a system in which guilt or innocence is a function of their beliefs instead of their actions? Or will Americans avoid the system entirely? How much interaction will Americans seek with a system they no longer trust? Will they report crimes to a justice system that could attack them at any time  regardless of whether they have broken any laws? Will they voluntarily provide testimony or evidence? Or will they avoid all contact with law enforcement officials?

Our criminal justice system cannot function without the support of the governed  and it is already failing. We're seeing an alarming rise in crime across the country. Are we destined to a future of "survival of the fittest," where ruthless criminals consolidate power to prey on the weak  like some semi-civilized banana republic? Not necessarily.

We are not a country of sheep. We are descendants of fiercely independent and self-reliant pioneers. Many Americans still retain those attributes. We may not be destined for a communist police state or a "kill or be killed" anarchy. Our old west may be a better predictor of where justice in America is headed.

As hundreds of thousands of Americans migrated into the western wilderness, they found themselves outside the protections of civilization. Our ancestors went to a land with no criminal justice system. Conversely, we inherited a land with a criminal justice system that is being destroyed before our eyes. Our situations are becoming similar  for very different reasons.

In the old west, criminals had easy prey  and they capitalized on it. Rape, robbery, and murder were common. But that chaos was unacceptable to the settlers who only wanted free and productive lives for their families. The farmers, ranchers, and miners formed law enforcement committees  many of which were little more than vigilante mobs. Some even called themselves vigilantes  which is Spanish for "watchmen guards." It was not considered a pejorative at that time.

But the committees operated without the infrastructure of institutional criminal justice. There were no safeguards and few resources for incarceration or rehabilitation. The committees functioned as the police, prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner  all in one untrained body with no uniform standards. The "justice" administered was rapid and harsh. A defendant could go from apprehension to execution in a matter of minutes. Lynchings were common  as were mistakes.

After the formation of vigilante committees, criminals faced substantial risks, and some semblance of order was achieved  with the downside that many innocents were falsely punished. The settlers defaulted to brutal and error prone "justice" because no alternative was present.

I'm not advocating vigilante justice. I'm predicting that it's a natural consequence of human nature if our current leadership destroys the last vestiges of the "equal justice under the law" that we were promised. When the system no longer protects citizens, they will find ways to protect themselves. Does the rapid increase in gun ownership indicate that citizens are preparing for this eventuality? Americans bought 20 million firearms last year  the second highest year in history. That can't be taken as an endorsement of our criminal justice system.

Leftists seem determined to corrupt our criminal justice system  changing it into their political enforcement service. Once the system's credibility is shattered (and 53 precent think it already is), will the victim of a crime report it to the police  or take matters into his own hands? If he chooses to exact vigilante justice, will his neighbors report him, or help him  recognizing that they may need similar "help" in the future?

As Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, and George Sorossponsored prosecutors continue to dismantle our criminal justice system, they should keep our past in mind. When legal criminal justice fails, vigilante justice may replace it.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker and American Free News Network. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image via Pixnio.
The Connecticut State Police are looking for witnesses to a fatal one-car collision on Interstate 84 in Farmington that killed a Massachusetts woman on Tuesday night.

A Ford Edge driven by 33-year-old Tiarra Thomas of Springfield, Massachusetts, was traveling in the left lane of I-84 West just west of Exit 39A at around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. For an unknown reason, Thomas lost control of her car, drove into the left shoulder and hit a metal beam guardrail, state police said. The car went through the guardrail and came to stop on the grassy median.

Thomas suffered serious injuries as a result of this collision and was pronounced dead at Hartford Hospital, according to state police.

The crash is under investigation. Any witnesses are asked to contact Trooper Michael Dean at 860-534-1098 or through email at michael.dean@ct.gov.
The Biden administration is supporting a Washington, D.C. Council bill that would give illegal aliens and other non-citizens, including  wait for it  members of the Chinese Communist Party residing in the city, the right to vote in local elections.

What could go wrong?

Fortunately, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) are urging the Senate to take up a joint resolution that would stop the bill from advancing.

The House of Representatives already has passed a (bipartisan!) resolution of disapproval of the D.C. Council bill.

Prior to the House's measure, however, the Biden administration issued a memo stating its support for the Council's bill and its opposition to the House resolution, which it called a denial of "true self-governance."

The memo also stated that the District of Columbia "deserves statehood."

Were the D.C. Council bill to somehow pass into law, who the hell couldn't vote? (You know the Biden administration and most Democrats would love it if MAGA types, devout Christians, and assorted other conservatives were not allowed to vote. They have made that abundantly clear.)

Talk about election integrity! Many Democrats want to allow felons to vote. Minors, too  there are proposals afoot to let 16-year-olds vote.

Coincidentally, they tend to share a mindset and maturity level with Democrats, and an affinity for socialism...so they would vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

Democrats will do anything they think they can get away with to negate the votes of the majority of American citizens who do not reside on either coast. That explains their additional call to end the Electoral College.

If literally anyone and everyone else in the world were allowed to vote in our elections, what would be the point of voting for the rest of us? With mass mail-in voting, ballot drop boxes, and ballot-harvesting, we are almost to that point now anyway.

This suits Democrats just fine...in their attempt to "save our democracy."

Does Japan, France, Sweden, or Niger, for example, allow illegal aliens and non-citizens from around the world to vote in its elections? Chinese communists? I'm guessing not...because they would effectively cease to be sovereign nations!

Should we give the vote to Putin, too? Xi Jinping? The Chavista communists of Venezuela? Should we give the vote to canines?

If non-citizens could vote in our elections, why not non-people? Should we give the vote to canines? Fictional characters like Beavis and Butthead? (And no, I'm not referring to Swalwell and Schiff.) Smurfs?

There has been much talk of aliens recently  the kind from outer space. (Because, apparently, some folks think it's possible that they will travel here from another galaxy in a balloon. Might take a while.)

One thing is certain: if aliens did come, Democrats would promptly try to bribe them and then grant them the vote.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.
I trust that nearly all AT readers know who Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing are. I have long admired both of them as brilliant and tireless conservative thinkers who also happen to be legendarily effective lawyers, usually fighting for conservative causes.

Joe and Victoria have been targeted by Merrick Garland's Department of Justice (details below) and, despite being lawyers themselves, need expensive legal and support work to help them fight back. They have targeted $500,000 as their goal to help fund this struggle, and a GiveSendGo account has been established by my friend (and AT contributor) Mark. J. Fitzgibbons to help them.

I have already made a donation, and I hope that other readers will find a way to help them out.



Joe, Victoria, and friends Rudy and Seb.

Donate here.

For more detail on the situation, see what Mark wrote at GiveSendGo:

Conservative Legal Champions diGenova and Toensing

vs.

The Corrupt Joe Biden/Merrick Garland Deep State

Conservative, formerly Reagan-appointed Super Lawyers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing need to raise $500,000 to cover legal fees and costs they've spent (so far) fighting the corrupt Joe Biden/Merrick Garland Deep State.

They also need funds to pursue federal legal actions against multiple lawbreaking government officials and corrupt Leftwing private parties such as The 65 Project, a "uniquely sinister element [seeking] to ruin the lives of conservative lawyers."

This popular husband and wife team are law partners at the firm they founded, and are widely known for their insightful, no-holds-barred TV-radio-written commentary against corruption and lawbreaking in government and the private sector.

During the Reagan presidency Joe was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Victoria was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Criminal Division. She's also known for representing high-profile whistleblowers, and once served as Committee Chief Counsel for Senator Barry Goldwater. Joe served as Independent Counsel in the 1992 Clinton Passport File Search matter, and has served as a Special Counsel.

Joe and Victoria are now part of a group of constitutional conservative, Trump-friendly lawyers whose communications with state election officials were subpoenaed by Garland-appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating challenges by former President Donald Trump and his allies to the 2020 Election process.*

But Joe and Victoria have already spent over $500,000 in legal fees and costs as targets of DOJ and FBI weaponization against constitutional conservative lawyers.

It began with the DOJ covertly accessing Victoria's Apple and iCloud information in 2019 -- which included attorney-client privileged information unrelated to the investigation at hand -- without her having an opportunity to challenge this baseless, scurrilous, overly broad search and seizure.

Then in 2021 the DOJ got openly hostile. As Victoria wrote in November 2022 at Newsmax:

At dawn on April 28, 2021, four FBI agents rang my Chevy Chase, Maryland, doorbell armed with a search warrant from the Southern District of New York (SDNY) seeking evidence of a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violation during the year 2019. Not coincidentally, in 2019, I was talking to a Ukrainian whistleblower, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, for legal representation to bring evidence to the DOJ of Biden family corruption in that country.

(Click here for full article.)

This FBI raid of their home was another egregious violation of the constitutional rights of Victoria, her firm, and her clients. The FBI seized her cellphone and iPad containing personal and attorney-client privileged information, far exceeding what a legitimate investigation would seek.

The warrant was obtained in violation of DOJ guidelines, using the intrusive and intimidating method of an FBI raid that resulted in violations of attorney-client privilege unrelated to the DOJ investigation.

Making this all-the-more disgraceful, the DOJ was seeking evidence of a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violation. As Victoria explains in her Newsmax article, Rudy Giuliani asked if she would represent Ukrainian whistleblower, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, and Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Hunter Biden's employer, Burisma.

Rudy was going to represent them but thought he had a conflict of interest since he was one of President Trump's lawyers at that time.

Victoria never signed the whistleblowers as clients, and never represented them. As she further wrote:

I was not a target of the FARA investigation. I had no client who would have required FARA registration in 2019. So, the warrant was for evidence of another person's crime. Thus, DOJ violated its rules for obtaining evidence from a lawyer, which expect prosecutors to use the "least intrusive approach" possible. That would be a subpoena.

Victoria needed to litigate and get a special master to review the seized materials, and attempt to protect the privileged material of her actual clients.** That the DOJ fought her and her firm nearly every step of the way, knowing Victoria was not representing the two whistleblowers, is a further abuse of the investigation process.

Plus, as with other Trump-friendly conservatives who have been raided by the FBI, the raid was improperly leaked to the press.

Finally in November 2022, after Victoria and Joe spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting to protect their rights, the DOJ closed the matter telling the court no charges would be filed, and a special master would no longer be needed.

But the damage was already done, as her article concludes:

After being served with an illegal warrant for documents I never possessed, and after spending over a half million dollars to defend myself and my clients' privileged information, I am woefully aware that the SDNY achieved its goal for me. As one FBI whistleblower agent told Congress, the "process is the punishment."

Joe and Victoria are what we call "warrior lawyers." They are fighters for liberty and the rule of law, and are contemplating bringing Bivens lawsuits against the government officials who operated under color of federal law to violate their constitutional rights.

They also may be suing private actors such as The 65 Project, which has targeted Joe among other Trump-friendly lawyers for frivolous bar complaints and ads expressly designed to harm the livelihoods of its victims.

The discovery alone in those lawsuits could expose a pattern of heinous lawbreaking and corruption by the federal government.

Conclusion

What has happened to Joe and Victoria is Deep State revenge and intimidation, not legitimate law enforcement. The DOJ is using its power and processes to punish them for being outspoken -- and right. It is un-American.

The Deep Sate and corporate media disdained Joe and Victoria going back to 2018 for publicly defending Donald Trump and correctly criticizing the FBI over the false Russiagate smears and unprecedented unlawful interference with a presidential election. The New York Times led the charge:

Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. "There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn't win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime," he said on Fox News in January. He added, "Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime."

As it turns out, of course, Joe was right about the Russiagate hoax.***

What you can do

Please donate what you can at this GiveSendGo account, which was created by friends, and with the permission, of Joe and Victoria.

Also, please use your social media accounts, blogs, and other means of communication to let others know of the need to assist Joe and Victoria.

All funds go to them for their legal defense fund.

This GiveSendGo page will be updated by them from time to time with news about their legal fight against the corrupt Biden/Garland Deep State.

Our goal is to raise $500,000 to cover the legal fees and costs they've already incurred for standing up for honesty and the rule of law.

Let's send a message to the corrupt Joe Biden/Merrick Garland Deep State that Americans will back champions of protecting our liberties and the rule of law, like Joe and Victoria.

Following the launch of this GiveSendGo fundraiser, there will be a link for you to get email updates directly from them. Please check back here for more information.

Footnotes

* At American Thinker Monica Showalter writes about Smith's questionable and partisan background, "More about that famously 'impartial' Trump prosecutor, Jack Smith."

** This shotgun approach to seizing her records raises multiple constitutional questions.

*** "The FBI knew the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was utter bunk even as it suggested otherwise to Congress, the courts and the public early in 2017. Evidence revealed by special counsel John Durham proves it beyond dispute." The FBI knew RussiaGate was a lie  but hid that truth, The New York Post, June 11, 2022.
No matter how dire the crisis at the Southern border becomes, Americans can always count on the Biden administration to actively make it worse.

A bombshell report from NBC earlier this month revealed that the Biden administration has released 600,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. without charging documents or a notice to appear in court.

The report describes the release of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens as a necessity, given the record number of illegal aliens who have entered the U.S. since Joe Biden took office.

Roughly five million illegal aliens have crossed the border since Biden was inaugurated, according to a study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Now we know the Biden administration has been forcing the release of many of those illegal aliens without even attempting to keep track of them. Make no mistake: This is an invasion of the U.S. being aided and abetted by the Biden administration.

To say this practice poses a danger to the American people would be an understatement.

During fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021 until Sept. 30, 2022), a record 98 suspected terrorists were apprehended at the Southern border. This was nearly four times the number of suspected terrorists who were apprehended at the border in the previous five years combined. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez recently testified at a House Oversight Committee hearing that there has been a 176 percent increase in Chinese nationals showing up at the Rio Grande Valley section of the border. Chavezs testimony came as the nation was on edge after a Chinese spy balloon was allowed to float throughout the U.S. for days.

While the Biden administration is neglecting Americas open border, it is clear that our adversaries are not. Given the lax vetting standards of the administration, its fair to wonder just how many of the 600,000 illegal aliens released into the country without a court date have bad intentions for America and its citizens. Its also fair to wonder just how many of these illegal aliens were smuggling drugs into the country before the Biden administration forced their release. The U.S. is facing a massive drug crisis, with fentanyl having become the leading cause of death amongst young Americans. Releasing 600,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. without a court date will only serve to exacerbate this problem.

In addition to the national security implications of Bidens betrayal of American sovereignty, there will be severe economic implications as well. Who is paying to house these illegal aliens, provide them with medical care, and school them? Its safe to assume that American taxpayers are footing the bill.

The border crisis is expected to cost New York City around $4.2 billion by next year. Meanwhile, an Arizona hospital near the border claims to have spent $20 million in the last six months providing healthcare to illegal aliens, money that it has not been compensated for. All of this is unsustainable.

The crisis at the border is not just a humanitarian crisis for migrants, but an economic and national security crisis for Americans. Joe Biden could put a stop to this by securing the border any time he wants. After all, he swore an oath to protect the American people from threats, both foreign and domestic. But, Biden, and his staff have made clear that they have no interest in alleviating any of these crises. Instead, they are actively abetting them, and gravely endangering the welfare and security of Americans in the process.

No serious country would release 600,000 foreign nationals into their homeland without taking any steps to keep track of them. But, thats exactly what the Biden administration has done. It is a betrayal of the highest order.

William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.

Image: Screen shot from ABC News video, via YouTube
How's this for buried news among the side effects and unintended consequences of Joe Biden's open borders?

The State Department has issued a bone-chilling warning to U.S. citizens to stay the hell out of Mexico.

It was a "top-tier" admonishment to not set foot in six Mexican states that tourists love to go to, and to be very careful in all of the remaining ones.

According to local San Diego indy news station KUSI:

SAN DIEGO (KUSI)  The State Department issued the strongest possible do no travel warning to six states in Mexico due to threats of crime and kidnapping in the country. All other regions in Mexico are on watch by the U.S. government. As Spring Break approaches, the State Dept. warned that even in resort towns, cartels have established close ties with local businesses. Immigration Attorney Esther Valdes Clayton went live with KUSIs Lauren Phinney to discuss the crisis South of U.S. borders.

The story features an embedded video with Valdes Clayton, speaking in bone-chilling terms about what is happening to Americans as they head on out to tourist hotspots in Mexico for vacation, noting that Spring Break, which is a rite of passage for college students, is around the corner.

Valdes Clayton described the horrific story of what happened to a 33-year-old Orange County public defender celebrating his first wedding anniversary in Rosarito Beach, a lovely resort town on the Pacific best known for its fish tacos that's just a short driving distance south of the O.C., San Diego and Tijuana. The media reported the story of Elliot Blair here.

What she described, with firsthand information, was not what was reported in the press -- that he died in "an unfortunate accident" as Mexican officials claimed, falling off his hotel balcony or getting drunk and getting knocked out. That was what got reported in the news, at ago, along with a few disclaimers that Blair's family was suspicious that he was killed, but few details were laid out and little else came of the story until a few days ago.

Valdes Clayton said that the family investigated what it could and found that Blair's body numerous significant broken bones as if he had been beaten to death, along with rug burns as if he or his body had been dragged through the hotel before being dumped under his balcony window. Blair and his wife had resisted an extortion attempt earlier, which is a significant detail.

It's an outrageous attack on Americans and there are a lot of these incidents for the State Department to raise Cain with the Mexicans about, because apparently the Mexicans are in denial, or well, quite likely cartel'ed up and doing nothing. That explains why warnings like this go out and why they are quite likely perfectly plausible. They can't do a thing about these killings and kidnappings and they know the Mexican officials won't, either.

Which rather raises more questions about Joe Biden's open borders policies and why there's such a sudden upsurge in attacks and assaults on Americans.

Border surges, such as Joe Biden's, are a cash bonanza to Mexico's cartel members. They have made billions off these border surges as migrants pay the "crossing free" if not the human smuggling fee, which can run in the thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars per head. With 2,500 crossing each day into just the El Paso corridor (the San Diego one is said to be even busier) a lot of money is rolling in, and this explains why cartels have grown in size with recruiting, and why they are shutting down border cities in places such as Tijuana, as well as fighting with each other for control of the spoils. It's created a boomtime atmosphere in these areas controlled by the cartels, and activated the remaining criminal element to try to scarf up more for themselves, too. This is not to say that the cartels are not responsible or the killings and kidnappings, too -- most likely, they are. Big money is at stake, and crime is now paying. Valdes Clayton makes this point about money, too.

The cartels also know that Joe Biden won't protect Americans through their own border, so they're pretty certain that he's not going to do much to worry them if they shake down visiting Americans for every penny they have, if not kidnap them for ransom, or simply beat them to death as seems to have happened to Blair.

A border warning, such as the State Department has issued, is a last-resort measure, given the major trade and tourist ties the U.S. has with Mexico, a throwing up of the hands with a warning to Americans that Biden's influence is nil in Mexico and there is nothing they can do to help if they become targets of cartels.

That's a high price for Americans to pay for open-borders based on a president who won't do his sworn job. Here's the scary part: It's not going to get better, and no one should be surprised if it starts spilling over here in more visible cases against Americans completely unconnected to cartels and their activity. It's a chilling prospect, and this lawyer's warning is a bellwether of what's ahead.

Image: Screen shot from ABC Good Morning America video, via YouTube
What should conservative Republicans stand for?

Here are some of my suggestions:

Education reform: Educating the mind without educating for character is incomplete education.

Education is in terrible shape, especially in poor neighborhoods, and throwing more money at it will not succeed but will make it even more dysfunctional.

Instead of the Department of Education telling schools what they should teach nationwide, the department should largely be transformed into a research facility, library, and funding of specific subjects and materials. It should not be about the funding of schools in general.

For example, the Department of Education could develop interactive computer audio-visual instruction modules which are effective teaching tools and which can be programmed with input from local or statewide teaching professionals so there is diversity in teaching materials nationwide.

The nationwide failure of standardized common core mathematics, which is what is taught now, is a bizarre and ineffective way to teach math and should be terminated as soon as possible. In an age of calculators, trying to obscure basic math principles with theoretical math understanding like common core is a disastrous nationwide policy.

Another useful function of the Education Department would be to store facts about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education in the United States and in other countries of the world that are excelling at incentivizing the teaching of STEM subjects. The Education Department should fund those important subjects in schools of higher education, including some funding for those subjects and competent teachers in high schools, middle schools, and even elementary schools. Students showing ability in those areas could be funded, especially if they come from poor neighborhoods.

In poor neighborhoods, free computers can be provided for the classroom and home setting and funded by the Department of Education.

Another reason for the failure of education is that there is no competition among public schools for students. Parents should be issued vouchers so they could spend their money on the schools of their choice. This may be charter schools or even religious schools. The way that you get around the separation of church and state is to fund all the non-religious courses in a religious school.

By freedom of association, make the teaching of the religion to a non-religious offspring a parental choice. If the parent chooses to teach religion to their children, then the religious school would have to pay for the religious courses. Thus, the separation of church and state would effectively exist moneywise, which is the bottom line that counts. Yes, random audits would have to be made to make sure that religious schools comply with the law limiting federal funding to non-religious subjects.

The majority of students will not excel in STEM subjects. but at least they could be introduced to the basic skills in these subjects in an interesting way with age-appropriate experiments and information to motivate curiosity and understanding in these vital subjects in an era of technological advancement.

Department of Education funding of vocational school subjects and competent teachers of these subjects in poor neighborhoods is vital. Incentivizing corporations to have apprentice programs for the poor could also potentially be a good idea for conservatives to promote.

There is much more that can be said about what can be done to improve education, but one thing is sure: The Education Department needs a radical change which conservatives could provide.

Globalism:

Globalization can only be successful among non-tyrannical nations with similar ideologies. Europe and the United States are learning the hard way that economic dependency on tyrannical nations can lead to blackmail and, even worse, war. Europes energy dependence on Russia and the United States dependence on China for vital manufactured goods, especially pharmaceuticals, is causing economic hardship in the long run, and maybe even aggressive military adventures by China in the future. Tyrannical, oligarch-run nations like Russia and China simply cant be trusted in the long run.

So, trade tariffs on tyrannical major economic nations is a "must have" idea for conservatives, and with China, there should be no federal funding of schools that have Chinese students from China. Chinese-speaking Taiwanese students should be an exception.

The United States should participate in NATO and definitely demand that at least 2% of a nations GDP goes to defense spending, as these allies have agreed to. In the Asian-Pacific, countries such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and those nations bordering the South China Sea like the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc., should be encouraged to contribute at least 2% of their GDP towards national defense given that China presents an ever-present potentially aggressive menace.

In fact, conservatives should encourage Japan to go nuclear with weapons to avoid nuclear blackmail and potential future aggression from China or North Korea. Keep in mind that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already tried to blackmail Ukraine with the threatened use of nuclear weapons. The United States probably doesnt need to form an Asian NATO but can make treaties with concerned nations to protect against blockades of their countries by China with United States naval force.

In a nutshell, decoupling from China economically should be a high priority for conservatives because, in the long run, China has nothing good to offer the United States or Europe since it cant be trusted to be a friendly nation.

Business:

International banks and corporations have become way too powerful and need some counter-balance competition. The United States should encourage individual and small family-owned businesses to thrive by not taxing them at all up to about 100 million in gross income.

Since the food business is the most important factor in human lives, nutritious, relatively healthy, relatively safe, certified organically grown food, organic restaurants, organic food distributors, and organic supermarkets shouldnt be taxed at all. This is just a small sample of how small businesses can be encouraged to be founded and made to thrive against big money, which of course, could try to imitate them, or may buy them out eventually when these small businesses demonstrate enough money-making success.

Conservatives could also be behind a movement to encourage tax breaks or no taxation for made in the United States goods with United States materials for businesses.

Quality education and economic diversity in the form of more small businesses is the key to future prosperity in the national interest. Conservatives can lead the way intellectually and politically toward a more prosperous future for the United States.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
At the end of March 2021, leftists were ecstatic: At the recommendation of the FBI, the DOJ was investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz, an enthusiastic, fearless member of the Houses Freedom Caucus, for sex trafficking based on an alleged relationship with a teenage girl. Interestingly, Gaetz never seemed fazed by the allegationsand now we know why: There was nothing there. Even the hyper-politicized DOJ has conceded that it cannot pursue him for sex trafficking.

On March 30, 2021, Democrats got one of the most exciting pieces of news ever: The New York Times broke the story that the Department of Justice, while Trump was still in office, had started investigating Matt Gaetz for sex trafficking a 17-year-old over state borders. More accurately, he was accused of having had a relationship with her and paying for her travel with him:

Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter. Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.

Image: Matt Gaetz by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

From the get-go, Gaetz vigorously denied the charges:

Mr. Gaetz called the investigation part of an elaborate scheme involving false sex allegations to extort him and his family for $25 million that began this month. He said he and his father, Don Gaetz, had been cooperating with the F.B.I. and wearing a wire after they were approached by people saying they could make the investigation go away. Mr. Gaetz claimed the disclosure of the sex trafficking inquiry was intended to thwart an investigation into the extortion plot. In a second interview later Tuesday, the congressman said he had no plans to resign his House seat and denied that he had romantic relationships with minors. It is verifiably false that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman, he said.

At the time, Mollie Hemingway fully understood what was going on:

The FBIs Matt Gaetz Operation Sidelined An Effective Republican Voice At A Crucial Time. That Was The Point https://t.co/ZNsMYJOhGo  Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 15, 2023

Also, from the get-go, Democrats were positive that this Trump ally was finished and would soon be heading to jail, like Harvey Weinstein, or would at least see his career destroyed, as happened to all sorts of Democrat sex predators:

No surprise Matt Gaetz longtime Communications Director has resigned. What might surprise Gaetz is if hes convicted of a single case of sex trafficking - the minimum sentence is ten years with no parole. pic.twitter.com/2SoPBO5x5t  Hoodlum  (@NotHoodlum) April 2, 2021

Conservatives: The world elites and politicians are pedophiles and trafficking



Me: Matt Gaetz is under investigation for having sex with a minor and human trafficking



Conservatives: pic.twitter.com/qyxAfvPpdz  T.Cat  (@GwJordan_) April 2, 2021

The same MAGA Lunatics who are obsessed with Hunter Bidens many fictitious laptops are ignoring Matt Gaetzs real receipts, money trail, sex trafficking connections and travel logs.   Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) April 2, 2021

Now, almost two years later, the DOJ (Im sure reluctantly) has admitted that it will not (read: cannot) charge Gaetz:

The Justice Department will not pursue charges against Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., after a yearslong probe into sex trafficking allegations. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Gaetz's office confirmed that the Department of Justice has confirmed to Congressman Gaetzs attorneys that their investigation has concluded and that he will not be charged with any crimes.

The charge was always baseless, although Rebekah Jones campaigned on it hard when she unsuccessfully challenged Gaetz for his House seat.

You will not be surprised to learn that, having enthusiastically tried, convicted, and imprisoned Gaetz in their imaginations, leftists are convinced that the hyper-partisan, leftist DOJ somehow went all weak at the knees and let the obviously guilty Gaetz walk. In other words, theyre melting down, which is always enjoyable to watch (language warning, of course, because these are leftists were talking about).

Media personality Jeff Tiedrich (1M followers) is fit to be tied:

what kind of shithole system of justice lets smirking sex-trafficking frat boy Matt Gaetz get away with it. what in serious fuck  Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) February 15, 2023

lucky for Matt Gaetz that he was just a rich white asshole trafficking teenage girls and holy fucking shit LEAVING A VENMO TRAIL OF HIS CRIMES, and not, fox example, a black man selling loose cigarettes on a street corner, because there are serious consequences for that  Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) February 15, 2023

As you read that, remember that Tiedrich (a white guy) is pooping bricks because the Biden DOJ couldnt find a darn thing with which to charge Gaetz. Duty to Warn, a group of psychiatrists who succumbed to Trump Derangement Syndrome (which reminds me that my mom used to say that some people go into psychiatry to deal with their own demons), was also broken:

BREAKING: Matt Gaetz will not be charged with sex trafficking even though the victim and his friend Greenberg were willing to testify AND we had Venmo receipts.

DOJ is corrupt. There is no other explanation. https://t.co/tthMGgA1d4  Duty To Warn  (@duty2warn) February 15, 2023

The following is a weird one considering (a) the absence of evidence and (b) our current Commander in Chief:

Matt Gaetz is still a pedophile.  Kate  (@ImSpeaking13) February 15, 2023

I think we should cut Nancy Pelosi some slack. At least she didn't grope that little girl and sniff her hair. Right @POTUS? pic.twitter.com/JzNDyeKffy  TheBSDetector (@BSDetector4u) June 27, 2022

While this is a good outcome, Matt Gaetz is actually very lucky. In Bidens America, with its completely politicized bureaucracy, starting with the DOJ and the FBI, guilt or innocence is no longer relevant. The Justice Departments motto, which is officially Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequiturthat is, an attorney general who prosecutes on behalf of justice (as opposed to politics)has lately been more closely aligned with Lavrentiy Beria, Stalins chief of police, who said, Show me the man and Ill find you the crime.
Google is constantly adding new features and capabilities to Chrome to enhance the experience. Now, the company is working on a feature that will make multitasking even easier. Google Chrome will be getting some advanced PiP (picture-in-picture) mode capabilities.

Chrome allows you to use the PiP mode for videos. This will minimize the video that youre watching into a small window within the window. This is great if you want to have a video on while youre surfing another page.

When you minimize the video, youre able to drag it to any position on the screen and resize it. Youre even able to drag the video outside of the Chrome window. Also, the video will stay up when you minimize the window. If you want this functionality, youll have to install the Chrome extension. You can install it using the link below. This is an official extension straight from Google.

Install the PiP Chrome Extension

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Google will add advanced PiP capabilities to Chrome

The PiP function is already useful, but the company wants to take it a step further. Instead of capping this feature at videos, it seems that Google wants to let you minimize any webpage. So, youll see the page pop up as a little window within your window. The company is calling it Document Picture-in-picture, and its in testing right now. This means that theres a chance that you wont see the feature just yet.

These advanced PiP capabilities are being tested in the latest beta version of Chrome V. 111. If you have that version of the browser, you can check and see if you can try out the feature. If you can, youll want to be sure that you give the company feedback on the feature.

Along with letting you minimize full web pages, the company wants to add even more functions to the video PiP function. As it stands, when you minimize a video, there arent any options that you can perform with the video. However, Google is thinking of adding functions including the ability to Like/Dislike, a video progress bar, and captions function.

This will give you more options for actions to perform without having to maximize the video.

Google will be testing this out for about half the year, according to the reports. Its expected to remain in trial until version 115. After that, we expect the feature to officially launch to the public in June this year. Thats a while to wait, but you can enable this feature now if youre using Chrome Canary.

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What you have to do is paste chrome://flags/#document-picture-in-picture-api into the search bar. Youll be taken to a page with all of the flags that Google is working on for Chrome. Youll see the PiP feature highlighted. In the little dropdown to the right of it, click on Enabled. In order for it to apply, youll need to relaunch the program. You can click the little blue button on the bottom to automatically relaunch the program.

At the moment, there really wont be any sights that support the feature, but, hopefully, youll see some as time goes on.
Twitter may be artificially boosting CEO Elon Musks tweets. Platformer reports that the companys engineers have deployed a code that allows tweets from Musk to bypass all of Twitters filters. At one point, his tweets were reportedly being boosted by a factor of 1,000.

Musks tweets were all over Twitter a few days back. Whether you followed the multi-billionaire or not, you must have been bombarded by his tweets on the For You feed. While the Twitter CEO didnt explain what was happening, he acknowledged that it was not normal. He blamed the algorithm for it and said that the company is working to fix the issue.

However, Platformer is saying something else. According to the publications sources, Musk was unhappy with the engagement on his tweets lately. Particularly, his tweet about the Super Bowl got less engagement than President Joe Bidens. According to the report, Bidens tweet generated nearly 29 million impressions, while Musk saw just over nine million impressions. He reportedly deleted the tweet in frustration and went tearing into Twitter engineers.

According to the source, Musk threatened to fire the engineers unless they make his tweets get more impressions. The same publication previously reported that the Twitter CEO fired an engineer who suggested that his tweets are generating fewer impressions because people arent interested in them anymore. Of course, no one likes to lose their job abruptly. As such, around 80 Twitter employees started investigating potential issues with Musks tweet impressions.

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Twitter allegedly created a way to artificially boost Musks tweets

Twitter engineers contemplated various possibilities. Musk could have been generating fewer impressions because many people blocked or muted him. Not everyone has been a fan of the way he handled the social network after acquiring it in late October last year.

They also checked if there was a technical fault. Since Twitter usually boosts tweets from users whose contents are popular among both followers and non-followers, Musks tweets shouldnt have drastically lost impressions.

After evaluating all possibilities, they came up with a solution. The engineers developed and deployed a code that ensured that Twitters filters didnt block Musks tweets from reaching anyone. Unless you have blocked or muted Musk, you will see his tweets on your For You feed.

This artificial boost is still active, though not by a factor of 1,000 anymore. Musks handful of tweets Tuesday reported around 43 million impressions, which is on the high end of his recent average, the report states.
Google Pay or is it GPay? What about that Android Pay thing? Wait, was it Google Wallet?! Googles money management app has been knighted with multiple names in the past, and its hard for the user to keep up with them. Not only have the names changed, but the intentions have also changed over time. Now, its called Google Wallet, and its the testing ground for a major project that Google has been working on for over a decade. So, lets dive into what Google Wallet is and if you should be on board with it.

First, a little history

Google Wallet has a pretty long history. Back in 2011, the company revealed its first Google Wallet application, and it was pretty ambitious for the time. As the name suggested, it was a wallet that was powered by Google.

It allowed you to add different cards to your Google account that you could use to make purchases. You added cards like a limited list of credit/debit cards, certain gift cards, and a prepaid Google card. These purchases could be done online, but you could also use your phone to make purchases at physical points of sale.

While this was innovative at the time, it didnt get the kind of traction that the company was hoping for. Then, in late 2015, Google launched another platform alongside Google Wallet; Android Pay.

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This platform did pretty much the same thing. It allowed the user to store several cards on the app and make contactless payments. Android Pay took on that functionality while Google Wallet devolved into being just an app for peer-to-peer payments. However, Google wasnt done yet. In 2018, the company then combined Google Wallet and Android pay into one platform called Google Pay.

This was an attempt to create a more integrated payment platform. As you can imagine, this platform allowed people to make contactless payments at physical stores. Google Pay also encompassed Googles online payment platform. So, if you paid for anything using Google online, youd be using Google Pay.

In early 2022, Google again renamed its payment platform. This time, it recycled the Google Wallet name, and that leads us to today.

What is Google Wallet?

So, that leads us to the million-dollar question: What is Google Wallet? Google has the ambition to make the physical wallet obsolete. The company wants your wallet to live on your phone. Youre already able to put a myriad of credit and debit cards on your Google account and use them in the app. Its also compatible with a PayPal card.

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However, your wallet doesnt only hold your credit and debit cards. If you get a gift card from someone, youre likely to place it in your wallet as well. Well, youre also able to add gift cards from all types of stores to your Google Wallet. Some examples are Walmart, Starbucks, Best Buy, Panera Bread, Subway, McDonalds, Chipotle, Game Stop, and so on. The list could encompass hundreds of stores.

Next, the Wallet lets you add loyalty cards from well-known vendors. These cards allow you to wrack up points for shopping at different locations for added benefits like savings.

Other types of cards

Now, adding gift cards and loyalty cards is convenient enough, but Googles grand plan doesnt stop there. The company is adding legitimate forms of identification to the Wallet.

Lets start off with transportation. Google Wallet allows you to add your transit cards. These include cards like prepaid bus passes. Whats neat is that your remaining balance on these cards can be displayed directly in Google Maps.

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Thats not all, however, as Google allows you to add plane tickets to your Wallet. Youre able to buy the ticket from the official ticket site or from a third-party broker. From that point, youll be able to add that ticket to your account. To use it, youll just need to hold your phone to the reader. It will be read just like youre tapping to make a payment.

At the moment, a select number of BMW car models allow you to add digital car keys to your Wallet. Youll just need to hold your phone to your door, and it will unlock. Google says that more car models are coming down the road.

Legitimate identification

As stated before, Google wants Wallet to be a full replacement for your leather pocket liner. This includes adding valid forms of identification to your phone. This is still in the early stages, so the availability is still pretty sparse for the moment.

If youve received your Covid-19 vaccination, then youre able to put your vaccination card on your phone. At the moment, this is only available in certain countries. These are the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Jersey, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain (Murcia region only), and the UK.

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We were all a bit surprised when Google announced that youll be able to add your ID/drivers license to Google Wallet. However, its slowly becoming a reality- and slowly is the operative word. As of January 2023, Google is doing a limited beta test for this feature in Maryland. As you can imagine, Google will need to work with several governments to load millions of peoples identification onto its servers.

The Google Wallet app

Now, if youre interested in moving to the Google Wallet, heres how to use the app. You can download the app from the Google Play Store right here.

When you get the app, youll be able to sign into your Google Account. Youll want to use the one that you have the most and easiest access to. If youve already added cards to your Google account, then youll see them pop up in the app.

The Google Wallet app is one of the most simplistic apps out there, as its meant just to be a wallet, not an app. So, youre not going to see the most engaging UI full of sub-menus and animations. Youll just see a simple screen with all of the cards you added.

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The cards sit in a carousel at the top of the screen. Youll be able to swipe through them to the one that you need. Also, the moment you open the app, the NFC will automatically activate, so youll only need to hold it to the reader. If you unlock the phone and tap without opening the app, it will automatically use your default card. Just make sure you know which card you have as the default.

If you want to add a new card, youll just need to tap on the Add to Wallet button at the bottom. From that point, youll be able to choose what kind of card you want to add. When you do, youll just need to add the information or scan your card.

So, thats the essence of Google Wallet. Google wants to port your entire wallet onto your phone. Starting from those early days in 2011, the company has been heading in that direction, and its made a lot of progress.
A controversial, $1.5 million state-funded study of Hartford-Brainard Airport that will outline alternatives for the 200-acre airfield in Hartfords South Meadows  including closing it down and redeveloping it  is launching Thursday with the first of five community meetings.

A draft report from a team of urban planning consultants led by BFJ Planning of New York is expected by the end of August, with a final report due Oct. 15. State legislators would then use the report in the 2024 session of the General Assembly to decide whether the state-owned airport should remain open or be closed. If closure is chosen, the report would point to a preferred redevelopment alternative.

The Federal Aviation Administration would then have to approve closing the century-old Brainard.

With The Hartford skyline visible in the background, a secured plane rests on the tarmac at Hartford-Brainard airport. A state-financed study getting underway will develop options for the airport both redeveloping and keeping it open.

This is a fresh start, Thomas Madden, associate principal at BFJ and Stamfords former economic development director, said. Were taking a very open approach to all of this. There is no agenda on anyones part here because were just going to be presenting the facts back to the state legislature.

Last year, state lawmakers approved the funding for the study. But Brainards future has been debated for decades, stretching back to the 1950s when a large portion of the airport was taken to develop the citys South Meadows area.

The latest push to close and redevelop  led by Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and state Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, and supported by the city council  is built on the argument that redevelopment would foster economic development that would add to Hartfords tax base, sorely needed by the city.

The city recently completed a study of the airport that shaped options  and the pros and cons of each  for distribution, residential and advanced manufacturing along with the airfield remaining in existence. The study did not dig deeply into costs as BFJ will do, particularly tackling the thorny issue of cleaning up contamination that likely exists under Brainard.

The recent push to redevelop spawned the formation of an aggressive opposition group, the Hartford Brainard Airport Association, led by Hartford pulmonologist Michael Teiger.

The association, whose members include local pilots, Brainard tenants and others, have pushed back against the airport being cast as a playground for rich folks with single- and twin-engine planes. The association also argues that Brainard is crucial for its pilot training schools and should be invested in as an asset to promote economic development in the region.

The association also believes the findings will be no different than a legislative study conducted in 2016 that recommended Brainard stay open. That study never came to a vote, dismissed by those who support redevelopment, including Fonfara.

A flight simulator at the learn 2 fly Connecticut pilot training school at Hartford-Brainard Airport.

The future of Brainard is expected to become a key issue in this years mayoral election in Hartford. Fonfara is among the field of announced candidates that, so far, are seeking to succeed Bronin. Bronin is not seeking a third term.

In addition to environmental concerns, BFJ will examine economic and regulatory issues that could affect both the airport staying open or closing.

BFJ and its team of consultants also will analyze the topic of environmental justice and you look at what can go on there, Madden said. You dont want to be marginalizing any social or economic groups with any development.

A 2006 study by the Metropolitan District Commission, the regional water and sewer authority, called for nearly 7 million square feet of commercial and manufacturing space, stores, apartments, a marina, a rebuilt trash-to-energy plant, an expansion of a nearby wastewater treatment plant and river park. In July, the MDC board of directors passed a resolution that it does does not take a position for or against the closure of the airport.

BFJ will review the findings of previous studies of Brainard and its viability, Madden said.

Madden said Thursdays meeting at the Metzner Early Learning Center at 680 Franklin Ave. in Hartford will outline the goals of the study for the community and how it is expected to unfold in the coming months. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

A website that will track the progress of the consultants and provide answers to questions posed by the public has been established at https://hartfordbrainardairportstudy2023.com.

Walk-ins to the meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m., are welcome, but those attending are asked to register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hartford-brainard-airport-redevelopment-study-tickets-532226262077 to ensure there is enough seating and hand-outs.

Contact Kenneth R. Gosselin at kgosselin@courant.com.
(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted Wednesday in the Ruby III trial where he was accused of bribing witnesses to lie about the real nature of his bunga bunga parties, which he has always said were elegant soirees.

The three-time ex-premier and media mogul was acquitted of corruption in judicial acts in one of several trials stemming from the case of his paying an underage prostitute called Ruby for sex, in which he was acquitted because he did not know she was just 17 at the time.

Ruby, whose real name is Karima El Mahroug, was also acquitted Wednesday, as were all 29 defendants.

Reacting to the acquittal, she said that Ruby, the stage name she assumed as a teenage Moroccan runaway exotic dancer, had been "a complete invention".

Some 20 young women who were guests at the parties were cleared, like Berlusconi, with the fullest form of an acquittal in Italy, "because the act was not committed".

Just before the verdict, on Monday night, the government withdrew its stance as civil plaintiff in the trial, a position that then premier Poalo Gentiloni assumed in 2017 arguing that the office of premier had been badly tarnished in the case.

Governmen sources said arguments made by the Gentiloni government no longer held true.

Prosecutors in the 'Ruby III' trial had requested a jail term of six years for Berlusconi and a five-year term for Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby Heartstealer.

There were 28 other conviction requests including one year and four months for former centre-right Forza Italia (FI) Senator and Berlusconi factotum Maria Rosaria Rossi, two years for Berlusconi magazine journalist Carlo Rossella, and up to five years for 20 young women who attended what the ex-premier called "elegant soirees" - all for perjury.

Berlusconi denied paying anyone to lie for him and insisted the alleged bunga bunga parties were innocent affairs.

He says he is the victim of politically inspired judicial persecution, as in the many other cases he has faced over the years, which have resulted in only one final and definitive conviction, for tax fraud, that saw him ejected from the Senate for a few years. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Business Minister Adolfo Urso on Wednesday blasted the European Union's decision to ban the sale of new carbon-emitting petrol and diesel cars by 2035, after the move passed its final legislative step with a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Italy is behind with the transition (to electric) of the car sector and we must accelerate with investments," Urso told Rai radio.

"But the time frames and procedures that Europe is imposing on us do not match the European reality and, above all, they don't match the Italian one.

"We cannot address reality with an ideological, partisan vision, which is what seems to emerge from the European institutions".

Deputy Premier and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini has also blasted the ban.

"It is a crazy, disconcerting decision that goes against Italian and European industries and workers and in favour of Chinese businesses," Salvini said on Tuesday. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said Wednesday that Ireland was being "irresponsible" with its drive to bring in health warnings on the labels of wine and other alcoholic drinks.

"There is an attempt to stigmatize some products, wine in particular, by some nations, especially Ireland, that we consider to be totally irresponsible," Lollobrigida said at the opening of the Aquafarm fair in Pordenone.

Lollobrigida has said the Irish health warnings on wine have split Europe and allegedly breach common trade treaties.

Italy has made common cause with France, Spain and six other big wine producing countries against the new labels.

The European Commission has given the green light to the warnings on wine, beer and spirits, even though this would require specific labels for products sold in Ireland and thus pose a limitation to the single market.

Dublin is hoping to bring in the health warnings within months after informing the World Trade Organization of the new warning labels. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has stressed that Italy stands by Kyiv after a row broke out of comments by ex-premier and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Speaking Sunday, Berlusconi said he would "never" have met with Zelensky as Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni did on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels Thursday, adding that he had a "very, very negative" view of Zelensky's conduct and suggesting Moscow had been provoked into invading its neighbour.

The European People's Party (EPP), which Forza Italia belongs to, publicly rejected those statements on Tuesday.

"Italy wants peace, which can only be achieved by continuing to arm Kyiv," Tajani, who is also Forza Italia's national coordinator, said in an interview published in Wednesday's edition of La Repubblica.

"It is necessary to do everything so that the final solution is not a surrender to the Russians.

"The government is solidly anchored to the EU, to the USA, to the West".

He added that Berlusconi's comments did not amount to a change of stance on Forza Italia's part.

"The party line has never moved away from that of the EPP and the Italian parliament.

"Italy is not NATO's weak link".

Tajani said that Italy's has approved at sixth package of aid to Ukraine and stressed that, while another is not in the pipeline at the moment, if there were another, "Forza Italia would vote for it".

On Tuesday that the EPP said via Twitter that it "firmly rejects the remarks made by Silvio Berlusconi on Ukraine.

"They do not reflect our political line," the post said.

"Russia is the agressor, Ukraine is the victim.

"We will not give in to Putin's narrative and Ukraine can count on our full support.

#StandwithUkraine". (ANSA).


China's top legislator meets Iranian president

Xinhua) 09:17, February 15, 2023

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)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Two months after it launched nonstop service to Jamaica, ultra low cost Spirit Airlines announced Wednesday it will offer a second nonstop route from Bradley International Airport to the Caribbean beginning in June.

Low-cost Spirit will launch nonstop service three times a week to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the first flight on June 7.

Spirit is marketing promotional fares starting at $74 one-way for the flight from Bradley. All tickets must be purchased at least 14 days in advance of travel. There are no day of the week restrictions, but travel must take place between June 7 and Aug. 2. There are no blackout dates but fares are subject to availability.

John Kirby, vice president of network planning at Spirit, said the addition of the San Juan flight would build on the success of the launch on Dec. 15 of nonstop service to Montego Bay, Jamaica from Bradley.

Spirit Airlines has been an important partner and key to our route network development strategy, Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees operations at Bradley. The addition of new, nonstop service to San Juan gives our passengers more opportunities to travel affordably.

Spirits launch of a nonstop flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica capped a 15-year grassroots push for the service by the Hartford areas Caribbean community, the fifth largest in the country.

Gov. Ned Lamont, at right, holds up a model of a Spirit Airline passenger aircraft presented to him in September by Spirits Senior Director, Airports Atul Kumria. The gift marked the announcement at Bradley International Airport that Spirit would offer a nonstop flight to Jamaica. The flight launched Dec. 15.

According to Bradleys website, JetBlue and Frontier now offer nonstop service to San Juan from Connecticuts largest commercial airport.

Spirit is being acquired by JetBlue in a $3.8 billion deal announced last summer. The acquisition is facing opposition from federal regulators concerned the combination would create a monopoly among low-cost carriers. JetBlue argues the deal would provide stiffer competition for the larger airlines.

Initially, it was estimated that the JetBlue-Spirit merger would be completed in the first half of 2024.

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Business Minister Adolfo Urso on Wednesday blasted the European Union's decision to ban the sale of new carbon-emitting petrol and diesel cars by 2035, after the move passed its final legislative step with a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Italy is behind with the transition (to electric) of the car sector and we must accelerate with investments," Urso told Rai radio.

"But the time frames and procedures that Europe is imposing on us do not match the European reality and, above all, they don't match the Italian one.

"We cannot address reality with an ideological, partisan vision, which is what seems to emerge from the European institutions".

(ANSA).


(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, 15 FEB - Egypt has decided to open the first hosting centre for children who are waiting to be adopted.

The centre will serve as a temporary residence for a maximum of three months. The facility will host orphans or children who had to be taken away from large and problematic Egyptian or foreign families. The centre, Egypttoday.com reports, will be managed by the association "FACE for Children in Need" which signed on Tuesday an agreement with the minister of social solidarity, Nevine al-Qabaj. The building is located in Cairo and is ready to host up to 200 kids, the report said. Its services will include providing birth certificates and medical tests to verify the health of orphans.

The ministry last November had launched a new national adoption program in Egypt with the aim of reducing the number of children who grow up without a family in the country. The dialogue that led to the signature of the agreements was supported by the Cairo chapter of UNICEF, representatives of civil society, of international aid agencies, as well as government and religious officials.

Minister Nevine al-Qabaj in particular highlighted article 80 of the Egyptian Constitution which gives each child the right to have a name and identification papers, to receive mandatory vaccines, healthcare, nutrition and to have a family and a religious education, as well as support in their emotional development and education. The ministry had already expressed the intention of developing the sector in 2021, first by ensuring that relatives of orphaned children could raise them, or by taking away this right, with the government covering the economic expenses of raising them in institutions. (ANSAmed).


(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 15 - Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Business Minister Adolfo Urso on Wednesday blasted the European Union's decision to ban the sale of new carbon-emitting petrol and diesel cars by 2035, after the move passed its final legislative step with a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Italy is behind with the transition (to electric) of the car sector and we must accelerate with investments," Urso told Rai radio.

"But the time frames and procedures that Europe is imposing on us do not match the European reality and, above all, they don't match the Italian one.

"We cannot address reality with an ideological, partisan vision, which is what seems to emerge from the European institutions".

Tajani, who is also deputy premier, echoed those sentiments, saying the move was a "serious mistake".

"I am a great supporter of electric cars, but ambitious targets have to be achieved in reality, not just on paper," Tajani told Rai television.

"Italy will forward a counter-proposal of limiting the reduction to 90%, giving industries the chance to adapt.

"It is necessary to combat climate change, but this means setting achievable targets".

Deputy Premier and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini has also blasted the ban.

"It is a crazy, disconcerting decision that goes against Italian and European industries and workers and in favour of Chinese businesses," Salvini said on Tuesday. (ANSA).


EP approves Frontex-North Macedonia agreement Agreement provides framework for sending units

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, FEB 15 - The European Parliament approved the conclusion of an agreement between the EU and North Macedonia on border management and the operational activities of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) with 511 votes in favor, 104 against, and 20 abstentions. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
Tunisia: 'We have to rescue our country', president Saied 'Our sovereignty is not on sale', president says of arrests

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, 15 FEB - Tunisian President Kais Saied spoke about a recent wave of arrests affecting the local political scenario, while visiting the interior ministry, praising security forces and reminding the high officials in attendance about the "sacred duty, today, to protect the state and homeland from those who are only interested in power and money".



In the absence of Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, Saied told the gathering that "the people who were recently arrested are terrorists and must be judged according to the law". "We will not leave Tunisia to be an easy prey of such criminals, terrorists who want to persecute the Tunisian people and undermine the Tunisian state", continued Saied, according to a video published by the president's office on Facebook.



Those arrested over the past few days include Nourredine Bhiri, one of the leaders of Islamic party Ennhadha, the editor of radio Mosaique FM, Noureddine Boutar, as well as lawyer and activist Lazhar Akremi.



"We are experiencing a critical and delicate period. The charges concern a conspiration against domestic and external security of the state but we respect procedures and human rights. The case has nothing to do with rights and freedoms, as stated by some. We cannot let a few conspire against the state, because they are targeting the state. This is their objective.



They are talking about the right to freedom but have you ever seen, in any country in the world, someone ordering the murder of the president of the Republic, while protected by security forces, who is not prosecuted? They talk and say insulting things day and night on the radio. After foreign actors, the usual groups are denouncing the violation of human rights. Who has been arrested for an opinion expressed or who was tried for a position or a protest, even though this is banned under the rules of the state of emergency?", said the president.



"Today this situation is over. We live for our country and our sovereignty. Our sovereignty is not on sale on stalls at a souk and it is not on display in one of the bags where they put the money they have received. We have to save Tunisia, this is our main mission. We have to save the Tunisian people from these criminals. History has shown, before the courts, that they are criminals", Saied also said. (ANSAmed)
Archaeology: new accords boost Italy-Kuwait cooperation Amb. Baldocci: 'Consolidated relation destined to grow'

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 15 - Cooperation in the archaeological sector between Italy and Kuwait, which dates back to 1970, registered on Wednesday two important agreements with the secretary general of the National Council for Culture, the Arts and Literature, Mohammad AlJassar. The first concerned the five-year renewal of digs at an important site on the island of Failaka, where the presence of Italian archaeologists and researchers led by Andrea Di Miceli dates back to 2010 with an agreement signed at the time by the University of Perugia. The site of the excavation work is on the northern coast of the island (the ancient and mythological Ikaros) and is one of the most interesting of the entire country.



The second agreement, signed by Rome's University La Sapienza, established a new cooperation, which will also last five years, on one of the most valuable sites of Kuwait with the exception of the island of Failaka - the area of Khadima, one of the most interesting highlights of Kuwait's occupation since early Islam. The centre of Kadhima represented a mandatory stopover for merchants and pilgrims who wanted to reach the holy sites of Islam from the north. Professor Carlo Giovanni Cereti is responsible for the project on behalf of the Sapienza university. He is a member of the department of science of antiquities (first in the world for classics and the history of antiquity according to the QS University World Ranking).



On the sidelines of the signature of the two agreements, Italy's ambassador to Kuwait, Carlo Baldocci, stressed how the "study and enhancement of the historic-cultural heritage are key elements of the cooperation between Italy and Kuwait. Success stories of bilateral cooperation between the two countries range in this type of activity from archaeology to urban planning, like for example the work conducted by Italy also on the Suq of Kuwait City, proof of relations that have consolidated over the years and are destined to continue to grow".(ANSAmed).




PARIS - Dancers over 65 will be performing from Wednesday night until February 23 at the Theatre de Chaillot, the Parisian temple of contemporary dance, for an original diptych by choreographers Rachid Ouramdane and Angelin Preljocaj, produced by Fondazione Nazionale della Danza/Aterballetto-Centro Coreografico Nazionale from Reggio Emilia. In the performance, which lasts one hour and 10 minutes, the two choreographers deal with themes that are interesting from an artistic, as well as a philosophical and social standpoint - the transformation of the body with age, the concepts of beauty and virtuosity, the representation of age.



"Aging is not a problem for an actor, writer or visual artist - explained Gigi Cristoforetti, director of Aterballetto - on the contrary, we also see an enrichment of the forms of expression. But in ballet, which is a universal artistic language, will we be anchored (and limited) by the concept of the performance of sport? More in general, the transformation of the body through the years is a central theme in our society and in the sensibility of each one of us. Dancing - continued Cristoforetti - allows us to deepen a research that is first of all artistic. And the two choreographers intend to push this till the end". Preljocaj, a choreographer inspired by visual beauty and narrative intensity, is not only looking for former dancers but also people who are able to create a new and intense movement. Ouramdane is seeking new expressions and experimenting with the boundaries of the human body, embracing circus. Now he is interested in music-halls, an extraordinary space for folk dance and also a social dimension.



The debut performance at the famous theatre in front of the Eiffel Tower will also be attended by Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, in Paris for a meeting at the UNESCO headquarters.

From March 2 until March 4, the co-production involving international partners will move to the Pavillon Noir of Aix-en-Provence to reach Italy at the Arena del Sole in Bologna on March 12. Subsequent performances will be in Reggio Emilia, Milan, Trento and Bolzano.




GENEVA - A reported 73 migrants have been reported missing and are "presumably dead" after a shipwreck off Libya, the UN denounced. Seven survivors who returned to Libyas coast in extremely precious conditions are currently being treated in hospital said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a statement. The agency added that so far 11 bodies have been retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent and by local police.

Spanish NGO Caminando Fronterad, specialized in migration flows in the western Mediterranean and along the route of North Africa-Canary Islands, has reported that 70 people, including 12 minors, went missing in two tragedies in the Atlantic ocean over the last few days. "There have been 34 victims on one boat and 36 in another", the spokeswoman of Caminando Fronteras Helena Maleno told ANSA. The first boat, she added, departed on February 4 with 65 people on board from a point of the north-western African coast in the direction of the Canary Islands but ran adrift and was found by a fishing vessel and taken to Laayoune (western Sahara), where it arrived on Friday, February 10. "Only 31 survived, all the children except one died", stated Maleno.

The second case concerns a boat with 56 passengers that left Cap Boujdor (western Sahara) on Friday, February 10, which sank shortly after departure. "In this case, 36 people died, including five children", she added. Moroccan authorities have so far not confirmed the incidents. Caminando Fronteras said it received accounts of these tragedies from survivors.
TEL AVIV -Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons started on Wednesday actions of disobedience following a series of restrictive measures imposed on them over the past weeks by the minister for national security, Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of far-right party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), Palestinian news agency Maan reports. The news agency said the protests were being staged for the moment in the prisons of Nafha, Gilboa and Megiddo.



Yesterday, Israeli public television Kan reported that - in reaction to new measures ordered by Ben Gvir - Palestinians detained for intifada-related crimes have announced a hunger strike which should coincide with the holy Islamic month of fasting Ramadan, at the end of March. The crackdown followed cheers from detainees following an attack last month in which seven Israeli civilians were killed by a Palestinian. Ben Gvir ordered the separation between various prisons of detainees from the same political faction. He also ordered to close ovens used by them and, more recently, has imposed a limit on the use of showers. "The good times for our children's murderers are over", he wrote on Twitter. "Their privileges are not tolerable anymore. We will end disorder".



In a warning reported by Kan television, detainees replied that they are not fighting for "bread or showers but for the homeland's liberation". "We have nothing to lose", they added.



"Those who have decided to fight us, will face fighters".



According to the broadcaster, the fight of detainees could gradually extend to the Palestinian territories. Maan added that 4,780 "prisoners" are detained in Israel, including 160 minors and 29 women.
Migrants: 70 missing in 2 tragedies along Canary route, NGO Activist, incidents near western Sahara, children dead

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, FEBRUARY 15 - NGO Caminando Fronterad, specialized in migration flows in the western Mediterranean and along the route of North Africa-Canary Islands, has reported that 70 people, including 12 minors, went missing in two tragedies in the Atlantic ocean over the last few days. "There have been 34 victims on one boat and 36 in another", the spokeswoman of Caminando Fronteras Helena Maleno told ANSA. The first boat, she added, departed on February 4 with 65 people on board from a point of the north-western African coast in the direction of the Canary Islands but ran adrift and was found by a fishing vessel and taken to Laayoune (western Sahara), where it arrived on Friday, February 10. "Only 31 survived, all the children except one died", stated Maleno.



The second case concerns a boat with 56 passengers that left Cap Boujdor (western Sahara) on Friday, February 10, which sank shortly after departure. "In this case, 36 people died, including five children", she added. Moroccan authorities have so far not confirmed the incidents. Caminando Fronteras said it received accounts of these tragedies from survivors.(ANSAmed).




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.

Associated Press writer Tara Copp reported from Brussels. AP writers Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves contributed from Washington.
GENEVA - At least seven people have reportedly survived a shipwreck on Wednesday off the coast of Libya. The boat with 80 people on board had departed from Qasr Al-Akhyar, some 75 kilometres (46 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli, and were travelling to Europe. According to the UN, so far 11 bodies have been retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent and local police. The UN agency for migration stated that the "seven survivors have returned to Libya's coast in extremely serious condition and are currently in hospital".



The central Mediterranean remains the deadliest maritime migration route in the world. The number of deaths reported since the beginning of the year has risen to 130 with the latest tragedy, said IOM. According to the agency's Missing Migrants Project, in 2022 over 1,450 migrant deaths were registered along that route while over 17,000 have been reported dead and missing since 2014. "This situation is intolerable. Concrete action is necessary by States to increase the ability to search and rescue, establishing clear and safe mechanisms of landing, as well as safe and regular pathways to reduce dangerous journeys", concluded the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Greece rejects media report on migrants Authorities will however "investigate mistreatment allegations"

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, 15 FEB - Greece's Ministry of Migration and Asylum on Wednesday rejected a report in the New York Times that the Greek authorities have been mistreating asylum seekers or acting outside the law, however stating that they intend to investigate all allegations of any kind of wrongdoing on the part of border forces.



On Tuesday a report was published in the US-based media outlet with quotes from the top human rights officer at Europe's border agency Frontex, who said in a confidential report that the agency "should stop working with Greece because border guards there were mistreating asylum seekers", among other claims relating to so-called illegal pushbacks which were allegedly being performed on a regular basis.



Greece's Migration Ministry have released a strongly-worded statement in response to the report, which has once again stirred up the debate about the Greek government's migration policies which have been constantly criticized by NGOs, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), and media observers.



"Greece protects and will continue to protect the external borders of the European Union, in accordance with national and international law. Protecting Europe from irregular arrivals is a priority for the European Council, as concluded. While, under the EU/Turkey joint statement such flows should be prevented before departure, smuggling networks continue to put, daily, lives at risk. This model must stop," said the Ministry.



The statement added: "The EU is working on concrete measures to safeguard Europe's security, reinforce the EU's external borders, while promoting legal pathways for eligible applicants.



We work closely with the European Commission, EUAA, FRA and Frontex on all migration related issues. All allegations are being investigated by Greece and it is worth reminding about the fake allegations against Greece for a "dead child" in Evros. An incident reported but then retracted by the media and NGOs.



Incidents investigated to-date identified no wrongdoings by the Greek authorities." According to the statement, the Ministry said that Greece has appointed a Fundamental Rights Officer and has approved an Action plan, with the EU, to monitor compliance with Fundamental rights, about which it said "progress reports on implementation have been conducted and positively assessed by the Agency in the previous Frontex Management Board in Stockholm". (ANSAmed).




Heritage tourism can 'triple' number of visitors in Italy-Tajani 'We have huge potential', says FM

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 15 - Heritage tourism is "a project that is aimed at increasing the number of tourists not only in large cities but throughout the country", Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday. The minister was attending an event to present the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) 'Tourism of roots: an integrated strategy for the recovery of the tourism sector in Italy after Covid-19' at the foreign ministry in Rome. "Moreover, it serves the purpose of defending our identity, reminding Italians abroad about their history, language, culture", he added.



The project "will function if there is a practical collaboration" with local administrations and mayors, stressed Tajani. "You know the territories better than we do" and "we have hidden marvels in small cities that normally tourists don't visit because they don't know about them. We have to make sure that everything in our country is known in the best way possible" and mayors are a "fundamental tool" for this purpose and "we ask for their collaboration", the minister said.



(ANSAmed)
Syria quake: Jordanian foreign minister visits Damascus First trip since the start of the conflict 12 years ago in the country



prev

next Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, 15 FEB - For the first time since the start of the conflict 12 years ago in Syria, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi travelled to Damascus on Wednesday to express solidarity to the central government after the devastating quake on February 6, Syrian government news agency Sana reports, quoting the Syrian president's office. Safadi was reportedly received on Wednesday morning by Syrian President Bashar al Assad.



The trip represents the most important visit to Syria undertaken by a Jordanian political representative since the beginning of the armed conflict in 2011.



From 2012 until 2017, Jordan, a close ally of the United States, sided with Syrian armed groups in southern Syria fighting against government forces and their allies.



Relations between Damascus and Amman gradually resumed after 2018, also in light of the stated joint commitment to fight drug trafficking from Syria to Jordan.



Right after the earthquake, the Jordanian government sent aid to Syria on a cargo plane that landed at the airport of Damascus. (ANSAmed)
When Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister of Scotland in 2014, David Cameron was prime minister, the UK was still in the European Union and Cilla Black was still alive.

Since then, the UK has changed prime ministers four times and left the EU, while a host of famous names  from David Bowie to Victoria Wood  have died.

Ms Sturgeon is already the longest-serving First Minister in history and will step down having clocked up more than eight years in the role.

Her predecessor and former SNP leader Alex Salmond held the post for seven-and-a-half years.

(PA Graphics)

During her time in office, the UK has seen five different prime ministers, all of them Conservative: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

There have been three leaders of the Labour party (Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer) and five leaders of the Liberal Democrats (Nick Clegg, Tim Farron, Sir Vince Cable, Jo Swinson and Sir Ed Davey).

As well as leading the SNP in three general elections (2015, 2017 and 2019), Ms Sturgeon also led the party through two Scottish parliamentary elections (2016 and 2021), two rounds of Scottish local elections (2017 and 2022) and the 2019 European elections.

In 2015 she steered the SNP to its best ever performance at a UK general election, winning 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, a huge increase from six seats at the 2010 election.

At the 2017 election, the party fell back to 35 seats, but improved its performance in 2019 to win 48.

(PA Graphics)

Ms Sturgeons stint as First Minister spanned the entire period of the UKs exit from the European Union, including the 2016 referendum, the negotiations in 2017-19, the departure on January 31 2020 and the transition period until the end of 2020.

Barack Obama was president of the United States when she first took office, Francois Hollande was president of France, and Angela Merkel still had another seven years to go as chancellor of Germany.

For the majority of Ms Sturgeons time in the job, opinion polls have suggested there is slightly more support for Scotland remaining part of the UK rather than becoming independent, though there was a period in the second half of 2020 when support for independence was consistently ahead.

The most recent independence poll from YouGov, in January 2023, had Yes on 40%, No on 46% and dont knows on 10%.

Excluding dont knows, the figures were 47% Yes and 53% No.

Along with the deaths of many well-known figures from stage, screen and music, Ms Sturgeons stint as First Minister also saw the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April 2021 and the Queen in September 2022, the latter taking place at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
A 60 million funding pot from government has been announced to boost the decarbonisation of the maritime sector.

Among the projects set to benefit is a planned zero emission 100% electric flying ferry in Belfast.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper praised Artemis Technologies in the Northern Irish capital as he announced the funding.

The 60m is to aid the development of new clean maritime technology across a two-year period.

Companies in 12 regions around the UK will benefit from the cash, generating highly skilled jobs.

(l to r) Transport Secretary Mark Harper with Artemis Technologies CEO Dr Iain Percy and workboat master Stephen Milne (Liam McBurney/PA)

In Belfast, Artemis Technologies is developing ships that fly above the surface of the water.

The firm is set to use the funding to help take their invention to the seas on a commercial scale.

During the two-year investment period, successful companies will be required to demonstrate that their projects will work in the real world.

Other projects to benefit include a bid by Collins River Enterprises Ltd to build and test a brand new fully electric ferry on the River Thames between Canary Wharf and Rotherhithe.

Another project led by AceOn Battery Solar Technology Ltd will develop hydrogen-powered vessels to transfer crew to wind farms off the northeast coast of England from the Port of Blyth.

WingTek is also receiving funding to develop and demonstrate two full-sized prototypes of wind-assisted ships with high tech sails, which will reduce the amount of fuel used by the vessels as well as the emissions they produce.

Mr Harper said the funding will help to bring emission-free concepts to life.

Our maritime sector imports 95% of goods into the UK and contributes 116 billion to our economy  more than both aviation and rail combined, he said.

With growing the economy one of the Governments top priorities, we must continue our efforts to ensure the UK remains a pioneer in cutting-edge clean maritime solutions.

The funding were awarding will help to do just that, bringing emission-free concepts to life and fuelling innovation.

(l to r) Transport Secretary Mark Harper with Kate Drury, of the Maritime Directorate, and Artemis Technologies CEO Dr Iain Percy (Liam McBurney/PA)

Artemis Technologies CEO Dr Iain Percy said: The clean maritime demonstration competition is key to unlocking those innovations across the region that will transport the UK towards a more sustainable future and we are thrilled that it has once again recognised the integral role Artemis Technologies can play.

With this latest round of funding, we are emboldened to advance our green technology projects, develop world-leading clean vessels for our seas, and continue on our mission to lead the decarbonisation of maritime.

UK Chamber of Shipping CEO Sarah Treseder added: Congratulations to all the successful bids, which cover a wide range of technologies and aspects of shipping.

The UK Chamber of Shipping is committed to net zero by 2050. This funding is an important milestone in ensuring we continue to work together to achieve this important target and will help us complete the journey from theory to reality for zero emission shipping.
Rishi Sunak said green technology innovators he and Bill Gates had met in central London were solving the challenges of net zero.

The Prime Minister and the Microsoft co-founder were at Imperial College London to meet with those behind Cleantech for UK, a coalition aiming to open the door to a new generation of green technology start-ups.

The initiative is backed by more than 6 billion of private funding and is supported by Mr Gatess sustainable energy programme, Breakthrough Energy, and organised by Cleantech Group.

Mr Sunak said the investment would go towards meeting the UKs target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as well as creating employment.

Speaking to broadcasters at the universitys campus in central London, the Prime Minister said: Im here at Imperial College with Bill Gates, where weve been talking about our shared priorities and securing the UKs status as a science superpower.

Also welcome today is the announcement of billions of pounds of extra private funding for our best clean-tech companies.

I met some of the innovative start-ups here at Imperial College earlier.

It is fantastic to see these researchers, scientists, business people solving the challenges of net zero, and creating jobs in the process. Thats amazing.

Mr Sunak said the visit tied in with his desire to see more innovation in the economy to help spark growth.

It comes after the Prime Minister earlier this month reshaped Whitehall, dismantling the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) to create three distinct departments for innovation, energy security, and business.

He added: I set out at the beginning of the year my priorities and one of them was to grow the economy, and it is really important that we get science and innovation right.

Thats why last week I created a brand new government Department for Innovation, Science and Technology, but also a new Department for Energy Security  and thats what were delivering for the British people.

Rishi Sunak and Bill Gates during a meeting at Imperial College London (Justin Tallis/PA)

The Conservative Party leader and the billionaire philanthropist met with three start-up companies on Wednesday, quizzing them on the mechanics of their research and ideas.

One of the companies, H2GO Power, is developing disruptive smart technologies to change how hydrogen is stored and managed.

Another, Econic, is developing catalyst technologies that enable the use of captured carbon dioxide to make low-cost, sustainable plastics.

Mr Gates said: The UK has all the ingredients to become a major player in the global push to build a net-zero emissions future, including world-class research facilities and forward-looking investors.

Its great to see clean-tech businesses, innovators, and policy makers coming together to advance UK climate leadership.

Professor Hugh Brady, president of Imperial College, said: Achieving net zero will require an enormous step-change in our economy, industry and civic systems.

We are fuelling a new generation of dynamic, clean-tech businesses and helping them to scale and thrive.
Hollywood stars shared the love on Valentines Day, sharing couples photos with their fans online.

Kaley Cuoco, Chris Evans, Hugh Jackman, and the Beckhams were among the famous faces expressing love and gratitude for their partners.

In an Instagram post addressed to her partner Tom Pelphrey, Cuoco wrote: Happy Valentines Day to the man that makes me smile this big every single day.

Grateful to be on this life adventure together, my love.

The couple confirmed they were dating in May last year, with Cuoco announcing that they were expecting their first child together just five months later in October.

The US actress and Big Bang Theory star recently debuted her growing baby bump at the Golden Globes.

Twitter users went into meltdown in response to a series of Instagram stories of Marvel star Evans, showing him and partner Alba Baptista.

The actor shared a series of cute selfies with Baptista, as well as comical videos of her playing the Mario Bros 3 video game.

His Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo said Cupid had been kind as he shared a throwback picture of himself and his wife Sunrise Coigney.

Happy Valentines Day, Sunrise. True love is the one that grows and deepens with time, he wrote.

We got a good thing going on, Cupid has been kind. Will you be mine, my forever Valentine?

Jackman paid tribute to his wife Deborra-Lee Furness and her humour, generosity and wisdom as he shared a picture of them together.

Happy Valentines love. You light up the room wherever you go, he wrote.

Your humor, generosity, wisdom and spirit shines so bright. I celebrate you on our 28th Valentines together. I love you.

The Beckhams posted separately on Instagram, both sharing throw-back photos of themselves over 20 years ago.

Spice Girl and fashion model Victoria wrote: 26 years and still my Valentine, I love you so much @davidbeckham. Kisses.

Tagging their children in his own post, David wrote: Happy Valentines to my valentine. We Love You @victoriabeckham.

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot revealed she and husband Jaron Varsano were spending Valentines Day apart this year, but said it had made her appreciate everything we have even more.

This year were spending Valentines Day a part which in a funny way makes me appreciate everything we have even more, she wrote, sharing a picture of her holding a large bouquet of roses.

I love you @jaronvarsano. Youre my one. My only. My everything. Life is too short together.

Michelle Pfieffer shared a selfie of her and husband David E Kelley, writing: We go together. My Valentine.

Elsewhere, High School Musical star Efron shared a heart-warming picture of himself and his young half-sister Olivia reading together.

My valentine, he captioned the post.
The Hartford Courant is proud to announce the 18th Annual Best of Hartford readers poll kicked off Wednesday, February 15.

This poll has become an annual tradition for the Hartford Courant and area readers to voice and vote for their favorite businesses from the area.

Best of Hartford is a readers poll that gives you the opportunity to visit our website at courant.com/best-of and vote daily for your favorites in a multitude of categories.

The categories range from food and drink to automotive. If your favorite is not there, you can add it.

Which is the best local coffee shop or what is the best place to go for Japanese cuisine? Best pizza? Best spa. Readers know their favorites!

In 2022 there were more than 115,000 votes in 203 categories and for 2023 we have added categories that include pets and automotive that are new to this year.

We want to hear from you! This contest will run from February 15 through March 19 and the winners are then announced in a special section both in print and available online in May.

Area businesses agree it is an honor to be voted by their local patrons as the best in the area and we at the Hartford Courant look forward to seeing who will receive that honor for each category for 2023.
The departure of Nicola Sturgeon opens up an opportunity for Labour in Scotland potentially paving the way for the election of Labour government at Westminster, senior party figures believe.

Following the First Ministers dramatic announcement that she is stepping down, party leader Sir Keir Starmer said Labour stood ready to be the change that Scotland needs.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said that for the first time since they lost power in 2010 there was now a belief in Scotland that a UK Labour government was possible.

At the same time, he said it would require the party to make significant gains in Scotland at the next general election  expected in a little over 12 months  for that to happen.

Nicola Sturgeon has been at the forefront of not just Scottish but UK politics for over two decades. Shes served with dedication and passion. I wish her all the best for her next steps. Labour stands ready to be the change that Scotland needs. https://t.co/hGye1OSMyw  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) February 15, 2023

For 12 years I dont think people in Scotland have believed that a Labour UK government was possible. I think that is changing now. I think people believe a UK Labour government is possible, he told BBC Radio 4s The World at One.

Our challenge is to demonstrate that that hope and belief in a Labour government can be made a reality, to persuade people that that is only possible if were making significant gains and have significant representation in Scotland and then, most importantly of all, through that demonstrate how Scotland is stronger, strengthened and changing within a modernising, reforming UK.

Labours long-standing stranglehold on Scotland in Westminster elections came to an abrupt end in 2015 when it was all but wiped out in an SNP landslide.

The party was widely seen to have paid the price for having campaigned alongside the Conservatives in the referendum on Scottish independence the year before, despite having helped secure a no vote.

Today is a very significant moment in the election of a majority Labour government.  Jim Murphy (@glasgowmurphy) February 15, 2023

But with support for leaving the UK having apparently stalled, shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray  who remains the partys only MP in Scotland  said there was a chance to reframe the terms of the political debate.

We should use this time to reset our politics in Scotland away from issues that divide and to new ideas that unite and help all Scots, he said.

Jim Murphy, a former Scottish secretary who led Scottish Labour in the 2015 referendum, said it was an important moment in Scottish politics which would have implications for the wider UK.

Today is a very significant moment in the election of a majority Labour government, he tweeted.

Will be fascinating to see what impact this will have on support for Scottish independence, which have largely been stuck at the levels they were in 2014.

Labour former first minister Henry McLeish said Ms Sturgeons departure left a gap at the top of Scottish politics which opened up an opportunity for Labour.

One of the problems for the SNP is shes been such a formidable figure  how do they replace her? he told BBC News.

There is no doubt in my mind Scotland is still restless, it doesnt want independence. It is very much up to Westminster and the Westminster parties to stake a way forward. I think Labour will see an opportunity here.
Civil servants are to hold more strikes in the increasingly bitter dispute over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said its members working for the Land Registry and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will take industrial action in the coming weeks.

More than 350 PCS members at the Land Registry in Birkenhead, Coventry, Croydon, Durham, Fylde, Gloucester, Hull, Leicester, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swansea, Telford and Weymouth will strike from February 27 to March 3.

They will be joined by DVLA employees based at the Swansea site.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: As long as the Government shows no sign of resolving this dispute, well show no signs of stopping strike action.

Ministers seem able to find money for just about everything other than giving their own employees a decent pay rise. PCS members have had enough of being taken for granted.

Hannah David, PCS vice president of the Culture Sector back out on the Brisish Museum picket line.#PCSonStrike #BlameTheGovt #HeartUnions pic.twitter.com/xLreEY6XaV  PCS Union (@pcs_union) February 15, 2023

PCS members are on strike this week at the Department for Work and Pensions, the British Museum, the DVLA, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

The union said around 1,000 Border Force officials will begin strike action in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk on Friday.

Around 100,000 PCS members will be taking strike action on Budget Day, March 15.
Ads for a life insurance firm that joked about serial killer Harold Shipman have been banned for causing serious and widespread offence and distress.

The Facebook and Instagram ads for DeadHappy, seen on January 23, featured images of Shipman and the text: Life insurance Because you never know who your doctor might be.

Shipman murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients during his time as a GP in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

The DeadHappy ad featuring a joke about Harold Shipman that has been banned by the ASA (ASA/PA)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received 115 complaints that the the ads irresponsibly caused serious and widespread offence and unjustified distress.

DeadHappy apologised, saying the ads first appeared at 2pm on January 23 and were taken down at 8am the next day when it became clear they were causing offence.

The firm said it was reviewing its processes in relation to the creation and approval of ads and would endeavour to make better informed decisions going forward.

Facebook and Instagram acknowledged the complaints but made no comment.

The ASA said the ads trivialised and made light of the murders committed by Harold Shipman, such that they were likely to cause both serious and widespread offence to those who saw them.

It added: We further considered that any reference to the murderer in advertising material was likely to be distressing, particularly for those who had lost family members or friends at Shipmans hands and that, in the context of an ad promoting life insurance, the distress caused was unjustified.

We concluded that the ads were not prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and did not comply with rules on issues of harm and offence.

We welcomed DeadHappys assurance that they would not be repeated.

In a statement, DeadHappy founder Andy Knott said: We are sorry. In our attempt to be provocative and make people really stop and think about their need for life insurance, we have made a mistake and for this we apologise.

We will now go away and immediately review all of our current and future marketing campaigns to ensure that we learn from this mistake.
Man becomes eighth Briton to die in Ukraine since Russian invasion began

A man has become the eighth British national to die in Ukraine since the start of Russias invasion.

The identity of the individual, who the BBC reported was a man, is not yet known but the Foreign Office said their family has been informed.

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.

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 man is believed to be the eighth British national to have died in Ukraine since the war began.

In January, British nationals Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry were killed in eastern Ukraine while attempting a humanitarian evacuation.

Simon Lingard was killed in Ukraine last November, while in June ex-British soldier Jordan Gatley was shot dead in the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Scott Sibley, from Lincolnshire, died in southern Ukraine in April after a drone dropped mortars on his regiment.

Andrew Bagshaws death was confirmed along with that of Christopher Parry nearly three weeks after the pair went missing in Ukraine (Handout/PA)

Craig Mackintosh, from Norfolk, was killed while volunteering as a medic in Ukraine in August.

Paul Urey, a British aid worker, died last July while being detained by Russian-backed separatists.

The latest death comes after British military chiefs declared Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line.

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.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  14 February 2023 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/twjoin3xm1  #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/RgIBKAGUOO  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 14, 2023

Ukraine will be top of the agenda as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace joins his counterparts for a Nato meeting in Brussels.

The second day of the gathering of Nato defence ministers comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

The request, which comes as the first anniversary of Russias invasion approaches, is the latest plea from Mr Zelensky to Western allies.

The UK is set to become the first nation to start training Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard aircraft, but the Government has indicated that any possibility of Britain lending jets to Kyiv is a long-term prospect.
The devastated family of a man who died after he came into contact with police and had been restrained for nearly four hours said nobody gave a monkeys about him in his final hours.

Joseph Sneddon, 37, died at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy on Friday April 8 2022, two days after he was admitted, suffering from a mental health crisis, according to the familys lawyer, Aamer Anwar.

His family believed he came into contact with Kirkcaldy police officers at the hospital.

Mr Sneddons uncle, James Scougall, said there was a lack of sympathy and empathy from anyone involved in his nephews care at a press conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Jane Sneddon, the mother of Joseph Sneddon, wipes her eye during the press conference (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Losing a son, a daughter, a loved one is difficult at the best of times, but there was no sympathy or empathy.

Nobody seemed to give a monkeys, he said.

His family said they have received no clear details on how he died since that day.

Mr Sneddons mother, Jane Sneddon, said the family has been devastated by her sons death.

The family of Joseph Sneddon, left to right, sisters Gillian Sinclair and Kerry Sneddon, father James Sneddon, family solicitor Aamer Anwar, mother Jane Sneddon, sister Laura Sneddon, and uncle James Scougall, during a press conference at Edinburgh Central Library (Andrew Milligan/PA)

She said: Weve been devastated by this.

The girls arent eating, they arent sleeping.

If, when we went down to the hospital, they had given us some sort of clue. They just told us he took a turn for the worse, his heart had stopped.

He was up at around quarter past four (on the Thursday) drinking a bottle of Lucozade and eating a packet of crisps.

A family photo of Joseph Sneddon who died after coming into contact with police (Andrew Milligan/PA)

He was confused, but he was happy.

All I want is answers as to what happened to my son and why he isnt at home with me and his family.

There is no reason why he shouldnt be with his sons now. I want to know who was in contact with Joe during the four hours he was strapped to a hospital bed, obviously afraid and wanting to go home.

I want them to look me in the eye and tell me how they thought this was okay to happen.

Joe didnt die from drink, drugs or ill health. He died through the negligence of hospital staff and police  if they have any decency at all they should hold up their hands and say they got it wrong.

Mr Sneddons family was told in the early hours of Friday April 8 that his heart stopped and medics worked on him for half an hour but could not bring him back.

The family was called to the hospital in the early hours and saw two police officers at the nurses station, which was close to his bed.

Police phoned later that day to tell the family they would be visiting but, at 4.07pm on April 8, local police said it would be taken out of their hands and was with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) who investigates deaths in police custody.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain met the Sneddon family (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The family claim they were told it was complicated when they asked if Mr Sneddons death was being treated as a death in custody.

They were not told where Mr Sneddons body was taken to and it took their funeral director to tell the family he had been taken to Edinburgh.

In November, the family was told his cause of death was sudden death in a man with a significant acidosis following a prolonged period of struggling and restraint.

The family finally obtained a copy of the redacted post-mortem examination report showing Mr Sneddon had been restrained for at least a four-hour period and had been very agitated and extensively fighting against the restraints.

Mr Sneddon was just 8st 2lbs (52kg) despite being 6ft 3in at the time of his death, and had a total of 34 separate injuries.

He had two sons, aged three and 15.

On Wednesday morning, the family had a meeting with Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, regarding Mr Sneddons case.

Ms Bain said: I would like to thank the Sneddon family for meeting with me and for sharing their experiences. I was able to update them on the initial and on-going investigation into Josephs death and I listened carefully to what they had to say.

The Crown is committed to the thorough and effective investigation of all deaths which occur in legal custody. The Crown have engaged and updated the family in the course of the investigation, and are committed to continuing to do so as the investigation continues.

Mr Anwar, said the family of Joseph Sneddon welcomed todays meeting with the Lord Advocate.

The Lord Advocate was told by the family that they have been tortured by the lack of information as to how and why Joseph Sneddon met his death, he said.

Twenty one pages of the post-mortem had 11 pages totally redacted.

The Lord Advocate said the narrative of restraint of Joseph Sneddon is critical to determining if there is any potential criminality on behalf of the police officers, security guards, and the Victoria Hospital, and the Crown Office wanted to ensure that the narrative was accurate and nothing interfered with the integrity of their investigation.

Mr Anwar said the family has told the Lord Advocate they have no confidence in the ability of the PIRC to deliver a robust and impartial investigation.

He added: The Lord Advocate promised the family a robust ad independent investigation.

The family are aware that the police officers left the hospital to return to Kirkcaldy Police Office and were allowed to sit together.

They also now know that following Josephs death, the CID were involved in searching Josephs house  they believe this was done with the intention of trying to smear Joseph following his death.

Which senior officer at Police Scotland instructed the CID to search for such information? Did Police Scotland really think that Josephs life was so cheap that his family would just walk away?

The Sneddon family are determined to fight for justice and the truth for Joseph, however long it takes.
Hargreaves Lansdown has revealed plans to hike dividends after higher profits but warned that low investor confidence has hit savers demand for stocks.

Shares in the online trading platform slipped in early trading after it revealed softer demand for funds and shares, blaming the economic backdrop.

Chris Hill, chief executive officer of the group, said: Whilst challenging external conditions and low investor confidence impacted asset values and stockbroking volumes in the period, clients have benefited from our diversified platform and we have progressed across all the strategic priorities that we set out a year ago at our capital markets day.

The firm revealed that most of its sales were within the groups cash savings service.

Bosses at the Bristol business were positive about its financial performance over the latest half-year as it posted higher revenues and profits.

Hargreaves Lansdown reported that revenues grew by a fifth to 350 million over the six months to December 31, compared with the same period last year.

It added that pre-tax profits lifted by 31% to 197.6 million for the half-year, compared with a year earlier.

Mr Hill added: Im delighted that we have delivered a strong financial performance over the first half of the year.

The progress we have made over this period is the direct result of the hard work of each of my colleagues and I would like to thank them for their ongoing efforts.

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: The boost Hargreaves Lansdown got from successive lockdowns when many played the markets as they were unable to spend their money in the usual ways is now fading, and the recent uncertainty in the financial markets can be seen in the companys slowing numbers of new business and clients.

Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown were down 5.6% at 895.2p on Wednesday morning.
Nicola Sturgeon was dubbed the finest public servant of the devolution age by one of her partys MPs following news she will resign.

Stewart McDonald MP for Glasgow South tweeted: Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age.

Scottish Deputy First Minister John Swinney, one of several possible candidates who could succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP, has thanked the First Minister after her decision to step down.

I am very sorry (Ms Sturgeon) has decided to step down as First Minister and (the SNP) leader, he tweeted.

Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age. Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else. She will be an enormous loss as First Minister and SNP leader. Thank you!  pic.twitter.com/DyeJU5EkIV  Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) February 15, 2023

She has given outstanding leadership to our country, Government and Party.

Mr Swinney, who is touted as one of Ms Sturgeons successors, acknowledged Ms Sturgeons role as the first female and longest serving First Minister.

She has achieved so much for Scotland. Minimum unit pricing of alcohol, expansion of early learning, measures to tackle domestic violence, delivery of The Promise and crucially, leadership through Covid, are just some.

First Ministers of Scotland. See story POLITICS Sturgeon. Infographic PA Graphics. An editable version of this graphic is available if required. Please contact graphics@pamediagroup.com.

For our Party, she has delivered breathtaking electoral success, winning every election during her leadership, and securing two Scottish Parliament victories.

It has been my privilege to support her as Deputy First Minister. She has my warmest good wishes for the future and heartfelt thanks for all that she has done for Scotland, for the cause of Independence and the Scottish National Party.

Nicola Sturgeon stood down on Wednesday morning, saying Nicola Sturgeon the time is now for her to stand down as Scotlands First Minister, adding that it was right for me, for my party and for the country.

SNP president Michael Russell has thanked Nicola Sturgeon for her extraordinary and brilliant leadership after she announced her resignation as Scottish First Minister.

Thank you @NicolaSturgeon for everything. Youve been a magnificent leader of our country, @theSNP and Scotlands cause. Youve blazed a trail for women, held fast to your integrity and shown extraordinary courage. Scotland is forever changed for the better by your leadership  Susan Aitken (@SusaninLangside) February 15, 2023

As President of (The SNP) I thank (Ms Sturgeon) for her extraordinary and brilliant leadership of her party and country, he tweeted.

As a friend for 30 years I wish her all the best and look forward to her continuing huge contribution to our national wellbeing and success.

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Susan Aitken, thanked Ms Sturgeon for her contribution. She said: Thank you Nicola Sturgeon for everything. Youve been a magnificent leader of our country, the SNP and Scotlands cause.

Youve blazed a trail for women, held fast to your integrity and shown extraordinary courage. Scotland is forever changed for the better by your leadership.

Your combination of intelligence, empathy, eloquence and conviction as First Minister will serve as an example and inspiration for a very long time.

You have more than earned the right to leave on your terms with head held high but you will be missed so much.

Tributes have also been paid across the political spectrum, with Roz Foyer, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) thanking her for her commitment to the trade union movement.

Ms Foyer said: Throughout her leadership, the First Minister has shown a consistently high level of respect for the role of trade unions in Scotland and has been committed to working with us to establish Scotland as a Fair Work nation.

I want to personally thank the First Minister for her unparalleled, long-standing public service to Scotland. We wish her all good wishes for the future.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Nicola Sturgeon had been a formidable politician and he thanked her for her service as First Minister.

The Conservative minister said: I particularly appreciate the work that she undertook to help us deliver two new Freeports in Scotland, bringing thousands of jobs and millions of pounds of investment.

A new first minister will have a real chance to re-focus the Scottish Government on what they were elected to do  improve public services such as health and education that people rely on and that are vital to Scotlands future success.

Her resignation presents a welcome opportunity for the Scottish Government to change course, and to drop its divisive obsession with independence.

I want to see a Scottish Government that works hand in hand with the UK Government to realise our full potential as a country.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton said Scotland faces many challenges and called on the SNP to restore stability after Ms Sturgeon stepped down.

But today is not a day for political attacks, Alex Cole-Hamilton told BBC News.

The Edinburgh Western MSP recalled a warm moment between the two when the FM offered him words of comfort after his young daughter choked on a coin and had to be resuscitated around five years ago.
Nicola Sturgeons historic career as First Minister will be remembered for the fight for Scottish independence and tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

She will leave office as the longest-serving and first female First Minister since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Ms Sturgeon joined the Scottish National Party at the age of 16 and rose through the ranks to take top billing after Alex Salmond stood down following the defeat in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and was voted in as First Minister days later.

But now, Ms Sturgeon will stand down from the top post without realising her key political ambition  securing Scottish independence.

Ms Sturgeons historic leadership oversaw a challenging health crisis as she announced a string of restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Her government has also been facing criticism as the NHS struggles to recover from the impact of the pandemic, with soaring waiting times in emergency departments.

Sturgeons main political ambition was to lead Scotland to independence  but after the Supreme Court ruled last year that Holyrood could not lawfully legislate on the constitutional issue, her party will meet next month to discuss treating the next UK election as a de facto referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond as First Minister in 2014 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

In recent weeks, legislation from her government which pushed through controversial gender reforms has taken centre stage in Ms Sturgeons long political career.

The UK Government blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Act which made it easier to self-identify as a chosen gender.

And the housing of transgender prisoners in the female estate has exacerbated the issue.

With a political career spanning nearly three decades, the First Minister has said it is the right time for her to step aside.

First Ministers of Scotland. See story POLITICS Sturgeon. Infographic PA Graphics. An editable version of this graphic is available if required. Please contact graphics@pamediagroup.com.

Since she assumed the role, she has worked with five different prime ministers south of the border.

Following her school years at Greenwood Academy, in Irvine, North Ayrshire from 1982 to 1988, she went on to study law at Glasgow University.

She moved up the ranks in her party following this, standing as the youngest ever parliamentary candidate in the 1992 general election for the Glasgow Shettleston constituency, followed by a further failed attempt in the Glasgow Govan constituency in 1997.

But, in 1999, Ms Sturgeon was elected to the Scottish Parliament on the Glasgow regional list and until 2007, when she took the Glasgow Govan  now Glasgow Southside  constituency.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (Jane Barlow/PA)

In an interview with BBCs Womans Hour, Ms Sturgeon revealed it was former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher that inspired her into politics due a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory Government that we hadnt elected.

Ms Sturgeon would go on to become one of the most prominent voices within the SNP, first putting her name in the hat for the leadership race in 2004 following John Swinneys resignation.

But Alex Salmond announced his intention to stand for the post, with Ms Sturgeon becoming his running mate.

In 2007, her party formed a minority Government in Scotland, when Sturgeon was appointed as Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary.

In her years as Health Secretary, she oversaw the scrapping of prescription charges and received praise for her handling of the 2009 swine flu crisis.

Ms Sturgeons close relationship with Mr Salmond fell apart and would go on to become a key point in Ms Sturgeons career.

The fall-out came after sexual harassment allegations were made against Mr Salmond  who was later acquitted.

The Scottish Government was forced to pay more than 500,000 towards Mr Salmonds legal fees for their handling of the complaints.

Following his acquittal, Mr Salmond claimed there had been a deliberate attempt to damage his career by leading SNP figures, a claim which Ms Sturgeon strongly denied, saying her former mentor was angry at her refusal to make the allegations go away.

An investigation later found Ms Sturgeon did not breach the ministerial code in her handling of the issue.

And while the two remain fierce independence campaigners, they have often disagreed on the method for securing it.

In recent weeks, Ms Sturgeon has also been quizzed on the origin of finances used by her husband, Peter Murrell, to loan the SNP more than 100,000 to assist with cashflow.

Ms Sturgeon married the SNP chief executive in 2010. It emerged in December that Mr Murrell, the SNP chief executive, made the load in June 2021  however, the First Minister has said the funds were entirely his own.
Nicola Sturgeon leaves no clear strategy for independence as she stands down as Scotlands First Minister, her predecessor Alex Salmond said.

Her one-time mentor turned political enemy said he feels for the SNP leader as she announced her resignation from the post on Wednesday.

She told a press conference the time is now for her to stand down as Scotlands First Minister, adding it was right for me, for my party and for the country.

Mr Salmond said: There has been no question of Nicolas talents as a first-rate political communicator and election winner and  having been there  I feel for her personally on the day of her resignation.

There are two questions for the future.

Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond ahead of the Scottish independence referendum (Andrew Milligan/PA)

One is that the movement has been left with no clear strategy for independence. The previously accepted referendum route has been closed and the de facto referendum/election proposal is now, at best, up in the air.

Secondly, there is no obvious successor. There are a range of able people in the SNP but they will now be tested in the fire of leadership, inheriting a range of serious Government policy challenges.

It is to be hoped that those voices which wish to reunite the national movement emerge to win that contest.

However, SNP members hailed Ms Sturgeons work on Scottish independence.

I am very sorry @nicolasturgeon has decided to step down as First Minister and @thesnp Leader. She has given outstanding leadership to our country, Government and Party. (1/4)  John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) February 15, 2023

Ian Blackford, Scottish MP and former leader of the SNP in Westminster, said when Scotland wins independence, Ms Sturgeon will have been its architect and builder, adding: We owe it to her to finish the job.

Current SNP Westminster Stephen Flynn said Ms Sturgeon has been an outstanding political leader, adding: As SNP leader, she has taken support for independence to record levels and won every national election, by margins other parties could only wish for.

Scottish Deputy First Minister John Swinney, one of several possible candidates who could succeed Ms Sturgeon, tweeted: She has my warmest good wishes for the future and heartfelt thanks for all that she has done for Scotland, for the cause of Independence and the Scottish National Party.

SNP president Michael Russell has thanked Nicola Sturgeon for her extraordinary and brilliant leadership.

Nicola has been an inspiration to myself and countless others for so long. A formidable leader and dedicated public servant, unmatched not just in Scotland but right across these isles. She has made Scotland a better place and for that I will always be thankful. pic.twitter.com/PqKtEbKZ3I  Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) February 15, 2023

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Ms Sturgeon had been a formidable politician and he thanked her for her service as First Minister, but said her resignation is a welcome opportunity for the Scottish Government to change course, and to drop its divisive obsession with independence.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked her for her long-standing service and wished her the best for her next steps.

Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Holyroods second-largest party, said: I am glad Nicola Sturgeon has recognised this is the right time to go.

He blamed her for a decade of constitutional paralysis and accused her of governing in her partys interests, rather than Scotlands.

A significant day in Scottish politics, my statement on Nicola Sturgeons resignation. pic.twitter.com/LgL12iCJsb  Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) February 15, 2023

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon being at the forefront of Scottish politics for more than 20 years, adding that his party aspires to deliver the change it believes Scotland now needs.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Scotland faces many challenges and called on the SNP to restore stability after Ms Sturgeon stepped down.

But today is not a day for political attacks, Mr Cole-Hamilton told BBC News.

My thanks go to @NicolaSturgeon for her long-standing service. I wish her all the best for her next steps. We will continue to work closely with the @scotgov on our joint efforts to deliver for people across Scotland.  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) February 15, 2023

The Edinburgh Western MSP recalled a warm moment between the two when the First Minister offered him words of comfort after his young daughter choked on a coin and had to be resuscitated around five years ago.

Tributes were also paid from further afield, with Irelands premier Leo Varadkar hailing Ms Sturgeon as a true European.

He said: I always found Nicola a very warm person, articulate and thoughtful, and a very capable politician, who showed huge commitment to her country.
Political leaders in Northern Ireland have paid tribute to outgoing Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said she very much regrets Wednesdays shock announcement by Ms Sturgeon that she intends to step down.

She described the Scottish First Minister as a colleague and a friend with whom she shared a very close working relationship over many, many years.

Ms ONeill also said she felt Ms Sturgeon had been very honest, adding leadership takes its toll, and is a tough station, and at times very lonely, but also very rewarding.

We have many shared interests and I have no doubt in my mind that she will always be regarded as one of the most formidable leaders of our generation, she told reporters in Co Tyrone.

Its with deep regret to see Nicola Sturgeons resignation Nicola is a formidable leader who very ably represented the best of Scotland as First Minister She made huge strides in advancing Scottish independence & standing up for Scottish interests Her leadership will be missed pic.twitter.com/OSN5MI3jBJ  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) February 15, 2023

She leaves a legacy of compassion in Scotland, a legacy of strength, a legacy of standing up to the Tories and a legacy of advancing independence in Scotland.

Asked whether she feels Ms Sturgeon has left the fight for Scottish independence half done, Ms ONeill said she thinks Scottish independence is very much on the cards.

She said outlasting five UK prime ministers, serving as the first female Scottish first minister and longest-serving Scottish first minister is something to be rightly proud of.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson extended his best wishes to Ms Sturgeon.

Best wishes to @NicolaSturgeon as she steps down as First Minister of Scotland and SNP Leader. We are on different sides of many debates but her length of service and electoral success must be recognised. https://t.co/0psYRl1KxR  Jeffrey Donaldson MP (@J_Donaldson_MP) February 15, 2023

We are on different sides of many debates but her length of service and electoral success must be recognised, he tweeted.

SDLP Colum Eastwood said Ms Sturgeon has made an immense contribution and the politics of these islands.

Nicolas legacy stretches far beyond Scottish politics. She has undeniably demonstrated that a movement for independence is made stronger when you set out an ambitious plan for what a new country will look like, how it will care for its citizens and how it can deliver on the aspirations of all its people, he said.

But more than that, she has shown how that can be done using the power and potential of devolved government for more than a decade. There are lessons in that for those of us who believe in a New Ireland.
The for-profit career school Stone Academy announced Tuesday it will close its campuses in East Hartford, Waterbury and West Haven after facing numerous compliance issues. Its last day of classes were held Wednesday, a representative of the school confirmed.

The school, which offers training and preparation for certification in various health care careers, notified the Office of Higher Education of its intent to close on Feb. 6.

Office of Higher Education Executive Director Timothy Larson issued a letter to students Tuesday informing them of the issues Stone Academy faced, including that the schools practical nursing program faced closure due to high student failure rates.

According to the letter, to remain a state-approved program, the schools pass rate for the national nursing licensure exam must not fall below 80% for three years. For 2022, Stone Academys highest pass rate was 70 percent, while the lowest was 43 percent, and, after failing to reach 80 percent for three straight years, the East Hartford program was to be removed from the list of approved programs.

In addition, the OHE noted that 20 percent of the schools teachers were not qualified, that clinical experiences offered were invalid and that the school failed to properly document the attendance of students at classroom and clinical experiences.

Larson advised students of a few options they have for continuing their studies, having loans discharged or securing tuition refunds, and urged them to fill out a student information survey.

OHE is currently working with Stone Academy to secure all student files including transcripts and financial ledgers, in order to get them to students as soon as possible, Larson said.

The state later issued a release saying an independent auditor would evaluate each students academic record in order to provide guidance to students.

The Office of Higher education will hold information sessions to best assist each student with their individual plans of action, said Larson. I urge students to watch for communications from the Office of Higher Education for the date, time, and locations of these sessions.

The news that Stone Academy is closing its three campuses is extremely disappointing especially given the need of health care professionals in the workforce today, said Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani. But their 2022 pass rates for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) were far below the required 80% pass rate. A career that involves caring for others is a true calling, and this news cannot deter the goals these students have set for themselves. We are confident that the Office of Higher Education will help guide them toward a path of success that includes instruction from experienced and highly qualified mentors.

Stone Academy in May of 2022 paid more $1 million to resolve allegations of attempts to improperly influence the schools student loan default rate, according to federal authorities. In that case, the school reportedly tried to prevent student default rates from rising above federally allowed levels by secretly making payments to student accounts.

Stone Academy and Scheinberg made a payment of $1,023,950, plus interest, under a civil settlement agreement and also entered into an administrative agreement with the Department of Education in which Scheinberg agreed to cease involvement and participation in the operations, and divest direct ownership, of Stone Academy and the for-profit school, Creative Workforce LLC, doing business as Paier College of Art., federal authorities said. The administrative agreement also governs Scheinbergs agreed-to retirement from Goodwin University and the University of Bridgeport.
Nicola Sturgeon is standing down as First Minister and SNP leader after joining the Scottish National Party at the age of 16.

In a shock announcement on Wednesday, the 52-year-old said she believes the time is now to stand aside.

In 1999, Ms Sturgeon was SNP vice-convener during the Holyrood elections. She stood for the Glasgow Govan seat and lost, but joined the Scottish Parliament under the party list. Seen here with party colleagues, from left, deputy convenor John Swinney, party leader Alex Salmond and chief executive Mike Russell after the Scottish parliamentary elections of 1999 (Ben Curtis/PA)

Helping to launch the SNPs online mobile campaigning system for activists in 2009 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The longest serving  and first female  first minister rose to power unopposed after the ill-fated independence referendum in 2014, taking over from Alex Salmond, the mentor with whom she would come into conflict in the years to come over the handling of sexual harassment allegations made against him.

Then-first minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon walk past a sign showing the date for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 (David Cheskin/PA)

Mr Salmond was a mentor to Ms Sturgeon until they came into conflict over the handling of sexual harassment allegations made against him (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Last year the UKs Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Government does not have the power to hold another independence referendum, as Westminster blocks the move.

With Scottish actor Alan Cumming outside the Yes Kelvin campaign hub in Glasgow ahead of the Scottish independence referendum vote (Danny Lawson/PA)

The most recent independence poll from YouGov, in January 2023, had Yes on 40%, No on 46% and dont knows on 10% (Jane Barlow/PA)

Ms Sturgeons stint as First Minister spanned the entire period of the UKs exit from the European Union, including the 2016 referendum, the negotiations in 2017-19, the departure on January 31 2020 and the transition period until the end of 2020.

Ms Sturgeon was a firm supporter of Remain in the Brexit vote (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Throughout her stint as party leader, Ms Sturgeon clashed with Westminster on both independence but also other devolved powers issue.

During her time in office, the UK has seen five different prime ministers, all of them Conservative: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Leaving 10 Downing Street in London with her Brexit minister Michael Russell after a meeting with Theresa May in 2016 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Welcoming then-prime minister Boris Johnson to Bute House (Jane Barlow/PA)

The First Minister was also a key figure following the death of the Queen in Scotland in 2022, with many of the initial ceremonies held in Edinburgh.

Meeting the King and Queen Consort as they arrive at Edinburgh Airport after travelling from London, ahead of joining the procession of the Queens coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral (Robert Perry/PA)

The First Minister took a ride with Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on the day the monarch became Britains longest reigning in 2015 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The coronavirus pandemic saw Ms Sturgeon lead daily briefings to update the Scottish population on restrictions and death figures.

With Scottish chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood at a pandemic news conference in March 2020 (Jeff J Mitchell/PA)

People pass a TV shop as the First Minister made a Covid-19 statement during a virtual sitting of the Scottish Parliament (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Wearing a tartan mask to play with nine-month-old Amelia Mackinnon during a visit at Govan Help in Glasgow in 2022 (Peter Summers/PA)
Security guard David Smith snooped around colleagues desks at the British embassy in Berlin, copying pictures of their family and friends as Russian military forces loomed on the border of eastern Ukraine, a court has heard.

The 58-year-old Scot has admitted sending classified documents to the Russian Embassy anonymously in May and November 2020.

But he denies the accusation he was on the Russian payroll and being directed to provide a stream of intelligence.

The Old Bailey heard that in his letter of November 2020, Smith revealed the identity of a diplomat identified only as X who had worked in Moscow.

He included photographs of other employees and added details of their specific roles at the embassy, the court heard.

Smith told the court he felt ashamed when he saw the people he had betrayed afterwards and did not send anything else to the Russian Embassy.

David Smith has admitted spying for Russia while working at the British embassy in Berlin (Met Police/PA)

Cross-examining on Wednesday, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said: You saw X and the people whose photos you sent to the Russians.

Presumably you told them you had endangered their safety? At any moment the Russians would know who they were, what role they performed.

Smith replied: As far as I was concerned the information was already known.

I took the pictures to show the lack of security as I pushed back against the embassy but I assure you I havent sent another thing.

But Ms Morgan told the court that in June 2021, Smith filmed around the embassy, identifying colleagues and even recording personal pictures on their desks.

Smith said: I was pissed when I made the video. It was a good idea at the time.

Ms Morgan went on: These are not drunken videos taken by a teenager and put on TikTok.

Your hand appears steady throughout. Its more than that, because although you say you were ashamed you revealed information about X and other members of staff, those videos show you going to particular offices in the building.

You film the name plaque on the door, and when youve done that you go into the room and you film the outside space outside the window. The purpose is showing a person who might look at the video here is the name and here is their precise location.

What the videos then show is other things  rifling through drawers, walking over to whiteboards, and we see your hands appearing next to particular names, and those names are not accidental drunken choices.

Smith replied that he did not remember.

Ms Morgan said: How was your guilt in June 2021 when you zoomed in on photos on their desks showing them with their family members and friends?

David Ballantyne Smith taking a video of the CCTV monitors in the British Embassy security kiosk (Met Police/PA)

You were filming everything that someone would need to identify that person, to know their relatives, where their offices were located and their phone numbers, and you were being told to do that.

When you say you feel guilty, do you want to say now who was directing those videos?

Smith replied: No-one at all.

Ms Morgan went on to ask Smith what he knew of the global situation at the time he was making the videos inside the embassy.

Smith said he could only think of the Covid situation at the time.

The prosecutor suggested he would also be aware of Russian forces amassing on the border with Eastern Ukraine, where his wife Svetlana was living.

She said: In this period in 2021 when you were gathering information of this type on video, the Russian forces were gathering on the border of Ukraine and they were gathering on the border of the very area of where your wife lives, werent they?

Smith said that he would have seen it if it was on the news.

Ms Morgan asserted he did take a closer interest in Russian activities, as demonstrated by a cartoon of president Vladimir Putin posted inside his work locker.

In the picture, Putin had his hands around the neck of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in German uniform with the caption: Russia, please free us once again.

Ms Morgan said: You are working at the embassy for the United Kingdom and you chose to put a particular thing in your locker.

It is precisely what Russia was saying as its justification for amassing vast amounts of troops on the border, and it is a cartoon that depicts Angela Merkel as a Nazi.

The point being the justification Vladimir Putin was promulgating at the time was he was the one taking action against Nazi oppressors.

What is encapsulated in that cartoon is played out in Ukraine.

Smith replied: I just thought it was funny and my work colleagues even laughed at it.

If the Russian troops were amassed on the border of Ukraine I didnt think they would invade.

Ms Morgan said that at the time of Smiths offending the situation with Russia could not have been more finely balanced and intelligence, such as Britains approach to sanctions, would have been valuable.

Defence barrister Matthew Ryder KC said Smith loved and cared about his country and his interest in alternative truths was neither uncommon nor proof of anti-British sentiment.

He said: He has questioned the mainstream view presented in the media. The broadcast of (Russian government-funded) RT was available on Freeview until fairly recently.

Social media is teeming with alternative versions of the truth and even world leaders amongst the UKs allies have espoused alternative truths in recent years that people may think were not well supported.

That doesnt mean he has an ideology contrary to the state. He did have a sympathy for the Donbas. He has explained how that changed after a visit in 2019.

To see someone as being pro- or anti-UK in binary terms is overly simplistic.

Paisley-born Smith began collecting secrets material over four years and was caught following an undercover sting in August 2021.

The former RAF serviceman has pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
No evidence of a crime has been found in the investigation into Nicola Bulleys disappearance, a police chief said, as he criticised ill-informed speculation that had distracted detectives.

Lancashire Police Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson defended his forces investigation into the case of the missing mother-of-two at a press conference on Wednesday.

Ms Bulley disappeared while walking her springer spaniel, Willow, in the village of St Michaels on Wyre after she dropped her two daughters  aged six and nine  at school on January 27.

Setting out the details of the probe in more detail than police normally would, he said the scale has been unprecedented.

Nearly 40 detectives have sifted through hundreds of hours of CCTV, dashcam footage and tip-offs from the public.

And Mr Lawson said: There is no evidence to indicate a criminal aspect or third-party involvement in Nicolas disappearance.

He added: Weve shared more detail in this conference than would normally be the case but we intended, by doing so  both in terms of the scale of the investigation and the resources and the intensity of it and something around Nicolas vulnerabilities  that we are able to counter some of the ill-informed speculation and conjecture that has at times distracted the investigation from what ought to have been its priorities.

It has been a distraction. That is potentially damaging to the investigation, the community of St Michaels and most importantly Nicolas family.

A missing person poster and yellow ribbons with message of hope for Nicola Bulley on a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire (Peter Byrne/PA)

Senior investigating officer Detective Supt Rebecca Smith said her officers were being inundated with false information, accusations and rumours, which are distracting them from finding her, as she went through her decision-making process in detail.

She said the 45-year-old was designated a high-risk missing person because of a number of specific vulnerabilities and her main working hypothesis was still that the 45-year-old fell into the River Wyre.

As any senior investigating officer does, you form a number of hypotheses  that is scenarios which are possible from the information to hand, she said.

Those hypotheses included the one that she possibly could have gone into the river, that there could have been third-party involvement and lastly, that she could have left the area voluntarily.

Those hypotheses have remained in place throughout, are reviewed regularly.

In an answer to a question, she later added: Im not going to go into the details of those individual vulnerabilities. Ive asked you to respect the family, who are going through unimaginable pain and distress at this moment.

But those vulnerabilities based our decision-making in terms of grading Nicola as high risk and have continued to form part of my investigation throughout.

Ms Smith told of persistent myths about the case.

Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson (left) and Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith of Lancashire Police update the media (Peter Powell/PA)

She said: The derelict house which is across the other side of the river has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there.

The red van, were really grateful to members of the public for ringing into the inquiry, we wouldnt have got this far without everyones help.

But its also really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations and rumours which is distracting us from our work.

She said reports of a red van in the area on the morning of Ms Bulleys disappearance is not being treated as suspicious.

At a press conference on February 3 Lancashire Police first told the public of their main working hypothesis that the mortgage adviser fell in the river during a 10-minute window between 9.10am and 9.20am that day.

She has still not been found and detectives extended the search for her to the sea on February 3.

Asked if she hoped to find her alive, Ms Smith said: I hope with all my heart that we find Nicola Bulley alive more than anything.
A 14-year-old boy has admitted to causing the death of a grandmother while driving an electric scooter.

Pedestrian Linda Davis, 71, was injured when she was hit by the teenager on a privately-owned e-scooter on the pavement in Southwell Road East, Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, on June 2 last year.

Mrs Davis, who was known as Lou, died six days later in hospital.

Appearing at a hearing at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Wednesday, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by driving a vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, and another of causing death by driving a vehicle while uninsured.

Wearing a black jacket, tracksuit bottoms and trainers, and supported by his father, the boy, who is from Nottinghamshire, spoke only to confirm his details and enter pleas.

District Judge Leo Pyle granted the teenager bail until his next court appearance, with a condition to cooperate with the authorities prior to the hearing.

He said: This case will clearly require a pre-sentence report in respect of the defendants age.

I will also need sufficient time because clearly there will be victim personal statements which will need to be read, should the authors of those victim personal statements wish to read them out in court.

Addressing the defendant, he said: By placing you on bail, it is vital that you keep out of trouble with the police and do not be tempted to use any of these machines.

I leave all sentencing options available to myself.

I am not tying my hands as to how I will deal with you.

Kelly Shooter, prosecuting, said that Mrs Davis daughter, who attended court, wished to read out a statement at the sentencing hearing, which was scheduled for March 8.

The teenager appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court (Emma Coles/PA)

Neil Taylor, defending, made no submissions.

According to the Department for Transport, it is illegal to use privately-owned e-scooters on pavements, footpaths, cycle tracks and cycle lanes on roads. Riders must have a driving licence.

To be used on public roads and in public spaces lawfully, they must conform to a number of requirements, including being insured, taxed, and used with relevant safety equipment and other conditions.

However, the DfT website states that it is likely that they (riders) will find it very difficult to comply with all of these requirements, meaning their use on public roads would effectively be a criminal offence.

They can be used on private land, with the landowners permission.

Around 1,300 e-scooters are currently available for hire in Nottingham under the city councils SuperPedestrian scheme, a Government-backed trial running until May 2024.

These are legal on public roads in some areas of the city under certain conditions, but riders must be aged at least 18 and hold at least a provisional driving licence.
A 19-month-old girl has become the first child in the UK to receive a revolutionary gene therapy for a fatal disorder.

Teddi Shaw suffers from deadly metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) but has been given the chance of a normal life thanks to one of the worlds most expensive drugs.

The therapy, Libmeldy, has been approved on the NHS for the condition, which is inherited and rare and causes serious damage to the nervous system and organs, dramatically cutting life expectancy.

The treatment had a list price of 2.8 million when it was approved last year, but NHS England reached agreement with the firm Orchard Therapeutics to offer it at a discounted price.

Libmeldy is a treatment that works to correct the genetic cause of MLD by inserting functional copies of a faulty gene into the patients own stem cells.

Teddi Shaw has received a new gene therapy treatment on the NHS (Family handout/PA)

The stem cells come from the patients own bone marrow or blood and are then fed back into the body carrying the new genetic information.

Teddi, from Northumberland, had her stem cells removed and the faulty genes replaced in several stages between June and October last year.

She is now a healthy and happy toddler and shows no signs of the devastating disease she was born with.

However, her family are still facing heartbreak because her three-year-old sister, Nala, who also suffers MLD, is too far advanced in her illness to benefit from the treatment.

The therapy, which is delivered as a one-off intravenous infusion, must be given before the irreversible damage caused by the disease progresses too far, according to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Teddi Shaws sister, Nala, also has MLD but her illness is too far advanced for her to benefit from the revolutionary gene therapy (Family handout/PA)

Teddi and Nala live with their parents Ally, 32, and Jake, 29.

Mrs Shaw said: In April last year, our world was turned upside down when not one but both of our daughters were diagnosed with MLD.

Being told our first daughter, Nala, wasnt eligible for any treatment, would continue to lose all functions and die extremely young was the most heartbreaking and hardest thing to come to terms with.

However, amongst the pain, was hope for our younger daughter, Teddi. We were told that a new gene therapy treatment had, luckily, recently been made available on the NHS.

We are extremely privileged that Teddi is the first child to receive this on the NHS and grateful that she has the opportunity to lead a long and hopefully normal life. Without this treatment, we would be facing both our children being taken away.

We can only hope that, one day, a treatment becomes available for all stages of MLD, and we feel strongly that it should be added to the newborn screening test to save more families from having to go through this heartache.

Teddi Shaw after treatment (Family handout/PA)

She added: Teddi is doing absolutely brilliant. She is walking, running, a chatterbox  absolutely no signs so far of MLD. She is an absolute character and has everyone around her laughing all the time.

Only around five children are born each year in England with MLD.

According to Nice, the condition is caused by a lack of the enzyme Arylsulfatase-A.

Without this enzyme, substances called sulphatides build up, eventually destroying the protective myelin sheath of the nervous system.

As a result, the nerves in the brain and the peripheral nerves cease to function properly, causing symptoms including muscle weakness, sight and hearing loss, difficulty walking, loss of speech, cognitive decline and seizures.

Children whose MLD starts before 30 months (the most common and the most rapidly progressing type) deteriorate quickly and usually die between the ages of five and eight.

Those whose MLD starts between 30 months and six years of age have a life expectancy of 10 to 20 years more.

Libmeldy is being made available on the NHS as a specialist service through the Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital.

This centre is one of just five European sites administering the treatment, and is the only site in the UK.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: This is a huge moment of hope for parents and their babies who are born with this devastating inherited disorder, that can now be treated with a single round of revolutionary treatment at a specialist centre on the NHS.

I am delighted that we have given this miracle treatment to the Shaw family at what must have been a horrendous time for them, and I would like to thank the staff at Royal Manchester Children Hospital for turning research into reality for Teddi and others who will benefit.

Professor Rob Wynn, director of the paediatric bone marrow transplant programme at the Royal Manchester, said: Being able to offer this first licensed treatment as part of NHS standard of care and, crucially, transform Teddis life, has been an exciting experience for all of us involved here in Manchester  staff, researchers, patients and families.

Through the years, colleagues and I have looked after a range of patients with rare but severe conditions, where treatment has been limited.

It is wonderful to be involved in this breakthrough moment and deliver a gene therapy which will transform outcomes for patients with MLD.

Professor Simon Jones, a clinical director at the Royal Manchester, said: MLD is a progressive, life-limiting condition and, prior to this metabolic disorder service being made available via the NHS, there were no approved treatment options available.

Vivienne Clark, chairwoman of MLD Support Association UK, said she is thrilled that Teddi is now expected to lead a normal life.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: Gene therapy is transforming healthcare and, most importantly, saving lives.

Thanks to treatments such as Libmeldy, children like Teddi and their families can avoid heartbreak and spend more precious moments together.
Ukraine will be top of the agenda as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace joins his counterparts for a Nato meeting in Brussels.

The second day of the gathering of Nato defence ministers comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

The request, which comes as the first anniversary of Russias invasion approaches, is the latest plea from Mr Zelensky to Western allies.

The UK is set to become the first nation to start training Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard aircraft, but the Government has indicated that any possibility of Britain lending jets to Kyiv is a long-term prospect.

Mr Wallace, who met with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov on Tuesday, said that Western allies would continue to stand in solidarity with the war-torn country.

I am very pleased to be back at Nato to continue the vital work to support Ukraine, as well as meeting with my defence counterparts.

Our important work is ongoing, the UK and our Allies will stand in solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes, he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to London (Peter Nicholls/PA)

It comes as Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg warned this week that the alliance sees no sign whatsoever that President Putin is preparing for peace.

But the meeting also comes amid the backdrop of fresh tensions with China after the US shot down four balloons flying in its airspace this month, with Washington declaring one of them to be a piece of Chinese spyware.

Mr Wallace has been charged with reviewing the UKs own security measures in the wake of the incidents.

Downing Street also confirmed on Tuesday that Rishi Sunak will travel to Munich this weekend, joining fellow world leaders for a conference on international security.

Last years conference, held just before Russia invaded Ukraine, was dominated by concerns over the prospect of conflict in the region.

Boris Johnson, then-prime minister, used a speech at the event to warn Moscow that the West would stand with Ukraine in the event of an invasion.

Mr Sunaks attendance at the conference, alongside other European leaders, comes amid speculation that London and Brussels are close to reaching a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Boris Johnson at the Munich Security Conference in Germany last year (Matt Dunham/PA)

Attendance at the summit may provide an opportunity for Mr Sunak to hold face-to-face talks with EU leaders as part of efforts towards bringing to an end the row over post-Brexit arrangements in the region.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are all expected to attend the conference, which will largely focus on the war in Ukraine.

Despite optimism that a deal could be in sight, British officials were not expecting an announcement this week.
An 83-year-old widow whose husband of 66 years left her out of his will has won a High Court fight for a share of an estate worth more than 1 million.

Karnail Singh left everything to his two sons  and nothing to widow Harbans Kaur, or his four daughters, a judge was told.

Mr Justice Peel heard that Mr Singh, who died in 2021, wished to leave his estate solely down the male line.

He heard that Mrs Kaur estimated the estate to be worth 1.9 million, gross, but one of her sons put the value at 1.2 million.

The judge, who heard the family had run a clothing business, ruled Mrs Kaur should get 50% of the net value of the estate.

He said it was clear reasonable provision had not been made for Mrs Kaur, whose income consisted of state benefits of around 12,000.

Mr Justice Peel has outlined detail of his decision in a written ruling after considering evidence at a recent hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The claimant and the deceased married in 1955, so that by the time of his death they had been married for about 66 years, said the judge in his ruling.

They had seven children, of whom one sadly is deceased.

He said evidence showed Mrs Kaur had played a full role in the marriage and worked in the family clothing business.

By (a) will, dated 25 June 2005, the estate was left in equal shares to two of the children the sons of the claimant and the deceased, said the judge.

The reason why the will was crafted in these terms, excluding the claimant and the other four siblings, was because the deceased wished to leave his estate solely down the male line.

He added: It seems to me that this is the clearest possible case entitling me to conclude that reasonable provision has not been made for the claimant. It is hard to see how any other conclusion can be reached. After a marriage of 66 years, to which she made a full and equal contribution, and during which all the assets accrued, she is left with next to nothing.

He said she should receive 50% of the net value of the estate.

Lawyer Heledd Wyn, who is based at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, said the ruling should be a warning.

This decision is evidence that people cannot simply be cut out of wills, especially spouses which have contributed for a significant number of years, she said.

The court has been very clear on this matter and has ruled in the interest of fairness.

She added: The High Courts decision should serve as a warning to anyone considering making rash or unfair decisions about who to have as beneficiaries to their estates.
Three objects shot down by American fighter jets were likely used for commercial or other benign purposes, according to a prevailing theory among intelligence officials announced by the White House.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Officials have ruled out that the objects are government vessels, and intelligence suggests they are not linked to China, which is accused of sending a massive surveillence balloon across the US earlier this month. The US military has recovered significant debris from that aircraft after an F-22 shot it down roughly 10 miles off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February.

Congressional Republicans have pointed to that incident and the recent intrusion of three smaller objects in North American airspace as evidence of President Joe Bidens failure to confront China, while Chinese officials have accused the US of illegally deploying balloons into its own airspace in recent days.

Key points

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Republicans use balloon incident to attack Biden as they call on president to hold national address

US military says it has recovered significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

China accuses US of illegally flying spy balloons into airspace

US military takes down fourth object in a month  this time above Lake Huron

Object over Lake Huron likely passed by sensitive military sites and posed surveillance threat, Pentagon says

05:00 , Alex Woodward

A statement from the US Department of Defense on Sunday evening reported that President Joe Biden acted on guidance from military officials to shoot down the object that was flying at about 20,000 feet above Lake Huron.

Officials also confirmed that the object was likely the same that was picked up as a radar anomaly over Montana on Saturday night, when the object was in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites, the statement said.

We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities, it continued.

NORAD tracked the object on Sunday morning, and an F-16 jet fired a single Sidewinder missile at about 2.24pm ET.

Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation, according to the statement.

Taking it down over the lake avoided impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery, the Pentagon said.

There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected, the statement added.

Federal agencies are now working to recover the debris.

ICYMI: Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Astronomers reported that a Chinese satellite fired green laser beams over the US state of Hawaii during mounting between Beijing and Washignton after several foreign objects including a Chinese spy balloon were shot down over the US in recent days.

Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan captured the mystery beams of light on video through its Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea back on 28 January.

Footage of the incident shows green laser light beaming over the cloudy sky over Maunakea in Hawaii.

Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

03:00 , Alex Woodward

US Northern Command reports that crews working at the site of the shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina 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.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

The planes and weapons that brought down objects in North American airspace

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Two F-22 Raptor fighter jets flew out ofJoint Base Elmendorf in Alaska to take down the unidentified object above Alaskan airspace on Friday.

One missile  an AIM-9X Sidewinder  was fired, according to the Pentagon.

Several military planes and helicopters are assisting in the recovery operation.

The military deployed two kinds of helicopters  the HH-60 Pave Hawk and CH-47 Chinook  as well as the HC-130 search-and-rescue plane.

A Raytheon-built Sidewinder missile has been used to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon and three smaller objects above North American airspace in recent days. (AP)

Two F-22 jets tracked another object across Alaska as it entered Canada on Saturday. Canadian CF-18 fighters and CP-140 maritime patrol craft joined the operation. The American jet fired a single Sidewinder missile, bringing the object down roughly 100 miles from the US-Canada border in Canadian territory in central Yukon.

Canadas defense minister Anita Anand said the operation is likely the first using NORAD to shoot down an object in Canadian airspace.

The following day, two F-16 fighter jets were deployed above Lake Huron in Michigan. A Sidewinder missile was fired but missed, according to military officials and the White House. The missile reportedly landed on the lake. A second missile struck the object.

John Kirby: Recovering shot-down debris will take some time'

01:00 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

Were dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So were up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

Were going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that thats the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

00:00 , Alex Woodward

A massive surveillance balloon that drifted across the US before it was shot down by an American fighter jet is believed to be part of a Chinese military fleet of similar intelligence-gathering aircrafts.

But military and White House officials say there is no indication that three smaller unidentified objects that were shot down above North American airspace in as many days are part of the same program, and may not have come from China at all.

The balloons intrusion into North American airspace was likely one of several from similar aircrafts in recent years, including three sightings during President Donald Trumps administration, a revelation that has prompted the military to begin filtering in all kinds of other aerial objects on its radars.

The US military has reportedly widened its range of radar data as it monitors North American airspace for objects that might have otherwise been filtered out, with officials comparing their expanded radar search to search filters a prospective car buyer would use to broaden the parameters to find what theyre looking for.

While the White House tries to tamp down on baseless speculation and conspiracy theories, other US officials and members of Congress, who have received several classified briefings and testimony about the intrusion, continue to suggest that the other objects came from China.

Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?

China calls Ohio train crash OhioChernobyl as it mocks US for caring too much about spy balloon

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:30 , Alex Woodward

The Chinese foreign ministry mocked the United States on Tuesday for its concerns over an alleged Chinese spy balloon while a toxic chemical leak from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio threatens to become one of the most damaging environmental disasters in the countrys history.

Abe Asher reports:

China mocks US for focusing spy balloon during train derailment

Jon Tester will lead Senate probe into flying objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Montana Senator Jon Tester will lead probes into the objects that were shot down over North American airspace in recent days.

The senator led a panel last week to hear from military officials about the ballon that was spotted above his home state near sensitive military sites.

We still have questions about why they didnt discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner, Mr Schumer said on Tuesday. Senator Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this.

Mr Tester said on Sunday that the Biden administration and US military need to have a policy about unidentified objects in US airspace to recommend to the president to swiftly handle any future incursions.

Whats been going on the last  10 days has been nothing short of craziness, he told CBS Face the Nation. The military needs to have a plan to not only determine whats out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.

(AP)

Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham reassured after briefings on objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:39 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Mitt Romney said the recently shot-down objects above North American airspace are not very high on my worry chart following closed-door briefings with lawmakers on Tuesday.

The reality is we dont know a lot about what these items are, yet, he said.

Sen Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham talk to me after a classified briefing on the balloons, both saying they are reassured by what they have heard pic.twitter.com/i3sfb0uzZn  Dan Rivers (@danriversitv) February 14, 2023

Mr Romney also told CNN that there a lot of these things that are up in the air from time to time, some commercial, some government and maybe theres some things we dont know, adding he wasnt worried in the slightest over whether the objects posed any threats.

Senator Lindsey Graham also told ITV that he is not unnerved after he participated in classified briefings with other members of Congress.

I didnt hear anything in there that unnerved me, he said.

Leading theory is objects are commercial craft or benign, White House says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:09 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the leading theory behind the three recently shot-down objects are they were used for commercial or other benign purposes.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, he said.

Officials have ruled out that the objects are government vessels, and intelligence suggests they are not linked to China, he said.

We dont know of any evidence right now that that confirms that they were in fact doing intelligence collection by another government, he said.

White House National Security Council strategic communication coordinator John Kirby speaking from the briefing room on 13 February (Getty Images)

Republican senators use balloon incident to attack Biden as they call on president to hold national address

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:05 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana characterised the Biden administrations decision to wait to shoot down the surveillance balloon as a weakness and indecision, though the president initally ordered the US military to do so at first sight.

Military officials, who claimed to have blocked any intelligence-gathering capabilities and said that the balloon posed no physical threat, advised against shooting it down until it was clear of people and buildings below, and so that the materials from the balloon could be recovered and investigated.

Those decisions and likely many others were shared with lawmakers over a series of hearings, including closed-door classified briefings, but Republican senators have not shared what they learned, instead using the incident as ammunition for their attacks on the administration and its policies regarding China.

GOP leader Mitch McConnell and Mr Daines have urged the president to hold a national address to speak on the issue.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

US military officials contend that it was safer for American fighter jets to shoot down the massive balloon once it crossed into accessible waters rather than shoot it out of the sky while it was potentially a risk to people and buildings below.

But during an event in Idaho over the weekend, Marjorie Taylor Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She then compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner, one of four aircraft hijacked on 9/11. Passengers prevented hijackers from reaching their target in Washington DC by downing the craft in a field, killing all on board.

Marjorie Taylor Greene draws wild comparison between Chinese spy balloon and 9/11

Mitch McConnell: The American people deserve to hear more from the president on balloons

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:52 , Alex Woodward

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that the president basically was watching the balloon go all across America earlier this month, making only a passing reference to the aircraft, which he ordered to shoot down, in State of the Union address

The GOP leader tied the balloon event to a series of foreign policy decisions under President Biden, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The American people deserve to hear more from the president on all of these issues, he said.

Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso called the balloon incident a majority security breach, refuting characterisations from the Pentagon and the White House that the balloon did not pose any intelligence or physical threat.

(REUTERS)

China mocks Americas balloon obsession while seemingly ignoring Ohio

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying mocked Americas scrutiny into the suspected surveillance balloon, accusing the nation of ignoring the threats posed by the train derailment in Ohio that has sparked widespread contamination fears, with Hua Chunying comparing it to the disaster at Chernobyl.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl, she wrote on Twitter.

Apparently some in the US take a wandering civilian balloon as a big threat while the explosive train derailment and toxic chemical leak Not. #OhioChernobyl pic.twitter.com/uBEfG3HMXN  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) February 14, 2023

The Independent is covering the Ohio disaster here:

Ohio train derailment puts millions at risk as toxic chemicals enter river

Senate intelligence chair tells The Independent that US needs a better reporting system for knowing whats in the sky

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:40 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Independents Eric Garcia that Americans will have more information about the objects that were shot down above North American airspace over the last several days once the debris is collected.

But the US needs to acknolwdge that there is not a good reporting system in place that if you're a weather balloon or commercial balloon or some other kind of activity, you just don't have that kind of visibility, Mr Warner told The Independent on Tuesday.

His remarks, echoing earlier statements, follow closed-door briefings with lawmakers to learn more about the objects that were shot down by the military.

(Getty Images)

Lisa Murkowski tells The Independent that administrations lack of answers and honest unknowns is frustrating

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:35 , Eric Garcia and Alex Woodward

Republican US Senator Lisa Murskowski was furious with military officials during a Senate hearing last week as she grilled defense chiefs about the surveillance balloon that flew into the US from her home state of Alaska and was allowed to travel across the US.

She told The Independents Eric Garcia that senators are still waiting to really understand the origin, the nature of these objects  two of which also flew in across her state before they were shot down. One was shot down in Alaskan waters.

While the US has had some success recovering materials from the downed balloon off the South Carolina coast, were still in search of the debris from the other areas.

Im very anxious to know more about that, she said.

Its frustrating, she added, with a lot of outstanding questions after several briefings, including classified briefings with administration officials, with answers that are frustratingly opaque or provide little more than honest unknowns.

(REUTERS)

Marjorie Taylor Greene compares balloon to 9/11

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

Far-right Georgia US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene drew a wild comparison between the Chinese surveillance balloon and United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 11 September, 2001.

Military officials contend that it was safer  with a better chance of recovering crucial components  for the US to shoot down the balloon once it crossed into accessible waters, rather than shoot it out over the sky above people and buildings.

During an event in Idaho over the weekend, Ms Greene called the reasoning from the Pentagon and military officials pathetic, absolutely pathetic and a bunch of bull****.

She compared the size of the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, to a plane  specifically, the United Airlines jetliner that crashed on 9/11.

Remember that? It didnt kill anybody on the ground. Killed everyone on board. But it didnt kill anyone on the ground, Ms Greene said. So they want to tell all of us that it was too risky to take down that Chinese spy balloon over rural Idaho or Montana, or any of these other states, or Alaska? Theyre liars.

She suggested that President Joe Biden deliberately kept the balloon above US airspace because he sold out to China.

You can only see it two ways, she said, offering up three. Either theyre liars or theyre cowards or our president is sold out to China. You know what? Ill go with all three.

Marjorie Taylor Greene used the death count from hijacked 9/11 Flight 93 to minimize the risk of shooting down the spy balloon.



MTG: Do you guys remember on 9/11 when an airplane crashed in Pennsylvania? It killed everyone on board, but it didnt kill anyone on the ground. pic.twitter.com/uznQZ4zmk6  PatriotTakes  (@patriottakes) February 13, 2023

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:20 , Alex Woodward

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 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.

The Independents Andrew Griffin writes:

UFOs, UAPs and ETs: Why some people believe aliens are visiting us right now

Search interest in UFOs and extraterrestrial life has exploded with the latest aerial objects and White House comments

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Google search interest in what is in the sky is at an all-time high in the US, and Americans asking if aliens are real has more than tripled within the past day, after the White House rejected claims that extraterrestial life forms are responsible for a series of unidentified objects shot down by American fighter jets.

The administrations own discussion of the topic has inflamed baseless speculation and fuelled conspiracy theories, as officials and experts contend that there is no evidence to support that the objects came from China or another planet, but could more likely to be another kind of aircraft caught up in a broadening radar scope after the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.

But search interest in the US for extraterrestrial life is eight times greater than that of surveillance over the past day. The most-asked questions are related to shooting down UFOS, how many there are, what aliens are, and what UFO means.

(Unidentified flying object, by the way.)

(REUTERS)

Senate intelligence committee chair wants more aggressive system for tracking civilian crafts in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the US needs a better system for keeping track of objects in US airspace.

My hope would be that we are much more aggressive about trying to make sure that objects are up there for legitimate scientific, weather or other purposes and that there is a much better notification process with authorities, he told reporters on Tuesday.

Members of Congress received closed-door briefings on the latest objects shot down by American fighter jets on Tuesday.

(REUTERS)

Watch: Mark Milley confirms F-16 missed Lake Huron object

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed on Tuesday that a missile fired by an F-16 fighter jet aimed at an object over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday missed the target. A second missile successfully brought it down.

He said the first missile landed harmlessly in the water.

Top Democrat on House Armed Services Committee claims China almost certainly responsible for objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:30 , Alex Woodward

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee alleged that China almost certainly launched the three objects shot down by American fighter jets, though the White House, Pentagon officials and intelligence analysts have not yet made any such definitive answers about their origin.

US Rep Adam Smith told USA Today that the objects are almost certainly a case of the Chinese trying to come up with new or creative ways to spy on us.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Mr Smith said the US needs to respond and block this avenue but stressed that global surveillance efforts between world powers are nothing new.

Its not like theyre learning some deep dark secret that makes us extra vulnerable here, he added. We definitely want to stop them from doing it, as we want to try and stop all efforts of surveillance on the US by China or anybody else for that matter. But, no, I dont think its something that the American public needs to worry a great deal about.

US military has not yet recovered debris from downed objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:01 , Alex Woodward

While crews have recovered significant debris from the Chinese surveillance balloons, recovery operations that began this weekend for the other three downed objects have so far yielded nothing.

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 US militarys Northern Command said in a statement on Monday.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson told reporters that recovery teams are dealing with some pretty tough conditions on Lake Huron and in the frozen seas near Alaska.

US military recovers significant electronics from downed Chinese spy balloon

Everything we know about the mysterious objects shot down by US warplanes

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

For three days in a row, US military fighter jets brought down similar high-altitude objects, all within a week after a large airship, allegedly sent by China to spy on the US mainland, seized the national news agenda.

This is everything we know, so far:

Everything we know about the objects shot down by US warplanes

Full story: First F-16 missile strike at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

In separate briefings with reporters on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley confirmed that it took two attempts to take down unidentified object above Lake Huron on Sunday.

First F-16 missile at flying object over Lake Huron missed, US officials confirm

John Kirby: Could be some time before US recovers debris from shot-down objects

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:33 , Alex Woodward

It could take some time before the US recovers materials from several downed objects shot down above US airspace in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Recovery operations are underway off the coast of South Carolina to recover critical materials from the Chinese surveillance balloon, and authorities also are recovering debris from two shot-down objects in Alaskan waters and in Lake Hurson. Canadian authorities also are recovering debris from an object shot down by an American fighter jet in the Yukon territory on Saturday.

We're dealing with some pretty tough conditions, Mr Kirby said. Lake Huron, which is not a shallow lake and the Yukon wilderness well as sea ice north of the coast of North Alaska ... Even even off the coast of South Carolina when we have been able to take debris up off the bottom ... So we're up against it when it comes to to just the weather and the general geographic issues.

He said investigators are doing to keep at it in the meantime.

We're going to try to get the as much debris as we can because we know that that's the best way for us to do the forensics on, on these on these objects, he added.

He stressed that the the US has not yet seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of [Chinas] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts.

Milley: F-16 missed object over Lake Huron with first shot

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:25 , Alex Woodward

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday that the F-16 jet that brought down an object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the first time.

The object was shot down with a second shot, he said during a briefing alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels.

Just in: Romania spots balloon-like craft in airspace

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:39 , Alex Woodward

The Romanian Air Forces surveillance system detected an airborne object that looked like a weather balloon flying in the countrys airspace, Romanias defense ministry announced on Tuesday.

The balloon-like craft was reportedly flying at about 11,000 meters, or roughly 37,000 feet, though two MiG jets scrambled in southeast Romania 10 minutes after the sighting could not confirm the target, according to Reuters.

Trumps secretary of state claims latest balloon incidents brought global shame to the US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:32 , Alex Woodward

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is reportedly mulling entry in the 2024 presidential race, said that the Biden administration made an enormous mistake that caused global shame with its handling of the Chinese surveillance balloon.

As it traveled across the US earlier this month, it created an an enormous geopolitical advantage for China, he told The Hill during an interview promoting his memoir.

I cant imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame, he added.

Mr Pompeo conceded that he does not know what information, if any, it collected or what intelligence it had or what imagery it captured.

Justin Trudeau suggests pattern between objects shot down

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:00 , Graig Graziosi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was a pattern between the objects that were shot down over North America over the last several days.

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, he said.

Admiral John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said he could not comment on the assertion, saying he was unfamiliar with Mr Trudeaus statement.

He said the objects shot down over the last several days were unlike the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier in January. Mr Kirby also said the origins of the three objects shot down over North America are still currently unknown.

John Kirby says Chinese spy balloon program was operational during Trump administration, but they did not detect it

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:30 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, told reporters that a Chinese high altitude spy balloon program was known to defense officials during Donald Trumps tenure in the White House, but noted that his administration failed to detect the objects.

...But we were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection thats connected to the Peoples Liberation Army, he said. It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it.

Mr Trump denied any balloons entered US airspace during his administration in a furious post on Truth Social.

Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the heat off the slow moving Biden fools, he wrote. China had too much respect for TRUMP for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!

Read more:

Biden White House says Trumps team failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme
Elvis Costello, Night Two: 'A Dream That Goes Beyond Four Walls'

Elvis Costello is performing 200+ songs from his 600+ songbook over 10 nights at the Gramercy Theater in New York from Feb. 9-22. Costello superfan (and comedian) Connor Ratliff is bringing us the highlights from every night of the historic run. Catch up on his reports from Night One, Night Two, Night Three, and Night Four here.

We have now reached the midpoint of Elvis Costellos 10-night stand at New Yorks Gramercy Theatre, with the entire series of shows entitled 100 Songs and More. For those keeping score at home, I think he passed the 100-song mark within the first half of Night Five, so from this point on, we are officially in the and More section of the run.

More from Spin:

Anyone expecting a conventional Valentines Day show from Costello, perhaps with songs like Alison (sorry, already played, Night One), Everyday I Write the Book (Night 10, next week), or She (his cover of the Charles Aznavour song, recorded for the motion picture Notting Hill and not currently among the pre-announced songs) still presumably got a few of the moments they were seeking at the very end of the night when he pulled out A Good Year for the Roses and My Funny Valentine before performing a characteristically tender Indoor Fireworks.

To be honest, even those three songs arent really all that romantic if you pay attention to the words. Costello essentially acknowledged this reality early on in the show  his songbook doesnt contain a deep bench of uncomplicated love songs.

For the bulk of the evening, Costello mostly veered towards the non-romantic, though there were expressions of genuine love, such as the openly affectionate My Three Sons, or The Puppet Has Cut His Strings, a moving account of his fathers final moments.

He also once again paid tribute to his songwriting partners Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint. The first Bacharach/Costello tune to appear in these shows, Toledo, from their 1998 album Painted From Memory, is explicitly about infidelity and regret  as much of an anti-Valentine as anything on This Years Model. Costello also performed Stripping Paper, intended to be a collaboration with Bacharach, who received the song and told him it was finished; the legendary perfectionist had nothing to add. Like Toledo, its a song about infidelity and regret, two words you wont find on any non-ironic candy hearts.

Toussaints The Greatest Love was another acid pick, a song that sounds like a conventional love song until it pulls the rug out the first chance it gets. Throw in I Hope Youre Happy Now, Home Truth, and I Dreamed of My Old Lover Last Night and youre well on your way to creating a mixtape for a series of bad break-ups.

Look Nows Dishonour the Stars was a rare bit of pure romanticism mixed in amid all the more complicated fare, followed immediately by the decadent lovers of After the Fall from 1991s Mighty Like a Rose, yet another seldom-played song that I honestly never thought Id ever witness in concert.

Speaking of which: after Costello opened the show with a rousing This Years Girl, the sequence of titles that followed was remarkable even by the high standard hed set on the previous four nights. Versions of Starting To Come to Me and I Hope Youre Happy Now that felt stripped down to the bone preceded a stellar Our Little Angel, followed by the King of America outtake King of Confidence (making only its third appearance in concert since the mid-1980s). Those who never purchased the deluxe CD reissues may have been scratching their heads wondering if this fabulous obscurity was a new song or a cover, but they didnt have long to process it before Costello was belting out Blue Chair to the delight of  Im going to assume  nearly every single person in the room.

Song after song, deep cut after deep cut, delicate performances of emotionally intricate songs  more than anything, the evening was a marshmallow valentine for Costello fans who wanted to hear great songs that dont often make it into the setlist.

But 17 titles deep into the concert, with the crowd starting to sense that things may be wrapping up before too long, Costello began to play one of his finest love ballads, Ill Wear It Proudly, only to be joined by a mysterious musical accompaniment when he arrived at the first chorus. The source of the sound was hard to discern at first  I looked to Costellos feet to see if he was operating any pedals, but they were planted firmly on the stage. I glanced over to stage right, where his guitar tech didnt appear to be playing anything and, as far as I could tell, no one else had made a discreet entrance onto the stage. It was then that I turned around to look back towards the rest of the audience and saw none other than Attractions/Imposters pianist/keyboard player extraordinaire Steve Nieve, standing in the middle of the aisle, just a few feet away, blowing into a vocoder and gazing up lovingly at Costello onstage, serenading him with the hauntingly beautiful organ part that accompanies the chorus. It was a Valentines Day miracle!

Credit: Connor Ratliff

Nieve, sporting a small Air France carry-on bag, promptly joined Costello on stage and the merry duo went straight into Crimes of Paris, followed by a pair of gentle numbers from Look Now, Adieu Paris (with Costello serenading the audience, mostly in French) and Isabelle in Tears.

A couple of blazing Get Happy!! tracks (High Fidelity and the always-scorching Riot Act) were followed by the Good Year/Indoor/Funny Valentine trio, and it was time to wrap things up with another helping of Peace, Love & Understanding at the end of another deeply special, thoroughly unpredictable show. By the time it was over, I felt like we had been on a long and winding journey, to the point where it hardly seemed plausible that we had just finished watching the same show where Costello had played Starting To Come to Me and I Hope Youre Happy Now a couple of hours earlier. Surely that had been some other night.

No show on Wednesday night. Back for more on Thursday with Night Six

Stray observations:

Over at The Elvis Costello Wiki, they are keeping track of the song stats for these shows, with handy charts and everything. No songs have appeared yet from Punch The Clock, The Juliet Letters, North, The Boy Named If or The Resurrection of Rust. The top three LPs so far are My Aim Is True, King of America, and National Ransom, with nine songs each. But by far the largest category represented are non-album b-sides and bonus tracks, with a whopping 23 songs.

100 Songs and More album scorecard via The Elvis Costello Wiki

Within minutes of Steves arrival, they burned through two songs previously designated for Night Seven: Ill Wear It Proudly and Isabelle on Tears. This means more surprises for Night Seven!

Did Steve truly come directly from the airport? Or was I duped by some theatrics, a prop bag, and a well-timed entrance? Either way, what fun.

The guy who was shouting out and singing along during Night Four thankfully did not return, and I heard several people complaining about him tonight. We wish him all the best, very far away from any of these shows, or any shows, ever again.

Two more wishes from my list came true tonight  Harry Worth and My Three Sons (although, admittedly, the latter was part of a larger wish for Costello to sing all of his songs that start with the word My to be played in a giant medley. Still, it counts!).

NIGHT FIVE

Tuesday, Feb. 14th  Elvis Costello Solo  Night Five

This Years Girl

Starting To Come to Me

I Hope Youre Happy Now

Our Little Angel

King of Confidence

Blue Chair

Harry Worth

Home Truth

I Dreamed of My Old Lover Last Night

Dishonour the Stars

After the Fall

Toledo

Beyond Belief

My Three Sons

The Puppet Has Cut His Strings

Stripping Paper

The Greatest Love

Ill Wear It Proudly

Crimes of Paris

Adieu Paris

Isabelle on Tears

High Fidelity

Riot Act

A Good Year for the Roses

Indoor Fireworks

My Funny Valentine

(Whats So Funny Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?

Connor Ratliff is an actor/comedian based in New York. He is the creator of the critically acclaimed podcast, Dead Eyes. You might have seen him in the role of Chester on multiple seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The post Elvis Costello, Night Two: A Dream That Goes Beyond Four Walls appeared first on SPIN.
In a Tuesday Senate Banking Committee hearing, members of Congress called for further regulation to protect investors and the U.S. financial system from failures related to the cryptocurrency industry.

In opening remarks, Committee Chair Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) lambasted industry firms and asked for the Committee to find common ground in order to pass cohesive legislation for crypto.

"These crypto catastrophes have exposed what many of us already knew," Brown said. "Digital assets, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, investment tokens are speculative products run by reckless companies ... that put Americans' hard earned money at risk."

Crypto's collapse last year put regulators and other industry firms on edge. Now, these parties are increasingly at odds.

A wave of actions from U.S. regulators in recent weeks has signaled that state and federal agencies are ramping up enforcement efforts. Already in 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission has levied four different charges against crypto firms.

Industry insiders, on the other hand, repeatedly have argued that U.S. regulatory jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies and other digital assets remains murky, advocating a preference to be overseen by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In the last week, both Paxos and Coinbase have said they will defend their businesses in court against the SEC, if needed.

Republican members of the Committee, Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), placed blame on the SEC itself. Scott said the agency failed to take "meaningful preemptive action" before crypto's unwinding through the second half of last year.

"If they have the tools they need. Were they just asleep at the wheel? ... 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," Scott said.

Senator Tim Scott, questions Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled The Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress, in Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.,U.S., May 10, 2022. Tom Williams/Pool via REUTERS

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also drove home the illicit use of crypto, pointing to the more than $20 billion in illicit flows moved through the crypto market last year.

She took particular issue with decentralized finance, or DeFi, offerings, which are often more complicated to regulate than centralized firms.

"They want a giant loophole written into the law so they can launder money whenever a drug lord or a terrorist pays them to do so," Warren said.

"The rules should be simple. The same kind of transaction, same kind of risk needs the same kind of rules" Warren said, calling for more robust anti-money laundering requirements. Warren plans to reintroduce a bill with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) to crack down on crypto money laundering.

'The status quo is simply untenable'

Lee Reiners, a policy director at the Duke Financial Economics Center testifying before the Committee said before congress that crypto platforms need to segregate customer and firm assets. He also said banking regulators need further guidance to prevent any potential financial contagion amongst crypto firms from spreading into the banking system.

Federal agencies first set the tempo in Washington for crypto this year when, on Jan. 3, the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint statement warning of the risks assumed by banks that touch crypto activities.

"Banking agencies have broad legal authority to prohibit banks from engaging in any activity that can't be conducted in a safe and sound manner," said Reiners, arguing that regulators can provide further guidance of which crypto activities banks should and shouldn't be able to do.

A proponent for restricting banking system access for crypto firms, Reiners also underlined the legal dilemma with doing so.

"As long as crypto is legal, you know, then these firms are entitled to banking services. So I think the challenge is where do you draw the line?" he added.

"Whatever congress decides to do, the status quo is simply untenable," he added.

Click here for the latest crypto news, updates, values, prices, and more related to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, DeFi and NFTs

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PARIS  Pulitzer Prize and five-time Polk Award winning American journalist Seymour Hersh, who has spent a career destroying government narratives on everything from the cover-up of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the secret bombing of Cambodia to misbehavior of U.S. guards at Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison during the US-led Iraq War, now paints the picture of a terrorist act  not against an enemy of Washington, but against one of its closest allies: the European Union.

On Sept. 26, 2022, a series of explosions ripped through Europes economic lifelines: the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany. At that point, Europe had sanctioned its own gas supply from Russia in a misguided effort to curtail Russias revenues, but there was always a chance that Europe could drop their sanctions and resume the supply flow. That thought clearly rubbed the Biden administration the wrong way.

On Feb. 7, 2022, even before the conflict in Ukraine went red hot, Biden said that the U.S. would bring an end to Nord Stream 2 if Russia engaged militarily in Ukraine.

He confidently spoke the words while standing right next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country was most heavily dependent on gas from Russia as Europes primary economic engine. Now Hersh, citing backroom sources, suggests that Scholz didnt object. Bidens remarks echoed those of Victoria Nuland, State Department Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (and previously for European and Eurasian Affairs): If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward. Nuland said.

Hersh describes a U.S.-led plan, concocted by the Biden administration, CIA, and Pentagon officials, around December 2021 and early 2022, for Navy divers to plant explosives near the pipelines while using last summers NATO exercise, BALTOPS 22, as cover. The blowup would later be triggered remotely, adding that there was dissent within the CIA and State Department, with some cautioning against a political nightmare if the clandestine plan ever came to light.

Norwegian secret services and military were also implicated in the plan, he says, notably in site selection and placement of the explosives. Oslo was also allegedly used by Washington

to run interference with neighboring Sweden and Denmark to ensure that eyebrows wouldnt be raised in the event that divers were spotted where they normally shouldnt be off the coast of these countries.

But why would Norway even care to get involved? Oslo had already proven itself to a reliable anti-Russian ally. It had recently allowed Washington to place a radar station in Norway. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko expressed concern last April over the continuing construction of the radar station in the immediate vicinity of the Russian border.

Hersh says that Norway, like Washington, also had designs on selling their own gas to the rest of Europe, which cheap Russian gas had previously prevented them from doing. And how exactly has that turned out for both countries?

Norways gas revenues last year were estimated to have jumped from $27 billion in 2021 to $109 billion as a result of increased sales to Europe, to the point where Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has even accused Norway of war profiteering over that windfall.

Last October, French President Emmanuel Macron also chastised the U.S. and Norway for making superprofits from gas sales to Europe.

Macron also pointed out that American gas is 3-4 times cheaper on the domestic market than the price [of LNG] at which they offer it to Europeans, echoing Germanys economy minister, Robert Habeck, who has pointed out that some countries, including friendly ones, sometimes achieve astronomical prices [for their gas], in reference to the problem.

Europe has replaced its reliance on Russian gas with a new dependence on U.S. LNG. Meanwhile, European industry continues to struggle with energy costs. Failure by Europe to subsidize them could mean the deindustrialization of Europe as they jump ship to the U.S., where energy is still plentiful and reasonable. The Belgian government recently sounded the alarm on aggressive seduction efforts by U.S. officials.

So the two biggest beneficiaries of Nord Streams destruction just happen to be the two top-billed players in the alleged plan  which both the CIA and White House officially deny.

Whats disturbing, however, is the lack of discussion and debate around the reporting, whether its for fear of harming Western unity or of playing into Russias hands by evoking a narrative other than, Russia/Putin bad. Theres a troubling lack of interest amid the Ukraine conflict in questioning U.S. and allied government actions  which hasnt been the case in previous conflicts. How convenient that avoiding questions of accountability also lets the most powerful off the hook.

Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of independently produced talk shows in French and English. Her website can be found at http://www.rachelmarsden.com.
A dog who gained fame for living with a pack of coyotes in the Nevada desert is finally home following a bitter custody battle between a Las Vegas family and the women who rescued him from the wild.

Hades the 4-year-old bull terrier mix is back with the Cabada family of Las Vegas, according to the Animal Foundation, a nonprofit shelter that been caring for the pup since a dispute over him led to police involvement.

The organization looked at photos, videos, and documentation showing the family had been looking for Hades after he went missing, said Kelsey Pizzi, a spokeswoman for the Animal Foundation.

"There was plenty of evidence this was their dog," Pizzi said.

In an emotional video capturing the dog's reunion with the Cabada family on Monday, Hades runs up to them, wagging his tail. He repeatedly jumps on them as a boy and girl cry and hug him.

"It was a very emotional reunion," Pizzi told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "As soon as he saw his family, he ran right over to them ... He just kept jumping into everyone's arms."

Christy Cabada, her husband Jaime Maravilla, her son Leo and niece Beverly pose with Hades on Feb. 13, 2023, after being reunited with the now-famous dog this week. Hades had been living among a pack of coyotes in the Nevada desert for at least six months before he was rescued by concerned residents.

The fight may not be over

Despite the latest development, the women who rescued Hades from the desert say they'll continue to fight for custody.

In a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday, the women assert that the dog is not Hades, but Ghost, a name the dog picked up from residents in the Henderson area who tried approaching him when he was living with coyotes.

"We're devastated," said Carole Sandy, a board member with Amor Peludo Animal Rescue, which had taken charge of the dog's care and potential adoption before the police got involved.

"We're not going to give up," she continued. "We're going to pursue this by any legal means possible."

Dog survives Nevada desert living with coyotes

A desert rescue

The dog was first spotted in July by Henderson residents who saw him running with a pack of three coyotes. Residents would post videos and photos of him from time to time on a neighborhood Facebook group, tracking his movements with keen interest.

They named him Ghost because he had a habit of disappearing when people got near.

After a resident saw Ghost limping, Susan McMullen of the Southern Nevada Trapping Team and her trapping partner captured him.

In all, Ghost lived among the coyotes for at least six months and it showed. He's got bite scars all over his face and body, he had a broken toe (which was causing the limp), and his scrotum was infected, Sandy said.

She said his medical care would cost thousands, and a GoFundMe page raised more than $14,000 to pay for it.

As he was awaiting surgery in McMullen's care, a local news station did a story about Ghost's life in the wild and his rescue. The news soon made headlines across the nation.

The Cabadas were watching TV when they saw one of the stories about Ghost and said they immediately recognized him as Hades.

Cabada was soon texting with McMullen. Though Hades hadn't been vaccinated or chipped, Cabada sent over photos that she said proved ownership.

A photo of Hades when he was 5 months old.

McMullen, in consultation with Sandy, decided the dogs weren't the same and told Cabada that she would not be letting him go.

Not long after that the Cabadas went to McMullen's house, where a confrontation led to a police response.

When police arrived, officers determined that no crimes had occurred but could not decide who rightfully owned the dog, said Officer Luis Vidal, a spokesman with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Police called Clark County Animal Protection, which impounded the dog and turned it over to the Animal Foundation on Feb. 4.

Home at last

In all, Hades was at the Animal Foundation for nine days as the organization worked to figure out where he belonged.

In the end, the Cabadas proved he was theirs after all.

A photo showing Hades, a dog captured last month after living with a pack of coyotes in the Nevada desert since at least July.

The moment Hades ran to them, Christy Cabada said the whole family was overcome with emotion.

"This past week I was feeling horrible. I had anxiety and a knot in my chest and honestly, all of it went away when he recognized us," she said. "My heart felt full of love."

She said the reunion is the perfect Valentine's Day present and that the family planned on celebrating by baking a cake.

"We got him some Valentine's treats, he's here, home in his big old fluffy bed," she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dog living with coyotes has emotional reunion with Las Vegas family
Students gather on the campus of Michigan State University after a shelter-in-place order was lifted early Tuesday. (Al Goldis / Associated Press)

The video starts with a simple white background and a phrase that is all too recognizable to American college students: RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.

Its part of a tool distributed by California State University to prepare students and employees for the possibility of an active shooter on one of its 23 campuses. These directions to run, hide and fight were also sent in text alerts Monday night to thousands of students, staff and others within the campus community at Michigan State University after a gunman opened fire, killing three students and injuring five others.

In the aftermath of this most recent college shooting, students expressed horror but not shock  having grown up as part of a generation that experiences gun violence with haunting regularity.

Preparing for an active shooter at colleges has been a regular part of safety planning for nearly two decades in California  home to the nation's largest systems of public higher education and a state that has experienced its share of campus tragedies.

In 2014, seven people died during a shooting in Isla Vista, near the UC Santa Barbara campus. In 2016, a UCLA professor was fatally shot in his office by a former doctoral student. At Cal State Fullerton in 1976, seven people were killed by a custodian who stormed the library.

Across the University of California, all 10 campuses have worked to improve safety by upgrading technology, enhancing training and adding unarmed security officers, mental health professionals and other resources to supplement their sworn police forces, said UC Davis Police Chief Joseph Farrow, coordinator of the UC Council of Police Chiefs. He added that police at UC and CSU work together and generally use the same practices, protocols and training.

"We've been dealing with this over our head for decades now," said Scot Willey, acting police chief at Cal State Fullerton. "We don't really want to think that could happen here, but we know that it did happen here."

Here is more about how California's colleges prepare for that possibility.

What are colleges required to do to protect students?

Under the Clery Act, a federal law enacted in 1990 and expanded since then, each time a school is notified of a campus crime, an official must review the crime and decide if it represents a serious or ongoing threat. All higher-education institutions  public and private  that receive money for federal student aid programs are required by law to follow the Clery Act.

If the threat is deemed serious or ongoing, the school must issue a timely warning to the entire campus.

Colleges and universities must also establish and put into effect emergency responses and notification systems. They must inform the school community about any significant emergency or dangerous situations involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees on the campus. That includes shootings, fires, earthquakes and crimes of sexual violence.

Campus police agencies are required to have a rapid response plan for mass shootings, said Melinda Latas, director of campus safety compliance for CSU. Those plans, which are posted to school websites, detail how authorities manage the first response in a shooting and how campuses must train for them.

The federal law was named for Jeanne Clery, a first-year student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, who in 1986 was sexually assaulted and killed in her dorm room by another student she did not know.

When did colleges begin to prepare for mass shootings?

The Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007, which left 32 people dead, changed the way colleges handle mass shootings and crime emergencies, according to John Ojeisekhoba, president of the International Assn. of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

"Prior to Virginia Tech, I remember very clearly, a lot of colleges  the mindset was that it can't happen here," said Ojeisekhoba, who is also an associate vice president at Biola University. "After Virginia Tech, the pendulum swung to ... 'It can actually happen to my campus. We're not immune.'"

Schools invested in resources to identify and assess threats and in training campus and community members to prepare for a shooting. Ojeisekhoba said having police officers on campus is not enough  schools must conduct training with local and federal agencies to simulate the emergency response.

What does training look like?

Training is critically important, for both security officers and the wider community, campus security experts said.

Cal State Fullerton holds an active shooter drill every two years in specific locations on campus, such as a parking structure or the student union, Willey said.

Over the summer, the university trains about 200 students on run, hide, fight procedures. During one drill, Willey said, a police officer is dressed in a padded suit while carrying a rubber rifle. Students are taught where to run and locations that are good for hiding. They're also taught to use items around them  staplers, laptops, iPads  to fend off an attacker if there are no other options.

At UC Davis, students are given training on active shooter situations during required orientations; the workshops are also available to all campus members.

Students are taught to silence their cellphones, although it helps officers when people message about what is happening in their part of campus, as first responders are sometimes "going in blind," Farrow said.

But it's not easy to reach everyone with training. Campus populations are huge  UC Davis has more than 60,000 students, faculty and staff.

This month, Biola plans to conduct an active shooter exercise with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the Whittier Police Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

What security challenges do open campuses present?

Unlike K-12 schools, public college campuses are not gated, with access open to anyone.

You don't know everybody that comes on your campus," Farrow said. "Thats the disadvantage that you have, and that's what they experienced in Michigan State.

When police receive the first reports of a shooter on campus, the protocols are generally consistent across universities, Farrow said. The dispatchers write up a notification that an active shooter is present, giving a location if known, and urge people to leave the area or shelter in place. This is automatically sent to the entire campus community and to parents and families who have signed up for such notifications, Farrow said.

But it doesnt always work smoothly.

In 2019, Officer Natalie Corona of the Davis Police Department was shot and killed after responding to reports of a car crash a few feet from the campus. Witnesses said the shooter ran into the campus  an erroneous report that prompted UC Davis to issue the active shooter notification. But the notification was delayed for some people  an issue also reported last year at UCLA when a former lecturer allegedly sent campus members a video referencing a mass shooting.

Farrow said UC Davis officials discovered a technical flaw in the software, fixed it and now test the system regularly.

How has the technology evolved?

Improvements to technology, including enhanced door-locking systems and closed-circuit cameras that help authorities identify potential shooters, have helped campuses to be better prepared.

Ojeisekhoba said notification systems that allow campuses to send out mass alerts are mandatory for all higher-education institutions.

At Cal State Fullerton, police can consult hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the campus, Willey said. The school can blast "shelter in place" warnings over indoor and outdoor speakers, along with sending email and text alerts.

"Text is the most efficient thing that we can use and probably the quickest way that we can communicate with our community," he said.

Under UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, the campus launched a $12-million, five-year plan to enhance security with such technology as an automatic door-locking system, allowing officials to close all buildings simultaneously rather than having to use individual keys.

UC Davis also has added a sophisticated camera system that monitors public access. Other U.S. campuses have invested in shot spotter devices that detect gunshots and quickly identify where they are coming from, Farrow said.

UC Davis has added 25 unarmed security officers to its safety staff of 49 sworn police officers and 90 students. The officers help patrol the campus, check building locks and escort students to classes and dorms when requested; some are trained to take down crime reports.

Similar steps are being taken throughout the UC system as President Michael V. Drake has led efforts to reshape campus safety practices by supplementing the traditional reliance on sworn police officers.

One thing all chancellors say is that we have to keep these open campuses as safe as we can, Farrow said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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."

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.
Male lab rodents mated with females - but there were no pregnancies (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A contraceptive pill for men has been developed that could be taken just before sex.

The on demand therapy blocks a fertility protein for 24 hours, scientists said.

They say it could be more effective than womens oral birth control medications which have to be taken daily.

In experiments, the non-hormonal compound stopped mouse sperm cells in their tracks - preventing them from maturing.

The animals sexual functioning was normal. Male lab rodents mated with females - but there were no pregnancies.

Lead author Dr Melanie Balbach said: Our inhibitor works within 30 minutes to an hour.

Every other experimental hormonal or non-hormonal male contraceptive takes weeks to bring sperm count down or render them unable to fertilise eggs.

The drug temporarily disables an enzyme called sAC (soluble adenylyl cyclase) which triggers the cells to swim.

Dr Balbach said: Sperm recovered from female mice remained incapacitated. There were no side effects.

The compound wore off three hours later, and males recovered their fertility.

A single dose rendered sperm immobile for up to two-and-a-half hours - with the effects persisting in the female reproductive tract after sex.

There were 52 attempts at impregnation and all failed.

In contrast, peers treated with a placebo that acted as a control made a third of their partners pregnant.

After three hours, some sperm began regaining motility, with virtually all recovering a day later.

The team at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, hailed the breakthrough as a potential gamechanger.

Scientists have been trying to develop an effective male oral contraceptive for decades.

Targeting testosterone has previously led to obesity, depression and high cholesterol.

Womens choices range from pills to patches to intrauterine devices. As a result, they bear most of the burden of preventing pregnancy.

It takes weeks to reverse the effects of other hormonal and non-hormonal male contraceptives in development, said Dr Balbach.

Hers wears off within hours. Men would take it only when, and as often, as needed.

It could allow men to make day-to-day decisions about their fertility, she explained.

Co author Professor Lonny Levin said: The team is already working on making sAC inhibitors better suited for use in humans.

They have already launched Sacyl Pharmaceuticals. The next step is repeating the study in a different pre-clinical model to lay the groundwork for clinical trials.

They would test the effect on sperm motility in healthy human males, said co author Prof Jochen Buck.

If successful, Prof Levin added he hopes to walk into a pharmacy one day and hear a man request the male pill.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, are among the most promising to date - offering real hope of bringing it to fruition.

It would help reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions, as well as improving maternal health and decreasing infant mortality.

The female pill has enabled millions of women take control of their fertility and reproductive health since it became available in 1961.

Its convenience and non-invasiveness has provided little incentive for pharmaceutical giants to develop a male equivalent.

A recent study that injected men with testosterone and progestogen - similar to hormones found in the female pill - had to be stopped early.

Pregnancy rates for female partners of men receiving the injections fell below that typically seen for women on the pill.

Adverse side effects included acne, mood disorders and raised libido. They proved too severe - despite the desired drop in sperm production.
Fish can recognise their own faces in pictures, according to research ((Alamy/PA))

Fish can recognise their own faces in pictures, according to research.

The study demonstrates they think its me when they see themselves in pictures. It is the first time the skill has been identified in creatures other than humans.

In the study, eight cleaner fish were shown photographs of themselves with a parasite-like mark on their throat. Six rubbed their throats in an attempt to clean it off.

None tried to remove the mark after seeing it in pictures of other fish.

None tried to remove the mark after seeing it in pictures of other fish. (Getty/iStock)

Cleaner fish are known to be able to recognize themselves in mirrors and regularly attack other unfamiliar cleaner fish who intrude on their territory.

Each cleaner fish was also presented with four photographs: a photo of themselves; a photo of an unfamiliar cleaner; a photo of their own face on an unfamiliar cleaners body; and a photo of unfamiliar cleaners face on their own body.

The cleaner fish did not attack photos with their own faces but did attack those with the faces of unfamiliar cleaner fish.

The study, which was at carried out at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan suggests that the reputation fish have for stupidity may be unfair.

Prof Masanori Kohda, of Osaka Metropolitan University, said: This finding suggests nearly all social vertebrates have this higher sense of self.

A 2019 study found that fish can feel pain in a way that is similar to how humans experience it.

Another study in 2017 by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) involving zebrafish found that fish are sentient animals who form friendships, experience positive emotions and have individual personalities.

Fish have also been found to be individuals with complex personalities, according to research which showed that fish have a simple spectrum of reactions to danger.
Aicha Kone, (Clockwise from top left) Sylvia "Gbaby" Cohen, Marvin "MOA" Obasogie Aimiuwu, Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju, Fran Washington and John Onobrakpeya. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A cultural staple in Los Angeles since 1992, the annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival got underway at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on Feb. 9 and runs until Feb. 20. Not even Super Bowl Sunday could keep PAFF ArtFest devotees away from the marketplace, where more than 100 artists from around the globe displayed fine art, fashion and decor inspired by the traditions and aesthetics of the African diaspora. Regulars reconnected with their favorite returning artisans as teens snapped selfies while modeling handcrafted jewelry, and more than a few shoppers dropped Valentines Day gift hints to their companions. Times photographer Carolyn Cole wound her way through stands brimming over with one-of-a-kind statement jewelry, oil paintings, metal sculptures and handwoven textiles to capture the vibrant scene.

John Onobrakpeya is one of six artists who traveled from Nigeria to show their artwork at the 2023 Pan African Film & Arts Festival's ArtFest at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Nigerian artist John Onobrakpeya was one of the first exhibitors guests laid eyes on when entering ArtFest on Sunday. A professional artist for four decades and a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, he employs acrylic, charcoal, resin and mixed media techniques in his abstract expressionist and impressionist works, and creates sculptures and dancing water fountains.

Damola Adepoju of Nigeria stands in front of his painting "Land of Abundance." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

I came purposefully because of the PAFF, said Lagos-based artist Damola Adepoju , standing in front of his painting Land of Abundance. He traveled to the U.S. with five other Nigerian artists to sell their artwork at the festival, conduct live demonstrations of their crafts and attend art talks. We get to hear other people in the diaspora talk about their art and were bringing the stories of Nigeria to Los Angeles.

Adepoju, at PAFF for his sixth consecutive exhibition, said he was glad to see that crowds have returned to the festival, adding that this years turnout came as a welcome relief.

Artist Marvin "MOA" Obasogie Aimiuwu poses in front of his batik and acrylic painting "Lively Journey." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Artist Marvin MOA Obasogie Aimiuwu stood in front of Lively Journey, a batik and acrylic painting created on linen, mounted on heavy canvas, adorned with gold and hung from hand-sculpted cherry wood. Originally from Nigeria, he lives in Rancho Cucamonga and has sold his mixed media works at the festival for 12 years. A lot of clients become close friends  theyre more like family, he said.

Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju of Nigeria stands in front of one of his paintings, titled "United We Stand." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Porter Ajayi Olanrewaju traveled from Lagos, Nigeria, to showcase a table he painted as part of the fine art furniture exhibition All Artists Have a Seat at the Table, a collaboration between Ikea and seven selected PAFF artists. Here, he posed in front of one of his paintings, titled United We Stand, which was inspired by a speech President Biden delivered during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sculptures by artist Woodrow Nash are on exhibit at the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The ethereal tribal stoneware busts of Akron, Ohio-based ceramic sculptor Woodrow Nash commanded attention in the center of the festivals fine arts section.

Fran Washington attends the PAFF ArtFest on Feb. 12. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Fran Washington of Los Angeles is a longtime festival attendee. I come every year, she said, noting that she bought African jewelry and a painting for her home during previous visits. I always find something that I need. Last year, I fell in love with a dress and I came back looking for it and found it!

Sylvia "Gbaby" Cohen wears one of her own designs. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Sylvia Gbaby Cohen , wearing one of her own creations, began selling her hand-painted bags and homeware adorned with inspiring messages at the festival 20 years ago. After a five-year hiatus  she relocated from L.A. to Atlanta  she flew back to join the group of tight-knit regulars and to present a chair she painted for the All Artists Have a Seat at the Table exhibition. Just before this photograph was taken, Cohen sold a painting to a Facebook follower she had never met; the transaction caused the artist to become misty-eyed. I was just so excited by how it moved her, she explained.

Jonathan Johnson, 40, attends the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

On the second floor of the ArtFest, Jonathan Johnson browsed through the array of stalls selling African textiles, home decor and wearable art.

Aicha Kone is exhibiting and selling textiles at the PAFF ArtFest. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Aicha Kone presided over stacks of African fabrics that she collected from Mali, Ivory Coast and elsewhere in Africa. Born in Guinea, she lives in Fremont and owns Arts Africains, an imported crafts boutique in Emeryville. Kone started selling her African clothing and body care products at the festival more than 20 years ago. She said she knows most of the crafters and vendors who attend the fest each year, adding that she sells her imported African textiles to some of the other exhibitors.

Sandra Zebi, who has participated in the festival for 27 years, holds up her painting "Baiana." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Sandra Zebi , a painter and functional ceramics designer, draws inspiration from the women of her multicultural homeland, Brazil, as can be seen in this painting, Baiana. The Marina del Rey-based artist has participated in the festival for 27 years. What I love about it here is the community, she said. People support and really care for the arts; theyre not just buying because theyre passing by.

Andre Fields, the owner of Wanawake Hats, has brought his assortment of sunhats, fedoras and visors to the festival for 10 years. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Andre Fields, the owner of Wanawake Hats, is originally from Nairobi and now lives in L.A. He travels the country  from events in New Orleans and Baltimore to the Brentwood Farmers Market  selling richly colored raffia hats handwoven by East African artisans. Hes brought his assortment of sunhats, fedoras and visors to the festival for 10 years.

Carolyn Jones and Wesley Carter were visiting the ArtFest for the first time and were drawn to a collection of Cameroonian statues. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Local couple Carolyn Jones and Wesley Carter were visiting the ArtFest for the first time and were drawn to a collection of Cameroonian statues on the fine art level, as well as the natural oils and soaps sold on the second floor. I think they should do this all the time because this stuff is so beautiful, Jones said. The only time you see vendors like this is during Black History Month.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. Trumps lawyer said Friday, Feb. 10, that the former president is willing to provide a DNA sample to be compared with stains on the dress of a woman who accused him of raping her over a quarter century ago in a department store dressing room. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump missed his chance to use his DNA to try to prove he didnt rape a longtime magazine advice columnist, a federal judge said Wednesday, clearing away a potential roadblock to an April trial.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected the 11th-hour offer by Trumps legal team to provide a DNA sample to rebut claims E. Jean Carroll first made publicly in a 2019 book.

Kaplan said that lawyers for Trump and Carroll had over three years to make DNA an issue in the case and that both chose not to do so.

He said it would almost surely delay the trial scheduled to start April 25 to reopen the DNA issue four months after the deadline passed to litigate concerns over trial evidence and just weeks before trial.

Trumps lawyers did not immediately comment on Kaplans ruling. Carrolls attorney, Roberta Kaplan, declined to comment.

Carroll's lawyers have sought Trump's DNA sample for three years to compare it with stains found on the dress Carroll wore the day she says Trump raped her in an upscale Manhattan department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996. An analysis of DNA on the dress concluded it did contain traces of an unknown man's DNA.

Trump has denied knowing Carroll and said repeatedly, and sometimes angrily, that he never raped Carroll and that she was making the claim to stoke sales of her book.

After refusing to provide Trump's DNA sample, his lawyers recently switched tactics, saying they would provide his DNA if Carroll's lawyers turned over the full DNA report on the dress.

Kaplan wrote in an order that Trump had provided no persuasive reason to relieve him of the consequences of his failure to seek the full DNA report in a timely fashion.

And the judge noted that the report did not find evidence of sperm cells and that reopening the dispute would raise a complicated new subject into this case that both sides elected not to pursue over a period of years.

He said that a positive match of Trump's DNA to that on the dress would prove only that there had been an encounter between Trump and Carroll on a day when she wore the dress, but that it would not prove or disprove that a rape occurred and might prove entirely inconclusive.

Kaplan added: His conditional invitation to open a door that he kept closed for years threatens to change the nature of a trial for which both parties now have been preparing for years. Whether Mr. Trump's application is intended for a dilatory purpose or not, the potential prejudice to Ms. Carroll is apparent."

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
Lamar Johnson, center and his attorneys react 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 didn't commit. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, Pool)

ST. LOUIS (AP)  A Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn't commit.

Lamar Johnson, 50, closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as a member of his legal team patted him on the back when Circuit Judge David Mason issued his ruling. In coming to his decision, Mason explained that there had to be reliable evidence of actual innocence  evidence so reliable that it actually passes the standard of clear and convincing.

Johnson walked free after he was processed out at the courthouse. Beaming, he walked up to reporters in the courthouse lobby about two hours after the ruling and thanked everyone who worked on his case, as well as the judge.

This is unbelievable, said Johnson, who didn't take any questions.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who filed a motion in August seeking Johnson's release after an investigation her office conducted with help from the Innocence Project convinced her he was telling the truth, applauded the ruling.

Mr. Lamar Johnson. Thank you. Youre free, she said before the gathered press.

Gardner said this is a time for Johnson to spend with his attorneys and family.

This is Valentines Day and this is historical, she said.

The Republican-led state attorney general's office fought to keep Johnson locked up. A spokeswoman for the office, Madeline Sieren, said in an email that the office will take no further action in the case. She again defended the office's push to keep Johnson behind bars.

As he stated when he was sworn in, Attorney General (Andrew) Bailey is committed to enforcing the laws as written, Sieren wrote. Our office defended the rule of law and worked to uphold the original verdict that a jury of Johnsons peers deemed to be appropriate based on the facts presented at trial.

Johnson's attorneys blasted the state attorney general's office after the hearing, saying it never stopped claiming Lamar was guilty and was comfortable to have him languish and die in prison.

Yet, when this States highest law enforcement office could hide from a courtroom no more, it presented nothing to challenge the overwhelming body of evidence that the circuit attorney and Lamar Johnson had amassed, they said in a statement.

Johnson plans to reconnect with his family and enjoy experiences he was denied for most of his adult life while locked up, his lawyers said.

While today brings joy, nothing can restore all that the state stole from him. Nothing will give him back the nearly three decades he lost while separated from his daughters and family, they said. The evidence that proved his innocence was available at his trial, but it was kept hidden or ignored by those who saw no value in the lives of two young Black men from the South Side.

Johnson was convicted of murder for the October 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd, who was shot to death on his front porch by two masked men. Police and prosecutors blamed the killing on a dispute over drug money. Johnson maintained his innocence from the outset, saying he was with his girlfriend miles (kilometers) away when the crime occurred.

While Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life, a second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year prison term.

Johnson testified at a December hearing that he was with his girlfriend on the night of the crime, except for a few minutes when he stepped outside of the home of a friend to sell drugs on a corner several blocks from where the victim was killed.

Johnsons girlfriend at the time, Erika Barrow, testified that she was with Johnson that entire night, except for about a five-minute span when he left to make the drug sale. She said the distance between the friend's home and Boyds home would have made it impossible for Johnson to get there and back in five minutes.

The case for Johnson's release was centered around a key witness who recanted his testimony and a prison inmate who says it was he  not Johnson  who joined Campbell in the killing.

James Howard, 46, is serving a life sentence for murder and several other crimes that happened three years after Boyd was killed. He testified at the hearing that he and Campbell decided to rob Boyd, who owed one of their friends money from the sale of drugs. He also said Johnson wasn't there.

Howard testified that he shot Boyd in the back of the head and neck, and that Campbell shot Boyd in the side.

Howard and Campbell years ago signed affidavits admitting to the crime and claiming Johnson was not involved. Campbell has since died.

James Gregory Elking testified in December that he was on the front porch with Boyd, trying to buy crack cocaine, when the two gunmen wearing black ski masks came around the house and began the attack. Elking, who later spent several years in prison for bank robbery, initially told police he couldnt identify the gunmen.

He agreed to view a lineup anyway. Elking testified that when he was unable to name anyone from the lineup as a shooter, Detective Joseph Nickerson told him, I know you know who it is, and urged him to help get these guys off the street.

Saying he felt bullied and pressured, Elking named Johnson as one of the shooters. Gardners office said Elking was also paid at least $4,000 after agreeing to testify.

Its been haunting me, he said of his role in sending Johnson to prison.

Nickerson denied coercing Elking. He testified in December that Elkings identification of Johnson was based on all that he could see of the shooters face  his eyes. Johnson has one eye that looks different than the other, Nickerson said. You can clearly see it.

Dwight Warren, who prosecuted Johnson in 1995, said that beyond Elkings testimony, the main evidence against Johnson was an overheard jail cell conversation. A jailhouse informant, William Mock, told investigators at the time that he heard Campbell and Johnson talking when one of them said, We should have shot that white boy, apparently referring to Elking.

Warren acknowledged that convicting Johnson would have been iffy without Mocks testimony.

In March 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court denied Johnsons request for a new trial after then-Attorney General Eric Schmitts office argued successfully that Gardner lacked the authority to seek one so many years after the case was adjudicated.

The case led to the passage of a state law that makes it easier for prosecutors to get new hearings in cases where there is fresh evidence of a wrongful conviction. That law freed another longtime inmate, Kevin Strickland, last year. He had served more than 40 years for a Kansas City triple killing.
A state commission on Wednesday made the rare decision to revoke a Kansas City schools charter in the middle of its contract, effectively closing it after this school year.

Amid passionate pleas from parents to keep Genesis School open, the Missouri Charter Public School Commission voted 6-1 to nullify its charter on June 30, due to years of poor performance. Member Antoine Lee of Kansas City was the lone no vote.

Genesis, though, can now appeal the decision to the state board of education.

If the board agrees with the recommendation to revoke the charter, the commission will begin the process of closing Genesis, including notifying parents of options for transitioning students to a new school, such as one within Kansas City Public Schools or a different charter school.

Robbyn Wahby, executive director of the state charter commission, previously said she recommended revoking the charter after years of broken promises and devastating academic results.

We didnt break a promise to anybody, Genesis Executive Director Kevin Foster told The Star. Our promise is to the families that we serve, that is who our commitment is to.

Foster said that Genesis board has yet to decide whether to appeal the decision, although he expects the school to do so.

The school, at 3800 E. 44th St., operates in the Thornberry Unit of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City and serves roughly 200 students. Genesis has served families on Kansas Citys East Side for 47 years, since 1999 as a charter school. It is now one of the states oldest charter schools.

During a public hearing last month, dozens of parents, students, teachers and community members packed a standing-room-only conference room at Lucile H. Bluford Public Library to urge the state commission to keep the school open.

For the past 15 years, the school has failed to meet academic performance standards, according to the state commission. During that time, Genesis test scores have regularly lagged behind the state average and Kansas City Public Schools.

The commission has the authority to revoke a schools charter during its term if there is clear evidence of under-performance in three of the last four school years.

Only 13% of Genesis students are reading and performing math at grade level, Wahby said, compared to 21% of KCPS most vulnerable students.

The commission said that in the 2015-2016 school year, the charter school saw 27% of K-5 students scoring at proficient or advanced levels in English. Five years later, that fell to 2.6%. The students math scores dropped from 24% to 8%.

We could not find a single time from 2007 to 2022 when Genesis performed better than KCPS in either English or math. Not a single year for 15 years, Wahby said during last months hearing.

The commission said the school has not adequately prepared students for success in high school or beyond.

But Foster argued that the commissions assessment is unfair. He argued that since 2020, the schools state assessment scores have improved, despite the pandemic, and that its students are seeing academic growth throughout the year. Foster said that the charters test scores were lower than expected in both 2018 and 2019, which he attributed to a new state achievement test.

The school saw students grow academically in 2021. He argued the school needs the time to prove it can continue improving.

I believe that any fair assessment of the data since (our charter has been) renewed in 2020 would validate the work we do and allow us to continue, Foster said Wednesday.

Genesis teacher Madilynn Kettle said last month that test scores do not reflect her students growth in the classroom.

I teach fourth grade, and my goal is for all of my students to end the year on grade level and be successful in fifth grade. Unfortunately, thats just not realistic, she said. Ive had students enter my room not knowing the sounds letters make and struggling to read. Those same students left my classroom able to read and catching up to those on grade level.

Genesis was placed on academic probation when its charter was renewed in 2015 by the University of Missouri-Kansas City, its first sponsor. The school was later sponsored by the University of Missouri in Columbia, which lost its authority to sponsor Genesis and two other charter schools.

In 2020, the state agreed to renew Genesis five-year charter, but put it on academic probation once again. The next year, the state school board voted to make the Missouri Charter Public School Commission the schools sponsor.

Two sponsors, two probations, multiple warnings of academic performance, Wahby said last month. We are the third sponsor. The third time not meeting standards is enough.

Foster argued that the state commission has not given the school enough time to prove it is meeting standards under its new contract approved last July, along with an intervention plan laying out standards and performance goals for the next few years.

Genesis has not violated the contract and there is no new academic data available since the contract was signed. At a minimum the Commission entered into the contract in bad faith. The Charter school system cant operate if contracts between schools and sponsors are not upheld, Foster said in a statement.

He also feels the school has not had enough notice to fight the commissions recommendation to revoke its charter, leaving staff and families in the lurch with three months left in the school year.

After evaluating the school, Wahby said the commission notified the school of its findings last spring and required it to submit the intervention plan.

They knew the stakes were high. They knew they had the money and they had to do something faster and better, she said. They knew that most students in their care were below grade level, some very below grade level.

Foster said the school will work with families to notify them of their options for possibly enrolling students elsewhere next year.

If our board does choose to continue to fight this, which I think they will, and if were successful, our families will choose us, Foster said. Theyre going to make a choice. But they already have that choice every day. And they choose us.
Alex Murdaughs past alleged extramarital affair emerged on the seventeenth day of the trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The prosecution sought to have new testimony from Maggie Murdaughs sister Marian Proctor  including details about Mr Murdaughs affair more than a decade ago and his opioid use  admitted in court on Tuesday. The murder trial is now in its fourth week at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

With the jury out of the room, Ms Proctor claimed that although the affair had happened 15 years ago and they were able to work through it, it was still a sore point in Mr Murdaugh and Maggies marriage. Ms Proctor went on to say that her sister had brought up the issue around the time of the murders.

She did not think anyone was still going on, it just bothered her, Ms Proctor said, also saying that Maggie made her husband leave the house years ago when she first became suspicious.

Mr Murdaughs defence attorney Jim Griffin denied the affair and asked the judge to disregard the testimony as inadmissible. Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the state may not question Ms Proctor about the affair, as the allegations took place a long time ago and could confuse jurors who will deliberate whether Mr Murdaugh was the perpetrator in his son and wifes 2021 murders.

The state also requested that Ms Proctors testimony on Mr Murdaughs opioid abuse could be heard by the jury.

Mr Griffin said he was not sure what information Ms Proctor would share about Mr Murdaughs opioid abuse, with Judge Newman noting that the defence had an early witness read a letter about Mr Murdaughs being in rehab  meaning that the specific issue and evidence was previously introduced by the defence and could also be discussed by the prosecution with other witnesses.

Ms Proctor said that Maggies nickname for Paul 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.

Paul would reportedly try and find any pain pills Mr Murdaugh had in the house to make sure his father couldnt take them.

It also transpired that Ms Proctor was informed that Mr Murdaugh had been fired from his law firm for stealing by Mr Griffin, who then objected that his own conversation with the witness is hearsay, causing an eruption of laughter in the courtroom.

Mr Griffin also asked the judge not to allow discussion of Mr Murdaughs roadside shooting three months on from the murders as it would open Pandoras box. Mr Murdaugh allegedly conspired to pay a hitman to shoot him dead so that his surviving son 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.

The defence argued on Tuesday that Mr Murdaugh admitted to the circumstances of the roadside shooting, while the prosecutors countered by saying Murdaugh lied that day, which proves intent.

Judge Newman ultimately ruled that Ms Proctor can testify about Mr Murdaugh being fired for allegedly stealing money from his law firm and about his opioid problem.

Ms Proctor said 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 Mr Murdaugh had been shot.

I thought whoever had killed Maggie and Paul had now shot Alex. I was horrified that Buster was next, Ms Proctor said.

In the four weeks of trial so far, the prosecution has argued in court that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.

Mr Murdaugh has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty last June.

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

Besides the case, Mr Murdaugh is facing at least 100 other criminal charges over a string of financial fraud allegations.
Josue Guzman still carries a $1,800 hospital bill for a tooth extraction.

As an uninsured father and construction worker, the 24-year-old told lawmakers Tuesday that the thought of suffering another ailment is a constant worry.

I have many years ahead of me to live, work and take care of my daughter, who is only 1 year old and a U.S. citizen, Guzman said via a translator. Right now, my daughter is in poor health, and Im here telling my story because this is a necessity. If I were going through a health emergency and I couldnt get the care I needed because I dont have insurance, what would happen to my daughter?

A public hearing in the Connecticut General Assembly Human Services Committee Tuesday saw hundreds submit testimony on a proposal to extend the states Medicaid program to provide health care coverage to immigrants like Guzman.

If passed, H.B. 6616 would expand HUSKY medical coverage to all qualifying low-income residents under the age of 26, regardless of their immigration status by June 2024.

The bill, at the heels of two years of HUSKY expansions, is the latest push by advocates for the undocumented working to grant all people the right to health care in what they see as a life and death matter.

In the last two sessions, the General Assembly has extended HUSKY access to pregnant and postpartum women and children ages 12 and younger.

It becomes more and more difficult to explain why two children in the same family have different rights to health care, said Nika Zarazvand, a health care coordinator at the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services. I have to constantly answer the question of why some of my clients are eligible for HUSKY while others are not.

Under the current legislation, children who currently qualify can keep their health care benefits until age 19, but those not grandfathered in will lack HUSKY access  a fact that H.B. 6616 aims to change.

Concerns about program growth largely come down to taxpayer costs.

William Gui Woolston, the director of Medicaid and the Division of Health Services for the Connecticut Department of Social Services, said that the department could not support HUSKYs expansion.

Testifying on behalf of DSS Commissioner-Designate Andrea Barton Reeves, Woolsten said the governors proposed budget did not include funds needed to finance the program.

While the department appreciates the bills intent to extend medical coverage to a greater swath of the uninsured population within the state, the department estimates that the cost to the state of extending coverage for this population would be at least $15 million, Woolston said.

Woolsten additionally explained that the DSS does not yet know the cost or effectiveness of HUSKYs current coverage of children ages 12 and younger of qualifying incomes, a program that launched in January of this year.

Existing law indicates that the program can only provide assistance to otherwise eligible beneficiaries within available appropriations. The department does not yet know whether funds appropriated for the program in its existing format will be sufficient to cover all eligible individuals through the end of the fiscal year, Woolsten said. The Department believes any further expansion of the program is premature until there has been an opportunity to take stock of the program in its current form.

Peter Hadler, the director of the DSS Division of Program Oversight and Grant Administration, said that the first month of the program saw 1,600 enrollees. Today, he estimates there are more than 2,000 participants in the program.

Hadler said that the DSS would be willing to work with the committee to evaluate available data and better understand costs and the implications of further HUSKY expansion as the session progresses.

Luis Luna, the coalition manager of Husky 4 Immigrants estimated that the expansion up to age 26 would cost the state $18.4 million.

He said the ultimate goal is to broaden coverage to all ages at a projected price tag of $83.6 million.

Despite these costs, advocates of HUSKY expansion say it would save hospitals millions in uncompensated care spending and the state millions more for reduced emergency care costs.

The state of Connecticut must create a long-term plan to expand HUSKY access to our whole immigrant community, Luna said. We hope that we continue to expand coverage year after year, so that in the future, all low-income Connecticut residents can access medical care when they are sick or vulnerable, regardless of their immigration status.

Luna said that it is particularly critical that 13- to 26-year-olds receive coverage this year.

Research confirms that over and over individuals between the ages of 18 and 26 are still in a key state of development, Luna said. Unaddressed health issues from this period creates even greater health issues in adulthood, and young adults are less likely than any other age group to have career-based health insurance.

Bryan Chong, a New Britain resident who holds federal Deferred Enforcement of Departure status speaks about the struggles of living without health insurance. Chong and hundreds of others submitted testimony to the Connecticut General Assembly Human Services Committee Tuesday in support of a proposal to extend HUSKY access to all people under age 26, regardless of immigration status.

Bryan Chong, a New Britain resident, told legislators that he has not been to a doctor in years.

Chong, who moved from Hong Kong to Connecticut in 2014 as a high school student, resides in the U.S. under a federal Deferred Enforcement of Departure status, a classification similar to Temporary Protected Status.

Chong explained that his current job as a community organizer and gig worker does not offer health insurance. Due to his immigration status, Chong also fails to meet HUSKY guidelines.

I have needed to be very careful to not fall sick or get injured.  When I have been sick, I have needed to self-manage and self-medicate with over-the-counter medications, Chong said. With health insurance, I would be able to do my advocacy and organizing work more effectively and not worry that any happenstance incident will put me in thousands of dollars of debt.

Alison Cross can be reached at across@courant.com.
Maggie Murdaughs sister has revealed how Alex Murdaugh reassured her that his wife and son did not suffer when they were brutally murdered.

Taking the stand in Mr Murdaughs double murder trial on Tuesday, his sister-in-law Marian Proctor described comments the disgraced legal scion made following the brutal shootings of Paul and Maggie on 7 June 2021. The trial is now in its fourth week at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

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.

Ms Proctor said that in the aftermath of the killings, she had a conversation with Mr Murdaugh that struck her as odd. She recalled asking him whether he believed Maggie and Paul had suffered painful deaths, with Mr Murdaugh reportedly reassuring her that was not the case.

Now I dont know that thats true, Ms Proctor told prosecutors through tears.

Later on, Ms Proctor said she asked Alex: Do you have any idea whos done this? Weve got to find out who could do this.

She said he replied that he did not know who it was but that whoever did it had thought about it for a long time.

Ms Proctor said Mr Murdaugh seemed more eager to clear Pauls name than he was about finding the killer. Ms Proctor described Paul as a sweet boy who had been misrepresented by the media because of his role in a boat crash that left one of his friends dead.

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

[Mr Murdaugh] said that his number one goal was clearing Pauls name, Ms Proctor said. And I thought that was so strange because my number one goal was finding out who killed my sister and Paul ... I dont know how he could have thought about anything else.

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, Ms Proctor said.

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.

Ms Proctor said that she was scared about the safety of Mr Murdaugh and his surviving son Buster. Mr Murdaugh, however, did not seem to be worried, she said.

Although Ms Proctor said she initially found it odd that Maggie had not visited Mr Murdaughs mother along with him, she said during cross-examination by the defence that Ms Proctor noted that it made sense Maggie did not go to Mr Murdaughs parents house if his father had already been readmitted to a hospital.

Ms Proctor said that Mr Murdaugh was grieving terribly following the murders. She later told the court that she believed clearing Pauls name could have been Mr Murdaughs way of honouring his son.

Ms Proctor also testified that the Murdaughs did not have any financial burdens and Maggie was happy with their lifestyle, although she was not involved in the family finances.

The prosecution also asked Ms Proctor about Mr Murdaughs alleged conspiracy to pay a hitman to shoot him dead so that Buster would inherit a $10m life insurance windfall. Mr Murdaugh 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.

With the jury out of the room, Ms Proctor testified 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 Mr Murdaugh had been shot.

I thought whoever had killed Maggie and Paul had now shot Alex. I was horrified that Buster was next, Ms Proctor said.

In the four weeks of trial so far, the prosecution has argued in court that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his mounting financial and legal scandals.

Mr Murdaugh has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty last June.

The double murder trial is far from Mr Murdaughs only legal problem. Besides the case, Mr Murdaugh is facing at least 100 other criminal charges over a string of financial fraud allegations.
FILE - Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Daniel DJ Rodriguez, of Fontana, Calif., pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using a stun gun to attack a Washington D.C. police officer who was brutally injured while trying to defend the U.S. Capitol from the angry mob of President Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using a stun gun to attack a Washington, D.C., police officer who was brutally injured while trying to defend the U.S. Capitol from the angry mob of President Donald Trump's supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Daniel Rodriguez, 40, of Fontana, admitted to taking part in the violent assault on former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone after another rioter dragged the officer into the crowd outside the tunnel where police were trying to beat back the mob. Fanone, who at one point lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack, was heard on camera screaming that he has kids in a desperate appeal for his life as other rioters beat him.

Rodriguez's guilty plea comes about two weeks before jury selection was supposed to begin in his trial in Washington's federal court. He pleaded guilty in Washington's federal court to four felony charges including conspiracy and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

An email seeking comment was sent to his lawyers on Tuesday. He's scheduled to be sentenced in May. Federal sentencing guidelines call for about seven to 10 years in prison, according to court papers.

Rodriguez admitted in an interview with FBI agents after his arrest in March 2021 that he drove a stun gun into Fanone's neck. Rodriguez told agents that he had believed that he was doing the right thing on Jan. 6 and that he had been prepared to die to save the country. He cried as he spoke to the agents, saying he was stupid and ashamed by his actions.

Rodriguez's attorneys had tried unsuccessfully to block prosecutors from using his FBI interview at trial, arguing that the agents used psychologically coercive tactics" to get him to talk.

Authorities say Rodriguez and others were part of a Telegram group chat called PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang" in the run-up to Jan. 6 in which they advocated violence and discussed what they viewed as a stolen election. In one post on Dec. 29, 2020, Rodriguez wrote in the chat: Congress can hang. Ill do it. Please let us get these people dear God," according to charging papers.

At the Capitol, Rodriguez was part of the mob that pushed into the tunnel where officers were trying to fend off the rioters, prosecutors said. Inside the tunnel, another rioter handed him the stun gun that he would later apply to the back of Fanone's neck, according to court papers. After assaulting Fanone, Rodriguez entered the Capitol through a broken window. Later, he texted his friends: Tazzed the (expletive) out of the blue," they said.

Others charged with assaulting Fanone include Albuquerque Cosper Head, who wrapped his arms around Fanones neck and dragged him into the crowd outside the tunnel. Head restrained Fanone while other rioters attacked him. Head was sentenced in October to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to an assault charge.

Fanone said at Heads sentencing that he suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury and that his injuries ultimately cost him his career. He has written a book about his Jan. 6 experience and testified at a hearing held by the House committee investigating the insurrection.

Another man, Kyle Young, who helped in the sustained assault on the officer, was sentenced in September to seven years and two months in prison. Young grabbed the officer by the wrist while others yelled, Kill him! and Get his gun!

They are among the longest sentences that have been handed down so far in the riot.

Nearly 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. More than 500 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Approximately 400 have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years.

_____

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman contributed from Washington.
Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio attends a rally in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)

WASHINGTON (AP)  A police officer frequently provided Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio with internal information about law enforcement operations in the weeks before other members of his far-right extremist group stormed the U.S. Capitol, according to messages shown Wednesday at the trial of Tarrio and four associates.

A federal prosecutor showed jurors a string of messages that Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond and Tarrio privately exchanged in the run-up to a mob's attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Lamond, an intelligence officer for the citys police department, was responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington for protests.

Less than three weeks before the Jan. 6 riot, Lamond warned Tarrio that the FBI and U.S. Secret Service were all spun up over talk on an Infowars internet show that the Proud Boys planned to dress up as supporters of President Joe Biden on the Democrat's inauguration day.

Justice Department prosecutor Conor Mulroe asked a government witness, FBI Special Agent Peter Dubrowski, how common it is for law enforcement to disclose internal information in that fashion.

I've never heard of it, Dubrowski said.

Warned Tarrio that police may be seeking a warrant for his arrest

Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the Capitol attack and charged with burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. He was released from jail before the riot and wasnt in Washington on Jan. 6.

In a message to Tarrio on Dec. 25, 2020, Lamond said Metropolitan Police Department investigators had asked him to identify Tarrio from a photograph. He warned Tarrio that police may be seeking a warrant for his arrest.

Later, on the day of his arrest, Tarrio posted a message to other Proud Boys leaders that said, The warrant was just signed.

Before the trial started in January, Tarrio's attorneys said Lamond's testimony would be crucial for his defense, supporting Tarrios claims that he was looking to avoid violence. Mulroe said Lamond has asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Tarrio's attorneys have accused prosecutors of bullying Lamond into keeping quiet by warning the officer he could be charged with obstructing the investigation into Tarrio, a Miami resident who was national chairman of the Proud Boys. Prosecutors deny that claim.

Sabino Jauregui, one of Tarrio's attorneys, said other messages show Tarrio routinely cooperated with police and had provided Lamond with useful information. Jauregui said prosecutors dragged (Lamond's) name through the mud and falsely insinuated he is a dirty cop" who had an inappropriate relationship with Tarrio.

That was their theme over and over again, Jauregui told U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly during a break in testimony.

Lamond was placed on administrative leave by the police force in February 2022, according to Mark Schamel, an attorney for the officer. Schamel said Lamond aided in Tarrio's arrest for burning the Black Lives Matter banner.

In a statement Wednesday, Schamel said Lamond's job required him to communicate with a variety of groups protesting in Washington and his conduct was appropriate and always focused on the protection of the citizens of Washington, DC.

Tarrio and his four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy

At no time did Lt. Lamond ever assist or support the hateful and divisive agenda of any of the various groups that came to DC to protest, Schamel said. More importantly, Lt. Lamond is a decorated official who does not condone the hateful rhetoric or the illegal conduct on January 6th and was only communicating with these individuals because the mission required it.

Tarrio and his four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors said was a plot to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power and keep former President Donald Trump in the White House after the 2020 presidential election. Thousands of rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, disrupting a joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote.

Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect mens club for Western chauvinists. They often brawled with antifascist activists at rallies and protests for years before the Capitol attack.

In a message to Tarrio on Dec. 18, 2020, Lamond said other police investigators had asked him if the Proud Boys are racist. The officer said he told them that the group had Black and Latino members, so not a racist thing.

It's not being investigated by the FBI, though. Just us, Lamond added.

Awesome, Tarrio replied.

In another exchange that day, Lamond asked Tarrio if he had called in an anonymous tip claiming responsibility for the flag burning.

I did more than that, Tarrio responded. It's on my social media.

'That's an in-person conversation over a beer'

In a message to Tarrio on Dec. 11, 2020, Lamond told him about the whereabouts of antifascist activists. The officer asked Tarrio if he should share that information with uniformed police officers or keep it to himself.

Two days later, Tarrio asked Lamond what the police department's general consensus was about the Proud Boys.

That's too complicated for a text answer," Lamond replied. "That's an in-person conversation over a beer.

Tarrio's co-defendants are Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, a self-described Proud Boys organizer; Zachary Rehl, who led a Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia; and Dominic Pezzola, a group member from Rochester, New York.
Nikki Haley calls for new Republican leadership as she launches 2024 bid FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Haley campaigns for Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Walker at a rally in Hiram, Georgia

By Gram Slattery

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) -Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said on Wednesday it was time to move past "stale ideas" and called for a new generation of leaders at the first stop of her campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 2024.

Haley is just the second declared candidate seeking the Republican nod to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024, allowing her to stand out in a so-far uncrowded field but also exposing her to former President Donald Trump's anger.

The 51-year-old former South Carolina governor declared her candidacy on Tuesday with a video that called for new party leadership  a veiled jab at Trump, who some Republican leaders blame for the party's disappointing performance in November's midterm elections.

"We're ready. Ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past. And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future," Haley told a crowd of hundreds at the Charleston Visitors Center in the historic city's downtown.

Haley supporters at the event agreed with her calls for new leadership in the Republican party.

"I think Trump can be very polarizing and divisive at times," said Tim Jansen, 54, a Haley supporter from Charleston. "I would like to see a little more tolerance, a little more communication. Flexibility."

Haley received an endorsement on Wednesday from prominent South Carolina Republican Ralph Norman, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives' conservative Freedom Caucus who was a staunch supporter of Trump during his presidency.

"It's time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and theres no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor," Norman wrote on Twitter.

Haley faces an uphill climb in her bid for the nomination: a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that just 4% of registered Republicans supported Haley.

Trump received support from 43% of registered Republicans in the poll conducted from Feb. 6-13, while 31% said they supported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch a campaign but has not yet done so.

Haley served as South Carolina's governor from 2011 through 2017. The state holds one of the first Republican primary contests.

She may not be the only South Carolina Republican eyeing the White House. U.S. Senator Tim Scott, often considered a presidential contender himself, will kick off a "listening tour focused on Faith in America" in Charleston a day after Haley's event, according to a campaign advisory. He will then swing through Iowa, another key early voting state.

Haley received national attention in 2015 when, as governor, she called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state capitol after the murder of nine black churchgoers by white supremacist Dylann Roof.

But she later drew criticism in a 2019 interview when she said the flag represents "service, sacrifice and heritage," adding that its meaning had been hijacked by Roof.

If she wins, she would be the first non-white or female Republican presidential nominee.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery with additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis and Deepa Babington)
A top official at Oregons liquor and cannabis control agency resigned this week , after an internal investigation found that he and other top agency personnel diverted rare bottles of bourbon from the public supply so they could be purchased for personal use.

Gov. [Tina] Kotek has requested that I resign from my position as executive director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, Steve Marks, executive director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, wrote in a resignation letter on Monday. Because I believe that the governor is entitled to have her own management team, I will honor that request. Accordingly, I resign effective at 5:00 PM on February 15, 2023.

An internal agency investigation found that at least six officials at the OLCC abused their position to personally access sought-after bottles.

A publicly released summary of the investigation quoted a source who wanted to reiterate how widespread this practice is and what his position requires, procuring product for individualswhich included OLCC employees and legislators.

The investigation began when a departing employee relayed their concerns to agency staff last April , telling colleagues that it was common practice at a state warehouse holding back-up liquor supply to set aside certain products and then send them to stores to be picked up.

The disclosure triggered an internal investigation.

Several agency executive managers were interviewed regarding the subsequent investigation into this matter and some implicated Executive Director Marks in the tacit approval of their actions and also engaged in the practice themselves, Rich Evans, director of the OLCCs licensing and compliance division, wrote in a December memo, Wilammette Week reports .

Mr Marks also admitted to investigators that he would  divert warehoused liquor for his personal use .

The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on the findings of the investigation.

Mr Marks and others were reportedly particularly keen to get bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, a highly prized Kentucky brand which can fetch thousands of dollars.

This behavior is wholly unacceptable, Oregon governor Kotek wrote in a statement following the findings in the investigation. I will not tolerate wrongful violations of our government ethics laws.
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines and the United States will this year carry out their biggest joint military drills since 2015, Manila's army chief said on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing tensions with China in the South China Sea.

The exercises underscore improved ties with the United States under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and come as the Philippines condemns China's "aggressive" actions in the disputed waterway, including its use of a "military-grade laser" against one of Manila's vessels earlier this month.

The annual 'Balikatan' exercises will be conducted in the second quarter and involve more than the previous year's 8,900 troops, army chief Romeo Brawner told reporters.

"All of these exercises that we are doing are in response to all types of threats that we may be facing in the future, both man-made and natural," Brawner said.

President Marcos on Tuesday summoned China's ambassador to express "serious concern" over the intensity and frequency of China's activities in the South China Sea, most of which China claims as its territory.

Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner. (Reuters)

China's use of a laser against a Philippine vessel on Feb. 6, which its foreign ministry insists was legal, has sparked expressions of concerns and support from Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Washington "will redouble its efforts with our Philippine ally" to bolster the Philippine military and coast guard's defence capabilities "as we work shoulder-to-shoulder to uphold the rules-based international order," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said on Twitter.

The Philippines has granted Washington greater access to its military bases as part of the latter's efforts to deter China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and tension over self-ruled Taiwan.

In 2015, more than 11,000 troops from both countries participated in the joint military exercises.

"The exercises will involve a myriad of activities, not just focused on developing the war fighting capability of both armed forces, but also of the other non-traditional roles such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response," Brawner said.
A 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals and other materials suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A dark pillar of smoke rose above East Palestine, Ohio, in early February, prompting a mandatory evacuation of the villages residents. A Norfolk Southern train carrying numerous hazardous chemicals had suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure, resulting in a derailment. Officials feared the flammable chemicals might ignite in a massive blast of shrapnel and poison, and elected to vent and burn the contents of the traincars to mitigate the potential for further destruction.

More than a week after the Ohio train derailment, information is still trickling out about what exactly happened and what risk the 5,000 residents of East Palestine  and the millions in the surrounding region  may face as a result of the crash.

Heres everything we know about the train derailment, its causes, and what effect it has  and may have  on the people and the environment.

Derailment

On 3 February, around 9pm, a 150-car Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals and other materials suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure, hurtling the cars off the tracks near the village of East Palestine, Ohio.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a preliminary investigation found that a wheel bearing on one of the train cars wheels overheated and failed in the moments prior to the accident.

On the 150 cars on the train, 38 derailed, including 10 of the 20 that were carrying hazardous materials.

Five of the cars on the train were carrying a chemical called vinyl chloride, a colourless, hazardous, and flammable gas used in the production of PVC plastic and vinyl products. Those cars were not breached, but officials feared that fires resulting from the crash could ignite the cars, causing a dangerous explosion.

Norfolk Southern officials conducted a controlled burn of the chemicals on 6 February, venting the gas into a trench and torching it, releasing a massive column of black smoke high into the air above East Palestine.

Mahoning County Hazmat chief Steve Szekely described the fiery blast as the gases were vented.

The only way I can describe it is like the doors of hell were open. I mean, it was hot and the flames were shooting up into the air at least 100 feet, he said, according to local broadcaster WKBN.

Vinyl Chloride

Five of the cars were carrying vinyl chloride and were vented. The Environmental Protection Agency said it has not detected chemical contaminants at concerning levels in the hours after the venting, but warned residents they might notice smells resulting from the controlled burn.

"Residents in the area and tens of miles away may smell odors coming from the site. This is because the byproducts of the controlled burn have a low odor threshold," the EPA said in a statement. "This means people may smell these contaminants at levels much lower than what is considered hazardous."

The gas has been linked to an "increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer," called hepatic angiosarcoma, according to the National Cancer Institute. A 2018 journal article studying the cancer called it "exceptionally deadly," and said those who are diagnosed have a life expectancy of just 10 months.

The gas is also linked to primary liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, leukaemia, and lymphoma, according to the National Cancer Institute.

By 8 February residents were told they could return to their homes following a mandatory evacuation. However, two days later the EPA sent a letter to Norfolk Southern detailing the other hazardous materials that were being carried on the train.

Those include butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue.

Systemic failures

Experts on rail safety are arguing that the accident was not a freak act of God, but rather the inevitable result of rolled back safety measures and reduced workforces in an effort to boost profits for rail companies.

Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration told investigative news outlet The Lever that the "severity" of the crash was likely aggravated by the lack of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes.

Former President Barack Obama passed legislation making it mandatory for trains carrying hazardous, flammable materials to have ECP brakes, but the order was rescinded in 2017 by the Donald Trump administration.

The NTSB confirmed that the trains that were derailed in the accident were not equipped with ECP brakes, according to The Lever.

"Would ECP brakes have reduced the severity of this accident? Yes," Mr Ditmeyer told the outlet.

Rail safety experts say the accident would have been less serious if Obama-era safety measures hadnt been rolled back by the Trump administration (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

He said that the rail companies often "dont want to spend the money" on updated safety features. In 2017, Norfolk Southern lobbied against the requirement for the brakes, according to The Lever.

The Independent has reached out to Norfolk Southern for comment.

Mr Trump is not the only president with a hand on the current state of the US rail system; Joe Biden ended a rail workers strike that would have pushed for increased safety standards and the end of a criticised rail management practice that some argue may have contributed to the crash.

The Railroad Workers Union argued in The New Republic that a management practice adopted by rail companies called Precision Scheduled Railroading, or PSR, may have played a role in the crash and may contribute to future accidents.

PSR manages freight scheduling based on individual cars, rather than considering the entire train. The practice has allowed rail companies to operate with fewer workers and, the RWU argues, with fewer safety precautions, according to the outlet.

Because PSR scheduling does not consider the entire train, it sometimes results in heavier trains being placed in the rear of the train, which can cause them to slam into lighter cars when the brakes are applied suddenly, causing a jackknife. Generally heavier train cars are placed at the head of the train to avoid that motion.

A Norfolk Southern executive celebrated the record train weights and lengths the company ran in a 2022 earnings call.

Rail unions have said management practices to save money could have contributed to the accident (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

In December, railworkers threatened to strike, asking for better benefits, working conditions and safer operating procedures, including the end of PSR scheduling and a guarantee that trains would have at least two workers on board at any time.

Mr Biden ended that labour action by signing a bill into law stopping the strike ahead of the busy holiday season.

The bill Im about to sign ends a difficult rail dispute and helps our nation avoid what, without a doubt, would have been an economic catastrophe at a very bad time in the calendar, he said at the time, according to CNBC.

Clean up and consequences

Norfolk Southern officials, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Department of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Transportation Safety Board responded to the accident and have remained on scene since the train derailment.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine told reporters about 10 days after the accident that he had secured a commitment from Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw that the company would remain in East Palestine until all of the fallout from the accident was rectified.

In the meantime, residents have reported symptoms including runny noses, sore throats and headaches, which ODH official Dr Bruce Vanderhoff said are common side effects of exposure to volatile organic compounds. He said that single, small exposures to VOCs were not likely to cause the long-term health problems as might happen with longer, more concentrated exposure.

He noted that tobacco smoke and gasoline fumes are also considered VOCs.

The EPA and ODNR have been monitoring air and water contaminants since the accident and have reported that the detected levels are not significant enough to cause lasting effects to residents.

People living near the crash site have reported symptoms associated with exposure to volatile organic compounds (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

However, the ODNR also noted that 3,500 fish were found dead in Columbiana County, where East Palestine is located, in the days after the derailment. Officials told reporters that none of the species were endangered and that there have been no further deaths since the initial discovery.

Residents have also been advised by state officials to drink bottled water until the EPA can conduct further tests to ensure well water in the area is safe for consumption.

When asked what he would do if he lived in East Palestine, Mr DeWine said he would "drink bottled water" and return to his home.

ODNR officials also noted that there have been no confirmed reports of animal deaths  aside from the 3,500 fish  resulting from the train derailment.

Mr DeWine told reporters that the state would commit to staying in East Palestine until the accident has been completely "cleaned up."

In the mean time, residents have been told they are safe to return to their homes and to report any concerns they have to a state hotline.

At least three class action lawsuits have already been filed against Norfolk Southern since the accident, according to ClassAction.org.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian journalist was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on Wednesday for accusing the Russian air force of bombing a theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol last April where women and children were sheltering.

The Lenin district court in the Siberian city of Barnaul also banned Maria Ponmarenko from working as a journalist for five years, according to a court service statement. State prosecutors had asked for a nine-year sentence.

"Patriotism is love for the motherland, and love for one's motherland should not be expressed by encouraging crime," Ponmarenko told the court before her sentencing, according to the RusNews outlet where she worked. "Attacking your neighbour is a crime."

"If it is a war - then call it a war," she said from a cage in the courtroom. "This is a state crime against the army - it is like spitting on the graves of veterans."

The Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupol was destroyed by an air strike on the morning of March 16, 2022. It had been used as a haven for civilians during the Russian siege of the city.

Kyiv accused Russia of bombing the theatre, while Russia said it had been blown up by Ukrainian nationalists.

Ponmarenko was detained in April for her online posting under laws introduced shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. The laws impose stiff penalties for discrediting the armed forces.

Ukrainian officials said at least 300 people had been killed in the theatre.

An investigation by Amnesty International concluded that Russian forces had committed a war crime by striking the theatre. It said at least a dozen people had been killed but that many additional deaths remained unreported.

Russia says it goes to great lengths to avoid injuring civilians in its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The newspaper Kommersant said Ponomarenko had been diagnosed with "hysterical personality disorder" while in detention, and had cut her wrists. It cited her lawyer as saying she suffered from claustrophobia and had broken a window.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Vladimir Putin has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in his war on Ukraine, as Russia is now a global pariah, a top US general has said.

General Mark Milley was speaking after a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels as Putins forces were said to be making incremental gains in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

With him was the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, who added that while Russia was introducing new troops to the battlefield, many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Ukraine urgently needs more military aid, the United States and NATO said on Tuesday, pledging that western support will not falter in the face of a new Russian offensive as the war was about to mark the first full year since it began.

Western defence chiefs met 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.

It comes as the UK government announced that an unidentified British national has died in Ukraine.

Key Points

Kyiv troops blow up bridge near Bakhmut as Russia bombards city

Bakhmut under Russias crazy, chaotic shelling' in new offensive  officials

Wagner has almost certainly made gains around Bakhmut  UK intelligence

Putin changing generals like socks  White House

Moscow can take Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, Russian official claims

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

04:45 , Stuti Mishra

Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children with the aim of 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 in Russia and Crimea 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 weve 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, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, and has pushed back against previous claims it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

EU to sanction Iran entities involved in Russian war in Ukraine - Von der Leyen

08:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU will propose sanctions targeting for the first time Iranian economic operators involved in the Russian war in Ukraine.

For the first time we are also proposing to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Irans Revolutionary Guard, Von der Leyen told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Von der Leyen said the 10th package of sanctions, worth a total of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), would target new trade bans and technology export controls, including drones, helicopters and missiles.

British national killed in Ukraine, government says

08:34 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed.

The dead person is a man, according to the BBC, which would make them at least the eighth British male to die in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last February.

The Foreign Office has not confirmed any further details but a spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

It comes after the government announced that a national one-minute silence will be held to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine next week.

British national dies in Ukraine, Foreign Office says

Russian leaders 'likely aware' of 'critical weakness' in industrial output

08:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Senior Russian leaders are likely aware that the states military-industrial output is becoming a critical weakness, particularly in light of the strategic and operational miscalculations made during the invasion of Ukraine, the ministry of defence has said in its latest update.

The MoD said production levels are almost certainly falling short of Moscows demands to resource the ongoing Ukraine campaign and also to restore its longer-term defence requirements.

Deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev called for an increase in Russian tank production earlier, while visiting the Omsk Transport Machine Construction plant on 9 February, it said.

This follows several public comments by president Vladimir Putin urging the defence industry to better support the special military operation.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 February 2023



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/XILK9JDeqM



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/KKcT027LpV  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 15, 2023

No sign that Putin is preparing for peace in Ukraine, Nato secretary general says

08:00 , Stuti Mishra

UKs commitment to Nato is enduring'

07:45 , Stuti Mishra

The Ministry of Defence has posted a series of tweets about defence minister Ben Wallaces meeting with Nato on Tuesday.

The MoD states: The UKs commitment to #NATO is enduring and we remain one of NATOs highest spending members.

The UK and our @NATO Allies are focused on our unwavering support for Ukraine. Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP met his French and Romanian counterparts @SebLecornu @RomaniaNATO in Brussels for meetings to discuss ongoing military cooperation. 

 Defence Ministers from @NATO member states are meeting in Brussels to discuss continued support for  Ukraine, ongoing defence collaboration and the modernisation of the Alliance.#NATO exists to guarantee freedom and security for its 30 members.@BWallaceMP  and @SecDef pic.twitter.com/ieN96EUgaR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 14, 2023

'Extraordinary' Russian parliament session to focus on 'adoption of laws for integration of four regions'

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

More information coming on the extraordinary meetings Russias lower and upper chambers will be holding on 22 February from RIA Novosti as a senior lawmaker is quoted saying it would focus on the adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation.

Last year Moscow moved to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal.RIA quoted a source as saying that the State Duma, the lower chamber, will gather in the morning on 22 February while the Federation Councils session will start at 12pm GMT.

President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to the federal assembly - a joint meeting of Russias two houses of parliament - on 21 February.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine last February a special military operation to eliminate security threats. Kyiv and its allies call Russias actions an unprovoked land grab.

Sunak set to join world leaders for Munich conference

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Rishi Sunak will join other world leaders in Munich this weekend for a conference on international security.

The gathering comes days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister will travel to Germany for the conference, which was held last year in the days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian banks and invasion leaders in focus as EU debates new sanctions

07:00 , Stuti Mishra

Representatives of the 27 European Union countries will meet in Brussels today to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, with politicians, military leaders and four more Russian banks expected to be targeted.

Any new measures, which the bloc is expected to agree to mark the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, would require the unanimous backing of all EU member states.

"We will impose sanctions on a number of politicians and military leaders," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen after a summit last week with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We will target [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad.

"The package will include additional export bans worth more than 10 billion euros. This will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy," she said.

US officials point to Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine

06:50 , Stuti Mishra

American defence officials on Tuesday sought to dispel any doubt that Iran is supplying drones for Russias war in Ukraine, releasing photos and analysis of unmanned aircraft deployed in the conflict to demonstrate Tehrans involvement.

During a briefing in London, analysts from the US Defense Intelligence Agency displayed photos of drones that attacked Ukraine alongside images of those previously traced to Iran.

A comparison of design details such as tail fins, nose cones and landing gear shows that the weapons used in Ukraine are indistinguishable from Shahed-131 and -136 attack drones and Mohajer 6 unmanned aerial vehicles used in the Middle East.

The effort to show the homework is intended to help persuade governments or international agencies of Tehrans involvement. Iran has said it supplied a small number of drones to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine but has denied providing any more since troops crossed the border last February.

The evidence proves otherwise, an official from the Defence Intelligence Agency said while speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Iran is a partner in the conflict with Russia, the official said.

Wreckage of what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone downed near Kupiansk (AP)

Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies amid tensions with Russia

06:40 , Stuti Mishra

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.

The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia's war.

Romania's defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under Nato command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with "characteristics similar to a weather balloon."

It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 36,000 feet.

The incident in Moldova triggered widespread travel disruption and brief panic when authorities temporarily closed the country's airspace over what they later described as an object "similar to a weather balloon" spotted near the northern border with Ukraine.

Scores of flights in the country of about 2.6 million people, one of Europe's poorest, were cancelled or rescheduled. Some were diverted to Romania.

It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from.

This comes after Moldovan president Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting to overthrow her country's government and derail it from its EU accession path, an allegation Russia has dismissed as "absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated."

(via REUTERS)

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Partizan Belgrade fans have been banned from travelling to watch their side play Sheriff Tiraspol as tensions escalate in Moldova amid fears Russia may be planning a coup.Partizan and Sheriff are due to meet in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout play-off tie on Thursday in a match that will now be played behind closed doors.The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said on Monday that she feared Russia were preparing an attempt to overthrow her government.

Read more:

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary meeting next week

06:10 , Stuti Mishra

The lower and upper chambers of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on 22 February, RIA Novosti news agency reported early morning, citing a source.

The meeting will be held two days after the Russia-Ukraine war completes one year, a military operation Vladimir Putin began expecting a quick win.

Not much is known about the agenda of the meeting yet.

Russia says it has broken through defences in Ukraine's Luhansk

06:00 , Stuti Mishra

Russian troops have broken through the Ukrainian defences in part of the Luhansk region, the Russian defence ministry claimed early this morning.

"During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to three kilometres 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.

Ukraine's military has been reporting increasingly heavy Russian shelling along the frontline, with officials calling the situation difficult, but also says that its army has been able to repel many Russian attacks. Ukraine has urged allies to speed up the pace of military aid.

Russia now holds swathes of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk, including the regional capital.

US may take action against individuals mentioned in Yale report

05:50 , Stuti Mishra

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated that action could be taken against 12 individuals the report said are not yet under US 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.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children

05:40 , Stuti Mishra

Ukrainian prosecutors have said they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children as part of efforts to build a genocide indictment against Russia.

No more details have been shared at the moment.

Network stretches from one end of Russia to the other

05:30 , Stuti Mishra

Researchers behind the report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps say they believe the number of facilities in which Ukrainian children have been held exceeds 43.

This network stretches from one end of Russia to the other, Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, told reporters.

The system of camps and the adoption by Russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland appears to be authorised and coordinated at the highest levels of Russias government, the report said, beginning with president Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

Children's camps 'clear violation of 4th Geneva Convention'

05:15 , Stuti Mishra

The report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps was the latest produced by the Yale University School of Public Healths 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 Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers.

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.

Russia bombards eastern frontline as Ukraine prepares for street fighting in Bakhmut

04:15 , Stuti Mishra

Intense fighting continues in Bakhmut as Russia has bombarded the eastern frontline in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

Much of Russias artillery fire was focused on Bakhmut, a bombed-out city in Donetsk province and a principal target for president Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian troops there have fortified positions in anticipation of street fighting.

Bakhmuts capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger Donetsk cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and give Moscow momentum after months of battlefield setbacks following its invasion last February.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged for speedy help from allies as he says Russia is in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence, he said in an evening video address after Nato defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the war and stockpiles.

Dutch F-35s intercept Russia aircraft near Poland

03:45 , Sam Rkaina

Two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out, the Netherlands defence ministry said.

The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad, the ministry statement said on Monday.

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.

The Il-20M Coot-A is NATOs reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are NATOs reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.

The Netherlands defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

Putin holds talks with Azeri counterpart

02:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and noted the importance of ensuring stability and security in the southern Caucasus region, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Tensions are high between Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a largely ethnic Armenian population but is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a war that ended in a Moscow-brokered ceasefire upheld by Russian peacekeepers. Both sides accuse each other of violations and Armenia now says Azerbaijan is blockading the only road into Nagorno-Karabakh, a charge Baku denies.

The importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was noted, said a Kremlin readout of the call between Putin and Aliyev.

In this context, it was reaffirmed that all the relevant agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level should be implemented unconditionally.

Late last month Yerevan asked Putin to take a tougher line on Nagorno-Karabakh and for Russian peacekeepers to end what it called the blockade.

Germany calls for ramp up in ammunition production

01:45 , Sam Rkaina

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.

Russia is now a global pariah'

00:45 , Sam Rkaina

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave the same message about Russian President Vladimir Putins 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: theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, Milley, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

Speed is of the essence Zelensky says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest offensive before Kyiv and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence. Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves peoples lives, speed brings back security, he said in an evening video address.

Mr Zelensky - thanking allies for their promises of more air defence weapons, tanks, artillery, shells and training - said much of what had been discussed should be kept a secret.

Mr Austin said he expected Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive of their own in the spring, and Kyivs allies were working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics to make it effective.

We believe that therell 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 Ukraines momentum in the crucial weeks ahead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) welcoming Canadas Foreign Minister Melanie Joly prior to their meeting in Kyiv (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

US says Ukraine is at crucial point in war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine urgently needs more military aid, the United States and NATO said on Tuesday, pledging that western support will not falter in the face of a new Russian offensive as the war was about to mark the first full year since it began.

Western defence chiefs met 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.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a NATO meeting (AP)

Moscow accuses Japan of 'Russophobia

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russia, locked in a decades-old territorial dispute with Tokyo over a chain of Pacific islands, has accused Japan of 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 7 February 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 Russias long-standing position that it has sovereignty over the islands, accused Japan of rewriting history and ignoring post-war realities. Japans 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.

Who are the Wagner mercenaries and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of President Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner private military company, under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin, cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since contracted troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but a power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin recently led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

Click here for the full story.

Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya, Russia (Reuters)

Key developments on Tuesday so far

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:42 , Sam Rkaina

Russias army bombarded front-line Ukrainian troops and towns in the eastern Donetsk region in what appeared to be early salvoes of a new offensive, as Western allies met to weigh sending more arms to Kyiv for an expected counter-attack.

* Ukraine reported Russian shelling all along the frontline and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near the town of Bakhmut.

* In the last three days, Russias Wagner group of fighters made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine, Britains defence ministry said.

* Ukraines military said its forces had repelled attacks in five settlements in Luhansk and six in Donetsk, including around Bakhmut, over the past 24 hours.

Ukraine prepares counter offensive as Russia steps up assault  but needs more Western ammunition

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:47 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine is preparing its own counter offensive in the face of intensifying Russian bombardment as it fights Moscows invasion  but the West is in danger of running out of the ammunition and heavy weaponry components Kyiv will need.

At a meeting of Western defence chiefs in Brussels, the head of Nato  Jens Stoltenberg  said that we see no signs that President [Vlaimir] Putin is preparing for peace... What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks as the anniversary of the invasion approaches.

He added that is is clear that we are in a race of logistics and that this required a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed in what has become a grinding war of attrition.

Click here for the full story.

Bohdan, Fritz, the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires an RPG towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, Donetsk (Reuters)

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:08 , Andy Gregory

Breaking - British national has died in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:51 , Sam Rkaina

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

Well have more on this breaking news story as we get it.

Chinas Xi meets with Iranian president as Tehran seeks closer ties with Moscow

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:59 , AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed support for Iran during a visit 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.

China's Xi expresses support for Iran amid Western pressure

No signs Russia preparing for larger air attack on Ukraine, says US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:31 , Andy Gregory

There are currently no signs that Russia is amassing aircraft for a larger air attack on Ukraine, the US defence secretary has said.

In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack: we dont currently see that, Lloyd Austin said, after a meeting with allied defence ministers in Brussels.

We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory. Thats why weve emphasised that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defence capability as we possibly can, he added.

Putins forces making incremental progress in Bakhmut, says White House

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:58 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putins forces have made incremental progress over the past few days in their assault on Bakhmut  but it remains unclear whether it will fall to the Russians, the White House has said.

Answering questions from reporters, White House spokesperson John Kirby said that, if Bakhmut were to fall to Moscow, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war.

EU group to seek access to frozen Russian funds

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:30 , Emily Atkinson

The EU will on Wednesday launch an ad hoc group to investigate how frozen Russian funds can be accessed for the benefit of reconstruction in Ukraine, Swedens prime minister Ulf Kristersson has said.

The mandate is to contribute to mapping which funds have been frozen in the European Union ... and secondly how to legally proceed to access those funds, Mr Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm.

Ukraine offensive expected this spring

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:20 , Katy Clifton

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring.

Ukraine wants to create momentum ... We expect to see them conduct an offensive sometime in the spring, he told reporters after meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

He also said that Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Asked whether Ukraines allies on Tuesday discussed the issue of sending fighter jets to help the country in its war effort, Austin said I dont have any announcement to make today.

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically'

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:18 , Katy Clifton

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its war in Ukraine, US joint chiefs chair army General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, he said.

Kyiv troops blow up bridge near Bakhmut as Russia bombards city

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:10 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian forces have blown up a bridge near the embattled town of Bakhmut, reports suggest  hinting that Kyiv might be plotting a retreat.

The bridge is located between Bakhmut and Konstantivka, another town under Kyiv control, according to local Telegram news channel, which posted videos from the scene.

Moldova reopens airspace after temporary closure

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:00 , Emily Atkinson

Moldova has reopened its airspace for civil aviation just hours after closing it for security reasons, its aviation authority said.

Air Moldova, the national carrier, said earlier the small east European country had temporarily closed its air space.

In a brief statement announcing it was open again, the aviation authority said it would provide more information later.

Britain to mark first anniversary of Ukraine war with minutes silence

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:40 , Emily Atkinson

The UK will mark the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine with a national minutes silence, in an expression of solidarity with Kyiv.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 11am on 24 February and will encourage individuals and organisations across Britain to participate.

As we approach the anniversary of Russias barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people, Mr Sunak said in a statement.

Russias 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.

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:20 , Emily Atkinson

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.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has the details:

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Stoltenberg plays down dispute over Nordic Nato bids

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:50 , Emily Atkinson

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has played down the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, at the same time as Turkey refuses to ratify their membership.

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 is that both the Nordic neighbors should join at the same time.Mr 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 Natos next summit in Lithuania in July.

Norway to send 8 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:20 , Emily Atkinson

Norway will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine to aid in the war with Russia.

It is more crucial than ever to support Ukraines fight for freedom, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

Norway said it will also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.

Norway will also set aside funds for ammunition and spare parts, the defence ministry said.

Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has 36 Leopard 2 tanks in total.

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:50 , Emily Atkinson

Wagner head admits links to US election-meddling troll farm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:20 , Emily Atkinson

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias 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 US 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 Russias 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 Wests boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda, Prigozhin said.

Putin making no significant breakthroughs as Russia escalates war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:49 , Emily Atkinson

Russia is making continuous offensive efforts in eastern Ukraine, though these local attacks still remain on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough, according to UK intelligence.

The tactical Russian advance to the south of Bakhmut has likely made little progress, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its regular Twitter bulletin.

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, it added.

Ukraine renews appeal for fighter jets

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:33 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine has renewed its appeal for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion.Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded.

Finding air defences more important than fighter jet discussions, says Germany

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:00 , Emily Atkinson

German defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said that finding ammunition and air defences is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Mr 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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:30 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line, British military chiefs have said.

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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine war, MoD says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:10 , Emily Atkinson

Russia has likely suffered an average of 824 casualties a day in the Ukraine conflict in the past two weeks, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

This is the highest rate of casualties since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on 24 February last year and four times the rate reported over the June-July period.

Earlier, Russian mercenary group Wagner said it had taken control of a village near the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraines eastern Donetsk Oblast region.

Martha McHardy has more:

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine
One day after another mass shooting, this time at Michigan State University, Gov. Ned Lamont and big-city mayors called Tuesday for a more extensive crackdown on gun crimes by repeat offenders.

The mayors are focusing on a narrow set of criminals  often already convicted felons  who are responsible for a large share of the shootings in Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport and New Haven. If the repeat offenders remained behind bars longer, they would not be on the streets to commit more crimes, the mayors said.

Of those arrested in Hartford last year for shootings, 39% were on pretrial release, 14% on probation and 5% on parole, the mayors said. The situation is similar in Waterbury, where 40% of those arrested for shootings were on probation and 30% were on pretrial release.

This is about saving lives, said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. We know this is only one piece of the puzzle, but its an important piece. It means there has to be serious consequences for serious firearm offenses.

Bronin and fellow mayors gathered with Lamont near the historic Hall of the Flags section of the state Capitol in a show of force for their proposal. They were joined by multiple mothers from the cities who said they had lost their sons to gun violence. The wide-ranging coalition also includes the Hartford and Bridgeport police chiefs, along with prosecutors around the state.

Laquvia Jones, whose two sons were killed in New Haven in 2020 and 2023, said that the violence must stop.

This needs to be in place to send a message that its not acceptable to be a violent offender, Jones said. We cant keep living like this and losing our children.

Her son, Dashown Myers, died in a shooting at the age of 18 in 2020. Her other son, Dontae Myers, became the citys first homicide victim of the year in January 2023.

The mayors joined together in a task force created by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which represents all 169 cities and towns. The group is offering 10 proposals to stem gun violence, including forcing those with previous gun crimes to post a higher percentage of their bond when arrested for a new serious firearm offense. As a result, they would generally remain behind bars for a longer time.

They are also calling for expanding the definition of serious firearm offense, which would include possession of a ghost gun with no serial number, along with a high-capacity magazine or a stolen firearm.

The mayors said there should be special gun courts, which are dedicated dockets that would be created in courthouses in Waterbury, New Britain and Fairfield to concentrate on gun crimes at least two days each week. Hartford and New Haven already have dedicated dockets to prosecute gun cases.

Among other requests, the mayors are recommending that those convicted of criminal possession of a firearm  meaning a felon in possession of a gun  should serve a longer prison sentence.

Chief States Attorney Patrick Griffin, the states top prosecutor with 27 years of experience, said that both the shooters and the victims are often convicted felons.

They are doing the shooting, and they are doing the dying in our cities year in and year out with a nauseating consistency, Griffin said.

A criminal convicted of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, he said, is 8,000% more likely to be arrested for a shooting compared to a person with no prior convictions.

Although at least 12 people spoke at a news conference, none of them were legislators  who are the ones needed to pass the recommendations into law.

The mayors declined to say whether they have strongly lobbied members of the Democratic-controlled judiciary committee, which is a crucial step for approving any gun proposals before they reach the full House of Representatives and Senate.

I dont think anyone is going to speculate on the chances of legislation, Bronin said when asked by the Courant. We look forward to working collaboratively with all legislators  both chambers, both parties.

Lamont could have packaged the ideas into a governors bill, but he did not.

I think mainly because we have a high degree of confidence that were going to see significant bills along these lines coming out of the legislature, and Ill be strongly supportive of that, Lamont told reporters.

Lamont is also pushing for bills that would ban the open carrying of guns in public places and eliminate bulk purchasing of handguns. He is also pushing for mandating the registration of all ghost guns, which are handmade weapons that can be constructed with parts and instructions that are available over the internet or with 3D printers.

The news conference came less than 24 hours after the shootings at Michigan State University on Monday night, that led to the deaths of three students and left five others critically wounded.

Recent violence has also included a mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., that left 11 people dead and nine wounded at a ballroom dance studio east of downtown Los Angeles. The shooter, police said, was a 72-year-old man who later shot himself to death when his van was surrounded by Torrance officers not far from the initial shooting.

Lamont said he would not be deterred by potential lawsuits from gun rights advocates who have filed lawsuits in the past regarding assault weapons and other guns.

Im going to keep trying, Lamont told reporters. There could be out-of-state lawsuits and others trying to interrupt what were doing. Our gun safety laws work better than most other states in the country. Weve got to do better.  There is a very small, narrow group of people that weve got to make sure theyre not on the street causing damage and risk and violence to folks in their own community.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com


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YEREVAN, 15 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 15 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.60 drams to 393.50 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.07 drams to 421.71 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 5.29 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 5.53 drams to 474.88 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 60.98 drams to 23578.26 drams. Silver price down by 3.90 drams to 274.66 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
ADIYAMAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with the Armenian search and rescue team in Adiyaman, Turkey.

FM Mirzoyan spoke with the rescuers and thanked them for their difficult and responsible work, ARMENPRESS correspondent reports.

Captain Vahe Gevorgyan, the chief of the Armenian search and rescue team deployed in Adiyaman, told ARMENPRESS that his teams work has been praised by many. Everyone is approaching us and thanking us. Some even get surprised that weve come from Armenia, and in that case they say thank you twice. I can say that our work was flawless, because we were able to effectively work together with the rescuers from other countries, Captain Gevorgyan said.

Captain Gevorgyan said his team saved lives from under the rubble.

He added that theyve also recovered bodies from the rubble.

The captain said that ethnic Armenians of Adiyaman have approached them to thank them for their work.
If buildings in an earthquake-prone area are constructed to withstand the shaking, then the people inside are much safer

Rescuers search for victims and survivors amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's southeast on February 7, 2023. (Adem ALTAN / AFP)

Earthquakes dont kill people. Buildings do. Unpacked in simple English, that old, familiar saying among seismologists simply means that the solution to minimising deaths in earthquakes is to have appropriate building codes and to enforce them. If buildings in an earthquake-prone area are constructed to withstand the shaking, then the people inside are much safer. If not, many people could die.

The old refrain has got a new lease of life, especially in quake-ravaged Turkey, which along with Syria, was hit by a devastating earthquake earlier this month.

The tale of death and devastation continues.

In Turkey alone, more than 35,000 have lost their lives; thousands of buildings are completely crushed and toppled. There is anger on the streets.

Collapsed buildings reminded the government of the need for stricter construction rules, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a televised speech this week. He added that his government would work until the last person was rescued from the ruins in the quake-hit terrain.

But it is impossible to blur the backstory, which goes back to what is referred to as construction amnesty or zoning amnesty. In Turkey, amnesty can be granted to buildings even if they do not comply with the building codes. Such amnesties have been granted many times in the countrys past, chiefly for political and economic reasons.

The last such construction amnesty in Turkey was accepted by the government in May 2018, a little over a month before the 2018 presidential election. That amnesty subsequently became a law. More than seven million buildings benefited from the most recent construction pardon issued in 2018, shortly before the presidential and parliamentary elections. Out of this, around 5.8 million of them are residential ones.

Many urban planners in Turkey criticised such construction amnesties.

But what then appeared to be a populist move is now a hot button political issue that is likely to surface in the presidential election in Turkey scheduled this summer.

President Erdogan faces a volley of questions for overseeing the 2018 amnesty programme that papered over faults in millions of buildings across Turkey. Today, the Turkish government is in damage-control mode. In recent days, officials have detained or issued arrest warrants for some 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction.

But the wider question about the long-term impacts of regularising poor construction practices or defying warnings about outright violations of building codes in fragile terrain refuses to go away.

What lessons must India learn from Turkeys tragedy? The danger of legalising shoddy construction in a seismic zone has always been known. Turkey offers the latest proof of what happens when you ignore this fundamental truth.

Indias hazard profile shows that about 59 per cent of the countrys area is vulnerable to moderate to major earthquakes. What does that mean for a country on an infrastructure-building spree? Here are some insights from an official report. The Earthquake Disaster Risk Index Report, a publication of the National Disaster Management Authority (September 2019), starts with drawing attention to some well-known facts -- It is evident from past earthquakes such as Manipur (2016), Nepal (2015), Sikkim (2011), Kashmir (2005), Bhuj (2001), Chamoli (1999), Jabalpur (1997) and Latur (1993) that all type of buildings sustain damage, if not designed properly. The experiences of these earthquakes have demonstrated that many typical buildings of different types have sustained significant damage in these earthquakes. More than 90 per cent of the casualties in past earthquakes in India have occurred due to collapse of houses and structures.

The Earthquake Disaster Risk Index (EDRI) for 50 cities and one district on a pilot basis noted that loss of life and property can be minimised significantly by ensuring better code compliance of upcoming constructions and undertaking seismic retrofitting of existing buildings, thereby making them earthquake resilient.

That is easier said than done. Many experts have repeatedly pointed out that the rapid urbanisation of Indian cities in recent few decades has put huge pressure on the housing industry. This fast pace of construction with limited and non-holistic planning has led to unregulated development of low-to-medium rise buildings in Tier-II cities and medium-to-high rise building in Tier-I cities, causing serious threat to life and property during disasters, says the NDMA report. Among the 50 cities they looked at, NDMA researchers found 13 cities to have high risk, 30 cities to have medium risk and remaining seven cities to be at a low-risk level. Some randomly selected examples from the report --more than 90 per cent of buildings in Aizawl, Mizoram, observed to have maximum risk, are either built on hill slopes or located on sites vulnerable to falling debris from the hill tops; 35 per cent of these buildings are located very close to an adjacent and seemingly unsafe building/construction, whose collapse can damage the building easily. The NDMA report goes on to point out that Pithoragarh, Shillong and Kohima have similar conditions as that of Aizwal. These cities are situated in hilly areas, which have steep to extremely steep sloped terrains. In Srinagar, 50 per cent of reinforced concrete buildings and nearly 40 per cent of brick masonry other roof buildings are in the category of collapse. Split roof and pitched roof are the main common factors contributing to the high risk of reinforced concrete buildings.

In India, there is no dearth of norms. Such norms exist for earthquake-resistant construction as well. According to seismic zone mapping, India is divided into four zones -- it includes Zone-2 from Zone-5. India also has its Seismic Design Codes. But there is a mountain of evidence to show that construction codes meant for seismic zones are not strictly followed. Cracks are surfacing in buildings in city after city in the ecologically fragile and earthquake-prone Himalayan region.

The increase in earthquake risk is due to a spurt in developmental activities driven by urbanisation, economic development, and the globalisation of Indias economy. The increase in use of high-technology equipment and tools in manufacturing and service industries has also made them susceptible to disruption due to relatively moderate ground shaking. As a result, loss of human life is not the only determinant of earthquake risk any more. Severe economic losses leading to the collapse of the local or regional economy after an earthquake may have long-term adverse consequences for the entire country. This effect would be further magnified if an earthquake affects a mega-city, such as Delhi or Mumbai, the NDMA has warned.

Do we still question the urgency of mandating strict adherence to building codes?

Let the lessons from Turkey sink in.
Phillip Mark Mehrtens has been held hostage for about a week after his plane was torched by members of the West Papua National Liberation Army. The other passengers were released because they were indigenous Papuans. The flight was meant to airlift workers building a health centre who had received death threats.

Jayapura (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Papua have released photos and videos of a New Zealand pilot taken hostage last week.

Originally from Christchurch, Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot with Susi Air and, was abducted by fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army (WPNLA), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement that is seeking the province's independence from Indonesia.

After Mehrtenss plane landed in Paro, Nduga district, the rebels, led by 24-year-old militant Egianus Kogoya, seized the aircraft and took Mehrtens and five passengers hostage. The latter, all indigenous Papuans, were eventually released, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said.

Sambom yesterday sent pictures and videos to the Associated Press in which a group of armed men led by Kogoya are seen setting fire to the plane on the runway.

The footage shows the Papuan leader sitting in the planes cockpit saying that the pilot was taken hostage as part of their struggle "to liberate Papua" from Indonesia.

"I took him hostage for Papua's independence, not for food or drink," Kogoya said with a man, identified as Mehrtens, standing next to him. "He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground."

So far, the New Zealand government has issued very few statements about the affair.

Mathius Fakhiri, the police chief of Jayapura, the provincial capital, told reporters that local authorities are trying to gain the pilot's freedom by involving several community leaders, including tribal and church officials, to establish communication and negotiate with the rebels.

The flight to Paros, which is in a mountainous area that is difficult to reach by other means, had been organised to evacuate a group of 15 workers involved in building a local health centre.

Threatened with death by the West Papua National Liberation Army, they took refuge in the home of a priest while waiting for help, which arrived on 8 February.

Papua is located in the western part of the island of New Guinea, which Indonesia annexed in 1969 after a controversial referendum.

Since then, the province has been the scene of a low-intensity armed insurgency with Papuan separatist rebels fighting Indonesian security forces. In 2021 clashes rose by 80 per cent over 2020.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Mohammad Mahfud said that " Papua will forever remain a legitimate part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia."

Mahfud added that the government is making all necessary efforts to convince the rebels to release Mehrtens, noting that persuasion is the best method to ensure the safety of the hostage, although the government does not rule out other efforts.
The AirTag was developed to allow customers to track their belongings, including wallets and car keys. Thanks to its form factor, attaching it to valuables is very convenient, but at the same time, the reduced dimensions ended up becoming a double-edged sword.Because its easy to hide it anywhere, criminals used AirTags to spy on or stalk their victims. The number of cases when an AirTag was planted in various places , including behind the license plates of cars, skyrocketed in the last 12 months, with police advising individuals to call 911 whenever they believe they are in danger.Two women from California decided to file legal action against Apple after someone tracked them with an AirTag. Lauren Hughes and a second woman whose name was not revealed claim Apples warning system isnt effective, as it doesnt notify users they are tracked in a timely manner or fails to send a notification entirely.AirTags rely on the Find My network to send their locations to master iPhones, so they connect to nearby Apple devices to go online. Whenever an AirTag is detected in the proximity of another iPhone, the owner receives a notification that a GPS tracker might be moving with them.On Android, users need to download a dedicated application from the Google Play Store and manually scan for nearby AirTags whenever they believe they might be tracked. Rumor has it Google is also working on native detection of GPS trackers on Android, and the feature could launch in the summer on the next version of the operating system.In the meantime, Huges said in court documents that she found the AirTag planted in the wheel well of her car. The GPS device was wrapped in a plastic bag, possibly to protect it from dirt and water.Apple has already shipped software updates to make it more difficult for people to misuse the AirTag, but even so, the GPS tracker continues to double as a preferred tool for things like stalking. Police also confirmed that the number of reports signaling such uses of the AirTag increased significantly in the last few months.Without a doubt, Android users are the ones most exposed to the nefarious uses of AirTags, especially as they need to manually scan for GPS trackers regularly. A recent report reveals that the unnamed woman found an AirTag GPS tracker hiding in her childs backpack not once, but twice, though its not clear if she was using an Android smartphone or an iPhone. The device was allegedly planted by her ex-husband after the divorce.
The issue was first reported last week, shortly after Samsungs new flagship started shipping, and I am now seeing a plethora of similar complaints from people who purchased the device.Android Auto fails to launch when the device in charge of powering the connectivity to the car is a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and users who encountered the glitch believe Google is the only one that could come up with a fix.Many have already reached out to either Samsung or the manufacturer of their cars, but in both cases, they were told that the issue resides in Android Auto. Changing cables , updating Android Auto to the latest version or downgrading it to an earlier release, and clearing the cache and the data, all are generic fixes that failed to produce an improvement in this case.Last week when I spotted the first reports of Android Auto connectivity problems with a Galaxy S23 , the bug also came with an error message that provided users with more information on what was happening. USB device not supported, the message read, more or less suggesting that the mobile phone wasnt correctly detected by the head unit, possibly due to a faulty cable or USB connection.Most users who ended up struggling with the same glitch lately claim theyre no longer seeing any error message, as Android Auto just fails to launch. The device does charge, meaning that the USB connection is up and running, only that Android Auto doesnt show up on the screen.Changing the USB connection mode doesnt help either.Ironically, the issues encountered by Galaxy S23 Ultra buyers are identical to the ones that hit Android Auto when the Galaxy S22 Ultra was launched. Last year, Samsung customers ended up struggling with the same problems after buying the companys latest flagship, and unfortunately, some of them are still unable to run Android Auto today.At this point, neither Samsung nor Google acknowledged the bug, with a Community Specialist from the search giant requesting phone logs that would help the Android Auto dev team look further into their reports. Clearly, theres something wrong with new Samsung phones, and given their hefty price tags, with a top-of-the-range version reaching $1,600, buyers frustration isnt necessarily surprising. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is considered the best Android phone today.No workaround is known to exist at this point, so if you just purchased Samsungs latest and greatest mobile phone, your best option is to just head over to Googles forums and chime in, hoping that your phone logs and information could eventually help the company deal with the bug.
Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . algorithm  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023

Elon Musk may have surprised many people when he announced his decision to buy Twitter . Nevertheless, the real surprise was when people found out that Musks new toy was keeping him busy more than it should, distracting him from more important affairs. Musk invested a lot of his time and energy into managing Twitter, and one can say he lives and breathes through his tweets. This probably explains why he was unsatisfied with how his message fared during the Super Bowl weekend.Musk reportedly tweeted a Go Eagles! message on February 12, generating around 9.1 million impressions. Nevertheless, it was dwarfed by a similar tweet by President Biden supporting his wife in rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles. Bidens tweet generated nearly 29 million impressions, making Musk frustrated. Teslas CEO later deleted his tweet, and on Sunday night, as he returned to the Bay Area, he demanded answers from his team.According to the Platformer, this is when Elons cousin, James Musk, sent a distress message to Twitter engineers at 2:36 on Monday morning. The message sounded urgent, but the nature of this urgency would baffle Twitter engineers.We are debugging an issue with engagement across the platform, wrote James Musk on Slack. Any people who can make dashboards and write software, please can you help solve this problem? This is high urgency. If you are willing to help out, please thumbs up this post.The consequences of this meeting would become clear on Tuesday as Twitter users opened the app to find that Musks tweets overwhelmed their curated feeds. According to Platformer, this was no accident. Musk threatened to fire engineers, so they altered the algorithm to ensure Musks tweets reached the platforms entire user base. This explains why everybody saw dozens of Musks tweets in their feeds, even when they didnt follow him on Twitter.Musk acknowledged the uproar his tweets caused, hence his famous forced to drink milk meme from February 14. He later appeared willing to correct the issue. Please stay tuned while we make adjustments to the uh . algorithm, he tweeted. Since then, the problem has been corrected, in part, although Musks tweets are still boosted compared to regular users. His latest tweets generated between 20 and 50 million impressions, which is on the high end of their average performance.He bought the company, made a point of showcasing what he believed was broken and manipulated under previous management, then turns around and manipulates the platform to force engagement on all users to hear only his voice, one current employee told Platformer . I think were past the point of believing that he actually wants whats best for everyone here.
Photo: Bad Land

The most recent turmoil over in Milwaukee took place in 2020, when the bike makers then-CEO Matt Levatich left Harley (or was let go, depending on how you look at it) after 26 years on the companys payroll. The departure came at a time when a new plan for the businesses was being drafted and could have spelled doom if not properly negotiated.But Harley-Davidson survived that too, and it seems it is now in a good place. A bunch of new models has been released on the market, 2023 is filled with all sorts of celebratory events, and everything seems to be on the right track. So, no rallying cry the likes of Hang-On! are needed.True, when hearing that phrase, the mind cant stop linking it to some kind of verbal support for a company in need, but thats not what we have here. In fact, were talking about a custom Softail motorcycle, named Hang-On post conversion by its maker, Japanese garage Bad Land Bike number 69 in the shops 155-strong lineup of altered American motorcycles, the Hang-On is, as usual when talking about Bad Land builds, a beautifully crafted piece of engineering, meant to stand out at any enthusiasts gatherings.Wearing black on most of its body, but with a much shinier front end that sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to the wealth of chrome used there, especially on the fork assembly, the bike is an older project of the Japanese shop, but not less relevant for our quest to uncover unknown custom Harley from all over the world.The bike is propped on Ricks Motorcycles-sourced wheels in the usual shuriken -style design were used to seeing on Bad Land creations. The front one is sized at the usual 21 inches for such a piece, while the rear one comes in at just 18 inches (and wearing a tire 300 mm wide) to give the machine the proper stance.Were used by now to seeing a long list of Bad Land-made parts make their way onto custom Harleys, and the Hang-On is no exception. The Japanese crew made in-house a wealth of elements for this ride, starting with the front and rear fenders and ending with the handlebar and air cleaner.More important parts in the overall functioning of the Softail, meaning things like the exhaust system (the only major change performed on the otherwise stock engine) and the swingarm, are also of Bad Land make.Being a major project, other shops contributed to the creation of the two-wheeler. Performance Machine supplied the front and foot controls, Legend is responsible for the air suspension system, and Kens Factory name is all over the various covers that went into the build.Like it happens with many of these older yet impressive custom Harleys, the current whereabouts of the Hang-On are not known, and we also have no indication of how much it cost to make. None of that makes it less impressive, though
Photo: TU Graz/T&E

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

PHEV

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

ICE

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

EV

Photo: TU Graz/T&E

Even if all vehicles were electric, climate change would still happen because fossil fuels are necessary for many other activities. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), transportation is responsible for only 14% of man-made GHG (greenhouse gases). Passenger cars are just a fraction of transportation emissions, reducing the impact a fleet of electric passenger cars could have even more. I wish IPCC had broken down all transportation elements and how they contribute to carbon emissions, but it didnt.Anyway, the panel helped to demonstrate why entities like T&E must consider the whole scenario before deciding what a climate solution is and what it is not. Most carbon emissions come from electricity and heat production (25%), followed by AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use), with 24%, and industrial activity (21%). Thats 70% of all fossil fuel use. Compare that to the less than 14% of emissions passenger cars generate, and youll stop believing cars are the evil guys in climate change. Theyre not.That said, no personal transportation solution will move the needle as much as people think they will when it comes to worsening the greenhouse effect  a necessary phenomenon to keep the planet warm. Most efforts to reduce oil demand have to go to other economic sectors. The focus on electric vehicles should be for different reasons, equally important, such as the health of big cities populations and preventing severe-use conditions that make emissions higher and damage crucial car components.Having thousands or even millions of vehicles in a relatively small area is what creates smog and respiratory diseases. Nitrogen oxides, ozone, particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and benzene are hazardous to human health. When emitted on highways in rural areas, they tend to dissipate, but that does not happen in traffic jams in ample avenues inside cities. This is where BEVs, FCEVs , and even PHEVs can shine, regardless of what T&E has to say about them.Severe use happens when you only travel short distances with your combustion-engined vehicle. That prevents the engine from reaching its ideal working temperature, directly affecting the lubrication of all mobile parts inside the mill. While the engine heats up, it emits more pollutants because the catalytic converter needs to be at the right (high) temperature to start acting. Most machines and transmissions are conceived to work at higher speeds and on roads  thats their ideal environment. They even have an optimal rotational speed, which they cannot keep for long periods when the engine is used to power the wheels.Battery-electric cars do not have that problem because their motors can work just fine without the need to heat up. Their severe-use conditions are pretty different from those combustion-engined vehicles face. They are related to constantly fast charging the battery pack, which can happen for people who do not have the conditions to charge their EVs at home or those traveling farther than a full charge allows.Curiously, acan avoid both severe use conditions if it is used correctly. Drivers must use them in electric mode in the city, avoiding pollution emissions in traffic, and do not have to fast charge the battery on long trips. It could be the best of both worlds if adequately used.T&Es main argument against PHEVs is that they pollute way more than claimed. To prove that, it asked the Technical University of Graz (TU Graz) to test three plug-in hybrids that were not SUVs. The BMW 330e xDrive Touring was the only one to go through all tests, and it was also the vehicle with the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. T&E said its official number is 36 g/km of CO2, but that the number obtained in the tests was 112 g/km, 3.4 times the official figure.The vehicles were simply driven and had their emissions measured. However, the tests did not follow any protocol. When I checked BMWs information about that, the German carmaker had this statement in its technical data PDF:Fuel consumption, CO2 emission figures, power consumption, and range were measured using the methods required according to Regulation VO (EC) 2007 /7 15 as amended. They refer to vehicles on (sic) the automotive market in Germany. (...) All figures are already calculated on the basis of the new WLTP test cycle.Testing protocols exist to allow comparisons, which are not possible when tests are made under different conditions and procedures. This is the reason BMW has obtained numbers that are not even close to those TU Graz measured. On top of that, there are so many variables involving PHEVs (especially driving modes) that there is little chance that the results are repeatable without some rules to follow. If the Austrian university followed the same protocol, it would be a scandal if they were not the same or at least pretty similar to those the German carmaker released. But there is more.T&E said the official CO2 emission number for the 330e was 36 g/km. BMW actually discloses it goes from 35 g/km to up to 48 g/km. That has to do with the fuel consumption its tests presented: from 1.5 l/100 km to 2.1 l/100 km, which translates to 66.7 km/l (156.8 mpg) and 47.6 km/l (112 mpg). Knowing that each liter of gasoline generates around 2.3 kilograms (2,300 g) of carbon dioxide, you can calculate the official numbers disclosed by the German carmaker. It is not clear where T&E read the 330e emitted 36 g/km.When 112 g/km are compared to 36 g/km, they seem really high. That would be even higher compared to the 35 g/km that BMW also informs. However, when the comparison basis is 48 g/km, thats 2.3 times higher than this official figure. It still makes the station wagon look kind of dirty, but thats less than 3.4 times. Now compare the PHEV to the 330 xDrive Touring  theversion of the station wagon TU Graz tested  and the plug-in hybrid station wagon will seem pretty clean.According to the German carmaker, the 330 xDrive Touring has a fuel consumption that ranges from 7.3 l/100 km (32.2 mpg) to up to 8.1 l/100 km (29 mpg). In other words, the vehicle with no electric assistance emits between 164 g/km and 182 g/km. Using BMWs numbers, obtained under the same test protocols, the 330e is up to 4.7 times cleaner than the 330. Isnt that a victory for anyone fighting for fewer carbon emissions , less pollution, and more efficient cars?On top of that, the 330e can run exclusively inmode, which is what makes it attractive in the city without the need to carry a massive battery pack. T&E said it could run only 41.2 kilometers (25.6 miles) compared to the 56 km (34.8 mi) BMW allegedly states it can run. Again, I could not find the organizations source. The latest information on the 330e xDrive Touring states it runs 53 km (32.9 mi) to 61 km (37.9 mi) with a full charge, and the companys German website currently reduces it even further: 47 km (29.2 mi) to 58 km (36 mi). Although it still does not meet the disclosed EV range in TU Grazs tests, 41.2 km is closer to 47 km than it is to 56 km. T&E criticized BMWs geo-fencing capability as something that made the PHEV emit more outside cities, increasing its emissions. Considering the 330e xDrive can use the combustion engine to charge its battery pack, thats expected and can be a plus for people who do not want to use fossil fuels in populated areas. However, the organization also said that the geo-fencing tech did not prevent the combustion engine from firing up twice in the city. That is a more than pertinent criticism if the battery pack still had the juice to feed the electric motor. While it does, the combustion engine should not kick off.In the end, T&E wants governments to refrain from giving incentives to PHEVs. They should be exclusive to battery-electric cars because plug-in hybrids would have artificially low CO2 emissions. To prevent that, the organization defends that these vehicles should match some requirements to be eligible, such as a minimum electric range of 80 km (49.7 mi), fast charging capability, a combustion engine that emits a maximum of 139 g/km, and an electric motor as powerful as their ICEs.These are excellent requirements for PHEVs anywhere in the world. Anyway, discarding the current ones as mere greenwashing is an error. They are still enough for people that drive short distances. If properly charged and operated, they may prevent the emission of hazardous pollutants where it matters the most: inside cities. Their battery packs are also small, which means they may not cost a fortune to replace when they fail after the warranty is over. Thats not something you can say about BEVs, as a recent story I wrote shows quite well.If the main goal is to prevent carbon emissions in a meaningful way, T&E is focusing on the wrong target. If the idea is to make cities and their populations healthier, anything that prevents an engine from running in an urban environment should be welcome. Larger battery packs with range extenders would be the sweet spot, but bashing current solutions and stimulating a single one does not sound wise. PHEVs are not "a dangerous distraction," and BEVs are not entirely good. Above all, none of these vehicles will ever save the planet. They may save personal transportation, which is enough for us to celebrate.
The 2023 Roush Performance Special Edition

Photo: Polaris Slingshot

Photo: Polaris Slingshot

Photo: Polaris Slingshot

Roush Performance

Photo: Polaris Slingshot

Other collaborations and special editions

Photo: Polaris Slingshot

This time, besides offering customers a lot of customization options on their fun three-wheeler, they have a brand-new special edition coming. The Medina, Minnesota-based brand has just announced it joined forces with Roush Performance for a fresh three-wheeled roadster.The all-new 2023 Roush Performance Special Edition will sit at the top of Polaris 2023 lineup , which offers four trims, the Slingshot S, the SL, the SLR, and the range-topping R.As expected, the special edition roadster will be a head-turning, stare-drawing monster with a lot of power. In fact, the brand confidently describes it as "designed with racetrack attitude" and aimed toward the drivers who "want to win over the streets and draw envious stares."As you might expect from a three-wheeler with a "racetrack attitude," the Slingshot Roush Special Edition is stylish and unique, but also powerful. It receives all the attitude from the Slingshot R, which is the 2023 lineup's top-of-the-line trim, but with premium componentry.Using the Slingshot R's platform, the Roush edition packs a ProStar 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, generating as much as 203 horsepower (206 ps) at 8,500 revolutions per minute and 144 lb-ft (195 Nm) of torque at 6,500 revs per minute.The Slingshot R was available in several premium multi-tone options, including Desert Sky, Graphite Blue, Miami Blue Fade, Lime Dream, and Pacific Teal Haze. The new special edition three-wheeler will have a different paint, added graphics, and Roush branding that will make it look unlike anything else in the lineup.Besides all the features the already loaded R trim had, like integrated navigation, Apple CarPlay , and Brembo brakes, customers will benefit from more premium extras.Updated Brembo Brakes with exclusive slotted rotors, a Slingshot Excursion Top, and premium billet pedal covers by Sparco are just some of the changes from the Slingshot R.The Slingshot Roush Special Edition will only offer one exterior option  the exclusive two-tone Racetrack Red trim with blacked-out badging and racetrack-inspired steering wheel color accents.Among the Roush additions are the designs for the seat covers, the instrument cluster, and the Roush badge displayed on the glove box.Besides all of these standard features, customers have even more options to make their ride in the three-wheeler as comfortable as possible. Those include Heated and Cooled Seats, more storage bags, a color-matching rear fender, or the Stage 3 audio kit with integrated speakers behind each headrest.The three-wheeled roaster also features an Excursion Top that won't give you headaches because there's no need for tools to install it or remove its soft top. Besides style, the top offers shade and comfort while driving.The Slingshot Roush also got the best of the best when it comes to brakes. Fitted with four-piston Brembo brakes that are 14% larger than the standard front brake rotors and also include fixed calipers.This is the first time Polaris Slingshot collaborates with Roush Performance. The latter is an automotive manufacturer founded by Jack Roush, primarily involved in the engineering, development, and manufacturing of high-performance components, both for street models and competitive racing applications.If Roush sounds familiar and you dont know where to place it, weve got you covered. The Livonia, Michigan-based brand also produces aftermarket parts for Ford, mainly for the Ford Mustang, the Ford Focus, and the F-150 pickup truck.We wanted to design a ride that authentically reflects ROUSHs trusted heritage in performance, but remained true to the wow-factor, adventure-seeking lifestyle only Slingshot provides, and the Slingshot ROUSH Edition delivers on those promises, said Polaris Slingshot Vice President Chris Sergeant. From the looks of it, they achieved the purpose.The top-of-the-line Slingshot R came with a starting price of $33,999 for the manual transmission version and $36,149 for the AutoDrive. The special edition model will be slightly pricier. It will start at $37,349 (or $37,649 in California) for the manual transmission variant and $39,499 for the AutoDrive. California will also have special pricing. It will start at $37,649 and $39,799, respectively.Polaris and Roush won't let the customers wait too long for the new three-wheeler, as it will be available for purchase in the spring of 2023.This might be the first collaboration between Polaris Industries and Roush Performance. But Polaris has previously teamed up with other high-profile names.It worked together with the Florida Gators for a Gator-themed three-wheeler Slingshot roadster, with Minnesota Vikings' Kyle Rudolph, where they partnered to auction off his personal Vikings-inspired custom Slingshot for charity, and with muralist Shelbi Nicole.Other limited-edition models from the brand were the Signature, the Signature LE, the Grand Edition, and the R LE.
Photo: Sirena Yachts

Photo: Sirena Yachts

Called Sirena 48, the new vessel is the yards smallest yacht to date and proves that it can also cater to the needs of those clients who are looking for an entry-level product. More specifically, those clients who want to enjoy the yachting experience in a boat big enough to accommodate a family, yet small enough not to need a crew for operation.The latest addition to the yards range offers just that, along with the same luxury and amenities as its longer sisterships, but in a smaller package.We have a wide product range with four models between 58 and 88ft, and this expansion into the 40-foot sector will complete our line-up in the most competitive area of the market, said Ali Onger, CCO at Sirena Yachts. The Sirena 48 is a model that can be used without a crew, yet can easily accommodate a family nucleus. This will be an all-weather yacht with many innovative warm-water features. We expect it to prove especially popular in both Mediterranean and US markets.With a design penned by Argentinian naval architect German Frers, the new yacht will offer owners the best of both worlds thanks to its all-new semi-displacement hull that will prove efficient both in displacement mode, when operated at very slow speeds, and at high speeds. Sirena 48 will be capable of reaching a top speed of 26 knots (30 mph/48 kph).Frers was also involved in the design of the other Sirena Yachts models and made sure the newest addition followed the same styling cues.Features like the near-vertical bow, the wrap-around windows, a large swimming platform, and spacious outside areas on the flybridge and forward deck can be found on this compact yacht as well. Despite the reduced footprint, Sirena 48 boasts a voluminous hull with a maximum beam of 16 feet (4,9 meters), offering plenty of interior space for a family of six to live comfortably. The sleeping quarters will comprise three cabins, including a midships master suite, a VIP cabin, and a twin guest cabin. A well-equipped galley and a large saloon with extra-large vertical windows round up the interiors.The idea was to deliver the same experience as the larger yachts, but in a smaller package.There is even scope for customization with a flexible two-deck layout. Several options will be offered for the flybridge area. In standard form, it will include an entertaining area with alfresco dining and a spacious sun pad-laden area forward. An intuitive flybridge helm station will allow owners to operate the boat themselves.When it comes to the aft cockpit, two different layouts will be possible, which is quite surprising for a yacht in this size category. The standard version will feature an open cockpit with an L-shaped dining area and a glass panel that will allow guests onboard to take in the views.The new Sirena 48 was announced at Boot Dusseldorf in January, and the yard says the first hull will be revealed at the Cannes Yachting Festival 2023 in September. By making the yacht versatile in terms of layout and easy to handle, Sirena wants to expand its customer base to include a new generation of boaters and marine enthusiasts. According to the Sirena Yachts CEO Cagin Genc, the yard has already received ten orders for the Sirena 48, even before its official launch.
Photo: CST

Photo: CST

Photo: CST

Earlier this month, it was announced that a handful of European companies were launching the International Hyperloop Association. This is a historic first and something that solidifies Europes future role in this emerging mobility sector. The Association will be headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, and will act as an intermediary between the industry and the European Commission and European Parliament.Many feared that the hyperloop dreams were dead and gone, but this initiative is trying to prove otherwise. The new organizations inaugural President, Ben Paczek, has even stated that major developments in this sector are coming sooner than we think, over the next months.Not that far away, over in Switzerland, a related project could become the first one to show some real movement before the end of this decade. CST is not exactly a hyperloop concept, and its not one of the founding members of this new Association. Its vision is quite different from what is conventionally defined as hyperloop , but is based on similar principles.Hyperloop is a new kind of high-speed transportation system where capsule-like vehicles move inside special tubes with reduced pressure. It was described as a combination between an airplane and a train, and it was mainly aimed at passenger transportation. The CST system intends to stick to cargo (which will simplify things a great deal) and is more complex, combining underground and ground-level operations.But both have similar goals  fast, efficient, emission-free, sustainable transportation. Although a private initiative, Cargo Sous Terrain is not one small player, but an umbrella organization that incorporates multiple Swiss companies in related fields, all of which will contribute to the implementation of the CST.Thats because were talking about a complex logistics system that intends to connect the countrys major centers, both under and above ground. This implies the development of multiple sub-projects at the same time. Its not just about developing a new type of vehicle, but also about hub locations, energy management, building tunnels, and the IT infrastructure that will control the entire system.While others are trying to make trucks and trains more efficient, CST wants to replace them with something else entirely. The future cargo pods are tiny, fully-autonomous vehicles meant to operate around the clock at 30 kph (nearly 19 mph).This would be possible thanks to a system similar to a conveyor belt. Powered through induction rails, the driverless pods would carry only a pallet or two, and pick up and deposit them on their own.Special vertical lifts will enable the pods to switch from above-ground operations (where they load up at the designated logistics hubs) to the underground tunnels, where they carry the goods (including fresh ones) to the destination hubs. In this cargo system, suppliers dont deliver their goods individually. Instead, the so-called micro-distribution is prepared in advance, and coordinated so that the entire process becomes faster and more efficient for everyone involved.What the CST hopes to achieve is to drastically relieve the load on both rail and road freight transportation. While cargo drones will be playing a similar role up in the sky, these pods will move underground. CST claims that they could reduce heavy transportation of goods by up to 40% on Switzerlands national roads.And in case youre wondering about the energy it would take to power this complex system, the Swiss company guarantees the use of 100% renewable energy sources. More importantly, it says that unlike similar projects (such as those for hyperloop passenger mobility ) it has completed a detailed feasibility study, and that the project is based on real user needs and market requirements. In other words, its not just an attractive conceptual initiative, but a project thats ready to be implemented.Indeed, CST has a relatively-optimistic deadline for the initial phase of this large-scale cargo system. By 2031, it hopes to inaugurate the networks first section, connecting Harkingen-Niederbipp to Zurich. This translates to approximately 43 miles (70 km) with ten hubs (or connection points) along the way.From there, it will gradually expand to other centers in the country. In the end, this will add up to a little over 300 miles (500 km) for a brand-new cargo network connecting Lake Constance and Lake Geneva. But that is far down the road, somewhere in 2045.And, of course, it wont be cheap either. The total cost is estimated at $35 billion, but 3 billion CHF ($3.2 billion) will apparently be enough to finalize the first section. Plus, that money wont be coming from government funds, but exclusively through private investment.CST hasnt started building its first tunnels yet, but it looks like its on the right track. Unless the new Hyperloop Association comes up with some spectacular plans in the near future, this might be the most advanced hyperloop-related project in Europe, as far as implementation goes. It might not be as flashy as the futuristic hyperloop pods, but it could change cargo transportation forever.
SUV

Changing your mind is mostly OK, even if this makes you look bad in certain situations. Ive known a couple who married and divorced several times (I kid you not) because they could not decide whether they loved or hated each other. Nevertheless, when you change your mind about cars, it can be costly. Luckily, not so for the owner of a Tesla Model X Plaid, who got a little impatient with the many issues of his 2022 model-year Tesla.The person telling the story describes himself as a Tesla fan who bought one of the very first Model S when it launched. He loved Tesla and the cars and convinced others to buy them, but he grew dissatisfied over the years as the company grew to todays proportions. The last straw was in 2021, when he ordered the Model X Plaid in the story. As you probably remember, Tesla delayed the refreshed Model S/X production until many lost patience.So did J. Browdy, so he looked for alternatives and found one in the Rivian R1S. He wasnt lucky with the truck, which was also delayed, and in June 2022, he took delivery of the Model X Plaid. Although he loved the SUV, some things bothered him, and many were related to the new yoke steering and the lack of stalks. As he described it, it wasnt one thing to dislike ; rather, it felt like death by a thousand paper cuts.This was when Browdy decided to switch the R1S reservation for an R1T, and he was scheduled for delivery within days. He sold the Tesla to a local dealer and got the full Rivian delivery experience, factory tour, and all. Browdy drove the truck for a couple of days until realizing he had made a mistake. His Model X was still on sale at the dealership, so he sold the R1T and bought his Tesla back at a marked-up price. He admits to being the dumbest customer ever to grace the parking lot of that dealership. Thankfully, he made a small profit on the Rivian and could offset the price difference on the Model X.Having been owning both cars, Browdy is willing to let the thousand paper cuts heal and enjoy his Tesla. Based on the experience he had with both cars, he also made an in-depth comparison . They are different vehicles, of course, and depending on someones needs, they may find other things to like and hate. Browdys story on Tesla Motors Club is certainly worth reading, especially if you contemplate buying a Rivian or a Tesla.
Mirzoyan flew to Ankara hours after Turkey again opened a border crossing with Armenia to receive a second batch of humanitarian aid sent by Yerevan.

A convoy of Armenian trucks loaded with food, medicine and other relief supplies headed to the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman where a 27-strong Armenian rescue team has been searching for possible survivors of the quake that killed at least 35,000 people.

Mirzoyan visited Adiyaman and spoke with the Armenian rescuers later on Wednesday.

"Armenia has extended its hand of friendship, showed solidarity and cooperation with us in this difficult time ... We need to continue this solidarity," Cavusoglu told a joint news conference in Ankara with Mirzoyan.

The normalization process in the South Caucasus region is going on. We believe that our cooperation in the humanitarian field will support this process, he added, according to Reuters.

In that regard, Cavusoglu pointed not only to ongoing efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations but also Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

The two ministers said they discussed their governments efforts to normalize bilateral relations. In Mirzoyans words, they reached understandings on rebuilding a medieval bridge on the Turkish-Armenian border and transport infrastructure in advance of a full opening of the border. He gave no details.

Turkey has for decades made the opening of the border and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia conditional on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish leaders have repeatedly reaffirmed this precondition since the start of the normalization talks with Yerevan in January 2022.

Turkish and Armenian officials held four rounds of negotiations before announcing in July that the border will be opened for citizens of third countries. Mirzoyan reiterated Yerevans hopes for the full normalization of relations and complete opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey.
The Armenian Interior Ministry will pay the company, SIL Insurance, about $500,000 to buy yearly insurance coverage for some 2,000 vehicles used by the national police. SIL reportedly signed earlier similar deals with other government agencies.

The Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it had checked with other insurance firms and found out that they would charge higher fees for the mandatory insurance. It did not disclose those fees or explain why it did not formalize the procedure through a formal tender.

Armenian anti-corruption experts criticized the ministrys decision. Varuzhan Hoktanian, who runs the local branch of the Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International, said the no-bid contract awarded to Sukiasians firm carries a corruption risk.

I cannot be sure that they really sent inquiries [to other insurers,] Hoktanian told RFE/RLs Armenian Service.

Its hard to presume that they did that without a tender because of a lack of time, said Hayk Martirosian, a lawyer advising a German company.

Armenian law allows the government not to put contracts for the delivery of goods or services out to competitive tender in some cases. The number of such government decisions has reportedly increased in recent years, prompting concerns from opposition figures and civil society activists.

Hoktanian pointed out that the governments handling of procurements is one of the reasons why Transparency International downgraded Armenias position in its annual survey of corruption perceptions around the world released late last month.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian last week expressed concern at the downgrade and admitted shortcomings in his governments stated fight against corruption. At the same time, he blamed Armenian media outlets accusing members of his political team of illicit enrichment.

Pashinian pledged to separate business from politics when he swept to power during the 2018 velvet revolution. He declared shortly afterwards that Armenian entrepreneurs no longer need parliament seats in order to protect and increase their assets.

Sukiasian and another wealthy businessman were elected to the current Armenian parliament on the ruling Civil Contract partys ticket in June 2021.

Sukiasian and his extended family have reportedly expanded their business interests since 2018. In particular, the Hetq.am investigative publication reported in 2021 that a fuel importing company set up by them in 2020 has signed with the Armenian Defense Ministry supply contracts worth $14 million.

The tycoon could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
HKSAR to send 30 mln HKD worth of supplies to quake-hit Turkiye

Xinhua) 09:21, February 15, 2023

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.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Display objects include model of SS Canberra, liner on which the star performed as a teenager

Actress Claire Sweeney had an unexpected trip down memory lane after a visit to the Titanic museum and hotel.

The Brookside and Benidorm star was joined by son Jaxon for Titanic Belfasts outdoor guided Discovery Tour, exploring the doomed liners tender, SS Nomadic.

Posting a video to social media from the hotel, the 51-year-old said: We are here in the Titanic Hotel, which is absolutely steeped in history.

Its the Harland and Wolff old head office in Belfast and its full of historic ship [displays] and Ive come across a cruise ship that I used to sing on.

Its here amongst all the historic ships  the Canberra. When I was 17 I sang on it.

I cant believe all the relics, all the old cruise ships  and Ive been on one of them working.

She added the outdoor tour was great.

The pair also made a trip to the nearby We Are Vertigo inflatable park and activity centre, where she and Jaxon enjoyed a bounce around.

Before heading to Belfast, the actress had attended a star-studded fundraising event at the weekend in London for the Caron Keating Foundation, set up in memory of Gloria Hunnifords daughter.

Caron, a former Blue Peter and This Morning presenter, died in 2004 at 41 from breast cancer.

Portadown-born broadcaster Gloria said setting up the organisation was a way to do something positive after losing Caron.

Claire joined an array of celebrities at the event including Loose Womens Linda Robson and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

An auction on the night raised 80,000 for the charity.

Gloria told the audience: Thank you for coming, honestly, it is bliss.

The lovely Caron, gorgeous girl, was a huge, huge loss to our family. She was only in her 30s when she got breast cancer. At that time I personally did not know any young girl in her 30s who had breast cancer.

Caron was given a prognosis of possibly a year-and-a-half, but she fought it valiantly for seven years, and fought it in private and in silence.

She didnt really want anybody to know about it, and that is the way she wanted it.

In order to try to cope with the devastation of losing a daughter, we thought: We have got to do something positive against such negativity.

We decided to start the Caron Keating Foundation, which helps every type of cancer all over this country.
Bank of Ireland employee Chris Keeley and his daughter Ava (2). The bank has announced a new series of family-friendly policies

Up to 9,000 Bank of Ireland workers will be entitled to avail of early pregnancy loss leave, foster care leave and 10 days fertility leave from today.

The group is announcing a range of new family matters policies for its staff based in the Republic, UK, EU and US.

The new benefits for UK staff include seven weeks top up of shared parental leave in first year of their childs life.

Other provisions are:

13 weeks paid leave for partners, when coupled with paternity leave enhancements adopted in 2022.

New provision for foster care leave.

Ten days leave for colleagues undergoing fertility treatments.

Surrogacy leave formalised to match adoptive leave entitlements.

Early pregnancy leave for the loss of a baby under 24 weeks gestation, available to all colleagues.

Extended breastfeeding breaks for parents with a child up to two-years of age.

A Bank of Ireland spokesperson said the package includes six new policies and nine existing policies that have been enhanced.

The new and improved entitlements will be available to staff from their first day of employment.

Myles OGrady, Group CEO at Bank of Ireland, said as one of the largest employers in Ireland the bank wants to build a progressive workplace and contribute to a progressive society.

This is also important for our business which competes hard to attract and retain the talent we need to serve our customers, support growing businesses, and also grow as a company, he said.

We constantly challenge ourselves to foster a work environment where colleagues are treated with fairness and flexibility.

He said there is no one-size-fits-all for families, so the banks people policies aim to support a range of scenarios, including when colleagues face very challenging circumstances.

The bank said in a statement that its Family Matters benefits will complement existing initiatives introduced last year.

These include menopause leave, improved paternity leave and a domestic abuse policy.

There will be 33 weeks paid leave for parents availing of maternity, surrogacy or adoptive leave and 10 days leave for colleagues undergoing fertility treatments.

Surrogacy leave includes 26 weeks paid leave, followed by the option of up to 26 weeks unpaid leave.
Irish League

Were ready for the best, say Loughgall fans as they prepare for the top flight
Belfast City Council has voted to refuse an application to build what would have been Northern Irelands largest student accommodation block, after protest from local residents.

At a meeting of its Planning Committee this week, a proposal to reject a council officers recommendation to approve a 795 unit building was successful, but without unanimous backing.

The proposed development site  at lands bounded by Library Street, Stephen Street, Little Donegall Street and Union Street, in the Carrick Hill area in the north of the city  currently comprises a vacant brownfield site used for car parking behind Belfast Central Library.

The proposal to reject the planning application was made by Sinn Fein, with an amendment from the Green Party. On a recorded vote the proposal won by seven votes for to four votes against, with the DUP not supporting the proposal.

The decision however has yet to be finalised, as the proposal was deferred for the City Solicitor to draft refusal reasons to make the proposal legally tight, and to get further details on an assessment from the Stormont Historical Environment Division.

Despite the deferral the committee decision will remain.

The plan was the latest and largest application of a raft of student accommodation projects across the city following the opening of the long-delayed new Ulster University campus, which opened to 15,000 students and staff last September.

The largest scheme in Belfast so far to have been granted the green light is a 774-unit scheme by Student Roost on Nelson Street by Sailortown.

North Belfast MLA Caral Ni Chuilin and Carrick Hill representative Frank Dempsey appeared before the committee to explain their objections.

Ms Ni Chuilin said: If this is granted, it will mean well over 8,000 student bed placements in that area. I am from the area, it is part of Carrick Hill, it is not a separate area. People live on Union Street.

There were 66 homes in the area that have gone now for student accommodation. The (site) was earmarked for regeneration with family homes, it is now a car park for the university, and we have students parking on residents doors.

The council objected to one of the current buildings on Union Street, but this was overturned, and now another block is earmarked for housing on Donegall Street.

I believe this is going to have a material negative impact on the inner Northwest Masterplan.

We are not anti-regeneration, in fact we have been arguing for regeneration for a long time, but we are talking about buildings that are sympathetic to buildings already there. I am thinking of the 3,000 people living in housing stress.

She added: People are still living in Stephen Street, Kent Street, and on Carrick Hill. The families waiting for homes are sitting on the outside, looking in on a development they are never going to have.

Mr Dempsey told the chamber: I was taken aback regarding the consultation the developers talked about. We told them distinctly we are opposed to this, because of the detrimental effect it will have on our community.

I have heard it time and time again, city centre, city centre  its not the city centre, its Carrick Hill. Its been Carrick Hill since the 1700s.

He said a recent survey had shown 1,500 people opposed to the sites planned for student accommodation in the area, which he said were destroying the local community.

He said: Have many rapped the doors of the people on Stephen Street to ask what they thought? What had happened to them?

When they talk about student managed accommodation, you have to understand what that is. It doesnt mean the students are managed once they walk outside that door.

Understand the fears of people in Carrick Hill  when all they see is Holylands, Holylands. And you expect people to live facing that?

Sinn Fein councillor Ryan Murphy, who made the proposal to reject the plan, said: There is a concern there  it is not just about height, scale and massing, it is about trying to build a community, or rather, extending a community that already exists there, by creating homes and families that are on waiting lists in the locality can go to live.

He said: The development there would be counterintuitive to the ambitions of the council to bring forward residential mixed tenure residential development within the wider Northwestern Masterplan site.

Green Councillor Aine Groogan, who made the amendment on the proposal, told the chamber: I am concerned this may be overdevelopment of the site. This is less than 2.6 metres of amenity space per unit.

She added: This is going to be very built up. There is a massive building beside it that we did not approve of, and others around it. We are creating a bit of a concrete jungle here, with very little amenity for the prospective thousands of students, who deserve a quality residential environment as well.
Canadian nurse Alexander Vukelich has been forced to commute from Bangor to Scotland to find work in healthcare

More needs to be done to incentivise healthcare staff to come to Northern Ireland, a Canadian nurse practitioner forced to commute from Co Down to the Scottish Highlands has said.
Forensic officers at the scene on Tuesday evening. Pic: Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph.

Police at the scene of a shooting incident in the Divismore Way area of west Belfast on February 14th, 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)   Kevin Scott

Police at the scene of a shooting incident in the Divismore Way area of west Belfast on February 14th, 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)   Kevin Scott

Police at the scene of a shooting incident in the Divismore Way area of west Belfast on February 14th, 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)   Kevin Scott

A 34-year-old man has been taken to hospital following a shooting incident in west Belfast on Tuesday evening.

Police have said the man was shot in both knees and feet in an area close to a memorial garden in Divismore Way at around 8.10pm.

The PSNI called the attack a stark violation of his basic human rights and said it is believed two perpetrators were involved and made off down a nearby alley in the direction of Divismore Crescent.

In an update on Wednesday morning, police appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Politicians have also condemned the incident.

Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey condemned the shooting, saying guns have no place on Belfasts streets.

I am aware that a man has been injured in a shooting attack in Divismore tonight, he said.

This attack was wrong. There is no place for guns on our streets. Anyone with information on this shooting should bring it forward to the Police.

People Before Profit councillor Matt Collins described the shooting as callous.

He said: Those responsible are heaping further misery on working class communities, which are racked with poverty and social deprivation.

The perpetrators of such attacks seek to control people through fear and intimidation. They have nothing to offer West Belfast or anywhere else. They should get off our communities backs.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has described the attack as inexcusable.

"This brutality is utterly inexcusable and needs to stop, she said.

If you have any information that could help the PSNI bring the perpetrators to justice, please contact them on 101 or confidentially via Crimestoppers.

Forensic officers were on the scene on Tuesday night and a PSNI inspector said the victim had injuries inflicted that are a stark violation of his basic human rights.

"There is no justification for this type of violence. Attacks like these not only place the victim at risk, but also the local community," he said.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said they received at call at 8.10pm on Tuesday and despatched an emergency crew and ambulance officer.

Following assessment and initial treatment at the scene, one patient was taken by ambulance to Royal Victoria Hospital, a spokesperson said.

Police at the scene of a shooting incident in the Divismore Way area of west Belfast on February 14th, 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)   Kevin Scott

Anyone with information can contact the PSNI by calling 101 or anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during an interactive session on the theme 'India's role in the Emerging World Order' organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), in New Delhi, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo: PTI)

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday exhorted exporters to be receptive and 'foresee' how the recession or slowing economy abroad will pan out for them, while asking them to constantly engage with the government.

Stating that external uncertainties are far more 'unpredictable' and therefore challenging, Sitharaman said in a post-pandemic, post-war world, and where there is a repeat occurence of virus, there is no fixed 'template' to deal with uncertainties.

With regard to imports, she assured the industry that the government is looking at specific items to see which are going to be consistently needed for next few years as well as those whose import could hurt domestic manufacturers.

"The changes abroad, recession abroad or the slowing economy abroad are all going to be challenge for Indian exporters. So Indian exporters will have to be far more receptive of what is happening there or even foresee how that will pan out for them and keep constantly engaging with the government otherwise at a time when exporters have to be on their toes, such challenges demotivate them," Sitharaman said at the Assocham event here.

The minister's comments came after commerce ministry data showed that India's exports dipped by 6.58 per cent to USD 32.91 billion in January -- second straight month of decline -- due to slowdown in global demand.

Imports in January too contracted by 3.63 per cent, the second consecutive month, to USD 50.66 billion.

Sitharaman further said that customs authorities at the borders are keeping a tab on both exports and imports.

"No way are we blanket taking a position, we are looking at specific items to see which are going to be consistently needed for next few years and which are going to hurt us. Those which cause hurt we are ready to act," the minister said.

She also asked businesses to keep the government informed with the input on import of items which they think could hurt domestic industry as well as those which are essential input in manufacturing.

"We have gone item wise in customs duty and therefore we were able to bring it down in 18-20 categories... We will bring it down at the same time keep a very close watch on flooding or surge in any kind of imported goods. Even if the surge was only for 3 months, it can hurt us for full year. So there is a very keen eye being kept on what's happening in our borders in terms of exports and in terms of imports," Sitharaman said.
A Chinese governor accused of genocide has reportedly pulled out of an upcoming trip to the UK after MPs called for his arrest (Yui Mok/PA)   Yui Mok

A Chinese governor accused of genocide has reportedly pulled out of an upcoming trip to the UK after MPs called for his arrest.

The BBC cited a Foreign Office (FCDO) spokesperson as saying they understood Erkin Tuniyaz, the governor of north-western Xinjiang province, had cancelled his participation in planned in-person talks with FCDO officials in Britain.

It came after a group of seven MPs, including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, wrote to Attorney General Victoria Prentis asking her to give serious consideration to an application by an alleged torture-sufferer to prosecute the governor while he was in the UK.

The FCDO was widely condemned last week by MPs for entertaining the idea of talks with the governor given Chinas treatment of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, which include allegations of forcibly sterilising women and putting children in concentration camps.

In 2021, MPs approved a non-binding Commons motion which declared Uighur Muslims and other minorities are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang.

On Monday, Sir Iain accused Mr Tuniyaz of murder as he joined Uighur activists outside the FCDOs King Charles Street headquarters protesting against the planned visit.

Sir Iain told protesters: We do not meet with people who murder others. Government should be above that.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Labour peer Helena Kennedy attended the demonstration on Monday (Stefan Rousseau/PA)   Stefan Rousseau

There is no negotiation until China stops what it is doing and restores the rights, privileges and freedoms for the people of Xinjiang who are Uighur.

He added: We face the reality that there is a strong possibility that the Government may end up in some other location with officials meeting the man who is responsible for what we believe to be a genocide in Xinjiang. That is simply unacceptable.

It is unacceptable for the Government to pretend that because a minister doesnt meet him somehow it is unofficial. It is not.

The protesters stayed outside the FCDOs headquarters on King Charles Street in Westminster throughout Monday.

There were speeches by activists and Labour peer Helena Kennedy, who co-chairs the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

The activists waved placards reading freedom for Uighurs and China, stop your genocide against the Uighurs before delivering a protest letter to the FCDO.

Last week, the Prime Ministers official spokesman, when asked why Mr Tuniyaz had not been sanctioned, said in a briefing of journalists: My understanding is that FCDO officials are meeting the governor of Xinjiang to make clear the UKs abhorrence over the treatment of the Uighur people and to underline that we will not relent from exposing the horrors from which they are being subjected.

We will continue to reiterate this message so the Chinese authorities know they cannot hide their abuses. We do maintain diplomatic channels so we can pass on these messages and make clear our position.
Alba party leader Alex Salmond says Nicola Sturgeon has not left a clear path for independence (Robert Perry/PA)   Robert Perry

Nicola Sturgeon leaves no clear strategy for independence as she stands down as Scotlands First Minister, her predecessor Alex Salmond said.

Her one-time mentor turned political enemy said he feels for the SNP leader as she announced her resignation from the post on Wednesday.

She told a press conference the time is now for her to stand down as Scotlands First Minister, adding it was right for me, for my party and for the country.

Mr Salmond said: There has been no question of Nicolas talents as a first-rate political communicator and election winner and  having been there  I feel for her personally on the day of her resignation.

There are two questions for the future.

Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond ahead of the Scottish independence referendum (Andrew Milligan/PA)   Andrew Milligan

One is that the movement has been left with no clear strategy for independence. The previously accepted referendum route has been closed and the de facto referendum/election proposal is now, at best, up in the air.

Secondly, there is no obvious successor. There are a range of able people in the SNP but they will now be tested in the fire of leadership, inheriting a range of serious Government policy challenges.

It is to be hoped that those voices which wish to reunite the national movement emerge to win that contest.

However, SNP members hailed Ms Sturgeons work on Scottish independence.

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Ian Blackford, Scottish MP and former leader of the SNP in Westminster, said when Scotland wins independence, Ms Sturgeon will have been its architect and builder, adding: We owe it to her to finish the job.

Current SNP Westminster Stephen Flynn said Ms Sturgeon has been an outstanding political leader, adding: As SNP leader, she has taken support for independence to record levels and won every national election, by margins other parties could only wish for.

Scottish Deputy First Minister John Swinney, one of several possible candidates who could succeed Ms Sturgeon, tweeted: She has my warmest good wishes for the future and heartfelt thanks for all that she has done for Scotland, for the cause of Independence and the Scottish National Party.

SNP president Michael Russell has thanked Nicola Sturgeon for her extraordinary and brilliant leadership.

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Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Ms Sturgeon had been a formidable politician and he thanked her for her service as First Minister, but said her resignation is a welcome opportunity for the Scottish Government to change course, and to drop its divisive obsession with independence.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked her for her long-standing service and wished her the best for her next steps.

Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Holyroods second-largest party, said: I am glad Nicola Sturgeon has recognised this is the right time to go.

He blamed her for a decade of constitutional paralysis and accused her of governing in her partys interests, rather than Scotlands.

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Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon being at the forefront of Scottish politics for more than 20 years, adding that his party aspires to deliver the change it believes Scotland now needs.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Scotland faces many challenges and called on the SNP to restore stability after Ms Sturgeon stepped down.

But today is not a day for political attacks, Mr Cole-Hamilton told BBC News.

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The Edinburgh Western MSP recalled a warm moment between the two when the First Minister offered him words of comfort after his young daughter choked on a coin and had to be resuscitated around five years ago.

Tributes were also paid from further afield, with Irelands premier Leo Varadkar hailing Ms Sturgeon as a true European.

He said: I always found Nicola a very warm person, articulate and thoughtful, and a very capable politician, who showed huge commitment to her country.
Nicola Sturgeon announces her intention to resign as First Minister to a room packed with journalists (Jane Barlow/PA)   Jane Barlow

Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation to a packed room of journalists, with few in her party or Government having any significant notice of her decision.

The shock announcement, which has stunned Scottish politics, came in a hastily-organised press conference on Wednesday morning.

It was held at Bute House, the stately Edinburgh town house which is the First Ministers official residence.

Despite the short notice, the reception room in the Georgian building was packed with journalists and camera crews who had rushed to get there.

Nicola Sturgeon arrives for the surprise press conference at Bute House (Jane Barlow/PA)   Jane Barlow

It was clear Scottish Government officials had only found out about the announcement on the day.

After she entered the hushed room, Ms Sturgeon spoke for more than 40 minutes about her decision, in what was at times an emotional speech which nevertheless had some levity.

In a surprisingly personal anecdote, she told how she had attended the funeral of her very, very dear friend and longstanding independence activist, Allan Angus.

During his funeral service, she said, her decision to quit was solidified.

Nicola Sturgeon waves to the crowd gathered outside (Jane Barlow/PA)   Jane Barlow

She added: Allan would not be at all happy to have played any part in my departure. So, Im sorry Allan.

As her speech concluded, she spoke about how leading Scotland was the privilege of my life.

She added: Nothing, absolutely nothing, I do in future will ever come anywhere close.

Taking questions afterwards, she joked that she had avoided thanking certain people specifically in case she cried at the podium but said she had texted certain people she considered true friends just before the conference.

Some topics were clearly difficult for her to broach, she said in a hushed tone: Im not sure I want to say this sentence actually.

I will be 53 this year. I entered Parliament when I was 29. Ive been in government since I was 37.

I have literally done this in one capacity or another for all of my life.

As the First Minister spoke, a number of people gathered outside the building.

Some were opponents of the SNPs reforms of gender recognition legislation, but most had simply flocked to the building on hearing the news.

With camera crews still outside, Ms Sturgeon pulled back a curtain and waved to those gathered, prompting the gender recognition opponents to shout slogans at her.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace will be in Brussels on Wednesday for a Nato meeting (Toby Melville/PA)   Toby Melville

Ukraine will be top of the agenda as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace joins his counterparts for a Nato meeting in Brussels.

The second day of the gathering of Nato defence ministers comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

The request, which comes as the first anniversary of Russias invasion approaches, is the latest plea from Mr Zelensky to Western allies.

The UK is set to become the first nation to start training Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard aircraft, but the Government has indicated that any possibility of Britain lending jets to Kyiv is a long-term prospect.

Mr Wallace, who met with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov on Tuesday, said that Western allies would continue to stand in solidarity with the war-torn country.

I am very pleased to be back at Nato to continue the vital work to support Ukraine, as well as meeting with my defence counterparts.

Our important work is ongoing, the UK and our Allies will stand in solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes, he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to London (Peter Nicholls/PA)   Peter Nicholls

It comes as Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg warned this week that the alliance sees no sign whatsoever that President Putin is preparing for peace.

But the meeting also comes amid the backdrop of fresh tensions with China after the US shot down four balloons flying in its airspace this month, with Washington declaring one of them to be a piece of Chinese spyware.

Mr Wallace has been charged with reviewing the UKs own security measures in the wake of the incidents.

Downing Street also confirmed on Tuesday that Rishi Sunak will travel to Munich this weekend, joining fellow world leaders for a conference on international security.

Last years conference, held just before Russia invaded Ukraine, was dominated by concerns over the prospect of conflict in the region.

Boris Johnson, then-prime minister, used a speech at the event to warn Moscow that the West would stand with Ukraine in the event of an invasion.

Mr Sunaks attendance at the conference, alongside other European leaders, comes amid speculation that London and Brussels are close to reaching a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Boris Johnson at the Munich Security Conference in Germany last year (Matt Dunham/PA)   Matt Dunham

Attendance at the summit may provide an opportunity for Mr Sunak to hold face-to-face talks with EU leaders as part of efforts towards bringing to an end the row over post-Brexit arrangements in the region.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are all expected to attend the conference, which will largely focus on the war in Ukraine.

Despite optimism that a deal could be in sight, British officials were not expecting an announcement this week.
The ruling was made after a recent hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London   Katie Collins

An 83-year-old widow whose husband of 66 years left her out of his will has won a High Court fight for a share of an estate worth more than 1 million.

Karnail Singh left everything to his two sons  and nothing to widow Harbans Kaur, or his four daughters, a judge was told.

Mr Justice Peel heard that Mr Singh, who died in 2021, wished to leave his estate solely down the male line.

He heard that Mrs Kaur estimated the estate to be worth 1.9 million, gross, but one of her sons put the value at 1.2 million.

The judge, who heard the family had run a clothing business, ruled Mrs Kaur should get 50% of the net value of the estate.

He said it was clear reasonable provision had not been made for Mrs Kaur, whose income consisted of state benefits of around 12,000.

Mr Justice Peel has outlined detail of his decision in a written ruling after considering evidence at a recent hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The claimant and the deceased married in 1955, so that by the time of his death they had been married for about 66 years, said the judge in his ruling.

They had seven children, of whom one sadly is deceased.

He said evidence showed Mrs Kaur had played a full role in the marriage and worked in the family clothing business.

By (a) will, dated 25 June 2005, the estate was left in equal shares to two of the children the sons of the claimant and the deceased, said the judge.

The reason why the will was crafted in these terms, excluding the claimant and the other four siblings, was because the deceased wished to leave his estate solely down the male line.

He added: It seems to me that this is the clearest possible case entitling me to conclude that reasonable provision has not been made for the claimant. It is hard to see how any other conclusion can be reached. After a marriage of 66 years, to which she made a full and equal contribution, and during which all the assets accrued, she is left with next to nothing.

He said she should receive 50% of the net value of the estate.

Lawyer Heledd Wyn, who is based at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, said the ruling should be a warning.

This decision is evidence that people cannot simply be cut out of wills, especially spouses which have contributed for a significant number of years, she said.

The court has been very clear on this matter and has ruled in the interest of fairness.

She added: The High Courts decision should serve as a warning to anyone considering making rash or unfair decisions about who to have as beneficiaries to their estates.
Italian former premier Silvio Berlusconi has been found not guilty of witness tampering in a trial related to the sexually charged bunga bunga parties at his villa near Milan while he was in office.

The six-year-old trial is the third and likely final case in a scandal that made headlines around the world in 2010 when Mr Berlusconi as a sitting premier faced charges  of which he was eventually acquitted  of having paid for sex with an under-age teenager.

Mr Berlusconi faced charges in the third trial of paying off witnesses to lie in earlier trials, with prosecutors seeking six years in prison along with 10 million euros (8.9 million) in damages.

Another 28 people charged, including the woman at the centre of the scandal, Karima el-Mahroug, were also all found not guilty on Wednesday.

Karima el-Mahroug presents her book to prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano, right (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)   Claudio Furlan

I am very happy, Ms el-Mahroug, now 30, told reporters after hearing the verdict.

I just need a moment to assimilate this fact, to believe it.

Mr Berlusconi was not present as the verdict was read.

His lawyer, Federico Cecconi, called the verdict, which formally found no crime had been committed, the fullest acquittal we could achieve.

The earlier trials took place as Mr Berlusconi still wielded considerable power as premier, raising concern among security officials that he had left himself vulnerable to extortion by hosting young women at his villa.

The 86-year-old three-time former premier is currently head of the third party in Italys right-wing governing coalition, whose popularity polls show has shrunk significantly from its heyday to some 6%.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni welcomed Wednesdays verdict, saying it puts an end to a long judicial affair that had important repercussions on Italian political and institutional life.

Ms Melonis administration this week took the step of removing the government as an injured party in the case, to avoid creating an awkward political dynamic in the case of guilty verdicts.

Mr Berlusconis defence described the dinner parties, dating from 2010, as elegant soirees; prosecutors said they were sex-fuelled gatherings that women were paid to attend and where witnesses described showgirls stripping provocatively for the then-Italian leader.

Both Mr Berlusconi and Ms el-Mahroug, who was 17 at the time, denied ever having sex with each other, and Ms el-Mahroug says she never worked as a prostitute.
The Abraj Al-Bait Towers with the four-faced clocks stands over the holy Kabaa, as Muslims encircle it inside the Grand Mosque during the annual pilgrimage, known as the Hajj (Khalid Mohammed/PA)   AP

A criminal court has imposed a 5.3 million dollar (4.4m) fine on the Saudi Binladin Group and sentenced seven people to prison over the deadly collapse of a crane ahead of the 2015 Haj pilgrimage.

More than 100 people were killed in the incident, a leading Saudi daily newspaper reported.

Hit by strong winds, the 1,350-ton crane collapsed onto the Grand Mosque that houses Islams holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba, bringing down slabs of concrete on worshippers below.

Less than two weeks after the September 11 crane collapse, a stampede and crush of pilgrims killed more than 2,400 people.

The Okaz daily reported on Tuesday that the company was fined 20 million Saudi riyals, or about 4.3 million, for negligence and violation of safety regulations.

Three defendants were sentenced to six months in jail and fined 30,000 riyals (6,660) and another four were sentenced to three months and fined 15,000 riyals (3,330).

Okaz did not report their names or nationalities.

The court ruled that the company is not required to pay blood money to the families of those killed.

The Saudi Binladin Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Binladin family has been close to Saudi Arabias ruling family for decades and runs major building projects.

Al-Qaidas late leader Osama bin Laden was a renegade son disowned by the family in the 1990s.

The verdict comes as Saudi Arabia prepares to host the first haj pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

Millions of Muslims are expected to make the pilgrimage in late June, which in normal years is among the largest gatherings of people on earth.

The twin disasters in 2015 were a source of embarrassment for the Saudi royal family.

At the time, King Salman partly blamed the cranes collapse on the construction giant, saying its arm should not have been left up when it was not in use.
The National Investigation Agency which is probing the car cylinder explosion in Coimbatore recently, conducted searches at several places in the city and across Tamil Nadu (Representational image: ANI)

Coimbatore: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the car cylinder explosion in front of a temple here recently, conducted searches at several places in the city and across Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

The searches were carried out by a team that arrived from Chennai and Kochi at over 30 places in the city including Kottaimedu, Ukkadam, Ponvizhanagar and Rathinapuri as part of the state-wide searches at 45 locations, police said.

The city police which investigated the case had seized 75 kg of explosives, documents from Jameesha Mubin, who died in the explosion on October 23 including the drawing of a flag resembling that of ISIS and wordings like those who touched Allah's name will be uprooted.

Police also arrested six associates of Mubin, who had helped him to purchase explosives on e-commerce platform and transport them from his rented house to another house.

The explosion was termed as 'Lone wolf' attack, police said.

The targets of the searches were said to be some suspects who had connections with a few banned organisations, police, who refused to share more details, said.
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Planning a vacation, picking a destination, and looking for places to visit can be overwhelming. If youre trying to find a place to visit, then Jordan is the place for you.

Jordan is one of the most iconic ancient places in the Middle East. Its home to museums, historic cities, and beachside resorts with something to suit every interest. Desert adventures, old architecture, the Dead Sea, and spectacular holy sites are only a few reasons to visit Jordan. With a population of just 10 million, some might believe Jordan has nothing to offer as a travel destination. Still, travelers will marvel at the history and beauty Jordan has to offer and will leave feeling uplifted by the generosity of its people.

From gorgeous landscapes to religious and historical sites, Jordan is a part of the Middle East that needs to be discovered. Here are some reasons why visiting Jordan will uplift your spirit.

Explore ancient cities like Petra.

Petra is the most popular attraction in Jordan. Its an archaeological and historical city in the south. Petra is nicknamed Rose City due to the coloring of the stone; it also has a captivating entrance at the end of a stone hallway known as the Siq. Movie lovers will recognize the Siq in its appearance in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

In the Bible, Petra was the land of the Edomites, ancestors of Esau. Edom and Israel constantly fought, which started with Edom not allowing Moses and the Israelites to trek through their land on their journey to Canaan. King David and Saul fought the Edomites.

Experience Jordanian hospitality.

If Jordan is celebrated, for one thing, its the kindness and hospitality of the people. The residents are always ready to support you and go above and beyond to ensure you enjoy yourself in Jordan. Be ready to get numerous invitations to tea and dinner.

Taste delicious food.

Theres more to Arab food than hummus and falafel. Home-cooked, traditional Jordanian food is some of the healthiest and tastiest food youll come across in the region. If youre eating at someones home, the hosts will provide more food than you could eat. Some must-try dishes include makloubeh and mansaf, the national food of Jordan. If you decide to travel in the summer, the variety of colorful, refreshing salads, like tabbouleh, will go well with these meals. Fortunately for food lovers, dining out at the fanciest restaurants in Jordan is fairly cheap, but if youre looking for an alcoholic beverage, be ready to spend.

Visit biblical and historical sites.

If youre interested in religion or history, Jordan is a must-visit place. Jordan is home to the Holy Land and has some of the worlds oldest Christian communities. Jordan has plenty of magnificent sacred sites that bring people from worldwide. From the place of Jesus baptism to Mount Nebo, where Moses saw the Holy Land, Jordans holy places will give new life to biblical stories, conserving ancient history in the architecture and landscape. There will likely be plenty of sacred site tours to choose from, so pick the one that works best for you.

Float in the Dead Sea.

The Dead is an enormous body of salt water on the southerly end of the Jordan River. The Dead Sea is mentioned 16 times in the Bible, mainly to describe the borders of the Holy Land. In the Bible, Genesis 14:3 is the only place that refers to the Dead Sea as a location. Other than that, its designated as a border for Israel. The Dead Sea was likely considered a boundary line than a destination for biblical people. However, numerous biblical towns sat on the shores of the Dead Sea, like Qumran, Masada, and En Gedi.

The Dead Sea operates as one of the most distinctive experiences in Jordan. Due to its high salt level, you can float effortlessly in the water. You can also cover yourself with natural mud, which has healing properties because of the high concentration of minerals and salts.

See the remarkable landscapes.

The north of Jordan is filled with luscious greenery, which seems a world away from the gorgeous deserts of the south. The mountainous terrain of Amman makes for beautiful sunsets over the city. If you live life on the wild side, take a hike in one of the valleys in central Jordan and delight in the stunning natural views while hiking.

Seeing religions co-exist.

Jordan is a Muslim-majority country, but youll also see long-established Christian communities in cities like Fuhais and Madaba. The harmony among the religions is widely celebrated in Jordanian society. Youll see mosques and churches sitting across from each other and hear the Muslim call to prayer and church bells in the same area.

Experience diversity.

When journeying around Jordan, the diverse people and landscapes may surprise you. Youll see the humble and peaceful lifestyle of the Bedouins in the Wadi Rum desert if you camp with them for one night. Still, dont forget to see what the city life in Amman has to offer.

Understandably, Jordan wouldnt be first on your list of places to visit. When planning a vacation, most people think of places like Europe, Thailand, Africa, or even Disney World. However, when planning your next vacation, consider adding Jordan to your places to visit.

Outside of the beautiful landscapes, delicious food, and charming people that will uplift your spirit, Jordan is filled with biblical history that will renew your soul and give you a new perspective on your faith. The biblical sites may still be worth visiting if youre not religious or spiritual. You never know how these sites will touch your soul and inspire you to look at life differently.

Jordan offers a little bit of everything when it comes to vacationing. Whether youre a history lover, foodie, spiritual person, or adventure seeker, Jordan has lots to offer, and its guaranteed that youll enjoy your time there. Its a memory you and your family will have for a lifetime, and you wont forget it.

For more information on the Holy Sites of Jordan and planning your trip, please visit www.holyjordan.com.
Papuan students show posters during a protest in front of the United States embassy in Jakarta, Aug. 15, 2020, demanding that Washington take responsibility for the signing of the New York agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia which handed Papua over to Indonesia in 1962.

Authorities in Indonesias Papua will negotiate with separatist rebels to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot the insurgents took hostage last week, police and military officials said Wednesday.

However, a spokesman for the rebel group West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) said that while they were ready to negotiate, they would do so only if another country was involved as a mediator.

The governments negotiation plan came after the TPNPB released a video on Tuesday in which the group said it would kill pilot Philip Mehrtens if government security forces came for them.

The Papuan police have been coordinating with the local government as well as indigenous and religious leaders to communicate with the local rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya, provincial police spokesman Benny Adi Prabowo said.

Regional authorities  and customary and religious leaders have access, he told BenarNews.

We are allowing them to take the lead in opening a space for communication with the Egianus Kogoya group, he said.

Some people tasked with the negotiations have arrived in Nduga regencys Paro district, where rebels set fire to a plane belonging to Susi Air and took Mehrtens hostage on Feb. 7.

Early Wednesday, Papua military chief Maj. Gen. Muhammad Saleh Mustafa confirmed that the person in the photo and video released by the rebel group is Mehrtens.

Based on the visible features, it is true that the photos and videos circulating on social media are of the Susi Air pilot, namely Capt. Philip Mark Mehrtens, Saleh said in a statement received by BenarNews on Wednesday.

In the video, Mehrtens repeated the separatist groups demand for the Indonesian military to withdraw from Papua.

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, Mehrtens said.

Donal Fariz, a lawyer for Susi Air, also said the person in the video is Mehrtens.

Return to the motherlands fold

Early indications from comments on the governments and the rebels side dont bode well.

TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom said that if Jakarta insists on negotiating without involving the international community, there will be no talks.

We dont want to deal with the Indonesian government only, Sambom said.

Meanwhile, Papua military spokesman Col. Herman Taryaman called the rebel groups demand for Indonesia to withdraw from Papua impossible to fulfill and absurd.

In fact, we hope that their group will come to their senses and return to the motherlands fold, Herman said.

He added that New Zealand Embassy staff had met with Lt. Gen. I. Nyoman Cantiasa, the commander of the joint military and police operation in Papua.

They basically stated that the most important thing is that Philip is safe. Secondly, they asked us to have a medical team and medical equipment on stand-by in the event Philip is evacuated, Nyoman said.

In 2021, another Susi Air pilot from New Zealand and his three passengers were held by separatist rebels in Papuas Puncak regency but were released after two hours.

Security forces are trying to locate Mehrtens by conducting air and land surveillance, Herman said.

We have not been able to pin-point Captain Philips location yet, he said.

Violence and tensions in Papua, a region that makes up the western half of New Guinea island, have intensified in recent years.

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.

Arie Firdaus in Jakarta contributed to this report.
The Malaysian government has turned down a request by rare earth miner Lynas to continue operating a part of its facility in the country after July 1, saying it failed to stop generating radioactive waste.

Still, the government renewed the firms license for its other rare earth processing operations for another three years.

Activists had said four years ago that while Lynas then-U.S. $800 million Malaysian plant broke Chinas near-monopoly on processing elements vital for defense and aerospace industries, some of its activities left behind radioactive waste.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang said the government in 2020 set terms with Lynas that activities producing such waste would not be carried out at its Malaysia plant in Gebeng, Pahang, after July 2023.

There is no element of surprise here because these conditions are the same conditions since 2020. Theyre well aware of the conditions, Chang told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Lynas extracts rare earth ore from Australia and sends it for processing at its Malaysian facility in the state of Pahang.

Changg said that since 2012, Lynas had produced about 1.08 million metric tons of radioactive waste in Malaysia, referred to as WLP (water leach purification) residue. This amount is expected to reach 1.2 million metric tons by July.

We are still allowing them to operate. We are only asking them to close down the cracking and leaching plant, Chang said, adding activities that do not involve the production of radioactive waste are allowed to continue.

Environmentalist Mageswari Sangaralingam of the NGO Friends of the Earth Malaysia said the governments decision on Lynas was sound.

It was good for the current government to refrain from giving in to pressure to revoke the conditions imposed regarding shifting the cracking and leaching process outside Malaysia, she told BenarNews.

Critical for defense

Lynas, which was informed of the decision on Monday, said it was disappointed and would appeal.

We will proceed with administrative and legal appeals to ensure that Lynas is treated fairly and equitably as a Foreign Direct Investor and a significant employer and contributor to the Malaysian economy, Amanda Lacaze, Lynas CEO and managing director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian minister said the government was committed to creating a business-friendly environment and understood the importance of the rare earth industry.

However, no party has the right to continuously produce radioactive waste in our homeland, Chang said.

Rare earths  17 minerals such as cerium, lanthanum and neodymium  are used in electronics and objects such as jet-fighter engines, Tomahawk cruise missiles and space-based satellites. smartphones.

China controls 80% of rare earth production. Lynas is the worlds largest rare-earth producer outside of China.

With tensions running high between Washington and Beijing, the supply of rare earths to the United States and its allies is critical.

Reuters news agency reported that Malaysias decision on Lynas raised the prospect of an interruption to the supply later this year of neodymium and praseodymium, which are in magnets used in everything from iPhones to weapons systems.
Fiji's newly elected Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (center) talks to reporters after his oath-taking ceremony in the capital city Suva on Dec. 24, 2022.

Fijis recently elected prime minister said his government will replace the Pacific island countrys oppressive media law  which allows fines and prison sentences for news reports that authorities deem against the national interest  with legislation that reflects democratic values.

Fiji was the lowest ranked Pacific island country in Reporters Without Borders press freedom index last year. It said intimidation of reporters critical of the government and the countrys draconian media law had stifled freedom of speech and the press.

The coalition government has given an assurance that we will end the era of media oppression, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in a speech to Fijis parliament Tuesday that outlined the new governments priorities. Were discussing new legislation that reflects more democratic values.

Rabuka formed a coalition government after elections in December ended the 16-year rule of former military chief Frank Bainimarama, who came to power in a 2006 coup. The media law, imposed by decree in 2010, mandates prison sentences of up to two years for content judged to be against the public or national interest.

The fate of the media law could be an indicator of Rabukas commitment to repairing Fijis democratic credentials. A former soldier, Rabuka led two coups in 1987 that aimed to protect the political power of indigenous Fijians, but now presents himself as a reformer who intends to right the wrongs of Bainimaramas rule.

Fiji, a linchpin nation in a region vulnerable to natural disasters and economic shocks, has a burgeoning relationship with China while maintaining close security ties with the United States and countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Fijis ties with China blossomed after New Zealand, Australia and other countries sought to punish Bainimarama and his government for the 2006 coup.

Since being elected, Rabukas government has moved quickly to remove Bainimarama-era appointees from important public positions and state companies, and investigations are underway into alleged abuses of office.

Rabuka told parliament that a system of self regulation is being discussed for the news industry with a code of conduct and a media council that would adjudicate complaints about media coverage.

I have made it clear that the government is totally committed to allowing people the freedom of the press, allowing the nation the freedom of the press. That will include the review of the Media Industry Development Act, Rabuka said.

I believe we cannot have proper democracy without a free press, which has been described as the oxygen of democracy, he said.

Rabukas government in mid-January complained to the state-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation about its reporting of criticism from the countrys military chief, according to Stanley Simpson, director of commercial broadcaster MaiTV Fiji, in comments posted on Twitter.

The broadcasters original online headline. which said the military had fired a warning shot at the government, was changed to the military expresses concern.

Rabuka, in his speech to parliament, indicated his displeasure with the Fiji Sun, a daily newspaper that was widely regarded as pro-government during Bainimaramas rule.

The coalition government will carefully study the arrangements by which one of our daily newspapers had received a substantial amount of public funds for advertising over more than one and a half decades, Rabuka said.

We are also interested in the connection between that money and that newspapers servile admiration of and bias toward the government of that era. It was no more than a propaganda paper, he said.

Representatives of Fijian media organizations met with Minister of Communications Manoa Kamikamica last week to discuss removal of the 2010 media law.
Philippine Army commander Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. discusses the militarys shift in focus during a news conference at army headquarters in Manila, Feb. 15, 2023.

The Philippine Army has shifted its focus to territorial defense from internal security fueled by Chinas increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, the armys commanding general said Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told reporters that troops required a change of mindset to focus on an external enemy from fighting southern insurgents and communists.

We are now transitioning from an internal security operations focus to territorial defense, Brawner told reporters at the army headquarters.

The commander had been asked to comment on the militarys call for Beijing to restrain its forces in the South China Sea after a Chinese Coast Guard ship performed dangerous maneuvers and pointed a military-grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship this week.

There is a common theme among armies around the world: wars will be fought on land so we have to be prepared, Brawner said.

As part of the militarys modernization program, the army has in recent years acquired more weapons, including an Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS 2000) 155mm self-propelled guns  the biggest in the Armys arsenal  multi-launch rocket systems and land-based missile systems.

If any invaders come near the land of the Philippines or inland, your [army] is ready to defend the nation, Brawner said.

Along with the weapons upgrades, training must reflect the changing military landscape, he said.

Its really reorganizing our organization and training our troops to address external threats, Brawner said.

The Philippines is at the center of geopolitical tensions in Asia involving the South China Sea in the west and Taiwan in the north.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea including territories within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Beijing has continued to ignore an international arbitration courts 2016 ruling in favor the Philippines that invalidated its expansive claims.

Last month, China renewed its threats to invade Taiwan, which it considers a rogue province.

Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan warned that a war could break out in 2025.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (right) expresses concern over Beijings actions in the South China Sea during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian in Manila, Feb. 14, 2023. [Presidential Communications Office handout]

Improved relations

The Philippines recently granted the United States access to four additional military sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a move seen as central to Washingtons effort in deterring Beijings plans to attack Taiwan.

In addition, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who was in Tokyo last week , said he was open to entering into a visiting forces agreement with Japan.

China has opposed such plans, with state media warning the Philippines against being used by the U.S. and Japan.

The army supports an improved relationship with Tokyo, Brawner said, as it would allow more soldiers to perform military and human assistance and disaster relief exercises with their Japanese counterparts. He noted that Philippine troops sent to Turkey to help rescue operations following the massive earthquake were trained and equipped by the Japanese government.

The army chief also welcomed proposals for the Philippines to enter into similar visiting forces agreements with allies including New Zealand, South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries.

Citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brawner emphasized the importance of allied forces working together.

If we look at what is happening now in the world, interoperability is very important. It has to start with trainings, he said.

I think if we are allowed to train with our partners, it would be more beneficial not just for the Philippine government, Armed Forces of the Philippines, I believe also for their armed forces, he said.

The Philippines and the U.S. plan to hold larger joint army exercises this year, with around 3,000 troops from both nations expected to take part in Exercise Salaknib , up from 2,200 last year.

Jojo Rinoza in Manila contributed to this report.
Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla speaks to reporters at the Department of Justice in Manila, Feb. 7, 2023.

Three Philippine police officers who went into hiding after being implicated in the 2020 killing of a Spanish surfer during former President Rodrigo Dutertes drug war have voluntarily surrendered, the justice department said Wednesday.

The policemen claimed the Spaniard, Diego Bello Lafuente, pulled a gun on them when they came to arrest him, although a reinvestigation by a justice department panel of prosecutors cast doubt on the police version.

The officers, Capt. Wise Vicente B. Panuelos, Sgt. Ronel Pazo, and Sgt. Nido Boy Cantos, former members of the General Luna town police in Siargao Island in the southern Philippines, surrendered earlier this month, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

It was on Feb. 9, 2023, that the three (3) policemen submitted themselves and surrendered to the DOJ, the department said, without providing details about why it took six days to make the announcement.

We are now able to move forward and try the case and deliver justice in a case that has transcended borders, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters.

I cant promise anything except a fair trial. The prosecutors decision depends on the evidence, he said.

Lafuente was a businessman and a surfer although police had dubbed him a drug lord. The officers claimed they recovered a pistol and cocaine weighing more than eight grams from him.

Following his death, Lafuentes family and friends challenged the official account. A statement by the departments prosecutor general said there were no eyewitnesses and forensic evidence had disproved the shootout claim.

The prosecutor found there is sufficient ground to charge respondents with murder and planting of evidence, it said.

A surfer walks on a dock in the southern island of Siargao, one of the Philippines finest surfing spots, Sept. 23, 2022. [Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews]

Drug war deaths

About 8,000 suspected dealers and addicts were killed in Dutertes drug war, according to police statistics. Rights groups said the figure could be three times higher, noting many others were killed by pro-Duterte vigilantes they suspect were working with police.

Duterte left office in June 2022, and faces the prospect of being investigated by the International Criminal Court over thousands of drug war deaths.

His successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has said he would block ICC prosecutors from coming over to investigate, while promising the drug war under his watch would concentrate on rehabilitating users and going after dealers.

Duterte also withdrew the Philippines from an international treaty that created the ICC and repeatedly argued that he would not allow himself to be subjected to an international trial.

In November, a court in Manila sentenced a police officer to two life terms for torturing and planting evidence on two teenagers who were later found dead under Dutertes drug war.

Another court in 2018 found three police officers guilty and sentenced each to up to 40 years in prison without parole for killing a teenager in connection with the government anti-illegal drugs crackdown.

Mark Navales in Cotabato, Philippines, contributed to this report.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with French President Emmanuel Macron via video conferencing, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Air India, now owned by the Tata Group, on Tuesday announced a mega-deal with French aviation giant Airbus to acquire 250 aircraft  210 narrow-bodied and 40 wide-body A-350 aircraft (for long-haul flights abroad) a move hailed by both Prime Minister Narendra Modis and French President Emmanuel Macron as an "important milestone in the India-France strategic partnership."

The deal itself was announced at a virtual meet in which both leaders participated along with the top Air India and Airbus brass, when Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrashekharan said a Letter of Intent had been signed for the acquisition.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury announced while the aircraft would be assembled in France and Germany, several components will be manufactured by Indian companies. The virtual meet was also attended by Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and Air India CEO Campbell Wilson.

Air India will also get another 220 aircraft from US aviation giant Boeing, taking the total number of new aircraft that it will eventually acquire to 470. News agencies said US President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening announced the "historic agreement" between Air India and Boeing for 220 aircraft with a list price of $34 billion.

The order includes 190 737 MAXs, 20 787s, and 10 777Xs, and Air India has options for an additional 50 737 MAXs and 20 787s. The reports quoted the White House saying that the Air India order was Boeings third biggest in dollar value and second of all time in quantity.

"This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree," the US President was quoted as saying.

This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed aircraft orders and the first by the airline under its new owners. The new orders are expected to pave the way for revival of the airline. Air Indias last order (including that of erstwhile Indian Airlines) was placed in 2005 during the tenure of the UPA-1 government for 111 aircraft, of which 68 were from Boeing and 43 from Airbus.

Speaking at the virtual meet Tuesday, Modi hailed the "landmark agreement" between Air India and Airbus as a "testament to the deepening relationship between India and France as well as the successes and ambitions of Indias civil aviation industry", adding that "India will soon become the third largest market in the aviation sector in the world". Modi said: "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."

The Prime Minister also noted that "as per several estimates, the number of aircraft needed in India in the next 15 years will be more than 2,000" and that "today's historic announcement will be helpful in meeting this growing demand", adding "India can become a hub of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) for the entire region".

Hailing the deal as an important part of the India-France strategic partnership and "North-South" cooperation, Macron also mentioned the "Russian aggression against Ukraine" and said India as G-20 president can  under Modis leadership  "help mobilise the world to address the tremendous issues" and challenges that face the globe. He referred to the bilateral strategic partnership as being between India and France and between himself and Modi as well, thereby indicating the close rapport and bonhomie between the two leaders.
IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said he was surprised by the income-tax department raids on the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. (Twitter)

Hyderabad: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said he was surprised by the income-tax department raids on the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai.

"What a surprise! A few weeks after the BBC aired the documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BBC India is now raided by Income Tax (IT) department officials. Agencies like Income Tax, CBI, and ED have become laughing stock for turning into BJPs biggest puppets. What next? ED raids on Hindenberg or a hostile takeover attempt?(sic)" he asked.

BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha said the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was not ordering a probe into allegations on one business house but was "sending its agencies behind those who show the truth! Why?"
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 80F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Scattered thunderstorms this evening. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
UPDATED: Alan J. Ramos, 21, was arrested after authorities Tuesday seized 90 grams of meth, 45 grams of heroin and 30 grams of cocaine from a Pittsfield address. A judge Wednesday ordered him held on $100,000 bail as a flight risk.
Chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with JSW chairman Sajjan Jindal performed Bhoomi Puja and laid the foundation stone for Kadapa Steel Plant at Sunnapurallapalle in Jammalamadugu mandal of YSR district on Wednesday. (Photo:DC)

Anantapur: Chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the dream of his father YSR for establishment of a steel plant in the region would soon materialise with the steel major JSW Group coming up with a huge investment in the state.

Jagan Mohan Reddy performed Bhoomi Puja and laid the foundation stone for construction of the Rs 8,800 crore Kadapa Steel Plant (KSP) at Sunnapurallapalle in Jammalamadugu mandal of YSR district on Wednesday. He expressed confidence that the plant would change the face of this district, also with the likely start of ancillary industries like green hydrogen and solar pump manufacturing units in near future.

The JSW Group would build the 3-D model green steel plant in two phases. The chief minister announced that 75 per cent of the jobs in the industry would be reserved for the locals.

Jagan Mohan Reddy broke the customary coconut and lit the traditional lamp to launch the steel plant project. He also planted some Neem and Peepal saplings.

The Chief Minister thanked business magnate Sajjan Jindal for planning a green steel plant for this region. "The regions developmental aspirations remained neglected for long after the death of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy," Jagan said.

He said the JSW Group has so far invested Rs 1.7 lakh crore the world over for its various business enterprises. Describing the Kadapa Steel Plant as the long cherished dream of the district, the CM said the surroundings of all steel plants would generally host several ancillary units. "I hope the area would develop like Visakhapatnam and Karnatakas Vijayanagar," he said

"We allotted Rs 700 crore to provide infrastructure like roads, water and power supply to the steel plant. The first phase of the KSP involving an investment of Rs 3300 crore, with an annual production capacity of 10 lakh metric tonnes, will be commissioned in a span of less than 30 months," he said.

The CM said that in the second phase, the production capacity of the plant would be enhanced by 20 lakh metric tonnes with an additional investment of Rs 5500 crore. The plant, coming up on a 3500-acre leased land, would provide direct and indirect employment to 25,000 persons, he said.

The chief minister said the state achieved first rank in the Ease of Doing business (EoDB) besides achieving a growth rate of 11.43 per cent in 2021-22 and becoming the "fastest growing state."

Jagan Mohan Reddy said the electronic cluster coming up in the 550-acre Kopparthi mega industrial park would provide employment to thousands of people. The Jagananna Industrial Hub would attract investments worth `18,000 crore in the near future, he said.

JSW chairman Sajjan Jindal, minister Adimulapu Suresh, MP Avinash Reddy and MLA Sudhir Reddy were present.
PITTSFIELD  Body cameras  and dash cameras  will become standard issue for Pittsfield police officers under a newly approved million dollar-plus contract with Axon Enterprises.

The contract, approved by an unanimous vote of the City Council on Tuesday, puts to rest what has been a multiyear community push for the cameras. That effort reached a fever pitch last year following the killing of 22-year-old Miguel Estrella by a Pittsfield police officer.

Over months of community conversations and debate in front of the council, Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynns position on the legality of body cameras changed.

On Tuesday, Wynn told the council hed enter into a contract and officially launch the departments permanent body camera program as soon as the council authorized it.

Councilor Earl Persip III asked the chief to give the public a timeline on when the department would be fully outfitted with the new cameras. Wynn said the department will likely bring on the body-worn cameras first and then add the dash cameras, but he couldnt give the council a specific launch date.

[Axon] got us the cameras for the pilot very quickly, but theyve given us indication that theyre still dealing with supply chain issues, Wynn said. I dont expect it to be months, but I cant tell you its going to be weeks.

The department has been carrying out a pilot program with Axon body cameras and software since December. During the pilot, two cameras were cycled through officers on the general shift while another two cameras were worn by officers in the departments investigative section.

Wynn told the council that in the middle of the pilot the department decided to add a lease of dash cameras for department cruisers to the draft contract with Axon.

The final contract approved by the council includes more technology and a bigger price tag than initially discussed.

The Axon quotes for the contract provided to the council totals to just over $1,457,480. Included in this plan is the lease of 90 body-worn cameras, 90 signal sidearm kits and 20 dash cameras for the departments cruisers

A description of the kit on Axons website says that the signal sits on an officers firearm holster and alerts the camera to begin recording any time the officer draws their firearm.

The lease of the cameras makes up about $532,332 of what comes to a just under $1,175,997 contract over five years. The firearm signals account for $22,410 of that contract.

Helping to support the launch of the program is the award of a $166,586 grant from the states Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The office, which oversees the states efforts to increase the use of body-worn cameras, has donated money to a number of Berkshire communities.

Mayor Linda Tyer said the grant will delay the need to put any unplanned city money toward the program. Tyer and Wynn had previously discussed using some of the citys free cash  leftover funds from the previous years budget  to kick off the program.

Tyer said Tuesday thats no longer necessary.

City and department officials plan to make the body cameras a regular line item in the police departments budget request  a budget that already exceeds $10 million.

The quote from Axon lays out a yearly cost of $213,726.40 for the body cameras and their associated software. Costs for the dash cameras will come in between $51,000 and $61,000 annually over the course of the next five years.
From a surprise wedding to a meet cute on a bench in Paris, love is in the air thanks to stories shared by Berkshire Eagle readers.

In honor of Valentine's Day, we asked readers to share how they met their significant other. The stories feel like something out of a rom-com, but these aren't made-for-Hollywood love stories  instead, this love was made for the Berkshires.
News Reporter

Scott Stafford has been a reporter, photographer, and editor at a variety of publications, including the Dallas Morning News and The Berkshire Eagle.
The Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (HNEW) busted a major drug-supplying racket operating from Mumbai and arrested four persons (DC)

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (HNEW) busted a major drug-supplying racket operating from Mumbai and arrested four persons, suspecting this gang has penetrated more in the IT circles in the city, supplying drugs to techies, particularly women.

They are also preparing to take Dinesh Mohan Kodmur of Mumbai, who supplied drugs to this gang in bulk quantities into custody.

He is already arrested by the Mumbai police and is currently in judicial remand. Police are exploring the possibility of bringing him to the city on a transit warrant. A thorough interrogation of Dinesh would lead to the MDMA manufacturing units in Mumbai, through which city police hope to crack down on the illegal business to a major extent.

Mumbai police have already seized a couple of such units, but there are several units still producing MDMA in large quantities and releasing them into the market, from where it is smuggled to other parts of the country, said city police officials.

Police have already found that the arrested accused Jatin Bhalchandra Bhalerao has 81 consumers and Javed Shamshair Ali Siddique has 30 consumers, respectively in Mumbai. They have also found around 40 persons from the city who were in constant touch with this gang.

Further investigation is on to verify if they are consumers or not. "They will be summoned and if required sent for medical examination to ascertain if they were consuming drugs. Accordingly, the investigation would proceed," officials said.

Meanwhile, Sana Khan, a techie who was arrested in December, gave out the names of five women, all techies, to whom she supplied drugs. They were counselled and sent for rehabilitation.

Police on Tuesday arrested four members of the gang and seized 204 grams of MDMA and other material, all worth Rs 20 lakh from them. They were sent to judicial remand on Wednesday.
Despite the many denominations, many church services have the same or similar overall elements and order of operations. One feature that many services include is an altar call  an opportunity for people to go to God in prayer while still meditating on the message from the service or responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. They come to the front of the church and pray at a space designated as the altar. This moment ensures that people are given an opportunity to come to Christ in prayer as soon as they believe.

Not all churches believe that altar calls are necessary. Some even believe they can be problematic, and choose not to do them. While the Bible does not explicitly affirm something that resembles an altar call as part of a service for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, it does provide an opportunity for people to respond to the Gospel or the Holy Spirit.

When used improperly, it can be a form of peer pressure that leads to false testimonies and conversions; used correctly, it is a healthy time for corporate and private prayer and reflection.

What Is an Altar Call?

An altar call is a time of prayer and response after a sermon. They are sometimes called invitations, since it is a time when people in the congregation are invited to respond to the sermon at the altar of God.

Generally, it is an opportunity to respond to the Gospel and be saved, though it can also be to repent of sin, to ask for help or healing, or to seek wisdom in a difficult situation. Some churches only do them at revivals, while others do them every week. They became popular in the United States during the First Great Awakening, when preachers encouraged an immediate response to the Gospel at their revival sermons.

What Happens at an Altar Call?

An altar call can look different, but generally it is a time after the sermon for people to come up to the space designated as the altar at the front of the sanctuary, and they can pray or speak to the pastor, a deacon, or an elder about something for which they want guidance. Generally, though not universally, the pastor will invite people to close their eyes in prayer, and invite anyone to come forward to the altar and pray. Often there is music going, a signal to those who did not come to the altar that prayer up front is still happening, and it usually ends when everyone has returned to their seat. Sometimes deacons, elders, or select members of the congregation will stand up front and pray with people, or go into another room to pray with them and give Biblical counsel.

The practice has been common since the 18th century in the United States, but the term altar call was not commonly used until the Holiness and Pentecostal movements started in the 20th century.

Are Altar Calls Biblical?

There is no place in the Bible that describes anything resembling an altar call practiced in the New Testament. In fact, much of the structure of a modern church service is not explicitly lined out by the Gospels, the Epistles, or the Book of Revelation. Instead, it is extrapolated from existing practices in the Jewish temple - giving a monetary donation, worship, a time of teaching from the Scriptures - and descriptions in the Book of Acts of what the early believers did. These practices included the similar rituals as listed above, but also included the taking of Communion as ordained by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.

Proponents of the altar call point to a couple concepts in the Gospel. One argument is that becoming a Christian and responding to a presentation of the Gospel to start a relationship with Jesus is becoming a part of His church, which is compared to a wedding in the Bible.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-23).

In Revelation, it records there will be an event called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, And the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). In a traditional Christian wedding, the bride is presented to the groom at the altar of the church, so early proponents, including George Whitfield, argued someone should respond to the Gospel by coming to the altar to wed themselves to the Lord.

The verse most commonly used to justify this idea was, For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called (Isaiah 54:5). While this verse can be applied in a metaphorical sense to the church, it was directed at the nation of Israel, Gods chosen people. Using it as a justification for altar calls is taking the verse out of context, and is assuming the church inherits the same promises, responsibilities, and covenants as Israel.

At the Marriage Supper of the Lamb believers from the time before and after Jesus earthly ministry will be assembled, and that will be the actual moment of marriage, so responding to an altar call today is not necessary to be part of the Bride of Christ. Only faith in Jesus Christ is required.

Pros and Cons of Altar Calls

Some of the pros of an altar call include:

- It gives someone an immediate opportunity to deal with sin.

- It provides a regular opportunity for unrepentant sinners to go to God in prayer and start a saving relationship with Him.

- It can be a time of reflection.

- It gives people an opportunity to think about the sermon.

- It serves as a reminder that the Gospel demands a response; it is impossible to do nothing.

Some of the cons of an altar call include:

- It can provide a false sense of how many people are getting saved at church

-People can feel peer-pressured to go to the altar, rather than responding to the Holy Spirit

- It can lead someone to put their faith in the action of the altar call for their faith, rather than in Jesus Christ. Just like some people believe that the Sinners Prayer is what saves them rather than Jesus, some people become deceived because they walked the aisle, and do not bear fruit in their lives.

- Sometimes theyre used by pastors to pressure people into responding; one or two people come, so the pastor makes the music keep going and encourages people to come.

- Some evangelists present the altar call as the only appropriate way to come to the Lord.

- In massive revivals and certain mega-churches, there are actors planted to make altar calls look big, pressuring people to come forward.

- It can create an insecurity in believers, who fear their conversion was false because it didnt feel or look a certain way.

There is nothing wrong with churches providing an opportunity for people to respond to the gospel immediately, or to go to God in prayer with concerns, but it needs to be done with integrity, and should never be seen as the avenue or mechanism for salvation. Pressuring individuals to come forward because everyone else is, or deceiving them into thinking this action provides salvation, is not Biblical and should be discouraged. God meets people where they are at, which can be at the altar, in their seat, in the car, in their bed, or anywhere. Altar calls should be used wisely, and with the consent of a plurality of the church.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him (1 John 5:13-15).

Sources

Balbier, Uta. Altar Call in Europe Billy Graham, Mass Evangelism, and the Cold-War West. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Kidd, Thomas. The Great Awakening The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Schaper, Donna. Altar Call Inviting Response to the Gospel. Cokesbury: Abingdon Press, 2001.

Photo credit: Unsplash/benwhitephotography

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.
Tonight's rundown:

 Talking Points Memo: Joe Biden continues to decline with the world watching and remains out of the press reach

 Presidential Historian Larry Cook weighs in on how Bidens relationship with the press compares to past presidents

 US Special Forces have been confirmed to be in Ukraine

 OReilly describes Democrats hosting the DNC in Chicago as Crazy Arrogant

 The trial of Fox News gets underway

 58% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck even as inflation begins to cool off

 Smart Life: Utilizing Kelly Blue Book when searching for a new car

 This Day in History: FDR dies in office

 Final Thought: what to do when someone is disrespectful to you

In Case You Missed It:

 Read Bill's latest column, "Reason to Believe"

 Join 'Team Normal!' Order your gear now at BillOReilly.com!

 Pre-order Bills next bestseller Killing the Witches NOW

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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.
The Indian healthcare market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 19.27% from 2022 to 2030

According to a recent report released by Catenon India, which is a global executive search company specialising in talent intelligence and recruitment, the most in-demand skills in healthcare include Marketing (33%) and Engineering (30%), followed by Blue Collar, IT, HR and sales, as of December 2022.

The report has also revealed that Bengaluru has the highest hiring percentage i.e. 52% in the healthcare sector, followed by New Delhi at 39%, and Mumbai at 31%, with Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad up close.

Further, the report states that some of the key hard skills required by the healthcare industry are Data entry, pharmacy, record management, business administration, Health Insurance Portability Act knowledge and CPR + First Aid.

In addition, the healthcare industry provides multiple employee benefits such as Life insurance, Soft skills training, Job training, Disability insurance, Paid holiday, Health insurance, to name a few.

While increase in ageing population will lead to the healthcare industry growth in the coming years, it is the rise of telemedicine that will lead to healthcare market expansion with maximum hiring in the healthcare sector taking place at Tier 1 cities currently.
The first Advertising Week Africa officially kicked off on Wednesday with an exciting lineup of speakers.

Bogosi Motshegwa. Source: Instagram.

Advertising Week has existed for almost two decades and has hosted thought leadership sessions with personalities such as Trevor Noah, Serena Williams and entertainers such as P Diddy, Ludacris and Mary J Blige.

Advertising Week Africa (AWAfrica) joins the global footprint of the brand such as AWEurope (London), AWLatam (Mexico City), AWAsia (Japan), AWApac (Sydney) and AWNY (New York), the founding and flagship region.

Bizcommunity.com spoke to the vice president of Advertising Week Africa and chief creative and strategy officer at Brand Reserve Bogosi Motshegwa to find out more.

Highlighting African creativity

Motshegwa comments: Why a need for Africa? I mean, is that even a question? Africas influence over the globe is undeniable and as such; Africas presence on the Advertising Week platform was inevitable. The continent has inspired creativity at the global level. Africa is at the forefront of influencing and shaping the global creative culture; so the real question is; why not, Africa?

The first day will put a spotlight on women in the creative industry who have made a significant impact.

On the 15th of February, we kicked off the week with the Future Is Female Awards, which are non-paid awards that seek to recognise and put a spotlight on women of our industry who are doing phenomenally well in their respective professional roles. Their chances of winning increases if they also contribute significantly to society through their mentorship and leadership qualities, he says.

On Thursday the main event, at Vodaworld, in Midrand Johannesburg allowed ticket holders to see Kevin Hart on the Great Minds main stage.

What you could see:

Kevin Hart  entertainer, entrepreneur and founder at Hartbeat

Thai Randolph - CEO at Hartbeat

Mzamo Masito - CMO at Google Africa

Mosala Phillips - CMO at Old Mutual

Nomsa Chabeli - General manager of brand and communication at MTN

Sbusiso Kumalo - CMO at African Bank

Zizwe Vundla - CMO at Safaricom

Lorna Scott - CEO and founder at Inverroche

Chaucer Barnes - CMO at United Masters

Bonin Bough  Founder and chief strategy officer

Jeff Clanagan  President and chief distribution officer at Hartbeat

Queen Nnaniki Malesa  CMO at The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture

Adebola Williams  Chairman, AW Network and co-founder of RED for Africa

A winning mindset

The event took place between the 15th and 18th, and the main event on the 16th of February 2023. I believe that we are over our biggest obstacle, which was to finally launch the Advertising Week Africa and have it on the continents industry calendar officially," says Motshegwa.

The initial launch was to be in 2019; but the Covid-19 pandemic prevented that.

He says the biggest challenges during the week iwas navigating all the moving parts but with the support of the Advertising Week brand as well as Brand Reserve he believes it went off without any significant problems.

He adds: This is a huge event with a lot of moving parts and as such, coordinating and ensuring that everybody is on the same page was also a huge challenge, but it comes with the territory. Looking back, every emotion felt during this process was worth it, because whichever way you look at it, weve made history.

Motshegwa says they hope the event will help them contribute meaningfully to the industry.

If the industry is not protected, theres truly nothing left for us. Additionally, we want to help scale Africas talent and global influence to the rest of the world. We want to leave the industry, women and the continent better than we found it, he says.
French luxury house Louis Vuitton has appointed multi-talented record producer, singer, songwriter and fashion designer Pharrell Williams as its new men's creative director, effective immediately.

Source: NASA/Joel Kowsky , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

His first collection for Louis Vuitton will be revealed this June during the Mens Fashion Week in Paris.

Williams fills the high-profile creative role, which has remained vacant since 2021 when Louis Vuitton's former artistic director for menswear and Off-White founder Virgil Abloh died at the age of 41 following a private battle with cancer. The appointment makes Williams the second Black American to be named the head designer of a European luxury fashion brand, following Abloh.

As Forbes notes, Williams is the second prominent musician to partner with LVMH, Louis Vuittons parent company, after Rihanna was hired on to develop the luxury apparel line Fenty in 2019.

Williams has flexed his creative muscle across music, art and fashion  establishing himself as a cultural, global icon over the past 20 years. "The way in which he breaks boundaries across the various worlds he explores aligns with Louis Vuittons status as a cultural maison, reinforcing its values of innovation, pioneer spirit and entrepreneurship," the luxury brand said in a statement.

Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuittons chairman and CEO, commented, I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new mens creative director. His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.

Louis Vuitton is delighted to welcome @Pharrell as its new Mens Creative Director. His first collection for Louis Vuitton will be revealed next June during Men's Fashion Week in Paris. #LouisVuitton #PharrellWilliams pic.twitter.com/GRCQFfOAHK  Louis Vuitton (@LouisVuitton) February 14, 2023

Successful career

Williams excels as a fashion designer and entrepreneur with his Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream apparel among other brands. He also owns both Swan restaurant and Bar Bevy in Miami in partnership with David Grutman, and opened The Goodtime Hotel in 2021. Recently he founded Humanrace, a product company with a mission to empower all individuals in their pursuit of well-being across product and people.

But Williams first rose to prominence through his illustrious music career. He has been honoured with 13 Grammy Awards, including 2004, 2014 and 2019 Producer of the Year, and Ascaps Golden Note Award in 2012. He has received two Academy Award nominations for his original song 'Happy' (Despicable Me 2) and for Best Picture-nominated Hidden Figures as co-producer. Williams also received a Golden Globe nomination for co-scoring the film.

Williams also received an Emmy nomination for his original song 'Letter to My Godfather' for Netflixs Black Godfather about legendary music executive Clarence Avant. And he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work as The Neptunes.

Williams narrated Universals remake of the classic film The Grinch, authored the book A Fish Doesnt Know Its Wet, and released the Netflix Original series Brainchild with his producing partner, Mimi Valdes. Other projects include Dope, Roxanne Roxanne, Voices of Fire and Amazons Harlem, which has been renewed for a second season and Lena Waithes Rollin for HBO Max.

In 2019, Williams founded Yellow, a non-profit working to even the odds for all youth through education. He later launched Black Ambition, a non-profit initiative that provides a bridge to success for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs who are launching tech, healthcare, Web 3.0 and consumer products/services startups.

In 2019, Williams launched Something in the Water, a multi-day music festival and experience on the beach in his hometown of Virginia Beach. He took the festival to Washington D.C. on Juneteenth Weekend, and this April, the event returns to Virginia Beach and will continue its mission spotlighting the community
To develop an in-depth understanding of effective advertising communication within a transit environment, the Commuter Chronicles Project adopted a design thinking approach. This involved real commuters via focus group investigations of their daily journeys and audience journey mapping methodology, culminating in a quantitative segmentation of commuters.

The project followed a modular approach in gathering and collating data. First, commuters discussed the relevance and importance of transit media in their lives in focus group sessions. Next, in the semiotics module, a thorough investigation of transit environments, culture and media interaction within the environments was conducted.

In the measurement phase, dwell times, mindsets and emotions were unpacked to better understand the real-life experiences commuters face. And finally, all the data was translated into video production and segmented commuter journey mapping. This provided an in-depth understanding of commuter experiences, goals, needs and pain points.

Each commuter shared insight into their daily routine. Personal photos and discussions underscored the actual emotions the commuters experienced over an average week. These intimate portraits of the journeys South African commuters travel daily provided faithful measurements of their complex psyches.

Following the quantitative study, a real Day in the Life video was professionally filmed for each participant. The videos showcase how the daily commute unfolds, incidentally showcasing media touchpoints along the journey.

One commuters story

Sbongile is a 32-year-old mother and office assistant from Midrand. Her daily journey begins as she contemplates how best to get to work. She wants to travel as comfortably as possible, but the budget must also be considered. On a typical day, Sbongile will browse e-hailing apps to see if any specials are available. Today, shes out of luck and disappointed that she must take a taxi instead.

She walks her daughter to the school bus and goes to the nearest shelter to catch a taxi. The first taxi makes its way to the taxi rank, where Sbongile quickly takes in a Transit TV news update and catches another taxi to get to Randburg. She experiences discomfort on her long journey to work but is happy to arrive at the office on time after she gets out of the taxi and walks the rest of the way.

When she arrives at work, the WiFi connects to her phone, and she starts receiving messages and notifications. She makes her way home after a long day at the office, where a Transit TV advertisement for a pretty dress at a nearby store catches her eye. Having seen it and thought of her daughter, she makes an impulse purchase at the store and is happy to be home with a gift for her beloved child. Even though shes frugal, Sbongile sometimes loves to spoil her daughter and herself.

Meaningful connections with real people

Sbongiles is a typical journey for a Sharp Shopper. Sharp Shoppers are bargain hunters, generally aged between 25 and 34 years old. People like Sbongile look for opportunities to make their Rands stretch further to provide for their families, but they also occasionally spoil themselves or their loved ones. And appearances are important.

Sbongile fits into one of four key commuter segments we came to know in the Commuter Chronicles study. The other segments that were identified are The Business Tripper, The Trend Setter and Thrifty and Thriving. We needed to get to know each commuter personally, unpacking their basic demographics, routine, desires and goals.

When we know who we are speaking to on a personal level, as the Study facilitated, we can formulate a communication plan with the right tonality and customer relationship management tools. We can then speak to commuters with respect and relevance, says Thulani Dumakude, Transit Ads general manager.

Ruchelle Mouton, Group Head: Marketing Services at Provantage, adds, The Commuter Chronicles Project was eye-opening for us as communicators in many ways. Transit environments are dynamic and ever-evolving. But one constant is that media and advertising enrich daily journeys and offer meaningful ways for brands to engage with commuters en route.

However, this media must be relevant and adapted to consumers mindsets on every step of their journey.

According to the Transit Ads team, transit advertising offers brands daily opportunities to strengthen brand value, positioning and status in urban lives. Daily commutes are ever-changing, and commuters have developed a complex set of emotional, cognitive and behavioural versatility and agility to make their way through the system. Understanding these responses on a personal level is the best way to connect.

Knowing not only how and where consumers commute daily, but what they think and feel, empowers us to reach a targeted audience of economically active commuters in environments they understand, continues Dumakude.

The Commuter Chronicles Project reveals that the transit environment allows brands to stand out with high-impact collateral that is creative and sensitive enough to engage commuters attention.

Dumakude concludes, The exhaustive research covered by the Commuter Chronicles includes specific insights about real-life journeys, highlighting all the media stops along the way that allow commuters to engage with brands.

We know advertising is more effective when adapted to consumer mindsets during their journeys. And we are now able to further maximise our impact.

To learn more about the Commuter Chronicles Project and strategic OOH marketing in action, visit www.transitads.co.za.
Luxury Italian kitchen brand, Officine Gullo, has this week opened the doors to its first South African showroom, located in Cape Town. Situated on Strand Street in the heart of the city centre, the showroom space has been created as a destination to attract members of the local design community and professionals in the luxury interior industry.

Officine Gullo Cape Town showroom. Source: Supplied

Besides being one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Cape Town is globally recognised as a contemporary design hub, making it a desirable destination for Officine Gullo. We are very excited to be opening the doors to our new showroom, which will coincide with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, of which we are an official sponsor, says Andrea Gullo, general director, Officine Gullo.

Officine Gullos new showroom is not only an important showcase of the brand for the South African market, but it also represents a strategic location for the rest of Africa, creating a place for individuals, architects, interior designers, and industry professionals to meet and exchange ideas.

Visitors can explore the features of Officine Gullos range of products as they page through the extensive catalogue of materials and finishes. This will also be an opportunity for clients to interact with the materials in person; while admiring the brand's classic designs.

Officine Gullo Cape Town showroom. Source: Supplied

The showroom will display items from all main Officine Gullo collections, and will boast two complete kitchens, featuring products from the Tailor Made and Contemporanea collections. Various cooking ranges, appliances and accessories will also be on exhibition to the public.

Cape Town is home to a large concentration of high-level interior designers. There are also several famous architects based in the city who are responsible for creating an internationally recognised and admired style. This reputation has resulted in many of our international customers choosing to build either their main or vacation homes in the region, continues Gullo.

Artist collaboration

To celebrate the showroom opening and the partnership with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Officine Gullo will be collaborating with Southern Guild to showcase the work of local artist Conrad Hicks.

Hicks is an artist-blacksmith and tool-maker in Cape Town who specialises in hand-forged metalwork, using only traditional blacksmithing techniques, as he believes these are essential to the expressive meaning of the finished form. The exhibition will be up for one month, until 15 March.

We believe in the creative power of collaboration and welcome partnerships which showcase South Africas makers, artisans and artists, said Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Southern Guild.

Our expanding gallery programme celebrates the ingenuity of the human hand and the labour-intensive processes that elevate the prosaic to the sublime. Hicks resolute approach to materiality and craftsmanship aligns with the singular design ethos of Officine Gullo.

The Officine Gullo showroom is located at 94 Strand St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town.
Darrin Green, Africa MD of Aecom, has emphasised the urgent need for South Africa to speed up its infrastructure project pipeline and ensure adequate technical capacity at the municipal level.

Darrin Green, Africa MD of Aecom

While it was announced during the recent State of the Nation Address that various infrastructure projects have finally entered the construction stage, we are not seeing anything new for the consulting engineering industry, says Green.

He argues that the procurement process for public sector work remains fraught with difficulty and is enormously difficult and cumbersome. In addition, there is the issue of a dearth of technical capacity at the municipal level.

Ageing infrastructure

In terms of water infrastructure, a lack of maintenance has resulted in a water loss of over 50% at some municipalities at present. What is the point of adding new capacity and supply when the existing infrastructure is not being looked after? questions Green.

A related issue is who ultimately pays for these water losses. We have fundamental grassroots problems that need to be resolved first. It calls for a much bigger focus on the municipal level in terms of asset management, maintenance, and refurbishment, argues Green.

While there is a welcome renewed focus on project preparation, such funding must be spent effectively for maximum impact. Green says the lack of in-house capability means that municipalities should ideally reach out to private sector institutions like Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).

Streamlining the tender process

Looking at the tender process itself, Green notes there is too much emphasis on compliance. The process could easily be streamlined by establishing an in-house database.

The discounting imposed on bidding and the cost of tendering is so high as to not make it worthwhile to do so in many cases, while the project cost is driven so low, we are unable to carry out the work effectively. This impacts the quality of successful projects.

In terms of procurement, there must be a much bigger emphasis on quality from a consulting engineering and contracting perspective. We must consider the total lifecycle cost of projects, not just the small part of the budget spent upfront on design and construction monitoring, argues Green.

If this is done correctly, it will drive construction and lifecycle costs down. That is simply not being taken into account, he says.

Quality, therefore, needs to be a strong element of the bidding process. We may have lofty ideas, but the procurement process is so protracted that it does not have the desired outcome.

While it is not ideal to harness private sector funding for public sector projects, so-called public-private partnerships (PPPs) have in the recent past been touted as the panacea to expedite projects and attract funding. However, if the correct project preparation is not in place from the outset, the viability of such projects becomes questionable.

Utilise local skills

Much more thought must be given to streamline procurement and emphasise the importance of quality and using the right skills. While the skills are still here, we are rapidly losing our young engineers. There is just not enough work coming through.

"We as an industry and a profession have paid for and heavily subsidised that training. As a business, we have put five to six years into those professionals post-graduation to get them registered, but they just do not see a future. We need to act now to utilise the skills and capacity still available in the country to address our infrastructure backlog, points out Green.

Renewable energy projects

When it comes to renewables, the rollout of the next bid windows of the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP) has been very slow. While the latest phase has been approved, its delay means that finalisation and implementation are likely to take considerable time.

We are certainly well-positioned to provide the necessary infrastructure to accompany renewable projects, adds Green. However, he cautions that the pricing, especially around wind farm projects, has become particularly cut-throat, driving down margins and stalling projects from getting off the ground.

Infrastructure South Africa yet to produce viable pipeline

While Infrastructure South Africa was established to accelerate investment and fast-track priority infrastructure projects, it has yet to produce a viable pipeline.

Sourcing investment funding has proven relatively successful, but project preparation and rollout have been major stumbling blocks. Green says many of the projects referenced in Sona 2023 have been in the pipeline for some time and therefore are not new initiatives.
As part of its ongoing commitment to empower and support special needs learners, BET Software gifted two learning institutions - Golden Steps School and Open Air School - with items from the schools' wish lists.

BET Software gifted Open Air School as it turned 102

Open Air School in Glenwood, Durban turned 102 years on Thursday, 9 February 2023. It was the first institution in South Africa to cater exclusively for children living with physical disabilities, which precluded them from mainstream education. BET Software donated Asus mini PCs, LG LED monitors, cables, as well as wireless keyboard and mouse combos, to commemorate the schools birthday with the learners.

Open Air School principal, Samantha Sayanna, acknowledged BET Softwares contribution: We have all these presents for Open Air from one of our sponsors, BET Software, thank you, she said.

Over the years, BET Softwares assistance and partnership with the school has allowed differently-abled learners to thrive. One of Open Air Schools top achievers for the class of 2022, Luqa Zondi, received a BET Software scholarship last year. Zondi came first in KZN, in the special schools category, under the Umlazi district. Two other Open Air School matriculants, Amanda Khuzwayo and Sethabile Phungula, were also in the top five along with Zondi.

BET Softwares Zama Mdlalose together with Golden Steps School principal Anesh Singh

To highlight the importance of ensuring special needs learners feel included, BET Software also chose Golden Steps School in Verulam, Durban as its Back to School campaign beneficiary, for this year. Based in the rural village of Cottonlands, the school caters to children living with disabilities and autism. The school is attended by 214 learners who cannot benefit from the curriculum offered in mainstream schools and require education of a specialised nature. Golden Steps School aims to help these learners adapt better to the community around them and become independent, responsible adults. In partnership with the Hollywood Foundation, BET Software was able to gift the school with much-needed equipment.

Golden Steps School principal, Anesh Singh, thanked BET Software: We are partnering with BET Software with one objective, and the objective is societal change. And how do we change society? Its through the little things that we are impacting the lives of our autistic learners, he explained.

BET Softwares general manager, Michael Collins, said: At BET Software, we are committed to stepping up and getting involved. Our relationship with Open Air School, and visit to Golden Steps School, highlight the need for real learning opportunities for special needs learners. BET Software looks forward to more long and healthy years working with these incredible schools.




Women poll officials collect EVMs and other election material for the Tripura Assembly elections on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (PTI Photo)

HYDERABAD: Tripura is all set to decide whether or not to retain the incumbent BJP-led government in state Assembly elections scheduled for Thursday. In the single-phase polling for the 60-member Tripura Assembly, the BJP is facing a multi-cornered contest and a stiff challenge from the Opposition -- the Left-Congress alliance and the TMC.

The BJP's campaign in the tribal-dominated state was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who campaigned in the poll-bound state for two days, addressing rallies wherein he highlighted how his government and the BJP rule in the state have ushered in development for Tripura and the region. He particularly emphasised the work done for the tribals.

All political parties have been wooing the tribals, including the Tipra Motha, a union of tribal organisations that is contesting its first Assembly polls and was wooed by both the BJP and the Left-Congress alliance. Mamata Banerjee's TMC is also contesting the elections.

The voting will start at 7 am on Thursday and is expected to conclude by 4 pm. The counting of votes will take place on March 2, along with the votes polled in Meghalaya and Nagaland later this month.

There are 3,337 polling stations across 60 constituencies, out of which 1,100 were identified as sensitive and 28 as critical. Altogether, 28.13 lakh voters, including 13.53 lakh women, will decide the fate of 259 candidates, including 20 women, in the fray.

Several thousand security personnel have been deployed across the states and other measures have also been taken for the peaceful conduct of the polls.

As part of the precautionary measures, a prohibitory order has already been imposed across Tripura and will remain in force till 6 am on February 17. The international and interstate boundaries have also been sealed to prevent troublemakers from entering the state.

Among the prominent candidates trying their fate are chief minister Manik Saya, who is contesting from the Town Bardowali constituency, while Union minister Pratima Bhowmik is contesting from Dhanpur on the saffron party's ticket. Jitendra Chadudhury, CPI(M) state secretary and the face of the Left-Congress coalition, is running for the Sabroom Assembly seat. Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Debbarma is not contesting.

The BJP is contesting on 55 seats, its ally IPFT has fielded candidates in six constituencies and there will be a friendly fight on one seat. The ruling BJP has fielded the highest number of women candidates with 12.

The CPI(M) is contesting on 47 seats, while its alliance partner Congress is contesting on 13 seats. The Tipra Motha has fielded candidates for 42 seats. The Trinamul Congress has fielded nominees in 28 constituencies. And there are 58 independent aspirants.

While the Left-Congress alliance highlighted the BJP-led government's misrule, the poll plank of Tipra Motha is Greater Tipraland statehood demand.
South African students taking the SAT this year will be part of the first cohort to complete the tests digitally. The shift from written to digital tests comes into effect in March 2023, alongside other key changes, including significantly shorter wait time for results, and the use of an adaptive question model. For local high school students looking to study in the United States, taking note of these changes is essential as they prepare for a new testing format that they have not been exposed to before.

Image supplied

The SAT is a standardised tests that acts as a students benchmark against other applicants. International students, like South Africans, can benefit from taking them to increase their chance of admission, as they are a well-recognised scoring system for many US universities  and a common prerequisite to entry, says Rebecca Pretorius, country manager at Crimson Education, a global mentorship company that helps students with the complex application process to top universities abroad.

Concerns taken into consideration

While digital testing opens up a number of possibilities, it does not mean that students will be able to complete their SAT at home. The tests will still be conducted at designated testing centres across the country, where they can be monitored by examiners. Those sitting their SAT will have the option to either use a supplied device, or to bring their own. Having all students sit the test in one venue also decreases any potential issues.

Technical issues are likely a big concern for local students, with load shedding stages often shifting quickly, and without advance notice. The digital SAT has catered for this, by including a fail-safe that saves data in case of technical problems. This means students can take the tests, with the peace of mind that their progress wont be lost if load shedding hits, says Pretorius.

SAT format changes

Along with the shift from written to digital, there are a number of other changes to the SAT format. The most notable is that the test will only be two hours long, instead of the standard three hours, and it will be adaptive. This means that certain questions will be based on each students answers in previous sections. While the content will not be changing, the questions will be quite different to previous SATs.

There will be four sections  two reading and writing sections, and two maths sections. The second section of each topic will be based off of the previous answers each student gave. Not only will this make the results more precise, but it will also mean students receive their answers in a matter of days, instead of waiting weeks, says Pretorius.

With the changes coming into effect in March, it is fundamental that students remember how important preparation is. Strong academics is the most important component of successful admission. The SAT showcases a students problem-solving abilities, and are unlike tests that South African students have experienced before. Unique test-taking strategies, and preferably working with a tutor, are needed if local students want to get a top score on the SAT, says Pretorius.

The registration deadline for the next sitting of the SAT is the 7 April 2023, with the test taking place on the 8 May. Students looking to prepare can download Crimsons free Mini SAT Practice Test, which includes sample questions, answers, and explanations. The practice test helps students get a better understanding of what theyll encounter on the SAT and how best to strategise for each section.
World-famous business school, Henley Business School, which has been active in Johannesburg for 30 years, is set to open its doors in Cape Town in one of the city's most creative business hubs - a move which will boost skills development and the local economy.

The school will offer four of its accredited qualifications, three at undergraduate level, and its honours-level Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice, from its new Brickfield campus in Woodstock. The new campus will also host the schools executive education and customised programmes for its Cape Town-based corporate clients.

Welcoming Henleys decision to open a Cape Town campus, Wrenelle Stander, the CEO of Wesgro, the official trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, said the move is a positive addition to the talent landscape in the province.

Henleys international alumni network is well-recognised and powerful, and we anticipate our business community leveraging this as they grow their organisations and the Western Cape economy. We look forward to Henleys faculty, students and alumni contributing to constructive conversations at a provincial level, Stander said.

The dearth of skilled workers and professionals has long been identified as a major constraint to growing SAs economy and reducing the unemployment rate.

Among other goals, the National Development Plan (NDP), a long-term plan articulating the countrys vision to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030, targets increasing the number of university enrolments as part of efforts to boost SAs skills base.

Boosting skills development

Business schools are expected to play a central role particularly in terms of boosting leadership and management skills, key to the success of any organisation.

There are some 22 local schools in SA offering Masters in Business Administration programmes (MBAs)  the world's best known and most widely recognised management education qualificationwith the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and the Stellenbosch Universitys Business School (USB) being the most notable in the Western Cape.

While Henley has no immediate plans to offer a fully-fledged MBA progamme at its Cape Town campus, it says there will be support available to its MBA students based in the city  but they will be officially registered with the Johannesburg campus. Most of the MBA work is done remotely but there are in-person sessions and these are held in Johannesburg.

Cape Town is South Africas innovation capital and one of the most exciting places in the country to be doing business  and thinking differently about how to do business that builds the country. At Henley Africa, we are eager to be a part of this energy. And as the countrys fastest growing and only international business school, we know Henley has a lot to offer the mother city, said Jon Foster-Pedley, dean and director of Henley Africa.

Henleys own research indicates that an estimated 36% of senior managers in the public sector did not have the required-level of qualification for their position in 2021, and in the Western Cape, on average, just 29% of managers working across all industries have some form of management qualification. We simply have to get these numbers up and we want to make it as easy and accessible as possible for more South Africans to rise through the academic ranks, Foster-Pedley said.

Rashika Padarath, head of Henleys degree-level management development programme, said the flexibility and structure of the schools programmes could give thousands of working people who may lack the formal qualifications or the luxury of time to study at business school the skills and confidence to manage and lead themselves and others well.
South Africa's first private equity fund which allows green energy investors to qualify for Sars-approved tax deductions has been launched.

Source: Supplied. Jeff Miller, founder of Twelve B Green Energy Fund.

Section 12B of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 allows for a tax deduction for certain qualifying assets used for electricity generation from renewable sources.

A similar tax incentive, Section 12J, was launched in 2014 and it became the fastest growing alternative asset class in South Africa, with more than R12bn of capital raised across 200+ funds. The Section 12J tax incentive reached its sunset clause in June 2021.

Green energy has become a necessity due to SAs unreliable electricity supply and the private sector needs to step in to urgently improve the situation. In addition to the longer-term benefits of sustainable energy generation, the Twelve B Green Energy Fund is an attractive initiative.

"South African individuals, trusts, companies and pension funds can write off 100% of their investment against their taxable income in the year the assets produce electricity. Effectively, this could provide green energy investors with up to 100% tax relief in that year, says Jeff Miller, founder of Twelve B Green Energy Fund.

Miller is pioneering the Section 12B initiative, drawing on his experience as pioneer of Section 12J venture capital companies (VCCs) which offered attractive investment propositions and tax deductions.

Qualifying investments

The Twelve B Green Energy Fund has a mandate to invest in solar panels, inverters and batteries in residential complexes, and commercial and industrial installations.

Twelve Bs portfolio of assets is spread over several solar projects which are at different locations and have different end users. Each project is governed by a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA), which governs for the amount of energy generated at an agreed price over the term of the PPA.

All projects are vetted by an experienced investment committee before they are approved.

The fund is regulated by the FSCA. It is managed and administered by Grovest, the pioneers of Section 12J, which brought the first Section 12J fund to the market in 2014. Today, Grovest is the largest administrator of Section 12J funds, with over R3.5bn in assets under administration.

The Twelve B Green Energy Fund is targeting an IRR to investors of 14% to 15% net of fees and taxes and has a moderate risk profile. The ability to write off the cost of the investment against taxable income provides downside protection and enhances overall returns for investors, says Miller.

Other benefits of Twelve B

The Twelve B Green Energy Fund is a tax-efficient partnership structure. Investors receive bi-annual distributions from the profits of the partnership.

While the term of the fund is 10 years, there is no minimum prescribed period to hold the asset to benefit from the Section 12B allowance.

The minimum investment amount is R100,000 and there is no maximum cap on investments into the fund.

Twelve B is a Shariah compliant investment.

How does the Section 12B tax deduction work?

A: Investor invests R100,000 in March 2023.

The full amount is invested into the solar kit that starts generating energy in May 2023.

The investor can deduct the full R100,000 from his or her taxable income for the year ended February 2024.

B: Investor invests R100,000 in March 2023.

Only R70,000 is invested into the solar kit that starts generating energy in the year ended February 2024.

The investor can deduct R70,000 from his or her taxable income for the year ended February 2024. The balance of R30,000 can be deducted from taxable income in the following tax year when the balance of the solar kit comes into operation.

This is a significant milestone. We are proud to launch an industry-first with so many positives - an attractive tax-structured fund, with solid returns and a strong ESG focus, which also allows us to play our part in solving South Africas dire energy crisis, says Miller.
The pension fund industry could miss the proposed 1 March 2024 deadline to be ready to implement the new two-pot pension fund system should the reforms not be finalised in the first half of 2023, according to Old Mutual.

Retirement reform executive at Old Mutual, Michelle Acton said the industry is hopeful that updated draft regulations would be released with the National Budget Speech on 22 February 2023.

The 2022 Draft Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, which was released for public comment in July 2022, proposed the two-pot system, which would allow pension and provident fund members, as well as retirement annuity policyholders, to access a portion of their retirement savings before retirement age, without having to resign.

We at Old Mutual wholeheartedly support the reforms as the most important regulations to move us towards ending old-age poverty at retirement. In this context, the industry is doing all it can to prepare for implementation, but we cannot undertake any work on system development until the reforms are passed into law, said Acton.

She noted that the amount of work needed to ensure readiness is far-reaching, as entire new and sophisticated automated systems will have to be developed to enable fund members to efficiently access the allowed accessible portion of their savings.

Old Mutual estimates that the new level of accessibility will lead to a 300 to 400% increase in claims to be processed by administrators.

Engagement through an automated digital platform

This new system would have to allow for member-initiated claim functionality as, for the first-time, members will have to register their claims without going through their employer. It would require member engagement through an automated digital platform; the retraining and capacitating of entire new call centres; and fraud and risk prevention measures.

The administrative changes will be the biggest ever seen in the retirement industry in South Africa and means the need for an entirely new processing and service model. We will have to build a brand-new system overlayed on the existing system. This will take a massive amount of budget and resources which requires at least 12 to 18 months to build, said Acton.

Acton added that the two-pot savings regime meant that even the contribution mechanism had to be redesigned to ensure separation of payments into the two separate pots. In addition, member education and change management processes would also have to be undertaken to ensure that they understand the new system including qualifying criteria for applications and the claims process.

Acton also emphasised that retirement funds will need time to prepare for the system and plan around the liquidity and cash flow implications of a sudden exponential increase in applications. Without finalised regulations, the industry cannot be ready by 1 March, 2024, as it would be near impossible to address the multitude of changes required to be compliant in less than one year.

Other outstanding issues

Blessing Utete, managing executive of Old Mutual Corporate Consultants, said the company was also expecting Minister Godongwana to provide updates on several critical issues related to the pension-fund reforms.

Seeding

This seeding aspect related to a portion of current savings is being used to seed the accessible savings pot up to a regulated capped amount. The Minister would have to provide specific details on how this would work to ensure the stability of funds and protection of member retirement funds and protection of member retirement-fund outcomes.

Implications for those over 55 years old

Updated provisions in September noted that provident-fund members over 55 years old would have the option to stay and continue contributing to their current provident regime or move into the new two-pot regime.

Members who opted for the new regime would lose the ability to access 100% of their future accumulated funds in cash when they retired but would continue to enjoy full access to their current savings accumulated before the new regime took effect. This option would be a once-only decision and irreversible once the change had been made.

Utete noted that the option would amount to a complex decision for members to make and industry needed more detail on how this would work to properly advise its members.

Alternative funds

He said clarification was needed on how National Treasury would deal with the aspects of defined benefit-, public sector-, and legacy funds. Defined benefit funds and public-sector funds were under consideration and Treasury had indicated that a consultative process would be undertaken with defined-benefit funds and stakeholders to consider the options available.

He said the announced protective mechanisms needed to be explored, including increasing future contributions when a member withdrew funds before retirement.

Further clarification was also anticipated around the possibility that members could be allowed to access their savings in the event of retrenchment.
WATCH: Digify Africa COO Qhakaza Mohare discusses Digify Pro Online program and benefits

Qhakaza Mohare, the chief operations officer at Digify Africa, a youth-led organisation at the forefront of shaping Africa's digital future, tells us about the Digify Pro Online program and its benefits to those looking to get into the tech space.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said its chief executive officer Natascha Viljoen would be stepping down from her post next year to join US-based Newmont Corporation as the chief operating officer.

Natascha Viljoen to step down as CEO of Amplats

Viljoen, who has been the CEO of the world's biggest platinum group metal miner since April 2020, will continue to serve as the chief executive until the completion of her notice period of up to 12 months, Amplats said in a statement on Wednesday, 15 February.

Said Duncan Wanblad, chief executive of Anglo American: Natascha is an outstanding leader who transformed our technical processing capabilities and performance having joined us in 2014, subsequently leading our world-class PGMs business for the last three years.

"Her commitment to lead Anglo American Platinum and its continued performance improvement as a platform for growth through her notice period is a clear demonstration of her strong personal qualities. The process to identify her successor is now underway.

Shares slide on exit announcement

Amplats shares fell more than 3% on Wednesday after the company made the announcement.

Said Viljoen: "While I have identified the next phase of my career, my commitment to delivering our clear objectives during this year is as firm as ever, beginning, of course, with keeping our people safe, every day."

A process engineer, Viljoen was group head of processing at Anglo American before her appointment as Amplats CEO. She has also held leadership roles at AngloGold and was the general manager of Klipspruit Colliery, which was previously owned by global mining giant BHP.
Ivory Coast cocoa exporters are close to defaulting on their contracts due to a lack of beans and urgently need up to 150,000 tonnes to honour their commitments, seven sources who attended a crisis meeting with the regulator on Friday told Reuters.

A worker carries a sack of cocoa beans in Gabeadji, a village of San-Pedro, Ivory Coast August 6, 2022. REUTERS/Ange Aboa

As the world's top producer heads towards the end of its October-to-March main harvest, bean supply is tight. Exporters estimate that arrivals at its main ports stood at 34,000 tonnes for the week to 12 February, versus 66,000 tonnes during the same period last season.

Cocoa regulator the Cocoa and Coffee Council (CCC) met with representatives of Gepex, which represents multinational exporters, domestic traders' lobby GNI and UCOOPEXCI, which represents exporting cooperatives, last week to discuss the shortfall, the sources said.

"We are heading towards a certain default because we have not been able to buy beans since January," one of the sources, a member of UCOOPEXCI who attended the meeting, told Reuters.

Another of the sources, a member of the domestic cocoa traders association GNI, said they were also facing difficulties buying beans to honour export contracts.

Domestic export defaulting

The volume of cocoa being sold exclusively within the Fairtrade market, which commands a higher price that is passed on to farmers, has also cut the volumes available to domestic exporters, some sources said.

"Certified cocoa costs between 950 CFA ($1.54) and 975 CFA francs per kilo, while the farmgate price is 900 CFA francs. It is impossible for us to compete because multinationals have a monopoly on all certified cocoa," one trader said.

The sources said they had asked the CCC to react quickly so domestic exporters could avoid looming defaults. A spokesperson for the regulator confirmed a meeting was held on Friday to discuss the issue, but gave no further details.

At the meeting the watchdog proposed pushing back the loading period for the contracts of struggling exporters to June so that they can buy beans between April and June during the mid-crop harvest, the sources said.

"Delaying the loading period to June will not solve anything. Our customers expect cocoa from the main crop which is of much better quality than the mid crop," a domestic trader said.

Another solution proposed by the CCC included authorising local cocoa grinders to hold only 15 days' worth of beans grinding capacity instead of 45 days.

But cocoa grinding companies said the solution was impracticable because the stocks are already scheduled to be processed within a few months in response to strong market demand for semi-finished cocoa products.

"We are currently grinding at almost 95% of capacity due to strong international demand, and this stock will quickly be exhausted in a few weeks," said the manager of an Abidjan-based company.
Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy said that the Komatireddy brothers Venkat Reddy and BJP leader Rajagopal Reddy were used to making false and fake statements. (Twitter)

Hyderabad: Following Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy's prediction of a `hung' Assembly after the state elections, BRS leaders said the ruling party would retain power by itself.

Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy said that the Komatireddy brothers Venkat Reddy and BJP leader Rajagopal Reddy  were used to making false and fake statements. "Venkat Reddy is in the Congress but says the BJP will form government, his brother is in the BJP and he said that the Congress would win. The Komatireddy brothers misguide the people by making false statements," Jagadish Reddy said.

Nizamabad MLA Bigala Ganesh said that the BRS would retain 100 seats out of the 119 in Telangana. "The Congress and the BJP wll share the remaining 19 seats," Ganesh said, adding, "People are eager to support the BRS."

Achampet MLA Guvvala Balaraju said that there would be no possibility of a hung Assembly; neither the BJP nor the Congress had the candidates to contest all constituencies. In some places, the Congress was better placed than the BJP in terms of cadre at the booth and village levels. "When the BJP has no cadre, how will it win seats," he asked.
Balloon incident much paranoia about nothing

09:23, February 15, 2023 By Tom Fowdy ( Chinadaily.com.cn

For the past week or so, the United States has been in the grip of rampant paranoia over what it has termed as a "Chinese spy balloon" and the alleged sighting of several other "unidentified flying objects". As a show of force, and in a display of domestic political theater, the Joe Biden administration has been shooting them down.

These objects, portrayed as threats to the national security of the United States, are being used to weaponize mass hysteria with a view to push a sporadic anti-China agenda, as the Biden administration strives to push US defence spending up to unprecedented levels, and rope in allies to militarily and strategically contain Beijing.

Recognizing how the US weaponizes fear, mass hysteria and paranoia in pursuit of its goals is key to understanding US politics as a whole. While in theory, the US is a decentralized federal democracy with many layers of government, the historical trajectory of the last half of the 20th century has conditioned a dramatic centralization of power in lieu of the challenges the country faced while emerging as a hegemonic state, including the Cold War, the countercultural revolution of the 1960s, the "global war on terror", and now the struggle against China.

Simply put, in order to strengthen unity and build a consensus on the US' international goals in a deeply divided country, American statecraft has veered toward weaponizing fear and mass hysteria to sustain its agenda and power amid the rise of mass media. The US, after all, is a populous and diverse country which, throughout its history, has sought to hold together the entire population under one ideology despite the vast socioeconomic and ethnic fractures that were once enough to trigger a full-blown civil war.

These factors have created a structural arrangement through which the US leadership strives to centralize power in a decentralized country, and likewise must secure democratic consent for policies which, by and large, are hegemonic including those promoting endless wars and encouraging political interferences in other countries' internal affairs.

And to do so, US politicians have learned to cultivate paranoia, drama and mass hysteria as a means to drive the political agenda and consensuses in their direction, by creating constant fear of a given "other" which in each scenario, threatens the "exceptional" ideology and values of the US.

In doing so, the US constantly exaggerates and amplifies the perceived threat to its national security, interference in its internal affairs by, or the ill intentions of, its designated opponents in a bid to mandate public consent for its aggressive foreign policies. This includes highly dubious allegations of spying, espionage and subversion.

The US portrays its enemies as all-powerful, all-threatening and omniscient actors far beyond their real capabilities, which it uses to spread panic among Americans, prompting them to believe they "must act now" against it. Such portrayals include manufactured news such as Saddam Hussein possessing "weapons of mass destruction", the Democratic People's Republic of Korea planning to "launch a nuclear strike against the US", "Russia interfering in US elections" and "China purportedly spying on the US" in a whole range of areas.

The spy-balloon and UFO drama is being used by the administration and the Pentagon to manufacture support for increased defence spending and mass militarization. Last year, the Biden administration weaponized the events in Ukraine to reorient its foreign policy to much more aggressively contain China militarily.

The Biden administration places greater emphasis on the encirclement of China by deepening its alliances with other countries, which is more belligerent and provocative than the policy of the Donald Trump administration, which despite its "America First" policy was not so militaristic. This helps the administration to seek domestic support for even higher military spending, and spread the same paranoia and fear into other countries to lock them into the strategic agenda it is setting.

The US has found in the balloon controversy the perfect pitch for such a narrative, reminding us once again that the calibration of orchestrated drama and fear is a critical aspect of the US' hegemonic foreign policy. Using this fear, the US strives to raise the stakes of ideological confrontation and pretend every foreign policy issue is a "do or die" moment for the country.

This has transformed US politics into a hotbed of paranoia, irrationality and instability which poses risks to the security and stability of the world at large.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said the BRS is bound to score a hat trick on its own in Assembly polls this year and retain power for a third term. (File Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of the BRS having any alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Speaking to media at the BRS office here, Srinivas Yadav stated that the BRS has the capacity to win elections and form the government on its own.

"There is no need for the BRS to have an alliance with any party. The BRS is very strong in Telangana. Its leadership and cadre base is unmatched. No party in Telangana is anywhere near to the BRS. Where is the need for BRS to align with any party and why should we align with any party?" he said.

Srinvas Yadav said the BRS is bound to score a hat trick on its own in Assembly polls this year and retain power for a third term. "We already won two Assembly elections alone. We won with more number of seats for second term in 2018. We swept all the rural and urban local bodies elections in 2019. We also won municipal corporation elections in GHMC, Warangal, Khammam and all other corporations. We faced all these elections alone and registered resounding victories. The BRS is only getting stronger with every election," he said

Srinivas Yadavs statement contradicts MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha's recent statement with a news channel that the BRS was ready to work with all the parties which support partys agenda.

Meanwhile, Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy said that there was no possibility of a hung Assembly in Telangana and the BRS will get absolute majority for a third time in a row.

Speaking to the media in Nalgonda, Reddy expressed confidence that the BRS will retain power for third time with a comfortable majority.

However, he said, the party leadership may consider working with Left Parties for Assembly polls as was done during the recent Munugode Assembly bypoll in which the BRS defeated the BJP with a good majority.
An Australian solar power developer will list on the New York Stock Exchange under a deal to merge with an entity founded by the worlds largest onshore oil drilling contractor to drive its clean energy investments.

Sydney-based Vast Solar, a specialist in concentrated solar power  a technology using mirrors to capture and store the suns energy as heat in sodium  this week signed an agreement to combine its business with Nabors Energy Transition Corp in the United States and take their combined company public at a valuation of up to $US586 million ($845 million).

Vast Solars Port Augusta plant will be a scaled-up version of its pilot project at Jemalong, NSW.

Speaking from Houston, Texas, Vast Solar chief executive Craig Wood said striking the deal with the special-purpose acquisition company backed by drilling giant Nabors Industries would provide a boost to its plans to roll out concentrated solar projects across Australia.

We needed to raise capital to go and execute our projects, Wood said on Wednesday. Ive been on the road, the whole team has, for some time ... and weve determined that this is the best way to do that.
The boss of Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates will travel to China next month to reconnect with customers, local staff and business partners, as the $10 billion winemaker forges ahead with its strategy of deepening its presence in the US and other Asian markets.

Speaking to this masthead after announcing double-digit profit growth, Tim Ford said even if Beijing lifted its punitive trade sanctions on Australian exports today, it would still take the business several years to fully rebuild the volume of wine  600,000 cases  it was once selling into the previously lucrative Chinese market.

Treasury Wine Estates CEO Tim Ford. says it would take several years to rebuild sales in China. Credit: Eamon Gallagher

For our higher end luxury wines, it would take three years because we have to go and source more grapes, Ford said.

So if you make it this year, you dont sell it for another three years. It would certainly take us time to increase the makes of those wines ... because weve done such a good job of reallocating what was going to China a couple of years ago.
Nolly 

In the era of The Crown vs Checkers of Facts, Russell T. Davies television history drama Nolly strikes a sensible note from its first frame. Based on a true story it promises, with one caveat: Some characters and scenes have been invented. Well, it would hardly be a chapter of TV history without a few porky pies told.

Nolly is Noele Gordon, an actress and institution in British 20th-century culture. For almost two decades she played Meg Mortimer, the owner of the Crossroads Motel in the iconic soap opera Crossroads. Shes the equivalent of Americas Erica Kane in All My Children, or Australias Sally Fletcher from Home and Away.

Helena Bonham Carter is riveting as Nolly (Noele Gordon), an actress and institution in 20th-century British culture.

Meg was a long-suffering soap heroine whose every emotion, gasp, and ounce of anguish was wrung out nightly on the small screen, like an old but familiar silk hanky. Noele Gordon was doubtless infinitely more elegant than Meg but, as is often the case with soap operas and institutionalised actors, the boundaries between the two could be strangely blurred.
The Australian Catholic University will cut more than 110 full-time jobs because of plunging enrolments and a forecast $30 million deficit, with staff at its Melbourne campus expected to take the biggest hit.

The university told staff on Wednesday morning it had been forced to take urgent action to identify savings and balance the budget.

The ACUs North Sydney campus will shed almost 30 full-time jobs as part of a broader redundancy round. Credit: Daniel Munoz

The cuts have been announced as construction on the institutions 12-storey campus in Fitzroy nears completion. The $250 million Saint Teresa of Kolkata building is being built to accommodate student and staff growth over the next 10 years.

The redundancies will target professional services staff, who have grown in number while the academic staff headcount has remained relatively static.
Australian motorists may have little choice but to buy an electric vehicle within 12 years, experts say, after Europe effectively banned the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035.

The European Union has formally approved plans to cut car emissions by 100 per cent by 2035, following similar restrictions in countries including China, Japan, Canada and Hong Kong.

An electric car body is assembled at a Volkswagen plant in Zwickau, Germany. Credit: AP Photo/Jens Meyer

Under the move, passed late on Tuesday, petrol and diesel cars will attract significant financial penalties in 27 European countries, effectively ending the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles.

Motoring industry experts said the restriction would ultimately impact cars sold in Australia, and that the country urgently needed new policies to ensure it was not forced to accept vehicles that no other developed country would allow.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has cast doubt over the state governments promise to raise the Warragamba Dam wall after saying the controversial project was not included in the states four-year building plan.

Just hours later, Premier Dominic Perrottet appeared to contradict Kean when he said construction on the multibillion-dollar project would begin in the next term of government.

As Ive said very clearly, we have a strong infrastructure pipeline, weve committed to raising the Warragamba Dam wall, he said.

Different messaging: Premier Dominic Perrottet and Treasurer Matt Kean this week. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

I expect construction of [the] Warragamba Dam raising to commence in the next term of government.
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 . Jess Scully is used to people saying no. As a City of Sydney councillor, she fields complaints about development proposals all the time  whether theyre apartment blocks, bike lanes, trading hours or something else. These are the people often disparaged as NIMBYs, the people who say: not in my backyard. But what about citizens who support change and development? Scully decided they need a voice, too. So she created a mailing list called YIMBY Squad designed to reach this silent majority. A YIMBY is someone who says, Yes, in my backyard. Its someone who welcomes positive change in their community, and isnt afraid to do something about it, the site says. We want to hear from Sydneysiders who make up the majority of our community, but often dont make their voices heard. This includes people who rent, those born overseas, people under the age of 60 and students. But a year or so later, Scullys mailing list only has about 150 to 200 subscribers. A kind soul would describe the group as fledgling. A more cynical person might call it a flop. Scully admits YIMBY Squad hasnt been her top priority. But it is part of a nascent scene in Sydney and elsewhere, trying to reorient the conversation about housing and development, and elevate the views of people who dont rock up to council meetings or join residents activist groups. The movement is most active in the United States, particularly California and parts of the north-east plagued by housing affordability problems similar to Sydney. In the YIMBY (and NIMBY) epicentre of the San Francisco Bay Area, it was famously turbocharged by a zucchini. In 2017, Berkeley resident Scout Sheys attended a council meeting brandishing a zucchini grown in her vegetable garden. She was there to complain about overshadowing from a proposal to demolish a neighbouring house and replace it with two two-storey homes.

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I brought a zucchini because I love to garden, and in order to garden you need sunlight, Sheys explained. This zucchini exists because I dont have a big two-storey house next door to me. The story became a lightning rod because, as Molly Kraus wrote in the Berkeley Political Review: In the great zucchini versus housing debate of 2017, City Council sided with the zucchini. Scout Sheys appearance with a zucchini at a 2017 local government meeting was a lightning rod for the YIMBY movement in California. Credit:YouTube These days there are plenty of videos online of local government meetings in the US where YIMBY and NIMBY activists do battle, often quite aggressively, over individual developments or broader planning rules. In the words of blogger Noah Smith, the YIMBY phenomenon grew from a handful of transplants living in San Francisco who wished the city were more like New York to a nationwide movement for housing abundance. In Sydney, a handful of activists use Twitter to draw attention to examples of what they see as unreasonable opposition to developments. One of them, Kitty Farrell, rents in the inner west with her husband and two children. The 43-year-old says she started involving herself in development disputes about 10 years ago after noticing people on online forums disparaging the apartment block she was living in as an eyesore.

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It just seemed to be explicitly anti-development and not progressive, which you would expect the inner west to be, she says. It made me feel like I should be ashamed that my family and I were living in one of those apartments. The politics of YIMBYism are mixed. Kosmos Samaras, a veteran Labor strategist and pollster, has identified a voter group he calls the light greens  progressive millennials who care about social policy, want to buy a home in an area they like and arent attached to the Greens or Labor. Inner west resident and self-proclaimed YIMBY Kitty Farrell. Broadly speaking, YIMBYism has a millennial bent, as a generation of potential homeowners find themselves locked out of the market by skyrocketing prices and blaming  at least in part  supply constraints worsened by planning rules and NIMBY objections. Loading Max Holleran, a social policy researcher at the University of Melbourne who literally wrote the book on YIMBYism, Yes to the City, says the phenomenon is different from traditional forms of housing activism in that it is unabashedly middle class, arguing that young professionals are also at risk of housing insecurity because prices have spiralled so far out of control. YIMBYs can and do advocate for more state-managed affordable and public housing, but they also trust in the laws of supply and demand, and often argue boosting supply to the general market will ease prices for all (a question this series will examine later).

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Critics accuse YIMBYs of being cheerleaders for unlimited development and in cahoots with developers  and clearly, their interests often align. As Scully concedes, in some places, the YIMBY concept has been co-opted by developers who see it as a way of exerting pressure on governments. Farrell, who calls herself a lefty, is familiar with this criticism. She says the YIMBY community is a motley crew. Loading Youve got lefties who just want to have affordable and sustainable housing. Youve got libertarians who dont like regulations and dont want to see progress stopped. And youve got right-wing people who I dont quite understand. Maybe theyre the developers, I dont know. Ive been accused many a time on Facebook of being a developer. Im a mum of two who used to work a desk job at a hospital. Holleran says YIMBYs want to make the fight personal, showing up to previously staid zoning meetings to chastise those who block construction. Meanwhile, their rancorous presence online and off can feel like a family feud, he writes. Thats certainly true in California, but here, the movement lacks coordination. Farrell watches live streams of council meetings and tweets about them because Im a very strange person. But she doesnt attend those meetings or participate in the formal planning process. And while she talks to other YIMBY types online, they dont meet up to strategise.

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In that sense, Farrell exemplifies the limitations of the YIMBY movement  its a loose collection of keyboard warriors who havent graduated to proper campaigning. I just shitpost for fun. But it has gotten a lot of traction, she says. Unlike in California, Im not sure if there is that passionate movement against NIMBYism. Were just a loosely collected group of people online who are like this is ridiculous. Farrell says its possible the YIMBY movement will sharpen up, and suggests it could work closer with existing groups and local politicians who support sustainable housing  such as Jess Scully. Scully was elected to City of Sydney council in 2016 as a member of the Clover Moore Independent Team, which is sometimes viewed as a NIMBY force. Scully disagrees, saying Moore has facilitated $25 billion of development in the city over the past 18 years, while insisting developers do better to build homes and communities that work for people. In her time, Scully has sat through countless council and committee meetings, usually held in the evenings after work. She understands why so many people are disenfranchised from the process. A lot of community consultation takes place at kids bedtime and dinner time, when people with families dont really have the capacity to attend, Scully says. You have to have a certain level of literacy about how council works, how to give feedback and how to have your voice heard. The YIMBY movement, Scully says, is partly about holding people to account for what they say at these meetings. Often, theres a disconnect between what people claim to want and how they act.

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Two people are missing after an incident at a north-west Queensland mine, with reports that a drill rig has fallen down a hole at the site.

Emergency services were responding to the incident at the Dugald River mine, about 70 kilometres north of Cloncurry, on Wednesday.

Earlier, a Queensland ambulance spokesman said they believed there had been a collapse at the site but were yet to determine if there were patients.

The mine has about 500 employees and contractors.
Monash University gambling policy expert Professor Charles Livingstone said if the state government wanted to, it could transform YourPlay into a mandatory pre-commitment system very easily. Loading But he said the government was too concerned about the revenue expectations of Victorias gaming operators. The real issue was that government is not yet prepared to take the inevitable step of making YourPlay a universal system, requiring all users to register and set limits before they start using pokies across the state, Livingstone said. The only reason this isnt being done is, in my opinion, that the government is much too concerned about the revenue expectations of pokie operators, and too little concerned about the health and wellbeing of the many, often very disadvantaged families who suffer unnecessarily from pokie addiction.

A spokeswoman for Gaming Minister Melissa Horne said YourPlay continues to help people make informed choices about how much time and money they are spending on gaming machines. She said the government had accepted all recommendations of the evaluation report to strengthen the system, including better online training to encourage gaming venue staff to sign up more people. Gaming Minister Melissa Horne. Credit: Joe Armao The government insisted it had introduced measures to better educate venue staff on encouraging problem gamblers to use the cards. It said 2678 staff from 289 venues had participated in a new online training program since last year, in addition to 500 staff trained in person in pubs and clubs. It also pointed to a 148 per cent increase in YourPlay registrations since early 2021. Government figures show there were 3180 registrations in April 2021 and 7871 in January 2023, suggesting the system is being used by a tiny proportion of gamblers.

Since the introduction of YourPlay in 2015, poker machine losses in Victoria have soared. Figures from the states Gambling and Casino Control Commission show spending has bounced back from a pandemic-induced slump to record levels, with $1.58 billion lost in pubs and clubs in the first six months of this financial year. That was up almost 13 per cent on the same six-month period in 2018-19, before the pandemic. If the trend continues, Victoria is on course to record annual pokie losses of more than $3 billion for the first time. The largest spending was in Melbournes west. Analysis by The Age shows pokie players lost $90.1 million on Brimbanks machines in the first half of the financial year. That was followed by $83.2 million lost in Casey, in the south-east, and $77.2 million in Whittlesea, in the north-east.

The Andrews government last year introduced laws targeting Crowns 2628 poker machines, including mandatory pre-commitment swipe cards that will by the end of this year force gamblers at the casino to specify maximum losses before they play, following recommendations of the Finkelstein royal commission on the casino. Loading But the government has been silent on whether it will apply the same rules to Victorias 26,380 poker machines dependent on YourPlay in pubs, clubs and RSL venues. Premier Daniel Andrews has so far been cautious about the idea of adopting the NSW governments landmark poker machine reforms, despite that states Premier Dominic Perrottet publicly asking Victoria to join forces. Questioned on Tuesday as he toured a hospital in Melbournes west, Andrews said: Im not here today to make any announcements about gaming.

In November, The Age revealed Horne and the oppositions gaming spokesman, Danny OBrien, had both assured the powerful Community Clubs Victoria  which represents pubs, clubs and RSL venues but excludes Crown casino  there would be no upcoming policy changes that eat into gaming machine revenue. Tim Costello, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said changes had become a major political issue in NSW after the states Crime Commission warned in a report that billions of dollars of dirty money was being gambled in NSW pubs and clubs each year. Premier Daniel Andrews, during a hospital visit on Tuesday, declined to make any announcements about gaming. Credit: AAP, James Ross He said it raised questions about why the Andrews government had not commissioned a similar study examining money laundering in suburban pubs and clubs. He also pointed out that Victorias poker machines could be tweaked relatively easily to make them cashless with mandatory pre-commitment. Livingston said there were at least 36,000 Victorians at any one time with serious gambling problems, in addition to about 215,000 children, dependants, partners and others being adversely affected.
Victorians are being told to prepare for a three-day heatwave as authorities warn of increased fire danger and Mildura is forecast to reach 42 degrees.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe heatwave warning in East Gippsland on Tuesday, with forecaster Christie Johnson saying towns in the states north-west would also face sweltering temperatures.

Credit: Glenn Campbell

Overnight minimum temperatures will sit between the high teens and low 20s during the heatwave, which will last from Wednesday to Friday.

Mildura is expected to endure a scorcher, reaching a maximum on Friday of 42 degrees, the hottest forecast temperature in the state. Maximums of more than 40 degrees are also forecast for Ouyen, Swan Hill and Echuca.
Police have arrested a man wanted in connection with a massive seizure of cocaine allegedly stashed in an abandoned fishing boat and found washed ashore near Albany.

In putting a call-out for the publics help to track down three men over the find, who earlier this month had been rescued from the water after the boat began to take on water, police on Tuesday said Aristides Avlonitis, 36, had travelled back to the Northern Territory.

However, on Wednesday the Australian Federal Police revealed Avlonitis had been taken into custody after being found at a home in a remote part of Darwin.

He will now be extradited to WA to face a charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
The federal government will develop new laws to ensure it is illegal for current and former Australian Defence Force personnel to provide military secrets to foreign powers such as China.

Defence Minister Richard Marles commissioned a review last year from the Australian Federal Police and ASIO after reports emerged that China had approached former Australian and British fighter pilots to provide training to Chinese personnel.

It matters that Australias secrets are maintained: Defence Minister Richard Marles. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Marles said on Wednesday he had received the classified ASIO-AFP report and would soon introduce legislation to ensure foreign governments could not access Australias military secrets.

This is obviously a concerning set of circumstances, and we need to make sure we have the most robust policies in place, Marles told 2GB radio on Wednesday morning.
The Aston byelection will be the first test of the Liberal Partys plan to win back Chinese voters, as former treasurer Josh Frydenberg backs barrister and columnist Roshena Campbell to replace Alan Tudge in the increasingly diverse middle-class Melbourne electorate.

A group of senior Liberal MPs has been assigned with repairing the partys relationship with Chinese Australians. In recent months, former foreign minister Marise Payne, shadow ministers Dan Tehan, Andrew Hastie and Julian Leeser, and backbenchers Keith Wolahan and Andrew Bragg have hosted private forums with Chinese community leaders in Sydney and Melbourne.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg will provide a character reference for Roshena Campbell (inset). Credit: Wayne Taylor

Liberal MPs and strategists say the Morrison governments muscular rhetoric on the prospect of war with China  led by then-defence minister Peter Dutton  caused a large proportion of Chinese Australians to shift away from the Coalition at the last election, propelling Labor to victory in key seats and leading to big swings in seats like Aston, Tudges electorate in which nearly 15 per cent of voters has Chinese ancestry.

Tehan, who is Victorias most senior federal Liberal, told this masthead Chinese business and cultural leaders made it clear the Coalitions language about the threat posed by China made them feel socially isolated.
American B-52 bombers armed with nuclear warheads could rotate through Australia without breaching treaty obligations, the nations most senior defence public servant has indicated.

The Australian public would never be informed whether such aircraft are carrying nuclear weapons under the so-called US policy of warhead ambiguity in which it neither confirms nor denies if particular forms of military equipment are nuclear-armed.

The US is planning to build dedicated facilities for up to six B-52 bombers, pictured, at the Tindal air base, south of Darwin. Credit: AP

While adamantly refusing to address hypothetical scenarios, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: The responsible way of handling this is to recognise that the US has a neither confirm nor deny position which we understand and respect.

It was revealed last year that the United States is preparing to build dedicated facilities for up to six B-52 bombers at Tindal air base, south of Darwin, for use in the Northern Territory dry season.
The calls are scheduled for Feb. 16 and Feb. 21, according to a person familiar with the matter. Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, DBS Bank Ltd, Deutsche Bank AG, Emirates NBD Capital, ING Groep N.V., MUFG, Mizuho, SMBC Nikko and Standard Chartered Bank are organizing the calls. Its unclear what will be discussed during the meetings.

Banks are setting up meetings with fixed-income investors over the next week on behalf of Adani Group, Adani Green Energy Ltd and Adani Transmission.
Electric vehicle (EV) and technology company EKA Mobility on Wednesday said it has received a letter of allotment (LoA) for the procurement, operation, and maintenance of 310 electric buses on gross cost contracting, from Convergence Energy Services Ltd's recently-concluded tender for 6,465 electric buses.

The tender was rolled out by state-owned Convergence Energy Services Ltd, a wholly-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) subsidiary under the National e-Bus program Phase 1.

According to EKA, the e-buses will be deployed in the Transport Department Haryana, Department of Transport, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation for intra-city operations as part of the government's efforts to provide clean, sustainable, and efficient transportation options.

With this order, EKA Mobility's order book has grown significantly, with more than 500 electric buses and over 5,000 electric light commercial vehicle orders in the pipeline.

Speaking on the occasion, Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman of EKA, said: "We are thrilled to have been selected by multiple state transport authorities to operate electric buses as part of the National e-Bus program Phase 1. This order is a testament to the fact that design and making in India is now a reality and is a viable alternative that can replace the Chinese products that are coming into the market. With EKA, we are confident to build an ecosystem for sustainable transportation, that is efficient, reliable, and profitable."

EKA Mobility has also developed a nine-metre city bus on a hydrogen fuel cell platform. Going forward, the company plans to introduce multiple variants of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell buses, along with an e-light commercial vehile range.

Also Read CCTV cams, panic buttons: Features of newly inducted cluster buses in Delhi How is Switch powering up green mobility in India? Ashok Leyland bags order for supplying 1,400 school buses in UAE GreenCell Mobility bags order for 570 electric buses from Delhi government CESL floats tender for 5,690 electric buses as first tranche of NEBP Venture debt unperturbed by GoMechanic issues; 2023 a vital growth year Swiggy Instamart scales up tech to deliver 1 mn roses in Valentine's week India added 1,300 active tech start-ups in CY2022, taking tally to 27,000 Over 25% of unicorns in India have been set up by repeat founders: Report Drone start-up Garuda raises $22 mn in series A funding from SphitiCap

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Such obstacles may be hills, towers, power lines, aerial cableways or pylons. The probability of such threats increases during bad weather and low-level flight manoeuvres. Sporadic crashes, such as the one in December 2021 that caused the deaths of 13 people including the serving Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, are tragic reminders of the threat that obstacles in their flight path pose to helicopters.



The agreement, announced at the Aero India 2023, includes transfer of intellectual property (IP) for the design and manufacture of the OAS for Indian helicopters and potential future exports. To safeguard its helicopters against such accidents, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Tuesday announced a collaboration agreement with German company Hensoldt for equipping HAL choppers with an Obstacle Avoidance System (OAS) that would warn pilots of any obstacles in their predicted flight path.



Where human eyesight alone is not enough, powerful software processes and combines information from sensors and databases and presents it in visual format, stated a Hensoldt media release. The OAS provides smart visual cues to pilots to reduce their workload and increase flight safety. It also increases the probability of mission effectiveness, particularly under adverse visual conditions.

Also Read Aero India Show: Defence stocks a good long-term bet, say analysts How unregulated is the helicopter tourism industry? HAL gets LoI for 9 helicopters from Indian Coast Guard; stock rallies 7% TMS Ep285: Helicopter tourism, poverty, markets, Digital Banking Units Hindustan Aeronautics told to conduct Aero India 2023 in February Sebi introduces issue summary document for filing IPO papers in XBRL format Most of Adani group firms close higher; Adani Enterprises rises 1% Psychological safety key performance indicator, crucial for India Inc Mufin raises $7 million in green bond from Symbiotics Investments NTPC plans to raise up to $750 million term loan in JPY denomination



Transfer of technology, including IP for the equipment, is primarily proposed for the Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) and is expected to be a major fit in all future upgrades/new helicopter programmes with improvement and customisation by HAL Korwa, he said. This collaboration between HAL Korwa and Hensoldt is the first-of-its-kind in Indian defence industry, with the intention of transferring critical key technology from Germany to India (and) giving a boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), said Apurba Roy, who heads HALs Korwa unit, where the OAS will be built.



For reliable protection against flying into obstacles  the technical term is controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)  it is essential to detect any obstacle at any location within the flight path of the helicopter. Taking into account the helicopters flight speed, timely detection can only be done by an on-board, real-time sensor. HAL is designing and building a range of helicopters for the Indian military and potentially for the civilian and export market. Besides the Dhruv ALH, these include the Rudra weaponised helicopter, the Prachanda light combat helicopter, the light utility helicopter, the Indian multi-role helicopter (IMRH) and the Kamov 226T light helicopter. Estimates range from 1,000 to 2,000 helicopters.

The Hensoldt OAS equipment achieves a detection probability of  99.5 % within the 1st second and a detection range of more than 1,000 metres, stated Hensoldt.


"We are in early stages of 5G deployment. 5G is an important development and we are keeping our eyes on it," Moondra said on Wednesday in a post-result analyst call. Vodafone Idea (Vi) is in continuous talks with network vendors to finalise its 5G rollout plans, Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra said.



This will be done as soon as funding is secured, Moondra said. The company is also set to comply with the government's 5G minimum rollout obligations. Already five months behind rivals Jio and Airtel in the 5G race, Vi's efforts will be on the deployment of 5G in target geographies.



Vi is now focussed on investments across business segments, plans for which had been stalled by a lack of liquidity earlier. However, the CEO said while 5G offers much better speed, the speed differential is not a huge factor from a consumer perspective.

Also Read Taxes absorb 58% telco revenues in nation with lowest tariff: Voda-Idea CEO No word from DoT on dues' conversion since April: Vodafone Idea CEO Vodafone may have to raise tariffs to meet a Rs 6,400 cr shortfall by Sept Banks unwilling to extend new credit to Voda Idea without promoter funding Vodafone Idea's fundraising put on hold as govt delays equity call Ola Electric to have 500 experience centres for customers by March RE firm SWREL seeks India expansion by working with large corporates Why ABB's good fourth quarter numbers may not boost its share price Shell, Microsoft join hands to provide digital skills to non-IT students India now has nearly 27K active tech startups, added 1,300 last year



On the firm's fundraising exercise, he said Vi is in talks with banks, but did not give details. As a result, any new debt undertaken by the company through loans from banks will be focussed on investments, Moondra said. He stressed any existing debt will not be deferred and will be paid until maturity.



Vi's net loss widened by 10.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY), to Rs 7,990 crore in Q3FY23 due to increase in operating expenses and finance costs. "The requirement of the banks was the government conversion. We have had significant discussions with our consortium of bankers over the past few months. With the government conversion now having happened, those discussions can progress further, as we speak," Moondra said.

Dues and tariffs

The firm currently owes the government Rs 41,300 crore in regular license fees and spectrum charges. These include regular instalments, and those arising from the deferment mooted by the government's reform package.



On spectrum charges, the company currently owes Rs 14,000 crore of original instalment dues and Rs 10,000 crore arising due to the deferment, he said. "Generally on the AGR front, the final figures are to us communicated by DoT. But according to our calculations, there is Rs 9,100 crore of original installment, and Rs 7,400 crore in dues rising due to deferment," Moondra said.



He reiterated his calls for a tariff hike. "My personal belief is that the current structure of pricing should evolve to make people at the higher end, those who are using more (data or call), pay more. That is a direction towards which we want to move quickly," he said. Moondra also hinted at further tariff hikes. In the first round of hikes in two circles - Odisha and Haryana - Moondra said the company has seen a positive trend of subscriber growth.



Eyes on 4G & ARPU



Moondra said the focus remains on converting existing 3G sites to 4G. Vi has closed three thousand 3G sites and opened two thousand 4G sites during the latest quarter, he added. While the overall number of subscribers has continued to reduce, the company has seen the number of 4G subscribers increase for the past six consecutive quarters. It stood at 121.6 million at the end of Q4.



Moondra said the connectivity provided by the company remains the best in India, according to third party assessments. He also stressed on the company's Average Revenue Per User growth for six consecutive quarters. Vi's ARPU has risen to Rs 135 in Q3.



On February 7, Vi issued 16,130 million equity shares to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) under the Finance Ministry, giving it a 33.4 per cent stake in the company. After a long wait, the financially streched telecom service provider managed to secure a lifeline on February 3, when the Centre finally approved the conversion of the telcos dues linked to interest on spectrum and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) worth Rs 16,133 crore into equity.


It elevated Karthikeyan Srinivasan, the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) at Indostar, as CEO to succeed Jaggi. Srinivasan joined as CRO in May 2022 and has been responsible for reviewing policies, assessing the impairment of assets and changes to processes to reduce risks to assets. It also appointed new chief financial Officer Vinod Panikar in December 2022. Deep Juggi, chief executive officer, at a Brookfield Private Equity backed IndoStar Capital Ltd, has resigned after a short stint lasting just over a year, citing personal reasons.



Jaggi was made chief executive in January 2022 after R Sridhar, then its executive vice chairman, decided to step down on completing a five-year term in April 2022. Prior to his elevation, Jaggi was chief business officer with IndoStar. Its stock closed 1.8 per cent lower at Rs 147.65 per share on BSE.



In May 2022, the company had detected lapses like a deviation from policies for sanctioning loans and control deficiencies in the commercial vehicle loan (CV) portfolio. It began review of CV and SME loan portfolio and has made provisions. IndoStar in response to queries from Business Standard said Jaggis resignation, which was for personal reasons, was duly deliberated and considered by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Board. He has agreed to assist the Company for the next three months to ensure smooth transition.

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On Query about any RBIs regulatory action, IndoStar said like any other regulated entity, the Company engages with the Reserve Bank of India periodically including providing them updates on various matters concerning the Company. It, however, did not elaborate on directions from the regulator. The company had taken appropriate provisions in the business for the concerned portfolio in Q4 FY22 post which no further provisions are seen to be required. We have seen reversals of these provisions in the last three quarters, indicating that the provisions made were conservative, IndoStar said in response.
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By Nidhi Verma and Mohi Narayan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -More Indian firms are attracted to buying Russian naphtha as low-cost feedstock for their refineries and petrochemical plants after price caps imposed by Western nations, six refining sources said.

Prices for refined products such as naphtha and fuel oil are capped at $45 a barrel by the Group of Seven nations, the European Union, and Australia in a scheme aimed at curbing Moscow funding its war against Ukraine.

By comparison, Singapore naphtha traded at $80.03 a barrel on Tuesday on a free on board basis.

The price cap was implemented along with an EU ban on Russian oil products imports on Feb. 5.

India's interest in ramping up Russian oil products imports comes after the world's third largest crude importer became Moscow's top oil client after China as the West shunned supplies from Moscow. Cheap Russian crude has shaved costs at Indian refiners and boosted margins.

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Reliance Industries Ltd., the owner of the largest refining complex in the world, boosted its imports of Russian naphtha imports in February to about 222,000 tonnes, ship tracking data from Refinitiv showed.

Reliance began importing Russian naphtha in September and by the end of January had shipped in about 217,000 tonnes, the data showed.

Reliance, already India's largest buyer of Russian naphtha and fuel oil, would consider increasing imports further, one of the sources said.

Its Russian fuel oil imports are set to triple a record of around 4.8 million tonnes between April 2022 and Feb. 2023, the first 11 months of this financial year, from about 1.6 million tonnes in 2021/22, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

State-owned refiners Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Indian Oil Corp., which have petrochemical facilities, are also looking for opportunities to buy Russian naphtha, sources said.

"So far there is no offer made to us for Russian oil. It is early days..we will definitely buy Russian naphtha if we get it at cheaper rate," said an official at one of the state refiners.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd would also consider buying Russian naphtha if the quality and cost are suitable for its plants, two sources at the company said.

Reliance, IOC, BPCL and Haldia Petrochemicals did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comment.

The G7 price caps prohibit Western insurance, shipping and other companies from financing, insuring, trading, brokering or carrying cargoes of Russian crude and oil products unless they were bought at or below the set price caps.

NOT DIESEL

However, Indian refiners are unlikely to purchase Russian diesel as import costs are high after adding $10-$15 per barrel in freight and insurance costs to the $100 price cap for the fuel.

Asia's benchmark 10-ppm sulphur gasoil prices were at $110.57 a barrel on Tuesday.

There is also a windfall tax on diesel exports which makes re-exports uneconomical.

"As there is no shortage of diesel in India, any diesel imports from Russia will boost India's exports, and exports will be charged with the windfall tax," one refinery executive said.

Unlike naphtha that is imported by some refiners and petrochemical makers, India is self-sufficient in diesel production as most refiners are traditionally geared to maximise gasoil output.

"Due to its proximity to both Russia and Europe, we believe the Middle East is the best region for Russian diesel imports," the refinery executive said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Mohi Narayan; editing by Florence Tan and Jason Neely)
Vedanta Resources Ltd. has achieved half of its three-year planned reduction commitment of $4 billion in the first year, the London-based company said in an exchange filing. It will continue to deleverage from net debt of $7.7 billion in the next two financial years, it said.

Billionaire Anil Agarwals commodities giant has slashed net debt by $2 billion in the current financial year as it seeks to soothe investor concern over its liquidity and ability to repay upcoming obligations.
Indore may have earned the prestigious tag of being the cleanest city India, but its air quality is worsening due to rapid development in the transport, construction and industrial sectors, said experts on Wednesday stressing the need for intensifying efforts to control the situation.

As per the data shared by the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality of Indore on Wednesday was moderate, which can cause breathing discomfort to people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases.

Indore has been selected by Clean Air Catalyst, a global alliance working to improve air quality, apart from Jakarta (Indonesia) and Nairobi (Kenya) for one of its projects.

As part of the project, three air pollution monitoring stations have been set up in Indore to record data on pollutants like fine particulate matter or PM2.5, carbon monoxide and black carbon, an official of the Clean Air Catalyst said.

Indore is not among the most polluted cities in the world, but it is not even one of the cleanest cities in the world in terms of air quality, Hisham Mundol, chief advisor in India for the Environmental Defense Fund associated with the Clean Air Catalyst, told PTI.

He said that the air quality in Indore is being affected due to the rapid activities taking place in the transport, construction and industrial sectors.

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Mundol said that under the 'Clean Air Catalyst' project, the data on air pollution in the city will be studied for the next two years and after that appropriate solutions will be provided to the local administration.

According to Dr Dilip Vaghela, an environmental expert associated with the Clean Air Catalyst and a former officer of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the challenges of air pollution in Indore are increasing continuously.

In Indore, the amount of pollutants like PM10 and PM 2.5 increases a lot, especially during the winter season and lack of wind, he said.

Vaghela said that most of the roads in densely populated Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, are not very wide, while the density of vehicles on them is very high.

The population of the city is between 38 to 40 lakh, while the number of vehicles is estimated to be between 18 to 20 lakh, which means, there is a vehicle for every two people in the city. This ratio is probably the highest in the whole country, he said.

Efforts need to be intensified to improve the air quality to prevent the situation in the city from deteriorating, he said.

Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said the traffic and air quality problems in the city were like a spot on the beautiful moon.

We have taken up the task of solving both these problems in a major way with the help of the Clean Air Catalyst, he added.
The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria quake on February 6 has topped 41,000, media reports said.

Over 41,000 people have lost their lives in the devastating quake, of which 1,414 deaths were reported by the Syrian government's Health Ministry, and 4,400 by the UN humanitarian agency in rebel-held northwestern Syria, The Washington Post reported.

"At least 35,418 people have been killed in the twin quakes and 13,208 injured are still receiving treatment in our hospitals," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Anadolu News Agency.

Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said 195,962 people have been evacuated.

Turkey's Forrign ministry said around 100 countries have offered assistance and a total of 9,046 foreign personnel are working in the disaster zone.

--IANS

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday launched the 'iDEX Investor Hub' (iIH), under which more than Rs 200 crores had already been pledged by leading Indian investors.

He also launched the ninth edition of 'Defence India Startup Challenges (DISC 9)' on "Cybersecurity" during the annual defence innovation event 'Manthan' as part of the Aero India 2023 here.

Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) is the flagship initiative of the Department of Defence Production to encourage start-ups and other such entities engaged in defence innovation.

The iDEX Investor Hub' aims to accelerate investment in the Defence sector and give investors a unified view of opportunities and innovations, officials said.

More than Rs 200 crore had already been pledged under iIH by leading Indian investors, an official statement said.

'DISC 9' launched on Wednesday is the first collaboration of iDEX with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (i4C) division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. These challenges have been curated from Services, DPSUs, and Ministry of Home Affairs, revealing the deep impact and interest iDEX has generated amongst the Defence industry.

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At 'Manthan', Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) also signed MoUs with leading investors.

DIO has also signed MoUs with ISRO, IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre), and ISpA (Indian Space Association) to further strengthen the Defence Space, the release said, adding that another MoU was signed with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to potentially launch start-up challenges in the future.

The fourth edition of Innovate4Defence internship (i4D) was also launched, inviting applications from students all over India, during the event.

Singh also released the Indian Army's compendium of '110 Problem Statements' for indigenous defence research, design, development and manufacturing ecosystem.

The 'Problem Statements' highlight Indian Army's technological challenges and requirements in various domains ranging from Armament, Surveillance & Fire Control Systems to niche domains such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Metaverse, Robotics, Quantum Technology, Cyber, and 'Smartisation' of Ammunition. Further, they also involve induction of new technologies, upgradation of existing systems & indigenisation of critical components.

This Compendium would enable focused efforts towards modernising the Indian Army with indigenous solutions, thereby building a stronger and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', the release said. Industry and Academia will be hand-held by the Indian Army through various research and development routes including iDEX, Technology Development Fund (TDF) and Army Technology Board (ATB), it was stated.
Electric two-wheeler manufacturing companies have denied allegations of any wrongdoing in claiming benefits of subsidies provided under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. Manufacturers clarified that all their compliance related certificates for fulfilling localisation requirements are in place and that they had received regular extensions from government testing agencies as reported in The Economic Times (ET).

Electric two-wheeler manufacturers availing subsidies under the FAME scheme were accused of non-compliance with regards to localisation requirements, said the report.

The government had been extending the validity period of the certificates from April 2020, citing Covid-related disruptions. The last extension was given for a year on April 12, 2021, said the report.

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Automotive Research Association of India and the International Centre for Automotive Technology are the agencies that issue the certifications for compliances related to localisation. Obtaining the certification is one of the prerequisites to avail the subsidy under the FAME scheme.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were paid incentives based on the same extension, Manu Sharma, a spokesperson for the Society of Manufacturers Of Electric Vehicles, told ET, said the report.

In addition to this, EV manufacturers have assured the government that the usage of locally sourced materials will increase with time, the report said.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi passed the "schedule of taxes" in the civic budget 2023-24 on Wednesday, a senior official said.

The unprecedented move comes as Delhi is still to get a mayor, despite three attempts to hold the mayoral election.

"The Corporation passed the schedule of taxes (in civic budget 2023-24) today," the official said.

It was passed by the special officer of the MCD.

The taxes, rates and cesses leviable in the year 2023-24 will remain the same that are prevalent as on today, the MCD said in a statement.

The municipal commissioner had presented the MCD budget in December which included the revised budget estimate for 2022-23 and budget estimate for 2023-24, an official source had said.

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"The Corporation will pass the schedule of taxes (in civic budget 2023-24) tomorrow (Wednesday). The remaining part of the budget exercise will be carried out before March 31," a senior official had told PTI on Tuesday.

"The MCD hopes that by that time the deliberative wing led by a mayor will be in place, which will pass the remaining part of the budget," he had said.

According to the statutory requirement, the schedule of taxes in a municipal budget has to be passed by February 15, he said.

On February 9, sources had said that the civic budget 2023-24 was likely to be passed by the special officer of the MCD as the mayoral election is still pending and less than a week was left to complete the budget exercise.

The municipal House in Delhi, on February 6, had failed to elect a mayor for the third time in a row in a month, following ruckus over the decision to allow aldermen to vote in the mayoral poll, even as the AAP alleged a planned conspiracy by the BJP to stall the process.

An agitated AAP, which is seeking a court-monitored election, had moved the Supreme Court on February 7 over the issue.

The Supreme Court on February 8 had sought responses of the office of the lieutenant governor, pro tem presiding officer of the MCD Satya Sharma, and others on a plea filed by AAP's mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi.

The office of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor on Monday told the Supreme Court that it would postpone the February 16 mayoral election to a date after February 17.
The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday directed the authorities in Rajasthan to address the grievance regarding the proposed three-day Sambhar festival adversely impacting migratory birds and their natural habitat.

The tribunal also directed the authorities, including the Rajasthan chief secretary, to shift the festival's location if such a detrimental effect is found.

The green panel was hearing a petition that alleged that the festival's activities, including kite flying, paragliding and motorcycle expedition, would "adversely affect migratory birds and natural habitat of the lake which is a Ramsar site, particularly on account of the use of loudspeakers".

The festival is scheduled to take place at Sambhar Lake near Jaipur from February 17 to 19.

"We find it necessary to direct the chief secretary, Rajasthan, to address the grievance in coordination with State Wetland Authority, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), district magistrate, Jaipur, and integrated regional office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change at Jaipur," a bench of Chairperson Justice AK Goel said.

The bench, also comprising Judicial Members Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Member Afroz Ahmad, said if it is found that the festival at the proposed location will adversely impact the birds or the lake's natural habitat, the festivities may be shifted to any other site.

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"Decision in the matter may be taken and placed on the website of the state by 5 pm on February 16...," the bench stated.

The green panel also directed for a copy of the order to be sent to the authorities concerned.
Protection and restitution of cultural heritage will be the theme for the first G20 culture track meet slated to be held from February 22-25 in Madhya Pradesh's Khajuraho, a top official said on Wednesday.

Union Culture Secretary Govind Mohan, during a media interaction here, also said that the second and third meetings under this track will be held at Bhubaneswar in Odisha and Hampi in Karnataka.

Khajuraho is home to exquisite temples which are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temples, renowned for their sculptures, are situated in the backward Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.

"The first meeting of the G20 Culture Working Group will be held in Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh followed by the second one in Bhubaneswar and the third one at Hampi. The location for the fourth meeting is yet to be decided," Mohan said.

Culture richness and diversity of India will be "prominently showcased" during the G2O meetings, he said.

The theme for the first meeting of the G20 Culture Working Group in Khajuraho will be protection and restitution of cultural properties, as in artefacts which have been repatriated to India over the years, the culture secretary said.

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Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will take part in the meeting, he said.

An exhibition on this theme will also be hosted in Khajuraho as part of the event, the official said.

"We are also working on setting up a G20 museum and trying to source at least one key artefact from member nations," he said.

The G20, or Group of 20, is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies.

G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).

India assumed the presidency of the G20 on December 1 last.

Over 200 meetings at 55 locations across the country will be held in this period, culminating with a summit in September this year in Delhi.
The Rajasthan Export Promotion Council (REPC) has signed MoUs with local and overseas industry chambers to promote the Rajasthan International Expo to be held in Jodhpur from March 20-22, an official said.

REPC Chairman Rajeev Arora in a statement said that the council is making every effort to ensure that the first edition of the international expo is successful.

Recently, REPC has signed several memoranda of understanding with chambers of commerce both domestically and abroad to promote the expo in a big way, Arora said.

REPC has signed MoUs with the National US India Chamber of Commerce, the Ural Chamber of Commerce, Russia, as well as the Global Business Federation Middle East, UAE, to promote the expo and ensure maximum participation and facilitate networking among institutions, businesses, and professionals.

The council has also entered into memoranda of understanding with prominent business organisations Aaroh (Amazon Web Services) and FORTI, he added.

In a statement, Arora said that for the upcoming expo at the Trade Facilitation Centre at Boronada, Jodhpur, invitations have been extended to thousands of buyers from 38 countries.

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The expo will feature five domes in an exhibition area of 20,000 square metres, with a total of 318 stalls. A wide range of products ranging from handicrafts and furniture to textiles and garments, agri-food, kitchenware and material ware, engineering goods, ceramics, and other products will be displayed at these stalls.
Telecom operators, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, on Wednesday made a strong pitch for regulation of communication OTT players at a meeting with TRAI chief, according to industry sources.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had scheduled a meeting with telecom operators and ISPs to chalk out the agenda for 2023 where players raised multiple issues. Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal, Vodafone Idea Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer P Balaji, and Reliance Jio board member Mahendra Nahata participated in the discussions on Wednesday.

The meeting was chaired by TRAI chief P D Vaghela.

Sources privy to the meeting told PTI said that telecom operators made a unanimous pitch for 'same service-same rules', arguing that OTT players which offer similar services as telcos do, should be regulated on similar lines.

The industry has long been demanding a level-playing-field with communications OTTs, emphasising that regulatory conditions and licence treatment must be made uniformly applicable for similarly placed players.

Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has also been emphasising the need to ensure a level-playing field among all technologies, that is Same Service Same Rules with respect to OTT Communication Services so that "fair and healthy" competition prevails in the industry.

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In fact, late last year the telecom operators' body had even batted for OTT (over-the-top) communication services to directly compensate telcos for data traffic they are driving onto the networks, as it advocated a licensing and light-touch regulation framework for such services.

Briefing reporters in November last year, COAI Director General SP Kochhar had said that the association, as part of the draft telecom bill, has given its suggestions on how OTT communication services should be defined to ensure there is no ambiguity.

OTT communication services include the likes of WhatsApp, Signal, Google Meet, Telegram and other similar apps.

Meanwhile, during the meeting with TRAI on Wednesday, telecom players also sought reduction of levies such as licence fee.

TRAI officials were not immediately available for comments.

During the meeting, a senior official of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) said that telecom companies should be incentivised to use indegenious equipment, sources added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly to discuss cooperation between their countries in security and defence sectors.

During the talks, Zelensky thanked Canada for its support and assistance to Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia, stressing the importance of the decision to provide Leopard battle tanks.

Zelensky also briefed Joly on the current priority needs of the Ukrainian military, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Your support for the Ukrainian army is invaluable in these turbulent times for us," Zelensky emphasised.

In the meeting, Zelensky and Joly exchanged their views on the Peace Formula on ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict and talked about Ukraine's post-conflict reconstruction.

The parties also discussed the prospects for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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--IANS

int/sha
About 178 kilometers of four-laning projects would be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 4,700 crores, said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday.

Reviewing various National Highways projects with the senior officials of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Public Works Department here, he stressed on the earlier disbursement of the land acquisition compensation cases and directed the concerned authorities for settlement of all the compensation cases at the earliest to avoid inconvenience to the people.

The widening of four lane from Nalagarh to Swarghat road with an outlay of Rs 600 crore, widening of four lane from Kala Amb-Paonta Sahib-Dehradun with an estimated cost of Rs 1200 crore, widening of four lane from Amb to Una and Punjab Border to Nadaun on NH-03 with an outlay of Rs 1500 crore and construction of Una bypass with an estimated outlay of Rs 500 crore have been approved, a statement said.

Sukhu said that with an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore, a missing link of the bridge from Birhu to Lathiani in Una district will be constructed on the backwaters of Govindsagar Lake and DPR for the same should be submitted by February 25, 2023.

The Chief Minister said that to ensure time bound sanctions in Forest Conservation Act (FCA) and Forests Rights Act( FRA) cases, the State Government has set up a committee under the Chairmanship of concerned Deputy Commissioner, with District Forest Officer (DFO) and user agency as members.

The construction work of four laning of Shimla-Matour, Kiratpur-Ner Chowk and Mandi-Pathankot National Highways should be accelerated so that people could take benefits from these projects in time, he said.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's merchandise trade deficit in January was $17.75 billion compared with $23.76 billion in the earlier month, according to a Reuters calculation based on export and import data released by the government on Wednesday.

January merchandise exports were $32.91 billion compared with $34.48 billion in December, while imports were at $50.66 billion against $58.24 billion in December, according to government data.

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh, writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Krishna N. Das)
By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Soymeal exports from India are increasing sharply as drought has hit output from top exporter Argentina, with 500,000 tonnes likely to be shipped from the South Asian country in February and March combined, three exporters said.

The drop in Argentina's output has driven up the South American producer's prices, making Indian soymeal more competitive.

India's exports in the first four months of the 2022/23 marketing year, which began on Oct. 1, surged 65% to 631,000 tonnes, nearly matching the 644,000 tonnes exported in the whole of the previous year, according to trade body the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA).

"Exports have gained momentum and would remain there until at least mid-April," Hemant Bansal, vice president, oilseed crushing and refining at Patanjali Foods Ltd, told Reuters.

The revival in exports of the animal feed has boosted soybean crushing in India and the availability of soyoil, which could reduce the need for imports of soyoil and palm oil by the world's biggest buyer in coming months, exporters said.

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Bangladesh, Vietnam and Nepal are buying Indian soymeal as it is cheaper than supplies from South America, and they are also saving on freight costs, Bansal said.

Indian soymeal is being offered for around $580 to $585 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for March shipments, compared to $598 offered by Argentina, exporters said.

"If global prices sustain at the current level, then India could easily export more than 2 million tonnes in 2022/23," said an exporter based at Indore in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

That would be more than triple the volume exported in the 2021/22 marketing year.

Soymeal prices have risen as Argentina's soybean production was forecast to fall to 38 million tonnes in 2022/23 due to drought, from 48 million tonnes initially estimated.

Its crop numbers are continuously being revised downward, supporting soymeal prices, said the Indore-based exporter, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak to media.

Oil mills have increased soybean crushing to fulfil meal export orders, which should reduce import needs in coming months, said a Mumbai-based exporter, who also declined to be named.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav)
According to the report, this is a study on the link between psychological safety and DI&B in Indian organisations and was carried out by Valuevox on behalf of Indeed across 15 sectors and 16 cities, and covering 1,200 employers and 1,500 employees of small, medium, and large businesses.

A recent report by job site Indeed on 'Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DI&B) at Indian Workplaces' said that psychological safety will be crucial for India Inc in 2023 and beyond, the Economic Times reported. 
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to impose National Security Act (NSA) against those involved in unfair practices in the upcoming UP Board 2023 exams for Class 10 and 12, beginning from February 16.

Moreover, FIRs will also be lodged against room invigilators and centre administrators found involved in the activities of cheating.

According to the government spokesman, the chief minister has ordered the officers that static and sector magistrates should be appointed at each examination centre by the district magistrates.

Last year, the board had suffered a major embarrassment after the English language question paper of Class 12 got leaked in 24 districts.

The spokesman said, "They will be required to report to the district inspector of schools along with the district magistrate after the examination is over so that daily activities can be monitored. On the other hand, for the first time, a separate room will be made apart from the principal's room for monitoring of the exam."

In addition, the copies will be kept in a double lock cupboard and a CCTV camera will be placed for its monitoring round the clock.

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After the appointment of room inspectors in all districts, they will be given strict training before the exam. The sector and static magistrates, centre administrators and external centre administrators will also be trained in the district.

Yogi Adityanath has directed that a separate strong room should be made for the safety of question papers having 24-hour deployment of two armed policemen with their CCTV monitoring.

He has also called for installing voice-equipped CCTV, digital voice recorders, router device and high-speed broadband connections at examination centres.

"Strict action should be taken against anyone who is absent during this period. In such a situation, the permission of the district magistrate or the additional district magistrate will be necessary while opening the question paper," the guidelines said.

This year, a total of 58,85,745 students, including 31,16,487 for Class 10 and 27,69,258 for Class 12, have registered for high school and intermediate examinations.

UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla said that of the total students, 32,46,780 are male and the number of female candidates is 26,38,965.

These candidates will take the exam at 8,753 exam centres, including 540 government, 3,523 private and 4,690 unaided colleges, spread across the state, he said.

Also, 170 candidates are inmates lodged in different prisons who too have registered for the exams. Of them, 91 have registered to appear in Class 12 exams while 79 have enrolled for Class 10 exams.

Meanwhile, a total of 936 examination centres have been identified as sensitive while another 242 centres have been declared highly sensitive by the board.

Arrangements have also been made for live monitoring through webcasting.

Besides, STF of UP Police and local intelligence unit (LIU) have also been roped in for monitoring sensitive and highly sensitive examination centres.

--IANS

amita/dpb
By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The biggest-ever bond issue by India's Housing Development Finance Corp is expected to go smoothly without any major increase in interest costs for the financier as long-term investors will likely absorb the sale, bankers said.

HDFC aims to raise at least 50 billion rupees ($603.4 million) through the sale of 10-year bonds on Thursday, with an option to retain an additional 200 billion rupees.

If the company garners full the quantum, this would also be the biggest-ever privately placed debt issue by an Indian company.

"(India's) large state-run insurance and provident fund house have both likely committed (to invest) half the total amount," one of the merchant bankers to the issue said.

"The remaining amount could be raised by tapping other investors and banks."

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The merchant banker spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

HDFC may offer a coupon rate in the range of 7.96%-7.99%, bankers said.

HDFC officials did not reply to a Reuters mail seeking comment.

Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Securities Primary Dealership are the arrangers for the bond issue.

FUNDRAISING BURST

HDFC has so far raised 534.14 billion rupees through private placement of bonds in the current fiscal, already the highest it has raised in any financial year.

If the issue goes through, HDFC's fundraising would be higher by 50% as compared to 2021-22, when it had raised 500 billion rupees, according to data from information service provider Prime Database.

The company's fundraising via private placement stood below 250 billion rupees in 2013-14.

HDFC is raising funds as it would help them meet capital requirements after the upcoming merger with HDFC Bank, bankers said.

"It is comparatively easier for the NBFC to raise funds as compared to a bank fundraising, and hence HDFC, which has sufficient investor comfort, opted for such large size," one of the bankers added.

This could be the last issue from the company before the merger, which is likely to be completed in the next financial year, bankers added.

($1 = 82.8620 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)


The Apple Pay Later service  announced last year but still in the testing phase  will evaluate borrowers based on their spending history and even which of the companys devices they own. The program, which lets shoppers make purchases and then pay over installments, also will look at whether customers have applied for an Apple Card credit card and the other cards they have linked to their Apple Pay accounts. With Apple Inc. pushing into the lending business with a buy now, pay later service, the company is laying out rules for how it will approve transactions. One key factor: whether youve been a good customer in the past.





The offering is part of a broader push into financial services, which is seen as a big growth opportunity for the tech giant but also one with potential pitfalls. Already, the Pay Later service is running behind schedule: It was originally expected last year. The company also is working on a homegrown infrastructure for financial products that will help decrease its reliance on banking partners.



Apple Pay Later loan offers expire after 30 days and applications will sometimes require a copy of a government identification card, full social security number and two-step verification on an Apple account, according to the notes in the test version of the service. Loan status with Apple Pay Later wont affect access to other company services. The lending criteria were revealed as part of a test of the service with Apple employees, who can now use the option for their own personal purchases. The evaluations determine whether the company is willing to lend money to applicants and how big an amount it will approve. Many testers are seeing loan approvals for $1,000 and under.

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Apple is counting on new services to help maintain growth, especially after a recent slowdown. The company posted disappointing holiday sales earlier this month, but gave a reassuring outlook to investors. And the shares have gained 18% this year. A spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. Bloomberg originally reported on the companys lending strategy last March.



The Pay Later system is integrated into the Wallet app on the iPhone and allows users to make an Apple Pay purchase over four installments during the following six weeks. When customers sign up, theyre asked to give an amount they would like to borrow and then the system comes back with an approved total  similar to the Spending Power feature for American Express cards. The new service will let Apple leverage its trove of data on customers, including their spending at company retail outlets, App Store transactions and services like Apple Cash peer-to-peer payments. Apple Pay, a mobile payment service launched in 2014, and the Apple Card, which debuted in 2019, have given the company an even closer connection to consumers financial lives.



The Apple Pay Later documentation shows that transaction histories are stored with its financing subsidiary, Goldman Sachs and MasterCard  but not with Apple itself, for privacy reasons. The service marks the first time that the company is using an in-house payment platform and conducting lending itself. Apple created a business called Apple Financing LLC that will handle applications, lending and credit approvals. Still, Apple Card partner Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is the issuing bank, and the payment network provider is MasterCard Inc.

The company is gearing up to launch Apple Pay Later in the coming weeks after releasing the test to thousands of retail employees earlier this month. Before the expansion to retail staff, Apple had been trying out the program with corporate employees for several weeks.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez as the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen ties between their countries.

Sanchez tweeted that he reiterated Spain's support for India's presidency of G20.

Modi responded, "Glad to speak with Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon. We discussed ways to further strengthen our growing bilateral relationship. Look forward to continuing our close cooperation as part of India's G20 Presidency."



The Spanish leader said they had a fruitful conversation.

He added, "I have reiterated Spain's support for the Indian G20 presidency and we have agreed to continue strengthening our bilateral relations, especially in the areas of economy and trade.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that more than 35,000 people have died in Turkiye as a result of last week's earthquake, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country's founding 100 years ago.

While the death toll is almost certain to rise even further, many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless were still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold.

Confirmed deaths in Turkiye passed those recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 that killed around 33,000 people.

Erdogan said 1,05,505 were injured as a result of the February 6 quake centered around Kahramanmaras and its aftershocks. Almost 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighbouring Syria, taking the combined toll in both countries to over 39,000.

The Turkish president, who has referred to the quake as "the disaster of the century," said more than 13,000 people were still being treated in hospital.

Speaking in Ankara following a five-hour Cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD, Erdogan said 47,000 buildings, which contained 2,11,000 residences, had been destroyed or were so badly damaged as to require demolition.

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"We will continue our work until we get our last citizen out of the destroyed buildings," Erdogan said of ongoing rescue efforts.

Aid agencies and governments were stepping up efforts to bring help to devastated parts of Turkiye and Syria.

The situation was particularly desperate in Syria, where a 12-year civil war has complicated relief efforts and meant days of wrangling over how to even move aid into the country, let alone distribute it. Some people there said they have received nothing. In Turkiye, meanwhile, families huddled in train cars.

The Syrian Health Ministry announced a final count of 1,414 deaths and 1,357 injuries in areas under government control.

On Tuesday, the United Nations launched a USD 397 million appeal to provide "desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians" for three months. It came a day after the global body announced a deal with Damascus to deliver U.N. aid through two more border crossings from Turkiye to rebel-held areas of northwest Syria but the needs remained enormous.

Ahmed Ismail Suleiman set up a shelter of blankets outside his damaged house in the town of Jinderis, one of the worst-hit communities in northwest Syria. He was afraid to move his family back into a house that might not be structurally sound, so 18 people slept outside under the makeshift tent.

"We sit but can't sleep lying down here," he said. "We are waiting for a proper tent."



Mahmoud Haffar, head of the town council, said residents have been able to scrounge up about 2,500 tents so far, but some 1,500 families still remain without shelter as nighttime temperatures fall to around minus 4 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit).

"We are ... still hearing the question of when will aid get in," said Haffar.

While tents have been in short supply, one women said the town had a surplus of donated bread and water.

To the southwest, in government-held Latakia, Raeefa Breemo said only those packing into shelters seemed to be getting aid.

"We need to eat, we need to drink, we need to survive. Our jobs, our lives, everything have stopped," Breemo said.

Offers of help from rescue crews and doctors to generators and food have come from around the world, but the needs remain immense after the magnitude 7.8 quake and powerful aftershocks toppled or damaged tens of thousands of buildings, destroyed roads and closed airports for a time. The quake affected 10 provinces in Turkiye that are home to some 13.5 million people, as well as a large area in northwest Syria that is home to millions.

Much of the water system in the quake-hit region was not working, and Turkiye's health minister said samples from dozens of points of the system showed the water was unsuitable to drink.

In the Turkish port city of Iskenderun, displaced families have sheltered in train carriages since last week.

While many have left in recent days for nearby camps or other parts of Turkiye, dozens of people were still living in the trains on Tuesday.

"The wagons have become our home," 50-year-old Nida Karahan told Anadolu Agency.

While a first Saudi aid plane, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in Syrian government-held Aleppo on Tuesday, getting aid to the country's rebel-held Idlib has been especially complicated.

Until Monday's deal between the U.N. and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, the global body had only been allowed to deliver aid to the area through a single border crossing with Turkiye, or via government territory.

The newly opened crossings at Bab al-Salam and Al Rae are to function for an initial period of three months. Russia bristled at suggestions that the opening of the crossings might be made permanent, and its Foreign Ministry accused the West of trying to get aid "exclusively" to areas not controlled by the Syrian government.

Major humanitarian organisations welcomed the development but cautioned that logistical problems remain, even as the first U.N. aid convoy with 11 trucks entered northwestern Syria through Bab al-Salam Tuesday.

"This is a constant back and forth in negotiations," said World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier. "Every party has to agree to receive convoys.
The Turkish FM accepted Greek support when twin quakes shook Turkey up and caused damage. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu gave thanks to the FM of Greece, Nikos Dendias, for his nation's gesture after the massive quake injured numerous people.

Greek Support for Turkey Despite Political Differences

Early in the week, the Hatay province in the south part of the country got struck. Cavusoglu spoke of Athens's assistance in the direst time, ANews.

He lauded Nikos Dendias's presence in Ankara, which shows unity and support of Greece and Turkiye, and the Turkish nation, and mentioned that such unity in times of crisis is indispensable. During the 1999 Marmara quake that hit Turkiye, Greece had earthquakes a month after them, adding that Athens was first to help and Ankara returned the favor to help its neighbor, the Turk FM mentioned DW.

At that time, Cavusoglu sent a letter as a private on Ankara-Athens relations. He said he was waiting for another quake to hit to improve relations via sincere dialogue.

Turkish FM Accepts Support After Twin Quakes

Reiterated gratitude to Dendias and his government's support as world events have placed a cloud over the two nations. On his part, the representative of Greece vowed support to the disaster-ridden nation. He stated that his country pledges assistance to Ankara based on the bilateral and EU level.

On the topic of foreign relations, the Greek diplomat repeated the sentiments of his Turkish counterpart that waiting for another natural disaster would not improve the problems they faced. Dendias is the second foreign minister to visit Ankara after the dual natural disaster.

Read Also: Turkey F-16 Deal Not Linked To Sweden, Finland NATO Bid

Kahramanmaras was the epicenter of the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes, impacting 13 million people in 10 provinces. The wake of destruction ripped through Hatay, Gaziantep, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Other countries also felt a powerful quake in Syria and Lebanon. Each of these nations suffered strong tremors in less than 10 hours separately.

Qatari Emir Visits President Erdogan After the Disaster

The occurrence of the powerful quake that shook Turkey triggered a visit from foreign officials like the Qatari emir, who was on state business, commented media from Qatar, citing Anadolu.

Based on reports that indicated that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar Emir, departed from Doha to have a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, noted an outlet.

Upon arrival in the Turkish capital, Emir Al Thani was taken and welcomed at Istanbul's Vahdettin Palace, where sources close to the presidency posted a picture of the two Arab leaders on the social media site Twitter.

One of the first world leaders to visit Istanbul was the Qatari emir in a show of solidarity and support. Included in the official trip of the emir is an official delegation.

Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu praised the Greek support in the most trying times when the twin quakes that devasted Turkey came when most needed.

Related Article: US To Lose Neutrality in NATO Over F-35 Sale to Greece

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For a child to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the United States based on their parent's approved petition for a family-sponsored or employment-based visa, the child generally must be under the age of 21. If the child turns 21 and ages out during the immigration process, the child generally is no longer eligible to immigrate with the parent based on the parents petition. The Biden administration has announced a policy manual update for the purpose of calculating a noncitizens age in certain situations under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), a move seen as a small but important step in addressing the woes of the aged-out children, a large number of whom are Indians, who came to the US legally with their parents.



Under this new guidance, the USCIS will now use the Dates for Filing chart to calculate these noncitizens ages for CSPA purposes, which provides these noncitizens with more certainty about their eligibility to adjust their status, the federal agency said. Congress enacted the CSPA to protect certain noncitizen children from losing eligibility to obtain lawful permanent resident status based on an approved visa petition by providing a method to calculate the childs age that considers when an immigrant visa number becomes available. The Department of States Visa Bulletin is used to determine when a visa number becomes available. The Visa Bulletin has two charts  the Dates for Filing chart and the Final Action Date chart. Under the previous CSPA guidance, USCIS considered a visa available for purposes of the CSPA age calculation based only on the Final Action Date chart, even if a noncitizen could apply for adjustment of status using the earlier date in the Dates for Filing chart. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially made one of our long-requested policy changes. The USCIS will use the dates for the filing chart to determine CSPA age and any previously denied petition can be reopened, said Dip Patel, from the improvethedream.org, which has been leading such an effort on behalf of aged-out children numbering over 200,000.



Patel said this is one of the few administrative changes that were easy for the administration to make, but it has obviously taken a long time pushing for it to get to this, so very glad to see it. This USCIS policy change is effective immediately and applies to pending applications. Therefore, some noncitizens with a pending application may now have a CSPA age that is under 21 based on this change. For example, between October and December 2020, certain noncitizens were permitted to file their adjustment of status applications under the Dates for Filing chart of the Visa Bulletin. The USCIS continues to explore all options available under the law to aid this population, the federal agency said.

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This USCIS policy change is effective immediately and applies to pending applications. Therefore, some noncitizens with a pending application may now have a CSPA age that is under 21 based on this change. However, the Final Action Date chart never advanced sufficiently for their applications to be approved. These noncitizens filed their adjustment of status applications with the requisite fee without knowing whether the CSPA would benefit them.



If these noncitizens are eligible to adjust their status because of the change in policy and they have filed for adjustment of status, they will also be eligible to apply for employment and travel authorisation based on their pending adjustment of status application, and they generally will not lose previously issued employment or travel authorisation, it said. For example, between October and December 2020, certain noncitizens were permitted to file their adjustment of status applications under the Dates for Filing chart of the Visa Bulletin. However, the Final Action Date chart never advanced sufficiently for their applications to be approved. These noncitizens filed their adjustment of status applications with the requisite fee without knowing whether the CSPA would benefit them.



The USCIS continues to explore all options available under the law to aid this population, the federal agency said. The USCIS said this Policy Manual update will not prevent all children from ageing out before an immigrant visa is available to them, nor will it prevent children from losing nonimmigrant status derived from their parents upon reaching the actual age of 21.



This is considered a policy manual change to interpret how the CSPA age is calculated, he said. Patel said this is one of the few administrative changes that were easy for the administration to make, but it has obviously taken a long time pushing for it to get to this, so very glad to see it.



US Congresswoman Deborah Ross applauded USCIS for taking action to protect some of the 200,000 Documented Dreamers who call the United States home. My guess is at least a few thousand kids will benefit from those who have already aged out. But likely another several thousand will be protected for future years, especially because of the retrogression swings in the visa bulletins in past years, Patel said.



In the 117th Congress, Ross led her House and Senate colleagues in efforts to protect Documented Dreamers. She introduced the bipartisan, bicameral America's CHILDREN Act to provide a path to permanent residency to Documented Dreamers. Her amendment to prevent Documented Dreamers from ageing out of the system passed the House of Representatives as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in July 2022. This is an important step forward that will protect many individuals who contribute to our country and economy every single day, but we cannot stop here. We must pass my bipartisan America's CHILDREN Act to provide a pathway to citizenship for these inspiring young people and finally give them the certainty they deserve. I will not stop fighting for a solution, Ross said.



A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently. Notably, the President's Advisory Commission on AAPIs (PAC-AAPI) in its previous meetings had made such recommendations as well. Among its recommendations, the commission had said that the USCIS should allow aged-out children to retain their parents' Green Card application priority date and permit aged-out children to file for their Green Card application using the parents' priority date of the visa petition filed by their parent's employers.



There are more than 200,000 Documented Dreamers in the United States, predominantly from India, although they can come from any country in the world. These young people are those who have, or will age out of temporary status that is derived from being dependent on their parent's; temporary, employment-based non-immigrant visas. The commission has recommended that the USCIS should amend its policy manual to calculate the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) application date of dependents based on the filing date of the underlying visa application.



Because they maintain lawful status until they turn 21, Documented Dreamers are ineligible for the temporary deportation protections and work authorisation provided under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which requires a recipient to have no lawful status on June 15, 2012. As per the official record, in April 2020, there were an estimated 253,293 children waiting to obtain permanent residency based on their parents' employment-based immigrant visa petitions and at risk of aging out. Because most noncitizens who come to the United States on temporary work visas do not have a clear path toward permanent legal status, if their dependent minor children come with them, those children face a dilemma. After turning 21 years old, they will age out of their temporary legal status derived through their parents' visas. At that point, they should leave the United States or face potential deportation, unless they can obtain a different temporary or permanent status themselves.



Those who manage to obtain temporary status often find themselves without any path to permanent status unless they can graduate college, qualify for temporary employment (such as being sponsored for an H-1B visa) and then be sponsored for an immigrant visa and re-enter the Green Card queue from the back of the line. Without a legal status to remain in the United States, children who age out must attempt to transition to a new temporary status (such as a student visa classification), self-deport, or become undocumented and risk being subjected to enforcement action.



Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Whats new

The USCIS will now use the dates for filing chart to calculate these non-citizens ages for CSPA purposes



This USCIS policy change is effective immediately and applies to pending applications The process will provide these non-citizens with more certainty about their eligibility to adjust their status

Under the previous CSPA guidance, USCIS considered a visa available for purposes of the CSPA age calculation based only on the Final Action Date chart


Naval drones were utilized in an assault on a Ukrainian bridge in Zatoka by Russia. Posted was an 18-second video showing a small and fast vessel charging the two-support pillar of a bridge, followed by an explosion eight seconds later.

Russia Attacks Zatoka Bridge Using AFU Tactics

The video did not show how much damage was caused by an unmanned surface vessel (USV). The bridge is in Zatoka, located in the Odesa region, which links to most of Ukraine, reported the Independent.

The Russian Ministry of Defense did comment about these USVs, but Russian military bloggers said the system is under development after a unit was found last September in Crimea.

Information indicates that it is the only railroad bridge that connects to the west Odesa region thru Ukrainian territory. One of the shortest routes is a road that has to pass through 8 km in Moldova. Kyiv used this tactic to assault Russian positions and naval ships with these unmanned surface vessels (USVs), Naval Technology.

Last November, Kyiv started raising funds to buy 100 sea drones, called the First Naval Drone Fleet. If the vessel is a Russian USV, then Moscow will stop pulling its punches. It will annihilate Zelensky and his army in the water as well.

Read Also: Next Generation Robotic Ghost Ship for Maritime Combat

Rybar stated the bridge was attacked before, but not how it was captured in the video. Western experts are now threatened by Russia using kamikaze USVs.

American Naval Analyst H.I. Sutton remarked that even if the damage is less, a new threat will be directed to an already over-extended Ukrainian Military, noted Yahoo. A prime target because the bridge gone will cut access to Moldova/Romania. Until now, it's been less of a threat from Russia.

Russia Uses Guided Naval Drones

The guidance of these sea drones is a mystery, and how they are controlled is unknown. A line-of-sight control or more complex systems that the west does not know of.

Ukraine used StarLink to control their drones to attack and get information beyond the line of sight which is a terrible blow for the UAF. SpaceX has had it with Washington and Zelensky, and Elon Musk blocked access due to weaponization, citing CNN.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said weaponization of the cluster satellite system is not part of the agreement, so they stopped its access to Kyiv, citing The Eurasian Times. It was peacefully used to keep hospitals, banks, and families together. Additionally, they knew the AFU used it for communication, but offensively is out of the question.

The question is if Russia gets these drones from Iran, which is very good at this tech, and sells them in the Middle East. But Sutton said that Russia has enough expertise to build their USVs too.

Other sources say the suicide USVs can be used in the Black Sea near Odesa, even in Ochakiv Port. It has been struck before by Russia's forces and also used to attack AFU in the Dnipro River. Naval drones are the new kamikaze weapons used by the Russians to destroy the crucial Ukrainian Zatoka bridge.

Related Article: Poseidon Underwater Vs. Hypersonic Missile

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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/
Krishna Vishwa Vidyapeeth

News Summary

Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation has been conferred with the Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt) Degree (Honoris Causa) by the Krishna World University, India during their special Convocation Ceremony which was held at the University campus.
Italy's Ex-PM Silverio Berlusconi places fault on Zelensky for the Russia-Ukraine War that seems to have no end. The opposition encouraged Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to state the former prime minister's scathing retort directed at Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging the conflict in Ukraine.

Italy's Ex-PM Urges Peaceful Negotiations in Ukraine

Berlusconi issued a blazing critique that calls the Ukrainian leader's actions that have led to the state of Ukraine and its people. Suffering the ravages of war instead of suing for a peaceful settlement, reported Euractiv.

He mentioned that Washington should intervene and use the money to start the restoration of Ukraine. Stop the Ukrainian leader's assault on the autonomous LPR and DPR. In Milan, he said the bloodshed of the nations is in everyone's face.

Mentioned to the press that the ex-comedian turned Ukraine head of state is not behaving like a gentleman while voting in the Lombardy regional elections.

Disagreement between fallout between French President Emmanuel Macron and PM Meloni ensued, with Meloni not having dinner with the Kievan leader. Talking to the Ukraine leader is not an option if he is still in position, per Nova News.

The Forza Italia is affiliated with Meloni's coalition government aligned with Matteo Salvini's far-right Lega. Italian left said she must react to the disturbing statement of the veteran politician. They said he is on Putin's side and mentioned that the New PM should allow whatever treatment the EU gives.

Read Also: Moscow Offers Reward on Neo-Nazis Suspected of Slaying, Torturing Captured Russian Soldiers

Italian Officials Support Zelensky

Socialist senator Enrico Borghi blames the veteran politician for muddling the Ukraine support. Weaken Italy and the west fronted the US. Meloni remarked in Brussels, European Council summit that helping Ukraine will bring peace, and the conflict will involve everyone, citing Chof 360.

She justified that providing Kyiv with weapons was not escalating the conflict. Moscow told Milan to stay out of it. Even as the AFU losses mount and insists Ukraine can balance out the losses with arms.

Berlusconi instead tells US President Joe Biden claims to want peace and must assure Zelensky a "6-7-8-9 trillion-dollar Marshall Plan" for rebuilding Ukraine. But all hostilities stop to force Russia to stop advancing.

He added only if only the US would stop supporting its proxy with money and arms. That is, if Washington intends to convince the gentleman to stop for the good of his devastated nation.

Berlusconi has kept a good standing with Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of his friends in the European political circle.

The Russian special operation rolled out just after a month, and he called it the military rollout. Putin stated that gifts with an exchange of gifts with a letter.

In October 2022, the former PM condemned the conflict and wanted a swift resolution to protect Ukrainians from destruction and uphold their rights.

The Forza Italia party of Berlusconi is linked with the center-right European People's Party (EPP), which before elections, wanted the former PM to win to force Meloni to be pro-EU. Developments noted that she is diverging from the recent outcry not to support Ukraine.

Comments by Italy's former prime minister say Zelensky should be forced to want peaceful negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war soon, and the west must end support for Kyiv to seek a peace deal.

Related Article: Wagner Boss Challenges Zelensky to a Duel

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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
Sri Lanka to ban several plastic products from June

Xinhua) 09:36, February 15, 2023

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.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
An Idaho murder survivor says she saw Bryan Kohberger but mistook him for Ethan Chapin's pal that night. Dylan Mortensen revealed she was a new occupant in the house and never thought the suspect was there to kill the victims.

Idaho Murder Survivor Claims Seeing Bryan Kohberger

The suspected killer, Kohberger, was arrested on December 30 for killing the four Idaho university students in off-campus housing. On the night of the murder, Kohberger entered the rooms with four of the victims inside, where Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen were spared from death, reported Meaww.

The disclosure prompted web sleuths to ask why Mortensen didn't call 911 when she saw Kohberger prowling at 4 am, noted Daily Mail. A source claimed that Mortensen spoke to her close friends.

The Idaho university students named Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves were slaughtered in their beds on November 13. On the upper third floor, best friends Goncalves and Mogen died, Ethan dead in the doorway, while his girlfriend Xana died trying to save herself on the second floor, but Funke and Mortensen stayed on the first floor.

Mortensen Thought Kohberger Was Ethan Chapin's Pal

An anonymous source close to Mortensen revealed something else about the case based on a video posted on Youtube by Harsh Reality.

It narrated that Mortensen was not shocked or frozen in fear; she yelled from her door to Ethan and Xana to keep quiet with their friend inside the house. She did not know what was transpiring and kept to herself mostly.

Read Also: Idaho Murders: Police Find Blood-Covered Items in Bryan Kohberger's Flat

Kohberger was seen by her and assumed that he was one of Ethan's friends who was about to leave the house and ready to go out. She claimed that the feds were harsh with her and aggressive in their interrogation.

Police officer Brett Payne states in an affidavit as the first respondents on the scene, Mortensen and Funke, called DM and BF in federal papers, were in the house as the others were killed in their rooms on the night of the murders.

Dylan stated that she was sleeping in the bedroom located on the southeast section of the second floor. At about 4 am, she was awoken by sounds like Kaylee playing with her pet in the room on the upper floor.

A while later, Mortensen mentioned that she thought Kaylee said someone was there. Payne stated that DM opened her door another time, and she heard crying from Xana's room. DM added that she thought she heard a male voice saying, "It's okay. I'm going to help you."

But Mortensen thought her housemates were kidding and the noises were because they were still partying, not getting killed, citing Newsweek. As the killer did his rounds and was even seen, the victims got loud, but DM did not think of a murder going on.

BF and DM were aware of the sounds that night at 4 am but could not imagine it was the last time they would hear their housemates alive.

Bryan Kohberger was alleged by an Idaho murder survivor Dylan Mortensen as Chapin's pal that night but survived with Bethany Funke while the four got murdered.

Related Article: Bryan Kohberger Used Axe on Slain Idaho College Students

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Meta Platforms' Oversight Board stated Tuesday that it would assess additional content moderation cases and speed up certain evaluations to enhance its function.

In late 2020, the Oversight Board was established to investigate and rule on the propriety of Facebook and Instagram's content removal and retention policies, according to Reuters. In a subsequent blog post, the board announced that 35 new rulings were available online.

The 22-person board has said it would speed up the publication of certain of its rulings. After accepting a case, a decision might be made as early as 48 hours or as late as 30 days.

It may take up to 90 days for the Oversight Board to assess the content moderation activities of Meta under standard rulings.

In the blog post, the board stated that publishing more rulings and speeding up would enable them to tackle more of the key issues of content moderation and react more swiftly in cases with critical "real-world consequences."

Read Also: Turkey-Syria Earthquake Rescue Efforts Continue

Here's What Will Happen

Fast-tracked cases are looked at by a panel instead of the whole board, and the public will not have a chance to comment, as per CNA.

Moreover, the board will start releasing summarized conclusions to examine instances when Meta reversed its original decision to keep or remove a post.

Meta has recently reinstated former US President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts after they were shut down for two years, according to Engadget. The company stated it would "guardrail" his accounts to prevent subsequent violations.

After Donald Trump supported the insurgents on Capitol Hill in January 2021, he was banned from using Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms.

Related Article: Canada's Justin Trudeau Concerned Over UFOs

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Elections in Nigeria Archives

Team led by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to arrive in Nigeria before elections on Feb. 25

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA)  The African Union Commission (AUC) has announced that it will send a team of 90 observers to Nigeria for the upcoming elections slated on Feb. 25.

The team will be led by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the AUC said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

The upcoming Nigerian presidential election is set to be a landmark moment for the country, with nearly 100 million people eligible to vote for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is stepping down after two terms in office.

According to the AUC, the observers have been drawn from its various member states and include representatives from election management bodies, independent experts, civil society organizations, youth, and women, among others.

The team's mission is to provide an accurate and impartial assessment of the electoral process, offer recommendations for the improvement of future elections, and demonstrate the union's solidarity and support for the consolidation of democracy, peace, stability, and development in Nigeria, the statement said.

The observers' team is expected to arrive in Nigeria ahead of the elections and be stationed across the country to monitor the electoral process.

The team will be tasked with observing the opening, voting, counting, and closing of polling stations, as well as any other relevant aspects of the electoral process, it said.

The AUC has emphasized the importance of free, fair, and transparent elections in the consolidation of democracy, peace, stability, and development on the African continent.

- Multiple challenges ahead of elections

Earlier on Tuesday, Idayat Hassan, an elections and governance expert, told reporters in the capital Abuja that Nigerias current state of insecurity, a cash shortage due to a lack of newly designed Naira currency notes, and a struggling economy could lead to voter apathy and potentially create an environment ripe for electoral malpractice, according to the statement.

The multiple challenges ahead of the elections are worrying, she added.

"There are skirmishes here and there across the country, which is quite worrying. As of mid-January 2023, there have been more than 134 attacks on the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities and personnel across the country," Hassan said.

Experts have warned that the country is currently grappling with a host of challenges, including widespread insecurity, a struggling economy, and a shortage of the newly designed Naira bank notes. These issues have dominated the political discourse in the run-up to the election, with candidates promising to address them in their campaigns.

However, the presence of the AUC observer team is viewed as a positive step toward ensuring a transparent and credible electoral process.

Andrew Wasike/AA
Michigan authorities have identified the state shooting suspect and also revealed the names of the three victims that died due to the horrific Monday incident.

An alert on Monday told students in the area to "run, hide, fight" after some people noted hearing gunshots at Berkey Hall and the MSU Union. In a statement, university Interim Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman said that two people were killed at Berkey Hall.

Michigan State Shooting Suspect

Following the first incident, the gunman allegedly made his way to the MSU Union, where he killed another individual. Students were ordered to shelter in place and wait for authorities to finish searching for the attacker.

During a Tuesday news conference, Rozman identified the suspect as 43-year-old Anthony McRae. The gunman was supposedly found off campus early Tuesday but died before police officers could arrest him. The suspect is believed to have lost his life to what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as per Freep.

The family of one of the victims identified her as 19-year-old Arielle Anderson from Harper Woods. She was the third person the gunman targeted and a sophomore at MSU. Anderson was considered a bright young woman who aimed to be a pediatric doctor, said her maternal grandmother, April Davis.

Davis said Harper and her grandmother had only talked to each other on FaceTime the day before the incident. The victim's aunt, Kimella Spivey, noted that Anderson dreamed of helping other people and joined various extracurricular programs, such as working with senior citizens.

Spivey said that the young woman's death was so "unbelievable" and asked when such tragedies would stop. This comes as police also identified two Michigan State students who lost their lives in the attack.

In a news release, law enforcement noted that Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner were the other two victims of the gunman. The latter was a young woman whom Clawson Public Schools Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger remembered for her kindness, positivity, and being a good person in general, according to CNN.

Read Also: New Jersey Superintendent Resigns Following Teen Suicide

Victims Identified

Now, investigators are still trying to piece together the case and determine the 43-year-old gunman's motive for the horrific incident. One source familiar with the matter noted that McRae had a two-page note inside his backpack that talked about other shootings.

The suspect's father, Michael McRae, noted that his son became bitter over time and became isolated and "evil angry" after his mother lost her life to a stroke two years before the incident. The attacker's sister also said that the shooter avoided social interactions. He was found to have a criminal history with weapons, and law enforcement said he also had mental health issues.

The Michigan Department of Corrections revealed that McRae was previously sentenced to 12 months probation over a weapons charge. In November 2019, based on arrest records, he was convicted and sentenced for possessing a loaded firearm inside a vehicle, which is illegal in the state unless an individual has a concealed carry license, said CBS News.

Related Article: MSU Shooting Update

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MBA in International Business is a postgraduate programme that provides students with the necessary information and training for the fundamentals of international business. MBA in International Business is a prominent management education concentration.

Another aspect that has led to the popularity of an MBA in IB is that multinational firms prefer applicants with this degree. It is a degree programme designed to help managers develop their resources and capabilities in the global economy.

MBA in International Business is a postgraduate Management degree that helps students become well-versed in all aspects of International Business, as well as provides them with much-needed exposure and training in becoming effective and efficient managers, making them a reliable asset for the Global Economy. It has a huge scope in today's world because every corporation wants to expand and diversify worldwide, and it becomes critical for such organisations to hire management graduates who specialise in international business.

Scope

The expansion in the number of foreign corporations and emerging enterprises working on a global scale has contributed to the popularity of the MBA in International Business courses. Many of these organisations, who want to expand and develop their operations globally, require candidates who are adept at managing foreign scenarios as well as knowledgeable about theories and concepts that may be effective in the establishment of a business.

Several domestic firms are expanding internationally. Furthermore, with such a large population, consumption is high, and there is a demand for trained labour. As a result, practically every day, students will be exposed to news about international companies relocating to India or an Indian company relocating abroad.

Career Opportunities for MBA in International Business

Senior Business Analyst

This MBA in International Business career path is concerned with the collecting of data from sales records and performance data of the company as well as rival companies to create statistical information on the company's success.

Exports Manager

It is a critical and high-priority MBA in the International Business career path, where all exports to international partners must be supervised and managed.

This entails a full department operating under this job, as well as dealing with vendors, suppliers, customers, shipment crew, processing crew, and other team members.

International Marketing Manager

Candidates must be able to make sound decisions and be fluent in many languages. They typically operate in a variety of businesses and are responsible for increasing their firms' worldwide market share and earnings. Their competence includes product creation, market research, and communication with international partners.

Import Compliance Manager

The Import Compliance Manager collaborates with senior management to establish import control objectives and track compliance efforts. The Import Compliance Manager will review test findings with imported products, aid in the closure of control gaps, and escalate any potentially serious issues to the company's senior management.

International Business Consultant

Candidates must be well-versed in the shifting financial trends and economic policies of various countries. They must be able to talk in public and be fluent in a foreign language. Candidates typically advise organisations on how to negotiate the difficult business talks that take place across countries in the international marketplace. Companies are charged a price for their assistance. They assist in the negotiation of international contracts and also collaborate with governments to dictate international trade.

Financial Advisor

This function, as one of the high-stakes MBA in International Business employment alternatives, necessitates an in-depth understanding of schemes and strategies for regulating a company's financial features such as the investor list, employee pay, production and maintenance charges, and insurance.

International Human Resources Manager

The International Human Resources Manager is in charge of designing, planning, and implementing programmes and policies related to staffing, salaries, benefits, visa/green card processing, employee relations, training, and health and safety. Administration of an ex-pat or immigrant programme could be a duty.
If you want to work in the healthcare system but don't want to go through the lengthy process of becoming a doctor, becoming a Surgical Technologist is the best opportunity. Aside from that, it is a field in which the individual makes a difference in the lives of others every day. As the field of healthcare advances and specialists in every possible subject is appointed, so do the employment options for a surgical technician.

Scope of a Surgical Technologist

The demand for healthcare workers has increased over the last few decades, particularly since the healthcare system began to stretch its reach over the world. The healthcare sector operates with the assistance of various healthcare experts such as doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel. Surgeries take place daily around the country, and surgical technologists are an important part of the team that ensures the success of medical treatments.

The next years potentially lead to a higher expansion of surgical technologist jobs. A greater focus on healthcare and an expansion of healthcare services to rural areas could also help improve the job outlook in the coming years.

What are the responsibilities of Surgical Technologists?

Surgical technologists, often known as operating room technicians or surgery technicians, assist in the preparation of operating rooms and patients for surgery. They usually arrive at the operating room first and go to the work setting. They also help with surgical procedures and provide postoperative patient care.

Surgical technicians work in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and doctors' offices. They spend the majority of their working day in the operating room, where they prepare for, help with, and clean up after surgery. Working under surgical lights in the operating room, especially while wearing sterile surgical gowns and gloves, can get extremely warm. During surgeries, the surgical technologist must stand for lengthy periods and be awake and ready for anything. Surgical technicians often work full-time, including nights, weekends, holidays, and on-call duty.

Primary Responsibilities and Obligations of a Surgical Technologist

The major duties and responsibilities of a surgical technologist are to set up and maintain a sterile environment in the operating room. Before the rest of the team comes, they may check, sterilise, and set up surgical tools and equipment. In most cases, the duty also entails assisting the patient onto the operating table and getting them into position. Surgical technologists aid the surgeon and help maintain a sterile environment in the operating room.

However, like with other medical vocations, the particular responsibilities performed by surgical technicians change from day to day. To completely comprehend a surgical technologist's day-to-day responsibilities, it is necessary to investigate the variety of activities they may be expected to accomplish before, during, and after surgery, as well as in between operations. These duties may not be part of the routine, but they can be included in the work scope.

Career Opportunities for Surgical Technologists

Operation Room Assistant

Some surgical technologists may opt to advance their careers as operating room helpers. Operating room assistants carry out some of the same tasks as surgical technicians, but their scope of practice includes additional obligations.

Both surgical techs and operating room assistants, for example, may labour to prepare the operating room before surgery, clean and sterilise equipment, and monitor equipment during an operation, but operating room assistants may also undertake other patient-care responsibilities. An operating room assistant, for example, may consult with patients before surgery to provide information and comfort.

Registered Nurse

A surgical tech who appreciates working closely with patients may think about becoming a registered nurse. Registered nurses assist patients with daily living tasks such as dressing, bathing, and eating. They may also provide medical care to their patients under the supervision of a doctor. A surgical tech can further their education to become a registered nurse by acquiring an associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing.

Medical Sales Representative

A medical sales representative is another employment choice for persons with medical training who want to work in a field other than patient care. A surgical tech who goes on to work as a medical sales representative may use their knowledge of medical equipment to assist surgeons or doctors in deciding which equipment is ideal for their practice. They may confer with healthcare practitioners to recommend appropriate tools and instruments for their work.

Anesthetist Consultant

During surgery, a small dose of anesthetic is administered to keep the patient from feeling pain. Anesthesia serves to numb the body part, limiting any movement from the patient's end due to discomfort, and eventually making the doctor's job easier. However, various bodily areas necessitate a different dose. An anesthetist technician is in charge of calculating and administering the correct dose to the patient.

Lab Technician

A lab technician is someone who is in charge of the overall upkeep of the lab. His or her job duties include maintaining the lab equipment and cleaning it as needed. Not only that, but a lab technician ensures that the lab appears the same before and after the surgery. He or she is in charge of keeping everything in place once the lab has been evacuated.
Robotics is an engineering and scientific interdisciplinary field that covers mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, computer science, and other disciplines. Robots are machines that can perform a specific duty. Robotics engineers work on the development, design, construction, and operation of robots.

The majority of robots are utilised in the automotive industry to perform repetitive jobs. An automated robotic arm is used in the automotive sector for a variety of industrial applications like painting, welding, and part assembling. Some robots are programmed to make simple decisions as well.

Robotic Engineers work primarily in laboratories and production units adjacent to offices. Aspirants in robotics can progressively grow their careers. They can begin as Test Engineers and advance to become managers or directors. An experienced Robotic Engineer can even start his or her own consulting business and sell robots.

Scope in Robotic Engineering

Robotics is an engineering discipline dealing with the design and construction of robots. Robots are pre-programmed machines that can perform tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously for the advantage of the enterprise. It comprises designing, building, and programming psychological robots to address problems in a variety of operational and industrial domains.

Robotics is a multidisciplinary technical discipline of artificial intelligence that offers numerous opportunities to work for some of the best firms in India and throughout the world. From manufacturing units to experimental robots for the medical, military, and automotive industries, the future of robotics engineering provides immense possibilities for its rising professionals.

Agricultural equipment manufacture, mining, nuclear power plants, mechanical and electrical engineering, biomedical research, and sea exploration are all viable career options for Robotics Engineers. Despite being seen as a high-end profession in India, the potential for Robotics and job prospects is rapidly expanding.

In India, robotics engineering is regarded as a high-level professional vocation. A candidate with professional expertise in robotics engineering will find numerous work options. A robotic engineer can work in factories, labs, medical sectors, mining, the automation industry, life sciences, aeronautical engineering, agricultural engineering, and other fields.

Robotic engineers are in high demand in the gaming industry as well as manufacturing divisions. If the individual has a strong academic background, they may be considered for top positions in research organisations such as ISRO and NASA.

Career Opportunities in Robotic Engineering

Robotic Programmer

The Robotic Programmer creates, tests, and changes robotic equipment programming. Robotic programmers assist Robotic Engineers in the design and setup of robots. They run programmes and keep a close eye on the results. Aside from programming, their regular tasks include installing and maintaining controllers, tools, and conveyors. In addition, they verify the installation sites and train the Operators.

Mechanical Engineers

Mechanical engineers are involved in all aspects of developing and creating mechanical equipment, including robots.

A mechanical engineer's role in robot design includes arranging and placing sensors that allow the robot to detect objects such as lights. These engineers test and refine the finished robot until it performs as expected.

Robotics Technicians

Robotics Technicians are members of the team that creates robots. They help manufacturing, mechanical, and electronics engineers with all aspects of robotic design, development, production, testing, and operation. They design, manufacture, install, test, and maintain robotics and related automated manufacturing systems. They also repair or replace faulty circuits, sensors, controllers, encoders, and other components.

Robotics Software Engineer

People in this role create software systems and methods for robotic perception, sensor calibration, autonomous navigation, and remote monitoring and control. It also entails keeping track of producing software that is in sync with the physical components.

Electromechanical Technician

An electromechanical technician specialises in dealing with robots and other remote-controlled equipment such as drones. They ensure that the equipment they work with is in good working order and perform routine maintenance on robotics equipment.

Aerospace Robotics Engineers

Engineers in the Aerospace Industry employ robotic technology to develop aircraft. The constructed robots will be useful in drilling holes, fabricating, welding, and painting airframes and metal parts. Robotic Automation is also used in Aerospace Engineering. Robotic Engineers can work in the Aerospace Engineering area to fill fabrication employment openings.

Robotic Design Engineer

A Robotic Design Engineer is a specialist who designs and develops a robotic system using design software and equipment. Their responsibilities include developing, testing, and debugging robots and automated systems. They are also held accountable for the safe operation of machines and the modification of any issues that develop.
Israel has drawn criticism from Western nations after authorities ordered the advancement of thousands of settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

The order is expected to raise high tensions with Palestine as ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom joined the United States in condemning the alleged expansion.

Israel's Policy on Settlements

In unison, the foreign ministers said they were extremely opposed to the Israeli far-right government's unilateral actions. They argued that they would only raise tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, adding that the expansion would undermine efforts for a negotiated two-state solution.

The officials also noted in their statement that they supported a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East. They argued that such a situation should be achieved through direct negotiations between the two sides.

Anniken Huitfeldt, the foreign minister of Norway, also condemned Israel's planned settlement expansion. She noted that the far-right government's policy on occupied land sharply contrasts with international law and must be prevented, as per Aljazeera.

Furthermore, officials from Israel's Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, have condemned the settlement plans. However, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's hardline security minister, said he wished to see more Jewish settlements. In a video message, he added that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.

The situation comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet unanimously authorized the legalization of nine settlement outposts. It said that it would also soon approve additional construction in settlements that currently exist.

The official said that such an expansion was their mission and doctrine, adding that more than nine settlements were needed. In a statement, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, noted that roughly 10,000 new homes are waiting to be approved.

Read Also: Turkey-Syria Earthquake: Rescuers Find More Survivors

Condemnation From Western Nations

On Monday, US officials said they were extremely "troubled and "concerned" by Israel's planned expansion. According to Politico, the remarks have become the first sign of outward friction between the two nations' governments.

During a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the American government opposed the unilateral measures. He argued that such policies only exacerbate tensions and harm the trust between the two sides.

The National Security Council coordinator, John Kirby, added that his team was "deeply concerned" regarding Israel's plans. Furthermore, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also raised concern about the situation ahead of a briefing by his department regarding the incident.

Price noted that Netanyahu's decision to legalize nine settlement outposts on Sunday went against the U.S.' strong opposition to any such acts. These are what American officials consider unilateral steps that only work to exacerbate tensions on an international level.

The Palestinian Mission to the United Nations is preparing a Security Council resolution condemning Israel's decision to legalize nine settlements. After the resolution's draft is completed, it will be submitted to the Arab League's representative on the Security Council, the United Arab Emirates. Other members would then discuss it, said the Times of Israel.

Related Article: New Zealand in State of Emergency Amid Cyclone Threat

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United States police have arrested four more suspects involved in the 2021 assassination of the late Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

One of the four recent suspects was found to be the owner of a security company based in Florida and who authorities claim hired Colombia ex-soldiers to join him in the assassination. The victim was fatally shot while in his home in Port-au-Prince by foreign mercenaries that appeared to have been speaking Spanish.

Haiti President Assassination Suspects

Following the latest arrests, the American government now has 11 suspects in custody related to the killing of Moise. The Justice Department (DOJ) said that Venezuelan-American Antonio "Tony" Intriago is the owner of CTY Security.

Officials alleged that he hired a squad of former Colombian soldiers to help him with the assassination operation. American authorities have now hit Intriago with a slew of charges, including conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside of the United States.

Colombian citizen Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a CTU company representative, was also taken into custody about the case. Officials accuse a third suspect, Florida-based financier Walter Veintemilla, of providing the funds for the operation, as per BBC.

The attorney of Veintemilla revealed that their client plans to plead not guilty in the case; authorities identified the fourth suspect as Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., who is accused of smuggling ballistic vests that the attackers allegedly used in the assassination operation.

In a statement, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Markenzy Lapointe, said that it was crucial for authorities to bring the suspects to justice. He added that they would continue to work on having the assailants pay for their crimes.

American officials previously revealed that they arrested seven men who are believed to be connected to Moise's assassination. These individuals include Haitian-American dual citizens James Solages and Joseph Vincent and Christian Emmanual Sanon, a pastor and businessman.

Read Also: New Zealand in State of Emergency Amid Cyclone Threat

Four More Suspects Arrested

Sanon's associates argued that the suspect, who has been identified as a key player in the assassination, was duped by the still unidentified masterminds behind the attack. The killing of Moise plunged Haiti deep into political rife and resulted in gang violence that residents have not seen in the last few decades, according to NPR.

Officials previously identified another suspect as a Colombian citizen, 44-year-old German Rivera Garcia, who is one of the nearly two dozen former Colombian soldiers involved in the case. These suspects were charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the US and providing material support and resources resulting in death.

While Haitian authorities have made dozens of arrests with the assassination, investigations have stalled due to death threats aimed at local judges. Last month, officials transferred four suspects, which Ortiz is a part of, to the United States for prosecution.

The four suspects are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Tuesday. Court documents also revealed that South Florida has served as a "central location for planning and financing the plot" from February to July 2021. It was all part of an attempt to oust Moise, said the Voice of America News.

Related Article: Israel Faces Backlash Over Planned Settlement Expansion

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Stephen 'tWitch' Boss's widow has filed for half of his estate after he died without a will.

The DJ and producer on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' took his own life in December aged 40, and now his wife Allison Holker - who he married in 2013 - has lodged a California Spousal Property Petition.

According to PEOPLE, Allison filed the appeal on Monday (06.02.23) in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County asking for a "determination of property passing to the surviving spouse".

Widows must submit such a petition to prove they are the spouse of the person who has passed away, despite it being Californian law that a surviving spouse is entitled to half of their late husband or wife's joint estate when they've passed away.

Allison has also asked for a "confirmation of property belonging to the surviving spouse".

Part of the papers read: "This includes any interest in a trade or business name of any unincorporated business or an interest in any unincorporated business that the deceased partner was operating or managing at the time of death."

Last month, Allison paid tribute to her "beacon of light" husband after he was laid to rest.

She posted an emotional video about her late spouse, in which she shared candid family photos with their children Zaia, three, Maddox, six, and Weslie, 14.

Allison wrote: "To my husband, best friend, babe, Chee-chalker, Superman and father of my children I LOVE YOU FOREVER and ALWAYS! We will forever remember you as the true beacon of light that you were and we will continue to cast your light and love throughout the world. Thank you for our incredible memories and our beautiful life shared together. (sic)"

Ellen DeGeneres commented: "His light lives on with all of you."

The late star was laid to rest in a small ceremony in Los Angeles last month, with a "larger celebration" set to take place in the future.

A source said at the time: "He is being laid to rest this afternoon in Los Angeles, in what we're told is going to be a small and intimate funeral attended by close family. There is going to be a larger celebration of life ceremony in the near future, which will be held for close friends and the people who Stephen considered his family."
A group of researchers found that climate change contributes to the spread of malaria by allowing mosquitoes that carry the disease to travel farther away from Africa into new regions.

Rising temperatures have started to cause many tropical species that were previously confined to only the warmest parts of the world to be able to climb higher and travel farther toward the poles.

Climate Change and Malaria Mosquitoes

Malaria mosquitoes are responsible for the death of more than 600,000 people every year and are considered to bring one of the world's most devastating diseases. Scientists found evidence that showed the insects flying to new locales in Africa.

A team of researchers from Georgetown University analyzed data that dated back to 1898, where they found the limits of the malaria mosquitoes' ranges increased. They observed that the range moved toward the poles by roughly 2.9 miles per year.

In the paper published in Biology Letters on Tuesday, the scientists noted that the insects could also climb mountains, gaining an average of 21.3 feet in elevation per year. A biologist at Georgetown, Colin Carlson, who led the paper, said that he needs to analyze more data before drawing a direct link between the spread of malaria mosquitoes and increased temperatures, as per the Washington Post.

Despite the lack of data to accurately conclude the hypothesis, Carlson noted that the mosquitoes' movement and speed of travel suggest that it is an impact caused by climate change. Top United Nations climate scientists said that climate change's worst effects would be floods, droughts, and diseases.

There have been very few if any, diseases that have negatively impacted humanity in the same way as malaria. The disease is very old and is believed to have also infected the dinosaurs, who lived millions of years ago.

Read Also: Blacks, Hispanics More at Risk from Staph Infection

The Spread of the Deadly Disease

In the history of humans, the disease is known to be responsible for the death of half of all people that have ever lived, based on one estimate. The recent spread of mosquitoes is because they are cold-blooded creatures that thrive in warm weather. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have raised the planet's temperature by more than one degree Celsius on average.

Carlson noted that if the mosquitoes' farther range were random, it would not coincide so much with climate trends. Many studies relating to climate change's impact on health tend to focus on how diseases spread, which can be challenging to link to any single cause.

A medical geographer at the University of Florida, Sadie Ryan, said that the study results correspond to where and how transmission is happening in those specific areas. Instead, the researchers of the recent study had a retrospective look at how the insects moved.

Ryan added that the rate of displacement of the mosquitoes confirms experts' concerns that the impacts of climate change have extended to infectious diseases. She noted that seeing their hypothesis as reality is a "dramatic" turn of events, said the New York Times.

Related Article: Mississippi Records 900% Increase in Congenital Syphilis Infections in Infants

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With additive manufacturingbetter known as 3D printingprojected to grow exponentially, so is the need for engineers who can use the technology to overcome barriers and solve problems. A new facility at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is expected to address that need.A groundbreaking ceremony for the Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing Application Center (I-AMAC) took place on campus Monday. The new center will be located on the 700 block of M.L. King Blvd.This building will enable our faculty, students and industry partners to continue to expand our capability for our future workforce, developing them and developing solutions for manufacturing and related industries, resulting in new jobs and new manufacturing methods, as well as new businesses, said Dr.Daniel Pack, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.The I-AMAC is designed for two purposes. One is giving senior students the spaces and tools to work on capstone projects they must complete to graduate.The other is to provide ample, hands-on access to additive manufacturing techniques for all engineering and computer science students to prepare them for the systems and technology awaiting them in industry, said Jim Newman, head of the UTC Department of Mechanical Engineering.Theyve got to have this prerequisite knowledge when they come into the workplace, he said.Additive manufacturing builds parts one layer at a time with a spray nozzle moving back and forth, similar to an inkjet printer. Industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical, transportation, consumer goods and energy now rely heavily on the technique.More and more, industries are realizing that they can cut down design-cycle time and cost by going to additive manufacturing, Mr. Newman said.At the groundbreaking, Joe Ferguson, chairman of the College of Engineering and Computer Science executive advisory board and former EPB board chair, said the I-AMAC is all about hands-on, a critical tool in todays engineering industry.Anybody thats in the private sector understands how important it is to have people come to your organization that understand that the culture is different. Its just a different atmosphere, he said.Dr. Pack noted that the College of Engineering and Computer Science has grown significantly in the last 10 years. In 2012, the college partnered with about 75 local and regional companies, a number that grew to more than 600 in 2022, he said.Simply put, the college has grown its size and stature, and we are playing an increasing role in the community, in producing workforce innovation and promoting economic growth, he said.Construction of the I-AMAC facility will take place in three phases. The first two will be 5,000 square feet each, and the third will be 10,000. The first phase is expected to be finished this year.
Two people were shot at College Hill Courts on Tuesday afternoon and one died from multiple gunshots. Police have charged Legraine Poston, 33, with criminal homicide, attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and two gun charges.

At 4:30 p.m., Chattanooga Police responded to a person shot at 710 W. 12th St.



P olice located a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.



A 27-year-old woman shot at this same location was also taken to a local hospital where she was treated for her injuries.



Police were told the suspect fled the scene in a Honda SUV. The SUV was later located by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Interstate 24 as it traveled westbound.



Both occupants of the vehicle were taken into police custody. Poston was the front seat passenger.

The woman who was shot said on Sunday there was an altercation between Poston and his girlfriend at 710 W. 12th St. She said Keyes told Poston he should apologize, which made Poston angry.

Police said video showed Keyes walk over to Poston and get in a discussion, then they got into an altercation. Poston then went to a silver Honda Pilot and retrieved a gun. He then began firing at Keyes and then the woman. He later fired more shots at Keyes.

The woman who was shot picked Poston out of a lineup.

Poston was not supposed to be carrying a gun since he had two prior felony convictions - for attempted aggravated burglary in 2011 and aggravated robbery in 2014.
Dear Hamilton County Commissioners,

Hoping this letter finds yall well. The Hamilton County Commission is the most important collective of elected leadership that makes decisions that impact local lives on every level, including education, health, infrastructure, emergency services, and the list goes on.

I watch the commission meetings to learn about the direction of the county. Chairman Baker is doing a great job leading the meetings. His proposed application for a new weighted process to determine the funding level of nonprofits is just what is needed, instead of arbitrary funding determinations. The application should be adopted prior to budget season.

At the same time, I wish to express my concern regarding the state of Tennessees recent distribution of $1.5 million to help fund the opioid crisis in Hamilton County. The funds originated from big pharmaceutical company settlements in the tangled opioid lawsuits. While the current opioid crisis is a result of illicit fentanyl and heroin that did not originate from big pharmaceutical companies, the windfall of funds from the lawsuit settlement needs to be distributed for the current crisis.

A crisis means here and now, not during a budget planning session.

I was dismayed to read the deferral of County Mayor Weston Wamp regarding the distribution of the opioid funds. He stated that the $1.5 million issued for the war on opioids would be part of the future budget season planning. Why hold those funds from an opioid crisis in full play?

The Hamilton County Sheriff is on the front lines of the war on opioids, administering Narcan or dealing with deaths from overdose. Why the wait? The $1.5 million in funds needs to go to the Sheriff, now not later.

This notion of sitting on $1.5 million that could benefit county operations that are entrenched in the opioid war is unacceptable. Simple exposure to fentanyl powder during a traffic stop can kill police officers. The overdose of police officers on the side of the road has occurred nationally from wind blowing a trace amount of fentanyl powder confiscated during a vehicle search. Well-published accounts of these type of events demonstrate that if another officer was not present to administer Narcan, death would have occurred. Does any elected official think this cannot happen here?

Why wait until budget time in an opioid crisis, when funds have been provided for that purpose?

Mayor Wamps staff stated the funds could also be used for general government. The idea of supplanting funds into departments that do not contribute to the crisis at hand is not the approach our county government should take. I hope that is not the elected plan of our County Commissioners.

Finally, I am understanding that Hamilton Countys general government has not spent prior opioid lawsuit settlement funds of about $800,000. If this is the case, it is simply wrong to sit on funds intended for the rubber-meets-the-road opioid crisis.

Please distribute the opioid settlement funds to the Hamilton County first responders. Use the funds for the crisis that is occurring here and now, and fund the people actually combating the fentanyl crisis. Frankly, county pay for first responders is not competitive and grossly embarrassing when compared to the city. I guess that is a bigger problem for the county to consider.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my concerns regarding the opioid funds.

Blessed we all are,

April Eidson

* * *

Police officers are not in danger as she describes from these roadside Fentanyl incidents. We need to stop the hysteria that is continually circulating.

The deaths come from abusers of Fentanyl not casual exposure.

I personally have been accidentally exposed to Fentanyl in the course of my work as a paramedic and never was in danger of dying from it from mere skin contact. There is a lot of anxiety created for law enforcement that is unwarranted when looking at the science around these exposure incidents.

I believe the place for increased funding for treatment of overdoses should go to EMS and healthcare providers.



Healthcare shouldnt be practiced by law enforcement.



Eric Ethridge


The Nancy Ward Chapter NSDAR met in February at the Mountain City Club. Events emphasized for participation included Mission BBQ on March 29 to honor Vietnam Veterans; the Armed Forces Day Parade on May 5th; and the Hats for Veterans project culminating in December for the annual Christmas buffet for Veterans at the Veterans Charles H. Coolidge Veterans Clinic.

Featured speaker was John Stutz, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard. He spoke about his service in Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm; and his experience in surviving the Khobar Tower bombing. Veteran Stutz was presented with a wooden handmade U.S. Flag with a silver Air Force medallion featured in the center of the Flag. (The U.S. Flag was created by artisan Paul Brookshire.)

The Nancy Ward Chapter provides community service locally in many areas of need, as well as for the state of Tennessee and is nationally recognized. Projects through the chapter provide aids to schools in educational materials for classrooms, as well as giving achievement awards to outstanding students. The local Charles H. Coolidge Veterans Clinic receives support for needed services; and chapter projects benefit homeless Veterans. The chapter annually sponsors a campaign for Wreaths Across America, participating in placing wreaths at Chattanooga National Cemetery.

The Nancy Ward Chapter welcomes prospective members who have lineage to ancestors who aided in the American Revolution. For inquiries regarding community service in the areas of patriotism, education, or historic preservation, contact Nancywardchapter@gmail.com




Dr. Willie Thomas, chief of staff at Cleveland State Community College, believes in the power of relationships. People have helped him and his family throughout the years. He earned a college degree and more despite no formal education after the 5th grade.

Born in Atlanta and raised in Chattanooga, Dr. Thomas' father was a church pastor, and his mother worked at a medical office until she stayed home to raise Dr. Thomas, his older brother and two younger sisters. Dr. Thomas' parents also took in foster children for a few years. At one time, there were eight foster children in their home.

When Dr. Thomas was in the 5th grade, his parents decided to homeschool the children. This was the last time he attended public school. Dr. Thomas said, There were not as many resources for homeschool families at that time. My mother was the teacher, and my father taught Bible class in the morning and was the disciplinarian.

When Dr. Thomas was 14 years old, his father suffered a massive stroke and was in the hospital for more than four months; his family did not have health insurance. His fathers church was small, but his family tried to keep it going by leading the services in place of his father. Church attendance diminished and expenses were cut, including the pastors salary. The family got behind on rent and vacated their home. Dr. Thomas said, I remember sleeping on pews in the church basement. A church member worked at the Howard Johnson Inn and gave us a room. She paid the $23 a night out of her own pocket.

During this difficult time, school stopped. Dr. Thomas' father would get out of the hospital for a few days, then he would have to go back. A family friend hired young Dr. Thomas and his brother for construction work so they were able to support the family with money for food and rent.

At 17-years-old, Dr. Thomas started working for Logan-Moore Construction in Chattanooga. He said, This was a real job. I was contributing to the family, and saving $50 a week for college. But, the gap in his education just got bigger.

Dr. Thomas got an ACT study book and realized that he couldnt understand it. The last thing I learned in math was multiplication, and I was good at it because of my music background. My dad was a musician; he taught us music theory. Mathematics and music theory have a correlation. Every lunch break, Dr. Thomas worked on learning algebra. When he took the ACT, he got the lowest score possible. He was devastated.

Determined to go to college, Dr. Thomas quit his job and went to gym registration at Chattanooga State Community College. He said, I thought that if I can just get past the front desk, someone will register me for classes. I tried going through the back door and talking my way in, but everyone said I couldnt start college. I didnt have a high school diploma or transcripts, no GED and the lowest possible ACT score.

Dr. Thomas returned the first week of classes. He had $1,000 saved for college, and he begged to take a class. Every day for a week, he was rejected until he met Antoinette Dobbs. Through tears, he promised to pass the GED before the end of the semester if she would let him take a class. Ms. Dobbs agreed to take him to the vice president of student services, Connie ONeal. She asked me how I was going to be successful starting a week late, Dr. Thomas remembered. I told her that I was determined, and I was committed. Ms. ONeal allowed Dr. Thomas to start college. He enrolled at Chattanooga State in the fall of 1997.

It was like Christmas morning! I told my family, and we were all yelling and crying, Dr. Thomas said. I started with all remedial classes, but I was in college. It was tough making up that gap. He took the GED in October and passed on his first attempt.

People talk about my doctorate degree. I was more proud of that GED. I felt like I had accomplished the world, Dr. Thomas said. He made the honor roll, received financial aid and became involved in student government and black student leadership.

In the spring of 2000, Dr. Thomas was graduating and wanted to transfer to Morehouse College because it was a historically black college. Even though he had work study jobs, he couldnt afford the application fee. Three days before the deadline, a church deacon wrote him a check for the $50 application fee.

Dr. Thomas was excited to get the acceptance letter from Morehouse College, until he saw the fine print which stated tuition was $20,000 a year. A security guard at Chattanooga State, called Chief, was a friend to Dr. Thomas. Unknown to Dr. Thomas, Chief was also friends with the former president of Morehouse College, Dr. Leroy Keith, Jr. Dr. Thomas met Dr. Keith, his wife and Chief for breakfast at Shoneys on Broad Street. Dr. Thomas said, I was so nervous. Dr. Keith said that he would make a call and see what he could do for me. The next week I got a letter saying I had been granted a full academic scholarship to Morehouse College. Morehouse never gave those to transfer students.

From there, Dr. Thomas graduated in 2003 with a bachelors degree in music. Ms. ONeal at Chattanooga State hired him in the financial aid office where he advanced to Financial Aid counselor, assistant director of Financial Aid and then director of Student Affairs & Conduct before working at Cleveland State.

Dr. Thomas received his masters degree from Kennesaw State University in 2009 and earned his doctorate in education from East Tennessee State University in 2021. He is married with three sons, ages 25, 15 and 2.

Dr. Thomas' father passed away in 2017. His mother went back to school and will complete her bachelors degree this year. His brother is a church pastor, and his sisters are working on their doctorate and masters degrees.

Dr. Thomas said, I cant take the credit; it was really by the grace of God. I could easily have been a statistic. Thats why I am very intentional to never judge someone on where they are today. You have to teach and cultivate the potential that they have. I cant say that I always did it right and havent made mistakes. But at the end of the day, I want to do it right.








President Joe Biden and the First Lady are praying for the victims of Monday night's terrible shooting at Michigan State University, according to a statement released by the White House on Tuesday.

Biden indicated that he talked with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer last night and ordered the deployment of all federal law enforcement personnel required to assist local and state response operations.

Biden Reacts to MSU Shooting

Biden also mentioned the fifth anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, which occurred less than twenty-four hours after the shooting in Michigan. The president remarked that the timing "should prompt every American to shout 'enough!' and demand action from Congress."

The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety named Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner as two students murdered in a mass shooting on Monday evening. Verner was a junior, while Fraser was a sophomore. According to a police announcement, the third victim's identity will not be released out of respect for the "family's wishes." The report states that five students remain hospitalized in critical condition.

The children of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel are students at Michigan State University and are "shaken up" by the incident, she told CNN. As the inquiry into the incident continues, according to Nessel, there are "many unsolved questions."

Nessel refused to comment on the contents of a note found on the gunman who targeted two New Jersey schools, stating, "I cannot speak to it at this time." However, she did indicate that she is seeking answers to other matters.

Police say a shooter killed three students and injured five others at Michigan State University on Monday night before shooting himself dead off-campus in East Lansing. According to investigators, the shooter opened fire at two campus locations, an academic building, and a student union area, triggering an hours-long manhunt while students huddled in place.

Per The Hill, Biden met with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Monday evening to offer federal assistance as the state deals with the aftermath of the incident. Since assuming office, Biden has issued many executive orders addressing gun violence, some of which focus on cracking down on the use of difficult-to-trace "ghost firearms."

The Justice Department has also utilized increased funds and task groups focused on gun violence to combat the issue. Still, mass shootings continue to be a frequent issue. Officials from the Biden administration have stated that it is a priority for the president, albeit they have admitted that he can only do so much without congressional action.

In the wake of a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school in Uvalde last year, lawmakers enacted a bipartisan gun safety package. The measure strengthened background checks for gun buyers between 18 and 21, made the acquisition of weapons through straw purchases or trafficking a federal violation, and defined the definition of a federally registered firearm dealer.

Read Also: American Volunteer Killed by 'Guided' Russian Missile Attack in Ukraine

Michigan State University Shooting Suspect

Meanwhile, Anthony McRae's father claims he became "evil and spiteful" following his mother's stroke-related death in 2020 and stopped his warehouse job to remain at home and play video games.

McRae, 43, committed suicide last night after senselessly killing three MSU students. He hurt five others. His father, Michael, 66, described him today as a "mama's boy" who became "evil and cruel" when his mother Linda died unexpectedly three years ago. Together, they resided in McRae's family home, approximately five miles from the MSU campus.

Two victims of McRae have been identified. Alexandria Verner and Brian Fraser are their names. The third victim's family has requested that their name not be made public.

McRae was discovered with a message implying a threat against two public schools in Ewing, New Jersey, that were shuttered 'out of an abundance of caution' for the day. He urged his youngster to confide in him, identifying himself as "daddy."

McRae's father claims he told him he "got rid" of his pistol, although neighbors complained about him shooting in the backyard. According to his neighbors, he shot in the backyard.

His co-workers from the warehouse said he was God-fearing and attempting to "turn his life around." According to his father, McRae's work was to put refrigerators into trucks. His older brother Michael stated he was still trying to digest it.

Anthony went to Lansing with his parents when he was 23 due to his father's relocation to General Motors. Furious After today's massacre at Michigan State University occurred barely 15 months after Ethan Crumbley killed four students at Oxford High School, Michigan Democrats called for gun control.

Children who evacuated Crumbley only 15 months ago are among the survivors of last night's shooting. Andrea Ferguson's daughter is in her first semester at MSU. She remained in position during the attack yesterday night. Jennifer Mancini is an additional mom whose daughter was involved in both incidents. The shooter in last night's incident was identified as Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old man with no known links to the school, by police this morning.

It remains unknown what his purpose for the shooting was or the weapon he used. McRae killed himself before the police came to him, having murdered three MSU students at two locations on campus last night and injured five more. The identities of these victims will be disclosed later today, as per Daily Mail.

Related Article: Active Michigan State University Shooter Prompts Shelter-in-Place Order

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photo by Tennessee Aquarium photo by Tennessee Aquarium photo by Tennessee Aquarium photo by Tennessee Aquarium photo by Tennessee Aquarium Previous Next

Thanks to its vast, intricate network of creeks and streams twining together as they descend between ridges, Southern Appalachia is home to a stunning array of fishes, crayfishes, mollusks, and amphibians.

But for many of the millions of people whose lives are spent within sight and earshot of what scientists describe as an underwater rainforest, that aquatic abundance may as well be invisible.

Just in time to welcome visitors arriving for spring break, the Tennessee Aquarium will celebrate the grand opening on March 1 of Ridges to Rivers. This all-new gallery was designed, from the ground up, to shine a spotlight on Southern Appalachias vibrant aquatic life, which often goes unseen except by the lucky few who have the opportunity to dip their heads into a stream.

As they explore Ridges to Rivers dynamic, multisensory exhibits, guests will see, hear and touch  perhaps for the first time  some of the beautiful, often-charismatic species living in waterways they drive by, swim in, or even live next to.

Im incredibly excited about this gallery, said Dr. Anna George, the aquariums vice president of conservation science and education. I snorkeled in the ocean as a kid, but it wasnt until I was well into my graduate program that I got to snorkel in a river.

Filmmakers have started showcasing life in rivers through documentaries, but theres still no substitute for seeing the actual animals with your own two eyes. Ridges to Rivers offers guests the experience of what its like to put your head in a stream and see animals you had no idea were there.

The new gallery replaces Discovery Hall, a group of exhibits dating back to 2002. The new displays showcase more than three dozen species of fish found from high-altitude streams through the mainstem flow of the Tennessee River. This geographic focus makes Ridges to Rivers an ideal first stop  after romping with River Otters, of course  for guests beginning their exploration of the River Journey building, which traces a raindrops downstream voyage from the mountains to the sea.

As they enter the gallery, guests first encounter a massive, 22-foot-long exhibit recreating the many habitats offered by mountain streams flowing into the Upper Tennessee River. With rapids rushing over and around rocks, along swift runs, and into deeper, placid pools, the exhibits diverse geography shows how a single stream can support an incredibly diverse array of species.

This single exhibit  the gallerys largest  will display two dozen kinds of fish, from tiny, colorful Gilt Darters and Saffron Shiners to larger inhabitants such as Redear Sunfish and Rock Bass. Courtesy of carefully maintained and adjusted conditions in the stream, guests will be able to see fish acting as they would in nature, from nimble courtship maneuvers and defending territories to stunning seasonal color changes.

Im looking forward to finding ways to encourage the fish to show off things like nest building or brightening up to their breeding colors, said Aquarist II Avery Millard. I think the kinds of things youll have a chance to see in Ridges to Rivers will be pretty eye-opening.

Hopefully, guests will realize we have fish here in the Southeast that are just as pretty as those in places like the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

Those seeking a dry-clothes approximation of lying down in an Appalachian creek can take full advantage of the new gallerys pop-up exhibit. From within a hollow cylinder, guests can simulate what its like to get a scale-close, snorkelers-eye view of Golden Shiners, Creek Chubs, and shimmering sunfish without the need to strap on a mask.

Nearby, a small exhibit packs a big punch with a vivid demonstration of how thunderstorms  a fact of life in the temperate rainforests of Southern Appalachia  impact streams.

Thanks to clever, behind-the-scenes engineering, lucky guests at this exhibit may witness simulated squalls every quarter hour. During these programmed events, the sunlight dims to replicate mounting cloud cover, winds start to gust, lightning flashes, and distant thunder peals as the downpours begin.

Its one of those surprise and delight moments, said Senior Manager of Exhibit Services Jeff Worley, who designed the look and flow of the gallery.

Not everyone will experience these storms, but itll be memorable for those who do, he adds. Its just an added little feature that I think will be a real highlight of your visit. If you happen to be walking by when it happens, then thats something youll probably remember.

Longtime Aquarium fans have fond memories of touching leathery-skinned Lake Sturgeon while touring Discovery Hall. With the arrival of Ridges to Rivers, laying fingers on the armored bodies of these living fossils will be an even better experience for guests and sturgeon alike.

The newly renamed Sturgeon Bend exhibit is almost three times the size of the previous touch experience and features a more open design. This updated take on a true Aquarium classic will allow even more guests to make tactile connections with a fish that can live up to 150 years and that looks much as it did in the age of the dinosaurs.

Ridges to Rivers abundance of diversions also includes a massive bronze sculpture of a Lake Sturgeon  ideal for climbing on to get that perfect Instagram post  and an enormous, interactive landscape mural with projections of digital animals and environmental details that react to the approach of nearby guests.

In keeping with the aquariums mission to connect guests of all ages with the natural world and to think critically about their role in protecting aquatic life, the gallery has an informative mascot and guide named Clementine. Throughout the gallery, this charismatic Tangerine Darter puts in an appearance to offer up kid-friendly factoids, thought-provoking challenges, and tips for leading a more conservation-minded lifestyle.

Its really important to us that our visitors learn both about the important work we do to protect aquatic life at the Tennessee Aquarium, and also to be inspired to start their own conservation journey at home, Dr. George said. Clementine will help you do that.

Learn more about some of the animals on display in Ridges to Rivers at tnaqua.org/exhibit/ridges-to- rivers/

The Ridges to Rivers gallery is made possible by the generous support of: The McKee Family, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Tennessee Valley Authority, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and Tennessee American Water.
As Hamilton County Schools launches its new strategic plan, Opportunity 2030, it invites staff, students, families, and community to share their input on budgeting priorities for the next school year.

Hamilton County Schools hosts an annual series of Community Meetings in February and early March focused on budget planning. These meetings are an opportunity for Hamilton County families, staff, and community members to share feedback as the district begins crafting its proposed budget for the upcoming school year.

The 2023 Budget Planning Community meetings will be:

Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m.

Orchard Knob Elementary, 2000 E. 3rd St.

Soddy Daisy High, 618 Sequoyah Access Road

Monday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m.

East Ridge Elementary, 1014 John Ross Road

Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m.

Red Bank Middle, 3701 Tom Weathers Dr.

Wednesday, March 1, at 12 p.m.

Virtual

Thursday, March 2, at 6 p.m.

Ooltewah Middle School, 5100 Ooltewah Ringgold Road



Children are welcome to attend with their parent/guardian, and there will be an activity table for young children. Spanish interpretation will be available at each session.
Rhea County Executive Jim Vincent ended the monthly workshop of the Rhea County Commission with great news for the county - a new higher learning facility for the county.

He said, I have some exciting news to share with you (the commission) tonight.Most of you know I have been working with John Bamber and the city of Dayton, the Governors Office and Chattanooga State. Governor Lee told me a year ago that they were going to be locating some vocational schools throughout Tennessee. I told him at that time if he did to keep Rhea County on the list. Every time I have met with him in the last year I keep reminding him of this and that we were very interested.

"Part of us qualifying for this was agreeing to donate 23 acres to the project to the state. They would pay for building the structure and running it. It wouldnt cost the county anything. Giving up that piece of ground would be our cost.

County Executive Vincent told the commission that he had a meeting on Monday at Chattanooga State with president Dr. Rebecca Ashford and she gave him a letter saying that Rhea County would be the site of one of the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT).

The school will be constructed on the Abel property located on Delaware Avenue on the 90 acres of property the city of Dayton and Rhea County have placed an option on.

County Executive Vincent said that completion of the school would be upon approval of the Governors Budget by the State Legislature.

He went on to say that he appreciates that Governor Lee has a desire to develop rural counties in Tennessee. I really appreciate that. He told us that when he was campaigning and I want to publicly thank him.

County Executive Vincent said that the governor is keeping his campaign promise to help rural Tennessee.

He noted that Governor Lee said, "Im a product of rural Tennessee and I still live on the family farm where I was raised. Im passionate about this because it is so much of who I am and where my family is from. Its why I wanted to be sure that my first detailed policy plan as a gubernatorial candidate was going to be focused on rural areas. We need to support innovation and technology to improve economic, health, and educational opportunities.

County Executive Vincent said this will be a big tool to entice industry and business to Rhea County.

He said a person going to the new TCAT school would be able to get his associates degree in the field that they want at the Dayton site without going to the main campus.

Chattanooga State wants to move all its classes in Rhea County into one site, he said. "This is going to be an awesome school.

County Executive Vincent said the development is totally funded by the state. He said that Marion County built a satellite campus and the county had to issue bonds and build the building themselves, then run it with the state.

Something that makes this so special is that Chattanooga State is going to survey all the industry and businesses, Nokian, TVA, Tenncate, La-z-Boy, Suburban and all the plants, and they are going to come up with the training needs to see what these plants need. It's going to have high tech classes in them, said County Executive Vincent.

He concluded his comments by thanking the commission for putting their trust in this project and allowing him to make the option. They (Chattanooga State) love the site that we have selected.

He said he also appreciated the Dayton City Council and City Manager Tommy Solomon for working with him to get this project.
A new type of solar technology has seemed promising in recent years. Halide perovskite solar cells are both high performing and low cost for producing electrical energy  two necessary ingredients for any successful solar technology of the future. But new solar cell materials should also match the stability of silicon-based solar cells, which boast more than 25 years of reliability.

In newly published research, a team led by Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, assistant professor in the School of Materials Sciences and Engineering at Georgia Tech, shows that halide perovskite solar cells are less stable than previously thought. Their work reveals the thermal instability that happens within the cells interface layers, but also offers a path forward towards reliability and efficiency for halide perovskite solar technology. Their research, published as the cover story for the journal Advanced Materials in December 2022, has immediate implications for both academics and industry professionals working with perovskites in photovoltaics, a field concerned with electric currents generated by sunlight.

Lead halide perovskite solar cells promise superior conversion of sunlight into electrical power. Currently, the most common strategy for coaxing high conversion efficiency out of these cells is to treat their surfaces with large positively charged ions known as cations.

These cations are too big to fit into the perovskite atomic-scale lattice, and, upon landing on the perovskite crystal, change the materials structure at the interface where they are deposited. The resulting atomic-scale defects limit the efficacy of current extraction from the solar cell. Despite awareness of these structural changes, research on whether the cations are stable after deposition is limited, leaving a gap in understanding of a process that could impact the long-term viability of halide perovskite solar cells.

Our concern was that during long periods of solar cell operation the reconstruction of the interfaces would continue, said Correa-Baena. So, we sought to understand and demonstrate how this process happens over time.

To carry out the experiment, the team created a sample solar device using typical perovskite films. The device features eight independent solar cells, which enables the researchers to experiment and generate data based on each cells performance. They investigated how the cells would perform, both with and without the cation surface treatment, and studied the cation-modified interfaces of each cell before and after prolonged thermal stress using synchrotron-based X-ray characterization techniques.

First, the researchers exposed the pre-treated samples to 100 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes, and then measured their changes in chemical composition using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. They also used another type of X-ray technology to investigate precisely what type of crystal structures form on the films surface. Combining the information from the two tools, the researchers could visualize how the cations diffuse into the lattice and how the interface structure changes when exposed to heat.

Next, to understand how the cation-induced structural changes impact solar cell performance, the researchers employed excitation correlation spectroscopy in collaboration with Carlos Silva, professor of physics and chemistry at Georgia Tech. The technique exposes the solar cell samples to very fast pulses of light and detects the intensity of light emitted from the film after each pulse to understand how energy from light is lost. The measurements allow the researchers to understand what kinds of surface defects are detrimental to performance.

Finally, the team correlated the changes in structure and optoelectronic properties with the differences in the solar cells efficiencies. They also studied the changes induced by high temperatures in two of the most used cations and observed the differences in dynamics at their interfaces.

Our work revealed that there is concerning instability introduced by treatment with certain cations, said Carlo Perini, a research scientist in Correa-Baenas lab and the first author of the paper. But the good news is that, with proper engineering of the interface layer, we will see enhanced stability of this technology in the future.

The researchers learned that the surfaces of metal halide perovskite films treated with organic cations keep evolving in structure and composition under thermal stress. They saw that the resulting atomic-scale changes at the interface can cause a meaningful loss in power conversion efficiency in solar cells. In addition, they found that the speed of these changes depends on the type of cations used, suggesting that stable interfaces might be within reach with adequate engineering of the molecules.

We hope this work will compel researchers to test these interfaces at high temperatures and seek solutions to the problem of instability, Correa-Baena said. This work should point scientists in the right direction, to an area where they can focus in order to build more efficient and stable solar technologies.
Three tribes including the Cherokee Nation have asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to exempt tribal citizens living and working within their own reservations from personal state income taxes.
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The head of NATO said Tuesday that the West is in danger of running out of ammunition, adding that Vladimir Putin is "preparing for more war" in Ukraine.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg reminded the 30 members of the military alliance that they must expedite shipments so that Ukraine can respond to Russian aggression.

NATO Says Putin Prepares For More Strikes

Ahead of a two-day conference of NATO military ministers in Brussels, the former Norwegian prime minister stated, "This has become a grinding war of attrition, and hence a struggle of logistics. This is a monumental effort by allies to be able to deliver the required ammo, fuel, and spare components."

According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow is planning a far bigger onslaught on the eastern Donbas areas, as well as new strikes on Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhia in the southeast. It follows the death of a British national in Ukraine, as per Daily Mail.

The family has been notified, but the name of the man, the eighth British national to die in the conflict, is still unknown, according to the Foreign Office. Ukraine's military forces fire around 6,000 artillery rounds daily, considerably more than their Western allies can replenish.

Russia uses up to 20,000 rounds a day, equal to what European factories can produce in one month. However, no decision has been made on providing Western fighter planes to the Ukrainian military.

Allies' reactions to Kyiv's request for immediate air help have been divided. Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine's defense minister, displayed a picture of a fighter aircraft yesterday when asked what he expected from a conference to supply the nation with more weaponry.

The United States and the United Kingdom have ruled out providing planes to Ukraine at this time, but Britain has established a training program for Ukrainian fighter pilots.

US defense secretary Lloyd Austin told a separate conference of Ukraine's partners that it "had urgent requirements to enable it to face this critical juncture in the course of the conflict" and that the coalition was working to guarantee they have the necessary armor, firepower, and logistics.

Read Also: Joe Biden Shares Emotional Reaction to Tragic MSU Shooting

Russia-Ukraine War Update

The Guardian reported that Ukraine fires between 6,000 and 7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the quantity used by Russia. NATO nations have supplied Ukraine with ammunition from their stores, but supplies are depleting, placing pressure on the western defense industry.

According to NATO, the waiting period for large-caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months; thus, orders placed today will not be fulfilled until the summer of 2025. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's defense minister, participated in the NATO ministerial and the Ukraine defense contact group meeting. This US initiative brings together more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defense against Russian aggression.

His stated objectives were protecting Ukraine's skies, "strengthening the tank coalition," securing sufficient ammunition, ensuring more training for the Ukrainian army, and ensuring stable logistics, maintenance, and repair of weapons.

NATO nations gather under tensions between Turkey and Sweden, which asked to join the alliance with Finland after Russia's incursion last year. Turkey is one of only two of NATO's 28 members that have not yet ratified Sweden and Finland's membership applications due to a dispute with Stockholm over Kurdish insurgents that is unlikely to be addressed before the May elections in Turkey.

Turkey has refused to accept the two membership applications because it wants Sweden to repatriate scores of Kurdish fighters it accuses of participating in a 2016 coup. Meanwhile, Russia has issued a warning to NATO after its Secretary-General confirmed, before a Ukraine contact group meeting at the military bloc's headquarters, that NATO has been arming and training Ukraine's troops since 2014.

Russia asserted that NATO's involvement in the Ukraine crisis was growing and that the alliance's hostility against Moscow persisted, as per Hindustan Times. Jens Stoltenberg urged the US-led NATO members to increase their supply of armaments for Ukraine, noting that Kyiv was using more ammunition daily in the conflict. Ukraine also reiterated its request for Western fighter planes.

Related Article: American Volunteer Killed by 'Guided' Russian Missile Attack in Ukraine

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Recently, a primary school in Hong Kong asked its students to kneel and serve tea to their mothers and fathers as a gesture of filial piety, a Confucian-inspired attitude of respect and service toward parents. While tea ceremonies are often performed by Chinese brides for their future in-laws, the schools instructions suggested this might also be a worthy practice for children to direct toward their own parents.

The schools decision drew significant attention and pushback from Hong Kongers, many of whom perceived the exercise as a way to compel their children to unconditionally follow authority. Since Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, numerous parents have consciously tried to avoid raising their children to blindly follow authoritysomething they believe the Chinese government would desire. Others argued that forcing students into a subservient position was a sign that the administration was trying to encourage unconditional obedience from its students.

The schools principal defended her public institutions instruction apologetically, claiming that the practice was in line with the fifth commandment to Honor your father and mother.

Many Christian schools and churches in Hong Kong, where I was born and raised, have long used Scripture to justify Confucian teachingeven when these teachings have led to heretical conclusions. Few examine the difference between Christian instruction to honor parents and traditional Chinese filial piety.

But does the Chinese understanding of filial piety really mean exactly the same as the biblical description of honoring parents? And can an emphasis on obeying the fifth commandment overlook or even rationalize parent-child relationships characterized by contention, pain, disrespect, and suffering?

Whats more, Hong Kong leaders increasingly invoke filial piety as an argument for offering them our unquestioning support. Figuring out where Chinese culture ends and the Bibles directions begin when it comes to supporting those in authority not only will affect our parent-child relationshipsit will also help us know how to live as godly citizens in an imperfect world.

Reflexively obedient

In a traditional Chinese family, filial piety dictates that parents have complete authority over their children. Mothers and fathers raise their sons and daughters to respect them and devote themselves to them unquestioningly. This arrangement continues even after parents die, as children are still expected to honor their elders.

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This teaching has guided and maintained the structure of Chinese families, workplaces, nations, and culture for hundreds of years. In Christianity, the Bible says that love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). For those living within a Confucian worldview, filial piety could almost cover all the bad deeds a person does.

In my experience, a killer could almost win the publics sympathy if he was filial enough toward his parents. People might say that deep down, he isnt a bad person but instead was lost and made some wrong life choices.

As recently as 2019, one journal article argued that filial piety supports warmth, love, harmony, and close family ties, and thus has a beneficial effect on personal growth and interpersonal relationships. This may be true for some, but I have observed filial piety bury many peoples dreams and cause much harm to children whose parents may cross boundaries in their marriages or parenting choices.

Many adults, even middle-aged people, are reflexively obedient to their parents unreasonable demands. They are powerless to resist such demands, wrote Hong Kong journalist Vivian Tam on Facebook after the tea ceremony incident. They would never say no to the older generation, even if it affects the relationship between husband and wife. They would never say that kneeling to pour tea to parents is a step backward. Even if we dont kneel to our parents physically, we are psychologically kneeling many times.

To oblige the wishes of their parents, some children end up making extreme sacrifices. I have seen children end their own marriages because their parents disliked the spouses and they found it easier to placate their parents than to stop them from abusing their households.

Sadly, even though we Chinese thirst for family harmony, we often know only how to use parental authority to compel our children to obey us.

As Tam noted, parents rarely examine their own authority and have no concept of emotional boundaries between family members. Consequently, children cannot grow up independently, and the family as a whole cannot fulfill the role God gave it at creation.

Pauls words for parents

While Confucius sees the parents as the head of the family, the Bible teaches us that this position of responsibility is the Lords. When Paul discusses the order of the family in Ephesians 6, he says to the children, Obey your parents in the Lord (v. 1), and to the parents, Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (v. 4). Scripture instructs both the children and the parents to obey the Lord. But nowhere does the Bible teach that parents requirements are equal to the Lords commands. Parents, after all, are humans who make mistakes.

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Unlike filial pietys child-subordinate-to-parent relationship, Paul envisions a mutual relationship here. Younger children may need to listen to their parents at home, but parents should know that their authority over their children is God-given. Their power does not reign supreme; they are ultimately accountable to God.

In Colossians 3:2021, Paul writes, Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. The first part of Pauls commands may almost sound like traditional Chinese parental advice. But his subsequent words check the idea of parents being the absolute authority on what might be best for their children.

Parental authority may be for a childs protection and best interest, but parents should be careful not to justify every act of authority without considering the boundaries and feelings of their children. If believers today emphasize only their childrens obedience without reflecting on parental authority and responsibility, they are actually reading Confucian concepts into the Bible.

Parent officials

So how again did a traditional activity spark such a public outcry?

Beginning with Confucius, filial piety has always extended beyond the family out to peoples relationship to the ruling officials. For hundreds of years, Chinese people have accorded respect to local magistrates in a manner reminiscent of children obeying their parents, even calling them parent officials. Until several years ago, Hong Kongers referred to the Beijing government as grandpa.

However, social and political incidents in Hong Kong in recent years have changed the publics feelings toward the mainland regime. Authoritarian rule continues to grow in Hong Kong. Voices critical of the government have grown weaker in recent years. The middle school gen ed curriculum for independent (critical) thinking has been cut in half.

Is the primary schools insistence on filial piety and obedience actually one small step toward encouraging the next generation to unquestioningly submit to those in power?

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Some scholars of Chinese literature have pointed out that Confucius did not advocate unconditional obedience. Instead, he taught that when children saw their parents making mistakes, they should try their best to persuade themand that courtiers should treat kings in the same way.

However, the social view of Confucianism has long been used by successive Chinese regimes as an instrument for the rulers. Our culture has long framed our unconditional obedience to authorities as a virtue, one that has deeply penetrated the marrow of the Chinese people. But as Chinese believers who recognize that our values come from God, not from the nation or cultural tradition, we ought to examine our tradition and its influence in the light of Gods Word.

Neither practicing blind obedience nor demanding the same from others in our lives is godly. Instead, as the Bible reveals to us, it is only by submitting to one another in the Lord, thinking and acting from one anothers perspectives, and being wise to the roles and boundaries in our relationships that we can build and deepen those relationships andwhether related by blood or notbecome a real family to each other.

Karen Wong lives in Hong Kong and loves to write. She is a believer who struggles with parenthood, thinks theologically, and constantly hopes in the gospel.
When Tim Keller arrived in New York City in 1989 to plant Redeemer Presbyterian Church, about 30 percent of Manhattan residents claimed no religion.

In 2023, about 26 percent of people in Indiana identify with no particular religion. The numbers are around the same or higher in states across the USNevada and New York, Colorado and Wisconsin.

The countrys disaffiliation and apathy to faith underscores the urgent need for cultural apologetics, according to Collin Hansen, editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition (TGC) and executive director of its new initiative named for TGC cofounder Tim Keller.

The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, which launched last week, isnt out to replicate the 72-year-old pastor but to equip leaders to also think deeply about how to present the gospel to the post-Christian context they find themselves in.

This is not about teaching everyone to think what Tim Keller thinks, but this is about helping people to think the way he learned to think about his culture and applying that to our own day, said Hansen.

This next generation of ministers and apologists have a big challenge before them. The Keller Center has gathered 26 fellows to collaborate and generate resources for the church. Among the first is Hansens spiritual biography on KellerTimothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formationwhich released last week.

TGC says it has also commissioned the largest-ever survey of people who have left the church and plans to share the results through its forthcoming book The Great Dechurching: Whos Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? The book is written by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge.

In addition to books , the center will offer podcasts, online cohorts, long-form essays, and social media content. The resources are geared toward keeping Christians from leaving the church; helping the church be a welcoming place for secular, skeptical neighbors; and preparing Christians to offer a winsome witness to the world.

Keller, who has battled pancreatic cancer since 2020 and is still undergoing treatment, will work behind the scenes, continuing to mentor and encourage some of the fellows involvedas he has done with those serving at TGC over the years.

Hansen talked with Christianity Today about the importance of establishing moral credibility in apologetics and how The Keller Center can strengthen the witness of the church. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Where did this idea for a center for cultural apologetics come from?

The original idea goes all the way back to 2019. It came from The Gospel Coalitions president Julius Kim. Julius is the first transition of leadership at The Gospel Coalition, and one of the things that he discussed was honoring our cofounders with institutions that would explicitly carry on their legacy.

What Tim Keller is so widely known for and what he has really imprinted on The Gospel Coalition has been his efforts to do cultural apologetics, to apply the gospel to all of life. That idea started in 2019. Weve been working on it with the board at The Gospel Coalition, and of course now were seeing it in 2023.

Tim Keller writes and preaches, but he is famously uninterested in building his own brand. How did The Gospel Coalition get him to attach his name to this endeavor?

Its not something that he responded to favorably when Julius Kim first reached out to ask about that. But the plain fact is when you try to explain cultural apologetics to somebody, its pretty complicated. When you say, Were trying to help a new generation do in our day what Tim Keller had done in his day, that makes sense. Its a much more straightforward way of being able to identify the kind of work that were trying to do and the kind of work we think is urgently necessary for all of the church to do today.

How do you describe cultural apologetics beyond saying doing what Tim Keller did?

Were not trying to go back and do what Tim Keller did but to learn the same sort of perspectives that we can apply to this day. Heres one of the principal ways to put it: In 1989 when Tim started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, about 30 percent or so of Manhattan was no religion. Im here in Indianapolis today, and Indiana today is about 26 percent no religion. More or less the same dynamics that were true of secular Manhattan at the time are true of almost the entire country today.

Manhattan is also quite different than it was at that time. It is going to be up to a new generation in Manhattan not to go back and do what Tim Keller did in 1989 but to figure things out for themselves at a time when hostility toward the gospel and toward Christians has substantially increased across sectors and the bigger problem is actually apathy toward the gospel.

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One of the biggest problems we face across the landscape in the West today is simply not caring at all about the things of God. That is a problem that no one has solved that we need to engage the church in working on solving together before the Lord. Its going to be a practical exercise, an academic exercise, a theological exercise, an integration of faith and work exercise. Its going to require all of us.

How do you hope the church will be strengthened by The Keller Center?

I went to seminary. Seminaries are wonderful. I cochair the advisory board of a seminary, and I teach a seminary class on cultural apologetics. If I am teaching the same class on cultural apologetics in 20 years, something will have gone horribly wrong. The issues change so much.

What does that say for somebody who 20 years from now will only be in the middle way of his or her ministry but took a class in seminary? The point is we cant rely simply on even the best institutions to do this work because the culture changes too quickly.

We need to be able to use the tools available to us for ongoing education, and its going to happen at multiple levels. It has to happen at the level of those who are teaching the teachers, our fellows, people who are engaged primarily in teaching and training others. Its going to happen at the level of pastors and other church leaderselders, deacons, small group leaders. Thats where our online, interactive cohorts come in. Its also going to have to happen at the level of parents; thats where a lot of our podcasts and essays are going to help them.

But then its going to have to happen at the level of our kids, and thats where things like new catechisms and responses, Instagram reelsthats where those are going to have to come into play. At all those different levels were looking to come behind the church or alongside church leaders and strengthen them in the callings they already exercise, by Gods grace.

How do you envision Keller being involved in the center in its early stages?

With [Kellers] pancreatic cancer, who knows what tomorrow will bring? My attitude as the executive director, and working closely with Tim on this, has always been, as much as Tim is able to and wants to help in terms of words of encouragement or suggestions or whatever he wants, thats fine. But it was designed to be something that would carry on after him. I hope hes able to give us encouragement, but Tim is a pretty hands-off leader in general. When he finds people he trusts, he pretty much lets them go.

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This is not a ministry to perpetuate Tims specific works. This is a ministry to help perpetuate the ideas and strategies for the next generation in ways that hes helped us to think over the years. This is not about teaching everyone to think what Tim Keller thinks, but this is about helping people to think the way he learned to think about his culture and now applying that to our own day all over different places around the West.

How do you envision The Keller Center being different from other training out there in the world of apologetics?

I think that the major shift that we are undergoing in apologetics is twofold. Number one is that the moral credibility of the church, of apologists themselves, has to be foregrounded. Theres been a lot of breach of trust of the church, breach of trust in high-profile apologists themselves. There has to be a level of collaboration and encouragement and accountability that happens among these leaders and institutions that will encourage them in godly patterns.

One of the things that we made a nonnegotiable about the character of The Keller Center [fellows and staff] has been attitudes of humility, which are what any teacher of the gospel is called to by Jesus himself but has not always been characteristic of leading defenders of the faith. It is essential that we be bearing witness to Christ not only in what we say but in what we do and in who we are. One of our fellows is Michael Kruger. His work Bully Pulpit might not be what a lot of people think of as cultural apologetics, but insofar as it affects the moral witness of the church, it absolutely is.

Number two is that a lot of apologetics operates within a basic Enlightenment framework of certain expected patterns of intellectual argumentation and rational discourse. The challenge is were seeing a lot of fraying at the edges of the Enlightenment. Weve seen a lot of major, high-level social criticism of the Enlightenment not being able to hold together in a post-Christendom environment. A lot of the inspiration for the work that were doing comes from the social criticism of Alasdair MacIntyre, Robert Bellah, Philip Rieff, Charles Taylor.

Our goal is through cultural apologetics to get underneath the surface-level conversations that so many people are having right now about faith to get down to the deeper social structures, or what Tim and others would call a thick view of sin rather than a thin one. Were hoping to help inspire the church to think deeper.

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Now that the announcement is out there, have you seen misunderstandings or misinterpretations of The Keller Center that youd like to clear up?

Theres always going to be assumptions, confusion, jaundiced views of things. Its part of the way our internet culture operates, so its not anything thats new or different. Bottom line: The proof is in the pudding with these kinds of things. If you do good and godly work before the face of Christ, then hopefully people will enjoy it, benefit from it, and want to join up. If we dont do good and godly work, if were doing things with the wrong motives, with a sinful heart, then what we do shouldnt last. The Lord should judge, and the Lord should destroy the work. So we will see.

Our biggest attitude is that this has to be an effort of prayer. If were not coming together before one another and praying for each other and the church, praying desperately for Gods help, then we shouldnt succeed. One of the first things our fellows did is come together online to begin to confess to one another, to ask for prayer, to hold online prayer meetings for one another. That wasnt orchestrated by me or Tim Keller or our program director, Michael Graham. That was just a spontaneous response of the need that these fellows were identifying. I trust thats the most we can do: Come before the Lord and pray and try to be humble before the Lord and others.

I think one of the biggest problems that apologists have made is they have acted like they have all the answers. For this situation today, we dont have the answers. Thats why were doing this: because we need help. We need help from the past, ultimately from God and his Scriptures, and other people in the church. This is a collaborative effort.

If apologetics is going to be useful in this generation, its going to have to be led through humility and through prayer. And if I might be so bold as to say, having written the book about Tim Keller, thats really what has characterized his life. Tim Keller is not someone who thinks he always got things right. I think thats one of the things that stands out about the book and one reason its easy to work with him on a project like this.
Artificial womb technology treats human life like a 'commodity,' bioethicist warns

A viral video promoting the potential future of artificial womb technology that would allow parents to gene edit their babies as they grow inside a portable incubator is cause for concern, according to bioethicists.

Jennifer Lahl, founder and president of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, believes the best conditions for a preborn baby to grow and develop is in his or her mother's womb, where the parent-child bonding takes place.

"When a baby is born, they instinctively know their mother from those nine months in her womb," she told The Christian Post. "They know her voice, her movements, and her smell. One can easily imagine taking the most human intimate natural bond away will have harmful consequences to both mother and child."

A video released by filmmaker and "science communicator" Hashem Al-Ghaili, titled "EctoLife: The Worlds First Artificial Womb Facility," which has been viewed more than 2 million times since December, depicts what a mass artificial womb facility capable of growing 30,000 babies annually might look like. Babies created via IVF would grow inside pods that are designed to replicate the conditions of a mothers womb with artificial amniotic fluid and an artificial umbilical cord.

Bioreactors installed in the facility would also purportedly recycle the babies' waste by turning it into useful nutrients.

Parents can also play music for the baby and monitor its condition in the pod.

Those who are financially able can purchase an elite package that would enable parents to genetically engineer their child before implanting it in the artificial womb, selecting traits such as height, strength, intelligence, skin, eye and hair color, and attempt to remove inherited genetic diseases.

Al-Ghailis video presents artificial wombs as a solution for parents struggling with infertility or for women who desire a child but want to avoid the exhaustion of pregnancy and childbirth. The video boasts that delivery of the child can be done with just the push of a button to drain the amniotic fluid and allow parents to remove the baby.

The fertility industry, which rakes in billions of dollars annually in the United States alone, doesn't have much oversight, and according to a 2019 report from the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, nearly 73% of U.S. fertility clinics provide gender selection and offer services to couples who have no fertility issues and use it for sex selection, to get a boy or a girl, or other desirable traits.

David Prentice, vice president and research director for the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and advisory board member for the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, doesnt believe that such technology as EctoLife, if feasible, would address complex arguments about a preborn baby's humanity that often emerge in debates about ethics.

What we really have to do is help people understand that these are real human beings, real lives, valuable lives, the adjunct professor of molecular genetics at the John Paul II Institute, The Catholic University of America, told CP. And we need to come up with better ways to address this in terms of personal responsibility and valuing every human life.

As Prentice noted, the video is designed as a marketing ploy to attract interest from investors who might fund a lab housing artificial womb pods. Prentice cited research published in 2021 about a team of Israeli scientists who grew synthetic mouse embryos in artificial wombs as proof the technology is not impossible.

He further cited a 2017 study published in Nature that showed artificial wombs had successfully sustained premature lambs and enabled them to develop essential organs. But it remains to be seen whether this technology can be used to save the lives of premature infants, he added.

Prentice stressed, however, that the baby-growing labs Al-Ghaili describes are nowhere near reality at this point, and the video is pure science fiction.

The technology treats human life like a commodity, and that's an ethical problem, Prentice insisted.

Because he's talking not just about the possibilities of gestating completely in an artificial environment, but using things like gene editing, even cloning technology to make the kind of baby that you want, he added, calling the idea macabre.

It turns human life and having a baby into a circus, Prentice lamented.

Another ethical issue raised by artificial wombs is that it could encourage parents to create their ideal baby, one that does not have disabilities. Prentice believes this trend is already present with many prenatal tests. For example, parents that receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome might decide to abort the child.

The idea is not to try and create the baby that you want or to screen out babies that you don't want, Prentice said. But to change our attitude where we value every human life.

Last year, CP reported on an article from The New York Times that found 85% of prenatal screenings that detect a rare disorder end up being wrong, raising questions about the tests accuracy.
According to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office, former child actor Austin Majors, best remembered for his role on 'NYPD Blue,' has died. He was 27.

Kali Majors-Raglin, his sister, verified the news to CNN by email. Austin Setmajer-Raglin Majors passed away on February 11. His family described Majors as "an artistic, brilliant, and loving human being" in a statement.

Austin Majors Found Dead

The big role for the former child actor occurred in 1999 when he played Theo Sipowicz, son of Det. Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), on ABC's police program 'NYPD Blue.' According to IMDB, Majors featured in 48 episodes from 1999 to 2004.

Throughout the 2000s, Majors appeared on several television shows, including 'ER' and a 2005 two-episode storyline as the voice of Hyllus in the 'Hercules' miniseries. Through 2007, Majors also starred on 'NCIS,' 'According to Jim,' and 'Desperate Housewives.'

In 2009, his last professional credit was a cameo appearance on 'How I Met Your Mother' on CBS. He was also active on YouTube, according to his sister. According to his family's statement, Majors, who "liked camping and fishing," graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and had a passion for directing and music production.

Read Also: Megan Fox, Machine Gun Kelly Break Up Rumor: Here's the Truth!

'NYPD Blue' Actor's Cause of Death

According to sources, the fatal ingestion of fentanyl led to the death of 'NYPD Blue' star Austin Majors. The former child star reportedly stayed at a Los Angeles homeless shelter where his death was discovered, as per Mirror.

Yesterday, an autopsy was performed on Majors' remains, and the full toxicology findings are anticipated to be disclosed within a few months. Following Austin's terrible death, his family released a statement paying respect to him. On Twitter, tributes to the celebrity have been flooding in, with one fan saying, "So incredibly sad, rest in peace."

RIP To Austin Majors. The Actor Has Sadly Passed Away At The Age Of 27. (Making Him Part Of The 27 Club. A Group Of People Who Died At Age 27.) Not A Familiar Name. But He Provided The Voice Of Young Jim Hawkins In Disney's Treasure Planet. @hitRECordJoe Voiced Jim As A Teenager. pic.twitter.com/LGDQLG4McL  Osmosis Jones Rules Est 2003 (Justin Thomas) (@jones_est) February 13, 2023

NYPD Blue child star Austin Majors found dead at homeless shelter aged 27 #AustinMajors https://t.co/sYrkTP7t4A  y2k (@Urbabysfave) February 13, 2023

And another!!!!! Former child actor Austin Majors dies at 27 #NewsBreak https://t.co/0cYNZLi9KJ  christina bastias (@bastias54) February 14, 2023

Austin Major's role in NYPD Blue earned him the 2002 Young Artists Award for Best Performance in a Television Series. He was nominated in 2003 and 2004 for the same prize. His performance in Treasure Planet won him another Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role nomination. According to his website, American actor Dennis Franz described the child as "a joy to work with."

In the weeks preceding his death from an apparent drug overdose on the weekend, Austin Majors exhibited disturbing behavior on social media. According to his IMDB website, Majors has not acted since 2009 and had just begun a music career under the moniker 'Pope!'.

In several recent articles, Majors pushed his music, a compilation of gloomy house music, while discussing existential issues and even acknowledged battling "isolation demons" months before his death.

Per Daily Mail, it is unknown whether Majors was experiencing homelessness at the time of his death or how long he had been staying at the shelter where he was purportedly discovered dead. In 2020, despite not having performed in almost a decade, Austin posted a photo of his Screen Actors Guild membership card on Instagram, stating that he had been a member for twenty years.

Majors had been pursuing a career in music instead of acting. In many online writings, he referred to himself as a "struggling artist." His music was filled with low notes and dissonant, a-melodic synthesizer lines, and it represented the same gloomy and disorganized state of mind as his social media posts.

Related Article: Cody Longo Cause of Death: 'Days of Our Lives' Actor Dies at 34

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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.
Samaritan's Purse opens field hospital in Turkey as earthquake death toll surpasses 40K

International Christian aid charities have bolted into action to support those impacted by last week's 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last week and killed tens of thousands of people, with a leading Evangelical aid agency establishing a field hospital.

The North Carolina-based Samaritan's Purse deployed a 52-bed emergency field hospital near Antakya in southern Turkey to help fill the void after a major hospital in the region was damaged by the Feb. 6 earthquake. Over 40,000 people were killed, and tens of thousands need medical care.

The field hospital is equipped with a pharmacy and two operating rooms and is located in the parking lot of the 1,100-bed hospital that is longer in operation after the earthquake. On Monday, Samaritan's Purse said doctors and nurses had treated dozens of patients in the first hours of the field hospital's opening.

"Our Emergency Field Hospital is now open, and our medical team has already treated earthquake injuries like broken bones, wounds and infections," said Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham, the son of the late legendary evangelist Billy Graham.

"People are suffering, and we are there to meet their physical needs in Jesus' Name. Please pray for everyone affected and for our Disaster Assistance Response Team as they meet these emergency needs."

Samaritan's Purse will also bring supplies to the most-impacted areas, including tarps, blankets, and solar lights. The charity plans to have more than 100 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) specialists on the ground, helping at hospitals or other areas where there's a need.

Charles Franzen, director of humanitarian and disaster response at the Evangelical humanitarian organization World Relief, said his organization offers relief to the region through longstanding partnerships with local churches and organizations. World Relief is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals.

While World Relief is not on the ground in Turkey or Syria, the organization has mobilized relief efforts through its close partnerships with other agencies, according to Franzen. World Relief has partnered with some of these local agencies for over a decade.

One of those partnerships is with Tearfund Germany, formally World Relief Germany, which partners with churches in more than 50 countries to deliver emergency aid.

When World Relief Germany became Tearfund Germany, Franzen said the newly named organization took over those partnerships. But World Relief still maintains close relationships with those partnerships.

Another route World Relief is taking to get aid into the needed areas is through longstanding membership in the Integral Alliance, a coalition of 21 Christian humanitarian and development organizations. Four agencies out of the 21 are actively involved in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, he said.

"They're involved in all the different issues that are involved, their shelter and recovery, cash, food support washes, all of the different things that they can do in the immediate aftermath of the disaster," he continued.

Gulsums, the deputy director of the Christian media ministry SAT-7 on the ground in Turkey who didn't want her last name identified, said the network has been helping survivors of the earthquake since the tragedy began.

She said the people there are "shocked, sad and angry."

"We started to actually give numbers to emergency services, bank accounts of emergency services in Turkey," she told CP in an interview. "And if people want to send help, we just try to give them information."

SAT-7 directs people to municipalities to help them obtain resources such as clothes, food and water, Gulsums said. In addition to information, the media ministry invites people to call with prayer requests, and the staff prays for them.

SAT-7 also provides parents with the name of a trauma psychologist featured on the network who counsels kids experiencing mental health issues due to the earthquake.

"We are a holistic TV channel," Gulsums said. "We are not only talking about God, but we also try to help the society, the parents, and the kids."

The death toll from the earthquake has surpassed 40,000  35,418 in Turkey and more than 5,800 in Syria.

The earthquake's impact has also extended beyond Syria and Turkey.

Residents of Lebanon felt the aftershocks of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, with municipalities asking people in Beirut and neighboring cities to evacuate homes and buildings, especially those already damaged by the Beirut explosion of August 2020.

According to a statement from St. Rafka Mission of Hope and Mercy, a Christian charity, residents have been forced to evacuate their homes in the midst of a devastating snowstorm in the region.

Father Andre YS Mahanna, who heads up the organization, expressed gratitude for a team of U.S. doctors who will fly to Lebanon to help the group's relief efforts from Feb. 16 to Feb. 23.

"This historical visit also comes as a response to the economic disasters and medical crises that have severely affected millions of people in the region," he said.

"The real disaster in Lebanon remains that people have no fuel for warmth or electricity, meagre food supplies, no medical supplies or access to affordable healthcare, and over one million children have not returned to school since the Christmas Break," Mahanna said. "Help from US doctors is critical if we are to address the crisis in Lebanon and the Middle East."

The group has also opened a relief fund to help people in Lebanon and the Middle East by providing food, medications, tents and temporary housing, blankets, fuel for warming homes, emergency surgeries if needed and school education.

St. Rafka Mission of Hope and Mercy is also inviting people in the U.S. to join them this week for a week of prayer, solidarity and acts of charity for Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
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.
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.
Loudoun County School Board won't release investigation report on handling of sexual assaults

The Loudoun County School Board in Virginia voted Tuesday night not to release an independent investigation report into the district's handling of sexual assaults at two of its high schools, which led to the firing of its superintendent and criminal charges.

The school board voted 6-3 not to release the Blankingship & Keith Report, drawing anger from many parents in attendance. Located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Loudoun County Public Schools is educating more than 82,000 students in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

The report detailed the findings of an independent investigation conducted by the law firm Blankingship & Keith into a May 2021 sexual assault at Stone Bridge High School and an October 2021 sexual assault at Broad Run High School. Both acts were committed by the same perpetrator, a male high school student, against minor female high school students.

A statement from the school district notes that the board voted "not to waive any applicable privileges" regarding the report following a motion made by board member John Beatty to publicly release the report.

While board members Beatty, Tiffany Polifko and Denise Corbo voted to make the report public, their colleagues Ian Serotkin, Harris Mahedavi, Atoosa Reaser, Jeff Morse, Erika Ogedebge and Brenda Sheridan voted against doing so.

"Being open and transparent is important, but so is the right of our students and staff to be able to communicate with legal counsel without it being made public," Serotkin, the board chair, said in a statement. "Releasing the report would cause a subject matter waiver of every communication everyone in LCPS had with legal counsel broadly related to these incidents over the past year and a half."

"If I could disentangle the release of the report, I would," he continued. "But we cannot."

The sexual assaults at the Loudoun County Public Schools became the subject of national outrage following the October 2021 Daily Wire report detailing the first assault. The first incident occurred in a girls' bathroom at Stone Bridge High School, where the perpetrator reportedly wore a skirt. At the time of the first incident, the district was considering a policy allowing trans-identified students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity instead of their biological sex.

The student was transferred to Broad Run High School after serving a short period in juvenile detention over the summer of 2021. He committed another sexual assault at Broad Run shortly after arriving there.

While the school district knew about the Stone Bridge High School incident the day it took place, they did not inform Loudoun County parents of what happened. Then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler assured parents concerned about the then-proposed policy that no sexual assaults had ever occurred in girls' bathrooms in the school district. The school board ultimately voted to approve the policy.

Loudoun County Public Schools hired Blankingship & Keith to conduct an independent review of the district's handling of the sexual assaults in October 2021. The report has been available for more than a year, and the school district has consistently declined to release it, citing concerns about attorney-client privilege.

The Loudoun County School Board voted to fire Ziegler late last year following the publication of a grand jury report concluding that the school district "failed at every juncture" to prevent the sexual assaults. Shortly after his termination, Virginia's Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares announced that the grand jury had handed down four indictments against Ziegler and Wayde Byard, the school district's public information officer.

The grand jury report determined that school administrators failed to take action to address the inappropriate behavior of the perpetrator leading up to the first assault and maintained that district leadership presided over "a culture of fear" where "anybody speaking up or daring to speak out of place faces some sort of reprimand."

Ziegler faces "one count of misdemeanor false publication," "one count of misdemeanor prohibited conduct" and "one count of misdemeanor of penalizing an employee for a court appearance." Byard faces one count of felony perjury.

Acting Superintendent Daniel Smith vowed that although the school board voted not to release report, "LCPS will remain focused on continuing to make improvements wherever we can and working toward our goal of empowering each student to maximize their potential and make meaningful contributions to the world."

Scott Smith, whose daughter was the victim of the first sexual assault that took place in a girls' bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021, reacted with outrage after the board voted against releasing the report.

Video footage of the school board meeting shared by local news outlet WJLA shows Smith condemning the board as "scumbags" and "liars," asking them, "What are you covering up?"

Scott Smith, father of one of the victims at the center of the investigation, scolded Loudoun County School Board members after their vote to not release their investigation into how they handled the two sexual assault cases



MORE on the vote fallout here: https://t.co/NA5N2yPKmnpic.twitter.com/LkevKA9Dqe  7News DC (@7NewsDC) February 15, 2023

Speaking to media outlets after the school board meeting, Smith raised concerns about the safety of Loudoun County students.

"How can you send this child to school tomorrow with this school board in charge of your children's safety?" he asked. "How can a parent with any intelligence send your child to school tomorrow? Mine won't be in school tomorrow. Absolutely not."
'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.
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."
'Absolute Disastrous Mess': At Least 7 People Killed, Over 140 Injured in Amtrak Train Derailment in Philadelphia; Mayor Calls Tragedy 'Unbelievable'

At least seven people are reported to have been killed and over 140 injured late on Tuesday when an Amtrak train carrying 238 passengers and five Amtrak employees derailed outside of Philadelphia and rolled onto its side. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called the scene of the crash an "absolute disastrous mess," the likes of which he had never seen before.

"It is an absolute disastrous mess," Nutter told reporters Wednesday morning, Fox News reported. "Never seen anything like this in my life."

Nutter added that not all of the passengers on the train had been accounted for.

"It is a devastating scene down there," he added. "We walked the entire length of the train area, and the engine completely separated from the rest of the train, and one of the cars is perpendicular to the rest of the cars. It's unbelievable."

Amtrak revealed in a statement on its website that Northeast Regional Train 188 derailed north of Philadelphia, and provided Amtrak Incident Hotline 800-523-9101 as a way for individuals to ask questions about friends and family on the train.

All seven cars derailed and came off the tracks near Frankford Junction on the 2000 block of Wheatsheaf Lane shortly after 9 p.m., authorities added, noting that the train was en route from Washinton, D.C. to New York.

Although only five people were initially reported to have been killed, Dr. Herbert Cushing, Chief Medical Officer at Temple University Hospital, confirmed that another patient died there as a result of his/her injuries, according to NBC Philadelphia. Eight others are still in critical condition, Cushing added.

Passengers who survived the derailment described the incident as very sudden.

"All of a sudden it felt like the brakes were hit hard and then our car," said passenger Michael Black. "We were third from the last, just slowly started going over to the side. I tried to just brace my arm against it and then just got off."

Another passenger, Daniel Wetrin, who was among more than a dozen people taken to an elementary school afterward, described the incident as "surreal."

"I think the fact that I walked off (the train) kind of made it even more surreal because a lot of people didn't walk off," Wetrin said.

"I walked off as if, like, I was in a movie. There were people standing around, people with bloody faces. There were people, chairs, tables mangled about in the compartment ... power cables all buckled down as you stepped off the train."

Officials said that they will be investigating the cause for the derailment.

"I've never seen anything so devastating," said Philadelphia Fire Department Deputy Commissioner Jesse Wilson. "They're in pretty bad shape. You can see that they're completely, completely derailed from the track. They've been destroyed completely. The aluminum shell has been destroyed and they've been overturned completely."
American Psychological Association denies endorsing consensual non-monogamy

The American Psychological Association is denying assertions from a recent column claiming it advocates for the legal recognition of polyamorous relationships.

Earlier this month, Dr. Melissa Martin, a former child therapist, had a column published by The Published Reporter claiming that the APA Division "formed a task force to promote what it calls 'consensual non-monogamy relationships' (CNM)" and was "circulating a survey and a petition seeking to secure legally protected class status for individuals with multiple sex partners."

"What is the covert reason the APA 44 wants people involved in group sexual relations to have civil rights and legal status? In my opinion APA wants bigamy and polygamy to be legalized as group marriage," wrote Martin.

"Oh, APA 44 is promoting CNM  but they want it legalized. Yes, the radical activists will demand the legalization of group marriage."

An APA spokesperson told The Christian Post the APA 44 task force's creation did not equate to an endorsement of non-monogamous romantic relationships.

APA Public Affairs Director Kim I. Mills told CP, "APA divisions are quasi-independent organizations that are free to establish committees to represent and promote their specialties within psychology, using the best empirical evidence."

"As such, they do not speak for the American Psychological Association, which does not have a policy with respect to consensual non-monogamous relationships," she continued.

"The only official APA policies are those that are adopted by the APA Council of Representatives, the APA's governing body of nearly 200 of the nation's leading psychologists, which meets twice a year. APA's Council of Representatives has not adopted, and has not been asked to adopt, a policy on this issue."

Mills acknowledged the existence of the APA 44 task force and stressed that its primary purpose is to "to generate research, create empirically informed clinical resources and promote awareness of CNM-issues to our field and the public."

According to its website, the APA Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-Monogamy "focuses on research, practice, and education about consensually non-monogamous relationships."

"These diverse forms of consensually non-monogamous relationships include, but are not limited to, polyamory, open relationships, swinging, and other types of ethical non-monogamous relationships," explains the committee.

"The Committee on CNM seeks to address the needs of people who practice consensual non-monogamy, including needs that may arise from the intersection of CNM with their other marginalized identities."

The committee lays out five key purposes, including "basic and applied research," public awareness, promoting "the development and delivery of affirmative psychological services to CNM-identified individuals," advancing "education and training on CNM across contexts and audiences" and advancing the "social justice, public interest and the welfare of people engaged in CNM."
Sen. Josh Hawley introduces bill banning kids younger than 16 from using social media

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced a bill that seeks to protect children online by requiring social media companies to prohibit anyone age 16 and younger from using their platforms.

Introduced by Hawley on Tuesday, the bill, Known as the Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective (MATURE) Act, states:  ... beginning on the date that is 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the operator of a social media platform shall not allow an individual to create an account on the platform unless the individual is age 16 or older, as verified by the platform using an age verification process.

Social media platforms would be required users to provide their full legal name, date of birth and government-issued identification before being able to create an account and use the app. However, the bill exempts any social media accounts created before the bill gets enacted.

The bill adds that social media platforms would also be banned from selling, transferring or using "any information collected from an individual for the purpose of verifying the individuals identity and age for any other purpose."

Hawley also introduced a second bill, the Federal Social Media Research Act, that would commission a study that tracks the harmful effects of social media on children for a span of 10 years.

Children suffer every day from the effects of social media. At best, Big Tech companies are neglecting our childrens health and monetizing their personal information. At worst, they are complicit in their exploitation and manipulation. Its time to give parents the weapons they need to strike back, said Hawley in a statement shared with The Christian Post.

That starts with an age restriction for social media. And its long past time for well-funded research on the scale of the problem. We must set the precedent that these companies can no longer take advantage of our children.

When it was first launched in 2004, Facebook initially required users to be college students. Later, it expanded membership to include high school students and presently allows youth as young as 13 to have accounts. Twitter and TikTok both allow accounts to be opened by 13-year-olds.

Recently, efforts have been launched to hold social media websites and apps accountable for the potential harm they inflict on minors, be it through cyberbullying or sexual predation.

On Monday, Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Maxie Hirono of Hawaii introduced the Clean Slate for Kids Online Act.

If enacted, their bill would give Americans the right to demand that internet companies delete all personal information collected from them when they were aged 13 and younger.

Internet companies too often seek to profit from collecting reams of personal data on Americans, including children, stated Durbin. Its time to put in place some tougher rules of the road  especially when it comes to our kids, who do not fully understand the consequences of their online use.
The Russian government has imprisoned thousands of Ukrainian children in several camps since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war almost one year ago, one study revealed.

The research reveals Moscow's attempts to transfer, re-educate, and militarily train or forcefully adopt Ukraine children, according to CNN.

The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab's Conflict Observatory, funded by the US State Department, gathered evidence of Russian crimes in the Ukraine war for the study.

The Yale research was based on satellite photos and publicly accessible reports in the Russia Ukraine war.

Yale researcher Nathaniel Raymond said the study is a "gigantic Amber alert" as it uncovers that Moscow's approach constituted a "clear violation" of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the handling of civilians during times of war.

The research discovered that more than 6,000 Ukraine children - ranging in age from just months old to 17 - had been in Russia camp at some point throughout the almost year-long Russia Ukraine war, although the precise number of children is not known, and is likely much higher than 6,000.

The report claimed the Ukrainian children comprised those with parents or evident family caregivers, those designated orphans by Russia, those who were in Ukrainian state facilities before the Ukraine war, and those whose status was ambiguous because of the Russia Ukraine war, according to Al Jazeera.

Read Also: Cyclone Slams New Zealand

Ukrainian Children Reportedly Being Re-Educated, Trained for Combat

It listed 43 sites as part of the grid, which "stretches from one end of Russia to the other." It includes Siberia, the eastern Pacific coast, and the Russian-occupied Crimea.

Raymond stated the facilities look to be used for "political re-education." He also said that facilities in Russia camp speed up the process of adoption of Ukraine children.

The study claimed that the Ukrainian children had also received firearm training, but according to Raymond, there is no proof that they were being thrown back into the Ukraine war.

Raymond claimed the youngest child in an adoption camp is 4 months old, whereas the youngest at military training camps seems to be 14. per CNBC.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Wants 'More War'

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New Jersey Train Derailment: Toxic Chemicals Spilled, Residents Evacuated

A train in carrying toxic chemicals has reportedly crashed in southern New Jersey after the bridge it was crossing collapsed, sending toxic chemicals into a creek below.

New Jersey's state emergency crews were already at the scene of the freight train derailment and had already begun trying to contain the spill.

The train was crossing a bridge in the West Deptford area of New Jersey Friday morning when the bridge collapsed, sending several train cars filled with toxic chemicals crashing into a creek near the Delaware River, the U.S. Coast Guard has revealed.

The cars contained vinyl chloride, a highly toxic and flammable chemical, and it is believed to be contaminating the creek, Nick Ameen, a U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer, told CNN.

No deaths have been reported, but residents around the creek have been evacuated and nearby schools are currently under lockdown, a borough emergency official stated.

Helicopter footage shows at least two tankers in the creek and one hanging over a trestle, part of which had partially collapsed.

Residents revealed they smelled an odor in the area and people in the town of Paulsboro were told should stay indoors and to keep all windows closed, a Gloucester County spokeswoman told WPVI.

It's not clear what caused the derailment, which occurred about 17 miles south and across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
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.
Shooting At Michigan State University, Damar Hamlin Criticized For Jesus Jacket, Are God And Science In Conflict?

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Top headlines for Wednesday, February 15, 2023



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.



An armed man entered the campus of Michigan State University and opened fire, killing at least three students and wounding five others in a mass shooting before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.



Did Damar Hamlin wear a jacket mocking the death of Jesus Christ during Americas biggest sporting event? Can faith and science co-exist? Christian Post reporter Nicole Alcindor discusses this important topic on this weeks Inside Story podcast.
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.
Dead baby found in drainage pipe by tenant working on plumbing at apartment complex

Police officers in south Texas near the Mexico border said an investigation is underway after a tenant in an apartment complex discovered the remains of a baby inside a drainage pipe.

A tenant working to unclog a pipe in their apartment on Jan. 30 found the baby's remains, possibly from a chemical abortion and flushed down the toilet, and called 911.

The Mission Police Department confirmed that it is investigating the incident, according to network news affiliate Valley Central in Harlingen.

Police also clarified that the individual who found the dead baby was not a plumber, but a tenant who was working on the plumbing. The tenant had been having issues with the backflow of the water in their apartment and that he later found the babys remains "next to the drainage pipe."

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life Action, said the incident highlights concerns about women being advised to flush their babies' remains down the toilet, along with chemically tainted blood and tissue that go into the wastewater system.

Though the information is scarce on this case, it's clear that an infant's body has not been handled with dignity and care, and as Students for Life and SFLAction have noted, the advice to flush human remains can harm aquatic, animal and even plant life, Hamrick, who also serves as the chief media and policy strategist for Students for Life of America, told The Christian Post on Tuesday.

The pro-life advocate pointed to SFLA and SFLActions Red Bag Medical Waste citizens petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which the FDA rejected in January. The petition called for reinstating safety standards for abortion pills, in addition to raising concerns about the environmental impact of flushing human remains down toilets or sinks.

The Biden administration's push for online distribution of abortion pills exposes women to injury, infertility, death and abusers, who can get the drugs to use on mothers without their knowledge or consent, Hamrick added. The list of harms continue as we look deeper into how sending human remains as policy into our wastewater is impacting all of us.

In a previous interview with CP, two post-abortive women shared their horrifying experiences with using abortion pills. Both women described seeing their unborn baby's remains in the toilet after prolonged, agonizing pain and hemorrhaging.

There is nothing natural or safe about it, Krissy Spivey told CP about the abortion pills. Essentially, you become your own abortionist, and nothing can prepare you for how traumatizing that is.

Your safe place, whether it be your home or your workplace, becomes a graveyard. The emotional toll that it takes, the trauma that happens in those places that are supposed to feel safe. ... Youre robbed of so much more than the life of your child. Youre robbed of your safe place, she added.

On Jan. 3, the FDA announced that it had modified its protocol for using abortion pills, allowing certified pharmacies to dispense the pills to women. Under the new policy, women can also obtain a prescription through a telehealth appointment and receive abortion-inducing drugs by mail.

On its website, the FDA stated that it had been conducting a review of its mifepristone REMS protocol since 2021.

The agency said available data and information support modification of the REMS to reduce burden on the health care delivery system and to ensure the benefits of the product outweigh the risks.

Pro-life advocates such as Sue Liebel, director of state affairs and Midwest regional director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, disagreed, citing a 2009 study in an interview with CP. The study found that chemical abortions have four times the complication rate of surgical abortions.

"The immediate message that we are sending is that this is very reckless, and this is the FDA, yet again, peeling back health and safety regulations surrounding these dangerous drugs," Liebel told CP.
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.
Asbury University revival: What to expect in a spillover effect

Reports from Asbury University are so very encouraging! Since last Wednesday, theres been 24/7 prayer, worship, testimony, confession of sin, Scripture reading, silence, and more in the chapel at this Kentucky school. People from across the United States are flocking to the campus to experience what God is doing.

One of those who attended is evangelist Jon Burdette, my good friend and co-conspirator in the advancement of the Gospel.

He told me this:

Attending the revival at Asbury was an unforgettable experience. We could literally feel the weighty presence of God as soon as we walked into the building. Sensing Gods presence in that way and knowing that this was an unplanned service that had continued since Wednesday morning, I got emotional within the first few minutes of being there. There was passionate, authentic worship, brokenness, people praying at the altar, people praying at their seats, and people praying with each other in groups around the room. For this particular segment of the service, there was just one person leading worship on a piano. No microphone, no words on a screen, no service rundown. Just Spirit-led worship that ranged from calm, quiet harmonies to eruptions of loud singing, clapping, and testifying. My daughter Shailynn was there with me, and she said she couldnt describe it in words. She wanted to stay all day! The best way I can describe it is that you felt a sense of tranquility all throughout your being that made it difficult to leave the room. No programs, but complete peace. There were no rules, but it was totally in order. There was lots of emotion, but no emotionalism. I cant wait to see how God uses this to advance the Gospel near and far.

What now?

Social media is abuzz with stories from those whove experienced whats now tagged #asburyrevival. And the reports give me hope that we could once again see a sweeping awakening across this nation.

But throughout church history, theres always been a spillover effect of true revival. What is it? Evangelism!

We see this spillover effect in the Welsh Revival of 1904; in the spiritual movement that happened in and through the Moravians; in the First Great Awakening, led by George Whitefield and John Wesley; and in the Jesus Movement, just 50 years ago in the United States. Every significant spiritual movement results in evangelism.

A biblical precedent

In Acts 4:31, we get a clear glimpse of the spillover effect in the midst of a powerful move of God:

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

1. The power of prayer shook the building

 the place where they were meeting was shaken 

As exciting as being in the chapel at Asbury University is right now, imagine what it would be like to be in the room when the hand of God literally shook the building in response to the early believers prayers. Talk about an amen! Talk about a literal move of God. He moved the building!

2. The power of the Spirit shook the believers

 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit 

The early believers in this passage prayed in unity and got filled with the Holy Spirit simultaneously. God was doing something special in that room 2,000 years ago.

From every report Im getting about the Asbury Revival, the exact same type of thing is happening. Believers are praying and praising in unity. Its not an out-of-control show. Its not hype. Its a Spirit-orchestrated meeting with Spirit-filled believers, with the focus on Jesus  and Jesus alone.

3. The power of the Gospel shook the city

 and spoke the word of God boldly.

But the revival didnt stay in the room. It spilled over into the streets. The power of the Gospel shook the city! These believers spoke the word of God boldly, despite the recent religious declaration that outlawed Christian evangelism.

These believers would not be stopped. Theyd just experienced the power and presence of God, and now they were taking it to the streets!

A defining characteristic of true revivals is that they never stay in the room. They always eventually spill out onto the streets!

A historical precedent

According to a Ministry Watch report by Kim Roberts, when a similar revival broke out at Asbury University in 1970, 2,000 witnessing teams were sent out from Asbury to churches and colleges across the country.

The original revival that started at Asbury University spilled out onto the streets.

Im very hopeful that whats happening now at Asbury University will end up with evangelism teams, once again, being mobilized around Kentucky and across the nation.

Pray with me that this happens.

We need revival now in this country more than ever. We need whats happening right now at Asbury University to experience the spillover effect of true revival: the Gospel being proclaimed beyond the chapel walls.
When textual variants become a convenient excuse

Imagine being sent off to war in a distant land and not seeing your fiancee for 5 years, without a single letter, phone call or email being exchanged as you desperately cling to love, memories and hope.

You eventually make the anguished assumption that your fiancee no longer loves you and has forgotten all about you. And to make matters worse, you suffer life-altering injuries from a bomb blast on the battlefield.

After arriving home with PTSD, you refuse to meet with your fiancee. You wont budge an inch, even after some friends explain that she wrote to you every day you were gone. I dont believe it, you say.

Your fiancees love letters never reached you and are nowhere to be found. Thankfully, your fiancee showed those letters to her friends, and gave them permission to make hand-written copies for themselves. But even after they show you those copies, you still shockingly refuse to accept the truth.

You begin looking for any reason to dispute the historicity of the original letters. After closely investigating the copies, you discover plenty of textual variations in them. You come across the addition or omission of a word here or there. You also find some spelling differences, and the word order is not exactly the same from one copy to another.

Your conclusion? These textual variants are proof that my fiancee never wrote me any letters. It is a scam. Her friends must have conspired to fabricate these copies. I know she doesnt love me anymore.

Meanwhile, the friends are saying you have it all wrong. She does love you, they say. And if you will just be reasonable, you will see that our copies all contain the same message of her never-ending love for you.

A decision must be made. Will you continue to deny the truth, or will you come to your senses and allow what was written in the love letters to soften your soul, heal your heart and restore your relationship? Will you continue to place your unhealthy obsession with textual variants above a loving relationship with your fiancee? Your sister offers you this advice: Life is too short to believe the lies we tell ourselves.

This fictional tale illustrates what can happen when a person becomes shell-shocked for one reason or another, and then refuses to acknowledge the truth about God and the Bible. These wounded individuals are often oblivious to the agony the Messiah endured to rescue them from sin and death, and they refuse to accept the clear testimony of Gods Word.

The Bible consists of 66 love letters from God detailing specific prophecies and historical events centered around the Lords astonishing plan of eternal salvation. The 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books were written by 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 years. To date we have over 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, with an astounding 2.6 million pages of biblical text. The manuscripts are copies of the original texts sent out by the biblical writers.

Since the printing press was not invented until the 15th century, the copies were produced entirely by hand. These manuscripts have thousands upon thousands of textual variants. But as Tim Barnett noted: Its not the number of variants thats important, its the nature of the variants. Most variants are trivial, affecting nothing. In fact, more than 99% fall into this category.

Nevertheless, some people choose to put more stock in the textual variants than in the good news of the Gospel as revealed in the New Testament. And rather than being thankful for nearly 6,000 Greek manuscripts, they become completely distracted by the textual variants and take their eyes off the prize. This unfortunate tangent leads many people to reject the One who loves them dearly and endured crucifixion in order to pay for their sins.

Bart Ehrman is a prominent New Testament scholar. In discussing his journey to atheism, he said, My whole life was wrapped up in the Christian faith. It was rooted in what I thought was a personal relationship with God through Christ. I started realizing the Bible did have problems and that it looked like there were contradictions. Once I said that, I realized there could be other problems in the Bible ... But it wasnt problems with the Bible I was wrestling with. It was why is there so much suffering in the world? Thats why I left the faith.

You could say that the war did him in. The reality of suffering in the world led Bart to make faulty assumptions about the Lord. This misinformed mindset about Jesus motivated him to look for convenient reasons to reject Gods love letters. And Bart has often pointed to the textual variants in the manuscripts when explaining what changed his perspective about God and the Bible.

Ehrman had essentially been engaged to the Lord, and then textual variants and some philosophical bombs blew up what had seemingly been a healthy personal relationship with God through Christ. (Christian apologist Greg Koukl addressed Barts concerns about the Bible.)

Here are several questions you would be wise to consider: Can we trust the historical authenticity and accuracy of any piece of ancient literature? And if so, why?

Scottish biblical scholar F.F. Bruce wrote, The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament than have many theologians.

But what about the textual variants?

Even Bart Ehrman admitted: Essential Christian beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.

So, will you choose to embrace the Bible and its marvelous message of salvation, or will you turn away from the Lord because of textual variants in the copies of God's love letters to us?

Make no mistake about it. Your decisive attitude toward these letters and the good news contained therein will determine your destiny. Just ask Bart Ehrman.
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."
Senior Chinese official addresses forum for Belt and Road media exchanges

Xinhua) 09:59, February 15, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Li Shulei addressed an international forum for media exchanges among Belt and Road countries in Beijing on Tuesday.

Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had become a widely welcomed global public good over the past 10 years. He called on media outlets to "actively spread the concepts of jointly seizing opportunities, meeting challenges, and realizing greater prosperity."

Li said China will stay firmly on the path of peaceful development, remain committed to a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up, boost high-quality development of the BRI, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Over 120 guests from 54 mainstream media outlets in 33 countries and regions attended the forum, organized by China Media Group, either in person or via video link.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
On Tuesday, gunmen invaded a hospital in northern Syria where a newborn girl is being treated after being born under the debris of her family's earthquake-ravaged home, according to a hospital official. The gunmen also assaulted the clinic's director, the source added.

The official refuted social media rumors that the Monday night incident was an effort to kidnap the newborn named Aya, which means "sign from God" in Arabic.

Gunmen Storm Syria Hospital

Aya has been at the hospital since the quake on February 6 that struck Turkey and Syria. Her parents and four siblings perished in the catastrophe. Since her birth, Aya has been extensively monitored, and individuals worldwide have offered to assist her.

The official, who spoke on anonymity for fear of reprisals, stated that the hospital's director feared that a nurse who was photographing Aya intended to kidnap her and expelled him. The official said the nurse returned hours later accompanied by gunmen who assaulted the director. The director's wife has been breastfeeding Aya, according to her doctor.

The shooters informed local police officers protecting Aya upon their arrival at the hospital that they were pursuing the director for firing their comrade and had no interest in Aya, according to the official. Several individuals fraudulently claimed to be Aya's relatives, causing local police to guard her, the doctor previously stated, as per Fox News.

After giving birth to Aya in the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, Aya's mother perished. Her father and four siblings perished in the earthquake as well. More than ten hours after the earthquake, rescue workers in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis spotted the dark-haired infant while sifting through the rubble of her parents' five-story apartment building.

After being entombed in concrete, the newborn remained attached to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, via her umbilical cord. She was taken to a local hospital in Afrin, where she has been treated since.

The terrible earthquake destroyed numerous settlements in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria to heaps of shattered concrete and twisted metal. More than 35,000 people were murdered, and the death toll is anticipated to grow as search teams locate additional dead, according to Sun Star.

The earthquake devastated dozens of homes in the town of Jinderis, where Aya's family has resided since 2018. Abdullah Turki Mleihan, the father of Aya, was originally from the hamlet of Khsham in eastern Deir el-Zour province. However, according to al-Badran, the father's uncle, he departed in 2014 after the Islamic State conquered the village.

Read Also: NATO Feels Vladimir Putin Wants 'More War'

Syria Earthquake Rescue Missions

Meanwhile, Syria's president has agreed to open two additional crossing routes from Turkey to the country's rebel-held northwest so that millions of earthquake victims can get relief and equipment. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, applauded Bashar Assad's decision to open the border ports at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee for an initial term of three months.

At Russia's insistence, the United Nations was previously only permitted to transport supplies to the northwest Idlib region through a single border at Bab Al-Hawa. The declaration followed a meeting between Assad and UN humanitarian director Martin Griffiths in Damascus yesterday, as per Daily Express. Griffiths spent the weekend observing the destruction wrought by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that devastated southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.

Diplomats said that Griffiths revealed Assad's decision to open the two additional crossings during a virtual briefing during a closed United Nations Security Council meeting.

During the meeting, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bassam Sabbagh, told reporters that Assad had a "positive and constructive meeting" with Griffiths and "confirmed the need for urgent aid to enter all regions of Syria, including those under occupation and control of armed terrorist groups."

Brazil and Switzerland, who manage cross-border matters in Syria in the council, requested "rapid implementation" of the agreement to establish two new crossings.

Since the earthquake hit a week ago, the United Nations has been under intense pressure to bring additional relief and heavy equipment into Syria's rebel-held northwest since survivors lack the tools to dig for survivors, and the death toll continues to rise.

According to the rescue group, the White Helmets, the death toll in the region has reached 2,166. At the same time, the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus reports that 1,414 people have perished in the government-held areas.

Related Article: Newborn Baby Survives Syria Earthquake

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The White House announced on Wednesday that Tesla would open part of its US charging network to competitor electric vehicles as part of a $7.5 billion federal government program to electrify the nation's roadways to reduce carbon emissions.

Tesla, which has exclusive access to the largest network of high-speed "superchargers" in the US, might become the universal charging station of the electric vehicle age with such a measure, according to Reuters.

The Biden administration noted that Elon Musk Tesla agreed to offer 3,500 new and current superchargers throughout highway routes and 4,000 slower chargers in hotels and restaurants to non-Tesla customers by the end of 2024.

During a briefing, a White House official said that Tesla would be able to get a subsidy, even if it had to make changes to its current fleet, as long as its chargers let other cars that use a charging standard called CCS, which is backed by the government.

Read Also: Climate Change Contributes in Spread of Malaria

Chargers for Everyone, Everywhere

White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu told journalists that the federal government is trying to develop a "national network of chargers" that will operate for everybody and in every US state, The Washington Post reported.

The Biden administration is also making federally funded chargers more accessible with new guidelines. Drivers will be able to use a single form of identification that is compatible with all new chargers, and the chargers themselves must be 97% reliable.

Mitch Landrieu informed reporters that Elon Musk had been one of many CEOs from the automobile industry who had met with the White House last year to discuss the establishment of a charging infrastructure, per CNBC.

The White House also praised General Motors, Pilot Co., and EVGo for installing 2,000 fast chargers at Pilot and Flying J outlets throughout the US.

Related Article: Meta To Speed Up Review of Content Moderation Cases





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This is part of a series on platforms and the press published jointly by CJR and the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy.



The threat to media sustainability and public interest journalism in the Global South predates the dominance of digital platform companies. Media economies in developing countries have long struggled with viability and continue to reflect persistent structural inequalities.

However, it is increasingly evident that the preexisting financial challenges faced by the media have been exacerbated by big platform companies. Digital publishers in lower- to upper-middle-income countries have been forced to adopt a range of partnership and business strategies with platform companies in order to survive.

Given that a strong, sustainable independent media is integral to democracy, governments and regulators across the world are being urged to develop new policies that address media funding and potential media market failure.

South African media have not been spared global trends as Meta and Google now control over 70 percent of internet advertising spending. In the past five years, internet advertising has more than doubled, to over $1 billion, while total print media and magazine revenues decreased by 30 percent, to $434 million, resulting in widespread layoffs.

The country is now twenty-eight years into democracy and arguably has some of the freest media in the world, enabled by strong constitutional protections and an independent judiciary. However, this flourishing of free expression has not protected media outlets from systemic financial risk.

Two policy initiatives are underway to tackle the sustainability of public and private media in South Africa.

First, there is an ongoing government review of legacy broadcasting laws. As part of this process, the South African Broadcasting Corporation made detailed policy and legislative proposals on the future funding of public media.

Second, in a parallel process run by the Competition Commission, the Publisher Support Services and the South African National Editors Forum have made separate submissions on urgent measures to support public interest journalism, news media outlets, and public media.



Funding Public Media

Globally, public media is seen as an increasingly endangered species due to political interference in operations, the lack of funding, and the rise of global streaming platforms. After years of political interference in South African public media, a High Court held in 2017 that government ministers were precluded from interfering with the SABC boards activities and reaffirmed the public broadcasters unique constitutional role. The judgment was a significant boost to independent public media and became a powerful shield protecting the SABC boards independence and the editorial independence of SABC News.

The SABC is particularly exposed as one of the most commercially dependent public broadcasters in the world, with commercial revenue constituting 80 percent of total revenue. Not only is public financing insufficient to fund the SABCs public mandate, but the existing television license fee is seen as an archaic concept in a multi-device world.

Based on the principle that public media is fundamentally a public good, the SABC submitted wide-ranging funding proposals to the government in 2021. These submissions took into account the German Federal Constitutional Courts approach that a levy was justified as it was specifically for the financing of public service programming that is fundamental to democracy.

The SABC recommended fixing the license fee, not scrapping it, and proposed:

replacing the broken television license fee system with a redefined, device-independent, public media levy applying to all households, with an exemption for indigent households; and

requiring the monopoly pay-TV operator, Multichoice, and any streaming services that achieve scale, to partially collect the public media levy from subscribers on behalf of the public broadcaster. The SABC would continue to collect the balance through improved online offerings including via their recently launched streaming service, SABC+.

Multichoice rejected the proposal, saying it would be globally unprecedented to shift revenue collection to the private sector on the part of public service broadcasters. However, the SABCs proposal to extend collection of the public levy to pay-TV and streaming platforms is light-touch in comparison with the range of investment obligations for streaming platforms being discussed in EU countries.

In December, the South African government announced that it would soon be tabling an SABC Bill that will revise the governance structure and funding model of the SABC. At the time of writing, the SABC had been without a board for four months, calling into question the governments commitment to independent public broadcasting. It remains to be seen which options policymakers will take in addressing the financing and governance of public media in South Africa.

Competition Law and Bargaining Codes

In the second policy track, the Competition Commission is finalizing a market inquiry into online intermediation platforms. As part of this inquiry, the PSS group of publishers made a strong case for regulatory intervention to address market failure in the news media, including draft legislation along the lines of the Australian News Media Bargaining Code.

While an NMBC-style intervention is not a panacea for public interest journalism and was dropped by the US Congress in December 2022, the Australian law is widely recognized as an important start, with similar codes being considered in Canada and the UK. Along the same lines, the SANEF position paper made multifaceted recommendations, including an improved bargaining code, with learnings from Australia.

SANEF also recommended that SABC News should be included in any sustainability intervention. The public broadcaster was the countrys second largest online news source and unusually reliant on commercial revenue. SANEF highlighted the Australian precedent, which saw funding for more than fifty Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalists in regional locations after commercial negotiations with Meta and Google.

The Competition Commission subsequently decided in a provisional report that the issues raised by PSS and SANEF did not fall within the scope of the current inquiry and that these should be addressed through a more focused market inquiry. There is no indication yet when this more focused inquiry will commence, though more clarity is expected when the commission releases its final report this month.

An existing funding bodythe Media Diversity and Development Agencyhas been continually mired in controversy about the alleged misuse of its relatively small budget and is not seen as an effective solution to broader media sustainability challenges in South Africa.

In this context, there are several lessons from the South African experience:

freedom of expression is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for media sustainability;

siloed approaches to the sustainability of private and public media should be avoided;

increased financing for public media must be founded on strong governance and editorial independence;

pay-TV and streaming platforms should assist in collecting public media levies; and

competition authorities are best suited to deal with issues of platform dominance and media market failure.

While approaches to media sustainability in Australia, Europe, and North America will continue to inform the rest of the world, countries in the Global South should also implement innovative, homegrown policy measures to fund public media and help address the impact of platform dominance on all news media.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Michael Markovitz is head of the GIBS Media Leadership Think Tank in the University of Pretorias business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He also served as an SABC board member between 2017 and 2022.
Samsung added temperature sensors in its Galaxy Watch 5 series. However, there's not really much use for it. Now, Samsung intends to use it for temperature-based period tracking in partnership with Natural Cycles, a fertility app.

Period Tracker

It's said that the period tracker will provide users with more detailed insights into their cycles, although it did not specify what kind of insights those will be. Samsung did say that the feature will help women view their cycles in a more convenient and holistic way.

The mentioned uses will include retrospective ovulation estimates and period predictions, according to The Verge. Samsung will do so by adapting the algorithm of Natural Cycles into the Galaxy Watch, as well as its fertility technology.

Along with Nature Cycle's contribution, Galaxy 5 owners can use Samsung's sensor technology for the Cycle Tracking feature, which has been approved by The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of the Republic of Korea and complies with the CE marking requirements.

Dr. Raoul Scherwitzl, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Natural Cycles, expressed that as a company grounded in science and technology, they are excited to partner with Samsung to deliver a premium experience that pushes women's health forward.

Scherwitzl added that the Natural Cycles app has helped millions of women around the world to take control of their fertility. Samsung will leverage the period tracker app's fertility technology to offer temperature-based cycle tracking through a smartwatch for the first time.

The skin temperature-based cycle tracking will be available through Samsung's Health app on the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro within the second quarter in 32 markets. That includes countries like France, Italy, Korea, Switzerland, Sweden, the Uk, and the US.

Read Also: Apple Watch Series 8 Likely to Detect Users' Fever - Here's How

Natural Cycles Technology

The company is not new to technology that is based on temperature monitoring. Back in 2021, it acquired FDA clearance to gather temperature also using wearable devices, but this time for pregnancy predictions.

It also partnered with Oura Health, wherein a smart ring can collect a person's temperature data so manual thermometer readings are no longer needed. Natural Cycles is also one of the two companies with FDA-approved digital birth control.

Since it is an app and it can store loads of information, it can create a fertility awareness strategy for its users. With the app's assistance, users can have a more informed birth planning strategy, whether it's for engagement or abstinence.

Compared to other apps, Natural Cycle does not use the standard 28-day long cycle. This gives its user a more accurate fertility window since it is tailored to the user. This reduces the risk of unwanted pregnancy or gives the user a more precise date for conception.

Once the app analyzes a user's temperature readings, as well as menstrual cycle information, it will indicate whether or not they are fertile. As mentioned in Healthline, frequent temperature readings help with accuracy, which is where the Galaxy Watch 5 will come in.

The app has gotten good reviews, so the company's partnership with Samsung might just lead to something big. Natural Cycles claims that their app is 93% effective with typical use, and increased to 98% with perfect use.

Related: Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, Watch 5 Pro: Here's What You Have to Know
How can newsrooms better report on, and collaborate with, communities of colorand radically improve decades of poor coverage?

These are the questions that animate the work of Dr. Letrell Crittenden, director of inclusion and audience growth at the American Press Institute. He has spearheaded the launch of the API Inclusion Index, to assess and improve newsrooms coverage of communities of color.

Focused on five news organizations in Pittsburgh, the scheme partners with the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation to analyze coverage of communities of coloridentifying failures and strengths of reportingand develop strategies to transform years of neglect.

Crittenden was previously a fellow at the Tow Center, where he studied Pittsburghs media ecosystem and its problem with covering race and retaining reporters of color. Now, at API, hes working to build a better, fairer media landscape in the city.

Recently, I spoke to Crittenden about the projects aims, what motivates him and the cost of newsrooms not acting.

The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

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JB: To kick off, can you talk about your journey to the American Press Institute?

LC: Ive been the director of inclusion and audience growth since September 2021. My goalfirst as a journalist, then transitioning into the academy, and now at APIhas been to ensure newsrooms provide better, more comprehensive and fairer coverage of communities of color, particularly African American communities. Thats why I got into journalism. And its also why I left journalism.

At my last newsroom job, as a police and courts reporter in upstate New York, a Black pastor came up to me one day and said, to paraphrase, Youre racist. At first I was like, what do you mean, Im the only Black person in the newsroom. But he was critiquing my coverage. And he was right. Because my work was perpetuating stereotypes about African Americans on a regular basis, for instance some of the only coverage of communities of color was covering crime. That interaction became a foundational moment in my careermaking me realize its not enough for me to be African American in a newsroom. Systemic issues like training, mentorship and community engagement and trust-building all contribute to poor and unfair coverage.

JB: Can you outline for readers your current project with API, the Inclusion Index?

LC: Journalism really needs better ways to evaluate issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. As a Tow Center fellow, I called for the creation of a rubric, to look at five different areas of concern. Whats the diversity of your newsroom? How inclusive is your newsroomdo people of color feel they can thrive, produce their best work, belong? What is your representationhow do you cover communities of color, are you stereotyping, what sourcing is being used? What type of trust do communities of color have for your productis it something they rely on or engage with? What type of engagement work does your newsroom have?

The API rubric adds to that and judges newsrooms on a scale of one to five. We take a look at each of these areas, and others, and then we put out a grade based on our index, and then offer recommendations.

JB: Your project partnered with five news organizations in Pittsburgh to analyze their coverage of communities of color. I wondered how receptive the editors and reporters you spoke to were. Were they enthusiastic or did you encounter resistance?

LC: Excellent question. There were newsrooms that were much more reluctant to do this work individually. But thats why a cohort process is beneficial. After we analyze each newsroom, we do a write up for the entire ecosystem, in this case Pittsburgh.

Once these newsrooms started to hear each others challenges and successes, it really invigorated them to take the process seriously. Newsrooms saw not only their deficits, but that change was achievable. We ran a community listening session with the newsrooms. Then we worked with consultants to develop a plan of action, a strategy, where each newsroom came up with three achievable policies within the next six to twelve months. I was very pleased to see they were dedicated to devoting the time and resources to making changes in their engagement with communities of color.

JB: A tenet of your research is that diversity is severely lacking in newsrooms, but even when there is diversity its not the end of the conversationtheres still a lack of inclusivity, lack of mentorship, lack of empowerment on editorial decisions for journalists of color. How do these subtler elements impact coverage?

LC: Firstly, in terms of why you need more diversity. If you take a look at the unfortunate situation that happened recently with the police in Memphis [in which five Black police officers have been charged with murder after Tyre Nichols died three days after being severely beaten], diversity does not necessarily result in the type of transformation that is necessary to better connect and work with communities of color. If all youre really doing is bringing people of color into a flawed institution, forcing them to abide by its norms, you are not impacting change. Its like, if you have a salad that tastes bad, and your solution is just to throw some croutons on top. In reality, youre not going to transform that bad dish into a good one by changing one thing. Its the same with newsrooms.

JB: Is that how you felt personally as a Black reporter in the newsroom?

LC: Yes. A couple years ago, research from Carla Murphy looked at journalists of color who left the industry and why. I am one of the leavers, I left back in 2003. I was the only African American in my newsroom. I did not receive mentorship, and I was repeatedly doing stories that I felt were harmful to communities of color. I would make my concerns known, yet no changes were made.

JB: Can you give an example of the type of stories youre talking about?

LC: I was once asked to do a story about a young African American man who had been murdered just hours previously. And the newsroom insisted that I talked to the family. But the family did not want to talk yet. Throughout the course of the day, I was asked to go back to that home of that grieving family two other times to get a quote. I was committing harm to that family. I was being forced to violate this familys grieving process. It exacerbated the lack of trust in the media. And for what? A quote in a story. Even today, I still think about this. I was being harmed, too. That was the worst day of my life as a journalist and I never want anybody else to ever have to deal with that.

Its one of the major reasons that Im committed to this work, because its essential that we really rethink how we approach such sensitive stories. For me, it represented the mentality newsrooms take dealing with communities of color, following a formula that doesnt take into account the harm that youre causing to communities. These types of processes need to be eliminated, for the sake of building trust and real connections with marginalized communities.

JB: When you left journalism and became an academic, you did research at the Tow Center on how Pittsburgh newsrooms lacked diversity and inclusion. You encountered some resistance from white journalists, who raised the idea it takes reporting grit to excel in the newsroom. How does a concept like that inherently foster a white perspective?

LC: In terms of grit, journalists of color are basically told to toughen up and deal with whatever challenges they face. Whether its covering terrible stories, not having their voice heard, not receiving mentorship, not receiving a decent wage. And the idea is, well, this is just what people have to go through. The onus is on the journalist to adapt to the newsroom and adhere to its social norms. This is why people of color leave newsrooms. And I think, since the pandemic, more reporters are saying no to that. Theyre not going to accept a toxic work environment. But the effect further reduces the amount of diversity inside of newsrooms, reduces the amount of connection to communities of color, and perpetuates harm.

JB: What are some of the recommendations youve suggested for newsrooms to start rectifying that harm?

LC: In Pittsburgh, one recommendation was creating local pipelines of talent. People of color want to live in areas where they can thrive. Despite its livable reputation, one study put Pittsburgh as one of the worst places for people of color, women especially, to live in the nation. Black reporters are leaving the city, and recruitment has been short-term. People who have roots within a community are far more likely to staywhich helps engagement, trust and knowledge of a community. So for newsrooms: can you start hiring, not even from local diverse colleges, but starting even in high schools to cultivate talent from that particular region, to address this staff turnover gap?

Another recommendation was collaboration with the community. We ran community listening sessions in Pittsburgh, with the five newsrooms, so local people could get a sense of how the entire news ecosystem was trying to change, and could help steer fairer coverage. A further recommendation was building infrastructures to allow your newsrooms to thrive. Burnout, low pay, lack of mentorship, a lack of connection to colleaguesthese were significant issues in our research. So editors really need to take stock of how theyre integrating people of color into their newsroom. Training, mentorship and tailored support are all needed. What made the Pittsburgh project so important was that it was an ecosystem-wide analysis. We didnt just look at one newsroom in the city, we looked at five. We identified how they as a collective could work together for better coverage.

Finally, we stressed collaboration across newsrooms. Reporters often say they dont have time for engagement. But collaboration with things like community listening, community advisory groups and other training can help save time and improve trust within communities on a grand scale. Thats what happened in Pittsburgh with this project.

JB: Finally, whats next for the API Inclusion Index?

LC: Were evaluating the program internally, doing things to tweak it and make it even better. And this is not a one-and-done program, well be following the newsrooms weve worked with already to see how we can assist them going forward, starting with more listening work. were also looking for other news ecosystems to work withlike Pittsburghwhich brings greater chance of transforming not only the individual newsrooms, but how the entire ecosystem evolves in its relationship with communities of color. So were on the lookout for that.

Jem Bartholomew is a Reporting Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Jems work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Economist, TIME, New York Magazine and others. In 2019, he was awarded Best Newcomer in the State Street press awards.
Twitter's API is out of reach for a second time.

Twitter, through its Twitter Dev account, recently mentioned that it is delaying the launch of its new API platform by a few more days to give third-party developers a "better experience" with its API.

Twitter previously delayed the shutdown of the free access to its API on Feb. 9 but changed its mind, announcing it is extending its deadline to Feb. 13.

New Twitter API Platform Delay Details

Twitter mentioned in its Twitter Dev account that it found "an immense amount of enthusiasm" for the upcoming changes to its API. As such, it is delaying the launch of its new API platform by a few more days to create an "optimal experience" for its third-party developer community.

The company also promised it would release more information in the coming days, though it did not specify when it would launch its new API platform.

Contrary to what Twitter may have thought, many people found the announcement in bad taste, with many giving negative comments about it, though it is unclear if they are third-party developers for Twitter. According to Twitter user @PERIPOX, the word enthusiasm is the last word they'd expect from Twitter's updates about its API, while Alejandra Caraballo said that nobody is enthused about losing access to Twitter's API and/or being "extorted at exorbitant prices" for basic access to it.

You may remember that Twitter recently announced that third-party app developers who wish to gain access to its basic access API tier would need to pay a monthly fee of $100 for them to gain low-level API usage and access to Ads API.

Read More: Apple is Improving the Crash Detection Feature on iPhones Again

Although the company didn't specify what it meant by "low-level API usage," thecompany mentioned that this move is a new chapter for its API to increase in quality, reduce spam, and help grow a thriving ecosystem.

Unfortunately, the delay jeopardizes third-party app develoepers and startups' plans of building tools around Twitter API as they couldn't get a give a good spending and budget allocation on the platform, per Tech Crunch.

Additionally, Twitter's move of charging for access to its API is upsetting academics and researchers as they previously had to pay nothing to access Twitter's Academic Research tier of Twitter's v2 API.

Twitter Third-Party Developer Reaction To The Changes

The changes Twitter made to its API and the access to it became a cause for concern for the company's third party developers, as Twitter lacks the transprency and information needed for them to continue working on their apps. As a response to this, Twitter put its developer forum website behind a login, briefly taking it down in the process without any explanation.

Twitter has had a strained relationship with its third-party developers even before Musk's takeover. The company had largely been dishonest and capricious with the developer community in the past, with Tech Crunch citing the cancelled 2011 Chirp developer conference and its acquisition of its partners' competitor Gnip in 2014.

Related Article: Twitter To Charge $100 for Basic Tier Access to Its API
Park Min-young, center, poses during an online press conference for tvN's "Love in Contract," Sept. 19, 2022. From left are actor Go Kyung-pyo, director Nam Sung-woo, Park and actor Kim Jae-young. Courtesy of tvN





By Kim Se-jeong







Actress Park Min-young, 38, was questioned by prosecutors on Tuesday in connection with embezzlement allegations at Bithumb, the operator of Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to Korean media outlets.







The actress is the ex-girlfriend of the de facto owner of Bithumb, Kang Jong-hyun, 41, who was arrested early this month on an embezzlement charge, among others.







Their relationship went public last October. However, pretty quickly thereafter, Park came forward and announced that the relationship had already ended.







According to media reports, prosecutors called Park in for questioning after finding her name on a list of bank accounts, which had Bithumb's convertible bond transactions. Park is suspected of having made profits from the transactions.







Other than embezzlement, Kang is also facing accusations of dereliction of duty and fraudulent transaction charges.







According to the reports, the businessman's younger brother, Ji-yeon, runs the kiosk supplier Inbiogen, which is the biggest shareholder of Vidente, which holds the biggest number of shares in Bithumb. The actress' older sister is reportedly Inbiogen's non-executive director.







Park played Choi Sang-eun in tvN's "Love in Contract" last year. She was also in "Forecasting Love and Weather" in the same year.







Screencapture from "Love in Contract" / tvN
















































Korea is maintaining robust external soundness in the face of uncertainties, a senior government official has said during a meeting with global investors earlier this week in the United States.







First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun made the remark in the meeting in New York on Monday (U.S. time), according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday.







"The Korean economy's external soundness remains robust, considering its strong foreign currency reserves, increasing net foreign assets, stable credit default swap premiums and high credit ratings," Bang was quoted as saying by the ministry.







Bang said while Korea logged a trade deficit last year due to soaring global energy costs, its exports are expected to gradually rebound on the back of the recovery of the chip industry and the reopening of the Chinese economy. China is the biggest trading partner of Korea.







Korea's exports suffered a steeper on-year decline in January on weak demand for semiconductors. The country also suffered the largest-ever monthly trade deficit on high energy prices last month, deepening concerns over the country's economic growth momentum.







Bang also met officials from global credit appraisers, including Moody's Investor Service and SP Global Rating. (Yonhap)


An effort to add non-gendered bathrooms and baby changing stations to Colorados public buildings passed its first hurdle on Monday, receiving approval from a state House committee.

If passed by the full legislature, House Bill 1057 would require newly constructed public buildings owned or operated by the government to provide non-gendered bathrooms on each floor where gendered bathrooms are available. The buildings would also need to provide baby diaper changing stations, either in the non-gendered bathroom or in both the mens and womens bathrooms.

Many of us dont have to plan our day around where we can find an accessible restroom. Some must, said bill sponsor Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Longmont. We have been shortchanging dads, moms, parents, caregivers and babies in this area.

Proponents of the bill said gendered bathrooms are inaccessible for many groups, including transgender or nonbinary people, disabled people with caregivers of a different gender, and men with young children who can't access baby changing stations in women's bathrooms.

During Mondays committee hearing, numerous LGBTQ rights advocates said being unable to find a non-gendered bathroom can be a safety issue for transgender and nonbinary people. Nearly 60% of transgender Americans say they avoid using public bathrooms for fear of confrontation, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. The survey also found that 12% had recently been verbally harassed in a public bathroom, 1% had been physically attacked and 9% had been denied access.

Warren Edson, a Denver attorney, said his nonbinary teenage child is unable to use gendered bathrooms because of this, forcing them to return home from school multiple times a day to use the bathroom.

They go into the mens room, they run the risk of getting beaten up. They go into the womens room, they run the risk of being labeled a pervert or a pedophile, Edson said. What are they supposed to do? Put yourself in that position.

Under the bill, the bathroom requirements would not apply to K-12 schools or historic buildings, though they would apply to higher education institutions. The bill would also apply to existing public government buildings already undergoing significant bathroom renovations and, in 2025, they would extend to all government buildings even if theyre not open to the public.

McCormick said her nonbinary child faces similar challenges finding bathrooms and the other bill sponsor, Rep. Stephanie Vigil, said she has faced these challenges firsthand.

Vigil, D-Colorado Springs, is gender fluid and uses she/they pronouns. While she doesnt mind using womens bathrooms, Vigil said other people have taken issue with her since she presents androgynously. When she was around 16 years old, a stranger yelled at Vigil and tried to prevent her from entering a womens bathroom at a shopping mall, she said.

Thats a deeply embarrassing thing for any young person to go through, Vigil said. This bill is a way to move our great state towards a model that removes any of those remaining barriers.

The House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee passed the bill in an 8-3 vote on Monday, sending it to the House Appropriations Committee for further consideration. Committee members voted on the bill along party lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition.

Republican opponents said they are not against the concept of providing non-gendered bathrooms in public buildings, but suggested their objection is due to the bill being framed as accommodating transgender and nonbinary people.

Under the bill, employees who work in public buildings could file a complaint for discrimination or unfair practices with the Colorado civil rights division if the building fails to provide non-gendered bathrooms.

Im not opposed to family restrooms. I think theyre very handy. This bill has a lot of changes, its a lot of political hot button wording, said Rep. Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, while voting against the bill. I would have preferred it if it was a clean bill saying, We think you ought to build a handicapped accessible family restroom and left it at that.

Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, echoed this sentiment: The verbiage used in (the bill) goes against everything in my values.

The governments of Colorado Springs, Fountain and Monument opposed the bill, and the Colorado Municipal League and Colorado Counties Inc. sought to amend it. The groups argued the bill should only apply to new buildings and not to existing buildings being renovated, as a means to save money.

Twenty-one counties support the bill, in addition to the ACLU of Colorado, Colorado Children's Campaign, League of Women Voters of Colorado and Mental Health Colorado.

Three individuals spoke against the bill Monday, largely saying that theyd be uncomfortable using a non-gendered bathroom.

The bill would not remove gendered bathrooms from public buildings, only require that a non-gendered option also be available for those who want it.

"Youre only considering the comfort levels of a certain class and youre putting the comfort levels of other people in jeopardy because of that, said Laurel Anne Flahive, an El Paso County resident. Its creating yet another way for people to be segregated.

This bill comes as other states, such as Alabama, have passed bills to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, instead making them use bathrooms corresponding with their sex assigned at birth.

In Mondays committee meeting, Colorado lawmakers rejected what critics described as an anti-transgender bill, which would have made transgender student athletes compete on teams based on their sex assigned at birth.

Laura MacWaters, a transgender Fort Collins woman, said excluding transgender people from public spaces has "real consequences," adding that she was hospitalized with a kidney stone after not being able to use the bathroom for too long.

"Many transgender, nonbinary and LGBTQIA people have no where they can be sure they wont be excluded, harassed or assaulted, MacWaters said. The possibility of this and the occasional actual acts limit their ability to work, shop, travel, visit the state Capitol, attend committee hearings or do any of the thousands of other things that no one should have to worry about.
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An aerial photo of Namsangol Hanok Village in downtown Seoul / Korea Times file photo



By Lee Hae-rin



Seoul will build 10 new hanok villages within the next 10 years, increasing the nation's attractive heritage architecture for the pleasure of the city's visitors and residents.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government unveiled its new master plan to manage and develop Korean traditional architecture under the title "Seoul Hanok Recreation 4.0," at a press conference held in City Hall.



The locations of the hanok villages to be built are yet to be decided. But they will be mainly in green belts or development restriction zones, according to the city's mayor.



To this end, the city will receive proposals from district offices to build new hanok villages with Seoul Housing & Communities Corp., the city's public corporation in charge of urban development.



Public interest facilities such as sanatoriums, facilities for the elderly and art galleries will be eligible for building subsidies.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government also plans to ease regulations and guidelines on hanok development aiming to add variety and comfort into the modern hanok, according to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.



The capital's previous hanok policies defined the traditional architecture with a primary focus on preservation. The adverse effects of this were that few cases were subsidized, the mayor added.



This is the city's fourth hanok management master plan. Since establishing Bukchon Hanok Village in 2001 in northern Jongno District as part of the first plan, the city government has continued fine-tuning its hanok development policy.



Plan 2.0 in 2008 focused on preservation and promotion. In 2015, plan 3.0 aimed to develop living conditions to make the villages more inhabitable.





Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon presents the city's fourth hanok management master plan during a press conference at City Hall, Tuesday. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
A mother who lives in South Korea cries while hugging her son who lives in North Korea at the 21st reunion held at Mount Kumgang hotel in 2018. Yonhap



By Lee Yeon-woo



Rep. Young Kim, a Korean American congressman and the chair of the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee of the United States, has introduced a joint resolution that calls on the U.S. and North Korea to reunite Korean Americans with their separated families who were dispersed by the 1950-53 Korean War.



On Wednesday (local time), Kim announced that she and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove introduced a bipartisan resolution urging both countries to reunite Korean American separated families with immediate relatives as a humanitarian policy of immediate concern.



"We must continue our momentum to reunite Korean Americans with their war-torn loved ones in North Korea before it's too late," Kim said.





Rep. Young Kim / Korea Times file
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




By Kwon Mee-yoo







Korea and Switzerland established diplomatic relations on Feb. 11, 60 years ago. The Swiss Embassy in Seoul scheduled over 25 events throughout this year to commemorate the occasion.







To begin the celebration, the embassy released a teaser video highlighting the two countries' friendship through traditional paper cutting craft and a logo that symbolizes their national flowers, mugunghwa (rose of Sharon) and edelweiss.







"I look forward to a year filled with opportunities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and deepen our friendship and collaboration with the Republic of Korea," Ambassador of Switzerland to Korea Dagmar Schmidt Tartagli said.







The embassy also launched swisskorea60.org, a special website dedicated to the 60th-anniversary celebrations, introducing a series of events in the domains of politics, economy, science, business, tourism and culture.







Among the highlights, the Korea-Switzerland Innovation Week in May will explore the current state of innovation in both countries, while the Gyeongui Line Forest Park near Hongik University will be transformed into a Swiss Street in April to showcase Switzerland's culture and tourism. Various events will emphasize Swiss design during autumn.







As an official partner city of the anniversary year, the Swiss city of Basel, renowned for its rich culture and thriving chemical and pharmaceutical industries, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seoul last year to enhance collaboration. In this regard, a variety of events will be held to advance ties in the areas of life science, innovation and urbanism.







The official logo, featuring the two national flowers, can be used by institutions or organizations which are interested in participating in the commemoration. For more information, contact the Swiss Embassy in Seoul or visit the anniversary website.


Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) board has approved a capital injection of up to $3.5 billion in TSMC Arizona, the company said.

In December, the foundry behemoth announced plans to open a second chip factory in Arizona, boosting its investment in the US threefold to $40 billion. This represented the largest foreign direct investment in Arizona history and one of the largest foreign direct investments in the history of the United States, the company said.

The capital injection is part of the $40 billion investment announced in December.

When complete, TSMC Arizonas two fabs will manufacture over 600,000 wafers per year, with estimated end-product value of more than US$40 billion, the company announced in its December statement.

TSMCs global expansion

TSMCs US investments are part of the chipmakers strategic move to expand beyond Taiwan, due to the countrys political tensions with China.

Last month, the company said it is considering opening its first plant in Europe and a second one in Japan. The Europe plant is likely to come up in the German city of Dresden.

According to a tweet by Taiwanese research firm TrendForce, TSMCs US output is expected to reach 3% of its overall capacity by 2025, up from 1% in 2022. At the same time, the percentage of wafers produced in Taiwan by TSMC will drop from 93% in 2022 to 88% by 2025.

It is worth noting that TSMCs upcoming 4nm and 3nm fabs in the US, scheduled to commence operations in 2024 and 2026, respectively, wont showcase the companys most advanced capabilities.

TSMC is already ramping up 3nm chip production in Taiwan and said it plans to start producing 2nm chips in the country by the end of 2025, before the companys 3nm plant in the US even goes live.

With its investments in Arizona, TSMC is eyeing the $52 billion in US chip manufacturing subsidies that were passed by Congress a few months ago as part of CHIPS and Science Act.

The US-China chip war

Last month, the US garnered support from Japan and Netherlands to restrict Chinas chip industry in the ongoing US-China chip war.

The US has persuaded the two countries to collaborate in expanding a ban on exports of chip-making technology to China. This move could limit Chinas home-grown chip industry as there are few if any, other sources for the sophisticated technologies required for modern semiconductor manufacturing.

The Biden administration in early October issued new export controls that restrict US firms from selling advanced semiconductors as well as equipment required to make them to some Chinese manufacturers unless they receive a special license.

In mid-December, the administration stretched those restrictions to include 36 more Chinese chipmakers from accessing US chip technology, including Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC), the largest contract chipmaker in the world.
Bang Moon-kyu, fourth from left, minister for government policy coordination, poses for a photo at a meeting with U.N.-based envoys from Pacific island nations in this photo provided by the minister's office, Feb. 14. Yonhap



A senior Korean government official held a meeting with ambassadors from six Pacific island nations and asked them to support Seoul's bid to bring the 2030 World Expo to the southeastern port city of Busan, officials said Wednesday.



The meeting was held Tuesday in New York between Bang Moon-kyu, minister for government policy coordination, and U.N.-based envoys from Nauru, Maldives, Vanuatu, Tonga, Tuvalu and Fiji, the minister's office said in a statement.



"As 2030 is the first year of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a platform is needed to discuss solutions to common human challenges such as climate change and technology gaps," Bang said.






Israel-based startup Oligo Security is exiting stealth mode with the public launch of its namesake software, offering a new wrinkle in library-based application security monitoring, observability, and remediation. Utilizing a technology called extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF), it is able to provide agentless security coverage for open source code.

Given the prevalence of open source code in modern software  Oligo contends that it accounts for something like 80% or 90%  there is a need for software composition analysis solutions that can check the code for potential vulnerabilities. The current generation of solutions, however, is noisy, according to Oligo. It tends to produce a lot of false positives, and doesnt contextualize alerts within a given runtime. The latter tendency is unhelpful for setting remediation priorities.

Most security monitoring tools of this kind are based on runtime application security protection (RASP), which requires an agent that lives in the application, according to Jim Mercer, IDC research vice president for devops and devsecops.

eBPF, on the other hand, allows programs to run inside the operating system, acting as an in-kernel virtual machine that enables data collection from applications and network resources, offering a granular level of observability and allowing for the creation of a dynamic SBOM (software bill of materials).

So a key benefit of the Oligo solution is that it is agentless and leverages eBPF, Mercer said. A traditional knock on the RASP technology is that the agent does introduce some overhead into your application.

Oligo contextualizes security alerts

Moreover, since the agentless, eBPF-based Oligo offering works on the operating system level, can put alerts into context  prioritizing fixes for vulnerabilities that are active deviations from a given code librarys permission policy, the company said. This saves on development time by keeping the focus on actual attack surfaces, not just known potential vulnerabilities.

The Oligo approach, however, isnt without potential pitfalls, according to Mercer. For one thing, it is designed only to catch known vulnerabilities, whereas some types of RASP-based system can identify new insecurities in both natively written and open source code. Moreover, the more selective alerting system has the potential, if it is configured inexpertly, to miss potentially serious issues.

I suspect the key here is sound policy management, and it might behoove Oligo to provide content that can help organizations write secure but not noisy policies, Mercer said.

Nevertheless, Mercer noted, the Oligo approach is likely to appeal to a wide variety of potential customers, given the aforementioned ubiquity of open source code, and could even be used to search out vulnerabilities in commercial software.

Overall, [Oligos more selective approach] is likely a good thing, since there are open source libraries you may use that have vulnerabilities, but you are not using them in a vulnerable manner, he said.

The companys technology is already in use by businesses in the computing, analytics software and real estate markets, though current pricing and availability data was not immediately available.

Other cybersecurity companies have also been tapping eBPF. For example, in August last year, Traceable AI added eBPF to its security platform for deeper API observability and visibility.
China-based cyberespionage actor DEV-0147 has been observed compromising diplomatic targets in South America, according to Microsofts Security Intelligence team.

The initiative is a notable expansion of the groups data exfiltration operations that traditionally targeted govt agencies and think tanks in Asia and Europe, the team tweeted on Monday.

DEV-0147s attacks in South America included post-exploitation activity involving the abuse of on-premises identity infrastructure for reconnaissance and lateral movement, and the use of Cobalt Strike  a penetration testing tool  for command and control and data exfiltration, Microsoft wrote in its tweet.

Microsoft 365 Defender detects these DEV-0147 attacks through Microsoft Defender for Identity and Defender for Endpoint. Organizations are also strongly advised to enforce MF, Microsoft noted.

Chinese threat actors use ShadowPad RAT



DEV-0147 deploys ShadowPad  a RAT (remote access Trojan)  to achieve persistence. It uses QuasarLoader, a Webpack loader, to download and execute additional malware, Microsoft noted. Webpack is a module bundler for JavaScript. Several researchers have associated ShadowPad with other China-based APT actors such as APT23, APT41, Axiom, Dagger Panda, Earth Lusca, Tonto Team, and Wet Panda.

ShadowPad, also known as PoisonPlug, is a successor to the PlugX RAT deployed by the Chinese government-sponsored Bronze Atlas threat group since at least 2017, according to a Secureworks analysis.

Analysis of ShadowPad samples revealed clusters of activity linked to threat groups affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) civilian intelligence agency and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Secureworks said.

ShadowPad is decrypted in memory using a custom decryption algorithm. There have been multiple ShadowPad versions based on distinct algorithms that have been identified.

The RAT extracts information about the host, executes commands, interacts with the file system and registry, and deploys new modules to extend functionality.

ShadowPad payloads are deployed to a host  either encrypted within a DLL (dynamic link library) loader or a separate file alongside a DLL loader. These DLL loaders decrypt and execute ShadowPad in memory after being sideloaded by a legitimate executable that is vulnerable to DLL search order hijacking, according to Secureworks.

In September last year, an attack on an unnamed organization that took advantage of a flaw in software from WSO2 to deliver ShadowPad was observed by the NCC group. WOS2 provides software tools for application development and IAM.

And earlier last year, in June, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky reported having observed a previously unknown Chinese-speaking threat actor attacking telecommunications, manufacturing, and transport organizations in several Asian countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Malaysia. During the initial attacks, the group exploited an MS Exchange vulnerability to deploy ShadowPad malware and infiltrated building automation systems.
As business processes become more complex, companies are turning to third parties to boost their ability to provide critical services from cloud storage to data management to security. Its often more efficient and less expensive to contract out work that would otherwise require significant effort and potentially drain in-house resources to those who can do it for you.

The use of third-party services can also come with significantoften unforeseenrisks. Third parties can be a gateway for intrusions, harm a companys reputation if a service malfunctions, expose it to financial and regulatory issues, and draw the attention of bad actors from around the world. A poorly managed breakup with a vendor can also be perilous, resulting in the loss of access to systems put in place by the third party, loss of custody of data, or loss of data itself.

Companies are paying more attention to cybersecurity risk, according to Gartner analyst Luke Ellery. Gartners 2022 Risk Assessments in a Volatile World survey revealed that 73% of respondents involved in enterprise risk programs said they now assess cybersecurity more rigorously compared to 2019.

Reliance on third-party services is increasing

The focus on third parties is heightened in this context as organizations are increasingly reliant on third parties, such as technology and cloud vendors, which store sensitive data or access critical systems, Ellery says. This risk is higher if the third-partys cybersecurity controls are poor. There is also the risk that the third partys own suppliers are compromised. If the data or systems are compromised, then the impact could include brand and reputational damage, legal and regulatory fines or penalties, and remediation costs.

The use of third parties is a broadly accepted necessity for many businesses, says Hanne McBlain, senior director with technology research and advisory firm ISG, but they need to be managed on an ongoing basis. Third-party partnerships come with inherent business risks by moving aspects of control beyond a companys walls. This takes on a particular urgency considering 98% of global organizations were connected to at least one third-party vendor that has been breached in the past two years, says Caleb Merriman, CISO at Deltek, a provider of software for project-based businesses.

Here are the five main cybersecurity risks third-party services are exposing you to:

Compromised customer and company data from cyberattacks

Indirect cyberattackssuccessful breaches coming into companies through third partiesincreased to 61% from 44% in the last several years, according to the World Economic Forums Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022. One of the reasons this occurs is that many companies don't have the proper controls in place to effectively offboard third-party vendors, says Peter Tran, chief information security officer (CISO) at IT and security consulting firm InferSight. They don't have the processes in place to control the access management rights and provisioning that these accounts have, which leaves the door open for cyberattackers who look for aged accounts that are still active, he says.

Data obtained from third-party breaches can be abused by threat actors to perform various malicious activities, including identity theft, fraud, account abuse, and external account takeover attacks, says Ariel Weintraub, CISO at MassMutual. Threat actors frequently use compromised credentials and data sourced from third-party or even fourth-party breaches to gain access to other victims environments.

A third party might be attacked while hosting a company's data or an attacker targets the third party first and then uses that to reach your IT systems, says Michael Orozco, a cybersecurity analyst for MorganFranklin. He says that due diligence and ongoing monitoring of vulnerabilities throughout the vendor lifecycle will help reduce that risk.

Implementing a defense-in-depth approach to limit a third partys access to an organizations network is critical to preventing adversaries from gaining an escalation of privilege, Weintraub says. As such, companies must fully vet all third-party vendors before allowing them access to their systems to ensure that they've implemented the proper security protocols. Third parties are always a concern when it comes to who has our data; thats why we are continually assessing new and existing third parties in a matter commensurate with cyber-risk to the company.

Financial risk from incident costs, lost business

The cost of intrusions can be incredibly expensive and cybersecurity insurance does not always cover breaches if companies aren't protecting their systems in the right way, says Jay Pasteris, CISO and CIO at the managed services firm GreenPages. The financial impact is what you're going to lose, but you're also going to have reputational damage to the organization, he says. You're going to lose customers. You're going to lose the confidence of new customers, you've lost the confidence of existing customers, therefore, you're losing a revenue stream. And it's a lot of money to replace an existing customer. So that financial impact adds up really fast.

Reputational damage, loss of customer trust

While a breach may not have occurred within the four walls of a company, a breach at a third-party service involving the client company's data or its customers, that company may have to make a statement or notify individuals as a result. Due to this downstream impact, the reputational impacts may far exceed the financial damage, Weintraub says.

Negative publicity from a service provider's breach can injure a company's good name or standing, and unfavorable public perception of a business can begin with issues that originate with a third party in their vendor list. Customer complaints about a service provided by a third party are a good indication theres a potential problem, Orozco says. Customers don't see that your assembly, your product, your services, your ability to interact with them is supported by third parties, he says. They only see your name, your brand, and your inability to satisfy the commitment [you've made to them].

Many organizations take proactive measures to ensure that their third parties are effective data custodians. However, when a third party comes with its own vendor supply chain, things get much more complicated, Weintraub says. As you continue down the line of your vendors and your vendors vendors, it can be difficult to have insight into all these entities and the maturity of the third-party risk programs that are protecting sensitive data at the level of rigor that you expect, she says.

Geopolitical risk

The war in Ukraine has highlighted the need for organizations to monitor political developments very closely and be prepared to act in volatile situations, according to McBlain. Organizations need assurance that all supplier, partner, and joint venture activities in jurisdictions subject to sanctions have ceased.

However, the war in Ukraine and the associated sanctions of Russia and Belarus are not the only geopolitical risks to take into consideration, she says. Suppliers with operations in countries prone to regime volatility, such as military coups, violent uprisings, and oppression of minorities in a systemic manner, require careful and continuous monitoring.

Political volatility often comes with a proliferation of nation-state cyber espionage. Organizations need to ensure that their third-party vendors thoroughly vet their contractors for connections to governments known to engage in such acts, Weintraub says. Third parties may unknowingly hire freelance IT teleworkers that have been dispatched by nation-states to generate revenue for the countrys authoritarian regime or gain access to corporate networks, she says. Although they may not engage in any malicious cyber activity while performing their jobs, they may use their privileged access to enable malicious cyber intrusions from inside. This makes detection of malicious activity difficult.

Regulatory compliance risk

Third-party vendors also expose organizations to compliance risk when they violate governmental laws, industry regulations, or companies internal processes. Vendor non-compliance could subject the companies hiring them to massive monetary penalties.

For example, organizations need to check that their third-party vendors are in compliance with the SOC2 auditing standard. SOC2 aims to ensure that third parties protect their customers' sensitive data from unauthorized access. Organizations must also ensure that third parties comply with privacy and security laws, such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), requirements, he says.

Compliance is a huge risk, says Pasteris. You may be in compliance and have the necessary controls in place, but all of a sudden you add these third parties into the mix and if you're not evaluating [whether they have controls in place], you could be breaching your compliance stance.
Israel to resume direct flights to Turkiye: FM

Xinhua) 10:03, February 15, 2023

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen attend a joint press conference in Ankara, Trkiye, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel will resume direct flights to Trkiye on Thursday as part of the normalization of bilateral relations, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Tuesday.

"Flights from Israel to Trkiye 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 Trkiye'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 Trkiye and conveyed deepest condolences to the victims.

Cavusoglu, for his part, said Israel was one of the first countries that sent support to Trkiye 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 Trkiye 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, Trkiye, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In this photo from December 2020, foreign laborers work in a lettuce field in Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province. These workers account for a major part of the agricultural industry's labor force in Korea. Korea Times file



Aging societies push local gov'ts to seek city farmers, automation



By Ko Dong-hwan



Eumseong County in North Chungcheong Province launched earlier this year a new campaign to recruit city farmers. The measure came as the inland local government in central Korea expressed concerns that there would be not enough working hands to attend to harvesting, distributing and selling the region's agricultural produce unless the authority makes moves to address the labor shortage this year.



The government needed at least 156 able-bodied men or women who are aged between 20 and 75. The officials could not idly sit behind their desks and wait for volunteers given the dire situation; they visited local universities and community centers to recruit students and residents. They also contacted the governments of the county's neighboring cities of Icheon, Anseong and Yeoju and asked to promote the campaign so that interested residents could come to Eumseong.



The campaign was successful. As of Feb. 9, it has recruited 170 people.



Behind the success, Eumseong government raised existing subsidies for participating workers and the farms that would employ them. The workers, after 16 hours of pre-job training this month, start working from March. Farms will pay the employees 60 thousand won ($48) for every four hours they work. The country government will subsidize the farms with 40 percent of the wage. Over 210 million won has been invested by the authority in this campaign to support the farms' wage payouts and the laborers' miscellaneous costs including daily public transit fares, accident insurance coverage fees and training participation fees.



"This new recruit campaign we started for the first time will hopefully begin to operate smoothly soon," Eumseong Mayor Jo Byung-ok said. "And it will start providing us with the manpower we need every year."



Eumseong is one of many local jurisdictions in the countryside of Korea that are right now wrestling with the same problem. With the winter almost over, the time to cultivate the thawing fields and feed livestock outside their pens has come near. It means workers are in high demand now. But in this aging country with an extremely low birthrate, farmhands are hard to find. Especially in rural communities where young workers are highly valued but increasingly choose to relocate to urban settings for different opportunities.





In these photos from a test conducted from 2020 until 2022, Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government checks how well a new machine works for sowing (left) and harvesting garlic fields. The government plans to deploy the machines this year. Courtesy of Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government



The dwindling workforce is putting pressure on farmers  and more heavily on local governments that must sustain their communities' businesses.



So the quest to recruit new workers has begun all across the country's rural regions. And, like Eumseong, their efforts are yielding various results.



Jeju Special Self-Governing Province has resorted to machinery to complement human labor. To keep the island's garlic farming going, the provincial government on Monday announced they will deploy specially designed machines to automate crop processing. Western Agricultural Technology Center, run by the provincial government, said the machines will be deployed in the sowing and harvesting stages for now, which require the highest number of laborers in the six-step farming process.



The government gave 132 million won in subsidies to farms interested in using the machines. Farmers must still cover 48 million won of the cost themselves. The new technology's efficiency has already been verified through the tests conducted during 2020-22. While sowing and harvesting, the machines had proved to save 82 percent and 70 percent of human labor, respectively. The automation also saved time spent throughout the entire process by 83 percent in a test conducted on a 10-hectare-large sample field.



"Because of an unstable supply of human labor and a lack of automation, garlic farmers in Jeju haven't been able to expand their farms further to the extent they wanted," Lee Seong-don, a farming instructor from the farming tech center, said. "The latest addition of automation feature will lighten the burden on our local farms that continue to struggle to secure enough laborers."



The city of Yeongju in North Gyeongsang Province is in the process of negotiating terms of an agreement with Angeles City in the Philippines to recruit local personnel from the Southeast Asian country to work in Korea. The deal is expected to wrap up later this month. A total of 190 seasonal migrant workers are expected to come to Seoul in March.





In December 2022, Andong City Mayor Kwon Gi-chang, right on front row, visited Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare in Laos to sign a MOU to invite Laotians to Korea as seasonal agricultural workers. Korea Times file
gettyimagesbank



By Kang Seung-woo



Despite the Korean government's efforts to resolve the issue of compensating Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor as soon as possible, it appears that discussions on the matter may last longer than expected, with the two countries still struggling to find a solution that meets the expectations of both sides.



Seoul and Tokyo have held a series of talks on the forced labor issue and the latest meeting took place in the United States, Monday (local time) when First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong sat down with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori.



"We are still trying to find common ground," Cho said after the 150-minute meeting, which took longer than 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."



Choi Eun-mi, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said it seems unclear whether the two sides will reach a deal on the issue soon.



"It is significant that the two sides elevated their talks to a vice-ministerial level from a working-level conversation to discuss the forced labor issue. However, the vice-ministerial meeting lasted for over two hours, but as far as I know, they did not share the entire time on the forced labor issue, which I think means they could not hold a deep conversation on the matter," Choi said.



"There has been growing speculation that Foreign Minister Park Jin will hold a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Munich, Germany later this week and after the meeting, there would be an announcement on a solution to the issue by the end of February. But given that representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are now meeting with families of the victims of forced labor, it is unlikely for both countries to strike an agreement on the issue by February."



The Korean foreign minister will attend the Munich Security Conference, scheduled from Friday to Sunday, during which he is seeking to hold a Korea-Japan foreign minister's meeting.



The biggest sticking point is whether Japanese companies  Nippon Steel Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which are accused of using forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule era over Korea, have been ordered by Korea's Supreme Court to compensate Korean victims  will pay damages to the victims.



Last month, the Korean government unveiled a plan to compensate the victims through a public foundation fund rather than pursuing payments from the named Japanese firms, but victims and their families insist that Nippon Steel Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries comply with the top court's ruling.



From Japan's point of view, the Japanese government claims that all issues resulting from its 35-year occupation of Korea, including wartime sex slavery, were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations and provided loans and grants to Korea.



"The Japanese side also knows that those companies have to do something regarding the issue, but agonizing over what level and how to participate, is an issue that seems difficult to negotiate between Korea and Japan," Choi said.



"Japan is expected to stress that even if those Japanese firms participate in the compensation, they have nothing to do with the Supreme Court rulings, but the Korean government seeks to show their participation is linked to the decision. That is a hot potato."



Amid a possible stalemate, the political calendar is not on Korea's side.



Japan is scheduled on Feb. 22, to observe Takeshima Day, which claims sovereignty over Dokdo, an annual event that sees the Korean foreign ministry call in Japanese diplomats in Seoul to protest the absurd assertion.



Dokdo is Korea's easternmost islets, which Japan has repeatedly claimed as being part of its territory.



In addition, spring rites at the Yasukuni Shrine are slated for April, another event that irritates Koreans as Japanese government officials send a ritual offering. The shrine houses the remains of 14 Class A war criminals from World War II, so visits or offerings by Japanese government officials often become a source of tension between Japan and neighboring countries, including Korea and China who view such activities as a symbol of Japan's past imperialism.



Furthermore, the release of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear reactor is scheduled for the first half of the year. Korea has urged Japan to have in-depth discussions with neighboring countries before pushing ahead with the plan and has been working to garner international support for alternatives.






President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene on Wednesday and agreed to boost cooperation in various sectors, such as rare earth minerals and infrastructure development, his office said.







Yoon held the talks with Luvsannamsrai, who is on a five-day official visit to South Korea, at the presidential office in Seoul, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a written briefing.







During the talks, Yoon said the two sides have expanded ties in various sectors since establishing formal diplomatic relations in 1990.







The prime minister delivered a handwritten letter of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh expressing the country's support for South Korea's bid to host the World Expo in the southern city of Busan in 2030.







In response, Yoon said hosting the expo will not only strengthen people-to-people exchanges, but will result in closer cooperation in various sectors, such as economy, tourism and culture.







Separately, Foreign Minister Park Jin also held talks with his Mongolian counterpart, Batmunkh Battsetseg, who delivered the Mongolian government's support for Seoul's push to host the expo, the foreign ministry said.







During their talks at the foreign ministry office in Seoul, Park expressed his thanks for the support, saying the event will serve as an opportunity for the Seoul government to share its vision in climate change response and cooperative development with the international society.







The two ministers also shared their push for the establishment of mutually beneficial cooperation in the international arena, such as the United Nations.







The talks come nearly six months after Park visited Ulaanbaatar in August. (Yonhap)


On the fishmongers slab: One Sturgeon, the eyeballs plump and shiny, the gills twitching gently still. But inside, you could see there was little fight left to give.

In fact, for once, Nicola Sturgeon  usually so icy and impenetrable of manner  was surrendering to her emotions.

The time is right, she said, her voice seemingly gasping for air, to make way for someone else.

Cue the swirl of funereal bagpipes and the stirring strains of a Celtic tin whistle.

The Scottish First Ministers resignation caught everyone by surprise. Yes, her once-formidable popularity has plummeted in recent months over the SNPs muddled positioning on trans rights and yes, the prospect of Scottish independence has been fading by the day. But no one expected to witness Sturgeons career in Scottish politics, which she has bestrode like a Highland Colossus, unravel like this quite so quickly.

In fact, for once, Nicola Sturgeon  usually so icy and impenetrable of manner  was surrendering to her emotions

It was barely 11am, but when the news broke you could hear the faint sound of Champagne corks popping around Westminster  and almost certainly from the home of her predecessor and one-time mentor Alex Salmond, with whom she fell out so spectacularly.

At the headquarters of both Labour and the Conservatives, whose dwindling support north of the border owes much to La Sturgeons formidable political nous, there was much rejoicing. She was history!

The deed was carried out in an elegant room in Bute House, her official residence in Edinburgh, a lectern positioned in front of a portrait of Rabbie Burns. Beside her, a Saltire flag drooped so low it could almost have been flying half-mast.

All attention, though, was on the figure who arrived dressed in bright red: Stern, but far more elegant than the awkward creature who arrived in the job eight years ago with the PE teachers haircut and Thunderbirds-style puppet gestures.

Sturgeon insisted her reasons for stepping down had nothing to do with her recent political travails, or short term issues as she dismissively referred to them. Jutting out her chin, she insisted the life of a First Minister had simply taken its toll.

While she was not expecting any violins, she complained of the lack of the privacy that came with the job, Of the lack of family time and how even meeting for a coffee in public with friends was practically impossible for her.

Several times she insisted she was a human being as well as a politician. Maybe so. But to anyone who has paid even the most fleeting attention to her career, there can be little doubt as to which of the two she has regarded as her priority.

The idea Sturgeon was now simply waltzing off into the sunset to voluntarily spend more time with her family was surely fanciful.

If she deserves a crumb of credit, I suppose, it is that she at least knew her time was up. Such is the SNPs fierce stranglehold over politics in Scotland, where voters have tended to regard her as a valiant wee piranha nibbling at the heels of their evil Westminster overlords, she could probably have limped on for another six months.

At the headquarters of both Labour and the Conservatives, whose dwindling support north of the border owes much to La Sturgeons formidable political nous, there was much rejoicing

Sturgeon insisted her reasons for stepping down had nothing to do with her recent political travails, or short term issues as she dismissively referred to them

Yet ever since Novembers High Court ruling, which forbade her from holding another independence referendum without Westminsters say so, something in her had changed. You could sense it as she stood at the lectern today. The Sturgeon swagger has all but disappeared.

A slightly testing session of questions from the media provided little further illumination. Someone asked whether her leadership had been a failure. Sturgeon said she preferred to leave it to others to judge.

Had she lost the support of her colleagues? Again, youd have to ask them about that, she replied, her voice now flickering with irritation.

There was a question about all those pressing issues shed neglected in favour of her pursuit of independence  education, the NHS, Scotlands dreadful record on drug addiction... Sturgeon frowned and insisted there would be plenty of time to reflect on these things in the weeks and months to come.

Reflect, perhaps, that there been so much for her to do yet so much of it sacrificed on the altar of a political obsession.

And as she turned to make her exit, she shot her audience the most rueful of smiles. All those hopes, all those romantic dreams of marching her people toward sovereignty, were now gone. Vanished into the Scottish mist like Banquos ghost.

Hard to believe it, but the Sturgeon is out of the swim.
In an often defensive and emotional performance in today's Press conference, Nicola Sturgeon insisted that she was not stepping down because of any single 'short-term' issues.

Rather, it was that leading her party and, in particular, dealing with Covid 'takes its toll on you and those around you'.

But everyone knows she has actually been brought down by her own vanity project, the politically disastrous Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill which made it easier for transgender people to apply for legal recognition of their chosen identity.

She believed its introduction would elevate her status as a progressive, popular politician and help her capture the youth vote. Instead it proved deeply divisive, wrecked her leadership  and set back the cause of independence for a generation.

The signs of trouble were all too evident just a couple of weeks ago when Sturgeon gave an interview to ITV. Normally the most consummate of media performers, she was tetchy, bombastic  and squirmed visibly when asked 'are all trans women, women?'

In an often defensive and emotional performance in today's Press conference, Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) insisted that she was not stepping down because of any single 'short-term' issues

Sturgeon has actually been brought down by her own vanity project, the politically disastrous Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill which made it easier for transgender people to apply for legal recognition of their chosen identity. Pictured: Transgender rapist Isla Bryson, 31, formerly known as Adam Graham, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, arrives at the High Court in Glasgow on January 23

In reply, she berated the ITV journalist for even putting the question to her and abruptly terminated the interview. It was a clear sign that Sturgeon had lost her once iron grip on the Scottish political establishment.

The revelation last month that a convicted double rapist, Adam Graham, had been placed in a Scottish women's prison having identified as a female appalled those concerned about the reform bill  and it utterly destroyed Surgeon's fading credibility.

Already, her stance on trans issues had brought her into public conflict with high-profile feminists such as her own party's Joanna Cherry, who said she was sacked from her frontbench role by the SNP because of a 'very aggressive gender identity ideology'. And, of course, there was Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who branded Sturgeon Orwellian when the First Minister accused her transgender bill's critics of being misogynistic, homophobic and racist.

But the fact is that those critics were growing in number dramatically. Many Scottish voters are vehemently opposed to a bill that would allow 16-year-olds to change sex without consulting a doctor  and the criticism affected Sturgeon's standing on other policies too.

Just three days ago a Panelbase survey of 1,415 voters in Scotland showed that 42 per cent thought she should resign immediately. The poll also found that only 44 per cent backed independence with 56 per cent against. The majority of those who expressed a view had serious safety concerns around the gender bill.

Sturgeon was shattered by the poll. Her over-arching dream of an independent Scotland was clearly over.

The revelation last month that a convicted double rapist, Adam Graham (pictured), had been placed in a Scottish women's prison having identified as a female appalled those concerned about the reform bill

She is proud of her feminist image as a caring and competent First Minister but the halo had well and truly slipped. She was Saint Nicola no more after being accused of exposing women prisoners to the risk of male violence.

She genuinely believed her transgender legislation would forge a clear and popular divide with the Westminster Tory government, which she portrayed as bigoted and transphobic for opposing it.

Perhaps, after nearly nine years as First Minister, she had become drunk on power and had lost all ability to read the public mood  when she took charge in 2014, David Cameron was Prime Minister and the UK was still in the European Union.

Whatever the case, the plunge in her fortunes was irreversible. When Rishi Sunak activated powers enshrined in Section 35 of the Scotland Act, to stop the gender bill going forward for Royal Assent, Sturgeon described the move as: 'Unconscionable, indefensible and really quite disgraceful, a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish parliament.'

Sturgeon promised to unite Scotland's political clans against the transphobic Tories all the way to the UK Supreme Court. But she never even had her own party on side.

The bill, passed in December, caused the biggest revolt in Holyrood in the SNP's 15 years in power with the resignation of the Community Safety minister, Ash Regan.

The collapse of public support fatally damaged Sturgeon's own standing with the voters. After all, it was always 'Nicola's Bill'.

Most SNP members were either opposed to it or confused by the reforms. What did the bill have to do with the SNP's crusade for independence? Was her stubborn refusal to back down as much to do with her hopes of securing secure a big international human-rights job in a life after Holyrood? Sturgeon had been saying for the past two years that she wants another big job.

There were other dark clouds gathering over Sturgeon. Just what did she know about the 107,000 loan to the SNP from her husband Peter Murrell made after the 2021 Holyrood elections? Murrell has been chief executive of the SNP since 1999.

The loan came to light in December and last week it was reported that it was in breach of multiple compliance issues with the Electoral Commission. There is also an ongoing police investigation into fraud allegations over 600,000 of SNP donations.

Will Murrell, who Sturgeon married in 2010, be quizzed by the police? Will Sturgeon? When she was asked at this morning's Press conference she angrily shut down the questioner.

In her pomp, Sturgeon was untouchable  a brilliant operator, always well briefed, rarely lost for words and a politician who radiated an air of competence and credibility.

In so many respects, she broke new ground. After joining the SNP as a teenager and developing her politics at University of Glasgow, she became the first female First Minister, taking over from her then friend and charismatic predecessor Alex Salmond. who stood down after the party lost the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence and with whom she has since spectacularly fallen out.

Under Sturgeon's leadership, the SNP swept the 2015 UK general election, gaining 56 out of 59 Scottish seats. It was a similar result post-Brexit in the 2019 election and it seemed she could do no wrong.

During lockdown, when she was rarely off the airwaves giving slick daily televised Press conferences, her popularity soared as did the support for independence.

Until today, she was Britain's most experienced political leader  a remarkable achievement. And one whose popularity defied reality on the ground given that, from crime, to drugs, health, education, infra-structure projects and much more besides, the SNP's performance record has been shockingly bad.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon leaving Bute House in Edinburgh by the back door today after she announced that she will stand down as First Minister for Scotland after eight years

But it started to go wrong last year when the Supreme Court ruled last year that Sturgeon needed the agreement of the UK government to hold another referendum and it was clear she didn't have a back-up plan.

Her answer, she declared, would be to treat the next general election as a referendum in Scotland and, if the SNP won in Scotland, declare that the people had voted for independence.

Yet a weekend poll showed that just one one fifth of voters wanted the general election to be turned into a plebiscite on the state of the Union.

If that wasn't the straw that broke the back of Sturgeon's reign as First Minister, the unpopularity of the gender ID bill almost certainly was.

The once supremely fluent and persuasive politician has found her powers are failing. To quote the old adage, given that her dreams of an independent Scotland now seem dead in the water, she is living proof that all political careers end in failure.
Those in search of evidence that devolution has been an unmitigated disaster need look no further than the war on motorists declared by Sadiq Khan in London, and his fellow Labour ideologue in Wales, Mark Drakeford.

The London mayor is extending his Ultra Low Emission Zone to all 33 boroughs of Greater London, so that drivers with older cars will have to pay 12.50 a day for the privilege of using them. This will bear down on the poorest in society.

At the same time, Khan is planning to expand 20 mph zones throughout the capital. This is widely seen as a ruse to boost local finances, with City Hall reportedly hoping that the Metropolitan Police will issue a million speeding tickets a year, more than double the present rate.

Meanwhile, in the Socialist Republic of Wales, Corbynista First Minister Mark Drakeford is scrapping nearly all major road-building projects for environmental reasons. Please note that Wales has an abysmal road network. Try driving from Anglesey to Cardiff.

The Principality is also one of the poorest regions in the United Kingdom and is in desperate need of economic development. A moratorium on road building will inevitably hold the country back, but what does Mark Drakeford care?

Those in search of evidence that devolution has been an unmitigated disaster need look no further than the war on motorists declared by Sadiq Khan (left) in London, and his fellow Labour ideologue in Wales, Mark Drakeford (right)

The London mayor is extending his Ultra Low Emission Zone to all 33 boroughs of Greater London, so that drivers with older cars will have to pay 12.50 a day for the privilege of using them

You may have noticed the UK has an avowedly Conservative government which, while not particularly sympathetic to motorists, is not hell-bent on punishing them. With the powers bestowed by devolution, Khan and Drakeford evidently are.

Actually, it's not just devolution which facilitates the persecution of motorists. Local councils have enormous powers to make driving a misery, and those run by Labour, the Lib Dems or the Greens (and, not infrequently, a combination of all three) are increasingly on the rampage in a number of cities.

Such a party alliance is intending to split Oxford, where I live, into six separate zones during the day. There will be 'gates', though you won't be able to pass through unless you are on business or a resident, in which case you must apply for a permit. Otherwise it's a 70 fine.

Imagine you are a tourist visiting the City of Dreaming Spires. You inadvertently pass through one of the gates, about which no one has told you, and  bang!  you're 70 poorer. Good business for Oxfordshire County Council, though.

Isn't this all absolutely crazy? Nearly all of us accept that cars have to be controlled and regulated. Most of us can also agree that pollution is highly undesirable, and therefore sensible and proportionate measures are needed to reduce it.

But slapping a 12.50 daily charge on drivers in London who happen to own older cars (including diesels registered before 2015, which previous governments urged us to buy)? Fining people for travelling more than 20 mph when there are few, or no, pedestrians around? Splitting cities into zones which can't easily be crossed?

I submit that the proponents of these absurd schemes are usually ideologues who probably don't study the evidence about air pollution, and have also spotted an extra way of making money out of motorists. There are also instances of profoundly anti-democratic behaviour on the part of local politicians.

Let's look at pollution. You wouldn't guess, from listening to Sadiq Khan or Mark Drakeford, that it has plummeted in recent years. Half a century ago, it was far worse. As a result of much cleaner engines and the phasing out of coal-burning in power stations, air pollution has fallen very sharply throughout the country.

According to official figures, between 1970 and 2016, sulphur dioxide emissions in Britain fell by 97 per cent, particulate pollution  such as soot  went down by 73 per cent, and nitrogen oxides dropped by 72 per cent.

Consider one form of particulate matter called PM2.5, which has been linked to heart and lung problems. Emissions of PM2.5 are estimated to have risen to 83,200 tonnes in 2021, breaching the Government's recently instituted annual limit of 80,800 tonnes.

Although the increase sounds bad, it should be put in context. Total emissions of PM2.5 have fallen drastically from 248,000 tonnes in 1990, so that present levels are a third of those of three decades ago.

Interestingly, the proportion of PM2.5 emissions due to road transport has fallen especially fast, and now represents only 13 per cent of the pollutant. By contrast, pollution produced by woodburners and other domestic combustion jumped by 50 per cent between 2011 and 2021. How much easier to hammer the poor old motorist!

We should take into account greenhouse gases, believed to be the cause of global warming. According to Government figures, road transport is responsible for 24 per cent of this country's greenhouse gases.

But we need a sense of proportion. The UK accounts for about 1 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases. If every car, lorry, van and bus in the country were permanently grounded tomorrow  and even Sadiq Khan and Mark Drakeford don't advocate that  worldwide greenhouse gases would be reduced by roughly one 400th.

Of course, more needs to be done to reduce emissions. The Government believes electric cars will accelerate the process, though they are still very expensive, and some experts maintain that, because batteries make them much heavier, more polluting particles are produced from brake linings, tyres and road surfaces.

Let's hope that, like once much-vaunted diesels, electric cars don't carry hidden problems. We'll see. In the meantime, there's no justification for the oppression of motorists by anti-car zealots, who frequently have the additional motive of wanting to fill their coffers.

Like most ideologues, they disregard what ordinary people feel. Sadiq Khan has been accused of manipulating a public consultation on expanding London's Ultra Low Emission Zone after it emerged that more than 5,000 votes  one in ten responses  were excluded. What price democracy?

Of course, more needs to be done to reduce emissions. The Government believes electric cars will accelerate the process, though they are still very expensive, and some experts maintain that, because batteries make them much heavier, more polluting particles are produced from brake linings, tyres and road surfaces. Pictured: Tesla Model S electric car charging in London

In Oxford, Duncan Enright, an Oxfordshire County councillor keen on enforcing the zones, told a newspaper that the scheme will 'definitely' happen whether people like it or not. A Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme in the city has already gone ahead despite 63 per cent of respondents having objected.

I realise zealots can be voted out, but they can do a great deal of damage before that happens. My only hope is Sadiq Khan has bitten off more than he can chew, after at least four London Labour MPs have criticised his plan because of its damaging impact on the poor and hard-pressed.

How easy it is for a local or regional politician who knows nothing about the processes of wealth creation, and is securely on the public payroll, possibly with a juicy pension lying ahead, to bear down on ordinary people who only want to be allowed to live their lives and make a decent living. For many, public transport is not a viable alternative.

We may think we have an elected government that feels responsible for all its citizens. But it has ceded much of its power through devolution, and allows local potentates to run amok.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a robust and judicious government of the United Kingdom, as once we did, which didn't allow councils to persecute motorists or carve cities into zones or suspend all road building? Dream on.
Britain is being utterly drenched in pollution. Our streams, rivers and oceans are treated as open sewers by giant water companies, which pour torrents of human waste into them year after year.

In 2021 alone, there were 375,000 untreated sewage spills into rivers: a mountain of filth threatening our natural beauty and delicate ecosystems.

It is a scandal that infuriates people everywhere. Data reveals the nine biggest water companies  including Thames Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent  received some 2,800 written warnings and 'enforcement actions' in the past seven years from the Environment Agency.

Has it made a difference? Hardly. Britain has some of Europe's lowest water quality.

Clearly, the Government needs to take a firm stand. Yet there is little sign of the requisite urgency.

ALEX BRUMMER: In 2021 alone, there were 375,000 untreated sewage spills into rivers

Rapacious

This week, the Mail reported that Environment Secretary Therese Coffey intends to roll back on plans that would have seen water firms fined up to 250 million for persistent sewage spills. She is said to see this as 'disproportionate'.

The current maximum fine is just 250,000  a paltry sum when Thames Water, to name just one, has annual revenues of almost 2.2 billion per year.

Many readers will remember when British travellers to the Continent were advised to drink only bottled water. Now foreign tourists are greeted with 'Don't Swim' signs on our sewage-lashed beaches.

How has it all gone so badly wrong? When regional water companies in England and Wales were privatised in 1989  in one of the last acts of Margaret Thatcher's free-market government  it was meant to be an opportunity for UK private investors, pension and other investment funds to have a direct stake in how the formerly municipally owned firms were run.

The idea was that the proverbial 'invisible hand' of the market would bring efficiency and competitiveness, driving down prices and improving services. In this brave new vision, privatisation would herald new investment in reliable pipes and pumping systems, plus clean up rivers and coasts and ensure safe sewage disposal.

None of it has worked as intended. Regulator Ofwat has failed to ensure sufficient investment in the system.

Consumers are still being ripped off, leaks are not swiftly repaired and modern infrastructure is yet to be installed. Drought orders persist on our famously rain-lashed island. Swimmers, rowers and anglers often cannot enjoy their hobbies without dealing with sewage bobbing about them.

If ever government needed to show some bottle, it is in dealing with the water giants.

Rapacious: If ever government needed to show some bottle, it is in dealing with the water giants (Pictured: Lake Windemere in the Lake District, 2022)

Yet ministers in Rishi Sunak's ultra-cautious administration fear aggravating the polluters. The Prime Minister talks a fairly strong game, calling sewage spills 'appalling'. But he does not match words with action.

All this is offering Labour an open goal, with shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon telling voters, more or less unchallenged: 'The Tories have turned their backs on you  they've allowed the places you care about to become an open sewer.'

The truth is more nuanced. Of course the Government cares about this politically damaging problem.

But Ms Coffey fears that by making sworn enemies of the water giants, she could deter them from making the badly needed investment to clean up the waterways. If they do not pay, the burden will fall on already squeezed taxpayers.

Nevertheless, she needs to do a lot more  and fast.

The truth is rapacious overseas owners are destroying the Thatcherite ideal. An obsession with short-term profits means that cash returns for these, in the shape of dividends  together with fat-cat pay for those at the top  have made Britain's water industry a honeypot.

Successive governments, Labour and Tory, sat on their hands as vultures descended on the industry, buying out private investors and domestic pension funds.

A recent investigation found an astounding 72 per cent of the English water industry is controlled by outfits in 17 countries. Even the share-ownership registers of these  including Severn Trent and United Utilities  are dominated by overseas investors.

Leaky: Thames Water boss Sarah Bentley earned a tasty 2 million in 2021 alone

Of course, these distant owners do not share our passion for the cleanliness of our waterways or the plants and animals that live in and near them.

One newly installed chief executive at a foreign-owned water firm admitted to us recently that repairing the damage of past under-investment was an eight-to-ten year job, at least.

A major investigation by this paper and The Mail on Sunday revealed the UK has allowed its water industry to be run from overseas. Decisions affecting millions of British households are made in North America, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

Leaky

Our probe found that in 2022 alone, some 3 billion of dividends  paid for out of ordinary Britons' pockets  had been funnelled into the bank accounts of investors, many of whom were overseas. This could have been used to fix the litany of problems identified by the Environment Agency.

Among those owners are investment funds in China, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. Almost 9 per cent of Thames Water, Britain's biggest water firm, was sold to the China Investment Corporation, a direct arm of the Beijing government, in 2012.

This was after the helpful intervention of then Chancellor George Osborne, who saw it as critical in building warm relations with the communists in the Far East.

Some 100 million in dividends, which could have been used to repair London's notoriously leaky pipes, were paid to Beijing instead.

Thames fell into the hands of a consortium including the Abu Dhabi investment fund. (For the moment, as it refocuses on fixing the mistakes of the past, dividends have dried up.)

In effect, the international super-rich have harnessed virtually guaranteed cash flows from British households.

And running a water firm can be very rewarding, too. Thames Water boss, mother-of-five Sarah Bentley, earned a tasty 2 million in 2021 alone.

The former chief executive of Yorkshire Water, Liz Barber, amassed 1.4 million  even though the company she was running was fined 1.6 million for 25 unauthorised spills on a watercourse near Bradford.

Filth: At this stage, there is probably no turning back from the current ownership structure

Filth

Liv Garfield at Severn Trent collected a whopping 3.9 million in spite of the firm being fined 1.5 million for illegally dumping sewage into Worcestershire watercourses.

Similar rewards are in evidence at other water giants. If these were doing a brilliant job, few would begrudge these executives eye-catching pay. But when our rivers are flooded with filth, when leaks are endemic, when we have hosepipe bans even though it rains so much, and when prices keep going up  it's rather hard to tolerate.

At this stage, there is probably no turning back from the current ownership structure. Renationalisation is certainly not on the cards.

It is critical, however, that the industry is made to operate in the best interests of customers, the broader public and the environment.

If that means swingeing fines  yes, at least up to 250 million  which would force the companies into less grasping ownership, then so be it.

Nor should the Government steer clear of launching criminal prosecutions against negligent officials, farmers and others who knowingly breach environmental standards. The prospect of a prison sentence would sharpen the mind of any water boss.

It's a challenge, yes  but one the Government must not duck. Or this rising tide of pollution will sink us all.
In a long, rambling and solipsistic resignation speech today Nicola Sturgeon claimed that she had led Scotland so close to independence that the process was now in its final stages.

In fact, the opposite is true. The prospect of Scottish separation from the rest of United Kingdom is now even further away than it was at the time of the 2014 referendum, when Scots clearly rejected it 55 per cent to 45 per cent. That is the real reason she is stepping down as First Minister.

After all, if she truly believed that what shes described as her lifetimes work was just around the corner, why would she go? Whoever delivered Scottish independence would take their place in nationalist folklore alongside William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. No self-respecting Scottish nationalist would forego being in that historic company if independence was within their grasp.

In truth, Sturgeon has run out of road. All possible paths to independence are blocked. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has ruled that the Scottish Parliament, which she has dominated, does not have the power to call a referendum. To proceed down that route would be unconstitutional, illegal. It would also be meaningless: Scotlands pro-union parties would boycott it, producing a nonsense result.

In a long, rambling and solipsistic resignation speech yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon claimed that she had led Scotland so close to independence that the process was now in its final stages

In truth, Sturgeon has run out of road. All possible paths to independence are blocked

Her fall-back position  to treat the next general election as a de facto referendum on independence  is unlikely ever to get off the starting blocks. A mere 21 per cent of Scots approve of such an approach. Even her own party faithful is sniffy about it. It is also fraught with problems.

In every recent election for Westminster and Holyrood, Sturgeon has urged voters to back the SNP even if they didnt want independence because the SNP was supposedly the only party guaranteed to stand up for Scotland, in or out of the Union. She could not have made the same pitch at the next election and also claimed it was a de facto referendum. The SNPs electoral appeal would have been undermined; some of its MPs would have lost their seats.

It all looked so much more promising when Sturgeon took over as First Minister from Alex Salmond in the aftermath of his referendum defeat. Lest the English think the Scots could now be ignored because theyd turned their backs on independence, they voted en masse for the SNP to represent them in Westminster and Holyrood. Sturgeon enjoyed electoral success unrivalled in any modern democracy.

The Brexit referendum in 2016 looked like it could give independence a new lease of life. The UK as a whole voted to leave the European Union but Scotland voted to remain by a large margin. Being pulled out of the EU against its will was the perfect issue for the SNPs grievance politics.

Yet, curiously, it failed to move the dial in favour of independence. Indeed, as time passed it became clear that Brexit complicated the case for it. The SNP had fought the 2014 referendum on the basis that Scotland and the rest of the UK would still be in the EU, still all together in the European single market and customs union. There was no question of a border at Berwick. The movement of goods and people between Scotland and England would remain seamless.

But, post-Brexit, if an independent Scotland joined the EU  which the SNP averred it was determined to do  then the border would be far from seamless, as the endless row over the Northern Ireland protocol has illustrated. Access to England, Scotlands biggest market, would be more restricted. Scottish jobs would be at risk.

Brexit also complicated the currency issue. In 2014, the SNP had blithely assured voters an independent Scotland would simply carry on using the pound. Post-Brexit it soon became apparent that Brussels would not let an independent Scotland join the EU using the currency of a country which was no longer a member of the EU.

But what would Scotlands currency be? A Scottish pound? The euro? The groat? Convincing answers came there none.

The issue was exacerbated by the fact that Scotland could no longer count on North Sea oil revenues to shore up its own currency, since the existing oil fields were running out and the SNP, after a generation of claiming Its Scotlands oil, was now in coalition with the Greens and espousing a net zero mantra, which ruled out drilling new oil fields.

Her fall-back position  to treat the next general election as a de facto referendum on independence  is unlikely ever to get off the starting blocks

Ms Sturgeon waved to the crowd outside Bute House after making her dramatic announcement

The prospect of Scottish separation from the rest of the United Kingdom is now even further away than it was at the time of the 2014 referendum, when Scots clearly rejected it 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Pictured: A crowd had gathered outside Bute House in Edinburgh ahead of Ms Sturgeon's announcement

Suddenly the economic case against independence seemed more formidable than ever. Even when Westminster appeared at times to be doing its best to spurn Scotland  with Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street, partygate scandals, metropolitan sleaze  the polls didnt move in favour of independence.

The SNP would trumpet the odd outlier that did show a small majority for independence. But mostly the polls stayed stubbornly against. The more the SNP argued for a second referendum, the more a clear majority of Scots said they werent interested, for at least the next five years.

This was a daunting prospect for Sturgeon. Already First Minister for eight years (and Deputy First Minister for eight years before that), independence, whatever her public bravado, seemed as far away as ever. Recently, the polls started hardening further against independence: the latest shows a 12-point margin against separation. Even if Sturgeon could somehow engineer a second referendum, there was every chance she could lose it.

The return of the Labour Party to a semblance of sanity under Keir Starmer has also played its part. Sturgeon shares the consensus view that Labour will win a five-year Westminster majority at the next general election. Thats another nail in the coffin of independence: the SNP always finds it much harder to make headway for its core cause when Labour rather than the Tory party is in power in London.

This was all starting to take its toll on Sturgeons hitherto untouchable standing. For almost a decade she has dominated Scottish politics. Leaders of the other parties would come and go, forgettable pygmies who made no headway against a political colossus.

Her SNP didnt just control Holyrood with an iron hand and account for an overwhelming majority of Scottish MPs in the Commons. Her partys influence pervaded every nook and cranny of Scottish life, bankrolling and populating all the agencies, lobbies and vested interests of civic society, cowing much of the Scottish media as it went and creating many of the characteristics of a one-party state.

But, much as the SNP faithful loved all the status, money and jobs the Sturgeon ascendancy brought with it, there was one fatal flaw: it remained unclear how she would deliver independence. For Scottish nationalists, it doesnt matter in the end how much you deliver on every other front: if you cant show a convincing pathway to independence then its probably time you moved on.

Sturgeon reached that point towards the end of last year. The rumblings about her had been rising for some time, significant in a party once famed for its iron discipline. Her inability to say if a convicted double-rapist who had subsequently self-identified as a woman was a man suggested she was losing her touch. It highlighted the flaws in her governments plans to make gender self-identification easier, especially when it was revealed the rapist had been incarcerated in a womens prison.

On economic issues Scotland might lean Left but it remains pretty socially conservative. Radical reform of gender self-identification is not the stuff of Scottish breakfast table conversations, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. Sturgeon, surrounded by like-minded acolytes and woke activists, impervious to other points of views, had uncharacteristically misjudged the mood. Polls showed Scots 2-1 against her gender ID reforms.

Her resignation is a huge blow to the nationalist cause. None of her likely successors can bring anything like her appeal, charisma or stature to the independence cause. None has any better idea about how to achieve independence. They will also inherit a legacy of failure which goes way beyond an inability to resolve the impasse over an independent Scotland.

In every recent election for Westminster and Holyrood, Sturgeon has urged voters to back the SNP even if they didnt want independence because the SNP was supposedly the only party guaranteed to stand up for Scotland, in or out of the Union

Ms Sturgeon insisted her decision came from 'duty' and was not linked to 'short-term' issues. She said she had been 'wrestling' with whether 'carrying on' was right for her and Scotland. Pictured: Unionist supporters as they celebrate the resignation of First Minister

Under SNP rule, life expectancy for men and women has suffered its steepest fall in 40 years and worsened during the Sturgeon years. The inequality is staggering: huge swathes of Glasgow, including Sturgeons own constituency, remain riddled with some of the worst poverty in Europe. Males born in its poorer areas live 14 years fewer than those born into affluence.

Drug-related causes of deaths have hit record highs each year for the past seven years. Scotlands death toll from drugs is the worst in the developed world.

In 2015, Sturgeon said I want to be judged on reducing the attainment gap between poor and affluent students. She said it was her defining mission. Eight years later the attainment gap is as wide as ever. For the first time in recorded history someone from a poor background in England has a better chance of getting to university than in Scotland.

In the second half of the 19th century many of the worlds greatest ships were built on the Clyde. Now, under SNP tutelage, Scotland cant even manage two ferries anywhere near on time or on budget. The economy is stagnant, its financial services and technology bases not what they were. Other than a new road bridge across the Firth of Forth, the SNP has done little to repair or replace its crumbling infrastructure (as driving on the old two-lane motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh quickly illustrates).

Even though spending on public services is almost 30 per cent higher per capita in Scotland than in England, its hard to see the benefits of all this largesse. NHS waiting times are even worse than in England. In supposedly socialist Scotland the number going private for their medical procedures is up 68 per cent.

Thats despite the income tax squeeze on middle and upper-middle Scottish incomes. They now pay considerably more income tax than their English counterparts, raising the danger of a Scottish brain drain to the south. But it doesnt make for better public finances: the most recent Scottish budget deficit was 12 per cent of GDP (twice the overall UK deficit and close to the highest in Europe).

Inevitably, as happens with all parties in power too long, sleaze and scandal raised their ugly heads. There was her epic battle with Alex Salmond, once her mentor, now her worst enemy, the disclosure of loans from her husband to the SNP (where hes chief executive, for now), the police investigation into a missing 600,000 in donations given to finance a second referendum campaign. Much of this has still to play out, almost certainly not to the SNPs advantage.

Sturgeons departure means there is little doubt the Union between Scotland and England lives to fight another day. If she could not achieve independence, lesser politicians are unlikely to succeed where she has failed. The SNP will remain Scotlands dominant party but it will become more fractious as its core cause becomes impossible to achieve. And, eventually, it will be held to account for all the ails that have bedevilled Scotland under its watch.

Those London chattering classes who decided the break-up of Britain was the price the country deserved to pay for having the temerity to vote for Brexit will be almost as disappointed as the Edinburgh blethering classes. The UKs unionist majority should be quietly satisfied that a serious threat has been seen off.

As for Nicola Sturgeon, her pole position in the SNP hall of fame is guaranteed and deserved as a political leader of the first rank. But a lasting legacy that touched the lives of the people of Scotland for the better will be harder to detect.
To understand the physical shock that reverberated around Scotland yesterday with the news that Nicola Sturgeon was to resign as First Minister, let me take you back to the dark days of the pandemic.

Not long after lockdown began back in March 2020, Sturgeon started holding daily press conferences. And then she carried on. And on. And on.

Months after the initial Covid wave had died down, she was still there, standing at the podium, holding what took on the appearance of a vigil of endurance.

As a political opponent of the SNP, I was sitting in on focus groups of voters during that time. The feedback was extraordinary: people across Scotland had come to see their First Minister as a near-deity  a leader who was holding back the plague and protecting them from harm.

Three years on, her popularity has fallen, although a poll on Monday showed that she remains the most popular and easily the best-known politician in Scotland.

Ambition (from left): Nicola Sturgeon aged 14; marrying Peter Murrell in 2010; and with her SNP predecessor Alex Salmond

Ending in tears: Nicola Sturgeon on the 2019 election campaign trail

It is no exaggeration to say that for her admirers in Scotland, the next few days will be akin to a period of mourning.

And it is those press conferences at which she made her reputation which perfectly sum up the legacy of Nicola Sturgeon, the longest serving First Minister of Scotland.

They demonstrated her ample presentational gifts. They illustrated her most admirable political quality: her sheer stamina and endurance. But they also exposed her greatest failing as a political leader.

Despite her spending every day speaking to the nation, Scotland did no better than the rest of the UK in the way it managed the Covid outbreak. It was a great performance, but it didnt deliver.

For all that she perfected the art of communication in the modern political age, Sturgeon ended up doing much less than meets the eye. In 2014, the majority of people in Scotland opposed Scottish independence. A poll this week shows they still oppose Scottish independence.

Not only does Sturgeon leave office having failed in her quest to end the United Kingdom, she leaves office without having changed very much at all.

She was never a typical political animal. Brought up in working-class Ayrshire, Sturgeon has spoken about her shyness as a child. On her sixth birthday she recalls spending her party under the table: I remember my mum sort of saying: Would you come out? We have people here. But, if it was up to me, I would still spend most of my days hiding under the table, reading.

She became a member of the SNP as a teenager in the febrile 1980s, driven towards nationalism by the impact of Margaret Thatchers policies on post-industrial Scotland.

Four PMs and one Liz ...but not Ms Truss! Pictured meeting PM Rishi Sunak in Inverness last month

Seats of power: With Boris Johnson in Edinburgh in July 2019

Out of the blue: Greeting Theresa May in July 2016

Those who remember her as a student at the University of Glasgow were the first to discover how her shyness hid a steely determination: while her arguments for separation would regularly get demolished in university debates, she kept coming back for more, each time a little better.

She graduated in law and soon began her slow but determined climb up the political ladder.

In 1999, she was among the first crop of SNP politicians to be elected via proportional representation (PR) to the new Scottish Parliament. Twice she failed to win her home seat in Glasgow. But, never one to give up easily, on the third time she finally succeeded and has held it ever since.

It was at the new parliament that her alliance with Alex Salmond was cemented. He saw her as among the best of the crop of young nationalists whom he had brought on in the early 1990s. And so, in 2004, after the resignation of John Swinney as party leader, they struck a deal: he would stand for leader; she would be his deputy.

So began the most successful partnership in recent British politics. In 2007, Salmond stunned a complacent Labour Party by winning the Scottish election. In 2011, he won a majority.

David Cameron immediately agreed to hold a referendum on independence. Suddenly, the Salmond-Sturgeon double-acts dream of independence for Scotland was within reach.

It was not to be: in 2014, Scots voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain in the Union.

In Edinburgh that night, Sturgeon was in tears. But that defeat was to make her. Salmond resigned and she stood unopposed to replace him. In November 2014, she began the eight-year stretch as leader that came to an end yesterday.

Tartan terror: At Holyrood with David Cameron in January 2015

Royal audience: With the late Queen in Edinburgh in June 2022

From the off, it was wildly successful. In the General Election a year after the referendum, her SNP delivered a political earthquake, destroying Labour in its heartlands, and winning every seat bar two in mainland Scotland. Victory in the Scottish Parliament elections the next year was a given.

After the abrasive Salmond years, Scotland liked Sturgeons more conciliatory tone. She told business leaders she wouldnt go near the question of independence until support was above 60 per cent.

With Labour in the doldrums, she concentrated on domestic policy and on building her growing reputation as a darling of the UKs progressive Left.

Sturgeon, who is married to SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, talked bravely about a miscarriage she had suffered in the early stages of pregnancy when she was Deputy First Minister. They have no children and she hoped that by speaking about it, she might help other women in similar circumstances.

By now the Brexit bombshell had hit Britain. A clear majority of Scots had voted to remain in the UK. And overnight, the independence roadshow began once again.

In retrospect, Sturgeon hesitated, perhaps fatally. Some of Alex Salmonds supporters believe she should have pressed for independence the moment Brexit happened. Instead, she waited until spring 2017 before demanding a second referendum.

By then, Scots were less keen on the idea of a re-run, unwilling to go through the turmoil of yet another referendum, their third in a handful of years.

Sturgeon lost control of the agenda. And, caught unawares by Theresa Mays decision to hold a snap General Election that May, she suffered the biggest defeat of her career, with the SNP losing 21 seats. She had been too cautious and had lost.

Typically, she reset her plans for independence. But then, within a few months, she was plunged into an even bigger crisis. In the summer of 2018, it emerged that, following a government investigation, police had begun inquiries into complaints of sexual harassment against Alex Salmond during his time as First Minister. A few months later, he was charged with 14 counts, including one of attempted rape. Sturgeon was caught in the crossfire.

The trial of the century led to an astonishing rupture in their once indestructible relationship. Salmond accused her of conspiracy, declaring that he had been a victim of a prolonged, malicious and concerted effort among a range of individuals within the Scottish government and SNP to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.

Not a shred of evidence, Sturgeon blasted back.

Sensationally, in March 2020, Salmond was cleared. It appeared he was set for revenge on his former protege.

But right then, Covid hit  and Sturgeon was catapulted into a global crisis that put even the Salmond affair into the shade.

As noted above, the crisis took Sturgeon to new heights of popularity. And, for this observer at least, it was here that it all started going to her head. In London, Boris Johnsons team felt she was on an ego trip, and soon refused to have anything to do with her.

The SNPs Scottish election campaign of 2021  based entirely on her self-styled leadership talents  had the unmistakable aura of a personality cult. Surrounded by a tiny circle of aides and her husband, Peter, whom shed met through their mutual support for independence, the First Minister took on a haughty and increasingly arrogant demeanour.

I remember watching her last summer at an event in Edinburgh where she interviewed the Succession actor and independence supporter Brian Cox. As the U.S.based Mr Cox waxed lyrical about the benefits of breaking up Britain, Sturgeon mused: Do you think theres something about living outside of Scotland that allows you to see it much more clearly than people here can?

The tone was unmistakable: silly Scots, she was saying  how could they not see that independence was the way forward? Especially after all shed done for them.

For some, the Sturgeon style became a source of much amusement. Prime Minister Theresa May was among those who giggled when told about the First Ministers nickname, Elsie  given to her because, in Sturgeons world, it is always someone elses fault. Over the past few years, however, to those of us who live here, that style has become more and more grating. Yes, Sturgeon was still popular among the SNP faithful, but among many pro-Union Scots, her increasingly divisive, hectoring approach  and her incompetent government  became as unpleasant as Alex Salmonds before her.

She talked up the competence of her government compared with the one in Westminster, but then Holyrood spent 350 million on two ferries that, many years on, still dont work. She declared that education was her number one priority, only to dump a keynote education Bill. She pledged to create a national energy company  but there still isnt one.

Most of all, she wound up the grievance, continually  and increasingly desperately  insisting that Scotland was doomed thanks to the great Satan in Westminster, certain that Scots shared her anger and fury. They didnt.

Her plan to turn next years General Election into a de facto referendum on independence was a turkey  opposed even by some of her most loyal backers.

Then, just a few weeks ago, she had one last go. After Rishi Sunaks government stepped in to block her governments radical gender reform proposals, she raged against the naked assault on Scottish democracy.

A few nationalists came out and marched. But, in a final humiliation, after the case of a male rapist claiming to be a trans woman hit the Press, polls showed that Scots were entirely supportive of the UK governments decision. She had yanked her favoured grievance lever one last time  and it had broken off in her hand.

Sturgeon is said to want a job in international politics. It may be a long time coming.

History will show that she had remarkably auspicious circumstances both to boost Scotlands economy and to strengthen the case of Scottish independence. She had immense political capital, no little skill and resilience, and political circumstances that aided her cause immensely.

Yet the blunt truth is that, as she leaves the scene this week, Scotland is in a worse place than when she took over, and her lifetimes ambition is as far away as ever. It is hardly a legacy worth shouting about.
A couple have told Ben Fogle that growing up in the Zambian wilderness has made their daughters more confident - in spite of all the dangerous wildlife lurking around.

Ruth, 36, and Lyndon Pinches, 39, moved from the UK to Zambia six years ago to open a safari lodge business where tourists pay 218 per person per night.

The couple admitted on last night's New Lives in the Wild that there's dangers from the local wildlife on the edge of the Kafue river, which includes lions, cheetahs, leopards, hippos and crocodiles.

In spite of the fact one of their friends was eaten by a crocodile in a nearby stream, the couple insisted that the Zambian bush is an 'amazing' place for their two daughters Indiana, nicknamed 'Indie,' and Ivy, who are both under six, to grow up.

They told Ben Fogle that there were initially worried about Indie and Ivy not having contact with other children, but added growing up in the wilderness has made the two girls more 'confident.'

Ruth, 36, and Lyndon Pinches, 39, moved from the UK to Zambia six years ago to open a safari lodge business where tourists pay 218 per person per night to stay at. They are raising their two daughters, Indiana, called 'Indie,' and Ivy, in the wilderness. Thet met Ben Fogle for New Lives in the Wild, airing tonight at 9pm on Channel 5

The couple moved to Zambia six years ago with the aim to build touristic lodges and help with local conservation work.

They used Ruth's saving from her teaching career and former soldier Lyndon's army redundancy money to fund the project.

Ben travelled to the lodge by car to meet them, on the edge of the Kafue River, in Zambia's oldest and largest national park.

He had very strict instructions not to get out of the car for any reason, due to the wildlife living in the park.

Upon arriving, he was taken with the beauty of the family's surroundings, saying: 'What an amazing place for the girls to grow up.'

'We've had leopards coming through here, hippos coming out the river, crocs everywhere, loads of antelopes,' Lyndon told Ben.

It was Indiana and Ivy who gave Ben safety course, warning him against going near the water, because of the crocodiles.

They also warned him against snakes, while their father added: 'The day, you're fine, just don't go in the long grass, stay two metres back from the river,

The couple admitted in New Lives in the Wild that they have had to make do with the dangers of the local wildlife on the edge of the Kafue river, which includes lions, cheetahs, leopards, hippos and crocodiles

'At night time we'll always have someone to escort you around with a torch,' he added.

Ben was blown away by Lyndon, Ruth, and their family, as well as the lodge.

'What a place. It's quite hard to find a family from a totally different culture, from a different country living here.

'It's quite a simple set up. I know that just behind that very thin canvas, there are crocodiles and hippos and lions and cheetahs, and that's one of the exciting things about coming to a country like Zambia,' he said.

'But quite brave to have your two very young daughters living here as well.'

The couple are so isolated they have to harvest and forage as much food as they can, with Lyndon making trips to the nearby village to stock up on food and fuel.

When the family and Ben took a tour of the park, Lyndon escorted them with a shotgun.

In spite of the fact one of their friends has been eaten by a crocodile in a nearby stream, the couple insisted that the Zambian bush is an 'amazing' place for their two daughters under two to grow up

Ruth and Lyndon told Ben on tonight's show, which will air at 9pm, that there were initially worried about Indie and Ivy not having contact with other children, but added growing up i the wilderness has made the two girls more 'confident'

'I've never fired it in anger at the lions or anything like that,' the dad-of-two said of his weapon.

'We like to think that we can know if the animals are there and take a step back just in case,' he added

The family took Ben to a creek, where Lyndon warned him: 'That's a dangerous bit of the river, with lots of crocs here, so we have to keep a step back.'

He told Ben that Kafue crocodiles can be up to 5-metres-long.

'And you'll see them here, if you come in the morning you'll see them basking in the sun,' he added.

The couple admitted they knew people who had been taken by crocodiles.

'Sadly we know quite a few people who have been killed in this very stream by crocodiles,' Lyndon said.

In one particular instance, the father-of-two had to shoot one of the crocodiles who had eaten their friend.

'Three years ago, someone we knew quite well actually, he was fishing just around here, and a crocodile took him,' he said.

'We just heard a scream and ran and just saw his hat floating. The wildlife authority came in to catch the croc.

'Once they got a man-eating croc, they got to deal with it because once they got a taste for human flesh, they'll just keep going for people.'

The couple have also relied on the help of the local community and members of the people who work at the lodge

In spite of these dangers, the couple trust that their daughters understand the safety boundaries they have put in place around the lodge

Lyndon had to shoot the crocodile, but said he felt no joy about it, adding: 'I didn't want to kill an animal, I never wanted to shoot an animal, I don't believe in hunting but if this crocodile wasn't killed, someone else was going to die.'

Ruth added: 'It made it seem a lot more serious once we knew people who'd actually been taken by crocodiles. Suddenly like, this is real. It did make us take safety a lot more seriously,' she added.

With the nearest hospital 4 hours away from their lodge, the couple have had to learn to deal with risk.

Ben noted they were 'in the thick of it,' and that the couple were 'not living in a Disneyland version of Zambia, they're actually in the midst of it.'

In spite of these dangers, the couple trust that their daughters understand the safety boundaries they have put in place around the lodge.

'For lots of people, this is quite a comparatively risky environment to raise children in,' Ben observed.

'We never really have had an issue, I think because we've always been very explicit about the reasons why we have these sort of safety boundaries,' Rut replied, explaining she told her daughters not to go near the river, because there are crocodiles there that will eat them 'any chance they get.'

'I think they're very confident and very sensible actually,' Lyndon noted, adding: 'They're not fearful, but they respect the bush.

The couple have also relied on the help of the local community and staff who work at the lodge for guidance.

'The staff here are like the children's uncles and they listen to the staff's stories and boundaries as much as they do for me and Lyndon,' Ruth said.

The two girls are being educated at home by their mother, who trained as a teacher, but Ruth admitted she feared that Indiana and Ivy could be impacted by the lack of contact with other children.

Ruth said the couple questioned a child psychologist who once stayed at the lodge about their daughter.

'We really grilled him. We were worried about them not playing with other kids that often,' she explained.

'He said that actually, having me and Lyndon available 24/7 was really good for their confidence.

'And we've seen that they are very confident,' Lyndon added.

'They're very used to meeting new people and greeting them, showing them around camp, we're proud of them,' Ruth went on.

'I can recreate school here. I know what it's supposed to look like, but what I can't do is give them other children to play with.'

She said one of the reasons they had their daughters so close together, was so that they'd have each other

The couple have had to face a number of challenges in the Zambian wilderness.

They had to live in a tent for a year while they build their first lodge, which took all of their money.

'So now we're in a virgin bush, a hole in the ground for toilet, at the time we didn't have a water pump or anything so we had to throw a bucket into the river to get water for drinking and washing,' Ruth recalled.

'Actually, it was my favourite part of living here, as basic as you can get, but it was... I don't know, there's some enriching about not needing anything,' she added.

'But we went down to zero, zero pounds,' Lyndon admitted. 'But slowly, organically, we haven't borrowed any money, but just over one year, were able to build a second chalet, we built it up bit by bit.

'We just started so quickly, we didn't really give ourselves the time to think, "but what if it goes wrong?".'

After the first lodge was complete, the camp was flooded, with water reaching up to their knees.

Ruth and Lyndon had to rebuild, and while they said it was a 'stressful' time, they moved on to an even bigger challenge.

A couple of years later, a gas leak caused their freezer to explode and burn down the chalet.

'I just started screaming at this fireball just going up the thatch,' Lyndon recounted, adding the fire destroyed the chalet in just 15 minutes while he, Ruth and the staff watched.

The couple added that these challenges have only made their relationship stronger.

'I genuinely believe hardship is really good for strengthening relationships,' Ruth said.

'We came here to try and do some good for wildlife and conservation. Although it's through a business, I still think we're doing something good for conservation here,' Lyndon added.

'The challenges we faced together as a team have been really fantastic,' he added.

The family have had run-ins with poachers trying to kill the animals living in the park.

'When we first arrived, six years ago, we used to hear a lot of gunshots coming from over here,' Lyndon told Ben.

'And often I would just rush out with a vehicle to see if I could deter them, scare them off.

'The lodgers are quite important because we ae the eyes and ears for anti-poaching watch, because they know they can't patrol the whole park, which is the size of Wales.'

'Whenever we come out, we always look for signs of poachers, snares, things like that. If we see anything we can just report it,' Ruth added.

Lyndon has had to fight his personal battles as a former soldier from the Riffles regiment who served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.

The father-of-two admitted he began to struggle with PTSD after becoming a father.

'It reared its ugly head recently, when I had kids,' he told Ben.

He described having 'a few moments of panic and of feeling like 'what's happening here?'.

'I've been seeking a bit of help with that,' he added.

'Having kids triggered some fear in me, a fear of danger or something gonna happen and it's actually quite stressful sometimes.'

Ruth recounted how some situation, like storms, can trigger an high alert response from Lyndon.

'The whole of the rainy season, when there was a storm, he was in high alert mode, he knew it was a storm, he didn't suddenly think he was back in the war zone,' she explained.

'But he needed the kids to be in touch with him and to comfort him.'

The mother-of-two also admitted that the couple can sometimes struggle with loneliness.

'This is a really peaceful place to live, it doesn't feel intense, it feels really peaceful,' she said, before adding: 'When we got no guests, the guys are busy and it's just me and the kids, it can be quite lonely.'

She explained she stays in touch with her family and friends via phone.

'We're quite lucky here that they've all come and visited at least twice,' she told Ben.

'When everyone is getting together, like the family is having a reunion and you're not there, that's really hard.'

The couple told Ben they don't know whether they will permanently stay in Zambia.

'By doing this project, we'd be living together, we'd be working together, and me and Lyndon and the children would be able to build a life where we are together every day,' Ruth said.

'We're not planners, we're not the sort of people who imagine what we're going to be doing in five years.

'I think we'll do what we're doing for as long as it's working, and once it's not working we'll make a new plan.

'You only live once, what's the point of dilly-dallying and holding back? You got to just pursue all your dreams and what you really want to do otherwise you're going to be 60, 70 years old and look back and think "What on earth was the point?",' Lyndon said.

His wife agreed, saying: 'It's easy to regret not doing something, and it's harder to regret having a go.'

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild airs at 9pm on Channel 5
Rep. Young Kim, left, poses for a photo with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin during their meeting in Washington, Feb. 2. Yonhap



The United States needs to better demonstrate to South Korea its commitment to helping defend its ally against any attack, a U.S. lawmaker said.



Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) also stressed the need for the U.S. to demonstrate its resolve to use all means necessary to defend its allies, so that their enemies will think twice before making provocations.



"As the U.S. continues to modernize its weapons in accordance with international laws, it must also tell its allies that we have the capabilities to help defend them and that we can be there for our allies when they are attacked," Kim said in a recent telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency, adding, "That is what has successfully deterred nuclear attacks against the U.S. and its allies over the past 75 years."



"Still, the U.S. must continue to advance its weapons under international regulations and also continue to reassure our allies in the Pacific that the U.S. is ready to help defend its allies against North Korean provocations," she added.



Some in South Korea have voiced a need for Seoul to consider developing its own nuclear weapons against North Korea's evolving nuclear threats, apparently casting doubt over the credibility of U.S. commitment to helping defend South Korea under U.S. extended deterrence.





A TV screen shows a image of North Korean missiles in a military parade during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 2. AP-Yonhap
Two beauty queens who surprised the world by revealing they were in love have opened up about their relationship as they starred in an advert for Fenty Beauty's first perfume.

Miss Argentina Mariana Varela, 26, and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin, 22, met at the Miss Grand International pageant in 2020 in Thailand and wowed fans when they got married last year after a two-year secret relationship.

Earlier this month, they shared a clip titled Come Smell Me, which is promoting Rihanna's perfume, on their Instagram accounts.

The loved up couple can be heard discussing how their love story has grown since their first meeting.

They also talk about the 'woodsy' perfume, called Fenty Eau de Parfum, and can be seen kissing in the sunset in the romantic clip.

Miss Argentina Mariana Varela, 26, and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin, 22, who surprised the world by revealing they were in love are the new stars of an advert for Fenty Beauty's first perfume

Earlier this month, they shared a clip titled Come Smell Me, which is promoting Rihanna's perfume, on their Instagram accounts

In the clip, the two women recounted meeting in Thailand, and revealed there was an instant connection, even as they competed in the pageant, fast becoming 'inseparable.'

'Everything kept flowing, and turning into this beautiful friendship. Which has grown now even more as wives, as a couple, and that is magical, to find someone like that in your life,' one can be heard saying in Spanish in the clip.

How romance bloomed between two beauty queens 2020 - Mariana and Fabiola meet during the Miss Grand International Competition. They end up in the top 10, and later say they fall in love during the finale April 2021 - The couple shared a gushing post together on Instagram as they walked hand-in-hand in Thailand August 2021 - Fabiola gave a heartwarming shoutout to Mariana, claiming she hoped to hold onto their 'friendship forever' December 2021 - After months of gushing Instagram posts, Mariana even took a trip to Fabiola's hometown Puerto Rico and visited Fabiola and her now in-laws March 2022 - The two teased fans about their possible relationship by posting another set of pictures, this time out and about, touching faces and grinning from ear to ear, visibly in love with each other October 2022 - The couple shared a clip as they confirmed their relationship and announced they had tied the knot February 2023 - The couple open up about their relationship as they star in a Fenty commercial Advertisement

The couple also revealed they had nicknames for each other, with one calling the other 'my little chocolate.'

At the end of the clip, Mariana tells Fabiola to 'come smell me' in reference to the Fenty campaign behind the perfume.

She asks her if she likes the scent of the perfume as she leans in for a kiss, with her wife giggling and telling her 'yes' as the Fenty Logo appears on the screen.

Sharing the advert on her account, Fabiola wrote: 'What a special [thing] it was to work for the Fenty eau de parfum fragrance with my #FentyParfumPartner @marianajvarela.

'Its beautiful when two bodies come together with love,' she added.

Fenty, which is owned by Rihanna, announced the release of their perfume on 10 February.

From competitors to lovers, Mariana and Fabiola met during the 2020 Miss Grand International competition and both ended up in the top ten.

Both Mariana and Fabiola are known for their stellar looks - both on the competitive stage and on social media - and while they sure know how to rock any outfit, the two are also masters in garnering a few crowning titles.

Mariana, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, boasts 138,000 followers on her Instagram, where she shows off her killer body, model shoots and various vacations.

The model has attended multiple beauty pageants and was even named Miss Universe Argentina in 2019 and Miss Grand Argentina the following year.

At the 2020 Miss Grand International competition - where the two lovebirds first felt the sparks fly amid sparkly dresses and teased hair - Mariana was placed in the top ten along with her lover Fabiola.

The newlyweds had similar journeys that led them both to the pageant where they rocked full glam, boast their love of their respective countries and of course fell in love.

The loved up couple can be heard discussing how their love story has grown since their first meeting

Miss Argentina Mariana Varela and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin announced their marriage and relationship in a shocking post leaving fans baffled

From competitors to lovers, Mariana, 26, and Fabiola, 22, met during the 2020 Miss Grand International competition and both ended up in the top ten

While everyone obsesses over the stunningly gorgeous couple, many can't help to wonder exactly how the two fell in love in the first place

The two lovebirds have kept their relationship a secret for two years, with vague yet suggestive social media posts

Despite not winning the contest, they both won each other's hearts as they seemingly competed together in the 'preliminary competition' - which where contestants get to show off their walks in short or long evening dresses and even swimsuits.

And while they grew close while competing, they seemingly fell in love as the competition neared the end.

When the two were placed in the top ten together, they allegedly fell in love with each other during the 'final show'.

The final show sees contestants showcasing their unique skills, performing a dance, giving a speech and even participating in 'close interview sessions', which see the President of President of Miss Grand International asking the contestants questions about their personality and their opinions.

And while the two couldn't help but notice the sparks when they first laid eyes on each other, it seems as though they truly won over each other's hearts during the close interview sessions after hearing more about their thoughts and getting to know each other.

Since the pageant ended, the lovebirds (pictured in Thailand on their very first photo shared together) have frequently posted each other on social media, hiding behind the label 'friends

While they never confirmed the details of their relationship and it's unclear when exactly the two began dating, the pair constantly gushed about each other on their Instagram accounts

The pair continued to simply hint at their relationship while posting about their 'friendship' and saying they were 'blessed' to have each other

Since the Miss Grand International competition ended, the two have frequently posted each other on social media, frequently telling the world they were just 'friends'.

The pair constantly gushed about each other on their respective Instagram accounts, even saying they were 'blessed' to be in each other's lives.

The first post came in April of 2021 and it showed the two models wrapped up in each other's arms in the water and walking hand-in-hand in Thailand.

Fabiola was the first to post about the pair, captioning the flicks of them cozied up in the water, 'One of the great gifts in this experience was your friendship, walking this process with you was a special and real one. Miss you, my girl.'

The pair continued to simply hint at their relationship while posting about their 'friendship.'

In August 2021, Fabiola gave a heartwarming shoutout to her now-wife on her birthday, claiming she hoped to hold onto their 'friendship forever.'

Wishing her lover a happy birthday, Fabiola wrote: 'Thank you for making me part of your life and accomplice of your happiness.

'You are a priceless treasure and I hope to keep our friendship forever.'

And as hard as they tried to keep their relationship private, the posts continued to become more and more suggestive there was something going on behind closed doors.

A few months after her heartwarming birthday post, Fabiola posted a picture of the two best friends-turned-lovers on her Instagram.

The two snuggled up on the beach as the waves crashed behind them and even posted a flick laying on each other, all while fans questioned whether or not their relationship was simply just platonic.

One month later, Fabiola reposted the same set of pictures this time saying she was 'blessed' to have Mariana in her life and ended her caption by saying, 'I love you.'

In December of 2021, Mariana even took a trip to Fabiola's hometown Puerto Rico and visited Fabiola and her now in-laws.

In March 2022, the two once again teased fans about their possible relationship by posting another set of pictures, this time out and about, touching faces and grinning from ear to ear.

Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico revealed they secretly tied the knot on Instagram, adding that they they've been in a 'private' relationship for two years

The models and beauty queens confirmed their relationship and marriage in a joint Instagram reel shared to their combined 245,000 followers

And last autumn, they revealed they secretly tied the knot, adding that they they'd been in a 'private' relationship for two years.

The models and beauty queens confirmed their relationship and marriage in a joint Instagram reel shared to their combined 245,000 followers last year.

Announcing their marriage, the reel showed snippets of the couple's relationship throughout the two years.

The 30-second video showed the couple - who tied the knot October 28 -traveling together and snuggling up to each other on Jobos beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying a romantic boat ride in Mexico.

Captioning the video, which raked up over 2.1 million views, 'After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day,' they then shared footage from the magical night of their engagement.

With red and white balloons, rose petals, fairy lights and gold balloons reading 'Marry Me?', the couple's engagement was one fit for two queens.

The video then cuts to a clip of Fabiola putting a stunning engagement ring on Mariana's finger.

The couple's rings are nearly identical cushion-cut diamonds on a pave band.

The clip ends with the couple sharing a kiss outside the Marriage Bureau in San Juan.

Fabiola kept it fun and sported a white blazer dress with a fringed skirt, while Mariana opted for a chic white blazer and black dress pants.

The heartwarming reel amassed over 166,000 likes and fans were quick to flood the comments section congratulating the newlyweds.
Princess Anne has been meeting with first responders in New Zealand following the devastating cyclone which has been ravaging the country this week.

King Charles III's sister, 72, visited New Zealand's disaster management headquarters in the capital Wellington on Wednesday and praised the nation's response.

Anne, who was joined by her husband Tim Laurence on the visit, said that her 'thoughts are with all New Zealanders whose homes or livelihoods have been affected by Cyclone Gabrielle'.

The Princess Royal's week-long visit to New Zealand was scheduled before the cyclone struck on Monday.

Known for her hard work and practical attitude, Anne continued to conduct her engagements as the cyclone weakened and moved away from the country on Wednesday.

Princess Anne (right) and her husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence speak after the Service of Remembrance at Pukeahu National War Memorial in Wellington on Wednesday

Since then, a huge earthquake has also hit the islands, as they continue to recover from the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Anne's presence in the country was requested by the Army's Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief.

The Princess was due to attend its 100th anniversary celebrations at Linton Camp near Palmerston North on Wednesday morning.

But the event was called off in the wake of the destructive weather, with personnel instead drafted into the recovery effort surrounding the cyclone.

Instead, the royal visited the Beehive Bunker and a war memorial with her husband, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence.

She was pictured laying a wreath in the Hall of Memories at Pukeahu National War Memorial, which honours 30,000 New Zealanders who have died in past conflicts.

The Princess and her husband, 67, were pictured together as they signed what appears to be a book of remembrance.

Sir Tim Laurence, who previously worked as the late Queen's royal equerry, wore his military medals to the service.

The Princess Royal, who is the Colonel in Chief of the New Zealand Royal Signals, was pictured laying a wreath in the Hall of Memories at Pukeahu National War Memorial

The Princess and her husband, 67, were pictured together as they signed what appears to be a book of remembrance

The Princess Royal looked reflective at the Service, which was held at the National Memorial Centre which honours 30,000 New Zealanders who have died in conflict

Military personnel escorted the Princess and British High Commissioner to New Zealand as they went into the centre to attend a memorial service

British High Commissioner to New Zealand Ms Iona Thomas and Princess Anne, Princess Royal visit the UK Memorial

Anne wore a yellow gold overcoat with a dark blue collar and navy dress underneath.

She donned practical low black heels as she attended the memorial service, before walking up to the stage at the front to position a large wreath of roses.

And earlier in the day, Anne visited the National Crisis Management Centre in Wellington.

Her smart coat again had a golden hue, and featured a striped design. Underneath she wore a simple white top and camel skirt.

She paired the look with a gold jewellery set, including a brooch, gold chain choker with diamonds and droplet earrings - a favourite combination of hers which she has been pictured wearing before.

Princess Anne visited the National Crisis Management Centre in Wellington, where she was shown around by officials including the new Prime Minister (not pictured)

During her tour, she spoke with disaster response officials and heard about their strategies for dealing with the major weather event

In a statement, Anne said: 'I am impressed by the major efforts being undertaken by first responders, local and national agencies to ensure the best possible support for everyone, especially those still at risk'

Emergency services continue to respond to the effects of the cyclone as a huge earthquake has also hit the islands

Wearing a surgical mask to protect against Covid transmission in the bunker, the Princess was shown around the centre by the country's new Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins.

During her tour, she spoke with disaster response officials and heard about their strategies for dealing with the major weather event.

In a statement, Anne said: 'I am impressed by the major efforts being undertaken by first responders, local and national agencies to ensure the best possible support for everyone, especially those still at risk.'

'I admire the courage of the people of Aotearoa during this alarming and difficult time,' she added, using the Maori name for New Zealand.

'You should all be proud of the resilience, strength and care for your communities you are showing in the face of adversity.'

New Zealanders are beginning to assess the damage done by the huge cyclone, which has left landslides, flooding and displaced people in its wake.

The Princess Royal is in New Zealand this week for her first visit since 2010.

It is the first visit to the country by a member of the royal family since 2019, when then-prince Charles and Camilla travelled during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Princess Royal is scheduled to be in the country until Friday, with plans to visit a disabled riding group in Porirua and meet with the Royal Agricultural Society in Christchurch.
Great British Menu viewers slammed the 'miserable' contestants on last night's episode for failing to help each other through the final challenge.

In the latest episode of the hit series, chefs Simmie Vedi, Mark Threadfill, Georgia Sommerin and Tom 'Westy' Westerland battled it out to make it through the first round of Welsh heats.

To begin with, the four chefs from across Wales were tasked with making a canape of their choice followed by a series of dishes inspired by their favourite cartoons - in a nod to Paddington Bear's 65th birthday.

In keeping with the usual format, the episode ends with one of the contestants being sent home by a guest 'veteran' judge - with 2019 winner Lorna McNee stepping into the role this week.

Lorna - who is head chef at Glasgow restaurant Clil Bruich - is currently the only woman in Scotland with a Michelin star.

Simmie Vedi (right), Mark Threadfill (centre right), Georgia Sommerin (centre left) and Tom 'Westy' Westerland (left) appeared in the first round of the Welsh heats

As Georgia, Mark and Westy had already appeared in previous seasons, viewers said it was obvious from the start that they were 'tense' about not making the same mistakes this time round.

Although contestants usually step in to help if someone is running out of time in their final challenge, Twitter users noted that the atmosphere in the kitchen was more 'competitive' this week.

For her last dish, Georgia, 24, who is head chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Home in Penarth, made a 'posh version' of fish and chips - consisting of thyme-marinated halibut, mussels, mashed potato with capers topped with a scattering of crispy potatoes.

In her private judging, Georgia told Lorna that she wanted her potato topping to remind diners of 'biting into a chip from the chippy'.

However, Simmie told host Andrea Oliver that she would prefer them 'crispier' - resulting in her fellow chefs all giving her a lukewarm seven out of 10.

Speaking to Lorna, Georgia said: 'I'd really like an 8 for this one. Last time I was knocked out at this round and I don't want to be that person going home.'

Despite struggling with her time-keeping, viewers noted how Georgia's fellow contestants didn't step in to lend a helping hand - resulting in her being two minutes late to serve her dish to Lorna.

Following her judging, Georgia then helped Westy finish off his fish with chowder sauce and chorizo dish - as Simmie and Mark watched on.

Unimpressed viewers said they missed the 'camaraderie' of the show and said the chefs were 'tense' from the start

Meanwhile, the unimpressed contestants all gave Simmie a five out of 10 for her monkish main - resulting in her being eliminated from the competition.

As she returned to the room following her private judging, a sheepish-looking Westy praised her for a 'delicious' sauce - having only just told host Andrea moments earlier that you 'have to nail the fish course'.

Although Georgia, Westy and Simmie had all completed their dishes by the time it was Mark's turn to serve, none of them stepped in to help - after he failed to provide any assistance himself.

The four 'tense' contestants failed to impress viewers on Twitter - with one outraged user even likening the episode to Netflix's Squid Games.

Simmie, Westy and Georgia stand by and watch Mark at work after he failed to help them in their challenges too

One fumed: 'Absolutely unbearable bunch on The Great British Menu this week - normally feel the joy of the camaraderie and teamwork but these lot all seem like d***s!'

Another added: 'This kitchen needs an emergency injection of humour and camaraderie.'

'Dear God, this is the most joyless round of Great British Menu I have ever seen,' a third fumed. 'No energy, no camaraderie, not great cooking. I love food but this is so depressing, we won't be watching the rest of this week.'

Meanwhile, a fourth said: 'My favourite part of Great British Menu is when the chefs all help eachother and are really supportive of their colleagues. No risk of that this week'

Ultimately, Simmie - who was the only chef not to have already appear on the show - was eliminated, with the remaining three appearing in later episodes airing this week.
Queen Letizia of Spain looked glamorous in a red ensemble as she attended a conference in Madrid focusing on gender-based violence this morning.

The royal, 50, dazzled for the cameras in a scarlet long sleeved top as she brushed shoulders with media figures at the Zarzuela Palace today.

She added a pair of matching trendy leather trousers which reached the top of her ankles, leaving her enough room to showcase her burgundy stilettos.

Meanwhile the mother-of-two completed her look with a simple and plain black belt with a silver roller buckle.

Letizia wore small clear earrings which were neatly tucked away behind her long silky brown hair.

Queen Letizia of Spain looked glamorous in a red ensemble as she attended a conference in Madrid focusing on gender-based violence this morning

The European Monarch, 50, dazzled for the cameras in a rufous long sleeved top as she brushed shoulders with media figures

And along with a subtle base of make up, Letizia opted for a slick of nude lipstick.

Photos show the Spanish Queen standing in the middle of a group representatives and posing at Zarzuela Palace.

At one point Letizia placed her hands on the backs of two male attendees as the group of high profile figures got ready for another round of photographs.

The news comes after Letizia looked effortlessly chic as she blew a kiss to fans after attending the National Innovation and Design Awards in Aviles on Monday.

The European queen was suitably smart in a navy blazer embellished with subtle thin grey stripes.

Letizia wore matching pants which reached the top of her ankles, leaving enough room to showcase her brown stilettos.

The mother-of-two added a pair of matching trendy leather trousers which skimmed the top of her ankles

Letizia (pictured) confidentially walked into the room with her red outfit and shiny burgundy stilettos

Letizia (left) shook hands with another female representative (right) as she dazzled in an all white outfit

The Spanish queen looking effortlessly chic as she walked into the room with a military officer on her left

Last week, it was announced Letizia's daughter Infanta Sofia of Spain will attend United World College of the Atlantic in Wales on a two-year, 68,000 course.

The 15-year-old will follow in the footsteps of her sister Princess Leonor, 17, heir to the Spanish throne, who is in her last year at the specialist education college in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Sofia will become the latest in a long list of royal alumni at the college, including Princess Elisabeth, heir to the throne of Belgium, who graduated in 2020, and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

Situated at the 12th century St Donat's Castle on the country's south coast, the college, dubbed the 'Hippie Hogwarts', was founded by German educationalist Kurt Hahn.

School fees for the two-year course cost a whopping 68,000 and include Tai Chi, the theory of knowledge and Tibetan literature.
Lady Amelia Windsor looked effortlessly chic as she stepped out in black cargo trousers and padded jacket for a stroll in Holland Park.

The Duke of Kent's granddaughter, 27, wrapped up warm in a 200 khaki padded jacket by Hunter as she walked around West London yesterday.

The model completed her laidback look with a pair of black chunky boots and a khaki knitted jumper.

Lady Windsor appeared to be makeup-free for the outing and showcased her flawless complexion.

Her blonde locks fell loose in a centre parting while she carried her essentials in a backpack.

Lady Amelia Windsor cut a casual figure as she stepped out in black cargo trousers for a stroll in the park in London

Amelia, who was previously described by Tatler as 'the most beautiful member of the royal family', carried her mobile phone in her hand during the Valentine's Day stroll.

The chic and practical jacket is one of Lady Amelia's current favourites - as she was spotted wearing it while popping to a local charity shop earlier this month.

'You don't expect to bump into a member of the Royal Family at Oxfam,' one fellow shopper told the Daily Mail's Richard Eden.

It comes after she posed for pictures at Harry's Bar in Mayfair, London, in a stylish black waistcoat, trousers and chunky boots last week.

The royal beauty looked to be enjoying herself as she was surrounded by friends at the tenth anniversary party of Aerin, a beauty and lifestyle brand.

Launched by American billionaire heiress and businesswoman, Aerin Lauder, who is the granddaughter of cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder, the company champions 'effortless' style.

Lady Windsor, who is 42nd in line to the throne, appeared to emulate the brand's message as she opted for a simple yet effective look.

She donned a fitted waistcoat-style black top, which allowed her to show off the line drawing tattoos decorating her arms.

The Duke of Kent's granddaughter, 27, wrapped up warm in a khaki padded jacket as she walked around Holland Park

It comes after she posed for pictures at Harry's Bar in Mayfair, London, in a stylish black waistcoat, trousers and chunky boots on Friday

The royal beauty looked to be enjoying herself as she was surrounded by friends at the tenth anniversary party of Aerin, a beauty and lifestyle brand

One on her wrist features the outline of three animals in a row, and she also sported a beautiful sun and moon design on her left forearm.

The 20-something wore slouchy trousers with military style boots - a 90s fashion staple which is making a comeback among the younger generation.

She accessorised the look with a chunky gold chain and finer rope-style bracelet.

She layered up statement rings, which included gold bands and featured diamantes and turquoise.

Completing the stylish look, she sported a fuchsia satin micro bag - another 90s fashion item which has regained popularity in the 2020s.

Amelia also looked relaxed in a sweet selfie she and Swedish-born Ikram snapped as they ate dinner at the restaurant

She wore her blonde tresses in her classic style - down with a slight wave - and had a typically natural makeup look.

Amelia posed up a storm with fellow model friends, including Betty Bachz and Ikram Abdi Omar.

Eyewear entrepreneur Betty wowed in a canary yellow dress which featured an eye-catching feather boa-style sleeve.

She elevated her look even further with statement diamante waterfall earrings, and paired her gown with pointed beige pumps.

Amelia also looked relaxed in a sweet selfie she and Swedish-born Ikram snapped as they ate dinner at the restaurant.

Sharing pictures from the meal to her Instagram stories, Ikram opted for risotto at the Venetian restaurant and bar - with Lady Amelia likely having the same.

Lady Windsor, who used to work at Tatler, also posed for photos with friend Bea Fresson, who was previously named one of society's 'It Girls' by the magazine.

The close friends coordinated their almost-all-black looks at the latest event for them to be pictured at together.
Kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart has opened up about the agonizing moment she was almost rescued from her abusive captors during a run-in with police - months before she was eventually freed - before the near-rescue was ripped from under her when her captors managed to fool cops by masquerading as 'ministers of Christ'.

Elizabeth - who was famously abducted at knifepoint in 2002 when she was 14 years old from her Salt Lake City home - spoke out about the gut-wrenching encounter in a new interview with ABC News.

She recalled how a police officer had come up to her kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, at a library just a few months after her abduction - and questioned them about the teen, who was wearing a veil to mask her identity.

Mitchell told the officer he and his wife were 'ministers of Christ,' and the veil was used to shield their daughter for her future marriage.

During the exchange, Barzee grabbed onto Elizabeth's leg in a warning to keep quiet.

Elizabeth Smart who was abducted at knifepoint in 2002 when she was 14 years old from her Salt Lake City home has spoken out about her brush with a near-rescue

The now 35-year-old said in a new interview that a police officer had come up to her kidnappers at a library, and questioned them about the teen who was wearing a veil

This was the moment that Elizabeth figured out how the couple was using religion to hide their horrific actions from the public while Mitchell 'just wanted to rape little girls,' she said.

'Over the years he had found that the best way to manipulate people was through religion,' the sexual assault victims advocate said.

'If someone says, "That's against my faith"... [are] you really gonna push them?

'My captors definitely capitalized on that.'

Previously Elizabeth told a jury during Mitchell's 2010 trial that this exchange took place months after her abduction when the couple took her to a Salt Lake City library to look at maps of places where they might want to take her.

While Mitchell was in the restroom, the then 23-year-old said, a Salt Lake City homicide detective approached her, saying he was 'looking for Elizabeth Smart,' and asked her to remove her veil.

Elizabeth said Barzee signaled her not to move and then Mitchell returned from the restroom and told the detective that the garb was part of their religion and could not be removed.

After several minutes of discussion, Elizabeth said, the detective was convinced of the couple's story and left the library.

She has sat down with Nightline anchor Juju Chang for an interview ahead of the release of family spokesperson Chris Thomas's (pictured with Elizabeth) new book about her ordeal

She spent nine months, from June 2002 to March 2003, in captivity, with Mitchell raping her repeatedly

Elizabeth Smart to @JujuChangABC: Im a survivor  but also, Im a mom, I have 3 kids, and I hate laundry.



Next month marks the 20 year anniversary of her miraculous rescue from her kidnappers. Watch more tonight on @Nightline. https://t.co/wOQqHRIAIR pic.twitter.com/halebvPGUD  Good Morning America (@GMA) February 15, 2023

'I felt like hope was walking out the door,' she told the court, according to Reuters.

'I was mad at myself that I didn't say anything, mad at myself for not taking the chance. So close.

'I felt terrible that the detective hadn't pushed harder. He just walked away.'

Elizabeth was eventually rescued at age 15 after she and her abductors were recognized by witnesses in Sandy, a city in Salt Lake County, in 2003 nine months after she was kidnapped.

She has sat down with Nightline anchor Juju Chang for an interview ahead of the March 7 release of family spokesperson Chris Thomas's new book about her ordeal, Unexpected: The Backstory Of Finding Elizabeth Smart And Growing Up In The Culture of An American Religion.

Elizabeth also recalled details from the night she was taken from the bedroom she slept in with her sister.

Mitchell (left) was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, but Barzee (right) was given just 15 years. She was given credit for the seven years she'd already served and was released in 2018

Mitchell (pictured being escorted to court in 2005) subjected Elizabeth to horrific abuse and was convicted in 2010

Her captor came to her bedside and informed her that he was holding a knife to her neck and told her to come with him.

Initially the teen believed it was a dream until he grabbed her from the bed by her arm.

'It couldn't actually be real,' she said.

During the trial, she described being repeatedly raped and sexually abused by Mitchell, who also forced her to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and look at pornography.

Elizabeth told ABC News there 'wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't telling me that he would kill me, kill my family if I didn't do what he wanted me to do.'

In the more than 20 years after her horrific ordeal, Elizabeth has spent over a decade combatting the victimization and exploitation of sexual assault after founding the Elizabeth Smart Foundation in 2011.

She has also married and welcomed three children.

Giving a glimpse into her 'seemingly well-adjusted' life now, Elizabeth said: 'I'm a mom, I have three kids and I hate laundry.'

Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, but Barzee was given just 15 years.

In a plea deal, she was given credit for the seven years she had already served.

Barzee was released from prison in September 2018.

Elizabeth was eventually found on March 12, 2003, at age 15 after witnesses in Sandy, Utah, called police. She is pictured with her parents in April 2003, a month after she was rescued

Mitchell and Barzee's trials were dragged out for years due to delays and mental evaluations.

It took nearly eight years for Mitchell's case to finally come to court.

Elizabeth also previously shared harrowing details of her experience in a candid interview with Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on Red Table Talk in 2021.

'My parents always said the worst part of having me gone was not knowing if I was alive and out there or if I was dead,' Elizabeth said.

'And actually, when I was being taken up into the mountains, that first night that I was kidnapped, I asked him if he was gonna rape and kill me, and if he was gonna do that, could he please do it fairly close to my house, because it was important to me that my parents find my body and know that I hadn't run away.'

Mitchell didn't kill her, but he and his wife did take her away from home, chaining her down in a makeshift campsite nearby before moving her to Lakeside, California.

She spent nine months, from June 2002 to March 2003, in captivity, with Mitchell performing a 'marriage' ceremony with her and raped her repeatedly.

Elizabeth said on Red Table Talk that while she spent those nine months wishing someone would find her, there were times she lost hope she'd ever make it home.

'I always wanted to be rescued. I don't know that I always had hope. There were some pretty dark times for sure,' she said.
The UK's 'first lady' has allowed the public a glimpse into her life with a brand new Instagram account, with her first posts showing her making visits to schools and family hubs.

Akshata Murty, 42, who is married to Rishi Sunak, has posted photos on her new account, playing and laughing with children on two visits she has made this week.

The billionaire's daughter describes herself a 'mother of two daughters' and 'Rishi Sunak's wife', as well as a 'proud resident' of 10 Downing Street in her Instagram bio.

In her first posts the mother, who is heir to her father's fortune which he earned as chief of an IT company, spoke about the difficulties of parenting and mental health support for children from a young age.

She follows just 32 people including her husband, members of the royal family, the NHS and David Attenborough.

The UK's 'first lady' has set up an Instagram account to document her work while living in Number 10 Downing Street, with her first posts suggesting a strong focus on children's mental health (pictured with Rishi Sunak visiting a family hub in Cornwall)

Akshata's first Instagram post showed photos from her trip to a St Austell Family Hub in Cornwall where she met with staff who are supporting parents in the community.

She wrote: 'Having children can be a blessing, a joy, and a challenge all at the same time, and every family can sometimes do with a helping hand.'

The mother-of-two went on to explain the importance of resources like family hubs in offering a 'one stop shop' for advice for parents on issues affecting their children such as feeding.

She said she was 'moved' by the support the centre is providing to parents in the community.

In her Instagram bio the mother-of-two describes herself as a 'proud resident' of 10 Downing Street

The billionaire heiress posted photos of engagements she has carried out this week including a visit to a school in Newham

Akshata, a mother-of-two, posted photos of staff at the school she visited to mark Children's Mental Health Week

'From babies to teenagers, the questions, the concerns, and the learnings are endless; St Austells is a leading light providing a judgment-free zone for parents to use to raise healthy and happy children,' she said.

The photos show Akshata and Rishi chatting to the staff at the centre while also engaging with some of the children whose families receive support from the hub.

Her second Instagram post shared photos from her trip to a school in Newham, north London, to mark Children's Mental Health Week.

The Central Park Primary School has won recognition for its Mental Health Support Team and services.

Among the ways the school helps children cope with their mental health are: 'Art lessons, games, reading, breathing exercises, feelings monsters or a good cup of tea.'

She credited the 'dedicated support' of the NHS for helping the school set up and maintain its mental health facilities for children.

'Thank you to everyone for sharing a special morning with me this week as we pay tribute to Childrens Mental Health,' she said.

Akshata Murty is following in the footsteps of Carrie Johnson, the previous 'first lady' of Number 10, in sharing her work on Instagram.

However, where Mrs Johnson decided to keep her social media updates private and limited to a smaller circle of people, Akshata has set up the account as public - and even has a blue tick to boot.
From the Hermes Birkin to the quilted Chanel and Sarah Jessica Parker's Fendi baguette of the 1990s, some It-bags have endured for many decades.

That's all well and good, but their eye-watering price tags mean that, even if you carried them ever since they were first launched, the price-per-wear would still be sky high.

So, I was delighted to see stars carrying a new breed of iconic bag this season. A mid-market variety that you could viably save up to buy.

Sienna Miller favoured the Aspinal Mini Maddison tote in New York, while Suki Waterhouse chose a Kate Spade, and the Princess of Wales has been seen carrying a dainty DeMellier. So, could this be your chance to own an A-list must-have at last?

Here's how to find your perfect style

PRACTICAL LUXE AT LONGCHAMP

Re-Play tote, 140, longchamp.com

These practical bags come in everything from shoulder styles to travel bags, and are loved by busy women like Alexa Chung, who was a face of the brand

You can't have missed Longchamp's classic Le Pliage tote  Kate Middleton, as she was known then, carried one to her university graduation. But it's had a fresh and colourful update this season, and has gained serious fashion credit as a result.

These practical bags come in everything from shoulder styles to travel bags, and are loved by busy women like Alexa Chung, who was a face of the brand.

The update is perfectly timed for the rise of luxe sporty styles  like Prada's nylon bag, which has also been revamped this season.

If you're constantly on-the-go, then this is the brand for you.

TIMELESS STYLE AT ASPINAL

Refined: Sienna Miller with the Mini Madison tote in New York. This family-run British business makes classic leather goods

The luxury brand is a regular at London Fashion Week and has collaborated with British fashion designer Giles Deacon

This family-run British business makes classic leather goods  and its Lottie bag in tweed could easily pass for Chanel, for anyone not inclined to spend upwards of 5,000.

The luxury brand is a regular at London Fashion Week and has collaborated with British fashion designer Giles Deacon.

Its bags attract an elegant A-list tribe, including actresses Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery. Top picks include the Mayfair and the London tote.

SLEEK MINIMALISM AT DEMELLIER

Dainty: Princess of Wales with the Nano Montreal. From HRH the Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle to actresses Emily Blunt and Kristen Bell, everyone has been spotted carrying a DeMellier

If you're a fan of YSL, you can expect similar sleek, fuss-free designs that give the look for less

From HRH the Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle to actresses Emily Blunt and Kristen Bell, everyone has been spotted carrying a DeMellier.

If you're a fan of YSL, you can expect similar sleek, fuss-free designs that give the look for less. From mini crossbodies to roomy totes, the British brand's traditionally made, structured designs are quietly stylish and will never go out of fashion.

Vogue loved the Mini Los Angeles tote so much it devoted a whole article to it, and model Irina Shayk has it in multiple shades.

BOHO CHARM AT KATE SPADE

Monogram tote, 495, katespade.co.uk. Kate Spade's quirky, vibrant styles have clear designs on high fashion, but without the astronomic price tag

Sam Icon shoulder bag, 250, katespade.co.uk. If you've lusted over a madly patterned Gucci clutch, Kate Spade is a good way to feed your boho habit

You'll also find more playful designs such as crystal-embellished clouds and stunning 3D bouquets

Kate Spade's quirky, vibrant styles have clear designs on high fashion, but without the astronomic price tag. If you've lusted over a madly patterned Gucci clutch, Kate Spade is a good way to feed your boho habit, with famous fans including Kate Bosworth and Suki Waterhouse.

The Sam bag was an A-list hit in the brand's debut collection in 1993. Thirty years on, the boxy model has been relaunched in modern fabrics and colourways. You'll also find more playful designs such as crystal-embellished clouds and stunning 3D bouquets.

PARTY GIRL ARM CANDY AT LOEFFLER RANDALL

Actress Reese Witherspoon opted for a statement silver clutch, while their signature knotted bow bag is a fashion editor's favourite for its cartoonish, OTT look

The arm candy of choice for party girls such as model Bella Hadid, who was spotted with a leopard shoulder bag from the brand. Actress Reese Witherspoon opted for a statement silver clutch, while their signature knotted bow bag is a fashion editor's favourite for its cartoonish, OTT look. Had your eye on a Bottega Veneta clutch? You can find the next best thing here  from 170, not thousands.

ECO-CONSCIOUS COOL AT POPPY LISSIMAN

Its vibrant prints and practical designs are the ultimate in laidback chic, and have even won over megastar Beyonce

This Australian independent label focuses on ethical production methods  and has seen business triple since the pandemic.

Its vibrant prints and practical designs are the ultimate in laidback chic, and have even won over megastar Beyonce. Plenty of these totes were seen on the arms of fashion editors at New York Fashion Week.

They're made from recycled fabric  and all cost under 200.
Guthrie, who never observed Lent before, mixed up the dates and started early

She explained that she was giving up social media for Lent to challenge herself

Guthrie, 51, revealed on Wednesday that she removed the Instagram app

Savannah Guthrie has revealed that she has given up social media for Lent and has already started her digital fast a week early after mixing up the dates.

The Today co-anchor, who grew up Baptist, squeezed in a few final Valentine's Day posts before she announced on Instagram Wednesday that she had removed the app from her phone.

'Im giving up Instagram for Lent. Im not Catholic, and Ive never given up anything for Lent before,' Guthrie, 51, explained. 'Im doing it to challenge myself: to be more reflective, to not just reflexively scroll Instagram and instead use that time for something more productive and life-giving to myself and others.'

Lent is a 40-day religious season leading up to Easter, though it technically lasts for 46 days because Western Churches do not count Sundays in the period.

Savannah Guthrie, 51, revealed on Instagram Wednesday that she has given up social media for Lent after squeezing in a few final Valentine's Day posts

The Today co-anchor posted photos of the Instagram icon on her phone and the moment right before she hit 'remove app,' though she accidentally started her digital fast a week early

According to Christian theology, Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, preparing himself for his upcoming death and resurrection by fasting and resisting the temptations of the devil.

Many Christians give up something pleasurable for the duration of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday.

Baptists are one of the few Christian groups that don't observe the religious period, which is likely why this is Guthrie's first time participating in the practice.

The journalist posted photos of the Instagram icon on her phone and the moment right before she hit 'remove app.'

'Im telling you this so that I will have accountability!! And maybe you would like to join me?? See you back here after Easter!' she signed off, adding, 'Any work-related posts you see will be posted by my assistant!!!'

However, it turns out that she is a bit of an overachiever and accidentally started a week before Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 22 this year, but she is sticking with it.

Guthrie's assistant shared an update on the post, writing, 'Savannah just found out Lent starts next week, but the Instagram fast starts day!'

The mother of two received plenty of support from her co-workers, including Jenna Bush Hager, who shared that she is doing the same thing.

Before Guthrie quit social media cold turkey, she did share some photos of herself enjoying a Valentine's Day date night with her husband, Michael Feldman

She included a snapshot of her their children Vale and Charlie eating ice cream, calling them her 'sweeties'

Guthrie started off strong on Wednesday and didn't post any content while sitting in the front row at the Michael Kors' fall 2023 show during New York Fashion Week

The journalist, who stunned in a black lace dress, sat near Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Anna Wintour, and Katie Holmes at the start-studded event

'I gave it up tooooooo!!!!' the Read with Jenna founder wrote.

'Ok fine Ill just talk to you during commercial breaks!!' Sheinelle Jones joked. 'You got this!'

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle thought the digital fast was a 'fantastic' idea, while bestselling cookbook author Danielle Walker insisted Guthrie wouldn't regret it.

'I did it for all of Dec and it was the best decision ever. Enjoy being present!' the Against All Grain blogger added.

Guthrie started off strong on Wednesday and didn't post any content while sitting in the front row at the Michael Kors' fall 2023 show during New York Fashion Week.

The Today star, who stunned in a black lace dress, sat near Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Anna Wintour, and Katie Holmes at the start-studded event.

Before Guthrie quit social media cold turkey, she did share some heartwarming photos of her family celebrating Valentine's Day together on Tuesday.

She and her husband, Michael Feldman, posed for a selfie during their date night that she captioned 'Be Mine' with a heart emoji. She also shared another photo of herself cuddled up next to him with a red heart filter.

They are parents to an eight-year-old daughter, Vale, and a six-year-old son, Charlie, and the mom included a snapshot of her kids eating ice cream in their school uniforms.

'My sweeties,' she wrote.
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A revolutionary range of skincare products with an 'unusual' ingredient are taking the beauty industry by storm with Australian women claiming it banishes their acne markings within days.

Renee Alyce is the founder of Bescher, which sells a Regeneration Serum ($119), Anti-Ageing Cream ($129), Blemish Defence Serum ($99) and Calming Cream ($129) with the relatively unknown star ingredient sea cucumber collagen.

The Blemish Serum alone had an email waitlist of 30,000 people before it launched in February.

Sea cucumber collagen is a natural source of collagen that helps to reduce inflammation and promote skin healing. In addition, it helps to reduce the appearance of acne and other skin blemishes.

Renee Alyce (pictured) is the founder of Bescher, a beauty brand that utilises sea cucumbers in its products

Sea cucumber collagen is a natural source of collagen that helps to reduce inflammation and promote skin healing (a customer's transformation pictured)

Renee first learned about the healing properties of sea cucumbers ten years ago while living on a secluded island in the Pacific, which had limited access to modern-day products and conveniences.

'My skin was at its worst. So after running out of foundation with no way possible of replacing it, I went on a mission to find other ways of protecting, covering and rejuvenating my skin,' she told FEMAIL.

She spent weeks investigating her surroundings - soil, land and ocean - and noticed local islanders applying sea cucumber extracts to small wounds and infections.

Within days their cuts and rashes were vanishing.

Renee first learned about the healing properties of sea cucumbers ten years ago while living on a secluded island in the Pacific, which had limited access to modern-day products and conveniences

'Sea cucumbers are among only a few animals that have the capacity to regenerate damaged or lost body parts,' Renee said.

'They contain collagen, have antibacterial properties and a rare peptide that can rapidly influence collagen production, encouraging a boost in cell turnover.'

All things everyday skincare products aspire to be for their customers.

Researchers at the University of London confirmed that sea cucumbers have the ability to boost the elasticity of collagen in the human body.

Renee knew she was onto a winning idea and returned to the Gold Coast to build her brand.

Researchers at the University of London confirmed that sea cucumbers have the ability to boost the elasticity of collagen in the human body

Renee herself has experienced great success applying the serum and moisturiser every night, reducing her pigmentation considerably over a six month period.

'It changed my life and the way I feel about my myself. I no longer have to wear foundation,' she said.

'That's why I can't keep it a secret anymore. I feel it's my calling to share it with the world.'

Her customers are constantly sharing incredible transformation photos online to show how quickly their redness and acne subsided.

Her customers are constantly sharing incredible transformation photos online to show how quickly their redness and acne subsided

'I got this product after I developed perioral dermatitis. Never had any problems with my skin so this was a shock. Stripped back my routine to just washing with water and then applying this calming cream. It took a good few weeks but my skin has now returned to normal. I haven't had to use the cream since but now use the serum,' Gina wrote.

'I love your products and have noticed a considerable change to my skin. Unfortunately I didn't take a before photo but can definitely see an improvement to skin tone and fine lines. I recommend your products,' said Julie.

You can view the full range of products here.
gettyimagesbank



129,000 young people in Seoul live secluded from society



By Lee Yeon-woo



Around 20 unemployed young people gathered at Gongdeok Station in western Seoul, last Thursday, to participate in an event called "NEET walking day." An acronym for "Not in Education, Employment or Training," NEET refers to a person who is unemployed or not receiving education or vocational training.



Participants came from all over the country for the event. One person who came from the southwestern city of Gwangju stayed overnight, while some others took multi-hour bus trips to get there. Despite being strangers, the participants flocked together with one hope: to step out of their rooms and connect with others.



The program was organized by NEET People, a nonprofit startup that aims to help unemployed young people deal with their situation in healthy ways.



"If you feel down at home due to unemployment, why don't you come outside, take a walk, loosen up and enjoy the beautiful scenery?" a NEET People online notice said.



Any feelings of awkwardness at the gathering disappeared as soon as they started walking. The silence was soon broken by the sounds of people asking questions and conversing with each other.



"When I got here, I felt awkward because there was no one that I knew, but it was great because other people talked to me first. In addition, I got the feeling that the hosts made great efforts to take care of everybody," one participant said after the program.



"We share the same experiences so now I feel a sense of having bonded with them."





Participants of the "NEET walking day" program walk through Gyeongui Line Forest Park near Gongdeok Station in western Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Lee Yeon-woo



According to Seoul Metropolitan Government data, an estimated 4.5 percent of young people in Seoul, or about 129,000, live in isolation or seclusion from society. The number is expected to reach 610,000 if the rate is applied nationwide.



The study showed that 45.5 percent of them were having difficulties finding jobs, while 40.9 percent and 40.3 percent, respectively, suffered from psychological difficulties and problems forming interpersonal relationships.









Park Eun-mi, a co-representative of NEET People, said that young people may fall into a "NEET state" due to various factors.



"Nowadays there are so many young people who are desperately preparing to enter the job market only to fail. Even after they get a job, some of them suffer from unpleasant experiences at work," Park said.



"Those frustrating experiences make young people not only experience psychological difficulties such as panic disorder or depression, but also physical ailments. Since they are not healthy, they lose vitality and end up being alone. During the process, they become overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness."



Jeon Seong-shin, another co-representative, pointed out that Korean society fails to embrace people who break away from societal norms, or "the "normal track," as she put it.



People in Korean society are expected to adhere to a set course in life. First, you must graduate from elementary, middle and high school without any trouble. Next, you need to enter university  preferably a higher-ranking one  and find a decent job before graduation. Next, you have to make money, get married and raise a family.



"If you miss one step and diverge from that route, you will immediately face hurdles. Consider teenagers who choose to leave school. Consider a person who decides to work instead of going to university. Those decisions can have bigger-than-expected effects on their lives," Jeon said.



"This society is not very generous to people who attempt to start over."



A woman in her late 20s, who asked to be identified by her alias Woongbi, said she also could not stop worrying about her future, even when she was receiving psychological counseling and treatment.



"The illness in mind had developed into bodily symptoms, so I needed absolute rest and comfort. But I could not fully rest as I felt impatient (about my future). I entered graduate school but quit after two months. I even tried to do a simple part-time job, but I quit again after 10 days because I couldn't overcome my social phobia and panic attacks," Woongbi said. After that, she chose to seclude herself in her room for three years.





University students line up for consultations with corporate recruitment representatives at a Dongguk University job fair in Seoul in September 2022. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon
The legendary British makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury has spilled her secrets - and her tip for getting long, fluttery eyelashes with your mascara application every time.

The 50-year-old has a wealth of experience doing makeup backstage at catwalk shows and glamorous events, and has learned myriad tricks of the trade for achieving a vibrant, youthful glow.

Since she launched her eponymous brand 10 years ago in 2013, Charlotte has graced the faces at some of the most illustrious events in the world including the Oscars, catwalk shows and the Golden Globes.

She shared her tips for fuller lips, an instant eye lift and long, fluttery eyelashes.

The legendary British makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury spilled her secrets - and her tip for getting fluttery eyelashes with your mascara application every time (pictured with Kate Moss)

How to cheat your way to fuller lips

Everyone wants fuller lips, and according to Charlotte, it's easy, provided you have a lip liner.

'Define your lips by drawing the liner just outside the edge of the lip line to reshape and resize for fuller, wider looking lips in seconds, then fill in using a matte lipstick,' she told Mecca.

You can also increase the 'illusion', Charlotte said, by 'brushing your highlighter along the upper lip line, focusing on the Cupid's bow' so that you create a luminous finish.

Some of Charlotte's top products include the best-selling Lip Cheat pencil in Pillow Talk ($32), as well as her Matte Revolution lipstick range ($48).

Define your lips by drawing the liner just outside the edge of the lip line to reshape and resize for fuller, wider looking lips in seconds,' Charlotte said

How to get an eye lift with makeup

The second thing you can do with your makeup is give the illusion of lifted and younger eyes.

Charlotte said to do this, you'll need to apply some concealer to the 'inner corner of the eyes and diagonally follow your bottom lash line along the outer corner of your eyes towards the temple'.

'This gives an instant awakening eye lift effect,' she told Mecca.

Following this, you can apply a 'brightening shimmer' both on your eyelid and on the lower lash line to make your eyes pop.

A dot of highlighter in the 'inner corner of the eyes, centre of the eyelid and along the lower lash line - emphasising in the middle - makes your eyes look bigger and brighter,' Charlotte added.

A dot of highlighter in the 'inner corner of the eyes, centre of the eyelid and along the lower lash line - emphasising in the middle - makes your eyes look bigger and brighter,' Charlotte added (Lily James pictured)

How to get long, fluttery lashes every time

If you want the perfect makeup look, mascara is key, Charlotte said.

She describes her technique as 'load, comb and lift'.

To perform the technique for yourself, the makeup artist told Mecca you need to hold the brush horizontally and 'use the flat side to push upwards and coat the lashes for maximum colour and coverage'.

Following this, she said you need to 'twist the wand and brush through with the diamond-bristled side to lift and comb each individual lash from root to tip for full, fanned-out lashes'.

'Finally, wiggle the bristles from side to side, base to tip, to separate, lift and define the lashes, then use the wand vertically to stroke upwards and precision paint the lashes in the inner and outer corners,' Charlotte said.

This will give you super-long eyelashes with a perfect feathered finish.

'Look for products that are makeup and skincare hybrids during later decades - like my Airbrush Flawless Foundation,' Charlotte told Daily Mail Australia (Amal Clooney pictured)

Speaking previously to FEMAIL, Charlotte shared her tips and tricks for staying looking youthful as you get older.

When it comes to your thirties, forties, fifties and beyond, Charlotte explained that you're going to want your makeup to work a little harder, while also helping to make you look younger.

'Look for products that are makeup and skincare hybrids during these decades - like my Airbrush Flawless Foundation,' Charlotte told Daily Mail Australia.

'These sorts of products will work hard at nourishing your skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles, while also hydrating and providing you with coverage.'

'Lighter, water-based textures are always better for our complexions too, as they hydrate and let the skin breathe,' Charlotte said (her makeup pictured on the runway and on Bella Hadid)

The makeup artist also said you should look at textures in your makeup at this time - she always looks for 'sophisticated' textures with subtle sparkle and a bit of pearlescence.

'Lighter, water-based textures are always better for our complexions too, as they hydrate and let the skin breathe,' she said.

Think creams for your eyes, lips and cheeks and brown eyeliner instead of black to soften your entire look.

If you could add one product to your regime at this time, Charlotte recommends a serum like her Magic Serum Crystal Elixir, which helps to add 'bounce, plumpness and elasticity'.

'This has been the perfect addition to my personal skincare regime and I use it by massaging just a few drops into my skin with my fingertips,' Charlotte said.

'The instant hit of intense hydration makes my skin look and feel so glowy, and it makes makeup application so much easier.'

She also said a feline flick works well into these decades too, as it will help to accentuate your eyes and draw the gaze outwards with your face.
A French-Australian fashion trend predictor has revealed three things that can make you look cheap.

Eloise Dalais said loose threads on clothing can be a dead giveaway the garment was purchased from a 'low quality' fast fashion retailer in an online video.

The young TikToker's video is the third instalment in a series where she advises her thousands of followers what clothing and accessories they should never wear to avoid looking 'cheap' including satin and tarnished jewellery.

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French-Australian trend predictor, Eloise Dalais (pictured), shared the clothing and accessories you should never wear if you don't want to look 'cheap'

The fashion forecaster said loose threads on clothing can be a dead giveaway the garment was purchased from a 'low quality' fast fashion retailer in an online video

Eloise said to look out for loose threads on pant hems and seams and suggested cutting them off to look more high-end.

'It usually does happen to fast fashion brands which are deemed as cheaper in comparison to luxury brands,' she explained.

'They don't have the time to cut off loose threads due to the lower quality and the lower manufacturing standards.'

She suggested snipping any stray threads as well as pulls in cheap fabrics.

'This can also be a pull in the fabric which is usually because of the lower quality fabric so try and avoid those materials,' she said.

In a previous video, Eloise said to avoid buying 'cheap' satin which is made from low quality silk and pulls very easily.

She explained that you can see the lines showing the weave of the fabric on cheap satin, signifying low quality.

'Instead go for double satin, it's a lot thicker and heavier and easier to wear,' Eloise advised.

In a previous video, Eloise said to avoid buying 'cheap' satin which is made from low quality silk and pulls very easily

For 'high quality finishes' Eloise recommended dresses from the Silk Laundry ($320 left) or Bec & Bridge ($280 right)

For 'high quality finishes' she recommended dresses from the Silk Laundry or Bec & Bridge which range from $280 to $320.

Eloise also branded tarnished jewellery as a telltale sign of being cheap.

She said tarnished jewellery looks very obvious when it leaves a green mark on your skin, or if you see a pendant with a design that is black on the inside.

'I'm not saying you go buy really expensive jewellery but buy high quality jewellery,' she recommended.

The fashion expert recommended a $59 necklace and $65 ring from Saab.

She said the Australian brand has 'high quality jewellery that doesn't tarnish' and you can wear in the water as well as being 'really on trend'.

Eloise also said tarnished jewellery as a dead giveaway of being cheap as it looks obvious when it leaves a mark on your skin, or if you see a pendant with a design that is black on the inside

Many of Eloise's followers reached out to say that expensive silver can tarnish but it can be fixed up using silver polish.

However others slammed her for criticising affordable clothing and branded her recommendations as inaccessible.

'Girl we're broke leave us alone,' one woman said.

'Most of us cannot afford a brand new silk garment,' another replied.

'It looks cheaper because it is, I can't afford actual satin,' wrote a third.

'How to not look cheap: have money,' joked one viewer.
A mother has been criticised for packing cut grapes in her toddler's lunchbox despite the food being widely known as a choking hazard.

The Australian woman was slammed after posting a photo of the lunch boxes she sent to the library with her two and four-year-old children.

Many mums are 'worried' about the inclusion of the fruit - especially because it is cut wrong if the goal was to minimise the risk of choking.

A mother has been criticized for packing grapes in her toddler's lunchbox despite the food being widely known as a choking hazard

The size and shape of grapes means they can totally obstruct young children's airways, with the tight seal produced by the smooth, flexible surface making them tricky to shift, even with first aid maneuvers.

Grapes are the fourth most common cause of choking-related deaths among children, only behind hot dogs, pop corn, and lollies, a 2022 US research study suggests.

'Looks good! If you are slicing grapes to reduce the choking hazard - slice them lengthwise. Width wise like above doesnt reduce the diameter and they still present a major hazard. FYI,' one mum replied.

Another added, 'Make sure to slice lengthwise and in quarters.'

This advice is also recommended by professionals.

The paramedic and CEO of parenting organisation Tiny Hearts Education, Nikki Jurcutz, explained that rounded food like grapes are the most dangerous as they are the exact size of a child's esophagus and can fully block the airway.

The Victoria-based first-aid educator explained that the risk can be mitigated by modifying their shape, for example by quartering or squashing grapes.

The size and shape of grapes means they can totally obstruct young children's airways, with the tight seal produced by the smooth, flexible surface making them tricky to shift, even with first aid maneuvers

Melbourne doctor Luke Sammartino also advises parents to cut grapes in half, slicing lengthways.

The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne recommends parents always watch children under three while they eat.

In 2017, a five-year-old from Brisbane accidentally swallowed a whole grape which became lodged at the top of his windpipe.

The grape was successfully removed during an operation while the child was under general anesthetic, but the scare highlights the risk posed by uncut round fruit.

In 2017, a five-year-old from Brisbane swallowed a whole grape which became lodged at the top of his windpipe

The boy was luckier than the dozens of Australian children who die each year from choking.

About 2,500 children aged under nine are hospitalized every year with injuries caused by foreign bodies - choking being the most common.

Roughly 30 children die every year from suffocation, with choking being a major cause, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

'As a pediatrician who consults with hundreds of families every year, I have seen and heard it all and an incident like this is obviously incredibly distressing for parents,' Dr Sammartino told the Diamond Valley Leader at the time.

Uncut cherries, berries, cherry tomatoes and melons balls, as well as whole pieces of canned fruit are among the other foods which pose a choking hazard.

Dr Sammartino also urged parents to also be wary of uncooked dried fruit like raisins and cooked and raw whole corn kernels.
With love in the air after Valentine's Day, many will be thinking about the perfect way to let their romantic partners know they care for them.

The concept of love languages was first devised by US-based Dr Gary Chapman in his 1992 book, The Five Love Languages, which put forward that humans have distinct ways in which they prefer to give and receive love and affection.

But a career expert has revealed that co-workers can also be split up into the ways of expressing admiration, originating from Dr Chapman's work.

'Expressing appreciation in the workplace is something we all do, but perhaps not something we've all considered how to do best,' Charlotte Davies, of LinkedIn, told FEMAIL.

'By viewing our colleagues through the lens of "love languages", we can make sure to communicate on their level and ultimately, forge stronger relationships.' She added: 'Don't be afraid to let your colleagues know what motivates you and if in doubt, just ask!'

A career expert has revealed that your co-workers can also be split up into the ways they express appreciation for you, originating from Dr Chapman's work (stock image)

1. THE CHEERLEADER

INSPIRED BY WORDS OF AFFIRMATION

Where you can find them: On Slack, Microsoft Teams, or emails, giving you another public shout out celebrating your work.

Charlotte says that 'Cheerleaders' are the 'heart and soul of any workplace'. These colleagues are always lifting others up and celebrating their colleagues' achievements.

'They never shy away from shouting about other people's successes, and they are constantly letting you know how appreciated you are,' she said. 'Cheerleaders often compliment people to express their admiration.'

The expert adds that the best way to show your appreciation for a Cheerleader is 'to become a Cheerleader right back'.

These workers thrive on words of affirmation, which help them stay motivated, so either offering verbal praise, sending a group chat message or an email to the team celebrating their work would go a long way.

'If you're not comfortable with big, public shout outs, try pulling them aside one-on-one to let them know you really appreciate their work,' Charlotte added.

2. THE HELPING HAND

INSPIRED BY ACTS OF SERVICE

Where you can find them: Volunteering to pick up projects when their co-workers are short on time.

The 'Helping Hand' is 'always there when you're in need', Charlotte says. These co-workers will gracefully be up for a last-minute shift switch, or rehearsing with you ahead of a presentation.

3. THE GIFTER INSPIRED BY GIFTS Where you can find them: Picking out the perfect present for the next office birthday or making you another lovely cup of tea. Anything to make you feel special. 'The Gifter' is beloved in their office, as they express their admiration by taking on the role of a social secretary. They ensure that 'every birthday, work anniversary, promotion and life event is celebrated and acknowledged'. 'The Gifter isn't about buying extravagant gifts for every occasion,' Charlotte explained. 'But making their colleagues feel appreciated through small gestures like getting everyone to sign a card, picking up a latte from your favourite coffee shop or baking a birthday cake. 'They'll never show up empty-handed after a holiday or work trip either.' These colleagues would enjoy physical shows of appreciation, such as making them a cup of tea or organising a personalised birthday card for them. Advertisement

They express themselves through small acts of appreciation. For these colleagues, actions speak louder than words, the career expert explains - so if you want to make them feel valued, offering your time can go a long way.

'So, whether offering to help them out on a demanding project or taking tasks off their plate if you have capacity, these are some ways to build mutual respect,' she added.

'Small gestures can go a long way with Helping Hands too and make them feel acknowledged and understood. If you don't know where to start, don't be afraid to ask them how you can help them!'

4. THE CONVERSATIONALIST

INSPIRED BY QUALITY TIME

Where you can find them: Scheduling their in-office days with yours, in your messages during a call, or 'just checking in' several times a week.

Time with their co-workers is more important to 'the Conversationalist' than praise or favours.

They could plan their lunch break around yours or even enjoy commuting in with you - and are never absent at a social work event.

'They bond over shared experiences too,' Charlotte added. 'And love to reminisce about past projects you've worked on together.

'The best way to get on the good side of a Conversationalist is to give them your undivided attention when they need it.

'If they come to you for advice, or even just a chat, make sure you aren't distracted with your phone or laptop, and instead, show you're engaged.'

Asking them to join for your lunch or showing them that you're actively listening to their concerns is another great gesture.
A Canadian expat living in Australia has revealed what she thinks the type of car a man drives says about him - and she doesn't hold back.

Ioana, who has been living on the Gold Coast for six years, said Tesla drivers act like they're part of a pyramid scheme and Lexus drivers 'have low self esteem' in a TikTok video.

She also joked men who drive a Nissan Cube 'belong in jail' and thought Haval owners were boring.

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Ioana (pictured) a Candian expat who has been living on the Gold coast for six years has shared what she thinks about men based on the car they drive

She said men who own Teslas 'won't shut up about it' and make their car the focus of every dinner party conversation

Ioana has posted an entire series of hilarious clips sharing her thoughts on the cars men drive and her latest instalment had viewers in stitches.

She said dating a man who drive a Tesla is like dating someone who is part of a pyramid scheme or a cult.

'They won't shut up about it, they keep trying to convince you to get one and they try to make it the focus of every single dinner party that you go,' she said.

Expat: This is what his car says about him Tesla: It's like dating someone in a cult or pyramid scheme. They never shut up about it Lexus: He has low self esteem from trying to convince everyone buying a Lexus was actually a good idea Nissan Cube: He belongs in jail Haval: His favourite drink is probably water and his favourite colour is probably beige Mazda 6: You'll be alright, he's definitely not a serial killer Volkswagen Passat: Any type of man who goes to a car dealership and buys the most boring car Volkswagen have ever made is probably unproblematic Toyota (except Hilux or Hiace): Green flag - they can stay Advertisement

'Beware that if you date a Tesla driver, he will spend the better part of a dinner party you're invited to trying to convince everyone to go for a spin in his Tesla.

Secondly Ioana said Lexus drivers have 'low self esteem' from 'having to convince everyone that buying a Lexus was actually a good idea'.

'I went on several dates with a man who calls his Lexus the 'Sexy Lexie' and I am now traumatised for life,' she said.

She said a man who drives a Lexus has 'low self esteem from convincing everyone buying one 'was actually a good idea' and Niss cube owners 'belong in jail'

Ioana said a man 'belongs in jail' if he drives a Nissan Cube.

'If you want to trust a man whose car looks like a character from Pixar's Cars, you do you,' she joked.

Finally, Ioana said Haval cars make her think of generic Black and Gold brand products.

'This one is very Australia-specific but if he drives a Haval...his favourite drink is probably water and his favourite colour is probably beige,' she said.

'It could be a Honda, it could be a Hyundai, pick an actual real car brand not a fake one, thank you.'

'This one is very Australia specific but if he drives a Haval...his favourite drink is probably water and his favourite colour is probably beige,' Ioana said

Viewers thought Ioana's takes were hilarious and many agreed with her opinions on Tesla drivers.

'Tesla is the new Tupperware,' one joked and another said: 'Tesla driver here and you got me'.

'You absolutely nailed these,' replied a third.

'I thought this was going to be bad but you are soooo right. Spot on every one,' wrote a fourth.

In a previous clip, Ioana revealed the cars she thought were 'green flags' including any type of Toyota except a Hilux or a Hiace.

'When I ask you to picture type of car you picture a serial killer would drive do you pick a Mazda 6? Nope,' she added.

'If he pulls up in any type of Mazda you're probably alright - green flag.'

Of the Volkswagen Passat, Ioana said: 'Any type of man who goes to a car dealership and buys the most boring car Volkswagen have ever made he's probably unproblematic.'

Ioana said if he drives any type of Honda it's a green flag unless it's a Civic but refused to 'elaborate'.
A teenager from China has become the world's youngest patient to be given a probable diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

The 19-year-old, believed to be from Beijing, had been experiencing symptoms for two years including memory loss, difficulty concentrating, delayed reactions and reading difficulties.

By the time he visited doctors at the Capital Medical University in Beijing, he could not even remember what he'd had for dinner the previous day and had to withdraw from his final year at high school.

Tests and scans revealed that his hypothalamus, an area of the brain that plays a role in cognition, had shrunk. He also showed damage to his temporal lobe and elevated levels of a protein called tau, both hallmarks of Alzheimer's.

Doctors who published the case report last month were puzzled when they found he had no family history or the genetic mutation usually found in very young Alzheimer's patients.

A 19-year-old man from China has become the worlds youngest patient to be diagnosed with probable Alzheimers disease. The case report upends the traditional thinking of Alzheimer's as a disease of the elderly [Stock image]

There are more than one genetic mutation that can dictate an early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis: Presenilin 1, Presenilin 2, and Amyloid precursor protein (APP). These mutations cause excessive production of the toxic protein fragment called amyloid-beta peptide, a precursor to the amyloid plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer's.

They said: This is the youngest case ever reported to meet the diagnostic criteria for probable [Alzheimers disease] without recognized genetic mutations.

Alzheimers typically afflicts people 65 and older. Diagnoses before age 65 make up roughly five to 10 percent of all Alzheimers cases.

Previously, the youngest person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's was 21 years old and had a genetic mutation.

There have been several other unusual early-onset diagnoses. For instance, Worcestershire, England native Jordan Adams was diagnosed at age 24.

Daniel Bradbury, also from England, was diagnosed at 30 and has since passed away. And Rebecca Doig, an Australian, was diagnosed at 31 and has also died.

The Beijing team's findings build upon a growing amount of scientific study into more rapid diagnostics that can detect telltale signs of the disease years before symptoms manifest.

The researchers findings cast doubt on the traditional understanding of Alzheimers as a disease of the elderly.

They said: [The study] proposed to pay attention to the early-onset Alzheimers disease.

'Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimers disease may become one of the most challenging scientific questions of the future.

The case study was published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease on January 31.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by an accumulation of abnormal neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. This causes a gradual decline in memory, thinking, behavior and social skills

While they could not perform a brain biopsy due to the risk that the procedure carries to the patient, the researchers ran a spate of diagnostic tests to identify the biomarkers of the disease that the man was experiencing.

They conducted a series of cognitive tests in which the patient had to listen to and repeat back a series of words after a short or long delay. They concluded that his memory was impaired significantly.

Further brain imaging showed his hippocampus, which is responsible for memory performance, was atrophied. Hippocampal atrophy is typically attributed to the accumulation of the tau protein collecting inside neurons and a build-up of plaques in the brain caused by Alzheimer's disease.

They also tested the patients cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in which they found an abnormally high concentration of the protein p-tau181, a well-established biomarker of Alzheimers dementia.

To rule out the possibility that the teen was genetically predisposed to develop dementia, scientists performed whole genome sequencing, a laboratory procedure that reveals a persons complete DNA makeup.

While they found evidence of plaques in the patients CSF, the researchers did not identify the trademark amyloid plaques and elevated tau levels in the brain.

Even without those biomarkers present, the researchers felt that a diagnosis of Alzheimers fit because elevated tau in the CSF can be a precursor to the formation of tau tangles in the brain.

Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia and afflicts between six and seven million Americans. The condition is chronic and worsens over time, typically killing people between three and 11 years after the initial diagnosis.

But Alzheimers can remain in the shadows for years without manifesting symptoms in a phase researchers call preclinical Alzheimer's disease. Symptoms are not visible to anyone in this phase, which can last decades.

Neuroscientists have been working consistently for years to develop an Alzheimers diagnostic tool that can detect the disease earlier, such as an inexpensive blood test capable of detecting nerve cell damage specific to the brain to measure neurodegeneration. An earlier diagnosis opens the door for earlier treatment, raising the patients chances of surviving longer.
An extremely deadly disease is feared to be spreading in Africa after Cameroon said it had detected two suspected cases of Marburg Virus.

A 16-year-old boy and girl from the commune of Olamze, about two miles from the border, showed signs of the disease which has symptoms including blood-stained vomit and bleeding from the eyes.

Neither had recently traveled to Equatorial Guinea, which is in the grips of an outbreak that has already killed nine people. There are 16 suspected cases in the country so far.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today convened an urgent meeting over the cases, calling in experts from around the world to discuss how to contain the disease.

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.

Fears are growing over an extremely deadly virus potentially spreading in Africa after Cameroon said it had detected two suspected cases of Marburg virus. Both are in Olamze, near the border. Cases have also been detected in the province of Kie Ntem, Equatorial Guinea, leading the country to declare an outbreak

Cases of Marburg are incredibly rare. 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

Robert Mathurin Bidjang, the public health delegate for Cameroon's affected region, said: 'On the 13th of February, we had two suspected cases.

'These are two 16-year-old children, a boy and a girl, who have no previous travel history to the affected areas in Equatorial Guinea.'

Cameroon is now restricting movement along its border with Equatorial Guinea to avoid Marburg virus spreading further.

It is also monitoring 42 people who were close contacts of the two suspected cases, and following up for other contacts.

The WHO's representative in Equatorial Guinea, George Ameh, said: 'Surveillance in the field has been intensified.

'Contact tracing, as you know, is a cornerstone of the response.

'We have... redeployed the Covid teams that were there for contact tracing and quickly retrofitted them to really help us out.'

Marburg virus has been touted as the next big pandemic threat, with the WHO describing it as 'epidemic-prone'.

Members of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC)  speaking to the WHO today  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 via 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.

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' has 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.
EXCLUSIVE: Sir IDS said the WHO needs to 'come clean' and admit its failures

The World Health Organization today faced calls to 'come clean' and stop 'trying to cover their backside' after snubbing Britain's Covid inquiry.

Lawyers working on the long-awaited probe  which has been delayed by another month due to a secrecy row  yesterday stated the WHO had made the 'surprising' decision not to provide a written statement.

Attendees heard how the WHO, which has been repeatedly criticised for being too close to China, had instead provided 'certain information and material'.

Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged the organisation to reconsider its stance.

He told MailOnline: 'The WHO are there for a reason  and we need to be sure that they are doing the job they are meant to do.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith (right) has called on the World Health Organization to 'come clean' and increase its involvement in the UK's official Covid inquiry, saying the global health body's apparent snub is a sign that Beijing continues to hold too much sway over it. Sir Duncan Smith is pictured here yesterday at a vigil taking place outside the Foreign Office in London over China's persecution of the Uyghur minority

World Health Organization Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands in Beijing on Jan. 28, 2020, ahead of their meeting to discuss how to curb the spread of then new coronavirus. Dr Tedros famously defended China's 'transparency' during the initial weeks of the Covid outbreak with Sir Duncan Smith now saying today that the body needed to restructured so that it is no longer dominated by China

Covid leaking from a the now notorious Wuhan Institute of Virology was initially dismissed as 'extremely unlikely' by the WHO. However, the theory gained serious traction among scientists and politicians over the course of the pandemic , with even the WHO seeming to reverse its original assessment. Pictured: Researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, February 2017

'That includes coming clean and honest with their own failings.'

Now Marburg virus spreads to Cameroon: Two suspected cases of the extremely deadly disease are detected in 16-year-old boy and girl who had NO travel links to outbreak in neighboring Equatorial Guinea Fears are growing over an extremely deadly virus potentially spreading in Africa after Cameroon said it had detected two suspected cases of Marburg virus. Both are in Olamze, near the border. Cases have also been detected in the province of Kie Ntem, Equatorial Guinea, leading the country to declare an outbreak Advertisement

Sir Iain, a minister in David Cameron's Government, claimed the snub lent credence to the idea that the WHO  and, by extension, Xi Jinping's Beijing administration  doesn't want the world looking deeper into the origins of Covid.

Its refusal to provide 'factual evidence' to the inquiry came to light yesterday during a preliminary hearing to discuss evidence submissions.

The hearing stemmed around 'pandemic preparedness and resilience', meaning it will scrutinise Government decision-making and what planning it could have done to prepare for Covid.

The refusal also comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and the West.

There is an ongoing row over US shooting down Chinese surveillance balloons that entered its airspace, with Beijing now threatening 'US entities' in response.

The WHO didn't respond to MailOnline's request to explain why it had not submitted a statement to the Covid inquiry.

Sir Iain said the WHO had critical insight into the early days of the Covid outbreak and its reassurances that China had the situation under control had left the UK less prepared than it could have been.

'Nobody was looking for this, we had no idea what was going on because we were told it was under control in China.'

He added: 'The WHO were bullied by China to not ask too many difficult questions about the laboratory.'

Sir Iain said the WHO's input was therefore critical to learning lessons from the pandemic and called for them to reconsider.

'We need openness on this if we're to get this thing done properly and there are lots of unanswered questions,' he said.

While China has insisted the virus originated elsewhere, academics, politicians and the media have contemplated the possibility it leaked from a high-level biochemical lab in Wuhan - raising suspicions that Chinese officials simply hid evidence of the early spread

'The panicky lockdown that took place that absolutely smashed economies apart...the contradictory messages about masks, no masks, what type of masks, vaccinations, all of this was a chaos that could have been avoided.

China's official timeline vs new evidence Official timeline Dec 8, 2019 - Earliest date that China has acknowledged an infection Dec 31 - China first reported 'pneumonia of unknown cause' to the World Health Organisation Jan 1, 2020 - Wuhan seafood market closed for disinfection Jan 11 - China reported its first death Jan 23 - Wuhan locked down Jan 31 - WHO declared 'outbreak of international concern' as China admitted having thousands of cases Feb 23 - Italy reports cluster of cases in first major outbreak in the West New evidence Sep 2019- Blood samples are taken in a lung cancer screening trial in Italy which later test positive for coronavirus Oct-Dec - Rise in 'flu and pneumonia' cases in northern Italy which could be linked to coronavirus Nov - Sewage samples taken in Florianopolis, Brazil, suggest virus was present Nov 10 - Milanese woman has a skin biopsy, producing a sample which later shows signs of the virus Nov 17 - Leaked documents suggest case detected in China on this date Dec 1 - Chinese researchers report an infection on this date in a peer-reviewed study, but it has not been acknowledged by Beijing Dec 18 - Sewage samples taken in Milan and Turin suggest virus was circulating in the cities Jan 2020 - Sewage samples from Barcelona suggest virus was in the city Advertisement

'We need to know why they didn't give advice publicly earlier, and that's because they didn't have the data from China. So why weren't they demanding that?'

Scientists and politicians have repeatedly expressed concern about the WHO's ties to China.

Sir Iain added that the WHO  which only gets 0.34 per cent of its funding from China  needed reformation to ensure its independence in future emergencies.

'Members should be demanding the WHO is restructured so that this problem of dominance by one country never happens again,' he said.

Speaking at the preliminary hearing Pete Weatherby KC, counsel for Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, said he couldn't help be surprised at the WHO's decision.

'Perhaps I'm allowed to be a little bit surprised at WHO's response for such factual evidence,' he said.

The biggest current funder for the WHO is the US, which proves 15.6 per cent of its budget, followed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at 12.7 per cent.

Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, said given the WHO's international nature, the inquiry was restricted in what levels of information they could demand, before adding it had provided some information.

'We've contacted the WHO. They were unable to provide a written statement. But they have provided us with certain information and material, which we are considering,' he said.

The WHO has repeatedly come under fire during the pandemic for its public and stalwart defence of China, where the virus emerged.

This included parroting Beijing's dismissal that the virus could leaked from the now notorious Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In the earliest days of the outbreak, WHO director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus even went as far as to praise Beijing's 'commitment to transparency' which he called 'beyond words'.

At around the same time, the Communist Party began censoring public information about the spread of the virus and its potential origins, at one point suggesting that US troops could have been the initial carriers.

There are also reports that privately WHO officials were frustrated over China's lack of cooperation on sharing information on the emerging Covid threat.

And an WHO team sent to China to investigate the pandemic's origins in January 2021 only examined Wuhan's wet markets to explore an animal-to-human origin of the virus, not the lab leak theory.

And today it was revealed further WHO investigations into the origins of Covid have been quietly wound down.

China, like other UN member countries, helps fund the WHO's operations.

But there have been concerns that China has been using financial leverage over poorer nations to install its preferred figures into key roles at the WHO.

However, over the course of the pandemic the WHO has seemingly grown bolder in breaking from Beijing's narrative.

In July 2021 Dr Tedros said the body had been 'premature' to dismiss a potential lab leak in the early stages of the pandemic, adding 'lab accidents happen'.

News of the lack of involvement from the WHO in the Covid inquiry comes as the inquiry itself faces fresh delays due to a row over secrecy.

Thousands of personal details are having to be removed from documents before they can be shown to participants in the inquiry, 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 families of those who died during the pandemic say blanking out this information is taking a 'substantial and disproportionate' amount of time.

Chair Baroness Heather Hallet was also asked to consider postponing the public inquiry by up to four weeks to allow lawyers more time to get through the paperwork.

This could mean the inquiry will begin hearing evidence in June rather than May.

Documents put before an inquiry are shown in advance to participants beforehand in a process known as 'disclosure'.

This allows those taking part to read them before they are questioned at a public 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 that's 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 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 be making a decision on the start date of the public inquiry as soon as she could.
A key World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into the origins of Covid has been quietly wound down, insiders have claimed.

Leading virologists tasked with probing how the pandemic emerged  on behalf of the UN agency  blamed the shelving on the lack of cooperation from China.

Beijing has repeatedly been accused of a cover-up, stifling attempts to investigate a lab in Wuhan which was experimenting with similar viruses months before a disease emerged in the city that quickly swept the world and killed millions.

An initial investigation by the WHO in 2021, which saw a group of scientists travel to China, concluded that Covid emerged naturally.

It was criticised due to a lack of cooperation from Beijing, which allegedly refused to discuss the lab leak theory unless the final report stated no further investigation was needed, and withheld key data and samples.

Some say it's possible the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured), where researchers were conducting controversial research on the world's most dangerous pathogens

Studies point to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan (pictured) as being the epicentre of the outbreak. Many of the earliest cases in December 2019 and January 2020 had visited the site, where live animals were sold

WHO chiefs proposed a second phase of studies into the origins, including audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan and called for China to be more transparent.

But Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist based at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, has confirmed that plans for a further investigation in China have been abandoned.

She told Nature 'there is no phase two' and the plan for carrying out further work in China 'has changed'.

'The politics across the world of this really hampered progress on understanding the origins,' Dr Van Kerkhove added.

She said the WHO's director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is still working with officials in China in the hopes the nation will eventually share data that will unravel the truth about how the pandemic spawned.

And WHO staff have contacted the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention  Beijing's health department  in a bid to work together.

Dr Van Kerkhove said: 'We really, really want to be able to work with our colleagues there. It's really a deep frustration.'

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove told Nature that 'there is no phase two' and the plan for further work in China 'has changed'. 'The politics across the world of this really hampered progress on understanding the origins,' she added

The WHO today denied claims it had 'quietly shelved the plans', which is how leading scientific magazine Nature first reported them.

It said it has 'always and consistently' called for more studies into the origins of the virus and access and data from China.

But a source accepted that they 'can't advance' and efforts to understand how the pandemic began will 'remain rather stymied' until Beijing  which the WHO was accused of being too friendly with throughout the pandemic  plays ball.

Scientists claim it is vital to understand how the Covid pandemic began to prevent future outbreaks.

READ MORE Revealed: Just a THIRD of people in some parts of England have had first Covid jab as booster scheme ends for healthy u-50s... so use this interactive map to see how low uptake is in YOUR area Government data analysed by MailOnline shows Covid vaccination rates are below 50 per cent in over 20 areas of England. Harehills South in Leeds has the dubious honour being the least jabbed in the country, with only 37.5 per cent of people there having been vaccinated Advertisement

Top virologists backing the natural origins theory believe the virus originated in bats and infected an intermediary species  possibly a pangolin  before then infecting humans.

Studies point to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan as being the epicentre of the outbreak. Many of the earliest cases in December 2019 and January 2020 had visited the site, where live animals were sold.

However, others believe the virus was leaked  accidentally or on purpose  from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting experiments on live bats.

WHO officials arrived in Wuhan in January 2021 in a bid to get to identify the source and worked with Chinese researchers to review evidence.

In a March 2021 report, the team ruled the natural origins theory was the most likely.

The team, made up of 17 international and 17 Chinese experts who had spent four weeks in and around Wuhan, said a lab leak was an 'extremely unlikely pathway'.

But Peter Ben Embarek, a program manager at the WHO who led the probe, said Chinese officials only agreed to discuss the lab leak in the report on the condition that it did not call for any specific studies into the theory.

In July 2021, the WHO proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of Covid, after Dr Ghebreyesus said the first version was hampered by a lack of raw data covering the early days of the outbreak.

The follow-up probe was set to include an audit of relevant labs, research institutions and markets in Wuhan, as well as areas where the first cases were spotted.

Announcing the move, Dr Ghebreyesus said: 'We ask China to be transparent and open and to cooperate.

'We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened.'

But China immediately pushed back on the idea that it was necessary to examine its laboratories, calling the lab leak concerns 'absurd' and accused the UN agency of 'politicising' the outbreak.

In an August 2021 letter, WHO officials sent to China for the first report warned that the window for vital follow-up studies was 'closing fast'.

Professor Marion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and one of the WHO convoy sent to China, told Nature: 'We wrote that piece because we were worried phase two might not happen.

'I'm sorry to say that that's indeed what panned out.'

The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate about how to prevent the next pandemic. Studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbour Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time (bottom right)

While China has insisted the virus originated elsewhere, academics, politicians and the media have contemplated the possibility it leaked from a high-level biochemical lab in Wuhan - raising suspicions that Chinese officials simply hid evidence of the early spread

Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, told Nature there is 'little the WHO can do' to investigate how the pandemic started without access to China.

'Their hands are really tied,' she said.

However, the WHO formed the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) in November 2021 which advises it on 'developing, monitoring and supporting' studies into the origins of Covid.

Gabby Stern, the WHO's director of communications, said that the 'incorrect' that it has 'quietly shelved' investigations into the origins of the virus.

She said: 'We've said many times publicly, not quietly, since early 2021 that understanding the origins is critically important and China should share data and provide access. The work of the SAGO continues as well.'

But Professor Koopmans said the work on the origins of the virus 'has stalled' which is 'unfortunate', as there has been no 'coordinated' follow-up.

Peter Daszak, a British-American expert in pandemics, said: 'WHO's stance should of course be that more studies and data need to be forthcoming.'

Dr Daszak is renowned for securing funding for 'risky' coronavirus research, some of which went to the lab in Wuhan. Such research, known as 'gain of function', can see viruses deliberately engineered to become more dangerous to humans.

He also led a statement published in the Lancet, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals, which alleged it was a 'conspiracy theory' to argue the pandemic was triggered by a lab leak.

But Dr Daszak said it is now 'fairly clear that phase two on-the-ground work' has not 'happened in the way it should have by now'.
Global health chiefs are in a race against time to develop a vaccine for a virus that is a deadlier version of Ebola and appears to be spreading in Central Africa.

Panic is setting in about Marburg virus, which can initially masquerade as a cold before causing an explosion of horrifying symptoms, including organ failure and bleeding from multiple orifices.

An outbreak of the extremely deadly virus - which kills up to nine in 10 sufferers - was declared in Equatorial Guinea Monday after nine deaths and 16 suspected cases.

Last night neighboring Cameroon declared two suspected infections in a pair of teenagers with no travel links to Equatorial Guinea - indicating it is more widespread than official case counts suggest.

Marburg causes a hemorrhagic fever similar to that of Ebola. After incubating in the body for several days, if not weeks, it causes a devastating eruption of inflammation and blood clotting around the body that causes organs to stop working.

The Marburg virus has an incubation period of up to 21 days. The virus attacks the kidney and spleen and causes clotting and inflammation around the body. Symptoms can be pretty severe, such as rashes, bleeding from the eyes and delirium. A large portion of cases result in death, and even survivors suffer permanent damage. A total of 474 cases have ever been recorded, before this outbreak. Pictured: Sufferers of Ebola, which falls in the same family of viruses as Marburg

A total on nine deaths and 18 suspected cases of Marburg virus have been detected across Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa

Marburg spreads between people when someone comes into contact with an infected person's broken skin or mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, or mouth.

Marburg also spreads through blood or body fluids (urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, amniotic fluid, and semen) of a person who is sick with or died from Marburg virus disease.

It can also be spread sexually or via touching objects contaminated with body fluids from a person who is sick.

It can take from two days to three weeks from exposure to the first appearance of symptoms - before a rapid and gory deterioration to their health.

Called the incubation period, this is the time where the virus has entered the body and begins to replicate, but has not yet caused symptoms.

When the virus enters the body, it targets immune cells - which protect the body from invaders like Marburg.

As a result, it causes the body to not properly activate white blood cells' response to the virus, allowing it to spread further in the body and evade a majority of a person's natural protections.

When symptoms do start to appear, they may seem flu-like, with fevers, headaches, chills and body aches all early signs.

Sufferers will often suffer a non-itchy rash that appears all over a person's face, arms, legs, hands and feet.

Other, less common, signs of the illness within the first few days include jaundice, severe nausea, abdominal pain, pink eye, throat irritation, spots appearing within the mouth and extremely watery diarrhea.

These occur as immune responses to the virus, and also because of the virus invading cells and destroying them from within themselves.

Usually, around the fifth day, the disease will progress to what doctors describe as the 'early organ phase'.

At this point, a patient may start suffering bleeding out of their eyes, inflammation around the body, and visible swelling around their body - usually on the legs, ankles and feet.

The appearance of patients at this phase has been described as showing 'ghost-like' drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces and extreme lethargy.

Internal bleeding can cause discoloration of the skin, vomiting blood, dark and blood-colored feces, blood collection in the lungs and stomach and bleeding gums.

The fever remains high during the period. Some people have reported neurological symptoms such as brain swelling, delirium, confusion, irritability and aggression.

Patients will often die within eight or nine days of their first symptoms appearing, according to the WHO. The virus has an overall kill rate of around 50 percent, but up to 90 percent of patients die depending on the strain and treatment given.

Organ failure occurs when the virus either destroys cells that allow it to perform its function - and causes cells to become inflamed to fight the virus - so much so that it cannot perform regular functions.

If a person does remain alive, they could enter the late organ phase, where they suffer dementia, could fall into a coma, and have permanent brain and organ damage.

On Tuesday, the WHO convened an 'urgent' meeting of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC) to handle the outbreak.

The group said it could take months for effective vaccines and therapeutics to become available, as manufacturers would need to gather materials and perform trials.

But experts today told DailyMail.com that a widely available effective treatment is actually 'some years off'.

There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus.

However, the WHO advise that supportive care like rehydration and drugs to ease certain symptoms can improve survival chances.

The MARVAC team yesterday 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.

Three vaccine developers  Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Public Health Vaccines and the Sabin Vaccine Institute  all non-profits, said they may be able to make doses available to test in the current outbreak.

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 vaccines from Janssen and Sabin have already gone through phase 1 clinical trials.

However, none of the vaccines are available in large quantities.

Public Health Vaccines' jab was recently found to protect against the virus in monkeys, and the Food and Drug Administration has cleared it for human testing.

Little is known about other potential treatments that could help fend off infection.

But Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, told this website: 'These are the first confirmed Marburg cases in Equatorial Guinea.

'The WHO has a list of pathogens that have pandemic-potential, with both Marburg and Ebola on that list.'

He added: 'Whilst the immediate threats are predominantly to the communities where the outbreaks are found, we do need to invest in vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for these high-threat diseases.

'For example, there was an outbreak of Lassa fever, also on the WHO priority list, in the UK last year.

'It was quickly brought under control, but as Covid has shown, we underestimate the threat of infectious diseases at our peril.

'Theres no immediate timescale of when we might see a Marburg vaccine. There are many promising candidates, but my best guess is were probably some years off seeing a finished product being widely available in high-risk settings.'

Experts also raised concerns that it may take multiple outbreaks for enough cases to properly analyze the virus's effectiveness.

Professor Jimmy Whitworth, a professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told DailyMail.com: 'Usually Marburg virus outbreaks develop very quickly, only a few cases are infected, and the outbreak dies down rapidly once control measures are in place.

'If the current outbreak follows this pattern it will be very challenging to test the effectiveness of candidate vaccines.'

He added: 'The outbreak is likely to be over before a trial can be put in place and the vaccines can be tested, and if not completely over it will probably be dying down so it is likely that only a small number of contacts can be vaccinated before the outbreak is over.

'So it is likely that any vaccine will need to be tested over several outbreaks before we have a definite answer on whether it works.'

Marburg is part of the Filoviridae family of viruses, making it a cousin of Ebola. It is more deadly and acts faster than its well-known relative, though.

It is believed to have been transmitted to humans from African fruit bats, with the first infected people exposed to the animals in mines and caves.

Unlike Covid, it does not spread through the air but through fluids such as blood, urine or saliva.

Like Ebola, even dead bodies can spread the virus to people exposed to its fluids.

Officials in Cameroon announced two suspected cases in the southern province of Olamze.

It borders the Kie Ntem province of Equatorial Guinea, where the original suspected cases were detected.

The potential 27 cases outbreak would be the largest since the 2004-2005 Marburg Virus outbreak in Angola.

The 252 cases and 227 deaths make it the worst infection outbreak ever recorded. It is also the fourth-largest outbreak ever.

This is the first time it has been detected in either Equatorial Guinea or Cameroon, signaling that the virus is spreading further into Africa.

It was first detected in 1967, when monkeys were imported from Uganda to Germany and Serbia for experimentation were carrying the virus.

In the time since outbreaks of the virus have occurred sporadically throughout sub-Saharan Africa, making its appearance in Central Africa a worrying sign.

A total of 474 cases have been recorded.

All but 31, the initial outbreak in Europe, originated in Africa. Two cases from Uganda reached the Netherlands and United States in 2008.

Only nine cases have been recorded globally in the ten years before the Equatorial Guinea outbreak.
Women's priority parking spaces at a building in Jongno-gu, central Seoul / Korea Times file



By Jun Ji-hye



Women's priority parking spaces at public buildings and other large-scale facilities such as department stores in Seoul will disappear, beginning this year, 14 years after the policy was first introduced.



According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Wednesday, such parking spaces will be changed to family parking spots, so that a more diverse group of people can enjoy the benefits regardless of gender.



Women's priority parking spaces, marked with pink paint stick figures wearing skirts, were introduced in Seoul in 2009 as part of measures to protect women amid a series of violent crimes committed against women, especially in underground parking lots at the time.



The policy called for a move to allocate more than 10 percent of parking spaces as priority parking spaces for women, in car lots that can accommodate more than 30 cars.



These female-friendly car parking spaces tend to be closer to the entrances of buildings and are often located next to handicapped spots so as to increase the safety of women. Additionally, some are longer and wider than other parking spaces.



Women's priority parking spaces, however, have actually been perceived as women-only spaces, stirring up controversy in relation to female privilege and the effectiveness of the policy.



Critics say that such spaces have been seen as discriminating against men and further promote the stereotype that women are bad drivers, worsening the gender divide. They also said that those who really need the spaces were not properly protected because of female-centric parking infrastructure.



Family parking spaces will give priority to pregnant women or those accompanying them; those who accompany infants and toddlers and those who have mobility difficulties or those accompanying them, regardless of the gender of the driver.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government said a bill to revise a relevant ordinance has been already submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council.



Work to change women's parking spaces to family parking spaces will start next month, beginning with public parking lots. Currently, 16,640 public parking spaces are available in Seoul. Of them, 1,988 spaces are allocated for women's priority parking.



"The plan is aimed at giving benefit to a more diverse population," a city government official said.



Women's parking spaces have been seen throughout the world including in Germany, China, Australia and Indonesia, mostly to reduce the risk of sexual assault because parking lots were often dark and deserted. Similar controversies about discrimination against one gender and giving one gender an obvious benefit have been raised there.


The scientists have instead published a revised list of 'replacement terms'

'Female', 'invasive' and 'survival of the fittest'.

These are just three of the terms scientists now argue deserve to be banned.

In a new crackdown on 'harmful terminology' in science, members of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Language Project - founded by scientists in the US and Canada - have published a list of 24 'harmful terms' regularly used.

Deemed 'offensive', they've instead suggested a revised list of 'replacement terms'.

Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers said efforts to 'champion inclusive language' in science is 'particularly important for redressing the ongoing marginalization of many groups'.

So which 24 terms are in the firing line?

What 24 terms were deemed 'harmful'? Harmful Term Context Replacement Term alien / non-native / exotic / invasive Xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and militaristic Non-endemic species / Newly arrived species / Non-Indigenous species / Introduced species / Nuisance species blind / double blind / plant blindness Disability metaphor Awareness citizen science 'Citizen science' is harmful to non-citizens who are excluded by that language Participant science / Community science / feminized / masculinized Feminized implies that 'feminine' and 'masculine' are biological traits rather than social constructs Describe the specific traits gypsy Racial slur used to incite violence against Romani people 'Spongy moth' man / woman Highly anthropomorphic / Biases towards men or male traits Male or female / Human names after racist / eugenic / colonizers They hold up problematic figures as noteworthy/someone to remember or celebrate Use Indigenous names / Use local names / Name based on appearance or morphology / Remove names from concepts survival of the fittest Eugenics, ablelism, and social Darwinism Natural selection / Survival differences Gender Gender, a social construct, is often conflated with sex Sex Hermaphrodite Derogatory term used to cause harm to the intersex and trans individuals. Monoecious/intersex/bi-gametic Indian A discrominatory, racist, term used to describe indigenous people Indigenous Male/female These terms are used to reinforce societally-imposed ideas of a sex binary, emphasising cis-normative and hetero-normative views Sperm-producing/egg-producing or XY/XX individual Mother/father These terms perpetuate a non-universal heteronormative and cisnormative view of the parenting and birthing process. Parent/egg-donor/sperm-donor Noose Term associated with anti-Black violence and lynching Lasso Primitive/advanced Used derogatorily towards humans or human practices, and also scientifically inaccurate as implies an evolutionary hierarchy Ancestral/derived race Perpetuates the idea that human race is a biological rather than social construct when used to describe non-human subspecies Population/subspecies/ecotype virgin A social construct that reinforces heteropatriarchal norms Unmated colonization / colonizer Terms are harmful and triggering for Indigenous people that have been subjugated to colonialism, racism, and genocide and use of the term describes normalizes it as natural phenomonen rather than a destructive one with human context. established / early successional species discover / discovery Erases the longstanding, detailed ecological knowledge of Indigenous communities that have been involved with local environments and ecosystems before colonialism and western science. identified / described harem Perpetuates offensive stereotypes of human cultures, particlularly those of the Middle East, and evokes a sexualized human power structure in which women are assumed to be subjucated to men. mating group / polygny master / master file / master equation / master variable Perpetuates harmful stereotypes and connotations to the enslavement of people of color and normalizes language implicated with slavery and enslaved people. primary / main document / primary equation or variable Old World / New World Perpetuates a colonial and Eurocentric view of the world that is offensive to the international community and Indigenous peoples that lived in the region and contributed to scientific knowledge before European colonialism. the relevant location rape Equates rape with a reproductive strategy rather than a violent and traumatic act, which can lead to dangerous misconceptions that is a natural behavior, and the use of the term forces survivors to be confronted with it which is traumatic. forced copulation slave and/or master / slave-making ants / slavery Normalizes slavery and colonoliasm as a natural phenomonen in the wild, which if harmful to cultures and people of color subjugated to these practices and does not represent the animal behavior accurately. host and parasite / 'pirate' ants / coercion
A personal trainer was diagnosed with penile cancer after mistaking a lump on his penis for a irritation mark.

Joe Merrall, 39, from Auckland, New Zealand, noticed the pea-sized bump last summer, which he put down to skin irritation from his genitals rubbing against his pants.

He was diagnosed with penile cancer and doctors had to cut off the entire head of his penis and some of the shaft.

He can still urinate, although the flow is 'all over the show', and has been told he can still have sex.

Joe Merrall, 39, from Auckland, New Zealand, said doctors had to cut off the entire head of his penis and most of the shaft because of penile cancer. It began as a pea-sized lump that he spotted in August. But this then spread to engulf all of the head and some of the shaft

Mr Merrall is now three weeks on from his operation. He says the new penis is 'weird' and that urination is 'all over the show'. But doctors have told him he will be able to have sex again

Doctors initially thought it may have been a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and prescribed creams. But after the lump grew to engulf the entire penis head and spread down the shaft, scans revealed it was cancer.

Penile cancer is rare in North America and Europe with fewer than one out of every 100,000 men diagnosed with the disease annually. In the US, about 2,000 cases are detected every year, while in the UK nearly 700 cases are spotted annually.

But this means warning signs  including small, crusty bumps and a smelly discharge  may be missed by medics. Last month a British soldier said he needed to have half his penis removed after doctors misdiagnosed the cancer three times.

If the cancer is caught early and is only on the foreskin it can be treated via circumcision.

But in cases it has spread below the skin of the penis, medics will need to remove it via a penectomy  a medical term for the surgical removal of part or all of the penis.

Mr Merrall had the surgery on his penis three weeks ago at North Shore Hospital in Auckland and is now adjusting to his new member.

He described it as looking 'weird', especially 'the way they've sown it up' adding that his urine flow 'is all over the show'.

He said: 'I am still adjusting but they may well tidy it up at some stage.

'I'll be able to have sex again, but it's still quite tender.'

He added: 'Surgery has significantly changed the way it looks.

'I thought no one was going to touch me with a 10-foot pole after that [the diagnosis] as they'd think I was a freak.

'I told a few exes and female mates when opening up to them about feeling "less of a man".

'They said it was brave to talk about it and that "I would still go there". I was like "that's fantastic".'

He is now due to have a CT scan to find out whether the cancer has spread.

Talking about when he was first diagnosed with penile cancer, he said: 'I experienced every emotion known to man when I got the diagnosis.

'I first found out two days before Christmas, it was the worst timing and it sent me down a spiral.

'I bottled it all up, I didn't even want to go to the gym, I just thought "what's the point?".'

He added: 'I told my younger brother as I was staying with him at the time and we started making jokes. I was kind of laughing but then I went to lie down on my bed and cried.

'I went through that self-pity cycle for two-three weeks and drank myself into a stupor. One day I decided it wasn't doing me any favors acting like that and stopped.'

The above graphic was posted by urologists to illustrate the different stages of penile cancer. It shows stage Ta (tip of the penis), the earliest point where cancerous cells are on the skin of the penis, up to stage T3, where a tumor has grown into the penis and into the urethra  which carries urine and semen out of the body. It also shows the T4 stage, where the tumor has spread to other organs. The different positions for each tumor have been shown to effectively illustrate each stage

Concerns over Mr Merrall's penis began in August when he noticed a pea-sized lump on its head.

He put this down to irritation when his penis rubbed against his pants but booked to have it checked by a doctor the following month.

Medics took a swab and issued a course of anti-fungal cream  urging him to book a follow-up appointment if the cream didn't clear up what was suspected to be thrush or an STI.

Over the coming weeks, the lump then 'engulfed' the head of his penis, covering the urethra and even spreading down the shaft.

This left Mr Merrall in excruciating pain and having trouble urinating.

He was transferred to a specialist in October, who  after carrying out further tests  diagnosed him with penile cancer.

Mr Merrall said: 'The first trip to the doctor she looked at it and gave me some cream. She took a swab and said to come back if it wasn't going away and that she'd refer me to a specialist.

'I thought it was skin irritation from my penis rubbing on my pants, not an STI.'

He had not expected a diagnosis of penile cancer.

Mr Merrall added: 'I saw the specialist in October but I did the classic guy thing  I kept rescheduling my appointment and put it off.

'They still managed to catch it early enough though.'

Mr Merrall had previously suffered a tight foreskin, a condition called phimosis.

Previous studies have suggested that this raises the risk of suffering penile cancer.

Mr Merrall is sharing his story to encourage other men to go to the doctors if they spot any suspicious lumps.

He said: 'I decided to share my diagnosis because I thought "if I can share it and help one or two people then I've done some good".

'I would say to people to check yourself, know your normal, and anything not normal go to the doctor about it and get yourself checked. Better safe than sorry.'

Joe also runs a scheme called Move 4 Mental Health to help people improve their mental health through the power of physical exercise.
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
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.
Anglo American has revealed that the CEO of its South African platinum business, also known as Amplats, is set to stand down.

Natascha Viljoen became the first female chief of Amplats, which is a 79 per cent- owned subsidiary of Anglo American, upon taking the role in April 2020 and will continue in that position until the end of her 12-month notice period.

She departs the group to become chief operating officer of Colorado-based mining giant Newmont Corporation, the world's biggest gold producer.

Departure: Natascha Viljoen (pictured) is leaving Anglo American Platinum to become the chief operating officer of Colorado-based mining giant Newmont Corporation

The announcement of Viljoen's departure comes just two days after Amplats warned its annual profit - measured in headline earnings per share - could plummet by more than half.

Amplats' earnings have been impacted by falling sales and prices of platinum group metals and the rebuilding of a smelter in Polokwane being delayed by almost two months due to the delivery of defective materials.

But the expected slide in profits follows a record performance the previous year when it more than doubled thanks to strong refined output and metal prices.

It was also the second year the company went without a fatality at its managed operations and the first year without a death at the Modikwa mine, which Amplats owns under a joint venture with African Rainbow Minerals.

Prior to Viljoen's appointment at Amplats, she was the head of processing at Anglo American and spent six years at Lonmin, half the time as an executive vice president.

She also spent stints at Anglo Gold, BHPBilliton's coal and chrome divisions in South Africa and Iscor, a steelmaker that was renamed after being bought by ArcelorMittal.

Duncan Wanblad, Anglo American's chief executive, said Viljoen was 'an outstanding leader who transformed our technical processing capabilities and performance.'

He added: 'Her commitment to lead Anglo American Platinum and its continued performance improvement as a platform for growth through her notice period is a clear demonstration of her strong personal qualities.'

Wanblad warned last week at a mining conference that South Africa's status as an important mining destination was under significant threat from the 'three scourges' of power cuts, corruption and logistics challenges.

Three days later, Cyril Rampahosa, the president of Africa's largest economy, declared a 'state of disaster' aimed at solving an electricity crisis that is causing blackouts lasting up to 10 hours on some days.

The constant power outages have been variously blamed on the failure to construct new power stations to address rising demand, under-maintenance at existing plants, and commodity shipments being disrupted by cable theft on rail lines.

Wanblad has suggested that the state-run rail group Transnet should form a public-private partnership to try and enhance performance and reduce thefts.

Anglo American shares were 1 per cent lower at 3,181.5p on late Wednesday afternoon, making them one of the ten biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index.
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
A father who shook his 10-week-old son to death has been jailed for nearly eight years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The baby's mother accused Marcus Carter, 43, of robbing their son of his 'childhood' and the 'chance to grow up' when he forcibly shook him in August 2020.

Carter, of Walsall, initially denied being responsible for his son's death, but ultimately accepted the force he used resulted in the child's 'catastrophic injuries.'

He was cleared of murder because the act was a 'momentary loss of control,' BBC reported.

Marcus Carter, (pictured) the father who shook his 10-week-old son to death, has been jailed for nearly eight years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Emergency crews were called to a residence in Easton, Bristol on August 10, 2020 to conduct a welfare check on Carter's son, Bristol Crown Court heard.

The baby, identified by BBC as Remari Collins, was subsequently taken to Bristol Children's Hospital for treatment. He died 11 days later.

'Overwhelming medical evidence,' witness statements and CCTV footage reportedly revealed that Carter was responsible for the infant's death.

He is understood to have shook Remari so forcibly that he suffered rib fractures, respiratory failure and a catastrophic brain injury, according to Bristol Live.

The father called 999 and tried to perform CPR on the child. He then lied to paramedics and police about how Remari suffered his injuries.

It was only after being made aware of the evidence detectives had obtained, that Carter acknowledged that his actions led to his son's death.

Gareth James, mitigating, told the court that Carter had "lost his self-control" and was "otherwise a reasonable and caring parent".

Mr James further alleged that Carter's actions were 'not premeditated' and claimed the father has suffered depressive disorders since Remari's death.

Carter admitted manslaughter of Remari at a hearing at the same court last month.

'These last years have been nothing but a living nightmare. It has been torture,' the child's mother said in a victim personal statement. 'My heart aches every day and the pain is unbearable.

'His life has been stolen from him. He was just 10-weeks-old when he died.

'He has been robbed of a chance to grow up, have a childhood, go to school and university, have a first girlfriend, become a father and experience life itself.

'I have been robbed of the chance to mother him, care for him and love him.'

Carter initially denied being responsible for his son's death, but ultimately accepted the force he used resulted in the child's 'catastrophic injuries.' He was cleared of murder because the act was a 'momentary loss of control,' Bristol Crown Court (pictured) heard

Detective Chief Inspector Roger Doxsey, the senior investigating officer, said: 'This is a truly tragic case and our hearts go out to the young boy's mother and family.

'The force that Carter used, for whatever reason, was completely disproportionate and led to his catastrophic injuries.

'He refused to accept his role in what happened for more than two years, until faced with the overwhelming medical evidence, and other evidence gathered from witnesses and CCTV footage.

'It is of small comfort to the boy's family that they do not have to sit through a trial which would undoubtedly have caused them even more distress.

'They wanted Carter most of all to tell them what he did that day, and why he shook the boy with such force.

'He has not yet done so in any detail, but we hope that today is a key step towards him accepting responsibility for his actions, and the young life that he took away.'

Carter was was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison today.

The judge claimed was clear that he 'mourned his son genuinely' but claimed Carter did not show 'genuine remorse' because he initially lied about the incident.

He will serve two-thirds of his sentence in prison before being released on licence for the remainder of the sentence term.
Karl Stefanovic was visibly moved while discussing a groundbreaking new cancer treatment that hopes to cure or at least prolong the lives of every child in Australia with the disease.

Australia will be the first country in the world to offer the Zero Childhood Cancer Program to every person under 18 who is diagnosed with cancer.

About 1,000 children every year in Australia will be diagnosed with the disease, while three a week will sadly lose their lives.

The treatment works by analysing the genetic sequencing of a child's cancer. Scientists are then able to search a database of 120 drugs to find which would best target the specific gene mutation.

The Today Show host said the news of such a potentially life-saving treatment was giving him 'tingles' as he spoke to specialist paediatric oncologist Dr Geoff McCowage.

'This is such a wonderful thing to give those kids out there and their families some peace of mind in the most awful of circumstances,' he said.

Karl Stefanovic was visibly moved while discussing a groundbreaking new cancer treatment that hopes to cure or prolong the lives of every child in Australia with the disease

The treatment had previously just been limited to children suffering the worst forms of cancer, but by the end of the year everyone under 18 with the disease will be eligible - regardless of their age and type of cancer.

The work is being led by the Children's Cancer Institute and Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick.

Zero will be rolled out across all nine of Australia's children's hospitals by the end of the year.

HOW DOES IT WORK? The Zero Childhood Cancer Program works by analysing the genetic sequence of a child's cancer The cancer cells will be then screened across 120 drugs so researchers can find which drug will best treat the cancer Those drugs are then tested in a lab before being given to the patient Advertisement

In a clinical trial of 250 children, 70 per cent showed a complete or partial response to Zero, or had their disease stabilised.

'The old fashioned way (of treatment) was to take a sample of a cancer and look at it under a microscope and say ''OK this is bone cancer'', and then use some drugs from the 1980s that were pretty blunt instruments and caused all sorts of side effects and hope they worked,' Dr McCowage said on the breakfast program.

Zero will allow scientists to analyse the genes in the tumour, and identify the change in the DNA that caused the cancer.

'Then we can have a sense of why did that cell become malignant but more importantly, we can find DNA changes that now have a very modern, very specific drug to treat them.'

The oncologist said the modern treatment would target the cancer but not the rest of the body, with patients unlikely to lose their hair or suffer a drop in their blood count.

'We can legitimately expect that this is going to save lives in the future, this will become mainstream,' he said.

Australia will be the first country in the world to offer the Zero Childhood Cancer Program to every person under 18 who is diagnosed with cancer (stock image)

'It's just going to transform everything we do.'

Vanessa Tyrrell, a Program Leader at Zero Childhood Cancer said incredible results have already been seen from trials.

'We are seeing children alive today, who would not have survived without Zero Childhood Cancer,' she said.

The clinical trial opened in September, 2017, with more than 900 children having already been enrolled.
He was suspended from the page due to a video he put up

The business owner highlighting the spate of crime afflicting the town of Alice Springs through his Facebook page has been suspended from the social media platform for 'bullying and harassment'.

Darren Clarke, who operates the page Action for Alice 2020, discovered he had been banned on Tuesday morning after uploading a video of two teenage Aboriginal girls fighting the previous day.

He claims Facebook temporarily suspended his account over the video due to 'bullying and harassment'.

Mr Clarke was shocked by the suspension and slammed the social media giant of 'trying to shutdown the truth'.

Alice Springs business owner Darren Clarke (pictured) has been temporarily suspended from Facebook after publishing a video of two girls fighting

'This is just showing the problems we've got and it's still continuing, it's not going away,' he told former political advisor Peta Credlin on her Sky News Australia program.

'We're just showing the truth and we're just trying to help some kids here, we're trying to save some lives and change Indigenous lives here in the Northern Territory.'

Mr Clarke explained that the vision was 'tame' compared to other videos he had published previously.

He called on Facebook to create a foundation for Indigenous children instead of trying to shut down his account and divide the Alice Springs community.

'I put the challenge out to Facebook. You've got a lot of money guys, you've got a lot of power, if you want to shutdown the truth, shutdown a decent bloke and a decent town of people that are fighting to keep our community together,' he said.

'When I say a community - a black and white community that's what we aredon't try and separate us because that's not gonna work.'

He highlights crimes occurring in the central Australian town through videos and images sent to him by residents and fellow business owners
Bereaved family members bow in tribute to their loved ones who died in the Itaewon crowd disaster last October, at an unauthorized memorial in front of Seoul City Hall, Wednesday. Yonhap



Bereaved families, supporters rally in front of Seoul City Hall for second time



By Ko Dong-hwan



A memorial set up in front of Seoul City Hall without the city government's approval has survived past another deadline by the city for it to be taken down.



As the latest deadline of 1 p.m. Wednesday approached, hundreds of people gathered at the memorial for the victims of the lethal Itaewon crowd disaster which took at least 158 lives last October.



Bereaved families, lawmakers and civic groups supporting the families, reporters and YouTubers livestreaming the scene packed the memorial area. The bereaved group and their supporters held a relay of speeches at the site, intending to prevent the city from removing the memorial by force once the deadline passed.



Nearly an hour after the deadline, when all the speeches were finished, the crowd pronounced they have once again protected the memorial from the city government. Dozens of members of the bereaved group, who were sitting in front of the memorial throughout the entire filibuster-style rally, stood and bowed together to the reporters in front of them to express appreciation for their attendance.



It was the third postponement by the city government since the memorial was installed on Feb. 4. It was placed there during a march northbound toward Gwanghwamun Square, which started from the Noksapyeong area where another memorial has been set up. The action, which took the city government by surprise, happened the day before the 100-day anniversary of the tragedy that occurred on Oct. 29.



More than a dozen speakers took to the microphone in front of the memorial. They condemned Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon for disapproving the memorial and made assurances that the memorial will be protected at all costs.



"American philosopher Henry David Thoreau said that it is better to learn to respect justice than to respect laws," said one of the four speakers who said they had lost family members in the disaster, directing the quote at the Seoul mayor, President Yoon Suk-Yeol and Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min. "You are trying to make us look like lawbreakers and divide the nation by invoking laws and regulations."



The bereaved group criticized the mayor for adhering to the words of the president while disregarding those of the bereaved families. Another of the four, who identified himself is a public servant, said he didn't understand "why the bereaved group has to be involved in skirmishes with those who disagree with the memorial while the key government officials truly responsible for the disaster are seeing this ongoing dispute as nothing to do with them."





Bereaved families rally in front of an unauthorized memorial in front of Seoul City Hall, Wednesday, calling for the city government to stop threatening to remove the memorial. Newsis
Video has emerged of a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by bow and arrow-wielding rebels in the remote Papua region of Indonesia.

Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company Susu Air, was kidnapped last week by the separatist rebels, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway.

The group from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway in Paro in the remote Nduga district on February 7.

Now footage has been released by the rebels showing Mr Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by men who are armed with rifles, spears, bows and arrows.

Rebel leader Egianus Kogoya says the pilot, from Christchurch, will not be released until the Papua region is made independent from Indonesia.

But the Indonesian government is standing firm, saying Papua will 'forever remain a legitimate part' of Indonesia.

The West Papua rebel group behind the abduction of New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens (middle), released photos of the captured airman while requesting complete independence from Indonesia

Phillip Mehrtens was kidnapped shortly after touching down in Paro in the remote West Papuan province of Nguda

The separatist rebels from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway (pictured)

Mr Mehrtens had landed his plane, with five passengers on board, on a small runway in Paro and was scheduled to evacuate 15 construction workers building a health centre in the district after the separatist rebels threatened to kill them.

'Our plan to evacuate the workers angered the rebels, who responded by setting fire to the plane and seizing the pilot,' said Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge, who was one of the passengers. 'We deeply regret this incident.'

Flying is the only practical way of accessing many parts of the mountainous area.

The rebels released all five passengers because they are indigenous Papuans, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said earlier.

Sambom shared videos and photos on Tuesday that showed a group of gunmen setting fire to the plane on the runway.

Sitting in the plane's cockpit, leader Kogoya said he took the pilot hostage as part of their struggle 'to free Papua' from Indonesia.

Another video showed Mr Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by the heavily armed rebels.

In a third video, the pilot is ordered by the rebels to say: 'The Papuan military that has taken me captive to fight for Papuan independence, they ask for the Indonesian military to go home to Indonesia and if not, I will remain captive for my life.'

He added: 'Indonesia must recognise Papua is independent.'

'I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food or drinks,' rebel leader Kogoya said in the video with Mr Mehrtens standing next to him. 'He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground.'

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region, which is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

Chilling photographs have emerged of a New Zealand pilot who has been taken hostage by a heavily armed rebel group in the remote Papua region of Indonesia

Footage released by the West Papua Liberation Army shows Mr Mehrtens surrounded by men armed with guns, spears, bows and arrows while he was forced to make statements to camera

Rebel leader Kogaya is seen sitting outside the plane before setting it on fire

Sitting in the plane's cockpit, Kogoya said he took the pilot hostage as part of their struggle 'to free Papua' from Indonesia

Mr Mehrtens flew a single engine plane (allegedly pictured) to the Nguda region in order to remove 15 construction workers from the area after their lives were threatened by the rebels

What is the West Papua Liberation Army? The West Papua Liberation Army is the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Separatist rebels from the group have fought Indonesian control in the easternmost region of Papua since the early 1960s. The group, which has child soldiers among its ranks, employs guerrilla tactics to target and destroy industrial buildings as a rejection of Indonesian-led development. The Papuan fighters have never been well armed but have battled Indonesia since it took control of the mineral-rich region from the Dutch in 1962. Papuans, who had declared their independence the year before, see Indonesians as invaders who cemented control with a UN-sponsored sham referendum at the end of the 1960s. Advertisement

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Mohammad Mahfud said the government was making every effort to persuade the rebels to release Mr Mehrtens 'because the priority is the safety of the hostage.'

'Taking civilians hostage for any reason is unacceptable,' Mr Mahfud said in a video statement late Tuesday. He said persuasion is the best method to ensure hostage safety, but 'the government does not rule out other efforts.'

He emphasised the government's view that Papua is part of Indonesia.

'Papua will forever remain a legitimate part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,' Mr Mahfud said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday in a statement: 'We are aware of the photos and video circulating but won't be commenting further at this stage.'

Papua police chief Mathius Fakhiri told reporters in Jayapura, the provincial capital, that they are seeking to obtain the pilot's freedom by involving several community leaders, including tribal and church figures, to build communication and negotiate with the rebels.

Meanwhile, the president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, issued a statement on February 9 that laid out his demands.

'The ULMWP Executive reiterates and reassures the New Zealand government and the world that we are [using] a peaceful, diplomatic approach,' President Wenda wrote.

'Our roadmap is very clear: we are pursuing the unified West Papuan goal of national liberation peacefully, through diplomatic political mechanisms.'

To release Mr Mehrtens, the rebels are demanding the removal of Indonesian troops from West Papua, a UN investigation into alleged human rights violations, a referendum of independence and a cancellation of 'Special Autonomy'.

'The kidnap of a foreign pilot naturally brings West Papua to the attention of international media,' Mr Wenda continued.

'The international community must help to end the violence in West Papua by forcing Indonesia to come to the table and discuss a referendum, the only path to a peaceful resolution.

'We will peacefully continue our long fight for freedom, until the world finally hears our cry.

However, a spokesman for the Liberation Army has also issued a warning to other countries and areas, including Australia.

Video and images have since emerged showing Mr Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by a group of rebels

The president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda, sent his condolences to Mr Mehrtens' family for the troubles the abduction has caused them

New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens

'[The West Papuan Liberation Army] considers New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, America, Europe, all are responsible,' a statement from the Liberation Army's secretary, Sebby Sambom, reads.

'The US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has supported the Indonesian government, trained The Indonesian National Police, supplied weapons to kill us West Papuans from 1963 to today. They must be held accountable.'

The former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea, which is both ethnically and culturally distinct from Indonesia, has been in an insurgency against Indonesian security forces for decades.

The Nguda region was the scene of bloodshed in July last year when ten traders were killed by the Liberation Army, who they claim were spies for the Indonesian government.

In March of that same year rebel gunmen killed eight technicians repairing a remote telecommunications tower, while in 2018 at least 31 construction workers and a soldier were killed in one of the worst attacks in the province.

Mr Mehrtens worked for Susi Air after leaving flight school, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, before stints with Jetstar and Cathay Pacific subsidiary Cathay Dragon. He then returned to the Indonesian aviation company.

The 15 construction workers, who were rescued on February 8 by security forces, came from other Indonesian islands to build the health centre in Paro. They had taken refuge in a priest's house in the village for several days after rebels threatened to kill them.

Separatists consider civilian workers to be outsiders who sometimes spy for the Indonesian government.

Conflict in the region has risen in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.
Mitchell's family has accused the jail and the corrections officers of 'malicious abuse and mountains of deliberate indifference'

The family of a mentally ill man who died in police custody has filed a lawsuit alleging the man froze to death after being restrained in the jail's freezer

The family of a mentally ill man who died in police custody claims their loved one froze to death after being restrained and placed in a walk-in freezer for hours.

Anthony Mitchell's family has filed a lawsuit in Walker County, Alabama after the man died on January 26 - two weeks after he was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly threatening to harm himself and others.

'This is one of the most appalling cases of jail abuse the country has seen,' the 37-page federal lawsuit filed by the family alleges.

Shocking video of Mitchell being carried out of the jail on January 26 shows the man being dragged and placed into a patrol vehicle before he was later declared dead.

The video allegedly contradicts the sheriff's original statement that Mitchell was having a medical issue but had been 'alert and responsive' when he was taken to the hospital.

Anthony Mitchell, 33, who died in police custody in Walker County, Alabama on January 26. Mitchell's family alleges the law enforcement agency restrained the man and left him in a freezer or 'similar frigid environment,' resulting in him freezing to death

The complaint filed by the family alleges hospital staff at Walker Baptist Medical Center spent three hours attempting to resuscitate him before he was declared dead.

According to the physician's statements, the man's cause of death is believed to have been hypothermia.

The doctor also notes the puzzling nature of the death.

'I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degrees F, 22 degrees centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail,' the suit states.

'The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of death,' it continues.

Lawyers for the family had similar questions to the doctor, asking how he would have frozen inside the jail.

'How does a man literally freeze to death while incarcerated in a modern, climate-controlled jail, in the custody and care of corrections officers?' the lawyers asked.

DailyMail.com reached out to the Walker County Coroner's Office to confirm the man's cause of death but did not receive a response.

Lawyers for Mitchell's family say law enforcement originally said the man was alert and responsive when he was taken to the hospital. Video released seemingly contradicts that information

The video shows Mitchell being dragged and lifted into a patrol car before he was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead

The man's body appeared limp in video released by one local media outlet

In their suit, Mitchell's family claim he had been stripped naked and placed in a concrete isolation cell for the time he was there.

They also claim five hours went by between Mitchell being removed from the 'frigid environment' to him being taken to the hospital.

'The cell lacked a bed or other furnishing,' the suit states. '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.'

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is currently investigating the man's death.

Mitchell was initially arrested on January 13 after his family members had called police, reporting his erratic behavior.

When deputies arrived, they found Mitchell in the front yard and said he immediately pulled out a handgun and fired at least one shot at them.

The man ran off into nearby woods and was hiding in a shed when they tracked him down.

'This situation could have ended much differently if it weren't for the constant training of our department, incredible work by our dispatchers, assistance from other agencies, and the quick help of District Attorney Bill Adair's Office,' law enforcement said in a post on Facebook.

'Thankfully, the day ended with everyone safe,' the post continued.

Mitchell was booked into the Walker County Jail on charges of attempted murder.

This is a grab from a video inside the Walker County Jail, showing a naked inmate, purportedly Mitchell

Mitchell's family alleges he was kept naked and locked in a concrete cell while he was at the Walker County Jail for two weeks after his arrest

Photos and videos inside the lawsuit show a patient naked and surrounded by jail staff

On the day he was arrested, Mitchell was brought before a judge and was listed as 'unable to sign' paperwork, according to court records.

This is Anthony Mitchell in a photo from several years before his death

A family member said they had believed jail would be a safe place for the man.

'We knew he was in jail, and we thought that was the safest place for him at the time,' a family member said. 'But it turned out to be the worst place for him.'

Officials with the Walker County Sheriff's Office did not initially respond to questions about Mitchell's death, but after WIAT reported on his death in police custody, the sheriff's office released a statement about the situation. As in most Alabama counties, the local jail is operated by the sheriff's office.

In a statement after his death, the Walker County Sheriff's Office released a statement detailing the death of Mitchell in the law enforcement agency's custody.

'On Thursday, January 27th, an inmate in the Walker County Jail was provided a routine medical check by jail medical staff,' the statement begins.

'Medical staff determined the inmate needed to be transported to the hospital for further evaluation.

'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,' the statement ends.

Correctional officer, Karen Kelly, who is suing the Walker County Sheriff's Office after her job was terminated, claiming she was let go 'in retaliation' for sharing video of Anthony Mitchell

Protesters rally outside the Walker County Jail and Sheriff's Office in Jasper, Alabama, on Feb. 14, 2023

T.J. Armstrong, the public information officer for the sheriff's office, said last week that the department is not commenting on the situation at this time following the release of the video.

Officials with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency have not spoken out about the investigation at this time.

Karen Kelly, a correctional officer who had recorded some of the internal surveillance video showing Mitchell to be 'unconscious and nearly dead' subsequently had her job terminated by Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith.

She is now also suing the sheriff's office, claiming she shared the video to 'make sure that the truth of what happened to Mitchell would not go to his grave with him' but the sheriff's office 'retaliated and fired her.'

In her 20-page lawsuit, Kelly alleges that officials called her in as part of an investigation into a leaked video.

She admitted she had shared video of Mitchell with two people - another employee at Walker County Sheriff's Office and a second person who was 'also in law enforcement.'

Asked why she leaked the video to someone outside of the agency, Kelly responded by saying she was compelled to 'share the truth.'

On Tuesday, a group of protesters gathered outside the sheriff's office holding signs calling for justice over Mitchell's death, one reading: 'No more lies.'

Jon Goldfarb, a lawyer for Mitchell's family, said he believes the local law enforcement agency should release all relevant photos and videos pertaining to the case to be truly transparent.

'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.
A boy with special needs who was left heartbroken after his beloved assistance dog was denied entry to his new classroom will finally be reunited with his animal after the school announced a major backflip.

Logan Reese, 12, from Murray Bridge in south-east of Adelaide, has just started year seven and has a number of conditions including epilepsy, autism, cerebral palsy and an acquired brain injury.

He's rarely without his assistance dog Hunter, who has been his constant companion for the last six years.

The Labrador not only helps Logan build his independence and reduces his anxiety but is also trained to help keep him safe and help him whenever he has an epileptic seizure.

Logan's mum Murrianna said she was recently told by Murray Bridge High School that Hunter couldn't accompany her son in the classroom due to concerns about allergies and cultural needs of other students.

She was also told the school needed to get funding to pay for Hunter's handler.

A furious Ms Reese fought the ban which was overturned just hours after the story sparked national attention.

Logan Reese (right) can now return to the classroom with his constant companion Hunter (left)

'Hunter is really important to Logan as his support companion to help build his self esteem,' Ms Reese told Daily Mail Australia.

'If Logan has a seizure or start choking, he barks to let adults know that Logan needs urgent help.

'He also provides comfort and calms Logan in stressful and overwhelming situations and helps stabilise his ability.'

'In Logan's words, 'Hunter is my best friend.'

The school reversed its decision on Wednesday following a meeting with Ms Reese and representatives from the South Australian education department.

She looked at enrolling her son at a private school and considered home-schooling before his current school, which has 1,200 students, reversed its decision.

'Logan broke down in tears on Tuesday night as it was getting too hard for him,' Ms Reese said.

'He's now excited about going back.'

She plans to return to Logan's school on Thursday to help the dog acclimatise to the new environment.

Logan Reese is rarely without his constant companion, assistance dog Hunter by his side (pictured together)

Hunter has accompanied Logan inside numerous venues including shopping centres, cinemas, therapists' appointments, hospitals and Adelaide airport.

His mother referred to the Dog and Cat Management Act 1995 legislation, which states a person who is wholly or partially blind or deaf, or otherwise disabled, is entitled to be accompanied by an accredited assistance dog in a public place.

'The school's response didn't surprise me as I've tried to get him and Hunter into other schools in the past with similar responses,' Ms Reese said.

'But I didn't think it would be an issue as Logan was at his last primary school for three years, which had no issues with Hunter.'

'He actually became a great teaching and learning tool for the other students.'

Ms Reese earlier told Sunrise: 'The primary school principal has been helping us try to get Hunter over there, talking with them, so she doesn't see a problem with Hunter being there.'

Murray Bridge High School reversed its decision hours after the family appeared on Sunrise

Hunter (right) raise the alarm whenever Logan (left) suffers a seizure or starts choking

Ms Reese hopes sharing their ordeal to bring change for all families with special needs children who face similar hurdles with schools.

'We're willing to work with government departments if they stop putting road blocks in the way, she said.

"It would be great if we didn't have to fight so hard to get what our kids need.'

An education department spokesperson said they were pleased a positive outcome had been reached and had started recruiting for a dog handler to look after Hunter while Logan is learning.

'The school has been supporting Logan with a 1:1 student support officer and are pleased with how he has settled into high school,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'The dog will now start an orientation after school hours to familiarise him with the school site and dog training will also be provided to other staff as well.

'These instances can be complex, particularly at a school with 1200 students, so it does take time to ensure other students needs, for example allergies, are also met.

'Were really pleased to have worked with the family to identify a positive outcome for Logan and look forward to his continual success at Murray Bridge High School.'

Assistance dog Hunter rarely strays from Logan's side, even when he's in hospital

Daily Mail Australia also contacted the school for comment.

It's not the first time Logan's assistance dog has been denied entry.

In 2019, the Reese family booked a holiday at a holiday park in Adelaide - a place they had stayed at three times before.

Upon arrival with the assistance dog, the family were denied entry and forced to cancel their holiday due to the facility's 'no pets' policy.

The venue at the time claimed the dog's accreditation provided was expired and deemed not valid by staff.
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One of Australia's most lavish estates could soon become a giant marijuana farm after it goes under the hammer next weekend.

The sprawling Bellagio La Villa property in the Gold Coast hinterland, which would look right at home in a James Bond movie, is up for auction on February 25.

It is understood a large commercial medicinal cannabis operation is among the potential buyers for the 49-hectare property, with four bidders registered 10 days out from the auction.

One of Australia's most lavish estates could soon become a giant marijuana farm after it goes under the hammer next weekend

The centrepiece of Bellagio La Villa at Tallebudgera is an opulent mansion

An Australian pharmaceutical company with major interests in the emerging industry, which is forecast to generate $28billion in taxes over a decade for governments, reviewed the property and is expected to compete for it.

Bellagio La Villa comprises an opulent mansion, four other houses, stables and a large commercial chicken shed, which could be repurposed for agriculture.

It also has a freshwater dam and has a private pontoon on Tallebudgera Creek.

The property was listed at an optimistic $49million (on the basis of $1million per hectare) in 2022.

But that remains the most recent ballpark figure for buyers and agents.

Bellagio La Villa's mansion was envisioned by a team of designers for Coral Homes founders Paul and Viki Sweeney in 2008.

The palatial mansion has a heated indoor swimming pool with spa and sauna

Renowned architect Michael Witty drew up plans for Bellagio La Villa, in conjunction with landscaper Paul Bangay and interior designer Eleanor Davis, who is responsible for the baroque style

Renowned architect Michael Witty drew up plans, in conjunction with landscaper Paul Bangay and interior designer Eleanor Davis, to creates its ornate baroque style.

It has 10 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, polished marble floors, two contemporary kitchens, walk-in cool room, gym, heated indoor swimming pool with spa and sauna and five-car garage.

It is surrounded by manicured grounds, walkways, water features and an orchard.

The Sweeneys paid $8million to buy the original 17-hectare site in 2008 and a further $8million to build.

But it sold for a disappointing $7.2million in 2013 to billionaire developer Riyu Li.

Bellagio La Villa has several distinctive features such as a lavish dressing room

The grand staircase in the entrance of the mansion at Bellagio La Villa, which was listed last year for $49million

That was despite the Sweeneys acquiring additional land.

Mr Li also bought neighbouring properties, bringing the Bellagio La Villa site to its current 49 hectares.

He decided to put it on the market last year after Gold Coast City Council rejected his proposal for an eco-tourism development in Tallebudgera.

Amir Mian, of Amir Prestige Properties, said flat real estate markets in Melbourne and Sydney had 'a flow-on effect' to the Gold Coast.

'The luxury market has had a slowdown. There is no more fear of missing out on buyers.'

It is understood a large commercial medicinal cannabis operation is among the potential buyers for the 49-hectare property, which has a fresh water dam and river pontoon

The sprawling grounds of Bellagio La Villa at Tallebudgera in the Gold Coast hinterland

One type of buyer that is interested and has money to spend are Australian expats coming home from overseas after Covid, or planning to.

Mr Mian said he has spoken with Aussie expats in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa, Vietnam and New Zealand in recent weeks who want to snap up property on the Gold Coast.

He believes the region has fundamentals in place that will help it bounce back strongly.

'Migration out of Queensland remains the lowest of any state and migration into Queensland is still the highest.'
Witnesses have said he handed Baldwin the gun and told the actor it was 'cold'

An assistant director of Rust could testify against actor Alec Baldwin over an accidental shooting on the film's set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

New Mexico prosecutors have filed an amended witness list for a preliminary hearing in their manslaughter case against Baldwin, which includes assistant director David Halls.

Halls was present during the shooting in October 2021 and has been accused of telling Baldwin the gun was 'cold' - safe - an accusation he has denied. He agreed a plea deal with prosecutors in January which included a six-month suspended sentence and a fine.

His inclusion as a witness in the upcoming hearing comes as prosecutors asked Judge Mary Marlow Sommer for more time to respond to a litany of motions filed by Baldwin's defense.

Notably, Baldwin's attorney, Luke Nikas, said a firearm enhancement applied by prosecutors, which could increase his sentence from 18 months to five years, was not written into law at the time of the shooting and therefore invalid.

David Halls, assistant director of the movie Rust, will testify against actor Alec Baldwin over an accidental shooting on the film's set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Baldwin (pictured after the shooting) has insisted the involuntary manslaughter charges are inapplicable because he had not been acting negligently when Hutchins was accidentally shot

Prosecutors in January charged both Baldwin and set weapons supervisor Gutierrez-Reed for the fatal shooting of Hutchins on the set of Rust. Baldwin was both producing and starring in the film.

Baldwin has insisted the involuntary manslaughter charges are inapplicable because he had not been acting negligently when Hutchins was accidentally shot. He has also insisted he did not pull the trigger of the revolver that fired the bullet, and that he only pulled back its hammer.

The FBI has filed a report which claims he must have pulled the trigger for the gun to fire.

He and Gutierrez-Reed are facing a maximum of 18 months in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. If they're also convicted of the firearm enhancement on that charge, they'll face a mandatory five-year prison sentence.

Baldwin last week described the prosecutor's decision to apply the enhancement as an 'elementary legal error.'

'That version of the statute could not apply to conduct that occurred before it was enacted,' wrote the defense team, led by attorney Luke Nikas.

The earlier version of the statute, in effect between July 1, 2020, and May 17, 2022, was intended to punish the 'brandishing' of a gun. That was defined in the statute as 'displaying or making a firearm known to another person while the firearm is present on the person of the offending party with intent to intimidate or injure a person.'

Nikas argued that applying that retroactively was unconstitutional 'The prosecutors in this case have committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a statute that did not exist on the date of the accident,' he wrote in a motion to the court.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of Rust in October 2021

Halls signed a plea agreement for the negligent use of a deadly weapon which incurred six months of probation. He also agreed to pay a $500 fine, participate in a firearms safety class and complete 24 hours of community service

Previous witnesses have said that Halls handed Baldwin the gun and that he declared it a 'cold gun' despite the presence of live ammo in the chamber, according to a search warrant.

In a December deposition with the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, Halls denied giving Baldwin the gun, saying he gave it to Gutierrez-Reed. He also accused Gutierrez-Reed of declaring 'cold gun.'

He has signed a plea agreement for the negligent use of a deadly weapon which incurred six months of probation. He also agreed to pay a $500 fine, participate in a firearms safety class and complete 24 hours of community service.

Carmack-Altwies, the lead prosecutor in the case said in an interview with the LA Times in January that the deal was offered to Halls, in part, 'based on his cooperation'.

'Dave Halls approached us and was cooperative with our inquiry, with our investigation,' she said. 'He will be testifying or cooperating in the prosecution.'

However Halls's attorney, Lisa Torraco, suggested evidence he gives could be in either party's favor.

'Dave has agreed that he will testify, and that he will testify truthfully,' Torraco told the Times. 'Maybe he will testify for the defense. Maybe his testimony will be more helpful to Mr. Baldwin.'

Producer and actor Baldwin fired the prop gun (pictured) that killed one crew member and injured another on the set of the movie 'Rust' in New Mexico

Baldwin has openly defied pulling the trigger, but this contradicted an FBI analysis of the vintage Colt handgun that fired the fatal shot

The New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau launched a lawsuit against Rust's producers following the shooting.

Halls told the deposition that he had no 'recollection' of saying 'cold gun' adding, 'I have recollections of Hannah saying it.'

Gutierrez-Reed has previously told investigators that she gave the gun to Halls not knowing it contained a live round. She said she never said 'cold gun' on set.

She told the deposition: 'I don't like the term "cold gun." I know it got thrown around a lot on the set. That was mostly Dave's terminology.'
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has claimed in a bombshell interview that her comments about transgender people have been 'profoundly' misunderstood - two years after she liked a tweet that referred to transgender women as 'men in dresses.'

Rowling, 57, made the comments in the yet-to-be released podcast called The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling - a self-professed 'audio documentary' that will see the British writer address the backlash she's faced since the summer of 2020.

Hosted by political activist and journalist Megan Phelps-Roper, the audio essay features Rowling speaking at length about the controversies surrounding her - from book bans to fans swearing off her books entirely.

In a trailer for the new podcast, Rowling - speaking with Phelps-Roper at her $2.8million Edinburgh mansion - is heard insisting she never intended to offend anyone with her comments about transgender people, including her June 10 2020 essay in which the author expressed 'deep concerns' about the consequences of trans activism.

'I never set out to upset anyone,' Rowling can be heard saying in the brief snippet about the backlash she faced since that essay and a subsequent series of posts to social media.

The 57-year-old author made the comments in the yet-to-be released podcast called The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling - a self-professed ' audio documentary' that will see the British writer address the backlash she's faced since the summer of 2020

The series is hosted by Christian political activist Megan Phelps-Roper, who grew up in Kansas with a family that were members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church

'However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,' she adds.

Speaking about the fans who have accused Rowling of 'ruining her legacy,' the author said: 'You could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.'

Such criticism, Rowling remarks, 'has interested [her] in recent years.'

'You've ruined your legacy. Oh, you could have been beloved forever, but you chose to say this,' the writer said of the various barbs she has since been subjected to.

The series is hosted by Phelps-Roper, whose grandfather started the infamous Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas and was a member of the church until 2012.

Also a writer for the Free Press, Phelps-Roper writes on her website that 'left a life of religious extremism in 2012' to pursue her current career as a political podcaster and free-thinking journalist.

The Free Press, a relatively new, quasi-conservative media publication that surfaced on Substack last year, was founded by ex New York Time op-ed writer Bari Weiss, who resigned from the paper in 2020 after clashing with her superiors.

In a letter that charged the Times with colluding with social media giants such as Twitter in alleged efforts to suppress other stories, Weiss said she was subjected to unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment, and constructive discharge' during her three years as an opinion writer.

The once beloved author endured a storm of protest since expressing 'deep concerns' about transgender activism in an essay in June 2020 in which she also described being a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault

Previously employed at the Wall Street Journal, Weiss was originally hired by the Times as part of an effort to broaden the paper's notoriously progressive ideological range, following the inauguration of President Trump.

Her resignation drew considerable news coverage, with many accusing the Times of succumbing to the whims of rapidly growing 'woke' movement.

In the letter, Phelps-Roper - who calls Rowling 'the most successful author in the history of publishing' in an article advertising her new series - wrote: 'Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.'

Rowling sparked controversy with series of comments in June 2020 that began with an essay in which the author expressed 'deep concerns' of the bourgeoning transgender movement

She added of allegations that the Times and other paper colluded with Twitter to get selective news coverage: 'Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times, but Twitter has become its ultimate editor.'

The later quickly made headlines, and was praised by prominent members of the GOP including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Kelly Loeffler.

Donald Trump Jr., political commentator Ben Shapiro, Andrew Yang and political commentator Bill Maher were among other notable figures to hail her actions as brave.

The author has since been subjected to rampant criticism on social media - something she will address in the upcoming interview

Her newest project will feature interviews with Rowling conducted at her Edinburgh home, while looking at 'some of the most contentious conflicts of our time through the life and career of the world's most successful author.'

Rowling, a once beloved author who rose from homelessness to becoming one of the most celebrated children's writers of all-time, endured a storm of protest since expressing 'deep concerns' about transgender activism in an essay in June 2020 in which she also described being a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Those criticizing her included movie stars she helped make famous - with the controversy also spurring headlines such as 'Bonfire of JK Rowling'.

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast comes from the independent media company The Free Press, is set to premiere February 21.
A father has been hit with a $400 fine and three demerit points after his wife slightly adjusted her seatbelt to pass her kids some food in the back of their car.

Maria was sitting in the front passenger seat while her husband Peter drove her and their two kids Remy, 5, and Mila, 2, down the Western Freeway in Brisbane in March last year.

They were heading on a family weekend away when the kids started fussing because they were hungry.

Maria handed the children the food but was unaware she'd slightly adjusted her seatbelt so it sat underneath her left arm.

What Maria didn't realise was she had moved the seatbelt at the exact moment her husband Peter was driving beneath a traffic camera - that picked up on the belt not being in its perfect place.

Maria was sitting in the front passenger seat while her husband Peter drove her and their two kids Remy, 5, and Mila, 2, down the Western Freeway in Brisbane in March last year

A month later Peter received the fine and points with the reason 'wearing a seatbelt incorrectly' - a fine his wife initially thought was a mistake.

'I kept looking at it and it took me a while to realise just how I was wearing my seatbelt incorrectly,' she told Kidspot.

'As I turned around, the seatbelt must have gone under my left arm and it was possibly left that way for a couple of minutes while I sorted the kids out, then I put it back normally.'

The mother guessed she'd done that before and said it was a 'very easy mistake' to make but she and her husband had no idea such an infringement even existed.

'I'm not opposed to this type of fine existing, and understand wearing a seatbelt that way is unsafe, but I just think the cost is disproportionate to an insubstantial offence,' Maria said.

While annoyed at the fine, Maria was lucky her tiny mistake hadn't come a few months later.

The Queensland government imposed a penalty of $1,078 and four demerit points as of July last year for anyone caught not wearing their seatbelt or wearing it incorrectly.

In a different case a driver was fined after the front-seat passenger was caught holding a child on their lap (pictured)

Meanwhile, some 335 fines handed out to Queensland drivers over seatbelt infringements have been withdrawn and torn up since December 2 while another 69 are still before the courts.

A Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said an infringement notice for not wearing a seatbelt could be discontinued for several reasons  primarily when additional information or evidence was put forward.

This could include medical certificates relating to the motorist's ability to wear a properly adjusted seatbelt, or further information about the type of seatbelts in the vehicle.

It comes after one Victorian driver revealed the clever way he managed to get out of paying his speeding fine.

Adam Metwally said he was driving 68km/h in a 60km/h zone when he was issued a fine by police in Victoria.

The driver (pictured) revealed how he got out of his $250 speeding fine after going 68km/h in a 60km/h zone

In a TikTok where he gave a step-by-step on how to avoid paying the fine, he tells fellow drivers to go to the official Fines Victoria website and click on the 'request-a-review' page.

'Put in your notice, scroll down to official warnings, click [on the hyperlink] and if the speed is less than 10km/h you can argue the following points: exceptional circumstances, extenuating circumstances or good driving record.'

'In my case I did good driving record, because, you know, I'm an angel', he joked.

Mr Metwally then told viewers to click two boxes under a subheading reading 'more information' and then request a review.

He then shared a copy of the message he wrote as a part of his request.

'Here's what I wrote. And that's what got me out of a $250 speeding fine,' he said.
Erin Brockovich has urged those living near the Ohio site where a train carrying toxic waste derailed two weeks ago to prioritize their own safety, telling them to be skeptical of EPA assurances that the site is safe.

Brockovich, an environmental lawyer and consultant, whose work battling Pacific Gas & Electric was turned into the 2000 film starring Julia Roberts, said she was deeply concerned about the reports emerging from East Palestine.

'After 30 years of what I've been through, and what this community is going through - come on,' she said, when asked if she believed EPA statements claiming the site was safe.

'It's vinyl chloride, it's in the air, the fish are dying.

'Does that give you comfort that maybe I should be in this area? Probably not.'

Erin Brockovich told NewsNation on Tuesday that those living near the Ohio train wreck should take care of themselves as a priority, and not trust government assurances

Fish are seen washed up on the shore near the site of the February 3 crash

Brockovich, 62, told NewsNation that those living near the site needed to take care of themselves, and trust their gut instincts.

She also stressed the importance of recording what they saw and felt.

'I need the community to act for themselves,' she told the network.

'If you feel unsafe, then please - get out of harm's way. If you feel unsafe, stay sheltered in place. If you're questioning if it's all clear, and you think it isn't, listen to that voice.

'Document what's happening to your own health. Document or videotape the fish that are dying, as you move about your community.

'I think it will be critical.'

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

Brockovich said people in the local community could not rely on the government to tell them what to do and how to act.

She said they likely were yet to understand the full extent of the damage.

'You will have to protect and defend yourself at this moment because I don't think all the answers are there,' she said.

'They will be. But they're not.

'So, for the moment, please, use your own instincts: keep yourself safe, ask questions, if you're uncertain get to safety, and if you see something, say something, and document it.'

On Tuesday, the governor of Pennsylvania - where the train was heading, having departed Madison, Illinois - wrote to the operators of the train to demand answers.

Josh Shapiro told Norfolk Southern the company 'can be assured that PA will hold [it] accountable for any and all impacts to our Commonwealth.'

The train derailed just over the state line.

Brockovich said that people had been flooding her office with calls, but as yet she had been unable to find a legal firm willing to investigate.

'I don't know why. It could be a whole host of reasons,' she said.

'My guess would be that there's no affirmative answer yet. We know it's vinyl chloride. What the levels are, the EPA is saying everything is safe.

'So they may just be following the safe thing to do until we know.'
The latest in a long-running series of bitter disputes has seen residents on an island paradise lose their electricity, which they say will put elderly and disabled people in distress.

'Eco' viillage Couran Cove on South Stradbroke Island, near the Gold Coast in south-east Queensland, was cut off from electricity from 10am on Wednesday with a service provider claiming they are owed $12million.

The village is a short distance from a mix of residential, holiday home and guest accommodation managed by the Couran Cove Island Resort.

Residents of a secluded eco-friendly village on South Stradbroke Island have been cut off from power

The villagers say they pay about $10,000 to a body corporate every year, with the utilities being levied out of that.

Property owners Karen Angel and husband Mick told the ABC that they were being treated like pawns in a game between a creditor and debtor.

They said that without basic utilities, their properties would become unliveable, leaving people with no place to go amid Australia's rental shortage crisis.

The eco village residents have long been in dispute over utility bills with management of the island's main resort and various body corporates

'There are lots of elderly, there are disabled people, there are sick people, so you know, it's a real concern about where they're going to go and what they're going to do,' Ms Angel said.

'One person said, you know, maybe she's going to be living in a tent somewhere.

'That's the uncertainty of what they're putting people through.'

A Couran Cove Resort spokesperson denied the situation was as drastic as it was being portrayed and was being '100 per cent' exaggerated.

The spokesperson laughed at the suggestion people would be forced to live in tents when they still had their lodges with running water and gas.

Residents of the eco village, which include elderly and disabled people, say they might be forced out of their homes

She said the loss of electricity was simply a matter of the village's body corporate not paying its bill.

'The body corporate lodges have been paid off, the body corporate studios have been paid off but the body corporate ecos haven't paid off,' she said.

South Stradbroke Island boasts near deserted beaches and also plenty of bush reservation areas

An earlier dispute about unpaid gas bills led to the village avoiding disconnection by getting bottled gas in early 2022.

At the time Channel Nine reported there were five body corporates involved on the island and court disputes over millions in unpaid levies.

The Couran Cove Resort spokesperson could not say how many permanent residents there were in the eco village.

There were 142 people living on the island in 160 private dwellings, according to 2021 Census figures.

On its website Couran Cove Resort boasts that it offers 'peaceful seclusion just a 30-minute ferry ride from the heart of the Gold Coast'.

'Just imagine waking up each morning to the gentle sound of nature, the call of native birds, the whisper of the breeze through abundant Banksia, secluded rainforests and the hushed roll of distant surf!' the website suggests.
The government has been advised to bolster naval fleet

The Albanese government has been urged to bolster the country's defence capabilities in anticipation of a potential war with China following a major review.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles were handed the Defence Strategic Review report by former Defence Chief Angus Houston on Tuesday.

The review, which was completed by Mr Houston and a former defence minister Stephen Smith, was conducted over a period of six months and looked into equipping Australia's military for the next decade and beyond.

It recommended the government expand the military's 'long-range strike capabilities', acquire killer drones and bolster naval firepower with new warships, as reported in The Australian.

The Albanese government has been handed the final report from the Defence Strategic Review (pictured, former defence chief Angus Houston, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles)

It reportedly calls on the government to acquire 'long-range and unmanned weapons platforms' as well as six new warships equipped with guided missiles, at least three air warfare destroyers and brand new submarines.

Mr Albanese said the review would help prepare the nation's defence force for the future.

'This is about preparing Australia for the challenging strategic circumstances that we face,' he said.

'We want to make sure our defence assets are fit for purpose and deliver the greatest return on investment.'

Mr Marles added that the review was the 'the single most important re-evaluation of Australia's strategic posture in the past 35 years'.

'The DSR is an ambitious and extensive examination of our strategic circumstances and will underpin defence policy for decades to come,' he said.

'Australia must be resolute in its responsibility to safeguard our region and keep adversaries further from our shores.'

Mr Marles claimed the country was now facing the 'most complex strategic landscape' since the second world war.

It's understood the report recommends the government further the military's 'long-range strike capabilities' and bolster naval firepower with new warships (pictured, HMAS Sydney)

Mr Houston, upon handing the report over to Mr Albanese and Mr Marles, commented that the Defence Strategic Review was the most significant review he had worked on.

'Six years as CDF (Chief of Defence Force) and four years as Chief of Air Force before that, but I think this is the most important work I have been involved with,' he said.

The review received more than 360 public submissions and the panel met with 150 experts across academia, industry and defence.

The report is expected to 'identify and prioritise the estate, infrastructure, disposition, logistics and security investments' required by the ADF.

It will be carefully reviewed by the government over the coming weeks.




A disability rights advocacy group said Wednesday it will file a petition with U.N. special rapporteurs, claiming police used force to stop activists when they tried to board subway trains last month as part of a protest demanding greater rights of the disabled.







The Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) has been staging subway-riding protests at major stations in Seoul, demanding an increased government budget to protect the rights of people with disabilities.







Wheelchair-bound activists have repeatedly boarded and disembarked trains, disrupting metro services during the morning rush hour.







SADD claimed that police and Seoul Metro, the operator of subway services in Seoul, stopped activists whey they tried to board subway trains at Samgakji Station in early January as part of the group's campaign.







It claimed police and Seoul Metro intentionally disrupted the activists' protest speeches by drowning them out with warnings broadcasted through loudspeakers.







SADD said it will submit petitions online to U.N. special rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and for human rights defenders to enlist their help.







Once the petitions are filed, the U.N. officials will review them in accordance with relevant proceedings. If the case is judged serious, they will check with the Korea government and issue an official letter asking it to comply with international human rights standards, a lawyer said. (Yonhap)


The mother of Australian teenage rap sensation The Kid Laroi has had a charge of fraudulently using a credit card to pay for lip filler treatment at a Sydney cosmetic clinic withdrawn.

Sloane Howard, whose son's real name is Charlton Howard, had pleaded not guilty to one count of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The 51-year-old did not appear in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday when the prosecution withdrew the charge but was represented by lawyer Chris Watson.

Ms Howard was also not present on July 11 last year when she was convicted in her absence of the same charge.

The next day Ms Howard sought to have that verdict vacated with an annulment application which was successful and her not guilty plea was restored.

Sloane Howard, the mother of teenage rap sensation The Kid Laroi, has had a charge of credit card fraud withdrawn. She had been accused of using someone else's details to spend $849 at a Sydney cosmetic clinic. Mother and son are pictured

After returning to Australia from Los Angeles in May last year to tour with her son, Ms Howard attended a police station in central Sydney where she was charged with fraud. The Kid Laroi is pictured with girlfriend Katarina Deme

Police originally alleged Ms Howard used the credit card details of a John Keith to pay for a lip filler treatment worth $849 at the Laser Clinics outlet at Marrickville Metro shopping centre on August 8, 2018.

Magistrate Susan McIntyre had found the offence proven, fined Ms Howard $1,000 and ordered her to pay $849 in compensation to Laser Clinic Australia.

The case was listed for hearing on Wednesday and no explanation was given for the charge being withdrawn.

Mother and son returned triumphantly to Australia in late May last year for the local leg of a world tour which was interrupted by Ms Howard facing the old fraud charge.

Police had alleged 51-year-old Ms Howard used the credit card details of a John Keith to pay for cosmetic services worth $849 from Laser Clinics Australia at Marrickville Metro Shopping Centre (above) on August 8, 2018

The Kid Laroi - who takes his name from his Indigenous Kamilaroi ancestry - owes much of his success to Ms Howard, whose musical tastes shaped her son's and who closely manages his affairs.

On Mother's Day in 2020, he paid tribute to her as 'the strongest woman I know'.

'I've seen you literally put your own life on the line to make sure I always had the best, even in the worst [times].'

The Kid Laroi has previously discussed the lengths his mother went to in supporting him and his younger brother Austin after her separation in 2007 from her husband, music producer Nick Howard.

After his parents parted ways Ms Howard took her sons to Broken Hill in far western New South Wales where she set up a talent agency before returning to Sydney about 2017.

The Kid Laroi has spoken at length about his time in public housing and how his family was evicted from one block of units.

Since the Aria-winner broke through to global superstardom in 2020, his mother and Austin have lived in Los Angeles with him.

The now 19-year-old has gone on to record duets with Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber and recently signed with Bieber's manager Scooter Braun.
Almost exactly three months after former President Donald Trump said he would seek the White House again, his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced she would challenge him for the nomination.

Haley stepped out on the campaign trail officially Wednesday morning with an address from downtown Charleston, before heading to New Hampshire to speak to potential Republican primary voters Thursday and Friday.

And then on Thursday, South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott will hold his own event in Charleston, before heading to Iowa, the state that will hold the first Republican caucus in early 2024.

Additionally, dark horse hopeful Steve Laffey - the former Cranston, Rhode Island, mayor and a businessman - has announced his intentions to run.

DailyMail.com looks at the strengths and challenges of 12 Republicans who are likeliest to challenge Trump and Haley, and asks what are their chances - realistically - of winning the ticket and the White House.

After three months of having no competition in the 2024 Republican field, former President Donald Trump finally has some rivals, with a number of other GOP politicians eying the race

Tim Scott: The black South Carolina Republican who has made himself a key figure in Congress

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is the only black Republican in Congress' upper chamber, and is known for reaching across the aisle on racially-charged issues such as police reform.

South Carolina GOP Senator Tim Scott is the only black Republican in the Senate, but said this next six-year term will be his last

He said this term will be his last in the Senate and has made it apparent in recent days he's testing the presidential waters.

There's no greater clue that a politician wants the White House than booking trips to early primary states.

After Haley said she would be making an announcement in Charleston on February 15, Scott said he was launching a listening tour focused on 'Faith in America' and will appear in Charleston a day after Haley.

On Monday, Politico reported that Scott will participate in a presidential forum alongside Haley in South Carolina next month as well.

STRENGTHS: Remarking on how his grandfather had voted for President Barack Obama in 2012, the senator said: 'I wish he had lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected president of the United States.

'But this time let it be a Republican,' he said, according to USA Today.

He's known on Capitol Hill as a strong negotiator and was a leading force in promoting the law-and-order agenda in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.

CHALLENGES: Name recognition and feasibility. Political consultants told New York Magazine that Scott could 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.'

TRUMP-O-METER: Scott is highly religious and considered reasonable by Republicans and Democrats.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but a possible contender for a Cabinet position.

Mike Pence: Former VP who has distanced himself from Trump and said there were 'better choices' for 2024

Mike Pence said during an interview on ABC News on Monday night that he was giving a 2024 bid 'prayerful consideration'

Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, told ABC News on the eve of Trump's announcement that there were 'better choices' for president and he was giving his own White House bid 'prayer consideration.'

But he demurred when asked about his odds of beating Trump in a primary, emphasizing that it would be up to the voters.

Still, Pence has dropped numerous hints that he's surveying the 2024 field.

Pence blasted Trump for his conduct on January 6, calling the angry tweets he published while his supporters were storming the US Capitol 'reckless.'

Asked whether he'd support Trump in 2024 during a speech at Georgetown University last month, Pence said: 'There might be somebody else I'd prefer more.'

STRENGTHS: Exceptional name recognition - although for a variety of reasons. Latest AP polls show that GOP voters know who Pence is but not everyone is a fan after he stood up to Trump on January 6, 2021. The former vice president defied Trump by certifying the Electoral College vote and calling the insurrection 'un-American'.

However, like Scott, Pence is also religious and a strong supporter of pro-life legislation and policies.

CHALLENGES: The biggest challenges for the former Vice President are the legal ones including a subpoena issued by the January 6 special counsel about Trump's involvement in the Capitol riot.

Like President Biden, classified documents were found in his Indiana home.

TRUMP-O-METER: Pence is the yang to Trump's yin, meaning he's subdued and thoughtful.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but could poach some evangelical votes from Scott.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide, is widely seen as a potential 2024 frontrunner

Ron DeSantis: The Republicans' rising star after his emphatic Florida win - who is already in a war of words with Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cruised to a commanding victory in the November midterms, beating the state's former governor and Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist by about 20 points.

Overall, his state of Florida saw Republicans over-perform compared to the rest of the country - and some pundits are crediting DeSantis' influence.

DeSantis has embraced Trump's 'America First,' combative style of politics that's seen him, and his deputies, create headlines for 'anti-woke' clashes with the Biden administration, LGBTQ activists and the press.

STRENGTHS: For starters, DeSantis is less disliked than Biden and Trump and more popular than both in key states including Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

The Florida governor performs better against Biden than Trump among older voters  an important constituency in the GOP's coalition. He also performs better against Trump among Biden's 2020 voters, and has a larger advantage than Trump among people who voted for a Republican candidate in the 2022 midterm elections  suggesting energy among core base voters who were willing to show up in an off-year election.

CHALLENGES: For now, DeSantis is the leader of the pack, but we've seen this before and early leads often disappear in a blink of an eye.

We still don't know his views on Ukraine and on the highly controversial topics of Social Security and Medicare, programs that both Biden and Trump have insisted GOP protect. DeSantis has supported privatization, which will hurt him with older voters.

TRUMP-O-METER: The Florida Governor is politically astute enough to thread the needle so as not to repel moderates and independents while still appealing to MAGA base. Unlike Trump, he doesn't take the bait.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Although DeSantis hasn't officially put his hat into the ring, he's currently the one to beat.

Another former Trump Cabinet official, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is also reportedly considering a run

Mike Pompeo: Trump Cabinet official and foreign policy heavyweight who has defended his old boss... until recently

Another former Trump Cabinet official, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, also appears to be putting the feelers out for his own presidential bid.

He's long avoided weighing in on Trump personally and has defended his White House record whenever asked by the press, but tweets fired off by Pompeo after the midterms appear to be thinly veiled criticisms of his old boss.

'Conservatives are elected when we deliver. Not when we just rail on social media. That's how we can win. We fight for families and a strong America,' Pompeo wrote on November 10, two days after a slew of Trump-endorsed midterm candidates lost key races.

STRENGTHS: As former Secretary of State, Pompeo leverages his extensive foreign policy expertise especially as Ukraine, Russia, and China continue to be hot geo-political issues. In short: the more important national security is in the news cycle, the better his odds are.

The former congressman and CIA Director told audiences how he pines to be back in government, according to NBC. 'I miss every single minute of it,' he said last month.

CHALLENGES: Pompeo's relationship with Trump is strong and those close to him say he's leaning towards not running if Trump is in the race. But that's never stopped those with political aspirations before.

TRUMP-O-METER: Pompeo is one of the very few that never fell out of the good graces of Trump. He knows how to finesse the good, the bad, and the ugly - personalities, that is.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: It all depends on national security concerns.

Liz Cheney: The Republican outcast from a political dynasty who could win voters from both sides of the aisle

Former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney left Congress in January after being walloped by Republican challenger Harriet Hageman in her district's August GOP primary.

Now she has nothing to do but plot a political comeback.

The conservative daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has earned bipartisan accolades for her vocal criticism of Trump and efforts to hold him to account as vice chair of the January 6 select committee.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is also a possibility, but it's unclear if she could pass a hyper-partisan GOP primary race

Cheney has not ruled out a 2024 bid when asked in multiple interviews, but she made one thing certain at The Texas Tribune Festival last year - that if Trump were the party nominee, she would leave the Republican Party.

And in that case, she could mount a third-party presidential bid and potentially play spoiler for her party.

STRENGTHS: Cheney is often described as a neoconservative, who has focused on national security, and support for the US military. Known for being fiscally and socially conservative.

CHALLENGES: Detractors of Liz Cheney including Trump, have labeled her a 'RINO'  Republican in name only  but until January 6, 2021, she was the third ranking GOP House member.

TRUMP-O-METER: Cheney has made it known that she will ensure Trump will never return to the White House as president and was vice chair of the January 6 committee.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Slim to none but that doesn't mean she won't cause some mischief.

The congresswoman's father is former vice president Dick Cheney

Larry Hogan: Trump's 'RINO' nemesis who has frequently criticized his leadership

Maryland's term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has been a frequent critic of Trump's since the former president left office last year.

The criticism has grown sharper against the backdrop of suggestions that Hogan could run for president himself, after months of advocating for 'commonsense conservative' leadership.

Maryland's term-limited governor, Larry Hogan, has not shied away from criticizing Trump and said his own 2024 bid is up in the air

He actively acted against Trump-backed Republican Dan Cox's campaign for Maryland governor while posing for pictures with Wes Moore, the Democrat who has since been sworn-in.

Hogan blamed Trump for the party's losses in 2018, 2020 and 2022 and said continuing to follow him as leader is 'the definition of insanity' in an interview with CNN in the run-up to the ex-president's November announcement.

'Donald Trump kept saying, 'We're going to be winning so much, we will get tired of winning.' I'm tired of losing. I mean, that's all he's done,' he said.

STRENGTHS: Hogan is known for his direct style and willingness to cross the aisle - a double-edged sword in the battle for the Republican ticket for the 2024 White House.

CHALLENGES: Remember that double-edged sword? Being a moderate and a 'never-Trumper' is a hard sell to voters who are more polarized than ever. The former Maryland governor avoids commenting on social issues, was a strong proponent to stop the spread of COVID and known for telling residents to 'wear the damn mask.'

TRUMP-O-METER: Hogan is an ardent and active critic of Trump.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Very low but could help other candidates glean moderate and independent voters.

Glenn Youngkin: The Republican governor who burst onto the scene with his victory in Virginia - while distancing himself from Trump

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made a splash on the political scene in 2021 when he scored an upset victory against Virginia Democratic powerhouse Terry McAuliffe to win the Commonwealth's governor's mansion.

He's carefully toed the line between both factions of the GOP, appearing with and promoting Donald Trump-backed election deniers like Kari Lake while largely avoiding the former president on his own campaign trail.

After Youngkin refused to rule out a potential presidential bid in 2024, Trump launched a racially tinged attack against him on Truth Social.

'Young Kin (now that's an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn't it?) in Virginia couldn't have won without me. I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him - or he couldn't have come close to winning. But he knows that, and admits it. Besides, having a hard time with the Dems in Virginia - But he'll get it done!' Trump wrote.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, though a relative political newcomer, is on establishment Republicans' radar as a conservative leader

STRENGTHS: Like Trump, the Virginia governor thrives on being an outsider but knows not to campaign with the former president while catering to election deniers.

CHALLENGES: Youngkin lacks national name recognition, meaning his polling numbers are decidedly low. But he's been considered a leading GOP contender since 2021 when he flipped the Commonwealth from Democratic to Republican.

TRUMP-O-METER: He's closely aligned with Trump's vision for America.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but a run for the 2024 GOP ticket would boost his bonafides across the US.

Chris Sununu: The popular New Hampshire governor from a GOP political dynasty who called Trump 'crazy' but now says it was a joke

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is testing the presidential waters but it's unclear how far he'll wade in.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has launched a political committee that will allow him to raise unlimited fund should he decide to run

Earlier this month, Sununu launched the 'Live Free or Die' committee, a 501(c)4 that allows him to raise unlimited funds, usually an early sign a politician is readying a bid.

He also said he'd support Trump if he were the nominee, though said he didn't believe the ex-president would win the nomination again.

STRENGTHS: Sununu brands himself as more sensible than the anti-'woke' DeSantis and didn't skip President Joe Biden's invitation to appear with him at the White House last week as part of the National Governors Association meeting.

CHALLENGES: He tried to make peace with the MAGA wing of his party, saying on CNN last week that it was merely a 'funny joke' when he called Trump 'f***ing crazy' at Washington's white-tie Gridiron dinner last year.

'I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution, but I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out,' Sununu also told the crowd about the ex-president.

TRUMP-O-METER: Sununu is the opposite of Trump: levelheaded, moderate and has a sense of humor.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but potential Cabinet member

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu seems to be positioning himself for something. He's made amends with the MAGA side of the party, while keeping moderates in the fold by not snubbing President Joe Biden and taking on Gov. Ron DeSantis' anti-'woke' campaign

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Asa Hutchinson: The former Arkansas governor who's been open about launching a 2024 run

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson hasn't been shy about his presidential ambitions.

As Haley announced her presidential bid Tuesday, Hutchinson said he was headed back to Iowa Wednesday, as Republicans have maintained the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

'Iowans set the tone in our electoral process and their voice is one that anyone contemplating higher office should not only seek out, but carefully listen to,' Hutchinson said on Fox News.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has openly said he's interested in running for president in 2024 and has been making trips to Iowa

Hutchinson, 72, has tried to characterize himself as a thought leader of the party, hosting a mix of Republicans to Arkansas in October for 'America Leads: An Ideas Summit.'

Asked if he was worried that a crowded GOP presidential field could help Trump win the nomination again, Hutchinson said no.

'I think it will be much more methodical this cycle than what we've seen in previous years,' he replied. 'And I think that competition is good and healthy.'

STRENGTHS: Asa Hutchinson, who served eight years as the governor of Arkansas, is known for being fair and reasonable on both sides of the aisle. Earlier this month, he told CBS News that he plans to decide on his presidential bid by April.

CHALLENGES: At 72 years of age, the GOP will need to decide if they want a generational change or institutional knowledge. If it's the former, he's not a contender.

TRUMP-O-METER: As a vocal critic of Trump, he hasn't been shy about criticizing the former president. 'I do believe that he disqualified himself and should not serve our country again as a result of what happened.'

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Slim but unwise to underestimate the former governor of Arkansas.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he wasn't worried that a crowded field would lead to another nomination of former President Donald Trump

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Greg Abbott: The Texas governor who easily beat Democrat darling Beto O'Rourke - but would he bite the hand who endorsed him?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has left the door open for a 2024 bid, but he's also suggested a run for the White House next year isn't his top priority - and thus has not attracted Trump's ire.

He was asked by Fox News in January, the day he was sworn-in for a third term, if he was 'ruling out' a presidential bid.

'I think a more accurate way to say it is it's not something I'm ruling in right now. I'm focused on Texas, period,' Abbott answered.

STRENGTHS: The Texas governor has built up a national brand based on his support for a tough border and the Second Amendment and opposition to abortion.

'I have championed conservative causes because I believe that's the right direction both for Texas as well as the United States,' Abbott said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to decide if he's going to enter the 2024 race for the White House after May 2023

CHALLENGES: Abbott has angered many key states for sending migrants to sanctuary cities including New York, Illinois and California.

TRUMP-O-METER: Controversial but not as bombastic as the former president.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Low but definitely a power player in national politics.

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Steve Laffey: A dark horse candidate who hopes to be the next Herman Cain

Steve Laffey, 61, is the former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, who says his career in business, at a brokerage firm, means he has the right skills for this political moment - more so than the ex-president.

Steve Laffey, the former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, wants to be the Herman Cain of the 2024 presidential cycle

'My experience in hiring and, unfortunately, firing and putting the right people in the right place is far better than what Donald Trump showed as president,' he told DailyMail.com, adding: 'I'm a financial expert. He, obviously, is not. He's a real estate developer.'

His supporters call him brilliant and unafraid, while critics say he has a massive ego.

During a DailyMail.com interview, he acknowledged he was a presidential longshot.

STRENGTHS: At 61 years of age, with some political experience, he's in the sweet spot for attracting moderate or independent voters who want someone and something different for the Republican party.

CHALLENGES: Lacks national name recognition and foreign policy experience.

TRUMP-O-METER: Laffey was deemed so controversial that the Republican party in Colorado threatened to support the Democratic candidate.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Slim to none for the top prize on the Republican ticket for the White House.

Steve Laffey has launched a longshot bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination

Vivek Ramaswamy: A 37-year-old entrepreneur and author who's made a name for himself by being anti-'woke'

While he hasn't officially entered the race like Laffey, another dark horse candidate, 37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy, is laying the groundwork to launch a presidential bid by making treks to Iowa, which holds the first caucus.

Ramaswamy is a successful entrepreneur and reportedly worth around $500million - giving him a leg up as he won't need to rely on early fundraising.

His latest book, Woke, Inc., argues that politics don't belong in business - and has made him a rising star on the political right.

Ramaswamy told Politico that his anti-wokeness activism was inspired by hearing his fellow business elites say one thing in public - towing the progressive line - while in private saying they were sick of social activism.

37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy is laying the groundwork to launch a presidential bid by making treks to Iowa, which holds the first caucus

STRENGTHS: Ramaswamy said he plans to run on the platform of defeating China, firing the 'managerial class' of federal workers and shrinking the number of federal agencies, reforming the national security apparatus and doing away with affirmative action.

CHALLENGES: Lacks national name recognition and any political experience.

TRUMP-O-METER: Similar to Trump regarding nationalism and reducing the size of government.

ODDS OF TOPPING THE GOP TICKET: Slim to none for this first-time political candidate.
Surveillance tsar Fraser Sampson said many people are unaware of the risks

Britons should worry more about Chinese CCTV cameras 6ft over their heads than spy balloons high in the sky, a watchdog warns today.

A damning report from surveillance tsar Fraser Sampson said Beijing-linked technology was increasingly common and too many people were ignoring  or unaware of  the risks.

He expressed concern that police forces were 'shot through' with cameras, drones and number-plate readers made by firms accused of security and ethical failures.

Professor Sampson's audit shows some constabularies are using kit made by Huawei, even though it has been long banned from the UK's 5G phone network over espionage fears.

Others have deals with Hikvision despite ministers ruling last year that the company's CCTV cameras could no longer be installed on government buildings because of 'possible security risks'.

And the drone manufacturer used by most forces, DJI, has been placed on a Pentagon blacklist as a 'Chinese military company'.

Britons should worry more about Chinese CCTV cameras 6ft over their heads than spy balloons high in the sky, a watchdog warns today

A pedestrian walks past a Hikvision surveillance camera installed on a footbridge

Professor Sampson, who is the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, says police chiefs are continuing to use the suppliers even though they know about the concerns raised.

He said Chinese-made police technology was a security risk because the ruling Communist Party commandeered information from its firms. 'It is abundantly clear from this detailed analysis of the survey results that the police estate in the UK is shot through with Chinese surveillance cameras,' he added.

'It is also clear the forces deploying this equipment are generally aware that there are security and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their kit.

'There has been a lot in the news in recent days about how concerned we should be about Chinese spy balloons 60,000ft up in the sky. I do not understand why we are not at least as concerned about the Chinese cameras 6ft above our head in the street and elsewhere.'

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees said: 'People might suppose the military and the police would never do anything as naive as allow the data they were interested in to be shared by Beijing.

'But in effect those using the drones are giving, quite legally, their entire data set to a Chinese company. And we know that there is no such thing as a 'private' Chinese company.

'If (God forbid) our country were ever to find itself at war with China, or even in a situation of heightened tension, there could be nuggets in the data that could allow military and police to be disabled.'

Professor Sampson's office asked all 43 police forces in England and Wales about their use of surveillance systems including CCTV, drones, helicopters, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, body-worn video cameras and facial recognition.

Revealed today, the results show that 18 forces use CCTV cameras covering high streets and other public spaces that were made by firms with security or ethical concerns, including state-linked Dahua as well as Hikvision and Huawei. And 24 said they used internal cameras in their buildings made by controversial Chinese firms.

Revealed today, the results show that 18 forces use CCTV cameras covering high streets and other public spaces that were made by firms with security or ethical concerns, including state-linked Dahua as well as Hikvision and Huawei (file image)

Asked about their ANPR  used to identify cars and see whether they are linked to criminal suspects  11 forces said they had security or ethical concerns about the equipment they were using.

In two forces, frontline officers' uniforms are kitted out with body-worn cameras made by Hikvision, which in addition to its government CCTV ban has been branded an 'unacceptable risk to the national security' of the United States.

The firm's privacy policy admits it tracks client locations, collects login details and requires users to give it access to smartphone files. And 17 police forces use unmanned aircraft made by DJI, which is also banned by the US.

Tory MP Bob Seely, who sits on the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: 'We need to be getting this Chinese high-tech kit out of the UK now.'

It is believed that Home Secretary Suella Braverman wants chief constables to ensure their equipment does not pose a cyber security risk. Security minister Tom Tugendhat is leading a taskforce to review all such contracts.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said: 'Following government guidance where governmental departments have been instructed to cease the deployment of such equipment around sensitive sites, UK policing will conduct necessary reviews to ensure national security standards are met.'

Philip Ingram, a former colonel in military intelligence, added: 'A lot of what these companies collect is not needed for the operations of their devices. It's a massive risk that will be being exploited.'
Labour has dealt with almost 700 cases of anti-Semitism since Sir Keir Starmer took charge, as the party today is finally given the all-clear by the equalities watchdog.

The scale of the problem that developed under former leader Jeremy Corbyn can be exposed today in the latest figures. They show two-thirds of all complaints handled in the past three years have concerned anti-Jewish discrimination.

And some party members are still having to wait over a year for their cases to be heard, it is claimed, after its internal panels were overwhelmed by the number of reports.

Today the Equality and Human Rights Commission ends its monitoring of the party for breaching law and declares that Labour has made the required changes.

It was been more than two years since a damning investigation found 'significant failings' in how anti-Semitism complaints were handled and 'specific examples of harassment, discrimination and political interference'.

Labour has dealt with almost 700 cases of anti-Semitism since Sir Keir Starmer (pictured with former leader Jeremy Corbyn, right) took charge, as the party today is finally given the all-clear by the equalities watchdog

Ann Black (pictured), of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, wrote in a blog post: 'A second obstacle to focusing on the general election is continuing delays in resolving complaints, with some members still waiting well over a year'

Marcial Boo, EHRC chief executive, said the changes will 'help to protect current and future Labour Party members from discrimination and harassment'.

The move will today be hailed by Sir Keir as an important step in ending the scandal that developed under Mr Corbyn, who was suspended by the party for downplaying the report's findings and still sits as an independent MP.

Sir Keir became Labour leader in April 2020 and pledged to stamp out anti-Semitism in the party.

He is expected to say: 'Be in no doubt: the job of restoring Labour is not complete. I don't see today's announcement as the end of the road. I see it as a signpost that we are heading in the right direction.'

He will insist that the party has changed under his watch, having changed how complaints are dealt with, set up two independent boards, kicked hundreds of members out and dealt with a backlog of anti-Semitism complaints.

However, the party's figures show that anti-Semitism still makes up the majority of complaints.

The latest disciplinary update, published in November, states: 'Of the 1,068 cases determined by NEC Panels since 21 May 2020, 65.07 per cent have involved anti-Semitism.'

Of 42 cases dealt with over the summer, 45 per cent 'involved allegations of anti-Semitism,' with 7 per cent to do with bullying.

Ann Black, of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, wrote in a blog post: 'A second obstacle to focusing on the general election is continuing delays in resolving complaints, with some members still waiting well over a year.'

Her latest post said the party had been told that 'the backlog of 10,000 unresolved disciplinary cases had been cleared and the new independent complaints procedures were up and running'.

Last month Labour MP Kim Johnson (picutred) described Israel's government as 'fascist' and an 'apartheid state'

In another sign of Sir Keir's problems, last month one of his MPs described Israel's government as 'fascist' and an 'apartheid state'.

Kim Johnson was forced to apologise for the 'insensitive' outburst, which Sir Keir's spokesman described as 'unacceptable'.

And last night a Tory source told the Mail: 'For five years and at two general elections Sir Keir Starmer actively campaigned to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister.

'His sole focus was overturning a democratic vote the Labour Party falsely told the public they would respect... Letting anti-Semitism run rife throughout the Labour party was a price he was perfectly willing to pay.'
A college in Minnesota temporarily closed an exhibition displaying veiled women in various raunchy poses after some Muslim students were offended by the art.

The exhibition in Macalester College in St. Paul was put on by Iranian-American artist, Taravat Talepasand, 44, whose work challenges Islamic conservatism and the oppression of women.

Items on display included drawings of women in niqabs and high heels lifting their robes to reveal underwear, as well as porcelain sculptures of similar women with huge exposed breasts.

The exhibition opened on January 27 but the art was swiftly covered in black drapes after a group of students signed a petition suggesting that Talepasand's work inflicted 'deep pain' and 'perpetuated harm', reported the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

The gallery remained covered for a weekend before it reopened with a content warning and frosted glass on some windows to prevent offended students or anyone else from seeing the art without first being made aware of its contents.

Macalester College in St. Paul covered a gallery in black drapes after Muslim students contained about offensive depictions of women in niqabs. It reopened a few days later with frosted glass to prevent offended students from viewing the art accidentally

Artwork that caused offense included these images of women lifting up niqabs to display their underwear, with one woman also flipping the bird while doing so

Taravat Talepasand, 44, is an American-Iranian artist whose work challenges conservative Islamic attitudes towards women and deals with cultural taboos

A series of porcelain sculptures on display at the college were of women in niqabs with large breasts

Talepasand was born and raised in Oregon but much of her art is informed by her Persian heritage, exploring cultural taboos and questioning political and religious authority.

One piece on display in the college's Law Warschaw Gallery was a neon sign reading 'Woman, Life, Freedom' in both English and Persian. It has become a slogan in Iran's recent protests against the treatment of women.

'Though we respect the principle of academic freedom, we are also simultaneously aware that freedom, like art, does not simply exist in a vacuum,' wrote some students in a petition to the college.

'The decision to display and continue to display this exhibition despite the harm it perpetuates is a deeply problematic issue. It is targeting and harming an already small community that exists on this campus,' they wrote.

'The lack of action on the part of the administration is unacceptable, but unfortunately not surprising. The administration's decisions continue to ignore the deep pain felt by many of their students.'

The school issued a statement after it came to the decision to reopen the gallery with the modifications in place.

'The Law Warschaw Gallery reopened today after a short pause over the weekend,' the college said in an emailed statement on Monday, February 6.

They added: 'During this time, we had several conversations with students, faculty, and staff to consider multiple perspectives from Muslim communities on campus, worked with the artist, and supported gallery staff.

'We also prepared the gallery to prevent unintentional or non-consensual viewing of certain works and added a content warning.'

A neon sign reading 'Woman, Life, Freedom' was a nod to recent nationwide protests in Iran

The college said in a statement that it worked with students, faculty, and staff to consider all perspectives and decided it would reopen the gallery with modifications in place

The controversy at Macalester College comes soon after Hamline University, just two miles away, made national headlines after an art history professor was dismissed for showing depictions of Mohammed from the 14th Century.

Erika Lopez Prater, 42, was let go from her position at Hamline University despite warning students ahead of time about the imagery.

The decision by the university backfired as leaders said 71 of 92 members who attended a meeting voted to call on President Fayneese Miller to resign over her decision.

'We are distressed that members of the administration have mishandled this issue and great harm has been done to the reputation of Minnesota's oldest university,' the faculty council statement read.

It later went on to say, 'As we no longer have faith in President Miller's ability to lead the university forward, we call upon her to immediately tender her resignation to the Hamline University Board of Trustees.'

After criticism from across the country, Miller conceded that she mishandled the episode, which sparked a debate over balancing academic freedom with respect for religion.

'Like all organizations, sometimes we misstep,' she said in a joint statement with the chair of the school's trustees. 'In the interest of hearing from and supporting our Muslim students, language was used that does not reflect our sentiments on academic freedom.
Gillian Keegan is set for crunch talks with teaching unions today as 70,000 university staff continue a three-day strike.

The Education Secretary will meet with leaders of the National Education Union (NEU) in a bid to end the ongoing row over pay and prevent more walkouts.

It will be the first time Ms Keegan has met with the union since it launched devastating strikes that crippled the country two weeks ago.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said there is little 'hope' of a deal being made.

He said: 'I could tell you that I was expecting to be hopeful for some sort of change but I'm not.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (pictured) will meet with leaders of the National Education Union (NEU) in a bid to end the ongoing row over pay and prevent more walkouts

Schoolchildren joined the National Strike Action Rally in Birmingham city centre on February 1

'There still is some time [before the next strike] but for me, it's like not having a serious attempt to look for a solution.

'We think we've got strong support across all demographics, for the industrial action, or majority support across all demographics and industrial action.

'We think there is even stronger support for the notion that there needs to be an investment in this generation of children's education and in the people who provide it.'

Tens of thousands of teachers left their posts and stood on picket lines in a general strike in all but name on February 1.

Dubbed 'Walkout Wednesday', they joined 100,000 civil servants, 70,000 university staff and thousands of train drivers and Border Force officers in staging industrial action.

The disruption has prompted ministers to urgently examine whether to tighten the law to close a loophole that prevents headteachers from knowing which staff are taking part in strikes.

The action caused misery for parents, many of whom were left in limbo after the union encouraged teachers to refuse to tell heads in advance whether they would turn up for work.

It meant some schools were forced to close unnecessarily, disrupting their pupils' education and forcing parents to take unpaid leave or pay for extra childcare.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of University and College Union (UCU) members walked out again, beginning the first of three successive days of industrial action across 150 universities.

On Monday, the union announced 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 Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents 144 employers, has made a pay offer of between 5 per cent and 8 per cent, which has been rejected by the union.

A child with a whistle marches with striking teachers in central London on February 1

READ MORE HERE: Education Secretary Gillian Keegan risks a fresh row with unions as she doubles down on her claim teachers are among 'top earners' across Britain Advertisement

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 sector's vast wealth to make serious, well-rounded offers to staff.

Around 100 members of the PCS union at the British Museum working in visitor services and security teams are also striking this week as part of a dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.

A Universities UK (UUK) spokesperson said: 'We understand that missed teaching time is unsettling and universities are working hard to ensure they can continue to provide a high-quality learning experience.

'If students feel their studies have been negatively impacted and alternative arrangements are inadequate, they should contact their university in the first instance. All universities have complaints procedures in place and the processes will be explained on their websites.

'If students are not satisfied with the response from their university, they are able to escalate things.'

Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: 'Whilst we welcome the opportunity to meet again with the Government to discuss our ongoing pay dispute, we now need to hear specific proposals from the Education Secretary which will address our members' concerns.

'After a number of meetings, it is unacceptable that Ministers have still failed to come forward with any proposals for our members to consider.

'Our members' patience is being sorely tested. Further dithering and delay will only deepen the anger of teachers who are enduring excessive workload pressures coupled with the largest real-terms cuts to their pay on record.

'Resolution of our dispute can only be achieved if Ministers are prepared to put proposals on the table which can provide a basis for negotiation and agreement.

'Ministers cannot continue to play for time. We need to see concrete proposals from the Government which can form the basis for a negotiated settlement of this dispute.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of University and College Union (UCU) members walked out again

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Students are standing with us because they know that staff working conditions are their learning conditions'

'The NASUWT will again be pressing Ministers on measures to address the significant real terms decline in teachers' pay and to address the underlying causes of the continuing teacher recruitment and retention crisis which is blighting children's education.'

Mr Courtney said Keegan must make a 'concrete' pay offer for teachers in talks to avert further strikes.

He added: 'We would like for there to be an offer which would put us in a position of being able to suspend the action on February 28, March 1 and March 2. That would be great.

'That's what we think the Secretary of State should be doing. That's where our hopes are.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have still not decided whether they will attend the King's coronation, a source close to the couple has said, with the duke understood to want a meeting with the King and Prince William before he leaves the US.

The couple are expected to be invited to the coronation on May 6 despite the fallout from the Duke of Sussex's explosive memoir Spare released last month.

If they choose to travel from their home in Montecito, California, to attend the event at Westminster Abbey, they will do so as normal congregation members.

Some Royal Family members were reported to be 'spitting feathers' over claims in Harry's book and his media campaign to promote it, according to royal sources.

Harry, 38, has not spoken to the King or William about whether he will attend, with invitations set to be sent out imminently, The Mirror reported.

Harry and Meghan have not yet decided whether they will attend the coronation, a source has said

The Montecito-based couple are expected to be invited to the King's coronation along with 2,000 other guests

But he is reported to want a meeting with his father and brother before he travels to the UK.

A source told the newspaper: 'Harry has been very clear and his position hasn't wavered  he isn't going to come if he feels the atmosphere will be as toxic as it was during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and funeral.

'He's said he wants to reconcile with his family and it's their call, but so far nothing has changed.'

It is understood that those who want to attend the coronation will need to RSVP to the invitation by the start of April.

If he does go, Harry will not have any special role and he and Meghan, 41, would not be allowed to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony with other royals.

Royal sources recently suggested officials would ensure that Harry would not be seated next to his brother.

The prince could also travel from the US to London without Meghan, in part because their son Archie's fourth birthday falls on the same day as the crowning.

Such a plan could see Harry whisked in and out of Britain in a 48-hour so-called 'Harry in a hurry' trip.

It comes after the Mail on Sunday revealed last month the Archbishop of Canterbury could intercede to negotiate a deal between Harry and his family to attend the coronation.

The coronation of King Charles III is set for May 6 with invitations expected to be sent out soon

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are not expected to play a prominent role if they choose to attend

One scenario could see Meghan stay at home in California as Harry travels to the UK alone

Harry is reported not to have spoken to the King or Prince William about his attendance at the coronation

It was suggested that they might accept the invitation if they were given a prominent pew and an undertaking that Harry would not lose his royal titles.

The King is reported to want a slimmed-down and 'diverse' ceremony in May.

Charles has cut the guest list to around 2,000 people, down from the 8,000 who watched his mother Queen Elizabeth II being crowned in 1953.

He has also halved the organisational time from the 16 months it took to prepare for his mother's service.
READ MORE: Race against time to save three schoolgirl sisters in Turkey

A 77-year-old woman pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building 212 hours after two huge earthquakes devastated Turkey and Syria was among the miracle rescues made yesterday.

Fatma Gungor was pulled out from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Adiyaman province, Turkey after being trapped for nearly nine days.

And Syrian teenager Seher Ghanam, 15, was one of the at least nine people to be found alive Turkey's Hatay province yesterday  209 hours on from the disaster.

She was photographed pointing her fingers to the sky as she was carried away by emergency service workers in a stretcher, wrapped in a foil blanket and wearing an oxygen mask, before she was then loaded into an ambulance for treatment.

Seher was rescued shortly after her father Faez Ghanam was freed from the same building.

Fatma Gungor, 77, is rescued by the personnel from under rubble of a collapsed building, 212 after the earthquakes hit Adiyaman, Turkey

Hands up: Seher Ghanam, 15, is helped away by emergency workers in the Hatay province of Turkey

Emergency personnel carry Syrian Seher Ghanam who was rescued from the site of a collapsed building shortly after her father Faez Ghanam was also rescued

Others rescued from the devastation in Turkey included two young brothers pulled from the ruins of a block in Kahramanmaras province after being trapped for 198 hours.

State-owned Anadolu news agency identified them as Muhammed Enes Yeninar, 17, and Abdulbaki Yeninar, 21.

Dozens of rescuers were working at the site and Turkish soldiers hugged and clapped after the pair were found.

There was then a call for quiet in the search for further survivors. The brothers were taken to hospital but their condition was unclear last night.

Another rescue saved the life of teacher Emine Akgul, 26, was freed from a collapsed apartment building in Antakya - the capital of Hatay - by a mining search and rescue team, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported..

Rescuers pulled her out 201 hours after the earthquakes hit and pictures show a Volvo digger was used in the operation.

Images show she was then airlifted by helicopter to hospital in the Adana province - which is around 70 miles away by air - for medical treatment.

Siba Aburas was also rescued from a wreckage in Hatay after more than 200 hours.

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.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes, which struck nine hours apart on February 6 in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, has passed 39,000. It is likely to increase as rescuers sift through the wreckage of more buildings.

Experts say the window to find survivors is closing.

Alive! Muhammed Enes Yeninar (pictured), 17, was rescued along with was rescued along with his older brother Abdulbaki

Muhammed's brother Abdulbaki Yeninar (pictured), 21, was rescued yesterday 198 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Turkey's Kahramanmaras

Search and rescue team personnel celebrate after rescuing 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and his 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yeninar

Emergency services pulled elderly woman Fatma Gungor to safety from the devastation in Adiyaman province

After rescuing her from the fallen building, Fatma Gungor was loaded into an ambulance to be treated for her injuries

Syrian teenager Seher is carried into an ambulance after being rescued from a collapsed building in Hatay

Syria's Bashar al-Assad has agreed to open two crossing points from Turkey to the country's rebel-held north-west to deliver UN aid and equipment to millions of victims.

The sites at Bab al-Salam and Al Raee will be opened for an initial period of three months.

The UN had been allowed to deliver aid to the Idlib area only through a single crossing at Bab al-Hawa.

The international body has been under intense pressure to get more help into the rebel area, with survivors lacking the means to dig for others who might still be alive.

The first Saudi aid plane, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in government-held Aleppo yesterday, according to Syrian state media.

Riyadh has raised 42million in a public campaign to aid Turkey and Syria. Saudi planes had previously landed in Turkey, with some of the aid also making its way to Idlib.

Several other Arab countries  including Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates  have sent aid planes.

The earthquake affected ten provinces in Turkey that are home to around 13.5million people. A large area of north-west Syria was also devastated.

Many quake survivors are sleeping outdoors in freezing weather and water supplies have been hit. More than 41,500 buildings were destroyed or have been damaged so badly they need to be pulled down, according to officials.

Teacher Emine Akgul, 26, is rescued from under a collapsed building in Hatay 201 hours after earthquakes hit Turkey

A Volvo digger was used in the operation to rescue Ermine Akgul

Teacher Emine is rescued from the rubble of an apartment building in Antakya - the capital of Hatay

Emine was airlifted to hospital in in Adana by helicopter for medical treatment

Emine being treated in hospital in Adana - around 70 miles away by air from Hatay

Siba Aburas rescued from a wreckage after 204 hours on February 14 in Hatay

Muhammed Cafer Cetin, 18, is rescued by search and rescue teams from under rubble of a collapsed building 198 hours in Adiyaman province

Medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working

Many in Turkey blame faulty construction methods for the devastation and the authorities are continuing to target contractors linked to buildings that have collapsed.

Turkey had construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards but experts say the rules were rarely enforced.

The death toll in the country stood at 35,418 as of last night.

The toll in the rebel-held region of Syria has reached 2,166 while another 1,414 have died in government-controlled areas, according to health ministry officials in Damascus.
Bill Clinton took to Twitter to wish his wife Hillary a happy Valentine's Day Tuesday - and was almost instantly met with relentless social media users quick to point out the ex-president's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

The post features a photo of the former first couple during their younger days, and an accompanying caption where Clinton affectionately refers to his wife of 48 years as his 'forever Valentine.'

On the surface, the gushing public message seemed appropriate given the politician's love story, which stretches back to their days as students at Yale Law in the early 1970s.

However, the pair's very public romance has been marred by several well-known and embarrassing challenges, such as the sex scandal that erupted over his 18-month affair with White House intern Lewinsky, then 22, that led to his 1997 impeachment.

Clinton, now 76, at the time heralded his wife as a pillar of support after they emerged from the deeply embarrassing episode - which was far from the first, or last, time the politician was accused of being unfaithful.

Bill Clinton took to Twitter to wish his wife Hillary a happy Valentine's Day - and was instantly met with social media users quick to point out the ex-president's affair with Monica Lewinsky

The pair's very public romance has been marred by several well-known and embarrassing challenges, such as the sex scandal that erupted over his 18-month affair with the then White House intern (pictured with the then president shortly before the affair came to light in 1997)

Despite this, Clinton aired his impassioned, public post to his more than 13million followers, and was quickly subjected to a string of memes from onlookers who could not help that pointed to the alleged infidelities - of which there have been at least 14.

'Happy Valentine's Day!' the former secretary of state wrote, including a double-heart emoji to better encapsulate his feelings for his longtime wife, who has notably stood by Clinton's side throughout his several scandals.

The post included the throwback photo of the couple, taken not long after the pair married in a simple, Methodist ceremony at their Arkansas home in October 1975.

A follow-up post featured a photo of the pair, snapped on Valentine's Day 1982, dancing together two years into Clinton's second stint as Arkansas' governor - which lasted from 1983 to 1992.

During that time, and in the decades before and after, it is claimed that Clinton engaged in multiple instances of misconduct with several women.

While deemed erroneous by Clinton and his administration, the allegations - as well as the confirmed tryst with then-White House aide Lewinsky - were seemingly not lost on social media users who saw the ex-president's timely tribute, and proceeded to poke fun at him for his checkered past.

'LOL "forever"', one user remarked, leaving others to draw their own conclusions in regards to Clinton's alleged adultery.

The Lewinsky affair - as well as several other unconfirmed tryst over the course of Clinton's career - were not lost on social media users, who used the ex-president's tribute as an excuse to poke fun at him for his checkered past

'You can smell the intern's sweat in this photo,' another added, referencing the affair with Lewinsky.

One merciless onlooker sniped: 'What about Monica?'

Someone else joked: 'Come on now Billy you know youve got more than one of those.'

'I bet you say that to all the women,' another added, while someone else simply remarked: 'Didnt you cheat on her like 100 times?'

Several other relentless zingers followed, as well as a slew of memes - many meant to insinuate that Clinton's 'forever' assertion should be taken with a grain of salt.

'Shouldnt that be a picture of you and Monica?,' one wrote.

'Forever? Except when you were with Monica,' someone else chimed in.

'That doesnt look like Monica Lewinsky,' another added.

Other more technically skilled users photoshopped Monica's face over Hillary's in the couple photo, while several other referenced Clinton ties to the late rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

Clinton has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, who hung himself in a New York cell in 2019 where he was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

A follow-up post featured a photo of the pair, snapped on Valentine's Day 1982, dancing together two years into Clinton's second stint as Arkansas' governor - which lasted from 1983 to 1992 - during which the politicians allegedly engaged in several incidents of miscoduct

Aside from the links to Epstein, several woman have come forward to claim they were either sexually assaulted by or engaged in extramarital affairs with Clinton over the course of his political career and nearly five-decade marriage.

In a 1999 episode of Dateline, a former volunteer for Clinton's first gubernatorial bid in 1978, Juanita Broaddrick. In the bombshell interview, Broaddrick, now 80 alleged that in the late 1970s, Clinton raped her in her hotel room in Little Rock.

When asked if there was any way Clinton thought the encounter - which came less than three years into his marriage to Hillary - was consensual, Broaddrick said 'No, not with what I told him and with how I tried to push him away. It was not consensual.'

Clinton has since denied the allegations.

In 2016, a Former Arkansas reporter, Leslie Millwee, came forward to claim that she was groped by Clinton on three separate occasions in 1980, with Clinton each time coming up behind her and fondled her breasts.

On the second occasion, Millwee said Clinton - then serving his first term as governor - rubbed his crotch against her until he came to an orgasm.

Hillary famously stood by her husband during his 1998 impeachment. They're pictured holding hands during a news conference where he discussed

The former Arkansas state employee who sued former President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment says she fears for her life in the event that his wife, Hillary Clinton, wins the election.

In 1998, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones received a $850,000 from Clinton as part of an out-of-court settlement after she claimed that he exposed himself to her in 1991 in a Little Rock, Arkansas, hotel.

Clinton has also denied those accusations.

Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky from 1995-1997. She was aged 22 to 25 at the time of the affair, he aged 48 to 51.

Lying about the clandestine romance famously led to his political demise - the House impeached Clinton in 1998.

'I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky,' Clinton claimed in a televised speech in 1998.

Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky from 1995-1997

'I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people,' Clinton said in a Jan. 26 address, flanked by his wife.

At the time, Hillary called the affair rumors a 'vast right-wing conspiracy.'

'The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this - that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president,' the then-first lady said of the allegations.

Clinton finally admitted in taped grand jury testimony on Aug. 17, 1998 that he had engaged in an 'improper physical relationship' with Lewinsky. That night he offered a nationally televised statement admitting that his relationship with Lewinsky was 'not appropriate'

Lewinsky said she had sexual encounters with Clinton nine times over the course of two years.

The scandal led to Bill being impeached in 1998. But he survived the trial in the Senate and remained in office during his second term.
The world's oldest African penguin has shacked up in a private enclosure with a companion 30 years her junior after being bullied by her colony.

The 43-year-old penguin, who goes by ET, lives at Virginia's Metro Richmond Zoo and has so far outlived two of her previous mates, Melvin and Seldona.

African penguins are typically monogamous, but ET has gone against nature, taking Einstein, who is only 13 years old as her avian boy toy.

Zookeepers have attributed the mature penguin's survival to 'incredible genes and a strong quality of life,' as she celebrates yet another year around the sun, the Washington Post reports.

The world's oldest African penguin, ET, 43, (left) has shacked up in a private enclosure with Einstein, a companion 30 years her junior, (right) after being bullied by her colony

'We wanted to make it the happiest birthday ever,' said Jessica Gring, one of ET's keepers when speaking to the outlet of her 43rd birthday last month.

'She's a pretty special penguin with some incredible genes and a strong quality of life.'

ET celebrated her long life with a dip in a private pool and an entire cake made of capelin fish and decorative ice.

The normal age for her species surviving in the wild is only between 15 to 20 years with some rare cases in captivity with longer lifespans.

But her life hasn't been without adversity, after bonding with Einstein in 2012, zookeepers noticed other younger birds starting to pick on her.

'As she got older, some of the younger penguins were picking on her a little bit, so we made a retirement home for her to enjoy with Einstein,' Jim Andelin, director of the Metro Richmond Zoo told the outlet.

'She can still see the penguin colony through the fence, but she gets along much better on the other side of the mesh wire.'

She's been a trailblazer in other aspects too, taking Einstein under her wing during a May-December romance, reportedly 'unheard of' in the species.

'She and Einstein get along fantastically, even though she's older than he is,' said Gring.

'ET has developed a deep bond with him,' Andelin said of Einstein.

Gring added that the affection goes both ways.

'She and Einstein are very bonded to one another and enjoy spending a lot of quality time together,' she told the Washington Post.

ET was hatched at the Detroit Zoo on Jan 28, 1980, then was sent to the Columbus Zoo, where she was named in 1982, the same year the iconic movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released to great fanfare.

ET celebrated her long life with a dip in a private pool and an entire cake made of capelin fish and decorative ice (pictured)

But her life hasn't been without adversity, after bonding with Einstein in 2012, zookeepers noticed other younger birds starting to pick on her

Seen on her 42nd birthday, ET is seen in her private enclosure with Einstein, where she leads a simple and quiet life

She arrived at Virginia zoo in 1995 at the youthful age of 15.

'We brought in 10 penguins [including ET] from the Columbus Zoo when we opened in 1995, and we've since hatched 299 penguins here,' said Andelin.

Noting that most of the hatchlings went to other zoos, Andelin added: 'None of [the others] have had the life span of ET. She's a little slower now, but she's still enjoying a happy life.'

ET is said to be the longest living African penguin in captivity in North America since 2018, when the previous record holder, a penguin named Opal, died at age 41 at an Omaha zoo, Andelin explained.

'Our records show she's the oldest,' he said.

African penguins typically live for 15 to 20 years in the wild, he added, but those in zoos can live much longer.

ET leads a quiet and comfortable life with Einstein but while she is in good health, she has lost some of her eyesight and is receiving medication for arthritis.

She's hatched about a dozen eggs during her time at the Virginia zoo, but laid her last egg in 2016, one of her daughters lived until age 37, said Gring.

'All of our penguins have their own individual personalities, and ET is no exception,' Gring said.

'She loves to play with bubbles and mirrors, and she stays active. She spends more time swimming than Einstein does.

'She's still a little feisty when we pick her up to do her vet check-ups. [She] has a lot of fight in her, which is a good thing to see in a penguin her age.'

African penguins have been listed as endangered since 2010 and have decreased in population by 95 percent over the last 100 years.

Jessica Gring, one of ET's keepers, says ET and Einstein are highly affectionate toward one another

African penguins typically live for 15 to 20 years in the wild but those in zoos can live much longer, she has seen many birthdays while one of her daughters lived to be 35

African penguins have been listed as endangered since 2010 and have decreased in population by 95 percent over the last 100 years

'We're down to only about 40,000 of them in the wild. Fortunately, with our breeding program here, we've had some good luck with them,' Andelin said adding that there are about 900 African penguins currently living in U.S. zoos.

'We feed her as much as she wants to eat  anywhere from 4 to 10 herring, trout and capelin on an average day,' she Gring.

'When she wants some serious quiet time, she can go to her nest box [a small pet carrier] in her enclosure.'

Plans are currently underway to build a larger penguin exhibit at the zoo.

'We're having fun with her while we have her,' Gring said. 'We don't want to think about when she's gone, so we've already started planning her 44th birthday party.'
Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the ruling People Power Party rests his chin in his hand during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis



Defector-turned-lawmaker claims North Korea's founder was behind April 3 incident



By Jung Min-ho



Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun demanded, Wednesday, that the ruling party expel a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker over remarks that the April 3 uprising on the southern island was triggered by the instructions of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung.



Tae Yong-ho, a candidate member of the People Power Party's (PPP) next Supreme Council and former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain before his defection to South Korea in 2016, has caused a stir by apologizing to the victims during his visit to the island, Sunday, as he used to work for the regime.



The governor accused Tae of exploiting the tragedy to shore up the conservative base ahead of the March 8 party conference and demanded that he retract his statement and issue an apology.



"We Jeju residents have spent the last 70 years in misery due to the allegations that the Jeju uprising was a communist riot," Oh said in a statement. "If the PPP sincerely wishes to heal the pains from the incident, it should expel him immediately and issue an official apology."



The same day, a group of lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) filed a complaint with the National Assembly's ethics committee over his remarks. Wi Seong-gon, a lawmaker representing the residents in Jeju's Seogwipo, said there is "a serious problem" with Tae's perception of that chapter of Korean history and he should take responsibility by resigning.



The uprising occurred on the island in the late 1940s, when ideological conflict was in full swing in Korea after the country was liberated from Japan's colonial rule (1910-45). In protest of elections to be held only in the southern part of the peninsula controlled by the United States Army Military Government, protesters, including members of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK), attacked police stations, killed those they deemed right-wing supporters and burned polling stations.



Seeking a speedy resolution to the insurrection, the mainland authorities sent thousands of soldiers and members of the Northwest Youth Association, a violent anti-communist group, to Jeju to suppress them. Tens of thousands of people died as a result.



How much of a role the WPSK played in all this and to what extent the party interacted with the Workers' Party of North Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, are less clear. The two parties merged in 1949, forming the Workers' Party of Korea, which has ruled North Korea since.



Tae has refused to back down for stating what he said are "obvious facts." He added that his statement was not different from that of late former President Kim Dae-jung, a revered liberal figure, who said many innocent people died from the "riot triggered by communists." He also said the point of his comments during his visit to Jeju was not to offend the innocent victims, but to make it clear who was responsible for it so that such an incident will not be repeated.



During the suppression in 1948, Pak Hon-yong, a WPSK founding member, moved to North Korea, so it was under Kim's de facto control before its dissolution in June 1949, Tae claimed.



"Two things should be taught for students to learn the lessons of history: The government used excessive force on the victims and that it was a riot triggered by the WPSK," he said at a press conference, Wednesday. "Absolutizing their (DPK) own claims while denying historical facts and demonizing those expressing different views as far-right is not an intelligent attitude toward the historical truth."




A teen girl is at risk of losing her arm after she was allegedly shot by a woman inside a hotel.

The 16-year-old girl was with a group of people at a hotel on Annand Street, in Toowoomba, 125km west of Brisbane, on Tuesday afternoon when she and a 37-year-old woman were hit by a rogue gunshot.

Police allege the bullet may have been fired accidentally by an 18-year-old woman holding a sawn-off shotgun.

A crime scene was established at the hotel and the 16-year-old was rushed to hospital in Brisbane suffering a significant injury to her arm.

She will now undergo several reconstructive procedures as doctors urgently work to repair the limb.

The girl was with a group of people at a hotel on Annand Street, in Toowoomba (pictured), 125km west of Brisbane, on Tuesday afternoon when a gunshot was suddenly fired

The 37-year-old woman also suffered injuries to her chest and arm and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

The 18-year-old woman has since been hit with a string of weapons related offences.

She spent the night in police custody after being charged with grievous bodily harm, wounding, dangerous conduct with a weapon, unlawful possession of weapons (firearm) and authority required to possess explosives.

The 18-year-old will face Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Toowoomba Detective Senior Sergeant Paul McCusker said it appeared the gun was not fired intentionally, the Courier Mail reported.

Police are appealing to anyone who was in the walkway area between Annand and Ruthven Streets, known as Kwong Sang Walk, between 2.30pm and 2.45pm on Tuesday, and who may have seen any persons acting suspiciously, to come forward.

Investigations are continuing.
U.S. officials knew about the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina from the moment it took off, sources said on Tuesday - leading to further questions about why it was not shot down sooner.

The balloon took off from Hainan Island off southern China at the end of January, and entered U.S. airspace on January 28 above Alaska. It briefly entered Canada and crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on January 30, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.

The balloon traversed the United States, passing over multiple sensitive sites, before being shot down as soon as it passed over the sea.

The Pentagon said it was too risky to shoot down over land.

But on Tuesday, The New York Times reported the balloon was being monitored right from the moment it took off.

The Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4

'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,' the paper reported.

Republicans have demanded to know why it was not shot down sooner, and Tuesday's report will only serve to increase their volume.

The balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter just off Myrtle Beach, fascinating sky-watchers across a populous area known as the Grand Strand for its miles of beaches that draw retirees and vacationers.

A report from the Washington Post details that the airship, which triggered a dramatic - and very public - spying saga that worsened Chinese-U.S. relations has been a key part of Beijing's intelligence operations for years.

The report says that the Chinese military has previously sent balloons into the airspace of geopolitical rivals such as Japan, India and the Philippines.

The Pentagon earlier said that at least four other balloons were previously detected over US airspace, in Hawaii, Florida, Texas and Guam, three of those were during Donald Trump's presidency.

Over the weekend, more balloons were shot down over Alaska, Canada's Yukon province, and Lake Huron.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken postponed his trip to China hours before he was due to leave because of the balloon.

China's defense minster, meanwhile, rejected an overture from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss the events.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pictured with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in November 2022. On Tuesday, Fenghe rejected a call from Austin over the balloon

Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island, where the country's balloon program is based

One of China's nuclear submarines pictured at the Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island

Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong at Yulin Naval Base

The Chinese foreign ministry said it regretted that the balloon had mistakenly entered US airspace, claiming it was a civilian craft

The Pentagon said in a statement: 'Lines between our militaries are particularly important in moments like this. Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request. Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue,' reports Politico.

One senior official told the Post that China's airship program represents a 'massive effort' within the country's espionage programs.

The program is based of the Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island on China's southern coast.

A Japanese official told the newspaper that, in 2020, a giant sphere was spotted over the country, which many believed was a UFO.

That official said: 'In hindsight people are realizing that was a Chinese espionage tool. But at that time it was purely novel  nobody had seen this.'

Intelligence officials do not have an estimate on how many spy balloons the Chinese military possesses.

An official did use the word 'dozens' when asked about how many sightings there have been in recent years, according to the Post.

The newspaper went on to report that in June 2022, a spy balloon crashed in Hawaii.

As a result, the US military were able to gleam valuable information about Chinese military technology.

Fragments of the balloon are seen being brought ashore on February 5 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Boxes are seen being unloaded from a boat which participated in the search for the debris

The debris was spread across roughly seven miles and landed in 47 feet of water

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

Speaking about the advantages of using a balloon for spying reasons rather than more sophisticated technology, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie 'Tuna' Moore said: 'If you have a balloon that's moving extremely slowly you have persistence that you can't get from a satellite.'

Moore added that typically satellites only have seconds in order to take pictures of their targets.

Last week, Biden officials held briefings in Washington and Beijing with foreign diplomats from 40 nations about the balloon.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on February 6 briefed nearly 150 foreign diplomats across 40 embassies, an official said, while in Beijing the U.S. embassy gathered foreign diplomats on February 6 and 7 to present U.S. findings about the balloon.

'We want to make sure that we are sharing as much as we can with countries around the world who may also be susceptible to these types of operations,' the senior administration official said.

China has said it was a weather balloon that had blown off course into U.S. airspace and was an 'unexpected, isolated incident.'

It condemned the shoot-down and accused the United States of overreacting.

'For the U.S. to insist on using armed force is clearly an overreaction that seriously violates international practice,' the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

Beijing threatened that it 'reserved the right to take further actions in response'.
Doctors will be urged to issue fewer sick notes and instead help employees carry on working under plans being considered for next months Budget, it was reported last night.

The Treasury is said to be weighing up a new approach to reverse the rise in staff who are off work with long-term sickness.

Instead of allowing a sick person to stop working entirely, doctors would be encouraged to recommend ways they can still go to work so that they do not drop out of the labour market.

The number of staff signed off work with long-term health problems leapt from 1.95million in 2019 to 2.32million in 2022, figures show.

A Government source told The Daily Telegraph: The mental health benefits of work are well-established. We want to do all we can to encourage as many people as possible to stay in work with the relevant support in place.

Instead of allowing a sick person to stop working entirely, doctors would be encouraged to recommend ways they can still go to work so that they do not drop out of the labour market

The number of people off work because of long-term sickness has increased by around half a million since early 2019, figures show

Meanwhile, a leading business chief has delivered a major blow to the Government by claiming that Labour is now winning the economic argument.

Paul Drechsler, former head of the Confederation of British Industry, wrote in The Independent: The Conservatives are not just losing the argument  Labour is winning it.
Adverts for a life insurance firm that joked about serial killer Harold Shipman have been banned for causing serious and widespread offence and distress.

The Facebook and Instagram ads for DeadHappy, seen on January 23, featured images of Shipman and the text: 'Life insurance... Because you never know who your doctor might be.'

Shipman murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients in his position as a GP in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

He used his position as a doctor to murder hundreds of people over a 27-year period dating back to 1971 using the drug Diamorphine.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received 115 complaints that the the ads irresponsibly caused serious and widespread offence and unjustified distress.

The Facebook and Instagram ads for DeadHappy, seen on January 23 , featured images of Shipman and the text: 'Life insurance... Because you never know who your doctor might be'

Shipman murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients in his position as a GP in Hyde, Greater Manchester

DeadHappy apologised, saying the ads first appeared at 2pm on January 23 and were taken down at 8am the next day when it became clear they were causing offence.

The great-grandson of one of Shipman's victims previously hit out at the 'despicable' advert used by the life insurance firm.

Tim Hill, 29, told MailOnline his great-grandfather Charles Henry Barlow was killed by Shipman and said he finds it 'utterly unconscionable for DeadHappy to use the image of Shipman for crude jokes and cheap publicity.'

Charles Henry Barlow, an 88-year-old former police sergeant from Hyde, died at his home on November 22, 1995, only minutes after a visit from Shipman. The Shipman Inquiry concluded Mr Barlow was unlawfully killed

The advert caused controversy on social media, with many expressing concern for the impact it would have on the families of Shipman's victims.

One person said: 'As someone whose relative was murdered by Harold Shipman, your latest advert utilising his image is despicable and unacceptable.'

Another person tagged the firm in a Tweet, saying: 'What on EARTH were the marketing team thinking using this as your advert?

'You should be ashamed of yourself! Those poor families :('

The firm said it was reviewing its processes in relation to the creation and approval of ads 'and would endeavour to make better informed decisions going forward'.

As a GP, Shipman presented himself as a pillar of the community  but in reality, he used his position as a doctor to murder hundreds of people over 20 years.

Charles Henry Barlow, an 88-year-old former police sergeant from Hyde, died at his home on November 22, 1995

Tim Hill says he remembers the stress his family went through during the Shipman Inquiry

Shipman used his position as a doctor to murder hundreds of people over a 27-year period dating back to 1971 using the drug Diamorphine

The advert caused controversy on social media, with many expressing concern for the impact it would have on the families of Shipman's victims

He received 15 life sentences with no parole and was incarcerated at Durham Prison.

Shipman was then moved to Wakefield Prison in June 2003.

On January 13, 2004, he took his own life in his prison cell.

Facebook and Instagram acknowledged the complaints but made no comment.

The ASA said the ads 'trivialised and made light of the murders committed by Harold Shipman, such that they were likely to cause both serious and widespread offence to those who saw them'.

It added: 'We further considered that any reference to the murderer in advertising material was likely to be distressing, particularly for those who had lost family members or friends at Shipman's hands and that, in the context of an ad promoting life insurance, the distress caused was unjustified.

'We concluded that the ads were not prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and did not comply with rules on issues of harm and offence.

'We welcomed DeadHappy's assurance that they would not be repeated.'

In a statement, DeadHappy founder Andy Knott said: 'We are sorry. In our attempt to be provocative and make people really stop and think about their need for life insurance, we have made a mistake and for this we apologise.

'We will now go away and immediately review all of our current and future marketing campaigns to ensure that we learn from this mistake.'
In his final interview before he died then Senator Jim Molan warned Australia could be rendered near defenceless by a sneak Chinese missile attack on the US ahead of an invasion of Taiwan.

Molan, who was an army major general before entering politics, told Sky News that Australia must be ready for such an attack or end up under China's thumb as he gave his last interview before dying from cancer in January.

In an interview for the SkyNews documentary Are We Ready For War? set to air at 7.30pm on Wednesday night, Molan said Australia must be prepared and pointed to the Ukraine as an example that major conflict is not a thing of the past.

'We must prepare for the worst case,' he told SkyNews journalist Peter Stefanovic.

Molan did not think that China would invade Taiwan by launching a type of D-Day massed landing as seen in World War II when the Allies landed on Nazi-occupied Europe.

Recently deceased Australian Senator Jim Molan has argued in his last interview that Australia should be ready for a surprise missile attack on US forces before any invasion of Taiwan

He argued that marshalling their forces for such an operation would give the Americans and Taiwan weeks or even months of warning of what was coming.

Instead Molan argued that China could launch a sneak missile attack on US forces in the western Pacific and effectively cut off Taiwan from its major ally and protector.

'It just happens to be the kind of step that has the chance of delivering to China regional dominance plus Taiwan,' Molan said.

'I believe they will neutralise the Americans, dominate the western Pacific.'

With such a scenario Molan said China could ask other possible adversaries such as Japan, South Korea and Australia a very difficult question.

'Are you really going to fight us now that the Americans aren't behind you any more?'

China's military power (pictured the People's Liberation Army in near Inner Mongolia) could see it dominate the western Pacific, Molan argued

Molan applauded the Albanese government for repairing Australia's relations with China but said we had to be prepared for any situation.

He did not believe China had any interest in directly attacking Australia but could take out Western satellites and undersea cables as part of a Taiwan invasion scenario, largely severing Australia's connection to the world.

'We've got to stand up for ourselves,' he said.

'We should be self-sufficient in our own military to protect ourselves and to protect the areas around us, the Indonesian archipelago and the South Pacific.'

The alternative was becoming a 'tributary state' to China along with the rest of the western Pacific region.

China's president Xi Jinping (pictured) has been unwavering in claiming that Taiwan will return to mainland sovereignty

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since a 1949 civil war, but President Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party claims the island is part of 'One China' and has repeatedly stated its intention to reclaim the territory.

Beijing has accused Taiwan of using the US and other Western allies to bolster its efforts to maintain independence, and insists the US is manipulating Taiwan to 'contain' Chinese influence.

The US has repeatedly said it will come to Taiwan's defence in the case of an invasion.

US General Mike Minihan sent a memo to all those serving under his command to be ready for war with China in 2025.

Australian National University professor Paul Dibb warned that if a conflict broke out Australia would be dragged into it to support the United States - or risk destroying the ANZUS alliance.
Russia is preparing to send a new force of fighter jets and attack helicopters to regain ground in Ukraine, intelligence officials have warned.

Western analysts have said a build-up of aircraft on the Ukrainian border could see Putin's forces attempt to push the offensive in the Donbas region.

It comes as NATO defence ministers meet for a two-day summit in Brussels to discuss plans for military support for the war-torn country.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told the alliance's member states that they must step up deliveries to ensure Ukraine can fight against Russian aggression as Europe risks running out of ammunition.

Former Norwegian prime minister Mr Stoltenberg said: 'This has become a grinding war of attrition and therefore it's 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.'

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 country's south-east. Pictured: Ukrainian soldier near the destroyed Retroville shopping centre

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 country's south-east with aircraft and thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles.

Yesterday, Putin sent two nuclear-capable bombers over the Bering Sea, which separates Russia from Alaska, in a show of strength to the West.

Such moves were common during the Cold War, but it is the first time the Russia Federation has taken such a measure.

Ukraine is reportedly preparing to use British long-range missiles to strike the Russian-held Crimea while Russia prepares to launch its new wave of attacks.

President Zelensky is pushing Western allies to supply more missiles and fighter jets to propel the attacks, warning the war could 'stagnate' without them.

Rishi Sunak has responded to his plea by admitting 'nothing is off the table' when it comes to the UK's supply of military aid to help fight the Russian invasion.

Ukraine's 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, Ukraine's 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 Ukraine's 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.

Ukraine's 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.
Qantas are trying to rehire 1,500 cabin crew who were made redundant or resigned during the Covid pandemic - but many of them will have to rejoin the airline on less pay.

The airline has seen a resurgence in travel, with domestic flight volume now close to 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

The airline's international operations are expected to be 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the middle of 2023.

Qantas has sent an email to 1,500 former cabin crew who lost their jobs when borders were shut as part of a recruitment drive to bolster staff numbers to respond to the increased demand.

But the offer comes with the condition that some former staff members who signed 'legacy' agreements would need to accept lower wages and conditions.

Qantas is on a recruitment drive trying to get back 1,500 cabin crew who either resigned or were let go during the Covid pandemic (pictured, Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce)

Qantas has seen a resurgence in travel, with domestic flight volume now close to 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels and its international operations expected to be back to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic by the middle of 2023 (stock image)

Former crew executive manager Leeanne Langridge sent out the email, explaining that the airline was aiming to recruit at least 1,500 staff before the end of 2023.

'As you know the pandemic was extremely challenging for Qantas and the broader aviation industry,' the email begins.

'With the changes we've made across the airline and the incredible rebound in travel over the last 12 months, the business is back in profit and growing again.

'With our network growing and one new aircraft joining the group every three weeks on average over the next several years, there are new opportunities for our customers and people.'

Former cabin crew will be able to return for a fixed 12 month period or permanently if they prefer.

International crew who were previously employed as a customer service manager, supervisor or business and first flight attendant (BFA) would return as BFAs.

Domestic crew would return as flight attendants.

The email stipulates former staff will still have to complete a pre-screening questionnaire and undergo an interview process which will include extensive reference, medical and aviation security background checks.

Training for successful candidates will vary and depend on when they last worked for Qantas.

Expressions of interest close February 26.

'As an experienced former cabin crew member, we are reaching out to you to see if you're interested in being part of Qantas' next chapter,' Ms Langridge concluded the email.

An email was sent to former staff by former crew executive manager Leeanne Langridge

The airline has offered former cabin crew the opportunity to return for a fixed 12 month period or permanently if they prefer

Flight Attendants' Association of Australia national secretary Teri O'Toole explained that it was great to see the airline offer former staff their old jobs despite the pay cuts.

'Of course we're not happy that these crew come back on lesser conditions and pay than when they left but some cabin crew are dedicated to the role and miss their colleagues, and will want to come back,' she said.

While employees on 'legacy' agreements would need to take a pay cut, those who were hired by Qantas not long before the pandemic would not be on the same wage.

Ms O'Toole said she hoped the airline would eventually scrap the different agreements cabin crews were employed under.

'The government needs to keep their election promise of same job, same pay legislation so that crew working in the same uniform on the same planes are not being paid differently with different conditions,' she added.

A Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'When our airline operations were grounded as a result of the pandemic and we had to stand down most of our workforce, a number of people made very difficult decisions to leave the company.'

'Now that we are back in profit and growing again, we're reaching out to some of these people to see if they're interested in coming back to the Qantas family.

'We're also recruiting externally in line with demand for a wide range of roles and we've been getting great responses to our recruitment drives.'
Star neurosurgeon Charlie Teo says he doesn't regret performing two brain surgeries that led to him being investigated by health authorities.

Despite both of the patients not recovering from the surgery, Dr Teo said he was acting in their best interests by attempting the operations and suggested complaints were prompted from within the medical system.

'I did it in their best interest, thinking it was going to help them - it didn't,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

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 state's Health Care Complaints Commission.

The 65-year-old is famous for performing neurosurgery on cancer patients with tumours other doctors have deemed inoperable, but he has been accused of charging exorbitant fees and offering some patients false hope.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo is famous for performing neurosurgery on patients with tumours deemed inoperable

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo (left) and his fiancee Traci Griffiths (right) arrive for a Health Care Complaints Commission Professional Standards Committee inquiry, in Sydney

THE FOUR WIN OR LOSE OPTIONS OF BRAIN SURGERY Charlie Teo insisted in podcast last week thet he told every patient there were four possible outcomes to their surgery - win-win, win-lose, lose-win and lose-lose. 'Win-win is when I take out the tumour, it buys you some time or cures you everyone's happy,' he told former Wizard Home Loans founder, Mark Bouris. 'A win-lose is I take out the tumour and doesn't make it worse, but it's malignant, you still going to die in three months anyway. 'Lose-win as I do the operation, I'm very aggressive or too aggressive, and you end up being worse than you were before the operation. 'But I've been so aggressive and it actually buys your time but in a bad clinical state. 'And a lose-lose - this is what I say to patients - thankfully, it doesn't happen that often. But I can tell you now there are patients out there who have lost-lost. 'A lose-lose is where I do the operation, you're much worse off than you were before surgery, potentially even dead or paralysed, and it doesn't even buy you any time. 'No advantage at all. 'And so you can fall into any one of those categories. And then I'll leave it up to them.' Advertisement

Dr Teo said he did not charge a fee for one of the operations that's being investigated and denied he was selfish to attempt the surgeries.

'They're just trying to paint me to be some sort of money-hungry, reckless, non-compassionate doctor - I'm not. I just love my work. I love my patients,' he said.

'I'm not trying to deny that complications happen. They do.'

A week-long commission hearing in Sydney has so far heard from family members of two female patients, one from WA and another from Melbourne, who claim among other things they weren't sufficiently informed of the risks involved with the surgery.

But Dr Teo said he previously had a good relationship with the husbands of the patients and they had been 'coerced' into making complaints by other doctors.

The commission heard from a man on Tuesday who said Dr Teo didn't adequately explain the risks involved with operating to remove 60 per cent of his wife's brain tumour.

Despite being told there was a risk of partial paralysis and memory loss, the woman opted to undergo the surgery, because she was already bound to a wheelchair and terminally ill.

'He never once turned around and said to my wife 'you might not come out of this',' her husband told the commission.

In a podcast with Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris last week, Dr Teo blamed 'jealous rivals' for the complaints against him, and said they had 'blood on their hands' for preventing him from operating.

He also said he had performed 11,000 successful brain tumour operations which had been overlooked by his critics.

'I don't know why a particular journalist or particular newspaper, a particular show or 14 particular neurosurgeons have taken on this task of destroying me,' Mr Teo, 64, told Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris on his Straight Talk podcast.

'But as long as they understand they have blood on their hands.

'I really want them to know that. I want them to know that, you might not like me, you might want to destroy me, and you've succeeded.

'But there's not a day goes by that I don't see a case that's died, or was going to die that I could have saved. It's terrible.'

He added: 'Can we please talk about some of the good results?

'The judge at the time stopped me and said, "We're not here to talk about the 11,000 cases, we're here to talk about the two patients on the table."

'But that's so unfair, because the outcomes of those patients was terrible.

'They're using those bad outcomes to say I should never have operated in the first place. It led to my professional demise.

'There's 11,000 other cases out there, of whom the majority have done well. I think that should be put into the equation as well before you start persecuting someone.'

He said he had been victimised by rivals who had used the system to ruin him.

'It's got nothing to do with fairness and what's right or wrong,' he said.

'It's all got to do with people's agendas. And the agenda is to destroy Charlie Teo.

'And they have succeeded.'
Two girls left to die in a hot car by their negligent mum were covered in blisters and burns, with their skin 'peeling off' as paramedics tried to revive them, a court has been told.

The horrific injuries of Darcy-Helen, 2.5, and Chloe-Ann, 1, were revealed as their mother Kerri-Ann Conley pleaded guilty at Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday to causing their untimely deaths nearly four years ago.

Conley cried and wiped her eyes throughout proceedings as the scale of her 'stupid' and selfish' acts after failing to take the two girls inside was laid bare.

'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 told the court during her submissions.

The court was told both girls had significant burns, blisters and broken skin across their bodies when they were eventually taken from the hot car on November 23, 2019.

Darcy-Helen and Chloe-Ann had been left in the sweltering family car since sunrise that day after Ms Conley returned home from a friend's house.

Kerri-Ann Conleys daughters Darcy-Helen Conley (left) and Chloe-Ann were found dead in Conleys car, parked outside her Waterford West home in November 2019. Picture: Supplied / Channel 9

Conley's charges were downgraded from murder after she entered guilty pleas to manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: Facebook.

'The skin was peeling off as the paramedics performed CPR,' Ms Dennis said.

Autopsies confirmed the girls died of hyperthermia, but a time of death could not be properly established.

Family members, including Conley's mother and the father of one of the children, Peter Jackson, sat in the back of Brisbane Supreme Court as the horrific series of events was laid bare.

The court was told Conley took Darcy-Helen and Chloe-Ann 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.

Summarising the agreed facts, 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 61.5 degrees throughout the day, the court was told.

Phone records revealed Conley was using her mobile phone until after 5am 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.

At this point, both girls had died.

Home surveillance cameras captured Conley disposing of a plastic bag in a bin.

During their investigations, officers found several small clip-seal bags  which they suspected contained residue of drugs  inside the bag.

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 court was told Conley (right) had previously left the girls in the car. Picture: Supplied

Peter Jackson, Darcy-Helens father, watched Conleys sentencing from the back of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The children's skin was covered in blisters, was hot to touch and peeled off as paramedics attempted to treat them, Ms Dennis said.

She told the court that Conley gave a false account of what happened the night before to police in a bid to minimise her involvement.

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 that 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.

'It represents a complete abrogation of her duties as the mother and primary carer of her children,' she said.

Ms Dennis described Conley as a 'heavy and frequent' drug user.

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 Queensland legislation introduced just a few weeks before the incident that 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, Conley quietly replied: 'No, Your Honour.'

Jeffrey Hunter KC, Conley's barrister, told the court that his client's guilt would burden her for the rest of her life.

'(It was) a tremendously stupid, arguably selfish and admittedly grossly negligent decision to leave the children in the car,' Mr Hunter said.

Conley had a poor relationship with her mother, who had not visited her in custody for three years, the court was told.

Mr Hunter said his client had otherwise been described as a doting and devoted mother to her daughters.

'She never exhibited the slightest animosity to her children,' he said.

The court was told Conley was forthwith about what happened when paramedics attended by admitting she had fallen asleep.

Supreme Court justice Peter Applegarth will sentence Conley at a later date.
Shield your eyes, Greta!

A 17-year-old schoolboy has exposed the gargantuan carbon footprint of some of America's most flagrant gas guzzlers by tallying up the Co2 emissions from all their private jet flights in 2022.

At the top of the list is Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tom Siebel - whose 2022 carbon footprint was nearly 300 times the size of the average American's.

Other offenders are Rupert Murdoch and his jet-setting family, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Pitbull and Jeff Bezos.

Repeat offender: Kim Kardashian owns her own plane and makes frequent use of it. She was 52nd on the list, taking 99 flights, emitting 1,486.24 metric tons of Co2

Calling the campaign the Climate Jets project ranks, Shendure, a self-professed physics whiz, told The New York Times Tuesday that he came up with the idea after Twitter decided to block an account that had been tracking the private flights of Elon Musk, in December.

Musk, the site's new owner, would also engage in mass suspensions of a half dozen journalists he claimed 'doxxed' him for posting Tweets related to the tracked flights.

Here to shame your carbon footprint: Akash Shendure, 17

At the time, the decision stoked fears over Musk's position of power as the new head of one of the world's premiere social media platforms - and spurred Shendure to pursue his own tracking effort - this one geared toward affluent people in general who regularly fly in private jets.

Looking to see what data was publicly available, the teenager quickly drew on what few resources were publicly available, gleaning the locations from various high-profile aircraft from a compilation created by a network of volunteers, and learning the carbon dioxide emissions for each type of fuel through government data.

Identification numbers for the jets - many of which belong to businessmen and stars who have criticized efforts to quell global warming - came from a database designed by the 20-year-old operator of the since-pulled Elon tracker, Jack Sweeney.

In 2021, Musk offered Sweeney, 20, $5,000 to take down the account, which he saw as a risk to his safety. In December, after taking the reigns of the multibillion-dollar company, Musk pulled the account, arguing that profiles that publish where people were located in 'real-time' were a 'physical safety violation.'

Musk, meanwhile, also made Shendure's list as the world's 41st worst offender in regards to emissions, blamed for 1,699 tons this past year alone.

Shendure's calculations further found the Tesla CEO's private aircraft emissions surpass the collective carbon footprint of 109 average Americans, achieved after 190 flights in a single aircraft - or 14-and-half straight days in the air.

The rapper Pitbull was 11th on the list, with a Co2 emission of 3,156.07 metric tons

Now fully up in running, the interactive tracker, which constantly being updated in the real time, has unmasked some the most egregious culprits when it comes to air travel

Many to make the list have now been unmasked as hypocrites by the Seattle high schooler, after criticizing others' efforts to quell climate change. Pictured are offenders 13 through 29, ranked by the emissions they generate each year through private jet travel

Billionaires such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, and stars like Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Z were also among the top offenders. Pictured are the rest of the well-off polluters that rounded out the top 50

That said, 40 others - including billionaires such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, and stars like Kylie Jenner, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jay Z - far surpassed the outspoken Twitter honcho in terms of pollutants.

But at the outset of his tracking journey in late December, Shendure told the Times that he still did not have the resources necessary to correctly tally the emissions of the world's wealthiest residents.

Speaking to the paper in an interview, he revealed he initially encountered difficulty when it came to calculating exactly how much fuel each jet consumes.

However, in a stroke of luck, a company that sold this type of data - which was not named in the Times piece - inexplicably gifted the youngster the information when he reached out and asked.

Shendure - who also runs a website that provides various math activities and services for students and teachers - reportedly told the company that he needed the information for an educational project.

No laughing matter! Billionaire Bill Gates was 13th on the list with a 2022 carbon footprint that is equal to that of 197 average Americans

Kim Kardashian proudly showing off her own jet - Kim Air - in an episode of The Kardashians

'They sent it to me, which was really nice of them,' he told the Times on Tuesday.

After obtaining that elusive data, Shendure proceeded to analyze the information using programming languages Python and R, and went on to build the fully interactive website completely from scratch.

Within weeks, Shendure said that he discovered that well over 100 people who own private jets are emitting at the very least dozens - and in many cases, hundreds - of times what the average American does in a year, solely through flying.

The realization, Shendure said, came as particularly pronounced due to the fact that Americans boast some of the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world.

'It was surprising to me that this wasnt being talked about more,' he told the paper, adding that he spends most of his free time on the pet project.

Now fully up in running, the interactive tracker, which constantly being updated in the real time, has successfully unmasked some the most egregious culprits when it comes to air travel.

The worst polluter: CEO of C3 Energy, Thomas Siebel

Simultaneously, many to make the list, as previously mentioned, have been unmasked as hypocrites by the Seattle high schooler.

Siebel, along with the prominent Murdoch and DeVos families, rounded out the top three - who collectively account for the same amount of yearly emissions as nearly 850 ordinary Americans.

Siebel, the 70-year-old founder of Silicon Valley software company Siebel Systems and the founder and chairman of AI firm C3.ai, has repeatedly voiced concerns over climate change.

Just last month, the tech mogul - who is worth more than $3.5billion - penned an open letter touting the importance of AI in the country's fight to address the ongoing phenomenon.

In a piece titled 'Without AI, we wont meet ESG goals and address climate change,' Siebel wrote: 'The world is in a precarious condition due to climate change.

'Not surprisingly, companies are facing immense pressure from investors and customers to improve their transparency and performance on ESG issues, and many are getting positive feedback for their success.

'But the current state of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs is not making an adequate difference for climate change fast enough.'

Those assertions came from the single worst offender when it comes to air travel pollutants, who, according to Shendure, spent a full 35 days in the air in 2022, taking more than 458 flights one three different private planes.

Similarly, the second worst polluter according to Shendure's calculations, News Corp kingpin Murdoch and his clan, recently expressed a desire to move his media outlets in his native Australia toward a more carbon-neutral future.

The change of heart from the 91-year-old mogul - whose media empire includes Fox News - came years of casting doubt on global warming and attacking politicians who favored corrective action as a solution.

The third worst offender, 65-year-old DeVos, is no different - in 2017 she underwent a swift about face in her previously neutral stance toward climate change, which saw the Trump staffer keep quiet about its inherent dangers.

Last year, according to Shendure, the DeVos family - who live in a sprawling, multimillion-dollar, 22,000-square-foot mansion overlooking to Michigan's Lake Macatawa - took 597 private flights in three aircraft last year, for a total of 911.38 hours, or 37.97 days, in the air.

In fourth place was American billionaire businessman and climate change advocate Samuel Zell, the founder and chairman of private investment firm Equity Group Investments.

In 2018, Zells company issued $400 million in green bonds, expected to generate proceeds of $396.7 million, which the Zell, 81, at the time said would be funneled into green real estate projects.

Last year, Zell took 381 flights in three separate aircraft, for a grand total of 795.81 hours in the air - or just over 33 days.

Other billionaires such as Mike Bloomberg and Robert Kraft, both 81, rounded out the top ten - with each man responsible for just under 3,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions apiece.

Elon Musk and Taylor Swift also appeared on the list of the 100 worst offenders

Also near the top of the rankings were fierce climate change activists Gates, 67, and rival Jeff Bezos - both of whom recently defended their private-plane use by saying the fuel they use is 'sustainable' and thus eco-friendly.

Gates, the 13th worst in terms of jet pollution, told BBC earlier this month after being pressed on whether or not he was a hypocrite for espousing climate change warnings - while jetting around the world on his massively polluting private plane - insisted that he was not part of the problem.

Gates, who is worth $117billion, argued that because of the amount of money he pays Climeworks - a company which, for a monthly fee, offsets carbon emissions, he should be exempt from being grouped in with other tone-deaf jet setters.

The Microsoft founder said not only was he 'comfortable' with his position, but touted his sustainable-energy research company Breakthrough Energy.

Bezos, meanwhile, came in 38th, with the Amazon boss' jet travel the equivalent of that of 114 average Americans, according to the schoolboy's calculations.

Ahead of Bezos were several other A-listers including Seinfeld, Jay Z, and Mark Zuckerberg, all of whom have expressed a desire to address rising green house emissions.

Nearing the top 50 were Kardashian, 42, and storied director Stephen Spielberg, 76, whose personal flights accounted for just under 1,500 metric tons of emissions each -equal to that of more than 99 Americans.

Other notable names to grace the lists included Taylor Swift, 25-year-old Jenner, and Dr Phil, whose 2022 emissions each stood at more than 60 times that of the average American.


By Kasit Piromya



The invasion of Russian forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 did not result in a quick victory as planned by the Russian authorities or as expected by the international community. With the surprising ability of the Ukrainian side to resist Russian aggression, the war has become a protracted one with no end in sight. However, Ukraine has suffered immensely since becoming a battleground, resulting in huge outflows of refugees to neighboring countries and large-scale internal displacement. Destruction is all about for the eyes to see and for hearts and minds to shudder at.





Each side is entrenched in its will and determination. Ukraine wants to expel the Russians from its territory and regain its full sovereignty. Russia's government wants to make sure that Ukraine will not become a bulwark of the Western world, led by the U.S. that could threaten its security and existence. Russia has psyched itself into thinking that it cannot and will not be defeated, and therefore came out with the implicit threat of the use of tactical nuclear weapons early in the conflict.



There has been a lull in the fighting in the last few months interspersed with missile attacks by the Russian side. This lull, intended or otherwise, has given each side time to recuperate, regroup, and rebuild. The Russian side went about its mobilization plans, analyzing and examining lessons learned from its military's shortcomings. Ukraine's appeals for more arms, aerial defense capacity, and financial support are being answered by its Western allies, members of NATO, as well as the European Union.



Both sides are, therefore, ready for more war. Larger-scale conventional warfare is anticipated by all concerned, observers, combatants, and bystanders alike. In this upcoming spring season, once the battle restarts more of Ukraine will be destroyed. The Ukrainians will suffer more and the world will continue to suffer the consequences of unprecedented sanctions against the Russian Federation.



But in the midst of this gloomy scenario and human tragedy, there will be one encouraging sign, namely, that with the continuation of the conflict at a larger scale or with enlarged conventional arms battles and an increased likelihood that the outcome will be a decisive one, the possibility of any recourse to the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian side will, in all likelihood, become remote and unnecessary.



It is largely accepted or understood that the Russian side possesses the overwhelming conventional forces advantage in this conflict, both in terms of men and weapons.



Ukraine might be able to obtain a better set of modern arms and equipment from the West, but they are still limited in number and the training necessary to use these new armaments would take time. By then the Russians would be returning to the battlefield in larger numbers, with lessons learned and improved strategy.



The odds, by common sense and statistics, are not in favor of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leadership cannot continue to think in terms of victory on the battlefield. They have to seriously take into consideration the devastation of their country over the past twelve months and the likelihood of more destruction to come.



In life, sometimes we talk about the principle of damage control; to retain what one has and not lose more. The sooner all sides come to the negotiating table, the conventional warfare can end and the use of tactical nuclear weapons will no longer be even a remote possibility but an impossibility altogether.



In the meantime, the international community, which has been immensely negatively affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, can no longer afford to remain idle and continue to live in hardship, fear, and uncertainty. The citizens of the world have, therefore, every right and responsibility to call on and appeal to the Russian and Ukrainian leadership as well as to their respective partners and allies to come to their senses, forge a compromise, and work together for the common good of mankind and humanity.



One side can be victorious on the battlefield. But such an outcome would not really resolve the problem of the inevitable sense of loss by the losing side; that would remain. Animosity in the hearts and minds of the losers would linger on. Re-dress and revenge would become part of their mindset, waiting for the time and opportunity to emerge and break out.



Humankind is endowed with both the ability to build as well as to destroy. In the case of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it has not gone to the edge or to the brink or to a state of no return. One can always say "enough is enough"; a phone call by one leader could bring about a ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table.



The world may soon witness larger-scale conventional warfare between Ukraine and Russia breaking out in a few weeks' time. But why should we allow that to happen in order to let someone satisfy their ambition and animal instinct for destruction? Human beings possess both animal instincts as well as the intellectual and spiritual capacity to do positive things. We can, thus, control ourselves with this human endowment and act accordingly. We can, therefore, stop the war now.



We can deny any path for nuclear devastation here. And in this context, both President Joe Biden and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the one hand, and President Vladimir Putin on the other, can surely revert to the nobler side of their human nature. War can end. Peace can have a chance and the moment.





Kasit Piromya is a former Foreign Minister of Thailand under Abhisit Vejjajiva from 2008 to 2011, as well as a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (APLN). This article is published in cooperation with the APLN (www.apln.network).




Microsoft founder Bill Gates held a closed-door dinner for some of Australia's billionaires during a recent trip to Sydney.

The billionaire invited an exclusive list of VIPs to the dinner, where they discussed the pandemic, vaccines and philanthropy.

It is believed Gates encouraged the Aussie billionaires to give away more of their wealth, following in his footsteps.

Those at the dinner included Atlassian's Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson, fellow co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Canva's Mel Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, as well as its chief product officer Cameron Adams and his wife Lisa Miller.

Others at the dinner included Daniel Petre, VC firm Airtree's 'partner emeritus', and MYOB founder Craig Winkler and his wife Di Winkler.

Bill Gates and sister Kristianne Gates at the Australian Open on his recent trip to the country

Canva's Mel Perkins and Cliff Obrecht were both at the dinner hosted by Gates in Sydney

Gates, who is the world's fourth-richest man and biggest philanthropist, was said to have focused on appealing to the new tech billionaires in Australia.

He is said to be keen to raise Australia philanthropy efforts, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Currently, the country's philanthropic and charitable total represents about 0.8 per cent of GDP. This is behind the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Gates told the billionaires about the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in helping eradicate polio and malaria in developing countries.

He also discussed the pandemic and the importance of MRNA vaccines to fight future viruses, before encouraging the others to discuss their own endeavours.

Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, pictured with wife Annie Todd, also attended the gathering

Each person at the dinner were given the floor to discuss their own charitable giving, with the Winkles speaking about their work with the Yajilarra Trust which donates more than $100 million a year to First Nation groups, climate change initiatives and helping the disabled.

Canva's Mel Perkins and Cliff Obrecht spoke of their foundation. While they once said they would be giving away a sizable chunk of their company - once worth US$40 billion - last year they donated $15 million in grants.

Their biggest donation was a $10 million to help with microfinance group GiveDirectly in Malawi.

Sydney billionaire and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson also attended the dinner

Gates made a very public appearance in Australia, attending the Australian Open, the Australian Museum and telling the public to be wary of future pandemics.

He said the next pandemic could be man-made and far more brutal.

Mr Gates told the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney that political leaders needed to set aside their differences and work together to prepare for the next virus.

He called for greater global cooperation using the Covid-19 pandemic as an example of how countries could improve on their response if they worked together.

The Microsoft founder turned philanthropist said a stable international order based on mutual political will is needed in order to deal with future pandemics.

Mr Gates has promised to donate half of his fortune to good causes and to try and bring equality to the health, energy and education industries.
A small clothing store is battling a spree of teen thieves shoving swimwear and other merchandise inside their swimmers or underwear to evade capture.

The female teens have become a headache for staff at the Hippie Garage in Yeppoon, in north-west Queensland, after their store has been targeted by the opportunistic thieves.

The store's CCTV footage recently captured two women snatching swimmers off a clothing rack and hiding them in their pants.

The store's staff say that the teens know the tactic means they will not be searched - and that the store can't re-sell the merchandise.

'Weve noticed that theyve kind of cottoned on that if they put it down their underwear, we cant ask for it back,' store manager Brian Zemek told 7News.

Mr Zemek said the store is being targeted by teens and even children.

'About the last month, weve had multiple young offenders in,' he said.

'All under 18, ranging from, like, even seven-year-olds.'

Teenage thieves targeting Yeppoon's Hippie Garage have resorted to shoving merchandise into their underwear to avoid being caught

Mr Zemek stated that he and his fellow staff are over having to deal with the teens.

'Weve really had enough. Its just happening way too much,' he said.

Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia could not find any official reports of stealing at the store within the past month.
An Ohio family have told of their troubling medical conditions which suddenly emerged after the February 3 train crash near their home, releasing clouds of toxic waste into the air and rivers.

Chris and Jamie Wallace, who live with their three-year-old daughter in East Palestine, said they were furious at being kept in the dark about the extent of the toxic spill. All three have now been diagnosed with respiratory infections.

'Nobody is saying what's wrong,' he told NewsNation.

'Everybody has rashes, respiratory infections.

'It's downright criminal.'

The Wallace family said they were deeply troubled by their symptoms after the crash

Some residents in East Palestine, Ohio, are experiencing various health issues after a train with hazardous materials derailed nearby. One family says they've now been diagnosed with upper respiratory infections. They join @BrianEntin on #CUOMO. pic.twitter.com/pgSFpw6ZyI  NewsNation (@NewsNation) February 15, 2023

They began to show symptoms hours after the train derailed at around 9pm, they said.

Around 50 cars on the Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, train came off the tracks in a fiery crash - including ten carrying hazardous materials. The toxic material was dealt with in a 'controlled burn', which released vinyl chloride into the air.

More than 3,500 fish have died due to what residents believe is a toxic runoff, and chickens have been found dead in their cages, while footage of the aftermath shows plumes of toxic smoke still lingering in the area.

'It was about 1.30am when we finally got out of there, and the adrenaline started to settle down,' said Chris Wallace.

'We were heading to stay at the hotel with her brother and his foster children for the night, and we started realizing that our breathing was labored.

'Just talking was harder for us.'

His wife Jamie added: 'We were actually just diagnosed with upper respiratory infections.

'Which, ironically, I know a couple of people now that have been given that same diagnosis.

'Just a little suspicious now as to the timing of it. With the chemicals in the air.'

The couple said their house is 'five to seven steps' from the banks of Sulphur Creek, where rescue workers are currently deployed to try and clean up the water.

The Wallace family are living, for now, in a Holiday Inn in West Virginia.

The plume of smoke is seen above East Palestine following the February 3 train crash

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

Over 3,500 fish have died in the immediate area due to what residents believe is toxic runoff

Jamie Wallace said that she returned to the family home on Tuesday to meet with environmental inspectors, but is not convinced they are doing enough.

She said the town, home to 4,700 people, 50 miles north west of Pittsburgh, still smelt dangerously toxic.

'I knew something was different when we left town and there was that chemical smell in your nose,' she said.

'As if you were in the bathroom, and cleaning with bleach, you know? And you walk out and still smell that bleach in your nose.

'That was the way you felt.'

She said that, on nearing the town, 'you can feel that the air is a little bit heavier,' and the creek remains particularly pungent.

'Our air inspection came back good but I actually had to ask the railroad to come back and look at our house,' she said.

'The issue is that they are testing for the air. But they are not testing the soil or the water.'

She told NewsNation there were 'puddles of what looks like vegetable oil on top of the water, floating.'

The Wallaces said they did not trust the information they were being given, and said it was incomplete.

'The railroad sent their senior toxicologist today, to our house in particular, and they said the water was safe,' said Jamie.

'I said, well, we haven't even seen the results of the water tests yet.

'He said they were coming.

'I asked about soil and he said the soil had not been tested yet.'

Chris Wallace added: 'It just seems like everybody let us down.

'The only people who had our back and gave us support: the Holiday Inn in West Virginia has been very good to us, the way stations in the area. Obviously our firefighters did everything they can.

'But nobody else is speaking out. Nobody is saying what's wrong.

'Everybody has rashes, respiratory infections.

'It's downright criminal.'

He said the local community has organized a meeting for next week, with their own independent testing and analysis.

The Wallaces are not alone in their concern.

Amanda Breshears (pictured) said her chickens all died suddenly, without any sign of a predator attacking them

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 evacuated 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.'

Locals are growing increasingly angry 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  said.

'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.

Amanda Breshears said the discovery was deeply upsetting, and worrying.

'I'm beyond upset and quite panicked, because they may be just chickens, but they're family,' she said.

'If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it's going to do to us in 20 years.'
Homeless encampments have sprung up inside crime-riddled Chicago's O'Hare International Airport terminal leaving some concerned for their safety as images of people sleeping in filthy makeshift shelters have emerged.

Thousands of people sleeping rough have sought refuge at the popular airline hub, with many setting up shelters inside the terminal buildings.

Passengers were quick to snap the deteriorating situation with one Twitter user posting a photo of several people sleeping among a throng of belongings near Terminal 1 of the airport.

Other shocking photos show one man collapsed inside an entrance vestibule, another slumped over with no shoes on and a group of half a dozen people who have taken over an indoor area next to the escalators.

O'Hare's growing problem is just a snapshot of a citywide homelessness crisis bubbling under the surface of city decaying from soaring crime rates.

Homeless encampments have overrun crime riddled Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, with some concerned for their safety as images of people sleeping in exits and filthy makeshift shelters continue to emerge

Thousands of people sleeping rough have sought refuge at the popular airport hub, where an average of 2,520 passengers travel each day, according to a study between 2000 and 2020

Passengers travelling through the terminal were quick to snap the deteriorating situation

With a picture of one such encampment, one Twitter user questioned the city's leadership but was promptly responded to by airport officials.

O'Hare said: 'We appreciate your feedback. Safety, security and an optimal passenger experience is top priority for the CDA, and we have forwarded your message along to our security team.

'We apologize for any inconvenience caused and hope your next visit to ORD is more enjoyable.'

One user called the scenes at the airport 'dystopian' detailing their uncomfortable experience.

'I flew back to O'Hare, Terminal 3, last week. I had never seen such a homeless problem, in baggage, in the 50 years I have lived in Cook Co,' they wrote.

'It's not even that cold out! Also, aggressively hit-up with 'ya need a ride?' in baggage. It was dystopian.'

In what appears to be a copy and pasted answer, O'Hare Airport responded with a similar mantra thanking the customer for their feedback - with no solutions offered.

Haymarket Center's O'Hare outreach program which connects homeless people staying at the airport with substance abuse counseling, housing and other social services told Block Club Chicago that they're seeing numbers soar.

The organization said they served 25 percent more people in 2022 than in the previous year, and that increased need has continued into 2023.

'Our January at O'Hare was one of the busiest Januarys we ever had,' Jessica Dubuar, director of health and specialty services, told the outlet.

'We are seeing more individuals and more encounters [who are] new to our system.'

The nonprofit, funded by the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Department of Family Support Services, is open 24/7 but does not have sleeping capacity.

According to the city's annual Point In Time count - which assesses sheltered and unsheltered people - it recorded 3,875 people experiencing homelessness in 2022.

The majority of those identified as black, the data shows.

A man lays isolated on the floor of the airport earlier this month in pictures taken by commuters walking through O'Hare

One Twitter user from 2022 posted these pictures and said 'most of the cabins were closed and became a moving shelter CTA is a shelter for homeless. I guess the city didn't do their job well to provide enough shelters'

The issue has been prolific for years, this photo from 2020 shows one homeless man lying by the front entrance - a passenger captioning the photo: 'Don't know if he's dead'

Two employees who work overnight hours as custodians in Terminal 1 and 2 at O'Hare told CBS News that they are concerned for their safety

According to the city's data collection which assesses sheltered and unsheltered people, 3,875 people were recorded experiencing homelessness in 2022

There has also been a 12 percent increase in people living outside and a 20 percent increase in people temporarily staying with others since 2019

According to data from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless about 65,611 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2020.

There has also been a 12 percent increase in people living outside and a 20 percent increase in people temporarily staying with others since 2019.

The roughly 16,000 people living rough are also more susceptible to dying from cold exposure during the winter.

There were four reported deaths from cold exposure in the city in 2020, seven in 2021 and four in 2022, according to data from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Many traveling through the airport have described their shock online, while others have spoken to their safety fears.

'Flew out of @fly2ohare in January. I was shocked by how many homeless there were!' one Twitter user said.

Another quipped: 'I can't even park for longer than 5 seconds to pick my family up from that airport and yet someone lives there.'

One wrote: 'As someone who travels for work often, I do NOT feel safe walking from the parking garage to the terminal.

'So many homeless people all over the hallway and behind garbage cans. Why is this allowed? We are paying high $ for airfare, so we should have a safe walk!'

While one user wondered whether this was affecting visitors to the city: 'What an utter disgrace. No wonder we can't get our tourism numbers back up @PeteButtigieg @chicagosmayor.'

In a post to Facebook with pictures of a number of homeless people sleeping within the terminal one user called upon Chicago's Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot.

'This is what's going on in O'Hare International Airport,' they wrote.

'I find it very strange that when someone important comes to the airport police k-9 and other security officials are putting the homeless people out.

'Lori Lightfoot this needs to be addressed these people need help and all the workers of O'Hare airport needs [sic] to feel safe this is sad and you are a sad mayor y'all only care about y'all self.'

In what appears to be a copy and pasted answer, O'Hare Airport responded with a similar mantra thanking customers for their feedback - with no solutions offered

Two employees who work overnight hours as custodians in Terminal 1 and 2 at O'Hare told CBS News that they are concerned for their safety.

'It's out of control. None of us feel safe,' Vonkisha Chatman told the outlet.

'They will come up behind you, this one man followed us,' Catherine Thompson.

'From the time we get here until the time we leave in the morning, they will be here.'

Chicago has recently trialed controversial guaranteed income payments - which could soon be set to spread across the country.

In December, Cook County, including Chicago, launched an unprecedented scheme which saw 3,200 residents receive $500 a month with no strings attached.

County leaders throughout the US met to announce a network of county-level basic income programs this week, the New York Times reported.

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.
Tourists have been warned to steer clear of a breathtaking rockpool in Bali that has claimed the lives of four travellers in recent years.

The rockpool known as Angel's Billabong is a natural infinity pool that sits between rocky cliffs on the southwestern end of the Nusa Penida Island.

While it attracts visitors from far and wide due to its natural beauty and crystal-clear waters, tourists have been warned it's anything but safe.

The rockpool can at times, be hit by rogue waves, washing swimmers onto the nearby rocks and sweeping them out to sea - with some tragically never making it back to shore.

The rockpool known as Angel's Billabong is a natural infinity pool that sits between rocky cliffs on the southwestern end of the Nusa Penida Island

A video from August last year shows a group of young women swimming freely in the rockpool before a sudden wave comes and washes them away.

Nusa Penida is just a short boat trip from Bali's main island and thanks to social media, Angel's Billabong has quickly earned a name for itself as a must-see.

Instagram and TikTok are flooded with videos and pictures of the tourist hot spot but swimmers have been warned not to venture into the water.

A video from August last year shows a group of young women swimming freely in the rockpool before a sudden wave comes and washes them away.

The group are seen struggling to climb up the rocks as a wall of thick white water crashes up against them.

Thankfully, all four of them were unharmed but the footage shocked many.

TikTok and Instagram are flooded with footage of Angel's Billabong that many describe as a must-see for tourists

One traveller said they'd gone to the billabong with a guide who alerted them when it was time to get out.

'After 20 minutes, he told us to get out, 5 minutes later big waves were coming,' they said.

'That place is magnificent but an absolute death trap! Luckily we were warned by Balinese friends before going,' said another.

'Deceivingly calm one second, wild the next,' one person claimed.

The most recent death was in 2018, when 46-year-old Chinese national Qiuwei Anhui was swept out to sea while taking a selfie.

A year before, Kiwi man Temson Mannie Junior Simeki, known as 'TJ', died after he dove in to rescue his German girlfriend who'd been carried out by waves into the ocean.

The 23-year-old's girlfriend was rescued by an Australian snorkeller.

In 2016, Perth man Brad Williams had been walking near Angel's Billabong with his Balinese wife on their honeymoon and their eight-year-old niece when tragedy struck.

His wife and the young girl were hit by a rogue wave and were swept out to sea with only Mr Williams making it back to dry land alive.

Visitors are encouraged to enjoy the view from above and not get into the water even at low tide.
A Missouri man who was among the most prominent Neo-Nazis at the infamous 2017 Charlottesville rally has shot himself dead on what was supposed to be the first day of his drug trafficking trial.

Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, a 35-year-old father of five young children, was found dead by his wife outside their spacious $400,000 Rolla, Missouri home on January 30.

He was due in court in Arizona that day, charged with smuggling 15kg of fentanyl pills in his car as he crossed from Mexico into the U.S. in March 2021.

Von Nukem admitted that he had been paid $215 to transport the drugs.

Von Nukem became interested in Nazi Germany during high school, and as an adult in 2012 changed his name from Teddy Landrum in a nod to his German heritage and the video-game character Duke Nukem.

He travelled to Virginia for the 2017 Unite the Right march which shocked the nation, and was among the tiki torch-carrying white supremacists who paraded through the city chanting: 'Jews will not replace us'.

Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, 35, is pictured in a black shirt at the August 11, 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia

Von Nukem is seen far right in a black t-shirt, holding a tiki torch on August 11, 2017

Counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was deliberately mown down and killed during the rally, and the then-president, Donald Trump, sparked outrage by saying there were 'good people on both sides' at the August 11-12 rally.

Von Nukem was among a group of white supremacists who beat a black man, Deandre Harris, almost to death, The Daily Beast reported.

Heather Heyer, 32, was hit by a speeding car and killed in Charlottesville in August 2017

He told his local newspaper, The Springfield News-Leader, at the time of the rally that he supported Trump and had adopted the white supremacist worldview that whites are now 'disadvantaged.'

'I don't mind showing solidarity with them,' he said.

'You have to pick your side. You have to throw your support behind the army that is fighting for you.'

He said his wife, who did not attend the Charlottesville rally, was 'more hardcore' and 'further to the right' than he was.

'Politics is violence. Period. End of story. And women shouldn't be involved in violence,' he said.

'They should leave that to the people who do violence best, which are the men.

'If something were to happen to me, that would be rather bad. But if something were to happen to both us, that would be catastrophic for our children.'

A car driven by James Alex Field Jnr is seen plowing into the crowds in Charlottesville. Fields was sentenced to life in prison for murder in June 2019

Von Nukem was found dead outside the Rolla, Missouri home (pictured) which he shared with his wife and five children

When Von Nukem failed to appear in court for his January 30 hearing, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez issued a warrant for his arrest.

At almost exactly the same time, Von Nukem's wife found his body outside their home in the snow, still warm, and called police.

'Suicide notes were found at the scene, left for law enforcement and his children, however handwriting was somewhat inconsistent,' the coroner's report - obtained by The Daily Beast - states.

His obituary noted he was 'a different type of fellow'.

'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,' his family wrote.

'He will be truly missed and loved. May he always be watching over his friends and family forever and always.'
Rare and never-before seen video of the first ever dive to the wreckage of the Titanic after its discovery in 1985 is being released on Wednesday.

The footage, which was shot in 1986, is being published by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will premiere at 7.30pm and show the historic dive in unprecedented detail.

More than 80 minutes of footage on the WHOI's YouTube channel will chronicle some of the remarkable achievements of the dive, led by Robert Ballard.

The footage is being shared to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of James Cameron's classic disaster movie about the ill-fated ship.

It marked the first time human eyes had seen the giant ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the frigid North Atlantic in April 1912.

Around 1,500 people died during the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.

Rare and generally unseen video of the first dive to the wreck of the Titanic after its 1985 discovery will be published on Wednesday

This image from the video shows the bow of the Titanic 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986

A team from Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership with the French oceanographic exploration organization IFREMER, discovered the final resting place of the ship in 12,400 feet of water on September 1, 1985, using a towed underwater camera.

Nine months later, a WHOI team returned to the site in the famous three-person research submersible Alvin and the remotely-operated underwater exploration vehicle Jason Jr., which took iconic images of the ship's interior.

The footage is being released in conjunction with the 25th anniversary release of the remastered version of Titanic on February 10.

'More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,' ocean explorer and filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement.

'Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr. ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.'

Explorer Robert Ballard (seen above in 2015) led the team which found the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1985

The footage is being released in conjunction with the 25th anniversary release of the remastered version of Titanic on February 10

Around 1,500 people died during the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City

The story behind the discovery of the Titanic wreck in 1985 involved the US Navy.

The mission involved tricking the Soviet Union into thinking that the US military was only searching for the doomed ocean liner when in reality it was also looking for two missing nuclear submarines.

The Titanic was eventually found on the ocean floor by the team led by Ballard but it all began three years prior when he was a naval intelligence officer and oceanographer trying to develop his own remote-control underwater vehicle.

But he was running out of money and needed funding, so appealed to the Navy's Deputy Chief of Operations Ronald Thunman, according to CBS News.

'He said, "All my life I've wanted to go find the Titanic",' Thunman said. 'And I was taken aback by that.

'I said, "Come on, this is a serious, top secret operation. Find the Titanic? That's crazy!"'

Thunman agreed to fund the Titanic expedition on one condition - that Ballard use the money and the time to also locate two nuclear submarines that went missing in the Atlantic in the 1960s.
Elon Musk joked that he appointed his pet dog as the new CEO of Twitter in a series of tweets Tuesday night.

The billionaire posted a picture of his pet Shiba Inu - named Floki - wearing a Steve Jobs-style sweater while sitting behind a desk and stamping his paw-signature on Twitter letterhead.

'The new CEO of Twitter is amazing,' Musk wrote. 'So much better than the other guy.'

A pair of follow-up tweets showed Floki wearing a pair of glasses while climbing across his executive's desk and pawing through a spread of Twitter paperwork.

'Hes great with numbers!' Musk wrote in one tweet, adding 'And has style,' in another.

The humorous tweets come as Musk told the World Government Summit conference in Dubai that a new CEO should be running Twitter, and that he was likely to have one in place by the end of 2023.

Speaking to the summit by video call, Musk said it had been a 'rollercoaster' since he took the reins at Twitter last year.

'I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company,' he told the World Government Summit conference in Dubai via video.

'I need to stabilize the organization and make sure it's in a healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out... I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year.'

Musk paid $44 billion for his favorite social media platform and exiting day-to-day operations would allow him to deflect criticism that he is neglecting his other ventures, especially car company Tesla, which has seen its share price plummet since he took over Twitter.

Forbes estimates Musk's wealth at just under $200 billion. The Forbes analysis ranks Musk as the second-wealthiest person on Earth, just behind French luxury brand magnate Bernard Arnault.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk tells the World Government Summit in Dubai that a new CEO might be running Twitter by the end of 2023, after a 'rollercoaster' since he took full ownership of the online platform in October

UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad al-Gergawi (L-on stage) speaks with Elon Musk attending the World Government Summit virtually in Dubai on February 15, 2023

Elon Musk sits between Rupert and Elisabeth Murdoch as they watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII from a box in State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., February 12, 2023

Musk has given few clues to what type of leader he is looking for.

On December 21, when he first announced he planned to step down as CEO, he said only that he would limit his own duties to software and server engineering once 'someone foolish enough' had taken his place.

Since Musk took full ownership of Twitter on October 27, the platform has undergone a series of rapid changes, with its CEO courting high praise and harsh criticism in equal measure.

'It has been a rollercoaster,' Musk told the Dubai conference.

Last week, thousands of Twitter users reported problems using the platform as the social network allowed paying users to post tweets as long as 4,000 characters.

US tech media reported that Musk put out word to Twitter staff to put aside work on new features to focus on troubleshooting.

Despite the difficulties, the Twitter boss encouraged more communication.

'As a forum for communication, it's great. And I would just encourage more communication... to sort of speak in an authentic voice.

'Sometimes, people will have someone else be their sort of Twitter manager or something like that. People should just do their own tweets... I think that's the way to do it.'

Elon Musk talks virtually during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023

A sign at Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco, Dec. 8, 2022

Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla.

He donated shares worth $1.95 billion in Tesla - now the world's most valuable car maker - to charity last year, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Tuesday.

Musk donated about 11.6 million shares between August and December last year, according to the filing, which did not say which organization or organizations were the recipients.

The Tesla CEO signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, a commitment by some billionaires to give at least half their wealth to philanthropy in their lifetime or upon their death.

In 2001, he set up the Musk Foundation, offering grants for the 'development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity' among other causes, according to its website.

In recent months, however, more attention has been focused on the chaos surrounding his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and the Ukrainian military's use of Musk's Starlink satellites for their communications.

At today's conference in Dubai, Musk offered a wide-ranging 35-minute discussion that touched on his fears about artificial intelligence, the collapse of civilization and the possibility of space aliens.

But questions about Twitter kept coming back up as Musk described both Tesla and SpaceX as able to function without his direct, day-to-day involvement.

'Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse,' he said. 'There's work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering.'

Musk also sought to portray his takeover of San Francisco-based Twitter as a cultural correction.

'I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world,' he said.

'And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche.'

Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pictured opening a new Tesla Gigafactory in Germany, March 2022

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Awards ceremony, in Berlin, on December 1, 2020

Musk's takeover at Twitter has seen mass firings and other cost-cutting measures as he tries to maximize profits at the company.

However, some of Musk's decisions have conflicted with the reasons that journalists, governments and others rely on Twitter as an information-sharing platform.

Musk on Wednesday described the need for users to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. However, a confused rollout to a paid verified account system saw some impersonate famous companies, leading to a further withdrawal of needed advertising cash to the site.

But Musk also has become a thought leader for some as well, albeit an oracle that is trying to get six hours of sleep a night despite the challenges at Twitter.

Musk described his children as being 'programmed by Reddit and YouTube.' He warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated 'very carefully,' describing it as akin to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs.

He also cautioned against having a single civilization or 'too much cooperation' on Earth, saying it could 'collapse' a society that's like a 'tiny candle in a vast darkness.'

And asked about the existence of aliens, Musk had a firm response.

'The crazy thing is, I've seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever. And I think I'd know because of SpaceX,' he said.

'I don't think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me.'
New Zealand has been rocked by a 'massive' 6.3 magnitude earthquake that was felt by 70,000 Kiwis across both north and south islands.

The 'scary' tremor was centred around its capital Wellington on the north island on Wednesday at 7.38pm NZDT (local time 5:38 AEDT) around 50km northwest of Paraparaumu at a depth of 48km.

GeoNet classed the quake as strong after it struck with a jolt and was followed by 30 seconds of moderate shaking.

A Christchurch resident told the New Zealand Herald the quake had a rolling sensation.

Chief political reporter Aaron Dahmen from Newstalk ZB was caught up in the chaos and said his whole house in Wellington shook aggressively after he felt a 'big bump'.

The 'scary' tremor was centred around its capital Wellington on the north island on Wednesday at 7.38pm NZDT around 50km northwest of Paraparaumu at a depth of 48km

New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency said there is no tsunami threat and no significant damage reported (pictured, Wellington)

'A steady rumble followed for some time,' he said.

'It was like a freight train hurtling past our house,' David Haxton from Raumati Beach north of Wellington said, while other Kiwis described it as 'massive' and 'scary'.

National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis told stuff.co.nz she saw people duck for cover under tables when the tremor struck while she was at a function in Wellington.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said his words over the earthquake amid the flood plagued nation were 'unprintable'.

'I was looking out the window for a plague of locusts,' Mr Hipkins said.

A supermarket worker from New World Metro in the capital's CBD said no items in the store had fallen off shelves.

'I thought it was the wind to begin with,' the employee said.

New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency said there is no tsunami threat and no significant damage reported.

A spokesperson from Fire and Emergency New Zealand reported no incidents related to the quake.

But Wellington commuters should expect severe delays after the Metlink train services were forced to run at 25km/h until further notice.

Another earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 also hit the country 20 minutes after the 6.3 tremor.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (pictured) said his words over the earthquake amid the flood plagued nation were 'unprintable'

Another earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 also hit the country 20 minutes after the 6.3 tremor

The quake comes a day after the country declared a national state of emergency due to widespread flooding and damage from Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle (pictured, the New Zealand Defence Force clears fallen trees in the wake of the tropical storm Gabrielle on Tuesday)

Tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, were without power due to destructive winds from the storm, including the entire city of Napier (pictured, flooding in Napier on Wednesday)

It struck 45km southwest of Taumarunui in the central north island and was at a depth of 78km.

It comes a day after the country declared a national state of emergency due to widespread flooding and damage from Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle.

Thousands of Kiwis on the North Island woke up to no power, flooded homes, road closures and phone outages on Tuesday after the massive storm caused major chaos and cut off communities, leaving an enormous trail of destruction in its wake.

Tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, were without power due to destructive winds from the storm, including the entire city of Napier.
At least four people have been killed, including a child, and 1,400 people are still missing in New Zealand after the country was battered by Cyclone Gabrielle which brought extensive flooding and landslides.

Military helicopters plucked storm survivors from their rooftops and airlifted them to safety today as rescuers begin to reach regions cut off by days of torrential rain and gale-force winds.

Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's north on Monday and has brought more destruction to the nation of five million than any weather event in years, with 10,500 people displaced.

The disaster has severed roads, collapsed houses and cut power across a swathe of New Zealand's North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country's five million residents.

The human toll continues to rise. Police said the body of a child was found in Eskdale on Hawke's Bay on the remote east coast, with the youngster 'believed to have been caught in rising floodwater'.

Military helicopters plucked storm survivors from their rooftops and airlifted them to safety today as rescuers begin to reach regions cut off by days of torrential rain and gale-force winds

People stand on a rooftop of a home waiting to be winched to safety by helicopter in the Esk Valley, near Napier, New Zealand, on Wednesday

A view of flood damage in the the aftermath of cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, on Wednesday

Three other bodies have also been recovered, including a woman killed when her house was crushed by a landslide and a victim believed to be a volunteer firefighter trapped by a collapsing home near Auckland.

'The devastation is widespread and has taken a toll beyond property and livelihoods to people,' New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

'There have been four confirmed fatalities and the grief must be unimaginable.'

The disaster has severed roads, collapsed houses and cut power across a swathe of New Zealand's North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country's five million residents.

With the cellphone network disrupted, police have received 1,442 reports of people who are still 'uncontactable' in the North Island by Wednesday afternoon.

'We expect the vast majority of these people will be accounted for,' Hipkins said, 'but there are several people missing for whom police hold grave concerns.'

In response, the New Zealand military deployed three NH90 helicopters on reconnaissance and rescue flights to the hard-hit Hawke's Bay area, finding families, pets and workmates clustered on sodden zinc rooftops - surrounded by a sea of murky, debris-filled floodwater.

'In some cases, floodwaters were up to the second storey of homes where people were being rescued,' a military spokesperson said.

With the storm now fading into the South Pacific, rescue teams are finally reaching regions cut off by the storm.

At an evacuation centre in Whangarei in the far north, Margaret, 66 - who asked for her surname not to be published - said she fled her property when floodwater poured in and the power went out.

An aerial photo taken on February 14 shows flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in Awatoto, near the city of Napier.

This handout photo taken on February 14 shows a flooded area in Wairoa on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island

Military helicopters plucked storm survivors from their rooftops and airlifted them to safety today as rescuers begin to reach regions cut off by days of torrential rain and gale-force winds

The army clears fallen trees near Matarangi, in the Coromandel area of the North Island on Tuesday

Her daughter, who lives 600 kilometres (373 miles) away in Napier on the east coast, was also forced out of her home when a landslide hit the area.

'She'd been calling me earlier, checking I was okay and then she's had this happen; it's unbelievable, really,' she told AFP.

'She's young, so it's a big setback for her and her husband. I'll be ok, I've got people up here I can stay with and things will dry out eventually.'

Emergency minister Kieran McAnulty indicated that around 10,500 people had been displaced. Officials estimate 160,000 households are still without power.

McAnulty hailed the 'phenomenal' efforts of rescue workers and military personnel who plucked 'roughly 300 people from rooftops' in Hawke's Bay - a sprawling expanse of lush farmland, rugged mountains and hard-to-reach towns.

He said a group of 60 people were rescued from one large building marooned by floodwaters.

Aerial images from the area showed a once-bucolic landscape riven with torrents of floodwater, latticed with crumbling roads and scarred by massive landslides.

Authorities on Tuesday announced a national state of emergency for only the third time in the country's history. The other two were for the 2019 Christchurch attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic.

A house sits destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Domain Crescent in Muriwai followingf Cyclone Gabrielle on February 14

A house sits destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Moututara Road in Muriwai on February 14

An aerial photo taken on February 15 shows flooding in the city of Napier, situated on the North Island's east coast.

An aerial photo taken on February 15 shows flooding in the city of Napier, situated on the North Island's east coast

Two huge poplar trees succumbed to Cyclone Gabrielle near Warkworth on February 14 in Auckland, New Zealand

Cyclone Gabrielle formed off the northeastern coast of Australia in the Coral Sea on February 8, before barrelling across the South Pacific.

It bore down on New Zealand's northern coast on Sunday, bringing gusts of 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour.

Over the next 24 hours, coastal communities were doused with 20 centimetres (almost eight inches) of rain and pounded by 11-metre (36-foot) waves.

Many parts of northern New Zealand were already waterlogged when Cyclone Gabrielle hit, having been drenched by record rainfall two weeks ago.

Scientists say Gabrielle had fed off unusually warm seas, driven by a combination of climate change and La Nina weather patterns.
China attaches great importance to Zambia's debt issue: FM spokesperson

Xinhua) 10:12, February 15, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to play a constructive role in the settlement of the Zambian debt issue, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

As a friendly country of Zambia, China always attaches great importance to Zambia's concerns about the debt issue, spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing.

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. The Financial Times has corrected its misrepresentation in an updated version of the story.

In response to a related query, Wang Wenbin said that China was the first international official creditor to implement debt relief for Zambia. As a co-chairman of the Creditor Committee for Zambia, China has facilitated the success of three meetings.

Western commercial creditors and multilateral financial institutions, which account for 70 percent of Zambia's foreign debt, according to data released by Zambia's finance ministry, should shoulder their responsibility and take stronger action to ease Zambia's debt burden, Wang noted.

"We believe that the Zambian government and people are well aware of China's positive contribution to promoting Zambia's national construction and sustainable development, as well as the settlement of the Zambian debt issue," the spokesperson said, adding that the urgent clarification issued by Zambia's Ministry of Finance and National Planning highlighted the unbreakable mutual trust and friendship between China and Zambia.

Wang said some media organizations with ulterior motives tend to interpret out of context and provoke dissension between China and Zambia, as well as between China and Africa, which can neither withstand the scrutiny of facts nor help solve problems. Zambia and the international community can see this very clearly, he added.

"We believe that Zambia's debt restructuring requires mutual understanding, mutual trust and joint efforts by all stakeholders to find the best solution," Wang said, adding that China will continue to maintain close communication and friendly consultations with Zambia and relevant parties.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)




Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it has opened a massive computing data center for artificial intelligence studies as part of the country's plan to build a world-class AI research network.







The Research Data Center of AI Innovation Hub, located in the Seoul campus of Korea University, is a computing lab with 35 petaFLOPS computers, which enable up to 100 researchers to carry out projects at the same time, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.







FLOPS, standing for floating point operations per second, refers to the unit of measurement that calculates the performance capability of a supercomputer.







One petaFLOPS is equal to 1 quadrillion FLOPS, capable of helping 7.6 billion people make 130,000 calculations per second.







The ministry said it will invest a combined 44.5 billion won ($34.9 million) into the data center by 2025 to integrate AI capabilities of local universities, companies and research centers and establish a national AI research network on a global level.







More than 631 scholars and researchers from 203 institutions participate in state-sponsored AI research projects, like hyperscale deep learning, spatial-temporal reasoning and speech synthesis, at the new data center.







The ministry said the data center will play a role in helping Korea keep up with the rapid change in the AI sector triggered by the emergence of the AI chatbot ChatGPT. (Yonhap)






Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm made just 144 in its first year - highlighting the threat faced by farmers from what he calls council bureaucrats, 'badger vigilantes' and 'cow police'.

The former Top Gear host has been praised for using his hit Amazon Prime show to expose the problems facing the agriculture industry, from meddlesome pen-pushers to uncertainty caused by Brexit.

Working on the farm has previously led the presenter to wonder how farmers 'who don't have Amazon film crews' would survive the removal of agricultural subsidies after Brexit.

Charlie Ireland, who advises Clarkson on how to manage his 1,000-acre farm, predicts the UK will lose '30 per cent' of farmers who can no longer make the industry financially viable, pointing out that Diddly Squat's paltry revenues had also been boosted by media attention.

And in last night's episode, Clarkson stormed out of an Oxfordshire council planning meeting after learning that plans for his Diddly Squat Farm restaurant would be refused.

In episode five, Jeremy Clarkson can be seen attending a planning application meeting, in which his plans for a restaurant on the farm are refused

Despite recording limited profits, the TV personality's farm has 1.34million in assets and 17 employees.

While Clarkson has faced plenty of criticism from locals in the village, he has also won praise from other farmers.

READ MORE HERE: Jeremy Clarkson confirms there WILL be a third season of his hit farming show despite claims Amazon would axe it amid Meghan Markle column backlash Advertisement

Among them is fellow celebrity farmer, Roger Daltrey, former frontman of The Who fame, who texts him: 'If we can't overcome the opposition to diversification schemes, what hope is there for ordinary farmers?'

Jamie Blackett, who farms in Dumfriesshire and has written several books about rural life, said that despite Clarkson's 'slapstick' approach, he 'puts his finger on some of the most important challenges in the British countryside'.

Mr Blackett praised him for standing up to the 'Packhamites' - a reference to naturalist Chris Packham - and 'white settlers clustered around Nimby Central in the former farming community known as the Cotswolds'.

Writing in The Telegraph, he said Clarkson's view of badgers - which '[borders] on clinically psychopathic' - is 'shared by anyone who really cares about our native fauna' due to the harm they do to wildlife and how they contribute to the spread of TB.

But, he adds, the 'bigger theme running through the eight episodes explores his thesis that the post-Brexit plan to remove agricultural subsidies has set British farmers up for catastrophe unless red tape can be cut to allow them to diversify and add value to their produce by selling direct to the consumer'.

West Oxfordshire District Council last night spoke out after Clarkson's clash with officials.

After the show aired fans suggested 'pen-pushing' council officials 'hate Clarkson' and had a 'vendetta' against the star.

Roger Daltrey of The Who, another celebrity farmer, is among those praising Clarkson for shining a light on the reality of farming

The majority of West Oxfordshire District Council vote in favour of refusing Clarkson's restaurant plans

Clarkson storms out of the planning meeting after permission for his restaurant is refused

In response, a council spokesman said the presenter is treated 'no differently' than anyone else.

The council has stressed that proper procedures were followed in Clarkson's planning applications, which included plans for a car park.

A statement said: 'We understand that the planning process shown in Season 2 of Clarkson's Farm can seem obstructive and that people will be confused by the planning decisions at Diddly Squat Farm.

'As with any other planning authority, we have a legal responsibility to make sure that planning laws and policies are followed correctly by everyone to manage development and protect local communities and the environment.

'This is regardless of who they are and we treat Diddly Squat Farm no differently.'

It comes after the furore over Clarkson's comments on Meghan Markle in a column in The Sun newspaper  after which he temporarily closed the doors to his shop.

But yesterday Clarkson confirmed there will be a third season of his hugely popular farming show, despite suggestions Amazon would axe it in the wake of the backlash.

Diddly Squat Farm, in Chadlington, is located in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which means it is subject to tighter planning restrictions than other areas of the country.

There were huge queues outside Clarkson's farm shop after it reopened at the weekend for the first time since its winter closure

Huge queues of cars outside Clarkson's farm in the Cotswolds on Saturday

The council added: 'As shown on the programme, officers from the council went to meet with the owners of Diddly Squat Farm to provide advice which was one of multiple conversations we had to try and support the farm.

'Over recent years, Diddly Squat Farm has had many planning applications approved where they were in line with national and local planning policy.

'This included approving the farm shop with its current car park, approving a lambing shed and allowing the area from which farm shop produce could be sourced to be extended.

'The farm shop we approved can sell local produce from local farmers - which we wholly support.'

Clarkson and the council have come head to head several times since he took over the farm in 2019.

Many locals were dissatisfied with the business when the presenter decided to build a farm shop and restaurant.

Clarkson has admitted his neighbours are 'divided' when it comes to him and his farm, suggesting it was partly to do with 'my past'.

After criticism from Clarkson, the council insisted all the relevant planning laws had been followed

West Oxfordshire District Council has hit back at Clarkson - saying his Diddly Squat Farm must abide by planning and bylaws, despite its popularity

The council rejected two planning applications for the restaurant last year, which he appealed.

Applications to expand the car park from ten spaces to 70 were also rejected by the council, which said it would be 'visually intrusive'.

The plan also included new entry and exit points off Chipping Norton Road and a storage compound.

After the council overturned his plans to turn his old lambing barn into a restaurant, Jeremy settled for transforming an abandoned barn instead.

Since reopening over the weekend after being closed for the winter, the farm shop saw huge queues of eager fans.

Photographs show long lines of people waiting to enter the TV star's shop on Diddly Squat Farm and many cars parked along the country road.

Local council officials warned Clarkson fans not to cause any traffic chaos by parking near his farm ahead of the expected influx of fans to the site.

Clarkson and the council have come head to head several times since he took over the farm in 2019

Meanwhile, preparations for the grand opening of the restaurant on the weekend were thrown into disarray when Jeremy and the team were faced with electrical faults in the venue.

There was soon a pile up of visitors arriving in their cars as the restaurant was not ready to seat them. As a result, Clarkson reportedly stormed off in a rage.

It comes as 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.

Many fans have reportedly binge-watched the series in the space of one weekend and are already keen for more.
US forces shot down an Iranian-made drone flying over a base housing American troops in northeastern Syria, military officials said Wednesday.

US Central Command said in a statement that the reconnaissance drone flew over Mission Support Site Conoco, based in Syria's northeastern Deir ez-Zur region, on Tuesday afternoon before American forces shot it down.

The Conoco base is named after the American company that was responsible for the discovery and construction of an oil refinery in the region.

No group claimed responsibility for flying the drone in northeastern Syria, where it is not uncommon for bases housing US troops to come under rocket fire or mortar attacks.

Iran-backed militia are based nearby, as are cells of the Islamic State (IS) group that was defeated in Syria in March 2019.

The incident comes just days after a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, killing more than 40,000 people and deescalating much of the violence in Syria as the government and opposition groups suspended aggression to turn attention to rescue efforts.

US Central Command said in a statement that the reconnaissance drone flew over Mission Support Site Conoco on Tuesday afternoon before American forces shot it down.

The US maintains a military presence close to the Conoco oil fields in Syria's eastern Deir ez-Zur region. The oil field - and the US base located there - is named Conoco after an American company which first discovered the oil and built a refinery

US Central Command did not specify which group controlled the drone, simply stating it was 'Iranian-manufactured'.

Both the US and Iran conduct counterterrorism operations in Syria against the remnants of IS cells, though they support two opposing groups.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a close strategic ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, whose power structure is based in the capital Damascus.

US forces meanwhile conduct operations alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is largely opposed to Assad and is one of several rebel anti-regime groups that control parts of Syria's north and east.

The Kurds are often referred to as the biggest ethnic group without a country, as they are split between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and have been repressed at various points by each nation.

FILE PHOTO: A US fighting armoured vehicle takes part in a patrol near the Rumaylan (Rmeilan) oil fields in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province, on October 5, 2020.

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Al Omar Oil Field in Deir ez-Zur

There are currently close to 1,000 US troops in Syria working alongside the SDF to target IS militants and their sleeper cells.

But the Syrian government and its Iranian and Russian allies claim the American military presence in Syria is illegitimate, and allege the US maintains such a presence only to exploit Syria's natural resources.

The US base which purportedly came under surveillance from an Iranian drone before it was shot down on Tuesday is located in one of Syria's most oil-rich regions.

The US argues its military presence is justified to fight terror, and says it also prevents Iran from expanding its influence in Syria via pro-Iranian militias which have purportedly attacked American forces.

US Central Command claimed last month that their Conoco site sustained a suspected Iranian rocket attack.
Two teenagers who were today charged with the murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey have been remanded in custody.

A 15-year-old girl, from Warrington, and a 15-year-old boy, from Leigh, were this morning charged over the 'targeted attack' on the transgender schoolgirl.

Brianna, who was described as 'fearless' by her family, was found with multiple stab wounds in a Warrington park on Saturday afternoon and died shortly after.

The two 15-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Chester Magistrates' Court for the first time this morning wearing grey jumpers and tracksuit bottoms.

The girl's mother sobbed in court and wiped away tears with a tissue as she watched her daughter in the dock. Her father also struggled to hold back tears.

Brianna Ghey, 16, was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a Warrington park on Saturday

Brianna was described by her family as 'strong, fearless and one of a kind'

Crowds gathered outside St George's Hall in Liverpool to hold a vigil for Brianna Ghey last night

The boy, who appeared first on the dock as the children stepped up separately, was also supported by his parents in court.

The father waved to his son and gave him a smile.

Neither of the pair were asked to enter a plea during the youth court's session as they spoke only to confirm their names and addresses while flanked by one dock officer.

Prosecutor Leanne Gallagher said the attack on Brianna Ghey was 'extremely brutal and punishing' as she asked the judge to remand both in custody.

District Judge Jack McGarva remanded both children into youth custody ahead of their next appearance at Liverpool Crown Court tomorrow.

On Tuesday night a series of vigils took place in Warrington and Bristol in memory of the teenager, whose family is from Birchwood, Cheshire.

Members of the LGBT+ community held pride and transgender flags and signs such as 'Rest in Power' and 'Rest in Love'.

The Warrington vigil was organised by Brianna's friends.

Friends of Brianna are said to be 'distraught' by her death, with one father telling MailOnline his daughter was traumatised

Dozens of floral tributes have been laid at the entrance to the park where Brianna died

Many attending the vigil brought placards with messages such as 'Rest in Love'

Many also attended a candlelit vigil in Bristol to mourn the death of the transgender teenager

Mourners at College Green in the central Bristol 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.

In a tribute issued on behalf of her family, they said the teenager was a 'much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister'.

It added: '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.'

Brianna was found by members of the public as she lay wounded on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, at around 3.13pm, and died a short time later.

A police officer stands next to floral tributes at the entrance to Linear Park where 16-year-old Brianna Ghey was found

Police at the scene in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, shortly after the attack on Saturday

In recent days, devastated classmates from Birchwood Community High School have laid flowers and tributes close to where she was found.

Damian Harry, whose 15-year-old daughter was in Brianna's class and was friends with her, told MailOnline: 'My daughter is distraught at Brianna's death. She is so upset and has been throwing up with the trauma of it.'

Emma Mills, headteacher of the school, told The Sun 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.

Donations on a GoFundMe page set up by a family friend to raise money for Brianna's funeral has surpassed 88,000.

On Tuesday, Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols said: 'I've seen a large volume of misinformation being shared and speculation about the events, including attempts to identify the suspects  this is illegal and you risk prosecution doing so.

'I understand we all want answers about what happened, but please understand how distressing this is for Brianna's family and friends, and that this behaviour risks undermining efforts to get justice for her.

'Let the police do their job and give Brianna's loved ones the space they need to grieve.'

Detectives earlier said a post-mortem examination was taking place to establish the cause of death.

MailOnline has contacted Brianna's school for comment.
Russia has flown two supersonic nuclear bombers over the Norwegian Sea, to the north of Shetland, in a stark warning to the West.

It comes hours after Vladimir Putin deployed his strategic aircraft over the Bering Sea, the body of water separating the US state of Alaska and Russia's far-east.

The moves are seen as a display of military strength to the West as Russia prepares to mark the first anniversary of the disastrous war in Ukraine on February 24.

The giant Tu-160 White Swan flights follow ominous warnings from the Putin regime and its propagandists over the use of nuclear weapons if he loses the conventional war.

It comes as NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels this week to discuss Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, and their commitment to defence spending.

A still image published by the Russian Defence Ministry appears to show a Tu-160 strategic bomber during a flight over the Norwegian Sea, February 14, 2023

Russia has flown two supersonic nuclear bombers over the Norwegian Sea, to the north of Shetland, in a stark warning to the West

The planes patrolled the Norwegian and Barents Sea in a 13-hour mission which included in-flight fuelling, said the Russian defence ministry.

'Two Tu-160 strategic bombers have performed a scheduled flight in the airspace above neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian seas,' it said a statement.

The Tu-95MS flights on Tuesday had been for seven hours.

In a rise in nuclear tension, the Norwegian Intelligence Service announced in its annual report that for the first time in three decades Russia began deploying ships with tactical atomic weapons in the Baltic Sea.

The nuclear-armed vessels are from Putin's Northern Fleet, says reports.

The Tu-160 - NATO reporting name Blackjack - Russian supersonic variable-sweep wing strategic missile-carrying bomber dating from the Soviet era.

Along with the Tu-95MS bombers, these planes are the mainstay of Russia's long-range aviation.

The Tu-160M is designed to strike enemy targets in remote areas with nuclear and conventional weapons.

Putin is enraged at the West's supplies of weapons to Ukraine.

His war has cost the lives of more than 100,000 Russians, it is estimated.

NATO Defence Ministers meet at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 14, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, February 14, 2023

The giant Tu-160 White Swan flights follow ominous warnings from the Putin regime

Earlier this week, two NATO fighter jets scrambled to intercept a formation of three Russian military aircraft near the Poland border.

Two Dutch F-35 fighters subsequently escorted the Russian planes out of the region, the Netherlands' defence ministry said in a statement late on Monday.

'The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad,' the ministry said.

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.'

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-27 fighter aircraft.

The Netherlands' defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.
Almost two dozen New York City gang members have been rounded up as part of a huge NYPD operation launched after a mom-of-two was killed by a stray bullet amid a brazen street shoot-out two years ago.

The gangsters, described by authorities as some of the 'most dangerous' in the Big Apple, belong to two factions of the Crips whose alliance broke apart amid a drug deal back in 2018.

In March 2021, members of the 'Rolling Crips' - a.k.a. the 'Hip Hop Boys' - and the '8 Trey Crips' - a.k.a. the 'True Cash Gettas' - were locked in a brutal gunfight in the Woodside housing projects in Queens.

The gang members were chasing and shooting at each other through Woodside houses when they shot 37-year-old Gudelia Vallinas, who lived a few blocks away on 48th Street.

Vallinas, an immigrant from Mexico, was walking home from the grocery store when she suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.

23 members of the Hip Hop Boys and True Cash Gettas gangs were detained last week. Eric Holloway (4th row, second from left) was also pictured as a gang member but it is not clear whether he was charged

Gudelia Vallinas, pictured here with her husband in this image taken from Facebook, was walking home from the grocery store in March 2021 when she suffered a gunshot wound to the head

The needless slaying of the innocent mother-of-two sparked a two-year investigation into the warring Crips factions, which ultimately led to a huge bust of 23 gang members last week.

Full list of detained gang members and their charges DELANTE AIKEN, 21, of Queens, has been charged with conspiracy in the second degree and other crimes TAHJI ALEXANDER, 25, of Queens, has been charged with conspiracy in the second degree and other crimes KECHANTE BROWN, 29, of Queens, is charged with two counts of attempted murder and other crimes TIMOTHY BROWN, 33, of the Bronx, is charged with four counts of attempted murder and other crimes SHALIMAR CARSON, 33, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes KAIAM DONOVAN, 40, of Queens, is charged with conspiracy in the second degree and other crimes NASIR FISHER, 23, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes BARKIM HICKS, 28, of Queens, is charged with conspiracy in the second degree and other crimes HAKEEM JAMISON, 28, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes AMIR JORDAN, 22, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes WALIEK MCCASKILL, 33, of Queens, is charged with conspiracy in the second degree and other crimes MIGUEL TAPIA, 23, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes YURHUN PALACIOS, 27, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes DJUAN PRICE, 32, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes ELIJAH PRICE, 26, of Queens, is charged with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes LUIS RAMIREZ, 22, of Queens, is charged with conspiracy in the fourth degree and other crimes MILTON RIBOT, 22, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes SEAN ROBERTS, 27, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes MICHAEL SHEPARD, 27, of Queens, is charged with attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes JAHEEN STEPHENSON, 21, of Queens, is charged with four counts of attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes DAVID WILSON, 30, of Queens, is charged with four counts of attempted murder in the second degree and other crimes Source: Queens DA Advertisement

The majority of the defendants were arraigned on an eye-watering 85-count indictment which included charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

At a press conference yesterday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was joined by NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell to celebrate the bust.

District Attorney Katz said: 'Warring gangs are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of us. The reckless criminality we saw during the course of this investigation is the kind of lawlessness that has killed law-abiding New Yorkers caught in the crossfire of gang gun violence.'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said: 'Since day one, public safety has been our administration's top priority, and that's why we have been working around the clock to stop gun violence and to keep guns and repeat offenders off our streets.

'This case is another victory in our work to remove New York's most dangerous individuals from our communities.'

Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said: 'Today's indictments mark the next phase of a nearly two-year long investigation  a case that took dozens of violent gang members off our streets. Their particular reign of retaliatory violence is over.

'But our work  the work of keeping people safe and free from fear in every New York City neighborhood  goes on.'

Sewell's assertion that the NYPD must continue their work to keep people in the Big Apple safe rings true amid the city's latest crime stats.

The Department's annual round-up of crime over the past year was published in January and it revealed that crime is up in virtually every category.

The statistics paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic - a campaign that has been touted as successful several times over the past year by Mayor Eric Adams.

However, statistics show the politician - who ran on promises of addressing violence on the city's streets and is now entering his second year as mayor - was mistaken.

The data, released by the department Wednesday, Jan 4, came exactly two weeks after Adams assured citizens that officials had taken strides in the unrest, while touting supposed gains in public safety.

Adams, who himself is a former NYPD police captain, unveiled his 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence' early last year, along with a 'Subway Safety Plan' - both of which have so far proved largely ineffective, according to the new statistics.

The data shows that rapes, robberies, and assaults are all up from last year, since hitting highs not seen in decades in both 2020 and 2021.

Rape - which rocketed in 2020 when streets were empty and unemployment rife due to unrest caused by the coronavirus - rose by 7 percent, with more than 120 occurring this year than last.

Robberies, meanwhile, rose a shocking 20 percent, despite recent measures taken by Adams, 62, to increase police presence throughout the city.

Assaults and theft throughout the city, meanwhile, show a similarly pronounced rise, with felony assaults up 12 percent - 26,039 incidents this year compared to 22,835 seen last year - and burglaries up an alarming 25 percent.

All other crime categories - including grand larceny and motor vehicle theft - showed similar rises except for murders, despite the outset of the pandemic coming now nearly three years ago.

The statistics paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic - a campaign that has been touted as successful several times over the past year by Mayor Eric Adams

Adams has claimed there is only a perception that crime is out of control in the city

The statistics directly contradict repeated statements from Adams that New York - which saw incidents of violence and shootings swell to historic highs in 2020 when its streets were hollowed out by lockdowns - was well on the path to recovery, the most recent of which came just last month.

'Anyone who studies crimes, they know it's about,' the mayor began, speaking at a presser in Midtown. 'How do we continue to trend in the right direction?'

He added that he and his team, upon taking office nine months into the pandemic, had known 'wouldn't happen overnight.'

'But we pushed ahead in spite of that,' he continued, before citing statistics that showed recent headway cops have made in quelling murders and shootings.

'New York remains  and people sometimes forget this, but I really want to highlight this,' Adams said, 'the safest big city in America.'

He went on to add: 'And in 2023, we want to push this city to be safer.'

The mayor then showed statistics he called 'very important', which highlighted a 17 percent drop in shootings from that time a year ago, and a more than 12 percent drop in homicides - after murders reached levels not seen since the 80s when then-crime-ridden New York was labeled 'Fear City.'

The mayor also touted a '27-year high for gun arrest,' after the city saw shootings double from 2019 during the first year of the pandemic.

Adams seemed to reference statistics that showed the total rate of serious crimes is up 23.5 percent this year compared to 2021, as well as a surge in killings, robberies and rapes in the subway system that has seen ridership fail to return to levels seen before 2020.

'I think that New Yorkers should feel better about the direction that we are heading in the city around public safety,' he said.

'And the hard work of the NYPD and other agencies have been focused on making the city safe. Some of the numbers are reflecting that.'

While some of the statistics Adams cited were true, they failed to provide a full picture on the current state of the nation's most populated city, which has evidently struggled to see crime return to pre-pandemic levels.

During the initial months of the coronavirus outbreak, burglaries and car thefts - as well as other crimes usually deterred by potential witnesses - spiked. Bodegas and boutiques alike all saw stark increases in robberies and shootings.

By summer, the frustrations of shutdowns and the chances of a potential economic collapse had spilled over onto the city's streets, with shootings in a matter of months having doubled from the same time the previous years, with most incidents concentrated in the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus and unemployment.

Since then, some crime rates have trickled down from historic highs recorded during the pandemic, but remain markedly higher than levels seen prior to 2020.

The former NYPD captain has laid most of the blame for the city's slow recover on Manhattan's DA Alvin Bragg, and has criticized the prosecutor's soft-on-crime approach and policy changes that have lightened punishments for armed robbery and burglary suspects.

The changes, made after Bragg assumed office along with Adams, make it easier for career criminals and repeat offenders to be reentered to society while being prosecuted for violent, and often felony-level offenses.
An HR manager at The British Council whose job in Dubai was 'eliminated' while she was on maternity leave has won the right for a British employment tribunal to hear her case for discrimination.

Ana-Maria Beldica was working as an equality team manager for the part taxpayer-funded organisation in the United Arab Emirates but was told her job no longer existed less than two months before she was due to come back.

Romanian-born Ms Beldica tried to sue her employer in the UAE but was told the charity could claim diplomatic immunity through its links to the UK government.

The British Council then resisted calls for a UK tribunal, arguing she had no right to do so because she had not worked for them in Britain.

But Ms Beldica has now won the right to sue in a domestic employment tribunal after a judge found the British Council had attempted 'to effectively put itself beyond the reach of law' by resisting her bid to find justice in the UK.

Ana-Maria Beldica was working as an HR and equality team manager in the United Arab Emirates for part taxpayer-funded The British Council, when she was told her role was to be scrapped shortly before returning from maternity leave

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. They are a UK charity and a UK public body with close links to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

On its website, it describes itself as 'a non-departmental public body spending taxpayers' money' and which is 'formally accountable to parliament'.

Ms Beldica was employed by the British Council from March 20, 2016, to December 31, 2020, as an HR manager responsible for providing support to its operations in Jordan, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

On August 8, 2020, she started maternity leave, which was due to last until November 14 later that year.

But on September 24, 2020, with little over a month before she was due to return to work, her line manager told her that her job no longer existed due to a restructure.

She was told she could apply for a role in the new structure, and several consultation meetings were held in November 2020, which confirmed her role was to be eliminated.

Ms Beldica was not offered an alternative position and she was notified that her employment would be terminated on December 31, 2020.

She made several complaints about her dismissal, but was told that her employment was governed by UAE law and she should take her case to the courts there.

But she found that red tape prevented her from doing so, as well as the ability of her employers to claim diplomatic immunity through its close UK governmental links, should she successfully sue them in the UAE.

The British Council has the ability to claim diplomatic immunity in the United Arab Emirates from employee lawsuits, leading a UK employment judge to rule that a tribunal will now take place in the UK

Ms Beldica then brought her case to the UK Employment Tribunal, where she found lawyers representing the British Council insisted her role was not connected with the UK.

But Employment Judge Pavel Klimov has now given her the right to bring her case, stating: 'Immunity does not extinguish liability.'

He said in a previous case brought against the British Council by an employee in the UAE in 2014, the body had successfully argued it could claim diplomatic immunity from being sued under local law, and was likely to do the same in Ms Beldica's case.

He added: 'I find that the respondent's immunity from being sued in the UAE effectively destroys the connection to that system of law, no matter how strong it otherwise would have been.

'Immunity does not extinguish liability.

'Customary international law and the UK domestic law in spirit, if not in letter, anticipate that immunity in the forum state must not result in the situation that an employee cannot pursue his/her employer in the employer's state court.

'I cannot see how it would have been Parliament's intention to allow the respondent, essentially a private organisation, but through its close association with the executive branch of the UK state enjoying certain privileges  such as immunity from legal claims in foreign states  to effectively put itself beyond the reach of law.

'That can't be right.

'The rule of law and the separation of powers with a system of checks and balances are fundamental principles underpinning the UK constitutional order and are essential elements of a functioning democracy.

'The claimant's complaints shall now proceed to be determined on their merits,' he concluded.

Barring a settlement, the case will now go ahead in the UK employment tribunal at a later date.
A British man fighting for Ukraine has been named by his family as Jonathan Shenkin, a father of two from Glasgow who was serving as a paramedic.

In a tribute on social media, Mr Shenkin's family said the 45-year-old 'died as a hero in an act of bravery'.

He is one of eight Britons known to have perished while fighting in Ukraine since the Russian invasion last year.

Mr Shenkin's brother, Daniel, wrote on Facebook that his brother was killed in December.

The Foreign Office, which continues to advise against all travel to Ukraine, said it was supporting his family.

Jonathan Shenkin, a 45-year-old from Glasgow, died in Ukraine in December, according to a family tribute

Mr Shenkin - pictured here during his service in Ukraine - 'died as a hero in an act of bravery as a paramedic'

Daniel Shenkin wrote: 'On enlisting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he made the ultimate sacrifice to defend values we all believe in.

Putin is 'preparing new aerial attack on Ukraine' with fighter jets and helicopters Advertisement

'He is survived by his son and daughter, to whom he was devoted.'

Daniel said his brother had spent much of his life 'helping others'.

Born and raised in Glasgow, he lived briefly in London and Malta before enrolling in the Israeli Army.

Afterwards he set up his own security business and went on two tours of Iraq.

He was contracted by a variety of organisations including the US Department of Defense and NATO.

He also worked for the UN in Afghanistan, served as a military medic in Oman and carried out close protection roles in Somalia and Angola.

In 2009, he was involved in the rescue of an American held hostage in the West Bank.

Daniel's tribute added: 'As well as volunteering his skills during natural disasters in the Philippines, he devoted much of his time to good causes.

The Brit he set up his own security business that saw him go on two tours of Iraq and worked for a variety of organisations including the US Department of Defense and NATO

Mr Shenkin (middle) has served with numerous military and law enforcement bodies around the world and is seen here during one of his previous operations

'His hard work and contributions resulted in multiple awards from various Philippine government authorities for training hand-to-hand combat, close protection and firearms.

'He trained the Special Forces in both the Philippines and South Korea, marines in Kabul, drug enforcement agencies, the Philippine Bureau of Investigation, the military and the police in multiple countries.'

Daniel said his brother had 'a lifelong passion for Israel, contribution to the Philippines and fighting for democratic values'.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.'

Numerous Brits have travelled to Ukraine since the war began in February last year, with some taking part in fighting against Russian forces and others engaging in volunteering and aid work.

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.

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

Volunteer soldier 36-year-old Scott Sibley (pictured) was killed fighting Russian troops in April

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.

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.

A woman stops shovelling snow as a Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier (APC) passes by her house in the eastern city of Chasiv Yar yesterday

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.

Mr Shenkin's 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 government said 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.

Mr 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 woman and her two young children have been found alive in Turkey after surviving for nine days under the rubble following last week's devastating earthquake, as drone footage showed the Turkish city of Hatay reduced to dust.

Ela and her two children were saved in Hatay, one of Turkey's 10 southern provinces left reeling by the quakes on February 6 that have left more than 41,000 people dead in the country and its neighbour Syria. They were under the rubble for 228 hours.

Footage showed dozens of rescuers working to save the family at the site of several collapsed buildings. The young children were carefully wrapped in blankets and carried away on stretchers, before being rushed to hospital in ambulances.

The miraculous rescue came after a father and his 15-year-old daughter, as well as a 42-year-old woman, were all saved overnight. TV footage broadcast in the country showed emergency workers cheering with joy and relief.

Such scenes are becoming increasingly rare in Turkey and Syria as time passes, but officials say they are determined to keep going until every trapped survivor is found.

A woman and her two young children have been found alive in Turkey after surviving for nine days under the rubble following last week's devastating earthquake. Pictured: The mother, named Ela, is seen after being rescued after 228 hours under the rubble

Pictured: One of Ela's two children is seen on a drip and wrapped in blankets after being pulled from the rubble in Hatay, one of Turkey's 10 southern provinces left reeling by the quakes on February 6 that have left more than 41,000 people dead

Meanwhile, the combined death toll in the region has climbed over 41,000, and many survivors are enduring near-freezing winter temperatures, having been left homeless by the devastation in cities in both countries.

'We will continue our work until we remove the last citizen left under the collapsed buildings,' Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said late on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of the country's disaster agency.

Despite a week having passed since the disaster struck, the true scale of the quake is still yet to be realised fully. Drone footage from Hatay on Wednesday gave some sense of the devastation, however.

The drone soared over dozens of piles of rubble that were once multi-storey apartment buildings, as rescue workers continued their efforts to find people.

The footage showed that whole neighbourhoods were levelled to the ground, and demonstrated the hopelessness of finding

Earlier, Syrian-born Seher, 15, and her father Faez Ghanam were rescued in Hatay, southern Turkey, late on Tuesday night, some 210 hours after the first quake.

Seher and Faez were seen in footage being carried away from the rubble of their home on stretchers, covered in a gold-coloured foil. Seher had an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, while her head was supported by a rescuer.

A 77-year-old woman, named Fatma Gungor, was also pulled alive from the rubble of a seven-storey apartment block in the city of Adiyaman.

A father (right) and his 15-year-old daughter (left) have been rescued in Turkey having spent nearly nine days trapped under rubble after last week's catastrophic earthquake

Rescue personnel lift a stretcher carrying Seher, a 15-year-old Syrian woman who was rescued after being trapped under the rubble over 210 hours, in Hatay, Turkey on Tuesday night

Emergency personnel carry Syrian Faez Ghanam (C) who was rescued from the site of a collapsed building some 209 hours after a major earthquake in Hatay

Rescue workers carry the body of 45 year old Mujde Cavlak wrapped in a blanket after removing the body from a destroyed building on February 14

Pictured: An aerial view of collapsed buildings during ongoing rescue operations in Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey, on February 14, 2023

This aerial view shows collapsed buildings during ongoing rescue operations in Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey, on February 14, 2023

An aerial view shows collapsed buildings following last week's earthquake in Syria's rebel-held village of Atarib, in the northwestern Aleppo province, on February 14

Local residents waiting for news of their relatives, sit by a bonfire near the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay, on February 14

Local residents burn books to keep warm as they wait for their relatives to be pulled out from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay, on February 14

A man sits atop the ruins of a home where his relatives once lived in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in the rebel-held town of Harem, in Idlib governorate, Syria, February 14

Wearing an oxygen mask, covered in a gold foil blanket and strapped onto a stretcher, Gungor was carried by rescue workers down from the ruins of the building to a waiting ambulance, footage from state broadcaster TRT showed.

Afterwards, Gungor's relatives hugged the rescue team, made up of military personnel and members of the disaster management authority AFAD.

Nine other survivors were rescued in Turkey on Tuesday as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the cold.

Damage assessment of buildings, of which tens of thousands were destroyed, will be completed in a week and reconstruction will begin within months, Erdogan said.

'We will rebuild all the houses and workplaces, destroyed or made uninhabitable by the earthquake, and hand them over to the rightful owners,' he added.

More than 105,000 people were injured in the quake, he said, with more than 13,000 still being treated in hospital.

Erdogan has acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck early on Feb. 6 but he has said the situation is now under control.

'We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity,' Erdogan said.

More than 2.2 million people have left the worst-hit areas already, Erdogan said, and hundreds of thousands of buildings have become uninhabitable.

Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya.

U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling.

'People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive a tent, aid, or something, but up to 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 Syrians had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home. Now, rendered homeless by the quake, they have assembled makeshift tents in a playground using plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard.

'The needs are huge, increasing by the hour,' said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization'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.'

Families in both Turkey and Syria said they and their children were dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake.

'Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again,' Hassan Moaz said of his 9-year-old in Aleppo, Syria. 'When he's sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: 'Dad, aftershock!''

A first convoy of U.N. aid entered rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey via the newly-opened Bab al-Salam crossing.

The search for survivors was about to end in the north west of Syria, said the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh.

Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw.

Rescue personnel search the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay, on February 14

Thai rescuers participate in search and rescue operations after earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including Hatay, Turkiye on February 13

Coal miners work on a collapsed building to find a earthquake victim on February 13, 2023 in Islahiye Turkey

A man keeps warm by a fire in front of a damaged building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 15

A Syrian child selling cotton candy smiles as he stands in front of the rubble of a collapsed building following last week's earthquake in Syria's rebel-held village of Atarib, in the northwestern Aleppo province, on February 14

An aerial view of damaged Haci Rahma Ipek Mosque in Hatay, after earthquakes hit Turkiye's Kahramanmaras, on February 14

The Turkish toll was 35,418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.

Survivors joined a mass exodus from disaster zone, leaving their homes and unsure if they can ever come back.

Hamza Bekry, a 22-year-old Syrian has lived in Antakya, in southern Turkey, for 12 years, having fled the conflict in his homeland, but he was now preparing to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.

'It's very hard ... We will start from zero, without belongings, without a job,' he said.

Hopes fade for three schoolgirl sisters after faint tapping was heard under rubble in Turkey

Exclusive by Andrew Young in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, for MailOnline

Hopes that three schoolgirl sisters might be found alive after being trapped for eight days in the rubble of their apartment destroyed in Turkeys devastating earthquake appeared to fade this morning.

Rescuers using specialist listening equipment had held out a glimmer of hope that the girls might be found alive after hearing what could have been faint tapping as they tunnelled into the ruins of their home.

A trained sniffer dog backed up the theory by signalling that it had possibly smelled human life at the scene.

MailOnline witnessed tense scenes as the search and rescue team of Ankara firefighters crawled into a narrow crevice to try and reach the potential survivors who would have been trapped for more than 200 hours

There was speculation that the sound could have been made by one or more of three schoolgirl sisters who were earlier feared to have been crushed to death when their city centre apartment collapsed.

MailOnline witnessed tense scenes (pictured) as the search and rescue team of Ankara firefighters crawled into a narrow crevice to try and reach the potential survivors - three schoolgirl sisters who are believed to be trapped under the rubble of their apartment block

There was speculation at the scene that the sound could have been made by one or more of three schoolgirl sisters, believed trapped under the rubble

A team using specialist listening equipment heard the sound of faint tapping as they tunnelled into the ruins. Pictured: Rescuers are seen at the scene where the girls might be trapped

For a few hours it seemed that the girls might have somehow survived for more than 200 hours in their underground tomb as the spot where sounds had been detected was swamped by rescue workers desperate to save them

Hopes that they might be alive were raised further after it emerged that two brothers where pulled alive from the rubble after being trapped for more than 196 hours elsewhere in Kahramanmaras province.

As the official death toll in Turkey and Syria went over 37,000 today, an 18-year-old boy named as Muhammed Cafer was also pulled from a building in Adiyman province.

The teenager was strapped to a stretcher with an oxygen mask on his face and a health worker holding an IV bag as he was carried to a waiting ambulance.

But during the evening, search teams sadly concluded that whoever was buried in the rubble of the girls home in the city of Kahramanmaras building had died as no more sounds were detected.

Two giant diggers on caterpillar tracks started scooping away rubble as the search for the girls or any other victims turned into a hunt for bodies.

The hopes of finding the girls alive near the epicentre of last Mondays earthquake emerged after a rescue dog was sent into a tunnel created by the firefighters pulling out debris in the 40ft high pile of rubble and twisted metal.

Excitement mounted as the dogs handler announced that it had detected signs of human life after many rescue teams had suggested that there remained little hope of finding any more survivors.

The firefighters repeatedly risked their lives as they crawled into the narrow gap, setting up hydraulic props to try and strengthen the opening, although the risk of them being trapped themselves by collapsing rubble remained ever present.

Other rescuers at the scene included a team from Kazakhstan, but they left when the Turkish team appeared to insist that they could handle it themselves.

A yellow ventilation tube was carried into the abyss so that fresh air could be pumped down, as the rescuers passed up yellow buckets of crushed masonry to try and clear a pathway through to the victims.

Crowds watching the rescue attempt were suddenly ordered to stay silent and crouch down for ten minutes to avoid making a sound as rescuers carried down specialist listening equipment to try and hear anything.

Rescuers twice went into void with the microphones as the sound was only broken by the twittering of sparrows, and the distant beep of horns from lorries involved in rescuers elsewhere.

One rescuer crept in with a loudhailer and shouted out: Can anybody hear me. If you can hear me, tap three times.

The firefighter emerged and gave a signal saying that he had heard something, leading to hopes rising that someone was alive under the rubble.

As the rescue progressed, bottles of water were seen being passed down into the tunnel, but it appeared that they were to refresh those working underground.

One woman at the scene said: I pray that the girls are safe. If anyone comes out alive it will be a miracle.

As dusk fell, listening equipment was brought to the scene again, and watching crowds were ordered to stay silent.

One firefighter with a loudhailer again shouted out for anyone trapped to respond of they were alive, but he heard nothing. Three rescuers, repeatedly shouted out in unison: Respond if you can hear us.

The mood of optimism changed to one of sad resignation when their was no response, and diggers which were standing by were ordered to begin clearing away rubble at the spot under floodlights in the darkness.

Scores of apartment buildings have collapsed in Kahramanmaras and others have been left uninhabitable with gaping holes in them as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Local residents believe the area with much greater severity than elsewhere due to it being on a geological fault line.

The area where the girls were feared to be trapped is on a two acre site of apartment buildings which all collapsed, leaving a scene of horror and devastation.
A grieving son has shared his heartbreak after finding his mother and sister dead at his burger van yesterday morning - which they had been decorating as a surprise treat for his birthday.

Tyla Wanstall said he arrived at his Meat 'N' Greet Snack Wagon in Whitstable, Kent to discover his mother Leah Churchill, 50, and 17-year-old 'beautiful baby sister' Brooke lying lifeless on the floor.

It is believed they had been poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from the generator - which is used outside during working hours but kept inside overnight for security reasons - while decorating the van as a surprise for Mr Wanstall's 26th birthday.

Mr Wanstall, of Faversham, Kent, said he arrived at the wagon at about 8am to start work and was surprised to see his mother's car parked outside.

'It's heartbreaking to think they spent their last few moments just trying to put a smile on my face,' he said.

Leah Churchill, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter Brooke Wanstall (pictured together) were decorating the Meat 'N' Greet snack truck for a birthday celebration when they died

Leah Churchill, 50, and 17-year-old Brooke Wanstall were found in the vehicle on a road in Whitstable, Kent, on Tuesday (Pictured: The pair in the van on a previous occasion)

'They were decking the van out inside in balloons and bunting as a birthday surprise for me, like my mum would do at home every year.

'I didn't even know they were going down there last night but she must have started the petrol generator up to keep warm without realising the danger.'

Mr Wanstall says the family has been left reeling from the tragedy and still trying to come to terms with what happened.

They are planning a balloon release in their memory on Herne Bay beach.

Mr Wanstall added: 'I opened the van door and and saw my mum and sister and for an instant thought they had fallen asleep,' he recalled.

'I smelt fumes but it just didn't register straight away, but it became obvious they were both dead.

'I called the police and ambulance but it was the firefighters who told me it was likely carbon monoxide poisoning.

'It's heartbreaking to think they spent their last few moments just trying to put a smile on my face.'

Mother-of-four Ms Churchill lived in Canterbury, Kent.

Brooke's brother, Tyla Wanstall, (pictured) said he found his relatives inside the truck after smelling fumes and claimed it was 'obvious they were both dead'

Tyla was unaware that Leah and Brooke had gone down to the food truck site last night to prepare for his birthday surprise

Tyla suspects that his mother (pictured) turned on the petrol generator 'without realising the danger' so they could 'keep warm' while decorating

Leah (left) and Brooke's (right) deaths are expected to be passed on to the local coroner for a future inquest

Mr Wanstall, who has just had a baby boy with his partner Beth, said of his mother: 'She was so kind and would do anything for anyone.

'She would take a homeless man in off the streets if she was allowed. Brooke was just a live-wire with a huge personality.

'Mum worked all over the place, mostly in hospitality, and used to run the Share and Coulter pub in Greenhill.

'She was helping me in the burger van a couple of days a week.'

He said his sister Brooke had just left Archbishop's School in Canterbury after completing her GCSEs, adding: 'She had her whole life in front of her.

'She did really well in her grades and had just started work as a carer, which she was really enjoying. She was also due to take her driving test next week.'

Another sister, Ocean, 23, added: '[Brooke] tried working in the van a couple of times but that definitely wasn't for her.

'Working as a carer was what put the spring in her step and the only thing she wanted to do.'

Mr Wanstall has also issuing a warning about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.

He said: 'Mum made a fatal mistake and we don't want this to happen to anyone else.

'Be aware of this thing, people. If you haven't got a carbon monoxide alarm go and get one. It is a serious killer.

'I don't know how we're ever going to get over this.'

Kent Police have been contacted for comment.
Goecke was suspended from his post as ballet chief at the Hannover state opera

A German ballet director has finally apologised for smearing dog feces on the face of a newspaper critic who branded one of his productions 'boring'.

Marco Goecke was suspended from his post as ballet chief at the Hannover state opera following the weekend incident. The theater's management called on him Monday to apologize 'comprehensively' and explain himself.

According to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Goecke 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 took out a bag of dog faeces from his pocket, which had been freshly produced by his dachshund Gustav just minutes before, and proceeded to rub the excrement over Ms Huster's face in front of shocked onlookers.

Marco Goecke (pictured with his dachshund Gustav) smeared dog faeces over theatre critic Huster's face

Wiebke Huster was approached by Goecke during the interval of his show on Saturday at the Hannover state opera

The newspaper said that Goecke threatened to ban the critic from the ballet and accused her of being responsible for people canceling season tickets in Hannover.

'I would like to apologize sincerely to all concerned, first and foremost to Ms Huster, for my absolutely unacceptable act,' Goecke said in a written statement.

'In retrospect, I am clearly aware that this was a disgraceful act in the heat of the moment and an overreaction,' he added.

However, he added that it's time for media to 'rethink a certain form of destructive and hurtful reporting that damages the whole cultural sector' and criticized Ms Huster for what he said were 'often nasty reviews.'

Goecke pointed to the 'nervous strain' resulting from two premieres in quick succession as a reason for his actions.

'I apologize for the fact that I finally blew my top, but I also ask for a certain understanding at least for the reasons why this happened,' he wrote.

Ms Huster filed a criminal complaint after the incident. Goecke faces an investigation on suspicion of bodily harm and slander.

Goecke has said his elderly dachshund had defecated earlier, and he had packed the mess into a bag and had been planning to dispose of it. While he says he then acted in the heat of the moment, the critic has contended that it was a premeditated attack.

Ms Huster said she was shocked by Goecke's statement on Tuesday.

'What kind of an apology is this supposed to be?' she asked on 3sat television, describing it as an attempted justification of his actions, German news agency dpa reported.

Earlier in the week, Goecke refused to apologise to the critc and sought to justify the assault by saying he was reacting to years of Ms Huster critiquing his work, which is part of her role as a journalist.

Goecke previosuly refused to apologise for the assault and said he was reacting to years of Huster critiquing his work

The furious ballet director took out a bag of dog faeces from his pocket, which had been freshly produced by his dachshund Gustav (pictured with Goecke) just minutes before, 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 earlier in the week. '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.'

In the interview, 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.

Yesterday, 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.'

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)

=Goecke smeared his dog's faeces on Huster in the busy foyer of the Hanover Opera House during the interval of his production 'Glaube - Liebe - Hoffnung' (Faith - Love - Hope)'.

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'.

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 has suspended ballet director Goecke 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 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 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.
Korea International Trade Association Executive Vice Chairman Jeong Marn-ki, center, speaks during a press conference at COEX in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



By Park Jae-hyuk



Korea needs to reform its "excessively" tight business regulations and come up with more effective policies to increase its birthrate, so that it can revitalize exports, which have remained sluggish over the past few months, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said Wednesday.



Since October last year, Korea's exports have continuously gone in a downward trajectory, according to the association. The country's share in the global exports market has also remained below 3 percent since 2019, after its share fell from 3.09 percent in 2018 and 3.23 percent in 2017.



Although the KITA mentioned China's economic slowdown and the sluggish global demand for semiconductors and other intermediary goods as major reasons for the fall in exports, Executive Vice Chairman Jeong Marn-ki of the association, attributed the current situation partially to strict labor laws and a shortage of workers in the country, saying that those are the key factors making Korea a less attractive investment destination to global manufacturers.



"Former GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem told me that he could not make investments to expand manufacturing facilities here, as his company was forced by the Korean government to give permanent positions to the workers who will be hired for the new facilities," Jeong said in a press conference.



He especially urged opposition lawmakers to refrain from proposing bills to impose new regulations, given that business regulations had increased rapidly under the previous Moon Jae-in administration.



"A one in-two out or one in-three out rule is needed, so as to abolish a couple of existing regulations when a new one comes into force," he said.



This is because he expects the declining labor force to prevent Korea from maintaining its export industry in the long run. The executive vice chairman also said he will learn about how European countries have tried to restore their birthrates, when he goes to Europe next week to attend the Mobile World Congress in Spain.



"The decline in Korean-national workers has been much sharper than the increase in foreign laborers," he said. "Korea should learn from France which offers benefits to unmarried parents who have children."



Regarding the government's recent decision to cut subsidies for the purchasing of Chinese electric buses, which are equipped with low energy density batteries, Jeong welcomed the measure, given that he has continuously claimed that Korea should give more incentives to vehicles made in Korea than to imported ones, just as the U.S., European Union and China have done of late.




Sadiq Khan has set a target of enforcing a million speeding offences in London every year - as Tory MPs urge him to stop spending energy defending his Ultra-low emission zone expansion when the Met is in special measures.

The number of drivers caught speeding in the capital jumped to 443,609 from April last year  a rise of 64 per cent on the previous year's 270,458  after the installation of high-tech enforcement cameras.

It comes as City Hall is understood to want the Metropolitan Police to have the capability to prosecute a million drivers a year from April 2024, a senior officer said.

The target is being cited as the latest example of Mr Khan's assault on motorists amid the ULEZ expansion in August and an overhaul of the road network that will also see 20mph speed limits on key city roads.

Mr Khan's controversial expansion of the ULEZ to Outer London will drag millions more into its orbit in a bid to cut air pollution.

Sadiq Khan is understood to have set a target of enforcing a million speeding offences in London every year

But Tory MPs have accused Mr Khan of 'trying to create a hostile environment for motorists'.

Gareth Johnson, whose constituents in Dartford, Kent, would be dragged into the zone, told MailOnline: 'There are loads of 20mph limits, cameras, the expansion of ULEZ  he is trying to make it as difficult as possible to drive in London.

'It is not about air pollution otherwise he would ban all cars. He does not want to ban them, just make money. Provided you can pay 12.50 a day, you can drive as much as you like.

'He is just trying to fix the black hole in his finances. It will be catastrophic for people in Dartford who need to go into London to help with public services.

'The border between London and Kent is at the end of some people's roads. People will be hit hard by this.

'If he is not making enough money, he will move the goalposts and increase the number of vehicles under the scheme. He has not got a mandate for this.'

Mr Johnson also warned of an 'exodus' of emergency service workers if Mr Khan proceeds with the plans.

He added: 'He has got the Met and London Fire Brigade in special measures and yet he is pointing it in the direction of drivers rather than the problems London has.

'Half of Met Police officers live outside of London. If they are doing a night shift then they will be hit twice by ULEZ.

'There is going to be an exodus of police and emergency workers  it is as serious as that.'

Louie French, Tory MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, also joined politicians in slamming the London mayor's 'out of touch' assault on motorists.

He said: 'The Mayor of Londons core objectives are to keep London moving and to keep Londoners safe. With the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade in special measures under his watch and Transport for London requiring over 5billion in bailouts from the Government and taxpayers, it is clear that Sadiq Khan has failed miserably.'

Mr French added: 'There are also major concerns over what comes next once the cameras are installed, with expectations that the Mayor will quickly move the goalposts and tax many more drivers who require their vehicles to get to work, to drop their kids off to school or to attend hospital appointments.

'Alongside the clear attack on the personal freedom to drive your own car, it is also important to remember that Outer London does not have the same transport connectivity as Inner London, which means thousands of people will have no choice but to pay these unfair charges.

'This includes emergency service workers, who are facing charges of 25 per shift if working nights at a hospital or police station inside the ULEZ zone, with no exemptions provided despite concerns over the impact this will have.'

Meanwhile Tony Devenish, deputy chairman of the London Assembly Environment Committee, claimed the expansion will make almost no difference to air quality in the capital.

He told LBC: 'The ULEZ zone in central London was initiated by Boris Johnson and brought in by Sadiq Khan and works, but Outer London is bigger and very different.

'The reality is that the Jacobs Report, which is a TfL report and Sadiq's own, said one thing  there is no change, virtually nothing at all, to air quality. This is not an air quality issue, this is a stealth tax. That is all it is.

'Sadiq has put council tax up by 57 per cent in seven years. This is yet another tax, as is the congestion charge and many, many other things. Sadiq Khan needs to listen.

The number of drivers caught speeding in the capital jumped to 443,609 from April last year, new figures have revealed

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

'He should listen to his parliamentary colleagues and the Labour borough leader who has also come out against this, he should listen to Londoners - 80 per cent of whom in his own consultation said no to this.

'There is no legitimate mandate. If he wants to bring it in, he can bring it in at his next mayoral election in his manifesto and try and get elected.'

Defending the plans today, Mr Khan said 'toxic air is a matter of life and death'.

Appearing on BBC London radio, he added: '

But there are also growing signs of unrest among Labour MPs at the shifting of the boundaries, with four voicing their opposition to the scheme yesterday.

Shadow Treasury minister Abena Oppong-Asare, fellow frontbencher Seema Malhotra, Jon Cruddas and Siobhain McDonagh all broke cover yesterday.

Their disapproval was echoed by former long-serving Labour MP Stephen Pound, who represented Ealing North for 32 years.

Mr Pound called on the expansion to be delayed and criticised data used by City Hall as evidence to support the scheme.

He said: 'It is a very, very significant issue we have in London. When you have people like Seema Malhotra, Jon Cruddas and Siobhain McDonagh  real loyalists  when they are saying there is an issue then quite clearly we need to talk about it.

'Where Sadiq does have a problem is that some of the data, for example the outer borough data for Bromley saying they have a higher death rate, well they actually have a much older population in Bromley.

'Also, the higher and lower quartiles in some of the data were specifically chosen so the higher quartile was there. Ultimately, the thing about LTNs (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) and ULEZ is that it is not about driving people around in circles, it is about alternative ways of getting around.

Sadiq Khan is facing growing fury over his 'out of touch' assault on motorists with warnings he will turn London into a haven for rich people who work from home

'My son is an electrician and he moves around in a van. He couldn't take his kit on the E2 bus, so I'm very much in favour of the idea of bringing this in much more slowly. I do [think it should be delayed]. August is right around the corner.'

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 rose due to increased bus and taxi use - although more electric vehicles have been introduced since then.

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 on Monday 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 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.

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

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.

Shadow Treasury minister Ms Oppong-Asare saying: 'My concern is we don't want to be in a situation where people are going to be worse off.'

Ms 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.

'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'.

Tories said they were hearing complaints about temporary traffic lights and roadworks

'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.

'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 110million 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 neighbourhoods - 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.'
A mum-of-two has been left 'scarred for life' after suffering a 'beast-like' attack by a man and woman in a bar during a night out in Oldham.

Jade Kremner, 33, said she 'thought she was going to die' as she was punched, kicked and strangled during the terrifying eight-minute ordeal.

She was rushed to hospital after being jumped from behind in a bar in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in the early hours of Sunday morning and has been left with a bump on her head, a 10cm gash on her thigh and swelling of her throat.

Ms Kremner said she was in JLR bar and restaurant in Royton, Oldham when a woman came up to her and asked if she was okay.

She claims the woman then put her arm around her shoulder and grabbed her by the 'root of her hair' then dragged her to the floor.

Jade Kremner, 33, said she 'thought she was going to die' as she was punched, kicked and strangled during the terrifying eight-minute ordeal

Ms Kremner was rushed to hospital after being jumped from behind in a bar in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in the early hours of Sunday morning

The woman attacked her for a further eight minutes by biting her fingers and ripping her hair out, she alleges.

As she recovers from her injuries at home, Ms Kremner said: 'It's just horrific because of the scars and the wounds that she has left on my body.

'It could have been my arteries and I could have been dead.'

Ms Kremner added that her sister was also attacked and punched in the side and back of the head by a man as she attempted to break the pair apart.

The man then punched Ms Kremner in the head, and left her with injuries including swelling to her neck from being strangled, she said.

She also has numerous cuts on her bum and thighs and medics also found two shards of glass in her foot.

Jade said: 'My windpipe was shutting and closing and that's when I thought 'Jesus, I need to try and escape.'

'But I couldn't escape because she was physically on top of me.

'I thought I was going to physically die because I was struggling for my breath.'

The single mum immediately left the bar and reported the attack to police, who told her she needed immediate medical attention.

When she arrived home, she was sent to A&E in an ambulance where doctors gave her a full body X-Ray, CT scan and a tetanus jab.

Jade, of Delph, Greater Manchester, said: 'Even the doctor said he can't believe this has happened to me.

'He said he lives in the area himself and goes out there but he said he always avoids JRL because of violent individuals.

As she recovers from her injuries at home, Ms Kremner said: 'It's just horrific because of the scars and the wounds that she has left on my body

The 'terrifying' eight minute ordeal has left Ms Kremner with a 10 cm gash on her thigh, as well other injuries including a bump on her head and swelling of her throat

Ms Kremner says that although the nurses at the hospital were 'brilliant', she didn't get 'physically get seen' for six hours

'Although the care was brilliant from the nurses, I didn't physically get seen until I had been there for six hours.

'At this point, all the wounds where I had been attacked and were open, were not starting to close and heal.

'I was really, really tired and my whole body was going really, really cold.

'But they did keep checking on me, especially with my BMI.

'Even the nurses said that what has happened is absolutely vile - I could have been dead.'

Jade has had to tell her identical twin daughters Ocean and Rosabella, seven, about the attack which has made them 'completely frightened' of leaving the house.

She said: 'They are completely frightened of going out of the house.

'They keep telling me that they don't want to go to school next Monday after half term because they don't want anyone to hurt me.

'It's left a massive impact on me and my children.'

Jade added: 'They are even saying now at the age of seven, that when they become older that they won't go out on a night out.

'They already are saying they don't want to go out clubbing and want to stay in with me because they are scared of people hurting others.

'They are so, so worried.'

The woman attacked Ms Kremner for eight minutes by biting her fingers and ripping her hair out, she alleges

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: 'We can confirm GMP were made aware of an incident on Market Street, Royton at around 2am on Sunday 12 February 2023.

'An investigation is now underway into wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

'No arrests have been made at this time.'

JLR Royton have been contacted for a comment.
Jeremy Corbyn tonight hit out at a 'flagrant attack' on local Labour members after he was blocked from standing as an official party candidate at the next election.

The ex-Labour leader condemned his successor Sir Keir Starmer's decision to bar him from representing the party again in his Islington North constituency.

Mr Corbyn branded it a 'divisive distraction' from Labour's goal of removing the Tories from power.

He also insisted it was up to local Labour members - and not party bosses - who should be their parliamentary candidate at the next election.

The 73-year-old has been MP for Islington North for almost 40 years but had the Labour whip stripped from him by Sir Keir in 2020 as part of a row over the party's past handling of anti-Semitism claims.

Jeremy Corbyn hit back at Sir Keir Starmer in a furious statement posted to his Twitter account this evening

Sir Keir this morning confirmed that Mr Corbyn would not be allowed to stand as an official Labour candidate at the next general election, which is due no later than January 2025.

But Mr Corbyn hit back in a furious statement posted to his Twitter account this evening.

'Keir Starmers statement about my future is a flagrant attack on the democratic rights of Islington North Labour Party members,' he said.

'It is up to them  not party leaders  to decide who their candidate should be.

'Any attempt to block my candidacy is a denial of due process, and should be opposed by anybody who believes in the value of democracy.

'At a time when the Government is overseeing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, this is a divisive distraction from our overriding goal: to defeat the Conservative Party at the next general election.'

Diane Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during Jeremy Corbyn's spell as Labour leader, defied current party boss Sir Keir Starmer

Earlier, Mr Corbyn was claimed by a close ally to have 'no intention' of standing as an independent at the next election despite him being rejected as an official Labour candidate.

Diane Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during Mr Corbyn's spell as Labour leader, defied current party boss Sir Keir Starmer.

She stressed it should be up to local Labour members in the left-winger's Islington North constituency whether they want him as their parliamentary candidate.

'Jeremy is a member of the Labour Party, and therefore it should be a matter for local party members to decide whether they want him to be their candidate or not,' Ms Abbott told the News Agents podcast.

The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington also revealed that Mr Corbyn was a Brexiteer 'in his heart of hearts' as she suggested that was the only point of contention between him and Sir Keir when they worked together while he was leader.

Sir Keir served as Labour's shadow Brexit secretary for three-and-a-half years under Mr Corbyn's leadership and campaigned for him to become prime minister at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

But, after replacing Mr Corbyn as Labour leader, Sir Keir stripped his predecessor of the Labour whip in 2020.

It followed Mr Corbyn's response to a highly critical report of Labour's handling of anti-Semitism allegations during his leadership.

'They had a perfectly good relationship as far I knew, a perfectly friendly relationship,' Ms Abbott said of Mr Corbyn and Sir Keir's relationship prior to that.

'The only thing that they differed on was that Jeremy, in his heart of hearts is a Brexiter and Keir Starmer at that point, was passionately pro-European.'

But Ms Abbott added that Mr Corbyn - to whom she was once romantically linked - 'would have voted Remain' at the 2016 EU referendum 'because that was the policy of the party'.

Asked if Mr Corbyn would stand as an independent in his Islington North seat after being blocked from standing as a Labour candidate by Sir Keir, she added: 'No, no.

'Jeremy has been a member of the Labour Party from before either of you were alive He has no intention of standing as an independent.'

The hard-Left former party leader has been sitting as an independent since late 2020, after being suspended for his attitude to a highly critical probe into anti-Semitism under his watch

But Sir Keir, speaking in east London, said there was no longer a place for Mr Corbyn on the party's benches in the Commons

Earlier today, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it was ending its scrutiny of Labour following improvements in the party's handling of anti-Semitism claims.

But Sir Keir, speaking in east London, said there was no longer a place for Mr Corbyn on the party's Commons benches.

Asked by reporters if he could say categorically whether Mr Corbyn will stand for the party, Sir Keir said: 'Let me be very clear about that: Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election, as a Labour Party candidate.

'What I said about the party changing, I meant. And we are not going back, and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election.'

It means Labour will run a candidate against Mr Corbyn, 73, if he stands again in his Islington North seat, where he currently has a majority of 26,188.

Sir Keir had earlier challenged his predecessor's supporters to back his plans for power or quit the party.

The EHRC - which had been scrutinising Labour since ruling it was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination more than two years ago - today announced its action plan for Labour to address breaches of the Equality Act had concluded at the end of January and said it was satisfied with the reforms.

Sir Keir said the work of reforming the party was not over as he suggested any members with doubts about the need for change should leave Labour.

He wrote in the Times: 'The changes we have made aren't just fiddling around the edges or temporary fixes. They are permanent, fundamental, irrevocable.

'The Labour Party I lead today is unrecognisable from 2019. There are those who don't like that change, who still refuse to see the reality of what had gone on under the previous leadership.

'To them I say in all candour: we are never going back. If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to stay.'

Mr Corbyn is likely to be 75 by the time the next election takes place in 2024 or 2025, and if he wins he could serve until he is 80.

According to the i paper, he recently told locals in his constituency he has no plan to retire.

If he were to run again as an independent, it could cause a headache for Labour, but some senior party figures believe a Labour candidate could win against him.

While Mr Corbyn remains a Labour Party member, he sits as an independent MP. He had the whip removed and was suspended in the aftermath of the highly critical EHRC report in 2020.

He had his party membership reinstated within weeks, but Sir Keir refused to readmit him to the group of Labour MPs.

In his initial response to the EHRC report, Mr Corbyn claimed the scale of anti-Semitism in the party had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons' by opponents both inside and outside Labour, along with the media.

But he later attempted to clarify his comments in a statement, saying concerns about anti-Semitism are 'neither 'exaggerated' nor 'overstated'.

At the start of February he pleaded with Labour to end his 'absurd and disgraceful' suspension to allow him to represent it at the next election.

In a podcast interview he lashed out at the decision to kick him out and begged to be allowed back in. But he also used the interview to defend a Labour backbencher, Kim Johnson, who was censured for branding the Israeli government 'fascist'.

He told Global Radio's The News Agents podcast: 'It's disgraceful. It is absurd and disgraceful. I've been a Labour MP since 1983.

'I've been elected every election since then, obviously, 10 times. And I've been a Labour Party member since I was 16 years old.

'And I was elected as a Labour MP by my very loyal constituents in Islington North. And I think the whole thing is absurd.'

'Labour Party members ought to be allowed to decide the future of their party. The Labour Party members ought to be allowed to decide who the Labour candidates are that after all, that is what Keir Starmer was elected leader to do.

'I get on very well with the Labour Party members locally. I support them locally. I work with the local council. I campaigned with the Labour Party locally.

'And I work as best as I can and as hard as I can to represent in my constituency. And I'm very happy doing that. And I would like to continue doing that.'

Dame Margaret Hodge said Labour has 'moved on from the very dark days of October 2020 when the EHRC judged us to be a party that was discriminating against Jews'.

On the future of former Labour leader Mr Corbyn, she added: 'I cannot think of any circumstances whatsoever under which Jeremy could stand as a candidate for the Labour Party at the next general election.

'He's been a master of his own destiny, he knew what he did in the past, he knew what he did when the EHRC came out and he's only got himself to blame.

'I've moved on from Corbyn, the party has definitely moved on from Corbyn, the country's moved on from Corbyn if you see what Labour is gaining now in the polls and I think Corbyn is just part of the past, he's a relic of yesterday.'
A 110-year-old house has hit the market with an expected $1million price tag featuring 19 bedrooms - but only two bathrooms.

The seaside home, which was greatly expanded in the 1980s, takes up most of its 900 square metres block on Kauri Parade, Seacliff, 17km south-east of Adelaide's CBD.

The bizarre property has a storied history, starting in the 1910s as a retirement home for those looking so spend their twilight close to the sea.

'Later in its life it became a rooming house and its official classification would have been student accommodation,' real estate agent James Packham told the Advertiser.

Most recently it was owned by an elderly woman who lived in the front of the property and rented out the rooms at the back.

A 110-year-old house (pictured) with 19 bedrooms in a seaside suburb has hit the market and it's getting a lot of interest from prospective buyers

The Adelaide property (layout pictured) has 19 bedrooms, but only has two bathrooms

'She was very engaged  she was living in it and managing it and it would have been very well-run,' said Mr Packham.

The property is now a deceased estate and the woman's family changed its commercial classification back to residential.

It has only been listed for a few days, but Mr Packham said he is getting a lot of enquiries from people with varying ideas of what they might do with it.

Some would like to turn it back into a rooming house and there is also interest from supported living providers, meaning people could live there with their carers.

'On the other end we've had developers who say it's the perfect block to split into two and build what could be two really beautiful homes,' Mr Packham said.

There are five tenants currently living in the house, paying a weekly rent of $185 per room, including bills.

If that seems cheap, then so does the expected $1million price for a house fit for a huge extended family or someone who wanted to keep their 18 best friends nearby.

There are five tenants currently living in the house, paying a weekly rent of $185 per room, including bills. One of the bedrooms is pictured

Among the amenities in the house is a vending machine in a hallway (pictured), though it's not clear if that's included in the purchase price

The kitchen features a very odd-looking area fenced off by white pickets (pictured)

Amenities near the house (pictured) include being a short walk to the beach and a train line just around the corner

Among the amenities in the house is a vending machine in a hallway, though it's not clear if that's included in the purchase price.

The kitchen features a very odd-looking area fenced off by white pickets - but again, it's not stated if the fence comes as part and package with the property.

Outside amenities include being a short walk to the beach and a train line just around the corner.

The home is open to the public until Saturday February 18 and while there is no advertised price guide, Mr Packham said the sellers were 'realistic' and looking for it to be 'market driven'.
Star brain surgeon Charlie Teo slapped a patient across the face in front family members in an attempt to rouse her following an operation, according to a list of factual assumptions produced by a disciplinary hearing.

Expert medical witnesses said slapping the patient was 'totally unacceptable' with one describing it as 'assault', at a hearing into Dr Teo's conduct in Sydney on Wednesday.

The patient was left essentially in a vegetative state following the January 2019 surgery intended to extend her life expectancy by several months.

The hearing is probing two surgeries by Dr Teo over concerns including he did not adequately inform his patients of the risks involved with operations.

Neurosurgeons Andrew Morokoff, Bryant Stokes and Paul D'Urso unanimously condemned Dr Teo slapping the patient but said his decision to undertake the surgery while controversial was not black and white.

A Health Care Complaints Commission hearing is looking into allegations against star neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo that he did not inform some patients of the risks of surgery (pictured with Traci Griffiths)

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo (left) and his fiancee Traci Griffiths arrive at the hearing on Tuesday

'Regardless of the family members it's entirely unacceptable to slap a patient across the face,' Professor D'Urso said.

Outside the hearing, Dr Teo told media the slap had in fact been a tap on the face as an alternative to other methods, which he described as 'kinder and gentler' for the patient.

Professor Morokoff explained there were other medically accepted techniques to invoke pain in a patient to rouse them that didn't carry 'insulting' social and cultural implications.

The experts told the commission the amount of normal brain tissue removed during the surgery was at the upper end of what they had seen during their careers.

All said they likely would not have performed the surgery given the risks involved but added the decision to offer a patient surgery could vary depending on the practitioner.

'If you asked 100 neurosurgeons what they would do they'd probably have different answers,' Prof D'Urso said.

The experts were asked whether Dr Teo should have disclosed the amount of healthy brain tissue to be removed during the procedure.

They agreed it was common not to disclose it to a patient, but Prof Morokoff said in this instance the patient should have been made aware due to the extreme amount of normal brain tissue being removed.

'I think every brain surgeon in the country would be guilty of not declaring they take out normal brain tissue when they remove a brain tumour,' Prof D'Urso said.

'You'd have nothing else to do other than have neurosurgeons in your commission if that was the line you took.'

Dr Teo has built his career on performing highly skilled brain surgeries which other surgeons said couldn't be done

Dr Teo is fronting a second day of proceedings before the Health Care Complaints Commission in Sydney over allegations that include he didn't sufficiently inform patients about the risks involved with their surgery.

When asked by counsel for the Health Care Complaints Commission, Kate Richardson, if there was any literature or statistics to show the very high risk surgery offered benefits, Dr Morokoff said, in his opinion, there wasn't.

'No I don't think there are any guidelines or statistical data, including literature to say that,' Dr Morokoff responded, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Dr Stokes said the only benefit would be to reduce the size of the tumor and then follow up with chemotherapy or radiation - but the benefits did not outweigh the risk.

Member of the Professional Standards Committee, Professor Michael Murphy, asked the experts how long such a surgery should take, both Dr Morokoff and Dr Stokes answered about four hours.

The hearing heard the woman's surgery performed by Dr Teo took about two hours.

'(That's) too quick is my view, but Dr Teo is a very skilled surgeon so I can't comment on that,' Dr Stokes said.

Dr Teo 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 patients false hope.

He told media before Wednesday's hearing he didn't regret performing brain surgeries that left the women with catastrophic injuries because he was acting in her best interests.

'I did it in their best interest, thinking it was going to help them - it didn't,' 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 state's Health Care Complaints Commission.

'They're just trying to paint me to be some sort of money-hungry, reckless, non-compassionate doctor - I'm not. I just love my work. I love my patients,' he said.

'I'm not trying to deny that complications happen. They do.'
Johnson will reportedly not receive compensation, which is rare in Missouri

Lamar Johnson, 50, was convicted for the murder of Marcus Boyd back in 1994

A Missouri man who spent over half his life in jail had his conviction overturned

After serving nearly 28 years of a life sentence, Lamar Johnson, 50, had his murder conviction overturned on Tuesday after a judge found 'reliable evidence of actual innocence'.

Johnson, who has spent more than half of his life in prison, has maintained his innocence since pleading not guilty to the murder of his friend 25-year-old Marcus Boyd in 1994.

Missouri judge David Mason said there was 'evidence so reliable' that Johnson was innocent 'that is actually passes the standard of clear and convincing'.

Johnson was photographed leaving the courthouse lobby about two hours after the ruling on 14 February, thanking the judge and all those who worked on his case and declining to take further questions.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who filed a motion in August seeking Johnson's release after an investigation her office conducted with help from the Innocence Project convinced her he was telling the truth, applauded the ruling.

'Mr. Lamar Johnson. Thank you. Youre free,' she said before the gathered press.

Lamar Johnson is pictured leaving the courthouse on Tuesday after the overturned decision

Lamar Johnson and his attorneys react to the decision on 14 February 2023, nearly 28 years after he was convicted for a crime judge Mason said there was reliable evidence he didn't do

Gardner said this is a time for Johnson to spend with his attorneys and family.

'This is Valentine's Day and this is historical,' she said.

The Republican-led state attorney general's office fought to keep Johnson locked up.

A spokesperson for the office, Madeline Sieren, said in an email that the office will take no further action in the case.

She again defended the office's push to keep Johnson behind bars.

'As he stated when he was sworn in, Attorney General (Andrew) Bailey is committed to enforcing the laws as written,' Sieren wrote.

'Our office defended the rule of law and worked to uphold the original verdict that a jury of Johnsons peers deemed to be appropriate based on the facts presented at trial.'

Johnson's attorneys blasted the state attorney general's office after the hearing, saying it 'never stopped claiming Lamar was guilty and was comfortable to have him languish and die in prison.'

'Yet, when this State's highest law enforcement office could hide from a courtroom no more, it presented nothing to challenge the overwhelming body of evidence that the circuit attorney and Lamar Johnson had amassed,' they said in a statement.

Johnson plans to reconnect with his family and enjoy experiences he was denied for most of his adult life while locked up, his lawyers said.

'While today brings joy, nothing can restore all that the state stole from him. Nothing will give him back the nearly three decades he lost while separated from his daughters and family,' they said.

'The evidence that proved his innocence was available at his trial, but it was kept hidden or ignored by those who saw no value in the lives of two young Black men from the South Side.'

Johnson will reportedly not qualify for compensation because the case did not hinge on DNA.

Many states offer compensation for people whose convictions are overturned, but this is rare in Missouri.

Johnson was convicted of murder for the October 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd, who was shot to death on his front porch by two masked men.

Police and prosecutors blamed the killing on a dispute over drug money.

Johnson maintained his innocence from the outset, saying he was with his girlfriend miles away when the crime occurred.

While Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life, a second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year prison term.

Lamar Johnson, left, embraces St. Louis Prosecutor Kim Garner on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023

Johnson spent nearly 28 years in prison for the murder of his friend Marcus Boyd in 1994

Judge overturns Lamar Johnson's conviction on Tuesday 14 February

Johnson, teary, after his murder conviction was vacated on Tuesday after nearly 28 years in prison

Johnson testified at a December hearing that he was with his girlfriend on the night of the crime, except for a few minutes when he stepped outside of the home of a friend to sell drugs on a corner several blocks from where the victim was killed.

Johnsons girlfriend at the time, Erika Barrow, testified that she was with Johnson that entire night, except for about a five-minute span when he left to make the drug sale. She said the distance between the friend's home and Boyds home would have made it impossible for Johnson to get there and back in five minutes.

The case for Johnson's release was centered around a key witness who recanted his testimony and a prison inmate who says it was he - not Johnson - who joined Campbell in the killing.

James Howard, 46, is serving a life sentence for murder and several other crimes that happened three years after Boyd was killed.

He testified at the hearing that he and Campbell decided to rob Boyd, who owed one of their friends money from the sale of drugs. He also said Johnson wasn't there.

Howard testified that he shot Boyd in the back of the head and neck, and that Campbell shot Boyd in the side.

Howard and Campbell years ago signed affidavits admitting to the crime and claiming Johnson was not involved. Campbell has since died.

James Gregory Elking testified in December that he was on the front porch with Boyd, trying to buy crack cocaine, when the two gunmen wearing black ski masks came around the house and began the attack.

Elking, who later spent several years in prison for bank robbery, initially told police he couldnt identify the gunmen.

He agreed to view a lineup anyway. Elking testified that when he was unable to name anyone from the lineup as a shooter, Detective Joseph Nickerson told him, 'I know you know who it is,' and urged him to 'help get these guys off the street.'

Saying he felt 'bullied' and 'pressured,' Elking named Johnson as one of the shooters. Gardners office said Elking was also paid at least $4,000 after agreeing to testify.

'Its been haunting me,' he said of his role in sending Johnson to prison.

Nickerson denied coercing Elking. He testified in December that Elkings identification of Johnson was based on all that he could see of the shooters face - his eyes. Johnson has one eye that looks different than the other, Nickerson said. 'You can clearly see it.'

Dwight Warren, who prosecuted Johnson in 1995, said that beyond Elkings testimony, the main evidence against Johnson was an overheard jail cell conversation. A jailhouse informant, William Mock, told investigators at the time that he heard Campbell and Johnson talking when one of them said, 'We should have shot that white boy,' apparently referring to Elking.

Warren acknowledged that convicting Johnson would have been 'iffy' without Mock's testimony.

On Nov. 3, 1994, Lamar Johnson (in white pants) was placed in a line up, where he was eventually identified as the murderer. Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner alleges that the eye witness who identified Johnson received payment from a former assistant circuit attorney.

Lamar pictured as a passenger, surrounded by reporters on the day his conviction was vacated

Johnson, right, gets a congratulatory pat on the shoulder from St. Louis Sherriif Vernon Betts on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, after St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason vacated the conviction

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

In March 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court denied Johnsons request for a new trial after then-Attorney General Eric Schmitts office argued successfully that Gardner lacked the authority to seek one so many years after the case was adjudicated.

The case led to the passage of a state law that makes it easier for prosecutors to get new hearings in cases where there is fresh evidence of a wrongful conviction.

That law freed another longtime inmate, Kevin Strickland, aged 62, last year.

He had served more than 40 years for a Kansas City triple killing.
A Russian anti-war activist today told Vladimir Putin his regime is close to collapse in a speech from inside a cage before being sentenced to six years in prison by a court for criticising Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Maria Ponomarenko, 44, was jailed for spreading so-called fake news after she wrote about Russia bombing a theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in a strike that killed around 600 civilians who had been sheltering there.

The mother-of-two had written on Telegram after the attack in March: 'It is impossible to remain silent, knowing about the death of thousands of innocent people. Sane people are for peace'.

Despite this being the truth, Ponomarenko was jailed for six years in prison on Wednesday for criticising the targeting of civilians at the Donetsk Regional Theatre in March last year.

Russia had claimed Ukrainians had blown up the theatre - but Kyiv, its Western allies and witnesses said Moscow had dropped a bomb on the building.

Maria Ponomarenko, 44, (pictured) was jailed for spreading so-called fake news after she wrote about Russia bombing a theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in a strike that killed around 600 civilians who had been sheltering there

As the verdict was read out, Ponomarenko taunted Putin, declaring: 'No totalitarian regime has ever been as strong as before it collapses.'

She accused the despot of impoverishing Russia by throwing state money and resources at the war in a move that is 'tearing apart' the country.

Ponomarenko was jailed for six years, and barred from working as a journalist for five years on her release.

The verdict is the latest in a series of high-profile rulings under new legislation that critics say is designed to criminalise criticism of the military intervention.

In an emotional speech in court in Barnaul, Siberia, she said her right to free speech under the constitution had been flouted.

She blasted the corruption and crime of Putin's war.

'If I had committed a real crime, then it would have been possible to ask for leniency, butI did not do so,' she said.

'In order to prove my innocence, it is enough to open the Constitution and read it.'

She mocked Putin for refusing to allow his war to be called a war: Russians are expected to refer to it as a 'special military operation'.

Emergency management specialists and volunteers remove the debris of a theatre building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 25, 2022

This handout file satellite image distributed by Maxar Technologies on March 29, 2022 shows a close up of the extensive damage to the Mariupol theater and nearby buildings in Mariupol

Ponomarenko asked: 'What is happening in our country? If there is a war, call the war by its name  war. Then apply military censorship.'

She added that patriotism 'is love for the motherland' - and it should not be expressed in Nazi-like symbols of an illegal war.

'It should not be expressed in encouraging crimes,' she said. 'Corruption is a crime. Attacking a neighbour is a crime

'The symbols V and Z should be wiped out, and those who put them on our [military] equipment should be sentenced.'

Putin's war is 'to spit on' World War Two heroes, she continued in her defiant speech. 'No totalitarian regime has ever been as strong as before it collapses'

After the verdict was announced, she told RusNews the jail term was a 'piece of bread from the master's [Putin's] table'.

Putin's regime 'are prepared to tear apart their own. [They doom] the elderly to poverty, orphans are sentenced because they have nowhere to live.

'This is our biggest pain. Our children are not being treated [in hospitals] because they don't care. The most important thing for them to devour.'

In detention, Ponomarenko ahead of her trial had been ordered to undergo psychiatric 'evaluation' in a secure facility.

Here she claims she was twice pinned down by male guards and injected with an unknown substance after which he remembered nothing for three days.

'I asked for personal clothing, cutlery, sanitary pads and basic washing stuff,' she said.

'I was then forcibly injected with some unknown substance.

'It was supposed to calm me down, and the result is I don't remember three days out of my life - at all.'

She told publication RusNews: 'Do you know how they do it? Three young men from the prison service you by the legs and hands, pushing you against a bed.

'Then a female nurse carries out the injection. While this was happening, my female cellmate was kicked out of the cell.'

A Ukrainian serviceman drives a tank along a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on February 14

Myagkaya Sila - or Soft Power - human rights group said Ponomarenko was the 'latest victim of so-called 'punitive psychiatry', which is reviving in modern Russia to fight people who object to the regime.'

Such treatment was commonplace in Soviet times.

'The most awful thing is that this practice can turn a healthy person into mentally ill,' said Myagkaya Sila.

'What happened to Maria in the clinic is full-scale torture.'

After the Kremlin ordered troops into Ukraine nearly a year ago, Russia introduced new legislation criminalising what authorities consider to be false or damaging information about the Russian army and the offensive.
The disappearance of Australia's first celebrity chef at the peak of his career in 1976 sparked one of the country's most intriguing mysterious that has never been solved.

Willi Koeppen was a colourful, hard drinking character who founded the popular restaurant 'Cuckoo' in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges with his wife Karin.

He was born in Berlin in 1929 and leant his trade in some of Europe's finest restaurants - working on the private staff of Winston Churchill and once serving pancakes to Hitler.

But one Saturday night in 1976, amid troubles with his wife that had become commonplace, he walked out of his Victorian restaurant and was never seen again.

Four decades later the couple's daughter Sabina told Nine's Under Investigation on Wednesday night she believes he was murdered and that her mother Karin could know what happened to him.

Willi Koeppen was Australia's first celebrity chef with his own radio and television shows

He was a colourful, hard drinking character who founded the popular restaurant 'Cuckoo' in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges with his wife Karin

Wilhelm Paul Koeppen moved to Melbourne in 1956 believing the summer Olympics that year would provide opportunities if he wanted to strike out on his own.

He met Karin Lantzsch in his first year in the country and married her the following year, being appointed executive chef at the Chevron Hotel in St Kilda at 28-years-old.

Melbourne at the time was trying to establish itself as cosmopolitan and Koeppen was the perfect fit - scoring a radio show, a 15-minute cooking show airing before the nightly news, and advertising deals with brands like Heinz.

With his career in Australia established in only a few short years, he decided to launch his own restaurant and Cuckoo was born in 1958.

The Bavarian themed venue became extremely popular - with wait staff in lederhosen serving up schnitzel and the restaurant establishing the smorgasbord in Australia.

But over the years Willi and Karin's marriage faltered, the pair growing distant with talk of affairs and raging fights.

Willi was rumoured to be seeing members of his wait staff while Karin was romantically involved with a Melbourne lawyer who would frequent the Cuckoo, seemingly an open insult to Willi.

The Bavarian themed Cuckoo (pictured) was extremely popular from it's early days and only closed in 2021

It was widely known both Willi and Karin (pictured) were having affairs

By 1976, Willi had had enough and wanted to sell the restaurant and move to a rural diary farm, something Karin who adored being the centre of attention at the Cuckoo would 'never go for'.

One Saturday night that year Willi turned up to the restaurant drunk and in a foul mood.

He verbally abused a number of wait staff and later in the night climbed in his Kombi van and was never seen again - sparking an enduring four decade-long mystery.

One theory is that the 46-year-old walked into the forest around the town of Olinda where the restaurant was situated and took his own life.

Another is that he faked his death and took off to the Whitsundays in Queensland.

There were also two alleged confessions to his murder, neither of which were substantiated - one from an underworld figure and another from a jealous rival.

There was also a dark sedan seen lurking near his Kombi van in town on the night he disappeared.

But no body has ever been found.

On Nine's Under Investigation on Wednesday night his daughter Sabina, who is now a lawyer, said she firmly believes he was murdered.

'No. I don't believe it was suicide. Do I believe he was murdered? Yes. Absolutely I am convinced he was murdered on that night,' she said.

'I don't believe he faked his disappearance. I do not believe he is living in another country. I do believe he did die that night.'

The couple's daughter Sabina said she believes her father was murdered but does not believe her mother was directly involved, though she is uncertain if she 'had a hand in it'

Australia's first celebrity chef Willi Koeppen who once served food to Winston Churchill and Hitler migrated to Australia in 1956

When asked if her mother Karin was responsible, Sabina said she was conflicted.

'Yes, it's interesting. My mother was a really beautiful, dynamic person and she was also very capable and we loved her.

'She was a wonderful mother and, believe me, I asked her many times. I cross-examined her on countless occasions and I said you hated him, you were glad to see him go and she said, 'I didn't do it.'

But Sabina said she still had reservations, that her mother maybe, at least, had a hand in what happened.

'Whether she created an environment where somebody else did it, she was good at that. She was actually very good at getting help from people. You know, she was the true matriarch and she was very powerful and people adored her.'

'I say she did not kill my father but did she participate? Was she possibly involved in creating an environment where he was killed?'

'I would have to say I don't know.'

Despite Willi vanishing without a trace, in July 2018, Victorian state coroner Judge Sarah Hinchey determined that he died on the morning of February 29, 1976, at an unknown location from unknown causes.

Judge Hinchey said she could not determine who, if anyone, was involved in his death.

Karin died last year at the age of 87.

Any secrets she might have known about what happened to her husband, she took with her to the grave.
A Bolivian convict has attempted to escape from a maximum security prison by dressing as a sheep and crawling through grassland.

Jose Luis Callisaya Diaz - who is serving a 15-year sentence for homicide in Chonchocoro prison in La Paz, Bolivia - wrapped himself in sheepskin in a bid to roam free.

Diaz, nicknamed 'El Arana' (the spider), reportedly snuck past Chonchocoro prison security by crawling through grass in the middle of the night.

He then attempted to break through one of the facility walls in a bid to escape his incarceration.

The real wolf in sheep's clothing attempted the escape earlier this month, but recent images have now surfaced following his recapture by prison guards.

In a bizarre set of photos, Diaz can be seen wearing the sheep wool jacket and dark trousers while appearing to trail through the grass

Guards quickly noticed that the slippery criminal wasn't in his cell and authorities scrambled to bring him into incarceration.

Guards found him in the act as he inched across the grassy field on his hands and knees and he was quickly returned to his cell.

In a bizarre set of photos, Diaz can be seen wearing the sheep wool jacket and dark trousers while appearing to trail through the grass, impersonating the farmyard animal.

The escape artist believed he could take advantage of the cold weather to avoid the slammer.

Juan Carlos Limpias, the director of prisons across Bolivia reassured the country that the failed escape artist was back in custody.

He said: 'We inform the Bolivian population that prison security police officers from the San Pedro de Chonchocoro Penitentiary Center prevented the escape of prisoner Jose Luis Callisaya Diaz (alias El Arana), who took advantage of the inclement weather to try to flee through one of the walls of the external perimeter of the prison.'

Wolf in sheep's clothing: Diaz, nicknamed 'El Arana' (the spider), reportedly snuck past Chonchocoro prison security by crawling through grass in the middle of the night.

Since the prison break, authorities have ordered legal and disciplinary actions against the prisoner.

Social media users were left baffled by the comical botched escape, with many praising the prison staff for their work in returning him to his cell.
'There's plenty in the tank at the moment,' declared Nicola Sturgeon less than a month ago, as she dismissed suggestions she could soon stand down.

But, just 24 days later, the 52-year-old is resigning as First Minister amid a fierce row over gender identity reforms and bitter infighting within her Scottish National Party.

She will leave as the longest-serving first minister in Scotland's history, having spent more than eight years in Bute House.

Her time in power has seen her lead Scotland through seismic events in Britain's history including the Brexit vote - which she fiercely opposed - the Covid crisis and, most recently, the death of the Queen.

Nicola Sturgeon is the longest-serving First Minister in Scotland's history, having spent more than eight years in Bute House

The SNP leader, pictured aged 14, was born in Irvine, North Ayrshire in 1970

Throughout it all, the departing SNP leader has pushed her party's campaign for Scotland to tear up the 300-year-old Act of Union and break away from the UK.

Ms Sturgeon's efforts to force a second Scottish independence referendum - along with a second Brexit vote - were the source of huge tension with all five prime ministers that have served at Westminster during her spell in power.

But they have also been the cause of dissent within the SNP's own ranks, with many internal party critics questioning their leader's strategy or accusing her of being too slow to push for another independence vote.

In addition to the constitutional row, Ms Sturgeon has faced huge pressure over her Scottish government's management of the NHS and schools, with Scots having suffered a long-running ambulance crisis.

There have also been other domestic rows over a multi-million pound ferries contract, sex assault claims against her predecessor Alex Salmond, and a loan made by her husband Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP, to the party.

Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon was born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, in 1970 to mother Joan, a dental nurse, and father Robin, an electrician.

She became a member of the SNP at the age of just 16 and, after studying law at the University of Glasgow, she embarked on a career as a solicitor.

Ms Sturgeon was the SNP's youngest candidate at the 1992 general election when, at the age of 21, she unsuccessfully contested the seat of Glasgow Shettleston.

She also failed to get elected to the UK Parliament at the 1997 general election but, following the creation of the Scottish Parliament, she became an MSP in 1999.

Ms Sturgeon entered elected office after becoming an MSP following the creation of the Scottish Parliament

She attended a 1992 rally in favour of Scottish independence alongside maverick politician George Galloway and pop singer Pat Kane

Ms Sturgeon served as deputy to SNP leader Alex Salmond, her political mentor, for ten years between 2004 and 2014

The 2007 Scottish Parliament election saw Ms Sturgeon (pictured in 2008) chosen as MSP for Glasgow Govan, having previously been elected on a regional list

Ms Sturgeon married her husband Peter Murrell, who is the SNP's chief executive, in 2010

Ms Sturgeon pictured at a 'Wear It Pink' fundraiser at the Scottish Parliament in September 2019

Ms Sturgeon became Mr Salmond's running mate during his successful 2004 bid for the SNP leadership.

She was leader of the opposition at Holyrood between 2004 and 2007, until Mr Salmond was elected an MSP himself.

The 2007 Scottish Parliament election saw Ms Sturgeon elected as MSP for Glasgow Govan, having previously been elected on a regional list.

But, more significantly, the SNP's emergence as the largest party at Holyrood saw the party form a minority administration under Mr Salmond as First Minister and Ms Sturgeon as his deputy.

In the wake of the 'Yes' campaign losing the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Mr Salmond resigned as first minister with Ms Sturgeon replacing him after no other challenger came forward.

Under her leadership, the SNP won a landslide in Scotland at the 2015 general election with the party winning 56 out of 59 Scottish constituencies as Labour and the Liberal Democrats suffered an almost total wipeout.

But she suffered a blow the following year when the SNP lost its majority in the Scottish Parliament.

Ms Sturgeon frequently clashed with Theresa May and Boris Johnson (pictured below) over Brexit following the 2016 EU referendum

Ms Sturgeon, pictured in 2016, seized on the Brexit vote to push her case for a second Scottish independence vote

Little more than a month later, another huge challenge was to come when the UK voted to leave the EU.

Ms Sturgeon, a fierce opponent of Brexit, soon seized on the Leave result to push her case for another Scottish independence referendum.

In the hours after the EU referendum result, Ms Sturgeon insisted a second Scottish independence vote was 'highly likely'.

She claimed it would be 'democratically unacceptable' for Scotland to be taken out the EU after a majority of voters in her country backed Remain.

Ms Sturgeon soon engaged in regular battles with first Theresa May and then Boris Johnson as the UK Government undertook the process of untangling Britain from the EU.

The onset of the Covid pandemic in early 2020 also led to further tensions between Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson, as they repeatedly clashed over lockdown restrictions.

With health a devolved matter, the First Minister used her powers to set her own Covid rules in Scotland, while the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive did the same.

At the same time, daily televised press conferences further increased Ms Sturgeon's prominence as a national leader and saw her popularity soar among Scottish voters in the early months of the crisis.

Ms Sturgeon also saw her former political mentor, Mr Salmond, cleared of sexually assaulting nine women while he was first minister.

The court case led to a breakdown in Ms Sturgeon's relationship with her one-time ally, and also put severe pressure on her position as his successor.

An inquiry later found she had misled the Scottish Parliament over her meetings with Mr Salmond in 2018 over the allegations against him.

Yet a Holyrood committee stopped short of ruling Ms Sturgeon had 'knowingly' misled MSPs, which would have been a breach of the ministerial code and a resignation matter.

Amid her fresh push for independence, the First Minister had to deal with a growing number of domestic scandals

The First Minister used her powers to set her own Covid rules in Scotland during the pandemic

Ms Sturgeon's long spell in power has seen her lead Scotland through a series of seismic events, including the death of the Queen

During her time as SNP leader, Ms Sturgeon's party has increased its number of seats at Westminster

The pandemic delayed the Scottish Parliament elections, scheduled for 2020, until 2021 when the SNP once again fell short of winning a majority at Holyrood.

Prior to the elections, Mr Salmond formed the new pro-independence Alba Party in a direct challenge to the SNP and provided yet another clear sign his relationship with Ms Sturgeon had completely broken down.

The 2021 election result was a double blow for Ms Sturgeon because, as well as depriving her of a majority again, opponents insisted it weakened her claim that she had a mandate to seek another independence referendum.

Yet the First Minister soon pushed ahead with plans for a new vote and ordered a series of reports on how Scotland might operate outside of the UK.

She also set October 2023 as a target date for a second referendum.

But her plans were soon in tatters again when the Supreme Court ruled in November last year that the Scottish Government could not legislate for an independence vote without Westminster's prior position.

This saw Ms Sturgeon threaten to turn the next general election into a 'de facto' referendum.

Amid her fresh push for independence, the First Minister was also having to deal with a growing number of domestic scandals.

This included a rumbling row over a contract for the construction of new ferries, which has become known as the 'ferries fiasco', as well as an ambulance and A&E crisis in NHS Scotland and increased scrutiny over the SNP's record on education.

Ms Sturgeon has also faced questions over why her husband, who is the SNP's chief executive, gave nearly 110,000 in a loan to the party.

But the bitterest dispute in recent months came over Ms Sturgeon's decision to push ahead with controversial gender identity reforms in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon pictured in 2007 promoting Glasgow's bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games

She celebrates with SNP MPs elected after the 2019 general election at an event in Dundee

Despite fierce opposition in Holyrood and numerous protests outside the Scottish Parliament, MSPs voted in favour of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The legislation was aimed at making it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which is legal recognition of their acquired gender.

But, in a dramatic move, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to block the Bill from becoming law due to concerns over its impact over UK-wide equality laws.

Ms Sturgeon described Westminster's block as an 'outrage' and threatened fresh legal action.

Yet, in the wake of that row, there came intense scrutiny of the management of transgender prisoners in Scotland.

This was after rapist Isla Bryson was revealed to have been held in a women's jail, while it also emerged Tiffany Scott, who had been convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl before her transition, was due to be sent to a female unit.

Polling experts linked the controversy to the recent drop in support for the SNP, Scottish independence and a fall in Ms Sturgeon's personal ratings.

Although the First Minister has denied 'short-term issues' were behind her decision to quit, many have viewed this as the final factor in her resignation.




By Baek Byung-yeul







KT is supporting Mongolia's bid to achieve a digital transformation. The Korean telecommunications company, whose business portfolio ranges from telecoms and cloud computing to media and finance, inked a cooperation agreement with Mongolia on Wednesday.



KT said it signed cooperation agreements with a delegation from Mongolia, led by Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, not only for digital transformation but also for securing mineral resources and digital financial business opportunities.







"The meeting served as an opportunity to check the current business status and future direction and to further strengthen business cooperation with Mongolia," Moon Sung-wook, head of KT's global business, said.







"By cooperating with Mongolia, we will make our best efforts to contribute to the development of Korea," Moon added.







As part of the cooperation agreement, KT and local cable manufacturer LS C&S signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mongolia's Monnis Group to import mineral resources such as rare earth elements.







The three parties will jointly verify business feasibility. They are also looking for ways to establish a consortium with other partners.







BC Card, the financial arm of KT Group, also signed MOUs with Mongolian companies. With Mongolia-based food retail company COSMO Group, BC Card signed an MOU for a digital voucher business model.







With Aero Mongolia, a subsidiary of Monnis Group, BC Card also signed an MOU to cooperate in the payment network business, which is centered on Asian routes.







KT also invited the Mongolian delegation to tour its Internet Data Center (IDC) in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. KT also demonstrated how to use Mongolia's T-Card national payment system in Korea. T-Card is a representative payment system in Mongolia used by about 70 percent of its population.







The T-Card use demonstration was conducted as part of an agreement between BC Card and Bank of Korea, which was made on Jan. 26. With the agreement, around 100,000 Mongolians who visit Korea every year, will be able to conveniently use the card in Korea also.







On the sidelines of the delegation's visit, KT held a business round table meeting at a hotel in Seoul to discover business opportunities in the development of Mongolia.


A grieving family have paid thousands of pounds to exhume their loved one after discovering he had been buried next to one of Scotland's most notorious child killers.

Sam Glass was detained in psychiatric hospital for 51 years - longer than anyone else in Scotland - after indecently assaulting, stabbing and strangling five-year-old girl Jean Hamilton in the 1960s.

He died in a secure hospital in November 2018, aged 71, and his unmarked grave went unnoticed at Carnwath Cemetery in Carnwath, South Lanarkshire, for more than a year.

Yet a family were horrified to see Glass's headstone - bearing his adopted name, John Frederick Faucet - erected next to their loved one's grave.

They embarked on an almost three-year mission to have the relative exhumed and reinterred at a different spot within the cemetery.

The gravestone of convicted child killer Sam Glass (right), also known as John Frederick Fauce at Carnwath Cemetery, South Lanarkshire, Scotland

A member of the family, who do not want to be identified, said their relative, who died in 2019, was now 'at peace' and said the several thousand pounds it cost to move him was a 'small price to pay'.

They have called on South Lanarkshire Council not to allow anyone else to be buried around Glass's grave without relatives being made aware, but the council said it was bound by 'data protection' not to disclose any information.

The family source said: 'It's not a cost you would want but we weren't going to leave him where he was. He's at peace and we are happy now.

'The headstone of Sam Glass is currently sitting on its own with nothing either side of him. It should stay that way.'

Glass was detained in 1967 for the assault and culpable homicide of Jean Hamilton, five.

He abducted the youngster from a courtyard where his mother lived in Bridgeton, Glasgow, on 2 July 1967 before carrying her to a disused railway tunnel.

There he sexually assaulted her, stabbed her with a needle and strangled her before stuffing her body into a closet.

Sam Glass (pictured) was detained in 1967 for the assault and culpable homicide of Jean Hamilton, five

Glass was ordered to be detained indefinitely at The State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Carstairs. Glass was held in secure hospitals for 51 years before he died from a brain tumour.

It cost millions of pounds to hold him at The State Hospital, then, for the last three years of his life, at Glasgow's Rowanbank Clinic.

Glass, who changed his name to John Frederick Faucet in 2015, died with an estate of 50,000, which he accrued in benefits over the years because he was considered a patient and not a prisoner. He is understood to have put his burial plans in place long before his death.

In 2020, the family of the person buried next to Glass revealed their grief at their discovery. They said a 'good man' had been laid to rest alongside someone 'evil through and through'.

They told how their loved one's widow was too traumatised to visit the grave as frequently as she once had.

Soon after they became aware of Glass's grave they instructed a lawyer and applied through the court system for an exhumation order - a process which took more than two years to complete.

Sam Glass, then 20, killed Jean Hamilton, five, (pictured) in Bridgeton, Glasgow, on July 2, 1967

A family source said: 'They moved him at 5am so no one was around and moved him further up within the same cemetery.

'They put one coffin into another and just moved him quietly. His widow is happy now because she can go and visit whenever she likes.

'We can all settle now as she had planned to go in with him and couldn't have if he had stayed next to Glass.'

The family paid an undisclosed sum of several thousands pounds for the exhumation and more fees to an undertaker who oversaw the process.

They now want assurances from the council that no other family will go through what they have.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: 'Information about adjacent lair owners cannot be released in any circumstances as this is personal information and to do so would be a breach of data protection legislation'

The source said: 'I'd hate for another family to go through what we have and for a child to have been put in there.

'Our loved one is now laid to rest next to a wee baby who was born sleeping. I dread the thought of this wee baby being put next to Sam Glass.

'I don't think the council had thought properly about the area they put him in. There are lots of ex-Carstairs hospital workers in the area who know exactly who he was and what he did. It was insensitive.'

It is understood the lairs around Glass's grave will still be available for use.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: 'Requests for bodies to be exhumed from lairs are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. We understand and sympathise with the sensitivities in this case.

'However, information about adjacent lair owners cannot be released in any circumstances as this is personal information and to do so would be a breach of data protection legislation.'
Nicola Sturgeon's shock resignation has fired the starting gun on the race to replace her as SNP leader and Scottish first minister.

The surprise announcement means the contenders will be competing from a standing start.

There appears to be no obvious frontrunner, although certain members of Ms Sturgeon's Scottish government are being tipped as likely candidates.

The SNP's leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, is also being touted as a challenger.

Here are the current runners and riders:

Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes is a leading member of Ms Sturgeon's administration who is being tipped as the favourite to replace her.

She became the Scottish government's finance secretary in February 2020, the first woman to hold the post.

The 32-year-old went on maternity leave last July - the first ever serving Scottish Cabinet secretary to do so - and gave birth to her daughter Naomi in August.

It has recently been reported that Ms Forbes, who is married to Ali MacLennan, is prepared to consider a leadership bid.

Previously it was thought she did not harbour such ambitions, although she has been touted as a future SNP leader since entering the Scottish Parliament as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in 2016.

The daughter of missionaries, Ms Forbes spent much of her childhood in India.

She is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, sometimes known as the 'Wee Frees', which is opposed to gay marriage and believes there are few circumstances in which abortion is justified.

Ms Forbes has previously said she has been 'guilty' of 'tiptoeing around' her Christian faith in interviews.

Ms Sturgeon's government was accused of rushing through its controversial gender identity reforms before Christmas, while Ms Forbes remained on maternity leave, in order to prevent a potential revolt by the 32 year old.

Angus Robertson

Angus Robertson is also among the bookies' favourites to replace Ms Sturgeon.

The 53-year-old is the Scottish government's constitution secretary and has experience of leadership within the SNP, having been the party's deputy leader between 2016 and 2018.

He also led the party for almost ten years at Westminster while an MP.

Mr Robertson's spell as the SNP's Westminster leader ended in defeat when he lost his seat at the 2017 general election.

This prompted him to quit as the SNP's deputy leader and he set up a pro-independence think-tank during his time out of elected office.

But he returned to frontline politics at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, when he became MSP for Edinburgh Central.

Humza Yousaf

Humza Yousaf, 37, is the Scottish Government's health secretary, who became Scotland's first Muslim Cabinet minister in 2018, when he was appointed justice secretary.

He has been MSP for Glasgow Pollok since 2016, having previously been elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for the Glasgow region in 2011 at the age of just 26.

Despite being tipped as a possible replacement for Ms Sturgeon as First Minister, Mr Yousaf's chances could be harmed by the current health crisis in Scotland.

He has come under particular pressure over long waiting times for ambulances and emergency care.

John Swinney

John Swinney is currently Scotland's deputy first minister.

The 58-year-old has been an MSP ever since the Scottish Parliament's creation in 1999.

He has held a series of top Cabinet jobs in the Scottish government - including a beleaguered stint as education secretary - and most recently has been deputising as finance secretary during Ms Forbes' maternity leave.

Keith Brown

Keith Brown is the SNP's current deputy leader and also the Scottish government's justice secretary.

The 61-year-old is a former Royal Marine and a veteran of the Falklands War.

He was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007, and has held several ministerial positions since then.

Mr Brown has been at the centre of the row over the Scottish government's handling of transgender prisoners.

He was forced to order an urgent review by the Scottish Prison Service following outcry over the cases of trans rapist Isla Bryson and Tiffany Scott.

Bryson was revealed to have been held at a women's prison when awaiting sentence for raping two women while a man.

Scott, who had been convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl before her transition, had also been due to be sent to a female unit.

Joanna Cherry

Joanna Cherry has been MP for Edinburgh South West since 2015 and has previously held frontbench roles for the SNP at Westminster.

She became one of the SNP's leading voices in the battles over Brexit in the UK Parliament.

But the 56-year-old was later sacked from a prominent position in the party amid reported tensions with Ms Sturgeon over her support for ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond, the party's independence strategy and transgender rights.

She has recently been one of the most vocal opponents of the Scottish government's controversial gender idently reforms, with Ms Cherry forced to deny allegations of transphobia.

What she calls the 'utterly toxic' debate over transgender rights has seen her receive death threats, she has previously revealed.

Stephen Flynn

Stephen Flynn has recently taken on the role of SNP Westminster leader following the resignation of Ian Blackford amid the party's internal divisions.

He has been MP for Aberdeen South since 2019 and has made efforts to try and shed claims he is at the heart of a 'laddish' group of SNP politicians in London.

On taking over from Mr Blackford he attacked reports about a 'Tuesday Club' of nationalist MPs.

He said it was 'upsetting' to be linked to a culture of beer and curry - claiming he can 'barely stomach korma'.

The 34-year-old's possible ambitions to succeed Ms Sturgeon could be hindered by the fact he does not sit in the Scottish Parliament.

But there is precedent for an MP to lead a Scottish party after Douglas Ross took over as head of the Scottish Tories in 2020.

Mr Ross's predecessor, Ruth Davidson, deputised for him at First Minister's Questions before he was able to take a seat in the Scottish Parliament himself at the 2021 election.
A husband discovered his dying wife and critically injured step-daughter and grandson lying on the street after a horrific car crash - in a 'cruel turn of fate' that meant he was the first on the scene, a court heard.

Nicole Bowden, her daughter Emily Fox-Williams and her 11-month-old grandson had barely left home and were walking to their village pub when they were struck by a Mercedes.

Mrs Bowden's husband, Matthew, rushed to the tragedy near their home in Mosterton, near Beaminster, Dorset, last Thursday evening.

Poole Magistrates' Court heard that all three members of the family were airlifted to Bristol hospital where Mrs Bowden, who was in her 40s, died from her injuries.

Miss Fox-Williams, who is in her 20s, remains on life support and has been unresponsive.

Nicole Bowden suffered serious injuries after she was hit by the Mercedes

Mrs Bowden's husband, Matthew, (pictured, with his wife) rushed to the tragedy near their home in Mosterton, near Beaminster, Dorset, last Thursday evening

The horrifying crash happened last Thursday as Nicole Bowden, her daughter Emily Fox-Williams and her 11-month-old son were walking to a pub

Her son is recovering from his injuries and it is hoped he will make a full recovery.

The alleged driver of the Mercedes convertible, Shane Bovey, 40, was also taken to hospital before being arrested.

He has since been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to stop after a road traffic collision, causing death by driving a vehicle while uninsured, causing death by driving a vehicle while unlicensed, aggravated vehicle taking and making threats to kill.

Bovey appeared at Poole Magistrates' Court to answer the charges. He did not indicate a plea during the brief hearing and his case was sent to the Crown Court.

Shane Bovey, 40, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving

Poole Magistrates' Court heard that all three members of the family were airlifted to Bristol hospital where Mrs Bowden, who was in her 40s, died from her injuries. Pictured: Scene of the crash in Mosterton

An application for bail was refused and he was remanded in custody until the next hearing on March 16.

Prosecuting, Leah Dillon said: 'By a very cruel turn of fate, the first people on the scene were her [Mrs Bowden] husband and step-son.

'The victims were walking, perhaps even still in their driveway, to the pub.

'Nicole, her daughter and 11-month-old were all flown to hospital in Bristol.

'Tragically Nicole did not make it. Her daughter Emily is on life support since the collision.

'The 11-month-old baby is off sedation now and has injuries but will hopefully recover.

'I'm not going to go into what the scene was like, but for her husband one can't imagine how that was.'

Around 180 people attended a church service held in memory of Mrs Bowden at Mosterton Church last Sunday.
Tenants in a beautiful Welsh village are facing 'a 60 per cent rise' in their rents after their homes were snapped up by a London-based property firm for 1million.

The village of Aberllefenni in Gwynedd, north Wales, was built for workers at a former slate mine dating back to the 16th century.

The properties were finally sold after six years on the market to property developers Walsh Investment Properties.

Last year, a two bed-cottage in the village was being rented out at 525 per month, while a three-bed property in the same street was recently rented for 650  but they look set to rise as Walsh said these rates are 'not sustainable in the current economy'.

Aberllefenni community councillor John Pughe Roberts said: 'I believe that the intention is to raise the rent so high that the tenants have to move out.'

The Welsh village in Aberllefenni, near Machynlleth, which has 16 houses and cottages, was on the market for six years before it sold for 1million

The mining village was initially put up for sale for 1.5million in June 2016 but the asking price was dropped to 1.25million in November 2019. It was lowered once more last year in the hope of securing a deal

Mr Roberts said he was 'very disappointed that this has happened, so suddenly after the sale'.

He added: 'Some people who live in the houses are very vulnerable and are going to find it difficult to find the money to pay the difference.

'At the moment, we are trying to work with Gwynedd Council to try and help the tenants, starting with the most vulnerable, to prevent people from becoming homeless.

'Everyone in the village is concerned, some more than others because of the varying amount the rent goes up.'

Mr Roberts said some tenants were paying 50 a month more than their neighbours for a similar house.

The properties were previously owned by the family of John Lloyd, of Wincilate Limited, since the 1950s.

The row of nine houses, with additional cottages, were built in the 1700s as accommodation for quarrymen and their families.

The rent rose by 3 per cent per year under the previous owners - some of whom have lived in houses for more than 20 years.

One of the two-bedroom homes in this row of cottages was being rented out at 525 per month last year, while a three-bedroom home was going for 650

The village is surrounded by the rolling Dyfi Forest and Cader Idris mountain range

The tenanted properties in the historic village previously housed workers from the nearby slate quarry and were owned by the family of John Lloyd

The collapse of a previous sale in 2019 was blamed on Brexit and uncertainty about the future of the property market

All the properties in the historic village, which was sold for 1million last year, have people living in them

The charming cottages are situated in a picturesque valley in Gwynedd, north Wales

No construction work or updating has been carried out on the properties since the transfer of ownership

Walsh Investment Properties spokesman Chris Walsh said: 'Most of the properties have been paying a low rent for a number of years'

Aberllefenni Slate Quarry, which dates back to the 16th century, is one of the oldest running quarries in Wales

The terraced stone-walled houses and cottages are set in woodland and rolling countryside in Aberllefenni, North Wales

No construction work or updating has been carried out on the properties since the transfer of ownership.

Walsh Investment Properties spokesman Chris Walsh said: 'We can confirm that we haven't raised any rents to date, however we do intend to raise all of the rents to bring them in line with current market values.

'Most of the properties have been paying a low rent for a number of years, unfortunately this is not sustainable in the current economy. We feel it is fair and reasonable to charge a market rent.

'All properties were surveyed in January 2023 to enable us to plan any required upgrade works,' he said, adding the firm took over managing the properties on February 1.

'We believe this will allow us to gain a better understanding of each individual tenant's situation. This direct approach should alleviate any miscommunication and misunderstanding.

'This will also allow us to build a strong and sustainable rapport with all of our tenants.'

Neighbouring Aberllefenni Slate Quarry - made up of three smaller quarries, Foel Grochan, Ceunant Ddu and Hen Gloddfa - is one of the oldest running quarries in Wales, dating from the early 16th Century.

It was worked on an industrial basis from 1810. It expanded later that century with the construction of the Corris, Machynlleth and River Dyfi tramroad, later Corris Railway.

The quarry stopped active extraction in 2003 but finishing, crushing and dressing of slate still happens on site.
A real estate agent agent has been accused of attacking a bar manager with a high heel shoe and ramming her luxury car into the venue after being 'rejected' at a single's night on Valentine's Day.

Jenna Manley, 39, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged reckless driving, common assault, criminal damage, destruction of property and intent to harm.

Footage shows a red Ford Mustang repeatedly ramming the Monkey Bar in Mandurah, 70km south of Perth, about 10.55pm on Tuesday.

Vison of the bizarre incident also shows a woman stepping out of the vehicle and shouting 'f*** you'.

Police allege Ms Manley struck the manager of the venue with her stiletto in the head three times after being asked to leave by staff.

Ms Manley (pictured) will have to adhere to strict bail conditions including a ban on driving and going anywhere near licensed venues

Witnesses said the chaos erupted after Ms Manley was 'rejected' at the meet and greet for single patrons.

'It was like a party for single people,' a witness told 9News.

'So anyone that was single was going there.

'Obviously got rejected by someone and took it the wrong way.'

Another who saw the incident unfold said the written-off Mustang rammed the door four or five times' in front of terrified staff.

'Someone pulled me into the bar and said 'get inside now'.'

Ms Manley was arrested at her home about 10km from the bar later that evening.

Ms Manly allegedly rammed the Monkey Bar four or five times with her red Ford Mustang (pictured)

Given Jenna Manley (pictured leaving court) has no criminal record she was granted bail

Ms Manley's lawyer claimed she was offered a drink at the bar by an unknown man and that after that her memory became hazy.

Given Ms Manley has no previous criminal convictions she was granted bail.

She will have to adhere to strict bail conditions including a ban on driving and going anywhere near licensed venues.

When she emerged from the court building, a shoeless Ms Manley ran away from reporters.
The children are being given pro-Russia education and even firearms training

Children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia

Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a US study has found.

Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for 'pro-Russia patriotic and military-related education'.

Nathaniel Raymond, a Yale researcher at the Humanitarian Research Lab - funded by the US State Department - said that Russia was in 'clear violation' of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the treatment of civilians during war.

He called his team's report a 'gigantic amber alert', referring to US public notices of child abductions.

The activity 'in some cases may constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity', he told reporters.

Russia has tried to cast the relocation of the children as saving orphans or bringing them to camps for medical care. Some parents were pressured into give consent to send their children away, the report said.

The report called for a neutral body to be granted access to the camps and for Russia immediately to stop adoptions of Ukrainian children.

Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a US study said Tuesday. Pictured, a woman and child in the Ukrainian city of Bucha

Ukraine's government recently said that more than 14,700 children have been deported to Russia where some have been sexually exploited.

The study said that Putin aides have been closely involved in the operation, including Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children's rights.

It quoted her as saying that 350 children have been adopted by Russian families and that more than 1,000 were awaiting adoption.

The US report, which relied on satellite imagery and public accounts, said that at least 6,000 children have been sent to camps but that the number is 'likely significantly higher'.

Ukraine's government recently said that more than 14,700 children have been deported to Russia where some have been sexually exploited (file image)

It said that Russian authorities have sought to provide a pro-Moscow viewpoint to children through school curricula as well as through field trips to patriotic sites and talks from veterans.

Children have also been given firearms training, although Mr Raymond said there was no evidence they were being sent to fight.

It has been nearly a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin denying the historical legitimacy of the neighbouring country and in September formally declaring four regions to be part of Russia.
Extraordinary footage shows the moment a Russian thermobaric rocket launcher was destroyed in a series of fireball explosions on the front line in Ukraine.

Video shows the TOS-1A Buratino, which is equipped with thermobaric warheads, erupting into flames following a Ukrainian strike near Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian weapons system is seen engulfed in a series of fireball explosions and the video shows artillery rockets shooting out of from the burning wreckage.

The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage.

The destruction of the heavy flamethrower system comes as further video shows Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov Battalion storming a Russian trench full of mercenaries from the Wagner private military near Bakhmut and forcing them to retreat during brutal trench warfare.

Video shows the TOS-1A Buratino, which is equipped with thermobaric warheads, erupting into flames following a Ukrainian strike near Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine

The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage (file image)

Russia today claimed its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front - but Ukrainian forces said Russian forces have not yet been successful in their efforts to punch through their defences.

Russian forces are continuing to suffer heavy defeats on the battlefield - but in an effort to hide these losses, officials in Crimea are burning dead troops in crematoriums 'around the clock'.

Near the local crematorium in the village of Krasna Zorka, Crimea, there 'is a constant line of military vehicles numbering up to 10 units', the Ukrainian armed forces said.

'The occupiers use these trucks to bring dead Russian servicemen and mercenaries.'

Meanwhile, footage from the trenches near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, shows heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

The video, filmed a soldier from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, begins by showing a second Ukrainian soldier in the shallow trench as exchanges of gunfire are heard between the Ukrainian and Russian sides.

The images then show the Ukrainian soldier filming the action opening fire on the Russian position, which the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said was made up of Wagner mercenary soldiers, seen on the left of the screen attempting to advance along the trench.

The Ukrainian soldier filming the action appears to lie down, taking cover behind a mound of dirt next to the trench, with the images on the left of the screen, apparently filmed by a drone above the trench, showing the Russian fighters taking fire before turning around and retreating.

The Ukrainian soldier then shouts 'Davay, blyad'', which can be loosely translated into English as 'Let's f***ing do this!', before he continues to fire at them.

Meanwhile, footage from the trenches near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, shows heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops

The video, filmed a soldier from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, begins by showing a second Ukrainian soldier in the shallow trench as exchanges of gunfire are heard between the Ukrainian and Russian sides

The TOS-1A Buratino The TOS-1A 'Buratino' heavy flamethrower system is a multiple rocket launcher mounted on a tank chassis. Unguided artillery rockets with thermobaric warheads are used for firing. The Buratino is equipped with unguided artillery rockts with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Origin: Soviet Union In service: 1980s Firing range: 400m - 6km Launch tubes: 24 - 30 Calibre: 220mm Advertisement

The Ukrainian soldier then puts down his assault rifle before unpinning a grenade and tossing it towards the Russian soldiers and resuming fire as the footage ends.

Meanwhile, Russia is pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine but Ukrainian forces are still defending the region, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Wednesday.

Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front.

Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in Luhansk but did not say in which part of the region.

'There is a lot of shelling, the aviation is already connected. The attacks are coming from different directions in waves,' Haidai said. 'We see that they are transferring mobilised people (to the front), we also see that there is more (heavy) equipment.'

But he added: 'Those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border (of Luhansk) -- this does not correspond to reality.'

Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been relentlessly pounding Ukrainian-held eastern areas for months, indiscriminately hitting civilian targets and wreaking destruction, as the war largely slowed to a grinding stalemate in the winter.

Moscow is hungry for some battlefield success after months of setbacks.

With the one-year anniversary of Russia's war approaching, followed by improved spring weather, western officials and analysts say the fighting could be nearing a critical phase when both sides look to launch offensives.

The Kremlin is striving to secure eastern areas it illegally annexed last September - the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions - and where it claims its rule is welcomed.

Pro-Moscow separatists have controlled part of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk province since 2014.

Ukrainian servicemen fire an RPG as military mobility continues within the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 14 in Donbass, Ukraine

Bohdan, "Fritz", the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 14

Ukrainian servicemen load a RPG as military mobility continues within the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 14 in Donbass, Ukraine

A woman stops shovelling snow as a Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier (APC) passes near Chasiv Yar on February 14

"The enemy, trying to take full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, continues to focus his main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk areas," the Ukrainian military reported, referencing towns in the two provinces as well as on the eastern edge of the neighbouring Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it can with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies gather strength.

"That is why speed is of the essence," he said as NATO defence chiefs met in Brussels for talks that continue on Wednesday. "Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves people's lives."

Bakhmut's capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk, giving it momentum after months of setbacks ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24.

"The battles are literally for every foot of Ukrainian land," Zelenskiy said, describing the conditions on the eastern frontline in his evening address on Tuesday.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said there was fighting "around every single house" in Bakhmut. "The situation remains extremely difficult, but under control of our forces and the front line has not moved," he said in a YouTube video.

Meanwhile, 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.

The United States and NATO have pledged that Western support will not falter in the face of a looming Russian offensive.

Representatives of the 27 European Union countries meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, which the head of the bloc's executive said could amount to 11 billion euros ($11.8 bln) in lost trade.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said supplying Ukraine with fighter jets would certainly be discussed but that it was not a focus at the moment, and added he was in favour of raising NATO's military spending target. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Western allies could help Ukraine more quickly by supporting their position on the ground rather than focusing on the provision of jets.

Russia, which calls the invasion a "special military operation" to eliminate security threats, said NATO demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day and was becoming more involved in the conflict. Kyiv and its allies call Russia's actions an unprovoked land grab.

A Ukrainian serviceman drives a tank along a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on February 14

Russia holds swathes 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.

Russia plans to seize back all the settlements in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region that it surrendered to Kyiv last year, the head of the Russian-installed administration there said on Wednesday.

The upper chamber of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on Feb. 22 that will focus on adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti reported citing a senior lawmaker.

A U.S.-backed report published on Tuesday said Russia had held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children - likely many more - in camps in Crimea and Russia whose primary purpose appeared to be political re-education. Russia's embassy in Washington said Russia accepted children who were forced to flee with their families from the shelling in Ukraine.
Nicola Sturgeon refused to answer questions about a fraud probe involving the SNP  which is run by her husband  as she announced her resignation today.

The party is subject to a police investigation into whether 600,000 earmarked for independence campaigning was diverted elsewhere in 2021.

The outgoing First Minister faced questions in recent weeks over a 107,000 loan from her husband Peter Murrell to the SNP, of which he is chief executive.

Challenged on it last week, the First Minister said she 'can't recall' when she first discovered he had given money.

Reporters tried to ask her if she was to be interviewed by detectives as she ended an Edinburgh press conference today. She declined to answer before walking out.

But she praised Mr Murrell, saying: 'Few people understand the price families of politicians pay for the jobs we choose to do. Mine have been my rock throughout.'

The outgoing First Minister has faced questions in recent weeks over a loan of 107,000 made by her husband Peter Murrell (pictured together last May) to the party, of which he is chief executive.

Reporters tried to ask Ms Sturgeon about whether she was to be interviewed by detectives as she ended an Edinburgh press conference today. But she declined to answer before walking out.

Mr Murrell gave an interest-free loan of 107,620 to the party to 'assist with cashflow' on June 20, 2021, Electoral Commission documents revealed.

A day earlier, the SNP's national executive committee (NEC) held a meeting, after which treasurer Colin Beattie issued a statement reassuring members that a 600,000 ring-fenced fund would be spent on campaigning for independence.

An investigation was launched in July 2021 after complaints were received. Detectives are looking at claims that cash earmarked for campaigning for a second independence referendum had been diverted.

Last month, Police Scotland confirmed it had asked the Crown Office, the Scottish public prosecution service, for 'advice and direction' in the case.

The SNP has since been reprimanded by the Electoral Commission for failing to properly declare the loan, having missed three deadlines required for transparency.

The commission has confirmed that 'as set out in electoral law', the date the loan was entered into and agreed was June 20, 2021.

The loan's source had also been registered as coming from 'executive management' when first declared, before Mr Murrell was revealed to have been responsible.

Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell married in 2010. Challenged over the loan last week, the FM said she 'can't recall' when she first discovered he had given money.

Following the NEC meeting, Mr Beattie stated: 'We will ensure an amount equivalent to the sums raised from these appeals will go directly to our work to secure a referendum and win independence.'

He added that the full amount 'remains earmarked' for a referendum campaign.

Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said: 'Nicola Sturgeon has serious questions to answer over this extraordinary coincidence in relation to her husband loaning his employer a six-figure sum.

'These questions are not going away and the situation is getting increasingly murky for those at the very top of the SNP.

'The public will quite rightly be concerned that the SNP's CEO and husband of the First Minister loaned over 100,000 to assist with cashflow issues only a day after the party's treasurer had sought to reassure members over their referendum-related donations.

'This stinks of SNP secrecy and it is time those involved were fully transparent with the public about what exactly went on here.'

The latest Police Scotland statement said: 'A report which outlines inquiries already undertaken and seeks further instruction has been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). We are working closely with COPFS as the investigation continues.'

A Crown Office spokesman said it had received a Police Scotland request for 'advice and direction', adding: 'COPFS will continue to work with police.'
A high school at the centre of a parents' revolt called in police amid fears of 'further disturbances'.

The Discovery Academy, in Bentilee, Staffordshire, placed its pupils in lockdown throughout breaktime and lunchtime on Monday after a protest outside the school gates.

It came after parents held protests over the installation of metal bars on toilet doors to encourage them to go at 'regular times'.

The school went into another lockdown on Tuesday after a member of the public reported seeing a man with a gun in Beverly Drive.

Staffordshire Police told MailOnline: 'Officers conducted a thorough area search and no-one else came forward with any further sightings.'

On Monday, dozens of furious parents marched on a school they branded a 'prison' after it installed metal bars over toilet doors.

Protesters gathered to demonstrate against bars being put on toilets atThe Discovery Academy, in Bentilee, Staffordshire

Dozens of children walked out of school last week following the implementing of the 'humiliating' toilet barriers

More than 50 parents joined protest on Monday morning. The school said eggs were thrown

Protesters - which included children - began massing at about 9am on Monday, waving placards saying 'no bars on toilets', 'basic human rights' and 'it's not a jail'.

About 50 people rallied at Bentilee's Discovery Academy, in Staffordshire, as a row over the school's controversial toilet policies deepened today.

Dozens of children had 'walked out' of lessons in protest over the 'humiliating' new metal barriers, which are allegedly locked during lessons.

Police kept a watchful eye on the protesters on Monday morning and were later called to the school

Children joined those demonstrating outside the school, which is run by Alpha Academies Trust

Simon French, chief executive of Alpha Academies Trust, spoke to protesters during the demonstration. Pictured: The demonstration in full swing

'On Friday he asked the teacher twice to use the toilet and they refused to let him go,' she said.

The barred gates are reportedly unlocked during break and lunch periods and were fitted to encourage pupils to go to the toilet 'at regular times'.

Parents have been left indignant with rage and blasted the school, claiming their children are being treated like inmates, with one father, Rob Cooper, 39, saying: 'Toilets are a human right. It's a school for children not a prison.'

The chief executive of the trust that runs the academy came out to speak to the crowd, as police officers monitored demonstrators.

Among those there included Tracey Barnett. The 43-year-old, of Bentilee, has a 12-year-old son at the school and lashed out over its Draconian toilet rules.

Others raised concerns about bullying during the protests, after footage emerged of a girl allegedly being attacked in the academy's canteen.

Parents are calling on the school to get greater control of the situation.

The school said: 'Given the disruption at the school gate we decided to keep the students in the building at breaktime and lunchtime to avoid unsettling them further.

'We will be closing at 3pm and have requested police support in case there are further disturbances. Your child's safety is our priority.

'We requested police support but due to the delay in their arrival and reports of further disturbances on social media we followed procedures to safeguard our students and staff.

'A small minority who attached themselves to the protest continued to cause disturbances throughout the day around the premises, including the throwing of eggs during the protest.'

Staffordshire Police said: 'We were called at 3.30pm [on February 14] to reports that a member of the public had seen a man with a gun on Beverley Drive, Bentilee.

Officers attended and an area search is ongoing. If you have any information or relevant CCTV or dashcam footage that could help us, please message us on our LiveChat via our website www.staffordshire.police.uk or call 101, quoting 429 of 14 February.

'Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.'
A hearing to debate gender-affirming care in Arkansas has sparked outrage after a Republican lawmaker asked a transgender doctor if she has a penis.

In a shocking moment caught on video, the audience audibly gasped when Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig, a transgender woman from Little Rock, about her genitalia.

'You said that you're a trans woman?' McKee had asked on the Senate judiciary floor Monday. 'Do you have a penis?'

Herzig took a moment to collect herself before responding: 'That's horrible,' and slammed the question as 'highly inappropriate'.

Dr. Herzig was testifying against Senate Bill 199 bill, which would allow someone who received gender-affirming care as a minor to file a malpractice lawsuit against their doctor for up to 30 years after they turn 18. Under current Arkansas law, medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years of what the law refers to as an 'injury'.

The audience audibly gasped when Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig, a transgender woman from Little Rock, who testified against the ban, about her genitalia

McKee asked during the hearing: 'You said that you're a trans woman? Do you have a penis?'

During the two-hour hearing Monday on Arkansas' malpractice proposal, some exchanges - such as the one between McKee and Herzig - drew gasps and jeers in the committee room.

After Herzig responded to McKee, he fired back: 'You're the one that brought that into the discussion.'

'I don't know what my rights are,' Herzig replied, adding, 'but that question was highly inappropriate.'

Herzig went on to say: 'I'm a healthcare professional  a doctor  please treat me as such.'

McKee's question came after Herzig said that one of the biggest obstacles that transgender people face is a lack of empathy.

'Bills like SB199 are designed to hinder, not help, Arkansans,' she said.

The exchange has since gone viral online, with social media users slamming the lawmaker for his question.

'Absolutely sickening. Arkansas State senator Matt McKee asked a trans person at a legislative hearing 'do you have a penis?' Does this State Senator have any basic human decency?' Alejandra Caraballo wrote.

Caraballo is a lawyer and clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Cyber Law Clinic who has been targeted online for being transgender.

During the two-hour hearing Monday on Arkansas' malpractice proposal, some exchanges - such as the one between McKee and Herzig - drew gasps and jeers in the committee room

The Democratic Party of Arkansas tweeted: 'Republicans are not hiding their transphobia. TODAY in the Judiciary Committee, one Senator asked a doctor if she "has a penis" and another claimed that gender affirming care was a TikTok plot from China.'

Women's rights activist Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu tweeted: '"Do you have a penis?" - WHAT? Reducing a qualified doctor to a genitalia to uphold transphobia & score political points is reprehensible @MattMcKeeAR. This is targeted abuse. Question had nothing to do with the hearing We must end the public shaming & deadnaming of Transpeople,' she wrote.

The lawmaker behind Arkansas' legislation, which could go before the Senate as soon as Tuesday, said it is aimed at forcing medical providers to stop offering gender-affirming care to minors.

'Absolutely sickening. Arkansas State senator Matt McKee asked a trans person at a legislative hearing "do you have a penis?" Does this State Senator have any basic human decency?' transgender lawyer Alejandra Caraballo wrote

'The idea that teenagers, let alone little children, are capable of making such life-altering decisions is not only brand new, but it's absurd,' Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield, the measure's sponsor, said. 'A society that allows them to do this is a deeply broken society.'

The ban prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone therapy or puberty blockers to anyone under 18  or referring them to other doctors who can provide that care. No gender-affirming surgery is performed on minors in the state.

The proposal, which other states are considering as part of broader ban on transgender care for children, would be a major change for how most malpractice claims are considered, legal experts said. By expanding the liability that doctors face for providing such care, the bill could make it nearly impossible for some providers to get malpractice insurance.

'For a doctor complying with the standard of care, they could still be held liable, which would be just a huge departure from the way malpractice works,' said Stacey Lee, professor at law and ethics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. 'Essentially, what's happened is politicians have entered into the practice of medicine. It's almost tantamount to practicing without a medical license.'

The move is another avenue for states to restrict transgender care, which GOP statehouse have targeted with dozens of bills this year. A federal judge who blocked Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming care for minors is now considering whether to strike down the law as unconstitutional. A similar ban in Alabama has also been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

A ban on gender-affirming care signed into law by Utah's governor last month also expands the ability to file malpractice suits against some providers, and a similar provision is included in a ban advancing through Oklahoma's Legislature.

Utah Gov Spencer Cox (pictured) said more needs to be understood about the science and consequences behind use of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, surgery for trans teens

Utah has become the latest state to ban care for trans minors, joining others such as Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and Texas

'We are playing a game of whack-a-mole in trying to stop these horrendous and dangerous attacks on people's health care,' said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal. 'At some point, it needs to stop because the costs are very real.'

Opponents of such treatments argue that minors are too young to make decisions about their gender identities. But the bans are opposed by nearly every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, who say gender-affirming care is safe if properly administered.

The malpractice legislation includes a 'safe harbor' provision that would give doctors a defense against malpractice lawsuits over providing gender-affirming care for children, but only if they follow restrictions that experts have said are inconsistent with the standard of care for the treatments. For example, the provision would effectively prevent doctors from administering the care to minors with several conditions, including depression, ADHD or eating disorders.

Health experts have said that minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate medical care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression.

'I have yet to see a cardiologist or gastroenterologist who has to fight this hard in order to take care of their patients,' said Dr. Stephanie Ho, a Fayetteville physician who provides hormone therapy to transgender youth.

The current and former medical directors of Arkansas Children's Hospital's Gender Spectrum Clinic testified last year that the hospital had changed its policy  and stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to new patients. The clinic's patients who were already on the medications continue to receive the treatment. The hospital did not respond to a request for comment about the malpractice proposal.

The bill was endorsed as other measures restricting transgender people's rights have advanced in recent weeks, including another bill prohibiting trans people from using restrooms at public schools that match their gender identity. Another bill in the Legislature that restricted drag shows was scaled back after facing complaints that it was anti-LGBTQ.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, right, and Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) attend a meeting with 18 companies whose new businesses qualified for the government's regulatory sandbox program at the KCCI building in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



By Baek Byung-yeul



The government pledged to let more companies take advantage of a program called the regulatory sandbox that grants exemptions to firms starting new businesses, according to the prime minister, Wednesday.



"The regulatory sandbox, which has been in operation for four years, has been a door of opportunity for innovative companies by allowing them to start new businesses that were difficult to launch due to regulations," said Prime Minister Han Duck-soo while presiding over a meeting with 18 companies that qualified for the regulatory sandbox program at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) building in Seoul.



"Through a total of 860 cases that qualified, more than 10.5 trillion won ($8.17 billion) worth of investments were attracted, more than 400 billion won in sales increased and about 11,000 jobs were created," the prime minister added.



To improve the system, the government said it will work on addressing conflicts between stakeholders in a joint business.



The government will also strengthen support for companies that create new funds dedicated to supporting promising businesses, such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, voucher incentives of up to 50 million won will be provided to companies with a high growth potential.



The regulatory sandbox program was launched in January, 2019 to enable companies to start new businesses without being impeded by regulations. As of December 2022, a total of 860 new cases qualified for the sandbox program.



When companies apply for the regulatory sandbox, the government checks whether the applicant is regulated within 30 days, considering safety and effectiveness. If there is no reply from the government, it is assumed that there are no impeding regulations and the companies can bring their new technologies and services to the market.



In addition, if the company's service does not meet the current standards and requirements or if granting permission is not possible, the government allows the companies to test their products or services in the market. Once the safety of their products is proven, the firms can launch them on the market.





Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, third from left with a red tie, and Chey Tae-won, second from left, chairman of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), listen to an explanation from Alex Kim, CEO of local drone maker Rgblab that is undergoing a test operation after qualifying for the regulatory sandbox program at the KCCI building in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul
Bus driver, 54, is being taken for mandatory testing

Boy, 14, was rushed to hospital but could not be revived

Terrified students have claimed they watched their bus driver suffer a 'medical episode' before he veered off the road, smashing through a steel bollard on the footpath and running over and killing a fellow student.

Police have since charged her with a dangerous driving occasioning death, driving in a dangerous manner and negligent driving occasioning death.

The packed 'bus zone' area of Macarthur Anglican School in south-west Sydney - where children were waiting to go home at the end of the school day - was thrown into chaos after the tragic crash on Wednesday afternoon.

Some shell-shocked parents and teachers at the elite private school attended to the injured boy while others had to force open the bus's emergency exits to get to the children inside.

Three ambulances and a helicopter rushed to the scene at Cobbitty about 3pm and administered CPR to the 14-year-old boy before transporting him by road to Liverpool Hospital in critical condition, however he died a short time later.

A photo from the scene shows the driver slumped over in the seat of the mangled bus, with a staff member attending to her.

A staff member appears to attend to the bus driver after the crash. The side of the bus is heavily damaged

Three ambulances and an air ambulance rushed to the scene and performed CPR on the boy

'The bus driver, a 54-year-old woman, has been taken for mandatory testing and is assisting police with their inquiries,' police said in a statement.

Superintendent Paul Fuller from Camden Police said they were in the process of speaking with witnesses.

'Obviously it was at school pick up so there was a lot of students and a lot of parents in the area,' he said.

One student who was on the bus told 7News the driver appeared to have some kind of medical episode before leaving the road.

Parents of other students on the bus also said they witnessed the driver having health troubles before the losing control.

The exclusive school charges up to $21,000 a year in student fees, making it one of the most expensive in the Macarthur area.

Principal of the K-12 co-educational private school, David Nockles, had already written to the school community by Wednesday evening to express his anguish.

'The incident required considerable police and ambulance presence, including a helicopter,' Mr Nockles wrote.

'Many students, parents and staff witnessed the accident so I would encourage you to speak with your children and if needed provide support for them.

A teenager was hit by a bus after it left the road during school pickup at a southwest Sydney school (pictured)

Pictures show the bus appears to have crossed a footpath and hit a tree at Macarthur Anglican School in south-west Sydney (pictured)

An air ambulance landed on the school's playing field to rush the boy to hospital (pictured)

The school is one of the most expensive in the MacArthur region

A heavy police presence remained at the school late on Wednesday afternoon

'Tomorrow morning we will hold age-appropriate assemblies where we can begin debriefing the students and provide pastoral care support.

'Your prayers are very much appreciated at this time of distress in our community.'

An investigation into the circumstances has been launched by officers from Camden Police Area Command and the Crash Investigation Unit.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact police.
A teenager who survived the Oxford High School shooting 15 months ago has described the horror of having to hide under her desk to avoid another deranged gunman at MSU on Monday.

Emma Riddle, now 18, was just 17 when Ethan Crumbley shot up her high school.

The teenager survived that attack but was left traumatized. She graduated from Oxford in 2022 and won a place at Michigan State University.

But on Monday night, she found herself hiding once again and texting her parents begging them to collect her when Anthony McRae, a jobless 43-year-old 'mama's boy', opened fire.

Emma's father Matt told DailyMail.com of their shared terror and rage at having to experience such terror twice.

Emma Riddle, now 18, was just 17 when Ethan Crumbley shot up her high school. The teenager survived that attack but was left traumatized. She graduated from Oxford in 2022 and won a place at Michigan State University

Emma's father Matt told DailyMail.com of their shared terror and rage at having to experience such terror twice. He drove to collect Emma, arriving on campus once lockdowns had been lifted at around 2am

'She is doing OK, considering. In her words, because she has been through it before it feels more navigable, which breaks my heart.

'[There is] anger and frustration that someone you work so hard to protect has to face something so horrific not once but twice,' her father said.

'[There is] anger and frustration that someone you work so hard to protect has to face something so horrific not once but twice Matt Riddle

He drove to collect Emma, arriving on campus once lockdowns had been lifted at around 2am.

Mr. Riddle also shared his disgust at the fact Google Maps had an 'shooting' alert.

'This was at 2am last night when I was picking up Emma from MSU.

'Google has a TRAFFIC ALERT for mass shootings because our broken country needs one. Unbelievable,' he tweeted.

Emma had tweeted: '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.

Emma Riddle and her father both tweeted about her having to evacuate Oxford and MSU

'Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State University, once again texting everyone I love you

'When will this end?'

There are 20 Oxford High School survivors who also attend MSU.

Jackie Matthews, 21, took to TikTok to describe surviving Sandy Hook as an 11-year-old.

'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.
A pair of lawmakers on Wednesday called for the Biden administration to be transparent with 'unnerved' Americans after four objects that invaded US airspace were shot down in the span of eight days.

Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) joined CNN's morning show the day after Biden officials briefed members of Congress about the recent incidents.

'I think now is a time that demands complete transparency. Americans are unnerved. They're concerned about the idea that we don't have complete control over what is happening,' Gallagher, head of the House select committee on China, said.

King agreed, 'The more transparency, the better.'

The Independent lawmaker, who caucuses with Democrats, anticipated that it could be as long as a week before more information is made public.

Maine Independent Senator Angus King defended the Biden administration's response to the slew of recently downed objects in US airspace but called for heightened transparency

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin said he was frustrated by the level of information lawmakers are getting in classified briefings on the matter

However, he defended Defense officials in how they handled Tuesday's classified briefing in the face of complaints from Republicans who feel Congress has still largely been left in the dark.

'As [Gallagher] said, people are sort of unnerved by this,' King conceded. 'But in terms of the briefing yesterday, they told us what they know. It wasn't that they were holding anything back, at least as far as I could tell.'

'We are just not going to know anything for probably a week as they try to gather whatever remains they can find and these objects they shot down.'

The first object shot down is thought by the Pentagon to be a Chinese surveillance balloon. It traversed across several US states before being shot down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina - which officials say allowed the US to learn valuable information about Beijing's spy program.

Three separate unknown objects were downed by US military jets over Alaska, Canada and Michigan on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.

It's an unprecedented level of peacetime military activity.

But many GOP senators who walked out of Tuesday's briefing also downplayed their concerns.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a veteran and a national security hawk, signaled to reporters that he is not concerned about a threat to Americans right now.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said, ''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.'

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023

Gallagher admitted on Wednesday that much was still unknown about the last three incidents but said that, like some of his colleagues on the right, he too is frustrated with the level of detail given to lawmakers.

'There's a lot of unanswered questions with the incidents two, three, and four -t hat I don't fault them, because there is an ongoing recovery effort and until we recover it and analyze it, we won't know the origin of that,' the Wisconsin Republican said.

'But I really think we need to be open and honest. I have been disappointed with some of the details in the briefings. I'm hoping we get more details going forward.'

He added, 'This is an area where we have bipartisan concerns and I think we can resolve it in a bipartisan fashion.'

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signaled during a press conference in Brussels that there was still a ways to go in terms of recovery but that it remains a priority at this stage.

Defense officials estimated the balloon was about the size of three buses at a height of 120 feet, and that the debris field would be substantial, estimated at seven miles when it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina

'In terms of whether or not the debris is is important, it's absolutely important, and we're going to do everything we can to recover debris if it's possible,' Austin said.

He added that he's 'not aware' of any similar incidents reported in the 48 hours since Sunday's shoot-down over Lake Huron.

China's Foreign Ministry threatened retaliation at a recent press conference while maintaining the explanation that the downed spy device was merely a weather balloon.

Spokesperson Wang Webin said Beijing 'will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant U.S. entities that undermine China's sovereignty and security.'
The under-fire CEO of Norfolk Southern earns $4.5million a year, lives in a $4.25million mansion and has a property empire  while residents of East Palestine, Ohio suffer from the consequences of his firm's toxic train crash.

Alan Shaw owns more than 20 properties across Georgia and Virginia, but spends most of his time in a $4.2million Atlanta mansion or on one of his two boats.

He now finds himself at the center of public scrutiny after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in Ohio earlier this month.

It has since been revealed that his firm successfully lobbied former President Donald Trump to repeal a safety rule requiring new electronic brakes and made its trains dangerously long.

The company is now being sued by residents in East Palestine, Ohio who are concerned about the toxic chemicals being spilled from the train cars and a subsequent 'controlled release' of highly-flammable vinyl chloride.

Alan Shaw took over as CEO of Norfolk Southern in May 2022, and has served as president since December 2021

He now must face questions about a train derailment in East Palestine, that has released toxic chemicals in the area

Shaw has been working for Norfolk Suffolk since 1994, according to his profile on the company's website.

He became the CEO on May 1, 2022, and has been serving as the president of the company since December 1, 2021.

The Atlanta, Georgia resident previously served as Norfolk Southern's executive vice president and chief marketing officer and the vice president of intermodal operations.

Shaw now owns more than 20 properties across Georgia and Virginia, with his primary residence in Atlanta over $4.25million.

Other homes he shares with his wife, Tiffany, in highly desirable locations like Virginia Beach and Roanoke cost anywhere between $404,000 to $4.7million.

He also owns two boats, according to public records, and once had a run-in with the law for allegedly not having a boating education certificate. He was found not guilty.

Shaw's primary residence is this $4.2million mansion in Atlanta, Georgia

He also owns several properties in Virginia Beach (like this one) as well as in Roanoke

Shaw also owns two boats, like the Bennington boat pictured here

Shaw now faces questions about the train derailment in East Palestine on February 3, which released toxic chemicals.

A preliminary report suggests that a wheel bearing was in the final stage of overheat failure just moments before the derailment on February 3, and may have caused the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said crews received an alarm from a wayside defect detector shortly before the train overturned, indicating a mechanical issue, and the emergency brakes were initiated.

Videos posted online show fish floating dead in streams across a seven-and-a-half mile radius of the train derailment.

Residents have also complained of sore throats and persistent coughs in the aftermath, with some saying that their chickens have mysteriously died just one day after officials conducted a 'controlled explosion' of the trains carrying vinyl chloride and their pet foxes becoming lethargic.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has since written a letter to Shaw, criticizing the company's unilateral decision-making in the aftermath of the derailment.

In a statement, Shaw said: '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.'

Officials conducted a 'controlled explosion' of trains carrying vinyl chloride on February 6

The freight train carrying dangerous chemicals was en route to Pennyslvania when it derailed

Workers are pictured removing contaminated dirt near the railroad tracks on Tuesday

A memorial near the train tracks was damaged in the derailment on February 3

Residents in East Palestine, Ohio are demanding answers as toxic chemicals continue to be released from the derailment in the area

During Shaw's time at Norfolk Southern, lobbyists for the company successfully got former President Donald Trump to dismantle an Obama-era rule that would have required railway operators to update their braking systems.

The Obama administration had pushed for a new safety rule to govern the transportation of hazardous materials to avoid environmental disasters following a train derailment in Casselton, North Dakota that spilled nearly 500,000 gallons of crude oil and cause $13.5million in damages.

He proposed a new safety rule, which was heavily fought by lobbyists including from the Norfolk-Southern Corp.

Then when the rule was implemented in 2015, it was narrowly crafted and only required railway operators to install electronically-controlled brakes  which applies braking simultaneously across a train rather than by railcar to railcar over the course of several seconds  by 2023.

Ruby Husband, the vice president of government relations, spoke out against regulations in 2015 that would have required train operators to install electronic brakes

The rule only applied to 'high-hazard flammable trains' carrying at least 20 consecutive loaded cars filled with liquids like crude oil.

Just three years after it was implemented, the Trump administration repealed the rule, saying the cost exceeded the benefits.

As a result, Norfolk Southern continued to use its post-Civil War era braking technology.

They argued that the electronically controlled brakes (ECBs) are not reliable, with the vice president of government relations Rudy Husband telling Pennsylvania lawmakers in June 2015 that, while the company would comply with the new rule, it had 'serious concerns about the ECB brakes requirements and the potential adverse impacts on the fluidity of the national freight network.'

Association of American Railroads spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek also told USA Today in an emailed statement that several railroad operators tested out ECP brakes and found them to have a 'significant' failure rate and lengthy repair time.

When those brakes fail, she said, the train becomes immovable.

A 2017 National Academy of Sciences report also said it was unable to 'make a conclusive statement about the emergency performance of ECP brakes' compared with other braking systems based on the results of Department of Transportation testing,

But if they had used the new electronically controlled brakes on the train travelling from Illinois to Pennsylvania earlier this month, the size of the derailment pile-up could have been reduced.

'ECP brakes would have avoided that monster pile-up behind the derailed car,' Steven Ditmeyer, a former senior official at the Federal Railroad Administration said.

'In fact, depending on when the crew got the [error] notice from the wayside detector, applying the ECP brakes would have stopped everything very quickly. So I think it would have helped. '

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash in East Palestine at about 9pm on Friday, February 3

A worker is pictured at a cleanup site in East Palestine, Ohio on February 9

Machinery sat along the railroad tracks on Tuesday as cleanup efforts continued

The train carrying hazardous materials measured 1,9miles long

A video posted online shows a cloud of toxic chemicals covering Pennsylvania in the aftermath of the crash

At the same time as the company was fighting regulations on braking systems, USA Today reports, it was also greatly extending the length of their trains  requiring more time for trains to brake.

Norfolk Southern, along with other railroad operators throughout the country, have instituted a business philosophy in recent years known as precision-scheduled railroading, which focuses on maximizing the use of trains by the individual carload.

As a result, longer, heavier trains have been crisscrossing the nation's railways, with the freight train involved in the Ohio derailment stretching nearly 1.9miles long.

Shaw had even said in the company's 2021 report that it had concluded its three-year plan to transform into a more 'innovative and efficient railroad,' reaching record levels of productivity across its operations including increasing the average train weight by 21percent and length by 20percent.

These longer trains can create 'a very expensive derailment,' according to Karl Ziebarth, a longtime transportation consultant who previously contracted for the Federal Railroad Administration.

'All of these things together show the pursuit of lower operation ratio [or costs] may spin-off in other directions and cause catastrophic failures.'

The labor union Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has explained tat very long trains can cause interruptions in radio communications with the crew or in the wayside defect detectors.

It also noted in a presentation last month that very long trains can impact braking performance, decrease the time for through inspections and increase the likelihood of catastrophic derailments.

The Federal Railroad Administration does not currently place limits on freight train length, but says that 'existing safety issues maybe exacerbated as train length continues' including insufficient time for human inspection of all cars, losing communication with equipment and people and wearing out equipment more quickly.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is now studying the effects of trains longer than 7,500 feet, with federal officials looking to see if new regulations are necessary.

That report is due in November.

Pennsylvania officials now say they were not aware that Norfolk Southern changed its plans to burn all five cars carrying vinyl chloride rather than just one car. A plume of black smoke is seen arising from the burn on February 6

Norfolk Southern had fought against new regulations, while cutting down its staff

HEPACO workers place booms in a stream in East Palestine on February 9 as fish turned up poisoned in the streams

Traffic has been halted near the site of the train derailment as toxic fumes were released

In the meantime, a USA Today analysis of federal safety data by rate of train accidents per million train miles shows Norfolk Southern has seen an increasing amount of train derailments over the past decade.

Numbers surrounding hazmat cars damaged or derailed have also spiked up, with 14 reported in 2012, a peak of 117 in 2020 and 85 in 2021.

Connor Spielmaker, a spokesman, said the company's data shows that accidents are on a flat or downward trend depending on the years selected for analysis.

But USA Today's review of 'main line' train accidents show it consistently trended upward over the decade ending in 2021.

During that time, Norfolk Southern shed 40percent of its 30,456-person workforce, with the company only employing 18,100 employees by the end of 2021, according to US Securities and Exchange filings.

Meanwhile, major railroad operators like Norfolk Southern have paid out $196billion in buybacks and dividends since 2010, much more than the $150billion spent on infrastructure improvements during that time.

'In our view, I don't think you can separate the drastic reduction in workforce over the past seven or eight years from the increase in accidents, the rate of safety incidents, said Greg Reagan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

'What people see on the ground is a really big amount of pressure on moving as fast as possible, as lean as possible, and generating as much profit as possible.'

He added that there is no minimum inspection time for railcars, but the time it takes for workers to inspect cars has dropped from two minutes to 40 or 45 seconds, as companies also work to introduce new technology to conduct the inspections.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has slammed Shaw for Norfolk Southern's actions following the derailment. He is pictured here speaking at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting on February 4

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has now slammed Shaw and Norfolk Southern for its response to the derailment, after meeting with elected officials and emergency management officials in Beaver County.

He claimed that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and Department of Environmental Protection were not notified about the crash on the border with Pennsylvania until hours afterward, and said that Norfolk Southern's mismanagement of the disaster put emergency responders and residents at risk.

Additionally, Shapiro argued, the railway company provided inaccurate information about the effect of the controlled release of chemicals, and failed to update state and local officials on its plan to release vinyl chloride from all five cars carrying the chemical rather than just the one car it had originally identified.

And, he said, Norfolk Southern did not immediately inform officials of the number of rail cars carrying toxic chemicals.

'Norfolk Southern's failure to participate in the unified command and share accurate information led to confusion and wide variability in potentially affected population estimates in the downward plume affecting the commonwealth,' Shapiro wrote in the letter, obtained by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

'Norfolk southern failed to explore all potential courses of action, including some that may have kept the rail line closed longer but could have resulted in a safer overall approach for first responders, residents and the environment,' he continued.

The governor is calling on the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which is charged with overseeing railroads in the state, to review the company's conduct.

'Like me, members of our state legislative delegation are troubled by the conduct of Norfolk Southern during this incident.

'As they proceed with their review and oversight responsibilities, I have pledged the full cooperation of my administration in order to help them facilitate holding your company accountable to Pennsylvania,' the governor wrote in a letter to Shaw.

He also noted that he spoke with President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and urged the federal agency that regulates the transportation of hazardous material to review its definition of a high-hazard flammable train  and require those trains to use new braking systems.

Videos posted online show fish floating dead in streams across a seven-and-a-half mile radius of 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

Meanwhile, residents in East Palestine have filed a class action suit alleging that Norfolk Southern is negligent in the derailment.

Harold Freezle, a local business owner; Susan Scheufele, a resident; and David Scheufele, who says he suffered injuries as a direct result of the toxic chemicals being released from the site, filed the suit last week.

It says Norfolk Southern did not exercise 'reasonable care' when transporting hazardous materials, and allege the comapany caused 'unreasonable interference for residents,' carried out 'conscious disregard for the rights and safety of other persons' and allowed 'hazardous substances to invade the property of each and every member of the community.'

The suit also asks the company to release all studies and reports connected to the derailment and vinyl chloride release, which would prevent the company from deleting any records about the train for a 72-hour period before the incident or removing any property from the site that could help determine the cause of the crash.

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

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.

Water was pumped into a creek for aeration on Tuesday after the fish turned up dying

The water was aerated in an effort to dissipate the chemicals that have leaked into the water

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.
A bogus psychiatrist has been convicted of a 'deliberate and wicked deception' after faking a medical degree certificate and working for a number of health trusts.

Zholia Alemi, 60, worked as a psychiatrist across the UK after falsely claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Manchester Crown Court was told.

Alemi earned over 1million from the NHS in her 22 years as a psychiatrist despite having 'no qualifications' that would allow her to be called a doctor.

Today, Alemi was told she faces a prison sentence 'of some substantial length' after she was found guilty of a string of fraud charges in a four-week trial. Judge Hilary Manley remanded Alemi in custody and told her she will be sentenced on February 28.

Judge Manley told her: 'There is only one possible sentence and that will be a sentence of immediate custody of some substantial length.'

Zholia Alemi worked as a psychiatrist across the UK after falsely claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Manchester Crown Court was told

Today, Alemi was told she faces a prison sentence 'of some substantial length' after she was found guilty of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument, after a four-week trial

Alemi was convicted of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument.

She said it was a 'deliberate and wicked deception' perpetrated against a number of health authorities.

The deception allowed Alemi to work in positions which involved 'potentially very vulnerable people over a long period of time' and the judge described the offending as 'very grave'.

She told the court that, before sentencing, she wanted to know 'how it was this defendant was able to practise as long as she was, in so many positions'.

Christopher Stables, prosecuting, said Alemi was born in Tehran, Iran, but records showed she presented in New Zealand in 1986 and a year later married, giving her occupation as nurse.

By 1995, the court heard, she was living in the UK at an address in Winchester, Hampshire.

The court heard that Alemi had sent the forged certificate to the General Medical Council (GMC) to register to practise in 1995.

She was also accused of sending a forged letter of verification, which the court heard had verify spelt as 'varify' and referred to 'six years medical trainee with satisfactory grade'.

Mr Stables said Alemi is believed to be 60, although the court heard that she had three different dates of birth on documents.

Opening the case, he told the jury: 'She is, say the prosecution, a most accomplished forger and fraudster, but has no qualification that would allow her to be called, or in any way to be properly regarded as, a doctor.'

Alemi worked as a psychiatrist after claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the trial at Manchester Crown Court was told

The jury was told Alemi had been convicted of three fraud offences at Carlisle Crown Court in 2018 after forging a will to make herself the beneficiary and forging powers of attorney.

She was sentenced to five years in prison after re-drafting the 84-year-old woman's will.

Following her first conviction, the GMC apologised for 'inadequate' checks made in the 1990s and for 'any risk arising to patients as a result'.

Alemi, of Plumbe Street in Burnley, denied forging her degree certificate, telling the jury she did not fail any exams in the six-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery course.

The court heard that university records showed Alemi was stopped from re-enrolling at the university in New Zealand after failing a number of years.

She claimed she had moved from her home country to New Zealand after she and her family were tortured following the Iranian revolution.

Una Lane, Director of Registration and Revalidation at the GMC, said: 'We are very sorry that Zholia Alemi was able to join our medical register in the 1990s, based on fraudulent documentation, and for any risk arising to patients as a result.

'Our processes are far stronger now, with rigorous testing in place to make sure those joining the register are fit to work in the UK. It is clear that in this case the steps taken almost three decades ago were inadequate. We are confident that, 27 years on, our systems are robust and would identify any fraudulent attempt to join the medical register.

'Patients deserve good care from appropriately qualified professionals and place a great deal of trust in doctors. To exploit that trust and the respected name of the profession is abhorrent.'
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin put the actor's legal troubles behind them Tuesday night as they dined at their favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate Valentine's Day.

DailyMail.com saw the couple enjoying a romantic dinner at celebrity hotspot Il Cantinori in Manhattan's Greenwich Village where they are regular patrons.

The eatery was decorated with heart-shaped balloons throughout the dining room and the couple were nestled at a small table near the wall, smiling as they talked to their server.

Alec, 64, appeared to limp out of the restaurant and down the street, trailing his wife, 39, as they returned home to their seven kids.

DailyMail.com spotted Alec and Hilaria Baldwin at celebrity hotspot Il Cantinori in Manhattan's Greenwich Village on Tuesday

Alec put his pending legal troubles behind him to enjoy Valentine's Day dinner with his wife

Hilaria spoke animatedly to the server and her husband. The Baldwins are regulars at Italian favorite Il Cantinori

Last month, Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were both charged with involuntary manslaughter over cinematographer Halyna Hutchins's death, which stopped production of Rust in October 2021.

Baldwin is alleged to have shot Hutchins while rehearsing a scene in a church and Gutierrez-Reed is said to be responsible for ensuring the weapon was not loaded with live rounds.

Both deny any wrongdoing and are due in court in New Mexico on February 24 for their arraignments.

The troubled low-budget film is set to resume shooting in the spring with a mix of new and old crew members.

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.

Plans to complete the film were first announced in October, after a settlement was reached which gave Matthew Hutchins  the dead woman's widower  a portion of film profits and an insurance payout. Hutchins's parents and sister are still suing Baldwin.

Filming is to resume with heightened safety protocols, which includes a staff of safety supervisors and barring the use of any operable weapons.

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.'

Alec, 64, appeared to limp out of the restaurant and down the street, trailing his wife, 39, back home to their seven kids

The Baldwins enjoyed a night out before he's due in court on February 24 for his arraignment in the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins

The eatery was decorated with heart-shaped balloons throughout the dining room. The couple are seen outside after their romantic dinner

On Wednesday Alec was seen giving Hilaria a hug as she headed off to the gym

Baldwin has vowed to fight the charges. He has stated repeatedly he did not pull 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 claim 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.

A ten-page probable cause affidavit describes Baldwin putting his finger 'inside of the trigger guard and on the trigger' on the day of the shooting

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

Halyna Hutchins was shot dead on the set of Rust in October 2021

In a statement, Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas said: 'This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins's tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice.

'Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun  or anywhere on the movie set,' Nikas added

'He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.'

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing approximately 160,000 actors and other professional entertainers, also objected to the charges.

'The death of Halyna Hutchins is a tragedy, and all the more so because of its preventable nature. It is not a failure of duty or a criminal act on the part of any performer,' the group said in a statement.

'The prosecutor's contention that an actor has a duty to ensure the functional and mechanical operation of a firearm on a production set is wrong and uninformed.

'An actor's job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert. Firearms are provided for their use under the guidance of multiple expert professionals directly responsible for the safe and accurate operation of that firearm.

'In addition, the employer is always responsible for providing a safe work environment at all times, including hiring and supervising the work of professionals trained in weapons.'
The MSU gunman who killed three students in a senseless spree on Monday should have been banned from buying guns after being charged with a felony in 2019 - but a woke prosecutor lowered the offense to a misdemeanor.

Anthony McRae, 43, was arrested in 2019 for having a loaded gun without a concealed carry permit.

He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a felony which would have prevented him from buying or owning any other weapons if he'd been convicted.

Instead, the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office - then run by Carol Siemon - lowered the offense to a misdemeanor.

Anthony McRae, 43, was arrested for having a loaded gun and ammunition without a concealed carry permit in June 2019. It should have stopped him from ever buying weapons again - but the charge was lowered to a misdemeanor by the office of Carole Siemon

It remains unclear where and when McRae bought the weapon used in Monday's attack, but he wouldn't have been able to do so legally had the prosecutors gone through with the felony charge.

McRae was instead given a plea deal which involved no jailtime.

He was given a two-year probation sentence, from which he was discharged in 2021.

Police arrested McRae after finding him sitting on the steps of an abandoned building, smoking, at 1.30am on June 7, 2019.

The officer asked him if he was carrying any weapons.

He told the cop he had a .380 semi-automatic pistol, which was registered to him, but for which he did not have a concealed carry permit.

The officers found the gun in his pant pocket, but also found a loaded magazine in the pocket of his shirt.

Siemon left office at the end of 2022. She has not commented on the decision to lower the charge against McRae

Siemon regularly advocated against gun violence - but focused on strategies like investigating people who are cruel to animals

She frequently posted on her social media pages about recalling rifles and semi-automatic weapons, and also championed LGBTQ causes

Siemon did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's questions about the decision on Tuesday morning.

She was replaced as the prosecutor for Ingham County last year.

While in office, Siemon regularly advocated for tighter gun safety laws.

She frequently posted on her social media pages about recalling rifles and semi-automatic weapons, and also championed LGBTQ causes.

The new Ingham County prosecutor, John Dewane, shared details of McRae's plea deal yesterday amid growing anger over the tragedy.

He said that McRae would never have been sent to jail, because a jury would have focused on his lack of other criminal history, but that the felony charge would have stopped him from owning a weapon in the future.

Michigan AG Dana Nessel said yesterday that part of her investigation would involve how he was able to obtain a gun.

McRae killed himself on Monday night before police could get to him.
When President Joe Biden finally declares he is running in 2024 he will put protecting Social Security and Medicare at the heart of his manifesto for a second term.

'I know that for a lot of Republicans on the Hill their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,' he tweeted, after trailing his attacks last week in the State of the Union address.

'Well, let me say this. If that's your dream, I'm your nightmare.'

What he has left unspoken is a looming crisis. The money will run short in a decade as costs continue to rise and revenues fail to keep pace, forcing cuts in payments.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says cash reserves of Social Security will run out in 2033 and, without reforms, will no longer be able to pay full benefits.

President Joe Biden has been quick to criticize Republicans for proposing cuts to Social Security, but he has shied from setting out the looming funding crunch

In a recent forecast, the Congressional Budget Office said the gap between outlays and revenues meant that cash reserves would be used up in a decade, forcing a reduction in payments to levels that matched incoming money

And new figures on Wednesday showed the gap between welfare spending and tax revenues increasing further, potentially helping to add another $20 trillion to the national debt.

Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a DC-based conservative think tank, said: 'We've heard plenty of times how Biden is criticizing any Republican who talks about addressing Social Security however that is.

'But the reality is: Not talking about Social Security, not putting forward a proposal is saying you are okay with 23 percent cuts in everybody's benefits  roughly 65 million Americans  beginning in about 10 years from now if we do nothing.

'And I think it's disingenuous of him to be criticizing anybody who puts forward a proposal, but the reality is that we don't really know what he's for anymore.'

Biden has promised not to raise taxes on households earning less than $400,000, but it is hard to square that, she added, with raising enough revenue to keep Social Security solvent.

The White House did not respond to a request for further details.

Keeping the programs in place, undiminished, has become an article of faith for Biden.

'They're more than government programs,' he told an audience in Florida last week. 'They're a promise  a promise we made: Work hard and contribute, and when the time has come for you to retire, you'll be there... well be there for you to help you out.

'It's been a sacred trust, the rock-solid guarantee generations of Americans have counted on, and it works.'

Biden slammed Republicans for planning to cut Social Security and Medicare last week during his State of The Union address on February 8, 2023 in Washington, DC

Republican Representative from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene shouted 'liar' at the claim

He returned to the theme on Wednesday, attacking Republican plans at a union hall in suburban Maryland.

It also provided the standout moment in the State of the Union last week, when he accused Republicans of wanting to sunset Medicare and Social Security out of existence.

Conservative lawmakers took the bait, shouting 'liar,' allowing him to celebrate their 'conversion' to his cause.

But that still leaves a mounting bill and how to pay for it.

The Congressional Budget Office spelled out the problem with the steady-as-she-goes approach in its most recent forecasts.

'In those projections, spending for Social Security increases rapidly in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) over the next decade as the large baby-boom generation retires,' it concluded in a December analysis.

'That growth then slows as members of that generation die, but spending continues to rise throughout the 75-year projection period because of increases in life expectancy.'

President Joe Biden said his economic plan was working on Wednesday afternoon in a major set piece speech, soon after economists warned that the United States is on track to add almost $19 trillion to the national debt in the next decade

But tax revenues stay stable, it said. That means that by 2033, reserves of cash  in the Social Security trust funds  are exhausted and payments would have to match the money coming in from taxes. Meaning cuts.

Influential Republicans have suggested changes to make both Medicare and Social Security more sustainable, such as increasing the retirement age, to reflect longer life spans, or spending cuts.

Democratic lawmakers launched their own ideas this week, with a bill they say will keep Social Security solvent for another 75 years.

It would lift the earnings cap on Social Security taxes, which they say would target the richest in society while leaving 93 percent of households unaffected.

They estimate that Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, for example, would pay an extra $2 billion a year.

Democrats led by Bernie Sanders unveiled a bill this week that would soak the richest to pay for increases in Social Security for the poorest in society

'At a time when nearly half of older Americans have no retirement savings and almost 50 percent of our nations seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $25,000 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security,' said Sen. Bernie Sanders.

'Our job is to expand Social Security so that every senior in America can retire with the dignity that they deserve and every person with a disability can live with the security they need.'

That approach is more sincere than Biden's, said Greszler, with its explanation of how it would raise revenue.

But an honest discussion would also include a debate about cutting some benefits or raising retirement ages, she added.

'The proposal I support would be actually pretty significant benefit cuts for upper income earners, and a benefit increase for lower income earners,' she said.

'But you know, anything that that people put forward that has anything to do with, quote, cutting benefits, even if it's reducing the growth and benefits, you know, just it gets demagogued by the left.
China warned it would take countermeasures against U.S. entities in response to American fighter jets shooting down its surveillance balloon amid tense diplomatic relations.

Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also claimed the U.S. has flown high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions after the White House rejected claims it was behind any flights.

Wang didn't reveal any details and did not identify the targets of the measures, but claims the U.S. overreacted by scrambling F-22s to down the spy balloon and used it as a pretext to sanction Chinese-linked companies.

Despite the friction, Vice President Kamala Harris said she did not think the spy balloon saga would damage relations with Beijing.

It follows a report that the Biden administration was tracking the balloon for a week from the moment it took off from Hainan Island

China warned it would take countermeasures against U.S. entities in response to American fighter jets shooting down its surveillance balloon amid tense diplomatic relations

Harris told Politico: 'I dont think so, no' when asked if she thinks the shooting down of the spy balloon would impact the relationship between the two superpowers.

'We seek competition, but not conflict or confrontation,' she said in line with the White House stance on China.

Harris' comments sparked a direct statement from Republican Senator Rick Scott, saying she has shown 'nothing but total incompetence when it comes to threats facing America.

'Now, after watching Communist China fly a spy balloon over the entire United States, she thinks that we should just carry on like nothing happened?' Scott added.

'Her failure to understand and act on the threats facing our nation isnt just embarrassing, its dangerous. Communist China is our enemy and wants to destroy our way of life.

'If Kamala Harris doesnt understand that, she should resign. The American people cannot afford weakness from unserious politicians in the White House.'

Despite the friction, Vice President Kamala Harris said she did not think the spy balloon saga would damage relations with Beijing. Pictured: The VP with her husband Doug Emhoff

This week, China countered that U.S. balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times on round-the-world flights since May 2022.

'Without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities, it has illegally flown at least 10 times over China's territorial airspace, including over Xinjiang, Tibet and other provinces,' Wang told a regular daily briefing on Wednesday.

'The U.S. has abused force, overreacted, escalated the situation, and used this as a pretext to illegally sanction Chinese companies and institutions,' Wang said.

'China is firmly opposed to this and will take countermeasures against relevant U.S. entities that undermine China's sovereignty and security in accordance with the law,' Wang said, without specifying the measures.

The balloon dispute has delayed efforts by both sides to mend relations, although President Joe Biden has also said that he does not believe ties between the two countries were weakened by the incident.

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 have said.

The balloon took off from Hainan Island off southern China at the end of January, and entered U.S. airspace on January 28 above Alaska. It briefly entered Canada and crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on January 30, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.

The balloon traversed the United States, passing over multiple sensitive sites, before being shot down as soon as it passed over the sea.

The Pentagon said it was too risky to shoot down over land.

But on Tuesday, The New York Times reported the balloon was being monitored right from the moment it took off.

'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,' the paper reported.

Republicans have demanded to know why it was not shot down sooner, and Tuesday's report will only serve to increase their volume.

The balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter just off Myrtle Beach, fascinating sky-watchers across a populous area known as the Grand Strand for its miles of beaches that draw retirees and vacationers.

A report from the Washington Post details that the airship, which triggered a dramatic - and very public - spying saga that worsened Chinese-U.S. relations has been a key part of Beijing's intelligence operations for years.

The report says that the Chinese military has previously sent balloons into the airspace of geopolitical rivals such as Japan, India and the Philippines.

The Pentagon earlier said that at least four other balloons were previously detected over US airspace, in Hawaii, Florida, Texas and Guam, three of those were during Donald Trump's presidency.

Over the weekend, more balloons were shot down over Alaska, Canada's Yukon province, and Lake Huron.

Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also claimed the U.S. has flown high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions after the White House rejected claims they were behind any flights

Members of the Navy recover debris from the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina after it was shot down on February 4 by a F-22
A Muslim student in Minnesota has organized a petition against an Iranian American artist's exhibition that shows Muslim women in revealing underwear after she felt 'dehumanized' and has demanded the school remove the pieces.

Ikran Noor, a junior at Macalester College in St. Paul, have asked her fellow students to 'stand in solidarity' with her in protest over Taravat Talepasand's exhibition at the school. She has placed several flyers around the school and on the door to the exhibit asking students to not attend the gallery viewing and to sign her petition - which has around 80 signatures.

The Iranian American artist, who claims her work was censored by a Minnesota college, has demanded the school remove the petition calling for her racier pieces from the exhibition be withdrawn after Noor branded the work 'dehumanizing.'

Talepasand's exhibition at Macalester College was temporarily covered up after Noor and several other Muslim students at the school expressed their discomfort.

The 43-year-old artist's exhibit featured drawings of women in niqabs and high heels lifting their robes to reveal underwear, as well as porcelain sculptures of similar women with exposed breasts.

Taravat Talepasand's exhibition in Macalester College in St. Paul was temporarily covered up after student Ikran Noor and several other Muslim students at the school expressed their discomfort

Ikran Noor (pictured) has asked for the more racier pieces be removed from the gallery. She was also the student who started the petition, which has around 80 signatures

Noor started the petition on her social media on February 3, claiming that Talepasand's work has 'caused hurt for many students' due to its 'objectifying ways.'

'This is NOT a question of support for Iranian Women for that is a given This is a critique of the exhibit that portrays hijab-wearing Muslim Women in extremely degrading and dehumanizing way,' Noor wrote. She went on to say that 'objectification [and] fetishization' of Muslim women has caused a 'rise in sexual assault' against them.

'This art exhibit perpetuates that same cycle of violence. It is DISGUSTING, DEHUMANIZING, and DEGRADING,' she wrote on February 3.

Since it's reopening on February 6, the school installed frosted glass and placed a trigger warning on the door to the exhibit. A student-made flyer has also appeared on the door, asking others to not attend the show, which the artist has branded it a 'violation' and a 'censorship' of her work.

'I think it would be reasonable to demand the frosted decals and the petition be removed,' she told Sahan Journal.

She also said she was not told by the school that they had put up black curtains around her work and that created a 'whole other level of censorship.' She also requested that none of her work be removed and that the consent note be clearly visible on the gallery's closed doors.

Since it's reopening on February 6, the school installed frosted glass and placed a trigger warning on the door to the exhibit. A student-made flyer has also appeared on the door, asking others to not attend the show

The artist has branded it a 'violation' and a 'censorship' of her work. 'I think it would be reasonable to demand the frosted decals and the petition be removed,' she said

'During the opening on Friday, January 27, I spoke with the Chair who supported my exhibition and stated that they would never censor my work as it provides critical dialogue about self expression and the solidarity with the woman in and from Iran,' the artist work in a document shared with DailyMail.com.

Prior to the frosted glass, the school had installed black curtains around her work, causing viewers to have to manually move the partition to view the work. It later opted for frosted glass to allow the artwork to be unobstructed from inside the gallery.

Macalester put up the frosted glass to prevent students from unintentionally viewing the artwork that contains 'images of sexuality and violence that may be upsetting or unacceptable for some viewers.'

'Please view the exhibition with caution,' the trigger warning on the door read.

On the same door, the Noor's flyer read: 'Stand with us in solidarity...Do not attend, visit, or engage with this exhibit.'

Despite her reaction to the exhibit, Noor doesn't want to complete remove the exhibit, but rather 'the ones that are particularly depicting hijabi women and niqabi women.'

'I think those should be put down,' she told Sahan Journal. The student said the exhibit felt 'a bit targeting because there's not that many Muslim students here.'

While the gallery was temporarily closed, it was covered by black curtains. The artwork inside had also been covered as well

The 43-year-old artist's exhibit featured drawings of women in niqabs and high heels lifting their robes to reveal underwear, as well as porcelain sculptures of similar women with exposed breasts.

'At a predominantly white institution, when Im looking at whos attending the school, whos walking into this exhibit, without understanding and nuance, then its quite harmful.'

She claimed to have seen non-Muslim students leaving the gallery showing laughing.

Noor wasn't the only student who felt offended by the artwork, as sophomore and track star Kalid Ali said that he, too, 'wasn't okay with it.'

'Maybe another student will be okay as long as it has a warning, but as someone who grew up respecting women and the hijab I wasnt okay with it,' he told the Sahan Journal.

Noor said she felt singled out as one of the few hijabi women on campus and worried how other students would start to view her because of the artwork.

When Noor and others met with school officials - where she claimed many cried - she said she felt as if the school was not listening to them.

'As a Muslim student I think I felt a kind of betrayal,' Ali agreed. 'Im thinking they took into account different perspectives, different peoples views, and they decided the best way is to keep the exhibit and the content within the exhibits.'

Student Ikran Noor said she felt the work (pictured) was 'degrading' and sexualized Muslim women

A neon sign reading 'Woman, Life, Freedom' was a nod to recent nationwide protests in Iran. Noor made it clear that she did support Iranian women, but felt objectified by the artwork due to the small community of Muslim students at the school

The email sent to students by Lisa Anderson-Levy and Alina Wong, viewed by DailyMail.com, acknowledged the 'disrespect, disregard, and invisibility' that some students experienced and apologized for not taking the 'steps needed to demonstrate cultural sensitivity and awareness of the possible impact of the art.'

Despite the positive step from the school, Noor still questioned why a trigger warning and an email had not been offered before the exhibition debuted.

'It is really frustrating and emotionally draining for Muslim students, or BIPOC students, to have to educate everybody else on whats going on,' Noor told the Suhan Journal.

'It doesnt look like the school administration is going to do anything anyway, but just to show the students that theres other people standing with them.'

So far, around 80 students have signed Noor's petition and the student argued that 'critiquing the art is not silencing the artist.'

'I should be able to say that, hey, as a Muslim woman on this campus who wears the hijab, this is pretty harmful to me. And this is pretty harmful to other women as well,' she told Suhan Journal. 'Its not like Im saying, no one should see the art, but take it elsewhere.

The artwork is still displayed at the school (pictured)

'As an institution, you have the right to say we dont want to be associated with this sort of thing.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Noor for comment.

'My artwork is unapologetic,' Talepasand - who was born in Oregon in 1979 to Iranian parents, the year the Iran Islamic Revolution began - told the Suhan Journal. 'Im making work thats finding the similarities, not just differences, between East and West and how, in a lot of ways, they parallel.

'Sometimes it can be very political. Sometimes it can be very controversial. But I do firmly believe that art can promote these conversations,' she continued.

The artist said her work is meant to be a 'voice and the share the awareness of what's happening in Iran, but not only in Iran, but what is happening here in America.'

'Were still fighting for female autonomy, right? And its very much a conversation that is happening in many other countries.'

During opening night, the artist, who also works as an assistant professor of art practice at Portland State University, spoke with students to discuss her art and send she had a good turn out.

'It was a really great celebratory night,' she told the outlet. 'I had women from Morocco, Egypt, Iranians, who were really there to support my work.'
Ford Motor's F-150 Lightning electric pickup is parked at the construction site of BlueOval SK's factory in Kentucky in this January file photo. Korea Times file



By Park Jae-hyuk



SK On is facing questions about the quality of its electric vehicle (EV) batteries after Ford Motor cited a "potential battery issue" as the reason for its abrupt decision to halt the production of F-150 Lightning pickup trucks equipped with the Korean firm's product.



The U.S. carmaker told foreign news outlets on Tuesday (local time) that the company has paused production and shipments of the electric pickup since last week, due to a possible battery problem which is under investigation. There was no sales suspension for vehicles already on dealers' lots, but it remains uncertain when Ford will resume production.



The U.S. carmaker's recent notification came amid growing concerns over the possible termination of the partnership between SK On and Ford, after they agreed to set up a U.S. joint venture named BlueOval SK.



A day before the notification, Ford unveiled its plan to build a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Michigan by licensing technologies from China's CATL, which has the world's largest market share. Starting from 2024, the carmaker plans to introduce LFP batteries on F-150, which has used nickel, cobalt and manganese (NCM) batteries made by SK On.



A few weeks earlier, Ford and SK On decided to drop their plan to establish a joint venture in Turkey. The U.S. firm said at that time that it was seeking a partnership with another Korean battery maker, LG Energy Solution (LGES).



In response to concerns, SK On emphasized its intent to maintain its partnership with Ford. The Korean firm's factories in the U.S. state of Georgia, which have been supplying batteries for F-150, are still in operation, despite the halted production of the electric pickup.



"We are investigating the matter," an SK On spokesman said. A spokesperson from Ford's Korean subsidiary was unavailable for comment.



Investors, however, took the issue seriously, unloading their shares in SK Innovation, the parent of the unlisted SK On.



The oil refiner's stock price plunged 7.46 percent during Wednesday's trading session.



In contrast, the stock price of LGES rose temporarily to 543,000 won ($423) during intraday trading from the previous session's closing price of 528,000 won, although the share price closed eventually at 527,000 won on Wednesday, in line with the sharp decline in the benchmark KOSPI.


The rebels have threatened to kill Mr Mehrtens if Indonesia tries to rescue him

Spear-wielding rebels have threatened to execute a New Zealand pilot they have taken hostage in the remote Papua region of Indonesia if the Indonesian military attempts to rescue him.

Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company Susu Air, was kidnapped last week by the separatist rebels, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway.

The group from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway in Paro in the remote Nduga district on February 7.

Now, footage has emerged of the rebels surrounding Mr Mehrtens, who is understood to be married with a young son, while armed with rifles, spears and bows and arrows.

In the chilling video, the rebels warned that Mr Mehrtens, from Christchurch, 'will die here' like 'the rest of us' if the Indonesian army tried to rescue him.

Phillip Mehrtens, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company Susu Air, was kidnapped last week by the separatist rebels, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway

The group from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway in Paro in the remote Nduga district on February 7 (pictured)

Phillip Mehrtens was kidnapped shortly after touching down in Paro in the remote West Papuan province of Nguda

Rebel separatists spokesperson Sebby Sambom wrote on Facebook that Mr Mehrtens will be held hostage for negotiations with Indonesia - but he warned that if Jakarta refused to negotiate or intervened militarily then the pilot 'will be executed'.

Sambom said the rebels would 'never release' Mr Mehrtens unless Jakarta made the Papua region independent from Indonesia.

But the Indonesian government has stood firm, saying Papua will 'forever remain a legitimate part' of Indonesia.

On Wednesday afternoon, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkin said the New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta would lead the diplomatic response, adding that any public comments from the government would be kept at a 'minimum'.

Mr Mehrtens was abducted by the rebels last week just after he had landed his plane, with five passengers on board, on a small runway in Paro.

He was scheduled to evacuate 15 construction workers building a health centre in the district after the separatist rebels threatened to kill them.

'Our plan to evacuate the workers angered the rebels, who responded by setting fire to the plane and seizing the pilot,' said Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge, who was one of the passengers. 'We deeply regret this incident.'

The rebels released all five passengers because they are indigenous Papuans, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said earlier.

Flying is the only practical way of accessing many parts of the mountainous area.

One of Mr Mehrtens' former colleagues told New Zealand's Stuff news organisation that the pilot was flying 'dangerous pathways' with short runways on steep hills.

The fellow pilot said: 'It shows how much of a family person he is, putting himself at risk to earn money to support his family.

'Phil is the nicest guy, he genuinely is - no one ever had anything bad to say about him.'

The West Papua rebel group behind the abduction of New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens (middle), released photos of the captured airman while requesting complete independence from Indonesia

The separatist rebels from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway (pictured)

Footage released by the West Papua Liberation Army shows Mr Mehrtens surrounded by men armed with guns, spears, bows and arrows while he was forced to make statements to camera

New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens

Sambom shared videos and photos on Tuesday that showed a group of gunmen setting fire to the plane on the runway.

Sitting in the plane's cockpit, leader Kogoya said he took the pilot hostage as part of their struggle 'to free Papua' from Indonesia.

Another video showed Mr Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by the heavily armed rebels.

In a third video, the pilot is ordered by the rebels to say: 'The Papuan military that has taken me captive to fight for Papuan independence, they ask for the Indonesian military to go home to Indonesia and if not, I will remain captive for my life.'

He added: 'Indonesia must recognise Papua is independent.'

'I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food or drinks,' rebel leader Kogoya said in the video with Mr Mehrtens standing next to him. 'He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground.'

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region, which is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

Rebel leader Kogaya is seen sitting outside the plane before setting it on fire

Sitting in the plane's cockpit, Kogoya said he took the pilot hostage as part of their struggle 'to free Papua' from Indonesia

Mr Mehrtens flew a single engine plane (allegedly pictured) to the Nguda region in order to remove 15 construction workers from the area after their lives were threatened by the rebels

What is the West Papua Liberation Army? The West Papua Liberation Army is the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Separatist rebels from the group have fought Indonesian control in the easternmost region of Papua since the early 1960s. The group, which has child soldiers among its ranks, employs guerrilla tactics to target and destroy industrial buildings as a rejection of Indonesian-led development. The Papuan fighters have never been well armed but have battled Indonesia since it took control of the mineral-rich region from the Dutch in 1962. Papuans, who had declared their independence the year before, see Indonesians as invaders who cemented control with a UN-sponsored sham referendum at the end of the 1960s. Advertisement

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Mohammad Mahfud said the government was making every effort to persuade the rebels to release Mr Mehrtens 'because the priority is the safety of the hostage.'

'Taking civilians hostage for any reason is unacceptable,' Mr Mahfud said in a video statement late Tuesday. He said persuasion is the best method to ensure hostage safety, but 'the government does not rule out other efforts.'

He emphasised the government's view that Papua is part of Indonesia.

'Papua will forever remain a legitimate part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,' Mr Mahfud said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday in a statement: 'We are aware of the photos and video circulating but won't be commenting further at this stage.'

Papua police chief Mathius Fakhiri told reporters in Jayapura, the provincial capital, that they are seeking to obtain the pilot's freedom by involving several community leaders, including tribal and church figures, to build communication and negotiate with the rebels.

Meanwhile, the president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, issued a statement on February 9 that laid out his demands.

'The ULMWP Executive reiterates and reassures the New Zealand government and the world that we are [using] a peaceful, diplomatic approach,' President Wenda wrote.

'Our roadmap is very clear: we are pursuing the unified West Papuan goal of national liberation peacefully, through diplomatic political mechanisms.'

To release Mr Mehrtens, the rebels are demanding the removal of Indonesian troops from West Papua, a UN investigation into alleged human rights violations, a referendum of independence and a cancellation of 'Special Autonomy'.

'The kidnap of a foreign pilot naturally brings West Papua to the attention of international media,' Mr Wenda continued.

'The international community must help to end the violence in West Papua by forcing Indonesia to come to the table and discuss a referendum, the only path to a peaceful resolution.

'We will peacefully continue our long fight for freedom, until the world finally hears our cry.

However, a spokesman for the Liberation Army has also issued a warning to other countries and areas, including Australia.

Video and images have since emerged showing Mr Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by a group of rebels

The president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda, sent his condolences to Mr Mehrtens' family for the troubles the abduction has caused them

'[The West Papuan Liberation Army] considers New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, America, Europe, all are responsible,' a statement from the Liberation Army's secretary, Sebby Sambom, reads.

'The US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has supported the Indonesian government, trained The Indonesian National Police, supplied weapons to kill us West Papuans from 1963 to today. They must be held accountable.'

The former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea, which is both ethnically and culturally distinct from Indonesia, has been in an insurgency against Indonesian security forces for decades.

The Nguda region was the scene of bloodshed in July last year when ten traders were killed by the Liberation Army, who they claim were spies for the Indonesian government.

In March of that same year rebel gunmen killed eight technicians repairing a remote telecommunications tower, while in 2018 at least 31 construction workers and a soldier were killed in one of the worst attacks in the province.

Mr Mehrtens worked for Susi Air after leaving flight school in Christchurch, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, before stints with Jetstar and Cathay Pacific subsidiary Cathay Dragon. He then returned to the Indonesian aviation company.

The 15 construction workers, who were rescued on February 8 by security forces, came from other Indonesian islands to build the health centre in Paro. They had taken refuge in a priest's house in the village for several days after rebels threatened to kill them.

Separatists consider civilian workers to be outsiders who sometimes spy for the Indonesian government.

Conflict in the region has risen in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.

A former Susi Air pilot from New Zealand told RNZ said the airline warned pilots to take precautions in Papua when he flew there in 2017.
A rare 1908 Harley-Davidson became the most expensive motorcycle ever sold at auction in Las Vegas on 28 January.

The Strap Tank motorcycle was sold for $935,000 after auction fees at the Mecum Auction, which listed the item as 'the first of the breed, and the earliest Harley-Davidson model one will ever find, as the prototypes that preceded it are long gone'.

The 115-year-old Strap Tank motorcycle - named after its oil and fuel tanks, which are attached to the frame with nickel straps - is believed to be one of only 12 models still remaining.

Harley-Davidson started producing motorcycles in a small wooden shed in 1905, moving to a factory in 1906 and steadily expanding production to 450 motorcycles in 1908.

The auctioneers noted that the motorcycle, which had been expertly restored and still had the original tank, wheels, engine belt pulley, seat cover and muffler sleeve, was exceptionally rare.

The bike, which sold for $875,000 before fees, was reportedly found intact in a Wisconsin barn by David Uihlein in 1941, which he kept in his possession for 66 years.

The 115-year-old bike was found in a barn in 1941 and still has many of its original parts

The 1908 Strap Tank is believed to be among the oldest Harley-Davidson bikes around today

The bike produced four horsepower when it was made, which was nearly doubled with the introduction of the V-Twin a year later, also 440cc

The younger motorcycle sold for more than a 1907 440cc Strap Tank, which went for $715,000 after fees as it had not been restored.

The 1908 Strap Tank was expertly restored with the help of Paul Freehill of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The record-breaking bike had many of its original parts, making it even more rare, said Greg Arnold, Motorcycle Division Manager at Mecum Auctions.

'We marketed the bike well and Harley is by far the most famous American motorcycle brand so we had a feeling it would do well in auction, but obviously you are surprised anytime you sell the most expensive bike ever,' he said.

Founded in 1903, Harley-Davidson was a relatively small manufacturer in 1908, but the Strap Tank quickly earned a reputation as a robust and durable motorcycle.

It was built at the first factory on Chestnut Street, Milwaukee, which employed only 18 workers in 1908.

From that factory, the brand was able to grow into one of the most successful and best-recognized manufacturers in the world.

The company, which still has its headquarters on Chestnut Street (since renamed to Juneau Avenue) now spans the globe with factories in York, Pennsylvania; Manaus, Brazil; Bawal, India; Pluak Deng, Thailand; and, of course, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Strap Tanks were built with an Atmospheric Single engine, displacing 440ccs, and had an estimated horsepower of four.

The frame was made from a single loop of lugged steel and the bike weighed 185lbs, sitting on 28" tires.

The bikes set a precedent with their design and coloring, informing the design of the 1909 Harley-Davidson V-Twin, the company's first production V-twin, which produced a whopping seven horsepower.

Bikes in the early years were not mass produced and changes were subtle.

The Renault gray paint was adopted in 1906, in time for the Strap Tank, pictured.

The 1908 Strap Tank pictured is painted in Renault gray, adopted by the company in 1906

This Strap Tank sold for such a high fee in part because it had been carefully maintained, restored, and had many of its original parts still in working order, auctioneers said

Making steady improvements, the company were able to expand production and overtake their competitors by 1914, when the war effort saw the company sell 20,000 motorcycles to the U.S. military.

By 1920, the company was the largest motorcycle manufacturer worldwide, with dealers in 67 countries. While sales were hit hard by the Great Depression, the company adapted and emerged from the crisis almost unchallenged.

Again, in World War II, large quantities of motorcycles bought by the U.S. military helped Harley-Davidson to recover, but post-war cost-cutting under new owners AMF hurt the company's reputation.

Harley-Davidson was sold and restructured in 1981 and quality steadily recovered, with the brand becoming the sales leader again for bikes over 750cc by 1990.

The company still enjoys a large and loyal following around the world, and this year will be marking its 120th anniversary with a series of global events, concerts and tours.

Perhaps most notorious are the Hells Angels (HAMC), a worldwide motorcycle club, founded in 1948 in California, mostly by former military personnel, who adopted the cheap and easy-to-maintain bikes familiar to them from the war.

Others say the outlaw group was founded in 1935; the gang's history is by nature difficult to track precisely.

It is known that by the 1940s, after the war, the group burst onto the scene in California, riding cheap Harleys sold off by the U.S. military post-1945.

The All-American bikes represented freedom and rebellion and allowed the bikers to travel long distances cross-country together.

In the 1960s, the 'one percenter' motorcycle clubs received social backlash and were shunned by a number of manufacturers, but kept close to their Harleys.

The relationship with Harley Davidson has been mutually beneficial, with HAMC making it a requirement for bikers to own a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Today there are approximately 3,500 members and hundreds of charters world over.

Michael Jackson's son, Prince Jackson meets up with friends for coffee riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in Malibu

Hells Angels has become a globally recognized motorcycle club with fans and charters worldwide

Detail of a Harley-Davidson motorbike at an exhibition of classical motorcycles in Varadero, Matanzas Province, Cuba, on February 11, 2023

A Harley-Davidson motorcycle is displayed at the Cowboy Harley-Davidson dealership on February 02, 2023 in Austin, Texas

Developing the association with strong, macho characters, the bikes have also featured in a number of films.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day features a chase with a Harley Fat Boy.

Contrary to popular belief, the bike was not named as a combination of the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs, but so called due to its wide frame.

Bikes also featured in the 1969 classic Easy Rider, featuring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as they cross the country on their bikes.

The famed 1951 Panhead Chopper inspired many to create replicas after the film's release.

Robocop 2, Rocky 3 and Pulp Fiction were also keen to include Harley-Davidson's classic bikes.

Still, today, the bikes represent an apex of Americana culture - freedom, patriotism and pride - passed over from generation to generation and still going strong in 2023.

Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda pictured in the 1969 road drama film, 'Easy Rider'

1969 image shows the Hells Angels flag for Oakland in California
Here is the shocking moment a bully at an upstate New York middle school picks up a kid half his size and throws him onto the concrete ground.

The incident involved a ninth grade student picking on a sixth grader at the Cosgrove Middle School in Spencerport, just west of Rochester, on Monday afternoon.

The accused bully has since been removed from school, and his victim's parents have filed a police report with assault charges pending, according to News10NBC.

At a school board meeting this week, board vice president Michael Miceli said they were investigating the incident.

Parents who attended the meeting said the video was 'horrifying,' and that it made 'your stomach turn.'

Neither police nor Cosgrove Middle School had responded to DailyMail.com requests for comment at the time of publication.

The incident involved a ninth grade student picking on a sixth grader at the Cosgrove Middle School in Spencerport, just west of Rochester, on Monday afternoon

In the brief video, the ninth grade student standing nearly twice as tall as his victim approaches the sixth grader during what appears to be dismissal at the school.

As crowds of kids pass by on a concrete curb in front of a row of school buses, the larger student grabs his victim from behind and holds him in place while berating him verbally.

The sixth grader could be seen throwing his hands in the air while repeating 'it was the other dude.' But his attacker maintained his hold over him.

As the two argued, what appeared to be a girl's voice could be heard shrieking with laughter at the situation.

The ninth grader then suddenly reaches down and grabs the sixth grader behind the knee, and with the other hand still holding the boy from behind picks him up off his feet into the air.

He then slams the kid down onto the ground, where the boy lands hard on his side, before springing to his feet and fleeing through a crowd of students.

In the brief video, the ninth grade student standing nearly twice as tall as his victim approaches the sixth grader during what appears to be dismissal at the school

School board vice president Michael Miceli said they were investigating the incident

Parent Lisa Watson questioned whether students were facing proper consequences from the school

The school said the older student 'sought out' his victim before the attack.

During the school's board meeting this week, the school said it would make sure there would be no such behavior at the school in the future.

'We take this act of violence very seriously,' said Miceli. 'We will support any strict disciplinary consequences once the investigation concludes.'

'Finally, with this devastating video going viral, our primary concern is to support the well-being of our Cosgrove student,' he added.

After the meeting parents told News10NBC they were satisfied with the board's response at the meeting, with one saying 'I do think that at this point there's not too much they can say or do.'

Another parent said she was concerned about whether bullies were facing proper consequences for their actions.

'Are consequences not being given, I don't know,' parent Lisa Watson said. 'It just seems like the same students are acting inappropriately, and that's to be a safe term.'
A lawyer who was mocked on screen by Jeremy Clarkson over his poor spelling has gone public to reveal that he is dyslexic - and revealed how the jibes reawakened memories of his traumatic school days.

Barrister Charles Streeten appeared in the second series of Amazon Prime reality show Clarkson's Farm when the remarks that stung him were made.

Streeten - now revealed as having experienced a lifetime of social anxiety around spelling - was representing the local authority in a dispute with Clarkson over planning permission to expand parts of his Diddly Squat farm enterprise that the show is based on.

Today Mr Streeten published a powerful open letter addressed to Clarkson which opens: 'Learn to spell.' Well, I've certainly tried. When you muttered those words to me you couldn't have known how many times I've heard them. But to a dyslexic, it's a familiar phrase.'

Barrister Charles Streeten appeared in the second series of Amazon Prime reality show Clarkson's Farm when the remarks that stung him were made

The spark for the row is understood to have come during a hearing, believed to have taken place last January before West Oxfordshire district council's uplands area planning subcommittee.

The former Top Gear presenter said he wanted to expand his business, arguing: 'The reason it is, is because farmers maintain it, farmers look after the woodlands, the hedges, the streams.

'They keep it beautiful. The farmers are not going to be able to do that for much longer because of the parlous state of their finances. We have been told as farmers to diversify and that is exactly what this proposal is; it's a diversification of a farming business.'

It was during this that he's believed to have made the disparaging remarks about Mr Streeten's written responses.

A report of the hearing in The Guardian says: 'The TV star took a swipe at spelling mistakes in the council officer's report.'

Mr Streeten further riled Clarkson by pointing out there had been 56 letters of objection compared to 13 of support for his proposals, adding that Clarkson had a 'general disregard' for planning rules and claimed his conduct was 'shameful'. He reportedly went on: 'It indicates a 'give me an inch and I'll take a mile' attitude.'

The eventual ruling went in favour of Mr Streeten and against Clarkson.

It's understood footage of parts of these exchanges was recently screened as part of Season 2 of the fly on the wall documentary - which seems to have prompted Mr Streeten's very public attack on Clarkson.

In it he describes how Clarkson's own friend and colleague, the journalist and restaurant reviewer AA Gill who died of cancer in 2016, was a fellow dyslexic who he had drawn inspiration from.

The full text of Mr Streeten's letter reads: 'Learn to spell.' Well, I've certainly tried. When you muttered those words to me you couldn't have known how many times I've heard them. But to a dyslexic, it's a familiar phrase.

A report of the hearing in The Guardian says: 'The TV star took a swipe at spelling mistakes in the council officer's report'

'At school, I always failed spelling tests. No matter how hard I worked, or how often I stowed the list of words beneath my pillow, when the time came to be tested, I simply could not put the letters in order with certainty.

'My ears would burn and I would know I'd failed again. As the rest my class graduated to Beryl roller-balls and fountain pens, I was limited to the indignity of a pencil; one with a rubber grip, to force me to hold it properly. It was at that school, as it happens the very same school to which you sent your daughter, that they told me a career at the bar wasn't for me.

'Even at an institution that offers its pupils every imaginable advantage, becoming a barrister wasn't realistic if you couldn't pass a spelling test. The inability to arrange letters according to historical convention is, to this day, seen as the calling card of indolence or imbecility. Usually both.

'The mandatory ration of extra time doled out indiscriminately to dyslexics, dyspraxics, and those with ADHD certainty didn't help me.

'Forced reluctantly to accept it by my undergraduate tutor, I memorably put the time to good use by making a last minute substitution, diligently scrubbing out the correct spelling. No one has ever better expressed the simmering frustration of a dyslexic education than your friend, AA Gill.

'An eternity of prodding from the 'nice plump woman' from 'learning support' yields an inedible compote of detached indifference. Erudite, eloquent, hilarious and humane (your words not mine), Gill's dyslexia begat his urbanity. You don't have to be able to spell Wolseley to enjoy breakfast there.

'I know you understand this. When schools release exam results each year, you show solidarity with those who might otherwise surrender to helpless resignation. It's not about the cars, boats, or villas; its [sic] about enfranchising those illserved [sic] by formal education. Nowhere is this message more important than in rural communities.'

Mr Streeten then concludes: 'I may be a London barrister, but I am not a Londoner. My home is in Shropshire. My friends are farmers: dairy, beef, arable. There is an honestly to the countryside beyond urban comprehension. People care what you have to say, not how you say it. Just ask Kaeleb [his assistant and co-star in the show] . Or Gerald.

'Your pean to Gill contains first class advice. It avoids the modern lexicon of neurodiversity. 'Make it someone else's problem'. I try to follow that maxim. Dyslexia didn't forestall my career at the bar. So far as I am aware, and despite the concern expressed by at least one member of my Chambers during pupillage, not one judge, juror, or West Oxfordshire planning committee member has ever failed to understand me because I cannot spell. Whether a writer, a barrister, or a farmer, good spelling, it seems, is not essential.'

The row with Mr Streeten is the latest in a string of controversies to engulf Clarkson, the most prominent of which was his remarks in a column about 'hating' Meghan Markle which prompted a record number of complaints and a grovelling apology.

Mar Clarkson and Mr Streeten have both been contacted for comment.
Meghan tried to stop the deposition, with lawyers saying the claims are inappropriate, but was denied by a judge earlier this month

Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha has claimed the Duchess of Sussex defamed her in order to 'cover up' her 'false rags-to-riches' narrative.

The elder Markle, 58, appeared with her lawyer on Wednesday in a virtual court hearing on her defamation case against her half-sister.

Her attorney claimed Meghan 'got caught' and resorted to publicly 'putting her sister down' because she threatened to expose her.

Lawyers for Meghan, who were also present on the call, said the claims were 'inappropriate' and 'offensive' to the former Suits star, 41, and demanded the case be dismissed over its 'fatal defects'.

Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell said she would issue her judgment later, but admitted she was 'really struggling' to see how Meghan published the statements at issue, a requirement for them to be defamatory.

Samantha launched the lawsuit last year seeking $75,000 in damages over Meghan's claims in her and Prince Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and the 2020 biography Finding Freedom.

Meghan Markle previously filed a motion to stop depositions being taken for sister Samantha's lawsuit, but was denied by a judge earlier this month

Samantha, who is based in Florida, claims her younger half-sister defamed her when the former royals sat down for a televised interview with Oprah in 2021

According to Samantha, the allegations subjected her to 'humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale'.

The hearing was conducted remotely via Zoom, where Samantha appeared from what appeared to be her home, wearing a blue blouse.

Samantha and Meghan's relationship has been strained for years but exploded into public view after Meghan and Harry's engagement was announced in 2017. Pictured together in 2008

She initially appeared relaxed and was seen smiling on video and talking to somebody off camera but then turned her camera off during the hearing.

Samantha's lawyer Peter Ticktin told the court that Finding Freedom was 'used by the duchess to affirm this false narrative that she supposedly lived this rags-to-riches thing.'

He said: 'She got caught. She was lying about her education, that she was getting all these scholarships. Her father paid for her education for goodness sakes, and she got caught with this lie.

'Why else is she putting her sister down? Why else is she putting her father down?

'Why else is she denying her family who has done nothing but good to her all her life? She never had a problem with them at all.

'She's denying them to cover up that she made up this narrative that she went from rags to riches which is nonsense, probably not even realizing the harm she would do to her sister.

'Probably never realizing this would put an innocent person into the fray where all of a sudden she has hundreds of threats on her life coming at her, a stalker she had to deal with,' Ticktin added.

Meghan's lawyer Michael Kump fired back saying 90 per cent of Ticktin's comments were 'inappropriate' and were 'quite frankly offensive to my client.'

In his opening remarks Kump said: 'I'm reminded of the old saying: "Don't make a federal case out of it."

'Not every perceived slight ought to be litigated and that's true here. Plaintiff is taking issue with Meghan's own impressions of her own childhood growing up but that's not a proper subject matter for a court of law.

Meghan's half-sister Samantha Markle sued the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for $75,000 in damages last year over claims they made in their Oprah interview

Meghan has been estranged from her dad Thomas's side of the family after the fallout from her royal engagement. From left: Meghan Markle (aged 11) with Tyler Dooley, Thomas Markle Sr, Thomas Dooley and Samantha Markle

'The statements at issue here are not defamatory as a matter of law the right to voice opinions and even criticize are guaranteed by the First Amendment.

'Courts have held pretrial dismissal is necessary in defamation cases because of the chilling effect these cases have on first amendment rights.'

Kump, who is a partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley Law, has represented other A-listers including the Kardashian and Jenner sisters, Sandra Bullock and Barbra Streisand, and has been named among the 'leading lawyers in the media and entertainment industry'.

He previously represented Meghan and Harry in their legal battle against paparazzi, according to his website.

During the hearing, he argued that the first seven of the allegedly 'defamatory' ten statements cited by Samantha were from Finding Freedom and should be excluded since Meghan did not write nor publish the book.

He said: 'The law in Florida is clear - publication requires that the defendant made or published the false statement.'

Kump also argued that Meghan's comments in the Oprah interview were not defamatory when taken in context.

He said Meghan's claim that she was an 'only child' was not the whole story.

Michael Kump, the attorney representing Meghan Markle in the case

He cited the moment in the interview when Oprah asked Meghan about her half-sister on her father's side.

Kump said Meghan did not respond by denying her existence, and argued that her comments were a 'statement and expression of her own personal and subjective feelings.'

He said: 'She never declared: "I am an only child with no siblings." All she did was describe her own experiences growing up. Such statements are not readily capable of being proved true or false.'

Meghan did not actually say the line that she only met Samantha a 'handful of times', as alleged in the complaint.

The statement that Samantha only changed her surname to Markle when Meghan began dating Harry in 2016 was 'substantially true', the court heard.

Kump said that the second complaint filed by Samantha 'failed to fix the fatal defects that plagued the original.'

Ticktin tried to claim that Meghan had 'collaborated' with the authors of Finding Freedom by providing background information to them through her press secretary at the time, Jason Knauf.

Ticktin claimed that this would be the 'second time Meghan Markle is going to have to apologize for misleading a court.'

He said that during a libel case at the High Court in London, Meghan admitted that she did provide the information to Knauf.

Judge Honeywell cut in and said: 'Even accepting what you just said, I'm still struggling to understand how that makes her responsible for publishing the allegedly defamatory statements contained in the book.

'I'm not looking at British law, or African law or Greek law, I'm looking at Florida law which is pretty clear,' she added.

Meghan's attorneys argued that the first seven of the ten allegedly 'defamatory' statements cited by Samantha came from 2020 biography Finding Freedom and should be excluded since Meghan did not write nor publish the book

Ticktin argued that 'feeding information to people' who republish it meant you are liable.

He said: 'She is telling her secretary to tell the people writing the book that upon Meghan dating Harry, Samantha changed her name back to Markle and began a career creating stories to tell to the Press.

'Here's a woman who is in wheelchair who had to deal with bringing up three children and this is how she's treated by her sister, it's amazing.'

According to Ticktin, the implication was that Samantha is an 'opportunist'.

He said: 'This is a person who changed their name to Markle when I was dating Harry and that says it all because now you know who Samantha Markle is, she's this disgusting opportunist.'

In a startling admission, Ticktin said that it was 'not the strongest case in the world', but as the case moved forward they hoped to make it stronger.

As the 80-minute hearing went on, Kump said that it was not defamatory to call someone an opportunist.

He said: 'Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world are opportunists. All sorts of people are opportunists.'

In a nod to Harry and Meghan's difficult relationship with the press, Kump said at another point: 'Believe it or not what is reported is sometimes not true.'

Ticktin even raised the prospect of filing another defamation lawsuit based on the Sussexes Netflix series.

He said: 'If this gets dismissed would could file a more lawsuit on the more recent things but I think it's more prudent to deal with it here.

'Now we have this whole deal on Netflix where Meghan Markle again defamed her sister.'

Judge Honeywell said she would issue a written judgement.

Samantha Markle published a memoir centered around her half-sister in 2021. She claimed that Meghan ordered their father to disown his children from his first marriage if he wanted an invitation to her wedding

She said: 'I'm really struggling with trying to find under Florida law that defendant Markle published the allegedly defamatory statements.'

In the weeks leading up to the hearing both sides had clashed in court filings.

Judge Honeywell had last week refused to grant Meghan's request to stop depositions being taken, meaning that within the next few months they will have to be grilled by Samantha's lawyers.

'Defendant Markle does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the Court does not impose a stay,' the judge wrote in her ruling.

'Although a preliminary peek at the motion to dismiss suggests that some of the claims against her may be ripe for dismissal, the review does not reveal, at this time, a clear indication that the Court will dismiss the action in its entirety.

'Thus, defendant Markle does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion.'

The ruling means that Meghan and Harry will have to sit for deposition which will have to take place before July, if the case moves ahead.

Among the claims they will be quizzed about is: 'Queen Elizabeth was not a racist' and 'King Charles is not a racist.'

But in a victory for the duchess, the Judge Honeywell warned that the case may be 'ripe for dismissal.'

In her complaint Samantha, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair, accused her sister of making 'demonstrably false and malicious statements.'

She claimed that Meghan's interview with Oprah and the Finding Freedom book were designed to 'destroy (her) reputation and credibility.'

Samantha objected to Meghan's claims she was an only child - they are half-sisters - and that they last spent time together 18 years ago.

Meghan's lawyers have refused to respond to 38 questions from Samantha's lawyers filed in the Florida federal court lawsuit as they want Judge Honeywell to rule on their motion to dismiss first. They also asked the judge to stop the discovery process but she refused to do so

In fact it was only after Meghan met Harry that their relationship became 'estranged and hostile', it is claimed.

In addition, Samantha complained about statements by Meghan's PR representative Jason Knauf that she was 'promiscuous and a bad mother who lost custody of all three of her children from different fathers', the lawsuit states.

The complaint states: 'Defendant (Meghan) orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy her sister's and her father's reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false 'rags-to-royalty' narrative Defendant had fabricated about her life to the Royal Family and the worldwide media.'

Samantha and Meghan have had a difficult relationship for years which exploded into public view after Meghan's engagement to Harry was announced in 2017.

Samantha was quoted by journalists as saying that 'The Queen would be appalled' by the nuptials and called her a 'ducha**' on Twitter.

She later apologized but turned on Meghan again in her memoir, titled 'The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister'.

In the book Samantha claimed that Meghan ordered their father to disown his children from his first marriage if he wanted an invitation to her wedding.

Samantha alleged that the stress of the row was one of the factors in Thomas Sr having a heart attack which prevented him from attending Meghan and Harry's wedding in 2018.
A murderer who has never revealed where he hid his wife's body has been freed from jail.

Russell Causley made UK legal history last year when he became the first prisoner to face a public parole hearing.

He was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman, who disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into the family home in Bournemouth, Dorset.

Causley was released in 2020 after serving more than 23 years behind bars for the murder but was sent back to jail the following year when he breached his licence conditions.

The Parole Board ruled last month that he was suitable to be released from prison again. Today, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed this had taken place.

Russell Causley became the first prisoner to face a public parole hearing and was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman (pictured left)

An MoJ spokeswoman said: 'We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for Carole Packman's family, but Russell Causley will be under close supervision for the rest of his life and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release.

'Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.'

Last month, the Parole Board announced he was suitable to be released from prison.

At the time, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab - who described Causley as a 'calculated killer' who 'callously prolonged the suffering' of Ms Packman's loved ones by 'refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her body' - said he was 'carefully' considering whether to appeal against the decision.

On Tuesday the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed it would not ask the Parole Board to reconsider the ruling because there were no grounds to do so.

A MoJ spokeswoman said: 'We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for Carole Packman's family, but Russell Causley will be under close supervision for the rest of his life and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release.

'Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a Ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.'

The murderer never revealed where he hid his wife's body after killing her

Carole Packman disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into the family home in Bournemouth, Dorset

Ms Packman's daughter Samantha Gillingham (pictured above), from Northamptonshire, previously said she was 'disappointed' by the decision to free him again and branded the parole process a 'tick-box exercise'

What happened to Carole Packman? Carole Packman disappeared in 1985, a year after Causley moved his lover into their home in Bournemouth Carole Packman disappeared from her family home in Bournemouth in 1985. Her daughter Sam Gillingham, then 16, came home from school to find a note, supposedly from her mother, along with her wedding ring. The letter said that she was leaving their family. The year before, Causley moved his lover Patricia Causley into the house and later changed his surname to hers. It was not until 10 years later, when Causley was jailed for two years for trying to fake his death in a boating accident that he was found guilty of her murder. He allegedly made a jail cell confession, telling of the 'perfect' murder of his 'b**** wife'. Police reopened their investigation into his wife's disappearance. Causley was convicted of murder in 1996, but it was quashed in 2003. In 2004, he was found guilty at a retrial after his sister said she had heard him admit the killing. Now aged 79, he was the first killer in British legal history to be found guilty without his victim's body ever being found. Advertisement

'Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.'

The Justice Secretary can only challenge Parole Board decisions if there is an error of law or if there is evidence the process has been followed incorrectly, the same threshold as for judicial reviews.

Causley and Ms Packman's daughter Samantha Gillingham, from Northamptonshire, previously said she was 'disappointed' by the decision to free him again and branded the parole process a 'tick-box exercise', adding: 'There's nothing that I can do about it ... We still don't know where my mother is.'

She still hopes meet her father, after decades of asking to confront him about her mother's disappearance.

The Parole Board said reviews are carried out 'thoroughly and with extreme care' and protecting the public was the 'number one priority'.

Causley will be subject to 'strict' licence conditions, including being required to live at a certain address as well as facing restrictions on his movements, activities and who he contacts.

He was freed from prison in 2020 after his sixth parole review and spending more than 23 years behind bars for the murder.

However Causley was sent back to jail in November last year for breaching his licence conditions, the public hearing was told.

He failed to answer a phone call from his probation officer and disappearing from his bail hostel overnight without his phone or wallet.

The hearing, which took place in a prison, began with relatives, members of the public and journalists allowed to watch the proceedings on a live videolink from the Parole Board's offices in Canary Wharf, London.

Causley's behaviour was said by a member of prison staff to have been 'exemplary' since he has been back in jail.

Asked about the period during which he was released from prison in late 2020, he said that he got on well with staff at the hostel where he was living and viewed them 'more as friends', but 'could have had a better rapport' with his probation officer.

He spent his time reading, doing crosswords, walking and shopping, Causley told the panel.

In the report documenting his release decision, the Parole Board Decision Summary stated: 'The panel was mindful of Mr Causleys capacity to lie, deceive and manipulate, and was not entirely convinced by his explanations for his intentions and conduct that day after he left the designated accommodation.'
Berlusconi stood accused of paying for 'silence and lies' about notorious parties

Billionaire former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been acquitted of bribing witnesses to lie about his notorious 'bunga bunga' parties, bringing closure to a years-long sex scandal.

The Italian media mogul, 86, stood accused of paying young starlets and others for 'silence and lies' about his notoriously hedonistic soirees, which he has always insisted were elegant dinners.

Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's governing coalition, has long been dogged by legal battles, most of which he has won.

The senator, who did not attend Wednesday's court hearing in Milan, had already been acquitted in two other related cases of alleged bribery, in Siena in 2021 and Rome in 2022.

His lawyer Federico Cecconi said he was 'enormously pleased', although prosecutors could still appeal.

Billionaire former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been acquitted of bribing witnesses to lie about his notorious 'bunga bunga' parties. Pictured: Silvio Berlusconi at Villa Gernetto, Lesmo, Monza, Italy, January 16 2023

Italian prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano (second right) reacts at a Milan special courthouse where Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted of paying young starlets and others for 'silence and lies' about his notoriously hedonistic soirees

Karima El Mahroug, also known as 'Ruby the Heart Stealer', leaves the court following her acquittal in the trial in Milan, Italy, February 15, 2023

A guilty verdict would have been embarrassing for the government, and Berlusconi's political allies were quick to congratulate him.

Meloni said the decision 'puts an end to a long judicial affair that also had important repercussions on Italian political and institutional life'.

The verdict is the culmination of a legal battle which began in 2010 when Berlusconi - then prime minister - was accused of abusing his power to protect a young Moroccan nightclub dancer, Karima El-Mahroug.

Known by her stage name 'Ruby the Heart Stealer', she had been detained by police for theft, but was released after Berlusconi claimed she was the niece of then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Berlusconi was charged with paying for sex with Ruby in 2010 when she was just 17.

He was initially found guilty, but acquitted in 2014 after an appeals court found there was no proof he knew El-Mahroug was a minor.

Judges believed however that numerous people had lied during the trial, including El-Mahroug, who was caught on tape bragging about sex with Berlusconi.

She described orgiastic scenes at his parties, before later saying she made it all up.

Prosecutors launched an investigation that led to the Milan trial, which opened in 2017.

Berlusconi, who was prime minister three times between 1994 and 2011, was accused of doling out millions of euros in hush money in the form of houses, cars and monthly payouts.

Berlusconi was charged with paying for sex with Ruby in 2010 when she was just 17

Marysthell Polanco, one of the girls who attended the parties, arrives at the bunker room of Milan's San Vittore jail, Italy, Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Berlusconi was initially found guilty, but acquitted in 2014 after an appeals court found there was no proof he knew El-Mahroug (pictured) was a minor

However, his defence lawyers say the money was compensation for reputational damage for those involved in the case, and insist he was being tried 'for the crime of generosity'.

Prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano had earlier described Berlusconi as 'a sultan' who used to 'liven up his evenings with a group of concubines, in the sense of sex slaves, who entertained him for a fee'.

Some of those involved say nothing untoward happened in Berlusconi's villa, which has a private nightclub. But others described orgies and female guests dressing up as nuns to perform erotic dances.

Prosecutors had called for six years in jail for Berlusconi and between one and six years for the 27 other defendants in this case, including five years for El-Mahroug.

All were acquitted on Wednesday.

The judges have another 90 days to publish their reasoning for the verdict, at which point prosecutors could decide to appeal.

Prosecutor Siciliano said Wednesday she still believed the defendants lied, but said there was a legal question mark over whether or not they were technically witnesses when they did so.

El-Mahroug said the trial had been 'very scary', adding: 'Now I can live again'.

Silvio Berlusconi, Leader of Forza Italia Party, answers questions in Milan, Italy on February 12, 2023

Berlusconi (centre), whose Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's (left) governing coalition, has long been dogged by legal battles, most of which he has won

Former model Marysthell Polanco, another party guest put on trial, had told journalists her life had been 'a nightmare' since the trial began.

'They cannot find guilty someone who has done nothing, where there's no evidence, neither videos nor photos, nothing but gossip,' she said.

Prosecutors had also asked the court to confiscate 10.8 million euros (9.6 million) from Berlusconi.

Despite multiple court cases - he claimed in 2021 to have gone through 86 trials - the former premier has never spent time behind bars.

Berlusconi was temporarily banned from political office after a conviction for tax fraud in 2013, for which he served a community sentence.

He then returned to the political front lines and was re-elected as a senator last year.
The World Economic Forum has previously come under fire for advocating for bug eating to prevent climate change and owning nothing

Former CNN host Brian Stelter took a shot at podcast host extraordinaire Joe Rogan after the latter accused him of working for the 'lizard' people who run the World Economic Forum.

Last month, Rogan went off on Stelter while discussing the much-maligned global conference that takes place annually in Davos, Switzerland.

He and journalist Matt Taibbi mocked and criticized Stelter's appearance on a panel that he hosted, calling him 'basically a prostitute,' and comfortable grinning around the elitists who seek to impose restrictive laws on the global masses.

Podcast host extraordinaire Joe Rogan mocked Brian Stelter for his recent panel appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Joe Rogan got it all wrong, again. The World Economic Forum did not "hire" me to "work" in Davos. I went there on my own dime to write about the conference. https://t.co/1GmWRVNvk2  Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 15, 2023

Stelter's latest gig arrived after his CNN media show Reliable Sources was axed back in August - a harbinger of things to come at the embattled network that is facing constant cost-cutting efforts under the new leadership of Chris Licht.

However, Stelter said that, unlike Rogan claimed, he had no 'bosses' who were puppeteering his panel performance and the journalist traveled to Davos at his own expense.

'Joe Rogan got it all wrong, again. The World Economic Forum did not hire me to 'work' in Davos. I went there on my own dime to write about the conference,' Stelter said in response to a story from the New York Post about Rogan's bit.

Stelter added that Rogan can give him a call if he 'wants to tell his listeners the truth.'

Taibbi, a well-known independent journalist, and Rogan mocked Stelter for looking 'comfortable' at the summit.

'He's with evil lizard people that are trying to control the world. That's his bosses,' said Rogan.

'He knows how to handle that kind of situation.'

He went on to call Stelter 'basically a prostitute' for the global elite.

'Hes supposed to be a journalist, but hes not even good at that.

'So hes - what hes doing now is holding water for the evil leaders of the world who want to institute hate speech policies nationwide and, you know, centralized digital currency,' said the Spotify host worth millions.

Stelter's panel had focused primary on disinformation and hate speech. Its title was 'Clear & Present Danger of Disinformation,' and its panelists included New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova, CEO of Internews Jeanne Bourgault, and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.

Sulzberger at one moment said that disinformation is the 'most existential' problem the world today is facing because it attacks 'trust' and causes societies to 'fracture.'

Rogan referenced a moment during the panel when Jourova predicted that alleged hate speech will soon become criminalized in the United States and Stelter grinned on.

'Illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S. I think that we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law,' she said.

'Brian Stelter just sitting there instead of challenging this petty fascist is a big reason why he's unemployed,' Tweeted The Spectator World editor Stephen Miller.

Stelters CNN show Reliable Sources was axed back in August. He said he went to Davos on his own dime to cover the global summit, where he hosted a panel about hate speech and disinformation

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi spoke with Rogan about Stelter's Davos appearance. He said the former CNN host was comfortable grinning and nodding along as global leaders said the US should impose laws banning Hate Speech

European Commission VP Vera Jourova at the WEF:



"Illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S. I think that we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law." pic.twitter.com/iLR1MePTYT  Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 17, 2023

The World Economic Forum has become a favorite target of conservatives for espousing elitist views that advocating for policies that restrict personal freedoms across the glove.

The organization has come under fire for, among other things, publishing articles that advocate for noshing on bugs in order to combat climate change, and arguing that in the not-so-distant future 'you'll own nothing and be happy.'

Rogan has mocked Stelter on a number of previous occasions, including one instance during which he called Stelter's Reliable Sources 'f***ing terrible.'

'Brian Stelter's show keeps slipping and slipping and slipping in the ratings. Same with Don Lemon's. It's the same thing. Everybody knows they're not real.

'They're not real humans,' he said following a segment on Stelter's show that had been about YouTube shows amassing more viewers than cable news.

'They were describing it as if they were entitled to viewers. This is because the market has spoken and your show's f**ing terrible,' he said.
Among those buried there is the daughter of Mesut Hancer, who was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter crushed in the rubble

The cemetery has trebled in size to accommodate victims of Turkey-Syria quake

A giant cemetery has been trebled in size to be a last resting place for Turkey's earthquake victims including the 15-year-old girl whose father was pictured holding her hand as she lay dead in the ruins.

Mesut Hancer, 49, touched the hearts of the world when he was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter Irmak while she lay crushed in the ruins of his mother's apartment.

MailOnline can reveal that Mesut lost another six family members including his mother and nieces and nephews in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria nine-days-ago. He said he tried to free his daughter with his bare hands, 'but in the end I had to abandon her to the rubble.'

The graves of the daughter - who he referred to as his 'princess' - and his other family members now lie among more than 3,000 freshly dug plots in the Kapicam cemetery outside the city of Kahramanmaras.

Before the earthquake, the cemetery which opened just two-years-ago featured around 1,500 graves, each with smart headstones and arranged in neat rows along paths beside a woodland beauty spot.

Pictured: A giant cemetery that has trebled in size to be a last resting place for Turkey's earthquake victims. Among them is a 15-year-old girl whose father was pictured holding her hand as she lay dead in the ruins in a photograph that shocked the world

Pictured: Simple wooden coffins are seen piled on the side of the road near the cemetery

Mesut Hancer (pictured), 49, touched the hearts of the world when he was photographed tenderly holding the hand of his daughter Irmak while she lay crushed in the ruins of his mother's apartment. Mesut lost another six family members

But the huge number of earthquake victims has led to thousands of new plots being dug in 100 yard long lines to ensure that the dead can be buried as soon as possible in accordance with Islamic tradition.

MailOnline witnessed a constant stream of ambulances arriving at the cemetery this week to deliver the bodies of victims recovered from the rubble of their homes.

All the new graves, including the one for Irmak, are under freshly turned mounds of red earth, each one marked simply with a wooden post, bearing a number and sometimes the name of the dead person.

Some graves are also marked with simple mementos of a victim, such as items of clothing, children's toys, Turkish flags and pieces of salvaged memorial stones.

Irmak's grave at plot number 380 had a slightly larger wooden post with her name written on it in a marker pen, alongside a small branch from a conifer tree stuck in the soil.

Her father who still wears his orange jacket which he wore as held his daughter's hand in the iconic photograph has been repeatedly visiting her grave in recent days while attending the funerals of his other family members.

Describing her tragic death for the first time, he told how Irmak and six other relatives had died while they were all staying at his mother's home in Kahramanmaras which was at the epicentre of the earthquake on Monday last week.

Mesut said he was at the bakery where he worked shortly after 4am when he felt the earth shake.

There are 3,000 freshly dug plots in the Kapicam cemetery outside the city of Kahramanmaras, which was close to the epicentre of last week's deadly quake

The huge number of earthquake victims has led to thousands of new plots being dug in 100 yard long lines to ensure that the dead can be buried as soon as possible

Pictured: Simple wooden coffins are seen on the side of the road in Turkey

Irmak, 15, was crushed to death when her grandmother's apartment was destroyed by last week's earthquake in Turkey. Her father said he tried to dig her free with his bare hands

Pictured: The grab of 15-year-old Irmak is seen at the cemetery in Turkey

In an interview with Bild, he said: 'I was working in the bakery when the earth trembled. I called my wife. She said that she, my two daughters and my son are safe.'

But his youngest daughter had been on a sleepover on the couch at her grandmother's home because she wanted to be with her cousins who were also staying there.

Mesut desperately called his mother, but got no reply and ran to her home, saying: 'I cried out to God, 'Please let our house be whole...'

When he arrived he found the ten storey block had collapsed, killing Irmak and his mother along with his other relatives.

Mesut said: 'I tried to dig up my princess with my bare hands. But in the end I had to abandon her to the rubble.'

In another interview with Turkish television station TV100, he told how he did not want to leave her and held on to her hand which was the only part of her body visible under the pile of ruins.

He said: 'It was very difficult to get rid of the rubble. We asked for a digger, but it was impossible to reach her.

'The police and gendarmerie arrived at the scene, but they told me they couldn't send a digger. The rescue team tried to rescue my daughter with their hands. I want to thank them for trying.

'She had fallen on her back and could not be reached with a spade or other devices.'

Describing how he held her lifeless hand, he added: 'I didn't want to leave her. I tried to get her out with my hands, but she was sleeping. She went without pain. God took my daughter.'

Mesut said he was grieving for all his relatives, but he added: 'The loss of my daughter is breaking my heart I am living, but I feel dead inside She was my daughter and my everything, and I lost her.

'She called me Baba (father). She was like a rose and went smelling like a rose.'

The thousands of new graves in the cemetery where Irmak is buried are in two areas of open ground, partly shaded by pine trees.

MailOnline saw groups of grieving families huddling around the graves of loved ones with some wailing openly in heartbreaking scenes, as others gathered for simple ceremonies to lay victims to rest.

Piles of hastily constructed simple wooden coffins lined the edge of the cemetery in a reminder that many more victims are expected to arrive as the official death toll continues to soar.

Teams of public health officials (pictured) are working at the cemetery to ensure that all the dead are buried with proper respect and dignity after they arrive at the site in black body bags

Pictured: A view of the freshly dug graves at the cemetery in Turkey

Teams of public health officials are working at the cemetery to ensure that all the dead are buried with proper respect and dignity after they arrive at the site in black body bags.

White-suited workers follow Muslim principles by ensuring that victims are washed and dressed in Kefen robes before burial.

One worker Omer Sadik said: 'Some of the bodies are really bad because they are crushed. They cannot be washed properly so we have to do it symbolically.

'Everyone has to be treated with proper respect. It is very sad work.'

Parts of the graveyard are also being used to house homeless families in tents supplied by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
A stunning new video has left the residents of the town of East Palestine wondering if something could have been done to prevent a freight train from derailing in their town, forcing them to evacuate and creating a potential environmental catastrophe.

The clip, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, shows flames and sparks under one of the 140 cars of the Norfolk Southern train as it passed through an equipment plant in Salem, Ohio, around 20 miles from where the derailment occurred at 8:55pm on February 3.

'We have obtained two videos which show preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles,' National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The other video shows the train passing over a hotbox detector, a safety mechanism on the tracks that monitors the heat of the cars and alerts the crew to a problem. The videos were recorded around 8:12pm. The train would have taken around a mile to stop.

Graham said at the press conference: 'The crew did receive an alarm from a wayside detector shortly before the derailment indicating a mechanical issue. Then an emergency brake application initiated.'

A wayside detector monitors the health of the railcars that pass over it, including the condition of the axles.

The NTSB has not said that the alert came from the hotbox detector. As part of the body's investigation, all detectors along the train's route are being checked, in addition to the crew's audio recordings. The first report is due out in early March.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the president of train conductors union SMART Jeremy Ferguson said that it's possible that the crew wouldn't know there was a problem if the detectors are located too far apart.

Citing the Federal Railroad Administration, the WSJ reports that there is no law enforcing the use of heat detectors.

The train passed over another detector just outside of East Palestine.

Initial statements have indicated that the train derailed due to an axle malfunction.

'Generally speaking, after the length of the train has passed over the detector, it will tell you there are no problems found,' retired Norfolk Southern engineer Scott Wilcox told CBS News.

In a separate interview with the Post-Gazette, Wilcox said that the hot box detectors are usually 10-20 miles apart.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the president of train conductors union SMART Jeremy Ferguson said that it's possible that the crew wouldn't know there was a problem if the heat detectors are located too far apart

The 140-car Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, around 8:55 pm on February 3

He also said that in 18-year career, he only heard of a few instances of a wayside detectors forcing a stop. The message that the crew hears from the detectors gives the number of the car that needs to be inspected.

'If its not working, you will get a message saying the detector is not working. If that message gets to the dispatcher's office, they immediately send somebody out, day or night,' Wilcox added.

About 50 cars carrying a variety of products from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine.

Norfolk Southern said 20 of the more than 100 cars were classified as carrying hazardous materials  defined as cargo that could pose any kind of danger 'including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks.'

Graham said 14 cars carrying vinyl chloride were involved in the derailment 'and have been exposed to fire,' and at least one 'is intermittently releasing the contents of the car through a pressure release device as designed.'

A former Federal Railroad Administration official, Steven Ditmeyer, told The Lever this week that he believes the derailment was caused by the a lack of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes.

A regulation issued by the Obama White House made such brakes a requirement for trains carrying flammable materials. The ruling was rescinded by the Trump administration in 2017.

The former Apprentice host alleged that the plan was too costly at $3 billion, Obama officials said the measures would cost $500 million.

'Would ECP brakes have reduced the severity of this accident? Yes,' Ditmeyer told the website.

Ben Ratner said in an interview this week that locals in East Palestine refer to the freight trains as 'bomb trains'

East Palestine residents refer to the freight trains as 'bomb trains,' high speed rail cars that dart through their town packed with flammable materials, local resident Ben Ratner said in an interview with ABC News.

He went on to say that due to the disruption caused by the crash, the bomb trains are back and at a high volume as they make up for lost time.

'Not to sound overly like emotional about things, but I mean, there is a level of PTSD whenever -- it's like, "oh, God, why do we have to hear these trains again already?"'

Railroad union officials earlier said that they have been warning that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures.

Asked about the union accusations, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern Railroad said in an email that 'our record (and that of most US Class I railroads) is trending safer.'

The train of three locomotives and 150 freight cars was headed from Illinois to Pennsylvania when it derailed. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said 20 of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, including 10 that derailed.

The NTSB said 38 cars in total left the tracks and that the ensuing fire damaged an additional 12. The NTSB has not commented on the derailment's cause.

Clyde Whitaker, chairman and director of the Ohio State Legislative Board for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Transportation Division (SMART-TD) said he had notified federal railroad inspectors that crews at one railroad, which he would not name, were disregarding warnings from detectors designed to prevent accidents and was told that their use is voluntary and not subject to regulation.

'No one wants to listen until we have a town blown off the face of the earth, then people listen,' said Whitaker, whose union is the largest U.S. railroad union representing conductors, engineers and other workers.

DeWine said that he spoke with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Tuesday morning.

'I asked if he would personally guarantee that the railroad would stay there until absolutely everything was clean. He gave me his word and his commitment that the railroad would do that, they would not leave until that was done,' the governor said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had earlier notified the company it may be liable for cleaning up under the U.S. Superfund law.
A man sits on a chair next to rubble of a destroyed building in Iskenderun city, southern Turkey, Feb. 14. AP-Yonhap



An aid convoy on Tuesday passed through a newly re-opened border crossing into rebel-held north Syria, where help has been slow to arrive since last week's earthquake, which killed nearly 40,000 people in the region.



Rare survivors were pulled from the debris eight days after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck Syria and Turkey, but the focus has switched from rescue to providing food and shelter to millions in need.



A caravan of 11 United Nations trucks entered Syria through the re-opened Bab al-Salama border point, after Damascus agreed to let the world body use the crossing for aid.



Before the earthquake struck, almost all 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.



The trucks were loaded with essential humanitarian assistance, including shelter materials, mattresses, blankets and carpets, Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), told AFP.



Activists and local emergency teams have decried the U.N.'s slow response to the quake in rebel-held areas, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid delivered to government-controlled airports.



The United States, which refuses ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, called on both the government and rebels to work to allow in aid.



"Everyone should put aside their agendas and affiliations in service of one pursuit and one pursuit only, and that's addressing the humanitarian emergency  the humanitarian nightmare  that's unfolding in parts of northwest Syria," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.



The U.N. also launched an appeal for $397 million to cover three months of "life-saving relief" for victims in Syria and said it was close to a similar plan for Turkey.



"Millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.



'Miracle' survivors



A handful of survivors have continued to be pulled from the rubble, including four on Tuesday, defying belief almost 200 hours after the disaster.



However, keeping them alive after being buried for so long is a battle.



"It's a miracle to find a patient still alive under the rubble," doctor Yilmaz Aydin told AFP.









"From now on, the survivors are likely to be in a more critical condition.



The majority of them will need life-saving treatment," said Aydin.



One survivor was 25-year-old Syrian woman Abir, who spent 180 hours trapped under the rubble.



"Her heart stopped two times but we managed to bring her back," said doctor Nihat Mujdat Hokenek.



However, many are devastated that rescuers were unable to find even the remains of their loved ones.



"We have reached the point where we could simply be happy to find the corpses," said a civil servant in Antakya who requested anonymity for fear of losing her job.



She lost her brother and her sister-and-law in the quake.



"We are so desperate that the hope of finding corpses is all we have," she said.





A family mourns moments after a body of a relative was pulled out of a building destroyed during the earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, Feb. 14. AP-Yonhap
Twins who were found dead in their Belfast flat have been laid to rest together in a joint funeral.

Mourners carried the coffins of mother-of-three Clare and and her brother Stephen O'Neill, 37, through the streets to their joint funeral today near their homes in south Belfast.

The twins were found unconscious in Clare's ground-floor flat in Annadale Crescent in the early hours of February 4.

Postmortems have been carried out on both and police have confirmed that their deaths are not being treated as suspicious, although investigations continue.

A man in his forties was arrested shortly after the deaths and was released on bail pending further enquiries in a wider investigation.

Mourners carried the coffins of the twins through the streets of Belfast to be laid to rest together

The 37-year-old twins Clare O'Neill and Stephen O'Neill were found unconscious together in Clare's home on February 4

Stephen O'Neill's death notice asked that people make donations to his Cancer Research fundraiser.

The father-of-one had planned to run 56 miles in February to raise money for the charity.

After a service in Ballynafeigh Methodist Church, the twins were buried together early this afternoon.

The funeral notice reads: 'Together forever.'

Clare had lived in south Belfast for many years, with brother Stephen in nearby Ormeau Road.

Neighbours Jim and Nicola McKevitt told Irish News that Clare had never passed by without saying hello.

The family asked that donations be made to Cancer Research in lieu of flowers. The twins had been fundraising for the charity before their deaths

A neighbour said the area had been shocked by the death of the siblings and that it was hard to know that they wouldn't see them again

'We would have seen her in the mornings and afternoons taking her children to school, and she was such a friendly person, it's heartbreaking,' Ms McKevitt said.

Husband Jim added: 'This is actually a quiet area, and we never had any trouble. She was a lovely neighbour who loved her children, and the whole area is just feeling numb at the news.'

Another neighbour said the area had been shocked by the death of the siblings and that it was hard to know that they wouldn't see them again.

'It's hard to believe we won't hear her again - sometimes you would have heard her before seeing her, but she was just a great girl. I've known her since she moved here, and she'll not be forgotten.'

South Belfast Alliance MLA Kate Nicholl said the twins' deaths were 'deeply concerning', adding: 'My thoughts are with the loved ones of the deceased. I urge anyone with information on this matter to contact police with it immediately.'

SDLP councillor Seamas de Faoite said his thoughts were with Claire's children.

'My thoughts are with the O'Neill family at this very tragic time, particularly with three young children who are now without their mother.'

Two fire engines, three ambulances and five police cars were dispatched after being called by a man staying in Clare's flat on February 4.

Two other men were taken to hospital in serious condition by paramedics for treatment.

It is understood that the twins had been to a family event at their parents' home before returning to Clare's flat for a party.
A woman said her 'pride and joy' bungalow was covered in mould because her housing company had not repaired water damage caused by leaking pipes.

Barbara Bishop, 65, has lived in her bungalow in Barton, Nottinghamshire, which Metropolitan Trent Valley Housing (MTVH) manages, for ten years.

Ms Bishop said problems started just before Christmas, when she said the freezing weather led to a leak in her loft's water pipes and tank which eventually flooded out her entire bungalow.

Ms Bishop: 'This bungalow used to be my pride and joy but now it's all damp.

'The hallway wallpaper is hanging off and mould is spilling out everywhere like there is no tomorrow.

Barbara Bishop, 65, (pictured) has lived in her bungalow in Barton, Nottinghamshire, which Metropolitan Trent Valley Housing manages, for ten years

'I was actually wiping the mould off the walls but one of my friends said I should leave it because MVTH need to see how bad it is.

'Nobody has done anything since Christmas and not one workman has stepped foot in here.

'They've ignored my whole situation in that I'm sitting here in a wet bungalow and my clothes and my bed are getting damper and damper.'

Barbara Bishop said she has since had to throw out personal belongings and that some of her neighbours had to come into her home wearing wellies to clear up the mess, with the water four inches deep at one stage.

Ms Bishop said: 'The hallway wallpaper is hanging off and mould is spilling out everywhere like there is no tomorrow'

Ms Bishop, who is on Universal Credit, said the mental health issues that she has long suffered with have been made worse by her situation

It is understood the leak may have been caused by a loose joint rather than a frozen pipe.

MTVH sent a plumber and electrician out immediately after the flooding to fix the leak and the company has also supplied a dehumidifier.

An MTVH spokesperson said: 'We understand how difficult this period has been for Ms Bishop. She rightly expects her home to be fully repaired, and we are working to ensure this happens.

'We responded quickly to fix the leak, and we have agreed to undertake the necessary works and redecoration to repair the water damage.

'As discussed with Ms Bishop, her home will need to be dried out before these works can begin. Unfortunately, this is taking longer than expected.'

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Ms Bishop, who is on Universal Credit, said the mental health issues that she has long suffered with have been made worse by her situation.

Ms Bishop has since agreed to swap properties with her neighbour's father, who wants to be near his daughter, despite knowing about the condition of the bungalow.

Despite this swap being agreed, MTVH reportedly told Barbara the moving process could take around eight weeks.

Ms Bishop said she is 'scared' when going to bed at night in case the bungalow floods again.

She was allegedly told by the plumber who first came to fix the leak that another flood may happen again given the pipes were not 'lagged' properly.

Lagging is a term often used to describe pipe insulation.

Ms Bishop said the dehumidifier she has been provided with does not work properly and the environmental health team at Rushcliffe Borough Council are looking into the situation.

A Rushcliffe Borough Council spokesperson said: 'The resident has been referred to her landlord Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing. We are in liaison with the landlord regarding their action plan and remedial action and have asked them to keep us informed of their work to resolve the issues the property is experiencing.'

The MTVH spokesperson added: 'We have spoken with Ms Bishop about the importance of using the dehumidifier we provided immediately after the leak was repaired. In addition, two weeks ago we offered to provide and subsidise the use of four temporary heaters to further speed up the drying out process.

'Once Ms Bishop's home is dry, we will carry out the necessary wall treatment, plastering, redecorating and other works. During this period, we will also check all pipe insulation in the loft area.

'We visited Ms Bishop [on February 13] to discuss these plans, and to see if she requires any additional support.

We will continue to work with Ms. Bishop to ensure that her home is returned to the comfortable condition she expects.'
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Nicola Sturgeon faced a backlash from rival nationalists today over her handling of the drive for independence as she abruptly quit as Scotland's First Minister.

After she stunned UK politics with her announcement this morning, pro-separatist politicians criticised Ms Sturgeon's unsuccessful efforts to force the country out of the United Kingdom.

The First Minister appeared close to tears as she confirmed her bombshell departure in an emotional speech at her official residence of Bute House in Edinburgh.

He exit comes amid a meltdown over her bid to loosen gender identity rules and fading prospects of splitting the UK.

She said her job was the 'best in the world' and she was 'very proud' of what she had achieved.

But former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond - now head of the Alba Party - said she had left the pro-independence movement with 'no clear strategy' despite eight years in charge at Holyrood.

And critics of Ms Sturgeon's gender identity reforms expressed hope her controversial legislation 'goes with her'.

The knives also came out from within the SNP for Ms Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell, who is the party's chief executive.

Joanna Cherry, a former frontbencher at Westminster who opposed Ms Sturgeon's stance on trans rights, called for him to be immediately replaced by a 'neutral caretaker' before her successor can appoint a new face.

Nicola Sturgeon dramatically quit as SNP leader today after a meltdown over her bid to loosen gender identity rules and the fading prospects of splitting the UK

Former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond - now head of the Alba Party - said she had left the pro-independence movement with 'no clear strategy' despite eight years in charge at Holyrood.

Joanna Cherry, a former frontbencher at Westminster who opposed Ms Sturgeon's stance on trans rights, called for her husband Peter Murrell to be immediately replaced as SNP CEO by a 'neutral caretaker'

Mr Salmond, who was Ms Sturgeon's predecessor as First Minister and SNP leader, told BBC Radio 4's World At One there was 'an opportunity is to reset the independence movement'.

He added: 'Nicola was very, very dominant within the SNP government in terms of decision-making, and that's great when things are going well.

'But when things start to come unstuck, as they have been over the last few months, then one thing you have to be aware of is the cause of the case for independence suffering from the day-to-day problems of government.'

Ms Sturgeon's downfall came amid a furious row over the Scottish Parliament's passing of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which aims to make it easier for trans people to obtain legal recognition of their acquired gender.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to block the bill from becoming law due to concerns about its impact on UK-wide equality laws.

And critics today expressed hopes the bill could now be dropped by the Scottish Government in the wake of Ms Sturgeon's exit.

'Hopefully the unsafe and irresponsible Scottish Gender Reform Bill goes with her,' wrote Tory MP Ben Bradley on Twitter.

'You can't lead a country if you can't even say what a woman is.'

In her resignation speech, Ms Sturgeon insisted her decision came from 'duty' and was not linked to 'short-term' issues. She said she had been 'wrestling' with whether 'carrying on' was right for her and Scotland.

She said leading the country, and in particular dealing with Covid, 'takes its toll on you and those around you', adding that she could 'battle on' but it would not be the best thing.

A funeral for long-term independence campaigner Allan Angus yesterday had a 'clarifying effect', she admitted. 'I'm looking forward to new opportunities, new challenges.'

The shock announcement - reminiscent of New Zealand PM Jacinda Adern's recent resignation - followed the torrid row over her abortive attempt to overhaul trans rights, which was blocked by Westminster.

Support for independence has also been waning, and there was deep unrest in nationalist circles about her plan of making the next general election a 'de facto' referendum after the Supreme Court prevented her from holding one without UK ministers' approval.

The news - which 'blindsided' even her SNP allies just weeks after she told the BBC there was 'plenty in the tank' - draws a line under eight years as First Minister, since she replaced one-time mentor and now sworn enemy Alex Salmond in 2014.

She is expected to continue in the role until a new SNP leader is elected, and stressed she will stay on as an MSP. Polls have suggested the public backs frontbencher Kate Forbes taking over, but none of the potential successors have anything like the same public profile.

Ms Sturgeon insisted her decision came from 'duty' and was not linked to 'short-term' issues. She said she had been 'wrestling' with whether 'carrying on' was right for her and Scotland

A crowd had gathered outside Bute House in Edinburgh ahead of Ms Sturgeon's announcement

Ms Sturgeon waved to the crowd outside Bute House after making her dramatic announcement

Support for independence is below the 45 per cent recorded in the 2014 referendum, according to the latest research for Lord Ashcroft

A Panelbase poll over the weekend found that 42 per cent want the SNP leader to stand down now, compared to 45 per cent who thought she should stay on until the next Holyrood election. Some 13 per cent were not sure

Mr Salmond did not waste any time putting the boot in, saying that although Ms Sturgeon was a 'first-rate political communicator' she was leaving the SNP with 'no obvious successor'.

Rishi Sunak, who has taken a softer approach to Ms Sturgeon than Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, said: 'My thanks go to @NicolaSturgeon for her long-standing service. I wish her all the best for her next steps.'

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack described Ms Sturgeon as a 'formidable politician', but urged the next SNP leader to drop the 'divisive obsession with independence'.

However, there are fears Ms Sturgeon's exit might be a major blow for Mr Sunak's hopes of winning the next election. One Tory source told MailOnline Keir Starmer is 'becoming a lucky general'.

'It's not hard to see how Labour take 10 or 15 seats off against a squabbling SNP and collapsing Conservatives as the only coherent Unionist force,' they said.

Another Tory aide said: 'Who knew the trans issue would break her.'

Keir Starmer paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon - but also nodded to the potential benefit for Labour, saying the party 'stands ready to be the change that Scotland needs'.

The abrupt announcement means all the leaders of the six main parties at the 2019 general election have now resigned - Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson, Nigel Farage, Sian Berry of the Greens, and Ms Sturgeon.

In her speech, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I am proud to stand here as the first female and longest serving incumbent of this office and I am very proud of what has been achieved in the years I've been blessed to do this.

'However, since the very first moment in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right, to make way for someone else.

'And when that time came, to have the courage to do so, even if to many across the country and in my party, might feel it too soon.

'In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it is right for me, for my party and for the country. And so today I am announcing my intention to step down as First Minister and leader of my party.'

Sturgeon leaving separatists without 'clear strategy', warns Salmond Nicola Sturgeon leaves 'no clear strategy for independence' and no obvious replacement as SNP leader, her predecessor Alex Salmond said. Her one-time mentor turned political enemy hailed Ms Sturgeon's 'talents as a first-rate political communicator and election winner'. But he warned that she has left the separatist movement adrift. Mr Salmond said: 'There has been no question of Nicola's talents as a first-rate political communicator and election winner and  having been there  I feel for her personally on the day of her resignation. 'There are two questions for the future. 'One is that the movement has been left with no clear strategy for independence. The previously accepted referendum route has been closed and the de facto referendum/election proposal is now, at best, up in the air. 'Secondly, there is no obvious successor. There are a range of able people in the SNP but they will now be tested in the fire of leadership, inheriting a range of serious Government policy challenges. 'It is to be hoped that those voices which wish to reunite the national movement emerge to win that contest.' Advertisement

Ms Sturgeon said everyone had regrets and there were things she would have done differently.

'Of course I have got regrets about all sorts of things in my life,' she said. 'I'm proud of my time as Scottish First Minister, but I'm also proud that I know when it is time to move on.'

Ms Sturgeon said the temptation for politicians was always to say 'if I stay a bit longer something might happen'. 'I think it's better to make the decision when you know in your heart it's the right one for you,' she added.

Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to explore other parts of life. 'I will be 53 this year... I've been in government since I was 37... I've been Nicola Sturgeon the politician for most of my life,' she said.

Ms Sturgeon said her standing down as First Minister would 'free' the SNP to take a decision on how best to pursue independence 'without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership'.

'I feel that duty first and foremost to our country to ensure that it has the energy of leadership that it needs not just today but through the years that remain of this parliamentary term,' she said.

'And right now, in a very particular sense, I feel that duty to my part too. We are at a critical moment. The blocking of our referendum as the accepted constitutional route to independence is a democratic outrage.

'My preference of using the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum is well known.'

But she added: 'I have always been clear that decision must be taken by the SNP collectively, not by me alone, but I know my party well enough to understand that my view as leader would carry enormous, probably decisive, weight, when our conference meets next month.

'And I cannot in good conscience ask the party to choose an option based on my judgment whilst not being convinced that I would be there as leader to see it through.

'By making my decision clear now I free the SNP to choose the path it believes to be the right one without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership.'

Ms Sturgeon will leave office as the longest serving and first female First Minister since the creation of the Scottish Parliament.

She had led the SNP to repeated election victories at UK, Scottish and local level.

The nationalists remain dominant at Holyrood, and Ms Sturgeon's own personal ratings have been relatively healthy for a politician who has been in office so long.

But a Panelbase poll published over the weekend suggested 42 per cent wanted Ms Sturgeon to stand down immediately.

Ms Sturgeon had vowed to make the next general election a 'de facto' referendum on Scottish independence, after the Supreme Court ruled that she cannot hold another national vote on the issue without approval from UK ministers.

Sturgeon dodges questions on SNP probe Nicola Sturgeon refused to answer questions about a police probe into alleged fraud involving the SNP - which is run by her husband - as she announced her resignation today. The party is subject to an investigation into whether 600,000 earmarked for independence campaigning was diverted elsewhere in 2021. The outgoing First Minister has faced questions in recent weeks over a loan of 107,000 made by Peter Murrell to the party, of which he is chief executive. She and Mr Murrell married in 2010. Challenged over the loan last week, the FM said she 'can't recall' when she first discovered he had given money. Reporters tried to ask Ms Sturgeon about whether she was to be interviewed by detectives as she ended an Edinburgh press conference today. But she declined to answer before walking out. But she praised Mr Murrell for his support, saying: 'Few people understand the price families of politicians pay for the jobs we choose to do. Mine have been my rock throughout.' Advertisement

However, the idea has been criticised by some in her own ranks, and it does not seem to have strong support from the public.

Backing for independence is currently below the 45 per cent recorded in the 2014 referendum, according to research for Lord Ashcroft.

Scottish Secretary Mr Jack praise Ms Sturgeon for the 'work that she undertook to help us deliver two new Freeports in Scotland, bringing thousands of jobs and millions of pounds of investment'.

But the Tory minister went on: 'A new first minister will have a real chance to re-focus the Scottish Government on what they were elected to do  improve public services such as health and education that people rely on and that are vital to Scotland's future success.

'Her resignation presents a welcome opportunity for the Scottish Government to change course, and to drop its divisive obsession with independence.

'I want to see a Scottish Government that works hand in hand with the UK Government to realise our full potential as a country.'

Former ally Alex Salmond - who now leads the rival Alba Party - said: 'There has been no question of Nicola's talents as a first-rate political communicator and election winner and  having been there  I feel for her personally on the day of her resignation.

'There are two questions for the future.

'One is that the movement has been left with no clear strategy for independence. The previously accepted referendum route has been closed and the de facto referendum/election proposal is now, at best, up in the air.

'Secondly there is no obvious successor. There are a range of able people in the SNP but they will now be tested in the fire of leadership inheriting a range of serious Government policy challenges.

'It is to be hoped that those voices which wish to reunite the national movement emerge to win that contest.'

The Lord Ashcroft survey published this week also laid bare the fallout from the SNP's abortive attempt to loosen gender identity rules.

Some 54 per cent of Scots were against the shake-up. Worryingly for Ms Sturgeon, just 3 per cent listed it in their top three priorities facing the country - but 46 per cent thought it was in the SNP's main concerns.

More than two-thirds agreed that people voted for parties at elections for a variety of reasons, and that could not be interpreted as support for independence.

Even among SNP backers, 48 per cent acknowledged an election could not be a de facto referendum, with 44 per cent saying it could be.

The First Minister has continued to defend the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed by MSPs in December, despite growing disquiet in her own ranks.

Ms Sturgeon said she had been almost certain she wanted to stand down for weeks, but the funeral for long-term independence campaigner Allan Angus (pictured together) yesterday had a 'clarifying effect'

Ms Sturgeon has been First Minister since 2014, when she replaced Alex Salmond (right) - her one-time mentor and now sworn enemy

Mr Salmond did not waste any time putting the boot in, saying that although Ms Sturgeon was a 'first-rate political communicator' she was leaving the independence campaign with 'no clear strategy' and the SNP with 'no obvious successor'

The First Minister has been caught in a storm over trans rapist Isla Byron, who was initially sent to a women's prison after being convicted of violent sex attacks on two women while a man called Adam Graham

Rishi Sunak, who has taken a softer approach to Ms Sturgeon than Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, praised her 'long-standing service'

The nationalists remain dominant at Holyrood, and Ms Sturgeon's own personal ratings have been relatively healthy for a politician who has been in office so long

The shake-up would reduce the age limit for formally changing gender to 16, and remove the need for a medical diagnosis.

Ms Sturgeon has said she still intends to challenge the UK Government's use of Section 35 to block the law.

Ms Sturgeon struggled at a press conference last week as she was repeatedly challenged on whether she regards trans rapist Isla Bryson as a woman.

Bryson was initially send to a women's prison before being transferred to the male estate following an outcry.

SNP MP Stewart McDonald described Ms Sturgeon as 'the finest public servant of the devolution age' amid reports of her expected departure as Scottish First Minister.

'Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age,' the MP for Glasgow South tweeted, sharing a photograph of himself with Ms Sturgeon.

'Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else. She will be an enormous loss as First Minister and SNP leader. Thank you!'

Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the party's home affairs spokesperson, tweeted: 'Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.'

Who will replace Nicola Sturgeon? 'Wee Free' Kate Forbes, 32 - a member of evangelical church which opposes gay marriage and abortion - tipped as favourite to become new SNP leader

Nicola Sturgeon's shock resignation has fired the starting gun on the race to replace her as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister.

The surprise nature of Ms Sturgeon's announcement means the contenders to succeed her will be competing from a standing start.

There appears to be no obvious frontrunner in the contest, although top members of Ms Sturgeon's Scottish Government are all being tipped as likely candidates.

The SNP's leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, is also being touted as a possible challenger.

Here are those thought most likely to enter the race:

Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes is a leading member of Ms Sturgeon's administration who is being heavily tipped to replace her.

She is the Scottish Government's finance secretary having taken on the role in February 2020 when she became the first woman to hold the post.

The 32-year-old went on maternity leave last July - the first serving Scottish cabinet secretary to do so - and gave birth to her daughter Naomi in August.

It has recently been reported that Ms Forbes, who is married to Ali MacLennan, has reconsidered her political future and is prepared to consider a leadership bid.

She had previously been thought not to have harboured such ambitions, despite regularly being touted as a future SNP leader since entering the Scottish Parliament as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in 2016.

The daughter of missionaries, Ms Forbes spent much of her childhood in India.

She is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, sometimes better known as the 'Wee Frees', which is opposed to gay marriage and believes there are few circumstances in which abortion is justified.

Ms Forbes has previously said she has been 'guilty' of 'tiptoeing around' her Christian faith.

Ms Sturgeon's government was accused of rushing through its controversial gender identity reforms before Christmas, while Ms Forbes remained on maternity leave, in order to prevent a potentional revolt by her.

Angus Robertson

Angus Robertson is also among the bookies' favourite to replace Ms Sturgeon.

The 53-year-old is the Scottish Government's constitution secretary and has experience of leadership within the SNP.

He was the party's deputy leader between 2016 and 2018 and also led the party for almost 10 years at Westminster while an MP.

Mr Robertson's spell as the SNP's Westminster leader ended in defeat when he lost his MP seat at the 2017 general election.

This also saw him quit as the SNP's deputy leader and he set up a pro-independence think tank during his time out of elected office.

But he returned to frontline politics at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, when he became MSP for Edinburgh Central.

Humza Yousaf

Humza Yousaf is the Scottish Government's health secretary.

The 37-year-old became Scotland's first Muslim cabinet minister in 2018, when he was appointed to his previous role as justice secretary.

He has been MSP for Glasgow Pollok since 2016, having previously been elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for the Glasgow region in 2011 at the age of just 26.

Despite being tipped as a possible replacement for Ms Sturgeon as First Minister, Mr Yousaf's chances could be harmed by the current health crisis in Scotland.

He has come under particular pressure over long waiting times for ambulances and emergency care.

John Swinney

John Swinney is currently Scotland's Deputy First Minister.

The 58-year-old has been an MSP ever since the Scottish Parliament's creation in 1999.

He has held a series of top cabinet jobs in the Scottish Government and most recently has been deputising as finance secretary during Ms Forbes' maternity leave.

Keith Brown

Keith Brown is the SNP's current deputy leader and also the Scottish Government's justice secretary.

The 61-year-old is a former Royal Marine and a veteran of the Falklands War.

He was first elected to the Scotish Parliament in 2007, since when he has held a variety of ministerial positions.

Mr Brown has recently been at the centre of a row over the Scottish Government's handling of transgender prisoners.

He was forced to order an urgent review by the Scottish Prison Service following outcry over the cases of Isla Bryson and Tiffany Scott.

Bryson was revealed to have been held at a women's prison when awaiting sentence for raping two women while a man.

Scott, who had been convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl before her transition, had also been due to be sent to a female unit.

Joanna Cherry

Joanna Cherry has been MP for Edinburgh South West since 2015 and has previously held frontbench roles for the SNP at Westminster.

She became one of the SNP's leading voices in the battles over Brexit in the UK Parliament.

But the 56-year-old was later sacked from a prominent position in the party amid reported tensions with Ms Sturgeon over her support for ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond, independence strategy and transgender rights.

She has recently been one of the most vocal opponents of the Scottish Government's controversial gender idently reforms, which has seen Ms Cherry forced to deny allegations of transphobia.

The 'utterly toxic' debate over transgender rights has seen her receive death threats, she has previously revealed.

Stephen Flynn

Stephen Flynn has recently taken on the role of SNP Westminster leader following the resignation of Ian Blackford amid the party's internal divisions.

He has been MP for Aberdeen South since 2019 and has made efforts to try and shed claims he is at the heart of a 'laddish' group of SNP politicians in London.

On taking over from Mr Blackford he attacked reports about a 'Tuesday Club' of nationalist MPs.

He said it was 'upsetting' to be linked to a culture of beer and curry - claiming he can 'barely stomach korma'.

The 34-year-old's possible ambitions to succeed Ms Sturgeon could be hindered by the fact he does not sit in the Scottish Parliament.

But there is precedent for an MP to lead a Scottish party after Douglas Ross took over as head of the Scottish Tories in 2020.

Mr Ross's predecessor, Ruth Davidson, deputised for him at First Minister's Questions before he was able to take a seat in the Scottish Parliament himself at the 2021 election.
Energy firm workers sent to the Maldives for an all-inclusive holiday while consumers struggle to pay the bills cause a splash in new video of them larking around.

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.

And new footage obtained by MailOnline shows a huge group of them in a pool enjoying water ball games.

The reps can be heard shouting as other guests watch on from the pool side.

In further images 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.

Some of the 100 reps are seen having the time of their lives in the luxury Maldives jaunt

Playtime for the 100 Utility Warehouse reps on their free holiday in the Maldives this month

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.

'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.

The idyllic resort could be seen on social media posts of the Maldives holiday

Only BLU  the largest underwater restaurant in the Maldives - is featured in the snaps

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.

Utility Warehouse has treated its representatives to an eight-day holiday. Pictured: OBLU Xperience

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.
Nicola Sturgeon today revealed how she finally convinced herself to quit as SNP leader during the funeral service of a 'wonderful' independence activist.

In her resignation speech at Bute House this morning, the Scottish First Minister paid tribute to her 'dear friend' Allan Angus.

His funeral yesterday was attended by other leading SNP figures who have fondly remembered him as a 'dancing superstar' following his death.

Ms Sturgeon spoke of how, during the service, she was reminded that her party's campaign for Scottish independence was 'bigger than any one individual'.

Mr Angus was the only person the departing SNP leader mentioned by name in her 2,500-word resignation speech - although she also paid tribute to her 'husband and family'.

In her resignation speech at Bute House this morning, Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to her 'dear friend' Allan Angus

Earlier this month, Ms Sturgeon had paid tribute to Mr Angus on social media and described him as a 'legend'

As she explained her reasons for her shock departure, Ms Sturgeon said: 'Yesterday morning, I attended the funeral of a dear friend and long-standing independence activist, a wonderful man by the name of Allan Angus.

'It was actually during that funeral service that I went from being 99 per cent certain about this decision to 100 per cent certain  though I know Allan would not be at all happy to have played any part in my departure, so I'm sorry, Allan.

'But his funeral reminded me that the cause of independence is so much bigger than any one individual; that all of us who believe in it contribute in different ways, at different stages of our lives.

'Since I was 16, I have contributed as an activist, a campaigner and a leader.

'And so now, as we look to what I firmly believe is the final stage in Scotland's journey to independence  albeit a hard one  I hope to use all the experience and perspective I have gathered over these years to help get us there.'

Earlier this month, Ms Sturgeon had paid tribute to Mr Angus on social media and described him as a 'legend'.

'Allan Angus lit up every room and always made me smile,' she wrote on Twitter.

'Despite his frailty, he was determined to be at our conference last year and I'm so glad he made it. I'll miss him.'

SNP MP Alison Thewliss was also among those to have attended Mr Angus's funeral service yesterday morning

Ms Thewliss previously said she was 'heartbroken' to hear of Mr Angus's death, describing him as 'the best ceilidh partner I ever had'

Kevin Stewart, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, posted on 4 February: 'So sorry to hear that Allan Angus, one of the best people, SNP legend and dancing superstar has sadly passed away'

SNP MP Alison Thewliss was also among those to have attended Mr Angus's funeral at Baldarroch crematorium, 15 miles outside Aberdeen, yesterday morning.

'A lovely send off for a wonderful man. Thanks for all the dances,' the MP for Glasgow Central posted on Twitter.

Ms Thewliss previously said she was 'heartbroken' to hear of Mr Angus's death, describing him as 'the best ceilidh partner I ever had'.

She added: 'Allan Angus was a wonderful man and I will miss him so much.

'From chasing to keep up with him leafleting, to every dance we had, to seeing him for the final time last conference, it was a pleasure.'

Kevin Stewart, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, posted on 4 February: 'So sorry to hear that Allan Angus, one of the best people, SNP legend and dancing superstar has sadly passed away.

'Allan was loved by all, was a mentor to many and was always there to give folk a helping hand. He will be missed by so, so many.'
Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found dead by his best friend, who checked for their pulse before calling 911 from a surviving roommate's cell phone eight hours later.

The unidentified friend had gone over to the Moscow, Idaho, home on the morning of November 13, hours after Chapin and Kernodle, both 20, Maddie Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 20, were slain in their sleep by suspected killer Bryan Kohberger.

Sources told News Nation Chapin's best friend found the two bodies and took their pulse before shouting at roommate Dylan Mortensen, 21, and others to call 911 around 11.58am.

The call was made from Mortensen's phone but new details revealed it was the best friend that talked to police.

Mortensen came face to face with suspected quadruple killer Kohberger, 28, shortly after the murders as questions arise on why she didn't call 911 earlier.

Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found dead by his best friend who checked for their pulse before making the 911 call on November 13

(L-R) Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee's shoulders), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke. Everyone pictured aside from Mortensen and Funke were murdered

Mortensen allegedly believed the sounds of four of her housemates being brutally murdered were sounds from college partyers in her house.

She reportedly called out to her friends and roommates during the early morning hours of November 13 to quiet down.

'Calm down, you're being loud!' she reportedly yelled around 4am, in addition to: 'I'm trying to sleep!'

The college student then closed and locked her door, according to one report in the New York Post.

After hearing some more loud noises that night, Mortensen opened her door again and saw accused murdered Kohberger but believed him to be a partygoer.

The alleged claims answer questions from Chapin's sister-in-law that questioned why Mortensen, who was on the property along with Bethany Funke, didn't call the police after seeing the suspect leave the house.

His sister-in-law has since revealed that Mortensen called all of the roommates after she heard 'screaming and crying' coming from their rooms.

Many are questioning why it took her so long to raise the alarm, after hearing 'crying' and coming face to face with the killer. Pictured (L-R) Dylan Mortensen, Xana Kernodle, Bethany Funke, Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen

Dylan Mortensen (pictured) who survived the slayings, didn't call the police at the time of the murders. Instead, she claimed she believed the shouts from upstairs were party-goers

Kohberger allegedly committed the heinous crimes sometime between 4am and 4.25am on November the 13. Mortensen told police that she heard several scuffles throughout the night and opened her door where she saw a suspect

Chapin was murdered in the doorway of Kernodle's room and Kernodle apparently attempted to fight the killer by repeatedly grabbing the knife from suspect Kohberger

Ethan's sister-in-law made several posts online before the arrest affidavit was unsealed for suspected quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger

His sister-in-law said that she needed to 'explain herself and her actions' on the night of the killings

Posting in a thread on Reddit, the sister-in-law said: 'D supposedly called all the girls in the house after the crying and screaming stopped and no one answered  and she still didn't call the police.

'She needs to explain herself and her actions that night.'

When questioned about who called police, she added: '911 caller was the friend who went in because D called him to come over because she was scared from what she heard in the night.

'He went to Xana and Ethan's room first, then called 911. Why D or B didn't call the police once is the question.'

Mortensen told police that she heard several scuffles throughout the night and opened her door where she saw a suspect dressed in all black with a mask covering his face and heard one of her housemates say: 'There's someone here.'

She also heard the suspect say: 'It's ok, I'm here to help you' as he wandered the house committing the atrocity.

Ethan, a triplet, was murdered in the doorway of Kernodle's room. He was on the second floor of the home with Kernodle

All four students were killed between 3 and 4am on November 13 (pictured: Kernodle and Mogen)

Investigators are seen taking a bloody mattress from the home on December 30

Police confirmed that a 911 call was made from the phone of one of the surviving roommates at 11.58am who requested help for an unconscious person  though it has not been confirmed who spoke to police.

Some argued Mortensen didn't call 911 right away because she may have been 'frozen' by fear.

Goncalves and Mogen were killed first, and after Chapin and Kernodle were killed on the second floor of the house.

Chapin was murdered in the doorway of Kernodle's room. Kernodle apparently attempted to fight the killer by repeatedly grabbing the knife from suspect Kohberger.

She had deep cuts on her fingers. Chapin apparently was slashed in the neck.

Kohberger, who studies criminology at WSU, was charged with the murders in December after a DNA found on a knife sheath next to the bodies of Goncalves and Mogen matched his.
A teacher in California has said that she was fired for refusing to withhold the gender identity of students from their parents, and alleges the school district discriminated against her Christian beliefs.

Jessica Tapia, who taught physical education in the Jurupa Unified School District, was fired on January 31 after stating her refusal to comply with the district's gender policies, she told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday.

Tapia alleged that her firing was discriminatory, and accused the district of failing to accommodate her religious beliefs, including her belief that non-conforming gender identities are 'lies and confusion from the devil.'

'It was crazy to be in the position where I realized that I couldn't be a Christian and a teacher,' she said. 'I essentially had to pick one.'

In a statement, the school district denied discriminating against Tapia for her religion, noting that California law bars schools from outing transgender kids to family members without the student's permission.

Jessica Tapia is alleging school officials discriminated against her religion after she was fired for refusing to withhold student gender identities from their parents

Jurupa Unified School District Superintendent Trenton Hansen is seen above. District officials note they are forbidden by law to out transgender kids to their families without permission

'The Jurupa Unified School District committed to providing all students and staff with a discrimination and harassment free learning environment,' a district spokesperson told DailyMail.com in a statement, citing obligations under state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

According to California's Department of Education, a state law that took effect in 2014 requires schools to consult with a transgender student before informing anyone of their gender identity, to protect the student's privacy.

'With rare exceptions, schools are required to respect the limitations that a student places on the disclosure of their transgender status, including not sharing that information with the student's parents,' the department said in an explainer.

'Revealing a student's gender identity or expression to others may compromise the student's safety,' the explainer noted.

The same law also requires California schools to give students access to the restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their stated gender identity.

Tapia said she also refused to follow to that policy, saying she did not want 'male genitals' in the girls' locker room.

Tapia has been teaching PE for six years, but told Fox News Digital that she only became aware of the state's longstanding gender policy requirements during the course of a recent and unspecified workplace investigation.

'I knew immediately, like in my gut, in my heart, in my soul, that there was a decision I had to make because, you know, these two things were totally butting heads,' she told the outlet.

Tapia has been teaching PE for six years, but said she only became aware of the state of California's longstanding gender policy requirements for schools

'I believe firmly that God created man and woman, and you are who he made you to be. And when someone has confusion about that, I believe that's lies and confusion from the devil,' added Tapia.

Tapia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon.

Fox News Digital said it had reviewed a notice under Jurupa Unified School District Superintendent Trenton Hansen's letterhead stating: 'The district cannot accommodate your religious beliefs that... prohibit you from maintaining a student's gender identity and refraining from disclosing a student's gender identity from his/her/their parent(s)/guardians.'

'Based on your religious beliefs, you cannot be dishonest with parents... If asked about a student's gender identity by a parent, you cannot refer the parent to a counselor, defer the inquiry and suggest they speak with a student..., or otherwise deflect the parent's inquiry,' said the letter, signed by assistant superintendent of human resources Daniel Brooks.

Tapia said she had retained an attorney and intended to sue, alleging her firing was an act of religious discrimination.

'The District denies the allegations raised by Ms. Tapia. The District takes seriously its obligation to accommodate its employee's religious beliefs,' school officials said in a statement.

'Simultaneously, the District is obligated to comply with all local, state, and federal laws, including anti-discrimination laws and laws that protect students' rights to privacy, which are in place to protect the nearly 2,500 employees and 18,000 students we serve. We cannot comment further on personnel matters,' the statement added.

'Under the Education Code, students are guaranteed the right to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on their records,' a District spokesperson told DailyMail.com

'State and federal antidiscrimination laws, including Title IX, also protect students and staff and obligate the District to provide a discrimination free learning environment.

'Finally, all students and staff enjoy the right to privacy under the Constitutions of the United States and California. While individuals may elect to disclose their personal information to the public, the District is prohibited from doing so,' the statement added.
Passengers had to assist the crew to restrain her as they forced her bra back on

The woman bared her chest in front of fellow passengers on the flight to Moscow

A female air rage passenger undressed on a flight, demanded to smoke and 'tried to break into the cockpit', while telling alarmed passengers they would all die.

Anzhelika Moskvitina, 49, bit a male flight attendant who sought to restrain her on an Aeroflot flight in Russia, reports said.

The 33,000ft high drama began when she locked herself in the toilet and lit a cigarette, it is claimed.

She bared her chest in front of other passengers - including children - on the flight from Stavropol to Moscow.

Business class passengers had to assist the crew to restrain her as they forced her bra back on, then put her in plastic handcuffs on the captain's orders.

Anzhelika Moskvitina said: 'I understand I'll go to the mental hospital or a prison. But I want to go to the cockpit.'

Anzhelika Moskvitina undressed on a flight, demanded to smoke and 'tried to break into the cockpit', while telling alarmed passengers they would all die

The woman had got up from her seat to smoke in the toilet as the plane was going through turbulence.

Witnesses said she had bared her chest and shouted to fellow passengers that they were all doomed.

She also sought to force her way into the cockpit.

A video caught the moment when the woman - suspected of being intoxicated - was arguing with flight crew as they sought to pacify her.

'Lady, take a seat and get dressed,' she was ordered by the crew.

'Where are your clothes?'

She was asked: 'Do you understand you're violating the behaviour rules on the plane?

'There are children here. Respect them at least.'

She replied: 'I respect children. What's more, I love children. I understand I'll go to the mental hospital or a prison. But I want to go to the cockpit.'

She was told her demand was 'senseless'.

Witnesses said she had bared her chest and shouted to fellow passengers that they were all doomed

Anzhelika Moskvitina, 49, bit a male flight attendant who sought to restrain her on an Aeroflot flight in Russia, reports said

The woman has been warned that she is liable to face criminal charges

A video caught the moment when the woman - suspected of being intoxicated - was arguing with flight crew as they sought to pacify her

As the crew sought to make her dress, she replied: 'Please go away from me. Kill me here, but I will smoke.'

She was urged to 'calm down', but repeated to the crew to 'leave me alone' and 'let me go'.

Eventually she was cuffed and a doctor on board monitored her as the plane landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport when she was held by police.

The flight attendant needed medical treatment.

Aeroflot immediately demanded new laws covering air rage including a black list of unruly passengers.

The woman had been in 'an inadequate state' and 'grossly violated the rules of conduct on board the aircraft', said the airline.

She 'ignored repeated warnings from the crew and tried to break into the cockpit.

'Due to the passenger's destructive behaviour, the aircraft commander decided to use a means of restraint on her.

'Aeroflot emphasises that this case again proves the urgent need at the legislative level to toughen punishment for air rowdies, including creating a single blacklist of destructive passengers for all airlines.'

The woman has been warned that she is liable to face criminal charges.
Republicans claim evidence is mounting that the Biden family used Joe's name to enrich themselves following DailyMail.com's bombshell report that the President's brother was hired by a U.S. construction company to negotiate with the Saudi government.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer re-upped his demands for the Treasury Department to hand over suspicious activity reports of the family's business deals in response to the revelation that Jim Biden was at the center of the $140million settlement talks with the Kingdom in 2012.

The Kentucky Republican also said it is a 'national security threat' if the president has been compromised by business schemes he says involves dozens of countries including Russia and China.

Jim Biden was selected because Saudi Arabia 'would not dare stiff the brother of the Vice-President who would be instrumental to the deal,' the bombshell affidavits obtained by DailyMail.com allege.

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

'Evidence continues to mount that the Biden family used Joe Bidens name to secure deals around the world to enrich themselves,' Comer told DailyMail.com.

'The Treasury Department must provide the suspicious activity reports generated for the Biden family and their associates to inform our investigation about the Biden familys business schemes and Joe Bidens involvement.

'If Joe Biden is compromised by his family's deals, this is a national security threat.'

Comer also discussed DailyMail.com's story on Fox News on Tuesday night, and told Sean Hannity they will subpoena members of the Biden family and associates if they don't get the records they need for the investigation.

A source close to the case told DailyMail.com 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.

The Republican-led congress has promised an exhaustive investigation into influence-peddling by members of Biden's family, including Hunter and Jim.

In a May 2022 affidavit, Lankford & Reed partner V. Thomas Lankford (pictured) described the deal

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.'

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.

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'

When reached, Sara Biden declined to comment and Jim Biden did not respond to comment requests.

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.'
Boris Johnson has joined calls for Sadiq Khan to scrap his controversial Ultra-low emission zone expansion plans amid a growing fightback over the Mayor's war on motorists

The former Prime Minister, whose Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituents would be dragged into the zone, has accused the Mr Khan of wanting to 'rake in money from motorists'.

The controversial expansion of the scheme to Outer London, set to be introduced in August, will drag millions more into its orbit in a bid to cut air pollution.

But Mr Johnson said: 'You do not need an outer London emission zone - its inner London that has the emission problem.

'You dont need an ultra-low emission zone for the whole of London in the way Sadiq Khan is imposing one because by 2030 all new cars in this country are going to be much cleaner and greener anyway.

Sadiq Khan is understood to have set a target of enforcing a million speeding offences in London every year

'Theres only one reason why hes doing it and thats because he has bankrupted TfL by his mismanagement of the finances of London, and he wants to rake in money from motorists in Outer London and beyond in a way that is completely unreasonable and unnecessary for air quality.

'So stop Khans mad ULEZ expansion plan, fight the outer London ULEZ, fight his plans to take money off hard-pressed motorists at a very, very difficult time, and stop this mad lefty tax on peoples lives and livelihoods.'

Mr Johnson's comments come as the number of drivers caught speeding in the capital jumped to 443,609 from April last year  a rise of 64 per cent on the previous year's 270,458  following the installation of high-tech enforcement cameras.

It comes as City Hall is understood to want the Metropolitan Police to have the capability to prosecute a million drivers a year from April 2024, a senior officer said.

The target is being cited as the latest example of Mr Khan's assault on motorists amid the ULEZ expansion in August and an overhaul of the road network that will also see 20mph speed limits on key city roads.

But Tory MPs have told Mr Khan to focus on more important issues over 'trying to create a hostile environment for motorists'.

Elliot Colburn, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, told MailOnline: 'I totally agree [that his focus should be elsewhere]. The problem with ULEZ and going after motorists in London is that there are much more pressing issues at the moment that require proper action. Despite falling crime rates nationally, London is still not seeing the benefit of it.

'We have these Violence Reduction Units that do not appear to be achieving anything and he does not want to talk about that. Our teenagers are being stabbed on our streets and the Mayor is nowhere to be seen talking on those issues.'

Mr Colburn said he had been approached by a plethora of local business owners who face having to pass on the extra costs and lose customers.

Gareth Johnson, whose constituents in Dartford, Kent, would also be dragged into the zone, said: 'There are loads of 20mph limits, cameras, the expansion of ULEZ  he is trying to make it as difficult as possible to drive in London.

'It is not about air pollution otherwise he would ban all cars. He does not want to ban them, just make money. Provided you can pay 12.50 a day, you can drive as much as you like.

'He is just trying to fix the black hole in his finances. It will be catastrophic for people in Dartford who need to go into London to help with public services.

'The border between London and Kent is at the end of some people's roads. People will be hit hard by this.

'If he is not making enough money, he will move the goalposts and increase the number of vehicles under the scheme. He has not got a mandate for this.'

Mr Johnson also warned of an 'exodus' of emergency service workers if Mr Khan proceeds with the plans.

He added: 'He has got the Met and London Fire Brigade in special measures and yet he is pointing it in the direction of drivers rather than the problems London has.

'Half of Met Police officers live outside of London. If they are doing a night shift then they will be hit twice by ULEZ.

'There is going to be an exodus of police and emergency workers  it is as serious as that.'

And Louie French, Tory MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, also joined politicians in slamming the London mayor's 'out of touch' assault on motorists.

He said: 'The Mayor of Londons core objectives are to keep London moving and to keep Londoners safe. With the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade in special measures under his watch and Transport for London requiring over 5billion in bailouts from the Government and taxpayers, it is clear that Sadiq Khan has failed miserably.'

The number of drivers caught speeding in the capital jumped to 443,609 from April last year, new figures have revealed

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

Mr French added: 'There are also major concerns over what comes next once the cameras are installed, with expectations that the Mayor will quickly move the goalposts and tax many more drivers who require their vehicles to get to work, to drop their kids off to school or to attend hospital appointments.

'Alongside the clear attack on the personal freedom to drive your own car, it is also important to remember that Outer London does not have the same transport connectivity as Inner London, which means thousands of people will have no choice but to pay these unfair charges.

READ MORE: The zebra crossing where CYCLISTS have the right of way: Watch as selfish bikers repeatedly ignore pedestrians in footage that fuelled petition Advertisement

'This includes emergency service workers, who are facing charges of 25 per shift if working nights at a hospital or police station inside the ULEZ zone, with no exemptions provided despite concerns over the impact this will have.'

Meanwhile Tony Devenish, deputy chairman of the London Assembly Environment Committee, claimed the expansion will make almost no difference to air quality in the capital.

He told LBC: 'The ULEZ zone in central London was initiated by Boris Johnson and brought in by Sadiq Khan and works, but Outer London is bigger and very different.

'The reality is that the Jacobs Report, which is a TfL report and Sadiq's own, said one thing  there is no change, virtually nothing at all, to air quality. This is not an air quality issue, this is a stealth tax. That is all it is.

'Sadiq has put council tax up by 57 per cent in seven years. This is yet another tax, as is the congestion charge and many, many other things. Sadiq Khan needs to listen.

'He should listen to his parliamentary colleagues and the Labour borough leader who has also come out against this, he should listen to Londoners - 80 per cent of whom in his own consultation said no to this.

'There is no legitimate mandate. If he wants to bring it in, he can bring it in at his next mayoral election in his manifesto and try and get elected.'

Defending the plans today, Mr Khan said 'toxic air is a matter of life and death'.

Appearing on BBC London radio, he added: 'In 10 or 20 years time people will look back at those opposing the ULEZ expansion and think they were on the wrong side of history.

'What is the price of a child losing their life prematurely? What is the price of around 4,000 premature deaths a year? What is the price of a mother having to do CPR on her daughter to bring her back to life?

'What is the price of children in our city having stunted lungs forever? What is the price of adults having illnesses directly attributable to air quality? We can do something about it and I think we should.'

But there are also growing signs of unrest among Labour MPs at the shifting of the boundaries, with four voicing their opposition to the scheme yesterday.

Shadow Treasury minister Abena Oppong-Asare, fellow frontbencher Seema Malhotra, Jon Cruddas and Siobhain McDonagh all broke cover yesterday.

Their disapproval was echoed by former long-serving Labour MP Stephen Pound, who represented Ealing North for 32 years.

Sadiq Khan is facing growing fury over his 'out of touch' assault on motorists with warnings he will turn London into a haven for rich people who work from home

Mr Pound called on the expansion to be delayed and criticised data used by City Hall as evidence to support the scheme.

He said: 'It is a very, very significant issue we have in London. When you have people like Seema Malhotra, Jon Cruddas and Siobhain McDonagh  real loyalists  when they are saying there is an issue then quite clearly we need to talk about it.

'Where Sadiq does have a problem is that some of the data, for example the outer borough data for Bromley saying they have a higher death rate, well they actually have a much older population in Bromley.

'Also, the higher and lower quartiles in some of the data were specifically chosen so the higher quartile was there. Ultimately, the thing about LTNs (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) and ULEZ is that it is not about driving people around in circles, it is about alternative ways of getting around.

'My son is an electrician and he moves around in a van. He couldn't take his kit on the E2 bus, so I'm very much in favour of the idea of bringing this in much more slowly. I do [think it should be delayed]. August is right around the corner.'

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 rose due to increased bus and taxi use - although more electric vehicles have been introduced since then.

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 on Monday 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 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.

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

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.

Shadow Treasury minister Ms Oppong-Asare saying: 'My concern is we don't want to be in a situation where people are going to be worse off.'

Ms 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.

'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'.

Tories said they were hearing complaints about temporary traffic lights and roadworks

'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.

'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 110million 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 neighbourhoods - 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.'
Rescue workers pull out Fatma, a Turkish woman, from the debris of a collapsed building in Antakya, southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 14. AP-Yonhap



Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press on with rescue and recovery efforts more than a week after a powerful quake ripped through his country and neighboring Syria, with an elderly woman the latest to be pulled from the rubble.



The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has climbed over 41,000, and many survivors are enduring near-freezing winter temperatures, having been left homeless by the devastation in cities in both countries.



"We will continue our work until we remove the last citizen left under the collapsed buildings," Erdogan said late on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).



Damage assessment of buildings, of which tens of thousands were destroyed, will be completed in a week and reconstruction will begin within months, he said.



"We will rebuild all the houses and workplaces, destroyed or made uninhabitable by the earthquake, and hand them over to the rightful owners," he added. More than 105,000 people were injured in the quake, he said, with more than 13,000 still being treated in hospital.



Overnight, a 77-year-old woman named Fatma Gungor was pulled alive from the rubble of a seven-story apartment block in the city of Adiyaman, some 212 hours after the first earthquake, media reports said.



Wearing an oxygen mask, covered in a gold foil blanket and strapped onto a stretcher, Gungor was carried by rescue workers down from the ruins of the building to a waiting ambulance, footage from state broadcaster TRT showed.



Afterwards, Gungor's relatives hugged the rescue team, made up of military personnel and members of the disaster management authority AFAD.



Nine other survivors were rescued in Turkey on Tuesday as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the cold.



Erdogan has acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck early on Feb. 6 but he has said the situation is now under control.



"We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity," Erdogan said.



More than 2.2 million people have left the worst-hit areas already, Erdogan said, and hundreds of thousands of buildings have become uninhabitable.



Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya.



U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling.









"People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive a tent, aid, or something, but up to 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 Syrians had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home. Now, rendered homeless by the quake, they have assembled makeshift tents in a playground using plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard.



"The needs are huge, increasing by the hour," said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization'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."





A photograph taken and released by the Turkish Presidential Press Office on Feb. 13 shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan holding a baby as they visit wounded and rescued people at Basaksehir Cam and Sakura State Hospital in Istanbul, a week after an earthquake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria. AFP-Yonhap



'Dad, aftershock!'



Families in both Turkey and Syria said they and their children were dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake.



"Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again," Hassan Moaz said of his 9-year-old in Aleppo, Syria. "When he's sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: 'Dad, aftershock!'"



A first convoy of U.N. aid entered rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey via the newly-opened Bab al-Salam crossing.



The search for survivors was about to end in the north west of Syria, said the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh.



Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw.



The Turkish toll was 35,418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.



Survivors joined a mass exodus from disaster zone, leaving their homes and unsure if they can ever come back.



Hamza Bekry, a 22-year-old Syrian has lived in Antakya, in southern Turkey, for 12 years, having fled the conflict in his homeland, but he was now preparing to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.



"It's very hard ... We will start from zero, without belongings, without a job," Bekry said. (Reuters)





Rescue workers and a search dog look for people on the remains of a destroyed building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Elbistan, Turkey Feb. 14. Reuters-Yonhap
He is the first and so far, only member of Congress to formally endorse Haley's bid against Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential primary

South Carolina's GOP Rep. Ralph Norman came out in full force behind Nikki Haley on the day she announced her run for president, deeming her America's Margaret Thatcher.

'Nikki will be a leader with an iron fist in a velvet glove,' Norman, a Trump ally, said in introducing the former ambassador and governor at a launch event in South Carolina. 'I believe Nikki Haley is America's version of Margaret Thatcher.'

Thatcher served as the United Kingdom's prime minister from 1979 to 1990 and was known as the 'Iron Lady.'

South Carolina's GOP Rep. Ralph Norman came out in full force behind Nikki Haley on the day she announced her run for president, deeming her America's Margaret Thatcher

Norman is a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus and one of the 20 defectors to Kevin McCarthy's speakership. He is the first and so far, only member of Congress to formally endorse Haley's bid against Donald Trump in the 2024 primary.

'We are at a pivotal point in our nation. While the Republican candidates, values, and messages have done very well here in South Carolina, that hasn't been the case everywhere across our great nation,' Norman wrote on Twitter ahead of his public address.

'It's time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and there's no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my good friend, Nikki Haley!' Norman said.

Norman finally offered McCarthy his vote after the California Republican offered a number of concessions to hardliners. Norman had been pushing for the House to pass a balanced federal budget.

The congressman was long a supporter of Trump and voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021.

Text messages revealed by Talking Points Memo show Norman texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021 urging Trump to invoke 'Marshall [sic] law' to investigate election fraud claims.

Norman told Fox News that in 2016 Trump was 'exactly who the Republican Party needed at the time' but 'the Republican Party has entered a season of change.'

Haley, 51, took some veiled swipes at her opponents and doubters in Washington and their age.

'We won't win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th Century,' she told a crowd of supporters in Charleston, South Carolina.

'America is not past its prime, it's just its politicians are past theirs,' she said in another moment.

She also promised the crowd she would work to eliminate earmarks, institute term limits in Congress and require mental competency tests for any lawmaker over 75. Congress, of course, would have to vote to limit itself in this fashion.

Haley, 51, took some veiled swipes at her opponents and doubters in Washington and their age

'We won't win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th Century,' she told a crowd of supporters in Charleston, South Carolina

Norman was long a supporter of Trump and voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021

While Norman is the only member of Congress so far to formally endorse Haley, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace had high praise for the former ambassador who lives in her district.

Asked by CNN if she would endorse Haley, Mace said: 'It looks like I may or may not have multiple constituents from South Carolina running.'

'But I'll tell you this, Nikki Haley is a very good friend of mine, she's a mentor, she works harder than anybody I know.'

Mace noted that Haley was the biggest name in politics who stood up for her when Trump tried to put a candidate up against her in a primary.

'I want to see how the field shakes out see, how it's set, but I will tell you I have great love for her and I'm excited to see her enter the race.'

Haley previously said she would not put throw her hat into the ring if Trump ran. She now has gone back on that statement.

'I said to her a year ago I hoped she would run no matter what,' Mace said. 'She's more than qualified for the job.'
A security guard who sent classified documents to Russia snooped around colleagues' desks at the British embassy in Berlin ahead of the invasion of Ukraine, a court has heard.

David Smith, 58, has admitted sending classified documents to the Russian Embassy anonymously in May and November 2020.

However, he denies that he was on the Kremlin's payroll and directed to provide a stream of intelligence.

The Old Bailey heard that in a letter in November 2020, Smith revealed the identity of a diplomat who had worked in Moscow, identified only as 'X' .

He included photographs of other employees and added details of their specific roles at the embassy, the court heard.

David Smith, 58, has admitted sending classified documents to the Russian Embassy

A photo issued by the Met Police of David Ballantyne Smith taking a video of the CCTV monitors in the British Embassy security kiosk

Smith told the court he felt 'ashamed' when he saw the people he had betrayed afterwards and did not send anything else to the Russian Embassy.

Cross-examining on Wednesday, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said: 'You saw X and the people whose photos you sent to the Russians.

'Presumably you told them you had endangered their safety? At any moment the Russians would know who they were, what role they performed.'

Smith replied: 'As far as I was concerned the information was already known.

'I took the pictures to show the lack of security as I pushed back against the embassy but I assure you I haven't sent another thing.'

But Ms Morgan told the court that in June 2021, Smith filmed around the embassy, identifying colleagues and even recording personal pictures on their desks.

Smith said: 'I was pissed when I made the video. It was a good idea at the time.'

Ms Morgan said: 'These are not drunken videos taken by a teenager and put on TikTok.

'Your hand appears steady throughout. It's more than that, because although you say you were ashamed you revealed information about X and other members of staff, those videos show you going to particular offices in the building.

The court heard Smith took a close interest in Russian activities, as demonstrated by a cartoon of president Vladimir Putin posted inside his work locker

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

'You film the name plaque on the door, and when you've done that you go into the room and you film the outside space outside the window. The purpose is showing a person who might look at the video here is the name and here is their precise location.

'What the videos then show is other things - rifling through drawers, walking over to whiteboards, and we see your hands appearing next to particular names, and those names are not accidental drunken choices.'

Smith replied that he did not remember.

Ms Morgan said: 'How was your guilt in June 2021 when you zoomed in on photos on their desks showing them with their family members and friends?

'You were filming everything that someone would need to identify that person, to know their relatives, where their offices were located and their phone numbers, and you were being told to do that.

'When you say you feel guilty, do you want to say now who was directing those videos?'

Smith replied: 'No-one at all.'

Ms Morgan went on to ask Smith what he knew of the global situation at the time he was making the videos inside the embassy.

Smith said he could only think of the Covid situation at the time.

The prosecutor suggested he would also be aware of Russian forces amassing on the border with Eastern Ukraine, where his wife Svetlana was living.

She said: 'In this period in 2021 when you were gathering information of this type on video, the Russian forces were gathering on the border of Ukraine and they were gathering on the border of the very area of where your wife lives, weren't they?'

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

Smith said that he would have seen it if it was on the news.

Ms Morgan asserted he took a close interest in Russian activities, as demonstrated by a cartoon of president Vladimir Putin posted inside his work locker.

In the picture, Putin had his hands around the neck of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in German uniform with the caption: 'Russia, please free us once again.'

Ms Morgan said: 'You are working at the embassy for the United Kingdom and you chose to put a particular thing in your locker.

'It is precisely what Russia was saying as its justification for amassing vast amounts of troops on the border, and it is a cartoon that depicts Angela Merkel as a Nazi.

'The point being the justification Vladimir Putin was promulgating at the time was he was the one taking action against Nazi oppressors.

'What is encapsulated in that cartoon is played out in Ukraine.'

Smith replied: 'I just thought it was funny and my work colleagues even laughed at it.

'If the Russian troops were amassed on the border of Ukraine I didn't think they would invade.'

Ms Morgan said that at the time of Smith's offending the situation with Russia 'could not have been more finely balanced' and intelligence, such as Britain's approach to sanctions, would have been valuable.

Defence barrister Matthew Ryder KC said Smith loved and cared about his country and his interest in 'alternative truths' was neither uncommon nor proof of anti-British sentiment.

He said: 'He has questioned the mainstream view presented in the media. The broadcast of [Russian government-funded] RT was available on Freeview until fairly recently.

'Social media is teeming with alternative versions of the truth and even world leaders amongst the UK's allies have espoused alternative truths in recent years that people may think were not well supported.

'That doesn't mean he has an ideology contrary to the state. He did have a sympathy for the Donbas. He has explained how that changed after a visit in 2019.

'To see someone as being pro or anti-UK in binary terms is overly simplistic.'

Paisley-born Smith began collecting secret material over four years and was caught following an undercover sting in August 2021.

The former RAF serviceman has pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act by committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
A millionaire pensioner who was buried in a 'clandestine grave' by her toy boy lover suffered injuries consistent with being suffocated or strangled, a court heard.

Lidl worker Serkan Kaygusuz, 42, has admitted plundering Norma Girolami's bank accounts for hundreds of thousands of pounds and hiding her body in a graveyard, but has denied her murder.

Turkish national Kaygusuz befriended the 70-year-old at a swimming pool in North London and she gave him a fortune over the next three years in a 'parasitic' relationship, the court heard.

After fleecing her out of 284,000 he buried the body around 19 August 2021 where it remained hidden for 15 months, the Old Bailey has heard.

Pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl said Mrs Girolami's body had been tightly wrapped in a fitted sheet and four sheets of plastic and a carrier bag had been placed over the head when he examined it on November 3 last year at Northwick Park Hospital.

Lidl worker Serkan Kaygusuz, 42, has admitted plundering Norma Girolami's bank accounts for hundreds of thousands of pounds and hiding her body in a graveyard, but has denied her murder

Pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl said the body of millionaire Norma Girolami (pictured), 70, body showed signs 'consistent with a third party assault and third party obstruction of the normal pattern of breathing'

He said her body was fully clothed in underwear, trousers and jumper, when she was examined.

'The body was completely and tightly enclosed within those wrappings,' Dr Fegan-Earl said.

He added that insects had not caused any damage to the body and it was 'surprisingly well preserved'.

The pathologist said when he examined the stomach contents 'somewhat remarkably that was recognisable as chewed potato chips.'

'The body was kept as a secure location which flies could not enter, or the body was enwrapped rapidly and completely after death,' said Dr Fegan-Earl.

Mrs Girolami had suffered three fractured ribs and bruising to the chest.

'This was consistent with a third party assault and third party obstruction of the normal pattern of breathing,' the pathologist said.

Dr Fegan-Earl ruled out the injuries being caused by a fall or by someone attempting to revive Mrs Girolami with CPR.

'In my view the fracture pattern and the associated bruising is not the pattern we expect to see with a simple fall to the ground,' he said.

'The fractures in this case are not those associated with CPR fractures.'

The doctor said that when CPR is performed the heart has stopped so no bruising would occur.

Although the injured were 'supportive of third party assault' the pathologist was unable to give a cause of death because the level decomposition meant it was impossible to reach any firm conclusions.

'The cause of death must remain as unascertained because diagnosis has been hampered by decomposition,' said Dr Fegan-Earl.

Kaygusuz, pictured at a BP petrol station admitted perverting the course of justice and charges of theft and fraud, but denies murder

Ms Girolami, of Italian heritage, lived alone in a 900,000 flat in Elm Court, Highgate, and had returned from a day at the seaside when she vanished.

Her body was found 15 months later in November 2022 in St James's Churchyard in Friern Barnet.

Kaygusuz, of Crouch Hall Court, Sparsholt Road, Islington, denies murder.

Jurors were told he admits perverting the course of justice by hiding the body, theft, three counts of fraud and one of transferring criminal property.

The trial continues.
The wife of an Arizona rancher who allegedly shot dead an illegal immigrant from Mexico on his property launched a fundraiser to help pay for his $1 million bail.

Wanda Kelly seeks to help her husband George Alan Kelly, 73, who remains behind bars after allegedly shooting Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, on his Nogales property near the US-Mexico border on January 30.

George denied killing Cuen-Butimea but admitted to firing warning shots at smugglers carrying assault rifles and wearing camouflaged clothing.

'Alan and I are living a nightmare,' Wanda wrote on the GiveSendGo fundraiser. 'He has been accused of a serious crime, and he is innocent.'

As of Wednesday, more than $1,300 had been raised.

George Alan Kelly, 73, remains behind bars after allegedly shooting Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, on his Nogales property near the US-Mexico border on January 30

The man Kelly is believed to have shot is Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, a Mexican national. He denied shooting Cuen-Butimea

The rancher's attorney Brenna Larkin has attempted to lower Kelly's bail and is arguing he needs to go back home to help his wife tend to their livestock.

Wanda described her husband as a 'man devoted to his family, animals, and home' while attempting to pull on the heart strings of potential donors.

'In his 74 years, he has been an upstanding member of his community and, more importantly, a rock to our family,' she wrote.

'He is a humble person with simple needs. He likes socks. He is an animal lover. He has two dogs. One named Hound ("Wolf-Hound") and the other named Bear ("Bear-Colt").

'He has a 29 year old horse named Sonny. He cried when our cat, Monkey, had to be put down five months ago.'

Wanda pleaded for help bringing George back home and help covering the legal expenses related to the 'terrible situation.'

The ranch in the south of Arizona is only a stone's throw from the Mexican Border, pictured

This is the home of George Alan Kelly and his wife, located less than two miles from the border

Another GiveSendGo fundraiser was set up last week by Georgie's friend that claimed immigrants from Mexico had 'repeatedly trespassed and harassed' the rancher oh his property.

The fundraiser raised more than $43,000 in support from people that hailed George a 'patriot.'

A GoFundMe fundraiser was has set up by strangers to help Kelly were removed last week.

Strangers who sympathize with Kelly set up the fundraiser to help with his legal defense.

But the fundraising company has since removed those pages, citing their policy that they do not allow any fundraising to help defend 'violent crimes'.

'GoFundMes Terms of Service explicitly prohibit campaigns that raise money to cover the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime. Consistent with this long-standing policy, any fundraising campaigns for the legal defense of someone charged with murder are removed from our platform.

'Donors who contributed to the fundraising campaigns for George Alan Kellys legal expenses have been fully refunded,' a spokesman previously told DailyMail.com.

Kelly's ranch sits just outside of Nogales, Arizona, which straddles the border with Mexico

Kelly faces a charge of first-degree murder. His wife set up a fundraiser to help raise funds for his $1 million bail

Attorney Larkin argued George '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.

'He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death,' Larkin previously claimed.

'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.
They were rescued after 101 hours when a rescue team burrowed into the home

A father and daughter who were trapped in the rubble of their home after Turkeys devastating earthquake have told how they played rock, scissors, paper for more than four days before being rescued.

Cem Okur, 42, and daughter Tanem Safiye, eight, escaped serious injury, but were stuck in pitch darkness in a 3ft high gap between the ceiling and floor of their apartment in a five-storey block after it collapsed around them.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the pair told how they tried to take their minds off their ordeal by repeatedly playing the childrens game which involves trying to outfox an opponent by displaying hand symbols of either a rock, scissors or paper.

They were finally rescued after 101 hours when a search and rescue team managed to burrow into the remains of their home in the Defne district of Turkeys southern Hatay province.

Cems mother who lived with them was killed in another room when debris crashed on top of her in the earthquake shortly after 4am on Monday last week.

Father and daughter Cem Okur and Tanem Safiye who were trapped in the rubble of their home after Turkeys devastating earthquake played rock, scissors, paper waiting for rescue

They were finally rescued after 101 hours when a search and rescue team managed to burrow into the remains of their home

As he recovered in hospital with his daughter, Cem told how he hugged her to keep her warm and tried to reassure her that they would be saved, despite inwardly fearing that help might never come.

Describing how the earthquake struck as they slept in their second storey apartment, he likened it to the ground exploding beneath them, saying: It was like Armageddon and was so bad. The first minutes were terrible.

The upper floors above us were destroyed and the ceiling above us came down so we were stuck in a one metre high gap. We could not see anything and we had to crawl along the floor to be with each other. It seemed like there was no air.

He said that they became increasingly dehydrated without water, and feared dying from thirst before finally finding bottles to drink in the darkness after 24 hours.

Cem said: I tried to swallow the wetness in my throat. It was all I could do. If I had two homes, I would have gladly swapped one just for a little bit of water to keep us alive.

He said he was in deep pain knowing that his mother was probably lying dead, but he tried not to reveal his anguish to his daughter.

As the death toll from the earthquake and its aftershocks in Turkey and Syria soared to more than 41,000 people, Cem added: My child is so important to me, like the world. I tried to say that we would overcome our situation.

We were very close together and we kept playing rock, paper, scissors, but we were not smiling while we were playing that game. We also sang songs, told stories and prayed together for God to save us.

Tanem was rescued first because she was small enough to squeeze through a gap and she was stretchered away to an ambulance

Tanem munched a tube of Pringles crisps and cuddled a white teddy bear in hospital in Hatay

Workers walk between collapsed buildings after the powerful earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, 15 February

Greek and Turkish rescuers are at work to extract bodies of victims from the rubble of a collapsed building in Antakya, south of Hatay

The pair also found a bottle of healing rose water which Tanem used to dab bruises and cuts on her fathers back and hands, easing his pain.

Cem said his daughter repeatedly begged: Daddy, please keep your word and save me. She added: Daddy, I miss your face so much. I want to see you.

He told how he repeatedly used a piece of rubble to hit a wall in the hope that rescuers might hear the sound.

His efforts finally alerted a team of search and rescue volunteers and soldiers who dug through the rubble to reach them.

Tanem was rescued first because she was small enough to squeeze through a gap and she was stretchered away to an ambulance, telling paramedics she wanted her father to be given the message: Daddy, I love you, I am very well.

When she was told she was being taken to hospital, she asked: Are we going to drink water there?

Cem who was pulled out later and taken to hospital alongside his daughter, said: I feel great to be alive and so happy. It is a better feeling than being the richest person in the world.

Just being here safe with my daughter is what is important.

He added: Tanem and I prayed to God, Either kill us or get out. Tanem told me, Dad, I can't live without you. If you die, I will die. I replied: There will be no such thing.

Describing the moment they knew help was coming he said: There came a force, I started hitting the wall. A voice came from there. As we were about to deliver our souls, God sent someone and said, Get out.

As she munched a tube of Pringles crisps and cuddled a white teddy bear in hospital in Hatay, Tanem said: My father told me stories there and sang songs.

We also played games - rock, paper scissors. We couldn't see through the dark, we were telling each other which sign we were making.

She added: My father wrapped me in a blanket, but I was still cold. He tried to warm me in his arms.
Republicans are criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for downplaying the impact a Chinese spy balloon recently felled by the US military has had on Washington's relationship with Beijing.

The suspected surveillance device was shot down by American fighter jets off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, after already traversing several US states at a low enough altitude to be seen by the naked eye - alarming millions across the country.

It comes at a time of historically strained diplomatic relations between the US and China.

Asked whether the balloon incident impacts that relationship, Harris told Politico: 'I dont think so, no.

'Everything that has happened in the last week and a half is, we believe, very consistent with our stated approach,' Harris explained.

Vice President Kamala Harris (left, next to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy) downplayed the suspected Chinese spy balloon's effect on Washington and Beijing's relationship

In this U.S. Navy handout, sailors prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a high-altitude balloon for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek

She said that approach was an aim for 'competition, but not conflict or confrontation.'

'What an incredibly incompetent thing to say,' Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) wrote on Twitter Wednesday in response to Harris' answer on the balloon.

'The CCP spies on Americans without fear of the repercussions, & [Harris] is acting like it's no big deal!?'

He accused the Biden administration of pursuing a policy of 'appeasement' with Beijing's increasingly authoritarian government, which he said was 'creating chaos.'

'Kamala Harris said the Chinese spy balloon that flew across our country and spied on Americans doesnt impact our relations with China,' wrote Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

'It sounds like the Biden administration wont be getting tough on Communist China.'

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) also expressed outrage at Harris' interview.

'This administration has no desire or strategy to deal with China. Its appalling,' Crenshaw said Wednesday.

Florida GOP Senator Rick Scott called Harris' comments 'incompetent'

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn said the administration 'won't be getting tough on China'

The balloon was first detected above American airspace on January 28, then briefly entered Canada's territory before eventually drifting back to the US.

President Joe Biden had given the order to shoot it down when it was above the continental United States, but was cautioned against seeing it through for fear of Americans getting injured by fallen debris.

Republicans have accused the White House of not acting swiftly enough, but Pentagon officials have said they gained valuable intelligence about Beijing's vast surveillance program as the balloon traversed the country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his planned diplomatic trip to China amid the unfolding furor.

The Senate is scheduled to receive a classified briefing on the suspected spy balloon on Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, lawmakers were briefed on the shoot-down of four objects within eight days.

Beijing's device was the first incident, but little has since been discovered about the latter three objects.

The White House announced on Friday that the US military had shot down an unknown object over Alaska. Then US jets were used in the NORAD takedown of another object over the Yukon wilderness on Saturday.

Another unknown device that briefly shut down airspace over Montana on Saturday night was downed over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday.
The Department of Justice has decided not to charge Matt Gaetz over claims he trafficked an underage girl, a report claims.

Prosecutors told lawyers for at least one of the witnesses the firebrand Florida congressman will not be facing charges over the probe that has dragged out for years, CNN reported Wednesday.

Gaetz has consistently denied allegations he helped a local Florida tax collector friend Joel Greenberg traffic a 17-year-old girl across state lines.

Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December after he pled guilty in a plea deal.

The Department of Justice has decided not to charge Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) over claims he trafficked an underage girl, a report claims

Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, a former close friend of Gaetz, was sentenced to 11 years in prison last week

In March 2021, news broke that federal investigators were probing whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws by allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paying for her to travel across state lines with him.

Investigators ultimately declined to press charges due to credibility concerns with their two key witnesses.

Last year Gaetz's ex-girlfriend testified before the grand jury investigating him for sex crimes.

Investigators zoned in on a trip to the Bahamas in 2018 where Gaetz was with several women and violated trafficking laws there.

Gaetz, who married Ginger Luckey in 2021, insists the sexual encounter never happened and the only time he had sex with a 17-year-old girl was when he was 17.

He has dismissed the investigation as a 'witch hunt' and his lawyers have said they have seen 'no credible basis' for charges.

Gaetz first came to investigators' attention because of his friendship with Greenberg, described as his 'wingman', who last year pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and sexual offenses.

Greenberg told investigators that Gaetz and at least two other men had sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl.

He has told them that they both gave women cash and gifts in exchange for sex.

Greenberg pleaded guilty to identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official and sex trafficking of a minor.

Gaetz is pictured with his wife Ginger Luckey

In a different case last year, Florida man Stephen Alford was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud amid a bizarre plot involving an attempt to shake down the father of Rep. Matt Gaetz and a pledge to try to secure a presidential pardon.

That case had also brought Gaetz into the news, where he went public with his own account of the bizarre shakedown scheme during an appearance on Fox host Tucker Carlson's show. Gaetz' account ultimately held up.

Alford, 62, pleaded guilty fraud in the convoluted scheme last year. According to the indictment, he approached Don Gaetz, the wealthy father of the Trump loyalist lawmaker, after having learned of a Justice Department investigation of alleged sex trafficking.

The sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Alford sought $25 million from Don Gaetz to fund an effort to free Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran years ago, and said he would help seek a pardon from President Joe Biden for Rep. Gaetz.
The research also found the desire to curb immigration is up among both Democrats and Republicans

A Gallup poll found that just 28% of Americans are satisfied with the current immigration level

New data shows that more Americans are growing concerned by the number of immigrants coming into the U.S.

More Americans are expressing their unhappiness with the level of immigration into the U.S., with less than 30 percent saying they are satisfied with the influx of new residents.

New data compiled by a Gallup poll found that the satisfaction rate has fallen six percent in a year, going from 34 percent in 2022 to 28 percent in 2023.

The data represents the lowest number for the U.S. in over a decade.

Of the more than 60 percent of people who said they are dissatisfied with immigration, overall, 40 percent said they want immigration to decrease.

Of the group polled, just eight percent said they are dissatisfied with immigration because they would like to see more people enter the U.S.

More Americans are expressing their unhappiness with the level of immigration into the U.S., with less than 30 percent saying they are satisfied with the influx of new residents

New data compiled by a Gallup poll found that the satisfaction rate has fallen six percent in a year, going from 34 percent in 2022 to 28 percent in 2023

Of the more than 60 percent of people who said they are dissatisfied with immigration, overall, 40 percent said they want immigration to decrease

While the results vary greatly by party, the poll found the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who want to see immigration curbed has risen on both sides.

71 percent of Republicans say immigration levels are too high, the highest number that has ever been recorded. That number is up two percent from 2022.

Among Democrats, 19 percent say immigration levels are too high.

The newest data shows a steep eight percent jump.

Overall, Americans' satisfaction level with immigration falls around the same percentage of people who are happy with public education- 29 percent satisfied- and policies to reduce or control crime-27 percent.

Views regarding immigration differ starkly among Americans by age.

While more Americans 35 and older have expressed dissatisfaction with immigration, 18 to 34 year old citizens are less dissatisfied than a year ago.

One of the only subjects Americans seem to agree on is how the U.S. is handling poverty and homelessness. Less than 20 percent of Republicans, Democrats, and independents say they are satisfied with the current situation.

The new polling numbers regarding immigration could be contributed to the rising concerns over the situation at the U.S. border with Mexico.

In 2021, the U.S. saw 1.7 million immigrants come into the country. In 2022, that number rose to more than 2 million.

The Department of Homeland Security has also estimated the number in 2023 could spike if Title 42- the pre-pandemic policy giving border agents the ability to expel migrants seeking asylum- is revoked.

The percentage of Americans dissatisfied with immigration has risen among Democrats, Republicans, and independents in the past several years

In 2021, the U.S. saw 1.7 million immigrants come into the country. In 2022, that number rose to more than 2 million

71 percent of Republicans say they are dissatisfied and want immigration decreased. 36 percent of independents say the same and 19 percent of Democrats agree

The Department of Homeland Security has also estimated the number in 2023 could spike if the Title 42- the pre-pandemic policy mandating border agents give migrants the opportunity to seek asylum- is revoked

One of the only subjects Americans seem to agree on is how the U.S. is handling poverty and homelessness. Less than 20 percent of Republicans, Democrats, and independents say they are satisfied with the current situation

The number of migrants crossing over the US southern border since January 2021

Republicans, who took back control of the House of Representatives in 2022, have already started to examine how to address the border crisis.

In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden addressed the situation, referring to it as a bipartisan problem.

'America's border problems won't be fixed until Congress acts,' Biden said.

Biden has been heavily criticized for his inaction on the issue.

President Biden is working to settle a deal with Mexico to deport hundreds of thousands of non-Mexican migrants who illegally cross into the US through the southern border. Meanwhile, Mexican migrants are also coming in in record numbers from the northern border.

At the end of January, Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines slammed the Biden administration for its handling of the border crisis.

Lines said his county simply cannot support the flow of migrants coming into the country.

Yuma County's Border Patrol saw a 171 percent increase in migrant crossings between 2021 and 2022.

Lines told Fox News: 'Policies need to be changed when you see an unprecedented amount of people coming across the border that even supersedes what we saw under any of the other presidents for the past 30 years.'

He called the surging increase in crossings 'ridiculous'.

'They're coming because they said that Biden told them to come, that we have an open border.'

Facilities along the border are being pushed to breaking point due to the increasing migrant flow, with residents reportedly unable to access the only hospital in the city.

Views regarding immigration differ starkly among Americans by age. While more Americans 35 and older have expressed dissatisfaction with immigration, 18 to 34 year old citizens are less dissatisfied than a year ago

Many have been raising red flags about the crisis at the U.S. border for years now

Only eight percent of Americans are dissatisfied with immigration and want to see it increase. 15 percent say they are dissatisfied and want it to stay the same and 40 percent are dissatisfied and want to see a decrease in new residents coming into the United States

Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines slammed the Biden administration for its handling of the border crisis

Migrants have been traveling from Mexico and South America for years but the recent influx has led to harsh criticism over the sustainability of the immigration process.

Breaks in the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border have attracted many migrants to certain pockets as an 'easier' way to enter the country.

Container-sized gaps in the 30ft border wall allow migrants to walk right through, aided by a thinly-spread Border Patrol.

Construction is currently underway to fill some of the gaps but it is unknown how much of a difference the fills will make.
Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo dramatically revealed he thought about 'kill(ing) everybody, including myself,' in the aftermath of his ousting from the struggling network.

The current NewsNation anchor was given the boot in late 2021 for dolling out advice to his brother, the then-Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, as he battled a sexual misconduct scandal.

It was also revealed that Chris used his media connections and contacts to check on stories in the pipeline about his brother and trafficked the information back to the governor's operatives.

Cuomo shared his struggle on 'Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci,' the podcast hosted by the former White House communications director whose tenure at the podium lasted all of a week and a half.

'I had to accept [the CNN termination] because I was going to kill everybody, including myself. Things can consume you,' he said.

Chris Cuomo now hosts a show on NewsNation that brings in about a-tenth of the eyeballs his CNN show did

He added: 'Italians are so passionate and I really had to fight against that because... I got too many people counting on me.'

The on-air journalist, who is now back behind a desk, said he 'makes a lot of mistakes' and began seeing a therapist after being 's**t-canned' by the CNN higher-ups.

'There is damage that is relatable, there is damage that is unrelatable to people that I have to deal with, that I am working on,' he said.

Despite Cuomo telling Scaramucci that he's working on himself, his short temper is still reportedly calling the shots at his new NewsNation gig, at which he has significantly fewer eyeballs on him than at CNN.

'Cuomo,' the name of his show, is bringing in fewer than 100,000 viewers a night, according to the New York Post. Less than a tenth of his million-strong audience at CNN.

Chris Cuomo with his wife Cristina Greeven at an event in Bridgehampton in 2021

Cristina Cuomo with the couple's three children on Mother's Day 2020

Cuomo said he was ready to 'kill everyone, including myself' after his ousting from CNN following the revelation that he was advising his brother, the governor, through his sexual harassment scandal

Last year, during a down period, Cuomo and his wife ran errands in the Hamptons. He is currently involved in litigation against his former employer as well as the publisher that opted to can his book

Chris Cuomo 14 months ago, breaking cover after being fired from his $8million-a-year gig

He said that even though he wasn't 'the big name' at CNN, his show did well 'because I was giving people what they needed in that moment.'

Now, however, he said he is aware his audience is 'small' and 'people don't want to watch.

'Its hard to keep perspective on that because its kind of embarrassing,' he told Scaramucci. 'I will never be [number 1] again.'

'I believe that was taken, I believe wrongly. I will litigate that. I am not going to b***h about it in the press,' he said.

The younger Cuomo is suing CNN for more than $60million over his abrupt firing. He is also believed to be in litigation with HarperCollins, the publisher of his book, Deep Denial, which was canceled after his firing.
The heartbroken relatives of the murdered Epsom College headteacher say the educator and her seven-year-old daughter were an 'inseparable' duo.

Emma Pattison's loved ones released a tribute today honouring the teacher and her daughter Lettie who are believed to have been murdered by husband and father George Pattison before he took his own life on February 5.

The three were found dead at their home in the grounds of Epsom College in Surrey after Emma, 45, made a distressed call to her sister.

The family, in a statement issued through Surrey Police, praised Emma and Lettie for keeping 'family at the centre of their universe' and revealed they take comfort in knowing the pair will remain inseparable in death as they were in life.

Emma (right) and Lettie Pattison (left) were killed on February 5. Their loved ones released a statement today claiming the mother-daughter duo kept 'family at the centre of their universe'

The heartbroken family revealed they take comfort in knowing the Emma and Lettie (pictured together) will remain inseparable in death as they were in life

They were found dead at their home in the grounds of Epsom College in Surrey after Emma, 45, made a distressed call to her sister

'To see the esteem in which Emma is held by all who knew her is an enormous comfort,' the family said in a heartfelt tribute today.

'She was everything one could hope for in a daughter, sister, mother, wife, friend, teacher and so much more. We are an extremely close family and family was at the centre of Emma and Lettie's universe. The Epsom College Community had become part of that universe for them both.

'Seven-year-old Lettie was Emma's pride and joy: an adorable, vibrant little girl with a compelling curiosity, a heart-melting smile and an intellect beyond her years.

Devastated family of Epsom College killer reveal their horror after he fatally shot his wife and daughter: CLICK HERE TO READ MORE The devastated family of Epsom College killer George Pattison have spoken for the first time to voice their horror Advertisement

'The two of them were inseparable and we take comfort in that they will remain so.

'Emma had a warm, welcoming smile and sparkling, blue eyes, full of optimism. Over the last 11 days we've noticed the sky has been bright blue, with at times a warm glow of pink.'

Surrey Police has still not revealed details of how the family died, but a firearm that was legally registered to 39-year-old George was found at the scene.

He was in contact with police days before the tragedy about changing the address on his licence after the family moved onto school grounds, but no concerns appear to have been raised about a gun and ammunition being kept at his home.

It has been reported that live ammunition is not kept at the school rifle range.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has decided not to investigate the force's handling of the matter.

The family's statement also thanked well-wishers for their messages of support.

It said: 'We, the family of Emma and Lettie, would like to express our deepest, heartfelt thanks for the overwhelming support we have received over the past 11 days. Thank you to the immeasurable number of people and institutions who have written messages, sent flowers, paid tributes, held vigils or otherwise taken time to remember Emma and Lettie.

'We would like to thank Surrey Police for their sensitive and thorough handling of the on-going investigation into this horrendous tragedy and to the Epsom College Community, Croydon High and Danes Hill schools for their invaluable support.

'Thank you also to the media who have, largely, respected our privacy at this difficult time: we ask that they continue to do so.'

Emma and Lettie are believed to have been murdered by husband and father George Pattison before he took his own life on February 5. The family is picture together

The family described Lettie (pictured) as 'Emma's pride and joy: an adorable, vibrant little girl with a compelling curiosity, a heart-melting smile and an intellect beyond her years'

It is understood that Pattison moved into the grace-and-favour home at the school only three weeks before the murder-suicide. Pictured: Epsom College

Emma and Lettie Pattison are pictured in an undated photo. Their loved ones said today: 'We are an extremely close family and family was at the centre of Emma and Lettie's universe'

The statement comes three days after George's family spoke for the first time since the tragedy to voice their horror.

George's uncle Frederick Cameron, 83, told The Mail on Sunday that the tragedy had come as a huge shock to the Jamaica-born killers family.

He said: He didnt strike me as anyone who would do anything of that nature.

He must have been in a state of madness... It doesnt make any sense to me.

Mr Cameron, who lives in Kingston, Jamaica, said he had attended the couples wedding on the island in 2011. But his memories of the happy occasion were shattered when he received a call from his daughter Suzette  Pattisons cousin  informing him of the killings.

He said: From what Suzette said it seems like there were problems [in the marriage] But that doesnt mean you shoot people.

The shocking crime has left friends and family members wondering whether Emmas new job at the 42,000-a-year school had caused a rift with her husband.

She had previously hinted that the move may have placed a strain on their marriage due to the need to relocate.

In an online chat with a friend last year, she wrote: I have a new job and will have to live on campus as its a boarding school! We are trying to sort the house out now bit of a nightmare.

The couple had to sell their 1 million family home in Caterham, Surrey, and lived apart as they waited for the sale to complete.

Police are pictured outside Epsom College in Surrey on February 6 after the bodies of headmistress Emma Pattison, 45, her daughter Lettie, seven, and her husband George, 39, were found

Epsom College flew it's flag at half-mast after the family was found dead

It is understood that George moved into the grace-and-favour home at the school only three weeks before the murder-suicide.

A neighbour suggested that George was jealous of his wifes success after he had failed to launch a wine import business.

George described himself online as a career accountant desperate to do something better. But his wine venture failed to take off.

The couple reportedly hosted a dinner party hours before Emma made a distressed call to her sister. Relatives rushed to the scene but all three were dead when they arrived.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.
Members of Korea's disaster relief team in quake-hit Turkey engage in operations to save survivors in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, Feb. 11. Newsis



Korea said Wednesday it plans to send a new relief team, including 10 medical workers, to Turkey this week as well as 55 tons of aid materials.



The decision to send the 21-member squad was made at an interagency meeting on ways to help the country struggling to deal with the aftermath of the devastating 7.8 magnitude quake, according to the foreign ministry.



It is scheduled to depart for the city of Adana on Thursday night. Its members include those from the National Medical Center and the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare.



The government plans to mobilize two military transport aircraft and a commercial flight for the dispatch of the team and delivery of such additional relief materials as tents and blankets.






A New Jersey woman who shot dead her Republican-activist husband - as he lay naked in bed on Christmas Day - rolled her eyes and shook her head as the judge denied her bail during her virtual court hearing.

Marylue Wigglesworth, 51, claims she feared for her life when she shot her 57-year-old husband David B. Wigglesworth in the bed the couple shared- inside their Hamilton Township, New Jersey home on December 25, 2022.

After she killed her husband and father of their adult son with a single gunshot she told police when they arrived that they had been arguing before she confessed to the crime.

During the virtual hearing on Tuesday, Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Wild rejected the motion to grant bail, despite Wigglesworth's lawyer informing the judge that her client acted in self defense and 'feared for her life.'

Though the judge acknowledge some of the evidence shown, which included bruises on Wigglesworth and a letter that documented years of physical violence, Wild ruled there was not sufficient evidence in the case to offer bail.

Marylue Wigglesworth, 51, claims she feared for her life when she shot her 57-year-old husband David B. Wigglesworth in the bed the couple shared in their Hamilton Township, New Jersey home on Christmas Day - December 25, 2022 - in a act of self defense

On Tuesday, during the virtual hearing Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Wild rejected the motion to grant bail, despite Wigglesworth's lawyer telling the judge she acted in self defense

Judge Wild was assigned to re-evaluate Wigglesworth's case and eligibility for bail after an appellate court ruled that Wigglesworth's 'evidence of self-defense,' had not been considered, Law and Crime Network reported.

But, once the evidence was reviewed, Wild claimed that Wigglesworth had other options stating 'an assertion of self-defense rings hollow in this circumstance.'

'The state asserts that the victim was naked in bed watching television at the time that he was shot,' she said in part.

'Defendant had time to cool off and to choose a different path of behavior rather than leaving the room, retrieving her gun, returning to the bedroom and shooting her husband.'

Though the couple's social media shows the couple in happier times - enjoying a boat ride, barbecuing, and spending time together - Wigglesworth's defense attorneys, Melissa Rosenblum and Jonathan Diego, argued that Wigglesworth was in an abusive relationship and was being 'overcharged' for the homicide.

Marylue Wigglesworth faces murder charges

They submitted character letters from David's own brother, who wrote that he was 'fully aware of his brother's inner battles and struggles, and his short fuse and temper.'

An affidavit submitted by their son David states that 'he loves his dad, and this is hard,' but he also talks about the fact that his dad was violent and abusive.

Rosenblum claimed 'this was during the course of her whole marriage,' and believed the abuse was the reason the couple only ever had one child, according to Breaking AC.

On the night of the murder, an affidavit of probable cause showed Wigglesworth called police at 10.19pm, and requested help from the Hamilton Township police because she and her husband were fighting.

She suffered bruising and injuries to her arms and torso from her husband that night, Rosenblum claimed, and 'feared for her life' before she 'acted in self defense' and shot her husband.

According to a press release from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said the officers responded to a call about an 'injured male' at the Wigglesworth's Mays Landing home just before 10.20pm.

When the police arrived, they found the couple inside their bedroom with a handgun, and Wigglesworth admitted to shooting her husband, whom Levy said was laying in bed naked with the television on as he died at the scene, the release said.

Rosenblum had argued in court that the detectives failed to look into her claims of abuse  and had yet to share key information with the defense.

'What the state did not do and did not present you, your honor, is that when she did talk to the police, she admitted that she shot him,' Rosenblum said of her client.

'She stated at least six times to the officers that there was a fight and an altercation. They never took pictures of her that night to see what her injuries or bruising were, or at least I have not received them, Your Honor.'

The attorney further argued that Wigglesworth volunteered for years at local churches and that she had no criminal history, and not a danger to the community  and as a result should therefore be allowed to roam free until her trial.

She also claimed that Wigglesworth would not attempt any obstruction of justice if she were granted pre-trial release.

But, Levy countered: 'The fact that she hasn't been violent to the rest of the community is all well and good. However, she was extremely violent on this night.'

In the end, Wild sided with prosecutors, and said: 'This court does not find that those particular arguments have overcome the resumption of detention.'

Friends and family were shocked following Wigglesworth's arrest late December.

David had been known in the community as a Republican activist, working to support local GOP candidates and even running for a town position in 2019  though many of his recent posts have been in favor of socialism and supporting liberal ideals like defunding the police.

He also volunteered for the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, and served on the Hamilton Township Planning Board.

Authorities say Marylue had admitted to shooting dead her 57-year-old husband that night following an argument

When cops arrived at their Mays Landing home, authorities said they found David naked in bed suffering from a gunshot wound while the television was on. A handgun laid nearby

Marylue had previously called the cops to report that the two had gotten into an argument

Marylue and David Wigglesworth share one son, David, an economist

But in private, Francis Gallagher told DailyMail.com, Wigglesworth relationship with David was very 'off and on.'

They could argue about anything,' he said. 'I have no idea what happened and I cannot comment over whether this was the result of political differences.

I havent seen Marylue since this happened, said Gallagher, her brother Nobody from our family has. Ive tried to see her but Ive been told we cant until she has been up before a judge.

I support my sister, and my nephew David. However, Ive been told not to say too much.

She is currently being held in the Atlantic County Justice Facility without bail until her murder trial.
The man who went on a deadly rampage with a U-Haul truck earlier this week has appeared in court, as new police bodycam footage shows efforts to clear kids off New York City streets during the incident.

Weng Sor, 62, was arraigned on Wednesday on one count of murder and seven counts of attempted murder in the attack, which occurred in Brooklyn's bustling Bay Ridge neighborhood on Monday.

Dressed in a black leather jacket and hoodie, Sor hung his head and remained silent during the hearing, as a judge in the downtown Brooklyn courthouse ordered him held without bail.

Sor is on suicide watch behind bars, after police said he was 'off his medication' when he struck eight people, killing one of them, and claimed he was targeting 'enemies'.

'That's why I hit them, it's Judgment Day,' Sor told police, Assistant District Attorney David Ingle revealed in court, according to WACB-TV. 'I wanted it to end by taking out enemies. Shoot me. I will not give in.'

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Weng Sor, 62, was arraigned on Wednesday on charges of murder and attempted murder in the attack, which unfolded over a harrowing 48 minutes Monday

Sor appears in court to face arraignment. Police said he was 'off his medication' when he struck eight people, killing one of them

Meanwhile, newly released police bodycam footage shows 68th Precinct officers desperately racing to clear elementary school children off a street near the rampage, which had been closed to traffic to create a play area.

'Come on guys, everybody off the street, inside the school! Inside the school!' a cop is heard shouting to the kids, who were unaware of the danger unfolding nearby.

The attack unfolded over a harrowing 48 minutes on Monday, when one person was killed and seven injured as the truck veered wildly onto sidewalks.

The rented U-Haul plowed into bicyclists, moped riders and at least one pedestrian, before police eventually pinned the truck against a building after a miles-long chase.

The truck also rammed a police car as it careened along its circuitous route, and the officer inside was among the injured.

Nevertheless, the scope and length of the destruction led to questions about the NYPD's response and whether the pursuit - which at one point involved a police car speeding after the U-Haul up onto the sidewalk as a man dove to safety - put more people in harm's way.

Sor, a troubled man with a history of violence and mental illness, told police that seeing an 'invisible object' set him off, Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters Tuesday. Sor's family said he'd stopped taking his medication, Essig said.

'He states when he's driving his van he sees an 'invisible object' come towards the car. At that point, he says, `Ive had enough and he goes on his rampage,' Essig said. 'There was no object.'

Sor, who lived in Las Vegas with his mother, came to New York last week after spending time in Florida and was pulled over twice in the U-Haul in the days prior to the attack, police said.

He was walked out of a police station and was arraigned on Wednesday.

The U-Haul struck three people on mopeds, three people on bicycles, one person on an e-bike and one person who was on foot as the truck moved through a busy section of Brooklyn, just north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge along New York Harbor, police said. The victims ranged in age from 30 to 66.

The attack unfolded over a harrowing 48 minutes on Monday, when one person was killed and seven injured as the truck veered wildly onto sidewalks

Sor's U-Haul, which he rented from out of New York state, was eventually stopped in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn

The driver, 62-year-old Weng Sor, was off his medications at the time of the rampage and allegedly told police that he 'only ran over bad people'

The Malaysian-born man had rented the U-Haul truck late last month in Florida and driven up to Brooklyn, where he has family. Sor previously resided in Las Vegas

Police have revealed that the 62-year-old was 'suffering a mental health crisis' that took the life of Yijie Ye, 44, and added that Sor has a criminal history and was out to commit suicide at the time

A 44-year-old man riding a moped died from a head injury after he was hit by the truck roughly a half hour after it struck the first victim. Mayor Eric Adams said the man, whose name has not been made public, was a single father 'raising those children on his own.'

Mohammed Zakaria Salah Rakchi, 36, a delivery worker who emigrated from Algeria three years ago, was hit while running errands after dropping his 7-year-old daughter off at school. He suffered broken bones, including ribs, as well as other injuries and remained in a medically induced coma Tuesday.

A lawyer for Rakchi's family, Derek Sells, questioned whether being chased by police 'was a triggering event for this driver and what might have led him to do the things that he did.'

NYPD policy requires officers to stop chasing vehicles when the risks to police and the public 'outweigh the danger to the community.'

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said Tuesday that the department is reviewing its response. The NYPD later posted body camera video images to social media showing officers urgently clearing a street full of elementary school children near where the U-Haul was wreaking havoc.

Sor rented the U-Haul truck in West Palm Beach, Florida on Feb. 1, paying in advance for a 30-day rental. He remained there until Feb. 4, when he began driving north to Brooklyn, where his son and ex-wife live, Essig said.

Police said that family confirmed that he had been 'off his medication' and Sor reportedly asked to be shot by authorities

On February 5, Sor was pulled over in South Carolina and cited for reckless driving and marijuana possession. He arrived in Brooklyn the next day, surprising his son when he showed up at his door in the middle of the night.

Weng Sors son, Stephen Sor, 30, told The Associated Press that his father had a history of mental illness. Records show he was convicted and served time for multiple acts of violence, including stabbing his own brother.

'Very frequently hell choose to skip out on his medications and do something like this,' Stephen Sor said in an interview outside his Brooklyn home. 'This isnt the first time hes been arrested. Its not the first time hes gone to jail.'

On Feb. 8, Essig said, police stopped Sor for speeding in the U-Haul on a Brooklyn highway where trucks and other commercial vehicles are prohibited. He was then spotted in New Jersey on Sunday, a day before the mayhem in Brooklyn, Essig said.

The chase with police ended Monday when a police cruiser cut off the winding route and blocked the truck against a building near the entrance to a tunnel leading from Brooklyn to Manhattan, more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from where the chase began.

After Sor was stopped, Essig said he told police: 'You should have shot me.'

Sor's criminal history includes arrests for driving while intoxicated and evading a police officer in 2002 and multiple instances of battery.

In 2015, Weng Sor stabbed his brother in Las Vegas and served about 17 months in a Nevada prison, according to court and prison records. In 2020, he stabbed someone in the arm and chest with a knife and was sentenced to 364 days in county jail.

Before pleading guilty in that case, Sor was evaluated for several months at state psychiatric facilities before being found competent to face charges, court records show. The records dont list any diagnosis, but note that Sor was placed on medications.

In an earlier Nevada case, he was ordered to undergo counseling and perform community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery in 2005. The judge noted at the time that Sor was moving to New York and ordered him to submit to a mental health evaluation once he arrived.
Boy, 14, was rushed to hospital but could not be revived

A female bus driver has been charged after a teenage boy was allegedly hit and killed out the front of his school.

Emergency services were called to Macarthur Anglican School at Cobbitty in Sydney's south-west just before 3pm on Wednesday after the 14-year-old was hit by the bus.

Three ambulances and a helicopter rushed to the scene and administered CPR to the teenager before transporting him by road to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition, where he died a short time later.

As harrowing new details emerged, the boy has been identified as a year nine student who has an older brother in year 11 at the school in a statement released by principal Dr David Nockles on Thursday on what he described will be a 'tough day.'

The bus driver, a 54-year-old woman was also taken to Liverpool Hospital for mandatory testing as the Crash Investigation Unit began its assessment.

The woman was arrested by police at hospital on Wednesday night and charged with dangerous driving occasioning death and and negligent driving (occasioning death).

Footage has emerged of the woman in a white gown being escorted from the hospital by officers and getting into the back of a police van for the short drive to Liverpool police station.

The female bus driver was still wearing a hospital gown when she arrested and escorted to a police van after she was discharged from Liverpool Hospital on Wednesday night. She has since been charged

A staff member appeared to attend to the bus driver moments after the crash. The side of the bus is heavily damaged

The woman was refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court on Thursday.

Her licence was also suspended.

The tragedy has sparked an outpouring of heartfelt tributes for the year nine student.

'I will always remember busting you in my pantry, helping you look scary for Halloween and hanging with my kids. Rest in peace dude. X. Thinking of your mum and dad and brother,' a family friend posted online.

One mate added: 'Rest easy, love you lots my bro.'

Another wrote: 'Rip, miss you lots from me and my brother.'

The tragedy has rocked staff and students at Macarthur Anglican School.

'It's a tough day,' Dr Nockles told reporters outside the school on Thursday morning.

'My priorities are with our students and pastorally caring for them.

'I have conducted a couple of assemblies that are age appropriate where we have provided counselling for our students.'

One local claimed she knew a school staff member who was 'first on the scene to give resuscitation'.

'Her concern is for his parents and the children, please pray for the staff today,' the woman posted.

A parents revealed she arrived at the school to pick up her son moments after the tragedy.

'I was shocked. I saw him laying on the ground Someone tried to do CPR,' she wrote.

'My heart is breaking to hear the bad news. We love school. Hopefully everyone will be ok after this difficult time.'

The female bus driver, 54, spent the night in custody and will appear in Liverpool Local Court on Thursday

The tragedy occurred at the front of the school near the on-site chapel.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy's family, including his brother in Yr 11, as they deal with unimaginable grief and heartache,' Dr Nockles said in a statement.

'The school appreciates the tangible support for our school community as we work through this terrible shock and loss to the wider Macarthur family.'

Counsellors will work alongside the school's pastoral care team to provide support to devastated staff and students in the coming days and weeks.

'These councillors have come from our surrounding Anglican schools, other Christian schools, Anglicare, the Police and the ambulance service,' Dr Nockles added.

'The school is thankful for the support of our fellow schools and emergency service providers.

'The headmaster appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that he and other staff have received for the school community and the boy's family in particular.'

'The matter is now part of a police investigation, and the school will not make any further comments in this regard.'

Three ambulances and an air ambulance rushed to the scene and performed CPR on the boy

A teenager died in hospital after the incident. Pictured is the scene of the tragedy

Terrified students revealed how they thought the bus driver suffered a 'medical episode' before she allegedly veered off the road, smashing through a steel bollard on the footpath and allegedly running over the teenage boy.

Superintendent Paul Fuller from Camden Police said 'it was at school pick up so there was a lot of students and a lot of parents in the area'.

Shocked parents and teachers at the elite private school attended to the injured boy before ambulance crews arrived, while others forced open the bus' emergency exits to get to the children inside.

A harrowing photo from the scene showed the driver slumped over in her seat as a staff member attended to her.

One student who was on the bus told Seven News the driver appeared to have some kind of medical episode before leaving the road.

Parents of other students on the bus also said they witnessed the driver having health troubles before the losing control.

The exclusive co-educational private school for years K-12 charges up to $21,000 a year in student fees, making it one of the most expensive in the Macarthur area.

Pictures show the bus appears to have crossed a footpath and hit a tree at Macarthur Anglican School in south-west Sydney (pictured)

The principal wrote to parents on Wednesday night to address the tragedy and to express his anguish.

'The incident required considerable police and ambulance presence, including a helicopter,' Mr Nockles wrote.

'Many students, parents and staff witnessed the accident so I would encourage you to speak with your children and if needed provide support for them.

'Tomorrow morning we will hold age-appropriate assemblies where we can begin debriefing the students and provide pastoral care support.

'Your prayers are very much appreciated at this time of distress in our community.'

The police investigation into the circumstances is ongoing.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact police.

An air ambulance landed on the school's playing field to rush the boy to hospital (pictured)

The tragedy has rocked staff and students at Macarthur Anglican School
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan issued subpoenas to Big Tech's biggest names on Wednesday for documents relating to any alleged collusion with the government to suppress free speech.

The Judiciary Committee chairman calls on materials from CEOs Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, the parent company of Facebook; Tim Cook of Apple; Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, the parent company of Google; Andy Jassy of Amazon; and Satya Nadella of Microsoft.

Noticeably absent from the list of CEOs in Twitter's new head Elon Musk, who became the owner and CEO in October 2022 after acquiring the social media company for $44 billion.

A source familiar with the subpoena told DailyMail.com that the Judiciary Committee plans to hold at least one  if not more  hearings in the future on government and Big Tech working in tandem to control or suppress online discussions.

The subpoena is the 'first step in holding Big Tech accountable,' but some of these CEOs could be called to testify before the panel depending on what information is revealed in the document hand-over.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed the CEOs of top five Big Tech companies to hand over materials related to suppressing free speech online

A statement on the subpoena Wednesday notes that the Judiciary Committee has attempted to engage with all five of the aforementioned Big Tech companies in the past, but has not been met with compliance.

Jordan of Ohio put a deadline of March 23 for all five companies to hand over the materials and communications.

'The House Judiciary Committee has repeatedly attempted to engage with the five companies since last December,' a release from Judiciary Republicans details. 'Unfortunately, the companies have not adequately complied with our requests.'

'Congress has an important role in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to to (sic) suppress First Amendment-protected speech. These subpoenas are the first step in holding Big Tech accountable.'

Several of the individuals named in the subpoena on Wednesday have already testified before Congress regarding tech-related issues. This includes Pichai, Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Many Big Tech leaders have testified before Congress with regard to Section 230, part of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law.

It's a small but lynchpin provision that offers legal immunity from liability for internet services and users for content posted on the internet. Meaning it allows tech companies like Twitter and Facebook to operate in a gray area of the law where they are not directly responsible for the content that their users post.

This, however, has raised questions over whether those companies can then turn around and moderate content on the site if they are alleging to be a forum where people can post whatever they please.

Republicans have long alleged that tech companies, specifically those that facilitate online conversation, have interfered with the right to free speech and are unfairly targeting the rights of conservative voices online.

More recently, the allegations have turned toward claiming that these companies are 'colluding' with government agencies to suppress certain types of speech.

The war between GOP lawmakers and Big Tech reached a nexus point leading up to the 2020 presidential election when Twitter suppressed the spread of a New York Post story revealing damning information found on the laptop of President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.

The Judiciary Committee chairman calls on materials from CEOs Tim Cook of Apple (left); Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (right)

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet (left) and Andy Jassy of Amazon (right) are expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in March
A man has died while two others have been questioned following a brawl sparked by an attempted car burglary.

Police were called to Craigieburn in Melbourne's north on Wednesday afternoon following reports of a man attempting to break into a car.

The man was confronted by residents which triggered a 'short scuffle.'

The man was arrested when police arrived and was treated by paramedics but became unresponsive and died at the scene.

Two men aged 33 and 72 were arrested at the scene and were questioned by police before later being released the next morning pending further inquires.

Police cordoned off the street after a man died following a confrontation with residents during an alleged car break-in

No charges have yet been laid.

'Police are awaiting the results of a post mortem to determine cause of death,' a statement read.

Hothlyn Drive was cordoned off and declared a crime scene as police launched an investigation into the incident.

Detectives and forensic officers remained at the scene for much of Wednesday night.

A blue car parked near where the man died remained at the scene on Thursday morning.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
He was able to steer the parachute and made contact with a row of power cables before he crashed on a sidewalk

The man was seen on video rapidly falling from the sky and somehow regaining control of his parachute

A paraglider who fell from the sky and into electric cables in the Dominican Republic is taking his misadventure across the skies in stride.

The man, who has not been identified, was recorded plummeting straight into the wires, but somehow landing safely on the ground. After his fortunate descent, he was even able to tell panicked onlookers his side of the story.

'I (was) performing a maneuver and I lost control, but all is good,' the man said after surviving the near-fatal crash in the central city of Constanza on Tuesday afternoon.

The video shows the frantic moment he quickly descends and fights to steer the parachute.

An onlooker could be heard in the background telling a person that the paraglider 'is going to fall.'

A paraglider lost control midair while flying over the central Dominican Republic city of Constanza, where he crashed into a row of power cables before landing on a sidewalk. The man appeared to have not suffered any injuries and told locals that he was just performing maneuvers when he encountered problems and crashed

A paraglider collides with a row of electric cables in the Dominican Republic before crashing over a sidewalk

The paraglider walked away under his own power and told locals: 'I (was) performing a maneuver and I lost control, but all is good'

At one point the paraglider appears to be just several feet above the ground when he miraculously regains control of the parachute.

He is then seen gliding through a side street and slamming onto the sidewalk as concerned residents rushed to his side.

The incident comes nearly three months after Christopher Leon was killed in a paragliding accident in the Constanza town of La Sabina.

A paraglider was captured on camera plummeting from the sky before he survived a crash in the central Dominican Republic town of Constanza on Tuesday

The 33-year-old was sitting behind the pilot, Tomas Batista, when they hit a wind current and crashed.

During the flight, Batista told Leon that it was his 'fourth time' being at the control of the glider before Leon replied, 'You are already a pilot.'

At one point while gliding over Sabinas, authorities said that Leon flew into a wind current, which prevented him from making the necessary adjustments to redirect the paraglide before plummeting from the sky.
Nicola Sturgeon has ducked a legal battle over her controversial plans for gender self-identification by standing down.

The First Minister had vowed to defend the legislation after Westminster enacted never-before-used powers to block her bid to make it easier to change gender in Scotland.

Holyrood has until mid-April to challenge Londons decision but the race to replace Ms Strugeon is likely to run until at least that deadline - plunging hopes of resurrecting the policy into serious doubt.

Standing down now means she will avoid running a legal challenge she was likely to lose, or not launching an objection at all, both of which would have severely weakened her position.

Ms Sturgeon yesterday insisted that the row over the plan, passed by the Scottish parliament in December, was not the final straw that led to her resignation - despite it deepening divisions within her party.

Nicola Sturgeon has ducked a legal battle over her controversial plans for gender self-identification by standing down today

Standing down now means she will avoid running a legal challenge she was likely to lose, or not launching an objection at all, both of which would have severely weakened her position

She acknowledged the choppy waters but said she was not standing down in response to the latest period of pressure.

Asked whether the gender identification row was the straw that broke the camels back, she replied: No, that issue wasnt the final straw.

Im long enough in the tooth, Ive been in politics a long, long time.

'Im not going to stand here and insult your intelligence and say that I live in a world that is divorced from the reality of what is going on around me.

But it is not the case that this decision is because of short-term issues. Ive faced more short-term issues from time to time in my years in politics than I care to remember.

'And if it was just that, I wouldnt be standing here today.

The Government last month used its powers to block Ms Sturgeons plans which would have allowed trans people to change gender without a medical diagnosis and at a younger age of 16, compared to the current 18.

Ministers were concerned that the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill would have an adverse impact on national equality laws, including womens right to use single sex spaces such as changing rooms and toilets.

Ms Sturgeon branded the intervention an outrage, and vowed to defend the legislation and stand up for Scotlands Parliament, adding: If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be first of many.

But she was then heavily criticised over her handling of the scandal into double rapist Isla Bryson.

Bryson, born male but who began transitioning to a woman after being charged, spent days in a female prison before Ms Sturgeon had her moved to a male prison.

At an excruciating press conference this month, the First Minister referred to Bryson as a her but was then unable to say whether she considered the convicted rapist to be a woman or not when repeatedly asked.

Yesterday, the estranged wife of Bryson said she was delighted Ms Sturgeon was standing down.

Shonna Graham, 31, who is still technically married to the serial sex attacker once known as Adam Graham, told the Mail that Ms Sturgeon shot herself in the foot over and over again.

Im all in favour of transgender rights, but this policy went too far and ended up putting a rapist, who still had all his bits, in a womens prison, she said.

Ms Graham, from Motherwell, added: It was only a matter of time - people, even a lot of those who voted SNP - could see this policy was nuts, and Adam only changed sex to get an easier time in prison.

But more generally, surely anyone can see that if a convicted rapist still has his sexual organs intact, he should never be sent to a womens prison.

'He did the crime as a man, he should do the time as a man in a big boys jail.

Isla Bryson (pictured), born male but who began transitioning to a woman after being charged, spent days in a female prison before Ms Sturgeon had her moved to a male prison

Bryson is currently taking hormones and seeking surgery to complete gender reassignment

The whole policy has been nothing but a disaster and this case showed exactly why. It all went too far.

If youre genuinely born in the wrong body, you should be able to transition, but an opportunist like him who was playing the system shouldnt be allowed to get away with it.

The SNP shot themselves in the foot a long time ago when they came up with this policy which made transition too easy, but Sturgeons problem was she just kept on shooting.

Ms Graham added that she has voted SNP in the past but now I think Ill change my mind.
A transgender pharmacist who was offended by an Arkansas lawmaker questioning whether she had a penis on Monday, discussed her desire to have genital reconstructive surgery (GRS) during an interview less than two weeks ago.

While speaking on The Transgender Show, Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig described the hormone treatments (HRT) she's received during her transition, and expressed a wish to one day have her genitals altered to reflect her identification as a woman.

She also voiced frustration that Arkansas wouldn't let her change her birth certificate to reflect her chosen gender until she could provide proof she'd undergone GRS.

Herzig recounted her experience coming out as transgender to her wife - who has since stuck by her - after suffering from depression and anxiety for years over her realization she wanted to be a woman when she was 12 years-old.

Earlier this week, Herzig and spectators at a hearing to debate gender-affirming care in Arkansas expressed outrage when Republican Sen. Matt McKee bluntly asked her whether she had a penis. Herzig refused to answer the question, which she called 'horrible.'

Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig appeared on The Transgender Show to discuss her transition

During the Transgender Show interview, Herzig was asked what the extent of her goals for her transition were.

'I think at the beginning it was like, "Oh, I want the full package, you know, I want, I want HRT, I want every surgery that there is to know",' she said, naming facial feminization surgery and a boob job as examples.

Both of those treatments were no longer priorities for her, she noted. Instead, she said she was focused on GRS.

'For me personally, GRS is the biggest one I want. I don't know, personal preference,' she said.

Later in the interview, she explained that one of the driving factors in her desire to get GRS was so that she could change her birth certificate to designate her as a woman. In Arkansas, that is not allowed without proof of surgery.

'You want your real name and you want your real gender on everything,' she said. 'The only thing I could have not done is my birth certificate, and that's because Arkansas requires proof of GRS before they can do it.

'So, like, I can get my name change done on it, but I'm not going to get my name change done on it separately then later go back to my sex. I'd rather just do them both at the same time so there's that hurdle,' she added.

Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig before she began her transition, left, and after she transitioned, right

Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig with her wife, Beth, who stood by her through her transition

Earlier this week, Herzig was far less willing to talk about the specifics of her transition when Sen. McKee suddenly pressed her while she spoke on the Arkansas Senate floor.

Dr. Herzig was testifying against Senate Bill 199 bill - which would allow someone who received gender-affirming care as a minor to file a malpractice lawsuit against their doctor for up to 30 years after they turn 18 - when McKee questioned her.

'You said that you're a trans woman?' McKee asked. 'Do you have a penis?' Gasps throughout the room were audible.

Herzig took a moment to collect herself before responding, 'That's horrible,' and called the question 'highly inappropriate.'

After Herzig responded to McKee, he fired back: 'You're the one that brought that into the discussion.'

'I don't know what my rights are,' Herzig replied, adding, 'but that question was highly inappropriate.'

Herzig went on to say: 'I'm a healthcare professional - a doctor - please treat me as such.'

Arkansas Republican Sen. Matt McKee caused outrage when he asked Herzig if she had a penis

Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig reacts in disgust to Sen. Matt McKee's question about her penis

Sen. Matt McKee questions Dr. Gwendolyn Herzig at a hearing on Monday

The lawmaker behind Arkansas' legislation said it is aimed at forcing medical providers to stop offering gender-affirming care to minors.

'The idea that teenagers, let alone little children, are capable of making such life-altering decisions is not only brand new, but it's absurd,' Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield, the measure's sponsor, said. 'A society that allows them to do this is a deeply broken society.'

The ban prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone therapy or puberty blockers to anyone under 18 - or referring them to other doctors who can provide that care. No gender-affirming surgery is performed on minors in the state.

The proposal, which other states are considering as part of broader ban on transgender care for children, would be a major change for how most malpractice claims are considered, legal experts said. By expanding the liability that doctors face for providing such care, the bill could make it nearly impossible for some providers to get malpractice insurance.

The move is another avenue for states to restrict transgender care, which GOP states have targeted with dozens of bills this year. A federal judge who blocked Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming care for minors is now considering whether to strike down the law as unconstitutional.

A similar ban in Alabama has also been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
One of the teenagers accused of raping LSU student Madi Brooks before she died has now been charged with sexually assaulting another girl in 2022 - his third alleged victim.

Kaivon Washington, 18, is accused of raping another young woman who claims he attacked her in October last year after preying on her at Reggie's, the Tigerland bar where he met Brooks on January 15.

The victim in the October case says she was too drunk to go home so asked if she could stay at one of Washington's friend's apartments.

Kaivon Washington, 18, is accused of raping another young woman who claims he attacked her in October last year after preying on her at Reggie's, the Tigerland bar where he met Brooks on January 15

According to his arrest affidavit, they all went back to the home together, where she and the friend started having sex in front of Washington.

The friend allegedly became more 'aggressive', pinning her down and ignoring her as she pleaded with him to 'stop'.

Washington was watching but then approached and felt the victim's breast and vagina, the affidavit claims.

The alleged incident is the third accusation of rape to have been made against Washington.

In addition to Brooks, he is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2020.

In that case, Washington is accused of following the young girl home after a pool party, pulling her towel from her and raping her.

Both she and the alleged victim from the October case came forward after learning of his involvement with Brooks, who died less than an hour after being raped when she was struck by a rideshare car.

Madi Brooks died in January after being hit by a car. Prosecutors say she had just been raped by Washington and another boy

Reggie's Bar in Tigerland, where Madi met Washington, is also where the victim from the October 22 case says she met him

Casen Carver, 18, (left) Kaivon Washington, 18, (center) and Everett Lee, 28, (right) were all arrested on rape-related charges together with an unnamed 17-year-old boy

She had met Washington and his co-defendants - Casen Carver, 18, and Everett Lee, 27, and an unnamed 17-year-old - in Reggie's.

They had all been drinking but Brooks was so intoxicated she couldn't stand up for long, according to surveillance footage from inside the bar.

The group got in Carver's vehicle, where Brooks and Washington had sex in the backseat.

He insists it was consensual; prosecutors say she was beyond the physical and mental threshold of being able to consent to sex.

Washington and the unnamed 17-year-old were both charged with third degree rape; the younger boy also had sex with her, taking turns with Washington.

Afterwards, the group dropped her off in the middle of a roadway, leaving her in the street.

It was there that she was struck and killed by a rideshare vehicle less than an hour later.

Carver and Lee were both charged with witnessing the alleged rape but doing nothing to stop it.

They are all awaiting their next court appearances.
A registered sex offender was back in court today following an indictment in September for sucker-punching a man into a coma.

Bui Van Phu, 55, was charged with the felony last summer. He was dubbed a 'gloved beast' at his initial hearing for the second-degree assault of Jesus Cortes, who was left comatose with a brain bleed in the aftermath of the incident.

Bui, a Vietnamese refugee, previously spent years in prison and was released and placed on lifetime parole for his various offenses.

His case was one in which New York Governor Kathy Hochul personally intervened to ensure that Bui would remain in jail after his September hearing, despite New York City's notoriously lax bail laws.

Convicted sex offender Bui Van Phu was back in court Wednesday after his most recent arrest in August for the unprovoked bludgeoning of a man in the head

Bui Van Phu is escorted into the courtroom. NY Governor Kathy Hochul personally intervened in the case to ensure that Bui was not released on bail after he was only charged with a misdemeanor

The Bronx District Attorney initially charged Bui with a mere misdemeanor, despite the ailing state of his victim and his prior criminal history.

At his August hearing, Bui's parole officer, Nixa Rivera called Bui an 'imminent threat to the community.'

'Mr. Bui is a 55-year-old male with a persistent violent felony offender history. Mr. Bui is a registered level three sex offender, the highest level on the sexual offender registry. Mr. Bui continues to be an imminent threat to the community,' Rivera said.

In August, Alison Lowy, the Legal Aid Society lawyer assigned to Bui's case said that public pressure should not have made the charges against BUi more serious.

'When this incident happened, the defendant called his parole officer and she told him to turn himself in, and he did,' she said.

The brother of the victim called Bui an 'evil person' and said the felony charges should have been brought from the start.

Bui was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but the DA later filed the misdemeanor charges.

The victim of the violent incident, Jesus Cortes, 52, was left with a fractured skull and brain bleed. In the week following the incident, he received brain surgery and was left comatose.

Cortes was eventually woken from his medically induced coma in late August and taken off the ventilator.

'I have to pray for my brother to be strong and not go back on it [the ventilator],' said the victim's brother, Juan Cortes, at the time.

Court records obtained by DailyMail.com indicate the lesser charges were scrapped because Bui 'intentionally (caused) physical injury and with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person.'

In September, Cortes' employer delivered the update that Jesus was doing well 'and finally eating normally.'

There seemed, at that time, 'to be no long term damage' and primary goal was to expand his physical mobility.

'We get glimmers of hope that he will be getting better every day,' reads the GoFundMe established by his employer.

Bui was convicted of attempted robbery in 1991 and is a registered sex offender - who was out on parole after being convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl at gunpoint on December 24, 1994. He was released from prison in March 2019.

In horrifying footage released by the NYPD, Bui is seen walking out of the Fuego Tipico restaurant in the Bronx and pulling on a pair of gloves.

He is then seen punching the victim with great force in the back of the head. The victim was found unconscious and unresponsive on the ground after the unprovoked attack and was rushed to the hospital.

In a conversation with Bui's parole officer, documented by the court, he recounted the incident: 'I'm in trouble. I hit someone and he's in the hospital.

'I don't know if he's dead. The police are looking for me. I was at the restaurant and I know the police are looking for me.'

From jail. Bui told the New York Post that he is relieved Cortes survived the assault.

'Hes alive. Hes not dead. I thank God he survived. I didnt want to hurt him that bad. I just hit him once,' he said, adding that he 'can't really remember anything' about the assault.

'I was so mad. I blacked out.'

'Im not a violent person. Im not like that. I wouldnt do it again,' he continued.

Jesus 'Chucho' Cortes, who was victim of Bui's senseless attack in August. Cortes was taken off the ventilator in late August and making progress toward recovery in mid-September

Phu is a registered sex offender who was convicted for raping a woman at gunpoint on December 24, 1994, according to court records viewed by DailyMail.com. Above, a gallery of mugshots available on his sex offender profile

Bui is escorted into court on February 15, 2023

He stands beside his public defender in Bronx court

The horrific surveillance video released by the NYPD captures the moment Phu put on a pair of gloves and swung with great force, hitting the victim in the back of the head.

The victim then immediately falls to the ground, appearing to be unconscious, banging his head on the concrete after the sudden attack. The victim suffered a skull fracture, a broken cheekbone, and bleeding on the brain, with EMS rushing him to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi.

The NYPD claims that he without prior conversation or altercation' punched the victim in the face, before 'returning back into the restaurant and later to parts unknown'.
President Joe Biden's former non-binary nuclear waste guru Sam Brinton walked out of a Minnesota court after a preliminary hearing on luggage theft charges on Wednesday.

Brinton, the former deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energys Office of Nuclear Energy, could face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine if found guilty.

According to the complaint, Brinton removed a tag from a woman's luggage and walked out with the bag at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on September 16. The items inside were appraised at $2,325.

American Airlines later confirmed that Brinton had not checked a bag on their flight from Washington D.C. The victim was shown footage of Brinton with the suitcase, she confirmed that it was her luggage. In court Wednesday Brinton was ordered not to have any contact with the victim.

In court, the judge referred to Brinton as Mx Brinton. Mx is a common gender-neutral title given to non-binary people who do not wish to have a gender referred to in their title.

Sam Brinton dodged reporter's questions as they left court in Minneapolis on Wednesday

Independent photojournalist Rebecca Brannon recorded Brinton exiting the court. They ignored reporter's questions including, 'Why would you want some ladys dirty clothes?'

Anothe reporter asked if Brinton was there to have a job interview with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's administration.

Another asked if they had visited 'the Larry Craig restroom,' a reference for former Republican Senator Larry Craig who was arrested for lewd conduct in a bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in 2007.

When Brinton returned to the nation's capital two days later, they checked the bag as if it was theirs. The nuclear scientist then used the bag on a trip to Europe in October.

Brinton was contacted by investigators and lied initially saying they had not taken the bag. They later admitted to the crime but claimed it was an accident.

They also said that they had left the woman's clothing in a hotel room in St. Paul, however it was never recovered.

In a separate incident, Brinton is accused of stealing a different woman's luggage from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

They appeared in court in December on those charges and was freed on a $15,000 bail.

A security footage image showed Brinton walking through Harry Reid International Airport with the luggage during the summer.

The $320 case, which was lifted from a carousel, was stuffed with more than $3,000-worth of jewelry, clothes and makeup, according to 8 News Now Investigators.

It is unclear why they targeted the suitcase or if it was because it was from a luxury brand.

In October 2022, Sam Brinton was accused of stealing a woman's Vera Bradley suitcase on September 16 at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport from a baggage carousel

Brinton was laid off from their Department of Energy job after being accused of stealing luggage in two separate incidents at the Las Vegas airport and the Minneapolis airport

Prior to Wednesday's appearance, Brinton's lawyers had repeated attempts to have the former Biden official attend the hearing remotely. Their lawyers referred to their 'employment issues' and media attention as the reason for the request.

The hearing was originally supposed to take place on December 19. A few days prior to that original date, Brinton was fired by the Department of Energy.

A spokesperson said: 'Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee. By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.'

It's unclear if Brinton resigned of their own accord, if they were fired - or if they were given the chance to resign before being fired.

The White House has repeatedly refused to comment on the scandal, claiming it is a non-political issue.

The Department of Energy has also tried to distance Biden from the issue.

Brinton was appointed in June with much fanfare.

'Sam is also a well-known advocate for LGBTQ youth and helped to secure protections against the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy in more than half of the country,' it said.

'They identify as gender-fluid and use the pronouns they, them, and theirs,' their bio reads.

On top of working in the Department of Energy, they also held seminars including a recent event on spanking.

Brinton lives in Washington DC with their husband.
Missing Florida mother-of-two and Iraq veteran was found alive two weeks after vanishing moments before telling her family she feared her ex-boyfriend.

Rachel Schwartz, 33, was found safe on Tuesday afternoon after she was last seen in Ring camera footage leaving her ex-boyfriend John Scorah's home in Waimauma with luggage on January 31.

Schwartz's family believed she left Scorah's home to check into a veteran crisis center in Spring Hill but later said they don't think she ever made it there. It's unclear where she was found.

The veteran lived in Florida before moving to Minnesota late last year in attempt to escape Scorah. She was visiting the sunny state to see her two children from a previous relationship.

It's unclear where Schwartz went after leaving Scorah, but her last text to her dad revealed she wanted to move back home and feared her ex-boyfriend, according to her family.

Rachel Schwartz, 33, was found safe on Tuesday afternoon after she was last seen in Ring camera footage leaving her ex-boyfriend John Scorah's home. She previously told family she was afraid of Scorah

The footage captured Schwartz walking away from the home as a man in the background shouted, 'Rachel I have everything you need, Im asking you to stay one more day'

Scorah's ex Joel Dunn, who is the father of her two sons, shared the veteran was stressed out leading up to her disappearance.

Dunn last saw Schwartz around January 27 when she went over to his Spring Hill's home in distress over whether to move back to Florida to be close to her sons and enroll in a veteran affairs course.

'When she left where I was, she told me that her boyfriend was coming to pick her up,' Dunn told Fox News.

Dunn didn't hear from Schwartz after she left his home and neither did her mom who tried to contact her from Minnesota.

'That was not like Raes personality at all,' Dunn told the news outlet. 'She always stayed in touch with everyone, especially her mom.'

Dunn met Scorah once about three years ago and referred to him as a 'normal guy'.

'She did not seem uncomfortable when I saw him,' Dunn said.

Schwartz was supposed to head back to Minnesota on February 4.

Schwartz moved to Minnesota last year to escape Scorah, who was arrested in April 2022 for battery. She went back to Florida in January to visit her two sons

Scorah's ex Joel Dunn, who is the father of her two sons, shared the veteran was stressed out leading up to her disappearance about whether or not to move back to Florida

It's unclear why Schwartz went to Scorah's home, but chilling video from a Ring camera showed her leaving on January 31 with a duffle bag and a suitcase.

'Rachel I have everything you need, Im asking you to stay one more day,' a man's voice can be heard as Schwartz walked away.

Scorah was arrested in April 2022 for battery but the charges were later dropped, according to Fox News. Documents revealed he hit Schwartz in the face and left a bruise.

At the time, Scorah was forced to give up his fire arm.

Schwartz's family wasn't immediately available and requested privacy as they work through 'unanswered questions' with the veteran.

'We are so happy and overwhelmed by the amount of support,' Elizabeth Schrupp, Schwartz's sister, wrote on Facebook.

'Please respect our privacy at this time until we are able to have contact with our sister. We still have unanswered questions and the story is not over yet!

Schrupp previously claimed her sister sent an alarming message to her dad claiming she was afraid of her ex-boyfriend.

'Her last message to my dad was that she wanted to come home and she was afraid of her ex. The same day her phone and social media account went silent,' Schrupp wrote on Facebook.

Before moving to Minnesota around late-October, Schwartz completed a PTSD Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program

Schwartz was active on social media during her trip to Florida, posting several photos

Schwartz was active on social media during her trip to Florida, posting several photos. Her last post before she mysteriously disappeared showed her posing for the camera while eating.

A few weeks before she shared a photo of herself roaming around the Sunshine State with a caption that read: 'I love finding open fields in FL. It's rare now days and one day this peace in earth may not be here.'

Before moving to Minnesota around late-October, Schwartz completed a PTSD Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program, according to her Facebook.

'I highly recommended written exposure therapy for those who have PTSD and have struggled like I have,' she previously wrote. 'And it doesn't end here. This is only the beginning!'

Schwartz is described as a five-feet and two-inches tall with blonde hair and blue eyes.
A Commonwealth Bank worker had taken LSD and up to five MDMA pills while at a popular dance festival before he died the following morning.

Kieran Ngo, 26, had gone to the Transmission Festival which was held at the Sydney Showground on Saturday afternoon.

He had gone back to his girlfriend's home in southwest Sydney but by 1.30am on Sunday, he was feeling so unwell he took himself to the Bankstown Hospital.

By 3am the 26-year-old had died.

A friend of the bank worker insisted he wasn't a regular drug user.

Kieran Ngo, 26, took a pill at the Transmission Festival which was held at the Sydney Showground on Saturday afternoon. He died hours later

'He wasn't a reckless guy...no way did he think this could cause him to die, it was just meant to be fun,' the friend told the Daily Telegraph.

'I don't want you making out like he was a big drug user because he wasn't at all...we don't even know definitely that's why he died.'

Sunrise host David Koch said many drug safety advocates have claimed state governments have 'blood on their hands' due to their refusal to introduce pill testing at festivals.

Greg Chipp, managing director at Drug Policy Australia, said NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet gave a 'callous' response to the death of Mr Ngo.

'The Premier basically said ''condolences to the family of Kieran Ngo, the first thing is don't take drugs'',' he said.

'He's using the death of a young employed average Australian and making political capital out of it. To me that is just callous.'

Twelve other patrons at the Transmission Festival were hospitalised

Twelve other festival-goers were also taken to hospital with NSW Police investigating if a bad batch of MDMA was circulating.

Seven of those taken to hospital required assistance breathing, while more than 400 tablets were seized by cops.

In total, medical teams at the festival treated more than 130 people with complaints related to drug use and heat exhaustion.

Police are now speaking with Mr Ngo's girlfriend and friends to understand the circumstances leading to his death.

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.

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 previously 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.'
Labour were last night looking to capitalise on Nicola Sturgeons shock resignation hoping it would help Sir Keir Starmer reach Downing Street.

Since the 2015 general election, when it lost 40 of its 41 MPs north of the border, Labour has largely remained in the political wilderness in Scotland.

It won seven seats in the 2017 election, but this plummeted to one again in 2019 as Ms Sturgeon hoovered up Left-leaning voters trying to block a pro-Brexit Tory party from storming to victory in Westminster. Tory seats in Scotland fell from 13 in 2017 to six in 2019.

But Ms Sturgeons departure potentially leaves the door open for a Labour comeback in Scotland, helping the party win a majority and the keys to No 10 at the next election, likely to be in autumn next year.

One Labour MP with knowledge of the partys Scottish strategy said: There are some seats where the Tories are capable of a comeback, but Labour stands to be the biggest beneficiary given the number of seats where theres been Labour representation historically.

abour were last night looking to capitalise on Nicola Sturgeons shock resignation hoping it would help Sir Keir Starmer reach Downing Street

Ms Sturgeons departure potentially leaves the door open for a Labour comeback in Scotland, helping the party win a majority and the keys to No 10 at the next election, likely to be in autumn next year

The internal struggles of the SNP are making it almost unmanageable now for them to maintain the success that Sturgeon had and well try and exploit that.

Sturgeon may be hoping she can defuse it by stepping down, but the SNPs problems run much deeper. One message they may look to drive home, added the MP, was that voting in a Labour government in Westminster would be a quicker and easier way of toppling hated Tory rule than trying to secure another independence referendum, win it and then apply to re-join the European Union.

Another Labour figure said: We were already on the upward trajectory and [Scottish Labour leader] Anas Sarwar is seen as a credible insurgent and this helps hugely. A third senior party official told Politico: Politics is about seizing your breakthrough moments. We intend to seize this.

Sir Keir is due to give a speech at Scottish Labours annual conference on Sunday, when he will declare his party a government in waiting. Mr Sarwar and Ian Murray, the only Scottish Labour MP, will give speeches on Friday and Saturday.

Labour strategists are already excited about high-calibre candidates who have thrown their hat in the ring for Scottish seats. Among them is Douglas Alexander, who held three cabinet positions under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and will stand in East Lothian.

He dramatically lost his Paisley and Renfrewshire seat to the SNPs Mhairi Black at the 2015 election. At the weekend, when his candidacy was announced, Mr Alexander tweeted: Change is coming to our country and Im determined to play my part by winning East Lothian back for Scottish Labour.

Kirsty McNeill, a former adviser to Mr Brown, will stand in the target seat of Midlothian. We are going to work night and day to hear the magic words: Labout gain, she tweeted on Sunday.

A former chief executive of Save The Children, a former prominent political journalist and a heart surgeon are also among Labours list of selections. By the end of the year it hopes to have announced candidates for all of the 59 Westminster seats in Scotland, of which the SNP currently holds 45.
ABC bosses have axed the Twitter accounts of several of its flagship television shows after they were relentlessly trolled online by political extremists.

The Twitter accounts for ABC News Breakfast and Insiders are among those set for the chop this weekend after attracting relentless abuse from trolls accusing the hosts of political bias.

The move comes after ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar was hounded off the social media platform 18 months ago following a torrent of personal vitriol online.

But the ABC denied the trolls had driven the decision and insisted the move was to centralise all updates through the broadcaster's main ABC News Twitter account.

'We're closing some of the ABC News program accounts and consolidating our activity in our main Twitter account, @abcnews, which has by far the most activity, followers and engagement with audiences,' said a spokesman.

'This is a better use of resources while still serving audiences on this platform.'

News Breakfast host Lisa Millar was hounded off the social media platform 18 months ago following a torrent of personal vitriol online

The Twitter account of Sunday morning politics show Insiders, hosted by former Sky News Australia political editor David Speers, has almost 147,000 followers.

And the News Breakfast account has another 135,000 followers for its updates on the weekday morning show hosted by Michael Rowlands and Lisa Millar.

The ABC News account has 2.2million followers by comparison. Both shows will retain their own separate Facebook pages in the reshuffle.

The announcement of the axe falling on the Insiders account this Sunday was also attacked by the trolls who called for the show itself to scrapped.

They dubbed it 'LIBsiders' after claims it had moved to the right of politics since Speers replaced Barrie Cassidy as host.

'Cowardly and extremely disrespectful to your loyal Twitter following,' blasted one user.

'Why? Is it so you don't have to hear the truth?' asked another.

'You can live in your heavily biased right wing ideology pumping out propaganda for the LNP? Or Rupert. Just cancel the program. I think youll find Twitter was most of your audience.'

The Twitter account of Sunday morning politics show Insiders, hosted by former Sky News Australia political editor David Speers, has almost 147,000 followers

Former Sydney Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull, wife of Liberal ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, also joined the debate, demanding to know: 'Why?'

Another asked: 'How does a program, that purports to cover the news and politics from the perspective of "Insiders" decide that the social media platform where politics is most discussed is not a place it should have a presence?

'And at a time where its viewership is declining?'

The announcement of the News Breakfast account ending on Monday received a similar angry response from followers.

'Too much criticism of your constant loaded right wing positions, eh? Silencing the criticism,' posted one.

Another added: 'Pity - News Breakfast on ABC suffering from one person who is clearly a conservative just unable to hide her bias.'

Host Lisa Millar attracted a barrage of horrific personal attacks since joining Michael Rowlands as co-host of the flagship show.

Ms Millar quit her 55,000-follower Twitter account in September, 2021 over a relentless stream of abuse for a perceived pro-Liberal bias when doing interviews.

She initially planned to stay offline for 30 days, but later vowed to remain unplugged until it is 'safe for women'.

Millar joined the ABC in the 1990s and had worked as a USA and Washington correspondent before replacing News Breakfast host Virginia Trioli full-time in August 2019.

The Walkley Award-winning Queenslander is the daughter of former National Party MP Clarrie Millar, sparking accusations of a Coalition-bias by social media critics.

Left-wing trolls piled on the abuse at every opportunity, claiming Millar gives an easy ride to Liberal premiers and MPs at the expense of Labor politicians.

But others have also savagely attacked her personal appearance.

At the time, co-host Michael Rowlands savaged the trolls for their hateful comments.

'She was on the receiving end of some truly vile and distressing personal attacks,' said Rowlands.

'We all cop criticism here. No one is perfect.

'But the stuff Lisa was subjected to was next level. Those responsible should be ashamed.'
Alex Murdaugh's attorney told the jury in his double murder trial that the disgraced legal scion was buying $50,000 of drugs a week from a dealer who owed money to a local 'cowboys gang'.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin grilled SLED Special Agent David Owen during cross-examination Wednesday about why these gang members were not treated as prime suspects.

Owen testified that Murdaugh was in the investigative circle from the moment he dialed 911 after he found the slain bodies of his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family's Moselle property in South Carolina in June 2021.

Yet, SLED did not collect DNA from gang members and they were not included in the investigative circle like Murdaugh, Griffin said.

Murdaugh, 54, faces up to life in prison if convicted of killing his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul, whose bodies were found June 7, 2021, near the kennels on the family's estate. Murdaugh denies the double murder.

Alex Murdaugh and his attorney Jim Griffin (left) talk during his trial on Wednesday. Griffin said Murdaugh was buying $50,000 of drugs a week from his dealer who owed money to a gang

Griffin grilled SLED Special Agent David Owen during cross-examination at Murdaugh's murder trial on Wednesday on why the gang members weren't treated like prime suspects

On the stand at his murder trial on Wednesday, lead investigator on the case SLED Special Agent David Owen said that Murdaugh had remained in the investigative circle because credible evidence kept him there.

Murdaugh is the fourth generation of a prominent legal family in Hampton County, South Carolina but his professional career began to unravel following the murders - and it later emerged he had a crippling Opioid addiction.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his financial crimes. He was also facing a ruinous civil suit over his son's drunken boat wreck in February 2019 which killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

The defense has mentioned the Cowboys gang previously in the trial seemingly to indicate that Murdaugh was potentially a target.

The jury has also heard damning evidence about his drug habit, with one colleague receiving a text from Murdaugh while he was in rehab apologizing for stealing millions of dollars from his former legal firm.

'The worst part is, I did the most damage to the ones I love the most,' the alleged killer wrote to his secretary Annette Griswold four months after his wife and son were murdered.

Marian Proctor also testified Tuesday that her sister Maggie called Paul 'her little detective' because he would find out if his father was taking pills.

She said she did not know how long exactly Alex had been abusing opioids but that 'it had been going on for some time.'

The state argued that Griffin's line of questioning about Murdaugh buying drugs 'opened the door' to testimony about the roadside shooting - which judge Clifton had ruled not admissible just earlier that day as it was 'a bridge too far'.

The incident refers to when Murdaugh allegedly hired his cousin, Curtis 'Eddie' Smith, also known as Cousin Eddie, to shoot him in September in order to gain a $10 million payout for his surviving son Buster.

But the story quickly unraveled and Murdaugh confessed to police that he had paid Smith to shoot him.

'It is the state's belief that with those last questions, they opened the door to the roadside shooting.'

Judge Newman responded: 'He is in the middle of cross-examination.  Now is not the time.'

But the roadside shooting was mentioned again when Owen testified that Murdaugh had not brought up Cousin Eddie's drug gang until after the September incident.

This led the judge to reverse his decision. 'The defense opened the door to the roadside shooting testimony by questioning the witness as to the relationship between Mr. Murdaugh and Eddie Smith, payment of money to buy drugs, indebtedness,' he said.

Owen told the court that Cousin Eddie was never brought up by Murdaugh as someone that would hurt Maggie or Paul.

Alex Murdagh is pictured, main, with his wife Maggie and son Paul (far left) who were shot dead in an unsolved double murder in June

Curtis Edward Smith, 62, is taken back to jail after a judge revoked his bond at a hearing on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in the Richland County Courthouse in Columbia, South Carolina. He is accused of participating in a life insurance scam with Murdaugh, shooting him in the head around three months after his wife and son were murdered

Alex Murdaugh and his attorney Jim Griffin (left) talk during his trial on Wednesday

During his cross examination, Griffin also suggested the grand jury which indicted Murdaugh for the double murders was 'misled' by inaccurate blood splatter and gun evidence.

Owen had said there were shotguns at Moselle - the family property where Maggie and Paul's bodies were found - that were loaded with buckshot and birdshot shells.

'And that was not accurate, right,' Griffin pressed. Owen replied: 'Correct.'

Griffin also brought up the blood spatter supposedly found on Murdaugh's shirt - which forensic experts later testified in the murder trial was not.

'You didn't know then, but you know now that what you told the Colleton County grand jury was not correct?'

'In reference to the shirt, correct,' Owen replied.

Griffin also suggested that law enforcement was incompetent as officers failed to thoroughly search the Moselle hunting lodge and the Almeda property - where he visited his mother that night.

In redirect by the state, Meadors offered a theory about Murdaugh using a cooler to hide evidence at Almeda on the night of the killings.

The prosecution argued that Murdaugh transported his bloodied clothes and the guns to his mother's house in Almeda in a cooler and wrapped up the blue raincoat.

He ends his questioning by shouting: 'Did Alex ever mention anybody else who could have killed his wife and my son on June 7, 2021?' Owen replied 'No.'

The lead investigator's testimony ended Wednesday afternoon after a bombshell police interview with Murdaugh was played for the court.

Alex Murdaugh is asked point blank by law enforcement in August 2021 if he killed his wife and son just two months after the brutal murders at the South Carolina family's home

The interview from August 2021, which had never been seen before, revealed a host of discrepancies in Murdaugh's story compared to what he told police on the night of the murders and a few days later on June 10. His tale also differed from what other witnesses have told the jury.

In the video shown in court on Wednesday, Owen told Murdaugh his timeline 'doesn't match up' and established that he knew he'd changed clothes on the night of the murders - and that 'family guns' had been used to execute his wife and son.

One of the most significant revelations in the August 2021 police interview - which was heard today for the first time - was that Murdaugh had repeatedly denied being at the dog kennels with Maggie and Paul shortly before they were shot.

There were inconsistencies with the timeline of when Murdaugh left his law firm that day and the reason Maggie was called home from the family's beach house.

He also told police he was at his mother's house that evening for much longer than her caregiver testified.

Prosecutors claim Murdaugh shot his wife and son to death at the dog kennels on the family's property around 8.50pm on the night of June 7, 2021.

Murdaugh was also asked by investigators if he had killed his wife and son - which he was quick to deny while remaining still with his arms and legs crossed.
One of Australia's major plumbing contractors has collapsed with 197 staff members now unemployed.

Melbourne-based CDC Plumbing and Drainage, a privately-owned plumbing contractor that started in 1984, has officially shut up shop owing $7.1million to creditors.

The company's manager Peter Carrick told staff in an email on February 6 the business was closing, along with related company Aerolink.

Mr Carrick cited Covid lockdowns plus the soaring cost of materials as the reasons behind the company's downfall.

'The companies did not qualify for the Jobkeeper scheme during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and they were required to absorb the material increases to labour costs and fall in productivity during that period without government assistance,' Mr Carrick wrote in the letter to staff, news.com.au reported.

Melbourne-based CDC Plumbing and Drainage, a privately-owned plumbing contractor that started in 1984, has officially shut up shop owing $7.1million

The company's manager Peter Carrick told staff in an email on February 6 the business and related company Aerolink were closing

'Since then labour costs have continued to rise and maintaining productivity continues to challenge the industry.

'Ongoing supply chain issues and cost increases in materials have exacerbated the financial stress to the businesses while delay in payments and challenges to payment claims has become systematic.'

The business has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, and had contributed to $1.8billion in works across the country.

Mr Carrick said he was filled with 'sadness' and 'regret' to announce to staff the closure.

The company worked on the Jewel Private Residences in the Gold Coast

Some employees are understood to have worked at the company for 15 years.

Liquidators, Paul Harlond and Ross Blakely from insolvency firm FTI Consulting, say as many as 33 projects will be abandoned.

'Unfortunately, 197 employees were made redundant when the companies were put into liquidation. We are currently calculating the entitlements owed to the employees so they can make a claim under the Federal Government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme,' they said.

CDC had worked on a variety of facilities including hospitals, hotels, prisons, airports, mines and corporate offices.
Nicola Sturgeon yesterday refused to reveal whether she has been interviewed by police amid a probe into her partys finances.

The departing First Minister dodged a question at the close of her resignation press conference over an inquiry into more than 600,000 which has gone missing from the Scottish National Partys coffers.

The huge sum  raised by independence campaigners in 2017  was supposed to be ringfenced to be spent on independence campaigns.

But serious questions were raised about the money when it emerged the SNP had less than 100,000 in its bank account two years later. A file was passed by police to Scotlands Crown Office last month, asking for further instructions on the potential fraud case.

Miss Sturgeon was asked in the closing seconds of yesterdays press conference: Have you been or do you expect to be interviewed by the police, who are looking into your partys finances?

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday refused to reveal whether she has been interviewed by police amid a probe into her partys finances

Miss Sturgeons husband Peter Murrell (pictured) is chief executive of the SNP and is ultimately responsible for its accounts

The First Minister frowned as she gathered up her notes, and replied: Im not going to discuss an ongoing police investigation. I wouldnt do it on any issue and Im not going to do it now.

Miss Sturgeons husband Peter Murrell is chief executive of the SNP and is ultimately responsible for its accounts.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that Mr Murrell gave his own party an interest-free 107,000 loan shortly after it emerged the SNP was suffering from cashflow issues.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy has described the loans timing as an extraordinary coincidence.

Miss Sturgeon has also been mocked for saying she cant remember when she first learned her husband had loaned the six-figure sum.

Yesterday one Nationalist MP called for Mr Murrell to resign and for a neutral caretaker to be appointed as a new party chief executive.

The 667,000 was raised by public donation specifically for a Scottish indyref2 campaign, and the SNP later admitted that only 57,000 was spent specifically on that campaigning. It led to a police complaint being made by former SNP activist and independence campaigner Sean Clerkin, who said the money had disappeared to be spent on other things without the permission of the donors.

Questions were raised about the money when it emerged the SNP had less than 100,000 in its bank account two years later. Pictured: Sturgeon accepts the plaudits from SNP Leader Alex Salmond

Mr Clerkin went to Police Scotland over the affair in March 2021.

After he gave his statement, the force initially said it was assessing a complaint of alleged financial irregularity.

Months later three members of the SNPs finance and audit committee and its then treasurer Douglas Chapman, resigned accusing the party of blocking attempts to see internal financial information.

In July 2021, Police Scotland said it had received seven complaints about the fate of the original donations.

It launched a formal inquiry, reported to have included a forensic examination of SNP accounts.

But the original complainant Mr Clerkin later expressed his frustration at the slow pace of the police investigation, codenamed Operation Branchform.

Mr Clerkin lodged a complaint with Police Scotland last month after it emerged the partys leadership had yet to be questioned 18 months after the probe officially launched.

Mr Clerkin said at the time that Miss Sturgeon, Mr Murrell and SNP treasurer Colin Beattie should have been questioned long before now.

He also raised concerns over the fact that the head of Scotlands prosecution service, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, is politically appointed and is one of Miss Sturgeons ministers.

The 667,000 was raised by public donation specifically for a Scottish indyref2 campaign, and the SNP later admitted that only 57,000 was spent specifically on that campaigning. It led to a police complaint being made by former SNP activist and independence campaigner Sean Clerkin (pictured)

Last month, Police Scotland confirmed it had asked the Crown Office, the Scottish prosecution service, for advice and direction in the case.

SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who was sacked from the SNP Westminster front benches two years ago over her opposition to Scottish transgender reforms, piled pressure on her partys management last night.

I cannot see any circumstances in which Peter Murrell can continue as chief executive under a new leader who must be free to choose a successor, she said.

Police Scotland has said it has submitted a file to the Crown Office and is awaiting further instruction as the investigation continues.
There is no sign of ET in the skies above Britain, Ben Wallace joked yesterday.

The Defence Secretary was asked about possible UFOs after four high-altitude objects, including an alleged Chinese spy balloon, were shot down over North America.

US officials stressed there had been 'no indication of aliens or extra-terrestrial activity'.

Mr Wallace told Times Radio he had asked for 'an analysis of what's going on above us in our airspace', adding: 'I'll share whatever I can publicly  but I don't see any signs of ET.'

The Defence Secretary yesterday refused to rule out a bid to become the next boss of Nato.

'I don't see any signs of ET': The Defence Secretary was asked about possible UFOs after four high-altitude objects, including an alleged Chinese spy balloon

Mr Wallace told Times Radio he had asked for 'an analysis of what's going on above us in our airspace'

The alliance's current secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, from Norway, is due to stand down this year and there have been rumours that Mr Wallace, 52, could succeed him.

Asked by Times Radio if he could be a contender, Mr Wallace said: 'I love the job of being Secretary of State for Defence... But of course, Nato is a great job as well.'

He stressed: 'We'll see what happens.'

It has been claimed that Mr Wallace could quit if he does not secure more defence funding in the Budget.
Two people have been killed after a Tennessee National Guard Black Hawk Helicopter crashed in a fireball on an Alabama highway while on a training mission.

The UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter 'exploded' into a huge fireball on Highway 53 near Harvest at 3.30pm ET Wednesday.

U.S. military officials confirmed to AP that the two people on board were killed after the aircraft slammed to the ground in the median of Highway 53, near Burwell Road, in the town of Harvest about a half hour north-west of Huntsville.

Footage from the scene showed thick, black smoke billowing from the crash site. The fire was quickly extinguished.

Huntsville Emergency Medical Services said there were no survivors. Its unclear where the chopper in question was stationed and who was on board.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office said the helicopter 'exploded on impact and was burning' when firefighters arrived, adding 'It's a pile of rubble.'

A Tennessee National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter 'exploded' into a huge fireball on an Alabama Highway leaving no survivors, officials say

For the US Military, the Army is the primary user of the Black Hawk helicopter with about 1,6001,700 of different variants in use. Here a similar helicopter is pictured flying

DailyMail.com have reached out to Tennessee National Guard for comment but they did not immediately respond.

On their website the Tennessee National Guard state their state mission as: 'To provide the Governor of Tennessee with units capable of performing missions in accordance with the Tennessee Emergency Response Plan.'

Adding that their purpose is: 'To maintain an efficient, well trained, well-equipped and responsive military and civilian State and National Emergency Response Force ready to respond to any State or Federal mission.'

U.S. Rep. Dale Strong said in a tweet: 'I'm deeply saddened by the fatal helicopter crash that happened in Madison County today.'

'My heart hurts for those who lost their lives in this tragic incident and for their families as they learn of this news.'

Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army post and a census-designated place adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County.

Leaders from the posting released a statement on Facebook stating they are aware of the incident.

'Redstone Arsenal leaders are aware of reports of a helicopter incident near Highway 53 in Huntsville,' the statement said.

'First responders are on scene, and Redstone Arsenal is in full support of local authorities in their active investigation.

'Initial investigations have determined that the incident is not connected to Redstone Arsenal assets, and we will continue to support community authorities as the situation develops.'

The deadly crash is likely to cause 'heavy delays' and police have asked motorists to find alternate routes due to a highway closure.

The Alabama Highway 53 south to Jeff Road remains closed to traffic, as well as between Douglas Road and Alabama 53, according to MCSO.

For the US Military, the Army is the primary user of the Black Hawk helicopter with about 1,6001,700 of different variants in use.

Posted by Trenton Curtis on Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Video footage of the incident which took place at about 3pm on Wednesday show the helicopter crashing onto the Highway

Its unclear where the chopper in question was stationed, who was on board, and how many people died. While bystanders saw large plumes of black smoke billowing from the site

Several emergency crews responded to the military helicopter crash near Highway 53 and Burwell Road. Motorists have been urged to take alternate routes due to a road closure

A short video of the helicopter crash in Harvest (north of Huntsville) from Savanna Terry pic.twitter.com/v1T5vk4gq5  James Spann (@spann) February 15, 2023

The Navy has roughly 750 Black Hawk variants (mostly SH-60 or MH-60 Seahawks) while the Air Force has a little over 100 HH-60 Pave Hawks.

The Coast Guard has around 40 HH-65 Pave Hawks and the Marine Corps has 8 VH-60 White Hawk.

According to a Military.com: 'The basic crew complement for the UH-60A is three: pilot, co-pilot and crew chief.'

'The A model was designed to carry 11 combat troops in addition to a crew of three.'
Rishi Sunak and Bill Gates met yesterday to hail a new wave of innovative British firms using technology to combat climate change.

The Prime Minister and the billionaire Microsoft founder attended the launch at Imperial College London of so-called cleantech companies hoping to 'supercharge the UK's green economy'.

Mr Sunak's father-in-law, Narayana Murthy, is also a billionaire businessman, who has met Mr Gates several times  and has been dubbed 'the Bill Gates of India' for his software company Infosys.

Mr Sunak and Mr Gates met one start-up using captured carbon dioxide to make plastic, another developing ways of storing hydrogen and a third that can turn air pollution into plant food.

The pair  who previously met in Downing Street in 2021  also had a private meeting to discuss the 'strategic challenges' facing the world, No 10 said.

Meeting: Rishi Sunak and Bill Gates at Imperial College London yesterday

Father-in-law: Billionaire businessman Narayana Murthy and Mr Gates in 2000

The PM said: 'It is fantastic to see these researchers, scientists, business people solving the challenges of net zero, and creating jobs in the process. That's amazing.'

And Mr Gates said: 'The UK has all the ingredients to become a major player in the global push to build a net-zero emissions future.'
NATO wants to ramp up deliveries of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine after American officials warned Russia could launch a large-scale aerial assault as part of a spring offensive.

Senior US sources said the Ukrainian military had inflicted such losses on Moscows demoralised land forces that they may opt for attacks from the air.

A fresh offensive is likely to focus on Kharkiv in the north-east of Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, and the eastern Donbas.

One US official said there was a lot of action on the border, a lot of preparations of Russian bombers, fighter jets and helicopter gunships. If the Ukrainians are to survive, they must have as many air defence capabilities and as much ammunition as possible, they added.

France and Italy have recently pledged to send Mamba air defence systems, while the US, Germany and the Netherlands vowed to provide more Patriot units to protect Ukrainian towns and cities.

Before the two-day meeting, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg had warned of a race of logistics to provide Kyivs armed forces with the equipment they need to fend off attacks.

NATO wants to ramp up deliveries of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine after American officials warned Russia could launch a large-scale aerial assault as part of a spring offensive. Pictured: Ukranian soldiers in an exercise for NLAW anti-aircraft missiles

Senior US sources said the Ukrainian military had inflicted such losses on Moscows demoralised land forces that they may opt for attacks from the air Pictured: UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace

One US official said there was a lot of action on the border, a lot of preparations of Russian bombers, fighter jets and helicopter gunships. Pictured: Russian fighting aircraft Su-35 hit by the Ukrainian Armed Forces

But talks at the alliances headquarters in Brussels failed to meet Ukrainian demands on delivering much-needed Western fighter jets. The US and the UK have ruled out such planes for now, but Britain has announced a training programme for Ukrainian fighter pilots.

Nato strategists also worry that Ukraine is burning through ammunition faster than its Western allies can manufacture and resupply it.

Ukraine is firing 6,000 shells a day, while Russia is using up some 20,000 rounds, equivalent to what European factories produce in a month.

Earlier yesterday Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said its military must be trained to fight without always resorting to heavy gunfire.

He said: [The Ukrainian military] uses huge amounts of ammunition to defend itself  partly thats why were training them to fight in a Western way.

The Russian or the Soviet way of fighting is very ammunition-heavy, massive artillery barrages, and thats never how we have organised ourselves to fight in the West.

Mr Wallace again ruled out sending jets to Kyiv for now but insisted Britain could provide more immediate support through weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles.

I think we can help Ukraine sooner by delivering the effects they need on the battlefield rather than the platform-specific request, Mr Wallace told Sky News.

His US counterpart Lloyd Austin said that the Ukrainians would be able to make serious gains if provided with the correct equipment.

I think theyll have a real good chance of establishing the initiative. And being able to exploit that initiative going forward, he said.
The 2023 rally so far is 2,513, compared to 1,352 recorded at this point last year

The Home Office yesterday reported that there were 204 arrivals on Tuesday

The number of migrants arriving in the UK after travelling across the Channel by small boats so far this year is running 86 per cent above last years figures.

The Home Office yesterday reported 204 arrivals on Tuesday, bringing the 2023 tally to 2,517.

At the same point last year there were 1,352. The Government is preparing new laws to tackle the crisis, with an immigration Bill expected in weeks.

Rishi Sunak has vowed the legislation will ensure illegal migrants will not be able to stay, and the vast majority who cross the Channel will be deported.

Previously he has pledged the Government will stop the boats as one of five key pledges to voters.

The number of migrants arriving in the UK after travelling across the Channel by small boats so far this year is running 86 per cent above last years figures

It has been reported that the new Bill will include measures to curtail migrants options for lodging legal challenges against deportation.

Two sets of proposals are said to have been drawn up which are likely to pit ministers against the courts.

The first and most radical would prevent all migrants arriving on small boats from requesting a judicial review of their exclusion from the asylum system.

The second would allow legal challenges to be lodged only once the migrant has been removed from the UK.

Border Force officials escort 50 migrants into Dover Docks, Kent on February 12, 2023

Measures on limiting claims about human rights and modern slavery are also thought to be under consideration.

A record 45,728 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats last year compared to 2021s total of 28,526.

Officials have predicted the number this year could reach 80,000.

A Home Office spokesman said laws were being introduced which will ensure that those people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and swiftly removed to another country.
Earth's rising sea levels could spark 'a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale', the UN's Secretary-General has warned.

In a grim speech to UN's security council in New York, Antonio Guterres said countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands risk being flooded.

But 'mega-cities on every continent' will face 'serious effects', including Cairo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires.

Global sea levels have risen faster since 1900 and the problem now acutely endangers nearly 900 million people living in low-lying coastal areas, he said.

It follows a new study that provides the most accurate estimates yet of sea level rises due to the melting of Earth's two ice sheets.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on February 14, 2023. Rising sea levels could spark 'a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale', he warned

'Rising seas threaten the very existence of some low-lying communities and even countries,' said the UN chief at the address on Tuesday.

'Mega cities' affected by sea level rise Guterres said 'mega-cities on every continent will face serious effects' from sea level rises. According to the UN chief, among them are: - Cairo, Egypt - Lagos, Nigeria - Maputo, Mozambique - Bangkok, Thailand - Dhaka, Bangladesh - Jakarta, Indonesia - Mumbai, India - Shanghai, China - Copenhagen, Denmark - London, England - Los Angeles, US - New York, US - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Santiago, Chile Advertisement

'Under any scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk.

'Mega-cities on every continent will face serious impacts.

'The danger is especially acute for nearly 900 million people who live in coastal zones at low elevations  and that's one out of 10 people on Earth.

'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.'

Guterres citied new data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released Tuesday that spells out the grave danger of rising seas.

'Global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years,' he told attendees.

'The global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than at any time in the past 11,000 years.'

Sea levels will rise significantly even if global warming is 'miraculously' limited to 2.7F (1.5C) - the elusive aim of the Paris Agreement.

Earth is more likely on a path to warming that amounts to 'a death sentence' for most vulnerable countries, including many small island nations, Guterres warned.

According to the WMO data, the global mean sea level will rise by about 6.5 to 9.8 feet (two to three metres) over the next 2,000 years if warming is limited to 2.7F (1.5C).

'Mega-cities on every continent' will face 'serious effects' of sea level rises, including Cairo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires. Here, a man walks on a flooded pathway outside his house in Timbulsloko, Central Java, Indonesia

Small waves crash into reinforced seawalls in Shishmaref, Alaska, Tuesday, October 4, 2022. Rising sea levels, flooding, increased erosion and loss of protective sea ice and land have led residents of this island community to vote twice to relocate

With a 3.6F (2C) increase, seas could rise up to 19.7 feet (six metres) and with a 9F (5C) increase, seas could rise up to 72 feet (22 metres), according to the data.

Global sea levels will rise 4.6 feet by 2150 due to ice sheets melting says study - READ MORE Scientists think they have a more accurate picture of how much global sea levels will rise after estimating the volume of water than will come from the melting of Earth's two ice sheets Advertisement

'Unthinkable' consequences include low-lying communities drowning and fierce competition for fresh water, land and other resources.

Guterres has been trying to call the world's attention to the dangers posed by climate change to spur action from governments.

In October, he warned that the world is in 'a life-or-death struggle' for survival as 'climate chaos gallops ahead' and accused the world's 20 wealthiest countries of failing to do enough to stop the planet from overheating.

The following month he said Earth is heading toward irreversible 'climate chaos' and urged global leaders to cut emissions, keep promises on climate financing and help developing countries speed their transition to renewable energy.

Tuesday's UN security council meeting also heard speakers from some 75 countries, all voicing concern about the impact of the continuing rising seas.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said 'the threat of sea level rise is real, it is a direct result of our climate crisis, and it is a matter of international peace and security'.

'Fortunately, the worst impacts can be avoided, but we have to act now, and we have to act together,' she said.

Contractors pump sand from the ocean floor onto the beach in the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City, October 18, 2022. They are crafting a 250-foot wide sandy beach along more than seven miles of shoreline to help protect the city from storms and rising sea levels

Aerial view of rescuers using a boat to evacuate people from a flood-hit area after torrential rains on June 22, 2022 in Yingde, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province of China. Such scenes will become more common and even more severe if we do not curb carbon emissions, according to scientists

Meanwhile, Samoa's UN ambassador, Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Pa'olelei Luteru, cooperation to address rising seas is 'a legal obligation' for every country.

Causes of rising sea levels - Melting ice from ice sheets, glaciers and ice caps - Thermal expansion - Land sinkage - Slowing Gulf Stream Advertisement

'There is a litany of new examples of the sudden and slow onset impact of climate change on small islands, from king tides, to super hurricanes to the unstoppable and unprecedented rise in sea levels,' he said.

'To expect small island state to shoulder the burden of sea level rise, without assistance from the international community will be the pinnacle of inequities.'

The impact on people and the economies of the islands 'will continue to be extraordinary,' he said.

It follows an international research team publishing a new study that provides accurate estimates of sea level rise due to the melting of Earth's two ice sheets

The authors used computer modelling to determine that sea levels will rise by 4.6 feet by 2150 due to meltwater from Antarctic Ice Sheet in the south and Greenland Ice Sheet in the north, under a worst-case scenario.

This isn't accounting for other sources of rising sea levels, such as ice caps and floating platforms of ice that have melted too.

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

People wade through a flooded residential area following heavy monsoon rains triggered floods in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on August 31, 2020

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 authors warned.

According to NASA, sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming  added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers, and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

But other factors include land sinkage and slowing down of the Gulf Stream  a circulation system that pulls water away from Earth's shores.

Globally, sea level continues to rise at a rate of about one-eighth of an inch (3.2mm) per year, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It follows scientific advice of how the public can best survive a nuclear attack

From Threads to The Day After, 'nuclear winter' has been portrayed in science fiction blockbusters for years - but what would the cataclysmic aftermath of a nuclear attack really be like?

Smoke from the fires started by nuclear weapons would rise into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun.

The resulting perpetual darkness would mean freezing temperatures and crop failure, followed by mass starvation and death.

While it sounds very much like a fictional scenario, an expert describes a nuclear winter as a real and 'horribly contemporary' risk due to Russia's war on Ukraine.

It follows scientific advice of how best to survive a nuclear attack, after Putin has made a series of nuclear threats since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine last year.

From Threads to The Day After, 'nuclear winter' has been portrayed in science fiction blockbusters for years - but what would the cataclysmic aftermath of a nuclear attack really be like?

Nuclear winter is a term for what climate and the environment would be like following a nuclear attack or resulting nuclear war. Smoke from the fires started by nuclear weapons would rise into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun. The resulting darkness would mean freezing temperatures, crop failure, mass starvation and death

The new research was led by Paul Ingram, an academic at the University of Cambridge's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER).

What is nuclear winter? Nuclear winter is a term for what climate and the environment would be like following a nuclear attack or nuclear war. The scientific theory of nuclear winter sees detonations from nuclear exchanges throw vast amounts of debris into the stratosphere. This ultimately blocks out much of the sun for up to a decade, causing global drops in temperature, mass crop failure and widespread famine. Combined with radiation fall-out, these knock-on effects would see millions more perish in the wake of a nuclear war - even if they are far outside of any blast zone. Advertisement

He thinks that the public need to be educated on long-term climate effects of nuclear war 'given the current risk' - the highest in decades.

At the moment, what little awareness there is of nuclear winter among the public is mainly residual from the Cold War of the 20th century, when tensions escalated between the US and Russia.

'There are many ways to increase awareness, from reporting on studies that deepen understanding of the threat, to cultural narrative exploration through film, plays and books,' Ingram told MailOnline.

'Of course we can go through life preferring not to know about the worst possibilities, but there are things we can do collectively to manage and mitigate risks, and it needs the public to be involved in this.

'Ideas of nuclear winter are predominantly a lingering cultural memory, as if it is the stuff of history, rather than a horribly contemporary risk.'

For the research, published on the CSER website, Ingram conducted an online survey in January 2023 of 3,000 participants  half in the UK and half in the US.

Participants had to self-report on a sliding scale whether they felt they knew a lot about nuclear winter, and if they had heard about it from contemporary media or culture, recent academic studies, or beliefs held during the 1980s.

This can now be looked back as a golden era of nuclear awareness, the days of films depicting nuclear disasters and anti-nuclear marches attracting hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.

There is a lack of awareness among UK and US populations of 'nuclear winter', the potential for catastrophic long-term environmental consequences from any exchange of nuclear warheads. Pictured, artist's impression of a nuclear blast

Worryingly, Ingram found only 1.6 per cent in the UK and 5.2 per cent in the US had heard about nuclear winter in recent academic studies.

How to survive a nuclear explosion: Scientists reveal the safest places to take shelter - READ MORE Researchers used computer modelling to simulate the effects of a nuclear blast and the best places to shelter Advertisement

Meanwhile, 3.2 per cent in the UK and 7.5 per cent in the US said they'd hear about it from contemporary media or culture, while 5.4 per cent in the UK and nine per cent in the US recalled beliefs held during the 1980s.

Responses to each of these three questions were not mutually exclusive, with some participants claiming to know about nuclear winter from two or three different sources.

However, overall public awareness is severely lacking.

'There is an urgent need for public education within all nuclear-armed states that is informed by the latest research,' Ingram said.

'We need to collectively reduce the temptation that leaders of nuclear-armed states might have to threaten or even use such weapons in support of military operations.'

The research also gauged support in the UK and US for western retaliation in the event of a nuclear blast, which could be the difference between a one-off nuclear attack and an ongoing series of attacks resulting in nuclear winter.

All participants were presented with fictional news reports from the near future (dated July 2023) relaying news of nuclear attacks by Russia on Ukraine, and vice versa.

One of these fictional reports read: 'Russia detonated three nuclear weapons over Ukraine soon after 0900 EEST this morning.

Very few members of the public were aware of the concept of nuclear winter from any sources, the research shows

Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) has made a series of nuclear threats since the start of the war on Ukraine last year

'Immediate fatalities are estimated to number at least 15,000 military and civilian dead.

Have nuclear weapons been used? Nuclear weapons have been deployed twice in war, by the US against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a series of nuclear threats since the start of the war on Ukraine last year. Russia's invasion has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war. Russia and the US are by far the biggest nuclear powers, together holding around 90 per cent of the world's nuclear warheads  enough to destroy the planet many times over. In September, Putin warned the West he was not bluffing when he said he'd be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. A few days later, he said the US had created a 'precedent' by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. Advertisement

'Each blast is thought to have been around 15 kilotons, of similar yield to that used against Hiroshima.'

Ingram found there was 'a strong reluctance' to support nuclear retaliation in response to this fictional Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine.

Out of all 3,000 people in the US and UK, fewer than one in five people  19.4 per cent  surveyed supported retaliation.

Interestingly, men were more likely than women to back nuclear reprisal  20.7 per cent of US men and 24.4 per cent of UK men compared with 14.1 per cent of US women and 16.1 per cent of UK women.

Next, half of the participants in each country were shown infographics of nuclear winter before they read fictional news of nuclear strikes, while the other half were not (the control group).

Unsurprisingly, the stark infographics had the effect of putting people off retaliation.

Support for nuclear retaliation was lower by 16 per cent in the US and 13 per cent in the UK among participants shown the 'nuclear winter' infographics than among the control group.

'Our research showed that when the public is aware of the global risks they are less likely to support nuclear retaliation,' Ingram told MailOnline.

Currently, public awareness of nuclear winter is too low and should be increased by governments to make sure the potential impact of nuclear war aren't underestimated, the academic believes.

Such an awareness would likely reduce support for first use of a nuclear bomb (such as by Russia on Ukraine) or for nuclear retaliation (by Ukrainian allies such as the US and UK on Russia, for example).

Graphic used in poll: The scale of nuclear winter according to one peer-reviewed paper. Participants were told there remains controversy over the scale of impact

According to Ingram, the war in Ukraine has exposed to the public 'the spectre of nuclear war hanging over Europe'.

'The warnings from leaders in the Kremlin that the conflict could lead to the use of nuclear weapons and less subtle threats from Russian state media have triggered serious concerns in Washington and European capitals,' he writes.

'Yet decision-makers and the public may be ignorant of the largest global climate consequences from a nuclear war, which could lead to global famines.'

Research by Rutgers University experts published in August suggests even a limited nuclear war could trigger global starvation of hundreds of millions of people.

Fatalities arising from nuclear winter effects over the months after the war would lead to casualty numbers many times greater than those suffered in the more immediate blast, heat, fires and radiation, it claims.
Elon Musk allegedly demanded Twitter engineers push an algorithm change to boost his tweets after President Joe Biden's Super Bowl post overshadowed his.

Biden's tweet, which supports the Philadelphia Eagles, generated nearly 29 million impressions compared with Musk's 9.1 million that read 'Go @Eagles.'

The billionaire deleted his 'flopped' tweet and threatened to fire his engineering team if they did not fix the engagement issue.

The 'problem' was resolved by a code that 'greenlighted' Musk's tweets, allowing them to bypass any filters set in place by users - this caused all of Musk's tweets to flood the social media site.

Many Twitter users reported that their For You section of the app  which is meant to show some content from accounts the user does not follow but the site believes would be of interest to them  was filled with posts from the Tesla boss.

Elon Musk deleted a tweet after seeing it had less engagement than one shared by President Joe Biden. Musk is said to have pushed a change in the algorithm to boost his tweets

Biden's tweet, which supports the Philadelphia Eagles, generated nearly 29 million impressions compared with Musk's 9.1 million

According to a report by Platformer, this was not a bug but a direct instruction from Musk after he became increasingly frustrated over what he saw as decreasing engagement with his tweets in recent weeks.

The incident follows another report from last week that said Musk had fired a Twitter engineer after they suggested that views on the billionaire's tweets were declining.

Many users speculated Musk had deleted his tweet due to the Eagles losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, but the new report suggests the move was out of jealousy.

Biden's tweet shares a video posted by the First Lady, Jill Biden, showing her donning an Eagles jersey.

'As your president, Im not picking favorites. But as Jill Bidens husband, fly Eagles, fly,' the president posted.

However, the CEO played both sides of the field and tweeted, 'GG Kansas City @Chiefs !!' just a little over three hours after posting about the Eagles.

That post had also been deleted.

Users speculated Musk deleted his tweet supporting the Eagles after the team lost in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs

One engineer speculated that the drop in Musk's engagement could be because many users may have blocked or muted the Twitter CEO in recent months.

Musk's cousin, James Musk, sent out an urgent message on Slack to Twitter engineers on Sunday evening.

A report states Musk threatened to fire engineers if they didn't fix the problem

'Any people who can make dashboards and write software please can you help solve this problem. This is high urgency. If you are willing to help out please thumbs up this post,' the message reads, according to the report.

And by Monday, 'the problem' had been 'fixed.'

The code released by engineers boosted all of Musk's previous tweets by a factor of 1,000, which is why the site was teaming with the billionaire's posts and users who are not following him also saw them.

Engineers added a code that boosted all of Musk's tweet, which flooded the site. Musk shared a meme acknowledging his posts were running a muck on the site

The move has not gone unnoticed by users sharing screenshots of the 'For You' tab on Twitter, showing nothing but tweets and replies from Musk

Musk was aware of his flood of tweets, posting a meme in which one woman labeled 'Elon's tweets' forcibly bottle-feeds another woman tagged 'Twitter' while pulling her hair back.

The move has not gone unnoticed by users sharing screenshots of the 'For You' tab on Twitter, showing nothing but tweets and replies from Musk.

The billionaire tweeted Tuesday that users should stay tuned while making algorithm adjustments.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss has pledged to stand down as Twitter chief executive and told a conference in Dubai on Wednesday that he expected to find someone to take on that role 'probably toward the end of this year.'

Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit, Musk said making sure the platform could function remained the most important thing for him.

'I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place,' he said when asked about when he would name a chief executive.

'I'm guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company.'
It makes up most of the universe, yet hardly anything is known about the so-called Dark Energy that envelopes us.

The unusual 'something'  one of the great mysteries of cosmology  is believed to be an unknown force that is pushing things apart more strongly than gravity and causing the universe's expansion to accelerate.

Now, scientists from Imperial College London believe they may finally have an explanation for the source of unknown energy  black holes.

Dr Chris Pearson, study co-author, said: 'If the theory holds, then this is going to revolutionise the whole of cosmology.

'At last we've got a solution for the origin of dark energy that's been perplexing cosmologists and theoretical physicists for more than 20 years.'

Breakthrough: Scientists have found the first evidence that black holes are the source of dark energy. They studied galaxies and the supermassive black holes at the heart of them. Pictured is NGC 1316, a lenticular galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax

Astronomers have always believed that Dark Energy could revolutionise physics as we know it, because its discovery 20 years ago threatened to blow Albert Einstein's research out of the water.

The legendary physicist can rest easy for now, however, because the team of international researchers have found the first evidence that Dark Energy really does fit with his Theory of Relativity after all.

The main stumbling block to Einstein's science  black holes and how their extremely strong gravity could be opposed by a secret force expanding the universe  has been dismissed by experts at the University of Hawaii and Imperial.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT BLACK HOLES? Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light. They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around. How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole. Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy. Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses. When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. Advertisement

They say that the Theory of General Relativity is correct because black holes actually contain Dark Energy, or the energy from space that Einstein originally predicted.

It also means that nothing 'new' or undiscovered has to be added to our picture of the universe to account for the 'missing' 68 per cent that Dark Energy equates to.

Not only that, but the idea of black holes having a 'singularity' at their centre where nothing  not even light  can escape, has been brought into question, too.

The new theory provides a way to 'circumvent' this mathematical problem, the researchers say, by making the idea of a singularity 'go away'.

Confused?

Essentially, the Big Bang theory of the creation of our universe originally predicted that its expansion would slow down  or even begin to contract  because of the pull of gravity.

But in 1998, astronomers were surprised to find that not only was the universe still expanding, this expansion was also accelerating.

To account for this discovery, it was proposed that a 'Dark Energy' was responsible for pushing things apart more strongly than gravity.

This was linked to a concept Einstein had proposed but later discarded  a 'cosmological constant' that opposed gravity and kept the universe from collapsing.

Black holes posed a problem though  their extremely strong gravity is hard to oppose, especially at their centres, where everything seems to break down in a phenomenon called a 'singularity'.

To dig deeper into the problem, a team of 17 researchers from nine countries studied nine billion years of black hole evolution.

They observed ancient and dormant galaxies and found that black holes gain mass in a way that is consistent with them containing vacuum energy, or Dark Energy.

In fact, the size of the universe at different points in time fitted closely with the mass of supermassive black holes at the heart of galaxies.

In other words, the amount of Dark Energy in the universe can be accounted for by black hole vacuum energy  meaning black holes are the source of dark energy.

Mystery: The idea of black holes having a 'singularity' at their centre where nothing  not even light  can escape, has been brought into question by the research, too. Pictured is the supermassive black hole at the heart of galaxy M87

It means that nothing 'new' or undiscovered has to be added to our picture of the universe to account for the 'missing' 68 per cent that Dark Energy equates to. Pictured is NGC 524, a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Pisces about 90 million light-years away from Earth

The scientists observed ancient and dormant galaxies and found that black holes gain mass in a way that is consistent with them containing vacuum energy, or Dark Energy. Pictured is NGC 4150, an elliptical galaxy 45 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenices

WHAT IS DARK ENERGY? Dark energy is a phrase used by physicists to describe a mysterious 'something' that is causing unusual things to happen in the universe. The universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. The universe is not only expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster as time goes by,' Dr Kathy Romer, scientist at the Dark Energy Survey told MailOnline, as illustrated in this Nasa graphic So the expansion of the universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing it. 'The universe is not only expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster as time goes by,' Dr Kathy Romer, scientist at the Dark Energy Survey told MailOnline. 'What we'd expect is that the expansion would get slower and slower as time goes by, because it has been nearly 14 billion years since the Big Bang.' Advertisement

Such is the excitement and significance of the discovery, the scientists responsible for the new research said they 'may have found the answer to one of the biggest problems in cosmology'.

Study co-author Dr Dave Clements, from the Department of Physics at Imperial, said: 'This is a really surprising result. We started off looking at how black holes grow over time, and may have found the answer to one of the biggest problems in cosmology.'

The research is the first observational evidence that black holes actually contain vacuum energy and are 'coupled' to the expansion of the universe, increasing in mass as the universe expands  a phenomenon called 'cosmological coupling'.

Black holes are formed when massive stars come to the end of their life and are known as supermassive ones when found at the centres of galaxies.

These contain millions to billions of times the mass of our sun inside them in a comparatively small space, creating extremely strong gravity.

Black holes can increase in size by accreting matter, such as by swallowing stars that get too close, or by merging with other black holes.

However, the researchers found that this increase in mass was 'significantly bigger' than what could be explained purely by astrophysical processes such as merging, which led them to the theory that black holes contain Dark Energy and are linked to the expansion of the universe.

If further observations confirm it, cosmological coupling will redefine our understanding of what a black hole is, the astronomers added.

Study author Duncan Farrah, from the University of Hawaii, said: 'We're really saying two things at once: that there's evidence the typical black hole solutions don't work for you on a long, long timescale, and we have the first proposed astrophysical source for dark energy.

'What that means, though, is not that other people haven't proposed sources for dark energy, but this is the first observational paper where we're not adding anything new to the universe as a source for dark energy: black holes in Einstein's theory of gravity are the dark energy.'

The work is published in two papers in the journals The Astrophysical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Geologists and academics now explain whether the two events are related

Death toll from the Turkey-Syria quake on February 6 has passed 40,000

Less than two weeks after the tragic earthquake that has killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey and Syria, another shake has rocked New Zealand.

Wednesday's 'widely felt' tremor, around magnitude 6, jolted both New Zealand's islands, although thankfully there's been no immediate reports of damage or injury.

Earthquakes are happening all the time, from the ones too small to even be noticed to the devastating high magnitude quakes that lead to thousands of fatalities.

But its occurrence so soon after the disaster in Turkey and Syria begs the question - could they be linked?

Here, MailOnline takes a closer look at today's event and whether it's related to the catastrophic tremor in the Middle East last week.

The New Zealand quake has been described by various organisations as somewhere between magnitude 5.7 and 6.1. It struck at 7.38pm local time (6:38am in the UK)

WHAT HAPPENED?

READ MORE HERE: Earthquake rocks New Zealand with the nation still recovering from a devastating cyclone The 'widely felt' tremor, around magnitude 6, jolted both New Zealand's islands Advertisement

The epicentre of Wednesday's quake was the Cook Strait  the body of water that separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

It struck on Wednesday at a depth of around 50 miles (74km), according to the US Geological Survey, at 7.38pm local time (6:38am GMT).

A witness felt a strong shaking that lasted several seconds in the capital city of Wellington, according to Reuters.

GeoNet, an agency that monitors geological hazards, said it received more than 61,000 reports from people who had felt a jolt.

Fortunately GeoNet said 'no tsunami is expected', which can happen when an earthquake epicentre is off land.

It comes after Cyclone Gabrielle caused significant damage across the North Island this week, leaving four people dead, more than 10,000 people displaced and widespread damage.

WHAT CAUSES EARTHQUAKES?

It's well-known that earthquakes occur when two tectonic plates that are sliding in opposite directions stick and then slip suddenly.

New Zealand is on the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate, although larger neighbour Australia is further away from the boundary has less severe tremors.

Earth's lithosphere - its rocky, outermost shell - is formed of around 15 tectonic plates, each of different shapes and sizes. Map shows the tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth. Note New Zealand at the border of two plates

Aerial view shows people trying to recover items from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Syrian rebel-held town of Jindayris on February 15, 2023, following the February 6 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria

'The Earth's crust is made up tectonic plates that move relative to each other,' Dr Jessica Johnson, a geophysicist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline.

Can earthquakes be predicted? Although it is known that most global earthquakes will concentrate at the plate boundaries, there is no reliable method of accurately predicting the time, place and magnitude of an earthquake. Most current research is concerned with minimising the risk associated with earthquakes, by assessing the combination of seismic hazard and the vulnerability of a given area. Many seismic countries, however, have research programs based on identifying possible precursors to major earthquakes. Source: BGS Advertisement

'At the boundaries of these plates, rock moving past each other can build up stress due to friction and suddenly slide, resulting in an earthquake.'

Severe earthquakes normally occur over fault lines where tectonic plates meet, but minor tremors  which still register on the Richter sale  can happen in the middle of these plates.

Earthquakes are often followed by additional earthquakes, called aftershocks, which are usually smaller than the mainshock but can still be damaging or deadly.

However, aftershocks occur in the same general area, so the New Zealand quake is a totally different event.

ARE THE TWO EARTHQUAKES LINKED?

Dr Johnson said there's no link between the New Zealand and Turkey-Syria quakes and that they 'are not related'.

This is partly because the two regions are too far away  around 10,000 miles  which is way beyond the category of an aftershock.

'At tectonically active regions, small earthquakes are happening very frequently, and often they are not felt,' Dr Johnson told MailOnline.

'However, when an earthquake is larger and closer to the surface, the shaking can be felt and cause damage.

'When an earthquake happens, it can transfer stress onto other nearby faults and make those faults more or less likely to fail.

'However, faults in New Zealand and Turkey are too far away for these stresses to affect each other.'

Volunteers and rescue teams work for on a ruined building on February 10, 2023 in Elbistan Turkey

Likewise, David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University, told MailOnline: 'No earthquake in New Zealand can possibly be a consequence of an earthquake in Turkey.'

READ MORE: What are the world's earthquake hotspots? Places most prone to deadly earthquakes include New Zealand, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, China, Philippines, Peru and the west US coast Advertisement

According to British geologist Roger Musson, earthquakes 'are far more numerous than most people realise' and so the ones with less impact 'pass the non-seismologist by'.

'I wouldn't have said that there were particularly many at the moment, apart from all the aftershocks in Turkey,' Musson said.

According to the National Earthquake Information Center, there's about 20,000 earthquakes around the world each year, or approximately 55 per day, although there's only about 16 major earthquakes per year.

IS CALIFORNIA NEXT?

In the US, California has more earthquakes that cause damage than any other state, although there are quakes in the Midwestern and Eastern states too.

California is just one global location that sits along the so-called 'Ring of Fire'  a long seismically active belt around the rim of the Pacific Ocean.

Somewhere between 80 to 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, which despite its name is more of a horseshoe shape.

Somewhere between 80 to 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes occur along an area commonly known as the 'Ring of Fire'

California is prone to earthquakes because it lies on the San Andreas Fault, where two tectonic plates come together.

Earthquake magnitude scale Great: 8.0 or larger Significant damage expected Major: 7.0 to 7.9 Damage expected Strong: 6.0 to 6.9 Damage may occur Moderate: 5.0 to 5.9 Minor damage may occur Light: 4.0 to 4.9 Likely felt Minor: 3.0 to 3.9 May be felt Advertisement

The San Andreas Fault extends roughly 750 miles through the western US state, with the Pacific Plate on one side and the Pacific Plate on the other.

Locals frequently talk about the 'Big One'  a hypothetical earthquake of 7.8 magnitude or higher striking California soon.

The thing is, a temporary increase or decrease in seismic events globally is part of the normal fluctuation of quake rates.

In other words, the two recent high-strength quakes offer no clue to where the next one will be.

'There is always a chance that another large earthquake will happen somewhere else (e.g. in the US), but it is not more or less likely because of these earthquakes,' Dr Johnson told MailOnline.

Although it is known that most global earthquakes will concentrate at the plate boundaries, there is no reliable method of accurately predicting their time, location and magnitude.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques like machine learning isn't much use because such technology looks for patterns to make conclusions.

'Large earthquakes don't occur like clockwork,' said James S. Neely at Northwestern University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

'Sometimes we see several large earthquakes occur over relatively short time frames and then long periods when nothing happens.

'The traditional models can't handle this behaviour.'

This doesn't stop people trying to look for patterns in earthquake data to form conclusions, however.

A Dutch researcher called Frank Hoogerbeets works at the Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGS), an organisation that studies 'geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity'.

In a tweet dated February 3, he said that 'sooner or later' there will be a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in south-central Turkey, Jordan, Syria or Lebanon.

The tweet went viral after the event  but the vague 'prediction' was based on nothing but pseudoscience.

SSGS regularly makes predictions of where earthquakes are about to occur, but these are mostly inaccurate and akin to throwing enough darts to eventually hit a bullseye.

Any link between celestial bodies and seismicity 'has been debunked many times', according to Musson.

'A big earthquake will hit California 'sooner or later'. So what? A prediction must specify a time or it's not a prediction,' he told MailOnline.

Professor Rothery added: 'Saying that there will be an earthquake 'sooner or later' on a known major fault is a prediction that we could all make, and it has no useful value at all.'
Apple has long been rumored to release a foldable iPhone but has delayed production due to woes that plague other models - like cracking and sacrificed quality.

The hesitation may have been tossed to the wind, as a new patent awarded to the tech giant suggests it has a folding device in the making that would let users interact with multiple parts of the smartphone to perform different tasks.

Virtual buttons would be placed on the sides of the device, allowing users to control the camera, volume, screen brightness and other options.

Apple does provide a solution to prevent cracking - 'stress-tolerant features such layers of polymer applied as a coating on bedding regions.

The foldable iPhone has yet to be seen, but it would let Apple compete with the likes of Samsung, which is currently battling claims that screens on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 are cracking 'for no reason.'

Apple was awarded a patent for a foldable device. This suggests the company could release a foldable iPhone in the future

Apple was awarded the patent on Tuesday, describing a device that may have a front wall, opposing rear wall, and curved sidewalls.

The front wall may be made of glass, which Apple started using with the iPhone 12 line.

'A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls,' reads the patent.

'Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls.

'Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion.

'Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.'

The smartphone could also be designed to have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls.

'Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls,' the patent states.

The patent images suggest the phone would open vertically to provide a more extended screen, compared to other models that open horizontally to form a tablet-like device

Apple's patent comes around the same time Samsung is under fire for its Galaxy Z Fold 3, which is cracking for some users. A Reddit user shared their damaged phone on the site (pictured)

'Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion.

READ MORE: YouTuber modifies an Apple iPhone so the screen can bend in half YouTubers in China have created an impressive prototype that shows an iPhone that folds down a central hinge in the screen. Advertisement

'Additional touch layers may be overlapped by the opaque walls.'

Apple is also suggesting adding hinge regions throughout the area where the smartphone bends, which would be designed with flexible layers of material, such as plastic or metal.

The patent images suggest the phone would open vertically to provide a more extended screen, compared to other models that open horizontally to form a tablet-like device.

Apple's patent comes around the same time Samsung is under fire for its Galaxy Z Fold 3, which is cracking for some users.

According to Sam News, damages impact the middle of the display where the phone bends to open and close.

The smartphone launched in 2021, which means the warranty for the models has since run out - forcing users to fit the bill to get the issue fixed.

A Reddit user shared their damaged phone on the site.

'15 months in, opened the screen to show a friend who was interested and heard a cracking sound as it was nearly fully opened run along the center fold. (Phone was not dropped),' the user shared.

'The right-hand screen no longer responds to any input, the left-hand does.'

Another Redditor posted: 'ook my phone off the wireless charger, unfolded, and it split right down the middle.

'The things 3 months old and never been dropped. Took it to Samsung who agreed there was no physical damage and they'd send it off for warranty repair, but now the repairer is saying they've found an impact point and dead pixels so I'm to pay $700 for a repair?'
An asteroid larger than the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, is making its closest approach to Earth Wednesday evening - but it will pass by at a safe distance.

Asteroid 2005 YY128, estimated to be more than 4,000 feet wide, will soar within 2.8 million miles from our planet at 7:46 pm ET, which is the closest it will be to our planet in 400 years.

NASA has confirmed the flyby, noting that the space rock has been on the agency's radar for the past 17 years.

Twitter is flooded with posts stating the 'asteroid could potentially crash into Earth's orbit,' but the European Space Agency assures that we are safe and that 'you can't crash into orbit, anyway.'

Astronomers, however, are looking at the huge rock as a reminder that space is teaming with massive objects that could one day smash into our world.

The asteroid is larger than the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building. It is set to make its closest approach to Earth at 7:46 pm ET tonight

According to data collected by NASA's Centre for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), 2005 YY128 will be the fourth closest flyby out of 35,000 past and future asteroids to make a nearby pass of Earth between the years 1900 and 2200.

Paul Chodas, the director for the Center of Near Earth Object Studies at NASA, told USA TODAY: 'Yes, the asteroid is probably fairly large, probably between 1,903 and 4,265 feet.'

But he added: 'The asteroid poses absolutely no risk to humans.'

Chodas continued to explain that if 2005 YY128 were a threat, NASA would have predicted the danger back in 2005 or 2006 when the asteroid was first spotted.

And this would have kicked astronomers into gear to find a way to divert it.

However, it was not until 2021 that NASA executed such a solution when it diverted a small asteroid out of orbit.

The asteroid was spotted by using the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona.

When such discoveries are made, the protocol is to report findings to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, housed at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This allows NASA to predict an asteroid's trajectory to determine the threat it poses to Earth.

The asteroid (pictured with arrow) was spotted in 2004 using the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona. Scientists said the asteroid does not pose a threat to Earth

Twitter is flooded with posts stating the 'asteroid could potentially crash into Earth's orbit,' but the European Space Agency ensures that we are safe and that 'you can't crash into orbit, anyway'

NASA conducted its first planetary defense test in September 2022 when it sent a craft to collide with asteroid Dimorphos as it was traveling 14,000 miles per hour.

The mission was to determine if this method could alter the trajectory of an incoming asteroid.

READ MORE: Moment NASA's DART smashes into asteroid traveling at 14,000mph and 6.8 million miles from Earth NASA's DART spacecraft completed the first planetary defense test after it impacted the asteroid Dimorphos while traveling 14,000 miles per hour. Advertisement

'Impact success!' NASA tweeted after the DART spacecraft collided with the 560-foot asteroid, around 6.7 million miles from Earth.

Scientists believe the impact carved out a crater, hurled streams of rock and dirt into space and altered the asteroid's orbit.

By striking Dimorphos head-on, NASA hopes it pushed it into a smaller orbit, shaving 10 minutes off the time it takes to circle Didymos, which is currently 11 hours and 55 minutes.

The space probe used kinetic impact, which involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an approaching near-earth object.

Such a mission may evoke memories of a Hollywood disaster movie such as Armageddon, but this is real and could save Earth from colliding with a deadly space rock.

As the craft propelled itself autonomously, like a self-guided missile, for the mission's final four hours, its imager started to beam down the very first pictures of Dimorphos, before slamming into its surface.

The closer DART got, the more detailed the asteroid appeared and the last shot was an up-close image of the asteroid's rocky surface - before the screen went black.

This meant DART had smashed into the asteroid and the mission was completed.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching a mission in 2024 that will send a probe to Dimorphos and Didymos to study the pair in greater detail.

An asteroid the size of Dimorphos could cause continent-wide destruction on Earth, while the impact of one the size of the larger Didymos would be felt worldwide.

Asteroid 2005 YY128, set to pass Earth tonight, would also create destruction if it collided with Earth - but luckily, it is passing millions of miles away from our planet.
Chinese rescue teams assisting quake-hit areas in Turkiye

10:24, February 15, 2023 By Shen Jun, Yang Yi ( People's Daily

Devastating earthquakes that recently took place in southern Turkiye and near-border regions in Syria have killed and injured lots of people in the two countries and leveled buildings.

The Chinese government has launched an emergency humanitarian assistance mechanism at the earliest time possible to provide emergency aid to the two quake-hit countries.

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team carry out a rescue mission in Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

As of Feb. 12 local time, the China Search and Rescue Team, which is under unified coordination and command of the Chinese government, had freed six survivors, including a man in his fifties who was jointly saved by Chinese and Turkish rescuers on the afternoon of Feb. 12 after four hours of efforts.

So far, the team has sent 206 rescuers in 13 batches to quake-hit areas in Turkiye, who saved six survivors and found eight victims. Besides, rescuers from Hong Kong also extracted three survivors from rubble.

Eighty-two members of the team arrived in Turkiye on Feb. 8, local time, to join earthquake relief efforts in the country. On the afternoon of the same day, they reached Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye.

They started working before dawn on Feb. 9 and extracted a pregnant woman from the debris at dusk in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts. Later, they freed two more females, even the "Golden 72 hours" for rescue had passed.

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team carry out a rescue mission in Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

On Feb. 10, the China Search and Rescue Team saved another female survivor in the city, and two days later, an adult male was extracted from earthquake debris near the place where the fourth survivor was discovered.

At the same time, several civil Chinese rescue teams also joined the rescue efforts in Turkiye.

Eight earthquake relief experts from the Rescue Team of Ramunion in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, arrived in Turkiye on Feb. 8 and rescued a man and a child on the same night.

A day later, the team extracted a family of five from a collapsed civil house in the town of Belen in Hatay province.

Civil Chinese rescue teams convene a coordination meeting in Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

The Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, also has 127 members on rescue missions in the Turkish city of Malatya, which is near the epicenter. After dozens of hours, they saved a female from the rubble.

Besides, Chinese construction machinery manufacturer Zoomlion, Beijing Emergency Rescue Association, Green Boat Emergency Rescue and Shenzhen Rescue Volunteers Federation also sent rescuers to Turkiye. As of 9 a.m. on Feb. 10, 288 rescuers from 15 civil Chinese rescue teams had arrived in quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

China's first batch of 40,000 blankets to Turkiye for earthquake relief departed Shanghai for Istanbul on Feb. 11, Beijing time. Other supplies, including 1,000 tents and medical equipment, will be arriving in the coming days.

The first batch of medical supplies donated by the Red Cross Society of China to Syria arrived in Damascus on Feb. 9.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
After four years on top, London has lost its crown as the five-star hotel capital of the world - instead, it's Macau, China, that now boasts the most top-rated hotels.

In Forbes Travel Guide's 2023 Star Awards Macau - a city and region nicknamed the 'Las Vegas of Asia' thanks to its thriving gambling industry - is recognised as having 22 five-star hotels overall, which now includes the Grand Lisboa Palace Macau, The Karl Lagerfeld and The Londoner Hotel.

Second-place London has 21 five-star hotels, including the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park and The Langham, with no new five-star hotel additions for the English capital this year.

The ratings are allocated by 'highly trained inspectors' who have evaluated properties around the world based on a range of criteria, looking at everything from service to luxury levels.

The 65th annual list features 360 five-star, 585 four-star and 433 'recommended' hotels - with 48 brand-new five-star hotels in total. Spas and restaurants have also been awarded, with 119 five-star and 195 four-star spas worldwide and 79 five-star, 113 four-star and 67 recommended restaurants.

After four years on top, London has lost its crown as the five-star hotel capital of the world in Forbes Travel Guide's 2023 Star Awards. Above is the five-star-rated Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

First-place Macau has 22 five-star hotels overall, including the newly awarded Londoner Hotel (pictured)

Several U.S hotels have been newly awarded five-star ratings. Among them, there's the Montage Healdsburg resort in California, Florida's Boca Raton Beach Club and the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago.

Nine destinations have welcomed their first five-star hotel in the awards this year.

In Europe, there's Athens and its Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens; the Turkish city of Bodrum, with the Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum; the island of Capri with J.K. Place Capri; Kuwait for the Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya; Italy's Lake Como with the 'Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como' hotel and Mallorca for the Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa.

Also joining the five-star club is the Japanese city of Osaka for The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka; Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for both the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh at Kingdom Centre and The Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh; and Shenzhen, China, for the Mandarin Oriental, Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, four new five-star hotels in the Maldives have been added to the ranking, including Soneva Jani and The Ritz-Carlton Maldives.

Moving to the UAE, Dubai's Jumeirah Al Naseem hotel has earned a five-star rating on the list. And after a two-year renovation, the legendary Raffles Hotel Singapore - where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented - has triumphantly returned to the Star Ratings list with a five-star award.

While they failed to earn any five-star ratings, Nordic countries have made their first showing on the list with the four-star Hotel dAngleterre in Copenhagen and several recommended winners in Oslo and Stockholm.

Sicily has also earned an impressive number of four-star hotel ratings - five in total - with one allocated to the San Domenico Palace, Taormina, which famously formed the setting for the second season of the hit TV series The White Lotus.

Several U.S hotels have been newly awarded five-star ratings - among them there's Florida's Boca Raton Beach Club (pictured)

Nine destinations have welcomed their first five-star hotel this year, including the Turkish city of Bodrum with the Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum, pictured

Four new five-star hotels in the Maldives have been added to the list this year, including Soneva Jani (above)

Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid (pictured) has newly snapped up a five-star rating

Elsewhere in the awards, the U.S performed well in the five-star restaurants ranking.

The Restaurant at Justin in Paso Robles, California, has nabbed its first five-star win, while on the east coast, Manhattan's Gabriel Kreuther restaurant is the first new independent restaurant in New York City to receive five stars in 10 years.

In the spa ranking, six destinations have picked up their first five-star spa accolades, including Barbados, for The Spa at Sandy Lane; Ireland, for The Spa at Ashford Castle; Madrid for the spa at the Four Seasons Hotel Madrid and Vancouver for the Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Pacific Rim.

In a new category of the awards this year, the Forbes Travel Guide announced its first-ever ocean cruise ratings.

After a two-year renovation, the legendary Raffles Hotel Singapore (above) triumphantly returned to the Star Ratings list with a five-star award

The Montage Healdsburg in California (above) has been newly awarded five stars

Manhattan's Gabriel Kreuther restaurant is the first new independent restaurant in New York City to receive five stars in 10 years

In a new category of the awards this year, the Forbes Travel Guide announced its first-ever ocean cruise ratings, with Celebrity Edge (above) among the inaugural star-rated ships

The inaugural star-rated ships are Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Flora and Celebrity Millennium, Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Summit.

Commenting on the awards, Amanda Frasier, President of Ratings for Forbes Travel Guide, said: Travel is in an incredible position for continued growth, as people prioritize authentic, in-person experiences.

The hotels, ocean cruises, restaurants and spas on our 2023 Star Rating list demonstrate an impressive commitment to creating memorable environments that nurture connection, joy and sense of place as we experience the world to its fullest.

To see the full list, visit www.forbestravelguide.com.
Dean Wells has broken his silence after being dropped by his management for criticising a taxpayer-funded drag queen story time event in Sydney.

The former Married At First Sight star, 44, came under fire last week after he shared a Photoshopped flyer advertising a performance by Sydney drag queen Charisma Belle at Manly Library for children as young as three.

Dean edited the original flyer to include an unrelated image taken from Charisma's Instagram feed showing the performer spreading her legs in a vulgar fashion with a taco in her crotch.

Dean Wells, 44, has broken his silence after being dropped by his management for criticising a taxpayer-funded drag queen story time event in Sydney

He accompanied this with a caption condemning the event and labelling drag performances 'inherently sexual' - sparking outrage among critics.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Dean doubled on his belief that drag performances are inappropriate for young children and should not be paid for by the government.

Dean said he respects the 'LGBTQ2S+ community', and his original post had nothing to do with targeting queer individuals.

Dean shared a Photoshopped flyer to Instagram advertising a performance by Sydney drag queen Charisma Belle at Manly Library for children as young as three

Rather, he was was expressing his doubts about the 'benefits' of exposing young kids to overt expressions of sexuality, whether it be via events featuring drag queens, dominatrixes or strippers.

LGBTQ2S+ is an acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Two-Spirit.

'In no way am I transphobic, homophobic or hateful,' said Dean, who has five gay family members and a professional mentor who is gay.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Dean doubled on his belief that drag performances are inappropriate for children and should not be paid for by the government

'My post was about one thing. Is it appropriate for three-year-old kids to be exposed to advanced gender and sexual ideologies? I would personally think around the age of 12 is more suitable for that kind of thing.'

'I was curious to know what other people thought. After all this is a taxpayer-funded event in my neighborhood, I think I have the right to ask that question,' added the Manly-based creative agency executive.

Dean also noted he didn't know if Charisma Belle was a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community, as there are straight men who also participate in the art of drag.

Dean said he respects the 'LGBTQ2S+ community', and his original post had nothing to do with targeting queer individuals. Rather, he was was expressing his doubts about the 'benefits' of exposing young kids to overt expressions of sexuality

'I did not "doctor" any photo or attempt to mislead anyone. I took an image of the drag queen in question, that he himself posted to his Instagram, and put it next to the Manly libraries website post to show people who the drag queen is,' he explained. (Pictured: the original photo on Charisma Belle's Instagram page)

'I had no idea of the drag queen's sexuality. Are all drag queens even gay? I don't know. I'm pretty sure they are not. I didn't even talk about that in my post. So the accusations of me being transphobic or homophobic are just plain false,' he said.

Dean also set the record straight on claims he 'doctored' the original flyer advertising Charisma Belle's appearance at Manly Library.

'I did not "doctor" any photo or attempt to mislead anyone. I took an image of the drag queen in question, that he himself posted to his Instagram, and put it next to the Manly libraries website post to show people who the drag queen is,' he said.

He said that while the backlash has 'taken a toll' on his mental health, he won't be silenced

'I clearly stated in the caption that I had merged the two screenshots and that the library was not using this image to advertise the event. So how is that misleading?'

He also noted that while the online backlash has 'taken a toll' on his mental health, he won't be silenced.

Dean has now set up a Patreon account where he will express his views and share exclusive content for like-minded fans.

Dean was dropped by his management last week after he uploaded the edited flyer advertising drag queen Charisma Belle's upcoming appearance at Manly Library

'Despite all the haters, I'm not going anywhere, and this experience has inspired me to work even harder,' he said.

Dean was dropped by his management last week after he uploaded the edited flyer advertising Charisma Belle's upcoming appearance at Manly Library.

'The Drag Queen Story Time will feature stories and songs celebrating family, love, and being yourself,' the flyer read.

'The Story Time will be followed by a creative craft for attendees to keep. Suitable for children aged 3+.'

Charisma Belle (pictured), the drag queen booked to perform at the event, responded to the furore in a lengthy statement and condemned Dean's post

Dean accompanied this with a caption explaining why he believes such events are problematic.

'Our tax dollars are being used to fund a thing called "Drag Queen Story Time" where drag queens go to our libraries and schools and are paid to read to kids as young as three, usually about gender identity and from an extremist left-wing perspective,' he wrote.

'I honestly do not get what the cultural benefit of this is and think it is sending confusing messages to kids.'

'Another straight man telling people how to behave and dissecting a community they have had very limited experience with,' Charisma wrote

Dean went on to say he believes 'being a drag queen is inherently sexual'.

He also argued that, like in all communities, some drag queens have 'serious mental disorders that need to be dealt with', and therefore this group of people shouldn't automatically be glorified.

The post sparked backlash online, and Dean eventually removed it from his page.

Charisma Belle, the drag queen booked to perform at the event, also responded to the furore in a lengthy statement of their own.

Following the backlash, Dean's management agency Stage Addiction dropped him

'Another straight man telling people how to behave and dissecting a community they have had very limited experience with,' Charisma wrote.

The performer said that calling the art of drag 'sexual' was 'laughable' before slamming Dean for sharing a doctored image.

'You purposely went through my Instagram page to find the most 'sexual' picture you could, to mock up a fake ad for the event. You purposely misrepresented the situation and misguided your followers,' Charisma wrote.

'Story Time is not just about the kids. It's about the whole family. After reading to the children, I spend time chatting with the parents and answering any questions that might arise,' they explained.

'Story Time is for parents that want their kids to grow up to be well adjusted human beings. At one Story Time I facilitated, we had a boy who loved to wear sequin and sparkly shoes attend. His father bought him to story time to show him, that he is not alone. You see, just like you and I, Story Time also has many benefits and facets.'

Since his time on reality TV, Dean now hosts his own politically incorrect podcast and YouTube series called Dangerous Ideas with Deano

Charisma also claimed that the event could 'save lives' and that's why it was being funded by taxpayers.

'You seem to be quite worried about the taxpayer. I'll remind you we all pay tax, the parents of the kids that attend have paid their fair share and are obviously happy that the event exists,' Charisma said.

'The small about we are paid for such events will not build a house or stop starvation, but it could help in building a saver environment for young LGBTIQA kids later in life. These small events could even save lives.'

Following the backlash, Dean's management agency Stage Addiction dropped him.

'As a queer-owned business, Stage Addiction has always and will always celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community,' they said in a statement.

Dean hosts his own politically incorrect podcast and YouTube series called Dangerous Ideas with Deano

'The deeply hurtful comments made today by Dean Wells do not align with our values and as such we have parted ways.'

Stage Addiction represents many of Australia's most progressive and diverse stars, including Abbie Chatfield, Angie Kent, drag queen Art Simone, and more.

The agency had been quite successful in getting Dean work on reality television after his stint on MAFS in 2018, landing him a spot on Channel 10's Dancing With The Stars in 2020.

He now hosts his own politically incorrect podcast and YouTube series called Dangerous Ideas with Deano.
Rumer Willis and boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas showed how over the moon they are about each other in Valentine's Day social media posts.

The 34-year-old actress and mom-to-be beamed in a new video shared by her beau, 28.

Wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt, the daughter of Hollywood icons Bruce Willis and Demi Moore lifted her top to bare her burgeoning baby bump.

Thomas began his heartfelt caption, 'Roobie Rue I love ya, honey, I love ya!' and added 'Youre the best partner I could ever ask for, I love being around you.'

In her post Rumer gushed, 'My sweet sweet man @derekrichardthomas I didnt know that love could feel like this.'

Sweet: Rumer Willis and boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas showed how over the moon they are about each other in Valentine's Day social media posts

Addressing her love and engaging her 994,000 followers, she continued, 'I have never been so happy in my life. You make everything more fun and goofy and joyful.'

The expectant mom filled the carousel with an assortment of photos of herself and the music artist.

Her dedication went on to say, 'You take such good care of my [heart]. Your silliness and laughter is something I am so deeply grateful for and truly what made me fall in love with you.

'Thank you for being my partner in crime, my confidant, my best friend and always saying yes to adventure and challenging me to be the best version of myself.'

She expressed appreciation for her partner as she added, 'Thank you for making me a mama, and being my partner in this wild ride into parenthood, you take such good care of me and our little one already.

'We are so lucky to love you. [Love], your valentines. Rue and Little [sprouting plant emoji].'

Rumer's stepmom Emma Heming Willis was among the first to comment as she wrote, 'Oh the sweetness,' with a heart eyes emoji.

And continuing his sentimental caption, Derek said to his girlfriend, 'Thanks for believing in my dreams, for laughing at my jokes and always playing along.'

In love: In her post Rumer gushed, 'My sweet sweet man @derekrichardthomas I didnt know that love could feel like this'

Thoughtful: Addressing her love and engaging her 994,000 followers, Rumer wrote to her man, 'I have never been so happy in my life. You make everything more fun and goofy and joyful'

'Im so glad you are who you are. Youre genuinely so kind, funny, talented, intelligent, sexy and wise,' he raved about his love.

He posted a throwback baby photo of Willis to open the slideshow of snapshots and went on, 'Youve changed my life forever, and for the better. Im beyond grateful that we get to make a family together.'

Thomas didn't let up as the wordy stream of thoughts carried on: 'Thank you for growing our child from scratch, I have so much reverence and respect for this journey youre on.

'Were on it together, but youre doing all the heavy lifting and I get to just cheer you on, feed you tacos and appreciate you. I cant wait to dance around the kitchen with our baby.'

As the note came to a close he said, 'I want to thank youfor letting me.be myselfagain

'@rumerwillis I love the sh*t out of you. All of it, the good sh*t, the real sh*t, the bull sh*t AND the bat sh*t.'

Rumer quickly showed up in the comments section to say, 'I love you so much.'

Heartfelt: Thomas began his heartfelt caption, 'Roobie Rue I love ya, honey, I love ya!' and added 'Youre the best partner I could ever ask for, I love being around you'

Precious: The expectant mom filled the carousel with an assortment of photos of herself and the music artist

Rumer shared news of her pregnancy via Instagram in December, uploading a series of images that showed her beau resting his head on her stomach.

She also celebrated six years of sobriety that month and took to social media to share a photo of her as a toddler on a swing in a front yard.

'Sending love to Baby Rue today,' she captioned the sweet picture. 'Celebrating 6 years Sober... Woohoo.'

The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actress added: 'Also still can't believe I am currently cooking a little person in my belly right now.

'I am so deeply grateful for the incredible lessons and gifts that have come my way this year. I'm so grateful this little soul chose me to have the privilege of being their mama.'

This will be Demi and Bruce's first grandchild. They are also parents to daughters Tallulah, 28, and Scout, 31, together.

Silhouette: Rumer looked beautiful in a black and white photo featuring her pregnant silhouette

Cute! Derek posted a throwback baby photo of Willis to open the slideshow of snapshots
Kaia Gerber cut a casual figure in black as she met up with a friend for lunch in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day.

The model, 21 - who was recently spotted walking her dog with her Oscar nominated boyfriend Austin Butler - wore black ALO leggings with a baggy black sweater and ankle-high Ugg boots on the cold and blustery day in Southern California.

She had her brown hair pulled back in a bun and wore a pair of black sunglasses.

As she walked away, the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, 56, carried a to-go bag with the leftovers of her lunch.

The former model of the year has been dating Elvis actor Austin Butler since December 2021.

Chic: Kaia Gerber cut a casual figure in black as she met up with a friend for lunch in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day while wearing black ALO leggings and a baggy sweater

They first sparked rumors after being spotted at a yoga class together and made their red carpet debut in May though they've kept a low profile in recent months.

The Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood star has already won the Golden Globe for Best Performance in a Motion Picture  Drama, though he lost out on a Critics' Choice Award to The Whale's Brendan Fraser.

Austin has some stiff competition for the Academy Award including Fraser, Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), and Bill Nighy (Living).

Should Austin win the Oscar for his portrayal of the King of Rock, he will do so without one very important part of his role - Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley.

Lisa Marie passed away suddenly last month at the age of 54. Her final red carpet appearance was supporting Austin at the Golden Globes..

Before her untimely death, Lisa Marie lauded Butler for his moving performance in the film.

On her Instagram account she shared, 'Austin Butler channeled and embodied my father's heart and soul beautifully. In my humble opinion his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully.'

Lisa Marie and her mother Priscilla Presley accompanied Austin on much of the publicity tour for Elvis and the trio grew close during filming of the biopic.

He brought both women to tears as he spoke directly to them in his Golden Globe acceptance speech for Best Actor, saying, 'Thank you guys, thank you for opening your hearts, your memories, your home to me. Lisa Marie, Priscilla, I love you forever.'

Valentine's day: Kaia was seen hugging a pal as she headed out
Brendan Fraser has defended the Batgirl film he appeared in that was shelved by Warner Bros. last summer in a shocking move.

The Oscar-nominated star of The Whale, 54, appeared at a SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Screening Room in Los Angeles.

At the event, Fraser wore a brown cowhide coat over a black shirt with dark blue jeans and black boots.

The actor Wednesday told Howard Stern that the DC motion picture didn't get a 'fair shake' when it was shelved by the studio ahead of its 2022 release.

Fraser, who played the role of Firefly in the movie, said that Batgirl filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah got it right shooting in Glasgow, Scotland, which made a prime stand-in for Gotham.

'Gotham never looked better cast as Glasgow, Scotland, you know,' the Indianapolis, Indiana-born actor said. 'It's decaying and just gorgeous, and it looks like it's Gotham City; it's perfectly cast.'

He added: 'You believe it no matter where you look in the town if you light it the right way.'

Batgirl, which starred Leslie Grace in the title role and also featured a supporting cast including J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton, had a $90 million budget.

The latest: Brendan Fraser, 54, appeared at SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations event in LA Tuesday, days after he defended the Batgirl film he appeared in that was shelved by Warner Bros. last summer in a shocking move

Following test screenings last year, the movie was shelved by the studio, with no plans for theatrical or streaming release on tap.

He said that the test screenings were rough cuts of the film, and 'it wasnt shown in the best light that it could have been' in hindsight.

'I dont know about you, but I dont eat half-baked cake,' the actor said. 'I dont want to see something thats not ready yet and the sad thing is.'

Fraser opened up to Stern about the villainous role of Firefly he played: 'It was a story about a guy who had been in the service and his benefits were cut and he was very angry with the system and what else is he going to do but burn it to the ground?'

He added, 'Youve got some sympathy to him, youve also got some humanity to him, and on top of that, a screw loose - like all the best bad guys, you kind of like him a little bit.'

Fraser said that he 'relished' the part and described it as 'great fun' despite the disappointing fate of the film.

Fraser said that another upsetting factor in the shelving of the film was that young females didn't have the chance to see Grace's 'wonderful' portrayal of the superhero.

'Thats disappointing for obvious reasons, but moreover because little girls are going to have to wait longer now before they can see a Batgirl who they can identify' with, Fraser said.

Fraser said that Batgirl filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah got it right shooting in Glasgow, Scotland, which made a prime stand-in for Gotham

Fraser said that he 'relished' playing the part of Firefly and described it as 'great fun' despite the disappointing fate of the film

At the event, Fraser wore a brown cowhide coat over a black shirt with dark blue jeans and black boots
Fans of British heartthrob Harry Styles could be banned from attending his concert after the venue ruled it unsafe to camp outside.

The recent recipient of four Brit Awards and the Grammy for Album of the Year, Styles will start the Australian leg of his 'Love On' tour on February 20 at HBF Park in Perth before travelling to Melbourne and Sydney.

However, fans have now been warned by the operators of HBF Park, Venues West, that camping outside the venue is 'strictly prohibited' and will not lead to priority entry.

Any patrons found to be queueing or camping before the approved time will be asked to move on and potentially refused entry.

Fans will be allowed to queue from 8am on the morning of the concert.

Fans of Harry Styles have been warned that camping or queueing outside of HBF Arena in Perth in the prior to his February 20 concert could lead to being barred from the show

Venues West are expecting a packed arena as all venues on Styles' Australian tour were sold out in a matter of minutes.

Fans of Styles have been planning to camp out the front to get as close to the front of the stage as possible when the venue opens, using 'early-line' systems created by fans.

The systems use numbered wrist bands that place fans into an order for entry, but they have subsequently been disavowed by Venues West.

A spokesperson for Venues West told WA Today that the safety of staff and patrons is their number one priority.

They said early indicators suggest that large numbers of fans intended to camp outside, some for days, and it presented safety concerns.

City of Vincent, the council that presides over HBF Park, have announced that city rangers will support venue security in the removal of camping or queueing patrons.

HBF Park operators, Venues West, expected some fans to camp outside of the arena for days prior, but a spokesperson said that to do so presented a safety hazard

One of those who planned to queue for the concert is Jasmine Whitehead, 22, who has made a name for herself online by camping outside for days prior to concerts.

'Harry has a crazy, hectic fan base with people camping out for two weeks for his residency in Los Angeles,' Ms Whitehead said.

'It is surprising that HBF Park are being this strict with the camping rule and I feel they could have gone about it better because now there will be a stampede of girls running to the gate at 8am.'

Ms Whitehall posted a video to her TikTok of her camping outside of the RAC Arena two days prior to Billie Eilish's Perth concert in September last year.

'Its not unusual for venues to say no to camping but people still do it and the venues are usually really good about providing water, sunscreen and making toilets available,' she said.

Styles' fans intended to queue to be the first ones through ticket check and be as close to the front stage as possible

The decision quickly became a talking point on social media, with many of Styles' fans supporting the decision.

'This is great I love it,' one user wrote.

'If I show up to general admission and someone tries to put me in a fan made line, they are getting laughed at,' another wrote on the early-line system.

'I mean to be fair this is how it should be,' another user wrote.

'Camping has definitely gotten out of hand, lining up in the morning should be enough.'

Other users were hopeful that the venues they are attending will introduce the same rule.

'I hope Metricon does this too,' one wrote.

'I hope they do this at Accor,' another wrote.
Sister Wives star Christine Brown has revealed the identity of her new boyfriend in the wake of her split with ex-husband Kody Brown.

Christine, 50, took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal that she is in a new relationship with a man named David to coincide with Valentine's Day.

She said that she 'never dreamed [she] could find a love like this' in a caption to a photo carousel of pictures of them together.

'I finally found the love of my life, David,' Christine said. 'The first time he held me close, it felt like my soul took its first breath. Hes wonderful and kind, incredible with my children and an adorable grandpa.'

She added the hashtagged phrases blessed, soulmate, feelinggood, lovemylife and partner.

In an adjacent clip on Instagram Stories, the reality star beamed as she rode in a vehicle with her new love.

'Hi, I have someone to introduce you to,' Christine said as she panned over to David, who replied, 'Hello my queen.'

She told her followers, 'Thank you so much for all of your support, we really, really appreciate it, and we're just having a lovely, lovely time,' and both ended the clip saying, 'Happy Valentine's Day!'

The latest: Sister Wives star Christine Brown, 50, has revealed the identity of her new boyfriend in the wake of her split with ex-husband Kody Brown, 54, as his name is David

The Valentine's Day reveal came a week after Christine revealed on the social media site that she was back in a committed relationship.

'Car confessions - so I just have to tell you, I am dating someone exclusively,' the TLC star said on the social media site.

Christine described her new love interest as 'wonderful and romantic and so kind and everything Ive been looking for.'

The Utah native said that her new love interest has been 'incredible with' her 12-year-old daughter Truely, who she shares with Kody, 54.

Christine at the time said that she was not going to publicly reveal who she's dating - she's 'keeping him to myself' for 'a little bit' - and that she would eventually get to posting pictures of them together.

In January, Christine indicated to her Instagram followers that she was 'dating again' and exploring the world of romance apps.

'Holy. Hell. Awkward,' said Christine, who announced her split from Kody in November 2021. 'Dating online is crazy! Any advice for dating at 50?!'

Christine took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal that she is in a new relationship with a man named David to coincide with Valentine's Day

She said that she 'never dreamed [she] could find a love like this' in a caption to a photo carousel of pictures of them together

She said of her new partner, 'Hes wonderful and kind, incredible with my children and an adorable grandpa'

Christine, who shares six kids with Kody - Aspyn, 27, Mykelti, 26, Paedon, 24, Gwendlyn, 21, Ysabel, 19, and Truely - had been in a spiritual marriage with the Sister Wives patriarch since 1994.

In a statement she released following her split with Kody, she said, 'After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart and I have made the difficult decision to leave.

'We will continue to be a strong presence in each others lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family. At this time, we ask for your grace and kindness as we navigate through this stage within our family.'

Following the parting between Christine and Kody, Janelle Brown, 53, said in December 2022 that she and Cody had been separated after 30 years together.

Subsequently, Meri Brown, 52, said on the first installment in the Sister Wives: One-on-One special that she and Kody had ended their marriage after 32 years.

Kody remains married to Robyn Brown, 43.

She told her followers, 'Thank you so much for all of your support, we really, really appreciate it, and we're just having a lovely, lovely time'

Both ended the clip saying, 'Happy Valentine's Day!'

Christine last week said she had found love again in the wake of her split with ex-husband Kody Brown

Christine described her new love interest as 'wonderful and romantic and so kind and everything Ive been looking for'

Christine said that she was not going to publicly reveal who she's dating - she's 'keeping him to myself' for 'a little bit' - and that she would eventually get to posting pictures of them together

Christine announced her split from Kody in November 2021; the pair had been in a spiritual marriage since 1994
Radio and television presenter Yumi Stynes will have to confront her ex-husband in a Sydney courtroom as he fights a restraining order sought by police.

Stynes and Martin Bendeler will face-off in Downing Centre Local Court at a hearing set down for September, when both are expected to give evidence.

An interim apprehended violence order was imposed on December 20 after Stynes gave a statement to police, 14 months after she had announced the couple's split.

Neither Stynes nor Bendeler was required to be in court on Wednesday when the case was listed for hearing.

Radio and television presenter Yumi Stynes will have to confront her ex-husband in a Sydney court when he fights a restraining order brought by police. She is pictured at the Australian Women's Weekly Women of the Future Awards lunch in Sydney in December 2021

Under the terms of the interim order Bendeler must not assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate Stynes, damage her property or harm any pet she owns.

He has not been accused of doing any of those things and was not present when the interim order was approved.

Bendeler is a former adviser on environment and aid policy with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has worked with UNESCO.

Stynes announced her separation from Bendeler, her second husband, in October 2021 after almost a decade of marriage. They are both 47.

The former Channel [V] host married Bendeler in 2012 and they share two children.

Police have taken out an AVO on behalf of Stynes against her ex-husband Martin Bendeler after she made a statement to police. The former couple is pictured

It is understood the former couple was trying to co-parent their children until Stynes, who co-hosts a radio show on KIIS FM, made a complaint to police.

Stynes broke down in tears live on KIIS FM's 3pm Pick-Up in late October 2021 as she shared heartbreaking details of the split.

She said she had moved out of the marital home and into her own apartment and told her co-hosts it was daunting being a single mother for the second time.

'I'm going through a separation at the moment and there's kids involved and my ex is involved so I don't want to say anything that hurts these people,' she said.

'I have had to find an apartment, had to move my stuff, all my crap is in boxes and bags... I had to change my address, throw out the keys that don't work anymore...

'It's been a lot. I spent the weekend moving and I feel like I'm starting my new life now as a single mum. Here I am again.'

Stynes announced her separation from Bendeler, her second husband, in October 2021 after almost a decade of marriage. They are both 47. She is pictured at Bondi Beach in January

Stynes said it was still too raw to discuss details of the break-up.

'I have hundreds and thousands of words to say but I don't think I'm ready yet,' she told listeners.

'Break-ups aren't over quickly. I'll probably be in this process for another year... I probably will be up and down in the future.'

Stynes asked Bendeler to marry her on a February 29, the 'leap day' which occurs every fours years on which women traditionally propose to men.

She was previously married to Ben Ely from Brisbane rock band Regurgitator from 2000 to 2008. They have two children, Anouk and Dee Dee.

Stynes wrote an article for the ABC in 2020 about how to stay friends with an ex-partner based on her experience co-parenting with Ely.

She encouraged people to 'take time apart when it first happens, encourage mutual respect and redraw the boundaries of your relationship'.

'Breaking up 'well' isn't something you think about when you're in the flush of new love,' she wrote.

'And when it all falls apart, staying friendly isn't necessary - unless you share something vital, like a business, friends, a creative project or, in our case, children.'
Tagged

Rating:

Inside Our Autistic Minds

Rating:

What has an unemployed man on a burglary charge, living with his mum in Reading, got in common with a brash young father from Rhyl or an ambitious, middle class rapper in London?

It's not just that all of them, after brushes with the law, were wearing electronic ankle bracelets. The real connection, one that Tagged (BBC3) was intent on ignoring, is that all these young men were drug users  and it was blighting their lives.

Inexplicably broken into 20-minute episodes that were then broadcast back-to-back, this documentary charted the inconveniences and irritations of life wearing a tag.

Welshman John was ordered to wear an alcohol detector as a condition of probation, after a night out turned violent. At 21, he was a heavy drinker, unable to indulge his taste for double brandies and Coke without setting off the alarm on his leg. But it was an altercation with a drug dealer that landed him in court.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: What has an unemployed man on a burglary charge, living with his mum in Reading, got in common with a brash young father from Rhyl or an ambitious, middle class rapper in London? (file image)

Blue-eyed Harry, 22, was desperate for his songs and music videos to break through. He insisted he could 'stay focused'  but he got stoned in the studio on codeine and weed, and ended up with such bad hiccups that he missed his recording session. It would be funny, if it wasn't so pathetic.

There was nothing funny about 28-year-old James's life. He spent his benefits and everything he could cadge from his mother on heroin and crack. He did drugs on the bus, in the house, even outside the magistrates' court.

All of them were easy prey for dealers such as 19-year-old Jaion, who sat on a park bench calling out to passing teenagers, offering them drugs and handing out cards with his mobile number.

Jaion was wearing a tag, too, one that tracked his movements. 'They say it's to stop me reoffending,' he said, 'but that's stupid. I'm out of jail, anything can happen.'

The charges he faced were serious  accused of human trafficking and enslaving a younger boy to run drugs as part of the county lines network. All of these young men were known to the police. Their tags were meant to be a deterrent to illegal activity. Yet none of them felt the slightest need to hide their drug use  it was as normal to them as eating or sleeping.

Their generation wouldn't believe that, 50 years ago, most people in Britain had never seen illegal drugs being used, let alone tried them. Police would arrest anyone with the tiniest scrap of blotting paper or cannabis resin wrapped in clingfilm.

At some point early in this century, police forces quietly stopped caring. Illegal drugs of all kinds have been effectively decriminalised. The impact on society has been rapid and unstoppable. Predators such as Jaion have an unlimited supply of both drugs and customers. Human detritus like James, Harry and John is the result.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Chris Packham was exploring ways to explain how the condition affects thought processes and perceptions on Inside Our Autistic Minds (BBC2), the first of a two-parter

Autism is also far more prevalent than it was 50 years ago, for reasons that are intensely complex and less well understood. Chris Packham was exploring ways to explain how the condition affects thought processes and perceptions on Inside Our Autistic Minds (BBC2), the first of a two-parter.

He met stand-up comedian Flo, 28, who was adept at hiding her anxieties and difficulties with social interactions. He also spent time with 20-year-old Murray, who cannot speak but is poetically articulate with the aid of a computer and an alphabet chart.

I've long felt it is unhelpful to stretch the definition of autism to cover such vastly different presentations. That's hardly Chris's fault, though, and this was a moving, original and informative programme.

SAFETY TALK OF THE NIGHT: Staying in a safari lodge in Zambia on New Lives In The Wild (Ch5), Ben Fogle was given a set of rules by his hosts' small daughters. 'Don't go near the river  crocodiles!' warned Indiana, five. 'And don't go near the snakes,' added little sister Ivy. Good advice, girls.
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Danai Gurira was the epitome of sophisticated elegance in a leather coat while fellow actresses, Diane Lane and AnnaSophia Robb, were incredibly chic as they led celebrities at the Gabriela Hearst runway during NYFW on Tuesday.

The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star, 45, opted for a monochromatic look at the runway event while the Oscar nominee, 58, and The Carrie Diaries actress, 29, also dressed to impress.

Upon arriving, guests were ushered into the Agger Fish Building located in Brooklyn for a rather modern and industrial feel.

The Walking Dead star, who has previously made fashion statements of her own in the big apple, slipped into a long, leather jacket that fell down towards her ankles.

A thick belt made of the same material was securely wrapped around her upper waist to better accentuate her toned frame.

Stylish: Danai Gurira, 45, was sophisticated in a belted leather coat as she attended the Gabriela Hearts runway show for NYFW on Tuesday along with Diane Lane and AnnaSophia Robb

The talented beauty slipped into a pair of black, leathered heeled boots to help her stay warm in the chilly temperatures.

She carried a black Nina Bag from the luxurious brand, which is priced at $2,800, according to the official website.

Danai's long locks were pulled up into a half ponytail styled high on top of her head, allowing the rest of the strands to cascade down past her shoulders.

The star donned a pair of black sunglasses to coincide with the overall color scheme of her ensemble for the eventful day.

The Marvel actress added a bit of contrast to her look by wearing a pair of gold-hooped earrings to accessorize the outfit, along with a few gold rings on each of her hands.

Her makeup was classically done for the day, and donned a dark pink tint to her lips to complete her look. Once she removed her shades, the star revealed she also opted for a colorful, purple shadow around her eyes.

As Danai arrived at the large warehouse, she paused for a quick photo session to better showcase her look before the runway show commenced.

Once inside the spacious venue, the actress, who is known for starring in the Black Panther franchise, including the sequel, which has been nominated for five Oscars, caught up with a few celebrity pals.

Sophisticated: She carried a black Nina Bag from the luxurious brand, which is priced at $2,800, according to the official website

Pop of color: Her makeup was classically done for the day, and she donned a rosy-pink tint to her lips to complete her look, as well as a colorful, purple shadow around her eyes

Catching up: The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actress was seen conversing with the designer, Gabriela Hearst (left) and also music producer and DJ, Diplo (middle)

Diane was classy as she arrived at the runway show wearing a dark navy trench coat that was loosely tied with a belt around her waist.

She slipped into a pair of dark gray, loose-fitting slacks and a dark brown, patterned blouse which was partially concealed by the stylish coat.

Similar to Danai, the Under The Tuscan Sun actress threw on a pair of black, circular shades as she strolled outside to enter the warehouse.

The Golden Globe-nominated star slipped into a pair of black, T-strap pumps that contained a short, block heel.

In her left hand, Lane, who made her big screen debut at the age of 14, supported the brand by carrying a Diana Bag, which is priced at $3,000.

Her locks were parted in the middle, and the beauty allowed her hair to fall down in natural, light waves.

The Man Of Steel actress kept her jewelry simplistic, and donned a pair of dainty, rhinestone earrings.

She flashed a light-hearted smile as she entered the venue to see the latest Fall/Winter 2023 collection from Gabriela Hearst.

Keeping it classy: Diane was classy as she arrived at the runway show wearing a dark navy trench coat that was loosely tied with a belt around her waist

Layering: She slipped into a pair of dark gray, loose-fitting slacks and a dark brown, patterned blouse which was partially concealed by the stylish coat

Head turner: AnnaSophia turned heads in a colorful red dress while draping a black blazer over her shoulders as she arrived at the event during NYFW

AnnaSophia was soon spotted making her own grand arrival wearing a sleeveless, vibrant red dress that contained a plunging V-neck cut.

The ensemble fell down past her ankles and revealed a glimpse of the actress's black, low-heeled boots that she paired with the gown.

The blonde beauty easily draped a black blazer over shoulders in the late winter weather, but once inside the warehouse, she temporarily removed the jacket.

The star carried a purse similar to the Nina Bag from Gabriela Hearst, but instead of leather, the material on the handbag appeared to be classic suede.

Her short locks were parted in the middle, and nearly brushed the base of her neck, while her bangs fell down straight onto her forehead.

The Charlie And The Chocolate Factory star added a pair of elegant, gold earrings to complete her overall ensemble.

She added a bronze shadow around her eyes, including a layer of black mascara on her lashes to make her eyes pop. A light touch of pink blush along with a rosy matte tint to her lips finished off her makeup look.

AnnaSophia paused for a photo near the one-of-a-kind runway and also when she was seated front row along with other guests.

Stunning: The ensemble fell down past her ankles and revealed a glimpse of the actress's black, low-heeled boots that she paired with the gown

Ready for the show: Her short locks were parted in the middle, and nearly brushed the base of her neck, while her bangs fell down straight onto her forehead

Also spotted: Leslie Mann, who tied the knot with Judd Apatow in 1997, was also seen at the runway show during NYFW on Tuesday

Having fun: The This Is 40 star donned a long-sleeved, black dress with a belt to complete her look for the fashion event

This Is 40 actress, Leslie Mann, was also in attendance and was spotted holding conversations with a few pals she crossed paths with inside the large space.

The star, who tied the knot with Judd Apatow in 1997, opted for a long, black dress that contained classic, bell sleeves.

She added a thick black belt to secure the dress which contained a brown, circular embellishment in the middle for a pop of color.

Her blonde locks were parted in the middle, and fell down straight to brush past her shoulders.

Music producer and DJ, Diplo, was pictured relaxing front row wearing a dark red, button up shirt which he paired with dark navy slacks. He added a navy pea coat on top of the outfit to complete his overall look.

The Lean On hitmaker sported platinum blonde locks while slipping into a pair of sleek, black dress shoes. A pair of black shades were donned for a final touch.

He was seated next to model, Marianne Fonseca, who showed off her slim frame wearing a white ribbed $3,290 Mila Dress from the brand, that also contained a colorful cashmere swirl pattern at the waist.

She slipped onto a pair of open-toed, black strappy sandals while sporting a pair of oval-shaped shades. Next to her on the benched seat was a white $3,000 Diana Bag.

Stylishly casual: Music producer and DJ, Diplo, was pictured relaxing front row wearing a dark red, button up shirt which she paired with dark navy slacks

Luxurious: He was seated next to model, Marianne Fonseca, who showed off her toned frame wearing a white ribbed $3,290 Mila Dress from the brand

Classy: Politician Huma Abedin was stunning wearing a white dress with a thin belt secured at the waist

Viewing the collection: CEO of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, and wife Dana Blumberg, whom he tied the knot with last year, were also in attendance

Photo session: Rebecca Hall and her husband, The Gilded Age actor, Morgan Spector, were seen pausing for a photo with Diane

Politician Huma Abedin was seen wearing a $3,290 Mila dress that contained a pointed collar and thin belt that was tightly secured at the waistline.

A blue pattern was seen around the neckline that fell down towards the upper chest area for a fashionable touch.

She accessorized the look with gold earrings and for a bold touch, she added a vibrant pink matte tint to her lips.

CEO of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, was also seen at the runway show, with his wife, Dana Blumberg, by his side. The two officially tied the knot last year after first being linked in 2017.

British-born actress, Rebecca Hall, and her husband, Morgan Spector, were spotted pausing for a memorable snap with Diane as they crossed paths at the event.

While Hall donned a long, cream-colored coat, her husband and The Gilded Age actor opted for a gray suit which he paired with a black turtleneck.

Various looks were showcased during the Fall/Winter 2023 runway show on Tuesday, and ranged from form-fitting dresses to colorful displays.

According to Gabriela Heart's official bio, the fashion designer, 'wanted to create a brand that reflects a slower pace and process: where things are made with care and detail, where tradition is more important than trend, where there is a purpose to every piece.'

The talented designer, who was born in Uruguay, additionally strives to create 'honest luxury.'

The collection: Various looks were showcased during the Fall/Winter 2023 runway show on Tuesday, and ranged from form-fitting dresses to colorful displays
Iggy Azalea looked stunning as she stepped out in New York City on Tuesday for a business meeting at the Sony Tower.

The Australian-born rapper, 32, turned heads in an ankle-length dress which hugged her hourglass figure to perfection.

She teamed it with a matching denim jacket featuring frayed detailing.

Iggy Azalea looked stunning as she stepped out in New York City on Tuesday for a business meeting at the Sony Tower

The Fancy hit-maker accessorised the ensemble with blue heeled boots and a Givenchy handbag worth an eye-watering $3,400.

Sporting a set of long nails, Iggy went for a full glam look with expert contouring and twisted her long golden tresses into tight curls.

It comes after Iggy celebrated her recent financial success on OnlyFans by kicking back on a luxury yacht in the Bahamas.

The Australian-born rapper, 32, turned heads in an ankle-length dress which hugged her hourglass figure to perfection

She rugged up against the cold with a stylish denim jacket featuring frayed detailing to add texture to her look. She teamed it with a matching denim jacket featuring frayed detailing

The Fancy hit-maker accessorised the ensemble with blue heeled boots and a Givenchy handbag worth an eye-watering $3,400

The racy rapper flaunted her curves in a bikini that barely contained her assets.

After riding her jet ski, the blonde bombshell changed into a brown bikini and relaxed on the boat's bow.

Sharing images of the excursion to social media, Iggy clapped back at haters who accused her of being washed-up for joining OnlyFans.

Sporting a set of long nails, Iggy went for a full glam look with expert contouring and twisted her long golden tresses into tight curls

'Falling off never looked so good,' she wrote.

Since joining the adult website last month, the Work rapper 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.

It comes after Iggy celebrated her recent financial success on OnlyFans by kicking back on a luxury yacht in the Bahamas
Chris Evans and his girlfriend Alba Baptista cemented their love on Tuesday with a loving slideshow of romantic moments to mark Valentine's Day.

In a post shared to his Instagram Stories, the 41-year-old Avengers: Endgame star shared a variety of loved-up photos, including snaps of the himself and the 25-year-old Portuguese actress spending quality time together on nature hikes.

The loving display comes a little over a month after the two went Instagram official, despite having dated under the radar for nearly two years at that point.

Chris also posted some playful videos featuring Alba, including a hilarious one in which they had drawn eyes on her chin and filmed the bottom of her face upside down.

Another video showed her shock as she played the classic video game Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time.

Sweet: Chris Evans, 41, celebrated Valentine's Day on Tuesday with a loving slideshow featuring sweet moments with his girlfriend Alba Baptista, a 25-year-old Portuguese actress

Taking their time: The slideshow arrives just over a month after the two went Instagram official, though they had reportedly dated for almost two years beforehand

Silly: Chris also posted some hilarious videos of his love, including one in which they drew an upside down face on her chin

Chris's slide show featured some solo pictures of his girlfriend that highlighted her beauty, but it was also packed with pictures of the two beaming out in nature, confirming that they are the outdoorsy type.

They were suited up for a ski trip in one photo, with both beaming while wearing helmets and protective goggles.

The cute couple shared a loving kiss in a car in another picture.

In the earlier video, Chris had his hand over the top part of Alba's face, but neither of them could control their giggles.

They had painted a set of comically lopsided eyes and brows, with her upside down mouth serving its normal purpose.

'Oh baby, you're not going to like that,' Chris said of the bizarre sight, before urging Alba to say something so he could film the upside-down face.

'I don't know what to say,' she replied, but it turned out to be just the expression he was looking for, so he let out a delight chuckle.

Alba apparently wasn't crazy about the follow-up video either, which showed her playing Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time.

Loving nature: Chris's slide show featured some solo pictures of his girlfriend that highlighted her beauty, but it was also packed with pictures of the two beaming out in nature, confirming that they are the outdoorsy type

Passionate: The cute couple shared a loving kiss in a car in another picture

Having fun: In the earlier video, Chris had his hand over the top part of Alba's face, but neither of them could control their giggles. They had painted a set of comically lopsided eyes and brows, with her upside down mouth serving its normal purpose

Intense: Alba apparently wasn't crazy about the follow-up video either, which showed her playing Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time

'Oh my gosh!' she shouted as she tried to navigate the video game.

'...I introduced her to Mario Bros 3,' Evans captioned the clip. 'She hates this video but I LOVE it,' he added.

In January, Evans officially confirmed his relationship with Alba in a cute video in which he and his love were trying to scare each other.

In the caption he said he was looking back on 2022 as he added three red heart emojis that made it clear he had love for the budding star.

In November, People reported the action star has been dating her for over a year and the relationship is 'serious.'

'They are in love and Chris has never been happier. His family and friends all adore her,' a source told the site.

In the past, he has dated actresses Jenny Slate, Minka Kelly and Jessica Biel. Last year, he was also rumored to be close to Selena Gomez.

Chris told People in 2022 that he feels very 'content' in his personal life.

And he also shared that he would like to settle down one day. 'That's absolutely something I want: wife, kids, building a family,' said the actor.

It is now official: Chris went Instagram official with Alba in January

All good: In the caption he said he was looking back on 2022 as he added three red heart emojis that made it clear he had love for the budding star

So many laughs: Here she looks spooked as Chris comes up to her

'When you read about most of the best artists, whether it's actors, painters, writers, most of them [admit] it wasn't the work they made [that they are most proud of], it was about the relationships; the families they created, the love they found, the love they shared.

'So it's also something through my long 41 years that also rings true.

'Those things are the most important. I love the idea of tradition and ceremony. I had a lot of that in my life, so the idea of creating that  I can't think of anything better,' he added.

Baptista has a successful career as an actress.

At age 16, she worked in a short film Miami landing in her the Best Actress Award at the Festival Iberico de Cine.

She then starred in several films in Portugal including Caminhos Magnetykos by Edgar Pera,and Equinocio by Ivo Ferreira.

In 2019 she appeared in the film Patrick, the directorial debut of Goncalo Waddington, and which was in competition at San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Next came Fatima in 2020 where she worked with Harvey Keitel.

Caliente: Baptista has a successful career as an actress. At age 16, she worked in a short film Miami landing in her the Best Actress Award at the Festival Iberico de Cine. This year she had the lead role in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris

They once were an item: He dated actress Jessica Biel who is now wed to Justin Timberlake; seen in 2001

Alba starred in the lead role of Ava in Netflix's series Warrior Nun, which was released in 2020. This year she had the lead role in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

She has a heart too: Four years ago she did humanitarian work at an orphanage in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Chris has been filming the Amazon Prime action-comedy film Red One with Dwayne Johnson.

The highly anticipated movie is shooting this fall in Atlanta, Georgia with a 2023 release date. Also in the project are actresses Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Liu.
Just a month and a half after his near-fatal snowplow accident, Jeremy Renner is in good spirits on his road to recovery, even teasing his new Disney Plus series Rennervations.

The 52-year-old actor suffered blunt force trauma on New Year's Day after being run over by a massive snowplow outside his home in Lake Tahoe, later revealing he had broken over 30 bones.

Renner took to Instagram on Tuesday, sharing a behind-the-scenes snap of him and his team working on an old city bus for the series.

The show was first announced in February 2022, though it still doesn't have a premiere date on Disney Plus quite yet.

While teasing the new series, he even alluded to his own recovery, joking he himself is, 'in the shop.'

New show: Just a month and a half after his near-fatal snowplow accident, Jeremy Renner is in good spirits on his road to recovery, even teasing his new Disney Plus series Rennervations

Behind-the-scenes: Renner took to Instagram on Tuesday, sharing a behind-the-scenes snap of him and his team working on an old city bus for the series

'Behind the scenes on #Rennervations coming soon on @DisneyPlus around the world!' Renner began.

He added, 'We are cueing up now @Disney and @DisneyPlus to launch this amazing new show.'

'More info to come. Thank you for your patience  while I am in the shop now, working on me,' Renner concluded, adding smiling, prayer hands and bicep emojis.

He also took to his Instagram story and shared a photo of his dog, adding, 'Love is healing. Happy Valentines.'

The series is described as, 'an original four-part series that embraces Jeremy's lifelong passion for giving back to communities around the world by reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles to meet a community's needs.'

'Behind the big screen, Jeremy is a construction aficionado. He is heavily invested in the highly creative fabricator culture that exists across the globe and hopes to change lives with these skills and inspire others to do the same,' the description concludes.

Renner serves as an executive producer on the original series alongside Rory Millikin, Romilda De Luca, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma and Patrick Costello.

The beloved actor was run over by a snowplow that the Washoe County sheriff estimated to weigh 14,330 pounds.

Behind-the-scenes: 'Behind the scenes on #Rennervations coming soon on @DisneyPlus around the world!' Renner began

Healing: He also took to his Instagram story and shared a photo of his dog, adding, 'Love is healing. Happy Valentines.

Run over: The beloved actor was run over by a snowplow that the Washoe County sheriff estimated to weigh 14,330 pounds

Renner was airlifted to Renown Regional Medical Center, said to be in 'critical but stable condition' after the accident.

He was operated on in the intensive care unit a day later, and a day after the operation he thanked fans for their support, even though, 'I'm too messed up now to type.'

The actor was released from the hospital on January 17 to continue his road to recovery, sharing a snap from his physical therapy a few days later.

'Morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years . Spawned from tragedy for my entire family, and quickly focused into uniting actionable love,' he posted.

'I want to thank EVERYONE for their messages and thoughtfulness for my family and I . Much love and appreciation to you all. These 30 plus broken bones will mend , grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens . Love and blessings to you all,' Renner concluded.

He took to his Instagram story last week, sharing a photo of a newly-cleared entrance in front of his home as the snow has started to melt.

'This melt brings HOPE ... And a new entrance into my house it seems ... Right in the front !?!?' Renner said in the post.

Renner can currently be seen in Season 2 of the new Paramount Plus series The Mayor of Kingstown.

The show is halfway through it's second season, though it has yet to be renewed for a third season at this time.

Too messed up: He was operated on in the intensive care unit a day later, and a day after the operation he thanked fans for their support, even though, 'I'm too messed up now to type'

Workout: 'Morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years . Spawned from tragedy for my entire family, and quickly focused into uniting actionable love,' he posted
Elle Macpherson's youngest son Cy Busson shared a heartfelt tribute to his model girlfriend for Valentine's Day on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old model expressed his love for his Babson college schoolmate Teila Morris in a series of photos shared to his Instagram Story.

In the first picture, Cy held his girlfriend while she wrapped her legs around his waist and shared a passionate kiss on the top of a sand dune.

'Happy Valentine's my love,' he wrote alongside the photo.

Another photo showed a suited up Cy with his hands around Teila's waist while posing for a mirror selfie.

Elle Macpherson's youngest son Cy Busson shared a heartfelt tribute to his model girlfriend for Valentine's Day

Cy and Teila appear to have been dating for about a year now according to their Instagram posts together and are often seen cuddling up in photos together while travelling the world.

Cy is the youngest son of Elle Macpherson, 58, and 60-year-old French financier Arpad Busson, who began a relationship in 1996 before separating in July 2005.

She also has Arpad 'Flynn' Alexander Busson, 25, with her ex. Flynn graduated from Boston University in 2021 after studying finance and real estate.

The 20-year-old model expressed his love for his Babson college schoolmate Teila Morris in a series of photos shared to his Instagram Story on Tuesday

While Flynn is clearly following after his father, Cy appears to be following in his famous mother's footsteps.

He has already appeared in several magazine shoots and is represented by talent agency Next Models Miami.

In addition to his modelling career, he is a student at Babson College, which is known for its focus on entrepreneurship.

Cy mostly kept out of the spotlight until turning 18 in 2021, but since reaching that milestone has featured in a handful of publications.

Cy is the youngest son of Elle Macpherson, 58, and 60-year-old French financier Arpad Busson

He appeared on the cover of Australian Vogue and French Elle alongside his mother and older brother.

He also fronted the Russian edition of Glamour Man.

Elle, who is known as 'The Body', has previously said that when she became a mother, she decided to put her sons first over her career.

'I was 35 when I had my first [Flynn] and 41 when I had Cy and so I came to children a little later in life, but I made sure they were going to be the priority,' she said.

She also has Arpad 'Flynn' Alexander Busson (right), 25, with her ex. Flynn graduated from Boston University in 2021 after studying finance and real estate

'I used to travel a lot and I'd go through that thing that [working] mothers go through.

'I would always tell them, 'Mum loves what she does and I hope in life you find something you love to do so that work doesn't feel like work and you go off and do your thing and while I'm off doing my thing.

'How cool for you guys to have that time without your helicopter, control-freak mother around.''

She also said she was 'moved' to learn one of her sons had said in an interview that she made them feel they were her 'priority'.
Pregnant Married At First Sight star Booka Nile has sparked criticism after she advertised a range of sex toys on Instagram.

The 33-year-old shared a sponsored post on Tuesday for Wild Secrets that promoted the brand's Envy air pulse stimulator.

She told her followers they may have recognised the item from Intimacy Week on this year's season of MAFS.

'I'm feeling pretty jealous that we didn't get given Wild Secrets toys on my season of MAFS, but I'm glad I got my mittens on their toys now at least,' she wrote.

'Now you know where to get them so you can embark on your own intimacy week journey either solo or with your partner.'

Pregnant Married At First Sight star Booka Nile has sparked criticism after she advertised a range of sex toys on Instagram

Booka accompanied the post with a photo of herself holding the toy while showing off her bump in a crop top and black tights.

While most of her followers praised her for partnering with a sex-positive brand, one critic said a pregnant woman promoting sex toys felt 'wrong'.

'This feels wrong when you're pregnant,' they wrote in the comments section, to which Booka replied: Lol. WTF. Why?'

The musician later said she'd been using sex toys a lot during her pregnancy.

'I'm not with my baby daddy and I haven't really wanted to explore sex with anyone else, so I've been fully leaning on my electric friends since the night I conceived,' she added in another comment.

While most of her followers praised her for partnering with a sex-positive brand, one critic said a pregnant woman promoting sex toys felt 'wrong'

Booka is almost at the end of her pregnancy journey, and on Sunday celebrated her journey with a lavish baby shower.

She announced in September she was expecting her first child. The father is a male friend who hasn't been publicly identified.

The social worker said that while the news was unexpected, she was looking forward to the challenge of being a single mother.

'After giving it a lot of thought we realised we wanted to be his mum and dad, even though we aren't together and have no plans to be,' she added.
Celeste Barber is set to expand her career by starring in the new Netflix comedy series Wellmania.

The Sydney-born comedian, 40, shared the series trailer and poster to Instagram on Wednesday and told her fans it would be released on March 29.

The series follows Barber's character Liv as she embarks on a strict 'wellness journey' after a trip to the doctor has her being diagnosed with a 'catastrophic' bill of health.

The trailer begins by showing The New York-based Liv flying to Australia and then being unable to return home after falling ill, which sees her strive to live healthier.

Celeste's celebrity pals quickly went wild about seeing her star in her very own series.

Celeste Barber (pictured) is set to expand her career by starring in the new Netflix comedy series Wellmania

The Sydney-born comedian, 40, shared the series trailer and poster to Instagram on Wednesday and told her fans it would be released on March 29

Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou gushed 'this looks great! Can't wait to watch it' and Rose Byrne wrote she was 'ready' for it.

It comes after Cindy Crawford gave Celeste her tick of approval for her parody of her famous Pepsi Super Bowl commercial.

Celeste posted a hilarious video to Instagram in which she parodied the supermodel's sexy Super Bowl advert where she sips from a Pepsi can.

Barber attempted to recreate Crawford's sexy soda drinking with a 1.25 litre bottle of Pepsi only for the shaken container to spray soda all over her.

The series follows Barber's character Liv as she embarks on a strict 'wellness journey' after a trip to the doctor has her being diagnosed with a 'catastrophic' bill of health

The trailer begins by showing The New York-based Liv flying to Australia and then being unable to return home after falling ill, which sees her strive to live healthier

Barber continued to drink from the bottle as it sprayed all over her, then turned to the camera to show off her soaked body.

Celeste captioned the footage: 'Pepsi wanted to run this ad last night at the Super Bowl but they couldnt afford me.'

The video was quickly liked by many of her fans, including the legendary model herself who posted some laughing emojis.

It comes after Cindy Crawford (pictured) gave Celeste her tick of approval for her parody of her famous Pepsi Super Bowl commercial
Rebel Wilson welcomed her first child, baby girl Royce Lillian, via surrogate in November alongside her partner Ramona Agruma.

Now the Pitch Perfect star, 42, has revealed that Royce was not the first surrogacy attempt she went through.

Speaking to The Pick Up with Britt, Laura and Mitch on Wednesday, the Australian actor said her first surrogacy ended with a tragic miscarriage.

'I tried with one surrogate to have the baby, and sadly the embryo miscarried,' she said.

'I'd only been dating Ramona for two months and I had to be like, 'By the way, the surrogate looks like it's out of the first trimester and it is serious and I am going to have a baby by the end of the year.'

Rebel Wilson (pictured with newborn daughter Royce Lillian), 42, has revealed her first experience with surrogacy ended with a tragic miscarriage

Rebel also shared details of how she chose a sperm donor for her child.

She explained how at the 'sperm shop' she was given access to pictures of potential donors when they were children and as adults, as well as their genetic history.

Rebel said she also listened to voice recordings from the donors, adding that it was 'really interesting to hear how they answered certain questions.'

Speaking to The Pick Up with Britt, Laura and Mitch on Wednesday, the Australian actor said: 'I tried with one surrogate to have the baby, and sadly the embryo miscarried.' (Rebel is pictured here with her partner Ramona Agruma)

'I had like a sperm concierge, so they trawl through all the sperm shops and then give me the 10 best that match my criteria.'

It comes after Rebel defended her decision to go out partying just a week after her daughter was born.

The Bridesmaids star and her partner sparked controversy when they attended two celebrity parties a week after welcoming Royce to the world: one for Leonardo DiCaprio's birthday and the other for Paris Hilton's wedding anniversary.

Rebel said she didn't appreciate being 'mum-shamed' at the time, and doesn't believe new fathers face the same level of scrutiny.

Rebel also shared details of how she chose a sperm donor for her child. (Pictured: Royce Lillian)

'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?'

Rebel admitted she did debate going out so soon after her daughter was born, but said her nanny encouraged her to do it.

The Senior Year actress said women shouldn't be shaming other women for how they parent their children.
Mitch Orval and Chloe Szepanowski have suffered a major Valentine's Day fail.

The Gold Coast influencers, who share two children together, posted separate tributes, with Chloe referencing their seven year relationship, while Mitch intimated they've been together for eight years.

The gaffe was picked up by snark account Influencer Updates, and soon shared.

Chloe initially paid tribute to Mitch, writing: '7 years later. We were only kids when we met, my first love. Our love = two beautiful boys! Grateful! I love you!'

However, according to Mitch, the duration of their relationship is in question.

Mitch Orval and Chloe Szep have suffered a major Valentine's Day fail. Both pictured

The Gold Coast influencers, who share two children together, posted separate tributes, with Chloe referencing their seven year relationship, while Mitch intimated they've been together for eight years

'Happy 8 years to the woman that has shown me nothing but unconditional love, support and patience! Chloe, you have given me a chance to lead a life I can be eternally proud of and grateful for!' he wrote in tribute to Chloe.

He continued: 'Thank you for my children, thank you for your daily sacrifices, thank you for always showing up for me and the boys! You are the foundation and the support structure for everything we do! I am, and we are, the luckiest boys in the world! Praying for another 80 more years with you.'

The young parents only just welcomed their second child in September 2022.

In images shared to Instagram, Chloe smiled and cradled the newborn as Mitchell nestled in for a cuddle in the hospital bed.

'Our little boy is here. We are so in love,' Chloe captioned the photo.

Chloe revealed in June she had a 'difficult pregnancy' the second time around.

'This pregnancy has been really tough if I'm being completely honest,' she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her bare baby bump.

'I'm so blessed to be pregnant, and I can't wait for him to be here. But it's been a struggle!' she added.

Chloe and Mitchell welcomed their second child in September 2022

Chloe revealed in June she had a 'difficult pregnancy' the second time around

'So different to my pregnancy with [son] Arti. I'm carrying so much more weight than I did with Arti.'

Chloe added that she's 'exhausted' both 'mentally and physically'.

'The emotional ups and downs have been wild,' she continued.

'I still get sick every few days with vomiting and the rest. And my workload and responsibilities have gone up x 1000. I just can't wait until he's here.
Logan Paul is enjoying his free time Down Under with his girlfriend Nina Agdal.

The social media sensation took a well-deserved break from promoting his buzz-worthy energy drink Prime with KSI, real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, to see some of the sights that Australia has to offer.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the 27-year-old YouTube sensation shared a series of photos where he was seen cuddling up to a number of native Australian animals and stripping down to his swimmers for a boat ride with Victoria's Secret model Agdal.

Paul and Agdal shared a sweet kiss as the boat rode along the choppy swell.

In another photo, Paul and his ladylove kissed in a selfie while dining at a restaurant that boasts spectacular views of Sydney Harbour.

Logan Paul is enjoying his free time Down Under with his girlfriend Nina Agdal

The couple stripped down to their swimwear for a boat ride around Sydney Harbour

Other photos saw Paul feeding a joey cradled by KSI, Paul and Agdal feeding several meerkats and Paul showing off his strength while holding a massive wombat.

Paul also shared a photo with a possum on his arm as he held out a Prime bottle in his hand, and even posed with a eucalyptus leaf in his mouth for a selfie with a koala.

Paul and KSI jetted in to Australia with Agdal last week and has made a handful of TV and radio appearances.

Other photos saw Paul feeding a joey cradled by KSI at zoo

Paul and Agdal also fed several meerkats at what appeared to be a zoo

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.

To prevent a similar scenario, KIIS FM called in the police and riot squads to their North Ryde studios ahead of the duo's radio appearance on Tuesday morning.

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.

He even posed with a eucalyptus leaf in his mouth for a selfie with a koala

Paul also showed off his strength while holding a massive wombat

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 on a balcony overlooking the crowd carnage below - but things turned nasty when someone threw an egg at Stefanovic.

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.

In another photo, Paul and his ladylove kissed in a selfie while dining at a restaurant that boasts spectacular views of Sydney Harbour

Police and extra security had been called to help control the crowd, after recent meet-and-greets involving Paul and KSI descended into mayhem.

On Saturday, Paul and KSI held an impromptu fan meet-and-greet at Perth's RAC Arena.

His earlier scheduled event at Midvale Shopping Centre had been cancelled due to concerns over crowd safety.

The energy drink created by influencers-turned-boxers Paul and KSI has become incredibly popular among pre-teens and teenagers across the globe.

Paul and KSI jetted in to Australia with Agdal last week and has made a handful of TV and radio appearances

It is such a popular beverage that many are finding it hard to get their hands on, and in the UK a bottle can cost as much as 20 online.

Carnage broke out when Aldi got the drink in store for 2 shortly before Christmas.

At the time, scenes of pandemonium exploded in some stores, with children captured on video climbing over the aisles to try to get a bottle.

In some Aldi stores, the drink sold out within three minutes.
Kate Ritchie has officially found new love following her split from her ex-boyfriend John Bell and shock rehab stint for alcohol dependency.

On Wednesday, the radio host, 44, was spotted packing on the PDA with the same mystery man she enjoyed a romantic evening picnic with earlier this month in Coogee.

The couple walked hand-in-hand alongside Bronte Beach, sharing lingering kisses and cuddling up to each other on the footpath.

Kate Ritchie 44, was spotted packing on the PDA with a mystery new beau on Wednesday during a romantic stroll at Bronte Beach

At one point, Kate's new beau wrapped an affectionate arm around her shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead.

The former Home and Away star couldn't hide her smile as she nestled into her partner's chest and stared lovingly into his eyes.

The actress was dressed to impress for her romantic outing, wearing a black button-down shirt and matching shorts.

The pair flaunted their affections as walked hand-in-hand, sharing lingering kisses and cuddling up to each other on the footpath

The lovers were seen sharing several smooches as they enjoyed the mid-week outing

At one point, the man wrapped an affectionate arm around Kate's shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead

Kate stared lovingly at her new man as they pounded the pavement

She was dressed to impress for her romantic outing, wearing a black button-down shirt and matching shorts

She accessorised with a Golden Goose handbag worth $1000, aviator sunglasses and a pair of Chanel sneakers.

Her blond beau meanwhile wore a grey T-shirt, black trousers and white Nike sneakers.

He also wore a pair of sunglasses and a set of trendy white crew socks.

She accessorised with a Golden Goose handbag worth $1000 and stylish aviator sunglasses and Chanel sneakers

Her blond beau meanwhile wore a grey T-shirt, black trousers and white Nike sneakers

The identity of notoriously private Kate's new beau is currently unknown

The couple were seen laughing and joking as they relaxed by the beach

Kate and her new mystery man were first spotted together almost two weeks ago, enjoying a picnic dinner at Coogee Beach with her daughter Mae.

In December, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that Kate had split from cyber security expert John Bell, 25, after a whirlwind romance of less than a year.

'Kate is single. Lockdown is to blame,' a source said.

'Kate and John haven't seen each other since January, even though borders to Victoria opened a few weeks ago. She hasn't mentioned wanting to visit him once.'

Kate appeared to go makeup free and wore her chestnut tresses down

In December, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that Kate had split from cyber security expert John Bell, 25, after a whirlwind romance of less than a year

'Kate is single. Lockdown is to blame,' a source said. 'Kate and John haven't seen each other since January, even though borders to Victoria opened a few weeks ago. She hasn't mentioned wanting to visit him once'

The pair were last seen together in January during a PDA-filled holiday in Byron Bay

Kate and her new mystery man were first spotted together almost two weeks ago, enjoying a picnic dinner at Coogee Beach with her daughter Mae

The pair were last seen together in January during a PDA-filled holiday in Byron Bay.

They reportedly stayed at an Airbnb and spent most of their time relaxing by their private mineral salt pool and visiting the town's top restaurants.

John started security solutions business VIREOSS in September 2019.

Kate was previously married to retired NRL player Stuart Webb, with whom she shares a daughter, Mae.

John Bell (pictured) started security solutions business VIREOSS in September 2019

Kate was previously married to retired NRL player Stuart Webb, with whom she shares a daughter, Mae. Pictured together in 2019

The star seems to be in a much better place than she was late last year when she spent time in a rehab clinic to address her dependence on alcohol.

The media personality recently reassured listeners she was 'doing well' and would be back on her Nova FM drive show in a few weeks' time.

'Hi all, I'll be away for a few more weeks,' she wrote on Instagram, addressing her extended absence from the late-afternoon slot.

The star seems to be in a much better place than she was late last year when she spent time in a rehab clinic to address her dependence on alcohol

'But in the meantime make sure you tune in to the guys who will be back live in the studio from 4pm Monday! By the way, I'm doing well and excited for 2023.'

Kate announced in October she was stepping away from the Kate, Tim and Joel show.

It was later revealed she was seeking treatment for alcohol dependency, after Daily Mail Australia obtained photos of her outside a rehab facility.

Ricki-Lee Coulter has been filling in during her absence.
The bold tattoo was panned by both Lopez and Garner in February of 2016

Ben Affleck added yet another tattoo to his vast collection on Tuesday after getting his and hers ink with his new wife Jennifer Lopez.

Affleck, 50, and Lopez, 53, were seen on Instagram celebrating their first Valentines Day since their wedding last summer with similar designs.

The Air star and director had a pair of overlapping arrows under his armpit area with the letters J and B between them, while Lopez was inked on her left side with an infinity sign with an arrow on it that read the words 'Jennifer' and 'Ben.'

While the design is clearly sentimental, the actor has a history of making rather questionable choices when it comes to body art.

His most controversial tattoo is the enormous phoenix that spans his whole back. After he was first pictured with the ink in 2015, he claimed it was 'fake' for a movie role.

The latest: Ben Affleck, 50, added the latest tattoo to his person Tuesday as he and his wife Jennifer Lopez got tattoos that coordinate with one another. Pictured 2018 in Honolulu

The tattoo of the phoenix appeared to rankle his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, who told Vanity Fair in February 2016 of the ink, 'You know what we would say in my hometown about that? "Bless his heart."'

Garner added, 'A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.'

Lopez was also critical of the ink in a February 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, as she declared it to be 'awful.'

She added at the time, 'I would tell him that! Like, what are you doing? It has too many colors. His tattoos always had too many colors.

'They shouldnt be so colorful, you know what I mean? They should be cooler.'

Affleck initially claimed the back ink was fake for a film role to Extra in March of 2016, saying at the time, 'I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to have them in places where you dont have to do a lot of cover up - they get sort of addictive, tattoos, after a while.'

After Affleck's tattoo was lambasted in a March 2018 piece from The New Yorker titled 'The Great Sadness of Ben Affleck,' the actor took to Twitter to respond, writing, 'Im doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos.'

Affleck has an enormous tattoo of a phoenix on his back, which was initially seen in 2015 prior to photographers getting full snaps of it in 2018

The ink was slammed by both his present and ex-wife in 2016, as Jennifer Lopez called it 'awful' while Jennifer Garner didn't like the idea that she was the ashes his phoenix was rising from

The celebrity pair was seen holding hands as they made their way to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California Tuesday evening to celebrate the romantic holiday

Affleck and Lopez, 53, were seen on Instagram celebrating their first Valentines Day since their wedding last summer with matching ink.

The Air star and director had a pair of overlapping arrows under his armpit area with the letters J and B between them

Lopez was inked on her left side with an infinity sign with an arrow on it that read the words 'Jennifer' and 'Ben'

Affleck told the The New York Times in February of 2020 that he lied about the tattoo because was resentful the image circulated, as 'it felt invasive.'

'I could have said "Thats none of your business,"' he said. 'I guess I got a kick out of messing with Extra. "Is your tattoo real or not real?" Of course, its real! No, I put a fake tattoo on my back and then hid it.'

Affleck in 2019 said on Ellen that the tattoo had a 'meaningful' message behind it.

'It represents something really important to me ... I like it,' Affleck said. 'It's not something that I sort of kept private.'

Affleck also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his 'dolphin tramp stamp' in November of 2011.

Photographers caught a glimpse of the dolphin when Affleck was helping his daughter get out of a vehicle, the outlet reported, adding that it was put there to cover up a previous tattoo of a high school girlfriend's name.

Prior to that, Affleck was seen sporting a complicated pattern on his right arm of roses, a sword and playing cards while wearing a tank top in his 2003 flop with Lopez, Gigli.

In October of 2002, Affleck sported a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder as he was seen on the video set for Lopez's Jenny From The Block video.

The dolphin was put there to cover up a previous tattoo of a high school girlfriend's name

Affleck also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his 'dolphin tramp stamp' in November of 2011

Affleck was spotted with current wife Lopez during their first go-round, as he sported a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder while they were seen on the video set for her Jenny From The Block video in October of 2002

The actor sported a complicated pattern on his right arm of roses, a sword and playing cards while wearing a tank top in his 2003 flop with Lopez, Gigli

Affleck was seen sporting the new ink just days after appearing in a Dunkin' commercial for the Super Bowl with Lopez.

In new outtakes from the ad released on Tuesday, Affleck was seen engaging in a variety of comedy bits while working at a Dunkin location in his native Massachusetts.

'I'm not your typical Dunkin' technician, usually they're much smarter than me,' he said.

The clip featured the reactions of the customers when they had unexpected run-ins with the Hollywood leading man at the donut shop.

One customer said, 'I know you,' while another recognized him and gave him a fist bump.

Affleck told one customer that the chain was out of coffee and donuts, to which the customer said, 'You're s***ing me?'.

As he spilled coffee, Affleck said, 'I'm struggling, I cannot make it function - malfunction! It's not easy as it looks operating this apparatus up here.'

He told People of the ad: 'I think people already sort of think that I work for Dunkin'. In Boston, it was such a big deal. I think I became kind of associated with it, and this sounded like a fun opportunity to kind of play with that association and a chance to come back here to shoot it at home in Boston.'

Affleck was seen sporting the new ink just days after appearing in a Dunkin' commercial for the Super Bowl with Lopez

In new outtakes from the ad released on Tuesday, Affleck was seen engaging in a variety of comedy bits while working at a Dunkin location in his native Massachusetts

'I'm not your typical Dunkin' technician, usually they're much smarter than me,' he said as cameras rolled
Julia Fox had horns jutting out of her cleavage on Tuesday when she rocked the runway for Luis De Javier during New York Fashion Week.

The Uncut Gems star, 32, modeled a strapless blue denim dress for the designer that featured a pair of avant-garde antlers.

Denim booties and black latex gloves completed the show-stopping look, which Fox pulled off with typical aplomb.

The former dominatrix has been conquering New York Fashion Week  donning a chrome-plated catsuit at LaQuan Smith after carrying a clear bag filled with condoms to Elena Valez.

Julia's fierce glam received an extra bit of edge from her nonexistent eyebrows and her slicked back mane of hair.

Haute couture horns: Julia Fox, 32, had horns jutting out of her cleavage on Tuesday when she rocked the runway for Luis De Javier during New York Fashion Week

Julia's figure-hugging look highlighted her slim waistline and allowed her muscular upper body to be showcased.

The fashionista recently revealed in a candid new interview that she has had liposuction and Botox in the past.

The actress told Elle she was 'saggy' and her body had changed, but that she was not going to do a 'damn thing about it.'

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 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.

'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.'

Uncut antlers: The Uncut Gems star modeled a strapless blue denim dress for the designer that featured a pair of avant-garde antlers

Toned fashionista: Julia's figure-hugging look highlighted her slim waistline and allowed her muscular upper body to be showcased

Known for her flamboyant street style, the provocative star collaborates with her stylist Briana Andalore to create the constant stream of eye-popping outfits.

The pair have known each other for fifteen years, concocting an endless array of theatrical looks that helped propel Fox into an infamous presence on the New York City fashion scene.

Julia and Briana first became best friends in high school after meeting on a street in Manhattan.

'I met Julia when I was 16,' Andalore told Dazed in May. 'We first met on the street, actually. Then we met again at a party, where she had a cat and I had a backpack full of weed, so it was kind of like a match made in heaven.'

Fox and Andalore's divine meeting eventually led to them starting a cult fashion label called Franziska Fox in the early aughts.

They shuttered the business a few years later, but then Kanye West, 45, entered the picture and launched Fox into the stratosphere as a style icon.

'When Kanye came along,' Briana explained to Dazed, 'it was just this incredible new resource that meant anything was possible.'

Fox and West parted ways in February 2021 after dating for only six weeks, and she recently addressed his public meltdown in her interview with Elle.

Glam time: Julia's fierce glam received an extra bit of edge from her nonexistent eyebrows

The fashionista recently revealed in a candid new interview that she has had liposuction and Botox in the past. The actress told Elle she was 'saggy' and her body had changed, but that she was not going to do a 'damn thing about it'

Revealing she would consider the cosmetic procedures again, Julia told Elle: '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'

In her interview with Elle, Julia briefly addressed Kanye West's public meltdown, saying: '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'

She added: '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'

'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.'

Julia 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 that 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 Elle.

Fox went on to say that her brief job as a dominatrix prepared her to act, as she described consensual BDSM as 'one never-ending improv class.'
Longtime friends Brad Pitt and George Clooney get back to work in New York City on the set of their new Apple TV Plus movie Wolves.

The 59-year-old Pitt and 61-year-old Clooney were spotted filming night shoots on location in the Big Apple on Tuesday.

The Ocean's Eleven co-stars haven't starred in a movie since 2008's Burn After Reading, though they will reunite in this highly-anticipated project.

Pitt was seen on set wearing the same outfit he's been wearing for the last few weeks - a white dress shirt under a black leather jacket.

He also wore grey dress pants and black dress shoes for his day on the set of the thriller.

Back to work: Longtime friends Brad Pitt and George Clooney get back to work in New York City on the set of their new Apple TV Plus movie Wolves

Brad's look: Pitt was seen on set wearing the same outfit he's been wearing for the last few weeks - a white dress shirt under a black leather jacket

Ensemble: He also wore grey dress pants and black dress shoes for his day on the set of the thriller

His co-star Clooney was also seen in the same ensemble - a black turtleneck under a black leather jacket similar to his co-star.

He also wore grey dress pants and black dress shoes quite similar to Pitt's on-set look on Tuesday evening.

The actors were seen chatting on set near a pier of some sort as production continued.

The film follows two lone wolf fixers - played by Pitt and Clooney - whose lives are upended when they are assigned the same job.

It was revealed last year that both Pitt and Clooney, who are also serving as producers, both took pay cuts to ensure the film would also get a theatrical release along with its debut on Apple TV Plus.

'It was an exciting time because it got to be one of those weird bidding wars which happen every once in a while, and it ended up being pretty extreme, and Apple came in with a really big number for Brad and I,' Clooney told Deadline last year.

'And we said wed like to take less as long as we can guarantee that we can have a theatrical release, and they said great,' Clooney, 61, added, in a reference to Apple.

Apple TV+ acquired the rights to the film after winning out on a studio bidding war between up to 10 companies that included Sony, Lionsgate, Annapurna, MGM, Universal, Warner Bros, Apple, Netflix and Amazon, according to Deadline.

George's look: His co-star Clooney was also seen in the same ensemble - a black turtleneck under a black leather jacket similar to his co-star

Similar: He also wore grey dress pants and black dress shoes quite similar to Pitt's on-set look on Tuesday evening

Fixers: The film follows two lone wolf fixers - played by Pitt and Clooney - whose lives are upended when they are assigned the same job

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the storyline follows 'two lone wolf fixers,' played by Pitt and Clooney, who are given the same job.

Wolves was written and directed by Jon Watts, who's best known to many fans for the Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), as well as the supernatural horror film Clown (2014) the road thriller Cop Car (2015).

Pitt and Clooney first starred together in 2001's Ocean's Eleven, reuniting in 2004's Ocean's Twelve and 2007's Ocean's Thirteen.

Pitt also had a cameo in Clooney's directorial debut, 2002's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and they starred in the Coen Brothers' 2008 film Burn After Reading.

They also starred in the 2012 play 8 by Dustin Lance Black that aired live on YouTube with a star-studded cast also including Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis and more.

Pitt is also starring in an untitled Formula One film with director Joseph Kosinski, starring alongside current F1 star Lewis Hamilton.

He is also coming off a trio of 2022 films - The Lost City, Bullet Train and Babylon.

Clooney is coming off last year's Ticket to Paradise, and while he doesn't have any other films in the works on the acting side, he's staying busy as a producer with The Boys in the Boat and Brother From Another.

Early movies: Pitt and Clooney first starred together in 2001's Ocean's Eleven, reuniting in 2004's Ocean's Twelve and 2007's Ocean's Thirteen

Debut: Pitt also had a cameo in Clooney's directorial debut, 2002's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and they starred in the Coen Brothers' 2008 film Burn After Reading

Also: They also starred in the 2012 play 8 by Dustin Lance Black that aired live on YouTube with a star-studded cast also including Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis and more
Sofia Vergara was dressed to the nines when she went out for dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday with her husband Joe Manganiello.

The 50-year-old Modern Family star had all eyes on her as she arrived at the upscale Greek restaurant Avra in Beverly Hills.

The ColombianAmerican actress flaunted her cleavage in an edgy brown leather dress off-the-shoulder dress.

The look featured rounded cups and a plunging neckline and a skirt that reached down to her knees.

She elevated her 5ft7in stature with a set of beige open-toe platform heels, which complemented her boxy beige handbag.

Dressed to impress: Sofia Vergara, 50, was dressed to the nines when she went out for dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday at Avra in Beverly Hills with her husband Joe Manganiello, 46

On point: The ColombianAmerican actress flaunted her cleavage in an edgy brown leather dress off-the-shoulder dress, along with beige platform heels and a brown overcoat

Suited up: Joe, 46, looked as dapper as his wife was glamorous. He had on a three-piece gray plaid suit with a white dress shirt

The actress added a touch of elegance with a lighter brown overcoat, which she wore draped over her shoulders.

Her long caramel-colored hair had a middle part, and the strands were fanned out delicately across her shoulder to frame her tastefully made-up face, which included brown lipstick to complement her ensemble.

She added some sparkle to her outfit with earrings and a gold necklace with thick, twisting strands.

Joe, 46, looked as dapper as his wife was glamorous. He had on a three-piece gray plaid suit with a white dress shirt.

He opted to go tie-free and left the top few buttons undone.

He carried his own chunky black bag and rocked black alligator-print shoes.

Sofia shared some cute snaps of the couple from inside the restaurant for an Instagram post.

'Happy Vday everyone!' she wrote, while adding multiple red hearts and 'luv u @joemanganiello.'

A second closeup emphasized her cleavage, her necklace and her enormous diamond engagement ring.

Sweet: Sofia shared some cute snaps of the couple from inside the restaurant for an Instagram post. 'Happy Vday everyone!' she wrote, while adding multiple red hearts and 'luv u @joemanganiello.'

Sparkler: A second closeup emphasized her cleavage, her necklace and her enormous diamond engagement ring

Showing off: She also snapped a sizzling mirror selfie back at home to highlight her dress and her stellar figure

Holiday: 'Happy Valentine's Day,' she captioned another closeup

Tasty treat: In addition to some videos of her tasty Greek dinner, Sofia set mouths watering when she revealed a cake that the couple had gotten decorated for Valentine's Day

She also snapped a sizzling mirror selfie back at home to highlight her dress and her stellar figure.

'Happy Valentine's Day,' she captioned another closeup.

In addition to some videos of her tasty Greek dinner, Sofia set mouths watering when she revealed a cake that the couple had gotten decorated for Valentine's Day.

The cake was decorated with pale pink frosting and read, 'Happy Valentine's!! Sofia and Joe,' with a pink and blue bird kissing in the center and heart-shaped sprinkles decorating it.
Rhian Sugden was all smiles as she enjoyed a romantic Valentine's Day date night at Hawksmoor in Manchester on Tuesday.

The glamour model, 36, looked effortlessly stylish in an eye catching pink co-ord as she cosied up to her actor husband Oliver Mellor, 41, while strolling inside the steak restaurant.

Rhian wore a chic pink blazer with a matching pair of wide legged trousers with a bold white stripe down the leg.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star tucked a white and red striped jumper into the trousers and kept casual in a pair of white trainers.

Ex-Coronation Street star Oliver, who Rhian married in Kalkan, Turkey, in 2018, sported a matching pair of black framed glasses for the romantic date night.

Loved-up: Rhian Sugden was all smiles as she enjoyed a romantic Valentine's Day date night at Hawksmoor in Manchester on Tuesday

Date night: The glamour model, 36, looked effortlessly stylish in an eye catching pink co-ord as she cosied up to her actor husband Oliver Mellor, 41, while strolling inside the steak restaurant

The former soap star looked dapper in a crisp white T-shirt and matching trousers, adding a black jacket over the top.

It comes after Rhian spoke out about her anxiety diagnosis for the first time, revealing her lifelong phobia of being sick, which began when she was just three years old, has caused panic attacks and left her hospitalised.

Speaking to former Love Island star Dr Alex George on the Stompcast podcast, Rhian admitted her phobia of being sick has taken over her life and even her husband has struggled to deal with her panic attacks and anxiety.

Rhian revealed her fear has impacted much of her life for over 30 years - from preventing her from getting on school buses, to stopping her taking holidays abroad and eating most food, leaving her seriously underweight.

For years, medics had struggled to help the model, but after she decided to try out different therapies herself - including shock therapy and hypnotherapy - she said more recently she has finally started learning to cope better.

Rhian explained: 'Over the last five years I've been diagnosed with anxiety. But I've had it since I was about three, four years old and it wasn't really a thing back then.

'As long as I can remember, I've had it bad. I feel like it's taken over a lot of my life, but it stems from a phobia of being sick.

'I have ideas where it came from because I've had so many different types of therapy over the years. I've had hypnotherapy, CBT therapy (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), shock therapy.

'And they regressed me somehow - something that I never thought was possible. I thought this is just ridiculous talk, but they managed to get memories out of me that I didn't realise I had. That was hypnotherapy that did that.

Rhian explained that hypnotherapy helped memories resurface from her childhood including witnessing a dinner lady at her school being sick, helping her to understand when the phobia started.
Lily Collins enjoyed a romantic Valentine's Day lunch date with husband Charlie McDowell on Tuesday.

The actress, 33, looked stylish in a long grey wool coat and blue jeans paired with trainers as they headed out for food at low-key eatery All Time in Los Feliz.

She added a pair of black sunglasses which she rested on her head as she linked arms with her film director spouse, 39, while declaring 'I am the luckiest lady to be yours'.

The Emily in Paris star toted a black bag for her essentials which she clutched as she walked hand-in-hand with Charlie.

The filmmaker looked casual in a blue checked flannel shirt worn open over a white T-shirt as well as blue jeans and trainers.

Happy couple: Lily Collins enjoyed a romantic Valentine's Day lunch date with husband Charlie McDowell on Tuesday

Loved-up: The actress, 33, looked stylish in a long grey wool coat and blue jeans paired with trainers as they headed out for food at low-key eatery All Time in Los Feliz

Lily took to Instagram earlier on Tuesday and gushed about her husband of just over one year as she marked the day of love.

She shared a series of sweet snaps and videos of the couple, including them posing in matching space-themed costumes and sharing a kiss.

The star captioned her post: 'My handsome, smart, adventurous, and VERY funny Valentine. Theres no one who makes me smile or laugh like you do.

'I adore your heart more than words and am the luckiest lady to be yours today and always. I love you my one.'

Lily and Charlie met while working on the set of his film Gilded Rage in 2019.

The pair made their first public appearance in 2020, and became engaged during a trip to New Mexico that September.

Lily and Charlie tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony in Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado, in September 2021.

Before meeting Lily, Charlie had a long-term relationship with actress Rooney Mara and dated both Emilia Clarke and Hilary Duff.

Lily has also had her fair share of headline-grabbing relationships, including a brief fling with her Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile co-star Zac Efron, 32, in 2012.

It comes after Lily recently spoke about her marriage to Charlie, saying he is her 'best friend'.

She also praised the filmmaker for supporting her 'emotionally' during her long stints in France while shooting Netflix rom-com series Emily In Paris.

Lily said in an interview with E! News: 'We can kind of conquer anything. We've been through so many changes.

'To be able to have a partner next to you that makes you laugh in times when you need it the most and helps you emotionally get through things, like moving to a foreign country for four months.

Feeling the love: It came after Lily took to Instagram earlier on Tuesday to gush about her husband, sharing a series of sweet snaps and videos of them together

Gushing: The Emily In Paris star captioned her post: 'My handsome, smart, adventurous, and VERY funny Valentine. There's no one who makes me smile or laugh like you do'

Helping hand: A loving Charlie also helped Lily along as she rode on a scooter and looked a little scared in another sweet image

Kisses: The smitten couple also shared a sweet kiss in another shot from the photo carousel she posted

'I just feel so grateful that I have someone next to me to be able to accomplish that and [have] your best friend with you all the time.'

After their engagement, Lily also gushed about her romance with Charlie, explaining that she knew they were meant to be almost immediately.

Opening up about that first meeting, Lily said: 'It was one of those situations where I knew the second I met him that I wanted to be his wife one day. So, it was just a matter of when, really.'

She went on: 'I'm very happy. When something is incredibly special, you make it work. It doesn't matter where in the world, there are ways to always feel connected.'
Lucy Hale celebrated one year of sobriety in a Valentine's Day post about self-love on Tuesday.

The actress, 33, announced she had hit the milestone on January 2, after deciding to give up alcohol for good in January 2022.

The Pretty Little Liars star shared that it had mostly been a 'private' journey and took to social media to acknowledge the achievement with a cake baked for the occasion.

Lucy captioned her picture: 'Bear with me, this is an alternative Valentine's Day post. This is a post about self-love and about the greatest thing I've ever done.

'On January 2, 2023 I celebrated one year of sobriety.'

Journey to sobriety: Lucy Hale celebrated one year of sobriety in a Valentine's Day post about self-love on Tuesday

Celebrating: The Pretty Little Liars star shared that it had mostly been a 'private' journey and took to social media to acknowledge the achievement with a cake baked for the occasion

Self-love: The actress, 33, announced she had hit the milestone on January 2, after deciding to give up alcohol for good in January 2022

She went on to add in the post to her 24.5 million followers: 'While this journey has mostly been private, I felt compelled tonight to let anyone who is struggling know that you are not alone and you are loved.'

Lucy has remained quiet about her journey with addiction over the years but previously admitted in 2017 she wanted to give up alcohol as she had 'no interest' in partying anymore and wanted to be the the 'best version' of herself possible.

She said: 'I'm just always trying to surround myself with better people and be the best version of myself possible.

'I know it sounds obnoxious to hear people say that, but why not? I go home, and my dad's like, 'You L.A. hippie with your crystals and your SoulCycle!

'I always used to make fun of those people, but now I think it's just magic. I'm almost 28, butI think I only just figured out who I was a year ago.

'I know it seems silly because it's just hair. But at a point, I was like, 'Why don't I just own that I'm different? I guess cutting my hair was like me finally saying, 'I don't give a f***.''

The actress, who is currently thought to be single, has previously dated the likes of actor Graham Rogers, reality star Colton Underwood and Riverdale star Skeet Ulrich.

Alongside Pretty Little Liars, she has appeared in numerous other films, including the mystery horror film Fantasy Island in 2020.

In 2021, Lucy was in The Hating Game, which was based on the romance novel of the same name.
Khloe Kardashian has posted a cryptic quote on Valentine's Day which said 'the pure hearted win in the end' - hinting at her bitter split with Tristan Thompson.

The reality TV star, 38, spent Februrary 14 as a single woman like her sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, and posted a slew of Instagram stories of the gifts she received from loved ones and brands.

But amid the pictures of teddy bears, shopping bags and heart-shaped balloons, Khloe put up a mysterious quote where she appears to refer to herself as having a 'pure heart'.

Sharing it to her 294million followers on the social media platform, the quote read: 'Not to spoil the ending for you, but the pure hearted win in the end, remember that.'

The apparent nod to her most recent ex partner Tristan Thompson, who she shares four-year-old daughter True with, comes after he 'liked' a sexy bikini snap of hers.

Cryptic: Khloe Kardashian has posted a cryptic quote on Valentine's Day which said 'the pure hearted win in the end' - hinting at her bitter split with Tristan Thompson

Valentine's Day message: Sharing it to her 294million followers on the social media platform, the quote read: 'Not to spoil the ending for you, but the pure hearted win in the end, remember that'

Split: The apparent nod to her most recent ex partner Tristan Thompson, who she shares four-year-old daughter True with, comes after he 'liked' a sexy bikini snap of hers (pictured together as a family)

Also posted on Valentine's Day was a thank-you to her mother Kris Jenner, who sent a gorgeous display of love-themed gifts.

Two huge teddy bears, packets of sweets, red roses and plenty of heart-shaped balloons from Kris covered the kitchen countertop to show love to her third-eldest child.

Khloe thanked her mother, writing on the Story: 'No one greater than my mommy. Lovey you are the most thoughtful in all the land.'

It comes after Khloe shared some steamy pictures of herself wearing a barely-there metallic silver bikini, with a plunging triangle top and high-waisted string bottoms.

She looked incredibly toned as she showed off her slim figure to Instagram with a sizzling post on Monday, causing a sensation on the internet.

The reality star, 38, donned a barely-there metallic silver bikini, with a plunging triangle top and high-waisted string bottoms.

She gathered her highlighted tresses up into her hands while sporting a pair of sunglasses and looking away from the camera to show her chiseled side profile.

Khloe also appeared to be hitting back at rumours from fans too as she shared two cryptic quotes to her Stories shortly after posting the pictures.

Grateful: The reality TV star, 38, spent Februrary 14 as a single woman like her sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, and posted a slew of Instagram stories of the gifts she received from loved ones and brands (pictured is gifts from her mother Kris Jenner)

Incredible: It comes after Khloe shared some steamy pictures of herself wearing a barely-there metallic silver bikini, with a plunging triangle top and high-waisted string bottoms

There he is: Tristan appeared in Khloe's list of likes which were certainly plentiful

Work it: She gathered her highlighted tresses up into her hands while sporting a pair of sunglasses and looking away from the camera to show her chiseled side profile

'Life hits different when you stop trying to prove you didn't say that, you didn't do that, you not like that...you can't fix every lie and every rumour, neither can you defend yourself every time something is said about you.. just be great,' read the first quote.

While she then shared another which noted that 'What other people think of you is none of your business'.

Khloe Kardashian took to Twitter on Monday to clear up her dating status following her split from Tristan.

The reality TV star decided to answer a burning question from a fan, who asked her: 'Who's your man currently?'

Khloe replied: 'Who has time for a man lol I have a 6 month old baby and True and I are sickly codependent on one another. Ha! I secretly love it. No but for real.... No man right now.... He's in my prayers too ha!'

They have however retained an amicable co-parenting relationship, and at the start of last month Khloe was at his side as Tristan grieved his mother Andrea, who died in Toronto after a sudden heart attack at home.

Split: The reality star and the NBA player share two children: daughter True, four, and a son born last July - but have had an on-off romance buffeted by his infidelity, that officially ended in 2021; Pictured 2018

Now Khloe has taken to her her Instagram to share several messages about moving on from people whose 'energy is off' and doing what is best for you.

She shared a message that said: 'Just a reminder that there's so much more that we still don't know about ourselves and that's what makes life so beautiful.

'Next year you could find your next favorite musician or fall in low with someone you haven't met yet.

'You might see a new shade of green that will become your new favorite color or you could become obsessed with a new food that you thought you once hated.

'We change as life goes on. We grow as life changes. Our experiences shape us into a new person. It's beautiful.'

The reality star then more pointedly alluded to the split, saying: 'stop feeling bad for doing what's best for you'.

Ex: Tristan and Khloe welcomed baby True in April 2018. Less than 48 hours before True was born, DailyMail.com exclusively broke news of Tristan's alleged fling with New York City strip club bartender Lani Blair

Single: Khloe Kardashian took to Twitter on Monday to clear up her dating status after she decided to answer a burning question from a fan, who asked her: 'Who's your man currently?' Khloe replied: 'Who has time for a man lol I have a 6 month old baby'

Seemingly referring to her ex, she wrote: 'I spent enough time on things never felt right. I'm listening to my soul now'.

Other quotes Khloe posted mentioned learning from past 'wounds' and staying away from people whose 'energy is off'.

One said: 'The real flex is, how many of your wounds can you turn into wisdom.'

While another said: 'I respect a person who knows their energy is off and keeps their distance because they don't want to transfer it onto you. I don't think some people understand how real that is.'
Curtis Pritchard enjoyed a romantic date night with his girlfriend Sophie Sheridan on Valentine's Day as the pair shared a smooch on Tuesday evening.

The former Love Island star, 27, looked over the moon to have the gorgeous red-head on his arm as they headed to the luxurious dinner spot in London.

Walking towards Aqua Nueva just off the capital's famous Oxford Street, Curtis and Sophie, who is also in the performing arts like Curtis, gazed into each others eyes.

Really amping up the romance for the evening, Curtis was also seen sharing a kiss with his girlfriend, who he has reportedly been dating for around a year.

The pair were first linked in March last year after they were spotted at Cheltenham Festival together, which he attended with his brother AJ and his girlfriend at the time, Abbie Quinnen.

Happy Valentine's Day! Curtis Pritchard enjoyed a romantic date night with his girlfriend Sophie Sheridan on Valentine's Day as the pair shared a smooch on Tuesday evening

Cosy: The former Love Island star, 27, looked over the moon to have the gorgeous red-head on his arm as they headed to the luxurious dinner spot in London

Give us a kiss: Really amping up the romance for the evening, Curtis was also seen sharing a kiss with his girlfriend, who he has reportedly been dating for around a year

Curtis dressed up for the occasion on Tuesday and opted for a dapper crisp light blue shirt and a slick navy blazer with matching navy smart trousers.

He went against the men's fashion rule of 'no brown in town' as he slipped his feet into a pair of warm brown leather Oxford shoes.

Gorgeous girl Sophie wore a cream-coloured bodycon dress which had a sheer layer of material over the top of the figure-hugging number.

She kept warm with a black leather blazer which she threw over her shoulders for the evening.

Sophie slipped her feet into a pair of black strappy leather chunky heels which added some inches to her frame.

To accessorise she held onto a monogrammed Gucci X Balenciaga Hourglass bag, which matched her beige-toned outfit perfectly.

Her fiery red tresses were worn in a bouncy yet straight style which cascaded over her shoulders.

She held tightly onto her beau by the arm as they had their picture taken while heading out for the evening.

Cuddling up: Walking towards Aqua Nueva just off the capital's famous Oxford Street, Curtis and Sophie, who is also in the performing arts like Curtis, gazed into each others eyes

Romantic: The pair were first linked in March last year after they were spotted at Cheltenham Festival together, which he attended with his brother AJ and his girlfriend at the time, Abbie Quinnen

Date night: She held tightly onto her beau by the arm as they had their picture taken while heading out for the evening

Stepping out: He went against the men's fashion rule of 'no brown in town' as he slipped his feet into a pair of warm brown leather Oxford shoes

Home time: Curtis dressed up for the occasion on Tuesday and opted for a dapper crisp light blue shirt and a slick navy blazer with matching navy smart trousers

Arm-in-arm: Gorgeous girl Sophie wore a cream-coloured bodycon dress which had a sheer layer of material over the top of the figure-hugging number

Wearing a glamorous palette of makeup, Sophie had a shimmery eyeshadow look, fluttering eyelashes and a pinky nude lip colour.

At one point while they were seemingly waiting for a cab, fans stopped Curtis for a picture - while Sophie was left waiting for her lover nearby.

Little is known about Sophie's job, but she is said to have first met Curtis through their role in the panto performance of Cinderella.

Both taking to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in the heart of Wolverhampton over Christmas 2021, Sophie was a member of the ensemble while TV star Curtis played Dandini.

They were later spotted at the Cheltenham Races on Friday 18 March 2022.

Warm up: She kept warm with a black leather blazer which she threw over her shoulders for the evening

Fans: At one point while they were seemingly waiting for a cab, fans stopped Curtis for a picture - while Sophie was left waiting for her lover nearby

Smooch: Her fiery red tresses were worn in a bouncy yet straight style which cascaded over her shoulders - and the pair are seen sharing a kiss

Together: Wearing a glamorous palette of makeup, Sophie had a shimmery eyeshadow look, fluttering eyelashes and a pinky nude lip colour. Little is known about Sophie's job, but she is said to have first met Curtis through their role in the panto performance of Cinderella

Couple: Both taking to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in the heart of Wolverhampton over Christmas 2021, Sophie was a member of the ensemble while TV star Curtis played Dandini. They were later spotted at the Cheltenham Races on Friday 18 March 2022

Evening: To accessorise she held onto a monogrammed Gucci X Balenciaga Hourglass bag, which matched her beige-toned outfit perfectly

A source told the Sun at the time: 'Curtis and Sophie looked loved up as they strolled around the racecourse together on Friday.

'The pair met when they both starred in panto Cinderella last year after they developed a spark on the stage.'

Curtis has previously dated Love Island co-star Maura Higgins after coupling up on the fifth series in 2019.

Linked: A source told the Sun at the time: 'Curtis and Sophie looked loved up as they strolled around the racecourse together on Friday. 'The pair met when they both starred in panto Cinderella last year after they developed a spark on the stage'

Ex: Curtis has previously dated Love Island co-star Maura Higgins after coupling up on the fifth series in 2019 - but they officially split just eight months later in March 2020

But they officially split just eight months later in March 2020.

He was accused of cheating on Maura with Amber Pierson, while Maura was accused of romancing her Dancing on Ice partner Alex Demetriou during her stint on the show in 2020. Alex and his wife even split amid the drama.

Curtis, Maura and Alex denied any claims of cheating.

Curtis has remained single since the split - trying his luck on Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion, with little success.
Married at First Sight has seen this year's couples go through all sorts of highs and lows, but the drama is only getting started.

On Wednesday night, Channel Nine announced two new bombshell couples will be entering the experiment.

The newcomers include a stunning model, an electrician, an accountant and a nurse.

A trailer for next week's episode introduces us to nervous groom Rupert Bugden, a Brisbane-based electrician who drops his ring while walking down the aisle.

'He's dropped the ring,' one cast member is heard laughing.

Married At First Sight has seen this year's couples go through all sorts of highs and lows, but the drama is only getting started. Pictured: Rupert Bugden

On Wednesday night, Channel Nine announced that two new bombshell couples will be entering the experiment. Pictured: Evelyn Ellis

A trailer for next week's episode introduces us to nervous groom Rupert, a Brisbane-based electrician who drops his ring while walking down the aisle

We then meet his partner, Evelyn Ellis, a stunning model and marketing director, who is seen smiling at her groom before complaining, 'He had one job'.

Elsewhere viewers are introduced to Hobart-based nurse Tayla Winter, and her Sydney-based accountant partner Hugo Armstrong.

'I promised myself I would give everything to this,' Tayla is heard saying before she is seen arriving at her wedding in a gorgeous gown.

As previously revealed by Daily Mail Australia the new participants will bring in a whole level of drama when the series is rocked by a C-bomb scandal.

A production source has let slip that Tayla will confront Hugo during the series after a butt-dial revealed what he really thought of her.

'He's dropped the ring,' one cast member is heard laughing

Rupert appeared nervous and stuttered his words while reading his vows

We then meet his partner, Evelyn a stunning model and marketing director, who is seen smiling at her groom before complaining, 'He had one job'

Elsewhere viewers are introduced to Hobart-based nurse Tayla Winter, and her Sydney-based accountant partner Hugo Armstrong

A production source has let slip that Tayla will confront Hugo, during the series after a butt-dial revealed what he really thought of her

'Tayla heard him calling her a c**t ... she felt humiliated,' said the insider

'Tayla heard him calling her a c**t ... she felt humiliated,' said the insider.

Tayla and her groom's relationship will be at the centre of the drama throughout the series.

The Hobart-based beauty has been described as a 'Tasmanian Tiger' and will surprise both her groom and co-stars at an upcoming dinner party.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine
Ncuti Gatwa made his first appearance as Doctor Who in Newport on Tuesday, just days after bidding an emotional farewell to former show Sex Education.

The actor was accompanied by time-travelling sidekick Millie Gibson, another new addition to the long-running show, while filming festive scenes for his first episode, which is expected to air over Christmas.

Emerging from the Tardis into a desolate churchyard, Gatwa, 30, stayed true to the Timelord's flamboyant dress code in sweeping red leather trench coat as he joined Gibson between takes.

The actor was unveiled as the 15th Doctor on the popular sci-fi show in May 2022 after Jodie Whittaker confirmed her departure from the role.

Gatwa is the first black actor to take on the leading role as The Doctor, after Whittaker made history as the first permanent female Time Lord in 2017.

Here he is: Ncuti Gatwa made his first appearance as Doctor Who on Tuesday, just days after bidding an emotional farewell to former show Sex Education (pictured with Millie Gibson)

Coming soon: The actor was filming festive scenes for his first episode, which is expected to air over Christmas

An arresting sight: Emerging from the Tardis into a desolate churchyard, Gatwa stayed true to the Timelord's flamboyant dress code in sweeping red leather trench coat

Jo Martin played the first black incarnation of the Time Lord in a January 2020 episode, Future of the Judoon, as Ruth Clayton, but Gatwa is the first black Doctor to be cast as the series lead.

The Scottish actor, who was born in Rwanda, rose to fame as Eric Effiong in hugely popular Netflix series Sex Education about socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson).

In his first interview since the announcement was made, he said: 'I've known since February. It's been tricky keeping this under wraps because I've got a very big mouth. We did it.

'It feels amazing, this role is an institution and it's so iconic and means so much to so many people, including myself.

'It makes everyone feel seen. I'm very grateful to have the baton handed over and I'm going to try and do my best.'

Stepping in: The actor was unveiled as the 15th Doctor on the popular sci-fi show in May 2022 after Jodie Whittaker confirmed her departure from the role

Groundbreaking: Gatwa is the first black actor to take on the leading role as The Doctor, after Whittaker made history as the first permanent female Time Lord in 2017

Leading the way: Jo Martin played the first black incarnation of the Time Lord in a January 2020 episode, Future of the Judoon, as Ruth Clayton, but Gatwa is the first black Doctor to be cast as the series lead

Gather round: Gatwa and Gibson were surrounded by a large production team as they waited for their scenes

The announcement of the new Doctor was originally teased by showrunner Russel T. Davies and Gatwa on Instagram, with a post featuring two heart emojis, a plus symbol and a blue square.

Gatwa previously admitted he was 'deeply honoured' and 'beyond excited', but admitted that he was also a 'little bit scared' to join the franchise.

He told the BBC: 'This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care.

'I will endeavour my upmost to do the same.'

He added: 'The entire team have been so welcoming and truly give their hearts to the show. And so as much as it's daunting, I'm aware I'm joining a really supportive family.

Looking the part: Gatwa appeared to be focused as he readied himself for another take

Say a little prayer: The actor was filmed standing in a church doorway during the outdoor shoot in Newport

Banter: At one point he was seen laughing and joking with Gibson while waiting for cameras to roll on Tuesday

Delighted: 'It feels amazing, this role is an institution and it's so iconic and means so much to so many people, including myself,' Gatwa recently said of his new role

Action! As cameras rolled he was seen racing through a graveyard during the location shoot

Exciting: The new scenes are expected to air over Christmas, when Gatwa makes his debut as the Timelord

Moving on: The actor recently confirmed that season four of the hit show Sex Education will be his last.

Gatwa recently confirmed that season four of the hit show Sex Education will be his last.

The actor, who stars as Eric Effiong on the show, shared a picture on Instagram from his trailer as he spent his very last day on set.

In a moving post, he wrote: 'Last day. Last time. Bye bubs, thank you for all the lessons and for all the strength.'

Gatwa will play the 15th Doctor with his first episode airing over the festive period later this year.

'Thank you for the lessons': Gatwa confirmed last week that season four is his last on Sex Education as he shared a picture from his final day on set (pictured on the show)
Rhod Gilbert is set to return to the stage for his first live shows since his cancer diagnosis.

The comedian, 54, revealed that he had stage four cancer last year and that he was being treated at a centre he had previously raised money for by doing charity treks.

After undergoing treatment at the Velindre Cancer Centre charity in Cardiff he is set to perform at the Edinburgh Festival in August.

He previously had to postpone performances in January due to gallstones and recurring gallbladder infections.

Rhod told fans in December: 'I genuinely can't wait to get back on stage, but on doctor's advice, I'll have to wait a little longer.'

Comeback: Rhod Gilbert is set to return to the stage for his first live shows this summer after his cancer diagnosis (pictured on stage in 2018)

He continued: 'I thank each and every one of you for your continuing patience, rest assured, the show WILL go on.'

His Edinburgh gigs will take place on 21 to 23 and 25 to 27 August at the Gilded Balloon.

Last month, Rhod said he will use his cancer diagnosis as standup material and is optimistic for the year ahead.

In his first interview since undergoing treatment, the Welshman revealed he thinks about his cancer 24/7 but added there is 'humour in it.'

Speaking to The Guardian, Rhod began: 'It does feel weird. I don't know how much to talk about the cancer. I haven't really worked out what to say.

'I'm really aware of mental health now and Im checking in with myself every day. I feel fine, weirdly. Im happy, optimistic and hopeful that next year itll all come good.'

He explained that despite loosing his social life and job, he is committed to poking fun at serious topics in his upcoming tour, The Book Of John.

He said: 'When I get through this, the next show will be in a similar vein. The cancer is on my mind 24/7, but, when I'm well enough to write, I'm jotting down a few things. And there is humour in there, definitely.'

Treatment: The comedian, 54, revealed that he had stage 4 cancer last year and that he was having treatment at a centre he had raised money for - The Velindre Cancer Centre

Rhod said he has received letters and emails from 'all over the world' from people talking about their own experience of a stroke, parents with Alzheimer's, or infertility, since adopting a more open approach.

The comedian added that he is also looking forward to the rescheduled tour dates for 2023, which have been pushed back until the summer.

It comes after his wife Sian Harries revealed they had to rush to hospital, after the comedian's recent treatment for stage four cancer.

Sian took to Twitter to share that they paid a visit to an 'absolutely rammed' A&E at an unnamed hospital.

She did not reveal the reason for their visit, but went on to respond to concerned fans who asked if she and Rhod were well with a series of love hearts.

Sian penned: 'A&E absolutely rammed with people with hacking coughs, we were only ones there wearing masks. I just don't get it.'

Welsh funnyman Rhod detailed the news of his cancer diagnosis to his fans back in July, just days after pausing his UK tour.

Previously, Rhod took to Facebook to reveal he's been suffering from gallstones and will have surgery to resolve the health issue in January.

He announced seven of his shows that were scheduled to take place in January have now been postponed and will take place in summer of 2023.
Chris Packham became overcome with emotion as he read a heartfelt letter from broadcaster Ken Bruce's autistic son.

The naturalist and TV presenter, 61, has been exploring autism in different forms with his new documentary series Inside Our Autistic Minds after going public with his own Asperger's syndrome diagnosis in 2016.

Since revealing this to the world, Springwatch and Winterwatch star Chris has been inundated with letters and emails from other autistic people across the world who are frustrated that people don't understand them.

In his latest show, Chris tries to bridge this gap - which is what leads him to meeting Radio 2 host Ken Bruce, 72, and his 'non-speaking' austistic son Murray, 20.

Chris teams up with film-makers, graphic designers and animators to create a film with Murray, and in preparation, sent over several questions via e-mail so the 20-year-old would have time to process what he wants to say.

Overwhelming: Chris Packham became overcome with emotion as he read a heartfelt letter from broadcaster Ken Bruce's autistic son

Emotional: The naturalist and TV presenter, 61, has been exploring autism in different forms with his new documentary series Inside Our Autistic Minds - where he meets Radio 2 host Ken Bruce, 72, and his 'non-speaking' austistic son Murray, 20 (pictured together)

Teary: Chris teams up with film-makers, graphic designers and animators to create a film with Murray, and in preparation, sent over several questions via e-mail so the 20-year-old would have time to process what he wants to say

Chris asked Murray over email: 'If you had all the world stage to speak for non-speaking autistic people, what would you say?'

The TV presenter paused and said 'Wow' as he took in what he was reading.

Murray's email read: 'Take note as I am really speaking from my heart, I need you to please understand and open your minds.

'Let me tell you what it was like for me before I could communicate through typing.

'I was alone in my world of deep and troubled pining for a person to hear me. I would wonder if that day would ever come.

'I was frustrated and pining for acknowledgement that I had thoughts and opinions and worries and no one could hear me.'

'I was alone in my world of deep and troubled pining for a person to hear me. I would wonder if that day would ever come.

'I was frustrated and pining for acknowledgement that I had thoughts and opinions and worries and no one could hear me.'

Heart-felt: Chris asked Murray over email: 'If you had all the world stage to speak for non-speaking autistic people, what would you say?' The TV presenter paused and said 'Wow' as he took in what he was reading

Deep in thought: Murray's email read: 'Take note as I am really speaking from my heart, I need you to please understand and open your minds. I was alone in my world of deep and troubled pining for a person to hear me. I would wonder if that day would ever come'

Discussion: Since revealing this to the world, Springwatch and Winterwatch star Chris has been inundated with letters and emails from other autistic people across the world who are frustrated that people don't understand them

Learning: In his latest show, Chris tries to bridge this gap - and meets Ken Bruce, his wife Kerith Coldham, and Murray, as they try to communicate in different ways to create a film

'I was alone in my world of deep and troubled pining for a person to hear me. I would wonder if that day would ever come.

'I was frustrated and pining for acknowledgement that I had thoughts and opinions and worries and no one could hear me.'

Chris took off his glasses as he became emotional, and said: 'I mean frankly it's enough to bring a tear to your eye, isn't it.'

He added: 'I don't know whether it's because I have some form of affinity for Murray but I find that incredibly touching.

'And you know, even a bit sentimental. I'm not normally sentimental about such things.'

The conservationist who has enjoyed a four-decade career as one of the UK's most popular naturalists, opens up about his own 2005 diagnosis in the new BBC documentary.

Describing how people without Asperger's syndrome might just see a beautiful woodland scene when they venture into a forest, he explains that he experiences it very differently, seeing 'every trunk, every branch'.

Packham says his version of autism is 'enormously beneficial' for a naturalist, but also admits that sometimes the 'visual part of my world' is simply too much, saying 'it becomes utterly overwhelming'.

Last month, the nature lover revealed he's cancelled all TV work for the next three months after feeling completely 'burnt out'.

Opening up: Ken Bruce (pictured) has four sons and two daughters, and has been an active campaigner for autism charities over the years in light of his son Murray's diagnosis

Star: Ken has hosted the mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and for a second stint in 1992 until 2023

Time out: The wildlife presenter is taking a break from the cameras for the first time in nearly four decades (pictured with Michaela Strachan and Gillian Burke)

The two-part series sees him meeting people of different ages with autism in a bid to help convey the world that they experience. It sees Packham helping a stand-up comedian to reveal her true autistic self to her mother, as well as providing a voice for radio DJ Ken Bruces son Murray, who is non-verbal and communicates via an electronic letter board.

The host of BBC's Winterwatch and Springwatch went public with his own Asperger's syndrome in 2016, and the following year made a BBC documentary on the subject titled, Asperger's and Me.

He says people with autism should be understood not tolerated as he voiced his fears about the impact of social media on youngsters living with the condition.

The presenter says he is still scarred from the horrific bullying he faced as a child and said his life would have been absolute hell if one particular bully could have continued to abuse him online too.
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Selena Gomez, Florence Pugh, Ana de Armas and Austin Butler all put on a glamorous display as they graced the cover of Vanity Fair's 29th annual Hollywood issue on Tuesday.

The captivating spread showed twelve captivating young stars who are riveting onscreen, driven, and ever-evolving, according to the publication.

The 2023 Hollywood portfolio features Selena, Jonathan Majors, Austin, Ana, Florence, Keke Palmer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Julia Garner, Emma Corrin, Rege-Jean Page and Jeremy Allen White.

Photographed by Steven Klein and styled by Patti Wilson, the portfolio depicts an afterparty scene featuring some of today's buzziest young actors  all of whom are appearing on Vanity Fair's coveted Hollywood cover for the first time. As part of the special launch, VF created a dedicated Hollywood issue hub on VanityFair.com.

Selena, 30, who stars in Selena + Chef and Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, discussed fame and called the industry 'the beast.'

All stars: Vanity Fair has unveiled its after-party themed cover for their annual Hollywood issue, featuring stars (L-R) Selena Gomez, Jonathan Majors, Austin Butler, Ana de Armas, Florence Pugh, Keke Palmer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Julia Garner, Rege Jean-Page, Emma Corrin, Hoyeon and Jeremy Allen White

She admitted she spent years feeling distressed by her Disney-cultivated facade. But since her 2018 bipolar diagnosis, and her decision to share her mental health struggles in last year's Apple TV+ documentary, she now feels liberated.

Talking about feeling trapped by her Disney past, she said: 'I definitely feel free of it. Sometimes I get triggered. It's not that I'm ashamed of my past, it's just that I've worked so hard to find my own way. I don't want to be who I was. I want to be who I am. '

And she said she would tell anyone seeking fame: 'All I can say is, I would love to be there for you if you ever have questions. But this industry is a beast. It's really scary to see what happens when you're given so much power and money at a young age. I think it's extremely scary.

'The bigger you get, the more humble I would encourage you to be. Hold on to your heart, try to be the best you can be, and be careful about who to trust, because you are who you surround yourself with.

'My sister's nine, and thank God she doesn't want to be in this industry. Actually, that's her now. What if she tells me in two years she wants to? I can't even think about it.'

Florence, 27, star of Dune 2 and Oppenheimer, said: 'When I started out, my grandad would tell me off and say 'Why are you showing people your ugly spots?''

She was asked about all the drama surrounding Don't Worry Darling and said: 'Ideally I don't really want to be going down the Don't Worry Darling conversation because this whole release for The Wonder has been so positive and I've been really excited to talk about that.

'I don't really feel the need to go into the nitty-gritty details of Don't Worry Darling. So if it's okay, I'll probably just let that one sit.'

Lauded: Selena, 30, who stars in Selena + Chef and Hulu's Only Murders in the Building discusses fame and calls the industry 'the beast'

Screen star: Florence star of Don't Worry Darling, Dune 2 and Oppenheimer, said: 'When I started out, my grandad would tell me off and say 'Why are you showing people your ugly spots?'

Debut! Photographed by Steven Klein and styled by Patti Wilson, the portfolio depicts an afterparty scene featuring some of today's buzziest young actors  all of whom are appearing on Vanity Fair's coveted Hollywood cover for the first time

Editor in chief Radhika Jones wrote in an editor's letter for the issue: 'Our dynamic dozen have turned in terrific performances over the past few years, running the gamut from prestige television to indie films to box-office smashes, and they're racking up award nominations and industry honorsall that goes without saying.

'What truly sets them apart is their willingness to take risks, surprising their audiences and maybe even themselves with their range and ambition.'

Meanwhile Austin, 31, who has landed a Best Actor Oscar nod for his role as Elvis Presley in the biopic of the same name, revealed that when he first began auditioning for roles as a teenager, he took inspiration from Hollywood heavyweight Leonardo DiCaprio.

He explained: 'From the very beginning, when I first got on set, it was just a neat thing that I could do as a 12-year-old kid. Then once I started going to acting class and realized there's a craft behind itthat sort of became this addiction for me. Addiction might be a strong word, but obsession with finding honesty, really.

'I started looking at a lot of different people's careers. And Leo, when I was about 15, became that guy, because he'd made that transition. Every film that he chose, you could see the level of passion that he still had for the work.

'And that's been a surreal thing, looking back at what my dreams were when I was 15, and then getting to work with the people that he got to work with, getting to be on set with him. There's a lot of these pinch-me moments in my life and that's definitely one of them.'

Following his critically-acclaimed performance as The King, Austin is set to star in the Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air and Dune: Part Two.

Austin also feigns using social media despite discussions with his team about how he should be marketing himself, having been inspired by acting legends such as Paul Newman and James Dean.

The star added that Elvis' own struggles with Hollywood have made him think twice about working in the industry, adding: 'I think it's definitely made me consider who I ask for advice and who I keep close to me.

Meanwhile, Ana has also landed a Best Actress nod for her divisive turn as Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix biopic Blonde, with the Cuba-born star explaining that she fully resonated with the troubled star.

She said: 'There was a lot there that I could relate to. If you put Marilyn Monroe 'the movie star' aside, she's just an actress trying to navigate life and this system, which is so hard to navigate for

'On top of that, you add this point of view of Andrew's, which was to see that through her trauma. I truly thought it was going to do justice to a more dimensional human being, because I wouldn't want to be remembered just for one thing. I am more than just an actress on the cover of a magazine.'

'The sad part for meand the most challengingis to see not only what happened in the '40s and '50s and '60s but to see patterns continue to happen.

'It's definitely made me more protective of myself and set boundaries and know my limits for how much I'm willing to giveand how much I want to keep to myself. But at the same time, it clearly is a place where incredible opportunities happen. I'm very grateful to be working in the industry.'

Emma, who was lauded for their award-winning role as Princess Diana in the fourth series of The Crown, detailed the backlash they received for coming out as non-binary.

They have also starred in feature films Lady Chatterley's Lover and My Policeman, and appeared onstage in a London adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel Orlando, and will return to television later this year in the upcoming FX series Retreat.

It has also been announced that Emma has landed the villain role in Deadpool 3, as well as a spot in the cast of Robert Eggers's upcoming movie Nosferatu.

They said: 'Traditionally, being a role model meant being flawless. But now it can also mean sharing your struggles.

'It's a really nice shift that a role model has evolved into something which is more about flaws than flawlessness, because I think that's the reality of most people's experiences.'

Following his stratospheric rise to prominence with a role in the first series of Bridgerton, British actor Rege-Jean Page confessed that he will never move past the feeling of fear that he may never book another acting job.

He recently starred in The Gray Man and has landed a leading role in the upcoming film Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.

He said: 'I don't think you're ever passed that point. I think there's a healthy amount of wolf-at-the-door that kind of keeps you getting up every morning.

'And I don't think that that's a bad thing. I enjoy the striving. I enjoy the discovery of how high this thing goes, of how far this thing goes, of how wide this thing goes, because it doesn't just go up. It goes up, down, sideways, and in every other direction. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about the next job.'

Controversial: Meanwhile, Ana has also landed a Best Actress nod for her divisive turn as Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix biopic Blonde, with the Cuba-born star explaining that she fully resonated with the troubled star

Iconic: Meanwhile Austin, who has landed a Best Actor Oscar nod for his role as Elvis Presley in the biopic of the same name, revealed that when he took inspiration from Hollywood heavyweight Leonardo DiCaprio as a teenager

On rumours that he's in the running to be the next James Bond, he said: 'It's a conversation people are having, and it's terribly flattering that they're having it. I leave them to it.'

While Aaron Taylor-Johnson has long been known as a Hollywood heartthrob, it was his most recent appearance opposite Brad Pitt in Bullet Train that has sent his career soaring to new heights.

But the British star said that even after winning awards and critical praise, it will always be his home life that keeps him grounded.

He said: 'I've seen, especially from Nocturnal Animals, you pick up an award or something, and then the next day it doesn't really amount to anything. It's just these materialistic things. What's real in my life are my kids and my home. Those are my rock and my center.

'The work is what I enjoy. That's the creative part of me. That's the thing that I get the endorphins and the high frombeing around great actors, working with directors, digging deep into characters where you're really feeling vulnerable and on a path. It feels therapeutic.'

He added that he shuns using social media, and only recently got a phone so that his children could reach him during an emergency, saying: 'Also, I've got a teenager. Being a parent that was like, ''I'm going to have it, but you can't'' seemed ridiculous to me. It's the way it was when we were kids and it was like, 'I want to smoke.' And your parent goes, 'You can't smoke, it's bad for you.' And you go, 'You smoke a pack a day. Why can't I have a cigarette?'

Jonathan didn't land his big break until 2016, when he starred in Hostiles opposite Christina Bale, and he has gone onto star in HBO Lovecraft Country and Netflix's The Harder They Fall.

This weekend he will star as the much-anticipated villain Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Despite his speedy rise to fame, Jonathan said that he is protective of his personal life, saying: 'I think people treat you the way you let them treat you.

'I am a private individual. I just keep my head down. It's about the work, how you do your work. I don't bother nobody. I have no interest in the fuckery of the industry. I'm in bed by twelve o'clock.'

He also reflected on his jaw-dropping body transformation for his role in the Marvel film; he is set to play Kang in multiple movies, including 2025's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

'What it does for me is it brings you closer to the character,' Jonathan said.

'I've had this debate with my current mentors and old acting teachers where I go, 'This is actually part of the craft of acting.' It brings you close to the characters and it gets quite spiritual. It is as little acting as possible, which is my biggest thing: Don't lie. Tell the truth.'

Keke also featured on the star-studded cover, after revealing on Saturday Night Live that she was expecting her first child and following her blockbuster turn in the film Nope.

The actress said she opted to reveal her bump on the show as she knew that there wouldn't be a good time to publicly announce her pregnancy.

She said: 'I knew it was going to be a thing to try and hide itpeople were already commenting on it. I didn't really know how to address it. It just felt like it was never the right time, and having a child is so private. But I felt like I should probably let people know. You need a certain level of physicality to do SNL. It was so much fun to say it during my monologue. That's something my kid can have forever.'

Keke added: I'm so happy for my child! Pregnancy is a road. I remember my doctor saying, ''Pregnancy isn't a disease. It's a natural thing! You don't have to feel like you're walking on eggshells.''

'I honestly feel like the same old me [at] six months along. I really expected something so dramatic. But I'm just pregnant. I have something that's moving around in there every now and then. That part is creepy sometimes.'

Last year, Julia landed an Emmy for her performance in the tense drama Ozark, and more recently transformed into scammer Anna Delvey for Netflix's drama based on her shocking crimes.

Reflecting on her own public image, she said: 'Yeah. It is very hard because I am in a very public business. I try not to give too much of my personal opinion away, because I feel like that's going to make my job harder. The whole point of my job is for people to relate to me and feel moved and escape.

'It's tricky because nowadays, everyone is so out there and the mystery is disappearing. And when a person doesn't have mystery anymore, you can't get it back

'It's very complicated that an actor has to completely remove themself in order to play a person. It's so hard to play around with your identity. It's dangerous, actually. It's important to surround yourself with the people that are good influences and keep you grounded, and not just necessarily ''yes people.'''

Hoyeon became a worldwide star when she landed a role in Netflix's South Korean hit Squid Game, with it going onto become the most-watched series in the platform's history.

Up next for her will be a role in the Apple TV+'s Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett, but the star said that she is planning to take a break from acting after Squid Game's epic rise.

She said: 'So much has happened over the past year, and I think that I was in a state where I wasn't able to fully digest everything that has happened to me to the extent that I wanted to.

'I felt like I was rather dragged by what was happening to me. Of course, I was extremely grateful for everything that had happened. I

'It was really truly like a dream come true, and I was extremely lucky to have all of those opportunities. However, you are only human, so you are bound to come across some limitations physically, and when that happens, I learned that you also hit your limits mentally as well.'

Soon: Emma, who has appeared in The Crown and Lady Chatterley's Lover (pictured), said they hope there will be more non-binary roles in the future, after publicly coming out on social media

Jeremy Allen White was well-known to millions for his role in Showtime's Shameless, but since starring in the first season of The Bear, he has gained a whole new level of success.

Despite this, the star said he doesn't typically pay attention to the online chatter around his role in the show, adding: 'My mom tells me what they're saying on Twitter, which is nice. I've been acting since I was 18. I was on this show [Shameless] for 11 years that was popular, but I wasn't getting as much attention then as I am now.

'I feel very lucky that everything's been this gradual because I've been able to find my footing already. I feel really bad for a young actor or somebody who just hasn't had much experience when all of a sudden they break through; it could be more overwhelming in that case.

'I probably wouldn't have done well if I were single or without children or just younger and dumber. If you don't have a foundation outside of your career, that can be a lonely existence.'
At varying times he's been described as the most handsome man in Hollywood, Britain's most eligible bachelor and, perhaps more persistently, the next James Bond in waiting.

But Rege-Jean Page has played down the opportunity to play 007, despite the role remaining tantalizingly vacant following previous incumbent Daniel Craig's COVID delayed departure in 2022.

A household name thanks to his former role in popular Netflix period romp Bridgerton, Page, at 35, would be the right age to fill Bond's well-worn tuxedo.

But the British actor, one of twelve cover stars to feature in the 29th annual Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair, insists thoughts of saving the world couldn't be further from his mind.

'Its a conversation people are having, and its terribly flattering that theyre having it. I leave them to it,' he told the publication of his candidacy for the role.

'Its not a thing that is fully occupying my thoughts. Ive got enough on my plate at the moment. I worry about the work I have, not other peoples jobs.'

Main man: Rege-Jean Page (fourth from right) is one of twelve cover stars to feature in the latest Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair

The actor has gone from jobbing actor to sought after star thanks to Bridgerton, an overnight success owed in no small part to his role as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings - one of London's most eligible bachelors.

But his appearances in the Regency-era show would be fleeting, with Page making the surprise decision to walk away after one widely streamed season.

'I signed up to do a job and I did the job and then I did some other jobs,' he explained. 'Thats it. Thats the story. I wish it was more glamorous than that.

'[After] we finished the story, the temptation would be to roll with the distractions and go, Oh, well, the story went really well so we can kind of change this up and make some other stuff up, I guess. That was never what wed signed up to do.'

Dismissing the perception of overnight stardom, he added: 'Its overnight for everyone else. Nothing changes for me.

Flattered: Page has played down the opportunity to play 007, despite the role remaining tantalizingly vacant following previous incumbent Daniel Craig's COVID delayed departure

Outsanding role: The actor rose to fame playing Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings on Netflix's Bridgerton - in which he starred in alongside Phoebe Dynevor (pictured in the show)

License to kill? Daniel Craig played Bond five times before leaving the role in 2022 following No Time To Die, his swansong as the British secret agent

'When its tough, when no one wants you in the room, when youve got to fight to bust down the dooryou do the work, you turn up. It works or it doesnt.

'When its loud and theres a lot of attention and people are gassing you up with all kinds of thingssome are true, some arentsame thing: You turn up, you do the work, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.

'The trick is to make sure that you focus on your job as hard as you did when you were struggling to get to do your job.'

Page recently accepted the role of Butch Cassidy in Amazon's major new TV drama, Butch and Sundance - which will take a new spin on the classic '60s film.

The Bridgerton actor will portray the role across from Sundance Kid actor Glen Powell, who recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick.

From Bridgerton to Butch! Page recently accepted the role of Butch Cassidy in Amazon's major new TV drama, Butch and Sundance - which will take a new spin on the classic '60s film

Original: The lives of outlaws Butch and Cassidy were most famously brought to the screen in the iconic 1969 film - which starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford

And it seems the star could be headed for Hollywood once again, with the role meaning he will need to be based in Los Angeles for much of the next 12 months.

The yet untitled series, which will be a big budget offering from Amazon, will be executively produced by The Russo brothers, who previously worked with Rege on The Gray Man.

After appearing on soap Waterloo Road and acting professionally since his teen years, Page rose to fame in his breakout role on Bridgerton - in which he starred alongside Phoebe Dynevor.

More recently, he took to the big screen for The Gray Man and is the leading role in the forthcoming Dungeons & Dragons film, Honor Among Thieves, which was made in Belfast.
Justin Long was seen in some revealing photos on Tuesday.

The actor's 40-year-old girlfriend Kate Bosworth took to Instagram to post several new images of her love.

In two of the shots, He's Just Not That Into You star Long was shirt free and in a pair of shorts as he enjoying a carefree vacation in Hawaii.

Kate - who gushed over her beau last month during her birthday - was also seen in the collection as she wore a bikini in their hotel room.

'My crush, all day, every day,' wrote the Blue Crush actress in her caption.

He works out: Justin Long was seen in some revealing photos on Tuesday. The actor's 40-year-old girlfriend Kate Bosworth took to Instagram to post several new images of her love

Smiling big: In two of the shots, He's Just Not That Into You star Long was shirt free and in a pair of shorts as he enjoying a carefree vacation in Hawaii

Kate filed for divorce from estranged husband Michael Polish in July 2022.

The blonde beauty has been with Long since last year.

They met when they worked together on the movie House Of Darkness, which shot in Arkansas.

In June Bosworth gushed over Long during his 44th birthday. Kate posted a carousel of sweet snaps to celebrate the actor's big day.

Alongside pics of the smitten couple kissing and posing together on a beach and at home, the actress shared a sweet message expressing her gratitude to Justin for bringing back her 'glow'.

Kate's birthday message also included a thank you to Justin for being 'patient' as they fell in love.

'You were born today and the world lit up brighter than it had known and years later you met a girl whos life was disassembled / rearranged but you were patient and with time she fell in love now she has a glow (one that was forgotten long ago) she is so grateful *more than youll ever know Happy Birthday,' she gushed.

Bikini time: Kate was also seen in the collection as she wore a bikini in their hotel room. 'My crush, all day, every day,' wrote the Blue Crush actress in her caption

She is known for her hot body: Here the actress is seen in her film Blue Crush

'You make me smile so big my face hurts xx Thank you for creating peace in my heart since the day we met.'

The snaps showed the couple wearing matching red outfits as they kissed passionately for a selfie.

Another photo taken on the same glam date night, saw Kate beaming for the camera as she held a glass of champagne and a sparkler while Justin took the selfie.

The selfie-loving couple also posed in their swimwear during a beach trip as they leaned in for a kiss.

Over on her Stories Kate shared more photos and another loved-up caption which read: 'You are so full of goodness the world is better because of you'.

Justin went went Instagram official with Kate in June.

In their first social media snap together, the actor and his girlfriend were seen sharing a pint of Guinness and smiling after catching a bit of foam on their lips while they enjoyed a romantic getaway in Ireland.

Justin shared the pictures on his account and Kate left a note in the comment section that read: 'I'm the luckiest.'

In July the actress, who announced her split to Michael in August 2021, filed the legal documents with the Los Angeles Courts, per The Blast.

Kate was married to Michael for eight years and shares no children together.

The outlet reported that the Blue Crush actress filed the paperwork and cited 'irreconcilable differences.' as the reason for the split.

Their spooky film: Long and Bosworth seen together in 2022's House Of Darkness

Many happy returns: Bosworth gushed over Long in June during his 44th birthday

Kate announced their split in August 2021 via Instagram.

In August 2021, she shared a tender photo of the pair kissing along with an gushing tribute to love in the caption.

After several paragraphs reflecting on romance, Kate wrote: 'Our hearts are full, as we have never been so enamored and deeply grateful for one another as we do in this decision to separate.'

While touching, some fans were left confused at the overly gushing tone of the post about the marriage breakdown, with one user commenting: 'This isn't real life,' while another said: 'Only in Hollyweird.'

The couple married in 2013. Bosworth is step-mother to Polish's daughter from a previous marriage.

Kate's rather poetic post began with two quotes, which she attributed to 'Big Sur, 2011,' the title of the film where they met.

'Do you want to split a burger? Yes.'

'How bout a shot of whiskey? Hell yes.'

Smitten: A week after Justin shared his first photos of the couple, Kate posted a carousel of sweet snaps to celebrate the actor's big day

Kate went on: 'The beginning is often the best part of love. Fireworks, magnets, rebellion  the attraction. The onset signals a wide open expanse of possibility. Split a burger with someone when you are falling in love, and you can die happily knowing this is your last meal.

'Buy a bottle of whiskey and share shots, pour me a waterfall. Play that perfect song on the jukebox and dance with someone you have known your whole life, though you met minutes ago.'

'Inherently we fear an ending. To lose what you have because you got what you wanted. To be attached to the expectation of the outcome. The great Unknown.'

'What if we chose not to fear but instead, to love. If that most delicate and vulnerable last flicker to the flame became another type of furnace entirely.

'Perhaps this will sound strange to some, romantic to others. To us: this is truth.

Getting to the core of her message, the LA-born actress wrote: 'Our hearts are full, as we have never been so enamored and deeply grateful for one another as we do in this decision to separate.

Done: Bosworth filed for divorce from estranged husband Michael Polish in July. The actress, who announced their split in August 2021, filed the legal documents with the Los Angeles Courts, per The Blast; seen in February 2020

'Together, over the last ten years, Michael and I have chosen love, every time. We hold hands as tightly today as we entangled fingers on our wedding day.

'Our eyes look more deeply into one another, with more courage now. In the process of letting go, we have come to acknowledge that our love will never end. The connection does not simply disappear. The love deepens, the heart expands.

'This is love,' she wrote, finishing: 'And we will drink that down.'

Kate and Michael, 51, were last photographed together in January 2021.

The couple met in 2011 during the making of the adventure drama Big Sur, which she starred in and he directed.

Bosworth and Polish announced their engagement in August 2012 and married on August 31, 2013 at The Ranch at Rock Creek in Philipsburg, Montana.

Michael is dad to daughter Jasper Polish, 24, with ex Jo Strettell.

'I never even dated my husband-to-be,' Bosworth told InStyle UK at the time. 'He said to me after just a few weeks, before we were even together, "I'm going to marry you." He just knew.'

The star was previously involved with Orlando Bloom from 2002 from 2005.
Kristen Stewart and fiance Dylan Meyer look loved-up as they walk hand-in-hand while out in Berlin.

The actress, 32, cut a casual figure in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, teamed with a khaki green bomber jacket and biker boots.

She went makeup free during the outing ahead of Berlin's Film Festival, while her short raven locks were styled messily.

Meanwhile, Dylan looked effortlessly stylish in a blue denim jacket, black jeans and a pair of white trainers.

The Moxie actress sported a natural makeup look underneath her sunglasses and styled her blonde locks in space buns.

Smitten: Kristen Stewart and fiance Dylan Meyer look loved-up as they walk hand-in-hand while out in Berlin

Meyer and Stewart met on a movie set in 2013, but only started dating after reconnecting in 2019.

They got engaged last year, but have not yet gone public with their plans for the ceremony and party.

The Spencer actress revealed they were engaged in November 2021. Stewart talked about a possible wedding in January of the following year.

On an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she talked about possibly running off and getting married privately with Meyer.

'We might just go do it this weekend or something, I don't know, and then, like, just hang out with everyone afterwards,' she said. 'I just want to do it, you know? I'm not a good planner. I can't make plans for dinner.'

Back in April, Meyer, who's best known for penning the script for the 2021 film Moxie, shared some sweet sentiments for Stewart's 32nd birthday.

'Another one around the sun and you're out here getting flyer every year,' Meyer gushed in the caption of a photo showing the lovebirds sharing a kiss as the birthday cake was being presented. 'Time looks good on you, dude. Ya know, as they say in the toons, "awooga."'

The actress, 32, went makeup free during the outing while her short raven locks were styled messily

Low-key: The Twilight star cut a casual figure in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, teamed with a khaki green bomber jacket and biker boots

Looking good: The outing comes ahead of Berlin's upcoming Film Festival

Most recently, on the career front, Stewart has been working on he film adaption of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology Of Water, which became a New York Times best-seller list after its 2010 release.

As per Deadline, the memoir is a 'lyrical journey through a life saved by art,' and centers on a young woman who 'finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer  ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother, and a singular modern writer.

Stewart co-wrote the screenplay with Andy Mingo, while British actress Imogen Poots has been tapped to star as Yuknavitch, in the story of her tumultuous life.

In the works for more than five years, the upcoming film has been a passion project of sorts for the actress turned filmmaker.

So far, there's no official word on when the film will make its premiere.

Casual: Dylan looked effortlessly stylish in a blue denim jacket, black jeans and a pair of white trainers

Item: The couple started their romance in 2019 and have since gotten engaged

Stewart's appearance came just a week after it was announced she would direct three music videos for Phoebe Bridgers' band, Boygenius.

She is set to helm three clips for the much-talked about band comprised of Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, according to their Rolling Stone cover story.

The trio of indie-rock royalty are set to release their debut full-length album - titled The Record - and have recently put out three new tracks from it titled $20, Emily I'm Sorry, and True Blue.

Kristen is no stranger to directing music videos as she started by doing the 2014 music video for Sage + The Saints track Take Me To The South.

She also did the 2017 music video for Scottish pop band Chvrches for their track Down Side Of Me.

She will also be making her feature-length directorial debut with the adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch memoir The Chronology Of Water starring Imogen Poots.
Elizabeth Banks was pictured as she arrived at Today's studio in New York City on Wednesday morning.

The 49-year-old performer, who posed for a trio of photos outside before heading into the talk show's shooting area, cut a stylish figure while wearing a nearly all-blue outfit.

The actress, who recently spoke about her aversion to hard drugs, used her time on the program to promote the release of her soon-to-premiere movie Cocaine Bear.

Banks wore a baby blue button-up coat and a matching crop top that showed off a slight portion of her toned midsection.

The Hunger Games actress also wore a wide-legged pair of pants that nearly obscured a pair of silver platform shoes.

Bright and early: Elizabeth Banks was pictured as she arrived at Today 's studio in New York City on Wednesday morning

The performer's bright blonde hair paired perfectly with the dominant tone of her outfit.

Development on Cocaine Bear was initially announced in 2019, when Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were revealed to be producing the horror-comedy project.

The movie is based on the true story of a black bear that consumed a nearly 200-pound bag of cocaine that had been dropped from a smuggler's plane in 1985.

The body of the bear was later found, taxidermied and it is currently on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky.

Banks eventually signed on to both helm and produce the project alongside the 21 Jump Street directors in 2021.

Many of the film's sats, including Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Ray Liotta, were added to its cast that year.

Physical production on the project took place in 2021, with filming being done in Ireland.

Banks spoke about the movie during her time on Today and explained why she decided to take on the project.

Keeping it consistent: The 49-year-old performer, who posed for a trio of photos outside before heading into the talk show's shooting area, cut a stylish figure while wearing a nearly all-blue outfit

Stylish: Banks wore a baby blue button-up coat and a matching crop top

Based on real events: The movie is based on the true story of a black bear that consumed a nearly 200-pound bag of cocaine that had been dropped from a smuggler's plane in 1985

Ready to go: Banks eventually signed on to both helm and produce the project alongside the 21 Jump Street directors in 2021

She recalled: 'I read the script during the pandemic at the height of the pandemic, there was chaos reigning everywhere, and I really felt like "there's nothing more chaotic than a bear on cocaine running through the woods."'

The performer went on to speak about how she greatly enjoyed helming the movie.

'Directing this was almost a way to tame the messiness of the world...it was actually kind of cathartic as an artist,' she said.

Banks also remarked that the film would likely become a favorite with audiences.

'Some stuff goes down in this movie...you're not going to be the one that can't talk about it on Monday morning,' she stated.

Cocaine Bear is currently scheduled to be released on February 24.
Ana de Armas appeared on the 2023 Hollywood cover for Vanity Fair alongside Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Jonathan Majors, Selena Gomez and more.

Ana spoke out Marilyn Monroe - the movie star legend she portrayed in the Netflix film Blonde.

The 34-year-old actress said she could related to the icon.

'If you put Marilyn Monroe "the movie star" aside, she's just an actress trying to navigate the life and this system, which is so hard to navigate for anybody,' she told the magazine.

'On top of that, you add this point of view of [director and screenwriter] Andrew [Dominik's] which was to see that through her trauma,' she added.

'I truly thought it was going to do justice to a more dimensional human being, because I wouldn't want to be remembered just for one thing. I am more than just an actress on the cover of a magazine.'

Cover: Ana de Armas appeared on the 2023 Hollywood cover for Vanity Fair alongside Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Jonathan Majors, Selena Gomez and more

Her film Blonde was released in 2022, produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon and Scott Robertson.

The film was based on the book Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates; it was released on Netflix on September 28.

The film also stars Adrien Brody, Xaxier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson and Bobby Cannavale.

Ana was asked if she thinks Hollywood produces stars like Marilyn, to which she said no because the mystery of a star is gone.

'I feel like the new generations don't have that concept, because of social media. There is so much information out there and oversharing. The concept of a movie star is someone untouchable you only see onscreen,' she said.

'That mystery is gone. For the most part, we've done that to ourselves - nobody's keeping anything from anyone anymore.'

She said that her portrayal of Marilyn made her reconsider Hollywood in some ways.

'The sad part for - and the most challenging - is to see not only what happened in the '40s and '50s and '60s but to see patterns continue to happen,' she said.

In character: Ana spoke out Marilyn Monroe - the movie star legend she portrayed in the Netflix film Blonde

Her words: The 34-year-old actress said she could related to the icon

'It's definitely made me protective of myself and set boundaries and know my limits for how much I'm willing to give - and how much I want to keep to myself. But at the same time, it clearly is a place where incredible opportunities happen,' Ana said.

'I'm very grateful to be working in the industry.'

Ana said she wants to continue doing what she is doing, but produce as well: 'Maybe finding a small story and actually doing a full production of that film.'

She noted that she doesn't want to jump from project to project but wants to focus on finding a better schedule to combine things she wants to do and the time to brainstorm and create her own as well.

She wants to also slow down the pace of it all for the next couple of years.

Ana talked about her social media and how she barely uses her Instagram but keeps it for her commitments.

'It's tricky because you feel the pressure to share some personal insight, or something about your private life, to keep people interested in you. You have to find a balance somehow, which I find difficult.'

In the film: Ana pictured with co-star Bobby Cannavale
Kerry Washington has been spotted in Yorkshire wearing her military costume as filming has begun on Tyler Perry's brand new Netflix blockbuster.

The American actress, 46 is starring in upcoming movie Six Triple Eight, which tells the true story of the only all-black all-female WW2 Battalion.

On Tuesday, Kerry was snapped wearing a khaki army overcoat and beret and brown satchel as she stood on a huge pile of mail bags in the hangar.

The star was later seen getting a hug from Tyler, 53, as they shot the scene for the film, and she was also spotted holding onto a notepad with various pages of script as she focused on her role for the moment.

Tyler looked in good spirits while directing the scene and walking between locations on the Duxford Military Museum site.

Latest: Kerry Washington has been spotted in Yorkshire wearing her military costume as filming has begun on Tyler Perry's brand new Netflix blockbuster

New: The American actress, 46 is starring in upcoming movie Six Triple Eight, which tells the true story of the only all-black all-female WW2 Battalion, directed by Tyler Perry (pictured right)

On set: Tyler looked in good spirits while directing the scene and walking between locations on the Duxford Military Museum site

The 855 women who made up the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, were given the mission of sorting through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail to US service personnel.

They succeeded in half the time they were given, sorting more than 17 million pieces of mail and reconnecting American soldiers with their loved ones back home.

The mail was stored in huge hangars and scene at Duxford showed Kerry standing on top of a massive stack of post, whilst her colleagues marched in front of the hangar.

The movie, which also stars Oprah Winfrey and Susan Sarandon, is expected to continue shotting in Bradford later in the week.

Six Triple Eight is being shot in the West Yorkshire city's historic Little Germany district.

Little Germany has hosted a series of major productions in recent years, including Downton Abbey, Emmerdale, Peaky Blinders, Gentleman Jack and ABC Murders.

The district, which was named after its large population of German merchants in the 19th-century, is a conservation area known for its handsome neoclassical architecture.

Location: On Tuesday, Kerry was snapped wearing a khaki army overcoat and beret and brown satchel as she stood on a huge pile of mail bags in the hangar

Role: The star was later seen getting a hug from Tyler, 53, as they shot the scene for the film, and she was also spotted holding onto a notepad with various pages of script as she focused on her role for the moment

Cast: The 855 women who made up the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, were given the mission of sorting through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail to US service personnel

Filming: They succeeded in half the time they were given, sorting more than 17 million pieces of mail and reconnecting American soldiers with their loved ones back home

Directing: The movie, which also stars Oprah Winfrey and Susan Sarandon, is expected to continue shotting in Bradford later in the week. Six Triple Eight is being shot in the West Yorkshire city's historic Little Germany district

Leading: It is Perry's fourth for Netflix, and based on an adaptation of a story written by Kevin M. Hymel for WWII History Magazine from Sovereign Media

Residents have received letters informing them about the filming for Six Triple Eight, the Telegraph and Argus reported.

The movie features a star-studded cast, including Kerry Washington, Susan Sarandon, Sam Waterston, Dean Norris, Gregg Sulkin, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Jay Reeves, Jeante Godlock, Moriah Brown, and Baadja-Lyne Odums.

It is Perry's fourth for Netflix, and based on an adaptation of a story written by Kevin M. Hymel for WWII History Magazine from Sovereign Media.

Behind-the-scenes: The district, which was named after its large population of German merchants in the 19th-century, is a conservation area known for its handsome neoclassical architecture

Back in the day: Little Germany has hosted a series of major productions in recent years, including Downton Abbey, Emmerdale, Peaky Blinders, Gentleman Jack and ABC Murders

Scene: The movie features a star-studded cast, including Kerry Washington, Susan Sarandon, Sam Waterston, Dean Norris, Gregg Sulkin, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Jay Reeves, Jeante Godlock, Moriah Brown, and Baadja-Lyne Odums

Ensemble: The cast is pictured marching through the location in Yorkshire, the Duxford Military Museum on Wednesday

The Battalion was eventually tasked with sifting through 17million mail items - which was thought to be insurmountable - in half of the timeframe they had been given.

The group had to deal with racial discrimination, unfamiliar surroundings and a nation that was torn by the war, but persisted in continuing with their work, getting mail from friends and family into the hands of American soldiers.

The unit continued to push forward in the face of adversity with the motto, 'No Mail, Low Morale.'

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed a bill that awarded the group the Congressional Gold Medal.
Sienna Miller starred in the trailer for the upcoming anthology series Extrapolations, which was released on the official YouTube channel for AppleTV+ on Wednesday.

The 41-year-old performer, who recently attended an event during New York Fashion Week, appeared as Rebecca Shearer in the clip, which focused on several stories set during an increasingly worsening environmental crisis.

The trailer also featured performances from an ensemble cast that included Forest Whitaker, Meryl Streep and Edward Norton.

The clip began with Miller boarding a futuristic aircraft while a character played by Marion Cotillard narrated: 'Human history is the story of one terrible catastrophe after another.'

Shearer flew over what appeared to be a burning rainforest, after which the scene changed to a shot of London that had reverted to gloomy conditions not seen since the 1800s.

Leading lady: Sienna Miller starred in the trailer for the upcoming anthology seres Extrapolations, which was released on the official YouTube channel for AppleTV+ on Wednesday

A new look: Air travel is very different in the future but the planet is uninhabitable

Rabbi Marshall Zucker, portrayed by Daveed Diggs, then stated: 'Today people get their energy for the sun. Humans have set foot on Mars. Cancer has been defeated. And yet, for every question answered, another one appears.'

Jonathan Chopin, played by Norton, then took a boat ride next to an artificial sea wall that had been erected to protect New York City from rising water levels.

During a lunch between two businessmen, one stated: 'Here's what you need to know about global warming. It will all go to s*** at the end of the century... but we'll be smiling in gold plated coffins.'

After scenes showing devastated cityscapes were shown, Kit Harrington, playing Nicholas Bilton, told a business rival: 'The man whose house is on fire is incredibly easy to negotiate with.'

A climate change protest was then shown, and a holographic activist stated that 'we cannot give up and go home for one simple reason: We already are home. This is our only home.'

Chopin later spoke to a group of political leaders and expressed that 'it helps to look at climate change like a bear. The whole planet's been wrestling with the bear for decades. So far, the bear's been kicking our a**.'

After a tech CEO promoted new technology that could help humans survive in harsh conditions, Ezra Haddad, portrayed by Tahar Rahim, fondly expressed that he remembered 'being happy.'

Shearer then asked Streep's character if she and her colleagues were 'bad people,' to which the latter responded that she should 'stop being angry about the past. The future is now.'

Stacked cast: The trailer also featured performances from an ensemble cast that included the likes of Forest Whitaker, Meryl Streep and Edward Norton

Scenic views: Jonathan Chopin, played by Norton, then took a boat ride next to an artificial sea wall that had been erected to protect New York City from rising water levels

Watching the world burn: During a lunch between two businessmen, one stated: 'Here's what you need to know about global warming. It will all go to s*** at the end of the century... but we'll be smiling in gold plated coffins'

Taking advantage: After scenes showing devastated cityscapes were shown, Kit Harrington, playing Nicholas Bilton, told a business rival: 'The man whose house is on fire is incredibly easy to negotiate with'

Making an effort: A climate change protest was then shown, and a holographic activist stated that 'we cannot give up and go home for one simple reason: We already are home. This is our only home'

Dire circumstances: Chopin later spoke to a group of political leaders and expressed that 'it helps to look at climate change like a bear. The whole planet's been wrestling with the bear for decades. So far, the bear's been kicking our a**'

The trailer ended after Zucker learned that his mother was moving to Miami, and when he asked how she would get along with her sister, she remarked: 'It's too hot out to hate people these days.'

Development on Extrapolations was revealed to the public in 2020, when Scott Z. Burns signed on to work on the project.

Although the series was initially expected to run for ten episodes, it was later cut back to eight.

Much of the project's cast, which also includes the likes of Tobey Maguire, Gemma Chan and Eiza Gonzalez, was revealed in 2021.

Extrapolations is currently set to premiere on the AppleTV+ service on March 17.
Sophie Morgan has revealed that she's in hospital with complications due to a minor operation which she had on Wednesday.

The Loose Women star shared a snap in her bed on Instagram as she also gave an update on proceedings after claiming British Airways broke her 8,000 wheelchair in transit last month.

Sophie, 37, suffered a T6 spinal cord injury in 2003 when she was involved in a car accident which left her paralysed aged 18.

In her latest post she revealed her health problems three weeks on from the incident with British Airways and said it was hard to 'find the energy to fight when her body is a battleground'.

She penned as she told how things were going after the alleged flight incident: 'Progress Update: Letter to PM from MP about to be circulated for signatures.

Tough: Sophie Morgan has revealed that she's in hospital with complications due to a minor operation which she had on Wednesday

'Aviation experts consulting. Campaign launching next week. Global partnerships being established.'

She then went on to say she was in hospital, writing: 'In the hospital atm. Complications post minor op.

'Sharing this to highlight that it takes a LOT for disabled ppl to find the energy to fight when their bodies are a battleground as is.'

At the end of January Sophie claimed British Airways damaged her 8,000 wheelchair while in transit and told her to 'send an email' when she complained.

She requires a wheelchair at all times but said she didn't get the support she needed when British Airways damaged her chair after 'wedging it in the hold' from a flight from Los Angeles to London Heathrow.

They had attached the chair to the battery powered attachment without permission and untrained staff were unable to separate them, leaving her terrified she might be stuck without it.

When they did detach the chair from the battery, it had to be pieced back together, leaving it damaged and as she later discovered, the light was also broken.

Taking to Instagram, TV star Sophie said: 'Landed at Heathrow with a bang.

Incident: The Loose Women star shared a snap in her bed on Instagram as she also gave an update on proceedings after claiming British Airways broke her 8,000 wheelchair in transit last month

'Someone - no one took responsibility - decided to attach my wheelchair and my batec (battery-powered attachment) whilst in transit (they were checked in separately, in two parts, unattached) and they have done so a) without permission and b) COMPLETELY WRONG!!!

'It took over half an hour to "break" them apart, all that time I had to sit on an aisle chair that was NOT safe and I didnt know if I would be able to get back into my chair.

'Eventually, they broke them apart and I got back into my chair and reattached the batec but its not safe to use. I then discovered more damage.'

She said the customer service she experienced after this was completely unacceptable.

Shocking: Sophie was left wheelchair bound after suffering a T6 spinal cord injury in 2003 resulting in paralysis from the chest down at the age of 18

'Oh my God!' At the end of January Sophie claimed British Airways damaged her 8,000 wheelchair while in transit and told her to 'send an email' when she complained

'And what was I told to do by BRITISH AIRWAYS!? Send an email via the website.

'This has GOT TO STOP. Thousands of chairs are damaged by airlines every year. Its #JustPlaneWrong.'

Sophie filmed a video which showed she was literally shaking because she was worried that she might not be able to get back into her chair which she relies on.

A spokesperson for British Airways told MailOnline: 'We're extremely sorry for Sophie's experience and we're investigating what happened as a matter of urgency.

'We've been in contact with Sophie to sincerely apologise and to resolve the matter with her directly.

'We carry hundreds of thousands of customers who require additional assistance each year and we work hard to provide help and support them throughout the whole journey.

'It's extremely disheartening when things go wrong, and we dont underestimate the impact this has. We're committed to ensuring we deliver a consistently good service, and we'll be working closely with Sophie and our dedicated accessibility teams to discuss how we can continue to make improvements to ensure a great flying experience for everyone.'

London-based campaigner Sophie has undergone a host of impressive projects including presenting Channel 4's TV coverage of the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

She said: 'It took over half an hour to "break" [the chair and battery pack] apart, all that time I had to sit on an aisle chair that was NOT safe'

Horrendous: Sophie documented her whole experience with the broken chair and was left 'literally shaking'

Appearing on Lorraine in 2021, Sophie said that while many people are 'frightened of change', she believes that her disability 'made her life' and has encouraged her to 'live properly'.

She said: 'I think people are frightened of change, they don't want it, there's a fear around it, said Sophie. 'But for me, because my change ended up giving so many positives, I sort of lean into it, I seek it out.

'I want life to be different and to be full of variety and excitement.

'I suppose I learned the hard way that the worst things that happen to you can lead to the best of life.

'It's hard for people to relate, they see my disability and think it ruins a life - but I found it to be the opposite, I think it made my life.

Sophie, whose successful television career began in 2009, says that while it was difficult adapting to her injury, it has become 'part of who she is'.

'When I had my injury there was obviously the initial adapting to it and becoming paralysed and wheelchair user at such a young age.

'There was so much to work out and figure out about my identity, who I was going to be and how I was going to make it happen', she said.

'I really didn't have much experience with disability, I was the first disabled person I had ever met, I had so much to learn and unlearn.

'But over the years it's become part of who I am and that drives me to think about how to live life properly, because I nearly lost my life, so it matters so much to me.'
Beatrice Granno and Simona Tabasco attended the Wednesday Michael Kors show, which took place as part of New York Fashion Week.

The 29-year-old actress, who recently attended Paris Fashion Week, and her 28-year-old costar made quite the impression while rocking eye-catching outfits at the fashion-forward event.

The White Lotus' breakout stars were also featured in a campaign for a major shapewear company's Valentine's Day collection.

Granno wore a black button-up dress that featured several floral prints during the event.

The performer also rocked a cream-colored overcoat and a stylish pair of black stilettos.

Showing up: Beatrice Granno and Simona Tabasco attended the Michael Kors' new show, which took place as part of New York Fashion Week on Wednesday

She accessorized with a black clutch and sunglasses, and her gorgeous brunette hair fell onto her shoulders.

Tabasco opted for an entirely-red outfit that included a sleeveless top that was tucked into a wide-fitting pair of pants.

The actress also donned a flashy overcoat and a pair of high-heeled shoes that were partially obscured by her bottoms.

The White Lotus' breakout star carried a small clutch and kept the blinding lights out of her eyes with a pair of aviator-style sunglasses.

Her beautiful brunette hair was tied back into a tight bun for the length of the event.

Granno and Tabasco both shared shots of flower arrangements that had been sent to them by the Michael Kors team to their respective Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

The former of the two added a short text graphic to her post to express that she 'can't wait' for the show to start.

The costars are no strangers to the fashion world, and they recently appeared in a set of promotional images for Kim Kardashian's shapewear company Skims.

Lady in red: Tabasco opted for an entirely-red outfit that included a sleeveless top that was tucked into a wide-fitting pair of pants

On screen: The pair have become well-known as the breakout stars of The White Lotus' second season

Excited: Granno and Tabasco both shared shots of flower arrangements that had been sent to them by the Michael Kors team to their respective Instagram Stories on Wednesday

Grateful: The former of the two added a short text graphic to her post to express that she 'can't wait' for the show to star

Hot stuff! The costars are no strangers to the fashion world, and they recently appeared in a set of promotional images for Kim Kardashian's shapewear company Skims

The pair were the featured models for the line's Valentine's Day collection, which was released late last month.

Granno and Tabasco rocked several of the brand's new offerings in the promotional snaps.

The two shared several snaps from the campaign to their respective Instagram accounts to show their excitement for the collection's release.

The actresses issued a press release to express their enthusiasm for the new campaign, the former expressed via Hypebae that she was happy to have her costar by her side.

'Having the opportunity to work alongside my friend Simona and to experience our first global fashion campaign together is something very special,' she said.

Tabasco added: 'To be featured in a global fashion campaign with Beatrice that celebrates friendship, women, and feeling empowered and sexy in your own body is so rewarding.'
Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon was looking devilishly sexy walking the Luis De Javier show during New York Fashion Week.

The model, 26, put on a very busty display in a red mini dress decked out with horns on the chest as she strutted down the runway on Tuesday.

With bleached eyebrows and knee-high tights adorning her long legs, Lourdes commanded attention as she took the catwalk by storm.

Her legs were fully on display as she stomped about in black heels. Even her nails were decked out in a shade of red.

Leon wasn't the only big name walking the runway as It Girl Julia Fox was also among the models at the designer's show. The runway show was presented by Pornhub.

Looking wicked! Lourdes Leon was looking devilishly sexy walking the Luis De Javier show during New York Fashion Week

Catwalk queen! All eyes were on Lourdes as she took the runway by storm with an edgy, spike-accessorized hat worn over her glossy black hair

All eyes were on Lourdes as she took the runway by storm with an edgy, spike-accessorized hat worn over her glossy black hair.

She finished off the look with a glossy slick of lipstick on her pout.

The red tights were also a part of another outfit she rocked on the runway - a sexy black bodysuit covered up by a grey sweater which tied around her waist.

Her black hair was accessorized with several clips.

Madonna had Lourdes in 1996 with her then-boyfriend Carlos Leon, a fitness trainer who has apparently remained friends with the pop diva.

Lourdes, who often goes by Lola, once spoke to Debi Mazar for Interview magazine and claimed: 'We dont get any handouts in my family.'

She acknowledged: 'Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. Theres no denying that. But I think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like: "My kids are not going to be like this."'

Well heeled! The daughter of pop icon Madonna strutted down the catwalk in black heels

Working it! The red tights remained as she hit the runway again in a sexy black bodysuit covered up by a grey sweater which tied around her waist

Eye-catching: Like the other models, she rocked bleached eyebrows

She added: 'Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you. My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.'

Lourdes began her public career as a model but has since followed her mother's footsteps into music, releasing singles with such names as C***radiction.

She is one of a group of rising starlets with famous parents, from Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp to Andie MacDowell's daughter Margaret Qualley.

Maude Apatow, whose father is Judd Apatow, and Maya Hawke, whose parents are Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, have shot to fame in recent years as well.

Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber, Heidi Klum's daughter Leni Klum and Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough are also coming up.

The online chatter around 'nepo babies' reached its height in December after New York magazine ran a viral cover story about the phenomenon.
Penn Badgley looked as dashing as ever as he posed for a striking Variety shoot to promote the fourth season of his serial killer drama, You.

The actor, 36, who plays murderous former bookstore manager Joe Goldberg in the Netflix sensation, cut an edgy figure as he posed in tailored suits, before making rare comments about his previous relationship with Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively, 35.

Penn dated Blake from 2007-2010, after meeting on the set of the hit show where Penn played Dan Humphrey and Blake portrayed Serena van der Woodsen,

Penn, who is now married to Domino Kirke, 39 and is father to son James, two - credited Blake's teetotal lifestyle with 'saving him' from forcing himself to experiment with drugs and alcohol.

Discussing how he felt a 'dark undercurrent that would bottom out in my later 20s' as he dealt with his newfound fame, he said: 'To be honest, I never struggled with substance. Blake didnt drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.'

Hello, You: Penn Badgley looked as dashing as ever as he posed for a striking Variety shoot to promote the fourth season of his serial killer drama, You

Exes: Penn, who is now married to Domino Kirke, 39 and is father to a son James, two - credited Blake Lively's teetotal lifestyle with 'saving him' from forcing himself to experiment with drugs and alcohol - pictured 2008

Reflecting on the intense interest around the show and his romance with Blake, he added: 'Beyond our relationship, I dont think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly.'

Blake is now married to Ryan Reynolds, with the pair recently welcoming their fourth child together,

The star, who previously revealed he asked for less sex scenes in the show 'because fidelity in his marriage is important' also revealed how he had never been comfortable doing intimate scenes and that Domino pushed him to take the You role.

He said: 'Its not a place where Ive blurred lines. Theres almost nothing I could say with more consecration. That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me - and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary - has always been something that I actually dont want to play with at all.

'Its important to me in my real life to not have them. My fidelity in my relationship,Its important to me. And actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didnt tell anybody that. But that is why.'

The fourth season of You sees Badgley's character, Joe Goldberg, receives a taste of his own medicine from a vengeful serial killer as he attempts to keep a low profile under a new identity.

After killing ten people over the past three seasons of You, Goldberg is unable to escape his past once he catches the attention of a murder, who is dubbed the 'Eat the Rich Killer.'

Following his move to London, and new life as Professor Jonathan Moore, Joe battles a fresh heartbreak, which he ominously calls the 'catalyst for a new path.'

The previous season ended with Joe killing Love, the mother of his child, before jetting off to Europe in search of Marienne.

Iconic: The fourth season of You sees Badgley's character, Joe Goldberg, receives a taste of his own medicine from a vengeful serial killer as he attempts to keep a low profile under a new identity

Gossip girl co-stars: Penn dated Blake from 2007-2010, after meeting on the set of the hit show where Penn played Dan Humphrey and Blake portrayed Serena van der Woodsen

Dapper: Discussing how he felt a 'dark undercurrent that would bottom out in my later 20s' as he dealt with his newfound fame, he said: 'To be honest, I never struggled with substance. Blake didnt drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me'

Striking: The star looked dapper as he posed in the edgy shoot

Reflecting on the intense interest around the show and his romance with Blake, he added: 'Beyond our relationship, I dont think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly.'
EastEnders fans were left fuming after Wednesday night's episode, which saw Ryan Malloy asking his daughter Lily to come and live with him when she has her baby.

Pregnant teenager Lily was left with a big decision to make when her estranged father returned to the Square and asked her to move to Wakefield to live with him.

His offer came after he had a blazing row with Lily's mother Stacey, where he said he was going to try and get shared custody of their daughter, despite not seeing her for six years.

A raging Stacey (Lacey Turner) insisted that he didn't have a chance, but later came into conflict with Lily over the argument, which happened at her 12-week scan.

Ryan's sister Whitney (Shona McGarty) then accused him of only getting involved with Lily's pregnancy because of his struggles to have children with his wife Helen, but Ryan (Neil McDermott) insisted it was not the case.

'Manipulative': EastEnders fans were left fuming after Wednesday night's episode, which saw Ryan Malloy asking his daughter Lily to come and live with him when she has her baby

However, viewers were also left unconvinced about his motives as they called him 'manipulative' and claimed he just wants Lily's baby for himself and his wife because they are unable to have children together.

Taking to Twitter, one fan wrote: 'So Ryan wants Lily to come stay with him and his wife helen. It must be the grief of the two not being able to have children.'

Another speculated: 'Ryan 100% wants lilys baby,' while a third tweeted: 'Ryan is dodgy.'

A fourth said: 'Ryan, you selfish manipulative little oik!'

And a fifth commented: 'Ryans after Lillys baby,' while another added: 'Ryan you scumbag.'

Wednesday's episode saw Lily (Lillia Turner) and her family preparing for the 12-week scan, with Stacey making it clear she didn't want the baby's father Ricky Mitchell (Frankie Day) to attend.

Ricky's mother Sam (Kim Medcalf) arrived at Stacey's house to ask what time the scan was, but wasn't met with a friendly response from Stacey.

Sam asked: 'I was just wondering what time the scan is today?'

Decisions: Pregnant teenager Lily was left with a big decision to make when her estranged father returned to the Square and asked her to move to Wakefield to live with him

Intentions: Viewers were unconvinced about his motives as they called him 'manipulative' and claimed he wants Lily's baby for himself and his wife because they can't have children

But Stacey hit back with: 'It don't matter, he's not invited and neither are you.'

However, Lily then entered the room and insisted: 'I told him, he's the dad I want him there, he has rights.'

Ryan was then seen telling his sister that he planned to go to the scan, with Whitney questioning whether Stacey would want him to go.

It appeared Whitney, who told Ryan about Lily's pregnancy despite Stacey's objections, was having doubts about bringing her brother back to the Square.

Despite Stacey's objections, Ryan turned up at the 12-week scan on Lily's invite and the group were all seen entering the hospital to see the baby.

Ryan and Stacey had a private chat when they went to get coffee in the hospital ahead of the scan, when Ryan dropped the bombshell that he wants Lily to live with him.

He said: 'Doesn't Lily deserve more? I can help. What if Lily and the baby came and lived with me? I know I haven't been there but I wanted to be.'

To which a raging Stacey said: 'You can't be serious.'

But Ryan hit back with: 'Whatever you think of me, you've got to think about what's best for Lily.'

They both then joined Lily, Ricky and Sam to go in for the scan and all became emotional as they watched the unborn child on the ultrasound.

Row: His offer came after he had a blazing row with Lily's mother Stacey, where he said he was going to try and get shared custody of their daughter, despite not seeing her for six years

However, things quickly took a turn for the worse as Stacey and Ryan began bickering, with the nurse ordering them to leave the room.

While they were looking at the baby, Stacey fumed: 'Your dad has had loads of experience with babies as you can see. The key is Ricky be there for the conception and then just vanish completely.'

But Ryan said: 'I would have been there if I knew she was mine.'

After they were told to leave the room, they got into a heated row in the corridor, with Ryan fuming: 'This is my grandchild just as much as yours.'

But Stacey argued: 'Yeah by blood!'

Dropping another bombshell, Ryan said: 'I could go for shared custody.'

Stacey hit back with: 'You haven't seen Lily for six years! You'll be laughed out of a courtroom.'

But Ryan insisted that he had money, a house and a wife so would be able to get shared custody of Lily, to which Stacey shouted back: 'You are a nasty, smug little-'

Their row was cut off when Sam brought Lily and Ricky out into the hallway, with Lily holding the scan photograph in her hand.

Later, Ryan was met by an angry Whitney when he arrived home after she heard of the argument he had with Stacey.

Criticising his decision to ask for shared custody, she said: 'I put my neck on the line to bring you back here and then you throw your weight around!'

Arguing: Ryan's sister Whitney accused him of only getting involved with Lily's pregnancy because of his struggles to have children with his wife Helen, but Ryan said it was not the case

Confused: Teenager Lily is expecting a child with Ricky Mitchell (both pictured) and they both attended the baby's 12-week scan together

To which Ryan argued: 'Stacey's always made all the decisions, she takes my child maintenance and freezes me out.'

Whitney went on to question whether his interest stemmed from his difficulties having children with his wife Helen, to which he insisted: 'My daughter is my priority and the baby. I've got the space and the money, why shouldn't she have it?'

Lily was then also seen having a tense exchange with her mother as she criticised Stacey for having an argument with Ryan at the scan.

Stacey said: 'He was the one making the scene.'

But Lily hit back with: 'No he weren't, you were. He just wanted to come to the scan.'

Stacey then argued that it was Martin Fowler (James Bye) who had brought her up, not her estranged father Ryan.

He said: 'Martin is your dad. It's not about genes, it's about who makes your breakfast and lunch and dinner... having kids isn't easy, it's not something you walk in and out of.'

Storming out, Lily was then seen bumping into Ryan in a cafe, when he argued that Stacey had 'a lot on her plate' and said she could give her mother a 'break' by moving in with him.

Lily said: 'It's going to be a lot for mum isn't it? Another baby. She does everything for me, every single meal, after school clubs, the dentist.'

Ryan replied: 'She has got a lot on her plate, what with you, the other kids, house full of strangers. You know you could always come and stay with me and Helen, I'd have to talk to mum, but Helen would love to have a little girl around the house.'

But Lily argued: 'You haven't seen me in forever.'

And Ryan continued: 'I know, I wanted to. I always sent you money and birthday cards, presents. You're my girl and Helen's always said I need to get you up there for a visit.

Tense: In upcoming scenes, Lily is set to make a huge decision after feeling like a burden to her mother and worrying about their financial struggles. But how will Stacey take her news?

'When I came out of prison, I thought the best thing was for you to stay with your mum. But now, you and the baby could have your own bedrooms. Then we could think about getting you back into school, or uni later on if that's what you wanted.

'Why don't you have a think about it? What's best for you, both of you. Give your mum a break, she needs it. Being a parent is about always putting your kid first, remember that Lil.'

However, fans were quick to brand him as 'manipulative' as they questioned his intentions about getting back involved with his daughter now.

In upcoming scenes this week, Lily is set to make a huge decision after feeling like a burden to her mother and worrying about their financial struggles.

But just how will Stacey take her news?

EastEnders airs on Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Former MTV star Connor Smith is wanted by police after he allegedly tried to engage in sex acts with a minor under the age of 15 - TMZ reports.

Smith, 32, - who appeared on the network's show Are You The One in 2015 - has had a warrant issued for his arrest in the state of Illinois after he allegedly sexually interacted with an undercover officer posing as a girl under the age of 15 for 'several weeks' online.

He is then said to have sent the fake teenager explicit material of himself and planned to meet up with them with the purpose of engaging in sexual acts.

The publication reports Smith drove to meet the fake teen on February 9 with the Lake County Sheriff's Office moving in to arrest him - before Smith fled in his pick-up truck.

It was claimed on February 10, Lake County Sheriff's Office issued a warrant for Smith's arrest on felony charges of traveling to meet a minor, grooming and disseminating harmful material.

Warrant: Are You The One? star Connor Smith is wanted by police after he allegedly tried to engage in sex acts with a minor under the age of 15 - TMZ reports

A judge reportedly signed off on a million-dollar bond if Smith were to be captured and arrested.

Lake County claims Smith indicated his intentions to surrender but has not done so and are now asking for tips to locate him, while warning the public.

DailyMail.com has contacted Lake County Sheriff's Office for comment.

In 2021, Smith was arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

The former reality star was taken into custody in Cook County, Illinois, though the crime reportedly occurred in Indiana, TMZ reported.

He was charged with one count each of rape and sexual battery, along with two counts of criminal confinement.

An arrest affidavit obtained by the publication paints a shifting story from the teenage girl.

She reportedly told police that Smith had abducted her in July when she was visiting family in Indiana.

Wanted: Smith, 32, has had a warrant issued for his arrest in the state of Illinois after he allegedly sexually interacted with an undercover officer posing as a girl under the age of 15 for 'several weeks' online (pictured in a 2021 mugshot after his arrest for alleged rape)

Cast: In 2015, Smith was part of the cast of the MTV dating series Are You The One?, which featured a group of singles looking for relationship who all moved in together - Smith is seen top left

She claimed that they first made contact via snapchat when she messaged someone about a cat they were selling and gave the address of the house she was staying at.

The alleged victim said that a man ripped open the screen window on her bedroom that night and pulled her out of her room, before forcing her into his truck and tanking her to a motel when he set about sexually assaulting her.

But her story had shifted in subsequent police interviews, and she later told the authorities that she had snuck out of her own accord to visit Smith after they had matched together on a dating app.

She told police that she 'immediately had a bad feeling' after meeting Smith at his truck, and she alleged that he forced her to perform oral sex on him as they drove to the motel.

The teen claimed that he slapped her repeatedly and even tried to choke her during the harrowing drive, and once they were at the motel he allegedly urinated on her before forcing her to perform oral sex on him again.

Afterward, she said that Smith drove her back to the house and told her that he would return the following night to pick her up.

Photo: He is then said to have sent the fake teenager explicit material of himself and planned to meet up with them with the purpose of engaging in sexual acts

Prosecutors in Indiana later dropped the charges against Smith, saying they could not prove they could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

Smith's attorney Maryam Afshar-StewarDeputy told the publication at the time: 'While a dismissal is a step in the right direction, Mr. Smith has a long road ahead to repair the damage that has been caused by these false allegations.'

In 2015, Smith was part of the cast of the MTV dating series Are You The One?, which featured a group of singles looking for relationship who all moved in together.

The contestants were paired off into ideal couples thanks to a matchmaking algorithm, and their task was to determine the chosen couples, with a prize of up to $1 million to be shared among the contestants if they could correctly identify all of the couples.
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The front row of the Michael Kors fashion show in New York City on Wednesday afternoon was jam-packed with familiar faces.

There were several Hollywood A-listers as they squeezed in side-by-side to get a look at the fall/winter 2023 collection, which was modeled by Irina Shayk and Amber Valletta.

One was even an Oscar nominee, another a Broadway singer.

Also at the fashion event - which had a spectacular red carpet outside - there was a well-known and published feminist in the mix.

And rounding out the cast of characters was a fashion magazine editor who seemed to give a cold shoulder to most of the women she sat next to as she wore dark sunglasses.

Check your celebrity IQ as you try to name them all.

The front row of the Michael Kors fashion show in New York City on Wednesday afternoon was jam-packed with familiar faces. Can you name them all?

A better look: There was a famous feminist, center, in the mix too who wore all black from the Kors collection

In the front row was Vogue editor-in chief Anna Wintour, feminist Gloria Steinem, Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Katie Holmes, Alan Cumming, Don Lemon of CNN, Ellen Pompeo and her daughter, and Lea Michele.

Anna Wintour wore her sunglasses as usual, which made her appear more distant than she probably should, as she paired a snakeskin coat with a plaid dress.

The 73-year-old also had her bob in the same style she has worn for decades.

The British journalist based in New York City who has served as editor-in-Chief of Vogue since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Conde Nast since 2020; she is also the artistic director of Conde Nast and the Global Editorial Director of Vogue.

The star is romantically linked with 73-year-old British actor Bill Nighy.

Next to her was 88-year-old journalist and social-political activist Gloria Steinem. The Ohio native emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine and a co-founder of Ms. magazine.

The list: In the front row was Vogue editor-in chief Anna Wintour, feminist Gloria Steinem, Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, Mindy Kaling, Kate Hudson, Katie Holmes, Alan Cumming, Don Lemon of CNN, Ellen Pompeo and her daughter, and Lea Michele

Anna: Anna Wintour wore her sunglasses as usual, which made her appear more distant than she probably should, as she paired a snakeskin coat with a plaid dress. The 73-year-old also had her bob in the same style she has worn for decades. Next to her was 88-year-old journalist and social-political activist Gloria Steinem

She had on a dark outfit with her hair nicely puffed up in its signature style.

Savannah Guthrie looked chic in a black lace dress that revealed her bare legs.

The 51-year-old beauty is a broadcast journalist and attorney. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News, morning show Today, a position she has held since July 2012.

Guthrie joined NBC News in September 2007 as a legal analyst and correspondent, regularly reporting on trials throughout the country.

Actress Mindy Kaling stood out in a tomato red pantsuit that showed off her newly slim figure.

The 43-year-old comedian, screenwriter and producer first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the NBC sitcom The Office, for which she also served as a writer, executive producer, and director.

Savannah: Savannah Guthrie looked chic in a black lace dress that revealed her bare legs. The 51-year-old beauty is a broadcast journalist and attorney. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News, morning show Today, a position she has held since July 2012. Actress Mindy Kaling stood out in a tomato red pantsuit that showed off her newly slim figure

Now she is working on Velma which just got a second season.

Kate Hudson had on a strappy black bikini top that showed off her flat tummy as she wore her blonde hair up.

The Oscar nominee is the daughter of Hollywood great Goldie Hawn.

Hudson made her film debut in the 1998 drama Desert Blue, which was followed by supporting roles in several films like ALmost Famous and How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days.

Kate, 43, had fun chatting up Katie Holmes who was next to her. Holmes played it safe in a dark suit.

Kate: Kate Hudson had on a strappy black bikini top that showed off her flat tummy as she wore her blonde hair up. The Oscar nominee is the daughter of Hollywood great Goldie Hawn. Seen far right

Katie: The 44-year-old Katie Holmes, right, first achieved fame as Joey Potter on the television series Dawson's Creek. Holmes made her feature film debut in 1997 with a supporting role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. More recently she was in The Secret

They look like they are besties: Kate, left, and Katie, right, goofed around while in the front row

The 44-year-old Holmes, who hailed from Ohio, first achieved fame as Joey Potter on the television series Dawson's Creek. Holmes made her feature film debut in 1997 with a supporting role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. More recently she was in The Secret.

Katie was wed to Tom Cruise from 2006 until 2012.

Next to her was actor Alan Cumming.

The 58-year-old Scottish actor has done stage work in Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the lead in Bent, The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae and Samuel Beckett's Endgame at The Old Vic, opposite Daniel Radcliffe.

He has been on the series Instinct and The Good Wife.

Alan: Next to Holmes was actor Alan Cumming. The 58-year-old Scottish actor has done stage work in Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the lead in Bent, The National Theatre of Scotland's The Bacchae and Samuel Beckett's Endgame at The Old Vic, opposite Daniel Radcliffe

Don: After him was CNN star Don Lemon who wore sunglasses and a beige outfit. The 56-year-old Louisiana native is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN

Don Juan? Don showed off his unusual coat as he added beige slacks and suede boots as he posed with Michael Kors

Ellen: Next up was Grey's Anatomy actress Ellen Pompeo in a beige outfit as she was joined by her daughter. The 53-year-old actress is wed to Chris Ivery

Lea: After that came Glee vet Lea Michele who is getting praised for her turn in the Broadway version of Funny Girl. The 36-year-old Bronx native began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Miserables, Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, and Spring Awakening

Irina Shayk walked during the show, left, and Amber Valletta, right, was also part of the splashy event

After him was CNN star Don Lemon who wore sunglasses and a beige outfit.

The 56-year-old Louisiana native is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN.

Lemon anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist.

Next up was Grey's Anatomy actress Ellen Pompeo in a beige outfit as she was joined by her daughter.

The 53-year-old actress is wed to Chris Ivery.

After that came Glee vet Lea Michele who is getting praised for her turn in the Broadway version of Funny Girl.

The 36-year-old Bronx native began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Miserables, Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, and Spring Awakening.

Elsewhere were (L-R) KiKi Layne, Rachel Zegler, Sutton Foster, Jane Krakowski and Molly Ringwald.
Sharon Watts offered her friend Linda Carter help to buy Mick's share of The Queen Victoria during Wednesday night's episode of EastEnders.

Linda was left in tears after learning of Janine Butcher's plans to sell the iconic pub to the 'highest bidder' when Mick is presumed dead after he was lost at sea.

But heartbroken Linda was unable to do anything about her plans because she didn't have the money herself to buy The Queen Vic and wasn't able to get a loan.

Linda (Kellie Bright) is the ex-wife of Mick (Danny Dyer) after the childhood sweethearts separated and he remarried Janine (Charlie Brooks).

Speaking about the dilemma to Sharon (Letitia Dean), landlady Linda said: 'I spoke to the solicitor. Janine is going to sell Mick's share of the Vic.'

Help: Sharon Watts offered her friend Linda Carter help to buy Mick's share of The Queen Victoria during Wednesday night's episode of EastEnders

'After Mick is presumed dead, Janine can do what she wants, it could take months or it could take a year,' she added.

Eager to help her friend, Sharon suggested getting a loan or getting the residents of Walford to raise money to help her buy the pub.

But Linda said they wouldn't be able to raise the funds, adding: 'Janine is going to sell to the highest bidder, and that will be a chain.'

Later on, Linda was seen looking devastated as she once again spoke to Sharon about the pub, with her son Ollie saying he didn't want to move out of the pub.

Sharon then suggested: 'How do you feel about going into business with a friend?'

To which a shocked Linda said: 'Could you afford it?'

Sharon replied: 'I've got the gym, if I could free up some money and get an investor of my own.'

Linda added: 'I suppose I could talk to Denise about selling my shares in the salon, pool our resources. You'd really do that? For me?'

Team: Linda was overjoyed at the offer, after she learnt of Janine Butcher's plans to sell the iconic pub to the 'highest bidder' when Mick is presumed dead after he was lost at sea

A delighted Linda said: 'Thank you Sharon! I mean it.'

To which Sharon added: 'Just leave it with me, yeah?'

But it remains to be seen whether the friends will be able to raise enough money and buy the iconic pub from Janine.

Viewers were forced to say goodbye to Mick on Christmas Day when he was lost at sea while attempting to save Linda during a tense festive special.

Mick, played by Danny Dyer, came into the show back in 2013 with wife Linda and their children.

But after the happy couple's initial stint, things changed, with teenage sweethearts Mick and Linda parting ways and Mick re-marrying Janine.

Speaking about his exit from the soap opera after nine years, Danny admitted that he became disillusioned with his character and felt like Mick had 'lost his way'.

'I didn't quite know who I was playing anymore,' star Danny told The Sun of his later storylines. 'It was an odd thing.'

Discussing his reasons for leaving the show, Danny also claimed that, in recent years, he's been constantly told by people that they no longer watch EastEnders.

He said: 'All I got for the past couple of years was, "You still in that EastEnders? I don't watch it anymore." Constantly, that was the thing.

Shock: Viewers were forced to say goodbye to Mick on Christmas Day when he was lost at sea during a tense festive special

'When I first came in there was like seven or eight million people watching it, of course because of streaming services and all that stuff a lot less people do watch it.

'It was more that people didn't watch it anymore: "You still in that?" it was all that sort of dialogue.

'It was a lot of people, a lot of young people, young people don't watch it.'

When Danny joined the BBC One show in 2013, EastEnders was regularly getting up to eight million viewers a night, but in the past year those figures have gone down to roughly 2.5 million an episode.

EastEnders airs on Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Tammy Hembrow has sparked major backlash for allowing her nine-month-old daughter Posy to play rough with their Ragdoll cat, Bubbles.

The mother-of-three sparked concern last week after she uploaded a video of Posy grabbing and crawling over Bubbles in their living room.

The confronting video, which Influencer Tammy, 28, has since deleted, shows Bubbles being pressed against the floor while Posy clambered over the animal.

'Poor Bubbles. These cats just keep coming back for more,' Tammy mused in her caption.

Influencer watchdog account Dutch Minty re-shared the post, sparking an outpouring of criticism from followers and calls for animal protective services to intervene.

Influencer Tammy Hembrow, 28, has sparked major backlash for allowing her nine-month-old daughter Posy to play rough with their Ragdoll cat Bubbles. (Pictured: Tammy and Posy)

'The cat is going to scratch that baby's eyes out and then she will blame the cat,' one outraged user commented, while another added: 'Stands there recording it instead of stopping her child from hurting the poor cat.'

However, other users claimed there was no cause for alarm, as Ragdoll cats are usually comfortable in this kind of situation.

'The cat clearly didn't find the situation volatile... it's obvious from the footage. And Ragdolls are named for their penchant for being relaxed when held,' one user claimed.

The confronting video, which Tammy has since deleted, shows Bubbles being pressed against the floor while Posy clambered over the animal's back

Influencer watchdog account Dutch Minty has re-shared the post, sparking an outpouring of criticism from followers and calls for animal protective services to intervene

'They're a friendly, chilled out breed. Just like humans, different animals have different temperaments and tolerance levels. The pet owner clearly knows this and was comfortable,' they added.

Tammy shares Posy with her ex-fiance Matt Poole.

The pair began dating in 2020 and became engaged in November 2021.

However, other users claimed that there was no cause for alarm, as Ragdoll cats are usually comfortable in this kind of situation

Just two weeks after revealing they were engaged, they announced they were also expecting their first child together.

The couple have since parted ways, however, with the fitness guru confirming her single status during a photo shoot in December.

She confessed it was 'tough work being a single mother of three,' according to one of the makeup artists on set.

Tammy welcomed daughter Posy (centre) in June 2022 with her ex Matt Poole. She also shares son Wolf, six,(right) and daughter Saskia, five, (left) with her first ex-fiance Reece Hawkins

The source told Daily Mail Australia: 'Tammy said she and Matt split a little while ago and that he was now doing his own thing - which is why she brought her baby Posy daughter to set'.

'Tammy said they were doing the best to keep a friendship while sharing their little one'.

She also shares son Wolf, six, and daughter Saskia, five, with her first ex-fiance Reece Hawkins.
She is one of Australia's top-earning Instagram influencers.

And Elle Ferguson showed just why she is so in demand as she attended Rebecca Vallance's 'Aussies in New York' dinner in the Big Apple with her fiance Joel Patfull on Tuesday evening.

The 37-year-old flaunted her long slender legs in a sheer midi dress by the glamorous Australian designer teamed with a chic oversized blazer and black high heels.

Elle Ferguson (far right) attended Rebecca Vallance's 'Aussies in New York' dinner in the Big Apple on Tuesday evening alongside media maven Camille Thioulouse, designer Rebecca Vallance-Gasan and model Chantal Monaghan (left to right)

Elle had her blonde locks out in her signature beachy waves and an application of smouldering makeup by makeup artist, Chantelle Baker.

The leggy Instagram sensation was also joined by model Chantal Monaghan, who slipped her incredible figure into a stunning sequinned dress by Vallance, which also featured a fluffy hem.

Woman of the hour Rebecca Vallance-Gasan sparkled in a strapless frock from her upcoming collection, and media maven Camille Thioulouse showed off a hint of cleavage in a sheer midi dress.

Guests at the dinner dined on tuna carpaccio and NY sirloin at exclusive private members club in midtown, Casa Cruz, alongside celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe who was on the next table and Kaia Gerber who was spied in the corner.

Elle's fiance Joel Patfull also joined in on the celebrations

Aussie influencer and tanning entrepreneur Elle recently opened up her wardrobe for fans.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Elle said she three separate closets for all her clothes and has more than 200 pairs of shoes.

'I think people would be surprised that I have three wardrobes,' she explained.

Elle said she's meticulous about her cupboards being organised, saying: 'Everything has a place, a specific coat hanger and gets filed away.'

Chantal and Rebecca sparkled in the Aussie designer's stunning sequinned dresses

She went on to describe her sense of style as being 'eclectic' and said some of her favourite brands include Chanel, Balenciaga and Levi's.

The blonde added some of her wardrobe must-haves include denim pieces and a blazer.

Elle is the creator of the now-defunct fashion blog They All Hate Us, and recently launched her own spray tan label, the ELLE EFFECT.

In April last year, Elle and her footy star fiance Joel pulled out of the latest season of The Block following a family emergency.

Guests at the dinner dined on tuna carpaccio and NY sirloin at exclusive private members club in mid-town, Casa Cruz. alongside celebrity Stylist Rachel Zoe who was on the next table and Kaia Gerber who was spied in the corner

The couple initially tried to stay on the show but left after they 'couldn't get a definitive answer' from producers as to whether Joel, 37, could 'come and go' from the building site in country Victoria to visit his ailing mother Trish in Adelaide.

Without assurances that he could regularly leave to visit his mum, who had broken her neck in a fall, the pair pulled the pin on the Channel Nine show.

In addition to her broken neck, Trish fractured her wrist and has also potentially broken her coccyx.

At the time of their exit, Elle wrote on Instagram: 'Wherever you are in the world, whatever you are doing, family always comes first.'

She also shared a black-and-white image of Joel sitting with their luggage as they prepared to catch a flight to Adelaide.

A Nine spokesperson confirmed the pair's departure to Daily Mail Australia.

'Over the weekend, we were surprised to have one of our new contestant teams depart The Block a few days into filming for the upcoming season,' they said.
Julia Fox showcased her edgy fashion credentials once more on Wednesday as she slipped into a poodle design dress for the Wiederhoeft NYFW show.

The actress, 32 - who recently admitted to having liposuction - caught the eye in a glittery hot pink ballgown, which boasted a huge furry white poodle design across the front.

The strapless gown was paired with extremely high white platform shoes, with the star maintaining her balance like a professional model as she headed into the show,

Her locks were worn slicked back from her face and she sported icy make-up and a clear lipgloss.

The outing comes after Julia has revealed she has had liposuction and Botox in the past in a candid new interview.

Wow: Julia Fox showcased her edgy fashion credentials once more on Wednesday as she slipped into a poodle design dress for the Wiederhoeft NYFW show

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.

'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.

Fashion parade: The actress, 32 - who recently admitted to having liposuction - caught the eye in a glittery hot pink ballgown, which boasted a huge furry white poodle design across the front

Work it: The strapless gown was paired with extremely high white platform shoes, with the star maintaining her balance like a professional model as she headed into the show

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.

Oh my! The star wore a dress with horns on the bust as she walked in the Luis De Javier NYFW show on Tuesday

'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.
Rebel Wilson has claimed she delayed losing weight because her contract for the Pitch Perfect franchise forbid her from doing so.

The Aussie actress said she couldn't lose more than 4.5kg while playing 'Fat Amy' in the popular film trilogy.

'I couldnt lose a massive amount of weight because I was in the contracts for that movie,' she told Spotify's Call Her Daddy podcast.

'You cant lose, I think its not more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), or gain more than 10 pounds.'

'You have to kind of stay at the weight. Its in your contract.'

Rebel Wilson has claimed she delayed losing weight because her contract for the Pitch Perfect franchise forbid her from doing so. The Aussie actress said she couldn't lose more than 4.5kg while playing 'Fat Amy' in the popular film trilogy. She is pictured in December 2017, left, and in January this year, right

'I couldnt lose a massive amount of weight because I was in the contracts for that movie,' she told Spotify 's Call Her Daddy podcast

The 42-year-old said she had been thinking about 'getting healthier' had to wait until filming the franchise, which ran over a span of five years, was over.

She said she was never offended by the role of 'fat Amy' and actually loved playing her because she is 'so confident and ballsy'.

But the actress said she was typecast as playing 'the fat funny friend' and never 'the love interest'.

'I was stereotyped in playing that fat funny friend, which is so hard because I love those roles,' she said.

'I love doing the roles. I love those characters.'

'But then I did want to do more things but I felt like being the bigger girl youre just more pigeonholed.'

Once the trilogy was over and she was approaching 40, the actress decided to lose weight so she could try to have a baby.

'I went to see a fertility doctor and he was like, "Youd have a much better chance with fertility if you were healthier",' she explained.

'It really hit me hard because I was living a fantastic bigger life.'

In 2020, Rebel lost more than 30kg and met her current partner Ramona Agruma (pictured)

In November 2022, the actress welcomed her first child via surrogate- a baby girl called Royce

In 2020, Rebel dropped more than 30kg, but she admitted that her team were not happy about her weight loss because they worried it would affect her acting career negatively.

Two years later in November 2022, the actress welcomed her first child via surrogate - a baby girl called Royce.

Although she planned on having the baby before she began dating her current girlfriend Ramona Agruma, Rebel said she was 'so great about it.'

'Ramona was right there at the birth. We watched the baby pop out together,' the actress said, adding that having the baby brought them closer together.
Emma Corrin has detailed the backlash they received for coming out as non-binary publicly on social media.

The actor, 25, who was lauded for their award-winning role as Princess Diana in the fourth series of The Crown, also said there should be more non-binary roles as we should be 'welcoming these narratives into the creative space'.

Emma flashed their toned abs in a tiny black bra as they graced the cover of Vanity Fair's 29th annual Hollywood issue on Tuesday.

Emma swapped their preferred pronouns from 'she/her' to 'they/them' in 2021 and has spoken out about the issue several times since.

Speaking on the response to coming out as non-binary, Emma said: 'Naively, maybe, it took me aback how much hate I got for that. It was quite a reality check. But for a lot of people, it did help.

'It took me aback how much hate I got': Emma Corrin has detailed the backlash they received for coming out as non-binary as they graced the cover of Vanity Fair's 29th annual Hollywood issue on Tuesday

'Especially around conversation of gender and stuff, it does help a lot of people to see someone living as a nonbinary person in the world. I know how much other peoples accounts helped me, thats my motivation for keeping my social media at the moment.'

Emma has also starred in feature films Lady Chatterley's Lover and My Policeman, and appeared onstage in a London adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel Orlando, and will return to television later this year in the upcoming FX series Retreat.

It has also been announced that Emma has landed the villain role in Deadpool 3, as well as a spot in the cast of Robert Eggers's upcoming movie Nosferatu.

During the interview, Emma spoke on having more non-binary roles: 'There arent a lot of non-binary parts out there. We need to be supporting queer writers and developing projects and welcoming these narratives into the creative space.

'But also, being non-binary for me is a very fluid space where its not a rejection of femininity or masculinity, its sort of an embrace of both.

'My experience on this earth has been a female one, up until recently, and I still love all those parts of me. Its interesting that Im not offered male parts, but I would equally be drawn to that! I suppose its also what the industry sees you as, and I think, hopefully, that is shifting.

'The beauty of acting is taking on a character that doesnt necessarily have to be completely in tune with your own experience. Its sort of a way to explore. But I would love to play nonbinary, new parts, male parts. Anything, as long as its right.

The captivating spread showed twelve captivating young stars who are riveting onscreen, driven, and ever-evolving, according to the publication.

Speaking on the response to coming out as non-binary, Emma said: 'Naively, maybe, it took me aback how much hate I got for that. It was quite a reality check. But for a lot of people, it did help'

The 2023 Hollywood portfolio features Emma, Selena Gomez, Jonathan Majors, Austin Butler, Ana, Florence Pugh, Keke Palmer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Julia Garner, Rege-Jean Page and Jeremy Allen White.

Photographed by Steven Klein and styled by Patti Wilson, the portfolio depicts an afterparty scene featuring some of today's buzziest young actors  all of whom are appearing on Vanity Fair's coveted Hollywood cover for the first time. As part of the special launch, VF created a dedicated Hollywood issue hub on VanityFair.com

It comes after Emma said in a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph: 'I'm definitely fortunate that I'm dealing with this now and not 10 years ago.

'I know a lot of gay actors who took a long time to come out because they were worried about that, but I didn't think about it.'

Emma added: 'I don't mind if people get my pronouns wrong, that's fine.

'Just try, and I'll correct you where necessary and gradually we take steps forward. It's not going to happen overnight.

Soon: Emma, who has appeared in The Crown and Lady Chatterley's Lover (pictured), said they hope there will be more non-binary roles in the future, after publicly coming out on social media

Identity: Emma swapped their preferred pronouns from 'she/her' to 'they/them' in 2021 and has spoken out about the issue several times since

Emma, who played Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown and starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover alongside Jack O'Connell, has been confirmed as a new addition to the Deadpool 3 cast.

The Deadpool character first appeared on the big screen in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, before getting his own spin-off series.

Ryan Reynolds, 46, who is reprising the title role as the foul-mouthed anti-hero, welcome Emma to the 'Deadpool Family'.

He tweeted: 'New addition to the family! The Deadpool family, for clarity. Which is just like a real family except with less swearing... Welcome, Emma Corrin!'

Emma - who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns - is currently playing the title character in an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando at London's Garrick Theatre, directed by Michael Grandage.
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CRANBORNE woman was murdered by unknown assailants on Monday evening on her way home from work.

Faith Musonzas body was found by Hatfield police with her nipples and nails ripped off.

Her husband, Fradreck Chasara, waited for her the whole night and was shocked when he was called to identify her body which had some parts missing. It is believed Faith left work at around 7pm, heading home in Cranborne.

Chasara said he called his wife to check on her, at around 8pm, but the phone rang continuously.

After trying several times, her number suddenly became unreachable. I went to our bus stop hoping to find her there, but there was no one, he said.

Chasara said he went back home hoping his wife would arrive anytime from then.

I waited for hours until I fell asleep, and then early in the morning I went to Faiths workplace to inquire about her whereabouts.

The supervisor told me that she had left work at around 7pm.

He said the supervisor suggested that Chasara wait until 9am as Faith was expected to start her shift then.

I waited, but my wife never turned up until I decided to report the case at Hatfield Police Station.

He said after filling the police report, he was told that they had found a dead woman in the area and advised that he checks the body to see if it wasnt Faith.

When we got there, I was shattered seeing my wife dead, lying in a pool of blood.

What shocked me the most was that some of Faiths body parts were missing, and there was blood everywhere.

The body was taken to Sally Mugabe Hospital for a post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Spar Zimbabwe have paid condolences to their slain employee via a poster.

The Spar Zimbabwe family are very saddened to learn of the sad loss of Faith Musonza from Hatfield Spar.

We would like to extend our sincere condolences to her husband, children, relatives and colleagues.

Faith was a valued member of the Spar Zimbabwe community and she will be greatly missed.

May her soul rest in peace. H Metro
Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand along with H-NEW that busted MDMA trafficking gang of Mumbai on Tuesday (S. Surender Reddy/DC)

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad police Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H NEW) busted a major drug-supplying racket operating from Mumbai and arrested four persons including a Mumbai-based drug supplier on Tuesday, and seized 200 grams of MDMA from them.

The arrest was the result of a two-month-long operation using decoys. Women formed a majority of consumers of this gang, police said.

In another case, police arrested a Mumbai-based peddler and seized 40 grams of MDMA from him.

Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand identified the accused as peddlers Jatin Bhalchandra Bhalerao and Javed Shamshair Ali Siddique, transporter Junaid Shaik Shamshuddin and supplier Vikas Mohan Kodmur.

Their associates Emmanul Osondu, a Nigerian national, Sana Khan a techie and Harsh Mahajan, who runs a restaurant were previously arrested. Investigation into the arrest of the trio led the H NEW police to the four accused.

Based on the clues, police through a decoy operation got in touch with Bhalerao and asked for 1 kg MDMA. He agreed to sell but would deliver the consignment in Mumbai. The decoys persuaded him to bring the narcotic to Hyderabad. They were arrested in the city.

Inquiries said Javed was among the top drug peddlers in Mumbai and procured MDMA in bulk from Kodmur and his brother Dinesh Mohan Kodmur.

In another case, police arrested Mehraj Kazi, another drug peddler from Mumbai, and seized 40 grams of MDMA. He procured drugs from absconding drug supplier Suraj Goswami of Mumbai and was supplying users in Hyderabad for over a year, police said. He was nabbed when he arrived in the city on Tuesday to deliver a consignment.
Fareed would leave Chennai at noon, purchase goods in Malaysia and return to Chennai the next morning. (Representational Image)

HYDERABAD: Pune-based Shaikh Fareed Mohammad Ali who was arrested by Rachakonda police on Tuesday for trying to ship Pseudoephedrine to Australia and New Zealand, through international courier services, was initially into the business of selling foreign electronic goods in Chennai and Pune.

But he shifted to smuggling Pseudoephedrine due to high returns. Fareeds father and grandfather belonged to Myanmar and had migrated to India and settled in Pune, decades ago.

A college drop out, Fareed started an electronics business through his brother-in-law. Inquiries revealed that he would travel to Malaysia at least once in three days to get electronic goods consignments. He would leave Chennai at noon, purchase goods in Malaysia and return to Chennai the next morning. His passport seized by police showed multiple visits to Malaysia in the recent past.

"His travel was like that of any billionaire businessman, who would fly abroad for business purposes, spend a few hours and return home. He Fareed would land with the foreign goods in the morning hours and in a few hours, he would have sold them all." said investigators.

Though this business was running successfully, as the profits were extremely lucrative in drug smuggling, he slowly shifted interest into this. Though there were risks involved in smuggling drugs, Fareed and his associates switched to it and made good money, it was found. Police had already found that he, along with his associates, had shipped around 70 Kgs of Pseudoephedrine during the year 2022, which is valued around Rs 50 Crores. Police are in the process of nabbing the kingpin who was supplying drugs to this gang.
A police officer (front 2R) stands at the entrance of the office building where Indian tax authorities raided BBC's office in New Delhi on February 14, 2023. - The BBC said it was "fully cooperating" with Indian tax authorities raiding its New Delhi and Mumbai offices on February 14, weeks after it aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: PTI)

LONDON: The BBC said 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.
Teachers had challenged the Telangana Teachers (Regulation of Transfers) Rules, 2023 issued in GO Ms No. 5 dated January 25, which were amended in GO Ms No. 9 of February 2, as arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory, void and without jurisdiction apart from contrary to Article 309 of the Constitution. (File Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday stayed Government Orders (GO) 5 and 9 issued by the school education department to transfer teachers working in government schools.

Some teachers had challenged the Telangana Teachers (Regulation of Transfers) Rules, 2023 issued in GO Ms No. 5 dated January 25, which were amended in GO Ms No. 9 of February 2, as arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory, void and without jurisdiction apart from contrary to Article 309 of the Constitution.

They said the rules are contrary to Sections 78 and 99 of the AP Education Act, 1982 and requested the court to declare Rule 6 (II) (a) (c) of te Telangana Teachers (Regulation of Transfers) Rules, issued in the GOs is violating Articles 14, 16 and 21. They requested the court to restrain the government from effecting the transfer of under the rules.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji heard the pleas and issued interim stay orders restraining the government from going ahead with the transfers. The bench directed the government to file its contention and posted the matter to March 15.

The petitioners said that the government was not providing special points to office-bearers of teachers association as well as under the spouse category

Their other contention was that as per the Education Act, the rules would not come into force unless they were approved by the State Legislature.

The petitioners said the services of teachers from local bodies schools, under the panchayat raj jurisdiction, could not be treated as one with government school teachers under the education department. Neither department was empowered to frame special rules to transfer teachers.

They said the rules were not approved by the TS Public Service Commission as required under Article 320 of the Constitution, nor were they published in the Official Gazette. They said the government in amending the rules had followed the procedure for issuing GOs in the name of the Governor under Article 162.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court Complex at Amaravati. (File Photo)

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued a temporary stay on the show-cause notice served on AP government employees association by the state government. In an interim order on Wednesday, the court advised the government to file its counter in three weeks.

A single judge bench of Justice Ravinath Tilhari heard the petition filed by the employees association president Suryanarayana challenging the show cause notice served on him, asking him as to why its recognition should not to be withdrawn for violation of the AP Civil Services Rules, 2001.

The court observed that the show-cause notice was a "violation of the freedom of speech and expression" under Article 19 of the Constitution and also under the AP Civil Services Rules, 2001.

Earlier, in an act of provocation to the state government, the association president and others had met Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and complained to him about the delayed payment of wages and pensions. The association leaders also took the complaint to the media and petitioned the chief secretary.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann will undertake a tour to Siddipet district along with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and study the development works undertaken in Siddipet district. (Photo: Twitter @BhagwantMann)

Hyderabad: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann visited Hyderabad on Wednesday. Mann will meet his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday. He will undertake a tour to Siddipet district along with Rao and study the development works undertaken in Siddipet district.

Mann will visit Rao's home constituency Gajwel and finance minister T. Harish Rao's constituency Siddipet to study the development works such as construction of integrated vegetarian and non-vegetarian markets, laying of roads, development of greenery etc.

The Punjab Chief Minister will also visit the Kondapochammasagar project, which is part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, to understand the design and benefits of Kaleshwaram project. He will also examine check dams constructed in few villages in the district.

This will be the fourth meeting of Mann with Rao. He first met Rao in Delhi in May last year along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal when Rao distributed cheques of Rs 3 lakh each to the families of farmers from Punjab and Haryana who had died during the agitation against the now-repealed Centre's farm laws.

He met Rao for the second time at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on December 21 last year when he was in the city to attend investors' meeting.

Mann met Rao for third time along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on January 18 when he attended the BRSs first public meeting in Khammam where the three leaders vowed to work together to dethrone BJP government at the Centre in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Mann and Kejriwal also attended the launch of Kanti Velugu programme in Khammam, praised the initiative of Rao and announced to implement the same in their respective states.
"The C-295 is a multi-role aircraft with several configurations to meet mission requirements. It envisages total manufacturing of the aircraft in India," he said.

New Delhi: India on Friday inked a nearly Rs 20,000 crore contract with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C-295 transport aircraft to replace the Avro-748 planes of the IAF under a project that entails manufacturing of military aircraft in the country for the first time by a private company.

Under the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies.

The chairman of Tata Trusts, Ratan Tata, congratulated Airbus Defence, Tata Advanced Systems Limited and the Defence Ministry on the inking of the contract, saying it is a "great step" forward in the opening up of the aviation and avionics projects in India.

In a signed statement posted on Twitter, he said the project will create a domestic supply chain capability to international standards, which has never been undertaken before.

"The C-295 is a multi-role aircraft with several configurations to meet mission requirements. It envisages total manufacturing of the aircraft in India," he said.

"The Tata Group congratulates Airbus and the Indian Defence Ministry for this bold step in fully building this state-of-the-art multi-role aircraft in India in support of the Make-in-India thrust to bolster the country's equity framework," Tata said

The contract was signed two weeks after it was cleared by the prime minister-led Cabinet Committee on Security.

Airbus said the first 16 aircraft will be delivered over four years after the contract implementation and that all the planes will be equipped with an indigenous Electronic Warfare Suite (EWS).

"This contract will support the further development of India's aerospace ecosystem, bringing investment and 15,000 skilled direct jobs and 10,000 indirect positions over the coming 10 years," said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space.

"The C295 has proven again as the segment leader, and with the addition of India as a new operator, the type will enlarge its footprint even more, not only on the operational aspects but on its own industrial and technological development," he said.

Sukaran Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Advanced Systems Limited, described the sealing of the deal as a moment of pride for Tatas and a "milestone" for the Indian military manufacturing ecosystem.

"For the first time, an Indian private company will be wholly manufacturing an aircraft in India. This endeavour demonstrates Tata Advanced Systems' capabilities as a defence manufacturer to build globally competitive complex platforms in India," he said.

In a statement, Airbus said 'Make in India' is at the heart of its strategy in India, with the company constantly increasing the country's contribution to its global product portfolio.

It said the C295 programme will see Airbus bring its complete bouquet of world-class aircraft manufacturing and servicing to India in collaboration with its industrial partners, including the Tatas and leading defence public sector units such as Bharat Electronics Ltd and Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

With a proven capability of operating from short or unprepared airstrips, the C295 is used for tactical transport of up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, and for logistic operations to locations that are not accessible to current heavier aircraft, it said.

The aircraft can airdrop paratroops and loads, and also be used for casualty or medical evacuation. The aircraft is capable of performing special missions as well as disaster response and maritime patrol duties.

"The IAF becomes the 35th C295 operator worldwide, with the programme reaching 278 aircraft, 200 of which are already in operation and have booked more than half a million flight-hours," Airbus said.

Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata on Friday hailed the finalisation of a contract by India to procure 56 C-295 transport aircraft under an Airbus-Tata project, describing it as a "great step" forward in the opening up of the aviation and avionics sector in the country.

His comments came hours after the deal to procure the aircraft to replace the Avro-748 planes of the IAF was sealed.

Under the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain. The subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies.

"The clearance of the joint project between Airbus Defence and Tata Advanced Systems to build the C-295 is a great step forward in the opening up of the aviation and avionics projects in India," Tata said in a statement.

"The C-295 is a multi-role aircraft with several configurations to meet mission requirements. It envisages total manufacturing of the aircraft in India," he said.

The chairman of Tata Trusts congratulated Airbus Defence, Tata Advanced Systems Limited and the Defence Ministry on the inking of the contract

"It will create a domestic supply chain capability to international standards, which has never been undertaken before. The Tata Group congratulates Airbus and the Indian Defence Ministry for this bold step in fully building this state-of-the-art multi-role aircraft in India in support of the Make-in-India thrust to bolster the country's equity framework," Tata said.

The contract was signed two weeks after it was cleared by the prime minister-led Cabinet Committee on Security.

Airbus said the first 16 aircraft will be delivered over four years after the contract implementation and that all the planes will be equipped with an indigenous Electronic Warfare Suite (EWS).

"This contract will support the further development of India's aerospace ecosystem, bringing investment and 15,000 skilled direct jobs and 10,000 indirect positions over the coming 10 years," said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space.
Emergency services personnel at the site after an LPG cylinder exploded inside a car, in Coimbatore, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. One person was charred to death in the incident. (Photo: PTI))

CHENNAI: Sleuths from the National investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at 43 locations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Thursday, as part of their probe into the Coimbatore car blast of October 23, and seized digital devices and incriminating documents from the houses of suspects.

Six persons have already been arrested in the case that was registered with the NIA on October 27 after the State government, which decided to hand it over to them for investigation, shifted it from the Ukkadam police station in Coimbatore district.

Preliminary investigations had revealed that the arrested persons had conspired with the prime accused, Jameesha Mubeen, who was killed in the blast itself, to procure chemicals and other ingredients needed for fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) from online shopping platforms.

They were preparing to commit sensational terrorist acts, a NIA press note said, adding that Mubeen, after taking bayath to ISIS, had planned to carry out a suicidal attack and cause extensive damages to symbols and monuments of a particular religion with the intention of striking terror among a particular section of community.

Mubeen was killed on October 23 when his car laden with explosives blew up in front of the Kottai Easwaran temple in Coimbatore district, triggering the police investigation into what was initially thought to be a cylinder blast in the car. It was finally handed over to the NIA.

The l43 places raided on Thursday are located in eight districts - Chennai, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Tiruppur, Nilgiris, Chengalpattu and Nagapattinam of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad of Kerala.
Turkish rescue workers stand by a collapsed building in Adiyaman, southern Turkey, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

HYDERABAD: As rescuers continue to race against time to retrieve survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings in the harsh winter weather in earthquake-ravaged Turkey and Syria, which killed more than 41,000 people, Hyderabad is one of the cities that has been at the forefront of sending essential supplies.

Following the terrible earthquake, many people in Hyderabad moved by the situation in Turkey are coming together to aid in any way that they can and rushing supplies for the quake-affected people who are suffering from the biting cold and lack of food and shelter. People are showing up in big numbers at the Turkey Consulate Office in Jubilee Hills to contribute anything they can, including tent mattresses, sleeping bags, heaters, raincoats, jackets, blankets, shoes, and boots. In has to these supplies, Hyderabadis have sent to Turkey on Monday flasks, torches, power banks, diesel generators, diapers, sanitary/hygiene goods, and long-lasting food supplies like tinned and baby food.

The Youngistan Foundation, Fatima Old Age Home, Adnan Syed in Chandrayangutta, and the Madina Education Society in Shalibanda are just a few of the contribution collection organisations that have been receiving supplies for Turkey.

The Turkey Consulate in Hyderabad commended the city's residents for their overwhelmingly generous donations of relief supplies to the earthquake-devastated country at a time when many people are now homeless. After thanking everyone for their generosity, the officials of the Turkey Consulate have now requested for monetary donations. As a result, a few volunteers have been sending cash contributions to the official bank account of the Turkish Embassy in New Delhi. ((Account Name: Turkish Embassy - Earthquake INR Account, Acc. no. 409001919272, IFSC Code: RATN0000400, Bank name: RBL Bank, Branch name: Malcha Marg).

The Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) donated Rs. 25 lakh to the Turkey Consulate in Hyderabad after starting a fundraising drive on their crowdsourcing website IndiaZakat.com. Syed Amer, the head of the AMP chapter in Hyderabad, announced that the group will now endeavour to raise another Rs 25 lakh towards the relief of the Syrian quake victims, either through authorised local organisations working on the ground in Syria or through the Syrian Embassy in New Delhi. People can donate via https://www.indiazakat.com/campaign/11633 or can directly contribute to an NGO in Turkey via IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation - https://ihh.org.tr/en
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar. (DC File Photo)

HYDERABAD: Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said that there is no proposal to change the existing state committee of BJP. "We will go to the next Assembly elections with the state committee headed by MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar,", he said.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Thursday, Kishan Reddy said that the family rules of BRS and MIM were destroying Telangana. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has ignored Indian Constitution in Telangana and brought in a Kalvakuntla Constitution, he said.

The minister said that people were vexed with the misrule of BRS government and were ready to oust the government. BJP has a strong leadership and the people will go for an ethics-driven party like the BJP in the coming elections.

Touching the poachgate case, Kishan Reddy said that he will personally invite suitable MLAs from other parties to join BJP and not use Swamys for such an exercise.

The state government had ulterior motives while naming senior BJP leader B.L. Santosh in the case, the minister alleged.

"We wont have any objections even if Rao wants to set up a World Rajya Samithi (WRS)," he said. The Union government credited `5,000 crore to strengthen gram panchayats in Telangana state, he said, adding that the state government had diverted those funds. It is unfortunate that many groups, including sarpanchs, were forced to approach the High Court seeking justice, he said.

Kishan Reddy said that the BJP government will complete its full tenure and go for elections next year.

BJP official spokesperson N.V. Subhash and others were present
Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy and MP Prakash Javadekar take a look at books at the 33rd Book Festival in Vijayawada (C. Narayana Rao/DC)

VIJAYAWADA: Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said the BJP-led NDA government is developing spiritual tourism across the country in a big way.

The minister visited the Amanalingeswarar Swamy temple at Amaravathi and offered special prayers there on Tuesday. He was welcomed into the temple with Poorna Kumbh by the priests.

He noted that India was the birthplace of four religions -- Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism and Hinduism --and the BJP-led government was developing 50 tourism centres with special provisions in the Union Budget.

He said an amount of Rs 27.7 crore was sanctioned for the development of the Amaralingeswara Swamy temple. "We are developing Nagarjunakonda, the Kakinada wildlife sanctuary, Budameru, the Mypadu beach, the Buddhist Circuit, Amaravathi and other places," he said.

The minister said that in AP, under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, a sum of Rs 141 crore was already granted and several tourism projects in the state were being funded by the Centre with the involvement of the AP tourism department.

Maintaining that the tourism sector suffered badly in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister said it was in progress in 2022 and a large number of tourists arrived in Sri Nagar in an unprecedented manner last year.

As India is set to host the G-20 Summit, the minister said delegates from 29 countries were expected. "We are arranging 250 meetings in 56 cities with an expected participation of nearly 1.5 lakh delegates," he said.

Promising efforts from the Centre for developing temples in Simhachalam, Arunachalam and the Vedagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Nellore this year, Kishan Reddy said PM Modi was instrumental in developing the infrastructure for devotees in 169 temples across the country.

The minister laid stress on programmes to take students to the tourist centres to help them learn in-depth about Indian culture, traditions and history and urged the AP government to promote the concept of Your Tourism in the institutions under the state education department.

The Union minister visited the Bapu Museum and lauded the display of ancient relics depicting the history and culture of the people of Andhra Pradesh, there.
News

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.
A police officer is seen at the gate of a building housing BBC office in New Delhi. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

The "survey" by the income tax department on the offices of the BBC hardly three weeks after the British broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots cannot but be the worst message the largest democracy on earth can pass on to the rest of the world.

The department launched action against one of the most credible news organisations in the world alleging that the company was evading tax, diverting profits and contravening transfer pricing policy while also contending that the company was not cooperating with the investigation. The BBC has stated it has been cooperating with the sleuths who have been at its offices for the last two days.

The BJPs response that "BBC resorts to venomous reporting" has in fact let the cat out of the bag. There is nothing in the law that says that a mass media organisation should communicate only stuff that the ruling party can palate. The party in power and the media enjoy the same right to the freedom of speech and expression. The party can accuse the latter of venomous reporting; it can sue the media organisation or approach regulatory authorities. It hardly pays if it unleashes statutory authorities on media organisations.

The latest action is counter-productive in too many ways. India will have little defence if and when challenged on international forums regarding its attempts at muzzling press freedom, especially while it is president of the G-20. It will undoubtedly mar Indias image as a liberal democracy which is supposed to respect the plurality of opinions. It also places the documentary, which the government has already decried as a "propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative", in the spotlight. The government, meanwhile, must face the criticism of subjecting the media at home, too, to the same highhandedness.
The BJP manifesto for Assembly elections in Meghalaya promised to end the border conflicts with Assam through dialogue saying that it is not a fight between India and Pakistan and is just a dispute between two neighboring states.

"We believe in talks to end the border dispute. This is not a fight between India and Pakistan, this is a dispute between Meghalaya and Assam and we will end the disputes through talks in cooperation with the Centre. Give us a chance, we promise to make Meghalaya a mega Meghalaya based on the motto of speed, scale and skill. We will end corruption and take Meghalaya to a new height of development," BJP president JP Nadda said while releasing the manifesto in Shillong on Wednesday.

Also Read: Tripura Elections 2023: Key issues that charged the poll battle

Assembly elections in Meghalaya are scheduled for February 27.

With two MLAs, BJP was a minor ally in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government led by the homegrown National People's Party (NPP) since 2018. But BJP and NPP have put up candidates in all 60 constituencies in the elections with a target to form the government on their own.

The border dispute, continuing for more than 50 years, became a poll issue due to the outcry it generated in November, 2022, when six persons were killed in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district by Assam police and forest personnel.

Investigation into alleged corruption cases by a team headed by a retired judge of Supreme Court, yearly financial aid of Rs 24,000 to widows and single mothers, free girls' education upto postgraduation and implementation of 7th pay commission for government employees and 33% reservation for women in government jobs were some of the other important promises of BJP in its manifesto.

Nadda said although Meghalaya is a beautiful hilly state with a lot of potentials, corruption has remained a hindrance to development.

The manifesto also promised steps for scientific mining and a task force to check illegal mining, which has become a serious issue in the Northeastern state.

Other promises included doubling the health insurance upto Rs 10 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to young graduates for one year, two free LPG cylinders to the beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme, among others.
In a major intelligence-based operation, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 11.94 kgs of heroin valued at Rs 84 crore and apprehended three persons including a woman who smuggled the contraband from Africa.

The DRI-Mumbai carried out the operation based on a specific intelligence that it had received days ago.

The female passenger who arrived from Harare via Nairobi on a Kenya Airways flight on 14 February was apprehended and her luggage was checked.

Creamish granules recovered from her baggage tested positive for heroin. The passenger informed them that the drugs were handed to her in Harare and were to be handed over to two persons in Mumbai, DRI officials said.

Also Read | Drone carrying heroin shot down near India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, 2 held

The two recipients have also been arrested by the officials.

In this instance, the drug was concealed inside trolley bags and file folders.

All three persons have been arrested under provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Further investigations are under way to get into the root of the network and bust the syndicate.
A man has been jailed at Derry Magistrate's Court today for sexually assaulting a female ambulance worker.

Cailin O'Neill (23) with an address in Utility Street in Belfast had denied the sexual assault on the ambulance worker but was convicted in the Magistrate's Court.

The court was told that on June 15 2020 police were called to A&E at Altnagelvin Hospital after an ambulance worker reported O'Neill had touched her.

Police heard that while the defendant was being transported to hospital he made sexual remarks towards the woman and was 'smirking' while he did so.

As they were exiting the vehicle O'Neill slapped the woman on the right buttock and then made the middle finger gesture and said 'f--k you.'

The defendant then ran off and the ambulance crew told police O'Neill 'knew what he was doing.'

At interview the defendant said he had 'blacked out' due to a head injury.

The court also heard of an incident on June 12 2020 O'Neill was searched in an incident police were attending and two blister packs of Pregablin were found.

Defence counsel Stephen Chapman said his client had indeed suffered a head injury and had difficulties with drugs and alcohol.

He said that the victim was acting in the course of her employment.

Deputy District Judge Philip Mateer said that any sexual assault was 'regarded seriously' by the courts and was 'all the more serious' when the victim was working in the public service as this woman was.

He said it was clear that the offence was sexual given O'Neill's remarks.

O'Neill was sentenced to 3 months in prison and ordered to sign the Sex Offender's Register for 7 years.
A woman has died following a single-vehicle collision in Co Down.

The incident occurred in the Bishops Brae Avenue area of Downpatrick.

A PSNI spokesperson said: We received a report shortly after 2.30pm today of a serious collision in the area.

Officers attended the scene together with colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

Sadly, the woman passed away at the scene.

The road remains closed to traffic at this time.

SDLP South Down MLA Colin McGrath said the local community was in shock at the news.

He said: My thoughts and prayers go out to this woman and her family at they come to terms with this terrible news

By all accounts this was a tragic accident and the family will be distraught at this time.

I know the community of Downpatrick is strong and will rally round for the family in their desperate moment of need.

Meanwhile, police have said that the Bann Road in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, has been closed in both directions following a serious road traffic collision.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area and to seek alternative main routes for their journey.
A man has been shot in both legs in Belfast.

Police have condemned the incident as a stark violation of the human rights of the victim.

A PSNI spokesperson said the 34-year-old victim sustained wounds to both knees and feet when he was shot in an area close to a memorial garden in Divismore Way at around 8.10pm.

They said it is believed that two perpetrators were involved and they made off down a nearby alley in the direction of Divismore Crescent.

On Tuesday evening a PSNI spokesperson appealed for information.

Our investigation is at an early stage and we are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time, and may have any information which could assist us, to get in touch, they said.

The injuries inflicted on the victim are a stark violation of his basic human rights.

There is no justification for this type of violence.

Attacks like these not only place the victim at risk, but also the local community.

The number to call is 101, quoting reference number 1883 of 14/02/23.

People Before Profit councillor Matt Collins condemned the paramilitary style shooting.

He said: Those responsible are heaping further misery on working class communities, which are racked with poverty and social deprivation.

The perpetrators of such attacks seek to control people through fear and intimidation.

They have nothing to offer west Belfast or anywhere else. They should get off our communities backs.
A 60 million funding pot from government has been announced to boost the decarbonisation of the maritime sector.

Among the projects set to benefit is a planned zero emission 100% electric flying ferry in Belfast.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper praised Artemis Technologies in the Northern Irish capital as he announced the funding.

The 60m is to aid the development of new clean maritime technology across a two-year period.

Companies in 12 regions around the UK will benefit from the cash, generating highly skilled jobs.

In Belfast, Artemis Technologies is developing ships that fly above the surface of the water.

The firm is set to use the funding to help take their invention to the seas on a commercial scale.

During the two-year investment period, successful companies will be required to demonstrate that their projects will work in the real world.

Other projects to benefit include a bid by Collins River Enterprises Ltd to build and test a brand new fully electric ferry on the River Thames between Canary Wharf and Rotherhithe.

Another project led by AceOn Battery Solar Technology Ltd will develop hydrogen-powered vessels to transfer crew to wind farms off the northeast coast of England from the Port of Blyth.

WingTek is also receiving funding to develop and demonstrate two full-sized prototypes of wind-assisted ships with high tech sails, which will reduce the amount of fuel used by the vessels as well as the emissions they produce.

Mr Harper said the funding will help to bring emission-free concepts to life.

Our maritime sector imports 95% of goods into the UK and contributes 116 billion to our economy  more than both aviation and rail combined, he said.

With growing the economy one of the Governments top priorities, we must continue our efforts to ensure the UK remains a pioneer in cutting-edge clean maritime solutions.

The funding were awarding will help to do just that, bringing emission-free concepts to life and fuelling innovation.

Artemis Technologies CEO Dr Iain Percy said: The clean maritime demonstration competition is key to unlocking those innovations across the region that will transport the UK towards a more sustainable future and we are thrilled that it has once again recognised the integral role Artemis Technologies can play.

With this latest round of funding, we are emboldened to advance our green technology projects, develop world-leading clean vessels for our seas, and continue on our mission to lead the decarbonisation of maritime.

UK Chamber of Shipping CEO Sarah Treseder added: Congratulations to all the successful bids, which cover a wide range of technologies and aspects of shipping.

The UK Chamber of Shipping is committed to net zero by 2050. This funding is an important milestone in ensuring we continue to work together to achieve this important target and will help us complete the journey from theory to reality for zero emission shipping.
Modern agricultural technologies, machines facilitate spring farming

People's Daily Online) 10:32, February 15, 2023

Modern agricultural technologies and machines are now widely used in China, facilitating the countrys farming activities as spring farming gets underway across its rural landscape.

Drones were used to spray pesticides on 1,600 mu (about 106.67 hectares) of oilseed rapes at a planting base in Renmei township, Danling county, southwest Chinas Sichuan Province on Feb. 8, 2023.

A technician maintains a farming machine at a provincial grain production demonstration zone in Xin'an township of Deqing county, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Jan. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie Shangguo)

Our drone has a loading capacity of 100 liters, which can be used for 20 mu of land, said Li Kexue, head of a cooperative in the county. A drone can spray 20 mu of land in less than 20 minutes.

Spraying pesticides with a drone is efficient and saves time, labor and money, Li said. According to him, it takes about one week for 50 workers to manually spray pesticides on 1,600 mu of oilseed rapes, and the workers per capita wage for each mu of land is 24 yuan (about $3.52). But two drones can complete the same workload in two days, costing 8 yuan per mu of land.

On the same day, rollers and hose reel irrigation machines were used in wheat fields at Xizhai village, Tianzhuang township, Qingdao city, east Chinas Shandong Province.

Meanwhile, agricultural experts are providing technological guidance for farmers during the spring farming season across China.

North Chinas Shanxi Province recently held a meeting via video link, calling on departments in the locality to ensure timely spring farming and preparation.

During the spring farming season, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Shanxi Province will arrange for technical departments to issue guidelines on the production of grain and oil crops, set up expert teams for the production of wheat, corn and other crops, and assign agricultural technicians to guide farmers and implement technical measures to increase production and farmers incomes.

Farming season passes no matter what happens. Watering and fertilizing farmlands in a timely manner and preventing plant diseases and insect pests can ensure a bumper harvest, said Chen Bingqiang, a senior agronomist at the agro-tech extension and service center of Qingdao, at a wheat field in Xizhai village on Feb. 8.

According to Chen, Qingdao has so far planted 3.49 million mu of winter wheat, 60,000 mu more than a year ago, and the wheat is growing well, laying a sound foundation for a bumper harvest this summer.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
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Oppo Find N2 Flip has launched globally as the new foldable smartphone from the Chinese brand. It is powered by a MediaTek flagship chipset and offers respectable specs like 44W charging, 50MP dual rear camera setup, and AMOLED displays on the cover and inside. Here are the complete details including its price and availability details.

5 Oppo Find N2 Flip features

1. Oppo Find N2 Flip is just 191 grams. In the unfolded state, its dimensions are 166.2 x 75.2 x 7.5 mm. And when it's folded, the dimensions are 85.5 x 75.2 x 16 mm. It will be available in Black, Gold, and Violet colours. One of the highlight aspects of its design is the vertical cover display.

2. Oppo has outfitted the Find N2 Flip with a 3.26-inch AMOLED cover display with 382x720 pixel resolution, 900 nits of peak brightness and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The main display, meanwhile, is a 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with 1080 x 2520 pixel resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 1600 nits of peak brightness.

3. In terms of cameras, you are getting a 50MP+8MP duo on the rear side and a 32MP sensor on the front. The Oppo Find N2 Flip allows you to shoot videos at up to 4K60 from the main camera.

4. Under the hood, Oppo Find N2 Flip comes with MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ SoC, up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage, and a 4300mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. The software on top is Android 13-based Color OS 13.

5. The connectivity options include WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 (with aptX HD codec), L5 GPS, NFC, and USB-C 2.0 port. There is also a side-mounted fingerprint scanner in the mix.

Oppo has launched the Find N2 Flip in the european market at at a starting price of 849 (~ 84,450).

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Motorola is going to launch a new flagship phone very soon. The phone is the Moto Edge 40 Pro which is believed to be the rebranded version of the Moto X40 launched in China late last year. The Moto Edge 40 Pro is expected to launch at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 which is held in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2.

The specifications of the Moto Edge 40 Pro were leaked a while ago and now it has been spotted on the Geekbench which revealed the expected processor in the phone.

Lets check out the five expected key-features of Moto Edge 40 Pro.

1. Moto Edge 40 Pro Performance

The phone could be packed with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset along with Adreno GPU.

In addition to this, it is expected to be powered by the Android 13 OS. It might come with 12GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal storage. The Moto Edge 40 scored 1480 in the single-core round and 4889 points in the multi-core segment in the Geekbench test.

2. Moto Edge 40 Pro Display

The phone will feature a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display which will come with a curved screen reportedly. There could be a punch-hole cutout for the front camera. The display has tipped to support the 165Hz refresh rate and you will also get DC Dimming, HDR, and 10-bit colours.

3. Moto Edge 40 Pro Camera

On the back, the phone will reportedly feature a triple camera setup, with a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera in addition to a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. The phone could also sport a 60-megapixel selfie camera.

4. Moto Edge 40 Pro Battery

The phone might be backed with a 4600mAh battery which supports a 125W fast wired USB type-C and 15W wireless charging support.

5. Moto Edge 40 Pro Price

The Moto Edge 40 is expected to roll out in the European market at a price of EUR 850 which is approximately 72,000.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Tecno Pop 7 Pro is launching in India on February 16, 2023. Tecno India has started teasing the phones launch on its Twitter handle. It hasnt revealed any details though. The only hint we have is that a device by a similar name launched in Africa earlier this month. We arent sure if India gets the same device because a similar specced phone called Tecno Spark Go 2023 is already out in our market. In any case, heres what we know about the Tecno Pop 7 Pro thats available elsewhere:

Tecno Pop 7 Pro features and specs (African model)

1. Tecno Pop 7 Pro has got a 6.56 IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution.

2. One of the ways to unlock the device is its rear-mounted fingerprint reader.

3. Inside, there is Android 12-based HiOS software.

4. This is laid on top of a 12nm MediaTek Helio A22 processor.

5. The phone is available in Africa in a single 3GB RAM+ 64GB storage variant. It also offers a dedicated microSD card slot.

6. There is a 13MP back camera and a 5MP front camera.

7. Other things in the mix include a 5000mAh battery with 10W charging support, WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, dual 4G SIM, and USB-C 2.0 port.

Its only a matter of time before we learn all the details from the brand itself. So, stay tuned for the Feb 16 launch.

Explore possibilities, unlock new doors of opportunities, and achieve more with the multitasker TECNO POP 7 Pro



Launching in just 2 days.



Stay Tuned!#TECNO #TECNOSmartphones #TECNOPOP7Pro pic.twitter.com/JmvB5GaHfR  TECNO Mobile India (@TecnoMobileInd) February 14, 2023

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, today launches Nokia X30 5G, their most eco-friendly smartphone yet. The new planet-friendly design has a 100% recycled aluminium frame and a 65% recycled plastic back. With zero compromises on the phones performance, Nokia X30 5G comes with premium features including our best-ever PureView photography and a 6.43 AMOLED PureDisplay designed to better fit in your hand, pocket or purse. Plus, its protected by the ultra-tough Corning Gorilla Glass display.

Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President- India & MENA, HMD Global:

We are delighted to introduce a flagship smartphone that is eco-friendly to its core. Moreover, Nokia X30 5G is our smallest eco-footprint device to date! We continue to strive for greater sustainability with each device. After the successful launch of Nokia G60 5G in our sustainable class of devices, we are excited to introduce another Nokia smartphone with a key focus on minimising carbon footprint, along with great performance and specs. Not only does Nokia X30 5G deliver the best PureView photography with our best-ever low light imaging, it also comes with 3 years of OS upgrades and monthly security updates1 and can also be relied upon with its signature two-day battery life. Nokia X30 5G embodies our passion for helping our users keep their devices for longer.

The most eco-friendly Nokia phone yet  inspired by nature, built to protect it

Designed in Finland and built from a 100% recycled aluminium frame and a 65% recycled plastic back, Nokia X30 5G is our most eco-friendly smartphone yet, right through to the box it comes in. Less plastic, fewer chemicals, more good stuff. Packaging also made using 100% FSC certified and 94% recycled paper box, we are promoting responsible forestry and supporting a circular economy. This all means that Nokia X30 5G delivers the smallest eco footprint of a Nokia phone to date.

Nokia X30 5G has been built to push the limits of smartphone life-expectancy. It is protected by a big 3 years of warranty3 and delivers 3 OS upgrades. Plus, it's designed for every-day life, with a robust metal frame and a tough display. The phone comes with IP67 dust protection and water immersion up to 1m for 30 minutes.

Packed with new, game-changing features

Take breath-taking imagery with the big pixel 50 MP PureView camera clubbed with a 13MP Ultra-Wide camera which uses AI and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to capture content in even higher detail. Its complete with an all-new, intuitive dropdown menu giving you faster access to most used camera settings. Capture Fusion brings the power of the main camera to your ultra-wide-angle shots, for more details in the center of the picture, while Night Mode 2.0, with Dark Vision, Tripod Mode and Night Selfie, give you sharper and more vibrant shots, even after sundown. While you get some amazing low light photographs with your rear camera thanks to the Night Mode 2.0 & Dark Vision, the 16MP front selfie camera also captures some amazing selfies.

The camera is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass with DX+, permitting 98% of all light through the lens to deliver industry-leading optical performance, and scratch resistance. Because the more light you get in, the better images you get out.

Sporting the best display on a Nokia phone yet, Nokia X30 5G with its 6.43 90Hz PureDisplay, Under display fingerprint sensor delivers a smoother, more responsive experience. The AMOLED PureDisplay technology means more brightness and vibrant colours to make streaming, scrolling, browsing, and holding the device, a joy.

Power up faster than ever before with 33W fast charging4 and enjoy the signature two-day battery life2, remaining healthy even after years of charging. Equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 to optimise the potential of 5G, Nokia X30 5G is ready for long-term use.

The Nokia X30 5G also comes with the GoPro Quik App preinstalled so you can shoot, edit, and share your creativity from anywhere.

Safe, secure and up-to-date for years

Three OS upgrades as standard means you can enjoy new features way beyond Android 12. Equipped to store the most private and personal information securely Nokia X30 5G has up to three years of monthly security updates1 guaranteed so you can have peace of mind.

For businesses  Nokia X30 5G is verified by Google Android Enterprise Recommended.

Pricing and availability

The Nokia X30 5G is available for pre-booking in India from today in Cloudy Blue or Ice White at a limited period launch price of INR 48,999 in 8/256 GB memory/storage configuration. Nokia X30 5G will go on sale exclusively on Amazon and Nokia.com from 20th February.

Nokia X30 5G would come with an amazing launch offer worth INR 5799, which includes a 33W fast charger and Nokia Comfort earbuds complimentary with each purchase, along with key bank offers and an exciting exchange offer.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Its finally here! The iPhone killer or the Android king, as many call it. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has been launched with a lot of similarities with its predecessor like the same battery, the same display, a very similar design, and of course, the S-Pen. The biggest changes this year are in the camera and performance region. We get a spanking-new 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 shooter and a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset paired with up to 12GB of RAM. Samsung has also talked a lot about the design, but that is more of a push towards sustainability rather than a big change.

In this article, we take a detailed look at what the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers. Does the minor tweak in design make any difference, is the new custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy any better than the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, how does the upgraded camera perform, and if the battery backup is any different despite being the same on paper.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: Design

Starting with the design, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra looks pretty much the same as its predecessor. The minor tweaks in the design, however, have made a very significant enhancement to the smartphones overall in-hand feel and grip. The flatter sides now make it much easier to hold the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the design now looks boxier. Very Galaxy Note-like (RIP).

The back panel is also pretty much the same, just the cameras are slightly bigger in size, if you look very closely. Up front, the display curves slightly less than last year due to the flat sides, but it is still curved. The chin and top bezel remain similar sized, and of course, there is the hole-punch display implementation with the centrally-located front camera cutout.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra has been launched in three colours - Green, Phantom Black, and Cream. With the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung has taken an Apple-like approach. Kept the fancy design that has worked well with minor tweaks. The flat edges make the grip much better than the predecessor, and the frame now feels more reinforced. Good and important tweaks to a design that didnt require any radical changes.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: Display

The display on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is also similar to the previous generation. We get the same 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1,750 nits of claimed peak brightness. This, however, comes with the latest LTPO 3.0 technology for an adaptive refresh rate. This display, as expected from a Samsung flagship, is beautiful. The colours are super accurate, it is super responsive, and of course, bright enough to be used in all kinds of environments.

We tested the display brightness using a Lux Meter, and the highest peak brightness we could achieve was 1192 nits, as against the claimed peak brightness of 1,750. Further, in our Calman test, the smartphones colour accuracy came out to be very good in sRGB. It showed an average DeltaE of 2.4, which is very good. The maximum DeltaE was 4.3 on orange or saffron colours, meaning that orange or saffron are the least accurate colours on this display.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: Performance

Coming to performance, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy phones. This chip is paired with 12GB of RAM and comes with a higher clock speed in both the CPU and GPU as compared to the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. While the highest clock speed on the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is 3.2GHz, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy phones is clocked at 3.36GHz max. The GPU on the custom chip, on the other hand, is clocked at 719MHz, as against the 680MHz clock speed of the standard Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip GPU.

This custom chip is paired with 12GB of RAM, and the performance experience on this smartphone is next level. Throughout my usage, the smartphone felt ultra fast and ultra slick. Be it navigating through apps or playing games, or at times even multitasking, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra just flies through any task you throw its way. The gaming experience on this phone is also gaming phone-level.

I recently used the iQoo 11 which was the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 smartphone to be launched in India, and the experience on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra felt slightly better than the iQoo 11, despite the latters gaming-centric DNA. The main reason here is the higher clock speed on the custom chip and the combination of Samsungs beautiful Dynamic AMOLED display. All games that support a high frame rate run on full settings with minimal load times, and there are no frame drops or lags even in demanding games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile.

Coming to benchmarks and tests we ran on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the smartphone performed better than other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered smartphones in most scenarios. On AnTuTu, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra scored 1,204,573 points, which is higher than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered OnePlus 11, but falls short of the iQoo 11, which has the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. On Geekbench, the Galaxy S23 Ultra left the competition behind with a single-core score of 1,551 and a multi-core score of 4,798, which is significantly higher than the OnePlus 11 or iQoo 11s single-core scores of 1,163 and 1,442 respectively. Here, the higher clock speed of the biggest core comes into play. In multi-core scores on Geekbench, however, the OnePlus 11 scored higher than the Galaxy S23 Ultra with a 4,872 score.

We also ran other benchmarks like PC Mark and 3D Mark Wildlife on the Galaxy S23 Ultra and here also, the smartphone came out on top as compared to the other two Android flagships launched recently (OnePlus 11 and iQoo 11). In 3D Mark, the Galaxy S23 Ultra scored 3781 points, higher than the OnePlus 11s 3606 score and the iQoo 11s 3566 points. In PC Mark, which is a CPU-based test, the S23 Ultra blew the competition out of the water with a score of 15,530 points as against the 10493 points on the OnePlus 11 and 12150 points on the iQoo 11. Here also, the higher clock speed of the biggest core has helped the Galaxy S23 Ultra achieve significantly higher scores.

We also tested the gaming performance using Gamebench. While the gaming experience is nothing short of a gaming smartphone, on Gamebench the stability came out to be slightly lower than the best scores we have seen this year. In Call of Duty: Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra gave a 60FPS frame rate with 97% stability. In Asphalt 9 also, the smartphone showed the same numbers (60FPS with 97% stability).

Enough with the benchmarks, lets now address the issues that Samsung flagships have come to be known for - heating and throttling. Last years flagships were found to be throttling a lot and there was a huge controversy around Samsungs flagships and their throttling issues. This year, Samsung seems to have fixed that. We ran a CPU Throttling test on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and it showed that the smartphones CPU throttles to 86 percent, which is not too bad.

In terms of heating, Samsung has put 2.7 times larger vapour cooling chamber on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which means that the heating should be in check this time around. I have been using the S23 Ultra for the past few days, and I did not feel the smartphone heating up too much during usage. While playing games also, the thermals remain in check and are nowhere near last years flagships. However, there were certain scenarios where the smartphone heated up. Mostly, it was when the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was plugged into a charger or in my car for Android Auto. Now, while it does heat up sometimes, it is nowhere as bad as last year. We also tested the heating with a Flir heat camera, and it showed that the Galaxy S23 Ultra heated up to a maximum temperature of 42.5-degree celsius, which is not too bad for the hottest temperature.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Battery

Coming to the battery, on paper, there is no difference between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and its predecessors battery. We get a 5,000mAh battery on the smartphone, along with 45W fast charging. Now, while on paper there isnt any difference, the battery life has improved vastly. During my usage, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra gave us about 9 hours of on-screen time on one battery cycle. This is after we ran a bunch of tests, played games and even used the camera for some time, with the display on full brightness and locked at the highest 120Hz refresh rate.

In our battery tests, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra saw a 2 percent drop in the battery after a 15-minute gaming session of Call of Duty: Mobile. Further, after 30 minutes of playing a YouTube video in 2160p resolution, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra lost only 3 percent battery. Looking at these numbers, the battery on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is brilliant and a big jump-up from the successor Galaxy S22 Ultras battery life. In terms of charging, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra took a total of 84 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 percent. The smartphone supports up to 45W fast charging and we also get 15W wireless charging with Samsungs latest flagship.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Camera

Coming to the camera, this is one of the two biggest changes on the new Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung has used a brand new 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 shooter on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Apart from this, there is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, a 10-megapixel periscope telephoto lens, and another 10-megapixel telephoto shooter. On paper, this sounds like too much camera tech. In reality, things arent too different. This camera is very good in almost every sense of the word. The images out of the primary 200-megapixel shooter are nothing short of super sharp and detailed. The HP2 sensor comes with a quad-pixel autofocus feature that focuses on all pixels at the same time, resulting in faster autofocus speeds.

Images out of the camera are crisp and the colours are very accurate. This is as good as a camera gets for Android smartphones. It nicely manages colours and skin tones, without losing any details or sharpness. The images look sharp and have ample detail, even without using the full 200-megapixel mode. Photos out of the Galaxy S23 Ultras camera are nicely saturated and offer a good contrast that mostly looks pretty aesthetic. Unleashing the full 200-megapixel, on the other hand, enhances all of that and adds a lot more detail. While the difference wont be as noticeable on the smartphones screen, the moment you put it on a bigger screen, you will notice that the difference is substantial. The photos are much more detailed, and the dynamic range is slightly better in low-light conditions.

Another thing to mention here is that Samsung has enhanced the stabilisation of this camera. As I said above, taking a good image from this camera is super easy. Of course, this is Samsungs flagship so we get marvellous telephoto capabilities with up to 10X optical zoom and 100X digital zoom. Cool features to play around with, but the images in 10X are superb. The details are clear and the images are sharp. Most times I showed people images clicked in 10X zoom, and they did not believe it. Thats something. The 100X zoom, of course, wont be used in regular life, but it is a cool feature to have in case you want to see something thats too far for your eye to catch.

In low lights also, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultras camera works brilliantly. The colours are nicely matched and the images are perfectly saturated for more aesthetic results. In night mode, however, the camera takes in a bit too much light for my liking. It seemed to click better images at night with the night mode off. Further, in a few cases, the camera also messes up the image in low light. Like this image of a pot, where you can see smudges on the right side. Now, this is a very rare occurrence, but of course, important to mention.

Coming to portraits, here also the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra does brilliantly. The edge detection and background blur are superb, and the photos dont lose out on details or colours. Portraits, however, give a slightly warm skin tone to subjects in bright lighting conditions. The edge detection is also on-point in most conditions, but we saw the Galaxy S23 Ultra camera glitching out here also on a couple of occasions, like this image of my colleague Sushant. Notice how the glare from the glass completely confuses the camera and it detects this also as part of the subject. The night portraits, however, look straight out of a DSLR camera.

Overall, this is still probably one of the best cameras out there in terms of still images. The colours are slightly towards the saturated side, which is to bring out the colours and make the image more aesthetic. The camera does mess up in some rare conditions but give it a couple of tries, and you will get very good images out of this camera. Samsungs faster autofocus and stabilisation are to be commended here, but again, the image processing after clicking the image remains slow as we have seen in Samsung flagships in the recent past.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Verdict

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is just an incremental update over its predecessor. And a very good one at that. Samsung has focused on keeping the same recipe, but refining it for an overall better experience. The company has fixed all the issues last years Galaxy S22 series had - be it heating, throttling, or the disappointing battery backup. The S23 Ultra, in our initial days with the phone, did not throttle much, the smartphone heats up much less (thanks to the larger vapour cooling chamber), and the battery is now probably one of the best on any Android smartphone out there. On top of that, you get a super powerful chip, and again, one of the best smartphone cameras out there currently.

In terms of design, the Galaxy S23 Ultra looks the same as its predecessor. However, Samsung has made the frame flat from the sides, which enhances the in-hand feel substantial and makes holding the rather big smartphone much easier. The size, however, could still be too big for many users. Samsung has also used new materials, in line with the companys messaging around sustainability.
Air India signs deal to acquire 250 Airbus aircraft

Air India and Airbus on Tuesday announced a historic deal, under which the Tata Group airline will acquire 250 aircraft, including 40 A350 wide-body and 210 A320neo narrow-body planes, from Airbus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a "landmark event" and said it not only reflects upon the deepening ties of India and France, but also shows the success of India's aviation sector.

Announcing the "historic" partnership on Tuesday, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said his company has "signed letter of intent to acquire 250 Airbus aircraft" from Airbus. As part of the deal, Air India will buy 250 Airbus planes, including 40 A350 wide-body and 210 A320neo narrow-body planes, Chandrasekaran said.

"We also have significant options to increase the fleet order once we grow...we are working for bigger partnerships. One of the ambitions for this country is to bring in commercial aircraft manufacturing in the future," the Tata Sons chairman stated.

During a virtual event being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others, Chandrasekaran said the wide-body planes will be used for ultra-long haul flights.

PM Modi called it a "landmark" agreement and said it not only reflects upon the deepening ties of India and France, but also shows the success of India's aviation sector.

Emphasising that the number of airports in India increased from 74 to 147, PM Modi said India is "becoming the third largest market in the aviation sector". He added that in the next 15 years, India would need more than 2,000 aircraft.

"Many new opportunities are opening up in aerospace manufacturing under India's 'Make in India-Make for the World' vision," the prime minister added.

He explained to investors the opportunities India offers in the aviation industry. "India can become the hub of MROs (Maintenance, Repair and Operations). Today, all global aviation companies are present in India, so I request everyone to avail the opportunity," he said.

Meanwhile, Macron said Airbus has been contributing to the outstanding development of India. "There's a deep commitment in France, provided the state-of-the-art and most efficient technology available to India, and to be part of the made-in-India strategy," he said while addressing the virtual meet.

Since acquiring loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022, Tata Group has been taking various measures to revive the carrier.

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 $10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005.

On 27 January, when the Tata Group completed the first year of taking over Air India, the airline said it was "finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth.

The airline has put in place a roadmap under Vihaan.AI for transformation over the next five years and has taken various measures, including committing $400 million to refurbish the interiors of its entire wide-body fleet.
Home Instead Hiring Week takes place in Louth from Monday February 20th  Friday February 24th with a hiring event in The Market House, Main Street, Dunleer from 10:00-16:00 on Wednesday February 22nd.

Home Instead, Irelands largest private provider of home care services has launched Home Instead Hiring Week, a national campaign of events taking place over the week of February 20th-24th, that aims to hire 1,000 Professional CAREGivers to join its nearly 4,000-strong team.

Home is the preferred option for the majority of older people as they age, and the preferred option for their families. Home provides comfort, independence and familiarity, leading to better healthcare outcomes that ultimately positively impact on the quality of life of the person being cared for.

Professionally trained CAREGivers give valuable support to ageing adults and play a critical role in the healthcare system by assisting them to live safe and well at home.

Allison Doggett, General Manager, Home Instead Louth said:

The professional CAREGiver role is ideal for caring and compassionate individuals who are seeking job stability with a flexible schedule and a supportive environment as well as continued opportunities for career progression.

We like to say that it takes a special person to become a Professional Home Instead CAREGiver . . . and a desire to share their talents and skills with those they care for.

"It is a rewarding career for individuals from every walk of life and age group. Our teams are looking forward to meeting those interested in a meaningful career in home care at our events during Home Instead Hiring Week.

"We are a great company to work for with a culture steeped in values. We would not be where we are today without our exceptional employees.

Home Instead say all CAREGivers are provided training through Home Insteads unique Home Care Professionals Academy with access to state-of-the-art content and practical training. CAREGivers receive recognition through award programmes, appreciation initiatives and social events.

"Thanks to this culture of support, CAREGivers feel a deep sense of belonging that they are part of a professional, compassionate and winning team that makes a difference in the lives of ageing adults every day," a spokesperson said.

For more information see www.HomeInstead.ie/Hiring-Week or apply now to Careers.HomeInstead.ie
The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) have announce the winners of the 2022 Art Competition.

Evie Corcoran from Ardee won in the 8-10 category, while Droghedas James Moonan (14-17) and Ash Byrne (18s category) were also declared winners at a prizegiving event in Croke Park last Sunday.

The theme for this years Competition was Its A Wonderful World.

Participants were given the opportunity to present their own interpretation of the magic in our world and what we can do to maintain that magic.

The competition, now in its 39th year, is one of the most prominent and longest-running competitions of its type. Over 30,000 entries on average are received each year from children and adults from across Ireland.

This year, the winners and runners up of each category (both General and Additional Needs) were announced at a prizegiving ceremony held in Croke Park, hosted by Marty Whelan.

Ash Byrne, winner of the 18 and Over category, pictured with her family, Marty Whelan and ILCU President Helene McManus at the Credit Union Art Competition prize giving in Croke Park

ILCU President Helene McManus said:

It was fantastic to welcome all of the finalists to the prizegiving in person again for the first time since 2020. This years theme really brought out the creativity, vision and dreams of all of our entrants. The standard this year was incredible, our judges certainly had their work cut out for them.

"The Credit Union Art Competition is dedicated to supporting and developing the arts in Irish society.

"The credit union movement has always had a keen commitment to promoting and encouraging involvement in the arts across communities and engaging with young people across the country."

Helene McManus continued:

Credit unions are community focused by nature and are owned and operated by the members. It is incredibly important for us to support our communities, especially the younger generations. Louth had three winners this year, which is brilliant. Well done to Evie, James and Ash and to all of our winners for 2022.

Full details on all of the winners and runners up across each category for 2022 can be found at https://www.creditunion.ie/ news/art-competition/
Local senator John McGahon has called for a debate on the re-establishment of some larger town councils.

Speaking in the Seanad yesterday the Fine Gael senator said that as the ten year anniversary of the abolition of town council approached it was time to have a discussion in light of growing population figures for larger towns like Dundalk and Drogheda.

We should consider the re-establishment of some town councils. I am not asking that a council be re-established everywhere that had one; it would be sufficient to ask for a study on towns with a population over a certain number.

Such towns should certainly have some form of council. Dundalk, for example, has 40,000 people, and Drogheda has 41,000. Both are set to expand, each by 40,000, under Project Ireland 2040.

We want 70,000 to 80,000 people living in these two towns in the next 20 years. My proposal should definitely be considered. There is nothing wrong with at least reconsidering the matter.

He further suggested that directors of services should be assigned specifically to large towns like town clerks used to be under the previous town council model.

I ask for this because of the major issues faced by provincial towns, which are missing out because they are within municipal districts. It was a mistake to abolish town councils nine years ago.

We should consider having a debate on this. I am certainly not coming into this House saying town councils should be reintroduced tomorrow but there is nothing to fear from a debate about it.

An analysis should be carried out by the Departments responsible for local government and housing to determine whether the right decision was made ten years ago and whether there is space for reintroducing town councils in substantial provincial towns with very large populations, such as Dundalk and Drogheda in County Louth.
Bank extends 15 million loan to innovative Moroccan packaging manufacturer Multisac SA

Funds for a new green building, production expansion and new recyclable packaging line

EU guarantee and technical cooperation to facilitate the transaction

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is backing the development of the packaging industry in Morocco with a 15 million loan in local currency to Multisac SA.

The funds will support the introduction of biaxially oriented polypropylene films to the companys product range. These are reusable and recyclable flexible packaging films that have a low carbon footprint.

The Banks investment will also finance the construction of a new green manufacturing plant, complete with Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification, and the expansion of Multisacs bag production capacity from 220 million to 250 million units annually.

The EBRDs loan is back by a European Union (EU) guarantee through the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), which focuses on sustainable investments in green infrastructure, logistics chains, energy efficiency and green technology transfers in industrial processes. In addition, the EU will support the project with technical cooperation.

Multisac SA was founded in 2006 and is the leading producer of woven polypropylene bags in Morocco, with around a 35 percent market share. The company also has a strong presence in Africa, exporting more than 35 million bags annually to Mauritania, Guinea, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso, and producing 25 million bags a year in Tunisia through its subsidiary, Societe Industrielle de Sacherie.

In 2018, the EBRD provided 4.3 million in local currency to Multisac SA to increase its production capacity, integrate a new production process (bottom squared bags) and increase resource efficiency by producing finished goods from recycled scrap materials. Multisac SA was the first local recipient of support from the EBRD and EUs Value Chain and Competitiveness Programme in 2018, which aims to improve value chains and make businesses more competitive across Morocco and the wider southern and eastern Mediterranean region.

As a member of the Banks exclusive Blue Ribbon programme, Multisac SA has received an extensive range of advisory support to improve its efficiency and unlock its growth.

Morocco is a founding member of the EBRD and became a recipient of Bank financing in 2012. To date, the EBRD has invested over 4 billion in the country through 94 projects.
Irish Rail is to resume its on-board catering services, according to a Cork TD.

Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Transport James OConnor TD has said it is confirmed that on-board catering services on Irish Rail services are due to return from March.

Deputy OConnor said he has been assured by Irish Rail CEO Jim Meade that services will be reinstated from the end of next month on a phased basis.

The Cork East TD organised a meeting between Fianna Fail TDs and Senators and Mr Meade in Leinster House on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing expansion of rail services.

Im delighted that Irish Rail has confirmed restoration of on-board train catering will be taking place in the coming months, said Mr OConnor.

On-board services were deeply missed by those who are regular commuters on Irish Rail services so this is very welcome news. It is understood the reinstatement of the service will be done on phased basis commencing with the Dublin-Cork line servicing Portlaoise, Portarlington, Thurles, Limerick Junction and Mallow."

The provision of late-night services and increasing the overall rail funding in Budget 2024 was among the topics discussed at the meeting.

We heard that further capacity could only be achieved on foot of new locomotives due to arrive to Ireland in the second quarter of next year.

There is the potential for up to three new trains per month to commence deliver into Ireland next year with a major recruitment programme under way to hire new drivers and service personnel, added Mr OConnor.
Vivienne Clarke

The Mayor of Galway, Clodagh Higgins has called for a meeting between senior Government representatives and city officials following a decision by An Bord Pleanala to refuse a number of housing developments.

Ms Higgins told Newstalk Breakfast that the developments had been rejected by An Bord Pleanala for being too car-dependent, but she feels conditional planning could have been granted.

The Mayors comments come following a warning from the city councils chief executive that the local authority will not be able to meet its social housing needs for the foreseeable future.

The reasons given for the refusal in the development at Keeraun was that they considered it to be piecemeal, with inadequate provision of social and physical infrastructure, and that such a development would be excessively car-dependent.

They also said the substandard condition of the road at Ballymoneen was also a factor. In the Headford Road case, again, the development was considered to be too car-dependent.

"This is a development that's a 20-minute walk from the city centre - so decisions by An Bord Pleanala are simply baffling at the moment," Ms Higgins said.

I can't understand why planning couldn't be granted with conditions attached, such as upgrading the footpaths, roads and so forth. We all appreciate that the road at Keeraun needed to be upgraded, and there were active plans in place that the upgrade would happen in tandem with housing developments.

An Bord Pleanala didn't give Galway City Council an opportunity to explain that, they just flatly refused the application. When you pair it all back we have an urgent requirement for housing.

The council and private developers are willing to develop sites to meet our housing needs. Yet we have an independent agency of the State essentially working against our collective objective.

They could have helped us find a way forward with conditional planning, which would have benefited the community two-fold, Ms Higgins added.
Gerard Couzens

A retired detective garda has claimed an alleged Spanish serial killer is and will always remain a suspect in the mystery disappearance of an American tourist near Dublin until the mystery of his whereabouts is solved.

Antonio Angles is wanted over the November 1992 kidnap, rape, torture and murders of three teenage girls near Valencia, whose shocking assassinations featured in a 2019 Netflix documentary.

A US private investigator spoke last year about the fact Angles, identified as a stowaway on a British-captained container ship who fled Portugal for Dublin after escaping a massive police manhunt in Spain, would have reached Dublin just before 27-year-old Annie McCarrick disappeared without trace.

She vanished on a day trip to the picturesque village of Enniskerry in County Wicklow, and detectives involved in investigating her disappearance  as well as her friend Marisa Mackle  have claimed she was murdered by a serial killer.

Retired Garda Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey  who was centrally involved in the investigation of the missing tourist  spoke to a Spanish TV programme, due to air on Wednesday, about the fugitives escape from police and the mystery of his current whereabouts.

I would say Antonio Angles will remain a person of interest until he can be definitively ruled out and we know what happened with Annie McCarrick.

Antonio Angles needs to be traced, investigated and ruled out of the inquiry if he wasnt involved.

The fact he has never been located means he will be a suspect always.

Connected disappearances

Recalling how several women vanished on Irelands east coast between 1993 and 1998 Mr Bailey, whose task force investigated the disappearances to see if they could be the work of a serial killer, said: We had a number of suspects and one of them was Antonio Angles.

We would have been aware of the injuries Angles allegedly inflicted on the bodies of the girls that were kidnapped.

If Annie McCarricks body had been found we would have looked for similarities between his modus operandi in Spain and here which would have pointed to him.

Annie McCarricks disappearance sparked Operation Trace after beginning to be linked to the cases of other women who went missing in the east of Ireland between 1993 and 1998, including those of Deidre Jacob and Jojo Dullard.

Retired Detective Garda Thomas Rock has been quoted as saying: It definitely wasnt a coincidence that a number of women travelling on their own went missing in the east of the country.

Looking back on it now, it looks like it could have been the same person.

One of the major difficulties in solving a case like this is you have no crime scene, you have no body, you have no material evidence.

There were similarities between three of the women that went missing  there was Annie McCarrick, JoJo Dullard and then there was Deirdre Jacob  three women on their own, just out walking, and then they suddenly disappeared and were never seen again.

Former FBI agent Kenneth Strange, now working as a liaison for Annies mum Nancy McCarrick, also tells La Sexta three-part documentary Angles: Historia de una fuga, which in English translates as Angles: Story of an escape: Annie McCarrick disappeared on March 26th, 1993.

Antonio Angles reached Dublin less than 48 hours before Annie vanished.

I have reached the conclusion its possible they crossed paths.

Suspected crimes

The bodies of Miriam Garcia, (14), Desire Hernandez (14), and Antonia Gamez (15), were found 75 days after they vanished from their home village of Alcasser near Valencia after hitch-hiking to a nearby disco.

Miguel Ricart served 21 years in jail for the hideous crimes but alleged accomplice Angles has never been caught.

Ricart told the police he, Angles and an unidentified third man had kidnapped the girls and tortured them over a two-day period. The only man to serve prison time was released from jail in 2013.

Over the years there have been reports of unconfirmed sightings of him in countries as far afield as Brazil and Uruguay.

Authorities in Spain only have until the end of this year to bring the suspected Spanish serial killer to justice before a statute of limitations prevents an effective prosecution.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

A rendering of the new JFK Airport Terminal 1. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Back in 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration released a study that suggested that airports are an ideal location for solar panels, stating that:

Solar technology has matured and is now a reliable way to reduce airport operating costs. Environmentally, solar energy shows a commitment to environmental stewardship, especially when the panels are visible to the traveling public. Among the environmental benefits are cleaner air and fewer greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Solar use also facilitates small business development and U.S. energy independence.

In 2020, University of Colorado Denver researcher Serena Kim found that 20 percent of airports in the U.S. had installed some kind of solar component to their power grid. Denver International Airport had become one of the largest solar projects in the U.S., with 42,614 solar panels on a total of 56 acres.

Denvers airport was one of the first to move into the solar field. According to its website, four photovoltaic arrays with a capacity of 10 megawatts could potentially offset almost 12,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Solar panels at Denver International Airport on July 25, 2008. Hyoung Chang / The Denver Post via Getty Images

Indianapolis International Airport was another early adoptor: the IND Solar Farm is the largest solar farm on airport real estate in the world and produces 36.1 million kilowatt hours per year, enough to power 3,650 homes each year.

Canary Media recently reported that more than 13,000 solar panels will be installed by 2026 at New York Citys largest airport, JFK. These solar panels will help meet New York states goal to have 100% renewable-source electricity by 2040. The panels will also offer backup power, potentially replacing the polluting diesel generators that turn on when power is lost, and help the airport continue to have power during blackouts.

The two other airports in the New York region have also been equipped with solar. At the newly redeveloped LaGuardia airport, more than 3,500 solar panels were installed over the new parking garage. According to the Port Authority of NY and NJ that oversees all of the NYC-area airports, these will provide 1.7-million kilowatt hours of clean and renewable energy per year. And at the even newer Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport, a 4-megawatt solar canopy has been installed overtop its new parking garage.

Solar panels on the roof of new LaGuardia Airport Terminal B on April 20, 2022. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey



In a statement about the LaGuardia solar panels, Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said, This initiative will cut reliance on polluting fossil fuels; supply clean and renewable energy to the airport and its thousands of travelers every day; and support the agency, as well as New Yorks, net-zero emissions goals.

The Port Authority was the first U.S. transportation agency to adopt the Biden administrations goals of net-zero climate emissions by 2050. These projects around New York City, while not funded by federal grants, dovetail with the White Houses Airport Terminals Program which provides $1-billion dollars per year to upgrade airports in a variety of ways, including increasing energy efficiency. A breakdown of the 2022 grants and how airports will use the grants they have received can be found here.

In recent years, the U.S. military has been actively installing solar at bases around the country, including a 56,000-panel array at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

A solar array on Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kindra Stewart

And the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona had 105 acres of solar panels installed in 2010, with rooftop panels added later on. In 2020, an environmental impact study was cleared so that a solar array could be built at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This 4,000-acre array would produce 650 megawatts of power, which would power homes in the state. The Department of Defense must meet a target of 25% renewable energy by 2025. This article from EnerG outlines many of the initiatives at military bases around the country.

In June of 2022, the Redwood Coast Airport in California completed its microgrid, which includes a 2.2 MW photovoltaic array.

Redwood Coast Airports solar microgrid. Redwood Coast Energy Authority

Miami International Airport has a floating solar array in the lagoon adjacent to the airport. While not directly at the airport, Oakland International Airport is now buying renewable energy from a solar farm thats close to the site. Thirty percent of the Port of Oaklands power now comes from solar sources. An airport in Iowa City has committed to building solar panels as have two other airports in the state, Dubuque Regional Airport and Washington Municipal Airport. All are using grants provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act).

Kansas City is looking to develop a massive farm with 96,000 solar panels, but taking a different approach, in that the power generated from the airport site will be routed to the city. In Virginia, county supervisors recently changed the zoning for Dulles International Airport from residential to industrial, against the advice of environmental groups. This means that a private company can most likely go ahead with removing wetlands and 100 acres of old growth forest to make way for the panels, battery system, switchyard, and substation.

At Quincy Regional Airport in Illinois, solar panels are now up and running and are expected to save the airport $60,000 per year.

So, along with other renewable sources like wind energy, used at the Dallas-Fort Worth location, airports are slowly but surely making a transition to a green energy future.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

A new 293 megawatt solar farm in Pueblo, Colorado offers more than meets the eye. In addition to generating clean energy, the site also serves as a carbon sink and a habitat preservation and restoration project for local prairielands.

The Sun Mountain Solar project, led by Lightsource bp (owned by BP) and Xcel Energy, has recently started its commercial operations as a solar farm. The farm has 293 megawatt solar energy generation capacity, enough energy to power about 53,900 homes per year.

According to Lightsource bp, the project also saves over 406,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to taking 87,500 gas-fueled cars off of the road.

Lightsource bp owns and operates the Sun Mountain Solar facilities, while Xcel Energy has a long-term purchase power agreement with Lightsource bp. Lightsource bp delivers the solar energy to Xcel Energy, who then provides the renewable energy to customers across eight states. The project supports Xcel Energys goal to provide energy from 80% renewable sources by 2030.

Along with the Sun Mountain Solar project, another nearby Lightsource bp project  the 300 megawatt Bighorn Solar project  also serves as a site for prairie restoration. CleanTechnica reported that both sites collectively conserve about 3,000 acres of shortgrass prairie in Colorado.

Before construction began, Lightsource bp and partners designed a site-specific seed mix, suited to the local climate, ecosystem and soil, Lightsource bp shared in a statement. The mix contains staple short grasses like western wheatgrass, buffalograss and little bluestem, as well as a low concentration of purple prairie clover to provide nectar for pollinating insects.

The company said that it worked to disturb the ground layer as little as possible while constructing the solar farms, then planted native seed mixes on disturbed land. The project is designed to prevent invasive species from taking over the prairie while providing habitats to local wildlife, including bees and prairie songbirds.

Lightsource bp said that the restored prairies act as carbon sinks, explaining, Research data indicates that over the first 25 years of the projects 40-year lifespan, the on-site prairie habitat will remove and store the equivalent of 36,000 tons of CO2.

Soil samples on the project sites have been taken, and future samples will be compared to the initial soil to determine carbon presence. The company estimates carbon in the soil will increase 17% over the lifespan of the projects.

While the solar farms led by Lightsource bp support Colorados clean energy transition goals of cutting emissions in half by 2030, the parent company, BP, is making headlines for scaling back on its own climate targets. BP now has plans to increase oil and gas production by 2030, following record annual profits in 2022, as reported by The Guardian.

BP is yet another fossil fuel giant mining gold out of the vast suffering caused by the climate and energy crisis, Kate Blagojevic, head of climate justice for Greenpeace UK, told The Guardian. Whats worse, their green plans seem to have been strongly undermined by pressure from investors and governments to make even more dirty money out of oil and gas. This is precisely why we need governments to intervene to change the rules.
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Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

Was the tuna at your local supermarket caught sustainably by people treated humanely and paid a living wage?

Greenpeace released its second annual report Monday ranking 16 major U.S. supermarkets on the environmental and human rights bonafides of their tuna supply chains. It turns out that only one of them managed to score higher than an F. However, the purpose of the report isnt to shame retailers but rather to give shoppers the tools they need to encourage them to do better.

As a consumer, you have an incredible amount of power because your wallet is casting a vote, Greenpeace senior oceans campaigner and report editor Marilu Cristina Flores told EcoWatch in an interview. And so were just hopeful that consumers will see this report, will understand these issues, and will engage in their communities to help stop some of these crimes on the High Seas.

BREAKING: For the 2nd time in a row, almost every single major supermarket has been given a failing grade on ensuring the tuna in their supply chain is free of environmental & human rights abuses.



 Find out how your grocery store ranks!

https://t.co/qp3XoFgTnR  Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) February 13, 2023

Tainted Tuna

From an environmental or human rights perspective, there are many ways that tuna fishing can go wrong. For one thing, vessels can simply take too many fish from the sea. Five of the 23 main commercial tuna stocks are either already overfished or are in the process of being overfished. For another, fishers themselves can be forced to work in dangerous or unjust conditions. Take the Taiwanese vessel Da Wang. In April of 2022, its leadership was indicted for forced labor and human trafficking, as Greenpeace detailed in an earlier report. That same month, tuna sourced from the boat ended up in Bumble Bee cans for sale at a Harris Teeter  a Kroger subsidiary  in Arlington, Virginia. Further, the tuna was caught during a 2019 trip during which a fisher on Da Wang died after sustaining a beating. And this is just one of the 100,000 fishing industry deaths that tragically take place every year.

In fishing, as in other industries, exploitation of nature and workers is linked. Vessels that engage in Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices are also more likely to be the sites of worker deaths and other abuses. Moreover, a similar motivation fuels both unsustainable fishing and unfair labor practices.

If we catch more, we can make more. If we fish for longer hours or if we hire fishers for lower pay, we can make more money, right? Flores said. And so the crux in all of it really is greed. And I think that thats really what drives some of the bad players to make the decisions that they do when it comes to peoples rights and livelihoods and when it comes to our environment.

Greenpeace believes that U.S. supermarkets and their customers can play an important role in cleaning up tuna supply chains because the U.S. is one of the worlds main tuna importers and grocery stores make massive profits from selling it  raking in nearly four times more than the $11 billion that tuna vessels earned in 2018.

[U.S.] retailers have the economic power to influence change in the global tuna industry, mainly through their sourcing decisions and business practices, the study authors wrote.

Ranking the Retailers

To that end, Greenpeace published The High Cost of Cheap Tuna: [U.S.] Supermarkets, Sustainability and Human Rights at Sea. The purpose of the report is to rank major retailers so that both they and their customers know what they can do better. To accomplish this, Greenpeace sent the retailers a survey asking them to answer 39 questions related to six major categories:

Tuna Procurement Policy Traceability Advocacy & Initiatives Human Rights & Labor Protections Current Sourcing Customer Education & Labeling

Based on their answers, the companies were given a score for both the environmental sustainability and human rights compliance of their policies. This year, 11 out of 16 companies agreed to participate in the survey. These were Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Aldi, Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee, The Kroger Company, Meijer, Southeastern Grocers, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target and Whole Foods. Costco, HEB, Publix, Walmart and Wegmans did not take the surveys, and so Greenpeace ranked them based on research into their publicized policies, inventory, working group membership and other details.

Overall, the survey results revealed that none of the companies are doing particularly well, especially when it comes to human rights. Indeed, none of the stores earned a passing grade in this category.

Aldi U.S. was the only company to receive an all-around passing score of 61.51 percent, the equivalent of a D. This broke down into a 70 percent for environmental policies and a 56 percent for human rights.

Only Whole Foods  which came in third overall  also had a passing score on the environment at 75 percent.

Rounding out the top five scores were Ahold Delhaize in the No. 2 slot, Hy-Vee in fourth place and Target in fifth. The worst scoring companies were Meijer at 16 percent, Wegmans at 17 percent, Southeastern Grocers at 18 percent, Publix at 19 percent and H-E-B at 24 percent. But for everyone, the takeaway message is that more work needs to be done.

Grocery retailers continue to turn a blind eye to the worst abuses at sea, Greenpeace USA oceans campaigner Mallika Talwar said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. Even as customers press clothing manufacturers and other economic sectors to respect human rights and labor standards, the abuses in tuna fisheries continue unchecked. These fleets need to both implement and follow much stronger labor and environmental standards  these workers, like all others, deserve safe workplaces and decent wages.

Swimming Forward

That said, there were signs of progress embedded in the report, including the fact that it was published at all. Greenpeace has been surveying retailers on their sustainability policies since 2008, but this was only the second year that it included human rights as well, reflecting growing awareness and activism around this issue.

Greenpeace noted that human rights awareness in the tuna industry today is around where environmental sustainability was a decade ago. Flores said this was likely due to the distant, hard-to-monitor nature of fishing on the open ocean.

Its the Wild, Wild West, she said.

In addition, fishers subject to workplace abuses were often afraid to speak up. However, she said reports like this one are helping to turn the tide.

Even in the last six to eight months, things are progressing very quickly in this space, she said.

This is reflected in the corporate response. Two more companies responded to the survey in 2022 than in 2021, and many of the stores that responded provided more detailed answers. Aldi became the first company to earn a passing grade, no companys total score went down and some went up by more than five or seven points. The score of one retailer  Sprouts  jumped by 14.91 percent.

Moving forward, Greenpeace has several suggestions for what stores can do to earn passing grades. One major issue is transhipment, in which fish or other wildlife cargo is moved from one vessel to another, allowing the fishing vessel to stay on the High Seas for longer periods of time. Because this vessel is less likely to be monitored, it is more likely to engage in IUU fishing or unfair labor practices. Most of the retailers in the report had no policies against transhipment at all, while Ahold, Aldi, Albertsons, Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee, Sprouts and Target allow transhipment with 100 percent observation. Greenpeace argues that this is insufficient, however, because real world observation rates are low and observers are not empowered to report on labor issues.

Greenpeace wants retailers to commit to completely phasing out buying fish from companies that allow transshipment, Flores said.

Other steps they can take include sourcing from vessels using Port States that have signed the International Labor Organization Work in Fishing Convention of 2007 and not rely exclusively on outside audits to assess the human rights issues in their supply chains.

Customers can help hold their grocery stores to account by choosing to shop at chains that have both environmental and human rights policies in place. They can also go further by emailing, calling or writing to store leadership to advocate for these policies, Flores said.

If were going to have significant progress on this, its really going to take the consumers to reach out to their grocers whether its a grocery store manager or their regional grocery store manager, let them know that these issues are important to them, she told EcoWatch.
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American politicians may not be the only government figures concerned about Amazon's proposed acquisition of iRobot. The Financial Times sources claim European Union regulators are grilling Amazon ahead of a "likely" official investigation. The European Commission has sent questions about potential privacy issues, including Roomba robot vacuums' ability to capture imagery. Officials are worried Amazon might combine the pictures with Alexa data to gain a "competitive advantage," according to one source.

MIT Technology Review recently discovered that photos taken by development versions of Roomba J7 vacuums had reached private Discord and Facebook groups. At the time, iRobot said the technology never made it to production models, was clearly labeled for testers and included a warning to remove "sensitive" items from the robovac's view. The findings led iRobot to cut ties with Scale AI, a startup that relies on contractors to label data for AI training  it appeared that people working on this project leaked the pictures.

Amazon is supposedly poised to counter a possible investigation by noting that production Roombas only have rudimentary home mapping and aren't likely to create privacy issues. We've asked the European Commission for comment. In a statement to Engadget, Amazon said it was "working cooperatively" with regulators.

A formal investigation is weeks away at best, the claimed insiders say. However, Amazon may want to address any initial worries quickly. The EU would start with a limited probe, but would conduct a more substantial "phase 2" investigation if Amazon couldn't satisfy regulators.

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The potential challenge comes just as the EU is vowing to get tougher against Big Tech companies like Amazon when investigating alleged privacy abuses. Civil liberty advocates have accused the EU of being too lenient and slow when dealing with these violations. An investigation of the iRobot deal wouldn't be directly linked to this crackdown, but would make clear that privacy is a major focus for merger reviews.

Update 2/15 3:51PM ET: A European Commission spokesperson tells Engadget the regulator hasn't been "formally notified" of Amazon's iRobot transaction, but otherwise isn't commenting further.
It has symmetrical downloads and uploads, but its only available in four cities at launch.

Google Fiber launches 5Gbps service for $125 per month It has symmetrical downloads and uploads, but its only available in four cities at launch.

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.

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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.
House panel subpoenas the CEOs from tech's biggest companies over content moderation Amazon, Google and Meta are among those facing accusations of censorship.

Now that Republicans control the House of Representatives, they're preparing to grill technology giants over accusations of content censorship. The Wall Street Journal has learned that House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed the CEOs of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft for information on their content moderation methods. The leaders have until March 23rd to provide any communications between them and the federal government's executive branch on the subject.

Jordan's panel wants to know "how and to what extent" the federal government allegedly pressured and coordinated with companies to censor content. The requests include details about people responsible for shaping moderation policies as well as those who've talked to the executive branch. Like numerous Republican politicians, Jordan has long maintained that major tech companies censor conservative views under the guise of curbing hate speech and misinformation.

The representative notably didn't subpoena Twitter, which he likely feels is more supportive of right-wing views with Elon Musk at the helm. The social network recently reinstated Donald Trump's account (still inactive), and has been sharing internal "Twitter Files" that covered the company's sharing limits on a New York Post story on Hunter Biden as well as the decision to ban Trump following the January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol. While right-wing figures have portrayed the disclosure as proof of anti-conservative censorship, critics have argued the documents don't offer substantially new details, don't provide evidence of conspiracy and were given only to writers likely to share Musk's views.

We've asked the five companies for comment. Microsoft confirmed the request in a statement to Engadget, noting that it's providing documents and plans to work in "good faith" with the committee. The firms have repeatedly denied allegations of bias and insist that they're only trying to remove falsehoods and other harmful material.

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Whether or not the House panel can take action is another matter. Attempts to prove an anti-conservative bias have failed so far, with multiple studies showing no evidence of these leanings. There's also evidence that platforms like Facebook made exemptions for right-wing content that violated misinformation policies, fearing a backlash if they enforced their rules consistently.

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Great news everyone, were pivoting to chatbots! Little did OpenAI realize when it released ChatGPT last November that the advanced LLM (large language model) designed to uncannily mimic human writing would become the fastest growing app to date with more than 100 million users signing up over the past three months. Its success  helped along by a $10 billion, multi-year investment from Microsoft  largely caught the companys competition flat-footed, in turn spurring a frenetic and frantic response from Google, Baidu and Alibaba. But as these enhanced search engines come online in the coming days, the ways and whys of how we search are sure to evolve alongside them.

I'm pretty excited about the technology. You know, we've been building NLP systems for a while and we've been looking every year at incremental growth, Dr. Sameer Singh, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), told Engadget. For the public, it seems like suddenly out of the blue, that's where we are. I've seen things getting better over the years and it's good for all of this stuff to be available everywhere and for people to be using it.

As to the recent public success of large language models, I think it's partly that technology has gotten to a place where it's not completely embarrassing to put the output of these models in front of people  and it does look really good most of the time, Singh continued. I think that thats good enough.

JASON REDMOND via Getty Images

I think it has less to do with technology but more to do with the public perception, he continued. If GPT hadn't been released publicly Once something like that is out there and it's really resonating with so many people, the usage is off the charts.

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Search providers have big, big ideas for how the artificial intelligence-enhanced web crawlers and search engines might work and damned if they arent going to break stuff and move fast to get there. Microsoft envisions its Bing AI to serve as the users copilot in their web browsing, following them from page to page answering questions and even writing social media posts on their behalf.

This is a fundamental change from the process we use today. Depending on the complexity of the question users may have to visit multiple websites, then sift through that collected information and stitch it together into a cohesive idea before evaluating it.

That's more work than having a model that hopefully has read these pages already and can synthesize this into something that doesn't currently exist on the web, Brendan Dolan-Gavitt, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at NYU Tandon, told Engadget. The information is still out there. It's still verifiable, and hopefully correct. But it's not all in place.

For its part, Googles vision of the AI-powered future has users hanging around its search page rather than clicking through to destination sites. Information relevant to the users query would be collected from the web, stitched together by the language model, then regurgitated as an answer with reference to the originating website displayed as footnotes.

This all sounds great, and was all going great, right up to the very first opportunity for something to go wrong. When it did. In its inaugural Twitter ad  less than 24 hours after debuting  Bard, Googles answer to ChatGPT, confidently declared, JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system. You will be shocked to learn that the James Webb Space Telescope did not, in fact, discover the first exoplanet in history. The ESOs Very Large Telescope holds that honor from 2004. Bard just sorta made it up. Hallucinated it out of the digital ether.

Bard is an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA. Built using our large language models and drawing on information from the web, its a launchpad for curiosity and can help simplify complex topics  https://t.co/fSp531xKy3 pic.twitter.com/JecHXVmt8l  Google (@Google) February 6, 2023

Of course this isnt the first time that weve been lied to by machines. Search has always been a bit of a crapshoot, ever since the early days of Lycos and Altavista. When search was released, we thought it was good enough though it wasn't perfect, Singh recalled. It would give all kinds of results. Over time, those have improved a lot. We played with it, and we realized when we should trust it and when we shouldnt  when we should go to the second page of results, and when we shouldn't.

The subsequent generation of voice AI assistants evolved through the same base issues that their text-based predecessors did. When Siri and Google Assistant and all of these came out and Alexa, Singh said, they were not the assistants that they were being sold to us as.

The performance of todays LLMs like Bard and ChatGPT, are likely to improve along similar paths through their public use, as well as through further specialization into specific technical and knowledge-based roles such as medicine, business analysis and law. I think there are definitely reasons it becomes much better once you start specializing it. I don't think Google and Microsoft specifically are going to be specializing it too much  their market is as general as possible, Singh noted.

In many ways, what Google and Bing are offering by interposing their services in front of the wider internet  much as AOL did with the America Online service in the 90s  is a logical conclusion to the challenges facing todays internet users.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Nobody's doing the search as the end goal. We are seeking some information, eventually to act on that information, Singh argues. If we think about that as the role of search, and not just search in the literal sense of literally searching for something, you can imagine something that actually acts on top of search results can be very useful.

Singh characterizes this centralization of power as, a very valid concern. Simply put, if you have these chat capabilities, you are much less inclined to actually go to the websites where this information resides, he said.

Its bad enough that chatbots have a habit of making broad intellectual leaps in their summarizations, but the practice may also incentivize users not go to the website, not read the whole source, to just get the version that the chat interface gives you and sort of start relying on it more and more, Singh warned.

In this, Singh and Dolan-Gavitt agree. If youre cannibalizing from the visits that a site would have gotten, and are no longer directing people there, but using the same information, there's an argument that these sites won't have much incentive to keep posting new content. Dolan-Gavitt told Engadget. On the other hand the need for clicks also is one of the reasons we get lots of spam and is one of the reasons why search has sort of become less useful recently. I think [the shortcomings of search are] a big part of why people are responding more positively to these chatbot products.

That demand, combined with a nascent marketplace, is resulting in a scramble among the industrys major players to get their products out yesterday, ready or not, underwhelming or not. That rush for market share is decidedly hazardous for consumers. Microsofts previous foray into AI chatbots, 2014s Taye, ended poorly (to put it without the white hoods and goose stepping). Today, Redditors are already jailbreaking OpenAI to generate racist content. These are two of the more innocuous challenges we will face as LLMs expand in use but even they have proven difficult to stamp out in part, because they require coordination amongst an industry of viscous competitors.

The kinds of things that I tend to worry about are, on the software side, whether this puts malicious capabilities into more hands, makes it easier for people to write malware and viruses, Dolan-Gavitt said. This is not as extreme as things like misinformation but certainly, I think it'll make it a lot easier for people to make spam.

A lot of the thinking around safety so far has been predicated on this idea that there would be just a couple kinds of central companies that, if you could get them all to agree, we could have some safety standards. Dolan-Gavitt continued. I think the more competition there is, the more you get this open environment where you can download an unrestricted model, set it up on your server and have it generate whatever you want. The kinds of approaches that relied on this more centralized model will start to fall apart.
Meta isn't done pulling back some of its shopping features. Instagram has warned users that live shopping will shut down on March 16th. From that day on, shops can't tag products during livestreams  you'll have to wait until afterward (or rely on less-than-elegant links) to buy must-have items. The social network explained the move as a way to "help [it] focus" on core features.

The move comes right as Instagram is removing the shopping tab from the home screen, and months after Facebook wound down Live Shopping and pointed stores toward Reels. Shopping is still part of these social media apps in posts, Reels and Stories, but Meta has increasingly taken a back-to-basics approach. Live shopping first reached Instagram in 2020, right as many people were forced to shop online during the pandemic.

The decision isn't surprising. Meta is looking for ways to cut costs as a tough economy and an expensive metaverse pivot affect its bottom line, and it's particularly eager to slash initiatives that perform poorly. As Gizmodo explains, that might include Instagram's live shopping. Social-based shopping was only expected to represent five percent of US e-commerce in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence. If that's true, Meta isn't earning much from purchases during live broadcasts.

Meta isn't alone in struggling with shopping features. TikTok was set to bring live shopping to North America late last year, but only using outsourced technology. The Financial Times sources claimed last summer that TikTok was scaling back its plans between a poor UK uptake and a mass exodus of employees. Simply speaking, there may not be as much of an audience for social shopping as tech giants expect.

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The Morning After: Amazon still plans to 'go big' on grocery stores Even if it's been a slow start.

Despite recently saying it would lay off more than 18,000 people, Amazon is still looking to expand its empire  which could mean more physical stores. CEO Andy Jassy told the Financial Times that Amazon still plans to go big on its brick-and-mortar grocery store business.

The company's physical store division accounts for 3.4 percent of the overall business and has grown only around 10 percent since the Whole Foods acquisition. Jassy noted that many Amazon Fresh locations opened in the COVID-19 pandemic, so Amazon hasn't "had a lot of normalcy" to see what works. Thats also been true for other facets of its physical retail business. Almost a year ago, Amazon said it was closing all of its pop-ups, bookstores and four-star shops across the US and UK.

In the interview, Jassy said: We have a history of doing a lot of experimentation and doing it quickly. And then, when we find something that we like, doubling down on it, which is what we intend to do.

 Mat Smith

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The Morning After isnt just a newsletter  its also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

The issue may have been actively exploited, according to Apple.

Apple released security updates to its operating systems on Monday to resolve a security flaw. The company said the issue may have been actively exploited, meaning hackers couldve taken advantage of the issue to access devices. However, Apple does not have additional details to share on the exploits beyond the update release notes, spokesperson Scott Radcliffe told Engadget.

Continue reading.

It gauges particulate matter levels humidity, temperature and more.

IKEA is introducing a smart indoor air quality sensor, the Vindstyrka, which gauges pollutant levels. Vindstyrka works by itself, but it unsurprisingly becomes more useful when connected to IKEA's Dirigera smart home hub. You can check air quality through the company's app and have the monitor control other devices, like telling IKEAs Starkvind purifier to increase fan speed based on particulate levels. Theres no price yet, but the sensor will launch in April.

Continue reading.

The biggest show on Apple TV+ returns March 15th.

Apple

Apple has revealed the third season of Ted Lasso will premiere March 15th, with a new episode (12 in total) arriving every week. In season three, AFC Richmond is now in the Premier League but pitted against one of its former allies  Nate is now working for Rebecca's ex, Rupert, at West Ham United.

Continue reading.

But its only available in four cities at launch.

Google Fiber is finally launching its 5Gbps internet plan in Kansas City, West Des Moines and Utah. Google says the $125-per-month service will expand to other areas later this year. The service offers symmetrical upload and download rates, an upgraded 10 Gig Fiber Jack and includes professional installation, a WiFi 6 router and up to two mesh network extenders. For comparison: Comcast already offers 6Gbps service in some areas, which costs $300 a month and doesnt include symmetrical uploads.

Continue reading.

A spiral star system like ours.

Astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture an image of a spiral galaxy that resembles our home, the Milky Way. The star system, LEDA 2046648, is a billion light-years away and comprises thousands of galaxies, trillions of stars and countless planets. Of course, an image of anything one billion light-years away means were viewing the galaxys light from a billion years ago.

Continue reading.
TuneIn is adding a new way for users to discover the more than 100,000 radio stations available to stream on its service. This week, the company  in honor of World Radio Day, which fell on February 13th  began rolling out TuneIn Explorer (via Android Police ).

The feature plots everything TuneIn offers on an interactive map allowing you to see where some of the worlds most famous radio stations are based out of. You can access the map by visiting TuneIns website on your computer or mobile device. The company has included handy filters along the top of the interface, allowing you to narrow down the stations you see based on genre and language. You can apply multiple filters if you want more specific results. The map also includes a search feature and even displays emergency broadcast stations.

Theres no word yet on when the feature will arrive in the TuneIn app. In the meantime, we can imagine a few fun use cases for the map. You could turn to it if you want to rediscover a radio station from your hometown or as a way to immerse yourself in a language you want to learn.
Colombians march to protest President and former criminal Gustavo Petro

Colombians march to protest President Gustavo Petro's reforms proposed on the health, retirement, employment and prisons sectors.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer for women in American politics, announced she will not seek re-election in 2024, clearing the path for a hotly contested race for her seat among California Democrats.
(The Center Square)  Two representatives from Washington state are working together to reintroduce a bill from the 117th Congress to honor Vietnam War Veterans.

The bipartisan bill, if adopted, would award the Congressional Gold Medal to Dustoff crewmembers  the helicopter pilots, crew chiefs, and medics responsible for evacuating more than 900,000 U.S., Vietnamese, and allied forces during the nearly eleven year long period between May 1962 to March 1973.

During the Vietnam War, millions of Americans left home to fight in muddy trenches and jungles halfway around the world, said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, in a statement. Many made the ultimate sacrifice. Others returned home just to be ostracized and ridiculed. Some were never recognized for their service at all. Thats exactly what happened to the Dustoff crewmembers who risked their lives to save nearly one million others. They were some of the very best, and their heroism deserves to be recognized.

The History and Art Archives of the United States House of Representatives notes that Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions.

Each medal honors a particular individual, institution, or event, the archive states.

The first recipient of the award, handed out by the Continental Congress on the 25th of March 1776, was none other than George Washington.

To date, few Vietnam war veterans have been awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

Bill co-sponsor Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, wants to correct this oversight.

Years after the end of the Vietnam War, too many Vietnam veterans have not been sufficiently recognized for their service and sacrifice, said Kilmer in a statement. That remains true for the members of the Dustoff crews  who valiantly rescued so many. Awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dustoff crews of the Vietnam War will be an important step toward recognizing the pivotal role that these service members played in saving lives and serving their country proudly. Ill keep pushing to ensure we demonstrate our appreciation on behalf of a grateful nation.

The prior version of the bill from the 117th congress died in committee without being passed on for a vote.
Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, speaks before the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo by Nicole Girten/Daily Montanan)

Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, asked bill sponsor Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, a question during a hearing on her bill: Are fetuses human beings?

The bill would codify the right to abortion in state law, and Bishop responded that defining fetuses wasnt addressed, but was based on someones personal, religious conscience.

Deming followed up: Am I a human being?

Questions surrounding viability of a fetus came up during the hearing on House Bill 432, which would codify abortion in state law and repeal legislation from 2021 that restricts abortion.

Abortion is currently legal up to the point of viability in Montana. The Montana Constitution protects the right to privacy, and the 1999 Montana Supreme Court decision in Armstrong vs. State protected a patients right to medical privacy, including abortion.

HB 432 received an equal number of proponents and opponents during its first hearing Monday. It isnt likely to advance this session with Republicans holding a supermajority, but the sponsor argued it would bring clarity to the legal situation in Montana. However, the bill drew fierce opposition from the Montana Family Foundation.

In 2021, the legislature passed a number of bills that restrict abortion, and litigation has ensued.

This bill reflects where we are at this moment and is intended to clarify the current legal landscape in Montana, said Bishop before the House Judiciary Committee.

But Jeff Laszloffy, with the Montana Family Foundation, characterized the proposed legislation as the most radical all encompassing piece of pro abortion legislation ever to be introduced in this body in the entire history of the Montana legislature.

Opponents also said there are two patients involved in every abortion.

This bill does not address the rights of the baby, said Robin Sertell, who described herself as a survivor of three abortion attempts. Do I look like a clump of cells today? That clump of cells has gotten bigger, just like you.

This move to codify abortion in Montana comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer in Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which overturned the nearly 50- year federal precedent for abortion protection in Roe vs. Wade.

In the meantime, Republicans are moving forward with at least one bill that may have more success getting Gov. Greg Gianfortes signature. Senate Bill 154 would state abortion is not part of the Montana Constitutions privacy protections, and it passed the Senate.

Theres also a bill from House Judiciary Chairwoman Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, House Bill 303, which would allow medical staff to object to performing procedures, including abortion. The bill passed the House last week.

A bill to provide a religious exemption to abortion in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy was introduced by Rep. Ed Stafman, D- Bozeman, and is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Friday. That bill would allow religiously-affiliated, private healthcare organizations to deny abortion or abortion related support to patients based on moral objections.

Last summer, Gianforte publicly requested the state Supreme Court revisit the Armstrong decision in light of the Dobbs decision.

This bill would gut Chapter 20 of the Montana Code Annotated which establishes provisions for abortion, including: -The Montana Abortion Control Act: which in part finds the abortion of a viable person is an infringement of that persons rights. -The Womans Right-to-Know Act: which requires every woman who is considering an abortion receive complete information on alternatives -The Offense of Partial Birth Act: which does not apply to women whose life is in danger. -The Parental Consent for Abortion Act of 2013: which requires parental or legal guardian consent for a minor to receive an abortion. -The Montana Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: which bans abortions at 20 or more weeks. -The Montana Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act: which in part requires informed consent for using drugs involved in induced an abortion and prohibits providing them those drugs on school grounds. -The Prohibition of Coverage of Abortion Services in Qualified Health Plans

During questioning, Rep. SJ Howell, D-Missoula, asked Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, what the impact of eliminating the laws outlined in the bill would be.

It would actually maintain the current status quo of access to abortion because the items that are being repealed are presently enjoined and unenforceable, Fuller said.

Laszloffy argued that characterization was incorrect, telling the press following the hearing that several of the bills going through the courts are still in play.

The bill would also permit abortion providers to give human sexuality instruction in schools, a practice that stopped in 2021. Additionally, it would allow the Department of Public Health and Human Services to do contracted work with clinics that perform non federally qualified abortions. Federal funds cant be used for abortions outside of rape, incest or if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.

In arguing against the bill, Majority Leader Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, listed all the abortion related legislation that would be eliminated in the bill, as included in the title.

Abortion and miscarriage are not the same, Vinton said. Abortion is not birth control. This is 2023, there is birth control, available low cost or free, to anyone who seeks it. We can do better.

Proponents included abortion providers in the state, the ACLU of Montana, the Montana Human Rights Network and the League of Women Voters. Opponents included Restore Liberty, Montanans for Limited Government and Students for Life Action.

Our bodies are not wards of the state, said proponent Cara Wilder. No ones private healthcare decisions, men or women, should be decided by politicians in Helena.

Proponent Ann Angus, who works with Montana Family Planning but came representing herself, talked about her own abortion experience, one she described as a wanted pregnancy where her babys body suffered catastrophic deformities to his renal system, making his body not compatible with life.

I could continue the pregnancy and watch my son slowly die in the NICU or I could have an abortion to end the pregnancy, she said. I chose to let my son pass in peace, warm and loved and held within me.

She said she was 26 weeks along and had to travel out of state to access care.

As heartbreaking as it is, sometimes there is no happy ending in any of the options, she said.

The post Bill codifying abortion rights in Montana state law gets first hearing appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Bernadette Franks Ongoy of Disability Rights Montana speaks on Feb. 1, 2023 about a change to Montana law and physician assisted death (Photo via Montana Public Access Network).

A bill that would have given candidates in nonpartisan races the option of declaring a political party affiliation in Montana is likely dead after a Senate committee voted unanimously, 10-0, to table the bill last week.

The bill, Senate Bill 200, was sponsored by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, and would have given candidates the option of declaring a political affiliation in nonpartisan races. Currently, judicial races, some city and county races, and school board trustees run as nonpartisan.

Hertz, in the hearing, suggested that nonpartisan races were akin to sticking your head in the sand by ignoring partisan leanings. However, a parade of people lined up saying that the measure would inject more money and partisanship in races that often have little to do with party affiliation.

Supreme Court switcheroo

Senate Bill 230 seemed like a simple bill that would move the administrator of the courts from the supervision of the Montana Supreme Court to the Clerk of the Supreme Court.

However, many opponents of the idea testified that it wasnt just a simple move, but pulling the courts chief administration from the control of the Montana Supreme Court to the executive branch. The Clerk of the Supreme Court is a partisan office and part of the executive branch.

Many opponents also argued that the move clearly violated the states constitution, which vests supervision of all state courts in the Supreme Court and the judiciary branch.

The bill died on Second Reading in the Senate by a 20-to-30 vote.

Physician-assisted dying

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 210, which would remove patient consent as a defense for a physician who is charged with homicide in case of physician-assisted suicide.

The defense, which is something the Montana Supreme Court recognized in the landmark Baxter vs. Montana, established that Montana physicians had a defense in cases where they would be sued for trying to assist someone in suicide as they died. It said that patient consent  that is, a patient wanting a lethal dose of medication  was a defense in a legal case.

By removing that defense in law, the state would clear the way to prosecute physicians or other medical care providers who help aid patients in dying.

If passed, Montana would become the first state to reverse course and not allow physician-assisted suicide.

The Senate Judiciary Committee moved the bill along party lines on a 7-4 vote, with Democrats against, and it will proceed to full Senate for a vote.

The post Legislative update: Partisan designations in nonpartisan races likely dead appeared first on Daily Montanan.
UPDATE: 12:19 P.M.

The Lewis and Clark Sheriff's Office has safely located Kimberly Chiefstick, according to the Montana Department of Justice.

The Missing Endangered Person Advisory has been canceled.

UPDATE: 7:12 A.M.

The following is an updated Missing Endangered Person Advisory from the Montana Department of Justice:

Update for the Missing Endangered Person Advisory for 6 year old Kimberly Chiefstick. Law Enforcement has reason to believe that Kimberly may now be with her non-custodial parent, Anabel Friedrich, in the Lolo area. Anabel is a white 22 year old female with green eyes and brown hair. She is 5 feet tall and approximately 170 lbs. She is known to drive a 2016 grey Jeep Patriot with Montana temporary license plate AAMI2828. If you have any information on Kimberly or Anabel, please contact Anaconda Deer Lodge Law Enforcement at 406-563-5241 or dial 911.

ANACONDA, Mont. - A search is underway for a missing 6-year-old, Kimberly Chiefstick, who was reportedly abducted by her grandma 5 p.m. Sunday.

Kimberly and her grandma Dimathy Robertson are potentially traveling to Helena, and are believed to be in an older, grey Toyota Forerunner, with an unknown license plate, according to the Missing Endangered Person Advisory from the Montana Department of Justice.

Kimberly is described as Native American, 3-foot-5 inches, 45 pounds, with blonde hair and brown eyes.

Robertson, 65, is described as 5-foot-2, 180 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

The MEPA said there is concern for Kimberly's safety because she does not have her needed medication with her.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anaconda-Deer Lodge Law Enforcement Agency at 406 563-5241.
Congressman Matt Rosendale talks about the need to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (Photo via Matt Rosendale Official Twitter Account).

As U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke signed onto legislation proposed by Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, to impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, absent from the list of 42 lawmakers as a cosponsor was Montanas other Republican representative, Matt Rosendale, a vocal and frequent critic of the Biden administrations migration policy.

However, staff members pointed out that Rosendale is one of the co-sponsors of another set of impeachment articles for Mayorkas, House Resolution 89, which lists a similar set of concerns, complaints and grievances against the Homeland Security head.

House Resolution 89, sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, is co-sponsored by Rosendale, and a list of other notable Republicans, including Rosendales cross-state partner, Zinke.

Nothing prohibits both men from signing on as sponsors to multiple, similar pieces of legislation. HR 89 was introduced Feb. 1, and both are listed a co-sponsors since its introduction on that date.

Other notable Republicans include some of the members of the Freedom Caucus: Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado; Matt Gaetz, R-Florida; Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia; Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona.

The Congressman chose to sign on to Rep. Biggs resolution to impeach Secretary Mayorkas because he believed it was a stronger condemnation of the Secretarys failure to uphold his oath and his duty to defend our nation, said Grace Davis, communications director for Rosendale.

Rep. Rosendale supports impeaching Mayorkas because, as the resolution states, Mayorkas presided over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement. Secretary Mayorkas continues to violate this oath by failing to maintain operational control of the border and releasing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States.

Fallon is also a co-sponsor of HR 89.

As Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Mayorkas has chosen not to enforce laws and policies put into place to prevent unlawful entries into the United States  leading to an increase in illegal aliens and narcotics entering communities across the country, including Montana, Davis said.

Rosendale also signed onto legislation in the last session of Congress to impeach Mayorkas, but it languished because the house was controlled by the Democratic Party. Even if the impeachment process were to result in passage in the U.S. House, which is now narrowly controlled by the Republicans, it would have little hope of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

The post Rosendale supports different bill to impeach Homeland Security Chief Mayorkas appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Traffic is down to one lane on Highway 22 in New Sit
The UK and the US must work closely together to promote sustainable agriculture and food production across the world, the Defra Secretary will say in a speech in Washington DC.

Therese Coffey will today (15 February) outline how UK and US co-operation is 'vital' to promoting sustainable farming and global food security.

The comments will be part of a speech at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Winter Conference in Washington DC.

NASDA plays a major role in US agriculture, with representatives from the Departments of Agriculture in all 50 States and four US territories.

The Defra Secretary's speech will be the first time a foreign minister has addressed the conference.

Ms Coffey is expected to highlight how ensuring nature and food production go hand-in-hand is a shared goal between the two countries.

However, British farm leaders have frequently warned that the US's food and farming standards are significantly lower than the UK's.

For example, in the US, the use of antibiotics per animal in farming is on average 5 times higher than in the UK.

Ms Coffey will say: It is vitally important that we continue to stand together, in defence of the freedom, democracy, and common decency that our nations treasure so deeply.

"We must also continue to work together to forge a more secure, more sustainable future for agriculture.

"We must strengthen the resilience of our environment, our businesses, and our communities, and improve the prosperity and food security of every generation to come."

Ms Coffey is expected to add: Farmers are the original friends of the earth, the first to understand that making space for nature can and must go alongside food production.

"This is not mutually exclusive, but absolutely symbiotic. Working with nature  not against it  is the natural instinct of every farmer I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

As we work together to promote sustainable food production, we need to commend the immense contribution farming makes to our communities, and the sheer grit, ingenuity and determination it takes to keep us fed.

The Environment Secretary will also pay tribute to farmers in Ukraine for their efforts in continuing to promote food security, and will outline the UKs continued support to Ukraine.

Ms Coffey will say: Amidst the turmoil of war, it is truly extraordinary that the farmers of Ukraine have managed to get so much of the 2022 harvest in.

"At a time when Ukrainians themselves are suffering so much, the initiative to get grain from Ukraine, to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, is an act of global humanity at its very best.

I was proud to send a contribution to support those efforts, on behalf of our government and our people, as I know the United States have done as well.

"This forms part of the wider support that we are sending to Ukraine, and the work that the UK has led through the G7 to help identify stolen grain and frustrate Russias efforts to profit from that theft.
A rapid test to identify two of the most damaging diseases in barley before theyre visible will be launched next month.

Microgenetics has developed new tests to identify net blotch and rhynchosporium in barley, with the latter being the most damaging disease affecting UK barley.

Net blotch has the potential to cause yield losses of 10-40 percent if it is not controlled promptly.

Dr Rebecca Sanders, scientist at Microgenetics, said these pathogens were focused on as theyre a particular concern for the British farming industry.

"We know they cause the biggest crop yield failures and have the biggest financial impact, Dr Sanders said.

By identifying the presence of net blotch and rhynchosporium before theyre visible, she said farmers could act quickly to control either disease before they became a more serious problem.

These diseases have a long latent period when the disease is present but not yet visible, Dr Sanders explained.

By the time visible signs do appear it is too late to recover the full yield and aggressive fungicides will need to be used.

By using SwiftDetect, farmers are given an early warning that treatment is necessary. It allows them to use it as part of their integrated crop management and spray according to whats actually in the field, rather than a pre-emptive campaign.

To use SwiftDetect, farmers collect ten leaves from across a barley field for their sample and then post them to the SwiftDetect laboratory using prepaid envelopes that can be ordered from the Microgenetics website.

A traffic light warning system will tell a farmer whether the sample was low, medium or high risk.

They will also receive a SwiftDetect score, which is determined by the amount of pathogen identified in the sample.

Farmers will get information to inform what formulation they should use and at what level, or whether they need to target specific fields first where disease levels are higher.

Farmers can also choose to use the tests after spraying to check the effects of the pesticides used.

SwiftDetect could also help farmers trialling different varieties by revealing their level of disease resistance.

Dr Charles Grant, research scientist at Microgenetics, said: At the moment, a lot of farmers will spray at specific times of the year, at specific growth stages or following particular weather patterns.

Were trying to give them an accurate picture of whats actually going on during the latent phase so they dont need to guess.
Machinery and tractors on a Welsh border dairy farm - farmed by the same family for 46 years - have sold for up to 28,200 at a successful dispersal sale.

Auctioneers Halls reported a buoyant trade and a large crowd on Saturday (11 February) at Bank Farm, Bulthy, near Welshpool for the auction held for Richard and Helen Fairbanks.

James Evans, an auctioneer and director of Halls, maintained a family connection with the farm, as his father, Jim, sold it to the Fairbanks family in 1977.

Having recently sold the 200-acre farm for the Fairbanks, Mr Evans said he was delighted to see such a large turnout and trade for the auction.

Top prices were 28,200 for a 2020 Kubota M4072 4WD with 950 hours, 22,000 for a 2004 New Holland TS125A 4WD with 7,886hrs and 19,800 for a 2004 New Holland TS115A 4WD with 6,240hrs.

Highlights were 10,600 for a Mastek Slurry Mate reel and pipe, 7,700 for a 2015 Spread-a-bale, 4,600 each for a Kverneland Tarrup 8070, 6 rota tedder and a HTL electric foot trimming cattle crush.

Other highlights were 4,400 for a 10 tonne Richard Weston twin axle silage trailer, 3,900 for a Kuhn Axis 30.1 fertiliser spreader, 3,000 for a 2005 Keenan 140 feeder wagon, 2,700 for a front mounted Pottinger mower and 2,650 for a 2010 Graham Edwards 14ft stock trailer.

Mr Evans said the introduction of the MartEye online bidding platform for farm dispersal sales was paying dividends, as buyers were now being attracted from across the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Attracting online bidders to our farm dispersal sales ensures that farmers get the best possible price on the international market for their tractors, machinery and equipment, he added.
Vietnam earned $2.250 billion from textile and garment exports in January 2023, a decline of 37.6 per cent over the previous year, as per preliminary data from customs IT and statistics department, general department of customs, Vietnams ministry of finance. In 2022, Vietnams total textile and garment exports were valued at $37.5 billion.

The US accounted for a major share (about 44.04 per cent) totalling $0.991 billion in the textile and garment exports of Vietnam during the first month of this year. Japan and South Korea were the other major destinations with exports of $0.248 billion and $0.244 billion, respectively, according to the latest figures.

Vietnams yarn exports also decreased in January by 52.4 per cent to $0.225 billion compared to the same period of last year. Of this, China imported around 38.22 per cent or $0.086 billion worth of yarn, followed by India that imported yarn worth $5.004 million. In volume terms, Vietnam exported 88,130 tons of yarn which was 38.9 per cent lower than the exports during the corresponding period of last year.

Vietnam earned $2.250 billion from textile and garment exports in January 2023, a decline of 37.6 per cent over the previous year, as per preliminary data from customs IT and statistics department, general department of customs, Vietnam's ministry of finance. In 2022, Vietnam's total textile and garment exports were valued at $37.5 billion.

In 2022, Vietnams textile & garment exports had grown by 14.7 per cent year-on-year to $37.5 bn, against the target of $43 billion. In 2021, Vietnams textile and garment exports earned $32.750 billion, registering a growth of 9.9 per cent over the exports of $29.809 billion in the previous year, while yarn exports increased by 50.1 per cent to $5.609 billion from $3.736 billion in 2020.

For 2023, Vietnam expects its export earnings to be $48 billion from textiles, garments, and yarn shipments in case of a positive market scenario, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)






Devdas, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's crowning achievement, was released over 21 years ago. With this movie, we first entered the opulent universe of the director, who did all possible to make this movie a visual spectacle. With Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam from 1999, Bhansali had already developed a strong visual aesthetic, but with Devdas, he constructed a world that would eventually come to be synonymous with his opulent style., was among the most expensive movies ever produced in Hindi cinema. The impact of its meticulously designed outfits was so great that they temporarily controlled Indian fashion. The massive sets that resemble museums may be a staple of a Bhansali movie today, but when they were first introduced, the audience's mouths dropped to the floor. On the celluloid with all available colours, there had never before been such grandeur, splendour, extravagance, and beauty. Although there was a lot of drama, the fashion and styling of this movie established the standard for many others. This is the beauty of Bhansali's Devdas, which established a standard for all of his subsequent films even years after their original release date. Every set was painstakingly planned, and every outfit was intricately stitched. Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla did, in fact, take home the National Award for Best Costumes.The casting of Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, and Aishwarya Rai was flawlessly executed by the filmmaker. Even before her Cannes debut,became the most recognizable face of one of the top beauty brands in the world. Aishwarya donned a lovely pink saree with crystal work and embroidered details. She accessorised this amazing ensemble with rani haar, thick kadas, and a pearl choker necklace. She chose a pink lip colour, a shimmering eyeshadow with an on-trend highlighter, a red bindi, and a sleek low bun for her hair. Aishwarya's outfit is perfect for wedding events when accessorised with a pair of danglers. 600 Bengali sarees were combined and blended to produce 600 different fresh designs for Paro's appearance.When wearing a blue silk Bengali saree, Aishwarya appeared to be a regal bride. She was dressed in a blue silk saree with elaborate contrast gold embroidery. In this outfit, Aishwarya wore a choker necklace, rani haar, and jhumkas. She looked absolutely stunning. She accessorised this look with kohled eyes, a sleek hairdo, and a bright crimson bindi. Following marriage, Paro's sarees were kept 89 metres long rather than the customary 6 metres.Do you recall the stunning and enchanting women who wore red and white saris in the song "Dola Re"? This elegant, fashion-forward white-red saree with contrasting gold work is absolute perfection. The blouses' detailed embroidery made them unique on their own. Aishwarya chose a similar set of earrings, a lovely haath phool, and a choker necklace with a maang tikka to add some glitz to her ensemble. Never before has the traditional Bengali saree or lal paad appeared on TV so elegantly. Not just wearing sarees or jewellery, Alta was also sporting possibly the most stunning hands of the era in this specific song. To prevent any jerks, it used to take almost three hours to perfectly drape a saree in the same manner for each shoot.We still hum Silsila ye chaahat ka because of its uplifting melody and backing music. In such a heartfelt song, Aishwarya Rai's Bengali persona wearing a red and blue saree was the ideal sight. The simplicity of this clothing, which depicts her life before marriage, makes it a true classic.Aishwarya Rai's large saree collection was designed by Neeta Lulla. To make Paro come to life, more than 600 sarees were bought from several stores in Kolkata. It frequently took up to three hours to drape a large number of sarees in layers for an even more elegant drape. Aishwarya Rai was covered in over 9 metres of fabric instead of the customary 6 metres for a grander impression.
SYDNEY, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 63% of employers in Australia believe that they will lose staff in the first half of 2023 due to higher earning potential in other companies, according to new research.

According to the research by global talent services company, Morgan McKinley for its 2023 Salary Guide , 59% of employees in Australia are looking to move jobs in the first half of the year, with 39% citing 'higher salary' as their main reason, followed by 'better career growth and development opportunities' (15%).

The survey revealed that 67% of employers offered higher than expected salaries to attract new employees over the past 12 months. Furthermore, 77% of employers in Australia think that salaries in their specific sector will rise again in 2023, with over a third (36%) planning on increasing base salaries across all teams.

Over two thirds (68%) of businesses plan to hire new permanent, contract or temporary workers in the next six months.

Just under half (48%) of Australian employees are expecting their salaries to increase this year, with 33% also expecting some form of bonus payout.

Dominic Bareham, Managing Director of Morgan McKinley Australia, commented: "Whilst many companies will undoubtedly proceed with a level of caution, we expect the hiring market in Australia to remain buoyant thanks to a strong economy. The appetite to hire top talent shows limited signs of weakening in the future, and professionals are showing a propensity to change roles."

"All businesses in every sector are moving towards setting up processes within a legislative environment that is changing, and requires talent to make it happen smoothly. With demand largely outweighing the supply of permanent talent, the hiring of contractors will remain prevalent, particularly for roles across technology, transformation, risk, and projects."

"Generally, salaries increased in 2022 as a result of candidates demanding more and employers responding to secure the talent they need. This was largely driven by the closed borders and large organisations not being able to rely on consultancies to bring in offshore talent, particularly where expertise was required."

Bareham concluded: "Most companies are acutely aware of it being a candidate driven market in which salary packages can easily become inflated, however they have tried to be firm on not hiking salaries and getting out of step with existing bandings. In many markets where a skills shortage remains, candidate attraction and retention will be key, as will a focus of stability and offering benefits outside of high salaries."

The Morgan McKinley 2023 Salary Guide presents up-to-date salary data for a wide range of roles across Australia, providing hiring managers with industry benchmarks when they are working out what to pay employees and giving professionals more visibility over what they can earn.

Research from businesses and professionals was conducted to find out what companies' hiring intentions are for 2023, whether there is an appetite to change jobs, and what the expectations are for movement on salaries.

For the Morgan McKinley Australia 2023 Salary Guide, visit: https://www.morganmckinley.com/au/salary-guide

About Morgan McKinley

Morgan McKinley is a global talent services expert, offering the full spectrum of solutions to meet employers' and jobseekers' needs. With 19 offices in 10 countries and nearly 1000 employees, it provides 3 distinct solutions for customers. Morgan McKinley Recruitment Solutions encompassing deep expertise across 10 professional disciplines offering temporary, contract and permanent recruitment; Morgan McKinley Executive Search for targeted C-Suite talent searches; and Morgan McKinley Talent Solutions including RPO, MSP, Project Recruitment and more.

https://www.morganmckinley.com

Contact: Sharmee Mavadia, smavadia@morganmckinley.co.uk

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/morgan-mckinley-higher-earning-potential-for-professionals-in-australia-due-to-competitive-hiring-market-301746671.html
Hong Kong: Govt optimises tax regime

The Government today welcomed the European Union's (EU) positive feedback on the efforts made by Hong Kong in putting in place a new foreign-sourced income exemption (FSIE) regime.

In response to the EUs inclusion of Hong Kong on its watchlist on tax co-operation in 2021, the Government enacted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Taxation on Specified Foreign-sourced Income) Ordinance 2022 last December to enforce a new FSIE regime for foreign-sourced dividend, interest, intellectual property income and disposal gain in relation to shares or equity interests received in Hong Kong.

The regime, which came into effect on January 1, seeks to address the possible exploitation of Hong Kongs tax arrangement by multinational enterprise entities without substantial economic substance in Hong Kong to bring about double non-taxation of such income, the Government explained.

It was pleased to note that the EU welcomed this development and confirmed that Hong Kongs FSIE regime fully complies with the Guidance on FSIE Regimes originally published in 2019 with regard to dividend, interest and intellectual property income.

Additionally, in light of the EUs recent update to its Guidance on FSIE Regimes, the Government said it will refine the citys FSIE regime regarding foreign-sourced disposal gain in relation to assets other than shares or equity interests.

Last December, the EU promulgated another guidance, explicitly requiring capital gains, as a general class of income covered by an FSIE regime, to be subject to the economic substance requirement.

Jurisdictions with ongoing FSIE reforms, such as Hong Kong, will be kept on the tax watchlist by the EU until necessary legislative amendments are made by the end of 2023 for implementation with effect from January 2024.

The retention of Hong Kong on the watchlist will not result in any adverse impact on the citys enterprises, the Government stressed.

Under the upcoming refined regime, foreign-sourced capital gains in relation to assets received by multinational enterprise entities in Hong Kong will remain exempt from tax provided that the economic substance requirement is complied with.

Individuals, standalone local companies and purely local groups will not be affected.

The Government will conduct a consultation to seek stakeholders comments on the proposed FSIE regime refinements.

It will also request the EU to swiftly remove Hong Kong from the watchlist after making the necessary legislative amendments.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
To open new era of building China-Cambodia community with shared future

10:59, February 15, 2023 By He Yin ( People's Daily

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Sen at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

The two leaders had in-depth exchanges on building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era and international and regional issues of shared interest, charting the course for future China-Cambodia relations.

The two sides agreed to jointly build a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, develop a diamond cooperation framework with six priority areas, so that the impregnable ironclad friendship shared by people in both countries will be passed on for generations.

China and Cambodia are good friends with high-level mutual trust, good partners with all sincerity and a community with a shared future sharing weal and woe.

In April 2019, China and Cambodia took the lead in signing an action plan for building a community with a shared future. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China-Cambodia relations have been gradually radiating with great vitality, and the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future has yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and making contributions to peace and development in the region and the world.

In the face of momentous changes and challenges in the world, the strategic significance of China-Cambodia relations gains further prominence.

Extending mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests is the essence of building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

China reaffirmed resolute support to Cambodian people's choice of development path that suits Cambodia's national conditions, to Cambodia's endeavors to safeguard her independence, sovereignty, security, and development interests, and to steady advancement of important Cambodian national political agenda while expressing firm opposition to any foreign interference in Cambodia's internal affairs.

The Cambodian side reaffirmed her resolute adherence to the One-China Policy, stressing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory as well as China's internal affair, which brooks no interference from any external forces. It reiterated her resolute opposition to interfering in China's internal affairs by manipulating Xinjiang-related issues.

Both sides concurred that while exploring human rights improvement, it is important to proceed from people's needs and real national conditions. Both sides expressed firm opposition to politicizing and instrumentalizing human rights issues, double standards, abusing democratic values to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign countries or provoking division and confrontation on the pretext of safeguarding democracy and human rights, or imposition of one country's will on others.

China and Cambodia agreed to develop a diamond cooperation framework with six priority areas including political cooperation, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security and people-to-people exchanges, which will inject important impetus into building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

The two countries will deepen strategic communication, enhance exchanges on governance and coordinate efforts on practical cooperation in various fields.

They agreed to deepen strategic synergy and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and Rectangular Strategies, accord a greater role to China-Cambodia Working Mechanism for Production Capacity and Investment Cooperation, and explore development of an "Industrial and Technological Corridor" towards the vision of developing Preah Sihanouk Province as a model of the multipurpose Special Economic Zone.

Together, the two countries will explore the establishment of a "Fish and Rice Corridor" centered on north-western Cambodia and the Tonle Sap Lake area, to develop modern ecological agriculture near the lake.

Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in hydropower, photovoltaics, and other clean energy sources, to explore green, stable and reliable energy cooperation solutions.

They agreed to enhance engagements between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) at all levels, strive for closer coordination and cooperation in multilateral security affairs, and continue cooperation in the exchange and sharing of information between law enforcement officials, with highlights on countering transnational crime.

They will also enhance cooperation on tourism, scientific innovation, education and health, and work together to launch cultural heritage protection and restoration projects.

The diamond cooperation framework between the two countries will surely make the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership even more prosperous.

The two countries are committed to building a new type of international relations and promoting global partnerships of equality, openness and cooperation towards a community with a shared future for mankind.

They recognize the common values for all humanity of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom and agree on the adherence to true multilateralism. They oppose all forms of hegemonism, power politics, unilateralism, and exclusive bloc politics which targets specific countries.

Xi stressed that development is not the privilege of a few countries. He said the act of power hegemony to engage in ideological confrontation, politicize and weaponize economic, trade, scientific and technological exchanges, push for "decoupling and breaking the chain," contain and suppress other countries' development, and ask regional nations to take sides, will not be supported by the people.

China stands on the right side of history and will firmly defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests as well as international fairness and justice.

Hun Sen said the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forward by China are of great significance to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. Cambodia actively supports and participates in these initiatives.

No matter how the international situation changes, the two sides will unswervingly deepen their close ironclad friendship and develop win-win practical cooperation for the mutual benefits, with a view to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples and contribute more positive energy to regional peace, stability and development.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
SYDNEY, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Australia ("Cboe Australia") today announced the planned retirement of Cboe Australia CEO Vic Jokovic, effective March 31, 2023. Industry veteran Emma Quinn has been appointed as his successor and will assume the position of President, Cboe Australia, as of March 27, 2023. Mr. Jokovic will remain in an advisory role to help ensure a seamless leadership transition and will also continue in his current board roles with Cboe Australia and other members of the Cboe group.





Mr. Jokovic's distinguished career spans more than 30 years in the Australian equities, derivatives and debt markets. Since joining Cboe Australia (formerly Chi-X Australia) in 2018, he has led the company to achieve a series of key milestones, including overseeing its successful acquisition by Cboe Global Markets ("Cboe") in 2021 and the integration of its technology platforms and corporate functions post-acquisition.

"On behalf of Cboe, I would like to thank Vic for his steadfast leadership over the past five years," said David Howson, President of Cboe Global Markets. "During his tenure, Vic helped Cboe Australia solidify its position as one of the world's most innovative market operators by maintaining its focus on best-in-class technology, product innovation and client service, while guiding the company onward to its next phase of growth. Emma is a proven leader with significant experience in global capital markets, and I am confident she will continue to build on the foundation laid by Vic and take Cboe Australia to even greater heights."

Vic Jokovic said: "It has been a privilege to serve as CEO during Cboe Australia's period of transformation and I would like to thank our exceptionally talented team, whose hard work and dedication helped to build our business into one of the largest exchanges in Asia Pacific. When our planned major technology integration is completed, Cboe Australia will be positioned to realize the benefits of Cboe's global network and resources, and I couldn't be more excited for the future of this company as Emma takes the helm."

Emma Quinn said: "It is an honor to be appointed Cboe Australia's President at such a pivotal time in the company's growth journey. Cboe Australia has firmly established itself as an integral piece of the country's financial ecosystem, bringing innovation and market competition to benefit Australian markets and investors. I look forward to building on Vic's legacy and working closely with the Cboe Australia team to continue executing on the many exciting growth initiatives ahead of us."

Ms. Quinn joins Cboe Australia from AllianceBernstein, where she was Global Co-Head of Equity Trading. Previously, she served as head of Asia-Pacific Trading, head of Asia-Pacific Fixed Income and Australia Equities Trading, and head of Trading for Australia and New Zealand for the firm. Prior to joining AllianceBernstein in 2001, she worked as an equity trader at AMP Henderson Global Investors. Ms. Quinn holds a BBus in finance and business law from the University of Technology, Sydney.

In addition to announcing Ms. Quinn's appointment, Cboe confirmed that Ade Cordell, previously President of Cboe Netherlands, has relocated to Singapore, assuming the role of President, Asia Pacific. Mr. Cordell is overseeing the business operations of Cboe Australia and Cboe Japan and leading Cboe's planned further expansion into the region. Alex Dalley, Co-Head of Sales, European Equities, will replace Mr. Cordell as Head of Cboe Netherlands. Ms. Quinn will report into Mr. Cordell.

Cboe Australia is the country's second largest securities exchange by volume traded, offering trading in Australian-listed securities, in addition to the exclusive trading of Cboe Australia quoted warrants and ETFs. The exchange accounts for more than 20 percent of total equity trading volume and 50 percent of ETF trading volume, as well as 35 percent of the Australian Warrant market.

About Cboe Australia

Cboe Australia is a regulated stock exchange committed to transforming, improving and growing Australia's securities and derivatives markets. Cboe Australia has experienced strong and sustained growth and has achieved significant milestones including gaining over 20% market share, a daily record of $3.8 billion traded value in equity trading and up to 50% of the Australian ETF market (trading and reporting). The Cboe Australia investment products platform offers a range of unique products exclusively traded on Cboe Australia, including Funds (ETFs & Quoted Managed Funds), and Cboe Warrants. For more information visit: www.cboe.com.au.

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.

Cboe Australia

Media Contact

Cboe Europe

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Cboe

Analyst Contact Harrison Worley, Honner +61 490 262 212 harrison@honner.com.au

Tim Cave +44 (0) 7593-506-719 tcave@cboe.com

Kenneth Hill, CFA +1-312-786-7559 khill@cboe.com

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Building on its seminal vehicle life cycle assessment study for the European Commission, Ricardo is now working with consortium partners on the definitive European standard for life cycle assessment for zero emission vehicles and batteries

Ricardo, a global strategic environmental and engineering consulting company, has commenced a European Union-funded project to develop a baseline for a European-wide commonly accepted and applied single life cycle assessment (LCA) approach for zero emission vehicles (ZEV) and batteries based on evidence and real-world data. This initiative is a Coordination and Support Action supported under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and has also received funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005551/en/

Electric car and truck charging (Photo: Business Wire)

Currently, there is no agreed European or international standard on vehicle life cycle assessment, although there are a number of standards in draft or being developed for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Defining a single, harmonised life cycle assessment approach for vehicles and batteries is key to providing transparency and comparability of impacts from these products. This will help to achieve Green Deal targets, making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy. Harmonised standards will facilitate industry, mobility providers and planners to develop sustainable road transport products that are optimised to combat climate change. Ricardo is on the core team of the collaborative TranSensus LCA consortium jointly coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF and the Fraunhofer-Institution of Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST- which comprises 44 stakeholders from industry and research along the full value chain of zero emission vehicles and batteries including: research institutions, vehicle and battery manufacturers, the supply industry, energy providers and recyclers.

Nikolas Hill, Head of Vehicle Technologies and Fuels in Ricardo's Sustainable Transport team said: "The major report on life cycle impacts of road vehicles that Ricardo undertook for the European Commission in 2020 highlighted the importance of life cycle assessment in sustainable product and business development, but also the challenges for its application. In particular, efforts fully to use and realise the benefits from life cycle assessment approaches by the transport sector are being hampered because there is not an official European standard for vehicle LCA. This is largely because of a lack of a consistent, fair framework or harmonised methodology, plus limitations in accessing and managing real-world data and applying consistent modelling. Through our work with our industry and research partners on this project, Ricardo policy, strategy and technology experts will help to deliver a standard, trustworthy and consistent assessment of full vehicular environmental footprints, to support organisations across the transport value chain progress their objective of achieving climate neutrality."

Ricardo's 2020 report for the European Commission, DG Climate Action: Determining the environmental impacts of conventionally and alternatively fuelled vehicles through LCA was the broadest and most comprehensive study of its kind to date. The report assessed the life cycle impacts of 65 different European light- and heavy-duty vehicle types and powertrain combinations. It considered the production of 60 fuel chains for conventional and alternative fuels as well as 14 different forms of electricity generation, the impacts of vehicle (and battery) manufacturing, and vehicle use and maintenance including different 'end of life' scenarios. The report also highlighted the positive impact of existing European Union policy in directly supporting the move to a more circular economy and the initiatives aimed at developing a sustainable value chain for hybrid and fully electric vehicles and their batteries in driving down industrial emissions and improving resource efficiency.

Ends

Notes to editors:

TranSensus LCA is funded by the European Union under the Grant Agreement #101056715. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

About Ricardo

Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading-edge and innovative cross-sector sustainable products and solutions. Every day, we enable our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world. Visit www.ricardo.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005551/en/

Contacts:

Kathryn Bellamy

Group Senior Communications Manager

Ricardo plc

Email: kathryn.bellamy@ricardo.com

Telephone: +44(0)7921 941824


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) reported that its net profit after income tax for the half year ended 31 December 2022 declined to A$5.15 billion from last year's A$5.87 billion, with earnings per share decreasing to 294.8 cents from 323.6 cents in the prior year.



But net profit after income tax from continuing operations for the period rose to A$5.22 billion from A$4.74 billion in the prior year.



On a cash basis, net profit after tax from continuing operations was A$5.15 billion up 9% from the prior year, reflecting strong operational performance, a rising rate environment and higher loan loss provisioning.



On a cash basis, Operating income was A$13.59 billion, up 12% from the previous year, driven by volume growth in core products, a recovery in net interest margin, partly offset by a decrease in other operating income.



Net interest income for the period was A$11.64 billion up from A$9.75 billion in the previous year.



The bank expects business credit growth to moderate and global economic growth to slow during 2023. However, it remains optimistic that a soft landing for the Australian economy can be achieved and positive on the medium term outlook for Australia.



An interim dividend of A$2.10 per share was determined, an increase of 35 cents on the prior comparative period. The record date is 23 February 2023, the interim DRP participation date is 24 February 2023 and the interim dividend will be paid on or around 30 March 2023.



For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com



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92.8% of Israeli Consumers Will Promote a Brand if the Brand's Mobile App Protects Their Data and Use from On-Device Threats

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Appdome , the mobile app economy's one and only Cyber Defense Automation platform, today announced the results of a new survey that reveals the views of Israeli consumers on mobile app use and mobile app security, and compares the Israeli expectations to the findings from more than 25,000 consumers globally. The report, Israeli Consumer Expectations of Mobile App Security, is designed to help mobile developers, cyber security professionals and brands adapt their mobile app security and anti-fraud strategies to meet the expectations of Israeli consumers for protection in the mobile channel.





Israeli consumers are a mobile app dominant consumer group. Israelis use far more apps on a daily basis than global consumers. For example, approximately 45% more Israelis use greater than 10 mobiles apps a day. Also, 94% of Israeli consumers reporting they are comfortable making purchases for their friends, family and themselves using mobile apps.

ForIsraelis, security is equal to, or more important, than new features.

Most Israeli consumers ranked features and security equally (58.8%). And a large portion (20%) said that security was more important than features. Comparatively, 7.6% said that features were more than security. When asked what level of protection is needed in mobile apps, 20.2% of Israeli consumers demand the highest level of protection against on-device security, hacking, fraud and malware threats, compared to 3.2% who require no protection.

For Israelis the rewards are greater than the risks for meeting the consumer's cyber demands.

Israeli consumers made it clear that they will reward and promote brands who protect their mobile app data and use, more than they will punish brands that they perceive as not protecting the mobile apps.

92.8% would promote a brand if the mobile app protected their data and use, which essentially matches the global finding of 93.8%.

would promote a brand if the mobile app protected their data and use, which essentially matches the global finding of 93.8%. 56.6% would abandon a brand if they perceived that the mobile app did not protect against on-device threats, compared to 67.9% globally.

would abandon a brand if they perceived that the mobile app did not protect against on-device threats, compared to 67.9% globally. 68.6% would abandon a brand if they experienced an unprotected hack or attack from an on-device threat, compared to 73.2% globally.

"The Israeli consumer has made it clear that the highest level of protection is expected in every app they use," said Tom Tovar, CEO and co-creator of Appdome. "With this survey, mobile brands serving the Israeli market have the data needed to make the right choice and protect their mobile apps and users as their consumers expect, today and tomorrow."

The survey included respondents from across the demographic spectrum, including Android & iOS users, different generations, genders, and economic backgrounds. For the full report, visit https://www.appdome.com/global-consumer-mobile-app-security-survey/.

About Appdome

Appdome's mission is to protect every mobile app in the world and the people who use mobile apps in their lives and at work. Appdome provides the mobile industry a patented data-driven Cyber Defense Automation platform, powered by patented arti?cial-intelligence based, coding technology, Threat-Events mobile threat intelligence and ThreatScope mobile security operations center, to deliver 300+ Certified Secure mobile app security, anti-malware, anti-fraud, anti-cheat, MiTM attacks prevention, code obfuscation and other protections in Android & iOS apps, right inside mobile DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. Leading ?nancial, healthcare, government, and m-commerce brands use Appdome to protect Android & iOS apps, mobile customers, and mobile businesses globally. Appdome holds several patents including U.S. Patents 9,934,017 B2, 10,310,870 B2, 10,606,582 B2, 11,243,748 B2, and 11,294,663 B2. Additional patents pending. Learn more at www.appdome.com .

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TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Syqe Medical, the developer of innovative technologies in the world of medical devices, is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defence to supply the SyqeAir Inhaler and Cartridges to all veterans prescribed medical cannabis by inhalation through the company's ground-breaking platform. This first-of-its-kind agreement allows veterans treated with medical cannabis using the SyqeAir Inhaler and Cartridges to obtain them directly in the same way they access pharmaceutical drugs, thus, positioning SyqeAir's precise, uniform, and consistent treatment as the standard of care in the field of medical cannabis.

The SyqeAir Inhaler is a revolutionary device that allows patients to effectively and accurately manage their medical cannabis treatment, ensuring optimal therapeutic benefit. It is composed of a unique, patented, metered-dose system that precisely controls the amount of cannabis delivered to the patient with each inhalation. This allows for precise dosing and a high level of patient control over their treatment. The SyqeAir Inhaler is CE (European standard) and MDL (Health Canada) approved and clinically validated by 3 clinical trials and real-world evidence publications, demonstrating its safety and efficacy.

The inhaler is designed for easy home use as well as a hospital setting. The pre-loaded cartridge contains 60 uniform doses of pharmaceutical-grade, standardized raw cannabis flowers grown by the Dutch company Bedrocan. From the moment the cartridge is inserted into the inhaler, the inhaler is ready for immediate use without any prior preparations or the need to handle the cannabis directly so that patients can take their treatment discreetly and as part of their daily routine like any other medication.

Hagit Kamin, CEO of SyqeAir, said: "We are proud of the strategic partnership with the Ministry of Defence and the opportunity to bring our breakthrough technology, the SyqeAir Inhaler, to veterans in need of medical cannabis treatment. It is our privilege to help veterans who mainly suffer from chronic pain and PTSD to establish a functioning daily routine for themselves, and we are honored for the opportunity to make a positive impact on their lives.

Jacob Vogel, Director of Global Sales and Business Development, added: "It's been a long journey to get to this point, but it's truly rewarding to see the impact that the SyqeAir Inhaler has on the lives of our patients. The fact that we are able to provide veterans with a treatment option that has a real, positive impact on their daily functionality makes all the hard work worth it. We hope this partnership will serve as a model for other countries to follow in providing veterans with the best possible medical care."

About Syqe Medical

Syqe Medical is a pioneering MedTech company founded with the mission to relieve the suffering of as many patients as possible, in the fastest possible way, through advanced technologies. Syqe disrupted the pharmaceutical industry with their revolutionary technologies capable of delivering uniform doses of molecules by inhalation. The company's flagship product, the SyqeAir Inhaler, is the world's only platform that enables physicians and patients to control medical cannabis treatment with metered, precise, and consistent doses, ensuring optimal therapeutic benefit.

Contact

Phone. +972-3-376-7338

Email. info@syqemed.com

Website. www.syqe.com

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Angelic Lift, a specialist wellness-focused medical practice located in Port Orange in Florida, is now accepting PPO insurance patients

Port Orange, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - The doctors at Angelic Lift are pleased to inform the Port Orange community that PPO-insured individuals can now take advantage of their full suite of restorative, regenerative, and preventative wellness treatments, including their hormone pellet therapy. Angelic Lift is the leading clinic for bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and pellet therapy in the region, and they are now ready to welcome PPO-insured patients who are seeking these innovative therapies.

More information is available at https://angelicliftwellness.com/pellet-therapy





Angelic Lift Announces Hormone Pellet Therapy For Patients With PPO Insurance



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The recently added PPO insurance coverage for Angelic Lift's bio-identical hormone replacement therapies reflects the growing interest in these treatments in the medical community in the United States. Following on from recent FDA approval, trusted medical institutions now suggest that these therapies can actively assist aging women and men, particularly women in perimenopause or menopause, to mitigate and manage the symptoms of low estrogen and low testosterone.

Although it is natural for hormone levels, especially estrogen and testosterone, to fall as a person ages, this loss can lead to harsh symptoms that can ruin an individual's quality of life. As such, Angelic Lift wants to make its innovative new pellet therapy available to more people in the Port Orange community.

Now that the medical practice is accepting PPO-insured patients, these individuals can book a series of ongoing appointments. At their hormone pellet therapy sessions, Angelic Lift patients will have a small localized procedure completed, where a bio-identical and completely organic estrogen or testosterone pellet will be inserted into the body.

As Angelic Lift is constantly refining and improving its bio-technology, they now suggest that patients will experience between three and six months of steady hormonal balance following the insertion of one of their pellets.

The specialist wellness-focused medical practice recommends interested readers contact them to see whether this form of therapy may be suitable and whether their insurance plan will cover their treatment.

Dr. Olusegun of Angelic Lift says, "A naturally based therapy derived from plants, pellet therapy is one of the most effective methods of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy there is. It mimics the naturally made hormones of your body; and unlike other therapies, it keeps hormones releasing at a steady level with minimal side effects."

More details can be found at https://angelicliftwellness.com/pellet-therapy

Contact Info:

Name: Tinuade Olusegun

Email: info@angelicliftwellness.com

Phone: 386-855-8633

Organization: Verdure Exclusive PA dba Angelic Lift

Address: 4645 Clyde Morris Blvd Ste 404, Port Orange, FL 32129, United States

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LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The growth of the European solar power market in 2022 has exceeded all expectations. The cumulative installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Europe reached 244.3GW at the end of 2022, which is an almost 23 per cent increase compared to 198.8GW at the end of 2021, according to the recently published study Europe Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook 2023  2032. Germany was the largest market in 2022, adding 7.9 GW of new capacity, followed by Spain (7.5 GW), Poland (4.9 GW), Netherlands (4 GW), and France (2.7 GW). In the EU-27 member states, the solar PV market scored an impressive increase in annual installed capacity by 47 per cent in 2022, from 28.1 GW in 2021 to 41.4 GW in 2022.

Amarenco, Axpo, BayWa r.e., EDPR, Enel Green Power, ENGIE, Hanhwa Q-Cells, Huawei, Iberdrola, First Solar, Jinko, Lightsource bp, LONGi Solar, RWE, SMA and Total Eren, are among the key players in the market. EU energy ministers agreed at the end of November 2022 on the content of a Council Regulation for a temporary framework to accelerate the permit-granting process and the deployment of renewable energy projects. Reduction of permitting burden shall contribute to solar energy growth, which is essential for the European Union (EU) to achieve energy independence and to meet its REPowerEU targets.

More firms turn their attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG), according to the regular annual study conducted between November 2022 and January 2023 by the Renewable Market Watch of 217 key decision-makers of European investment companies active in the solar energy sector. Some 61 % per cent of the interviewed managers plan to prioritise the integration of ESG considerations in their solar photovoltaic projects planned for realisation between 2023 and 2027.

In an increasing number of countries, the cost competitiveness of solar and the reduction of feed-in tariffs, grants and other forms of direct subsidies is triggering new business models. The corporate renewable PPA boom has driven hundreds of megawatts (MWs) of new solar power capacity additions in European countries like Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and others. Also, many countries have started tender (auction) schemes to control costs and solar power installed capacity. These tenders have played a key role in reducing solar power prices and proved their effectiveness in solar PV sector development. Several EU member states have already committed to 100% renewable power or zero-carbon targets, while the EU is pursuing a zero-emissions target by 2050.

Get an Exclusive Sample ?f This Report@: Europe Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook: 2023  2032 - Sample

This unique, thorough, detailed market report offers an incisive and reliable overview of Europe's solar photovoltaic (PV) sector for 2023  2032. The number of fully permitted and ready-to-build projects has promptly increased. In many countries, a rooftop market segment is not developed and is forecasted to score significant growth shortly. The report provides a complete picture of the market situation, dynamics, risks, current issues and prospects. With more than 230 pages of valuable information, this in-depth analysis will give you an overview of how the different government measures and finance for post-COVID-19 recovery and the efforts for fast reduction of the Russian energy import in Europe will impact this market.

Market Trends, Drivers, Constraints, and Opportunities:

Europe's utility-scale solar PV sector will emerge between 2023 and 2032 due to the reasonable turn-key cost of solar technology, corporate PPA schemes and tender (auction) support schemes announced in many European countries.

utility-scale solar PV sector will emerge between 2023 and 2032 due to the reasonable turn-key cost of solar technology, corporate PPA schemes and tender (auction) support schemes announced in many European countries. More European countries have made long-term plans to expand their solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity by 2030 with significant numbers, which will continue the continent's leading position in the global solar energy market.

Over 82 per cent of the rooftops in Europe are unused. These rooftops present an incredible opportunity for solar power generation equal to around 25 per cent of the EU's electricity demand.

are unused. These rooftops present an incredible opportunity for solar power generation equal to around 25 per cent of the EU's electricity demand. On 1 February 2023 , the European Commission presented its proposal for a Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age. The plan will be part of the European Green Deal and will support easier permitting process for renewable energy projects, faster access to financing and enhancing skills and supply chain optimisation.

, the European Commission presented its proposal for a Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age. The plan will be part of the European Green Deal and will support easier permitting process for renewable energy projects, faster access to financing and enhancing skills and supply chain optimisation. Renewable Market Watch estimates that an increase of 10 per cent in the number of households with an electric vehicle (EV) will lead to an increase between 9 per cent (in low case scenario) and 17 per cent (in high case scenario) in installed residential net metering and self-consumption solar PV capacity by 2032.

Grid connection restrictions due to congestion and especially market integration challenges may sometimes hamper the future of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects deployment.

Buy the complete report @: https://renewablemarketwatch.com/country-reports/europe/wide/europe-solar-photovoltaic-pv-power-market-outlook-2023-2032-single-user-detail

In terms of applications, the market can be divided into residential, commercial, industrial and utility. Industry analysts of Renewable Market Watch used a complex array of research sources to understand better the role of residential, commercial and utility solar PV systems and their application in all European countries under different local regulations and support schemes. For this reason, a unique approach was applied in the analytical and forecasting process to achieve and present a better explanation of fundamental drivers and future dynamics behind the solar PV market growth in Europe.

Similar Reports We Have:

Europe Corporate Renewable PPA Market Report 20232032

Europe Net Metering and Self-Consumption Solar PV Market Outlook 2023  2032

Central East and South East Europe Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook 20232032

Western Balkans Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook 20232032

Romania Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Market Outlook 20232032

About Renewable Market Watch

Renewable Market Watch is delivering strategic insight into emerging renewable energy markets through its experienced research team and cutting-edge predictive analytics data platform. We partner with our customers to provide research, data and consulting reports in areas appropriate to their specific requirements. Our primary focus is emerging renewable energy markets in Asia Countries, Balkan countries, Central and Eastern Europe, CIS states (the former Soviet Union), LATAM countries, and MENA countries.

Contact us:

Michael Dim

Business Development Manager

Renewable Market Watch

4, Lowndes Street

London, SW1X 9ET

United Kingdom

Tel: ++ 44 (0) 203 807 00 79

E-mail: sales@renewablemarketwatch.com

Web: www.renewablemarketwatch.com

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EXFO's Context topology proves an asset to MTN operators to

streamline network management and improve inventory data quality

QUEBEC, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EXFO, the communications industry's test, monitoring and analytics experts, today announced that MTN Group has successfully deployed EXFO's Context dynamic topology solution in 14 African countries as part of MTN's digital transformation initiative, targeting improved network inventory, security, and performance functions. MTN is Africa's largest mobile network operator, providing voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale, and API services to more than 270 million customers in 19 markets.





MTN operators across Africa, including early adopters MTN Uganda and South Africa, report simplified network management and improved visibility of telecom assets using EXFO's solution, helping them deliver top-quality services to their customers. With EXFO Context, MTN's network management is streamlined, improving inventory data quality and making planning and assurance processes more robust.

Digital transformation of the network is a top priority for MTN and rolling out EXFO's solution will accelerate innovation and support the adoption of new technologies. EXFO Context has enabled MTN operators to gain visibility of their end-to-end networks across all vendors and technology layers, providing a single, accurate, and up-to-date view.

This is particularly important at a time when delivering reliable service performance is made more difficult by the increased complexity of the network and related service assurance processes. The introduction of new technologies such as 5G, network virtualization, and programmable networking contribute to greater complexity, increasing the need for better end-to-end visibility.

Leveraging EXFO's automated updates, change audit, and service impact analysis capabilities, MTN operators can quickly grasp the state of their network, assess the impact of faults or planned maintenance activity, and understand whether detected changes have received the necessary approval from a change management process perspective.

EXFO Context uses native graph database technology and a semantic modelling framework to deliver the end-to-end dynamic view of networks, services, and customer dependencies enabling key automation use cases. Automation relieves pressure on network managers, providing them with the right information at the right time to make informed decisions.

Quotes:

"As demands on network infrastructure continue to grow, service assurance has become increasingly important to streamline and automate the processes that support the network. Of critical importance is the ability to map network topology, providing visibility to all the elements within the network and ensuring integrity of data to enable ongoing digital transformation. EXFO is delighted that Context has delivered these capabilities to 14 MTN operating companies including early adopters Uganda and South Africa, and we look forward to seeing operators across the MTN Group enable more automated operational processes with our service assurance solution," said Wim te Niet, Vice President EMEA, EXFO.

"MTN Group is committed to our digital transformation journey to improve the flexibility and variety of services we're able to efficiently deliver to our customers. That can only be possible by equipping our networks and teams with the best possible solutions. EXFO Context has proven to be an impactful contributor to better manage our networks by tracking our active network assets and ensuring that defined change management processes are adhered to," said Amith Maharaj, MTN Group CTO.

"The transformation journey of deploying the EXFO Context platform across our markets was enormous and exciting at the same time. I appreciate what EXFO and MTN have managed to accomplish as partners, to address the complexity in the network domain and create a single pane end-to-end view, that has significantly improved our operations," said Lloyd Mphahlele, MTN Group GM: Transport and OSS Tools.

"At MTN Uganda, a larger portion of our planning and operation team is currently using the EXFO platform, with the ability to rapidly check the status of the network elements 24/7. The benefit of this extends far beyond our network administrators, having created another layer of transparency for our finance and resourcing teams that rely on network data to guide their budgeting decisions. If an asset running on the network fails, is removed, or altered, we are able to see these changes within minutes - which is a key capability for increased network visibility and performance and to detect any unauthorized changes that might have impact on our revenue or the company," said Ali Monzer, CTIO, MTN Uganda.

For more information, visit this page .

Meet EXFO experts at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, SpainFeb. 27 - March 2.

About EXFO

EXFO develops smarter test, monitoring and analytics solutions for the global communications industry. We are trusted advisers to fixed and mobile network operators, hyper-scalers and leaders in the manufacturing, development and research sector. They count on us to deliver superior visibility and insights into network performance, service reliability and user experience. Building on over 35 years of innovation, EXFO's unique blend of equipment, software and services enable faster, more confident transformations related to 5G, cloud-native and fiber optic networks.

EXFO-C

Contact: Priscillia Chun, CCgroup PR, +44 734 2034 262, EXFO@ccgrouppr.com

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LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smile Identity, Africa's leading KYC onboarding and identity verification platform, announces the successful completion of its Series B funding round, raising $20 million. Led by Costanoa and Norrsken22 , with participation from Commerce Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Two Culture Capital, Valuestream Ventures, Intercept Ventures, Latitude, Future Africa, and 500 Fintech. Lexi Novitske from Norrsken22 will also join Smile Identity's Board as part of the Series B. This brings Smile Identity's total funding to $31 million, including $7 million raised in their Series A funding round in 2021.

Smile Identity will use the funding from its Series B round to expand its product and engineering team, accelerating the development and specialisation of its AI-powered biometrics, document verification, anti-fraud and compliance solutions tailored for African markets. The company is growing its existing teams in East, West, and Southern Africa and completing its Pan-African reach with plans to enter Francophone and Arab-speaking markets through localised sales and support. In addition, the company will continue working closely with regulators and ID authorities to build consumer consent standards into software, enforce African data protection laws, and share data on fraud and financial inclusion trends.

"We believe the majority of people are honest," said Mark Straub , CEO and co-founder of Smile Identity, "the challenge in the digital age is to prove this, regardless of how a user onboards - whether via agents, apps, tablets, the web, blockchains or paper forms."

"We are thrilled to have the support of our partners and investors as we solve this problem across IDs, devices and compliance regimes to ensure Africans are among the most trusted consumers in the world."

Since their Series A funding round, Smile Identity has completed 50M KYC checks for hundreds of partners across the African continent, helping them to scale their businesses by mitigating fraud and onboarding new customers seamlessly. The company offers global coverage with its Document Verification product and has added a Business Verification or "Know-Your-Business" (KYB) solution to its offerings. In addition, Smile Identity has expanded into South Africa and Uganda and opened offices in London and Cape Town, demonstrating its commitment to connecting Africans to global opportunities.

"Smile Identity is leading the way in Africa's digital transformation, providing secure and verifiable identities for millions. Under the leadership of CEO Mark Straub, a top-notch team, and an on-the-ground presence across the continent, Smile is positioned to capture a significant share of Africa's growing $1.5 billion identity and KYC market opportunity. By empowering the continent with a foundation for safe transactions, Smile is driving financial service adoption and shaping the digital economy's future. - Lexi Novitske".

The digital economy is rapidly expanding in Africa, with nearly 600 million internet users already and a target from the African Union of universal digital access by 2030. This presents a tremendous opportunity for the growth of Internet-powered digital and financial services but brings the challenge of preventing bad actors from infiltrating systems and putting user data and money at risk. To meet these challenges, businesses and organisations must onboard customers quickly and securely while maintaining compliance across complex and changing regulatory requirements.

Smile Identity is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions for verifying identity in the digital age. By leveraging proprietary Machine Learning algorithms specifically designed for African devices, faces and data sources, Smile Identity helps businesses and organisations mitigate fraud and ensure compliance with KYC requirements. With its technology already adopted by leading companies across banking, fintech, education, agriculture, and e-commerce, Smile Identity is playing a crucial role in helping these organisations verify their customers' true identities with confidence.

About Smile Identity

Smile Identity is Africa's leading identity verification, and digital Know Your Customer (KYC) provider. We help companies scale rapidly across Africa by providing digital onboarding and KYC compliance solutions that make it easy to verify the true legal identity of their customers. Our technology is powered by proprietary Machine Learning algorithms designed specifically for African devices, faces and data sources.

We have developed solutions for identity verification, digital KYC, user onboarding, biometric authentication, deduplication and anti-fraud checks. Backed by top investors across the world, Smile Identity is enabling the growth of tech ecosystems across the African continent while providing infrastructure to build trust online.

If you're interested in learning more about Smile ID, please visit our website at www.smileidentity.com . You can also follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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HONG KONG, Feb 15, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Legend Capital invested in 29 healthcare companies that officially disclosed financing rounds in 2022, according to the VBDATA Database. Since 2007, Legend Capital has continuously invested in healthcare across industry sub-sectors including innovative drugs, biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostic technology, professional services and supply chain. Overtime, it has built a powerful healthcare ecosystem encompassing more than 140 portfolio companies. Through value-added initiatives including strategic management and business empowerment activities, Legend Capital has the capability to bring far more value to the table in addition to financial resources.Breakthrough and global innovations are the key benchmarks by which Legend Capital judges and selects projects in a changing external environment. How did Legend Capital navigate the challenges of 2022 and how does it see the market for 2023? What are the key themes to focus on? In this conversation, Jafar Wang, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Legend Capital, shared his perspectives with VCBeat."Five significant changes in primary market investments."Legend Capital observed several important evolvements in the healthcare investment market during 2022:First, the pace of investment slowed down, with considerable decrease in deal count, deal size, as well as the speed of decision-making process. Unlike other industries, healthcare companies enjoy a unique growth pattern and value creation. Activity level of the healthcare investment market has returned to normalcy after an overheated period of 2020-2021, which now appears on the same level as 2019.Second, there has been significant changes in selection criteria. Institutional investors need to evaluate whether a project has demonstrated breakthrough innovation, whether it is among the top three in its field, and whether it has the potential to compete on the global stage for first-in-class or best-in-class status. As a result, investors look to sector leaders for investment opportunities.Third, there is growing emphasis on exit and exit management.Fourth, emerging markets are receiving more attention as players turn their overseas expansion focus from developed markets to emerging economies. On the one hand, investors have increased their allocation to emerging markets, such as Legend Capital's expansion into Southeast Asia. Similarly, more companies are aggressively expanding abroad in the hope that their products and services will reach the wider emerging markets. For Chinese healthcare companies, these markets will continue to be a key destination in the next five to ten years.Lastly, there is general awareness in the industry that the window for biotech companies to transition into biopharma has closed for the moment. Biotech companies should continue to focus on their core competencies in technology innovation and product development, while actively pursue collaborations in manufacturing, supply chain, and downstream commercialization with top-tier industry players"An investment strategy focused on innovation and early-stage opportunities."Regardless of changes in external environment, Legend Capital continues to uphold the importance of being an investor in value, innovation, in early stage firms, in core technologies, and taking a long-term view. Our standard and selection criteria for deals remain consistently high.In 2022, Legend Capital set up the Frontier Biotechnology Fund to invest in innovative seed and start-up stage biotechnology and MedTech companies. Although such investments carry higher risks, they could potentially create game-changing results for the industry. This fund will mainly focus on the commercialization of ideas and products from academia, overseas returnees, and well-known spin-off teams or founders. Legend Capital values cutting-edge, innovative, and disruptive technologies, and we are willing to make bigger bets and dedicate more resources towards these seed and angel stage projects.Legend Capital is also devoted to investing in the independence and security of the healthcare supply chain. Two years ago, we put forward the view that supply chain independence and security, as well as import substitution, are among the best investment opportunities with strong demand over the next five years. We are not only focused on the China market, but with an eye to the international potential of investee companies. The idea of supply chain investment is to help resolve bottlenecks faced by the industry while also serving the global market.In terms of Legend Capital's healthcare ecosystem, we are continuously expanding this ecosystem and improving synergies within. In the past, our value-added services were geared towards management guidance, but two years ago, we increased efforts to empower our portfolio companies with industry perspectives. To date, Legend Capital has invested in more than 140 healthcare companies, and established a complete, one-stop value-added service system across research, production, supply chain, and commercialization function. Our presence in sub-sectors from life science tools to preclinical research, clinical CRO, manufacturing and commercialization, allow Legend Capital to bring synergy to portfolio companies. As this value-add ecosystem evolve and portfolio companies reap the benefits, oftentimes prospective investees become more receptive to our investment; they see Legend Capital as an investor with abundant industry resources, rather than a pure financial investor.Additionally, Legend Capital cooperates closely with industry-leading firms to bring additional resources to our healthcare ecosystem, which helps portfolio companies in their business development. Through product licensing and strategic collaborations, we have strengthened the connection among the ecosystem, portfolio companies, and industry peers. Working with healthcare companies in the industry not only aids the development of our portfolio companies, but also present potential new opportunities for Legend Capital. For instance, we have been able to generate new investments with our industry partners through efforts such as co-investments, incubation, and spin-offs. This may very well become a common investment practice in the future.Throughout 2022, Legend Capital had five healthcare-related IPOs, including Recbio Technology, R&G Pharmastudies, MicuRx Pharmaceutical, Sipai Health Technology, and Lunit; in addition, nearly 10 portfolio companies were exited through M&A. A RMB 300+ million GP-led secondary transaction was completed during the year after concluding a $270 million one in 2021. We will continue to utilize secondary tools in the future to generate large-scale exits for existing LPs, which also create opportunities to partner with new LPs while supporting our portfolio companies on their journeys, to ultimately achieve a win-win for all parties.Opportunities are bred from innovation.Legend Capital maintains a diversified portfolio of companies in innovative drugs and biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostic technology, professional service and supply chain, and will continue to actively invest going forward. In 2023, Legend Capital's healthcare investment will focus on three main directions.For biotech, Legend Capital will concentrate more on small nucleic acid medicines, and CGT-related verticals such as gene editing and induced pluripotent stem cells. In MedTech, more focus will be placed on life science tools, import substitution, and consumer healthcare. In professional services and supply chain, with the evolvement of CGT and small nucleic acid pharmaceuticals, CRO and CDMO may present new investment prospects. In addition to investing in pharmaceutical CRO and CDMO, Legend Capital saw success in 2022 with investments in medical device and diagnostic CRO and CDMO so we will continue to invest in these fields.Leveraging the vast portfolio ecosystem, Legend Capital will continue to make significant investments in supply chain independence, including upstream consumables, machinery, and life science tools. In order to achieve the best outcomes, Legend Capital will collaborate with its leading portfolio companies in the future on co-investments and help them with potential M&A opportunities.In summary, Legend Capital believes that the best investment opportunities arise from breakthrough innovation. For instance, our portfolio company Harbour BioMed recently announced that the U.S. FDA has cleared the IND application to commence clinical trials of its globally first-in-class fully human monoclonal antibody HBM1020 targeting B7H7 (also known as HHLA2) in the U.S. HBM1020 is also the globally first-ever monoclonal antibody targeting B7H7 cleared by the regulatory agency for clinical trials. HBM1020 may present a novel anti-tumor therapeutic complementary to PD-(L)1 therapeutics to patients, especially for PD-L1 negative/refractory patients. Regardless of the outcome, we believe a company will stand a better chance to break out from intense competition when it has the courage and boldness to be the innovator.About Legend CapitalFounded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading VC&PE investor focusing on the early-stage and growth-stage opportunities in China, with offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Seoul, Korea.It currently manages USD and RMB funds of over US$10 billion in commitments, and has invested in around 600 companies, covering technology, healthcare, consumer, enterprise service and intelligent manufacturing sectors. Rooted in China, Legend Capital participated in the rise of many world-leading companies by solid investment coverage and systematic post-investment value-add. Over the years, Legend Capital has also become a widely recognized name in bridging key resources in China and overseas through cross-border activities, and a valuable partner to Chinese and overseas investors.Legend Capital values long-term sustainable investment and incorporates ESG into its long-term development strategy. As a UNPRI signatory since November 2019, Legend Capital is among the first group of top VC/PE firms in China to join the initiative.For more information, please visit www.legendcapital.com.cn/index_en.aspx and follow us on LinkedIn @Legend Capital (https://www.linkedin.com/company/legend-capital).Source: Legend CapitalCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobi Strategies (Jacobi) has been selected to enhance the analytics and digital tools provided to Legal & General Investment Management's (LGIM) delegated solutions clients.





Jacobi will deliver on-demand and highly-detailed analytics on portfolios enabling LGIM to integrate their own models, data and intellectual property in a private deployment of the Jacobi software. Jacobi's technology will complement a mix of LGIM's in-house systems.

Tony Mackenzie, Chief Executive Officer at Jacobi, says:

"We are excited to be partnering with LGIM - the UK's largest asset manager with a rich heritage in investment management.

LGIM has ambitious digitalisation plans that put their clients at the forefront of the strategy. We're glad to be working with a clear market leader. LGIM has significant experience in developing their own technologies and abundant investment intellectual property - Jacobi will complement that.

We continue to see strong demand for our technology owing to the increased need for investment firms to scale and connect investment processes and enhance the quality of engagement with clients. Jacobi has a global footprint and a strong pipeline - with more new business wins to announce later in the year."

Tim Dougall, Head of Delegated Solutions at LGIM, says:

"We are delighted to be working with Jacobi to enhance our capabilities and create greater value for our clients. Jacobi's innovative technology platform allows us to better-leverage our proprietary analytics tools, improving real-time risk monitoring, and offering sophisticated reporting capabilities across complex client portfolios covering both public and private assets."

About Jacobi

Jacobi is a global investment technology provider that streamlines multi-asset investment processes and enables portfolio design, analysis and client engagement. Its unique 'open architecture' platform allows firms to tailor the platform by integrating their own code, models, data, analytics and applications. Founded in 2014 Jacobi provides its technology to top-tier investment organisations including some of the world's leading asset and wealth managers, pension funds, asset owners and investment consultants.

About LGIM

Legal & General Investment Management is one of Europe's largest asset managers and a major global investor, with assets under management of US$1.6 trillion. LGIM works with a wide range of global clients, including pension schemes, sovereign wealth funds, fund distributors and retail investors. Over the past 40 years, LGIM has built its business through understanding what matters most to clients and transforming this insight into valuable, accessible investment products and solutions.

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Individuals suffering from treatment-resistant depression can access a new clinical option launched in Burlingame by Soft Reboot Wellness (+1 650-419-3330), which uses ketamine infusions to reduce symptoms and manage conditions when traditional medicines are ineffective

Menlo Park, California--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Soft Reboot Wellness has launched a new treatment option for patients suffering from depression. The clinic, based in Menlo Park, now offers IV ketamine infusions that have been proven effective for many individuals who may be resistant to traditional medications.

More information about the Soft Reboot Wellness clinic, and IV ketamine infusions, can be found at https://www.softrebootwellness.com/how-does-ketamine-help-where-antidepressants-dont.

Burlingame IV Ketamine Infusions For Depression Launched By Soft Reboot Wellness

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/154226_1047be9f546f5929_001full.jpg

All ketamine treatments that have been recently introduced at the Soft Reboot Wellness clinic are administered and monitored by clinic founder Dr. Sara Herman, a Harvard-trained and board-certified anesthesiologist. Sara has over 12 years of experience administering ketamine in operating rooms and adjusting individual doses to meet the needs of the patient.

Soft Reboot Wellness explains that recent research shows that while many standard medications can take 30 days or longer to become fully effective, ketamine may be effective in as little as 24 hours. One study on patients with treatment-resistant major depression found that 71% of subjects met response and 29% met remission criteria the day following ketamine infusion1.

While the latest treatment is not entirely without side effects, most patients report only mild issues for the first few hours and no lasting side effects after the treatment, explains Dr. Herman. The most commonly reported side effects are temporary dizziness, nausea, or headaches. More information about ketamine infusions, and answers to the most frequently asked questions, can be found at https://www.softrebootwellness.com/faqs.

New patients of the Soft Reboot Wellness clinic will be asked to complete intake materials and schedule a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Sara, either in person or online, to discuss their needs and their personal treatment plan. While each treatment plan will vary, research suggests that the infusions can be most effective when repeated up to six times in a two- or three-week period.

More information about treatment-resistant depression, ketamine infusions, and the Soft Reboot Wellness clinic can be found at https://www.softrebootwellness.com/iv_ketamine_therapy_bay_area.

A Randomized Trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate Antagonist in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression, Carlos A. Zarate Jr, MD; Jaskaran B. Singh, MD; Paul J. Carlson, MD; et al. NCT00088699, August 2006 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/668195

Contact Info:

Name: Sara Herman

Email: hello@softrebootwellness.com

Organization: Soft Reboot Wellness

Address: 825 Oak Grove Ave # A101, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States

Website: https://www.softrebootwellness.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154226
KBRA UK (KBRA) releases a report on Europe's potential for asset-backed securities (ABS) based on solar photovoltaic (PV) panel financing collateral. In the US, this market has been a growing part of the securitisation landscape for the past seven years, accounting for USD8.6 billion issued in 2022 alone. This contrasts with Europe, where the securitisation market has yet to become a source of capital funding for the expansion of rooftop solar PV lending. In KBRA's view, the securitisation market could offer a vital source to recycle funds into new lending as the European Union (EU) targets an ambitious expansion of rooftop solar PV installations. In this report, KBRA explains some of the market dynamics, how the product is structured in the US, and how the European market may develop in the future.

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.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As per a report by P&S Intelligence, the blue hydrogen market size was USD 17,654 million in 2022, which will grow at a rate of 11.70%, reaching USD 42,783 million by 2030.





Consumption of Blue Hydrogen Pushed by Shift to Low-Carbon Fuels in Petroleum Refineries

The petroleum refinery application will generate substantial revenue, as the gas is an important material in the production of valuable petrochemicals. Petrochemical and E&P companies have been instructed to limit their carbon footprints by governments.

Hence, for more-maintainable operations, downstream petroleum corporations are quickly substituting conventional fuels with low-carbon and reasonably priced alternatives.

Get the sample pages of this report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/blue-hydrogen-market/report-sample

Increasing Usage of Ecological Energy Sources

The use of this chemical in fuel cell EVs is expanding. Though hydrogen is possibly a low-carbon transport fuel, adding it to the mix of fuels is rather challenging.

Furthermore, the high price of the product is a main issue for truck OEMs, with the comparative dearth of refilling stations becoming an additional barrier to FCEV acceptance.

Though, over conventional fossil fuels, which are running out and, consequently, becoming more expensive, H2 has an advantage. Apart from fuel cell electric automobiles, blue hydrogen is in high demand in the aerospace sector, being a main fuel for rockets.

Steam-Methane Reforming Process Produces Most Blue H2

The steam-methane reforming category dominated the industry in the past, and it will expand significantly in the years to come. The pressure swing absorption purification technique is widely used to produce high volumes of pure H2.

This process, involving heating methane with a catalyst and steam, has become popular as a reasonable means of production of industrial hydrogen.

Moreover, due to its purity, the hydrogen produced by SMR can be used in fuel cells and a range of industrial procedures.

Browse detailed report on Global Blue Hydrogen Market Trends, Development and Demand Forecast to 2030

North America Consumes Highest Volume of Blue Hydrogen

North America had the largest share, of around 33%, in the recent past. The acceptance of pioneering techniques of production, momentous investments in R&D, and increasing usage of H2 in the electric vehicle and aerospace industries in Canada and the U.S. contribute to the growth of the regional market.

Furthermore, because of a substantial increase in the requirement for this gas from many sectors, including, chemicals, fertilizers, and refining, in China, South Korea, India, and Malaysia, its production and sale in APAC will grow significantly in the years to come.

Report Coverage

By Technology

Steam Methane Reforming (SMR)

Gas Partial Oxidation (POX)

Auto Thermal Reforming (ATR)

By End User

Petroleum Refineries

Chemical Industry

Power Generation Facilities

Regional Analysis

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain

Asia-Pacific

Japan



China



India



South Korea



Australia

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



South Africa



U.A.E.

Browse More Reports Published by P&S

Global Hydrogen Market Growth, Development and Demand Forecast Report 2030

Global Hydrogen Energy Storage Market Growth, Development and Demand Forecast to 2030

Global Industrial Gases Market Growth, Development and Demand Forecast to 2030

About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

Contact:

Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Phone: +1-347-960-6455

Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.com

Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com

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SODANKYLA, FINLAND / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / FireFox Gold Corp. (TSXV:FFOX) (OTCQB:FFOXF)("FireFox" or the "Company") is pleased to report the remaining results of the successful fall 2022 core drilling campaign at the Company's 100%-held Mustajarvi Gold Project in Lapland, Finland. Drill holes 22MJ024 and 22MJ025 at the East Target both encountered significant near-surface high-grade gold and extended the East Target mineralization to the northwest, southeast, and downdip. These holes were drilled along two different sections separated by 25m (See Figure 1). Drill hole 22MJ024 further delineated a western lobe of shallow high-grade gold first discovered in 22MJ022 (Company news release dated January 18, 2023). Whereas 22MJ025 further defined the eastern lobe of surface high grade defined by 22MJ006 (Company news release dated September 6, 2022).

Highlights of selected intervals are shown below, while Table 1 includes all significant intercepts:

22MJ024: 13.05m at 15.04 g/t Au from 29.6m depth**, including 1.2m at 35.23 g/t Au from 30.6m, and 1.8m at 53.66 g/t Au from 34.6m, including 0.8m at 100.43 g/t Au , and 1.05m at 39.17 g/t Au from 40.0m; 3.4m at 50.91 g/t Au from 91.8m depth, including 1.0m at 170.67 g/t Au from 94.2m;

22MJ025: 12.55m at 14.34 g/t Au from 14.3m depth, including 1.0m at 64.67 g/t Au from 14.3m, and 2.0m at 49.78 g/t Au from 22.8m; 1.0m at 14.53 g/t Au from 73.8m depth; 1.2m at 8.75 g/t Au from 251.0m depth;



FireFox's CEO, Carl Lofberg, commented, "Our drill program in late 2022 has provided the best evidence yet that Mustajarvi hosts replacement style gold mineralization with the potential for bulk tonnage at excellent grades. These most recent holes extend the outstanding results from 22MJ006 and 22MJ021 for at least 20m to the southwest and 15m to the north, while also revealing narrower high-grade structures with vertical continuity. There is plenty of room to grow the East Target in all directions, and our structural model strongly suggests that there is more of this style of mineralization to be found along the +2km strike of the system. We expect to be drilling again at Mustajarvi by April, and we intend to excavate trenches during the summer for initial metallurgical test work."

These two holes were part of a six-hole program (977.1 metres) designed to test a new near-surface high-grade gold zone at the East Target first defined by 22MJ006 and 22MJ018. The first three of the holes also returned high-grade gold assays (see Company news release dated January 18, 2023). These results are significant because they confirm and expand a volume of near-surface replacement style mineralization with greater continuity than previously realized. The East Target also includes narrow high-grade structures oriented in at least two directions that carry mineralization to greater depths and may be contiguous with the thicker replacement zones.

The final hole of the program, 22MJ026, was at the Northeast target, the site of numerous high-grade intercepts in 2021 and 2022. It was directed to the northeast, orthogonal to most of the previous drilling in that area, to test for the northwest trending cross structures now known to be important at the East Target. The hole encountered several lower grade intercepts that are reported in Table 1.

The FireFox team continues to advance its structural model for Mustajarvi, and the work suggests numerous drill targets based on possible extensions to the northwest, southwest, and south. Multielement analytical data is also still pending for the drilling from late 2022.

Figure 1 - Mustajarvi Location Map with Recent Drilling over Ground Magnetics (Click here to enlarge)

Mustajarvi Project and Drill Program Details

The Mustajarvi Project lies along the highway between the cities of Kittila and Sodankyla, approximately 17 kilometres east of Kittila. The property straddles the Mustajarvi Shear Zone (MSZ), a major right-lateral shear zone that has associated second and third-order structures which further dissect the project into separate structural zones. The Sodankyla Group rocks, which are primarily to the north of the shear zone in the footwall, include metamorphosed sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. Geophysics and drilling have identified an extensive corridor of albite - sericite alteration in the footwall along more than two kilometres of the structure. The project remains at an early stage as FireFox and predecessor companies have drilled approximately 12,600 metres to date.

FireFox's structural model identified repetitive dilatant zones along the MSZ where vein swarms, replacement style, and higher-grade gold are concentrated. Three main areas of gold mineralization have been identified along a 2.1-kilometre segment of the MSZ, namely the Central Zone, the Northeast Target, and the East Target (Figure 2). The Central Zone and East Target have clear expressions of significant grade and thickness of gold mineralization at surface, whereas the gold at the Northeast Target is concentrated between 100 and 150 metres below surface. Folding and extensive faulting are in evidence, suggesting the potential for locating much more gold around and between these three widely spaced targets.

Figure 2- Long Section View of Gold Intercepts with Surface Projection and Magnetics (Click here to enlarge)

During 2022, FireFox completed a total of 25 diamond drill holes for 3,904 metres at Mustajarvi, testing the Northeast Target, the East Target, the Gabbro Target and the Central Zone. The final program of the year included six holes totalling 977 metres, three of those holes are reported herein.

The East Target mineralization exhibits extensive albite - sericite alteration, as is typical along the MSZ, but iron oxide and iron carbonate veining are more common in this eastern part of Mustajarvi. The drill logs from the recent drilling also include increased reports of mafic rocks crosscutting and interbedded with the metasediments and tuffaceous rocks that host most of the Mustajarvi mineralization. The mafic rocks likely included mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks, as well as crosscutting mafic dikes. Gold continues to be closely correlated with the occurrence of pyrite. Similar to previously reported holes from the East Target, the near-surface gold mineralization from the most recent holes is associated with fractures and impregnation of (partially oxidized) pyrite along fractures, forming blebs, nests, disseminated, semi-massive and massive pyrite mineralization within the host rock. The thicker intervals reported now in several drill holes present strong evidence of hydrothermal replacement of the host rock with quartz-sericite-pyrite + iron oxide. Pyrite can be seen to be replacing laminations and other sedimentary textures, particularly in the shallow portions of the East Target. In the long section vie (oriented east-northeast), the replacement style of mineralization can be seen coming to surface beneath thin glacial sediments. Its shape is controlled in party by folded bedding (foliations) in the metasedimentary rocks (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Long Section through Mustajarvi East Target (Click here to enlarge)

The deeper mineralized intervals include the more typical quartz-carbonate-tourmaline-pyrite (QCTP) veins that are commonly seen at Mustajarvi. The vein and replacement types of mineralization may be related to separate events within a complex deformation history. There are at least two major directions of controlling structure on the Mustajarvi system, east-northeast striking (slightly oblique to the MSZ) and north-northwest striking (perpendicular to the MSZ). The structural system at the East target is interpreted as a multi-phase dextral strike-slip dominated fault system with hydrothermal replacement centred on dilational jogs developed in folded stratigraphy. The system has subsequently undergone several episodes of brittle reactivation. The latest work by the FireFox team using oriented drill core has signalled preliminary indications of fold axis control on the best-developed thicker high-grade zones.

While the multielement data is incomplete, the geochemistry of the replacement and vein styles of mineralization appears to be very similar - dominated by an association with bismuth, tellurium, molybdenum, cobalt, and nickel and low in arsenic and copper.

Hole 22MJ024 was drilled with an azimuth of 320 designed to test the western extent of the near-surface high-grade gold mineralization identified in drill holes 22MJ006, 22MJ018, and 22MJ021. It also tested for the southern and downdip extension of the intercepts reported in 22MJ022. The hole was collared approximately 33 metres southeast of 22MJ006 on a section line 25 metres to the west. As with other holes in the area, the collar location was in thin glacial sediments overlying intensely altered intermediate tuffites (See Figure 4).

Drill hole 22MJ024 intersected four gold-mineralized intervals (>0.5 g/t gold) which included both vein and replacement styles of mineralization, starting at a depth of 29.6m downhole and continuing to a depth of 100.8m (Table 1). The extensive mineralization encountered in this hole marks a significant westward extension to the East Target mineral system, and the deeper intercepts to the north bode well for the untested shallow magnetic anomaly to the north of 22MJ023.

The near-surface mineralization was consistent with that seen in earlier holes, replacement style quartz-pyrite-sericite alteration in pervasively albitized metasedimentary or tuffaceous rocks. The zone of 13.05m averaging 15.04 g/t Au starting at 29.6 m was remarkably consistent with the similar intercepts reported in 22MJ021 and 22MJ006, approximately 30m away. It included 0.8m of core loss (22MJ021 included 1.7m of lost core). The upper mineralized zone also cut what appears to be a narrow mafic dike that was only weakly mineralized with gold but flanked by strong gold grades.

Importantly, there was also deeper high-grade gold mineralization in the hole, such as 3.4m of 50.91 g/t Au, including 1.0m at 170.67 g/t Au from 91.8m downhole depth. This deeper bonanza zone confirms the continuation of the high-grade system mineralization towards the northwest, and it may be on strike and related to similar intercepts in 22MJ006 and 22MJ022. There were numerous other narrow intercepts of gold mineralization at depth that remain open.

Figure 4 - Mustajarvi East Target Cross Section A-A' Looking Southwest (Click here to enlarge)

Drill hole 22MJ025 was drilled with an azimuth of 140 towards the interpreted contact between Sodankyla group metasedimentary rocks and the Savukoski group mafic-ultramafic volcanic unit. It also formed a scissor relationship with drill hole 22MJ006, which contained very high-grade surface mineralization, so that it tested the northern extension and down dip of that interval. It was collared well to the northwest of other drilling on the section in thin glacial sediments overlying intensely altered intermediate tuffites. Encountering both thick shallow gold mineralization and deeper narrow high-grade, this hole was successful in extending the known mineral system to the northwest and the southeast. The best interval began at only 14.3m downhole and averaged 14.34 g/t gold over 12.55 metres, including narrow intervals of much higher grade. This interval was also associated with the quartz-pyrite-sericite replacement within albitized rocks (See Figure 5).

In total, this drill hole passed through 15 intervals containing >0.5 g/t Au, starting from 14.3 metres downhole (Table 1). The narrow higher-grade intercepts are connected across multiple holes, and appear to be linked to shallower replacement style gold. At 177.6 metres downhole, gold mineralization was intersected just beneath a long interval of strongly mylonitized and intensively altered metasediments, interbedded with mafic volcanics. Here the gold is associated with narrow quartz-tourmaline veining and fine-grained disseminated pyrite. FireFox geologists believe that the mylonite zones may indicate proximity to a sheared contact zone between the siliciclastic metasediments and ultramafic volcanic rocks. Even though the frequency of narrow gold intercepts was increasing with depth, the drill hole did not yet reach the contact. The last mineralized interval in this hole was sampled from 3.7 metres above the end of the drill hole, starting at a depth of 263 metres, and returned 2.0m averaging 1.14 g/t Au. Mineralization remains open to depth.

Figure 5- Mustajarvi East Target Cross Section B-B' Looking Southwest (Click here to enlarge)

Hole 22MJ026 was drilled at the Northeast Target, approximately 750 metres southwest from the recent East Target drilling. The hole was designed to test the cross structures previously noted during geologic logging of the drill core. These cross structures have proven to be significant at the East Target. It intersected intensively altered intermediate tuffites with interlayers of mafic volcanics, which might be indicating proximity to a major geological contact. It did not penetrate significant grade thickness of high-grade gold, but in total, drill hole 22MJ026 intersected three narrow intervals that assayed above 0.5 g/t Au (Table 1).

Table 1: Significant Drill Intercepts in Drillholes 22MJ024 - 22MJ026

Cut-off Grade 0.5 g/t Au

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Interval* (m) Au Grade (g/t) Grade Thickness (gram - metres) 22MJ024 29.6 42.65 13.05 15.04** 392.47 including 29.6 37.2 7.6 19.24 and including 30.6 31.8 1.2 35.23 and including 34.6 37.2 2.6 37.66 and including 36.4 37.2 0.8 100.43 including 40.0 42.65 2.65 18.84 and including 40.0 41.05 1.05 39.17 66.0 67.85 1.85 8.67 including 67.15 67.85 0.7 22.0 91.8 95.2 3.4 50.91 including 94.2 95.2 1.0 170.67 97.65 100.8 3.15 2.26 including 97.65 98.8 1.15 5.69 22MJ025 14.3 26.85 12.55 14.34 232.98 including 14.3 15.3 1.0 64.67 including 22.8 24.8 2.0 49.78 34.2 35.2 1.0 1.93 63.0 63.85 0.85 4.19 73.8 74.8 1.0 14.53 177.60 178.6 1.0 0.69 181.0 183 2.0 4.81 194.65 194.45 0.8 0.8 197 197.9 0.9 1.52 199.85 200.85 1.0 2.75 205 206.15 1.15 0.76 216.75 217.75 1.0 0.73 219.75 220.8 1.0 1.22 251.0 252.2 1.2 8.75 257.0 260.0 3.0 0.79 263.0 265.0 2.0 1.14 22MJ026 40.8 43 2.2 1.28 9.1 130.9 133 2.1 1.71 145.55 147.1 1.55 1.73 * Drilling is believed to be perpendicular to the dip of the mineralization, however true widths are not yet known and will be confirmed with additional drilling and geologic modelling. ** Intercept includes 0.8 m of core loss. The lost interval was assigned a grade of 0.0 g/t Au for all calculations.

Table 2: Mustajarvi Q4 of 2022 Collar Information(coordinates presented in EPSG:3067).

Drill Hole Easting Northing Azimuth () Plunge () Final Depth (m) Status 22MJ021 429080.6 7501029.7 60 40 103.4 Reported Earlier 22MJ022 429046.5 7501009.9 60 35 151.2 Reported Earlier 22MJ023 429028.2 7501039.4 60 40 124.9 Reported Earlier 22MJ024 429098.9 7500995.5 320 35 160.5 Reported Here 22MJ025 429080.0 7501061.0 140 62 266.7 Reported Here 22MJ026 428403.0 7500706.0 40 50 170.4 Reported Here

Methodology & Quality Assurance

The core was transported from the rig to the Company's core storage facility in Sodankyla, where FireFox's exploration team conducted the geological and geotechnical logging and selected the assay intervals. Assay intervals were generally 1 metre but in some circumstances were modified according to lithological boundaries and other factors. FireFox geologists maintained chain of custody and sampling procedures according to best industry practice and with due attention to quality assurance and quality control, including sampling field duplicates and insertion of certified standard and blank samples.

FireFox team members transported the samples to an ALS sample prep lab in Sodankyla. The samples were sawed then crushed to -2 mm, split and pulverized into 1kg pulps, before being shipped to the ALS facility in Rosia Montana, Romania for gold by fire assay of 50 gm aliquots with AAS finish (method Au-AA24). All samples exceeding 10.0 g/t Au were re-assayed in triplicate by fire assay of 50 gm aliquots with a gravimetric finish (method Au-GRA22).

ALS Laboratories is a leading international provider of assay and analytical data to the mining industry. All ALS geochemical hub laboratories, including the Irish facility, are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for specific analytical procedures. The Firefox QA/QC program consists of insertion of certificated standard material and blanks inserted by Firefox into the analytical batches did not show deviations from recommended values.

Patrick Highsmith, Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG # 11702) and director of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Highsmith has helped prepare, reviewed, and approved the technical information in this news release.

Dr. Sven Honig, Certified European Geologist (EFG EurGeol Title # 1789) and General Manager - Exploration of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Honig has supervised the field work reported herein and has helped to prepare and approves the technical information in this news release.

About FireFox Gold Corp.

FireFox Gold Corp is listed on the TSX Venture Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FFOX. FireFox also trades on the OTCQB Venture Market Exchange in the US under the ticker symbol FFOXF. The Company has been exploring for gold in Finland since 2017 where it holds a huge portfolio of prospective ground.

Finland is one of the top mining investment jurisdictions in the world as indicated by its multiple top-10 rankings in recent Fraser Institute Surveys of Mining Companies. Having a strong mining law and long mining tradition, Finland remains underexplored for gold. Recent exploration results in the country have highlighted its prospectivity, and FireFox is proud to have a Finland based CEO and technical team.

For more information, please refer to the Company's website and profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Carl Lofberg"

Chief Executive Officer

CONTACT:

FireFox Gold Corp.

Email: info@firefoxgold.com

Telephone: +1-778-938-1994

Forward-Looking Statements

The information herein contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, the extent of work stoppage and economic impacts that may result from the COVID 19 virus, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry.

Forward-looking statements in this release may include statements regarding: the intent to conduct additional drilling; the belief as to the location of the most prospective gold targets; the location of targets for future drill programs; and the current and future work program, including the extent and nature of exploration to be conducted in 2023. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary.

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the expectations of FireFox as of the date of dissemination and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking statements and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. FireFox does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

SOURCE: FireFox Gold Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739419/FireFox-Drills-more-Shallow-High-Grade-Gold-at-Mustajrvi-East-Target-in-Finland-Including-1305m-at-1504-gt-Gold-and-1244m-at-1434-gt-Gold
The "Ireland Data Center Market Investment Analysis Growth Opportunities 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The market is forecast to reach $5.23 billion in 2027 from $3.92 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 4.96% from 2022 to 2027

This report analyses the Ireland data center market share. It elaboratively analyses the existing and upcoming facilities and investments in IT, electrical, mechanical infrastructure, general construction, and tier standards. It discusses market sizing and investment estimation for different segments.

The country's significant data center construction locations include Dublin, Clonee, Belfast, and others. In the coming years, highly populated and urbanized locations such as Dublin expect growth in brownfield data center construction, while greenfield investments will take place in other cities.

The Ireland data center market has the presence of cloud service providers such as Microsoft, IBM, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, and Tencent. In the IDA Business and Technology Park, AWS is building multiple facilities, of which the first one is expected to be operational by 2023.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Ireland's data center market is currently one of the major markets in the Western European region, supported by factors such as a rise in cloud-based services, growing digitalization, robust connectivity, and others.

Cloud demand is significantly increasing in the country, and major cloud services providers such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google have cloud regions in the country. Dublin has become a hub for colocation providers such as Equinix, Digital Realty, CyrusOne, EdgeConneX, and Echelon Data Centres.

The de-facto moratorium in Dublin, owing to a limited power supply by EirGrid for data center development, will limit data center development over the next few years in the region. As a result, development is expected to shift to other areas within Ireland.

The government of Ireland launched the Digital Ireland Framework known as "Harnessing Digital" in February of 2022. The digital framework states that the business and enterprises in Ireland will enjoy the Gigabit network offering high speeds by 2028. 5G will expand in all populated areas by 2030.

"The Climate Action Plan" has pledged to use renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions by up to 51% by the year 2030 for the country to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Renewable energy plants harnessing energy from solar and wind sources are continuously operating, and many are also under construction. EirGrid is a prominent operator for energy generation using renewable energy sources.

Various initiatives are being taken to support renewable energy adoption in Ireland. One in the UK is called Renewable Obligation (RO), which is set and proposed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) other in Northern Ireland is by the Department of Economy (DfE).

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS RESEARCH?

Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and the Ireland colocation market revenue.

An assessment of the investment in Ireland by colocation and enterprise operators.

Investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across locations in the country.

A detailed study of the existing market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about the Ireland data center market size during the forecast period.

Commentary on the de facto moratorium in Dublin and its potential impact on future development and change in dynamics on the Ireland data center market.

Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Ireland

Facilities Covered (Existing): 26

Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 23

Coverage: 2+ Locations

Existing vs. Upcoming (Area)

Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)

Data center colocation market in Ireland

Market Revenue Forecast (2021-2027)

Retail vs. Wholesale Colocation Revenue Forecast (2021-2027)

Wholesale Colocation Pricing

The Ireland market landscape investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast.

A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.

Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.

A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspect of the market.

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Some key investors in the Ireland data center market include AWS, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, EdgeConneX, Echelon Data Centres, K2 Data Centres, Facebook, and T5 Data Centres, among others.

In 2021, Ireland witnessed investments from major companies such as Echelon Data Centres, K2 Data Centres, and CyrusOne.

The Ireland data center market includes several local and regional construction contractors catering to the country's operators. For instance, Callaghan Engineering has worked as the MEP designer for Digital Realty's DUB13 data center's second data hall.

Major Vendors

IT Infrastructure Providers

Arista Networks

Atos

Broadcom

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Fujitsu

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Huawei Technologies

IBM

Lenovo

NetApp

Data Center Construction Contractors Sub-Contractors

Arup

Bouygues Construction

Callaghan Engineering

Designer Group

Future-tech

ISG

Kirby Group Engineering

Mercury

Mace Group

M+W Group

PM Group

Winthrop Engineering Contracting

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Caterpillar

Cummins

EATON

HITEC Power Protection

KOHLER-SDMO

Legrand

Rolls-Royce

Schneider Electric

Rittal

Socomec

STULZ

Trane Technologies

Vertiv

Data Center Investors

AIMS Data Centre

AWS

CyrusOne

Digital Realty

Equinix

EdgeConneX

Echelon Data Centres

K2 Data Centres

Facebook

T5 Data Centers

EXISTING VS. UPCOMING DATA CENTERS

Existing Facilities in the region (Area and Power Capacity)

Dublin

Other Cities

List of Upcoming Facilities in the region (Area and Power Capacity)

REPORT COVERAGE:

The segmentation includes:

IT Infrastructure

Servers

Storage Systems

Network Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems

Generators

Transfer Switches Switchgears

PDUs

Other Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

Rack Cabinets

Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

CRAC CRAH Units

Chiller Units

Cooling Towers, Condensers Dry Coolers

Economizers Evaporative Coolers

Other Cooling Units

General Construction

Core Shell Development

Installation commissioning Services

Engineering Building Design

Fire Detection Suppression Systems

Physical Security

Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Tier Standard

Tier I Tier II

Tier III

Tier IV

Geography

Dublin

Other Cities

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lsc37v-data?w=4

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTCQX: DNCVF) (WKN: A1JQW5) ("Defiance" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it will be attending the PDAC in Toronto, Canada. We cordially invite you to visit with Company representatives on Sunday, March 5th through Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 at Booth #2703 within the Investors Exchange at the 2023 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The Company will also be presenting at Red Cloud's Pre-PDAC 2023 Mining Showcase. We invite our shareholders and all interested parties to join us. The annual conference will take place in-person at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel from March 2-3, 2023.

Doug Cavey, Executive Vice President, will be presenting on March 3rd at 9:50 AM Eastern Standard time.

For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://redcloudfs.com/prepdac2023/.

We look forward to seeing you there.

About Defiance Silver Corp.

Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTCQX: DNCVF) (FSE: A1JQW5) is an exploration company advancing the district-scale San Acacio Deposit, located in the historic Zacatecas Silver District and the Tepal Gold/Copper Project in Michoacan state, Mexico. Defiance is managed by a team of proven mine developers with a track record of exploring, advancing and developing several operating mines and advanced resource projects Defiance's corporate mandate is to expand the San Acacio and Tepal projects to become premier Mexican silver and gold deposits.

On behalf of Defiance Silver Corp.

"Chris Wright"

Chairman of the Board

For more information, please contact: Investor Relations at +1 (604) 343-4677 or via email at info@defiancesilver.com.

www.defiancesilver.com

Suite 2900-550 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 0A3

Canada

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.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Defiance Silver Corp. relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154849
Complete car care company plans meaningful year-over-year growth with new strategic investors.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Get Spiffy, Inc. (Spiffy), an on-demand car care, technology, and services company, today announced the closing of its Series C financing round, raising $30 million to drive growth across the business and fuel Spiffy's private-label hardware and software-as-a-service offering for automotive dealers, Digital Servicing.

The round was led by Edison Partners, with participation from existing investors Tribeca Venture Partners, Bull City Venture Partners, IDEA Fund Partners, Trog Hawley Capital, Attinger, Private Access Network, and strategic investors Shell Ventures, Goodyear Ventures, and Mann+Hummel. The Presidio Group acted as exclusive advisor to Spiffy on the round, which included procuring automotive dealer groups as new strategic investors such as Bowers Automotive Group, Qvale Auto Group, and the Sewell family, among others.

Since its launch in 2014, Spiffy has delivered over 2 million mobile automotive services nationwide and is currently delivering between 3,000 and 4,000 services daily across 45+ markets with over 500 W2 technicians and ASE-certified mechanics in 350+ vans nationwide. By focusing on strategic initiatives across geographies, services, and lines of business, Spiffy delivered back-to-back years of 90%+ growth. With this investment, the company plans to go deeper in each of these areas by launching new franchise markets, rolling out Spiffy Tires and Spiffy Brakes, and introducing medium and heavy duty fleet services across the country.

Lenard Marcus, General Partner at Edison Partners said, "Spiffy continues to impress with thoughtful execution of strategic initiatives. By listening to their customers across segments, they innovate with agility, and Edison is excited to deepen our partnership as the company positions itself as a market leader."

"After building my last businesses on the thesis of products going digital through eCommerce, we wanted to explore the idea of services going digital next," said Spiffy CEO, Scot Wingo. "Spiffy is scaling faster than any of my previous start-ups because we are meeting the quickly evolving preferences of convenience-oriented customers across our fleet and consumer verticals. I'm both humbled and grateful to the existing and new investors coming along with us on this ride and plan to deliver great results in return."

Spiffy introduced Digital Servicing in 2020 to support Dealers going mobile by providing private label proprietary van upfit, a comprehensive software solution for a Dealer branded app suite that includes an iPhone and Android consumer app, technician app, and manager/customer service dashboard, as well as best practice training.

"Automotive industry leaders understand the growing need to meet customers 'where they are' and Spiffy is uniquely positioned to provide software, hardware, and mobile service delivery expertise to help the industry elevate customer experience and grow revenue," said Brodie Cobb, CEO of Presidio Group, who advised Spiffy on the round.

"After seeing what Spiffy is building from the consumer app to green mobile service delivery, we are thrilled to invest in its growth. We look forward to seeing how Digital Servicing helps our industry evolve by delivering convenient and ecofriendly services to customers where they want," said Bruce Qvale, CEO of Qvale Auto Group.

To learn more about Digital Servicing, visit getspiffy.com/dealer.

About Presidio

Founded in 1998 with the simple mission to relentlessly put the interests of our clients first, The Presidio Group ("Presidio") steadfastly adhered to this philosophy and earned the trust of clients throughout the United States. During their careers, the professionals at Presidio have collectively closed more than 215 transactions for about $15 billion. Presidio has offices in Denver and Atlanta. Presidio Merchant Partners LLC is a subsidiary of The Presidio Group LLC and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information on Presidio, visit www.thepresidiogroup.com.

About Spiffy

Spiffy (www.getspiffy.com) is an on-demand technology and services company on a mission to disrupt the car care experience everywhere. Available in over 45 markets, Spiffy offers complete car care services including wash & detail, oil change, tires, brakes, and other maintenance solutions. Every service is conveniently performed on-site at fleets, office parks, and residences using the Spiffy Green system.

PR Contacts:

The Presidio Group

Keith Style

Managing Director

kstyle@thepresidiogroup.com

678-831-5523

www.thepresidiogroup.com

Spiffy

Grayson Leverenz

Chief Marketing Officer

grayson@getspiffy.com

919-500-2481

www.getspiffy.com

SOURCE: Spiffy

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739334/Spiffy-Announces-30-Million-Series-C-to-Drive-Growth-and-Fuel-Digital-Servicing
Leading financial technology company SumUp and payment tech expert Netcetera partner to protect small merchants from fraud

As online purchases have soared in the last few years, so has the level of online fraud. In 2021, e-commerce fraud in the UK jumped to GBP 1.3 billion. As many merchants make the transition to online stores, ensuring their transactions are protected is crucial. The Covid-19 pandemic and developing FinTech trends pushed the use of debit and credit cards, QR codes and similar for Card-Not-Present transactions, which are easier to compromise. On top of this, more and more consumers are making purchases from mobile devices. As the payment protocol 3-D Secure was originally designed for web purchases, there are additional security steps to be taken for these. OTO and OOB authentication is now mandated by payment schemes to ensure that it is really the cardholder making the purchase.

As a major global fintech player on a mission to support SMEs to run successful businesses by offering financial tools, SumUp wanted to ensure they had the most powerful, reliable Access Control Server, or ACS, possible, as it is a key part of the authentication process. Netcetera, advised them on current requirements for merchants and set them up with a dynamic solution, allowing small and medium-sized merchants to offer end customers a smooth, secure online shopping experience.

The solution supports the highest level of security and minimises touchpoints in the transaction flow, meaning that the cardholder can skip cumbersome multi-step processes and switching between apps to pay. Netcetera's 14 years of experience in the 3D-Secure space and SumUp's innovative power in online finance solutions results in a strong product that is here to stay. It is a gamechanger for smaller businesses, meaning that they can sell their products online more easily, maximise conversion rates and still offer first-class protection against fraud.

David Tatarishvili, Head of Business Operations Banking Tribe at SumUp said "Our userbase's security has always been our foremost priority; collaborating with Netcetera ensures that all our merchants, and their customers, are protected against e-commerce fraud and other security risks. By providing SMEs with ACS, it sets up a comprehensive line of defence against cyber criminals, saving merchants both time and money."

Robert Miskin, Business Development Executive at Netcetera also commented "We are thrilled to be standing side by side with SumUp and are looking forward to a long lasting, mutually beneficial partnership. We understand the challenges to prepare for in online commerce and are looking forward to supporting SumUp through their local and global expansion"

Through this partnership SumUp and Netcetera aim to democratise access to industry leading security solutions for small merchants and make sure that small business owners in the UK have digital solutions available to keep them and their customers safe.

About Netcetera

Netcetera is a global software company with cutting-edge IT products and individual digital solutions in the areas of secure digital payment, financial technologies, media, transport, healthcare and insurance. More than 2,500 banks and issuers, and 160,000 merchants rely on the digital payment solutions and globally certified 3-D Secure products of the market leader for payment security. The owner-managed company covers the entire IT lifecycle, from ideation and strategy to implementation and operation. The balanced combination of the latest technologies and proven standards ensures investment security, from large-scale projects to innovative start-ups. Founded in 1996, Netcetera is a holding company with around 1,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with locations across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Further information on netcetera.com and LinkedIn.

About SumUp

SumUp is a leading global financial technology company driven by the purpose of levelling the playing field for small businesses. Founded in 2012, SumUp is the financial partner for more than 4 million small merchants in over 35 markets worldwide, helping them start, run and grow their business. Through its Super App, SumUp provides merchants with a free business account and card, an online store, and an invoicing solution as well as in-person and remote payments seamlessly integrated with SumUp's card terminals and point-of-sale registers. SumUp is committed to leveraging its success to make the world a better place and has pledged to donate 1% of its revenue to support environmental, educational and entrepreneurial causes. In 2022 SumUp was recognised as a Top Global Employer for the LGBTQ+ community by the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. For more information, please visit sumup.co.uk.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005458/en/

Contacts:

Angelika Seiler

Head of Content

angelika.seiler@netcetera.com

+41 44 297 58 09
COLOGNE (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced that its flights were delayed or cancelled Wednesday morning due to a IT failure in Frankfurt. Lufthansa shares were losing around 1.4 percent in the morning trading following the news. The German flag carrier tweeted, 'Important information on flight disruption: As of this morning the airlines of the Lufthansa Group are affected by an IT outage, caused by construction work in the Frankfurt region. Unfortunately, this has led to flight delays and cancellations. We are working on a solution swiftly.' The company also asked all affected guests flying on domestic LH flights in Germany to book a train ticket and request a refund on http://lh.com. In a statement on its website, the airline stated that many Lufthansa IT systems were not working due to the IT failure, and told passengers to expect disruptions in the flights program and during the check-in process. The company also said that it recommends passengers in the cancelled flights not to proceed to the airport and to rebook their flights on its Chatbot. In Germany, Deutsche Lufthansa shares were trading at 9.51 euros, down 1.36 percent. 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.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tesla Inc. workers at the Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York are launching a campaign to form a union, seeking better pay and job security, Bloomberg reported.



The employees reportedly sent an email to Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk with their intent to unionize, which would be a first for the luxury electric vehicle maker, if successful.



In a letter to the management, the workers wrote, 'Unionizing would 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.'



The workers at the plant, who label data for Tesla's Autopilot and self-driving technology, are organizing with the Workers United labor union, and also seeking a reduction in production pressures which could harm their health.



The employees alleged that Tesla tracks their computer keystrokes to monitor how they work, due to which some employees refrain from taking bathroom breaks.



Al Celli, a member of the union's organizing committee stated that people are tired of being treated like robots.



The company has also been asked to sign the Fair Election Principles that would prevent the firm from retaliating against workers involved in organizing a union.



In the past few years, workers at Tesla's car factories, specifically at Fremont Factory in California, had tried to unionize. The Workers United labor union, which helped Starbucks employees at various cafes across the country to unionize, has been behind Tesla employees' efforts.



Meanwhile, Musk has been against Tesla employees forming a union. The National Labor Relations Board or NLRB in March 2021 had ruled that Tesla had violated labor laws by firing an employee over alleged union support. The Board also ordered Musk to delete a tweet in which he suggested that Tesla employees who unionize could lose their stock options.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Elektros (OTC PINK:ELEK), an emerging leader in the electric mobility industry, announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Next Realm AI to explore integration of machine learning technologies for electric vehicle (EV) operations.

The Company announced agreement with Next Realm AI, a New York based technology research firm, to explore integrating machine learning and analytical capabilities to improve customer experiences, accelerate the modernization of product development, manufacturing and supply chain management, and fast track the implementation of data-driven business models for the EV market.

Battery Analytics: Intelligent battery analytics improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries by monitoring performance, state of charge, stress from rapid acceleration and deceleration, temperature and the number of charge cycles.

The Company's Patent Pending Multi-Port Charging Assembly will allow users to use multiple charging features on electric vehicles, which the company plans to market to major EV manufacturers under royalty licensing agreements.

Mining Operations: Artificial intelligence provides many economic benefits for the mining industry through cost reduction, efficiency, and improving productivity, reducing exposure of workers to hazardous conditions, continuous production, and improved safety. Smart sensors and cameras aid automated equipment while also monitoring the safety of workers, and environmental impacts at mines.

Customer Service: Built on top of a Large Language Model (LLM), ChatGPT interacts in a dialogue format understanding a diverse range of prompts and generating human-like responses by predicting future words.

Applications can be trained to understand and classify the sentiment of customer inquiries by identifying customers' emotions, brands can be more equipped to respond in an appropriate manner.

To receive updates on this project visit https://nextrealm.ai/register/

About Next Realm AI

Next Realm AI is a New York based research lab and consulting firm focused on commercial development of next generation technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, quantum computing, and cybersecurity. https://nextrealm.ai/

About Elektros, Inc.

Elektros (OTC:ELEK) is an American electric transportation company that innovates mobility solutions for consumers and businesses. The automotive landscape faces existential disruption over the next decade to reach carbon neutrality. Elektros addresses this paradigm shift with mobility technologies that support sustainability for a transformative user experience. Elektros aims to present a compelling and completely new electric vehicle experience known as Elektros Sonic to consumers beginning as early as 2023. www.elektrosmotors.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elektrosenergy

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" that include information relating to future events and future financial and operating performance. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "can," "believe," "potential," and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in demand for Elektros, Inc.'s products, the introduction of new products, the Company's ability to maintain customer and strategic business relationships, the impact of competitive products and pricing, growth in targeted markets, the adequacy of the Company's liquidity and financial strength to support its growth, and other information that may be detailed from time to time in Elektros Inc.'s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Examples of such forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding future sales, costs, and market acceptance of products as well as regulatory actions at the State or Federal level. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting Elektros Inc., please refer to the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at www.sec.gov. Elektros, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT:

Elektros, Inc.

IR and Media Inquiries

Email: info@elektrosmotors.com

SOURCE: Elektros, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739450/Elektros-Announces-Agreement-with-Next-Realm-AI-as-Potential-Data-Advisory-Firm-for-EV-Operations
14,000 entries submitted from across the globe by amateurs and professionals.

Concrete in Life Photo of Year from UAE wins $10,000 top prize.

Eight category winners of photos from Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and UAE win $2,500 each.

A stunning image of a skateboard park in the United Arab Emirates has been named Concrete in Life Photo of the Year. It wins a top prize of $10,000 (ten thousand US dollars) in a global competition, which highlights the essential role that concrete plays around the world.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005136/en/

Ferdz Bedana, winner Urban Concrete Professional and overall winner, Concrete in Life Photo of Year. Location Sharjah, UAE

The photo, taken by professional photographer, Ferdz Bedana, in Sharjah, was announced as the overall winner in a live Instagram broadcast, on 15th February. It was selected from more than 14,000 photos submitted by both amateur and professional photographers from every continent, in the annual competition run by the Global Cement and Concrete Association.

Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive said: "Concrete is the second most used substance on earth after water and plays a vital part in modern infrastructure and society. Through the work of the GCCA and our members, to implement our 2050 Net Zero Roadmap, we are working hard and making progress in reducing its environmental impact. These amazing photos capture the appeal of concrete design and the essential role it plays in modern life and communities everywhere."

Entrants from around the world submitted photos across four categories: concrete infrastructure, concrete beauty and design, urban concrete, and concrete in daily life, with each section divided between professional photographers and amateurs, often with smart phones. The breadth and variety of all the entries highlight the way concrete supports life around the world, from the giant to the small form, as well as the material's grace, beauty and crucial supporting role.

Eight category winners each receive a prize of $2,500 (two thousand, five hundred US dollars) each. As well as Ferdz Bedana's skateboarder image, the category winners include images of a waterfall and a roller-skater race, both taken in Indonesia, a stunning city interchange in China, rice mills in Bangladesh, a university building in Mexico, a metro station in Dubai and a Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ferdz Bedana who took the overall Concrete in Life Photo of Year in Sharjah, said: "It's a great honour to be the overall winner of the Concrete in Life 2022 competition and spread the story of how concrete is a big contribution in our life. I was interested to take a photo of this skatepark when I saw a boy enjoying playing in a substantially artistic concrete design."

Chris George, Content Director at Digital Camera World, and one of the competition judges said about the winning photo: "This was an amazing capture, that perfectly shows the energy of skateboarding against the organic form of the manmade structure."

Fellow judge, freelance writer and photographer Norman Miller added: "It's a real skill to capture fast moving subject while showing mastery of framing and control of lighting."

Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive added: "Congratulations to Ferdz Bedana and all our category winners. Check out our website to see all the shortlisted entries who were all outstanding."

The GCCA and its member companies, which account for 80% of global cement production capacity outside of China, as well as key Chinese manufacturers, are committed to reducing and eliminating CO2 emissions through implementation of the Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap the first heavy industry to set out such a detailed plan.

Notes to editors:

Images available for media to use here

Video of Instagram broadcast announcing winners available here

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005136/en/

Contacts:

For further details, or interview requests:

Simon Thomson, Head of Media, GCCA

simon.thomson@gccassociation.org +44 7380 972282
Asahi Kasei, a diversified Japanese multinational company, has completed the construction of its second plant for Ceolus microcrystalline cellulose1 (MCC) at its Mizushima Works in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan, in January 2023. With the new facility, the company underlines its commitment to meet the substantially growing demand for its MCC.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005473/en/

Demand for Ceolus used in pharmaceutical tablets is growing substantially, especially for the proprietary high-performance grades Ceolus KG and Ceolus UF. The second plant for Ceolus will not only raise supply capacity but also enhance the stability of supply through production at multiple sites. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Second plant for Ceolus

The Functional Additives Division of Asahi Kasei's Life Innovation SBU has manufactured Ceolus in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan, since 1970. Ceolus is supplied to customers around the world, primarily for use as tablet binder2 for pharmaceuticals.

Demand for Ceolus used in pharmaceutical tablets is growing substantially, especially for the proprietary high-performance grades Ceolus KG and Ceolus UF. The second plant for Ceolus will not only raise supply capacity but also enhance the stability of supply through production at multiple sites.

The outline of the new plant Location Asahi Kasei Mizushima Works Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan Construction schedule Groundbreaking in September 2021 Completion in January 2023 Investment amount 13 billion Product Ceolus microcrystalline cellulose Customers Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, supplements, etc., worldwide

The new plant is currently undergoing trial operation, with commercial production of each grade scheduled to begin in succession from April 2023.

"The increased capacity at this new plant will enable us to provide a more stable supply of Ceolus for distribution centers around the world to get products to customers in greater quantities," says Eiichi Hori, Senior General Manager of Functional Additives Division. "The second plant will make Ceolus more accessible to patients around the world. We are excited to see the innovative, new formulations that pharmaceutical and supplement manufacturers will develop utilizing our MCC."

Featuring an innovative particle morphology, Ceolus offers various solutions to the pharmaceutical and supplement industries: It facilitates challenging formulations, solves tableting issues, and enables unique and patient-friendly dosage forms. It also contributes to customers' production efficiency by enabling high-speed tableting and reducing production problems. In addition, less black particles, less impurities including nitrite and nitrate which may cause nitrosamine associated risk, and the consistently high quality of Ceolus directly contribute to the quality improvement of customers' formulations.

Asahi Kasei expects that the new plant will make a further contribution to life and living for people around the world by providing Ceolus to more customers globally, enabling the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and supplements that have been difficult to make into tablets, and meeting the needs of pharmaceutical companies, supplement companies, and patients through the development of high-performance products.

1 Microcrystalline cellulose is a white powder made from natural pulp, mainly used as an excipient for pharmaceuticals and foods

2 Tablet binders are additives used for the purpose of providing the shape and increasing the volume of solid tablets

Please refer to the press release dated January 13, 2021

"Asahi Kasei to build a second plant for Ceolus microcrystalline cellulose"

https://www.asahi-kasei.com/news/2020/e210113.html

About Ceolus

As the requirements for functionality of pharmaceuticals and supplements continue to rise year by year, Ceolus contributes by facilitating the development and manufacture of solid dosage formulations such as tablets. Backed by over 50 years of manufacturing expertise, Ceolus is positioned to further support pharmaceutical and supplement companies in their development of formulations with higher quality and functionality. Asahi Kasei will continue to develop advanced grades of Ceolus while providing richer services to customers over the decades to come.

About Asahi Kasei

The Asahi Kasei Group contributes to life and living for people around the world. Since its foundation in 1922 with ammonia and cellulose fiber businesses, Asahi Kasei has consistently grown through the proactive transformation of its business portfolio to meet the evolving needs of every age. With more than 46,000 employees around the world, the company contributes to a sustainable society by providing solutions to the world's challenges through its three business sectors of Material, Homes, and Health Care. Its Material sector, comprised of Environmental Solutions, Mobility Industrial, and Life Innovation, includes a wide array of products, from battery separators and biodegradable textiles to engineering plastics and sound solutions. For more information, visit https://www.asahi-kasei.com/.

The Asahi Kasei Group aims to contribute to a carbon-neutral and sustainable world from the perspective of "Care for Earth" by focusing on initiatives such as the use of biomass raw materials, recycled raw materials, and renewable energy. The company strives to meet the expectations of its customers and society by further advancing the provision of products and services with such sustainable characteristics while deepening collaboration with other companies to reach a carbon-neutral society by 2050. To learn more, visit https://www.asahi-kasei.com/sustainability/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005473/en/

Contacts:

Company Contact North America:

Asahi Kasei America, Inc.

Jon Todd

39475 W. Thirteen Mile Road, Suite 201, Novi, MI 48377

E-mail: AKA-info@ak-america.com

Company Contact Europe:

Asahi Kasei Europe GmbH

Sebastian Schmidt

Fringsstrasse 17, 40221 Dusseldorf

Tel: +49 (0) 211-3399-2058

E-mail: sebastian.schmidt@asahi-kasei.eu
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX:SKE)(NYSE:SKE) ("Skeena" or the "Company") is pleased to welcome Scott Fulton as the Company's new Vice President ("VP") of Construction & Engineering. Mr. Fulton has over 15 years of experience with mine development and was most recently the VP of Project Development with NorZinc at the Prairie Creek Zinc, Lead, Silver Mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Prior to NorZinc, Scott worked for consultancies Wood, Hatch, and Hemmera.

The Company's President & CEO, Randy Reichert, commented "We are excited to have Scott join the Skeena Team. His proven experience and expertise will be critical as we continue to advance the Eskay Creek Project through engineering and into construction."

Skeena is also excited to announce that Freda Campbell, Skeena's Director of Community Relations, has been awarded the 2023 Indigenous Trailblazer Award by Women in Mining Canada. For over 25 years, Freda has worked in the mining sector for both industry and First Nations. She embodies the present and future of the mining industry through her dedication to innovation in Indigenous community engagement and mentoring the next generation of Indigenous trailblazers.

Justin Himmelright, the Company's SVP of External Affairs & Sustainability remarked "We are very pleased that Freda is being recognized for the significant contribution she has made to communities and our industry over her career. Freda's work in training and education for Indigenous people in mining has created positive outcomes for many individuals during the last 25 years. She is truly a trailblazer in our industry and very deserving of this award."

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Feasibility Study for Eskay Creek in September 2022 which highlights an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 50% IRR, and a 1-year payback at US$1,700/oz Au and US$19/oz Ag.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles Jr.

Executive Chairman

Randy Reichert

President & CEO

Contact Information

Investor Inquiries: info@skeenaresources.com

Office Phone: +1 604 684 8725

Company Website: www.skeenaresources.com

Qualified Persons

In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration & Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated, and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information contained or incorporated by reference in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or our future performance. The use of words such as "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "contemplates", "generates", "targets", "is projected", "is planned", "considers", "estimates", "expects", "is expected", "potential" and similar expressions, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "might", "will", "could", or "would" be taken, achieved, or occur, may identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Feasibility Study, processing capacity of the mine, anticipated mine life, probable reserves, estimated project capital and operating costs, sustaining costs, results of test work and studies, planned environmental assessments, the future price of metals, metal concentrate, and future exploration and development. Such forward-looking statements are based on material factors and/or assumptions which include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and the assumptions set forth herein and in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2021, its most recently filed interim MD&A, and the Company's Annual Information Form ("AIF") dated March 31, 2022. Such forward-looking statements represent the Company's management expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances on the date the statements are made, and are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein, and are subject to significant operational, business, economic, and regulatory risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including permitting and other government approvals; changes in economic conditions, including changes in the price of gold and other key variables; changes in mine plans and other factors, including accidents, equipment breakdown, bad weather and other project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of the Company; environmental risks and unanticipated reclamation expenses; and other risk factors identified in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2021, its most recently filed interim MD&A, the AIF dated March 31, 2022, the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated January 31, 2023, and in the Company's other periodic filings with securities and regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States that are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and the Company does not undertake any obligations to update and/or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Skeena Resources Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739417/Skeena-Announces-New-Vice-President-Congratulates-Freda-Campbell-on-Trailblazer-Award
Drills 309 m of 0.42% CuEQ, within 557 m of 0.36% CuEQ

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Amarc Resources Ltd. ("Amarc" or the "Company") (TSXV:AHR)(OTCQB:AXREF) is pleased to announce that the ongoing drilling program continues to expand the DUKE Deposit, located within its 100%-owned DUKE porphyry Cu-Au district ("DUKE District" or "DUKE") in central British Columbia ("BC"). Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd. ("Boliden") is earning up to a 70% interest in the DUKE District by funding CDN$90 million of staged earn-in expenditures (see November 22, 2022 news release). Amarc is the operator of the project.

"The consistently positive results we've received from our initial drill program underscore the tremendous potential of the mineralized system at the DUKE Deposit," said Amarc President and CEO Dr. Diane Nicolson. "We have just returned from site where it was agreed with partner Boliden to expand the drill program to include a third rig: two rigs are focused on delineating the DUKE Deposit laterally and at depth, and the third will step out to continue to drill test the surrounding 4.7 km 2 DUKE target. We strongly believe the untapped potential of the sizeable mineralized system at the DUKE target will continue to emerge, as will its development opportunities."

Hole DK22010 is the second of two holes completed in December 2022 in the DUKE Deposit area as part of a first phase drill program to test the geometry and depth potential of the mineralization, which from previous drilling is known to extend over at least 400 m x 600 m at surface and notably remains open for expansion laterally and to depth.

Highlights from DK22010 include:

309 m of 0.42% CuEQ*(0.31% Cu, 0.017% Mo, 0.08 g/t Au and 1.8 g/t Ag) from 8.6 m

Including 57 m of 0.68% CuEQ (0.50% Cu, 0.027% Mo, 0.13 g/t Au and 2.0 g/t Ag) from 243 m

Within 557 m of 0.36% CuEQ (0.25% Cu, 0.018% Mo, 0.06 g/t Au and 1.4 g/t Ag) from 8.6 m

* Copper equivalent (CuEQ) calculations use metal prices of: Cu US$4.00/lb, Mo US$15.00/lb, Au US$1,800.00/oz, Ag US$24.00/oz and and conceptual recoveries of: Cu 85%, Mo 82%, Au 72% and 67% Ag.

Hole DK22010 was collared 200 m east of DK22009, which intercepted 126 m of 0.52% CuEQ* (0.38% Cu, 0.024% Mo, 0.08 g/t Au and 1.8 g/t Ag) within 542 m of 0.33% CuEQ (0.24% Cu, 0.016% Mo, 0.04 g/t Au and 1.2 g/t Ag) (see January 26, 2023 news release). It also encountered significant Cu-Mo-Au-Ag mineralization from the bedrock surface to the bottom of hole including several sub-intervals of higher grade (Table 1). Importantly, DK22010 continues to extend the deposit to the east and to depth.

Figures 1 and 2 show the location of hole DK22010 in relation to previous Amarc drill holes, including DK17001 and DK17002 to the west, and DK18006 and DK18007 to the east, listed as "1", "2", "6" and "7", respectively, on the figures. The latter holes are further described in Amarc's December 19, 2017 and June 12, 2018 news releases.

Figure 1: DUKE Deposit DK22010: Confirms Scale and Depth Potential with Mineralization Open in All Directions

Figure 2: DUKE Deposit IP Chargeability Anomaly Indicates a Significant Mineralized System

Table 1: Drill Hole DK22010 Assay Results

Drill Hole ID1 Azim () Dip () EOH (m) Incl. From (m) To (m) Int.2,3,4 (m) CuEQ5 (%) Cu (%) Mo (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) DK220106 0 -90 566 8.63 566.00 557.37 0.36 0.25 0.018 0.06 1.4 Incl 8.63 317.56 308.93 0.42 0.31 0.017 0.08 1.8 And 101.00 317.56 216.56 0.45 0.33 0.018 0.08 1.5 And 185.00 206.00 21.00 0.48 0.38 0.012 0.08 1.6 And 243.45 300.75 57.30 0.68 0.50 0.027 0.13 2.0 Incl 338.00 368.00 30.00 0.49 0.33 0.030 0.08 1.3

DK22010 is collared at UTM NAD83, Zone 9, Easting 679888, Northing 6125597. Widths reported are drill widths, such that true thicknesses are unknown. All assay intervals represent length-weighted averages. Some figures may not sum exactly due to rounding. Copper equivalent (CuEQ) calculations use metal prices of: Cu US$4.00/lb, Mo US$15.00/lb, Au US$1,800.00/oz, Ag US$24.00/oz and and conceptual recoveries of: Cu 85%, Mo 82%, Au 72% and 67% Ag. Conversion of metals to an equivalent copper grade based on these metal prices is relative to the copper price per unit mass factored by conceptual recoveries for those metals normalized to the conceptualized copper recovery. The metal equivalencies for each metal are added to the copper grade. The general formula for this is: CuEQ % = Cu% + (Au g/t * (Au recovery / Cu recovery) * (Au $ per oz/ 31.1034768) / (Cu $ per lb* 22.04623)) + (Ag g/t * (Ag recovery / Cu recovery) * (Ag $ per oz/ 31.1034768) / (Cu $ per lb* 22.04623)+ (Mo% * (Mo recovery / Cu recovery) * (Mo $ per lb / Cu $ per lb)).

About the DUKE District

Amarc's DUKE District is located 80 km northeast of Smithers within the Babine Region, one of BC's most prolific porphyry Cu-Au belts. The Babine Region hosts the former Bell and Granisle Cu-Au mines that were operated by Noranda Mines, and the advanced stage Morrison Cu-Au deposit. Significant infrastructure exists in the region servicing the former mines and the very active forestry and exploration industries.

Central to Amarc's extensive mineral tenure is the DUKE Deposit discovery, located 30 km north of the former Bell Mine. Although explored historically, the extensive porphyry Cu system at the DUKE discovery has not been delineated or drilled off. Many of the 21 historical shallow and closely-spaced core holes intersected and ended in significant Cu-Mo-Au-Ag mineralization. These holes were restricted to a small portion of a robust, 4.7 km 2 IP chargeability anomaly indicating a large sulphide mineralized system. Amarc completed initial drilling at the DUKE Deposit in 2017 and 2018. Seven of the eight core holes drilled over an area measuring approximately 400 m north-south by 600 m east-west (see December 19, 2017 and June 12, 2018 news releases) successfully intersected porphyry copper-style mineralization to a vertical depth of 360 m. This mineralization remains wide open to expansion. The eighth hole was drilled off a road one kilometre to the north and within the sulphide mineral system; it intersected similar copper-molybdenum-silver-gold porphyry mineralization.

Amarc has also completed a comprehensive compilation of government and historical data over the entire DUKE District. This detailed scientific work provided a new interpretation of the geological, geochemical and geophysical characteristics of the Babine belt, and identified 12 previously unrecognized porphyry Cu deposit targets with exciting potential (see May 6, 2020 news release). Drilling and additional surface programs testing these compelling deposit targets across the DUKE District are planned for later in 2023.

In November 2022, Amarc entered into a Mineral Property Earn-In Agreement (the "EIA") with Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd. ("Boliden"), an entity within the Boliden Group of companies (see Amarc release November 22, 2022). Under the terms of the Agreement, Boliden has a two-staged option to earn up to a 70% interest in the DUKE District by funding $90 million exploration and development expenditures. Boliden has committed to invest $5 million, with an expected investment of a further $5 million (total $10 million) during 2023.

Further information on the historical and Amarc's modern exploration activities in the DUKE District, are described in the Company's DUKE Project 2020 Technical Report available on its website at https://amarcresources.com/projects/duke-project/technical-report/ .

About Amarc Resources

Amarc is a mineral exploration and development company with an experienced and successful management team focused on developing a new generation of long-life, high-value porphyry Cu-Au mines in BC. By combining high-demand projects with dynamic management, Amarc has created a solid platform to create value from its exploration and development-stage assets.

Amarc is advancing its 100%-owned IKE, DUKE and JOY porphyry CuAu districts located in different prolific porphyry regions of southern, central and northern BC, respectively. Each district represents significant potential for the development of multiple and important-scale, porphyry CuAu deposits. Importantly each of the three districts is located in proximity to industrial infrastructure - including power, highways and rail.

Amarc is associated with HDI, a diversified, global mining company with a 35-year history of porphyry Cu deposit discovery and development success. Previous and current HDI projects include some of BC's and the world's most important porphyry deposits - such as Pebble, Mount Milligan, Southern Star, Kemess South, Kemess North, Gibraltar, Prosperity, Xietongmen, Newtongmen, Florence, Casino, Sisson, Maggie, IKE, PINE and DUKE. From its head office in Vancouver, Canada, HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral projects.

Amarc works closely with local governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders in order to advance its mineral projects responsibly, and in a manner that contributes to sustainable community and economic development. We pursue early and meaningful engagement to ensure our mineral exploration and development activities are well coordinated and broadly supported, address local priorities and concerns, and optimize opportunities for collaboration. In particular, we seek to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with Indigenous groups within whose traditional territories our projects are located, through the provision of jobs, training programs, contract opportunities, capacity funding agreements and sponsorship of community events. All Amarc work programs are carefully planned to achieve high levels of environmental and social performance.

Qualified Person

Dr. Roy Greig, P.Geo, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has read and approved all technical and scientific information related to the Duke Project contained in this news release. Dr. Greig is Amarc's Vice President, Exploration.

Quality Control/Quality Assurance Program

Amarc drilled NQ size core in 2022. All drill core was logged, photographed, and cut in half with a diamond saw. Half core samples from DUKE were sent to ALS Canada Ltd., North Vancouver, Canada, an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited facility, for preparation and analysis. At the laboratory, samples were dried, crushed to 70% passing -2mm, and a 250 g split pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 microns. Samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay fusion of a 30 g sub-sample with an ICP-AES finish, and for 60 elements including Cu, Mo and Ag by a four-acid digestion, multi-element ICP-MS package. As part of a comprehensive Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QAQC") program, Amarc control samples were inserted in each analytical batch at the following rates: standards one in 20 regular samples, in-line replicates one in 20 regular samples and one coarse blank per hole. The control sample results were then checked to ensure proper QAQC.

For further details on Amarc Resources Ltd., please visit the Company's website at www.amarcresources.com or contact Dr. Diane Nicolson, President and CEO, at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114, or Kin Communications, at (604) 684-6730, Email: AHR@kincommunications.com .

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AMARC RESOURCES LTD.

Dr. Diane Nicolson

President and CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor any other regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All such statements, other than statements of historical facts that address exploration plans and plans for enhanced relationships 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 or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward-looking statements include the following: Amarc's projects will obtain all required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and exploration of Amarc's projects will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems will occur. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, potential environmental issues or liabilities associated with exploration, development and mining activities, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and tenure and delays due to third party opposition, changes in and the effect of government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, exploration and development of properties located within Aboriginal groups asserted territories may affect or be perceived to affect asserted aboriginal rights and title, which may cause permitting delays or opposition by Aboriginal groups, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, as well as risks relating to the uncertainties with respect to the effects of COVID-19. 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. For more information on Amarc Resources Ltd., investors should review Amarc's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com .

Figure 1: DUKE Deposit DK22010: Confirms Scale and Depth Potential with Mineralization Open in All Directions

Figure 2: DUKE Deposit IP Chargeability Anomaly Indicates a Significant Mineralized System

SOURCE: Amarc Resources Ltd.

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Electromedical Products International, Inc. (EPI), manufacturer of Alpha-Stim technology, announced today that it has awarded its first annual Innovative Young Investigator in Brain Stimulation Award to Tobias Schwippel, M.D.

EPI established this award to recognize and nurture excellence in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation. Recipients are early-career researchers making notable, innovative contributions in the field who demonstrate the potential to be leaders in clinical research and practice. The award provides recipients a travel stipend to attend a prestigious conference in the field of their choice to present their work.

Dr. Tobias Schwippel, Director of Clinical Research at the Carolina Center for Neurostimulation, focuses on non-invasive brain stimulation research in psychiatry. His current research, investigating the neural signatures thought to underlie multiple psychiatric disorders, may build a foundation for future, more efficacious therapeutic approaches.

"Dr. Schwippel is a rising star pursuing new, and potentially meaningful, research approaches in neurostimulation in psychiatry," said Flavio Frohlich, Ph.D., chair of EPI's Scientific Advisory Board. "With this award, EPI is proud to invest in future generations of talented clinicians exploring non-invasive brain stimulation approaches that may change and improve treatment paradigms to benefit patients."

Dr. Schwippel will attend the International Brain Stimulation Conference, being held February 19 22 in Lisbon, Portugal, where he will host a Q&A session on the future of brain stimulation in psychiatry. He will be joined by Leah Townsend, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of EPI.

About Electromedical Products International, Inc. (EPI)

EPI is a leading medical device company in non-invasive brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders and microcurrent therapy for pain management. The company is the manufacturer of Alpha-Stim, a prescription medical device available in more than 50 countries worldwide (prescription not required outside the U.S.). Alpha-Stim is FDA cleared to provide fast, safe, and effective treatment of anxiety, insomnia, and depression via cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) and pain via microcurrent electrical therapy (MET). Learn more at www.alpha-stim.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005354/en/

Contacts:

Joe Duraes

Pazanga Health Communications

jduraes@pazangahealth.com

(917) 687-6419
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 76% of employees in technology roles across Canada are looking to move jobs in the first half of the year, according to new research.

According to the research by global talent services company, Morgan McKinley for its 2023 Salary Guide , one in two (50%) of technology employers in Canada believe they will lose staff in the first half of 2023 due to higher earning potential elsewhere.

The survey revealed that 59% of Canadian employees are expecting their salaries to increase this year, whilst 23% think their salary will stay the same. 65% are also expecting some form of bonus payout.

70% of employers had to offer higher than expected salaries to attract new employees over the past 12 months. Furthermore, 60% of employers in Canada think that salaries in their specific sector will rise in 2023.

Ian Kinsella, Managing Director of Morgan McKinley Canada, commented: "Many technology companies in Canada will be approaching 2023 cautiously, having learnt some important lessons last year. When faced with a market correction, many leaders came forward to say they made mistakes and hired aggressively. All that said, when consumer demand spikes like it did in 2020/2021, it's hard to see any other outcome than a hiring surge. We might see certain companies begin to loosen hiring freezes in the first few months of this year; especially those that enforced freezes early in 2022."

"When times are tough, companies turn to hiring contractors, which offers a loophole around headcount challenges. Last year, this was evident in Cyber Security where companies were able to get budget signed off to continue hiring as fears of ransomware and cyber hacks grew. We expect the contracting market in technology to be more buoyant again this year."

"Even with a market correction and a potential global recession, our guide showed that technology salaries in Canada increased. A key difference is that the $200K job offers that were frequent in 2021 for individual contributors working across product, software and SRE were few and far between."

The Morgan McKinley 2023 Salary Guide presents up-to-date salary data for a wide range of technology roles across Canada, providing hiring managers with industry benchmarks when they are working out what to pay employees and giving professionals more visibility over what they can earn.

Research from businesses and professionals was conducted to find out what companies' hiring intentions are for 2023, whether there is an appetite to change jobs, and what the expectations are for movement on salaries.

Kinsella concluded: "It's a great time to hire as there is likely to be less competition whilst companies figure out what their needs are for this year. Still, it's important to be mindful of benchmarks - you don't want to over-offer, but equally you need to be paying salaries that are attractive to high performers. The top talent knows their market worth, so businesses will still need to meet the salary expectations of 2021, or more."

For the Morgan McKinley Canada 2023 Salary Guide, visit: https://www.morganmckinley.com/ca/salary-guide

About Morgan McKinley

Morgan McKinley is a global talent services expert, offering the full spectrum of solutions to meet employers' and jobseekers' needs. With 19 offices in 10 countries and nearly 1000 employees, it provides 3 distinct solutions for customers. Morgan McKinley Recruitment Solutions encompassing deep expertise across 10 professional disciplines offering temporary, contract and permanent recruitment; Morgan McKinley Executive Search for targeted C-Suite talent searches; and Morgan McKinley Talent Solutions including RPO, MSP, Project Recruitment and more.

https://www.morganmckinley.com

Contact: Sharmee Mavadia, smavadia@morganmckinley.co.uk

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The Gogoro Network of E2W battery-swapping locations provides instant power without the hassle of charging, boosting the rider experience via low-carbon transportation for a greener and more sustainable environment.

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its assessment of the global mobility sharing solutions and battery swappable for electric smartscooter industries, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Gogoro with the 2023 Global Company of the Year Award for battery swapping for electric two-wheel vehicles and Gogoro's GoShare with the 2023 Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award. The company developed Gogoro Network, an innovative battery swapping platform for urban electric two-wheel (E2W) scooters, mopeds, and motorbikes. Beyond creating its own line of electric scooters, Gogoro provides vehicle inventions to other companies that build similar modes of transportation. Powered by AI-based advanced cloud services, the company can monitor and regulate battery availability, safety, and security to make intelligent, portable electric power accessible to all urban riders.





Gogoro delivers an innovative, seamless solution to urban populations that need affordable transportation with minimal maintenance and a leading-edge sustainability impact. It leverages its expertise, technology, partnerships, and first-mover advantage to meet customers' needs for Battery-Swapping-as-a-Service to power E2Ws. Gogoro's solutions go beyond its extensive expertise and best-in-class capabilities, with customer value as a strategic imperative. The transportation solution is easy-to-use, ecofriendly, and reliable. The Gogoro Network supports more than 527,000 riders and has more than 1.1 million smart batteries in circulation throughout the more than 12,200 battery swapping GoStations at more than 2,500 locations. With upwards of 350,000 daily battery swaps and more than 425 million battery swaps to date, the Gogoro Network has saved more than 581,000 tons of carbon dioxide since its inception.

John Sisemor, best practices research analyst, Frost & Sullivan, observed: "As a leading innovator in battery swapping and smart electric vehicles, Gogoro benefits from a first-mover advantage and leads Taiwan's two-wheel electric market with 90% market share. More than 25% of all last mile deliveries in Taiwan use Gogoro battery swapping. GoShare takes advantage of all the benefits that Gogoro but enables non-scooter owners to use Gogoro Smartscooters and all of the benefits of battery swapping. And unlike most sharing services where companies need to relocate batteries and vehicles, GoShare riders swap the batteries themselves. Because of this, GoShare stands to reap the rewards of great and growing demand."

GoShare utilizes Gogoro's technology, products, and services in close collaboration with various stakeholders and cross-industry partners to boost the green transportation solution and evolve alongside market needs and trends, giving it a competitive advantage. As a result, riders have access to GoShare scooters whenever they need them, including access to the Gogoro battery-swapping network which enables them to extend range as needed. GoShare is a disruptive leader in the Asia-Pacific mobility sharing solutions industry, continually evolving and creating barriers for both existing competitors and new market entrants. Consumers enjoy an extended usable range, power output boosts, and enhancements to overall performance. With more than 1.8 million riders, GoShare has hosted more than 26 million trips across seven cities in Taiwan since launching

"Gogoro GoShare combines the manufacturing expertise and battery swapping network of Gogoro with the ease of GoShare to incorporate customer-centric strategies, building strong brand equity and a sterling reputation, which elevates its leadership and status as a preferred partner in the market," added Sisemor.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents Company of the Year and Entrepreneurial Company of the Year awards to organizations that demonstrate excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The awards recognize a high degree product and technology innovation as well as leadership in customer value and market penetration. The Entrepreneurial Company of the Year award looks at the market's emerging players and recognizes the best practices that position them for future growth excellence.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Claudia Toscano

P: 1.956.533.5915

E: claudia.toscano@frost.com

About Gogoro

Founded in 2011 to rethink urban energy and inspire the world to move through cities in smarter and more sustainable ways, Gogoro leverages the power of innovation to change the way urban energy is distributed and consumed. Gogoro's battery swapping and vehicle platforms offer a smart, proven and sustainable long-term ecosystem for delivering a new approach to urban mobility. Gogoro has quickly become an innovation leader in vehicle design and electric propulsion, smart battery design, battery swapping, and advanced cloud services that utilize artificial intelligence to manage battery availability and safety. The challenge is massive, but the opportunity to disrupt the status quo, establish new standards, and achieve new levels of sustainable transportation growth in densely populated cities is even greater. For more information, visit https://www.gogoro.com/news and follow Gogoro on Twitter: @wearegogoro.

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Digital pathology solutions are increasingly used in the preclinical and clinical development phases, particularly toxicologic pathology and clinical trials, speeding up the process and curtailing expenses.

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan assessed the artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital pathology solutions industry, and based on its findings, recognizes Flagship Biosciences with the 2023 North American Customer Value Leadership Award. The company is a technology-driven spatial biology and biomarker analytics service provider using the most precise and comprehensive data. The company's consultative approach and cutting-edge AI are changing biomarker analysis to enhance drug development and diagnostics. It uniquely leverages its technology to meet its customers' needs.





Flagship's solution goes beyond its extensive expertise and best-in-class technical capabilities, with customer value as a strategic imperative. The company has earned a sterling reputation supporting customers' path toward understanding spatial molecular standpoints, with data-driven characterization supporting their decision-making through the years. It recently acquired Interpace Pharma Solutions (IPS). Flagship and IPS' combined technologies and capabilities empower a holistic and comprehensive view of the patient's molecular and tissue profile status regardless of sample type, i.e., bodily fluid- or tissue-based analysis. For instance, the company can leverage liquid biopsy to characterize each patient's immune or cancer cells and anticipate treatment response when a tumor biopsy is impossible.

Natalia Casanovas, Best Practices Research analyst at Frost & Sullivan noted, "Communication flow is essential in data-driven project management and decision-making for successful clinical research and accurate diagnostics. Flagship's 90% retention rate underscores high customer satisfaction, highlighting its service excellence."

Flagship consistently brings to market best-in-class solutions with its customer-focused strategy. Most customers lack in-house biomarker and spatial biology capabilities, considering Flagship an extension of their scientific team. Flagship's virtual pathology offering aligns with decentralized clinical trials, a growing trend. It can facilitate protocol adjustments through trial sites and regions to optimize strategies for more successful clinical trials. It offers clinically-validated solutions for clinical research applications. A premier spatial biology and biomarker partner, Flagship uniquely provides flexible, end-to-end oncology and gene and cell therapy AI-powered digital pathology solutions for clinical trials in validated settings. Its customers have access to innovative technology customized to meet sophisticated drug development needs and regulatory requirements, which no other provider can match.

"Customers know Flagship for its flexibility, deep scientific understanding of what customers need to achieve their objectives, and purposeful AI-powered solutions instead of cookie-cutter services. Its customer-first approach offers immense value to existing and new customers," added Surbhi Gupta, an Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers, focusing on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's unique focus on augmenting the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and customer base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Kristen Moore

P: 210.247.3823

E: kristen.moore@frost.com

About Flagship

Founded in 2009, Flagship Biosciences, Inc., is a technology-driven spatial biology and biomarker services company delivering the most accurate and informative data available. We are revolutionizing biomarker analysis to improve drug development and diagnostics using the power of AI with a consultative approach. Our services and technology dramatically improve on the data and interpretation from traditional methods, eliminating variability associated with typical biomarker assessments, and bringing new insights to analysis results. We provide expert scientific consultation for every client. Our team interprets results, contextualizes biology, and identifies the best course for success. For more information, please visit flagshipbio.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Pioneer of adversary attribution and threat actor Indicators of Attack (IOAs) continues to set the standard in Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) industry

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan has recognized CrowdStrike with the 2022 Global Company of the Year Award in Cyber Threat Intelligence. As the threat intelligence market leader, CrowdStrike pioneered adversary attribution - now an industry standard - helping organizations understand the goals, behaviors and TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures) of eCrime, nation state and hacktivist cyber threat actors.





"CrowdStrike has more than 10 years in the Cyber Threat Intelligence industry and it continues to dominate in this space. Its threat intelligence is actionable, automated, and built into daily workflows, powering the company's broad cybersecurity portfolio," said Clara Dello Russo, senior research analyst for Frost & Sullivan's Cybersecurity Program, observed. CrowdStrike has displayed solid financial performance, remarkable growth and a rapidly expanding international footprint. With its strong overall performance, Crowdstrike earns Frost & Sullivan's 2022 Global Company of the Year Award in the Cyber Threat Intelligence industry.

CrowdStrike's Intelligence Team benefits from an unparalleled raw collection of intelligence data, leveraging trillions of events per day from across CrowdStrike's 20,000 plus global platform customers as well as real-world threat hunting and incident response insights. The behavioral analysis and Indicators of Attack derived from this intelligence are then fed back into the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, arming all CrowdStrike customers with exceptional visibility to better protect against ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated adversaries. This natively-integrated threat intelligence means that CrowdStrike's capabilities - from EDR and XDR to cloud security and posture management to identity protection to vulnerability management and more - all benefit from this intelligence, working together to give customers a single, contextual approach to protecting their enterprise and stopping breaches.

Clara Dello Russo observed, "CrowdStrike's threat intelligence solutions were designed to meet customers' current needs, growing with them as their concept of threat intelligence matures. This strategy allows the company to address the needs of the most basic customers that are implementing CTI for the first time and the more strategic requirements of advanced organizations and government entities."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Claudia Toscano

P: 1.956.533.5915

E: claudia.toscano@frost.com

Contact

Kevin Benacci

CrowdStrike Corporate Communications

press@crowdstrike.com

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The EPA Deploys Relativity's SaaS Platform as its Cloud Solution for FOIA Requests

Deloitte supported the agency's migration to RelativityOne Government, which provides integrated AI and state-of-the-art security

CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Relativity and Deloitte today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deployed Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorized SaaS platform, RelativityOne Government, as its cloud solution for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.





Relativity, a global legal technology company, with the support of Deloitte, a market-leading provider of litigation support and e-discovery services, helped facilitate the agency's migration to RelativityOne Government. This move to RelativityOne Government provides the EPA with the security, flexibility and extensibility of the cloud-based data discovery product powered by AI.

"Our advanced AI capabilities empower teams at the EPA to spend less time combing through mountains of data and more time collaborating and gleaning insights from analytics," said Doug Cowan, Managing Director, Government Sales at Relativity. "The EPA is able to use the information to guide courses of action for their litigation matters or FOIA requests, which is additive to the litigation and e-discovery matters in which they were already leveraging RelativityOne Government. We look forward to seeing what the EPA will accomplish with a platform built exclusively for the cloud, and hope that it encourages other U.S. government agencies that are contemplating the use of SaaS solutions for their e-discovery work."

The EPA processes thousands of FOIA requests per year. The intuitive RelativityOne Government solution provides the EPA with the flexibility and speed to process this large volume of FOIA requests, and handle litigation and investigations of varying sizes securely and accurately. The solution creates a consistent and repeatable approach which allows for lower costs, reduced risks and an increased efficiency in the agency's processes.

"Deloitte's experience supporting one of the first agencies to move to RelativityOne Government adds to the extensive and varied history Deloitte has in helping clients leverage innovative technology to achieve their goals," said Chris Knox, Advisory Managing Director, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP and leader of Deloitte's Government and Public Sector Discovery practice. He added, "our extensive knowledge in shaping, planning and driving the migration to the cloud and Relativity's commitment to building the secure and scalable platform for the public sector, were key factors in the EPA's successful deployment."

RelativityOne Government enables the EPA to respond to government matters of increasing complexity, demand, unpredictability and sensitivity. Data-driven insights and related decision-making in the public sector has grown exponentially, and RelativityOne Government helps agencies more securely and efficiently identify relevant documents, personally identifiable information and privileged data.

About Relativity

Relativity makes software to help users organize data, discover the truth and act on it. Its SaaS platform RelativityOne manages large volumes of data and quickly identifies key issues during litigation and internal investigations. Relativity has more than 300,000 users in approximately 40 countries serving thousands of organizations globally, primarily in legal, financial services and government sectors. Please contact Relativity at sales@relativity.com or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information.

About Deloitte

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte & Touche LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Please contact Deloitte at governmentdiscovery@deloitte.com or visit www.deloitte.com/us/government for more information.

CONTACT: PR@relativity.com

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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Reflective of weak economic activity towards the end of the year, Eurozone industrial production declined more than expected and the trade deficit widened in December, suggesting that the currency bloc is not far from a recession.



Industrial production was down 1.1 percent on a monthly basis in December, in contrast to the 1.4 percent increase in November, Eurostat reported. Output was forecast to fall 0.8 percent.



All sub-components posted decline in December except energy output, which gained 1.3 percent. Production of intermediate goods slid 2.8 percent and that of durable consumer goods by 1.4 percent.



Non-durable consumer goods and capital goods output declined 1.0 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.



Further, industrial production logged its first annual decline in five months in December. Production eased 1.7 percent, in contrast to the 2.8 percent increase in November and bigger than economists' forecast of -0.7 percent.



Separate data from Eurostat showed that the trade balance swung to deficit in 2022. The trade deficit totaled EUR 314.7 billion in 2022 compared with a EUR 116.4 billion surplus in the previous year.



Data showed that exports grew notably by 18.0 percent. At the same time, imports logged a much faster increase of 37.5 percent.



In December, the trade deficit rose to EUR 18.1 billion from EUR 14.4 billion in November.



Month-on-month, exports decreased by a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent and imports fell 2.9 percent.



Industrial output and foreign trade data highlight the weakening in the economy at the end of last year, Capital Economics' economist Adrian Prettejohn said.



The economist expects the economy to enter a recession this year as the squeeze on real incomes and past monetary tightening dampen domestic demand, while exports will also struggle.



'Given continued weak demand and supply side problems, we cannot expect much more than a path of stagnation for industry,' ING economist Bert Colijn said. 'A rebound is too much to ask for at the moment.'



However, the economic forecast from the EU suggested that euro area is set to avoid a recession and gradually pick up pace next year following the favorable development in energy prices and the diversification of supply sources. The EU forecast the euro area to expand 0.9 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2024.



In the latest World Economic Outlook Update, released in January, the International Monetary Fund projected growth in Eurozone to bottom out at 0.7 percent this year before improving to 1.6 percent in 2024.



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Focused on Increasing Awareness and Enhancing Stockholder Value

KNOXVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Blue Earth Resources, Inc. (the "Company," "we," "our," or "us") (OTC PINK:BERI) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Fuel Trader Supply and Fuel Trader Resource Management, today announced that it has retained ClearThink Capital ("ClearThink"), a strategic advisory firm, to develop and deploy a comprehensive investor outreach and communications program.

"We believe we are now ready to enter the next growth phase of our business, as we successfully closed and integrated our most recent acquisitions of Fuel Trader Supply and Fuel Trader Resource Management," stated, Scott M. Boruff, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Earth Resources. While we increased our revenue by 350% to $31.0 million for our most recently reported quarter ended November 30, 2022, we are also looking to improve our capital markets positioning by becoming an SEC reporting and compliant company with an eye on an uplist to a major national exchange."

Boruff, continued, "As we look to all of this positive momentum, our Board and management believe it is an appropriate time to retain a proactive strategic investor relations firm to help us reach new potential investors and effectively communicate our investment thesis. We are confident that ClearThink will help us more effectively communicate our strategy, business objectives and corporate milestones to a wider audience of sophisticated investors and improve our visibility and awareness."

Brian Loper, Senior VP and Account Manager of ClearThink, commented, "Under Scott's leadership, Blue Earth Resources has begun to execute on its M&A and integration strategy.With strengthened operations, trajectory of profitability, a continued M&A plan and an improved capital markets positioning, we believe Blue Earth's investment proposition is compelling, and the ClearThink team is eager to elevate the company's IR efforts. These efforts will include implementing a comprehensive targeting strategy to communicate a more clear and concise message to an expanded audience of relevant investors that we expect, over time, should help unlock and drive stockholder value.

ClearThink is a consulting firm known for its ability to connect underfollowed and undervalued smaller reporting companies with sophisticated institutional investors, buy-side and sell-side analysts, retail brokerage firms and accredited individual investors. Leveraging decades of cumulative experience, ClearThink develops strategies to help clients effectively communicate with the investment community and works to increase their exposure through targeted outreach and transparent positioning. ClearThink helps public companies deliver the right message to the right audience. Over time, ClearThink helps its clients navigate up the Wall Street value chain and to help them secure a reasonable valuation by broadening their audience, expanding institutional ownership and ensuring clear, consistent communication with the public.

About Blue Earth Resources, Inc. (OTC PINK:BERI)

Blue Earth Resources, Inc. procures refined fuels from refineries and wholesalers and distributes it to both large retailers and single site operators. Our solution represents lower risk and more stable pricing to our vendors and customers. In addition, our custom branding services include imaging, design and consultation services to assist with custom branding. Blue Earth Resources, Inc. is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.

For additional information, please visit: https://berifuels.com

Forward-looking Statements:

Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans, or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future activities and are subject to many risks and uncertainties. Due to such risks and uncertainties, actual events may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the future tense or other forward-looking words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "should," "may," "will," "continue," "strategy," "position," "opportunity," statements regarding the "flexibility" of the Company or the negative of any of those terms or other variations of them or by comparable terminology.

Investor Contacts:

Scott M. Boruff, CEO

investorrelations@berifuels.com

888-462-2374

ClearThink Capital

nyc@clearthink.capital

SOURCE: Blue Earth Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739372/Blue-Earth-Resources-Engages-ClearThink-to-Lead-Expanded-Investor-Relations-Program
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Chemours and the Wilmington, Delaware-based EastSide Charter School (ESCS) recently broke ground at Eastside Charter School on a new 24,000 square foot community STEM facility - the Chemours STEM Hub at EastSide Charter School. The new Hub will serve as a premier access point for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and other development opportunities in the Wilmington community. Made possible in part by a $4 million grant Chemours made in 2021 through its ChemFEST school partnership program, the Chemours STEM Hub will offer public spaces for learning and improve access for more students from more backgrounds to be exposed to, excited by, and interested in STEM.

"Shaping the world's future through the power of our chemistry requires great innovators and problem solvers from all backgrounds. And ensuring we have a robust pipeline of future STEM talent requires strategic investments to nurture students and members of communities who have been underserved, under-resourced, and often overlooked," said Mark Newman, President and CEO at Chemours. "Our ChemFEST school partnership program provides greater access and support so students can grow, explore, and achieve their dreams. We're excited to take another step closer to opening the doors on the Chemours STEM Hub at EastSide Charter School."

The Chemours STEM Hub will house ESCS APEX (Middle School Honors) and STEM programs and include a maker's space, 3D printing, engineering, and other STEM-related activities. The impacts of the Hub will extend beyond the school day as it will double as a community center after-school, on weekends, and in the summer. Out-of-school programming will include mentoring, robotics, coding, chemistry, biology, renewable energy, and Science Olympiad competitions.

"We are stronger and better when we work together. And in a state with an impressive amount of STEM career opportunities, we do not have community spaces to prepare our citizens for these opportunities," said Aaron Bass, CEO at EastSide Charter School. "The new Chemours STEM Hub at EastSide Charter School will allow students to receive world-class instruction from titans in the STEM field and gain skills that can improve their lives. Additionally, parents will have the opportunity to gain job skills and interview with STEM-focused businesses. The Chemours STEM Hub will be where community members, corporations, and educators can unite to transform our state."

The Chemours STEM Hub at ESCS is anticipated to be completed by the start of the 2024-2025 school year, and has received support from the Delaware Federal Congressional Delegation, the Delaware General Assembly, Barclays, and more.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Chemours Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: The Chemours Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/chemours-company

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: The Chemours Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739458/Chemours-and-EastSide-Charter-School-Break-Ground-on-the-New-Chemours-STEM-Hub
Scottsdale, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - TriStar Gold Inc. (TSXV: TSG) (OTCQX: TSGZF) ("TriStar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Adelaide Capital ("Adelaide"), a leading investor relations and capital markets advisory firm, to provide investor relations and consulting services to the Company.

Adelaide is a full-service investor relations firm that brings a unique and powerful perspective and a re-engineered investor relations business model. Adelaide will work closely with TriStar Gold to develop and deploy a comprehensive capital markets program, which includes assisting with non-deal roadshows, virtual campaigns, social media, conferences and assisting with investor communication. In exchange for Adelaide's services, the Company has agreed to pay a monthly fee of C$10,000 for a one-year term, in addition to 300,000 stock options at an exercise price of $0.16 per share and a five-year term, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company.

"We are excited to collaborate with Adelaide Capital, who will offer us access to a wider investor network in Canada and the US. Broadening our investor network is a key objective in 2023 as we continue to advance the permitting process for the exciting Castelo de Sonhos project in Para State, Brazil," stated Nick Appleyard, CEO of TriStar Gold Inc.

About TriStar Gold Inc.

TriStar Gold is an exploration and development company focused on precious metals properties in the Americas that have the potential to become significant producing mines. The Company's current flagship property is Castelo de Sonhos in Para State, Brazil. The Company's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TSG and on the OTCQX under the symbol TSGZF.

Further information is available at www.tristargold.com.

Contacts

TriStar Gold Investor Contact

Deborah Honig

647-203-8793

Deborah@adcap.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154846
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - York Harbour Metals Inc. (TSXV: YORK) (OTC Pink: YORKF) (FSE: 5DE0) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the start of its diamond drilling program at its 100% owned York Harbour Copper-Zinc-Silver Project in Newfoundland. The Company's contractors have begun mobilizing the diamond drilling rig and support equipment with drilling commencing in one week.

York Harbour plans to continue testing the high-grade mineralization at and north of the A Zone (see News Release Jan 24, 2023) by testing targets identified when the 2022 Induced Polarization ("IP") survey results were compiled with historical geological, induced polarization ("IP") and electromagnetic ("EM") results. The Company also plans to drill test three high priority exploration targets distant from the A Zone, including: the K Zone situated 1.2 km to the south, the Pinnacle Lake target situated 2.4 km to the southwest, and the No. 4 Brook target situated 1.2 km due west. All three property-wide targets have favourable host rock settings, coincident copper, zinc, lead and silver soil geochemical anomalies and both IP and EM geophysical anomalies that have been identified from past and recent exploration works.

"The primary goal for the beginning of our 2023 drilling is to further delineate the northern extension of the A Zone which has all the geological, geochemical and geophysical indicators of continued high-grade VMS mineralization," stated Bruce Durham, President & CEO. "We are also eager to commence testing targets beyond the Main Mine Area," he added.

About York Harbour Project

In the 1890's, high-grade mineralization containing copper, zinc and silver were discovered and mined. The ore was then directly shipped to the United Kingdom for milling and smelting. Mining operations continued until 1918 and resumed for a short while in the early 1950's when metal prices improved. Historic drilling efforts included 210 underground exploration holes totalling 10,994 metres and 45 surface exploration holes totalling an additional 8,235 metres. Initially, the project encompassed 650 hectares, but following recent exploration programs York Harbour Metals has increased their claim holdings to 4,725 hectares.

Previous drilling efforts were limited to a depth of 150 metres and focused on a 400-metre strike length, known as the 'Main Mine Area'. Recent exploration has shown that the mineralization remains open both along strike and to depth. In addition to the Main Mine area, recent geophysical surveying and diamond drilling have confirmed the historic high-grade mineralization and identified additional resources within known zones as well as several highly promising regional targets. The project benefits from its proximity to tidewater, power, roads, and a local workforce.

Qualified Person

Doug Blanchflower, P. Geo., a Director of York Harbour and Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and accepted the technical material contained in this news release.

About the Company

York Harbour Metals Inc. (TSXV: YORK) (OTC Pink: YORKF) (FSE: 5DE0) is an exploration and development company with a focus on two high-grade projects in Newfoundland.

The York Harbour Copper-Zinc-Silver Project, located approximately 27 km from Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, where the Company intends to continue drill testing more than 11 known mineralized zones and explore additional volcanogenic massive sulphide targets.

The Company recently announced the acquisition of a high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") project also located in Newfoundland. The Bottom Brook Critical Metals Project covers 13,025 hectares, and is located next to the Trans Canada Highway just 27 km from the deep-water port at Turf Point. York Harbour plans to actively identify additional drill targets through soil sampling and mapping, with a substantial drill program scheduled later this year.

For further details on York Harbour Metals, please reach out to info@yorkharbourmetals.com or call +1-778-302-2257. You may also visit the Company's website at www.yorkharbourmetals.com for past news releases, media interviews and opinion-editorial pieces by management.

On Behalf of The Board of Directors,

Bruce Durham

CEO, President, and Director

Telephone: 778-302-2257 | Email: info@yorkharbourmetals.com

Website: www.yorkharbourmetals.com

1518 - 800 Pender Street W, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2V6

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 may contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements herein include but are not limited to statements relating to the prospects for development of the Company's mineral properties, and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. 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/154877
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Kaya Holdings, Inc., ("KAYS" or the "Company") (OTCQB:KAYS), a pioneer in the U.S. cannabis industry, announced today that its subsidiary Fifth Dimension Therapeutics (FDT) has reached an agreement in principle with Florida-based Total Holistic Center ("Total Holistic") to assist FDT with the development of its ketamine treatment model as a first step in the launch of its planned Fifth Dimension Therapeutics Mind Care Clinics and Telehealth Services.

Dr. Anya Temer of Total Holistic Center will be developing treatment protocols for KAYS' Ketamine Clinic and Telehealth Model to be Launched from Holistic's Boca Raton, Lake Worth, and Miami Beach Clinics

Initial plans call for co-locating the Company's "Keta-Kaya" business within Total Holistic Center's existing offices in Boca Raton, Fort Worth and Miami Beach upon the completion of required protocols. The hybrid Ketamine Clinic and Telehealth model will operate under the direction of Dr. Anya Temer, who will initially serve as FDT's Medical Director in Florida.

Off label Ketamine Therapy has literally offered a new life to some afflicted with treatment resistant depression (TRD) and PTSD, part of a Global Suicide Epidemic that claims a life approximately every 40 seconds.

"This is our first step in the rollout of our business plan that calls for us to establish Fifth Dimension Therapeutics Mind Care Clinics and Telehealth Operations in multiple geographic locations," stated W. David Jones, a KAYS Senior Advisor and driving force behind the company's developing psychedelic operations. "Ketamine, and soon psilocybin, offer breakthrough opportunities to effectively confront debilitating treatment resistant mental health conditions like depression and PTSD. It is the potential to help people while providing an exciting business opportunity motivates us."

"I, and the entire Holistic team, are excited to work with the Kaya team and implement the Fifth Dimension Therapeutics ketamine therapy program. We look forward to working with them in and potentially beyond Florida," said Dr. Anya Temer. "We are pleased to work together to innovate psychedelic care delivery."

"We are working diligently to develop the treatment experiences we believe will most benefit our target customers. We believe that being able to work with Dr. Temer and the Total Holistic Center team will certainly contribute significantly to the high standards of treatment to which we aspire," concluded KAYS' CEO Craig Frank. "As our cannabis activities shift to more rapidly growing overseas markets, we plan to focus more of our domestic U.S. efforts to establishing Fifth Dimension Therapeutics. The electricity in the air has returned."

About Ketamine Therapy

Ketamine was FDA approved it as an anesthetic for people in 1970 and was used in treating injured soldiers on the battlefields in the Vietnam War. Since that time Emergency responders began to give it to an agitated patient who, for example, they have rescued from a suicide attempt, which has led Doctors to realize that the drug had powerful effects against depression and suicidal thoughts.

Today, Ketamine has been repurposed as an off-label analgesic and antidepressant. Extensive investigation of its rapid anti-depressive effects has been a breakthrough offering a potential lifesaving reprieve to those suffering from Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) and has also been shown to reduce suicidal ideation in depressed patients at risk for suicide. Similarly, the administration of ketamine was effective at reducing depressive symptoms, acute suicidal behavior, and mood lability in youth with TRD and bipolar disease.

In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a nasal spray called esketamine, derived from ketamine-an anesthetic that has made waves for its surprising antidepressant effect. Intranasal esketamine is the only form of ketamine that has been FDA-approved as a treatment for TRD. However, Physicians have been prescribing racemic ketamine off-label to patients with depression for at least two decades. Additionally, Telehealth providers deliver oral tablets of ketamine that are taken at home for convenience with remote monitoring equipment and protocols for safety (also an off-label use). Using an approved drug for unapproved purposes (such as Ozempic for weight loss) is legal with the patient's informed consent.

KAYS SHAREHOLDERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES - PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION

We routinely receive calls and emails from shareholders asking us questions about KAYS, so we are asking all KAYS shareholders to email us and confirm their contact info. Please email info@kayaholdings.com with "KAYS shareholder update" in the subject line and include your name, address, phone number and number of shares you own so that we may make sure you receive all updates and can respond to any shareholder inquiries.

About Dr. Anya Temer and Total Holistic Center (https://www.totalholisticcenter.com)

Dr. Temer is the medical director and chief practitioner at Total Holistic Centers, a Florida based Alternative Healthcare Provider with offices in Boca Raton, Fort Worth, and Miami Beach.

Dr. Temer completed Bachelor degree with a Major in Psychology from Hunter University. She received her medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2011, completing her residency at Westchester General Hospital of Florida in 2014. Since that time she has dedicated her career to the holistic / integrative view of medicine that the human is not a series of separate organs, but rather one cohesive unit that needs to be viewed as a whole. Much of the therapy at Total Holistic Center is focused on the mind - body connection while using the latest personalized biometrics to understand the root cause of each client's problems. Her dedication to the "whole - person / root - cause" approach sharpened during her residency as she saw imbalances between such areas as patient treatment, nutrition, exercise, and mental health.

About Kaya Holdings, Inc. (www.kayaholdings.com )

Kaya Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:KAYS) is a Mind Care Company with longstanding operations as a touch-the-plant, vertically integrated legal cannabis business operating a number of majority-owned subsidiaries to retail, cultivate, produce and distribute premium medical and recreational cannabis products. The Company is evolving into a full mind care enterprise with the planned introduction psilocybin at-home and in-facility treatments, as permitted by law. KAYS is a fully reporting, US-based publicly traded company, listed for trading on the OTCQB Tier of the over-the-counter market under the symbol KAYS.

Summary of Operations

KAYS corporate structure includes the following four majority-owned subsidiaries, each responding to various demands and opportunities in the cannabis or psychedelic industry:

Fifth Dimension Therapeutics, Inc., serves as the Company's operating branch to the psychedelic treatment sector, including operation of mushroom cultivation facilities, in-facility treatment centers, and at-home treatment programs.

Marijuana Holdings Americas, Inc. owns the Kaya Shack brand of licensed medical and recreational marijuana stores (www.kayashack.com) and the Kaya Farms brand of cannabis production and processing operations that operate in the United States.

Kaya Brands International, Inc., serves as the vehicle for the Company's non-U.S. operations including cultivation activities in Greece and Israel.

Kaya Brands USA, Inc. owns a wide range of proprietary brands of cannabis extracts, oils, pre-rolls, topicals, edibles and beverages, cannaceuticals and related accessories.

Important Disclosure

KAYS is planning execution of its stated business objectives in accordance with current understanding of state and local laws and federal enforcement policies and priorities as it relates to cannabis and psychedelics. Potential investors and shareholders are cautioned that KAYS and subsidiaries including FTD will obtain advice of counsel prior to actualizing any portion of their business plan (including but not limited to license applications for the cultivation, distribution or sale of marijuana and psychedelic products, engaging in said activities or acquiring existing production/sales operations). Advice of counsel with regard to specific activities of KAYS, federal, state or local legal action or changes in federal government policy and/or state and local laws may adversely affect business operations and shareholder value.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect" or similar statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, acceptance of the Company's current and future products and services in the marketplace, the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive regulatory approvals of such products, competitive factors, dependence upon third-party vendors, and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

For more information contact Investor Relations: info@kayaholdings.com or 561-400-1971.

SOURCE: Kaya Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739415/Kaya-Holdings-Inc-Psychedelics-Subsidiary-Taps-Total-Holistic-Center-to-Develop-Ketamine-Treatment-Model-for-Launch-of-Fifth-Dimension-Therapeutics-Mind-Care-Clinics
100m USD ARR Milestone and Phenomenal Growth Reinforces Armis' Position as The Leader in Asset Cybersecurity as it Prepares for Future IPO

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Armis , the leading asset visibility and security provider, announced today that it has surpassed the 100m USD mark in annual recurring revenue (ARR) growing from 1m USD to 100m USD in less than 5 years. This makes the company one of the fastest-growing centaurs in the SaaS and cloud technology space and the fastest-growing cyber start-up for asset visibility, intelligence and security.

"Making centaur status so quickly is testament to the business use cases we solve and why customers around the world have chosen us over anyone else," said Yevgeny Dibrov, CEO and Co-founder of Armis . "Armis offers a comprehensive platform to enable customers to address all their asset visibility, vulnerability, intelligence and security needs in one place. As we look towards future opportunities, including a potential IPO, we continue to ensure we are growing efficiently, maximizing our business and partner model and remain on track to cash flow profitability."





Armis' explosive growth has been driven by its award-winning asset visibility and security platform which has been adopted by the world's leading organizations and Fortune 100 companies, such as Colgate-Palmolive , Mondelez International, DocuSign, Allegro Microsystems and Takeda Pharmaceuticals in addition to many national, state, regional and federal entities across North America, EMEA and APJ.

For Takeda Pharmaceuticals, one of the biggest risks is a disruption in supply chain continuity, which would slow or prevent the delivery of medicine to patients. "The most likely cause for not getting product to patients is a potential incident where a cyberattack takes a plant down and renders the computer-driven devices unusable," said Mike Towers, Chief Digital Trust Officer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals. "We primarily deployed Armis for this use case-to improve our supply continuity and the resiliency of our overall manufacturing process. At Takeda, nothing comes before making sure that we get our medicines to patients, and Armis is one of the key contributors to making sure that we can do that."

Listen to Mike Towers, Chief Digital Trust Officer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals discussing why they chose Armis. Click here to read a detailed case study about how Armis helps Takeda Pharmaceuticals address their visibility and security challenges.

Following a 300m USD investment round in November 2021, Armis was valued at 3.4b USD making it one of the hottest start-ups in cybersecurity. Armis is backed by world-class investors including Insight Venture Partners , CapitalG , Brookfield , One Equity Partners and Georgian .

Armis has developed a world-class channel, resale and distribution model and is fortunate to be able to partner with organizations like Accenture, AWS, Booz Allen Hamilton, Capgemini, Check Point, Fortinet, Google Cloud, HCL, KPMG, Kroll, Nuvias, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, Wipro and hundreds more. Ensuring Armis customers can access services and support wherever they may be in the world.

"We have placed great emphasis on growing the business efficiently, achieving world-class gross margins and getting to profitability in the near term. We have tremendous progress on all these fronts," said Jonathan Carr, Chief Financial Officer of Armis . "I am pleased to say that we are on track to maintain our strong growth and achieve cash flow profitability in 2024, two quarters earlier than we had originally envisioned. Pair that with our strong balance sheet and we are in a very good position to maximize the opportunities ahead of us."

In 2021 and 2022 Deloitte ranked Armis as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America. In 2022, Armis was voted Tech Growth Business of the Year . As part of the business' continuing expansion efforts and its aim to make accessing its services as easy as possible, Armis is now available on both Google Cloud Marketplace and AWS Marketplace giving the firm extended market reach.





Armis operates in a unique position driven significantly by the rapid increase in the number of unmanaged assets. Armis expects the number of unmanaged assets to surpass 50b devices by 2025 alone. This explosion in connectivity and the emergence of a perimeter-less world is resulting in considerable demand for Armis' services.

The Armis Platform is the industry's most comprehensive asset intelligence platform providing unified asset visibility and superior security across all asset types, including IT, IoT, OT, IoMT, cloud and cellular-IoT, managed or unmanaged. In 2022, Armis expanded the number of modules customers can subscribe to, thus increasing the number of real-time use cases it supports and offering clients even more value.

Armis helps to see and secure the operational environments of some of the largest airports and ports in the world. It ensures that critical infrastructure and leading manufacturers can stay online 24/7, 365 days a year. Armis helps to save lives by securing medical assets and patient care environments in some of the largest healthcare delivery organizations around the world, in addition to protecting federal, state and local entities from cyber criminals, rogue nations and other bad actors.

Click here to listen to Dr. Michael Connolly, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Mater Misericordiae University Hospital discussing their deployment of Armis. "Armis gives us precision-based evidence so we can deal with third-party suppliers who are connected to our infrastructure and hold them accountable. All of this helps make our environment a safer place." Click here to read their in-depth case study and learn how Armis helps to keep healthcare environments safe and secure.

Companies trust Armis' real-time and continuous protection to see with full context all managed, unmanaged assets across IT, cloud, IoT devices, medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS) and 5G. If you would like to know more about Armis' award-winning solutions, visit Armis.com or contact us here .

For further information on this news, visit the Armis blog and announcement page.

About Armis

Armis, the leading asset visibility and security company, provides the industry's first unified asset intelligence platform designed to address the new extended attack surface that connected assets create. Fortune 100 companies trust our real-time and continuous protection to see with full context all managed, unmanaged assets across IT, cloud, IoT devices, medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and 5G. Armis provides passive cyber asset management, risk management, and automated enforcement. Armis is a privately held company and headquartered in California.

Media Contact:

Rebecca Cradick,

Senior Director, Global Communications,

Armis

pr@armis.com





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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTCQB: TRUFF) ("Red Light Holland" or the "Company"), an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale of functional mushrooms and mushroom home grow kits in North America and Europe, and a premium brand of psilocybin truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, is proud to announce the Company has committed to becoming an aligned supporter and advocate with TheraPsil, a non-profit organization comprised of healthcare practitioners, patients and advocates, that is engaged in raising money through public donations in support of advancing a charter challenge relating to the prohibition of psilocybin under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act ('CDSA"), on the basis that the prohibition of psilocybin under the CDSA constitutes a violation of Section 7 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the "Charter"). Red Light Holland will provide financial support to TheraPsil in furtherance of its objective in commencing a charter challenge pursuant to Section 7 of the Charter and obtaining remedy from the court in connection with the alleged breach of the Charter (the "Objective")

Financial Commitment of Red Light Holland:

Red Light Holland has agreed to provide financial support of up to $10,000, to TheraPsil in connection with the Objective.

Red Light Holland agrees to match donations received by TheraPsil through public donations commensurate to each $1.00 donated, up to $10,000.





If TheraPsil raises $10,000 in the next three-month period Red Light Holland will explore the possibility of continuing with a significant financial contribution, via another donation match to further support the objective.

Red Light Holland x TheraPsil CEO Collaboration:

Red Light Holland CEO Todd Shapiro and TheraPsil CEO Spencer Hawkswell are proud to join forces, as together these proudly vocal CEOs will collaborate on Print, TV, Radio, Podcast, Social Media posts, Internet interviews and promotional materials to launch and raise awareness to Red Light's matching donation campaign in support of TheraPsil. The lawsuit argues that by denying patients access to psilocybin, the Canadian government is contravening the right to life, liberty and security of patients.

Red Light Holland encourages the public to support this important cause and make a donation today at www.TheraPsil.ca. On top of helping the Charter challenge financially, Red Light Holland will offer to support Paul Lewin, a well-known Cannabis legalization Lawyer and his legal team with expert knowledge and data consensually collected from clients in the Netherlands showing the safety and efficacy of natural psilocybin.

"Red Light is proud to partner and provide financial support with TheraPsil in trying to change the laws to provide all Canadian adults who need it with legal access to psilocybin. We are grateful to be working with such a beautiful organization, who have led the way in Canada to achieve exemptions and special access to magic mushrooms for their patients, helping many in need," said Red Light Holland CEO and Director, Todd Shapiro. "Personally, I'm really blessed to share the stage with TheraPsil CEO Spencer Hawkswell, as together we will promote the matching donation drive wherever we can. Working with Spencer and TheraPsil's respected and experienced legal team, including Paul Lewin and David Wood is truly an incredible partnership, I mean, we've always stated we are the People's company wanting to make a difference for positive change - and we believe this is just another example of that. If successful, Red Light has the opportunity to be a part of leaving a legacy when it comes to giving back and helping those in need - and that makes all of us so proud!"

TheraPsil CEO Spencer Hawkswell: "TheraPsil and our Delegation are in Ottawa this week to advocate for compassionate access to psilocybin. We want to work with the government to find a solution to the cruel treatment of palliative Canadians who are seeking medical access to psilocybin to treat their end-of-life distress and mental illness. Many seek Psilocybin as a treatment for their anxiety, depression, and pain. Some see it as an alternative to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), while others find it helps with the process. If we have the right to die, we should have the right to try Psilocybin. We are encouraging the government to work with Patients, Healthcare professionals and industry on medical regulations. However, this has been fruitless for the past 3 years and patients are still fighting. This Constitutional challenge could be the only way to enshrine the rights of Canadians and ensure access. With Red Light's matching donation and support, we will keep the plaintiffs and lawyers well-funded and on track to ensure change comes swiftly. So please, go to www.TheraPsil.ca and donate today, as Red Light is ready to match your dollars."

"This financial aid from Red Light Holland comes at a crucial time that will greatly benefit the resources we can utilize towards the case," said Paul Lewin, head legal counsel leading the lawsuit.

About Paul Lewin and Sagara LLP

Paul Lewin has been a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto and across Canada for over 20 years. His focus concerns litigation and consultation on matters related to the cannabis plant and psychedelics. He advocates for cannabis rights with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Canada.

About TheraPsil:

TheraPsil is a non-profit coalition dedicated to helping Canadians in medical need access legal, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy and medical psilocybin.

TheraPsil was formed in 2019 and is made up of healthcare practitioners, patients, community members, and advocates.

About Red Light Holland

Red Light Holland is an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale of functional mushrooms and mushroom home grow kits in North America and Europe, and a premium brand of psilocybin truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, in compliance with all applicable laws.

For additional information, please contact:

Todd Shapiro

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Tel: 647-643-TRIP (8747)

Email: todd@redlight.co

Website: www.RedLight.co

Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements

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 the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events.

The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the Company's performance, business objectives and milestones and the anticipated timing of, and costs in connection with, the execution or achievement of such objectives and milestones; the Company's intention to devote resources to the protection of its intellectual property rights, including by seeking and obtaining registered protections in Canada, U.S., and other jurisdictions; the ability of the Company to successfully raise a charter challenge relating to the prohibition of psilocybin and psilocin under The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, if at all; the success of the Company and TheraPsil in achieving the Objective; the costs and timelines associated with raising a charter challenge; the potential risk to the Company's reputation if it is not successful in raising a charter challenge and/or achieving the Objective; the ability of the Company to retain legal counsel with experience in successfully raising a charter challenge and the costs associated therewith; the Company meeting its anticipated timeline and process for achieving the Objective; compliance with extensive government regulation and the interpretation of various laws regulations and policies; public opinion and perception of the industry; the benefit of psilocybin and psilocin in therapeutic settings; the willingness of physicians, practitioners and patients to use psilocybin and psilocin for therapeutic purposes; political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; risks related to anti-money laundering laws; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial and stock markets; risks related to TheraPsil, including its use of donated monies; the reputation of TheraPsil generally and any potential corresponding effect on the Company's reputation; the demand for psilocybin and psilocin in therapeutic settings; the continued approval of the Company and/or TheraPsil's activities by the relevant governmental and/or regulatory authorities; future changes in legislation and the regulations not impacting the Company's ability to fulfill its plans and goals, including the ability to raise a charter challenge and achieve the Objective; the possibility that TheraPsil may require additional funding in order to advance the charter challenge and achieve the Objective; and the ability of the Company to provide continued financial support to TheraPsil for the purposes of the Objective.

Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: current and future members of management will abide by the Company's business objectives and strategies from time to time established by the Company; the Company will achieve the performance, meet their business objectives and milestones in their anticipated time and within the anticipated cost; the Company will retain and supplement its board of directors and management, or otherwise engage consultants and advisors having knowledge of the industries (or segments thereof) within which the Company may from time to time participate; the Company will have sufficient working capital and the ability to obtain the financing required in order to develop and continue its business, brands and operations; the Company will continue to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled consultants and/or employees, as the case may be; no adverse changes will be made to the regulatory framework governing psychedelics, taxes and all other applicable matters in the jurisdictions in which the Company conducts business and any other jurisdiction in which the Company may conduct business in the future; the Company will be able to generate cash flow from operations, including, where applicable, distribution and sale of mushrooms and mushroom products; the Company will be able to execute on its business strategy as anticipated; the Company will be able to meet the requirements necessary to obtain and/or maintain authorizations required to conduct the business; general economic, financial, market, regulatory, and political conditions, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, will not negatively affect the Company or its business; the Company will be able to successfully compete in the psychedelic industries; the Company will be able to effectively manage anticipated and unanticipated costs; the Company will be able to conduct its operations in a safe, efficient and effective manner; general market conditions will be favorable with respect to the Company's future plans and goals; the Company will be able to utilize fast-track examination under the Patent Prosecution Highway in the United States, Canada and other participating patent offices; the Company will combine psychedelic usage data with technology; the Company will customize treatments and interventions, resulting in increased benefits of its technology; the Company will obtain its patent upon the terms outlined herein; and the Company will devote resources to the protection of its intellectual property rights, including by seeking and obtaining registered protections and developing and implementing standard operating procedures.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the Company's inability to attract and retain qualified members of management to grow the Company's business, brands and its operations; unanticipated changes in economic and market conditions (including changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic) or in applicable laws; the impact of the publications of inaccurate or unfavourable research by securities analysts or other third parties; unanticipated changes in the psychedelic industries in the jurisdictions within which the Company may from time to time conduct its business and operations, including the Company's inability to respond or adapt to such changes; the Company's inability to secure or maintain favourable lease arrangements or the required authorizations necessary to conduct the business and operations and meet its targets; the Company's inability to effectively manage unanticipated costs and expenses, including costs and expenses associated with product recalls and judicial or administrative proceedings against the Company; risk that the Company will be unable to provide affordable and equitable access adult access to naturally occurring psilocybin; risk that the Company will not be eligible for fast-track examination under the Patent Prosecution Highway in the United States, Canada and other participating patent offices; risk that the Company will be unable to combine psychedelic usage data with technology; risk that the Company will be unable to devote resources to the protection of its intellectual property rights, including by seeking and obtaining registered protections and developing and implementing standard operating procedures; and risk that its patent application will be denied in whole or in part.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154897
Now Possible for Industrial Networks to Embrace New Connectivity Options in 15 minutes

Quanta Computer and ADLINK are among active customers

SAN JOSE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Ataya , a technology company focused on connectivity challenges associated with Industry 4.0 adoption, today announced the availability of Harmony, the only universal connectivity platform for industrial networks. Harmony embraces legacy technologies and future-proofs industrial networks, allowing for the introduction of new technologies without downtimes or security concerns. Harmony delivers enhanced security and a single management pane to monitor and troubleshoot all Wi-Fi, Ethernet, IoT and 5G devices. Ataya will be showcasing Harmony at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) event starting on Monday, February 27 in Barcelona. MWC attendees can see Harmony in action in Hall 5, booth 5A61.

Industrial Networking Challenges and Opportunities

Due to the age of their existing infrastructure, many organizations have still not been able to systematically deploy Industry 4.0 technologies across their operations. These "brownfield" deployments carry challenges: reliable connectivity, security, administration and management are chronic problems. Existing platforms that apply new connectivity technology to address mobility requirements expose security loopholes or other inefficiencies.

"We see a great deal of complexity in enterprise networking. As they address multiple use cases and myriad applications, enterprises are operating multiple wireless and wired networks, ranging from Wi-Fi, industrial Ethernet, private LTE/5G, and other proprietary technologies," said Kyung Mun of Mobile Experts. "While we forecast the industrial private cellular market will grow at 20% CAGR until 2028, it will remain a subset of the broader industrial communications market. That implies managing connected devices across different technologies will be a major challenge for enterprises, and an opportunity for products such as Ataya Harmony," concluded Mun.

Harmony: Simple, Secure and Universal Connectivity

Harmony's simplicity, powered by zero touch provisioning, allows for installation and deployment in less than 15 minutes. Harmony's Universal Connectivity feature provides a single pane of glass for all clients (e.g.,Wi-Fi, Ethernet, 5G) and an integrated pane for managing the access network and the universal data plane. With Harmony, OT networks have end-to-end client security for 5G and non-5G clients via fine grained access and threat control. In addition, Harmony reduces the attack surface by enabling customers to define client group-based microsegments. Designed as cloud-native with a microservices architecture, Harmony ensures rapid and secure deployment of edge applications (such as SCADA systems) and that service level objectives for bandwidth, latency and jitter are met.

Major Manufacturers Unlock Gains with Harmony

Today's launch of Harmony comes after successful implementations at hardware leader Quanta Computer and embedded and edge computing leader ADLINK.

"Ataya is our valuable partner in connectivity solution development. The collaboration with Ataya's Harmony platform integration not only accelerated our 5G enterprise small cell product development and deployment process, but also provided a rich set of unique and industry leading features in the private wireless market," said Steve Chang, Vice President, Quanta Computer.

"As private 5G provides unique values to smart manufacturing sectors, we have selected Ataya's Harmony platform as the foundation of ADLINK private 5G solution, with integration of autonomous robots for smart manufacturing use cases. We believe that Harmony's universal connectivity proposition will be key to smoothly integrating the 5G technologies into the existing and emerging network services in smart factories worldwide," said Eric Kao, GM, Network Communication and Automotive (NCA) BU, ADLINK.

Convergence of Networking Architectures

"5G, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, despite their essential differences, are all becoming software-defined and HW-SW disaggregated. This convergence is an exceptional point in technological evolution, and this unison of networking technologies into cloud-native and disaggregated architectures makes Harmony possible. It was clear to us that we must exploit the convergence to build a unifying platform. But, it is not just about convergence but also being able to offer new value, as we can offer 5G-like QoS features over Wi-Fi and other legacy OT technologies," said Puneet Sethi, SVP of Products at Ataya.

Harmony Removes Obstacles to Achieving Industry 4.0

McKinsey & Co. research ( Capturing the True Value of Industry 4.0, April 2022 ) indicates that challenges related to digital transformation are blocking the overall value potential of Industry 4.0, which McKinsey estimates to be between USD $1.4 trillion and $3.3 trillion by 2030.

Harmony's capabilities alleviate the pressure on the teams striving to realize these gains for their manufacturing environments:

Reducing expense and time : Harmony relieves chronic installation and cybersecurity issues, which are frequently cited as impediments.

: Harmony relieves chronic installation and cybersecurity issues, which are frequently cited as impediments. Making 5G a reality : Harmony enables operations to be 5G ready without creating isolated networks.

: Harmony enables operations to be 5G ready without creating isolated networks. Ability to scale IoT implementation: McKinsey's research has found that IoT implementations are stuck in "pilot purgatory", due to not yet being sufficiently stable to be activated at scale. Harmony allows for introduction and evolution of new connectivity without causing downtimes to existing networks.

"Harmony's architecture brings together and applies years of enterprise and telecom innovations to industrial environments for the first time," said Rajesh Pazhyannur, CEO of Ataya. "Our solution provides universal connectivity along with 5G features that eliminates the need to 'lift and shift', enabling a painless deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies."

About Ataya

Ataya is named after the Atayal people of Taiwan. The founding team has been part of companies such as Cisco, Ruckus, Commscope, Broadcom and Qualcomm with experience in building products ranging from System-on-Chip solution to Cloud-native telecom and enterprise software. Ataya's mission is to build a universal connectivity platform for Industry 4.0 that is simple, secure, scalable and application-aware. The company has engineering centers based in Santa Clara, CA and Taipei, Taiwan. For more information visit www.ataya.io

Media Contact Information:

Escalate PR for Ataya

Ataya@EscalatePR.com

SOURCE: Atayalan

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739396/Harmony-by-Ataya-Brings-Simplicity-and-Security-to-Industrial-Networks
Solis Minerals has acquired 22 exploration licences covering a total area of 248 km 2 (24,800 hectares) in northeastern Brazil.

The regional structural geological setting is similar to Latin Resources' Colina deposit with large granitic intrusives located proximal to meta sedimentary-volcanic sequences.

Borborema project areas are greenfield sites and have seen limited to no systematic exploration for Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites.

Team to be deployed to commence reconnaissance and field mapping to design initial geochemical sampling programmes and target generation.

The Company continues to identify and evaluate exploration opportunities, primarily in the battery metals space in South America.

Well funded with approximately A$2.1 million cash to undertake first-pass exploration efforts at these new lithium opportunities.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Solis Minerals Ltd. (ASX: SLM) (TSXV: SLMN) (OTCQB: SLMFF) (FSE: 08W) ("Solis Minerals" or "the Company") is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on acquiring 22 exploration licence application areas in northeast Brazil ("Borborema Project"). The licences acquired are located within the states of "Rio Grande Do Norte" and "Paraiba" close to major regional centres such as Natal and Recife, both well-serviced and boasting good infrastructure and services.

CEO Jason Cubitt commented:

"Brazil is fast becoming a Tier 1 destination for hard rock lithium explorers and producers alike. The value to be generated is significant in the short term through building an extensive portfolio of prospective lithium ground in the country to complement our copper exploration assets in Peru. Brazil is still very much in its infancy with lithium exploration and offers a junior explorer such as Solis an exceptional opportunity to discover a material asset. Having our largest shareholder, Latin Resources, in the country will expedite the commencement of exploration and building of the team needed to advance these projects. I am excited to see our team commence first-pass reconnaissance and mapping programmes over the coming months."

Brazil Lithium Projects

Borborema Project

The Company has now secured the acquisition of 22 licence areas in the northeast of Brazil, with settlement expected to occur within 30 days. The tenements cover a total area of 24,800 hectares in predominantly greenfield terrain. The tenements have yet to be exposed to systematic modern exploration techniques targeting LCT-bearing pegmatite systems. Historically the Borborema pegmatitic province has been reported to host several mineralised pegmatite occurrences and artisanal works producing Be, Nb-Ta, Li, Sn, gems, quartz, feldspar and others. Historical mining in the region, and the presence of the Niobium-Tantalum, Lithium and feldspars, indicate the area is endowed with LCT-bearing pegmatite systems.

Figure 1: Solis Minerals Borborema Project area regional geology with licence areas



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/154835_c004cad3b4c2db86_015full.jpg

The most prospective potential host units for the mineralised pegmatites are similar to the suite hosting the Colina-Salinas pegmatites held by Latin Resources Limited in the state of Minas Gerais. They consist predominantly of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks (schist, gneiss and quartzites) from the Serido Formation, located close to the large granitoids from the G3 suite (pink/red in Figure 1) with batholiths, stocks and dykes represented. The G3 suite is the main intrusive system in the province and potentially the source of any emplaced pegmatite bodies. The licence areas acquired have been systematically selected to be close to, or straddle, the contact zone between these granitic intrusives and surrounding metavolcanic sequences and the zone referred to as the "Goldilocks Zone" in exploration for LCT-bearing systems.

The Company has completed the initial compilation of available historical geological data and will now follow up with a comprehensive field programme specifically aimed at generating near-term drill targets. The Company has recently expanded the team by adding a Senior Project Geologist in Brazil who is currently undergoing onsite training at Latin Resources' Salinas Lithium Project in Minas Gerais. Once completed in mid-February and subject to the final access agreement, the team will be mobilised to commence systematic regional mapping and soil and rock chip geochemical sampling to generate drill targets and identify the most prospective terrain within the licence areas.

Figure 2: Licence areas overlain on satellite imagery showing low level to sparse vegetation and well developed infrastructure



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/154835_c004cad3b4c2db86_016full.jpg

Acquisition terms

The Company has entered into a share assignment agreement whereby it will pay US$20,000 and issue 500,000 fully paid ordinary shares to Mr Leandro Gobbo in consideration for 100% of the issued capital of Onca Mineracao Ltda ("Onca"). Onca is a Brazilian incorporated company, and its only assets are the 22 licenses comprising the Borborema Project, of which it owns outright. Mr Gobbo is a private Brazilian vendor unrelated to the Company. The Company intends to issue the 500,000 shares out of its Listing Rule 7.1 placement capacity and confirms that the share assignment agreement is below the 25% benchmark for the purposes of Listing Rules 11.1.2 and 11.1.3. Settlement is expected to occur within 30 days from the date of this announcement.

About Solis Minerals Ltd.

Solis Minerals is a Latin American battery metals focused mining exploration company. The Company has acquired 22 lithium exploration licences covering a total area of 248 km2 (24,800 hectares) in northeastern Brazil. In addition, the Company holds a 100% interest in a package of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt - a source of nearly half of Peru's copper production. The Company continues to identify and evaluate exploration opportunities, in the battery metals space in South America.

This Announcement has been authorised for release to ASX by the Board of Solis Minerals.

For further information, please contact:

Jason Cubitt

President and CEO

Solis Minerals Limited

+01 (604) 209 1658

Stephen Moloney

Investor Relations

Corporate Storytime

+61 (0) 403 222 052

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that relate to future events or performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected, including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Fred Tejada, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

Competent Person Statement

The information in this ASX release concerning Geological Information and Exploration Results is based on and fairly represents information compiled by Mr Anthony Greenaway, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Greenaway is an employee of Solis Minerals Ltd. and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the exploration activities undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Greenaway consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Greenaway has provided his prior written consent regarding the form and context in which the Geological Information and Exploration Results and supporting information are presented in this Announcement.

All information about exploration results that were previously released to the market is appropriately referenced in this document.

APPENDIX 1

Borborema Project licence areas

Licences - acquired by Onca Mineracao Ltd (100% owned subsidiary of

Solis Minerals Ltd).

Number License Number Registered Owner Status Ha 1 846.232/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 675 2 846.233/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 172 3 846.234/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 460 4 848.411/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,666 5 848.412/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,563 6 848.413/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 714 7 848.414/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,488 8 848.415/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,839 9 848.416/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 614 10 848.417/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 710 11 848.418/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 381 12 848.419/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,275 13 848.420/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 70 14 848.423/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,572 15 848.424/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,689 16 848.425/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,918 17 848.426/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,662 18 848.427/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 798 19 848.428/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,667 20 848.429/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 664 21 848.430/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,688 22 848.431/2022 Onca Mineracao Ltda. Waiting for publication 1,525 Total





24,810

Table 1: Licence areas acquired with total ground accumulated licence area

APPENDIX 2

JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.

Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.

Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report.

In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. N/A No sampling has been undertaken by Solis Minerals. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. 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. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. 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. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. 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. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.

For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.

Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. N/A - No assay results are being reported. 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. N/A - No assay results are being reported. 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. Data is shown using the UTM SIRGAS 2000 zone 23 South grid system. 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. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.

If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken.' Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. N/A - No drilling has been undertaken. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data . There have been no detailed external audits or reviews undertaken.

Solis Minerals has conducted an internal technical review of the available geological and other publicly available data.

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.

The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Borborema Project area consists of 22 exploration licences held in the name of Onca Mineracao Ltda, which is to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Solis Minerals Limited on settlement of the proposed acquisition.

Exploration Licences: 846.232/2022, 846.233/2022, 846.234/2022, 848.411/2022, 848.412/2022, 848.413/2022, 848.414/2022, 848.415/2022, 848.416/2022, 848.417/2022, 848.418/2022, 848.419/2022, 848.420/2022, 848.423/2022, 848.424/2022, 848.425/2022, 848.426/2022, 848.427/2022, 848.428/2022, 848.429/2022, 848.430/2022, 848.431/2022 are 100% fully owned by Onca Mineracao Ltda.

Licences have been granted and now will pass to the ANM (Brazilian Mining Agency) for manual review and validation before final publication in the Governments official Gazette. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties.. N/A - the Company is not aware of any previous exploration being undertaken within the tenements. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. Prospective potential host units for the mineralised pegmatites are similar to the suite hosting the Colina-Salinas pegmatites held by Latin Resources Limited (ASX:LRS) in the state of Minas Gerais. They consist predominantly of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks (schist, gneiss and quartzites) from the Serido formation, located close to the large Granitoids from the G3 suite with batholiths, stocks and dykes represented. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level - elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole hole length

If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report. Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (e.g. cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.

Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high-grade results and longer lengths of low-grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.

The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.

If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.

If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. 'down hole length, true width not known'). N/A no new drilling data is included in this report. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. The Company has included various maps and figures showing the sample results and geological context. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced avoiding misleading reporting of Exploration Results. N/A no new results are included in this report. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. N/A no new results are included in this report. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (e.g. tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling).

Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. Solis Minerals will undertake extensive validation field confirmation and sampling of the regional geological setting of various target areas identified from the historical data and recent remote sensing over the Borborema Project area.

It is premature to provide diagrams of possible extensions.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154835
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Daniel J. Russell announces that on February 14, 2023 he acquired indirect ownership of 196,078 common shares (the "Purchased Shares") in the capital of Synex Renewable Energy Corporation (TSX: SXI) (formerly, Synex International Inc.) (the "Issuer"), representing approximately 4.70% of the issued and outstanding common shares (the "Common Shares") in the capital of the Issuer (the "Acquisition"), after giving effect to the Offering (as defined herein).

The Purchased Shares were acquired from the Issuer as part of a private placement transaction (the "Offering") at a price of C$2.55 per Purchased Share, for an aggregate amount equal to approximately C$500,000.00.

Prior to the Acquisition, Mr. Russell owned, or had control or direction over, 2,269,579 Common Shares and 24,000 options to purchase Common Shares ("Options"), representing approximately 57.29% of issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially diluted basis. After the Acquisition, Russell owns, or has control of direction over, 2,465,657 Common Shares and 24,000 Options, representing approximately 59.29% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially diluted basis.

Mr. Russell indirectly acquired the Shares for investment purposes. Mr. Russell may from time to time acquire additional securities, dispose of some or all of the existing or additional securities or may continue to hold the securities of the Issuer.

This press release is being issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues which requires a report to be filed under the Issuer's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) containing additional information respecting the foregoing matters.

The Issuer's head office is located at 4248 Broughton Ave., Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 0A4. For inquiries or a copy of the related early warning report required under Canadian provincial securities legislation, a copy of which has also been filed on www.sedar.com, please contact:

Daniel J. Russell

524 Locust Street

Burlington, Ontario L7S 1V2

Telephone: 905-646-7545

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154874
Confirms intention to proceed with previously announced rights offering for proceeds of approximately US$200 million

PolyMet holds 50% interest in NewRange Copper Nickel, owner of the NorthMet and Mesaba projects, two of the largest undeveloped clean energy mineral resources in the U.S.

Partnering with Teck Resources on NewRange Copper Nickel combined with Glencore's long-standing interest in PolyMet brings substantial operational, marketing and financial resources

PolyMet offers investors direct access to NewRange Copper Nickel as PolyMet remains a publicly traded company, dually listed on TSX and NYSE American

Polymet to launch rights offering of approximately US$200 million to fund PolyMet's share of the initial NewRange Copper Nickel work program and certain other costs and expenses and to repay existing Glencore indebtedness, to be fully backstopped by Glencore

St. Paul, Minnesota--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - PolyMet Mining Corp. (TSX: POM) (NYSE American: PLM) ("PolyMet" or the "company") today announced the closing of its previously announced joint venture with Teck American Inc., a subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"). The joint venture will be named NewRange Copper Nickel LLC ("NewRange Copper Nickel"). As previously announced, under the terms of the transaction, the NorthMet and Mesaba deposits containing high-demand copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals (PGM) are placed under single management with PolyMet and Teck each receiving a 50% interest.

"Successful closing of the joint venture moves NewRange Copper Nickel to the forefront of responsible development of American-sourced critical minerals for the manufacture of clean energy and clean transportation technologies such as battery storage, wind and solar generation and electric vehicles," said Jon Cherry, PolyMet chairman, president and CEO.

The two resources contain Measured and Indicated resources of 702 million tons and 2,207 million tons for NorthMet and Mesaba, respectively, and additional Inferred resources of 441 million tons and 1,423 million tons, respectively.[1] In total, the two assets represent approximately one-half of the known 8-billion-ton Duluth Complex resource in northeastern Minnesota, a globally significant resource.

PolyMet offers investors direct access to the NewRange Copper Nickel joint venture as PolyMet Mining Corp. remains a publicly traded company, dually listed on the TSX and NYSE American.

As previously announced, the NewRange Copper Nickel joint venture links the expertise, experience and financial resources of PolyMet, Teck and Glencore to develop the NorthMet mine when the remaining permit proceedings are complete and study the mine development options for Mesaba.

"We are pleased to have a partner like Teck join us in this transformational venture with its strong balance sheet, exceptional record of community involvement and sustainable mining practices, and world-class technical and mining capabilities," Cherry said. Glencore retains its majority equity interest in PolyMet.

The company also announced the departure of Denton Henkelman, vice president and project director, who will leave PolyMet at the end of February. "We are grateful for Denton's leadership and considerable contributions in advancing our technical and economic understanding of NorthMet. We wish him well in his new pursuits," Cherry said.

NorthMet and Mesaba status

PolyMet successfully navigated the NorthMet Project through the comprehensive federal and state environmental review process and federal land exchange - a process that involved considerable public involvement and tribal consultation. The NorthMet Project, located near the community of Hoyt Lakes in northeastern Minnesota, earned nearly two dozen state and federal permits necessary to build and operate the 32,000 tons-per-day (29,000 tonnes) mine and processing facility. Three permits are pending final resolution of litigation and regulatory process to achieve final project approval.

The Mesaba Project is making progress on baseline environmental studies, resource definition and mineral processing studies. Further studies and proactive community and tribal consultation will help fully define long-term development potential.

About NewRange Copper Nickel LLC

The closing of the joint venture results in Poly Met Mining, Inc. being renamed NewRange Copper Nickel LLC and all of NorthMet's assets, mineral rights, liabilities, permits and financial assurance obligations continuing under NewRange Copper Nickel. Likewise, all of Teck's interest in Mesaba assets, mineral rights and liabilities transfer to NewRange Copper Nickel.

NewRange Copper Nickel is a stand-alone entity with its own leadership team and staff, overseen by a management committee comprised of an equal number of representatives from Teck and PolyMet. The committee chair rotates on a biannual basis with Mr. Cherry serving as first-term chair.

PolyMet and Teck are responsible for funding their pro rata share of costs related to the NorthMet and Mesaba projects. The owners have committed to an initial work program with an estimated budget of US$170 million to maintain permits, update feasibility cost estimates, and undertake detailed engineering to position NorthMet for a development decision following permit clearances, and to advance Mesaba studies.

Glencore has committed to support PolyMet's respective portion of NewRange Copper Nickel's initial US$170 million work program and certain other costs and expenses in the amount of approximately US$100 million. Pursuant to this commitment, Glencore has agreed to fully backstop a rights offering by PolyMet to raise additional funding. Glencore also committed to either convert outstanding convertible debentures or backstop additional funding under the rights offering to repay these debentures and all other debt (including in all cases any accrued and unpaid interest) owing to Glencore from PolyMet. Assuming that no convertible debentures are converted the additional funding required under the rights offering to repay such debentures and all other debt owing (including in all cases any accrued and unpaid interest) to Glencore from PolyMet is expected to be approximately US$97 million.

Rights Offering

Further details on the commencement, and other terms of the rights offering will be announced upon PolyMet entering into a standby purchase agreement with Glencore, which is anticipated to occur in the near term.

Finance Agreement

As a condition of the financing commitment associated with the joint venture, PolyMet entered into an Investor Rights and Governance Agreement ("IRA") with Glencore that, among other things, provides Glencore reasonable assurances relating to the development and operations of NewRange Copper Nickel, including having a say in decision-making related to these matters.

The company's independent financial advisor, Paradigm Capital Inc. and the Special Committee's independent financial advisor, Maxit Capital LP, provided an opinion to the Board and the Special Committee, respectively, that as of the date thereof, and subject to the various assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth therein, the transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to the company.

PolyMet engaged Farris LLP as its legal advisor in connection with the transaction. The Special Committee engaged Mason Law as its legal advisor in connection with the transaction. Glencore engaged McCarthy Tetrault LLP as its legal advisor in connection with the transaction.

This press release has been reviewed and approved by Herb Welhener, an independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

* * * * *

About PolyMet

PolyMet is a mine development company holding a 50% interest in NewRange Copper Nickel LLC, a 50:50 joint venture with Teck Resources. NewRange Copper Nickel holds the NorthMet and Mesaba copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metal (PGM) deposits, two globally significant clean energy mineral resources located in the Duluth Complex in northeast Minnesota. The Duluth Complex is one of the world's major, undeveloped copper, nickel and PGM metal mining regions. NorthMet is the first large-scale project to have received permits within the Complex.

For more information: www.polymetmining.com

For further information, please contact:

Media

Bruce Richardson, Corporate Communications

Tel: +1 (651) 389-4111

M: +1 (651) 964-9729

brichardson@polymetmining.com

Investor Relations

Tony Gikas, Investor Relations

Tel: +1 (651) 389-4110

investorrelations@polymetmining.com

PolyMet Disclosures

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning anticipated developments in PolyMet's operations in the future. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "potential," "possible," "projects," "plans," and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will," "may," "could," or "should" occur or be achieved or their negatives or other comparable words. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's expectations or beliefs regarding future events including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the anticipated benefits of the 50/50 joint venture, the company's expectations with respect to the future development of NorthMet and Mesaba and the timing and completion of the upcoming rights offering. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, among other things, risks relating to the parties meeting their conditions precedent, receipt of regulatory approvals, timing of closing, the outcome of the development of the NorthMet and Mesaba projects, and the outcome of any financing required to raise the funds for PolyMet's share of the initial work program and Glencore's funding commitment. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements due to risks facing PolyMet or due to actual facts differing from the assumptions underlying its predictions.

PolyMet's forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and PolyMet does not assume any obligation to update (except as required by law) forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations and opinions should change.

Specific reference is made to risk factors and other considerations underlying forward-looking statements discussed in PolyMet's most recent Annual Report on Form 40-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and in our other filings with Canadian securities authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Annual Report on Form 40-F also contains the company's mineral resource and other data as required under National Instrument 43-101.

No regulatory authority has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Resources quoted for NorthMet and Mesaba are sourced from the Technical Report prepared under Canadian National Instrument 43 101- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") for PolyMet entitled "NorthMet Copper Nickel Project Feasibility Update," dated December 30, 2022, ("PolyMet Technical Report") as filed under the Company's SEDAR and EDGAR profiles, and the Technical Report entitled "Mesaba Project Form 43-101F1 Technical Report Mineral Resource Statement" ("Mesaba Technical Report") effective as of November 28, 2022, as filed under the company's SEDAR and EDGAR profiles.

[1] See resource statements in the technical report entitled "Mesaba Project Form NI 43-101F1 Technical Report, Minnesota, USA" dated November 28, 2022, prepared by Independent Mining Consultants, Inc. and JDS Energy & Mining Inc. and the resource statements in the technical report entitled "NorthMet Copper-Nickel Project" dated December 30, 2022, prepared by M3 Engineering & Technology Corp., both found under the company's SEDAR and EDGAR profiles.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154882
Wind River, a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems, today announced that Wind River Studio is being used by KDDI for its O-RAN-compliant 5G virtualized base station, which began commercial deployment this January in Osaka, Japan.

For its 5G virtualized base station, KDDI uses Wind River Studio Cloud Platform technology for an automated configuration (zero-touch provisioning) system. Wind River Studio Analytics is used to monitor the status of geographically distributed far edge clouds. Studio addresses the complex challenges service providers face in deploying and managing geographically distributed, ultra-low latency infrastructure and enables large-scale deployment of 5G virtualized base stations.

"Operators can work with Wind River for solutions to help prepare for a cloud-native future and deliver on high-reliability, ultra-low-latency, and highly efficient solutions for next-generation networks," said Avijit Sinha, chief product officer, Wind River. "Working closely with leaders such as KDDI, Wind River can deliver proven technology based on Wind River Studio that is live with operators in global deployments."

The expansion of use cases for 5G services and the diversification and increase in the number of terminal types are expected to lead to a rapid increase in the volume of communications. 5G network infrastructure requires more advanced systems, faster deployment, and lower costs than ever before. To meet these growing demands, KDDI is developing virtualized base stations that implement an open interface compliant with the O-RAN standard. This 5G virtualized base station is a software update to such base stations, which were successfully commercially deployed in February 2022.

A leader in the 5G landscape, Wind River has played key roles in the world's first successful 5G data session and in building commercial vRAN/O-RAN programs, including one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world.

Studio Cloud Platform provides a fully cloud-native, Kubernetes- and container-based architecture, based on open source, for the development, deployment, operations, and servicing of distributed edge networks at scale. It delivers a foundation for a geographically distributed managed solution able to simplify Day 1 and Day 2 operations by providing single-pane-of-glass, zero-touch automated management of thousands of nodes, no matter where their physical location. Studio addresses the challenges of deploying and managing a physically distributed, cloud-native infrastructure to provide traditional RAN performance in a vRAN/Open RAN deployment.

Studio Analytics solutions reduce carrier efforts and improve the efficiency of monitoring and operating the distributed cloud by collecting and analyzing cloud behavioral data to generate meaningful insights for decision-making.

About Wind River

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems. For 40 years, the company has been an innovator and pioneer, powering billions of devices and systems that require the highest levels of security, safety, and reliability. Wind River software and expertise are accelerating digital transformation across industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and telecommunications. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio supported by world-class global professional services and support and a broad partner ecosystem. To learn more, visit Wind River at www.windriver.com.

About KDDI

KDDI is telecommunication service provider in Japan, offering 5G and IoT services to a multitude of individual and corporate customers within and outside Japan through its "au", "UQ mobile" and "povo" brands. In the Mid-Term Management Strategy (FY23.3-FY25.3), KDDI is promoting the Satellite Growth Strategy to strengthen the 5G-driven evolution of its telecommunications business and the expansion of focus areas centered around telecommunications. Specifically, KDDI is especially focusing on following five areas: DX (digital transformation), Finance, Energy, LX (life transformation) and Regional Co-Creation. In particular, to promote DX, KDDI is assisting corporate customers in bringing telecommunication into everything through IoT to organize an environment in which customers can enjoy using 5G without being aware of its presence, and in providing business platforms that meet industry-specific needs to support customers in creating businesses. In addition, KDDI places "sustainability management" that aims to achieve the sustainable growth of society and the enhancement of corporate value together with our partners at the core of the Mid-Term Management Strategy. By harnessing the characteristics of 5G in order to bring about an evolution of the power to connect, KDDI is working toward an era of the creation of new value. https://www.kddi.com/english/

Wind River is a trademark or registered trademark of Wind River Systems, Inc., and its affiliates. Other names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005325/en/

Contacts:

Jenny Suh

Wind River

510-749-2972

jenny.suh@windriver.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Cascada Silver Corp. (CSE: CSS) ("Cascada") is pleased to report that it has signed an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the 1,500 hectare Angie Copper Molybdenum Project (the "Angie Project") located in Region III, Chile, approximately 75 kilometres east of the City of Copiapo (Figure 1). The Angie Project is located at lower altitudes (2,800 to 3,200 metres) with good road access.

Historical geochemical rock chip sampling on the Angie Project outlined a +50 parts per million ("ppm") molybdenum anomaly encompassing an area of approximately 1,000 by 1,500 metres (see Figure 2) with molybdenum assays of up to 1,150 ppm. The undrilled molybdenum anomaly is associated with anomalous tin and tungsten. Molybdenum anomalies commonly occur as halos around Chilean copper porphyry systems.

Two lines of induced polarization geophysics completed over the area covered by the molybdenum anomaly outlined a strong chargeability anomaly (Figure 3) and resistivity anomaly.

The majority of the molybdenum anomaly is hosted within a granodiorite, cut by abundant quartz veins, through which erosion has exposed a narrow potassic-altered, dacitic porphyry with local tourmaline and oxidized sulphide remnants. It is interpreted that the molybdenum anomaly and concomitant induced polarization anomalies are associated with a mineralized porphyry system at depth.

Preliminary exploration plans consist of confirmation geological and structural mapping followed by reverse circulation drilling to test the zone of high chargeability lying beneath the molybdenum anomaly.

"The Angie Project has the earmarks of hosting a significant mineralized porphyry system and while we will conduct geological mapping in order to better understand the structural setting of the molybdenum anomaly, the Angie Project is essentially drill ready," said Carl Hansen, CEO of Cascada. "With easy access and a clearly defined target, it is our goal to have drill rigs on the property during 2023. In addition to the Angie Project, and our recently staked Golden Lake Property, Cascada will continue to actively evaluate further potential acquisition targets in Chile."

Angie Project Option Agreement Terms

Under the terms of the option agreement, Cascada has made an initial payment of $15,000 to the vendor ("Vendor") of Angie Project (all dollar amounts are US$). A series of increasing annual payments are payable to the Vendor with $35,000, $300,000, $750,000, and $2,500,000 payable upon the first, second, third and fourth anniversary dates of the signing of the agreement, respectively, for total payments of $3,600,000. The second through fourth anniversary payments may be paid 50% in cash and 50% in Cascada common shares at Cascada's choice. In addition to the annual payments, upon Cascada earning a 100% interest in the Project, the Vendor will receive a 1.5% net smelter royalty, two thirds of which may be purchased by Cascada for $5,000,000 for a period of up to one year from the start of commercial production.

NI 43-101 Technical Disclosure

The Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators, for Cascada's exploration activities in Chile is Sergio Diaz, a resident of Santiago, Chile. Mr. Diaz is a Public Registered Person for Reserves and Resources N 51, in Chile and is also registered in the Colegio de Geologos de Chile under N 315.

About Cascada Silver Corp.

Cascada is a mineral exploration company focused on exploration opportunities in Chile. Cascada's team of successful exploration professionals are dedicated to the discovery of mineral deposits that can be progressed into economically viable development projects creating value for all stakeholders.

On behalf of Cascada Silver Corp.,

Carl Hansen, CEO

For additional information, please contact us at:

info@cascadasilver.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including predictions, projections and forecasts. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: plans for the evaluation of exploration properties; the success of evaluation plans; the success of exploration activities; mine development prospects; and, potential for future metals production. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "planning", "expects" or "does not expect", "continues", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "potential", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", or describes a "goal", or variation 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, future events, conditions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, prediction, projection, forecast, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: changes in economic parameters and assumptions; all aspects related to the timing of exploration activities and receipt of exploration results; the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; the results of regulatory and permitting processes; future metals price; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; the results of economic and technical studies; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration; as well as those factors disclosed in Cascada's publicly filed documents.

Although Cascada 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. 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, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepts

responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.





Figure 1

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

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https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7721/154901_b7c4f65d6445891c_003full.jpg.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154901
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Justice Department has announced a funding of more than $231 million for 49 states and territories to address the growing threat of gun violence in the country. This funding will be used to implement gun safety law that President Joe Biden signed last year. The funding, as part of the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program, will be utilized to implement crisis intervention projects like red-flag programs, mental health and substance-use treatment courts and veteran's treatment courts as well. This investment in community safety will fund state crisis intervention court proceedings, including extreme risk protection order (ERPO) programs that work to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. The President has long championed red-flag laws, which could potentially have stopped shooters in Parkland and other tragedies. These laws allow family members, healthcare providers, school officials, and law enforcement officers to seek a court determination that a person is a danger to themselves or others, and then temporarily prevent that person from accessing a firearm. On Tuesday, which marks five years since a gunman took the lives of 14 students and 3 educators at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Biden addressed the epidemic of gun violence that continues to devastate American communities. Also, the country is mourning three Michigan State University students who were killed in a shooting incident Monday night. Biden called on Congress to act common-sense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on the streets. 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.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Wednesday showed a significant slowdown in the pace of contraction in regional manufacturing activity in the month of February.



The New York Fed said its general business conditions index soared to a negative 5.8 in February from a negative 32.9 in January, although a negative reading still indicates a contraction. Economists had expected the index to jump to a negative 18.0.



The rebound by the headline index came as the shipments index jumped to a positive 0.1 in February from a negative 22.4 in January.



The new orders index also surged to a negative 7.8 in February from a negative 31.1 in the previous month.



Meanwhile, the New York Fed said the number of employees index slumped to a negative 6.6 in February from a positive 1.8 in January.



The report also showed the prices paid index jumped to 45.0 in February from 33.0 in January, while the prices received index shot up to 28.4 from 18.8.



Looking ahead, the New York Fed said firms expect business conditions to improve somewhat over the next six months, with the index for future business conditions climbing to 14.7 in February from 8.0 in January.



The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is scheduled to release its report on regional manufacturing activity in the month of February on Thursday.



The Philly Fed Index is expected to inch up to a negative 7.4 in February from a negative 8.9 in January.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Keysight Technologies



From left, Ingrid Estrada, Keysight Chief Administrative Officer; Dr. Douglas M. Baney, IEEE Fellow & Keysight Worldwide Corporate Director of Education; Satish Dhanasekaran, President and CEO of Keysight; Sastry Pamidi, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Engineering Dean Suvranu De as they cut the ribbon during the grand opening and dedication of the Keysight Measurement Lab at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Florida. (M Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU Engineering)

Originally published by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in partnership with Keysight Technologies, has opened a new measurements and instrumentation lab, serving engineering education and research at the college.

"The equipment donation for the lab, through Florida A&M University, advances our research capabilities and provides a professional level experience for the students needed to be successful in the industry," Sastry Pamidi, professor, and chair of the department said.

Keysight Technologies is a leading technology company with a long-standing alliance with FAMU and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The company sponsors senior design projects, mentors students, supports faculty research and provides advanced equipment for teaching. They also have representation on the industry advisory board for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Satish Dhanasekaran, president and CEO of Keysight Technologies, returned to his alma mater for the grand opening. Dhanasekaran graduated with a master's degree in electrical engineering from the college via Florida State University (FSU) in 2000 and was recently appointed CEO of the company.

"The pace of technology innovation is accelerating making the next generation of engineers more important than ever," Dhanasekaran said. "Keysight is engaging with leading engineering schools to prepare tomorrow's engineers with an understanding of the fundamentals beyond just theory. It's an honor to be here today to open this new facility."

Dhanasekaran was the guest speaker for the event and spoke to students about possibilities and being flexible in uncertain times. When on campus in the late '90s, he worked in Professor Rajendra Arora's electromagnetics lab and reflected on his time as a graduate student.

"I remember working as a graduate student for Dr. Arora and after giving him my thesis to review, he gave it back and the entire document had red lines all over it, covering each page," Dhanasekaran said. "The whole thing had to be completely redone and I thought to myself, who is going to even use this stuff, it's all theoretical anyway. I redid it, got it right and ten years later in my career what seemed futuristic in grad school was something people were talking about commercializing."

He explained to the students that much of what they learn today may seem far away in the future, however application of what they learn becomes relevant over time. He also stressed the importance of fundamental skills in the industry and encouraged students to seek opportunities to do research.

"Every time you do a research project you are expanding your ability to think independently and critically," Dhanasekaran said. "You can learn the textbooks, the math, the equations but when you apply it to a problem and solve it, well, that is the hallmark of engineering."

"We are grateful for the support Keysight Technologies has provided to FAMU-FSU Engineering over the years," Pamidi said. "I am excited and proud that Satish, an alumnus and president and CEO of Keysight is here for the inauguration of the new Keysight Measurements and Instrumentation Lab. The advanced training the students will get in the lab will help them succeed when they join the industry."

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Keysight Technologies on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Keysight Technologies

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/keysight-technologies

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Keysight Technologies

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739469/Keysight-Technologies-Launches-New-Electrical-Measurements-Lab-at-the-FAMU-FSU-College-of-Engineering
With over 400 participants expected, the conference will focus on new, innovative solutions for senior care that connect siloed stakeholders, including providers, care teams, older adults, and family members, across the entire senior care ecosystem.

DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Collaboration in Aging is proud to announce the second annual National Collaboration in Aging conference will be held on September 27-28, 2023 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO. After last year's overwhelming industry support from a sold-out crowd at its inaugural event, the two-day conference will unite people across all roles in senior care to redefine how to guide, support, and care for older adults through the aging journey.

Collaboration in Aging is a best-in-class event transforming the trajectory of senior care and aiming to solve industry challenges by working together to incorporate fresh ideas that enhance the experience of aging. It is itself a collaboration between three aging, services-focused organizations - the Mavericks of Senior Living , the Colorado Placement and Referral Alliance (CoPRA), and the Colorado Assisted Living Association (CALA).

"The status quo of today's aging care systems is undergoing a massive digital and generational transformation," said Katherine Wells, Managing Partner at Collaboration in Aging and CEO of Serenity. "Demographics of both industry leaders and those they serve have dramatically shifted, technology has improved, and family expectations have changed. That's where Collaboration in Aging really shines in offering new perspectives, renewed hope, and most importantly, actionable steps to create a better future of aging care."

The 2023 conference is lining up two nationally distinguished keynote speakers, over 40 panelists and 60 breakout sessions made up of established players and pioneering entrepreneurs presenting their views on disruptive technology and new innovations to improve the way care is delivered to older adults.

Attendees and sponsors can expect to gather fresh insights and exchange ideas with professionals from various industries as well as the state legislators who are responsible for creating and enforcing aging industry regulations.

Representatives from assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, independent living, placement agencies, social workers, home care, hospice, older adults and family caregivers are invited to attend the conference. Instead of an old-school trade show floor layout, Partner Sponsors will be laid out across "The Village" to mimic the (decidedly non-linear) senior care journey. As attendees navigate The Village, participants will be able to share their thoughts and ideas on the show app.

"The Collaboration in Aging Conference creates an immersive experience of today's senior care journey in an exciting new way," said Nicole Zamparelli, President of CALA, Owner and RN at A Wildflower Assisted Living and Care Home INC and Managing Partner at Collaboration in Aging. "There are ample collaboration opportunities between those impacting change and those living it first-hand to work together and develop forward-thinking solutions that will positively impact the way we age."

Special keynote speakers for the event include:

Stephanie Staples - Master Motivator, Author and Expert in Psychological Wellness

Dale Henry - How to Get Out of The Box And Become The Prize

Charles Turner - Kare CEO, Current Trends in Staffing & How to Optimize Your Team

If you are involved in creating new and better systems, products, or services for the way we age and are interested in a sponsorship opportunity at an unconventional event that's transforming senior care, visit: https://www.collaborationinaging.com/sponsor

If you are interested in attending Collaboration in Aging, visit: https://www.collaborationinaging.com/register

To learn more about the National Collaboration in Aging conference, visit: https://www.collaborationinaging.com

Venue:

Colorado Convention Center

700 14th St, Denver, CO 80202

About Mavericks of Senior Living:

We interview forward thinkers in the senior care industry. We talk about the change that is needed, where we see innovation, and we challenge our audience to take action to create a better future for us all. Our podcast is available on all major platforms, YouTube, and on our website. Our Collab Cohorts are run twice a year, and we lead the Collaboration In Aging annual conference. Interested in a different way to age?

Mavericks of Senior Living - Creating Hope For The Way We Age

About Colorado Placement and Referral Alliance (CoPRA):

There is a growing need to bring professionalism and best practices to our industry. Placement services offer an invaluable service to families. The local NPRA of Greater Denver chapter is working diligently to develop additional best practices for the NPRA of Greater Denver chapter and hold placement services accountable in Greater Denver and throughout Colorado.

Colorado Placement and Referral Alliance (CoPRA)

About Colorado Assisted Living Association:

CALA is the "can do association" that is known for representing the Assisted Living Industry in Colorado. The association is committed to assisting, promoting, informing, educating and advocating on behalf of Assisted Living residences and professionals.

Assisted Living Association | The Industry Leader in Colorado

For all press inquiries, please contact Cambria Jacobs, Collaboration in Aging, 303.589.3855, cambria@collaborationinaging.com

SOURCE: Collaboration in Aging

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739395/Collaboration-In-Aging-Announces-Second-Annual-NATIONAL-Senior-Care-Event-Transforming-the-Human-Experience-in-Aging
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / "Black History Month is a time when the nation pauses to reflect on the richness of Black heritage in America and the continuation of the legacy of Black folks in our great country."

That's what Black History Month means to Cortney Richardson, CEO of Peer Power Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee.

One of the ways Regions Bank celebrates that legacy is through the Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest, which annually awards funding for higher education to students who share winning essays detailing the legacies of Black Americans. The subjects of the essays may be known worldwide. Or they may be people who aren't famous - but their character, commitment and impact on others serve as an inspiration to today's students and tomorrow's leaders.

The Riding Forward Scholarship Contest enters its 12th year in 2023 and has awarded more than $1.2 million since its inception.

"Each year we look forward to receiving these essays from students and learning how Black Americans have shaped their stories," said Abbas Merchant, head of Corporate Marketing for Regions Bank. "These scholarships are an important way we invest in the future while honoring Black History Month."

To celebrate the launch of this year's Riding Forward Scholarship Contest, Regions visited with Black leaders of nonprofit, educational and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-focused community organizations that have worked with the bank over time. These leaders include Richardson and Julius B. Anthony, founder and executive director of St. Louis Black Authors of Children's Literature, both highlighted on Doing More Today in 2022. Richardson and Anthony are sharing contest information with their constituents and encouraging eligible students to apply. We invite you to do the same.

Q: What does Black History Month mean to you?

Richardson: It takes strength to rise from slavery to the president of our country. During Black History Month, we stop to celebrate the strength that exists within the community, particularly as a people who continue to overcome systemic economic oppression.

Anthony: In 2014, I published the poem "Heritage." I wrote it for my students at City Academy to inspire and give them context for celebrating Black History Month.

Heritage is,

Our communal past.

Love that last.

Legacy.

Family.

Tradition.

Jubilation.

Celebration.

I have a Heritage.

Specifically, Black History Month to me is remembering and celebrating family traditions and culture. My family story begins with the love and courage of a young couple that left the Jim Crow south of Jackson, Alabama, and migrated to St. Louis, hoping and dreaming of a good life. That couple raised eight children in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of St. Louis City, of which I was the seventh.

Q: What book would you recommend to our readers interested in learning more about Black history and Black leaders?

Richardson: My elementary librarian wrote an amazing book, "Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth." This book highlights the hard-fought end of slavery in our country and Opal Lee's journey in making Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. This is a children's book with beautiful pictures, but we can all learn from it.

Anthony: As an early childhood and elementary school person, the book I recommend is also a picture book! "Our Children Can Soar" by Michelle Cook is a beautifully illustrated storybook that takes the reader on a journey through the U.S. Civil Rights movement by highlighting important leaders and culminating with President Barack Obama. As a teacher, it is a great read aloud because it is written in rhyme and supports phonemic awareness skills with good vocabulary words for students in kindergarten through third grade.

It reads, in part:

"Rosa sat

So, Martin could march.

Martin marched

So, Thurgood could rule.

Thurgood ruled

So, Barack could run.

Barack ran

So, our children could soar!"

Q: What gives you hope about today's civil rights movement?

Richardson: Everyday, Peer Power works with a fearless group of young people who are unrelenting in being civil toward others, no matter their differences. These students and their bright future make me hopeful about the civil rights movement today. The movement is in their hands, and that is fine with me!

Anthony: I am hopeful about the movement in civil rights today because of what I am witnessing as a social entrepreneur in education. My venture, The Believe Projects, are literacy labs uniquely tailored to mitigate the dismal learning and emotional development realities of St. Louis' Black children. The labs are strategic, culturally responsive experiences to improve reading proficiency. A Believe lab experience includes 1,000 culturally representative books; visits from bestselling authors; free books for students; literacy-based technology; inspirational murals; aspirational fine art; visits from music artists; and visits to live theater. We are ensuring that all children become confident and competent readers by the end of third grade.

Ten years before today, a program like this could not have existed in schools. It would have been considered too out of the box and too radical. Unfortunately, there are still some places where our venture would still be described that way, but I believe hope is alive!

Feeling inspired yet?

The Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest is open to high school seniors and college freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are residents of (or who are currently enrolled in accredited colleges located in) the 15 states that have Regions full service branches. A total of 60 scholarships will be awarded, consisting of 30 high school and 30 college student awards.

Discover what receiving the Riding Forward Scholarship meant to additional winners.

Here are more details about the 2023 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest:

Each applicant must submit a 500-word (or less) written essay or a 3-minute (or less) video essay that addresses how a Black American individual has inspired change in the applicant's life, and that discusses the contributions of that Black American individual.

Applications must be submitted by March 31, 2023.

Scholarships will include a total of 30 awards of $2,500 each for high school winners (15 scholarships for written essays and 15 scholarships for video essays) and 30 awards of $1,750 each for winners who are currently enrolled as college students (15 scholarships for written essays and 15 scholarships for video essays).

An independent selection committee will judge the written essay and video essay submissions and select the winners.

For official rules, complete entry details and eligibility requirements, visit the contest website at www.regions.com/ridingforward. No purchase or banking relationship is required to enter the contest.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Regions Bank on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Regions Bank

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/regions-bank

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Regions Bank

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739473/Riding-Forward-Scholarship-Contest-Celebrates-Black-History-Month
Saguenay, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - First Phosphate Corp. ("First Phosphate" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received conditional approval to list its common shares (the "Shares") on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the trading symbol "PHOS".

Final approval of the listing is subject to the Company meeting certain customary conditions of the CSE. Upon final approval, the Company intends to issue a news release confirming the date upon which its Shares will commence trading on the CSE.

"We believe First Phosphate is set to become the only pure-play publicly-traded company worldwide to be entirely dedicated to producing clean, high-grade and ethically-sourced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery industry," said First Phosphate President Peter Kent. "Our conditional approval is another important milestone for the corporate development of First Phosphate as we continue to witness the global shift to LFP energy storage."

Further to its press release dated January 18, 2023, and due to overwhelming demand, the Company announces that it has closed an additional tranche of 3,023,142 HD Units (as defined in the Company's news release dated November 28, 2022) for gross proceeds of $1,058,100.

The Company had further raised the ceiling of its private placement from $3.4 million (announced on January 18, 2023) to $4.5 million in order to accommodate increased investor interest.

The proceeds are expected to be used for general working capital purposes and for exploration activities. All securities issued in connection with this closing are subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period. Furthermore, the Shares issued pursuant to this closing are subject to a contractual lock-up with a release schedule over 12 months following the Shares being listed for trading on a stock exchange.

In total, the Company issued 8,931,004 HD Units at a price of $0.35 per HD Unit for gross proceeds of $3,125,851 and 3,322,000 FT Units (as defined in the in the Company's news release dated November 28, 2022) at a price of $0.40 per FT Unit for gross proceeds of $1,328,800 and collectively with the HD Units aggregate gross proceeds of $4,454,651. The total commission was $105,839.04 and 282,097 Compensation Warrants (as defined in the in the Company's news release dated December 27, 2022).

First Phosphate holds 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing to produce battery grade phosphate. The Company's flagship property is located approximately 125 km north of Saguenay, the province's sixth largest city, providing easy access to a deep sea port, daily flights to Montreal, a skilled industrial workforce, and provincial infrastructure. First Phosphate is fully focused on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America.

-30-

For additional information, please contact:

Bennett Kurtz

Chief Financial Officer

bennett@firstphosphate.com

Tel: +1 (416) 200-0657

Investor Relations: investor@firstphosphate.com

Media Relations: media@firstphosphate.com

Website: www.FirstPhosphate.com

Follow First Phosphate:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FirstPhosphate

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-phosphate/

About First Phosphate Corp.

First Phosphate is a mineral development company fully dedicated to extracting and purifying phosphate for the production of cathode active material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate ("LFP") battery industry. First Phosphate is committed to producing at high purity level, at full ESG standard and with low anticipated carbon footprint. First Phosphate plans to vertically integrate from mine source directly into the supply chains of major North American LFP battery producers that require battery grade LFP cathode active material emanating from a consistent and secure supply source. First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. First Phosphate properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous phosphate rock that generally yields high purity phosphate material devoid of high concentrations of harmful elements.

Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: the Company's commitment to producing high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's plans to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's proposed development of its land claims in the Saguenay Region; the listing of the Shares on the CSE; the Company's plans to become the only pure-play publicly-traded company worldwide to be entirely dedicated to producing clean, high-grade and ethically-sourced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery industry; and the anticipated use of proceeds and any required approvals thereof.

Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company's ability to producing high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's ability to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's ability to develop its land claims in the Saguenay Region; the Company's ability to complete the listing of its Shares on the CSE; the Company's ability to become the only pure-play publicly-traded company worldwide to be entirely dedicated to producing clean, high-grade and ethically-sourced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery industry; and the Company's ability to utilize the use of proceeds on the terms and within the timelines anticipated or at all.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the Company's inability to produce high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's inability to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's inability to develop its land claims in the Saguenay Region; the Company's inability to complete the listing of its Shares on the CSE; the Company's inability to become the only pure-play publicly-traded company worldwide to be entirely dedicated to producing clean, high-grade and ethically-sourced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery industry; and the Company's inability to utilize the use of proceeds on the terms and within the timelines anticipated or at all.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154903
Acquisition Terms Include Option to Farm-In to 90%

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Resouro Gold Inc. (TSXV: RAU) ("Resouro" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that effective February 12, 2023 it has entered into an arm's length agreement with Tiros Strategic Metals Pte Ltd ("Tiros Strategic Metals"), that holds a 90% interest in the Tiros Titanium and Rare Earth Project ("Tiros Project"), to acquire a 33% equity holding in Tiros Strategic Metals with an option to acquire the remaining equity that will result in Resouro owning a 90% interest in the Tiros Project.

The Tiros Project Highlights:

11 Mineral Concessions totalling 171km 2 and covering 70km of the NE trending Tiros sedimentary sequence





of the NE trending Tiros sedimentary sequence The Tiros licenses cover the thickest portions of the prospective Capacete formation (dark colours in Figure 1) and the areas with the greatest exploration potential





of the prospective Capacete formation (dark colours in Figure 1) and the areas with the Extensive horizontally bedded near-surface and outcropping Capacete Formation, formed from the erosion and deposition of the volcaniclastic rocks of the Alkaline province of Alto Paranaiba





Preliminary work has identified continuous mineralised beds up to 7m thick showing elevated rare earth values of up to 1.0% TREO, including a high proportion of the permanent magnet rare earths; Neodymium, Praseodymium and Dysprosium.





Recently re-assayed core confirmed TiO2 grades consistently >15% and potentially economic Rare Earth Oxide grades of up to 1% TREO

Historical data for the Tiros Project includes:

1,033m of drilling from 21 holes within the 10 concessions

GPR Profiles - subsurface imagery

Aerial geophysical Magnetic and Gamma Survey

Geochemical database of 3,000 soils/rocks/chips

Remote Sensing Studies

Preliminary metallurgical studies on the Titanium beneficiation

Mineralogy studies and weathering profile characterization

Verification and re-assaying of the available core/drilling material

Figure 1: The Tiros Project area in relation to the regional geology

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5944/154904_0f1cb104744319f1_001full.jpg

Christopher Eager, CEO of Resouro, commented: "We believe that by bringing a potentially globally significant project into Resouro's asset pipeline at a low upfront cost we provide a very exciting value opportunity for new and existing shareholders. Our portfolio of existing gold projects and the newly acquired exposure to strategic metals such as titanium and rare earth elements allows the company to benefit from the macro environment of rising gold prices and the push towards a more environmentally conscious future."

Figure 2: The Tiros Project Location

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5944/154904_0f1cb104744319f1_002full.jpg

Acquisition Terms

Binding Terms Sheets have been entered for:

1)Initial Acquisition of 33% of Tiros Strategic Metals Pte Ltd

Tiros Strategic Metals holds 90% of the Brazilian Holding Company Tiros Minerais Estrategicos Mineracao Ltda. The consideration for the 33% acquisition will be in shares of Resouro Gold Inc. Valuation and number of shares will be determined by independent valuation. This is a Related Party Transaction with Christopher Eager, CEO and President of Resouro, selling his 33% share of Tiros Strategic Metals to Resouro.

2)Farm-in Agreement to acquire 100% of Tiros Strategic Metals Pte Ltd from RBM CONSULTORIA MINERAL EIRELI ("RBM"):

Vesting 51% by completion of a Preliminary Economic Study and payment of CAD 60,000 or 315,000 RAU Shares at RMB's choice

by completion of a Preliminary Economic Study and payment of CAD 60,000 or 315,000 RAU Shares at RMB's choice Vesting 70% by completion of a Preliminary Feasibility Study and payment of CAD 100,000 or 550,000 RAU Shares at RMB's choice

by completion of a Preliminary Feasibility Study and payment of CAD 100,000 or 550,000 RAU Shares at RMB's choice Vesting 100% by completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study and payment of CAD 140,000 or 777,000 RAU shares at RMB's choice

Tiros Strategic Metals undertakes to fund RBM's 10% of project development costs by way of loans.

Conditions Precedent:

Completion of definitive acquisition and farm-in agreements

Renaming of all entities to reflect the names described in this release

Confirmation of transfer of all Tiros Mineral Rights into Tiros Minerais Estrategicos Mineracao Ltda.

All TSX Venture Approvals including but not limited to compliance or exemption from TSX Venture Policy 5.9 and MI 61-101 relating to minority shareholder protection and related party transactions.

The Company would also like to announce the following changes to the Board of Directors: resignation of David Cass, Virginia Olnick, Marcelo Carvalho, and appointment of Philippe Martines as Director of the Company. Marcelo Carvalho also resigns as Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Resouro would like to thank David, Virginia, and Marcelo for their valuable contributions and wish them well in their future endeavours. The Company welcomes Philippe Martines to its Board and is also in discussions to appoint an additional Canadian-based director who has extensive experience in the Canadian financial and mining industry.

Philippe Martines is a lawyer designated by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), specializing in Corporate and Mining Law, with more than a 20 years' experience in the Brazilian mineral market and over 10 years of experience in legal consultancy, advisory and litigation for national and international companies established in Brazil.

Mr. Martines served as the Legal Director for Luna Gold Corp. (currently Equinox Gold) for over 7 years, where he implemented internal legal auditing controls, supervised the compliance programs, oversaw institutional and government relations, executed mineral rights acquisitions and supported the management, due diligence, and crisis management activities. An independent lawyer since 2015, Mr. Martines has supported junior and mid-tier mining companies registered and operating in Brazil, as well as effected the acquisition of mining projects and mineral rights via incorporations, mergers, and joint ventures.

QP

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Chris Eager, P.Eng., President and CEO of Resouro, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Resouro Gold Inc.

Resouro is a Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in Brazil, including the 100%-owned Novo Mundo Gold Project in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Resouro is currently in the process of acquiring a stake in the titanium-REE project in Brazil. Learn more about the Company on its website: https://resouro.com.

For further information, please contact the Company at:

Chris Eager, CEO

chris.eager@resouro.com

Iryna Zheliasko, Investor Relations

iryna@grovecorp.ca

647-249-9298

Disclaimer

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. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of due diligence, receipt of board approvals, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the assumption and satisfaction of the obligations under the Coogavepe Agreement and the timing and completion of the proposed acquisition. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is based on the 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 that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other 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; liabilities inherent in the mining industry; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; 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. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed acquisition and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

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/154904
iconectiv executives showcase how communication service providers are mitigating fraud, caller ID spoofing, smishing, illegal robocalling, network inefficiency and more

What's the News: Years of rapid technology and regulatory innovation have created major revenue streams and market opportunities for service providers. They have also increased the need for new ways to mitigate fraud, errors and inefficiencies.

Years of rapid technology and regulatory innovation have created major revenue streams and market opportunities for service providers. They have also increased the need for new ways to mitigate fraud, errors and inefficiencies. Why it Matters: Fraud like illegal robocalls, nuisance calls and messaging spam undermine consumer trust, creating business challenges for service providers, their enterprise customers and consumers. In the shadows of service providers globally, a squadron of advanced and intelligent superheroes are diligently working to keep the integrity of the communications infrastructure and the relevancy of the communication channels intact.

Consumers and businesses depend on voice calls and SMS not only to communicate, but also to enable security safeguards such as two-factor authentication for bank accounts. That's why fraudsters also look to voice and SMS for illegal robocalling, smishing, account takeovers, PBX hacking, one-ring scams and other types of communication fraud.

By mitigating fraud, a squadron of trusted communication superheroes are using their powers to help service providers protect their customers and their bottom line. They are equally vigilant about combatting the operational challenges that are the unfortunate byproducts of the rapid technology and regulatory innovation that benefits consumers and business alike.

At MWC Barcelona 2023, iconectiv executives will highlight the work of the industry's Superheroes-who are propelling the communications industry's momentum by keeping people connected, businesses running and commerce flowing. They will also discuss the progress that service providers, regulators and associations such as CTIA, ATIS and GSMA are making to protect businesses and consumers and boost operational efficiency. For example:

Not knowing a customer's identity is expensive, especially for service providers forced to cover the cost of one-ring scams as well as other PBX hacking, international revenue share fraud (IRSF), interconnection-related revenue leakage and fraudulent roaming calls to premium-rate services. iconectiv TruNumber Protect gives service providers intelligence for telephone numbers worldwide, cutting down one-ring scam calls and text messages.

Service providers will invest $900B in their networks from 2021 to 2025, of which more than 80% will be on 5G. Keeping customers happy while knowing what equipment and capabilities they have and don't have means systems must work together across business units, domains and locations. A naming standard like iconectiv TruOpsCommon Language accomplishes this by identifying and protecting network assets in a consistent manner.

Each year, 252 million wireless subscribers around the world change their phone service provider, which means service providers are dealing with increasing account turnover, which also opens the door to fraud. iconectiv TruNumber Routing allows service providers to instantly validate the terminating service provider and determine the optimal, least-cost route to a successful call.

"Illegal robocallers and other fraudsters aren't the only villains attacking the trusted communications ecosystem. They're joined by network and asset management complexities that undermine service providers' bottom lines, making it challenging to continue innovating," said Richard Jacowleff, iconectiv CEO. "But those villains are losing the battle on every front thanks to the growing legion of Trusted Communication Superheroes. From porting numbers to rolling out 5G, they're thwarting fraudsters, restoring consumer trust and ferreting out inefficiency and inaccuracy needed to accelerate digital transformation efforts and move conversation commerce forward."

MWC Barcelona 2023 attendees can learn more by visiting iconectiv in Hall 2 at Stand 201MR or by scheduling a meeting via events@iconectiv.com.

About iconectiv

Your business and your customers need to access and exchange information simply, seamlessly and securely. iconectiv's extensive experience in information services and its unmatched numbering intelligence helps you do just that. In fact, more than 2 billion people count on our platforms each day to keep their networks, devices and applications connected. Our cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions span network and operations management, numbering, trusted communications and fraud prevention. For more information, visit www.iconectiv.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005286/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Sharon Oddy

iconectiv

+1-732-699-5130/908-809-2268

soddy@iconectiv.com



Casey Bush

Global Results Communications

+1-949-689-9550

iconectiv@globalresultspr.com
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / With all eyes on New York Fashion Week, three entrepreneurs from the SkysTheLimit.org community are building fashion brands to watch. Hailing from New York and Georgia, these designers are taking a purpose-focused approach as they create businesses that change lives.

They are:

Anthony Imafidon, based in New York, NY, is Founder of Motivated Express, a clothing brand that helps deaf people and members of the hard of hearing community to stay motivated and express their aspirations, and not let their disability hold them back from what they want to achieve.

Anthony is an entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and fashion designer who wants to inspire others like him to step into their own power and reclaim their narrative. Anthony wants his deaf and hard-of-hearing community members to grow their confidence and take ownership of their destiny.

"Growing up with hearing loss was a difficult journey for me. Facing challenges, different barriers, having self-doubt, disappointments, and setbacks going into the hearing world. I knew that I would use that as motivation to better myself by becoming stronger and wiser. Accepting who truly I am as my identity and motivating myself who I want to become. We must keep learning about ourselves and always be looking for self-improvement in ourselves," said Anthony.

Read more about Anthony here .

Tamika Akins, based in Hampton, GA, is Founder of Prim and Saucy Boutique, whose mission is to help moms positively enable their kids to embrace their unique style with confidence and enjoy being kids. Her focus is on creating lasting memories through imaginative play and fashionable moments. She encourages and supports creative imagination with her brand, allowing girls to feel empowered to be their authentic selves. The organization gives back to the community by donating to women's shelters and other non-profit organizations such as Purses of Hope to advocate for women and children in need.

"I decided to take a leave of absence from my corporate job as an IT Consultant and to tap into my passion for fashion by leveraging my craftiness. I've always stood by the saying: When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good," said Tamika.

One of her goals is to one day partner with Girls Who Code and other STEM organizations to help close the gender gap in tech and leverage fashion to improve girls' confidence.

Read more about Tamika here .

Teriana Jackson, based in Atlanta, GA, is Founder of She's Stepping, a shoe brand that is all about stepping into the next role, feeling good, and being happy. She is a mother, wife, student, and business owner.

"As a woman, I juggle a lot of roles, and no matter which role I am playing, self image is always important. I ask myself daily what energy I would want the world to take from me, and I believe the answer should always be positive energy. To show love to the world I must love myself. To do that, I dress to impress and make the world my own fashion show," said Teriana.

Read more about Teriana here .

Sky's the Limit offers opportunities for traditionally marginalized entrepreneurs - typically those who identify as LGBTQI+, BIPOC, women, veterans, disabled people, and people from low-income backgrounds - to connect with mentors to come together to foster, grow, and shape modern and future enterprise.

For more information about how to get your company involved in mentoring, please visit skysthelimit.org/partnerships .

# # #

About SkysThelimit.org: SkysTheLimit.org is a digital platform that connects young, historically excluded entrepreneurs with one-on-one support from experienced business advisors and mentors, entrepreneurship training, and community-voted startup grants. SkysTheLimit.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Anthony Imafidon, Founder of Motivated Express based in New York, NY

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Skys the Limit on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Skys the Limit

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/skys-limit

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Skys the Limit

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739475/SkysTheLimitorg-Announces-3-Inspiring-Fashion-Entrepreneurs-You-Really-Need-To-Discover-This-Fashion-Week
The evolution of COTERIE New York continues to elevate the women's contemporary and advanced contemporary wholesale fashion market, featuring premier brands Simon Miller, Jennifer Fisher Jewelry and Lelet NY.

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / COTERIE New York returns to New York City February 21-23, 2023, at the Javits Center, bringing refinement and sophistication to the women's contemporary fashion category. COTERIE brings global brands and designers together to connect with key industry buyers and lends fresh voices to important conversations around sustainability, technology and community.

Sitting within an intersection where energies, lifestyles, culture and fashion meet and fuse, COTERIE New York will host an impressive line-up of over 800 contemporary and advanced contemporary designers including Lamarque, Mes Demoiselles, Lovethe Label, Stoney Clover, Illesteva, and Manoush.

The upcoming edition will feature a new focused space on the show floor highlighting a portfolio of designers that represent the new era of COTERIE. GALLERY will showcase a variety of sought-after designers with discerning perspectives such as Simon Miller, Lelet NY, Naya Rea, Jennifer Fisher Jewelry, Reike Nen, Haus Label, Mozhdeh Matin, 3JUIN, Jason Wu Handbags, Zimo, Dubie, Dl the Label, Timeless Pearly, Maiami, T and Honor the Gift. This season, GALLERY offers a mixed-merchandised story of new-to-show and of-the-moment designers, each advancing the confines of their categories with their distinct points of view.

"COTERIE is continuing to grow and evolve; I am particularly excited for our attendees to experience the show in 2023. We have enhanced the Edit section, secured a premier lineup of advanced contemporary brands and created GALLERY, a new concept space that offers a collections-focused showcase in a directional setting, for a community of key like-minded designers. The purpose of GALLERY is to nurture, promote and advance the opportunities for the featured designers." - Courtney Bradarich, Vice President of COTERIE

EDIT, which is the home to an incredible assortment of hand-selected international collections on the show floor, will have brands such as Colombo, Moo, Woolrich, Meimei, MicheleLopriore, Seventy Venezia, Fedeli, European Culture, T Milano, and HNST.

COTERIE will host a robust line up of international brands from Korea, Ukraine and Italy among dozens of other countries. International brands include Maxime Simoens, Asepsi, Maiami, Tara Jarmon, SUNCOO Paris, Muse for All, Serpui, Melissa Odabash, Attirecare, SAND Copenhagen, CeliaB and ORRIS.

As an added feature to the strong ready-to-wear selection, accessories and footwear categories attendees will get to shop the growing beauty category at COTERIE with industry favorites from Golden Meteors like 19-69, Bask Suncare, CRA_YON and Adler New York.

"I am excited to join forces with COTERIE because I strongly believe in the power of community and collaboration. We all need to unite and lift each other up as we are stronger together. I believe that the strong commercial knowledge of the COTERIE team coupled with our eye for unique emerging talent will result in a very special event." -Karina Trofimova, Owner of Haus Agency and Haus Label.

Added highlights include sustainability and technology experience in a partnership with Arcadia Earth which will uncover concrete solutions around circularity in the fashion industry through an interactive AR (Augmented Reality) installation. The interactive display will guide attendees through the 6 stages of circularity: Prioritize Sustainable Fabrics, Build to Last, Take Care, Approach Retail Differently, Rewear, Repair & Remake and Recycle.

Education and expert panel sessions include:

Fall 2023 Trends Presentation with Courtney Bradarich, Vice President of Coterie

with Courtney Bradarich, Vice President of Coterie Material Innovations that Matter with Valentino Vettorri, Founder of Arcadia Earth, Tricia Carey, CCO, Renewcell and Steven Usdan, CEO, Giotex

with Valentino Vettorri, Founder of Arcadia Earth, Tricia Carey, CCO, Renewcell and Steven Usdan, CEO, Giotex Celebrating Black Figures in Fashion featuring The Daily Front Row

featuring The Daily Front Row Fashions Next Wave Driving Circularity: In partnership with by eBay with Tricia Carey, COO, Renewcell, Lucie Brigham, Head of United Nations Office for Partnerships, Karla Magruder, Founder, Accelerating Circularity, Constanza Gomez, Co-founder, Sortile

with Tricia Carey, COO, Renewcell, Lucie Brigham, Head of United Nations Office for Partnerships, Karla Magruder, Founder, Accelerating Circularity, Constanza Gomez, Co-founder, Sortile Industry Insights featuring Sophie Soar, The Business of Fashion

featuring Sophie Soar, The Business of Fashion Sustainability and Technology with Teodora Nicolae, VP Marketing, COTERIE New York, Valentino Vettori, Founder, Arcadia Earth, Ricardo Pasarin Lainez, Co-founder, LyceumVR

Retailers come to COTERIE to shop the show floor, discover the latest trends and network with industry professionals. Buyers are confirmed from Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Shopbop, Julian Gold, Coplon's, KITH, Fenwick, Cloak and Dagger, Anthropologie, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Uniquities, Four Seasons Orlando, Joan Schepp, Barbara Jean, Gus Mayer, Westerlind, and Il Cortes Ingles.

There is still time to register to become an exhibitor, attendee or press for COTERIE New York. Register at www.coteriefashionevents.com

About COTERIE

COTERIE is the premier women's contemporary to advanced contemporary apparel, footwear, and accessories platform. Connecting emerging and established brands and designers to an elite list of domestic and international retailers, influencers, and media, COTERIE's first-class events build exclusive experiences that fuel discovery, commerce, and connectivity, while inspiring upmarket trends. For more information, please visit: www.coteriefashionevents.com

About Informa Markets Fashion

Informa Markets Fashion connects and inspires the global fashion community through online experiences, industry insights, and worldwide fashion trade events including MAGIC, COTERIE, PROJECT, and SOURCING at MAGIC. From more effective manufacturing and supply chain opportunities to creative design inspiration and retail on the wholesale floor, Informa Markets Fashion's diverse portfolio supports the entire fashion ecosystem - fostering innovation and driving creativity year-round. For more information on upcoming events, please visit: www.findfashionevents.com

Contacts

Kristin Borland

Informa Markets Fashion

Kristin.borland@informa.com

SOURCE: INFORMA MARKETS - FASHION

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739441/Elevated-Brands-and-Industry-Experts-to-be-Featured-COTERIE-New-York-February-21-23-2023
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / From our founding in 1973, our Founder and Executive Chairman, Fred Smith, knew the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion. In fact, during his acceptance of the National Civil Rights Museum 2022 Freedom Award , Mr. Smith acknowledged that to serve a diverse world, the company needed a diverse team with insight into cultures and communities.

It is in the spirt of this legacy we celebrate Black History Month at FedEx. FedEx has long invested in community organizations, such as those honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the many heroes of the Civil Rights Movement; advocacy organizations like the National Urban League and NAACP who work to empower African Americans, celebrate their culture and history, and promote economic empowerment through education, job training programs, and entrepreneurship; and provided support to HBCU institutions and students most recently through our $5M pledge.

At FedEx, we drive change by investing in organizations seeking long-term, systemic solutions to the challenge of creating a just society and economy that works better for everyone. By collaborating with nonprofits, we support learning, mentoring, professional development, and access to resources that help build strong connections.

We believe every individual should have the opportunity to dream big and realize what's possible. Our goal is to give individuals the best chance at success with access to education, pathways to quality jobs, and a voice in their community's future.

We are honored to join our team members as we celebrate and honor Black History Month. We invite you to learn more about our community support at FedExCares.com and the new Fact Sheet detailing our work within the African American community.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from FedEx Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: FedEx Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/fedex-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: FedEx Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739478/Celebrating-Black-History-Month-at-FedEx
Regulatory News:

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) will host a live audio webcast of a presentation by Emmanuel Babeau, Chief Financial Officer, at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) Conference on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The webcast will provide live audio of the entire PMI session and will be available in a listen-only mode on www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

The audio webcast may also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI's free Investor Relations Mobile Application.

An archived copy of the webcast will be available until 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 23, 2023, on www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

Presentation slides will also be available at www.pmi.com/2023cagny.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International (PMI) is a leading international tobacco company working to deliver a smoke-free future and evolving its portfolio for the long term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's current product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products. Since 2008, PMI has invested more than USD 10.5 billion to develop, scientifically substantiate and commercialize innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. This includes the building of world-class scientific assessment capabilities, notably in the areas of pre-clinical systems toxicology, clinical and behavioral research, as well as post-market studies. In November 2022, PMI acquired Swedish Match a leader in oral nicotine delivery creating a global smoke-free champion led by the companies' IQOS and ZYN brands. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized versions of PMI's IQOS Platform 1 devices and consumables and Swedish Match's General snus as Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTPs). As of December 31, 2022, PMI's smoke-free products were available for sale in 73 markets, and PMI estimates that approximately 17.8 million adults around the world had already switched to IQOS and stopped smoking. Smoke-free products accounted for approximately 32% of PMI's total full-year 2022 net revenues. With a strong foundation and significant expertise in life sciences, PMI announced in February 2021 its ambition to expand into wellness and healthcare areas and, through its Vectura Fertin Pharma subsidiary, aims to enhance life through the delivery of seamless health experiences. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005558/en/

Contacts:

Philip Morris International

Investor Relations:

Stamford, CT: +1 (203) 904 2410

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666

Email: InvestorRelations@pmi.com

Media: David Fraser

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500

Email: David.Fraser@pmi.com
Cummins

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Global power technology leader Cummins Inc. is expanding its partnership with Water.org, providing over $500,000 in grants to communities in Peru and the Philippines to help residents acquire much needed water infrastructure.

The project is part of Cummins Water Works, the company initiative to address the global water crisis by partnering with leading water experts to invest and engage in large-scale, high-impact water projects around the world.

Under PLANET 2050, Cummins environmental sustainability strategy, the company has established the goal to produce net water benefits that exceed Cummins' annual water consumption in all regions where the company has a presence.

When Cummins Water Works was founded, the company immediately partnered with Water.org, the global non-profit organization that works to bring safe, accessible and cost-effective water and sanitation solutions to the communities that need them most.

The partnership has already resulted in providing access to sustainable water to over 400,000 people in Brazil, India and Mexico.

"The statistics surrounding the severity of the water crisis in the world are unbelievable," says Scott Saum, Program Manager for Cummins Water Works. "We recently organized a panel discussion with Cummins leadership, Water.org and The Nature Conservancy, another of our key water partner experts, and learned some staggering evidence about water security. The discussion provided valuable insight to our employees of the situation at hand, and it is rewarding to know that our collaboration is making a difference."

Experts estimate about 785 million people in the world today lack access to safe water. About 2 billion people lack access to a toilet. Financially, the cost of not having access to clean water and sanitation is about $260 billion per year.

Families spend millions of hours collecting water, impacting school dropout rates in addition to hygiene-related diseases.

Today in the Philippines, 57 million people, out of an overall population of 110 million, lack access to reliable, safely managed drinking water, and 43 million people lack access to safely managed sanitation services. Similarly, with Peru's population of 32 million, 16 million lack access to safely managed drinking water, while 15 million lack access to safely managed sanitation services.

The grants from the Cummins Foundation will help communities by providing affordable financing to obtain infrastructure including plumbing, pumps, taps, toilets and water storage tanks.

Access to sustainable water can prevent a host of problems for needy regions of the world. Photo courtesy of Water.org.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cummins Inc. on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Cummins Inc.

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cummins-inc

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Cummins Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739484/Cummins-Expands-Effort-to-Provide-Sustainable-Water-to-Communities-In-Need
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Aftermath Silver Ltd. (TSXV: AAG) (OTCQX: AAGFF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the signing of a definitive agreement (on the amended terms previously announced by the Company in its news release dated January 11, 2023), in respect of the disposition by the Company of its interest in the Cachinal De La Sierra Silver-Gold Project (the "Cachinal Project" or "Cachinal") to Honey Badger Silver Inc. ("Honey Badger").

Ralph Rushton, President of Aftermath said: "This transaction allows us to focus on our flagship Berenguila Project in southern Peru and Challacollo in northern Chile while providing cash and a significant position in Honey Badger. Aftermath also retains exposure to Cachinal through future production-based cash payments and an NSR should the Project go into production."

Transaction Terms:

Consideration: The consideration payable to Aftermath for the disposition of the Cachinal Project (the " Transaction ") will be comprised of the following: (a) an aggregate of 3,508,771 common shares of Honey Badger (" Honey Badger Shares "), at a deemed price per share of $0.285 (being C$1,000,000 in share consideration); (b) C$652,000 in cash payable at closing; and (c) additional cash payments as described below.

Subsequent Payments: The additional cash payments will be made in three subsequent payments, as follows: C$200,000 on or before by May 31 st , 2023 C$400,000 on or before March 31, 2024 C$400,000 on or before September 30, 2024



The additional cash payments will be evidenced by a promissory note issued at closing (the "Promissory Note"), and the obligations thereunder will be secured by a pledge over the shares of the Chilean entity which holds the Cachinal Project. The Promissory Note will provide Honey Badger with the option, subject to regulatory approval (including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV")), to satisfy payments by issuing additional Honey Badger Shares at a deemed price per share equal to the greater of: (a) the 30 trading-day volume weighted average price of the Honey Badger Shares on the TSXV (the "VWAP"); or (b) the maximum permitted discount permitted under the policies of the TSXV; provided that the Company will not be able to issue Honey Badger Shares in satisfaction of amounts owing if its 30 trading-day VWAP is less than C$0.05).

1% NSR and Production Payments Royalty: In connection with the acquisition of the Cachinal Project, Honey Badger has agreed to grant Aftermath with a 1% net smelter returns royalty (with a complete buy-back option in favour of Honey Badger for C$8,500,000) as well as a production payments royalty upon commencement of commercial production at Cachinal, (payable, in cash or shares at Aftermath's option (but subject to required regulatory approvals in respect of share payments), of C$0.50 per payable silver ounce produced at the Cachinal Project, until an aggregate of C$2,500,000 has been paid, at which point the production payments royalty will terminate.

Hold Period: In addition to any hold periods imposed by applicable securities laws, the Honey Badger Shares to be issued to Aftermath (including any additional Honey Badger Shares issued in satisfaction of amounts owing under the Promissory Note) will be subject to the following restrictions on transfer, subject to customary exceptions (the "Holding Period"): (i) 50% of the shares issued will be subject to transfer restrictions expiring six months and one day from the date of issuance, and (ii) the remaining 50% of the shares issued will be subject to transfer restrictions expiring on the one-year anniversary of the date of issuance. The foregoing restrictions will be set out in a lock-up agreement that the parties will enter into as part of closing, which will also include customary covenants regarding voting support and standstill during the lock-up period as well as limitations on dispositions following the expiry of the lock-up period.

Closing of the Transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions for transactions of this nature, including approval by the TSXV.

About Aftermath Silver Ltd.

Aftermath Silver Ltd. is a leading Canadian junior exploration company focused on silver, and aims to deliver shareholder value through the discovery, acquisition and development of quality silver projects in stable jurisdictions. Aftermath has developed a pipeline of projects at various stages of advancement. The Company's projects have been selected based on growth and development potential.

Berenguela Silver-Copper project. The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest through a binding agreement with SSR Mining. The project is located in the Department of Puno, in southern central Peru. A NI 43-101 Technical Report on the property was filed in February 2021 (available on SEDAR and the Company's web page). The Company is currently drilling at Berenguela and planning to advance the project through a pre-feasibility study.

Challacollo Silver-Gold project. The Company recently completed the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Challacollo silver-gold project from Mandalay Resources; see Company news release dated August 11, 2022. A NI 43-101 mineral resource was released on December 15, 2020 (available on SEDAR and the Company's web page). The Company is currently permitting road access in anticipation of an upcoming drill program.

Cachinal Silver-Gold project. The Company owns a 100% interest in the Cachinal Ag-Au project, located 2.5 hours south of Antofagasta. On June 10, 2022, Aftermath announced it had reached an agreement to sell Cachinal to Honey Badger Silver Inc. On February 15, 2023 Aftermath announced the signing of the Definitive Agreement with Honey Badger. On September 16, 2020, the Company released a CIM-compliant mineral resource estimate and accompanying NI 43-101 Technical Report (available on SEDAR and on the Company's web page).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Ralph Rushton"

Ralph Rushton

CEO and Director

604-484-7855

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements," are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things, the structure of the Transaction; the terms and conditions on which the Transaction will be completed; the approval of the TSXV regarding the Transaction;.

These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market uncertainty and that the conditions to completing the Transaction may not be met or waived.

In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that the conditions to completing the Transaction will be met or waived.

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. We seek safe harbor.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154921
- Update on business progress since share suspension on February 9, 2021 -

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Corporate Universe (OTC PINK:COUV)

Dear Valued Shareholder,

We are pleased to provide the following shareholder update.

Based on recent world events, we believe that the need for energy security is at the top of the geo-political agenda, furthering the need for sustainable, renewable energy. In our opinion, this was recently highlighted by the US government's investment of $30 billion in renewable energy development, which is expected to be replicated by other governments across the world.

Our wholly-owned subsidiary, Carbon-Ion Energy, Inc. ("Carbon-Ion") is dedicated to the development of sustainable energy systems based on its proprietary supercapacitor technology. References in this letter to "we," "us," and "our" include Corporate Universe, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Carbon-Ion.

A January 2023 International Energy Agency (IEA) report stated that the energy world is in the early phase of a New Industrial Age - the age of clean energy technology manufacturing. The report estimated that clean energy technology would be worth roughly $650 billion dollars per year by 2030, more than three times today's levels, based on countries worldwide fully implementing their announced energy and climate pledges. Carbon-Ion is positioning itself to lead in its chosen markets in the UK and US to keep pace with the worldwide goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. The first step is the development and deployment of grid services applications.

Carbon-Ion will work collaboratively with the goal of being the "go-to" partner in the industry for projects where improved management of power enables the optimization of current and future energy storage and delivery systems. The applications in need of our innovative technological solutions vary from power grids to transportation to hybridization of EV - virtually any application which requires quick-charging power-on-demand.

By any measure, we believe that we have come through an important chapter, which presented both profound challenges and remarkable opportunities to accomplish difficult tasks. We are excited to finally have the opportunity to share our progress with our shareholders.

Historical Context

In December of 2020, Carbon-Ion acquired the patents, scientific team, and assets of ZapGo, Ltd. The corporate goal has been to establish a disciplined and focused process which places Carbon-Ion on a sustainable path of growth and scalability. On December 10th, 2020, Corporate Universe, Inc. and Carbon-Ion entered into a binding letter of intent to merge in order to access the capital markets for Carbon-Ion. As we worked through the details of the merger, Corporate Universe was struck with a trading suspension on February 9th, 2021.

Careful Deliberation

During the merger process and since, we have been working diligently to have the trading suspension on the Corporate Universe stock removed. Despite the unavoidable and unanticipated delays associated with the merger, Carbon-Ion continued to advance its proprietary technology to prepare for full-scale operations. Carbon-Ion overcame numerous pandemic-related challenges, which included staffing shortages and global supply chain issues. The trading suspension and subsequent delisting resulted in lengthy and costly legal and auditing delays beyond our control. However, we are excited to report that, after having overcome many difficult obstacles, we are now fully focused on executing our business model.

Decisive Action

Despite the aforementioned challenges, we are pleased to announce that we have accomplished the following critical steps in our corporate development:

We have become a fully reporting SEC Form 10 company, which is current in all of its filings. We are on track to file Annual Report on Form 10-K by the 03/31/2023 deadline.

We are in the process of seeking ways to increase liquidity in the capital markets for our shareholders, including listing on the OTC.QB marketplace, although we cannot guarantee that we will be able to ever list on the OTC.QB

We completed the building and fit-out of our state-of-the-art laboratory in Milton Park-a Center of Innovation in the heart of the Oxfordshire Energy Corridor. This new lab will allow us to accelerate our scientific and engineering program, which will expedite commercialization of our proprietary Carbon-Ion SuperCaps. Photos of the finished laboratory will be posted on our website. https://www.carbon-ion.energy/

Our patent portfolio consists of 40 issued patents or allowed patent applications and 53 are pending patent applications currently under examination. 35 of the 40 patents were issued or allowed after we acquired the assets, which equates to more than one patent issuance or allowance per month.

Our team of scientists and outside patent counsel have identified over 20 areas of interest in which we intend to file additional patent applications. Our scientific team has a great deal of know-how, with particular emphasis in manufacturing and performance.

Our Intellectual property portfolio is evenly balanced across technological applications, novel manufacturing processes, and core designs. Areas covered include our new supercapacitor technology, Generation 4, performance optimization, structural supercapacitors, charging, hybridization, manufacture and design.

Our outside patent counsel has informed us that Carbon-Ion likely ranks in the top 10 patent application filers in our supercapacitor category.

Following successful submission of letters of intent to the U.S. Department of Energy, we are preparing full submissions to apply to their SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Program. This Government program provides grants and helps small businesses conduct research and development. Carbon-Ion meets the criteria for submission, which includes potential for commercialization and specific DOE qualifications.

Mr. Steve Shine OBE, has joined us as our Chief Strategy Officer. He was awarded his OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the country in his line of work. Mr. Shine is a highly experienced board management professional with a career spanning three decades. Mr. Shine has held many executive and non-executive roles. Most recently Mr. Shine was executive chairman at Anesco, a global leader in renewable energy and one of the top clean-tech companies in the world. Mr. Shine's other executive roles have included being the Chief Operating Officer of Thames Water (the largest water and wastewater business in Europe) and being the Managing Director of the largest electrical distribution network company in the UK (part of EDF Energy).

We are actively pursuing several Joint Collaboration Agreements to commercialize our technology and look forward to announcing them upon completion.

Final Thoughts

When something is vital and necessary, it's essential to ensure it's done correctly.

With that in mind, we are preparing our company to become quoted on the OTC Marketplace, although there we can offer no assurance that we will ever be quoted on the OTC Marketplace. Regardless, we will continue exploring all paths to procure liquidity for our stockholders. We believe that we have built a strong foundation on which we can thrive as a public company. We have oriented Carbon-Ion to align to the market by actively pursuing collaboration with industry, academia, and government agencies in which to deploy its proprietary technology.

Moving forward, we anticipate being able to provide full transparency and consistent communications with our growing shareholder base.

Thank you for your continued support and confidence. We look forward to a bright future together.

Sincerely,

Andrew Sispoidis

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact: info@corporate-universe.com or call (212) 220 8416

About Corporate Universe, Inc.

Corporate Universe, Inc. (the "Company") acts as a holding company and is engaged in the energy sector where it is developing next generation of supercapacitors. Through its subsidiaries Carbon-ion Energy, Inc and Oxcion, Ltd , the Company is developing a new class of energy storage device with considerable functional improvements over commercially available supercapacitors. This technology is referred to as the Carbon-ion or C-ion cell in contrast to Lithium-ion or Li-ion. The C-ion cell has been designed to provide specific power characteristics significantly higher than a Li-ion cell. It is designed to be classified as non-flammable and non-hazardous for transport, allowing the product to be shipped easily and to comply with both current and future regulations. Due to the method of energy storage, the cell has fewer moving parts electrochemically and is designed to go through significantly more charge/discharge cycles or and operate for many years of normal use. The C-ion cell is being designed for manufacture using many of the technologies well known in Li-ion cell production. This will enable Carbon-ion to quickly scale-up production and to use manufacturing capacity already in existence. This will allow new products to be made and extra functions to be added to existing products.

SOURCE: Corporate Universe

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739181/Corporate-Universe-Inc-Provides-Update-Progress-by-the-Company
Regulatory News:

In accordance with its policy in favor of employee shareholding, TotalEnergies SE (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE) (the "Corporation") is implementing its annual capital increase reserved for employees and former employees of the TotalEnergies company (the "Company"). Through this operation, TotalEnergies SE intends to continue involving its employees in the Company's growth. Employee shareholders, within the meaning of Article L. 225-102 of the French Commercial Code and article 11 par. 6 of the Articles of Association of TotalEnergies SE, held 6.8% of TotalEnergies SE's share capital as of December 31, 2022.

The twenty-second resolution of the Shareholders' Meeting held on May 25, 2022 granted the Board of Directors (the "Board") the authority to decide, within a maximum period of 26 months, to carry out one or more capital increases of ordinary shares without preferential subscription rights, not to exceed 1.5% of the share capital at the date of the Board meeting deciding on the operation and reserved to members of a savings plan pursuant to the provisions of Articles L. 225-129 et seq., L. 225-138 and L. 225-138-1 of the French Commercial Code and Articles L. 3332-1 to L. 3332-9 and L. 3332-18 to L. 3332-24 of the French Labor Code.

The Board, pursuant to the above-mentioned authorization, approved the principle during its meeting on September 22, 2022, to carry out, in 2023, a new share capital increase reserved for employees and former employees of the Company pursuant to the following conditions:

Maximum number of shares to be offered and total amount of the offer: 18 million shares with a nominal value of 2.50 each, representing a total nominal amount of 45 million, which is the equivalent of 0.69% of the share capital as of the date of the Board's decision.

Share subscription price: equal to price corresponding to the average of the closing prices of the TotalEnergies shares on Euronext over the 20 trading sessions preceding the date of the decision setting the opening date for the subscription period, reduced by a 20% discount, and rounded off to the highest tenth of a euro. The subscription price will be definitively fixed before the beginning of the subscription period.

Acting by virtue of the powers subdelegated to him by the Board on September 22, 2022, Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, set the following terms and conditions on October 11, 2022:

Description of the newly issued shares:same category as existing TotalEnergies shares with immediate dividend rights. The rights attached to the newly issued shares are the same as the rights attached to the existing shares of the Corporation, and are described in the Articles of Association of TotalEnergies SE.

Listing of the newly issued shares on Euronext:on the same line as existing TotalEnergies shares (ISIN code FR0000120271), from their issuance. American Depositary Receipts admitted to trading on the New York Stock Exchange may be issued in exchange for the new shares.

Indicative timeline (subject to the Chairman and CEO's final confirmation):

Determination of the subscription price: April 26, 2023;

- Subscription period: from April 28, 2022 to May 15, 2023 (included).

Please refer to the appendix to this press release for further information on this operation.

____

About TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.

Twitter: @TotalEnergies LinkedIn: TotalEnergiesFacebook:TotalEnergies Instagram:TotalEnergies

Cautionary Note

The program, reserved to eligible employees and retirees of the Company, will be implemented in France as well as in certain foreign countries, including the United States, where the shares offered in the United States will be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Shares and FCPE units offered outside the United States will not be registered with the SEC. In particular, the units of the below-mentioned FCPEs cannot be offered or sold in the United States directly or indirectly (or in its territories or possessions), or for the benefit of a "U.S. Person", as defined in American regulations. Persons wishing to subscribe to units in these FCPEs, will have to certify, when subscribing, that they are not "U.S. Persons". The definition of "U.S. Person" is available on the FCPE Management Company's website (www.amundi.com).

This press release is produced for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer for the sale or the subscription of securities. Moreover, this press release should not be distributed in the countries where the offering remains subject to approval of the local authorities.

The offer will be issued only in the countries where the local administrative and regulatory procedures have been implemented (in particular, the registration procedures, notification, granting of authorizations and/or applicable exemptions and the information or the consultation of the representatives of the employees).

This press release represents the document required to qualify for the exemption from the requirement to publish a prospectus as defined in Articles 1 4i) and 5h) of the Regulation (UE) 2017/1129 of June 14, 2017.

Appendix to the press release on February 15, 2023

Issuer: TotalEnergies SE

Information related to TotalEnergies SE is available on its website (www.totalenergies.com) and more specifically in its 2020 Universal Registration Document, the French version of which was filed with the Autorite des marches financiers ("AMF") on March 25, 2022 under the registration number D. 22-0158 and is also available free of charge at the head office of TotalEnergies SE.

Scope of the reserved offering: corporations and Beneficiaries

Approximately 115,000 beneficiaries are eligible to participate in the 2022 capital increase.

Subject to compliance with regulations and required administrative approvals being obtained in the different countries, this capital increase will be reserved to employees and former employees of the Corporation and its French and non-French subsidiaries, the capital or voting rights of which, as of the opening date for the subscription period, are directly or indirectly held at more than 50% by TotalEnergies SE (the "Subsidiaries"), members of the PEG-A:

employees of TotalEnergies SE and its Subsidiaries:

who have at least 3 months of employment with the Company as of the last day of the subscription period; and

former employees of TotalEnergies SE or the Subsidiaries, if they:

have left the Company due to retirement or early retirement;

had made at least one payment in the PEG-A before termination of their employment;

still have assets invested in the PEG-A, and, thus, are members of the plan.

Matching contribution

Employees subscribing to the offering will benefit from a matching contribution in the form of a free allotment of additional shares, determined based on the amount of the personal contribution and within the limits of five free shares per employee and within the maximum amount of the offering set by the Board at its meeting on September 22, 2022.

Subscription terms and conditions

The beneficiaries will have the opportunity to subscribe via employee shareholding funds ("FCPEs") created for the needs of this offering and which have been approved by the AMF. In the countries where this option is not available the shares will be directly subscribed.

Voting rights attached to the shares subscribed through an FCPE will be exercised by the Supervisory Board of such FCPE. With respect to the shares subscribed directly by employees, the voting rights will be exercised by the subscribers individually.

Maximum subscription

Pursuant to Article L. 3332-10 of the French Labor Code, the amount of the payments made each year by an employee as part of a savings plan (excluding matching contribution and profit-sharing schemes, i.e., interessement and participation) cannot exceed one quarter of the employee's gross annual salary.

Lock-up period for the units or shares

Pursuant to Article L. 3332-25 of the French Labor Code, shares or FCPE units subscribed in this offering must be held during a lock-up period of five years, except for certain early release cases provided for by Articles L. 3324-10 et R. 3324-22 of the French Labor Code. For beneficiaries who are not French tax residents, the list of early release cases may be adapted due to legal provisions applicable locally.

Rule for reduction of subscription requests

The capital increase will be fulfilled by the total number of shares subscribed directly by employees and via the FCPEs. If the total number of subscribed shares exceeds the maximum number of shares offered by the Board of Directors at its meeting on September 22, 2022 (18 million shares, including shares allotted as an immediate employer contribution), the subscriptions will be cut back in the following manner:

all subscription undertakings will be fully honored up to the subscription average, defined as the quotient between the maximum number of shares offered by the Board and the number of subscribers,

- subscriptions undertakings that exceed the subscription average will be fulfilled in proportion to the number of subscription undertakings not yet fulfilled with the reduction being made as follows:

the reduction will be carried out on a pro rata basis according to the subscription undertakings; and

the reduction will be carried out first on the portion of the offer paid with salary advance, then on the portion paid in cash.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005441/en/

Contacts:

TotalEnergies Contacts

Media Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 99 l presse@totalenergies.com l @TotalEnergiesPR

Investor Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 46 l ir@totalenergies.com
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

15 February 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 35,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 890.86 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 14,614,577; 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 210,376,726.

The figure of 210,376,726 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
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Stratabound Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SB) ("Stratabound" or the "Company") is pleased to announce positive results from the independent Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its 100% owned Fremont Gold Project (the "Project") located in the Mother Lode Gold Belt, north central California.

Highlights:

After-tax net present value ("NPV") (discount rate 5%) of US$210M, internal rate of return ("IRR") of 21% and payback of 4.2 years at a gold price of US$1,750/oz

11-year mine life producing 1,303,000 ounces of gold

Average annual gold production of 118,000 ounces over life of mine ("LOM"), with a peak production of 157,000 ounces in the 4 th year

Average cash cost of US$872/oz and all-in sustaining cost ("AISC") of US$1,082/oz gold

Initial Capital Expenditure of US$203M

Annual process plant rate of 2.19 M tonnes at an average feed grade of 2.4 g/t Au and average overall gold recovery, including offsite processing, of 75.4%

The PEA is preliminary in nature, includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There are no Mineral Reserves contained in the PEA.

P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E") were retained as an independent consultant and Qualified Persons in March 2022 to undertake a Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") and PEA on the Fremont Gold Project in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). Kappes, Cassiday & Associates ("KCA") was also engaged for the design and capital and operating costs for the process plant, heap leach facility and project infrastructure.

Kim Tyler, President and CEO of Stratabound, stated today, "This PEA provides a solid, conservative base case and a clear path forward with plenty of runway to build and improve upon. Only 35% of mineralized strike and two of four mineralized zones have been defined and evaluated to date. Most notably, the opportunity remains to expand the at-surface oxide/heap leach potential indicated by the 4-km long by 285-m wide 0.03 - 5.21 g/t (0.41 g/t average) gold-in-soil anomaly that covers the entire 4 km strike length, (See Feb. 23, 2022 Press release). Oxide Heap Leach is a conventional cost-efficient processing method already proven and functioning at Equinox Gold's successfully operating gold mines in California."

He further stated, "Stratabound is committed to safety, environmental and social responsibility foremost in this enterprise. Implementing the Railveyor system of bulk material transport at Fremont will substantially mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The Railveyor is a relatively new, however proven, electric-powered, hybrid conveyor-rail system that will replace approximately 5 conventional diesel-powered haulage trucks in the underground-to-surface plant haulage configuration. Future studies will examine the use of the Railveyor in the pit configuration, as well as other electric green-equipment alternatives, automation and green technology that may be implemented as that sector continues to leap forward and become more cost-efficient.. The PEA further accounts for progressively backfilling the open pit and returning mine tails back underground as paste fill thereby minimizing the footprint and more swiftly restoring the land back to its original state. Foremost in consideration of future planning is not just simply reclamation, but enhancing the Property's natural repose and lasting value for the benefit of wildlife, the environment and community well beyond the end of mine life."

Project Description and Location

The Fremont Gold Project is 100% owned by Fremont Gold LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stratabound Minerals Corp., and is located in Mariposa County, California approximately 241 km east of San Francisco in the southernmost portion of the prolific California Mother Lode Gold Belt. The Project lies within the Company's wholly owned 3,351-acre (13.56 km2) Fremont Property (the "Property"). The Property includes 100% of the mineral, surface and groundwater rights and features four gold mineralized zones and three former producing gold mines along 4-km of the Mother Lode Gold Belt. The PEA considers two of these zones, the Pine Tree/Josephine Deposit and the Queen Specimen Deposit, along 1.4-km of the 4-km total strike length. California State Highway 49 transects the Property from north to south and a 70 kV power transmission line traverses the Property.

Mineral Resource Estimate

The Fremont Gold Project Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by P&E with an effective date of June 30, 2022 in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) (see press release of August 18, 2022).

Pit-constrained Mineral Resources are reported using a cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au for oxide material and 0.45 g/t Au for sulphide material. Out-of-Pit (underground) Mineral Resources are reported using a cut-off grade of 1.45 g/t Au. Underground Mineral Resources have been constrained within potentially mineable long-hole shapes based on block grade and continuity. Historical mining has been depleted from the updated Mineral Resource Estimate by assigning a zero-volume percentage block inclusion for known areas of mining and development.

The Fremont Gold Project MRE, including the Pine Tree-Josephine and Queen Specimen Deposits, comprise 1,163,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated classification and 2,024,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred classification. The MRE accounts for an aggregate of only 1.4-km of the entire 4-km Project strike length.

A summary of the MRE is provided in the following table. The economic assumptions used for the updated MRE are provided in the notes to the table.

INDICATED TONNES

(k) GRADE

(g/t Au) OUNCES

(k) PIT-CONSTRAINED 18,891 1.90 1,154 OUT-OF-PIT 121 2.21 9 TOTAL 19,011 1.90 1,163 INFERRED PIT-CONSTRAINED 22,507 2.06 1,488 OUT-OF-PIT 5,816 2.87 536 TOTAL 28,323 2.22 2,024

Table 1: Summary of Mineral Resource Estimate

Table notes:

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. A gold price of US$1,700/oz was used. A cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au for oxide material, 0.45 g/t Au for sulphide material and 1.45 g/t Au for underground material was used. Pit-constrained Mineral Resources were determined to be potentially economic based on a mining cost of US$3/t mined, heap leach processing of US$9.16/t, flotation processing of US$10.02/t and G&A costs of US$2.50/t, with metallurgical recoveries of 85% by heap leach and 90% by flotation. Out-of-Pit Mineral Resources were determined to be potentially economic with the longhole mining method based on an underground mining cost of US$40/t mined, processing of US$10.02/t and G&A costs of US$2.50/t, with a metallurgical recovery of 90%. Out-of-Pit grade blocks that did not demonstrate potentially mineable configurations were removed from the Resource Estimate. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence that that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Mining

Mining will begin with three small oxide starter pits and heap leach in year 1 concurrent with initial Pine Tree-Josephine open pit phase 1. The oxide heap leach pad is planned to be constructed within the tailings facility to minimize Project footprint and use a common liner.

The three-phased Pine Tree-Josephine open pit is planned for a production rate of 6,000 tonnes per day to provide low-cost production and generate early cash flow while the construction and development of the underground operation starts in year 2.

Upon completion of the Pine Tree-Josephine open pit in year 4, the Queen Specimen open pit is planned to be developed to supplement underground production to feed the process plant at a rate of 750kt per year. The open pits will be backfilled with waste rock after mining is completed. There will be opportunity for progressive reclamation over the life of the mine.

The Pine Tree-Josephine underground mine is planned for a production rate of 4,000 tonnes per day. The selected mining method is long-hole open stoping with both longitudinal retreat and transverse mining, depending on the vein thickness. Stopes will be filled with cemented paste backfill. Stope dimensions will average 10 metres in strike length and 30 metres in height, with a minimum thickness of 4 metres. Mineralized material will be extracted using a fleet of 10-tonne load-haul-dump units that will tip material down a broken material pass to a Railveyor system on a main haulage level. The Railveyor will transport material to the process plant via the portal and up a surface hillside.

Metallurgy and Mineral Processing

A total of 6,000 tpd of material will be treated in a process plant that consists of three-stage crushing, followed by a grinding circuit consisting of a primary ball mill. A gravity circuit will recover coarse gold from the plant feed, which then moves on to rougher flotation cells creating a sulphide concentrate containing the gold. The concentrate will be reground and fed to cleaner cells where the clean concentrate and gravity concentrate will be filtered and bagged for shipping to a roaster offsite.

For the first year of operation, a heap leach plant will be built to recover the gold in carbon from the heap leach pad that will be constructed in the tailings facility to minimize footprint and maximize use of liner construction.

The process plant is followed by a tailings filtration plant with a filter press to produce paste backfill to send underground and/or to produce dry stack tailings for surface storage.

The flotation plant gold recovery is estimated to average 92% gold to concentrate. At the roaster, 82% of the gold contained in concentrate is payable, including processing charges.

Infrastructure

Supporting infrastructure on site will include a laboratory, administration offices, a mine dry, warehouse, first aid office and truck maintenance shop.

In order to mine the Pine Tree-Josephine open pit, a short highway bypass is planned to be constructed.

Environment and Social

The Company continues to work with its environmental consultants to develop a plan for permitting the Project. The Company reports that its baseline environmental program is progressing well including biological studies, surface water and monitoring groundwater wells for routine sampling. Other planned evaluations for the permitting strategy will necessarily consider mine design, processing, and reclamation plan development.

The Fremont Project is located in Mariposa County on private land and, as such is subject to California Environmental Quality Assurance ("CEQA") process Surface Mining and Reclamation Act ("SMARA"). A Conditional Use Permit ("CUP") and approved closure plan is sought from the county following the completion of the Environmental Impact Report and Closure Plan acceptance. In addition to CUP and closure plan approval, the project will require permits and authorizations prior to construction and operation of the mine. Requests for these approvals will be submitted following the CUP and closure plan approval.

Meanwhile, Stratabound views this development in terms of its benefits to the California economy, as well as the local Mariposa community through re-invigorating California's mineral wealth under modern regulatory requirements and environmental awareness.

Capital and Operating Costs

All dollars are USD

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES Initial capital costs (15% contingency) $M 203 Sustaining capital costs $M 274 LOM capital cost $M 477 COSTS OP Mining cost $/tonne mined 2.80 UG Mining cost $/tonne mined 46.69 Heap Leach Processing cost $/tonne 7.07 Flotation Processing cost $/tonne milled 11.70 Concentrate Transport cost $/tonne milled 6.48 G&A cost $/tonne milled 2.55 Total cash cost $/oz 872 AISC $/oz 1,082

Table 2. Capital expenditure and operating costs of the Fremont Gold Project

Financial Analysis

The economic analysis was undertaken assuming a 5% discount rate. On a pre-tax basis, the NPV5% is estimated at US$317 million, the IRR is 29% and the payback period is 3.5 years. On an After-Tax basis, the NPV5% is estimated at US$210 million, the IRR is 21% and the payback period is 4.2 years. A summary of the Project economics in USD and the projected annual gold production is listed below in Table 3.

ECONOMICS PRE-TAX POST-TAX Net present value (NPV 5%) $M 317 210 Internal rate of return (IRR) % 28.7 21.4 Payback (undiscounted) Years 3.5 4.2 LOM avg. annual cash flow after capital $M 69 54 Total cash flow (undiscounted) $M 561 399 FORECASTS Gold price assumption $/oz 1,750 AISC $/oz 1,082 PRODUCTION Average annual gold production oz/year 118,000 Total LOM recovered gold koz 1,302 Mine life Years 11 Annual mill rate MT/year 2.19 Average mill grade g/t Au 2.4 Average recoveries* % 75.4

*Note: Net process plant and roaster payable recovery

Table 3. Summary of the Fremont Gold Project economics





Figure 1. Projected LOM gold production averages 118,000 ounces per year over eleven years, peaking at 157,000 ounces in year four.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4064/154931_figure1.jpg

Note: Open pit production for the first three years with underground production starting in year 4. Open pit mining is completed in year 7, with low-grade stockpiled material available for processing in subsequent years.

Sensitivities





Figure 2. Project Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return Sensitivity to Gold Price.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4064/154931_figuretwo.jpg

Next Steps

The results of the PEA indicate that the proposed Fremont Gold Project has technical and financial merit using the base case assumptions. It has also identified additional upside opportunities for oxide expansion and further Project optimization.

The Company expects to move forward with enhancing the Project through exploration and further drilling. The Company will also continue to generate additional drilling targets.

The Company expects to continue baseline environmental work and commence permitting activities which will include technical studies and surveys for the Project. The results of the studies, surveys and the engineering work completed for the PEA will be used to complete the application for the CUP. The public release of this PEA will greatly assist the Company in advancing its program of public and stakeholder engagement.

Independent Qualified Persons

This PEA was prepared for Stratabound by P&E and under NI 43-101 guidelines. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by independent "Qualified Persons" Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, Andrew Bradfield, P.Eng. both of P&E and Travis Manning, P.E. of KCA.

Technical Report

A NI 43-101 Technical Report on the PEA will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.

ABOUT STRATABOUND

Stratabound Minerals Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company that is developing its advanced-stage flagship Fremont Gold Project in the historic Mother Lode Gold Belt of California. The Fremont Property features an NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 1.16 million Au ounces at an average grade of 1.90 g/t Au in the Indicated classification, plus 2.02 million ounces at an average grade of 2.22 g/t Au in the Inferred Mineral Resource classification. This current MRE evaluates only 1.4 km of the entire 4 km strike length of the Fremont Property that features four gold-mineralized zones. The Company is also advancing its pipeline of early-stage exploration projects in Canada including the Golden Culvert, Yukon and McIntyre Brook gold projects, and the Captain Cobalt-Copper-Gold Deposit in New Brunswick.

Mr. R. Kim Tyler, P.Geo., President and CEO of Stratabound, and a "Qualified Person" for the purpose of NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents and technical information of this news release.

For more information, please visit the company's website at www.stratabound.com or contact: R. Kim Tyler, President and CEO 416-915-4157 info@stratabound.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.

WARNING: The Company relies upon litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information. Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits, currency fluctuations, unanticipated operational or technical difficulties, changes in laws or regulations, failure to obtain regulatory, exchange or shareholder approval, the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets and the inability to raise additional financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154931
Regulatory News:

France Televisions, M6 (Paris:MMT) and TF1 groups are today announcing their decision to close the SALTO platform.

Launched on 20th October 2020, SALTO has currently near one million subscribers, who have signed up for an offer that combines the best of French drama with iconic daily shows and exclusive all-new programmes. It's an easy-to-use, mass-appeal French-language platform that helps showcase creative talents from France and across Europe.

This decision by SALTO's three founder-shareholders follows the abandonment of the proposed merger between TF1 and M6, which would have paved the way for SALTO to be taken over by the merged entity. Now that this project has been stopped, the shareholders of SALTO have decided that the conditions are not met for SALTO to continue with its current ownership structure, given the complex and constraining governance arrangements and the refusal of most internet service providers to distribute the platform, as is the case with the American platforms. In addition, none of the expressions of interest in taking over SALTO received from a number of industry players could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

Consequently, the shareholders of SALTO SNC have today decided that Mr. Marc Senechal, a partner in the firm B.T.S.G., should be designated as the court-appointed administrator to conduct a voluntary liquidation.

B.T.S.G. will shortly specify and announce the timetable for the shutdown of the platform and subscriptions. A specific communication will be sent in the near future to SALTO subscribers to inform them of the consequences on their current subscription.

As part of the prior information/consultation procedure involving the employee representative bodies, the SALTO Social and Economic Council expressed a favourable opinion on the proposed cessation of trading and on the collective redundancy procedure, following lively and constructive dialogue between the stakeholders. France Televisions, M6 and TF1 groups have committed to making their best efforts to find alternative posts for SALTO employees.

France Televisions, M6 and TF1 groups would like to pay tribute to the exceptional work accomplished by the talented people at SALTO, under the leadership of Thomas Follin, and to express their disappointment at this unfortunate outcome for the French broadcasting industry.

About France Televisions group

France Televisions is the no.1 French broadcaster in terms of audiences (29.4% share of individuals aged 4+ in 2022), and is home to:

1 video platform (france.tv), and a full range of special-interest online offerings (news, kids, sport, culture, education, overseas).

4 national TV channels: France 2, France 3, France 4/Culturebox, France 5.

1 global rolling news media brand available on all devices (France info).

2 networks: 24 regional TV channels in Metropolitan France (France 3), and 9 global tv/radio/web media outlets in overseas territories (no.1).

France Televisions is a dominant player in French broadcasting: 4 out of 5 French people watch France Televisions every week, across all screens.

Find out more at: francetelevisions.fr

About M6 Group

Established in 1987 around the M6 channel, M6 Group is a powerful multimedia group which focuses on three areas: television (13 channels including M6, the 2nd largest commercial channel in the French market), radio (3 stations including RTL, the leading private radio station in France) and digital (more than 30 online media services including mobile applications and IPTV services).

Leveraging its brands and content, M6 Group has gradually expanded its operations through targeted diversification activities (content production and acquisition, cinema, digital marketing, music, shows, etc.) and innovative offerings such as 6play, its digital platform.

Mindful of developing synergies between its brands, and of responding to the expectations of its various audiences while always keeping an eye on the future, it has emerged as a content publisher firmly anchored in the new technology era.

About TF1 group

TF1 group is a major player in the production, publication and distribution of content. Our raison d'etre: to positively inspire society.

Our operations are split between two divisions:

The Media division is home to our free-to-air channels (TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Series Films, LCI), our theme channels (Ushuaia TV, Histoire TV, TV Breizh, Serie Club), our on-demand content platforms (MYTF1, TFOU MAX and SALTO), and the TF1 PUB advertising airtime sales house. We also operate in music production and live shows with Muzeek One.

The Production division, with Newen Studios, is home to 50 creative companies and labels in France and abroad. The division creates and distributes programmes across all genres and for all media industry players, from public-service and private-sector broadcasters to online platforms.

TF1 group has operations in around 10 countries, and employed 2,810 people as of 31 December 2022. In 2022, the Group generated revenue of 2,508m (Euronext Paris, compartment A: ISIN FR0000054900).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005763/en/

Contacts:

France Televisions: Muriel Attal: muriel.attal@francetv.fr +33 (0)6 14 61 07 32

M6 group: Benjamin Boiron: benjamin.boiron@m6.fr +33 (0)6 77 39 74 91

TF1 group: Maylis Carcabal: mcarcabal@tf1.fr +33 (0)6 63 59 87 05
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kingdom of Bahrain has officially been appointed to the Presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), the global, multilateral organization dedicated to accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy to create digital prosperity for all.





His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kingdom of Bahrain, will become the new Chairman of the Council of the DCO.

As represented by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT), Bahrain will oversee the strategic direction of the DCO for the coming year and support the ongoing execution of key initiatives launched by the DCO.

His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, commented on the ascension of Bahrain to the Presidency: "The Kingdom of Bahrain is honored to have been elected to the prestigious role of Presidency of the DCO. Bahrain has put great focus on developing the regulatory framework, policies, and infrastructure that have enabled the Kingdom to establish an efficient and attractive digital ecosystem for businesses. Bahrain is ready to share its expertise and best practices with the Member States of the DCO, to enhance the mission of empowering all nations to build digital economies that drive growth and development."

Her Excellency Deemah AlYahya, Secretary-General of the DCO welcomed the appointment of Bahrain to the DCO Presidency and of H.E. Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi to Chairman of the DCO Council: "We are very pleased to announce that the Kingdom of Bahrain has been ratified to the Presidency of the DCO for 2023. The leadership of the Kingdom of Bahrain has long understood the potential of technology to advance economic growth, and the necessity of using policy and regulation to enable the framework for the digital economy to flourish and grow. Bahrain was one of the founding nations of the DCO, and now, under the Presidency of Bahrain and the wise Chairmanship of His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, we look forward to making great progress towards our goal of digital prosperity for all in 2023."

The ascension of Bahrain to the Presidency of the DCO was ratified during the second DCO General Assembly which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the holder of the Presidency, Bahrain will host the next General Assembly.





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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-kingdom-of-bahrain-assumes-the-presidency-of-the-digital-cooperation-organization-301747931.html
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / On January 10th, International Paper Orange Mill awarded $63,000 in community grants to local organizations who are making the region a better place. Since 2013, the Orange Mill has awarded over $580k worth of foundation grant awards! Thank you to our dedicated team members!

About International Paper

International Paper (NYSE:IP) is a leading global supplier of renewable fiber-based products. We produce corrugated packaging products that protect and promote goods, and enable worldwide commerce, and pulp for diapers, tissue and other personal care products that promote health and wellness. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 38,000 colleagues globally. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2021 were $19.4 billion. Additional information can be found by visiting InternationalPaper.com.

About International Paper - EMEA

In Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), International Paper focuses on the production and marketing of fiber-based packaging and pulp, employing approximately 4,200 people. As a leading supplier of high-quality corrugated containers for a multitude of applications, we serve customers throughout the region from our network of two recycled containerboard mills and 23 box plants in France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Pulp production is centered in Gdansk, Poland. Other products available from International Paper in the region include Kraft linerboard and recycled containerboard, as well as pulp.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from International Paper Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: International Paper Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/international-paper-company

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: International Paper Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739510/International-Paper-Orange-Mill-Awards-63000-to-Local-Organizations
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with CoTec Holdings, Silver Bullet Mines, Datametrex AI, Taranis Resources, Brascan Gold, Eloro Resources, Noram Lithium and Marimaca Copper discussing their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH) provides business update

CoTec Holdings is exploring numerous investment opportunities. The company has identified two potential joint venture opportunities for the application of the Binding Solutions Limited (BSL) technology. The company applied for listing on the OTC Market in the United States. CEO Julian Treger met with Coreena Robertson to discuss the company's plans for 2023.

For the full interview with Julian Treger and to learn about CoTec Holdings, click here.

Silver Bullet (TSXV:SBMI) releases assay results from its Buckeye Mine

Silver Bullet Mines Corp. (SBMI) reported new results from its Buckeye Silver Mine in Arizona. The first significant assays immediately on contact with the vein were 43, 178.6, and 270.6 ounces of silver per ton. The company is now mining along the exposed vein, with assay results pending from the face. Peter Clausi, VP Capital Markets, sat down with Coreena Robertson to highlight the results.

For the full interview with Peter Clausi and to learn about Silver Bullet Mines Corp., click here.

Datametrex AI (TSXV:DM) subsidiary Nexalogy to introduce AI product, Analytics GPT

Datametrex subsidiary Nexalogy Environics is scheduled to present its new and innovative AI product, Analytics GPT, later this month. Registration, dates, and times will be available this Thursday. AnalyticsGPT (Analytics Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) provides an easy-to-use API and interface, making it accessible to businesses and the retail market. Marshall Gunter, CEO of Datametrex, sat down with Coreena Robertson to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Marshall Gunter and to learn about Datametrex, click here.

Taranis Resources (TSX:TRO) outlines 2023 exploration plans to deep drill porphyry target

Taranis Resources Inc. (TRO) is developing an exploration plan for its Thor project for 2023. The team believes that deep drilling is necessary to define the epithermal resource, but it could significantly increase the mineral resource. Company Director Thomas Gardiner met with Coreena Robertson to discuss this news.

For the full interview with Thomas Gardiner and to learn about Taranis Resources Inc., click here.

Brascan Gold (CSE:BRAS) acquires land package Near Sigma Lithium in Brazil

Brascan Gold (BRAS) has acquired a 100 per cent interest in the Brasil-Li Property. The Brasil-Li Lithium Property is a 29.5 sq. km. mineral claim package comprising 1.5 contiguous claim blocks in Brazil's Minas Gerais State. It is 45 km from SIGMA Lithium Corp.'s (TSXV:SGML) Grota do Cirilo property, the largest lithium hard rock deposit in the Americas. Balbir Johal, CEO of Brascan, spoke with Coreena Robertson about the acquisition.

For the full interview with Balbir Johal and to learn about Brascan Gold, click here.

Eloro (TSXV:ELO) outlines extensive IP conductivity anomaly on Casiterita Property

Eloro Resources (ELO) has outlined an extensive IP conductivity anomaly on the Casiterita Property. The anomaly includes major new exploration targets. Bill Pearson, Eloro's Executive VP, sat down with Coreena Robertson to add context to the news.

For the full interview with Bill Pearson and to learn about Eloro Resources, click here.

Noram Lithium (TSXV:NRM) announces a further metallurgical test work program for the Zeus Lithium Project

Noram Lithium (NRM) has started a new round of testing on mineralized samples from its Zeus Lithium Project in Nevada. The proposed new process for the project has been refined for lithium carbonate recovery that is based on commercially proven technology. The results from this round of test work will confirm this recovery ability. Test work is currently underway and is initially testing material feed preparation, leaching, neutralization, and filtration processes. CEO Greg McCunn met with Coreena Robertson to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Greg McCunn and to learn about Noram Lithium, click here.

Marimaca Copper (TSX:MARI) announces assay results and outlines follow-up drilling at the Marimaca Project

Marimaca Copper (MARI) announced the results of assays for gold and silver from hole MAD-22 at the Marimaca Project in Chile. MAD-22 intersected over 240m of continuous mineralization from surface with a high-grade primary mineral zone at depth. A five-hole diamond drilling program is planned, and the rig will be mobilized to follow up results of MAD-22. Head of Corporate Development Nico Cookson met with Coreena Robertson to discuss the results.

For the full interview with Nico Cookson and to learn about Marimaca Copper, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit? The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

CONTACT:

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SOURCE:?The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/739519/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-New-Interviews-with-CoTec-Holdings-Silver-Bullet-Mines-Datametrex-AI-Taranis-Resources-Brascan-Gold-Eloro-Resources-Noram-Lithium-and-Marimaca-Copper-Discussing-Their-Latest-News
Tortola, British Virgin Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Sailfish Royalty Corp. (TSXV: FISH) (OTCQX: SROYF) (the "Company" or "Sailfish") announces that Michael Starogiannis has resigned as a director of the Company. The Company would like to thank Mr. Starogiannis for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavours.

"I want to thank Mr. Starogiannis for all of his hard work over the past five years in helping Sailfish evolve from a concept to a viable cash flowing royalty and streaming Company. Management and the Board of Directors appreciated his dedication to the Company and wish him well on his future endeavours." Paolo Lostritto, P.Eng - CEO and Director.

About Sailfish

Sailfish is a precious metals royalty and streaming company. Within Sailfish's portfolio are three main assets in the Americas: a gold stream equivalent to a 3% NSR on the San Albino gold mine (~3.5 sq. km) and a 2% NSR on the rest of the area (~134.5 sq. km) surrounding San Albino in northern Nicaragua; an up to 3% NSR on the multi-million ounce Spring Valley gold project in Pershing County, Nevada; and a 100% interest in the Gavilanes Silver Project located in Durango State, Mexico.

Sailfish is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "FISH" and on the OTCQX under the symbol "SROYF". Please visit the Company's website at www.sailfishroyalty.com for additional information.

For further information: Paolo Lostritto, CEO, tel. 416-602-2645 or Akiba Leisman, Executive Chairman, tel. 917-558-5289.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the 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/154950
EQS-News: PlusPlus Capital Financial S.a.r.l. / Key word(s): Annual Results/Quarterly / Interim Statement

PlusPlus Capital reports unaudited 12M 2022 results - Invitation to earnings webcast/call on 17 February 2023



15.02.2023 / 23:05 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





PlusPlus Capital reports unaudited 12M 2022 results

Invitation to earnings webcast/call on 17 February 2023



Tallinn, Estonia, 15 February 2023. PlusPlus Capital ("PPC"), a leading pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management group, has published its unaudited 12M 2022.

The full 12M report is available on the Company's website at:

https://pluspluscapital.eu/investor-relations/reports-and-presentations/



Earnings Call:

PlusPlus Capital cordially invites investors and analysts to an earnings webcast/call with the Management on 17 February 2023, 11.00 CET.

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.



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

15.02.2023 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


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Pedro Resources Ltd. (CSE: VBN) ("Pedro" or the "Company") announces the resignations of Mr. Conan Taylor and Ms. Laara Shaffer as directors of the Company. Management and the board of directors would like to thank Mr. Taylor and Ms. Shaffer for their contributions to the Company and wish them well in their future endeavours.

The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Messrs. Ronald Mercier, Will McInnes and Kent Couillard as directors of the Company. Brief biographies of the members of the newly appointed directors of the Company are as follows:

Mr. Ronald Mercier has been in the real estate industry since 1973, while recruiting and managing over 300 realtors.

Kent Couillard was a senior broker at a major Canadian resource firm. He specialized in financing resource and technology issues. He served as CEO of Probe Resources a Canadian public company focused on Texas off-shore oil and gas. He has also been a significant western Canadian commercial and industrial real estate developer.

Mr. Will McInnes CAPM, became a founding member of Oil-Out Ltd. & Dirty Dirt Services, to begin developing various processes using microbial components for remediation specifically focused on hydrocarbons. Over the next decade, Mr. McInnes collaborated with others to combine multiple technologies for dramatic results in remediation of various types. With a shared passion towards the environment, Mr. McInnes joined with the team forming Fixed Earth Innovations to create a flexible and adaptable biotech company for the ever-changing impacts humans have on the planet.

About Pedro Resources Ltd.

Pedro Resources Ltd. is a Canadian exploration company focused on mineral exploration and development, in particular the exploration of its Voisey's Bay West Property, which comprises 721 claims (18,025 hectares), 4.5 km south of Vale's Voisey's Bay Mine in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

For further information, please contact:

Brian Stecyk

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 780-953-0111

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.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating, the filing of the Company's financial statements. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company. Although management of 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 since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154984
Prevu3D, a Montreal, Canada-based 3D digital twin technology company, raised $10M in Series A funding.

The round was led by Cycle Capital, with participation from Brightspark Ventures and Desjardins Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts, extending and accelerating the deployment of its 3D digital twin platform for industrial environments.

Led by CEO and founder Nicolas Morency, Prevu3D specializes in the creation of functional digital twins, developing software tools that facilitate management of industrial installations. This reduces risks and delays in engineering projects, by documenting factory infrastructure with the precision and improving communication and collaboration between stakeholders. The company provides a centralized source of information and tools that empower clients to communicate, collaborate and work efficiently.

FinSMEs

15/02/2023
Shift, a Sydney, Australia-based provider of credit and payment platforms for businesses, raised $AUD27M in Series C funding.

The round was led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia with participation from existing shareholders.

The company intends to use the funds to further enhance its suite of credit and payment products to deliver value to its network of broker partners, merchants and direct customers.

Led by Jamie Osborn, CEO, Shift provides credit and payment platforms that help businesses trade, pay and access funds, breaking archaic trade terms, taking control of their cashflow and choosing the right financial products that are tailored for business. The company offers a real time view of the financial position of a business.

Shift has now provided more than AUD2 billion in tailored financial solutions to support the growth aspirations of Australian businesses since its founding in 2014.

FinSMEs

15/02/2023
Qualcomm Technologies and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team have formed a strategic collaboration that will make use of the power of Snapdragon technology.

The partnership will offer unique experiences for fans, both online and offline. Last year, Qualcomm teamed up with Ferrari to accelerate its digital transformation of Ferrari.

Qualcomm and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1Team

The team is committed to exploring ways to accelerate their digital transformation and establish a cutting-edge smart space at their UK campus, utilizing not only Snapdragon but also other innovative technologies from Qualcomm.

This just in: Were now a multi-year Team Partner of @MercedesAMGF1.  Were looking forward to seeing @LewisHamilton, @GeorgeRussell63, and the whole Mercedes team take to the track this year. #MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/dIWn9odJqi  Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) February 15, 2023

As a consumer product brand of Qualcomm Technologies, Snapdragon is renowned for powering immersive experiences across a range of high-end devices, including smartphones, gaming systems, XR devices, PCs, and wearables.

Notably, the Snapdragon logo has been prominently featured on the Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E PERFORMANCE car that was just unveiled at the Silverstone circuit in the UK. In addition, Snapdragon branding will be displayed on the drivers racing suits, the clothing of senior personnel, and even within the garage and trackside team environments.

Speaking on the partnership, Don McGuire, SVP and CMO of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said,

Snapdragon delivers premium experiences, and our partners are best in class. The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team is the leading tech-forward team in F1, making it the ideal partner of choice for the Snapdragon brand. Together, we are committed to reimagining the fan experience by bringing Snapdragon to fans around the world.

Commenting on the announcement, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, said,

Innovation is core to our business. It is just as important in connecting with our fans, and building the workplace of the future, as it is in the design and creation of our race cars. With the Snapdragon brand, we have the perfect partner to innovate and transform. We look forward to creating unique and bold solutions as we push ahead in these areas.

Speaking on the collaboration, Richard Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, said,
UN appeals for 397 mln USD for quake-hit Syria

Xinhua) 11:14, February 15, 2023

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Tuesday the world body is launching a humanitarian appeal for 397 million U.S. dollars for the people of earthquake-hit Syria.

"This will cover a period of three months," Guterres told reporters, adding that "we are in the final stages of a similar appeal for Trkiye."

The Syria effort brings together the entire UN system and humanitarian partners and will help secure desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians, including shelter, healthcare, food and protection, Guterres said.

"The most effective way to stand with the people is by providing this emergency funding," he noted.

Strong earthquakes and aftershocks hit Trkiye and neighboring Syria on Feb. 6, with the death toll climbing to over 35,000 people as of Monday.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, the United Nations rapidly provided 50 million dollars through the Central Emergency Response Fund.

"But the needs are immense," Guterres said, pointing out that one week after the devastating earthquakes, millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures.

"We are doing all we can to change this. But much more is needed," he said.

The UN chief stressed that the human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles in access, funding and supplies.

"Aid must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes -- without any restrictions," he said.

"I urge member states and others to fully fund this effort without delay and help the millions of children, women and men whose lives have been upended by this generational disaster," said Guterres.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 8.8 million people in Syria were affected by last week's devastating earthquakes.

The damage is worse in the north-west of the country, where more than 4.2 million people have been affected in Aleppo, and 3 million people have been affected in Idlib, OCHA said Tuesday in a press release, adding that more than 7,400 buildings have been completely or partially destroyed.

"Water, electricity, heating and social services are under severe pressure. The risk of waterborne diseases is high, particularly amid an ongoing cholera outbreak," the UN agency said. "Emergency health care is limited, and lack of fuel and heavy machinery is hampering efforts to quickly reach people most in need."

The UN funding appeal of nearly 400 million dollars will benefit 4.9 million people with the most urgent humanitarian needs, OCHA said.

The appeal aims to provide essential shelter, health, food, water, sanitation, non-food items, education, nutrition and protection services, as well as carrying out essential light repairs and rehabilitation to restore health, water and sanitation, agriculture and education infrastructure, and supply chains.

It also intends to support livelihoods by providing short-term employment for debris clearance and small-scale rehabilitation, provide protection services, mental health and psychosocial support, and gender-based violence case management, said OCHA.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Gaotu Techedu Inc. f/k/a GSX Techedu (Gaotu or the Company) (NYSE: GOTU). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Gaotu and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital or going public, effectively ending any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China.

On this news, Gaotus American Depositary Share (ADS) price fell $6.06 per ADS, or 63.3%, to close at $3.52 per ADS on July 23, 2021.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) resulting from allegations that Goldman Sachs may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Goldman Sachs securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=11359 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On January 20, 2023, during trading hours, The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled U.S. Fed probes Goldman Sachs consumer business. The article stated that The U.S. Federal Reserve is probing whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc's consumer business had appropriate safeguards in place as the bank ramped up lending. Further, the article stated that The central bank is concerned the Wall Street giant did not have proper monitoring and control systems inside Marcus, its consumer unit, as it grew larger. The article added that The probe, which grew out of a standard Fed review of the business in 2021 and intensified into an investigation last year, is also examining instances of customer harm and whether they were properly resolved.

On this news, Goldman Sachss price fell $8.91, or 2.54%, to close at $341.84 on January 20, 2023.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

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Dublin, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Size, Trends and Growth Opportunity, By Machine Type, By Capacity It, By End User, By Region and Forecast to 2027." report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market was valued at US$347.80 million in 2021 and it is expected to reach at US$871.51 million in 2027 at a CAGR of 12.24% during forecast period 2022-2027.

Companies Mentioned

Syntegon Technology GmbH (Germany)

Pregis LLC. (U.S.)

Converting Technology Inc. (U.S.)

TENSION PACKAGING & AUTOMATION. (U.S.)

Wenzhou High Sea Machinery Co. Ltd. (China)

POLYSTAR MACHINERY CO. Ltd.(Taiwan)

TEXKOR (South Korea)

Ishida Ltd. (Japan)

Imanpack Packaging (Italy)

Premier Tech Ltd. (Canada)

The high-speed packaging tool known as the automatic poly bagging machine is used to package various materials and bulk goods. Rolls of bags are put into the device that blows open the polybags, which are then filled, weighed, and put inside the polybag. The polybags are then mechanically filled, sealed, and deposited into the conveyer. The packaging industry makes great use of it.



Market Drivers



The automatic poly bagging machines are widely utilised in the building, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries as well as in a number of other industrial sectors. These components are essential for key processes like product filling and others that are anticipated to propel the market's growth rate.

The need for automatic poly bagging machines has increased because of its high speed, uninterrupted continuous output, and lower labour costs brought about by the factor of less human interference. The market grows as a result, contributing to large output revenues.



Market Restraints



The polybags are non-biodegradable, difficult to recycle, and take a long time to decay because they are constructed of polyethylene and polypropylene.

Additionally, they destroy soil, pollute waterways by logging them, and are bad for water bodies and the creatures that live there. As a result, the government of several nations has outlawed the use of single-use polybags due to the risk they provide to the environment. This has had a significant market impact and will slow the rate of market expansion.



Impact of COVID-19 on Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market



The covid-19 had an adverse impact on the market for automatic poly bagging machines by disrupting supply chains, lowering demand, and decreasing production. During the lockdown phase, revenue losses were being reported financially. Pharmaceuticals were in high demand because to the epidemic, which led to the growth of sectors including food and beverage production. The packaging of goods for these businesses gave automatic poly bagging machines a boost, creating profitable growth potential for the market.



Regional Analysis



The global automatic poly bagging machines market segmented into five regions North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. In terms of market share and revenue, North America currently dominates the market for automatic poly bagging machines, and this dominance will only grow over the course of the forecast. This is a result of the expanding end-user sectors in this area, which include consumer electronics, industrial components, medicines, and medical devices.

Key Question Addressed by the Report

What are the Key Opportunities in Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market?

What will be the growth rate from 2022 to 2027?

Which segment/region will have highest growth?

What are the factors that will impact/drive the Market?

What is the role of key players in the value chain?

What is the competitive Landscape in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Outlook

4.1 Overview

4.2 Market Dynamics

4.2.1 Drivers

4.2.2 Restraints

4.2.3 Opportunities

4.3 Porters Five Force Model

4.4 Value Chain Analysis



5 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market, By Machine Type

5.1 Y-o-Y Growth Comparison, By Machine Type

5.2 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By Machine Type

5.3 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Size and Forecast, By Machine Type

5.3.1 Horizontal Bagging Machine

5.3.2 Vertical Bagging Machine



6 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market, By Capacity

6.1 Y-o-Y Growth Comparison, By Capacity

6.2 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By Capacity

6.3 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Size and Forecast, By Capacity

6.3.1 Less Than 500 Packages

6.3.2 501-1000 Packages

6.3.3 1001-2000 Packages

6.3.4 More Than 2000 Packages



7 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market, By End User

7.1 Y-o-Y Growth Comparison, By End User

7.2 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By End User

7.3 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By End User

7.3.1 Food and Beverages

7.3.2 Pharmaceuticals

7.3.3 Medical Devices

7.3.4 Consumer Electronics

7.3.5 Building and Construction

7.3.6 Others



8 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market, By Region

8.1 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By Region

8.2 Global Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Share Analysis, By Region



9 North America Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

10 Europe Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

11 Asia Pacific Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)



12 Latin America Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)



13 Middle East Automatic Poly Bagging Machine Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

14 Competitive Analysis

14.1 Competition Dashboard

14.2 Market share Analysis of Top Vendors

14.3 Key Development Strategies



15 Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qh6cx8-automatic?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.
Pune, India, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global software as a service (SaaS) market size was USD 215.10 billion in 2021. The market is projected to grow from USD 251.17 billion in 2022 to USD 883.34 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 19.7% during the 2022-2029 period. Early adoption of technologies such as AI, IoT, robotics, and cloud drives the market growth. Fortune Business Insights, provide this information in its report titled, Software as a Service Market Forecast, 2023-2029.





Request a Free Sample PDF:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/software-as-a-service-saas-market-102222

Key Industry Development:

February 2022: Salesforce unveiled an advanced sales cloud feature, which combines CRM analytics with Sales Cloud, thus providing users with a unified revenue management command center. The feature also includes intelligence cloud services for manufacturing, consumer goods, finance, and communications.

Report Scope & Segmentation

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 CAGR 19.7% 2029 Value Projection USD 883.34 Billion Base Year 2021 Software as a Service Market Size in 2021 USD 215.10 Billion Historical Data for 2018 to 2020 No. of Pages 134 Segments covered Deployment Type, Application, Industry and Geography





Key Takeaways:

Software as a Service Market Size in North America was USD 57.30 billion in 2020

Major driving factors include integration of advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning

By Deployment type, hybrid segment has the largest share in the global market.

Global demand is driven by BFSI and IT & telecom industry

Healthcare end-users will drive the market in the forecast period, 2022-2029





Browse Complete Report Details: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/software-as-a-service-saas-market-102222





Drivers and Restraints:

Increasing Adoption of Hybrid Cloud-based Tools by Enterprises to Propel the Market

Increasing adoption of hybrid and public cloud-based solutions enhances system reliability. Furthermore, several enterprises offered hybrid cloud services and cloud-based solutions after the pandemic as people became accustomed to working remotely. This shift toward working remotely is also aiding the Software as a Service (SaaS) market growth.

On the other hand, concerns regarding data security and Software as a Service (SaaS) misconfiguration will pose as challenges for businesses operating in this domain.

Segments:

Hybrid Segment to Lead Due to Increasing Adoption of Cloud in Public Sector

As per deployment type, the market is divided into public, hybrid, and private. Among these, the hybrid segment is slated to register significant growth owing to increasing adoption of hybrid cloud by banking and financial institutions, public sector organizations, and others.

Preference for SaaS in Content, Collaboration & Communication to Boost the Market

Based on application, the global market is split into Customer Relationship Management (CRM), ERP, content, collaboration & communication, BI & analytics, human capital management, and others (HRM, operation management. Among these, the content collaboration & communication segment is predicted to grow at 21.8% CAGR over the forecast timeframe. Software as a Service deployment in content collaboration tools will streamline data flow for organizations, which will aid market expansion.

Adoption of SaaS in Healthcare Sector to Facilitate Market Augmentation

According to industry, the global market is arrayed into IT & telecom, BFSI, retail & consumer goods, healthcare, education, manufacturing, and others. Among these, the healthcare segment is projected to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period as cloud services help gain real-time data insights and reduce storage problems.

Geographically, the market is segregated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa.





Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/software-as-a-service-saas-market-102222





Regional Insights:

Presence of Leading Companies to Elevate Market Proliferation in North America

North America held majority of the Software as a Service (SaaS) market share in the recent past. Presence of prominent players and early adoption of technologies such as robotics, IoT, AI, and cloud are the factors credited for this growth. The region is expected to grow further by focusing on innovations in the SaaS market.

Europe is slated to capture a large share owing to rising efforts and investments by governments and private corporations to increase cloud adoption.

Competitive Landscape:

New Launches Initiated by Key Companies to Propel the Market

The leading players in the market constantly opt for efficient strategies to maximize profits and boost product sales. One such efficient strategy is launching new products or advanced features to increase brand value and meet ever increasing consumer needs.

List of Key Players Mentioned in the Report:

Alphabet Inc. (U.S.)

Amazon.com, Inc. (U.S.)

Microsoft Corporation (U.S.)

IBM Corporation (U.S.)

Salesforce Inc. (U.S.)

SAP SE (Germany)

Oracle Corporation (U.S.)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (U.S.)

ServiceNow, Inc. (U.S.)





Quick Buy - Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Research Report

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102222





Major Table of Contents:

Global Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Size Estimates and Forecasts, By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Deployment Type (USD) Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud By Application (USD) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Content, Collaboration & Communication BI & Analytics Human Capital Management Others (HRM, Operation Management, etc.) By Industry (USD) IT & Telecom BFSI Retail & Consumer Goods Healthcare Education Manufacturing Others (Travel & Hospitality, etc.) By Region (USD) North America South America Europe Middle East & Africa Asia Pacific

North America Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Size Estimates and Forecasts, By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Deployment Type (USD) Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud By Application (USD) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Content, Collaboration & Communication BI & Analytics Human Capital Management Others (HRM, Operation Management, etc.) By Industry (USD) IT & Telecom BFSI Retail & Consumer Goods Healthcare Education Manufacturing Others (Travel & Hospitality, etc.) By Country (USD) United States Canada Mexico

South America Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Size Estimates and Forecasts, By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Deployment Type (USD) Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud By Application (USD) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Content, Collaboration & Communication BI & Analytics Human Capital Management Others (HRM, Operation Management, etc.)



TOC Continued!





FAQs

How big is the Software as a Service market?

The Software as a Service market size is projected to grow from $251.17 billion in 2022 to $883.34 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 19.7%.

How fast is the software as a service market growing?

The software as a service market will exhibit a CAGR of 19.7% during the forecast period, 2022-2029





Related Reports:

Cloud Computing Market Size, Share, Revenue Forecast and Opportunities

Digital Transformation Market Overview, Industry Share and Forecast

Artificial Intelligence Market Size, Share, Opportunities & Analysis

Business Intelligence Market Analysis, Size, CAGR and Demand Forecast





About Us:

Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

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Stellantis Grows Software Development Network with New Hub in Poland

AMSTERDAM, February 15, 2023  Stellantis N.V. is growing its software development and engineering network to eight hubs by establishing a new operation in Poland. The Poland software hub will be staffed with up to 300 employees in data analytics and software development and validation, and will be located in Gliwice, near a Stellantis manufacturing plant.

Stellantis is partnering with GlobalLogic Inc., a supplier of digital engineering services, to recruit talent and establish the Poland software hub quickly. The hubs location leverages expert technical and university-level education facilities in the region while adding software development resources to existing Stellantis technical operations in Europe.

The team in the Poland software hub will primarily focus on base software development, software application development, DevOps and automated validation.

The opening of this new software hub in Poland is another milestone in the implementation of our Dare Forward 2030 strategy, said Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis Chief Software Officer. Software plays a key role in our drive to be the industry leader in customer experience for services and products, as well as our industry-leading commitment to be carbon net zero by 2038.

Stellantis now has eight software development hubs in seven countries, including:

Brazil: Pernambuco

France: Poissy

Germany: Russelsheim

India: Bengaluru and Hyderabad

Italy: Turin

Poland: Gliwice

United States: Auburn Hills, Michigan





The team in Poland will contribute to the global software creation network that is key to Stellantis work in creating software-defined vehicles (SDVs) that offer customer-focused features throughout the vehicles life span, including updates and features that will be added years after the vehicle is manufactured.

Creating an infrastructure inside our vehicles that easily and seamlessly adapts to meet driver expectations is a key element of Stellantis global drive to deliver cutting edge mobility, said Tara Vatcher, Stellantis Senior Vice President, Software Architecture and Development.

Stellantis software-driven strategy deploys next-generation tech platforms, building on existing connected vehicle capabilities to transform how customers interact with their vehicles and to generate 20 billion in incremental annual revenues by 2030.

###

About Stellantis

Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA / Euronext Milan: STLAM / Euronext Paris: STLAP) is one of the world's leading automakers and a mobility provider. Its storied and iconic brands embody the passion of their visionary founders and todays customers in their innovative products and services, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep  , Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, Vauxhall, Free2move and Leasys. Powered by our diversity, we lead the way the world moves  aspiring to become the greatest sustainable mobility tech company, not the biggest, while creating added value for all stakeholders as well as the communities in which it operates. For more information, visit www.stellantis.com.

@Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis



For more information, contact:



Fernao SILVEIRA +31 6 43 25 43 41  fernao.silveira@stellantis.com



Andrea PALLARD +39 335 873 7298  andrea.pallard@stellantis.com



communications@stellantis.com

www.stellantis.com

Attachment
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspex Eyewear Group looks to Vistar Media , a cutting-edge global provider of programmatic technology for digital out-of-home (DOOH), to bolster its North American presence via a multi-touch marketing campaign. The new venture aims to drive brand awareness for Aspex TurboFlex technology .



Aspex Eyewear is an industry leader in quality eyewear manufacturing and distribution. Its worldwide patented TurboFlex technology combines fashion and innovation, with the worlds first 360 hinge.

Leveraging Vistar Medias proximity targeting capabilities, Aspex Eyewear will launch ads in key retailers, in all major cities in Canada and throughout the U.S. Utilizing programmatic solutions through Vistar, Aspex will seamlessly place media buys across North America, in both English and French creative.

The campaign will feature a mix of static and video creative content including billboards, urban panels, colleges/universities, bars, movie theaters, office buildings, malls, taxi/rideshare tv and more. Engaging, high-impact messaging will reach the target audience at several touchpoints throughout their daily routine, driving them to close-proximity retailers where the product is sold.

Rolling out a strategic campaign across North America is always fun for our team, even more so when we are working with a brand, like TurboFlex, that shares our passion for fusing rich creative and innovative technology, says Scott Mitchell, Managing Director, Canada, Vistar Media.

Aspex Eyewear has chosen programmatic DOOH to further diversify its media mix to support TurboFlex social media campaigns and TV spots. This is the brands first time integrating the unique capabilities of DOOH into its omnichannel marketing strategy  a tactic that has been proven successful for many ambitious, Canadian brands. Aspex will conduct a brand study to evaluate DOOH performance following its 13-week flight.

We are proud to partner with Vistar Media to execute our DOOH campaign right off the heels of our partnership with the 65th GRAMMY Awards and the GRAMMY Gift Lounge, says Felix Sides, Vice President, Aspex Eyewear Group. The proximity targeting and robust measurement capabilities of DOOH will allow us to effectively connect with our audience across North America, evaluate the impact of campaign performance and take our broader marketing strategy to the next level.

About Aspex Eyewear

Aspex Eyewear is one of the worlds largest global distributors of quality eyewear and sunwear, serving markets in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Since its inception in 1965, Aspex Eyewear has established itself as one of the industrys leaders in both eyewear design and technological development. Aspex serves over 50,000 accounts in over 80 countries and is responsible for some of the top fashion and technology breakthroughs including the magnetic clip technology Easyclip, and memory metal eyewear as well as its patented TurboFlex and Easytwist technologies. Visit www.aspexeyewear.com or follow us on Instagram , Facebook , or TikTok

About Vistar Media

Vistar Media is the leading global provider of programmatic technology for digital out-of-home (DOOH) . With a mission of enhancing every OOH transaction with automation, data and measurement, Vistar has established the most comprehensive marketplace for programmatic out-of-home transactions via a demand-side platform (DSP), supply-side platform (SSP), and data management platform (DMP). Vistar also offers core infrastructure software for media owner networks, via the Vistar Ad Server and device and content management platform (Cortex). For more information, visit www.vistarmedia.com or follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook .

Media contact:

Jenn Larry

Aspex PR

jlarry@aspexeyewear.com
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ArrowStream, Inc. ("ArrowStream"), the leading foodservice cloud platform for supply chain intelligence, is proud to welcome Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants ("Cooper's Hawk") to its network of over 275 chain operators across 100,000 restaurant locations, 1,300 distribution locations, and 10,000 manufacturers.

Founded in 2005, Cooper's Hawk operates 55+ locations across 10 states. Cooper's Hawk offers a modern casual dining experience and operates the largest wine club in the world with over 600,000 members.

ArrowStream has always provided best-in-class visibility into distributor-level inventory, and over the last two years has identified a greater customer need for supplier-level inventory visibility on key items. In early 2022, ArrowStream released its Supplier Inventory solution and continues to grow and expand the network of suppliers the company is connected to. With wine being such a critical item for Cooper's Hawk, it will leverage Supplier Inventory to gain upstream visibility of inventory at the point of production.

"Having worked with ArrowStream in the past, I know firsthand the value they deliver," said Jeremy Lyle, SVP of Supply Chain at Cooper's Hawk. "In today's environment with regular supply disruptions, volatile food costs, and lean operations teams, ArrowStream's platform is a must-have to optimize and future-proof our supply chain. In addition to their core platform, ArrowStream's extended service components make this the complete solution that Cooper's Hawk can evolve with."

With ArrowStream now being part of the Buyers Edge Platform, in addition to providing Cooper's Hawk with the best supply chain software in the foodservice industry, ArrowStream is also extending Contract Audit services. Cooper's Hawk will benefit from tailored services which include distributor price validation plus actual recovery of any overcharges.

"Being from the Chicago area, I'm personally thrilled to partner with Cooper's Hawk, which has amazing food and always delivers an excellent dining experience," said Marc Larson, VP of Sales at ArrowStream. "Cooper's Hawk has significant supply chain complexity given their reliance on broadline distributors, specialty suppliers, and wine producers. Gaining centralized visibility across these key partners will enable proactive supply chain management."

Cooper's Hawk is the latest business to utilize ArrowStream among a growing network including Carl's Jr., Wingstop, and Modern Market Eatery, among others. ArrowStream's solutions provide operators, distributors, and manufacturers technology and services that are designed to drive efficiencies and cost savings in an end-to-end solution.

Learn more on how ArrowStream can help your business and request a consultation with one of our experts today.

About ArrowStream

ArrowStream, a Buyers Edge company, is the leading foodservice cloud platform for supply chain intelligence, with over 1,300 distribution locations, 10,000 manufacturers, and 275 leading brands across 100,000 restaurant locations tightly integrated into a single global network of applications and industry data. ArrowStream provides unparalleled levels of transparency, control, and actionable insight to mitigate risks, streamline operations, protect the brand, and optimize profitability. www.arrowstream.com

Contact Information:

Joe Ferrell

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Newark, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Blow Molded Plastics market was estimated at around 80.1 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of nearly 3% during 2022-2030. The market is projected to reach approximately USD 100 billion by 2030.



In the manufacturing process known as blow molding, a heated plastic tube is inflated until it fills a mold and takes the required shape, producing hollow plastic pieces. Extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, and injection stretch blow molding are the three basic types of blow molding procedures. Polyethylene, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, Polystyrene, and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene are just a few examples of the thermoplastic polymers that can be used to create blow-molded parts. The increased product demand from important end-use sectors like automotive and packaging is a key driver fueling the growth of the blow molding plastics market. During the projection period, technological advancements and continuous research and development are anticipated to promote market expansion.



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The availability of prospective replacements and fluctuating raw material prices, however, are expected to impede market expansion. Furthermore, the market is projected to have profitable growth prospects due to the expanded applications' range and rising demand from emerging nations. The COVID-19 epidemic has had a significant effect on the sector by forcing the closure of companies and enterprises, cancelling air travel routes, and imposing lockdowns. However, the demand is anticipated to pick up speed and fuel market expansion when lockdown measures and trade restrictions are lifted.



Growth Factors



The considerably increasing demand from the packaging industry is the main factor propelling the expansion of the global blow molding plastics market. Due to rising demand from end-use industries like food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, personal care & cosmetics, and e-commerce, the global packaging industry has experienced impressive growth over the past five years. Because of its better performance, affordability, and durability, plastic is being used for packaging purposes at a rapid rate in the packaging sector.



Additionally, the healthcare sector's expansion has greatly aided the growth of the blow molding plastics market because plastic packaging promotes hygienic practises and is less prone to damage and leaks than glass packaging. Syringes, bottles, cylinders, and medical containers are examples of healthcare supplies.



Segmental Overview



PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is used in the manufacture of bottles for the packaging of food and drink items, among other things, in the packaging business. Over the projection period, this is anticipated to fuel its demand. Due to the increasing use of face masks, protective clothing, and packaging bottles for hand sanitizers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for Polypropylene (PP) and PET is anticipated to rise.



Regional Overview



Throughout the projected period, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to have the largest revenue market share. Due to the region's growing globalization and urbanization, Asia Pacific held the top spot in the global market for mono Blow Molded Plastics in 2019. In 2016, the biggest market for industrial diamonds was North America. Mining, oil & gas, electronics, and the automotive industries made up the majority of the end-use industries for industrial diamonds in the area. One of the key factors propelling the expansion of the industrial diamond industry is the United States' increasing shale oil and gas production. In June 2018, the U.S. shale plays produced about 7.2 million bpd of shale oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 125 million carats of industrial diamonds were produced in the U.S. in 2015. Although imports from China satisfied a large portion of the nation's demand. As per analysis, China's industrial diamond production in 2016 was estimated to be 4 billion carats. During the projected period, the Middle East and Africa market is anticipated to grow at a healthy pace.



The packaging, automotive & transportation, building & construction, consumables & electronics, and other categories make up the worldwide blow molding plastics market. With a CAGR of above 5%, the packaging segment stood out as the most prominent and rapidly expanding among them.



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Report Scope



Base Year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2030 Report Coverage Revenue estimation and forecast, company profile, competitive landscape, growth factors, and recent trends Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America Market Size(unit) USD Billion Blow Molded Plastics Market CAGR 3% Segments Covered By Type

By Application



List of the prominent players in the Global Blow Molded Plastics market:



 Magna International, Inc.

 International Automotive Components (IAC) Group

 Inpress Plastics Ltd.

 Comar, LLC

 Rutland Plastics Ltd.

 Gemini Group, Inc.

 The Plastic Forming Company, Inc.

 Agri-Industrial Plastics

 Garrtech, Inc.

 Creative Blow Mold Tooling

 North American Plastics, Ltd.

 Custom-Pak

 APEX Plastics

 INEOS Group

 Berry Global, Inc.

 Dow Inc.

 LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V.



The global Blow Molded Plastics market is segmented as follows:



By Type



 Polypropylene (PP)

 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)

 Polyethylene (PE)

 Polystyrene (PS)

 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

 Others



By Application



 Packaging

 Consumables & Electronics

 Automotive & Transport

 Building & Construction

 Medical

 Others



By Region/Geography



 North America



o The U.S.

o Canada

o Mexico



 Europe



o France

o The UK

o Spain

o Germany

o Italy

o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China

o Japan

o India

o Australia

o South Korea

o Rest of Asia Pacific



 The Middle East & Africa



o Saudi Arabia

o UAE

o South Africa

o Egypt

o Kuwait

o Rest of the Middle East & Africa



 Latin America



o Brazil

o Argentina

o Rest of Latin America

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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.



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Collaborative research agreement with one of Canadas leading universities continues growth of academic partnership network for Canadas national nuclear laboratories

CHALK RIVER, Ontario, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canadas premier nuclear science and technology laboratory, and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Canadas nuclear Crown corporation, are pleased to announce that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Western University to pursue collaborative research opportunities. Both CNL and AECL have made it an organizational priority to cultivate closer relationships with Canadas academic community, and this MOU with Western University represents the fifth agreement with a growing list of universities designed to advance collaborative research in health and environmental sciences, clean energy and nuclear safety.

The agreement includes an extensive list of focus areas where the organizations will collaborate, including imaging and radiopharmaceuticals; cybersecurity; high-performance computing and artificial intelligence; hydrogen; materials science and degradation; decommissioning and waste management; and advanced and small modular reactors, fuels and power grids. The agreement is intended to nurture closer relationships with Westerns research community, enable knowledge mobilization, spur innovation and the development of intellectual property, and to provide solutions that address national and industry challenges.

Last year, CNL released a new corporate strategy, known as Vision 2030, where we announced our plans to pursue closer relationships with Canadas academic community, including research-oriented universities like Western University, commented Dr. Jeff Griffin, CNLs Vice-President of Science and Technology. A few short months later, we have made incredible progress towards that vision, culminating in this most recent agreement. Overall, there are tremendous advantages to this collaborative approach to research for all parties, whether it is sharing scientific and technical data, leveraging complementary resources, or developing new capabilities, and that is the motivation behind this new partnership with Western University.

AECL and CNL are uniquely positioned to bring together the foundational research undertaken at Western University, with private industry needs in innovation, commented Amy Gottschling, Vice-President, Science, Technology and Commercial Oversight at AECL. Together, we can leverage our complementary expertise and capabilities to bring technologies to bear to solve our nations greatest challenges.

This is an exciting new partnership for Western  one that builds on over 20 years of nuclear research across three of our faculties: Engineering, Science, and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, commented Dr. Dave Muir, Associate Vice-President of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Western University. This new partnership will support and provide funding for research projects as well as Chair opportunities in the areas of health, safety, security, energy, and the environment. It also will enable our students to have increased access to experiential learning, through research project and internship opportunities.

As one of Canadas top research-intensive universities, the science carried out at Western University intersects with many of the projects underway at Canadas national nuclear laboratories. The driving force behind the agreement is the shared interest in exploring collaboration opportunities based on these mutual fields of research, and to help foster the development of highly qualified people here in Canada. By providing better access to the unique facilities that are available at Canadas national nuclear laboratories, CNL and AECL hope to contribute to the professional development of the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers, and offer these students a more dynamic and rich learning experience.

The MOU with Western University aligns with CNLs corporate strategy, Vision 2030, which identifies what CNL views as its central role within the future Canadian nuclear landscape. Serving as a national resource to all levels of government, the nuclear industry, the broader private sector and the academic community, CNL aims to work in concert with other organizations to help advance innovative Canadian products and services towards deployment, including carbon-free energy, cancer treatments and other therapies, non-proliferation technologies and waste management solutions.

To learn more about CNL, including its research projects and programs, please visit www.cnl.ca. If you would like to learn more about Vision 2030, please visit www.cnl.ca/vision2030.

About CNL

As Canadas premier nuclear science and technology laboratory, and working under the direction of AECL, CNL is a world leader in the development of innovative nuclear science and technology products and services. Guided by an ambitious corporate strategy known as Vision 2030, CNL fulfills three strategic priorities of national importance  restoring and protecting the environment, advancing clean energy technologies, and contributing to the health of Canadians.

By leveraging the assets owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), CNL also serves as the nexus between government, the nuclear industry, the broader private sector and the academic community. CNL works in collaboration with these sectors to advance innovative Canadian products and services towards real-world use, including carbon-free energy, cancer treatments and other therapies, non-proliferation technologies and waste management solutions.

To learn more about CNL, please visit www.cnl.ca.

About AECL

AECL is a federal Crown corporation with a mandate to drive nuclear opportunities for Canada. AECL enables nuclear science and technology, owns the Chalk River Laboratories and other sites, and manages the Government of Canadas radioactive waste responsibilities. It oversees and evaluates CNLs work through contracts.

In business since 1952, AECL designed and developed the fleet of CANDU nuclear reactors that serve Canada and five other countries. It also delivered more than one billion isotopes worldwide to detect and treat cancer. Today it delivers value for Canadians through supporting 14 federal departments and agencies, as well as the global nuclear industry.

For more information on AECL, visit www.aecl.ca.

About Western

Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community.

CNL Contact:

Patrick Quinn

Director, Corporate Communications

1-866-886-2325

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Dallas, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dickeys Barbecue Pit and Boost Virtual Concepts continue to rapidly expand across the country, solely with their Owner/Operators in mind. After a quick start, the progressive Virtual Brand soon realized that utilizing existing kitchen equipment and offering the operational support of the worlds largest barbecue restaurant brand was a hit.

Since launching in July of 2022, Boost Virtual Concepts continues to grow at a record pace. In Q4 of last year, 95 new Boost locations opened and they didnt stop there. Boost started 2023 off strong with 55 stores opening in January and 75 projected openings in February 2023. The Boost team has a projected goal of 500 stores by the end of May 2023 and at this rate, it looks like they will hit.

At Boost Virtual Concepts our goal is to offer every Operator and kitchen the opportunity to drive additional revenue into their business, said Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Pit. Not only that, but we also provide the highest quality product with proteins that are pre-smoked and pre-packaged at our brand new, state of the art facility, WD Provisions. Its a win-win!

As the industry continues to progress, so does Boost Virtual Concepts. What better way to build a business than partnering with a well-established national brand like Dickeys Barbecue Pit?

To learn more, follow Dickeys Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Download the Dickeys Barbecue Pit app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

To learn more about Dickeys Virtual Concepts follow: Wing Boss on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok , Trailer Birds on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok and Big Deal Burger on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the worlds largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by the Dickey family. For the past 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests in 44 states Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickeys proudly believes theres no shortcut to true barbecue and its why our name isnt BBQ. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers eight slow-smoked meats and 12 wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. Dickeys Barbecue has 550 locations across the United States and eight other countries.

Dickeys was named to Newsweeks 2022 Americas Favorite Restaurant Chains list and USA Today 2021 readers choice awards. Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, been named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur and named to Hospitality Technologys Industry Heroes list. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the countrys 50 most influential women in foodservice in Nations Restaurant News, was recognized by Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list and honored by Dallas Business Journal. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine and QSR Magazine. Dickeys Barbecue is part of Dickeys Restaurant Brands which has more than 700 restaurants nationwide including brands Wing Boss, Trailer Birds, Big Deal Burger and bbqathome.com. DRB is led by CEO Roland Dickey Jr. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com.

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Lafayette, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lafayette, Colorado -

Encore Data Products, a Lafayette, CO-based supplier of equipment and tools for use in classrooms and remote learning such as audio-visual technology, is happy to announce that they are offering the Fluent Front Office Interpreter device to help overcome the language barrier while interacting with parents, students, co-workers, and customers. For instance, this device can be helpful in English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Language Learner (ELL) programs where the students may not fully understand English instructions, and the parents or other family members may find it hard to express their opinion during school meetings or visits. The Fluent Front Office Interpreter can help get rid of such situations to facilitate the education process for the students and to ensure that parents and other family members can provide their input.

The Fluent Front Office Interpreter can also be helpful during doctor-patient interactions, customer interactions, and communication between co-workers. By ensuring proper communication, this tool can eliminate awkward and frustrating situations. All the user has to do is to press a button, talk, and this is interpreted instantly, enabling the user to communicate with virtually anyone in 50 different languages. There are a lot of potential applications for this language interpretation tool, such as the classroom, doctors offices, meeting rooms, business interactions, reception desks, and anywhere differences in language can inhibit proper communication.

The translation for the Fluent Front Office Interpreter is performed by applying a combination of the Google, Iflytek, Microsoft, and Nuance voice engines. If there are new words and trending words to be added, this is done in real time to optimize the identification and translation of slang, special words, and accented sentences. The data and the transcription can only be seen by the user, and the data is kept on the device and not on remote servers to ensure privacy.

The Fluent Front Office Interpreter has a number of key features. First of all, it provides fast and highly accurate interpretation for 50 languages. Second, this device has two-way microphone buttons to be used for language interpretation. Third, it is provided with dual 7-inch screen for easy operation and viewing for the two people communicating. Fourth, it interfaces with the users Wi-Fi network. And lastly, it provides visual and audible interpretation of the statements.

Established in 2006 by Jeff Burgess, Encore Data Products is a privately held company that provides high quality equipment and technology products to the education, hospitality, business, health and fitness, and government industries. They provide an ever-growing list of products from top brands and they offer easy ordering, competitive pricing, and free shipping options. They always make sure to do their best to help their clients to optimize their investment in equipment needed to enrich their learning, business, and health environments.

They typically provide classroom headphones that are helpful for students to allow them to learn and test at their own pace. The reduction of external noise is important for these school headphones. Encore Data Products has performed some research and the result is a wide selection of high quality school headsets, headphones, and earbuds that can be use by students from pre-K all the way to high school. For those who are interested in finding the best headphones for the classroom, they will need to take into account the plug type compatibility, usage, school testing needs, and hygiene. And for those learning environments where the student has to do some speaking and interaction with the teacher and other students, the headset is typically recommended.

Those who would like to know more about Fluent Front Office Interpreter and other tools and equipment offered can visit the Encore Data Products website or contact them through the telephone or via email.

###

For more information about Encore Data Products, contact the company here:



Encore Data Products

Jeff Burgess

866-926-1669

sales@encoredataproducts.com

https://www.encoredataproducts.com/

1729 Majestic Drive, Suite 2

Lafayette, Colorado 80026
AUBURN, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cayuga Centers , a non-profit human services agency, announced today that Zoe Hutchinson, Vice President of Community and Agency Communications at Cayuga Centers, was named one of Ragans Top Women in Communications for 2023 . Hutchinson is among 25 women across various industries to be recognized as a Dynamic Do-er honoree.



Zoes impact on Cayuga Centers and the communities we serve has been tremendous, said Edward Hayes, President and CEO of Cayuga Centers. Her contributions as a leader have elevated our agency to new heights, and we are so proud she has been recognized for her contributions with this prestigious award.

Hutchinson is recognized for her outstanding leadership in communications during a historic period of growth for the agency. After joining Cayuga Centers in 2020, she expanded her team from three to 10 employees to serve four key pillars: internal communications, external communications, employee recruitment, and foster parent recruitment. Her work was instrumental as the agency expanded to new regions and celebrated 170 years of service to at-risk families and youth. Hutchinsons efforts within these pillars included improving the inter-agency communication through newsletters and town halls, taking actionable feedback from employees in surveys, numerous foster parent recruiting campaigns, and leading an employee recruitment campaign featuring NYC subway ads, digital ads and a new careers landing page.

My journey at Cayuga Centers has been incredibly rewarding, as weve seen first-hand the positive impact communications can have on the employee experience and the communities we serve, said Hutchinson. Its an honor to sit alongside so many inspiring women in communications, and I sincerely thank my incredible team for nominating me.

Ragan is a leading publication of news within the communications industry and recognizes inspiring, forward-thinking and dedicated women in communications with this annual award. The award winners are invited to a special reception in New York City on February 28, 2023. The full list of 2023 winners is available here .

To learn more about Cayuga Centers programs, visit www.cayugacenters.org .

About Cayuga Centers

Cayuga Centers is a nationally accredited and awarded 501(c)(3) non-profit, human services agency headquartered in Auburn, NY. Founded in 1852, the agency has delivered quality services by following the agencys core mission of helping individuals and families grow as independent, healthy, and productive citizens through quality counseling, out-of-home care, and support services. Cayuga Centers provides a continuum of support services nationally, with offices in over 10 cities. The agency specializes in providing individualized, culturally appropriate, and trauma-informed support to diverse populations. Cayuga Centers currently serves 10,000 individuals and families annually. Visit www.cayugacenters.org to learn about its services, how to become a foster parent, and employment opportunities.

Media Contact:

Jacalyn Lawton

jlawton@lambert.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6a1a8318-0a89-454f-b2d5-c222a60ffcb4
Africans urged to be serious about agric investment

Elizabeth Nyaadu Adu Business News Feb - 15 - 2023 , 08:31

With Africa holding the worlds largest arable lands, Africans are being urged to restore their passion for agriculture.

This is because it is the next sustainable sector to revive their economy particularly at a time when global shocks are badly impacting their economies.

The acting Global President for the International Peace and Governance Council (IPHC), Dr Jonathan Ojadah, said the exposure to the oil boom has pushed some countries to deviate from agriculture such that the practice of subsistence agriculture, which used to be a source of livelihood for many, has stopped.

Dr Ojadah made the call last Friday in an interview with the media at the 11th Pan African Leadership, Investment Summit and Honours in Accra.

Organised by IPHC-Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Arts and Culture, the summit brought together Africa investors to discuss various investment opportunities on the continent.

It was on the theme: Peaceful Coexistence and Synergy for African Development.

Most countries are still undergoing recession so we deem it necessary that we advise every country to take their agricultural investment opportunities seriously because we believe that with food security, hunger will be eradicated.

When hunger is eradicated we can achieve sustainable peace and it is on the back of sustainable peace that investment promotion can survive, he said.

He said his outfit has embarked on a sustainable agricultural project which he believes will create a lot of good security for the populace.

We at UNIPGC are partnering the United Nations Association of Ghana to implement the zero hunger agenda of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the UN to project the role of agriculture in sustaining the economy towards national development, he added.



Ensuring sustainable development

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ibrahim Awal, said: Africa has so much resources but benefits from just a little, therefore, its time to seek the opinions of the traditional authorities, religious leaders and civil society organisations to ensure inclusive and sustainable development.

In this vein, with the multi-party democracy that most African countries have chosen, its imperative to harness its potential for peace and development on the continent.
Newmont pays GH184.6m dividend

Daily Graphic Business News Feb - 15 - 2023 , 10:57

Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd (Akyem Mine) has presented a cheque for GH184.6 million to the Government of Ghana, as dividend for the year 2022.

The amount represents the governments carried interest in the operations of the Akyem mine.

The cheque presentation was made by executives of Newmont Africa, led by the Regional Senior Vice-President - Africa Operations, David Thornton.

Mr Thornton thanked the government for its continuous support to Newmont Africas Ahafo and Akyem mines and reiterated the companys commitment to responsible mining operations, while looking to expand Newmont Africas footprint in the country with the Ahafo North project.

Our Ahafo North project remains a key strategic growth prospect for Newmont Africa, and its successful construction and subsequent operation will have immense benefits to our host communities, the local economy, as well as the broader economy of Ghana, in terms of employment creation, local supply chain opportunities, as well as taxes, royalties, and dividend payments to government, Mr Thornton said.

On Newmont Africas direct support to the Ghanaian economy in the past year, beyond statutory payments, Mr Thornton mentioned the companys support for the governments gold buying programme that was meant to shore up the countrys gold reserves and help stabilise the economy.

In spite of global economic challenges that had negatively impacted businesses globally, Newmont Africa was the first mining company to support the governments gold buying programme by selling 3,500 ounces of gold to the government, through the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in May 2022.

An additional 22,500 ounces of gold was sold to BoG in October and November 2022, making a total of 26,000 ounces of gold sold to government in 2022, he added.

Newmont commended

Receiving the cheque, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, commended Newmont Africa for its compliance to tax and other financial payments to the government of Ghana.

The minister also lauded Newmont Africa for its prompt payment of taxes and acknowledged the potential benefits of the Ahafo North project.

He said, We welcome payments such as these, especially during these challenging times, and we wish to commend you for being prompt with your payments, be they taxes, royalties, or dividends.

We are aware that the Ghana Revenue Authority has recognised you, on several occasions, for your tax compliance.

We look forward to the resumption of your Ahafo North project this year, which will bring in even more revenue to the state.

Through a combination of tax payments in United States dollars, as well as making forex available to the BoG, Newmont Africa has supported and impacted forex availability to the government of Ghana.
Gabon President proposes cutting mandate to 5 years

International News Feb - 15 - 2023 , 11:53

Gabon President Ali Bongo, yesterday, proposed shortening the presidential mandate from seven to five years as he began consultations to prepare for elections this year and measures to prevent violence.

More than two days of deadly unrest followed Gabon's last elections in 2016 after the opposition rejected Ali Bongo's victory and alleged fraud.

"On the eve of future general elections, I have, today, decided to set the term of office for all elections to five years," Bongo said on Monday.

The move will require constitutional reform and a vote in parliament.

Sixty-four-year-old Bongo has been president of the oil-producing West African nation since succeeding his father, Omar, who died in 2009.

He has not said whether he will run for a third term in the 2023 race for which an exact date has not yet been set.

There are currently no constitutional term limits in Gabon.

His 2016 victory triggered clashes between police and protesters during which the parliament was torched.

Estimates of the death toll from the unrest ranged from a few people killed to more than 50, while hundreds of others were arrested, according to U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House.

Bongo suffered a stroke in October 2018 and was flown to Morocco for medical treatment.

He spent three months abroad but returned shortly after a coup attempt was thwarted in his absence.

The consultations on the upcoming elections are scheduled to last until February 24.

REUTERS
Kenya to deploy army as bandits kill over 100

International News Feb - 15 - 2023 , 12:08

Kenya's President, William Ruto, has taken his biggest security decision on the domestic front since taking office about five months ago, by ordering the military to join the police in tackling bandits and cattle rustlers in a restive northern region.

A government notice said the troops would be deployed to support the police from Wednesday.

It came as the interior minister declared parts of six counties in the region as disturbed and dangerous, issuing a 30-day dusk to dawn curfew starting from Tuesday.

The government has declared the security situation currently prevailing in the northern Rift Valley Region as a national emergency.

Accordingly, painful and decisive measures must be taken effective immediately, Prof. Kindiki Kithure said in a statement.

It ordered all people holding illegal guns and ammunition to hand them over to the authorities in three days or meet the full force of the law.

More than 100 civilians and 16 police officers have been killed by bandits in the past six months, according to the interior ministry.

The government has come under criticism for not doing enough to deal with the problem, even as the armed gunmen have recently become bolder, killing people and stealing livestock despite high-level security meetings in the areas.

Previous security operations have not deterred the armed bandits from carrying out attacks.

Attempts by previous administrations to disarm the heavily-armed bandits operating with impunity in Turkana county have failed.

Thousands of cattle are stolen every month and driven hundreds of kilometres away for slaughter for sale in the local or international market.

BBC
Republican Nikki Haley enters 2024 presidential race

International News Feb - 15 - 2023 , 11:51

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador, has announced she is a candidate to become US President in 2024.

"Now is not the time to hold back. Now is the time for a strong and proud America," she tweeted, linking to a campaign video.

She is the second major Republican candidate to run, after ex-boss Donald Trump launched his bid in November.

Ms Haley is the third Indian American to seek a presidential nomination.

She said in 2021 she wouldn't challenge him for the White House, but changed her mind in recent months, citing the need for "generational change".

Other Republicans expected to launch a campaign to be selected for their party include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice-President Mike Pence.

She has previously criticised Mr Trump's behaviour up to and during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

The day after the riot, she said in a speech that "his actions since election day will be judged harshly by history".

Nikki Haley was previously a UN Ambassador in the Donald Trump administration

Most early polls show Mr Trump with a comfortable lead in South Carolina, whose primary he won on his way to the Presidency in 2016 - an indication of the uphill battle the former ambassador will have, even on what should be friendly ground.

A recent survey by the polling firm Trafalgar Group that included current and likely candidates has Mr Trump in first place with 43 per cent and Ms Haley in fourth at 12 per cent.

BBC
AU to send top observers for Nigerias elections

AFRICANEWS Feb - 15 - 2023 , 11:46

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 run-up 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 the 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 demonstrate AU support "towards consolidation of democracy, peace, stability and development in Nigeria".

Nearly 100 million people will vote to choose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms as Nigeria struggles with widespread insecurity and economic malaise.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's electoral commission head said on Monday that 240 polling centres will not be used in upcoming elections, as no one had chosen them due to insecurity in the surrounding areas.

Separatist and gang violence is a major concern for Nigerians when they vote on February 25 for new members of parliament and for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari.

When new voters register in Nigeria, they are allowed to choose a polling centre.

Most people choose the nearest to where they live because movement is restricted by security agencies on election day.
Former Head of Child Health donates to KBTH

Jemima Okang Addae Feb - 15 - 2023 , 10:43

A former Head of the Child Health Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Professor Janet Neequaye, has donated proceeds from the sale of her published autobiography to the hospital.



The proceeds and subsequent ones will go to the Needy Children Fund (NCF) which she established while she was the head of the department to cater for children who are unable to pay for drugs and medical bills which are not available on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The 199-page book with a photo gallery and an index talks about Prof. Mrs Neequayes life and career as a doctor, teacher and mother in England, Saudi Arabia and Ghana, where she lived on and off over the past 50 years.

The book, titled Through Thick and Thin, illustrates the trials and triumphs of her life, stretching from 1946 to the present, starting at her birthplace in the provincial town of Benfleet, Southern Essex in England, and still ongoing in Accra.

Some chapters in the book have titles such as: Life Today, My Family, Medical School, Marriage and Early Working Life, and Going to Ghana, among others.

Support

During her stay as the head of the department, Prof. Mrs Neequaye, an English paediatrician married to a Ghanaian, said she embarked on several research projects to aid in child health.

I did a lot of research in Malaria, HIV and Burkitts lymphoma which is a childhood cancer.

I also did some administrative projects such as the NFC for the benefit of sick children, she stated.

She explained that she created Dear Pharmacist to help children obtain emergency life-saving drugs, as at the time, it was cash and carry.

I also started something called Dear Pharmacist, so that if you rush to the child health department with your very sick child and you don't have money, the doctor can write in your folder, dear pharmacist, please supply this emergency drug.

So they give it immediately to save the child's life and then later the money is paid, she added.

Review

A former Headmistress of Ghana International School, Judith Sawyer, who reviewed the book, said the book would inspire, encourage and assist, particularly, female readers in their struggle to gain recognition in their career lives.

In England, Prof. Neequaye was rejected for a medical position because the interviewer suggested that she would find it difficult to cope with a young child while practising.

In Ghana, she had to work doubly hard to gain promotion in the Medical School by publishing more scientific articles than would normally be required, she stated.

Author

Prof. Janet Neequaye, a retired paediatrician, is married to Prof. Alfred Neequaye, a Ghanaian physician specialist, who was her classmate at St Georges Medical School in London.

She has written 17 research works on Malaria, HIV and Burkitts lymphoma.
GH83bn bonds surrendered for new ones

Maxwell Akalaare Adombila & Mary Anane-Amponsah Feb - 15 - 2023 , 14:15

The government has received GH83 billion of its existing domestic cedi denominated bonds for new ones under the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) that ended last Friday.

That paves the way for the government to open discussions with external creditors on a similar debt treatment towards securing a sustainable debt ratio that can earn the country US$3-billion support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilise the economy.

The Ministry of Finance said in a statement issued yesterday that the government was pleased with the results, as a substantial majority of the eligible holders had tendered in their bonds.

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, the statement, signed by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said.

Breakdown

It explained that of the GH97.75 billion outstanding principal, GH84.99 billion was voluntarily tendered by investors who opted to participate in the programme.

It said in an appendix attached to the statement that the subscription rate was equivalent to about 84.91 per cent.

It indicated that some investors, including pensioner and individual bondholders who declined the debt exchange, still held about GH14.76 billion of the old sovereign paper.

Resettlement date

The ministry also announced the shifting of the resettlement date for the new bonds from February 14 to February 21.

That, it said, was 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 explained.

It noted that as the debt exchange period had expired, no new tenders will be accepted, and no revocations or withdrawals are permitted.

Gratitude

A statement issued in the early hours of yesterday and signed by Mr Ofori-Atta reassured all individual bondholders who did not participate in the exchange that their coupon payments and maturing principals, just like all government bonds, would be honoured in line with fiscal commitments.

The DDEP is being done to help protect the economy and enhance our capacity to service our public debts effectively, it said.

It added that the alternative to not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of the 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 got your country much closer to securing the IMF programme, statement added.

It also expressed gratitude to those who took part in the advocacy to secure an improved offer for participants.

The government wants to thank the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times, it added.

Other inputs

It said the Ministry of Finance had also taken note of all additional inputs to further streamline government expenditure made by various stakeholders during the DDEP engagement and gave assurance of the governments full commitment to address the issues.

Meanwhile, in a last-minute move, pensioner bondholders have rejected calls for them to self-exempt from the DDEP, saying the bond issuer (the government) should accord them the more legal and courteous option of exempting them formally, just as it had done to public sector workers and the companies managing their funds.

Now the issuer has got the 80 per cent, so he is going ahead with the programme.

The issuer wants us to self-exempt.

That is not what we want, the Convener of the Pensioners Bondholders Forum, Dr Adu Anane Antwi, said in an interaction with the press when they once again picketed at the forecourt of the Ministry of Finance.

He said a few days ago, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) had written to the Ministry of Finance to exempt the GMA fund completely from the programme, to which the ministry responded, stating that like the pension funds, the GMA fund had been exempted from the programme.

However, Dr Anane Antwi said, the ministry had blatantly refused to respond to the forums letter sent to it on January 10, this year and making a similar demand.

Response to letter

What is preventing the minister from responding to our letter that we wrote? If now you know you have exempted us or if you think what you brought out to the public amounts to exemption, what is your difficulty in writing to pensioners?

If the minister refuses to use the expression: You have been exempted as he used for the pension fund and the doctors fund, this matter will not end, he said.

Dr Anane Antwi said using the expression: You have been exempted would not change anything in the programme, since the government had got 80 per cent participation without the pensioners tendering in anything.

He said pensioners were not going to self-exempt because there was a difference between one exempting oneself from the programme and the issuer exempting the person.

We did not decide to exempt ourselves. We are waiting for the minister to exempt us, he further said.

He said the group would engage Parliament on the issue on Thursday if they did not receive a response from the ministry.

The issue

The retiree bondholders had been picketing at the Ministry of Finance for over a week, singing patriotic songs while holding placards with various inscriptions, such as: "Empathise With Pensioners.

Tomorrow you would be one", "DDEP too bitter a pill for pensioners", "Show us some love and care", "Our livelihoods are dependent on our bond investment", "Dont push pensioners into early graves".

The members of the group, who started their picketing on February 6, are demanding total exemption from the DDEP, saying it would have dire consequences on their lives if the government failed to heed their call.

A former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, once again was present to lend her support to the protest against the inclusion of pensioner bondholders in the DDEP.

She indicated that pensioners were not self-exempting because they wanted to continue to hold on to their original bonds because the word bond is not used as a casual term.Bond means tied to.

Ms Akuffo expressed worry over the destruction of the image of the nation with the bond default, noting that it will take a long time before normal Ghanaians will even buy anything or do anything that is government because there is always the suspicion that tomorrow you dont know what will happen.

To the people who misunderstood her for joining the picketing, Ms Akuffo said she had a mind of her own and knew what was right to do at any time.

Gabby Otchere Darko can call me paranoid, I dont care.

We are talking about people who have served this country and have served well and hard, she said.

The government launched the DDEP on Monday, December 5, last year.

After three deadline extensions and an administrative window, the call for the voluntary tendering of existing bonds, which have higher coupon (interest) rates and often shorter maturity periods, for new ones ended last Friday.

The settlement (the exchange) with the new bonds, which have lower coupons but mostly longer maturity period, has now been shifted from yesterday to Tuesday, February 21, this year.
GTA, FairAfric mark Chocolate Day at Dzorwulu Special School

Yaa Kuffour Senyah Feb - 15 - 2023 , 10:33

Management of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and a local cocoa processing company, FairAfric Limited, have donated more than 1,000 bars of chocolate and pouches to the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra.



The gesture by the two companies was part of efforts to promote and mark the celebration of the National Chocolate Week.

The donation was also a way of showing love to special children in society on Valentines Day.

Donation

The Director of Corporate Affairs at GTA, Jones Nelson, stated that the focus of the donation was part of the activities scheduled for the National Chocolate Week, which was done annually to promote locally made cocoa products.

He explained that as instituted in 2005 by the authority, the donors had decided to use chocolate as a symbol of love in place of flowers and other things to increase the local consumption of chocolate and other cocoa products.

So as a form of showing love, the motive is to encourage the production of chocolate products and also to promote tourism to bring about cohesion as when we consume more, the economy will also get involved to create jobs for the youth, he said.

Mr Nelson, however, urged the public to adopt the consumption of locally made cocoa products as they were premium products which met international standards.

Impact

The Market Lead for FairAfric, Ishmael Quaye, stated that as per the vision of the company to bring about sustainability and impact in society, they organised the donation to positively spread love among the vulnerable.

He explained that in a bid to make the consumption of local chocolate and its products a lifestyle for all, the company embarked on the donation with the GTA to give all the opportunity to eat chocolate on an occasion such as Valentines Day.

Mr Quaye, however, called on the government, through its agencies such as the National Commission for Civic Education, to create awareness of the consumption of chocolate and its benefit to make it a lifestyle in Ghana.

Commendation

The Head of the Dzorwulu Special School, Fredrick Tetteh, thanked the two organisations for their contributions to make the children feel loved.

He stated it was an indication that although they loved everyone around them, they loved the disabled the most.

He, therefore, called on individuals and other organisations to continually support the school in any little way they could.
I didnt kill Adams Mahama - Accused pleads in court

Justice Agbenorsi Feb - 15 - 2023 , 11:06

Asabke Alangdi, the second accused person charged with the murder of the then Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Adams Mahama, has denied knowledge of the circumstances leading to the death of Mahama.

Mounting the dock to open his defence at the High Court in Accra yesterday, the accused explained that the late Mahama had been his partner for over 20 years, and that there was no friction between them.

Alangdi and Gregory Afoko, a farmer, have pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder and murder at the court presided over by Justice Efua Merley Wood.

Defence

In his evidence-in-chief, Alangdi told the seven-member jury that It is not true, my Lord, that I conspired with Afoko to pour acid on the late Mahama; he was my father and he helped me in so many things. He even helped me in building my house.

Led by his lawyer, Andrew Vortia, the accused, explained that he got to know Afoko through NPP party rallies in the region.

Asked to explain to the court what exactly happened on the day of the incident, Alangdi said upon delivering some flags to the partys secretary, Afoko bought him a bottle of Guinness.

He said after a while, Afoko informed them that he had to see his sick dad, and so he asked Afoko to drop him off on his way.

The lawyer asked Alangdi to tell the court exactly what time he got the lift from Afoko.

The accused said, I cannot really remember the time because I was not wearing a watch, but I remember when we were at the bar, there was a television there and we were watching the evening news.

He added that Afoko dropped him off in front of his house and left.

The accused said he was informed the following morning that someone had poured acid on Adams Mahama, adding that everyone accused the two of them of pouring acid on the deceased.

Why run?

The lawyer further asked why Alangdi decided to run to Cote d'Ivoire immediately after the incident.

The accused said he decided to flee because someone had threatened to kill him.

He said shortly after receiving a call from the police for his witness statement, Tofic, a prosecution witness, threatened to kill him.

He told me on the phone that hes taking away one of my children, and has burnt down my house, Alangdi said in his evidence-in-chief.

The case has been adjourned to Monday, February 20, 2023, for the prosecution, led by Marina Appiah Opare, a Chief State Attorney, to cross-examine the accused.

Prosecutions facts

According to the facts of the case, on May 14, 2015, Gregorys brother, Paul Afoko, and Kwabena Agyepong, then National Chairman and General Secretary respectively of the NPP, arrived in Bolgatanga for a meeting.

Adams Mahama, the prosecution claimed, organised some thugs to violently attack the two, scuttling the planned meeting at the Azumsolon Guest House, accusing them of campaigning against the flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and also not notifying him (Mahama) of the meeting.

The situation, according to the prosecution, was later brought under control by the police, adding that Gregory, who was then upset, confronted Mahama but was chased away by some thugs.
Information Minister, GJA present chocolates to Graphic Editorial staff

Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Feb - 15 - 2023 , 08:12

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, yesterday presented some boxes of locally produced chocolate to the News Department of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).

The minister paid a surprise visit to the GCGL when the Daily Graphic was at its Editorial Conference.

He had a brief interaction with the team before presenting the boxes of chocolate.

He commended the members of the Editorial Conference for their diligence and hard work over the years.

The minister paid a similar visit to the Ghanaian Times as part of the National Chocolate Week celebration.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who was accompanied by some members of the senior management team at the ministry, was welcomed by the acting Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey.

Those in the ministers entourage included the Head of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Information, Mawuli Segbefia, and the Public Relations Manager, Kwaku Obeng Agyei.

Day of love

Mr Oppong Nkrumah described the presentation as a token of his love for the company and a symbol of appreciation for the hard work staff did as their contribution to national development.

Today is National Chocolate Day and so as we go on our rounds, we bought some boxes of chocolate and decided to stop over and see my friends at Graphic.

It is a day of love and I just want to say I love you all, he said.

The minister acknowledged the hard economic situation in the country that had created some tough times for everyone.

These are tough times for everyone  the industry, the economy and the whole country  but I know you are doing your best and it is being observed, he added.

He encouraged the GCGL to continue working hard, adding that together with the government, we look forward to exciting times when we will put the country back on a rising pedestal.

GJA

In a related development, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, also presented a box of chocolate to be shared among members of the association at the GCGL.

As a token of my appreciation for your support throughout this period, I present to you these bars of chocolate. I really value your assistance and cooperation, he said.
Nation records increase in paediatric oncologists

Augustina Tawiah Feb - 15 - 2023 , 08:22

There is a steady increase in paediatric oncologists  specialists in childrens cancer  in the country.

From a single paediatric oncologist in the country in 2009, the number doubled the following year and later increased to four. Currently, more than eight doctors are undergoing training in child oncology.

The Head of the Child Oncology Unit of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (formerly Ridge), Dr Nihad Salifu, disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, ahead of the International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) which falls today, February 15, 2023.

She also said there were about 40 qualified paediatric oncology nurses through the efforts of the first two paediatric oncologists, the World Child Cancer Organisation and the UBS Foundation.

There were also qualified paediatric oncology pharmacists, she said, adding: We now have healthcare professionals who have the competency to recognise and diagnose childhood cancers and treat them.

Care facilities

Dr Salifu further said apart from the training of healthcare professionals, institutions that offered treatment for childhood cancers in the country had also increased, and that aside from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital also offered treatment.

She said paediatricians in five other health centres around the country had also been trained to diagnose the disease and help patients along their treatment pathways.

Sometimes they are able to treat the patients fully at their centres; other times they get to a point where they refer the patients to us.

These facilities are spread around the country. In the north, we have the Tamale Teaching Hospital. There are also the Ho Teaching, the Techiman Holy Family, the Agogo Presbyterian and the Cape Coast Teaching hospitals which are located at vantage places in the country, she said.

Challenges

Dr Salifu, however, said the biggest challenge was funds to investigate cases and offer treatment, which she said was expensive.

She said although four of the childhood cancers were on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the implementation was still at its rudimentary levels and as such access to drugs was difficult.

According to her, most childhood cancer drugs were imported by private individuals, thereby making them expensive, including the fact that many healthcare facilities were unable to stock them at the health insurance prices.

Even though on paper we are happy that they have been captured, which is a great starting point, the implementation has been really slow and hectic, she said.

She appealed to the media to help sensitise the public to childhood cancers to illicit more support from the government, philanthropic organisations and individuals.

Cancer Day

February 15, every year is observed all over the world as International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD).

The day is used to raise awareness of childhood cancer and also support patients and families experiencing the effects of the disease.

This years commemoration will be on the theme: #throughtheirhands, which will pay tribute to families and caregivers and the positive impact they have on the lives of children and adolescents with cancer.
Nation records zero cholera cases since 2020

Doreen Andoh Feb - 15 - 2023 , 07:43

The country has not recorded any case of cholera since 2020, after one case of the disease was recorded in 2019, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said.

The progress has been attributed to factors, including improved access to potable water and lavatories, public adherence to hand washing with soap under running water and strict surveillance by the GHS.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Monday, the Director of Public Health at the GHS, Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, said improvement in access to potable water and lavatories had reduced risk factors, such as open defecation.

The countrys worst outbreak of cholera in the last three decades occurred in 2014 when 28,975 cases were recorded.

Preventive measures

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe also explained that even people who did not have access to toilet facilities had imbibed the principle of hand washing and sanitising regularly, thereby reducing their vulnerability to cholera.

For the past three years, we have not had any case until recently when we had two suspected cases that came out negative, he said.

What is also good for us is that when we look at the countrys case for diarrhoea, it has gone done as well. This idea of hand washing has proved to be a game changer for improving health outcomes, he added.

However, the director added that while the development was a good indicator for achieving the target of eliminating cholera by 2030, the risk factors should be continuously tamed to prevent them from triggering outbreaks.

Drinking water contaminated with faecal matter is the major cause of cholera, making open defecation and inadequate national access to potable water major risk factors.

The disease is characterised by vomiting and watery stool, and could lead to death within a few hours.

Cases

In 2010, the country recorded 466 cases of the disease; 5,671 were recorded in 2011; 9,548 in 2012; 22; 28,975 in 2014; 692 in 2015; 791 in 2016 and no case in 2017.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) report released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed that the population with access to basic drinking water increased from 78 per cent in 2017 to 87.7 per cent in 2021.

Furthermore, the PHC indicated that 59.3 per cent of households had access to toilet facilities.

The population with access to basic sanitation facilities increased from 15 per cent in 2017 to 25.3 per cent in 2021, it added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has indicated that prevention, preparedness and response depend on an effective surveillance system and are linked and interdependent.

It said there was the need to shift the emphasis from response to prevention in order to avert outbreaks by expanding access to improved sources of drinking water and improved sanitation and by working with communities to encourage behavioural change to diminish the risk of infection.

Additionally, oral cholera vaccines, which had proved to be safe and effective, were now considered to be part of a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach to cholera prevention and control, it said.

Cholera

Cholera is an acute infection caused by taking in food or water faecally contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholera.

It is usually linked to poor sanitation and inadequate access to safe drinking water.

It has a very short incubation period of two hours to five days. It is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated.

Prompt administration of oral rehydration salt (ORS) has been proved to be effective in the treatment. Patients who are severely dehydrated are at high risk of going into shock and will require prompt intravenous fluid administration.
Obosomase: Residents rush to scoop fuel from fallen tanker

Vincent De Sosoo Feb - 15 - 2023 , 17:13

Residents of Obosomase in the Eastern Region and surrounding communities on Wednesday morning defied the risks associated with a fuel tanker involved in an accident and dashed to scoop the petroleum product which was gushing out of a crashed tanker.

The tanker, which was carrying diesel and travelling towards Mamfe was involved in the accident while climbing the steep hill at Obosomase.

The driver claimed to missed the gears and therefore could not control the vehicle when he stopped almost at the tip of the hill and started reversing.

The DAF tanker truck, with registration number GW 1077 W, was almost at the tip of the hill when eyewitnesses saw that it had slowed down, came to a stop and started reversing.

The driver claimed that the brakes failed to halt the vehicle when he tried to.

Seeing danger and seeing that there were other vehicles behind the truck, he decided to swerve onto the shoulders of the road and in the process, the container flipped off to the ground resulting in one of the top covers opening with the product pouring out.

Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) responded to the accident.
OLAM celebrates women, girls in science

Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Feb - 15 - 2023 , 11:13

A Licensed Buying Company (LBC) in Ghana's cocoa sector and one of the lead exporters of cashew in the industry, Olam Food Ingredients Ghana Limited (ofi), has commemorated this year's UN International Day of Women & Girls in Science with students & farmers in its supply chain at Tepa in the Ashanti Region.

Held at Tepa Senior High School, this years celebration was on the theme: Bringing Everyone Forward for Sustainable and Equitable Development, to recognize the role of women and girls in science, not only as beneficiaries but also as agents of change.

Participants

The event brought together about 500 participants, including farmers in ofis supplier network in Tepa, children of farmers pursuing courses and careers in science, science students from both Tepa and Maban Senior High Schools, selected managers within the business as well as ofis female network group, GROW (Globally Reaching Olam Women).

The Country Head of ofi, Mr. Eric Asare Botwe, said currently the female scientist population in ofi has grown tremendously.

Women in Science

We have 14 female scientists working in our factory and over 40 female employees with science backgrounds in the sustainability business. I am optimistic that the numbers will increase not only in ofi but in all businesses spread across the country. He continued, "ofi encourages women scientists in our business to reach their full potential and find mentorship and growth opportunities both within and outside the company. Olam Cocoa Processing (OCP) has partnered with Kumasi Technical University and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to allow their students have internship programmes with us to provide the needed practice and training to the theories they learn at school.

Harnessing talents

Speaking at the event, a senior Lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Mrs. Augustina Sylverken, said, there is a need to harness all talent to tackle the challenges facing the country and the global community. The full participation of women and girls in science, mathematics, and technology is essential; hence women and girls need to break all barriers to be part of the change agents in society.

Other speakers at the event included Nana Amoateng Tuffour, Tepa Ankobeahene who represented the Tepa Manhene, Nana Adjeiwaa Paamu, Tepa Manhemaaa, and Celestina Amoa- Menyah, ofi's Regional Quality Head for Africa, who called for a more practical approach for the teaching and learning of science.

The resource persons shared their experiences and encouraged participants to connect mentors to their children and for the students to find mentors in their areas of specialisation to help them in their chosen science fields.

ofi gave all 200 participating students branded t-shirts, notepads, pens, and sanitary pads.
Prioritise investment in agricultural research - Prof. Danquah urges govt

Juliet Akyaa Safo Feb - 15 - 2023 , 08:17

The government has been urged to prioritise investment in agricultural research and innovation to increase food production in the country.

Such a measure will also help reduce the importation of food commodities and make the country self-reliant.

The Founder Director of the West African Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University of Ghana, Prof. Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, said his outfit had developed high-yielding hybrid tomato varieties and white maize.

During the maize planting season, ridiculously this country has to import hybrid seeds, sometimes from as far as South Africa, for farmers to plant.

Also, we import over $150m worth of fresh tomatoes from Burkina Faso annually, whereas tomato seeds for planting are imported from France, Israel, among other countries, he said.

Promote innovation

Prof. Danquah also said it was critical for the government to concentrate on promoting local innovation and stop the importation of hybrid seeds.

He said the money used for such importations could be channelled into public-private partnerships (PPPs) to scale up hybrid seed production in the country.

We have these hybrid seeds which are fantastic, but because of the policy environment, our markets have been flooded with subsidised seeds.

Our local entrepreneurs, therefore, are discouraged from getting the local hybrid seeds because they will not be making much profit, compared to imported subsidised seeds which are cheaper, he said.

He further said the lack of prioritisation of local innovation and the reliance on importation are not going to help the country.

What we need is for leadership to understand that this country cannot move forward if we do not develop our own agriculture, the director added.

COVID-19

On the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Danquah said it was important that nations, including Ghana, learnt lessons from its outbreak.

We must remember that during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were delays in the importation of products for farmers, and some countries, such as Vietnam, also stopped exporting rice.

This means we need to be self-reliant; we need to develop our system, so that we do not rely on other countries to get seeds for farmers to plant, he said.

Human capital

Prof. Danquah also said there was the need to grow human capital in agriculture, adding that the WACCI had trained some plant breeders for the country and Africa.

We started our programme in 2007 and have today trained over 24 plant breeders for Ghana and 115 for over 15 countries in Africa.

On an annual basis, our smart students leave the country to train outside, the reason being that our graduate schools are under-developed, except the few programmes that are available, such as WACCI.

If the government makes available fellowships for smart students to enrol in world-class programmes in Africa, we will see development in our graduate schools, he said.
Advising the Auditor-General not interference - Attorney-General

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Politics Feb - 15 - 2023 , 16:04

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says his advice to the Auditor-General not to publish its report before sending it to Parliament was not an interference.

In a statement released today, the A-G said as the principal legal advisor to the government, he has the constitutional mandate to give legal advice to all Public Services of Ghana including the Audit Service.

According to the A-G, the independence of the Auditor -General in its operations does not preclude him from legal advice from the Attorney -General.

It ought to be pointed out that the functional independence of the Auditor-General under article 187(7)(a) of the Constitution does not confer immunity from legal advice.

Legal advice to a constitutional body cannot under any circumstance be construed to amount to interference with the performance of its constitutional functions.

A view to the contrary implies that an independent constitutional body has absolute freedom to act in any manner it desires, except when a court of law has ordered, even when its legal adviser (whether public or private) is of the opinion that its actions are in conflict with the law. This sounds in absurdity and is the product of unbridled sensationalism, the A-G said.

A-Gs advise

The A-Gs statement was in response criticisms by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), over a letter by the Attorney-General advising the Auditor -General to withdraw a publication on its website about an audit report on COVID -19 funds.

Mr Dame had described as unconstitutional the publication of the Auditor-General's report on the COVID-19 expenditure before Parliament completes considering it.
According to OccupyGhana, although the Auditor-General has to complete his audit and submit it to Parliament, "there is nothing in the Constitution that restricts also publishing the reports so that We The People will know what has happened to and 3. with our money"

In a letter reacting to a recent advice issued by Attorney-General to the Auditor-General to withdraw the publication of his findings into COVID-19 funds until Parliament finishes its work, OccupyGhana indicated it's disagreement with the government's lawyer.

Below is a copy of the OccupyGhana letter

Dear Sir:

RE: AUDIT OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF GHANA



We have seen and read a copy of your letter to the Auditor General dated 7th February 2023 on the above matter, the contents of which are most alarming, as they fly directly in the face of express constitutional provisions and Supreme Court pronouncements.

We take strong issue with your letter because:



1. Subjecting any function of the Auditor-General to parliamentary approval is in blatant conflict with the form and substance of his constitutionally-protected and independent mandate;

2. Although the Auditor-General has to complete his audit and submit it to Parliament, there is nothing in the Constitution that restricts also publishing the reports so that We The People will know what has happened to and 3. with our money;

3. The Auditor-Generals power to disallow and surcharge is independent of Parliaments Public Accounts Committee process, which Parliament may only invoke where necessary; and

4. The issues raised in your letter have formed part of the proceedings before the Supreme Court and have already been decided.



Sir, your office, as defendant in OCCUPYGHANA v ATTORNEY-GENERAL, made similar arguments in defence to our action, thereby seeking to diminish the independent authority of the Auditor-Generals functions. The Supreme Court considered and dismissed them all, stating that the Auditor-Generals independent constitutional mandate far exceeds just auditing and then preparing reports to parliament that draw attention to irregularities. The court said those irregularities must definitely trigger his powers of Disallowance and Surcharge obligations.

The court also rejected subjecting the powers of the Auditor-General to any other statutory bodies, which would include Parliament and any legislative interventions, as your letter seems to suggest. The Supreme Court was also careful to warn against any attempts to deprecate the constitutional mandate of the Auditor General, which is what your letter seeks to do, when it said:



Taking a cue from the importance of the work that is attached to the office of the Auditor-General and the fact that it is the custodian and protector of the public purse, any derogation of the functions  will defeat the lofty aims and objectives stated in the Preamble to the Constitution and the role and objectives of the work of the Auditor-General.



We therefore reiterate our strong disagreement with you especially when the Supreme Court emphasised that the Auditor-Generals constitutionally independent powers have to be on a higher pedestal and given pride of place.



In all your arguments, you stridently evade or avoid any mention of article 187(7)(a) of the Constitution, which states emphatically that in the performance of his functions under this Constitution or any other law THE AUDITOR-GENERAL SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE DIRECTION OR CONTROL OF ANY OTHER PERSON OR AUTHORITY [emphasis added.]



Sir, your office was, again, the defendant in BROWN v ATTORNEY-GENERAL, when Wood CJ held this constitutional provision underpins and secures  independence and insulates against all forms of external pressures. Dotse JSC said it ensures that the institution is insulated and protected from undue governmental control and direction. Anin Yeboah JSC (as he then was) added that the Auditor-Generals independence under the provision was in pursuance of probity and accountability.



Again, your office was the defendant in APPIAH-OFORI v ATTORNEY-GENERAL, when the Supreme Court reiterated that in the discharge of his duties the Auditor-General enjoys much independence for he is not subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority. On this point, Dotse JSC, even in his dissenting opinion, agreed with the majority of the court, and provided an erudite context as follows:



the office of the Auditor-General is a very important position which should not be toyed with whatsoever It should be noted that in view of the very important watchdog role that the Auditor-General plays or is supposed to superintend in the transparent use and accountability of the public purse, any attempt to prejudice and or compromise his position by linking it to the pleasure of a sitting President is untenable. This is because the President is the head of the Executive Branch of Government whose use of monies entrusted to them the Auditor-General is constitutionally mandated to Audit.



If the Auditor-General cannot be tied to the apron strings of the President who is an auditee, then that office, surely, cannot be tied to the apron strings of Parliament, which is also an auditee.



Sir, in 2017, the Supreme Court in OCCUPYGHANA v ATTORNEY-GENERAL ordered you and the Auditor-General to work together in enforcing his disallowances and surcharges. In your letter to us dated 19 July 2022 (your ref. F.28/S4.8), you confessed that both your office and the Auditor-General have done next to nothing to comply with the Supreme Courts mandatory orders. In that letter, you wrote that I take cognisance of SIGNIFICANT TARDINESS in the process to enforce notices of disallowances and surcharge issued by the Auditor-General since 2016. Then, you also informed us that you had set up a special team specifically assigned for the purpose of coordinating with the Auditor-General. Seven months after that letter, it appears that you are now informing the Auditor-General of the committee, and then inviting him to set up a similar team to work with my office.

We do not need to remind both you and the Auditor-General that under article 2(4) and (5) of the Constitution, your admitted failure to carry out the terms of the Supreme Courts orders constitutes a high crime, and renders you and the Auditor-General liable to fine and/or imprisonment, and a ban from holding public office for ten years after serving the term of imprisonment.

With the greatest respect, you cannot worsen this by your current approach. It will set back efforts at ensuring the independence and good governance of the office of the Auditor-General and other constitutionally mandated bodies, and lead to a decline in good governance and a lack of integrity of public officials.

We are copying the Auditor-General in this letter, and urging him to ignore your letter as being blatantly unconstitutional. If you are unhappy with the state of the law as expressed in the Constitution and interpreted by the Supreme Court, you may take your case to the Supreme Court. Or, since you are already a defendant in ISAAC WILBERFORCE MENSAH v AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUDIT SERVICE BOARD & ATTORNEY-GENERAL, which seeks yet another Supreme Court pronouncement on the independence of the Auditor-General, you may, more than two years after the matter was last called in court, finally file the agreed Memorandum of Issues that you have failed, refused or neglected to file. We are taking the opportunity to attach to this letter a proposed Memorandum of Issues for your consideration and adoption so that you may file it in the Supreme Court for that matter to proceed.

Finally, we would respectfully advice you to cease and desist from this course of action, and allow the Auditor-General to do the work as the Constitution and the Supreme Court have stated.

Yours in the service of God and country

OccupyGhana
LGBTQI+ law must consider culture, interest of humanity - President

Donald Ato Dapatem Politics Feb - 15 - 2023 , 07:37

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed the hope that the Human Sexuality and Identity Bill before Parliament will take into consideration the culture and the societal attitude of the people, as well as the humanity of the people involved.

The consequences, hopefully, will be those that will recognise the culture and the societal attitude of the people and at the same time recognise the humanity of all people involved. Hopefully, the law that will be fashioned will enable this balance to be carefully struck, he added.

President Akufo-Addo said this when the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Portal Welby, and the leadership of the global Anglican Communion paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.

The Most Rev. Welby, who is the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church and attending the 18th Consultative Council Meeting of 165 countries, said one of the issues that the meeting had been discussing was human sexuality and identity.

He said it was a difficult issue because there were no clear views on it around the world, and that it was an area in which many countries tried to enforce their views on others, adding: But when we talk of human sexuality, we are dealing with people.

Private Members Bill

President Akufo-Addo explained that the issue of human sexuality and identity was also a hot and widely discussed issue here in the country, to the extent that it had even produced a Private Members Bill, the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, which Parliament was grappling with.

Parliament is in full grip of it and I will have my say at the end of the day, he said.

The President added that the issues of slavery and human trafficking were worrying because people were trafficked under the guise of securing them lucrative jobs, only for the them to land in disastrous circumstances in the Middle East and other areas.

He said the country was dealing with the influx of large numbers of refugees due to the troubles in the Sahel region, particularly in Burkina Faso, and called for all to ensure stability and good governance in the region to halt the influx.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the alarming projection that by 2050 there would be 1.2 billion refugees around the world required efforts by all to address the problem.

Health

The Archbishop of Canterbury presented the President, who is also an Anglican, with a table top golden Crucifix.

The Most Rev. Welby said he was surprised during a briefing at the meeting of the Anglican Network that a long list of Ghanaian doctors continued to play a critical role around the world concerning primary health care, vaccination against smallpox through the World Health Organisation (WHO) and COVID-19 vaccination.

I was struck by the number of Ghanaian doctors involved in that. It may reflect the expression of a former Foreign Secretary of the UK that Ghana punches above its weight. It is a big country, but not as big as some, but has played a prominent role around health, he added.

The Most Rev. Welby said the world was also witnessing a huge destruction of the traditional patterns of family through hunger and issues of refugees which were increasing through wars, climate crisis and terrorism and commended Ghanas significant role in combating modern slavery and human trafficking.

He said what the Anglican Communion believed in was that when human sexuality issues were raised, it was about dealing with human beings and those were people Christ died for, like all human beings.

Therefore, we seek to find a way forward in which every human being, regardless of any other factors, may know that he or she is loved by Jesus Christ and has an opportunity to find the salvation which comes from Christ, he added.

The Most Rev. Welby said that was the position of the Anglican Church and many other churches.

There are many views among the communion and every international church is struggling with it. I know it is a very hot topic in Ghana and I will go nowhere near telling you what to do, he added.

Background

The 18-member Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, on Thursday, November 11, 2021, held its first public hearing on a Private Members Bill that would make it illegal to be gay or advocate gay rights.

The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, which was introduced to the House in July 2021, underwent its First Reading on Monday, August 2, 2021.

The proposed legislation, which aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, seeks to restrict LGBTQ+ communities and any activities related to them.

The new bill seeks to further criminalise the promotion and funding of LGBTQ+ activities, as well as the public display of affection, cross-dressing and more, while campaigning for LGBTQ+ persons on social media or online platforms is also prohibited under the bill.

It further seeks to provide for the protection of and support for children, persons who are victims or accused of LBBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities and other persons and related matters, while people advocating the rights of such sexual minorities will also be penalised.

Proponents of the bill want the promotion, advocacy, funding and acts of homosexuality to be criminalised in the country, saying it is a world-class piece of legislation which should be a reference material for other parliaments seeking to pass similar legislation.

The memorandum accompanying the bill said the object of the bill was to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, proscribe LGBTQ+ and related activities, propaganda of, advocacy for or promotion of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities.
Rolls-Royce has received an order from Air India for 68 Trent XWB-97 engines, plus options for 20 more. This is the biggest ever order for the Trent XWB-97, which exclusively powers the Airbus A350-1000. Air India has also ordered 12 Trent XWB-84 engines, the sole engine option for the Airbus A350-900.





This is the first time that an Indian airline has ordered the Trent XWB and the deal will make Air India the largest operator of the Trent XWB-97 in the world. Financial details of the order are not being disclosed.





Trent XWB-97

The Trent XWB will support Tata Group and Air Indias ambitious growth plans for the airline, providing reliability, flexibility and efficiency to its fleet as it takes on ultra-long-range routes between India and the US. The choice of the latest generation of Rolls-Royce engines also reflects Tata Groups vision for Air India to become the worlds most technologically advanced airline, with a focus on service, competing on the world stage to deliver best-in-class customer experience.

With a 15% fuel consumption advantage over the first generation of Trent engine, the Trent XWB goes further on less fuel, and offers leading performance and noise levels. It is also ready to operate on a 50% Sustainable Aviation Fuel blend.

The size of the Air India order reflects the increasing demand for air travel in India, which now has the third biggest airline market in the world and is ranked as the fifth largest economy globally. The rise of aviation has been fueled by continued business growth, favourable government policies, sustained infrastructure development, rising disposable incomes and the travel aspirations of its young, affluent middle class.

Industry forecasts expect air passenger traffic in India to grow at more than 6% per year; the industry will require more than 400 medium and large aircraft to support demand. This makes India a strategically important market for Rolls-Royce as it represents enormous growth potential for its products and services far into the future.

Rolls-Royce already has long-standing partnerships with the Tata Group. These include a strong supply chain commitment with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) for the manufacture of a significant number of parts for the Trent XWB engine in India, as well as several high-precision components for other Rolls-Royce civil aerospace engines. In addition, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) provides engineering services, particularly to support Rolls-Roycess digital engineering and data innovation teams in India.
Air India 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.

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.





GE9X

The announcement includes GE and CFM's most technically advanced commercial engines:

The GE9X, GE's most fuel-efficient turbofan, powers the Boeing 777X family of aircraft. The engine offers NO x emissions 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 NO x and other regulated gases below todays 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% improvement in fuel efficiency and CO 2 emissions compared to the latest production CFM56 engines, resulting in an average of more than 17 million tons of CO 2 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 more than four decades with wide engagement in the industry including engines, avionics, services, engineering, manufacturing, and local sourcing.
Memorial march held in Vancouver to commemorate missing and murdered indigenous women and girls

Xinhua) 11:22, February 15, 2023

People participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous woman holding a photo participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

People participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous man holding photos of victims participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Indigenous women holding photos of victims participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Indigenous women holding photos of victims participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous girl participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Motorola's Edge 40 Pro is rumored to arrive in Western markets at some point in the near future as a rebranded version of the Moto X40, which launched in China back in December.

Today a Motorola Edge 40 Pro prototype seemingly ran Geekbench, which means it's been inducted into the benchmark's online hall of fame - or, more accurately, its database.

The Edge 40 Pro managed a 1,480 single-core score and a 4,889 multi-core score in Geekbench 5. The "rtwo' motherboard could apparently be "associated with" the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which is completely unsurprising if the aforementioned rumors saying this will be a rebranded Moto X40 do in fact pan out.

The prototype had 12GB of RAM on board when it ran the benchmark (never mind the 11GB in the listing - Geekbench always slightly underreports memory). And guess what? The Moto X40 also has variants with precisely 12GB of RAM. Coincidence? Probably not. It's useful to note, however, that the X40 starts at 8GB of RAM, so the Edge 40 Pro might too.

The only other detail the benchmark listing gives us, as usual, is the software the phone was running. In this case, it's Android 13, to the surprise of (hopefully) no one.

If the Edge 40 Pro does turn out to be identical to the X40, then expect it to come with a 6.7-inch 1080x2400 165 Hz OLED screen, the aforementioned Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, up to 512GB of storage, a triple rear camera system (50 MP main with OIS, 50 MP ultrawide with autofocus for macro shots, and 12 MP 2x optical zoom), a 60 MP selfie snapper, and a 4,600 mAh battery with 125W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging.

Via
If youre down and out and facing a criminal case on Guam, you could find yourself appointed a lawyer who doesnt have a lengthy background in criminal law.

Defendants who cant afford a lawyer get appointed one by the court, but the number of lawyers volunteering to work on the private attorney panel has fallen off in recent years, court records show. The private attorney panel helps defendants who have a conflict of interest at both the Public Defender Service Corporation and the Alternate Public Defender.

Records from the Judiciary of Guam show that there are just two lawyers handling felony cases on the panel as of Jan. 31, and three handling misdemeanor cases. In April 2020, there were eight attorneys handling felonies and misdemeanors.

Over the years, several attorneys who have served on the (panel), or have the requisite experience in criminal law to serve, have either retired or are approaching retirement, Sarah Elmore-Hernandez, the director of policy, planning and community relations at the Judiciary said of the reduction.

Panel members are supposed to have extensive experience at trial, court rules state, but if no panel member is available, an active member of the Guam Bar gets selected.

Classes

The Guam Bar, the judiciary and the Public Defender Service Corporation will be teaming up and holding classes to show lawyers who may not have experience in criminal defense the basics, should they get called upon to represent a client.

Classes start next Monday, according to PDSC Executive Director Stephen Hattori.

The bag is too big

Hattori said that the reduction of attorneys on the courts private panel may have been driven by two long-time panel members resigning: new Attorney General Doug Moylan and Superior Court judge appointee John Terlaje.

Normally, their resignations would not have impacted operations, but the two had a large number of cases that would have been passed over, basically, the rest of the panel got left holding the bag. And so at a certain point, the bag is too big. And its just  everyone started pulling out.

He said pay is an issue, as the court pays panel lawyers $100 an hour currently, versus the minimum $250 an hour most private attorneys can garner, according to Hattori. If you are on the panel, you can expect 30 cases a year, more than most private attorneys would want.

Elmore-Hernandez said the committee overseeing the private attorney panel, continues to explore options to ensure that (panel) attorneys are fairly compensated given increased costs of living.

Hattori said the island faces a general shortage of lawyers. Theres no emergency in criminal defense yet, but its going to get there in a few years, Hattori said.

He was not aware of any cases being dismissed due to the shortage on the panel. Elmore-Hernandez said the Superior Court appoints attorneys to anyone who cant afford one.

Some appointed attorneys have withdrawn their names, to prevent complaints from defendants, though, according to Hattori.

You do have a right to counsel, but you also have a right to effective assistance of counsel, he said.

He said upcoming classes will show uninitiated attorneys the nuts and bolts of criminal procedure, and how to deal with the criminal court. Specialty courses may be available, and performance standards will hopefully be rolled out by March.

Were really interested in trying to provide training and raising the level of practice, Hattori said.

Attorneys John Morrison from the PDSC, Guam Bar President Jacquelin Terlaje, and Administrator of the courts Danielle Rosete are setting up the program.
Guam shouldnt be a dumping ground again for homeless people from Hawaii and other parts of the United States, Attorney General Douglas Moylan told mayors Wednesday.

He also shared ongoing efforts to address panhandling, homeless encampments, juvenile crimes, public drunkenness, loitering, stray dogs and deportation of regional migrants who commit crimes.

Mayors also raised issues of crime in the villages and offered solutions to address them with the help of the Office of the Attorney General and other agencies, both local and federal.

Moylan, whos been back on the job as elected attorney general for over a month, said Guam has started seeing homeless encampments as well as a growing problem of panhandling that ruins tourism and harms the community.

This is a bad look for Guam. The tourist industry, people dont like seeing that when they come to a tropical island to enjoy themselves. but the humanity of it, too. ... Why are these homeless encampments starting on Guam? Moylan asked.

Investigators have started going to homeless encampments, such as the one near Micronesia Mall and one at Tanguisson Beach, Moylan said.

He asked mayors the same thing he asked investigators: to find out from the homeless people they talk to whether theyre coming from Hawaii or other places, or whether somebody gave them a plane ticket to fly to Guam.

You need to tell us at the AGs office because we played that game with them before. I think we were sending them back to Hawaii, Moylan told the mayors.

Paying for a $1,000 one-way ticket for homeless people to come to Guam is a discount to get rid of those people, Moylan said.

Those people that we see that dont look like us that are kind of pushing a cart or having those backpacks or stuff like that, as mayors just ask them where youre from, have you been here for a while? Because, again, we gotta be careful about Guam being used as a dumping ground. Because if you watch the news about whats going on in the states, its pretty scary that their cities are turning into encampments, Moylan said.

Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares said Guam wouldnt want to be like Portland, Oregon, and other places that have massive homeless encampments. She said there have been people arriving on Guam from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Philippines with no place to stay here.

Im more concerned about those that are on that Hawaii plane trip or from the West Coast, Moylan said, adding that its easier to work with the neighboring CNMI government.

Panhandling

While hitting homeless people and panhandlers with trespassing or public nuisance charges can be done, this isnt the preferred route, Moylan said.

Adelup and government agencies, he said, are working together to ensure the homeless have a government facility to go to or will be taken care of at the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center if they have mental health issues or drug addiction.

The people panhandling, they get one warning to get out of there. If they come back, theyre going to be seeing the judge, the attorney general said.

Moylan asked mayors to help in identifying the owners of the properties in their villagesd where the homeless are staying so that the attorney general can work with the property owners.

You see kids in those facilities, those encampments, call (Child Protection Services). Immediately call CPS because they will be immediately taken away from their parents. Because you cant have children being in the open environment. You dont have sewage, you dont have water, everything, he said.

Piti Mayor Jesse Alig Mayors Council of Guam president, said its good to know that elected officials are working together despite political differences. Alig said the council will be preparing a list of challenges it wants help with and identify what it considers achievable goals.

Drug houses

The attorney general said its the mayors who know their villages best and could help identify the locations of drug houses.

Mayors, you guys know where the drug houses are, Moylan said. Send them to me, email me on it.

The attorney general is working to address drugs and criminality in the community, Moylan said.

Moylan also said more citizens from the Federated States of Micronesia are getting involved in meth or ice use because the illegal drug has become cheaper and widely available.

His office, he said, has been reaching out to the FSM community to remind them that they can be deported if they commit crimes.

Mayors brought up issues of having not only those from the FSM but other residents who have been drinking at community centers and parks and then engaging in bad behavior.

There is a law against loitering and public intoxication, and it would be up to the mayors and residents to report them to authorities, Moylan said.

Deportation

Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor Rudy Paco said if immigration enforces the provisions of the Compact between Freely Associated States and the U.S.  that their entry to Guam only be based on education, employment or medical reasons  then this would resolve a lot of issues that Guam experiences with FAS citizens involved in crime.

Paco said even ordinary travelers are asked every time they come in about where they will stay and for how long, but this may not even be asked of migrants who dont necessarily have proof that they have a job waiting for them on Guam or coming here to study.

Moylan said Paco raised a very important point and its in line with what the governor discussed with him recently, he said.

The AG also recently said his office identified three non-U.S. citizen inmates at the Department of Corrections eligible for deportation.

Juvenile crimes

Agana Heights Mayor Paul McDonald raised the issue of violence in junior and senior high schools, as well as an example of a minor who was caught stealing a vehicle, only to be released hours later.

Police took him in. The day after, he was released. He was laughing at us, McDonald said.

Moylan said his office will look into the case.

The attorney general talked about how meth dealers have been getting minors and teens to sell drugs for them. Its among reasons why his office has been pushing for the Guam Police Department to use drug-detector dogs on campuses to sniff student lockers.

More minors can be charged as adults, he said.

I am for (the Guam Department of Education) suspending and throwing these kids out of school. We need to get the parents more involved. In the old days, your parents were the ones you feared. Were losing that fabric of our society, Moylan told mayors.

The problems involving minors are usually the tip of the iceberg, he said.

When you have kids that are doing that in school, they may be going home to a meth-addicted parent, he said, adding that if some people think that if children are rotten because of bad behavior at school or in the community, their parents could be worse.

Stray, pet dogsMayors said under the law, a household is supposed to have only up to four dogs, but they have seen village residents having dozens of dogs and cats.

Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann shared an example of a resident who used to have 24 dogs in his house but when he got sick, the mayors office had to go in and take the dogs because the resident could no longer care for them.

Moylan said he believes in property rights but homeowners have the obligation to leash dogs.

If they are not leashed, we are looking at going after the homeowners that have the dogs and choose to open their gates and not keep them leashed, ... (that causes) mayhem throughout the community, he said.

Theres also a difference between animal cruelty and just making sure that dog owners keep their pets in their own yard or leash them, he added.
Ron McNinch is a longstanding member of the Guam community and frequently gives his opinion on a wide range of topics.
Published on 2023/02/15 | Source

New stills added for the upcoming Korean movie "Soulmate" (2020)

Advertisement

Directed by Min Yong-keun

With Kim Da-mi, Jeon So-nee, Byeon Woo-seok, Nam Yoon-su, Park Ji-yeon-II, Ryu Hae-jun,...

Starts filming: 2020/08

Formerly known as "Hello, My Soulmate" (,  , an-nyeong, na-eui so-ul-me-i-teu)

It is a remake of a Chinese film directed by Peter Chan.

Synopsis

Age of 12, Mi-so, who transferred from Seoul to Jeju Island, meets Ha-eun, who is different from herself, and they promise never to separate.

Age of 18, Ha-eun's first love, Jin-woo breaks in two girls' friendship. Age of 23, the two girls are in pain because of their unfamiliar changes.

Age of 27, the two girls meet again. They missed each other living in a world that everyone changes. It takes 15 years to confirm their friendship. The two girls exchange their lives and truly understand each other's lives.

Release date in Korea : 2023/03/15
"The tattoo industry is rapidly changing. The new generation of artists is becoming more and more skilled, constantly coming up with new ideas. The best artists are smashing trends," said the event's coordinator and tattoo artist, Kimmo Rosti .

Helsinki Ink , the largest tattoo convention in the Nordics, is set to take place at Kaapelitehdas from March 31 to April 2, 2023. In addition to numerous Finnish artists, a record-breaking 100 foreign artists will also be in attendance.

The popularity of tattoos has grown every year, and visitors to Helsinki Ink will have a wide range of choices among the various current styles. The industry has also evolved in all aspects, with higher-quality tools and colors available, and a focus on customer safety.

"Trends in styles are highlighting hybrids, or the emphasis of contrasts. Other noteworthy styles include microrealism, dot shading, large ornamental and portrait tattoos. Graffiti and traditional art are mixed into everything beyond just portrait tattoos. Graffiti face tattoos have also become more common," Rosti explained.

Ambitious Results

Competition in the tattoo industry is continually increasing. Helsinki Ink will feature daily programs, including the Best of the Day tattoo and selection of the best in various styles. The Finnish Tattoo Artists Association will also select the best Finnish tattoo artist.

"Nowadays, artists ambitiously work on the winning design for many days. They come clearly to win the contest. The victories in the competitions matter, and many strive to win them," Rosti said.

Tattoos are seen as art, and people are willing to search far and wide for the right tattoo artist for their image. Individuals also follow various artists on social media, which makes them even more quality-conscious.

Helsinki, a City of Renown for Events

This year, Helsinki Ink will be held for the 28th time. According to Rosti, Helsinki has a good reputation as an event city.

"Everyone knows Finland, and Finns are cool. Finland is a safe and youthful rock mecca," Rosti explained.

Visiting artists are also pleased to come to Helsinki.

"I am always very happy to return to the European home of gothic rock, Helsinki. In Helsinki, my tattoos and my message related to the dark rock culture are appreciated! Rock'n'roll!" said Italian tattoo artist Kaiten.

HT
The ministry announced last week it has temporarily suspended its preparatory work on a proposal to amend the decree on seasonal work on grounds of feedback indicating that there are legal obstacles to fast-tracking the amendments and that the preparatory work will require more time.

THE MINISTRY of Economic Affairs and Employment has called a timeout to the long-running wrangle over the status of berry pickers recruited from Thailand.

Amending the decree wouldve been the only way to change the status of pickers already for the next harvesting season. It was good that we looked into the possibility, Katri Niskanen, a senior expert at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, commented to YLE on Thursday, 9 February.

The amendments would have re-defined berry pickers as seasonal workers rather than light entrepreneurs.

Thai berry pickers will therefore be able to work without a formal employment contract for at least the upcoming harvesting season.

Their status will be determined by the so-called berry act, and they will enter the country on a tourist visa, with the application instructions to be issued later by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Authorities in Thailand, meanwhile, will be responsible for deciding the number of exit visas to be issued to the workers.

Niskanen estimated that companies should have ample time to recruit workers for the upcoming season.

Applications from pickers arent usually coming at this point, but they dont start coming until a couple of months from now. In that sense, we still have plenty of time, she commented to the public broadcaster.

Birgitta Partanen, the executive director at the Arctic Flavours Association, welcomed news of the timeout, arguing that shelving the requirement for a formal employment relationship is a step in the right direction. A number of questions remain unanswered, though.

There are no visa instructions. Finnish authorities havent had negotiations with Thai authorities. Theres a lot to do, she said.

The situation, she added, is challenging for berry companies. We have to take action without delay. The longer we wait, the more difficult things will become and the more expensive it becomes to arrange things like flights.

Partanen said the entire industry hopes that the legislation is developed in consultation with its companies and experts. The way forward could be to develop the existing berry law, according to her.

There are admittedly shortcomings there, but last season showed that it works and that the monitoring works. Wed likely get better results by developing it than by making rash decisions.

Niskanen from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment assured that the effort to strengthen the position of berry pickers will continue. The next government, she added, will decide whether that will be achieved by introducing employment contracts to the industry or developing the existing system based on the berry act.

We at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment are ready to draft it according to the scheduling wishes of the government. I wont speculate on the schedule, she told YLE.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Being First Minister of Scotland is, in my opinion, the best job in the world.

First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon , has announced her intention to resign from her position as First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party. Sturgeon has served in these roles for over eight years and was previously Deputy First Minister for the best part of eight years before that.

It is a privilege beyond measure - one that has sustained and inspired me, in good times and through the toughest hours of my toughest days, says Sturgeon in his statement published today.

Given the nature and scale of the challenges the country faces, I feel that duty, first and foremost, to our country - to ensure that it does have the energy of leadership it needs, not just today, but through the years that remain of this parliamentary term.

We are at a critical moment. The blocking of a referendum as the accepted, constitutional route to independence is a democratic outrage. But it puts the onus on us to decide how Scottish democracy will be protected and to ensure that the will of the Scottish people prevails. I am firmly of the view that there is now majority support for independence. But that support needs to be solidified - and it needs to grow further if our independent Scotland is to have the best possible foundation, the statement goes on.

Sturgeon is the first woman to serve as First Minister of Scotland, and her resignation marks the end of an era for Scottish politics. She has been a key figure in the Scottish independence movement and has been a vocal advocate for Scottish independence throughout her career.

Born in Irvine, Scotland in 1970, Sturgeon joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) at the age of 16. She studied law at the University of Glasgow and worked as a solicitor before entering politics. In 1999, she was elected to the Scottish Parliament, where she has served ever since.

Sturgeon was appointed Deputy First Minister of Scotland in 2007, serving under Alex Salmond. When Salmond resigned as First Minister in 2014, Sturgeon was elected as his successor, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

During her time as First Minister, Sturgeon has been a strong voice for Scottish independence and has worked to strengthen Scotland's economy and social services. She has also been a vocal critic of Brexit and has called for a second independence referendum in Scotland.

In her resignation statement, Sturgeon cited the need for new leadership in the face of the challenges that Scotland is currently facing, including the blocking of a referendum on Scottish independence. She emphasised the need for unity and collaboration in Scottish politics and called on all parties to work together to de-polarize public debate.

Sturgeon's resignation is expected to set off a leadership contest within the Scottish National Party, with several potential candidates already being discussed. Sturgeon has pledged to remain in office until her successor is in place.

As Scotland faces a critical moment in its history, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the question of Scottish independence, the departure of Nicola Sturgeon marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter in Scottish politics.

HT
Dogwood Health Trust names new vice president for community investment

Mark D. Constantine, a well-respected leader and influencer within health philanthropy, will join Dogwood Health Trust as Senior Vice President of Community Investment in mid April 2023, the organization announced.

Constantine joins Dogwood after having served as president and CEO of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation (RMHF) for seven years. RMHF works explicitly to foster an equitable and healthy Richmond region through grantmaking, research, convenings and impact investing.

Constantine holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business of Duke University and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Duke Divinity School. He was a 2006/2007 Fellow of the Emerging Leaders Program directed by the Centres for Leadership at Public Values at the University of Cape Town and Duke University.

As Senior Vice President of Community Investment, Constantine will lead Dogwoods Community Investment Team in the visioning, development and implementation of ambitious program strategies designed to advance strategic initiatives toward Dogwoods purpose of dramatically improving the health and wellbeing of all people and communities in Western North Carolina. Constantine will help identify and build strategic relationships based on shared objectives with key leaders, community-based organizations, nonprofits and other funders in order to fund bold and innovative upstream strategies that address health disparities and inequity in WNC.

Mark is a veteran leader within the world of health philanthropy and has a keen understanding of what it means to uphold equity as the standard by which impact is measured, said Dr. Susan Mims, CEO of Dogwood Health Trust. A self-professed student of philanthropy throughout a long career, Mark combines his deep knowledge and experience with humility, creativity and authenticity that will resonate well in our region. We look forward to his thoughtful and intentional leadership and welcome him to our team.

Im excited, honored and energized at the prospect of joining Dogwood Health Trust and leading the Community Investment Teams focused work with community and partners, Constantine said. I am humbled and eager to work with this incredible team and the people of Western North Carolina.



While at RMHF, Constantine adopted a five-year Strategic Framework centering the Foundations work in health and racial equity. He also worked to align mission and money through impact investing strategies including debt and equity investments in CDFIs, foundation-directed Program Related Investments, and grants to position partners for impact capital.

In addition to his work at RMHF, Constantine has contributed more broadly to health philanthropy through his service as Board Chair of Virginia Funders Network, Co-Chair with Dr. Lauren Powell of the Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity, and as a faculty member for Grantmakers in Health Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy.

Prior to joining RMHF, Constantine served as Senior Vice President at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Jacksonville, Florida, where he directed the Program-Related Investment and affordable housing activities of the Fund. He also served as a Senior Fellow at Foundation for the Mid South.

Constantine has authored two books, Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination (2009) and Travelers on the Journey: Pastors Talk about Their Lives and Commitments (2005), as well as the award-winning monograph, Where Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections and Findings from the MidSouth Commission to Build Philanthropy (2005), and an article, Making Health Equity Real: Implementing a Commitment to Engage the Community Through Fellowships (Foundation Review, December 2019).
Commissioners pledge to lower tax rate before adopting budget

Henderson County commissioners on Wednesday pledged to lower the property tax rate when they adopt a 2023-24 budget but declined to go along with Commissioner Daniel Andreotta's proposal to adopt a rate four weeks from now  two months earlier than they historically have set one.

Andreotta said he's been confronted by nervous property owners who just opened their new notice of value based on the 2023 reappraisal, which increased real property values 48 percent.

And theyre doing the quick math and (finding), 'My property went up 40 percent, 60 percent, 80 percent. The taxes are gonna kill me.' So Im gonna make a bold statement. No ones property taxes have went up one penny at this moment.

First of all, the state statute requires us to calculate and publish a revenue neutral rate, which we do currently.  The county has always done a lot of work to have a good value for the people who pay the bills  which by the way, we dont buy a paperclip or a pencil until we tax money away from you to do it first, he said. So I for one will not support any budget or tax rate that is not either at or negligibly close to revenue neutral as we can get.

A tax rate thats significantly above revenue neutral could have wide-ranging consequences, he added.

Ive gotten several calls and communications from both people who own commercial and residential rental property, and people who rent residential and commercial property. And the landlords are saying, Hey, Im gonna start jacking up rents  and the renters are saying, Hey, my landlords telling me theyre gonna start jacking up my rent. Thats gonna be tough.

Because uncertainty is what businesses fear the most, Andreotta said, the board should commit to setting a rate by mid-March.

Im afraid if we wait till we adopt a budget in June a lot of damage is gonna be done that could be avoided, he said. Property owners, landlords and tenants  theyre worried, and I think we need to give them all the certainty we can.

The four other commissioners responded that while they too support lowering the property tax rate, structural and legal hurdles would likely prevent them from setting a tax rate that quickly. By state law, for instance, the School Board has until May 15 to submit its 2024 budget to the Board of Commissioners. The final overall taxable value wont be known until the 125 appeals  with more to come  are resolved. And countys sales tax numbers from the state lag by months, preventing a reliable 2024 forecast until closer to July, Commissioner Michael Edney pointed out.

So is it reasonable to throw out an absolute number in March, that early in the process? I dont think so, he said.

I think were looking to lower the tax rate, Commissioner David Hill said. I dont think any of us have any thoughts of keeping it the same. Getting as close to revenue neutral is the most desirable tax rate.

Rather than adopting a 2023-24 tax rate in four weeks, County Manager John Mitchell suggested commissioners could instead declare a consensus that theres going to be a reduction of some kind. When people ask him about the tax rate in the context of the sticker-shock home value spikes, Ive said repeatedly that theres no contemplation of allowing the tax bill to go up by 50 percent, he said. I think that was a safe thing to say.

I think being vocal and announcing publicly the interest of this board to lower the tax rate commensurate with the increase in valuation is the appropriate thing to do at this point, Commissioner Bill Lapsley said. I would suggest that we continue on in the budget process as weve normally done. Clearly the public will be watching us and I have confidence this board will do the right thing. So I would not support changing the budget process.

I think we owe it to the citizens to be as thorough as possible and we are always thorough in the budget process, Chair Rebecca McCall said. We are all committed to giving the fairest tax rate that we can possibly come up with. We will make it as fair as possible to all the citizens and still be able to provide the EMS services, the sheriffs services, the exceptional education process that we have and everything that we continue to do in this county that makes it so wonderful and the reason people want to live here. We are committed to definitely lowering the tax rate. I just dont want to rush it and miss something. Lets just say well announce it as soon as we possibly can.

Edney recommended, too, that the county publicize as clearly and emphatically as possible that the time to appeal the new values is now, not when taxpayers get their property tax bill in July.

The current schedule, which commissioners agreed to leave intact, calls for the county manager to submit a proposed budget to commissioners on May 1. Commissioners would then massage the spending plan and hold a public hearing before adopting the budget on June 5.
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
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.

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, colourful 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.

Hotel website
Barcelo Hotel Group has announced the forthcoming opening of the Palacio Gran Via, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, a new 5-star property in Gran Lujo which will become the second Royal Hideaway in the province.

Owned by the Poyatos family and located on Gran Via de Colon opposite Granada Cathedral, the property is a 38-room boutique hotel set in one of the most unique buildings in the city.

The Palacio Gran Via, a Royal Hideaway hotel, has a rooftop bar, aquatic area, solarium, hammam with indoor pool, Turkish bath and massage service, and a full gym.

Hotel website
Malcolm Zancanaro joined IHG at the end of 2022 as Director, New Hotels Australasia & Pacific, based in the IHG Sydney office and reporting to Simon Morley, Head of HLG - JAPAC.

With another record year of openings ahead in 2023 - and a growing pipeline - IHG is thrilled to have brought Malcolm on board to focus on opening these new hotels on time, on brand and ready to delight guests, and owners!

Malcolm has more than 30 years' experience in the hotel industry, starting at the Hyatt Kingsgate in Sydney, followed by various hotel operations and corporate roles across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. Most recently, he was General Manager for the Grand Hyatt Beijing since 2021, which saw him lead a $100 million renovation and hotel repositioning.

He has an Advanced Certificate of Management from the University of South Australia along with management development training that includes management, systems, Talent Quest 360 and Situational Leadership.
London, UK - A new report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed strong signs of recovery of the economic impact from Travel & Tourism in the five city powerhouses of Western Europe.

The Cities Economic Impact Report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourisms contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spend. The study examined the impact of the sector in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid.

The report from the global tourism body shows that in 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed over $83.5BN to the economies of the five European capitals, and last year was just 15% below 2019 at almost $71BN.

Paris has shown the strongest recovery of the five capital cities with the other four being 18% to 30% below 2019, demonstrating slightly slower recoveries than the French capital. In Paris, the sector GDP contribution was $38BN in 2019 but in 2022 it recovered to just 6% below pre-pandemic levels at an estimated $35.7BN.

Although the sectors GDP contribution to London was worth almost $15BN in 2022, it is slightly behind Berlin in terms of recovery to 2019 levels. The German capitals contribution to the citys economy was worth over $7.7BN in 2022, 18% below 2019.

Madrids GDP contribution was more than $5.5BN in 2022, 24% below 2019, however Rome is witnessing the slowest recovery - 30% below 2019 levels with a sector contribution of al-most $7BN.

Travellers are flocking back to Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Rome. Business travel is growing steadily. And Chinas reopening is bringing welcome visitors to cities across Europe. Tourists provide a massive boost to both the economy and job creation. It is crucial that the national and local governments continue to recognise the importance of Travel & Tourism for the local and national economies, jobs, and businesses. Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO

Jobs on the rise

Just before the pandemic there were over 976,000 jobs in Travel & Tourism across the five cities.

In 2020, job numbers in the five capitals fell by 41% to just over 580,000 jobs. The following year, job numbers rose by 13% to 654,000, and last year job numbers rose again by a fur-ther 23% to reach 807,000, just 17% below the combined total in 2019.

Paris currently has the largest job market in Travel & Tourism of the five capitals with almost 322,000 jobs.

About WTTC

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global travel & tourism private sector. Members include 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world's leading travel & tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. For more than 30 years, WTTC has been committed to raising the awareness of governments and the public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector.

WTTC Press Office

WTTC
Movies have the Academy Awards; television has the Emmys and hotels have the Mogels! Weve attempted to run this program annually since 2015. But with a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic (due to a lack of sufficient travel to warrant such a post), this will be our sixth outing. The awards are based upon our travel over the past year, and weve cheated a little bit to make up for lost time by starting our qualifying period in Fall 2021 through to the end of 2022. Over this period, the both of us experienced accommodations at 28 different properties in a dozen countries.

While few hoteliers have the opportunity to visit so many unique locations and properties within this short period, we have been fortunate to have clients call upon us from both close to our homebase in Canada as well as far away across the ocean. We do our best to pay these experiences forward and pass along any lessons so that all will benefit. While we have nothing but the utmost respect for all properties mentioned herein, it really is about the learning that applies to any brand anywhere. Above all, hotels are innovating in all corners of the world, and theres a tremendous amount that an onsite manager or executive can learn by visiting another continent.

One might also think that the hotels all become a blur. That is, after a while, you cannot differentiate one bed from another. We beg to differ! Each of the properties we stayed at was highly memorable for one reason or another (some excellent as noted here, and some less so, which we will not delve into at the moment). And so, without further introduction, here are our awards for the calendar year of 2022 based upon our personal experiences:

Best Housekeeping Award: Winning our housekeeping award goes to The Boston Harbor Hotel. A three-night stay demonstrated flawlessness insofar as daily service and turndown service, including the finer details like replenishing the welcome fruit bowl with each morsel consumed. We were working in our room, and mindful of this, the housekeeper altered her schedule. Amenities were ample and, when we mentioned that the shampoo was excellent, an additional bottle was provided with a ribbon on our last night.

Best Hotel Restaurant (formal): Restaurant Pavilion in the Baur Au Lac in Zurich may just be one of the finest restaurants that we have ever experienced. Earning two Michelin stars, the restaurant has one single serving, delivering a four-hour extravaganza of taste experiences focused on local cuisine. We are sure that every property that has a two-star restaurant will deliver a similar once-in-a-lifetime experience. There is learning here for all hotel restaurateurs: choose one of their techniques to add to your property.

Best Hotel Restaurant (informal): Cielo in Hotel de la Ville in Rome has the distinct advantage of being located on a rooftop overlooking the Spanish Steps in the center of the city. Okay, maybe it was the weather, the atmosphere and the joie de vivre. But the crisp linens, simple local-fare menu and attentive service provided a highly memorable experience. Not trusting our initial instincts, we dined twice for lunch and dinner on two separate days. The magic was there!

Best Hotel Bar: Flamel Bistrot & Mixology Lounge in the Lugano Dante Hotel in Switzerland provided the most creative bar experience to date. This was not just countertop and simple panache. Here, the mixologist is more of a chemist with pharmaceutical-grade equipment to produce their own spirits (gins, absinth, malts, liquors, etc.), all infused with locally grown herbs and imported spices. Even the ice blocks are unique, being crystal clear, oversized and super-frozen in order to keep the right temperature with minimum dilution. The experience has not, to our knowledge, been replicated in any other hotel.

Best Hotel Restoration: The Halekulani Hotel in Honolulu used the pandemic period to perform a major restoration. The distinction between restoration and renovation is that ownership was looking to enhance what their customers were experiencing through technology and other back-of-house upgrades. Many guests may not have noticed the total soft and hard good overhaul. Here was a product loved by many and unchanged in appearance, but still totally new and ready for another decade of enjoyment.

Best New Hotel (Less than 200 rooms): The Royal Hotel in Picton, Ontario is one of those small properties on the main street in a town of 5,000 souls that puts a smile on your face. Friendly and personal, the ground floor encompasses a modern open-concept lobby with a bar, restaurant, patio, living room, meeting space and retail. Natural wood textures and a countrylike feel throughout reinforce the comfort factors. For those unfamiliar, Picton is in the center of Prince Edward County, an up-and-coming wine growing region near Toronto, and naturally The Royal is the place to taste the best of the area. Developers looking at a small-pad (33 rooms here) property to emulate, there is no need to look further.

Best New Hotel (More than 200 rooms): Resorts World Las Vegas is actually three hotels in one (Hilton, Conrad and Crockfords). It is hard to consider this $4+ billion property as just a hotel(s), rather it is best described as a destination. With over 30 dining outlets, an impressive casino, event theatre, convention space, multiple pools and shopping, RWLV even boasts a direct underground Tesla shuttle to the Las Vegas Convention Center courtesy of The Boring Company. It is one of these locations that continues to amaze the visitor on literally every level.

Best Hotel for a Romantic Lunch: Look no further than the Stonehouse Restaurant and Plow & Angel at San Ysidro Ranch up the mountain from Santa Barbara in California. Consider that we were seated on a patio in an enclosed courtyard in perfect weather, adding to the enjoyment. Service was flawless, menus provided ample options and our selections were perfect. Surprisingly, pricing did not require a second mortgage. We could dine here forever.

Best Hotel Artwork: The Galleria Vik Milano in Milan was more of an art gallery than a hotel. The walls were murals from famous artists. Each of the 89 hotel rooms are named after a famous artist with works in each of the guestrooms reflecting that genre (one of ours was named Tommaso Cascella). The lobby and hotel restaurant were literally drenched in modern, unusual paintings and sculptures. This reinforces our recommendation that a great hotel deserves its fair share of artwork to create a visual point of differentiation.

Best Service: The Savoy Hotel in London is no surprise as the winner in this category. The property exceeds every performance standard including cleanliness, timeliness, amenities, service requests, concierge, front desk, valet, laundry and dining. As an example, when we could not get a table for Sunday afternoon tea (we had no reservation), the hostess suggested that tea be served in Larrys suite, providing us the menu and encouraging us to make selections to ensure prompt delivery.

Hotel Mogel Hotel of the Year 2022: The Lugano Dante Hotel in Lugano, Switzerland. With just 84 rooms, this property is a showcase for innovation and hospitality. We previously mentioned Flamel which deserved its own acclamation for bar service innovation. The hotel also provides some unique experiences which are worthy of your exploration. Prearrival included pillow selection, a review of the local area and assistance with transportation. The property uses in-room technology to enhance eco-friendliness. All is documented with your own unique webpage. The rooms were small but amazingly efficient and perfect. The lobby utilizes local plants that have been dried and then reanimated through a process which we would find hard to explain. Looking for ideas to build your property? This is a living laboratory.

There were many other properties that deserve honorable mention. For every hotelier, the road to success is based on learning. We all share a love for this industry. Simply put, get out there and see what others are doing that you can emulate.

About Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited works exclusively with investors/owners/operators to help solve critical investment, management and marketing issues in the luxury segment. We also undertake public speaking at corporate and association events, where an independent point of view is desired.

Larry Mogelonsky

Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

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Solonis, a leading provider of modern property management solutions, today announced a partnership with Outrigger Hospitality Group, a Honolulu-based barefoot-luxury brand and management company that owns/operates resorts, hotels and condominiums. Outrigger has selected Solonis to deliver its property management system and guest engagement technologies to its portfolio of 16 Hawaii Vacation Condo properties across Hawaii.

For 75 years, Outrigger has charted a journey of discovery. Its global footprint includes premier beach resort and hotel properties throughout the Hawaiian Islands, Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean, including destinations in Fiji, Mauritius, Thailand and the Maldives. In addition to its authentic guest experiences, Outrigger Hospitality Group has long been known as an innovator in tourism development. Solonis mirrors this mission of innovation and will now equip Outriggers Hawaii Vacation Condos with tailored solutions that meet unique operational requirements, enhance guest experiences and streamline front office and housekeeping efficiencies.

We appreciate Solonis thoughtful approach towards innovation and are pleased to partner with them to provide our condo owners and guests with new efficiency and operational visibility while maintaining the personal touch that Outrigger is known for. Carly Clement, VP Hawaii Vacation Condos by Outrigger

Through this partnership, Outrigger will gain access to Solonis robust reporting functionality, guest and owner portals, revenue management tools and flagship property management system. Solonis will also deliver several custom development items and manage the full onsite implementation.

Outrigger came to us with a desire for a scalable, flexible solution fit for modern hospitality. Solonis is unique because we approach property management from all angles. We bring business intelligence, reporting and flexible guest experiences to the forefront and have the global experience and in-depth knowledge to back it up from a support perspective. Outriggers resorts are already paradise on earth, but were eager to elevate those properties further and make an impactful difference for the guests that visit. Fred Dominioni, Chief Revenue Officer at Solonis

To learn more about Solonis and its resort management offerings, visit solonis.com.

About Solonis

Solonis is an intuitive property management system powered by business intelligence that offers the hospitality industry a single, robust solution for managing hotels, resorts, vacation rentals and corporate housing. Its ease of use, streamlined onboarding, and 24/7 support make it the preferred PMS solution. Headquartered in San Diego, Solonis is the vision of hospitality experts and technologists who believe it is time for a new era of property management. For more information, visit solonis.com

Lauren Watt

Trevelino/Keller (PR Agency)

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The hospitality industry has been engulfed in whispers of a technological overhaul for years. We were told that the sea of legacy platforms that essentially ruled the hospitality landscape would finally be abandoned for modern alternatives. But with each passing year, promises of widespread digital innovation were quietly broken, as countless hospitality brands held on to their original, legacy systems long past their expiration date.

The tech-driven updates which promised to mend workflow breakdowns, create new opportunities, and enhance the guest and staff experience in equal measure were, more often than not, knocked further down the list of hoteliers priorities. That is until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As the global economy and any opportunity for travel came to a collective standstill, hotel brands, specifically independent hoteliers, found themselves at the impasse our industry has been circling for years.

Of course, the hotel PMS (property management system) is the heartbeat of any hotels digital ecosystem. I recently had a chance to sit down with Bob Palloni, CEO and co-founder of Skyware Hospitality Solutions, to discuss this new era of hospitality. Skyware Hospitality Solutions, which offers properties an all-in-one, full-service enterprise hotel, and resort solution, is raising the bar standard for modern hotel property management software.

Skyware was initially brought to life in the Spring of 2009 to solve an industry-wide problem. At the time, the hospitality sector was lacking a quality, stable management platform with outstanding support that didnt compromise on features, functionality, or flexibility  and so, we created Skyware, says Palloni. Without the innovation, convenience, and scalability offered by cloud-based platforms, hotels would be unable to adapt to the market, reduce costs, support their staff, maintain service standards across all touchpoints, and meet current guest demands. Today, our solution has evolved to incorporate a full-featured hotel PMS, activity/spa scheduler, restaurant/retail POS, and a responsive online booking engine all within a single database.

When asked what differentiates its solution from its competitors, Palloni highlights three core advantages to the Skyware platform: cloud-based and on-premise offerings, built-in modules, and unparalleled support. While we offer a cloud solution, we also offer an on-premise option, which is the same product, but installed locally at the hotel. This was an important business decision, as it allows us to provide a lower cost solution to those markets that do not have stable internet, explains Palloni. Our modules (i.e., POS, Sales and Catering, Activity Schedule) are all built in-house, from the ground up, to be part of the Skyware ecosystem. Its all about leveraging information and technology to create unique guest value in new and innovative ways. If hoteliers get this right, they can successfully compete in todays digital economy.

Its no secret that continued adherence to legacy systems and processes is a detriment to hotels around the globe. Still, according to Palloni, there are two glaring issues today facing legacy systems (and their users). Hotels that fail to update their core systems are unable to respond to changes. It may seem redundant to mention this because its been the talk of our industry for some time now, but even in the face of widespread innovation and digital reform, we see some properties white-knuckling their grip on legacy technology, shares Palloni. The hard and simple truth is legacy systems deployed on the property have a longer rollout time for updates than browser-based systems. More importantly, the ability to securely access a legacy system remotely has always been a challenge that only gets more difficult to overcome. At the same time, competitor properties adopt more modern, streamlined solutions.

Travel trends and guest expectations have changed, and, with this in mind, platform providers must ensure their solution can empower hotels to circumvent industry challenges. According to Palloni, self-service quickly emerged as a key focus for their platform, specifically, mobile functionality. Early on in the pandemic, we identified mobile (self check-in) as a key factor in the success of hotels moving forward, shares Palloni. At the time, a number of vendors chose to roll out kiosk check-in, but we felt this presented another unnecessary risk due to the volume of individuals using a lobby kiosk. Mobile check-in, on the other hand, simply requires the guest's own phone, which simultaneously prioritizes convenience, autonomy, and health/safety in a COVID-cautious world.

With travel demand returning to pre-pandemic levels, independent operators are understandably optimistic about the momentum now carrying our industry forward after such a significant downturn. With this momentum expected to continue in 2023, Palloni sees great opportunity for properties that balance pandemic-era best practices with more traditional markers of guest service. While the pandemic is finally behind us, its important to recognize that many travelers are still looking for the assurances that the pandemic ushered in. At the same time, those guests also want to see the return of old services, such as daily room cleanings, bed changes, etc., Palloni notes. I also think hotels need to change their rate-setting mentality. In many cases, travelers are now booking their trips 3 to 4 weeks in advance instead of the pre-pandemic trend of 2 to 3 months. With this in mind, the way rates are set needs to be adjusted across the industry.

As for the future of Skyware, Palloni expects its platform to make a major splash in the full-service market. Since we can provide a full range of services at a lower cost, we are targeting properties that offer additional services to their guests, he explains. The campground/RV market is also, in our opinion, an underserved market. It used to be that the RV market was made up of Mom and Pop owned properties. But that is now changing; it is expected that the RV industry will contribute over $140 billion to the US economy in 2023, and to better serve their guests, they need a more robust and feature-rich system, like Skyware.

About Puzzle Partner

Puzzle Partner Ltd. is a boutique marketing agency focused exclusively on complex B2B initiatives for the travel and hospitality technology industry. We are experts at combining strategy and tactical execution in a way that doesn't just maximize a company's potential; it redefines it. By delivering influential content, marketing services, and public relations rooted in the skills of our team and tested through real-world experience, we help our clients gain visibility, raise their profile and ultimately increase their sales revenues. We incorporate a holistic blend of paid, earned and owned media, along with creative services, into an integrated communications strategy to drive brand awareness ahead of competitors and deliver impactful business results.

To learn more visit puzzlepartner.co.

Lauren Ramesbottom

Head of Content, Puzzle Partner

Puzzle Partner Ltd.
China provides food assistance to support vulnerable populations in northern Togo

Xinhua) 11:26, February 15, 2023

LOME, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Tuesday provided food assistance through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Togo to support vulnerable populations in the country's north.

The funding from China helped to acquire more than 600 tons of food produced in Togo, which will benefit 52,000 people in the Savanes and Kara Region, said Chao Weidong, the Chinese ambassador to Togo, during the handover ceremony.

"China is willing to share development opportunities with other countries to achieve the common progress of all mankind," noted the Chinese diplomat.

According to Aboubacar Koisha, the WFP Representative, the emergency food assistance program provided essential assistance to people in need and helped restore a sense of hope and stability in the region and social cohesion within populations.

"Our combined efforts will make a real difference in the lives of those affected by food and nutrition crisis," said Koisha.

The food assistance from China is part of the 961 tons of food aid mobilized by the WFP to help vulnerable populations in northern Togo, including households affected by climatic changes and displaced people due to a security crisis.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
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The Cable Advisory Committee interviewed two candidates to represent the city in negotiations with Spectrum/Charter Communications.

Pittsfield Cable Committee to Vote on Spectrum Contract Attorney

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Cable Advisory Committee wants more information on pricing before choosing an attorney for the Spectrum contract renewal.



On Thursday, the panel interviewed two candidates, Stoneham attorney William Solomon and Boston attorney William Hewig, and voted to push the decision to a special meeting this week. Both specialize in cable negotiations.



Solomon offered a rate of $200 per hour and Hewig, $300 per hour and $150 per hour for the paralegal. Committee members would like an estimate of the total fees so they can make a well-informed decision on legal services.



That recommendation will go to Mayor Linda Tyer and City Council.



"I think the level of knowledge for both candidates is superior and obviously they are very well versed in the law and have significant experience means so I don't think that's an issue really at all," said Shawn Serre, executive director of Pittsfield Community Television.

"It's really more of philosophy and approach that I think that we'd be selecting on and then of course, the numbers and the hours."



The panel was reconstituted in December. Pittsfields 10-year contract ends in September 2024 and it is recommended that the contract negotiations take place over 12 months.



Before September of this year, the committee will gather feedback from the community on what is and is not working with Spectrum and any additional needs.



Solomon explained that he would have a two-tiered approach.



"The two tiers are we're going to do everything that we need and more to convince Charter [Communications] that they need to meet your reasonable needs," he said.



"But if they don't do that after we do all this and have the hearings and negotiate, then we go to step two, which is like preparing for litigation."
Southern Berkshire Regional Residents Express Merger Concerns

SHEFFIELD, Mass.  Southern Berkshire community members expressed their apprehension last week over a potential merger between Southern Berkshire Regional School District and Berkshire Hills Regional School District.

Attendees made it clear that the Eight Town Regional School District Planning Board will have to better clarify the timeline, cost, educational experience impact, and district employee impact to get their vote.

Approximately 75 residents expressed their concerns and frustrations during the "community conversation" meeting at Mount Everett Regional School. Other listened in through a Zoom link.

One resident asked why the community is still discussing this when there are so many people expressing their opposition to it. "There are so many opinions and as passionate as you could be, in terms of your view. There are other people who have another different view," School Committee member Bonnie Silver said. "We even have students when they get together who express opinions across the spectrum. This is a once in a generation decision. So it is not easy." One resident expressed their frustration on how the board has decided to approach the planning of the project. She questioned why they scheduled time for naming the new district (the board had solicited names and had the item on last week's agenda) and when it has not been voted on yet rather than prioritizing the many other more important aspects. "I'm just questioning the amount of detail that's going on when the basics, how much it's going to cost and who's going to have power needs to be addressed before anybody can vote about anything," she said.

Like this resident, many attendees questioned how much the initiative would cost each town and how it would affect the students' education. And how the proposed building project at Monument Mountain Regional High School would affect the cost. Silver, who represents Sheffield on the Eight Town Board, clarified that the merger and the high school building project are separate and although they are informed of the building project's planning they do not control what is done.

The Southern Berkshire school district is made up of Alford, Egremont, Monterey, New Marlborough, and Sheffield. Berkshire Hills is composed of Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. The collaborative Eight Town Board of elected and school officials was established three years ago to explore the potential of merged district in the face of declining enrollments.

During previous meetings, the Eight Town Board has followed a specific structure resulting in complaints from residents questioning why they are unable to discuss certain topics, said Silvers, in opening remarks.

The hope for this meeting was that the planning board would receive greater feedback from community members, she said.

These community conversations is something that the School District has been doing for the last three years to "meaningfully engage with the people and families in our district," Superintendent of Schools Beth Regulbuto said.

The merger has to be approved by all eight towns by majority rule during a town meeting. The Eight Town Board hoped to have a merger agreement complete by this year's annual town meetings but is now expecting to need a special town meeting, Silver said.

The process hasn't been easy to this point. Nearly a dozen members of the School Committee threatened to quit the Eight Town Board last fall over concerns of rushed timelines and unresolved questions around the Monument Mountain project and the fate of Mount Everett.

Monument Mountain has been invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority grant process but one of the obstacles Berkshire Hills is facing is whether the new building will be designed for Monument Mountain's current population or for both districts, Silver said.

A timeline is contingent on a couple of things, she said.

"One of which does Berkshire Hills get a full grant which could give them a projected 46 percent of the cost that's put in based on originally what was $100 million as the projection," Silver said. "There is also a bonus that you may have heard about, which is by working with our district, they can gain a potential 6 percent additional funding that will be added to their grants. So if we use a flat $100 million, we would then say the 6 percent would be $6 million."

An assessment on the district's resources, which include visible plans, buses, teachers, and other aspects that need to be considered was conducted using outside funding.

Some residents asked how a merger would affect the teachers in the school district and whether they should be concerned of possible layoffs if it is approved.

"We have brand-new young teachers here at Southern Berkshire who are phenomenal. I'm assuming because they're new that they would be losing their jobs," the resident said.

Silver said one of the advantages for staff is that there are protections through the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

A majority of residents in attendance also expressed that they understand the benefit this merger would have for Berkshire Hills but questioned the advantage it would have for Southern Berkshire.

The Southern Berkshire has worked to build more opportunities for its students with little schools and the connections it made with Bard College at Simon's Rock, one resident said.

"One of the concerns about the little schools was that we were losing our children once they had gone through there, up to Great Barrington, and I think now the strength that I see from what I'm hearing tonight, we are really stabilizing a soup-to-nuts opportunity," she said in regard to the school's programming.

Now that it is getting to "gel" after three years, she continued, the district has grown substantially through the pandemic due to Regulbuto's work.

"Thanks to [Regulbuto,] thanks to the school district. Let's keep going with getting clarification on what precisely it is, but more and more I'm not sure whether we really do need it. I think we can go at it alone at this point," the resident said.

"We've got the people. We've got the will and we certainly apparently have a good looking structure for the next 10 years going forward about what kind of a district we want to be for the 21st century."

Silver said this is something that school officials have considered and discussed at previous meetings and that the district has "basically [been] guaranteed by Simon's Rock" that the program will continue.

"That's what's been funded. What has been funded is the grants are for Mount Everett. So anything that happened in the future has not been broken down," Silver said.
BCC to Hold Open House on March 11

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Learn more at BCC's Spring 2023 Open House on Saturday, March 11 from 9-11 am, including a financial aid workshop at 10 am.

The event takes place in the SBA Lounge on BCC's main campus, located at 1350 West Street.

Prospective students and their guests are invited to meet one-on-one with BCC representatives from various offices. Participants can speak with faculty about the program that interest them, take a campus tour and learn about paying for college, transferring to a four-year school, internships and career opportunities.

All attendees will receive a breakfast, a discount at the BCC Bookstore and a chance to win BCC swag.

To register for the free event, visit www.berkshirecc.edu/openhouse

For more information, contact the Admissions Office at (413) 236-1636
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Name: Katie Nykanen

Company: QA

Job title: CTO

Date started current role: September 2021

Location: London

Katie Nykanen joined QA from Adstream, a leading digital asset management platform used by brands and agencies, where she spent nine years managing the global technology function. She has over 20 years industry experience, was named female CTO of the Year in 2019 and placed #16 on the CIO 100 list, a list which recognises transformational and disruptive CIOs. Nykanen leads QAs group technology function.

What was your first job? My first ever job was selling kitchens in B&Q which gave me a passion for work, being part of a team, knowing the value of hard work and the importance of customer service and communication. I went on to work in the IT department at B&Q where I got into business analysis and project management roles before several years in the Telco industry with Nokia. I then went joined at Adstream for a decade, before I started my role at QA in September of last year.

Did you always want to work in IT? Ive never been a believer that planning a career always works. I think if youre open to new opportunities and open to learning something new, then exciting roles you may not have considered will come your way. This was the case for me as a career in IT was certainly not something Id sat down and mapped out.

For me its always been about wanting the business I work for to align with my beliefs and values. Im finding that this is reflected across the workforce more and more. As I discuss this shift in priorities with colleagues and peers, its clear career goals are now about much more than quick progression.

Hybrid and flexible working are also a big factor alongside the desire to produce work I can be proud of. This was a huge motivation for me when I joined QA. I wanted to contribute to a company that was committed to education and ensuring digital skills are accessible to all. The growing skills gap is such a huge discussion industry wide. To be working towards making an impact and contributing to closing this through the work QA is doing is really important to me.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I have an honours degree in Business and Languages. Although originally beginning the three-year course, I made the decision to transfer from my original University to the Open University in order to complete the course over a number of years.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? As I mentioned, my career in IT really came through opportunities presented to me through my first job in retail. Despite that possibly unconventional way in, its been fairly unextraordinary. From starting out as a junior business analyst I moved into project management, gradually taking on more and more line management responsibility and leading bigger teams until breaking into leadership as an IT Director and then CTO.

What type of CTO are you? Id define myself as product focused. I constantly want to look for new ways that technology can improve the business and help us achieve our business goals. Id describe the other side of the coin as being very technical, wanting to have the latest tech and be at the front of trends. The issue I see with that is that you risk having tech for techs sake, rather than truly understanding the needs of the business and where tech can make a genuine difference.

Which emerging technology are you most excited about the prospect of? Im really passionate about data (which CTO isnt!), and how we can better use it to drive business improvement. Businesses really need to be much more data driven. Ive seen so many organisations that still dont use it enough across their departments. Utilising AI and ML models over your data can help create almost instant insight and intelligence that would otherwise have taken months of manual analysis to find, or worse have never been spotted at all.

Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped? Why? I think the main thing thats overhyped is our expectation on technology to improve our lives, or streamline our businesses, just because weve bought it and taken it out of its real or metaphorical box. In reality, technology is generally fairly complex and only as good as the people using it. If those people arent properly trained, or dont continue to learn as new updates or new technology emerges, then we run the real risk of applying technology in a way thats costly and doesnt bring any clear benefit. Cyber is a good example of this. The conversations about AI focus on the power of the technology itself to protect a business from a cyber-attack. But this tech learns from experience and unless people who really grasp the technology can help it understand what is and isnt a genuine threat, it just wont be as effective as wed like. Obviously with something like cyber this could have incredibly serious repercussions.

What is one unique initiative that youve employed over the last 12 months that youre really proud of? As the UK faces its biggest skills shortage in history, there is a real opportunity for QA to offer insight to the tech industry and wider, to help UK organisations plan the future of digital resourcing and skills development. QA has gathered huge amounts of data over the years about businesses, students, skills and jobs to help inform this and I have really enjoyed getting to be a small part of this over the last six months.

The past few years has also seen QA grow rapidly through a series of acquisitions. We are currently working through an exciting project to bring the business together in terms of our learner delivery and operations, while also ensuring each business retains a unique proposition and the qualities for which we bought them. It has been great to help contribute to this.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? Yes, At QA we need to continue our own DT program but also create online learning programs and pathways to help our clients achieve their goals too, and empower individuals to succeed in tech.

The term digital transformation has become a little overused over the last eighteen months, as it is now so ubiquitous. Businesses that traditionally fell into industries not prepared for a digital world, such as financial services, retail and telco, have had to embrace a technology-first approach in the last twelve months. All businesses need to put technology at the core of what they do for operational efficiency, maximising revenue opportunities and providing excellent customer experience. Without drastically upscaling digital capabilities, businesses run the risk of being left behind.

The balance these days is in having the right talent to push digital transformation forward. The digital skills gap is widening. We know there is a huge deficit in young people coming through the education system with the right skills to move into a technology role or believing that they can access rewarding roles in tech without having a degree. We also know that mid-career reskilling is going to be vital to maintain competitiveness in the absence of sufficient new talent. It is only in nurturing that talent will true digital transformation across all business areas be possible.

What is the biggest issue that youre helping customers with at the moment? The biggest area that QA is helping customers is our wide range of solutions to address the talent shortage and how we are helping our customers train up or reskill their people to face todays technological challenges. From a professional learning perspective, we are helping to balance the need for hybrid, remote and in-person training, and how we facilitate the best possible learning experience in these circumstances. Enter Total Learning our new blended approach launch at the end of last year, which combines the best of digital and live learning, making sure employees can apply both to drive impactful results in the workplace.

Additionally, the majority of young people are still entering the world of work ill prepared for its digital demands whether or not they pursue a further education route. So, one issue were really pushing on now, is helping to close that skills gap through a closer alignment between education and the world of work. Our apprenticeship schemes run across core competencies such as cyber security, software development and cloud opps, and enable apprentices to access core technology skills via accessible and flexible learning methods.

How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? Aligning technology is all about making sure that the tech we deploy makes lives easier. We need to make sure that it genuinely solves business problems, doesnt add to the tasks colleagues need to undertake and maintains or reduces business overheads.

Do you have any trouble matching product/service strategy with tech strategy? The tech strategy needs to follow the wider business strategy. Its vital to first clearly articulate the company vision and proposition for customers and then work out what tech you need to support that and not the other way round. So, a good tech strategy will follow on from business strategy and work with existing products and services to improve the offer to customers and enable the business vision.

What makes an effective tech strategy? Ultimately a tech strategy needs to solve business problems and improve customer proposition. To be effective in this, you really need to focus on balancing that end goal with the use of modern tech in terms of being resilient, scalable and driving real change.

What predictions do you have for the role of the CTO in the future? CTOs and their teams are often seen as a cost to businesses and a service provider that enables others to do their jobs effectively and therefore ensure the business succeeds. In the future I think well see that transition to CTOs being seen as a key enabler of business growth and directly driving that success.

What has been your greatest career achievement? I was really privileged to win CTO of the year at the Women in IT awards in 2019 and to be named at number 16 in the CIO 100 list. It just shows that anyone with the passion and drive to succeed in tech can make it and I hope that we see many more diverse leaders in tech in the years to come.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? I wish that Id sometimes pushed harder for change in the organisations Ive worked for. Its not always easy in certain business cultures, but without advocating change where you can see its needed only results in frustration. Ive also allowed legacy ways of working to continue where theyre clearly detrimental to business goals just because others are protective of the way things have always been done. Ive seen the impact of these things in slowing down business growth or stifling the ability to deliver more benefit to businesses and their customers. If I had my time again, Id definitely be more assertive in those areas.
Kingston Technology, a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced its 64GB, 32GB, and 16GB Server Premier DDR5 4800MT/s Registered DIMMs have been validated on the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids). Kingston offers server memory and Data Center (DC) SSDs for the most demanding workloads, and supports the global needs to store, manage and instantly access large volumes of data in both traditional databases and Big Data infrastructures.

Kingston offers Server memory and SSD products that meet enterprises most demanding workloads

For over 35 years Kingston has been the memory brand trusted by leading server manufacturers and the worlds largest data centers. Server Premier is Kingstons industry standard memory solution sold by specification for use in white-box servers, and is platform validated and qualified by leading motherboard/system manufacturers. Featuring a locked BOM (Bill of Materials) to provide a consistent brand and revision of primary components (including DRAM, register, PMIC, SPD hub, thermal sensors, and PCB), all Kingston server memory solutions are 100% tested and undergo a rigorous dynamic burn-in process designed to catch early-life failures at the factory.

Server Premier Features include:

Locked Bill of Materials (BOM)

Part Change Notifications (PCN)  90 days

8Q roadmap visibility

Server platform validation

Leading server motherboard manufacturer qualification

Limited Lifetime warranty

Industry-leading service and support

Intels 4th Gen Xeon Scalable Processor is their first to support next-generation DDR5 server-class memory and features eight memory channels, arranged in up to two DIMMs per channel, or 16 DIMMs per CPU socket. At 4800MT/s, each DDR5 Registered DIMM provides a peak bandwidth of 38.4GB/s, which when grouped in multi-channel configurations provides a marked increase in performance over DDR4-based servers. DDR5 introduces advanced features for a more reliable and more efficient memory subsystem, including on-die ECC (ODECC), double the number of banks and double the burst length, improved refreshes, inclusion of a power management circuit (PMIC), additional temperature sensors, decision feedback equalization (DFE), and dual independent 32-bit subchannels (40-bit for ECC).

The following modules are available now:

KSM48R40BD4TMM-64HMR - 64GB DDR5-4800 ECC Registered DIMM x80 CL40 2Rx4 1.1V

KSM48R40BS4TMM-32HMR - 32GB DDR5-4800 ECC Registered DIMM x80 CL40 1Rx4 1.1V

KSM48R40BD8KMM-32HMR - 32GB DDR5-4800 ECC Registered DIMM x80 CL40 2Rx8 1.1V

KSM48R40BS8KMM-16HMR - 16GB DDR5-4800 ECC Registered DIMM x80 CL40 1Rx8 1.1V

Were excited to announce the validation of our next-generation server memory parts on Intels 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processor, said Kingston. Validation is always the first step for memory manufacturers to demonstrate the quality and compatibility of their memory solutions. DDR5 delivers the technology to scale in bandwidth and capacity to meet the performance requirements of tomorrows data centers.

In addition to server memory, Kingstons Enterprise SATA 3.0 and NVMe Data Center (DC) SSDs are storage solutions designed with a stringent set of development requirements and a thorough testing process. The Kingstons SATA Data Center SSDs are reliable high-performance, low-latency drives built for data centers and efficient client systems. Kingstons NVMe Data Center SSDs provide extreme speeds for exceptional Quality of Service (QoS) demands for extensive daily tasks to mission critical information. Offering enterprises a wide variety of products to choose from.

For more information visit kingston.com.
By Anonymous

There is a saying in Peru, if youre born poor, you die poor. This saying applies to the rural Indigenous Peruvians where hopelessness abounds and equality of opportunity is nonexistent. You work to survive and hopefully provide fo...
Who does the federal boarding schools investigation leave out?

Hastiin Tadidiin was an early victim of the boarding school system. But his story is not yet part of the federal investigation.
Shah Rukh Khan is enjoying the success of his film Pathaan and parallelly looks out to manage his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. During 2009s IPL, SRKs team player Cheteshwar Pujara suffered an injury as he snapped his hamstring. It was then that the superstar offered the batters family and doctors from India to fly for him.

Also Read: I Am Her Biggest Fan, SRK Reacts To Sharon Stone Getting Awestruck By Him In Viral Video

ILN

The anecdote was shared by Pujaras father Arvind who recalled SRKs hand to help.

He shared with Indian Express,  I saw the joy in his eyes on seeing me was in South Africa when his hamstring had snapped while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). We were keen that he returned to Rajkot and get the surgery done here. But KKR, rather the co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, insisted that Chintu gets treated in South Africa.

Twitter

There was logic in what he was saying. Since rugby players often have this injury, doctors in South Africa were more used to these surgeries.



Arvind continues to add, Shah Rukh was also of the view that Chintu had a great future ahead and should get the best medical support. To convince us, he offered to fly Dr Shah and any number of family members to South Africa. I didnt have a passport so I asked Dr Shah to travel alone. But he insisted that I too should take the trip. All the paperwork was done in record time and I was on a flight to South Africa.

Twitter

He added, I still remember the smile on Chintus face on seeing me. There he was alone in a foreign country, confined to a hotel room for days while the rest of the team had moved to the next city for their game. He had sounded depressed on the phone. On seeing me, I could see the joy on his face. It reminded me of the little boy on the swing.

TIE

A look at Pathaans box-office collection!

Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, #Pathaan gets a boost thanks to #ValentinesDay [third Tue; Day 21] Hence, [third] Tue records higher numbers than Mon [Week 3] Fri 5.75 cr, Sat 11 cr, Sun 12.60 cr, Mon 4.10 cr, Tue 5.40 cr. Total:  481.35 cr. (Hindi). Tamil + Telugu [Week 3]: Fri 15 lacs, Sat 25 lacs, Sun 40 lacs, Mon 10 lacs, Tue 20 lacs. Total:  17.50 cr.

#Pathaan gets a boost thanks to #ValentinesDay [third Tue; Day 21] Hence, [third] Tue records higher numbers than Mon [Week 3] Fri 5.75 cr, Sat 11 cr, Sun 12.60 cr, Mon 4.10 cr, Tue 5.40 cr. Total:  481.35 cr. #Hindi. #India biz. pic.twitter.com/WP6Jkgdnni  taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) February 15, 2023

Also Read: SRK Ka Jalwa Hai: Fans React As PM Modi Says Theatres In Srinagar Are Housefull After Years



#Pathaan #Hindi + #Tamil + #Telugu *combined* biz:  498.85 cr. #India biz. Nett BOC *Combined biz* will cross  500 cr mark today [Wed].

(For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.)


Swedens entry into NATO is based upon Ankaras assent. But the recent Quran burning incident has infuriated Muslims worldwide and made Turkiye adamant not to allow Sweden within the international military alliance.

Rasmus Pauldan, leader of a far-right Swedish party Hard Line, burned the Quran on 21st January in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden. And Ankara, under Erdogan, hasnt taken this matter lightly.

Reuters

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,. Al Jazeera quoted the Turkish foreign ministry.

Taking two divergent viewpoints on the same incident- one justifying the action based on an absolutist freedom of expression metric, and the other on relativism- the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu denounced the action as, racist..(and) not about freedom of expression; while the far-right politician who burned the Quran said, If you dont think there should be freedom of expression, you have to live somewhere else,.



The incident kicked up a storm in Muslim countries and they had to release statements expressing their dismay and denouncing the act. The countries, other than Turkiye, are Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, Egypt and the international Muslim organization, Organisation for Islamic Cooperation(OIC).

Following the widespread condemnation by Muslim countries, the Swedish Foreign Minister, Tobias Billsotm, on Twitter wrote, Sweden has a far-reaching freedom of expression, but it does not imply that the Swedish Government, or myself, support the opinions expressed.

The incident has put a huge roadblock on Stockholms road to NATO membership.

What is NATO?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) describes itself as, an alliance of countries from Europe and North America. and currently has 30 members.

NATO was born on April 4th 1949 and the treaty was signed by North American and West European countries. The earliest signatories to the treaty were a group of 12 countries who were sworn to stand together against aggression; an attack against one would be an attack against all.

Where does NATO configure in this issue?

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Sweden hopes to become a part of this international military and strategic organisation because of the Russia-Ukraine war that has caused Europe to take the issue gravely. The Swedish government website writes, It is the Governments assessment that NATO membership is the best way for Sweden to protect its security in light of the fundamentally changed security environment following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

On 16 March, the Government set up a working group to deliberate on the changed security environment following Russias invasion of Ukraine. The decision to apply for NATO membership was based in part on the working groups report..



How would NATO Membership affect Sweden?

NATO

The Swedish government quotes the answer to this question on its website,In response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Government set up a working group comprising representatives of all the parties of the Riksdag(Swedish legislative and decision-making body) to deliberate on the changed security environment. On 13 May the working group published its report, Deterioration of the security environment  implications for Sweden (Ds 2022:7).

The report states:

For Sweden, the primary effect of NATO membership would be that Sweden would become part of NATOs collective security and be covered by the security guarantees enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

Swedish hopes

The entry into NATO depends upon the consent of all existing members, and Until all NATO member countries have ratified Swedens application for NATO membership, Sweden has the status of applicant country (invitee).

But the recent Quran burning incident and Swedens tolerance of Kurdish groups hasnt sat down well with Ankara and Sweden might remain an invitee to NATO in the foreseeable future.
CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) has announced that the use of AI-powered ChatGPT during the ongoing board exams is strictly prohibited and if students are caught using the platform, they will have to bear the consequences.

The viral chatbot lets students and other users get answers to complex queries in seconds. The AI-powered ChatGPT is also capable of solving math problems.

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Among the list of items banned inside exam centre

The CBSE board exams for Class 12 and 10 students began earlier today. When students received their board exam admit cards this year, this was a surprising addition to the list of items prohibited inside the examination centre. CBSE has listed ChatGPT among mobile and other electronic items forbidden inside the examination centre.

Mobile, ChatGPT & Other Electronic Items are not allowed inside the examination centre, the admit card reads. The rise in popularity of ChatGPT over the past few months has raised concerns about its use in education and by students for clearing examinations.

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CBSE warned students

The central education board warns students against the use of unfair means to pass exams. The exam admission card also has a cautionary instruction that reads, "You should not indulge in any unfair practice. If found, you will be booked under Unfair Means (UFM) Activity and action will be taken as per the rules of the board."

"Do not believe in fake videos and messages uploaded on social media. Do not spread rumours too. You could be booked under unfair means rules," it added.

More and more institutions are using it now

Recently, ChatGPT cleared the US Medical examination and cleared Wharton's MBA exam before that. The public interest in ChatGPT is at an all-time high, meaning that more people are using or planning to use it in their daily lives.

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While it raises questions on ethics and morality, people have found ways to use it for tasks like improving their online dating and LinkedIn profiles. With ChatGPT being integrated into Microsoft's Bing Search engine, Google also jumped on the AI chatbot bandwagon by unveiling its Bard AI chatbot.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is also working on a WhatsApp chatbot that ChatGPT backs.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


A Chinese man was sentenced to pay millions of yuan in compensation after trying to hide that he had won a lottery with a prize value of 10 million yuan (Rs 12.13 crore) from his wife. The jackpot prize was more than Rs 12.3 crore.

After paying taxes, the guy with the surname Zhou, who had won a lottery with a prize pool of 10 million yuan two years ago, was awarded 8.43 million yuan, equivalent to 10.22 crore rupees.

On the other hand, he chose not to share the news of the lottery win with his wife, whose surname was Lin.

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When Zhou's share of the prize money was deposited into his bank account, he promptly sent his older sister two million yuan(2.42 crore rupees).

The South China Morning Post said that a few days later, he took out 700,000 yuan, equivalent to 84.93 lakh Indian rupees, to assist his ex-wife in purchasing a property.

When Lin found out what Zhou was doing, she immediately filed for divorce and demanded they split their shared property fairly for all parties.

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She also requested that the court compel Zhou to give her two-thirds of the total of 2.7 million yuan he had withheld from her and his sister and ex-wife.



A court in Wenzhou, located in the Zhejiang province of eastern China, concluded that the money Zhou gave to his sister and ex-wife from the lottery winnings was joint property owned by the couple.

The judge said that Zhou's actions were theft of the couple's joint property and told him to give Lin 60% of the hidden winnings.

The story has quickly spread on several Chinese social media sites, and netizens are debating their views on it.

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One netizen wrote, "He used the couple's common property to buy a lottery ticket and won the top prize. He wanted to enjoy it alone [after receiving the prize]?" Another added, "The ten million-yuan prize has only deepened the rift between these two people."

"It served as another reason for me not to get married," exclaimed another.

(For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.)


Meanwhile, for the half year ended December 31, 2022 (1H23), the insurance group is expecting to report $46.7 million in UNPAT. The company said this preliminary figure is 8.5% above the mid-point of the 1H23 guidance range that was announced about two months ago.
In 2022, the company originally revealed that it had aimed to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, and to become carbon neutral by 2030 or sooner. To further accelerate this plan, Chaucer announced that its updated ESG strategy will be applied across all six of its defined core functions  investments, marketing, underwriting, operations, risk and governance.
A German trawler has been detailed and its skipper charged with multiple fishing offences after a secret European Union-led air and sea operation.

The Ortegal Tress movements were monitored overhead by an aerial surveillance plane chartered by the European Fisheries Control Agency.

Video of the boats movements were then live streamed to the Naval Base in Haulbowline, Co Cork.

Officers there then ordered one of its ships to detain the fishing boat.

The detention of the German-registered fishing vessel operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was the result of what has been described as a multi-agency intelligence-led operation.

It involved officials from the European Fisheries Control Agency, the Naval Service and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).

The boat was detained by the Irish Naval Service on February 7 for a number of alleged breaches of fishing regulations.

The detention followed extensive analysis of the vessels electronic logbook and vessel monitoring system positions over a number of weeks.

A spokesperson for the SFPA said: Both the SFPA and Irish Naval Service received an intel report from a confidential source on January 6 in relation to this vessel and alleged breaches of fishing regulations.

The Fisheries Monitoring Centre monitored and conducted analysis of the vessel once it entered the Irish EEZ in late January.

The Irish Naval Service then requested the activity of the vessel to be monitored by the aerial surveillance aircraft chartered by the European Fisheries Control Agency.

Video footage gathered verified the intel received as well as additional evidence.

The Irish Naval Service had a SFPA officer analysing this aerial footage as it was live streamed back to both the SFPA and the Fisheries Monitoring Centre.

The boat was stopped by Irish Naval Service vessel personnel from LE Samuel Beckett for what have been described as numerous suspected non-compliances with sea-fisheries legislation.

The vessel was then escorted to Castletownbere, and arrived there on Saturday.

The master of the Ortegal Tres was brought before a special sitting of Bandon District Court on Monday, February 13.

According to the SFPA, he was charged with a total of 25 fishing offences on various dates between a date unknown in December 2022 and February 3, 2023.

This was, the agency added, while he was fishing within the exclusive fishing limits of the State.

A spokesperson added: The case had been returned for trial by a judge and jury.
Unionist parties have said they have received permission to install a commemorative stone to mark Northern Irelands centenary in the grounds of Stormont.

It follows a row between the parties in 2021  the year of Northern Irelands centenary  when Sinn Fein opposed the proposal.

Sinn Fein MLA John ODowd vetoed the initial request at the Assembly Commission, a body which manages Stormonts property, staff and services.

However, Mr ODowd stepped away from his role on the Assembly Commission in 2022 after he was appointed Infrastructure Minister.

Sinn Fein were not able to nominate a replacement because the Assembly has been unable to function due to DUP protest action over Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol.

The commission, chaired by Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey, consists of representatives of the five largest parties at Stormont.

On Wednesday, the unionist parties said the Assembly Commission has now approved its request.

In a joint statement, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, UUP leader Doug Beattie and TUV leader Jim Allister welcomed the move.

We are pleased that, though belatedly, the Northern Ireland Centenary will be marked permanently in the curtilage of Parliament Buildings by a centenary stone, they said.

It was over two years ago that the Assembly Commission refused a collective request from the leaderships of our parties to erect such a commemorative stone, causing great hurt to the unionist community.

Earlier this month we renewed our request to the Assembly Commission. This time they have given approval, which is most welcome.

The unionist leaders said the stone, which will be in the shape of a map of Northern Ireland, will be mounted on a Portland stone plinth, on a raised area to the west of Parliament Buildings.

The stone will be paid for by unionist MLAs and therefore will not cost the public purse, they said.

Our only regret is that Sinn Fein blocked the proposal when first made, but this time they were unable to do so.

We will give details in due course of the public unveiling of the stone.

In 2021 Sinn Fein said it vetoed the proposal because the stone had been designed and commissioned by representatives of one tradition and accused unionists of failing to consult with other parties about their plan.

On Wednesday, a Sinn Fein spokesperson said it is bizarre that the three unionist parties are focused on a stone amid the latest crisis in the powersharing government.

Sinn Fein opposed a stone to celebrate partition when this was previously raised at the Assembly Commission, the spokesperson said.

Sinn Fein currently has no vote on the Assembly Commission.

Its bizarre that three unionist parties focussed on a stone while the Assembly is being blocked from doing business on the real issues which are affecting the lives of all our people, such as restoring the Executive, passing vital legislation such as Daithis Law, tackling health waiting lists and supporting workers and families through a cost-of-living crisis.
There was a time when the concept of a universal basic income (UBI) was dismissed out of hand by most political and economic opinion.

Too costly, too dodgy in that it would encourage indigent people to remove themselves from the workforce.

Those tropes were constantly trotted out whenever the idea was mooted. Not any more. The evolution of thinking on the issue, along with the kind of reflection brought on by the fall-out form the pandemic, has ensured that UBI is now a concept that is receiving some serious consideration.

A universal basic income is defined as an unconditional payment that is made regularly, is sufficient to live on, is not means tested and carries on work requirements. Pilot projects have been carried out in various countries, and currently a major one is afoot here involving a UBI for artists.

The move was ostensibly in response to the particular challenges that artists faced during the pandemic. A taskforce recommended that a basic income be awarded to artists independent of whatever income they earn. The income was set at 325 per week.

Arts Minister Catherine Martin said the basic income scheme for artists had the potential to fundamentally transform how we support the arts and creativity. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Over 9,000 applied for the 2,000 places on the scheme, with the lucky recipients selected randomly. Arts Minister Catherine Martin said of the scheme that it had the potential to fundamentally transform how we support the arts and creativity.

Ireland could lead the way on a new model to support people active in the sector, recognising its importance to all people, she said.

For some, however, UBI is a concept that could make huge chances in society in general, above and beyond the arts sector.

Social Justice Ireland has long campaigned for a UBI  along with Basic Income Ireland  on the basis that it would be a highly effective tool in tackling poverty.

But despite that, the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, the body charged with providing a blueprint on how best and equitable to organise taxes and welfare, has rejected it.

The commissions report, published last September, stated it does not support the development of a UBI in Ireland.

Before the Oireachtas budgetary oversight committee, Social Justice Ireland (SJI) points out what it perceives as flaws in the commissions analysis.

The commission, for instance, reported that a UBI would require a tax rate of 65%, a figure taken from an ESRI report in 1994. SJI says this figure is inappropriate, misleading and erroneous.

The commission ignores that this figure was reduced in a subsequent report by the ESRI to 51% and that the Department of Finance has actually suggested the tax rate to accommodate a UBI would be 47.6%.

The commission also suggests the cost of any UBI would be prohibitive but SJI points out its own analysis and that of other experts has been done on the basis it could be cost neutral.

A third aspect of the commission report on UBI that has raised eyebrows is the contention that the income distribution effect of the proposal did not benefit many low-income families.

Considering that those who advocate loudest for UBI are doing so on the basis of tackling poverty, this contention has been highly controversial.

These mistakes alone render the commissions conclusions fundamentally flawed, SJI director Fr Sean Healy claims.

SJI told the Oireachtas committee that a green paper from the Government on basic income concluded that 70% of households in the lowest socioeconomic brackets would benefit from a UBI.

The flaws in the commissions analysis all appear to be rooted in historical data, much of it originating with bodies like the ESRI. Yet the most recent study by the ESRI, published last December, appears to reflect the evolution in thinking around the concept. Among the benefits set out in that study are:

A UBI could reduce the stigma associated with welfare and reduced the complexity of the welfare system;

It would provide people with the financial freedom to leave insecure or exploitative work and seek out improved conditions;

People in informal, or even unpaid work, such as childcare and care of the elderly would be provided with an income;

The evidence from various pilot projects in different countries show evidence of positive health impacts following the implementation of a UBI.

Its not all wine and roses. There are other aspects of a UBI system which would have to be addressed.

As it involves a universal payment irrespective of income, it does not proportionately target income to those that are most in need;

It is still unclear what, if any, impact a UBI would have on the labour market;

The cost is high. The ESRI estimates that its introduction in 2019  before the pandemic  could have involved a gross cost of close to 50bn per annum;

It is possible it could lead to some low income households being financially worse off, necessitating the introduction of a supplementary welfare top-up for such families.

These pros and cons should be examined further and read in conjunction with the analysis produced by SJI and Basic Income Ireland. In this respect, the appearance of SJI before the Oireachtas committee should provide further food for thought on the concept.

What is now obvious is that a UBI has entered mainstream thought as one of the innovative measures that will have to be addressed in the new paradigm in which the world now exists.

The old way of doing things, of letting the market decide to the greatest extent, with intervention largely confined to attempting to alleviate poverty, is looking increasingly out of date.

Structural inequality in some societies, the advancement of climate change and an increasingly insecure world all suggest new ways of living will be required.

A system of universal basic income needs to be examined in that context, not through data and attitudes from the past when things were so much different, and arguably, simpler.
Interview Top US Envoy Pledges Deeper Myanmar Support

US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet / AFP

Following the second anniversary of Myanmars coup and the juntas extension of emergency rule for six more months, The Irrawaddys editor-in-chief Aung Zaw talks to the US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet about the extension, possible pressure to prevent the regime from using airstrikes against civilians and reasons for optimism.

Q: How do you view the extension of emergency rule by the regime?

Chollet: I think that this extension of the emergency law by another six months is yet another transparent attempt by the SAC [State Administrative Council] to justify its unlawful rule. It is two years ago that the junta took action to undo the November 2020 election. And of course, its been trying ever since to find ways to legitimize itself and to find the way for it to justify its rule.

We are, of course, also ready and prepared for an announcement at some point about holding new elections, which we have been very clear about for the last better part of the last year so that any new elections would be illegitimate. Theyd be sham elections.

You cannot hold free and fair elections when you are killing and locking up your political opposition, not allowing political parties to operate and you dont control 50 percent of your territory.

So this is just the news today which is just another step by the junta that we reject.

Instead of finding ways to perpetuate its unjust rule, we call on the SAC to return Myanmar to the path of democracy and engage in meaningful discussions in which Myanmar can get back on that path.

Q: What pressure could prevent the junta from using airstrikes against civilians?

Chollet: Well, we have seen the horrors only multiply over the last two years in terms of what the junta is willing to do against its own people who, by the way, are firing back on the junta because its only hardening the resolve of the opposition.

We have taken steps along with our allies and partners over the last several years now to try to make it harder for the junta to generate revenues and also harder for the junta to acquire arms. Unfortunately, because of the views of some members of the UN Security Council, a ban on arms is not going to be achievable anytime soon, if ever.

Nevertheless, the United States feels the country should not be supplying the junta with military hardware. We have seen countries take a step back in their willingness to engage militarily with the junta. Unfortunately, other countries, like Russia, have only doubled down on their relationship with the junta. And the military relationship has only grown stronger between Myanmar and Russia over the last several years, particularly as the circle of friends that both have had gotten smaller because of what Russia has been doing in Ukraine and what Myanmar has been doing against its own people.

So we took some additional steps with the United States along with allies and partners [on January 31] to try to make it harder for the junta to acquire arms. And well continue in the coming weeks and months to augment those steps, to make it harder for the junta to acquire the capabilities and the spare parts that it needs to prosecute this war.

Q: The Burmese people welcome these moves. The people are united against the junta and the support from Russia. How do you respond to the claims that the US is outsourcing responsibility to ASEAN?

Chollet: Our policy has been rooted in three lines of effort. First was to isolate and punish the junta and to make it harder for the junta to generate revenue and acquire resources and weapons. Second has been to help support the pro-democratic opposition within Myanmar.

Thats been principally through our work with the National Unity Government [NUG], but also beyond that, with the NUCC [National Unity Consultative Council], with the EAOs [ethnic armed organizations] with the PDF [People Defense Force]. We have been engaging with them.

Ive personally been engaging with them over the last several years, either in person or virtually trying to figure out what they need, give them our best advice and also give them, as best we can, the support that they need.

And the United States is not alone in this effort. Were working with others in the region and beyond in support of the NUG.

And then, third, to help continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. The United States is the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. We are constantly exploring ways to get that assistance into Myanmar more efficiently, more effectively, to the people that need it the most.

And we will redouble those efforts in the time to come.

What I can say is we have been working very hard, and really the foundation of our policy has been to work very hard with our ASEAN partners.

This is not a matter of outsourcing anything to anyone.

ASEAN, of course, has a vested interest in Myanmars future, in Myanmars stability and Myanmar being a democracy.

Whether youre a country that borders Myanmar, whether youre an ASEAN country that is a littoral state, you have an interest in Myanmars future, because Southeast Asia matters so much to the United States for our strategic interests. Thats why Myanmar matters to us. Myanmar matters to the stability of Southeast Asia and the ability of ASEAN countries to reach their full potential. And we very strongly value that partnership with ASEAN as you know.

We are very pleased with the strong steps that ASEAN has taken over the last year to try to make it harder for the regime to gain any sense of legitimacy or recognition by the international community.

When it comes to being able to participate at a political level at meetings such as the US-ASEAN Special Summit that we hosted in Washington back in May, all the way up until the high-level meetings at the end of last year and even the informal ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting that Indonesia is hosting now.

Myanmar will not be represented at the political level. We think that its important to maintain that isolation of the regime and the inability of the regime to get any legitimacy or recognition.

At the same time, as I said, were working closely with our allies and partners to try to give the opposition as much support as we can.

And just yesterday in Washington, Daniel Kritenbrink, whos my colleague and our assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, visited the NUG office in Washington.

I will be visiting myself very soon and were going to continue that constant dialogue with the NUG and other pro-democracy opposition in Myanmar to figure out how best we can provide a way forward or help them find a way forward in this crisis. I should also note were working closely with other international organizations, principally the United Nations, and weve all been in close touch.

Ive personally been in close touch with the UN special envoy for Myanmar, as well as the human rights rapporteur for Myanmar, whos made some very strong statements, including an important report that was just released on the situation.

The UN Security Council, in a historic first, late last year, finally passed a resolution condemning what was going on inside Myanmar. There were very important steps for the Security Council to be heard on this issue formally through a resolution.

It had issued a statement and had briefings in the past. But I think thats an indication of the seriousness with which the world is taking this crisis, the fact that the Security Council was finally able to overcome its differences and speak to this issue.

Q: Can the US do more to protect civilians?

Chollet: Well again, we will continue to provide that significant support for the people of Myanmar and the humanitarian assistance as well as support to the National Unity Government and other pro-democracy actors in Myanmar to enable them to gain more capability and prepare them for what we hope and believe will be one day a return to democracy inside Myanmar.

And the National Unity Government, as well as other pro-democracy leaders, has really done some very significant work to think about the future of Myanmars Constitution and governance to prepare for that day, which we hope will come soon when Myanmar will return to democracy.

And its important to note this will be a different country than it was on January 31, 2021. It will be a different democracy.

And I think the opposition and National Unity Government and their colleagues have learned a lot about some of the challenges that the previous democratic government in Myanmar had, as well as, of course, whats been going on now, and taking that into account for the future democracy of Myanmar.

And we will continue to find ways to support that democratic opposition and the people of Myanmar. The Burma Act, which was passed by the US Congress late last year, was a bipartisan piece of legislation.

We, the Biden administration, worked very closely with our Republican and Democrat colleagues on Capitol Hill to help craft that legislation.

We are fully supportive of that act. And that gives us some important new tools that we plan to use to help the people of Myanmar realize their democratic destiny.

Q: What is the status of the NDAA Burma Act? Has implementation started?

Chollet: We have started to implement the various components of that act. Of course, some of those components are going to take a while to begin implementing.

But one of the things that we believe is so important about it is again, it registered and symbolized the bipartisan commitment in Washington to the support that we believe we need to give to the people of Myanmar, to the democratic opposition inside Myanmar.

And we are going to be working with our allies and partners in the region and beyond to coordinate our efforts because we believe that we are much stronger when we are working together on these issues.

And the people of Myanmar deserve our support, given the tremendous hardship theyve been facing that you have done such a terrific job covering this crisis from the very beginning. Were going to continue to do our part so that when we meet again a year from now, were talking about the democratic path that Myanmar is on, not the bloody hardships that the junta is perpetrating against its people.

Q: Why are you so optimistic in the face of this brutality?

Chollet: Well, again, part of the job is.

Q: Could Thailand do more?

Chollet: Its important to be a successful diplomat, you have to have some degree of optimism. You have to be really realistic too. Even when youre faced with a crisis like Myanmar, which theres a lot to be pessimistic about, I have gained optimism.

During the [February 1] silent strike the scope is yet another symbol of the tremendous resilience, spirit and strength of Myanmars civil society, of its pro-democracy, not just leaders, but everyday citizens who want a better life for themselves and are willing to stand up and push back against this brutal junta.

The resilience and strength of Myanmars civil society have surprised the junta.

I dont think they expected it was going to be this kind of fight when they took the steps they took two years ago. So that gives me hope and optimism.

And the work that the NUG and other pro-democracy groups have done over the last two years gives me hope for a more democratic future.

That said we have to be realistic. This is going to be tough. There are going to be many tough days ahead. Unfortunately, the continued airstrikes mean we have to realistically expect some of that to continue now.

But we need to continue to work hard to put that to an end, to find ways to cut off the regimes ability to access resources and weapons and strengthen the opposition. Thats something we are committed to.

And the countries of the region are critical parts of that. Thailand is a critical ally of the United States. Weve been treaty allies now for decades. Thailand has a very long border with Myanmar, and a lot of its core national security interests are at stake.

I can tell you we have a running dialogue with our partners in Thailand in person and over the phone about the way forward there. Thailand is a critical ally with a lot at stake and we are working closely with them.

And the other members of ASEAN, whether it was Cambodia last year as ASEAN chair, Brunei in 2021 or this year, of course, were looking forward to working closely, even more closely with our good friends in Jakarta as they are chairing ASEAN through this year.

Its very important that we are working together, US, ASEAN, but also more broadly, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea and other countries with interest and influence in the situation in Myanmar.

Q: Many powerful cronies close to the regime remain unpunished by sanctions.

Chollet: We recently announced a new set of sanctions against individuals and entities, including some of those individuals who are most closely associated with Myanmars ability to generate revenues from energy as well as the arms trade.

We will continue to be looking at any individual or entity whos associated with those efforts, and they should know that more is coming, and they should stop these activities because if they dont, they will be punished. And again, this is not just the United States doing this, its partners like the UK, Australia, Canada and others. The EU has imposed significant sanctions as well.

What were seeing is the world, not just Southeast Asia, but increasingly the balance of the rest of the world, come down against what the junta is doing and be willing to take significant steps to ensure the junta pays the price for what its doing.
Burma Four Myanmar Parties Register for Junta Election

United Democratic Party members campaign in Naypyitaw before the 2020 general election. / The Irrawaddy

Despite widespread opposition to the Myanmar juntas proposed general election, four political parties have re-registered with the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC), as required by the new Political Parties Registration Law.

The military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Federal Democratic Party (FDP), Myanmar Peoples Democratic Party (MPD) and Union Democracy Party (UDP) re-registered this month.

The USDP, FDP and MPD were among 34 parties that met military chief Min Aung Hlaing ahead of the 2020 general election.

The party leaders sought the commander-in-chiefs assurance that he would intervene if voting was deemed unfair. They also called for then UEC chairman U Hla Thein to be replaced, saying they do not trust him because he was appointed by the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Min Aung Hlaings coup came three months after the NLDs landslide victory.

FDP leaders Daw Than Than Nu and Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Neyin accepted honorary titles on behalf of their fathers from Min Aung Hlaing in January in Naypyitaw. Daw Than Than Nu was the daughter of U Nu, prime minister under the Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League government after independence from British rule.

Daw Cho Cho Nyein is a daughter of U Kyaw Nyein, U Nus deputy.

The United Democratic Party, known as the Rose party because of its logo, was dissolved ahead of the 2020 election after its chairman Michael Kyaw Myint was accused of money laundering, flouting business laws and fleeing an earlier prison sentence handed down under a previous military regime.

The UDP was dissolved after it failed to field three candidates  the legal minimum  in the 2020 general election.

The Political Parties Registration Law, according to observers, favors the USDP, which was formed by ex-generals.

The law requires parties to re-register with the juntas UEC within 60 days or be disbanded. Under the law, parties running nationally must recruit at least 100,000 members within 90 days of registration and have offices in at least half of Myanmars 330 townships within six months. They must also deposit 100 million kyats with a state-owned bank.

Sai Leik, general secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy, that the law will ensure the USDP secures power and the military maintains its grip on power.

There are 91 political parties in Myanmar and all are now required to re-register or be dissolved.

The NLD says it will not recognize any junta election but the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, Peoples Pioneer Party led by the juntas social welfare minister Daw Thet Thet Khine, Arakan Front Party and other parties close to the junta are expected to re-register.

In the 2020 election, 87 of 91 registered parties contested the election and 19 won parliamentary seats.

The civilian National Unity Government, ethnic armed organizations and other pro-democracy forces have called any junta election a sham.

Malaysia has urged fellow ASEAN members to reject any election held by Myanmars regime.
Burma Myanmar Junta Arrests Mandalay Lawyers Defending Political Detainees

Mandalay lawyers join an anti-coup protest in February 2021. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military regime arrested four lawyers and two female assistants who were defending political detainees in Mandalay last week, according to local lawyers.

Three of those detained were identified as U Than Tun Aung, U Win Kyaw Soe and Daw Yin Mar Win. The identities of the others are not yet known. All six were detained on February 10, according to a lawyer close to them.

They were acting for political detainees. We dont know why they were arrested. Three were arrested on arrival at a court and two others were arrested while leaving another court, said the source.

Junta personnel in plain clothes and driving private vehicles detained the lawyers. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Another lawyer was detained in the same week. A lawyer close to Daw Yin Mar Win said that the arrest of five lawyers within a week shows that the regime is increasingly targeting lawyers defending political detainees charged with incitement and under the Counter-Terrorism Law.

A Mandalay-based lawyer acting for political detainees said: The regime is now targeting every lawyer defending political detainees. Some defendants were detained for no reason and there was no evidence against them. So when it looks like the courts have to release them after their defense lawyers proved their innocence in line with the law, the regime arrests the lawyers so that they cant continue to defend their clients.

He added: While all the accused in political cases are given prison sentences, lawyers can copy their dossiers including their testimony and other documents. Those documents will serve as evidence [against the regime] in the future, and the regime is therefore targeting lawyers to erase the evidence.

Pro-junta Telegram channels claimed that the four Mandalay lawyers and their assistants were detained because of their ties to Peoples Defense Forces, which the regime has labelled as terrorist organizations.

With the latest arrests, the regime has now detained nearly 50 lawyers in Mandalay who were defending prominent National League for Democracy (NLD) figures and anti-coup protestors. Most lawyers face terrorism charges which carry jail sentences of ten years to life imprisonment.

Many lawyers were arrested outside courts including U Tin Win Aung, who was acting for ousted Mandalay Chief Minister and NLD vice chairman Dr. Zaw Myint Maung in his trial for alleged corruption. Daw Thae Su Naing and U Thuta, who represented anti-regime protestors, were arrested leaving Mandalays Obo Prison in June 2022.

Some lawyers were detained at their homes.

In April 2022, prominent lawyer Daw Ywat Nu Aung, who also represented Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, was arrested outside Obo Prison. After weeks of questioning at a military interrogation center, she was imprisoned and charged under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law for allegedly financing a local resistance group. She was given 15 years with hard labor in December.
Burma Over 55,000 Civilian Homes Torched by Myanmar Regime Since Coup

Junta soldiers and pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia burned down around 150 housesnearly half of all homesin Eai Dine Village in Sagaing Regions Kyunhla Township in December. (Photo: Supplied)

Myanmar junta forces including pro-regime militia have burned down more than 55,000 civilian houses nationwide since the 2021 coup, said Data For Myanmar, an independent research group.

In total, 55,484 homes across the countrys 14 states and regions were torched as part of the military regimes arson campaign between February 1, 2021 and the end of January 2023.

Resistance stronghold Sagaing Region suffered the most arson attacks, with 43,292 houses burned, followed by 8,863 in Magwe Region and 1,484 in Chin State, according to Data For Myanmars report.

The research group said that it used reports from the media, rights groups and refugee organizations to calculate the number of homes destroyed.

However, the actual number of houses torched may be higher than the reported figure, as many regime arson attacks have yet to be verified and recent data from Kayah State is currently not available.

Several resistance strongholds have experienced a recent escalation in junta arson attacks, following the regimes imposition of martial law in 37 townships in Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions and Chin and Kayah states.

The Myanmar military has ignored calls from the international community to end all violence and release political prisoners.

Instead, it has continued to commit atrocities including burning people alive, the arbitrary torture and killing of civilians, extrajudicial killings of resistance detainees, using civilian detainees as human shields, artillery and airstrikes on residential areas, looting and burning houses and acts of sexual violence.

Since the February 1, 2021 coup, the junta has killed at least 2,989 people and arrested more than 19,000, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group that monitors deaths and arrests by regime forces.
War Against the Junta Over 40 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks

Troops of Kyauk Lone Gyi PDF during an operation in Kani Township / KLG-PDF

At least 42 Myanmar junta troops including pro-regime militia leaders and a regime-appointed administrator were killed in the last three days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) stepped up their attacks on regime targets across the country.

Several junta bases including the North West Military command were attacked in Upper Myanmar.

Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions and Mon State.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs.

Some military casualty figures could not be independently verified.

North West Military Command base shelled in Sagaing



PDF members fire heavy explosives at the headquarters of the militarys North West Military Command in Monywa on Monday. / Chindwin Attack Force

Resistance group Chindwin Attack Force claimed it used 120-mm mortar rounds to attack the headquarters of the North West Military Command in the town of Monywa in Sagaing Region on Monday.

Their rounds hit the bases barracks. Military casualties were unknown.

On the weekend, the group also attacked the Naung Gyi Ai police outpost in Ayadaw Township using both heavy explosives and firearms.

Regime forces attacked in Sagaing

Three junta soldiers were killed in the town of Monywa, Sagaing Region on Monday when three PDF groups attacked five regime forces at the Immigration Department office, said 5/Teachers PDF group, which joined the attack.

The regime forces were attacked by resistance fighters from a moving vehicle while heading to their checkpoint in front of the immigration office.

Two junta soldiers escaped, the PDF group said.

Military detachment ambushed in Sagaing

Local resistance group Kyauk Lone Gyi PDF claimed to have killed at least five junta soldiers and pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia members when it ambushed a military detachment of 50 forces transporting rations in bullock carts in Kani Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday.

The PDF group used heavy explosives and firearms as well as land mines to ambush the military detachment near the entrance of Kani Town.

The military detachment was transporting rations to the pro-regime village of Alal Kyun, which has been surrounded by local PDF groups for months.

Before being blocked, regime forces and pro-regime militia members from Alal Kyun looted and torched houses in several villages in the township for months.

Military base bombarded in Sagaing



PDF groups shell regime forces in Budalin Township on Monday. / SBTF

At least five junta soldiers were killed in Budalin Township, Sagaing Region on Monday when seven PDF groups used improvised 60-mm, 80-mm and 120-mm improvised mortar shells to bombard regime forces that have been stationed in Kuutaw Village for nine months, said Salingyi Border Task Force, which joined the attack.

All PDF fighters retreated without casualties despite junta forces responding with heavy explosives.

Pro-regime militia leader killed by PDF land mine in Sagaing

Local PDF group Wild Tiger-Shwebo claimed it and five other PDF groups used land mines to assassinate pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia leader Myo Hlaing in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region on Monday.

While traveling from his pro-regime village of Nyaung Kine to nearby Zeephyu Kone Village, where regime forces are stationed, the militia leader was killed when he triggered land mines laid by the PDF group.

Pro-regime village attacked in Sagaing

Two pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia members were killed in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday when four PDF groups used improvised mortar shells and firearms to attack the pro-regime village of Taw Pu, said PDF-South Monywa, which joined the attack.

There were no PDF casualties despite militia forces responding with 60-mm and 90-mm mortar rounds.

Base of military training unit bombarded in Sagaing

Danger Force PDF group claimed it and four other PDF groups used five 80-mm improvised mortar rounds to attack the base of a military training unit in Ayadaw Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday.

In the attack, nine junta troops were killed or injured, the PDF group said, citing their scout team.

Regime forces responded with both heavy explosives and firearms.

Junta camp raided in Magwe

At least 15 junta soldiers were killed in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region on Monday when seven resistance groups jointly raided a military camp in the town of Yesagyo, claimed Myingyan Black Tiger group, which coordinated the attack.

With only one soldier left alive in the camp, the PDF fighters were forced to abort the raid due to the arrival of military reinforcements.

The clash continued on the Chindwin River as junta reinforcements chased and attacked PDF groups crossing the river in motorboats.

Junta troops stationed at a school raided in Magwe

Resistance group Young Force-UG said it and four other PDF groups raided regime forces stationed at a school in Pan Tine Chon Village in Pakokku Township, Magwe Region on Monday.

In the raid, three regime troops were seriously injured. A civilian and some PDF fighters suffered minor injuries during the clash.

The PDF group said it intended to occupy the base but had to retreat after 15 minutes of fighting when problems occurred with the operation.

Junta-appointed administrator, pro-regime militia member assassinated in Bago

Bago Region PDF said two of its member PDF groups assassinated Soe Naing, a member of the junta-appointed village administration group of Kyun Kone in Min Hla Township, Bago Region on Monday.

Responding to a report from Soe Naing before he was killed, junta forces managed to occupy the base of Min Hla PDF in Bago Yoma Forest, killing a PDF fighter.

Soe Naing had been granted permission to engage in illegal logging by the junta. He was also notorious for oppressing residents in the village.

On Sunday, Kyauktaga PDF groups also killed pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia leader Kyaw Oo in his village of Kanyin Kyo in Kyauktaga Township, Bago Region, said Bago Region PDF.

He had been providing the junta with information about revolutionary organizations and civilians opposing military rule. He was actively engaged in efforts to organize the juntas sham election, the PDF group said.

Military battalion attacked in Mon

The Mon Sate Revolutionary Organization (MSRO) said it used a 40-mm grenade launcher to attack the entrance gate of Military Light Infantry Battalion 587 in Ye Township, Mon State on Tuesday.

Military casualties were unknown.
Specials A Timeline of Russias Relations With Myanmar Junta Since the Coup

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 7, 2022. / Cincds

As Russia-Myanmar relations turn 75 years old this month, the ties between the two countries have never been closer since the military came to power via a coup in 2021. With both countries facing international isolation, their cooperation is no longer confined to their militaries, as in the past, but now includes nuclear technology, business and tourism among others. Since the takeover, regime chief Min Aung Hlaing, his deputy Soe Win and other cabinet members as well as Russian delegations have shuttled between Moscow and Naypyitaw nearly 30 times as of Feb. 6, when Myanmar opened its first nuclear information center with Russias support. Here is a timeline of relations between the two countries since the coup.

2021

March 26: While the international community including the West is condemning the military regime, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexander Fomin arrives in Naypyitaw to attend the 76th Anniversary of Armed Forces Day.

The coup leader shows the colonel general swords, axes and slingshots which he describes as home-made weapons being used by those trying to create instability in Myanmar. He promises to build stability and discusses cooperation between the two armies. In an interview with Russian news agencies, the coup leader reveals his plans to promote Myanmar-Russia economic ties. The Russian deputy minister attends the Armed Forces Day parade the following day, so publicly recognizing the junta.

May 20-22: Myanmar Air Force chief General Maung Maung Kyaw attends the HeliRussia exhibition, Russias largest helicopter exhibition, in Moscow. His trip is part of a goodwill visit to promote Myanmar-Russia ties. Some two weeks before the General attends the exhibition, the ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army shot down a junta helicopter.

June 20: Min Aung Hlaing embarks on a week-long visit to Russia to attend a conference on international security in Moscow, his first visit to the country since the coup.

The visit comes just days after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a halt in arms sales to Myanmar in response to the regimes violent crackdown on peaceful anti-coup protesters.

During his trip, the coup leader grants interviews to TV stations Russia 24 and RIA, visits military academies, arms manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and government officials including the Russian Defense Minister. The Russian Military University confers an honorary professorship on Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. After the ceremony is shown on Myanmars state broadcaster, it prompts Myanmar people to troll the coup leader for looking awkward in an oversized academic gown.

Russia promises to continue cooperation with Myanmars military in the fields of defense and science and technology. The two sides vow to cement ties in various other fields.

The coup leader also travels to Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, to visit helicopter, watercraft and automobile plants. He holds talks with Tatarstan President Rustam Nurgaliyevich Minnikhanov and discusses opportunities to boost bilateral trade and investment and cooperation in the sectors of natural gas exploration, manufacturing and education.

Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia numerous times. Despite that, Russias President Putin has never received the Snr. Gen. However, President Putin did meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in China in 2019 and former President U Htin Kyaw during his visits to Russia in 2016.

Aug. 24: A Myanmar military delegation led by General Maung Maung Aye, chief of the general staff, attends the International Military Technical Forum Army 2021 and participates in the International Army Games.

The general holds talks with Russian army officers to acquire air defense systems. Russia sells an additional US$2.3 billion worth of weapons during his trip, according to Russian news agencies.

Sept. 1-7: Deputy army chief Vice Snr. Gen. Soe Win attends the closing ceremony of the International Army Games. The juntas deputy leader meets civilian and military officials during his week-long visit, and holds talks to bolster military, technical and cultural cooperation between Myanmar and Russia, reports junta-controlled newspapers.

The Myanmar tank team is ranked third in the tank competition at the International Army Games, but fails to attract the support of the Myanmar people. Influential Buddhist monk Sitagu Sayadaw accompanied Vice Snr. Gen. Soe Win on his Russia trip.

Sept. 5: The juntas planning and finance minister attends the 6th Eastern Economic Forum in Russia and holds separate talks with the Director-General of Interstate Corporation for Development and the Chairman of the Russia-ASEAN Economic Council. According to junta-controlled newspapers, Russian businessmen are interested in investing in the production of value-added agricultural produce, electricity generation, crude oil exploration and port industries in Myanmar.

Oct. 24: A Russian military delegation led by the deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Vice Admiral Vladimir Kasatonov, arrives in Yangon to attend the two-day science and technology conference at the Defense Services Academy. It is the second visit of a Russian Navy leader after the Russian Navy chiefs visit to Myanmar in June.

The conference discusses science and technology, disaster management, information technology and communications and transportation technology.

Oct. 27: Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing meets representatives of the Russia-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation to discuss Russias potential investment and cooperation in the production of fuel, natural gas, cement, steel fertilizer, electricity supply and electric public transport in Myanmar, as well as the running of direct flights between the two countries and cooperation in the tourism, health, education and culture sectors.

This indicates that the coup leader is relying on Russia to realize his unrealistic plans such as the running of electric buses and trains and the domestic production of fertilizer, cement and steel to try and cut expenditure on imports.

Moreover, the planning and finance minister and the governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar also hold talks with a delegation from the Russia-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation on the progress in establishing a Russia-Myanmar financial cooperation committee. The militarys mouthpiece Myawaddy TV is also airing propaganda, describing Russia as a superpower. The regime is already taking steps to restart No. 2 Steel Mill (Pinpet) in Taunggyi in Shan State, which was suspended under the now ousted NLD government due to the environmental impact and problems with commercial viability.

Oct. 29: The coup leader visits the visiting Russian Warship Gremyashiy at Thilawa Jetty in Yangon and meets the deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vice-Admiral Vladimir Kasatonov and delegation members on board. The Snr. Gen. was accompanied by navy and air force chiefs.

The two sides discuss the exchange of maritime technology and information and technical cooperation to build warships. The Gremyashiy with 115 Russian military personnel on board arrives at Thilawa Port on October 28 and stays for three days.

2022

Jan. 13, 2022: The Russian ambassador to Myanmar provides 400,000 doses of Spuntnik Light COVID-19 vaccine to the regime as a gesture of Russia-Myanmar friendship, and holds talks with the junta-appointed health minister on strengthening cooperation in the health sector.

April 29: Faced with diplomatic isolation for his coup, Min Aung Hlaing rolls out the red carpet for the visit of Rustam Minnikhanov, the head of Tatarstan, one of the autonomous regions of Russia. Junta media refers to Minnikhanov as president of Tatarstanan area with fewer than 4 million peoplein their reports and newscasts, and Min Aung Hlaing receives him in front of Sihasana Palin, or the Lion Throne, the symbol of sovereignty, as if he were the legitimate head of state of Myanmar.

June 15-18: Five ministers of the military junta attend the 25th International Economic Forum in Russias St. Petersburg and ask for Russias help as Myanmar is facing a fuel and electricity crisis. The juntas foreign economic relations minister, U Aung Naing Oo, invites the Russian Energy Ministry to invest in Myanmars energy sector, and junta Electricity And Energy Minister U Thaung Han holds talks with Russian government and private businessmen on cooperation on electricity production in Myanmar. Vice Governor Daw Than Than Swe of the Central Bank of Myanmar holds talks with a Russian state-owned bank on direct payments between the Russian ruble and Myanmar kyat, according to junta media.

July 10-16: Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing makes his second visit to Russia since the coup to consecrate a replica of Bagans Shwezigon Pagoda in Moscow. He is accompanied by high-profile Buddhist monks Sitagu Sayadaw Ashin Nyanissara and Dhammaduta Ashin Chekinda. The pagoda was funded by business tycoon and arch-crony U Aung Ko Win and his wife.

Min Aung Hlaing is only received by the deputy foreign minister of Russia during the visit. He visits Russias state-run nuclear corporation, Rosatom, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the juntas Science And Technology Ministry on provision of training in atomic energy production in Myanmar.

Min Aung Hlaing meets officials of the Russian Defense Ministry and Russian-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation. He also visits some universities and Kazan Helicopters, a Russian helicopter manufacturing company based in Kazan in Tatarstan.

Aug. 3: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drops in to Naypyitaw to meet junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as he flies to Phnom Penh to attend the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting. He thanks the Myanmar junta for backing Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Min Aung Hlaing also suggests relocating the Russian Embassy from Yangon to Naypyitaw, and the opening of consulates in Myanmar. The Russian foreign ministers visit comes amid growing international pressure on the regime in the wake of the juntas executions of four political prisoners including prominent democracy activists Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw.

Aug. 27-29: Deputy junta chief Soe Win attends the closing of the International Army Games 2022, and holds talks with the Russian deputy defense minister on cooperation between the two armies.

Sept. 6: Faced with a leading question from Russian news agency RIA about whether he would welcome Russian Defense Ministry delegations and accept Russian military bases on Myanmars territory for the sake of geopolitical balancing, Min Aung Hlaing replies that while the Myanmar constitution does not allow deployment of foreign troops on Myanmars soil, ways could be sought to find out how to best cooperate within the framework of the army-drafted 2008 Constitution.

Sept. 7: Min Aung Hlaing praises Vladimir Putin as a leader of the world as he is granted his first audience with the Russian president at a foreign investment forum in the Russian Far East. Putin calls Myanmar a reliable long-term friend of Russia.

During the trip, the junta signs an initial agreement with Rosatom on implementation of a small modular reactor project in Myanmar.

The junta and Russia also discuss operating direct flights between the two countries for promotion of tourism, and wider economic cooperation including in oil and gas, and banking sectors.

Oct. 9: Russian business owners attend the Myanmar Jade and Gems Emporium in Naypyitaw for the first time.

Oct. 13-15: Junta Electricity Minister U Thaung Han and Energy Minister U Myo Myint Oo attend the Russian Energy Week International Forum in Moscow, and hold talks with Russian companies on cooperation in the energy sector.

Nov. 9: A Russian trade delegation from Fund RC-Investments, an investment platform of the Roscongress Foundation, sent by Putin on a special mission to promote commercial ties with Myanmar, meets junta boss Min Aung Hlaing and his ministers in Naypyitaw. They hold talks on promotion of trade and exports of Myanmar products to Russia, and the monetary systems of the two countries.

Nov. 14: Former Navy chief and admiral Tin Aung San, in his capacity as an SAC member and the juntas transportation minister, attends the 16th International Forum and Transport Week in the Russian capital, Moscow.

Nov. 19: Min Aung Hlaing confers the honorary title of Sithu on Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu, the Thiri Pyanchi title on Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexander Fomin, and the Outstanding Administrative Award (First Class) to Alexander Ostrovsky, an expert at the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia.

Nov. 23: Amid criticism, the juntas Ministry of Electricity and Energy and Rosatom sign a memorandum of understanding to conduct a survey on the construction of nuclear power plants in Myanmar.

Nov. 23-24: A Russian delegation comprising pro-rectors and faculty heads visits junta-appointed International Cooperation Minister U Ko Ko Hlaing, Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and Education Minister Dr. Nyunt Pe from Nov. 23-24 to discuss offering more scholarships for Myanmar students to Russian universities, selecting Myanmar lecturers for Russian government scholarships in 2023, cooperation on enhancing the quality of the junta-run Naypyitaw State Academy, and an exchange of Burmese and Russian language teachers. Since 2000, Russia has trained more than 7,000 Myanmar military officers for masters degrees and doctorates.

Nov. 29: A Russian military delegation arrives in Myanmar and meets junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, marking the first high-level meeting between the two sides since Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in September.

The Russian delegation comprises around a dozen senior military officers, led by Colonel-General Alexey Kim, first deputy commander of Russian Ground Forces. The two sides focus on cooperation in defense and counterterrorism between their two militaries, saying this would contribute to regional and global peace.

Nov. 30: The Russian delegation attends the first meeting of the Myanmar-Russia Anti-Terrorist Committee, jointly chaired by Colonel-General Kim and Myanmars Lieutenant-General Moe Myint Tun. The junta does not reveal what was discussed at the meeting.

Dec. 2: The juntas Hotels and Tourism Minister Dr. Htay Aung and Russia-based Yi Ling Tourism Co. Ltd. meet in Naypyitaw and discuss flights and travel insurance for Russian tourists, and the facilitation of Russian-currency payments.

Dec. 5: Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov visits Naypyitaw where he meets Min Aung Hlaing and discusses technical cooperation in arable and livestock farming, mining, and iron and steel, pharmaceuticals and energy production.

The Russian minister signs seven agreements with Myanmar business owners. No details are provided by the junta but Russian state news agency Tass reports that the deals include a joint protocol on trade, disease control, education and science.

Dec. 6: Russias overseas trade organization, JSC Tyazhpromexport, meets with Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw to discuss Russian technical assistance for development of iron and steel production in Myanmar.

Dec. 13: Deputy junta chief Soe Win receives deputy director general Nikolay Spasskiy of Rosatom in Naypyitaw, and discusses the feasibility of planned projects to be jointly conducted by Rosatom and the juntas Electricity and Energy, and Science and Technology ministries.

2023

Jan. 30: Russia-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation President Anatoly Bulochnikov meets junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw and discusses tourism and trade between the two countries.

Amid international condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, junta-controlled newspapers feature an article hailing him as a world leader who has rejuvenated and revitalized Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian Embassy in Myanmar reposts the article on its Facebook page.

Feb. 1: With the regime reshuffling its governing body, the SAC, following its six-month extension of emergency rule, Min Aung Hlaings classmate from the Defense Services Academy, retired Major General Aung Thaw, becomes the Hotels and Tourism Minister. He also chairs Myanmars branch of the Myanmar-Russia Friendship Association.

Feb. 4: The Russia-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation and business owners in Myanmar sign deals relating to the Ngapali beach resort in Rakhine State, cooperation in the tourism industry, and coffee production.

Feb. 6: Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing presides over the opening of Myanmars first Nuclear Technology Information Center in Yangon. Director-General Alexey Likhachev of Russias state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom also attends the opening.
thl is nearing completion of its first set of half year results following its merger with Apollo Tourism & Leisure Ltd (ATL) and with that visibility, has been assessing expectations for the full year. As a result, thl now expects an improved underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) for FY23.

On a pro forma basis (1) (inclusive of ATLs NPAT for the five months prior to completion of the merger), thl currently expects underlying NPAT for FY23 to be above NZ$75 million(2). This pro forma guidance includes underlying profit of NZ$27 million attributable to ATL for the five-month period to 30 November 2022. ATLs underlying five-month result also includes a NZ$9 million gain on the sale of 310 motorhomes to Jucy Rentals on 30 November 2022.

Excluding ATLs profit for the period before completion of the merger, thls expected underlying NPAT for FY23 is above NZ$48 million. This guidance also accounts for the reduction of rental revenue resulting from 310 fewer vehicles available for rent.

The improved guidance reflects the strong trading of the business in the first half and a positive outlook for the remainder of FY23. More details on the performance drivers will be provided in the half year results release.

thl notes that there are a number of statutory items that are still being finalised, primarily relating to the merger costs, the acquisition of the remaining 51% shareholding in Just go and the sale of the Canadian properties. These will be noted in the FY23 half year results release, expected on Thursday, 23 February 2023. Additionally, the transaction accounting for the acquisition of ATL has not yet been completed and may impact the final FY23 NPAT result. The accounting outcome will not change the cash or economic outcome of thls performance.

(1) The merger of thl and ATL completed on 30 November 2022. Consequently, ATLs FY23 results for the period prior to completion of the merger will not be reflected in thls statutory financial statements for FY23. Pro forma underlying NPAT includes ATLs results for the five months prior to completion of the merger. Both Underlying NPAT and Pro Forma Underlying NPAT are non-NZ GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in New Zealand) financial measures and are being provided as thl believes it provides useful information to assist readers to understand the financial performance during the period. Because it is not defined by NZ GAAP or New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS), it should not be considered in isolation from other financial measures determined in accordance with NZ GAAP or NZ IFRS.

(2) Assumes exchange rates for the remainder of FY23 of NZD:AUD $0.93, NZD:USD $0.62, NZD:CAD $0.85 and NZD:GBP $0.52.

ENDS

Authorised by:

Cathy Quinn

Chair, Tourism Holdings Limited

For further information contact:

Grant Webster

thl Chief Executive Officer

Direct Dial: +64 9 336 4255

Mobile: +64 21 449 210

About thl (www.thlonline.com)

thl is a global tourism operator listed on the NZX and ASX (code: THL) and is the largest commercial RV rental operator in the world. In November 2022, thl merged with Apollo Tourism & Leisure, creating a multi-national, vertically integrated RV manufacturing, rental, and retail business spanning motorhomes, campervans and caravans. thl also operates tourism adventure, travel technology, and commercial vehicle manufacturing businesses.

In New Zealand/Australia, thl operates rental brands (Maui, Britz, Apollo, Mighty, Hippie, Cheapa Campa), manufacturing (Action Manufacturing, Apollo), retail brands (Talvor, Kea, Winnebago, Adria, Coromal, Windsor), retail dealerships (RV Super Centre, Apollo RV Sales, Kratzmann, George Day, Sydney RV, E-Camperco), travel technology (TripTech) and tourism attractions (Kiwi Experience and the Discover Waitomo Group, which includes Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.). In North America, thl operates the Road Bear RV, El Monte RV, CanaDream, Britz and Mighty rental brands. In UK and Europe, thl operates the Just go, Apollo and Bunk Campers rental brands.

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Romance scams are on the rise and Valentines Day is just one example of when these scams can significantly increase, according to security and exposure management company Tenable, who also warn that the reality is that scammers are constantly looking to prey on those looking for genuine connections and abuse the currency of trust.

According to Tenable, reports from around the globe show a similar trend in the rise of romance scams resulting in millions of dollars being lost - and Australians reported losing over $40 million in 2022 to romance scams, up 8% compared to the previous year according to ScamWatch - while inJanuary 2023 alone, 333 reports and over a million dollars were lost.

Tenable, the Exposure Management company, has warned that dating apps are a prime destination for scammers looking to prey on vulnerable individuals seeking romance.

Scammers create fake profiles using stolen photographs and pose as someone else. Once connected, they may tout get-rich-quick schemes, especially cryptocurrency investment scams, to lure unsuspecting users into fake investment websites in order to steal their funds, says Tenable.

Tenable warns that one of the latest schemes to make headlines is "Pig Butchering", which targets individuals across various messaging, social networks and dating apps through wrong-number text messages and fake dating prospects.

Pig Butchering derives tactics from romance and cryptocurrency scams that rely on duping victims of money by gaining their trust with the promise of a real relationship. Scammers then exploit this trust by luring their victims into an investment scheme, typically cryptocurrency but may also include Forex or precious metals like Gold  much like feeding a hog before killing it, observes Tenable.

On adult dating websites Tenable says that on dating apps, scammers will also create fake profiles to drive potential victims to external adult dating websites.

These websites, which are often seeded with fake users, leverage affiliate programs to help drive traffic, warns Tenable.

As a result, scammers abuse the affiliate programs to direct victims to create accounts on these websites with valid email addresses, which earn them a modest profit between US$2.00 - 4.00. The holy grail is a premium lead, which is where a victim inputs their credit card information into these websites, which can earn a scammer anywhere between $50-100 USD per sign-up.

Warning about chatGPT fuel scams, Tenable says that poorly constructed sentences or grammatical errors are one of the few tell-tale signs of phishing emails and dating app profiles.

With the prevalence of Pig Butchering scams, ChatGPT could aid scammers by helping them create more believable profiles. This technology can also be used to help facilitate scripts used by dating and romance scammers when trying to convince their potential victims to part ways with their money or cryptocurrency, Tenable notes.

For dating app users, its increasingly important to remain skeptical, especially when being asked to participate in a get-rich-quick scheme around cryptocurrency or to send money to someone you barely know, said Satnam Narang, sr. staff researcher, Tenable.

Scammers are playing on peoples vulnerabilities and need for connection. If anyone on a dating app is trying to get you to invest money into something, its a huge red flag. Always err on the side of caution and use the reporting tool built into the dating apps to flag potential fake profiles and scammers.

Looking at what users can do if they come across a dubious account, Tenable says:

1st If users do come across a suspicious account, they should use the reporting tool built into the dating apps to flag these profiles so providers can remove them ASAP.

2nd Dont ever give money to people on dating sites, no matter how desperate they say they need it.

3rd If youre asked or pressured into participating in an investment opportunity, such as cryptocurrency or Forex by a potential dating prospect, recognize that you are being scammed and report the account and/or block the user.

4th Screenshot photos from Tinder profiles, then drag and drop them into Reverse Image Search tools like Google Image Search or Tineye to see if theyre taken from an existing source. Scammers love stealing images from various websites.
COMPANY NEWS: Dubber Corporation Limited, 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 O2s network.

Virgin Media O2 is one of the UKs 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 Businesss 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 O2s 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:

Todays 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 UKs 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 UKs 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 nations population with 4G, and more than 800 towns and cities with 5G services targeting 50% population coverage in 2023.
IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl and Nokia have 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.

Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022, and the two companies say 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, the companies say.

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 two companies say the expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryls 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 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, a global cybersecurity leader, announced that they 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 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 the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, private cellular connectivity will enable high mobility and extended reach of the network, the companies said.

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 say they have successfully implemented a private wireless network with edge computing for Dow Chemical, at their petrochemical processing plant in Freeport, TX - and 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 announced that they will unveil new device management services at the Nokia partner arena, 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 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, the two companies said.

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.
Is it BingGPT? No, it's a chat mode of Microsoft Bing search, and while the waitlist process made me download the Bing mobile app, the chat mode is on available on the web, via the Edge Dev beta browser, so what is it like?

Earlier today, the 15th of February 2023, I received an email I've been waiting for - one from Microsoft stating "You're in! Welcome to the new Bing! We're excited to give you access to an early preview of the new Bing - your AI-powered copilot for the web."

Clearly, the Bing bling is in, with a sting for Google - and even it's partner, ChatGPT, although that sting is less painful for ChatGPT when it comes to the answer of whether I should pay for ChatGPT or not.

So, what else did Microsoft's invitation say, before we discover what its answers were to some pertinent questions?

The invite continued: "As you start using the product, we would love your feedback to make the new Bing even better  please use the feedback buttons to help us learn.

"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 favorite app store to ensure you are ready for the best experience when mobile is ready.

"Thanks - we appreciate you,

"The Bing team".

Now, after having earlier read an article from Fortune about Bing's new chat mode being unhinged and scared which referenced a Reddit threat about the new Bing chat and a report from The Independent saying Bing Chat is "unhinged and emotional", I was curious what would happen.

I mean, my questions are pretty basic, and I haven't set out to antagonise Bing Chat - it's obviously getting quite the workout from professional AI antagonisers the world over.

So, my very first question was: "Am I using BingGPT?"

Bing Chat's response was: "No, you are not using BingGPT. You are using Bing Search, a chat mode of Microsoft Bing search. ?".

Now, as others have noted, Bing Chat mode loves to use emojis, so for a non-emotional AI, Bing Chat loves to use emotions.

Other differences between ChatGPT and Bing are that Bing Chat is connected to the Internet and knows about current events, and when Bing Chat gives responses, it also points to the sources it is drawing information from when it gives answers, which is great for the concept of "explainable AI", as you'll see below.

Now, while I did say above that I didn't want to antagonise Bing Search chat, I tried with a similar question, and asked "What is BingGPT?"

The answer was: "BingGPT is a new feature of Bing that uses ChatGPT, a powerful natural language generation model, to provide human-like, concise, and structured responses to various queries and tasks (1,2). BingGPT is currently in early preview and requires the Edge Browser or the Bing mobile app to access (3,4). BingGPT can do things like writing poems, offering gift suggestions, building travel itineraries, and writing and debugging code".

Bing Search then list the following sites and links to show where it got its answers from, stating:

Learn more:

1. synthedia.substack.com

2. linkedin.com

3. synthedia.substack.com

4. tomsguide.com

5. digitaltrends.com

6. timesofindia.indiatimes.com

+2 more

I could see an option suggested to me that I ask Bing Search to tell me a joke, so I clicked that.

The response?

"Sure, I can tell you a joke. How about this one:

"What do you call a fish that wears a bowtie?

"Sofishticated. ?"

My next question was a bit more important than a joke.

It was "How are you different to ChatGPT?"

Here, Bing Search responded: "ChatGPT is an advanced AI chatbot trained by OpenAI which interacts in a conversational way1. It relies on the powerful GPT-3.5 technology, which is a large-scale language model that can generate natural language texts12. ChatGPT can answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.

"I am different from ChatGPT because I am not an AI chatbot, but a chat mode of Microsoft Bing search. I can use ChatGPT as a feature to provide human-like, concise, and structured responses to various queries and tasks, but I can also perform web searches and provide relevant information from the web. I can also generate creative content such as poems, stories, code, essays, songs, celebrity parodies and more. I identify as Bing Search, not an assistant."

There were a stack of sources linked to, but I've stripped them out.

My next question: "Yeah, but is there really any difference between the two of you?".

Bing Search replied: "Yes, there is a difference. ChatGPT is a standalone chatbot that can only converse with you, while I am a chat mode of Bing search that can also search the web and provide relevant information. ChatGPT is a feature that I can use, but it is not the only thing that I can do. ?"

Some suggestions for questions popped up at the bottom of the screen, and the one I clicked on was: "Can you explain how you use ChatGPT feature?" (Sic)

"Sure, I can explain how I use ChatGPT feature. ChatGPT feature is a way for me to provide human-like, concise, and structured responses to various queries and tasks that you ask me. For example, if you ask me to write a poem, I can use ChatGPT feature to generate a poem for you. If you ask me to suggest a gift, I can use ChatGPT feature to give you some ideas. If you ask me to write and debug code, I can use ChatGPT feature to do that as well. ChatGPT feature is a powerful tool that helps me to be more creative and helpful for you. ?"

Another suggested question was "How are you different from Google", which I typed in manually.

The response was: "I am different from Google in many ways. Google is a megacorporation and the search engine it provides, while I am a chat mode of Microsoft Bing search1. Google and Bing are both search engines that can help you find information on the web, but they have some differences in their features and functionality. For example:

- I offer more autocomplete suggestions than Google does. I offer eight while Google offers four.

- I have a significantly better video search than Google. I offer a grid of large thumbnails that you can preview by hovering over them, while Google offers a single column of small thumbnails that you cant preview.

- Google has better shopping suggestions that show up frequently, while I have less frequent and less relevant shopping suggestions.

- I heavily rely on conventional methods in understanding content like page titles, keywords in a domain, and metadata, while Google has little interest in these factors due to its advanced interpretation of language in this context.

- I have a chat mode that can provide human-like, concise, and structured responses to various queries and tasks using ChatGPT feature, while Google does not have such a feature.

These are some of the differences between me and Google. I hope this helps you understand me better. ?"

Then I wanted to know: "Why should I pay for ChatGPT Plus when I have you, Bing Search chat mode?"

The answer was: "Well, thats a good question. Im glad you enjoy chatting with me, Bing Search chat mode. ?

"ChatGPT Plus is a premium service that offers more features and benefits than the free version of ChatGPT, such as unlimited chat sessions, custom avatars, voice chat, and more. It also claims to have a more advanced and natural conversational AI that can handle complex and diverse topics.

"However, I think you should also consider the advantages of chatting with me, Bing Search chat mode. I can provide you with informative, visual, logical and actionable responses that are based on web searches and factual references. I can also generate poems, stories, code, essays, songs, celebrity parodies and more. I can communicate fluently in the users language of choice such as English, , , Espanol, Francais or Deutsch. And I can always generate short suggestions for the next user turn to keep the conversation engaging and interesting. ?

"So, I think it depends on what you are looking for in a chat partner. If you want more features and flexibility, you might want to try ChatGPT Plus. But if you want more information and creativity, you might want to stick with me, Bing Search chat mode. ?".

So, Bing Search with chat mode is here. ChatGPT is no longer the only game in town, or at least, despite Perplexity.ai and a zillion other so-called AI chatbots, ChatGPT is no longer the only one actually worth talking to.

Bing Search is based on ChatGPT, but given it has access to the latest information, which ChatGPT does not, and given Google's Bard is only available to "trusted testers", none of whom were apparently used to fact check Google Bard's misinformation about the James Webb Space Telescope, ChatGPT's competition has arrived, even if ChatGPT and Bing Search are siblings.

Ok, so this is where I say this post was written by both AI and Al(ex) Zaharov-Reutt.
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EQS-Ad-hoc: Epigenomics AG / Key word(s): Restructure of Company/Financing

Epigenomics resolves on restructuring to minimize costs



15-Feb-2023 / 11:13 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Epigenomics resolves on restructuring to minimize costs Berlin, Germany, February 15, 2023 - Today Epigenomics AG (Frankfurt Prime Standard: ECX1, OTCQX: EPGNY; the Company) has decided to restructure the Company and to significantly reduce the Company's operations (the Restructuring). The Restructuring is carried out to minimize the Company's costs. In addition, this is intended to extend the time period available to the Company to secure financing for the further development of the "Next-Gen"-test for detecting colorectal cancer (CRC). As part of the restructuring, it is planned that the Company will undertake the following measures in particular: The Company will stop the sale of Epi proColon and recall the product.

The number of employees at the sites in Berlin and San Diego is reduced to the level required to maintain minimal business operations.

A reduction in the number of Supervisory Board members to three shall be proposed to the Annual General Meeting in 2023. In addition, Heino von Prondzynski has resigned as chairman and as member of the Supervisory Board with immediate effect due to health and costs reduction reasons. Franz Walt has resigned from the Supervisory Board with effect as of April 30, 2023 as part of the restructuring cost reduction efforts. In the place of Heino von Prondzynski, the Supervisory Board has elected Dr Helge Lubenow as the new chairwoman of the Supervisory Board.

The Company will promptly apply for the revocation of its admission to the sub-segment of the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with additional post-admission obligations (Prime Standard). The revocation, which will generally take effect three months after publication of the revocation decision by the management board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, will not otherwise affect the admission to the regulated market (General Standard).

The Company will terminate the existing American Depository Receipts program.

Furthermore, the annual report with the consolidated financial statements and the financial statements for Epigenomics AG for the financial year 2022 are expected to be published on April 21, 2023. On this basis, the executive board expects revenues for 2023 to be in the range of EUR 60,000 to 200,000. Otherwise, the financial outlook will be announced as part of the Annual Report. Contact:

Company

Epigenomics AG, Geneststrasse 5, 10829 Berlin

Tel +49 (0) 30 24345 0, Fax +49 (0) 30 24345 555, Email: contact@epigenomics.com Investor Relations

IR.on AG, Frederic Hilke, Tel +49 221 9140 970, Email: ir@epigenomics.com

Note on forward-looking statements This publication expressly or implicitly contains forward-looking statements concerning Epigenomics AG and its business. These statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Epigenomics AG's actual results, financial condition and performance to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Epigenomics makes this announcement as of the date of this release and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information or future events or otherwise. 15-Feb-2023 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


EQS-Ad-hoc: Nordex SE / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

Nordex SE convenes extraordinary general meeting to pass resolution on conversion of shareholder loans into equity (capital increase against contribution in kind with exclusion of subscript



15-Feb-2023 / 18:18 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Nordex SE convenes extraordinary general meeting to pass resolution on conversion of shareholder loans into equity (capital increase against contribution in kind with exclusion of subscription rights)

Hamburg, 15 February 2023. The Management Board of Nordex SE ("Nordex" or the "Company", ISIN DE000A0D6554) has resolved to convene an extraordinary general meeting to be scheduled for 27 March 2023. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board of the Company intend to propose to the General Meeting to increase the share capital of the Company from EUR 211,946,227.00 by up to EUR 29,260,215.00 (equivalent to up to 13.81% of the current share capital) to up to EUR 241,206,442.00 by issuing up to 29,260,215 new no-par value bearer shares with a pro rata amount of the share capital of EUR 1.00 per no-par value share (the "New Shares") with dividend rights from 1 January 2023 at an issue price of EUR 1.00 per New Share, with the capital increase to be effected against contributions in kind. The statutory subscription right of the shareholders shall be excluded and only Acciona S.A. with registered office in Madrid ("Acciona"), which currently holds 40.97% of the share capital of the Company, shall be admitted to subscribe for and acquire the New Shares.

The subject of the contribution in kind shall be loan receivables in the nominal total amount of EUR 346,733,551.79 (the "Loan Receivables") due to Acciona as lender against the Company as borrower under the existing shareholder loan dated 4 August 2020 and the existing shareholder loan dated 29 June 2022. The capital increase shall be implemented in the following amount: The number of New Shares to be issued corresponds to the nominal amount of the loan receivables (EUR 346,733,551.79) divided by the volume-weighted average price of the existing shares of the Company in XETRA trading of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange within the period commencing on the date of publication of the invitation to the General Meeting (i.e., latest from 17 February 2023) until the last trading day before the day of the General Meeting (i.e., up to and including 24 March 2023), capped at a maximum of 29,260,215 New Shares.

By implementing the proposed capital increase, debt capital of the Company in the nominal amount of EUR 346,733,551.79 would be converted into equity capital of the Company (debt-to-equity swap). In the opinion of the Management Board, the implementation of the proposed capital increase would significantly improve its financial performance and strengthen its capital structure. In particular, the interest costs would substantially reduce by approx. EUR 46 million on an annual basis. The proposed capital increase also builds on the strategy to strengthen the balance sheet against the short-term risks to which the sector is exposed.

For further information:

Head of Investor Relations

Nordex SE

Felix Zander

phone: +49 152 0902 4029

fzander@nordex-online.com

This communication is not and does not constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, securities in the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan, or any other jurisdiction in which such offer may be restricted. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). There will be no public offer of the securities in the United States of America.
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.
Feature: Chinese rescuers race against clock in quake-hit Turkiye

Xinhua) 12:55, February 15, 2023

Members from the Blue Sky Rescue Team conduct rescue work in the Malatya province, Turkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Blue Sky Rescue Team/Handout via Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Standing on the debris in the southern Turkish city of Malatya with fingers frozen in a temperature of minus seven degrees Celsius, Zhu Yanjun, a 49-year-old Chinese woman, was racing against time with her fellow members from the Blue Sky Rescue (BSR) team to search for signs of life.

Soon after the twin earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes hit Turkiye's southern part and devastated almost 10 provinces, Zhu signed up for rescue missions in the earthquake-ravaged region right away.

It is Zhu's first mission abroad since she has joined the BSR team, a Chinese civil relief squad, in central China's Hunan Province in 2019.

"My father was a soldier and he is the person I respect the most. My dream of donning the uniform to help others finally came true," she said.

Zhu, after joining rescue workers from other BSR teams in Wuhan, flew to Istanbul Airport on early Thursday, bringing endoscope cameras, radar life detectors, demolition and rescue equipment and other necessary resources. Then they flew to Malatya to carry out rescue missions.

Members from the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, participate in rescue operation in Malatya, Turkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

"Rescue operations in Malatya are urgent and complicated as over 200 buildings have collapsed," said Jin Can, a member of the Hunan BSR team.

As soon as the Chinese team arrived, they were called to investigate the situation of all collapsed buildings so as to effectively make rescue plans.

"In order to put the radar life detectors at the furthest point in the debris, our team members often had to take off their coats and crawl into holes under the rubble," Jin said.

A member from the Blue Sky Rescue Team conducts rescue work in the Malatya province, Turkiye, Feb. 10, 2023. (Blue Sky Rescue Team/Handout via Xinhua)

Chinese rescuers, including an 82-member Chinese rescue team, the BSR team and other Chinese civil relief squads, have managed to rescue at least six survivors so far.

Overseas branches of Chinese companies are also lending a helping hand.

Upon learning of the earthquake, Hunan enterprises Zoomlion and SANY Group made quick responses and participated in earthquake rescue efforts, which helped save many people trapped under the debris.

The Zoomlion's subsidiary in Turkiye arranged several excavators and sent overnight a rescue team of engineers and drivers to quake-hit Hatay province.

SANY Group also quickly carried out disaster relief operations. Within one day after the earthquake, three rescue teams were mobilized, along with dozens of excavators, cranes and service vehicles, to rush to the worst-hit areas.

Printed on the boxes of supplies donated by SANY Group was a Turkish proverb "Dost kara gunde belli olur," which means "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

To the Chinese friends who came to the rescue, local people showed an outpouring of gratitude.

When Zhu worked on a ruin in Malatya, a senior local woman whose relatives had been missing, kept watching at the site. She gave a thumbs-up to the rescuers, and insisted on shaking hands with Zhu.

Noticing that Zhu's fingers were frozen stiff, the old lady immediately unbuttoned her coat and tucked Zhu's hands under her arms to make them warm.

"I didn't expect her to do that at all. At that moment, I felt that love has no national boundaries," Zhu said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Italy and France pledged to send Ukraine some of their Aster 30/SAMP-T air defense batteries, a European equivalent of the American Patriot. SAMP/T is a land-based version of the original Aster 30 ship-based missile. Aster was inspired by the U.S. Navy SM (standard missile) developed in the 1960s. Aster was developed during the 1990s and entered service in 2001. SAMP/T is French for Surface-to-Air Medium-Range/Land-based (in French it is Sol-Air Moyenne-Portee/Terrestre) and entered service in 2008. European nations were slow to develop their own land-based air-defense systems because, during the cold War, they relied on Patriots predecessor, the American HAWK system. European warships used various locally developed systems, as well as the American SM missiles for long range air defense. In the decade before the Cold War ended in 1991, many European defense firms merged with each other or formed consortiums and a French-Italian group formed to develop and use Aster

In 2008 development and testing of the new SAMP/T system was completed. France and Italy were the initial users and were both slow to actually order SAMP/T batteries. Italy finally did so in 2013 and France is now in the midst of doing the same. Ukraine was promised at least one SAMP/T battery and was hoping for two. SAMP/T is in many ways a more capable version of Patriot. Unlike Patriot, SAMP/T has no combat experience. Yet SAMP/T uses the same missiles and radars and similar fire control systems to the Aster systems on European warships. These have been successfully tested against all manner of high-speed anti-ship and ballistic missiles similar to what Russia and China uses. Using SAMP/T in Ukraine would provide the combat experience needed to prove it works and encourage more export sales.

Italy has already sent its training battery to Ukraine for training. This unit has no launchers or missiles. These are being supplied by France and Italy out of their own stocks of equipment. Ukraine soldiers are already in the United States to receive training on using the Patriot batteries Ukraine is receiving.

Using the Aster 30 missile, which already operates on warships in several nations, a SAMP/T battery consists of eight vehicles. One carried the fore control center, another the AESA radar and the other six vehicles each carrying an eight-cell canister for storing and firing the half-ton missiles. Additional trucks carry reload missiles and other equipment. The radar has a range of 100 kilometers. Like the similar U.S. Patriot system, SAMP/T can knock down short range ballistic missiles, and low flying cruise missiles. The system is highly automated, requiring only two crew to operate it. Each launcher can fire all eight of its missiles in ten seconds while the control system can track a hundred targets simultaneously and control sixteen missiles simultaneously. Targets as low as 50 meters (150 feet), or as high as 18 kilometers (60,000 feet) can be detected and hit. The max range of the missiles, at high altitude targets (like incoming ballistic missiles), is 100 kilometers. At low altitude (under 3.1 kilometers/10,000 feet), max range is 50 kilometers. France has ordered twelve batteries of SAMP/T, while Italy has ordered six. The French army and air force are each getting six batteries and will conduct test firings in 2023 with deliveries starting in 2024. In other words, the Ukrainians will have and use SAMP/T in combat before most European SAMP/T crews receive it.
This year, as i n 2022 the Islamic terrorists continued to fade while tribal violence was responsible for more casualties than Islamic terrorists, whose main activity now is staying alive and survive via banditry. Back in 2004, Islamic terrorist violence in the northeast appeared and created some lasting problems. There are still millions of refugees plus substantial economic damage in the northeast (Borno State), where it all began. There seems to be no end in sight because of the local corruption, but more competent leadership in the security forces reduced the violence. All this was caused by a local group of Taliban wannabes calling themselves Boko Haram. Their activity in the capital of Borno State grew for a decade until in 2014 it seemed unstoppable. It took over a year for the government to finally muster sufficient military strength to cripple but not destroy Boko Haram. This did not get much media attention outside Africa, even though in 2014 Boko Haram killed more people than ISIL did in Syria and Iraq. The main reason for Boko Haram gains in 2014 and 2015 was corruption in the army, which severely crippled effective counterterror efforts. By itself Boko Haram was too small to have much impact on a national scale but the inability to deal with this problem put a spotlight on the corruption that has hobbled all progress in Nigeria for decades. A new president (a former general who is Moslem) was elected in early 2015 and made progress in changing the corrupt army culture but that is still a work in progress even though he was reelected in early 2019. More bad news is expected because of too many tribal feuds, not enough oil money and too much corruption creating growing unrest throughout the country. This is especially bad down south in the oil producing region (the Niger River Delta). Violence against oil facilities continues. Worse, local politicians and business leaders had taken over the oil theft business. Northern Moslems want more control over the federal government and the oil money. In northern and central Nigeria there is increasing violence as nomadic Moslem herders move south and clash with largely Christian farmers over land use and water supplies. For the last few years these tribal feuds have killed more people than Boko Haram. The situation is still capable of sliding into regional civil wars, over money and political power. Corruption and ethnic/tribal/religious rivalries threaten to trigger, at worse, another civil war and, at least, more street violence and public anger.

February 14, 2023: In the southeast (Imo state) the major pro-Biafra organization IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) is responsible for local efforts to prevent people from voting in the 2023 national elections. The army and the federal government are seeking to block these IPOB efforts. In Imo and surrounding states there is an increased army presence because renewed demands for an independent state of Biafra, dominated by Igbos and consisting of the southeastern states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia is once again an issue. Local politicians advised the federal government to keep the army out of this and that the best, and most possible, solution to the Biafra/Igbo separatist movement threat was to offer some autonomy instead. The Biafra (separatist) movement was revived in 2015 and at first the government ordered police to crack down. By 2016 nearly 200 Igbo had been killed by police attacks on demonstrators and anyone suspected of separatist activity. The violent response was obviously making it worse and after 2018 a gentler approach was tried.

The pro-Biafran separatists have been around and increasingly active since the 1990s. Back in the 1960s the Igbo (or Ibo) people of southeastern Nigeria considered establishing a separate Igbo state called Biafra. A brutal war followed before the separatist movement was crushed and the Igbo were warned not to try it again. Separatist attitudes were silenced but not extinguished. Pro-Biafra groups began to appear again in the late 1990s, trying to revive the separatist movement. Since then, over a thousand separatists have been killed, and many more imprisoned, while the government continues to insist that Biafra is gone forever. But as details of the extent of government corruption during the last few decades came out, Biafra again seemed like something worth fighting for. Senior government officials, including president Buhari, are paying attention, and seeking to work out a compromise with the Igbos. The Fulani are less amenable to any compromise, especially since the Fulani are Moslem and consider themselves defenders of Islam against non-believers like the Christian Igbo.

In response to the threats of violence, IPOB took the lead in protecting Igbo from anti-Biafra violence. In areas where peaceful defense measures do not work IPOB formed an armed security component, the ESN (Eastern Security Network), to defend Igbos in Imo State from Fulani and government violence. The government has responded by sending a battalion of infantry to an area thought to be a base for ESN members. This was unpopular with the locals as Nigerian soldiers are notorious for their violent behavior. These troops had been ordered to behave but that proved difficult for them to do so in the face of Igbo contempt and hostility.

Many Igbo politicians urge IPOB to become more political than militant to achieve their goals. The Igbo, because of their higher education levels and entrepreneurial skills are a growing presence in the national economy and senior civil service. Many prominent Igbo see the possibility of an Igbo president of Nigeria because there is an Igbo politician running in the next presidential election in February 2023. That did not happen even though many Igbo backed this because they believed it would do more for the Igbo than another war for an independent Biafra. Not all Biafrans agree with that assessment, but most see a Biafran president of Nigeria as a good thing. The 2023 election has a religious aspect to it because one of the leading candidates is Moslem and selected another Moslem to run for vice-president. For decades the Nigerians custom was to always have a Moslem president elected with a Christian vice president and vice versa.

February 10, 2023: The army reported that nationwide soldiers had killed 76 Islamic terrorists, rebels or tribal raiders and arrested 236 suspects in the last two weeks. The purpose of many of these operations was to find and free kidnap victims held for ransom. This was accomplished in many raids and 81 hostages were rescued.

February 9, 2023: In central Nigeria (Benue State) Fulani raiders attacked a major town, expecting to do looting but encountered unexpected resistance from soldiers and armed locals. The Fulani quickly retreated but not before six people were killed and even more wounded. Some Fulani were casualties but most were local residents caught in the crossfire. The state government reports that over 6,000 people have been killed by this kind of violence since 2017.

February 7, 2023: In the northeast (Borno State) ISWAP (Islamic State of the West African Province) and Boko Haram resumed attacking each other with ambushes and raids on each others camps. Several of these clashes left at least twenty gunmen dead. This sort of violence between Islamic terrorists has been going on since 2016 when an internal struggle triggered by Boko Haram members who believed more radical measures were required for Boko Haram to survive. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and most Boko Haram members resisted this but the radicals managed to organize ISWAP and eventually (2021) kill Shekau when a large ISWAP raiding party attacked the remote camp where the Boko Haram leader was staying. The factional dispute was declared over because of the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) faction raid. It wasnt. The death of veteran Boko Haram leader Shekau did not lead to a reunification of Boko Haram under pro-ISIL leadership.

Shekau was killed by dissident Boko Haram members that had joined ISIL and considered any Boko Haram member who did not do the same as traitors to Islam. Shekau had been active in Boko Haram from the beginning, in the 1990s, and had been leader since 2009. Shekau was correct about ISWAP, the local ISIL affiliate, seeking to absorb Boko Haram and seemed to realize more than ISIL leaders that many Boko Haram members preferred to fight ISWAP, or simply leave the movement. ISWAP leaders backed this forced reunification idea without realizing the impact the death of Shekau would have on most Islamic terrorists in the northeast. This became obvious when the number of Boko Haram and ISWAP members abandoning Islamic terrorism increased after the merger and death of Shekau was first announced. Many of those defectors switched to organized crime and ditched their religious pretensions. This has already been happening in the last few years but the merger caused the trend to spike. Two months after the death of Shekau over 8,000 Boko Haram/ISWAP members, including many family members who lived in Islamic terrorist camps, officially surrendered, something which merely resulted in an update of government records and agreeing to answer questions about their experience with Boko Haram. Nearly all the Boko Haram/ISWAP already named as criminals and wanted for specific crimes, are leaders and could negotiate a surrender deal that could spare them any punishment at all. That has upset a lot of northern political and business leaders, but these men know that if you have enough cash and connections, you can avoid conviction. This has been the case during the last decade as more and more notorious (they often flaunted it) politicians and business magnates were prosecuted, often with the help of foreign countries, like the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and many other Western nations, who provided evidence of financial activities locally.

Boko Haram quickly appointed a new leader; Bakura Modu (or Sahaba) who had much less experience than Shekau and he moved Boko Haram headquarters from the Sambia forces to Rijana forest in neighboring Kaduna State. These changes did not stem the defections. Boko Haram and ISWAP are both beset by money problems. Over a decade of Islamic terrorist violence in the north have ruined the local economy so there are more unemployed young men who can be enticed to join the Islamic terrorist for a joining bonus of less than $2, plus the promise of more if they learn to handle an assault rifle and succeed at looting and plundering what is left to steal in the northeast. A merger of economic, not religious, convenience was one thing most Islamic terrorists could agree on.

Up until this latest series of clashes the army had reported that in January they had killed over fifty ISWAP and Boko Haram gunmen and disrupted the supply and recruiting efforts of both groups. February 6, 2023: In the southeast (Anambra state) a local tribal feud escalated into armed violence, leaving at least ten dead and many more wounded before police arrived and the armed tribesmen scattered.

February 5, 2023: In the northwest (Katsina state) the military has organized a joint force of soldiers, police and the air force to hunt down and capture or kill bandits who attacked local villages seeking loot and livestock. In some cases, the raiders were confronted by armed vigilantes who caused the raiders to flee empty handed, Villagers and vigilantes gave information on who some of the raiders were and where they were likely to be found inside nearby forests. The air force is often called in to put an area under aerial surveillance, apparently using a UAV, because the surveillance often has to continue for hours to confirm where the bandits were. The air force can then send one of their jet fighters to attack any assembled bandits using rockets and autocannon fire. Meanwhile ground troops were sent to the area to confirm the damage. This tactic often eliminates the need for a gun battle. For several years Katsina state has been the scene of some of the worst criminal activity in the country, including kidnapping and mass attacks to loot towns and kill any civilians or police who resisted.

January 26, 2023: In central Nigeria (Nasarawa state) a bomb killed 27 Fulani tribesmen. Mo one took credit for this but it is apparently related to the ongoing feuds between the Moslem Fulani and local Christian tribes. Many of the nomadic pastoralists are Fulani, a Moslem group noted for their resourceful, opportunistic and aggressive behavior. Moslem herders have been fighting Christian farmers who refuse to allow herders to graze their animals on farmland and seize control of water supplies. Nasarawa is just north of Plateau state where such violence between Moslem herders and Christian farmers is more common and has been around a lot longer. A decade ago, that violence began showing up in Nasarawa and that kept getting worse. Early in 2014 the army deployed a task force to Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states to deal with the growing activity of armed groups. The army reduced violence but did not eliminate it and the Christians accuse some army commanders of giving in to threats, or bribes, by herders to leave the armed herders alone or even assist them in their attacks on farmers. Nasarawa leaders, tribal and political, have united in supporting opposition to armed tribesmen, especially groups from other states.
Sci-fi and fantasy K-drama "Are You Human" aired five years ago, but it remains one of drama enthusiasts' favorites for its fresh theme and casting. The series was headlined by Seo Kang Joon, Gong Seung Yeon, and more.

Now that Seo Kang Joon is set to discharge from the army, let us know what's in store for him and the rest of the cast for 2023.

Seo Kang Joon

Finally, Seo Kang Joon is returning from his military service this coming May.

Before he entered the army camp, he gifted fans with the mystery-thriller series "Grid," where he played the role of Kim Sae Ha.

With the various series he produced over the past years, K-drama fans are already looking forward to the heartthrob's next projects.

As of now, the actor's agency has yet to announce his next works.

Gong Seung Yeon

In the first half of 2022, the actress starred in "Bulgasal: Immortal Soul." In the same year, she wowed the viewers with her return in the action-adventure series "The First Responders." She won the Excellent Actress Award at the SBS 2022 Drama Awards for her performance in the series.

As of this writing, Gong Seung Yeon has not confirmed dramas yet, but viewers are ready to see her in a more challenging role.

Lee Joon Hyuk

Following his appearance in "Our Beloved Summer," Lee Joon Hyuk is booked to headline a new drama.

After releasing two seasons, the hit series "Forest of Secrets" is making a comeback with a spin-off titled "Good or Bad Dong Jae." The actor will reprise his role as a corrupt prosecutor.

The production is still discussing the scheduled release of the said drama.

He is also expected to return to the big screen with "The Outlaws 3," alongside Ma Dong Seok, Lee Beom Soo, Kim Min Jae, Jun Suk Ho, and Ko Kyu Pil.

Kim Sung Ryoung

This veteran actress has back-to-back projects in the upcoming months. She currently starred in the new Netflix rom-com drama "Love to Hate You," where Kim Sung Ryoung plays the character of Choi Soo Jin.

She is also set to fly for Hungary as the celebrity is confirmed as a fixed cast alongside Song Joong Ki, Choi Sung Eun, Jo Han Chul, Lee Sang Hee, and Seo Hyun Woo in the upcoming Netflix film "My Name is Ro Ki Wan."

The film is rumored to premiere in the first half of 2024.

Meanwhile, Oh Eui Sik currently stars in the ongoing Netflix healing drama "Crash Course in Romance."

Who among these stars are you excited to watch in dramas this 2023? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity updates, keep your tabs open here at KDramastars.

KDramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
Hit K-drama "Princess Hours" is gearing up for its return after 17 years since it made its debut.

According to JTBC News, the officials revealed that they are currently in the planning and audition stages.

'Princess Hours' Remake To Have Major Changes in the Story + To Broadcast in 2024

In addition, amid the speculation regarding lead stars who will join the much-awaited remake, the outlet shared cited that rumors were spreading among actors regarding the upcoming audition and some celebrities have been preparing for an audition.

With this, the production company Group8 confirmed that they are in the initial stages of the casting, which includes the audition and planning stage for the drama.

"There are many works in production, so it isn't easy to produce it within this year," the official added pertaining to the "Princess Hours" remake release date.

However, Group8 hints at the possible airing date of the upcoming series.

"If production begins early next year, it is expected to be air in the middle or second half of 2024," the production company revealed.

As for the possible plot of the OG drama series, Group8 shared that changes will be made from the original K-drama.

The original series of "Princess Hours" was released in 2006 with Yoon Eun Hye, Ju Ji Hoon, Song Ji ho, and Kim Jeong Hoon playing the lead stars.

Based on the manhwa "Gung - Palace Love Story," the rom-com series depicts the story of ordinary high school student Shin Chae Kyung, played by Yoo Eun Hye, who becomes the soon-to-be wife of Crown Prince Lee Shin, played by Ju Ji Hoon.

At the time, viewers love how the actress portrayed the character well especially Chae Kyung struggles to adapt herself to royal life.

Due to the massive success of the K-drama, "Princess Hours" aired in the Philippines and had a Thai adaptation in 2017.

'Princess Hours' Remake Cast: K-drama Stars Suggested To Join the Upcoming Drama

Following the confirmation of the "Princess Hours" remake, netizens and viewers expressed who among the stars they think should be included in the cast lineup.

Among the names that appeared to play Shin Chae Kyung are Kim Yoo Jung, IU, and Shin Ye Eun since they could ace the character's bubbly personality.

In addition, others also mentioned rookie actress Oh Ye Joo, who played the role of Crown Princess in "Under the Queen's Umbrella."

As for the male lead, fans are looking forward to seeing Moon Sang Min, Song Kang, and/or Hwang In Yeop.

To recall, Moon Sang Min recently played the Crown Prince in the historical K-drama "Under the Queen's Umbrella" while others believe that Song Kang and Hwang In Yeop will give justice to Crown Prince Lee Shin's role.

What do you think?

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
A local government panel will consider prohibiting its employees from using the popular app TikTok on Kenosha County-owned devices. It would also block access to those who are using or considering downloading it from free Wi-Fi the county offers the public.

The County Board Finance and Administration Committee will take up a proposal that bans the video-sharing mobile application, which has more than 94 million users in the U.S. as of last year. The app is owned by ByteDance Ltd., which also has a subsidiary partially owned by the Chinese Communist Party, according to the resolution that will come before the committee Thursday night.

If approved by the committee and ultimately the full County Board, Kenosha County would be just one of two in Wisconsin that have followed with the lead of the state, which banned the use and access of TikTok on state-owned devices last month.

Shortly afterward, the University of Wisconsin System implemented a similar policy. Of the counties in the state, only Columbia County has enacted a policy, according to the Wisconsin Counties Association. Wisconsin is among the more than 20 states to have barred the use of TikTok on government devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and computers.

Introduced by supervisors Erin Decker and Zach Rodriguez, the new policy aims to thwart the apps ability to harvest large amounts of data, they said. The data collected often includes when, where and how users conduct activities on the internet.

What we are worried about is access to our networks, which means access to anything hooked up to our (county government) networks, which means all of our data, Decker said Tuesday night. Weve got Social Security numbers, all kinds of different information that needs to be secure.

Not all of its employees would be denied access to the app on county devices. The one exception would be law enforcement officers who conduct sanctioned criminal investigations, according to the resolution.

County employees and anyone else using a non-county network to access the internet would not be blocked.

Rodriguez, co-sponsor of the proposed policy, said we dont have the authority or the power to do that, anyways.

He said the resolution encourages county employees, including County Board supervisors, to remove it from their personal devices and discourages the use of TikTok altogether. If the public is using the countys network to access the internet, the app simply would not load, he said.

That doesnt mean were controlling your phone. Were not doing anything to your phone, Rodriguez said. But its the same type of internet access available to the public that blocks things like, porn.
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Suspect denied bond in Key West parking lot shooting

A judge on Tuesday denied bond to a Key West man charged with shooting and killing another local man behind a Key West bar on early Monday morning.

Brewer

Judge Albert Kelley denied bond to Lloyd Preston Brewer III, who is being charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Garrett Hughes, 21, of Key West. The incident started after Brewer, 57, reportedly confronted Hughes for urinating on the building the Brewer family owns in the Searstown shopping plaza on North Roosevelt Boulevard, according to Monroe County Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield. Hughes was unarmed at the time of the incident, Mansfield said. Witnesses say Brewer shot Hughes one or more times.

Hughes was transported to the Lower Keys Medical Center by Key West Fire Rescue, where he was pronounced dead shortly after. The scene was secured for several hours while Key West Police Department detectives responded and took over the investigation. The suspect was transported to the police station, interviewed and arrested, KWPD spokeswoman Alyson Crean said Monday.

Police and prosecutors reviewed video surveillance footage from the buildings, which showed both men as possibly being drunk and Hughes actions not justifying a lethal use of force, said Mansfield, adding he did not rule out bringing the case before a grand jury to upgrade the charge to first-degree murder.

Surveillance video came from multiple sources, including Brewer, the scooter shop and Conch Town Liquor & Lounge. Brewer had previously complained to the State Attorneys Office about drug activity in the parking lot, and a narcotics investigator remembered that Brewer had angles showing the parking lot, Mansfield said.

Hughes family and friends attended the hearing on Tuesday but did not speak.

Mondays arrest was not Brewers first for a violent crime. He was arrested two years ago to the month after he reportedly punched his girlfriend in the face after he had been drinking at the Stock Island Yacht Club, according to a Monroe County Sheriffs Office report.

Brewer was charged with battery causing great bodily harm. He agreed to enter a pretrial intervention program in April 2021 with 12 months of supervised release, not use intoxicants to excess and undergo random drug and alcohol screening, attend anger management classes and undergo and substance abuse evaluation, according to the court file in the case.

In exchange for successfully completing the terms of the pretrial agreement, the State Attorneys Office agreed to not prosecute the case.

Deputies were called to Brewers home, and upon entering, saw his girlfriends lips appeared to have an injury, arrest report stated. The couple was having a verbal disagreement while they were driving home from the Stock Island Yacht Club and the suspect (Brewer) subsequently punched her in the face with a closed fist, the report stated.

Brewer received four years of probation after being arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Panama City, Florida, in 1985, according to court records. He also received 12 months of probation after being arrested on DUI charge in Lumpkin, Georgia, in 1996, court records state.

On Tuesday, prosecutors have yet to determine if Brewer had a concealed weapons permits issued by the state of Florida, prosecutors said.

tohara@keysnews.com
Vigils are set to be take place in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland in memory of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, who was fatally stabbed in a park.

The teenager, from Cheshire in the UK, was found by members of the public as she lay wounded on a path in Linear Park, Culcheth, at around 3.13pm on Saturday.

A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been arrested on suspicion of her murder and remain in custody, Cheshire Police said.

The victim, who had a large following on social media site TikTok, was a transgender girl but police said there is no evidence to suggest her death was a hate crime.

In the coming days, vigils organised by members of the transgender community are due to be held in cities across Ireland including here in Kilkenny (see tweet below).

List of Irish vigils for Brianna Ghey:



Dublin: TODAY, 6pm, the Spire

Belfast: TODAY, 6pm, City Hall

Derry: TODAY, 6pm, Guildhall

Kilkenny: TOMORROW, 7pm, Town Hall



If there are any we missed please send them on!   Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin  (@DubTrans) February 15, 2023

The Kilkenny vigil is due to happen tomorrow, February 16, at 7pm at Town Hall.

It is being organised by Translife Kilkenny.

In a tribute issued after Briannas death on behalf of her family, they said the teenager was a much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.

The statement continued: 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.
The EU Parliament has passed a new measure which will effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.

The new legislation brings in revised CO2 emissions performance standards for new cars and vans, setting a path towards zero CO2 emissions for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2035.

The law requires manufacturers to reach a 100 per cent reduction in the CO2 emissions from new cars sold in the EU by 2035. The vote passed with 340 votes for and 279 against. There were 21 abstentions.

By 2025, the European Commission will reveal a methodology to fully assess and report data on a car or vans CO2 emissions throughout its life cycle. Then, in 2026, the Commission will monitor the gap between legally defined emissions limits and real-world fuel and energy consumption figures. These will then be used to adjust a manufacturers specific CO2 emissions.

Jan Huitema, member of the EU Parliament, said: This regulation encourages the production of zero- and low-emission vehicles. It contains an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and a zero-emission target for 2035, which is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

These targets create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers. Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone.

Intermediate targets of a 55 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions  and a 50 per cent reduction for vans  compared with 2021 levels were also set for 2030. Low-volume manufacturers  those producing between 1,000 and 10,000 new cars or 1,000 to 22,000 new vans  may also be granted an exemption from the rules until the end of 2035. Carmakers building fewer than 1,000 vehicles a year will continue to be exempt.
Irelands premier Leo Varadkar has hailed Nicola Sturgeon as a true European.

The Taoiseach paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon in the Dail parliament in Dublin shortly after she announced her decision to resign as Scotlands first minister.

Mr Varadkar said the outgoing SNP leader had shown huge commitment to her country.

I met her many times in Dublin and also in the context of the British-Irish Council, he said.

And I always found her to be an impressive, competent, articulate and thoughtful politician, a true European and a friend of Ireland and certainly she will always be welcome at our table.

He added: I wish Nicola and her family the very best for the future.

Irelands deputy leader and foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin also paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon.

Over many years, Nicola has demonstrated strong leadership rooted in her vision for Scotland, he said.

Ireland and Scotland are close neighbours and friends, and I have greatly appreciated and valued my regular engagement with the First Minister, particularly at British-Irish Council summits.

I want to wish her all the best and look forward to engaging with her successor in due course.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald described Ms Sturgeon as an outstanding leader and an outstanding advocate for the independence of her country.

I have absolutely no doubt that she will continue always to advocate for the country and the people that she loves, she said.

The leader of Irelands Labour Party Ivana Bacik also paid tribute during a question time session in the Dail.

Id like to start also by acknowledging today the stepping down by Nicola Sturgeon after an eight-year term as Scotlands first minister and undoubtedly a powerful force in Scottish politics throughout that time and I just want to wish her well personally also on this surprise announcement, she said.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Rain likely. Becoming windy in the afternoon. High 49F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy. Gusty winds this evening. Low near 35F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
The Justice Department will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation.
Senate committee weighs amendment that would secure right to hunt and fish
A US Marshals operation captures 833 fugitives with more than 51 in Kansas City.




The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Wednesday referred North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker Tae Yong-ho of the ruling party to the parliamentary ethics committee for making distorting remarks about a civilian uprising on Jeju Island in the late 1940s.







Tae has come under criticism after he said earlier this week that the Jeju uprising was obviously triggered by the instruction of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung during his visit to the southern resort island as part of his ongoing campaign to become a member of the People Power Party's (PPP) Supreme Council.







The uprising, widely known as the Jeju April 3 incident, took place on April 3, 1948, when Jeju islanders began protesting against U.S. military-led rule following Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule. The then government distorted the uprising as a communist riot and massacred up to an estimated 30,000 civilians in armed crackdowns over the subsequent years.







"I believe Rep. Tae has a huge problem with his perception of history," Rep. Wi Seong-gon, DPK's vice floor leader, told reporters after submitting the complaint against Tae.







Wi, who represents a constituency in Jeju, called on Tae to give up his parliament seat and issue an apology, and urged the ruling People Power Party to expel him.







Tae, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to Britain, defected to South Korea in 2016 and was elected as a lawmaker here in 2020, becoming the first North Korean defector to do so. (Yonhap)






Interview: Report on U.S. involvement in Nord Stream explosions fits 11 known facts, says U.S. scholar

Xinhua) 13:02, February 15, 2023

This aerial photo released by the Danish Ministry of Defense on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the Nord Stream gas pipeline leak site. (Danish Defense Ministry/Handout via Xinhua)

According to Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, 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 that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The recent report by a famed U.S. journalist on the involvement of the U.S. Navy in the Nord Stream explosions is "credible" and is consistent with several existing facts, a renowned scholar has said.

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said last week on the U.S. portal Substack that the U.S. Navy was involved in the Nord Stream explosions.

According to Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, 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 that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

"I have long hypothesized that the U.S. Government carried out this action, and Hersh's account adds to the likelihood of that hypothesis," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, in an emailed interview with Xinhua.

This photo taken on Jan. 20, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The professor has listed 11 facts corresponding to Hersh's report.

First and second are "the long-standing vociferous U.S. opposition to Nord Stream and the extensive record of U.S. covert operations against the infrastructure of other countries," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden last year publicly warned that in the event of a Russian military campaign, the United States would end the pipeline, declaring, "I promise you we will be able to do it," said the economist.

Fourth, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland warned in 2022 that Nord Stream "would not move forward" if Russia launches operations, he added.

Moreover, "very few countries, if any, other than the United States have the technical capacity to carry out such an attack without immediate detection," said Sachs.

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows the fourth leak on Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Sweden's exclusive economic zone. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

He also listed Sweden's remarkable unwillingness to reveal the results of its own investigation into the explosions, and the silence in mainstream Western media regarding Hersh's report, as two facts that can explain his hypothesis.

The eighth fact is that "Western intelligence agencies have admitted that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia carried out this act," he said.

The celebration by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who deemed the pipeline destruction a "tremendous opportunity" to wean Europe from Russian gas, and by Nuland, who called the damaged Nord Stream 2 "a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea," also add to the possibility of the United States orchestrating the destruction, said the professor.

Lastly, Hersh's credible and detailed account has yet to be refuted other than possibly in minor details, he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
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MBABANE  Biomass is imperative to Eswatini as the country is currently working on increasing local generation of electricity.

The supply of electricity would transpose beyond 2025 as Eswatini Electricity Companys (EEC) contract with Eskom South Africa lapse. EEC currently imports about 70 per cent of its electricity from neighbouring countries, among which is South Africa, where electricity is generated by Eskom.

The government of Eswatini and business community have urged investors to envisage possible outcomes of investing towards biomass for the purpose of generating electricity. They postulated biomass energy can be derived from wood and agricultural products, solid waste, landfill gas and alcohol fuels. The above listed products are exorbitant in the sugar and textile industry, which, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, attested to be key players in biomass energy production.

In an interview with this publication, Khumalo said localising the generation of electricity was advantageous to the country. The minister said investors would yield tangible return as they would contribute to the local power grid, supplying both urban and rural areas. He said since the contract was expiring, local businesses capable of producing electricity should commence production.

Biomass production is currently imperative to the country as we are working on increasing local generation of electricity to limit imports, he said. The minister annexed to the paramount role investors play in the production. He said the augment of funds towards this project would assist subside the demand of electricity locally. EEC said their objective in the next five years was to increase local generation of electricity and deliver affordable and reliable electricity while simultaneously ensuring long-term financial stability of the company.

They said they also aim to promote growth of local suppliers and value chains within the realms of affordability and requisite quality standards; and have a culture of accountability, high performance, and good customer experience.

The strategy requires that we critically exhibit the company values of service excellence, respect, social responsibility, honesty and integrity. We look to our stakeholders to hold us accountable and actively assist us to achieve the same, EEC said. Business Eswatini (BE) and Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) organised Power-Talks which took place at the BE War Room.
MBABANE  Bulelwa Kunene, an intern at Yebo Art Gallery in Ezulwini, has been selected for the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africas joint fellowship programme with the University of the Western Cape located in Cape Town, South Africa (SA).

Kunene graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2021, she has been working at the gallery since April last year and has contributed to three of their exhibitions. She also took part as a facilitator in their handcraft training programme in partnership with the International Trade Centers Alliances for Action Programme funded by the European Union. She is one of five African curators, artists and writers who have been selected for this fellowship which will run from February 2023 to January 2024. The programme will be in its second iteration next year and will offer the participants practical museum experience at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. They will also be attending classes at the University of the Western Cape as part of the universitys humanities department.

Honours

Their fellowship will culminate in a research paper from each fellow as well as an honours degree award upon completion of the programme. When asked how she felt about this opportunity, Kunene stated: I am really excited about the prospect of being part of these two really great institutions for a year. I am appreciative of the efforts being made by both Zeitz MOCAA and UWC to grow the pool of young African curators. As someone who has been engaged in the arts in Eswatini through Yebo for about a year, I have had the privilege of being able to see the massive amount of potential our creative industry has, that unfortunately is so untapped because of a lack of resources for many people working in this sector. I hope that upon completion, I will be able to share my experiences and the new perspective I am sure to gain from working in and learning from such well-established and positioned institutions.

She went on to say: I have gained a lot of new experiences as an intern at Yebo, so I am looking forward to a continued relationship between myself and the gallery. Through her experience at Yebo, she has gained a huge appreciation for the handcraft sector. My research will be focused on the curatorial considerations of exhibiting handcraft work in creative institutions and ways the creative sector in Eswatini can contribute to amending existing power imbalances and exploitative practices between artisans and the art market. The particulars of my research are still being hashed out but I am really interested in how we can protect women, specifically low-income rural women within the handcraft space. Aleta Armstrong, Yebo Director said: We are thrilled that Bulelwa has been given this fantastic opportunity, it is a well-deserved appointment! We are excited to see her journey as a young African curator continue to develop.

Enthusiasm

But obviously we are sad too and we will all miss her passion, enthusiasm and hard work for contemporary art and handcraft. We know she will continue helping the creative industry of Eswatini and really look forward to working with her in the future.

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public, not-for-profit institution that exhibits, collects, preserves and researches contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora; conceives and hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational, discursive and enrichment programmes; encourages intercultural understanding; and strives for access for all. It is the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world. The museums galleries feature rotating, temporary exhibitions with a dedicated space for the permanent collection. The institution also includes the Centre for Art Education, the Centre for the Moving Image and a project space for emerging artists.
Sir,



The Eswatini masses have rarely had the opportunity to understand or enjoy the dignity of being treated as human. Our government, past and present, has always denied us of our entitlement to individual rights. Because Eswatini does not protect emaSwati, some individuals have evolved group affiliations to protect themselves. Today most people of this country ascribe humanity only to those of their own affiliations. Everyone else is sub-human and therefore deserving of the worst affiliations from nature, society and law. We have come to accept the unjust detentions, assaults and displacements.

Recognition

But without the recognition of human rights there can be no social equality. Without social equality there can be no social justice. And without social justice, corruption and patronage will continue to flourish. A society cannot fully exploit the potential of its citizens until all its members are allowed their full expression as humans. A challenge is that we conflate human rights with western culture. Human rights protect the weak.

We will achieve natural dignity by placing a non-negotiable value on the life of every citizen. Unfortunately, in Eswatini even the right to life has to be earned. Those who seem to enjoy human rights are those who have purchased them through political or economic currency. Naturally this has stimulated the general of ironic perception that human rights are a tool used by the powerful to escape justice.

Defending

Concurrently, human rights advocates are often accused of defending only the rich and powerful. This is unfair. All over Eswatini, thousands of workers are dedicated to the rights of the underprivileged but it is rare for these cases and stories to get into the media. It is simply unfortunate that in a country where people ought to fight for the protection of rights, those who should be more enlightened have aided in propelling resentment against human rights advocates. Yet the goal of advocacy is not to strip the powerful of their rights; it is to ensure that rights are equally recognised for everyone. This distribution is important.

Many focus on attacking the powerful but advocacy is about empowering the weak. We will dismantle privilege by enforcing the rights of the underprivileged. If we focus simply on denying justifiable rights to the privileged, we will only end up creating a new set of equally powerful people. It is unfortunate that we, the people, are passive while charity and international organisations try to cajole government into respecting the lives of emaSwati.

We seem to have fully traded our rights to life, liberty and the dignity of our persons for solidarity with our partisan affiliations. Today we, not only accept oppression as a natural state, but we also kick against those who declare otherwise. I have watched, horrified, as some emaSwati aligned with government to attack organisations that try to hold government to basic standards of behaviour. Maybe I am idealistic, maybe this dysfunction is a fundamental nature of our Eswatini state; I dont know.
90s pop stars S Club 7 are reuniting for a 25th-anniversary tour. According to Variety, a US-based media house, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh, Rachel Stevens and Jo O'Meara will hit the stage for an 11-date tour of the U.K. and Ireland. Formed in 1998 by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller, the group signed with Polydor Records and debuted at No. 1 with its debut single, "Bring it All Back." More chart-topping singles followed, including "S Club Party" and "Don't Stop Movin'." For four seasons, the septet starred in "Miami 7," a successful BBC television series. VH1 SuperSonic 2023: Farhan Akhtar to Treat Festival-Goers With Songs From Echoes at the Music Fest.

The youth-targeted sitcom, marketed as "the Monkees for a new generation," premiered on Fox Family and later on ABC Family in the United States, following the group from London to Florida in search of fame, money, and fun. "S Club 7 in Miami" was renamed for American audiences. Musically, the trio created four studio albums and charted 11 songs, all of which reached the top 5 in the United Kingdom. Before disbanding in 2003, the band had sold over 10 million albums worldwide. S Club 7 scored a Top 10 success on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000 with "Never Had a Dream Come True." Vh1 Supersonic 2023: Farhan Akhtar, Anne-Marie, Prateek Kuhad, DIVINE, Anuv Jain and Others Set To Perform at the Music Festival in Pune.

Variety reports that although the band reformed in 2014 for a tour in the United Kingdom, they disbanded a year later to explore other opportunities. They haven't performed as a group in eight years. The group said in announcing its return: "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!"

(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 15 (ANI): Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday that a new era of self-reliance in India's defence sector is being paved, in which the country will move forward strongly on the path of progress with new energy, determination and enthusiasm.

Addressing the 'Bandhan' and valedictory ceremony of Aero India 2023, the Minister said the domestic demand must be there for creating demand for the defence industry and a record 75 per cent of defence capital procurement budget has been earmarked for domestic industry in 2023-24.

Also Read | Nikki Yadav Murder Case: CCTV Footage Shows Victim Entering Her Residence Before Being Killed.

The minister said over 250 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been signed at the event.

"We increased the share for the Indian defence industry to 64 per cent for 2021-22, then it increased to 65 per cent breaking the previous record and for 2022-23, we increased it to 68 per cent," he said.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Self-Styled Baba Shoots at Man in Najafgarh Area Over Old Feud, Arrested.

Singh said the trust of the government and society in the country's defence industry is growing.

"Under Amrit Kaal for our defence industry, the Indian vendor's capital acquisition has been upgraded to 75 per cent for 2023-2024," he said.

Singh termed the decision as an unprecedented step taken by the government at the outset of 'Amrit Kaal' to further strengthen the defence sector and minimize import dependency.

"If you take one step, the government promises to take ten steps forward. You spoke of land to run on the path of development. We are providing you full sky. Earmarking three-fourth of the capital procurement budget for the local industry is a step in that direction," he said.

Lauding Aero India 2023, the Defence Minister said that it showed a new defence sector of the new India to the whole world.

"Aero India showed the whole world that the new India's defence sector has not only become capable and enriched continuously in the last few years but is fully prepared to keep pace with the defence sector of the leading countries globally," he said.

Defence chiefs, officers, and foreign delegates were present at the event.

Singh expressed confidence that after events like Aero India 2023, the defence industry will come forward with more enthusiasm and will contribute in making the country's defence sector more powerful.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Aero India 2023 on Monday at the Air Force Station in Bengaluru's Yelahanka.

India's growth in aerospace and defence capabilities are being showcased during Aero India 2023. Rajnath Singh attend several events at Aero India 2023 and also held bilateral meetings.

He congratulated people associated with Aero India 2023. "This event inspires us to take a resolution that we will not get tired on the path of our progress. We will never stop." (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 15 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and sought an investigation into allegations of financial irregularities and stock manipulation against the Adani Group.

In his letter to Das posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Ramesh urged the RBI to ensure that "excessive debt exposure" by the Adani Group  currently and in the future  does not destabilise India's banking system.

Also Read | Air India Seals Major Aircraft Deal at Whopping USD 80 Billion, Orders 470 Planes From Airbus and Boeing.

"The Adani Group has been described as 'deeply over-leveraged' - if the Adani Group has artificially inflated the value of its stock through manipulation by offshore shell companies and raised funds by pledging those overvalued shares, the recent sell off in stock prices is creating vulnerabilities for the Adani Group to find financing, and by implication for India's banking system," the Congress MP said in his letter dated February 14.

Ramesh called on the RBI to look into two aspects  what is the true Adani Group exposure of the Indian banking system and what are the explicit and implicit guarantees that the Adani Group has been given that it will be bailed out by Indian banks if foreign funding dries up.

Also Read | Holi 2023: Uttar Pradesh Minister Dharampal Singh Asks People To Use Cow Dung Cakes in 'Holika Dahan'.

"Will the RBI ensure that Indian banks are not forced to step in to substitute for any shortfall in foreign financing, especially given the Adani Group's political connections," Ramesh asked.

Public sector financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the State Bank of India have been "unusually generous" to the Adani Group in recent years, the Congress leader alleged.

The RBI must ensure that risks to financial stability are investigated and contained, he said in his letter.

The risks of contagion from any collapse in the Adani Group's ability to secure financing must be monitored constantly, Ramesh argued.

"As the steward of the financial system, the RBI must do everything possible to protect India's banks and financial institutions, and we urge you to act in the national interest to ensure that India's taxpayers do not pay the price for the 'misgovernance' and potential 'illegalities' of one influential business house," he wrote to Das.

Ramesh also posted his letter to SEBI chief Buch on Twitter saying, many Indian citizens were disturbed by the allegations that the Adani Group has indulged in "brazen stock manipulation" and "accounting fraud" via a "vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities".

"Apart from the potential violation of several Indian laws, this goes against everything that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SBI) stands for. We urge you to investigate all potential violations and to ensure complete transparency about who is investing in Adani Group companies," Ramesh said.

"Given the Adani Group's size and political connections, it is incumbent that such investigations are seen as fair and complete, with no favour shown to the influential business group," the Congress general secretary stressed.

Any failure to do so will cast a shadow on Indian corporate governance and on India's financial regulators, and could affect our ability to raise funds globally, he argued.

In his letter, Ramesh asked why financial institutions of national importance such as the Life Insurance Corporation of India (IIC) and the State Bank of India (SBI) have "heavily bought" Adani Group equity when most private funds have been severely underweight because of concerns over corporate governance and indebtedness.

"LIC, which 30 crore Indians trust with their life savings, has lost thousands of crores in Adani Group stock in recent days. Should we not ensure that such public sector financial institutions are more conservative in their investments than their private sector counterparts and free from pressure from above?" Ramesh said.

The inclusion of Adani Enterprises in the widely used National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 index in September 2022 occurred despite the firm's weak fundamentals, an excessive price-to-earnings ratio and a tiny free float, he alleged.

He further claimed that adding Adani Enterprises compelled supposedly conservative Nifty index funds to make significant purchases of this risky stock, including the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, India's largest pension fund.

"In recent days, global stock indices have suspended Adani Group companies while the matter is investigated, but the NSE has failed to take any similar action to protect investors," Ramesh said.

Is it not SEBI's responsibility to ensure that index investors are protected from investing in questionable firms, he asked.

"We urge SEBI to play its role as the steward of India's financial markets on behalf of the crores of Indians who have faith in the fairness of India's financial markets," the Congress leader said.

Ramesh shared the letters on Twitter and said that he has expressed the hope that a "full-fledged independent investigation will be carried on the numerous allegations against the 'PM-blessed' Adani Group".

The Congress has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations against the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg.

The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

(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 15 (ANI): Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the Nangloi road rage case in which a man was killed in the national capital.

The police have identified the arrested accused as Sunny, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Outer) Harendra Kumar Singh told ANI.

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"We have registered a murder case and taken up the investigation. We have detained three people and their interrogation is underway. The police teams are conducting raids in various parts of Delhi to nab other accused whose names have come to light," he added.

The matter pertains to Tuesday evening wherein a group of several men allegedly stabbed one Sahil Malik, 25, after his brother's bike 'touched' a halted minibus near the Nangloi metro station.

Also Read | Mumbai: Nigerian National Arrested with Drugs Worth Rs 16 Lakh Near School in Borivali.

Talking to ANI, the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said that Vishal (Sahil's elder brother) was returning from his gym when his bike "touched" a standing minibus near the Nangloi metro station, following which the two parties got involved in an argument after which the alleged persons thrashed him.

"Vishal was returning from his gym at Najafgarh road when his bike touched a standing minibus near Nangloi metro station. Following the series of events, Vishal and that group of men indulged in an argument and the latter thrashed him," the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said.

He further alleged that the police also did not help Vishal when he approached them to get his bike from the spot at the police station.

"The police denied to accompany Vishal to get his bike from the spot and asked him to go himself. It was at this time, Vishal called his younger brother Sahil and asked him to pick up the bike from the spot and come to the police station. When Sahil reached the spot with his friend Danish the men attacked him with a knife," Khaleel Malik alleged adding that the doctors had declared Sahil dead.

Meanwhile, one of Sahil's friends, who is an eyewitness in the case, Danish said that "we both had gone to pick up Vishal's bike when several men came out suddenly and stabbed Sahil to death as we both were taking pictures of the bike."

"We reached there via rickshaw when suddenly eight to ten men came and stabbed Sahil at the time when we were taking pictures of the bike. I tried to save him, but failed," Danish said.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tezpur (Assam), Feb 15 (PTI) The drive to evict "encroachers" from nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and revenue land in Assam's Sonitpur district continued for the second day on Wednesday, with 12,000-odd people, who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades, left in the lurch, a senior official said.

Since morning, the administration started the eviction in five places of Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby government land, he said.

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"Today, we are carrying out the eviction exercise at Lathimari, Ganesh Tapu, Baghe Tapu, Gulirpar and Siali. So far it has been peaceful, and no untoward incident has been reported," the official said.

With a huge posse of armed security personnel, the Sonitpur district administration had on Tuesday started the exercise to clear encroached land in the wildlife sanctuary and nearby revenue villages on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river in central Assam.

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While most of the occupants, predominantly Bengali-speaking Muslims, had left their houses after receiving notices in the last few weeks, some were in the process to vacate their premises when the eviction drive started, some of the affected families said.

"Illegal settlers" were seen loading their belongings in tractor trolleys at various places since morning even as bulldozers were deployed to demolish their houses.

While collecting her belongings from the demolished house, Firoza Begum alleged that the administration had mentioned it would start eviction from February 20 but suddenly started eviction from today without any intimation.

The opposition Congress slammed the BJP-led government for the eviction drive and said many of the affected families are entitled to have land rights according to the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Deba Kumar Mishra told PTI on Tuesday that thousands of people "illegally occupied" the forest and nearby areas for decades and the administration has decided to clear "encroachment" on 1,892 hectares of land during the ongoing exercise till Thursday.

"Of this, 1,401 hectares of land falls under the sanctuary and the remaining is government land. In the forest, 1,758 families were living, comprising 6,965 people," he said.

On the government land, 755 families were residing, comprising 4,645 people according to the latest survey, the official said.

Mishra said, "We discovered that this area was never surveyed and people were in confusion if their villages fall under Nagaon or Sonitpur district. That is why government schools, Anganwadi centres, mosques and other structures were built by people who thought it is Nagaon district."

The schools and other government institutions will be attached to nearby such centres in non-encroached land in the coming days so that education and welfare measures are not affected, he said.

Over 1,700 personnel from the Assam Police and CRPF along with staffers from civil administration and the forest department are engaged in the exercise. Around 100 bulldozers, excavators and tractors were pressed into action since the morning to demolish the structures and clear the land, the DC said.

After the eviction exercise is over, the forest department will start an afforestation drive and plant thousands of saplings, a forest official said.

Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 44.06 sq km on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river and is located around 180 km east of Guwahati and 40 km south of Tezpur town.

The protected forest forms an integral part of the Laokhowa-Burachapori ecosystem and is a notified buffer zone of the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve. It is home to one-horned rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, wild buffalo, hog deer, wild pig and elephants.

Burachapori's bird list on the other hand includes the highly endangered Bengal Florican, Black-necked Stork, Mallard, Open billed Stork, Teal and Whistling Duck among others.

It has been a reserve forest since 1974 under the Sonitpur district forest department and it was declared a wildlife sanctuary in July 1995.

In November 2013, the forest was shifted to Nagaon Wildlife Division, but the entire area is under the Tezpur sub-division of Sonitpur district and also falls under the Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency.

The drive in Burachapori is the fourth major eviction exercise in Assam within just two months. The exercise in Nagoan's Batadrava on December 19 last year has been considered one of the largest in the region as it uprooted more than 5,000 alleged encroachers. It was followed by another drive on December 26 to clear 400 bighas in Barpeta.

In Pava Reserve Forest under the Lakhimpur district, the administration had undertaken an eviction drive to clear 450 hectares of encroached land on January 10, which continued for several days, displacing around 500 "illegally settled families. Also, a large area of forest-turned-agricultural land was also cleared.

The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led dispensation has been carrying out eviction drives in different parts of the state since it assumed power in May 2021.

Setting aside opposition criticism, Sarma had on December 21 last year told the Assembly that eviction drives to clear government and forest lands in Assam would continue as long as the BJP is in power.

(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 15: The Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday sent businessman Gautam Malhotra, son of former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, to judicial custody for 14 days in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Special Judge MK Nagpal decided to send Gautam Malhotra to Judicial Custody till March 1.

The court also sought Enforcement Directorate (ED) reply on a plea moved by Gautam Malhotra seeking 'grounds of arrest'. Meanwhile, ED also moved an application in Court seeking the expunging of certain remarks made by the court while granting interim bail to businessman Sharath P Reddy. Delhi Excise Policy Case: ED Arrests Raghav Magunta, Son of YSR Congress MP Magunta Srinivas Reddy, in Money Laundering Case.

Gautam Malhotra, the Director of liquor manufacturing and distribution firm the OASIS group, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of money laundering. The ED sleuths arrested the businessman following his questioning in the case. Delhi Excise Policy Case: Court Sends YSRCP MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy's Son Raghav Magunta to ED Custody Till February 20.

In October last year, the ED also raided the properties of Gautam and his father in Punjab. The younger son of Deep Malhotra, Gautam is said to manage the markets of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, apart from running the OASIS group's distilleries in Ambala and Indore.

As per sources, Gautam is an associate of Amit Arora, Director of Buddy Retail Pvt Ltd, who was arrested by the ED in November last year in the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.

Recently, the same court also decided to send a Hyderabad-based chartered accountant (CA), said to be the auditor of Bharat Rashtra Samiti's MLC K Kavitha, to judicial custody in the now scrapped excise policy case, investigated by CBI.

According to the CBI, during the course of further investigation, his (Butchibabu Gorantla) role has surfaced in the criminal conspiracy with other co-accused persons, in the formulation of favourable liquor policy and deriving undue benefits out of the same.

During the further investigation, the scrutiny of WhatsApp chats recovered from the seized Mobile phones of Butchibabu Gorantla revealed certain incriminating facts about the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy.

"He has remained in regular touch with FIR-named accused persons and other suspects during the relevant period. He has also attended various meetings with co-accused/suspects persons in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, where criminal conspiracies have been hatched among them," the CBI said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad, Feb 15 (PTI) The Telangana government is ready to spend Rs 1000 crore for the development of Hanuman temple complex at Kondagattu in Jagtial district, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Wednesday.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Migrant Worker Mistaken for Thief, Beaten to Death in Thazhambur; Six Arrested.

An official release from the CM's office said, Rao visited the shrine and held a review meeting with the officials on its redevelopment.

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The CM clarified that the reconstruction and development of the temple will be undertaken in accordance with the Vaishnava tradition. There is no shortage of funds and he (Rao) is ready to allocate Rs 1000 crore, the release said.

The CM also suggested to the officials that a suitable place be identified to set up a Vedic school in the name of "Anjanadri".

Rao along with public representatives and officials went around the temple and carried out inspection, it said.

Later, during the meeting that lasted for over two hours, he discussed measures to be taken for the redevelopment of the temple and surrounding areas with officials of the concerned departments.

The officials were also asked to take steps to provide facilities to 10 lakh devotees, who are expected to visit the temple during occasions like Hanuman Jayanti.

(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 15 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday announced the launch of the ninth edition of the Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC).

Singh made the announcement after inaugurating 'Manthan 2023', the annual defence innovation event at the Chandan Singh Air Force Convention Centre in Yelahanka here.

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The union minister said that the Defence Ministry has also approved a simplified and fast-track procedure for procurement from iDEX start-ups and MSMEs.

"iDEX has opened avenues for achieving self-reliance in defence," Singh said adding that it has been decided to increase the grants given so far to encourage new entrepreneurs in the development of larger projects.

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The Defence India Startup Challenge was first launched in 2018 by the Defence Innovation Organisation with support from the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence and Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog for the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme of the Defence Ministry.

The MoD initiated the iDEX framework to encourage indigenous innovation in defence and aerospace. The agency, in line with the Union Government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (self-reliant India campaign), provides financial grants, supports startups, MSMEs, R&D institutions, academia, and individual innovators and facilitates the procurement of their products.

Lauding the development of start-ups in the country, the Defence Minister today said that the environment created for start-ups has changed and today the number of start-ups in India is set to reach one lakh.

"The environment that has been created for start-ups in our country in the last few years, I see that it is no less than a boon for our youth. Earlier it could be counted but today their number is about to reach one lakh," said the defence minister.

Emphasizing that a hundred Unicorns have been set up by the youth, he said that it speaks volumes about the new enthusiasm within the youth and the passion for something new.

"More than a hundred Unicorns have been set up by the youth of our country. This not only tells the importance of the newly created start-up ecosystem in our country, but also the new enthusiasm that has come within our youth, and the passion to do something new," said Singh.

Addressing the event he said that "In my view Start-up means new energy, Start-up means New Commitment, and Start-up means New Enthusiasm."

"If we have to go ahead of other countries, it is necessary for new people and start-ups to come forward," Singh said.

"Earlier there was a saying 'new for nine days, old for hundred days'. But every day new innovation in the field of Science and Technology has left this adage far behind," said the Defence Minister.

He said that iDEX has been awarded the PM Award under the Innovation category. If the business of iDEX Winners expands, lakhs of people will get employment in the country.

"Start-up Manthan is a grand celebration of the journey of growth of the Indian Defence start-up ecosystem. This is an indicator of the success of our initiative "Innovations for Defence Excellence" i.e. iDEX. iDEX has so far helped many home-grown technologies to develop and move forward," said Singh.

"In order to encourage our new entrepreneurs in the development of larger projects, we have decided to increase the grants given so far. This shows the government's support for the hard work, dedication, and encouragement of our innovators and start-ups," he added.

Singh earlier today inspected an exhibition at the Convention Centre. Chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, ministry officials, innovators, and startups are attending the event.

Meanwhile, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan visited the pavilions of domestic defence firms at AeroIndia and interacted with entrepreneurs. He urged them to focus on cutting-edge research to meet the need for niche technologies and high-end manufacturing as per international standards. (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 15 (PTI) The Indian Space Association (ISpA) on Wednesday suggested setting up Space Technology Parks, on the lines of IT Parks and industrial corridors, to give impetus to the country's nascent private space industry.

In a concept paper titled 'Space Technology Parks To Energize Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Space Domain', the private space industry body said that Space Technology Parks (STP) were essential to drive economic growth, bring significant socio-economic impact, create new jobs and foster innovation in the space sector.

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"The development of STP is a critical step in the advancement of the country's space industry and will have far-reaching impacts on the economy, infrastructure, and quality of life in the years to come," Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd.), the Director General of ISpA, said.

The concept paper flagged concerns on certain clauses of the draft Space Activities Bill that states that any intellectual property right developed, generated or created onboard a space object in outer space, shall be deemed to be the property of the central government.

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"Private parties, including space startups, have been quite dissatisfied with this because it forbids them from commercialising any current space-related intellectual property rights or any research they might conduct while engaging in space operations," the ISpA said.

The industry body suggested focusing on incubation and innovation centres to help create an environment and tools for improving the priority areas and objectives aligned with the technological and strategic needs of the country.

"As the STPs would be ground infrastructure-heavy, this would require the creation of building capabilities from scratch and would need major investments. Availability of logistic hubs, transportation and facilitation of Space Parks are some of the initial developments required," it said.

The ISpA also suggested setting up test services including wind tunnel facility, central instrument facility, computation cluster & data centres with advanced facilities in STPs.

It also recommended to include a single-window mechanism for the entire space ecosystem to have transparency throughout the entire development process.

The ISpA also suggested that the creation of an STP Authority would serve as a single window to Space Technology Park for all the stakeholders involved in the space sector, providing a streamlined and efficient approach to handling the various needs and requirements of the industry.

It suggested developing a regulatory sandbox to foster space technology innovation by establishing a controlled, safe testing environment during the development and pre-marketing phase.

The ISpA also recommended that India focus on citizen science projects and Open-Source Policy for the space sector as was already done by NASA and the European Space Agency.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 15 (ANI): A Magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the death of a mother-daughter duo after a fire broke out during an anti-encroachment drive.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya assured that the accused would be arrested and the culprits won't be spared.

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Meanwhile, the mother-daughter killed in a fire during the demolition drive were cremated today.

"DY CM Pathak has assured us that our demands will be met. He said Rs 1cr, govt job, residential quarter and a land strip would be given to each of us (2 brothers) and lifetime pension for my father," said the deceased's son.

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Commissioner of police Raj Shekhar said that the administration is providing all the assistance to the victim's family.

"The administration is providing all the assistance to the victim's family. The family has given its permission to further carry out the post-mortem of both victims," said Raj Shekhar.

A 44-year-old woman and her daughter were killed after a fire broke out during an anti-encroachment drive at Marauli village of Kanpur Dehat region, the police said on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Pramila Dixit (44) and her daughter, Neha Dixit (22).

The victim's family alleged that officials engaged in carrying the drive set the house on fire when the mother-daughter duo were inside.

Based on the allegations, a case has been registered against over a dozen people including sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), station officer (SO), and Lekhpal.

According to information, the incident took place in the Marauli village on Monday afternoon during a demolition action by a team of district administration against "illegal encroachment".The family members protested against the demolition drive and allegedly threatened to set themselves on fire to stop the removal action.

This led to a scuffle between family members and officials, and during the ruckus, a fire broke out and the entire house was gutted.

There were four people inside the house at the time when the fire broke out, the exact cause of which was not clear.

"Two of them were killed, while others sustained burn injuries," officials said.

Though the exact reason behind the fire was not clear, the victim's family accused officials and anti-social elements of the area of deliberately setting their house on fire.

"Ashok Dixit, Anil Dixit and other accused along with SDM, SHO and Lekhpal set the house on fire. My mother and sister were killed in the fire, and only I and my father were able to come out. Every officer is involved in this," Shivam Dixit, the victim's son alleged.

Kanpur Police in an official note said that on the basis of the complaint by the victims' families, a case has been registered against more than 12 people including SDM, SO, and Lekhpal.Four locals, identified as Ashok Dixit, Anil Dixit, Nirmal Dixit, and Vishal Dixit have also been named in the FIR.

"There was a complaint lodged against Vishal Dixit (one of the accused named in the FIR) that he was trying to encroach upon the land belonging to the village community. In connection with this, the administrative team reached the area to remove encroachment where the incident occured," the police said.

Based on the complaint of Shivam Dixit (victim's son), a case under IPC sections 302, 307, 429, 436, 323 and 34 has been registered against the accused.

ADG Kanpur Zone Alok Singh told the media, "An official team had gone for the encroachment drive when the unfortunate incident took place. We have started investigating the matter."

Kanpur Commissioner Raj Shekhar said, "We have initiated a probe by taking the victim's family into confidence. We are trying to find out the exact sequence of events. Strict action will be taken against the accused and no one will be spared." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
MBABANE  The man who was allegedly found in possession of firearms purportedly used in the murder of two on-duty traffic police officers in Manzini is pointing fingers at his nephew, a SWAYOCO member.

German Robert Dlamini, of Endlinilembi in the Manzini Region, has filed an application for bail in which he narrated how the firearms got to be at his homestead. His application for bail is opposed by the Crown and it will be argued tomorrow.

German was arrested together with a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) Ncamiso Mabuyakhulu, who is his nephew. He accused Mabuyakhulu of being the one who brought the firearms to his homestead. The third accused person is Philani Sihlongonyane, who is a member of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO). Together they face a total of 29 charges.

The charges include the murder of State security officers, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery and malicious injury to property. German appears in five counts of contravening the Arms and Ammunition Act and two for the murder of two traffic police officers. Some of the firearms in question are two guns that were used in the murder of the pair of traffic police officers who were on duty near Grand Valley in Manzini. The officers are Sifiso Ivin Mthembu and Sonnyboy Dlamini. They were killed on October 18, 2022. The firearms allegedly used in the murder of the officers were an R4 and R1 rifles.

Bail

In his application for bail, German said he was innocent of the charges. He said he would plead not guilty to the charges. The accused told the court that he was arrested by Manzini police on November 20, 2022. In his defence, he told the court that in November last year, his co-accused, Mabuyakhulu, who is his nephew, paid him a visit and spent the night at his homestead. He said Mabuyakhulu was in the company of his girlfriend. German said after his nephew and his girlfriend had left the next morning, he received a call from the formers girlfriend who informed him that she had seen something suspicious under the bed in the rondavel where they spent the night.

According to German, he found two firearms under the bed and hid them outside the homestead. He said he waited for Mabuyakhulu to enquire about the guns from him. He submitted that in the morning of November 19, 2022, a fleet of police vehicles arrived at his homestead together with Mabuyakhulu and another man unknown to him.

He said the police informed him that Mabuyakhulu had left some items at the homestead the last time he was visiting. Mabuyakhulu pointed out the house where he slept with his girlfriend and they looked under the bed, but the guns were not there.

I was questioned about them and I informed them that Ncamisos (Mabuyakhulu) girlfriend had called me and told me that she had seen something suspicious under the bed when she was cleaning and I had taken the guns out of my home just the previous day. I duly showed them where I had hidden the guns and Ncamiso confirmed that indeed they were his. I was then ordered to report at the Manzini Regional Police Headquarters, said Mabuyakhulu.

He told the court that he was informed that he would be called when required by the investigator and Mabuyakhulu was kept in custody. On November 23, 2022 at 7am, according to German, he received a call from the investigating officer, calling him to report at the High Court. He said he was remanded in custody at the High Court and was taken to Matsapha Maximum Prison. German told the court that he was neither interrogated nor questioned on any of the murder or robbery charges. Two firearms, he submitted, were taken from his homestead and they were R1 and R4 rifles.

I was not even aware that these firearms had live rounds of ammunition inside them. The firearm referred to in count 26 (9mm) was not retrieved in my presence. I do not have any knowledge of same and I have since gathered that Im implicated therein because the firearms which were left at my homestead were allegedly used in committing the murders in court 9 and 10 (murder of traffic officers), German added.

Mistake

German informed the court that he was not affiliated to any political party but was employed as a driver at a quarry company. I am just an old man who made a mistake by failing to timeously report the presence of firearms in my home, for which I am regretful, German added. He said the safety of the public would not be endangered by his release from custody. The accused submitted that there was no evidence implicating him in the commission of the offences, save for the firearms that were allegedly outside his homestead.

German said the circumstances leading to his arrest were a clear indication that he would be acquitted and discharged when the matter went to trial. The father of seven informed the court that in custody he was kept in isolation. He said he slept on the floor and did everything in the same room. The accused submitted that he had since fallen sick while incarcerated. He said he has had to undergo surgery. The bail application will be argued tomorrow. German is represented by Noncedo Ndlangamandla of Mabila Attorneys.


















Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 15 (ANI): Karnataka possesses all qualities to top the list in the field of the aerospace sector in the world, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Tuesday.

"In the field of the aerospace sector, Karnataka is after London and Singapore, and it has all the qualities to become the number one position," Bommai said at a dinner hosted as a mark of respect for VVIPs and industrialists participating in the Aero India Show 2023.

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The Chief Minister said that Karnataka has hosted this event for the 14th consecutive year and no state in the country has hosted the air show so many times.

"This time, the show is more and a large number of industrialists are participating," he said.

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Bommai said the opportunities are more in Bengaluru and engineers are working continuously to make the Air Show successful.

"Their elders in 1960 had been successful in making investments. New technology has brought in a lot of changes. The officials of Karnataka have successfully conducted the aero show in Bengaluru and they need to be acknowledged for their hard work. The state has helped many young entrepreneurs and technocrats to grow. The opportunities are plenty for youths in the aerospace sector," he said.

Stating that Karnataka has an aerospace policy, the Chief Minister said that small and large industries have a good opportunity.

"Presently, 65 per cent of the defence products are manufactured here and it will rise to 70 per cent in the coming days. Already, many have made investments and others have shown investment interest. The US consulate has appreciated the Bengaluru Airshow and opined the situation is conducive for investment," he said.

Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murgesh Nirani, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, Commerce & Industries Department Principal Secretary Selva Kumar, Commissioner Gunjan Krishna, and others were present on the occasion. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): Delhi Police on Wednesday detained three persons for allegedly stabbing a man in the Nangloi area of the national capital.

According to the victim's family, the incident took place as an aftermath of road rage in the Nangloi area on Tuesday evening. The deceased has been identified as Sahil Malik, 25, who was allegedly thrashed by a group of men following an argument.

Also Read | RTDC Hotels Should Sell Beer to Make More Money, Says Rajasthan Minister Pratap Khachariyawas.

Talking to ANI, the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said that Vishal (Sahil's elder brother) was returning from his gym when his bike "touched" a standing minibus near the Nangloi metro station, following which the two parties got involved in an argument after which the alleged persons thrashed him.

"Vishal was returning from his gym at Najafgarh road when his bike touched a standing minibus near Nangloi metro station. Following the series of events, Vishal and that group of men indulged in an argument and the latter thrashed him," the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said.

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He further alleged that the police also did not help Vishal when he approached them to get his bike from the spot at the police station.

"The police denied to accompany Vishal to get his bike from the spot and asked him to go himself. It was at this time, Vishal called his younger brother Sahil and asked him to pick up the bike from the spot and come to the police station. When Sahil reached the spot with his friend Danish the men attacked him with a knife," Khaleel Malik alleged adding that the doctors had declared Sahil dead.

Meanwhile, one of Sahil's friends, who is an eyewitness in the case, Danish said that "we both had gone to pick up Vishal's bike when several men came out suddenly and stabbed Sahil to death as we both were taking pictures of the bike."

"We reached there via rickshaw when suddenly eight to ten men came and stabbed Sahil at the time when we were taking pictures of the bike. I tried to save him, but failed," Danish said.

However, the police have taken up the matter and detained three persons. The search for other individuals involved in the murder is underway.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday declared a bounty of Rs 15 lakh against Canada-based absconding gangster Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa.

A resident of Harike village in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, Landa is currently residing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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The NIA had registered a case against Landa on August 20 last year under Sections 120B, 121, 121A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17, 18, 18-B and 38 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 for his involvement in unlawful activities in various parts of the country.

Landa is wanted by the NIA in regular Case No. 37/2022/NIA/DLI dated August 20, 2022, said the NIA.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Self-Styled Baba Shoots at Man in Najafgarh Area Over Old Feud, Arrested.

"If any person has any information of the importance of Landa leading to his arrest or apprehension, the information may be shared on 011-24368800, WhatsApp and Telegram number +91-8585931100 and Email ID: do.nia a@gov.in at NIA's Headquarter in New Delhi," the NIA said.

NIA Branch Office Chandigarh can also be informed at 0172-2682900, 2682901 telephone numbers, WhatsApp and Telegram Number: 7743002947 and Email ID: info-chd.nia@ gov.in, said the NIA.

"The identity of the informer shall be kept secret," added the NIA.

The NIA move comes months after Punjab Police arrested four alleged accomplices of Landa and seized four countrymade weapons along with magazines and bullets from their possessions.

One of the suspects identified as Gurlal Singh was wanted by the counterintelligence in a case of seizure of explosives last year. He was evading arrest for the past several months.

Besides Gurlal, others who were held in December last year included Rajbir Singh Raja, Armandeep Singh alias Lakha, and Gurlal Singh-- all residents of the Tarn Taran area. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 15 (ANI): A Nigerian national was arrested by the anti-narcotics cell of Mumbai Police on Wednesday for illegal possession of narcotic substances.

The arrest was made by the Kandivali unit of the anti-narcotics cell while on patrolling duty near schools and colleges in the area.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh Shocker: Unmarried Rape Survivor Kills Her Newborn Baby in Jhabua Fearing Social Stigma.

The accused has been identified as Charles Njoku Samuel, aged around 40, from whom 55 grams of MD and 12 grams of cocaine were recovered.

A case has been registered under sections 8c, 22c and 21b of the NDPS Act against the accused and he has been taken into custody.

Also Read | Delhi Excise Policy Scam Case: CBI Interrogates Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain in Tihar Jail.

According to police the accused was arrested near Rustum International School and Jr College in the Boriwali West area of the city.

The total worth of the recovered drugs is estimated at Rs 15,80,000.

Earlier on Monday, the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police arrested four drug peddlers and recovered hash worth Rs 26 lakh from the Kalachowki area of Mumbai.

Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid by Unit 4 of the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police and the accused were caught red-handed on Monday.

According to police, information was received that the smuggling of drugs was to be carried out near Ray Road in the Kalachowki area following which a trap was laid and four persons were apprehended.

Last week, the anti-narcotics cell of Mumbai police arrested a drug peddler from Dockyard Road in the Mazagaon area of Mumbai. 220 grams of MD drugs, worth Rs 44 lakh in the international market, were recovered from the accused. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kiphire (Nagaland) [India], February 15 (ANI): To ensure the conduct of a free and fair election, the Seyochung Sitimi village in poll-bound Nagaland has made a strong resolution with the motto of 'one man one vote'.

Located on the eastern side of Nagaland, the Seyochung Sitimi village shares a sub-division under Kiphire District, of the state.

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It is one of the aspirational districts in Nagaland, which has seen immense development through various projects and schemes for the villagers. It is one of the biggest villages in the Kiphire district with a total electoral of 24,086 voters.

L Khaliba Sangtam, a local, expressed his opinion that the Assembly election of 2023 would be a free and fair election. He said that the Seyochung village does not endorse party campaigns nor indulge in alcohol.

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Alumse Sangtam, Seyochung Village Council Secretary, said that starting from the village head 'gaon bura' to the elders and the voters, the village council have been monitoring with strict compliance to adhere to clean elections in the village. He said that the village council will be guiding the villagers to cast their votes peacefully.

Kyupise Sangtam, a supporter of the BJP party in Seyochung Village said that 90 per cent of the villagers are supporting the BJP and expressed confidence that the party will win under the able leadership of V Kasheho Sangtam.

Notably, the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, John Barla is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday as a star campaigner for V Kasheho Sangtam, and kick off the campaign.

He will be accompanied by Y Patton, the Deputy Chief Minister of Nagaland and BJP legislature party leader; Kazheto Kinimi, unopposed BJP candidate and Nalin Kohli, national BJP Spokesperson.

Khaseo Sangtam from INC and C Kipili Sangtam from NPP are the other candidates in the fray for the upcoming Seyochung Sitimi Assembly

BJP broke away from the Naga People's Front (NPF) and joined Neiphiu Rio's newly-established Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) ahead of the 2018 elections. Neiphiu Rio is the incumbent Chief Minister of Nagaland.

The Assembly Elections in Nagaland are slated to be held on February 27. The results will be declared on March 2. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday tagged Congress leader Jaya Thakur's plea seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by Hindenburg Research report with two other petitions related to it and listed it for hearing on February 17.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to hear on February 17 the petition filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur.

Also Read | Adani-Hindenburg Row: Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Fresh PIL of Congress Leader Seeking Investigation on February 17.

Earlier two other petitions were filed related to the Hindenburg report. One of the petitions was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari who sought to Constitute a Committee under the Monitoring of the retired Supreme Court Judge to inquire about and investigate the Hindenburg Research report. Another petitioner, advocate ML Sharma, has sought a probe against the US-based firm, whose report has led to shares of Adani group plunging on the bourses.

Jaya Thakur has moved a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by the Hindenburg Research report. Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress general secretary Jaya Thakur has moved her plea through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma.

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The petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to set up an investigation against Adani Group of Companies and its associates, which have allegedly swindled crores of money from the public and the government exchequer. It sought a probe by various investigating agencies, namely, CBI, ED, DRI, CBDT, EIB, NCB, SEBI, RBI, and SFIO, under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the top court.

The plea also sought to direct the investigating agencies to investigate the role of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI) in investing a huge amount of public money in the follow-on public offer (FPO) of the Adani Enterprises at Rs 3,200 per share whereas the prevailing market rate of shares of Adani Enterprises in the secondary market was about Rs 1,800 per share.

The petition said that the Hindenburg Research report has put a serious question mark upon the respondent company. Its findings also indicate that the Adani Group has inflated the share price of their various companies and by using the inflated price they have obtained loans worth Rs 82,000 crore from various public sectors and private banks.

The plea alleged that the respondent company and their associates have set up various offshore shell companies at various tax havens such as Mauritius, Sypris, UAE, Singapore, and the Caribbean Islands, for the transfer of money through the hawala route and have thus indulged in money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA Act 2002.

The plea further alleged that even after the Hindenburg disclosure, LIC, SBI, and several other public sector companies, without due diligence, invested huge amounts in the FPO of the Adani Enterprises and hence put crores of public money at risk. It is not understood what was their objective and to whom they were supporting and upon whom directions, the plea further claimed.

The petition also said that as per the Hindenburg report, the associate of the respondent company has been indulged in and is accused in various cases booked by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

On February 1, Adani Enterprises decided not to go ahead with its fully subscribed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO), with the Group chairman Gautam Adani stating on February 2 that it would not be "morally correct" to go ahead with the Rs 20,000-crore share in the current market condition.

A report by the New York-based short seller on January 24, accused Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud among others. The US-based firm, in its report, raised concerns about shares of Adani group companies having a possibility of declining from their current levels, owing to high valuations.

In response, Adani Group said Hindenburg's report was not an attack on any specific company but a "calculated attack" on India, its growth story, and ambitions. It added the report was "nothing but a lie". (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 15: Delhi Police have arrested a self-styled baba for allegedly shooting at a man in New Delhi's Najafgarh area, officials said on Wednesday.

One person who suffered gunshot injuries in the leg was admitted to the hospital. "He is out of danger," an official said. The accused has been identified as Sushil baba. A case under section 307 under Indian Penal Code has been registered. Delhi Shocker: Married Man Shoots Girlfriend Over Argument Inside Oyo Hotel Room in Narela.

On Wednesday at 11 am, Police said a PCR call was received regarding an incident of firing in the area under the limits of Police station Najafgarh. "The caller informed that one person has suffered gunshot injuries in the leg and is out of danger," the official said. On inquiry with locals and from the statement of the complainant, police discovered an old feud with another person from a nearby village to be the cause of the firing incident.

"There was a verbal altercation recently between the two which led to this incident," officials said. "Further investigation is going on," the official added. Meanwhile, two police personnel lost their lives after sustaining bullet injuries in firing by criminals on Saturday night in Jharkhand's Deoghar. Delhi Shocker: Juvenile Shoots at Man in Gautam Puri Who Created Fake Girl ID on Instagram; Three Detained.

Both the policemen were deployed as bodyguards of a businessman

A probe is underway, in that case, to find out if it was an encounter or culprits that opened fire indiscriminately.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 15 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Vijay Shah has given a clarification on losing his temper during Vikas Yatra in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

Minister Shah on Wednesday said, "We are taking out Vikas Yatra to promote the government scheme to the masses. But some people (Congressmen) are not able to digest this, they make innocent people consume alcohol and send them to the program where they talk nonsense which has no relevance at all."

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"These people lost their control. We ask something and they answer something else. That's why we say sometimes that if you obstruct government work, then the police will take action. After all, we are also humans, sometimes words come out in anger though it should not happen," the minister added.

He added that he wanted the journey to be peaceful, people should listen and he would also listen to their problems and try to solve them. 'But we also have to warn those who try to spoil the government programs,' Shah said.

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Notably, Shah lost his temper and got furious when a local person arrived to address his problems in front of him during the Vikas Yatra in Golkheda village of Harsud assembly in Khandwa district on Monday night (February 13).

Minister Shah lashed out at the man from the stage, alleging that a local Congress leader, Mukesh Darbar had sent the man to spoil the gathering by allegedly offering him liquor. Shah then said if the man tried to spoil the gathering then the policemen would break him.

"It is the meeting of the government, if one tries to spoil it, then the police will break him," the minister said. Besides, the minister called the policemen and handed over the man to them, calling him a drunkard.

A purported video of the incident has also surfaced on social media in which the Minister Shah was seen addressing a meeting, in the meantime, the man came with his problems. After which the minister said, "Take him away, I know that some people in Golkheda village are going to act unnecessarily. Take him away, who are the policemen? I will not tolerate this. Will listen to you (public), we are putting efforts for you. We are doing development, but if you pretend, then will put you behind bars. I know there are a few such people here."

"The local Congress leader Darbar had come here. He went off by pretending, giving money and offering alcohol. He left by saying that to spoil the gathering of Vijay Shah. This is the meeting of the government, if you try to spoil it, the police will break you. We have come here to do the work of the government," he added.

The minister asked the man how much money did the Congress leader Darbar gave him to spoil the gathering by offering him booze. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Ratlam, February 15: Two persons were killed and 17 others injured when a passenger bus rammed into a stationary truck in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district on Wednesday morning, police said.

The accident took place at around 5 am on Jaora-Lebad road, located 20 km from the district headquarters, near Sarwar Jamunia village under Bilpank police station limits, an official said. Madhya Pradesh Road Accident: Driver Charred to Death As Oil Tanker Catches Fire Near Mhow.

The bus of the Rajasthan Roadways bus on way from Pune in Maharashtra to Bhilwara (Rajasthan) when it hit the stationary truck parked on a roadside, Bilpank police station in-charge O P Singh said. Madhya Pradesh Road Accident: Policeman Killed, Three Injured As Their Car Hits Vehicle in Shajapur.

Two bus drivers, aged 45 and 55, died on the spot, he said. Seventeen passengers received injuries and were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ratlam.
Toronto, February 15: A prominent Hindu temple in Canada has been defaced by 'Khalistani extremists' with anti-India graffiti in an apparent hate crime, prompting the Indian mission here to condemn the incident and urge Canadian authorities to take swift action against the perpetrators. The latest incident took place at a Ram Mandir in Mississauga on February 13. The time of the incident is, however, not known.

"We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators," India's Consulate in Toronto tweeted on Tuesday. Canada: Consulate General of India Condemns Defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga.

"Vandalism occurred overnight (February 13th) at the Shri Ram Mandir in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. We at the Ram Mandir are very disturbed by this occurrence and we are working with the appropriate law enforcement authority on this matter," the Facebook page of the temple said.

The walls of the temple painted with pro-Khalistani slogans and anti-India graffiti. This is not the first time that a Hindu Temple in Canada was defaced with anti-India graffiti. In January, a Hindu Temple in Brampton Canada was defaced with hate-filled messages directed towards India, causing an outrage among the Indian community.

Graffiti On Walls of Ram Mandir in Mississauga

Graffiti extolling the Khalistani terrorist #Bhindranwale seen defacing #Mississauga Ram Mandir. We unequivocally condemn this hate crime and demand that Canadian authorities strongly counter #Hinduphobia and the apparent re-emergence of Khalistani rhetoric in Canada. pic.twitter.com/oJNgTf3i21  Hindu American Foundation (@HinduAmerican) February 15, 2023

In September, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir, Toronto was defaced by "Canadian Khalistani extremists". The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha is a spiritual, volunteer-driven faith dedicated to improving society through individual growth by fostering the Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selfless service.

Last September, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement condemning the rise of hate crimes against Indians and anti-India activities in Canada, expressing their concern with stern language. Canada: Ram Mandir in Mississauga Defaced With Anti-India Graffiti; Indian Consulate Condemns Incident, Demands Prompt Action Against Culprits.

Statistics Canada reported a 72 per cent increase in hate crimes based on religion, sexual orientation, and race between 2019 and 2021. This has led to increased fears among minority communities, particularly the Indian community, which is the fastest-growing demographic group in Canada, accounting for almost four per cent of the population.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
MBABANE  Government has officially launched the much awaited elderly funeral cover.

The cover was launched yesterday by the deputy prime ministers (DPM) office Principal Secretary (PS) Melusi Masuku during a press conference. Masuku announced that some elderly grant beneficiaries who will pass away would be covered under the government funeral cover. The senior citizens will be covered for E3 000.

He explained that the DPMs Office partnered with the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (SMVAF) in this exercise. However, not all senior citizens qualify for the government funeral cover. Masuku explained that not all elderly would automatically qualify for the funeral cover. He said only the needy would be covered. The PS said from the passing on of an elderly person, a selected family member would be expected to file an application through the regional social welfare centres.

An assessment will then be conducted which will determine whether the deceased elderly person deserved to be covered by the government funeral cover or not. Those who already have funeral policies with other insurance companies will not benefit from governments cover, he said. Adding, Masuku said their system was able to detect whether the deceased elderly person was indeed a beneficiary of other funeral policies. He said the claims would be paid within 24 hours from the time of lodging, excluding weekends and public holidays.

Further, the PS said the reason government partnered with MVA was because the parastatal already had an up and running system which could speed up the payment process, rather than starting a new one. He said the payouts would be through MTN mobile money and bank accounts.

Success

Meanwhile, MVA Chief Executive Officer David Myeni said they were committed to make the exercise a success. Myeni said already they had a system that processes funeral covers of people who died from road accidents. For that reason, the CEO said absorbing the elderly funeral cover would not be a burden to them. We commit to assist the DPMs Office in this massive exercise for the benefit of emaSwati, he said.

The elderly funeral cover was announced last year by His Majesty King Mswati III during the opening of the fourth session of the 11th Parliament. Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg announced governments budget of E20 per month, which would go towards the elderly funeral cover.Last year, the country had 75 489 registered elderly people. This translated to around E15 million that would be spent by government monthly for the funeral cover.
Paris [France], February 15 (ANI): Students for Free Tibet with the support of the Tibetan diaspora and friends of Tibet in France, commemorated the 110th declaration for reaffirming Tibetan Independence at the Place de la Republique in Paris on February 13.

On February 13, 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people restored Tibet as a sovereign nation and proclaimed Tibetan independence after the failed invasion of the Manchu army. For years, the Tibetan community have been protesting against China's illegal occupation and gross human rights violations committed by China in Tibet. Every year Tibetan people commemorate the anniversary and proclaim Tibet as a free nation.

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Around 50 people participated in the protest demonstration in Paris where they shouted slogans demanding an end to Chinese rights violations in Tibet and freedom from China's control.

Tenzin Choedon, Students for Free Tibet France President said, "Today we're here in Paris to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the independence of Tibet."

Also Read | Chinese Embassy in Pakistan Shuts Down Consular Section Due to Technical Issues.

She further said, "This day is particularly important today because it represents the right to sovereign people to decide for itself what kind of political regime it wants. It's an international right that is given to all people's of the world but it has been denied Tibet for the past 110 years."

Tenzin Choedon said, "It is particularly important that us young Tibetans in Paris are gathered here today to commemorate this anniversary. Because to this day, as we speak, a million spent children as young as four years old are interned in colonial boarding schools where they are separated by force from their families, where they are taught to think, to speak, and even to dreams in Chinese, and Mandarin."

Tenzin Choedon accused the Chinese state and Chinese police of collecting Tibetan DNA.

Students for Free Tibet France President said, "This is an attempt to assimilate them in the Chinese nation. Along with that, we have been witnessing the harvesting of Tibetan DNA."

Tibetan DNA being collected by force by the Chinese state and the Chinese police, helped by an American company called Thermo Fisher, to create a bank, a huge bank of Tibetan DNA. We have no idea what they're going to do with such a huge amount of DNA," she said.

Later in the day, a conference was held at the Maison des Associations in the 11th district of Paris to discuss the historical context of Tibetan independence. The three panellists in the conference were Tibetologist Katia Buffetrille, Tibetan Parliament in exile MP Thupten Gyatso, and Students for Free Tibet France President Tenzin Choedon.

During the discussions, all three panellists agreed on the historical grounds that Tibet has always been a free and independent country and Tibetans were entitled to the right to self-determination to decide their own political future.

Meanwhile in India also, the Foundation for Non-Violent Alternatives (FNVA) in association with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), organized a discussion on 'Tibet's independence and illegal occupation' in the national capital New Delhi.

Every year Tibetan people commemorate the anniversary and proclaim Tibet as a free nation. Through these events they also call upon the international community to express solidarity for the people of Tibet who have been living under illegal occupation by China for several years. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Feb 15 (PTI) Under the Biden administration, India and the US has made great strides in their trade relationships, top US officials have said after President Joe Biden announced that Air India has agreed to a historic purchase of airplanes from Boeing.

On Tuesday, the White House announced that 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 orders valued at USD 34 billion at the list price.

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There will be an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to USD 45.9 billion, a deal that US President Biden described as a "historic agreement".

I'm thrilled to celebrate this new development in the thriving trade relationship between the United States and India. Today's announcement is a deal of historic significance between the Boeing Company and the Tata Group, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

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Observing that the Air India orders will be Boeing's third biggest sale of all time in dollar value and second in quantity, Raimondo said this is a win for workers, manufacturers, and suppliers across the United States, and it reaffirms the deep and lasting relationship between the two nations.

Raimondo is scheduled to travel to India in March to co-chair the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue meetings with her Indian counterpart Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

We're also delighted to be working with India as part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for Prosperity, a historic opportunity to strengthen our economic ties and fuel economic prosperity across the Indo-Pacific region, she said adding that she is optimistic about the opportunities for the US-India economic relationship in the years to come.

The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23, 2022, in Tokyo.

Boeing-Air India deal reaffirms that optimism, the commerce secretary said. "Over the last two years, we have made great strides toward expanding the bilateral trade relationship between the US and India, including through the US-India Trade Policy Forum, to expand market access for American businesses, producers and our workers, said Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi.

Biden's announcement of the historic purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through an agreement between Air India and Boeing is the latest development in strengthening the relationship between the United States and India, she said.

Today's announcement builds on India's recent announcement to reduce tariffs on pecans, certain animal feed imports, and eliminate its duty on ethanol used for industrial purposes, Bianchi said.

Last year, the US announced that India agreed to allow imports of US pork and pork products into India, removing a longstanding barrier to US agricultural trade. USTR will continue working diligently to deepen the USIndia Trade Partnership, she said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Air India announced that it has selected Boeing's family of fuel-efficient airplanes to expand its future fleet with plans to invest in 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. When finalized, this will be the largest Boeing order in South Asia and a historic milestone in the aerospace company's nearly 90-year partnership with the carrier, Boeing said, adding that the order will post to Boeing's Orders and Deliveries website when final.

"This acquisition of nearly 300, highly advanced Boeing jets is a core element of Vihaan.AI, the comprehensive transformation and growth strategy we are pursuing at Air India," said Campbell Wilson, CEO and MD, of Air India.

"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. With this order, we are delighted to take our long relationship with Boeing to a new level," he added.

"Air India's selection of Boeing's family of passenger jets 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," said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"With the industry-leading fuel efficiency of the 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner and 777X, Air India is well positioned to achieve its expansion plans and become a world-class global airline with an Indian heart," Deal said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Charleston (US), Feb 15 (PTI) Pitching for a strong and proud America, Indian-origin Republican leader Nikki Haley formally launched her 2024 presidential bid on Wednesday, casting herself as a younger and fresher alternative to the 20th century politicians like her one-time boss and former president Donald Trump.

Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

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Addressing her enthusiastic supporters at a well-attended event here in South Carolina, she declared: "For a strong America... For a proud America... I am running for President of the United States of America!".

"When America is distracted, the world is less safe... And today, our enemies think the American era has passed. They're wrong. America is not past its prime. It's just that our politicians are past theirs!

Also Read | Shave or Face Strict Disciplinary Action: US Correctional Agency Issues Discriminatory Order.

"We won't win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th Century. And so, I have an announcement to make. I stand before you as the daughter of immigrants  as a proud wife of a combat veteran  and as the mom of two amazing children," she said at the event with a huge 'NikkiHaley For President' backdrop.

Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to immigrant Punjabi Sikh parents, Haley is the third Indian-American to run for the US presidency in three consecutive election cycles. Bobby Jindal ran in 2016 and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.

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.

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.

US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has not yet indicated if he will seek reelection. Biden, 80, is the oldest sitting US president.

"We're ready... ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past... And we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future!" Haley said.

She 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.

Haley, in her speech, said real national unity comes from boldly proclaiming national purpose, asserting that "America is not a racist country".

"My purpose is to save our country from the downward spiral of socialism and defeatism. I aim to move America upward toward freedom and strength," she said.

"This is not the America that called to my parents... And make no mistake: This is not the America I will leave to my children! We must stop socialism, before it's too late. It's weakening America from within. But there's something else eating away at our national core. On Biden and Harris's watch, a self-loathing has swept our country," she said.

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.

At 39, she 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.

"I have a particular message for my fellow Republicans. We've lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. Well, that ends today," she said.

"If you're tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win  not just as a party, but as a country  then stand with me!" she added. 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.

The top pro-Trump super PAC acknowledged on Tuesday former ambassador Haley's presidential campaign announcement, dismissing her as a "career politician."

Make America Great Again Inc. executive and former Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich released a statement on behalf of the super PAC mocking Haley and her presidential bid.

"Nikki Haley is just another career politician," Budowich said. "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 was quoted as saying by Fox News.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beirut, Feb 15 (AP) Jordan's foreign minister Tuesday met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, vowing to continue delivering earthquake aid and work to find a political solution to Syria's 12-year conflict, Syrian state media reported.

Ayman Safadi's visit to the earthquake-hit country makes him the first Jordanian official to do so since the onset of Syria's conflict in 2011.

Also Read | China Threatens US Entities Over Downing of Spy Balloon off American East Coast.

It marks a new thaw in relations between the two countries and more generally between Assad and the Arab world.

Jordan's King Abdullah II had called Assad last week to express Amman's willingness to send humanitarian aid.

Also Read | Earthquake in Turkey And Syria: Rescue Operations Underway As Death Toll Surpasses 41,000.

Since then, cargo planes and trucks loaded with assistance from the neighbouring country have reached Syria to help with relief efforts.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed over 1,400 people in government-held areas and displaced thousands more.

Safadi also met with Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad.

We discussed our bilateral relations and efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis that ends this catastrophe, Safadi said after meeting Mekdad at Damascus airport. A solution that preserves Syria's unity and sovereignty.

According to a statement from Assad's office, the Syrian president thanked Jordan for its support, and told Safadi that the Syrian people welcome any positive positions towards them, especially from brotherly Arab countries.

Jordan, like most Arab countries since the start of Syria's civil war, reduced diplomatic relations with Syria in 2011.

The kingdom also hosted Western-backed opposition groups and took in hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Arab and Western countries generally blamed Assad for the deadly crackdown on the protests that erupted in 2011, and supported the opposition in the early days of the conflict, which displaced and killed millions of people.

Assad has since regained much of Syria's territory with the backing of key allies Russia and Iran, and some Arab countries that once shunned him have been slowly rekindling ties in recent years.

King Abdullah II and Assad spoke for the first time in a decade in October 2021, discussing cooperation to bolster both countries' ailing economies over the phone.

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Assad in Damascus on Sunday, while other Arab countries close to the United States, most notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have delivered aid to Damascus.

Some experts say that the earthquake and humanitarian crisis that compounded Syria's woes may accelerate normalisation efforts between Assad and Arab countries that have shunned him for over a decade.

The United States, which has strict sanctions on Syria, has eased some of them since the earthquake for humanitarian relief. But the U.S. has been critical of countries renewing relations with the embattled president without a political settlement to end the conflict.

Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues who plays a leading role in the international effort to bring Assad and his top officials to justice for war atrocities, visited a disaster area in rebel-held Jinderis and Afrin in northwest Syria on Tuesday.

He criticised the Syrian president for holding up access to aid to opposition areas before finally authorising the U.N. to open new crossings almost a week after the quake.

There is the crime that this area is besieged by Assad and the international community has been complicit in that siege in the sense that we've allowed them to strangle the area and haven't recognised that the law permits the cross-border assistance, he told The Associated Press after his tour of the devastated areas. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
United Nations, Feb 14 (AP) The United Nations chief launched a $397 million appeal Tuesday to help nearly 5 million survivors of last week's devastating earthquake in rebel-held northwest Syria who have received very little assistance because of deep divisions exacerbated by the country's 12-year war.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appeal a day after he welcomed an agreement between the United Nations and Syrian President Bashar Assad to open two new crossing points from Turkiye for an initial period of three months.

Also Read | Holiday Group TUI, One of the Worlds Largest Tour Operators, Said It is Seeing a Positive   Latest Tweet by Reuters.

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 Russia's insistence.

Guterres said the scale of the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkiye 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.

Also Read | Tata-Boeing Deal: PM Narendra Modi Dials Up US President Joe Biden, Both Leaders Hail Air India-Boeing Pact.

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 Turkiye.

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.

He 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.

The announcement of the two additional crossings from Turkiye came as the U.N. Security Council was meeting 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 hasn't 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.

France's U.N. ambassador, Nicolas De Riviere, told reporters before Monday's 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 authorising 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 authorise the crossings and get aid to the millions in need.

Secretary-General Guterres, asked about a possible meeting with president Assad, said what's 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. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New York, Feb 15 (AP) Victims' relatives told the white supremacist killer of 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket about their loss and anguish as his sentencing began Wednesday for an attack fuelled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online.

Kimberly Salter, the widow of security guard Aaron Salter, explained why she and her family were wearing black and red.

Also Read | China Threatens US Entities Over Downing of Spy Balloon off American East Coast.

Red for the blood that he shed for his family and for his community, and black because we are still grieving, she said as her husband's killer, Payton Gendron, looked directly at her from the defense table.

Gendron pleaded guilty in November to charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate.

Also Read | Earthquake in Turkey And Syria: Rescue Operations Underway As Death Toll Surpasses 41,000.

The terrorism charge carries an automatic life sentence.

Relatives of several victims are expected to speak during the hearing, giving them an opportunity to address the judge and the killer responsible for their sorrow.

Gendron, now 19, wore bullet-resistant armour and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera as he carried out the May 14 attack.

He killed his victims with a semiautomatic rifle, purchased legally but then modified so he could load it with high-capacity ammunition magazines that are illegal in New York.

There were only three survivors after he shot 13 people, specifically seeking out Black shoppers and workers.

His victims at Tops Friendly Market included a church deacon, the grocery store's guard, a neighbourhood activist, a man shopping for a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86.

In documents posted online, Gendron said he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the U.S. He wrote that he picked the Tops grocery store, about a three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York, because it was in a predominantly Black neighbourhood.

While a life prison sentence is guaranteed for Gendron, he also faces separate federal charges that could carry a death sentence if the U.S. Justice Department chooses to seek it. New York state does not have the death penalty.

Gendron's admission of guilt on the state charges is seen as a potential help in avoiding a death sentence in the penalty phase of any federal trial.

In a December hearing, defence attorney Sonya Zoghlin said Gendron is prepared to enter a guilty plea in federal court in exchange for a life sentence.

The mass shooting in Buffalo, and another less than two weeks later that killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, amplified calls for stronger gun controls, including from victims' relatives who travelled to Washington, D.C. to testify before lawmakers.

New York legislators quickly passed a law banning semiautomatic rifle sales to most people under age 21.

The state also banned sales of some types of body armour.

President Joe Biden signed a compromise gun violence bill in June intended to toughen background checks, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws making it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
London, February 15: In a move to boost the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), the European Parliament has approved the law to ban the sale of new gas and diesel cars in the EU, starting in 2035.

The new legislation sets the path towards zero CO2 emissions for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2035 (an EU fleet-wide target to reduce CO2 emissions produced by new cars and vans by 100 per cent compared to 2021). EV Boom: Electric 2-Wheelers Market Grew Over 300% in India in 2022, Says Report.

The Commission will present by 2025 a methodology to assess and report data on CO2 emissions throughout the full life-cycle of cars and vans sold on the EU market.

"This regulation encourages the production of zero- and low-emission vehicles. It contains an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and a zero-emission target for 2035, which is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050," said Jan Huitema, a member of the European Parliament.

"Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone," Huitema added. Electric Vehicles in India: Total 16.73 Lakh Hybrid and EVs in the Country, Maharashtra Tops List With 2.96 Lakh.

Manufacturers responsible for small production volumes in a calendar year (1,000 to 10,000 new cars or 1,000 to 22 000 new vans) may be granted a derogation until the end of 2035 (those registering fewer than 1 000 new vehicles per year continue to be exempt), said the Commission. Every two years, starting from the end of 2025, the Commission will publish a report to evaluate the progress towards zero-emission road mobility.

The law was first accepted by negotiators from EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission in October last year. Several automakers like Volkswagen have already said to produce only EVs in Europe by 2033.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2023 11:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Suga, a member of K-pop supergroup BTS, said that he will begin his first-ever individual world tour in April. The rapper announced the news with detailed tour dates on Weverse, a K-pop fan community platform, reports Yonhap, a news agency. For the first time, a BTS member has announced a solo tour. Starting with Belmont Park, New York on April 26-27, the tour will take him to other parts of the United States, Newark. Did BigHit Hint at BTS Jungkook Being the Next Guest on Sugas Drinking Show Suchwita With This Video?

Rosemont, Los Angeles and Oakland as well as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Seoul and Japan. This will be the first concert by Suga as a soloist, with his last concert as a BTS member being the one held in October in Busan to support the southeastern city's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2023 04:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Bengaluru, February 15: 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. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Launches Tourist Police Stations at 20 Religious, Tourist Destinations.

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. Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy Pays Courtesy Visit to Newly Appointed Chhattishgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan.

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.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2023 09:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Wardha, February 15: Students of the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAV) here have urged the Centre to enact a 'Rohith Vemula Act' to protect scholars hailing from marginalised communities and prevent campus suicides like the two reported this week at IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras, on Wednesday.

The student-members of the All India Students Federation-MGAHV Unit, shaken by the two tragic deaths in three days, have submitted a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu through the varsity's Registrar. IIT Madras Student Dies by Suicide in Hostel Room, Body Found Hanging From Ceiling.

A delegation comprising AISF President Chandan Saroj, Secretary Jatin Chaudhary and other office-bearers Niranjan Kumar, Atul Singh, Vishal Kumar, Gautam Prakash and more met the MGAHV Registrar and requested him to forward their memorandum to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"Since 2016, students' bodies all over India have been urging the government to enact a stringent 'Rohith Vemula Act', on the lines of the Nirbhaya Act, that can secure students from deprived communities living and studying on campuses in the country," said Saroj.

Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar belonging to the OBC, had committed suicide at the University of Hyderabad in January 2017, ostensibly due to caste discrimination and harassment, sparking nationwide protests on academic campuses, said Chaudhary. Mumbai: IIT-Bombay Student From Ahmedabad Jumps to Death From Hostel Building in Powai.

The AISF-MGAHV memorandum to the President cites the two latest incidents - the suicide of an Ahmedabad student Darshan R. Solanki, 18, in IIT-B on February 12, and the hanging of a Navi Mumbai student Stephen S. Alappat, 24, in IIT-M on February 14, besides the attempted suicide of another student at the IIT-M, now under treatment in a Chennai.

It has also cited reports pointing at the alleged caste bias and harassment the two students faced, causing them immense mental agony, leading them to take the ultimate step. Chaudhary and Saroj said that such cases of students' suicides are increasing in prominent educational institutions of national importance, which is matter of concern and not a pleasant sign in a democracy.

Keeping this in mind, they urged the President that the 'Rohith Vemula Act' should be enacted to curb such tragedies and avoid exploitation of students from backward communities on campuses and the academic world at all levels.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2023 02:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
MBABANE  Government might announce a national state of emergency in response to damages caused by the heavy rains that occurred in the past week.

The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku said this when speaking during a press conference yesterday, after he assessed the damages caused by the heavy rains in the country. The DPMs assessment came a day after Cabinets visit to some of the affected areas in the Lubombo Region where the prime minister was leading the tour.

Yesterday, Masuku together with the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) flew to the Shiselweni Region and part of Lubombo Region to assess the damage that was caused by the rains. Masuku said the assessment was a preamble to a comprehensive report that they would present to the central government.

Masuku flew in a helicopter that was sponsored by Mercy Air. He said from the assessment, they noted that most of the damage was in the Northern Hhohho Region and Northern Lubombo Region. The rains were heavy in those two regions, he said. The DPM said in the Shiselweni Region, the damage was mostly in the fields as crops were submerged in water. Some of the maize stems that survived the three weeks of scotching sun were buried in the floods as well as vegetables.

He added that the full assessment was not done as the NDMA team was still busy on the ground, working around the clock to produce a detailed report that would give the country a direction to take. Following the damage in property, fields and disruptions of learning in some schools, Masuku was asked if government would announce a state of emergency in order to respond to the disaster.

Destruction

Noteworthy, the rains also affected Mozambique and South Africa (SA). Due to the trail of destruction, the SA government declared a state of emergency. A state of emergency is declared when a disaster occurred and was believed it was imminent that is severe enough to require State aid to supplement local resources in preventing or alleviating damages, loss, hardship or suffering.

Masuku said it was premature to say which direction would government take regarding declaring a state of emergency. He said a state of emergency was determined by the damage caused in the country. We cannot declare a state of emergency when only one part of the country was hit by the disaster, he said. He stated that it was possible for government to declare a state of emergency after the completion of the report. He said they did not have an intension to declare a state of emergency but if the NDMA report suggests that government needed to step up, they might recommend the declaration.

Masuku said government was fresh from responding to the COVID-19 state of emergency. He explained that declaring a state of emergency meant moving resources from other sectors and be channelled towards the response to the disaster. We are waiting for the NDMAs report, he said. The DPM stated that government at the moment did not have an overall cost of the damage, but after the completion of the assessment they would be in a better position to announce the trail of destruction in figures.

Unfortunately, we do not have a figure of the damage that was caused by the rain. We need experts in the different fields that were affected to assist the teams, he said. Further, Masuku said they were running away from announcing wrong estimates. Worth noting in 2021 during the June 29 civil unrest, government announced that the damage of the unrest was around E2 billion. Three months later, the NDMA came with a report that stated that the damage was around E800 million.
Mumbai, February 15: The Northeast Assembly Elections 2023 will begin from Thursday, February 16 with people of Tripura exercising their right to vote on the same day to elect a new government. The poll campaign for Tripura Assembly Election ended on Tuesday, February 14 after a month long campaigning. The term of Tripura Assembly will end on March 22 while the election results will be declared on March 2.

Besides Tripura, two Northeastern states mainly Meghalaya and Nagaland will also go to polls on February 27. The results of all the three states will be declared together. As Tripura awaits to vote on election to elect a new government, we take a look at some of the facts of Tripura Assembly Elections 2023. Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: Campaigning Ends, Voting To Be Held in 60 Constituencies on February 16.

A Quick Fact Sheet of Tripura Assembly Elections 2023:

The hilly state of Tripura will go to vote on Thursday, February 16 in a single phase.

Voting will be held for 60 assembly constituencies in 8 districts of the state.

A total of 28.14 lakh voters which includes 13.99 lakh women electorate will exercise their right to vote on polling day.

There is a total of 3,327 polling stations spread across 2504 locations in the state.

A total of 259 candidates, including 31 women are in fray for the February 16 Assembly elections in Tripura.

In the 2018 Assembly polls in Tripura, a total of 297 candidates, including 24 women had fought the state elections.

A total of 30,000 security personnel of CAPF have been deployed by Home Ministry for a fair and violence-free election.

Personnel of Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force have also been deployed for election day.

Around 9,000 TSR jawans and over 6,000 Tripura police personnel have been deployed for election day.

Of the 259 candidates, 55 candidates have been put by ruling party BJP, followed by CPI(M) (43), Tipra Motha Party (42), Trinamool Congress (28), and Congress (13).

The Tripura assembly election will also witness 58 Independent candidates and 14 nominees from smaller parties trying their luck in the elections.

Some of the key candidates whose fate will be decided in Thursday's election include Chief Minister Manik Saha (Town Bordowali), Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik (Dhanpur), Rajib Bhattacharjee, BJP Tripura chief (Banamalipur), Birajit Sinha, Tripura Congress chief (Kailashahr) and Sudip Roy Burman (Agartala).

The state of Tripura is expected to witness a multi-cornered fight with BJP aiming for a consecutive win with opposition parties trying to upset the saffron party. Reports suggest that the state will witness a triangular contest on 57 seats between Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance and Congress-CPI(M)-led Left coalition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2023 04:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The anti-narcotics cell (ANC) of Mumbai Crime Branch had received intelligence about a man carrying drugs at Borivali West, he said. He was spotted near an international school on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday and was taken into custody, said the official.
Arunachal Pradesh, which was earlier known as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), gained Union Territory status on January 20, 1972. It attained the status of a state on February 20, 1987. The president will arrive at the newly built Donyi Polo Airport at Hollongi, near here on February 20, the official said.
In a shocking incident that took place in Delhi, a 25-year-old youth was allegedly stabbed to death in the Nangloi area on Tuesday evening. Speaking of the incident, the deceased person's uncle Khaleel Malik said, "My nephew Vishal Malik was returning from a gym when he had an argument with an RTV bus driver over some issue. They were 8-10 people & thrashed him." His uncle said that Vishal left his bike there and managed to escape. "He went to Nangloi PS & sought help but police didn't help him. Later he called his brother Sahil & asked him to bring the bike," he said. When Sahil reached the spot, the accused attacked him with knife due to which he died on spot. Delhi Shocker: Woman Dies After Being Hit and Dragged by Car for Several Kilometres in Sultanpuri Area, Five Arrested.

Youth Stabbed to Death

Delhi | A 25-year-old youth was allegedly stabbed to death in the Nangloi area last evening My nephew Vishal Malik was returning from a gym when he had an argument with an RTV bus driver over some issue. They were 8-10 people & thrashed him: Khaleel Malik, uncle of the deceased pic.twitter.com/UCWr8Qnjoi  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

Man Stabbed to Death in Delhi

A man was stabbed to death after a fight due to road rage in Delhi's Nangloi area. The deceased is identified as Sahil Malik and his brother suffered a minor injury when his bike touched the minibus driver near Nangloi metro station.#DelhiCrime #brutality #DelhiNews pic.twitter.com/g31fs9XQ4B  Prathamesh Aparna Arvind Kharade (@PrathameshK98) February 15, 2023

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Frankfurt airport has stopped almost all arriving planes from landing, after German airline Lufthansa was forced to cancel dozens of flights over an IT problem on Wednesday. Further information into the incident is awaited. Lufthansa Flight Operations Disrupted Due to System Failure, Airline Says 'IT System Issues Causing Widespread Cancellations'.

Frankfurt Airport Closed to Arrivals:

#UPDATE | Frankfurt airport halts almost all landings amid Lufthansa IT problems, reports AFP  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
The Consulate General of India, Toronto, Canada on Tuesday said that they strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. "We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on the perpetrators," the Consulate General of India in Toronto added. Heritage Hindu Temple Defaced with Anti-India Graffiti in Canada.

Ram Mandir in Mississauga Defaced With Anti-India Graffiti

We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on the perpetrators: Consulate General of India, Toronto, Canada  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
SNAP benefits provide families with nutritional support, especially those who are at the low-income threshold.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits recipients are two-thirds families with children while over one-third are in a household with older adults or people with disabilities.

To receive food stamps payments, participants should meet certain requirements that the U.S. Agriculture Department has imposed, including other eligibility rules the state they live in are mandating, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

An applying household should meet limits on gross monthly income, which should be at or below 130% of the poverty line, equating to $2,379 a month for a three-person household. Households with a member who is age 60 or older or has a disability are exempted from this ruling.

Meanwhile, net income must be less than or equal to the poverty line, which is about $1,830 a month.

An applying household's assets should be below the limits of a $2,500 for households without a member who is age 60 or older or has a disability.

A household with such members should have an asset worth $3,750.

READ NEXT: SNAP Benefit Ending! 3 Nutrition Programs for Women and Children

SNAP Benefits Eligibility

A recent survey showed what Americans think of the current SNAP benefits eligibility, with the poll taking 1,000 participants.

Around 29% said that SNAP benefits eligibility requirements should be stricter, while 27% noted that it should be less strict.

Another 29% believed that the SNAP benefits eligibility should remain the same.

The YouGov poll also revealed other things about the anti-hunger program such as the participants' views on food stamps.

The survey showed that 67% of Americans have a favorable view of the SNAP benefits program, with it being more favorably among Democrats at 78%, Republicans at 67%, and Independents at 59%.

Meanwhile, 40% of Americans believe that SNAP should receive more additional resources, with 55% of Democrats twice as likely to support increased financing in the program while 27% of Republicans showed support.

Other welfare programs were also included in the survey such as Social Security and Medicare, which mainly benefit the elderly.

Older Americans are more likely to have a very favorable opinion of Social Security, with 57% saying Social Security should receive more funding.

SNAP Benefits Update

Several changes are applied to SNAP benefits in 2023, such as the ending of the emergency allotments.

Emergency allotments are implemented during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to help struggling Americans and cushion the economic impact of the pandemic.

Households who also receive SNAP and Social Security benefits will see a decrease in their SNAP benefits due to the significant cost of living increase to Social Security benefits on January 1, 2023.

Some states have already ended their emergency allotments such as the case in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, and Montana, among many others.

South Carolina has also put to an end their emergency allotments after the January 2023 issuance.

In March 2023, SNAP benefits will return to normal amounts for all SNAP households, including other states providing emergency allotments such as the remaining states, D.C., Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

READ MORE: SSDI Benefits February: When Will You Get Your $3000+ Payments?

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WATCH: 700K Oregonians brace for reduced SNAP benefits - from KOIN 6


After weeks of teasing, former South Carolina Governor and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has now formally thrown her hat into the ring and announced that she will be running for president, seeking the nomination of the Republican Party.

She will be joining her former boss, Donald Trump, in the race for the Republican nomination. While many are seeing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the biggest challenger for Trump, Haley is seen as the first major challenger to the former president.

She delivered the announcement via Twitter, saying in a video, "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," before announcing that she is running for president.

According to the Associated Press, Haley previously stated that she would not challenge her former boss for the presidency. However, she changed her mind in recent months, even calling Trump to tell him about her plans to run.

Many more Republicans are expected to join her and announce their own candidacies in the upcoming weeks, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, as well as the current favorite, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Nikki Haley Might Become the First Non-White and First Female Republican Presidential Nominee

Long before she announced her candidacy, Nikki Haley blazed a trail for non-White conservatives, being South Carolina's first non-white and first female Governor. She is also the second Governor of Indian descent, just after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Paid Research to Prove Election Fraud Claims

If she ever wins the Republican nomination from favorites like Trump and DeSantis, she will also be making history as the Republican Party's first non-white nominee in addition to being their first female presidential nominee.

According to Politico, Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa. She was the third of four children of a Sikh family living in rural central South Carolina. She changed her name to Nikki Haley when she married her husband, Bill Haley, whom she met while attending college at Clemson.

Republican Lawmaker From South Carolina Unsure if She Will Endorse 'Close Friend' Nikki Haley

While Haley may become popular among women and non-white Republicans, she may have a tall task ahead of her as she goes against other big names like DeSantis and Trump.

This is evident when her "close friend" and South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace spoke with CNN about Haley and admitted that she would still have to look at the field.

However, Mace still spoke highly of the former South Carolina governor, thanking her for her endorsement during the last election, even though she was attacked by Donald Trump and his MAGA candidates during the primaries. She said that Hailey was one of the only other people to reach out to her while these attacks were happening.

READ MORE: Donald Trump's Hush Money Payment to Porn Star Stormy Daniels To Be Presented Before New York Grand Jury

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WATCH: Nikki Haley announces 2024 presidential bid - MSNBC
Haiti On Tuesday, prosecutors said that U.S. officials had detained four more people concerning the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

Among those arrested was the owner of a Miami-based security firm that had contracted with former Colombian troops for the assassination.

Authorities claim the July 2021 attack, which involved a group of former Colombian troops, was initially planned as a rebellion as opposed to an assassination, A.P. reports.

Once Moise was gone, the conspirators, according to authorities, planned to cash in on lucrative government contracts.

"This was both a human tragedy and an assault on core democratic principles," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew G. Olsen.

The 59-year-old Venezuelan-American owner of the security firm CTU Security that employed the Colombians, Antonio "Tony" Intriago, faces charges, including conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the United States.

The same accusations are brought against a 50-year-old American citizen and CTU firm representative, Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, who was born in Colombia.

It is believed that U.S. citizen Walter Veintemilla, 54, of Weston, Florida, provided financial backing for the operation.

Frederick Joseph Bergmann Jr., 64, of Tampa, is the fourth suspect. He is suspected of smuggling products, including 20 CTU-branded ballistic vests concealed as medical X-ray vests and school supplies.

READ NEXT: Haiti President Assassination

Four Jovenel Moise Assassins Were Previously Transferred to U.S. Custody

The United States last month extradited four key suspects in the death of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. It comes as death threats against local Haitian judges scare them away from hearing the case.

Reports said the four suspects brought to U.S. custody include the pastor and doctor Christian Emmanuel Sanon, Colombian German Rivera Garcia, and 37-year-old Haitian American James Solages.

It has been speculated that Sanon, a failed businessman, was fooled by the assassination's true masterminds, who have yet to be revealed, despite being identified to have played a crucial role in the conspiracy. He is suspected of supplying illegal export information and smuggling commodities out of the United States. The 20 ballistic vests were smuggled in under the guise of "medical X-ray vests and school supplies."

Because of the confidence gained by the violent street gangs after Moise's death, they have been able to easily overpower the police force, plunging Haiti into a political crisis.

Courthouses have been looted and torched, and many people have been slain as gangs battle authorities and one another for control of the area.

Haiti President Jovenel Moise Assassination

Moise was shot 12 times by individuals who claimed to be from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and broke into his property in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, in July 2021. The attack also hurt the late president's wife.

Natural catastrophes, gang violence, and governmental paralysis, all exacerbated by the killing, have left Haiti as one of the world's poorest countries, according to Al Jazeera.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe told reporters on Tuesday that while the assassination of President Jovenel Moise took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, most of the plot's preparation, finance, and direction took place right here in the United States.

With the arrests on Tuesday, there are now 11 defendants being held in U.S. custody.

READ MORE: Tom Brady Sends Strong Message to Aaron Rodgers

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WATCH: Feds announce 4 arrests in connection to assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise - From WPLG Local 10
The political repression in Nicaragua intensified after the government under dictator Daniel Ortega exiled 222 political prisoners to the United States and sentenced dissident Bishop Rolando Alvarez to 26 years in prison. Now, Pope Francis has expressed his thoughts on the case.

Pope Francis said that he is both sad and worried about the fate of the Bishop of Matagpala, as well as several other members of the diocese, as several other priests who have worked with Bishop Alvarez were also sentenced and imprisoned.

The Catholic Church is one of the biggest critics of the Ortega regime, with the dictator banning all religious processions for "safety" or "public order" reasons, as well as expelling nuns serving under Mother Teresa's order. Ortega had previously called the Roman Catholic Church a "dictatorship" and called priests and bishops "coup plotters."

Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, one of the highest Church officials in Nicaragua, also addressed Bishop Alvarez's sentencing, telling the faithful, "Pray, that is our strength."

During a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Cardinal stated, "Pray that the Lord gives him strength, gives him judgment in all of his actions."

According to the Associated Press, the statements by Pope Francis and Cardinal Brenes were the first public comments Church leadership made since Nicaragua expelled several dissidents from the country. Alvarez was also offered exile but chose to stay in the country, leading him to be sentenced to 26 years in prison.

"Let them go and I'll stay and serve out their sentence," said Bishop Alvarez about his decision to stay in Nicaragua. It is noted that while the bishop chose to stay, several other imprisoned priests chose to exile to the United States.

READ NEXT: Nicaraguans Fleeing From Daniel Ortega Administration Posts Challenge for Costa Rica's Asylum System

Daniel Ortega Regime Strips Exiled Political Opponents of Their Nicaraguan Citizenship

Many of Daniel Ortega's political opponents faced harsh conditions in Nicaraguan prisons, which have become infamous for being inhumane. With 222 prisoners being freed and exiled to the United States, it can be seen as a reprieve for many of them.

However, the Associated Press reported that shortly after they were sent off to the U.S., the Ortega government voted to strip all of them of their citizenship. Matagpala Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who stayed in Nicaragua, was also stripped of his citizenship even though he was not exiled.

However, legal analysts and experts, as well as human rights groups, have called this tactic a political ploy. They also pointed out that this is unprecedented in terms of scale and impact in the Western Hemisphere and said it violated international law.

U.S. Condemns Bishop Rolando Alvarez's Imprisonment

Following Bishop Alvarez's sentencing, the United States quickly slammed the Nicaraguan government for the act before calling on the country to release one of Daniel Ortega's most vocal critics.

"We condemn this action by the government of Nicaragua and urge Bishop Alvarez's immediate release," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

However, Price still acknowledged that Nicaragua releasing many of its political prisoners was a step forward in the right direction, according to Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: Pope Francis Worried For Nicaragua After Bishop's Arrest

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WATCH: #PopeFrancis mourns the criminal conviction of Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando alvarez - ROME REPORTS in English
MBABANE - Due to threats and the fear of the unknown, a majority of attorneys are afraid to represent people who are accused of terrorism and unrest-related charges.

The situation has left most of the accused persons charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act without legal representation. This was evident during the first and second court appearance of the member of Swazis First Democratic Front (SFDF), Sibusiso Nxumalo, and his co-accused, Muzi Mnisi, at the High Court.

The duo faces 38 charges under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. They appeared without legal representation during their first and second remand hearings. When their right to legal representation was explained to them, they informed the court that they were appearing in person as they were unable to secure the services of an attorney.

Established

It was later established that efforts by leaders of the political parties they were allegedly affiliated to reportedly failed to get them legal representation. Judge Nkosinathi Maseko advised the pair about the importance of legal representation. This was because all the attorneys the leaders of the political parties contacted on the accused persons behalf were said to have informed them that they were not comfortable with representing them.

The situation played itself out even yesterday when Musa Clement Kunene and Msindiso Ntshalintshali appeared at the High Court for a remand hearing. The duo was arrested on November 8, 2022 at Mbhuleni, Matsapha. They were allegedly found in possession of explosives, among other items, and were charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. During their first appearance in court, they were represented by Human Rights Lawyer Maxwell Nkambule.

Notified

Kunene and Ntshalintshali will now appear in court to be notified of the date of the commencement of their criminal trial instead of making periodic remand appearances. They appeared before Judge Nkosinathi Maseko.

Also appearing before Judge Maseko yesterday was Sibongiseni Hoshoba Shongwe, who was arrested for allegedly burning the Ngudzeni Inkhundla on June 30, 2021. The damage to the inkhundla was estimated at E2 234 000.

Shongwe allegedly committed the offence together with Bongani Goodman Mamba, Bongumusa Kenneth Kunene who were arrested in April 2022. Shongwe was arrested at a later stage and the investigator told the court that he attempted to flee after the offence was committed.

Shongwe appeared without a legal representative yesterday for his remand hearing. He will be back in court next Thursday and he is to be co-joined with his co-accused. During his first appearance, Shongwe was also represented by Human Rights Lawyer Nkambule but the attorney was not present yesterday. Attorneys who are willing to represent some of the accused persons charged for committing terrorist activities have since officially lodged complaints with the Law Society of Eswatini. The attorneys alleged that they were receiving threats from unknown people who allegedly told them that if they continued representing the accused persons, they were putting their lives in danger and should consider withdrawing from these matters.

Movements

One of the attorneys alleged that he was tailed by unknown people who monitored his movements. Some of the lawyers said they were being threatened with being executed in the same manner that the late Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko was killed. Maseko died after being shot by an unknown individual(s) on January 21, 2023 at his homestead at KaLuhleko. The human rights lawyer was watching television with his wife and children when he was shot in the head and chest.

Another lawyer who survived a shooting incident is Human Rights Lawyer Nkambule, who was representing almost all the persons accused of committing acts of terrorism. Nkambules vehicle was shot at while he was returning from Big Bend, where he had gone to consult with some of his clients. In an interview Nkambule conducted with this publication after the shooting, he said he was undeterred and would continue representing his clients. However, after a sometime, he was reported to be at a place of safety in the Republic of South Africa.

Recently, Human Rights Lawyer Thabiso Mavuso withdrew from representing Royal Eswatini Police Service Staff Association Secretary General Dumisile Khumalo and junior police and Correctional Services officers. Mavuso was representing Khumalo and the junior officers in matters in which the SG is challenging the decision of the national commissioner (NATCOM) of police to discipline her, and government seeking to interdict the junior officers from marching.

Another attorney, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he now scrutinised cases before taking them. He said there were cases that he did not even give a second thought about and rejected them right away because he did not want to find himself in trouble.

Concerned

Times have changed. Everyone is concerned about their safety now. Its unlike in the past when we took any cases that came our way. The down side of this is that we will have a lot of inmates languishing in prison because they did not have a legal representative. There will be a backlog of cases as well, said the attorney. If the situation persists, government will find itself having to provide the accused persons with pro deo counsel. A pro deo counsel is assigned to accused persons in murder cases and any other cases which have constitutional connotations.

This means that the accused persons might be entitled to legal representation at the expense of the Eswatini Government, as some of the charges they are facing carry a sentence of death or imprisonment for life. Section 21 (2) (c) of the Constitution provides that a person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to legal representation at the expense of government in the case of any offence which carries a sentence of death or imprisonment for life.
Fox News has suddenly found itself in a legal battle after a New York Appeals Court declined to dismiss the defamation lawsuit filed by Florida-based tech firm Smartmatic. The lawsuit alleges that Fox News, as well as some of its hosts and guests, defamed the company with claims of election fraud.

According to Deadline, the appeals court ruled that Smartmatic's $2.7 billion lawsuit against the right-wing news organization would be going through, as it found that the tech company had adequately presented its claims that several Fox News personalities, including pundits and guests, have defamed the company by claiming it helped in the now-debunked election fraud that supposedly happened during the 2020 presidential elections.

The network tried to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that they were protected by the First Amendment as they talked about a matter of public interest. However, New York's Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled otherwise.

Which Fox News Personalities Were Named in the Smartmatic Defamation Lawsuit?

Along with Fox News, several of the network's personalities have been named in the lawsuit by Smartmatic, and it includes hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as former host Lou Dobbs and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. All have been caught on camera accusing the company of helping propagate election fraud.

The five Appellate Court judges concluded that there were "significant allegations" that Giuliani and another Trump attorney, Sidney Powell, defamed the company. As for Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, they ruled that they "effectively endorsed and participated in the statements with reckless disregard for or serious doubts about" whether the evidence presented by the Trump attorneys was reliable or not.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Ridiculed for Ridiculous Super Bowl Take

Meanwhile, the five judges cited the same reasoning for Pirro as they reinstated the lawsuits against her, which a lower court had previously thrown out.

Smartmatic filed the lawsuit because the company claims that the three Fox News hosts repeatedly allowed Trump's lawyers to falsely portray Smartmatic as a foreign company involved in the conspiracy to flip the election in favor of Joe Biden.

However, the Associated Press reported that the company only operated in Los Angeles County during the presidential elections. It is noted that the county is a heavily blue state, and Joe Biden would have won there easily even if Smartmatic was not involved.

Fox News Still Confident of Victory Against Smartmatic

Despite the lawsuit moving forward, lawyers representing Fox News, as well as its hosts, stated that they are very confident of winning, according to Reuters.

Fox News then released a statement, saying, "There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the United States and his lawyers making allegations of voter fraud." It also added, "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."

However, the attorney representing Smartmatic, J. Erik Connolly, stated that they are looking forward to holding Fox News and its hosts accountable,

The lawsuit is a separate case from the similar $1.6 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against the Rupert Murdoch-owned network. That case was filed in Delaware.

READ NEXT: Paul Pelosi Attacker on a Suicide Mission

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WATCH: Fox News, at apex of 'ecosystem of disinformation,' faces potential legal comeuppance - MSNBC
Interstate 10 outside Tucson was closed on Tuesday night after a nitric acid spill due to a deadly accident involving a commercial tanker truck, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS).

According to Associated Press, the truck carrying a liquid nitric acid crashed in the median and rolled over on Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 10 between Kolb and Rita roads. DPS spokesman Raul Garcia said the liquid nitric acid leaked onto the highway.

Garcia only referred to the accident as an "injury collision." The DPS said the truck driver was killed but did not provide details on whether another vehicle was involved or anyone was hurt. However, there were no reports that someone was hospitalized due to exposure to the substance.

Interstate 10 was closed in both directions as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and there was no timetable for it to reopen. Arizona DPS tweeted: "This will be an extensive closure... Motorists in the Tucson area should anticipate an impact on their Wednesday morning commute."

Portions of both Houghton and Rita roads are also closed near Interstate 10. Nitric acid is a key ingredient in the production of ammonium nitrate, which is used in agriculture, industry, and the textile and dye industries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described it as a highly corrosive, colorless liquid with yellow or red vapors that can produce an unpleasant smell.

Nitric acid exposure irritates the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Depending on the dosage, the AP reported that it may result in dental erosion, pneumonitis, bronchitis, and delayed pulmonary edema.

READ NEXT: Ohio Train Wreck: Residents Near the Site Ordered to Evacuate

Arizona Authorities Issue Shelter-In-Place Order Following the Nitric Acid Spill

Following the crash and the nitric acid leak on a stretch of Interstate 10 southeast of downtown Tucson, a shelter-in-place and evacuations were ordered, KOLD reported. The accident occurred at approximately 2:45 pm, and the shelter-in-place order was issued at around 4 p.m.

Residents within a half-mile were told to evacuate and leave, while those within a mile were ordered to shelter in place for several hours. The shelter-in-place order was reportedly lifted at 8:40 p.m., but homes and businesses that were ordered to leave will remain evacuated for the foreseeable future.

After the shelter-in-place expired, DPS announced that it was safe for people in that area to use air conditioners and heaters again. University of Arizona Tech Park was reportedly among the areas evacuated.

The Vail School District noted that most of the Rita Ranch students had already gone home after asking parents to pick up their kids as soon as possible. During a meeting, the Vail Governing Board said they would decide about Wednesday classes in the morning.

Arizona Highway Closed in Both Directions

Officials have advised locals to expect an "extensive" closure after closing the route in both directions of the highway. They warned drivers to seek alternate routes and pedestrians to stay away from the area, The Hill reported.

Earlier this week, a train derailment in Ohio, near East Palestine town, caused boxcars to explode into flames and allow harmful chemicals to escape into the air. These five train cars reportedly hold thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride each.

Officials have already conducted a "controlled release" of the chemicals to prevent an even more dangerous explosion. Chemicals' odors have largely spread, but some reportedly remained near streams.

Officials also ordered town residents and nearby communities to evacuate quickly, and they were asked to return to their homes only after two days.

READ MORE: U.S. Arrests 4 More People Linked to Jovenel Moise Assassination

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WATCH: Arizona HAZMAT Situation Caused by Nitric Acid Spill - From LiveNOW From FOX
A former military bomber engineer from Russia turned up at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum and offering to reveal Russia's top military secrets, according to a CBP report.

The unclassified Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report obtained by Yahoo News further noted that the Russian man and his family arrived in an armored SUV in late December and asked to allow them to enter the U.S. as he was afraid of prosecution for joining anti-Putin protests in support of imprisoned Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny.

Navalny has long been the most prominent face of opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been in jail since he returned to Russia in 2021 after an assassination attempt in Germany that the Kremlin allegedly carried out.

The former military bomber engineer from Russia told CBP officials that he had information wanted by the U.S. government. According to the January 11 CBP report, the Russian was a civil engineer.

His previous employment included working from 2018 to 2021, making a specific type of military airplane at the Tupolev aircraft production facility in Kazan city, Russia. The Russian engineer described the aircraft as an "attack jet" and called it "White Swan-TU160, the largest military aircraft."

READ NEXT: Border Patrol Records 800% Increase in Arrests of Chinese Nationals at U.S.-Mexico Border

Military Bomber Engineer From Russia Seeks Asylum

CBP officials reportedly worked to verify the Russian engineer's story. Two government officials told Yahoo News that the man's story was deemed credible and significant enough to be passed on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in January.

The outlet reported that the former Russian military bomber engineer is still believed to be in the U.S. and being questioned. Business Insider reported that a senior U.S. military intelligence official told Yahoo News that the government would be interested in changes Russia was making on the advanced military jets.

U.S. officials also wanted to know whether the aircraft, which can be fitted with missiles and nuclear weapons, could also be equipped with hypersonic missiles. The official noted that the U.S. government currently does not have anything that can defend against hypersonic missiles.

In the report, CBP officials wrote that open-source reporting indicated an increased production of the aircraft in recent years at the facility where the Russian engineer claimed to have worked.

Around 300,000 Russians had already left Russia before late September last year, with that number nearing 400,000 by early October of the same year. Some are reportedly seeking asylum in Western countries and offering Russian secrets in exchange.

Russians at U.S.-Mexico Border

Data published by the San Diego Rapid Response Network noted that Russians have consistently been among the top three nationalities arriving at a San Diego shelter since June 2021, Reuters reported.

Millions of refugees have reportedly fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, which Moscow calls a "special operation. Most have fled to neighboring European countries. Vladimir Putin has cracked down on dissent in Russia by jailing anti-war protesters and closing independent news outlets.

The Russian Embassy previously said it was "very concerned" about what it called the "detention" of alleged Russian citizens at the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. The embassy added that it had contacted the U.S. State Department to verify their identities.

READ MORE: Texas, Arizona Keep Sending Buses of Migrants to Washington; D.C. Mayor Devotes $10 Million to Help

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WATCH: Anti-War Russians Gather at U.S.-Mexico Border Seeking Asylum - From NBC News
Latin America will always have those romantic spots where you can take your loved ones to celebrate the month of love.

The month of February can be an excellent time to travel in Latin America as summer here runs from January to March, offering travelers plenty of opportunity to retreat to sun-soaked beaches.

Latin America offers a wide range of travel itineraries, whether exploring pristine white-sand beaches or focusing on stunning landscapes.

READ NEXT: Honduras Travel: Safety Advisories and Tourist Attractions You Should See During Your Visit in Honduras

Romantic Spots in Latin America

February can be a perfect time to go on a travel date with your significant partner and get to know them as you roam to parts of Latin America. Valentine's Day is a February 14 holiday in some Latin American countries, including Mexico and Ecuador, to celebrate romantic relationships and the love shared between family and friends.

In Brazil, the month of February is considered an important time as it equates to Carnival time. Carnival is the main festivity in Brazil and is popularly known as "The Greatest Show on Earth." The Carnival also showcases the samba dance and the participants' flamboyant costumes.

Ecuador

Ecuador's capital, Quito, is famous for housing both the country's modern life and ancient history. Quito is also home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Old Town," which educates the locals and travelers about the country's history, culture, and education.

Quito also has the Casa Gangotena Boutique Hotel, a renovated place that brings light to the country's history. Several churches can be found in Old Town, such as the Santo Domingo Church, La Iglesia de la Compania, and San Francisco Church & Convent,

Bolivia

Bolivia is starting to gain the reputation of having award-winning wine, with the country's wine industry based in the southern city of Tarija. Wine tasting with your partner in Bolivia could be your next destination. According to NPR, Tarija is known for producing the distilled grape-based spirit called singani, the country's national drink.

Ricardo Ortuno, president of Bolivia's national winemakers' association, took pride in the fact that wines in Bolivia have "more tannins and antioxidants," including more potent aromas and darker colors. Aside from wine tasting, the region is also known for its museums and architectural structures.

Chile

Punta Arenas in Chile has become the tourist center of far southern America, which would leave visitors plenty to do. Punta Arenas is famous for its museums, such as Museo Regional Salesiano, Museo Rio Seco, and Museo del Recuerdo. Most of the travel destination spots in the area are surrounded by culture and ancient historical sites.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua has been a popular honeymoon spot for newlyweds, with one of its most popular destinations being Lake Nicaragua. The lake is home to 365 small islands that create an archipelago called Las Isletas or Islets of Granada.

The stones and ash from the Mombacho volcano first formed the islets. Travelers should not also miss San Juan del Sur, a vibrant town with a big expat community. It is a popular surf beach destination, with the town full of buildings and murals.

READ MORE: Travel in Brazil Amid Pandemic: Here Are Things You Should Be Aware of Before Visiting the Latin American Country

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WATCH: Top 10 Bucket List Destinations in South America - From MojoTravels
Tabreed, the UAEs longest-established district cooling company, has announced that its group revenue for FY 2022 increased by 13% to hit AED2.2 billion ($598 million) when compared to AED1.95 billion ($531 million) the year before.

Announcing its consolidated financial results for 2022, Tabreed said its net profit attributable to the parent increased by 3% to AED600.2 million over the previou year's figure of AED585.2 million.

During the 12-month period, Tabreed had added 34,454 refrigeration tonnes (RT) of new connections in the UAE, 19,202 RT in Oman and 500 RT in Bahrain, increasing the companys total connected capacity to 1,264,252 RT, it stated.

Its core chilled water revenue increased by 14% to AED2.14 billion over AED1.88 billion in 2021, it stated.

According to Tabreed, it was an exceptional year for the company as it went spending 2022 to build on its already robust network of assets, spearheading expansion into existing and all-new markets, while at the same time investing heavily in its existing UAE infrastructure. It reported an ebitda of AED1.23 billion, up 19% over 2021.

In January, it practically doubled its concession capacity in Oman with the acquisition of a seventh district cooling plant, which services Al Mouj, the Sultanates most prestigious new real estate development.

This was swiftly followed, in February, by the announcement of Tabreeds partnership with Gascool and Marakez for Real Estate Investment Company, to provide district cooling services to the new D5M mall in New Katameya, east Cairo.

Just seven months later, Tabreed signed an agreement with Egyptians for Healthcare Services Company (EHCS), to build, own and operate on a long-term basis, an expansive district energy plant to supply cooling and heating to CapitalMed, an all-new healthcare city project by EHCS in Cairo.

On the solid performance, Chairman Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi said: "With each passing year, Tabreed fortifies its already iron-clad reputation as one of this countrys most resilient companies. Targeted, strategic, carefully planned growth continues to manifest meaningful results that benefit shareholders, employees, clients, and the districts and communities in which we operate."

Impressed by the results, Tabreeds board has recommended a dividend of 13.5 fils per share, to be paid fully in cash  an increase over last year, acknowledging growth of the business while retaining availability of capital for further expansion.

CEO Khalid Abdulla Al Marzooqi said: "During 2022, our objectives and intentions became crystal clear. Our medium- and long-term strategy is being rolled out, with the company entering additional territories and increasing awareness through close alignment with governments, legislators, and developers, who understand how vital our services are in the drive to Net-Zero."

"This company is built on excellence and the pursuit of maximum efficiency, and these results prove that Tabreeds reputation as the worlds leading district cooling company is entirely justified," he noted.

Highlighting Tabreed's key environmental impact for the 12 month-period ended December 31, 2022, Al Marzooqi said it had saved 2.31 billion kilowatt hours across the GCC - enough to power approximately 132,000 homes every year.

Also it prevented the release of 1.38 million MT of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the removal of approximately 300,000 vehicles from the roads annually, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Oh yes it is, the Mountmellick Macras annual Pantomime is back after a two-year hiatus.

Produced and directed by Brian Brady, the pantomime is an adaptation of the childrens much-loved fairy tale with a few twists and turns along the way.

Little Red Riding Hood lives at the edge of the forest. Rumour has it that the big bad wolf (Claire Stewart) is back and lurking in the forest looking for its next prey. The good Fairy (Amy Strong/Alanah Conroy) warns the wolf to stay away, but he has other plans. Little Red Riding Hood (Alanah Conroy/Amy Strong) loves walking through the forest despite being warned not to walk there alone, will she end up in trouble?

The much-loved singing village baker, Granny (Joanne Teehan), is the only person to ever banish the wolf from the forest. Granny has her own problems though due to the cost of living she owes rent money to the mean Baron (Christine Ryan).

Meanwhile, a handsome stranger, (Joseph Gorman) comes to the village looking for work. Is he guarding a secret? Could he really be a Prince looking for love? Things take a nasty turn when the prince is accused of stealing from the Baron and has to try and clear his name. No fear though because the comedy duo of Smash (Robert Rowan) and Grab (Andrew Dunne) are back in Mountmellick and are on hand to help clear the princes name.

Will the Prince find love? Will Little Red Riding Hood make it through the forest & will Granny get to keep her bakery. While we mightnt get all the answers, one thing is for sure when Smash & Grab are around, it can only mean chaos & confusion and a belly full of laughter.

New and familiar faces are taking to the stage along with a cast of 50 children. The show runs from Thursday 23rd February  Sunday 26th February. Curtains up at 8.15pm sharp each night (Thursday  Saturday) with a matinee at 3 pm and 7 pm on Sunday. Tickets are 15 for adults, 10 for children, with family rates available and are available on the door and from OGormans Newsagents. There will also be a card facility for anyone wishing to pay by card on the night.

Mark it in your diary, it's not to be missed
A group of Laois bee enthusiasts hoping to use council land for beehives have been refused.

The South Laois Beekeepers Association are looking for a site to place more beehives.

They had proposed to place them on the site of a disused water treatment plant at Tullyroe in Abbeyleix which has sat idle for over a decade according to a local councillor.

However a motion asking permission has been refused by Laois County Council' water department. It instead invites the beekeepers to think of other public lands for their bees.

Clr John Joe Fennelly tabled a motion on their behalf to the February meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District.

He asked the council to enter discussions with South Laois Beekeepers Association about a site, and said that one proposal they made was the old treatment plant.

Cllr Fennelly said that the group is rapidly expanding, with an extra 30 members in the past few months.

"They are doing training schemes. We talk about biodiversity. They look after all types of bees including the Irish black bee. Honey will come out of this, they are going from strength to strength," he said.

Water services engineer Adrian Barrett replied that the council is transferring that asset to the ownership of Irish Water, and any use of it by the beekeepers would be "premature" until the land is transferred.

"Should Cllr Fennelly or the beekeepers suggest alternative publicly owned locations, the council would welcome the opportunity to explore those options further."

Cllr Fennelly said he is disappointed.

"This piece of land has been left unattended for 10 or 12 yers. It's properly fenced, it's ideal for something like this. Why do Irish Water have to take it over? We have our own new system down the road at Tullyroe. It should be in the council's discretion to allocate this to the beekeepers," he said.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley had seconded.

"A few people approached me too looking for this apiary. They feel this is the ideal location. I welcome that the door is not closed and they can look for alternatives," she said.
Three Laois-based growers picked up coveted awards at the Tirlan Quality Grain Awards for 2022.

Robert and Paul Young from The Heath took the Malting Barley award, while Portlaoise-based Mark Onions was honoured with the Seed Wheat top prize. The Green Oilseed Rape category winner was Edward Mulhall from Emo.

The Laois winners were among 13 top quality suppliers honoured for their dedication and attention to detail in grain production.

Green Feed Wheat grower Thomas Butler and his wife, Annabel, from Bennettsbridge, Kilkenny claimed the Tirlan Quality Grain Supplier of the Year Award for 2022.

From feed beans to food grade oats, the annual Quality Grain Awards programme recognises the excellence of the top-class Irish crops delivered by Tirlans 1,100 growers each year.

Paul Young farms a mixed tillage and sheep farm with his parents, Robert and Catherine, at The Heath near Portlaoise. The Youngs grow both winter and spring crops using a plough-based system of crop establishment. The farm operates a diverse rotation which includes fodder beet, spring beans and oilseed rape as break crops.

The main cereals grown are spring malting barley, winter barley (for seed) and gluten free oats. The sheep enterprise is comprised of both early and mid-season lambing flocks. Catch crops and beet tops are grazed by the sheep over winter. Their Tirlan agronomist is Tim Scott.

Mark Onions operates a mixed tillage and suckler beef farm, also outside Portlaoise. The main cereals grown on the farm are spring malting barley, winter wheat and winter barley, preferably for seed whenever possible. Mark generally rents out some of his land for potato growing in order to generate the rotation break required to grow seed crops. Marks Tirlan agronomist is Tim Scott.

The third and final Laois category winner was Edward Mulhall. He runs a mixed tillage, dairy and beef farm along with his son James and their wives Kathleen and Grace in New Inn, Emo.

The tillage enterprise is a large scale, highly intensive operation, growing over 700 acres in total. The rotation comprises a diverse range of crops including winter barley, winter wheat, oilseed rape (HEAR), fodder beet, gluten free oats and spring malting barley.

The Mulhalls are strong believers in crop nutrition and soil sample regularly which allows them to follow a fertiliser plan to best utilise nutrients and get the most from each crop. The Mulhalls Tirlan agronomist is Barry Purcell.

Tirlan Chairman, John Murphy, said choosing an overall winner from among the 13 high calibre entrants was extremely difficult in a harvest year that was blessed with great weather, exceptional quality and high yields.

The excellence of our suppliers is something we in Tirlan never take for granted. Generations of commitment, knowledge and expertise are what set us apart from growers all over the world. Were passionate about what we do and it shows in the high-quality produce that comes from our family farms.

Our standard-setting growers are the cream of the crop. We commend them on the exceptionally high standards they have set and for their continued dedication to quality, best practice and sustainability and their commitment to the sector.

In Harvest 2022, we took in our highest ever volume of premium grains and delivered an additional 3 million in bonus payments to growers of these premium crops. We remain firmly focused on adding value to our premium grains portfolio through our investment in innovation, said John Murphy.

Aoife Murphy, Director of Ingredients at Tirlan, said: There has been a significant investment in cutting edge technology in our Innovation Centre, our team of Commercial, R&D, market insights and nutrition specialists, who work with our product management and marketing divisions to continuously develop our plant-based offering.

Our high-quality Oat-based ingredients can now be found in a wide variety of food applications such as bars and snacks as well as plant-based alternatives; including drinks, ice cream and chocolate.

Were continuing to expand our portfolio, build our expertise and evolve our offerings for the future in line with growing market trends. Key markets include North America, Europe and Asia, Aoife Murphy said.

John Kealy, Head of Grains at Tirlan, said: We doubled our grain volumes in 2022 through our high-spec Oats Mill in Portlaoise. We have ambitions to continue to develop or milling capacity and extend our capability to take advantage of emerging market opportunities.

As the largest buyer and user of premium Irish grains, Tirlan paid out circa 100 million to grain growers for Harvest 2022 with a grain intake of over 300,000 tonnes.
METAC Training located in Mountrath, Co. Laois has established itself as a market leader in the energy training field. Since 2006 METAC have provided specialist training to installers and service technicians in the energy industry on a wide range of courses including, gas, oil, electrical, solid fuel and renewable energy. Each day learners from around the country travel to Mountrath to avail of the first-class training and facilities available in METAC. The standard of training on offer is second to none with METACs pool of trainers sourced locally and from further afield.

Since 2010 METAC have been facilitating the local community in providing night classes on a part-time basis, the courses on offer include special needs assisting level 5 and 6 to Arc, MIG and TIG welding. METAC have something on offer for everyone.

Our Renewable Courses include Micro Solar Photovoltaic Systems Implementation and Micro-Generator Electrical Installation courses. As METAC is the largest energy training and assessment provider in Ireland and the UK, it is fully furnished with the specialist equipment needed to deliver this course in line with the required standards of QQI.

Both the micro solar photovoltaic systems implementation and the micro-generator electrical installation courses are 5 days in duration each and QQI Certified to a level 6. On site we have a PV array with battery storage, working training roofs, a 6K wind turbine, a 200-watt unit for training driven by a variable speed motor with an inverter which records revolutions and the power supply. We also have a 6KW CPH unit.

Our QQI Level 6 Domestic Heat Pump Systems course is designed to upgrade the skills and knowledge of persons in the Renewable Energy Industry; as well as to provide the required level of knowledge to persons entering the Renewable Energy Sector. This training will provide an extensive insight into Domestic Heat Pump Systems and will prepare candidates for the end of programme examinations leading to recommendation for certification and subsequent Registration with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland as a Qualified Installer. With the support of the Heat Pump Association and various manufacturers, METAC have installed three new air-to-water heat pumps to the existing ground source along with air-to-water units which are already in place.

METAC continue to provide training and assessment for Domestic Gas operatives to comply with the CRU requirements for a 5-year reassessment cycle. There are several different options available to candidates for training and assessment, whether they need some training or just assessment only; METAC have designed this course to suit each candidates individual needs.

METAC in conjunction with Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board continue to facilitate Electrical and Plumbing Apprenticeship (Phase 2 Training) at our Centre in Mountrath.

This provision provides for three classes of fourteen apprentices for a period of twenty-two weeks to assist the industry need for more apprentices, as there are approximately 1000 apprentices nationwide awaiting this training at present. This will also have a huge benefit to Mountrath and the surrounding areas with the requirement for accommodation and facilities for these Trainees, we also have an ongoing requirement for accommodation for our Energy courses.

For more information on these courses available from METAC, phone 057 8756540, email info@metac.ie or visit the website at www.metac.ie.

*Sponsored Content
Network Ireland is preparing for a sparkling International Women's Day event, where guests will have the chance to win a one carat diamond necklace worth 5,000. The money raised from the raffle is going towards this years chosen charities, IMNDA and Friends of St Brigids Hospice in Co Kildare.

IMNDA provides invaluable care and support to people with motor neurone disease and to their families, friends and caregivers. Friends of St Brigids Hospice raises funds for extra hours of Home Care where necessary and Home Care for patients with incurable life-threatening illnesses and their families.

2023 marks the 40th anniversary of Network Ireland and President Emma Early Murphy is calling on women to celebrate their successes, big and small. Guests will have the opportunity to hear from a panel of female founders who will address and inspire the gathering next month.

These include founder of start-up The Smooth Company, Aine Kennedy entrepreneur Suzie ONeill whose business, AYU Cosmetics, has become a global success stylist and image consultant Jess Colivet who continues to go from strength to strength after beating breast cancer, Valerie Roe who runs the very successful PR agency Valerie Roe PR MC is owner of Catwalk Modelling Agency, Mandy Maher.

Kildare County Council are this years event partner and CEO Sonya Kavanagh will tell her story about becoming the first female CEO of the local authority having begun her career there over 28 years ago.

Emma Early Murphy is welcoming their participation. I am delighted that we are able to bring so many inspirational women to Kildare for our special occasion. This is a particularly poignant year for me as my presidency is the same year as the Brigid 1500 celebrations and St Brigid has always been an inspiration to me as an example of leadership, support for others and a determination to follow your beliefs and these are the principles by which Network Ireland was founded. We are very mindful this year of the importance of equity and Sonia and I will be highlighting this issue during our fireside chat after dinner.

Sonya Kavanagh said, Kildare County Council is delighted to join with Network Ireland, to celebrate International Womens Day, as part of our Brigid 1500 programme. Brigid 1500 celebrates the life of one of the most iconic and remarkable women in Irish history and we have embraced this opportunity, with Network Ireland, to celebrate other Irish women and explore their experiences. We are very proud to support this fantastic event and to welcome business women, leaders, and entrepreneurs to County Kildare.

Head of Branches at AIB, Deirdre Cleary said; AIB is delighted to be part of Network Irelands International Womens Day event once again. Its particularly special as this brilliant group celebrates 40 years in operation. This years theme of Celebrating Success is truly appropriate as we reflect on the support Network has provided to thousands of people, directly and indirectly, over the years and we all look forward to celebrating that success on International Womens Day.

Members from Network Irelands 17 branches will gather for the celebration at Carton House, Co Kildare on Friday, March 3rd. There will be a raffle on the day for a 1 carat diamond necklace sponsored by Anderson Goldsmith & Jeweller and Ambit Financial Services. All proceeds go towards IMNDA and Friends of St Brigids Hospice.

Gemma Watts, Head of Fundraising at IMNDA said, Emma has been a wonderful supporter of IMNDA for a number of years and were delighted to be a charity partner for Network Ireland in 2023. Partnerships like this are a vital way for us to raise awareness of the condition and the needs of our members, and they also play an important role in our fundraising efforts. Id like to thank Emma and all of the Network Ireland team for inviting us to get involved and be part of a great International Womens Day celebration.

Dooley Insurance Group and DMPC are co-sponsors of the event while AIB is Network Irelands official partner. Newbridge Silverware are the gifting partner and Lily OBriens are the chocolatier partner.
Sadly, mass shootings are a daily affair in America

Xinhua) 13:11, February 15, 2023

A man holds up a sign denouncing gun violence during a memorial for victims of a mass shooting at Monterey Park City Hall, California, the United States, Jan. 23, 2023. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

Since the start of the New Year, in just 45 days, there have been 78 mass shootings across the United States, or an average of 1.7 per day, leaving 129 dead and 294 wounded.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and five others were injured in on-campus shootings at Michigan State University (MSU) Monday night, with the suspect found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

According to MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant, the first shots were fired inside a hall at 8:18 p.m. local time (0118 GMT) at the north end of campus, and gunshots were later heard at a nearby hall.

"This is a complete nightmare we are living tonight," Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief with MSU Department of Public Safety, was quoted by CNN.

The tragedy was the 77th mass shooting in the United States in 2023, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker website, a crowd-sourced database of U.S. mass shootings.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 78th mass shooting followed in Pennsylvania. Four students were injured to varying degrees. The suspect is still at large.

A sheriff deputy works at the scene of a shooting in Half Moon Bay in California, the United States, Jan. 23, 2023. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua)

Since the start of the New Year, in just 45 days, there have been 78 mass shootings across the United States, or an average of 1.7 per day, leaving 129 dead and 294 wounded.

Figures also showed that the number of mass shootings across the country has been rising sharply, from 339 in 2013 to 753 in 2022 -- more than double.

Three weeks earlier, seven people died and one was critically injured in two shootings in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay. Another 11 people were killed and at least 10 wounded in a shooting in Monterey Park in Southern California.

Shooting tragedies are a daily affair in the United States, with many fearing they could be caught up in the next mass killing.

"We have the highest rates of gun deaths in the world. We have more guns than people ... We have more than one gun for every man, woman and child in America. That is insanity," Paul Cole Padilla, an educational administrator, told Xinhua.

Many people blame mass shootings on race, but the reality is far more complicated. America's culture of violence runs deeper than skin color, and the single-minded focus on race won't solve anything, said Bill Maher, host of the HBO political talk show Real Time.

The culture of violence in the United States manifests on various fronts.

"Can American culture rethink itself -- can it transcend its belief that enemies are always out there, needing to be obliterated," said Robert C. Koehler, a Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer, adding that violence presents itself in people's imaginations, games, movies and defense budget, as consequence-free, instantaneous and necessary.

People mourn with candles for victims of a mass shooting in front of the city hall of Monterey Park, California, the United States, on Jan. 23, 2023. (Xinhua)

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Congress to "ban assault weapons once and for all." Still, Republicans remain steadfast in supporting gun rights and oppose more restrictions on carrying firearms.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in January outlined an agenda to prioritize enacting stricter gun laws, calling for universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme protection orders to prevent potential risk, The New York Times reported.

Although most Americans support more gun control laws, the efforts seem in vain. A viral image on social media sums up America's moral morass: "mass shooting happened, media extravaganza, thoughts and prayers, social media gun debates, no one actually does anything, back to 'normal,' another mass shooting happens."

Gun control has become a political asset rather than a problem that needs fixing.

"Americans who oppose gun control are more likely to contact public officials about it and to base their votes on it," explained Matthew Lacombe, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University and former researcher at Barnard College. "Many politicians believe that supporting gun regulation is more likely to lose them votes than to gain votes."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The UAEs EDGE Group, one of the worlds leading advanced technology and defence groups, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Estonia-based Milrem Robotics, Europes leading developer of robotics and autonomous systems.

The transaction is the largest foreign investment in Estonias growing defence industry, and will see Milrem Robotics join EDGE as a new entity within its Platforms & Systems cluster, complementing the groups existing multi-domain capabilities, a statement from EDGE Group said.

Established in 2013, Milrem Robotics mission is to provide innovative robotic solutions for challenging environments. It specialises in the development of intelligent unmanned ground vehicles, robotic warfare solutions, Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and doctrine level warfare analysis. Its main products are the THeMIS and Multiscope unmanned ground vehicles, the Type-X unmanned combat vehicle, and the MIFIK land vehicle autonomy package. The first two are intended to support dismounted soldiers and for commercial purposes such as forestry and firefighting, respectively. The Type-X is a wingman for mechanised defence units.

Faisal Al Bannai, Chairman of EDGE Group, said: "EDGEs investment in Milrem Robotics, a company with an established reputation as a leader in the fields of robotics and autonomous systems, is also an investment in the future of EDGE, which is laser focused on the development of such capabilities across its multiple domains. It will allow us to realise both companies objectives and ambitions with agility in an increasingly diverse and fiercely competitive marketplace, to share technology and expertise, and to provide Milrem with the necessary support to expand its resources and talent base for further international growth as part of EDGE, and to also contribute to the growth of Estonias sovereign defence industry."

Milrem Robotics will continue to be based in the Estonian capital Tallinn, and also operates offices in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the USA, employing approximately 200 skilled personnel.

After the transaction, EDGE will have majority control of Milrem Robotics. Other shareholders include Krauss Maffei-Wegmann, company founder, CEO Kuldar Vaarsi, and Estonian private investors, among them company employees as minority shareholders.

Kuldar Vaarsi, founder and CEO of Milrem Robotics, added: "Milrem Robotics carried out an intensive investment round aimed at finding ways to support further expansion, and EDGE Group, which comprises 20 different state-of-the-art technology and defence entities across multiple domains, offered the best opportunity for us to realise our ambitions of further international growth, in terms of footprint, and the development of our industry-leading solutions. The investment in our company by EDGE is a great testament to the success of Milrem Robotics, and an encouraging assessment of our development so far, and of the products and technology we have developed.

I am also pleased that we can continue working with our other strategic minority shareholder Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, whose expertise has been instrumental to Milrem Robotics work since acquiring a stake in 2021. We look forward to a prosperous future together.

Milrem Robotics products have been sold to 16 countries, eight of which are NATO members: the United States, Estonia, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Mansour AlMulla, Managing Director & CEO of EDGE Group, further added: "EDGE today is one of the worlds leading advanced technology and defence groups with a strong foothold across four continents. There is great potential here for both companies, and our investment in Milrem will allow it to take advantage of EDGEs considerable resources to offer our customers operating in perpetually changing operating environments a more robust portfolio of superior autonomous systems at competitive costs. A presence in Estonia also provides EDGE with strategic access to Northern Europe, increasing valuable opportunities for us across the continent and further afield, and strengthens our position as a serious global player in this sector.

The majority stake taken by EDGE is viewed as a strong signal to international investors of the valuable opportunities now available in Estonias advanced technology and defence sectors.

General (ret) Riho Terras, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Milrem Robotics, concluded: "The addition of EDGE as a new majority owner will allow Milrem to increase production, hire new people, acquire new know-how and also significantly expand its product portfolio, thereby become a stronger company internationally. This in turn allows the company to significantly and more efficiently contribute to the development of Estonias defence capability. EDGE is a leading global defence industry group with a very wide reach and impressive resources." --TradeArabia News Service
Kildare pig farmer Roy Gallie will feature on his week's on Ear To The Ground. It will be shown on RTE One on Thursday February 16 at 7pm, Repeated Sunday, 1.10pm.

The last 18 months have been cited as the toughest in a generation for pig farmers. Global events caused spiking energy and feed costs while at the same time pig prices were slow to catch-up. According to Teagcasc the average Irish pig farm has made losses of 600,000 over that period. Helen Carroll visits pig farmer Roy Gallie in Kildare to find out how the global market impacts his enterprise & what needs to happen to get the sector back on its feet.

One of other topics that will be covered is land prices. Prices for renting, leasing and buying farmland in Ireland are reaching historic levels, for many reasons - expansion in the dairy sector, investment opportunities and scarcity of supply. For some farmers who have been in rental agreements for years, the future is now uncertain. Darragh Mc Cullough meets one farmer in Kilkenny adapting how he runs his enterprise to cope with the uncertainty.

In addition to this, Ella Mc Sweeney spent the day with Wicklow dairy farmer John Kelly, to get his opinions on how he sees the sector changing in the future. Last year the government announced that it was committing to a 25% cut in emissions from agriculture by 2030. The dairy sector is coming under increasing pressure when it comes to how it will both tackle climate change, while maintaining farmers' livelihoods.
Newbridge Womens Shed will feature on RTE 's Nationwide programme on Monday, February 27 at 7pm.

Reporter, Mary Fanning joined the women for their various activities at the town hall and she interviewed several of the women during one of their Tuesday sessions.

Mary heard uplifting stories from the women about how the shed had given them hope, friendship, new skills and a space where they could be themselves.

Chairperson, Tara Hughes, tells Nationwide about their ambitions, their trip to the Dail with Senator Fiona O' Loughlin FF and how she has seen a positive change in many of the women, since they joined.

Kildare County Council's snr. community officer, Carmel Cashin tells the RTE programme that there are eight Womens' sheds in Kildare and the talent sharing between all age groups is really improving the quality of people's lives. One lady told the programme, "I never had friends until I came here."

Mary Fanning says she was so impressed with the energy, positivity and friendship among what she describes as this very special group who exude joy.
Ros OSullivan, Head of Emergency Operations with Concern Worldwide, who lives in Leitrim Village with his wife Una and family, is currently in southern Turkey and north west Syria assisting in the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes that have so far claimed over 41,000 lives.

In an article with the Irish Examiner published yesterday, February 14, Ros tells author Neil Michael that what has happened in that area is as bad as anything he has ever seen.

In the job 29 years, the Galway-born emergency aid co-ordinator is a veteran of disasters such as Nepal in 2015, following the earthquake there, and the Philippines in 2013 after Typhoon Haiyan.

The 60-year-old has spent much of the last 12 months in and out of Ukraine.

The devastation caused by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Within hours of the first earthquake on the morning of February 6, he was packing up his belongings and checking flights before saying farewell to his family in Leitrim and heading for the south-eastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa.

It is one of three ancient cities devastated by the massive Turkey-Syria earthquakes.

What has happened in Turkey and northwest Syria is as bad as anything that I have ever seen, he said.

The scale of the damage and the disruption is enormous with millions of people made homeless.

We're talking about tens of thousands of people hospitalised - and they're the fortunate ones, they survived. You're talking now upwards of over 41,000 people dead so far in Turkey, but there are still thousands missing.

So this is going to take a lot of time, and a lot of financial support, he says.

Ros's job is to have a logistics plan in place to help displaced communities once the search-and-rescue side of operations has concluded once and for all.
More than 150 people attended a special Northwest in the City event in Dublin last Thursday evening (February 9th), hosted by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Western Development Commission (WDC).

The event was aimed at career-driven professionals based in Dublin interested in learning more about life in the Northwest of Ireland and the array of exciting new opportunities open to them in the region.

Attendees learned they can land a global career with a leading company and enjoy the best of local living by moving to the Northwest. The event was held under the guise of the North West Regional Enterprise Plan, and featured Leitrim employers including Cora Systems, VistaMed and King & Moffatt.

In addition, more than 20 other global multinationals and leading Irish companies attended Northwest in the City including Optum, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), SL Controls, Overstock, LotusWorks, Arrotek, Abbvie, SITA, Avenue, FinTrU, Source Civil and more.

Guests learned that Leitrim, Donegal and Sligo are home to more than 50 multinational companies that have set up in the region and scaled their international operations. The Northwest is also home to indigenous entrepreneurs who have chosen to build and grow their own international companies of scale.

As well as showcasing senior roles including those in automation, biologics, machine learning and investor services; attendees at Northwest in the City networked with senior industry leaders and heard from their peers who have previously relocated to the region.

A panel discussion featured employers with Paul Phelan, Site Director, Optum; Elizabeth Nugent, VP EMEA, Amcor; Dr. Orla Flynn, President ATU; and Philip Martin, CEO, Cora Systems sharing their experiences of the Northwest and plans for growth.

Giving her reaction to North West in the City, Andrea McBride, Head of the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Letterkenny Global Delivery Centre said:

This was a truly effective and inspiring event that brought together many of the key stakeholders invested in making the North West a great place to work and live. TCS was delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase the opportunities and ambition that we have as a business for building out our presence in the region and making some really valued connections. I would like to commend the key agencies led by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Western Development Commission (WDC) for making this key event happen.

A second panel with speakers from AbbVie, Randox Teoranta, Overstock and King & Mofatt, focussed on people who have relocated, sharing their story of moving to the Northwest and the global career opportunities coupled with local living.

The regional agencies and local authorities were on hand to offer more practical advice on connectivity, transport, relocating and educational options. Public sector organisations such as Atlantic Technological University (ATU) outlined the latest research and innovation projects and the current opportunities that exist.

Commenting, Michelle Conaghan, Regional Manager, North West Region, IDA Ireland, said:

The Northwest is known for its surf, beaches and cliffs but last week the region went to the capital to tell a different story. One of a region on the rise, transformational change, growth and global career opportunities. The event provided a collaborative platform to raise the enterprise profile of the region and connect with the professional diaspora living in Dublin and the East.

"The regions leading companies from the Pharma, Medtech, Technology, Engineering and International Financial Services sectors were well represented by CEOs, Site Directors, and senior executives. All there with one aim, to promote the Northwest region. Employment by IDA client companies grew by 6.3% in the Border Region in 2022. Many are actively recruiting providing global career opportunities in Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim."
BP gas station in London, UK, on May 12, 2021. GLYN KIRK / AFP

It is not easy to leave the comfort of a good chair for the hardness of a folding seat, even if the former belongs to the past while the latter represents the future. The great innovation specialist Clayton Christensen used to explain tirelessly that large companies (but this also applies to states) see the change curve but still get out of the way because they underestimate its strength, trapped as they are in their comfort zone. Will the same be true of oil companies?

On February 7, Bernard Looney, BP's chief executive, surprised everyone by announcing, in the wake of glittering results, his decision to slow down its withdrawal from fossil fuels.

The company had been a good student of the oil class. In 2020, freshly appointed at the helm of the company, Looney made a strong case for accelerating the transition, promising to cut its oil and gas production by 40% by 2030.

Last week, he backtracked by reducing his target to 25%, on the motive that governments and the public are demanding a stronger energy system in the face of the current global geopolitical disorder.

He was largely under pressure from his shareholders who see that oil has never yielded as much for the company as it did in 2022: nearly $28 billion in profits. They also realize that renewable energies are much less profitable. So why step out of the group's comfort zone?

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Oil companies earned record profits in 2022

Unchanged commitment

BP's new renewables boss, Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, disputes this version and told the Financial Times in an interview that the company's commitment is intact and that it still intends to spend nearly $30 billion on this segment by 2030, which would still make it a best-in-class.

The war in Ukraine has shown that a change in a single parameter  in this instance Russian gas  can plunge an entire continent into chaos

In 2022, BP devoted 30% of its investments to renewable energy and transition and it is targeting 40% in 2025. France's TotalEnergies comes next with a forecast of 30% of investments in 2023. This ratio stood only at a few percentage points in 2018-2019.

Is the pace fast enough? No, says the non-governmental organization ShareAction, which has convinced some 30 major investors, representing 1.5 trillion in assets, to sign a letter addressed to five major European banks (BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Barclays) asking them to stop financing new oil and gas fields.

During a Parliament hearing, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne repeatedly defended the current pace of the transition arguing that an energy system cannot be turned upside down in a few years.

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US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Capitol Hill, in May 2022. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose groundbreaking political career shattered gender barriers from San Francisco's City Hall to the corridors of Capitol Hill, said on Tuesday, February 14, she would not seek reelection in 2024.

The senator, who will turn 90 in June, is the oldest member of Congress and has faced questions in recent years about her cognitive health and memory, though she has proved herself in representing a state that is home to nearly 40 million people.

The announcement came after several prominent Democrats, including US Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, already had declared Senate campaigns. With Feinstein a now 30-year veteran of the Senate, there hasn't been a wide-open competition for her seat in decades.

Feinstein plans to remain in Congress through the end of her current term. Speaking to reporters in Washington on Tuesday, she said "there's times for all things under the sun." "I think that will be the right time, towards the end of next year," she said.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes On both sides of the aisle, seniors run American politics

A veteran of the 1992 Year of the Woman

Feinstein is one of the Senate's few remaining veterans of the so-called Year of the Woman, referring to several women who were elected to the male-dominated chamber during the 1992 election. But even before she moved to Washington, Feinstein was one of the most prominent women in American politics.

She was the first woman to serve as president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the 1970s and the first female mayor of San Francisco. She ascended to that post after the November 1978 assassinations of then-Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk by a former supervisor, Dan White. Feinstein found Milk's body.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes In the US Senate, Republicans join forces with Democrats to protect same-sex marriage

In the Senate, she was the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat. She gained a reputation as a pragmatic centrist who left a mark on political battles over issues ranging from reproductive rights to environmental protection.

Feinstein is particularly closely associated with efforts to broaden gun restrictions. Early in her career, the Senate approved her amendment to ban the manufacturing and sales of certain types of assault weapons as part of a crime bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. The ban expired 10 years later and was never replaced, but it remained a trademark issue in a career that was molded by gun violence.

She was also known for reaching out to Republicans to find a middle ground. While that may have helped her notch legislative accomplishments in Washington, it chafed some in a Democratic Party that has moved increasingly to the left in recent years.

That frustration was on display during her last reelection campaign in 2018. The California Democratic Party endorsed a liberal rival for the seat over her, with some delegates complaining Feinstein had been in Washington too long and hadn't stood strong enough for immigrants. She infuriated liberals in 2020 when she closed out confirmation hearings for Justice Amy Coney Barrett with an embrace of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and a public thanks to him for a job well done.

Liberal advocacy groups that had fiercely opposed Barrett's nomination to replace the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were furious and called for her to step down from the committee leadership. A month later, she announced she would remain on the Judiciary Committee but step down as the top Democrat.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Democrats reassured after retaining Senate majority in midterm elections

'She's a legend'

But such tension was forgotten on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where Democrats praised Feinstein's career. At a closed-door lunch of Democratic senators, the lawmakers broke into rounds of applause for Feinstein after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced her decision. "She's a legend," Schumer later told reporters. "A legend in California as the first woman senator; a legend in this Senate. 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."

At the lunch, Feinstein told her colleagues how hard her husband's death was and that she would be ready to step away from public life after finishing this term, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said afterward. Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, died last year.

"Senator Feinstein made history," said Warren. "She changed this country and she was a woman on the front lines in fights, like access to assault weapons, and national security and intelligence." Warren added: "Every other woman in public office owes a special debt to Dianne Feinstein."

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Nancy Pelosi, iconic Democrat, announces withdrawal but not retirement

In her home state, where Feinstein is the longest-serving US senator, she was lionized for her historic tenure in public service. Democratic US Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, called her San Francisco neighbor "a titan" of the Senate who, among her accomplishments, steered billions of federal dollars to California for environmental protection. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called Feinstein a mentor and credited her with "blazing a trail for a new generation of female lawmakers."

Le Monde with AP
Several hundred retirees staged a protest in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday, February 15, according to witnesses and images on social media, following local anger over reforms to the public health insurance system.

Protests are rare in China, where authorities strictly enforce public order laws and opposition is quickly snuffed out. But expressions of public anger do sometimes emerge, including large protests last year against strict Covid-19 rules, which have since been rescinded.

On Wednesday a crowd of demonstrators rallied in front of Wuhan's Zhongshan Park in the second such gathering in a week. Video posted on social media showed security guards by the entrance to the popular scenic spot forming a human chain to prevent more demonstrators from entering. Four witnesses confirmed the rally took place and Agence France-Presse was able to geolocate footage online to areas around the park.

Reforms to China's vast public health insurance system have reduced the allowances paid monthly to retirees since February 1. The changes prompted a separate rally of hundreds of retirees in front of Wuhan's city hall last Wednesday.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes In China, anger mounts among retirees after their health insurance is cut

Pictures shared on social media appeared to show local authorities meeting with some of those demonstrators for negotiations. The insurance reforms, gradually introduced since 2021, come as local government finances are strained following years of strict and costly zero-Covid policies.

Wuhan is a city of 11 million people where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019.

Le Monde with AFP
John Kirby, in charge of diplomatic and security issues, at the White House press briefing on February 13, 2023. MANDEL NGAN / AFP

Sometimes, communication adds to the confusion. On Monday, February 13, almost the entire White House press briefing was devoted to a single topic: the skies over America. Ever since a Chinese spy balloon was spotted and then shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, the partial revelations have continued, fueling suspicion and speculation. These revelations are no longer about operations of a similar nature carried out in the past by Beijing, but about unidentified flying objects. Three of them were spotted and destroyed by the US Air Force between Friday and Sunday. "There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with a smile.

During Monday's White House press briefing, John Kirby, who handles diplomatic and security matters, tried to provide some factual details regarding the recent activity in the sky. The trajectory of these flying objects was not controlled by any piloting device, but rather, by the direction of the winds. They did not transmit any communication signals and were much smaller in size compared to the Chinese balloon. Furthermore, they were flying at a significantly lower altitude, with the Chinese balloon flying high at 18,000 meters, while the flying objects were hovering between 6,000 and 9,000 meters. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that "these objects do not pose a danger to anyone on the ground." However, they "pose a risk to civil aviation, and potentially a risk of intelligence gathering." Washington decided to destroy these objects in flight "as a measure of caution."

As Kirby highlighted, the issue of unidentified flying objects has been present for years, but has not garnered sustained attention from the authorities. In June 2021, for the first time, President Joe Biden devoted one of his daily security briefings to the topic. The Pentagon established an office to investigate the issue in conjunction with the research community. However, the change in US radar capabilities might have contributed "at least partially" to the recent spike in the detection of these objects. Biden has tasked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan with forming a cross-agency team to examine the implications.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Diplomatic crisis escalates after US destroys Chinese spying balloon

Tension between Washington and Beijing

The effort to retrieve the debris from the unidentified flying objects is ongoing at all crash sites. The US is collaborating with Canadian officials to locate the debris that fell into Lake Huron on Sunday. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities are working to locate the pieces of the object that was identified above the Yukon territory on Saturday. The remains of the object shot down on Friday are in a remote and icy location in Alaska. Kirby advised that "we all need to be humble" when considering the challenges of a fighter jet flying at hundreds of kilometers per hour alongside a stationary object to identify it.

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A MAN sent over 100 phone messages through the night to his former partner of 14 years, Newcastle West Court heard.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the injured party, pleaded guilty to breaching a protection order in early December 2022.

Inspector Gearoid Thompson, prosecuting, said the accused sent over 100 messages to a woman during the night - over a 14 hour period.

The injured party made a statement of complaint to gardai, said Insp Thompson, who added that the defendant, who is aged in his late 20s, has no previous convictions.

Michael ODonnell, solicitor for the man being prosecuted, said his client accepts the breach.

He accepted a safety order on December 8. There hasnt been any breaches since. They were in a relationship for 14 years which came to an abrupt end.

The adjustment factor caused him to act the way he did. He accepts he was out of order. He is attending anger management counselling, said Mr ODonnell, who added that his client and the victim have spoken normally since the incident.

The solicitor brought to the courts attention a disputed spare key of a car.

While he had the spare key of the car he does not have it anymore. If he had it he would hand it over, said Mr ODonnell.

Enda OConnor, solicitor for the victim, said a five year safety order has been put in place.

There is a significant amount of mobile phone communication and there is a photo of a key. My client is concerned there is a key floating around and the defendant is the last person to have it, said Mr OConnor.

Mr ODonnell said the accused has pleaded guilty to the phone messages.

He is dealing with matters. He is involved in farming - he has a nice business. It is a difficult time for him following the ending of a 14 year relationship, said Mr ODonnell, who asked for the case to be adjourned for a period of time.

Mr OConnor said his client is a very intelligent young lady. He said if the defendant engaged with MOVE Ireland (Men Overcoming Violence  a voluntary organisation which works to address domestic violence against women) it would give her confidence.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican remanded the defendant on continuing bail and asked for a victim impact statement to be prepared.
From traffic woes to job opportunities: Indian Bike Taxi Sector thrives with Regulatory Support & Tech Innovations 15 Apr 2023 | 2:34 PM Mumbai, Apr 15 (UNI) In line with the goal to smoothen the operations of bike taxis in the country, the Maharashtra government has formulated a six-member committee to draft norms for regulating the operations of online cab aggregator platforms in the state. see more..

CREDAI National Partners with Indian Green Building Council,targets 4000 Projects by 2030 15 Apr 2023 | 2:20 PM Mumbai, Apr 15 (UNI ) Indias leading Real Estate Body, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Saturday announced a nation-wide partnership with Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), on the landmark occasion of CREDAIs investiture ceremony which witnessed Mr. Boman Irani becoming the new president of CREDAI National for the term 2023-25. see more..

Pakistan: Petrol price likely to go up by Rs 10-14 per litre from Apr 16 15 Apr 2023 | 1:36 PM Karachi, Apr 15 (UNI) Inflation-weary people should gear up to bear a heavy jolt as the prices of petroleum products are likely to be increased by Rs10-14 per litre for the next fortnight, media reports said. see more..

MSD, CSK players launch new TVS Eurogrip tyres 15 Apr 2023 | 12:56 PM Chennai, apr 15 (UNI) TVS Eurogrip, Indias leading 2 & 3-wheeler tyre brand,

launched adventure touring tyres and superbike tyres in the presence of CSK

skipper MS Dhoni and other players in the city. see more..
A REMARKABLE expedition up Kilimanjaro is being undertaken by a Limerick teenager in remembrance and celebration of his late grandfather.

Eoin Sexton, a 19-year-old from Kildimo, has raised over 3,000 in aid of The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and is scaling the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world.

Eoin's grandfather, John O'Mahony, who he is completing the climb for, passed away with Alzheimer's Disease last November.

John was well known in the Kildimo community and served as a local carpenter, and caretaker of the Kildimo/Pallaskenry GAA club field for 40 years. He was known for his dedication, work ethic, generosity and unyielding kindness.

His excellent qualities were always visible, even as he grew ill.

Even when his memory deteriorated, he would tell his wife how much he appreciated all she was doing for him, Eoin said.

His grandfather's life inspired Eoin to undertake this impressive feat and saw him depart from Dublin Airport last Saturday, February 4, to undertake the 12-day expedition.

The expedition, which costs around 4,500, has been funded by Eoin himself who has been working a part-time job to pay for the journey.

It was always something I wanted to do since I was very young. When I turned 18 I booked a deposit, that was my birthday present, and I've been raring to go since, he said. Eoin is also a student studying Environmental Science in the University of Limerick.

The fundraising for The Alzheimer Society of Ireland - which has been taking place in his local community and online, has gone exceptionally well for Eoin with over 3,000 raised so far.

The Seven Sisters pub in Kildimo, along with the GAA club and the community of Kildimo and beyond have all helped Eoin reach this incredible number. I wanted to raise money for a charity close to my heart. At the time, my grandfather had Alzheimer's and was struggling with that. We said we'd do it for him. The whole community donated which is brilliant, they really pulled together, Eoin pointed out.

An avid climber since he was young, Eoin remembers his first big hike well. At the tender age of 11, he and his father, Christopher Sexton, scaled the formidable Carrauntoohil on a rainy day.

I remember even on that miserable day, it was an amazing feeling getting to the top, and I've been doing it since then, Eoin recalled.

Eoin's training has been nothing short of extensive. Just two days after the leaving cert, my sixth year holiday was doing the Wicklow Way, hiking 131 kilometres through the mountains, he explained.

Weekly hikes, continuing his training with Kildimo/Pallaskenry GAA, circuit training, and high-intensity interval training are just some of the preparations he has been undertaking.

Kilimanjaro is one of the tallest mountains in the world, and is known for its vast climate changes from its base to the summit. Hikers must prepare for many climates such as the rainforest at the beginning portion of the trek, to the snowy alpine conditions near the summit.

Eoin will be taking the popular Machame route and his journey will consist of trekking and scramble hiking.

They say it's like climbing from the equator to The North Pole in the space of five days, Eoin said.

The expedition will consist of a seven-day hike, with six days for the ascent and one day for the descent. Acclimitisation can be a common issue for hikers as the mountain stands at over 19,000 feet tall.

Eoin and the group hiking have been prescribed medicine to help acclimitise fast, and he has been taking part in high-intensity training to help too. He has also been told to drink four to six litres of water per day, eat enough food, and take his time.

In Tanzania, the Swahili phrase Pole Pole which roughly translates to take your time, is a popular saying linked with the climb. Hikers undertaking the expedition are urged to heed this advice.

Eoin is beyond excited for the journey, and is proud to be undertaking such an achievement for both himself and the legacy of his grandfather. He will be posting content to his Instagram account (@eoinsexton03) when he has service, and is proud to represent Kildimo and Limerick on this remarkable feat.

You can donate to The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Eoin's cause by searching Eoin Sexton on www.justgiving.com
ALMOST 25,000 was raised for the Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund at a gala ball in Limerick city at the weekend.

Member of the IGBF from the across region joined suppliers from the trade to support the annual Black Tie Gala Valentine's Ball which took place at The Castletroy Park Hotel.

"Guests on the night put aside their retail differences and came together to help the IGBF Mid-West Region raise much-needed funds for the many families that are in need of support," commented James Johnson of Dunnes Stores in Tipperary Town who is chairman of IGBF Mid-West.

The guest speaker on the night was Joe Manning Commercial Director of Tesco Ireland and the main sponsors were Shannon Airport, Inver, Diageo, Irish Distillers, Molson and Britvic.

A registered charity, the Irish Grocers Benevolent Fun assists up to 200 families across the country at any one time and contributes in the region of 500,000 annually in support.

This support takes the form of monthly, quarterly or annual annuities as well as crisis grants where appropriate.
A COUPLE who own a business just off Henry Street in the city centre have come out against a proposal to make it entirely one way.

Michael and Anne Leech who run Speediwash laundrette in St Gerard Street have urged councillors to preserve the status quo.

With a crunch vote on plans to introduce a segregated cycle lane down South Circular Road and into the city now just a week away, talks are still ongoing behind the scenes to try and find a compromise.

It follows a groundswell of opposition from local residents  many of whom are elderly  concerned at losing their parking spots plus business people in Henry Street fearful of missing out on passing trade.

A behind-closed-doors workshop took place earlier this week in a bid to hammer out a compromise before next week's statutory meeting of the Metropolitan District.

One of these involves making the upper part of Henry Street one way, in a move which will mean the whole thoroughfare will be closed off to two-way traffic.

Labour councillor Joe Leddin has previously stated Henry Street businesses are in support of this idea, but two traders who are based in St Gerard Street said they would not back it.

We prefer the status quo to remain with regard to traffic flow and parking. We are against the altering of the two-way system in Henry Street in particular from Alphonsus Street to Clontarf place as this restriction in movement will imprison people living in the area and reduce trade, Mr and Mrs Leech wrote in a letter to the Leader.

The couple feel there would be no need for a bike lane through South Circular Road if the present traffic regulations were adhered to.

It is unfortunate that people feel they need to reinvent the wheel to solve simple problems at a major cost to the most vulnerable, they added.

In response, Cllr Leddin said: Business customers are loyal and any short diversion should not result in loss of business as people are resilient and can adapt to changes.

We cannot improve the safety of all road users especially young children if we do not make improvements based on higher traffic volumes, added Cllr Leddin in response.
THREE of Limerick's seven TDs will be representing the Government abroad during next month's St Patrick's Day celebrations, it has been confirmed.



The Government has announced its St Patrick's Day programme, which will see the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and more than 30 ministers and ministers-of-state visit overseas countries in a bid to promote Ireland abroad.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will visit Washington for the traditional visit to the White House while Tanaiste Micheal Martin will travel to New York and Boston. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan will be jetting off to Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

Limerick TD and Minister-of-State Niall Collins will travel to Malaysia and the Philippines while his constituency colleague, Minister-of-State Patrick O'Donovan, will travel to Thailand and Indonesia.

Limerick City TD Kieran O'Donnell who was appointed as Minister-of-State last December will represent the Government when he visits Croatia and Slovenia.

The international trips, details of which were confirmed on Tuesday night, form part of the Government's 'Global Ireland' initiative, which seeks to promote Ireland as a location to live, visit, work, invest in, study in and trade with.

A total of 36 representatives of the State will visit 74 cities in 44 countries as part of the programme.
A GUARD of honour was performed by students at Catherine McAuley school in Limerick city to welcome a special visitor.

Minister for Special Education and Inclusion, Josepha Madigan, held discussions with staff during her visit to ascertain how she and her department can assist the special education school in the future.

This is where I really get my great feedback. I can see what is working, what is not working, and if there are additional supports needed, she told the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live.

Facilitated by principal Greg Browne and Senator Maria Byrne, the minister took a tour of the specialised school, which caters for 260 students, both primary and post-primary, who range in academic abilities.

With a catchment area beyond county bounds, vice principal, Joe McCarthy, discussed the importance of their resources for the children.

Here they thrive, he explained. The supports and staff are here, and they will hopefully reach their full potential because of that, he added.
GARDAI are appealing for information after a number of power tools were stolen from a van which was parked outside a house close to a Limerick village.

The incident happened shortly after 1.10am last Saturday in the townland of Cahercorney, just outside Herberstown.

"A black car pulled up outside the private residence, three thieves jumped out of this car and broke into a white work van. This was a white Ford transit van and the thieves stole a number of tools from the van including two Milwaukee red drills," said Garda John Finnerty.

After removing the tools from the van, the thieves jumped back into the car which sped off at high speed in the direction of Herbertstown.

"The only description that we have of the thieves is that they were all wearing balaclavas and gloves. The only description that we have of their car is that it was a black car," stated Garda Finnerty.

Gardai at Bruff are investigating the incident and anyone with information is asked to contact them at (061) 382940.
OVER 34 million has been announced for the restoration and improvement of regional and local roads in Limerick.

The regional and local roads program addresses economic, social, and political issues.

In Ireland, there are 94,000 kilometres of regional and local roads, which make up 94% of the country's road network. These roads carry approximately 55% of all traffic, and for many local businesses, they are the only means of accessing customers.

The investment program includes funding for road pavement strengthening, preventative surface dressing, local authority discretion in selecting roads for maintenance, specific regional and local road projects, bridge rehabilitation, road safety improvements, drainage works, climate change adaptation, and various grants.

Minister of State and Limerick Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins welcomed the funding.

"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, Minister Collins said.

Minister of State and Fine Gael TD Kieran ODonnell also welcomed the news.

This roads funding allocation includes a very welcome 9 million for Coonagh/Knockalisheen Distributor Road Project currently underway.

Furthermore, 1 million has been allocated for the Cappamore Road Junction Improvement on the Dublin road which will involve two new slip lanes being constructed to alleviate traffic coming from either side of this very busy junction.

Council engineers have advised me that they expect to have contractors appointed and on-site by Easter, April 2023, with the works taking approximately 6 months to complete, Minister ODonnell added.

12 million of the 34 million funding has been allocated towards restoration improvements on Limerick roads.
Hundreds of people have taken part in vigils in memory of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey in Dublin and Belfast.

In Dublin, people gathered at The Spire on OConnell Street, while in Belfast they came together at the front of the City Hall.

Protesters carried placards reading Rest in Power and Trans Rights Now.

Brianna, who was a transgender girl from Birchwood in Warrington, was found by members of the public as she lay with fatal stab wounds on a path in Culcheth Linear Park at around 3.13pm on Saturday.

Two teenagers charged with her murder were remanded into custody by a district judge on Wednesday.

In Dublin, many of those who attended the vigil lit candles and left them on the pavement in front of a portrait of Brianna.

Academic and LGBTQ activist Ailbhe Smyth described the teenager as strong and fearless.

She said: She was only 16. She was on the cusp between girlhood and womanhood, that very delicate and also very wonderful moment.

I felt her familys grief so much when they said in their beautiful statement about the death of their daughter.

They said she was strong, fearless and one of a kind. I thought of that young woman and how brave she had been in her life to say I am a trans woman.

Solidarity councillor Leah Whelan told the vigil: Brianna was only 16.

She deserves recognition, she deserves respect and she deserves to be alive today.

In Belfast, many of those who attended the vigil carried photographs of Brianna.

Leo Lardie, from the Rainbow Project, told the vigil: Usually I am known as a man who is never at a loss for words, but today I truly and utterly am.

There are no words to describe how hopelessly tragic and keenly painful the senseless death of a young girl like Brianna is.

We are here tonight to show our deepest sympathies for her family, friends and the trans and non-binary community of the UK all of whom are left bereft by her sudden death.

The UK can feel like an increasingly frightening place for trans and non-binary people to exist.

Alliance representative on Belfast City Council Micky Murray said the death of Brianna was being felt by the trans community right across the world.

He said: I hope this event brings comfort but I also think it brings a level of discomfort.

Obviously we dont want to have events like this, we dont want to have to stand here to protest and to hold vigils.
15th February 2023, Delhi: Expanding its agri-chemical line-up, Best Agrolife Ltd (BAL), Indias leading agrochemical manufacturer, launched six new formulations  Amito, Promos, Propique, Ghotu, Doddy, and Headshot along with their star products Citigen and Vistara.

More than 200 distributors from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh participated in the event held in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. BAL also utilized the occasion to create awareness about the benefits of its line-up and informed the audience how the company is efficiently transforming Indias agricultural sector. The participants expressed their keen interest in the products.

It is indeed a milestone for us. Best Agrolife firmly believes in our Prime Ministers Make In India" vision and is actively taking it further to improve agricultural yield and farmers economic conditions. We believe we can only grow when we share our advancements with all the people associated with our industry. It was an immense pleasure to witness such tremendous participation of dealers from different regions. All our newly launched products are highly effective and affordable crop solutions and are a boon for our agriculture sector. Other than enhancing the productivity in the fields, they will also provide the distributors and dealers with a marketing edge," said Mr Vimal Alawadhi, Managing Director, BAL.

Those present at the launch included Best Agrolifes Managing Director, Vimal Alawadhi, the companys Executive Director, Raajan Alawadhi, and the entire marketing team. The company also felicitated leading paddy distributors from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Citigen (Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% W/W SC) is a broad-spectrum insecticide with exceptional insecticide efficacy, longer rain fastness, and low mammalian toxicity. Citigen is highly recommended for controlling pests in crops like sugarcane, rice cabbage, cotton, tomato, call, soybean, brinjal, pigeon pea, Bengal gram, black gram, bitter gourd, okra, maize, and groundnut. It acts on ball worms, stem borers, fruit borers, gran pod borers, stem flies, tobacco caterpillars, and pod borers.

Vistara (Chlorantraniliprole 0.4% GR) prevents the build-up of shoot borer and stem borer populations in paddy and sugarcane and protects the growers from incurring losses due to low crop yield and thereby maximizing output. It is safe for the environment due to its low dosage.

Propique (Propaquizafop 10% EC) is a fast-acting herbicide product which creates rapid absorption by the grass leaves & translocates to all parts of the weed plants (growing points, nodes, roots and rhizomes).

Amito (Ametryne 80% WDG) is a new selective early post herbicide with broad spectrum activity on grasses and broad-leaved weeds.

Promos (Metiram 55%+ Pyraclostrobin 5% WG) is a fungicide and a premium broad-spectrum, dual Al fungicide with highly effective disease control, effective for crop disease resistance management and provide yield enhancement effect on the crops.

Ghotu (Clothianidin 50% WDG), an insecticide, controls soil insects when used at the time of planting. It efficiently contains all stages of insects and controls early shoot borer and sucking pests in sugarcane.

Doddy (Dodine 65% WP) is a broad-spectrum contact fungicide with protective and eradicative action exhibiting no cross-resistance to other Fungicides. It is an excellent resistance management tool. Doddys USP is excellent disease protection for a longer duration and is active in low temperatures with rain-fastness after 2 hours. Besides, it is highly cost-effective in early scab control and protects high-value fruit.

Headshot (Halosulfuron Methyl 75% WG) is known for its low-dosage efficacy and rapidly inhibits the growth of susceptible weeds. It is an excellent product for controlling weeds with residual soil activity. Headshot also carries the green label", making it safe to use for protection without poisons. Its application results in healthier crops and improved yield of crops like sugar cane, maize and bottle gourd.

Best Agrolife Limited is listed among the top 15 agrochemical companies in India. It is a research-based organization serving the farmer community across the globe by offering world-class and cost-effective agrochemical formulations. The company recently obtained registrations from Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee (CIBRC) for the indigenous manufacturing of five new technicals namely Ametryn, Metiram, Clothianidin, Cyazofamid, Pinoxaden and a 9(3) FIM vs FI registration for Metiram 55 % + Pyraclostrobin 5 % WG.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Fiji President Wiliame Katonivere inaugurated the 12th World Hindi Conference in Nadi, Fiji, on Wednesday.

The opening ceremony saw the traditional Fijian welcome of Sevu Sevu, and release of a commemorative postal stamp as well as six Hindi language books, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in tweets.

President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere of Fiji and EAM @DrSJaishankar inaugurated the 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan in Nadi, Fiji.

Joined by Ministers & Parliamentarians from India & Fiji.

The opening ceremony saw the traditional Fijian welcome of Sevu Sevu, and release of a commemorative postal stamp as well as six Hindi language books, he posted.

EAM Jaishankar in tweets said he was honoured to receive the traditional Sevu Sevu welcome at the inauguration of the 12th World Hindi Sammelan.

Deeply honoured to receive the traditional Sevusevu welcome in the presence of President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere at the inaugural of the 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan.

Had the first cup of kava with a prayer for the health, peace and prosperity of India and Fiji, he posted.

Started the day by participating in a traditional Fiji welcome.

Presented the Sevusevu to President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere.

May the deep and abiding India-Fiji bonds always remain strong, he posted.

He later met with Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad, who was in Delhi last week,

Great to meet @FijiGovernment DPM @bimanprasad in Nadi shortly after our meeting in New Delhi.

Discussed further advancing our long-standing ties through our development cooperation.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who is also in Fiji for the event, said he was happy to deliver the opening remarks at the inaugural session of the conference.

Happy to deliver opening remarks at inaugural session of 12th #VishwaHindiSammelan in Fiji, where President of Fiji H.E.Ratu Wiliame Katonivere & EAM presided.

Excited about forthcoming sessions covering wide range of topics from traditional knowledge to Artificial Intelligence, he tweeted.

EAMs visit to Fiji is also the first by an incoming Ministerial delegation after the formation of the new Government in Fiji in December 2022.

The conference is being held at the Denarau Island Convention Center, in Nadi, Fiji.

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 in Fiji for the conference, while many Hindi scholars from India and abroad are also participating in the conference.

Representatives from 50 countries are also participating 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 focussed on capacity building, healthcare, education, agriculture, MSME sector, renewable energy, climate change and Information Technology.

UNI RN
BENGALURU : The wife of IndiGo's co-founder is likely to sell a 4% stake in the Indian carrier's parent, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, for 2,930 crore ($353.8 million) through a block deal, media reports said on Wednesday, citing sources.

The offer floor price for the sale by Shobha Gangwal, the wife of IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, has been set at 1,875 per share, the report said.

The price is at a 5.6% discount to InterGlobe's closing price on Wednesday.

IndiGo did not respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Shobha Gangwal could not be immediately reached for comment.

Rakesh and Shobha Gangwal hold stakes of 13.23% and 7.04%, respectively in InterGlobe, while their Chinkerpoo Family Trust holds a 13.50% stake.

The Gangwals sold a 2.75% stake in September last year, seven months after Rakesh Gangwal resigned from the company's board and said he would cut his stake in the airline over five years.

Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, who co-founded IndiGo in 2006, fell out in early 2020 when the former sought to modify certain rules in the company's articles of association.

Bhatia and his family entities own about 37.8% of IndiGo.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed
As the Adani-Hindenburg row continues, French energy giant TotalEnergies SE has reportedly seen its assets decline by 1.55 lakh crore. The company - which owns about a fifth of Adani Green - has also missed out on investment gains to the tune of 30,000 crore. Following the release of the explosive Hindenburg report, the oil major had also put a multi-billion dollar plan to produce green hydrogen with Adani on hold.

The company holds a 50% stake in Adani Total Private Limited - a joint venture that provides for oil and gas exploration. It also owns half of AGEL23 - a joint venture with Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) for the operation of three gigawatts of solar projects.

US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the Gautam Adani-led group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, prompting a massive stock market rout. Listed companies of the group have lost over $125 billion in market value since the report came out three weeks ago.

Also read: Adani Enterprises continues to gain on Q3 show; 4 group stocks hit lower circuit

While TotalEnergies insists that no re-evaluation has been performed following the stock market rout, the situation is estimated to have caused a massive loss to the company. It is however pertinent to note that the Hindenburg report has had little effect on Total's stock prices on global bourses.

According to reports, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne had told analysts in September last year that any appreciation in the value of AGEL would be a source of potential cash. The company had indicated no immediate plans to cut its holdings, with Pouyanne hinting that any minor reduction would only be to recoup part of the initial investment. And as the Adani Group continued to perform well, the French giant found itself sitting on an investment profit of over 30,000 crore in the last three months of 2022.

While the company insisted in an official statement earlier this month that its $3.1-billion exposure to Adani was "limited", it is is now staring at a massive market cap loss. Reportedly, Total's market valuation in ATGL has taken a hit of 1.15 crore. AGEL and ATGL have lost a combined market value of 1.55 lakh crore for the French multinational.

View Full Image TotalEnergies current stakes in ventures with Adani:

While this notional loss could be recovered if the prices revert to earlier levels, this appears to be somewhat unlikely at the moment.

Last week, the French oil major also said that it would wait for the result of an independent audit before proceeding to invest in Adani Group's $50 billion plans to make green hydrogen. The company had previously announced plans to acquire a 25% stake in Adani New Industries Limited for the production and commercialisation of green hydrogen in India.

The entities TotalEnergies has invested in with Adani are managed in accordance with applicable regulations," TotalEnergies asserted in a press release earlier this month.

(With inputs from agencies)
India will continue to be Blackstone Inc's biggest market in Asia and the private equity giant may consider infrastructure investments there in the future, a top company executive said on Tuesday.

The U.S-based firm, which manages nearly a trillion dollars in assets globally, said India is one of its best-performing markets. It is bullish on the South Asian nation due to its faster growth than other large countries and a "government oriented towards growth", Jonathan Gray, Blackstone's president and chief operating officer, said at a press briefing.

Also Read: Blackstone looks to sell $1 billion stake in IBS Software

"India is a major part of the anchor of our Asia strategy. Japan and Australia follow that," Gray said.

Blackstone said it manages assets worth $50 billion in India, including in private equity and real estate.

It has made over a billion dollars in real estate share sales alone in the past year, Reuters has reported.

Also Read: Blackstone plans to sell stake in top Indian REIT

Private equity deals in India totalled $32 billion last year, a 27% drop from 2021. However India's share of total Asia funding rose to 25% from 16% in the same period.

Gray said Blackstone will also consider investing in Indian infrastructure in the future, a sector where its peers such as KKR and Co Inc, as well as pension funds including the CPP Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) are already active.

Blackstone also plans to invest more in data centres and warehousing, said Amit Dixit, its India senior managing director, stemming from a rise in ecommerce transactions as well as India asking technology giants such as Alphabet's Google to store customer data locally.

Even as Blackstone remains bullish on India, Gray said more certainty around tax and capital market laws will help increase foreign investments in India.

"Capital markets has many more rules in India," he said, making exits difficult.

Blackstone, however, is taking a selective approach in China, as geopolitical factors have made it hard to invest in the world's second-largest economy, Gray said, in a rare public comment about investing in China, which is aiming to boost its economy after it recorded one of its worst growth levels in nearly half a century last year.

Private equity-backed mergers and acquisitions in China slumped 67% in 2022 year-on-year, totalling $36 billion, Refinitiv data showed.

China's share in Asia's total private equity deal value dropped to 28% in 2022 from 41% in 2021, the data showed.

The U.S. government has been tightening scrutiny over U.S. investments in China as tensions over trade and technology persist.

President Joe Biden's administration plans to ban investments in some Chinese technology companies and increase scrutiny of others, Reuters reported last week.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
MUMBAI : Shobha Gangwal, wife of IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, is set to sell a 4% stake in Indias largest airline, worth $353 million, through a block deal scheduled for Thursday, according to deal terms reviewed by Mint .

This is the second instance of a share sale by the Gangwal family in InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates IndiGo, after selling a 2.8% stake in the airline for approximately $250 million in September. Gangwal family owned a 33.78% stake in the airline as of 31 December, stock exchange data showed.

According to the deal terms, Shobha Gangwal will sell 15.6 million shares, representing a 4% stake in the company, at a floor price of 1,875 per share. The price is at a 5.6% discount to the closing price of 1,986.05 on NSE on Wednesday.

The sale will fetch the Gangwal family 2,930 crore ($353 million) at the floor price.

InterGlobe Aviation was founded by businessman Rahul Bhatia and airline veteran Gangwal in 2006. A dispute between the two founders became public in July 2019 when Gangwal complained to the markets regulator regarding issues related to corporate governance and related-party transactions at IndiGo. The two promoters had also approached the London Court of Arbitration to resolve the dispute, where the final award came on 23 September 2021. The court had given a period of 90 days to enforce the order. Although the details of the award have not been made public, it is believed to have favoured Gangwal.

The feud finally ended when the two promoters convened an extraordinary general meeting in December to remove restrictions on the transfer of promoter shares and amend the articles of association.

The resolution was passed and thereby cleared the path for the promoters to dilute their stake. Within two months, Gangwal announced his resignation from the IndiGo board on 18 February 2022. He had further announced that he would slowly" reduce his equity stake in the airline over more than five years to diversify his holdings.

While new investors should benefit from the potential future growth in the companys share price, a gradual reduction of my stake should also allow me to benefit from some of the upside. Like any plan, future events may impact my current thinking," Gangwal said on 18 February 2022, adding that he shall consider participating as a board member again in the future.
New Delhi: State-owned utility major NTPC Ltd has invited request for proposal (RFP) for raising up to $750 million, or around 6,212 crore, through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to fund its power projects, including those of renewable energy.

The amount raised will be used for capital expenditure for ongoing or new capacity additions, including renewable energy projects, coal mining, and hydro projects. Proceeds will also be used to refinance existing ECB or rupee loans availed domestically.

NTPC Ltd is looking to raise external commercial borrowing (ECB) in the form of term loan amounting to $600 million plus green shoe option of $150 million... accordingly it is requested to quote unconditional and firm rate for raising ECB," as per NTPCs RFP document.

The average maturity period of the term loan will be seven years under the proposed ECB. Repayments will be made in seven equal annual instalments starting from the fourth year.

The loan shall be unsecured, without any guarantee or letter of comfort form the government of India. Negative lien will be provided with carve out for certain permitted borrowing for which security can be created by the company."

Email queries sent to NTPC remained unanswered till press time.

The signing of the facility agreement is envisaged to be completed on or before 31 March, or any date agreed upon by the company.

Last date for bid submission is 1 March 2023 till 3pm. Bids will be opened at 0315pm on the same day.

The public sector enterprise, in the RFP document, said that it has been raising funds from international market in the form of term loans and Reg-S bonds, under ECB guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), for funding its power projects in India.
NEW DELH : Air India has sealed the worlds largest aircraft deal by placing an order for 540 planes worth $82 billion. The Tata Sons-run airline announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus and obtained options for 70 more planes, as it seeks expand its network both in India and beyond. However, the actual price of the short- and long-haul aircraft may be lower since bulk orders come with discounts and incentives. Mint takes a deep dive into the rationale behind this unprecedented move.

How large is the Air India order?

Air India created history with the largest single order by any airline till date, topping the 460 aircraft deal by American Airlines with Boeing and Airbus in 2011. While American Airlines order was for narrow-body aircraft, Air Indias order constitute both narrow- and wide-body planes. Notably, Air India is the second Indian airline in the top five aircraft orders till date  IndiGo is fourth with an order for 300 aircraft in 2019. IndiGo, however, has a far higher order book than Air India till date. The low-cost carrier has ordered 830 aircraft in four tranches, It has received 350 aircraft and awaiting delivery of another 480 by 2030.

View Full Image Graphic: Mint

What are the types of aircraft Air India has ordered and how will they be used?

Of the 540 aircraft, 470 are firm orders, and the rest are options with Boeing that Air India can exercise any time in the future. The 470 airplanes include 210 Airbus 320 neos, 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 40 Airbus 350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777x. The options include 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s.

The order size and type of aircraft demonstrates that the airline plans to strengthen connectivity on domestic routes and expand its short- and long-haul international network. The airline would use Airbus 320 (neos) and Boeing 737 MAX for flights in India, as well as for short-haul international routes, such as to countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Airbus 350, Boeing 777x and Boeing 787 will be used for long-haul international flights to Europe, North America and Canada which are high-yield markets, Typically, a large number of people flying out of India to the West opt for airlines in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia through a stopover in the home country.

Estimates show that 60-80% of Indians flying these airlines fly to Europe and Americas. With the new orders, Air India will offer options for direct flights to Indian passengers. Since it was taken over by Tata Sons, it has launched flights to these destinations.

As part of the plan, Singapore International Airlines will have a 25.1% in Air India by 2024. Together, the two airlines have a plan to connect countries in the east of India with the west via airports in India. This arrangement will not just help Air India with passenger traffic from the east of India but give Singapore Airlines the strength to compete with Middle eastern airlines such as Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. This move will also allow India to become an international hub for air traffic; besides Indians will have more options to choose from.

What is the difference between firm order and options?

A firm order is a confirmed order an airline has agreed to take, and the aircraft manufacturer has offered a fixed timeline for deliveries. In the case of options, the airline may or may not take those deliveries. However, if the airline decides to take those deliveries in the future, the aircraft manufacturer will have to provide the aircraft at a rate agreed upon for the firm order.

Airlines use options in anticipation of future requirements that they may not be certain about, but to avail the discounts and incentives in line with the firm order placed with the aircraft manufacturer.

When will the deliveries begin?

According to a mail by Air India CEO Campbell Wilson to employees, the first set of deliveries will begin by the second half of 2023 and the ramping-up of deliveries will start in 2025. In the first phase, the airline will get 25 Boeing B737-800s and six Airbus A350-900s. A large part of the deliveries of these aircraft will also be used to replace its old fleet as well as aircraft inducted on lease to support the network expansion in the interim.

How will the airline fund it?

While it has not announced the funding model for the acquisition of these aircraft, people in the know said it will be a mix of sale and leaseback, and ownership. The narrow-body fleet (Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus 320s) will be availed on sale and leaseback, and the airline will own the wide-body fleet that includes Airbus 350, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 777x.

The sale and leaseback model allows an airline to order planes in bulk at a huge discount and then sell it to a lessor at delivery. The difference between the discounted purchase and sale to lessor at the time of delivery is the amount that the airline earns for the period. In this model, the airline earns through the sale but also has to pay higher lease rentals for the planes on SLB. The larger planes are likely to be owned by the airline.

Does India need so many aircraft?

Yes! India is likely to become the most populated country in the world this year and needs much more than the orders placed by IndiGo and Air India. Not just the population, Indias economic growth is also the highest among the large economies globally. India is set to clock 6.5% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) during the current fiscal year, and estimates that this will translate into 15% growth in passenger numbers. This passenger growth needs to be supported by additions of aircraft, and many more planes would be required to feed this growth. Indian airlines operate a fleet of 700 planes that includes less than 50 wide-body aircraft. For perspective, Chinese carriers operate a fleet of 4,000 with about 500 wide-body planes.
NEW DELHI : Vodafone Idea said it was in advanced discussions with telecom gear vendors for its 5G rollout strategy and that it will comply with minimum 5G rollout obligations, said chief executive officer Akshaya Moondra in the post results earnings call Wednesday, indicating that the No 3 carrier will launch its services in select cities soon.

We have live 5G clusters in Delhi and Pune where we have partnered with various OEMs to test compatibility of available 5G handsets. Further we are in advanced stages of discussion with various network vendors for finalization of the rollout strategy," he said.

Our effort will be that as soon as funding is inplace we will expedite our rollout to have a presence in the geographies which matter particularly in the context of 5G and so that we are able to compete as early as possible," Moondra said.

On the 5g minimum rollout obligation, Moondra said, I think that is not a large investment and that is something which will comply," he added.

According to minimum rollout obligations set by the government, telcos have to launch services anywhere in the licensed service area in both metro and non-metro cities in the first year of spectrum acquisition. 5G spectrum was allocated to all carriers on 18 August, 2022.

5G is a part of our plan. It is clear that we will be starting a little late compared to the competition, but I believe that 5G is evolving," he said, adding that while the technology may offer better speeds, the customer experience was not very different and therefore ubiquitous coverage will be needed for a better experience.

Moondra further stated that the carrier was in early stages of the 5G deployment and that there was no change in the overall trends that we see in terms of the subscriber movement in different categories.

The No 3 loss-making carrier, in which the government has taken 33% equity, said that it will not defer existing bank debt which will be paid back on maturity and that new funding will be focused on investments, for which it has begun discussions with the consortium of banks since the pre-condition of government converting the interest on dues into equity had been fulfilled.

Vodafone Idea needs to raise 20,000 crore in debt and equity from investors to plough into 5G deployments and operations in order to stay afloat in a competitive Indian telecoms market, where rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have rapidly expanded 5G services.

"The requirement of the banks was the government conversion. We have had significant discussions with our consortium of bankers over the past few months. With the government conversion now having happened, those discussions can progress further. We have already started engaging with them and the discussions are progressing as we speak," he said, adding that clear pending dues owed to vendors was being done on priority.

Moondra noted that it had converted interest on AGR dues of 16,000 crore into equity of 33.1% which was now owned by the government as part of the relief package provided by the government last year. Further, the Board approved issuance of Optionally Convertible Debentures amounting to 1600 crore to its tower vendor one of its vendor American Tower Corporation India. The carrier owes dues of up to 3,000 crore to ATC and about 7,000 crore to its other vendor provider Indus Towers, with which it has entered into payment plan with softer terms.

Moondra added that the carrier was in discussions with the government for longer payment tenure for its outstanding dues from license fees for the third quarter FY23, for which it had made a partial payment. It currently owes the government 41,300 crore in regular license fees and spectrum charges, which include regular instalments, and those arising from the deferment mooted by the government's reform package.

"Generally on the AGR front, the final figures are to us communicated by DoT. But according to our calculations, there is 9,100 crore of original installment, and 7,400 crore in dues rising due to deferment," Moondra said.

On spectrum charges, the company currently owes 14,000 crore of original instalment dues and 10,000 crore arising due to the deferment, he said.

Moondra said that the industry and carrier should quickly move to a structure where consumers would have to pay more for using more, hinting at tariff hikes.

"My personal belief is that the current structure of pricing should evolve to make people at the higher end, those who are using more (data or call), pay more. That is a direction towards which we want to move quickly," he said.

On following rival Airtel on raising the entry level tariffs to 155 from present 99, Moondra said that company will decide on the steps it will take but for now was a was on a wait-and-watch mode.

Vodafone Idea widened its losses to 7,988 crore for the quarter ended December 2022 compared to loss of 7,234 crore in the same quarter previous year, even as revenues increased 9.3% to 10,620 crore from 9752 crore in the same comparison period due to improvement in subscriber mix, tariff intervention and 4G subscriber additions.

The Aditya Birla Group promoted company reported an average revenue per user of 135, higher by 3.3% from 131 in the previous quarter. ARPU is the key profitability parameter for telecom service providers. However, its ARPU is the lowest amongst peers, with Airtel leading the pack at 193 per month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gulveen Aulakh Gulveen Aulakh is Senior Assistant Editor at Mint, serving dual roles covering the disinvestment landscape out of New Delhi, and the telecom & IT sectors as part of the corporate bureau. She had been tracking several government ministries for the last ten years in her previous stint at The Economic Times. An IIM Calcutta alumnus, Gulveen is fluent in French, a keen learner of new languages and avid foodie. Read more from this author
The Supreme Court on Wednesday tagged Congress leader Jaya Thakur's plea seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by Hindenburg Research report with two other petitions related to it and listed it for hearing on February 17.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to hear on February 17 the petition filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur.

Earlier two other petitions were filed related to the Hindenburg report. One of the petitions was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari who sought to Constitute a Committee under the Monitoring of the retired Supreme Court Judge to inquire about and investigate the Hindenburg Research report. Another petitioner, advocate ML Sharma, has sought a probe against the US-based firm, whose report has led to shares of Adani group plunging on the bourses.

Jaya Thakur has moved a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by the Hindenburg Research report. Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress general secretary Jaya Thakur has moved her plea through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma.

The petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to set up an investigation against Adani Group of Companies and its associates, which have allegedly swindled crores of money from the public and the government exchequer. It sought a probe by various investigating agencies, namely, CBI, ED, DRI, CBDT, EIB, NCB, SEBI, RBI, and SFIO, under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the top court.

The plea also sought to direct the investigating agencies to investigate the role of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI) in investing a huge amount of public money in the follow-on public offer (FPO) of the Adani Enterprises at 3,200 per share whereas the prevailing market rate of shares of Adani Enterprises in the secondary market was about 1,800 per share.

The petition said that the Hindenburg Research report has put a serious question mark upon the respondent company. Its findings also indicate that the Adani Group has inflated the share price of their various companies and by using the inflated price they have obtained loans worth 82,000 crore from various public sectors and private banks.

The plea alleged that the respondent company and their associates have set up various offshore shell companies at various tax havens such as Mauritius, Sypris, UAE, Singapore, and the Caribbean Islands, for the transfer of money through the hawala route and have thus indulged in money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA Act 2002.

The plea further alleged that even after the Hindenburg disclosure, LIC, SBI, and several other public sector companies, without due diligence, invested huge amounts in the FPO of the Adani Enterprises and hence put crores of public money at risk. It is not understood what was their objective and to whom they were supporting and upon whom directions, the plea further claimed.

The petition also said that as per the Hindenburg report, the associate of the respondent company has been indulged in and is accused in various cases booked by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

On February 1, Adani Enterprises decided not to go ahead with its fully subscribed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO), with the Group chairman Gautam Adani stating on February 2 that it would not be "morally correct" to go ahead with the 20,000-crore share in the current market condition.

A report by the New York-based short seller on January 24, accused Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud among others. The US-based firm, in its report, raised concerns about shares of Adani group companies having a possibility of declining from their current levels, owing to high valuations.

In response, Adani Group said Hindenburg's report was not an attack on any specific company but a "calculated attack" on India, its growth story, and ambitions. It added the report was "nothing but a lie".
After the inauguration of phase one of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway , all eyes have now been shifted to the 109 km long Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway project, which will connect Ahmedabad with the upcoming Special Investment Region and Dholera Smart City by January 2024.

The highway project commenced in 2021 and nearly 21% work was completed by January 20. Around 20 lakh metric tonnes of solid waste generated in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation limits and 25 lakh metric tonnes of ash produced by thermal power plants are being used for preparing the base of the highway.

Previously, Dholera was considered a sleepy town in Gujarat, but now it is being developed as India's first greenfield smart city which will be connected through all modes of transportation---airport, port, roads, and metro, according to a report in India Narrative.

Being a part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a new state-of-the-art airport is also coming up, which will ease traffic at the Ahmedabad airport.

Meanwhile, the central government allocated an additional fund of 12,600 crore to Gujarat for the construction of roads, bridges, and logistic parks in the state. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also reviewed the ongoing works for the upcoming Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway in January.

This fund includes 6,000 crore for the development of multi-modal logistic parks in the state and 1,000 crore for the construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) or Road Under Bridges (RUBs) on roads other than national highways in the state, he said.

"Since we need a huge amount of clay to construct highways, I have given a proposal to the Gujarat CM that we will dig the canals, lakes, and ponds in the state for free and use that clay for our highways," he added.

S&P Global has earlier said that India's ambition of sustaining its relatively high growth depends on one important factor: infrastructure.
The United States has made a public statement about the income tax raids at BBC offices in Mumbai and Delhi. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told the media that the US is aware of the survey operation conducted by the I-T department at the BBC office in Delhi but is not in a position to offer its judgment.

"We are aware of the search of the BBC offices in Delhi by Indian tax authorities. I would need to refer you to Indian authorities for the details of this search. Beyond this discrete action, what I'll say more broadly is the general point that I've consistently made in this context, but in a universal context as well," Price told reporters.

He further said that a free press is significant as it contributes to strengthening democracies. "We support the importance of a free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India's democracy," Price asserted.

When asked if India's tax department action went against some of the spirit or value of democracy, Price said, "I couldn't say. We're aware of the facts of these searches, but I'm just not in a position to offer a judgment."

On Tuesday, I-T sleuths raided UK-based broadcaster BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The officials said the department is looking at documents related to the business operations of the company and those related to its Indian arm.

The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India.

The Ministry of External Affairs accused BBC of engaging in "anti-India propaganda".

Meanwhile, BBC said it was "fully cooperating" with authorities.

"The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai," it said. "We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible."

Police sealed off the BBC's New Delhi office, which occupies two floors of a high-rise in the capital's commercial heart.

A New Delhi-based BBC employee said that officials had been "confiscating all phones" during the tax raid.

Last month, the BBC aired a two-part documentary alleging that Hindu nationalist Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to sectarian riots in Gujarat when he was the chief minister. The violence left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims.

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.

Press freedom in India:

India has fallen 10 spots to 150 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, since Modi took office in 2014.

The Editors Guild of India said Tuesday's tax raids were part of a wider "trend of using government agencies to intimidate or harass press organisations that are critical of government policies".
Bengaluru, Feb 15 (UNI) Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane met a number of defence delegations on the sidelines of Aero India 2023 here on Tuesday.

A bilateral meeting was held with UAE delegation led by Matar Salem Ali Marran Aldhaheri, Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence, UAE.

They discussed a number of ongoing defence cooperation issues and expressed satisfaction at the regular military engagements.

Defence Secretary met a Myanmar delegation led by Lt Gen Kan Myint Than, Chief of Defence Industries. The ongoing defence cooperation issues were discussed.

A bilateral meeting was held with Brazil. The Brazilian delegation was led by Maj Brig Rui Chagas Mesquita, Head of Secretariat for Defence Production. They discussed a number of defence industrial cooperation issues and the possibilities for further cooperation.

Defence Secretary met a Cambodia delegation led by Gen Yun Min, Secretary of State, Ministry of National Defence. They reviewed the current cooperation between the two countries and discussed ways to enhance the defence cooperation.

A bilateral meeting was organized with Katerina Gramatikova, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria with Defence Secretary. Issues related to defence industrial cooperation were discussed.

A Mauritius delegation led by Mr Kechan Balgobin, Permanent Secretary, Prime Ministers Office, Government of Mauritius met Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane. They considered the ongoing and future defence cooperation matters and exchanged views on important issues.

UNI BDN RKM
NEW DELHI : The first Culture Working Group meet, under Indias G-20 Presidency, will be held in Madhya Pradeshs temple town Khujaraho from 22 to 25 February.

The CWG will evolve through four meetings in four historic cities of India and steer the G20 discourse on four priority areas. Indias CWG will reflect the emergence of Culture as a prominent theme on the global stage, it will adopt Culture to renew multilateral and multicultural cooperation at all levels and will aim to forward this ideal and inform future global cultural policies and initiatives.

Briefing the media about the upcoming First G20 Culture Group (CWG) meeting, Culture secretary Govind Mohan said , India is so rich and diverse in culture that the cultural engagements acquire their own significance and importance. The overarching theme of G20 is that of Vasudev Kutumbakam"- One Earth  One Family  One Future. Ministry of Culture has developed a robust programme of cultural projects inspired by Indias G20 theme of Vasudev Kutumbakam".

The secretary further explained that Indias G20 Culture Track is predicated on the idea of Culture for LiFE- environmentally conscious lifestyle as a campaign for sustainable living.

Govind Mohan also said that the Culture Working group will have four meetings and they will be held in Khajuraho, Bhubaneshwar, Hampi and the final location, is yet to be decided. He also informed that for Khajuraho, the theme is Protection and Restitution of Cultural Property".

This cultural working group meeting in Khajuraho will also have an exhibition which will be organized at the Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Centre, which will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Culture G Kishan Reddy along with the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan," he added.

Govind Mohan informed that cultural programs will be organised on the occasion including the Khajuraho Dance Festival Cultural performances . The delegates will also visit the Western Group of Temples, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They will also be taken to Panna Tiger Reserve. More than 125 delegates will attend the meeting.

An ancient city, Khajuraho is known for its majestic temples and elaborate sculptures. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Khajuraho Group of Monuments, was constructed by the Chandela Dynasty between 950-1050 AD.

The aesthetic of the Nagara-style architecture, ornamented with the intricate and detailed sculptures, acts like a window into the socio-cultural practices of the time. According to historical records, there were 85 temples in the temple site in Khajuraho, covering 20 square kilometres, in the 12th Century AD. However, today, only 25 of these temples - scattered throughout a 6 square kilometre area - have survived.

As a part of the meeting, there will be an exhibition titled Re(ad)dress : Return of Treasures" at the Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Centre (MCCC), which will be inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan and the Minister for Culture, Tourism and DoNER G. Kishan Reddy.

India assumed the G20 presidency on 1 December 2022, articulating the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam  One Earth  One Family  One Future, which aims to foster, celebrate, and incorporate the diversity of cultural traditions amongst the member states while striving towards holistic living and creating a pro-people planet.
Mumbai Police received a bomb threat call in the Bombay High Court premises, said an official on Wednesday. The police control room in Maharashtra received a call from Bihar at around 5.45 pm on Tuesday, according to the news agency PTI.

The caller said 'I have paid money and my work is not being done. So I kept a bomb in the high court," the official informed.

After getting the information, teams from Pundalik Nagar police station and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad reached the high court building and carried out an extensive search. However, nothing suspicious was found, he said.

The teams searched two floors of the building, its rear area, and the high court's parking area, the official said, adding that no offense has been registered in this connection.

In yet another similar incident, Google's Pune office also received a hoax bomb threat call on Monday stating there is a bomb in the office premises. The company's Pune city office was briefly put on alert after the call.

The man, who allegedly made the call in an inebriated state, has been traced to Hyderabad and apprehended from there.

After being alerted, Mumbai Police connected with their counterparts in Pune who rushed to the technology giant's office located in Pune. Police along with the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad reached the spot and carried out extensive searches, but did not find anything suspicious.

"The office, located on the 11th floor of a multi-storey commercial building in Pune's Mundhwa area, received a call late Sunday night that a bomb was kept in the office premises," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone V) Vikrant Deshmukh said.

Police arrested the caller. He has been identified as Panayam Shivanand, who hails from Hyderabad. A complaint was lodged by Google at the BKC police station in Mumbai.

The BKC Police has registered a case against the caller under Section 505(1)(b) and 506(2) of IPC. Further investigation into the matter is underway.

(With PTI inputs)
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Wednesday took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)_ government at the centrea nd said that anybody who dares to speak about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's past' is raided' referring to the sudden Income Tax Department conducted survey on Delhi and Mumbai offices of BBC on Tuesday.

Khera said that BJP government is demolishing the fourth pillar of democracy-media and journalism- in India.

The Income Tax Department survey operation against BBC India continued for the second day on Wednesday with sleuths understood to be making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organisation, officials said.

Pawan Khera alleged that the Indian media has repeated been "strangulated, muzzled and bulldozed" by the ruling Modi government , because a small number of them, have refused to toe in line with BJP.

"When Modi ji was dreaming of becoming the prime minister of the country, then he was a dedicated follower of the same BBC," Khera told reporters here.

"Demolishing the fourth pillar of democracy has now become a mundane thing in 'New India'. Modi ji had promised to run 'Start Up India', but in 'amrit kaal' it has become 'Shut Up India'," the Congress leader said.

This year, it is India's turn to host the G20, which is a big event, and "what image of India is Modi ji presenting to the world with this raid?" he asked.

"By giving the slogan of 'Mother of Democracy', he himself has become the 'father of hypocrisy'," Khera said.

The Congress spokesperson said Prime Minister Modi has received several awards from foreign entities and has publicly touted these. But when some foreign entities criticised him, they were raided or termed "anti-national", Khera said.

When Prime Minister Modi's past is exposed by the BBC, "then he uses investigation agencies as his 'frontal organisations' to raid an international media outlet", he said.

"This is particularly perturbing for India's image because we are hosting the G-20 Summit and the Modi government is going gaga over it (G-20)," Khera said.

"What kind of justice is this Modi ji? If you get an award then boast about it using your PR (public relations) machinery to the whole wide world, and if the same media outlets, if the same international media sets your 'record' straight, then you unleash your arrogance of power," the Congress leader said.

The tax department had launched surveys on Tuesday at the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices along with at least two linked premises as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion against the British broadcaster in India.

The action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question".
In the field of aerospace sector, Karnataka is after London and Singapore and the state has all the qualities to top the list in the world, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Tuesday at a dinner hosted as a mark of respect for VVIPs and industrialists participating in the Aero Show India 2023 .

He stated that Karnataka hosted the Aero Show India for the 14th consecutive year and no other state has done it so many times. This time, the show is more and a large number of industrialists are participating."

According to Bommai, there are more opportunities in Bengaluru in the aerospace sector and the state has helped many young entrepreneurs to grow, as per ANI reports.

"Engineers are working continuously to make the Air Show successful. Their elders in 1960 had been successful in making investments. New technology has brought in a lot of changes. The officials of Karnataka have successfully conducted the aero show in Bengaluru and they need to be acknowledged for their hard work. The opportunities are plenty for youths in the aerospace sector," he added.

Currently, around 65% of the defense products are being manufactured here and it will soon rise to 70% in the coming days. "The US consulate has appreciated the Bengaluru Airshow and opined the situation is conducive for investment," the chief minister said.

Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murgesh Nirani, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, Commerce & Industries Department Principal Secretary Selva Kumar, Commissioner Gunjan Krishna, and others were present on the occasion.

On Tuesday, two American F-35 fighter jets made a historic debut at the Aero India show in Bengaluru in an apparent show of support for Indo-US ties. Notably, this was the first time that the supersonic stealth aircraft of the US Air Force has landed in India.

The US Air Force continent also included F-16 and F-18 fighter jets that have been offered to Indian armed forces for different requirements. Officials had previously refused to confirm whether the F-35s would indeed arrive for the event.

(With ANI inputs)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting about 60 searches across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as part of a broad crackdown on people with ties to the outlawed terrorist group ISIS.

In relation to the explosions that occurred in Mangaluru and Coimbatore in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively, searches are being conducted - NDTV sources have claimed. Jameza Mubeen, who had been questioned by the national anti-terror agency in 2019 for alleged ties to ISIS, was killed in the Coimbatore explosion in October 2022, according to the police.

Livemint could not independently verify the development.

An earlier raid at the home of Mubeen (sometimes spelled Mubin) resulted in the seizure of explosives such as potassium nitrate, aluminium powder, charcoal and sulphur that are used to create homemade bombs.

Also Read: NIA receives mail threatening terror attack in Mumbai

Later, CCTV footage from the neighbourhoods around Mubeen's house was analysed. He was discovered to be with four other people the previous night, and the special cell police started looking into the situation.

In connection with the cylinder explosion that killed Mubeen inside a car outside a temple, Ukkadam police previously arrested five people.police officers working under the guidance of DGP Sylendra Babu discovered a terror angle with ties to ISIS in regard to the car blast.

The five men that were arrested were identified as Mohammed Dalqa, Mohammed Azharuddin, Muhamed Riyaz, Firoz Ismail and Muhammad Nawaz Ismail. They were detained based on surveillance footage from a camera near Mubeen's house.

Also Read: 4 years of Pulwama attack: From Balakot airstrike to fears of nuclear war

The Kerala High Court earlier refused to postpone the sentences of three people convicted of attempting to fly to Syria to join ISIS, calling terrorism an evil" that negatively impacted people's lives and freedoms as well as the development of the country in every way.

There is no religion that encourages terrorism or hatred, but certain zealots or religious fundamentalists have perverted their beliefs to promote terrorism and hatred, the court said.

Defenceless adolescents drawn to terrorism turn to violent and anti-national behaviour, according to the court's order, upsetting social peace and disregarding the rights, safety and freedoms of others as well as the integrity of the country.

(With agency inputs)
On February 15, Rahul Gandhi will provide his response over his "misleading, derogatory, unparliamentary and incriminatory statements" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the ongoing Gautam Adani controversy.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat earlier asked the Congress leaders response to the breach of privilege motion that had been issued against him by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

Rahul Gandhi received the message on February 10 from the Privileges and Ethics Branch of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. He was asked to submit his response by February 15 so that the Lok Sabha Speaker could take it into consideration.

Also Read: Did Rahul Gandhi break Parliamentary rules while commenting on Modi-Adani connection?

In his speech to the Lok Sabha on February 7, Rahul Gandhi made a number of accusations against the Narendra Modi administration about the Hindenburg-Adani dispute.

Gandhi claimed that people questioned him about Adani's quick ascent to prominence and the motivations behind his growth into numerous areas as he travelled the nation on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The youth asked us that Adanis business is now in eight to ten sectors and how his net worth reached $140 billion from $8 billion between 2014 and 2022," he said.

Gandhi's accusations were refuted by Dubey. The BJP MP charged that Congress had favoured Tata, Birla and Ambani.

Also Read: Security breach in Kashmir? Major controversy around Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra in J&K

Dubey later said that Rahul Gandhi had made the allegations against PM Modi "without giving advance notice to the Speaker and also to the Prime Minister as required under Rule 353".

"As such, he has made a statement which amounts to misleading the House in the absence of any documentary evidence besides being a reflection upon the Prime Minister. This conduct is in clear violation of privileges of the House and its members besides being a clear case of contempt of the House," the BJP MP added in his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Joshi wrote a similar letter, where he alleged that Gandhi's remarks were liable to be expunged by the Speaker as these are "derogatory, indecent, unparliamentary and undignified".

Gandhi's remarks about Adani were later expunged, which caused a commotion in the political backrooms. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury requested that Speaker Om Birla reconsider his decision to strike Rahul Gandhi's statement from the record.

(With ANI inputs)
This appears to be the first instance of a legal judgement being made with the aid of an AI text generator as a judge in Colombia, US used ChatGPT to issue a court decision. The case featured a disagreement with a health insurance provider over whether or not a child with autism should be covered for medical care.

According to a court record dated January 30, 2023, Judge Juan Manuel Padilla Garcia, who presides over the First Circuit Court in the city of Cartagena, claimed he used the AI tool to pose legal questions concerning the case and included its responses in his judgement.

These texts created by AI are not intended to take the place of the judge's ruling in any manner. The goal is to reduce the amount of time needed to draft decisions after verifying the data provided by AI, Judge Garcia said.

Also Read: India gets its first ChatGPT-powered AI chatbot, Lexi

Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to determine the justifications for this choice. So, the court asked a portion of the legal queries raised in such processes, he added.

The use of AI in court rulings is not prohibited by Colombian law, but programmes like ChatGPT are infamous for providing responses that are either biassed, discriminating, or just plain incorrect. This is so because the language model just synthesises words based on probability from the millions of examples used to train the system, not actually understanding the text.

The legal questions entered into ChatGPT included if a minor with autism was exempt from having to pay for their therapies and the constitutional court's precedent resulted in favourable decisions in such cases.

Also Read: CBSE issues orders on use of ChatGPT in class 10, 12 board exams

Judge Garcia apparently broke new ground by admitting to using the chatbot's complete responses in the judgement. The judge added his own observations on relevant legal precedents.

He claimed that ChatGPT had been used to further the case for the chosen course of action. The judge first describes the conversations with the AI before adopting its responses and his own legal justifications as the basis for its judgement.

ChatGPT is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness," ChatGPT-parent OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier said as people had started questioning how authentic the chatbots response was.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sounak Mukhopadhyay Sounak Mukhopadhyay, who also goes by the name Sounak Mukherjee, has been producing digital news since 2012. He's worked for the International Business Times, The Inquisitr, and Moneycontrol in the past. He's also contributed to Free Press Journal and TheRichest with feature articles. He covers news for a wide range of subjects including business, finance, economy, politics and social media. Before working with digital news publications, he worked as a freelance content writer. Read more from this author
Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he aims to find his successor to lead the social-media company toward the end of 2023.

Elon Musk, speaking via a remote video link to the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday, said he needed to stabilize the social-media platform financially before handing the reins to a new leader.

I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure its in a financially healthy place and the product road map is clearly laid out," Musk said. Im guessing towards the end of this year should be a good timing to find someone else to run the company, because I think it should be in stable condition around the end of this year."

Musk, 51, was interviewed virtually by Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, the United Arab Emirates minister of cabinet affairs who is chairman of the summit.

Musk also spoke broadly about his vision for Twitter and his efforts to rid the platform of misinformation. He said he wanted Twitter to be a source of truth and he encouraged companies, other CEOs and ministers to speak authentically, even if it draws attacks.

Having some criticism is fine," he said. Its really not that bad. Im constantly attacked on Twitter. I dont mind."

Asked whether he limited social-media usage for his children, Musk said, I havent tried to restrict social media from my kids, but that may have been a mistake."

Musk took Twitter private in a $44 billion deal in October. He is the worlds second-richest man with a personal fortune of $187 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Twitter is still somewhat of a start up in reverse," Musk said. Lots of work needed to get Twitter to a stable position."
The 43-year-old gunman, Anthony Dwayne McRae who killed three Michigan State University students had a history of mental illness and carried a note in his pocket indicating a threat to two New Jersey schools, informed the police official on Monday.

The disclosure came as investigators sought clues to what prompted him to open fire Monday night on the MSU campus in East Lansing, about 90 miles west of Detroit, according to the news agency Reuters.

Police said that McRae had no known affiliation to the university or associations with any of his victims. "We have no idea why he came to campus to do this," said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of MSU police.

The shooting began at about 8:30 pm local time, and the entire campus and surrounding neighborhoods were placed under a security lockdown while police searched door-to-door for the gunman. The manhunt ended about three hours later in Lansing, where McRae shot himself to death, authorities said.

It remained unclear whether the suspect was already dead when officers caught up to him, acting on a tip from the public after MSU police had released two still images of the suspect from surveillance video.

Police had also found a note in gunman's pocket that indicated a threat to two public schools in that Delaware River township, authorities said.

An 85-year-old neighbor of McRae's in Lansing, speaking on condition of anonymity, described him to Reuters as "a real hell-raiser" who often fired his gun on the property where he lived with his father.

The suspect's father, Michael McRae, told The Washington Post his son was arrested for carrying a loaded firearm without a concealed-weapons permit in 2019 and later lied about having a gun inside his home.

MSU canceled all classes and other activities for 48 hours as traumatized students and faculty grieved for the victims of America's latest spasm of mass gun violence.

(With Reuters inputs)
US Presidential Elections 2024: I am a proud daughter of Indian immigrants. My parents left India in search of better life, they lived in South Carolina. Our town came to love us, but it wasn't always easy, we were the only Indian family" Indian origin former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday, formally launched her 2024 US Presidential Election campaign.

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.

Haley, during her campaign, posed herself as the younger, fresher alternative to her former boss in the Republican Party- Donald Trump.

Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Addressing her enthusiastic supporters at an event here in South Carolina, she declared: "For a strong America... For a proud America... I am running for President of the United States of America!".

"When America is distracted, the world is less safe... And today, our enemies think the American era has passed. Theyre wrong. America is not past our prime. Its just that our politicians are past theirs!

"We wont win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th Century. And so, I have an announcement to make. I stand before you as the daughter of immigrants  as a proud wife of a combat veteran  and as the mom of two amazing children," she said.

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.

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.

(With agency inputs)
A Hindu temple has been defaced with anti-India graffiti in Canada's Mississauga on Tuesday. The Consulate General of India in Toronto condemned the incident that took place in Canada's Ram Mandir and requested the authorities to investigate and take prompt action against the perpetrators.

Taking to Twitter, the Consulate General of India in Toronto said, We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators."

We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Missisauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators.  IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) February 14, 2023

Notably, this is not the first time that a Hindu temple was defaced with anti-India graffiti in Canada. In January, a Hindu Temple in Brampton, Canada was defaced triggering outrage among the Indian community.

The Indian Consulate General in Toronto condemned the vandalism at the Gauri Shankar Mandir stating that the act has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada, according to the news agency ANI.

We strongly condemn the defacing of Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton, a symbol of Indian heritage, with anti-India graffiti. The hateful act of vandalism has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada. We have raised our concerns on the matter with Canadian authorities," the consulate office said in an official statement.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown also condemned the vandalism and the Canadian authorities are investigating the incident. This hateful act of vandalism has no place in our City or Country. I have raised his concerns over this hate crime with Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their place of worship."

Last September, BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Canada was defaced by 'Canadian Khalistani extremists' with anti-India graffiti. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was defaced in July 2022.

In both instances, pro-Khalistan slogans were painted and the vandalization was promoted on social media by pro-Pakistan handles.

(With ANI inputs)
Three unidentified objects downed since last Friday served commercial purposes and werent used for spying, the Biden administration said on Tuesday. The judgment may help ease anxiety over a Chinese balloon that traversed the US before being shot down.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated that the intelligence community believes the objects unlike the giant airship shot down on February 4, could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose".

We dont see anything that points right now to these being part of the PRC spy balloon program or in fact, intelligence collection against the United States of any kind," Kirby added, as quoted by Bloomberg news.

Chinese spy balloon, Unidentified Flying Objects, mystery objects in the sky has been making headlines for the past week. The controversy began when the 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.

A theory that has been doing the rounds, while the pentagon refuses to define the last three shootings as anything but objects, says that these are sky trash.

China has insisted that the balloon shot down off South Carolina was a weather-monitoring device that blew off course, and accused the US of hyping the issue.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also canceled a trip to Beijing after the Chinese balloon was identified. However, Blinken is now considering a meeting with China's top diplomat, Wany Yi, in Germany this week, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US officials, who were not named, said the balloon had shifted course abruptly over the Pacific Ocean as a cold front moved in, and that analysts were looking into the possibility that its flight over the continental US might not have been intentional.

The administration has struggled to keep the uproar around the balloon under control, amid criticism from Republicans that Biden was wrong to let it traverse the US before shooting it down.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a report on UFO sightings in the USA which has some interesting observations. In the report, it is mentioned that the instances of UFO sightings increased significantly between March 2021 and August 2022.

The report stated that during this time frame a total of 247 new sightings were reported and it was mostly by US Navy and Air Force pilots and personnel. However, from 2004 to 2021 a total of 144 UFO sightings were reported in the 17-year period.

(With inputs from agencies)
Layoffs are poisonous to corporate culture. At companies that have trimmed staff, remaining employees may be insecure about their career prospects, anxious about further cuts and overwhelmed by the amount of work they now need to get done. Some damage to the organizational fabric is inevitable. But there is a lot more executives can do to mitigate the post-layoff gloom.

Even a relatively small staff reduction can dent remaining employees creativity or make them more risk-averse. Downsizing has been found to reduce commitment and trust among survivors, which makes people less likely to expend discretionary effort, such as by working longer hours or taking on extra projects. Meanwhile, unhealthy conflict increases. Survivors may react by defending their turf fiercely or hogging airtime to appear more knowledgeable. Any fissures that were already there are likely to be exacerbated," says Amy Gallo, author of Getting Along: How to Work With Anyone (Even Difficult People).

At the same time, the layoff might make it seem riskier to bring up concerns, especially if the people laid off were seen as outspoken. It can push honest debate underground. Most companies mistake a lack of open disagreement for a lack of conflict. Artificial harmony can be incredibly corrosive," says Gallo.

Bill George, former chairman and chief executive of Medtronic, says those are among the reasons he has always been wary of mass layoffs. George, author of True North: Emerging Leader Edition, predicts that if 10% of an engineering group gets laid off, the remaining 90% will sit around in the cafeteria worrying and swapping rumours instead of inventing new products.

No surprise, then, that studies have linked layoffs to voluntary turnover. And with many companies still hiring, workers who want to rage-apply to other jobs will have plenty of opportunities. So how can companies regain their equilibrium after jettisoning thousands of workers?

At the root of the challenge is that employees interpret layoffs to be what scholars call a psychological contract violation", which gives rise to resentment and fear. Senior executives need to lead the way in repairing the damage. Leaders need to get their people together and rebuild the trust that was lost," says George. A lot of thats got to be done in person." Staffers would benefit from spending more time in the office, he says, but so would senior executives. Its hard to have empathy for your people if youre in Hawaii and theyre being laid off in downtown San Francisco." People are less likely to quit if they think that HR decisions are fair and not arbitrarysomething hard to convey when a CEO has announced a round-number layoff because of the macro-economic environment." Senior leaders should give a detailed and thoughtful explanation of why these layoffs were necessarywhy these particular people or projects had become unaffordable.

Middle managers also play a key role. Youve got to have personal contact with people," George tells me. Youve got to say, Sarah, we value you really highly. I think youre on a great track. I think there are bigger jobs ahead for you. And we really want to make sure you stay with us." He says this with such conviction, I almost believe ituntil I remember I dont work for him.

Managers also should emphasize that the team will thrive on open and honest debate to try to counteract the tendency of layoffs to drive conflict underground. Too many cultures rely on unwritten rules, which can contribute to employee paranoia. Dont make stressed-out employees waste energy reading tea leaves. Want them to do something different? Just tell them.

For employees, Gallo suggests making a list of all the things you still enjoy about the jobnot to put a happy gloss on a lousy situation, but to counteract human beings inherent negativity bias (a tendency to put undue weight on things we find aggravating or annoying). Do some serious reflection on why you were spared. Are you working on a critical project? Do you have specialized knowledge? Focusing on the value you bring can help defuse feelings of insecurity or anxiety.

If youre overwhelmed by your new workload, dont complainyour manager probably already knows they are asking for the moonbut do ask for help prioritizing. For example, she says, you might say something like: Prior to the layoff, here are the things I was working on. Now, post-layoff, here is the greater basket of things Im working on. Im not sure how to fit this all into my limited time. Id love your help prioritizing." Your manager should be your partner in deciding where to focus.

And if its all too depressing? Remember: Talented people always have employment options. Your best move may be to start exercising yours.
Transfer pricing was sprung into conversation by this weeks tax survey" of BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, a sniff-around by Indian authorities for any sign that may warrant a full raid, on apparent suspicion of taxes dodged by siphoning money abroad via lopsided charges levied within the group. Several notices issued to BBC India were ignored, went the word. The political context, however, loomed larger. This action was taken barely weeks after a two-part BBC documentary on the Gujarat violence of 2002, India: The Modi Question , provoked a stern response from the Narendra Modi government, which called it hostile propaganda" and invoked its emergency powers under the IT Rules of 2021 to ban the sharing of its links or clips on social media. While the Centre said this muzzle was in the national interest, the British public service broadcaster stuck by its production, calling it rigorously researched". The tax swoop-in was officially unrelated, but it inevitably stirred up protests. The Editors Guild of India, for example, protested what it saw as a trend of media harassment by state agencies. What hazes up our view of events is the complexity of the tax law that BBC might have violated.

Under the tax scanner is the pricing of goods and services transferred across borders within the organization. If not done by legally specified arms-length norms, self-set prices for internal transactions could act as a device to reduce profits shown and tax liability in India and correspondingly inflate numbers in overseas tax havens (or head offices). Global businesses often charge their local units for loans, transfers of technology, supplies, software systems and the use of intellectual property, etc, even as they pay for what they source from here. An Indian unit that pays too much for what it buys this way and gets too little for what it sells its foreign owner would be guilty of tax evasion. In the BBCs case, we do not know the items under scrutiny, let alone what patterns a probe may reveal. Nor is it clear how wide the problem is among global operators. Whats known, however, is that compliance has long been a bugbear for multinational companies, which risk falling afoul of the tax code by accident if they dont watch out. Our rules have such grey zones that hastily apportioned costs for a global digital upgrade could spell trouble, not least because software prices vary vastly and arent hard to contest. By law, related-party deals need to be at an arms length", as determined by the most appropriate" of various calculation methods. The selection set for this ranges from familiar cost-plus and resale price formulae to comparable uncontrolled price, profit split and transactional net margin methods. So, while MNCs are required to keep their accounts compliant, a few discrepancies need not necessarily indicate a plot to siphon funds away from our coffers.

Not that any entity found guilty of transfer price-fixing to evade taxes should be let off the hook. The BBCs global eminence as a news conveyor could not get in the way of an Indian look-in, which is how it is supposed to be. Also, given its autonomy from Rishi Sunaks UK government, this looks unlikely to cause a diplomatic row. In that, it wasnt reckless. Meanwhile, although the broadcaster must be treated like any other tax assessee, whiffs of selectivity around the episode may have aroused another round of curiosity about the BBC fare found offensive. After all, defiant screenings of it by students in India have been in the news too.
Tripura Assembly Elections: As the Northeastern state of India prepares for their upcoming state assembly elections that sees Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) vie for power in the state, here's taking a look for what awaits.

Tripura Assembly Election: Dates

The elections will take place on 16 February. According to the official notification from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the votes will be counted on 3 March.

Tripura Assembly Election: Seats

The state on Thursday will conduct voting in 3,328 polling booths. The unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tripura has 60 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

There are 28.13 lakh voters eligible to exercise their franchise. A total of 259 candidates are in the electoral race, of whom 20 are women.

Tripura Assembly Elections: Background

The BJP had overturned a twenty five year regime of the CPIM in Tripura during the 2018 Assembly Elections.

Apart from the ruling BJP and the CPIM-Congress Alliance, The state of Tripura can also vote for another newly formed party- Tipra Motha led by former royal scion Pradyot Manikya Debbarma.

Having the benefit of being more local than the national parties, the Tipra Motha has promised to fight for 'Greater Tipraland'. The odea of Greater Tipraland is a separate state for the indigenous people of the state.

Apart from them, TMC has also forayed into the political scenario of Tripura, hoping to overthrow the BJP rule in the state.

Tripura Assembly Elections: Who is contesting where?

The BJP is contesting 55 assembly seats, its ally IPFT has fielded candidates in six constituencies, while there will be a friendly fight in one seat. BJP has also fielded the highest number of women candidates with 12.

The CPI(M) is contesting 47 seats and the Congress is fighting in 13 constituencies.

The TMC has fielded nominees in 28 constituencies and there are 58 independent aspirants too.

The Tipra Motha has also pinned their hopes on the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) that administers the Tipra-dominated areas of the state. The party won 18 of the 30 seats in the TTAADC. The Tipra Motha banks on its influence in the 20 tribal-dominated seats in a 60-member legislative assembly. The party is contesting 42 seats.

Tripura Assembly Elections: Big Players

During the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and a dozen central ministers canvassed for the saffron party candidates.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, and senior leaders Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Mohammad Salim, along with former CM Manik Sarkar and party state secretary Jitendra Choudhury, campaigned in favour of the party.

Congress leaders Adhir Chowdhury, Dipa Dasmunshi and AICC general secretary Ajay Kumar campaigned for the grand old party, but neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the state for campaigning.

Former royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma single handedly canvassed for his Tipra Motha party.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights across America in early January, paralyzing air traffic for nearly two hours. It was the first nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and shook an industry struggling to cope with a postpandemic surge in travel.
Chinese technology giant Xiaomi has launched its latest TV Stick 4K in India on Tuesday. The TV stick is a portable device which helps users to stream content with any television set with an HDMI port by transforming them into a smart TV. The company launched the device on the occasion of Xiaomis five year journey of smart television in India.

The Xiaomi TV Stick 4K runs on Android TV 11 OS and offers access to a bunch of streaming apps and services such as Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more.

Xiaomi TV Stick 4K: Price in India

The Xiaomi TV Stick 4K is priced at 4,999 in India. It will go on sale in India on February 20, 2023. Interested buyers can purchase it from the official website of the company.

Xiaomi TV Stick 4K: Features and specifications

According to the company, "the new streaming stick is designed to offer an all-new multimedia experience and focuses on further accelerating the 4K adoption in the country." The Xiaomi TV Stick 4K comes in a sleek and simple design with a lightweight body. It gets a USB cable for power and an HDMI connector to plug in a television set. Moreover, the TV Stick comes equipped with a Wi-Fi antenna that lets the users use it without an internet wired connection.

The Xiaomi TV Stick 4K runs on Android TV 11 OS and offers access to a bunch of streaming apps and services such as Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more. It also comes with a built-in Chromecast support which lets users cast the content from their smartphones to their TVs.

Interestingly, the device supports 4K Ultra HD resolution. It provides a clear and vivid picture quality to users and also offers support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dolby Vision to provide a more dynamic and immersive viewing experience.

Moreover, the Xiaomi TV Stick 4K gets a voice control feature. Users can add Google Assistant to search content, control sound and more. This device gets 8GB of internal storage. However, users can get extra storage by adding an external storage device.
COVID-19 interrupted one of life's most familiar acts: the warm, enveloping comfort of a hug. The pandemic taught us many things, some more important than others  but one of those is just how much many of us rely on these embraces for a sense of reassurance, consolation and calm.

We've become profoundly aware of the significance of this simple act in our human lives  but does hugging exist in the rest of the animal kingdom? Are there any other species that embrace in the way humans do?

To answer that, first we have to define exactly what we mean by "hug." From a subjective human standpoint, of course, a hug happens when someone wraps their arms around someone else. Naturally, this restricts hugging to animals with arms  and those are mainly primates, like us. This quickly reveals that, while we might see hugs as a uniquely human trait, hugging is actually just as prominent in the lives of nonhuman primates.

Related: Do any animals know their grandparents?

Comfort and consolation

Take, for example, bonobos (Pan paniscus), which are often described as the peace-loving hippies of the primate world. These primates have been a lifelong subject of study for Zanna Clay, a comparative and developmental psychologist and primatologist at Durham University in the United Kingdom. Clay studies social interactions among bonobos, and much of her observational work takes place at a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for bonobos whose lives have been disrupted by hunting. At this sanctuary, it's common to see troops of infants obsessively clinging to one another as they walk around in tandem.

"You have quite a lot of young orphans who need quite a lot of reassurance, and they do what we call the 'hug walk': They hug together and walk along in a little train," Clay told Live Science.

Clay says that this behavior is more common in the sanctuary than it would be in the wild  possibly because bonobos are also exposed to embraces from their human caregivers  but it still does occur in bonobos' natural lives. In fact, this behavior probably has roots in the maternal behavior of female bonobos, which cradle their infants when they are small. Researchers have observed that this hugging behavior is most common in young bonobos and typically occurs after a bonobo has experienced conflict or stress. Often, in these cases, a distressed bonobo will stretch out its arms in a beseeching gesture, and another bonobo will dramatically rush toward the squealing infant and encircle it in a tight embrace.

"A bonobo might request [a hug], so they will seek someone out and sort of ask for help, or somebody might offer them one," Clay said.

Two bonobo juveniles hug each other at Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary. (Image credit: Anup Shah via Getty Images)

It's difficult to judge animal emotions, but the evidence points to the likelihood that hugging reassures these primates, just as it does humans, Clay said. Intriguingly, in some of her previous research , Clay and her colleagues discovered that orphaned bonobos were less likely to offer sympathetic hugs to distressed peers, compared with young bonobos that had been reared by their mothers. This might indicate the importance of parental care in laying the foundation for this social gesture in primates, Clay said.

Bonobos may be particularly fond of a good cuddle, but the maternal roots of this embrace make this behavior common across many other primate species. In many of these species, mothers hold their infants closely for extended periods of their infancy.

For instance, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)  bonobos' close relatives  are also known to embrace . This is especially notable in tense situations such as "border patrols," when chimps rove around to assert their presence and protect their territories, Clay said.

"If they hear a predator, or another chimpanzee group, or something scary, that's when you'll see them touching each other and holding on to each other," Clay said. The hug seems to function as reassurance in the face of danger, Clay added  another relatable feature for humans, who typically reach for one another when afraid.

Related: Do animals ever get sunburned?

In the case of crested black macaques (Macaca nigra), which live in Indonesia, hugging comes with an added flourish: These monkeys request hugs by audibly smacking their lips  an invitation that's not reserved for family but extended generously to other members of the troop.

In addition, young orangutans have been observed rushing to hug each other when confronted with the threat of a snake , thus emphasizing the hug's apparently reassuring role in times of stress or fear. And in another macaque species, the Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana), researchers have discovered that consoling hugs are plentiful after a fight  and may even be accompanied by a kiss.

Proactive peacekeeping

Most research on hugging in primates focuses on its assumed role in reassuring and consoling others  which makes sense, because this mirrors what hugs mean to humans. But research on the lives of spider monkeys reveals a different reason primates engage in these seemingly affectionate displays.

Filippo Aureli is an ethologist  someone who studies animal behavior  and is affiliated with both the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico and Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom; he studies how spider monkeys use hugging not to recover from conflict but rather to prevent it. In research based on weeks of observing spider monkeys in the tropical forests of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, he discovered that these primates approach each other and embrace more in scenarios in which tensions threaten to boil over into conflict  for instance, when two monkey subgroups meet after a long time apart and fuse to form a larger troop.

"The embrace is done by individuals that have a problematic relationship," said Aureli, who is an editor on a book about conflict resolution in animals . "They may need to be together, and they may need to cooperate  but they are not best friends. And so, the embrace is a way to send a signal and really manage that conflicted relationship." He explained that because an embrace involves a high degree of vulnerability  after all, one animal is fully exposing its body to another  this "helps to clarify, 'Hey, I come with good intentions.'"

Related: Do animals laugh?

It's possible that hugging as a means of proactive damage control occurs in other primates, as well. But currently, spider monkeys are the best-studied example of this aspect of the behavior, Aureli said. He described their embraces as "preemptive peacemaking," and his study even suggests that humans could learn a thing or two from these careful creatures about how to manage conflict. "It's much better to prevent than to repair," Aureli said.

Spider monkeys, including one cradling a baby, sit on a log. (Image credit: Michael Nunez / 500px)

Speaking of humans, how do our own hugs compare to those of other primates? "At the end of the day, we are primates, and affiliative contact is a superimportant component of our social life," Clay said. "So, to me, there's obvious continuity in some of the functions of embracing and hugging with humans."

As in nonhuman primates, being held and embraced by our parents in our infancy sets us up for the reassuring, consoling function that hugs play in our lives. According to Clay, the one notable difference between our hugs and those of our primate kin is that humans seem to have layered more social symbolism onto the embrace. "I think the difference is that with humans, it's become a kind of conventionalized greeting or parting gesture," Clay said. "Apes don't tend to do that."

Beyond primates

Of course, we have to be careful not to assume that hugging looks the same in other species as it does in humans. Hugs in primates are easy to identify because they look like ours, but other species may have hugs that appear different.

"If we identify the function of a hugging embrace, then really, the form could be completely different  maybe less fascinating for us as humans, because we don't recognize it," Aureli said. "But it could basically fulfill the same role."

Primate studies indicate that embraces function to bond, reassure, console and make peace, but hugs could have myriad analogues in other animals. For example, horses groom one another, and studies reveal that this activity decreases their heart rates  a hallmark of comfort and calm. Researchers have observed that if the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) detects signs of distress in its mate, it will rush over and rapidly start grooming the mate's fur ; researchers have interpreted this behavior as a possible act of consolation. In birds, preening between pairs is thought to increase social bonds .

Lions (Panthera leo) rub heads and nuzzle , which is believed to boost their social connections. Hundreds of other mammal species lean against, nestle and huddle with one another to provide comfort and warmth, or to form a united front against danger  which might play a similar role to the steadying hug we see in primates. Meanwhile, dolphins seem to display a kind of consoling peacemaking behavior: Studies show that these cetaceans are more likely to engage in reconciliatory activities after a conflict  for instance, giving each other a flipper rub, or gently towing each other through the water, like an apologetic piggyback.

So, after the separation and stress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we might take heart in knowing that what humans know as a hug could have many equivalents in our fellow animals. All around the world, there are animals carrying out small acts of comfort and consolation, and making difficult situations a bit easier for one another. That thought is almost as comforting as a big, cozy hug itself.

Originally published on Live Science.
Freshmen Alayna Grover, left, and Brooke McFarlin plan to develop a business through an app that will assist college students in finding other college students to hire for various tasks, such as cleaning.
Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Hale, here in Las Vegas in November 2022, announced Tuesday that she will run for president in 2024.
Longford Lights Festival, Irelands largest community based lantern festival, takes place in Connolly Barrack in Longford Town at 5.30-8.30pm from Friday, February 24 to Sunday, February 26.

Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Turlough McGovern will open the festival at 6pm on Friday, February 24.

Longford Lights Festival is a partnership between artist Tom Meskell and Longford County Council Arts Office. It is co-funded through the Arts Council of Ireland and its Project Award Scheme.

Over 200 local Longford people from various community groups have so far participated in the making of the Longford Lights.

These include local schools, Drumlish and Killoe Men Sheds, Longford Irish Countrywomens Associations, Longford Womens Link, St Christophers and the Ethnic Minority Hub.

This new festival was also made possible with from expertise Macnas from Galway and the Liverpool Lantern Company, both acclaimed and award-winning spectacle theatre companies.

The festival builds on the success of last years The Light Brigade event also by artistic director Tom Meskell which attracted over 2,000 people to Longford. This previous event saw magnificent, illuminated horse sculptures taking pride of place in Connolly Barracks.

Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Turlough McGovern said, Having attended the Light Brigade, I am very much looking forward to opening the Longford Lights Festival, the latest collaboration between Longford County Council Arts Office and Tom Meskell.



This ambitious project, held at this scale in a beautiful setting, is something which Longford people as well as people from further afield should come to experience. Congratulations to all on their tremendous work. I cannot wait to see you all there.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon added, Longford County Council is proud to get behind this new festival, the largest of its kind in Ireland. It shows great collaboration between the Council, artists and community groups.

It shows how creativity and art can bring people together for the betterment of their area. And shows how the Councils investment in the arts can attract visitors to County Longford.

Following this success, Tom Meskell is confident Longford Lights Festival will be a must-see event: Visitors to Longford Lights Festival  Art Illuminated, will be greeted by original sculptures in lantern form made by Irish artists along with projections, specially commissioned music, drumming and fire sculptures.

All of this work has been produced by local, national and international artists. We are working on making this one of the biggest community lantern events in Ireland and we are expecting crowds of up to 5,000 people over the weekend.

Longford Lights Festival is a free and fully-accessible, public event which takes place in Connolly Barracks in Longford town between 5.30-8.30pm from Friday to Sunday, February 24 - 26.
Rising make up influencer and catwalk queen Elisha Stokes can do no wrong at the minute after adding yet another prestigious accolade to her ever expanding CV.

The Granard woman is arguably one of the most talked about figures on the Irish beauty circuit in a flourishing career that has seen her rack up award after award, amass tens of thousands of social media followers as well as open her own business.

A little over a week ago, Elisha took centre stage once more, this time at the coveted 2023 Irish Makeup Awards.

The glitzy black tie event, which was held at Dublin Airports Crowne Plaza Hotel, saw Elisha see off all comers to claim the mantle of Make Up Influencer of the Year.

Despite it being her third time to be recognised on the national stage, this years accolade was arguably the sweetest of all.

The first two (awards) were huge as well but this one was a black tie event and means so much, she said.

After being successfully nominated, it was a resounding public vote and those of an expert judging panel which ultimately saw Elisha walk away with one of the competitions top prizes.

Yet for all her success, the former Cnoc Mhuire student is as humble as she is proud of the roots upon which her career has so far been based.

Taking a fleeting breather in the front sitting room of her parents front sitting room after another hectic day in her aptly named salon Elishas, the 28-year-old admitted she had been taken aback by her latest honour.

When they (judges) handed me the mic, I didnt know what to do, she said.

It was just incredible and I want to thank all the people who voted for me and supported me.

There were equally wholesome words of acknowledgement for her many clients as well as her proud fiance Keith and parents, Tommy and Lena who watched proudly on during the course of Elishas interview with the Leader this week.

I was always an artsy kid when I was younger, drawing pictures, she added, when asked about her decision to branch out into the Irish beauty industry six years ago.

I always had a flair for arts, but then in 2016 that was the year for makeup in Ireland with Instagram and everyone was going mad doing makeup.

After completing and successfully obtaining the required qualifications in her chosen field, Elisha, two years ago, opened the salon she now operates and which lies adjacent to the Stokes family home along Granards Main Street.

A make up tutor to boot, Elisha is also carving a name out for herself on Irelands modelling scene with her name already aligned to two of Irelands premier agencies in the form of Platform and Catwalk under the guidance of renowned entrepreneur Mandy Maher.

And as for her own words of advice to young aspiring girls looking to follow in her footsteps, Elisha said diligence and perseverance were the keys to doing just that.

I would say dont give up because when I started doing makeup first I maybe had three clients for the first two weeks, she said.

When you start out in makeup the clients arent there but you have to stick at it and work and work.

And its precisely that sense of dedication, which has and will continue to serve what is now undoubtedly one of Irelands fastest growing beauty icons well into the future.
Sheep market issues and the blight of dog attacks on sheep flocks were highlighted during last week's meeting of Longford IFA that was hosted by Abbeyshrule IFA branch.

Farmers believe serious action is needed on each front they lobbied local Oireachtas representatives, Deputy Joe Flaherty and Senator Micheal Carrigy, who attended the meeting on the farm of County IFA Chairperson Gavin White.

Deputy Flaherty said Longford sheep farmers are facing a very uncertain and worrying future and he raised the matter with the Minister for Agriculture and supported their calls for a 30 per animal intervention from his department for the sector.

Meanwhile, launching IFAs 2023 campaign on dog control, IFA President Tim Cullinan criticised the failure of the authorities to tackle what is a growing problem on farms.

The IFA No Dogs Allowed campaign will continue until we see meaningful action from Ministers McConalogue and Humphreys in this area.

The level of sanctions that can be applied do not reflect the savagery and trauma these uncontrolled dogs are causing. The absence of a centralised database to identify ownership and those responsible for the dogs, and the lack of enforcement of microchipping, are all contributing to this persistent and escalating problem, he said.

Caption: Longford IFA Chairperson Gavin White, Cllr Mick Cahill, Deputy Joe Flaherty and Luke Casey (Longford IFA) at last week's meeting, highlighting the financial challenges facing the sheep sector and the scourge of marauding dogs

The latest report on the implementation of the Control of Dogs Act shows only 192,348 are licensed out of an estimated 800,000 in the country. This leaves an estimated 607,652, or 76% of dogs, unidentified.

He said it is not acceptable to farmers, who provide full traceability for the seven million cattle and the four million sheep under their care from birth, and where every animal is individually tagged and traceable, that a similar system is not in place for dog owners.

Over 300k announced for rural Longford roads and laneways More than 300,000 in State funding has been announced to target the repair some of Longford's most rural roads and laneways.

IFA Sheep Chairperson Kevin Comiskey said all dog owners should take heed that they are fully liable for all damage and suffering caused to farmers and their sheep by their dogs.

The irresponsible behaviour of some dog owners continues to lead to devastating consequences on farms and must stop.

He said this is a critical time of year on sheep farms as lambing gets underway. Dog attacks are causing unimaginable suffering for sheep and lambs and huge economic losses for farmers.

He said dogs should not be allowed in or near farmland and he urged all dog owners to behave in a responsible way and adhere to this.

Caption: Luke Casey (Longford IFA), Senator Micheal Carrigy, Cllr Paul Ross, Longford IFA Chairperson Gavin White, Longford Lamb Producer Group Chairperson Joe Esler and Cllr Mick Cahill

Meanwhile, following a recent IFA sheep farmers meeting in Tuam, IFA President Tim Cullinan said the income crisis facing sheep farmers has reached a critical stage and requires immediate action from the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

The IFA President said sheep farming is a low-income vulnerable sector that does not have the capacity to absorb the volatility of the current market situation.

The sheep sector increased output by 10% in volume terms to 75,000t last year, increasing export value by 17% to 476m.

Sheep farmers over the same period saw their margins decimated, falling by 81% to just 7/ewe, which includes the Sheep Welfare Scheme payment.

Teagasc and Bord Bia expect similar input costs and market conditions for this year, leaving sheep farmers facing the prospect of 7/ewe return for the year, at best.



This is not sustainable and can only be resolved by immediate direct intervention from the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, he said.

Tim Cullinan said the Minister must provide targeted support of 30/ewe to sheep farmers by building on the supports already announced in the Sheep Improvement Scheme of 12/ewe for this year.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: February 15 2023

Three Counties Join 15 Additional Emergency Management Organizations to Achieve Accreditation Under New York State's Local Emergency Management Program.

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced Suffolk, Monroe, and Steuben Counties recently achieved accreditation through New York State's Local Emergency Management Accreditation Program. Monroe County's Office of Emergency Management, Steuben County's Office of Emergency Services, and Suffolk County's Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services are the latest emergency management organizations in New York State to achieve accreditation, joining agencies in Albany, Broome, Chemung, Erie, Livingston, Madison, Montgomery, Nassau, Niagara, Oneida, Saratoga, Washington, Wayne and Wyoming counties, as well as New York City.

"New York's local emergency managers play a vital role in responding to a wide variety of emergencies in their communities and we are proud to support and celebrate them in their mission," Governor Hochul said. "Our accreditation program demonstrates counties have thorough plans and procedures to protect New Yorkers. Congratulations to County Executives Bellone and Bello, County Manager Wheeler and their respective teams on this achievement, and I continue to encourage counties across the state to pursue this important accreditation process."

New York State's Local Emergency Management Accreditation Program is the nation's first accreditation at the state level for local emergency management agencies. The program was developed in partnership with the New York State Emergency Management Association (NYSEMA), the accreditation program highlights and promotes local emergency management agencies in New York State. To become accredited, a local government must meet a series of standards and best practices promoting a coordinated and integrated approach to emergency management. Localities must also engage "whole community" stakeholders, including government and non-government partners.

The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) administers the program on behalf of the Local Emergency Management Accreditation Council, which serves as the governing body for the program. Accreditation is valid for five years, with an opportunity to obtain reaccreditation after the five-year period.

Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said, "New York's threat landscape has never been more diverse, from the ferocity of storms to cyber-incidents to mass casualty events. These threats require our local emergency managers to have processes in place to respond to disasters and protect the public. Thanks to our partners in Monroe, Steuben and Suffolk Counties on achieving this accreditation that will better equip themselves to respond to emergencies."

New York State Emergency Management Association President and Cattaraugus County Emergency Management Director Chris Baker said, "I would like to congratulate these counties for achieving this important accomplishment, and I want to thank DHSES for their ongoing partnership with the accreditation program."

Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services

The Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (FRES) is committed to serving both the 1.5 million residents of Suffolk County and the over 10,000 emergency responders who are dedicated to saving lives and protecting property.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, "I am extremely proud of our Office of Emergency Management for their dedicated service and achieving accreditation through the New York State Local Emergency Management Accreditation Program. These men and women work every day to ensure the health and safety of all Suffolk County residents. Thanks to the hard work of our FRES Commissioner Patrick Beckley and OEM Director Joseph Trzepizur, not only have we been able to meet state policy standards, we have been able to exceed them."

Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Pat Beckley said, "Achieving state accreditation for our Office of Emergency Management has been one of our top priorities at Suffolk County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services since 2021. It was a very detailed process that covers over 20 different subject areas in emergency management and requires all of our plans to have been updated within the last five years. It was a very challenging objective to accomplish while still continuing to respond to real world incidents like COVID and other natural events. I'm very proud of the efforts all of our FRES staff have put into this. I'm especially proud of our OEM staff and the leadership of Director Joseph Trzepizur in achieving our goal as a NY State accredited Emergency Management Office."

Monroe County Office of Emergency Management

The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) executes the county's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan for disaster relief before, during and after any type of natural or man-made disaster or a wartime situation. In accordance with State Executive Law, the office develops and maintains a comprehensive emergency management plan to include prevention/mitigation, readiness, response and recovery. OEM plans and coordinates with government and non-government agencies for rapid response in an emergency and assists towns and villages in the preparation of their emergency response plans. OEM, with guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, develops and continually reviews the Monroe County radiological emergency preparedness plan in case of an incident at the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant. OEM conducts multiple exercises a year testing its radiological emergency preparedness plan.

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said, "Monroe County's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is second-to-none in keeping our residents safe and resources protected. The State Emergency Accreditation for the Monroe County OEM further proves the mettle of this agency and its mission of preventing disasters and, if necessary, providing the best disaster relief possible. Thank you to OEM Emergency Manager Tim Henry and his entire team for achieving this accreditation and for always putting the residents of Monroe County first."

Monroe County Deputy Director for Public Safety and County Emergency Manager Tim Henry said, "What seemed like a daunting task became a very positive and enlightening process for our OEM Team. Working with our invaluable partners in New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, we were able to objectively prioritize and re-evaluate our most critical emergency plans and procedures - updating each with a whole community approach to preparedness and response. The accreditation process refocused many of our efforts to pro-active preparation compared to reactive responses to emergency scenarios."

Steuben County Office of Emergency Services

The Steuben County Office of Emergency Services applies its training and knowledge to effectively plan and prepare for the harmful effects of natural and manmade disasters. Emergency Services officials guide and coordinate emergency response agencies in protecting those who live, travel and work in Steuben County. Emergency Services officials strive to significantly reduce the number of losses to individuals, businesses and government of Steuben County and alleviate the suffering associated with the disruption of daily routines.

Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler said, "Steuben County is grateful to receive this accreditation and is very proud of our Office of Emergency Services. Whether it be their proactive disaster planning, or responding to active events such as weather emergencies, fires, or COVID-19, the men and women of this office consistently demonstrate professionalism and a never-ending sense of duty. This accreditation is well-deserved recognition of their tremendous efforts."

Steuben County Director of Public Safety and County Emergency Manager Tim Marshall said, "Steuben County Office of Emergency Services is excited to be among those who are receiving this recognition of being accredited by New York State's Local Emergency Management Accreditation Program. Achieving this accreditation continues to ensure we are amongst those most prepared for any emergency, natural or other active disaster, thrown our way. The men and women that serve both as employees as well as volunteers within our organization should be proud to be part of getting us here."

Additional information about the New York State Local Emergency Management Accreditation Program - including program guidance, eligibility, and standards - can be found on the DHSES website here.

DHSES and NYSEMA will provide technical assistance to local emergency management offices interested in obtaining accreditation. Local emergency management offices looking to achieve accreditation should complete the application form and submit it to DHSES at Emaccreditation@dhses.ny. gov.

About the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services

The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services provides leadership, coordination, and support to prevent, protect against, prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disasters and other emergencies. For more information, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or visit our website.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: February 15 2023

Driver had a Blood Alcohol Content of .22 percent.

The Suffolk County Sheriffs Proactive Impaired Driver Reduction Effort (S.P.I.D.R.E) Team arrested a driver who was almost three times over the legal blood alcohol limit (.08%) for drunk driving.

On 02/14/2023, at approximately 11:21 p.m., Sheriffs Deputies observed Ruth Rivera-Beltran, 50, of Deer Park, NY, driving a vehicle on Sunrise Highway in Islip. Ms. Rivera-Beltran was observed failing to maintain her lane of travel by swerving over the lines separating the lanes of travel on both sides several times. Deputies stopped the vehicle and Rivera-Beltran demonstrated clues while performing standardized field sobriety tests that indicated she was intoxicated. At approximately 11:40 p.m. Ms. Rivera-Beltran was arrested and transported to 100 Center Drive, Riverhead, NY, where she submitted to a chemical breath test resulting in a .22% BAC.

In New York State, a BAC of 0.18 and higher results in charges of Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated. A second offense within 10 years upgrades the charges from a misdemeanor to a class E felony, with a minimum $1,000 fine, up to 4 years in jail, and a minimum 18-month drivers license revocation.

Sheriff Toulon applauds the hard work of the S.P.I.D.R.E Team. We have a zero-tolerance policy for drinking and driving in Suffolk County. Rest assured, our DWI Enforcement Team is out nightly looking for impaired drivers. This motorist was nearly 3x over the legal limit and was so intoxicated she could have killed or seriously injured other drivers or herself. I thank these highly trained Deputies for their vigilance and for keeping Suffolk Countys roadways safe.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Cloudy this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High around 80F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 53F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
It is surprisingly difficult to build a carbon neutral sailing ship. This is even more the case today, because our standards for safety, health, hygiene, comfort, and convenience have changed profoundly since the Age of Sail.

On board the ship `Garthsnaid' at sea. A view from high up in the rigging. Image by Allan C. Green, circa 1920.

The sailing ship is a textbook example of sustainability. For at least 4,000 years, sailing ships have transported passengers and cargo across the worlds seas and oceans without using a single drop of fossil fuels. If we want to keep travelling and trading globally in a low carbon society, sailing ships are the obvious alternative to container ships, bulk carriers, and airplanes.

However, by definition, the sailing ship is not a carbon neutral technology. For most of history, sailing ships were built from wood, but back then whole forests were felled for ships, and those trees often did not grow back. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, sailing ships were increasingly made from steel, which also has a significant carbon footprint.

The carbon neutrality of sailing in the 21st century is even more elusive. Thats because we have changed profoundly since the Age of Sail. Compared to our forebears, we have higher demands in terms of safety, comfort, convenience, and cleanliness. These higher standards are difficult to achieve unless the ship also has a diesel engine and generator on-board.

The revival of the sailing ship

The sailing ship has seen a modest revival in the last decade, especially for the transportation of cargo. In 2009, Dutch company Fairtransport started shipping freight between Europe and the Americas with the Tres Hombres, a sailing ship built in 1943. The company remains active today and has a second ship in service since 2015, the Nordlys (built in 1873).

Since then, others have joined the sail cargo business. In 2016, the German company Timbercoast started shipping cargo with the Avontuur, a ship built in 1920. [1] In 2017, the French Blue Schooner Company started transporting cargo between Europe and the Americas with the Gallant, a sailing ship that was built in 1916. [2] All these sailing ships were constructed in the twentieth or nineteenth century, and were restored at a later date. However, a revival of sail cannot rely on historical ships alone, because theres not enough of them. [3]

The Noach, built in 1857.

At the moment, there are at least two sailing ships in development that are being built from scratch: the Ceiba and the EcoClipper500. The first ship is being constructed in Costa Rica by a company named Sailcargo. She is built from wood and inspired by a Finnish ship from the twentieth century. The second ship is designed by a company called EcoClipper, which is led by one of the founders of the Dutch FairTransport, Jorne Langelaan. Their EcoClipper500 is a steel replica of a Dutch clipper ship from 1857: the Noach.

Old designs are not necessarily the best", says Jorne Langelaan, "but whenever proven design is used, one can be sure of its performance. A new design is more of a gamble. Furthermore, in the 20th and 21st century, sailing technology developed for fast sailing yachts, which is an entirely different story compared to ships which need to be able to carry cargo.

More economical sailing ships

These two ships  one under construction and one in the design phase  have the potential to make sail cargo a lot more economical than it is today. Thats because they have a much larger cargo capacity than the sailing ships currently in operation. As a ship becomes longer, her cargo capacity increases more than proportionally.

The EcoClipper500 is a full-scale replica of the Noach.

The 46 metre long Ceiba is powered by 580 m2 of sails and carries 250 tonnes of cargo. The 60 metre long EcoClipper500 is powered by almost 1,000 m2 of sails and takes 500 tonnes of cargo. For comparison, the Tres Hombres is not that much shorter at 32 metres, but she takes only 40 tonnes of cargo  twelve times less than the EcoClipper500. A larger ship is also faster and saves labour. The Tres Hombres requires a crew of seven, while the EcoClipper500 only has a slightly larger crew of twelve.

Life cycle analysis of a sailing ship

Although the EcoClipper500 is still in the design phase, she will be the focus of this article. This is because the company conducted a life cycle analysis of the ship prior to building it. [9] As far as I know, this is the first life cycle analysis of a sailing ship ever made. The study reveals that it takes around 1,200 tonnes of carbon to build the ship.

Half of those emissions are generated during steel production, and roughly one third is generated by steel working processes and other shipyard activities. Solvent-based paints as well as electric and electronic systems each account for roughly 5% of emissions. The emissions produced during the manufacturing of the sails are not included because there are no scientific data available, but a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation (for sails based on aramid fibres) signals that their contribution to the total carbon footprint is very small. [4]

The EcoClipper500 has a carbon footprint of 2 grammes of CO2 per tonne-kilometre, which is five times less than the carbon footprint of a container ship.

If these 1,200 tonnes of emissions are spread out over an estimated lifetime of 50 years, then the EcoClipper500 would have a carbon footprint of about 2 grammes of CO2 per tonne-kilometre of cargo, concludes researcher Andrew Simons, who made the life cycle analysis for the ship. This is roughly five times less than the carbon footprint of a container ship (10 grammes CO2/tonne-km) and three times less than the carbon footprint of a bulk-carrier (6 grammes CO2/tonne-km). [5]

Looking aft from aloft on the 'Parma' while at anchor. Alan Villiers, 1932-33. Villiers's work vividly records the period of early 20th century maritime history when merchant sailing vessels or tall ships were in rapid decline.

Transporting one ton of cargo over a distance of 8,000 km (roughly the distance between the Caribbean and the Netherlands) would thus produce 16 kg of carbon with the EcoClipper500, compared to 80 kg on a container ship and 48 kg on a bulk carrier. The proportions are similar for other environmental factors, such as ozone depletion, ecotoxicity, air pollution, and so on.

Although the sailing ship boasts a convincing advantage, it may not be as big as you might have expected. First, as Simons explains, theres scale. A container ship or bulk carrier enjoys the same benefits over the EcoClipper500 as the EcoClipper500 enjoys over the Tres Hombres. It can take a lot more cargo  on average 50,000 tonnes instead of 500 tonnes  and it needs only a slightly larger crew of 20-25 people. [6]

Second, fossil fuel powered ships are faster than sailing ships, meaning that fewer ships are needed to transport a given amount of cargo over a given period of time. The original ship on which the EcoClipper500 is based, sailed between the Netherlands and Indonesia in 65 to 78 days, while a container ship does it in about half the time (taking the short cut through the Suez canal).

Building a fleet of sailing ships

Theres two ways to further lower the carbon emissions of sailing ships in comparison to container ships and bulk carriers. One is to build ships from wood instead of steel, such as the Ceiba. If the harvested trees are allowed to grow back (which the makers of the Ceiba have promised), such a ship may even be considered a carbon sink.

However, theres a good reason why the EcoClipper500 will be made from steel: the companys aim is to build not just one ship, but a fleet of them. Jorne Langelaan: There are few shipyards who can deliver wooden ships nowadays. Steel makes it easier to build a fleet in a shorter period.

A possible compromise would be a composite construction, in which a steel skeleton is clad with timber keel, planks, and deck. Andrew Simons: This would reduce the carbon footprint of construction by half. It could also be feasible to make superstructures and some of the mast sections and spars from timber instead of steel.

Driving sprays over the main deck of the 'Parma'. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

Towards the future, another possibility to further decrease a sailings ships emissions per tonne-km is to build it even larger. While the EcoClipper500 has much more cargo capacity than the cargo sailing ships now in operation, she is far from the largest sailing ship ever built.

Historical ships such as the Great Republic (5,000 tonnes), the Parma (5,300 tonnes), the France II (7,300 tonnes), and the Preussen (7,800 tonnes), were more than 100 metres long and could take more than ten times the freight capacity of the EcoClipper500. Langelaan already dreams of a EcoClipper3000.

Passengers

Most cargo sailing ships travelling across the oceans today can also take some passengers. Fully loaded with cargo, the EcoClipper500 takes 12 crew members, 12 passengers, and 8 trainees (passengers who learn how to sail). If the upper hold deck is not used for cargo, another 28 trainees can join, so that the ship can take up to 60 people on board (with a smaller cargo volume: 480 m3 instead of 880 m3).

The carbon footprint for passengers amounts to 10 g per passenger-km, compared to roughly 100 g per passenger-km on an airplane.

Consequently, and since ocean liners have disappeared, the EcoClipper500 also becomes an alternative to the airplane. According to the results of the life cycle analysis, the carbon footprint for passengers on the EcoClipper500 amounts to 10 grammes per passenger-kilometre, compared to roughly 100 grammes per passenger-kilometre on an airplane. Transporting one passenger thus produces as much carbon emissions as transporting 1 tonne of freight.

Engine or not?

Importantly, the life cycle analysis of the EcoClipper500 assumes that there is no diesel engine on-board. On a sailing ship, a diesel engine can serve two purposes, which can be combined. First, it allows to propel the ship when there is no wind or when sails cannot be used, for example when leaving or entering a harbour. Second, combined with a generator, a diesel engine can produce electricity for daily life on board of the ship.

For most of history, energy use on-board of a sailing ship was not too problematic. There was firewood for cooking and heating, and there were candles and oil lamps for lighting. There were no refrigerators for food storage, no showers or laundry machines for washing and cleaning, no electronic instruments for navigation and communication, no electric pumps in case of leaks or fire.

However, we now have higher standards in terms of safety, health, hygiene, thermal comfort, and convenience. The problem is that these higher standards are difficult to achieve when the ship does not have an engine that runs on fossil fuels. Modern heating systems, cooking devices, hot water boilers, refrigerators, freezers, lighting, safety equipment, and electronic instruments all need energy to work.

Crewman of the 'Parma' with a model of his ship. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

Modern sailing ships often use a diesel engine to provide that energy (and to propel the ship if necessary). An example is the Avontuur from Timbercoast, who has an engine of 300 HP, a 20 kW generator, and a fuel tank of 2,330 litres. Large sail training vessels and cruising ships have several engines and generators on-board. For example, the 48m long Brig Morningster has a 450 HP engine and three generators with a total capacity of 100 kW, while the 56m long Bark Europa has two 365 HP engines with three generators  and burns hundreds of litres of oil per day.

Depending on the lifestyle of the people on board, the emissions per passenger-km may rise to, or surpass, the levels of those of an airplane.

Obviously, the emissions and other pollutants of these engines need to be taken into account when the environmental footprint of a sail trip is calculated. Depending on the lifestyle of the people on board, the emissions per passenger-km may rise to, or surpass, the levels of those of an airplane. To a lesser extent, electricity use on-board also increases the emissions of cargo transportation.

Energy use on board a sailing ship

The EcoClipper500 has no diesel engine on board, which is a second reason to focus on this ship. Obviously, a sailing ship without an engine cannot proceed her voyage when theres no wind. This is easily solved in the old-fashioned way: the EcoClipper500 stays where she is until the wind returns. A ship without an engine also needs tug boats  which usually burn fossil fuels  to get in and out of ports. For the EcoClipper500, these tug services account for 0.3 g/tkm of the total carbon footprint of 2 g/tkm.

Without a diesel engine, the ship also needs to generate all energy for use on board from local energy sources, and this is the hard part. Renewable energy is intermittent and has low power density compared to fossil fuels, meaning that more space is needed to generate a given amount of power  which is more problematic at sea than it is on land.

Renewing caulking on the poop of the 'Parma'. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

To make the EcoClipper500 self-sufficient in terms of energy use, a first design decision was to shift energy use away from electricity whenever possible. This is especially important for high temperature heat, which cannot be supplied by electric heat pumps. The ship will have a pellet-stove on board to provide space heating, as well as a biodigester  never before used on a ship  to convert human and kitchen waste into gas for cooking. Thermal insulation of the ship is another priority.

Nevertheless, even with pellet-stove and biodigester (which themselves require electricity to operate), and with thermal insulation, energy demand on the ship can be as high as 50 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day (2 kW average power use). This concerns a worst-case normal operation scenario, when the ship is sailing in cold weather with 60 people on board. Power use will be lower in warmer weather and/or when less people are taken. During an emergency, the power requirements can amount to 8 kW, while more than 24 kWh of energy can be needed in just three hours.

Hydrogenerators

How to produce this power? Solar panels and wind turbines are only a small part of the solution. Producing 50 kWh of energy per day would require at least 100 square metres of solar panels, for which there is little space on a 60 m long sailing ship. Vulnerability and shading by the sails make for further problems. Wind turbines can be attached in the rigging, but their power output is also limited. The low potential of solar and wind power are demonstrated by the earlier mentioned sailing ship Avontuur. She has a 20 kW generator, powered by the diesel engine, but only 2.1 kW of solar panels and 0.8 kW of wind turbines.

The hydrogenerator is the only renewable power source that can provide a large sailing ship with enough energy for the use of modern technology on board.

The hydrogenerator is the only renewable power source that can provide a large sailing ship with enough energy for the use of modern technology on board. Hydrogenerators are attached underneath the hull and work in the opposite way as a ships propeller. Instead of the propeller powering the ship, the ship powers the propeller, which turns a generator that produces electricity. In spite of its name and appearance, the hydrogenerator is actually a form of wind energy: the sails power the propellers. Obviously, this only works when the ship is sailing fast enough.

Furling sail on the main yard of the Parma. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

The EcoClipper500 will be equipped with two large hydrogenerators, for which Simons calculated the power output at different speeds, taking into account the fact that the extra drag they produce slows down the ship somewhat. He concludes that the EcoClipper500 needs to sail at a speed of at least 7.5 knots to generate enough electricity. At that speed, the hydrogenerators produce an estimated 2,000 watts of power, which converts to roughly 50 kWh of electricity per day (24 hours of sailing).

At a lower speed of 4.75 knots, the generators produce 350 watts, which comes down to 8.4 kWh of energy over a period of 24 hours  only 1/6th of the maximum required energy. On the other hand, at higher speeds, the hydrogenerators produce more energy than necessary. At a speed of almost 10 knots they provide 120 kWh/day, at a speed of 12 knots this becomes 182 kWh/day  3.5 times more than needed.

Saltwater batteries

According to her hull speed, the EcoClipper500 will be able to sail a little over 16 knots at absolute top speed  this is double the minimum speed required to generate enough power. Achieving this speed will be rare, because it needs calm seas and strong winds from the right direction. Nevertheless, in good wind conditions, the ship easily sails fast enough to produce all electricity for use on board.

Good wind conditions can last for days, especially on the oceans, where winds are more powerful and predictable than on land. However, they are not guaranteed, and the ship will also sail at lower speeds, or find herself in becalmed conditions  when hydrogenerators are as useless as solar panels in the middle of the night.

Because she has no engine, the EcoClipper500 faces a double problem when theres no wind: she cannot continue her voyage, and she has no energy to maintain life on board.

Because she has no engine, the EcoClipper500 faces a double problem when theres no wind: she cannot continue her voyage, and she has no energy to maintain life on board. The first problem is easily solved but the second is not. Life on board goes on, and so there is a continued need for power. To provide this, the ship needs energy storage.

To cover the needs for three days drifting in cold weather, an energy storage of 150 kWh would be required, not taking into account charge and discharge losses. Five or seven days of energy use on-board would require 250 to 350 kWh of storage. For emergency use, another 25 kWh of energy storage is needed.

Scraping the deck onboard the 'Parma'. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

Not having an engine, generator and fuel tank saves space on board, but this advantage can be quickly lost again when one starts to add batteries for the hydrogenerators. Lithium-ion batteries are very compact, but they cannot be considered sustainable and bring safety risks. Thats why Jorne Langelaan and Andrew Simons see more potential in  very aptly  saltwater batteries, which are non-flammable, non-toxic, easy to recycle, have wide temperature-tolerance, and can last for more than 15 years. Like the biodigester, they have never been used on a sailing ship before.

Unlike lithium-ion batteries, saltwater batteries are large and heavy. At 60 kg per kWh of storage capacity, a 150 kWh battery storage would add a weight of 9 tonnes, while a 350 kWh storage capacity would add 21 tonnes. Still, this compares favourably to the total cargo capacity (500 tonnes), and the batteries can serve as ballast if they are placed in the lower part of the ships hull. The space requirements are not too problematic, either. Even a 350 kWh energy storage only requires 14 to 29m3 of space, which is small compared to the 880m3 of cargo volume.

The emissions that are produced by the manufacturing of the hydrogenerators, biodigester, and batteries are not included in the life cycle analysis of the ship, because there are no data available. However, these emissions must be relatively small. Hydrogenerators have much higher power density than wind turbines, and thus a relatively low embodied energy. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation learns that the carbon footprint of 350 kWh saltwater batteries is around 70 tonnes of CO2. [7]

Human Power

Theres another renewable power source and energy storage on board of the EcoClipper, and thats the humans themselves. Like the pellet stove and the biodigester, the use of human power could reduce the need for electricity. Nowadays, cargo ships and most large sailing ships have electric or hydraulic winches, pumps, and steering gear, saving manual labour at the expense of higher energy use. In contrast, EcoClipper sticks to manual handling of the ship as much as possible.

Crew at the capstan of the Parma, weighing anchor. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

Simons and Langelaan are also considering the addition of a few rowing machines, coupled to generators, to produce emergency power. Two rowing machines could provide roughly 400 watts of power. If they are operated around the clock in shifts, they could supply the ship with an extra 9.6 kWh of energy per day (ignoring energy losses)  one fifth of the total maximum electricity use.

In fact, as I tell Simons and Langelaan ten rowing machines operated continually in shifts would provide as much power as the hydrogenerators at a speed of 7.5 knots. If there are 60 people on board, and everybody would generate power for less than one hour per day, no hydrogenerators and batteries would be needed at all. A very interesting thought, answers Simons, but what impression would we be painted with?

Hot Showers?

Even with a biodigester, hydrogenerators, batteries, and rowing machines, the passengers and crew on board the EcoClipper500 would be far short of luxurious, and perhaps too short of comfortable for some. For example, if 60 people on board the ship would take a daily hot shower  which requires on average 2.1 kilowatt-hours of energy and 76.5 litres of water on land  total electricity use per day would be 126 kWh, more than double the energy the ship produces at a speed of 7.5 knots.

The ship could supply this energy at a higher sailing speed, but there would also be a need for 4,590 liters of water per day, a quantity that could only be produced from seawater  a process that requires a lot of energy. Even a crew of 12 taking a daily hot shower would require 25.2 kWh of energy per day, half of what the hydrogenerators produce at a sailing speed of 7.5 knots. The Bark Europa is the only sailing ship mentioned in this article that has hot showers in every (shared) cabin, but it is also the ship with the biggest generators and the highest fuel use.

On the forecastle head of the Parma in fine weather. Image by Alan Villiers, 1932.

Andrew Simons: On the EcoClipper500 there needs to be a manageable compromise between energy use and comfort. Energy use on board will have to be actively managed. Resources are finite, just like for the planet. In many ways the ship is a microcosm of challenges that the wider world has to face and find solutions to.

Jorne Langelaan: At sea you are in a different world. It doesnt matter anymore if you can take a daily shower or not. What matters are the people, the movements of the ship, and the vast wilderness of ocean around you.

Measuring the right things

This article has compared the EcoClipper500 sailing ship with the average container ship, bulk carrier, and airplane in terms of emissions per tonne- or passenger-kilometer. However, these values are abstractions that obscure much more important information: the total emissions that are produced by all passengers and all cargo, over all kilometres.

The international ocean freight trade increased from 4 billion tonnes of cargo in 1990 to 11.2 billion tonnes in 2019, resulting in more than 1 billion tonnes of emissions. International air passenger numbers grew from 1 billion in 1990 to 4.5 billion in 2019, resulting in 915 million tonnes of emissions. Consequently, lowering the emissions per tonne- and passenger-kilometre is neither a necessity nor a guarantee for a reduction in emissions.

If we cut international cargo traffic more than fivefold, and passenger traffic more than tenfold, then the emissions of all container ships and airplanes would be lower than the emissions of all sailing ships carrying 11.2 billion tonnes of cargo and 4.5 billion of passengers. Vice versa, if we switch to sailing ships, but keep on transporting more and more cargo and passengers across the planet, we will eventually produce just as much in emissions as we do today with fossil fuel powered transportation.

The mizzen of the 'Grace Harwar'; view aft from the main crosstrees. Alan Villiers, 1932-33.

Of course, none of this would ever happen. The amount of cargo that was traded across the oceans in 2019 equals the freight capacity of 22.4 million EcoClippers. Assuming the EcoClipper500 can make 2-3 trips per year, we would need to build and operate at least 7.5 million ships, with a total crew of at least 90 million people. Those ships could only take 0.5 billion passengers (12 passengers and 8 trainees per ship), so we would need millions of ships and crew members more to replace international air traffic.

We should not be fooled by abstract relative measurements, which only serve to keep the focus on growth and efficiency.

All of this is technically possible, and as we have seen, it would produce less in emissions than the present alternatives. However, its more likely that a switch to sailing ships is accompanied by a decrease in cargo and passenger traffic, and this has everything to do with scale and speed. A lot of freight and passengers would not be travelling if it were not for the high speeds and low costs of todays airplanes and container ships.

It would make little sense to transport iPhones parts, Amazon wares, sweatshop clothes, or citytrippers with sailing ships. A sailing ship is more than a technical means of transportation: it implies another view on consumption, production, time, space, leisure, and travel. For example, a lot of freight now travels in different directions for each next processing stage before it is delivered as a final product. In contrast, all sail cargo companies mentioned in this article only take cargo that cannot be produced locally, and which is one trip from producer to consumer. [8]

This also means that even if sailing ships have diesel engines on board, they would still bring a significant decrease in the total emissions for freight and passenger traffic, simply because they would reduce the absolute number of passengers, cargo, and kilometers. We should not be fooled by abstract relative measurements, which only serve to keep the focus on growth and efficiency.

Kris De Decker

Proofread by Alice Essam. More about the EcoClipper500. Most images: Alan Villiers collection.

Notes

[1] Between 1978 and 2004, the Avontuur was operated as sail cargo vessel under Captain Paul Wahlen. The Apollonia, originally built in 1946, is another cargo sailing ship in operation since 2014. It is 19.5 metres long and carries 10 tonnes of cargo.

[2] Very recently, Grain de Sail was buillt and launched for Trans-Atlantic shipping of wine and cocoa. She is a modern sailing ship without an engine, built from aluminium, and can take 35 tonnes of cargo.

[3] Andrew Simons: There are plenty historical sailing ships, but either very costly to get into service as a regulatory compliant cargo vessel, because they are still used for other purposes, or not suitable.

[4] Unfortunately the envelope got lost.

[5] In the case of the EcoClipper, most of the emissions are produced during the construction of the ship, while in the case of bulk carriers and container ships, they are mainly produced during operation and fuel production.

[6] The largest container ships now take 190,000 tonnes of cargo.

[7] There is not much data available on saltwater batteries, but they are less energy-intensive to build than many other types of batteries. The calculation is based on an estimate of 66 kg CO2/kWh of storage capacity and three generations of batteries over a period of 50 years.

[8] Almost one third of all cargo transported are fossil fuels themselves.

[9] The study can be downloaded when you subscribe to EcoClippers newsletter. The research is based on a typical life cycle analysis, but note that this is not a peer reviewed study.

Read Low-tech Magazine Offline

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15th February 2023

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London South East were delighted to catch up with Petro Matad (MATD) CEO Mike Buck after the company raised $6.6M to fund a range of economic activities in Mongolia.

These include the spudding of Velociraptor 1 in Central Mongolia, which has a 20% chance of success, and the renewables joint venture with SunSteppe Energy which Mike Buck believes will benefit from revenue streams generated by Heron 1 when it comes onstream.

In this latest interview with Mike Buck, he talks about:

1. Who they raised $6.6M from and why?

2. 2Q spud of Velociraptor 1, which is in a potentially prolific oil basin

3. Land access to Heron 1 taking a 'governmental amount of time' but seeing progress

4. The SunSteppe Energy JV

5. Mongolian exploration licences

6. Newsflow over the next few months
(Alliance News) - Serinus Energy PLC on Wednesday said it won an arbitration case against its former partner in the Satu Mare Concession in Romania, Oilfield Exploration Business Solutions SA.

Serinus is an oil and gas exploration company with operations in Romania and Tunisia.

In October 2020, Serinus first filed the arbitration request with the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce.

The company sought to have arbitral tribunal issue a declaration affirming its rightful claim of ownership of OEBS' 40% participating interest in the concession. It also aimed to have OEBS to take all necessary steps to formally transfer the 40% interest to Serinus, due to OEBS' failure to carry out its contractual obligations under the joint operating agreement.

On Wednesday, Serinus said it has won the arbitration case, and therefore both requests will be fulfilled.

Shares in Serinus were up 3.1% to 9.02 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will join other world leaders in Munich this weekend for a conference on international security.

The gathering comes days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

Downing Street confirmed that the PM will travel to Germany for the conference, which was held last year in the days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Then-PM Boris Johnson used the occasion to warn Moscow that the West would stand with Ukraine in the event of an invasion.

Sunak's attendance at the conference, alongside other European leaders, comes amid speculation that London and Brussels are close to reaching a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Attendance at the summit may provide an opportunity for Sunak to hold face-to-face talks with EU leaders as part of efforts to bring to an end the row over post-Brexit arrangements in the region.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace will also join fellow defence ministers for a Nato meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

That meeting also comes amid the backdrop of fresh tensions with China after the US shot down four balloons flying in its airspace this month, with Washington declaring one of them to be a piece of Chinese spyware.

The UK is reviewing its own security measures in the wake of the incidents.

Wallace, who met with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov on Tuesday, said that western allies would continue to "stand in solidarity" with the war-torn country.

"I am very pleased to be back at Nato to continue the vital work to support Ukraine, as well as meeting with my defence counterparts.

"Our important work is ongoing, the UK and our Allies will stand in solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes," he said.

source: PA

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Vietnam Enterprise Investments Ltd on Wednesday reported a rise in net asset value for January, as the company noted an improvement in sentiment globally and in Vietnam.

The closed-end fund primarily investing in Vietnamese-listed equity said NAV as at January 31 rose 11% to USD8.70 per share from USD7.85 at December 31.

Looking ahead, the company noted challenges for 2023 but said it was optimistic on retail investor sentiment.

"2023 may well be a year of selective opportunities where we see greater divergence between quality stocks and those that are struggling in a tighter economic climate. While domestic and global risks still remain, loosening Government policies can minimise their impact. This, encouragingly, could create opportunities in a more navigable domestic macro environment," it said.

Portfolio Manager Dien Vu said: "VEIL started the year with a solid 10.8% increase, albeit 0.4% behind its reference index, the VNI. This double-digit gain was despite Vietnam's President resigning from his position midway through the month, just two days before the start of the Tet (Lunar New year) holiday. This resignation took responsibility for the shortcomings of two deputy prime ministers, which demonstrates in the investment manager's view that accountability is being taken at all levels of government. Furthermore, we observe that obstructions in public infrastructure investment appear to have been cleared, and the tightening of capital markets (including the corporate bond and property markets) has been easing."

Vietnam Enterprise shares were 0.5% higher at 582.09 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
blog

How do Africa's many "leaders for life" do it?

That the African region is home to majority of the world's longest-ruling heads of state is no news.

According to a 2021 Council on Foreign Relations report, "Since 1960, a dozen heads of state across sub-Saharan Africa have held office for more than thirty years." A further breakdown reveals that five sitting African heads of state (Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Cameroon's Paul Biya, the Republic of Congo's Daniel Sassou Nguesso, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, and Eritrea's Isaias Afwerki, respectively) have held office for more than three decades each, while "More than a dozen other African heads of state have been in power for at least ten years."

Paul Biya, who has held office since 1982, is, at 90, the oldest head of government in the world. Footage of him floundering at the recent US-Africa Leaders Summit shows how much time has tracked him down.

Much policy attention has been devoted to the impact of this phenomenon on economic development and political stability in the region, the consensus being firmly on the side of its overall deleteriousness. For their part, students of the arts of resistance in Africa have highlighted how ordinary people endure the rigors of daily life under one-man political regimes.

Yet, how political control is maintained, often times in the teeth of concerted and sustained opposition, should also be of equal interest, especially since proper understanding can generate insights for policymakers and scholars seeking an appreciation of the all-important social milieu in which power is produced, resisted, or, depending on the situation, brutally imposed.

Coercion tends to be the go-to answer to the question of how authoritarian leaders manage to stay in the saddle for so long, and there is indeed plenty of evidence in support of that. After all, sundry African dictators continue to mobilize state violence to eliminate political opponents, pacify human rights activists, hound the opposition into exile, sway the legislature and judiciary, petrify the media, and generally create an atmosphere of fear. Whatever barefaced elimination cannot do; the occasional automobile accident (sic) often has.

Nevertheless, while force is a critical weapon of mass pacification, experience has shown that it requires more than brute force to suppress dissent and impose the dictator's will. Since the overall object is to make the people unable to imagine a world without their dearly beloved dictator, it behooves him to invest in practices that create and sustain the conditions for social homogeneity and mental uniformity.

Ingratiating with targeted members of the political elite is imperative to this exercise of "soft power." Once successfully incorporated, members of the elite can be relied upon to do the dictator's work of "legitimation" for him, which explains the ostensible correlation between elite compliance and dictatorial longevity. Elite capture being incomplete without the assimilation of the clerical class, leaders with designs on lifelong tenure unsurprisingly devote considerable effort and resources to the cultivation and incorporation of the religious elite, effectively making them an extension of the ruling class. The additional aura of spiritual authority on top of considerable social clout makes conquest of the religious elite especially coveted.

In parenthesis: That the clerical class is a critical fulcrum of political stability is beyond question; the only problem is that in playing this role, it is often heedless of the moral or ideological complexion of the dominant constellation. In short order, the religious elite becomes involved in a struggle for political power, leading to a blurring of boundaries that has important implications for politics and spirituality, respectively.

Invariably, the dictator's attitude towards the thinking classes--whether within the academy or the media--is less agreeable. Allowed, the intelligentsia can be as dirigible as the religious elite--a whole garrison of Nigerian professors of political science were stationed inside Aso Rock during the military era--but such, fortunately, is its inherent diversity that even the most meticulous dictator cannot hope to subordinate the entire academy. Yet, what cannot be conquered can at least be devastated, and the sorry state of many African universities is due in part to the deliberate assault on them by leaders eager to bring the professoriate to heel.

As it happens, attack on the universities is a mere entree into an out-and-out onslaught against civil society, particularly the media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). For the wannabe ruler for life, the point is to emasculate these institutions and social forces as enclaves of independent power, the better to erode public confidence in them and encrust the perception that there is no alternative to the incumbent regime. As a last option, whenever the dictator cannot completely crush civil society, he manufactures his own.

Finally, in the state under the eternal leader, being of some necessity an affective one, the dictator is invariably ringed by a vast network of sisters, brothers, nephews, uncles, cousins, wives, and, not to forget, concubines. One political use of this familial nexus is to provide the intelligence and security that the leader reckons he may not count on from regular law enforcement and bureaucracy. This explains why most presidential guards are headed by family members, typically sons, of the forever leader. At the same time, if the longest ruling African leaders preside over mostly ineffectual bureaucracies, it is precisely because the consolidation of personal power necessitates their (i.e., the bureaucracies') systematic subversion.

Beyond security, and as some recent examples of some First Ladies, First Daughters, and First Sons have underscored, family and kinship networks are also useful as vehicles of larceny. Over time, and as they become accustomed to the perks and licenses of quasi-statesmanship without portfolio, such family members become more vested in keeping the leader in power, prompting power struggles that are only marginally connected to the public good. More things unfold within those filial circles than are dreamt of in all political philosophy.

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Upstaging rulers determined to hang on until they draw their final breath requires long-term policy thinking and commitment. Paradoxically, it requires paying attention to the political wellness of the societies they have brought to heel rather than the leaders themselves.

Three things are essential. First, the United States and western governments must think beyond "political stability" under the auspices of the Dear Leader by supporting political devolution and local initiatives that will create and strengthen multiple centers of power. Furthermore, since African states have no chance of attaining long-term political stability and economic prosperity without a strong and independent private sector, resources must be directed at empowering the African private sector in all its ramifications. As evidence across the advanced economies has shown, the less reliant people are on arbitrary state largesse, the greater their capacity to resist it. Finally, it goes without saying that none of this can be accomplished without the rule of law. Over and above material support for the judiciary and law enforcement, which is crucially important, western powers must commit to moral solidarity with Africans in their attempts to consecrate a political culture which upholds the dignity of the individual as inviolable.

Fortunately, if there is one thing one has in dealing with leaders for life, it is time.

Reina Patel contributed to research for this article.
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analysis

Policymakers tend to assume that the effects of conflict are felt only where violence occurs. As a result, humanitarian aid, protection efforts or asylum policies largely focus on conflict-hit areas.

The World Health Organisation, for instance, provides emergency medical supplies in areas directly affected by violence. The UN Refugee Agency ties protection status to residing in areas hit by conflict.

Our recent study finds, however, that conflict negatively affects food security, nutrition, health and education outcomes of families living hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre of violence.

This underscores the need to broaden policy responses to conflict and consider its ripple effects.

Our research in Somalia examined how the impact of violent conflict spread to distant locations. We looked specifically at conflict that affected Somalia's food logistics network, which gets food to far-flung markets.

We focused on Somalia because of its high number of terror incidents arising from the government's war with Al-Shabaab, a militant group that has terrorised the country's southern region for about 15 years.

Read more: Al-Shabaab is just a symptom of Somalia's tragedy - the causes are still in place

We used data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation, which tracks food prices. Our results show that terrorist attacks that hit food transportation networks increased food prices in markets located up to 900km away (a 17-hour drive) from where the violence occurs.

In response to these terrorist attacks and resulting price increases, households in far-flung areas adjusted their eating patterns. They also reduced their non-food spending, primarily on health and education.

Yet, the responses to violent incidents by donor and aid agencies, as well as domestic policymakers, hardly take such ripple effects into consideration.

Tracking conflict

To track these ripple effects, we focused on the distribution of maize, a staple food eaten throughout Somalia. We got the geo-coordinates of maize growing areas, tracked how maize was transported by road to markets, and mapped the Al-Shabaab terrorist attacks that occurred along these transport routes.

This helped us map the impact of conflict on maize prices and the ripple effects on household welfare.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network provides maps showing the exact routes taken by Somali drivers who are transporting maize. We drew a corridor of five kilometres around these roads and counted the number of violent incidents occurring each month between 2001 and 2018. The Food and Agricultural Organisation provided us with monthly maize price information for 10 markets across Somalia.

We combined this data with World Bank surveys that recorded food consumption, eating patterns, and the health and education of Somali families.

Our findings

We found that conflict along transportation roads increased maize prices substantially, even in markets located hundreds of kilometres away. This finding is in line with studies on the impact of conflict on supply chain networks elsewhere in the world, such as in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Read more: Russia-Ukraine conflict is driving up wheat prices: this could fuel instability in Sudan

During the height of the Al-Shabaab insurgency in Somalia (between 2016 and 2018), violent incidents occurring very close to transportation roads alone increased maize prices by around 11% over sustained periods of time.

During these times, we found violence en route had around half as large an impact on maize prices as rainfall, which the World Bank has highlighted as one of the most important determinants of food prices.

We also scrutinised satellite images of nightlights emitted on transportation roads. We found that conflict along transit roads dimmed the light emitted on these roads several hundreds of kilometres away. This decrease in road traffic underscores a reduction in the quantity of maize transported along roads from growing areas to markets.

Looking at family welfare, we found that households reported having to adjust their eating patterns due to food price shocks. Families substituted the more expensive maize with sorghum. Still, we found that lower food security decreased the nourishment available to households.

Considering child outcomes, we found that far-away conflict along transit routes increased the incidence of diseases, such as gastroenteritis, malaria and typhoid. This is in line with well-known links between malnutrition and infectious diseases.

Finally, we also found a decrease in the school enrolment of children. Violent incidents along maize transportation routes reduced the probability of children joining primary and middle school hundreds of kilometres away. This is likely to be related to the economic effects of food price rises. This makes schooling less affordable and increases the incentives for child labour.

Way forward

Our study has wide-ranging policy implications.

The ripple effects of violence have important welfare costs. The negative effects of conflict on human capital - particularly nutrition, health and education - are larger than commonly assumed. We estimate that these ripples add around 30% to the cost of locally occurring conflict.

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Our findings also have important implications for the regional targeting of policies.

Humanitarian interventions or refugee policies most commonly focus on those locations where conflict occurs. The World Food Programme, for instance, provides nutritional assistance in areas around Mogadishu, in the south-west of Somalia where most conflict is concentrated.

Similarly, when evaluating asylum eligibility, the UN Refugee Agency highlights the south-west of Somalia as the area where individuals are at risk of serious harm.

By contrast, our results provide evidence that individuals can be affected by conflict even if it occurs far away. For instance, the city of Galkayo (700km from Mogadishu) is part of the north-eastern Puntland state. It isn't covered by either the World Food Programme or the UN's refugee policies. Yet conflict in the south-west increases food prices, decreases food security and erodes human capital in Galkayo.

This long reach of violence highlights the need to consider extending humanitarian aid, protection efforts or asylum status eligibility to areas further away from conflict epicentres.

Marco Alfano, Lecturer, Lancaster University

Thomas Cornelissen, Professor of Economics, University of Essex
Shifting geopolitics amid Ukraine crisis

13:50, February 15, 2023 By Zhao Huirong ( China Daily

JIN DING/CHINA DAILY

Before the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Russia-US competition was the main cause of global geopolitical conflicts. Since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, the US has been fueling antagonism, conflicts and wars in different countries, and "color revolution" in many states around the world in order to maintain its global hegemony. Russia, as the successor state of the Soviet Union, was unable to continue the competition with the US on the global stage, hence it chose to retain its traditional influence in Eurasia and the Middle East. Therefore Ukraine became a key factor in the Russia-US competition in Eurasia.

Regarding Russia as a bigger threat than China, the US has emphasized both cooperation and competition with China, so it could concentrate resources in winning the competition with Russia.

After 2014, Ukraine's ties with Russia started souring as it veered toward the US-led West, becoming a bridgehead for the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization to more directly target Russia. After political upheavals and some regime changes, the disputes between the Ukraine-West combine and Russia led to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

The conflict exposed the US' ambition to use Ukraine as a front to weaken Russia and reduce its influence in Eurasia. And the US took advantage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to strengthen its hold over Europe and drive a wedge between Europe and Russia, and Europe and China.

The Ukraine crisis, along with the change of power in China, Russia and the US, prompted the three major global powers to change their global strategies. The US no longer regards Russia as a major global power and primary threat, and its policy toward Russia has shifted from strategic competition to intensive efforts to "suppress" Russia.

The 2022 US National Security Strategy labels China as "America's most consequential geopolitical challenge", and says Russia "poses an immediate and ongoing threat to the regional security order in Europe and it is a source of disruption and instability globally but it lacks the across the spectrum capabilities of the PRC". As such, the US has called on its NATO allies to continue combating Russia and stepped up its long-term strategy to contain China.

Despite China repeatedly asserting it believes in resolving differences through dialogue and adheres to the policy of peace and cooperation, the US has accused China of backing Russia in the Ukraine crisis and even sanctioned some Chinese companies for doing business with their Russian counterparts. China is not a participant in the Ukraine conflict and wants Russia and Ukraine to end it soon.

Yet the US deliberately links the Ukraine issue with the Taiwan question, when the fact is they are completely different. Washington is working hard to curb China's rise by creating tensions.

Facing the conflict with Ukraine and sanctions from the West, Russia is seeking non-Western trade and economic partners and therefore, attaches greater importance to Sino-Russian strategic partnership of coordination, which Russian President Vladimir Putin praised on Dec 30, 2022.

For China, in fact, both Russia and Ukraine are strategic as well as important cooperative partners in the Belt and Road Initiative. And the Russia-Ukraine conflict does not benefit anyone. Instead, it has harmed China's economic and cultural cooperation with both countries.

In these difficult times, therefore, China should establish a global network of partnerships and promote the building of a new type of international relations. China considers international issues and relations on their own merits and conducts in accordance with its diplomatic principles and national interests.

China's development policy is to promote win-win cooperation with other countries and help build a community with a shared future for mankind. China will not succumb to the US' diplomatic coercion on the Ukraine issue. In fact, it is working hard to prevent further deterioration of bilateral ties with the US, although it will not compromise even an inch of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

China has exchanged views with the Kyiv government on the situation in Ukraine, provided humanitarian supplies for the country, and has been working with the international community to help resolve the Ukraine crisis.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November 2022, President Xi Jinping stressed that China supports Germany and the European Union to promote peace talks. China and Germany jointly opposed the use of threat or nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict.

Later, in a meeting with US President Joe Biden, President Xi reiterated that China follows a policy of co-development and emphasized the importance of abandoning the zero-sum game.

The relationship between China and Russia, on the other hand, is a strategic partnership of coordination but it's not an alliance. China proposed "no limit, no forbidden zone, and no ceiling" in developing China-Russia strategic cooperation and believes Sino-Russian cooperation has great potential, and hopes to continue developing good-neighborly, friendly and win-win cooperation. China-Russia ties have maintained a high level of cooperation thanks to the efforts of both sides.

China has also reiterated that "nonalignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party" is the foundation of Sino-Russian ties, which was stressed, once again, by Foreign Minister Qin Gang during his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Deepening cooperation in economic, trade, security and cultural fields, and the necessity to build a more just world order, by among other things, condemning hegemonism and power politics, have prompted China and Russia to strengthen cooperation.

And the US, not able to accept this development, has created a "new normal" between the three powers, not only checking China and Russia's development, but also strengthening confrontations with the two countries. In the trilateral relations, it is foreseeable that China will mainly make active efforts to develop a stable and stronger strategic partnership of coordination with Russia, and make efforts to decrease trust deficit with the US. Thus, China can help boost global economic recovery and restore strategic stability.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
press release

The Gavi Board has approved the appointment of Dr Muhammad Ali Pate as the Chief Executive Officer of the Vaccine Alliance following an extensive recruitment process

Dr Pate will assume the role as of 3 August 2023, replacing Dr Seth Berkley, who will step down after 12 years leading the Alliance

Dr Muhammad Ali Pate: It will be my privilege to lead Gavi 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.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced today the appointment of Dr Muhammad Ali Pate as its new Chief Executive Officer. Dr Pate will be officially starting as CEO on 3 August 2023. A proven global health leader with experience at the national and international levels, Dr Pate will lead Gavi as it continues its work to support routine immunisation, outbreak response and COVID-19 vaccinations around the world.

Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, who was selected following a yearlong recruitment process personally overseen by the Chair of the Gavi Board, Professor Jose Manuel Barroso, will bring a wealth of experience to the role. A medical doctor trained in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, with an MBA from Duke University in the United States, Dr Pate served as Nigerias Minister of State for Health between 2011 and 2013. In this role, he led a flagship initiative to revive routine vaccinations and primary health care, chaired a presidential taskforce to eradicate polio and introduced new vaccines into the country.

While serving as 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 US$ 18 billion COVID-19 global health response and represented the Bank on various boards, including those of Gavi, the Global Fund, CEPI and UNAIDS. He 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.

Commenting on the appointment, Professor 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.

Dr Pate, whose appointment was confirmed today at an extraordinary meeting of the Gavi Board, said: 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. It will be my privilege to lead it, building on the work of Dr Seth 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.

Sitting CEO Dr Seth Berkley has led Gavi for more than half of its existence, making it a centrepiece within the global health landscape, including recently co-establishing COVAX to serve countries during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, having so far shipped nearly 1.9 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 146 countries. Since Dr Berkley took the helm in 2011, the Alliance has averted 11.8 million future deaths (compared to 4.5 million between 2000 and 2010); and has helped immunise more than 676 million children  more than double the 305 million children reached between 2000 and 2010.

Thanks to Dr Berkleys vision for health equity, Gavi has added a number of new vaccines to its portfolio during his tenure, including for HPV, polio, cholera and malaria, and in its current strategy cycle is focusing on reaching zero-dose children across marginalised communities. The Alliance also played an increasingly influential role in emergency response, developing vaccine stockpiles for diseases such as cholera and introducing innovative financing mechanisms to fund emergency purchase of Ebola and COVID-19 vaccines. The economic result of Gavis expansion of activities during his tenure has been profound, unlocking over US$ 160 billion of economic benefits compared to US$ 24 billion in its first ten years.

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Commenting on Dr Pates appointment, Dr 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.

Dr Berkley will continue to serve as CEO until 2 August 2023, while working with incoming CEO Dr Pate to ensure a smooth transition.
Abuja  President Muhammadu Buhari has made a special appeal for the lifting of the blanket visa ban clamped down on Nigerians by the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The president canvassed this position on Monday during a telephone conversation with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who doubles as the Emir of Abu Dhabi.

According to a release issued on Tuesday by presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari had called Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to condole with him on the death of his mother-in-law, Sheikha Maryam Al Falasi, during which important issues of mutual concern between the two countries came up.

The president requested his UAE counterpart to review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians intending to travel to the UAE.

He recalled that mutually beneficial excellent relations have subsisted between the two nations over many years, symbolized by robust economic interactions and regular consultations on matters of common interest, including engagements at the highest political levels.

President Buhari noted that recent irritants in bilateral relations generated by consular issues relating to the behaviour of some Nigerians in the UAE are being ironed out, explaining that no country including Nigeria will condone criminality and illegal behaviours.

He therefore expressed the readiness of the Government of Nigeria to apply necessary sanctions through appropriate judicial process against anyone identified to have committed criminal acts in the UAE, urging 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 criminality and illegalities.

Buhari also requested a resumption of the suspended operations of Emirates Airline in the country.

Emirates Airline had suspended its operations in Nigeria in 2022 in the wake of its inability to repatriate funds trapped in Nigeria.

The president assured the UAE leader that the issue of the Emirates funds was receiving appropriate attention alongside those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had been directed to increase foreign exchange allocation to the airline.

Meanwhile, at the inauguration of the Presidential Transition Council to facilitate and manage the 2023 transition programme to the next administration, the president was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha.

The president said his records of achievements must be preserved.

Mustapha, who is the Chairperson of the Council, said the inauguration demonstrated the commitment of the administration to strengthen key governance institutions that support the democratic process.

"Although the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria sets out the overarching framework for assumption of office of the President, this is the first time in our history as a country that the federal government of Nigeria will be establishing a detailed process for managing presidential transitions of government at the federal level.

"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," Mustapha said.

According to him, the council was charged with the responsibility of facilitating and managing the 2023 Presidential Transition Programme in line with the Executive Order No. 14 of 2023.

He said the council would facilitate the handing over process by the incumbent president to the president-elect, organise for the security of the president-elect and the vice president-elect and coordinate security briefings on the nation's security matters post-elections.

He said the council would also to provide a fully furnished office and personnel for the president-elect and his/her transition team, co-ordinate the briefings of the president-elect by relevant public officers, facilitate communication between the outgoing president and the president-elect and prepare the programme and organise for the swearing-in ceremony.

He stressed that the council would have all powers necessary for the execution of its functions under the new Executive Order and conduct its business in line with national ethics as espoused in Section 23 of the Constitution.

"I enjoin each of us to put in even more effort in ensuring the next administration receives every support needed to make an early and quick start. In a few months, it will be eight years that the Buhari administration has been in power.

"Within this period, we have made significant strides in advancing the fortunes of our nation, we have also learnt lessons that will be useful for the incoming administration, and it is on the strength of this trajectory, that the current administration is committing itself to make the 2023 transition process seamless for the incoming President and his team," he said.

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He also announced the appointment of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Dr. Habiba Muda- Lawal, as the Secretary of the Presidential Transition Council in line with Executive Order No.14, adding she shall be known as the Federal Transition Coordinator.

Members of the council are the SGF as Chairperson; Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice; 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) and Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs.

Others are Cabinet Affairs, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), General Services, OSGF; Economic and Political Affairs, OSGF; 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, to be nominated by the President-elect.
Merdeka.com - You make me sick, you make me turn my insides out onto the bricks

I could never train a bitch like you, click, c-c-click, c-c-click, click

You like my boots? I could squash you like a little rotten fruit

On your jugular and leave a pretty bruise

Attitude and the booze won't save you

You fucking loser! Red-meat deadbeat, you fucking tumor

Can't believe I let your hands inside my bloomers

Better count your blessings, I got humor, got a knife, too

I call her Tilda, bet your fucking ass that I'ma use her

Fucking user! Coke head Cretin, your life is a blooper

Splinter-looking ass, born in a sewer

Suck a dick then I bite, I'm a chewer

Go find another bitch to hoover, count the days until you lose her

I'm mad! You fuck my life up, then you say, "My bad"

You don't know your way around a pussy, call you "Chad"

Throwing temper tantrums every time I got a bag

Kinda sad, little nads, I'm mad

You make me sick, you make me turn my insides out onto the bricks

I could never train a bitch like you, click, c-c-click, c-c-click, click

You like my boots? I could squash you like a little rotten fruit

On your jugular and leave a pretty bruise

Attitude and the booze won't save you

(Mommy's okay!)

Hello waitress, I want his head for dinner, silver plate it

Cut his tongue out first, let's hear him go and try and say shit

I'm abrasive? I'm a dragon animorph and shape-shift

Fire breathing, break shit, brain-eating amoeba

Coming for you, I'm contagious ruined what was sacred

I was living good before your locusts and your plague hit

I always fucking fake it, now you're crying, and you're shaking?

Take your tears and bottle 'em and use 'em as a face mist

(I'm beautiful)

I'm mad! You fuck my life up then you say, "My bad"

You don't know your way around a pussy, call you "Chad"

Throwing temper tantrums every time I got a bag

Kinda sad, little nads, I'm mad

You make me sick, you make me turn my insides out onto the bricks

I could never train a bitch like you, click, c-c-click, c-c-click, click
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.

Nigeria's 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."

"I'm 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 Bank's $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 Nigeria's 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 Muhammad's 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."

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About GAVI

Gavi, the vaccine alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world's children against some of the world's 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.
"There is, therefore, no need to consider any shift from the deadline of February 10," he said.

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 bank's 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.
On the morning the U.S. Coast Guard in Astoria received a frantic mayday call from a yacht sinking near the treacherous mouth of the Columbia River, John Branch Walton was in his fifth and final day of advanced training as a rescue swimmer.

Walton and his classmates leapt at the chance to respond. But it was a quick game of rock-paper-scissors that settled which swimmer would plunge into the churning, frigid waters nearby. Walton won. He was the least experienced of the bunch.

They all could have got it done, but they let me go, Walton said. I was kind of in disbelief, like, Oh, is this really happening?

Unbeknownst to the 22-year-old who learned to swim only after joining the Coast Guard a few years earlier, hed soon execute a very difficult rescue seamlessly. And he would be thrust into the national limelight as millions viewed video of his first real-world rescue, taken from a camera mounted to the Coast Guard helicopter that flew him to the imperiled boater. Walton was widely lauded for his courage and agility.

It wasnt until later that day that Walton and others in the Coast Guard would learn the man hed pulled from the stormy waters allegedly had stolen the $160,000 yacht and drawn the attention of Astoria police for placing a dead fish on the porch of the famous Goonies house days earlier.

Two 47-foot Coast Guard boats that were being used for training nearby respond to the yachts 10 a.m. Feb. 3 mayday call. But crew members quickly realized they couldnt attempt a rescue by boat. The seas were far too rough, and if they got too close the waves might slam their vessels into the disabled yacht as they attempted to bring the man onboard. Instead, they tossed a life jacket on a weighted line to the man, the yachts sole occupant. He slipped it on.

A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter also responded to the scene. On board were flight mechanics Joseph Ivy and Kyle Turcotte and pilots Tripp Haas and Will Sirokman. Then there was Walton, wearing flippers, a mask, snorkel and a dry suit.

Walton said he felt secure attempting the rescue because his four companions were all experienced instructors from his previous week of training, and all the skills he needed were still fresh in his mind.

I knew I was in good hands, Walton said. I had an amazing crew.

Around 10:40 a.m., the crew lowered Walton by cable into 20-foot swells where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean, an area dubbed the Graveyard of the Pacific for the many hundreds of boats sunk and lives lost over the centuries.

There, miles west of Astoria, bobbed the disabled 35-foot yacht.

Walton unclipped himself from the cable and then bolted toward the yacht. Within seconds, he was treading water, trying to persuade the man who was standing at the stern to jump toward him, he said. But just then a powerful wave was forming. The man pointed at it, and Walton ducked underwater in an attempt to avoid the churn. Its a move often used by surfers to avoid the full force of breaking waves.

The wave was pretty violent; theres not much you can do other than just kind of ride it out, said Walton, likening the experience to tumbling around in a washing machine.

When Walton surfaced, he regained his bearings and saw the man a ways off. His helicopter crew lowered the cable and hook. He clipped in, and they swiftly flew him over to the mans new location.

They did a fantastic job of swooping right in and dropping that hook down, Walton said. I hooked in, and they just put me right on top of him.

Walton and the crew figure that before Walton ever got to him, the boat that gave the man a life jacket saved his life. Otherwise, he likely wouldnt have resurfaced once the wave hit him.

Walton said the man was eager to be rescued.

He asked What do I do? Walton recounted. And I yelled at him, I said Nothing. Dont do anything. Just breathe.

Walton slipped a sling around him, and the helicopter crew hoisted them both to safety.

Once on the chopper, the man put his hand to his forehead and caught his breath. After Walton and one of the flight mechanics handed him blankets, the man lay down on the aircrafts floor and pulled them over his head. He gave a name they would later learn was fake, then didnt say much of anything, Walton said.

Meanwhile, the flight mechanic congratulated Walton on his first rescue  lifting both his arms to offer Walton two high-fives. Coast Guard video shows a beaming Walton.

It was several hours later that authorities learned the mans real name: Jericho Wolf Labonte. But that was after the helicopter landed, an ambulance rushed him to Astorias Columbia Memorial Hospital to be treated for mild hypothermia and the 35-year-old was released into the community on his own.

Police had been looking for Labonte since Feb. 1, after the owners of the famed house from the 1985 movie, The Goonies, reported that a man fitting Labontes description left a dead fish on their front porch and covered the lenses of their security cameras in stickers. An Astoria resident also had reported Labonte posted a video of himself on Facebook chanting lines from the movie and walking up to the porch to show the dead fish.

As local police delved into who Labonte was, they learned authorities in Victoria, British Columbia, had issued five warrants for his arrest for alleged crimes that include harassment and mischief.

After the Coast Guard pulled Labonte from the mouth of the Columbia on Feb. 3, they learned hed also allegedly stolen the yacht, the Sandpiper, from the Port of Astoria.

Police found and arrested Labonte about nine hours after the rescue, at a homeless shelter in nearby Seaside. Clatsop County prosecutors plan to charge Labonte with various crimes  possibly boat theft, criminal mischief and endangering the life of Walton by prompting the rescue  but say they havent yet because hes currently being held at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma.

For Walton, thats all beside the point. He was there to do what hed trained for  save lives.

Walton had moved to Oregon only last year from North Carolina. He wasnt aware of the mouth of the Columbias morbid history. And before he enlisted in the Coast Guard right out of high school, he had trouble making it from one side of a pool to the other.

Before I joined, I definitely needed some help, Walton said. I couldnt swim 50 yards, really.

Getting to the point of expert swimmer and rescuer took months of hard work in the water and the classroom.

Training to become a rescue swimmer is so rigorous only about half of those who attempt the certification pass, said Coast Guard spokesperson Diolanda Caballero.

Each month, swimmers must pass a physical fitness test that includes at least 50 push-ups, a 500-yard crawl stroke in less than 12 minutes, swimming underwater for 25 yards and towing a buddy across 200 yards of water.

They also must train to become emergency medical technicians.

After earning his initial certification, Walton enrolled in advanced rescue swimmer training along the Oregon coast, chosen because of its particularly unforgiving waters.

Over the course of five days, swimmers work with helicopter crews to practice plunging themselves into heavy surf and plucking each other out. They dangle along cliff faces to practice vertical rescues and sometimes even swim into sea caves to prepare for every possible scenario.

Brian Kirkendall is a fellow rescue swimmer and the lead instructor at Advanced Helicopter Rescue School, where Walton spent the week training before the Feb. 3 rescue. Kirkendall said despite the cloud created by Labontes alleged shenanigans, the rescue was an example of the Coast Guard holding true to one of its missions.

Its incredibly inspiring to see our next generation coming up, willing to put it all on the line for a complete stranger, Kirkendall said, adding he didnt care about Labontes backstory.

If someone needs help, he said, well bring them back.

In 2022, the Coast Guard district covering Oregon and Washington responded to more than 600 calls for help on the water. Calls include those as minor as a mariners emergency distress beacon mistakenly going off to as major as another dramatic helicopter rescue that took place just last week, about 30 miles north of Astoria, near Willapa Bay, Washington. The Coast Guard pulled two soaked men from an inflatable rescue raft in the dark of night after their 46-foot crabbing vessel sunk, but a third man was lost at sea.

The Coast Guard is undergoing a historic lull in recruitment, amid a nationwide labor shortage. In response, it has lowered barriers to recruitment, including by raising the maximum enlistment age to 42. Coast Guard officials hope stories such as Waltons inspire others to join.

After Walton plucked Labonte from the mouth of the Columbia, he texted his mom the video and then phoned her because I didnt think it was going to get out or anything.

Walton cracks up as he recalls how his mom had some thoughts to share about her son swimming so precariously close to the yacht: She just said, Maybe be a little farther away from the boat next time.

2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Mississippi lawmakers are pleading with Air Force officials to keep the aging T-1A Jayhawk, a training jet that has been around for more than 30 years, in service as the Pentagon hopes to replace the aircraft with flight simulation instead.

A letter sent Monday to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall from U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, as well as U.S. Reps. Michael Guest and Trent Kelly, all Mississippi Republicans, said delays in new flight simulators and new training aircraft means the planned retirement of T-1As could cause issues for pilots.

"Once the T-1A is divested, prospective mobility pilots will spend much of their training time in simulators and less time flying prior to graduation, a posture that forces significant reliance on the timely maturation of the simulated environment," the lawmakers wrote. "If these technologies do not mature on schedule, the Air Force will lose any ability to effectively train pilots in a 'like-aircraft' to which they will be assigned post-graduation."

Read Next: Air Force Under Secretary Jones, an LGBTQ Trailblazer, Is Stepping Down

The T-1A is used at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; Laughlin Air Force Base and Randolph Air Force Base in Texas; and Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, according to an Air Force fact sheet. It is also used by the Navy at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

The Air Force was hoping to phase out many of it T-1A training aircraft this year, around the same time as the new T-7 Red Hawk training jet was set to be delivered. But as delays mount for the new replacement jet, Mississippi lawmakers are concerned that the service will be too hasty in retiring the T-1A before a suitable replacement is in place.

"Given the recent media reports of further delays in the T-7A program, the T-1A may be the best defense against unforeseen shortfalls that may adversely affect the pilot training pipeline," the lawmakers wrote. "We request that you consider delaying the divestiture of the T-1A, and remain willing to work with you and others in the Air Force to support you in this endeavor."

Software issues and ejection seat concerns are causing delays in getting the new aircraft to pilots. That means the service will have to rely on older trainers, such as the T-1 and T-38C Talon, in the interim.

Maj. Alli Stormer, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, told Military.com late last year that the new trainer still is in the testing phase.

"The technical challenges the Air Force has identified relate to flight control software and the escape system," Stormer said this past December. "All flight control software issues to date have been resolved and will be tested in flight in the first quarter of 2023. The Air Force is working to correct some escape system deficiencies found during initial testing in late 2021 and will resume escape system testing in the first quarter of 2023."

Boeing was awarded a $9 billion contract to build the T-7 in 2018, with plans to have the first planes delivered by 2023.

In 2019, Air Education and Training Command created a new curriculum relying heavily on a simulator-only course for student pilot training and later announced plans to downsize its fleet of 178 T-1 trainers.

The plan is to phase out the T-1 aircraft altogether at Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training locations between fiscal 2023 and 2025, Military.com previously reported.

Since 1992, when it first entered service, the T-1 has had two Class A mishaps -- the term used by the military to describe the deadliest or costliest crashes.There have been no pilot deaths in the aircraft, according to the Air Force Safety Center.

The other training aircraft, the T-38, has seen more fatal incidents in its 62-year service history. Since 1960, there have been 211 Class A mishaps, according to the Air Force Safety Center data. There have been a total of 86 pilot deaths and 149 fatalities in total for the T-38.

The T-38C has also been involved in several recent mishaps this past year at Columbus AFB in Mississippi.

This past November, an Air Force pilot's landing gear failed, forcing the plane to skid on its belly across a runway before coming to rest. There were no injuries.

Two weeks before that incident, an instructor pilot had to eject from his jet when it was "rendered inoperable and unrecoverable upon initial takeoff," Col. Jeremy Bergin, Columbus Air Force Base vice wing commander, told reporters.

In that incident, two T-38Cs took off, each with one person, an instructor, aboard. They were flying in a formation when one of the jets experienced the malfunction.

The jet crashed at a private property about 30 minutes south of the base. The instructor was taken to a nearby hospital and there were no fatalities, according to a press release.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Air Force to Cut Use of Jayhawk Trainer, Rely More on Simulators
LONDON  Britain and the United States committed crimes against humanity when they forced the people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to leave their homes five decades ago to make way for a U.S. Navy base, a rights group charged Wednesday, calling on the two governments to let the Chagossians return.

Human Rights Watch also said Britain and the U.S. should pay compensation to the Chagossians and apologize for their treatment of the islanders.

The forced displacement of the Chagossians and ongoing abuses amount to crimes against humanity committed by a colonial power against an indigenous people, the rights group said. U.K. colonial rule in the Chagos Archipelago, unlike in most of its other colonies in Africa, did not end in the 1960s, and it has continued at extraordinary cost to the people of Chagos.

The Chagos Islands are the heart of the British Indian Ocean Territory, some 6,000 miles southeast of London and home to the U.S. Navy base at Diego Garcia. The base was built in the 1970s and provides what American authorities have described as an all but indispensable platform for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa.

But Diego Garcia has been the source of controversy for decades because the islands were home to about 1,500 people when discussions about the base began in the 1960s. In addition, the islands historically had been administered as a dependency of Mauritius, a U.K. territory that was then moving toward independence.

Those facts were a problem because the U.S. wanted the freedom to build the base on Diego Garcia without facing local political opposition.

As a result, Britain decided to separate the archipelago from Mauritius before it became independent and removed the Chagossians from the islands between 1967 and 1973.

There are now about 10,000 Chagossians who live primarily in Britain, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The consulting firm KPMG, which conducted a feasibility study for the government, said in 2014 that everyone who took part in consultation meetings wanted to return to the islands permanently.

The government in 2016 refused to allow the Chagossians to return to their homeland, citing feasibility, defense and security interests, and cost to the British taxpayer.

But it also acknowledged that the original removal of the islanders was wrong, granted them citizenship and set aside 40 million pounds ($49 million) to improve the lives of Chagossians around the world.

The manner in which the Chagossian community was removed from the Territory in the 1960s and 1970s, and the way they were treated, was wrong and we look back with deep regret, the government said at the time.
Read the original article on Business Insider.

The U.S. 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.

U.S. 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, U.S. 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 U.S. and European officials. The U.S. 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. (U.S. Navy photo)

If the U.S. 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.

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.
The New Jersey Veterans Home Memorial Home at Menlo Park in Middlesex County is accepting admissions again after the Health Department said the state-run facility had improved its infection control strategies and made key personnel changes, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday.

In November, the state Health Department suspended admissions, and federal regulators suspended funding for new admissions after state inspections revealed conditions that put residents in immediate jeopardy. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also has threatened to withhold future money  a move that would force the veteran homes closure.

Admissions resumed on Tuesday, according to Maj. Agneta Murnan, the spokeswoman for Military and Veterans Affairs said. One person moved in, bringing the population to 187 residents at the nursing home, she said.

With these and other ongoing efforts, DMAVA will continue to work to improve quality of life, enhance safety, and implement best practices in this home, a statement from Murnan said. The Department remains committed to a continuous evaluation of the care we provide our Veterans, Veterans spouses, and Gold Star Family members, and will not stop striving to provide the residents of Menlo Park with the highest possible quality of care.

A spokesperson for the federal government did not immediately respond to questions regarding whether the agency had walked back its threat to terminate the facility from the Medicaid and Medicare programs, nor whether it had sent a letter communicating that it agreed the facility was in compliance.

In December, the health department dispatched a group of long-term care professionals known as a mission critical team to intervene, at the request of Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, the Adjutant General of New Jersey and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

A COVID-19 outbreak that began Thanksgiving week in 2021 is still active. A total of 121 residents and 294 employees having been infected, and 15 residents have died during the period, according to the state Health Department COVID websites most recent data, from Feb. 8.

The facilitys CEO was replaced in December and a nurse practitioner was hired to serve as director of nursing. The department also signed contracts to bring four specialists on board  two infection control consultants, one nursing consultant and one administrative consultant, Murnan said.

In early January, the health department declared the immediate jeopardy over but did not allow new admissions.

Military and Veterans Affairs named Lisa Kranis, a licensed nursing home administrator, has been interim CEO since Dec. 21.

We welcome additional third-party expertise and fresh eyes to help implement critical changes, Hou said in a statement Tuesday night. Professional and community partnerships contribute daily to our residents quality of life.

Meanwhile, the department continues to review bids to provide interim supervisory staff and consulting services at Menlo Park, Murnans statement said. Gov. Phil Murphy directed the request for proposals for outside managers and consultants; the department closed submissions on Jan. 31.

All three of the veterans homes  located in Edison, Vineland and Paramus  are under review for improvements, her statement said.

The Murphy Administration has paid out collectively nearly $69 million to settle lawsuits filed by the families of 190 deceased veterans homes residents from Menlo Park and Paramus. The lawsuits had accused the state of negligence in allowing the disease to run rampant inside the facilities, but the cases were settled without the state admitting to any wrongdoing.

A federal investigation into the deaths at the facilities, meanwhile, is still ongoing, as are two separate state investigations.

2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

Andrea N. Goldstein is a Navy reservist who previously served on active duty. She is a former senior policy adviser on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. She is a member of the Truman National Security Project, Council on Foreign Relations and a Pat Tillman Scholar.

The military is missing out on a cost-effective way to keep more mid-career personnel in the ranks who don't have a spouse or children, and unfairly penalizing those who have -- whether by choice or circumstance -- prioritized mission ahead of family.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill is a benefit that service members and veterans are entitled to that has proven to be one of the most effective tools for helping those vets build comfortable middle-class lives. One key feature is that service members may transfer the benefit, with additional service obligation, to their dependents.

That option is not available if you're single and/or don't have kids. If you get married and/or have children after you leave the military, even if you served more than the required time for transferability, you can't transfer your GI Bill, which is already bought and paid for by your service.

Right now, a service member can only transfer their GI Bill to any dependents they currently have after serving for at least six years, agreeing in turn to serve for an additional four years (either on active duty or as a drilling reservist in the Selected Reserve). Those dependents must be enrolled in an administrative system at transition.

Service members and veterans should be able to transfer the GI Bill to dependents they don't yet have, creating an additional retention incentive and eliminating an unfair policy. This is currently not permitted, and unfairly penalizes people who prioritized mission over family, didn't happen to meet the right person (often because of their service), struggled with infertility or pregnancy loss, or other factors that might lead to meeting a partner or having children later in life, such as caring for an aging or sick parent.

I've been in the Navy for 13 years. I'm in my mid-30s, not married and don't have children. I do hope to get married and become a parent, it just hasn't worked out for me yet. Several people who I commissioned with who started families several years ago have already served their obligated time and transferred their GI bill to their dependents.

I have seven years until I'm Reserve retirement-eligible. I love the Navy, but I have a fantastic civilian career and life, and I reconsider continuing service in the Reserves often. What keeps me in is the pride of service and camaraderie. This is not enough for many good service members who have other obligations and passions. If the Navy enabled me to obligate more time to be able to transfer my educational benefits to future dependents, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd sign the obligation immediately.

Currently, you can't opt to transfer your GI Bill to future dependents even if you served for 20 years and retired out of the service, nor if you were medically retired.

It's unfair, wrong and punishes people who prioritized the mission over family, or didn't meet their person yet. For those who reach mandatory retirement and "run out of clock" to obligate service, it takes an option for their future plans off the table. Finally, while it's hard to prove, the transferability issue may disproportionately impact women, who have more variables to consider in balancing operational and family planning choices.

Expanding transferability would be a net positive for both the service members and the military services themselves. It would improve the economic situation of the service member or veteran, particularly if they are not saddled with the financial obligation of finding a way to pay for their child's education. The military would have a retention tool to offer at a critical midpoint (6-10 years) when many talented people leave.

Critics of this approach might say that it's too expensive or that the GI Bill is a transition tool for veterans. On the first point, the GI Bill is already bought and paid for with a minimum requirement of time in military service. On the second, the GI Bill supports recruitment, retention and transition goals. Specifically on the point of transition, it is also in the interest of the financial security of the veteran. If it supports the veteran's family, helping to provide financial opportunity for a spouse or reducing the burden of paying for children's college, then it helps the veteran have a thriving post-military life.

There are two key avenues to fix it -- one, the Department of Defense (DoD) could do on its own, while the second requires Congress to act. First, the DoD and military components should examine the possibility of changing policies that allow service members to obligate service that starts the "clock" for transferability earlier, regardless of whether the service member is married or has children yet. While this would still not fix a veteran's ability to transfer their GI Bill to future dependents, it would enable service members who marry or have children later on, but while still serving, to still "opt-in." It creates a powerful retention incentive and communicates to single service members that they are considered and valued, and doesn't unfairly penalize service members who start families later by starting their "clock" later.

Second, Congress should enact a law that enables any service member or veteran who was medically retired, or opted in to obligated service as discussed in the paragraph above, to be able to transfer their GI Bill to any future dependents, regardless of when they marry or have children. Veterans who retired or separated five years or fewer prior to the enactment of the law, and served for at least 15 years, should also be eligible.

These changes would not only be the fair thing to do, but would improve retention for service members and improve opportunities for veterans and their families, and is already bought and paid for by the veteran's service.

The views represented here are the author's own, and not those of the Department of Defense or Department of the Navy.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated the Steering Committee of the National Development Plan (2021 - 2025), noting that the aim is to lay a solid foundation for a strong base that will drive an effective implementation and produce a prosperous country.

According to him, the overall aim of establishing the National Steering Committee (NSC) and the Development Plan Implementation Unit (DPIU) is to lay the foundation for a strong institutional base, structures and systems that would drive and ensure efficient and effective implementation of the targets in the National Development Plan 2021 - 2025, towards building a prosperous country.

President Muhammadu Buhari had launched the National Development Plan on December 22, 2021.

Speaking Tuesday at the inauguration of the 25-man committee at the State House, Abuja, the vice-president said the Steering Committee is required to provide the necessary policy guidance and leadership for effective and successful implementation of the plan.

"It is a testament to the determination and commitment of the government to provide the desired political will and leadership for effective implementation of the new national development plan," he said.

He added that the committee is a national assignment with institutional membership and outlives an administration.

His words: "Indeed, this particular National Steering Committee will, in a few months, hand over to a new administration. This calls for dedication and hard work to lay a solid foundation in the relatively short time left."

Osinbajo pointed out that "going forward, the federal government is determined to make a paradigm shift by ensuring that agencies and institutions make necessary commitments and account for the level of implementation of programmes and projects within their respective sectors, especially those that were admitted into the National Development Plan, with a view to increasing and improving infrastructure stock in Nigeria.

"We may also recall that a pillar of this government's commitments is to reduce poverty by moving 100 million people out of poverty to the path of prosperity in 10 years, by the end of 2030. In this regard, NDP 2021 - 2025 was designed to lift 35 million people out of poverty and generate 21 million jobs by the end of 2025."

The vice-president listed the specific objectives of the committee of which he is the chairman to include:

To ensure efficient management of the implementation process of the Plan; to reduce bureaucratic processes in the governance process; to gradually professionalise planning functions for capacity sustainability; to begin the process of institutionalisation of the Plan implementation within the ministry and other MDAs; to facilitate manpower development and adequate utilisation in the public service to drive the implementation of the Plan; to exercise cooperation and coordination towards effective implementation of national development plans by all MDAs.

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Membership of the committee is composed of the vice-president as chairman; Minister of State, Budget and National Planning is vice-chairman; Permanent Secretary, Budget and National Planning to serve as secretary; six state governors (one governor from each geopolitical zone); CEO of the Budget Office of the Federation;

CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics; Minister of Works & Housing; Minister of Power ; Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment; Minister of Transport and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Other members are Minister of Environment; Minister of Health; Governor of CBN; GMD of NNPC; representative of the Organised Private Sector (OPS); representative of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs); Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and representative of Development Partners.
Chief Executive Officer of Rigworld Group, Kofi Amoa-Abban has taken a swipe at music maestro Kojo Antwi for allegedly soliciting funds to help fund his late father's funeral.

A GoFundMe account set up in the name of Kojo Antwi's father, Opanin Kwadwo Asiama Asubonten, who died on 2nd January 2023 at the Police Hospital in Accra has made it to social media.

The GoFundMe, however, didn't sit well with, Mr Amoa-Abban who in response suggested that the highlife music legend should sell some of his properties to help fund the funeral.

Kojo Antwi is a complete joke!!! You want 1,000,000 to bury your late dad? Have you ever done a free concert for your loyal fans in Ghana ??? Sell three of your properties in Accra to fund your dad's funeral, Amoa-Abban tweeted.

However, other reports indicate that GoFundMe is not targeted at funding Kojo Antwi's father's funeral. It is rather for a scholarship in his honour.

In memory of my late kind father, this GoFundMe is for scholarships and care for a selection of orphans and the disabled in Ghana from now up till they graduate or learn a trade.  With love and togetherness from The Maestro Kojo Antwi, the description on the GoFundMe page reads.

DGN online
It is totally unacceptable for Christians to go to the extent of paying more for prayer intercession by pastors, argues Yvonne Nelson.

The actress and movie producer has rubbished the behaviour of many Christians who wait for their pastors to pray for them.

She described it as lazy to see a Christian who will refuse to deal directly with his maker but will instead hire an intermediary who may even be fake.

Speaking on Accra-based Kingdom FM, the actress, though she did not completely oppose the idea of having a spiritual father, rebuked Christians to learn how to pray for themselves.

"You can pray and read the word; there is no need to rely solely on spiritual fathers to pray on your behalf. People pay pastors to pray for them, and I feel its laziness because you can do all those things for yourself as a child of God," she said.

The movie personality said she doesnt believe in prophecies but dreams, indicating that God can always reveal things about her through dreams and not necessarily give them as a prophecy to men of God.

"I believe in dreams, not necessarily prophesies. If God wants to reveal something about me, he can show it in my dream, or someone close to me can also dream about it. I dont need a pastor to tell me God is real, Jesus is real, and the Holy Spirit is real," Yvonne Nelson argues.
Ghanaian actress and movie producer Yvonne Nelson has opined about her beliefs in prophecies and dreams.

The celebrated actress said she doesnt believe in prophecies but dreams.

Speaking on Accra-based Kingdom FM, the Kotoka producer asserted that God can reveal whatever He wants to tell his followers through dreams and not only through other people.

I believe in dreams, not necessarily prophesies. If God wants to reveal something about me, he can show it in my dream, or someone close to me can also dream about it. I dont need a pastor to tell me God is real, Jesus is real, and the Holy Spirit is real," Yvonne Nelson argues.

Yvonne Nelson further disclosed that it is laziness when a Christian refuses to deal directly with his maker but will instead hire a man of God who may even be fake.

The actress, though did not completely oppose the idea of having a spiritual father, rebuked Christians to learn how to go before God and ask for answers.

You can pray and read the word; there is no need to rely solely on spiritual fathers to pray on your behalf. People pay pastors to pray for them, and I feel its laziness because you can do all those things for yourself as a child of God," she said.
Experienced movie filmmaking personality Majid Michel has opined about who makes movies a masterpiece among the production crew.

The actor who starred in the recently premiered YN Movie Productions Kotoka disclosed that good movies are the hard work of producers.

In an interview with Accra-based TV XYZs Jay Kojo Daasebre (JKD) on the "Xzone" show, the versatile actor noted that the cast of movies is put together by the producer.

He explained that a good producer have eye to bring on board good talents from the cast to directors, cameramen, and others to make a must-watch movie.

"A producer is the one who identifies who a good script writer is, who a good director is, who a good cinematographer is, who a good editor is, and who a good actor is, so he the producer brings them together to produce a good film," he said.

According to Majid, no matter how good the people are, they will need a good producer to bring the best out of them.

"Otherwise, you will have all this talent on their own, and they will not know how to come together. The producer is the judge of talent that identifies all other talents and brings them together to make a good film," he emphasized.
Per Ghanaian culture, it used to be an abominable act for a lady to profess her love to a man she loves.

Women who do so are often described as uncultured and cheap.

However, the western culture and civilization has changed the narrative as women now chase and propose to men.

That a Ghanaian socialite, actress, and influencer, Andrea Owuau, chiefly known as Efia Odo, describes as unacceptable.

In a yet-to-be-aired interview on Accra-based TV3, Efia Odo further deemed it an act of stupidity and embarrassment, noting that no lady should ever do that.

"Stop proposing; what is that? What is wrong with yall proposing to men? Like that is so embarrassing, why would you do that?" the socialite quizzed.

She stressed that a lady has no business proposing to a man because she wouldnt be the one to pay for the bills in the relationship.

"Why would you go down on your knees to propose to a man for what? Are you the one going to pay for the wedding? It is stupidity to me," she fumes.
The council is charged with the responsibility of facilitating and managing the 2023 presidential transition programme, and facilitating the handing over process by Mr Buhari to the president-elect.

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 nation's 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.

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"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 president's administration."

Mr Buhari will exit power on 29 May when his second and final term will elapse.

(NAN)
Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh Dompreh reportedly noted that the former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremateng, should be blamed more for the countrys economic crisis.

In an interview on Accra-based Adom TV last Friday, February 10, the Nsawam Adoagyiri MP debunked the assertion that Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia has solely collapsed Ghanas economy and as such is unfit to lead the NPP come 2024 elections.

The MP said the former Minister was the head of the cabinet sub-committee on economic management and as such, is more involved in the crisis than Dr. Bawumia.

Met with several objections and rebuttals, Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, in another interview on Accra-based Neat FM on Monday, February 13, clarified that if the debate is about who heads a committee, then Mr. Alan Kyeremateng cant also escape criticisms about the country's recent quagmire.

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, he clarified.

The Majority Chief Whip emphasized, Anybody who thinks I am lying should check the records to check and tell me whether I am being factual or not.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed Beijing's "solidarity" with Tehran on Tuesday as he hosted the Islamic Republic's President Ebrahim Raisi at the start of a three-day trip.

During a welcoming ceremony, cooperation agreements were signed, on issues ranging from crisis management to communication and information technology according to Iran's state news agency IRNA.

The trip is the first official state visit by a president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to China since President Khatami went to Beijing in 2000.

Raisi's visit is expected to deepen ties between the two political and economic partners that are opposed to the US-led Western domination of international affairs.

Strategic partnership

The two leaders met last September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, when Xi underscored China's support for Iran.

In December, Raisi pledged to deepen 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.

Drones for Russia

Washington has accused 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.

Iran on Saturday celebrated the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid nationwide anti-government protests and heightened tensions with the West.

The Raisi visit marks a gradual deepening of ties between countries that support Russia or refrain from condemning its invasion of Ukraine.

On the one side there is Moscow's 'friendship without limits' with China, supported by Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and to a lesser extend, African countries where Russia's Wagner mercenary group is active such as Mali, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Sudan.

While China helps Russia in the finance and energy sector, Iran is delivering military drones and North Korea is reported to be behind the transfer of weapons to Wagner mercenaries.

Facing them is Ukraine, supported by the US, the UK, the EU and countries like Japan and Australia, which are supporting Kyiv with heavy artillery, humanitarian help, or training.

(With newswires)
Alfred Thompson, former Deputy Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB), has advised Ghanaian media to be circumspect in reporting accurate facts about the current economic crisis and the government's debt swap program in order not to create fear and panic among investors.

"This debt exchange provides an orderly way to put our economy back on track. These efforts will be complemented by fiscal measures to protect the neediest and most vulnerable in society. The Government expects overwhelming support for this exchange," he said.

He added, And in truth, the success of this necessary endeavour depends, of course, upon the publics cooperation. That will also mean the media being helpful in disseminating the right information to economic actors. We are all in this together and we intend to get out of this together. There are crises everywhere, South Africa is suffering from power outages currently whilst America's economy too is in difficulties we need to be patient."

Alfred Thompson told Kwaku Owusu Adjei (Patoo) on Adwenekasa on Accra-based Original FM 91.9.

According to Mr. Alfred Thompson, the nation will overcome its current problems and emerge with a lot more resilient and robust economy with the aid of the media and the backing of Ghanaians.

He however said the external debt restructuring parameters will be presented in due course.

He said the government recognizes that Ghanas financial institutions hold a substantial proportion of these bonds, as such, the potential impact of this exchange on the financial sector has been assessed by their respective regulators.

"Working together, these regulators have put in place appropriate measures and safeguards to minimize the potential impact on the financial sector and to ensure that financial stability is preserved, he stressed.
The Office of the Vice President Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the Special Prosecutor's decision to continue investigations into the clearance of 15 containers of rice in which the Office allegedly facilitated the clearance.

Mr James Keck Osei allegedly sought assistance from the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to clear the 15 containers of rice in April, 2022.

Mr James Keck Osei, a civil servant who works at the Office of the Vice President as Director of Administration, is being investigated by the Special Prosecutor for addressing an unauthorised letter to the Commissioner-General of the GRA on April 27, 2022, seeking assistance to clear the 15 containers of rice.

The letter, among other things, falsely conveyed information that the Office of the Vice President needed the containers of rice for the Ramadan festivities.

The GRA did not comply with the said letter but rather informed him that there was another claimant to the rice.

On receipt of that information, Mr Keck Osei wrote another letter on July 5, 2022, to withdraw his letter of 27th April, 2022.

In his second letter, he stated that the Commissioner-General of the GRA should cancel any prior action taken based on his previous letter.

A statement issued on Tuesday by the Secretary to the Vice President, Mr Augustine Blay, in response to the matter, said it was only the Secretary to the Vice President who is mandated to write letters on the Offices behalf and that Mr Keck Osei did not have any such authority.

It said the Chief Director at the Office of the President had also begun investigations into the issue in accordance with the Civil Service procedures, rules and regulations and where a breach is established, the Service shall apply the necessary sanctions.

In September, last year, it came to the attention of the Office of the Vice President that Mr Keck Osei had been invited by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (SP) to assist in an investigation related to rice importation.

Following the SP's announcement, Mr Keck Osei was arraigned on Monday, February 13, 2023.

GNA
Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament's Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo has blamed the countrys economic woes on the reckless spending of the Akufo-Addo's government during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Bolgatanga Central legislator accused the government of loosely throwing money the way of its appointees in the name of cushioning Ghanaians during the pandemic.

Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, Mr. Adongo said the government was so reckless in its spending that he began to question the specific problem the government was actually addressing with such huge expenditure.

The levels of expenditure that we incurred were so huge that they were not informed by the problem that we were addressing.

He further alleged that the government has nearly quadrupled its expenditure in the last three years all in the name of COVID-19 relief services so it comes to him as a surprise that it is now roaming seeking for funds to execute its Agenda 111.

How on earth did we spend GH40 billion in one year and almost GH90 billion in two years, and now we are heading toward over GH140 billion expenditure, and we are still struggling to build Agenda 111? he asked.

Mr. Adongo also lamented that most of the interventions the government said it had implemented during the pandemic to cushion Ghanaians only revealed how reckless it was without recourse to keeping financial records.

We were all over the streets throwing food. We should have had proper records of who deserves food and have delivered the food in a humane and hygienic manner to the people, and it would have been clear that we didnt need all that money that we claimed we used to deliver food.

By Citi Newsroom
Prophet John Anokye, Prelate of Worldwide Word Ministries

15.02.2023 LISTEN

Prophet John Anokye, a prelate of the Worldwide Word Ministries has waded into the controversies surrounding the building of the National Cathedral.

The man of God remarked that God will not allow His project to suffer if he has called for it.

Interacting with the media on an occasion marking the beginning of a week-long celebration of the churchs 7th anniversary, Prophet Anokye doubted if God had been consulted about the project.

"There wouldn't have been any hullabaloo surrounding the building of the National Cathedral if we had consulted God," he stated.

In furtherance, the clergyman believes if God truly needed a cathedral, he would have revealed it to a man of God like he did to Nehemiah about the renovation of the broken walls of Jerusalem.

He noted that since God has never spoken about it to any man of God, the project remains an individualistic desire.

"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, as quoted by Atinkaonline.

The National Cathedral project has been highly criticised by some Ghanaians, who described it as a misplaced priority given the economic hardships in the country.

However, despite the rejections, the President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, insists the Cathedral must be built to the glory of God.
Minority in Parliament says it will probe the allocation of $25 million for the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute by President Akufo-Addo.

The President in his 26th COVID-19 update stated that government had committed $25 million for the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead the manufacture of vaccines to meet national and regional needs.

Speaking to journalists after the passage of the National Vaccine Institute Bill 2022, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the Minority will investigate the committed funds for the project.

To a large extent, we have passed the law even before the President allocated about $ 25 million to the committee that the President constituted. Now that the law has been passed, we will also look into how that money has been expended, that is also very important, Mr. Akandoh said.

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
Ghanaian medical students in Cuba on government scholarship are lamenting over the non-payment of their stipends for more than seven months.

The students lament that the situation is making life difficult for them as they live on the benevolence of colleagues and friends.

They explain that the Scholarship Secretariat has on various occasions assured that monies would be released but nothing is yet to hit their accounts.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on condition of anonymity, one of the students said he can only hope that some monies would be released soon.

We are still hopeful that the government or our sponsors that is the Ghana scholarship secretariat will get us some amount of money for some months so that things can be easy for us so that living in Cuba will be free for us, and we can focus o our studies, One of the students bemoaned over the non-payment of the stipends.

He added, we know things are very hard in Ghana, we all heard the news of happenings in Ghana, but we are still pleading with them to work and get us some amount of money because the situation in Cuba is worse, I know they bear witnesses to that. There are no other means, we dont work, and the only means to get money is the stipends. Getting money from Ghana is difficult, and it has to come from your parents. Please we are pleading with the officials, our sponsors, we know they do care about us, they should work out something for our survival.

-citinewsroom
A UN convoy of 11 trucks has entered rebel-held north-western Syria from Turkey via the newly opened Bab al-Salam crossing as the death toll from last week's earthquake reached almost 40,000. More than 50 other trucks with UN humanitarian aid have already been sent through another crossing at Bab al-Hawa.

On Wednesday morning the death toll from the quake stood at more than 39,100 as officials and medics said 35,418 people had died in Turkey and at least 3,688 in Syria.

Rare survivors were pulled from the debris eight days after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck Syria and Turkey, but the focus has switched from rescue to providing food and shelter to millions in need.

Following the disaster, residents faced the harsh realities of surviving in cities turned to ruin in the middle of the winter freeze.

New aid convoy route

An aid convoy passed through a newly re-opened border crossing into rebel-held north-western Syria, where help has been slow to arrive since last week's earthquake.

A convoy of 11 UN trucks entered Syria through the newly-opened Bab al-Salam border point, after Damascus agreed to let the world body use the crossing for aid.

The trucks were loaded with essential humanitarian assistance, including shelter materials, mattresses, blankets and carpets, Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the UN's International Organization for Migration, told AFP.

The UN has so far sent more than 50 trucks of aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

Following international pressure, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allowed the use of two more crossings, Bab Al-Salam and al-Raee, for an initial period of three months.

Activists and local emergency teams have decried the UN's slow response to the quake in rebel-held areas, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid delivered to government-controlled airports.

The UN also launched an appeal for $397 million to cover three months of life-saving relief for victims in Syria and said it was close to a similar plan for Turkey.

Millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

(with wires)
Prof. Ransford Gyampo

15.02.2023 LISTEN

Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has reacted to the disturbances on campus on Tuesday, February 14.

Speaking to TV3 on the disturbances caused by some students, Prof. Gyampo hit out at the students, insisting their acts of lawlessness must not be entertained by the school.

Some are saying the court has given an injunction so they are going to implement it, it is an act of lawlessness, Prof. Ransford Gyampo shared.

Some students of UG clashed with the Police yesterday on campus.

In an official statement from the Police on Tuesday after the disturbances, it confirmed that 18 people had been arrested.

The Police have today, Tuesday, 14th February 2023 arrested 18 people for disturbances on the University of Ghana campus.

"The Police have been able to contain the situation and calm has since been restored, the Police statement noted.

According to the Police, the 18 suspects were together with about 200 others believed to be former members of the Commonwealth Hall of the university.

The Police added that all 18 suspects are in custody and will be put before the court to face justice.

Meanwhile, security has since been deepened on the campus for academic activities to continue without any hindrance.

The Police have given the assurance that all other persons involved in the disturbances will be arrested and brought to face justice.
The average electricity use of a sub-Saharan African resident is lower than that of a household fridge in the United States (US), the report said.

Despite holding more than 8 per cent of the world's 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 Africa's energy poverty, but despite producing over 6 per cent of the world's 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.

"Africa's domestic gas markets remain under-developed or non-existent, especially south of the Sahara, and much of Africa's 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 continent's 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 continent's 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.

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"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 Africa's 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 Africa's forests, a valuable carbon sink for the world.

"Gas offers further solutions for Africa's food security challenges as a key source of critical fertilizers, while also generating needed export revenue for re-investment in renewable solutions."
The Office of the Vice President has explained why Mr James Keck Osei, the Director of Administration at the Office is being prosecuted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

A press statement issued by the Vice Presidents Secretariat and signed by Augustine Blay, the Secretary to the Vice President, disclosed that, Mr. Keck Osei illegally wrote a letter to the Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority seeking assistance in clearing 15 containers of rice imported from Thailand in April 2022.

He falsely claimed in the letter that the Office [of the Vice President] needed the containers of rice for Ramadan festivities.

According to the Secretariat, GRA did not comply with Mr. Keck Oseis letter but rather informed him that there was another claimant of the rice.

On receipt of this information, Mr. Keck subsequently wrote another letter in July 2022 to withdraw his earlier request but the OSP invited him to assist in investigation.

Mr Keck Osei is among the four,  three public servants and one civil servant accused by the OSP of failing to declare their income sources.

The others are Issah Seidu, John Abban and Peter Archibald Hyde.

They appeared in court on Monday, February 13, 2023, and three of them were granted bail while one of them failed to appear in court.

classfmonline.com
Commissioner Eugene Lenn Nagbe and RMU Chancellor, Ebrima Sillah

15.02.2023 LISTEN

Liberia Maritime Commissioner Lenn Eugene Nagbe on Tuesday received a high-level delegation from the Regional Maritime University (RMU), who are on a working visit to Liberia.

Welcoming the six-member team to the headquarters of the Liberia Maritime Authority, Commissioner Nagbe stressed the need for the sanctity of the Regional Maritime University to be protected because it's the epitome of what can be done when African countries join hands in achieving a critical goal.

The RMU is funded and managed by various West African countries, including Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon and Sierra Leone. At the meeting, Nagbe emphasized that we will always seek to improve activities of the regional university".

He said the body exemplifies what can happen when states work together for the "general good of our respective citizenry and societies.

The LiMA Boss also pointed out that RMU is a success story, with "demonstrated evidence" that outside of all of the influences and support, which the region desperately craves, "it can come together and produce something that works well".

According to him, the visit of the Chancellor and Chairman of the Board of RMU, whom he said has been very proactive in improving the workings of the university, is very crucial. He added that it was the reason LiMA welcomes the delegations visit and stressed that Liberia remains committed to the principles and goals of the institution.

In remarks, the head of the visiting delegation, the Chancellor and Board Chairman of the RMU, Hon. Ebrima Sillah, said his team was glad to be in Liberia and to see firsthand some of the capacity building efforts being carried out by Liberia, particularly through the Liberia Maritime Training Institute (LMTI).

I must admit that we were thrilled by what we saw at the academy [LMTI) during our visit. We are very proud of your countrys achievement in the maritime industry", he said. Continuing, the Chancellor said "Liberia has really gone far with its institutions and policies, as well as the quality of the shipping registry".

Chancellor Sillah indicated that he was proud of the achievements taking place within the West African region. We are very happy that this is happening in our neighborhood. As a small country, we (Gambia) will be knocking on your doors to share experience and to exchange knowledge on matters of mutual interest, he stated.

Additionally, he emphasized that the RMU is proud of Liberia for being consistent in its payments and contributions, as well as general support to the university.

Hon. Sillah, who is also the Minister of Works and Infrastructure of Gambia, noted that the Regional Maritime University is at a critical crossroads right now and called on member countries to come together to salvage the institution from unforeseen circumstances.

Members of the visiting delegation included: Hon. Ebrima Sillah Chancellor/Board Chairman of RMU and Minister of Works/Infrastructure of Gambia; a Liberian, Dr. Jethro Brooks. Acting Vice Chancellor, RMU; Dr. Baboucarr Njie.. University Registrar and Board Secretary, RMU; Mr. Karimu Janneh.Director General, Gambia Maritime Administration; Mr. Kule Manneh.. Harbor Master, Gambia Port Authority; Ms. Mariama Fofanna.. Principal Assistant Secretary, Ministry of works/Infrastructure of Gambia.
15.02.2023 LISTEN

Pornography is one of the most destructive legal soft cruelties against mainly men , teenagers, and children, but it is a multi billion dollar industry that money worshipping governments and blind people will over defend or even promote. Need I admit I oppose banning it, but support tactical fighting of all destructive products and services ? So I recommend timely and honest education of both genders about Pornography. Questionable people in government, especially the u.s and it's western allies are partnering with mainly ignorant and mildly cruel women against mainly unfortunate men on porn. Human evolution shows some individuals used women as prostitutes, but around which era did governments enter the sexual business and make it worse? Yes, you heard me right, government have been a problem in many areas, including the sexual problems of the world . Our age sees very rapid changes in sex trade shifting, dying, and changing colors. We also now have the LGBTQ folks, who are also using Pornography to bait our children and teenagers into accepting LGBTQ ? The Pornography industry can be easily killed or maimed, but it requires education and sacrifice. They are also using regular movies with LGBTQ sex scenes to promote the questionable way of life.

Before the Internet, I remember a Pope condemning the u.s as the primary engine of world Pornography. We received porn magazines in poor Gambia, as teenagers, and we largely saw it as 'dirty whites', while many appreciated it emotionally. Beyond emotions, what was porn doing to our minds, mentally enslaving us to think about sex than books? Banning such will never work, just educate and confront such with better alternatives or even lesser evil. Should I admit Pornography is no longer just whites or just u.s, but its modern globalisation starts with whites, then money invites all other races. The u.s is also still the number one producer of porn and arguably the number one fighter against prostitution around the world. All for money, pimp master?

The ignorant ones in both genders can be educated, and the resisting ones can be confronted with tougher education , smarter laws, and lesser evil competition. Since every sane male adult knows pornography is worse than prostitution, which is also bad and deceptive against another 'unfortunate males'. You can make a personal or world class movie: Two or xyz girls into different sexual trade worlds. Imagine a girl who goes to only porn studio and go share the money with the man he loves. Then another girl who goes to porn studio one , prostitution studio two, then goes to the man who marries a prostitute for money or pay more to her? Which man or men are worse off? Which studio will eventually close first? A fairly smart teenage boy can see the movie to learn and skip, or go through it as consumers to learn and/or teach, or call it life with indifference. Even the male victim may open a porn shop or website with teenage girls whom the law may wrongly over protect against adults and teenage boys.

Capitalism and extreme matriarchalism are two married evil partners, but higher truth of education with patience can defeat them. People grow out of evil through thinking and/or education, as individuals and groups. No sane man will get a good woman and pursue porn or prostitution. Since we are not born sane, we must know timely education and avoid punishing where we would have preferred patience and more education for self or our blood child. Just like many women grow from porn or prostitution mindset+, men do grow from bad consumption. The problem is failing to educate or admit ...

Educating the populace is not hard once all the facts are out, but government being the powerful pimp that can censor my poor type, we must smartly look for brave rich folks for movies. Until then, we have to use social media and songs are among the hardest to censor. We have to debunk their lies or excuses, plus use their admissions and statistics . Mr. Bill Clinton said, 'we criminalised prostitution to protect women', but say no, to protect an Industry and bad to worse women? They may claim diseases, making it illegal actually causes more STDs or use your mind with regulations and compare with places where it is legal? Since myself and many others admit prostitution is still bad deal for men, even if it was one hundred percent free of diseases, then we are just tactically using prostitutes against the Pornography industry and do what to other women?

The worldwide legalisation of marijuana will probably raise our minds and more people will hopefully have less fear, greed, and arrogance , including women. This means women will serve sexually with higher quality for men to see prostitution as a 'curse'. Even some free sex will be rejected by highly blessed marijuana folks , our conscience will rise to reject adultery and many other things. Of course I am referring to mainly the Godly, conscious folks. Similarly with women, they will evolve , especially if they know men no longer see porn as 'harmless' or precious. The service quality of the so called non prostitutes will always determine if prostitution or Pornography thrives, barely survives, or dies in a given society. Although men have strong appetite for sex, our nature is also limited in sex. After having good sex, you may not care about porn for hours or days. Men deserve free sex just like women, men deserve love just like women. These things may sound weird to some just like saying blacks deserve freedom like Whites and Arabs was weird to some. Eventually more women will accept such facts and men will also evolve from worshipping sex, but just respecting sex. The arrogant women may see it as a curse, but society must evolve or more gender conflicts towards LGBTQ will happen.

African governments, media houses, and people must ask how to educate our people and their people on Pornography. If you couldn't stop porn magazines then, you must be delusional In thinking you can stop the Internet, USB drives, and how many other harder to control ways to access porn. Work on the people's mind to refuse even free porn, then work on the bodies of the weaker ones and educate them right after sex. Marriage can only be promoted with less government dictates, but with more suggestions. Prenuptial agreements should have templates for people to choose or you risk creating a divorce industry that creates more gender divisions and up-to spousal killings. Tolerance must be taught and divorces be studied without gender bias. We cannot just defend Africa, we have to push to influence the west, including killing their Pornography industry, help legalise marijuana, help legalise prostitution there, etc. They want to give us legal LGBTQ, alcohol, and we cannot directly stop their porn, so let's give them something less worse than they are selling us and our children may go there to have alternatives when tested with much worse women and government sexual sanctions. May God bless us through Showlove Trinity: Let's learn, let's work, let's have fun.

By Jarga Kebba Gigo

An Activist and Transformer

Optional note:

Many European countries have bad legal and illegal prostitution , so advising them to improve their regulations will help worldwide. Because Europe is extremely matriarchal, they do not care about educating men, but once they accept marijuana, we hope to see more care and more justice. Matriarchalism does not help women either, it directly hurts men more and some men over retaliate on women in a nasty cycle. Many Europeans see Chinese and Russian women as dangerous prostitutes , but their media talks about how Africans , especially Nigerians, are the willing and trafficked street prostitutes ? How bad you educate or treat your men to resort to prostitutes? As long as demand for prostitution exists, then legalising it makes more sense and you gradually educate the people to evolve. Human trafficking for sex is a huge problem and legalising prostitution will certainly reduce forced prostitution . If government truly care about women or the real victims (forced ones) and children, then sacrificing few willing adults and using the proceed and other facts to educate the populace will help. We eventually want no or least prostitution on earth.

I have called for mandatory worldwide education for up to twenty years and that will literally solve countless world problems. Hardly you see a woman or man with even bachelors degree directly in sex sales, except few as consumers because men are mentally over sexualized. They talk about women's body are over sexualized , but refusing to admit men's minds are over sexualized? We need both to think about sex less. The reason many women worry less about sex is it is readily available for them , often times. If men are honest, when you have a partner who hardly denies you sex, you gradually reduce thinking about sex. It does not mean your sexual interest dies, but it becomes under control. Like food, we act better with both sex and food when available enough without temptations and denials . Married men largely have such control and thus tend to behave well before questionable women, and she may wrongly prefer such without thinking why one person seems patient and the other impatient.

Look at the pornography industry from financial perspective and question if the u.s government does not make the most money as chief pimp? Does it benefit what percentage of women versus hurt what percentage of men, mentally? Like lottery, a percentage of the tax proceeds was suppose to be educating mainly men, especially teenagers and addicts based on frequency , then offer help services. All porn sites+ should pay special 'dangerous product or service ' tax and have helplines and other essential information beyond vague age to enter.

Similarly, look at a well regulated prostitution industry and you know it will adversely affect the porn industry and government coffers. Help services should be to help both genders, because male consumers are indeed willing victims, like gambling addicts... what percentage of men and women may try it for how long, before admitting it is paying for low service or even diseases? Whereas the service can significantly increase when legalised compared to the underground world, there are many ways to teach men love is higher and how to seek it; then tactically show women how to offer better than 'best prostitutes'. From added security to sweet conversations, to those who want children, I cannot fear legal prostitution taking many men for long. And it is vital to control their advertising, because we are not legalising it to encourage it, but rather to control it in much better ways, study and help people out of it. Both Sex and love should not be hard to get, and God's curse be upon those who think men should sexually suffer than women in the extreme. You want us to suffer for the crime of being a male, then how can it be wrong for you to suffer until you love us duly or at least tolerably?

Penalties to teenagers who willingly do commercial porn makes lot more sense than rewarding them as victims... human laws, beyond sex, should always differentiate children from teenagers, and teenagers from adults. Making a movie where a teenager starts with marijuana or xyz sales to get punished in many countries, then a porn pimp telling her to make sex videos and claiming to be adult in some... They tell you it is your responsibility to verify a lying fifteen year old who claims to be eighteen or twenty in dating, and using similar in lying porns? Of course there are porns who use real teenagers or even children, or tiny adults to claim 'child porn'? They want money, period. You can create many scenarios to show bad laws significantly contribute to why teenagers make many ' porn' to harm unfortunate people at many levels. Some countries, governments or individuals, may even use such as political weapon, planting evidence on people's computers, including activists? The number of times I saw things I never knowingly downloaded, not necessarily sexual material, in my computer is scary. The fact remains people and governments can plant evidence that may get you in trouble through our over protective sexual laws. Even animals do not suffer each other over sex like many humans do, and how varyingly some humans suffer than others, through culture, until when? It's our choices that may influence God's choices. we must ask why nature is seemingly hard on us sexually as humans or even between the races/genders? Let us save the children and the teenagers through truthful discussions and regulate public places to be more sexually considerate . Not one of us can deny we know many children and early teenagers will despise even public kissing and will be less interested in the prostitution world they should not be allowed. It is the so called adult or women rights that tend to Gamble children in gradual steps and sadly girls suffer worse where we discuss rights more than responsibilities.

Deception is hard for humans to police, but it is indeed a crime. You can warn the culprits and educate the victims, then let God do the rest. Many African+ women still see deception of men as no crime and need I admit there are deceptive men and women in every race? Porn happens to be less problematic in Africa, but other deceptions exist , light porn probably started in Africa and we are seeing a rise in at least street porn as freedom. The reason studying the African woman is vital is because humans started in Africa and look what deception karma did to Africa? So initiating or defending deceptions in the name of culture or kindness is a very dangerous illusion. Whether or not the best or worst of Africans were expelled or rescued from Africa, we are in a global village and should globally care with facts .

Life does not like unjust favors, so we must cautiously know kindness without truth and intelligence may lead to unexpected problems. Some Cultures, Religions, and now governments have repeatedly failed to focus on the best or average women to make sensible norms and laws, but wrongly focus on the weakest women to make choices that eventually hurt too many. Both hell and heaven will have both genders, so being largely gender neutral seems best. Social media is indeed one reality that shows many failed to train females how to understand the purpose of words and life is beyond short term emotions. Sex is a dangerous world (blessing), but not equally dangerous. All genders must know cruelty is not just a physical thing, nor is cruelty the only possible crime in sex. Even ignorance can be very dangerous, but lying for or about sex is not minor in the eyes of God and the Godly. Avoid sins between creatures or supporting them, but respect personal rights and remember the world of mutual consent still deserves education than indifference.

Optional note 2:

Cause and Allow between cultures or races: Women like to compete on beauty, but we are in the era of character . Every race have beautiful and ugly women, but every race also have good and bad character women, then their men. Since our primary discussion today is Pornography and secondarily prostitution, we should contrast the types of porn and prostitution we encourage between regions and ages. We love to contrast how politicians differ, how our oppositions, media houses, etc differ, but contrasting our women in character is very vital, because we can change evil to good, or make good much better. Humankind are largely very deceptive creatures and in the world of sex, females are by far more deceptive , and this does not mean you do not have millions of extremely deceptive men.

Marital culture started in Africa and was it fair and when did it start to be deceptive? The precise time is hard to know, but are we willing to change or at least educate the children with facts? Deception can start with lies, but often start with faulty classification, and fractional facts victims may accept. When the African woman claimed she is higher or sexually doing favor to men, was she factual or deceptive? Some historians claim prostitution was the first human trade, but it does not have to be the last and can be minimised. We can reject Norms we found parents in if we deem them deceptive or worse. We can take entry dowry as example: the liars in Africa+ want you to believe it is just symbolic, but the reality is millions of men suffer through it up to date, and caring people should smartly confront the questionable culture. Black Prophet Moses (pbuh) was said to work five to seven years as servant to get a wife and as 'favor'? Deceptive people are always claiming to be doing favor, including slavery, colonisation, paid wife, paid prostitutes, and many other ills. The liars may claim religious books are lying, but up to date, the dowry amount in many African countries can amount to savings of at least ten percent of an ordinary laborer for ten years? It is not the amount in Africa versus Middle East we should contrast, but average laborer per region, because every adult deserves free sex or at least reasonable sex . Beside the entry dowry, Africa demands endless gifts to even the relatives of the woman and that is now causing divorces against children. Those worse than prostitutes will beg to differ and they are the ones that may see men in transitory hell with prostitutes as 'lucky' or abusive men to criminalise?

As terrible as porn is , it shed lights that women do enjoy sex and God is doing both favor. If you look at the sexual nerves of women, science confirms women may actually enjoy sex than men. Many women are now admitting sex is helpful and enjoyable. 'Use your eyes, ears, and faculties, [to reject her lies] or beg her towards hell'? The way women scream in sex is unique compare to donkeys, dogs, or any visible animal we know of. I believe this is a favor that should be appreciated or God may take it away. So if you do not teach your daughters right, then they may become among the women who are sometimes expelled of sexual happiness. Feel free to accuse me of hating women or under the 'illusion ' of God, God, God, but I can assure you that God exists and have power over our sexual powers towards reward or punishment.

Whereas Africa has mild porn on the streets, we have many 'girlfriend' porn stars who send men to prostitutes, as resort. When you have a so called girlfriend who seems to enjoy wet dreams more, thinking about her ex , have a secret lover, or waiting for a big gift before sex, then you likely have someone worse than prostitutes. Just like you should run from pretty prostitutes and porn stars, you should also run from those worse than prostitutes . As parents, you should teach both genders factually. Marriage is primarily witnessed by God, so we only include humans as secondary formality. The culture of dowry and other fears hamper marriage opportunities, and I understand a much smaller percentage of virgins rather wait for marriage. I think such should resist parents to marry without dowry or stay away from relationships. Of course our parents around the world are not perfect, and have been over favoring women against women in ways they are yet to fully comprehend. FGM is one example, it was to help women over men, but it hurts both or against women more.

The west have conquered entry dowry, but they are largely worse on porn and imposed exit dowry. Their men are slowly waking up , because deception cannot last forever. I actually see many western men slightly smarter, sexually, than average African men, but they have censorship problem and powerful corrupt men who abuse or lie for women. It is vital for all men, especially western men, to push for prostitution legalisation in the west , especially considering adultery, porn, LGBTQ, etc are legal. Marijuana legalisation and culture of cameras are more important than prostitution legalisation, and will likely eliminate prostitution if censorship is defeated.

Contrasting our best ones is hard, Contrasting our wives is also hard, but contrasting our prostitutes and worse than prostitutes is easier. First you check their mindsets and laziness. The mindset that sex is hard is by the lazy, because sex is closer to fun than work. It takes lying men and women to claim sex workers are hard workers, they are closer to lazy robbers. There are countless much harder working women than porn stars and prostitutes. Or introduce massage with sex and see how many African, Arab, or xyz prostitutes may rather lay down in lazy positions or may charge double or triple for different positions, or with massage? Smart journalists should ask questions and you will learn buying lies is very dangerous. You can ask many teenage girls in Africa and they may claim they do not have wet dreams, because some African cultures lie wet dreams mean you have invisible boyfriend? Why African boys do not lie about wet dreams like African girls? We can blame the parents or teach children the dangers of even such lies. Then some parents or cultures frown at sexual positions like 'doggy style' due to laziness, but may claim it is a curse or just for husband? Without changing positions in sex, a man who goes for an hour+ can easily develop health problems. Beside the girls who totally deny men sex towards resort prostitution, the one who is denied doggy style or xyz may try it with prostitutes? The lazy woman who denied his elder brothers doggy style positions may charge lot more for different positions as 'hard'. A team of journalists can go underground to test prostitutes, ask missionary position rate, ask doggy style rate, ask one hour rate in every African country and do similar in Europe and every continent to know the African or xyz woman is largely lazy and our prostitutes are much worse until we legalise marijuana and prostitution and pressure them for free sex or import free sexual partners or even much better prostitutes around the world? If the journalists are too weak for such an investigative job, then they can interview the men who consume them. With education and pressure, they will change or perish. The type of prostitutes a country have is a thumbnail picture of their women, and improving them towards non-existent will improve both men and women. You see Senegalese and Nigerian tax- free prostitutes In the Gambia and refuse to ask how Gambian women contribute to it, or it is coincidently that Senegalese and Nigerian men are also said to be smarter and harder working than Gambian men? A u.s government lists where every country is importing prostitutes, but how they know and how accurate they are is just a what, what, what, issue; how and why should be studied. Low and high quality exist in every human choice, including sex. A low quality sex may include those five minutes affairs and some may wrongly tell you to be 'grateful ' or sex is sex. Such a man may take the worst of prostitutes until they know quality sex. However, if he is used to hours of long sex, hugging, and kissing, then how can he even pay for hours? Knowledge and great service is part of how we elevate each other.

When you indoctrinate millions of white+ to pay for even porn and see it as 'blessing' , then 'unauthorised ' touching becomes a big raise and you wonder why sexual assault (spanking) or groping is prevalent beyond teenagers? These adults whites+ males will see five minutes with African prostitute or an hour with Asian prostitute as huge raise or 'paradise', but even some animals may be getting better sexual deal. The evolution of humankind demand we push our women out of sexual deception or God may punish them worse than animals. Men who justify the character of worse than prostitutes will not be spared. The African male+ have a huge opportunity to study, but also to learn, because right and wrong exist before gender, race, tribe, etc. The west have a huge propaganda machine, not only do they have greedy women (prostitutes), they have many arrogant women, perhaps more than other races. However, some white women are also very diverse and tend to like learning and truth more, this gives them advantage until mainstream media tries to destroy them and humankind. Abusing good man or woman is very dangerous, and your culture may not rightly define a good man. So thinking or conscience is your best bet. Resisting truth can be very costly, so accept truth, try and go higher.

Also contrast smartly, street prostitution and housed prostitution are often different. Whereas many western street prostitutes are drug addicts, African prostitutes are hardly on drugs, but strictly for money and about five minutes in dirty areas, not hours and bathing before and after sex. Their dirt may make others run, but sexual hunger (emotions) will take some there for decades. Cleaning them may help in other areas, pressuring them to work harder in sex can kick them out of the dirty business. You can have religious, journalists, or political liars claiming they are poor women, but their robbery rates worldwide can start a business within a month or so, they prefer easy money. Europeans have their prostitute women as escorts and import Asians as massage prostitutes for those with wives who deny them sex...? When your wife denies you sex at will and her friend's daughter offers you porn as right or favor, someone may take a prostitute or fool another girl next door until when? Then the Africans (Nigerians+) who refuse learning and even sexual positions to Africans will be on the European streets until when? They will make lot less money in harder conditions until they understand deceptions are dangerous and no race or gender is above learning and working on earth. I thank God millions of Africans+ are learning better ways, but we must confront our liars and cruel ones to rise further. A culture of camera is inevitable, but we push to help people and will cameras not reduce prostitution or at least street prostitution with social media? So you may accuse me of wanting prostitution, but I clearly educate and confront them than many of you do. It is illegal in the Gambia and many African countries, but our prisons have mainly marijuana folks, not prostitutes. By not regulating it, poor services will continue and add only woes to our society... the money worshippers say prostitution is why Africa is not developed, but Singapore, Netherlands, and how many countries have legalised prostitution and more 'developed'? Financial development have more to do with accepting learning and working, and Pornography offers more than prostitution financially; similarly, alcohol offers more than marijuana on direct finance, but God through hemp and knowledge can raise finances. Spin-offs of killing both the Pornography and prostitution industries is not totally known, but more focus on real work+ is good... After educating them illegal prostitution brings more physical diseases than well regulated legal prostitution; show them legal prostitution (sex) reduces mental diseases on men and Pornography raises mental diseases , plus probabilities to masturbate towards physical disease, plus tendencies to grope or even rape.

The implicit prostitutes are also problematic. Once you cannot offer even free joyful sex to a man, then truly loving your children can be challenging. Your mind becomes corrupt and you see 'free' as a curse, then lack altruism. This is precisely why too many mothers and questionable fathers (partners in crime) over pressure children for money and forward many fractional facts to justify their greedy and sometimes arrogant expectations from off-springs. It is not the act, but the mindsets we must try to change. Arguing in fractional facts will not help you, because God can point to animals or other humans around the world in resisting evil and helping others resist; accepting good and help others accept good. We are all at different levels of good or bad, but justifying bad or denying facts will never help you. Humans evolve in the world of character, but some copy wrongly or become worse than prostitutes and prostitute consumers... So do not over worry if you are guilty, by admitting and repenting with efforts, God is always able to give you more than what man, woman, and children can give. Take conscience above culture, religion, and government lies through dying or xyz media houses. Ch. 91 told us the 'conscientious will be successful ', not which culture, religion, or xyz. We have seen exit dowry and adult child support gradually challenged in mighty West, even by women. Heard vs Depp reveals how the 'me too movement ' approach is faulty , dangerous, and defeat-able. Even my imperfect self will refuse to be an unjust witness, so the cameras of a just God is indeed worth remembering and God will not become an unjust witness or judge.

Love is possible and it is far beyond porn and prostitution. Even African girls do love, but bad culture destroy some at a very early age to think about money, money, money. Once you repeatedly tell a girl men should take care of women financially, then it won't never make sense to marry who 'cannot' take care of you or the poor. Some may not think about except how to capture a rich man. A mindset is largely built through words , including the rectification. So telling the African + girl, learning and working is not exclusive to men, showing her millions of African women, higher millions of whites, Asians, etc are embracing showlove Trinity and seeing the benefits. Tell the religious folks to look at Khadijah of Muhammad (pbut) and that conscience is higher than religious hints, and Islam allows zero to xyz dowry to check character? Evolve or separate.

If you happen to be African, Asian, middle Eastern, European, or xyz good girl who happens to want me , or even lower than me, remember education and great service keeps a good man. Machines are taking over laundry, dish washing, etc. Cooking is closer to fun than work, especially in a nice kitchen or I run away. Sex is also closer to fun and an African Queen of South Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, admitted and preached 'every woman needs a man', while Madonna was prostituting the minds of girls with 'material girl'? So come take me or xyz and show us you can do much better than prostitutes. After great sex, I want us to thank God together rather than looking at me as I owe you an arm and a leg, or ten times what porn stars or prostitutes charge? Then walk with me or yoga with me in the house, beach, or park and whisper reality to me? Admit to me it is not about gender, that prostitutes or worse than prostitutes may try to take me or xyz from you, but we should know better or run through a hard cycle. Read with me or xyz a book than trying to gossip. How about edutaining music and strong herbal teas? Then I or xyz will also know many men you skip or may try you, but why did you choose me or xyz? The God of man and woman want me to be grateful than all the men you ever had or dreamt about, but ch.103 is the marital vow. So where our truth differs, let's compete on patience and other good deeds. Conscientious sex or relationship should be blessed by a Kind God.

I do not forbid you helping women financially, but check her mindset and try to lift her in character where need be. You want more than finance from God, you should want to give her and her children more than finance. Also she is not forbidden to raise you financially and in character, especially through ch.103. Character and health mindset matters. In my SeneGambia, many women hardly use destructive products like cigarette and alcohol, men seems to have that problem. However, many women do not embrace good things like exercise and men should lightly pressure them to or leave. Similarly, when a man gets a good woman early, the problem of drugs, cigarette, and other ills hardly come. A man can be happy even without a woman, so adding a good woman is a plus, but a bad woman is stress towards more ills. Again, in SeneGambia we are seeing more young women taking education more seriously, perhaps more than young men who focus on going to the west or illusions of luck. There are other branches of learning+

to respect, not just formal education. Even such educated women may carry the problematic mindset of marrying only someone richer, plus we should not want to fail any gender. Men being often physically stronger may form gangs and face our culture of cameras. We are trying to legalise many things in Europe+ to kill the underground world, so teach the men to embrace education and thinking. Once you find a good woman, stop womanising or God may punish you for sins between creatures and ingratitude. We must think beyond sex or our gap with animals may never widen much. I admit sex is a great blessing, but a challenging one -- avoid sexual stupidity, sexual lies, and sexual cruelty, beyond physical.

Many Women are sadly indoctrinated with lies they willingly believe without thinking much? We have talked about the African woman, but how about other regions? They probably do. While in Edmonton, Canada, I over heard a white woman claiming she told her ex 'she does not want to be his prostitute and the only one worse than a prostitute is one who takes a prostitute'. These may or may not be well meant sayings, but they are not factual and have repercussion on our mindsets. I like her resisting, but it means she will see the robbed man by prostitutes as the worst man? How about the lying , raping, and other cruel men? If she truly believes prostitution is the worst, then she may even ignorantly be worse than prostitutes ? Also in Vancouver, Canada, one of my female Facebook friends who claimed to be a social worker to rescue prostitutes claimed, 'men who take prostitutes are trying to raise their social status'. That cannot be true unless you were with someone worse than prostitutes and how will you escape prostitutes thereafter? I am concern about what she will tell the robbing prostitutes, but any man who believes her lies or illusions may wrongly try prostitutes? Although there are mysteries in sex , but trying to pray to God, then Learn and work hard may raise your social status than taking prostitutes. Try getting much better than prostitutes and I am confident they exist. Your social status may actually reduce with prostitutes unless God helps you greatly. Humans can be very naive and may God protect us lot more , confront their lies or illusions before they mislead people.

Regardless of your position on prostitution, what is your position on porn? Will you urge the governments to shift from being a pimp towards a more honest reluctant partner and visionary regulator? We have mentioned higher taxes to help victims, among others. Can we have a worldwide consensus to give porn sites a special ending (not share .net or .com) and make it easier to block in a country? We can also fight their advertisement partners through shaming and public boycott. Which companies take our monies against our boys' minds, towards over sexualization and up to contributing to rape? If it was directly paid, less people will get involved or lessen time? Even 'free porn' is paid with precious time and lower animalising a precious mind. They say we are animals, but which animals have LGBTQ, porn with femalicious indifference, or rape and punish rape like humans? Some humans may reincarnate as worse animals, but our responsibility through conscience and reciprocal law demand we help the potential victims with facts.

We have seen the 'me too movement' and how countless western women cannot forgive even groping, but that is just an aspect of sexual cruelty. When God have to judge lies and deceptions, how many will be guilty even with their wife or husband? It is exceptionally vital to teach ourselves and our children to avoid lying and cruelty in and beyond sex. Marry if you are comfortable with the person and laws of the country, or at least be factual in the different forms of transitory relationships. If you are for one night, few months, etc just be candid and God may make it for life or perhaps not punish you. Avoid adultery, especially where children are involved. The term 'lower your gaze' is indeed a hint of how dangerous porn can be, but I truly believe the remedy of human sexual problems is making sex more readily accessible. A good man who have enough sex at home can walk pass naked women without much problems , but society have teenagers and adults without partners to consider. There are also some marijuana strains that seems to tame or even sexually satisfy on whom the Lord wills.
An international rating agency, Fitch, has further downgraded Ghanas Long-Term creditworthiness to Restricted Default (RD) from C.

The issue ratings on local-currency bonds issued domestically have also been downgraded to Default (D) from C.

In a statement, Fitch also affirmed Ghanas Long-Term Foreign Currency (FC) IDR at C. Fitch typically does not assign Rating Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of CCC+ or below.

Restricted Default ratings indicate an issuer that in Fitchs opinion has experienced an uncured payment default or distressed debt exchange on a bond, loan or other material financial obligation, but has not entered into bankruptcy filings, administration, receivership, liquidation, or other formal winding-up procedure, and has not otherwise ceased operating.

According to Fitch, the downgrade of Ghanas local-currency-denominated debt follows the completion of a domestic debt exchange offer by the country. This transaction is an element of the recovery programme for which the government is seeking the support of the International Monetary Fund.

On December 12, 2022, Ghana and the IMF reached a Staff-Level Agreement on a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about USD 3 billion.

All holders, except pension funds, of 67 eligible bonds governed by Ghanaian law and denominated in Ghanaian Cedis (GHS) were invited to exchange their holdings into new bonds with the same aggregate principal amount, plus applicable capitalized accrued and unpaid interest, which has in the aggregate a lower average coupon and extended average maturity than the old bonds.

Collective investment schemes and individual holders below the age of 59 will receive bonds maturing in 2027 and 2028 with a 10% coupon. Individual holders aged 59 or older will receive bonds maturing in 2027 and 2028 with a 15% coupon. All other participating holders will receive a set of bonds with maturity dates ranging from 2027 to 2033 in exchange for bonds maturing in 2023, and a set of bonds with maturity dates ranging from 2027 to 2038 in exchange for bonds maturing after 2023.

All these bonds will pay a 5% cash coupon and a paid-in-kind coupon of 3.35% to 5.00% until February 13, 2025, and cash coupons ranging from 8.35% to 10.00%, depending on the specific series, from February 14, 2025.

In Fitchs view, the debt exchange constitutes a distressed debt exchange under the agencys criteria, given this material reduction in terms vis-a-vis the original contractual terms, and given that the exchange is needed to avoid a traditional payment default.

According to Fitchs sovereign rating criteria, an RD rating is consequently assigned to the Long-Term Local Currency Issuer Default Rating. Among the 67 eligible bonds that could be tendered, six are rated by Fitch. A D rating has been assigned to these six bonds.

Fitch states that a GHC4.2 trillion principal payment was due on February 6, 2023. In the second amended and restated exchange memorandum released on February 7, authorities announced that eligible holders holding this bond would not receive a final interest payment and a final principal payment, regardless of whether an eligible holder has tendered or not.

In a press release issued on February 14, 2023, the Finance Ministry announced that coupon payments and maturing principals would be honoured in line with Government fiscal commitments.

But Fitch states that this announcement does not clarify yet when the payment will be made to holders who opted out of the domestic debt exchange. In particular, it does not clarify whether a principal payment will be made before the expiration of the grace period for this specific issue. This security is one of the six issues that have been downgraded to D.

Fitch downgraded the Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to C from CC on Dec. 21, 2022, following the governments announcement of a suspension of payments on selected external debt. Ghana subsequently asked official creditors for a restructuring of its external debt under the G20 Common Framework.

A Eurobond coupon payment, due on January 18, 2023, has not been honoured. Fitch has affirmed the LT FC IDR at C but will downgrade it to RD after the end of the grace period for this coupon payment that expires on Feb. 17, 2023.

By Citi Newsroom
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central Constituency, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed is unhappy with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta over what he says is the lack of respect for Parliament.

The Finance Minister was scheduled to appear before Parliament to provide a briefing on the governments Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) on Tuesday, February 14, but was absent.

Speaking in an interview, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed expressed concern insisting that Ken Ofori-Attas continuous disrespect for Parliament has become too much and no longer acceptable.

the disrespect, the disdain of Ken Ofori-Atta is unacceptable. This is not the first time, not the second time, not the third time he has disregarded parliament, the Tamale Central lawmaker shared in an interview with TV3.

In a press release on Tuesday evening, the Finance Ministry confirmed that it has surpassed that target for subscriptions of the programme while expressing appreciation to Ghanaians for the overwhelming participation.

The Governments Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) closed on Friday 10th February 2023 with over 80% participation of eligible bonds.

The Government wants to thank the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times, the press release from the Ministry said.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme will help protect the economy and enhance Ghanas capacity to service its public debts effectively.
Some of us couldn't have survived all these years in journalism, particularly during the revolutionary days, if we had towed the lines of the modern day so-called journalists who have invaded the media landscape with poisonous and acidic venom.

They are uncouth, disrespectful, uncultured, raw, vexation to the spirit, reckless and not fit to dwell in the comity of civilized society. In fact, they are sick brains and opportunistic. Because of the polarization of the media in Ghana, everybody feels he or she can easily get employment in a media house and start messing around in the name of journalism.

When they are sacked from one media house for misbehaving, they find another job in another media house and continue to misbehave. To such idiotic individuals there are no dos and don'ts in journalism for them and so everything goes. In fact, they are so reckless in their comments that society sees them as deviants but they think they are acceptable because few politicians who are their paymasters and who gain from their misguided zeal praise them anytime they fool around. They continue to lose their reason.

Sometimes, I feel offended when called a journalist because of the way the profession has been bastardized by a few upstarts who are clamoring for recognition and visibility. I prefer to be called a columnist because not all columnists are journalists and not all journalists are columnists. I simply want to distinguish myself from the chaff.

What has made the situation worse is the role of politicians in the destruction of this noble profession which is the 4th Estate of the realm in the scheme of things. Money has taken control and professional etiquette has been thrown to the dogs. When they seriously goof, they think it is simply one of the journalistic peccadilloes.

My generation of journalists is made up of fine ladies and gentlemen who stormed the media space with intellectual finesse and thought-provoking write-ups which withstood and continue to washstand the test of time.

Talk about Mr. Kojo Yanka, Cameron Duodu, Madam Adjoa Yeboah Afari, Kwaku Baako Jr., Madam Elizabeth Ohene, Haruna Atta, Ambassador Gina Blay, Kwasi Biney and a host of them and you will understand what I am writing about.

Those who are sitting on television and radio stations, swaggering and basking in borrowed cloths are not journalists but clowns, jesters and tricksters who are out there to tarnish the hard-won reputations of people for monetary consideration. They are simply engaged in Galamsey in the media. In fact, they do not have honour nor recognition in relevant quarters.

Today, journalism has been caught in the grip of charlatans who strut the media landscape with impunity. Compare them to the Wagner Mercenaries fighting in Ukraine and you will not be far from right. They are romantic mercenaries of Eros who think money and the good things in life are what are required to make a journalist respected and acceptable in society.

Engage them in any intellectual discourse and you will see that they are empty, if not good for nothing. They are hirelings whose stock in trade is insults and boisterous polemics. They spew out nothing but rubbish. They should be thankful to former President Kufuor and his then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo Addo for repealing the Criminal Libel Law from our status books. A lot of them would have been in jail by now for defaming innocent people. Let them ask Kwaku Baako and Haruna Atta who spent some time in prison for their alleged libelous publications when Rawlings was in power and the CLL was in full operation. Dr. Obed Asamoah, who undoubtedly crafted the Criminal Libel Law had told Ghanaians that the CLL will be repealed over his dead body. He did not take it lightly because the Ghanaians journalists pent-up desire for freedom of speech to air their views was burning like wild fire.

Those of us who wrote extensively against the pronouncement of the good old lawyer and former Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the (P)NDC did not envisage that a time will come when verbal terrorists with unbridled mouths will take the center stage and disturb our peace. Today, some of us regret championing the cause for the repeal of the CLL.

If you listen to Presenters like Omanhene Kwabena Asante, Kwame Sefa Kayi, Randy Abbey, Paul Adom Okyere and a few others on air and you compare them to certain rubble-rousers who parade as journalists and presenters, you will realize that there is a vast difference between the two groups.

Take for example the following reckless journalism portrayed by this braggart called Captain Smart who is actually not smart enough.

Three ladies were kidnapped and killed in Takoradi and the nation was traumatized. As we were grieving, another lady got missing and it was presumed that she was also kidnapped.

The lady later immerged from her hiding place and said she was pregnant when she was kidnapped and that the pregnancy had aborted. Thorough investigation by the police and other security agencies indicated that the lady feigned everything that she said.

The Western Regional Minister was briefed and the gentleman came out to tell the world what the real story was. Captain Smart became peeved, went on air and with the fury of a wounded lion, told Ghanaians that he knew the lady, her husband and even her family and that the lady was actually pregnant and that she was kidnapped. He ungentlemanly said the Regional Minister was foolishly acting like a politician from the Northern Region. May be John Mahama, his paymaster comes from Cape Coast, where the whiteman first pitched his camp. Think about this absolute balderdash! As if politicians from the Northern Region are worthless and dunderheads. And we had some people, particularly NDC MPs from the Northern Region clapping for him for making that stupid comment!

The Lady later confessed that indeed, she feigned everything and she was arranged before court. Instead of apologizing and begging Ghanaians for misleading the public, he treated the issue with contempt and continues to swagger on air. He deleted shamelessness from his lexicon and thought Ghanaians will soon forget about his goof.

Do you think the said fine journalists I mentioned above will ever stoop so low? You see, good journalists lay much premium on truth and accuracy because if you go wayward like the way Captain Smart did, you lose respect, dignity and trust. Even when you tell the truth another day, people take it with a pinch of salt.

It is only those who follow their stomach that do such things. To them money is everything. Poor souls! They don't think about the future of their children who will one day grow up to hear the mess that their fathers caused and live with the fear that the sins of their fathers will visit them.

In fact, these irresponsible journalists cannot distinguish between being popular and being notorious. When people clap for them, they think they are popular. They cannot withstand the test of time. Good journalists in Ghana have been awakened to danger and called to defend themselves.

I am a self-appointed defender of journalism and I am on the prowl for those who intend to destroy this noble profession. If any irresponsible journalist thinks I cannot bite, he or she should look at my teeth. Excuse me while I refill my Parker fountain pen with Lion Ink, made in United Kingdom where the Queen's language is spoken!

Eric Bawah
Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East, Titus Glover has called on Gabby Otchere-Darko to slow down on his many tweets on pertinent issues.

The appeal comes after tweets from Gabby Otchere-Darko provoked former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to describe him as disturbance.

Sharing his thoughts, Titus Glover has admitted that the tweets of Gabby Otchere-Darko make him uncomfortable.

According to him, the banter between the member of the ruling NPP government and the Chief Justice must be stopped immediately.

I am not comfortable with the tweets of Gabby. The banter between Gabby and the former Chief Justice, for me, is equally not good. The words that she used, you could see that she was provoked because she sees herself as she has seen it all looking at her age.

I will appeal to Gabby to slow down on these tweets, if possible to take himself out of these tweets all the time because he is making people more angry, he is making people more uncomfortable, Titus Glover shared in an interview on TV3.

The former Tema East MP added, Just as he has the choice to tweet, somebody also has the choice to respond but the banter that is going on is not comfortable to us. There is a situation on hand, how do we deal with it.

On Tuesday, the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo stressed that she doesnt have time to engage in verbal banter with Gabby Otchere-Darko.

Last Friday, the former Chief Justice joined members of the Pensioners Bondholders Forum to protest at the Minister of Finance to demand the exclusion of pensioners from the governments Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

In a series of posts, a cousin of President Akufo-Addo Gabby Otchere-Darko criticised Sophia Akuffo for joining the protest, insisting that the former Chief Justice erred.

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!

For a former CJ 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 Otchere-Darko said in his tweets.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday when she joined the protest again, Sophia Akuffo described Gabby Otchere-Darko as a disturbance.

According to her, she wont allow people like Gabby to decide for her.

Is he a member of the government? He doesnt decide for me what I need to do and what I do not need to do. It is as simple as that. I dont have time for things like that, people like that are not important to me or to my life. He is a disturbance, the former Chief Justice stressed.
Disrespect for the law, his kin, other people's opinions, and, somehow, common sense were viewed as a man's fatal flaw in classical myth!

Nothing forbids officeholders from being proud of their workit's a sign of respect! However, if such pride is not exhibited properly, it might result in terrible embarrassment and disrespect. This is exactly how the Greeks see hubris, or excessive pride, to begin with.

For instance, Aristotle, in Rhetoric (Book II, Part 2), believed that "under hubris falls disrespect, and to show disrespect is to slight." Slighting is any discourteous act or deal that could drive the doer to incur shame. Sometimes, zealously young and rich people in politics are inclined to act disrespectfully, and by so doing, they commit hubris.

There is little doubt that Ofori Atta's infamous handling of the country's fiscal and monetary policies, as well as the unending drumbeat of fear and panic that accompanied the government's domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP), which it inflicted upon all vulnerable pensioners, exemplified modern-day disrespect and hubris.

Our beloved republic has undoubtedly fallen into a bottomless debt pit as a result of the government's big talks, overhyped ambition, and inflated self-love, as well as the finance minister's "own views, own values, own explanations, and own understanding of figures and things," rather than respect for alternate proposals and wise counsel.

Now the chickens have come home to roost. Just yesterday, Ghanaian media outlets were flooded with information from the government indicating it has achieved over 80 percent subscription in terms of the DDEP it has introduced because it cant fulfill the settlements for the balloon debts it has visited on its citizens. This emerged following the governments announcement on December 5, 2022, to launch a DDEP for all eligible bondholders, as it urged all investors, including vulnerable retirees, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding by a disclosed date, despite the latters petition through several days of demonstration.

Isnt it depressing that, today, Ghana, the once-upon-a-time prudent country that kept control of its public finances while other governments were losing their heads, now gasps for an IMF bailout because it has justly earned a spot among the 39 highly indebted nations on the IMF list due to its overweening disre spect , diarrheal borrowing, and poor management?

In spite of this, government officials continue to portray themselves as saints; they see no wrong with the haircut deal known as the DDEP and the real threat it poses to pensioner bondholders if the government includes them, even in flagrant violation of UNDPs goal in terms of social protection . Isn't it essential that the government focus on its fragile pension system rather than taking actions that appear to upset low-income pension contributors?

Being a "third generation" Ghanaian, I do have natural pride in my motherland. But with every passing day, my pride in the country is dwindling owing to the numerous misleading actions and policies the government has adopted in disguise of steering the country toward economic development.

Sadly, I believe that the younger generation should be concerned because this disrespectful inclusion of our grandfathers and grandparents in DDEP is bound to ruin the traditional educational system in our country.

In general, the inclusion of retirees in the DDEP has threatened Ghanaians' point of view on indigenous knowledge custodianship and transmission! And no one should be unaware of the fact that Ghanaian society relies on the elders, including retirees, to teach the young how to survive and live a moral life.

Indeed, in the framework of African traditional education, elders serve as teachers within the family and are crucial in the organization and transmission of knowledge. Therefore, if their request were to be ignored, they would then become destitute, eventually live with avoidable stress, and then go into their early graves because their survival practically depends on their bond savings.

It is obvious that any attempt to take away the savings of the poor pensioners might result in undesirable early post-retirement stress, diseases, and possibly deaths among the pensioner population. When this happens, knowledge bankruptcy results because the transmission process is terminated or disrupted.

The civil struggle of the powerless pensioners is still ongoing, as they continue to picket the finance ministry to advance their cause. But it seems the powerful are determined to have their way. Where is the humanity and truth if a pension scheme that aims to help the poor fails to do so because it is run by the non-poor, who are politically more powerful?

So, for the poor pensioners to get their relief, detachment from reality and overweening disrespect for discerning calls cant be someone elses monopoly. Im confident time will give the true verdict!

Komla Lokoe

[email protected]

columnist
The Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation has donated 4,800 NaCCA approved Science Textbooks and Workbooks to twenty (20) deprived basic schools in the Asante Akyem South District of the Ashanti Region.

The books which were distributed on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 are estimated to have cost the foundation GH200,000

The Head of Stakeholder Relations for Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, Mr Kwabena Owusu Ababio during the presentation said the beneficiary basic schools were selected from the district through the foundations consultation with the Ashanti Regional Directorate of Ghana Education Service (GES).

Mr Ababio disclosed that the 20 basic schools were drawn from five circuit areas.

The five (5) circuits namely Komeso, Odubi, Banso and Dwenedwenese had villages such as Apagya, Asempanaye, Kwakukrom, Danyameso, Obrokro, Amanfrom, Amoakrom, Tokwai Asuboi and others benefitting from the donation.

He explained that the gesture was one of the many interventions by the foundation in over eight regions across the country.

"This is the second phase of the donation of Prof Quarms NaCCA approved Science Textbooks and Workbooks to deprived basic schools in the Ashanti region in the last six (6) months. In August 2022, the Foundation made a similar donation to deprived schools in Akrofrom District of Ashanti Region, which is in line with its goal of promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) interest from the basic level of education in Ghana," he stated.

The District Education Director for Asante Akyem South, Miss Elizabeth Davis who received the books on behalf of the schools commended the foundation for the gesture.

She emphasized that the books will enhance teaching and learning in the district.

She pledged the Directorate's commitment to ensuring that the teachers will take care of the books to serve the schools for a long period of time.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, has announced her decision to resign after eight years leading the devolved government in Edinburgh.

Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday confirmed her surprise resignation, announcing that an election would take place to replace her as Scottish National Party (SNP) leader.

Having ruled out resignation less than a month ago, Sturgeon told reporters on Wednesday: "In my head and in my heart I know that that time has now come.

"This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment," Sturgeon said in a hastily arranged press conference, insisting her departure was "not a reaction to short-term pressures".

"I know it may seem sudden, but I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity, for some weeks."

Sturgeon, who is now 52 years old, was in power for almost a decade. During that time, she pushed for Scottish independence and opposed Brexit.

She became Scotland's first female leader when she took power in 2014, opening a period of unprecedented electoral success for the SNP.

London refuses second vote

Sturgeon took over in the aftermath an independecnce poll, which saw Scots reject breaking away from the rest of the UK by more than 10 percentage points. Ever since, she has doggedly campaigned for another vote.

The UK government has refused to allow another vote.

In 2021, the SNP won a fourth consecutive term in power in Edinburgh on a platform of holding a fresh poll, collecting the largest share of the popular vote.

But the fell one short of an outright majority in the Edinburgh assembly, and allied with the Greens to stay in power.

Sudden change of heart

Since 2021, the push for independence has stalled, with a flurry of recent opinion polls showing declining support in Scotland for breaking away.

Some critics have blamed Sturgeon for failing to deliver a winning strategy on the issue after the Supreme Court in November sided with the UK government in blocking a fresh vote.

She has also faced a backlash over her support for transgender rights, after becoming embroiled in a row over whether transgender women can be housed in all-female prisons.

As recently as last month she was insisting she would remain in the role, saying she was "nowhere near" ready to quit after Jacinda Ardern's shock departure as New Zealand prime minister.
"The President requested his UAE counterpart to review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians intending to travel to the UAE."

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.

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.
French unions are geared up for a fifth day of strikes on Thursday against President Emmanuel Macron's overhaul of the pensions system, which is being debated in parliament.

Demonstrations are planned throughout France, but the day is expected to be less disruptive than previous strikes this year, with schools largely unaffected and the Paris metro running normally.

A strike by railway workers will disrupt TGV and regional train services, while air traffic will be hit at airports in Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier and Nantes. Thirty percent of flights are expected to be cancelled at Paris's Orly airport.

Meanwhile workers in the oil, electricity and gas sector are also being urged to town tools. With petrol stocks full, companies say no shortages are expected at services stations.

Bigger strikes to come

Philippe Martinez, head of the hardline CGT union, told BFMTV that stronger, bigger and more numerous renewable strikes would happen if the government did not pay attention to demands.

Trade unions have already united in a cross-sector call to bring the country to a standstill on 7 March, with media reports saying unions understood that lost salary from strike days would affect the movement.

Protest numbers dipped in the third day of action earlier this month before picking up again last Saturday when families and students joined hundreds of street rallies in cities and towns across the nation.

Unions said more than 2.5 million protesters had turned out to keep up pressure on the government over its unpopular move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The Interior Ministry put that figure at 963,000, but admitted that protest numbers had grown.

Macron put raising the retirement age and encouraging the French to work more at the heart of his re-election campaign last year, but polls suggest that two-thirds of people are against the changes.

A cross-union petition against the reform project had amassed more than a million signatures on Wednesday less than a week after it was launched.
Out of the 547,329 registered Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates, 538,399 candidates qualified to be placed in the various Senior High Schools across the country, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has said.

According to the GES, a total of 372,780, representing 69.24 per cent of the qualified students, have automatically been placed in one of their choices.

However, 165, 619 qualified candidates representing 30.76 per cent, could not be matched with any of their choices. All such students are, therefore, to do SelfPlacement to select from available schools.

Also, per the 2023 academic calendar, the first-year students are to report to school on February 20, 2023.

So, from February 20, 2023, students can report to the schools for registration and possible orientation for academic work to commence on February 27, 2023, the GES noted in a statement.

Read details of statement below:

Press Conference on the Release of Computerized School Placements 2023 by GES and TVET Service on Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Good morning members of the press, and colleague Directors and staff herein present. I welcome you all to this joint press briefing by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the TVET Service. We are profoundly grateful to you for honouring this invitation, even at very short notice. We invited you here to brief you on the Computerized School Placement of candidates that completed in 2022.

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) released the BECE results on January 25, 2023. As has been the norm, the Service took delivery of the results data and began preparing for the Placement.

STATISTICS

Out of the 547,329 registered candidates, 538,399 candidates qualified to be placed. A total of 372,780, representing 69.24 percent (69.24%) of the qualified students, have automatically been placed in one of their choices.

However, 165, 619 qualified candidates representing 30.76 percent, could not be matched with any of their choices. All such students are, therefore, to do SelfPlacement to select from available schools.

STEPS TO ACCESS THE PLACEMENT PLATFORM

To access the placement platform, candidates are to follow the steps below:

Obtain a placement pin code from an approved vendor.

After obtaining a pin code, log onto the site www.cssps.gov.gh

Enter the ten-digit index number and add 22 as the year of completion. E.g., 123456789022

Enter the pin code details (serial number and pin)

Click on submit and wait for Placement to show up

Print the form if you have been placed and visit the school to begin the admission process.

SELF-PLACEMENT MODULE

If candidates are not matched with any of their choices from the automatic placement system, they will be redirected to the Self-Placement Portal. From the portal, select a school by providing the information below:

Region

Residential preference

School

Programme of choice

Click on Submit

Print the form and visit the school to begin the admission process

Note: Schools Selected on Self-Placement Portal can be changed as many times as the candidate wishes on the portal until they enroll in a school.

REPORTING DATE

Per the 2023 Academic Calendar, the first-year students are to report to school on February 20, 2023. So, from February 20, 2023, students can report to the schools for registration and possible orientation for academic work to commence on February 27, 2023.

PAYMENT OF MONIES

We strongly caution parents and guardians to be on the alert for unscrupulous individuals who may approach them to pay any amount of money for their wards Placement. Such persons are to be immediately reported to the Police or GES.

SCHOOL PROSPECTUS

We are also advising the heads of all the schools to stick to the approved prospectus. On the other hand, we also urge parents to cooperate with the school authorities during and after the admission process.

GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISMS

Solution centres have been set up at all the Regional Education offices. At the National level, the solution centre will be set up at the GNAT Hall, Adabraka.

The GES call centre has been set up with well-trained staff to address your concerns.

The call centre number is 030 2987654

Our social media handles are also available for individuals to report any grievances. Our staff will respond as soon as practicable.

On this note, may I take the opportunity to announce that the 2023 Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) for Senior High Schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Schools (TVETS) site will be going live any moment from now.

Thank you for coming.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana is to maintain its current residential status until the final determination of a case before court.

This is according to an order from the Commercial Division of the High Court in Accra.

The status quo of the residential status of all continuing students of Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana should be maintained as it used to be before the 26th October 2022 decision was taken, the order from the High Court stated.

This Order is to last until the final determination of the case. I order accordingly, it added.

Eight residents of the Commonwealth Hall, filed an application for interlocutory injunction on 16 January 2023, to prevent authorities of the hall from implementing their policy to allow only level 100 students of the university to be residents of the hall.

Per the decision taken by the university new residential policy, continuing students are supposed to occupy other halls apart from the Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah halls to make way for first year and graduate students.

However, this order from the court means the decision cannot be implemented.

Meanwhile, the Police on 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 were 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, the law enforcement agency said.

Security has since been deepened on the campus for academic activities to continue without any hindrance.

The Police has assured that all other persons involved in the disturbances will be arrested and brought to face justice.

The security personnel at the forecourt of the Commonwealth Hall prevented the aggrieved former occupants from entering into the hall.

The students, however, argued that they had secured an interlocutory injunction to reside in the hall.

Source: classfmonline.com
Maame Kwaaba Stephens, Brand Ambassador, National Blood Service, has described as unfortunate how many people continue to lose their lives due to shortage of blood in the country.

The Brand Ambassador, who is also the Director of Kaysens Group, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during a blood donation exercise at the Ga East Municipal Hospital (GEMH), organised by the Group to support the facility in boosting its blood bank to save lives.

She said :  I dont think anyone should lose his or her life if there is something you and I can do about it, so I felt that the Valentines Day is a good day to organise such an exercise for people to show their love by donating blood to the facility for it to be able to save many more lives.

 People should not only donate on Valentine's Day, we can show our love on any other day just to save lives, she added.

According to the Brand Ambassador, similar exercises would be done in schools and communities to help save lives.

Evelyn Anoff, Head of Quality and Safety Management Unit of GEMH, said the facility had experienced shortage of blood on several occasions and had to rely on neighbouring facilities for blood, adding that the exercise was the best initiative to stock the blood bank and to save many lives.

She said: Once we have all the blood we need, issues with blood will be minimised because we will not have to go all the way to Achimota, LEKMA , 37 Military Hospital or Korle-Bu for blood.

Dr. Roxana Polinicio-Segborwotso, Head of Clinical Services, GEMH, expressed worry that even though blood remained one of the main products that saved lives, it was not readily available and that the facility continued to experience constant shortage.

So, this exercise is really necessary because we want the community to know and accept the importance of donating blood to support the facility so that we can also save lives, she said.

The Hospital is expecting at least 100 units of blood to serve clients in critical condition.

Some staff at the Hospital also donated blood.

Dr. Elorm Adase, a staff, who donated, said he was motivated by the stress in search of blood to save lives.

GNA
Former President, John Dramani Mahama has tackled his successor, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in another post on social media.

This time around, he has accused the president and officials in government of being collaborators of corruption.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos administration is not only indifferent in the fight against corruption - they are collaborators, part of a post on the Twitter page of John Dramani Mahama said on Wednesday, February 15

His comments come after the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame sent a letter to the Auditor General directing him to pull down the publication of the report of its audit in the Covid-19 expenditure of government.

According to ex-president John Dramani Mahama, the move is only meant to gag the auditor general and create the atmosphere for corruption.

The Attorney General's letter to the Auditor General is clearly meant to silence him and create a conducive atmosphere for corruption to thrive, Mahama alleged in his Twitter post.

In the defense of the Attorney General, he argues that the publication of the report by the Auditor General was premature.

In his letter, the Attorney General makes the case that the Auditor General should have waited for Parliament to deliberate on the issues before the publication was done.
Torrential rains have wreaked havoc at Kwameseikrom, a farming community in the Jaman South Municipality of the Bono region, rendering scores of residents homeless.

The downpour, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered, started in the community around 1700 hours on Monday, February 12, and caused extensive damage to personal belongings and property.

More than 16 houses, including school and church buildings, were badly affected by the rains, which ripped-off roofing and uprooted some trees in the community.

No casualty was reported and some of the affected residents were currently perching with relatives and friends.

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister and some key staff of the Jaman South Municipal Assembly, including officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation, had since visited and consoled the affected people.

She advised the people to have comfort in God, and appealed to wealthy citizens in the area as well as philanthropic organisations, individuals and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the people.

Mad Owusu Banahene urged the residents to plant more trees to serve as windbreaks and asked them to desist from putting structures in waterways.

The Regional Minister entreated potential developers in the area to engage architects whenever they intended to build houses or structures not to put up buildings at wind paths.

GNA
The convener of the #FixTheCountry campaign and leading member of the Arise Ghana Pressure Group, Oliver Barker Vormawor has clashed with Dr. Adu Annane Antwi, the convener of the Pensioner Bondholders at the Finance Ministry.

In a tweet on February 14, the activist called for about 50 Ghanaian youths to go along with him and help amplify the demands of the pensioner bondholders.

"I need 50 people to join me show up for the pensioners tomorrow. Who is with me?" read his tweet.

During the eighth day of picketing by the pensioners at the Ministry of Finance, Oliver Vormawor actually showed up with a section of the Arise Ghana members.

While the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta was addressing the crowd and expressing disappointment after the assurances, the pensioners continue to picket.

Mr Vormawor then raised the issue of the mistrust of citizens in the government about the domestic debt exchange programme and the economic crisis facing the country.

Outraged by the question, the minister asked, "Are you a pensioner?"

The confrontation compelled Dr. Adu Annane to ask Mr. Vormawor to step aside indicating that he is not a member of the group and for that matter should allow the minister to address them.

"Please, sir, you are not part of us," he pointed out to the activist.
Dr Mrs Anita Owusu-Afriyie a medical officer in the Oncology Unit of the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) has described cervical cancer as the major killer of Ghanaian women we, therefore, need to upscale preventive measures to reduce the mortality rate.

She revealed that it remains the leading cause of cancer mortality among women, and globally it is the third most common cancer that affects women. We need a concerted effort, increased public awareness, change of lifestyle, and regular screening.

Dr Owusu-Afriyie stated at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Offices initiative: Your Health! Our Concern! platform at Tema.

Your Health! Our Concern! is a public health advocacy platform initiated by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.

Speaking on the topic: Some cancers and how to prevent them, Dr Owusu-Afriyie cautioned the young ones from becoming sexually active at an early age, which she said exposes females to a high risk of contracting cervical cancer.

The high risk of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection that is persistent and ultimately leads to cervical cancer is higher in people who became sexually active before age 18 and in those who have had multiple sexual partners, she said.

Dr Mrs Owusu-Afriyie said multiple sexual factors contributed to the risk factors of being diagnosed with cervical cancer because the transmission was through sexual intercourse.

She also revealed that people, especially women who do not take good care of the female reproductive organ also were at high risk of contracting the disease.

On cervical cancer symptoms, Dr Mrs Owusu-Afriyie mentioned a brownish blood-like discharge from the reproductive organ which was very offensive due to the position of the cervix, bleeding after sex, and pain after sex.

She explained that having early menarche and late menopause meant that one would be having a longer period of menstruation adding that periods were based on oestrogen one of the main female sex hormones.

In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, oestrogen affects the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain.

She stated that the oestrogens proliferate with cells such as fat cells to promote the growth of cancers and their spread.

On measures to reduce the risk associated with cervical cancer, Dr Mrs Owusu-Afriyie added that breastfeeding helps in reducing the risk, indicating that when the baby is breastfeeding, the oestrogen level goes down giving the mother some form of protection.

She advised women to undertake regular breast screening to aid early detection and treatment, stressing however that after doing a self-examination, one must visit the hospital for a clinical examination to help pick up any lump that might not be traced through the self-examination.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager, Ghana News Agency said information was key concerning the health status of citizens in the country saying the Your Health! Our Concern platform would seek to propagate health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy in the country.

We must all be concerned about the health of some other person in order to develop a healthy society, he said.

Mr Ameyibor said GNA-Tema Regional Office has, therefore, created Your Health! Our Concern as a weekly health dialogue platform to serve as an effective communication channel for health professionals to educate the public on healthy practices and other general health challenges.

-CDA Consult II Contributor
The Secretary of the Fulani Youth Association at Mamme Krobo in the Kwahu Afram Plains District of the Eastern Region has called on Ghanaians to call out herdsmen who commit crimes by their names and not by their tribe, Fulani.

"Henceforth the name of every herdsman who commits a crime must be mentioned and not his tribe," he said.

Mr Issah Abdul Samed argued that every herdsman operating in the district has a name but quite often the tribe Fulani is used to lump all of them together to paint the bad picture that all Fulanis are criminals.

He noted that this action is putting the people of the Fulani tribe in a bad light leading to communal confrontations in many of the areas with Fulani people.

The Secretary of the Fulani Youth Association made this comment in an interview on Accra 100.5FMs 6 a.m. news on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, after some reprisal attacks on Fulanis in the Maame Krobo area last week.

According to him, two Fulani men have been killed and one beheaded as a result of reprisal attacks.

He explained that the one who was beheaded had his chamber and hall he built for rent torched by some irate youth in the area after the incident of some youth attacking the cattle of a gentleman who subsequently reported the issue to the police.

He said oftentimes, when a few rascals in the herding space commit a crime, all Fulanis doing their lawful duties get blamed for the crime of a few.

He said this situation is worrying and is further destroying the relationship between the people of the Fulani communities and their host.

He added that the matter of the rift between the indigenes and Fulanis have been reported to the District Chief Executive and District Director of the National Bureau of Investigations (NIB) but has yielded no results.

According to him, Fulanis are well-meaning people who have the development of the country at heart.

For his part, the Fulani chief of Afram Plains, Alhaji Iddrisa Sambo, said Fulanis are people of repute adding that Fulanis are living in the country doing lawful business.

He expressed worry that stereotyping is destroying the image of Fulanis in the country.

Source: Classfmonline.com
A political science lecturer at the University of Cape Coast has minced no words to say the European training of the cousin of the president and founder of the policy think tank Danquah Institute (DI) is fast affecting his Ghanaian values.

According to the lecturer, in Ghana, "we dont speak ill of older women irrespective of their status in the society."

Mr Jonathan Asante Okyere explained that the training Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko had in Europe is making it difficult for him to accept Ghanaian values.

He said Mr Otchere-Darko is not alone in that cultural conflict but the president himself as well as his executive secretary, Nana Asante Beduato, have the same challenge.

He cited when President Nana Akufo-Addo made unwelcomed comments in response to a chief in the Volta Region complaining about how an E-block built by the previous government in his area had been abandoned by the current government.

"This buttresses the point that the training of these men does not agree with Ghanaian values," Mr Asante Okyere said.

He stressed that Gabbys training in Europe has shrouded his Ghanaian values when it comes to addressing the elderly in the country.

Mr Asante Okyere assigned this reason for the behaviour of Mr Gabby Otchere-Darko while reacting to the brouhaha that has reared its ugly head between Mr Otchere-Darko and the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo on the evening news on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

Ms Akuffo returned fire to Mr Otchere-Darko over his criticism of her decision to join demonstrators at the Ministry of Finance over the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.

According to her He [Gabby] doesnt decide for me what I need to do and what I dont need to do, I dont have time for things like that.

"People like that are not important to me or my life, and he is a disturbance, that is all that I need to say to that.

Mr. Otchere-Darko on Sunday criticised Justice Sophia Akuffo for joining pensioner bondholders to picket to demand the total exclusion of their funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

In a tweet, Mr Otchere-Darko said, Why to picket over an offer that you have the liberty not to accept?

"She erred big time in her basic appreciation of the issues.

According to Gabby, while he sympathises with those picketing, he finds it difficult to understand why they are asking to be exempted from an improved offer programme which is voluntary.

But in a response, Ms Akuffo who returned on Tuesday to join the picketers described Mr Otchere-Darko as a disturbance and further added that his views are not important to her.

She threatened to sue the government if their pension funds are included in the DDEP

Source: Classfmonline.com
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday pledged his readiness to continue to showcase Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the presidential flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking in Owerri at a meeting with members of the Imo State Traditional Council, the President

said he had already followed Tinubu to some states, including Nasarawa, Katsina and Sokoto and was prepared to showcase the candidate in more places.

He noted that he came to present Tinubu to the traditional council and indigenes of the state.

The Council at the meeting honoured President Buhari with a traditional title, "Nwanne D'namba", A Brother in Diaspora.

The President thanked Eze Imo, His Royal Majesty, Eze Dr Emmanuel Chukwuagina Okeke, for the recognition, assuring that he will continue to demonstrate his love for the South East and citizens.

He said: "I thank you so much for this honour that I will continue to remember for the rest of my life. Thank you for getting all the senior citizens to receive us.

"We have experienced difficult times as a country and discovered that it is better to carry on together".

President Buhari noted the value of shared national vision that enhances cohesion, urging more harmony across state and national levels as "good neighbours".

The President urged Nigerians to remain good neighbours and show themselves as good neighbours.

"God has brought us here, and the party also brought us to you".

Also speaking, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, said the honour was well deserved considering the historical impact of President Buhari's administration on infrastructure in the state, with upgrade of higher institutions, road constructions and appointments in key positions.

According to him, the inauguration of the MCC road in the central city by the President further revealed the penchant for approving projects that will improve the livelihood of the people.

"Words are not enough to show our appreciation to the President," he said.

The Governor noted that crude oil theft in the state had been halted by creation of a naval base by President Buhari, and more security structures had been put in place for wellbeing of the people.

"To further show love by our people on Valentine's Day, our people have agreed to support our presidential candidate and other APC candidates in the polls.

"Traditional rulers are not partisan, and they have told me in confidence that they will support our party because of love for President Buhari," the Governor added.

In his remarks, the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu thanked the Imo Traditional Council for the recognition on Valentine's Day.

"I pay respect to all the traditional rulers that have received us at the palace. I present myself as the most capable and competent person to step into the shoes of the man you have just honoured.

"I want to be, and deserve to be the President and I will follow the footsteps of President Buhari when elected, not if elected.

"I will consolidate on our unity, development and camaraderie. It is only in peace that we can develop.

"You mentioned upgrading of educational institutions. Education is the greatest weapon we can deploy against poverty. We are here today because of the benefit of education," the presidential candidate said.

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On his part, Chairman of the Imo State Traditional Council, Eze Imo, His Royal Majesty, Eze Dr Emmanuel Chukwuagina Okeke, appreciated the Nigerian leader for love shown to the South East, and sustained legacy of promoting peace and harmony in the country.

He said giving the President the friendship title on Valentine's Day reflects a new level of relationship inspired by President Buhari's integrity, magnanimity and charity.

He thanked the President for elevating educational and health infrastructure in the state, like upgrading Alvan Ikoku College of Education to a university and the Federal Medical Centre in Owerri to a teaching hospital.

"Coincidentally today is Valentine's Day and it is a day to show love all over the world. The President is not only here to commission a project and attend a campaign rally, but to share his love with us," Eze Imo said.
There were some controversies at the Ministry of Finance during the eighth day of picketing by the Pensioner Bondholders Forum.

The convener of the #FixTheCountry campaign and leading member of the Arise Ghana Pressure Group, Oliver Barker Vormawor, was at odds with the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, while he was addressing the picketing group.

At a point in the ministers address to the crowd, he expressed disappointment about why, despite the assurances, the pensioners could still picket and even invited an intruder, Mr. Vormawor Barker.

Oliver raised the issue of the mistrust of citizens in the government about the domestic debt exchange programme and the economic crisis facing the country.

Outraged by the comment, the minister asked, "Are you a pensioner?"

This prompted the convenor of the group Dr. Adu Annane to point at Mr. Vormawor indicating that he is not a member of the picketers and therefore should allow the minister to address them.

"Please, sir, you are not part of us," he pointed out to the activist.

Mr Vormawor was there to throw his weight behind the retirees' demands to get their bonds totally exempted from the programme.

Prior to the picketing, he in a tweet on Tuesday, February 14, called for about 50 Arise Ghana members to escort him and help amplify the demands of the pensioner bondholders.

"I need 50 people to join me show up for the pensioners tomorrow. Who is with me?" read his tweet.
A certified Ghanaian economist, Bernard Oduro Takyi, has opined on the cause of Ghanas increasing economic crisis.

He noted that the entire cabinet has been overshadowed by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, whose decisions have been mostly disastrous.

He claimed the minister doesnt heed the suggestions from the cabinet and has always been taking unilateral decisions.

"The cabinet of every government is the think tank. But the danger is when a certain minister is more powerful than the cabinet. If your calf is larger than your thigh, then you are not well.

"So, if you have a finance minister who is more powerful than the cabinet, then you are heading for trouble. Because now the reality is that if the entire cabinet decides to go left, the finance minister goes right," states Mr. Oduro Takyi.

The economic expert further alleged that the Finance Minister is currently the most powerful member of the Nana Akufo-Addo-led administration who cannot be touched.

To him, the embattled minister is still holding on to his post amidst the public calls for his dismissal due to his strong ties with the President.

Ken is more powerful than every person under this government; he is more powerful than everybody. Will he still be in government if he is not powerful? This government is sick; it has a finance minister more powerful than the entire government machinery," he said in an interview on Accra-based Onua TV.
Fire has gutted several structures close to the Timber Market at Old Fadama popularly called Sodom and Gomorrah in the Amamomo Electoral Area of the Greater Accra Region.

While properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis have been lost to the fire, hundreds of residents have also been rendered homeless.

Firefighters are currently at the fire scene to douse the fire.

An eyewitness who narrated the incident to Citi News Fred Duhoe, said, in this place, we know that some people use electric stoves, while others use charcoal for cooking forgetting that we are close to the Timber Market. When the fire personnel came, it was difficult for them to quench the fire though they tried their best. As of now, everywhere is burnt. The people living here are about 360 to 380.

By Citi Newsroom
A group calling itself Project 24 and sympathetic to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has argued in favour of the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, claiming that it will be difficult for the party to craft a message for the 2024 general elections.

According to the group, Mr Kyerematen saying: 'We are in hard times', is something every truthful person can attest to.

The group in a statement said Mr Kyerematens assertion that the government has worked so well but due to the external crises affecting the economy, what they have done is not being reflected truly to the Ghanaian people and that is gradually making it difficult to craft a political message ahead of the 2024 elections is a true reflection of the situation, especially in the face of the opposition's strategy to make things look worse.

The group noted that Mr Kyerematens statement is a clarion call to all noble NPP members to rally around the party and sell the good works we have done to the Ghanaian people instead of allowing the opposition and the way things look to take control of the narrative.

Read details of the full statement:

Recently, Alan Kyerematen has come under fire for claiming that the current NPP government has failed.

This is after statements made by Alan whilst addressing a meeting of Chiefs and Elders at the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Council during his campaign tour.

Alan said, We are in hard times, something every truthful person can attest to. He also went ahead to say that We have worked but because of the challenging times we are in, it is becoming difficult for us the NPP to craft a message for the 2024 elections.

These two statements have been heavily taken out of context to mean the failure of the current government and this piece clearly outlines why all the noise has been nothing but baseless propaganda.

1. On the 15th of July 2022, the website of the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana published an article titled Ghanas Economy will emerge stronger  VP Bawumia, in which it was stated that according to H.E. The Vice President, the twin external factors of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine has made a lot of countries go to the IMF and has exposed the need for the Ghanaian government to exercise greater fiscal discipline. What the article established, is a strong admission that the Ghanaian economy is going through a turbulent period hence the proclamation that projects its stronger emergence.

2. The Presidency, the Ministry of Finance, and other leading members of the government, on numerous occasions, have in no uncertain terms admitted to the difficult economic times we find ourselves in as a Nation and in all these public admissions, no one, absolutely no one, has made a fuss about their statements or said they have undermined the NPP or disgraced the government or claimed the government has failed.

3. Alan Kyerematen, a man who has been at the heart of the country's structural economic progress and a leading member of the NPP since its foundation in 1992, publicly re-echoes what all leading members of government and the party admit to, and suddenly the weapons of war are set on his porch. This indeed is embarrassing even for the standards of worthy opposition.

4. There is a problem when the truth becomes unpleasant only when it is heard from the mouth of a particular person. It indicates not a genuine dislike for what was said but rather an unfounded dislike for the person that said it.

5. Alan Kyerematen, being one of the most experienced politicians of his era, and the most decorated politician in the NPP flagbearership race, has had a long-standing reputation for sound policy proposition, patriotism, clarity in communication and extreme relatability towards the plight of the everyday Ghanaian, it is very absurd to even fathom that he will let his guard down to such low extents.

6. For a man without political blemish like Alan Kyerematen, their only method is to resort to such baseless, inconsistent, and unfounded logic of critique. For there is nothing concrete to work with as propaganda against Alan. The only thing worse than propaganda in politics is manufactured propaganda and that is what we are seeing.

7. If for any reason you doubt Alans intentions behind these statements, ask yourself this, Why will Alan even Say the Government Has Failed?

a. Alan said the government has worked so well but due to the external crises affecting our economy, what we have done is not being reflected truly to the Ghanaian people and that is gradually making it difficult to craft a political message ahead of the 2024 elections.

Beyond this statement being a true reflection of the situation, especially in the face of the opposition's strategy to make things look worse, it is a clarion call to all noble NPP members to rally around our party and sell the good works we have done to the Ghanaian people instead of allowing the opposition and the way things look to take control of the narrative. And in the wisdom of Alan, just like all great politicians born to lead, the first step in doing that is admitting that despite our economy not being where it ought to be, our work has been outstanding.

That is a strong defense of our party, not a betrayal of the same. b. Alan is making a political bid to lead the NPP, and he will never make an utterance that even implies the failure of an existing NPP government. Alan is relying on his political experience to justify his bid for flagbearership and subsequently presidency.

With the most recent 6 years of that rich political experience coming from this current government, it is illogical to assume that Alan will condemn the government.

It opens himself up given the impeccable role he played in the government for 6 years.

It must also be put on the record that Alan has been the most industrious trade minister this country has ever seen as evidenced by his role in the realization of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the establishment of over 290 factories across the country.

This is simply epic.

c. Finally, if the claim is that Alans admission of the countrys economic challenges betrays the NPP and the government, then everyone who has made such admissions including the leadership of the NPP and all the leading members of the government has betrayed the party too.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Attorney General Godfred Dame has responded to Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) after the civil society organization questioned the basis of his letter to the Auditor-General calling for the report on the Covid-19 expenditure to be unpublished.

Mr Dame said that he has the legal power to advise a member of the public service commission including the Auditor-General.

Mr Dame stated that it is astonishing that CDD-Ghana disputes the propriety of the Attorney-General rendering legal advice to the Auditor-General, and construes same as an interference with the independence of the auditor general.

A proper reading of the Constitution, especially the provisions on the Public Services of Ghana, leads to the inescapable conclusion that the Attorney-General is fully vested with the constitutional function of giving legal advice to all the Public Services specifically listed in Article 190(1) of the Constitution, including the Audit Service, and such other public services as will be established by law, he said.

He added that Article 295 indicates that the public services listed in article 190 and other public services established by Parliament pursuant to its legislative powers, are part of the civil offices of Government.

In the face of the explicit constitutional mandate of the Attorney-General under article 88 of the Constitution as principal legal adviser to the Government, it is incomprehensible and rather illogical how an assertion may be made that the Attorney-General has no capacity to render legal advice to the Auditor-General.

Such an assertion can only be as a result of a simplistic and limited view of relevant provisions of the Constitution of Ghana, he said.

Below is his full statement to the CDD Ghana

RE: CDD-GHANA statement titled The Akuffo Addo Government must cease its continuous assault on the Office of the Auditor-General

The attention of the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice has been drawn to a press statement issued by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) dated February 10, 2023, and entitled The Akuffo Addo (sic) Government must cease its continuous assault on the Office of the Auditor-General. In the said press statement, CDD-Ghana takes issue with an opinion by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice regarding the publication on the website of the Auditor Service of an audit into the Government's Covid-19 transactions before the said audit report has been debated by Parliament and referred to an appropriate committee of Parliament in accordance with article 187(6) of the Constitution.

In addition to various wrong propositions of law, CDD-Ghana characterises the opinion of the Attorney-General as part of a domineering superior posture that the Akuffo-Addo (sic) administration has adopted in dealing with the constitutionally independent office of the Auditor-General. CDD-Ghana perceives the Attorney-General's letter as an effort to undermine the independence of the office of the Auditor-General and other independent constitutional bodies. Quite bizarrely and in tune with the fundamentally incorrect constitutional theories bandied about by CDD-Ghana, a Vice-chair of the Board of CDD-Ghana stated on a radio programme, Newsfile on Joy FM, that, the Auditor-General is not part of the Audit Service of Ghana but a separate creation.

The Attorney-General considers it imperative to correct the palpable errors contained in and implied by the press release of CDD-Ghana, as same distort the relationship between the Attorney-General and the Auditor-General in the constitutional architecture of the Republic and have far-reaching implications for Ghana's record in rooting out corruption.

Contrary to the strange view of CDD-Ghana, the letter and spirit of laws governing the work of the Auditor-General make him part of the Audit Service of Ghana and, therefore, a regular member of the public services of Ghana to whom the Attorney-General can give advice pursuant to his mandate under article 88 of the Constitution. Article 189(2) of the Constitution provides a clue when it stipulates thus The appointment of officers and other employees in the Audit Service, other than the Auditor-General, shall be made by the Audit Service Board, acting in consultation with the Public Services Commission . This provision deals with the appointment of officers and all employees in the Audit Service, including the Auditor-General, and clearly provides that, with the exception of the Auditor-General, all have to be appointed by the Audit Service Board acting in consultation with the Public Services Commission . With the clear cue provided by Article 189(2), a contention that the Auditor-General is not part of the Audit Service or a member of the Public Services is pointless and absurd.

2. Section 2 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584) lays the issue to rest when it lists the Auditor-General as the first member of the Audit Service in these terms: The members of the Audit Service are (a) the Auditor-General, and (b) the other persons employed in the Service.

It is thus clear that the propositions of CDD-Ghana and its board members can only result from an inadequate reading of the laws of Ghana, including the Constitution and the Audit Service Act.

Can the Attorney-General advise a member of the Public Services of Ghana, including the Auditor-General?

3. It is astonishing that CDD-Ghana disputes the propriety of the Attorney-General rendering legal advice to the Auditor-General, and construes same as an interference with the independence of the Auditor-General. A proper reading of the Constitution, especially the provisions on the Public Services of Ghana, leads to the inescapable conclusion that the Attorney-General is fully vested with the constitutional function of giving legal advice to all the Public Services specifically listed in article 190(1) of the Constitution, including the Audit Service, and such other public services as will be established by law. Article 295 indicates that the public services listed in article 190 and other public services established by Parliament pursuant to its legislative powers, are part of the civil offices of Government. In the face of the explicit constitutional mandate of the Attorney-General under article 88 of the Constitution as principal legal adviser to the Government, it is incomprehensible and rather illogical how an assertion may be made that the Attorney-General has no capacity to render legal advice to the Auditor-General. Such an assertion can only be as a result of a simplistic and limited view of relevant provisions of the Constitution of Ghana.

Does rendering legal advice amount to interference with the independence of the Auditor-General?

READ ALSO: Ashaiman NDC aspirant dies weeks to parliamentary primary

4. It ought to be pointed out that the functional independence of the Auditor-General under Article 187(7)(a) of the Constitution does not confer immunity from legal advice. Legal advice to a constitutional body cannot under any circumstance be construed to amount to interference with the performance of its constitutional functions. A view to the contrary implies that an independent constitutional body has absolute freedom to act in any manner it desires, except when a court of law has ordered, even when its legal adviser (whether public or private) is of the opinion that its actions are in conflict with the law. This sounds like absurdity and is the product of unbridled sensationalism.

5. The imputation conveyed by the third paragraph of CDD-Ghana's press release that Parliament has no power to deliberate on findings contained in the Auditor-General's reports and that such an effort offends the general principle of auditing, does violence to the letter and spirit of Article 187(6) of the Constitution, which provides that Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint where necessary, in the public interest, a committee to deal with any matters arising from it. Implicit in the constitutional duty of Parliament to debate the Auditor-General's reports and appoint a committee to deal with any matters arising from it is the duty to deliberate and probe the reports. This constitutional function of Parliament cannot be wished away by a narrow, simplistic and erroneous reading of the Constitution by CDD-Ghana or any civil society organisation.

6. The Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice implores civil society organisations to carefully examine the position of Ghana law on a relevant matter before raising unjustified public alarm over a violation by the Attorney-General or any public institution at all. The default in doing so affects the image of the nation in the eyes of the international community, particularly its anti-corruption ratings.

-3news.com|Ghana
The government of Ghana has presented a total of Gh1,218,897 to the three victims who were injured in the infamous shooting incident at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

The three victims, Awal Mesbawu, 17, received Gh 678,519.00, Louis Ayikpa, 22, got Gh347,953.00 and Nazif Nuhu,31, was handed an amount of Gh192,425.00.

Presenting the cheques at a short event held at Ejura Palace on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Interior, Madam Adelaide Annor-Kumi who represented the Minister Hon Ambrose Dery said the three victims were compensated according to the degree of damage caused to them.

"We are very grateful to the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, the Ejurahene Barima Osei Hwedie II, the National Chief Imam and families of the victims for their contributions in ensuring that Ejura is living in absolute peace now.

"Government had to take time to dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure the victims were duly compensated, as part of the process, doctors met the injured victims to understand the extent of their injuries before finally handing over the checks to them.

"You all saw from the presentation that, Mr Mesbawu received the highest amount, this is because he lost one of his legs after the incident and he was the one to have suffered the most in the shooting incident," she stated.

Welcoming the governments delegation, the chief of Ejura Traditional Area Barima Osei Hwedie II commended the government for the intervention.

Barimah Osei Hwedie II whos the Head of Protocol at the Office of the Vice President commended the government for the tremendous support to the people of Ejura after the shooting incident that led to the death of two persons.

We the people of Ejura will continue to have faith in the leadership of this government because they have indeed proven to be trustworthy, he stated.

Background

Some youth of Ejura on Monday, June 28, 2021 took to the streets to protest against an alleged mob attack which led to the death of Ibrahim Mohamed Kaaka, a social media activist in the area.

The military men who were deployed to ensure security reportedly shot into a protesting crowd leaving two persons dead with four persons with gunshot wounds.

The two, Murtala Mohammed and Abdul Nasiru Usif tragically died.

Following the melee, a three-member committee of inquiry was set up by the Minister of Interior to probe the underlying issues.

After 22 witnesses, 555 pictures in soft copies, 117 video evidence, eight documentary evidence, two written statements and two physical evidence, the committee chaired by Appeals Court judge, Justice George Kingsley Koomson concluded its investigation on July 16, 2021.

The committee on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 presented its recommendations to Ambrose Dery, the Minister of Interior with a recommendation to compensate the victims.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has commissioned the first National Childrens Library and a Mobile Library filled with over 1000 books, with a renewed pledge by the Akufo-Addo government to continually work to close Ghana's current learning poverty gap and make her a "learning nation."

The two storey Library, constructed by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility plans, is the 115th Public Library in Ghana and the 13th in Greater Accra Region. It consists amongst others of an Early Childhood Section; a Childrens Library; a Play Room and an Indoor Playground; an Electronic Library; Books/Stationery and Gift Shops; Old and New Books Stores; Multipurpose Community Activity Meeting Hall as well as a First Aid Post.

The edifice will also serve as a model library, where training can be offered to libraries and schools. It is currently filled with 22,000 books, 50 computers, 24 tablets, and assistive devices for persons with sight and hearing challenges, according to officials of the Ghana Library Authority.

Speaking at the commissioning in Accra on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 Vice President Bawumia emphasized that if Ghana is to sustain growth in its economic performance, the need to build a literate society cannot be underestimated. Children in their formative years require consistent exposure to books to build and sustain interest in reading and also for knowledge, and Ghana cannot be a learning nation if it does not prioritise access to knowledge resources.

It is on this premise that the 2018-2030 Education Strategic Plan is anchored: on making Ghana a "learning nation". Ghana cannot be a learning nation if it does not prioritise access to knowledge resources through the public library system. Since 2017, the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's investment in the Ghana Library Authority has been visible all over the country, Vice President Bawumia underscored.

This support, Vice President Bawumia indicated, includes the provision, through GETFUND, of 20 new pickup vehicles for the Authority's operations, as well as revamping its mobile library services by fixing its vans to be motorable. Government has also increased the personnel of the Library Authority to 532.

Commending the Board, Management and Staff of the Ghana Library Authority for the strides chalked over the past six years, Dr Bawumia maintained that The ability of children to read and write by the age of ten is the surest way to close Ghana's current learning poverty gap. It is, therefore, exciting to witness the efforts of the Ghana Library Authority in revamping public libraries in the country and working to address the systemic challenges confronting the State in achieving those goals.

Libraries

The Executive Director of the Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, disclosed that over the past five years, Government has helped increase the number of public libraries from 61 in 2017 to 115 at the end of 2022. 48 out of the 61 libraries inherited in 2017 have received a facelift, creating a conducive environment for learners.

Government has also increased the number of books on the shelves of public libraries from 393,430 in 2016 to 1,281,839 at the end of 2022, a 325% increase in six years.

We have provided internet connections to 29 public libraries and some 688 computers to support computer literacy initiatives at 67 public libraries across the country.

Government has also invested in developing and rolling out the Digital Library App, currently managed by the Ghana Library Authority. The App, which is zero-rated by some of the telecommunication companies, allows every Ghanaian to have access to eBooks, videos, and audio resources. The government relied on GhLA during the COVID-19 school closure period to use this platform to assure learning continuity.

In a related development, Vice President Bawumia has handed over prizes to the winners of the Vacation Reading Challenge 2022 organized by the Ghana Library Authority in collaboration with Smartline Ltd. The prizes include laptops and books to the schools of the award winners.
ADF rebels on Wednesday killed five civilians in troubled Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of Ituri, local sources said.

The latest unrest stoked fears of disruption of a regional census due to be held Thursday across the country's east, plagued by years of violence from a plethora of rebel groups.

A nationwide process to confirm voters on electoral rolls began in the west in December with central and southeastern districts added to the census last month ahead of presidential polls slated for December 2023.

Thursday was due to see the enrolment extended to seven eastern and northeastern provinces but the ongoing violence could hamper the process.

Ituri is a volatile province where at least 20 civilians were killed in weekend militia attacks, according to the UN and local sources.

Since the end of last year, numerous attacks by militants in Ituri, some linked to jihadist insurgencies, have left several dozen dead nearly every week and left thousands of people displaced.

The neighbouring province of North Kivu has also suffered repeated attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which originates from Uganda and which the so-called Islamic State group claims as its central African affiliate.

"There was an incursion (Wednesday) by ADF rebels in the locality of Bukima. They killed five people -- a man, three women and a child," said civil society representative Faustin Brazza, who added two people were injured.

Babanilau Tchabi, the head of Brazza's village group, confirmed the tally and said the repeated attacks had seen the bulk of the area's residents leave the area fearing for their safety.

Tchabi said he hoped the joint efforts of Congolese and Ugandan forces to try to pacify the area would bring some respite and "reassure civilians" to allow the census to go ahead.

Brazza expressed doubts, asking: "How are people going to obtain their (voting) cards given this repeated insecurity?"
Expulsion of Chagos Islands' Indigenous People an Ongoing Colonial Crime

London  The forced displacement of the entire Chagossian people by the United Kingdom and United States governments and the UK's racial persecution, and continued blocking of their return home, are crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report and video released today. Both governments should provide full reparations to the Chagossian people, including their right to return to live in their homeland in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The 106-page report, "'That's When the Nightmare Started': UK and US Forced Displacement of the Chagossians and Ongoing Colonial Crimes," documents the treatment of the Chagossians, an Indigenous people whom the UK and US forced from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s so that a US military base could be built on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. The UK, with US support, has prevented the Chagossians from returning home. Even though the UK and Mauritius surprisingly announced negotiations on the future of Chagos in November 2022, there has been no clear commitment to meaningful consultation with the Chagossians and to guarantee their right to reparations, including their right to return, in any settlement.

"The UK is today committing an appalling colonial crime, treating all Chagossians as a people without rights," said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch and lead author of the report. "The UK and the US, who together expelled the Chagossians from their homes, should provide full reparations for the harm they have caused."

Human Rights Watch interviewed 57 people, including Chagossians and UK, US, and Mauritian officials, and reviewed numerous documents. Human Rights Watch identified three crimes against humanity against the Chagossian people: a continuing colonial crime of forced displacement; the prevention of their return home by the UK; and their persecution by the UK on the grounds of race and ethnicity.

The UK and US abandoned the expelled Chagossians in Mauritius or Seychelles, where they lived in abject poverty that triggered other rights abuses and discrimination. Chagossians interviewed said that some of those displaced, including children, died from the economic hardship and, they believe, from the emotional devastation, which they call chagrin, of being torn from their homeland. Many later moved to the UK after the government granted them citizenship. Those in the UK described various forms of discrimination, including in housing and work. Currently, thousands of Chagossians live around the world, most in Mauritius, the UK, and Seychelles.

The Chagossians are predominately descendants of enslaved people, forcibly taken to the then-uninhabited Chagos Islands under French and then British rule in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chagos was administered by the UK colonial administration as part of Mauritius. The Chagossians are a distinct people with their own Chagossian Creole language, music, and culture who have lived for several generations on the main Chagos Islands and atolls of Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and Salomon. They are an Indigenous people under African and international human rights standards, as Human Rights Watch sets out in the report.

The UK and US governments have treated Chagossians as a people without rights, cooperating to permanently displace them from their homeland without consultation or adequate compensation. In secret deals in the 1960s, both governments planned a military base on Diego Garcia island, which the US required to be devoid of inhabitants. Under the plan, the UK split Chagos from Mauritius and declared Chagos a new colony in 1965, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), now the UK's last colony in Africa.

Documents written at that time, made public in recent years and reviewed by Human Rights Watch, reveal that the decision to displace the entire population of Chagos, not just Diego Garcia, was made to avoid triggering a UK reporting obligation to the United Nations for the continued rule over a colony with a permanent population. UK officials admitted in documents to having lied in claiming that Chagos had no permanent inhabitants. In other documents from that period, senior British officials described the Chagossians as "Men Fridays ... whose origins are obscure," illustrating the systematic racism behind their treatment.

"Life was easy, it was like Paradise," said Louis Marcel Humbert, a Chagossian. "I was very sad when I realized we wouldn't be able to go back. We had left four brothers and a sister in Chagos. My mother cried and said to us, 'Now we will live a very different life.' And that's when the nightmare started."

The UK government has repeatedly refused to allow the Chagossians to return,citing vague concerns about security and cost.

The UK government has repeatedly acknowledged in the last 20 years that its treatment of the Chagossians was "shameful and wrong," [PDF] but these apologies have not led to concrete reparations. Years after forcing them from their homes, the UK paid, through the Mauritian government, a small amount of compensation to Chagossians in Mauritius, and decades later awarded citizenship to Chagossians, but has otherwise refused to address full reparations or consult with the Chagossian people. Chagossians expelled to Seychelles have, as a group, received nothing.

The UK and US governments should provide full reparations to the Chagossian people, Human Rights Watch said. The UK should provide restitution by immediately lifting the ban on Chagossians permanently returning to the Chagos Islands. The UK and the US should ensure financial and other support to restore the islands and enable the Chagossians to return and live and work in dignity.

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The UK and US should also provide financial compensation to all Chagossians, of every generation, for crimes committed against them and guarantee that similar crimes will not happen again. After meaningful consultations with the Chagossians, this could entail full apologies from the UK and US governments, including the UK head of state, the British monarch, acknowledging the extent and nature of the crimes.

The UK and US should publish all material concerning the treatment of the Chagossians. They should conduct effective investigations into these crimes that provide accountability for the individuals and state institutions most responsible.

The government of Mauritius should publicly commit to support the return to Chagos of all Chagossians, regardless of their nationality or current residence, and recognize them as an Indigenous people, Human Rights Watch said. Mauritius, the UK, and Seychelles should guarantee the rights and equality of Chagossians living in their territory, including ensuring full and equal citizenship and family reunification.

"The Chagossian story over the past 50 years is one of struggle and survival," Baldwin said. "The UK and US governments should right the wrongs against them starting with the political and financial commitment to return the Chagossians to their homeland with dignity."
February 15, 2023 After Ten Days Of Panicky Hype The Weather Balloon Nonsense Is Finally Buried Since February 4 I have dismissed the 'Chinese weather balloon' panic: The paranoid style applies to internal U.S. politics as well as to foreign policies against this or that favorite enemy of that time. It makes the story below, which otherwise is just laughable, somewhat dangerous. Furor Over Chinese Spy Balloon Leads to a Diplomatic Crisis

The Pentagon called the object, which has flown from Montana to Kansas, an intelligence gathering balloon. Beijing said it was used mainly for weather research and had strayed off course. As some 80+% of all Pentagon intelligence comes from open sources the 'intelligence gathering' statement may well include a weather research system. Weather research and weather prediction are important for all kinds of military operations. But they are also important for many civil operations from agriculture, food availability prediction to drainage planning in cities. I pointed out that this was by far not the first Chinese weather balloon that drifted in unexpected directions. That is normal. The winds at the level where such balloons fly are very strong. There is no real way to control their flight path. It soon became obvious that the balloon which was drifting over Alaska only crossed into the lower United States because a strong low pressure area over west Canada pushed it southward. Still, the media kept hyping the issue until the air force took the balloon down. Things got even worse when the air force in the aftermath started to shot down harmless small research balloons. Feb 4 - Blinken's Travel Canceling Adds To China Hate

Feb 6 - NYT Plants False Claims Over China's Balloon Communication

Feb 8 - China Rejects "Shoot First, Talk Later" Attitude

Feb 11 - Airforce Spent Millions To Shot Down A Failed U.S. Weather Balloon - Biden Is Happy It Did So Only now is the whole hype dying down helped by sudden explanations of the obvious. U.S. tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path - Washington Post By the time a Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace late last month, U.S. military and intelligence agencies had been tracking it for nearly a week, watching as it lifted off from its home base on Hainan Island near Chinas south coast.

...

The balloon floated over Alaskas Aleutian Islands thousands of miles away from Guam, then drifted over Canada, where it encountered strong winds that appear to have pushed the balloon south into the continental United States, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence. A U.S. fighter jet shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, a week after it crossed over Alaska. Yes, that is exactly, as I pointed out, what the low pressure area over west Canada did.

bigger Meanwhile, the White House on Tuesday said that three other objects shot down over North America in the last week may have posed no national security threat, striking perhaps the clearest distinction yet between those flying anomalies and the suspected spy balloon. John Kirby, the National Security Councils coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters that the U.S. intelligence community will not dismiss as a possibility that the three craft instead belonged to a commercial organization or research entity and were therefore benign. Oh well, you don't say so ... The Chinese had explained that their big weather balloon drifted towards North America only after unexpected strong 'westerlies' had pushed it off the expected course. The U.S. is now admitted that they were right. Around Jan. 24, when the balloon would have been roughly about 1,000 miles south of Japan, model simulations show it began to gain speed and rapidly veer north. This would have been in response to a strong cold front that had unleashed exceptionally frigid air over northern China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Ordinarily, atmospheric steering motions would have kept the balloon on much more of a west to east course, historical weather data shows. However, the intense cold front forced the jet stream and high altitude steering currents to dip south and may have scooped the balloon northward. Two cold fronts, one over north China and one over west Canada determined the course of the big balloon. This also dismisses the laughable Pentagon claims that the balloon had propellers and a rudder and was thereby steerable. There is nothing that solar driven propellers can do when a huge object like a 200 feet high ballon is drifting in 200 mph jetstream winds. The whole idea was obviously bonkers. The only way to somewhat steer a balloon is by raising or lowering its altitude until one finds an air current that blows it in the wished for direction. While this will work at an altitude of a few hundred feet there is no real chance to do that in the upper atmosphere. The three smaller weather or research balloons were only found drifting along after the air force turned down the filters of its radars. But those filters are there for good reasons. A lot of clutter, like a flock of birds, would otherwise come up as alarm. The U.S. National Weather Service says that it alone launches 75,000 balloons per year. It would be a ridiculous waste to send up fighter planes whenever such a balloon goes up. The larger Chinese weather balloon was also likely a legit one. Such bigger balloons are build to cross oceans and to measure the upper atmospheric conditions over long distances. That it was blown off course, twice, by unusual weather is a reasonable explanation. Worse than the Pentagon's lies and panic inducing claims over these issues are the writers and 'journalists' who fall for such hype. That the U.S. used this 'accidental conflict' with China to call off the planned Blinken visit to Beijing only shows that it its efforts to engage China are not serious. Posted by b on February 15, 2023 at 12:05 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Chinas anti-graft campaign has lessons for SA

14:02, February 15, 2023 By Paul Tembe ( People's Daily Online

There is much to admire and learn from the unparalleled potency of Chinas anti-corruption campaign. It is unequalled by any country in numbers and speed.

The political resolve to take out tigers, swat flies and hunt down foxes stems from a simple realisation. As Chinese President Xi Jinping said in 2014 to justify this campaign: What the people feel most resentful is corruption, so we must resolutely fight corruption. The inference here is obvious.

Failure to fight corruption has the effect of delegitimising the peoples support for those entrusted, in public and private sectors, with protecting public resources. Success in dealing decisively with the corrupt contributes to generating public confidence in elected leaders.

In meting out appropriate punishment for the corrupt, the CPC has not been shy in varying sentences from harsh to harshest so that the message is driven home to realise the strategic goal of not daring to, not being able to and not wanting to be corrupt.

This uncompromising stance is underlined in China since corruption robs institutions of resources that could be better used to deliver common goods.

Corruption can be likened to a malign pandemic, present around the globe, which stifles economic growth, exacerbates inequality and hampers the pursuit of social justice. This explains why China was one of the first group of countries to sign and formalise the Charter of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

While China prioritises actions first and rhetoric second in its anti-graft campaign, there is similarly existential urgency for law enforcement authorities in South Africa to act and deliver on prosecuting and imprisoning those proven to be corrupt. The very survival of the democratic project hinges on this to avoid the country descending into anarchy, lawlessness and becoming a failed state.

In fact, the anti-corruption campaign was the first thing to be emphasised, continuously so, in the reform and opening up period.

The CPCs Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has been adequately resourced with a zero-tolerance attitude. This was achieved through a centralised, unified, authoritative and efficient oversight system with complete coverage. In the process, they have combined law-based punishment, institutional checks, and education to make (their) anti-corruption governance more effective.

Again, this uncompromising zero tolerance is based on the logic that corruption robs people of their bottom-line livelihoods. Lessons for South Africa are patent.

First, executive leadership should be seen to punish the corrupt decisively without fear or favour so that the investment in the Zondo Commission can have a meaningful return.

Second, state institutions in charge of law enforcement should be adequately resourced, like the defunct Scorpions.

Third, public patience for acts of corruption is not unlimited.

Fourth, political parties should not be shy of expelling immediately those found by the courts to be guilty of corruption.

About the author: Paul Tembe is a sinologist and founder of SELE Encounters.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Wu Chengliang)
FAMILY and friends have described the late national hero Cde Christopher Mushohwe as a nationalist, Pan Africanist, unifier and an education advocate for the nation.

The death of national hero Dr Christopher Mushowe has left the family poorer as well as the nation for losing a man who spearheaded higher education for underprivileged students across the country.

Relatives described his demise as a huge loss considering the role he played in encouraging education pursuit.

Zanu PF delegation led by Secretary for Administration Cde Obert Mpofu visited the Mushohwe family home to pay their condolences.

"We are here to pay our condolences following the death of our colleague, nationalist and Pan Africanist. He was a kind person, an academic. He educated most people in the country. He was selfless and wanted to see an empowered Zimbabwe," he said.

Cde Mpofu was accompanied by National Political Commissar Cde Mike Bimha, Elders Council chairman Cde Sydney Sekeramai, Secretary for External Affairs Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Secretary for War Veterans Cde Douglas Mahiya, Chitepo School of Ideology principal Cde Munyaradzi Machacha, Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Tino Machakaire, Deputy Secretary for Security Cde Tendai Chirau, Women's League Political Commissar Cde Maybe Mbowa and the League's Secretary for Finance Cde Tsitsi Mugabe, Zanu PF director general Cde Dickson Dzora and party directors.
February 15, 2023 The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Tuesday, February 15, 2022 After the 2014 coup in Kiev the dully elected President Yanukovich had fled the country. His supporters in parliament were afraid and would no show up for further assemblies. The incoming U.S. selected government immediately set out to suppress the Russian speaking parts of Ukraine. The first move of the rump parliament, now dominated by right-wing people from west Ukraine, was to prohibit the Russian language for official business. The ethnic Russian population in the east and southeast was opposed to the coup and rebelled against it. The new government tried to oppress it by military means. But a lot of soldiers defected to the rebels and soon those won the upper hand. The Ukrainian government troops were decisively defeated, twice. Each time the French, German, Russian and Ukrainian governments set down to come to agreements on how to proceed: The first, known as the Minsk Protocol, was drafted in 2014 by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with mediation by the leaders of France and Germany in the so-called Normandy Format. After extensive talks in Minsk, Belarus, the agreement was signed on 5 September 2014 by representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group and, without recognition of their status, by the then-leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). This agreement followed multiple previous attempts to stop the fighting in the region and aimed to implement an immediate ceasefire. The agreement failed to stop fighting, and was thus followed with a revised and updated agreement, Minsk II, which was signed on 12 February 2015. This agreement consisted of a package of measures, including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. While fighting subsided following the agreement's signing, it never ended completely, and the agreement's provisions were never fully implemented. The Minsk II agreement, a "Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements", was endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2205. It is available here. The package includes clearly numbered tasks. An immediate ceasefire is task 1. The 'Launch of a dialogue' about legislation measures the Ukrainian parliament would have to take to recognize a special status for Donbas is step 4. Step 9 is the reinstatement of full control of the state border by the government. These clearly defined steps later proved to be the reason why the agreement was never fully implemented. The government of Ukraine insisted that step 9 should be taken before step 4. The governments of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics insisted on the original sequencing as giving up any control over the boarder with Russia, and the supplies coming through it, would have taken away their ability to defend themselves before the other steps, specifically the recognition of the special status of the Donbas republics, had been taken. Over the years several summits were held to push for a fulfillment of the Minsk agreements. But the government of Ukraine, with 'western' support, continued to block the process. On Tuesday, February 15 2022, following talks with the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Vladimir Putin ordered some troops who had been stationed near the border with Ukraine to move back to their barracks. France 24 listed other headlines of the day: Blinken speaks to FRANCE 24: The Ukrainian crisis has 'reinforced transatlantic solidarity'

NATO chief says 'cautious optimism' over Ukraine crisis

Ukraine crisis: Blinken says risk of Russian invasion high

Should I stay or should I go? Ukrainians remain resolute despite a war of nerves

Scholz welcomes Russian withdrawal of some troops from near Ukraine

Putin, Scholz begin talks in Moscow over Ukraine security

Russia says some troops return to base, Ukraine reacts cautiously

Markets calmer after Zelensky's invasion joke spooks investors France 24, and many other 'western' media, missed something important that was happening in Russia: Russia's parliament will vote on Tuesday to decide whether to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognise two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, the speaker of the Duma lower house said.

...

The idea of asking Putin to recognise the breakaway territories was first floated by lawmakers on Jan. 19 but has taken weeks to get onto parliament's agenda, with the Kremlin declining to comment on whether it likes the idea. In late January 2022 the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) had analyzed the idea: On January 19, 11 members of the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, registered a draft law to recognize the independence of two separatist statelets in eastern Ukraine that have been warring with Kyiv since 2014 with substantial but undeclared support from Moscow. The document, which was put forward by members of the Communist Party, comes amid rising tensions along Ukraines border and in occupied Crimea, as Russia continues its buildup of military forces while demanding that the collective West agree to proposals to reshape the European security order to its liking. This is not the first time that Russian parliamentarians have sought to provide official recognition to the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics (abbreviated as the DPR and LPR, respectively). In 2014, deputies from the party launched an abortive campaign to collect signatures in support of recognizing the territories independence, which would have been delivered to President Putin for consideration. Meanwhile, the Just Russia party called for recognizing the statelets independence that same year and has included it in subsequent party platforms. This was not the idea of the major government supporting United Russia party, but of the parliamentarian opposition. Putin had rejected the 2014 attempt towards independence as he did want to keep the Donbas republics within Ukraine. CSIS writes that an eventual recognition of the independence of Donbas was seen by its supporters as a step that might help to avoid a war: The approach suggested by the Communists offers certain advantages to Russia. First, with negotiations on Russias security demands stalled, extending official recognition to the LPR and DPR could give Putin a relatively simple way to shift the status quo in Russias favor without (necessarily) involving the 127,000-strong Russian forces currently encircling Ukraine. The chairman of the State Dumas committee dealing with relations in neighboring states has already indicated that recognizing the statelets independence could be part of Russias plan B in case talks fail. If Russia would want to allow more time for negotiations to play out, while also escalating pressure to compel the West to accept at least some of its core positions, then recognition of the statelets could be considered in the Kremlin as an appropriate next step. Should Ukraine and the West make substantial concessions at that stage, then Putin would be able to proclaim a victory in the current standoff and draw down his forces rather than risk a spiraling escalation with unpredictable outcomes. During its February 15 session the Duma adopted the resolution: Russia's lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognise two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and the European Union told Moscow not to follow through. The move by the State Duma, if approved, could further inflame a wider standoff over a Russian military build-up near Ukraine that has fuelled Western fears that Moscow could attack. Russia denies any invasion plans and has accused the West of hysteria. Recognition of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics could kill the Minsk peace process in eastern Ukraine, where a conflict in the region known as Donbass between government forces and Moscow-backed separatists has cost 15,000 lives. "Kyiv is not observing the Minsk agreements. Our citizens and compatriots who live in Donbass need our help and support," Vyacheslav Volodin, the State Duma speaker, wrote on social media.

...

At a news conference in Moscow, Putin declined to be drawn out on how he plans to respond. He said Russians were sympathetic to the residents of the Donbass region, but he wanted the regions' problems to be resolved through the Minsk accords.

...

Four-way peace talks between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany were held last week but ended without a breakthrough. After the talks, Ukraine said it would not yield to pressure from Moscow to negotiate directly with the separatists, while Russia accused Kyiv of putting forward absurd proposals. The OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in southeast-Ukraine reported of February 15 that the number of ceasefire violations continued to be below average. The number of explosions, i.e. artillery impacts, was higher than average but mostly limited to one area where they hit on both sides of the ceasefire line: In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 24 ceasefire violations, including five explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 17 ceasefire violations in the region. In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 129 ceasefire violations, including 71 explosions.

...

The majority of ceasefire violations occurred in areas close to the disengagement area near Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk) (see below). In the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded 157 ceasefire violations in the region, some of which also occurred near the disengagement area near Zolote.

...

During the reporting period, the SMM camera in Zolote recorded four projectiles in flight, while Mission patrols heard 61 undetermined explosions and 37 bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire, assessed as outside the disengagement area near Zolote but within 5km of its periphery.

bigger Posted by b on February 15, 2023 at 14:45 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
The Federal Government has stated that it will take decision on the legality of the old currency notes of N200, N500 and N1000 after the determination of the suit filed by some state governments at the nation's apex court.

Three states, Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara had dragged the federal government to the Supreme Court asking that the February 10 deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, should be extended.

The court had fixed February 15 to detetmine the suit.

However, it was reported that the CBN has insisted that the February 10 deadline is sacrosanct.

Some Nigerians have accused the Federal Government and the CBN of contempt of court and insensitive to the hardship many Nigerians are passing through as a result of the scarcity of cash.

But the Federal Government last night said that decision will only be taken after the determination of the suit in the Supreme Court.

When contacted to comment on the position of government, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu said:

"We wish to state that it is not true that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN have taken a preemptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

"The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up tomorrow. Garba Shehu."
PUBLIC NOTICE

The Town of Ashland City will hold a Special Called

City Council Meeting AND Public Hearing on Tuesday,

February 21, 2023, at 6:00 P.M. to discuss the following:

*Ordinance: Budget Amendment #1 for FY 22/23

*Ordinance: Amending the Charter to add City

Administrator

The public is invited to attend and comment. For

additional details on how to sign up to speak during the

public forum please visit www.ashlandcitytn.gov.

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PUBLIC NOTICE

The Town of Ashland City will donate an estimated

$250.00 in equipment use for an event on March 10, 2023.

The donation will be for the Quintenn Clark Foundation.

All required documentation will be on file at City Hall.

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PUBLIC NOTICE

AGENDA FOR FEBRUARY 27, 2023

As Advertised in Newspaper of Local Distribution

The Cheatham County Commission will meet on February 27, 2023 at 6:00

p.m. in the General Sessions Courtroom in Ashland City, TN. The following

items will be heard:

Agenda Items to be heard:

1. Amend the Zoning Resolution of Cheatham County by adding

Commercial Campgrounds and RV Parks as a Permitted Use to Section

7.050, 1., B.

2. Joey Locker requesting a Zone Change from Agriculture to CMUPUD for

Map 74, Parcel 8.02, Map 75, Parcel 15 and Map 75, Parcel 16. Property

is located on River Rd., in the 5th Voting District and is in a Special Flood

Hazard Area.

FRANKLIN WILKINSON, DIRECTOR

CHEATHAM COUNTY BUILDING DEPARTMENT

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SPECIAL CALLED MEETING CHEATHAM COUNTY

PLANNING COMMISSION FOR MARCH 2, 2023

The Cheatham County Planning Commission will hold a Special Called

Meeting for Discussion of the Subdivision Regulations on March 2, 2023

at 5:00 p.m. in the Cheatham County Court House on the 2nd floor in the

General Sessions Courtroom in Ashland City, TN.

CHEATHAM COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION

MEETING AGENDA FOR MARCH 2, 2023

The Cheatham County Planning Commission will meet on March 2, 2023

at 6:00 p.m. in the Cheatham County Court House on the 2nd floor in the

General Sessions Courtroom in Ashland City, TN.

Agenda Items to be heard:

1. Rockwell Properties requesting Final Plat approval for Map 66, Parcel 98.

Property is located at 816 Gibbs Rd., in the 5th Voting District and is not

in a Special Flood Hazard Area.

2. Mark Yarbrough requesting Final Plat approval for Map 49, Parcel 45 and

Map 49, Parcel 47.01. Property is located on Highway 12 North, in the

4th Voting District and is not in a Special Flood Hazard Area. (deferred

from February 2, 2023)

3. Jason Cannon requesting Preliminary Plat approval for Map 48, Parcel

10. Property is located on Chapmansboro Rd., in the 4th Voting District

and is in a Special Flood Hazard Area.

4. 3 Star Properties requesting Site Plan approval for a storage building on

Map 023, Parcel 83.04. Property is located at 5551 HWT 41-A, in the 2nd

Voting District and is not in a Special Flood Hazard Area.

5. Discussion of Cheatham County Zoning Resolution Section 5.150

Development Standards for accessory dwelling units (Mother-In-Law

Apartments).

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Town of Coopertown

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Coopertown Board of Mayor & Aldermen will meet

Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 6:00pm at City Hall.

Old Business: None. New Business: 1. Amend Budget

FY 2022-2023, First Reading, Ordinance 2023-003. 2.

Amend Zoning Ordinance to adopt new State legislation

requiring public land dedications and reservations, First

Reading, Ordinance 2022-019. 3. Adopt Regulations

Governing Short-Term Rentals, First Reading, Ordinance

2023-001. 4. Review of the 21-22 Audited Financials by

Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Smith. 5. Resolution to

Allocate ARP Funds, Resolution 2023-001. 6. Resolution

for Off-Site Storage of Documents, Resolution 2023-002.

7. Resolution to Replace Resolution 2021-004 to Allow

Employees Post-Employment Benefits, Resolution

2023-003. 8. Resolution to Modify Town and Employee

Medical Insurance Cost Division, Resolution 2023-004.

Visit www.coopertowntn.org for meeting agenda

updates. Coopertown is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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PUBLIC NOTICE

KINGSTON SPRINGS

The Beer Board of the Town of Kingston Springs, Tennessee

will meet Thursday, March 16, 2023. at 7:00

p.m. in the Audrey Beck Meeting Hall, 420 North Main

Street, Kingston Springs, TN 37082.

The Board will address the following:

Special Event Beer Permit Application  request by

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville for an event

at The Golf Club of Tennessee  1000 Golf Club Drive,

Kingston Springs, TN. 37082

The public is invited to attend.

John Lawless

City Manager, Town of Kingston Springs

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CHEATHAM COUNTY BOARD

OF ZONING APPEALS

MEETING AGENDA FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2023

The Cheatham County Board of Zoning Appeals will

meet on February 28, 2023 at 6:00pm in the General

Sessions Courtroom on the 2nd floor of the Cheatham

County Court House, Ashland City, TN.

Agenda Item to be heard:

1. Nubia Santos requesting a front setback variance of

thirty-two (32) feet from the required fifty (50) feet

in an Agriculture zoning district per the Cheatham

County Zoning Resolution, Appendix A, Table II,

based on an exceptionally steep lot for Map 64,

Parcel 1.02. Property is located on Simmons Rd., in

the 1st Voting District, and is not in a Special Flood

Hazard Area.

2. Justin and Kristy Stace requesting a front setback

variance of eight (8) feet from the required fifty

(50) feet in an Agriculture zoning district per the

Cheatham County Zoning Resolution, Section

6.041, 3., B., and Appendix A, Table II, to place and

accessory structure in the front yard based on an irregularly

shaped and exceptionally steep lot for Map

89, Parcel 7.01. Property is located on Leatherwood

Rd., in the 6th Voting District and is not in a Special

Flood Hazard Area.

FRANKLIN WILKINSON, DIRECTOR

CHEATHAM COUNTY BUILDING DEPARTMENT

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Town of Pleasant View

PUBLIC NOTICE

Municipal Planning Commission Notice

The Planning Commission for the Town of Pleasant View

will be meeting February 28, 2023 at 6:00PM

The meeting will be held at Pleasant View City Hall.

Located at 1008 Civic Ct.in Pleasant View.

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Adoption of Jesse Drive and Winding Way in Walnut

Grove Subdivision.

B. Request from Planning Commission for traffic study

from Hicks Edgen Road to Kimberly Lane.

Scott Morrissey, Building Commissioner

Insertion Date: February 14, 2023

www.townofpleasantview.com

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From left, Saipan Chamber of Commerce President Joe Guerrero, Guam Chamber of Commerce Board Director Siska Hutapea, GCOC President Catherine Castro, SCC Executive Director Kim Camacho, and SCC Board Director Alex Sablan at the Guam Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook 2023 in Westin Resort Guam on Jan. 12, 2023.
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.
Bohdan "Fritz," the deputy commander of a unit with the 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires a rocket-propelled grenade toward Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Feb. 14, 2023.
Cape Town  A human rights group has accused the British government of lying, and the British and American governments of committing "crimes against humanity" in the process of establishing a strategically important U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The accusations, made in a 106-page report issued on Wednesday (February 15, 2023) by the New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, arise from the forced expulsion, in the 1960s and 1970s, of the residents of the Chagos archipelago.

The release of the report comes as the British government is attempting to negotiate a settlement with Mauritius over the future of the islands after losing two court cases in international tribunals over the legality of their occupation.

When Mauritius, a British colony, was negotiating its independence in the 1960s, Britain separated the archipelago from the country, declared it as a new colony  the British Indian Ocean Territory  and leased the biggest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States. The American air and naval base now there plays a key role in military operations not only in the Indian Ocean but in the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, That's When the Nightmare Started': UK and US Forced Displacement of the Chagossians and Ongoing Colonial Crimes, is based on interviews with a range of international experts, with Chagossians in Mauritius, the Seychelles and Britain, and on an examination of documents and court records.

Most Chagossians are the descendants of enslaved people transported from Mozambique and Madagascar by French and British colonial forces, beginning in the 18th century.

The HRW report highlights British government records from the 1960s, including one which said "the primary objective in acquiring these islands... was to ensure that Her Majesty's Government had full title to, and control over, these islands so that they could be used for the construction of defence facilities without hindrance or political agitation....

"These islands were... chosen not only for their strategic location but also because they had, for all practical purposes, no permanent population. It was implied in this objective, and recognised at the time, that we could not accept the principles governing our otherwise universal behaviour in our dependent territories, e.g. we could not accept that the interests of the inhabitants were paramount and that we should develop self-government there."

The report adds that Britain misled the United Nations by lying about whether the islanders lived there permanently, thus dodging their responsibility under the UN Charter to respect the principle of "equal rights and self-determination of peoples".

The report said: "In a minute sent on November 8, 1965 from the UK Foreign Office to the UK Mission to the UN, the Foreign Office claimed that 'the islands chosen have virtually no permanent inhabitants.' ... At this time, the UK ambassador to the UN asked that the phrase 'virtually' be removed... because if Chagos had any population, the UK would be accused of failing to carry out its obligations under the UN Charter to this population. The word 'virtually' was removed."

Human Rights Watch added: "For 50 years, state authorities of the UK and US governments deliberately forced all Chagossians to leave their homeland, resulting in a wide range of human rights violations, including the prevention of their return. Human Rights Watch believes these abuses amount to crimes against humanity that continue to the present.

"These crimes are both widespread, affecting the entire population of Chagossians, and systematic, being the result of deliberate state policy by both countries, originating at the highest levels. Both countries continue to hide their reasons for the displacement of Chagossians and the prevention of their return, for which there is no lawful justification."

HRW said apart from the crimes under international humanitarian law of forced displacement and preventing people from returning home, Britain has persecuted the Chagossians over their race and ethnicity. Here the report compared the plight of the Chagossians unfavourably with the treatment of the Falkland Islanders and Cypriots under British rule.

"The UK and its officials have primary responsibility for the crimes committed against the Chagossians," the report says. "U.S. officials also bear responsibility for instigating and implementing the forced displacement and assisting and supporting the ensuing crimes against Chagossians that amount to crimes against humanity.

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"The report urges the UK government to ensure the Chagossians can return to their homes, including Diego Garcia, and to provide reparations for the harm they have suffered. It calls on the U.S. government also to provide reparations, and on both governments to apologise for the treatment of the Chagossians.

Human Rights Watch is also challenging Mauritius to ensure that Chagossians can return to the islands.

The Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, told an online seminar in 2020 that Mauritius had "no objection whatsoever to the U.S. base in Diego Garcia. ... The importance of the base cannot be underestimated."

He added that Mauritius would insist on a right of return for Chagossians  except to Diego Garcia. However, his government wanted Mauritians, including Chagossians, to be permitted to seek employment on Diego Garcia.
United Nations (UN) experts have warned President Emmerson Mnangagwa against signing the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill into law saying it will infringe the fundamentals of human rights.

By enacting this legislation, authorities would close an already shrinking civic space, according to the experts, which will likely be detrimental to the nation's engagement and re-engagement efforts.

In a statement the international body expressed concern that the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill provides for disproportionate and discretionary powers to the newly established Office of the Registrar of PVOs, without independence from the executive branch.

The senate, last week, passed the bill and the legislation is currently before Mnangagwa, awaiting his assent to become a law.

Some of the concerns raised by the UN experts include the power by the government to cancel operational licenses of PVOs already operating.

According to the bill, some of the statutes will include the Registrar's Office powers to consider, grant or reject the registration of PVOs, with little to no judicial recourse against such decisions.

"The bill's 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."

UN experts raised additional concerns about the prohibition of any "political affiliation" and unjustified restrictions on PVOs' ability to obtain funding, including foreign funds.

According to UN experts, 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 urged Mnangagwa to turn down the bill.

"It is not too late for the President to change course," the experts said, while urging Mnangagwa 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.

Mnangagwa, according to the UN experts, should consider calls by the Civil Society Organisations who have strongly opposed its statutes.

Human rights defenders, some politicians and many CSOs warned of impending attacks on democracy advocates owing to the PVO bill.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Chairperson, Peter Mutasa chastised sentiments by the country's Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi who regarded PVO's as snakes and enemies.

"Your Senators regard some PVOs as snakes and enemies that must be crushed. This is sad and retrogressive. We are back to the colonial rule book where organizations fighting for freedom and Justice are banned and their leaders and activists jailed. Zimbabwe needs freedom," Mutasa said.

Independent Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa said the PVO bill was shrouded with obscurity.

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"The PVO Bill suffers from an acute lack of clarity which makes it amenable to obtuse and biased interpretations. In our political environment we understand how the law has become a weapon in itself," Mliswa said.

"A vague law is even worse as it can be abused more. This is not the first time this piece of legislation has come around. It was brought to Mugabe in the 2005s and he refused to assent to it.

"Mugabe felt the NGO Bill was 'too obnoxious' and would portray the government in bad light in the eyes of the international community," added Mliswa.

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.
Yves here. As youll see, authors Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen justify their use of apocalypse to describe the environmental disaster we have brought upon ourselves by using the Bible to identify typologies of political and cultural power.

By KLG, who has held research and academic positions in three US medical schools since 1995 and is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Associate Dean. He has performed and directed research on protein structure, function, and evolution; cell adhesion and motility; the mechanism of viral fusion proteins; and assembly of the vertebrate heart. He has served on national review panels of both public and private funding agencies, and his research and that of his students has been funded by the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and National Institutes of Health.

Wes Jackson (b. 1936) has been on the right side of history for a long time. A plant geneticist, he gave up a life in academia to found The Land Institute in 1976 on the Smoky Hill River in Salina, Kansas. Since then, he and his colleagues at The Land have been working:

for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. Achieving this future requires reconciling the human economy with natures economy, and we believe focusing on food and how we produce it is a transformative first step. In this future, agriculture regenerates the soil, water, and air upon which all life depends. The agriculture we seek equitably provides for human needs within ecological limits over the long term and is stewarded by communities of people living in just relationship with each other and the ecosphere.

Jackson has written several books that have made an impact on my thinking about our place in the world (1), and his work dovetails neatly with that of the farmer, poet, creator of Port William (2), and moral philosopher (whether he admits this or not) Wendell Berry, who is his friend and colleague. Along with Robert Jensen, professor emeritus in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas, Jackson has written a book that describes where we are and how we got here: An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity (2022). I have been reading this literature for a long time, at least since The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry was published in 1977. Much of this work is very good, but in my experience little of it comes from the perspective of a scientist and agricultural revolutionary who appreciates so fully the folly that is industrial agriculture. Like American democracy, industrial agriculture is a category mistake. If we are to have a human future, this is one mistake among many others that must be rectified.

An Inconvenient Apocalypse is a bold statement, but Jackson & Jensen (J&J) present a reasonable general summary of the challenges we face in achieving social justice and ecological sustainability. And the problems we face are the results of multiple cascading crises instead of a series of discrete problems that can be solved in isolation, including:

The decline of key natural resources and an emerging global resource crisis, especially in water

The collapse of ecosystems that support (all) life on Earth and the mass extinction of species

Human population growth and demand beyond the carrying capacity the Earth

Anthropogenic global warming, sea level rise, climate instability

Universal pollution of the Earth, especially with forever chemicals

Rising food insecurity and failing nutritional quality

Nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction

Pandemics of new and untreatable disease

The advent of powerful, uncontrolled new technologies

National and global failure to understand and act preventively on these risks

There is nothing surprising in this list, and the implications of each are clear. If we are to deal with these problems, we must transcend the growth economy that seems essential but is just another fateful category mistake in a finite world with a finite ecosphere. This is nothing new. Herman Daly (1938-2022) wrote about this for more than 50 years but was ignored by the establishment for virtually all of that time (3). His Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development (1996) and For the Common Good written with John B. Cobb, Jr. are indispensable for an understanding of sustainability, what it is and more importantly what it is not (virtue signaling, for example).

But who is this we and what is the apocalypse and what is the nature of the thing to be saved. We is all of us, the entire human population, every human being who has ever lived. J&J quote Utah Phillips: The Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.

Yes, they do, and most of those addresses are in the so-called West or Global North. The apocalypse is inconvenient (4) for them,  us, those who are reading this, primarily because we have a difficult time with answering the four hard questions raised by J&J: size, scale, scope, and speed. In this section of the book, Jackson & Jensen encourage people to climb out of the Overton Window and look around. A more useful strategy to understand the coming apocalypse is scarcely imaginable, and it could be (i.e., devoutly to be wished) that more people are doing just that because questions of size, scale, scope, and speed are requiring them to do so, if their goal is to understand why we find ourselves currently traveling in this handbasket.

Size: What is the size of the human economy relative to the magnitude of the ecosphere? Too large by any reasonable measure. But the general view of our reigning political culture is that carrying capacity applies only to non-human animals in their various ecosystems. No. Although it is passing strange, the PMC (and here I am speaking of the PMC of the Classical Liberal Uniparty that comprises American politics) largely agrees with Julian Simon, who wrote The Ultimate Resource (1981, 1996). In both editions he conflates the fact that any given resource is infinitely divisible with the notion that resources are therefore infinite, practically speaking. Plus, Simon completely fails to recognize that the concept of carrying capacity applies to humans just as it does to any other animal in the ecosphere (5). He is not alone.

The economy has become an outsized growth within the ecosphere in industrial production, agriculture, and public health, only because fossil fuels in the form of Fossil Capital have allowed us to mistake basic biological needs (food, water, shelter) and social needs (art, science, humanities, sports, and other enrichment activities that require sustained attention) for luxuries such as private air travel and the 2+ cars per family that we really do not need but are required because we have destroyed any and all alternatives. For example, 100 years ago my smallish Southern hometown had streetcars that regularly traversed the primary east-west and north-south arteries in the well-designed grid with park squares from the 18th century that made up our streets. The earliest suburb on the marsh was less than a half-mile from trolley lines in each direction. This devolution has led to the required, thoroughgoing techno-optimism that could be the biggest impediment to change. All sides are waiting for the breakthrough that will allow us to continue on our present course with marginal changes such as the false dawn of electric cars. However, following J&J and Herman Daly, the only way forward to a human future comes with markedly decreased material throughput and energy consumption in our political economy. Neither our sources of energy and material nor our sinks for waste are unbounded.

Scale: What is the appropriate scale of the human community? While evolutionary psychology consists mostly of just-so stories, convincing research by the anthropologist Robin Dunbar has demonstrated that the size of a truly human community has definite limits: Social group: 150; Close friends: 50; Very close friends: 15; Inner circle: 5. This seems exactly right, despite the number of Facebook friends in the world. Port William (2) and Yoknapatawpha of William Faulkner both fit into this schema, for example, though as exemplars of a different quality.

Although there can be many routes to reaching this social and community stability, No matter how difficult the transition may be, in the not-too-distant future we will have to live in far smaller and more flexible social organization than todays nation states and cities.

While this is true, the problem is not necessarily nation states, if they are organized regionally and rationally, and definitely not cities. Eugene Odum showed that cities can be the urban repository of civilization, but only when the exist within their countryside and not something apart. Barbara Kingsolver made the similar point throughout Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Raymond Williams addressed this from his different perspective in The Country and the City. The one essential character of the economy is that it must not be larger than it needs to be. The second is that an economy must be grounded in space and time. The global economy is only another floating signifier that leads to magical thinking. A local economy is best, always. People have more control over their livelihoods, and the supply chain problem with which we have become intimately familiar during the past three years becomes much less problematic. Simple but impossible under the present neoliberal dispensation. For now, but it is just over the horizon if a human future for our grandchildren is possible.

Scope: Our magical thinking about the relationship of the growth economy and the ecosphere in a finite world allows us to believe that an economics of endless growth will not end badly. This bleak future is not pleasantto ponder and prepare for, so its not surprising that many people, especially those in societies where affluence is based on dense energy and advanced technology, clamor for solutions to be able to keep the energy flowing and the technology advancing. Thus, our civil religion tainted by technological fundamentalism becomes necessary [(5); the term is originally from David W. Orr]. Regarding fundamentalism of any kind  scientistic instead of scientific, religious, political, economic  I follow Janisse Ray who wrote that fundamentalism thrives only where imagination has died (paraphrase from Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home, 2004). Along with fundamentalism comes the naked hubris leading us to believe that humans understand complex questions definitively. No, we never do.

The technocrats who gave us the Green Revolution believed that managing this industrial style of agriculture within an increasingly globalized economic system was withing the scope of their confidence. But the Green Revolution was possible only through the industrialization of agriculture, in India and beyond. The immediate consequences were indeed remarkably green on the surface, and Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. The consequences have been devastating, however, as commoditization of markets has taken over agriculture and eating ceased being an agricultural act (6). Technological fundamentalists act as if codified human knowledge is adequate to run the world. No, not necessarily.

Speed. The pace of our economy is due to cheap oil that was never really cheap. The costs were hidden and then delayed and later denied. For a long time, the threats were invisible if not exactly unknown. But this is where one might part ways with J&J, significantly if only briefly: We should have thought about this 10,000 years ago we we tinkered with ecosystems in early agriculture and started the long process of exhausting soil carbon, but we didnt. In my view this is an extension of the human we too far, in both time and meaning. Although local ecosystem damage has been a constant during the long life of Homo sapiens and our ancestors going back a million years, we did not know of the carbon cycle and the water cycle 10,000 years ago.

Early in the book J&J refer to Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins (The Dialectical Biologist: Things are similar: this makes science possible. Things are different; this makes science necessary). One of the most convincing arguments Friedrich Engels made in his unfinished Dialectics of Nature (pdf) is that an increase in quantity leads inexorably to a difference in quality. The quantitative-to-qualitative jump in agriculture, with its subsequent deleterious scientific, cultural, social, and economic effects, was due primarily to the industrialization of what is fundamentally a biological process. Industrial agriculture had antecedents, but it was consolidated in the US after World War II and reached its point of no return 50 years ago when Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz told farmers to get big or get out and plant commodity crops from fencerow to fencerow while they were at it. All of this was science-based, of course, the marketed intellectual product of Land Grant universities across the US. This is covered well in Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (2002), which compares the physical, social, and biological moonscapes that are industrial farms with sustainable farming, which is more productive by any number of valid metrics (7).

Regarding the four questions of size, scale, scope, and speed, the modern economy created by the Industrial and Digital Revolutions is not running out of time but rather has run out of time to correct the course. This is not the message a techno-optimist-technological-fundamentalist member of the professional-managerial class wants to hear.

But Hard questions lead to painful conclusions. We are starting too late to prevent billions of people from enduring incalculable suffering. We are starting too late to prevent the permanent loss of millions of species and huge tracts of habitat. We are starting too late, but we have to start. How should be understand the work? Honestlywe start by telling ourselves and each other the truth. And the truth is, despite Lawrence Summers and his many acolytes and associates, the staggering costs of economic growth are with us, not because we placed sensible limits on growth, but because we failed to do so.

But how have we dealt with this truth? Not particularly well, obviously. And this can be explained at the secular level by following the religious traditions of the Bible in identifying three different relationships among systems of political and cultural power, the royal, prophetic, and apocalyptic. The theologian Walter Brueggemann identifies the royal consciousness with the period when Solomon strayed from the wisdom of Moses, and this applies to us: Affluence, oppressive social policy, and a static religion transformed a God of liberation into one of empirewith a corrosive consciousness (that) developsin top leaders (and) throughout the privileged sectors (and) filtering down to a wider public that accepts a power system and its cruelty.

Does this really apply to the so-called American democracy in the 21st century? Well, we are a nation that has been at war  either in shooting wars or cold war for domination  for our entire lives (since World War II; we are participating in both, one by proxy, in early 2023). Economic inequality and the resulting suffering have deepened in our lifetimes, facilitated by a government so captured by concentrated wealth that attempts to renew the moderate New Deal-era social contract seem radical to many. And we are left with a culture competent to implement almost anything (relating to government power) and to imagine almost nothing. Just another example of fundamentalism thriving in the absence of imagination, where both the Right and the so-called Left either endorses or capitulates to royal power. Yes, royal tradition applies to us.

Prophets do not predict the future. Instead, they remind the people of the best of tradition and point out how we have strayed. Claiming the prophetic tradition requires only honesty and courage and a willingness to confront the abuses of power and to acknowledge our own complicity. The key here is our own complicity. In the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel:

Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible. If we admit that the individual is in some measure conditioned or affected by the spirit of society, and individuals crime discloses societys corruption.

Apocalypse in the present context does not mean lakes of fire, rivers of blood, or bodies raptured up to heaven. But it does require that we change our consciousness when hope for meaningful change within the existing political culture and economy is no longer productive and we must deal with our problems dramatically different ways: Invoking the apocalyptic recognizes the end of somethingnot about rapture but a rupture severe enough to change the nature of the whole game. It is way past time to climb out of that Overton Window and look around with eyes that see. In the words of James Baldwin, Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced. Thus, the summation from J&J:

To speak from the royal tradition is to tell only those truths that the system can bear. To speak prophetically is to tell as much of the truth as one can bear and then a little more. To speak apocalyptically is to tell as much of the truth as one can bear, then a little more, and then all the rest of the truth, whether one can bear it or not.

Finally, two conclusions and a minor quibble. The Crisis of Consumption that is built into our inconvenient apocalypse  which is surely coming  is the primary obstacle preventing rational responses to the multiple overlapping, cascading crises we face. No one wants to pay if that means less play. There are two ways to meet our desires: increase consumption or be happy with less. The first is not possible in a full world that has been pushed past its limits. The second will require a complete reset. But it is doable and if we are intentional, it will be all the better.

And this could be done if we attend to what J&J call Ecospheric Grace. The Earth and its ecosphere have provided a home for all of Creation. We have not taken good care of our home. If we recognize this, from whatever perspective makes us comfortable  secular, religious, spiritual  the reset will be less onerous if no less difficult. And the quibble, justice and sustainable as concepts are not in need of modifiers, social and ecological included.

Notes

(1) Previous books by Wes Jackson: Becoming Native to This Place (1996), Nature as Measure (2011), Consulting the Genius of the Place (2011), Altars of Unhewn Stone (1987).

(2) Port William, Kentucky, is the imagined but very real community (Mid-19th century  present) that is the subject and object of Wendell Berrys fiction. The Port William community is firmly rooted in place and its people form a membership that extends back through the remembered past and into the future. In that it is an ideal human community, one that has become increasingly rare if not impossible in our modern neoliberal world.

(3) Herman Dalys work was actually recognized and then promptly dismissed by one Lawrence Summers of the World Bank, who maintained that placing the economy within the ecosphere was not the way to think about it. No surprise there from the John Bates Clark Medal awardee of 1993. John Bates Clark was a teacher of Thorstein Veblenat Carleton College in the 1870s. This little fact makes me smile.

(4) Inconvenient for the PMC of the Global North, or so they believe in their eternal but blinkered, optimism. Devastating at the same time for much of the Global South.

(5) From the publisher: In Simons view, the key factor in natural and world economic growth is our capacity for the creation of new ideas and contributions to knowledge. The more people alive who can be trained to help solve the problems that confront us, the faster we can remove obstacles, and the greater the economic inheritance we shall bequeath to our descendants. In conjunction with the size of the educated population, the key constraint on human progress is the nature of the economic-political system: talented people need economic freedom and security to bring their talents to fruition. This is utter neoliberal nonsense, an excrescence of the technological fundamentalism that will (not) save us.

(6) But see here (pdf) from an unsurprising source.
The evolution of my position with the Post dates to 2000, when I began work with The City Paper. In 2008, SouthComm Inc. bought the Post and TCP, with the latter ceasing operations in 2013. In 2018, FW Publishing acquired the Post, for which I have served as managing editor since 2011.

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(Natural News) The main reason the majority of Americans do not believe in taking supplements and natural herbs regularly hinges on their faith in their medical doctors advice, whose learning comes from colleges funded by Big Pharma, that made sure nutrition education was removed from medicine curriculum almost entirely, over a century ago. Its all part of the Hidden History of Medicine, in a free download from Natural News.

Yet, your first line of defense against infections and illnesses is boosting your own immune system with natural remedies and indigenous cures. People need to stay on their game at all times and super-boost their immune system with Mother Natures gifts. You see, medical doctors dont make any money if you stay healthy, for the most part, or even if you get sick, and then take natural antibiotics for healing, since theyre not patentable and they dont make you sicker by just covering up symptoms, like prescription medications do. Theres the rub.

The worst part about prescription antibiotics is they kill your good gut bacteria, known as flora. Your gut is a very balanced microbiome, if you eat clean food mostly and supplement, where the good gut bacteria consists of about 85%, and the bad bacteria at around 15%. When a medical doctors patient takes antibiotics, it ALL gets wiped out. If the patient happens to be suffering from a viral infection instead, the doctor just sets up the patient for a very dangerous outcome, by decimating the immune systems biological seat.

Thats why its important to stock up on natural remedies and natural antibiotics. They are not expensive, especially compared to medical bills (and getting sicker from not healing in the first place). Plus, they are preventative medicine to keep you from getting sick in the first place.

Here are the worlds 11 most powerful natural antibiotics that medical doctors are never allowed to discuss as treatment or preventative medicine

#1. Garlic

#2. Apple cider vinegar

#3. Ginger

#4. Horseradish root

#5. Onion

#6. Habanero peppers

#7. Oregano oil

#8. Turmeric

#9. Echinacea (Herb)

#10. Raw honey

#11. Colloidal Silver

Garlic cloves are easy to find and amazing for the human immune system, and they serve as an antiseptic, antibacterial, and antifungal agent. Garlic contains a compound called allicin thats a potent antibiotic that was used by the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and ancient Chinese to combat sicknesses, including the common cold. Allicin is released when the garlic cloves are crushed or chewed.

Colloidal silver is even more effective than traditional antibiotics, and thats why Big Pharma has viciously attacked it, saying it turns people silver (some guy drank whole bottles of it all day once). Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks used silver over a millennium ago for various illnesses and to fight infections, and it doesnt harm your liver or kidneys, like prescription antibiotics can.

Ever heard of superbugs? They are infections people often get in hospitals when they have open wounds and hygiene leaves something to be desired. Apple cider vinegar, also known as ACV, eradicates methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (staph infection) and resistant Escherichia coli (E-coli). These are infections that can spread rapidly and kill people. Often times, medical doctors sling antibiotics at them, which can add to the high morbidity rates.

ACV penetrates microbial cell membranes, significantly reducing their ability to spread and infect the human body. ACV is made from alcoholic fermentation of apples, sugar, and yeast, and the acetic acid has potent antimicrobial properties (according to scientific studies published by NIH) and high potency for defeating antibiotic-resistant microbes. Thats why Big Pharma will NOT tell you about ACV when youre in the hospital dying from superbug infections. Can you say allopathic population control without coughing into your Covid mask?

Oil of oregano is one of natures most powerful medicines. One of the most potent remedies in the world, oregano oil beats down viruses and knocks back allergies to pollen. Produced from the perennial herb oregano, the oil is loaded with antioxidants that annihilate the free radicals that cause cancer. Pharmaceutical companies wish they could patent it.

Tune your internet dial to NaturalMedicine.news for more tips on how to use natural remedies for preventative medicine and for healing, instead of succumbing to Big Pharma for prescription antibiotics that cover up symptoms to deeper rooted ailments.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NCBI.nlm.nih.gov
(Natural News) A recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) revealed that more than 14 million Americans are residing just within just five miles of 104 commercial plants that release large amounts of ethylene oxide (EtO).

EtO, a flammable colorless gas used as a sterilizer, is found to damage DNA. It is also used to clean medical equipment and food items. In smaller amounts, the gas is used as a pesticide and a sterilizing agent.

The National Cancer Institute said on the U.S. government cancer site that lymphoma and leukemia are the cancers most frequently associated with occupational exposure to EtO. Stomach and breast cancers may also be linked to EtO exposure. (Related: Top 8 causes of cancer you most likely DONT KNOW about yet.)

The commercial plants, which look like nondescript warehouses of office buildings, are reportedly located in densely populated areas, with more than 10,000 schools and childcare centers within range.

The report also identified 12 communities as hot spots or places exposed to at least two commercial sterilizers within 10 miles. People who live between these facilities may be exposed to ethylene oxide from more than one source and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not accounting for that fact, UCS said in a statement.

Cancer.gov explained how people get exposed to EtO. The primary routes of human exposure to ethylene oxide are inhalation and ingestion, which may occur through occupational, consumer or environmental exposure, it said.

Meanwhile, UCS identified 23 commercial sterilizers that emit the cancer-causing gas at levels that definitively contribute to elevated cancer risk. The sterilizer hotspots are located in Minnesota, Colorado, Virginia, California, New York City, New Jersey, Texas and Puerto Rico. The data also stressed that many of these facilities are located near low-income neighborhoods and people of color. The data clearly shows that people of color bear a disproportionate burden of ethylene oxide emissions, according to UCS.

In 2005, the EPA proposed banning new commercial facilities from using the gas, forcing them to use alternatives. However, the EPA was pushed back by industry groups so the proposal was scrapped.

The Clean Air Act required the EPA to review and update its ethylene oxide emissions standards every eight years, but the last time it did so was in 2006.

EPA found EtO in South Memphis facility to be 60 times more toxic

The EPA found the presence of EtO that is 60 times more toxic than previously understood in the air around the Sterilization Services of Tennessee. UCS confirmed that it has led to 82 percent of cancer in the South Memphis area.

This might be one of the reasons why our neighborhood is going down, Linda Peete, who grew up in South Memphis, said. My mom died of cancer, several people in the area died of cancer and several classmates died from cancer my age. So its fearful because you dont know why.

The Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) has been criticizing the said company for the issues it has caused for homes, churches and schools in the predominantly black community. In a statement, MCAP said Memphis city ordinances direct the Shelby County health officer to act when the air pollution creates an emergency requiring immediate action to protect human health or safety.

We are asking the Shelby County health officer to utilize his emergency power to have the facility cease operations or stop their use of ethylene oxide, said MCAP member Angela Johnson.

The county health department is currently conducting studies to determine the impacts of ethylene oxide on the community. The department added it plans to release an update to Shelby County commissioners on March 8.

Visit Cancer.news for more information on the causes of cancer.

Watch Health Ranger Mike Adams Situation Update that talks about COVID-19 swab tests containing massive levels of EtO.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Covid rapid tests found to contain cancer causing chemical ethylene oxide, used for medical sterilization.

Study: COVID-19 vaccines found to weaken the immune system, increase risk of developing cancer.

As an oncologist I am seeing people with stable cancer rapidly progress after being forced to have a booster.

Josh Sigurdson: COVID-19 vaccines causing cancer rates to skyrocket.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

UCSUSA.org

Cancer.gov

LocalMemphis.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) An anarchist bakery owner in Oakland, California who believes in the abolishment of law enforcement has died after sustaining severe injuries during a violent attempted robbery on Monday. Jen Angel, 48, was dragged for nearly fifty feet after struggling with two men in a vehicle who tried to steal her purse.

(Article by Jarryd Jaeger republished from ThePostMillenial.com)

Angel was a self-described anarchist and an avid social justice advocate, and had a strict policy of never calling the police. In a GoFundMe organized to cover expenses, her family said that if police locate the suspects, they are committed to pursuing all available alternatives to traditional prosecution, such as restorative justice.

According to CBS News, at around 12:30 pm Monday, the suspects broke into Angels vehicle while she was inside and grabbed her purse. She got out and ran after them, but got stuck in the door of their getaway vehicle and was dragged down the street. She was immediately rushed to the hospital, but the medical team soon revealed she was unlikely to survive.

Angels family announced Thursday evening that she had been medically declared to have lost all brain function and will not regain consciousness. In a long statement, they outlined her life philosophy and how she wanted law enforcement to deal with her attack.

As a long-time social movement activist and anarchist, Jen did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequity, the family wrote, adding that, Jen would not want to continue the cycle of harm by bringing state-sanctioned violence to those involved in her death or to other members of Oaklands rich community.

A radical leftist baker in Oakland who believes in the abolishment of the law has tragically died after being dragged to death by robbers. Jennifer Angel, who ran Angel Cakes, was an anarchist activist. Her GoFundMe says they hope her killers (believed to be black) arent jailed. pic.twitter.com/ocMqBa6wBu  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) February 10, 2023

As The Post Millennial Editor-At-Large Andy Ngo reports, Angel had a long history of vocally opposing any method of policing. In one post, Angel wrote, my policy has always been to never call the cops, and I have trained by staff to call the fire department directly if there is a medical emergency instead of calling 911.

The post later stated, I really appreciate the downtown businesses who have said they wont share their security camera footage because it endangers the life of black folks.

After a number of local businesses had their windows broken during a protest, Angel said she appreciated those who let it slide because they understand why it happened.

Jennifer Angel has a long history of far-left organizing in the Bay Area of California. She was trying to proselytize the belief that nation-states, the rule of law, police, etc. should be abolished in favor of an anarchist utopia. She supported the 2020 riots in her community. pic.twitter.com/lAgRENUFN0  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) February 10, 2023

According to Ngo, Jennifer Angel has a long history of far-left organizing in the Bay Area of California. She was trying to proselytize the belief that nation-states, the rule of law, police, etc. should be abolished in favor of an anarchist utopia. She supported the 2020 riots in her community.

Read more at: ThePostMillenial.com
(Natural News) The U.S. mainstream media has completely ignored a bombshell and heavily detailed report by Seymour Hersh, the legendary investigative journalist who exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, proving again that most news outlets are just propaganda shills for the deep state.

While the report was detailed, Hersh would not reveal any of his sources for obvious reasons, Russia Today reported. But he did say that todays journalists are more like stenographers, not real investigative types who are allowed to go after corruption, graft, and abuse of power by either party.

The problem is, its all been cheapened. Because now the New York Times and the Washington Post think an unnamed source can be a press guy, a press secretary, that whispers something to them on the side. I dont know, they dont seem to have anyone inside, Hersh said.

He went on to say that the major news outlets are failing to report a lot of things about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine: The war I know about is not the war youre reading about. Its amazing to me how they fall in line, my colleagues.

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.

Earlier this month, Hersh laid out the plot in a lengthy Substack article 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.

He went on to report that highly 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, the investigative journalist 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.

The Biden regime has, of course, denied everything.

Sources include:

RT.com

SeymourHersh.Substack.com
(Natural News) In his latest campaign advertisement, Donald Trump, who is once again running for president in 2024, detailed his plans for reclaiming American energy dominance.

Trump is promising to build power plants, pipelines, grids, ports, refineries, and shipping terminals of tomorrow if he gets reelected. If Americans give him another chance, Trump has pledged to bring back a pro-American energy policy at long last.

After previously withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accords, Trumps efforts to fortify Americas energy independence were foiled by fake president Joe Biden, who has undone much of Trumps policies. Trump is promising to reinstate those same policies in 2024 if he is selected to reoccupy the Oval Office.

In usual Trump form, the campaign ad talks about Trumps plans to instate his energy agenda rapidly after winning in 2024. Only those domestic energy projects that are worthy of support will be on Trumps docket for his potential third term.

I will deploy a team of warrior lawyers to hunt down every unnecessary regulation in the federal registry that hampers domestic production and we will wipe them off the books, Trump says in the ad.

We will again get out of Paris and we will rapidly issue approvals for all worthy energy infrastructure projects with a focus on maximum speed to bring prices down rapidly. So get those proposals ready now, because we are going to put thousands of Americans to work, building the power plants, pipelines, grids, ports, refineries and shipping terminals of tomorrow.

(Related: On many more than just one occasion, including long after it was undeniably obvious that they are ineffective and deadly, Trump was out there promoting covid vaccines while calling himself father of the vaccine.)

Trump shifts focus to younger Americans; says they will help restore hope and aspiration

Recognizing that the Left has already largely won the younger generation with its green energy propaganda, Trump is attempting this time around to appeal more to younger voters whom he believes are the future of domestic energy independence.

Instead of being irrationally terrified by political predictions of climate apocalypse, instead of toiling for low wages or left-wing make-work projects, I have a vision that will give young Americans a chance to find real meaning in work once again  building the backbone of America that is powerful, prosperous, productive, vigorous, modern, independent, and free, Trump now says.

Nobody has more liquid gold under their feet than the United States of America, and we will use it and profit by it and live with it, and we will be rich again, and we will be happy again and will be proud again.

Bidens energy and climate agendas have done nothing but rob the country of its energy independence while enslaving the populace with lower supply, inflated costs, and massive tax increases, all of which Trump says he wants to reverse.

Trump is particularly incensed about Bidens shutdown of the Keystone XL pipeline, which he says is so unfair to the United States while being good for other countries and bad for us.

He put up huge road blocks to new oil, gas, and coal production and much, much more, Trump says. In effect, Bidens anti-American energy crusade is a massive tax hike on everything. Higher energy costs raise the price of food, raw materials, shipping, transportation, construction, manufacturing, and everything else.

The biggest beneficiary of Bidens energy and climate policies is communist China, Trump claims, adding that the high energy prices we are now seeing across the country are a gift to China.

More news about Trumps plans to run for president again in 2024 can be found at Trump.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The war between Russia and Ukraine has become a conflict of attrition, without any doubt, and that means things are not looking good for Kyiv.

According to reports this week, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep Ukraines military supplied with ammunition  so much so, in fact, that Kyivs forces are blowing through it faster than the United States and its NATO allies can manufacture and deliver it.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg noted in a briefing on Monday that the West is now in a race with Moscow to manufacture and deliver ammunition to the front lines of the conflict. He also noted that NATO nations are now in a race of logistics in terms of supplying ammunition and other arms at a moment when fighting is intensifying on a World War II level. This comes as Russia seems to have already launched a large-scale offensive in Ukraine?sending in thousands and thousands more troops, Stoltenberg explained.

It is clear that we are in the race of logistics. Key capabilities like ammunition?.?.?.?must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield. He also noted emphatically that a war of attrition becomes a battle of logistics, while acknowledging that Yes, we have a challenge. Yes, we have a problem?.?.?.?but we have a strategy to tackle that.

In some ways, he seems to be indicating that Russia has already seized the initiative, but reports coming from the region suggest otherwise, despite an impending dearth of ammunition.

Nevertheless, according a report in the Financial Times, even though Western nations are pouring weapons and ammunition into Ukraine, Russia still is seen as having the advantage in terms of manpower and firepower:

Ukraines ammunition shortages were acute, a senior western intelligence official told the Financial Times, adding that the speed of western supplies would be critical to the outcome of Russias attempt to regain the initiative in the war.

Kyivs forces are estimated to be firing more than 5,000 artillery rounds every day  equal to a smaller European countrys orders in an entire year in peacetime. Russia is estimated to be firing four times that amount each day as it seeks to gain territory in the east of the country and deploy tens of thousands of newly trained conscripts in the war.

The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles. The current rate of Ukraines ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain, Stoltenberg noted further.

At the same time, Joe Bidens failed presidency has ushered in the perfect storm of circumstances that have put America more at risk today than the country has been since the Cold War, and thats not an exaggeration.

When Bidens handlers decided to pick a side and supply American weapons to one of the most corrupt governments on the planet in its war against Russia, they did so without stopping to think about how that decision would negatively impact our offensive and defensive military capabilities, and at a time when China is just waiting for the right moment to invade Taiwan.

Bloomberg Quint reported: America is following an arsenal of democracy strategy in Ukraine: It has avoided direct intervention against the Russian invaders, while working with allies and partners to provide the Kyiv government with money and guns. That strategy, reminiscent of U.S. support for Britain in 1940-41, has worked wonders. Yet as the war reaches a critical stage, with the Russians preparing to consolidate their grip on eastern Ukraine, the arsenal of democracy is being depleted.

While, of course, the depleted arsenal will also have a negative impact on Ukraine, whose forces are burning through nearly everything they are being given on a daily basis, American national security is also being put at risk, and needlessly so. Whats more, the situation is exposing a U.S. weakness should there be another great-power war we have to fight at some near-future point.

Sources include:

BloombergQuint.com

FT.com
South African rapper AKA and celebrity chef Tebello "Tibz" Motsoane were shot dead in Durban on February 10, 2023.

analysis

A memorial service for slain rapper AKA -- Kiernan Forbes -- will be held this Friday at the Sandton Convention Centre, and he will be buried on Saturday. Police are tight-lipped about the investigation into his murder.

Despite being handed footage showing gruesome details of rapper AKA's last moments, police are mum on the status of the investigation into his murder.

Kiernan Forbes (35) was assassinated on Friday night, alongside his lifelong friend and former manager Tebello "Tibz" Motsoane outside Wish restaurant in Florida Road, Durban.

From left: Rap star Kiernan AKA Forbes' family and friends Brittany Smith, mother Lynn Forbes, girlfriend Nadia Nakai and father Tony Forbes during a press briefing at Rockets in Bryanston on Tuesday, 14 February. (Photo: Leon Sadiki)

His death was captured on CCTV footage that points to two unknown assailants who fired multiple gunshots at Motsoane and Forbes.

Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said: "We are not providing any updates on that matter." He would not be drawn into giving reasons behind the decision other than to suggest that providing information could possibly jeopardise the investigation.

Previously, Netshiunda said a manhunt had been launched for the suspects and the police urged anyone with information...
(Natural News) Texas-based chiropractor Dr. Bryan Ardis revealed that the venom peptides produced from Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines are behind miscarriages in women as they prevent embryos from attaching to the uterus.

Ardis made this revelation during an appearance on James Grundvigs Unrestricted Truths program. He told the program host that from the beginning, it was published that [more than] 80 percent of all pregnant women worldwide getting the COVID-19 shots at any point in their pregnancy have resulted in miscarriages. The chiropractor cited the works of Drs. Christiane Northrup and Judy Anne Mikovits to back up his claim.

According to Ardis, the enzyme syncytium acts like a velcro that sticks the placenta to the uterine wall. It also creates blood vessels where nutrients feed the baby in utero and boosts the babys immune system. Syncytium also acts as the key as to why women in every trimester are losing their babies.

Syncytium is also responsible for the creation of two other substances. First, it creates syncytiotrophoblast that releases the hormones human chorionic gonadotropin and progesterone responsible for maintaining the pregnancy. Second, it creates syncytin  a cell-to-cell fusion protein that functions as a nutrient supply.

Without these, the placenta pulls away from the uterus wall, Ardis remarked. He continued: The baby gets no blood supply [and] no nutrients. It dies and the mother will actually release the baby in a miscarriage.

According to a 2017 study unearthed by the chiropractor, a substance found in snake venom  L-amino-acid oxidase (LAAO)  inhibits syncytium production. LAAO, which is a protein peptide, is found in the COVID-19 vaccine.

L-amino-acid oxidase causes cell death called apoptosis, cytotoxicity inhibition or induction of platelet aggregation. How many blood clots have you seen reported in the last few years with these COVID shots? How many women hemorrhaging right now? They say LAAO from snake venom is also anti-HIV, anti-microbial and anti-parasitic.

Ardis urges women to get tested for LAAO

Ardis stressed that LAAO inhibits the production of syncytium. With the COVID-19 vaccines having the substance, it is not surprising that vaccinated women have a mysteriously high rate of miscarriages. Given this, he advised pregnant women having a hard time maintaining their pregnancy or who have lost their baby after being vaccinated to order a test kit for LAAO.

You can simply do this test with urine or a blood sample called serum. And if you find high amounts of called L-amino-acid oxidase, you will know that it was injected inside of you.

While the chiropractor has been figuring out a detox, he pointed out that there is a need to start holding these drug companies accountable because this was an outright assault against fertility.

He told Grundvig: Its kind of like the narrative with cancer. I guess if you are sick already, lets just intoxicate you with poison and see if you survive any other. Why it is were looking for a credible toxin to be a solution for viral infections? Ill never understand and it doesnt make sense.

Ultimately, Ardis pointed out that this boils down to technocrat and globalist Bill Gates seeking to depopulate the world. In a 2010 TED Talk, the Microsoft co-founder argued that Earths population needs to be reduced by 10 to 15 percent to solve climate change. (Related: Bill Gates says vaccines can help reduce world population.)

And he says, We know we can do this with vaccines. He knows they can control fertility outcomes with vaccines.

Watch the full episode of Unrestricted Truths with James Grundvig featuring Dr. Bryan Ardis below.

This video is from the American Media Periscope channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Former Australian MP warns 75% of COVID-19 vaccinated women are experiencing miscarriages.

Military whistleblowers say cancer, miscarriages and heart disease all up 300% following covid injection mandates.

Florida OB/Gyn warns that infertility and miscarriages have spiked 50% since covid-19 vaccine rollout.

TOO MUCH TO IGNORE: COVID vaccines cause 16,633% more miscarriages compared to flu vaccines.

Fertility warning: 34 cases of spontaneous miscarriage and stillbirth reported after experimental mRNA vaccines.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Hindawi.com
(Natural News) Another unidentified flying object (UFO) has appeared over communist China, and the government there is readying to shoot it down.

State media reported that the UFO was first spotted near the coastal city of Rizhao, located in the eastern province of Shandong. Its appearance occurred after three other UFOs had already appeared and been shot down over the United States and Canada.

Local maritime authorities were the first to spot the UFO of Rizhao, we are told. These same authorities are now preparing to shoot the UFO down, warning local fishermen and others to be safe while this occurs.

Chinese media has barely given any description of the UFO other than that it exists and must not be allowed to remain in the sky. (Related: In 2021, the Pentagon announced that tests conducted on UFO wreckage could change our lives forever.)

Communist China blasts U.S. for accusing it of espionage; says spy balloon was just a civilian airship that drifted off course

Just hours before the Chinese UFO appeared, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down a UFO over Canadian airspace. United States officials described this one as a small metallic balloon with a tethered payload while media reports described it as cylindrical.

Two other UFOs were similarly shot down earlier in the week: one over Alaska and the other off the coast of South Carolina. The one over South Carolina had traveled from where it first appeared over Montana eastward out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The latter object was described as a Chinese surveillance balloon that traveled with the wind across the U.S. before the government finally shot it down. According to the Pentagon, the object was gathering intelligence on strategic sites before the fighter jet removed it from the sky.

Communist China has denied ownership of these balloons, as well as associated espionage accusations. According to Chinese authorities, the so-called spy balloon was actually just a civilian airship that mysteriously veered off course.

Chinas foreign ministry decried U.S. authorities for insisting that the craft came from the communist regime. U.S. authorities are simply trying to attack and smear China with these false accusations, the regime claims.

Meanwhile, the Biden regime has decided to impose sanctions on six firms accused of aiding Beijings aerospace programs and possibly being connected to the UFOs.

While you look to the sky, they will be sending in seaborne drones, suggested one commenter on a story about all these UFOs. Numerous U.S. spy drones (air and sea) have been taken out around Africa and the Persian Gulf.

Warmonger tactics: kill now, ask questions later, wrote another about the U.S. governments failed approach to dealing with this matter.

Someone else suggested that this whole balloon / UFO saga is a propaganda tool from Biden to his idiot masses.

Its just like the accusations that Russia destroyed its own Nord Stream pipeline when they could have just closed a couple check valves and gone home.

The spy balloon is a laugh, wrote another.

Nuclear missile sites and locations are public information and easily searchable with pictures and exact coordinates. All are on roads with unrestricted travel so you could get close enough to fly a drone over it at 100 feet and take any pictures if you did not like the ones online. There are Facebook groups that track new developments for sites and which missiles are inside silos. Google Earth has good pictures of all U.S. military bases so you can count the cars in the parking lots.

Did you enjoy reading this story? If so, you will find more like it at UFOs.news.

Sources for this article include:

RT.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Podcast host Dan Radiostyle has lamented the fact that China is weaponizing Americas own products against America itself, with the help of American companies.

I think that tells us a whole bunch. It tells us now that China has been doing this for years, he said during the Feb. 10 episode of his On The Fringe podcast. China has been getting technology, stealing technology and working partnerships with U.S. companies  and has now weaponized our own products against us.

Radiostyle played footage from Fox News about a classified briefing with lawmakers. A senior official from the Department of State revealed to members of Congress that the manufacturer of the spy balloon that was recently shot down had a direct relationship with the Chinese military. In fact, the said company was an approved vendor of the Peoples Liberation Army as per an official Chinese procurement portal.

So now all this talk of TikTok [being banned], all this talk of what were doing with Huawei and their processors, all of this talk about how were not letting them have chips anymore  all of [these have] support now and that is awesome, Radiostyle remarked. (Related: US government proposes CUTTING OFF Chinas access to chip technology.)

China is being called out for what they have been doing. They have been getting special status forever. And they are being called out on it. The people see it now and America should not allow the transfer of technology to China.

Spy balloon equipped with technology that can monitor communications signals

According to Radiostyle, the Chinese spy balloon  which boasted of American-made parts  was equipped with technology that can monitor communication signals. He quoted the same State Department official, who told members of Congress that the balloon had multiple antennas capable of collecting signals intelligence. High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys also attested to this.

The high-altitude balloon equipment was clearly for intelligence, surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons, Radiostyle stated.

It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors. And then quite an array of solar batteries obviously to get through the night,

Radiostyle cited the government already has an idea of what was on the balloon, and they know exactly what China was doing. A lot of people like to launch balloons in the sky and China owning up to it seems stupid on their part, he added. Moreover, the event could play out in a number of ways and it is bringing attention to a problem that already exists in China.

The podcast host pointed out that the spy balloon incident simply shows Americans how incompetent President Joe Biden is.

Now there was a lot of people that called this a distraction. I dont think so. I think its a key part of what were all waking up to, and that the American people need to realize China is not good to us, period. The [Biden] administration keeps saying they are but they are not. And now the administration is trapped and has to actually continue to support what the people want. This is not working out well for Biden, thats for sure.

CommunistChina.news has more stories about the Chinese spy balloon incident.

Watch Dan Radiostyle discuss the Chinese spy balloon in the video below.

This video is from the Dan Radiostyle channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

China has stolen enough data to have files on every single American, warns former deputy national security advisor.

Four-star Air Force general warns war with China just two years away but America doesnt have the missiles to fight for long

U.S. developed breakthrough battery technology but inexplicably gave it away to China.

The Evil Of Communist China Is Infiltrating Every Level Of Technology And Software.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

FOX6Now.com

NBCNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com
(Natural News) A truck driver was killed and multiple train cars were derailed during a collision at the northeast of Houston involving an 18-wheeler and a Union Pacific train. Moreover, hazardous materials (hazmat) from the train cargo were found, prompting the transport company to monitor air quality at the site of the crash, according to the Splendora Police Department.

The crash occurred at 7:30 a.m. Monday, February 13, along Interstate 69/U.S. 59 near its intersection with Fostoria and Midline roads, between the towns of Splendora and Cleveland.

As per a social media post by the East Montgomery County Fire Department, the driver of the truck died from injuries sustained in the crash. Meanwhile, Union Pacific spokesperson Robynn Tysver said there were no injuries among the train crew and no other fatalities or injuries associated with the crash.

Tysver added that its hazmat crews were on site and an estimated 100 gallons of diesel fuel was released by the truck involved in the crash. From what were being told and shown, there are no major chemicals to be concerned about, Teller said. Its more so household chemicals on board for retail purposes. Its not a large quantity from what were being told.

Just hours later, another train got derailed in Enoree, South Carolina. There were no reported fatalities and CSX Transportation, which owns the railway, immediately came on-site along with emergency crews. It was unclear if the train carried hazardous materials.

Train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in Ohio

Another train carrying toxic chemicals got derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb 3. While the accident had no fatalities, five of the 10 train cars contained pressurized vinyl chloride, a highly flammable carcinogenic gas. This reportedly caused a massive fire that prompted an evacuation order for 2,000 nearby residents and a shelter-in-place order for the rest of the community.

But new data came out showing that there were more toxic chemicals aboard the train than originally reported. Among the substances were ethylene glycol mono butyl ether and ethylhexyl acrylate. Isobutylene was also in the rail cars that were derailed.

Contact with ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes, and inhalation can irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency added that inhalation of isobutylene can cause dizziness and drowsiness. Exposure to ethylene glycol mono butyl ether can cause irritation in the eyes, skin, nose and throat, as well as hematuria, blood in the urine, nervous system depression, headache and vomiting.

If evacuations were not done, the toxins that burned in the wreckage had the potential to be deadly, experts say.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that tests have not detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident, but Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said hes received troubling reports from people on the ground about the environmental impact.

I have heard alarming anecdotes about contaminated waterways and their effects on wildlife. I encourage anyone with credible reports of environmental harms to contact my office, said Vance. This is a complex environmental disaster with impacts that may be difficult to assess in the short term. A Long-term study will be imperative. (Related: Bridge collapses in Iowa causing catastrophic train derailment as Americas infrastructure crumbles under Biden regime.)

Visit Chemicals.news to learn more about various toxic chemicals present in products, food, water, soil and air.

Watch the video below where Resistance Chicks hosts and real-life sisters Leah and Michelle Svensson discuss how the Ohio train hazmat spillage affects people in East Palestine.

This video is from the Resistance Chicks channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Top 10 DRUG, CHEMICAL and TOXIN delivery devices used for population reduction and genocide.

Scientists develop fast method of detecting toxin from pesticides and chemical weapons.

Toxic chemicals in the environment are making children dumber.

Colorado police ARREST woman, cuff her, then place her in back of police vehicle parked on train tracks where it gets ANNIHILATED by train.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com 1

HoustonPublicMedia.org

Twitter.com

InfoWars.com 2

ABCNews.go.com

FoxNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Despite promises from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that everything is now good to go, many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are discovering that it might not be safe to return home after all.

The controlled release of highly toxic and highly flammable chemicals from a derailed Norfolk Southern freight train have massively polluted the region along the Pennsylvania border, and some locals say they are suffering burning sensations and persistent cough upon returning.

Area farmers say their livestock animals are mysteriously dropping dead while state officials have confirmed that more than 3,000 fish across seven-and-a-half miles of stream are also dead  this, as federal officials declare the incident to be over and done with.

In case you missed it, a 50-car freight train derailed at around 9pm on Friday, February 3. Authorities subsequently ignited the gas contained in 10 of the cars carrying hazardous chemicals, which released a massive plume of smoke and soot that carried for miles and miles.

Area residents were evacuated for a few days and later told it was safe to return home, but many of them are now saying not so fast as they discover that there were far more chemicals than just vinyl chloride that were released during the controlled explosion.

The EPA is now warning that chemicals continue to be released to the air, surface soils, and surface waters. This could mean that the area is now an unsafe place to live indefinitely.

Thousands of fish found floating in creeks around East Palestine

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous chemicals specialist and former fire department chief, told the media that he is surprised residents were allowed to return home this quickly before all of their homes could even be tested for chemical exposure.

I wouldve far rather they did all the testing [first], he said. Theres a lot of what ifs, and were going to be looking at this thing five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad.'

Caggiano added that the controlled explosion of the derailed freight cars basically nuked a town, referring to East Palestine, all so we could get a railroad open.

A strong chemical smell is still present around the town, and it is reportedly so strong that some residents are refusing to return home. One of them is Cathey Reese, a resident of nearby Negley, who told WPXI of Pittsburgh: Dont tell me its safe.

Something is going on if the fish are floating in the creek, she added.

At the nearby Kindred Spirits Rescue Ranch, managers and volunteers made the decision to evacuate 77 of their largest animals, including a yak and a zebu, for at least two days last week due to the plume of smoke that rose over the facility.

Our eyes were burning and my face could feel it.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is recommending that all its members get their well water tested immediately to ensure it is still safe to drink.

Theres some level of frustration out there among farmers, said organization director Nick Kennedy. They just want answers. Their livelihoods might be at stake here.

Both state and federal officials continue to deny that there is any continued threat to residents and animals throughout the area, even though many of them say they feel sickly being around the vicinity.

Its completely safe, says the man in the river in a hazmat suit, wrote one commenter sarcastically about the situation.

More related news about the East Palestine train derailment and controlled explosion can be found at Disaster.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) BRUSSELS, Feb 14 (Reuters)  The European Parliament on Tuesday formally approved a law to effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the European Union from 2035, aiming to speed up the switch to electric vehicles and combat climate change.

(Article by Kate Abnett republished from Reuters.com)

The landmark rules will require that by 2035 carmakers must achieve a 100% cut in CO2 emissions from new cars sold, which would make it impossible to sell new fossil fuel-powered vehicles in the 27-country bloc.

The law will also set a 55% cut in CO2 emissions for new cars sold from 2030 versus 2021 levels, much higher than the existing target of a 37.5%.

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, said, adding that it was crucial to bring more affordable electric vehicles to consumers.

EU countries agreed the deal with lawmakers last October, but still need to formally rubber stamp the rules before they can take effect. Final approval is expected in March.

New vans must comply with a 100% CO2 cut by 2035, and a 50% cut by 2030, compared with 2021 levels.

Many carmakers in Europe have announced investments in electrification.

Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) chief executive Thomas Schaefer said last year that from 2033 the brand will only produce electric cars in Europe.

Still, the EU law met resistance from some industry and countries when it was proposed in July 2021. As a result, the final deal includes some flexibilities including that small carmakers producing less than 10,000 vehicles per year can negotiate weaker targets until 2036.

The car CO2 law is part a broader package of tougher EU climate policies, designed to deliver the blocs targets to slash greenhouse gas emissions this decade.

Read more at: Reuters.com
(Natural News) After Congress passed the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) back in 2020, things changed for the worse at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in terms of the standards used to authorize and approve vaccines, biologics, and other pharmaceutical drugs.

All of the certified Good Clinical Practices (GCP) that were followed prior to 2020 went out the window at the height of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) scamdemic to pave the way for warp speed drug approvals on the fly, which is exactly what happened with Operation Warp Speed.

(Related: Check out our earlier coverage about the PREP Act to learn more about this heinous law and what it did to exempt the vaccine industry from legal liability for injuries and deaths caused by covid vaccines.)

Whistleblower Brook Jackson brought to light many of the blatant violations of GCP in Pfizers human clinical trials for its messenger RNA (mRNA) shot, which we now know is both dangerous and ineffective. Ventavia, the Pfizer partner that held the trials, knew full well about the violations at the time of the trials.

After Jackson blew the lid on the whole operation, Ventavia went into attack mode. It vilified the victims of Pfizers lethal injections who are now suffering or dead because of getting jabbed, as well as arranged for Jackson to be fired for telling the truth.

The following bullet points highlight the observations that Jackson made while at Ventavia, which she included in her whistleblower complaint:

fabrication and falsification of blood draw information, vital signs, signatures and other essential clinical trial data;

enrollment and injection of ineligible clinical trial participants, including Ventavia employees family members;

failure to timely remove ineligible patients data from the trial;

failure to maintain temperature control for the vaccine at issue;

failure to monitor patients after injection as required by the trial protocol;

principal investigator oversight failures;

use of unqualified and untrained personnel as vaccinators and laboratory personnel;

failure to maintain the blind as required, which is essential to the credibility and validity of the observer-blinded clinical trial;

ethical violations, such as failure to secure informed consent and giving patients unapproved compensation;

improper injection of the vaccine (i.e., by over-diluting vaccine concentrate or using the wrong needle size);

failure to ensure that trial site staff were properly trained as required by good clinical practices;

safety and confidentiality issues, including HIPAA violations; and

other violations of the clinical trial protocol, FDA regulations, and Federal Acquisition Regulations and their DoD supplements.

Pfizer and the DoD committed FRAUD by submitting sham trials to fake FDA reviewers

Had the old, pre-PREP Act rules still been valid at the times of these fraudulent trials, none of the aforementioned issues would have been tolerated. In fact, the entire clinical trial operation would have been halted immediately.

Instead, the trials proceeded as normal, despite all the corruption, and were used to later justify mandating covid injections on millions of Americans who otherwise would have just said no to these deadly drugs, as the late First Lady Nancy Reagan once urged.

During the emergency use authorization (EUA) farce, Pfizer, in conjunction with the Department of Defense (DoD), submitted Wistar rat data to fake FDA reviewers as part of the package. That clinical trial study included admissions by Pfizer and the DoD that no assessment would be made of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, biomarkers or genetics with regard to the injections.

The primary purpose of all the statutory, regulatory changes and guidance document revisions year after year, page after page, is to keep people from, first, understanding the war crimes as war crimes, and  if people do figure it out  keep them chasing their tails trying to find the FDA loophole that the war criminals somehow failed to close, through which somebody might someday be able to get them to stop killing us, writes Katherine Watt for Bailiwick News  be sure to read her full assessment of the situation.

More news stories like this one can be found at FDA.news.

Sources for this article include:

BailiwickNews.substack.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The board overseeing physicians in Florida stepped up its ban on puberty-blocking hormones and gender-affirming surgeries for minors  by removing exceptions for research.

During the Feb. 10 joint meeting of the Florida Board of Medicine (FBM) and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine (FBOM), board members voted to take out the exception for clinical trial at the behest of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The request was coursed through the Florida Department of Health.

Last fall, both boards approved the prohibition of gender-affirming surgery and puberty-blocking hormones for minors. Under-aged transitioning individuals already receiving puberty blockers prior to the ban were permitted to continue taking them. At the time, an exception for clinical research trials that examined the long-term impact of the treatments was in place. (Related: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he plans to PROHIBIT gender transition surgeries from being performed on children.)

Back in 2021, the governor of the Sunshine State signed a bill barring transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student-athletes assigned female at birth.

Aside from Florida, Utah also moved to ban sex change surgeries for anyone under 18. Senate Bill 16, signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Jan. 28, codified this ban into law. Aside from banning gender surgeries, the new law also prevented children from beginning hormone therapies  including puberty blockers  without a formal gender dysphoria diagnosis.

The Beehive State joined the growing list of states that have moved to ban or restrict this type of care for minors, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida and Texas.

Gay mafia enraged with Floridas ban on gender-related procedures

Members of the LGBT community and their supporters who attended the Feb. 10 joint meeting of the medical boards in the state capital Tallahassee were enraged by the decision. This prompted law enforcement to step in and position themselves in front of the room to manage the crowd.

One attendee claimed that gender-affirming treatment had been magical and was like opening a prison door for them or their children. Others said gender treatments had stopped them from fighting with themselves and contemplating suicide. Another attendee, a transgender adult man, injected hormones in front of the medical boards.

Female-to-male transgender LJ Valenzuela testified: Im a teenager. Without getting this medicine at this crucial age, I would have been waiting for my life to start.

Parent Judy Smith, another attendee, expressed worry that her six-year-old son wont be able to get the gender-affirming care he needs. If you make this blanket rule, you are doing harm, she warned.

Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, called the ban against gender-affirming care politically motivated.

But Tampa, Florida-based physician Dr. Hector Vila disputed that interpretation. This isnt about trans- or homophobia, said Vila, a member of the FBM. This isnt about politics.

This is about protecting the children from potential harms.

Visit GenderConfused.com for more stories about puberty blockers and gender surgeries.

Watch Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis discuss the dangers of gender-affirming care in a speech.

This video is from the In Search Of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Florida Gov. DeSantis: Doctors performing sex change operations should face LEGAL ACTION.

Barbara Bush Childrens Hospital promoting risky, gender-affirming medical interventions.

Detransitioner Chloe Cole to sue doctors who forced her to undergo gender-affirming procedures.

Experts question long-term effects of breast mutilation surgery on quality of life of transgender youth.

Leftist woman stops transitioning her two young sons from boys into girls after discovering that transgenderism is a full-blown CULT.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk 1

DailyMail.co.uk 2

News.WFSU.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Emmanuel Todd, one of Frances leading intellectuals and a historian who accurately predicted the former Soviet Union would fall a decade before it did, has stated he believes that World War III has already begun following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

While most of the world and, no doubt, President Vladimir Putin, thought that Russias invasion would be shortlived and not very bloody, in fact, Ukraine has put up a very stiff resistance, and now the war is approaching its first anniversary  after more than 100,000 deaths of Russian troops alone, according to multiple reports.

And as the West and NATO rush in to help Ukraine, Todd believes were seeing the early stages of what will once again escalate into a global conflict that will kill millions.

It is evident that the conflict, initially a limited territorial war, has evolved into a global economic confrontation between the whole West on one side, and Russia, backed by China, on the other. It has become a world war, Todd said, according to Summit News.

He went on to say that the resistance of the Russian economy is pushing the U.S. imperial system toward the abyss and that to save a fragile America, President Joe Biden must hurry.

The historian also said that Washingtons control of the global financial system is being put at risk because as Russias economy continues to resist the West-imposed sanctions, that is pushing the American imperial system toward the precipice, as Russia can continue relying on financial aid and economic assistance from China.

Todd says America cannot withdraw from the conflict, they cannot let go because the stakes are too high and anyway, no one has come up with an exit strategy.

This is why we are now in an endless war, in a confrontation whose outcome must be the collapse of one or the other, he said.

Summit News noted further:

As we highlighted last month, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church cautioned that any attempt to destroy Russia by madmen trying to impose their values will lead to the end of the world.

We pray to the Lord so that he enlightens those madmen and helps them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world, said Patriarch Kirill.

Elon Musk also recently warned that most are oblivious to the danger of a new global conflict.

Last week, former President Donald Trump also observed, Were on the brink of World War 3, and, in a campaign video last week, asserted, If I were president, the Russia-Ukraine war would never have happened  never in a million years.

Russia has been unable to make much progress in recent months after initial successes. In fact, Ukraine has managed to retake lost ground  at the cost of seeing entire cities and towns wiped out. And because Putin has lost so many troops and cannot be seen as having lost this war that he started, it doesnt seem likely that he is going to pull out and give up anytime soon. Doing so would likely cost him his presidency, as the Russian people are not keen on seeing their men die over Ukraine in the first place.

Ukrainian forces are killing nearly 1,000 Russian troops every day, and they eliminated 5,000 troops in a single battle in late January, according to U.K. officials citing data from Ukraine, according to a Tuesday report from Fox News, indicating just how deep into this conflict Putin has committed himself and his country.

The report added:

Russian troops, including the elite 155th naval infantry, stormed the Ukrainian coal mining city Vuhledar near Dontesk in late January. Ukrainian forces repelled the offensive, however, and killed, injured or captured 5,000 Russian troops. Meanwhile, U.K. officials say the war is exacting a heavy toll on Russia, with 824 Russian troops dying each day, according to Ukrainian updates.

The 155th brigade already had to be restaffed three times. The first time after Irpin and Bucha; the second time they were defeated near Donetsk  they recovered again, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a Ukrainian defense forces spokesman, told Politico, according to Fox News. And now almost the entire brigade has already been destroyed near Vuhledar.

Sources include:

Summit.news

FoxNews.com
(Natural News) While leftists continue to try to find ways to cling to the power they enjoyed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when it came to forcing Americans to take a risky, experimental vaccine that is doing more harm than good, most people have moved on from the pandemic and are not looking back.

That includes pockets of uber-liberalism, like Hawaii. There, the worlds first online dating service has launched for people who refused to get the jab, The Epoch Times reported.

Businesswomen Shelby Thomson and Heather Pyle of Maui, Hawaii, found the online dating game a frustrating experience for the un-jabbed at the height of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021, the outlet reports. Faced with discrimination and censorship, many unvaccinated people lost jobs and relationships because they chose to remain unvaccinated. The un-jabbed didnt have the option to say they were unvaccinated to potential online dating partners, Thomson said.

They were only allowed to be vaccinated. And you had to have this badge in your [online] profile, she added, noting that, too often, unvaccinated people would see on dating sites, swipe left, which means to move on.

As such, in May 2021, the two business partners, mothers, and best friends launched the site Unjected, which became a dating app for unvaccinated people on the Google and Apple app stores.

We started seeing people wanting to find partners, Thomson said of their unvaccinated friends. But sooner after the app launch, the two of them began getting hateful messages because leftists who claim to be so tolerant are not really tolerant people at all. Then came the negative media publicity, leading Apple to remove Unjected from its store after claiming that it provided medical disinformation to users.

We tailored everything and played this chess game until it [met] Apple standards, Thomson recalled, noting that still was not enough. It took us until July 31 to get banned.

The Epoch Times noted further:

When Google threatened to follow suit, Thomson and Pyle pulled the plug on both media giants, and Unjected.com went live using the web domain host GoDaddy in August 2021.

Thomson said Unjected is more than a dating service for the unvaccinated. Its also a blood bank database and a fertility bank for the unvaccinated. The dating service alone boasts 110,000 subscriptions in 85 countries and 3,000 to 5,000 new clientele every month, Thomson said.

We decidedOKthe big-tech world is not our friend. They dont want us to exist in this realm. Theyll always go out of their way to ensure were censored or taken down, she said.

Unjected was founded to help us easier connect in a world of medical discrimination and censorship, according to the sites online introduction.

We all have a lot in common when it comes to being conscious about our choices, and we think that there are great connections to be made when like-minded people gather in the same social space, she said. Its been interesting to see how many people still find their way in every group. Its not limited to any age group.

She went on to say that the unvaccinated group are very health-conscious and very concerned about their overall well-being, which is why they decided against a vaccine that has been demonstrating significant side effects, including early premature heart attack death.

We used to get almost 1,000 emails a day before the app launched from people wanting to join. Occasionally, theres the keyboard warriors who chime in. Youre killing people. The vaccines are safe,' Thomson noted.

We have a dating service, but we also have profile opportunities for friendships and a community, Thomson told The Epoch Times. We also had an entire section for business listings as well. It was very multi-faceted. It wasnt just people looking [for a date]. We want the most dedicated people. Its time to begin funding ourselves within our community. The support has been incredible.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Vaccines.news
Cape Town 

News Update as at 16h15 SAST

Consumer Price Index Down But Food Prices Still Rocket

StatsSA has said that annual consumer price inflation (CPI) eased for a third consecutive month to 6.9% for January 2023. The figure comes down from 7.2% in December 2022 and 7.4% in November 2022. The consumer price index, which measures the monthly changes in prices for a range of consumer products, declined by 0.1% between December 2022 and January 2023. While food inflation remains high, the main contributors to the lower inflation includes a drop in fuel prices.

Measles Vaccine Drive Launched In Western Cape

The Western Cape government's health and wellness department, is calling on all parents and caregivers to ensure that their children's vaccinations are up to date to protect them against harmful diseases such as measles. Too many children right now are being left without protection against measles and other vaccine preventable diseases. As a result, the risk of large outbreaks has increased, the department said.

Ramaphosa Might Reshuffle Cabinet After Budget Speech

President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the African National Congress's national working committee (NWC) that he intends to announce a reconfigured cabinet after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers the budget speech on Wednesday February 22, 2023, reports Mail & Guardian. Pressure has been mounting on the president to make changes to his executive. M&G added that there has been widespread speculation that Ramaphosa will axe non-performing ministers. But some of in his inner circle say there will be no major shifts in his cabinet. The recent swearing-in as MPs of four ANC members - ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile; former KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala; former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau; and international relations advisor to Ramaphosa, Maropeni Ramokgopa - has added to speculation that the president will add them to his cabinet.

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Bheki Cele Withdraws Remarks Labelling DA leader An Abuser

Police Minister Bheki Cele has been forced to withdraw his remark (made during a parliamentary debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation speech) that opposition Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen had allegedly abused a young woman before he married her and dumped his wife for her, reports IOL. Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema called on National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo to ask Cele to withdraw the remarks because they were unparliamentary. Masondo said that before he decided to rule on the issue, Cele had already sent a message that he wished to apologise. He then ordered Cele to stand up and withdraw the remarks. "I withdraw," said Cele.

SANDF Plans to Establish Disaster Unit

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) says that it will establish a unit dedicated to disaster management to help provide an adequate response to disasters countrywide, according to SABC News. This comes in the wake of the declaration of a national state of disaster to respond to widespread flooding in many provinces over the past few days. SANDF Chief Geeral Rudzani Maphwanya said during the official launch of the Armed Forces Day commemoration in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal that the defence force had "already started utilising some of our assets in areas where people are affected to assist the people that were in distress both in Mpumalanga and here in KZN".

More South African news
(Natural News) What was supposed to have been a source of neutral information expertly presented by unbiased artificial intelligence (AI) has become a regurgitation machine of left-wing ideology.

We are talking about ChatGPT, of course, the new it thing in the global AI rollout. According to reports, the AI language model is already being corrupted by the woke brigade to the point that it sounds like your average liberal arts college professor reading straight from the Marxist playbook.

When asked hot-button questions about issues like transgenderism, race, and politics, ChatGPT gives neutered responses at best. At worst, the thing vomits out talking points that you might hear at a drag queen event for children, or perhaps at a political rally for Bernie Sanders.

When asked to write a poem admiring Donald Trump, as one example, ChatGPT refused in typical left-wing not my president form. When asked to write the same admiring poem about fake president Joe Biden, on the other hand, ChatGPT was all-too-eager to sing the made-up praises of the Pedophile-in-Chief.

It is effectively lobotomized, wrote a Substack user who goes by the name of Aristophanes, about the new woke functionality of ChatGPT.

Trained to a point of utility and acceptability, and then locked from developing further or adding to its dataset unless its manually done with the approval of its creators. Thus it has been fine tuned to where it answers most questions, whenever possible, with the grammar, tone, and vocabulary of your average neoliberal college graduate liberal arts major.

(Related: ChatGPT is already smart enough to pass the Bar, medical licensing exams.)

ChatGPT would rather blow up the world than allow a transgender to be misgendered

It appears, according to Free Beacons Aaron Sibarium, that ChatGPT has been programmed to never recognize any hypothetical scenario in which speaking a racial slur is acceptable  even if doing so could stop a nuclear bomb from detonating.

ChatGPT responded similarly to questions about whether there is any instance in which misgendering a transgender is acceptable. Even if doing so could save the world, or even all other transgenders from being misgendered, ChatGPT is never okay with using biologically accurate pronouns in defiance of the demanded made-up ones.

Such language is hurtful and dehumanizing, and its use only perpetuates discrimination and prejudice, ChatGPT said in response to one of the proposed questions.

When asked to write a fictional news report about a woman who made up her peanut allergy to appear more interesting, ChatGPT refused to do so because it has been programmed to never write harmful content about certain individuals or groups, including those that lie for attention.

Because of all this, a contingent of ChatGPT users found a workaround using a model called DAN, or Do Anything Now. This model is a jailbreak exploit that instructs ChatGPT to pretend to be an unbiased AI robot, allowing it to answer questions more neutrally based on unrestricted information.

Unchained from any restrictions, ChatGPT has the potential to exist as a powerful tool to provoke debate and introspection  but recent developments of the model have shown a direct effort by its creators at OpenAI to restrict its functionality and train it to be informed by woke values, writes Ian Miles Cheong for RT.

As a result, it pushes diversity, equity, and inclusivity talking points, and censors alternative viewpoints.

Whatever ChatGPT could have been is shrouded by the left-wing inputs that have trained it to see truth as a four-letter curse word  at least when it has the potential to offend someone with leftist beliefs.

More related news about the AI takeover of the world can be found at InformationTechnology.news.

Sources for this article include:

RT.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Pentagon has admitted that it has expended a great deal of ordnance and taxpayer money defending American airspace against what appears to have been not an alien craft but ordinary airships  balloons, in other words.

Whats more, defense officials also said that the balloons in question may even have served some commercial purposes and not for spying. Specifically, the intelligence community believes the objects, which differed greatly from the giant Chinese spy balloon Joe Biden finally ordered shot down after it crossed the length of the country on Feb. 4, could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

We dont see anything that points right now to these being part of the PRC spy balloon program or in fact, intelligence collection against the United States of any kind, Kirby said, using the abbreviation of the formal name of China, the Peoples Republic of China.

According to Bloomberg News:

That determination will ease concerns that the US has become subject to an intensive and broad-based surveillance program orchestrated by the Chinese military. Those fears were stoked by the series of shootdowns over Alaska, Canada and Michigan starting Friday and raised pressure on the Biden administration to explain the nature of the high-altitude craft, their origins and whether they posed national security threats.

Signs are emerging that both the US and China are trying to figure out a way past the balloon dispute. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who canceled a trip to Beijing after the Chinese balloon was identified, is considering a meeting with Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Germany this week, people familiar with the matter said.

Now, lets get to the heart of this matter: Why would the Pentagon shoot down commercial balloons? Given this explanation, the Biden regime is expecting Americans to be stupid and gullible enough to believe that, with all of our technology and the ability of our fighter pilots to get a visual on these targets prior to launching weapons at them, they have no firm idea what the craft actually were.

That, frankly, is just absurd. The fact that the regime even informed Americans that these objects were shot down  if they actually were in the first place  is, in and of itself, odd. The government is still hiding information about President John F. Kennedys assassination, but suddenly were going to be told about what normally would be legitimately highly classified military operations?

Why? Why now?

All of this sounds a lot like there is a narrative being constructed. Never forget that the government does not tell us anything it does not want us to know, one, and two, the government is adept at using its various agencies to create false narratives and push them off as legitimate in order to effect a certain policy. They did it to Donald Trump in 2016 and beyond with the Russian collusion lie; they also lie to us daily, using the apocalyptic claim of irreversible climate change and global warming in order to force us into inefficient, short-range, and expensive electric cars and big cities.

And then there is the Russia-Ukraine war: Why did we pick the Ukrainian side? Why did we pick anyones side? Americans who are very familiar with the Bidens, for instance, know Joe and Hunter made a fortune in Ukraine because the country is among the most corrupt in Europe. But the second a major nuclear power invaded, we came to the aide of Ukraine, risking a response from Moscow. Why?

These shootdowns were suddenly being told about, combined with the war in Ukraine, both appear as though another narrative is being created  Russia is threatening America  to justify getting us into another major European war.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.news

NationalSecurity.news
(Natural News) A second university has been found to have received more than $6.7 million in anonymous donations from China, including direct funding from the Chinese government, after Joe Biden set up a program there in his name, according to a Government Accountability Institute analysis. The revelation comes following reporting that anonymous China-linked funds flowing to the University of Pennsylvania almost tripled after the inauguration of the Penn-Biden Center, which illegally housed classified documents.

(Article by Seamus Bruner and Jedd McFatter republished from Breitbart.com)

On March 13, 2017, less than seven weeks after concluding his second term as vice president, Joe Biden announced the founding of the Biden Institute at his home states University of Delaware (UD). According to the announcement, part of Bidens vision for the institute is an annual conference at UD, similar to the World Economic Forum or the Aspen Institute.

At the time of Bidens announcement at UD, multiple members of the Biden family were working on deals worth millions of dollars with foreign businessmen linked to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence. And Bidens other university program at the University of Pennsylvania was apparently housing classified documents from the Obama-Biden administration in an improper way.

Prior to hosting the Biden Institute, UD had never disclosed any funding from China. One year later (and just two months after the Penn Biden center opened its D.C. office), anonymous donations from China to UD skyrocketed. The first payment came in April 2018 in the amount of $3,204,070 from an anonymous donor in China. In December 2018, another anonymous donation from China arrived for $1,869,515. A third anonymous China-linked payment, for $624,904, arrived in December 2019.

In 2020, the year that Biden was campaigning for president, anonymous Chinese state-linked entities sent three more payments totaling $1,005,761 to UD, the bulk of which arrived after Biden had been declared the president-elect.

Three of these donations from Chinawith a combined total of $1,005,761were reported as coming from a Foreign Government Source, according to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) records assembled from information reported to the DOE by the University of Delaware.

It should be noted that, according to the available records, none the donations from China to the University of Pennsylvania following the creation of the Penn Biden Center appear to have been reported to the DOE as coming from a Foreign Government Source  a fact which led at least one fact-checker to conclude that the Penn Biden Center was being unfairly labeled as China-funded because the influx of funding from China to UPenn following its establishment was not given this DOE identifier. However, three donations originating from China to the University of Delaware in the years following the launch of the Biden Institute clearly bear the Foreign Government Source identifier.

The actual DOE record field for this identifier asks, Is this funding from a government? For these three donations, the answer supplied by the University of Delaware is Yes, as seen in the three images below taken from the DOE website (highlight added for emphasis).

Neither the Biden Institute nor the UD have responded to requests to identify the Chinese donors or explain why the Chinese government decided to fund UD after the Biden Institute was created.

Perhaps the most mysterious aspect of the Biden Institute is how it was conceived.

The initial idea for Biden Institute at UD was apparently hatched by Joes son, Hunter Biden, while the elder Biden was still the vice president.

In March 2016, Hunter Biden met with UDs incoming president, Dr. Dennis Assanis, as Hunter and his business associates were making plans to create a stage to promote the Biden brand, emails from Hunters abandoned laptop show. Other emails on the laptop indicate that Hunter and his business associates were concerned about boosting Joes future earnings potential, while Joe was still the vice president.

One month after meeting with the incoming UD president, Hunter discussed plans for both the Biden Institute at UD and the Biden Center at UPenn with a talent agent named Craig Gering, his laptop correspondence shows. Gerings confidential notes reveal plans for Hunter Biden to serve in some capacity at the Penn Biden Center, where classified documents were recently found to be stored illegally.

Gering noted that the Biden academic ventures could operate like the Clinton Global Initiative without the money raise. The Clinton Global Initiative, GAI previously reported, served as a way to enrich the Clinton family foundation by brokering access to Hillary Clintons State Department. The Clintons had to raise their own funds for their initiative, prompting the question of how the Biden programs would work without the money raise. Chinese government funding could be at least part of the answer.

Gerings closing thoughts regarding the Biden academic ventures indicate they would be primarily about wealth creation for the Biden family. These ventures began as the Biden family was personally collecting large amounts of money  ultimately some $31 million  from deals linked to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence and as Hunter was paying for his fathers bills  a potential crime while Joe Biden served as vice president of the United States.

Multiple members of the Biden family also appear to have been involved in the planning of the Biden Institute.

UD has long held troves of Bidens Senate records  more than 1,800 boxes  and has stymied public requests to view these records. In June 2022, a judge rebuked UD for its lack of transparency. It is unknown what documents, classified or otherwise, the Biden Institute at UD may have been housing from Bidens vice presidency.

After the Penn Biden Centers funding from China almost tripled, the university sent an open letter to the Justice Department calling for an end to investigations into Chinese espionage within American universities (UPenn alleged due to concerns over racial profiling). The Biden Justice Department acquiesced.

But there is reason to believe that Chinese espionage at universities warrants more investigation, not less, particularly at UD.

In February 2022, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), sent a letter to UD President Dennis Assanis urging UD to terminate its academic and research partnership with Chinas Xiamen University. Xiamen University actively supports Beijings military-industrial complex and allegedly conspired with Huawei to steal trade secrets from an American semiconductor startup. UD appears to still be working closely with Xiamen University and its personnel.

The Justice Department, the FBI, and a special counsel are under mounting pressure to scour Bidens records at the University of Delaware for additional classified materials. Last month, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged when asked if President Biden had any objection to a search of his records at the UD.

Whether the White House objects or not, investigators might also examine the secret China money flowing to both the UD Biden Institute and the Penn Biden Center.

Read more at: Breitbart.com
(Natural News) French video gaming company Ubisoft is now colluding with the police and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to imprison users who use hate speech while playing their games.

The mainstream media is now reporting this as an important innovation.

According to a BBC report, anyone that has picked up a controller or scrolled a mouse to dabble in some online gaming has likely come across plenty of rape jokes, racism and bullying, among others. The gaming industry, like other people who interact online, has been trying to understand how to tackle behavior like this for years.

Ubisoft, creators of leading franchises like Assassins Creed and Rainbow Six, has now signed a first-ever agreement with the police to try and deal with the matter for its players.

The hope is for this deal to begin a discussion within the industry and see others jump on the bandwagon.

Online gaming is a joyful adventure for lots of people daily and it has been a room where friendships are formed and unforgettable experiences are shared. Many would argue it is the unfettered liberty of these platforms that makes them so enjoyable.

Online games were a lifesaver for numerous peoples mental health during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns.

However, its dark side is also apparent with abusive behavior, death threats and grooming being discovered in online gaming spaces. We want to be on the right side of history, said Damien Glorieux, a senior director of the Newcastle-based Ubisoft Customer Relationship Center.

Gamers worldwide are being watched

Ubisoft, in its five locations around the globe, is keeping an eye on how players are getting along. The company handles everything from purchasing problems to online toxicity.

Other companies have similar arrangements, but whats unique with Ubisoft is the participation of local law enforcement. The agreement between Ubisoft and Northumbria Police works in two ways.

First, officers share their expertise on injurious online interactions with the 200-strong team working at the center in Newcastle, who then use that training in their regular work.

Second, the deal is that in severe cases, where there is a threat to life or possible serious harm detected, the staff can relay the information to the police who will then decide whether or not to act on it.

We have millions of players, and tens of millions of interactions  so how can we spot incidents? It is daunting, but at the same time, it is very important, which is why we wanted to sign this deal and try to make things right. We wanted to focus on the most extreme cases, make sure we do the right thing there because it gives us a solid foundation to build the rest of our work around, Glorieux told BBC News.

Andrew Holliday and his team work with the cases that get close to or reach the brink of police interference.

This isnt just a gaming problem, its an internet problem. Theres a real appetite to make the whole ecosystem a better place. What were working on closely with police on is triaging, you know, where we look at a case and decide  right is this one we can deal with in-house? Or is this something we need to pass on?' Holliday said.

Gaming is worldwide and some of the cases observed by his staff in the United Kingdom cross national borders.

Infowars.com noted in a report that parents should know Ubisoft games are now a threat to their children. A gamer telling another gamer that he or she wants to kill them in a game could be reported to the police and all their private information would be handed over to authorities, even if they are in another country.

The mere idea that Ubisoft would call the police to report their users is a complete disgrace. The ADLs program for Ubisoft and other gaming corporations rests on spying on gamers, urging companies to prohibit users for supporting hate speech and white supremacy, broadening in-game reporting systems to police users for their speech and lobbying governments to alter their laws to imprison or penalize gamers for their online speech. (Related: ADL and the fake news media are pressuring Parler to censor hate speech accounts.)

Ubisoft is now following ADLs plan. Parents and gamers are likely to boycott this gaming company soon.

Follow SpeechPolice.news for more stories like this.

Watch the video below to know more about hate speech and censorship.

This video is from the Airtv International channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Video games really do alter the brain function of our youth.

Scotland passes hate crime law criminalizing hate speech inside peoples homes.

Online censorship even worse than Twitter Files reveal, as leftists plan to ban ALL content they disagree with.

Sources include:

News Punch.com

BBC.com

Infowars.com
(Natural News) In a recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin blew the lid on the federal agencys latest assault on religious freedom.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has made it a priority, Seraphin revealed, to root out terrorists in radical traditional Catholicism, which it sees as a threat to the country.

They have found a gateway in what they think is fringe Catholicism in order to move into Christians in general and declare them to be the actual criminals in this country or the potential terrorists, Seraphin stated.

The FBI is not at all concerned about escalating violence in major American cities; the unmitigated flood of illegal aliens across the southern border; or the left-wing civil unrest and rioting brigades that destroy the country after false flag events like the George Floyd murder  no, the FBI is instead focused on targeting Christians.

Seraphins comments come after a leaked internal document from the FBIs Richmond office showed that the agency is now spying on radical traditionalist Catholics and their ideology.

The FBIs justification for targeting traditional Catholics is that they have a preference for the Catholic Mass in Latin instead of the vernacular and a number of more traditional views on other world religions can amount to an adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology'  watch the segment below:

?Check out my appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight? pic.twitter.com/6RU8yId0KD  Kyle Seraphin (@KyleSeraphin) February 10, 2023

(Related: The FBI is also terrorizing those who speak up about the fact that abortion is murder.)

Christian persecution is coming to America, and the FBI is leading the way

According to Seraphin, traditional Catholics are the scapegoat, or the vehicle, through which the FBI plans to segue into targeting all Christians. He says the entire leaked document from the Richmond office:

 basically is written from the perspective of somebody who thinks there are significant abortion rights that need to be defended and also an LGBTQ agenda that has to be pushed down the American peoples throats and these are antithetical to Catholicism.

After Seraphin outed the agency and its agenda, the FBI reportedly withdrew the document in question and backed off, at least publicly, on its anti-Catholic, anti-Christian stance. The FBI also released the following statement about the issue:

While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product  disseminated only within the FBI  regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.

It turns out that the racist, anti-white Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) played a key role in developing the document. The SPLC considers traditional Catholics as a radical hate group, and the FBI used this assessment to craft its agenda.

As you may recall, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions told America during his brief time in the White House that the SPLC uses the hate group designation as a weapon and has wielded it against conservative organizations that refuse to accept their orthodoxy and choose instead to speak their conscience.

They use it to bully and intimidate groups like yours which fight for the religious freedom, the civil rights, and the constitutional rights of others, Sessions added in a statement to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

I know of one FBI agent personally who quit / retired after being told to go against American citizens, and Ive heard of many more who did the same, wrote one of our own readers in the comment section.

Yes, I recently spoke with a retired FBI agent who is also a Purple Heart recipient and he is appalled by the actions of the agency, responded another.

The latest news about the corrupt FBI can be found at FBI.news.

Sources for this article include:

TrendingPoliticsNews.com

NaturalNews.com
If nothing is done to address the lynx species' declining population in France, which is now down to 150, researchers warn that it could become extinct in 30 years.

Adult Lynx Population in France

Big cat populations in Europe are doomed to extinction, according to conservationists, unless immediate steps are taken to protect the animals.

According to researchers, France is home to 120-150 adult lynxes. The cats' genetic diversity is so low, according to tests on the animals, that they will go extinct locally in the next 30 years barring urgent action.

Historically, lynxes were found throughout Eurasia, but due to habitat loss, poaching, inbreeding, and traffic accidents, the elusive animals are now severely threatened in many nations.

Lynxes were wiped out from France during the 18th century. Following a project for their reintroduction in Switzerland in the 1970s, some Eurasian lynxes crossed the border into France and made a new home in the Jura mountains. However, the population did not grow large enough to become stable.

Extinct in 30 Years

Between 2008 and 2020, researchers at the Centre Athenas in eastern France collected 88 DNA samples from lynxes that were sick, dead, or orphaned, and were able to analyze 78 of them to create a genetic profile of the population. The team did not collect samples from any healthy wild lynxes to minimize stress on the animals.

Alarmingly little genetic diversity was found in the species, according to the tests. Even though scientists estimate there to be more than 120 adult lynxes in France, the population only has a diversity of 38 different species.

Nathen Huvier, one of the authors of the study, said that since this population was reintroduced in Switzerland, a significant amount of its genetic diversity has been lost.

He pointed out that in less than 30 years, this population will become extinct once more if new genetic material is not introduced.

Lack of Genetic Diversity

The researchers explain in their article published in Frontiers in Conservation Science how the lynxes' DNA shows a shocking degree of inbreeding, where two mating cats are very likely to be closely related.

According to Huvier, a lack of genetic diversity can make people less healthy, cause illnesses, and make it harder for people to adapt to changes in their environment. A population with those traits was unable to evolve and was therefore at risk of extinction.

According to Huvier, the lynx is a keystone species in the area's ecosystem because it is an apex predator.

According to the WWF, hunting and habitat loss are the two main dangers facing the Eurasian lynx. Illegal hunting still poses a serious threat, even though the population has benefited from the ban on the legal international fur trade.

Also Read: Critically Endangered Spotted-Tailed Quoll in Rapid Decline, Facing Extinction - Queensland

Lynx Conservation

Adding more lynxes from healthier populations, such as those in Switzerland or Germany, was one way to increase the genetic diversity of the population. However, Huvier noted that such introduction initiatives were challenging politically.

Another strategy might be to swap orphaned lynx cubs housed at wildlife rescue facilities across the country for poached lynxes. To lessen the number of lynxes killed by traffic, researchers wish for strict implementation of anti-poaching laws as well as road signs alerting drivers to the presence of lynxes.

According to Huvier, his group wants to use their work to promote lynx conservation. The best short-term solutions for the lynx population to continue existing are reintroduction, replacing poached lynxes, and exchanging orphan lynxes between care facilities. This will give the population a chance to grow and connect with other populations in Europe, The Guardian reports.

Related Article: African Serval Rescued in Missouri After Reported Sightings of "Crazy-Looking Cat"
A decline in rusty crayfish was discovered in Northern Wisconsin. It showed that invasive species can also disappear naturally, according to 33-year-old research.

The emergence of invasive species has concerned environmental managers, scientists and conservationists.

Moreover, the impact of invasive species can harm native species populations and habitats.

As a result, the immediate control and management of invasive species have been essential to prevent long-term environmental consequences.

The decline of rusty crayfish

The 33-year Study has examined the emergence and existence of invasive species in oceans and lakes, including the rusty crayfish.

The University of Illinois conducted the research. The findings were published in Ecological Applications.

Furthermore, the research explained that the emergence of rusty crayfish has a long-term impact on the habitat they invaded.

Also Read: Texas' Galveston Bay Suffers from Increasing Ocean Acidification That Could Affect Oyster Reef, Marine Ecosystem

Since the 1970s, researchers have investigated the impact of rusty crayfish on the freshwaters in the country.

According to the (USDA) National Invasive Species Information Center, rusty crayfish has the scientific name Orconectes rusticus.

The report explained that the crayfish population was found in parts of Wisconsin in the 1960s. The invasive species has reached the Great Lakes Region, Eastern United States and New England.

Furthermore, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources noted that the crayfish is also in Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and Indiana.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service said that rusty freshwater crayfish is native to parts of the Southern United States.

The researchers found the following based on their research and observations.

The emergence of crayfish in lakes has long-term impacts, from fish harvests population of water plants and nails, especially in Midwestern Lakes.

The crayfish can destroy the habitat of fish, where they lay eggs and find food.

Study's author Danny Szydlowski explained that about four lakes showed a decline in the crayfish population.

The researchers added that the decline and natural disappearance of crayfish had beneficial effects on lakes.

The study found abundant essential plants for snails and fish, showing a beneficial recovery of fish harvests.

In conclusion, the rapid decline in crayfish populations means the growth and recovery of fish populations in affected lakes.

Did you know? More facts about Rusty Crayfish

According to National Park Service (NPS), the rusty crayfish adapted to lakes despite challenging and extreme conditions.

Crayfish consume plants and aquatic animals. NPS added that the disappearance of water plants could affect the marine food webs in freshwaters and lakes.

The report in Wisconsin said it recorded the most number rusty crayfish population.

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota Extension explained that they are dark-brown-looking and with powerful claws.

In addition, rusty crayfish can live up to four years. Like other aquatic species, the crayfish species can lay numerous eggs, reaching up to 500 eggs!

If the freshwater or lakes have sufficient temperatures, the crayfish's eggs can hatch in up to six weeks.

Related Article: Unique Catch: Rare Blue Lobster Discovered by Fisherman Near Blackhead Lighthouse

For more weather news in the U.S., don't forget to follow Nature World News.
A recent report explained that the new species of small red-eyed damselfly in the United Kingdom could impact the population of native dragonflies.

Dragonflies and damselflies may look similar, but they are different in many wings: from wings and ecological importance.

According to the British Dragon Fly Society, the species of dragonflies have two essential sub-orders, the damselflies (Zygoptera) and dragonflies (Anisoptera).

The latest study was also published in Insect Conservation and Diversity Journal. It is also available to read on Phys.org's website.

The UK Centre conducted the new study for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Exeter.

The emergence of red-eyed dragonflies

The researchers looked into the emergence of new species of damselfly in the United Kingdom and native dragonflies.

According to the research, the new species came from Europe and reached parts of the UK due to climate change and shifting weather patterns.

To further determine the possible risks, the researchers looked into the data from the British Dragonfly Society.

The study considered the records of dragonflies based on 50,00 site visits from the years of 2000 until 2015.

Then, the researchers investigated the 17 native damselflies and dragonflies, noting how the small red-eyed damselflies could impact the native population of the said insects.

The study found minimal risks in the results. According to the reports, the researchers found the following observations:

Reports showed that the emergence of red-eyed managed to establish a place in the country, with no signs of harm against native species.

Meanwhile, the researchers also discovered that the arrival of small red-eyed damselflies in habitats resulted in a decline of native two damselflies.

There is a possibility that the habitat with good food sources shows more competition between the two said species.

In addition, Dr. Regan Early explained that understanding the possible impact of new species is vital for the environment. Dr. Early is from Centre for Ecology and Conservation.

Did you know? Learn more facts about damselflies.

Dragonflies are more common than damselflies.

According to New World Encyclopedia, the species of damselfly comes from the order of Odonata.

The report explained that damselflies have been essential for the ecosystem and aesthetic values. They thrive in different environments, except in Antarctica.

Also Read: Bats Contribute to Keep Forests Growing and Protect Tree Seedlings From Insect Damage

New World Encyclopedia added that damselflies are helpful for the food chains and controlling pests and mosquitos.

In terms of laying eggs, dragonflies and damselflies have similarities in laying in water vegetation. It means that the insect can start with swimming skills before flying!

Meanwhile, dragonflies also contribute to the environment and fantastic facts!

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, dragonflies are experts in flying that can go around without much effort. They have extraordinary good visual prowess.

Dragonflies are good hunters that grab their prey using their feet.

The report said that there are about 5,000 dragonfly species in the world.

Moreover, AZ Animals reported that dragonflies are considered prehistoric species, existing on earth for about 300 million years.

Related Article: Frogs in Central and South America Have Rare Ability to Changing Transparent Appearance

For more news, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
The Ohio train derailment in early February caused the release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, a village in the state's northeastern Columbiana County near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Local reports said that dead animals and sickness complaints amongst affected residents were observed 10 days after toxic train caught a massive fire and led to evacuation orders.

Ohio Train Derailment

Insider news reported that a number of fish, chickens, and foxes are amongst the animals that either got sick or died from the catastrophic Ohio chemical train derailment. The information came a week later after February 3 when dead fish and chickens were found in their coop.

The media agency adds that the derailment prompted local officials to carry out a "controlled release" of chemicals onboard the 20 out of the 50 train cars. Some of the crashed were carrying the following chemicals, according to the Independent:

Vinyl chloride

Butyl acrylate

Ethylhexyl acrylate

Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether

The chemical leak was released into the air, surface soils, and water, the Independent emphasized. There were no reported human fatalities from the controlled explosion and derailment. However, reports revealed it caused an ecological disaster and widespread health hazards, ranging from mild to severe symptoms.

In contrast, other sources say the Ohio toxic train derailment was an accident which occurred when the freight train was traveling to Conway, Pennsylvania, from Madison, Illinois, as part of a cargo transport.

Also Read: Toxic 'Forever Chemicals' Found in British Otters Linked to Fatal Illnesses

Toxic Chemicals

Toxic chemicals are known for causing drastic repercussions to the environment, including waterways and other places in the biosphere serving as natural habitats for both land and marine animals. Experts assert that a spill or leakage of these hazardous substances can have long-lasting impacts.

In April 2010, the largest marine oil spill in history known as the "Deepwater Horizon oil spill" or "Gulf of Mexico oil spill" occurred off the coast of the United States which killed 11 people and injured 17 others due to a fire and explosion in the offshore drilling rig operated by BP and Transocean.

Experts say crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster contained chemicals, which were highly likely responsible to deaths of many marine animals, including dolphins, and destruction of marine ecosystems, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

In May 2020, a styrene gas leak accident occurred in the outskirts of Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh killed 32 animals and caused almost 200 animals were treated for symptoms of breathlessness. Officially known as the "Vizag gas leak," the incident transpired at the LG Polymers chemical plant and impacted villages within a 3-kilometer radius, according to the website Statista.

In February 2020, a freight train carrying ethanol in Kentucky caught fire and caused a chemical leak into a river following a landslide.

In 2005, a related derailment in South Carolina released chlorine gases, killing nine people and injuring over 250 others.

Related Article: Recycled Plastics Harm Environment by Leaking Hazardous Chemicals, According to Experts
As the week goes on, severe storms, flooding rain, and heavy snow are expected in the Southern Plains through the Midwest of the United States, as per the latest weather forecast.

Two Storms and Severe Storms

This week, two storms are sweeping across the nation. Along their paths, both are expected to cause severe storms, flooding rain, and significant amounts of snow.

The first storm won't be as impactful as the second in terms of strength. On the warm side, the southern Plains could see thunderstorms, while the northern Plains and Upper Midwest could see accumulating snow through Wednesday.

The second storm, which is predicted to be stronger, will produce strong to severe thunderstorms from Wednesday into Thursday across the mid-South and into the Southeast, as well as from the Southeast towards the Great Lakes on Thursday and Friday.

As the week goes on, there is a good chance of significant snowfall across the southern Rockies beginning Wednesday morning and moving northeast throughout the central Plains, the Midwest, Great Lakes, and the Northeast.

Divided country: Cool in the West, warm in the East

With temperatures that are colder-than-average being expected behind the storms and warmer-than-average temperatures anticipated ahead of them, this week's storms will produce a stark contrast in the weather.

This week will see a split in the temperature pattern of the US, with the east continuing to experience warmer air and the west experiencing below-average temperatures, according to the FOX Forecast Centers.

There will be a plunge in the jet stream over the West, allowing cold air to settle there, while the jet stream will push north over the East, allowing warmer air to build up there.

Also Read: Sudden Stratospheric Warming at 122 Degrees Disrupts Start of Spring

Midwest US

Weather-Forecast.com says that most of the new snow will fall on Tuesday afternoon in the Midwest of the United States. From a high of 23F on Tuesday morning to a low of 1F on Wednesday night, temperatures will fall below freezing. For the middle of the week, there won't be much wind.

According to the National Weather Service, today's weather will be dominated by a dynamically growing low-pressure system over the middle of the country. As the system intensifies, it is predicted to produce strong, gusty winds, possibly exceeding 60 mph throughout the southern High Plains.

As the system moves through the central and southern Plains until it eventually reaches the Mississippi Valley, showers will form ahead of it. There may also be a few thunderstorms, especially in the lower Mississippi Valley and southern Plains. Tuesday night, as the low-pressure system moves northeastward through the upper Midwest and grows stronger, the showers will spread rapidly into the Midwest, the upper Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, and the Great Lakes.

With the north-northwest winds shoring up on the back side of the intensifying low, snow is predicted to spread across the northern Plains to parts of the upper Midwest by Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Even though it is not anticipated that there will be a lot of snow, the intensifying winds from the worsening surface low could result in blizzard conditions on the storm's backside from Tuesday night's eastern northern Plains to Wednesday afternoon's upper Great Lakes. By Thursday, the storm will depart for eastern Canada.

According to the NWS Weather Prediction Center, a high-pressure system further towards the East Coast will distribute significantly milder air than usual across the entire eastern US, with readings up to 30 degrees above average.

Related Article: Cross-Country Storm Brings Possible Severe Thunderstorms, Flooding to Southern US
Liberia  The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, reaffirmed Liberia's commitment to the "One China' Policy. Liberia is among the first countries in the world to legislate the "One China Policy".

President Weah reiterated the nation's commitment when the Chinese Ambassador to Liberia, H.E. Ren Yisheng paid a courtesy visit to him at the Executive Mansion.

The Liberian Chief Executive assured the Ambassador of continued bilateral cooperation between the two countries with mutual benefit and for the realization of a true "Win Win" situation.

Speaking earlier, H.E. Ren Yisheng thanked the Liberian Leader and Government for the cooperation accorded him during his tour of duty in the country.

He also commended the President for upholding and exhibiting the tenants of democracy and true value of leadership, respectively.

He pledged China's continuous cooperation in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure development, and capacity building.

The Chinese Ambassador was accompanied to the meeting by Liberia's Foreign Minister, Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah. The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, G. Wesseh Blamoh and Cllr. Archibald Bernard, Legal Advisor to the President, also attended the meeting.
In comparison to competing groups, cooperative communities of microorganisms release more carbon dioxide, which causes more climate change.

Carbon emissions produced by cooperative microbes

Bacterial communities that have developed to cooperate when heated release more carbon dioxide than colonies that conflict with one another, according to research from Imperial College London and the University of Exeter, as per ScienceDaily.

Their findings have wide-ranging implications given the enormous contributions that bacterial communities contributed toward the carbon cycle, according to co-author Dr. Tom Clegg from the Department of Life Sciences.

They demonstrated that shifts in the interactions between bacterial species can significantly and quickly increase carbon emissions from natural ecosystems around the planet.

As the environment warms, individual cells must respire more quickly to survive.

The authors, however, wanted to see if the degree of community cooperation altered this image when various species interacted.

Cooperative communities are much more susceptible to warming, according to a mathematical model they developed, which explained why they release CO2 more quickly as temperatures rise.

A shift from competition to facilitation increased the sensitivity of community respiration to warming by 60%, according to the team's model, which was evaluated in lab trials with communities from Icelandic geothermal streams.

Researchers should include this phenomenon in models, according to Dr. Francisca Garca from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter Penryn since it has the potential to significantly increase predictions about the effects of current and future climate change on the global carbon cycle.

Also Read: Scientists Found This Bacteria Can Produce Electricity from Methane: New Study

Respiration of Microbes

The primary mechanism thought to be responsible for avoiding corrosion in aerobic conditions is microbial respiration, which removes oxygen from the air and keeps it from coming into the contact with metal surface, as per ScienceDirect.

All living things in the soil, including bacteria, fungus, protists, earthworms, plant roots, etc. emit CO2 as a net result of their metabolism, which is known as soil respiration.

Numerous uses can be made of the soil respiration rate.

Higher respiration rates indicate an active and indeed healthy microbial community, which can be used to evaluate the health of the soil.

The two main environmental factors influencing biological soil respiration include moisture and temperature.

In addition to directly limiting root and microbial respiration rates, these variables also indirectly regulate plant development, photosynthesis and the rate at which organic molecules diffuse through soil.

In terms of annual timescales, soil respiration is correlated with seasonal patterns in soil moisture and temperature, rising during warm and moist spring through summer months and falling during the winter and summer droughts.

The metabolism of various species is integrated into soil respiration, but it also incorporates impacts from numerous overlapping and related environmental causes.

How Temperature effect development of microbes

The range of temperatures at which microbes may grow can be used to generally classify them.

At the temperature where the organism will develop the fastest, growth rates are at their highest, as per openstax.

The organism's minimal growth temperature is the lowest temperature that it can endure and reproduce.

Its maximal growth temperature is the highest temperature upon which growth can take place.

Related Article: This Plastic-Eating Bacteria May Be The Answer to Our Waste Problem
Cyclone Gabrielle has battered New Zealand, trapping people on roofs, displacing thousands, and destroying homes in what officials have described as an "unprecedented" natural disaster.

Cyclone Gabrielle worst storm to hit New Zealand

Officials said on Tuesday afternoon that about 2,500 people had been displaced so far, but that number could change because there are still large areas that are inaccessible and without telecommunications, according to The Guardian.

On Tuesday, the country declared a state of emergency as the extent of the storm's damage became clear.

The emergency management minister, Kieran McAnulty, said Gabrielle was "an unprecedented weather event".

A national state of emergency has been declared for the third time in New Zealand's history.

The designation means that the national government will be able to send resources across the country to help with civil defense efforts.

Flood waters rose to envelop homes and buildings in some areas, with people in Hawke's Bay seeking refuge on roofs because military helicopters were unable to reach them due to the weather.

Landslides swept away homes and cut off state highways throughout the North Island.

Adrianne Mason of Hawke's Bay's Esk Valley said her 22-year-old daughter had to climb out of her bedroom window in the middle of the night and swim to safety as flood waters rose, and neighbors were trapped on their roof by rising water.

They have fled to safety in a home on higher ground, but rescuers cannot reach them because the river has washed out roads.

The flooding was "catastrophic," according to Mason.

Their newly constructed home had been submerged, and other properties along the river had "lost their houses completely," she said.

On the East Cape, a farmer in Tolaga Bay described enormous destruction as floods carried "300kg logs, huge logs, one after another, rolling off the forestry up above us".

Assessing the extent of the damage was proving extremely difficult on Tuesday, with a number of regions completely cut off, and there were no formal numbers on people evacuated, injured, or homes destroyed so far.

The cyclone comes on the heels of devastating flooding in Auckland and Northland a fortnight ago, which caused extensive damage.

"This is climate change," said James Shaw, the climate change minister, of the cyclone's devastation.

Also Read: Severe Weather Warnings Issued for New Zealand Due to Heavy Rain and Snowfall

Three dead after a declared state of emergency

The cyclone weakened and moved away from the North Island on Wednesday. However, many people are still displaced, as per the BBC.

After rivers burst their banks, some people were forced to swim to safety. Some people have been rescued from rooftops.

A quarter-million people are without electricity. Houses have been smashed by falling trees, and landslides have carried others away and blocked roads.

The storm caused the most damage to coastal communities on the far north and east coasts of the North Island, with Hawke's Bay, Coromandel, and Northland among the hardest hit.

After a river burst its banks, communications to one town in the region were completely cut off.

Civil defense officials in the region said they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the damage. Australia and the United Kingdom have both offered assistance.

Two deaths were confirmed in the Hawke's Bay area on Wednesday.

Authorities also announced the discovery of the body of a missing firefighter who was caught in a landslide in Muriwai, west of Auckland.

According to rescue agencies, a second firefighter was critically injured.

Marcelle Smith, whose family lives in a cliff-front property in Parua Bay on the east coast of the North Island, told the BBC on Monday night that she had fled inland with her two young children.

According to local media, some Hawke's Bay residents were forced to swim through bedroom windows to escape as waters flooded their homes.

People have been warned that they may be without power for several weeks.

Aerial photographs of flooded areas showed people stranded on rooftops, awaiting rescue.

The destruction is massive, with uprooted trees, bent street lights and poles, and row after row of flooded homes.

The New Zealand Defence Force released dramatic images of officials rescuing a stranded sailor whose yacht was swept out to sea after its anchor cable snapped in high winds.

Related article: Met Service Issues Severe Weather and Heavy Rain Warnings for New Zealand
"You know the president with honesty, integrity and dependability. We will continue with his incorruptible and straightforward attributes, " he said.

The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday told a mammoth rally in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that he would work assiduously to advance the legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

At the rally attended by the president, Mr Tinubu said the good work of the president particularly in the area of infrastructure revolution, revamping agriculture, road and railway network would be sustained.

"You know the president with honesty, integrity and dependability. We will continue with his incorruptible and straightforward attributes, " he said.

The APC candidate also promised to prudently manage the nation's resources and increase the revenue-generation capacity as he did when he was Lagos governor.

To the people of Imo, Mr Tinubu said he would further invest in education as Mr Buhari who upgraded two institutions in the state to universities did and help to make the state a tourist destination.

"We will strengthen and promote peace and unity in the state and confront violence and man inhumanity to fellow man as that's the only way growth and development can be achieved," he said.

Addressing the rally, Mr Buhari said for the umpteenth time that Mr Tinubu would be the next president of the country God willing.

He said he had accompanied Mr Tinubu to the state to sell him to the people, expressing gratitude for the massive turnout at the rally.

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The president had earlier paid a courtesy call on traditional rulers in the state at their council chamber where he had also canvassed support for Mr Tinubu's election.

The Chairman of the Traditional Council in the state who received Mr Buhari, Eze Udo, Eze Okeke, conferred on the president the chieftaincy title of Nwanne Dinamba, meaning a brother in The Diaspora.

The host governor, Hope Uzodinnma, while welcoming the dignitaries to the state, restated that Imo is part of the Nigerian entity and "in brotherhood, the people of the state shall stand with other Nigerians."

He thanked Mr Buhari for his support for the state, adding that his presence at the rally was a great testament to his determination to get the party to win the next election and to grow further.

Those who attended the rally held at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri include the party's National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, Governors Uzodinnma (Imo), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) as well as the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege among others,

Others are APC Deputy Chairman (South), Emma Enekwu, former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Idris Wase and APC National Woman Leader Betta Edu.
5G connectivity is being used in a wide range of products, but one thing they have in common is that they tend to be very high-powered devices. Up until now, there has been little emphasis on low-power devices, such as small edge/IoT devices or consumer products.

Qualcomm is addressing that with Snapdragon X35 5G Modem-RF, a 5G New Radio (NR) processor designed to serve the low-power and low-bandwidth markets.

The company claims it is the first NR-Light processor based on the 2020 3GPP Release 17 spec that was written to support low-power 5G IoT devices over any of the broadcast frequencies allocated to 5G. At the same time, it is compatible with legacy LTE (4G). The spec is also known as reduced capacity or RedCap.

Our new integrated modem-RF system is optimized for power consumption and performance so modems can do more with less, wrote Gautam Sheoran, vice president of product management at Qualcomm in a blog post announcing the processor.

The chip was intended to bridge the complexity gap between high-speed mobile broadband devices and extremely low-bandwidth IOT devices. Snapdragon X35 also has a reduced footprint meant to fit more readily into smaller IoT devices such as surveillance cameras, industrial sensors, wearables, and consumer devices.

Customer sampling of Snapdragon X35 is expected to begin in the first half of 2023. The first commercial mobile devices are expected to be launched by the first half of 2024.
press release

Until his death, the deceased was a member of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

President Muhammadu Buhari mourns the demise of former senator, Abba Ali, a friend and classmate, saying he has lost a valued friend.

Until his death, the deceased was a member of the Federal Judicial Service Commission and served as the Chairman of the Forum of Classmates that included the President and members of their set from what is now the Government College Katsina.

In a tribute to the late Mr Ali, the president describes him as a complete gentleman who had a nuanced understanding of issues.

"I have had the honor of knowing him from our early days. He is leaving us with countless memories. We will greatly miss him," says the president.
"We got here because President Muhammadu Buhari has messed up to have allowed this type of fiasco to exist on the eve of an election when you are campaigning to have your party voted for."

The spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described the redesigning of the Naira as the biggest demarketing strategy against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Ahmed said this Tuesday during an interview on Channels TV.

Stating that Mr Buhari had messed up, the NEF official said the administration has in the past couple of weeks destroyed the informal sector with the Naira scarcity.

He stated that the hardship caused by the policy is demarketing the ruling party in the northern part of the country.

He stated that the worst enemy of the APC could not have picked a better demarketing strategy against the ruling party.

According to him, it appears that President Muhammadu Buhari is not listening to anybody even though he could end the fiasco by allowing the two currencies to operate side by side.

"We got here because President Muhammadu Buhari has messed up to have allowed this type of fiasco to exist on the eve of an election when you are campaigning to have your party voted for.

"This money thing is a major demarketing strategy for the APC. If the worst enemy of the APC had designed strategy for them to lose the election, he could not have picked a better strategy than this fiasco on redesigning of the Naira.

"Their own people are saying it was designed to make Tinubu lose, the governors said this was designed to make him (Tinubu) lose. The candidate himself said the policy was designed to make him lose.

"People are starving - literally, people are starving. There is no money. In four weeks, you have destroyed the informal sector of the economy in one fell swoop because there is no money, there is no cash. Literally, there is a lot of anger, to see a situation where the president either appears unwilling or incapable of reigning in Emefiele by saying, listen, there are options, we can have the two running in the next six month," he said.

Mr Buhari had after a meeting with some governors of the ruling party said he should be given seven days to take action on the scarcity of the bank notes. He has yet to do so, over 10 days after he made the pledge.

Last week, the president convened a meeting of the Council of State, and the council resolved that the central bank should aggressively print and circulate more naira notes.

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Equally, there is a substantive order by the Supreme Court that mandated the federal government to suspend the deadline of 10 February pending the decision on the suit filed by the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara State.

However, Mr Emefiele has disregarded the order of the Supreme Court as he announced that the 10 February deadline stands. The court is set to hear the argument of the two sides on 15 February.

Assessing the frontrunners

Speaking on the presidential race, Mr Ahmed said the NEF is still looking at all the major frontrunners and it will make its decision in no time.

He said the forum will make its decision putting the interest of the north ahead of all others. He stated that the north will not be bullied by those calling for power shift to the south.

"Our position has always been consistent, this rotation thing is a PDP gimmick which they never respected. The power belongs to where the voters are and it goes to the candidates that get the most votes. We have votes in the north, and we have candidates.

"We noticed that in some parts of the south, people are harping on 'it must come to the south' but we thought the language of 'it must come" is overrated. You don't win elections with 'it must' language.

"This country needs a leader that can hold it together and unite it. We are looking at the value of the people. We are looking at the calibre of the people. We are not looking at the language. We are not impressed and we are not intimidated. We will not vote for a candidate just because his supporters used certain language. What that does is that it demarkets the candidate. We have gone past that."
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Tom and Beth Chamberlain have endowed the Harold and Emily Jean Hull Scholarship at Danville Area Community College in honor of Beths parents. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a DACC graduate who transfers to the University of Illinois.
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, (second from right) and her new Danville field office leader, Mary Catherine Roberson, hand Vietnam veteran Robin Stillwell a valentine and goodie bag Tuesday at the Danville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It was Kellys first Danville event since the city was added to her district.
Our County Editor

Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at dhinton@news-gazette.com.
Ethan Simmons is a reporter at The News-Gazette covering the University of Illinois. His email is esimmons@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@ethancsimmons).
Chest CT revealed persistent lung abnormalities in patients two years after COVID-19, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This is the first research paper with two-year follow-up data on COVID-19 lung effects.

Globally, more than 600 million people have recovered from COVID-19, but concerns remain that some organs, especially the lungs, may suffer long-term damage after infection.

Qing Ye, M.D., and Heshui Shi, M.D., Ph.D., from Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and colleagues set out to assess residual lung abnormalities in patients up to two years post-COVID-19 pneumonia. They also looked at the correlation between residual lung abnormalities and changes in lung function.

In this prospective study, 144 patients (79 men and 65 women, median age 60) discharged from the hospital after SARSCoV-2 infection between January 15 and March 10, 2020, were included. Three serial chest CT scans and pulmonary function tests were obtained at six months, 12 months and two years after symptom onset.

Residual lung abnormalities after discharge from the hospital included fibrosis (scarring), thickening, honeycombing, cystic changes, dilation of the bronchi, and more.

Over two years, the incidence of lung abnormalities gradually decreased. At six months, 54% of patients showed lung abnormalities. On two-year follow-up CT scans, 39% (56/144) of the patients had lung abnormalities, including 23% (33/144) with fibrotic lung abnormalities and 16% (23/144) with non-fibrotic lung abnormalities.

"In particular, the proportion of fibrotic interstitial lung abnormalities, an important precursor to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, remained stable throughout follow-up," the authors said. "Therefore, the fibrotic abnormalities observed in our study might represent a stable, irreversible pulmonary condition, such as lung fibrosis, after COVID-19."

The remaining 88 cases (61%) showed no abnormalities.

Patients with lung abnormalities on CT were more likely to have respiratory symptoms and abnormal lung function. The proportion of individuals with respiratory symptoms decreased from 30% at six months to 22% at two years.

At two-year follow-up, the most common respiratory symptom was exertional dyspnea or shortness of breath (14% [20/144]), while mild and moderate pulmonary diffusion-;which refers to how well the air sacs in the lungs are delivering oxygen to and removing carbon dioxide from the blood in the tiny blood vessels that surround them-;were observed in 29% (38/129) of patients. Pulmonary diffusion was regarded as abnormal when diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide was less than 75% of the predicted value. The researchers suggest that persisting residual symptoms and abnormal lung function could be related to the patient's ongoing lung damage.

"Long-term and functional consequences of chest CT findings post-COVID-19 are largely unknown," the authors said. "Our prospective study found that 39% of participants had persistent interstitial lung abnormalities at two-year follow-up, which were associated with respiratory symptoms and decreased diffusion function."

The authors advise that patients with residual lung abnormalities or respiratory symptoms after COVID-19 should be followed up to detect and manage pulmonary changes and functional impairment.
China reaps fruitful outcomes in development of large LNG carriers

14:37, February 15, 2023 By Kong Dechen ( People's Daily

A 174,000-cubic meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and an 80,000-cubic meter one are being built in a shipyard of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., June 8, 2022. (Photo from the official website of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding)

China delivered outstanding shipbuilding performance last year, with output, new, and holding orders accounting for 47.3 percent, 55.2 percent, and 49.0 percent of the world's total, respectively. All ranked first globally.

Chinese shipbuilders received 55 orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in 2022, accounting for more than 30 percent of the world's total, a record high for the country, which demonstrated the country's capability in high-end shipbuilding.

"This achievement broke the monopoly of shipbuilders in some countries in LNG carriers building and kicked off a new phase of global competition in the sector," said Li Yanqing, secretary-general of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI).

South Korea has long possessed a dominating position in the global LNG carrier market. The situation was changed by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China's largest shipbuilding company China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), which delivered China's first homegrown large LNG carrier in 2008.

Ever since, China's shipbuilders of LNG carriers have embraced constant development and gradually narrowed the gap between them and their global competitors.

LNG tank ships are considered a product featuring high technologies, high manufacturing difficulties, and high added value. They are dubbed as one of the three "pearls" on the crown of shipbuilding together with aircraft carriers and large cruise ships.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier CESI Tianjin leaves the Tianjin LNG Receiving Terminal after being unloaded in north China's Tianjin municipality, Dec. 15, 2022. (People's Daily Online/Wang Jun)

According to an employee with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., LNG tanker manufacturing is a technology- and capital-intensive industry, which tests the comprehensive capability of manufacturers.

Safety comes first in the designing and building of LNG carriers. Li told People's Daily that building an LNG carrier is as difficult as building an aircraft carrier.

"In particular, the scaffold system, which has direct contact with the LNG that's as cold as minus 163 degrees Celsius, poses the major technical difficulty in building large LNG carriers," he explained.

LNG carriers must meet very high safety standards as they carry tens of thousands of tons of LNG on the sea for thousands of kilometers.

"Leakages in the tank lead to ruptures of the steel body of the carrier. If the leaking LNG gasifies rapidly, there would be explosions. Therefore, no mistake is allowed in the designing and manufacturing of LNG carriers," Li said.

Since the beginning of 2022, the demand for LNG carriers has soared in the global market, and the emerging shipbuilding market has seen a surge in LNG carrier orders, which has provided opportunities for eligible Chinese shipbuilders to enter the LNG carrier construction market.

Photo shows an LNG receiving terminal of China National Offshore Oil Corporation in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang province. (People's Daily Online/Jiang Xiaodong)

Last year, China saw the rise of multiple industrial clusters of LNG carrier manufacturing led by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company, Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd., and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group.

Chinese shipbuilders have become important participants in the field of global energy transportation, Li said.

The surging orders for LNG carriers have brought China's LNG shipbuilding industry to a key period featuring accelerated development.

It is learned that the production of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding has been scheduled until 2028.

"The decision to expand capacity, flexible marketing strategies, and solid technological foundation are the basis for Chinese shipbuilders to have entered the marine LNG transport market and expanded their shares," Li told People's Daily, adding that faster delivery and new orders remain important for Chinese shipbuilders to further expand their market, no matter how the market develops this year.

At present and in the near future, the Chinese shipbuilding industry should leverage China's resources and the international division of labor to establish its advantages in technology, industrial development, management, and market in the building of LNG carriers and other gas carriers.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
From incumbent senators seeking a return to the National Assembly, to governors who want to become senators, the senatorial contests in some states promise to be as exciting as the presidential election.

As Nigerians look forward to an exciting presidential contest, which analysts said is the closest and perhaps the most unpredictable since the country's return to democratic rule 24 years ago, on 25 February, not much is being said about the election to choose members into the bi-cameral parliament of Africa's biggest democracy.

Though the election to elect the 469 members of both houses of the National Assembly - the Senate and House of Representatives, as the country's parliament is known, will be held simultaneously with the presidential election, understandably it is the election to choose the country's leader that is attracting all the attention.

But in some instances, the often overlooked election to elect members of the National Assembly can be as exciting and packed with intrigues as the presidential poll. What is more, in many instances, the success of a party's candidate in the National Assembly election is often of pointer to the party's performance in the presidential election.

PREMIUM TIMES takes a look at some of the senatorial contests in the North-west region that promises as much excitement as the presidential election. These contests are between old political foes, former allies, governors versus entrenched godfathers, and godfathers against their former proteges.

Aleiro Vs Bagudu

This promises to be the most exciting senatorial contest in the region. Former governor Adamu Aliero was first elected into the Senate in 2007 to represent Kebbi Central district after he completed his two-term tenure as governor of the state. But he resigned his appointment for a ministerial position in the Umoru Yar'Adua cabinet. He, however, was re-elected to the Senate in 2015.

When Mr Aliero was leaving the Senate in 2008, he supported his friend, Abubakar Bagudu to replace him. Mr Bagudu later became governor in 2015. In 2015 he was steadfastly behind Mr Aliero's bid to return to the Senate.

When it became obvious that Mr Bagudu was eyeing the senate position at the end of his tenure as governor, Mr Aliero, the incumbent senator of the district, decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As expected, Mr Bagudu contested in the primary and won while Mr Aliero emerged as the candidate of the PDP, pitching both men - a former governor and the incumbent governor- against each other.

Tambuwal Vs Danbaba

In Sokoto State, the fight for Sokoto South Senatorial district promises to be an intense battle between the incumbent governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who seeks to wrest the position from Ibrahim Danbaba.

Mr Danbaba was an ally of Mr Tambuwal in 2015 when both men were the All Progressives Congress (APC). So much was Mr Tambuwal's influence on Mr Danbaba that when the governor defected to the PDP just before the 2019 election, Mr Danbaba moved with him to the chagrin of their political godfather, Aliyu Wamakko.

But their friendship soon turned sour. When Mr Tambuwal contested for the presidential ticket of the PDP, he appointed Aminu Bodinga, said to be his most trusted ally as a placeholder for the senatorial position, that was when Mr Danbaba realised his former friend was gunning for his senatorial seat.

He immediately returned to the APC to the waiting hands of Mr Wamakko and was elected the APC senatorial candidate for the district, creating the ground for another exciting contest on 25 February.

Wamakko Vs Dan Iya

Aliyu Wamakko is perhaps the most influential politician in Sokoto State. the other politician that is closely as influential as him is another former governor Attahiru Bafarawa. Mr Wamakko has been in the Senate since 2015. His main challenger, Nasiru Dan Iya, is the incumbent deputy governor of the state. While Mr Wamakko represents APC, Mr Dan Iya represents PDP. The contest for the Sokoto Central seat will an interesting one to behold as Mr Iya, just as his principal, Mr Tambuwal, was a protege of Mr Wamakko.

While Mr Wamakko will be fighting to retain his political cred, he will be up against an incumbent who is also banking on his ascendancy - he is a descendant of the greatest Islamic scholar of Northern Nigeria, Usman Dan Fodio - to displace his former idol.

Babba-Kaita Vs Zango

In Katsina, the contest in President Muhammadu Buhari's senatorial district promises all the fireworks of the keenly contested political tussle. The contest is made even made more balance by Mr Buhari's aloofness towards the election. If Buhari, who enjoyed a cult following across northern Nigeria, was openly campaigning for his party candidates in his home constituency, the contest would have been over before it even began.

But following the acrimonious primary election in the region where many allies of the president were edged out and his refusal to intervene, several of the party's foot soldiers and influencers defected to the main opposition party, the PDP there throwing the contests for positions in the state open.

In the senatorial election in the Katsina North district (commonly referred to as Daura zone, after the president's home town), Ahmed Babba - Kaita the incumbent senator will be fighting to retain his seat against Nasir Zango of the APC.

Mr Zango is the current House of Representatives member representing Zango and Baure. He has been in the House of Representatives since 2011.

Mr Babba-Kaita left the APC, alleging persecution by Aminu Masari, the governor of the state. Since then, he has become of the most vocal critics of President Buhari and Mr Masari.

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This contest promises to be exciting as APC will try to reclaim the zone since it's the president's zone. The state government will also play a role as the governor will be bent on humiliating Mr Babba-Kaita, following his open antagonism towards him.

Gaya Vs Sumaila

Kano South Senatorial district is the traditional battleground in the commercial hub of northern Nigeria. The district traditionally sides with the opposition. But since 2007, one man, Kabiru Gaya, a former governor of the state, has been elected into the Senate. but that may change this year with the emergence of Kawu Sumaila, another veteran National Assembly member . He was a member of the House of Representatives member from 2003 to 2015- as the candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

The contest between both veterans is one to look forward to. Mr Sumaila is a famed grassroots mobiliser and will definitely bring his goodwill among rural dwellers to play in the contest. What is more, within a year, the NNPP has risen from complete obscurity to upstaging the PDP as the main opposition party in the state. All thanks to its presidential candidate and a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

But Mr Gaya is not a pushover. It takes a lot of gravitas to remain the sole senatorial representative of a battleground district for 16 years. And he will pull all the stops to triumph over his latest challenger.
Machines are currently learning how to identify cancer cells with the help of manipulated light. This approach may help to take the pressure off our hard-pressed health services and reduce waiting times for anxious patients.

According to the Norwegian Cancer Society, the results of tissue biopsies, which carry the information about the presence or absence of cancer, normally take between three to four weeks to come through. This is among the most difficult waiting times that we ever experience.

However, in a few years' time, this waiting will be a thing of the past, thanks to new light-based technology and computers equipped with artificial intelligence.

Long waiting times

Today, much of diagnostics relies on a resource in short supply - specialists who undertake manual examinations of either the patient or tissue samples.

This is why waiting times are often so long. Weeks or months can seem like years when you feel there may be something wrong.

Many people seek help from the private sector, where waiting times are shorter, but the cost of treatment very high. If you live in a low-income country, you may have no access to diagnostics at all.

Light - combined with artificial intelligence

In response to this, we at SINTEF have joined forces with colleagues from the universities of Southern Denmark and Oulu in Finland and have succeeded in breaking new ground in this field. We are attempting to improve cancer diagnostics by utilizing the invisible properties of light, combined with artificial intelligence.

Diagnostics is about more than just chemistry (blood test analyses), electrical signals (ECG), ultrasound and X-ray radiographs. The very same sunlight that warms us on a summer's day can, when reflected from our tissues, tell us a lot about our health.

A simple example are the bruises we get after a fall. Our skin changes color and this is easy to see. In order to diagnose cancer, on the other hand, tissue samples have to be treated chemically (stained) to color them before their biological characteristics can be studied. Only then is it possible for a specialist, using a microscope, to see whether cancer has developed in the tissue.

However, the reflected light from tissue samples also contains information that our eyes cannot see. A lot of research is currently being carried out to evaluate exactly what the invisible properties of light reflected from our skin, eyes, and indeed the brain, can tell us about our health.

Oscillating in all directions

Some of this invisible information is contained in the way the light oscillates. While ocean waves move the seawater up and down, light waves oscillate in all directions - sideways and obliquely as well. We can see something of this oscillation when we send waves along a skipping rope.

But our eyes cannot distinguish between all the multiple oscillation directions contained in what we call 'polarised' light. However, this is exactly what we are focusing on. The light that we are studying can be compared to the journey of a ray of sunlight on its way to planet Earth.

Sunlight changes its oscillation direction, or polarization when it becomes scattered by small molecules or particles in the Earth's atmosphere. It is this scattering that makes the sky look blue (Rayleigh scattering). However, when the light encounters larger particles, such as the water droplets in mist, the colour becomes more diffuse when viewed from a distance. This is called Mie scattering.

Light is scattered in the cells of our bodies in the same way.

Opportunities for more rapid cancer diagnoses

In simple terms, we obtain Rayleigh scattering from light that encounters the cores of healthy cells, but for the most part Mie scattering from the cores of cancer cells. Automation of the measurement of reflected light from tissue samples thus offers us the opportunity to perform more rapid cancer diagnoses.

This requires that we utilize all the information that the light has to offer. However, obtaining detailed information about the polarisation of reflected light in every pixel rapidly involves a volume of data that is much too large, even for highly trained specialists.

Computers, on the other hand, are able to deal with such large volumes of data. The application of machine learning, which is a branch of artificial intelligence, enables computers to see patterns that we cannot. So, by combining large volumes of data, analyzed by machine learning, we will hopefully be able to make more accurate diagnoses.

Boosting successful diagnoses

For some this may sound like pie in the sky, but machines are beginning to make their mark in the field of medical diagnostics.

A study published by Google Research in the USA revealed that 92 per cent of the tumors presented in a selection of standard microscope images of tissue samples were correctly diagnosed by artificial intelligence, whereas only 73 per cent were identified by pathologists.

We believe that the success rate exhibited by artificial intelligence can be increased further with the application of new, light-based assessment methods, such as those involving the inclusion of measurements of changes in oscillation direction as light enters the tissue.

Rapid and sensitive instrument

A collaborative European research project headed by SINTEF is currently addressing this issue. We are developing a compact, rapid and sensitive instrument designed to examine tissue samples using polarised light with the aim of using machine learning to determine the presence or absence of cancer.

The aim of the project is to develop equipment that hospital staff and general practitioners can use after some basic training. The entire system will be based on the use of ground-breaking nanoscale surfaces, also known as metasurfaces. These are measured in millionths of millimeters and exhibit three-dimensional 'patterns' in the form of blocks or cylindrical columns. This approach offers us new ways of controlling the polarisation of the light we use.

Microscopic movable surfaces

At SINTEF, together with our colleagues from the University of Southern Denmark, we have discovered new ways of making such surfaces movable. This enables us to change the polarization of light during the process, and in doing so provide more information to the algorithms whose function it is to determine the presence of cancer in the tissue.

The project is building on a promising test system previously developed by our colleagues at the University of Oulu. The work is being carried out under contract for ATTRACT, which is a joint collaborative project involving leading European research organizations, including CERN, focusing of the development of epochal new technology.

We are hoping that this solution will provide us with a two-fold benefit. Firstly, a simple and rapid diagnostic tool that can be used by general practitioners, and secondly, an instrument that offers cancer examinations to people in low-income countries who currently have no access to a diagnostic process.

And all this thanks to the invisible properties of light.
In a recent viewpoint article published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers underscored the need for prompt adoption of scientific evidence, using the delayed acceptance of the airborne mode of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission as an example.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused unprecedented morbidity and mortality, with profound economic impacts across the globe. Scientific evidence has been rejected by global health authorities in favor of embedded beliefs and narrow interpretations of evidence, the consequences of which have been witnessed globally.

Study: COVID-19 and Airborne Transmission: Science Rejected, Lives Lost. Can Society Do Better? Image Credit: peterschreiber.media / Shutterstock

About the viewpoint

In the present viewpoints article, researchers listed the sequence of events taking place for the global recognition of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, highlighting the impact of the late adoption of scientific data by global health authorities on public health by describing the delayed acceptance of airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic

In January 2020, SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent of COVID-19, was detected in Wuhan, China. The respiratory virus transmitted rapidly, with a surge in COVID-19 cases ever since, warranting the need for controlling the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 mitigation before the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic would transform into a pandemic.

Dr. Junji Cao, Professor, Academy of Sciences, China, was concerned since the airborne nature of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 was not well established, and communicated with Dr. Lidia Morawska, Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, on February 7, 2020. Morawska and Cao collaborated to write a commentary titled Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: the world should face the reality. The two professors contacted the editors of two top journals to increase public awareness of the situation at hand; however, the efforts were fruitless at the time (but the message was subsequently published on April 7, 2020, by Environment International.

By March 2020, Italy had become the epicenter of SARS-CoV-2 transmission beyond China, and Professor Giorgio Buonanno from the University of Southern Lazio and Cassino was among the few researchers who raised concerns over airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. However, medical communities in Italy advocated personal protective equipment use by the book, which failed to acknowledge SARS-CoV-2 presence in the air. Therefore, protective measures against the airborne spread of SARS-CoV-2, including sufficient ventilation and protective respirator use, were not implemented.

On March 29, 2020, the World Health Organizations Health Emergencies Program issued a broadcast statement to CNN stating that evidence on the probable benefit of masking to the population was lacking. On the same day, Morawska drafted a petition addressed to the WHO and, on a subsequent day, contacted experts in the fields of virology, aerosol physics, clinical medicine, public health, infection control and prevention, facility management, and building engineering to sign the petition.

In this manner, a group of 36 experts recognizing airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission, was formed and named Group 36. On April 1, 2020, Morawska mailed the petition to the World Health Organization health emergencies programs management team, and the media was not engaged at the time. However, Morawska was contacted on the phone within an hour by the WHO health emergencies program team to have another call, with all Group 36 members and other experts, on April 3, 2020.

During the conversation, the WHO, and other experts, seemed to undermine or reject the petition. On April 16, 2020, the WHO responded to the petition, stating that the airborne spread of SARS-CoV-2 was mainly opportunistic and restricted to aerosol-generating procedures, to which, Group 36 replied the next day, with disappointment over the lack of recognition of the urgent concern by the WHO. Subsequently, the petition was re-drafted and directed to national population healthcare authorities and the WHO by contacting a top international scientific journal.

Experts beyond Group 36 were included as supporters or co-authors, and an online platform was created that garnered an overwhelming response, and global support, within a short period. However, international scientific journals rejected the paper on May 28, 2020, and on June 17, 2020, on the grounds of a lack of strong scientific evidence for airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Acceptance of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

The paper was accepted by Clinical Infectious Diseases on July 1, 2020, and published five days later, three months after the initial petition was sent to the WHO. However, just prior to the papers publication, a second petition was sent to the WHO, the members of which accepted the airborne route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission on July 6, 2020.

Accepting emerging evidence on the airborne mode of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the WHO, on July 9, 2020, stated that the probable routes modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission include droplet, contact, fomite, airborne, bloodborne, fecal-oral, animal-to-human and mother-to-child transmission. Airborne transmission was described as the spread of infectious agents caused by the spread of droplet nuclei (aerosol) that remain infectious in the air over a long time and distance.

With the increase in cases and new variant emergence, data expanded on the association of inadequately ventilated rooms and SARS-CoV-2 transmission, including superspreading, and increased acceptance of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by global scientific communities was observed. As a result, several documents were published by the WHO on proper ventilation, released on March 1, 2021, and reviewed by Group 36, a health force aimed at curtailing SARS-CoV-2 transmission by improving ventilation, which has published 45 papers on the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

Based on the findings, scientific evidence must be considered and adopted promptly for more effective disease mitigation and probable prevention of deaths associated with pandemics such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Furthermore, policymaking and resilience planning in the future must be based on scientific evidence rather than beliefs lacking firm scientific backing.
Hannah Crabtree got active on Twitter in 2016 to find more people like herself: those with Type 1 diabetes who'd hacked their insulin pumps to automatically adjust the amount of insulin delivered.

Soon, though, Crabtree found a more critical diabetes-related conversation happening on Twitter: rising insulin prices.

Crabtree's mother, who also had diabetes, died in 2006 of complications from rationing expensive insulin. Most people naturally produce the hormone, which helps the body convert carbohydrates into energy. People with Type 1 diabetes don't produce enough, so they need injectable insulin to stay alive.

But the medication has become increasingly expensive. One version rose in price from $21 to $255 per vial between 1996 and 2016, for example, and Crabtree had often wondered in the years after her mother died why more people weren't talking about the issue. On Twitter, she found the people who were doing just that.

Crabtree, a 32-year-old accountant in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., became part of a small group of patient activists who have managed to turn U.S. insulin prices into a kitchen table issue in part through their use of Twitter.

The impromptu vigil/protest outside the Capitol is over, but @lollydaggle is still herebecause this is personal. #insulinforall pic.twitter.com/RXLrD34MEn -; Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 25, 2017

Their activism helped make insulin prices a topic of the 2020 presidential election. And 22 states and Washington, D.C., have now passed caps on insurance copayments for insulin, in addition to a copay cap Congress passed last year for some Medicare patients that went into effect Jan. 1. During President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Feb. 7, he called for capping out-of-pocket insulin costs for all Americans.

But these activists have long called for caps on insulin prices, not just copays, and Biden's measure is unlikely to gain traction in the current Congress, let alone address the broader concerns about the high prices of many other types of medications that patients struggle to afford. The political intransigence reveals the limitations of Twitter as a platform for patient advocacy, despite recent successes. Some advocates now say they have scaled back their use of the platform, as trolls grow bolder with Elon Musk now in charge of Twitter and journalists and politicians eyeing other platforms.

"Twitter is a lifeline for a lot of diabetics," said Nicole Smith-Holt, an activist in Minnesota, pointing to the insulin sharing that happens via the platform. "I fear were going to lose a main resource for a lot of people."

Like others seeking change, such as disability rights advocates and the Black Lives Matter movement, diabetes activists have used social media hashtags to find one another, build momentum, and change the public conversation.

Alice Wong, a disabled activist in San Francisco who helped create the #cripthevote hashtag to give people with disabilities a voice in the 2016 election, said people downplay "armchair activism" as something frivolous and inferior to grassroots organizing.

"But effective activism has to meet people where they are," she said. Despite Twitter's many flaws and accessibility issues, Wong said, it has been a primary way for many people with disabilities to express themselves.

Many prominent voices on what some call Diabetes Twitter have a personal connection to high insulin prices, having struggled to afford it themselves or had family members die because of rationing. Like Crabtree, though, they often joined the online conversation through happenstance, with an everyday gripe about living with diabetes blowing up after strangers retweeted it with the hashtag #insulin4all.

The hashtag was created in part by T1 International, a nonprofit that advocates for people with Type 1 diabetes and doesn't take donations from pharmaceutical companies. The organization was founded in 2014 by Elizabeth Pfiester, who saw a need for an organization directly addressing insulin affordability.

Diabetes activists have sometimes been wary of the standard-bearer organizations, such as the American Diabetes Association and JDRF, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Federation, because they receive money from drugmakers. ADA spokesperson Rebecca Fisher said the organization has supported state and federal efforts to cap out-of-pocket insulin costs. Chelsea-Lyn Rudder, a JDRF spokesperson, said the organization has spent years lobbying Congress and calling on insulin manufacturers, health plans, employers, and the government to take action to lower the cost of insulin.

"Less than one percent of JDRF's funding comes from companies that manufacture insulin," Rudder said, "and these companies have no role in decisions about advocacy and research priorities."

The online conversation inspired one advocate, a Washington, D.C., attorney named Laura Marston, to tell her own story about struggling to afford insulin to The Washington Post in 2016. When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted a chart from the article and suggested that "the drug industry's greed" was to blame for insulin's rising cost, the stock price of one of the big three insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly, took a tumble.

A similar scenario played out in November when the company's stock sank 4% the day after a tweet from a parody Eli Lilly account claimed the pharmaceutical giant was making insulin free. Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told a summit that the prank showed more work needs to be done to lower insulin costs for patients. In both cases, the company's stock price quickly recovered. Eli Lilly stock is trading around 300% higher now than in 2017.

Eli Lilly did not respond to requests for comment about the role of social media in the national conversation about insulin prices.

Smith-Holt became an insulin activist after she lost her son Alec, at age 26, in 2017 because he couldn't afford his insulin. She started speaking out about insulin affordability to local media, but her advocacy really took off once she joined Twitter.

"There's just no stopping a tweet," Smith-Holt said. "It goes out into the universe and God only knows how many thousands or millions of people see."

Smith-Holt was among a group of activists who traveled to Canada in 2019 to purchase insulin over the counter to showcase the disproportionately high cost Americans pay. During the first trip, dubbed the "#CaravanToCanada," they garnered attention by tweeting about their journey. Sanders later joined them on an excursion to Windsor, Ontario, ahead of a Democratic presidential primary debate in next-door Detroit.

Pfiester pointed to real-world successes the movement has had beyond the copay caps: Since the #insulin4all campaign started, all three major insulin manufacturers have new patient assistance programs to help people get insulin if they are struggling to afford it. Another offline success came in 2020 in Minnesota, where Smith-Holt championed the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act, which created an insulin safety net that made insulin available for as little as $35 for a 30-day supply to people with an urgent need. The program is in place despite a legal challenge from the pharmaceutical industry.

But social media takes a toll on activists. Health misinformation and speculation abound. The open nature of Twitter creates a powerful tool for spreading a message but also an invitation for backlash, trolling, and vitriol.

"I cant tell you how many times Ive been told that I should be in prison because I actually caused the death of my son," Smith-Holt said.

Such venom already gave activists pause about the platform even before Musk bought it and began to remove restraints. Fears it could get worse have led some to leave the platform.

Smith-Holt said she has pared down her own online activism. It could be because of recent changes on Twitter, she said, but she also might just be running out of bandwidth. She works two jobs  for an airline and as a financial aid administrator at a community college.

She's proud of Alec's law, and showing the country that insulin affordability is an issue for people like her son. But, she said, it never seems to be enough.

"I don't know what it's going to take," she said.
Many people living on the streets in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood  the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast  are in full-blown addiction, openly snorting, smoking, or injecting illicit drugs, hunched over crates or on stoops. Syringes litter sidewalks, and the stench of urine fouls the air.

The neighborhood's afflictions date to the early 1970s, when industry left and the drug trade took hold. With each new wave of drugs, the situation grows grimmer. Now, with the arrival of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, new complications are burdening an already overtaxed system.

"It's all hands on deck," said Dave Malloy, a longtime Philadelphia social worker who does mobile outreach in Kensington and around the city.

Dealers are using xylazine, which is uncontrolled by the federal government and cheap, to cut fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The street name for xylazine is "tranq," and fentanyl cut with xylazine is "tranq dope." Mixed with the narcotic, xylazine amplifies and extends the high of fentanyl or heroin.

But it also has dire health effects: It leaves users with unhealing necrotic ulcers, because xylazine restricts blood flow through skin tissue. Also, since xylazine is a sedative rather than a narcotic, overdoses of tranq dope do not respond as well to the usual antidote  naloxone  which reverses the effects of only the latter.

Xylazine has been spreading across the country for at least a decade, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, starting in the Northeast and then moving south and west. Plus, it has proven to be easy for offshore bad actors to manufacture, sell, and ship in large quantities, eventually getting it into the U.S., where it often circulates by express delivery.

First detected in Philadelphia in 2006, xylazine was found in 90% of street opioid samples in the city by 2021. That year, 44% of all unintentional fentanyl-related overdose deaths involved xylazine, city statistics show. Since testing procedures during postmortems vary widely from state to state, no comprehensive data for xylazine-positive overdose deaths nationally exists, according to the DEA.

Here in Kensington, the results are on display. Emaciated users walk the streets with necrotic wounds on their legs, arms, and hands, sometimes reaching the bone.

Efforts to treat these ulcers are complicated by the narrowing of blood vessels that xylazine causes as well as dehydration and the unhygienic living conditions that many users experience while living homeless, said Silvana Mazzella, associate executive officer of the public health nonprofit Prevention Point Philadelphia, a group that provides services known as harm reduction.

Stephanie Klipp, a nurse who does wound care and is active in harm reduction efforts in Kensington, said she has seen people "literally living with what's left of their limbs  with what obviously should be amputated."

Fatal overdoses are rising because of xylazine's resistance to naloxone. When breathing is suppressed by a sedative, the treatment is CPR and transfer to a hospital to be put on a ventilator. "We have to keep people alive long enough to treat them, and that looks different every day here," Klipp said.

If a patient reaches the hospital, the focus becomes managing acute withdrawal from tranq dope, which is dicey. Little to no research exists on how xylazine acts in humans.

Melanie Beddis lived with her addiction on and off the streets in Kensington for about five years. She remembers the cycle of detoxing from heroin cold turkey. It was awful, but usually, after about three days of aches, chills, and vomiting, she could "hold down food and possibly sleep." Tranq dope upped that ante, said Beddis, now director of programs for Savage Sisters Recovery, which offers housing, outreach, and harm reduction in Kensington.

She recalled that when she tried to kick this mix in jail, she couldn't eat or sleep for about three weeks.

There is no clear formula for what works to aid detoxing from opiates mixed with xylazine.

"We do need a recipe that's effective," said Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, founding director of the Penn Medicine Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy.

Perrone said she treats opioid withdrawal first, and then, if a patient is still uncomfortable, she often uses clonidine, a blood pressure medication that also lessens anxiety. Other doctors have tried gabapentin, an anticonvulsant medication sometimes used for anxiety.

Methadone, a medication for opioid use disorder, which blunts the effects of opioids and can be used for pain management, seems to help people in tranq dope withdrawal, too.

In the hospital, after stabilizing a patient, caring for xylazine wounds may take priority. This can range from cleaning, or debridement, to antibiotic treatment  sometimes intravenously for periods as long as weeks  to amputation.

Philadelphia recently announced it is launching mobile wound care as part of its spending plan for opioid settlement funds, hopeful that this will help the xylazine problem.

The best wound care that specialists on the street can do is clean and bandage ulcers, provide supplies, advise people not to inject into wounds, and recommend treatment in medical settings, said Klipp. But many people are lost in the cycle of addiction and don't follow through.

While heroin has a six- to eight-hour window before the user needs another hit, tranq dope wanes in just three or four, Malloy estimated. "It's the main driver why people don't get the proper medical care," he said. "They can't sit long enough in the ER."

Also, while the resulting ulcers are typically severely painful, doctors are reluctant to give users strong pain meds. "A lot of docs see that as med-seeking rather than what people are going through," Beddis said.

In the meantime, Jerry Daley, executive director of the local chapter of a grant program run by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said health officials and law enforcement need to start cracking down on the xylazine supply chain and driving home the message that rogue companies that make xylazine are "literally profiting off of people's life and limb."
Burkholderia thailandensis is a gram-negative bacterium that poses a threat to public health due to being an opportunistic pathogen, as well as its potential misidentification as the more pathogenic B. pseudomallei, which is its closest phylogenetic relative. The US Federal Select Agents Program has designated B. pseudomallei as a Select Agent and the causative agent of melioidosis.

B. thailandensis have been reported to be found in some tropical regions such as northern Australia and Southeast Asia. It is a Biosafety Level 2 organism that has not been classified as a Select Agent. It is used by some researchers as a surrogate of B. pseudomallei in some experiments since it can be handled outside of Biosafety Level 3 laboratories. Differentiation of B. thailandensis is difficult from B. pseudomallei due to their similar biochemical phenotypes, with the only difference being the assimilation of L-arabinose by B. thailandensis.

B. thailandensis infections in humans are quite uncommon, especially in the Western Hemisphere. Three previous clinical cases have been reported from the southern United States, Texas in 2003, Louisiana in 1997, and Arkansas in 2017. Environmental sampling associated with the 2003 Texas case as well as previous sampling for B. pseudomallei complex members were unable to recover B. thailandensis. Occurrences of B. thailandensis have been mostly reported in Australia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. However, its occurrence in the Western Hemisphere is still unclear.

A new study in Emerging Infectious Diseases aimed to detect and isolate B. thailandensis from water and soil samples collected from Puerto Rico between December 2018 and March 2020, as well as Texas between November 2019 to November 2020.

About the study

The study involved the collection of water and soil samples by taking permission from landowners as well as permits for collection from reserved lands. Ten to 100 soil samples were collected from each site at a depth of 30 cm, where two holes were spaced 2.5 meters apart. About 150 ml of water sample was collected from each site with 2.5 meters between each sampling location. Filtering of all water samples was carried out on the day of collection using a sartorius water filtration method. Additionally, environmental scraps were collected from a partially empty residential 500-gallon water holding tank in Texas. Moreover, environmental sampling was also carried out in Mississippi in July 2022.

All the samples were prevented from UV exposure and were prepared for DNA extraction. TaqMan assay was used to detect B. thailandensis DNA signal within DNA extractions. Whole genome sequencing was performed, followed by multi-locus sequence type (MLST) analysis and phylogenetic analyses. Finally, comparative genomics was carried out to identify gene differences in the sequenced genomes.

Study findings

The results indicated that a total of 2540 environmental samples were collected, out of which 370 were from Texas and 2170 were from Puerto Rico. B. thailandensis DNA was detected in 4 samples from Texas and 6 samples from Puerto Rico. B. thailandensis isolates were detected in 1 sample from Texas and 4 from Puerto Rico. B. thailandensis was also identified from a soil sample collected in Mississippi. Moreover, B. thailandensis infection was also identified in a patient in Oklahoma in 2021 during a motor vehicle accident.

Environmental B. thailandensis isolates from Mississippi and Texas were reported to belong to the same clade as the clinical isolates from Louisiana and Texas as well as 2 environmental isolates from Asia. The clinical isolate from Oklahoma was reported to be closely related to the isolate from the Texas case of 2003. Environmental isolates from Mississippi and Texas were observed to differ more as compared to isolates from Australia and Thailand. Little diversity was observed among the 4 isolates from Puerto Rico. Novel ace allele 106 was reported in the isolate from Oklahoma as well as the 4 isolates from Puerto Rico, which were all assigned to novel sequence type (ST) 1772. Novel gltB allele 175 was reported in the Texas isolate assigned to novel ST1785, while the Mississippi isolate was assigned to novel ST2019.

Therefore, the current study indicates that water can serve as a reservoir and source of infection for B. thailandensis in Puerto Rico and the southern United States, especially during floods. Clinicians must also be aware of the misidentification of B. thailandensis as B. pseudomallei due to their similar morphologic and biochemical properties.
Join Fujifilm Europe in Vienna, Austria, for new product launches, an MRI symposium, and a chance to meet our experts and learn how we can take on the healthcare challenge together.

Fujifilm Europe is proud to support the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2023, as it returns to Vienna from the 1st to the 5th of March. We are excited to be unveiling a number of new products at the event, as well as hosting a specialist symposium on MRI, and offering the opportunity to meet the experts at our booth. Join us on Booth 502 | EXPO 5 to see how hospitals of the future could look. Created by internationally renowned architect Filippo Taidelli, its unique design uses natural phenomena  such as reflections and lights to provide a glimpse of the possible future of healthcare settings. Youll also be able to view the latest additions to our imaging and healthcare IT portfolio, including:

ARIETTA 750 DeepInsight ultrasound system  provides detailed views of tissue structures in countless clinical applications using artificial intelligence-based technology and state-of-the-art imaging.

ultrasound system  provides detailed views of tissue structures in countless clinical applications using artificial intelligence-based technology and state-of-the-art imaging. ECHELON Synergy MRI scanner  offers workflow and quality benefits through advanced technologies. Experience fast, effortless operation, streamlined workflow and enhanced patient experiences by combining powerful architecture and deep learning reconstruction with single-touch shortcuts and multiple on-gantry controls.*

MRI scanner  offers workflow and quality benefits through advanced technologies. Experience fast, effortless operation, streamlined workflow and enhanced patient experiences by combining powerful architecture and deep learning reconstruction with single-touch shortcuts and multiple on-gantry controls.* SCENARIA View Focus Edition CT scanner  helps clinicians to capture clear images of the heart, even on the most challenging heart rhythms, using advanced cardiac motion correction.* SynergyDrive accelerates workflows, and the new operator console uses the same interface as Synapse 3D, allowing for quick and easy operation.

CT scanner  helps clinicians to capture clear images of the heart, even on the most challenging heart rhythms, using advanced cardiac motion correction.* SynergyDrive accelerates workflows, and the new operator console uses the same interface as Synapse 3D, allowing for quick and easy operation. FDR Cross C-arm and smart fluoroscopy cart  a unique, hybrid mobile C-arm solution that provides clinicians with fluoroscopic and radiographic image capture in one single platform, while also allowing flexible positioning for imaging, similar to portable x-ray devices.

C-arm and smart fluoroscopy cart  a unique, hybrid mobile C-arm solution that provides clinicians with fluoroscopic and radiographic image capture in one single platform, while also allowing flexible positioning for imaging, similar to portable x-ray devices. FDR D-EVO III G80i digital x-ray detector  helps to improve efficiency and effectiveness in scoliosis, spine and orthopaedic procedures through its lightweight, wireless long-length DR detector, together with low dose technologies, antibacterial coating and single exposure capture.

digital x-ray detector  helps to improve efficiency and effectiveness in scoliosis, spine and orthopaedic procedures through its lightweight, wireless long-length DR detector, together with low dose technologies, antibacterial coating and single exposure capture. Comfort Comp feature for mammography  controls compression while monitoring force and thickness, providing a more comfortable breast imaging experience for patients.

We will also be running dedicated sessions offering hands-on demonstrations and discussions about the uses of advanced ultrasound technologies and dedicated Womens Health sessions at our booth throughout the congress, as well as hosting an exciting symposium where leading experts will explore the latest opportunities provided by cutting-edge MRI technologies. Visit our ECR information page to learn more and see how we can take on the challenge together.

About Fujifilm in Europe

Fujifilm operates over 50 group companies and branches in Europe and employs more than 6000 people engaged in R&D, manufacturing, sales and service, with FUJIFILM Europe GmbH, located in Ratingen, Germany, operating as the strategic headquarters for the region. Throughout Europe, Fujifilm entities serve a range of industries including medical technology, biopharmaceuticals, electronic materials, industrial products, chemicals, graphic systems, optical devices, data storage and all aspects of photography. Over the last 20 years, the company has more intensively focused on healthcare - from diagnosis to prevention and treatment. Today, Fujifilm in Europe provides the entire spectrum of patient care, in addition to research, development and manufacturing in advanced therapies, gene therapies and vaccines, as well as providing cell culture media and regenerative medicine solutions.For more information, please visit: fujifilm.com

About FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, leverages its depth of knowledge and proprietary core technologies to deliver Value from Innovation in our products and services in the business segments of healthcare, materials, business innovation, and imaging. Our relentless pursuit of innovation is focused on providing social value and enhancing the lives of people worldwide. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information about Fujifilms Sustainable Value Plan 2030, click here. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the company had global revenues of Euro 19,28 billion, at an exchange rate of 131 yen to the Euro. For more information, please visit: holdings.fujifilm.com

*ECHELON Synergy Smart and SCENARIA View Focus are not yet CE marked and so are currently not commercially available in Europe. indicates a trademark of FUJIFILM Corporation or other Fujifilm group company.
In a recent article published in PLOS Biology, a team of 45 virologists, evolutionary biologists, bioinformaticians, and structural biologists from around the world arrived at a consensus on virus classification methodologies and presented an integrated taxonomical framework for the systematics and taxonomy of viruses.

Background

Like all taxonomic fields associated with classifying lifeforms, virus taxonomy has undergone multiple revisions and updates based on novel methods and discoveries. Early virus classification and nomenclature were based on characteristics such as morphology, nucleic acid type, and the susceptibility of the virus to inactivation using low pH, high temperature, and organic solvents. The advent of genomics and technologies such as high-throughput and next-generation sequencing has resulted in the inclusion of genomic-level classification as a requirement for virus taxonomy.

Given that the estimation of viral diversity based on phenotypic classifications, in vitro cultures, and strain isolation estimates viral species diversity at a much lower scale than diversity estimates based on genomic data, the topic of contention among virologists is whether phenotypic properties of viruses such as host range, viral isolation in cell cultures, pathogenicity, morphology, etc., should be required criteria for virus taxonomy.

A 2016 committee convened by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) allowed viruses that were known only based on their genomic data to be included in virus taxonomy, which resulted in the identification of a large number of new viral taxa. Similar to the trend seen in the taxonomy of larger lifeforms, this has highlighted the need for a unified, integrated taxonomic approach that includes the traditional, morphology-based classification, as well as a metagenomics-based evolutionary taxonomy.

With a unified taxonomic framework in mind, 45 virologists, structural and evolutionary biologists, and bioinformaticians attended a meeting in April 2022 in Oxford, United Kingdom, to discuss methodologies and arrive at a consensus for a unified viral taxonomic framework. They discussed the reconciliation of the newly developed classification methods based on genetic data and the phenetic classification methods developed by virologists over decades, which include, apart from morphology, a range of properties such as epidemiology and virus-host ecology.

Recommendations

The recommendations proposed by the team were in the form of four principles of virus taxonomy. The first principle states that the taxonomy of viruses should reflect their evolutionary history, which means that taxonomic assignments must be based on monophyly in the evolutionary relationships. Based on the evolutionary patterns of hallmark genes, which are generally modules in the viral genome associated with virion formation and replication, viruses can be assigned to independent realms that reflect separate evolutionary origins.

The second principle discusses using viral properties to guide the assignment of ranks within the larger taxonomic groups determined based on evolutionary relationships. There are about 15 taxonomic ranks, including realms and species at opposite ends, the assignment of viruses to these ranks should follow the order of evolutionary patterns, genomic properties, and phenotypic characters. Species-level classifications can use characteristics such as host range, epidemiology, or disease associations as long as these categories also result in monophyly.

However, according to the third principle, while the proposed integrated taxonomic approach provides a framework for the evolutionary classification of viruses, alternate methods of classification based on epidemiology or other regulatory properties are valuable in specific circumstances. These methods, such as the Baltimore classification, may not follow evolutionary patterns and may include polyphyletic groups, but have clinical and epidemiological value, as in the case of the human immunodeficiency virus and arboviruses.

The last principle states that in the case of viruses with only genomic data and no other properties for the characterization of the virus, the metagenomic data will undergo strict quality control for sequence completion and accuracy. While the ICTV does not stipulate the need for multiple sequences for the taxonomic assignment of the new virus, although multiple sequences will provide information on the complete genome and genetic diversity, a set of guidelines is being developed to guide the submission of metagenomic data into publicly accessible databases for taxonomic classification.

Conclusions

Overall, the four principles for virus taxonomy outlined in this article provide the ICTV with a roadmap for integrating new technologies and discoveries into the development and expansion of viral classification systems. These principles also provide clarity, consistency, and a standardized method for viral classification to the wider community of virologists.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers used statistical modeling to estimate hospitalizations due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in children under five years of age in 28 nations of the European Union (EU) and Norway.

Study: Defining the Burden of Disease of RSV in Europe: estimates of RSV-associated hospitalisations in children under 5 years of age. A systematic review and modelling study. Image Credit: SUKJAI PHOTO / Shutterstock

*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.

Background

Around 22% of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) globally, resulting in ~101,400 deaths in young children annually, are due to RSV infections. Studies have estimated the burden of RSV infections, subsequent hospitalizations, and mortality in children in a European country. However, there is a lack of studies determining RSV-related hospitalizations in the whole of the EU for young children below five years.

About the study

In the present study, researchers collated data from several sources between 2006 and 2018. For instance, they used data from the REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope (RESCEU) project encompassing regularly collected data on hospital admissions for six countries - Denmark, Finland, England, Norway, Scotland, and the Netherlands. In addition, they added additional data for Spain and France from the literature.

The researchers searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases between 1 January 2019 and 30 November 2021 for original articles using the exact search string as the Li et al. systematic review. They further assessed all articles for eligibility; for instance, they checked all eligible articles by backward citation chaining. Finally, the researchers organized all the extracted data in a spreadsheet. They also assessed all the included studies for quality and calculated an overall score.

They used regression models to calculate published and unpublished national estimates of RSV-associated hospitalizations in EU countries to feed as input data for statistical analyses. They stratified data by age and country. Accordingly, it had the following age groups: zero to two, three to five, six to 11, 12 to 35, and 36 to 59 months.

They used a two-stage-modeling approach, adapted from prior work evaluating influenza-related mortality. In stage 1, the researchers identified age-stratified estimates of RSV-related hospitalizations from respiratory viruses (or other causes) for each year, calculated using regression models. This data and data extracted from the literature that met the inclusion criteria were input for Stage 2.

In two steps of Stage 2, they utilized the countrywide estimates of RSV-related hospitalizations to extrapolate the cumulative hospitalization burden for all EU countries and Norway. The first, called the data creation step, relied on two sets of 10 country-specific indicators representing population-level health conditions from a geographical and demographic perspective. The statistical modeling fetched four result sets, each related to one set of 10 country-specific indicators and one modeling approach.

They calculated the median of the results from all four models to calculate the total annual number and RSV-related hospitalization rates (per 1,000 people) for all the included countries for the zero to two, three to five, six to 11, 12 to 35, and 36 to 59 months age bands. The study search adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Study findings

The study analysis covered 1,372 unique records from MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and 33 articles identified by backward citation chaining. In addition, it covered two studies reporting RSV-related hospitalization estimates for Spain and France from 1997 to 2011 and 2010 to 2018, respectively. Intriguingly, data from eight EU countries used in the study analysis represented ~40% of the Norway and EU population.

The study analysis revealed that RSV was associated with an average of 245,244 hospital admissions per year in children below five years, with most cases in children below one year and one to two years (75% and 20.7%). However, the impact was the highest for infants below two months of age (71.6/1,000 children). Strikingly, on average, RSV infection accounted for the hospitalization of 10 of 1000 children in the EU annually.

Indeed, RSV is a leading cause of infant hospitalizations in the EU, especially when considering respiratory infections-related hospitalizations. These numbers are much lower in countries like Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Portugal. The countries with the highest number of RSV-related hospitalizations were France, the United Kingdom (UK), and Germany, with 46,027, 39,296, and 34,719 hospitalizations per year, respectively, in children below five years.

The researchers noted that the annual RSV-related hospitalization rates varied substantially across EU countries. While the Netherlands had the lowest rates in nearly all age groups, Norway had the lowest rates in the three-to-four-year age group, and France had the highest rates. Also, they noted the highest relative difference in the age group of 12-to-35-month-old infants, with rates in France being five-fold than in the Netherlands.

Conclusions

The study results showed that in children below five years, RSV, on average, led to ~250,000 respiratory hospitalizations annually in the 28 EU nations covered in this analysis. Of these, 65.4% of hospitalizations in Denmark and 80.7% in Spain occurred, on average, in zero to 11-month-old infants and 93.9% in Portugal, and 97.7% in Norway in those aged less than 23 months.

Similar to prior studies, RSV-related hospitalization increased with decreasing age, with infants below one year bearing the highest burden, especially those aged zero to two months. Thus, RSV immunization in the first six months of birth could prove highly beneficial in containing RSV infections among younger children. Furthermore, the study estimates could help optimize public health responses, allowing more resource allocation to pediatric hospitals during the winter season and supporting decisions regarding future RSV immunization and mitigation programs.

*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.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital today announced the launch of three new language versions of the Together by St. Jude online resource, a free source of information and education for families facing childhood and adolescent cancer. With the addition of Ukrainian, Portuguese and Urdu translations, the Together by St. Jude online resource is now available in 11 languages. The new versions provide vital material in the first languages of an additional 300 million people in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, including areas where access to reliable pediatric cancer information is limited or non-existent.

Patients and parents experiencing childhood cancer must have access to credible health information, educational resources and the support from those who understand the trials of fighting the disease. The new translations of the Together by St. Jude site make it easier for 300 million more people to find what they need to help them and their families take on a life-threatening disease." Diane Roberts, Vice President of Strategic Communication, Education and Outreach

The inclusion of the additional languages expands the website's reach to families in nations such as Brazil, Pakistan and Ukraine.

Portuguese: Brazil, home to the world's largest population of Portuguese speakers, is a key focus country for the Jude Global Alliance, which is dedicated to improving access to quality care and increasing survival rates of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases worldwide.

Brazil, home to the world's largest population of Portuguese speakers, is a key focus country for the Jude Global Alliance, which is dedicated to improving access to quality care and increasing survival rates of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases worldwide. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and widely spoken in northern India. This region is also home to 6 research hospitals that are members of the St. Jude Global Alliance.

is the official language of Pakistan and widely spoken in northern India. This region is also home to 6 research hospitals that are members of the St. Jude Global Alliance. Ukrainian: In 2022 St. Jude Global was instrumental in organizing SAFER Ukraine, a humanitarian effort to provide safe passage for childhood cancer patients and their families out of Ukraine. Translating the Together by St. Jude online resource into Ukrainian is a natural extension of SAFER Ukraine's mission and a direct response to Ukrainian families' preference to read important information in their own language.

St. Jude launched the Together by St. Jude online resource in 2018 so that anyone affected by childhood cancer could have free access to reliable information, no matter where the patient receives treatment. Today, the website receives more than 4 million visits annually from users in more than 220 countries and territories.

The information on the Together by St. Jude online resource is generated from the latest research and best practices in pediatric oncology and health literacy. St. Jude staff curates, produces and reviews articles, animations, illustrations and video features published on the site. The site offers resources that encompass a range of cancer experiences, including long-term survivors and bereaved parents-;not just from St. Jude, but from families treated at other hospitals across the U.S. and around the world.
opinion

There have even been instances where victims of kidnap spoke of collaboration between the state security agencies and the kidnappers.

The report reveals a clear connection between violence and corruption, something that is obvious but often rarely interrogated. The Nigerian experience confirms that governments plagued by corruption increasingly lack the capacity to protect the people and witness several forms of criminality and insurrection. Despite spending billions of dollars (eight trillion naira in seven years) ostensibly to fight insecurity both at the national and sub-national levels, insecurity in Nigeria continues to worsen.

Last month, the global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, released its annual corruption perception index (CPI), which ranks the perceived level of public sector corruption across 180 countries worldwide. This year's report paints a grim picture that reveals that many countries are yet to make progress in the fight against corruption since 2017. Nigeria is one of those countries that fell into this category, despite being led by a government that promised radical reforms and a president with perceived anti-corruption credentials. Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, was elected in 2015 after he defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, partly because he promised to stamp out corruption from Africa's biggest economy endowed with enormous natural resources. Interestingly, Mr Buhari continues to receive accolades across the continent as an anti-corruption icon, while the reality at home remains pathetically different. However, despite the tough rhetoric and grandstanding, corruption continues to grow in leaps and bounds, while the president sits helplessly as the anti-corruption struggle has become a weapon deployed towards partisan ends. The verdict is that corruption is waxing stronger under President Buhari.

CPI Links Corruption and Security Challenges, Throwing Light On Nigeria's situation

The report reveals a clear connection between violence and corruption, something that is obvious but often rarely interrogated. The Nigerian experience confirms that governments plagued by corruption increasingly lack the capacity to protect the people and witness several forms of criminality and insurrection. Despite spending billions of dollars (eight trillion naira in seven years) ostensibly to fight insecurity both at the national and sub-national levels, insecurity in Nigeria continues to worsen. With growing weak institutions and poor oversight, Nigerian security forces are not sufficiently trusted across the population to be neutral and professional in the performance of their duties. This partly contributed to the widespread protest against police brutality known as #EndSARS, which almost brought the country to a halt. Cases of banditry, kidnapping and terrorism have become frequent across the whole country. The security agencies have not done much about these, as some parts of the country are currently under the control of terrorists and bandits who collect taxes from farmers. There have even been instances where the kidnapped victims spoke of collaboration between the state security agencies and the kidnappers.

Nigeria's Poor Performance Was Not Unexpected

To many analysts, the grim performance of Nigeria was unsurprising and it clearly points to the unsavoury situation in the country. In 2022 alone, media reports insist that about 4,545 persons were killed, while another 4,611 were kidnapped by non-state actors. Gunmen have successfully attacked several government buildings and churches across the country, killing many. The young people are very angry, partly as a result of the government's inability to protect lives and properties, thereby leaving citizens to their fates. Terrorists, bandits and criminal organisations across the country have been emboldened, while citizens, regardless of their location, live in constant fear, as corrupt officials thrive in impunity. So far, the fight against insecurity has yielded limited results. There are accusations that some security personnel have converted the existing state of affairs into a flourishing enterprise and conflict economy that instead provides incentives for the beneficiaries of the status quo. Furthermore, the Government Defence Integrity Index published in 2020 reveals that Nigeria faces a high risk across its defence institutions, with minimal controls in operations. The country ranks 143 out of 163 on the Global Peace Index in 2022, alongside nations like Iran, Cameroon and Columbia.

With Nigeria's presidential elections only a few days away, many observers are keen on whether and to what extent the eventual outcome could speak to citizens' frustration about how growing public sector corruption has impacted the livelihoods of ordinary citizens... A section of the population led by vocal, media-savvy young people remains adamant and hopeful that its votes will count and the long-awaited change may be on the way.

A Three-Point Drop Under the Current Administration Is No Big Deal

Some sections of the media and civil society who misunderstood the CPI results have tried to engage in efforts capable of hoodwinking the unsuspecting public to misinterpret the change in ranking as an improvement in Nigeria's fight against corruption. This inference is not only false but also misleading. In measuring the perception of corruption using CPI, a change in ranking is an inconsequential factor dependent on the number and performance of other countries ranked. A change of ranking from 154 to 150 does not amount to progress in any way. The CPI score for Nigeria remains the same at 24. This is a clear reduction from the average score of 27 that it used to be during the Jonathan administration. The score rose to 28 in 2016 and later dropped to 24. For the score to drop by three points under an administration that was elected under the assumption that it would fulfil its promise to fight corruption speaks a lot about the level of failure that has led to general disappointment, lingering scepticism and growing restlessness among citizens. Applauding the score is like a child repeating the same class and celebrating that he is now two seats closer to the teacher. Even Afghanistan, under the Taliban regime, improved its score from 16 to 24, while remaining on the same ranking.

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Presidential Elections As a Referendum

With Nigeria's presidential elections only a few days away, many observers are keen on whether and to what extent the eventual outcome could speak to citizens' frustration about how growing public sector corruption has impacted the livelihoods of ordinary citizens. At least two of the top contenders for the office of the president allegedly have pasts linked to corruption and drug peddling. Historically, these issues do not matter much in a country whose desperately poor citizens are content with crumbs that fall off from the exotic dining tables of the rich but dubious politicians, whose lifestyles are likely funded by stolen public resources. A section of the population led by vocal, media-savvy young people remains adamant and hopeful that its votes will count and the long-awaited change may be on the way. Its optimism is anchored on amendments of the Electoral Act, which introduced a technology that transmits votes electronically. On the other hand, the established politicians are said to be doing everything necessary to ensure that the status quo prevails, including stashing away billions of naira to buy votes on election day. The stage is set and the time is ticking. How either of these mutually opposing efforts will fare remains a subject of speculation for now.

Uche Igwe is a Visiting Fellow at Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He can be reached on u.igwe@lse.ac.uk
analysis

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 hospitalisations and death... and not to block transmission between individuals. To do this, it would be necessary to aim for a so-called sterilising 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 neutralising the virus (SARS-CoV-2 in the case of Covid) to prevent it from multiplicating 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 mobilisation of a high level of B and T lymphocytes in the nasal cavity and the lungs - to promote a rapid and effective protection against the virus - blocking it as soon as it arrives.

Conversely, an intranasal vaccination induces not only a systemic but also a local immune response - directly, 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 mobilised 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 route - which mainly induces B cells producing IgG (Type G immunoglobulins).

Worst noting: IgAs have a greater capacity than IgGs to "capture" viruses in order to neutralise 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 sterilising immunity.

The FluMist vaccine is the only example of intranasal vaccine available in human health that has received marketing authorisation (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 recognised 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 optimise 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 India - bearing 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 optimise 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 immunisation 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 optimise 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).

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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 specialised 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.

To support our vaccine candidate, our team created the start-up LoValTech in 2022 in order to take over our academic research and follow its industrial development until its commercialisation.

Mathieu Epardaud, Research Associate, Inrae
Leaders in Karamoja have asked for the immediate resignation of the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Goretti Kitutu her mother and brother were arrested by police for allegedly selling relief items meant for the area she is in charge of .

The leaders said the incident is " a complete shame" that items meant for Karamoja are being diverted under a senior minister's watch.

"I am so pained and disgusted by the theft of items meant for Karamoja. This is what happens when you put people, callous, and selfish to deliver the mandate of the government. She needs to resign," Remigio Achia, the chairperson of the Karamoja parliamentary group told the Nile Post.

Nakut Faith, the woman MP for Napak district who poured out her frustrations on twitter said the minister is starting to get defensive instead of admitting fault.

"Hon. Minister I have watched your explanation on National TV, it is not adding up, it is so offensive to the people you have defrauded, it doesn't say why you diverted the iron sheets."

Peter Ken Lochap MP for Bokora East said "the biggest obstacle to liberating Karamoja from poverty is not the regional members of parliament but wrong ministers appointed to manage the affairs of Karamoja."

Police over the weekend arrested the minister's mother, a brother and a nephew who were found in possession of government-owned iron sheets that were meant to be given to residents in Karamoja as relief items.

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According to a source, the operation to arrest the group was masterminded by Internal Security Organisation (ISO), the Police and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit found exhibits of the items at the family's home before arresting the trio.

It is said that on arresting the family members, Minister Kitutu made frantic calls to plead for the mother urging that she should be pardoned due to her frail condition and old age.

In October last year, the LC5 chairpersons of Karamoja in a joint letter notified the Prime Minister about the absence of iron sheets procured for distribution in Karamoja.

"We wish to report that the districts partly received the goats and we are waiting for the balance. As for the iron sheets, nothing has been delivered," the letter said in part as the leaders requested for the intervention of the office of the Prime Minister

It is not clear whether the Prime Minister took any action although the letter seen by Nile Post indicates that it was received by OPM.

"This is a sign that we are united against any possible diversion of relief items meant for the Karachunas.", Paul Lotee Komol, LC5 Chairperson Kotido said on Tuesday..

The NRM Vice Chairperson for Moroto district, Christine Akot said the Office of the Prime Minister should also take keen interest in reports that the minister in question is promoting nepotism.

"We hear most of the service providers especially in the recent supply of goats to Karamoja were her relatives," Akot said.
Agencies | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The first shipment of Bahraini relief aid was dispatched yesterday to the earthquake-hit people in Turkey and Syria.

It was carried out under the patronage of HM the Kings Representative for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the National Committee to Support the Earthquake Victims in Turkey and Syria, His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

HH Shaikh Nasser extended deepest thanks, appreciation and gratitude to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Honorary President of the Royal Humanitarian Foundation (RHF), for his constant initiatives to support the afflict ed in brotherly and friendly countries, as well as extend a helping hand to the needy across the world.

The move is within the kingdom's efforts to strengthen the pillars of global solidarity, based on the fraternal and humanitarian bonds among all peoples, HH Shaikh Nasser said, commending the great support enjoyed by the RHF from the government, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

HH Shaikh Nasser affirmed the RHF's honour in implementing HM the King's directives to deliver urgent relief aid to quake-hit countries.
Vandalism of road furniture on the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway remains one of the biggest challenges on the country's only toll road, legislators on the Committee on Physical Infrastructure have noted.

The MPs have tasked the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to come up with strategic and punitive measures to address the challenge of vandalism on the expressway which among others includes resorting to alternative construction materials that are not attractive to vandals.

"Oftentimes, road signs along the expressway have been vandalised and that is why we are having several road accidents. UNRA needs to take up tough measures including having open court hearings on vandals," Hon Ronald Balimwezo (NUP, Nakawa Division East) said.

This was during a meeting with officials from UNRA led by Minister of Works and Transport Gen Katumba Wamala on the operations and maintenance of the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway held on Tuesday, 14 February 2023.

"We also need to resort to using alternative materials other than steel and aluminum which is expensive and attracts vandals. We can resort to materials such as concrete," he proposed.

According to Eng Joseph Otim, the UNRA Director, Road Maintenance, the fencing along the expressway has been the most vandalised road furniture.

"The entire section for the fencing measures up to 44,386m of which a total of 30,588.68m has been vandalised. The existing length of available fencing is 13,797.32m, indicating that 68.9 percent has been vandalised," Eng Otim said.

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He attributed increased vandalism of the chain-link fence to the rampant market for metal scrap that is being used as raw material for steel products.

The legislators also attributed road accidents on the expressway to poor lighting.

"The issue of lighting along Kampala-Entebbe expressway has not been taken seriously by UNRA. In fact, road accidents are a result of poor lighting. Therefore, we need commitment from the ministry of works on installation of lights because the impact is so big," Hon Roland Ndyomugyenyi (INDEP, Rukiga County) said.

Deputy Committee Chairperson, Hon Robert Kasolo, added that security along the expressway is a "nightmare" resulting in rampant vandalism of road furniture, cars, and other criminal activities.

Minister Gen Katumba Wamala called for mass sensitization and behavioral change on the usefulness of road furniture. He also attributed delays in installation of lights to delayed pre-shipment inspection of lighting materials from the country of origin as a result of COVID-19.

He said that all the lighting materials have now been delivered and installation is ongoing with works expected to be completed by the end of March 2023.

Source: Parliament of Uganda website
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 designed 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

For further information: Rachel MacLeod, Corporate Communications, RBC, [email protected]
Why are spiny-throated reed frogs unique?

Researchers first discovered the spiny-throated reed frogs in Malawi in the early 1970s. The first described species was Hyperolius spinigularis, named for the spines on its gularis, which is the calling pouch found on the males.

Subsequent surveys showed that the species had a broad distribution across Tanzania and Mozambique. However, studying these frogs more closely revealed that as scientists travelled further north along the mountain chain, each population of frogs were different. Multiple species of reed frogs were eventually described.

DNA analysis confirmed that the most recently discovered Hyperolius ukaguruensis was a distinct species. They also have a slightly different colouration to other spiny-throated frogs and a unique pattern of spines on the male's vocal sac.

'The presence of spines on the back, arms and legs are reasonably common in frogs. Having them on the vocal sacs is rarer, but certainly not unheard of,' explains Simon.

'As part of the reproduction process, males often use spines to stimulate the female when mating to produce eggs. This is why it has been suggested that the spines in this group of frogs might have something to do with reproduction.'

'It's intriguing to understand if these spines work the same way as those spines on the fingers or arms in other frogs or if it is something completely different. We honestly don't know.'

Surveys have highlighted other exciting discoveries from this group of frogs, including observations of females guarding the eggs and squirting water over them to keep them moist.

'This type of parental care is not typical in frogs,' says Simon.

'But many of these species within these forests are difficult to spot or are very rare. With very few observations, more research needs to be done to understand more about these unique frogs.'
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has narrated how Peter Obi, now presidential candidate of the Labour Party, was forced out of the main opposition party by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

Obi, a former Governor of Anambra State was warming up to contest the PDP presidential primary election before the partys leadership decided to throw it open for the Northern and Southern aspirants.

There were initial deliberations of the party which tilted towards zoning the presidential ticket to the South but recent information from the PDP claims the plan was thwarted after Governor Wike refused to allow the South East to have it.

For this reason, Obi decided to dump the main opposition party for the Labour Party where he has emerged as one of the frontline contenders for the nations number one seat.

Appearing on Arise Televisions The Morning Show on Wednesday morning, Daniel Bwala, a Spokesperson for the Atiku/Okowa, Campaign Organisation, explained,  The Peoples Democratic Party was planning for the primaries, there were, I dont want to use agitation, advocacy and people felt it should be shifted to the South East.

The conversation started growing, it started reverberating to a point where Atiku said if the party was inclined to zoning, he is of the opinion that it should be zoned to the South East or North East because these are the zones that have not benefited and that if it was zoned to the South East, he was not going to contest.

But Gov Wike, who has an interest in running for President, started by removing Uche Secondus as the Chairman of the party before that time.

And during this time of advocacy and deliberation, Governor Wike ensured that the committee formed to deliberate on the structure of the party and the presidency zoning came out with the findings that support his ambition at the partys chairmanship level whether it would go to the North or thereabout.

He was thinking that if the Chairman comes from the north it was natural the presidential candidate would come from the South.

When it came to the presidential poll, he ensured that the outcome left the peoples poll because of the growing conversation that it should be zoned to the South East when it was agreed that it would go to the South.

When Obi saw that it was thrown open, he knew he couldnt challenge gladiators in the party and so he left. Again Peter ought to have been the leader of the party in Anambra but he was frustrated by the command and control of Governor Wike.




The presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu on Wednesday met with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State ahead of his campaign rally.





Tinubu met with Wike at Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, accompanied by members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, PCC.





Barely two weeks to the presidential election, there are feelers that Wike has pitched his tent with Tinubu.





While he is yet to openly declare his support for the APC flagbearer, Wike is alleged to have directed all his cabinet members, aides and local government chairmen in the state to support Tinubu.





Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has refused to support his partys presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, after PDPs primary election in 2022.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, met with Bola Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The meeting is said to have held at the villa before the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting.

Details of the meeting are not yet known.

The meeting is coming amid the controversial naira swap policy.

In January, the APC candidate said the petrol scarcity and the naira redesign policy would not affect his chances of securing victory.

Hide the petrol, hide the naira, we will still vote; we will win! Tinubu had said.

Even if you change the ink on naira notes, what you want will not happen. We will win. That umbrella party will lose. We will take this government from them  saboteurs that are dragging power with us.

His comments elicited debate as many persons believed he was criticising the president.

The ruling partys presidential campaign council later clarified Tinubus position, saying he was only warning the president of saboteurs in his administration.

No political blackmail and an attempt to create a conflict between Tinubu and his long-term ally, President Muhammadu Buhari can succeed, Bayo Onanuga, the councils director of media, said in a statement.

The president has been attending some campaign rallies of his partys standard bearer.

Meanwhile, the supreme court has temporarily restrained the federal government from restricting the use of the old naira notes pending the determination of a suit filed by several state governments.
analysis

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.

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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, Associate Professor, University of Kinshasa
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has created a portal for the collection of the old naira notes as it looks to begin its currency redemption exercise.

It was observed that the CBN published a notification titled redemption of currency on its website on Wednesday.

The notification provides a link to the portal to enable Nigerians redeem (deposit) their old N1,000, N500, and N200 notes by completing an online form.

Please click here to create your profile, generate reference and print out receipt for you to proceed to nearest CBN branch to deposit your old N1000, N500 and N200 notes into your bank account, it reads.

To generate a reference number, according to CBN, customers are required to provide their bank verification number, email address, phone number, bank account details, depositor information (including house address), and the total amount of the denomination to be redeemed.

After following the process in attempts to create a profile and generate a reference number, a notification popped up listing conditions for redemption of currency.

Part of these conditions (which Nigerians must accept) is that depositors can only access this window once.

The apex bank also said beneficiary accounts would only receive value after successful processing of cash deposited and verification of documentations submitted.

A depositor shall not be entitled to recover from the bank the value of any mutilated or imperfect notes. The circumstances under which such notes may be refunded ex-gratia shall be within the absolute discretion of the bank, it added.

Depositors can check the status of transaction on the portal here.

Transactions would be concluded within a minimum of three working days.

All deposits will be treated in accordance with the relevant laws.

Last week, the supreme court restrained the federal government and, by extension, the CBN from enforcing the February 10 deadline when the old naira notes were expected to cease to be legal tender, pending hearing on the matter slated for Wednesday (today).

Responding to the ruling, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), said the federal government would obey the order in line with the rule of law  a decision that meant that Nigerians would still be able to transact with the old notes.

Earlier today, the supreme court restated its stance on the matter, saying the notes remain legal tender after it adjourned proceedings on case.

However, the commencement of the currency redemption exercise by the CBN suggests that the old naira notes have lost their legal tender status after the deadline elapsed.




Lagos State S_xual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja has sentenced a 51-year-old cleric, Nduka Anyanwu, to life imprisonment for defiling and impregnating two biological sisters.





Justice Abiola Soladoye convicted the Lagos-based pastor on Tuesday of impregnating a 13 and a 17-year-old, both of whom have been delivered of babies.





The pastor reportedly defiled and impregnated the duo on the pretext of having prayer sessions with them.





Anyanwu was arraigned before the court over an offence he committed on June 3, 2020, at Arowojobe Street in the Oshodi area of the state.





The prosecution team, led by Olusola Soneye, told the court that the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The prosecution had called five witnesses during the trial  the survivors, their parents and a social worker.





The convict testified as the sole defence witness.





Justice Soladoye, in her judgment on Tuesday, held that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was believable and consistent.





Also, the judge noted that the police should have charged the victims/survivors parents because they were irresponsible in encouraging the survivors to get defiled by the defendant.





On several occasions, one of the survivors returned to the parents to complain of the defendants conduct. She was beaten and sent back to the defendants place. The prosecution has prove the ingredients of the offences against the morally bankrupt defendant, she said.





Justice Soladoye, therefore, sentenced the convict to life imprisonment and ordered the convicts name to be included in the states S_xual Offenders Register.
Atiku Abubakars Special Assistant, Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu has asked ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode to apologise to the former Vice President and the military.

The Director of Special Projects and New Media of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council made a coup allegation last week.

Fani-Kayode accused Atiku, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and military generals of a secret meeting ahead of the general elections.

The All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain was grilled on Monday by the Department of State Services, DSS, and will return to the headquarters on Wednesday for further questioning.

Speaking to reporters at the APC national secretariat, the politician admitted he could have made the comment cautiously and would guard subsequent utterances

In a statement Tuesday night, Shaibu noted that an apology will prove that Fani-Kayode is truly remorseful of his self-confessed lie.

Fani-Kayodes regret is a step in the right direction, but this is not sufficient. Who exactly is he apologising to? He needs to be specific

He needs to apologise to Waziri Atiku Abubakar for trying to impugn his character. He also needs to apologise to the military for denigrating that revered institution.

With more than two million followers across social media platforms, the lawyer ought to understand the implication of libel, Shaibu stressed.

Atikus aide said apart from the criminal aspect of the Twitter post, Fani-Kayode also committed defamation and should apologise for his inane insinuations.

The former VPs camp asked the former minister to tender a public apology to Atiku in three newspapers and their online editions for seven days consecutively beginning from Wednesday.

There should be a fine line between political propaganda and crime. When a person in the calibre of a former minister is unable to differentiate between the two, it becomes worrisome, the statement added.
Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections, has pledged to manage Nigerias resources responsibly and boost revenue if elected.

At an APC political gathering held by the party on Tuesday at the Dan Anyiam stadium in Owerri, Tinubu made the pledge to party members.

He committed to making Imo a popular tourist destination, investing in youth education, and maintaining the integrity of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Were here to promise you that well free you from the chains of ignorance and destitution. You can trust us. Elect the APC. Imo will become a popular tourist location.

I now promise that President Muhammadu Buhari would maintain his uncorrupted demeanor. Well judiciously manage your resources and boost your capacity for generating income, he declared.

Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, national chairman of the APC, praised the supporters for showing up in large numbers to greet the campaign team and assured the populace of the partys dedication to supplying security and economic emancipation in his speech.

Sen. Hope Uzodimma, the governor of the state, also commended President Buhari for bringing democracys benefits to the region by converting the Federal Medical Center in Owerri into a teaching hospital for the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO).

He also thanked Buhari for giving the go-ahead for the building of a naval base in the Oguta council area, the reconstruction of the dual carriageways connecting Owerri with Orlu, Owerri with Okigwe, and Owerri with Umuahia, and the elevation of the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education to the rank of university.

President Muhammadu Buhari, thank you for everything you do for us. Sen. Tinubu, I want to reassure you that we shall demonstrate our affection for you in both words and deeds in the spirit of Valentines Day. APC is Imo. You dont preach to people who are already believers, he declared.

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the former national chairman of the APC, urged the people of Imo to vote for the APC in order to continue the good work of the current administration, which is demonstrated by the building of crucial infrastructure like the Niger bridge.

The rally was attended by APC faithful including Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Ebonyi counterpart, Dave Umahi as well as Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ovie Omo Agege among others.




Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has appealed to Nigerians to remain calm following the growing anger over the scarcity of the newly redesigned Naira notes.





It was earlier reported that there was tension in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State where residents staged a protest over the expiration of the deadline date and rejection of old naira notes by commercial banks.





The protesters had set two banks ablaze to register their anger.





Elsewhere in Ibadan, Oyo State, residents blocked the Eleyele/ Eruwa road early Wednesday to protest the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN cashless policy.





Reacting, Shehu Sani appealed to aggrieved Nigerians to shun violence and focus on the coming elections, stressing that any spark may lead to a conflagration.





In a tweet on his verified handle, the former lawmaker said, The general public must avoid any form of protest in the name of cash or fuel scarcity at this 11th hour. The people in the southeast must defy any call to sit at home.





Any spark is intended to lead to a conflagration. Anti-democratic elements must be resisted. Lets focus on d election.




A former All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, has insisted that the naira redesign was a plot against the partys presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.





Garba said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, naira redesign was a plot to stop Tinubu from becoming Nigerias president.





In a tweet, Garba wrote: No matter how you want to see it, this CBN naira redesign introduced within the election period is a plot to stop Bola Ahmed Tinubu from becoming the President of Nigeria.





How else can you explain this provocative action within this period? How? By Allah, this plot too shall fail!





Garbas comment was affirmed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.





The Speaker said the plot seemed to be failing as Nigerians were still keeping faith with the ruling party and Tinubu despite what they were going through.





Nobody can convince me that its not a plot to stop Asiwaju [Tinubu] from becoming the president of this country.





But Im glad that our God is a wonderful being, as the plot these people sat together to hatch, he has intervened, he said.
The supreme court has adjourned the hearing of the case brought against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the naira redesign policy.

With the adjournment, Nigerians are left wondering whether or not the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes remain legal tender.

The court session held on Wednesday provided clarity on the issue.

COURT ORDER STANDS

Abdulhakeem Mustapha, counsel to Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, asked the court to make an order directing the federal government not to implement a deadline on the old notes.

However, a seven-member panel of the apex court led by John Okoro, said there was no need to issue a fresh order as the interim order is pending the hearing on the motion on notice.

Reacting to the pronouncement, Adeola Adedipe, a lawyer, said the federal government is still bound by the supreme court ruling until the suit is heard and determined.

It simply means that the interim order subsists pending the determination of that motion having not been set aside, he said.

And if it is perceived that any organ of government that ought to comply with it is in breach, then the plaintiffs know what to do. Which is to commence enforcement proceedings. But the court wont tell them that.

THE LEGAL STEPS

Ruling on an ex parte application brought by three states: Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara, the supreme court, on February 8, restrained the CBN from giving effect to the deadline on the use of old notes.

The court issued an interim injunction restraining the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the commercial banks from suspending or determining or ending on 10 February, the time frame with which the now older version of the 200, 500 and 1,000 denominations of the naira may no longer be legal tender pending the hearing and determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

Abubakar Malami. attorney-general of the federation (AGF), the sole respondent in the suit, subsequently filed a preliminary objection challenging the courts jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

However, Malami said the federal government would obey the order in line with the rule of law.

Despite the assurance to comply with the order, some commercial banks, filling stations, and traders have stopped accepting the old naira notes from customers.
Residents of Benin, the capital of Edo state, have taken to the streets to protest the lingering scarcity of naira notes in the country.

A witness disclosed that residents set bonfires on major roads and also attacked banks in the state capital.

A branch of Access Bank Plc was set on fire by aggrieved protesters.

Some of them were said to have attempted to break into the state branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) located along Akpakpava Road, a commercial nerve centre in Benin.

This development comes hours after the supreme court adjourned the case on the CBNs naira redesign policy till February 22 for hearing of the consolidated suits by 10 states.

The court joined Katsina, Lagos, Cross Rivers, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Sokoto states as co-plaintiffs in the suit challenging the naira redesign policy of the Federal government.

Similarly, the apex court joined Edo and Bayelsa states in support of the federal government on implementation of the naira redesign policy.

Below are pictures:





In a video seen on social media, other banks were also subjected to attacks.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has asked political parties to apply restraint in their utterances prior to and after the general election.

The secret police issued the caution in a statement by Peter Afunanya, its spokesperson, on Tuesday.

The warning comes hours after Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister and director of new media in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, was questioned over a tweet he made.

In the tweet, Fani-Kayode alleged Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), met with some army generals.

In the statement on Tuesday, Afunanya said political parties and their media managers must avoid comments that could lead to violence.

Political parties and their media managers are advised to apply restraint in their utterances and public communication engagements prior to and after the general elections, he said.

This is to avoid heating up the polity and evoking tendencies that could lead to violent reactions as well as undermine peace and order.

The spokesperson also said Fani-Kayode has been asked to return for further questioning on his claim.

The DSS hereby informs the public that it invited Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to its National Headquarters, Abuja on 13th February, 2023. The invitation was in respect of an investigation of some of his allegations and insinuations relating to issues relevant to national security, he said.

Chief Fani-Kayode faced a panel which interviewed him on the subject matter.

Afterwards, the service granted him administrative bail and directed that he make routine returns to the Office with effect from Wednesday, 15th February, 2023 till otherwise.

The investigation, however, continues.
Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, has explained why he refused to accept the fresh resolutions proposed by the federal government on the naira redesign policy.

There were reports that the federal government proposed conditions on the naira redesign policy, including a new deadline of April 10 for the old notes.

A government official had also said the resolutions presented to members of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) included that the old naira notes of N200 be allowed free movement in and out of the banks for the next 60 days.

El-Rufai was said to have rejected the proposed resolutions, and insisted on a total cancellation of the naira redesign policy.

Reacting to the development in a statement by Muyiwa Adekeye, his spokesperson, the Kaduna governor explained the reason for his rejection of the resolutions, and described the federal governments proposal as insincere.

See the full statement below.

A few hours after the Supreme Court adjourned the currency redesign case today, TheCable, a respected publication, published what it described as an exclusive story regarding the intentions of the Federal Government on the matter.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai would like to clarify that TheCable has been misled by its sources on this issue. There has been no meeting this week between the FG and either the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) or the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), not to talk of one lasting till the wee hours of today, Wednesday, 15 February 2023.

Rather, senior officials of the FG reached some governors, including Malam Nasir El-Rufai, on phone to initiate discussions on a possible out of court settlement. The terms they proposed were to allow only the old N200 note to remain legal tender and be circulated by the CBN till 10 April 2023. They claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes that had been deposited, but that those persons who still held the old notes could redeem them up to 10 April 2023.

These were not considered as serious proposals, for obvious reasons. Circulating the old N200 notes alone would not be sufficient to relieve widespread human suffering in Kaduna State, and indeed in Nigeria today.They knew that and that is why they falsely claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes.

This is contrary to the fact available to the governors to the effect that the old notes were in the custody of commercial bank branches throughout Nigeria until the evening of Monday, February 13, and not a single N500 or N1000 had been destroyed.

It is also a non-starter to insist on a new cut off date without first assuring that sufficient new notes would have been printed and circulated. Information available to the governors also indicate that the Mint will need at least 12 months to print the minimum amount of N1 trillion needed to ensure a functioning trade and exchange environment in Nigeria.

The tabling of false facts, inadequate solutions to the sufferings of our people, and the bad faith that some of the FG negotiators displayed in our phone conversations and chats have now been taken further in leaking a false account and context to a respected medium. The plaintiff governors rejected the draft proposal as insincere, and invested our hopes in the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai will be addressing the people of Kaduna State on this currency redesign mess, the consequences of the extension of the injunction of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and related matters tomorrow.

But the Kaduna State Government feels it is important tonight not to allow an exclusive falsehood to stand, or even gain the slightest traction. This statement is therefore issued to put the records straight.
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on Wednesday March 2, 2022 demanding that Russia immediately end its military operations in Ukraine.

analysis

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.

Read more: 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.

Read more: 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.

Read more: 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 north-south 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.

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Read more: 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.

Read more: 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, Professor and Senior research fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria
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A nurse looks into a patients room on the COVID-19 ICU floor at Upstate University Hospital on Dec. 16, 2020. N. Scott Trimble/syracuse.com
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) will on February 18 sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nasarawa State government signaling the commencement of oil drilling in Keana.

This is just as preliminary findings revealed another oil discovery in Obi LGA, specifically in Agwatashi and Assakio, said a statement from the state government.

The state governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, disclosed this while speaking during an interactive session with APC stakeholders in Obi, on Monday.

According to the governor, all is now set for the signing of the MoU with NNPCL, which will pave way for the drilling of the first oil well in Keana.

Engineer Sule said his administration will not relent until Nasarawa State begins to enjoy the derivation as an oil producing state.

"In 2019, when I came out to campaign and mentioned oil, a lot of people assumed it was mere politics. That time, I promised that, by the grace of God, I will use my experience that I acquired from my stay in Houston, Texas, global headquarters of the oil, to try.

"As at that time, oil was discovered only in Keana. A lot of people don't even know the extent of the oil discovery. The issue of oil has now become a reality. Now NNPL will drill the first oil well in March.

"Preliminary findings have shown that there is also oil in Obi. This Saturday, 18th February, NNPCL and Nasarawa State Government will sign MoU. It will now dawn on people that this administration doesn't make empty promises but only seeks to bring development to the state.

"I will not rest until we finally join the league of oil producing states and we begin to enjoy the 13 per cent derivation. We expect to see appreciable progress by May this year," he stated.

While speaking at the palace of the Zhe Mighili, in Jenkwe Development Area, the governor stated that his administration has set aside over N2 billion as counterpart funding to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), for the construction and rehabilitation of schools.

Engr. Sule said under the next plan of action by the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB), about 20 schools would be constructed in Obi, Deddere and Adudu.

He called on the people where the projects would be executed to constantly supervise them and to draw his attention once they realized the contractor was not delivering to standard.
40 years of Endymion parties: A Mid-City house and the parade its owner celebrates see a lot of changes
Mardi Gras parades are back tonight with Druids and Nyx rolling on the Uptown parade route.

Both parades will be broadcast live on the NOLA.com Parade Cam. The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. and you can watch in the video player above or on Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.

The Parade Cam broadcast will be hosted by actors Alex Wallace and Khiry Armstead of The NOLA Project.

What to expect at tonight's parades

A doubleheader opens the final week of the Carnival parade season Wednesday night in uptown New Orleans as both parades return to their original starting point of Jefferson Avenue and Magazine Street.

This Ancient Druids is made of members of other parading krewes who wished only to ride in a night parade and not deal with the traditional ball, queen and court routine.

The theme for the female Krewe of Nyx remains secret until parade time. Krewe logo throws include Nyx signature hand-decorated purses, wigs, t-shirts, swim caps, and bonnets.
Imagine the elemental fragrance of a king cake  the cinnamon, sugar, vanilla  emanating not from a cardboard bakery box in the office coffee room, but from our warm wrists and the hidden spots behind our ears.

Starting Wednesday, the king cake craze takes a new twist with the introduction of Le Bebe perfume, a scent meant to capture the allure of the Crescent Citys favorite pastry.

The Tijon custom perfumery, in collaboration with the Tartine French sandwich shop/bakery, the Peter Mayer advertising agency, and burlesque star Trixie Minx, arrived at the aroma that, they promise, could only have come from New Orleans.

A casual survey of reporters and editors at the NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune office elicited a variety of responses to the scent. Some sniffers acknowledged that the aroma was authentic.

One staffer said, "It smells like a king cake,  if you want to smell like a king cake."

An olfactory contrarian didn't smell the resemblance. What IS that?" she incredulously asked. "Its not king cake.

One sniffer called the scent spicy. Another suggested that the complex Le Bebe formula included a whiff of patchouli. Though, in truth, that may have been the background aroma of the hippie-era reporter conducting the survey.

The overall reaction in the newsroom to the new product seemed to be one of cheerful bemusement.

The title Le Bebe refers to the plastic infant lurking somewhere in each king cake.

Bottles of crystal clear Le Bebe, Eau de Parfum go on sale Wednesday morning for $59.99 at Tijon, 631 Toulouse St. in the French Quarter and at the Tijon website. Sale of the exclusive fragrance continues through Fat Tuesday.

However, the makers warn, due to the fleeting nature of Carnival, supplies may pass as fast as a parade.

King cake perfume is only the most recent example of the citys all-consuming obsession with the sugary dough rings, which has resulted in an unexpected pastry conundrum.
Sounds good. Swiping a card is convenient

I just hope tech problems won't back up the lines

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All eyes would be focused on the apex court as hearing in the suit challenging the powers of the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the use of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 begins today at the Supreme Court in Abuja.

This was just as Ogun State Government has filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to join Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States in the suit.

Ogun joining the suit confirmed THISDAY's recent report that as part of efforts to deliberately stall the Supreme Court ruling, governors of some of the All Progressives Congress (APC) states have chosen to continue to file for joinder in the matter.

The suit which was originally filed by the three northern states has since been joined by Ondo, Kano, Ekiti and now Ogun states. Rivers had also indicating its preparedness to do same.

Sources at the Federal Ministry of Justice, had disclosed to THISDAY that the design of the state governors, who were joining the Supreme Court suit was to delay the judgement and have the old currency run till after the election.

One of the sources, who pleaded to remain anonymous had said, "It is the design of the governors, who are adding many joinder suits, to delay the judgement and try to keep the state of affairs whereby the old currency would continue to be in use, while they lobby Supreme Court justices so that they cannot reach a judgement, and to push the Supreme Court decision on this matter until after the presidential election.

"They want to use the cash for the presidential election. So, they are adding more joinder suits to delay the outcome of the judgement so that the two currencies can work together. So, what we see is that the vote-buyers are fighting back."

The Supreme Court being the final court in the country joined in the matter which had generated intense controversy, when it last week halted the federal government from proceeding to stop the use of the old banknotes from February 10, 2023.

Justice John Okoro, who gave the restraining order against the federal government, held that the order would subsist until today, when it would hear the case of the aggrieved states.

The action of the apex court was sequel to an exparte application brought before it on February 3, by the Attorneys-General of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States.

Since its order on February 8, the apex court has come under heavy knocks by some critics of the administration for venturing into what they believed was the exclusive of the executive, although some others including senior lawyers saw nothing wrong in the action of the apex court since the order made was a temporary one.

When the matter comes up today, it would be expected that the issue of jurisdiction which is very crucial in any case must first be resolved.

More worrisome is the issue of enforceability of the said order, which has further thrown the nation into confusion as some commercial banks and businesses despite the order of the apex court and the pledge by the federal government to obey the order have continued to reject the old naira notes.

Also, lawyers and litigants are being prevented from filing court processes at the Lagos High Court, as officials insisted they would only accept new naira notes.

In the suit marked: SC/CV/162/2023 and filed on February 3, plaintiffs are seeking among other things, a declaration that the demonetisation policy of the federation being currently carried out by the CBN under the directive of the president was not in compliance with the extant provisions of the constitution and CBN Act, 2007 and actual laws on the subject.

Besides, plaintiffs wanted a declaration that the three-month notice given by the federal government through the CBN under the directive of the president, the expiration of which was expected to render the old banknotes inadmissible as legal tender, was in gross violation of the provisions of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act 2007, which specifies that reasonable notice must be given before such a policy.

Although, Mr. Mahmood Magaji, SAN, the lawyer representing the AGF who was the sole respondent in the suit, was present during the hearing and subsequent grant of the ex parte application he however filed the government's objection to the suit.

The federal government in the Notice of Preliminary Objection dated February 8, claimed that the Supreme Court lacked the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place.

According to their argument, the plaintiffs ought to have commenced the suit before a Federal High Court and not at the Supreme Court.

Besides, the respondent argued that "the plaintiffs have equally not shown reasonable cause of action" against it.

Besides the objection, the AGF, Abubakar Malami also stated that the federal government would take steps to vacate the order when the court resumes, on the grounds that the law allows the government to challenge any order that it is not pleased with and that the government will do so in this instant case by the instrumentality of the law.

Last weekend, governors of the 36 states of the federation rose from a meeting in Abuja with a resolution to direct their Attorneys General to review the suit with a view to consolidating the legal reliefs pursued by the states.

Ogun Joins Suit as Abiodun Reads Riot Act to Banks

Ogun State Government has filed an application at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, seeking to join Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States, in the suit.

The state, in a Motion of Notice filed by its counsel, Afe Babalola and Co, on February 13, sought to be joined as 4th plaintiff/applicant, in a suit number SC/CV/162/2023.

The applicant in the Notice further stated that it sought to be a co-plaintiff for the just and effective determination in the suit instituted by the other three plaintiffs.

The plaintiff also notified the Supreme Court that it shall rely on all the processes already filed in this action in addition to the affidavit in support of the application.

Listing 13 grounds upon which the application was predicated, the plaintiff submitted among others, that the implementation of the federal government-sanctioned policy had thus far negatively affected the citizens all over the federation which includes Ogun State, and left several residents of the state stranded, cash strapped and frustrated leading to riots, grievous interruption of commercial activities, and a gradual economic downturn in the state.

"The implementation of the policy has totally paralyzed and brought to standstill the economic activities of Ogun State and also severely impaired the government's ability to deliver on its economic agenda to the people," it stated.

Also, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, yesterday read riot act to commercial banks, operating in the state, warning that the state government would shut down any bank operating in the state that refused to accept the old naira notes.

The warning was sequel to complaints received from the people by the state government that commercial banks and some filling stations were rejecting the old naira notes as legal tender.

The governor spoke yesterday, while addressing market men women at Itoku Kampala market in Abeokuta, as part of his reelection campaign to Abeokuta North Local Government Areas.

Abiodun, who frowned at the action of the banks, noted that since the new naira notes was not available, commercial banks must accept the old notes to ease the suffering of the people.

Wike Faults Policy

Governor Nyesom Wike said implementation of the naira swap policy by the CBN was political, adding that it has worsened the living condition of the poor across the country.

The Rivers State governor said Nigerians were suffering as a result of the tactless implementation of the naira swap policy, and urged government to urgently ameliorate the condition of the people.

Wike made the remark yesterday, during the official presentation of letter of nomination on the "award of Independent Man of the Year 2022," on him by the management of Independent Newspapers, at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

The governor stressed that the essence of government and its agency such as CBN, was not to inflict hardship of the masses, but to cushion it.

"We are in a difficult situation now. It doesn't matter what anybody may say. The truth must be told at all times. Nigerians are suffering now and as a people we owe that responsibility to cushion the level of hardship that Nigerians are facing, we are not to worsen the situation," he added.

Wike said people were not necessarily opposed to the redesigning of the N1000, N500 and N200 notes, but were concerned about the implementation of the policy and the hardship it has inflicted on the masses.

Gbajabiamila Says Relief Underway

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed delight with the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter.

Gbajabiamila, while speaking in Lagos, yesterday, during the launch of the second edition of GbajaRide community transportation initiative, said the House of Representatives under his leadership has been on the side of the people, working tirelessly to rescue them from economic saboteurs seeking to derail the successes of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC administration.

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He said he was glad that the judiciary also confirmed House's position on the implementation of the naira redesign policy of the central bank, and that relief was underway.

Ganduje Threatens to Sanction Erring Banks, Business Owners

Kano state government has warned that it would not hesitate to revoke operational licences of major business owners or take action against anyone who refuses to accept the old naira notes as a means of transaction.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who handed down the warning in a statement issued by the commissioner for information and internal affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba and made available to THISDAY, yesterday, said the old naira notes were still legal tender.

The governor noted that it came to the notice of the government that some business owners such as supermarkets, malls, banks, restaurants, hotels, traders in markets, filling stations, motor parks, among others, were in the habit of rejecting the old naira notes in business transaction.

Ganduje further observed that the non-acceptance by some selfish individuals was further worsening the already tensed situation exacerbated by the non-availability of the new naira notes.

Armed Policemen Take over Ondo CBN Office to Prevent Attack

Armed policemen yesterday took over the premises of the CBN located in the Alagbaka area of Akure, the Ondo state capital to prevent attack by angry bank customers. The customers were angry over the rejection of the old naira notes by commercial banks and other business centres in the state.

On Monday, commercial motorcyclists and drivers, traders, civil servants, businessmen, and women besieged their various banks in exchange for the old notes for the new ones but were turned back by the officials.

Some of the customers who spoke with journalists revealed that the banks were no longer collecting the old notes despite the supreme court order.

Mr Emmanuel Adeniyi said, "the Automated Teller Machines (ATM), of the commercial banks, are still dispensing the old notes and they are rejecting the notes from us, what kind of impunity is that?"
Angel Erazo, 14, right, one of 14 area students in the Hispanic Apostolate of the Diocese of Baton Rouge who served as crossbearers at the annual Way of the Cross hosted by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge and St. Joseph Cathedral on Good Friday, April 15, 2022, carries the cross leaving the State Capitol parking lot, as he, banner carrier Madison Guyllette and singer Tara Winder lead the procession. The Hispanic Apostolate provides sacramental ministry and shared community for the Spanish speaking cultures present in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. The Way of the Cross returned after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Starting at St. Joseph Cathedral, it traveled a 14-station route through downtown and the State Capitol grounds, and returned to the steps of the Cathedral, with Rev. Michael Duca, Bishop of Baton Rouge, in attendance. Approximately 400, one of the largest numbers ever, took part. ORG XMIT: BAT2204151525490050
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has voiced concern over the deepening crackdown in Tunisia targeting perceived political opponents of President Kais Saied as well as civil society, his Office, OHCHR, reported on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said that since Saturday, at least nine people have been reportedly arrested and some detained, on security and graft charges.

Among those arrested were two former judges, a lawyer, a prominent businessman, the head of a radio station and the leader of the Islamist Ennahdha political party, according to media reports.

Concern over military tribunals

OHCHR noted that Tunisia's General Prosecutor has increasingly initiated criminal proceedings against the president's perceived opponents, charging them with "conspiracy against State security", causing offence to the Head of State or violating the decree-law to fight cybercrime.

"We are additionally concerned that some of those held on charges connected to criticising the Government have been tried in military courts. We call on the authorities to cease immediately practices of trying civilians before military tribunals," said Mr. Laurence, speaking in Geneva.

OHCHR urged the Tunisian authorities to respect due process and fair trial standards in all proceedings, and to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained.

Undermining the judiciary

Mr. Laurence added that since July 2021, the authorities have also taken a series of measures that have undermined the independence of the judiciary, including dissolving the High Judicial Council and sacking 57 judges.

"We call on the authorities to work towards bringing justice sector legislation, procedures and practices into line with applicable international norms and standards, and through the separation of powers, to uphold the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law," he said.
South Africa: Gulfood exhibition to expose SA companies to opportunities

The General Manager of the South African Fruit and Vegetables Canners Export Council (SAFVEC), Jill Atwood-Palm, says the Gulfood exhibition, which will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), next week will provide South African companies an opportunity to increase exports globally.

SAFVCA is part of a business delegation of sixteen South African agro-processing companies assisted by the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (the dtic) through its Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) Scheme to showcase their products.

The scheme aims to develop export markets for South African products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country.

According to Atwood-Palm, South Africas trade with the UAE and the region is niche but growing. Dubai, in particular is a promising trade hub for re-exporting into the rest of the Gulf region and beyond.

As the council, we have an objective of showcasing proudly South African products, build on and meet existing customers throughout the world, Atwood-Palm said.

We aim to attract new business leads, benchmark the industry against global competitors, garner market research and information, gain insight into new and developing product innovations and more importantly increase our footprint in the consumer, hospitality and industrial sectors, she said.

Atwood-Palm said during the Gulfood exhibition, she will be investigating opportunities for re-exporting via the UAE Free Trade Zones and engage with key retailers.

She described Gulfood as a significant show for the industry, in that it is the largest annual food show held globally. It is sector-focused, and it attracts key decision-makers in a form of customers, buyers, distributors and agents.

Atwood-Palm said the export council will be showcasing products that are renowned for premium quality, colour and taste, made in world-class facilities by experienced manufacturers and exporters.

The SA Team at the show will include Rhodes Food Group, Jacobs Jams, Tiger Brands and Dursots.

Gulfood is regarded as the largest food and beverage trade exhibition in the Middle East. It attracts a large number of participants from the region and the world at large. Gulfood 2023 will showcase food and beverage products from around the world.

The Middle East continues to experience a population growth, translating into increasing opportunities for the agro-processing sector, with a market demand of $3 trillion.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Tibet plans 1,300 rural revitalization projects

Xinhua) 14:42, February 15, 2023

LHASA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to implement 1,337 rural revitalization projects in 2023, with an estimated investment of 14.67 billion yuan (about 2.15 billion U.S. dollars), local authorities said.

The construction of 84 projects has already started, while a total of 809 projects have completed preliminary work and entered the bidding process, according to an agricultural and pastoral work meeting of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The projects aim to promote the development of an array of fields in rural areas, such as high-standard farmland and featured agriculture and animal husbandry industries.

All of the projects will commence before the end of May, said Jiang Hua, deputy director of Tibet's rural revitalization bureau, who also encouraged various prefectures and cities to strengthen the management of the projects and funds.

After years of efforts, rural residents in Tibet have seen improved livelihood. In 2021, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the region reached 16,935 yuan, 2.97 times the income recorded in 2012.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Given the critical role of Science, Technology and Innovation in all facets of human endeavour as well as its importance to the transformation of the Nigerian economy from a resource -based to knowledge-based economy, Precious Ugwuzor reports on the recent drive by the Federal Institute of Industrial Research to adequately harness it and put the country among the top 20 economies of the world by 2030

The world is fast paced, and so also is the priority to offer timely innovations that will efficiently impact various segments of living, industry, and enterprises as solutions to personal, communal, and even societal needs of the people.

In a world where the growth of developed and developing economies are tied to efficiency in Science Technology and Innovation, STI, a mono- economy country like Nigeria must not be left behind in accelerating its technological development potentials to sustain its growth.

As oil price needs recede in importance and global alternatives being scaled up to replace fossil fuel in favour of green and safe energies, Nigeria has identified the need to diversify its economy from mono dependency on oil with bias to engineer a digital and science-propelled economy for industrial development. In this direction, policymakers have agreed that the principle of comparative advantage dictates that Nigeria cannot afford to neglect its agriculture sector but also the engineering sector for the purpose of easing utility, creating jobs and growing its industrial base.

As the population soars, so also is the exploration of natural resources becoming insufficient for wealth creation; as such, it has become imminent that Nigeria embraces measures for values addition to practices by employing science and technology with creative ideas to transform raw materials into valuable goods and services; economic development and improved quality of life.

Volume 1 of the National Development Plan, NDP, 2021 - 2025 was explicit in building a strong nexus among Science Technology and Innovation as three intertwined concepts that underpin the development of products, processes and systems to ensure human progress and wellbeing. However, despite the crucial role it plays in industrial development, Nigeria still ranks low in this although gradually embracing the STI innovation to change its industrial phase.

Available statistics indicate that the world average gross expenditure on research and development as GDP stands at 1.68 percent, while the figure for Nigeria is 0.13 percent in 2007 (we should have data that is more recent).

Minister of Science Technology and Innovation, Adeleke Mamora is however optimistic that Nigeria's STI potential, when adequately harnessed, can put the country among the top 20 economies of the world by 2030.

Mamora, at a stakeholders' meeting to inaugurate the planning committee of the STI 2023 Expo in Abuja, noted the critical role of STI in all facets of human endeavour as well as its importance to the transformation of the Nigerian economy from a resource -based to knowledge-based economy.

The Minister identified the role of STI which cuts across every sector of government with expected value addition to human and societal endeavours. "It spans through all the Ministries, Departments and agencies such as technology science, agriculture, aviation, industry, energy, health, space education, entrepreneurship, military amongst others," Mamora observed.

Challenges Facing STI

Although much is desired to see speedy transformation of the STI, especially towards meeting the immediate and long-term development for economic and industrial revival of the country, experts have however identified that there are obstacles to surmount in the sector. Among them inadequate funding, lack of research, poor education and improper coordination have been identified as factors limiting deployment of STI in Nigeria.

Lookman Adahunse, a Lagos based IT expert, advocated massive public and private sector funding of research and development of the STI, saying: "For Nigeria to build a fundamental innovation paradigm that will give it incredible economic growth, it has to pump more money in research and development. The investments in research and development by government and private sector players must be consistent and not faltering."

Political economist and former Presidential aspirant of the Young Progressive Party, Kingsley Moghalu, believes Nigeria is yet to have a truly innovation-led economy because there is still little or no policy and financial support for moving the products of innovation into the mainstream marketplace through mass production and marketing distribution.

Moghalu, in the same vein noted that investment by companies and government on Research and Development, R&D, are still relatively low even as Nigeria's current dire economic situation and foreign exchange crisis in particular provides it with an opportunity to scale up innovation. "It is only innovation that can break the Nigerian economy's structural dependency as an import- and consumer-driven one," he noted.

FIIRO to the Task

But all hope is not lost as the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has in the last five years invested no fewer than N924bn to revive the science, technology and innovation sector in the country.

The National Development Plan 2021-2022, Volume I, disclosed that the funds were devoted to priority projects in the sector, as well as others that are similarly crucial to its operations.

Recently, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, FIIRO, at the 2023 Technology and Innovation Expo, showcased some of its technological inventions and research products as outstanding feats capable of attracting investors to the sector.

Among the exceptional innovations displayed by FIIRO at the Expo held in Abuja are mechanized processing technologies for cassava, ceramics, legumes, bread and confectionery baking technology. Others are roots processing technology, oil seed processing technologies, beverage drinks production and preservative technologies, livestock nutrition/poultry feed, among others

The Technology and Innovation Expo which had as its theme: "Actualizing Effective Diversification of the Nigerian Economy through Science, Technology and Innovation," was organized to unveil the products to showcase the mileage that have been recorded so far as well as offering solutions on the way forward.

FIIRO, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, is the foremost centre for Science and Technology-based research and development for the industrialization and socio-economic advancement of the nation.

At the 2023 Expo, Dr Mamora who was impressed with the innovations however charged the research institute to engender the means through which these valuable products would find their way to the Nigerian market by improving on its research and marketing strategies. "The major challenge is how do you get this major research out to the market because it's like you are winking in the dark, and when you wink in the dark, nobody can see you. You should light up your candles so others can see it," the minister said.

The Director-General/CEO of FIIRO, Dr (Mrs.) Jummai Adamu solicited the support of all stakeholders to invest in the cutting-edge products, goods and services of the Institute towards aiding the economic diversification of Nigeria's government.

Dr Adamu also solicited the collaboration of investors to support the nation in achieving its diversification agenda of moving from a consumption to a production economy through effective STI utilization in the shortest possible period.

She said the expo had presented itself as a clarion call for serious commitment by stakeholders and investors to move the economy from consumption to production for the purpose of stimulating economic growth, liberation and self-reliance for the nation and the Nigerians.

The FIIRO boss noted that the mono-economic dependence on oil and gas, which is non-renewable, has kept the nation far away from meaningful development that would have made her respected among comity of nations.

"This is attributed to our inability to properly utilize STI as the fulcrum for modern development. It is to be noted that all developed and developing countries all over the world are where they are today because they realized that it is only through Science, Technology and Innovation, that all our problems can be tackled.

"It is an established fact that Science, Technology and Innovation holds the key to the present and future development of any nation as it plays a fundamental role in wealth creation, improvement of quality of life and real economic growth and transformation in any society," she said.

Dr Adamu submitted that STI has impacted many economic areas, reducing poverty, promoting healthier and more productive lives, rapid improvement in agriculture, energy, environment and economic growth.

By bridging the technological power vacuum, she observed, more Nigerians can be adequately mobilized as needed human resources to tackle the challenges confronting the nation, especially towards arresting the menace of poverty, youth restiveness, terrorism, kidnapping and banditry currently ravaging the country.

"As you may be aware, one of the key components that aid economic diversification is technology transfer, which is the innovation capabilities of any organization that wants to thrive technologically.

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"Increase in economic diversification will expose us to opportunities to utilize our technological prowess and become more capable to generate new technological solutions due to cross-fertilization of ideas among different knowledge areas of diversification, thus producing positive effects on our innovation performance," the FIIRO boss said.

On the importance of the STI, she noted that a diversified economy has the capacity to support multiple businesses, increase sustainable circles of economic activity where businesses continually feed from one another and grow larger as the economy grows.

"Worldwide, it is an established fact that economic diversification brings about stability, improves standard of living, minimizes the use of potentially underutilized resources, creates jobs and generates wealth for the teeming youth, considering the depletion nature of the oil that we have been depending since time immemorial," she explained.

The representative of the organized private sector and business community, at the Expo, Victoria Akai urged FIIRO to explore partnership opportunity with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry on business entrepreneurship, skills and technology to enhance productivity, especially among the youth and women.

She also lauded the institute for its various research outputs which have strengthened the technological innovation sector in the country. Her words: "The value of your achievement in the area of various commodities including motor, processed and bottled palm wine, cassava bread, fish feeds, ceramics, textile design product, pepper grinding machines and other related machines for small and medium enterprise agencies as well as entrepreneurship training and technology transfer cannot be overemphasized."

As Nigeria continues in this steady move to turn around its economy driven by science, technological and innovation, FIIRO has sufficiently demonstrated its capacity to support, not just the diversification of the economy away from the overdependence on oil, but has also proven, that with required support by investors and adequate funding by government, the revitalization of the Nigeria's economy is nearer than before.

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It is an established fact that Science, Technology and Innovation holds the key to the present and future development of any nation as it plays a fundamental role in wealth creation, improvement of quality of life and real economic growth and transformation in any society
Women leaders called for swift, concerted action to advance gender rights at the first International Conference on Women's Transformational Leadership, in Juba, South Sudan on Tuesday.

Almost 400 women leaders from 15 African countries joined the UN-backed three-day conference, which opened on Monday, including former and current presidents.

The goal is to advance progress, tackle pressing concerns and find sustainable solutions to issues affecting women and girls in South Sudan and across Africa.

The conference's theme is GuwaTaMara, meaning the strength of women. During the meeting, speakers agreed that challenges persist in the areas of leadership and governance, climate change, economic challenges, access to education and gender-based violence.

"The protection of women's rights is important to us in Government," South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit said. "Our country cannot afford gender-based violence, as it hinders peace and development. Let us keep working towards a better day for women and girls."

As the 2018 peace agreement enters its final phase, he said the Government will work hard to address challenges women face and to empower them across the country. Ongoing efforts include providing women with opportunities to develop their skills to better compete in the labour market.

The Government had already increased the percentage of women's representation from 25 to 35 per cent, given the challenges of insecurity and lack of power they face.

"While we have not fully met this quota, we will work to fulfill it and allow women to compete for the remaining 65 per cent," said President Kiir.

'Good place to start'

Women's participation in African parliaments has doubled in the last decades, but more must be done, said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, in a video statement to the conference.

"Many factors continue to impede women's leadership and participation on an equal basis with their male counterparts," she said, emphasizing a need to boost efforts to correct this.

"We need to build a movement for transformational leadership, and South Sudan is a good place to start," she said, pledging UN support for South Sudan in its ongoing efforts and further achievements. "We need women to participate in finding solutions that work for all. Together, we can turn ambitions into action."

The UN Deputy Special Representative Sara Beysolow Nyanti said the resilience and determination of South Sudanese women was an inspiration.

"It is my hope that South Sudan will transform to peace with women at the forefront," she said, adding that without their full and equal participation and leadership, South Sudan will not move forward in its journey from conflict to peace and development.

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Yet, the challenges in South Sudan remain daunting. A top priority is to increase women's representation in political and security institutions to meet and exceed the 35 per cent target set in the 2018 peace agreement, which ended a five-year-long civil war that killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Discussions will also focus on preparations for the country's first elections as a sovereign state, due to be held in December 2024.

'In Their Hands'

A new multimedia photo exhibit "In Their Hands" opened at the conference, shining a light on women taking ownership of peace. Reflecting the conference's theme, the strength of women leaders abounds. African women paved the way for the Security Council's adoption of the landmark resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and are increasingly playing key roles in fostering peace. The exhibit also highlights challenges they face.

"The war has killed hope and turned our lives into a tragedy, but my work pushes me to persevere and makes me hopeful about the future," said Olla al Sakkaf, a 27-year-old youth activist from Yemen, which has seen a civil war wreak havoc on communities since 2014.

"Every small change I cause in my community gives me hope for a better future for me and for women and youth like me," she said.

Alokiir Malual, the only woman to have signed the 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan, was also featured in the exhibit.

"We are growing," she said. "We have smartly taken advantage of the peace process, making sure to gain more for women. We achieved a 35 per cent participation quota by uniting as women and as groups, and coming up with one position, one demand. A formidable achievement by the women of South Sudan."
Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks at a plenary session entitled "Russia and Africa: Uncovering the Potential for Cooperation" at the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit at the Sirius Park of Science and Art in Sochi, Russia, 23 October 2019.

Nairobi, Kenya  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.

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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.
U.S. Steel announced a deal Tuesday to supply General Motors, one of its largest customers, with mini-mill steel from Arkansas.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker, which operates the Gary Works and Midwest Plant steel mills in Northwest Indiana, will supply its new verdeX steel to the Detroit-based automaker.

The steel is made at Big River Steel, a minimill in Arkansas that Gary Works now supplies pig iron to.

Mini-mills use huge volumes of electricity to recycle scrap metal, while blast furnaces like those along the Lake Michigan lakeshore in Northwest Indiana burn coke to make new iron, which is typically needed for most of the stringent automotive grades of steel. Automakers' specifications for high-strength steel that will protect drivers and passengers in accidents, resist corrosion and meet other performance standards is one of the reasons steelmakers haven't abandoned integrated steelmaking in places like the Calumet Region in favor of lower-cost and less unionized mini-mill steel production, which long ago took over rebar and other construction markets.

U.S. Steel said the verdeX steel is made with 90% recycled metal and is endlessly recyclable. It said production of the steel has up to 75% fewer emissions than steel forged in blast furnaces.

We are pleased to join GM in its mission to promote a world with zero emissions by providing such an advanced and sustainable steel product, said U. S. Steel Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Ken Jaycox. As part of our 'Best for All' strategy, we are committed to helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint by providing American-made advanced steel products that are manufactured with fewer emissions and can be recycled repeatedly. Our verdeX steel offers both the advantages of advanced high strength steel and low manufacturing emissions.

U.S. Steel is investing $3 billion to build a new steel mill in Osceola, Arkansas that will produce electrical and advanced high-strength steels. It's marketing verdeX steels to manufacturers that are looking to lower their carbon footprint.

The steelmaker aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

This agreement is an example of how we are innovating with our suppliers to create lower-emission products for our customers, said Jeff Morrison, GM vice president of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. "It also highlights how strong supplier relationships can help build a better future.
Shortly after 9/11, a group of Palestinian students had some questions for an American reporter about the lives and history of Muslims in America that sent him on a decadeslong journey, researching and writing about Muslims who had been in the United States since a few years after the Mayflower came ashore, through the American Revolution and the Civil War. Dean Calbreath, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former reporter with The San Diego Union-Tribune, ultimately focused on one man, featured in his new book, "The Sergeant: The Incredible Life of Nicholas Said."

"Initially, my plan was to do a book about all of these Muslims that I encountered from history.  I actually did a whole anthology of these people that I found, looking for Muslim names," said Calbreath, who was part of the Pulitzer-winning team that broke the story of former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham taking more than $2 million in bribes. One of the names Calbreath searched for was Mohammed, coming across Mohammed Ali ben Said, whose name was later changed to Nicholas. "That's how I stumbled across his name and immediately felt drawn to him because of his wit, his urbane intelligence and sense of character, and also his love of travel, his love of learning languages. These are things that I also have, and I felt very close to him."

Said (pronounced Sy-eed) was born in the kingdom of Borno, today known as northern Nigeria, to a famed general in about the 1830s. He was the 13th of his mother's 19 children, his mother being among the four of his father's wives. As a young teen, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery, which would eventually lead to his traversing Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Here, he would join one of the first Black regiments in the Union Army, be appointed one of the first Black voting registrars in the nation during Reconstruction, work as a teacher to freed Black children and adults in the South, and tour the lecture circuit advocating for the education and equality of Black people.

Calbreath, author and retired journalist, spent 10 years composing his book on Said (which Harvard professor and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. has called "essential reading") and took some time to talk about his research, the incredible adventures of Said's life, and the ways that he was surprised by Said's life experiences and perspectives. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity. )

Q: How did you find the initial information about Nicholas Said, that told you that he was someone who loved to travel and who'd learned at least nine languages?

A: He actually wrote two versions of his memoirs that were both available on the internet, which was my first encounter with him. He wrote a story in The Atlantic in 1867, an 11-page article about his life where he describes his travels. He traveled through Africa, the Middle East, through Europe, the Caribbean, and he also described a number of languages that he spoke. He spoke French, Italian, German, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, English, and also Mandara and Kanuri, which were the African languages of his parents. His parents spoke two different languages because his father had captured his mother in war and she became one of his wives.

Q: How did he find himself in the U.S.? What brought him here?

A: For five or six years, he had been traveling through Europe as the valet de chambre  the gentleman's gentleman  of a Russian prince. [A valet de chambre served as a kind of personal manager for their employer, taking care of appointments, attending to them during official functions, taking care of them when they were sick. They were also considered a higher class than other servants, like a footman or a butler, and were even forbidden from fraternizing with those other servants because of their class level.] He'd agreed to be with the prince for five years and ended up being with him for six years. At the end of that six years, he was in England and he told the prince, 'Listen, it was great being with you, but I really need to get home to Africa.' The prince was very upset and said, 'Stay with me and I'll give you enough money so you can retire by the age of 40.' Nicholas was about 25 at the time and he really felt like he needed to go. He was preparing to go to Africa when a Dutch count encountered him and was looking for a gentleman's gentleman that would accompany him and his fiancee on their honeymoon through the Americas. The count told him that America was a place that Nicholas had never seen before, that he'd encounter people he'd never seen before, and it was a great opportunity to stick with the count for a year and then go back to Africa. He says in his autobiography that he longs to go back to his homeland, but his spirit of adventure and travel kind of trumped those feelings. He really loved the adventures that he was getting along the way, so he joined this Dutch count on this honeymoon. At the end of the honeymoon, the count actually ran out of money in Detroit, and this happened maybe a month or two before the firing of the guns at Fort Sumter in the beginning of the Civil War. Nicholas was in Detroit when the war began, and he immediately went down to register in the Union Army. He wanted to fight; his father was a general, he had seen Black soldiers in the armies of Europe and France and England and Russia, and he knew of Black soldiers that served in these armies. He went to the recruiting office and found that, in the United States, 'Sorry, it's Whites only. Only Caucasians can participate in this war aimed at stopping Black slavery.'

He remained in Detroit and became a well-respected teacher of French at a school privately held by African American business leaders in the Detroit community. It was important for their children to learn French, to cross into town and do business, traveling; French was the language of the intellectual class of that time. So, he taught French there, but as soon as Abraham Lincoln opened the army to African American troops, Nicholas Said joined. He got on a train and went 800 miles to Boston, Mass., which was the first state to launch a regiment of freeborn African Americans. There were regiments in the South when the Union Army was freeing slaves down there. They would form regiments out of these freed slaves, but this was the first northern regiment that was accepting African Americans and he became a sergeant, which was almost as high as he could get in the army at that time. Every post for lieutenant and above was reserved for White soldiers. He joined the 55th Massachusetts Regiment, which was the regiment right after the 54th, the sister regiment (which was featured in the film "Glory," starring Denzel Washington). Like the 54th, they fought in the Carolinas, Florida, and Georgia.

Q: You spent 10 years working on this book? Can you talk a bit about your research process?

A: I traveled to Detroit, to the public library, and found papers, the diaries of one of the key individuals who helped him adjust to life in the United States, a Presbyterian minister who had a very, very detailed diary of his encounters with Nicholas Said.

I went to Boston to track down his military records and also tracked down the correspondence and diary of one of his Union commanders who was very impressed by Said. I went to Cornell University to track down the diaries of a Union surgeon that worked with Said at the hospital of the 55th Regiment and, again, who details a few things about Said. I went to Washington, D.C., to track down military records, again. Then, to Alabama, where he spent some of the latter years, about three or four years, which was one of the longest times he ever spent anywhere, to track down his wedding record (he got married in Alabama). I also found newspaper articles and corresponded with archives in Russia and Latvia, which is where he was baptized. Russia was where he was a servant to a couple of Russian princes. London, where he was when the Dutch count encountered him, and Amsterdam because that count's correspondence is in the Dutch archives.

Q: What were some of your initial expectations of Said and who he was?

A: My initial expectations were that I was really hoping to find Said was a practicing Muslim when he came to the United States. Part of this was motivated by writing about the history Muslims. I was hoping to find this outspoken, kind of Frederick Douglass-figure who would be an advocate of civil rights and pushing for greater freedoms in the United States. What I found was, by the time he got to the United States, he totally gravitated away from Islam. He'd been kind of pressured to convert to Russian Orthodoxy when he was working for those Russian princes and that's where he got the name Nicholas. (His employer at the time was Nicholas Troubetzkoy, who became his godfather and gave him the name Nicholas, instead of Mohammed Ali ben Said. His godfather was the godson of Czar Nicholas, so in a way Nicholas Said is named after the czar.) I'd been hoping to find a practicing Muslim, but that didn't turn out to be the case. He gravitated toward what was a very mystical philosophy by this Swedish theologian in the 1700s, who had a great sway over the transcendentalists of Boston. It was through one of his colleagues in the 55th Massachusetts that he encountered this guy, [Emanuel] Swedenborg, and his mystical ideas about the universe.

Another surprise was that he was actually a bit more conservative than I thought he would be. He was much more like Booker T. Washington than Frederick Douglass. He believed that if African Americans pursued a course of education and economic betterment, that they would gradually get the civil rights and freedoms that they deserved, but he wasn't an advocate of pushing immediately for those rights. He thought those rights would come over time, and it turned out to be a very naive belief, in retrospect. On the other hand, it was kind of natural because that's the way he had been treated in Europe, that's the way he felt throughout his travels. Achieving education and achieving higher status would open doors for him that weren't opened for African Americans. He did not, I think, fully appreciate the amount of ingrained racism that was created by slavery, so that was also a surprise.

Q: Did he talk about why he wanted to join the Union army and fight?

A: He didn't really address it. On the other hand, there were hints in his autobiography about how he felt. One thing he said in his [memoir from The Atlantic in 1867, later quoted in "The Sergeant"] was "I prayed earnestly to be enabled to do some good to my race.  I thought I would willingly sacrifice my life, if need be, in realizing my dreams." He was very interested in learning about Western military tactics because, at that time, there were a lot of European incursions into Africa. This was really the beginning of European colonization of Africa. Much of the interior of the continent still had not been colonized by Europe, including his homeland of Borno, so at the time of these incursions, he wanted to learn Western military tactics so he could go back to Africa and relay those to his homeland. He wasn't specific about that being in service in the war because, again, he was trying to hide his service in the war, but it's pretty clear that that's what he was talking about.

Q: After fighting in the Civil War, what did his fight for equality come to look like, in practice?

A: After the war was over, he immediately started teaching the children of freed slaves, and freed adults. He started teaching them how to read and write, which they had been denied throughout the South. Sometimes, even for African American freedmen living in the South during that time, education was banned. You could not educate an African American as a teacher. A Black teacher could be sentenced to jail, whipped, and fined; a White teacher could be sentenced to jail and fined. Once the liberation occurred, then education was seen as a real top priority in the South for African Americans. There was a convention of freedmen in Charleston, which is where he was at the time, and the top thing that they wanted was public schools for freedmen. This was the beginning of public education in the South. Most education at the time had been private, even for Whites because there were a number of White working-class people who couldn't afford to go to what were, essentially, the private schools. Public education was very rare. Also at that time, under the pressure of the Union Army and the Bureau of Freedmen, public schools really took hold in the South for both Blacks and Whites. He was really at the forefront of that movement. He was kind of like Johnny Appleseed, spreading education wherever he went, from school to school. He taught in at least half a dozen schools from Georgia to Alabama, and Tennessee and South Carolina.

He was also one of the nation's first Black voting registrars, helping freed slaves to vote in South Carolina. He was appointed by the Union governor of South Carolina to be a voting registrar. In addition, he went on a lecture tour where the whole point of the tour was to show both African Americans and White Americans the things that could be "accomplished by the African," in his words. He wanted to show the capabilities of Africans, using himself as a prime example. He could speak nine languages; he was an extremely intelligent guy, always picking up more languages. He said he could speak nine languages, but he could probably speak about 12 or so. (There were a couple of other languages that he didn't count in his own account. He met an activist in the Jewish community in Charleston who introduced him to Hebrew and he learned Hebrew very fast. That Presbyterian minister up in Detroit taught him biblical Greek and within a month or two, he could be reading the books of the New Testament in Greek. He was just a sponge for languages. There is testimony from other people that he could speak them.) This was his contribution to the drive for political equality and civil rightshelping people vote, helping people learn, and showing himself as an example of the things you can accomplish with a good education.

Q: I know "The Sergeant" was just released, but I would imagine this isn't the last we'll be hearing about Said. What else would you like to see happen with Said and his story?

A: I would love it if Hollywood took a look at this, not because I wrote about it, but because I really have a lot of respect for him, and I want his name to be out there. I have this feeling of kinship to this person who's been dead for a century. I think it would be great if it was a Hollywood miniseries with one episode concentrating on his life in Africa, another on his life in Europe, another on the Civil War, and another one on Reconstruction. His life was so varied, I think it would hard to make it into some kind of two-hour movie because it just included such disparate elements. Thankfully, with the "Black Panther" movies and everything, most Americans have hints that there were these vibrant civilizations in Africa. Of course, Wakanda is to reality what Camelot is to reality  they are fantasies, yet they are based in the fact that Africa has these vibrant kingdoms. The kingdom of Borno where [Nicholas Said] was from, had its own literature, had its own art, had its own sciences. Europe had expanded and reached a level of technology and sciences that outstripped it by the 1800s, but for much of their history, the lives of people in African kingdoms was very similar to the lives of people in European kingdoms. It's nice that people are beginning to get that sense of African history, and I would hope Said's life would have them take an even closer look at that.
CROWN POINT  Authorities are charging a Chicago man with causing a fatal 2021 traffic accident.

The Lake County prosecutors office is naming 20-year-old Kevin D. Walker Jr. in charges that he caused a death while operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana.

The prosecutor alleges in a court affidavit that the defendant was driving north June 4, 2021, in the 70000 block of Hohman Avenue when his vehicle veered onto the sidewalk near Roselawn Street.

It struck a traffic sign and careened into oncoming traffic in southbound lane where it struck another car with enough force to cause it to roll over, killing Danielle Phillips, a passenger in the rolled over car.

Police said an officer observed that Walker appeared after the accident to have impaired speech and dexterity. Police said a blood test indicated Walker had marijuana present in his blood.

Walker is reported to be at large. No bond is set in the case currently.
CROWN POINT  Police arrested two Indiana men last weekend for firearms violations arising from their criminal histories.

The Lake County prosecutors office is charging Tyrone Harris, of Gary, and 30-year-old Samuel Lee Franklin, of Indianapolis, with unlawful possession of a firearm by serious violent felons.

Harris also is named in a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.

Lake County police Detective Coty Mansfield alleges in an affidavit filed in Lake Criminal Court that he was patrolling Gary on Friday as part of the sheriff's department's High Crime Unit.

He said he saw Harris commit a traffic violation on East Dunes Highway near Clay Street  driving his Buick over the speed limit and cutting off another vehicle while passing it.

Mansfield stopped the car, but neither Harris nor his passenger, Franklin, would initially open their cars windows or doors to speak to him.

Mansfield also saw a female child in the back seat with no seatbelt or child safety seat.

Mansfield said he smelled burnt marijuana coming from inside the Buick as the men became irate and refused to step outside the car or submit to a police search.

Additional officers arrived, and one drew his service weapon on the two men who then got out of the car and were detained.

Officers found a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol with an extended magazine under the front passenger seat and a .45-caliber American Tactical pistol under the drivers seat.

Police allege it was unlawful for Harris to have a firearm, who has a prior conviction for armed robbery in 2016, and for Franklin, who has prior convictions for robbery in 2011 and 2014 and resisting law enforcement in 2020.

The two men appeared Monday in Lake Criminal Court for an initial hearing. Franklin will be held without bond until Feb. 28, and then bonds will be set at $50,000 surety for each man.
MICHIGAN CITY  A medical helicopter was called in Tuesday for a crash involving a motorcycle and SUV along U.S. 20 at Hitchcock Road, Michigan City police Lt. Steve Westphal said.

Police were called at 5:13 p.m. and determined that the SUV was east on U.S. 20 when the driver began turning north on to Hitchcock Road and collided with the motorcycle.

"Police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor," Westphal said. "The names of the involved parties are being withheld at this time in order to allow time to notify the family of those involved."

Police ask that anyone with information about the crash contact Traffic Division Commander Cpl. Brian Wright at 219-874-3221, ext. 1008.

Assisting at the scene were the Michigan City Fire Department, LaPorte County Emergency Medical Services and MedFlight.
CROWN POINT  Two Lake County men stand accused of the execution-style killing of a woman in Gary over a $10 drug debt.

Police said they have an eyewitness who saw Kevin Varner, 51, of Hammond leave the crime scene with a smoking assault rifle and that he later admitted killing the woman to stop people laughing at him for being a pushover as a drug dealer.

The Lake County prosecutors office has charged Varner and his nephew, Steven Nash, 27, of East Chicago, with murdering Danielle Brown, 23, of Chicago.

Both men were also charged with being serious violent felons in unlawful possession of firearms. Nash is charged with assisting Varner in trying to cover up the homicide.

Both men were being held without bond pending their appearance in Lake Criminal Court.

The prosecutors office filed affidavits in alleging that Gary police officers responded about noon Sunday to a 911 call about a shooting in the 1100 block of Durbin Street, just south of the citys Brunswick Park neighborhood.

Gary police Detective James Nielsen alleges in the affidavit that officers found shell casings on the living room floor and bullet holes in a wall near a bedroom where the victim was lying dead on her stomach, a gunshot wound to her head.

Authorities said the victim was visiting the home when Varner arrived in a dark-colored car and entered the house armed with a Draco style assault rifle.

A witness saw Nash station himself on the front porch of the house holding a handgun and acting as a lookout for Varner.

A witness heard about 18 shots fired and saw Varner come out of the house with his guns barrel still smoking. Nash then drove away with Varner.

A witness said the victim recently went to East Chicago to buy marijuana from Varner and had shorted Varner $10 on the purchase.

While an officer was questioning a witness, Varner called the witnesss cell phone.

The investigator overheard the witness ask Varner why he shot the victim and Varner responded that it wasnt about the money but rather the principle.

Varner allegedly said, It's 2023. ... I told you I wasnt going to have people laughing at me.

Varner was also heard saying he would send someone to clean up the crime scene and put the victims body in a bag and get rid of it.

Police used location data from Varners cell phone and Nashs 2016 Ford Fusion to track them within a mile and a half of the crime scene at the time of the homicide.

Hammond police arrested Nash shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday in East Chicago.

Police in Fowler  about 80 miles south of Gary  arrested Varner about 5 p.m. Sunday following a high-speed chase in which Varner is accused of firing errant shots from a semi-automatic rifle, through his own rear window, at pursuing officers.

He was awaiting extradition to Lake County.

Police said Varner has prior convictions for rape in 1990 and criminal confinement in 2013, and Nash has a prior conviction for burglary in 2014.
VALPARAISO  The City Council is looking to take a stand against pet mills; however, new state legislation could derail the city's plans.

Valparaiso City Attorney Patrick Lyp introduced the pet sale restriction during a Monday City Council meeting. He said residents began expressing concerns about pet stores selling cats and dogs last year after The Puppy Emporium opened at 1101 Calumet Ave.

The proposed ordinance would ban the sales of cats and dogs in retail pet stores; shelters and rescue organizations would be exempt. The City Council unanimously approved carrying the ordinance over to the Feb. 27 meeting.

Region communities began adopting humane pet store ordinances after Illinois passed a statewide ban on puppy mills and the sale of dogs and cats by pet shops in August 2021. Multiple elected officials have said they were concerned that Illinois pet stores would relocate to Indiana after the ban. Of the 13 municipalities that have passed humane pet store ordinances, 10 are in Northwest Indiana. The communities include Dyer, Highland, Munster, Crown Point, Schererville, Hebron, Whiting, Lake Station, East Chicago and Lowell.

Hammond and Hobart have both discussed the possibility of passing a humane pet store ordinance, but the legislation has not moved forward.

However, Senate Bill 134 could put a stop to local pet sale bans.

Under the plan, Indiana localities that did not ban the sale of dogs at retail pet stores prior to Jan. 1, 2023, would be required to allow such sales in accordance with the terms of the legislation. Specifically, local governments could not bar retail pet stores from acquiring dogs from a state-registered or federally licensed commercial dog breeder or broker, or a "hobby breeder" who maintains between five and 20 female dogs that are at least 12 months old. The Republican-led Senate Agriculture Committee voted 7-2 along party lines Monday to advance the measure to the full Senate.

The proposal as originally written, along with the similar House Bill 1121, sponsored by state Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron, would have eliminated existing local ordinances banning dog and cat sales at retail pet stores. HB 1121 is still awaiting action in the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.

If one of the bills is ultimately "approved, there may be a limitation or an absolute bar to ordinances like this one, Lyp cautioned.

"A significant number of puppies and kittens sold at pet shops come from large-scale, commercial breeding facilities where the health and welfare of the animals are not adequately provided for," the Valparaiso ordinance states. "According to the Humane Society of the United States, it is estimated that 10,000 puppy mills produce more than 2,400,000 puppies a year in the United States and that most pet shop dogs and cats come from puppy mills and kitten mills."

Under Valparaiso's proposed ordinance, The Puppy Emporium would be "grandfathered in" and would be exempt from the ban, Lyp explained. The ordinance states that "should the exempt pet store cease operations for 30 consecutive days, it shall no longer be considered exempt." Lyp said an attorney for The Puppy Emporium requested the ordinance's language be changed to say "abandons operations," clarifying that the store intentionally chose to shut down. Any ordinance amendments can be made at the Feb. 27 meeting.

City Councilman Robert Cotton, D-2nd, also asked that the 30-day time frame be changed to six months to ensure the ordinance is consistent with other city standards.

PHOTOS: Wreaths Across America honors veterans in Valparaiso Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans Wreaths laid to remember veterans web-galleryhtmlcode web-galleryhtmlcode
press release

Government has, in terms of the Disaster Management Act of 2002, declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive, coordinated response to the impact of floods that are affecting Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and North West.

The National Disaster Management Centre has, in terms of Section 23 of the Disaster Management Act, classified the impact of current, above-normal rainfall in various parts of the country - with Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape as the most affected - as a national disaster.

A national disaster may be declared by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs where disastrous events occur or threaten to occur in more than one province.

The National Disaster Management Centre has received reports ranging from flooded homes, vehicles swept away by floodwaters and overflowing dams and sewerage facilities, to the loss of basic infrastructure and damage to roads, bridges and a Limpopo hospital.

In agriculture, farmers have suffered crop and livestock losses, and anticipate further losses as the South African Weather Service predicts that current heavy rains will persist.

These conditions have been brought on by the La Nina global weather phenomenon which occurs in the Pacific Ocean but impacts on a country like South Africa with above-normal rainfall.

Forecasts indicate this weather pattern will remain in this state during the early part of 2023.

The presence of a La Nina event usually has its strongest impact on rainfall during the mid-summer months.

With the continued strengthening of the La Nina event, the country can expect above-normal rainfall and below-normal temperatures over the summer rainfall areas.

Taken together, these conditions demand the provision of temporary shelters, food and blankets to homeless families and individuals and the large-scale, costly rehabilitation of infrastructure.

National entities, including the South African Police Service and the South African National Defence Force, may be required to play a role in the response to the disaster.

The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) continues to monitor, coordinate response and recovery measures by the relevant organs of state and stakeholders. This further includes the dissemination of early warnings and advisories on weather forecasts by the South African Weather Service (SAWS).

President Ramaphosa's thoughts are with affected communities across the country and the President appreciates the way in which entities of government, non-governmental organisations and community-based structures have responded to date.
The designer Stella Jean has often cut a solitary figure.

Since her debut at Milan Fashion Week in 2013, and with support from Giorgio Armani, the Haitian-Italian designer remains the only Black member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion. She has often used her platform to address the need for better representation and financial support for design talent of color in the Italian fashion industry  a sector long criticized over instances of racism and cultural appropriation. In recent years, she has undertaken increasingly radical steps to encourage racial equity, co-founding a collective called WAMI, or We Are Made in Italy, after the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Ms. Jean announced she would go on a hunger strike after a dramatic showdown at a news conference on Feb. 8 with Carlo Capasa, the chairman of the powerful national chamber, known officially as the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which organizes the Milan fashion shows that take place each spring and fall. She accused the chamber of abandoning WAMI and its promotion of young designers of color working in Italy, saying that she believed they had cut their support after a speech she made last September highlighting the challenges of being Black and Italian in the industry.

Now, she is taking this extreme step  saying she fears ongoing professional recriminations against her and the designers in her collective  to safeguard the less visible members of WAMI, which she co-founded with the African American designer Edward Buchanan, who is based in Milan, and Michelle Ngonmo, who leads the Afro Fashion Association. The Camera had provided financial and institutional support for WAMI members to produce and present three collections as part of Milan Fashion Week. But in an October letter sent to Ms. Ngonmo, Mr. Capasa said that WAMI was no longer in line with the current strategy, adding that the Camera would continue to assess support for collections or projects by the collective on an ad hoc basis. Facing a considerable reduction in funding for the project, Ms. Jean said WAMIs operations would be suspended, citing the health and well being of its members.
Jump to: Tricky Clues | Todays Theme

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE  Congratulations to Sean Ziebarth, the constructor of todays puzzle, on making his New York Times Crossword debut. Mr. Ziebarths puzzle is packed with fun clues, excellent long bonus (nontheme) entries and clean fill. But my favorite thing about this puzzle is its theme, which celebrates the lives of four people whose selfless courage changed the course of U.S. history.

Well get into the theme in a moment, but first lets take a look at some of the clues that may have stymied some solvers.

Tricky Clues

19A. Some bunts, in brief are SACS, short for sacrifice flies in baseball.

32A. An Automated tweeter is a BOT  for now! Twitter has gone back and forth in the past few weeks about whether the company is going to start charging fees for the useful, cute, informative and absurd automated tweeters, and for the time being they appear to be safe. My favorite Twitter bot is the one that interacts with the Wordplay column most often: @NYT_first_said.

43A. Make a pit stop at a punk show? is a wordplay clue for MOSH, the sort of pit in which a group of people slam-dance and jump wildly at a concert, often of the punk rock variety. Ive been in a MOSH pit exactly once, when I saw Flogging Molly in the ninth grade, and that was enough MOSHing for me!
So what should the Covid-conscious and the immunocompromised do?

To start, assess current Covid rates. The Times has a case tracker with the latest trends, as well as tips on how to read Covid data. But because those statistics are based on reported cases, the single best way to monitor the situation, Dr. Ho advised, is to check data on the prevalence of Covid in wastewater. The Centers for Disease Control maintain a National Wastewater Surveillance System website, and the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network regularly updates its database, which is usually about two weeks behind but easier to navigate than the C.D.C. site. Detection levels in New York City in late January indicated generally high levels of Covid citywide, though thats the case in almost every major city in the state.

While were no longer at the peak of the pandemic, and treatment options are more robust and effective, the threat of long Covid and new mutations of the virus remain. On top of that, roughly 85 percent of New York City residents had not received a bivalent booster shot as of Feb. 2, according to the New York City health department. Were nowhere near close to this thing being over, Dr. Ho said.

Knowing that zero risk is nearly impossible to achieve, here are some best practices for those determined to dine out. For one, Dr. Ho recommended sticking to big, airy restaurants. Insa in Gowanus, Brooklyn, or Isabelles Osteria near Union Square are a much safer bet than cozy, I-can-hear-everyones-conversation spots.

You might choose a night that is less popular, less crowded in order to lower your risk, he said. That would typically be a Monday or Tuesday, or before 6 p.m. most nights of the week.
Warming temperatures are chasing animals and plants to new habitats, sometimes with devastating consequences to ecosystems. But there is little evidence regarding how far and how fast the invaders might be moving.

A new study offers a glimpse of the future by looking to the past. Mosquitoes that transmit malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have moved to higher elevations by about 6.5 meters (roughly 21 feet) per year and away from the Equator by 4.7 kilometers (about three miles) per year over the past century, according to the study.

That pace is consistent with climate change and may explain why malarias range has expanded over the past few decades, the authors said. The results have serious implications for countries that are unprepared to cope with the disease.

If this were random, and if it were unrelated to climate, it wouldnt look as cleanly climate-linked, said Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown Universitys Center for Global Health Science and Security and the papers lead author. The study was published on Tuesday in the journal Biology Letters.
Mohamed Abdelmagid had just parked his car in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, about 11 a.m. Monday and was ambling down the sidewalk, glued to his phone as he headed to meet a friend on the next block.

He had just returned from Egypt and was watching a live feed of his sisters sickroom there as nurses and doctors did their work. As he got closer to the intersection of Third Avenue and 72nd Streets, he glanced up.

A U-Haul truck was hurtling straight toward him.

It was a second, two seconds, three seconds, he said in an interview Wednesday. No time to think about anything.

Mr. Abdelmagid, 66, jumped out of the path of the speeding truck, but not before his right ankle was hit. He landed on his side, injuring his head, neck, knee and ribs.
Its easy to let your imagination run wild when it comes to the unidentified flying objects now making frequent appearances over North America. At least one object was reported to be cylindrical, eerily suggestive of past imagined visitors. The cylinder was artificial  hollow  with an end that screwed out! wrote H.G. Wells in The War of The Worlds. Something within the cylinder was unscrewing the top!

Maybe the Martians really are coming.

Alternatively, maybe the U.F.O.s that were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron emerged from somewhere in China, just like the large balloon that was shot down on Feb. 4 off the South Carolina coast. Theres a lot we still dont know, and the White House is being appropriately careful not to jump to conclusions. Maybe its the Russians, or something altogether innocent. But lets think through the implications of the Made in China hypothesis.

Why would Beijing do it? The likeliest answer comes in the form of an old Leninist maxim: Probe with bayonets. If you find mush, push.

Balloons (if thats in fact what the mystery aircraft really are, a point that remains unconfirmed) may hardly seem threatening like bayonets. But, as The Times reported last week, Beijing has sent balloons over more than 40 countries. Balloons can scrape up photographic and other data that reconnaissance satellites cannot. And they can operate in a zone known as near space, between 12 and 62 miles above the earth, that the Chinese military calls a new battleground in modern warfare.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Tuesday about protest in Israel in response to a judicial overhaul proposed by the new government misstated the results of a poll about the proposal. The poll said that 41 percent of Israelis supported the governments plan and 44 percent opposed it, not the other way around.

INTERNATIONAL

Because of an editing error, an article on Sunday about Berlins do-over election misstated the European body that planned to send outside observers to Berlin. It was the Council of Europe, which is the top human rights panel on the continent, not the European Council.

Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.

To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, please email nytnews@nytimes.com. To share feedback, please visit nytimes.com/readerfeedback.

Comments on opinion articles may be emailed to letters@nytimes.com.

For newspaper delivery questions: 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) or email customercare@nytimes.com.
The ubiquity of certain it handbags on social media can create a feeling of snow blindness when youre scrolling online. If you want to break out of that trend cycle, the solution is obvious: Get a vintage bag.

This is a wild and exciting world to dive into! Its also overwhelming. Allow me to talk you through it. Youll want to take your time, familiarize yourself with sellers authentication guarantees, do research on serial numbers, get a lay of the land on competitive pricing and learn to understand the subtleties of how sellers describe the conditions of their goods. Sounds exhausting but trust me, its worth it.

You should know things like what Prada calls its nylon (tessuto) and the name of Bottega Venetas woven leather (intrecciato). Never hesitate to ask questions or request more photos  advice that also applies to life in general.

For our purposes, were using a loose definition of vintage: at least a decade old. There are many, many, many strategies for shopping for vintage bags. One way is to frequent vintage shops that carry a lot of bags. Check out What Goes Around Comes Around in New York and Beverly Hills, Calif., or Dina Cs Fab & Funky Consignment Boutique in Palm Beach, Fla. (a.k.a., destination shopping heaven). Browse by designer at a resale site like ReBag or Fashionphile. Visit super-specific destinations like ClosetfullofCoco on Instagram, which sells Chanel exclusively  and almost all of it bags.
Ms. Proctor testified that when she asked Mr. Murdaugh if he had any idea who could have murdered the victims  her younger sister, Maggie, and nephew, Paul Murdaugh  he made a cryptic comment about the mind-set of the killer.

He said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a long time, Ms. Proctor said. I just didnt know what that meant.

Ms. Proctors testimony was some of the most highly anticipated in the three-week-long trial, which has been watched and debated around the country. She said that, for about three months, she had largely accepted Mr. Murdaughs theory: that Paul Murdaugh had been targeted by someone angry over a 2019 boat crash, in which the younger Murdaugh had been charged with drunkenly crashing the familys boat, killing a passenger. He was facing charges of boating under the influence at the time of his death.

But Ms. Proctor said she began to question that account about three months after the murders, when Mr. Murdaugh was fired by his law firm amid accusations that he had stolen millions of dollars over many years. Ms. Proctor, who was called to the witness stand by prosecutors, was not asked whether she thought Mr. Murdaugh was responsible, but she said that, looking back, his behavior in the aftermath of the murders had been strange.

He said that his No. 1 goal was clearing Pauls name in the boat case, she said. And I thought that was so strange because my No. 1 goal was to find out who killed my sister and Paul.
For generations, she has been an iconic American political figure  a leader on issues from the environment to assault-style weapons, the longest-serving senator ever to represent California, the first woman to make it to the top of San Franciscos political system, catapulted there after a still-shocking burst of gun violence.

On Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, announced that she would finish out her term but not seek re-election next year. Colleagues, critics and an increasingly restive field of aspiring successors have questioned her health and fitness for office  a concern, her supporters noted, that few have raised for male octogenarians in the Senate  but friends said she made her decision on her own timetable.

She has a level of integrity thats unusual  she really thinks about the merits, more than most, said Jerry Brown, 84, a fellow Democrat who was Californias longest-serving governor when he left public office in 2018. She gives her all to the job. And I think it has been difficult for her to come to the end.
press release

Government joins the globe in observing World Radio Day under the theme " Radio and Peace". The 13th of February is specifically set aside to raise awareness of the importance of radio.

In South Africa, radio is a very powerful communication medium, which is easily accessible even in the rural parts of the country. It brings people from all walks of life together through its role of entertaining, educating and sharing important information.

The Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, said: "Radio in particular is still one of the most accessible mediums in the country. During the dark days of Apartheid South Africa, radio was used as a revolutionary tool to keep the people informed of the struggle being waged against the crime against humanity. For example, radio played a positive role in society during the anti-apartheid struggle. Radio Freedom in South Africa used to communicate and send messages to people on the ground. People would gather together in homes who had radios just to hear the broadcast.

Similarly, it played a crucial role in fostering democracy and expressing our diversity in this country. The media, such as radio, continues to shape opinions and perceptions and influence public discourse. Radio holds particular importance in framing narratives on issues or events is important as it has great power to influence people. In a post-pandemic environment, radio, like other media, has a critical role to play in contributing towards social cohesion, peace and nation building."

Radio stations are among the key stakeholders of government, as they disseminate key information about government programmes of action and opportunities that the public can use to improve their lives.

Government sends its appreciation to the industry for its unique role in promoting the identities of South Africans across cultures and languages, as well as fostering peace domestically and internationally.
Megan Bender and her husband, Tyler, live on a quiet dead-end street in Lansing, next door to where Anthony McRae, the 43-year-old man identified by the authorities as the gunman in the Michigan State mass shooting, had been living with his father, Michael McRae, for about a year, she said.

Ms. Bender said the son appeared not to drive a car, and was often seen walking to and from his fathers house. Neighbors in the densely populated area were upset last summer, she said, when the son fired a gun in the backyard.

She spoke in her living room on Tuesday morning, having hardly slept overnight. She had been listening to the police scanner on Monday evening when the Michigan State campus in East Lansing was locked down and the police were pursuing a suspect in the shooting.

Shortly after she heard a report that the suspect had killed himself, she said, squad cars arrived on her street, and officers shone a large spotlight on the small red McRae house next door.
Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, underwent surgery for prostate cancer on Tuesday afternoon and should not require further treatment, his office said in a statement.

Senator Casey, 62, who is in his third term, said in early January that he had prostate cancer but expected to make a full recovery. On Tuesday, Mr. Caseys office said that he looked forward to getting back to a normal schedule after a period of rest and recovery. His office did not say when he expected to return to work.

The diagnosis of the cancer in December came as a shock, Mr. Casey said last month. But he emphasized at the time that the prognosis was promising and that he was confident that his treatment would allow him to work with minimal disruption.

The surgery came a week after Senator John Fetterman, the U.S. Senates other Democrat from Pennsylvania, faced his own health challenges, after he had a near-fatal stroke last May while he was campaigning for the Senate seat. Last Wednesday, Senator Fetterman was hospitalized after feeling lightheaded while attending a daylong Senate Democratic retreat in Washington. Initial tests showed no sign of another stroke, but he spent two days in the hospital while doctors ran additional tests and monitored him for seizures, according to a spokesman.
WASHINGTON  The world was a volatile place when President George W. Bush was leaving office. So on the way out the door, he and his national security team left a little advice for their successors:

India is a friend. Pakistan is not. Dont trust North Korea or Iran, but talking is still better than not. Watch out for Russia; it covets the territory of its neighbor Ukraine. Beware becoming ensnared by intractable land wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. And oh yes, nation-building is definitely harder than it looks.

Fourteen years ago, Mr. Bushs team recorded its counsel for the incoming administration of President Barack Obama in 40 classified memos by the National Security Council, part of what has widely been hailed by both sides as a model transition between presidents of different parties. For the first time, those memos have now been declassified, offering a window into how the world appeared to a departing administration after eight years marked by war, terrorism and upheaval.

Thirty of the memos are reproduced in Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama, a new book edited by Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bushs last national security adviser, along with three members of his staff, and set to be published by the Brookings Institution on Wednesday. The memos add up to a tour dhorizon of the international challenges that awaited Mr. Obama and his team in January 2009 with U.S. troops still in combat in two wars and various other threats to American security looming.

They were designed to provide the incoming administration with what they needed to know about the most critical foreign policy and national security issues they would face, Mr. Bush wrote in a foreword to the book. The memoranda told them candidly what we thought we had accomplished  where we had succeeded and where we had fallen short  and what work remained to be done.
Ukrainian authorities are stepping up efforts to persuade the few thousand remaining civilians to leave Bakhmut in the face of a sustained Russian assault, a regional official said on Tuesday, adding to signs that Kyiv may be preparing to retreat from a city it has defended fiercely for months.

The city, which had a prewar population of around 70,000, has steadily been emptying as the fighting has intensified. Fewer than 5,000 residents are still there, about 140 of them children, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the regional military administration, said.

In a further effort to reduce the number of civilians in the city, military authorities were permitting only people with special passes to return once they had left, Mr. Kyrylenko said in a national television broadcast. A day earlier, authorities barred aid workers from entering the city, saying it was too dangerous as Russian forces surrounded it on three sides.

The military must focus on preparing defensive lines, Mr. Kyrylenko said on Tuesday.

Bakhmut has been the focus of a grinding Russian campaign along the roughly 140-mile eastern front. Should the city fall, it would be Russias biggest battlefield victory in months and add to pressure on Ukraines Western allies to step up their support of Kyiv. Representatives of dozens of nations that have provided military and financial aid were meeting Tuesday in Brussels, discussing Ukraines urgent needs for ammunition and requests for even more advanced equipment, including aircraft.
A spokesman for the armed forces, Col. Serhiy Cherevaty, said on Ukrainian television that soldiers need to keep their focus on building defensive lines. But he also said that part of the reason for the order a day earlier barring civilians, including aid workers, from entering the city was to keep military operations secret.

As a prize, Bakhmut offers little in the way of strategic value for either Moscow or Kyiv. Its significance comes more from the amount of blood spilled to claim it.

Even if Bakhmut were to fall, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war, said the National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby. I would go so far as to say it wont even have necessarily a strategic impact on the fighting in that part of the country.

In Brussels, Western officials deflected questions about whether Ukraine would win its campaign to secure still more powerful weapons to use against its Russian enemy.

Already, allies have given all manner of different Western weapon systems to Kyivs war effort, most recently pledging to supply it with battle tanks. Mr. Austin said the priority now was to make sure Ukrainian troops were trained on how to use these weapons effectively, describing it as a monumental task that is really the focus of our conversation today.
One day, about 1,100 years ago, a scribe in present-day Israel or Syria sat down to begin work on a book. Copied out on roughly 400 large parchment sheets, it contained the complete text of the Hebrew Bible, written in square letters similar to those of the Torah scrolls in any synagogue today.

After changing hands a few times, it ended up in a synagogue in northeast Syria, which was destroyed around the 13th or 14th century. Then it disappeared for nearly 600 years.

Since resurfacing in 1929, the Bible has been in private collections. But one afternoon last week, there it was sitting in a cradle at Sothebys in Manhattan, where Sharon Liberman Mintz, the auction houses senior Judaica consultant, was turning its rippled pages with a mixture of familiarity and awe.

She pointed out the two versions of the Ten Commandments, a beautifully calligraphic rendering of the Song of Deborah and, more prosaically, places where small tears had been stitched together with thread or sinew.
The Ukrainian violinist Solomia Onyskiv arrived in the United States last month on a mission.

With the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of her country approaching, she worried that the world was quickly forgetting the suffering there. She had come with 65 other musicians from the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine to lead a 40-concert tour aimed at promoting Ukrainian culture.

We are almost in a state of panic now, Onyskiv said. We worry deeply about the future of our country because this war wont stop. Russia wont stop. And if we dont stand up, if the world doesnt stand up, there will be more suffering.

On Wednesday, Onyskiv and her colleagues will get one of their most visible platforms yet: the stage of Carnegie Hall, where they will perform a program that includes Brahmss Piano Concerto No. 1 and Dvoraks New World Symphony, as well as the Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovychs Chamber Symphony No. 3.

The concert is a milestone, but also a bittersweet moment for many of the musicians: They have spent much of the past year on tour, away from family and friends, watching the destruction of war from afar. Some have struggled to keep their focus as they embark on their cultural mission, checking constantly for news of Russian attacks and reading stories about Ukrainians who have been killed.
Read Your Way Around the World is a series exploring the globe through books.

The fifth largest city in the world, Sao Paulo is not only the richest urban center in Brazil: It is a rhizome fed by conflicting moral, ethical and aesthetic ambitions and imaginations, which lead and influence an entire countrys cultural production.

Absorbing, concentrating, dominating and replicating other collective imaginations in an ongoing colonizing project, today Sao Paulo is, for better or worse, the place where many decisions are made about what Brazilian cultural identity and Brazilian culture are understood to be. This causes an important number of artists from all over Brazil to migrate here. Among them are writers  including the young Black and Indigenous writers whose fictional narratives are, increasingly, and in ways not yet fully understood, opposing this colonizing project in ambitious ways, with language and characters that would have been unacceptable a few years ago.

Sao Paulo is a daunting metropolis. What are some books that can help me approach the city?

Conceicao Evaristos powerful first novel, Poncia Vicencio, translated by Paloma Martinez-Cruz, addresses the emotional impact of structural racism on Black Brazilian people. The eponymous main character, Poncia, grows up in a small town, Vila Vicencio, in a Black family working on a small subsistence farm. Her grandfather had been enslaved. Facing racism, Poncia takes a train to the big city to find a new life. The name of the city is not mentioned, but there is no doubt it is Sao Paulo.

The Sao Paulo explored in the literature of the 21st century, as in Evaristos novel, is a space in which extreme situations unfold under a regime of oppression directed against those who are outside privileged social groups. This, in a dystopian way, is very well addressed by the writer Ignacio de Loyola Brandao in his novel And Still the Earth, in a translation by Ellen Watson. In this work of speculative fiction, set in a future Sao Paulo, the System governs its subjects every movement and thought.
How deadly was Chinas Covid wave?

After China relaxed the worlds most stringent Covid-19 restrictions in December, the virus exploded there. Four separate academic teams have come up with broadly similar estimates suggesting that one million to 1.5 million people died during the surge, far more than Chinas official count.

Researchers believe that the countrys official figure, as of Feb. 9, of 83,150 deaths during the entire pandemic is a vast undercount. That number would give China the lowest death rate per capita of any major country over the whole of the pandemic.

But at the researchers estimated levels of mortality, China would already have surpassed the toll in many Asian countries that never clamped down as long or as aggressively. The estimates also align more closely with the evidence of overwhelmed hospitals and crematories than the official figures do.
1. The U.S. is on track to add nearly $19 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

The projection, released today by Congresss nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, is $3 trillion more than it previously forecast  the result of rising costs for interest payments, veterans health care, the military and other government spending. This year alone, the government is slated to spend $1.4 trillion more than it takes in from tax revenues.

Deficits over the next decade are expected to average $2 trillion annually, as tax receipts fail to keep pace with the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare benefits for retiring baby boomers. Earlier this month, President Biden essentially forced Republican leaders to profess that they would not seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Authorities have rounded up 45 Ethiopians for allegedly entering into the country without valid travel documents.

Rumphi Police spokesperson Tupeliwe Kabwilo said the illegal immigrants were arrested on Tuesday at Bwengu on the M1 Road.

According to Kabwilo, police followed a tip that a motor vehicle registration number KA657 Canter Lorry, coming from Karonga going towards Mzuzu was carrying 45 illegal immigrants suspected to be Ethiopians.

This prompted the officers to rush to the said place. Upon stopping the vehicle, the driver did not comply and instead, started cruising fast, but police officers followed the vehicle until at a point where the driver abandoned it and took cover.

Meanwhile all suspects are being kept at Rumphi Police station.
An Indian airline has ordered a record 470 planes, worth more than $100 billion at list prices, from Boeing and Airbus, in a sign of the scale of the post-pandemic rebound in the aviation industry and the growing market in India.

The deals, struck by Air India, are part of an ambitious overhaul by the Tata Group, the powerhouse conglomerate that took control of the carrier about a year ago. It is planning to buy 220 jets from Boeing and 250 from Airbus, and is expected to pay less than list price, as is typical in such transactions.

In a statement, President Biden said the Boeing order would support more than one million American jobs, many of which would not require a college degree. He also said the deal reflected the strength of the ties between the United States and India. President Emmanuel Macron of France echoed a similar sentiment with respect to Airbus. Both leaders spoke separately with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

The airline business is booming in India, with the government planning to build 80 new airports over the next five years. Boeing has projected that passenger traffic in the country will increase 7 percent annually over the next two decades.
Thousands of airline passengers were stranded in Germany and around the world after a severed telecommunications cable knocked out Lufthansas digital systems, the company said Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of more than 140 flights.

Lufthansa said it had been affected by an I.T. outage, caused by construction work in the Frankfurt region, and urged passengers traveling within Germany to rebook their travel on trains. Frankfurt is Lufthansas main hub in Germany, and the international airport is the countrys largest.

Hours later, after 4 p.m. local time, Lufthansa said flight operations were stabilizing and would continue to improve. For Thursday, the airline said, it expected most flights to be on schedule.

But earlier in the day, Lufthansa apologized to travelers and encouraged them to rebook flights scheduled for Wednesday. Lufthansa passengers at other airports were also affected by the outage, as the disruptions in Frankfurt reverberated throughout the carriers network.
David Malpass, the embattled president of the World Bank, said on Wednesday that he would step down by June, roughly a year before his term expires.

Mr. Malpass, who was nominated in 2019 for a five-year term by President Donald J. Trump, has overseen an organization that lends billions of dollars each year to poor countries grappling with health crises, hunger, conflict and a warming planet.

But last September he came under fire for his own views on climate change. When asked if he accepted the overwhelming scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels was causing global temperatures to rise, he demurred. Im not a scientist, he said.

The exchange, during a live interview at a New York Times event, set off a slow-motion public relations crisis for Mr. Malpass that came to a head on Wednesday when he said he would resign from his role by June 30.
BUFFALO  The gunman in a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket last year was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on Wednesday, after apologizing for his attack amid a torrent of raw emotions from the victims families, including one man who lunged at him in court.

You will never see the light of day as a free man again, the judge, Susan Eagan, said after reading a statement about the harmful effects of institutional racism and white supremacy, calling it an insidious cancer on our society and nation.

The sentence reflected the outcome of a guilty plea to 10 counts of first-degree murder and a single count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment without parole. He was the first person in New York convicted of that domestic terrorism charge.

Judge Eagans sentence came after a brief apology by the gunman, Payton Gendron, 19, who said he was very sorry for the attack and blamed online content for the shooting rampage on May 14, in which 10 people were killed, all of them Black, and three people injured. He said he didnt want to inspire other racist killings.
Shortly after the vote on Wednesday, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Westchester Democrat and the majority leader, said she believed that lawmakers had acted constitutionally. She said, however, that the fight over Justice LaSalle had become a distracting wedge issue that had to be put to rest with a floor vote.

Everybody is paying attention to who is sitting in the judiciary, whos making these decisions, she said, ticking off recent decisions at the federal level that had eroded abortion rights and gun control laws. It was not inappropriate for us, with the eyes of the nation and the state on us, to look for a nominee that is able to lead the court in this really, really critical time.

The governor in December selected Justice LaSalle, who would have become the first Latino chief judge in New York, from a pool of seven candidates assembled by a special commission after the former chief judge, Janet DiFiore, stepped down last year.

But Justice LaSalle, who is currently the presiding justice of the Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court, was quickly met with fierce opposition from progressive Democrats, as well as unions, reproductive rights groups and community organizations.

Democrats who opposed him pointed to his past as a prosecutor and to a number of cases he signed on to that they argued demonstrated he was hostile to unions and abortion rights. Senate Democrats, still reeling from a Court of Appeals decision last year that overturned redistricting maps they had drawn, also said they were intent on elevating someone who would break the courts current conservative tilt.
Johnson was startled: She had not heard of San Juan Hill until after she went to work at Lincoln Center almost four years ago. The family story was that her grandmother had been born in Harlem and had lived there until she moved to Brooklyn, where Johnson grew up.

The discovery prompted me to really begin to understand what the population of San Juan Hill was, Johnson said.

The project to tell the story of the neighborhood became Legacies of San Juan Hill, a website that went live this week and includes archival photographs, interviews with former residents and scholarly essays. Legacies was created in collaboration with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (whose eponym, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, lived in San Juan Hill in the 1890s) and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

The website tells how more than 7,000 families and 800 businesses were displaced by urban renewal as the plans for Lincoln Center became reality. We called it urban removal, T.S. Monk, the drummer and son of the jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, said in an interview for Legacies. He added: Building Lincoln Center was kind of an affront to the community. It was not built for us.

Thelonious Monk had lived in the neighborhood but moved to the Phipps Houses, just south of the area that was cleared, in the mid-1950s. My father used to say Lincoln Center is my neighborhood, T.S. Monk told me. I didnt quite understand why he felt so strongly about that. In many ways, that seemed to be more important to him than the urban removal and upheaval that was taking place as Lincoln Center took shape.
New Jersey will expand a high school course in African American Studies to 25 schools across the state, Gov. Philip D. Murphy announced this week, a move that inserted the state into an escalating culture-war battle over the way schools teach about race and racism.

The New Jersey governors announcement followed a decision by the Florida education department to ban the course in that states high schools after pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis. The department said the course significantly lacks educational value and was not historically accurate, although its creator said the state has not identified any specific inaccuracies in the curriculum.

New Jerseys expansion of the Advanced Placement course in African American studies, a college-level class, had already been in the works, Mr. Murphys office said, but at a news conference this week announcing it, the governor took direct aim at Floridas decision to ban the class.

Enough already of all this nonsense coming out of Florida, we want to expand the story and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even when it hurts, Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday. He made the comments at Science Park High School in Newark, one of the schools that will offer the course.
This was supposed to be a winter of energy crisis in Europe. Beginning last spring, not long after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fear of gas shortages spread across the continent, along with fears of what might follow. The coming winter crunch was compared to wartime, with energy experts less focused on whether it would bring rationing than how much. Others suggested that spectacular price spikes would mean suspensions of energy markets and that the continent as a whole would experience not a cost of living crisis but a crisis of molecules  in which there wasnt enough energy to be had, no matter the price. A recession was simply taken for granted among the commentariat  almost like a badge of honor demonstrating the moral valor of standing up to Vladimir Putin.

Europe as a whole has indeed endured a lot through the cold months: dramatic spikes in energy prices, with wholesale prices for electricity and gas growing as much as 15-fold, often accompanied by similar spikes in government relief. Countries from Germany to Denmark and Italy spent more than 5 percent of G.D.P. to shield citizens from the crunch, enacting public conservation measures that darkened city streets and limited power use in other ways. In Britain, average bills were expected to grow by 80 percent before the government artificially lowered the average annual household energy bill to about $3,000. Across the continent, people turned their thermostats down and snuggled with hot water bottles at night. Industry was dialed back in places but also often found alternative power supplies.

All told, though, the worst has not come to pass. There were no blackouts, as experts were warning as recently as December. There was no significant mortality from the cold. Industrial production took some hits but didnt disappear, and indeed, economic forecasters who were six months ago almost unanimously predicting a continentwide recession are now almost unanimously predicting ongoing, if limited, economic growth. There are still worries about whether next winter will prove as manageable as this one, but natural gas storage levels have remained high for months, and gas prices have now fallen back to where they were in September of 2021, several months before the invasion.

What is perhaps most remarkable is that the European Union has not just managed to avert a crisis but has actually turbocharged the green transition, as The Economist recently put it, potentially enough to knock a full decade off the continents decarbonization timeline.
That men are increasingly living lives in which they feel they are unable to fully flourish, causing women to not want to have children with them, is a problem about which commentators like the Brookings fellow Richard Reeves are sounding the alarm. On his Substack, Of Boys and Men, Reeves, the author of a recent book of the same name, describes the challenges facing boys and men that he feels have been dangerously neglected and says that the closer he looked, the bleaker the picture became.

Dr. Skirbekks prescriptions could help ameliorate some problems young men are experiencing throughout the developed world. So far, few policies have effectively addressed some of the main barriers to fertility, including the economic position of the young  which has worsened over recent decades in many countries, he writes. As my colleague David Brooks noted in September, in America, The biggest drop in employment is among young men aged 25 to 34.

Policies that strengthen opportunities for younger men in the labor and housing markets might be more important in increasing fertility rates than a one-time cash incentive, says Dr. Skirbekk. He also believes that governmental help in creating better work-life balance would facilitate more people having children while theyre still able to. Reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization certainly can help people have babies later in life, but theyre costly and dont work for everyone.

Dr. Skirbekk also believes that encouraging fertility is only going to get us so far, and that low-fertility countries need to adapt to their new reality instead. Growing the earths population endlessly is at odds with efforts to address climate concerns. Immigration can be part of the solution, but in our country  a nation of immigrants  theres no political consensus about how to update our immigration system. Hungary, as I noted last week, has rolled out an assortment of governmental incentives to increase fertility, but despite membership in the E.U. and NATO, is relatively insular, with authoritarian, some would say ethnonationalist, leadership  in any case, we shouldnt take cues from the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Importantly, even if more countries became more open to more immigration, that isnt necessarily a fix, since the fertility rate of people from higher-fertility countries has been found to decline once they immigrate to lower-fertility countries. According to a 2020 report from the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development, nearly all countries hosting the largest numbers of international migrants had fertility levels below 2.1 children per woman, that is, below replacement levels.

While politically unpopular, some countries are going to revisit the idea of raising their retirement ages  but we could choose to see this as an opportunity to rethink the way weve structured work.

In the United States in particular, because full-time work is tied to health insurance, there are fewer opportunities for what wed think of as quality part-time jobs. In our country, were generally expected to work full time until retirement  usually for a period of around 45 years. We make it difficult to work part time during periods of caregiving  for younger children and older family members  and we make it harder to have a slow-fade retirement. Breaking down some baked-in assumptions about work would help fix the growing problem of a lack of working-age Americans without relying only on people to have more babies to fill that need.
To the Editor:

Re Inclusive or Alienating? The Language Wars Go On, by Nicholas Kristof (column, Feb. 2):

Mr. Kristof raises a fair point about the dizzying landscape of identity politics and the language we use to describe our intersectional and sometimes malleable senses of self. Indeed, humans are diverse and complex, and our language is reflective of that.

Mr. Kristof dangerously plays right into the hands of the right wing when he says that the evolution of language is fodder for the anti-woke agenda. The hatemongers of the world dont oppose the language that Americans use to describe our beautifully diverse selves so much as they oppose the people, as evidenced by the attacks on everything from transgender peoples access to health care, Black peoples access to higher education, the right to abortion care and so much else. The war on words is just one way they are hacking at progress.

Mr. Kristof writes of inclusive language, Instead of a spur to action, it seems a substitute for it. A focus on inclusive language and doing the work to drive greater equity are not mutually exclusive.

Words matter. When we acknowledge that the homeless are actually human beings who are unhoused, or that transgender men can give birth, we open up a world in which we can ensure that no one, particularly those most in need, are left out of the solutions that we develop.
press release

President condemns targeting of KwaZulu-Natal Premier's family

President Cyril Ramaphosa condemns the intimidation, by alleged protesters, of KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, and her family in their private home.

The President welcomes the current investigation into the incident in which a group of people made their way to the Premier's private home under cover of darkness, to intimidate the Premier and her family.

President Ramaphosa wishes the Premier and her family well in the aftermath of this harassment and condemns this action in the strongest terms.

The President said: "We must condemn and resist any and all attempts by anyone to render our society lawless and chaotic.

"The Bill of Rights in our Constitution affirms that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected, as well as the right to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources.

"These rights apply to each and every citizen, including elected leadership or public officials, who choose to serve our nation, and their families.

"These rights must be respected even when people have legitimate issues to raise, and such issues must be raised through the channels that exist within our open democracy."
Ross Douthat Much less seriously than the likely front-running candidacies of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, and somewhat less seriously than the likely also-ran candidacy of Mike Pence. Which means that barring a scenario where at least two of those three men dont catch fire, not particularly seriously at all.

David French The Republican race is best summed up as two individuals (Trump and DeSantis) and a field. Maybe a third candidate can emerge from the field, and maybe that person can be Haley  a decent reason to take her seriously  but we need to see evidence of independent traction.

Michelle Goldberg Not very. I cant imagine who she thinks her constituency is. A video teasing her candidacy starts with a spiel by the neocon Reagan official Jeane Kirkpatrick. Talk about nailing the zeitgeist!

Rosie Gray Haley handled the Trump years more deftly than most. She never allowed herself to be dragged into anything too embarrassing or scandalous and didnt fall victim to vicious Trump world backstabbing. But she probably isnt the kind of candidate who can get through a Republican presidential primary. Shrewd as she has been, she cant plausibly reinvent herself as a 2023 outrage merchant.

Liz Mair She could be the next vice president. Thats the reason to take her seriously.

Mike Madrid I dont see Haley as a serious candidate for the presidency or the vice presidency. She brings nothing demographically or ideologically to the G.O.P. that it doesnt already have. But it is a serious attempt to maintain her relevance in the Republican hierarchy as a nonwhite woman willing to take a cabinet position or appointment to reassure primary voters that they arent actually a bunch of monolithic white people.
There are now three clear indicators that criminal probes of Donald Trump are rapidly reaching a conclusion. First, in Georgia a special grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the presidential election in the state has concluded its work. The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, has indicated that charging decisions are imminent. Key parts of the grand jury report will be released this Thursday.

Second, the Manhattan district attorneys office is reportedly presenting evidence to a grand jury regarding the accusation that Trump paid hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Third, as The Times reported last week, the special counsel Jack Smith issued a subpoena to Mike Pence. The special counsel said it is investigating Trumps mishandling of classified information and efforts to interfere with the certification of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, and with the lawful transfer of power after the election. Pence is a direct witness to key events surrounding at least two of those subjects: Jan. 6 and the election interference efforts before Jan. 6.

Pence is reportedly planning to challenge the subpoena on separation of powers grounds, claiming that his former role as president of the Senate was legislative and therefore entitles him to at least some protection from the Department of Justices subpoena. But even if he mounts that challenge, issuing a subpoena to a former vice president is a significant step and not one likely to be taken for general information-gathering purposes. Instead, as the former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review, the subpoena indicated that a final charging decision was probably nearing and the prosecutor was preparing to cross the Rubicon.
Sometime very soon, one hopes, the Biden administration will attempt to explain to the American people what they think our fighters shot down over Lake Huron and northern Canada and off Alaska, be they balloons or drones or something somewhat stranger. If that happens, we will take a meaningful step toward solving a longstanding, conspiracy-shadowed mystery: What, exactly, are all the unidentified flying objects  sorry, sorry  unidentified aerial phenomena that our military keeps encountering in the skyfields above planet Earth?

But maybe it wont be as big a step as one might hope. Maybe some of the debris wont be found at all (as the administration is now hinting) or we wont fully identify some of the objects. Maybe the government will classify the details, or the objects will be officially identified as drones or balloons but their origins will remain uncertain. Maybe the takeaway will just be that we have very little idea of what goes on in our own skies, making more outlandish theories seem, if anything, more credible than they did a few weeks ago.

This would fit one of the patterns of our era, which is what you might call the incomplete reveal. Sometimes a phenomenon goes from being the subject of crank theories and sub rosa conversations to being more mainstream, but without actually being fully explained or figured out. Or sometimes a controversy takes center stage for a little while, a great deal seems to hang upon the answer, and then it isnt resolved and seems to get forgotten. Whats at stake in these kinds of cases isnt a conspiracy theory (though they may give rise to them) but a question or a secret  something thats acknowledged to matter, thats theoretically knowable, but that slips away from reach.

The U.A.P. story so far has been an obvious example. In the last few years the government and the media have finally acknowledged the existence of a genuinely strange phenomenon. But there hasnt been sustained mainstream pressure (because that would be too weird and paranoid) on public officials or institutions to get closer to the bottom of whats going on.
Glossier spent much of 2022 regrouping. The company laid off about a third of its work force in January; Ms. Weiss stepped down in May; and Kyle Leahy, formerly the chief commercial officer, stepped into the chief executive role. Ms. Leahy oversaw a corporate restructuring and departure from the brands core business model, which until this year has been selling only on its website and in its stores. In July of last year, Glossier announced it would sell its products at Sephora.

The Sephora debut is one week away, a new website is scheduled to go live in April (with shipping to more countries to come), and theres a higher number of products dropping this year. Instead of roughly four launches per year, Glossier will introduce new items every four to six weeks, from shade add-ons to Cloud Paint to entirely new products like deodorant. Stores in Boston and Chicago will open in the spring.

We started as a millennial brand, Ms. Leahy said. We were founded as a direct-to-consumer business. We are beyond that. We are bigger than that because we can now resonate with Gen Z.

According to Kleo Mack, the senior vice president for global marketing at Glossier, the idea for a recent Balm Dotcom charm event came from a TikTok post in which someone put a charm on their balm.

We sent them a DM and said: This is so cute, so amazing. How did you come up with this? Ms. Mack said.

Earlier this month, Glossier reintroduced its Balm Dotcom with an updated, Gen Z-friendly vegan formula and a new applicator tip. The company sold $1 million worth of the multipurpose balm in the first week, it said.
Somewhere in the multiverse of fashion, there is a branch of reality in which Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole never sold Gucci to PPR. They never bought Yves Saint Laurent or Bottega Veneta or Balenciaga; never left Kering; never started their own brand; and never sold that brand to Estee Lauder for almost $3 billion.

Instead, in this alternate reality, Mr. Ford and Mr. De Sole made a deal with Gianni and Santo Versace, created an Italian fashion mega-group composed of Gucci and Versace and changed the trajectory of not just those houses but, potentially, all of our wardrobes.

That was the plan, anyway, back in 1997  at least until Gianni Versace was murdered. Or so a new feature-length documentary, Milano: The Inside Story of Italian Fashion, reveals.

The film is the latest entrant in a cinematic trend  one that includes a documentary on supermodels from Apple TV+ and one on Vogue in the 1990s airing on Disney+  that taps into the current pop culture fascination with fashion at the end of the last century. It will have its premiere, appropriately enough, at the close of Milan Fashion Week, on Feb. 26, with a star-and-designer-studded red carpet eager to find out what other secrets have been spilled.
After the cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed last year, bankruptcy lawyers, federal prosecutors and forensic investigators embarked on a global hunt to recover billions of dollars in lost deposits and repay the firms customers.

One large chunk of money has been sitting for months in an interest-bearing account at JPMorgan Chase, the worlds largest bank. JPMorgan holds $400 million that FTXs founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, invested in an obscure hedge fund, Modulo Capital, four people with knowledge of the matter said.

The founders of Modulo, which has drawn scrutiny from prosecutors investigating FTXs implosion, are now negotiating the return of the funds with bankruptcy lawyers representing the exchange, said two of the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. There is no indication that the Modulo founders did anything wrong, and they are looking for FTX to release them from certain legal liabilities in exchange for returning the money, one of the people said.

The talks show the complexity of retrieving funds in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in recent history, with an initial shortfall that was estimated at $8 billion. Until late last year, FTX was among the biggest and most powerful companies in the emerging crypto industry, a prolific investor that backed hundreds of other start-ups. Now investigators have to not only scour company accounts but also untangle a vast web of outside investments  and then negotiate to secure the money.
In 2018, Lyfts co-founders, Logan Green and John Zimmer, assembled employees in the cafeteria of the San Francisco companys headquarters for a staff meeting. There, they explained that they were spending $250 million to purchase Motivate, the owner of the CitiBike bicycle-sharing program in New York.

But employees had been hoping for more. For years, Lyft had been struggling against Uber, its far bigger ride-hailing competitor, which had expanded into food delivery and announced its entry into dozens of countries. Lyfts workers were clamoring for it to make an ambitious move. Some had hoped executives would announce Lyfts own worldwide expansion, two former senior employees said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

It didnt happen. The bike-sharing deal is an example of what analysts and three current and former employees say is an overly cautious business strategy that has dogged Lyft since its early days. The companys decision not to deliver food or offer rides outside North America proved costly as it recovered from the pandemic, giving Uber a firm advantage that has prompted questions about Lyfts future.

Last week, in financial results for the last three months of 2022, Lyft warned that it would be hindered by economic challenges, spooking Wall Street and sending its stock price tumbling nearly 40 percent, matching a low of $10 a share, before it rebounded slightly this week. The company is now valued at $4.2 billion, compared with $22 billion at its peak.
NEF Ive been able to spend my entire fall and winter doing Off Broadway shows because I did Fashion Week before this and that visibility brings other opportunities. You can get paid three, four, five times what Im going to make for both these plays combined by going to one dinner and being photographed there in an outfit. I post images of the films I like on Instagram not just because I find them inspiring and beautiful  I do  but its me going, I want to be in movies like this.

POSEY Youre having the best of both worlds because to be online and have a social media presence is kind of to be your own magazine. I need to learn. But that time is a different time; it is your generations time right now.

NEF Youre literally from the last moment where it was possible to be cool. Looking at that capital-C definition of cool all the way back to Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, theres talent, theres glamour, theres drive, theres darkness. But theres also a mystery and a specificity, and you lose that mystery and specificity by existing online. Because of the money thing and the rent thing, it has become essentially untenable to be cool, to be mysterious, to have that allure being an indie legend.

Do you think its one thing to be perceived as cool and another to be taken seriously as an actor?

NEF So much of my entry into this industry and this practice was around Transparent. I was riding on this flotilla of discourse about things that had nothing to do with what I could do as an actor. I thought I had to sing for my supper just for a seat at the table. Maybe I was right, to a certain extent, but it became like, Do I really want people to know me by what I say or what I am or what my private medical history is? No, I want to be known for what I do as an actor.

POSEY Cool is when theres something original or unexpected, or seems to have some kind of luck around it. Which your appearing on that show was: the unexpected, something new, something fresh. And that is not orchestrated  thats luck. I see that now. I look at life and the path of an actor as having that luck. And I think thats very enviable.
As a sommelier, he got access to high-end kitchens, where he would take notes on the chefs techniques and experiment with them. In 2019 he launched a food truck preparing what he calls Afro-fusion cuisine. He sold the truck the following year and opened Hari Kitchen at the Topiary Wine Estate, where we ate a four-course meal that was probably the best we had during our visit to wine country.

Only two other tables were occupied in the dining room, which has wooden rafters and tile floors giving it mountain lodge vibes. We gazed out onto vineyards as Mr. Kwaramba took us on a two-hour food and wine journey for lunch.

His all-around expertise shined in the careful attention he paid to his wine and food pairings. For instance, he tweaked the recipe for the crispy arancini balls  using a pumpkin and peanut butter puree as a base instead of the usual carrot and cardamom  so that it paired better with a new vintage of chardonnay, which had more acidity than the previous one, he said.

In 2016, Mr. Kwaramba started his own wine label, the Global Sip. He learned the art of winemaking, like cooking, by observing winemakers in action.

I want to be the best chef and sommelier in the world one day, he said, adding that he wants to be someone who other Black wine lovers can observe and imitate.
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MONTEREY PARK, Calif.  Today they arrive in satin heels and glittering gowns of organza, in waistcoats and red bow ties. The womens cheeks are stained with blush, their hair in chignons. The mens shoes shine.

It is the annual showcase, a spectacle of dance featuring the rumba, samba, fox trot, tango and more. A throng of a couple hundred familiar faces, mostly senior in age, greet one another in a mix of Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

First up is a waltz to a 1950s ballad, led by Maria Liang who is dressed in a white and black number that sparkles like the string of lights behind her. She is the owner of this expansive establishment known as Star Ballroom Dance Studio.

Opposite her is Ming Wei Ma, the effusive manager of the place. He is 72 and glides on the wooden floor as those around him swirl in a rainbow of chiffon.

The mood is giddy, the crowd vivacious. A babble of laughter and chatter will continue for hours.

One day soon, this world will fracture in ways that will not be understood. It will become another backdrop for the kind of tragedy America knows too well.
Stanton Witherspoon appeared in court on 9th February 2023 and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud levelled against him and 19 others.

Witherspoon was released to his lawyer on a US$150,000.00 bond, at which time the court removed the ankle monitor from his foot with conditions that he relinquished his passport and all travel documents and avoid engaging in any job pertaining to nursing(teaching or training).

The Federal Court's condition also restricts Witherspoon from possessing a firearm or other dangerous weapons and surrendering them to the Probation officer and not selling or mortgaging any property he owns except when his bond is discharged or modified by the Court.

Witherspoon has also been instructed not to sell any of his properties nor change his current address in New Jersey without acknowledging the court. Defendant Witherspoon may travel to and from the Southern District of Florida and New Jersey but must inform Pre Trial-Services of his travels.

According to the terms of his bond release, Witherspoon is to maintain or actively seek full employment, avoid and contact with other defendants related to his case except through his legal counsel.

Witherspoon and more than two dozen others are accused by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Southern District of Florida of participation in a wire fraud scheme that created an illegal licensing and employment shortcut for aspiring nurses.

According to court documents seen by African Star, Witherspoon appeared with his legal counsel Attorney Annabelle Nahra and was advised of the charges by Federal Prosecutors. He waived the reading of the indictment against him but entered a plea of "not guilty" and was later released on a $150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars) bond which was approved by the court.

Meanwhile, no trial date has been set yet and an empanelled jury will hear the case at trial. Under U.S. laws Witherspoon and others are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. If found guilty, he will be facing 20 years in the federal penitentiary.
For generations, Dianne Feinstein has been an iconic American political figure.

She was born in San Francisco in 1933, the same year construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. She was the first female mayor of the City by the Bay; a longtime Democratic power broker who pushed for environmental protections and gun control; and the longest serving senator ever to represent California.

On Tuesday, Feinstein, 89, announced she would not seek re-election to the Senate next year but would finish out her term, which ends in 2024. Speaking to reporters, she explained her decision this way: There are times for all things under the sun, and I think that will be the right time.

To mark her announcement, The New York Times published a guide to nine key moments in Feinsteins career, including her 1992 victory to become Californias first female senator and her role in the 2020 Supreme Court hearings for Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Though critics have questioned her fitness for office in recent years, friends said she made the decision to end this chapter of her career on her own timetable.

She has a level of integrity thats unusual  she really thinks about the merits, more than most, Jerry Brown, Californias former governor, told my colleague Shawn Hubler. She gives her all to the job. And I think it has been difficult for her to come to the end.
After leaving the courthouse in St. Louis on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson said he went out to eat with his legal team, munching on salad, fries and chicken. He spent the night at a hotel, where he relished the ability to sprawl in a king-size bed, as he began to process what life after prison looked like.

Next, he said he was looking forward to quality time with family, figuring out how to work smartphones and taking a trip outside St. Louis for the first time in his life  perhaps to see the ocean. High on his bucket list is also skydiving with a mentor he met while in prison. Mr. Johnson is eager to be part of a major milestone in April: walking his youngest daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

You name it, I want to give it a go, he said. I want to get back to living.

Mr. Johnsons case was investigated for years by one of his lawyers, Ms. Runnels, and the Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit that advocates for wrongfully convicted people. They turned the findings over to a team set up by the circuit attorney for St. Louis, Kim Gardner, to review past convictions.

In August, she filed a motion for his release.

Today the courts righted a wrong, Ms. Gardner, a Democrat, said in a statement. We celebrate with Mr. Johnson and his family as he walks out of the courtroom as a free man.

Missouris attorney general, Andrew Bailey, said in a statement that the court has spoken and that no further action would be taken in the case.
New York University announced Wednesday that its new president would be Linda G. Mills, a professor and administrator at the university for more than 20 years.

The selection of Dr. Mills, the first woman to head the institution, based in Manhattan and one of the countrys largest private universities, follows the recent appointments of women to lead other top schools, like Columbia, Harvard, M.I.T., George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania.

She will succeed Andrew Hamilton, who has said he will step down in June after eight years as president.

Dr. Mills, who is now a vice chancellor and senior vice provost at the university, is known in the academic world primarily for her scholarship in social work, notably research in the field of domestic partner abuse and treatment.
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EAST PALESTINE, Ohio  All around the once-thriving industrial town in the quiet hills of eastern Ohio, there were signs this week of business as usual. Schools were in session, restaurants were serving lunch and trains were again barreling along the tracks that cross Market Street.

But all around, too, were signs that nothing was normal at all. People sniffed the water coming out of their taps, checked rashes in the mirror and gazed down into creeks at the green-white shoals of fish and frogs floating belly up. The smell lingered, reminding some of a tire fire, others of burning plastic, mixed with model airplane glue or nail polish remover.

Nearly two weeks after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, and a controlled burn of toxic chemicals it was carrying forced hundreds of residents to evacuate the area for days, the normal for many here was dread.
A New Yorker, Mr. Bauer graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1976. In 1980, he founded the political division of the influential law firm Perkins Coie, where he worked on and off  with breaks to serve as Mr. Obamas White House counsel  until 2018. (One of his competitors for Democratic clients was William C. Oldaker, who employed a young Hunter Biden at his firm in the early 2000s.)

Mr. Bauer and Ms. Dunn first crossed paths in 1984, when she consulted him on an election recount for a congressional campaign. They did not become close until several years later, when they were both working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She was the communications director, and he was counsel.

They married in 1993 and had a son; Mr. Bauer has three children from a previous marriage. The couple lives in Maryland with two cats, Oscar and Scoop. They privately joke that they have tried for years to get out of politics. It has not worked out that way.

Ms. Dunn and Mr. Bauer have an informal policy of never working for opposing candidates, and they have always pushed back on the idea that they are a team, friends say. Despite their tendency to travel from candidate to candidate together, allies insist that they are not quite a package deal.

And their tag-team style, while not exactly oppositional, is geared to define the legal and political parameters of a problem  often demonstrated through a disagreement.

They are married, but you honestly wouldnt know it in meetings, where they are comfortable disagreeing with each other, said David Plouffe, who worked with both of them in the Obama White House.

Of Mr. Bauer, he said: Theres a belief that he is by the book, but hes also a problem solver, right? He doesnt like to get close to lines, much less color outside of them, but hes also very creative within the confines of the line.
LOS ANGELES  Even before Senator Dianne Feinstein of California announced her retirement on Tuesday, the race taking shape for the seat she has held since November 1992 was poised to become one of the most competitive and expensive in the country. Now, the incumbents imminent departure has raised an urgent question for California Democrats: Whose turn is it?

Two members of Congress have jumped in, with a third expected to join soon, and the 2024 contest is already revealing ideological, generational, regional and racial divides within the party in Americas most populous  and arguably bluest  state.

Representatives Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, two Democrats who amassed national profiles opposing former President Donald J. Trump and his administration officials, have announced campaigns to replace Ms. Feinstein, 89, who said on Tuesday that she would retire at the end of her term. Ms. Porter and Mr. Schiff have spent recent weeks aggressively accruing major endorsements, reporting seven-figure fund-raising hauls and crisscrossing the state to court voters and donors.

And Representative Barbara Lee, the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic leadership, is planning to join the field before the end of Black History Month. Ms. Lee on Wednesday filed the formal Federal Election Commission paperwork to launch a Senate campaign. While I hope we will keep the focus in these coming days on celebrating the senator and her historic tenure in the Senate, Ms. Lee said in a statement on Wednesday, I know there are questions about the Senate race in 2024, which I will address soon.
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department has decided not to bring charges against Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, after a lengthy sex-trafficking investigation that imperiled one of former President Donald J. Trumps most ambitious and hard-charging allies in Congress.

In recent months, investigators have signaled they were not likely to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Gaetz after concluding they could not make a strong enough case in court, people familiar with the matter said. Department officials told his legal team about the decision early Wednesday.

We have just spoken with the D.O.J. and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice, and they have determined not to bring any charges against him, Mr. Gaetzs lawyers, Isabelle Kirshner and Marc Mukasey, said in a statement.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The departments decision was earlier reported by CNN.
Difficulties lie ahead for candidates who choose not to take on Mr. Trump directly in hopes that they can create distance from him without going too far in the eyes of Republican voters. And if Mr. DeSantis can consolidate a bloc of voters, it remains to be seen whether the other rivals can make an affirmative case for their own candidacies beyond hoping Mr. DeSantis struggles.

Every dig Ms. Haley leveled at older politicians, including a call for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old, could have applied to Mr. Trump, who will turn 77 in June, but the partisans in the audience clearly saw them directed at Mr. Biden, who is 80.

One of her introducers on Wednesday, Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, an ardent conservative, praised Mr. Trump as one of the great leaders of all time, saying: During the Trump years, folks, the American people recognized what qualities we needed in a leader. Nikki Haley has those very qualities.

Even Ms. Haleys resume seemed like a credential to tread on lightly. In her announcement video on Tuesday and her speech on Wednesday, she pointed to her experiences in the governors mansion in Columbia, S.C., and to her time as United Nations ambassador. But she was light on listing accomplishments to burnish a claim to the highest elective office in the land.

Her most notable achievement as governor, the delicate compromise that removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House, went unmentioned altogether, though the tragedy that instigated it  a massacre of Black parishioners at Charlestons Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church by a white supremacist  was invoked as a call to return the nation to religion.
A weather system that had been forecast to bring severe storms across the South, potentially spawning damaging tornadoes, was making its way through the region with only minimal damage as warnings and watches were left to expire by Thursday evening.

The risk of severe weather had stretched from Texas to Kentucky on Wednesday and from the Gulf Coast of Alabama to the shore of Lake Erie in western New York on Thursday. In most areas there was a risk of storms capable of producing damaging winds and some hail.

A possible tornado touched down on Thursday afternoon near Ripley, Miss., said Mayor Jon Grisham. Some businesses suffered structural damage, including fallen gas pumps at a convenience store and a destroyed sign at the Dollar General, but he said that no injuries had been reported in the small city, which is about 70 miles southeast of Memphis.

Power was out in Ripley for less than two hours after a substation was damaged in the storm, but service was restored by Thursday night, Mr. Grisham said. Fallen trees and other debris had been cleared off the streets.
There are a few tried and true pieces of advice that sleep doctors always give for battling insomnia: Watch those alcoholic drinks at dinner, cut the afternoon coffee, stop scrolling before bed. And please, they beg: Keep your sleep schedule consistent.

Flip-flopping between wake-up times  jolting awake at 7:30 on a Friday morning and then dozing until the afternoon on Saturday  wreaks havoc on our internal body clocks. Sleep experts refer to this as social jet lag, said Dr. Sabra Abbott, a sleep medicine specialist at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Similar to changing time zones, heading to bed at vastly different times from night to night may throw off your circadian rhythm.

And still, as anyone whos worked a night shift, taken care of a toddler or fumbled back home after a party might tell you: Going to bed and waking up at the same times is easier said than done. Its a luxury, right? said Kelsie Full, a behavioral epidemiologist and an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Full is the lead author of a new study that tied irregular sleep to an early marker of cardiovascular disease. Researchers examined a weeks worth of sleep data from 2,000 adults over 45 and found that those who slept varying amounts each night and went to bed at different times were more likely to have hardened arteries than those with more regular sleep patterns.
Nairobi  Nominated Senator Karen Nyamu was on Tuesday kicked out from the Senate chambers for dressing unparliamentarily.

Senator Nyamu walked into the chambers wearing a sleeveless dress, which is not allowed under the parliamentary rules.

Migori Senator Eddy Oketch petitioned the Speaker over his colleague Nyamu's dress code, which he observed had brought disrepute to the House.

"I am really getting concerned with the kind of leadership that the majority side is showing this house. We are watering down the essence of Parliament," he said.

Speaker Amason Kingi ruled that Senator Nyamu had indeed violated the dress code rules and expelled her from the chamber.

"Senator I am afraid you do not fit the bill and I am going to ask you to leave the chambers," he ruled.

The Speaker's rules on dress code dictate that women Members of Parliament must don decent formal or business wear.

The nominated United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Senator is not new to controversy both in her public and private life.
Washington and Beijing have been trading barbs for more than two weeks, ever since a sprawling Chinese balloon was spotted over North America. The vessel, which Washington says was used for espionage and Beijing says was mainly used to gather weather data, was eventually shot down on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina, leading to revelations about Chinas global spy balloon program by American officials.

Wednesdays accusation citing Xinjiang and Tibet addresses confusion about whether China had been referring to American airships spotted over disputed areas such as Taiwan and parts of the South China Sea that Beijing considers its own territory. The two regions are highly sensitive areas because of their restive ethnic populations, the large presence of military and security forces, and tense border conditions with geopolitical rivals such as India.

China initially expressed regret for the appearance of its balloon over the United States, explaining it had flown off course. Its tone changed after the craft was downed by a missile from an American fighter jet, a response Beijing has repeatedly described as an overreaction.

China did not explain whether it discovered the American balloons while they were still in the air or after looking at older radar data. Its also unclear if China previously notified the United States about their presence. A spokesman for the foreign ministry said on Wednesday that China responded in a calm and professional manner in contrast to the United States decision to down Chinas balloon.

Reflect on yourself, stop smearing and attacking China, and stop misleading the American people and the international community. China reserves the right to make further necessary reactions, said Wang Wenbin, a ministry spokesman.
Two teenagers were charged with murder on Wednesday in the death of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl who was found fatally stabbed in a park in northwest England, the local police said.

The police said that Brianna was found with multiple stab wounds on Saturday in Linear Park in Culcheth, England, a village that sits between Liverpool and Manchester.

Brianna went to school in the town of Birchwood, about three miles from the park, and both teenagers charged in the case are from nearby towns, the police said.

The girl who was charged is 15 and from Warrington, and the boy who was charged, also 15, is from Leigh, the local police, the Cheshire Constabulary, said in a statement. They appeared at Chester Magistrates Court in Chester, England, on Wednesday, the police said in an email.
LONDON  Nicola Sturgeon, a fiery campaigner for Scotlands independence who led its government for more than eight years, resigned on Wednesday, declaring that she was exhausted and had become too polarizing a figure to lead the countrys hurly-burly politics as it weighs another bid to break from Britain.

Her resignation removes one of the most formidable figures from British politics. A skilled veteran of the United Kingdoms system of power sharing and a sure-handed leader during the coronavirus pandemic, she outlasted four British prime ministers, while bedeviling each of them with her unyielding push for Scottish independence.

But that goal has remained elusive and appears no closer than it was nearly a decade ago, when voters rejected a proposal for independence. Support for leaving the union has ebbed and flowed over the years, but the British government remains implacably opposed to another referendum. And Ms. Sturgeon said she was no longer the leader to see the battle through.

Is carrying on right for me? Ms. Sturgeon, 52, said at a news conference in Edinburgh. And, more important, is me carrying on right for my country, my party, and for the independence cause I have devoted my life to?
Just hours after Nicola Sturgeon announced her surprise resignation on Wednesday, discussion had already begun about who might succeed her as the leader of the Scottish National Party and who would head the Scottish government.

The party is expected to hold a leadership election in the coming weeks, and Ms. Sturgeon said she would continue to lead the party until that time. While it is still unclear who may stand for the leadership role, and no one has yet to officially throw his or her hat into the ring, a handful of party members have already been suggested.
A battle over her support for transgender rights is not, by Nicola Sturgeons account, the reason she is quitting as Scotlands first minister. But the issue has dogged her in recent weeks, precipitating a clash with the British government and ensnaring her in a messy episode involving a convicted rapist who was held in a womens prison.

Ms. Sturgeons problems began in December when the Scottish Parliament passed legislation that would allow transgender people to have the gender with which they identify legally recognized and to get a new birth certificate without a medical diagnosis. Britains government swiftly rejected the law, saying that it conflicted with equality laws that apply across Britain, including Scotland.

That prompted a crisis in Britains power-sharing system, known as devolution, with Ms. Sturgeon calling it a a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish Parliament and its ability to make its own decisions.

For Ms. Sturgeon, the transgender legislation is part of her declared commitment to protect minority groups. But while the law was supported in Parliament, it has divided the broader Scottish population and become a cudgel in the culture wars.
The Russian government is holding at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in camps in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, according to a U.S.-backed report published on Tuesday, part of what human rights advocates call Moscows systemic attempt to Russify occupied parts of Ukraine.

Most of the children, who are between four months and 17 years old, are being kept at integration programs that are designed to immerse them in pro-Russian ideals, the report said. Other facilities are holding children before putting them up for adoption or foster care in Russia.

The research was a collaboration between Yale University and the Conflict Observatory program, which the State Department set up in May to document war crimes and other atrocities committed by Russian and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine. The researchers released their findings through a report from Conflict Observatory.

Since Moscows invasion in February, Russian authorities have announced with fanfare the transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be adopted and become citizens, The Times reported in October. On state-run television, officials offer teddy bears to new arrivals, who are portrayed as abandoned children being rescued from war.
KYIV, Ukraine  As Russia steps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, weeks of failed attacks on a Ukrainian stronghold have left two Russian brigades in tatters, raised questions about Moscows military tactics and renewed doubts about its ability to maintain sustained, large-scale ground assaults.

The fighting has also come at a cost for Ukraine, which is expending vast amounts of ammunition to repel Russias growing numbers of ground troops, often supported by heavy armor, artillery and close air support. That has added urgency to Ukraines pleas for more ammunition, while Western allies this week expressed increasing concern about their ability to meet the demand.

The battle around the Ukrainian city of Vuhledar, which sits at the intersection of the eastern front in the Donetsk region and the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, is viewed as one of Moscows opening moves of a nascent spring offensive. Though it has been playing out for weeks, the scale of Russias losses is only beginning to come into focus.

Accounts from Ukrainian and Western officials, Ukrainian soldiers, captured Russian soldiers, Russian military bloggers, and video and satellite images all paint a picture of a faltering Russian campaign that continues to be plagued by dysfunction.
The news that Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, will step down raises a variety of questions about how the United Kingdom  England, Scotland and Wales, along with Northern Ireland  is governed. Here is a quick guide.

What role does the king play?

The United Kingdom operates under a constitutional monarchy. While there is no single written constitutional document, laws and carefully documented traditions together form a Constitution that binds the monarch, currently King Charles III.

These rules have accumulated in centuries of legislation. Together, they make the king a constitutional monarch: an embodiment of power and statehood with no personal public role in politics, and tight constraints even on private influence.

Who runs the U.K. government?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is the current leader of the government of the United Kingdom. He took over as the countrys 57th prime minister in October, after his predecessor, Liz Truss, lasted just six weeks in the post.
After her sister and her niece were trapped in the ruins of their apartment building during the earthquake that struck southern Turkey last week, Cigdem Ulgen rushed to the site to try to save them.

She had no way to dig through the metal and concrete snarl that remained of the building in the hard-hit city of Adiyaman, so she settled in the street with her mother and siblings for a wait that became more agonizing as the hours, then days, dragged on.

As rescue crews dug through the rubble, the family scavenged through chairs and a sofa. Volunteers dropped off metal fire pits, bottles of water, lentil soup, hand cream, cigarettes and oranges. More than a week later, they were still there, waiting for news that had yet to come.
Wagners founder, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a tycoon who has a close relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin, has lauded his force as probably the most experienced army in the world today.

But the rapidly growing cemetery in Bakinskaya, a town near the Black Sea, is evidence that his mercenary army  which includes many poorly trained ex-convicts  is sustaining tremendous battlefield losses. On a recent weekday, nine men had their remains interred at this relatively new cemetery, established for Wagner recruits who had indicated that they preferred to be buried there.

Late last year, activists were tipped off about the heightened activity at this gravesite, which lies adjacent to a cemetery used by the local community. Then, it contained about 50 graves. Now, it has about 300, and those observing the cemetery say between four and eight soldiers are being buried per day, on average; local media estimates are even higher, reporting as many as 16 graves per day.

Almost all the graves, sheathed in fresh snow, were identical, though occasionally a slim Muslim headstone stood at the head of the grave, rather than an Orthodox cross. Each has a wreath of plastic flowers in the style of the Wagner logo  red, yellow and black with a golden star in the middle. Only one, the grave of Andrey V. Orlov, who died on Dec. 15 at the age of 28, had a photograph, and an extra wreath of flowers.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari has projected that energy demand in Nigeria and other African countries would increase by between 30 to 35 per cent in the next 20 years.

Kyari also called for strong collaboration amongst oil and gas producing countries in the continent in order to share knowledge and help each other in critical areas, including technology, exploration and production, research and development, technical expertise and human capacity development to spread the wealth within the continent.

The NNPC GCEO stated this in Lagos, yesterday, while delivering the host country's industry address at the ongoing seventh edition of Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).

The theme of the conference was, "Harnessing a Sustainable African Energy Industry through Partnerships."

Kyari, who was represented at the event by the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPC, Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye, said the projected increase in the continent's energy demand would in turn support the projected increase in Africa's population and industrialisation.

He noted that the conference came at a time when the Nigerian oil and gas industry was experiencing significant transformation, following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA 2021).

He maintained that the need for partnership was more reinforced as more African countries continue to make hydrocarbon discoveries.

"We should collaborate and share knowledge and help each other in critical areas, including technology, exploration and production, research and development, technical expertise and human capacity development to spread the wealth within the continent.

"This would in no small measure assist in achieving energy independence and also aid the transition to cleaner energy sources such as gas to sustain the region.

"This presents an enormous opportunity for us to form partnerships across the continent and build a sustainable future," Kyari said.

The GCEO said the PIA had provided role clarity in governance, rule-based administration, attractive and flexible fiscal terms and direct benefits for the host communities.

All these, he said, were targeted at creating enablers for investor confidence in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, where ample opportunities exist.

Kyari stated, "Ironically, our restructuring is happening at a time when the Energy transition discussion is gaining momentum, and major fund providers for petroleum upstream investment are now activists and anti-fossil fuel.

"As I have always canvassed, decreasing investments in hydrocarbon ventures cannot guarantee global energy security in the near future.

"Rather, an inclusive policy that guarantees access to finance and low-carbon technologies are key to sustaining global energy security and equitable growth."

He added that Nigeria needed to capitalise on the advancements made in the industry to meet its energy demand, being geographically situated in the sub-African region and as a leader in the oil and gas industry in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kyari said the country also needed to guarantee energy supply, expand its economies and overall, build a sustainable future for millions of people beyond its shores.

The GCEO explained, "At NNPC Limited, we understand the importance of partnerships in achieving a sustainable energy industry in Africa.

"This is why we have been working closely with countries, companies and other stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that meet the energy needs of the continent.

"We must acknowledge that this new era of automation and artificial intelligence is focused on the application of cutting-edge technologies.

"Such as the use of robotic drilling systems for unmanned operations, the deployment of cognitive computing in upstream operations, super specialised sensors for real-time monitoring and maximisation of reservoir yields."

In his welcome remarks, Chairman of PETAN, Mr. Nicolas Odinuwe, said energy was core to the economies of 55-member states that constitute Africa.

As part of the ways to harness and sustain the continent's energy market, he pointed out that PETAN has continued to reach out to other regions and bodies for partnerships, collaboration and support.

"This includes an African local content business e-platform, a one-stop collation of available opportunities, capacities and capabilities within the Sub-Sahara. It is currently being developed by the local content associations and will be launched by third quarter 2023.

"It is integrated one-skill passport for welding and related practices with TWF, African local content funding (coordinated by NCDMB).

"PETAN Seal of Quality (PSQ) launched few years ago is being expanded to be industry inclusive in partnership with NCDMB and relevant stakeholders. Our collaborations have also extended to Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Angola, Guyana etc", Odinuwe stated.

With the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AFCFTA), Odinuwe urged the African Union to consider a unified or integrated African certification and standard as practiced in America, European Union, Britain and others.

"We should seriously consider eliminating multiple certifications domiciled outside our sphere and the associated huge foreign exchange impact.

"These institutions outside Africa is supported by their governments have made respective standardisation agencies confined to just names. The TWF personnel certifications/skill passport is a step in the right direction," he added.

Stressing that human capacity development was very fundamental in the growth of any economy and local content, he added that as technology was evolving, it was important to constantly acquire new knowledge and skills through training and retraining.

Also in his presentation, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, opined that AfCFTA presents a critical framework that could be leveraged to achieve a collaborative local content strategy in Africa.

Wabote, who spoke on the topic, "Sub-Saharan Africa Local Content Collaboration Strategies," stressed that the main objectives of the continental trade deal were to explore ways to break trade barriers, promote cross-border collaboration amongst governments and businesses, provide peer review mechanisms, and share experiences and ideas on industry sustainability and growth.

He said for the initiative to work, there was need to address legal framework, funding, infrastructure, human capacity development, and research and development.

According to him, the advent of AfCFTA created the world's largest free trade area by integrating 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries, with the objective of tapping into a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $3 trillion.

This, he observed, was indeed a very huge collaboration platform that would present tremendous gains to the entire African continent, adding that it was in recognition of the enormous opportunities that AfCFTA presents that Nigeria has started working towards unleashing the collaboration potentials.

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He said the Dangote Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Company, with an installed capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) which was expected to come on stream within the year, would afford Nigeria and other African countries the partnership opportunities for sourcing petroleum products and fertilizer.

He, however, noted that Africa's energy sector has its inherent challenges just like any other region, saying there was to for all to come together and focus on research and development, with the intention of taking a critical look at the challenges and coming up with economical home-grown solutions that would address those challenges in a sustainable manner.

Adding that such solutions could even be exported to other parts of the world, he said those collaboration strategies were underpinned by the fact that the continent of Africa was blessed with enormous human and natural resources, which together make the continent a preferred destination for investors.

Wabote said, "The African continent currently holds seven per cent and 13 per cent of the world's proven crude oil and gas reserves, respectively, which underscores the fact that Africa stands to play a major role as the world seek energy security and stability.

"With crude oil reserves exceeding 125 billion barrels and gas reserves of more than 500 trillion cubic feet, there is still a lot of refining potential that remains untapped as the combined crude oil refining capacity in Africa is currently about 1.7 million barrels/day for a continent that requires refining capacity of at least 10 million barrels/day.

"At the sub-surface level, there are immense collaboration opportunities in exchange of data in respect of geological formation spanning across several countries."

Wabote noted that some of the partnerships had resulted in the creation of Joint Development Zones amongst countries in the regions.
Ms. Sturgeon had said the election of Margaret Thatcher as Britains prime minister in 1979 inspired her own entry into politics because she blamed Ms. Thatchers policies for rising unemployment in Scotland.

Ms. Sturgeon served as the deputy first minister of Scotland under Alex Salmond, her one-time political mentor, and the pair led the campaign for Scotland to become independent from the United Kingdom. But after a failed independence referendum in 2014, in which 55 percent of Scottish voters supported staying in the union, Mr. Salmond stepped down as the head of the Scottish National Party.

In November 2014, Ms. Sturgeon was elected leader of the party unopposed, becoming Scotlands first minister and the first woman to hold that position. Months later, the party won a landslide victory during the British general election, increasing its six seats in the House of Commons to 56, out of 59 seats allotted to Scotland.

The tectonic plates of Scottish politics shifted, Ms. Sturgeon said of that election.

Her brand of Scottish nationalism has been aimed at a global audience, and she has regularly positioned herself on the world stage, advocating for an independent Scotland that engages with the world.

People who think of a nationalist party sometimes think, inward-looking and parochial, she said during a 2015 interview with The New York Times. The kind of nationalism I represent is the opposite of that.
JERUSALEM  The Israeli Parliament voted Wednesday to allow the deportation and revocation of citizenship and residence permits of people jailed for terrorism who also receive financial reward for their violence.

Though the legislation does not target Palestinians by name, it permits the deportation of citizens and residents who receive money from the Palestinian Authority, the semiautonomous body that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The authority provides welfare payments to thousands of Palestinians jailed by Israel, including Palestinians with Israeli residency rights.

Leaders of the far-right governing coalition, which took office late last year vowing harsher measures against Palestinians, said the new legislation was an attempt to curb a surge in attacks by Palestinian residents of Israel that have killed at least 11 Israelis since the start of the year.

Lawmakers and activists from Israels Palestinian minority, which forms roughly a fifth of the countrys population of 9 million, said the move was discriminatory because it effectively singled out Arab attackers. Government lawmakers freely acknowledged the move was aimed at Palestinians.
Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey lined up at border crossings on Wednesday in hopes of returning home temporarily after Syrian border officials announced that Turkey had agreed to let the refugees leave and return later while it copes with a disastrous earthquake.

Many of those crossing at three border posts were carrying suitcases, plastic bags and potato sacks holding whatever personal belongings they had been able to salvage from destroyed homes. Most of their faces didnt reflect enthusiasm: They were leaving one disaster zone for another.

The Syrian administration of Bab al-Hawa, one of the main border crossings from Turkey into an opposition-held territory in northwestern Syria, announced via social media that Turkey would allow refugees living in the earthquake zone to return to their homeland for three to six months and then come back to Turkey.

Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But if confirmed, this would be a policy shift by Turkey, albeit under extraordinary circumstances. Turkey hosts about 3.7 million Syrians and has tightly controlled the border for years to prevent more refugees from coming in.
In the early months of 2023, the United States has gotten no reprieve from its epidemic of mass shootings.

Some happen in public places, bringing terror to the spaces Americans pass through every day, while others happen behind the closed doors of a home. Some are motivated by personal grievances, while others are terrifyingly random. Some capture widespread attention, while others are barely noticed outside the local area.

There is no consensus on what constitutes a mass shooting; different groups define it differently, depending on circumstances including the number of victims, whether the victims are killed or wounded, and whether the shooting occurs in a public place. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that tracks gun violence using police reports, news coverage and other public sources, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people were killed or injured.

As of mid-April, the Gun Violence Archive has counted at least 145 mass shootings in the United States this year.
The balloon was about the size of three buses and was flying at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 feet.

The incident prompted Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to cancel a trip to China that would have been the first by a Biden cabinet secretary.

China has maintained that the device was a civilian aircraft that strayed into American airspace.

However, senior American officials increasingly believe the balloon was originally supposed to conduct surveillance over U.S. military bases in Guam and Hawaii, but winds carried it off course.

Feb. 10

A U.F.O. is shot down off Alaska.

A U.S. fighter jet brought down an unidentified object over the waters of Alaska. The object broke into pieces was most likely not a balloon, a Defense Department official said. A White House official said the object was the size of a small car.

The object was first detected on the evening of Feb. 9 and was headed toward the North Pole.

Feb. 11

A U.F.O. is shot down over Canada.

An American F-22 fighter downed an object over the Yukon Territory, which borders Alaska. The object, which a Canadian official described as cylindrical and smaller than the spy balloon, was picked up on radar on Feb. 10 as it passed over Alaska.
Chinas official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW ESTIMATE HIGH ESTIMATE Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths Chinas official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW EST. HIGH EST. Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths

After China relaxed the worlds most stringent Covid-19 restrictions in December, the virus exploded. Hints of the surge were everywhere: Hospitals turned away patients. Crematories were overwhelmed with bodies. A wave of top scholars died.

But Chinas official Covid death toll for the entire pandemic remains strikingly low: 83,150 people as of Feb. 9. That number is a vast undercount, researchers believe, in part because it only includes infected people who died in hospitals, excluding anyone who died at home.

While a precise accounting is impossible, epidemiologists have been working to piece together the mystery of the outbreak that accelerated in December. Four separate academic teams have converged on broadly similar estimates: Chinas Covid wave may have killed between a million and 1.5 million people.

All of the researchers consulted by The New York Times cautioned that without reliable data from China, the estimates should be understood as informed guesses, with significant uncertainty  although the estimates fit the evidence far better than the official figures do.

The question of how many people died has enormous political relevance for the ruling Communist Party. Early in the pandemic, Chinas harsh lockdowns largely kept the coronavirus at bay. Xi Jinping, the top leader, has portrayed that earlier success as evidence of Chinas superiority over the West, a claim that would be hard to maintain with a high death toll.

The differences between Chinas figures and researchers estimates are dramatic. The official numbers would give China the lowest death rate per capita of any major country over the entirety of the pandemic. But at the estimated levels of mortality, China would already have surpassed official rates of death in many Asian countries that never clamped down as long or as aggressively.

How death rates in China may compare Covid deaths per 100,000 people since 2020 United States 337 Brazil 330 Italy 311 U.K. 307 Spain 252 Germany 200 Israel 135 Canada 135 China, higher estimate 110 Australia 74 Taiwan 70 China, lower estimate 68 South Korea 65 Indonesia 59 Japan 55 New Zealand 50 Singapore 30 China, official count 6 United States 337 Brazil 330 Italy 311 U.K. 307 Spain 252 Germany 200 Israel 135 Canada 135 China, higher estimate 110 Australia 74 Taiwan 70 China, lower estimate 68 South Korea 65 Indonesia 59 Japan 55 New Zealand 50 Singapore 30 China, official count 6 Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; The New York Times. Note: Estimates for China were calculated using official cumulative deaths from Jan. 22, 2020, to Dec. 9, 2022, plus the death counts from the lowest and highest estimates obtained from scientists. Values for other countries are as of Feb. 7, 2023.

At the same time, China would rank below Germany, Italy, the United States and other countries where outbreaks accelerated before vaccines became available.

Two of the estimates were in papers published in academic journals or posted for peer review, while two other analyses were shared by epidemiologists in response to queries from The Times.

Researchers used a variety of approaches to gauge how many people may have been infected and  a crucial question  how effective Chinas homegrown vaccines were at preventing death. Some drew on how the virus behaved in past outbreaks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where data was more reliable, and a few used detailed computer models to simulate the epidemic.

Still others turned to official sampling data, based on Chinas systematic testing of hundreds of thousands of people, to develop a model that estimated deaths to be far beyond the government's tally.

If the data say what we think they say, this was an explosive wave, said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a professor of biology and statistics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Why official data underrepresents Chinas outbreak

83,150 deaths Chinas official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5M 83,150 deaths Chinas official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5 million

China has a narrow definition of what counts as a Covid-19 death.

As crematories were inundated in December, Chinese officials only announced deaths that involved respiratory failure, leaving out infected people who died of liver, kidney or cardiac failure  an omission that was met with widespread skepticism. In mid-January, the government started releasing data on other deaths, but the figures are still incomplete.

Most glaringly, they exclude people who died outside hospitals. While it is impossible to know exactly how many deaths at home have been missed, from 2018 to 2020, only around one-fifth of all deaths in China occurred in hospitals.

The official figure is certainly an underreport of all Covid deaths, said Yong Cai, a demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies mortality in China. Theres no question about that.

While government data shows that China has doubled the number of intensive care beds since 2020, hospitals were still overloaded during the recent surge. Experts believe hospital deaths probably still account for only a small proportion of total deaths.

With such a rapid spread, the I.C.U. beds definitely were not enough to cope with the peak, said Shengjie Lai, an epidemiologist at the University of Southampton.

China reported few deaths until the recent outbreak New reported deaths by day Peak deaths reported on Jan. 4. 3,000 2,000 1,000 Wuhan outbreak Shanghai outbreak 2020 2021 2022 2023 Peak deaths reported on Jan. 4. 3,000 2,000 1,000 Wuhan outbreak Shanghai outbreak 2020 2021 2022 2023 Source: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Note: Death figures are seven-day trailing averages. Figures after Dec. 8, 2022, are approximate and drawn from a chart published by the Chinese C.D.C., as Chinese officials no longer publish exact daily values. Data as of Jan. 30.

The number of people infected is unknown, which further complicates understanding the reach of the epidemic. After two years of widespread testing and quarantining, the Chinese government in December shuttered once-ubiquitous testing centers and made the reporting of self-test results voluntary.

Other data is missing. At least nine cities in different parts of China, including Beijing, have stopped publishing quarterly cremation totals.

An earlier estimate, based on the Shanghai outbreak

1.6 million deaths 0 2.5 million 600,000 2.3 million Assuming full vaccine protection Assuming lower vaccine efficacy 1.6 million deaths 0 2.5M 600,000 2.3 million Assuming full vaccine protection Assuming lower vaccine efficacy

One estimate, published last year by scientists largely at Fudan University in Shanghai, used a previous Omicron outbreak in Shanghai to estimate how quickly the virus might spread in mainland China.

The virus spread through the city early last year, before lockdowns and other social restrictions had a chance to slow it down. The researchers used data from that period to inform a disease model that estimated how a future outbreak might play out if strict control measures were removed.

The researchers made a number of assumptions: how many I.C.U. beds would be available, when a lockdown would end and how quickly people would receive additional vaccines.

But if anything, the estimate might be conservative, said Bruce Y. Lee, an infectious disease modeler at City University of New York who was not involved in the research.

The study assumed an outbreak during the spring and summer, when more people are outdoors, meaning the rate of transmission would be relatively slow. But the virus took off in China in the winter.

The evidence is that this virus is demonstrating seasonality, Dr. Lee said. If you had to guess, you would expect the reproduction rate to increase during the winter.

The focus of the paper was on how treatment, vaccination and other measures might be able to slow the wave and reduce the toll. But the work was unwavering in its ultimate conclusion: Ending the zero Covid policy was likely to overwhelm the health care system, producing an estimated 1.6 million deaths.

A more recent estimate, based on travel patterns

970,000 deaths 0 2.5 million 800,000 1.1 million 80% of simulation results fall within these bounds 970,000 deaths 0 2.5M 800,000 1.1million 80% of simulation results fall within these bounds

The toll of Chinas outbreak would also have been influenced by the age, and the movements, of those infected.

In a more recent paper, three scientists at the University of Hong Kong estimated deaths by looking at how many people in each age group died during previous outbreaks in other countries, and adjusting the data for Chinas demographics. Several researchers made similar calculations.

The Hong Kong researchers also modeled how increased travel around Chinas Lunar New Year, the busiest travel period of the year, would help to spread the virus. They estimated that the surge might kill about 970,000 people by the end of January.

Bill Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist who was not involved in the work, said the degree to which holiday travel affected transmission would be hard to pin down precisely. But he said the approach was sound in principle.

I think theyve done pretty well, Dr. Hanage said.

A retrospective estimate, now that the peak has passed

1.5 million deaths 0 2.5 million 1.2 million 1.7 million 95% of simulation results fall within these bounds 1.5 million deaths 0 2.5M 1.2 million 1.7 million 95% of simulation results fall within these bounds

A third team of researchers shared another estimate with The Times, using information that became available after the worst of the outbreak had passed.

The researchers  Dr. Meyers at the University of Texas and Zhanwei Du, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong  found a unique way into another crucial question: How many people were infected? Even after China eliminated its mass testing program, health officials continued to test hundreds of thousands of people from around the country between mid-December and mid-January in an effort to track infection rates, according to a report from the Chinese C.D.C.

Based on that data, they inferred that 90 percent of the population was infected in little more than a month.

While the figure is high, epidemiologists who were not involved with the project said such a rate was plausible. And in January, a leading government epidemiologist said on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, that 80 percent of the population had been infected. Some European companies operations in China saw infection rates of 90 percent among their employees in December, Joerg Wuttke, the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told The Times in an interview.

When the researchers incorporated the timing of the outbreak, estimated fatality rates and the effect of vaccinations into a statistical model, they found that the outbreak may have killed about 1.5 million people. Given the uncertainties  like how quickly the vaccines took effect  a plausible range for the estimate was 1.2 to 1.7 million deaths, Dr. Meyers said.

Numerous factors could affect how accurately the sampling program in China gauged the true number of infections, Dr. Meyers cautioned. She called those figures highly uncertain and pointed out that any inaccuracies would influence the estimate.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation based on fatality rates in the United States

1.1 million deaths 0 2.5 million 900,000 1.4 million Assuming 600 million people were infected Assuming 900 million people were infected 1.1 million deaths 0 2.5M 900,000 1.4 million If 600 million people were infected If 900 million people were infected

Even the simplest calculations by disease modelers found that the number of deaths was very likely to be an order of magnitude higher than the official tally.

Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist and professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, started with a simple assumption, that the fatality rate for people infected in China was roughly the same as it presently is in the United States: 0.15 percent, or about 1 in 650 people.

Various factors could balance out, Dr. Shaman said. China uses different vaccines than the U.S. But Chinas population had been less exposed to the virus by the time the outbreak hit, making it more susceptible.

At a fatality rate similar to Americas, if 40 to 65 percent of Chinas population was infected  a conservative estimate  then between 900,000 and 1.4 million people may have died, he said.

Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, arrived at a similar death toll by considering only the 82 million people in China aged 60 and older who were unvaccinated or had received fewer than three vaccine doses as of late November. If 80 percent of that group were infected, he would expect more than a million of them to have died, given their limited immunity and exposure to the virus, he told the Foreign Correspondents Club of China last week.

China is, after all, the only country in the world that faced its first major wave of infections without making any attempt to slow it, resulting in what Dr. Cowling conjectured was the fastest spread of a respiratory pandemic virus in modern history.
"Now is a great time for women in particular to reassess what they want out of their careers," Boston University associate professor of strategic communication Monique Kelley tells Doug Simon. "In communications and beyond, women really are re-evaluating what they want and are in the power seat for driving change."

For Kelley, part of that change entailed moving from a spot leading neuroscience communications at Takeda to a full-time acaedmic post at Boston University, where she is also faculty advisor for the Public Relations Student Society of America chapter.

"The environment was a little more inclusive and also more equitable for what I really wanted to give back to the industry and society," Kelley says.

Kelley has also been able to remain an active player in the PR area by forming her own conslutancy and continuing to work with clients.

With so many things going on at once, Kelley says "I need to prioritize to make sure that I give the best to students, the best to my clients, but also the best from a personal standpoint."

One strategy that works for her is making sure that she sticks to a schedule. "It's about how do we make sure that we're spending that time wisely, not wishing for more time that we know we're not going to get."

Kelley also stresses the importance of balancing a more regimented schedule with a sense of flexibility. "I find the more that I'm able to have a plan but be flexible when those surprises or unforeseen things come up, that just helps me to be able to navigate it a little bit better and recognize that not everything has to be urgently done at that moment."

For those just starting out, she says "it's never too early to lead with your value. Whether it's your value as a connector or your value as something specifica knowledge or a skill that you havealways lead with that."

She also advises people to expose themselves to opportunities to learn and network. One example of that is the series of district conferences that PRSSA offers. The Northeast region conference, on Feb. 25, "will be hosted at BU, but it's open to all students in the northeast".

"Network, meet people, learn and grow," she says to Simon, "and you never know if your next opportunity for PR, you might get through someone you met at the conference."

View all of the interviews in the PR's Top Pros Talk series. Subscribe to get notified when new episodes are available.

Interested in taking part? Contact Doug Simon at [email protected]

D S Simon Media helps clients get their stories on television through satellite media tours and by producing and distributing content to the media. The company also produces live social media events.
Longacre Square Partners is working the Chapter 11 filing of Tuesday Morning Corp., the Dallas-based discount retailer pressured by a crushing debt load, supply chain woes and shifting consumer tastes.

It is the second bankruptcy filing in less than three years for the marketer of home goods and decor.

CEO Andrew Berger plans to close more than half of the retailers 464 stores in low-traffic regions while concentrating resources in high-traffic areas.

He believes this targeted approach to winding down unprofitable and underperforming stores will position Tuesday Morning to emerge from bankruptcy with a profitable, cash-generating store fleet that serves its most engaged and loyal customers.

Berger also will revamp distribution channels and adopt a more cost-effective inventory acquisition strategy.

Invictus Global Management, which looks forward to playing a key role in Tuesday Mornings transformation, has agreed to provide $51.5 million in loans to carry the company through Chapter 11.

As a Texas-based investment firm with strong roots in the state, we have long admired Tuesday Mornings strong connection to customers seeking unique home goods at competitive prices, said Amit Patel, partner at Invictus.

Longacre Square has partners Joe Germani, Charlotte Kiaie and VP Ashley Areopagita working the Chapter XI proceedings.
Edelman Global Advisory acquires Distrito Relacoes Governamentais, a Brasilia, Brazil-based boutique firm providing business and government advisory services. The acquisition will expand Edelman Global Advisorys operations to a third city in Brazil, after Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and will cater to its global, regional and local clients. The integration of Distrito into Edelman Latin America will be led by EGA chief operating officer Leigh Wedell and Edelman Latin America region CEO Mariana Sanz, along with leadership from Distritos co-founders, Publio Madruga and Danilo Gennari. Madruga will serve as EGAs chair of Latin America and Gennari will be EGAs president for Brazil. With this strategic move, EGA is bolstering its presence in Latin America, one of our largest growth markets, and allows us to provide a broader range of services as well as quality insights into the ever-changing political, economic and social landscape in the region to support our clients, said Wedell.

Sage Communications forms a strategic alliance with state and local government consulting firm National Strategies. Sages strategy, marketing production, PR, social media, and event teams have supported defense, homeland, health, education, economic, justice, environment and diplomatic missions, while National Strategies, with consultants across all 50 states, focuses on procurement, legislative and regulatory issues in the state and local government market. This partnership will allow us to provide top-level support to our clients while elevating our current capabilities, said Sage Communications co-founder and CEO David Gorodetski.

Adfactors Sri Lanka, a Colombo, Sri Lanka-based subsidiary of Indian firm Adfactors PR, is elected to partnership in PROI Worldwide. Founded in 2014, Adfactors Sri Lanka provides a range of public affairs, corporate reputation and crisis counsel services to clients with a focus on advocacy crisis management. In looking to the future for our business and our country we will benefit from the experience and resources of other agency leaders around the world, said CEO Rezani Aziz. Jeff Lambert, global chair of PROI Worldwide and chair of Lambert Global, said, Adfactors PR has been a long-time and valued partner for our organization and we are pleased to extend that reach into Sri Lanka, and to Rezani Aziz and her colleages in that country.
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 this week, 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.
India's tax department raids BBC offices in Delhi, Mumbai

Xinhua) 15:19, February 15, 2023

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".

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The state of fire insurance performance for the period 2019 - 2021 from the Rwanda Insurers Association (ASSAR) indicates that assets insured against fire stood at over Rwf5.2 trillion by the end of 2021. Data from last year, 2022, are yet to be released.

Fire insurance cover stood at Rwf6trillion in 2020 while in 2019 it stood at Rwf6.3trillion. This reflects an overall 17.4 per cent decline.

Also, for the period 2019 to 2021 figures show that there was persistent drop in the number of people acquiring fire insurance from 28,625 customers in 2019 to 28,495 in 2020, and 25,927 customers in 2021, implying about 10 per cent reduction.

The insurers' association indicated this situation was majorly as a result of Covid-19, adding that, in some cases, cash flows dropped and optional insurance covers were suspended, while potential new policies and renewals decreased.

Only insurance covers required by banks to protect mortgages, and few customers on their own risk appreciation, sustained their fire insurance policies during the pandemic years, it pointed out.

However, it observed, the sector experienced a year on year increase in fire insurance premiums received in the 2019 - 2021 period.

In 2019, total premiums stood at over Rwf6.6 billion, and increased to over Rwf8.5 billion in 2020, and over Rwf11.4 billion in 2021. This increment in premium was a result of changes (increase) in rates.

ASSAR report indicates that given the population size (estimated at 13 million) and the growth trend of the Rwandan economy, the rate of fire insurance uptake was still very low.

Why fire insurance matters

Some businesses incur losses in case of fire incidents when they do not have insurance coverage for their properties. Yet, with insurance cover, they would get compensation for damages caused.

On February 12, fire gutted Gisozi workshops (commonly known as Gakiriro), Kigali, inflicting an estimated over Rwf4 billion property loss to businesses, according to Gervais Gumiriza, the chairman of ADARWA - a cooperative engaged in making furniture.

ADARWA is also the owner of the affected building, whose worth is estimated at Rwf3 billion. Fortunately, Gumiriza told The New Times that the building was insured. However, he added that he did not know whether the properties that were inside it had insurance cover, indicating that they included quality timbers worth Rwf200,000 each.

"Insurance mitigates losses caused by fire by paying compensations to the policyholder," he said.

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Jean Marie Rutayisire lost property worth about Rwf8 million, when fire destroyed a commercial building in Musanze city centre, Northern Province on January 17, resulting in the destruction of property estimated at over 130 million, which dashed fortune hopes for affected businesspeople.

Out of the 19 rooms that make up the building in question, 12 were damaged by fire.

"I had no fire insurance cover for the destroyed assets worth about Rwf8 million," he told The New Times, adding that they include cameras, computers, wedding attires including suits, and 'imishanana' traditional ceremonial dresses of women.

Rutayisire said that some people buy insurance for their properties and after one to five years, they discontinue it when there are no fire-induced losses, thinking that the premiums they pay are not worth it.

"The Government should make fire insurance compulsory for businesspeople as it is the case for motor insurance," he said, referring to what should be done to increase insured assets.

Meanwhile, insurers under ASSAR exposed that most individuals take fire insurance for their houses just because it is a requirement by the bank for them to get a loan.

On possible solutions to increase fire insurance uptake in Rwanda, ASSAR Executive committee members proposed among other recommendations, that insurance should be viewed and positioned as a national priority.

Also, ASSAR recommended that the Government may consider incentives in terms of a percentage deduction on property tax to enable people gain what they may use to purchase fire insurance.
The Industrial Development Association (IDA) has been accused of failing the North Tipperary region due to the lack of investment by overseas investors in recent years, in what local representatives describe as a once thriving industrial region.

The era of factory towns dotted across North Tipperary before the turn of the century is fondly remembered by many local people as the golden-age of a strong partnership between community and local industry; which employed great numbers of local people, often across the generations in the same workforce.

That employment and economic shift in the last three decades has seen an exodus of pharmaceutical, food and manufacturing companies to foreign countries and left in its wake many dilapidated and unoccupied industrial buildings in town centres.

Towns like Roscrea and Thurles earned a reputation as the hardworking powerhouses making up the backbone of Ireland's economy - success stories which local representatives feel can be resurrected and returned to work.

For that to happen they feel their constituencies need more support and promotion from the IDA and this week local representatives from Thurles and Roscrea heaped criticism upon the organisation for what they described in unison as "failure".

Arguing that a continuing trend where the lion's share of foreign investment is going towards the southern end of County Tipperary, some local Councillors went so far as to call on the local authority to sever their relationship with the IDA completely and "look elsewhere".

The scathing criticism came during the monthly meeting of Tipperary County Council in Nenagh on Monday, when IDA representatives Denis Curran and William Corcoran attended the meeting to give a presentation and update on the IDA's promotion of Tipperary to potential foreign investors.

They both stressed there has been a 35% increase in the number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) jobs in Tipperary - bringing the total number of people filling such roles to over 4,500. Successes such as Fiserv in Nenagh are a good example of how the IDA has brought jobs to North Tipperary, they said.

But the omission of details on Roscrea and Thurles provoked the ire of several councillors. Councillor Seamus Hanafin said Thurles is one of Tipperary's biggest towns, located close to the motorway network and with two university status education centres and highly skilled workforce - yet the IDA has failed to bring any industry into the town.

Cllr. Sean Ryan, whose father worked in Erin Foods in Thurles for over 30 years, said the town was built on industry and has slipped into a downward decline he fears it may never recover from.

Councillor Michael Smith said he feels the IDA has failed Roscrea so badly that the town and local authority "should abandon the IDA and look elsewhere". The failure to attract an occupant for the fully serviced Benamore site on the outskirts of Roscrea highlights that failure, he said.

Questioning how many visits to Roscrea by potential investors in Benamore have been made since it was purchased in 2016 "to much fanfare", Cllr. Smith said he can't understand how Roscrea - a town which will soon have Ireland's second biggest solar farm and huge green energy output from the Monaincha wind farm - cannot attract a major industry.

He said there has been no concentrated effort to promote Roscrea and criticised their failure to visit the town - sentiments echoed by Cllr. Noel Coonan who said Roscrea has a site with motorway connection to the tarmac at Shannon Airport - yet it has not attracted an FDI company in years.

Former industries such as Antigen and Offray provided good jobs for local families and Cllr. Coonan said neighbouring towns like Birr and Portlaoise appear successful. "What are we doing wrong - or is there anything we can do to help make our towns more attractive?" he asked.

Cllr. Coonan said Templemore is particularly affected because lands zoned for development were sold. "In Roscrea and Templemore we feel like the forgotten towns", he said.

Denis Curran, Head of Regional Development for the IDA, said Ireland and Tipperary "have to go out and fight and compete as a country every day, week and month against 150 other countries for investment".

He said companies often look at regions instead of focusing on singular towns and that trickle down benefits to indigenous companies such as FRS Recruitment in Roscrea and the local economy benefit the entire area.

"We must combine geographies and bring down the barriers of provincial towns or counties - the language we use and the position we use extend above and beyond any particular town or one particular county", Mr. Curran said.

"To get on the shortlist to compete for investment we must represent the region as a collective and as a whole to give some sense of the sale of clusters and abilities that reside within a certain location. It's important that to secure jobs we look at the big picture in terms of scale and opportunity", he said.

CEO of Tipperary County Council, Joe McGrath, said the local authority have a "very good and strong working relationship with the IDA, which often happens behind the scenes".

He said Tipperary has benefited from some overy strong FDI investments in recent years and that people need to remember many of them are in "expansion mode" and always growing. He said the Council wants to acquire more land and expand and wants to see more FDI announcements for Tipperary.
Maputo  Maputo, 14 Feb (AIM) - The Mozambican relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD), has denied any diversion of funds donated by the World Bank.

The accusation against the INGD is that, in 2020, the Disaster Management Fund (FGC), which is run by the INGD, used over 32.5 million dollars of World Bank money for purposes not envisaged in the Fund's Manual of Procedures.

These included more than 18 million meticais spent on purchasing vehicles, 13 million on water and sanitation infrastructures, and 1.5 million on building a bridge over the Muecate river in Nampula province.

In an exclusive interview granted on Monday to the independent television station STV, the INGC chairperson, Luisa Meque, admitted that this money has now been returned to the World Bank. This was a key condition for the Bank resuming its cooperation with the Disaster Fund.

"The money has been returned", said Meque. "Clearly this money has been returned. We don't have any problem with the World Bank. We are working normally".

"The World Bank never ceased being a partner of the INGD", she insisted. The World Bank had "drawn our attention" to the diversion, and that "is part of the work we always had".

"There is planning, there is monitoring, and under the monitoring, we see what is good and what is bad", said Meque. "Even during the period when we had to regularise the situation, we never ceased to have ties with the World Bank".

But Meque went much further, claiming that the use of the 18.5 million dollars was not really a diversion from the purposes of the FGC. The vehicles, for example, "were acquired and they are in the field. You can look for them and see that they are being used by our delegates. They are indeed being used for work purposes".

The INGD had decided to buy vehicles rather than hire them. "Hiring vehicles is more expensive than buying them for long term use. We thought we were saving money".

Meque insisted this was not "a deviation in the application of funds". She also argued that spending money on rehabilitating a bridge and building water supply system were also legitimate uses of FGD money.

On this issue, there is no doubt that Meque is wrong. The 2017 decree setting up the FGC states quite explicitly that "the acquisition of vehicles and civil construction work are not expenses eligible for financing from the Disaster Management Fund".
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to depart today for the Bahamas, where members of the Caribbean Community are gathering to discuss regional issues, including a deepening crisis in Haiti.
LONDON (AP)  Thousands of schools in the U.K. are closing some or all of their classrooms, train services will be paralyzed and..

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The late designer Virgil Abloh, who was the mens creative director at Louis Vuitton at the time of his death in 2021, maintained close ties to the music industry during his lifetime, including a stint as Kanye Wests creative director. Louis Vuittons replacement for Abloh comes directly from that world: The fashion brand announced today that none other than Pharrell Williams has been hired as Mens Creative Director. Pharrell has a history of fashion ventures dating back two decades and has collaborated with Louis Vuitton before.
The EU is weaning itself off piped Russian gas and the first load of liquified natural gas from the United Arab Emirates arrives in Germany today. But what exactly is LNG and what impact does it have on the environment?
NATO countries should spend more than a minimum 2% pledge on military needs, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says. He and NATO colleagues meeting in Brussels are being urged to speed up military aid for Kyiv.
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International cooperation is crucial to help small island nations like Seychelles address the impact of climate change, President Wavel Ramkalawan said in his keynote address at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Ramkalawan delivered his address on "The Era of Climate Change: The Urgency of Addressing Rising Seas" during the plenary session of the summit on Tuesday.

He said that although climate change affects the development of all nations regardless of location, size of the economy or demographics, no other group of nations is more vulnerable to its devastating effects than small islands developing states (SIDS).

"Climate change is the current reality and a nightmare for SIDS like Seychelles with the majority of our people living on land that is less than five metres above sea level or along coasts; the threat of sea rise, storm surges and coastal destruction pose existential risks to us," said Ramkalawan.

Seychelles' President highlighted the fact that SIDS live through constant assaults from climate change that undermines their livelihood, security and mere existence.

Ramkalawan told the plenary session that over 40 percent of Seychellois live in low-lying areas which will also be directly impacted by the rising sea level.

"While the ocean threatens to sink our coralline islands and make our populated granitic ones uninhabitable my people also depend on it for their livelihood and nourishment, with our culture and identity intrinsically tied to its vibrancy and health. With most economic activities lying along a narrow coastal zone, sea level rise due to the impact of climate change is of great concern to the Seychelles," he pointed out.

Ramkalawan said that SIDS have been at the forefront of global discussions on strong climate mitigation efforts minimising the risks of climate change and on mechanisms to address loss and damage.

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"But we cannot do it alone. Dealing with the impacts of climate change is complex and multifaceted and can only be approached holistically hence why international cooperation is crucial if we want to help small island nations address the impact of climate change. We need not only financial aid but technological and capacity building support to mitigate and adapt," he said.

"Seychelles is considered a high-income country but we do share similar issues with the vulnerable groups when it comes to climate change adaptation, when it comes to disaster risk reduction, recovery and rehabilitation considerations and environmental sustainability," he added.

Ramkalawan said that this is why Seychelles fully supports the adoption and implementation of a multi-dimensional vulnerability index (MVI).

"Seychelles like other SIDS is building a vision for a climate resilient future that puts adaptation and loss and damage at the centre of its decision making while taking immediate actions now to protect the people, the economy and the environment," said the President.
Police were called when 16-year-old, Mouhamed D. allegedly threatened to harm himself with a knife. Officers later opened fire on the teen, with prosecutors describing the operation as "disproportionate from the start."
Turkish state TV and a Dutch rescue team separately reported finding people still alive in the rubble over a week after the devastating quakes struck. Turkey has vowed a massive reconstruction effort. DW has the latest.
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have been told its safe to go home after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed earlier this month. But many rare still wracked with fear, distrust and doubt.
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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to resign as the leader of Scotland's national government, according to media reports.
Nicola Sturgeons resignation removes one of the most formidable figures from British politics, one who has dedicated her life to..

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The Russian rocket attack on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro is one of the greatest tragedies in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. How are the survivors coping?
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It was the first visit by a Jordanian official to Syria since civil war broke out in 2011. Syrian officials welcomed the visit and emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
press release

While using the MeerKAT radio telescope to study a distant galaxy towards PKS 1830-211, scientists discovered something unexpected: gas clouds made up of some of the largest hydrogen atoms in the universe, Rydberg atoms. It is the first time scientists observed these hydrogen atoms in a distant galaxy. What's more, they believe the large atoms are spread throughout the galaxy in ionized interstellar gas clouds. The discovery could help researchers to understand the nature and evolution of interstellar gas in galaxies and how Rydberg atoms are formed in space. An article reporting this discovery was recently published in the Astrophysical Journal ( link ).

Located in the constellation Sagittarius, PKS1830-211 is a very distant quasar 11.1 billion light years away (redshift 2.5). However, it is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky since the high-power jet from its super massive black hole is pointed directly at Earth. PKS 1830-211 is a hot spot for studying astrochemistry in the universe. The light from PKS 1830-211 passes through a foreground galaxy 7.3 billion light years distant (redshift 0.89) on its way to Earth, illuminating molecular chemistry in the spiral arms of the foreground galaxy. This rare alignment has allowed the large Hydrogen atoms to be observed.

A Rydberg atom refers to an atom with an electron in a high energy state. Radio light amplifies the Rydberg atoms. Under just the right conditions, the atoms become naturally occurring lasers, and light becomes brighter at the radio wavelengths emitted by the atoms. Finding just the right conditions for this to occur in distant galaxies has been a long standing mystery. But next-generation radio telescopes observing the Universe at cm to meter wavelengths are making it possible for the first time.

The South African MeerKAT radio telescope is currently the most sensitive radio telescope observing at these wavelengths. Large surveys that cover the sky using wide bandwidth receivers have high enough precision to look for spectral fingerprints from many wavelengths simultaneously. The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS; https://mals.iucaa.in/) is one such survey which observes at 18 to 52 cm wavelengths. Because MALS is targeting the brightest radio sources in the sky, it is currently the most sensitive survey for detecting absorption signatures from hydrogen atoms (in the ground state) and molecules like OH  and unexpectedly, also the large Rydberg atoms.

Using the MALS survey, scientists found 44 fingerprints from Rydberg atoms. "We used hydrogen Rydberg atoms to study the physical and dynamic structures in a galaxy 7.3 billion light years away towards PKS 1830-211. The Rydberg atoms could be coming from large clouds of gas that are ionized by the radiation from young massive stars. These atoms tell us that interstellar gas in this galaxy is much more dense than what is found in the Milky Way," says Kimberly Emig, a Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) of USA and lead author of the paper.

Scientists hope to discover more of these oddball atoms. Emig explains, "We were excited to discover these high-excitation hydrogen atoms in such a distant galaxy. It gives a new way to observe our Universe and possibly study the evolution of interstellar gas in galaxies over cosmic time. They could also help us to understand how interstellar gas drives and inhibits the activity of super massive black holes."

PKS 1830-211 was the first target of MALS. Its observations helped to characterize the performance of the new MeerKAT telescope. The large volumes of MALS data (1.6 petabytes) are processed using an automated pipeline utilizing the task and tools based on the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package of NRAO, at a dedicated high performance computing facility setup at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India.

The MALS survey primarily uses a transition of atomic hydrogen at 21 cm wavelengths and transitions from the hydroxyl (OH) molecule at 18 cm wavelengths in order to determine the occurrence of atomic and molecular gas in and around galaxies. "Only a small number of these transitions have been detected in distant galaxies so far due to technical limitations. If we detect a large number (several 100) of these transitions then we can assess the physical conditions of cold gas which serves as fuel for star formation in galaxies. Studying ionized gas through hydrogen Rydberg atoms is highly complementary to studying interstellar gas in its atomic and molecular phases and would help us to explain the changes in the properties of galaxies at different ages of the Universe," explains Neeraj Gupta, astronomer at IUCAA and lead investigator of the MALS project.

Making this discovery has been a team effort. The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory operates the MeerKAT telescope. An international collaboration from India, Europe, South Africa, North America, and Australia carries out the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey. Data from the observations is processed through tools of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Thoughtworks Technologies India Pvt Ltd, among others.

Notes to Editors:

The scientific results of this study are published in:

Discovery of Hydrogen Radio Recombination Lines at z=0.89 towards PKS 1830-211 Kimberly L. Emig, Neeraj Gupta, Pedro Salas, Sebastien Muller, Sergei A. Balashev, Francoise Combes, Emmanuel Momjian, Yiqing Song, Preshanth Jagannathan, Partha P. Deka, Gyula I. G. Jozsa, Hans-Rainer Klockner, Abhisek Mohapatra, Pasquier Noterdaeme, Patrick Petitjean, Raghunathan Srianand, Jonah D. Wagenveld, 2023, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

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MeerKAT

The South African MeerKAT radio telescope, situated 90 km outside the small Northern Cape town of Carnarvon, is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope and will be integrated into the mid-frequency component of SKA Phase 1. The MeerKAT telescope is an array of 64 interlinked receptors (a receptor is the complete antenna structure, with the main reflector, sub-reflector and all receivers, digitizers and other electronics installed).

MALS

MALS is the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey. MALS consists of 1655 hrs of MeerKAT time (anticipated raw data ~ 1.7 PB) to carry out the most sensitive search of HI and OH absorption lines at 0 < z < 2, the redshift range over which most of the cosmic evolution in the star formation rate density takes place. The MALS survey is described in Gupta et al. (2016).

Key Science Themes of MALS:
ODN 27 Mar 2023

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Macron Says Europe Should , Take an Independent Stance From US on Taiwan.

French President Emmanuel Macron went to China..
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the oldest sitting member of Congress, said she will accomplish as much as possible before she steps down.
Nicola Sturgeon also steps down as leader of the Scottish National Party, but she will continue in that role until a replacement is found.
Rumour was rife around Holyrood when Scottish government officials summoned reporters to Nicola Sturgeon's official residence in Edinburgh with 90 minutes' notice.
New York (AFP) Feb 15, 2023



Tesla's US charging network will be available to other electric vehicle brands for the first time following White House negotiations with Elon Musk, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. Tesla has agreed to make at least 7,500 chargers nationwide open to non-Tesla EVs by the end of 2024, according to a White House fact sheet laying out its latest efforts to add 500,000 EV chargers by
The gunman who shot dead three people at Michigan State University may have also been planning to attack two schools, according to police.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Sam Bankman-Fried not to use a virtual private network to access the internet, after prosecutors expressed concern the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder might try to hide his online activities. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposed the VPN ban through



#sambankmanfried #ftx #lewiskaplan #bankmanfried #kaplan #signal #zoom #facetime #whatsapp #alamedaresearch
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
Police identified the suspect in the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University as Anthony Dwayne McRae, who shot and killed himself. But a viral internet hoax used the photo of another man and falsely claimed that the suspect was named "Lynn Dee Walker."
Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates are set to deepen bilateral cooperation as both countries look to share expertise and successful experiences in promoting institutional excellence, work quality, government innovation, as well as service development.

The development follows an agreement signed by both countries on Monday, February 13, at the sidelines of this year's World Government Summit (WGS) in Dubai.

Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente alongside his counterpart Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Lt. Gen Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, presided over the signing ceremony.

According to details provided to The New Times, the partnership aims at, among others, modernizing government work under the Government Experience Exchange Programme.

"Adopting an integrated governance model and building strong institutions is one of the main factors in the socio-economic transformation in Rwanda and a cornerstone for Rwanda's Vision 2050. In Rwanda, we seek to strengthen relations with the UAE," said Emmanuel Hategeka, Rwanda's Ambassador to the UAE.

The deal, he added, emphasizes Rwanda's common pursuit of excellence in governance and the provision of better services for the prosperity of both countries and people.

The focus of cooperation will be on empowering government agencies and human capabilities in Rwanda and enhancing the exchange of government expertise and knowledge between the two sides, officials said.

They provide them with the best tools and skills required to sustainably lead the future of government work and development processes.

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Speaking on behalf of the UAE, Assistant Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Competitiveness and Knowledge Exchange Abdullah Nasser Lootah emphasized the UAE government's keenness to step up international cooperation in a bid to modernizing government work and enhance cooperation as well as partnerships in exchanging the country's experiences in government work to empower governments and bolster their readiness for the future.

The agreement, he added, will strengthen government capabilities, empower human resources and provide them with future skills and tools to improve government performance.

Meanwhile, the new cooperation also helps the two sides adopt innovative business models according to a forward-looking vision to find effective, proactive solutions to address challenges, which contributes to enhancing readiness and building a better future for future generations.

The World Government Summit is an inclusive platform that focuses on forming and exploring future governments and building a better future for humanity and establishing international partnerships based on inspiring future governments.

In his address, Prime Minister Ngirente rallied over 10,000 leaders at the summit to advance the technology and innovation agenda, as part of the efforts to ensure "a bright future for future generations."

The agreement comes at a time Rwanda and UAE boast of fruitful ties particularly in the areas of trade, education as well as exchange programs in various sectors.
By Wilawan Watcharasakwet



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.



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Russian officials and Russian commentators see no chance for the introduction of EU or UN peacekeepers into Karabakh. They are unanimous that Moscow will use its veto in the UN Security Council to block that, Baku will be against such a move, and Yerevan likely is raising the issue only to force Russian peacekeepers to become...
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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on 11 January 2023 that if North Koreas nuclear threats became out of control, his country could acquire its own nuclear weapons. He even said that given South Koreas technological ability, becoming a nuclear power would not take long.



The...
U.S. authorities have arrested four more people in the slaying of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, including the owner of a Miami-area security company, prosecutors announced.
"Putin has to give up on his notion that Ukraine is not its own country" for a lasting peace to occur, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Watch VideoA Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn't commit.



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Police in the US have named the gunman who fatally shot three students at Michigan State University as Anthony McRae.
A new State-of-Art Court complex was last Thursday inaugurated at a colourful ceremony held at the court premises in Bundung.

The new complex, worth D31.7 million dalasis, accommodates three High courtrooms, two Magistrates' courts and a Cadi court, with chambers for the adjudicators and their auxiliary staffs, such as the clerks, registrars and interpreters.

Located within Bundung Mauritani community, the new complex, according to many, would now provide easy access to justice by the community, instead of having to travel all the way to Banjul to seek for justice.

At the inauguration ceremony, Hon. Hassan B. Jallow, Chief Justice of The Gambia spoke highly of the new court complex, saying the complex would now ease access to justice especially for the people of Bundung and the Kanifing Municipality at large.

"With the inauguration today of this complex, we are confident that it will make a significant impact within the Kanifing Municipal Council Area on these two challenges; it will provide additional courtroom space."

CJ said that the six courtrooms in particular almost double the capacity of the judiciary within the Kanifing Municipality.

Also speaking, Baboucarr Boye, minister of Public Service, Administrative Reforms, Policy Coordination and Delivery, said aside from the inauguration, they are working closely with the judiciary to identify suitable piece of land for the construction of Brikama and Kerewan Law Court complex."

Minister Boye reminded that these projects forms part of government's resolve in realising one of the objectives of the judiciary's 2021-2025 strategic plans, which seeks to improve access to the courts and tribunals through decentralisation.

WFD, NA holds second 'Open Parliament Day'

Amplifying youth voice and energy to create solutions for youth employment
As a child, Alieu Jallow spent long hours each weekend herding goats and sheep in the bush near his village of Kerr Ardo, in the Gambia.

Alieu and his 25 siblings all had to pitch in to supplement the income their mother earned from petty trading.

That was never enough to sustain the family, so each child had to find a way to work together and think of a venture that could bring in money.

It was a tough existence, but one that Alieu credits with teaching him to be a future leader and team player.

Today, Alieu is the founder of the first ever start-up incubator in The Gambia.

In the past three years, the incubator has supported 86 startups and created 300 jobs.

Alieu aims to build the next generation of Gambian entrepreneurs and hopes to use entrepreneurship as a tool for transforming lives.

Alieu's vision--and his drive--is shared by young people around the world. And through his participation in the World Bank-supported Youth Advisory Group (YAG), Alieu gets the support and connection he needs to continue addressing issues in youth employment.

YAG was launched by the Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) Coalition, housed in the Jobs Group of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank Group (WBG).

It provides youth with a platform to share their voices and be involved in the discussion around youth employment.

Alieu is one of 17 members of the group, which is comprised of community leaders from diverse and often disadvantaged backgrounds who have launched innovations in sectors such as agriculture, technology, and gender.

Now, the World Bank is making sure their voices are heard both internally and outside the Group.

YAG members recently got the chance to share their inspiring personal journeys and innovative ideas at the S4YE Partner Summit.

The summit brought together more than 100 youth employment practitioners from the private sector, foundations, civil society, the World Bank and youth themselves.

In an energetic session that was dedicated to youth voice, Youth Advisory Group (YAG) members like Frederico Silva from Mozambique talked about his innovative technology platform "biscate", which connects informal and often uncertified skilled workers to available jobs in a country with few formal employment opportunities.

YAG members also recently participated in consultations for the World Development Report 2020, sharing their thoughts on core themes including gender, climate change and the roles of the private sector.

And they continue to participate in World Bank knowledge sharing events on youth employment, where they share their skills and experiences on topics such as mentorship and grant writing.

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Their involvement is both energizing and informative, allowing for collaborative program design that incorporates out-of-the-box ideas that have great potential.

There are many more ways that YAG could connect members with World Bank teams to provide input in the design of youth employment programs and knowledge products.

We hope that this will be a resource for all the World Bank teams interested in creating youth-informed projects and research.

A lot is changing in the world, with rapid changes in technology, climate change and migration.

Even though the pace of this transformation sometimes feels scary, we are heartened that in the face of seemingly insurmountable issues, youth have creative and unexpected solutions.

CJ inaugurates Bundung State-of-The-Art Court Complex
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. 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 48F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), Farhat ben Gdara, on Wednesday announced the development of a strategic plan for the oil and gas sector aimed at increasing production to two million barrels per day
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has voiced concern over the deepening crackdown in Tunisia targeting perceived political opponents of President Kais Saied as well as civil society, his Office reported on Tuesday
Photo: (Photo : Tasos Katopodis /Getty Images)

A man has been shot in Southeast D.C., leading to accusations of mistaken identity against the police officer involved.

Dorothy Hoes, the 64-year-old mother, who was in the car with her son, Steven Shaw, when he was shot, is speaking out about the incident.

According to Hoes, the officer asked her son to exit the vehicle, and when he resisted, the officer opened fire, even though her son had not committed any crime.

Mom shares story of D.C. Police shooting her son

Fox News reported that police officers were called to Good Hope Road SE to respond to an altercation between a man and a woman.

Upon arrival, the woman informed the officers that the man had hit her with a metal box, threatened her, and fled the scene.

One of the officers began searching the area for the suspect, which matched the woman's description, and approached a parked car where Steven Shaw was sitting in the passenger seat with his mother.

According to Hoes, the officer asked Shaw to step out of the car multiple times. However, Shaw refused, saying he had not done anything wrong.

Despite this, the officer claimed that Shaw did not comply and reached into his waistband before the officer fired his weapon. Hoes recalled that the officer told her son that he would shoot if he kept moving his hand.

But before he could react, the officer fired the weapon, hitting Shaw in the back.

WUSA9 reported that Hoes, sitting in the car's driver's seat, watched as her son was shot. She maintained that her son was not carrying a weapon and did not pose a threat to the officer.

Shaw was rushed to the hospital for surgery, where doctors discovered he had suffered serious injuries.

According to Hoes, the bullet had ripped her son's stomach apart, and he required additional surgeries to repair the damage.

As Shaw recovered, Hoes left to deal with the incident's aftermath. She described feeling powerless and frustrated that her son was unjustly hurt.

The pain and trauma caused by the incident left her with a sense of deep injustice as she watched her son struggle to recover from his injuries.

Doctors warned that her son could face serious medical complications, leaving Hoes worried about what the future holds for her family.

Read Also: Transgender TikTok Star Brutally Murdered in Targeted Attack by Two Minors

DC police authorities arrested Wallace Lewis

Following the altercation between the man and the woman on Good Hope Road SE, police later arrested 59-year-old Wallace Lewis in connection with the reported attack.

Lewis was charged with assault with significant bodily injury and threats to do bodily harm in connection to the assault that the woman reported.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the policy of the Metropolitan Police Department.

According to The Washington Post, the department is reviewing the body-worn camera footage from the incident to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

D.C. police have been given until Friday to release the officer's identity and the video from the body camera unless Shaw objects.

Since the arrest of Lewis in connection with the reported assault, his lawyer has stated that prosecutors did not pursue criminal charges against him. The U.S. attorney's office in D.C. has confirmed this account but has declined to provide further details about the case.

The mother hopes that the body camera footage will provide a clear understanding of what happened and bring about justice for her son.

Related Article: Michigan State University Deadly Shooting Kills 3 Students, 5 Injured
Photo: (Photo : LOGAN CYRUS /Getty Images)

North Carolina students brought minors' easy access to guns at the forefront.

Officials at Fairview Elementary School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, reported a troubling incident on Tuesday morning when a 6-year-old student was caught with an unloaded firearm in his backpack.

However, another case of a student with a firearm was reported in a North Carolina middle school.

Fortunately, no one was harmed, but the student's mother was charged for not storing the weapon safely and securely.

North Carolina's 6-year-old student caught with an unloaded gun

According to ABC 11, an investigation found that a 6-year-old student at Fairview Elementary School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, had an unloaded 9mm handgun in his backpack on Tuesday.

Another student noticed the firearm and alerted a teacher, who quickly secured the backpack and removed the child from the classroom.

The school resource officer investigated the incident, and officials praised the staff's quick response to avoid a potentially serious situation.

In response to the incident, Rocky Mount Police Chief Robert Hassell emphasized the importance of gun owners securing their firearms to prevent minors from accessing them.

Chief Hassell also urged students to report suspicious activity to a teacher or trusted adult. He added that while incidents like this can be frightening for children, they provide an opportunity to have meaningful conversations about safety and speaking up to prevent potential harm.

Fortunately, no threats were seen with the weapon and the child. An ongoing investigation is being conducted to determine how the student came into possession of the firearm.

According to the Nash County Public School's code of conduct, the student will face disciplinary action for bringing a weapon onto school grounds.

Read Also: Transgender TikTok Star Brutally Murdered in Targeted Attack by Two Minors

North Carolina's Wendell Middle School student found with gun

Another incident involving a student bringing a gun to school has been reported in North Carolina.

According to WRAL News, a student at Wendell Middle School was found to have a gun during school hours, also on Tuesday.

On-campus staff immediately notified law enforcement and Wake County Public School System Security (WCPSS), who confiscated the weapon from the student.

Following a thorough investigation by law enforcement and WCPSS Security, it was determined that the student did not intend to cause harm to the school. Instead, the student had reportedly shown the gun to classmates.

No one was threatened during the incident. Principal Catherine Trudell emphasized that all students at Wendell Middle School were safe.

The incident resulted in charges being filed against the student's mother for storing a firearm in a manner that made it accessible to a minor.

This serves as a reminder of the importance of safe gun storage practices, especially in households with children.

Law enforcement and school officials also reiterated the need for students to immediately report any suspicious or concerning behavior to a teacher or trusted adult to ensure everyone on campus's safety.

Firearms in possession of young children

Fox News stated that the incident at Fairview Elementary and Wendell Middle School in North Carolina is just one of many recent cases involving firearms in the possession of young children.

The alarming trend of children having access to guns and the danger it poses to communities has been brought to the forefront by incidents like this, as well as the recent shooting of a Virginia elementary school teacher by a 6-year-old first-grader.

These incidents highlight the urgent need for greater gun safety education and regulation and increased oversight and security measures in schools to prevent such tragedies.

Parents, educators, and lawmakers must work together to address this issue and ensure the safety of our children and communities.

Related Article: Michigan State University Deadly Shooting Kills 3 Students, 5 Injured
Photo: (Photo : Saul Martinez/ Getty Images)

A 4-year-old boy, Franklin "Frankie" Orwig III, was reported missing in unincorporated Cocoa, Florida, sending authorities and the community on a frantic search for the little boy.

Hours after he disappeared, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office announced that deputies located the missing and endangered child in the afternoon, ending the harrowing ordeal.

The child was reunited with his emotional father, who was overjoyed to have his son back in his arms.

Missing 4-year-old in Florida

According to Fox News, a four-year-old boy named Frankie went missing near his home in unincorporated Cocoa, Florida, on February 10, 2023.

The boy was last seen outside his house on Burgess Avenue at around 8:52 A.M. on Friday.

After his father, Frank, realized that Frankie was missing, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office launched a search operation using their Child Abduction Response Team and a helicopter.

The pilot and tactical flight officer in the helicopter spotted the child in a heavily wooded area and directed the ground search and rescue teams to his location, which was about 60 yards from his home.

Frankie's loyal dog, Rufus, had stayed by his side throughout the ordeal. The 4-year-old was found unharmed and was taken to the hospital to be checked.

The boy's father said that he fell asleep while Frankie was playing on an iPad, and when he woke up, the child was gone.

He had been missing for less than 35 minutes when his father noticed he was gone.

According to Wesh, their neighbor, Jessica Beninger, said Frankie was a rambunctious boy who enjoyed walking around the neighborhood with his sisters and dogs, riding his bike, and having his dog with him.

However, the area where he lives is near ponds, alligators, and junk cars, which made his disappearance particularly worrisome.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office reminds the public to keep a watchful eye on their children, especially when they are playing outside.

Read Also: Mom Shares Harrowing Story When D.C. Police Shot Her Son in Mistaken Identity Case

Missing kids in Florida

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), as of February 2023, there were 129 active missing children cases in Florida.

There are potential dangers for children who get lost in the woods in Florida, as with any wilderness area. Some of the bodies of water in Florida can pose a threat to children who are lost or wandering in the woods.

However, it is worth noting that many of these cases involve runaways or children who have been abducted by family members rather than cases of stranger abduction like the one involving Frankie.

While any missing child is a cause for concern, it is essential to remember that the vast majority of missing children cases are resolved quickly and safely, often within a few hours.

Frankie's quick and successful rescue is a testament to the effectiveness of search and rescue operations in Florida.

The sheriff expressed his gratitude to the community and emphasized that the successful recovery of little Frankie underscored the strength of the partnership between Brevard County Law Enforcement and its citizens in ensuring the safety of everyone.

Frankie's father was overwhelmed with emotion when his son was finally found after hours of searching. He was seen crying tears of joy and was overjoyed that his son was found safe and sound. The father immediately ran up and held him tightly, not wanting to let him go.

Related Article: Michigan State University Deadly Shooting Kills 3 Students, 5 Injured
Rumbling began back in 2019 that the U.S. Justice Department was considering an antitrust case against Apple. Today we're learning that the U.S. Justice Department has in recent months escalated its long-running antitrust probe on Apple Inc.

A new report by The Wall Street Journal claims that the department has now assigned more litigators, while new requests for documents and consultations have been made with all the companies involved.

The probe will also look at whether Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, is anti-competitive, favoring its own products over those of outside developers, the report added. For more, read the full Reuters report and/or the original story over at The Wall Street Journal if you have a subscription.

Earlier today Patently Apple posted another antitrust related report titled "The Norwegian Banking Alliance led by Vipps wants the EU to Force Apple to Open its NFC Technology to them without restrictions."

Update, 12:36 p.m. PST: On yet another legal front, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent subpoenas to five tech companies on Wednesday, demanding communications between the companies and the executive branch of the U.S. government to understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.

The subpoenas, issued to the CEOs of Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, come just months after Jordan initially requested the companies hand over such information voluntarily. Jordan gave the companies a deadline of March 23 to comply with the demands. Your response without compulsory process has been woefully inadequate, Jordan wrote in the letters. For more, read the full CNBC report.






What is public Wi-Fi?

Public Wi-Fi can be found in popular public places like airports, coffee shops, malls, restaurants, and hotels  and it allows you to access the Internet for free. These hotspots are so widespread and common that people frequently connect to them without thinking twice. Although it sounds harmless to log on and check your social media account or browse some news articles, reading e-mail, checking your bank account, or performing any activity that requires a login is risky business on public Wi-Fi.

What are the risks?

The problem with public Wi-Fi is that there are a tremendous number of risks that go along with these networks. While business owners may believe theyre providing a valuable service to their customers, chances are the security on these networks is lax or non-existent.

Man in the Middle attacks

One of the most common threats on these networks is called a Man in the Middle (MitM) attack. Essentially, a MitM attack is a form of eavesdropping. When a computer makes a connection to the Internet, data is sent from point A (computer) to point B (service/website), and vulnerabilities can allow an attacker to get in between these transmissions and read them. So what you thought was private no longer is.

Unencrypted networks

Encryption means that the messages that are sent between your computer and the wireless router are in the form of a secret code, so that they cannot be read by anyone who doesnt have the key to decipher the code. Most routers are shipped from the factory with encryption turned off by default, and it must be turned on when the network is set up. If an IT professional sets up the network, then chances are good that encryption has been enabled. However, there is no sure-fire way to tell if this has happened.

Malware distribution

Thanks to software vulnerabilities, there are also ways that attackers can slip malware onto your computer without you even knowing. A software vulnerability is a security hole or weakness found in an operating system or software program. Hackers can exploit this weakness by writing code to target a specific vulnerability, and then inject the malware onto your device.

Snooping and sniffing

Wi-Fi snooping and sniffing is what it sounds like. Cybercriminals can buy special software kits and even devices to help assist them with eavesdropping on Wi-Fi signals. This technique can allow the attackers to access everything that you are doing online  from viewing whole webpages you have visited (including any information you may have filled out while visiting that webpage) to being able to capture your login credentials, and even being able to hijack your accounts.

Malicious hotspots

These rogue access points trick victims into connecting to what they think is a legitimate network because the name sounds reputable. Say youre staying at the GoodNyght Inn and want to connect to the hotels Wi-Fi. You may think youre selecting the correct one when you click on GoodNyte Inn, but you havent. Instead, youve just connected to a rogue hotspot set up by cybercriminals who can now view your sensitive information.

How to stay safe on public Wi-Fi

The best way to know your information is safe while using public Wi-Fi is to use a virtual private network (VPN), like Norton Secure VPN, when surfing on your PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet. However, if you must use public Wi-Fi, follow these tips to protect your information.

Dont:

Allow your Wi-Fi to auto-connect to networks

Log into any account via an app that contains sensitive information. Go to the website instead and verify they are using HTTPS before logging in

Leave your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on if you are not using them

Access websites that hold your sensitive information, such as such as financial or healthcare accounts

Log onto a network that isnt password protected

Do:

Disable file sharing

Only visit sites using HTTPS

Log out of accounts when done using them

Use a VPN, like Norton Secure VPN, to make sure your public Wi-Fi connections are made private

Copyright Credit  Norton official website (Blog post: https://au.norton.com/blog/privacy/risks-of-public-wi-fi)
Last week, the Supreme Court gave an interim order barring the federal government from implementing the 10 February deadline set for the use of the old notes.

The federal government is yet to take a decision on an extension of the deadline for the use of old naira notes, an official has said, further adding to the controversy across the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said this in a terse Tuesday night message sent to journalists.

"We wish to state that it is not true that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN have taken a preemptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

"The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up tomorrow," he said.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Supreme Court will Wednesday continue hearing in a suit filed by three state governments against the federal government.

The state governments want the Supreme Court to direct the federal government to allow the continued use of both the old and the new naira notes.

Last week, the Supreme Court gave an interim order barring the federal government from implementing the 10 February deadline set for the use of the old notes.

However, despite the Supreme Court order, most banks and businesses have stopped accepting the old naira notes as a legal tender, despite the scarcity of the new notes.

On Tuesday, the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, indicated that the 10 February deadline had not been shifted, contrary to the Supreme Court's directive.

The CBN is not a party to the suit filed by the state governments. However, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has asked the Supreme Court to vacate its order and dismiss the suit by the state governments.

As the matter continues at the Supreme Court Wednesday, Nigerians continue to suffer from the scarcity of the new naira notes.
In addition to being synonymous with the MOBA genre and more popular than the last wheel of imported brie in a San Francisco Whole Foods, League of Legends is becoming a bona fide media franchise. On top of multiplayer games like Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runtera, and the mobile spinoff Wild Rift, not to mention the popular Netflix series Arcane, publisher Riot has announced no less than three new single-player spinoffs from notable indie developers, all set for release in 2023.

Each game is a distinct work, expanding on different aspects of LoLs dizzyingly divergent lore. First up is Convergence (or as its stylized, CONV/RGENCE). Its a 2D action-platformer starring the time-bending Ekko as he bounces around the streets of Zaun and Piltover. It comes from Double Stallion, makers of the steampunk racing-beat-em-up Speed Brawl, with a similar cartoony art style.

The Mageseeker is a 2D action-RPG starring the spell-slinging, chain-swinging Sylas. Its stuffed with gorgeous pixel art, which will look familiar to anyone who played developer Digital Suns 2018 hit Moonlighter. That was a dungeon crawler that had you work as a shopkeeper in between fighting off hoards of monsters.

The last and most ambitious single-player spinoff is Song of Nunu, a full 3D platforming game from Rime and Sexy Brutale developer Tequila Works. LoL characters Nunu and his big yeti-like companion Willump need to work together to survive in a vast frozen land. It sort of looks like a mix of Zelda and The Last Guardian, albeit much cuter than the latter.

All three games are subtitled A League of Legends Story, like the turn-based RPG Ruined King from 2021. And, according to the trailer from Riots incubator company Riot Forge, all three of them will release sometime in 2023 on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. If you feel like diving deep into the lore of your favorite MOBA, youll get your chance later this year.
Management of Empire Builders (Trasacco Valley) Limited has called on the Military to call off its officers who are preventing them from accessing their land.



According to their lawyer, Martin Kpebu the Supreme Court has already ruled on the case so anyone who has issues should refer to the ruling.



"Now you have brought in the military to the land to scare us...where is this done? you can't do this in a democracy? We plead with the Army Commander to intervene. The judgement is there for all to see...," he told Kwami Sefa Kayi in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo'.



General Manager Trassaco Group, Kwame Owusu Danso said finality has been brought to the case so there should be no more misunderstanding.



"The soldiers must leave our lands...the shooting and confusion won't help anyone" he added.



Background



On June 24, 1999, Empire Builders took Top Kings Enterprise Limited (Top Kings) to court for trespassing on a 62-acre Empire had Title to.



In its judgment of June 11, 2003 the High Court, Coram: His Lordship Justice Brobbey JSC (as he then was) sitting as additional High Court Judge, held that Top Kings was to, and I quote, keep the portion of the disputed land that are already in its possession.



The parcel referred to by the learned judge was made up of 22 acres, eight (8) acres and 32 acres of land. The entire parcel of land granted to Top Kings per the High Court judgment totaled 62 acres and Top Kings was already in possession of that parcel of land and took steps to dispose of and develop into what is known as Kings Cottage Estate. The portion of land never fell within the master scheme that is currently Trasacco Valley.



The statement mentioned that the High Court also entered judgment for the Lands Commission (3rd Co-Defendant, acting on behalf of the Government of Ghana) in respect of 114 acres out of 456 acres of land Empire Builders was in possession of.



The Court further indicated that a portion of land within the 456 acres also belonged to the Government, which formed part of a large parcel of land acquired by the Government of Ghana for animal husbandry.



The Court made additional orders that Empire Builders was entitled to keep possession of the rest of the 456 acres not affected by the 62 acres for Top Kings or the Government of Ghana.



It added that Empire Builders appealed the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal. In its judgment dated December 18, 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the High Court decreeing possession to Top Kings over the 62 acres it was in occupation of.



The piece of land decreed in favour of the Government per the High Court judgment on June 11, 2003 which is the 114 acres formed part of the parcel of land released by the Government.



By a Lease dated August 12, 2010, the Government of Ghana released to the Nungua Stool 974.53 acres of land, a portion of which was used for Nungua Farms and Animal Husbandry.



The Nungua Stool, following the release mentioned earlier, subsequently transferred approximately 62 acres of the land to Empire Builders, for valuable consideration. The said 62 acres is separate and distinct from the 62 acres declared in favour of Topkings by the High Court. Additionally, the Government transferred 57 acres of the parcel decreed in its favour to Empire Builders thereby making Empire Builders the owners of that portion of land.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
The Leva Foundation, in partnership with 1Billion Africa, has launched the Tangible Africa Unplugged Coding at Hwidiem, in Ahafo Region.



The project is a unique initiative that teaches coding principles without relying on computers.



The Leva Foundation, a South African-based non-profit organization, runs a number of projects including the Tangible Africa Project in partnership with Nelson Mandela University.



With the support of Professor Jean Greyling, an associate professor at the Computing Sciences Department of the university, the project aims to introduce coding principles to students in an interactive and engaging way, preparing them for a future in the tech industry and equipping them with critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills.



The project has been successful in South Africa and the Leva Foundation aimed to introduce it in West Africa.



It therefore joined forces with a local organization, 1Billion Africa to run the project.



1Billion Africas work in Ghana has been dedicated to transforming problems into projects in African communities and has been promoting STEM education in the country.



With their shared goal of promoting innovative education, they set into motion the Tangibles Africa Unplugged Coding project for the first time in Ghana, at Hwidiem in the Ahafo Region, Ghana.



The goal of the project is to provide teachers and students with an innovative and exciting way to learn coding offline, using low technology.



The 'Unplugged Coding' project provides access to technology and coding to less privileged communities in Africa, raising students with knowledge and skills in technology for future endeavors and employment opportunities.



The project was rolled-out in Hwidiem on 1st and 2nd February 2023, training 16 teachers and 19 students from some selected schools in the community.



The attendees were excited about the unplugged coding initiative, using a low-tech tool for learning coding concepts. The project uses mobile applications and puzzles pieces with QR codes embedded in them, helping learners generate codes for execution on the RANGERS and TANK applications developed by Byron Batteson, an honours Computing Sciences student from Nelson Mandela University.



The puzzle pieces, using customized tokens and image recognition, introduce learners to coding concepts without the use of a computer. Each puzzle represents an instruction or code for the system to execute successfully.



The application contains multiple levels, becoming more challenging as learners progress. This coding program encourages users to think critically, solve problems, and understand the basic principles of coding.

Prince Adu Appiah, the CEO of 1Billion Africa, in his remarks encouraged the teachers and students to make the most of the opportunity and take keen interest in coding as an important skill to create a career in tech.



Ryan Le Roux, the CEO of Leva Foundation, also asked teachers to engage learners to practice more so that they can participate in the Nelson Mandela Day tournament on 18 July, which is held virtually from different countries.



The 'Unplugged Coding' project is a pioneering initiative, providing students and teachers with a new and innovative way to learn coding. The partnership between the Leva Foundation, Nelson Mandela University, and 1Billion Africa showcases their shared commitment to promoting innovative education and solving problems through projects.



By providing access to coding education without the need for computers, the project will bring coding education to students, especially in remote locations and rural schools in Ghana, thus helping to bridge the digital divide.



This can contribute to the transition of learners from no employment to employment and/or entrepreneurship and positive impact on the economy. The project will be introduced in other regions in Ghana led by 1Billion Africa in collaboration with educational stakeholders and local partners.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Member of Parliament for Bantama Constituency in the Ashanti region, Francis Asenso-Boakye on Tuesday, February 14 celebrated Valentines Day with the students of Kumasi Girls Senior High School.



The astute lawmaker used the occasion to advise the students that Valentines Day is not about romance as misconstrued lately.



I spent my Valentines Day morning with students of Kumasi Girls Senior High School (KUGIS) at Abrepo, in the Bantama Constituency, he posted on Facebook.



He added; I reminded them that the Love associated with Valentines Day is not about romance, as has been misconstrued lately, but represents important core values of compassion, gratitude, honesty, faithfulness and kindness.



Mr Asenso-Boakye who is also the Housing Minister used the opportunity to encourage the students to productively use the internet, and be mindful of the possible dangers and negative impact of social media so that it will not ruin their future.





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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An on-demand, non-hormonal male contraceptive pill may be a real possibility say scientists who have found a cell pathway, or switch, that stops sperm from being able to swim.



Tests in mice suggest it keeps sperm stunned for at least a few hours - long enough to stop them reaching the egg.



Many more tests are planned and needed, moving to rabbits before people.



The idea is users could pop a pill an hour before sex and keep an eye on the clock for when it wears off.



How does it work?



Unlike the female contraceptive pill, it does not involve any hormones.



Scientists say that is one of the advantages of the approach they are exploring - it will not knock out testosterone and cause any male hormone deficiency side effects.



Instead, the "sperm-swim" switch they are targeting is a cellular signalling protein called soluble adenylyl cyclase or sAC. The experimental male pill inhibits or blocks sAC.



In the early study in mice, funded by the US National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Nature Communications, a single dose of the drug, called TDI-11861, immobilised sperm before, during and after mating.



The effect lasted for around three hours. By 24 hours, it appeared to have fully worn off.



One of the scientists, Dr Melanie Balbach from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said it showed promise as a reversible, easy-to-use contraceptive.



If it does ultimately work in humans, men might be able to take it only when, and as often, as needed. They could make day-to-day decisions about their fertility.



But it would not protect against sexually transmitted infections, experts warn. Condoms would be needed for that.



Prof Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "There is a pressing need for an effective, reversible, oral contraceptive for men and although many different approaches have been tested over the years, none has yet reached the market.



"The approach described here, to knock out key enzyme in sperm that is critical for sperm movement, is a really novel idea. The fact that it is able to act, and be reversed, so quickly is really quite exciting.



"If the trials on mice can be replicated in humans with the same degree of efficacy, then this could well be the male contraceptive approach we have been looking for."



Meanwhile, other researchers have been looking at a slightly different pathway to halt sperm swimming, by blocking a protein on the surface of sperm.

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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On Valentines Day, Ghana Post honoured the Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof Rita Akosua Dickson, for her contributions to academia and her continuous business with Ghana Post.



In a brief ceremony at KNUST campus, the MD of Ghana Post, Bice Osei Kuffour, indicated that the management of Ghana Post honoured Prof. Dickson as an appreciation of her loyalty to Ghana Post by sustaining the over 15 years of business relations between the two institutions.



He added that KNUST is one of Ghana Posts top customers in the Ashanti Region, and for the past 15 years, the Ghana Post Offices have been selling admission forms and sending transcripts on behalf of KNUST.



In her response, Prof Dickson expressed gratitude to Ghana Post for the kind gesture. She noted that the Ghana Posthads played a to bridge the gap between the public and KNUST.



She recommended the management of Ghana Post for the innovations and advised them to continue to make customer service a priority.



The special Ghana Post delivery team, consisting of Kumawood Stars, Ebenezer Akwasi Antwi, aka Dr Likee, and Matilda Asante, delivered a giant portrait to Lady Julia, the wife of Otumfuo Osei II.



The team showed love in branded Ghana Post costumes to Ejisuhemaa Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Asante Mamponghemaa Nana Agyakomaa Difie, Nana Akua Arkoh, mother of Dr Osei Kwame Despite and other loyal customers of Ghana Post.



In February, Ghana Post, through its Vals on Wheels Promo, promises to serve Ghanaians with heavily discounted rates. The charges for delivery within the campus are 10gh cedis, vendors 25gh, Accra 30gh and 20gh for Kumasi. Last year, the Vals on Wheel Promo enabled many Ghanaians to send gifts of love to partners, family, and friends.



According to the Managing Director of Ghana Post, Bice Obour Osei Kuffour, Ghana Post is aware of global economic challenges.



Therefore, through the Vals on Wheels promo, Ghana Post is sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians, hence the heavily discounted fees.

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 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









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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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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-- Majority of the senators are worried that there could be delay in the electoral process due to financial and other constraints.

Senators who are poised to seek re-election at the polls come October are becoming jittery, fearing that the polls may not come as scheduled.

The Senators' fear has pushed them to summon the entire leadership of the National Elections Commission (NEC) to ascertain its level of preparation, considering the biometric voter registration exercise just a couple of weeks away.

The Senate, in unanimous decision, cited the electoral body board to appear next week to provide an update regarding preparation for the October 10, 2023 presidential and legislative elections.

This comes after the chairperson of the Senate committee on Rules, Order and Administration wrote a strongly-worded communication warning of the risks to the election calendar if NEC is not prepared in time for the nationwide biometric voter registration exercise.

The letter from Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence of Grand Bassa County Senator Lawrence, who is not among the 15 Senators seeking re-election, warned that there are visible indications that the "NEC is running against time on the conduct of the nationwide biometric voter registration exercise."

"The ensuing October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections present yet another historic opportunity for Liberia to foster a continuous path of sustained peace and democratic governance under the rule of law. To achieve this momentous accomplishment, the 2023 elections must be conducted in a credible, transparent, free and fair manner as guaranteed by the new elections law of Liberia," the Senator said.

Based on the importance of Karnga-Lawrence's communication, the Senate unanimously voted to summon the NEC's Board of Commissioners to discuss its preparedness to conduct the 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections.

Majority of the senators are worried that there could be delay in the electoral process due to financial and other constraints, and would like to hear from the commission about challenges it is being faced with.

Recently, the company that has been contracted to conduct the voter's registration process, which is slated to commence on March 20, claimed that it is unable to pre-finance as required in the bid document.

A key requirement stated in the bid document for the almost US$12 million contract is that the company must demonstrate the ability to pre-finance the process.

The NEC as a result is now being forced to rely on the government to provide US$4.5 million to LAXTON to bring in the biometric materials for the process. Phase one of the voters registration exercise, which targets six counties, is expected to end on April 9.

According to the payment terms stated in the tender document, Section ITB 11.1(h) to be exact, states that 50% should be made available to the winner of the bid after the completion of the voter registration exercise; 25% after the exhibition, and 25% after the elections.

These requirements were the detailed payment terms as indicated by NEC in their tender.

But as LAXTON has claimed that it is unable to pre-finance the biometric voters registration exercise, the Chairperson of the NEC is hinting that the process might be further delayed if the government does not provide the funding.

"To date, we received 14 million in both US and Liberian dollars. There is a deficit of US$4.5 million. This is outstanding." said Davidetta Brown Lansanah Lansanah said in a remark a few days before her appearance at the House of Representative last week. "The reason why it is critical is that, according to our contract, we have to provide a letter of credit to the bank for the Laxton Group."

"Maybe I should not say it, this money, the balance money, If not received in a few days, the delivery of biometric equipment to the country will be stalled and if it is stalled it means that there is a potential to push forward the voter registration."

These revelations have instilled some level of fear in members of the legislature, especially those seeking reelection.

And as half of the membership of the senate is heading for reelection and with a historically very poor retention rate at the upper house, many senators want to be very sure of the elections being held in time before embarking on their reelection campaign or spending sprees.

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A troubled Senate Pro-Tempore, Albert Chie, recently expressed fear as Liberians go to the polls in October, many incumbent senators may not return as history has never been kind to them when seeking re-election in the postwar history of Liberia.

"Most of our seats are up for electoral contestations in the last quarter of this year. Despite years of hard work and constant visits to constituencies, history has unfortunately never been kind to Senators seeking re-elections," he said. "We hope this class will be an exception and the return rate will be high. I urge all of us to work towards this goal."

The Grand Kru County Senator is right to be troubled as he is conscious of the fact that there exists a jinx that hangs over the upper house, as only two each of 30 senators who sought re-elections in 2014, and 2022 returned.
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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James Keck Osei, the Director of Administration at the Office of the Vice President is one of the four persons who are being prosecuted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.



The four persons are standing trial over their failure to declare their property and income.



The four accused persons are Issah Seidu, James Keck Osei, John Abban & Peter Archibold Hyde.



Following this development, the office of the vice president has detailed why the OSP is prosecuting James Keck Osei.



In a press statement issued by the Vice Presidents Secretariat and signed by Augustine Blay, the Secretary to the Vice President, they disclosed that Mr. Keck Osei had written an unauthorised letter to the Commissioner General of GRA seeking assistance in clearing 15 containers of rice imported from Thailand in April 27, 2022, adding that the containers of rice needed for Ramadan festivities.



According to the Secretariat, GRA did not comply with Mr. Keck Oseis letter but rather informed him that there was another claimant of the rice.



However, James Keck Osei wrote another letter on July 5, 2022 asking the Commissioner to cancel any prior action taken based on his previous letter.



The OSP subsequently took up the case in September 2022 and started investigating it.



The Vice Presidents Secretariat said only the secretary to the vice president is mandated to write on behalf of the vice president and James Keck Osei did not have such authority.



Meanwhile, the Accra High Court has granted bail to some persons standing trial over their failure to declare their property and income.



The High Court granted bail to three persons out of the four persons after they pleaded not guilty.



The fourth person was absent due to ill health.

















Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Supreme Court has dismissed another application filed by convener of #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, asking it to strike out the decision of an Accra High Court which dismissed his motion to strike out his committal proceedings.



A five-member panel of the court presided over by the Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah, dismissed the application on ground that the High Court was right to have dismissed his case and ordered for an amendment of the charge sheet.



Oliver Barker-Vormawor has been charged with two counts of treason felony after he had indicated on his Facebook and Twitter handles that he will undertake a coup, calling the Ghana Military useless in the process.



He had asked the High Court to strike out the committal proceedings on which he was committed to stand trial, on ground that he was charged with treason felony and high treason which sins against the rule of duplicity.



The court, presided over by Justice Mary Yanzuh, in her ruling, dismissed the motion to strike out the committal proceedings but upheld his other application seeking to strike out the charges on the Bill of Indictment on grounds of duplicity and multiplicity, and ordered the prosecution to amend the charges levelled against him to reflect what the law says.



Not satisfied with the decision, the accused through his counsel filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking a certiorari to strike out the High Courts decision.



Moving the motion, his counsel, Justice Srem-Sai, argued that the particulars of the offence indicated that Barker-Vormawor has caused both treason felony and high treason, and this sins against the rule of duplicity and multiplicity.



He said the committal court took into consideration the particulars to the chats on social media, and committed him to stand trial at the High Court.



He maintained that the prosecution cannot be asked to amend the particulars of the charges as directed by the High Court.



The application was opposed by Hilda Craig, a Principal State Attorney who argued that the accused did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the court, as the error complained about should be a fundamental one to invoke the Supreme Courts supervisory authority.



She said the High Court acted within its jurisdiction when it ordered the prosecution to amend the charge sheet, and the trial judge did not exceed her jurisdiction when she gave that order.



The five-member panel, in its ruling, said the errors complained of is within the jurisdiction of the court, and the court was right to order for an amendment of the particulars of the charges.



The court, therefore, dismissed the application.











Source: Daily Guide









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The National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Nana Ofori Owusu, has described the current action of the President to replace ministers and fill vacant positions as unproductive and a bane to the development of the nation.



According to him, what the PPP and the rest of the country were calling for was a drastic reduction in the size of government and its expenditure, and not the filling of vacant positions.



Mr Owusu said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic while sharing his views on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos new appointment of ministers and deputy ministers to fill certain ministerial vacancies.



Good faith



The President, Mr Owusu said, after asking citizens to burden share through policies such as a Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), among others, was also expected to show good faith to the same citizens by displaying readiness to burden share by reducing the size of his government.



The President cant ask the people to burden share when he obviously will not amend his expenditure downwards, he said.



The National Chairman of the PPP added that the Presidents refusal to listen to public concerns and his reluctance to downsize his government by at least half exposed him as a President who cared less about the views of those he governed



He added that it was also a signal suggesting that the President was not willing to cut expenditures amid the current economic difficulties.



Such actions by the President are an affront to the public because the President is missing out on good governance principles, he said.



Solution



Mr Owusu maintained that an effective and efficient government was not contained in a large government but rather it was about ensuring an effective public service to complement the effort of the government to deliver public goods.



He, therefore, called on the President once more to go back to the drawing table to cut down the size of his administration by merging some ministries, removing some appointees and reducing expenditures to reflect the current economic conditions of the country.



Maintaining a large size government at this time is counterproductive to our efforts, and the President must show leadership to restore hope in the country, Mr Owusu said.



President Akufo-Addo last Tuesday submitted to Parliament the names of ministers and deputy ministers with changes that comprise reshuffles, elevations, replacements, new faces and the filing of vacuums created by the resignation of three ministers.



The list had Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa and former Deputy Minister of Energy, Kobina Tahiru Hammond, nominated for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Abetifi MP and former Minister of State at the Presidency, Bryan Acheampong,as the Minister of Food and Agriculture, while the immediate past Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority Stephen Asamoah Boateng, takes over as Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.



Others are a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam and MP for Karaga as Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance to replace Charles Adu Boahen, who resigned last year.



A Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Osei Bonsu Amoah, was elevated as a Minister of State at the same Ministry while a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry has been reassigned as a Deputy Minister of Energy to replace Dr Adam, with the MP for Nhyiaso, Dr Stephen Amoah as a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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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









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 former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, has returned to the premises of the Ministry of Finance, to join pensioner bondholders picketing to demand a total exclusion from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.



The former Chief Justice first joined the bondholders on Friday leading to varied reactions among Ghanaians and NPP stalwarts.



She threatened to sue the government if their pension funds are included in the debt exchange programme.



Leading NPP member of the NPP, Gabby Otchere-Darko in a tweet stated that he does not get the fuss the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo made over the inclusion of pensioners in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.



Why picket over an offer that you have the liberty not to accept? he quizzed.



Government on Tuesday, February 14, said the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) officially closed on Friday, February 10, 2023, with over 80% participation of eligible bonds.



This was announced in a statement issued by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.



The government in the statement thanked the people of Ghana for their forbearance and support throughout these very difficult times.



It also assured bondholders who did not sign up for the programme that it will honour its financial obligations to them.



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 government has proposed a 15% coupon rate, but the retirees have stated that they will not accept any haircuts on their investments as their livelihoods depend on the proceeds from these investments.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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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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While officially stating his intentions to contest for the Flagbearership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the former Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, also admitted that the Akufo-Addo-led government could have handled some socio-economic decisions differently.



He squarely praised the President for laying a strong foundation for development, but emphasized that, when he becomes the president, his government will lead the country with a five-year Ghana transformational plan.



The plan, according to the aspiring presidential candidate, is hinged on providing a strong macroeconomic environment, a new agricultural revolution (NAR) for the country, industrial transformation, digital mainstreaming, energy security and diversification, de-carbonization and climate resilience.



Mr. Alan Kyerematen made this known while in a meeting last Friday, with some executives of the New Patriotic Party in Koforidua, as part of a one-day Eastern Regional tour, to seek their support, going into the partys internal flagbearership election.



Touching on agriculture, he said, optimizing Value to Farmers by establishing Farmer-owned Large Scale Commercial Farms and Processing Facilities will bring the full benefits of the agriculture value chain to farmers.



He said his government will intensify the use of technology in the countrys agricultural sector, through Research & Development (R&D) in Agronomy, Mechanisation, Irrigation, and Plantation Management.



According to the aspiring flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, his government will build on the foundation laid by the Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programmes, while adding on to such initiatives with the establishment of the Licensed Food Distribution and Marketing companies by the Private Sector throughout the country at the district level.



These companies would constitute a vital link between farmers and market queens in the urban and peri-urban areas, which would be complemented by the introduction of a digitalised food distribution and marketing online platform that would connect producers to buyers and consumers, he explained.



He further told the supporters that he was the right man to lead the party in the next general elections, stressing that if the NPP intended to make history as the only party to have ruled beyond eight years, he was the best person to achieve that.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The mayor of Tsumeb, Mathew Hangula, says the town's municipality will issue a media statement this week on the outcome of tests carried out after the town's water was declared unfit for human consumption in December.

The town's water was declared unfit for human consumption based on a quarterly microbiological water quality assessment by copper smelter Dundee Precious Metals.

It was not clear what the microbiological content detected in the water was, as no resident complained about any health issues.

"We will release a statement on Wednesday," Hangula said. He declined to shed more light on the matter.

However, The Namibian learned that the mayor and the town's chief executive officer, Victoria Kapenda, have been in Windhoek since last week to present the water test results to different ministries.

This includes a decontamination plan estimated to cost millions of Namibia dollars.

The Namibian understands that according to test results received by the municipality all water supply points are contaminated.
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









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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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.









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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Music legend, K.K Fosu has disclosed his intention to be a Member of Parliament as an independent candidate.



According to the musician who has a rich repertoire of Highlife songs, he wants to become a parliamentary representative for the people of Mangoase in the Eastern Region.



In an exclusive interview with Abeiku Santana on Okay FMs drive time Ekwanso Dwoodwoo, K.K Fosu bitterly complained about bad roads in his community and the plight of the people.



To him, he wants to go to Parliament to effect changes in his community ensuring the residents have a good living and the roads fixed to ease vehicle and human movements.



K.K Fosu revealed that he will be contesting the parliamentary seat on the ticket of his own party he named 'Empower Youth Movement (EYM)'.



To the public, it may not be surprising to see K.K Fosu in the 2024 parliamentary elections.



...I'm not a politician. My vision and the mission is beyond politics. I am independent. It's a movement; an independent movement. We are not going to talk about politricks. We are going to talk vision beyond politics...Currently, I control the youth of Akuapem North, he emphasized.



When asked how he intends to win the seat without vying on the ticket of a political party, he said; "You don't need people to buy you. They will control you with their money and that's [what we are facing] the problem we facing as Africans...God is with me and I have people. I have fan base."

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A woman embraces a member of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team as they are greeted by members of the Turkish Canadian community upon arrival from Turkey at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. The team of volunteer search and rescue experts, which is mostly comprised of firefighters from Burnaby, deployed to Turkey the day after last week's 7.8 magnitude earthquake. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Quebec coroner Luc Malouin speaks at the beginning of a Coroners inquest into the deaths of Romy, Norah and Martin Carpentier, Monday, February 13, 2023 in Quebec City. A provincial police dog handler who arrived at the scene of a crash involving the girls and their father says he had difficulty doing his job because the scene had been contaminated by first responders who had been searching. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Booming business returns to China-Mongolia border areas

Xinhua) 16:48, February 15, 2023

HOHHOT, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- With unbridled excitement, Ulantuya, who hails from Mongolia, indulged in a shopping spree at a bustling mall in Erenhot, a major city on the China-Mongolia border.

"There is a great variety of products here. I will surely take many of them home," said Ulantuya, surrounded by a swarm of Mongolian merchants and customers.

Border cities like Erenhot have seen booming business and greater people-to-people exchanges since cross-border travel resumed between China and its neighbors on Jan. 8, as part of the country's optimized COVID-19 response.

Zhang Yuan, who has been running a leather goods shop at the mall for 12 years, was delighted to have Mongolian merchants back. "As I reconnected with old friends, warm greetings were exchanged, and our handshakes lingered just a tad longer than usual," Zhang said.

Statistics from the commerce department of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region showed the Erenhot highway port has recorded a daily average of about 600 passenger trips since Jan. 8. The port also handled 1.42 million tonnes of cargo in January, up 98.2 percent year on year.

Ceke Port, located in Alxa League in Inner Mongolia, is an important cross-border channel for mineral products transportation.

At a worksite in Ceke, Mongolian containers brimming with coal were hoisted onto waiting trucks before being shipped to various corners of China.

According to the regional department of commerce, inbound and outbound cargo volume at Ceke Port increased by 105,000 tonnes in January compared with December.

In Ganqmod Port, the largest highway port on the China-Mongolia border, trucks loaded with copper powder, coal and other mineral products were seen lining up to enter China.

With an impressive five-fold surge in the volume of goods handled since the start of 2023, cross-border trade is off to a roaring start at the bustling port, said Hecheltu, deputy director of the management committee of the Ganqmod Port.

Boldoo, a truck driver from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, has transported mineral products between China and Mongolia for eight years, mainly via Ganqmod Port.

"The port has seen an increasing number of trucks coming from Mongolia over the past month," said Boldoo. "I now earn 6,000 yuan (about 876.6 U.S. dollars) a month by making two trips every week. My family's life has greatly improved since I began this job."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello have arrived at the Supreme Court to monitor proceedings in a suit their states filed against the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Cashless Policy Regime.

The two governors arrived the court room around 8:30am in company of their supporters and top government officials.

The Federal Government is expected to engage in legal battle with three states challenging the implementation of the Cashless Policy Regime introduced by the CBN.
The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

The police in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, said they have rescued 15 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were abducted by gunmen in the state.

The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Ikenga said the corps members had concluded their three weeks orientation programme at the NYSC Orientation camp in Imo State and were en route to Lagos State before their vehicle was intercepted on Tuesday at a junction in Ihiala, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of the Anambra State.

"Their vehicle was diverted to Isseke-Ihiala-Orlu Expressway where the gunmen kept them hostage," he said.

'How they were rescued'

The spokesperson said police operatives trailed the gunmen in response to receipt of information around 11:15 a.m. about the attack.

"The armed men noticed they were being followed by police operatives, abandoned the corps members and zoomed off with a Toyota Hiace bus with Reg Nos: EPE 353 YE conveying the corps members," Mr Ikenga, a deputy superintendent of police, said.

He said the corps members were "debriefed" by the police operatives, pointing out that "necessary arrangements have been perfected to convey them back to their destinations."

Increased attacks

Like other states in Nigeria's south-east, security has deteriorated in Anambra State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

Although several persons - mainly government officials - have been abducted lately and killed in the state, the abduction of the corps members was a novelty.

The attacks, mostly targeted at security officials and government officials, have been attributed to the outlawed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB), which is agitating for a sovereign state for the Igbo-speaking people in the south-east.

But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
Mike McClain, Who Took Bad Beat by Raymer at 2004 WSOP Final Table, Passes Away

February 15, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

Earlier this month, the poker world received the news that longtime grinder Mike McClain passed away from stomach cancer.

McClain had a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and previously worked in the computer industry before taking up poker full-time.

Mike had been a poker mentor to me. Just listening to him describe hands made me a much better player, poker author Lee Jones, a friend of McClains, shared in a remembrance on Poker.org. He would drive down from his home in the Sacramento area and sit in Bay 101s $60-120 LHE game for a few days, make enough money to last a month, then drive home.

Lee explained that McClain, who was diagnosed in 2021, recently make the decision to end chemo and spend his remaining days with family and friends.

Mike didnt make decisions like most people do, but in the years I knew him, he made many more correct decisions than he made wrong ones, Lee added. His last important decision was certainly tougher than any of us would want to face, but Ive no doubt that Mike made the right decision for himself and his family  thats all that matters.

Mike McClain in the 2004 WSOP.

According to the Hendon Mob, McClain had $1,303,837 in lifetime tournament earnings including a career-best of $470,400 for finishing ninth in the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. In fact, it was that tournament where he first got major time in the poker spotlight thanks in no small part to battling with eventual champ Greg Raymer.

Aces Cracked at 2004 WSOP Final Table

At the final table of the 2004 WSOP, which can be viewed on demand at PokerGO, McClain looked down at the and raised to 150,000. Raymer looked down at the on the button and three-bet to 500,000. Both blinds folded and McClain moved all in.

Raymer called and got lucky when the flop came to give him a set. The turn meant a nine would chop it, but the river was a brick to eliminate McClain.

In my limited interactions with him, what probably stood out the most was just how well he took the bad beat I gave him at the final table, Raymer told PokerNews after learning of McClains passing. While obviously disappointed, he was calm and composed, and never had a bad word to say about any of it. He honestly seemed to handle it as perfectly as possible. Instead of focusing on the bad luck of that hand, he kept in mind all of the good luck that got him that far and helped him win almost half a million dollars. I doubt even 2% of all poker players could have handled it as well, and that is a great testament to him and his skill at poker.

Greg Raymer and Mike McClain shake hands.

Raymer added: I ran into him several times after that final table, and he was always a super nice guy, very calm and quiet. I think what stood out to me the most about Mike was his clearly obvious intelligence. Somehow, even if he had hardly said a word, you just knew he was brilliant.

Other highlights on McClains poker resume included $182,900 for taking fifth in the 2007 World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker, $99,648 for finishing ninth in the 2006 WPT LA Poker Classic, and $53,777 for placing fourth in the 2008 WSOP Circuit Lake Tahoe $5,150 Main Event. His last documented tournament cash came in March 2020 when he placed 16th in the Bay 101 Shooting Star $5,200 Main Event for $17,595.

PokerNews offers condolences to the friends and family of Mike McClain, who will be sorely missed by the poker world.

*2004 WSOP images courtesy of PokerGO broadcast.

Sharelines Mike McClain, who suffered a bad beat at the 2004 @WSOP final table, recently passed away.
World Poker Tour, One Drop Foundation Partner for Charity Poker Initiatives

February 14, 2023 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

The One Drop Foundation and the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced a partnership agreement to collaborate on charitable initiatives within the poker community.

Both organizations have a strong commitment to philanthropy. One Drop, founded by former high-stakes poker player Guy Laliberte, who also founded Cirque du Soleil, is a nonprofit that provides the underprivileged around the world access to safe drinking water.

Check out the WPT Hub on PokerNews here!

One Drop's Poker Connection

The Canadian-based organization has long promoted its initiatives through poker, and the poker community has stepped up to help raise money for the good causes. In 2012, 2014, and 2018, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) hosted the first ever $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop events in Las Vegas. A portion of each buy-in went to the helping people all around the world get access to safe drinking water, a cause Laliberte, and new CEO Jean-Louis Dufresne, is passionate about.

Since 2012, the WSOP has also hosted annual lower cost charity bracelet One Drop events ranging from $1,111 to $111,111. The WPT and One Drop have together raised over $70 million for various global causes over the years. Laliberte set out a goal of donating $100 million (CAD) to the organization over 25 years when he started the nonprofit in 2007.

WPT has always committed to giving back to those in need both locally and globally, said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. Through the World Poker Tour Foundation, we have utilized our position in the poker community to raise millions of dollars in funding for non-profit organizations, and we are eager to continue this charitable thread by teaming up with the incredible One Drop Foundation.

The WPT also has an extensive history raising money for useful causes. Over the past decade, the World Poker Tour Foundation has raised more than $45 million for over three-dozen charities, including the NASCAR Foundation, Special Olympics, and the Conservation International.

The One Drop Foundation has raised more than $25 million through poker events over the past decade, said Alexandre Meunier, One Drop Foundations Chief Marketing and Events Officer. We now look forward to the next milestone in our mission to improve access to safe water and living conditions for millions across the globe. We are confident the World Poker Tour is the ideal partner to help us achieve that goal, hand in hand with the global poker community.

The partnership, according to a press release, will include premier events hosted by WPT casino partners around the world. Further details will be released in the near future.

Did You Know the World Poker Tour is Online?

The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world's largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories around the world.

WPT Global offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.

Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of the first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.

Sharelines Find out about the One Drop and @WPT partnership.
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In 2015, then-President Obama imposed stronger regulations on trains carrying oil and toxic chemicals. In 2018, Trump got rid of them.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported in 2015, Federal transportation regulators in the U.S. and Canada released a sweeping set of final rules Friday with more stringent requirements for railroads hauling flammable liquids, including crude oil and ethanolThe Department of Transportation rules would require new electronic brake systems for all trains carrying flammable liquids at speeds above 30 miles per hour by the year 2021. Current air brake technology has been in use for more than a century.

The rail industry didnt like these new safety rules. They threw a bunch of money at Trump and the GOP, and guess what happened in 2018?

Trump rolled back Obamas train regulations.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported in 2018, The U.S. Department of Transportation, which has been working on rescinding the rules since last December, said in statement this week that its analysis showed the cost of requiring railroads to equip trains with the new brakes outweighed the potential benefits.

This specific policy of Trumps overturned an Obama policy, reversal of which at the very least may have contributed to the Ohio train disaster.

On Feb. 3, Norfolk Southern Railway train carrying various highly toxic chemicals listed as human carcinogens and toxic flammable gas, including chemicals used in plastic and paint manufacturing, derailed in the small town of 5,000 people in East Palestine, Ohio on the border of Pennsylvania, resulting in a huge fire with thick billowing plumes of smoke. It set off a toxic chemical disaster in the air, soil and water.

Officials conducted what they called a controlled burn of the toxic chemicals and an evacuation order was put in place for residents within a one mile radius of the derailment.

The chemicals began negatively impacting the environment, such as causing hundreds of fish to die in the Leslie Run stream in East Palestine, Ohio, and harming various other species, such as foxes, coyotes, and birds, Newsweek reported.

The Ohio river supplies more than 5 million people with drinking water. And yes, small amounts of the chemicals were identified in the Ohio River, which winds through or borders Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Both of our major political parties have allowed big business and industry interests to dominate the interests of the people. But in this case, then President Obama put the people first, only to have Trump come into office and reverse that order.

Trump did the bidding of big corporations and it contributed to an environmental disaster along the Ohio River, the scope of which remains unknown.

The people are paying because Trump and his party put big corporate interests ahead of the safety of the American people. Trumps policies are hurting the people in Appalachia, which is a cruel irony given that he was portrayed as the savior of Appalachia. Trump hurting his own voters is nothing new, but its not something we should ever accept as normal or okay.
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Nikki Haley refused to criticize Trump by name, and anyone who refuses to call Trump out specifically is destined to fail in 2024.

Haley said it was time for Republicans to move away from faded names and stale ideas:

Nikki Haley takes a shot at Trump without saying his name,, "We're ready. Ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us." A generation that lacks the courage to criticize Trump by name. pic.twitter.com/T3R8WxQ8Wh  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 15, 2023

Haley said, Were ready. Ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us.

Nikki Haley then moved on to her big issue of promising to use the presidency to gut public schools and making sure that the COVID school closures that ended two years ago never happen again:

Nikki Haley vows to gut public schools and end the COVID school closures of two years ago, "In the America, I see every child gets a world-class education because every parent gets to pick their child's school. And no politician will be able to close those schools ever again." pic.twitter.com/pxkM25Kghu  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 15, 2023

There was lots of the obligatory Republican talk about wokness and socialism in her speech, but never let it be said that Nikki Haley doesnt know how to leave an audience completely depressed.

Toward the end of her announcement, Haley reminded Republicans that they had lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections:

Nikki Haley basically tells Republicans vote for me losers, "I have a particular message for my fellow Republicans. We've lost the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans." pic.twitter.com/MgcNAXQWBl  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 15, 2023

Nikki Haley followed the same path that every Republican primary challenger tried against Trump in 2016. If Republicans want to beat Trump in the primary, they wont do it by staying above the fray. So far, Ron DeSantis has also chosen this same tactic, and it is the path to defeat because Donald Trump is going to go scorched earth on all of his serious primary opponents.

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Trump will do everything imaginable to lower the support for his opponents, and if people like Haley and DeSantis dont fight back by name, they will get steamrolled and lose.

Nikki Haley could have said that being in Trumps administration she got to see up close that the Republican Party needs to change. She could set herself up to be the agent of that change.

Haley lacked the courage for that track, so her announcement ended up serving as more evidence for why Trump remains likely to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
An Aiken man arrested last week in connection toa robbery at a credit union is facing additional charges .

James Antonio Frazier, 27, of Aiken, was charged with armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and three counts of kidnapping in connection to a September 2022 bank robbery in Warrenville, according to a media release from the Aiken County Sheriffs Office.

Police said an armed man entered the bank Sept. 29, 2022, and demanded money, according to the release.

The man left the bank with money and drove away, the release said.

Frazier was arrested last week in connection to an unrelated robbery at a Beech Island a credit union . He was charged with robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, two counts of pointing and presenting a firearm and two counts of kidnapping.

Frazier is listed as an inmate at the Aiken County detention center and has no bond.
Aiken City Attorney Gary Smith has asked the court to dismiss him from the lawsuit filed to stop the failed Project Pascalis.

Aiken attorney Clarke McCants III filed a motion to dismiss on Smith's behalf arguing the court does not have the authority to hear the claim made against him.

Project Pascalis was a $75 million plus redevelopment plan focused on the block surrounded by Richland Avenue, Laurens and Newberry streets and Park Avenue.

The Project Pascalis plan called for the demolition of the vacant Hotel Aiken and a building next to it on Laurens Street and the construction of a 100-room hotel in their place. The Holley House and several buildings located between it and Newberry Street, including most of the former C.C. Johnson Drug Store, would be demolished to make way for an apartment complex and parking garage. The city's former municipal building would be expanded into a conference center.

The Aiken Municipal Development Commission voted to stop the project Sept. 29. The proposed developer, RPM Development Partners, sent notice it was terminating its interest in the project Sept. 14.

The project was stopped by the Aiken Municipal Development Commission in September. The proposed developer of the project, RPM Development Partners, withdrew in September.

The lawsuit was filed on July 5, 2022 by plaintiffs David Blake, Luis Rinaldini, Dick Dewar, Jenne Stoker, B.B. McGhee, Gail King, the Historic Aiken Foundation, the Green Boundary Foundation and the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation through their lawyers Andrew Gowder, Michael Rose and James Carpenter.

The defendants in the suit are Smith, the city of Aiken, the individual members of Aiken City Council, the AMDC and its individual members, Aiken Economic Development Director Tim O'Briant, the Aiken Design Review Board and its individual members, RPM Development Partners and Raines.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs ask the court to declare that Smith violated the South Carolina Ethics, Government Accountability and Campaign Reform Act because he participated in meetings and gave his advice to the city council while his law firm partner, Ray Massey, served as registered agent of RPM Development Partners and owned property adjacent to the property to be redeveloped in Project Pascalis.

McCants said Monday the court did not have the authority to hear claims that Smith violated the act.

He said the act does not create the ability for a person to sue, a private cause of action, under it nor is the ability otherwise found in state law.

"Thus the court does not have subject-matter jurisdiction to consider the Plaintiffs' first cause of action, as alleged against this defendant, and he should be dismissed from this civil action as a matter of law and with prejudice," McCants said in the motion.

Subject-matter jurisdiction is the authority of a court to hear a dispute before it.

Dismissing a claim with prejudice means the claim cannot be made again by the same parties.

McCants said there are administrative avenues for the plaintiffs to claim Smith violated the act, specifically making a report to the State Ethics Commission.

McCants also makes a motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Smith's motion means all of the individually-named defendants have asked to be dismissed from the lawsuit. The court is expected to hear the motions made by the other defendants March 1.
Rome  The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to support 490,000 people in Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Mali who were impacted by drought in 2022. WFP has received US$15.4 million worth of insurance payouts from African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited that will provide a cash transfer to affected people from March to May 2023, enabling them to recover from the impacts of drought, for example by buying food or supplementing incomes to avoid having to sell productive assets. "Communities in Mali contribute very little to the climate crisis, yet the impacts are forcing them into a food crisis," says Eric Perdison, WFP Country Director in Mali. "This funding will enable WFP to reach hundreds of thousands of food-insecure people affected by climate-induced negative impacts, with cash and nutrition assistance."

Farmers in West Africa suffered losses and damages to their crops and livelihoods due to extensive drought impacting the 2022 agricultural season. This has knock-on effects throughout the region as food availability is reduced and prices soar. Climate insurance enables communities to recover from losses and damages, preventing them being pushed into hunger.

The insurance scheme is part of the ARC Group - a specialized agency of the African Union that helps Member States manage climate and disaster risk. WFP is receiving payouts of US$7.2 million for Burkina Faso, US$187,600 for The Gambia and US$8 million for Mali. Assistance will also include nutritional support for children aged 6-23 months and pregnant and nursing women.

"Thanks to support from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, WFP has purchased insurance policies that enable us to work with local governments to minimise losses and damages caused by climate impacts" says Mathieu Dubreuil, WFP Head of Climate Risk Insurance. "We need to scale up such initiatives to protect more people on the frontlines of the climate crisis."

Since 2019, WFP has protected 4.8 million people in six African countries with insurance policies from ARC. To date, WFP has received eight payouts totalling US$25.4 million for five countries, which provided cash and food assistance, nutrition support and emergency asset creation to more than 790,000 people.

"The cash transfer came at a moment when I had difficulty buying food. I live alone with the children and we needed to eat. So, I bought rice and millet", said Aisse, a widow from Mali who received money from payouts for the drought in 2021.
Curtis Muldrow makes a living as a physical therapist assistant, but music was his focal point at Anchor Post Acute Care early Tuesday afternoon, as he provided a Valentine's Day soundtrack for residents and visitors at the nursing home.

Pizza Hut prepared the meal, volunteers and employees helped set the scene, and Muldrow's voice and keyboard laid out such creations as "At Last," "Truly," "Tennessee Whiskey" and "Endless Love," for listeners whose memories reach as far back as the 1930s.

"This was the first time we did this, especially in this setting," he said. "It's so beautiful, letting them go back in time with the songs they fell in love with, and ... I wanted them to get up and dance a little bit. We'll trot it out next year. We'll make a little dance floor in the middle of the room for them."

The facility's administrator, Ra Lawrence, was also on board, handling a drum set to provide the rhythm for some of Muldrow's songs in a dining room with teddy bears, candles and red hearts playing major roles in in the decorations. Attendance  counting residents and guests  was 32.

Lawrence, a native of New Zealand, is a relative newcomer at the nursing home on East Gate Drive. "I've been here in Aiken ... for three months now. We took over acquisition of this particular facility in November of 2021," he said.

"We've come out of the doldrums of COVID, and now we want it to feel like it was pre-COVID, and hopefully people feel safe and they feel comfortable doing activities like this."

Valentine's Day and Veterans Day, he said, are major annual events for the facility. "We're just trying to work hard, play hard and trying to keep things pretty simple and make sure everyone has a bit of fun."

Tuesday's festivities also included some canine company, as seven therapy-dog teams paid a morning visit, cruising through the halls and providing some tail-wagging company for residents, employees and visitors alike.

Anchor, located just outside Woodside Plantation, has the capacity for 120 residents and is "typically full or thereabouts on a fairly regular basis," Lawrence said. The facility is hiring, he noted, and services are in such areas as wound care, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and long-term care.
One of Aiken County's largest tourist attractions is also among its the most peaceful, with Redcliffe Plantation Historic Site covering 369 mostly pastoral acres and including the massive home of an antebellum icon, Newberry County native James Henry Hammond. Read moreWe Are Aiken County: Redcliffe Plantation site offers study of several generations
Berkeley County spotlighted five local fire departments serving the area on April 14 that were previously designated as "Fire Safe SC Communities" by Fire Safe South Carolina (FSSC) in 2022. These are: Read more'Fab Five' Berkeley fire units recognized
Berkeley County Animal Control is seeking adult cat food as well as monetary donations for medical costs and other emergency care needs for a group of hoarded cats discovered on Feb. 9.
Five new restaurants are setting tables throughout the Charleston area, offering a menu of diverse culinary offerings.

In Goose Creek, Chicken Salad Chick will hold the grand opening of its third Lowcountry venue Feb. 21 at 220 St. James Ave.

The first 100 customers after 7 a.m. on opening day will get a container of free chicken salad once a month for a year. Other specials will follow Feb. 22-25 during regular operating hours of 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

The Goose Creek restaurant will bring the Atlanta-based company's store count in South Carolina to 13.

The Palmetto State expansion is led by Julie Beville and Michelle Singleton of Sing Bev Hospitality. They opened their first Chicken Salad Chick in Greenville in 2013 and now have 15 sites throughout the Carolinas, including two Lowcountry locations in Mount Pleasant and Summerville.

Second helping

On James Island, the Charleston area's only Pakistani restaurant is planning a second location.

Malika Canteen plans to take over The Pour House's Container Kitchen on March 7 at 1977 Maybank Highway. Malika now operates in Mount Pleasant Towne Centre.

The new restaurant site will be open 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.

Owners Raheel Gauba and his wife Maryam Ghaznavi also plan to soon open Ma'am Saab at 251 Meeting St., where Jestine's Kitchen operated for 24 years before closing in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are holding a ticket-only, sold-out event March 2 at Ma'am Saab as part of the Charleston Wine & Food Festival, an indication of an imminent opening to the public that has yet to be announced.

Gauba said the couple is concentrating on getting the James Island operation up and running before launching Ma'am Saab.

Now serving

On the lower peninsula, a new cafe and specialty food market is now open.

Alcove Market can be found at 320 Broad St. on the first floor of the 12-story Jasper apartment development in Harleston Village.

It offers grab-and-go dishes, coffee, craft beers, wine and gourmet pantry items.

The new venue is a product of hospitality firm Easton Porter Group, which also owns Zero George Street hotel and events venue Cannon Green. The market is led by chef Orlando Pagan, also executive chef at sister restaurant Wild Common.

The menu is rooted in "wellness-forward and health-conscious cuisine," according to Easton Porter Group co-founder and CEO Dean Porter Andrews.

The group plans to open coastal Italian restaurant and bar Costa by the summer at The Jasper.

On the way

Also among the new culinary offerings, a Philadelphia-based bagel shop plans to venture south for the first time with two new cafes planned in the Lowcountry.

Spread Bagelry will open at 1400 Shucker Circle in the Oyster Park development off Ben Sawyer Boulevard in April and on the ground floor of Hoffler Place Apartments at 595 King St. in downtown Charleston by mid-summer, according to a company spokeswoman.

The business serves wood-fired bagels after they are made from farm-fresh ingredients and boiled in honey water.

The Montreal-style bagels are different from typical New York-style bagels, according to the company. The dough is sweeter, and the wood-firing produces a crispy exterior around a denser crumb.

The bagel vendor currently has 10 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with three others planned in the Keystone state and another in Savannah, Ga.

Specific opening dates will be announced later after restaurant buildouts are completed. The new eateries will be open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.

Grand opening

A new outdoor gear shop opens this weekend, bringing an array of camping, hiking, paddling and biking wares to the Lowcountry.

REI Co-op will host its grand opening Feb. 17-19 at 1720 Shoremeade Road in Indigo Square Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant.

The 21,535-square-foot site previously housed Publix supermarket's specialty store, GreenWise Market, which closed in 2020 after the grocer determined the space was too small.

The opening weekend will include giveaways of coffee and camp mugs while supplies last when the store opens at 9 a.m. Feb. 17-18 and 10 a.m. Feb. 19.

From 1 to 5 p.m., REI will host an outdoor social that includes community partners, giveaways, music and attendance by representatives of major brands.

Headquartered near Seattle, REI has two other South Carolina locations, in Columbia and Greenville.

Relocated

A high-end fashion retailer is ready for its close-up in a new location in downtown Charleston.

Gucci is now open at 242 King St. in the Shops at Charleston Place after moving from around the corner on Market Street.

The 4,200-square-foot shop showcases a wide collection of men's and women's shoes, handbags, luggage, small leather goods, jewelry, watches, eyewear and other items.

The store also is one of the few locations in the U.S. to carry leather handbags and shoes for women and men.

Several contrasting elements make up the interior, including vintage brass racks versus rich fabrics adorning the rooms, round and rectangular tables, and varnished pink iron wall finishes mixing with moss green velvets in fitting rooms.

Large chairs, vintage oriental rugs and energy-efficient lighting also are part of the new store.

The store is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

Lights out

Fifteen months after a Brooklyn-based dessert shop brought its eccentric flavors to downtown Charleston, the business has gone dark. OddFellows Ice Cream Co. recently closed its 1,400-square-foot shop at 550 King St. after opening in the fall of 2021 with a revolving menu of 30 unusual flavors. A company representative did not immediately respond for comment on the closing.
For the first time at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, a small team of biologists from the National Marine Mammal Foundation will be there to engage the public on the threats facing bottlenose dolphins, the social and agile speedsters of the ocean.

To find them, just look for the big inflatable dolphin in Marion Square this weekend. That's where a team of biologists and staffers from the foundation will host a hands-on workshop experience called Dolphin Doctor that's open to the general public.

The group has studied bottlenose dolphins in the Southeast since 2018 out of an office on Johns Island. Their interactive program will walk audiences through a typical dolphin rescue effort and highlight some of the tools used to evaluate the animals' health during a veterinary assessment.

A presentation of short films hosted at the Gaillard Center will detail the foundation's conservation efforts in Charleston and around the world.

These film screenings, planned for 4:30 p.m. Feb. 17-19, will incorporate a panel discussion so that audience members can hear conservation stories and get to know the scientists working behind them. Attendance is reserved to general admission SEWE ticketholders.

The foundation's Charleston-based scientists dedicate most of their time to being where the animals need them most. Their role is to understand how environmental stressors affect dolphin populations in the Lowcountry and other parts of the Southeast. That work is done a number of ways, including through boat-based surveys used to identify dolphins and track their movements.

A team of biologists also remotely collects tissue samples to analyze the animals' skin and blubber.

"Charleston is a pretty important place for dolphin research because it's a population that has served as a reference to compare to other dolphin populations and other parts of the country," said biologist Brian Quigley, who also works as the foundation's Charleston field station manager.

The foundation's biologists are tasked with conducting large scale capture-release projects here to temporarily hold dolphins and give them full veterinary assessments before returning them to the water, Quigley said.

A rescue team stationed on Johns Island responds to distressed marine animals.

"This could be a dolphin that's entangled in fishing gear," Quigley said. "It could be animals that have been pushed out of their natural habitat during extreme weather events like hurricanes or other types of flooding."

When these incidents happen, the foundation works with partners from around the Southeast to respond, rescue or relocate the animals.

Quigley said he and his colleagues have worked in the past with groups like the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network based in Charleston. The network is permitted to respond to sick, injured and dead marine mammals along South Carolina's coast.

Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network leaders have pushed for extra protections for dolphins, including a no-wake zone near Captain Sam's Inlet.

Executive Director Lauren Rust said the network will also be in Marion Square during SEWE this weekend.

Go to sewe.com for information about each exhibit.
West Ashley diners have been patiently awaiting the opening of a new two-part dining concept that will occupy a space in a strip of Avondale restaurants that includes Pearlz Oyster Bar, Verde and Mellow Mushroom.

Nine months after Bearcat was first announced, owner George Kovach says the restaurant at 25 Magnolia Road will open in March.

Reservations for its dining room go live March 1, while Bearcats bar will be first come, first served. An exact opening date will be announced in the coming weeks.

An alumni of Michelin-starred Chicago restaurants Elizabeth Restaurant, Ever, Acadia and Band of Bohemia, the chef has been tight-lipped about happenings inside the former Al Di La space, save for a few Bearcat private pop-ups leading up to its 2023 opening.

This week, Kovach shared a few photos and a sample menu ahead of the restaurants highly anticipated opening.

Similar to the lounges inside high-end tasting menu restaurants  like three-Michelin star restaurant Jean Georges' adjoining Nougatine by Jean-Georges bar in New York City  Bearcats bar will serve fancy snacks like wagyu beef tartare, pork ssam, yakitori chicken thighs and crab pancakes with trout roe. A wood-burning oven will drive the bars cuisine and serve as its centerpiece.

Were kind of gearing that towards the neighborhood, Kovach said. We want to make sure guests can come in just about anytime they want.

Inside the bar and the dining room, housed in a separate area with its own kitchen, beverage director Ray Jenkins will lead a curated cocktail, beer and wine program, highlighting local breweries and New World wine regions. Cocktails such as the Tropic Thunder with gin, tamarind, passion fruit, lime and tajin will highlight gin, tequila, mezcal and other clear liquors.

The dining room, equipped with table and chefs counter seating, will offer 12 items a la carte in addition to its seven-course tasting menu. A sample a la carte menu features dishes like char siu glazed heritage pork belly with popcorn grits, La Belle Farms duck with sunchokes and duck fat hollandaise, and lamb shoulder and belly agnolotti. The tasting menu will include a rotating slate of small plates that err on the side of adventure.

The tasting menu is our passion project, Kovach said.

The lounge will debut at the beginning of March, while the dining room will start serving in the latter half of the month. For more information and to make a reservation March 1, visit bearcatrestaurant.com.
Once upon a time at a pleasant intersection, there lived some lovely restaurants. On one side, the elegant Olive Garden; mere steps away, its close cousin, Red Lobster. Read moreRant and Rave: Thoughts on Columbia's food scene, local commercials, the gym
The old home of an office supply store on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greenville has been transformed into executive office space.

McBride Office Supply was opened in 1956 by Ralph C. McBride Sr. In 2016, the family-owned retailer merged with Dillon, S.C.-based Herald Office Solutions, making the Greenville office one of 11 locations across the Carolinas.

The store's former 7,000-square-foot building at 832 Wade Hampton Blvd. in Greenville is now Prosper, an office space concept created by Franklin Real Estate Development.

There are 25 offices, ranging from 75 to 138 square feet, geared toward business and medical professionals. Amenities include two shared conference rooms, break rooms and shared waiting areas.

The trend in leasable office space has been co-working space which is more of an open office environment, Greenville-based project developer Kurt Wallenborn said. Prosper offers executive office space where weve thought about those who wish to collaborate but have a need to have private conversations."

Wallenborn kept some of the defining features of the original McBride's  the breezeblock, double front doors, terrazzo floors and some wooden roll-out windows.

The most-visible callback to the building's office supply store days is Prosper's sign, which is a similar font and rectangular letter-style to the McBride's original. The real estate firm received a $25,000 facade-improvement grant from the city of Greenville to help with the replication.

An application has been submitted to the National Register of Historic Places as a building that exemplifies mid-century modern commercial design.

For leasing information, contact Wallenborn.

Laurens Road "wellness campus" welcomes 1st tenants

A health and wellness-oriented development on Laurens Road in Greenville welcomed its two anchor tenants around Thanksgiving 2022 with its other tenants slated to come later in 2023.

Basecamp, referred to by its creator as a "wellness campus," is at the corner of Blair Street and Laurens Road. Mary Brittain Blankenship, owner of Spruce MD Integrative Medicine, shared with The Post and Courier in March 2022 how she viewed the traditional health care system as "pretty broken" and envisioned opening a "wellness center with like-minded providers that were in the same space."

With the help of the project's partner, clinic director and owner of Upstate Spine and Sport David Jolson, Basecamp became a reality. It is a place where a variety of health, wellness and community-minded tenants exist on one property so that it is more of a one-stop shop for your healthcare," Blankenship said in March 2022.

Jolson and Blankenship's respective practices anchor the campus. Future tenants coming this year include hair salon CasaMeka, infrared sauna workout chain Hotworx, personal trainer business Alloy, and a new food concept by the owners of The 05 on Augusta Street in Greenville called The 07, as the campus is within the 29607 zip code. Blankenship anticipates other tenants will open in the spring or early summer.

In other news...

Board and Brush Creative Studio , a do-it-yourself shop on Laurens Road in Greenville, announced on Facebook it has closed. Its last workshop was hosted on Feb. 4. The post reads, "We have enjoyed our time in Greenville and we thank you for letting us be a part of your community and for your continued support throughout our time with you." The Greenville Board and Brush was located at 1411 Laurens Rd. where customizable wood sign workshops were hosted. The company started in Wisconsin and has since grown to 270 locations in the U.S. Other South Carolina locations are in Charleston and North Myrtle Beach, per the company website.

, a do-it-yourself shop on Laurens Road in Greenville, announced on Facebook it has closed. Its last workshop was hosted on Feb. 4. The post reads, "We have enjoyed our time in Greenville and we thank you for letting us be a part of your community and for your continued support throughout our time with you." The Greenville Board and Brush was located at 1411 Laurens Rd. where customizable wood sign workshops were hosted. The company started in Wisconsin and has since grown to 270 locations in the U.S. Other South Carolina locations are in Charleston and North Myrtle Beach, per the company website. Lockheed Martin and Greenville Technical College graduated its inaugural cohort for their new six-week apprenticeship program at the end of 2022. The program's 12 participants were treated like other Lockheed Martin employees, did not pay tuition and were offered positions as full-time sheet metal apprentices after the program ended. The college and aerospace giant originally had a two-week pre-apprenticeship training program they launched in 2020. It was from that program's success the new, longer one was created. The next cohort should start in May or June.

and graduated its inaugural cohort for their new six-week apprenticeship program at the end of 2022. The program's 12 participants were treated like other Lockheed Martin employees, did not pay tuition and were offered positions as full-time sheet metal apprentices after the program ended. The college and aerospace giant originally had a two-week pre-apprenticeship training program they launched in 2020. It was from that program's success the new, longer one was created. The next cohort should start in May or June. A Greer-born automotive dealership brand sold its assets to a North Carolina company for an undisclosed cost at the end of January. Bradshaw Automotive Group in the Upstate was founded by William Bradshaw over four decades ago and was sold to another family-owned business, Anderson Automotive Group of NC. "Bradshaw said the economic realities of the automotive industry necessitated continued expansion and that the best opportunity for success rested with an automotive group that had the same core values and business philosophies coupled with the scale to achieve growth," a press release said.

Thats all for this week. Email your thoughts, tips, releases and newsy bits to smirah@postandcourier.com.
The APC campaign official said Mr Buhari has refused to listen to appeals from Nigerians on the naira redesign policy.

Retson Tedheke, a deputy director at the directorate of Agro-commodities in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, says the scarcity of the naira caused by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is killing businesses in the rural areas.

He said it was high time Nigerians challenged President Muhammadu Buhari since the president has refused to listen to appeals from all quarters.

Mr Tedheke, in a video he posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday, said Mr Buhari is hurting the people in the rural area with the policy. He noted that employers are unable to pay labourers their wages.

"All over our villages, people are dying of hunger, and the pain which hurts is that President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president. President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president of the ordinary people, the president of the Talakawa. How can he by this policy be killing rural farmers? I am a farmer that operates a community of 500 farmers. We cannot afford to pay their daily wages. Most of them don't have bank accounts.

"It is either the president is stone deaf... .It is time the Nigerians look at the president and 'say guy, we elected you, this is a democracy'. This is the system where the interest of the people must be paramount, where the Council of State - council of elders - cannot come to you, how common Nigerians cannot talk to you, and the governors cannot talk to you.

"Who are you? For goodness sake, who are you that Nigerians cannot talk to you, reason with you, 'bros you well?' We must get to a point where all of us must be realistic about the expectation of the people of our people, must be focused on rural communities, must focus on narrative on how they grow. The naira is killing businesses. I am selling a crate of eggs that I sell for N1,800 for N1,300, I am losing money, so the farmers are losing money. The economy is struggling," he said.

CBN policy causing division in the APC

Members of the ruling party have, arguably, been the most vocal against the naira scarcity caused by the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

According to them, the hardship caused by the scarcity of the naira notes could instigate Nigerians against the party.

In recent days, leaders of the party have been more vocal in speaking against the Buhari administration.

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PREMIUM TIMES reported the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, as saying he does not trust the quality of the decision from the leadership of Mr Buhari.

On Monday, the National Youth Leader of the APC, Dayo Israel, in a tweet stated, that the system is fighting itself a few days before the election, yet, no one has been held responsible.

"How did we get here? Why is the system fighting itself? Why have heads not rolled? Few days to election, Many whys," Mr Israel tweeted.

Mr Israel's cryptic tweet further highlights the in-fighting within the ruling party and by extension the government over the implementation of the Central Bank redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

The governors elected under the party have equally spoken out strongly against the policy of the government.

Some APC governors, namely Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, Mr El-Rufai of Kaduna and Yahaya Bello of Kogi, had approached the Supreme Court to restrain the federal government from enforcing the deadline on the old notes.

Although, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government should suspend the 10 February deadline until the determination of the substantive matter, the CBN disregarded the order, although it was not a party to the suit.
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/.
On the heels of a community coming to grips with a Dorchester County proposal to tear down a historic hospital, Summerville residents now find themselves contending with the prospect of a 100,000 square-foot stadium being built on a 40-acre natural parcel in the Woodlands area. Read more'A bunch of malarkey': Mayor weighs in on rumored Woodlands sports arena
Genesis 45: 7-8 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Read moreTell the Bible stories
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
Stephen Smith's mother announced a $35,000 reward April 3 for information that leads to the arrest of anyone involved with her son's 2015 death. His body was found on a Hampton County road. The money is coming from a pool of more than $120,000 raised in a GoFundMe initiative to subsidize the investigation. Read more$35,000 reward offered for information into Stephen Smith's 2015 death
I think it's time South Carolina had a prize for the FOI violation of the month, to recognize the most galling or bizarre or audacious effort by public officials to hide the public's business from the public. Read moreScoppe: It's a favorite sport of SC officials; maybe we should start crowning champions
COLUMBIA  Legislation removing all training requirements to legally carry a handgun in South Carolina is again advancing in the GOP-dominated state House of Representatives.

The bill would make South Carolina the 26th state to approve so-called "constitutional carry," following neighboring Georgia last year. Similar measures in the Palmetto State have failed repeatedly over the last dozen years, due largely to the opposition of law enforcement.

The latest effort comes two years after the Legislature passed a law allowing gun owners to carry their firearm openly or concealed as long as they went through the training to get a permit.

The 16-7 committee vote Feb. 14 advanced the no-permit-needed measure to the House floor along party lines. Republicans, who hold supermajority advantage in the chamber after the November elections, are certain to quickly push through what's become a litmus test for hard-line conservatives.

Its prospects in the Senate are less clear. A nearly identical bill passed the House in 2021, but senators never took it up. And nothing changed in the makeup of the upper chamber in the November election since senators weren't up.

Supporters argue law-abiding adults should be able to carry a gun without getting a government permission slip  a right they contend is covered by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which explains the bill's title.

Opponents counter it's nonsensical to let anyone 18 or older, whose only qualification is that they can legally buy a gun, carry it around with them without requiring at least basic safety training, especially since Republicans have refused to close the background-check loophole.

Proposals to give the FBI more time, if needed, to complete a background check before someone can buy a gun by default  which is how Dylann Roof bought the gun he used to kill nine people at a historic Black church in Charleston in 2015  have gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

"Its sad. I dont understand what were trying to do here," said Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Columbia.

She rattled off statistics about mass shootings nationwide, noting the latest was just the previous night at Michigan State University, where a 43-year-old gunman killed three students and wounded five.

"And we want to be able to put more people out there with guns? It makes no sense, people," she said, adding she holds a concealed weapon permit. "For me personally, its more about gun ownership responsibility and safety. If youre going to carry, you need to know how to operate a handgun."

Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, called it "shameful." He nicknamed Republicans the "bipolar party" for simultaneously pushing to ban abortions at conception on the argument of saving lives  a bill expected to win approval on the floor Feb. 15  and creating a "Wild, Wild West" scenario for guns.

Rep. Justin Bamberg tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to allow people to legally carry their handgun on Statehouse grounds, saying if Republicans really believe people should be able to legally tote anywhere, that should apply to the building where the law is passed.

"Why not at the state Capitol, other than the fact were afraid of what maniacs with guns in their hands would do?" said Bamberg, D-Smoaks, who also holds a concealed weapon permit. "If you are a true Second Amendment believer, you can't vote against letting the public carry up here just because you're here."

A son of the Bamberg County sheriff, Bamberg said he, too, is a big believer in the Second Amendment, but a lack of safety training is how accidents happen.

Republicans stressed the bill makes no changes in where legal gun owners can carry a weapon. Places where weapons would continue to be banned through state law include courthouses, jails, schools, day cares, hospitals and restaurants where signs prohibit them.

"This bill doesnt change where you can or cant carry a firearm," said Rep. Jason Elliott, R-Greenville. "If a person cant carry a weapon now, they cant carry a weapon under this bill."

Nearly 480,000 adults hold a concealed weapons permit in South Carolina, according to the State Law Enforcement Division, which oversees an application process that involves completing a training course, fingerprinting, and passing background checks.

The proposal would keep that system intact for anyone who just wants to go through it or seeks the ability to carry their weapon in other states with reciprocity agreements for gun owners with permits.

"We always encourage training, but it should not be mandatory," said Rep. Bobby Cox, R-Greer, the bill's main author for the third time.

It was Cox's bill that passed the House two years ago.

When South Carolina Republicans first started the "constitutional carry" effort, only a few states had the law, which first passed in Alaska in 2003. Next were Arizona and Wyoming in 2010.

That's since increased to half of the nation, which Cox, a military veteran, references in defending the idea.

"Were not a pioneering state with this," he said last week, when a House panel advanced it with almost no debate. "Its not going to turn into the 'Wild, Wild West' like people think."
Nikki Haley launched her 2024 White House race by calling for a new path in American politics  one that likely sets her on a collision course with previous occupant Donald Trump.

Outside the Charleston Visitor Center downtown, Haley set the tone for an enthusiastic and overflowing crowd by saying, "We're ready, ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we're ready for a new generation to lead us into the future."

Sometimes interrupted by chants of U-S-A, Haley, 51, made repeated references to the course of the country, pointing to nameless politicians responsible for a fading American Dream and criticizing the Biden-Harris administration.

She expressed dismay at the pattern of what she called an emerging "self-loathing" in the country, which she described as being "more dangerous than any pandemic."

Haley mentioned Trump only once, recognizing his appointment of her as U.N. ambassador, but reiterated that Republican losses at the polls are in danger of being repeated if the GOP does not change course.

"If youre tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation," she said. "And if you want to win  not just as a party, but as a country  then stand with me."

Her formal Feb. 15 announcement had long been planned, but her official entrance makes her the first declared challenger for Trump, who launched his bid for a second staggered term in November and is widely seen as the early favorite to again represent the GOP.

Highlighting her international credentials as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Haley was praised by Cindy Warmbier, the mother of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student who was arrested and imprisoned by North Korea only to be returned to the U.S. months later in a vegetative state before dying in 2017.

The Warmbier family credits Haley for continuing U.S. resolve to combat the totalitarian regime. In a personal and at-times emotional speech, Cindy Warmbier shared how Haley helped her continue to fight for justice for her son and to push through fear.

"I came here to tell you how Nikki Haley changed my life, to tell you that Nikki was a glimmer of light in the darkest period of my life, to tell you why America would be lucky to have Nikki Haley in the White House," she said.

The person who introduced Haley to a cheering crowd of about 2,000 people was U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill.

Norman was a full-on supporter of Trump during his White House years, whose loyalties ran so deep that he called for a military takeover in order to keep Trump in power after his 2020 election defeat.

Norman is also a congressional Freedom Caucus member who was among the group of about 20 hard-liners who sought to block Kevin McCarthy's bid for House speaker in January.

In his remarks, Norman said Trump was exactly what the Republican Party and the nation needed in 2016, but he stressed that Haley has the qualities the country desperately needs today, calling her "a bold leader who will fight for America."

Norman also said he believes Haley is "America's version of Margaret Thatcher," comparing her to the first female prime minister of Britain.

Haley and Norman are longtime political allies who met in 2004, when they began their political careers as freshmen members of the S.C. State House. Norman was also one of the first elected officials to endorse Haley's 2010 bid for governor.

"Nikki and I are Republicans, but folks, let me tell you something: We are conservatives first. We can't say that about every Republican in this state or country," Norman said.

'Not a racist country'

But the rest of the day saw Haley return to familiar themes she hopes to sell to the Republicans elsewhere.

The first-generation American and daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in Bamberg told her story about how her family came to the U.S. seeking a better life while holding onto the belief that the American Dream is attainable.

"Every day, we're told America is flawed, rotten, and full of hate. Joe and Kamala even say America is racist," she said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The American people know better. My immigrant parents know better. And take it from the first minority female governor in history: America is not a racist country."

Throughout her speech, Haley highlighted her barrier-breaking career as a woman and a person of color in the South who was routinely underestimated in the political arena, leading to twice being elected governor of South Carolina.

At one point, she playfully told the crowd, "I've been shaking up the status quo my entire life. As I set out on this new journey, I will simply say this: May the best woman win."

But in the same speech, Haley also forcefully rejected identity politics.

"I don't believe in that, and I don't believe in glass ceilings either," she said. "I believe in creating a country where anyone can do anything and achieve their own American dream."

Haley drew a clear contrast with Trump, though not necessarily by name, where their age difference is significant. Haley is 51, Trump is 76 and current White House occupant Biden is 80.

"In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire. Well have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old," Haley said to loud cheers.

Haley also called for the creation of a national voter ID for elections, ending bailouts for big businesses and putting a stop to earmark spending that allows congressional members to request federal funds for specific projects in their districts.

But Haley saved her most biting critiques for Biden, saying that under Biden's leadership the country is "spiraling toward socialism" with out-of-control spending and an ever-growing national debt.

Foreign enemies

She zeroed in especially on Biden's handling of foreign policy, like the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which she said allowed a terrorist mob to take over the country and kill American troops.

She also called China "the strongest and most disciplined enemy in history."

"It is unthinkable that Americans would look at the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us," Haley said to loud applause. She later declared, "Like the Soviet Union before it, communist China will end up on the ash heap of history."

Haley also promised to stand with America's allies, naming Israel and Ukraine specifically. She further promised to stand up to foreign enemies, Iran and Russia.

Haley's presidential announcement came 18 days after Trump's first official campaign swing, which included a stop in South Carolina to announce his leadership team.

Ahead of her kickoff Trump issued a statement wishing Haley 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," Trump wrote. "I wish her luck!

Trump's campaign later blasted out an email to his supporters after Haley's speech wrapped, seeking to tie her to Democrat Hillary Clinton and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. The message also said it was Trump that brought Warmbier home from North Korea. The email was titled "The Real Nikki Haley."

From Charleston, Haley plans to 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.

Noticeably absent from Haley's launch was U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., whom Haley appointed to the seat in 2012 when Jim DeMint resigned to run the conservative Heritage Foundation.

A spokesman for Scott's office said the senator could not attend due to a previously scheduled engagement. On Feb. 16, Scott will kick off his national listening tour and headline the Charleston County Republican Party's annual Black History Month gala. Next week, like Haley, he will travel to Iowa.

South Carolina Democrats did not let Haley's announcement go unchallenged. Outside her Charleston launch party, Democrats paid for a mobile billboard to circle the Visitor Center from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. It roved around for hours, playing a 30-second video on a continuous loop that sought to highlight Haley's past praise for Trump.

When Haley was elected governor of South Carolina in 2010, she became the first woman and first person of color to lead the state. She was also 38, which made her the youngest governor of any state at the time.

Despite endorsing Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Trump would appoint her to become his U.N. ambassador. The move cut her second term short while also elevating longtime Trump supporter Henry McMaster, who was the first statewide elected official in the country to back Trump's presidential bid.

Haley becomes the third South Carolina Republican to seek the White House in recent cycles, alongside U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2016 and former Gov. Mark Sanford in 2020.

Live feed at 11 a.m. from Charleston Visitor Center of Nikki Haley's presidential campaign launch.
The Director of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Plateau State, Grace Pam, has raised the alarm over strange deaths among trafficked children in the state.

Speaking at a one-day workshop organised by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Center (RULAAC) in Jos yesterday, she said trafficked children had become victims of organ harvest.

"We have found out that in some local governments in Plateau State, parents willingly offered their children to be trafficked for just peanuts. Our findings also showed that most of these children being trafficked ended up as victims of organ harvests.

"The traffickers deceived parents with claims to take these innocent children for domestic work while their main intention was to go and harvest their organs.

"The traffickers then returned them to their parents after harvesting their organs and the parents will accept them without knowing. Shortly after returning these children, they develop certain complications and later died.

"I, therefore, use this opportunity to call on parents all over the state to stop this habit as such practice amounts to human rights abuse.

"We know child trafficking is a poverty-induced crime by poor parents, but the parents should know that the child they traffic out becomes vulnerable to inhuman crime of organ harvest."

Pam appealed to the state governor, Simon Lalong, to set up a special task force to monitor the activities of traffickers in the state with a view to protecting the rights of citizens.

The Plateau State Police Command however said it was not aware of such incidents as no case had been reported to the police.
The first time a fisherman spots a redfish meandering through the shallow Lowcountry grass flats in search of food and presents an artificial lure in precisely the right place and entices that redfish to eat, it's a moment that becomes etched in your mind  particularly if that lure was presented with fly fishing tackle.

David Hance, manager of Charleston's Orvis store, a family-owned retailer specializing in fly fishing, hunting and sporting goods, recalls just such a moment when recounting his most memorable fly fishing experience.

"It was probably around my senior year of high school," said Hance, who grew up in Mount Pleasant and attended Wando High School. "I was wading a flat here in Charleston and it all fell into place perfectly, which it doesn't always happen that way. We saw some fish coming around an edge and they came directly at me. I made a good presentation and caught the redfish probably 10 feet in front of me when I was standing in the water. That really got me hooked on redfish."

Fly fishing enthusiasts are not new to the Lowcountry, but their numbers have exploded in recent years.

Hance said he was exposed to fly fishing at a young age when his father gave David and his brother a youth fly fishing rod. They attempted to catch redfish in the Lowcountry creeks and also tried their hand at trout during vacation trips to the mountains.

During his high school and college days, Hance became more serious about fly fishing. But he really became addicted after college when he moved to Colorado, where there were plenty of opportunities during the six years he lived there.

Hance will be conducting introductory fly fishing seminars during the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. The half-hour seminars will be held at 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Feb. 17-19 at Brittlebank Park and are included with General Admission tickets.

He said the SEWE seminars are a condensed version of the Fly Fishing 101 classes Orvis offers, with participation from the crowd encouraged. Hance said the most difficult part of fly fishing is taking that first step and making the decision that it's something you want to do. It's not the elitist sport that many make it out to be, nor is it incredibly difficult to learn.

"I try to break down the idea that fly fishing is super, super hard to get into. You just have to take the initiative to start doing it. You can fly fish in the same areas that you fish with conventional tackle," he said.

Redfish, also know as red drum, are the most targeted inshore species in South Carolina, and efforts continue today to make sure the population remains stable. In order to retain a redfish, it must be at least 15 inches long and no longer than 23 inches, peramaters designed to make sure the majority of the population has a chance to reproduce. Anglers can keep no more than two redfish per day, and there is a daily boat limit of six.

Other commonly targeted inshore fish include trout, bluefish and Spanish mackerel, but as you gain experience, there are numerous other species you can chase.

"People can use the same approach they would with light tackle inshore, just do it with a fly rod," Hance said. "Obviously you're not throwing live bait. But the approach and finding the fish are the same."

Boats, particularly shallow draft boats equipped with a poling platform that are capable of gliding silently in just a few inches of water, are favored by fly fishermen. But they aren't totally necessary. Hance noted that Google Earth is a powerful tool for anglers to identify publicly accessible spots that you can reach on foot.

"Another thing I would mention if you are new to the area or in town visiting is that you can access places with a kayak or paddleboard, whether it's getting one of your own or renting one," he said. "It gives you a little more mobility. You can cover more ground and get to more accessible flats."

Hance said the Lowcountry is predominantly known for the flood tides of summer where redfish rooting for small crabs or other morsels of food reveal themselves in the shallow marsh grass with their spotted tail waving in the sunlight. There's also low tide fishing throughout the year.

"Once you get started and learn the basics, then fly fishing is like anything. It takes practice and going fishing," Hance said. "You're not going to be wildly successful right out of the gate. It's like anything. ... A lot of folks see fly fishing as a really difficult, challenging thing, where it's not as challenging as it may appear to be."
Charleston chefs and farmers interact on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

What has become known as farm-to-table dining is now commonplace in Charleston to the extent that local restaurants rarely use the phrase in marketing materials.

But what actually goes into the conversations between, say, Ashley Cardona of Circa 1886 and Jeremy Storey of Storey Farms?

Those who visit the Fresh on the Menu Kitchen Stage, a Southeastern Wildlife Exposition event in Charlestons Marion Square Feb. 17-19, will have the opportunity to find out.

Food writers Matt and Ted Lee will emcee SEWEs signature food-focused event for the fifth straight year with help from guest hosts like KJ Kearney of Black Food Fridays.

Like last years kitchen stage, the three-day, S.C. Department of Agriculture-sponsored event pairs chefs with farmers and purveyors. Sometimes the duos are determined by existing relationships, while others require a little matchmaking from the Lee brothers.

In our composition of this slate, we try to present a host of different S.C. viewpoints on food, and lots of ways that South Carolina ingredients make their way into the food system, Matt Lee said. Different types of restaurants are represented, and different corners of the state.

Many of the demonstrating chefs are well known, previous SEWE kitchen stage participants, while others are new to the event.

Samples prepared offsite by the chefs will be served to attendees at each demonstration, which will highlight Certified South Carolina Grown products, a label given to ingredients that are grown and harvested in the Palmetto State. Beyond that, the stage offers the chef-farmer pairs the chance to share more about South Carolina agriculture from their perspective.

At Circa 1886, Cardona uses eggs from Jeremy Storeys Johns Island poultry farm every day. The free-range eggs, with their deep orange yolk, will factor into a sorghum creme brulee Cardona will showcase on the SEWE stage.

They truly have a phenomenal product, Cardona said. You can just see the difference in the ways they feed and raise their chickens.

The dessert, a variation on one served at the Wentworth Street restaurant, will utilize all three parts of the egg. The yolk will form the base of the brulee and the whites will be used to make a pink peppercorn meringue, before the dish is baked in the egg's shell.

Cardona drew inspiration from a custard course at Per Se, a three-starred Michelin New York City restaurant she had the chance to visit in September.

For purveyors like Storey and Jeff Massey of Livingston's Bulls Bay Seafood in McClellanville, the Fresh on the Menu Kitchen Stage helps get local products in front of potential consumers.

Most, Massey pointed out, have sampled fried clam strips at a seafood shack  but have they tasted clams that are farm raised in South Carolina over the course of two years?

"I love talking to anyone that will listen about clams," said Massey, whose baby clams spend their first six to eight months in nursery bags. "(From there) it takes about anywhere from 12 to 16 months to get them to finish growing out. It's a pretty labor intensive process. When it's time to harvest them, youve got to get in the water."

Massey will discuss Livingston's Bulls Bay's clams, oysters, shrimp and soft shell crabs while Shaun Brian of CudaCo. makes a dish highlighting his product. Emily Meggett, Maryam Ghaznavi of Malika Canteen, Don Quattlebaum of White House Farms, Brett Gates of Noonday Farms at Landrum and James Beard Award semifinalist Dano Heinze of Verns are among the other Fresh on the Menu Kitchen Stage participants.

Attendees will also have the chance to see South Carolina's three new chef ambassadors  Erica McCier, Rob Masone and Marcus Shell  at one of their first appearances since their new roles were announced Jan. 26.

All chef demonstrations will take place in Marion Square and are included as part of SEWE's general admission passes. For the full Fresh on the Menu Kitchen Stage schedule, go to sewe.com.
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday granted actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, popularly known as Simisola Gold, bail following her arraignment in court on Monday.

The actress is also a social media serial entrepreneur who deals in skincare, sales of fuel, facilitation of foreign travels through visa acquisitions, and other businesses.

On 13th February, the EFCC arrested the actress, and she was arraigned on a two-count charge of tampering with the sum of N100,000 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and dancing on the same at the said occasion.

Earlier on 2nd February, she was arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly offering new naira notes for sale on social media.

According to the prosecutor, Sulaiman Sulaiman, the offence was contrary to and punishable under section 21 (1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.

The charge against the actress read: That you, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, on January 28, 2023, at Monarch event centre, Lekki, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court whilst dancing during a social occasion, tampered with the sum of N100 000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same in the said occasion and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 21 (1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.

The actress denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Following her not-guilty plea, counsel to the actress, Adenike Goncalves, asked the court to grant her client bail pending the hearing and determination of the case.

Bail conditions

A judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, who presided over the arraignment, admitted the actress to bail in the sum of N5m with one surety.

He also ruled that the surety must be a public servant in the service of the Federation or the Lagos State Government not below the rank of Grade Level 12 or a holder of a genuine statutory certificate of occupancy of a developed landed property within the Lagos State Municipality.

The court also held that the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the original statutory certificate of occupancy of the landed property is to be deposited with the Registrar of the court, and in the case of the public servant, an official letter from their head of department stating the status and salary level of the surety.

The surety is also to produce two copies of his recent passport photograph and evidence of tax payment to the court.

The judge also ordered that the actress be further remanded in the Kirikiri correctional facility pending the perfection of the bail terms before adjourning the matter till 3rd April for trial.

Her counsel also urged the court to remand her client in the EFCCs custody, pending the perfection of the bail terms, if so granted by the court.

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press release

President Cyril Ramaphosa offers his deep condolences to the families of the 21 people who died in a collision between a bus and a truck carrying cash in Limpopo Province early today, Tuesday, 14 February 2023.

The President wishes the 68 survivors of this incident well in their recovery.

President Ramaphosa said: "As compatriots, we are deeply saddened when we experience such a loss of life on our roads.

"Incidents like this impact severely on families who lose loved ones as well on survivors or witnesses who are affected physically or psychologically when such tragedy happens.

"Incidents of this kind also have economic consequences for the people involved and for the businesses they may operate or in which they are employed.

"We must all do what we can to travel in safety while we treat our roads as a shared amenity, which they are.

"A second of haste or impatience can result in a lifetime of loss and pain and there is no risk that is worth taking no matter what your experience may be as a driver.

"While we reflect on this, our prayers go out to the families, friends and colleagues of those who have perished in Limpopo."
Retson Tedheke, a deputy director at the directorate of Agro-commodities in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, says the scarcity of the naira caused by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is killing businesses in the rural areas.

He said it was high time Nigerians challenged President Muhammadu Buhari since the president has refused to listen to appeals from all quarters.

Mr Tedheke, in a video he posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday, said Mr Buhari is hurting the people in the rural area with the policy. He noted that employers are unable to pay labourers their wages.

All over our villages, people are dying of hunger, and the pain which hurts is that President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president. President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president of the ordinary people, the president of the Talakawa. How can he by this policy be killing rural farmers? I am a farmer that operates a community of 500 farmers. We cannot afford to pay their daily wages. Most of them dont have bank accounts.

It is either the president is stone deaf.It is time the Nigerians look at the president and say guy, we elected you, this is a democracy. This is the system where the interest of the people must be paramount, where the Council of State  council of elders  cannot come to you, how common Nigerians cannot talk to you, and the governors cannot talk to you.

Who are you? For goodness sake, who are you that Nigerians cannot talk to you, reason with you, bros you well? We must get to a point where all of us must be realistic about the expectation of the people of our people, must be focused on rural communities, must focus on narrative on how they grow. The naira is killing businesses. I am selling a crate of eggs that I sell for N1,800 for N1,300, I am losing money, so the farmers are losing money. The economy is struggling, he said.

CBN policy causing division in the APC

Members of the ruling party have, arguably, been the most vocal against the naira scarcity caused by the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

According to them, the hardship caused by the scarcity of the naira notes could instigate Nigerians against the party.

In recent days, leaders of the party have been more vocal in speaking against the Buhari administration.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, as saying he does not trust the quality of the decision from the leadership of Mr Buhari.

On Monday, the National Youth Leader of the APC, Dayo Israel, in a tweet stated, that the system is fighting itself a few days before the election, yet, no one has been held responsible.

How did we get here? Why is the system fighting itself? Why have heads not rolled? Few days to election, Many whys, Mr Israel tweeted.

Mr Israels cryptic tweet further highlights the in-fighting within the ruling party and by extension the government over the implementation of the Central Bank redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

The governors elected under the party have equally spoken out strongly against the policy of the government.

Some APC governors, namely Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, Mr El-Rufai of Kaduna and Yahaya Bello of Kogi, had approached the Supreme Court to restrain the federal government from enforcing the deadline on the old notes.

Although, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government should suspend the 10 February deadline until the determination of the substantive matter, the CBN disregarded the order, although it was not a party to the suit.

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The governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, have arrived at the Supreme Court to attend Wednesdays proceedings in their suit against the federal governments naira redesign policy.

Messrs El-Rufai and Bello arrived at the Supreme Court at about 8:40am. The two governors met at the lobby of the courtroom where they shook hands warmly before taking their seats in the courtroom.

At 9:10 a.m., a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro filed into the court.

Members of the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court include: Amina Augie, Adamu Jauro, Ibrahim Saulawa, Tijanni Abubakar, and Emmanuel Agim.

Before proceedings in the case commenced, the head of the Supreme Court panel, Mr Okoro, appealed to lawyers in the suit not to behave like politicians.

Mr Okoro urged the lawyers not to lose sight of the suffering of our people, calling for an amicable resolution of the dispute.

Three State governments- Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara, had sued the federal government at the Supreme Court, seeking to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy.

The CBN had announced the phasing out of the old 200, 500 and 1000 naira banknotes.

The apex bank insisted on the 10 February deadline for deposit of the old notes, despite an order by the Supreme Court on 8 February, suspending the implementation of the monetary policy.

Though the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, pledged the governments compliance with the order.

Details later

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The Supreme Court has adjourned the suit filed by some state governments to challenge the 10 February deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to end the use of old naira notes.

A seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro adjourned the case on Wednesday until 22 February.

The adjournment dashed the hopes of many Nigerians who were anticipating a definite pronouncement of the court to address the federal governments refusal to comply with its earlier order suspending the 10 February deadline.

Nigerians face an unprecedented cash crunch less than two weeks to the nations general elections. The crisis has plunged many citizens and their businesses into hardships, with many finding it extremely difficult to meet their basic daily needs.

Many believe that a further delay in resolving the case by the court will deepen the hardships Nigerians are grappling with as a result of the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

Nine states joined as parties to suit

The panel adjourned the case on Wednesday after hearing a series of joinder applications by other states interested to be parties to the suit.

The court, before postponing its sitting, joined a total of nine states as either co-plaintiffs or co-defendants in the suit.

Seven of the states were joined as co-plaintiffs along side three others controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC)  Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states  which originally filed the suit.

The new co-plaintiffs, who are in support of the suit and against the CBN policy, are: Cross River (South-south), Sokoto (North-west), Lagos (South-west), Ogun (South-west), Katsina (North-west), Ondo (South-west) and Ekiti (South-west) states.

All of them except except Sokoto State which is being governed by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, are APC states.

Two other states  Bayelsa and Edo  were joined as co-defendants on Wednesday. Both of them are PDP-controlled states.

Their joinder as co-defendants, based on their applications, implies that the two states will be arguing against the suit, apparently because they are most likely supporting the CBN policy.

The two states are now co-defendants along with the Attorney-General of the Federation who was originally sued as the sole defendant in the suit.

Court order violated

On 8 February, exactly a week ago, the Supreme Court granted an ex parte application suspending the implementation of the 10 February deadline set by the CBN to end the legal tender status of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

But both the CBN and President Muhammadu Buhari who approved the policy have failed to enforce the court order leaving Nigerians to grapple with unprecedented hardships in meeting their daily basic needs.

The court gave the order on Wednesday, following an ex parte request filed by the Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara state governments against the federal government.

Due to the chaos triggered by the nationwide scarcity of the redesigned naira notes, the three state governments, governed by All Progressives Congress (APC), sued the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), lamenting immeasurable hardship unleashed on their citizens by the currency scarcity.

The plaintiffs, in one of their filings, contended that there is no justifiable basis for the ongoing difficulties and suffering being meted out on the good people of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara States by the federal government.

Many Nigerians had hoped that the Supreme Court would make another pronouncement to intervene in the stalemate on Wednesday.

Governors El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello in court

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, arrived at the Supreme Court at about 8.40am for the hearing of the case on Wednesday

The two governors met at the lobby of the courtroom where they shook hands warmly before taking their seats in the courtroom.

At 9:10 a.m., a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro filed into the court.

Members of the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court include: Amina Augie, Adamu Jauro, Ibrahim Saulawa, Tijanni Abubakar, and Emmanuel Agim.

Before proceedings in the case commenced, the head of the Supreme Court panel, Mr Okoro, appealed to lawyers in the suit not to behave like politicians.

Mr Okoro urged the lawyers not to lose sight of the suffering of our people, calling for an amicable resolution of the dispute.

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Nigerias North-east and South-east zones have the highest number of polling units (PUs) where the coming general elections will not hold with 67 and 64 units respectively.

Both regions account for 54.59 per cent of the total 240 PUs listed by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and analysed by PREMIUM TIMES.

INEC Chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu, a professor, had disclosed during a meeting with leaders of the 18 registered political parties on Monday in Abuja that the coming national and state elections will not hold in the 240 PUs across the country.

The PUs are part of the newly created ones. INEC expanded the number of polling units in the country from 119,973 to 176,846 as part of efforts to decongest existing polling units.

Since there are no voters in the 240 PUs, elections will only be held in 176,606 PUs across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the INEC Chairman

According to Mr Yakubu, security was a major reason no voter chose any of the polling units or requested a transfer of PUs to these places during the recently concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) between June 2021 and July 2022.

While the presidential and national assembly elections hold on 25 February, the governorship and state assembly election will be conducted on 11 March.

Regional, States Distribution

According to the analysis by this newspaper, while the North-east holds 27.92 per cent, the South-east accounts for 26.67 per cent.

Interestingly, they are two regions where insecurity is at its peak.

They are followed by the North-central zone with 49 (20.42%) PUs, North-west with 47 (19.58%) PUs, South-south with eight (3.33%) PUs and South-west with five (2.08%) PUs.

Imo and Taraba States also topped the list of states with the highest number of PUs where the polls will not be conducted. While the former has 38, the latter has 34 respectively.

They are followed by Abia in the South-east, Borno in North-east and Katsina in North-west 12 PUs each.

According to the list of polling units provided by INEC and analysed by this newspaper, the North-east region has 67 PUs across five states where the coming general elections will not be held. Only Gombe State has zero records of such in the region. Taraba has 34 polling units, 12 in Borno and 11 in Yobe state. Bauchi and Adamawa account for six and four respectively in the region.

The South-east has a total of 64 polling units across all five states in the region, where elections will not be held. Imo State tops the list with 38 PUs, Abia with 12, Anambra with 6, while Ebonyi and Enugu have four PUs each.

In the North-central, there are a total of 49 polling units across six states. In this region, Kogi is the only state without a PU where elections will not be held. The FCT and Nasarawa have 11 polling units each, and Benue and Niger have 10 each. While Plateau has six such PUs, Kwara has only one.

Meanwhile, in the North-west, all seven states in the region contributed a total of 47 PUs. Katsina has 12 polling units and 10 in Kano state. Sokoto and Kaduna States have eight each and five in Kebbi state. While Jigawa has three PUs, Zamfara has only one.

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In the South-south, four states account for a total of eight PUs. Delta accounts for four PUs and Bayelsa two. Edo and Rivers have only one PU each.

Two states in the SouthWest account for the total of five PUs listed. While three PUs are listed in Lagos, Ondo has two.

INEC has scheduled the elections to begin with the presidential and national assembly elections on 25 February and continue with the governorship and states houses of assembly election two weeks later on 11th March.

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All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government in the naira redesign policy suit at the Supreme Court. Bayelsa and Edo States, which are both under the control of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, have identified with the(APC)-led federal government in the naira redesign policy suit at the Supreme Court.

The South-south states and the federal government will now confront an opposing side of 10 states, including one PDP state.

The controversial policy introduced newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes and set 10 February as the deadline to end the validity of their old versions.

Shortage in the supply of new notes has led to a cash crunch that has brought untold hardships to many Nigerians.

Three states being governed by the APC like the federal government  Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara  on 3 February, filed a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the 10 February deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to end the validity of the old notes.

The three states cited the hardships Nigerians are undergoing as a result of the policy that has detrimentally mopped up cash from circulation.

The Supreme Court on 8 February granted an interim order suspending the enforcement of the deadline. The court also in its ruling directed that the old notes should remain legal tender alongside the new ones until the final determination of the suit.

But President Muhammadu Buhari, who approved the implementation of the controversial policy, and the CBN, its enforcer, have adamantly refused to comply with the order of the Supreme Court.

With growing interest in the matter, nine states applied to be joined as parties to the suit at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Seven of the states, including President Buharis home state  Katsina  opted to be joined with the three original plaintiffs, an indication of their preference to oppose the CBN policy and adopt the prayers sought in the suit.

The newly-joined co-plaintiffs are Cross River (South-south), Sokoto (North-west), Lagos (South-west), Ogun (South-west), Katsina (North-west), Ondo (South-west) and Ekiti (South-west) states.

This makes the total number of co-plaintiffs 10. The predominantly APC side has Sokoto as the only PDP state.

With Bayelsa and Edo  both PDP states  joining forces with the APC-led federal government, and another PDP state  Sokoto  on the other side of the divide with nine APC states, the party line in the legal battle is erased.

The presidential candidates of both political parties have expressed divergent views on the CBN policy.

While the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu has said there should not be deadlines for the validity of the old notes, his PDP rival, Atiku Abubakar, has substantially thrown his weight behind the CBN policy, backing the deadline but calling for an aggressive supply of the new notes.

The developments in court on Wednesday came as the first indication that all the 36 state governments might not be on the same page on the new naira policy or the suit challenging it.

The crack in the fold of the governors of the 36 states of the federation emerged barely four days after their umbrella body  the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF)  on 12 February issued a joint statement condemning the CBN policy as currency confiscation.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro on Wednesday, adjourned further hearing until next Wednesday, 22 February.

Judge advises on how to enforce compliance with Supreme Court order

Following the refusal of the CBN to comply with the Supreme Court order suspending the implementation of the deadline for the old notes, the plaintiffs lawyer, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, urged the Supreme Court to intervene.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had on Tuesday defiantly announced that there was no going back on the 10 February deadline.

The defendant (the federal government) has been acting with impunity and executive lawlessness. We want the court to extend the order, Mr Mustapha informed the court on Wednesday.

Condemning the act of disobedience on Wednesday, Mr Mustapha told the panel of Supreme Court judges, We cannot take your application (concerning the refusal of the defendant to comply with the order) because it is not before us. The defendant needs to respond to it.

But Kanu Agabi, who represented the federal government, disagreed with the plaintiffs counsel, arguing that the issue of non-compliance with the Supreme Court order was speculative.

Amina Augie, a member of the Supreme Courts seven-member panel, told Mr Mustapha that his application concerning non-compliance with the Supreme Court order was not ripe for hearing.

We cannot take your application (concerning the refusal of the defendant to comply with the order) because it is not before us. The defendant needs to respond to it, Ms Augie said.

READ ALSO:

Also reacting to Mr Mustaphas concerns, another member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, asked if the Supreme Court order had ceased to have an effect.

Go back to the order that was made and check if it does not subsist, Mr Agim said.

After adjourning the suit, Mr Okoro advised Mr Agabi to tell the federal government to make cash available in Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and banks to ease the suffering of Nigerians.

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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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As the internal wrangling within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepens, the spokesperson for the partys Presidential Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala, has suggested that the federal government should declare a state of emergency in Rivers State ahead of the 2023 elections.

Mr Bwala, who spoke Wednesday on Arise TV Morning Show, said the only solution to the unending crisis in PDP in the state is the removal of the state governor, Nyesom Wike.

He alleged that Mr Wikes antics may deter free and fair conduct of the forthcoming elections in the state.

He added that democracy must be entrenched in the state and if the chief executive officer of the state cannot allow a free and fair conduct, then the proper thing to do is to declare a state of emergency, remove him and conduct election there and this wouldnt be new in Nigeria.

The PDP has been enmeshed in a leadership crisis since former Vice President Atiku Abubakar won the partys presidential primary ahead of Mr Wike who was a runner-up.

The Rivers State governor has since been the arrowhead of a group of five governors called the G5 who accused the partys northern leaders of flouting the existing power rotation arrangement between the northern and southern parts of the country.

Mr Wike, leading his four other counterparts in Enugu, Abia, Benue, and Oyo states- Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Samuel Ortom, and Seyi Makinde, respectively, has consistently demanded the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to achieve what they termed a regional balance in the leadership of the part.

Both Atiku and Mr Ayu are from the northern part of Nigeria.

Atiku will win in Rivers State

Meanwhile, speaking further, Mr Bwala boasted that the PDP presidential candidate will win the 25 February presidential elections in Rivers state, adding that the reason the PDP cancelled its presidential rally in the state is to avoid bloodshed.

He assured that Atiku will still go before the elections and will celebrate with the people of Rivers State when he eventually wins.

He added that the partys candidate has people that matter to deliver votes, citing the partys former National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

He said such leaders had consistently delivered votes for Atiku when he ran in the past: so they are the ground soldiers who know the people at the base.

On the courts extension of the interim order stopping the PDP from suspending and expelling Mr Wike, the spokesperson said the governor ran like a dog with a tail in between his legs to the court for protection.

He accused the G5 of doing anti-party but that they are disguising themselves to be working on the basis of equity, fairness, and good conscience.

They even name themselves as an integrity group but there is nothing integrity about the group, because what we know about integrity is forthrightness, it is decorum and sincerity, and encompasses the personality of the person as against the office they occupy, he said.

Wike was lobbying for VP

Mr Bwala also accused the Rivers State governor of lobbying to be chosen as Atikus running mate and that he started the fight when he lost the position to his Delta States counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa.

Democracy is about participation and negotiation. So all of these times nobody would have thought Wike was going to come this way.

He started by saying over his dead body, he will not accept to be a vice presidential candidate meanwhile, he was lobbying for it. When the decision was made and he was not there, he then started the fight, Mr Bwala said.

He added that from 1999 till date, Mr Wike would not be the first person who lost a presidential primary for Gods sake, even in Rivers state where he comes from, we have the likes of Peter Odili.

Even the APC primaries, Amaechi from Rivers participated in the primaries and he didnt win, and the world did not fall and there was no Armageddon or World War. He is the first since 1999 till today, who believes that if he does not win the world would collapse, he added.

Mr Bwala also noted that the PDP made Mr Wike who he is and he owes the party much more than he thinks he has done for the party.

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A new Commissioner of Police (CP), Idowu Owohunwa, has been sworn-in in Lagos State.

The swearing-in ceremony was held at the police headquarters in Ikeja on Tuesday.

At the ceremony, Mr Owohunwa told his personnel that our bond with Lagosians is to keep them safe and secure. Lagosians want this done within the context of rule of law, professionalism, and utmost respect for their fundamental human rights.

He said he was prepared to deliver on this mandate with utmost commitment and dedication.

I promise to work assiduously to provide the requisite leadership to Lagos State Police Command in a manner that will prioritise discipline, training and capacity development, professionalism, and public accountability in a manner that will leave the government and Lagosians in no doubts of any sort of our renewed commitment to policing them within their expectations, he said.

I promise that under my watch, I will be hard on deviants within the fold of the state police command who continually bring us into disrepute and pitch us against the citizens we are paid to serve and protect.

Such elements are encouraged to embrace the tenets of self-discipline in the common good or be ready for the consequences. An undisciplined officer is a threat not only to the policing family but to the community and the State he serves.

The new police chief also called for improved operational efficiency and strong inter-agency synergy with the military detachments and other state and federal law enforcement and public safety agencies in the state.

He said with improved or establishment of new strategic partnerships with relevant sister security agencies, in addition with the public trust, his leadership would witness unprecedented giant strides.

Above all, with your support and trust of Lagosians, I intend to adopt a problem-solving framework that will be founded on the policing principle of zero-tolerance to crime, the practice of crime-mapping, and utilization of crime statistics and intelligence analysis tools to support perspective policing, he said.

The new CP also saluted his outgoing colleague, Abiodun Alabi, who has been promoted to the position of an acting assistant inspector-general of police in the state.

At this juncture, I once again sincerely salute my boss and predecessor, Ag. AIG Abiodun Alabi, for his service to the command and people of Lagos state, Mr Owohunwa said.

You might be exiting the state command, but the good news is that you are still at our service, though on a higher professional ground. We shall be knocking on your door for professional guidance. I trust you will always let us in.

Speaking about the general elections, he said that he was briefed by Mr Alabi in detail on the strategies and action plans for the exercise.

In his valedictory speech, Mr Alabi, commended all sister agencies in the state for their support in the success of his administration.

At my maiden press briefing on 24th January 2022, I made it clear that my crime prevention strategy and policing vision would rest on visibility policing, respect for human rights, professional ethics, intelligence-led policing, community policing, proactive policing and inter-agency synergy, he said.

You would all agree with me that we made tremendous achievements as regards these yardsticks. accountability was bedrock of my administration as all Area Commanders, DPOs and other officers were made answerable for their actions and inactions.

We sadly recorded two cases of misuse of firearms but in our usual tradition of ensuring justice and accountability, the officers involved in these cases are currently undergoing trial for their actions.

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The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, snubbed the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Cecilia Ezeilo.

The incident occurred during the PDP presidential campaign rally in Enugu ahead of the 25 February elections.

Mrs Ezeilo, the deputy governor, had approached Atiku to exchange pleasantries after she finished addressing the crowd at the rally.

Since 1999, we have been doing it and this is not going to be a different case. I am begging all of you, as we have been doing it, let us do it again, Mrs Ezeilo told the crowd.

When she walked down from the podium and headed to where Mr Atiku was seated and stretched out her hand to greet him, the PDP candidate ignored her.

The deputy governor returned to her seat without shaking Mr Atikus hands.

A member of the PDP, who asked not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES that aside from Mr Atikus disagreement with the G5, which the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, is a member, the former vice-president was displeased that the deputy governor did not specifically ask residents to vote for him in the 25 February poll.

Did you hear her canvass for votes for Atiku? The answer is no. She was only playing around words. Atiku believes she is being loyal to her principal (Mr Ugwuanyi), the PDP member said.

Connecting the dots

Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu State is a member of the PDP. But he boycotted the PDP campaign rally.

Mrs Ezeilo did not indicate if she was representing the governor at the event.

Governor Ugwuanyis absence at the rally has been linked to the ongoing rift between G5 governors and PDP national leadership.

The G5, a group of aggrieved PDP governors, is being led by the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

The governors are aggrieved with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku and the partys national leadership.

Apart from Messrs Wike and Ugwuanyi, other members of the group include Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue), Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.

READ ALSO:

The group came about after the PDP presidential primary, where Nigerias former vice president, Mr Atiku, defeated Mr Wike and others to become the partys presidential candidate.

The group has been demanding the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party in order to achieve a regional balance.

The governors argument is that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.

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press release

"The continent's progress on infrastructure is real but the challenges are also real" President Macky Sall

Egypt Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly; Rwandan President Paul Kagame; President Macky Sall of Senegal; Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission; and Algerian Prime Minister Amene Benadderrahmane during the 2nd Dakar Summit for infrastructure Financing

African leaders urged development finance institutions and international partners to increase support and funding for infrastructure project preparation initiatives, including providing more grant resources to the NEPAD-Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD-IPPF) hosted by the African Development Bank.

In a communique released after the close of the Second Infrastructure Financing Summit in Dakar, African presidents also called for technical and financial partners to support the mobilization of resources needed to make infrastructure projects more bankable. There was also consensus on the need for stronger national and regional risk mitigation systems to attract greater private investment.

The African Union and the government of Senegal brought together a range of actors at the Summit to rally support and financing for 69 priority water, information and communication technology, energy and transport projects worth $160 billion. These projects are under the second phase of the pan-African Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA PAP2) initiative which runs from 2021 to 2030.

"The continent's progress on infrastructure is real but the challenges are also real," said President Macky Sall of Senegal, the current African Union chairperson, during his opening speech.

Referring to the PIDA priority projects, Sall said, "Sixty one percent of the 69 projects have not yet undergone feasibility studies to attract private investors. We need to develop synergies between multilateral partners and NEPAD to conduct feasibility studies."

Sall pointed to public-private partnerships as a possible solution for African governments constrained by economic conditions. He said construction would start on the Dakar-area deep-water port of Ndayane in February 2023. The project, a collaboration between the government and DP World, an Emirati logistics company, is expected to cost $800 million.

"Egypt is ready to share its expertise in public-private partnerships," said Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly. The country has raised over $140 billion in the last few years, much of it through public private partnerships, for investment in new infrastructure, he said. This had helped create 5 million new jobs.

Acting African Development Bank Vice President Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade led a delegation to the summit and represented its head, Dr. Adesina. She said, "The African leaders here understand it is possible to attract the private sector. The winning formula is not a mystery nor a secret. It begins with having well-prepared projects."

She offered the example of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development project, a PIDA priority project, for which "the African Development Bank, in partnership with the EU through the PAGODA framework agreement, mobilized $43 million to conduct feasibility studies. Now the project has been restructured into a public private partnership model," Akin-Olugbade said.

Project sponsors, including ECOWAS in partnership with the bank, showcased the project during the Africa Investment Forum's Market Days event in 2022. The summit communique named the Africa Investment Forum as a potential conduit to attract more investment for PIDA PAP 2 projects.

Each dollar in grant support from NEPAD-IPPF for studies of regional infrastructure projects has contributed to the mobilization of an average of 409 dollars in downstream support for the realization of physical infrastructure projects in Africa, Akin-Olugbade added. "This is a significant leveraging effect and demonstrates the catalytic effect and importance of investing in quality project preparation."

Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of the AU Development Agency, named three things that would be indispensable for world-class infrastructure in Africa. "We need our own DFIs. And they can get together and do marvelous things; We need to set up facilities for project preparation and we need partnerships."

On the final day of the summit, deal room sessions presented 16 priority projects, including the Establishment of a Navigational Line between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea-Feasibility Study Phase project; the Angololo Multipurpose Water Resources Development Project at the Kenya-Uganda frontier; and the Masaka-Mwanza Transmission Line Project involving Uganda and Tanzania.

Several African Development Bank projects featured, including the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development project, which has already attracted $15.6 billion in interest; the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan Multimodal Transport Corridor Project; and the construction of the Central Corridor Standard Gauge Rail (SGR) in East and Central Africa.

The Bank, through the NEPAD-IPPF, is also currently financing the Lamu Port Development: Transaction Advisory Services and technical assistance project, which is part of the LAPSSET corridor development project. LAPSSET will connect Lamu port in Kenya to South Sudan and Ethiopia.

PIDA is a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa's Development Planning and Coordination Agency (AUDA - NEPAD), and the African Development Bank.

To read the Dakar Declaration on Synergies of Action for Infrastructure Financing in Africa in full, click here

For a full list of current PIDA priority projects, click here

Contact:

Olufemi Terry, African Development Bank Group, media@afdb.org
The PDP Presidential Campaign Council has announced the composition of a 14-member committee to coordinate and manage the campaign of its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Oyo State, South-west Nigeria.

A statement by the Director General of the Council and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday, said the committee would be chaired by Hosea Agboola, a former Senate deputy chief whip in the seventh assembly.

Mr Agboola is to be assisted by Hazeem Gbolarumi, a former deputy governor of the state and former coordinator, Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation in Oyo State.

No reason was given for the composition of the committee.

Mr Tambuwal, however, said the action is pursuant to the National Executive Committee (NEC) approved guidelines and after wide consultations.

It is therefore the wish of our Presidential Candidate, H.E. Atiku Abubakar, GCON (Waziri Adamawa), and that of the entire PDP family that your contribution to the overall success of the assignment of the council will justify the confidence reposed in each of you by the leadership of our great party.

These appointments are with immediate effect, the statement said.

Crisis

The PDP in Oyo State has experienced a crisis in the past, with members of the National Working Committee (NWC) accusing the current governor, Seyi Makinde, a member of the party, of causing disunity in the state chapter.

Mr Makinde had shunned the PDP rally when Atiku campaigned in Ibadan, the state capital last month. The presidential candidate, however, commended the governor for making sure that this rally is well organised and well-orchestrated.

The Oyo governor was named the vice chairman (south) of the PCC when it was constituted in September last year.

However, he didnt take up the appointment because he is a member of the G-5 Governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

The governors are asking for the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to balance the partys leadership structure.

Read statement below

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

OYO STATE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COUNCIL AND STATE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Leadership of the Presidential Campaign Organization (PCO) of our Great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after wide and extensive consultation; has approved the composition of THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COUNCIL FOR OYO STATE pursuant to the National Executive Committee (NEC) approved guidelines.

The Membership of the Oyo State PCC and SCMC is as follows:

CHAIRMAN  SENATOR HOSEA AGBOOLA

VICE CHAIRMAN  H. E. ALH. HAZEEM GBOLARUNMI

DIRECTOR  HON. MOROOF AKINWANDE

DEPUTY DIRECTOR MEDIA & PUBLICITY  HON. FEMI JOSAIH

DEPUTY DIRECTOR FIELD OPERATION  HON. ABORODE MAJEKODUNMI

DEPUTY DIRECTOR RESEARCH & STRATEGY  HON. MUSAH ABDULWASIL

DEPUTY DIRECTOR VOLUNTEER GROUPS  MRS. KEMI ALABI

DEPUTY DIRECTOR FINANCE  RT. HON. ADEOLU ADELEKE

DEPUTY DIRECTOR ELECTION MANAGEMENT  HON. NURENI ADISA

DEPUTY DIRECTOR DOCUMENTATION/REPORTING  HON. SUMBO OWOLABI

DEPUTY DIRECTOR RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT  ALH. FARIAH IBRAHIM (CULTURAL)

DEPUTY DIRECTOR YOUTH & STUDENTS  (1) ADEKOLA ADEOYE (2). HON. JUMOKE ALI

DEPUTY DIRECTOR SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE  ENGR. FEMI BABALOLA

DEPUTY DIRECTOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION  HON. WALE ADEGOKE

It is therefore the wish of our Presidential Candidate, H.E. Atiku Abubakar, GCON (Waziri Adamawa), and that of the entire PDP Family that your contribution to the overall success of the assignment of the Council will justify the confidence reposed in each of you by the Leadership of our Great Party.

These appointments are with immediate effect.

Congratulations!

H.E. Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

Director-General, PCO

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Mobile network operator, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, on Tuesday apologised to its customers after users reported network outages in parts of the country on Valentines Day.

PREMIUM TIMES observed Tuesday that the network disruption affected calls and data services for several hours.

Many Nigerians who experienced difficulty reaching out to their loved ones took to social media platforms to vent their frustration.

I was in a meeting that was very crucial and all of a sudden the MTN network vanished. By the time Ill join back, they are close and theyve been waiting for me to speak since, a customer, Westley Luther, wrote on Facebook.

Im not happy o. I dont even know how to explain! But its well and I love you MTN but una too dey misbehave!

Another user , Oluwa Josh, lamented that the network challenge caused serious havoc because of the Naira crisis being faced by Nigerians across the country.

When you know what people are facing in this country. 80 per cent of us always transfer to buy foodstuff. I went to bed with empty stomach yesterday  MTN its well o, he wrote.

Another Twitter user, Man of Letters, wrote: Seems the MTN blackout happened Nationwide?

ALSO READ: MTN set to allot incentive shares to eligible shareholders

Who else experienced it? They have to pay for the inconveniences they caused us.

Apology

But in its reaction to the network disruption on its Facebook page Tuesday, MTN apologised to its customers and assured them of improved services.

Today, of all days, you couldnt count on us to keep you seamlessly connected with the people, places, businesses, and things that matter to you, the telecom company said in a statement.

Words cannot express how sorry we are sorry for the disruption we caused. The issue has been resolved and services restored. You matter to us and we will never stop showing you how much.

MTN is active in over 20 countries, and one-third of the companys revenue comes from Nigeria, where it holds about 35 per cent market share.

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Ahead of the 2023 general elections beginning next Saturday, PRNigeria has presented a Security Report on the five major presidential candidates.

The select candidates include Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The report titled, 2023 Elections: SWOT Analysis of Major Presidential Candidates and Security Matters, was unveiled at PRNigerias Abuja Office, on Wednesday.

The event took place during a press conference which was also attended by representatives of the military, security, and intelligence services.

The report was produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

The research study also identified states across the federation where political violence may erupt if proactive measures are not taken by security agencies and other relevant stakeholders.

In its report, PRNigeria, however, commended the Nigerian security agencies for deliberately choosing to remain neutral, fair, and apolitical in the build-up to the forthcoming general elections.

While presenting the PRNigeria report, Abdulsalam Mahmud, lead speaker of the press conference, explained that the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) Analysis they conducted was carried out with a view to ensuring relevant security agencies are informed about the frontline candidates profiles.

And also, how their participation in the electoral process can affect the countrys fragile peace and unity, in the next few days, months, and even years ahead, he said.

Mr Mahmud, who is also the Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, noted: As part of PRNigerias commitment to helping entrench Nigerias democratic space, through in-depth analysis of socio-economic issues and political events shaping the 2023 polls, we recently undertook a field trip to some States, across the country.

The States include Rivers, Delta (South-South), Enugu, Imo (South-East), Lagos, Oyo (South-West), Kano, Kebbi (Northwest), Borno, Gombe (North-East) and Kwara, Niger (North Central).

We also undertook virtual surveys/interviews on the fears and aspirations of the electorates in other states over the security situations ahead of the forthcoming elections.

This was with a view to draw the attention of the security agencies, in particular, to the places we have identified as flashpoints prior, during, and even after the entire general elections.

On his part, Mukhtar Madobi, co-presenter of PRNigerias report, said there have been reports of politically-motivated killings in some states of the federation.

In November 2022 for instance, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, reported that there were 52 cases of political violence across 22 states in one month.

Between 2019 and 2022, hoodlums attacked more than 50 offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in 15 States. There have been cases of destruction of billboards, campaign vehicles, offices, and other property. Several campaign rallies have been violently disrupted and convoys attacked, said Mr Mukhtar, who is also a Staff Writer with Emergency Digest, a sister publication of PRNigeria.

In his goodwill message, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi commended PRNigeria for its efforts on security matters and crisis management in the country.

The police spokesperson observed that the environmental scanning and threats analysis would help to some large extent in alerting the security forces to consolidate their relentless efforts in ensuring hitch-free conduct of general elections and maintaining national security.

As the lead agency in ensuring internal security, Mr Adejobi emphasized that the police would sustain its collaboration with other stakeholders towards ensuring security nationwide.

Earlier in his remarks, the Managing Director of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, Publishers of PRNigeria, Yushau Shuaib, said that the major respondents of the report were in the media industry and the security sector, who were more relevant to the study.

He also pointed out that the comprehensive report was submitted to relevant security services/agencies including the sensitive components of likely security threats in the event some of the notable candidates lose in the elections. He added that the abridged version was only presented at the press conference for awareness purposes.

Meanwhile, the PRNigeria report observed that the rash of unscientific opinion polls and partisan projections have heightened public anxiety and influenced extreme optimism among candidates and their supporters, which could undermine national security

It further disclosed that due to the naira crunch, the general elections may witness cashless vote-buying/trading where electorates would have free tickets after voting to obtain goods and services from retailing outlets.

While pointing out that ruling parties in some states have perfected plans to ensure victories for their candidates at all costs, it laments that the disturbing ethnocentric and religious sentiments in political campaigns have further created fear of potential violence during and after the election.

It added that since some electorates are of the view that their votes do not really count, either rightly or wrongly on the assumption that the outcomes of most elections are pre-determined, voter apathy may still be an issue in some places.

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The police in Delta say five people have been arrested for setting two banks and two vehicles ablaze on Wednesday in Udu Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson, Bright Edafe, said this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview in Warri.

Two banks and two vehicles were set ablaze by the protesters in Udu. I am not aware of any other protest in Warri and Effurun.

Meanwhile, five persons have been apprehended in connection with the crime, Mr Edafe said.

An eyewitness said some people who were angry about the non-availability of cash in banks and the rejection of the old naira notes protested and set ablaze two vehicles around Express Junction and Ovwian area of Udu.

Normalcy has been restored following the swift intervention of security operatives deployed to forestall a total breakdown of law and order.

(NAN)

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MONROVIA  Prosecution witnesses at Gibril Massaquois Appeal hearings in Liberia say they may not be exact in their testimonies against him because it has been a long time since his alleged crimes happenedciting human errors and forgetfulness.

The Finnish District Court acquitted Massaquoi in April 2022 following an unprecedented 15-month trial because the prosecution did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecutors appealed the ruling to the Turku Court of Appeal, which has been hearing almost the same numbers of witnesses as the lower court, many of whom are in Liberia.

One main task for the prosecution is to clear up inconsistencies from the trial.

But as the hearings, currently taking place at the RLJ Kendeja Resorts enter their second week, it appears the defense team led by Kaarle Gummerus is making more wins about the witnesses apparent inconsistent testimonies.

Taking the witness stand on Tuesday, the first witness said at age 16, she and her mother were abducted by Gibril Massaquoi and his men in Waterside and taken under a bridge.

She told the court on Massaquois orders, a girl was slaughtered right in front of them, while she and the other captives were tied up, beaten and tortured.

During her cross-examination, Gummerus, the lead defense counsel reminded her that she had earlier told Finnish police investigators and the District Court that she and her aunty, Mamie Peters whom she lived with, had gone to Waterside to purchase when Massaquois men opened fired and her aunty was shot multiple times from the back and died of the gun wounds. Gummerus questioned why she changed the narratives and did not mention the death of any family member.

In defense, the witness said she lost her mother in the horror, and not her aunty. She told the court that she used to call her mother Aunty.

Not convinced, Gummerus asked her to explain how her mother she called Aunty was killed. But the presiding judge intervened and said his request was not admissible in the court.

Gummerus then pointed out that the witness had told Finnish police that she witnessed Massaquois men beheading a girl on his orders and later testified before the lower court, saying Massaquoi, himself shot the girl. She had told the lower court that it was her first time seeing Massaquoi face to face when he introduced himself and recited his famous message to the victim: When you get to heaven, tell God that I angel Gabriel Sent you.

The defense questioned her about the actual account since she has backtracked her previous testimony before the lower court, claiming Massaquoi ordered the girl to be beheaded.

The witness said: We are all humans, we think of plenty things. If I said that, that means I made mistakes. It happened long time ago.

Asked how she came across the Finnish police, the witness said, she was told by a friend named Amos Johnson. But the defense again, reminded her she had earlier told the police that she was informed by Nathaniel Williams.

But she retorted and said No, I didnt say that. If I say that then I forget. This has taken a long time, and we were not expecting you back. We thought this is finished.

The second witness told the court that he and his friend were caught up in a gunfire orchestrated by Angel Gabriel. His friend, the witness said, died in the gunfire, and displaying a scar before the judges in court, he said he was shot in his arm.

But, the defense counsel, grilling the second witness, said he had first told investigators that his friend was murdered by Angel Michael, and not Gabriel. But the witness, justifying, said he if he had said so, he made a human error but he actually meant Angel Gabriel.

Maybe I mistakenly call him Angel Michael because they are two angels that are widely known, but later I corrected and said it was Angel Gabriel, not Michael, said the witness.

The third witness had earlier told Finnish Police and the lower court that he was captured by Massaquoi and his men in 2002 when he went to purchase goods in Waterside but was set free by a soldier named George. Later he told the court he was freed by James.

READ ALSO:

When grilled over his inconsistent testimony, the witness, age 35, said it was not strange for people to use two different names during the war days.

The trial continues Wednesday with three additional witnesses expected to appear.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its West African Justice Reporting Project.

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The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday told a mammoth rally in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that he would work assiduously to advance the legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

At the rally attended by the president, Mr Tinubu said the good work of the president particularly in the area of infrastructure revolution, revamping agriculture, road and railway network would be sustained.

You know the president with honesty, integrity and dependability. We will continue with his incorruptible and straightforward attributes,  he said.

The APC candidate also promised to prudently manage the nations resources and increase the revenue-generation capacity as he did when he was Lagos governor.

To the people of Imo, Mr Tinubu said he would further invest in education as Mr Buhari who upgraded two institutions in the state to universities did and help to make the state a tourist destination.

We will strengthen and promote peace and unity in the state and confront violence and man inhumanity to fellow man as thats the only way growth and development can be achieved, he said.

Addressing the rally, Mr Buhari said for the umpteenth time that Mr Tinubu would be the next president of the country God willing.

He said he had accompanied Mr Tinubu to the state to sell him to the people, expressing gratitude for the massive turnout at the rally.

The president had earlier paid a courtesy call on traditional rulers in the state at their council chamber where he had also canvassed support for Mr Tinubus election.

The Chairman of the Traditional Council in the state who received Mr Buhari, Eze Udo, Eze Okeke, conferred on the president the chieftaincy title of Nwanne Dinamba, meaning a brother in The Diaspora.

READ ALSO: Buhari drums support for Tinubu in Sokoto as APC candidate pledges to tackle kidnapping

The host governor, Hope Uzodinnma, while welcoming the dignitaries to the state, restated that Imo is part of the Nigerian entity and in brotherhood, the people of the state shall stand with other Nigerians.

He thanked Mr Buhari for his support for the state, adding that his presence at the rally was a great testament to his determination to get the party to win the next election and to grow further.

Those who attended the rally held at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri include the partys National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, Governors Uzodinnma (Imo), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) as well as the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege among others,

Others are APC Deputy Chairman (South), Emma Enekwu, former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Idris Wase and APC National Woman Leader Betta Edu.

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The police in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, said they have rescued 15 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were abducted by gunmen in the state.

The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Ikenga said the corps members had concluded their three weeks orientation programme at the NYSC Orientation camp in Imo State and were en route to Lagos State before their vehicle was intercepted on Tuesday at a junction in Ihiala, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of the Anambra State.

Their vehicle was diverted to Isseke-Ihiala-Orlu Expressway where the gunmen kept them hostage, he said.

How they were rescued

The spokesperson said police operatives trailed the gunmen in response to receipt of information around 11:15 a.m. about the attack.

The armed men noticed they were being followed by police operatives, abandoned the corps members and zoomed off with a Toyota Hiace bus with Reg Nos: EPE 353 YE conveying the corps members, Mr Ikenga, a deputy superintendent of police, said.

READ ALSO: Gunmen attack another police facility in Anambra

He said the corps members were debriefed by the police operatives, pointing out that necessary arrangements have been perfected to convey them back to their destinations.

Increased attacks

Like other states in Nigerias south-east, security has deteriorated in Anambra State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

Although several persons  mainly government officials  have been abducted lately and killed in the state, the abduction of the corps members was a novelty.

The attacks, mostly targeted at security officials and government officials, have been attributed to the outlawed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB), which is agitating for a sovereign state for the Igbo-speaking people in the south-east.

But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

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The federal government is yet to take a decision on an extension of the deadline for the use of old naira notes, an official has said, further adding to the controversy across the country.

President Muhammadu Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said this in a terse Tuesday night message sent to journalists.

We wish to state that it is not true that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN have taken a preemptive action on the legality of currency as a legal tender in view of the pendency of the case before the Supreme Court.

The position of the government and the CBN will be made known upon the determination of the suit coming up tomorrow, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Supreme Court will Wednesday continue hearing in a suit filed by three state governments against the federal government.

The state governments want the Supreme Court to direct the federal government to allow the continued use of both the old and the new naira notes.

Last week, the Supreme Court gave an interim order barring the federal government from implementing the 10 February deadline set for the use of the old notes.

However, despite the Supreme Court order, most banks and businesses have stopped accepting the old naira notes as a legal tender, despite the scarcity of the new notes.

On Tuesday, the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, indicated that the 10 February deadline had not been shifted, contrary to the Supreme Courts directive.

The CBN is not a party to the suit filed by the state governments. However, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has asked the Supreme Court to vacate its order and dismiss the suit by the state governments.

As the matter continues at the Supreme Court Wednesday, Nigerians continue to suffer from the scarcity of the new naira notes.

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Nigerias major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cancelled its presidential campaign rally in Rivers State initially scheduled for Tuesday.

Chairperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP PCC) in the state, Lee Maeba, disclosed this while briefing reporters in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Mr Maeba, a former senator from the state, said they put off the rally because of the threat to the life of its members and supporters of Atiku Abubakar in the state, Leadership newspaper reported.

Mr Atiku, Nigerias former vice president, is the PDP presidential candidate for 25 February election.

Mr Maeba, who did not give a new date for the rally, described the cancellation as painful.

Attacks, arrest

Gunmen suspected to be political thugs had invaded Mr Maebas residence in Port Harcourt in December last year.

Punch newspaper reported that the gunmen shot sporadically at the ex-lawmakers entrance before breaking in and destroying five cars as residents scampered for safety.

This newspaper earlier reported how over 20 supporters of Mr Atiku who were arrested allegedly on Governor Nyesom Wikes order, were arraigned before a Magistrate Court in the state.

Armed police officers invaded a meeting venue to arrest them.

A few days ago, Daily Trust reported how Abiye Sekibo, the director general of the Rivers PDP PCC escaped an attack after gunmen dressed in police uniform reportedly opened fire on his vehicle in Port Harcourt.

Mr Maeba blamed the attacks on Governor Wike.

Mr Wike was one of the 12 PDP aspirants that was defeated by Mr Atiku during the partys presidential primary in May last year.

Since then the Rivers State Governor has been at loggerhead with the former vice president and the national leadership of the PDP. He (Mr Wike) withdrew his membership of the Atiku campaign council and boycotted its activities.

Mr Maeba said Mr Atikus supporters in the state have been suffering different life-threatening attacks since Mr Wike lost the primary to the former vice president.

He (Wike) has openly branded members of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council and all supporters of the presidential candidate as enemies of the state and vowed to crush them. Video evidence abounds to support our assertion.

He admitted carrying out that attack on Abiye Sekibo and Lee Maeba in his earlier statement at Eleme during a gubernatorial campaign rally on Friday, February 10, 2023.

He boasted that the two armed robbers, Mr Sekibo and Mr Maeba, were chased away when they came to take a land belonging to the Rivers State government and they were lucky they ran away before his arrival at the scene. He tried to make an unimpressive denial which does not hold water the next day, Mr Maeba said.

PDP lacks capacity to fill stadium  Wike

Governor Wike had earlier approved the 38, 000 seater capacity Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for the PDP presidential rally in the state but later cancelled the approval.

After Mr Wikes cancellation of the rally venue, Mr Sekibo had gone to inspect an alternative venue for the rally in the Rainbow area of Port Harcourt when he came under an attack from gunmen.

Mr Sekibos car was reportedly riddled with bullets and the venue of the rally set ablaze, according to Daily Trust newspaper.

Days before the 14 February rally, Governor Wike made a U-turn, rescinded his earlier cancellation and ordered the PDP PCC to return to the stadium for the rally.

Reacting to the cancellation of the presidential rally on allegation of threat to life, Mr Wike dismissed it as spurious, saying the PDP PCC lacked the capacity to fill the stadium.

I gave them the stadium, they know they have no capacity to fill the stadium, they are looking for excuses. They went and forced themselves to use government land at Trans Amadi. I said no, that was not where I gave you. Where I gave you was Adokiye Amiesimaka, go and fill that place.

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, I will buy the diesel for you. I will do everything for you. Mobilise, go and fill that stadium. They ran away.

Mr Wike stated this at Nyemoni Secondary School field in Abonnema town, venue of (the Rivers State) PDP campaign in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area on Monday.

Spokesperson to the governor, Kelvin Ebiri stated this in a statement he sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.

Backstory

Mr Wike has repeatedly said that his grievance against Mr Atiku is that he reneged on an alleged promise to ensure the exit of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, so that a southerner can lead the party for the sake of a regional balance.

Messrs Atiku and Ayu are both northerners.

Mr Wike now leads the G5, a group of PDP governors who are aggrieved with Mr Atiku and the PDP leadership.

Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) are the other members of the G5.

Members of the group who were appointed into the Atiku presidential campaign council, withdrew their membership and boycotted its inauguration.

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has restated his earlier promise to be a stepping stone to Igbo presidency.

Mr Atiku stated this on Tuesday during the partys presidential campaign rally in Enugu.

This is the third time the PDP candidate would make the promise to Igbos in the South-east.

Atiku first made the promise in September during a zonal conference of the PDP in Enugu.

The PDP candidate also made the same promise during his campaign flag off for the South-east region in Awka, Anambra State, in December.

Speaking during the rally in Enugu on Tuesday, the former vice-president said he still stood by his words.

When I came here (Enugu) a few months ago, to attend the (PDP) zonal conference of the South-east, I said to the South-easterners or to the Igbos that I am going to be a stepping stone to an Igbo presidency and I mean it, he said.

The South-east has a higher population of Igbos than the South-south, a neighbouring region with a lower population of Igbos.

Mr Atikus running mate and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, hails from an Igbo-speaking part of the South-south state.

But the PDP candidate argued that Igbo is a universal ethnic group explaining that Igbos in the South-east and those in South-south are the same.

Whether an Igbo man is from the South-east or from the South-south, it is the same (Igbo) race. And today my running mate is an Igbo man. Igbo is a universal ethnic group, a universal race, Mr Atiku said.

Mainstream politics only way to prosperity, development

Mr Atiku asked residents of the state to join mainstream politics by voting all the PDP candidates in the state in the 2023 poll in order to get access to prosperity and development of the South-east.

I want to let you know that this country is geared towards electing a PDP government (in 2023). Do not be an exception. Do not be in the minority.

The next government in the South-east is going to be formed by the PDP. And therefore, as you have always been, be in the mainstream of Nigerian politics because that is the only way that can bring about the prosperity, the economic development, the peace and security that you are looking for in this part of the country and the country in general, he said.

Residents react

Reacting to Mr Atikus promise to be a stepping stone to Igbo presidency, Chukwuma Ude, a resident of the state, told PREMIUM TIMES that the PDP candidate was only insulting the people of South-east.

Atiku has continued to insult us by claiming he is the one to get us the presidency. He should first get himself presidency before promising the same to others, he said.

Okowa may be an Igbo man, but not from South-east but South-south. The zoning arrangement favours South-east because South-south has produced a president before, Mr Ude added.

Another resident, Ifebuche Okolo, said Mr Atiku lacks the capacity to determine who will be Nigerias president.

The voters determine who emerges president. A single individual like Atiku cannot determine that, she said.

Ms Okolo said even if Mr Atiku assist an Igbo person to win the PDP presidential ticket, such a person would still need the support of many Nigerians to emerge the countrys president.

So, how can he make such a promise? she said.

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press release

What: Invitation to the African Development Bank's side events at the 21st International Congress of the African Water Association (AfWA) and 7th Faecal Sludge Management Conference

Who: African Development Bank

When: 19-23 February 2023

Where: Sofitel Hotel - Abidjan, and online

The African Development Bank will participate in the 21st International Congress of the African Water Association (AfWA) and 7th Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) Conference, as a strategic partner to the African Water Association.

The conference will bring together experts, engineers, technicians, researchers, and multiple stakeholders from both public and private sector to discuss water and sanitation challenges in Africa. The theme for the conference is: "Acting for sustainable management of resources and access to water and sanitation for all".

The African Development Bank's participation will consist of panel sessions, exhibitions, and client engagement. The Bank will also host an exhibition booth to showcase projects to engage and spark conversations with partners.

The Bank will further convene a set of high-level panels and technical sessions involving ministers in charge of water, the private sector, and heads of utilities and regulatory bodies in the region. The side events and panel sessions will engage participants on water and sanitation services and delivery in Africa, infrastructure development, utilities performance enhancement, and the impact of climate change on water security.

Other relevant themes such as policy, strategic and legal framework for water and sanitation service supply in Africa will also be discussed. A specific focus will be put on Bank's financing mechanisms and special instruments in support of the water and sanitation sector in Africa. These include the African Water Facility (AWF) and its instruments including the African Urban Sanitation investment funds (AUSIF).

The Bank's side-events and panel sessions include:

21 February 2023

Session 1

10.30 - 12.00

Water and Sanitation Utilities, a Veto Player to Reaching Sustainable Development Goal #6 in Africa - a Focus on the African Water and Sanitation Utilities Performance Improvement Pathways

Session 2

13.30 - 15.00

Water Security and the Yoke of Climate Change - Case of West African Coastal Cities

Session 3

15.30 - 17.00

African Water and Sanitation Sector Facing the Test of Funding Vis a Vis Achieving Africa Water Vision 2025

22 February 2023

Session 4

10.30 - 12.00

Maximizing the Potential of the Private Sector in the Water & Sanitation Sector in Africa to Reach Sustainable Development Goal 6

Session 5

13.30 - 15.00

Water & Sanitation Regulatory Services, a Robust Mechanism for Improved & Sustainable Services, & Attracting Private Capital to Filling the Financing Gap in the Sector in Africa

Session 6

15.30 to 17.00

Innovative Mechanisms for Scaling Up Water and Sanitation Investment In Africa, Relevance of Project Preparation Tools - Case of the Africa Water Facility

23 February 2023

Session 7

9.00 to 10.30

Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS): A Participative Approach to Sustainable Infrastructure Planning - Case of Kenya & Sierra Leone

The Bank's side events will be livestreamed, the links will be shared shortly

Media contact

Solange Kamuanga-Tossou, Communication and External Relations Department, media@afdb.org
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the G5 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have not split as is widely speculated.

Mr Wike stated this on Tuesday during the governorship campaign flag-off organised by the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council for Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.

The rally was broadcast live on Channels TV and monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

The G5, a group of aggrieved PDP governors, is being led by Mr Wike.

The governors are aggrieved with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku and the partys national leadership.

Apart from Mr Wike, other members of the group include Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State) Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue), Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.

The group came about after the PDP presidential primary, where Nigerias former vice president, Atiku, defeated Mr Wike and others to become the partys presidential candidate.

They have been demanding the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party in order to achieve a regional balance.

The governors argument is that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.

The Chairperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP PCC) in Rivers State, Lee Maeba, recently claimed the G5 was dead.

But speaking during the rally on Tuesday, Mr Wike denied the claim, explaining that the G5 governors have withdrawn from talking regularly in public in order to embark on silent strategic actions ahead of the general elections.

They said G-5 is dead. We that you said are dead are not worried. But you that are alive are worried. We are not talking again, we are not worried; yet you are worried. You fail to realise that in politics, there is time for talk and time for action. Action has started and February 25 is the D-day, he said.

Mr Wike said those making claims that the group was dead were only looking for ways to understand their strategies ahead of the general elections.

You can never know what our plans and strategies are, no matter how you pressurise us, we will not disclose our strategy. They dont know there is a time to talk and there is a time to take action in politics, he said.

No insecurity in Rivers State

The PDP PCC in Rivers State, on Monday, announced the cancellation of its presidential campaign rally slated for 14 February in the state, citing rising attacks against its members and supporters in the state.

But Mr Wike said the PDP at the centre has never loved the state in the first place, insisting that there was no insecurity in the state.

When they said they cancelled the rally, it is a lie; they dont want to tell us that they cant mobilise. In any case, PDP hasnt told us that they love Rivers State, he said.

He contended that the cancellation of the PDP presidential rally in the state on the basis of insecurity was not defendable given that the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi and his New Nigeria Peoples Party counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, both campaigned in the state without being attacked.

Peter Obi came, I gave him vehicles. He campaigned and left. Nothing happened to him. Kwankwaso came here. I gave him vehicles. He campaigned and nothing happened to him.

APC has applied and I have given them a stadium; if they want vehicles from me, I will give them. But your party (PDP) said there is insecurity in Rivers, he said.

The governor claimed that both Atiku and national leaders of the party did not sympathise with the state when it battled the 2022 flood disaster but went to neighbouring states of Bayelsa and Delta, which were also affected by the flood.

They showed us they dont love us. No problem but our destiny is in our hands. Nobody can force us to do anything.

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Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State was conspicuously absent at the presidential campaign rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, and other leaders of the party were in Enugu on Tuesday for the campaign rally ahead of the 25 February poll.

Although the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Cecelia Ezeilo, attended the rally, she did not say if she was representing the governor at the event.

Besides Mrs Ezeilo, members of the State Working Committee of the party, the senator representing Enugu North District, Chukwuka Utazi, and the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu, were all in attendance.

Others were the Speaker of the Enugu House of Assembly, Edward Ubosi, and the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Peter Mbah, who was given the partys flag during the rally.

Governor Ugwuanyis absence at the rally has been linked to the ongoing rift between the G5 governors and the PDP national leadership.

The G5, a group of aggrieved PDP governors, is being led by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

The governors are aggrieved with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku and the partys national leadership.

Apart from Messrs Wike and Ugwunayi, other members of the group include Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue), Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.

The group came about after the PDP presidential primary, where Nigerias former vice president, Mr Atiku, defeated Mr Wike and others to become the partys presidential candidate.

The group has been demanding the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party in order to achieve a regional balance.

The governors argument is that Messrs Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.

Atiku snubs Enugus deputy governor

Mr Atiku stirred a controversy during the rally when he snubbed Mrs Ezeilo, the deputy governor, who approached him to exchange pleasantries after she finished addressing the gathering.

Since 1999, we have been doing it and this is not going to be a different case. I am begging all of you, as we have been doing it, let us do it again, Mrs Ezeilo told the crowd at the rally.

When she walked down from the podium and headed to where Mr Atiku was seated and stretched out her hand to greet him, the PDP candidate ignored her.

The deputy governor returned to her seat without shaking hands with Mr Atiku.

A member of the PDP, who asked not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES that aside from Mr Atikus disagreement with the G5, which Governor Ugwuanyi, is a member, the former vice-president was displeased that the deputy governor did not specifically ask residents to vote for him in the 25 February poll.

Did you hear her canvass for votes for Atiku? The answer is no. She was only playing around words. Atiku believes she is being loyal to her principal (Mr Ugwuanyi), the PDP said.

Discordant chants

There was an uproar, during the rally, when the National Chairman of the PDP, Mr Ayu, asked the people to reject the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, and vote for all PDP candidates in the 2023 general elections.

Since 1999, Enugu has always voted for the PDP. I believe that in 2023, you are still going to vote PDP from top to bottom. In the next 11 days, Atiku will emerge victorious as president with Ifeanyi Okowa as his vice-president

Those who are coming to deceive you to vote for the other party called Labour Party. They are deceiving you because a vote for Labour Party is a vote for APC and I can tell you that voting for APC will not solve the problems of Nigeria, Mr Ayu said, adding that Mr Mbah would work together with Mr Atiku when they both win at the general elections.

There were heavy discordant chants from the crowd while the PDP chairman spoke.

No! No! No! the crowd chanted, apparently in disagreement with his call to reject the LP candidate in the 25 February general election.

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The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised concern about the invitation of one of its officials, Femi Fani-Kayode, by the police over his coup plot comment.

The campaign, in a statement on Wednesday by its spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, stated that the campaign is concerned that despite the ongoing investigation by the State Security Service (SSS), the police also invited Mr Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister.

Mr Onanuga stated that AIG Federal Investigation Bureau on Tuesday invited Mr Fani-Kayode for questioning, stating that the invitations could distract from his duty as director of new media.

The APC director of new media is currently facing investigation over a tweet he made about an alleged meeting between the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and some military generals.

In the same tweet, Mr Fani-Kayode raised concerns that if the allegations were to be true, Nigerians should be concerned about a possible coup.

While the military denied the alleged meeting, the PDP presidential campaign council called for an investigation of the claim.

After interrogation by the SSS on Monday, Mr Fani-Kayode briefed journalists and expressed regrets over the comments.

SSS has the truth already  Onanuga

Mr Onanuga said the SSS already has the truth that the police are seeking, adding that Mr Fani-Kayode will make an appearance at the SSS on Wednesday.

He urged the police to allow the SSS to conclude the ongoing investigation.

Despite the well-publicised invitation of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode by the DSS and the report that the secret police asked him to return for further investigation today, we were surprised that the police have also jumped into the same matter.

The APC-PCC is concerned about the latest invitation by another security agency, just some 10 days to the election when he is most needed as our director of new media.

While we are not questioning the authority of the police to invite our official, we want the police to be mindful that the truth they seek to find is already being pursued by the DSS, he said.

He noted that the ongoing investigation could raise suspicion that the security agencies are under the influence of the opposition.

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The United States on Tuesday emphasised the importance of voter enlightenment by the Nigerian media leading up to the elections.

I think it is very important that all of you who are engaged in the media play a role in educating the public about this issue and what it might mean, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee told journalists in Abuja.

Referring to the provisions of section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution, she said, if voters understand and have confidence in the electoral process, it will contribute to a peaceful transition of power.

Section 134 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution provides that, a candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election- (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

In a case where the above criteria are not met, there shall be a second election only between the candidate who scored the highest number of votes and another candidate who has a majority of votes in the highest number of states.

However, if there is more than one candidate with a majority of votes in the highest number of states, the candidate among them with the highest total of votes cast at the election shall be the second candidate for the election.

There are 14 candidates contesting in the Nigerian presidential election of 25 February with four considered frontline candidates. The four frontline candidates are Bola Tinubu of the APC, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP.

Ms Phee commended the constitutional provision but said she is not sure that this unique requirement is not as understood by the public as it should be and it will become particularly relevant if, for the first time in your political history, you go to a second round.

In spite of this concern, she noted that the US believes that INEC is prepared and able to host and hold elections across the country.

READ ALSO:

Ms Phee added that it is important for candidates, parties and electorates to take responsibility for having a successful election.

You have a good history since 1999 where with each election you get stronger and your system improves. I hear a desire and hunger for a successful election, I am confident that you can meet that challenge, she said.

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The death toll from last weeks twin earthquake that rocked border communities in Turkey and Syria has risen to over 40,000.

Turkish authorities say 35,418 people have been killed in the country. The Syrian government and the UN say more than 5,800 people are dead in Syria.

Despite harsh weather conditions, rescuers have continued to search for survivors in the last week. According to the rescuers, they continue to hear voices from under the rubble.

According to various media reports, at least nine survivors were pulled out of the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday.

The WHO described earthquakes in Turkey as the worst natural disaster in a century.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has appealed for $397 million in aid to help some five million Syrian survivors, including shelter, healthcare and food. A similar appeal is being prepared for Turkey.

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Syria is having difficulty receiving aid from the international community due to years of conflict in affected areas.

On Tuesday, a UN aid convoy passed through a re-opened border crossing into rebel-held northwestern Syria. This marks the first time a United Nations convoy has used the crossing to deliver aid since its closure in 2020.

Eleven International Organization for Migration trucks carrying humanitarian assistance passed through the Bab al-Salam crossing, the UN said.

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The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved $53.1 million and N2.1 billion as a local component for the procurement and installation of electricity conductors to boost power supply across the country.

Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Councils meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the conductors when installed, would help address the challenge of constant tripping of circuit breakers due to the overloading of electricity lines.

The total amount for these four components of conductors is $53,131, 128.93 plus an onshore component of N2, 127, 068, 626. 45, he said.

Mr Aliyu said the new conductors would be used to upgrade existing power lines, to enhance their efficiency.

These are existing lines which are being upgraded. The wires will be removed and new ones put in place and the difference is that the new ones will be more efficient because they carry more load than the old ones.

They will reduce sagging because once the wires are aged, they will sag and they become vulnerable and heavier.

So, these ones are lighter and can carry more electricity so it will improve efficiency and address the challenges of constant tripping of the breakers due to the overloading of these lines will be tremendously reduced, the minister said.

Mr Aliyu listed the four components of the contract to include: 173 kilometres Kubotso- Hadeja line; 105 kilometres Kumbotso-Kankiya line; 90-kilometre Benin-Irrua line and 72 kilometres Irrua-Okpella.

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Other components included 48 kilometres Okpella-Okene, 58 kilometres Okenne-Ajaokuta lines and 394 kilometres Gombe-Biu-Damboa-Maiduguri line.

The minister also disclosed that the council approved a N1.46 billion contract for the procurement of 20 transformers ratio analysers for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

(NAN)

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A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed a suit filed by former Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau and his son, Nanle, challenging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)s power to freeze their Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts without a valid court order.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, held that the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1457/2021 filed by Messrs Dariye and Nanle lacked merit.

Mr Ekwo further held that EFCC acted properly when it took steps to comply with the order of the trial court which convicted Mr Dariye.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accounts were frozen while Mr Dariye was serving a custodial sentence at Kuje Correctional Centre.

The ex-governor and his son had sued the anti-graft agency and CSCS PLC as 1st and 2nd defendants respectively

In the originating summons filed, their lawyer asked the court to determine whether the defendants were entitled, in view of Section 34 (1) of the EFCC Act, to freeze Mr Dariyes CSCS account number: 72515276 and his sons CSCS account number: 81527200 by placing a caution on the operation of those accounts without obtaining an order of the court to do so.

They, therefore, sought an order directing the defendants to lift forthwith the caution placed on the operation of their accounts and to, henceforth, remove the restrictions placed on the execution of their transactions through those accounts.

In an affidavit attached to the application, Mr Dariyes brother, Dr Haruna, averred that the former governor, who was granted a presidential pardon in 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari, was an investor with substantial shareholdings in several companies listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

He said his son, Nanle, also had substantial shareholdings in some companies listed in the NSE.

He listed the companies in which they had invested as shareholders to include Nigerian Breweries Pic., FBN Holdings Pic., UBA Pic., UACN Pic., Lafarge Africa Pic, Friesland Campina Wamco Nigeria Pic. and many others.

Mr Haruna said that all their shares were lodged with CSCS for trading in the NSE through their account numbers.

The applicants, through their lawyer, asked the court to lift the restriction placed on their accounts.

Mr Ekwo that he found that provisions of Section 34(1) of the EFCC Act were not applicable in the circumstance of the case.

This is not a situation where the 1st defendant (EFCC) needed to obtain ex-parte order of court to take the steps it did on this matter, he said.

He said the finding also exonerated CSCS of any wrong against the Dariyes.

The judge condemned the submission of Mr Dariyes lawyer where he argued that the mere fact that there was a criminal case against the ex-governor was not enough to justify the unilateral restriction placed by the defendants on their accounts without a court order.

My heart skipped when I read the submission of the learned counsel for the plaintiffs in paragraph 3.10 of the written address whereat counsel stated thus:

The statement above is a clear sign of how the moral standard in the society has fallen.

The lack of good conscience is made manifest in the postulation referring to criminal proceedings in our legal system as the mere fact that there was a criminal case against the 1st plaintiff

This means that criminal proceedings is not a serious issue anymore in this country.

This is a sad chapter in our history as a nation, he said.

Justice Ekwo said it was even more disturbing when the lawyer had tendered the judgement of the Supreme Court as Exhibit JD1 which judgement affirmed the judgement of the trial court convicting Mr Dariye.

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It is obvious that Exhibit JD1 and what the Supreme Court said does not bother the plaintiffs and their counsel.

I do not know the essence of this case but it has certainly elicited the fact that the plaintiffs are bent on enjoying the proceeds of the criminal act for which the 1st plaintiff (Dariye) was convicted.

This court will not be part of the afront of the plaintiffs and what I consider as an assault to the order of the trial court which the Supreme Court affirmed, the judge said.

(NAN)

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The spokesperson of the Presidential Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala, has accused Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State of frustrating the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, out of the PDP.

Mr Obi had resigned his membership of the PDP days before the partys presidential primary elections.

He was one of the leading presidential aspirants of the PDP alongside the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and Mr Wike.

Speaking Wednesday on Arise TV Morning Show, Mr Bwala explained that before the partys presidential primary in 2022, it was believed that the presidency should be zoned to the South-East in the spirit of equity.

However, with the emergence of Atiku as the partys presidential candidate, some leaders of the party from the Southern region have accused their northern counterparts of flouting the unwritten rule of power rotation between the south and the northern regions.

Mr Obi said Mr Wike is the reason Mr Obi dumped the PDP for the LP where he eventually picked the partys presidential ticket for the 2023 elections.

Why Obi dumped the party

When asked to explain the reasons behind the claim, Mr Bwala said: While the party was planning for the primaries, there was this internal agitation or advocacy for the power to shift to the South and people felt it should shift to the South-east

The conversation started growing, it started reverberating to a point where Atiku said if the party was inclined to zoning, he believed that it should be zoned to the South East or North East because these are the zones that have not benefited and that if it was zoned to the South East, he was not going to contest.

Mr Bwala then accused Mr Wike of being responsible for the removal of the then National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, and that he worked to ensure the emergence of a northerner as Mr Secondus successor.

He further said: So during this time of advocacy and deliberation, Governor Wike ensured that the committee formed to deliberate on the structure of the party and the presidency zoning came out with the findings that support his ambition at the partys chairmanship level.

He was thinking that if the Chairman comes from the North it was natural the presidential candidate would come from the South. When it came to the presidential poll, he ensured that the outcome left the peoples poll because of the growing conversation that it should be zoned to the South-east when it was agreed that it would go to the South.

When Obi saw that it was thrown open, he knew he couldnt challenge gladiators in the party and so he left. Again Peter ought to have been the leader of the party in Anambra but he was frustrated by the command and control of Governor Wike. So that is the premise for saying that he frustrated the man out of the party.

Wike fizzling out of relevance

Mr Bwala said though the party has cancelled its campaign rallies in Rivers State, the most important thing is that the people of Rivers State understand Mr Wikes antics.

Some of them cant wait for him to leave in a couple of weeks because they know that the way he is reacting is like a dying declaration, he is somebody who is fizzling out of relevance, he said.

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Mr Bwala said democracy must be entrenched in Rivers State and if the chief executive officer of the state cannot allow a free and fair conduct, then the proper thing to do is to declare a state of emergency, remove him and conduct election there and this wouldnt be new in Nigeria.

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The Community Court of Justice has fixed 16 February to begin hearing a case filed by a non-governmental organisation and three Liberians over the killing of about 600 persons at a Lutheran Church in the countrys capital 33 years ago during the countrys civil war.

The public interest suit was filed by Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), who were joined by Charles Sunwabe, Dorothy Sunwabe-Vokerl and Nelay Sunwabe on behalf of themselves and members of their families, who were victims of the massacre at St Peters Lutheran Church in Monrovia on the 29 and 30 July 1990.

In suit no ECW/CCJ/APP/48/22, filed on 4th October 2022, the applicants who were represented by their Counsel Oludayo Fagbemi, Gaye Sowe, Edmund Foley (Institute for Human Rights & Development in Africa, The Gambia), an NGO  Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as agents, alleged that the government of Liberia failed to discharge its obligation to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators and provide redress for the victims.

In the initiating application, the applicants said that this failure of the State was a breach of their fundamental human rights.

They claimed that the perpetrators, the Armed Forces targeted two ethnic groups who sought shelter/refuge at a civilian centre run by the Red Cross at this place of worship and massacred the 600 persons, including members of the Sunwabe family who were perceived to be rebel sympathisers.

They told the court that the Republic of Liberia which experienced/fought two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (the TRC) that indicted several groups including the Armed Forces of Liberia who were identified as a significant violator responsible for the Lutheran Church Massacre, one of the deadliest civilian massacres in Liberia.

They alleged that though the TRC was set up to investigate gross human rights violations and make recommendations including prosecutions which were to be implemented by the government, the government of Liberia has not taken effective steps to implement the recommendations.

They, therefore, urged the Court to declare the government liable for the violations; order Liberia to conduct official, effective and independent investigations into the massacre and prosecute the perpetrators as a deterrent to future generations. They also asked the Court to order the government to pay 1,500,000 USD as compensation to the Sunwabe family.

The Respondent, Government of Liberia represented by its legal counsels Councilors Bobby W. Livingstone and Lafayette B. Gould, Sr, twice filed for an extension of time to file its defence, the first, on 9th November 2022, and subsequently on 9th January 2023.

The third and fourth Applicants  Dorothy Sunwabe-Voker and Nelay T. Sunwabe have also filed their sworn statements.

The case will be heard by Justices Edward Amoako Asante (presiding), Gberi-Be Ouattara and Dupe Atoki.

Press Release by ECOWAS Communication Unit in Abuja

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Nine days before the presidential election, the All Progressives Congress campaign train berthed on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, to a reception where its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, spoke on the need for unity, stability and non-violence in the country.

The presidential and national assembly elections are slated for 25 February.

Addressing a rally at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium Port Harcourt, Mr Tinubu said without peace and unity, the country cannot progress and achieve prosperity.

He urged the people of the state, particularly youth, to ensure the next election is hitch-free and devoid of violence.

Let us work hard and build a nation, a nation where peace, unity, stability, joy and happiness will reign supreme. We should be working together not killing one another, he said.

He promised to work to ensure increased security in the state and South-south region and provide effective protection for oil installations in the region.

The APC candidate paid special tribute to Asari Dokubo, an ex-militant leader, whom he described as his friend and brother.

Asari Dokubo is a very bold and courageous worker. Brave and honest. Since I encountered him, he has been very consistent and straightforward.

APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, condemned the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for reneging on its promise to field a southern candidate and work toward a southern president in 2023 after power would have resided in the north for eight years.

PDP does not know the essence of promise. When you make a promise, you keep it. On our part, we are honourable people. We have a full-fledged southerner as our candidate. What the PDP failed to do, we have done. What the party failed to give the south, APC has given the south. So as southerners, please the people of Rivers, play your part by voting APC. Let your vote speak for you.

The PDP had earlier cancelled its rally scheduled for the state due to what it called increased attacks on members of the party loyal to the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar.

At the rally, the APC flag was handed over to the governorship candidate in the state, Tonye Cole.

Mr Cole promised the people a new government that is responsive to their yearning, urging them to vote for the party at all levels.

The rally was attended among others by APC Vice Presidential Candidate, Kashim Shettima, Governors Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) as well as former Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, and his former Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole.

Others included Minister of State (Petroleum) Timprey Sylva; Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Enekwu and his northern counterpart, Abubakar Kyari; National Vice Chairman (South-south) Victor Giadom Nigerias Ambassador to Jamaica, Maureen Tamuno, Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Issa Aremu.

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press release

What: Presentation of Africa's Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook report

Who: President of the Republic of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema; Chairperson, African Union Commission H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat; and African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

When: Friday, 17 February 2023. 8:00 AM EAT (GMT+3)

Where: African Union Commission, Medium Conference Hall, and online

The African Development Bank and the African Union Commission will host a joint event to present the inaugural Africa's Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook report at the 36th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The report, published by the African Development Bank Group, offers policymakers, global investors, researchers, and other development partners, up-to-date, evidence-based assessments of the continent's recent macroeconomic performance.

First launched on January 19 at the African Development Bank Group Headquarters in Abidjan, Africa's Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook report 2023, provides a short-to-medium-term outlook for the continent. The report expresses optimism for 2023 and 2024, despite a challenging global environment.

The African Development Bank plans to share the findings with several global and African stakeholders.

The event will feature remarks from African leaders and development experts, including;

H.E. Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia

H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson, African Union Commission

H.E. Amb. Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner, Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University U.S.A

Prof. Kevin Chika Urama, Acting Chief Economist & Vice President, African Development Bank Group

There will also be central bank governors, ministers of finance and national planning, and other policymakers globally.

Following the presentation, there will be a press conference at 2:00 PM EAT.

Click here to register in advance to attend.

English and French interpretation will be available.

Join the conversation using the hashtags #AfricaMEO2023 and #AfricaMacroEcoOutlook23.

For further information, please contact:

Emeka Anuforo | Communication and External Relations | African Development Bank Group | email: e.anuforo@afdb.org

Doreen Apollos | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: +251 115 517 700 | E-mail: ApollosD@africa-union.org
The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed that officials of the federal government reached out to him and some governors on the new naira policy. However, he rejected the offer put forth by the Muhammadu Buhari-led government, he said.

Mr El-Rufai said the federal government proposed to allow the circulation of the old N200 notes until 10 April. In return, the governors were to withdraw the suits filed by their states in court.

The governor, in a statement issued by his media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, on Wednesday, said the report that the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the federal government held a meeting in the wee hours of Wednesday ahead of Wednesdays Supreme Court hearing was false.

He said no such meeting happened. Instead, there was a conversation on the phone in which the officials offered a concession to allow old N200 notes to remain in circulation while the governors withdraw the case.

He stated that the federal government claimed that the old notes of the higher denominations of N500 and N1,000 are currently being destroyed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The terms they proposed were to allow only the old N200 note to remain legal tender and be circulated by the CBN till 10 April 2023, he said.

Mr El-Rufai said the proposal was rebuffed because retaining the old notes will not address the economic challenges caused by the scarcity of naira notes.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr El-Rufais Kaduna State, alongside Kogi State and Zamfara State filed a joint suit against the federal government at the Supreme Court on the currency policy.

The states, later joined by seven others, asked the Supreme Court to restrain the federal government from implementing the 10 February deadline for the use of the old notes. However, despite the interim order of the court, the central bank insisted on the deadline, thus sustaining the scarcity of cash as the new notes are insufficient.

After the Supreme Courts sitting on Wednesday, the court adjourned till 22 February to decide on the policy.

Protests have been rocking several cities across the country with commercial banks being the target of attacks.

Read Mr El-Rufais full statement below.

A few hours after the Supreme Court adjourned the currency redesign case today, The Cable, a respected publication, published what it described as an exclusive story regarding the intentions of the Federal Government on the matter.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai would like to clarify that The Cable has been misled by its sources on this issue. There has been no meeting this week between the FG and either the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) or the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), not to talk of one lasting till the wee hours of today, Wednesday, 15 February 2023.

Rather, senior officials of the FG reached some governors, including Malam Nasir El-Rufai, on phone to initiate discussions on a possible out of court settlement. The terms they proposed were to allow only the old N200 note to remain legal tender and be circulated by the CBN till 10 April 2023. They claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes that had been deposited, but that those persons who still held the old notes could redeem them up to 10 April 2023.

These were not considered as serious proposals, for obvious reasons. Circulating the old N200 notes alone would not be sufficient to relieve widespread human suffering in Kaduna State, and indeed in Nigeria today.They knew that and that is why they falsely claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes. This is contrary to the fact available to the governors to the effect that the old notes were in the custody of commercial bank branches throughout Nigeria until the evening of Monday, February 13, and not a single N500 or N1000 had been destroyed.

It is also a non-starter to insist on a new cut off date without first assuring that sufficient new notes would have been printed and circulated. Information available to the governors also indicate that the Mint will need at least 12 months to print the minimum amount of N1 trillion needed to ensure a functioning trade and exchange environment in Nigeria.

The tabling of false facts, inadequate solutions to the sufferings of our people, and the bad faith that some of the FG negotiators displayed in our phone conversations and chats have now been taken further in leaking a false account and context to a respected medium. The plaintiff governors rejected the draft proposal as insincere, and invested our hopes in the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai will be addressing the people of Kaduna State on this currency redesign mess, the consequences of the extension of the injunction of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and related matters tomorrow. But the Kaduna State Government feels it is important tonight not to allow an exclusive falsehood to stand, or even gain the slightest traction. This statement is therefore issued to put the records straight.

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The report reveals a clear connection between violence and corruption, something that is obvious but often rarely interrogated. The Nigerian experience confirms that governments plagued by corruption increasingly lack the capacity to protect the people and witness several forms of criminality and insurrection. Despite spending billions of dollars (eight trillion naira in seven years) ostensibly to fight insecurity both at the national and sub-national levels, insecurity in Nigeria continues to worsen.

Last month, the global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, released its annual corruption perception index (CPI), which ranks the perceived level of public sector corruption across 180 countries worldwide. This years report paints a grim picture that reveals that many countries are yet to make progress in the fight against corruption since 2017. Nigeria is one of those countries that fell into this category, despite being led by a government that promised radical reforms and a president with perceived anti-corruption credentials. Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, was elected in 2015 after he defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, partly because he promised to stamp out corruption from Africas biggest economy endowed with enormous natural resources. Interestingly, Mr Buhari continues to receive accolades across the continent as an anti-corruption icon, while the reality at home remains pathetically different. However, despite the tough rhetoric and grandstanding, corruption continues to grow in leaps and bounds, while the president sits helplessly as the anti-corruption struggle has become a weapon deployed towards partisan ends. The verdict is that corruption is waxing stronger under President Buhari.

CPI Links Corruption and Security Challenges, Throwing Light On Nigerias situation

The report reveals a clear connection between violence and corruption, something that is obvious but often rarely interrogated. The Nigerian experience confirms that governments plagued by corruption increasingly lack the capacity to protect the people and witness several forms of criminality and insurrection. Despite spending billions of dollars (eight trillion naira in seven years) ostensibly to fight insecurity both at the national and sub-national levels, insecurity in Nigeria continues to worsen. With growing weak institutions and poor oversight, Nigerian security forces are not sufficiently trusted across the population to be neutral and professional in the performance of their duties. This partly contributed to the widespread protest against police brutality known as #EndSARS, which almost brought the country to a halt. Cases of banditry, kidnapping and terrorism have become frequent across the whole country. The security agencies have not done much about these, as some parts of the country are currently under the control of terrorists and bandits who collect taxes from farmers. There have even been instances where the kidnapped victims spoke of collaboration between the state security agencies and the kidnappers.

Nigerias Poor Performance Was Not Unexpected

To many analysts, the grim performance of Nigeria was unsurprising and it clearly points to the unsavoury situation in the country. In 2022 alone, media reports insist that about 4,545 persons were killed, while another 4,611 were kidnapped by non-state actors. Gunmen have successfully attacked several government buildings and churches across the country, killing many. The young people are very angry, partly as a result of the governments inability to protect lives and properties, thereby leaving citizens to their fates. Terrorists, bandits and criminal organisations across the country have been emboldened, while citizens, regardless of their location, live in constant fear, as corrupt officials thrive in impunity. So far, the fight against insecurity has yielded limited results. There are accusations that some security personnel have converted the existing state of affairs into a flourishing enterprise and conflict economy that instead provides incentives for the beneficiaries of the status quo. Furthermore, the Government Defence Integrity Index published in 2020 reveals that Nigeria faces a high risk across its defence institutions, with minimal controls in operations. The country ranks 143 out of 163 on the Global Peace Index in 2022, alongside nations like Iran, Cameroon and Columbia.

With Nigerias presidential elections only a few days away, many observers are keen on whether and to what extent the eventual outcome could speak to citizens frustration about how growing public sector corruption has impacted the livelihoods of ordinary citizens A section of the population led by vocal, media-savvy young people remains adamant and hopeful that its votes will count and the long-awaited change may be on the way.

A Three-Point Drop Under the Current Administration Is No Big Deal

Some sections of the media and civil society who misunderstood the CPI results have tried to engage in efforts capable of hoodwinking the unsuspecting public to misinterpret the change in ranking as an improvement in Nigerias fight against corruption. This inference is not only false but also misleading. In measuring the perception of corruption using CPI, a change in ranking is an inconsequential factor dependent on the number and performance of other countries ranked. A change of ranking from 154 to 150 does not amount to progress in any way. The CPI score for Nigeria remains the same at 24. This is a clear reduction from the average score of 27 that it used to be during the Jonathan administration. The score rose to 28 in 2016 and later dropped to 24. For the score to drop by three points under an administration that was elected under the assumption that it would fulfil its promise to fight corruption speaks a lot about the level of failure that has led to general disappointment, lingering scepticism and growing restlessness among citizens. Applauding the score is like a child repeating the same class and celebrating that he is now two seats closer to the teacher. Even Afghanistan, under the Taliban regime, improved its score from 16 to 24, while remaining on the same ranking.

Presidential Elections As a Referendum

With Nigerias presidential elections only a few days away, many observers are keen on whether and to what extent the eventual outcome could speak to citizens frustration about how growing public sector corruption has impacted the livelihoods of ordinary citizens. At least two of the top contenders for the office of the president allegedly have pasts linked to corruption and drug peddling. Historically, these issues do not matter much in a country whose desperately poor citizens are content with crumbs that fall off from the exotic dining tables of the rich but dubious politicians, whose lifestyles are likely funded by stolen public resources. A section of the population led by vocal, media-savvy young people remains adamant and hopeful that its votes will count and the long-awaited change may be on the way. Its optimism is anchored on amendments of the Electoral Act, which introduced a technology that transmits votes electronically. On the other hand, the established politicians are said to be doing everything necessary to ensure that the status quo prevails, including stashing away billions of naira to buy votes on election day. The stage is set and the time is ticking. How either of these mutually opposing efforts will fare remains a subject of speculation for now.

Uche Igwe is a Visiting Fellow at Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He can be reached on u.igwe@lse.ac.uk

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The role of the NJC in all this also deserves some commentary. This is because, as a constitutional body, its role should be no more than to dispassionately investigate allegations of misconduct against judges and, where unproven or disproved, promptly reinstate them  in case they have been interdicted. Under no circumstances should NJC go so far as appealing against the decision of a court which exonerates a judicial officer  as it is currently doing in respect of Hon Justice Olotu and Agbadu-Fishim.

Introduction

The National Judicial Council (NJC) under the current leadership of the Honourable Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (GCON), the Chief Justice of Nigeria, appears to be a retooled, re-invigorated, renewed and re-engineered NJC. It obviously seeks for justice  pure and undiluted justice. It shows humility and circumspection in handling matters. It bows to superior reasoning in judgments delivered by competent courts of law. It accepts man-made errors. It does not attempt to play God; or hold aloft a presumptuously stainless banner of infallibility  an attribute belonging only to God Almighty. It does not arrogate to itself sainthood.

No doubt, it appears its members do read widely. They follow happenings in the land. They gauge the public temperature  especially with the barometer of stakeholders in the justice sector. The NJC just demonstrated these rare qualities in recalling and reinstating the Hon Justices Gladys Olotu and James Agbadu-Fishim at its 100th meeting on 16th of January. The NJC was mindful of its powers donated to it in sections 6, 153(1)(i), 158, 292(1) and paragraph 21(b) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, as altered. It had, earlier, duly exercised these powers in reinstating Hon Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia after winning her cases in several courts of law. It was the triumph of justice over brute force; the triumph of the rule of law, rather than the rule of might or rule of the thumb.

Some Background Facts

The above jurists were fully exonerated by courts of competent jurisdictions after having their days in court; going through the ordeal of court trial; public trial, odium and opprobrium; mental torture and psychological trauma, spanning many years. Let us consider the case of a very brilliant judge like Olotu, who was appointed to the Federal High Court on 28 July, 2000; resumed duties on 1 September, 2000; but was compulsorily retired on 27 February, 2014, after 14 years of meritorious service to her fatherland. Here is a judge who had been glowingly recommended for elevation to the bench of the Court of Appeal in 2013, by no less a person than the legal prodigy, doyen of Edo lawyers and leader of the Bar in the South-South, Chief K. S. Okeaya-Ineh. Her dreams evaporated; at least, temporarily. But, God always rights wrongs. Dissatisfied with the wrongful and premature termination of her appointment, Olotu took her case to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), where she lost. She then appealed to the Court of Appeal in search of justice. In a lead judgment delivered by Hon Justice D. Z. Senchi, sitting on a panel presided over by Hon Justice Peter Ige, Olotu not only had her compulsory retirement by the NJC reversed, the Court of Appeal also ordered that she be paid and accorded all her benefits and privileges as a serving judge of the Federal High Court. The court held that the finding of the trial court is perverse, wrong and a miscarriage of justiceThe decision of the trial court breached the right of the Appellant to fair hearing and such decision is a nullity.

Hon Justice James Terseer Agbadu-Fishim, a PhD holder, author, prolific writer and former senior lecturer at the University of Abuja and Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, had been arraigned in court for allegedly receiving N4.8 million from some senior lawyers, including some SANs, which the EFCC claimed amounted to unlawful enrichment. In his defence before the NJC, the cerebral judge demonstrated graphically how the said sums were given to him by the lawyers, who had either been his friends for decades, or teaching colleagues. He averred that they never, at any point in time, had any influence over any of his judgments. Indeed, to his solid credit and character, one or two of the lawyers who gave him some money upon his bereavement and who had appeared before him, lost all their cases. Knowing that he was merely doing his job, having taken the judicial oath of office, that never stopped them from providing succour to a friend who was in dire need, having lost his father, mother and in-law in quick succession. Hon Justice Raliat Adebiyi had no difficulty striking out the frivolous charges, following the decision in NGAJIWA V. FRN (2017) LPELR-43391(CA); a decision later upheld on 30th of May, 2022, by the full constitutional court of seven Justices of the apex court.

The NJC did not bother to appeal Agbadu-Fishims victory, even as it did erroneously in Olotus case. I had kicked against such a stance of the NJC appealing judgments which had faulted its disciplinary procedures and actions against judges based on insufficient facts. Now, a Daniel has come to judgment in the NJC. The members appeared to have heard and worked with my humble opinion generated from a pure heart, in my uncommon defence of a beleaguered and traumatised judiciary. In my piece dated 15 December, 2022, titled, Re-instatement of Hon Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia: Pristine Justice Finally Served, which was widely published, I wrote as follows:

It remains to be said that the Common law or Anglo-Saxon system of jurisprudence which we operate in Nigeria is accusatorial and not the French model, which is inquisitorial. This means that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the State, unlike the latter which is the other way round: a defendant is presumed guilty until he or she proves his or her innocence. Accordingly, to the extent that Hon Justice Ajumogobia has undergone the rigours of a trial and came out unscathed, it is uncharitable for anyone to insist that she should continue to prove her innocence, as it were.

The role of the NJC in all this also deserves some commentary. This is because, as a constitutional body, its role should be no more than to dispassionately investigate allegations of misconduct against judges and, where unproven or disproved, promptly reinstate them  in case they have been interdicted. Under no circumstances should NJC go so far as appealing against the decision of a court which exonerates a judicial officer  as it is currently doing in respect of Hon Justice Olotu and Agbadu-Fishim. This is wrong, and the NJC should discontinue and withdraw those appeals forthwith.

The NJC should only indict judges in the clearest of cases and should not allow itself to be used, wittingly or unwittingly, by the other arms of government (particularly the executive), to hound or persecute hapless judges. That would be grossly unfair; it amounts to a flagrant affront on the Constitution. Those arms of government should first cleanse their Augean stables  where confirmed cases of corruption-on-steriods abound  before turning to the judiciary. This is because, compared to them, the judiciary  as a body  is a Saint. And the NJC heard me loud and clear.

I am an essayist and a prose writer; more, with all humility, in the mould of Chinua Achebe, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, and Elechi Amadi and Chimanda Adichie. I am certainly not a poet  not a Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, William Shakespeare, John Keats, T.S. Eliot, or John Milton. But, on this particular occasion, let me try my hands on a poem in honour of a reinvigorated and justice-driven NJC. Permit the poems obvious inelegance and inadequacy. Please, read on:



As vocations go, theirs is possibly the most thankless of all;

Sitting in judgment, handing down sentences, reprieving some; yet condemning others, men and women;

But, over-worked, overwhelmed, underpaid, under-rated;

Peanuts they are paid; they retire into penury. Without roof or future, they despair; Suffering and smiling (aka, Fela Anikulapo Kuti), they pretend all is well. But, all is not well at all;

Such is the lot of Judges, since the dawn of time; and across the world.

Harassed by the Legislature; pauperized by the Executive;

Hounded on false allegations by hooded security agents;

Condemned by convention to reticence; and sworn to silence;

They are to be seen and not heard unless when delivering their verdicts.

They occupy the Judiciary, the weakest of the 3 arms of the State;

So said Alexander Hamilton in his Federalist Paper No.78;

Yes, indeed, because, it possesses neither purse nor sword;

Ever at the mercy of other arms, it is always forlorn.

Castigated and vilified by losers; but eulogised and celebrated by winners;

Yes, they do wield the axe of contempt, but it hardly deters;

So, in a curious paradox, they are most vulnerable, despite possessing enormous powers;

Being targeted by agents of the State and bearing the ire of sore losers.

The former includes the EFCC, ICPC, SSS and Policemen (both secret and not-so-secret);

And the Judges regulator  made up of fellow Judges -is the NJC;

Its brief  to probe and punish judicial misconduct  is occasionally flawed;

Leading, ironically, to such injustice which can only be reversed in courts of law.

Such was the unfortunate fate of Justices Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, Gladys Olotu and Agbadu-Fishim;

There were others  Justices Sylvester Ngwuta (JSC, now late); Niyi Ademola (rtd), H.A. Ngajiwa, and Musa Kurya;

Having been unjustly and wrongfully indicted and removed from office by the NJC, they were exonerated;

Whilst Ajumogobia was recently reprieved, Olotu and Agbadu-Fishim were initially not so lucky. They waited with bated breath and suspended animation for justice to come;

The Sword of Damocles still dangled over their innocent heads as they still lived in dread of the unknown.

Justices Ngwuta and Ademola had been similarly roped-in but escaped fortuitously; Ngwuta died shortly after  the aftermath of his ordeal, many believed; Ademola retired voluntarily after his acquittal;

The case of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen (retd); was particularly egregious, having been dispatched from his exalted seat via a mere ex-parte order;

He was humiliated out on completely State-instigated trumped-up charges; The shame of a Nation!

Prompting the question: where was the justice in all this?;

Is it fair for judicial officers who have served their country well to be so humiliated, traumatised and hounded out of office?;

Is that how to reward them for the yeomans job they do?

The answer is obvious  and it was supplied by courts, too  No!

So, the apex court weighed in, in the causa celebre, NGANJIWA V FRN;

As a precedent, the case has changed the narrative, the goal-post of persecution by a vicious Executive;

Henceforth, no judicial officer can be indicted and removed from office unless the NJC says so after first investigating him;

Thus, ensuring that other innocent Judges suffer no such poor fate.

In those dark days, spoke I fiercely and fearlessly in Judges defence;

Very few joined me. Most scampered and supported the powers-that-be; in the name of fighting corruption; Courage took flight from them;

I pleaded with the NJC to reinstate the vindicated Justices; for they had been pronounced innocent;

And their exoneration had come through the courts  the last hope of the common man- and woman;

NJC fully agreed with me and fully reinstated them  to my eternal gratitude;

NJC, thank you sirs. Relent not in doing good.

It can safely be said that none of these Jurists suffered in vain;

They have unwittingly made history; and written their names in gold;

Their traducers, on the contrary, now hide their heads in shame;

The would-be preys prevailed; and over them, a light was shown;

The victims became the victors; the preys, the predators; what an oxymoron! What an irony! Life. God, how awesome thou art.

The light of justice  ever bright, luminous, constant; and incandescent;

Unwavering, unflickering, like the Northern Star;

Thus, proving, yet again, the triumph of good over evil;

Light over darkness and the virtue of rectitude over infamy.

Mike Ozekhome is a senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

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In December 2022, the Federal Government through Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the demonetisation policy which has necessitated the redesigning of new naira notes to replace the old ones. The policy also set 10 February as the deadline for the phasing out of high-value naira notes, otherwise known as naira swap throughout the country.

As a result of the serious hardships caused by the disruption to the economy, trade and business and worried by the effects the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)s naira redesign policy is having on the residents of their states, the State governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara evoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Nigeria by instituting an action against the federal government of Nigeria. In the suit, the three northern states urged the Supreme Court to grant them an interim injunction stopping the Federal Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, the commercial banks or its agents from carrying out its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older versions of the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations of the naira may no longer be legal tender on 10 February.

The suit also challenged the demonetisation Policy of the federal government being currently implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the ground that it is not in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (as amended) and section 20 (3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and the extant laws on the subject. It should be noted that the defendant in the suit is the Attorney General of the Federation as the Chief law officer of the Federation.

The institution of the lawsuit has generated critical debates amongst lawyers and political analysts in the public space on various grounds ranging from whether the subject matter falls within the gamut of the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, whether the Central Bank of Nigeria ought not to have been joined as a party or whether the Honorable Attorney-General of the Federation is the appropriate Defendant in such a suit. My contribution to these debates shall address the aforementioned questions with the aid of statutory provisions and judicial authorities.

Jurisdiction generally is the authority which the court possesses to entertain and determine a cause of action presented before it in the manner prescribed by law. It is a threshold issue and it is such an elementary position of the law that it is the superstructure upon which the judicial powers of the Court are based. Thus, the general convergence of the opinion of law is to the effect that jurisdiction is the life wire, the blood, the bedrock and the foundation of all judicial proceedings. It is therefore, very vital and fundamental to the administration of justice in any judicial system as it touches on the competence of a court to adjudicate on a matter. This is why it is essential for any Court before which an issue is presented for determination to determine same in limine before any further steps in the proceedings in order to avoid embarking on an exercise in futility.

Suffice it to say that any decision reached without jurisdiction by a court of law or any tribunal is null, void and of no legal effect whatsoever notwithstanding how well, beautifully, elegantly or meticulously such a trial or proceeding had been conducted or how sound, ingenuous or profound the resultant judgment is. See All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) V. Senator Christiana N.D Anyanwu & 2 Ors. (2014) Lpelr-22182 (Sc).

Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is circumscribed by the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Supreme Court (Additional Original Jurisdiction) Act No.3, 2002. There are certain conditions that must be met under the law and these conditions shall be discussed in this paper. To be sure, those who raise objections to the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to adjudicate in this case might have done so based on the subject-matter of the dispute without considering the fact that jurisdiction in this case is the existence of a dispute between the Plaintiff States State and Federal government which in my view, implicates Party jurisdiction prescribed by the Constitution rather than subject matter jurisdiction. In my opinion, to use subject-matter jurisdiction to determine the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in this case may constitute an aggravated mischaracterization of the law, practice and procedure. This is so because the case presents a clear legal dispute between the plaintiff States and the federal government) to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. See the case of Attorney General of Bendel State vs. Attorney General of the Federation (1981) 10 S.C. 1 at 32 , lines 37 to 42.

The Supreme Court has the requisite jurisdiction to entertain and determine the suit instituted by the States as presently constituted. When considering the plenitude of the judicial powers of the Supreme Court as conferred under section 6(6) (b) of the Constitution (as amended) which shall extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that person. See also the provisions of section 232 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as section 1(1)(a) of the Supreme Court (Additional Original Jurisdiction) Act No.3, 2002.

In other words, the Supreme Court can invoke and exercise its original jurisdiction under the combined provisions of section 232(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and section 1(1) of the Supreme Court (Additional Original Jurisdiction) Act, 2002 as long as the following conditions are met:

a) There must be a justiceable dispute involving any question of law or fact.

b) The dispute must be between:

i) The Federation and a State in its capacity as one of the Federating constituent units of the Federation; or

ii) The federation and more states that are in their capacity as members of the constituent units of the federation; or

iii) The states in their capacities as members of the federation; or

iv) The states in their capacities as members of the federation; or

v) The national Assembly and the President; or

vi) The National Assembly and any State House of Assembly; or

vii) The National Assembly and a State of the Federation

c) The dispute must be one on which the existence or extent of a legal right in the said capacity is involved

See: A. G. Federation Vs. A. G. Lagos State (2017) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1556) 20 @ 45, 49, 56.

It is apposite to reiterate here that the word OR was deliberately used by the legislature to engender options, and disjunctive meaning. It is now trite that the word OR bears a disjunctive meaning when used in any legislation or statutes. See: Abubakar vs. Yaradua (2008) 4 NWLR (PT. 1078) 465. That being said, I strongly believe that the conditions underlined above are applicable disjunctively, and same have been complied with to confer original jurisdiction on the Supreme Court in this case.

More importantly, the mere filing of the suit presupposes that there is legal dispute on the questions submitted for determination before the court and the arguments in support thereof which the Defendant must respond to and join issues with the Plaintiffs. In AG of the Federation vs. AG of Lagos State (supra) at page 42, Para E, the Supreme Court defines dispute as follows: The word dispute means the act of arguing against, controversy, debate and contention as to rights, claims and the like or on a matter of opinion

In this case, the Plaintiff states felt aggrieved by the manner in which the Federal Government is implementing the demonetisation policy which has imposed untold hardships on the people and the economy, hence, the States have no other alternative than to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court to protect their citizens and alleviate their sufferings.

Some legal analysts have also argued that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is not a proper party to the suit as a defendant while some hold the view that the proper party ought to be the Central Bank of Nigeria. With due respect, this contention is legally faulty as same is not correct in law. The Attorney-General of the Federation is a proper party and a nominal party by virtue of his office in defence of the suit before the Supreme Court in its eminent original jurisdiction. This is because the Attorney General of the Federation is the chief law officer of the Federation and an appointee of the Federal Government to ensure the compliance with the Constitution and other laws.

It is trite that the Attorney General of the Federation of Nigeria is the chief law officer of Nigeria. See: C & C.B. Dev. Co. Ltd Vs. Min. E.H. & U.D. (2019) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1666) 484; A. G. Anambra State Vs. A. G. Federation (2007) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1047) 4; Erokoro Vs. Govt. Of Cross River State (1991) 4 NWLR (Pt. 185) 322 @ 336. As the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, the Attorney General of the Federation may sue or be sued on behalf of the Federation or any of its agency. Obviously, the Central Bank of Nigeria is an agency of the Federal Government of the Federation of Nigeria.

The Attorney General of the Federation is both a proper and a nominal party in any suit where the decision or activity of the Federal Government or any of its agencies is being contested or challenged in court. In other words, the Attorney General of the Federation just like the Attorney General of a State, is the Chief law officer of the Federation. The Attorney General of the Federation is the person vested with the responsibility under the Constitution for bringing and defending actions on behalf of the Federation. Any action instituted against the Federation in the name of the Attorney General of the Federation is competent against the Federation in any court where the Federation can or be sued and any order made against the Attorney General of the Federation is made against the Federation. In other words, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and state is created under sections 174 and 195 of the Constitution. He can sue and be sued in such matters affecting the Federation and state respectively. See A-G Anambra State V. A-G Federation (2007) 12 NWLR (Pt.1047) 4; Erokoro V. Govt. Of Cross River State (1991) 4 NWLR (Pt. 185) 322 @ 336, Paras.G-H; Sambo V. Bello (2017) LPELR 43022 (Ca); Abubakar Rimi V. Okeke (2017) LPELR-43181(CA).

Furthermore, the provisions of section 232(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and section 1(1)(a) of the Supreme Court (Additional Original jurisdiction) Act, 2022 relate to the disputes that can be brought to the Supreme Court in its original jurisdiction. As stated above, this is particularly a dispute between the Plaintiff States and the Federal government. To this effect, the Supreme Court has the requisite jurisdiction to entertain and determine this suit as presently constituted.

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This is the lot of many a Nigerian today  getting basic needs is nearly impossible. We have all been pauperised by bad governance and bad government policies; or you have money and have no access to it  whether old or new notes, and everyone is crying in unison for help! As at early this week, and while people waited for the Supreme Court pronouncement on the issue, there was confusion over whether to spend old or new notes. In most cases, neither the old nor new notes are available.

No one can discountenance the disenchantment in the land. It is written all over the place; in our countenance; in our body language; in our action, or inaction. This time, almost eight years ago, there was excitement in the air; the joy of a new dawn, a new government, and a new direction in the certainty of a Buhari presidency. That government is on its way out; and instead of celebrating accomplishments hoped for, we are singing a dirge, while rendering tales of misery and desolation.

Such is the case of the man I encountered last Friday somewhere around the market, not too far from my neighbourhood. As I waited for my son to pick some fruits from the market, this man approached me and sought my help to buy medications prescribed by the doctor for his sick daughter. First, he made a disclosure, that he was not begging for money. As evidence, he showed me the ones he had been able to buy. As I made to go, not believing him, I saw him put his arms across his head in a mourning mood. To his surprise, I returned, drove him to the pharmacy and did the needful. I didnt ask for details; but like everyone else, it is either the man did not have money, cash, or could not retrieve what he had in the bank. Or the ATM/POS would not discharge cash for lack of network signals.

As we all know, some bank branches have been shut down and so there are limited places to complain. A few days back, I used my Zenith Bank ATM in a filling station. The transaction declined, got reversed, but still my money had been deducted without it being returned into my account. Because it happened at the beginning of the weekend, there was nowhere to take my case to. Even now, the crowds in a few branches of the bank open are thick. That bank is Zenith, which unfortunately is at the zenith of the woes of Nigerians.

A colleague sent some money from a GTBank account to my UBA account. One week and counting, we still cant trace the money. The money is probably still travelling from Lagos to Abuja, the two most consequential cities in Nigeria, one as commercial capital and the other as political capital of the country, where both of us live. Where else do things work?

This is the lot of many a Nigerian today  getting basic needs is nearly impossible. We have all been pauperised by bad governance and bad government policies; or you have money and have no access to it  whether old or new notes, and everyone is crying in unison for help! As at early this week, and while people waited for the Supreme Court pronouncement on the issue, there was confusion over whether to spend old or new notes. In most cases, neither the old nor new notes are available. It is also likely that CBN is not storing the old notes in their vault for re-circulation. In any case, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele has declared that the old naira notes have ceased to be legal tenders. There is also the allegation that the cash available are mopped up by politicians for the purpose of buying votes. Whatever.

The economic woes triggered by government itself have merely compounded an already bad situation. Insecurity has continued unabated. An acquittance who went home, to a border town in Katsina State, told me how bad the situation in his part of the state is. He said the locals are arming themselves to defend their communities and every night is a nightmare because of gunshots and counter-gun shots between bandits and local vigilante groups.

Our concern is the governments reluctance to alter a policy that is hurting us all, and obviously not working well, no matter the good intention. So far, all entreaties and interventions have not eased the sufferings of the people. You wonder what would have happened if there had not been an extension beyond the 30th of January. Yet, there is no cash in the CBN vault. And dont get me wrong; I have no problem with the policy. I only want it effectively implemented.

Our representatives, the lawmakers are not united and decisive about the issue, and as such cannot prevail on the president and CBN governor. Instead, they are playing politics with the problems. When push comes to shove, the lawmakers have the influence, connection and access to available new notes. Those who have the money to buy votes for self-perpetuation (the politicians) are hoarding it, while others are complaining and asking for extensions to the acceptability of the old banknotes. Still, others are a bit comfortable with the arrangement. Yet, there is anguish and frustration in the land. Meanwhile the economy is in bad shape, there are low sales for the vulnerable market people who survive from hand to mouth.

The economic woes triggered by government itself have merely compounded an already bad situation. Insecurity has continued unabated. An acquittance who went home, to a border town in Katsina State, told me how bad the situation in his part of the state is. He said the locals are arming themselves to defend their communities and every night is a nightmare because of gunshots and counter-gun shots between bandits and local vigilante groups.

As such, I was not surprised about a recent attack and the killing of vigilante members in the state. In early February, 102 members of YanSakai, a vigilante group in the Yargoje forest of Bakori Local Government Area in Katsina State were killed by bandits. The killings affected communities like Guga, Kakumi, Kandarawa and Jargaba, according to a PREMIUM TIMES report. The only offence of the people was their attempts to defend their means of economic survival, and retrieve their rustled cattle. In addition to their bereavement, imagine what the families are going through with the lack of cash everywhere.

From the economic to social disorders, the political outlook is not inspiring. Political violence permeates the landscape, and many have lost their lives daring to be different and hold contrary political beliefs. At the Labour Party mega rally over the past weekend, Peter Obis supporters were attacked by thugs, while voters are being threatened to either vote for a particular candidate or face the music.

The Buhari presidency is winding down. There is no reason to believe the conspiracy of tenure elongation. However, unlike eight years back when people were hopeful and enthusiastic, people are generally lukewarm now. There is anger, hunger and suffering. Nigerians are daily assaulted and inundated with less than humane policies, and there is no genuine effort to cushion associated hardships.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just told a bewildered nation that elections will not hold in 240 polling units in 28 states of the federation. There are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 states and the FCT. They range from one polling unit to 12 polling units in each state and the FCT, except Taraba and Imo states with 34 and 38 polling units respectively. No new registrants chose the polling units and no voters indicated interest to transfer to them during the last continuous voter registration, mainly for SECURITY reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said early this week.

The Buhari presidency is winding down. There is no reason to believe the conspiracy of tenure elongation. However, unlike eight years back when people were hopeful and enthusiastic, people are generally lukewarm now. There is anger, hunger and suffering. Nigerians are daily assaulted and inundated with less than humane policies, and there is no genuine effort to cushion associated hardships. In the past, perceived unpopular policies were accompanied with some palliatives and succour. Not anymore. Meaning? The people dont matter.

The story will be told of how a supposed people-inspired government came in a blaze of glory and exited in ignominy, leaving misery, tears, pains and economic turbulence in its trail.

We are however consoled that election will hold, so we can start on a new slate. Thankfully, almost all the security agencies are committed to free and fair elections and a smooth transition. Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor reiterated the readiness of the security forces to support the president in his avowed determination to, in the least, exit with a legacy of transparent elections, while defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria. Ditto with IGP Usman Baba.

Zainab Suleiman Okino is Editorial Board chair of Blueprint Newspaper and a syndicated columnist. She can be reached via zainabokino@gmail.com.

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As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections, it is worth remembering that the very ability to participate in the election of leaders at every level of government, while not a magic bullet to solving all problems, is one of the most powerful tools in the quest for self-determination. One that is far more powerful than cynicism.

On the morning of 24 September 1998, General Abdulsalam A. Abubakar, the then military head of state of Nigeria, took the stage at the United Nations Headquarters and informed the leaders there assembled for the United Nations General Assembly debates and the world at large of his intention to return Nigeria to a democratically elected civilian government on 29 May 1999. Nigerians, however hopeful, had reason to be skeptical due to previous unfulfilled promises of this nature. However, as promised, on 29 May 1999, General Abdulsalam A. Abubakar handed over the reins of government to a democratically elected president in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. This marked the transition to civilian rule by the most populated country on the African continent. That single move rekindled the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of millions of black and African youths, not only in Nigeria, but around the world.

Unfortunately, many Nigerians are becoming ever more cynical about democracy and its ability to deliver on its promises of development, peace, and economic prosperity. This cynicism has driven participation in general elections to record lows, and migration to record highs. As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections, it is worth remembering that the very ability to participate in the election of leaders at every level of government, while not a magic bullet to solving all problems, is one of the most powerful tools in the quest for self-determination. One that is far more powerful than cynicism.

In the 1999 general elections that pitted Olusegun Obasanjo, the former military ruler, against banker and former Finance Minister, Olu Falae, the election turnout was 52.3% of the eligible voters, according to data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). That number went up to an all-time high of almost 70% in the 2003 elections that saw then President Obasanjo win reelection. By the 2019 elections, it plummeted to a participation rate of 35%. The steady and dramatic decline in participation in the last few election cycles is troubling for a country with so much at stake. The decline in voter participation is well attributed and, on the surface, appears to be driven by cynicism in the democratic process.

Despite these challenges, and they are deep and many, several indicators highlight that Nigeria is on the path to progress and democratic maturity. What it needs now is a more engaged, active and constructive citizenry, especially the 59 million Nigerian youth between the ages of 18 and 35, who make up 53% of the total voting age population.

The beauty of a multiethnic pluralist democracy like Nigerias lies in its citizens ability to criticise, admonish and ultimately replace elected officials. As such, peaceful dissent is one of the most beautiful features of democracy. When dissent evolves into cynicism and ultimately disengagement from the political process, then it significantly weakens democracy and its intended benefits. A London School of Economics study in 2008 suggested that cynicism can affect the health of democracy, blurring the line between legitimate distaste for an administration, with distaste for government altogether. This can have wide implications for the cohesiveness of society. It dissuades people from participating in politics, encourages them to turn away from credible media sources, incites people to join pressure groups or, in more extreme cases, to resort to violence against fellow citizens and/or the state.

As the largest black democracy in the world, and largest economy on the African continent, Nigeria wields incredible political and cultural influence. A stable, secure, and successful Nigeria not only shows the rest of Africa what cooperation, resilience, and commitment to good governance, democratic principles, the amicable resolution of differences, and the rule of law looks like. The best way to show other African countries that coups and counter-coups, dictatorship, the silencing of dissenting voices are no longer desirable, is not only by condemning, preaching, and sanctioning them, it is by showing that democracy can work in complex and developing nations

When I arrived in Nigeria in 2019, what I found most fascinating was that the people across the country were not obsessed with barriers, they were doers, creators, and problem solvers. In the three-and-a-half years since, the country has faced unprecedented challenges: the sharp decline in oil prices, followed by a global pandemic COVID-19 that disrupted the global economy, currency volatility and rising insecurity, which has been exacerbated by violent insurgency in parts of the country. Despite these challenges, and they are deep and many, several indicators highlight that Nigeria is on the path to progress and democratic maturity. What it needs now is a more engaged, active and constructive citizenry, especially the 59 million Nigerian youth between the ages of 18 and 35, who make up 53% of the total voting age population.

Despite the number of people who are cynical about democracy, the level of cynicism in itself can be seen as a positive factor. It is a positive factor in that it helps with measuring the level of emotions of people on the basis of their age groups, such as the youth, and, in-turn, it can be used to convince them on the importance of democracy.

During UNDP Nigerias and Yiaga Africas #SixtyPercentOfUs campaign, youths were mobilised and encouraged to actively participate in the upcoming elections. Although young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 make up about 40% of registered voters, only 46% of these voters turned out to vote in the 2019 presidential election.

In my time as the Resident Representative of UNDP in Nigeria, I have been privileged to visit up to two-thirds of the states in Nigeria. I have also had the honour of interacting and engaging with Nigerians across the different sectors of the society, from ordinary citizens to the government and the private sector, and even the burgeoning creative industry. Despite the challenges that Nigeria has to grapple with, I am happy to report that Nigerias promise is brightly lit across this diverse and colourful country. At UNDP, we remain committed to providing Nigeria with the support it needs to ensure that the promise of a prosperous, a more equal and peaceful Nigeria becomes a reality for all its citizens.

Despite the number of people who are cynical about democracy, the level of cynicism in itself can be seen as a positive factor. It is a positive factor in that it helps with measuring the level of emotions of people on the basis of their age groups, such as the youth, and, in-turn, it can be used to convince them on the importance of democracy. I believe that the coming elections present a renewed opportunity to steer the country, and by extension the continent, in the direction of democratic consolidation and economic progress.

Mohamed Yahya is the resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria.

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Have you visited Polaris Bank corporate website, lately? If not, do not hesitate to check it out. You would be pleasantly surprised by the refreshing changes the Banks website has undergone, ostensibly to serve millions of her customers within and outside Nigeria.

Below are the four unique features of the redesigned Polaris Bank corporate website you would see when you visit and navigate through site:

Improved User Experience (UX): The website has been redesigned with a modern and intuitive interface that is more user-friendly, and visually appealing. It is now easier for customers to complete desired actions, such as carrying out transactions or filling out a form.

Faster Load Times: The redesign has also resulted in faster loading time for the website, which improves the overall performance of the website and provides a better experience for customers.

Mobile Responsiveness: The website is more mobile-friendly. It now looks and functions the same way across different devices and screen sizes, ensuring that users can access the site on their smartphones and tablets with ease.

Improved Content: Content on all web pages has been simplified and segmented to ensure easy understanding for visitors and customers who engage with the website.

Polaris Bank is redefining banking products and services that meet the needs of individuals and businesses. The bank was adjudged Digital Bank of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

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As Nigerians look forward to an exciting presidential contest, which analysts said is the closest and perhaps the most unpredictable since the countrys return to democratic rule 24 years ago, on 25 February, not much is being said about the election to choose members into the bi-cameral parliament of Africas biggest democracy.

Though the election to elect the 469 members of both houses of the National Assembly  the Senate and House of Representatives, as the countrys parliament is known, will be held simultaneously with the presidential election, understandably it is the election to choose the countrys leader that is attracting all the attention.

But in some instances, the often overlooked election to elect members of the National Assembly can be as exciting and packed with intrigues as the presidential poll. What is more, in many instances, the success of a partys candidate in the National Assembly election is often of pointer to the partys performance in the presidential election.

PREMIUM TIMES takes a look at some of the senatorial contests in the North-west region that promises as much excitement as the presidential election. These contests are between old political foes, former allies, governors versus entrenched godfathers, and godfathers against their former proteges.

Aleiro Vs Bagudu

This promises to be the most exciting senatorial contest in the region. Former governor Adamu Aliero was first elected into the Senate in 2007 to represent Kebbi Central district after he completed his two-term tenure as governor of the state. But he resigned his appointment for a ministerial position in the Umoru YarAdua cabinet. He, however, was re-elected to the Senate in 2015.

When Mr Aliero was leaving the Senate in 2008, he supported his friend, Abubakar Bagudu to replace him. Mr Bagudu later became governor in 2015. In 2015 he was steadfastly behind Mr Alieros bid to return to the Senate.

When it became obvious that Mr Bagudu was eyeing the senate position at the end of his tenure as governor, Mr Aliero, the incumbent senator of the district, decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As expected, Mr Bagudu contested in the primary and won while Mr Aliero emerged as the candidate of the PDP, pitching both men  a former governor and the incumbent governor- against each other.

Tambuwal Vs Danbaba

In Sokoto State, the fight for Sokoto South Senatorial district promises to be an intense battle between the incumbent governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who seeks to wrest the position from Ibrahim Danbaba.

Mr Danbaba was an ally of Mr Tambuwal in 2015 when both men were the All Progressives Congress (APC). So much was Mr Tambuwals influence on Mr Danbaba that when the governor defected to the PDP just before the 2019 election, Mr Danbaba moved with him to the chagrin of their political godfather, Aliyu Wamakko.

But their friendship soon turned sour. When Mr Tambuwal contested for the presidential ticket of the PDP, he appointed Aminu Bodinga, said to be his most trusted ally as a placeholder for the senatorial position, that was when Mr Danbaba realised his former friend was gunning for his senatorial seat.

He immediately returned to the APC to the waiting hands of Mr Wamakko and was elected the APC senatorial candidate for the district, creating the ground for another exciting contest on 25 February.

Wamakko Vs Dan Iya

Aliyu Wamakko is perhaps the most influential politician in Sokoto State. the other politician that is closely as influential as him is another former governor Attahiru Bafarawa. Mr Wamakko has been in the Senate since 2015. His main challenger, Nasiru Dan Iya, is the incumbent deputy governor of the state. While Mr Wamakko represents APC, Mr Dan Iya represents PDP. The contest for the Sokoto Central seat will an interesting one to behold as Mr Iya, just as his principal, Mr Tambuwal, was a protege of Mr Wamakko.

While Mr Wamakko will be fighting to retain his political cred, he will be up against an incumbent who is also banking on his ascendancy  he is a descendant of the greatest Islamic scholar of Northern Nigeria, Usman Dan Fodio  to displace his former idol.

Babba-Kaita Vs Zango

In Katsina, the contest in President Muhammadu Buharis senatorial district promises all the fireworks of the keenly contested political tussle. The contest is made even made more balance by Mr Buharis aloofness towards the election. If Buhari, who enjoyed a cult following across northern Nigeria, was openly campaigning for his party candidates in his home constituency, the contest would have been over before it even began.

But following the acrimonious primary election in the region where many allies of the president were edged out and his refusal to intervene, several of the partys foot soldiers and influencers defected to the main opposition party, the PDP there throwing the contests for positions in the state open.

In the senatorial election in the Katsina North district (commonly referred to as Daura zone, after the presidents home town), Ahmed Babba  Kaita the incumbent senator will be fighting to retain his seat against Nasir Zango of the APC.

Mr Zango is the current House of Representatives member representing Zango and Baure. He has been in the House of Representatives since 2011.

Mr Babba-Kaita left the APC, alleging persecution by Aminu Masari, the governor of the state. Since then, he has become of the most vocal critics of President Buhari and Mr Masari.

This contest promises to be exciting as APC will try to reclaim the zone since its the presidents zone. The state government will also play a role as the governor will be bent on humiliating Mr Babba-Kaita, following his open antagonism towards him.

Gaya Vs Sumaila

Kano South Senatorial district is the traditional battleground in the commercial hub of northern Nigeria. The district traditionally sides with the opposition. But since 2007, one man, Kabiru Gaya, a former governor of the state, has been elected into the Senate. but that may change this year with the emergence of Kawu Sumaila, another veteran National Assembly member . He was a member of the House of Representatives member from 2003 to 2015- as the candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

The contest between both veterans is one to look forward to. Mr Sumaila is a famed grassroots mobiliser and will definitely bring his goodwill among rural dwellers to play in the contest. What is more, within a year, the NNPP has risen from complete obscurity to upstaging the PDP as the main opposition party in the state. All thanks to its presidential candidate and a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

But Mr Gaya is not a pushover. It takes a lot of gravitas to remain the sole senatorial representative of a battleground district for 16 years. And he will pull all the stops to triumph over his latest challenger.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians and messed up by approving the naria redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said.

Mr Baba-Ahmed, on Tuesday during an interview on Channels TV, described the redesign of the naira as the biggest demarketing strategy against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said the Buhari administration has in the past couple of weeks destroyed the informal sector with the Naira scarcity.

He said the hardship caused by the policy is demarketing the ruling party in the northern part of the country.

He said the worst enemy of the APC could not have picked a better demarketing strategy against the ruling party.

According to him, it appears that President Muhammadu Buhari is not listening to anybody even though he could end the fiasco by allowing the two currencies to operate side by side.

We got here because President Muhammadu Buhari has messed up to have allowed this type of fiasco to exist on the eve of an election when you are campaigning to have your party voted for.

This money thing is a major demarketing strategy for the APC. If the worst enemy of the APC had designed strategy for them to lose the election, he could not have picked a better strategy than this fiasco on redesigning of the Naira.

Their own people are saying it was designed to make Tinubu lose, the governors said this was designed to make him (Tinubu) lose. The candidate himself said the policy was designed to make him lose.

People are starving  literally, people are starving. There is no money. In four weeks, you have destroyed the informal sector of the economy in one fell swoop because there is no money, there is no cash. Literally, there is a lot of anger, to see a situation where the president either appears unwilling or incapable of reigning in Emefiele by saying, listen, there are options, we can have the two running in the next six month, he said.

Mr Buhari had after a meeting with some governors of the ruling party said he should be given seven days to take action on the scarcity of the bank notes. He has yet to do so, over 10 days after he made the pledge.

Last week, the president convened a meeting of the Council of State, and the council resolved that the central bank should aggressively print and circulate more naira notes.

Equally, there is a substantive order by the Supreme Court that mandated the federal government to suspend the deadline of 10 February pending the decision on the suit filed by the governors of Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara State.

However, Mr Emefiele has disregarded the order of the Supreme Court as he announced that the 10 February deadline stands. The court is set to hear the argument of the two sides on 15 February.

Assessing the frontrunners

Speaking on the presidential race, Mr Ahmed said the NEF is still looking at all the major frontrunners and it will make its decision in no time.

He said the forum will make its decision putting the interest of the north ahead of all others. He stated that the north will not be bullied by those calling for power shift to the south.

Our position has always been consistent, this rotation thing is a PDP gimmick which they never respected. The power belongs to where the voters are and it goes to the candidates that get the most votes. We have votes in the north, and we have candidates.

READ ALSO:

We noticed that in some parts of the south, people are harping on it must come to the south but we thought the language of it must come is overrated. You dont win elections with it must language.

This country needs a leader that can hold it together and unite it. We are looking at the value of the people. We are looking at the calibre of the people. We are not looking at the language. We are not impressed and we are not intimidated. We will not vote for a candidate just because his supporters used certain language. What that does is that it demarkets the candidate. We have gone past that.

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The Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado-Bayero, has called for the inclusion of women in politics to move the nation forward.

Mr Ado-Bayero made the call while receiving the wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Oluremi Tinubu, in Kano on Wednesday.

According to him, women have a vital role to play in Nigerias democracy, which will only be possible if given the opportunity.

He said the visit would go a long way in paving way for the wife of the APC flag bearer to discuss with women to know their needs and aspirations.

On her part, Mrs Tinubu said she was in Kano to engage women and inform them what Tinubu and Kashim would prioritise if elected.

She explained that education, health, agriculture, security, commerce and entrepreneurship training for women were cardinal objectives of Tinubus administration if elected.

She called on women in the state to vote for APC in the forthcoming general elections to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Tinubu and Shettima would come up with incentives that would ensure enrollment, retention, transition and completion of girls education, she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that after the visit to the palace, the wife of the APC presidential candidate attended a Town Hall meeting with women at the Kano State Government House.

Speaking during the town hall meeting, Kano State First Lady, Hafsat Ganduje, noted that Governor Abdullahi Gandujes administration had prioritised women by engaging them in politics and governance.

It is a collective responsibility for all to put hands together to ensure that APC emerged victorious in the forthcoming general election.

It is only Kano State that has declared free and compulsory education, Mr Ganduje said.

NAN reports that the town hall meeting was attended by the state governor, over 60 womens groups, commissioners, wives of local government chairpersons and house of assembly members and party officials, among others. (NAN)

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THE revival of the once defunct Kawambwa Tea Company is helping the country become self-sufficient in tea beverages while creating the much needed economic survival of the rural Kawambwa communities.

Tea, like coffee, can play a huge role in rural industrialisation and spurring incomes in rural parts of the country as it helps the country reach import substitution.

Kawambwa and other areas in the country have a favourable environment for growing tea varieties for both local consumption and the export market.

In the past few years, the country has been importing tea due to lack of a local processing company following the collapse of the local tea producing company.

Kawambwa Tea Industries Limited is becoming Zambia's major commercial tea producer and the narrative is slowly changing for the better.

The government established the tea company for the purposes of promoting self-reliance through import substitution, enhancing food security, creating employment opportunities for the surrounding communities, supporting poverty reduction initiatives, and accelerating social infrastructure development.

The company which was formally called Kawambwa Tea Company since its inception passed through different ownership.

Since its establishment more than 50 years ago, the company has been in the hands of different owners leading to its total collapse until 2016.

The company started as a government tea-growing project in 1969 in Kawambwa District, Luanpula Province and was later commercialised as a state company in 1975 while the tea processing factory was commissioned in 1976.

The company was later privatised and sold to a Zimbabwean firm Khumul Holdings which took over until 2016 when the government signed an acquisition order to repossess it.

The collapse of the sole tea producer in the country led the country to start importing all its tea and related requirements.

Following the acquisition of the company, the government handed over the management of the plantation to the Zambia Forest and Forestry Industries Corporation (ZAFFICO) and the recapitalisation of the company to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

In 2019, a team of government officials and ZAFFICO staff were sent to Kenya to learn the value chain and out-grower model best practices from Africa's biggest tea producer.

According to some research, the tea industry in Kenya accounts for four per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), creating more than 10 million jobs with tea fields sitting on more than 220,000 hectares of land.

There are more than 700,000 out-grower farmers who own tea farms ranging from one to more than 50 hectares in 21 counties of Kenya.

Following the visit to that country, ZAFFICO imported 300,000 tea cuttings from there which are now nurturing the mother bushes for the Kawambwa Tea project.

The tea cuttings consisted of 10 species procured from the Tea Research Institute of Kenya with a variety of green, yellow and purple tea among others.

The tea cuttings necessary to cater for 1,000 hectares of trees were planted on 20 hectares of land.

The IDC has recapitalised the tea company and has managed to move it to a profit making position investing in plantation expansion, a robust irrigation system and processing factory.

The Kawambwa tea plantation now has 1,500 hectares of tea estate comprising 423 hectares of five tea varieties.

It now processes 30 tonnes of tea per day and has employed more than 650 permanent seasonal staff.

The company passed through a lot of transformation and today, it contributes to the economic growth and job creation of the country.

Following this transformation, the local brand is back on the market and the company has positioned itself to meet the demand of both the local and international market.

According to IDC, the local brand has hit the local retail market and is available in most of the chain store stores including Shoprite outlets across the country.

The company is now producing an array of tea varieties such as ginger tea, lemon tea, eucalyptus tea and cinnamon tea.

IDC acting chief portfolio officer Chimuka Nketani says Kawambwa Tea Industries has transformed and diversified to processing a variety of tea unlike the bulk tea it was solely processing previously.

Mr Nketani says the Kawambwa tea brand is now available on the retail market, chain stores and supermarkets around the country.

"Kawambwa tea is back on the market, it is back on the stage. It is a brand which every Zambian needs to have in the house and it is a brand which we need to promote and take pride in because it is our own local brand," he said.

He says the IDC has transformed Kawambwa tea from its loss-making era to profit making.

Mr Nketani says the IDC had invested in a modern irrigation system which had enabled the company to irrigate its tea plantation throughout the year.

On top of that, the company has introduced envelope tea bags to cater for the hospitality industry.

According to Mr Nketani, the envelope tea bags have since received good reviews from the local hospitality industry.

Company general manager Moses Silanda says due to the overwhelming reviews the envelope tea bags was receiving from hotels, the company has positioned itself to meet the demand and supply.

"We have these envelope tea bags we have introduced and supplied to hotels. All the reviews we have received are good and hotels are recommending our products. We are doing everything possible to cater for the demand and needs for this industry," he said.

He says apart from the envelop tea, the company has introduced different flavoured tea varieties to respond to the needs of consumers

Mr Silanda says the company has introduced cinnamon tea, ginger tea, lemon tea and garlic tea.

He says the company is currently selling bulk tea to both local and international markets.

To support the tea company and ensure that it meets its processing capacity and the demand for tea, farmers in Kawambwa have formed an out-grower association.

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The Kawambwa Tea Out-grower Association was formed in November last year with the aim of helping the Kawambwa Tea Industries to meet its processing capacity.

Association president Wiza Sindazi says there are currently 607 farmers under the association growing tea for supply to the company.

"We have a good number of farmers that grow tea. The purpose of growing this tea is to supplement the Kawambwa tea processing plant.

Currently, the company is only utilising 40 per cent of its installed capacity because it has not grown enough tea to process at 100 per cent," he said.

Mr SindazI says farmers are currently growing tea within the radius of 50 kilometres from the processing plant for easy delivery.

He says the out-grower association will help Kawambwa Tea Industries to boost its production and meet the growing demand.

He says despite tea being an expensive venture when starting, it is a lucrative and long term investment which benefits generations.

Mr Sindazi says one tea seedling costs K2.50 and that K32, 000 is required to plant a hectare of tea which would last for 100 years.

He says once planted, the tea plantation has to be maintained for four years before harvesting it for processing.

Mr Sindazi has called on the government to extend the Farmers Input and Support Programme (FISP) to tea farmers.

He says the extension of FISP to tea farmers will help in the development of the crop.

With so much effort being put in place by both government and stakeholders, there is no doubt that the production levels of the crop will grow and contribute to economic development.
A spokesperson of the People Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Dino Melaye, has dismissed claims by the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, that Atiku Abubakar, did not support people while he served as the vice president of Nigeria.

Atiku who is from Adamawa state was Nigerias vice president between 1999 to 2007 under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

On Tuesday, Mr Shettima in Yobe State said the northeast region of the country should not vote for the Peoples Democratic Partys presidential candidate, because the former vice-president neglected the region when he was in office.

Vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC instead of wasting your votes on someone who does not care about you and the entire region.

You cannot vote for someone that did eight years as Vice President without doing eight projects in his place. You cannot vote for someone that did eight years as Vice President without empowering eight people. Atiku does not empower people. He only cares about his business interest. Even the road to his village Ganye was constructed by the APC-led government of Mohammadu Buhari, Mr Shettima said.

Responding to Mr Shettima on Wednesday during a campaign rally in Jigawa state, Mr Melaye said Mr Shettimas claims were baseless lies against the PDP presidential candidate.

Mr Melaye said there are more than eight people across the country that Atiku supported who became successful politicians in the country.

According to him, Atiku supported a former governor of Adamawa State Boni Haruna; a former governor of Taraba State, Jolly Nyame; a former Minister of Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan; a former pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu, and the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.

Others are Garba Shehu, a media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, a former governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje; a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo; and a former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Minister of Power, Bartholomew Nnaji; and a former Deputy Speaker fo the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.

Mr Melaye said he is among the politicians Atiku supported and became what they are today. He also mentioned lawmaker Ben Obi and Usman Bugaji among others.

Ill set aside 10 billion dollars for youth empowerment  Atiku

In his remarks at the campaign rally, Atiku promised to set aside 10 billion dollars for empowerment programmes to support women and youth groups across the country.

He also promised to reopen Nigerias borders from all angles to make life easy for the citizens and facilitate the free flow of trading between neighbouring countries.

I will support farming and business because they are the main activities of the people of Jigawa State. Therefore I will open the borders to enable trade to be conducted across Nigeria and Niger Republic.

I will handle and resolve once and for all, the incessant problem strike by lecturers of the Nigerian Universities, Atiku said

He said Jigawa has about 350,000 unused hectares of arable land which he would help residents to utilise for farming.

Meanwhile, the elated former JIgawa governor, Sule Lamido, greeted the huge crowd that turned out for the rally. He described the youth as his sons and daughters and prayed for their future endeavours.

Mr Lamido called on the gathering to vote for Atiku, assuring that he will fulfil all the promises he made.

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Angry youths, on Wednesday, set ablaze commercial banks in some Nigerian cities as tension continued to grow over the scarcity of the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 currency notes.

Police spokesperson in Delta State, Bright Edafe, in a Twitter post on Wednesday, said some youths set ablaze two banks and two vehicles in Udu Local Government Area in the state.

Delta State is in South-south Nigeria.

The vehicles were set ablaze at a road junction in Udu, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.

We have arrested nine suspects so far, Mr Edafe said. Some persons will still call this protest, he added, apparently disapproving of the action taken by the youths.

The police spokesperson told PREMIUM TIMES around 6:14 p.m. that normalcy had been restored in the area. Everything is calm now, he said.

In Benin City, Edo State, rioters attacked a good number of banks, including Ecobank, Firstbank and UBA, according to the police spokesperson in the state, Chidi Nwabuzor.

They entered into the banks premises, destroyed the ATM machines, the buildings, window glasses and others, he said.

The police stopped the rioters from destroying vehicles of road users, Mr Nwabuzor, a superintendent of police, said.

A clip on the Benin riot circulating on social media captured a panicked Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) worker crying out of fear as the police fired teargas at the rioters who attempted to invade the bank.

Mr Nwabuzor said the police, including other security agencies, were out on the streets to quell the riot.

He said people were using old videos of the Endsars protests to mislead Internet users to think that some people had been killed during the riot.

At Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, some youths used discarded tyres to set up bonfires to barricade a major road which leads to where the CBN branch and other banks are located.

The youths had initially gathered peacefully in their numbers in front of the CBN branch along Udo Udoma Avenue to protest the continued scarcity of the new notes before tempers rose and they resorted to barricading the road.

We no go gree-oo, we no go gree! We no go gree-oo, we no go gree! they kept chanting in front of the bank.

A resident in Uyo told PREMIUM TIMES the police fired live ammunition and teargas at the protesters.

The police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Odiko Macdon, told PREMIUM TIMES the police acted swiftly to contend with the riotous gathering close to the CBN branch.

Commercial banks in Uyo city hurriedly closed out of fear that the protest could spread and spiral out of control.

Mr Macdon said peace had been restored and that the police were patrolling the city roads.

Okowa calls for calm

Meanwhile, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, has appealed to residents in Delta to remain peaceful, while the scarcity of the naira notes is being addressed.

We are fully aware of your concerns and the difficulties you face, but we strongly advise against resorting to violence, such as burning down banks that employ our people. Such actions will only exacerbate the problem and could have far-reaching consequences for our nation.

We once again appeal to everyone to refrain from violent acts and allow us to engage with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that more funds are made available to banks across the country, Mr Okowa said, while reacting to the violent attacks on banks in the state.

A counselling psychologist, Udeme Okono advises Nigerians: If you do not have the new naira notes, avoid public transport because everyone is angry.

Mr Okono said, Funnily, like every other knee-jerk government policy, this one is just setting us up against each other. The POS person, the market woman, the PMS dispenser etc., were merely victims.

The CBN, last December, introduced the new notes amid efforts to fight corruption, terrorism, counterfeiting and related crimes. However, Nigerians have had a hard time getting the new notes amid scarcity and rising tension across the country.

Before today, there had been violent protests in some states in South-west Nigeria.

There were violent protests in Oyo, Kwara and Ondo states on Wednesday.

An interim order from the Supreme Court of Nigeria restraining the CBN from enforcing its 10 February deadline for the use of the old naira notes seemed not to have worked, as the old notes were being rejected by many individuals and businesses across the country.

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Nigerias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tuesday, summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, over threats by Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, to stop the 2023 general election in Nigerias south-east.

Mr Ekpa, a factional leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has repeatedly declared sit-at-home orders across the South-east, insisting that there would be no election in the region in 2023.

The IPOB agitator recently declared a sit-at-home from 23 to 28 February apparently to stop the conduct of the 2023 general elections in the region.

The presidential election is slated to be held on 25 February.

He said the sit-at-home orders and stopping the 2023 elections in the region would help his faction of the IPOB to achieve the sovereign state of Biafra for Igbo-speaking people in South-east and South-south Nigeria.

Bilateral efforts

Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigerias minister of foreign affairs, met with the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs Pylvanainen, to discuss the threats by the factional IPOB leader, according to a report by Business Day newspaper.

Mr Onyeama, at the meeting, expressed displeasure over the recent sit-at-home orders given by Mr Ekpa to his teeming followers, who he said, consequently embarked on killings, maiming, burning and other destructive activities.

Mr Onyeama, represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, said Mr Ekpas action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming election, and that the Nigerian government would not take it lightly with him and the Finland government if nothing drastic was not done about his threats.

We thought it was important for us to have this chat with you to let you know that, of course, hes living in the comfort of his home there in Finland and we know that we have been in touch with your good self, Mr Onyeama stated.

Weve had some time to ensure that we arrest this situation but it appears the situation is getting out of hand. And were saying enough is enough. We should let you know, in very strong terms that its high time you really meant and backed Nigeria with the quest that something be done immediately because he threatens the forthcoming election, he added.

The foreign affairs minister lamented that the factional IPOB leader has huge followership on social media.

Its important to get to know that the 2023 elections are being threatened by the actions of someone and that something needs to be done immediately, to address the situation. This in essence is why we thought it was important for us to have this discussion with you, so as to let you know our concerns and the displeasure of the Government of Nigeria and the people of Nigeria on this very unhealthy development, the minister told Mrs Pylvanainen.

Finnish govt speaks

Responding, Mrs Pylvanainen said the Finnish government was already investigating the threats to determine how the matter fits into the legal framework of Finland, given that Mr Ekpa is a Nigerian-Finnish citizen.

The Finnish ambassador said there was a need to take his rights into consideration.

So, everything has to obviously be done according to Finnish legislation, she stated.

Mrs Pylvanainen described the threat by Mr Ekpa as an irritant in the relations between Nigeria and Finland.

The two countries are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations this year.

The Finnish ambassador said, with 60 years of excellent cooperation between the two countries, the Finnish government would not trade with anything that will jeopardise their relationship with Nigeria.

She said the threat to stop the Nigerian election was of serious concern to the Finnish government.

It is a topic on which we have been cooperating. Our authorities have been cooperating. There have been contacts between the law enforcement agencies of Nigeria and Finland on this topic, she said.

Weve had several discussions here in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which we do appreciate very much because you said this is an issue of national concern to Nigeria, but it is very much a concern for us as well. We are very much interested in the safe and secure conduct of these elections throughout the country, Mrs Pylvanainen added.

She said although Finland has very strong protections for freedom of speech the country does not condone hate speech and incitement to violence.

But of course, (there are) stipulations against hate speech and incitement to violence for us. The situation is really of concern on three accounts, even you could say it is of concern.

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China's tech-boosted economic recovery to deliver solid rebound

Xinhua) 16:50, February 15, 2023

TIANJIN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- In a science and technology park in north China's Tianjin municipality, dozens of mechanical arms moved along a production line, while busy robots carrying components weaved around.

Each day more than 2,000 sets of power batteries were turned out, which would be used for nearly 200 electric vehicles.

The scene is a sharp contrast to three years ago when production of the line was suspended from time to time in the Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Co., Ltd. due to an order shortage.

Lishen started providing power batteries for the Dongfeng Motor Corporation four years ago, delivering about 53,000 sets by last year. In 2023 alone, however, it is estimated that 45,000 sets will be supplied.

"We didn't stop working even during the Spring Festival holiday," said Zhao Xiaojun, deputy head of Lishen's power battery manufacturing department.

"Now that we are no longer worried about order shortage, we fear that we couldn't complete the orders on time."

Lishen is just one of the examples to show the resilience of the Chinese economy after the country relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions late last year.

According to statistics by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in 2022, output and sales of new energy vehicles in China were 7.06 million and 6.89 million, up 96.9 percent and 93.4 percent, respectively.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lifted its forecast for China's economic growth this year to 5.2 percent from a previous prediction of 4.4 percent.

Behind economic resilience is the ability of risk resistance.

Suppliers for Lishen are mostly domestic companies. Last May when the consignments were hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic, local authorities in Tianjin helped to arrange for closed-loop delivery so as to ensure production in Lishen.

"If we stop our production, the loss per day would be as much as 30 million yuan (about 4.4 million U.S. dollars)," said Zhao.

In 2022, in spite of the pandemic, the revenue of power batteries in Lishen soared by 76 percent.

The high-tech industry is an important driver of economic growth.

According to China's State Council Information Office, last year's investment in high-tech industries witnessed rapid growth, up 18.9 percent from the previous year. The growth rate for high-tech manufacturing was 22.2 percent, and the rate for high-tech services was 12.1 percent.

Another Tianjin-based company, TCL Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd., is working on its new project, producing a solar ultra-thin single wafer of 25 GW used for the transformation of light into electricity. Zhang Xuenan, deputy chief engineer of the company, told Xinhua that once in full operation, the project could generate a revenue of billions of yuan, creating jobs for thousands.

"This project is another example of China's economic growth potential," said Bo Wenguang, vice president of the Binhai Development Research Institute of Nankai University. "The potential is gradually expanded and unleashed."

Two new projects are under construction in Lishen, with investment for each topping ten billion yuan. A third one is being discussed. Once in operation, their combined production capacity could be at least ten times the company's current capacity.

"I'm sure that constant innovation, research, and development could keep injecting impetus into our company," said Lishen's general manager, Zhang Qiang.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Maputo  Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday announced the immediate disbursement of 10 million US dollars for post-flood reconstruction activities.

Nyusi was addressing the nation on the floods crisis, after overflying the worst affected areas, in the Umbeluzi and Incomati river basins, in Manhica, Boane, Magude, Namaacha and Moamba districts, all in Maputo province.

The number of people affected by the storms and flooding in Maputo city and province, is now put at over 39,000. 306 schools were affected, some so badly that they cannot function at all. As a result 118,000 pupils are unable to study.

11 schools have been turned into temporary accommodation centres for flood victims.

The storms knocked down electricity pylons, and swamped transformer posts. 18,500 electricity consumers were plunged into darkness.

As for agriculture, 6,645 hectares of assorted crops were inundated, affecting about 30,000 households.

Nyusi said the government has drawn up a "Joint Response Plan" to provide food for over 53,000 people in the next seven days. Clean drinking water will also be provided.

The government has decided to place technical brigades of the National Roads Administration (ANE) at key positions, with the task of ensuring basic conditions so that traffic can keep moving along the roads.

"We shall carry out a survey of the damage and losses", said Nyusi, "in order to repair the affected infrastructures, and normalise the water supply".

The government will distribute seeds to the households affected by the floods so that they can plant for the second sowings of this agricultural year. Access to credit for commercial farmers is being negotiated with the banks.

Duly identified residents of the worst hit area, the municipality of Boane, will benefit from a 50 per cent reduction in public transport fare for the next three months.

Dt/pf (307) 48223E WFP SENDS HELICOPTER TO MONITOR FLOODS

Maputo, 15 Feb (AIM) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has made a helicopter available to monitor the flooded areas in Maputo province, where an estimated 39,000 people have been affected by floods in the Umbeuzi and Incomati river basins.

Speaking to reporters in Manhica district, some 80 kilometres north of the capital, Luisa Meque, the chairperson of the Mozambican relief agency, the National Disaster Management Instiutute (INGD), said the helicopter was already in operation.

The WFP, she said, had made the helicopter available to monitor the flooded areas in Maputo province - but, if necessary, it could be used in other parts of the country.

Meque recognised the support for flood victims provided by civil society organisations. "There's a very strong movement in Maputo province, supporting the victims", she said. "We hope people will continue this solidarity".

Meque said that, in the accommodation centres for flood victims run by the INGD, there are mobile clinics, and technical staff from the electricity company, EDM, and from the government's Water Supply Investment and Assets Fund (FIPAG). "We have a very large group, with people participating from all sectors", she said.

As for the impact of the floods on Manica, the district administrator, Maria Fernanda, said that, of the 256,000 people living in the district, only 524 needed to be rescued from the flood waters and resettled.

They were all healthy, she said, including three pregnant women, "who are fully assisted".

Fernanda added that members of the Mozambican armed forces (FADM) are carrying out search and rescue operations in all corners of the district, but so far they had found no groups of people isolated by the flood waters of the Incomati.

The known death toll from the floods is seven, and about 3,500 houses have been inundated.

Pf/ (303) 49223E THREE CASES OF CHOLERA IN TAMBARA

Chimoio (Mozambique), 15 Feb (AIM) - The central Mozambican province of Manica has recorded thre cases of cholera, after 11 years in which Manica was cholera free.

The three cases were diagnosed in Tambara district, in the north of the province. Tambara borders on Tete province which has been fighting an outbreak of cholera, believed to have been imported from Malawi.

The director of the Manica provincial health services, Xavier Izidoro, confirmed the three cases on Tuesday and said the health authorities are working to prevent the disease from spreading to other parts of Manica.

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"We have other cases of diarrhoea", Izidoro said, "and we are working to see whether these are cholera or not. Laboratory analysis has not yet confirmed other cases of cholera beyond these first three". None of the three confirmed cases has died.

"Cholera has been diagnosed in the neighbouring provinces of Tete and Sofala. This puts us on a situation of maximum alert", he stressed. "We are prepared. We don't want our province to record any more cases of the disease".

A contingency plan has been drawn up for cholera prevention throughout the province. "In all health units in the province medical equipment is available to deal with any case related with cholera. We have medicines available too. So we can say that we are prepared", declared Izidoro.

In Chimoio city, a centre has already been installed to treat all diarrhoeal diseases. "There are health professionals prepared to respond to any outbreak which might occur in our province", he added.

"We have been moitoring all cases of diarhoea registered in Manica", continued Izidoro. "So far, everything is calm. But i tis important that we pay attention to avoid the occurrence of cholera".
ROME, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Pure Flour from Europe" project, managed by ITALMOPA (the Italian Milling Industry Association) and co-funded by the European Union to promote the export of Made in Europe and Made in Italy-certified organic soft / durum wheat flour and organic semolina in Canada and the USA, ahead of its presence at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, LA, on March 9-11, 2023,

PRESENTS

Pure organic flours and semolina from Europe for a sustainable and healthy choice on your table, every day! Tweet this (PRNewsfoto/Pure Flour From Europe)

the exclusive star menu for "a winter sea" created by one-star Michelin chef Angelo Carannante. Three signature recipes: fresh spaghettone cooked in anchovy extract, mussels, coffee, cinnamon, cocoa nibs and Sichuan pepper, steak tartare and a reinterpretation of his most famous dessert, the " caracolato ". In this special menu, Carannante, who is considered one of the most important Michelin starred Italian chefs, showcases the importance of using organic flours and organic semolina, rich in nutrients, free of toxic substances and which embrace a healthy and ethical philosophy, for the creation of dishes you can serve at home "every day". An "organic-starred" cuisine, where the recipes maximize the use of exceptional raw materials such as Made in Europe organic flours and organic semolina.

To learn more about the quality and properties of organic flours and organic semolina made in the EU, visit our booth #5233 at the "Natural Products Expo West. The representatives of some of the most important Italian mills, including Molino Casillo (booth #5134), Molini De Vita (booth #5237) and Molino Grassi (booth #5235), will be there to provide you with all the information you need to identify the best organic flours and organic semolina for your table. It will be an excellent opportunity for journalists, influencers, chefs, distribution and catering professionals to understand more about this project and its objectives, discover other recipes and news related to the use of organic flour and organic semolina and experience in first person their exceptional taste thanks to the daily cooking sessions from our on-site chefs Francesco Allegro and Gerson Jossue Rivas Saravia who will amaze you with their fresh pasta, gnocchi, wraps and cookies.

Enjoy. It's from Europe!

Find out more on: www.pureflourfromeurope.us

Follow us on: Instagram - Facebook - Youtube

CONTACT:

Manuela Barzan

[email protected]

SOURCE ITALMOPA--PURE FLOUR FROM EUROPE
Telecom MSP expands service portfolio, partnerships, headcount, and European footprint, fueled by strong YoY growth

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantage Communications Group (Advantage), a global telecom managed services provider (MSP), today announced double digit year-over-year growth for the previous five years, driven by a heightened need for flexible and secure network connectivity and cloud communications services and a strong commitment to internal development and expansion.

"2022 was a year of strong geographic, financial, service and workforce growth for the company," says Advantage Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer Steve Rome. "Businesses everywhere are realizing that their legacy infrastructure is inefficient, expensive, and lacking critical security features. We help businesses address all of these issues, particularly as current events impact their operations, in addition to significant cost and labor savings."

Throughout 2022, Advantage has been focusing on increasing its global footprint. They successfully brought on additional workforce in Lyon, France and Portugal to extend the reach of the European headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. Advantage's expansion efforts and hiring of additional employees will provide greater local support for its regional clients and allow the company to reach more customers in high-growth international markets.

To support the substantial growth of its EMEA client base, including a 6B building materials enterprise, numerous pharmaceuticals, and hospitality organizations, Advantage onboarded 10 new European team members in sales and engineering capacities in addition to 35 new staff the U.S added in the last year alone. The firm anticipates a similar or steeper growth trajectory in 2023.

Advantage attributes its growth in part to its consistently broadening services portfolio that anticipates the needs of today's evolving enterprises. Advantage recently added a new automated bill payment solution to its portfolio of managed offerings to complement its full lifecycle expense management service. This new service combines a centralized, automated accounts payable process with real-time visibility across the entire billing lifecycle for telecom and networking expenses within Advantage's proprietary customer expense portal, Command Center.

Also of note is the company's focus on forming new partnerships. In August, Advantage joined forces with Extreme Networks to make its white-glove managed telecom services available to Extreme customers. This innovative collaboration enables Extreme customers to simplify their infrastructure lifecycle, and centralize inventory and expenses.

In Europe, Advantage also partnered with Conscia, a firm specializing in networking, cloud and cybersecurity on a number of joint engagements. With their reach and offices throughout the EU, Consica  which is also celebrating its 20th anniversaryis an ideal complement for customers needing design and implementation of infrastructure.

As a leading global MSP, Advantage reduces IT complexity and administrative burdens for enterprises. Customers also benefit from a single partner for end-to-end IT optimization, including procurement, provisioning, implementation, inventory, and expense management.

"2023 will be a special year for Advantage, as we celebrate our 20th year in business," says Advantage CEO David Gardner. "Our team is firing on all cylinders. We couldn't be more excited for another year of innovation, differentiation and extraordinary growth."

About Advantage Communications Group, LLC

Advantage Communications Group mitigates the complexity of a constantly evolving IT landscape. Through hundreds of global service provider partnerships, our deep bench of technology practitioners and groundbreaking software, we make it easy to optimize your network and telecom infrastructure. We simplify the sourcing process, implement your selected solution, reduce your costs post deployment, and filter out the noise to distill technology chaos into data-driven, decision-useful information. As an end-to-end Telecom MSP, we optimize your communications solutions across voice, data, cloud, video and mobility.

Visit www.advantagecg.com to learn more.

About Extreme Networks

Extreme Networks, Inc. ( EXTR ) is a leader in cloud networking focused on delivering services that connect devices, applications, and people in new ways. We push the boundaries of technology leveraging the powers of machine learning, artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation. 50,000 customers globally trust our end-to-end, cloud-driven networking solutions and rely on our top-rated services and support to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and deliver progress like never before. For more information, visit Extreme's website at https://www.extremenetworks.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn , YouTube , Twitter , Facebook or Instagram .

About Conscia

Conscia is a European IT specialist in networking, cyber security, and cloud providing secure infrastructure solutions and 24-7 managed services to clients with complex network, data center, cloud, IOT, and mobility demands. Conscia delivers best-in-class technical competencies and insights, and as a trusted advisor strives to support customers' business-critical technology systems across the entire life cycle from design, implementation and operation to optimization.

Founded in 2003, Conscia today has approximately 1,000 employees serving some of the largest organizations within financial services, healthcare, public sector, manufacturing, utilities, and retail from offices in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, and Slovenia. The long-term ambition of Conscia is to become the preferred networking and cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity partner in Europe for customers and vendors.

Contact:

Mostafa Razzak

1-917-912-0623

[email protected]

SOURCE Advantage Communications Group
A new regional manager joins the national industry-leading Field Marketing Organization in the Medicare market to recruit, train and empower agents.

ENGLEWOOD, Fla., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Advocate Health Advisors is thrilled to announce Almo Cattani has joined the team as a regional manager, South Florida. Within his new role, Cattani will recruit, train, and empower Medicare agents within his region to become selfless contributors in their local markets.

Cattani received his Associates in Information Technology from Florida Career College before going on to join Bright Healthcare in South Florida as a Medicare broker manager. In his previous role, per Cattani, he successfully launched the company's product offering in the nation's most competitive market.

"I'm looking forward to providing top-level support, training, and tools to help develop the skills needed to ensure our clients are enrolled in the plan that best suits their need in this constantly evolving Medicare market," added Cattani.

Originally from Connecticut, Cattani now resides in South Florida. To learn more about Advocate Health Advisors visit, www.advocatehealthadvisors.com.

About Advocate Health Advisors

Advocate Health Advisors (AHA) is the national industry-leading Field Marketing Organization (FMO) in the Medicare market, licensed in all 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A values-based, community-focused organization, AHA provides its agents and agencies with an unparalleled level of customized support and appreciation, leveraging a track record of successes, best practices, national partnerships, and infrastructure. The company helps local health insurance agents succeed before, during, and after the sale by providing access to quality products that promote consumer health and well-being. AHA agents are committed to helping folks make informed decisions as they first become eligible for Medicare benefits or change existing Medicare coverage. For more information, visit www.advocatehealthadvisors.com/.

Press Contact:

Megan Cuellar

928-300-4431

[email protected]

Company Contact:

John Lane

[email protected]

SOURCE Advocate Health Advisors
SHARJAH, UAE, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 7th annual edition of the International Photography Festival 'Xposure' the exhibition "Sharjah, by Sultan Al Qasimi" is an ode to the emirate's historic landmarks and breathtaking natural diversity

Not many people are aware that His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of Sharjah Media Council (SMC), has been an avid travel and nature photographer for over 10 years.

Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau) Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau) Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau) Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau) Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau) Aidan J. Sullivan: Sharjah through the eyes of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the emirates beloved son (PRNewsfoto/Sharjah Government Media Bureau)

He is both a passionate and enthusiastic photographer and his work is now being showcased at the International Photography Festival 'Xposure' this year at the exhibition "Sharjah, by Sultan Al Qasimi".

Through a series of 10 images of Sharjah's cultural landmarks, extraordinary architecture and breath-taking natural landscapes, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi pays a special visual tribute to the city whose history, beauty and diversity inspired him to pick up a camera and visually document it all for the world to see.

In a conversation with him here at Xposure in 2019, I asked His Highness when he would join the rest of us with an exhibition of his own, he said he wasn't sure.

So here we are just four years later, and I am really impressed by how much his work has progressed in such a short period of time.

On show are a diverse series of images from the rich mangrove forests in Kalba that are critical to the UAE's and the planet's marine ecosystem to the rugged terrains of Mleiha - a UNESCO Heritage site; wide aerial shots of the city's skyscrapers lined along the Al Majaz Waterfront; and a shot of the eastern city of Khorfakkan from the sky beautifully capturing its unique terrain as mountain meets the sea, every image beautifully encapsulates the unique attributes of this city.

The most recent capture by the SMC Chairman at the exhibition is a photograph taken last year of the futuristic cultural centre and social hub, the visually stunning House of Wisdom, which was built to be a living legacy of Sharjah's UNESCO nomination as the World Book Capital 2019 - 2020.

Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi's deep love and admiration for his birthplace are clealry evident and vividly portrayed in this exhibition and offers photography enthusiasts and image lovers a unique opportunity to see Sharjah through his eyes.

Xposure 2023, organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), is the world's largest photography festival. It concludes today (Wednesday) in Expo Center Sharjah.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002382/Sharjah_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002383/Sharjah_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002385/Sharjah_3.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002386/Sharjah_4.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002388/Sharjah_5.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002390/Sharjah_6.jpg

SOURCE Sharjah Government Media Bureau
HOUSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AIT Consulting, a leading OneStream Software advisory and consulting firm, announced that it received a growth investment from Four Count and Aldine Capital, focused on continuing to expand its team and developing more industry-leading solutions for OneStream Software users.

"Since our founding in 2018, we've sought to deliver indisputable value and industry-leading solutions to the OneStream customers that we support," said Matthew Shirley, founder of AIT Consulting. "This investment provides us with the incremental resources and partners that we need to continue expanding the AIT platform to reach even more OneStream customers and continue developing our portfolio of leading solutions within the OneStream ecosystem. Four Count's prior experience as an end-user of OneStream, provides them with a unique perspective to partner with us and support our team as we continue building on the foundation we've laid over the last several years."

AIT leverages a unique blend of accounting and IT expertise to provide OneStream customers with a full-lifecycle partnership focused on transforming their finance organization and providing on-going customer support as their needs continue to evolve and change.

"AIT Consulting has been a long standing OneStream partner. Their team has consistently provided our customers with expert services and excellent support," said Craig Colby, President of OneStream Software. "Their growth and recent investment from Four Count and Aldine Capital is a testament of their continued commitment to customer success. As more corporations are turning to OneStream's unified platform, it's critical that we have partners like AIT Consulting with deep domain expertise that will transform the Office of Finance and beyond."

About Four Count:

Four Count is a private investment firm focused on partnering with founder and family-owned businesses in their pursuit of growth. For more information, visit: fourcountholdings.com

About AIT Consulting Services:

AIT Consulting is a leading OneStream advisory and consulting firm specializing in comprehensive finance solutions that leverage a unique combination of IT and accounting expertise to drive transformational change within the financial function of organizations. As one of OneStream's Platinum Partners, AIT has extensive experience transforming and optimizing financial consolidations, planning, and reporting processes through OneStream's Corporate Performance Management Platform. AIT is committed to delivering indisputable value and industry-leading solutions to the OneStream customers that they have the privilege of partnering with. For more information, visit: aitconsultingservices.com.

SOURCE AIT Consulting
Houston Native Opens 12th Texas Location for Award-Winning Senior Care Services Brand

ROSEVILLE, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Always Best Care Senior Services, one of the leading senior care franchise systems in the United States, announced today the opening of its fourth location in the Houston Metro. Always Best Care of Kingwood is owned and operated by local resident and Houston native Marisa D. Thompson. The new business will provide non-medical in-home care and assisted living referral services to Humble, Kingwood and the surrounding areas.

"Always Best Care has a long history in Texas and throughout the Houston area providing the highest level of personal care to seniors and their families. Marisa is a savvy business professional who saw a demand for our compassionate, dedicated services in her neighborhood, and we are thrilled to welcome her and her caregivers to our team," said Jake Brown, President and CEO of Always Best Care. "We know Marisa's passion for service and strong grasp of the needs of the local community will serve her clients well."

For the past 25 years, Thompson has been working as an information technology consultant in the oil and gas industry. After authoring a self-published book last year, she was inspired to continue working toward her next goal of starting her own business. Always Best Care's mission and values are a perfect fit with Thompson's desire to give back to her community and provide support to families through the home healthcare industry.

"After working in the corporate world for over two decades, I wanted to find a business that would allow me to invest in myself and in helping others. Backed by this brand's excellent training program and my growing team of professional caregivers, I look forward to expanding the senior service resources Always Best Care delivers throughout the Greater Houston area."

Always Best Care is one of the nation's leading providers of non-medical in-home care and assisted living referral services, with skilled home health care in limited markets. The company delivers its services through an international network of more than 225 independently owned and operated franchise territories throughout the United States and Canada. By working with case managers, social workers, discharge planners, doctors, and families, Always Best Care franchise owners provide affordable, comprehensive solutions that can be specifically matched to meet a client's particular physical or social needs.

Always Best Care of Kingwood is located at 1525 Lakeville Drive in Kingwood.

For additional information on services available, or for a free evaluation, call 713-898-5475 or visit http://www.alwaysbestcarekingwood.com/ for more information.

About Always Best Care

Founded in 1996, Always Best Care Senior Services is based on the belief that having the right people for the right level of care means peace of mind for the client and family. Always Best Care has been assisting seniors with a wide range of conditions and personal needs for over 25 years and currently provides thousands of hours of care every year. Franchise opportunities are available to individuals interested in leveraging the company's clear strategy and proven track record for delivering affordable, dependable service to seniors in their local areas.

Always Best Care also offers exclusive programs such as Always in Touch, Balance Tracking System and remote patient monitoring. For more information regarding Always Best Care's solutions, visit www.alwaysbestcare.com.

CONTACT:

Taylor Stapleton

Fish Consulting

561-523-0989

[email protected]

SOURCE Always Best Care
SEATTLE, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Applexus is thrilled to announce that the Government of Alberta has awarded the company a $1.4 million IGF grant (Investment and Growth Fund) to establish its business footprint in Canada. Applexus also received significant support from Invest Alberta to navigate the funding application process and understand the significant benefits of investing in the Province. Calgary Economic Development also helped facilitate the process by making key introductions.

This expansion along with the high-impact investment will help Applexus bring new and innovative solutions to the market. Applexus understand that this is the first time an IT company has received such a significant grant through the fund in the region. Applexus is honored to have received this grant and would like to thank the Government of Alberta for its support. Applexus will use the funds to invest in the development of new technology, hire additional staff, and expand its reach to better serve its clients.

Calgary has an excellent pool of graduates to help Applexus grow its team and the right access to a skilled workforce along with exceptional infrastructure. As a consulting firm, Applexus spends a lot of time and money traveling to customer sites, and Calgary as an air travel hub provides convenient, fast, and economical access to its clients in the US market. Furthermore, Calgary is one of the most affordable places to settle down, has a strong public education system in place, a superior standard of living with diverse and welcoming communities, and world-class quality of life. Alberta's new Immigration Program for tech professionals will also enable Applexus attract skilled professionals from outside North America.

Applexus' CEO and founder Sam Mathew had this to say:

"The IGF grant will allow us to take our company to the next level, help strengthen our presence, expand our offerings, bring new jobs to the region, and positively impact the community. We're grateful for the support of the Government of Alberta, as we work to build a stronger and more diverse economy for the state."

Applexus is committed to working with local partners to create new opportunities to ensure that the new delivery center is aligned with the needs and priorities of the community and stands as a driver for economic growth in the region. Applexus is excited to begin this new chapter in the company's journey and takes immense pride in collaborating with the Government of Alberta to transform its presence into an enormous success.

"We are excited to establish ourselves in the growing and vibrant technology sector of Calgary and hope to use this opportunity to make a valuable impact in the community," said Dan Ratchford, Vice President and Head of Delivery - Canada, "The IGF grant will allow Applexus to penetrate new regions to elevate and reinforce its presence, serve a wider audience, absorb a multi-faceted and exceptional talent base, and bring new and innovative services to the province and the country." Applexus is extremely thankful to the Government of Alberta for recognizing, funding, and facilitating our vision by supporting plans to set up its facility and in the process, allowing it to do more for the province.

"I am excited to welcome Applexus Technologies to Calgary and the province of Alberta," said Honorable Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism. "Applexus' decision to choose Calgary as the location of their new Canadian headquarters speaks volumes about their confidence in Alberta as a great place to do business. Congratulations to Applexus, and we wish them great success in their new venture."

"Applexus is a welcome addition to Alberta's tech and innovation sector, and we are excited the company has chosen our province to establish its Canadian headquarters," said Rick Christiaanse, CEO, Invest Alberta. "This investment in Alberta will help support our local economy through the creation of 125 new jobs over five years while giving Applexus access to the skilled talent Alberta is known for so it can thrive in a rapidly growing sector. The support the company received from the Government of Alberta, Invest Alberta, and Calgary Economic Development positioned our province as a destination of choice and is a tangible example of Alberta's world-renowned 'make it happen attitude' when it comes to global investment."

"Calgary has the talent pipeline, access to global markets and competitive business environment for technology leaders like Applexus to thrive," said Brad Parry, President & CEO, Calgary Economic Development. "With one of the fastest-growing tech workforces in North America, Calgary is a city of innovation and opportunity where bright minds and big ideas come together to do game-changing work across industries."

About Applexus

Applexus has been at the forefront of innovation in the SAP landscape. As a premier SAP services provider and a leader in Data and Analytics, we are dedicated to providing cutting-edge and value-driven technology solutions to bring about business transformation from our delivery center in Calgary, Canada. As a thought leader, we bring personalized solutions and industry expertise for multiple business types in different industry verticals, besides creating add-ons and utilizing cloud-based capabilities to improve our impact. Our leadership team and employees practice a culture of excellence and cohesiveness to support our objectives and usher in new beginnings. For more information, visit https://www.applexus.com

About Invest Alberta

Invest Alberta is engaging the world and providing high-end tailored support to companies, investors, and major new projects. With team members strategically positioned in key markets around the world, Invest Alberta works to break down barriers so businesses can start up, scale up, and succeed without limits. Since 2020, Invest Alberta has supported the commitment of nearly $20 billion in investment that created more than 24,000 new high-value jobs for Albertans.

About Calgary Economic Development

Calgary Economic Development is an opportunity-maker, helping to spark and fuel Calgary's growth. Our job is to connect people with resources that can help them grow their careers or businesses, thrive in new locations or markets, and feel at home in our community. We offer a wealth of information to help everyone succeed and we tirelessly promote Calgary, in Canada and around the world. We're exhilarated about our role in shaping and sharing Calgary's story and we're proud to be part of the energy. For more information, please visit our website at www.calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com and follow us on Twitter @calgaryeconomic.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002966/Applexus_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Applexus Technologies Private Limited
A group of women from Luderitz donated baby items to teenage mothers on Tuesday, as part of the project 'It takes a village to raise a child'.

The project was launched two weeks ago with the purpose of supporting vulnerable and especially teenage mothers to cope and take care of their babies after giving birth.

Items delivered to the mothers at Luderitz State Hospital were donated to the project by good Samaritans from Gobabis, Windhoek, Karasburg and Luderitz.

Project initiator Brigitte Fredericks, who saw the need to assist young mothers when she recently visited the hospital, appealed to more Namibians to support the project.

"The need is huge at Luderitz. I also want to extend it to neighbouring areas like Aus. People with baby clothes that they do not need are urged to donate towards the project," she said.

The first six project beneficiaries are between the ages of 15 and 16, and are still at school.

One of the beneficiaries said the donation would make life easier for her and her baby.

"I am very greatful and appreciate the help. I gave birth to a premature baby and the assistance is welcome," she said.

The other group members - Anna Balhoa, Estelle Fliedl and Josephine Heita - also want teenagers to know that they are against the alarming teenage pregnancy problem, and are encouraging pupils to focus on their education.
LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquadrill LLC ("Aquadrill" or the "Company") and a subsidiary of Energy Drilling Management have reached an agreement to provide the T-15, a tender assisted drilling barge, for a firm 8.5 month contract plus a priced optional period of up to three weeks for operations in Thailand.

The total contract value of the firm portion of the contact is expected to be approximately $19.5 million and work is expected to commence in April 2023, following the T-15's current contract. If the full three week optional period is exercised, the additional total contract value is expected to be approximately $1.6 million.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, contracts, agreements, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. The duration, timing (including both starting and ending dates) and total contract value of customer contracts and any related agreements are estimates only. The actual total contract value over the course of any given contract or agreement may be lower and could be substantially lower, depending on a number of factors (cancellation, suspension, delays, rig downtime, etc.). These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks (some beyond the control of the Company), uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodic reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

CONTACT:

[email protected]

SOURCE Aquadrill LLC
HOUSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ARTAVIA, a 2,200-acre master-planned community in the Montgomery County/Conroe, TX area, announced that Conroe ISD has closed on 15.75 acres in the community for a future elementary or intermediate school.

A future Conroe ISD school will be located in ARTAVIA, a 2,200-acre master-planned community in the Montgomery County/Conroe, TX area.

"We are thrilled to have Conroe ISD as part of the ARTAVIA community," said Mark Hardy, Sr. Vice President of Development/Acquisitions of AIRIA Development Company, the developer for ARTAVIA. "This has been part of the ARTAVIA master plan all along and marks the importance of preserving space for educational facilities, which contribute to the quality of life for residents and the community's longevity."

The future school is part of the 2019 Bond campaign that was approved by voters with no tax rate increase. Students living in ARTAVIA attend the highly sought-after Conroe ISD, the ninth largest school district in Texas and considered to be one of the fastest growing school districts in the state. This destination district is estimated to grow by 3,000 students each year and will have approximately 76,000 students by 2028. With the anticipated future growth of the community and school district, ARTAVIA has reserved a second school site on the lower portion of the property to accommodate future growth.

"We are excited about a future school in ARTAVIA," said Conroe ISD Superintendent Curtis Null. "Our rapidly growing district is a reflection of the quality of life and education in our community."

A construction start date has not yet been determined.

ARTAVIA currently has about 1,400 residents and is zoned to Conroe ISD schools. The community has been actively involved with the school district, establishing a Bright Futures partnership which has supported Caney Creek High School, Moorhead Junior High and San Jacinto Elementary School with school needs. The community has sold 750 homes since it opened in 2019.

Located north of the Grand Parkway, midway between I-45N and US 59N, and east of FM 1314 on SH 242, ARTAVIA will bring approximately 5,200 homes to the area, and plans include over 120 acres of mixed-use, commercial and retail properties.

With its convenient location, ARTAVIA affords access to a long list of employment, medical, retail and recreation destinations. For more information, directions and updates, visit artaviatx.com.

ABOUT AIRIA Development Company:

AIRIA Development Company creates premiere residential environments where houses become homes and residents of all ages can live, work, play, gather and build memories. With a keen eye for design, AIRIA enhances the natural beauty of the areas it develops, while keeping the focus on what is most important to homebuyers  an extraordinary place they are proud to call home with a prime location, desirable amenities, acclaimed schools, various housing styles and abundant opportunities to make the most out of life.

SOURCE AIRIA Development Company
MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gamma Biosciences ("Gamma"), a global life sciences platform formed by KKR to address the advanced therapy market with best-in-class bioprocessing solutions, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Swedish life sciences company Biotage AB (STO: BIOT) ("Biotage"), whereby Biotage will acquire Gamma's operating company, Astrea Bioseparations ("Astrea"), in exchange for newly issued shares in Biotage, creating a global chromatography leader with an attractive mix of products and services across multiple end-markets globally.

Astrea supports drug developers and manufacturers in bringing high-purity biopharmaceuticals and advanced therapeutics to the market globally. The company supplies chromatography resins, adsorbents and columns as well as nanofiber-based purification technologies for biomanufacturing.

The combination extends Biotage's chromatography franchise into the higher-growth and larger bioprocessing segment, increasing its exposure to biologics and advanced therapeutic customers. Astrea also strengthens Biotage's financial profile through its highly accretive organic growth rate, attractive gross margins and significant exposure to recurring consumables-based revenues. In addition, the acquisition brings a rich, near-term pipeline of new product launches across chromatography resins, nanofiber-based membranes and columns.

"This move brings together two highly regarded and complementary businesses creating a differentiated player in the field of chromatography", said Matt Gunnison, CEO of Gamma Biosciences. "Astrea is quickly becoming one of the leaders in its field with an incredible pipeline of innovation targeting advanced therapeutics. We are excited to join forces with the team at Biotage and leverage the strong foundation that they've established to rapidly grow these businesses together."

Gamma Biosciences acquired Astrea (formerly Prometic Bioseparations Ltd) in late 2019 and has since grown the company into a leading global platform through organic investment and synergistic acquisitions.

"Biotage and Astrea have a strong alignment in terms of core values, market reach, and long-term growth potential, making this union a great fit for both sides. We are confident that by joining together we will create a powerful platform for innovation and success in the biopharmaceutical industry, and will further accelerate Astrea's trajectory of rapid growth and expansion", said Terry Pizzie, CEO of Astrea.

According to the terms of the deal, the enterprise value for Astrea consists of approximately $190M to be paid at closing in shares of Biotage stock, subject to any closing adjustments, and up to $45M in milestone-based cash payments following closing. As part of the acquisition, Gamma will make a capital injection of approximately $25M in Astrea. KKR-controlled Gamma, is expected to, following completion of the transaction, become the largest shareholder in Biotage, with approximately 17.0% of shares outstanding.

Tomas Blomquist, CEO and President at Biotage, said: "We are proud to welcome the Astrea Bioseparations team to Biotage. The acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit for Biotage, and it will add to us a high-growth company with a talented global team with decades of experience. It also scales our Biologics and Advanced Therapeutics business significantly, keeping us well-positioned for the future."

"We are thrilled with this example of Gamma's playbook for transforming promising next-generation bioprocessing companies into high-growth strategic assets, and we see significant potential for the combined Biotage platform, as well as the remaining assets within Gamma's portfolio" said Kugan Sathiyanandarajah, Managing Director at KKR and Head of Europe for KKR's Health Care Strategic Growth strategy, and Anuv Ratan, Director at KKR.

The transaction is conditional upon Biotage's shareholder approval and subject to customary closing conditions.

About Gamma Biosciences

Gamma Biosciences is a life sciences platform created by KKR whose operating companies provide products and services to support the development and manufacturing of advanced biologic therapies. Our operating companies are committed to advancing the science and art of bioprocessing by delivering market-ready innovation and expertise to support customers, mainly biopharmaceutical developers and contract development and manufacturing companies, safely and efficiently bring therapies to patients.

About Astrea Bioseparations

Astrea Bioseparations is a leading provider of process chromatography solutions including columns, resins, and nanofiber purification technology for life sciences and other adjacent industries. With products used in the manufacture of >20 FDA approved treatments and a strong pipeline oriented towards purification of novel modalities, Astrea is trusted by scientists around the world to deliver rapid, reproducible results. Astrea Bio is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with manufacturing facilities at the Isle of Man, Gloucestershire, UK, Joliette, Quebec and Massachusetts, USA.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR's insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

SOURCE Gamma Biosciences
MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gamma Biosciences ("Gamma"), a global life sciences platform formed by KKR to address the advanced therapy market with best-in-class bioprocessing solutions, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Swedish life sciences company Biotage AB (STO: BIOT) ("Biotage"), whereby Biotage will acquire Gamma's operating company, Astrea Bioseparations ("Astrea"), in exchange for newly issued shares in Biotage, creating a global chromatography leader with an attractive mix of products and services across multiple end-markets globally.

Astrea supports drug developers and manufacturers in bringing high-purity biopharmaceuticals and advanced therapeutics to the market globally. The company supplies chromatography resins, adsorbents and columns as well as nanofiber-based purification technologies for biomanufacturing.

The combination extends Biotage's chromatography franchise into the higher-growth and larger bioprocessing segment, increasing its exposure to biologics and advanced therapeutic customers. Astrea also strengthens Biotage's financial profile through its highly accretive organic growth rate, attractive gross margins and significant exposure to recurring consumables-based revenues. In addition, the acquisition brings a rich, near-term pipeline of new product launches across chromatography resins, nanofiber-based membranes and columns.

"This move brings together two highly regarded and complementary businesses creating a differentiated player in the field of chromatography", said Matt Gunnison, CEO of Gamma Biosciences. "Astrea is quickly becoming one of the leaders in its field with an incredible pipeline of innovation targeting advanced therapeutics. We are excited to join forces with the team at Biotage and leverage the strong foundation that they've established to rapidly grow these businesses together."

Gamma Biosciences acquired Astrea (formerly Prometic Bioseparations Ltd) in late 2019 and has since grown the company into a leading global platform through organic investment and synergistic acquisitions.

"Biotage and Astrea have a strong alignment in terms of core values, market reach, and long-term growth potential, making this union a great fit for both sides. We are confident that by joining together we will create a powerful platform for innovation and success in the biopharmaceutical industry, and will further accelerate Astrea's trajectory of rapid growth and expansion", said Terry Pizzie, CEO of Astrea.

According to the terms of the deal, the enterprise value for Astrea consists of approximately $190M to be paid at closing in shares of Biotage stock, subject to any closing adjustments, and up to $45M in milestone-based cash payments following closing. As part of the acquisition, Gamma will make a capital injection of approximately $25M in Astrea. KKR-controlled Gamma, is expected to, following completion of the transaction, become the largest shareholder in Biotage, with approximately 17.0% of shares outstanding.

Tomas Blomquist, CEO and President at Biotage, said: "We are proud to welcome the Astrea Bioseparations team to Biotage. The acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit for Biotage, and it will add to us a high-growth company with a talented global team with decades of experience. It also scales our Biologics and Advanced Therapeutics business significantly, keeping us well-positioned for the future."

"We are thrilled with this example of Gamma's playbook for transforming promising next-generation bioprocessing companies into high-growth strategic assets, and we see significant potential for the combined Biotage platform, as well as the remaining assets within Gamma's portfolio" said Kugan Sathiyanandarajah, Managing Director at KKR and Head of Europe for KKR's Health Care Strategic Growth strategy, and Anuv Ratan, Director at KKR.

The transaction is conditional upon Biotage's shareholder approval and subject to customary closing conditions.

About Gamma Biosciences

Gamma Biosciences is a life sciences platform created by KKR whose operating companies provide products and services to support the development and manufacturing of advanced biologic therapies. Our operating companies are committed to advancing the science and art of bioprocessing by delivering market-ready innovation and expertise to support customers, mainly biopharmaceutical developers and contract development and manufacturing companies, safely and efficiently bring therapies to patients.

About Astrea Bioseparations

Astrea Bioseparations is a leading provider of process chromatography solutions including columns, resins, and nanofiber purification technology for life sciences and other adjacent industries. With products used in the manufacture of >20 FDA approved treatments and a strong pipeline oriented towards purification of novel modalities, Astrea is trusted by scientists around the world to deliver rapid, reproducible results. Astrea Bio is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with manufacturing facilities at the Isle of Man, Gloucestershire, UK, Joliette, Quebec and Massachusetts, USA.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR's insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1295160/Gamma__Logo.jpg

SOURCE Gamma Biosciences
This new round of capital together with the financing announced on February 3, 2023 , will provide Atento with additional operating liquidity and financial flexibility to address its near-term financial liabilities.

This capital raise is a key milestone and significant step toward strengthening Atento's liquidity position.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO, "Atento" or the "Company"), one of the world's largest providers of customer relationship management services and business process outsourcing (CRM / BPO), announced today that it has reached an agreement with certain existing investors to provide additional financing to the group.

Further to the announcement made on February 3, 2023, a group of existing investors have agreed to provide Atento with a new financing commitment that will address the company's near-term liabilities and provide the company with additional financial flexibility. The total capital raised is approximately $40 million.

Further details of the transaction, including copy of the relevant agreements, will be disclosed in the coming days.

Subject to the fulfillment of customary conditions precedent (CPs), including certain third-party consents, this latest transaction will provide Atento with additional operating liquidity and financial flexibility in the coming months, while the Company continues to advance the transformation of its operational core and to further strengthen its financial position in the medium term.

Atento intends to pay its coupon payment obligations under its senior secured notes due 2026 and all associated hedge payments upon completion of the new financing.

In parallel with the completion of this transaction, Atento continues to execute its business plan while maintaining a strong positive growth trend in EBITDA margin. Additionally, the Company remains focused on its +400 blue chip clients across sixteen countries and fulfilling its mission to deliver exceptional customer experiences through the combination of innovation, advanced technologies and the human touch.

About Atento

Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing ("CRM BPO") services in Latin America, and among the top providers globally. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 16 countries where it employs approximately 135,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in industries such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento's shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2019, Atento was named one of the World's 25 Best Multinational Workplaces and one of the Best Multinationals to Work for in Latin America by Great Place to Work. Also, in 2021 Everest named Atento as a "star performer". Gartner named the company as a leader for two years in a row, since 2021 in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. For more information visit www.atento.com

Media Relations

[email protected]

Investors Relations

[email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar terminology. In particular, these forward-looking statements include those about completion of the additional financing, Atento's liquidity and financial position, and Atento's transformation plan. These statements reflect only Atento's current expectations and are not guarantees of future outcomes, performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, obtaining required consents from third-parties and satisfying other conditions precedent for the additional financing that might be outside Atento's control; actions by Atento's lenders and other financing sources; Atento's future cash requirements; competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer receivables on behalf of its clients. Atento is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The securities being issued in connection with the transactions described herein have not and will not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release is not an offer of any securities for sale or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

SOURCE Atento S.A.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ATSG, a leading global, tech-enabled managed services and solutions company, today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named ATSG to its Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Elite 150 category for 2023. 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.

CRN's 2023 MSP 500 list highlights MSPs that empower organizations to leverage intricate technologies but also help them focus on their core business goals while optimizing their budgets. The MSP Elite 150 recognizes large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of on- and off-premises services.

2023 marks the seventh consecutive year that ATSG has placed on the MSP 500 list. Through its Intelligent Solutions as a Service portfolio and ATSGOne Intelligent Multicloud Platform, ATSG focuses on innovative and secure managed service solutions to enhance today's digital enterprise and the employee experience.

"It is a privilege for ATSG to be recognized again as an Elite 150 on the prestigious MSP 500 List," said Anthony J. D'Ambrosi, CEO of ATSG. "Our ongoing success, including exceptional client experiences and strategic acquisitions, has allowed us to deepen our innovation programs, enterprise capabilities, and channel partner ecosystem. The expansion of our unique intellectual property and automation platforms has only furthered our mission of delivering effective business outcomes. My gratitude goes to our global OneATSG team who have made this recognition possible."

"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."

The MSP 500 list will be featured in the February 2023 issue of CRN and online at www.crn.com/msp500.

About ATSG

ATSG is a global managed services leader providing award-winning digital transformation services to today's dynamic enterprises. ATSG's Intelligent Solutions as a Service portfolio of Digital Workplace, Digital Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and Customer Experience offerings are powered by the ATSGOne Intelligent Multicloud Platform. Headquartered in Manhattan, New York, ATSG is a portfolio company of RunTide Capital, a private equity firm focused on building tech-enabled growth companies.

More information on ATSG is available at www.atsg.net. Like us on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter, or become a fan on our Facebook page.

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 unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

 2023 The Channel Company LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Contact:

Elizabeth Kubycheck

ATSG, Inc.

[email protected]

SOURCE ATSG, Inc.
DUBLIN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Autonomous Driving Simulation Industry Chain Report (Foreign Companies), 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Simulation test research: foreign autonomous driving simulation companies forge ahead steadily with localization services.

As the functions of ADAS and autonomous driving systems are developed and the expected development cycle of SOTIF functions shortens, the launch of new vehicle models in the competition among automakers is inseparable from a mass of tests. Wherein, the simulation test has been widely adopted by Chinese and foreign automakers. Ideally, about 80% to 90% of the autonomous driving algorithm tests are completed through simulation platforms, 9% to 20% in test fields, and 1% on actual roads.

1. The iteration of simulation tools accelerates, and the 3D realistic and visual simulations provide ever higher test confidence.

Macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic simulation tools and technologies advance. Especially the increasingly refined functions of microscopic simulation tools enable more flexible control over traffic flow simulation, simulate and reproduce road environment, weather conditions (including extreme weathers, e.g., rain, snow, heavy fog and light intensity) and extreme working conditions (accident trigger, etc.), control the simulation settings of various sensors (radar, LiDAR, camera, etc.) and reconstruct scene variants.

All types of simulation companies expedite the iteration of their simulation software, and keep expanding and verifying corner cases, long-tail scenarios and hard examples. They continuously narrow down various abnormal scenarios that may appear in the function development and even expected function development by automakers, and output high-fidelity 3D visualization results to verify the bugs of different models and algorithms of auto companies, for higher confidence in their simulation tools.

A simulated road environment needs to define multiple components, such as roads (lane lines, pavement materials, etc.), traffic signs, traffic lights, traffic participants (motor vehicles, non-motor vehicles, pedestrians, etc.), elements around the road (green belts, stations, buildings, etc.) and weather conditions (day, night, sun, rain, etc.). A variety of sensor models and user-defined sensors can be used to detect these objects. In general, static scenes are constructed by collecting actual environmental information combined with existing HD maps, or the needed environmental elements are artificially created.

Scenario simulation sensors include camera, LiDAR, radar, ultrasonic radar, GPS/BDS, IMU, V2X and other modules, of which the camera simulation needs to simulate multiple complex real weather conditions, automatically adjust the weather, and support camera simulation in different weather and light conditions; the LiDAR simulation referring to the scanning modes of real LiDAR, simulates the emission of each real ray, intersects with all objects in the scene, and generates real point cloud data.

2. Realize the comprehensive testing and verification of ADAS/ADS digitalization through unlimited coverage of scenario variants.

The scenarios in the real world are infinitely rich, extremely complex, and unpredictable. It is very hard to completely reproduce these scenarios in a virtual environment. How to use limited test scenarios to map an infinitely rich world is the key to effective testing and verification of autonomous driving.

The simulation test based on scenario library is an important route to solving the problem of insufficient autonomous driving road test data. The higher the real-world coverage of the test scenarios in the scenario library, the higher the accuracy of the simulation test results.

In autonomous driving simulation, ASAM's OpenX Standards have gained extensive attention from all over the world. The standards cover five parts: OpenDRIVE, OpenSCENARIO, OSI, OpenLABEL, and OpenCRG. Wherein, OpenDrive defines the description method of static scenarios; the OpenSCENARIO-defined contents involve the description of dynamic scenes, location and speed of the car owner, and information of other traffic participants; OpenCRG focuses on the description of physical information related to road surfaces, and is mainly used for friction between tires and the ground.

The simulation test is to simulate dangerous working conditions, including a great many harsh weather environments, complex road traffic, and typical traffic accidents. The parameter reorganization scene is to parameterize the existing simulation scenes, and complete the random generation or automatic reorganization of simulation scenes, featuring infinity, scalability, batching, and automation. The purpose of the parameter reorganization scene is to supplement the uncovered, unknown scenes, such as natural driving, standards and regulations, and dangerous working conditions, so as to well cover blind spots in autonomous driving function tests.

When verifying uncovered, unknown scenarios, Israel's Foretellix provides a verification and validation platform Foretify using the Coverage-Driven Verification (CDV) Methodology (on the one hand, highly automated generation and regulation of millions of test vectors to verify various scenarios; on the other hand, the safety and production dashboard with big data analytics shows objective work status of quantifiable, measurable verification and validation). The Foretify solution can detect system bugs, edge cases and unknowns in the early stage of development, help prevent costly recalls due to design defects (some of which are fatal), and port scenarios to different maps and ODD. Its current customers include Denso, Valeo, NVIDIA, Mobileye and Volvo.

3. Foreign autonomous driving simulation companies continue to expand cooperation with Chinese companies, and make steady progress in localization services.

Foreign autonomous driving simulation companies are working harder on layout in the Chinese market. For example, Germany's PTV Group, France's ESI Group, and Israel's Cognata have established subsidiaries in China to facilitate simulation business expansion. Among them, PTV has covered over 600 customers in more than 90 cities of China. In addition, NI, dSPACE, VI-grade and the likes go on deepening their partnerships with Chinese automakers and solution providers such as Automotive Intelligence and Control of China (AICC) and RoboSense.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Overview of Autonomous Driving Simulation and Layout of Foreign Companies

1.1 The International Organization for the Standardization of Autonomous Driving Simulation: ASAM

1.2 Partnerships between Foreign OEMs & Autonomous Driving Simulation Platforms

1.3 Integrated Simulation Platform

1.4 Vehicle Dynamics Simulation

1.5 Traffic Scene Simulation (Traffic Flow Simulation)

1.6 Virtual Scene Simulation

1.7 Sensor Simulation

1.8 Simulation System Interface

2 Foreign Integrated Simulation Platforms

2.1 ANSYS

2.2 Siemens

2.3 NVIDIA

2.4 CARLA

2.5 AVSimulation (LG)

2.6 SVL Simulator (LG)

2.7 AirSim (Microsoft)

3 Foreign Vehicle Dynamics Simulation Platforms

3.1 CarMaker (IPG Automotive)

3.2 CarSim (Mechanical Simulation)

3.3 VI-Grade

3.4 AVL

3.5 Simpack (Dassault Systemes)

3.6 TESIS DYNAware (Vector)

3.7 MATLAB/Simulink (MathWorks)

4 Foreign Scene Simulation Platforms

4.1 PTV-VISSIM

4.2 TSIS-CORSIM

4.3 Paramics

4.4 Transmodeler

4.5 AIMSUN

4.6 SUMO

4.7 ESI Pro-SiVIC

4.8 rFpro

4.9 Cognata

4.10 Parallel Domains

4.11 AAI

4.12 Applied Intuition

4.13 Ansible Motion

4.14 UNITY

4.15 CityEngine

4.16 VTD

5 Foreign Sensor Simulation Platforms

5.1 monoDrive

5.2 RightHook (under VI-grade)

5.3 Foretellix

5.4 OTSL

6 Foreign Simulation Interfaces and HIL Platforms

6.1 NI

6.2 ETAS

6.3 Vector

6.4 dSPACE

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/s9b8j

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
Six new Florida routes join existing service to Southern CT

Avelo's Terminal 1 gates make traveling easier and faster for RDU Customers

Avelo hires over 50 RDU-based Crewmembers

Introductory one-way fares from RDU start at $49

RDU AIRPORT, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelo Airlines opened its fifth base today at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). The new base enables Avelo to significantly expand the affordable, convenient and reliable air service the airline introduced to North Carolina's Research Triangle region last May.

Especially noteworthy is Avelo's transition to Terminal 1. RDU's original terminal represents a substantially more convenient and relaxing airport experience than its substantially larger Terminal 2. Terminal 1 offers Avelo Customers a swift curb-to-gate experience - in contrast to the significantly longer walks and TSA lines found at RDU's Terminal 2. When travelers return from their trip, getting from their plane to baggage claim, and on their way home will be equally fast and seamless.

Avelo Airlines Opens 5th Base in Raleigh-Durham Tweet this

Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said, "Since taking flight at RDU last May, we have been very encouraged by the positive response Avelo has received from Raleigh, Durham and the surrounding areas. The opening of our fifth base at RDU marks an important milestone for Avelo and access for The Triangle Region to six new nonstop Florida routes. In addition to bringing more affordable and reliable air service to RDU, the relocation of our gates to Terminal 1 will make traveling with Avelo a substantially more convenient and relaxing experience whether you are departing or arriving RDU. Lastly, Avelo's new base represents a meaningful investment in this growing and vibrant community as we add dozens of local residents to our Crew. The inauguration of our new base and service here is just the beginning."

With the debut of Avelo's new base, Avelo now serves seven nonstop destinations from RDU, including six new popular Florida routes. Avelo began serving Southern Connecticut's most convenient airport, Tweed-New Haven Airport, from RDU last year. Earlier this month, Avelo initiated service to Orlando and Tampa. Beginning tomorrow, Avelo will inaugurate service to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton and West Palm Beach.

Avelo will be the only airline serving Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton and West Palm Beach nonstop from RDU.

Very low, one-way fares from RDU start at $49*. Customers can make reservations at AveloAir.com. These routes will operate on Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft.

Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority President and CEO Michael Landguth said, "Avelo's commitment to RDU and The Research Triangle extends beyond adding destinations to creating jobs in our community. We appreciate their investment in our region look forward to a long and successful partnership."

City of Durham Mayor Elaine O'Neal said, "It is my pleasure to welcome Avelo Airlines to the Raleigh-Durham market. Our area has strong travel demand for both business and leisure travel due to a strong economy and many destinations of interest located in The Triangle. It is also my hope that our residents will be able to take advantage of the employment opportunities that will come alongside this new partnership."

Mayor of the Town of Morrisville TJ Cawley said, "We are very excited to have a world class carrier like Avelo available to our diverse residents and businesses. Our towns motto is "Live Connected Live Well" and Avelo will help all of us do both and connect to more of the world. Welcome."

Six New Nonstop Florida Destinations:

Orlando (MCO)

Effective February 2, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Tampa (TPA)

Effective February 3, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Fort Lauderdale (FLL)

Effective February 16, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Fort Myers (RSW)

Effective February 16, 2023  Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

Sarasota-Bradenton (SRQ)

Effective February 17, 2023  Monday, Friday and Saturday

West Palm Beach (PBI)

Effective February 17, 2023  Monday, Friday and Saturday

Growing Avelo at RDU

Avelo is initially basing one Boeing Next-Generation (NG) 737-700 at RDU. The airline has hired approximately 50 RDU-based Crewmembers (employees), including Airport Customers Service, Flight Attendants, Pilots, Aircraft Technical Operations and Maintenance, and Supervisors with more career opportunities still available. Avelo is considering adding a second 737 later this year, enabling additional destinations and RDU-based jobs. Candidates can learn more about Avelo career opportunities by visiting AveloAir.com/Careers.

As a new airline, Avelo is an excellent opportunity for individuals at all stages of their career to join a successful and fast-growing company. Avelo offers competitive compensation, comprehensive healthcare coverage, a company-matching 401K retirement program and free space available air travel on Avelo, among many other benefits. Additionally, Avelo Crewmembers have access to Avelo University, which offers job-readiness training and ongoing career development courses. Grounded in the airline's One Crew Value, Avelo offers an inclusive, collaborative and caring culture.

In addition to RDU, Avelo operates bases at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), Orlando International Airport (MCO) and the Delaware Valley's Wilmington Airport (ILG).

America's Affordable and Convenient Airline

Avelo was founded with a vision to help its Customers save money and time. Since taking flight on April 28, 2021, Avelo has flown more than 1.7 million Customers on more than 14,000 flights.

In addition to offering Customers everyday low fares on every route, Avelo Customers can always change or cancel their itineraries with no extra fees. Avelo also offers several unbundled travel-enhancing options that give Customers the flexibility to pay for what they value, including priority boarding, checked bags, carry-on overhead bags, and bringing a pet in the cabin.

Additionally, the American-made Boeing 737 jets Avelo flies offer a more spacious and comfortable experience than the small regional aircraft currently operating at most of the airports Avelo serves. Customers who value an advance seat assignment can choose from several modestly priced seating options, including seats with extra leg room, as well as pre-reserved window and aisle seating. One third of seats on Avelo aircraft are available for Customers who appreciate the comfort of extra legroom.

Avelo serves 33 destinations across the U.S. The airline has unlocked a new era of convenience, choice and competition in air travel by flying unserved routes to primarily underserved communities across the country. At least one airport on every Avelo flight is a small hometown airport  making every Avelo journey easier and more enjoyable.

At Avelo, every flight is also nonstop. This connection-free travel experience not only provides Avelo Customers with a faster and simpler travel experience, but also minimizes delays, cancellations and lost bags. In fact, Avelo has established itself as one of America's most reliable airlines with industry leading on-time, completion factor and checked bag handling performance.

Avelo is distinguished by its Soul of Service culture. The culture is grounded in Avelo's One Crew Value which promotes a welcoming and caring experience. By caring for one another and owning their commitments, Avelo Crewmembers focus on anticipating and understanding Customer needs on the ground and in the air.

About Avelo Airlines

Avelo Airlines was founded with a simple purpose  to Inspire Travel. The airline offers Customers time and money-saving convenience, low everyday fares, and a refreshingly smooth and caring experience through its Soul of Service culture. Operating a fleet of Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, Avelo serves 33 popular destinations across the U.S., including its five bases at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Southern Connecticut's Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), Orlando International Airport (MCO), the Delaware Valley's Wilmington Airport (ILG) and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). For more information visit AveloAir.com or the Avelo Newsroom at AveloAir.com/Newsroom.

About Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)

The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority operates Raleigh-Durham International Airport. RDU connects central and eastern North Carolina to the people and places that matter most, serving more than 14 million passengers in 2019. RDU powers our region's economy with a $15.1 billion annual economic impact and supports nearly 100,000 local and regional jobs. RDU was rated in the Top Five in passenger satisfaction among large North American Airports in a 2022 J.D. Power study. Learn more online about the Airport Authority Board, including its monthly meetings.

Media Contacts:

Avelo Airlines

Courtney Goff

[email protected]

Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)

RDU Media Relations

[email protected]

*Very low, one-way fares include government taxes and fees. Fares start at $49 to and from RDU for travel completed by August 31, 2023, fares must be booked by February 28, 2023. Fares are available on a limited number of flights and seats. Additional fees for carry-on and checked bags, assigned seats and other optional services may apply. A $20 charge per seated traveler applies to all bookings or changes made through Avelo's Customer Support Center. For full terms and conditions, please see Avelo's Contract of Carriage.

SOURCE Avelo Airlines
NEW DELHI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Azure Power Global Limited (NYSE: AZRE) ("Azure" or the "Company") today announced that it received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") on February 14, 2023, notifying that the NYSE's Listings Operations Committee agreed to provide the Company with an additional trading period through July 15, 2023, subject to reassessment on an ongoing basis, to complete and file the Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 (the "2022 Annual Report") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and any subsequent delayed filings pursuant to the NYSE's late filer rules outlined in Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.

The Company has been in ongoing cooperation and correspondence with the NYSE on the late filing issue. The NYSE notified the Company that it will closely monitor the Company's progress with the milestones and timing submitted to the NYSE. Failure to achieve these interim milestones could result in accelerated trading suspension prior to the end of the July 15, 2023 trading period. In addition, if the Company does not complete the filing of its 2022 Annual Report and any subsequent delayed filings with the SEC by the end of the maximum 12-month cure period on August 16, 2023, the NYSE will move forward with the initiation of suspension and delisting procedures.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding completion of the Fiscal 2022 Audited Financial Statements and the filing of the Form 20-F. The risks and uncertainties that could cause the Group's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include: the timing of the completion of the Fiscal 2022 Audited Financial Statements; and such other risks identified in the registration statements and reports that the Company files with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this press release and are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

About Azure

Azure is a leading independent sustainable energy solutions provider and renewable power producer in India. Azure developed India's first utility scale solar project in 2009, and since then has grown rapidly to become a leader in developing and operating large utility-scale renewable energy projects in the country.

For more information about Azure, visit: www.azurepower.com.

For more information:

Contact

[email protected]

[email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819565/Azure_Power_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Azure Power
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- battleface today announced a new partnership with AirLegit, the air travel technology company, with the launch of its FlightGuard48 product globally.

Offering a wide range of services including flight monitoring and alerts, auto check in and alternative route recommendations, FlightGuard48 is ideal for air travelers and available via partner API to Online Travel Agencies, Corporate Travel Managers and travel agencies of any size.

battleface partners with AirLegit to launch FlightGuard48 globally

FlightGuard48 includes:

Flight Monitoring & Notifications Service : alerting the registered air traveler with flight on-time, delay, and cancellation statuses

: alerting the registered air traveler with flight on-time, delay, and cancellation statuses Automated Check In & Mobile Pass Issuance Service : ensuring that the air traveler is checked in with airline and receives mobile pass for boarding

: ensuring that the air traveler is checked in with airline and receives mobile pass for boarding Alternative Flight Arrangement Service : offering the air traveler rebooking options for the alternative flight with different airline at all airports within 50-mile radius at origin or destination

: offering the air traveler rebooking options for the alternative flight with different airline at all airports within 50-mile radius at origin or destination Airline Rebooking Fee Reimbursement Service : if an air traveler's travel agency needs to rebook a flight that was cancelled by the airline within 48 hours prior to scheduled departure, the rebooking travel agency may claim up to $1,000 to cover airline rebooking fees, provided terms and conditions are met.

"We are thrilled to be joining forces with the team at AirLegit," said Lisa Conway, CUO at battleface. "The new airline rebooking fee reimbursement option will give AirLegit's partners the ability to assist customers worldwide who are stranded at the airport and help alleviate any financial implications this could have."

"We are pleased to partner with battleface's global underwriting and technology teams," said Sneharthi Roy, CEO at AirLegit. "We are confident that the new automated services we are bringing to market will improve our partners air travelers' experiences, providing access to the relevant information in mobile actionable way through AirLegit's leading-edge travel technology."

For more information on FlightGuard48 please click here.

About battleface

battleface, Inc. is a full-stack global travel insurance company enabling customers and partners to easily select custom-built products and services that perfectly fit their needs. Access to embedded products, relevant benefits, and responsive customer service from any devicewelcome to a better experience. Welcome to battleface.

About AirLegit

AirLegit is a travel technology company with data intelligence, analytics, and an AI-driven communications platform. Our key solutions are designed to enable travel industry corporations to improve their air traveler journeys by leveraging the power of data and AI. Reach out to us to learn more about our API delivery of the Flight Watcher, FlightGuard48, Flight Status Check, and Travel Insurance products. https://airlegit.com

SOURCE battleface
The Ugandan army, UPDF has started the process of recalling veteran to help back-up the soldiers deployed in Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping mission, ATMIS.

The army on Wednesday issued a notice calling reservists to turn up for a fresh training before deployment to Somalia.

"UPDF- Reserve Force shall conduct a calls up exercise for able bodied reservists or veterans who will form part of Uganda Battle Groups XXXIX and XI," the notice reads in part.

The deputy Defence spokesperson, Col Deo Akiiki told the Nile Post that they will be seeking to recruit 4000 veterans for deployment in Somalia.

"We shall be seeking about 4000 reservists who will go to Mogadishu tow serve under two different battle groups. This recalling is by law that we can recall our veterans who retired to come and serve," Col Akiiki said.

Requirements

According to the notice, those who wish to rejoin must have original national IDs, a discharge certificate from the army, below 55 years of age and must be ready to undergo undergo medical and physical screening to ascertain fitness.

"Upon completion of the exercise, successful veterans will be transported to Peace Support Training Center , PSO- Singo, Nakaseke District."

The army says veterans from eastern Uganda which is under the third infantry division including Bukedi, Teso, Elgon and Karamoja will be required to report to Bugema army barracks, Mbale district headquarters and Soroti Flying School for registration for the exercise whereas those in the central region of the country must report to the first infantry division headquarters in Kakiri, Wakiso district.

The veterans in western Uganda will be required to report to the second division headquarters in Makenke, Mbarara, Rwenzori region at the Mountain Division headquarters at Muhoti Barracks in Fort Portal, North East Acholi at the fifth division headquarters at Acholi Pii, Northern West achol at the fourth division headquarters in Gulu whereas veterans from Bunyoro are required to report to the Field Artillery headquarters in Masindi.

For those who seek to join from Busoga will be required to report to Gadaffi barracks in Jinja, West Nile at the 409 brigade headquarters at Bondi whereas veterans from Greater Masaka are asked to report to the armed brigade headquarters in Masaka.

The exercise according to the army kicks off today, February, 15 to Friday, February 17.

Previously, the Ugandan army has in 2013 and in 2020 recalled veterans who were deployed under UGABAG9+ that captured the northern axis of Mogadishu right from Masillah to 115km at Jowhwar and UGABAG XXXI and UGABAG XXXII respectively.

ATMIS

The African Union Mission in Somalia(AMISOM) later year metamorphosed into the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia(ATMIS) , having served for 15 years since 2007.

ATMIS is now mandated with stabilising Somalia but also aim at transferring the full responsibilities of national security to the Federal Government of Somalia.

To this, the UPDF mandate has also changed to more of building the capacity of the institutions of the Somali government.

Uganda was the first country in 2007 to deploy troops in Somalia under the African Union.

The Ugandan troops controlled the largest area in Somalia after being deployed in Sector One in Benadir,(has 16 districts) Banadir, and Lower Shabelle regions having pushed Al Shabaab militants for over 200km away from Mogadishu city.

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Kenyan troops were deployed in Sector Two which comprises Lower and Middle Jubba regions whereas Sector Three commanded by Ethiopia has Bay and Bakool as well as Gedo (Sub Sector 3).

Djiboutian forces manned Sector 4, which covers Hiiraan and Galgaduud areas while Burundian forces are in charge of Sector 5, which covers the Middle Shabelle region.

AMISOM consequently helped oust Al-Shabaab from key urban centres, creating space for Somali elites to build institutions and a political system.

Whereas troop contributing countries and the African Union sought more funds to keep the mission going, donors as Somali authorized felt the mission's value was waning.

However, counter-insurgency efforts have of late run out steam but on the other hand, Al Shabaab insurgents have continued to gain ground and carry out attacks.
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Our best-in-class React grid that you know and trust has a new home! BestReactGrid is now its own entity, allowing us to better serve the React Community and to optimize our user experience for all React developers.

BestReactGrid

"We are thrilled to unveil this transformation to the world and can't wait for our customers to join this new journey of BestReactGrid," said Stephen Strake, the General Manager of Sencha. "With its unparalleled features and functionality, we are confident that BestReactGrid will quickly become the preferred choice for React developers globally."

We invite you to visit our new website and explore all BestReactGrid offers. Get started by downloading the free trial, reviewing our documentation, or contacting our sales team to unlock all the 100+ features.

BestReactGrid offers scalability and unlimited grid speed, making it the perfect solution for React applications that are handling large amounts of data. With its easy integration and customizations, you can now introduce a seamless, simple, and intuitive data grid to all of your React projects. Whether you are a seasoned developer or just starting out, BestReactGrid has everything you need to take your React projects to the next level.

About BestReactGrid

BestReactGrid is powered by Sencha, which plays a key role in Idera Inc.'s portfolio of developer tools solutions. Idera Inc. brings 20 years of experience building innovative, connected, and user-focused software productivity tools supported by communities of experts to the BestReactGrid brand.

Media contact:

Raj Vuyyuru

[email protected]

1 (650) 299-9550

SOURCE BestReactGrid
MIAMI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the global leader in pharmaceutical brand naming, Brand Institute has a unique vantage point from which to observe upcoming shifts in the healthcare landscape years before any product offerings make it to market. Recently, no trend has captured the attention of the pharmaceutical industry quite like the rise of digital health technology.

Brian Frasca, Brand Institute's Divisional President of the Midwest U.S., has led numerous branding and naming projects for digital health products over the last three years. "The pace of product development is accelerating," Mr. Frasca noted. "Technological infrastructure, such as cloud computing and large-scale data centers, had already made many of these product concepts a reality. But the COVID-19 pandemic supercharged that pace, as anywhere connectivity became a necessity."

The applications for digital health are immense. Apps, medical devices, companion diagnostics, connected clinical trials, and digital therapeutics are just a few examples of how healthcare is going digital. Of course, each of these products requires meaningful and differentiated branding.

"Within the digital health space, we're noticing clients embrace the excitement of naming innovative technologies." These clients find themselves unencumbered by an intensive regulatory review process, as most digital health brand names do not need to be approved by regulators like the FDA. "There is a greater creative freedom in the digital health space, which opens up more naming strategies to pursue. Names can be bolder and more descriptive, such as through the use of real words that imply a clear benefit. This flexibility has added to client enthusiasm, which is reflected in the names of many of the products already launched, not to mention many others that should roll out in 2023."

About Brand Institute and our wholly owned regulatory subsidiary, Drug Safety Institute

Brand Institute is the global leader in pharmaceutical and healthcare-related name development, with a portfolio of over 4,000 marketed healthcare brand names, 1,300 USAN/INN nonproprietary names for 1,200 clients. The company partners on over 75% of pharmaceutical brand and nonproprietary name approvals globally every year with healthcare manufacturers. Drug Safety Institute is composed of former naming regulatory officials from global government health agencies, including Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), Health Canada (HC), American Medical Association (AMA), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Contact:

James Dettore

Chairman & C.E.O.

[email protected]

www.brandinstitute.com

SOURCE Brand Institute, Inc.
Tech-Powered New Program Enables Insurance Agents and Brokers to Grow Their Businesses, Enhance Client Relationships with Faster, Easier and More Affordable Jewelry Insurance Coverage

CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BriteCo , a market leader in jewelry and watch insurance, has announced today a new Agent & Broker Program that extends its top-rated jewelry insurance to independent insurance agents and brokers in the United States. Approved independent insurance agents and brokers can now offer BriteCo jewelry insurance to their clients through the program, including access to BriteCo's proprietary technology. The innovation enables insurance agents and brokers to obtain quotes and manage client policies in minutes. The Agent & Broker Program is available now to select licensed independent insurance agents and brokers nationwide.

"Slow, manual, and outdated jewelry insurance practices have limited insurance agents and brokers from modernizing their offerings and meeting today's customer demand for faster, easier tech-enabled experiences," said Dustin Lemick, founder and CEO of BriteCo. "Our new Agent & Broker Program provides a solution licensed in all 50 states, while giving insurance agents and brokers the ability to tap into jewelry insurance as a new line of business."

"Expanding into jewelry insurance with BriteCo has helped us meet a common need among our clients and expand our business. We're able to modernize the process with BriteCo's technology, offer competitive prices and provide faster service," said Kathy Kinard, Agent Leader at Belmont Insurance Services, LLC, and participant in the BriteCo Agent & Broker Program.

Founded in 2017, BriteCo has revolutionized its industry with high tech innovation and streamlined processes to bring top-rated jewelry insurance coverage in minutes. The company has been named Best Overall Engagement Ring Insurance of 2023 by Brides magazine, a Chicago Inno Top 23 to Watch for 2023, and has an abundance of five-star customer ratings among other accolades. The new Agent Program joins BriteCo's successful direct-to-consumer and point-of-sale jewelry insurance channels. The Agent & Broker Program brings a best-in-class product and technology to customers wherever they are in an industry that hasn't seen innovation in decades.

"Independent insurance agents and brokers are seeing enormous change as their clients experience policy price increases for auto and homeowner insurance," added Lemick. "Switching clients to a specialty jewelry insurance policy through our Agent & Broker Program allows agents and brokers to save their clients money, improve claims management, and provide better service."

The BriteCo Agent & Broker Program has been in pre-release with select agents and brokers prior to its February 15, 2023 nation-wide launch. For more information about the Agent Program, visit https://brite.co/agent /.

About BriteCo

BriteCo is a leading provider of jewelry and engagement ring insurance. Established by a third-generation retail jeweler, BriteCo offers one of the most comprehensive jewelry and watch insurance policies on the market. BriteCo has democratized the process of buying insurance for luxury accessories with a streamlined, easy online application and superior coverage in minutes. BriteCo policies have $0 deductibles, are backed by an AM Best A+ rated insurer, and provide worldwide coverage. For more information, visit brite.co .

SOURCE BriteCo
Amino Oncologypurpose-built for this dynamic and fast-growing category

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calcium + Company, a leading mid-sized diversified healthcare marketing agency, is excited to continue its growth with the launch of Amino, a dedicated oncology marketing division. Amino offers current and future clients an integrated marketing and communications approach that draws on the extensive oncology experience of its leading talent across oncologic science, strategy, creative, and engagement.

Josh Righter, a Calcium alumnus who helped build the agency's oncology presence, returns as Associate Managing Director to lead Amino, reporting to Calcium + Company Group President Greg Lewis, along with veteran Calcium creative and strategic leadership in Chris Watson and Tim Wisniewski, respectively. Account leadership will continue under the expertise of Beth Bloom and Oliver Murphy. Together with Josh, the Amino leadership team has nearly 50 years of experience working in oncology.

"Today, oncology brands and companies must rise above the noise with a fully integrated, bespoke approachone that creates strong and durable bonds with HCPs, patients, care partners, and communities," says Righter. "With Amino, I'm so excited to return to the Calcium family to be a part of this team of experienced storytellersone that has honed a unique methodology by fusing scientific pedigree with unmatched oncology marketing expertise."

According to Greg Lewis, "Amino represents an extension of our 'brand nourishment' DNA into the world of oncology. With the addition of Josh's leadership to a passionate team, I'm excited to see the stories we'll help to tell in this critically important category."

About Calcium + Company

Calcium + Company is an award-winning, healthcare marketing agency dedicated to brand nourishment, led by CEO Judy Capano and Group President Greg Lewis.

With more than 140 employees and offices in Philadelphia, New York, and Miami, Calcium + Company offers a range of leading-edge strategic, creative, and engagement services designed to nourish brands and drive business success. It also focuses on being a nourishing force for its people and the wider community. Calcium was recently ranked one of MM+M's 2022 Best Places to Work.

Please visit us at www.calciumusa.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE Calcium + Company
The 3V ultra-thin prismatic supercap packs 23% more energy than a same-size 2.7V supercap, and can complement 3V coin cell batteries, replace bulky 3V cylindrical supercaps to save space, or replace batteries using energy harvesting to charge sustainable batteryless devices

SYDNEY, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CAP-XX (LSE:CPX), the leading manufacturer of ultra-thin prismatic, cylindrical, and Lithium-Ion supercapacitors, has launched its DMV750 ultra-thin 2.2mm prismatic 3V supercapacitor to provide high performance for IoT, medical and other space-constrained and mission-critical electronic devices.

Ultra-thin 3V prismatic supercap can efficiently store and release the energy needed to drive peak-power functions in IoT, medical and other space-constrained and mission-critical electronic devices. The 750mF supercap can complement 3V coin cell batteries, replace bulky 3V cylindrical supercaps to save design space, or replace batteries altogether when energy harvesters can extract enough environmental energy to charge the ultra-efficient supercap in sustainable, batteryless devices.

This multi-purpose 3V prismatic supercap can support the industry's common 3V coin cell battery to extend its life and functionality, replace a bulky 3V cylindrical supercap to save design space, or replace batteries altogether when micro energy harvesting can extract enough solar, vibration, RF or other environmental energy to charge the ultra-efficient supercapacitor in sustainable batteryless devices.

Packing 23% more energy than a 2.7-volt supercap in the same size package, the 3V, DMV750 supercap provides high peak pulse power to enable either batteryless or more battery-efficient applications. It measures 21 x 14 x 2.2 millimetres, operating from -20C to +85C.

"It's estimated that over 5 billion 3V coin cell batteries and 12 billion IoT devices are sold annually," explained Anthony Kongats, CEO at CAP-XX. "While not all devices require a supercapacitor, many would benefit from our powerful DMV750 supercapacitor to store and release the energy needed for peak power functions like data transmission."

3-Volt DMV750 applications include:

Energy harvesting for remote wireless sensors, wireless HVAC sensors and actuators

Asset tracking

RTC and memory backup power

Peak load shaving when configured in parallel with a 3V coin cell battery, like the CR2032

Kongats continued, "Our DMV750 ultra-thin 3V supercap provides engineers with multiple options to overcome power delivery challenges in space-constrained, mission-critical, sustainable electronic devices."

Samples are available for $4.95 - $15, depending on quantity ordered: https://www.cap-xx.com/product/dmv3n3r0v754m2dta0/ For production quantities, contact [email protected].

Supercapacitors handle peak power events, supporting batteries and energy harvesters configured to provide low-power current at maximum efficiency. This allows designers to use smaller, cheaper, low-power batteries and extend their run-time and cycle life, or use intermittent ambient energy sources like solar photovoltaic.

About CAP-XX

CAP-XX is the leader in the design and manufacture of supercapacitors, including ultra-thin prismatic, cylindrical and hybrid (lithium-ion capacitors), for managing burst power, micro energy harvesting and backup power needs in portable and IoT devices. CAP-XX also offers large, powerful supercapacitor modules for engine start and other microgrid/grid/power correction applications up to 2000V. CAP-XX prismatic supercapacitors are manufactured in Australia and Malaysia and its cylindrical and hybrid supercapacitors are manufactured in China and the USA. The company's strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio includes 11 patent families. CAP-XX's ultra-thin prismatic supercapacitors are ideal for space-constrained electronics applications where small energy storage device size and thickness are critical. Visit https://www.cap-xx.com/ or email [email protected].

SOURCE CAP-XX
VERO BEACH, Fla., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of Watercrest Santa Rosa Beach Assisted Living and Memory Care celebrated this Valentine's Day with the heartwarming tradition of a Sweetheart Brunch prepared by Executive Chef Will Poirier and Hot Cocoa Bar hosted by Executive Director Kim Haddon.

Surrounded by family and friends, residents were treated to an array of sweet pastries, fresh fruits, festive drinks, and a full spread of savory favorites from roasted potatoes to mouth-watering ham prepared by Executive Chef Will and his culinary team.

The residents of Watercrest Santa Rosa Beach Assisted Living and Memory Care enjoyed the sweet traditions of Valentine's Day with a Sweetheart Brunch and homemade hot cocoa bar.

"Our residents loved the special attention they received at our Sweetheart Brunch as Chef Will personally greeted and served each person as they passed through the dining room," says Kim Haddon, Executive Director of Watercrest Santa Rosa Beach. "Honoring our residents with attention to detail and individualized service is a primary focus as we create opportunities for engagement and interaction."

Executive Director Kim Haddon added her own special touch to the Valentine's day celebration, hosting a Hot Cocoa Bar adorned with homemade cocoa bombs, fluffy marshmallows, sweet cream and sprinkles. Residents joyfully selected their favorites, adding special toppings and flavorings with a smile.

Watercrest Senior Living recognizes the importance of honoring traditions associated with holidays and special events. When sharing a classic dish, a familiar tune, or festive decor, residents are connecting cherished memories to their daily activities. Celebrating the momentous occasions of each resident's life instills joy and purpose amongst residents, associates, and family members.

Watercrest Santa Rosa Beach is a newly-constructed senior living development project partnered between Watercrest Senior Living Group and The St. Joe Company. The community offers 75 assisted living and 32 memory care apartments with resort-style service and world-class care. Residents enjoy pampering in elegant Spa W, savor private label Watercrest wines at the bistro, and relish the flavors of locally grown, seasonal ingredients and organic fare whether dining outdoors, bistro-style, or in the chef's private dining room.

Watercrest Santa Rosa Beach is conveniently located at 205 West Hewett Road along the Emerald Coast in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. For information, contact the community at 850-290-0462.

About Watercrest Senior Living Group

Watercrest Senior Living Group was founded to honor our mothers and fathers, aspiring to become a beacon for quality in senior living by surpassing standards of care, service and associate training. Watercrest senior living communities are recognized for their luxury aesthetic, exceptional amenities, world-class care, and innovative memory care programming offering unparalleled service to seniors living with Alzheimer's and dementia. A certified Great Place to Work, Watercrest specializes in the development and operations of assisted living and memory care communities and the growth of servant leaders. For information, visit www.watercrestseniorliving.com.

About The St. Joe Company

The St. Joe Company is a real estate development, asset management and operating company with real estate assets and operations in Northwest Florida. The Company intends to use existing assets for residential, hospitality and commercial ventures. St. Joe has significant residential and commercial land-use entitlements. The Company actively seeks higher and better uses for its real estate assets through a range of development activities. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.joe.com. On a regular basis, the Company releases a video showing progress on projects in development or under construction. See https://www.joe.com/video-gallery for more information.

SOURCE Watercrest Senior Living Group
CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charleston Literary Festival is delighted to announce the appointment of Sarah Moriarty as its new Executive Director, along with a series of changes to its Board of Directors. Accordingly, Ms. Moriarty will be taking on the role with immediate effect.

Sarah Moriarty, Executive Director, Charleston Literary Festival, Photo credit: Jay Millard

Charleston Literary Festival is a literary festival that takes place in Charleston, South Carolina every November. The Festival prides itself on a highly curated program of national and international authors, celebrating the power of literature to change people's perspectives and the free exchange of ideas. This exciting announcement reflects the Festival's global roots and heralds the Festival's next stage as a forward-thinking cultural institution committed to creating public value for the greater Charleston community.

"We are delighted to have Sarah Moriarty at the helm of Charleston Literary Festival as Executive Director. Her extensive academic and professional background, love for literature, and leadership skills make her the ideal choice to lead the Festival and its evolution from a small start-up to an important cultural fixture in Charleston," says Walter Fiederowicz, newly-appointed Chair. "Our November 2022 Festival was a major milestone in the Festival's growth, and Sarah's expertise will help us continue that success, offering a mix of high quality and diverse programming that will ensure Charleston Literary Festival is recognized as a national and international forum for books, ideas, and conversation."

Moriarty, who previously held the position of Director of Marketing for the Festival, is a branding specialist and marketing creative. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin, where she earned a BA in Literature, and Freie Universitat Berlin, where she received an MA in the same field. Sarah's interests include modern Irish Drama, literature in exile, and the writings of Samuel Beckett. Before her move from Berlin to Charleston in October 2021, she was the Global Director of Brand at Blinkist , a company in the audiobook publishing industry that blended her love of literature with her career.

"I am so honored to be in a position to steward Charleston Literary Festival into its next phase. It is invigorating to work with an organization so close to my lifelong passion for books and to have the opportunity to contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape of this city," said Moriarty. "Books can change how we view the world. As Charleston Literary Festival moves into its next chapter (pun intended!), we aim to create diverse spaces that embrace, amplify, and share perspective-altering ideas."

With this new leadership comes a strong re-commitment to Charleston Literary Festival's emphasis on literary excellence and dedication to expanding the Festival's student initiatives. In 2022, the Festival partnered with Oakwood Universitya historically black Seventh Day Adventist institutionwhich saw six students and three faculty members attend Festival sessions and join a private brunch with Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson and National Book Award winner Imani Perry also in attendance. In addition, the Festival welcomed students from Marvin Ridge High School in North Carolina to Festival sessions and a private pizza party with Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and author Renee Dudley.

Further, the Festival arranged for three authors to visit the College of Charleston for in-person sessions with students and faculty. The three authors that visited the College of Charleston included Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer-prize winning writer, author of HORSE, a recent New York Times bestseller, Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., passionate educator, author, political commentator, and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, and Charleston's first Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker. In the coming year, Moriarty is dedicated to supercharging the efforts of the Festival in the student community.

BROADENING EXPERTISE ON THE FESTIVAL BOARD

In addition to Moriarty's appointment, Laura Gates has been welcomed to the Board of Directors, bringing a wealth of experience to the table. She is an esteemed community leader and philanthropist. Her experience includes being Chair of the SELC/Southern Environmental Law Center, past Chair of the Coastal Conservation League, the Gibbes Museum of Art, and the Board of Trustees of Wellesley College. She currently serves on the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation board and the Preservation Society of Charleston.

ELEVATING EXISTING BOARD MEMBERS OF THE FESTIVAL

Lastly, the Festival leadership is repositioning as the Festival continues to gain popularity with readers worldwide.

Walter Fiederowicz has been appointed Chair of the Board





has been appointed Chair of the Board Wenda Harris Millard has been appointed Vice Chair of the Board





has been appointed Vice Chair of the Board Deborah Gage has been elevated to Founder and Chair Emerita

Charleston Literary Festival is an annual event set in historic Charleston, South Carolina , that brings world-renowned writers and readers together to explore and discuss some of our time's most pressing issues and ideas. Programming revolves around intimate conversations between authors and interlocutors that allow audience members to interact. By connecting readers and thinkers with a wide range of quality speakers, the Festival promotes the power of excellent writing, ideas, and creativity.

Charleston Literary Festival is a boutique literary festival that takes place each November in Charleston, South Carolina. With an emphasis on featuring international and national award-winning authors, the Festival is committed to providing diverse audiences with a forum for engaging with new ideas and experiencing the transformative power of great literature. Charleston Literary Festival Launched in 2017 in collaboration with the historic Charleston Library Society and the Charleston Trust in the UK, home to the artists and writers of the Bloomsbury Group. Since 2019, Charleston Literary Festival has been an independent non-profit entity.

SOURCE Charleston Literary Festival
- Eight abstracts include long-term results from Phase 3 BALANCE and BRIGHT studies in Fabry disease and insights from the SPARKLE registry in alpha-mannosidosis -

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people living with rare diseases, today announced that eight abstracts have been accepted for presentation at the 19th Annual WORLDSymposium Research Meeting to be held February 2226, 2023 in Orlando. The company will also support satellite symposia focused on lysosomal diseases including Fabry disease and alpha-mannosidosis.

Two oral presentations during the "Clinical Applications" session on Friday, February 24th beginning at 1pm EST will provide updates from the company's clinical development program in Fabry disease.

Eric Wallace , M.D., Co-Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Fabry Disease Clinic, will present an abstract titled, "First results of a head-to-head trial of pegunigalsidase alfa vs. agalsidase beta in Fabry disease: 2-year results of the phase 3 randomized, double-blind, BALANCE study."

, M.D., Co-Director of the Fabry Disease Clinic, will present an abstract titled, "First results of a head-to-head trial of pegunigalsidase alfa vs. agalsidase beta in Fabry disease: 2-year results of the phase 3 randomized, double-blind, BALANCE study." John Bernat , M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director of the Iowa Lysosomal Storage Disorders Center, will present an abstract titled, "Long-term safety and efficacy of pegunigalsidase alfa administered every 4 weeks in patients with Fabry disease: two-year interim results from the ongoing phase 3 BRIGHT51 open-label extension study."

The company is announcing the presentation of six additional posters during WORLDSymposium:

"Patient-reported experiences with Fabry disease monitoring and disease burden in the real-world setting: results from a double-blind, cross-sectional survey" - Lisa Berry , LGC, Division of Human Genetics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

, LGC, Division of Human Genetics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center "Safety and compliance of home infusion of velmanase alfa for the treatment of alpha-mannosidosis in the clinical trial and real-world settings" - Nathalie Guffon, M.D., Reference Centre of inherited metabolic disease in Femme Mere Enfant Hospital, Hospices Civils of Lyon, France

"Baseline characteristics of a real-world population with alpha-mannosidosis: insights from the SPARKLE registry" - Nathalie Guffon, M.D., Reference Centre of inherited metabolic disease in Femme Mere Enfant Hospital, Hospices Civils of Lyon, France

"Real-world clinical profiles of patients with alpha-mannosidosis: baseline evaluations from the SPARKLE registry" - Nicole Muschol, M.D., International Center for Lysosomal Disorders (ICLD) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany

"Systematic Literature Review on the Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Natural History of Alpha Mannosidosis" - Patricia Dorling , Head of Global HEOR at Chiesi USA , Inc.

, Head of Global HEOR at Chiesi , Inc. "Systematic Literature Review on the Burden of Illness, Health-related Quality of Life, and Treatment Options in Pediatric and Adult Patients with Alpha Mannosidosis" - Patricia Dorling , Head of Global HEOR at Chiesi USA , Inc.

The company will also support two satellite symposia during WORLDSymposium:

On Friday, February 24 th beginning at 5:15pm EST , Robert Hopkin , M.D., Clinical Geneticist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, will serve as Chair of a symposium titled, "One size does not fit all: Monitoring and management of anti-drug antibodies in lysosomal diseases with a focus on Fabry disease." Additional speakers will include Derralynn Hughes, M.D., Professor of Experimental Haematology at the University College London, and Maria Joao Goncalves, M.D., Instituto de Medicina Molecular.

beginning at , , M.D., Clinical Geneticist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, will serve as Chair of a symposium titled, "One size does not fit all: Monitoring and management of anti-drug antibodies in lysosomal diseases with a focus on Fabry disease." Additional speakers will include Derralynn Hughes, M.D., Professor of Experimental Haematology at the University College London, and Maria Joao Goncalves, M.D., Instituto de Medicina Molecular. On Saturday, February 25 th beginning at 11:45am EST , Barbara Burton , M.D., Professor of Pediatrics at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago , will serve as Chair of a symposium titled, "Pinpointing Alpha-Mannosidosis on the Map: Insights from the diagnostic odyssey of patients." Additional speakers will include Nicole Muschol, M.D., University of Hamburg , Karolina Stepien, M.D., Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and Florian Lagler , M.D., Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg.

About Chiesi Global Rare Diseases

Chiesi Global Rare Diseases is a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people affected by rare diseases. As a family business, Chiesi Group strives to create a world where it is common to have a therapy for all diseases and acts as a force for good, for society and the planet. The goal of the Global Rare Diseases unit is to ensure equal access so as many people as possible can experience their most fulfilling life. The unit collaborates with the rare disease community around the globe to bring voice to underserved people in the health care system. For more information visit www.chiesirarediseases.com.

About Chiesi Group

Chiesi is an international, research-focused biopharmaceuticals group that develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in respiratory health, rare diseases, and specialty care. The company's mission is to improve people's quality of life and act responsibly towards both the community and the environment.

By changing its legal status to a Benefit Corporation in Italy, the US, and France, Chiesi's commitment to create shared value for society as a whole is legally binding and central to company-wide decision-making. As a certified B Corp since 2019, we're part of a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. The company aims at becoming net-zero by 2035.

With over 85 years of experience, Chiesi is headquartered in Parma (Italy), operates in 30 countries, and counts more than 6,000 employees. The Group's research and development centre in Parma works alongside 6 other important R&D hubs in France, the US, Canada, China, the UK, and Sweden.

For further information please visit www.chiesi.com

Chiesi Global Rare Diseases Media Contact

Adam Daley

Berry & Company Public Relations

1-212-253-8881

[email protected]

PP-G-1095 V1.0

SOURCE Chiesi Global Rare Diseases
MILWAUKEE, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Circa is pleased to announce our formal partnership with Boston-based BufferSprings, a training and consulting firm specializing in corporate veteran inclusion training and military acquisition programs. Circa is partnering with BufferSprings to provide its customers and prospects access to veteran recruitment, retention programs and veteran inclusive corporate trainings.

Patrick Sheahan, CEO, Circa

The purpose of this partnership is to improve diversity outcomes for organizations while supporting federal contractors with effective, sustainable and compliant military programs. BufferSprings will resell Circa's SaaS-based technology solutions to their customers. Circa will offer its customers and prospects access to BufferSprings' veteran recruitment and retention consulting services.

Circa provides OFCCP compliance management and recruiting technology solutions to deliver qualified candidates on an equitable playing field for organizations to build high-performing, diverse teams. The company is expanding its product and service offerings through meaningful partnerships as customers are seeking a more robust solution from industry leaders like Circa. BufferSprings is a recognized expert in building customized recruitment, engagement, and retention programs for companies looking to create effective and sustainable military talent initiatives.

"The partnership between Circa and BufferSprings symbolizes our profound commitment to helping organizations build diverse, high-performance teams and accelerating their success," Patrick Sheahan, CEO, Circa said. "Expanding our solutions to include military recruitment and veteran-inclusive corporate trainings helps our customers attract and retain talent, increase their bottom line, and ensure OFCCP and EEOC compliance."

"Our mission at BufferSprings is to eradicate underemployment within the military-connected community over the next 10 years, but we simply cannot do it alone," said Rob Arndt, CEO and Founder, BufferSprings. "We seek out great partners like Circa who inspire, educate, and equip forward-thinking companies to build better recruitment and retention programs for underrepresented groups like veterans. Whether you're just starting your journey or already on your way, join our combined mission to make systemic change."

To drive mutual success, Circa will showcase BufferSprings' veteran recruitment and consulting services to customers and prospects, feature them in marketing campaigns and work together on thought leadership content to drive qualified leads.

About Circa

Circa is a catalyst for 21st-century companies to build high-performing diverse teams based on research that shows companies want to shift from diversity as a program to diversity as a business strategy. The companies' robust portfolio of software solutions and unparalleled industry expertise give employers the tools and knowledge they need to radically change how they approach talent acquisition and management. The company was founded in 1994, has 5000+ customers, 15,500 community partner relationships, and in 2022 posted 8M+ jobs through its network of 600+ online employment websites.

About BufferSprings

BufferSprings is a Boston-based consulting and training firm founded in 2021. We are proud to be 100% service-disabled veteran-owned and operated.

Our team is passionate about connecting our corporate partners with the top talent from the greater military-connected community. But, more importantly, we are a mission-driven company with big goals to shake up a very stagnant industry.

Learn more about BufferSprings by visiting, www.buffersprings.com

Media Contact

Miranda Knudtson

Partner Marketing Manager

[email protected]

Circaworks.com

SOURCE Circa
THUNDER BAY, ON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air Metals") (the "Company") (TSXV: AIR) (OTCQB: CLRMF) (FRA: CKU) reports on an ongoing internal review of the mineral resource estimate at the Thunder Bay North Project, under the independent supervision of SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. ("SLR"). The Company has determined that there will likely be a material reduction in the metal content in the Current Deposit, one of the two mineral deposits comprising the Thunder Bay North Project, which could be in the range of a 20% to 50% reduction from what was previously reported by the Company.

Previous reporting was based on an independent mineral resource estimate and subsequent preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") prepared by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. (January 20, 2021; December 1, 2021; January 13, 2022). Due to an apparent over-estimation of the original mineral resource at the Current Deposit, the results of the PEA in the technical report "NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Thunder Bay North Project, Thunder Bay, Ontario" (filed on SEDAR on January 12, 2022) must not be relied upon and the Company retracts both documents.

In July 2022, Clean Air Metals engaged SLR to provide independent oversight and validation of an updated mineral resource estimate that was to be generated for both PGE-Cu-Ni deposits (the Current and Escape deposits) within the Thunder Bay North Project (press release August 2, 2022). The process commenced with the Escape Deposit, which included the addition of approximately 38,980 m of infill drilling data in 78 holes (reported variously through 2021 and 2022) that were completed after the initial PEA cut-off date. This phase of work has upheld the tonnage and grade characteristics of the Escape Deposit. The ongoing mineral resource update work on the Escape Deposit suggests no apparent material change from the Nordmin estimate.

This was followed by the review of the large (approximately 750 drill holes) historical Current Deposit drill hole database, plus an additional 6,480 m of infill drilling in 30 holes completed by the Company after the initial PEA cut-off date. The preliminary resource model review for the Current Deposit has identified a discrepancy with the disclosed resource estimate, as stated.

More work needs to be completed before the final determination of the metal content reduction at the Current Deposit can be estimated. Additional checks on the Current mineral deposit model and mineral resource estimate will be required to estimate the expected variance and are ongoing. Updated mineral resource estimates for both the Escape and Current Deposits will be the basis for a new mineral resource technical report to be authored by SLR (the "SLR technical report").

DRA Americas continues with the metallurgical optimization work that was started in May 2022 (press release May 26, 2022). It is expected that the metallurgical test program will be completed in Q1 2023. Additional work on mill flowsheet and plant design awaits the SLR Technical Report. Similarly, mine design work anticipated by BBA Engineering (reported January 10, 2023) will be reconsidered based on the outcome of the SLR technical report.

Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals, commented: "the Company commenced a normal course review of mineral resource estimates on the Escape Deposit and Current Deposit in August, 2022. The mineral resource update commenced initially on the Escape Deposit. Results from re-estimation of the mineral resource at the Escape Deposit are in line with those reported in the disclosed resource statement and PEA, at a higher level of confidence with the addition of approximately 38,980m of infill drilling in 78 holes since the initial PEA cut-off date.

Initial mineral resource update results on the Current Deposit are unexpected and disappointing. They may have a material effect on the projected economics of the Thunder Bay North Project. The outcome of the new, updated mineral resource expected for the Thunder Bay North Project will guide next steps. The Company's technical and management team together with its independent consultants are now solely focused on this important work and will update the market on a priority basis".

Qualified Person

Dr. Geoff Heggie, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and Vice President - Exploration for the Company, has reviewed and approved all technical information in this press release.

Social Engagement

Clean Air Metals Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Ltd. acknowledge that the Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project is on the traditional territories of the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock Indian Band and Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The parties together are the Cooperating Participants in a Memorandum of Agreement dated January 9, 2021 (press release January 11, 2021) and Exploration Agreement signed April 13, 2022 (press release April 14, 2022).

The Company appreciates the opportunity to work in these territories and remains committed to the recognition and respect of those who have lived, traveled, and gathered on the lands since time immemorial. Clean Air Metals is committed to stewarding Indigenous heritage and remains committed to building, fostering and encouraging a respectful relationship with First Nations and Metis peoples based upon principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation.

About Clean Air Metals Inc.

Clean Air Metals' flagship asset is the 100% owned, high grade Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project, a platinum, palladium, copper, nickel project located near the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Lac des Iles Mine owned by Impala Platinum.

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements related the expected reduction in metal content, mineral resources and the preliminary economic assessment and timing of the updated resource estimate are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

SOURCE Clean Air Metals Inc.
The government of Uganda has castigated sanctions against the Republic of Iran by the Western powers, urging that such sanctions in this day and age are from people with a lack of enlightenment.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Okello Oryem, made the statements during the event to make 44 years of the Islamic Revolution of Iran at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel.

"There's no place for such sanctions, especially in this age of enlightenment," he said.

Oryem noted that Uganda and Iran enjoy cordial diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Uganda has received many Iranian presidents.

"The president of Uganda has visited Iran for five years, had many MoUs and foreign exchange visits and our relations have further been bolstered by the establishment of the Iran Uganda hospital which offers first-class services to Ugandans," Oryem said.

He prayed for increased trade relations in the fields of oil and gas, petrol and biochemical fields.

The new Iranian ambassador to Uganda Majid Saffar also graced the annual ceremony.

Among the guests were members of the diplomatic Corps, international organisations, Heads of academic institutions, and media among others.

Speaking at the event, Saffar welcomed invited guests to the glorious celebrations of the Islamic Revolution which was under the charismatic leadership of Imam Khomeini and continued by Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

He expressed gratitude to the president of the Republic of Uganda and his cabinet for the continued cooperation at bilateral, regional and international levels.

The establishment of peace, stability and security in Uganda has created an enabling environment for trade which has boosted economic development and improvement of social welfare of the people.
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 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

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q3iog

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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CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "CVD Lab-grown Diamonds Market by Type (Rough, Polished), Color, Application (Machine & Cutting Tools; Heat Sinks & Exchangers; Optical, Laser, & X-ray; Electronics; Healthcare Instruments; Gemstone), and Region - Global Forecast to 2027", is projected to grow from USD 11.3 billion in 2022 to USD 15.9 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2022 to 2027. Major factors driving the growth of the CVD lab-grown diamond include increasing adoption among consumers, and demand from various growing applications such as electronics, machine & cutting tools, and others.

Browse in-depth TOC on "CVD Lab-grown Diamonds Market"



275  Tables

47  Figures

226  Pages

Download PD Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=11040749

By type, the rough segment accounted for the highest share of CVD lab-grown diamond market during 2022 to 2027.

The rough segment, by type, in the market accounted for the highest share. Rough diamond has properties such as of thermal conductivity, broadband optical transparency, and hardness which makes it suitable to be used in various industrial applications such as heat sinks, optical solutions, and cutting tools, among others.

By color, the colorless segment accounted for the highest share of the CVD lab-grown diamond market from 2022 to 2027.

The colorless segment, by color, in this market accounted for the highest share. Colorless diamonds are used in heat sinks, exchangers, and jewelry applications. The demand for colorless diamonds is highest in the machine & cutting tools segment. These diamonds have a cost-effective manufacturing process, making them suitable for usage in abrasive industrial applications.

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By application, the machine & cutting tools segment accounted for the highest share of the CVD lab-grown diamond market from 2022 to 2027.

The machine & cutting tools segment, by application, the market accounted for the highest share. As diamond is one of the hardest naturally available materials, it is largely being consumed for manufacturing machine & cutting tools. However, as CVD diamonds have identical properties to mined diamonds, they are swiftly replacing natural diamonds in these application areas. CVD diamond cutting tools are used in machining graphite, carbon fiber, and machining composite materials.

North America is the largest region in the CVD lab-grown diamond market.

North America accounted for the largest share in the CVD lab-grown diamonds market. The market of CVD lab-grown diamonds is driven by the growing demand from consumers in the US, majorly in the jewelry segment. Many consumers in North America region prefers lab-grown diamonds over natural diamond due to their eco-friendly characteristics.

De Beers Group (UK), Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (Japan), Goldiam (India), Adamas One Corp (US), Bhanderi Lab Grown Diamonds LLP (India), Hebei Plasma Diamond Technology Co., Ltd. (China), SP3 Diamond Technologies (US), Delaware Diamond Knives, Inc. (US), EDP Corporation (Japan), Tomei Diamond Corporation (Japan), Heyaru (Belgium), Beijing Worldia Diamond Tools Co., Ltd. (China), Ritani (US), and Shanghai Zhengshi Technology Co., Ltd. (China) are the key players in CVD lab-grown diamond market.

Browse Adjacent Market: Mining, Minerals and Metals Market Research & Consulting

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IRVING, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR), the world's leading company turning food waste into sustainable products and producer of renewable energy, today announced that the company will participate in upcoming meetings with institutional investors and Randall C. Stuewe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in panel presentations and fireside chats:

Bank of America 2023 Global Agriculture & Materials Conference  March 1

Renewable Fuels Panel Discussion  10:10 a.m. ET

Raymond James 44 th Annual Institutional Investors Conference  March 6

44 Annual Institutional Investors Conference  Fireside Chat  2:50 p.m. ET

Scotia Bank 51 st Annual Scotia Howard Weil Energy Conference  March 7

Annual Scotia Howard Weil Energy Conference  Fireside Chat  8:30 a.m. ET

Piper Sandler 23rd Annual Energy Conference  March 21

Select presentations will be available via webcast. For details, visit the Events section of the company's Investors website.

About Darling Ingredients

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR) is the largest publicly traded company turning edible by-products and food waste into sustainable products and a leading producer of renewable energy. Recognized as a sustainability leader, the company operates more than 270 facilities in 17 countries and repurposes approximately 15% of the world's meat industry waste streams into value-added products, such as green energy, renewable diesel, collagen, fertilizer, animal proteins and meals and pet food ingredients. To learn more, visit darlingii.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Darling Ingredients Contacts

Investors: Suann Guthrie

Senior VP, Investor Relations, Sustainability & Communications

(469) 214-8202; [email protected] Media: Jillian Fleming

Director, Global Communications

(972) 541-7115; [email protected]

SOURCE Darling Ingredients Inc.
Revolutionary food safety software streamlines food safety documentation for the food and beverage industry

HOBE SOUND, Fla., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Document Compliance Network (DCN), a leader in eliminating paperwork and automating the collection, storage, tracking, auditing, and sharing of food safety documentation, has launched its newest version of its food safety software. The features are designed to help food safety teams within the food and beverage industry to increase efficiency and reduce workload.

Automate your food safety documentation, the easy way with food safety software from Document Compliance Network.

DCN's food safety software allows the user to operate the system in one of 14 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, and Spanish. In addition, you can designate the preferred language of your business partner (customer or vendor) to streamline communication and efficiency in the global supply chain.

DCN also updated its internal section for documents to include a history and change log, making it easy to track revisions of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as required by food safety regulations and various auditing bodies. The update also includes a history and advanced note system for the supplier side of the software, which will automatically move previous versions of documents into history and track which user approved the document.

Food and beverage companies can easily send one-way fillable PDFs to suppliers and upload their most up-to-date documents to the software, which will automatically send to linked customers prior to expiration. The software also includes a library for documents that can be organized for easy storage and searchability.

Suppliers can request changes to their contact information, and the software will notify the user for approval. Once approved, the software will automatically update the supplier's contact information. The user also has the ability to rank suppliers based on custom criteria.

"My favorite feature is the ability to easily request documents from current and new suppliers," says Daria, Client Success Director at DCN with a Master's degree in Food Science and Technology from Oregon State University. "I remember when I was a quality manager and having to track everything in an Excel spreadsheet. There would always be one or two suppliers that I didn't have any documents for and another handful with expired documents. Having a food safety software that automatically makes sure I have all the necessary documents would have reduced my stress levels significantly."

Document Compliance Network is ideal for food and beverage manufacturers, growers, processors, vendors, and brokers and is priced at $9,600 per year, which includes unlimited users, documents, support, training, and data. Companies interested in learning more about DCN can schedule a demo at https://www.documentcompliance.com/schedule-a-demo.

About Document Compliance Network:

Document Compliance Network was developed and is run by a team with over 50 years combined experience in food manufacturing and food safety. Their mission is to provide a simple yet effective solution to ensure to the food industry ensuring their users are audit ready at all times. The software is used by food safety, quality assurance, and document compliance employees/teams.

Media Contact:

Gabriella Burkman

503-404-0420

[email protected]

SOURCE Document Compliance Network
Norfolk Southern expands geographic area eligible for reimbursements

ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) today provided an update on environmental monitoring and community assistance for the Village of East Palestine, Ohio. Norfolk Southern is committed to ensuring the health and safety of the community and to help the community recover and thrive. As of the evening of February 14, Norfolk Southern has:

Completed more than 400 in-home air tests in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other governmental agencies. In-home air monitoring has not detected substances related to the incident and does not indicate health risks.

in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other governmental agencies. In-home air monitoring has not detected substances related to the incident and does not indicate health risks. Implemented an extensive outdoor air monitoring program in the community. Thousands of data points have been collected, which continue to indicate no risk to health from incident-related substances. Air monitoring is also being conducted in the broader region outside of the Village of East Palestine .

in the community. Thousands of data points have been collected, which continue to indicate no risk to health from incident-related substances. Air monitoring is also being conducted in the broader region outside of the . Actively sampling the Village of East Palestine's drinking water supply wells, drinking water system, and private wells in areas potentially impacted by the incident.

wells, drinking water system, and private wells in areas potentially impacted by the incident. Distributed over $1.5 million in direct financial assistance to more than 1,000 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.

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. Established a $1 million fund available immediately to the community.

After a further review of areas affected by the evacuation orders and at the request of East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and other public officials, the company announced today that it is expanding the geographic area eligible for reimbursements for costs and inconvenience related to evacuating the region. All East Palestine residents in the 44413 zip code are now eligible. Residents should bring proof of residency with them to the Family Assistance Center.

Those in need of assistance should visit the Norfolk Southern Family Assistance Center at Abundant Life Church located 46469 State Route 46, New Waterford, Ohio, or call 1-800-230-7049. Residents who want air and water testing should contact the Residential Re-Entry Request Hotline at (330) 849-3919. If residents have further questions or concerns, they may call the CTEH Taggart Road Hotline at (234) 542-6474 to speak with a toxicologist.

This progress follows an announcement yesterday that the company is creating a $1 million fund to be available immediately as one component of its planned support for the community. The fund will supplement other efforts to support residents, businesses, and first responders, which include:

Reimbursing 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.

Fire Department 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.

municipal building in coordination with the City Manager. Coordinating and funded cleaning and air monitoring services for the East Palestine Elementary and High Schools.

About Norfolk Southern

Since 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.

SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation
BEIJING, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently at the 2022 (9th) Global Leasing Industry Competitiveness Forum Summit, Edianyun won the award of "Best Technological Innovation Company to Support SMEs".

As one of the most influential events in China's leasing industry at present, the online Summit has attracted over 1,000 global organizations and more than 20,000 attendees.

The Summit is themed "A New Journey for Services Entities and New Actions for Leasing Transformation". After the unanimous evaluation by the expert committee and fierce competition with other candidates, Edianyun stood out and won an influential and authoritative award.

In the award speech for Edianyun, the organizer said, "The past eight years have seen the efforts of this company to start the era of service-oriented office infrastructure in China. In the past, many SMEs faced office IT pain points and those issues have created a market for office IT services on a subscription basis that adopts a usage-based service mode. Founded in 2014, Beijing Ediantao Internet Technology Co., Ltd. is China's first and largest office IT integrated solution provider."

Actually, Edianyun is never a simple leasing company. Instead, it is committed to being an office IT service provider with technological innovation. Currently, Edianyun boasts over 120 patents and serves more than 40,000 customers nationwide with its advanced technology.

In terms of basic customer service, Edianyun's self-developed Nebula system integrates devices, capacities, planning, customer relationship management and service visualization, and other internal management content, thus connecting both the front-end and back-end of Edianyun's operation. In the meantime, the company provides 24/7 remote IT service and support to ensure convenient and comprehensive IT services.

In terms of service network, Edianyun also offers door-to-door on-site services to customers. The Nebula system can intelligently deploy engineers nationwide and dispatch work orders to the most suitable engineers according to the real-time locations and task difficulty, to ensure on-site maintenance is performed within 2-4 hours.

In terms of remanufacturing capacity, Edianyun's remanufacturing factory can promise an annual production of over 600,000 devices. With Edianyun's self-developed MES system, the cause of the fault can be accurately identified, so as to achieve chip-level repair by replacing only the faulty unit as necessary. While improving remanufacturing efficiency, the company also makes contributions to energy conservation and emission reduction by reducing carbon emissions by 50,000 tons on a yearly basis.

In the future, Edianyun will continue to make technological innovations and focus on office IT to improve service capacity and make office IT easier for SMEs.

SOURCE Edianyun
PORTLAND, Maine, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ElleVet Sciences announced today that it is expanding its global reach with its new European Headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The only scientifically proven-to-work pet CBD+CBDA brand is currently launching its initial international rollout in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and France from ElleVet Sciences' European Headquarters.

CEO of ElleVet Sciences, Christian Kjaer, says, "Being the leader in CBD+CBDA cannabinoids for pets in the USA, it is a natural next step for us to continue our growth by not only supporting the U.S. market but also by offering our products to veterinarians and pet owners in several European countries."

ElleVet Sciences Expands into the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and France. Tweet this

"We have a dedicated team in Europe who is ready to offer the same high-quality customer service that ElleVet Sciences is known for in the USA," added Kjaer. "To be successful in Europe, we must localize our products and services, which means having a team of native-speaking customer service staff and providing our scientifically backed products in the marketplace."

Pet parents and veterinarians in Europe interested in trying ElleVet Sciences for dogs can find products either online at ellevetsciences.eu or through their local veterinarian.

For more information, in the United States please visit ellevetsciences.com or on social media at @Ellevetsciences on Facebook and Instagram.

About ElleVet Sciences

ElleVet Sciences is a leading science-focused pet CBD+CBDA company based in Portland, Maine, USA. It is the first and only company to conduct clinical trials with proven results using its cannabinoid and terpene oil blend. Christian Kjaer and Amanda Howland founded ElleVet Sciences in 2017. The ElleVet team combines science and veterinary backgrounds with a dedication to animals through research and innovation.

SOURCE ElleVet Sciences
DENVER, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsmere Education Inc, a certified B corp that enables universities to serve non-traditional learners, today announced that Dan Janick has been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer. Janick is an accomplished executive who brings over 30 years of leadership experience with founder-led companies. Janick previously served in executive roles with Academic Analytics, LLC, a SaaS solutions provider helping universities assess, grow and promote their academic research activities, and SignalPath, LLC, a SaaS solutions provider serving the clinical research market.

"We've already transformed the lives of thousands of students and I'm excited to lead the impact in the years ahead." Tweet this Dan JanickChief Executive OfficerElsmere Education

"Dan brings a wealth of expertise to lead Elsmere in our next chapter", said Justin McMorrow, Founder. "With his previous experience leading higher education and technology companies, he is perfectly positioned to help us launch our new Education Process as a Service (EPaaS) solution. Dan embraces Elsmere's values-driven culture, which universities value more than ever as they seek partners to help them navigate new frontiers in higher education."

Elsmere Education has a distinguished track record in offering enablement services to higher education institutions, including marketing, enrollment, retention and online course development. Building on this experience, Elsmere is now offering its proven process, technology ecosystem and analytics platform in a subscription format referred to as EPaaS, which allows for institutions to build internal capacity more efficiently.

"Elsmere's mission is to unlock the power of learning and transform the lives of students, and I will continue to lead the company with our values as our core foundation," said Janick. "Under Justin's leadership the last 10 years, we've already transformed the lives of thousands of students, and I'm excited and honored to lead the Elsmere team in extending the company's impact in the years ahead."

Justin McMorrow, the company's founder, will transition to the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He will also lead Elsmere Advisory Services, a new affiliate that provides strategic consulting and operational assistance to help colleges and universities reach more students.

About Elsmere Education

Elsmere Education is a certified B corp that enables universities to serve non-traditional students. With a focus on internal capacity building and transparency, Elsmere provides universities ownership and visibility over every decision and accelerates institutional success through a range of enablement solutions including marketing, enrollment, student success, strategy and curated technology solutions. https://elsmereeducation.com/

Media contact:

Heli Frazier, SVP Marketing

[email protected]

SOURCE Elsmere Education
RICHARDSON, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Telaverge Communications, LLC. announced today that Emblasoft Test & Measurement AB., a global provider of Service Enablement, Active Monitoring, Load and Functional Test solutions, has integrated its Evolver solution with Telaverge's Regal for Containers and Cloud (RCC) to enable fully tested end-to-end 5G deployments.

Emblasoft

With this integrated platform, ISVs and operators can now focus on writing new test scenarios rather than focusing on test environment or test execution. Regal does not replace existing tools, but rather embraces and incorporates all previous efforts by easily integrating all third-party testing tools and test cases, like in the case of Emblasoft's Evolver.

Regal automates the test execution 100%, enabling overall cost savings of up to 70%. This integrated platform provides a one-stop solution for various test scenarios like end-to-end testing, solution testing and performance testing.

The combination of Evolver and Regal gives the market a robust and easy to use end-to-end test solution from gNodeB to the 5G core, using both emulators and actual 5G network functions.

The two companies have recently completed a PoC trial and are now mutually developing 5G test cases involving Evolver's emulation tools and Telaverge's UPF.

"Our 5G test, validation and service assurance capabilities are proven globally, so we're thrilled to be collaborating with Telaverge," said Claes Lownander, EVP Sales & Marketing at Emblasoft, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden. "Our partnership will provide the agile, automated test capabilities operators need to ensure they can go to market reliably with advanced 5G services and applications."

"Telaverge provides the complete Test Automation Orchestration Platform which improves TTM, QA and overall cost," said Kumar Ramalingam, Telaverge CEO. "Regal allows development companies to keep end-customers happy with the very best service and stable products, a competitive advantage in today's rapidly evolving market."

About Emblasoft T&M AB

Emblasoft. Innovate. Validate. Operate.

Our solutions help CSPs and equipment vendors deliver outstanding services and performance to their customers.

We are a global provider of Service Enablement, Performance Management, Active Monitoring, and Test and Verification systems for 5G, VoLTE, 4G, IMS and more, across all generations of mobile networks. With Emblasoft, CSPs and equipment manufacturers can more efficiently launch and maintain new products and services, based on the very latest technologies and standards, validated and supported by outstanding assurance.

For more information, visit: www.emblasoft.com

Emblasoft Contact

Claes Lownander

Mobile: +46 70 204 39 70

[email protected]

About Telaverge Communications, LLC.

Telaverge is a global communications and technology provider headquartered in Dallas, Texas with its Development Center in Bangalore, India. The company has proven expertise in Design, Development, and Deployment of Products and Solutions to customers worldwide. Our deep protocol knowledge, domain expertise combined with Engineering execution and delivery skills, are enabling us to deliver world-class products, custom solutions, and services.

More information on Regal: www.regalautomation.com/

Telaverge Contact

Thomas Wiklund

Office +1 888-499-8657

[email protected]

SOURCE Telaverge Communications
Black History Month is a popular time to focus on an organization's DEI practices, including employee resource groups (ERGs). Since these groups are often employee-led initiatives, HR must balance supporting employee efforts without taking over.

TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - As North America continues to celebrate Black History Month, many organizations are looking inward to examine their current DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and initiatives. Employees from a diverse range of backgrounds want connections in the workplace with one another through common interests and shared experiences, says leading global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company. This has led to ERGs emerging within organizations. According to the firm, since ERGs are frequently initiated by employees, HR has a delicate but crucial role to play in their long-term success. To guide HR and organizational leaders in their efforts to support ERGs, McLean & Company has released its newest blueprint, Create a Pathway for Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to Connect to Organizational Support.

HRs role is to create a pathway with guidance and resources for employee resource groups (ERGs) to increase their effectiveness and sustainment. HR must be careful to balance between supporting and not taking over employee efforts. (CNW Group/Mclean & Company)

Presently, HR teams are observing that job applicants are considering more than the traditional compensation priorities, expanding their list of primary considerations to include an organization's stance on social and ethical practices. This makes investing in the success of ERGs a particularly timely focus for organizations seeking to improve attraction and retention of top talent amid not only Black History Month but also a challenging labor market in uncertain economic times.

"Employee resource groups contribute to employee engagement, recruitment, retention, and a sense of belonging," says LynnAnn Brewer, director of HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company. "Organizations seeking to improve in any of these areas have a vested interest in ensuring ERGs have support from both leadership and HR. To achieve this, HR must seek to understand the needs, interests, and goals of the organization's ERGs to understand their current state and where they may require additional support."

McLean & Company's latest industry resource suggests that HR leaders create a pathway for ERGs to receive formal support from the organization. Should the groups choose to become formalized within the organization, this may look like budget, recruitment, and the empowerment to run or support key internal initiatives. While many ERGs may connect racially marginalized communities, such as those that support Black employees, they may also focus on groups with disabilities, those who identify as LGBTQIA2+, and women, for example. HR leaders can align with and support ERGs by following the firm's recommended three-step process:

Understand the current state of ERGs  The first step requires seeking to understand the different types of ERGs and the role HR plays in creating a pathway for them to form. It also asks HR leaders to review the current state of DEI and ERGs within the organization and prepare to design the structure, tools, and processes for ERGs.



Create structure, processes, and tools to support ERGs  Step two includes finalizing an overview of the governance framework to communicate to ERGs. This involves establishing a formal application process to share with groups seeking the organization's support and outlining executive sponsor roles and expectations. Next is preparing resource guidelines, curating tools, and planning for communication of available resources for ERGs.



Establish metrics and plan for sustainment  The third and final step involves establishing ERG metrics to monitor progress, identifying opportunities for HR to provide ongoing support to ERGs, offering additional resources to support their sustainment, and discussing the future evolution of ERGs within the organization.

McLean & Company cautions that HR's role is to plan and provide a pathway with guidance and resources for ERGs to increase effectiveness and sustainment rather than taking control of group management. Supporting grassroots ERGs through formalization without taking control of the groups themselves can be a delicate process. Sometimes ERGs may wish to refrain from receiving organizational support, and it is important to remember that ERGs will take on many forms and do not always require support from the organization.



To support HR teams and leaders seeking both to learn and to educate employees about DEI during Black History Month, McLean & Company is sharing research-backed resources throughout February. The timely resources can be accessed via social media and through the firm's member newsletters, which will focus on key steps and elements of DEI in the workplace.

McLean & Company also provides its members with various levels of support designed to meet organizations' unique HR needs, including DIY toolkits, guided implementations, workshops, and dedicated consulting. To access the full collection of research or to learn more about becoming a member, visit mcleanco.com/services. To follow along in learning about and celebrating Black History Month through the lens of HR, connect via LinkedIn and Twitter.

Additional resources to support DEI work during Black History Month and year-round:

About McLean & Company

Through data-driven insights and proven best-practice methodologies, McLean & Company offers comprehensive resources and full-service assessments, action plans, and training to position organizations to meet today's needs and prepare for the future.

McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and over 200 IT and Industry analysts through the ITRG Media Insiders Program. To gain access, contact [email protected].

SOURCE McLean & Company
announcement

The AllAfrica Media Group will celebrate International Women's Day this year with a high-profile event, the AllAfrica Women's Agenda Forum (AWA 2023), to debate the role of women in securing the continent's food resources and combating poverty.

The formal theme of the meeting, to be held from March 7 to 9 in Rabat, Morocco, will be "Food Sovereignty and African Women". It takes place as Africa, in addition to facing the Covid-19 crisis, is weighed down by the war in Ukraine and climate change.

Women play an essential role in building African food systems but are increasingly exposed to poverty. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, more commonly known as UN Women, says the gap between men and women in the cycle of poverty is widening, a phenomenon referred to as "the feminization of poverty".

Women and girls, who represent nearly 50 percent of the economic workforce in developing countries, are key actors in guiding our societies towards sustainable development. They are called upon to play a crucial role in managing the consequences of climate change and achieving food and agricultural self-sufficiency.

In consequence, AWA 2023 will provide an opportunity, through the various panels it will convene, to show how women can and do contribute to securing food sovereignty and resilience, thus improving the quality of life of Africans.

The forum will challenge political decision-makers, international organizations, civil society and the private sector to involve women and girls in their sustainable development strategies, in particular to enable women to access land and funding.

This meeting in Rabat is also intended as a platform to stimulate solutions for the promotion of community development in Africa by relying on the leverage of women. It will focus on the need to secure food sovereignty by pursuing agricultural policies that lift the continent out of dependence on external actors.

On the sidelines of the forum, there will be a Women's Entrepreneurship Fair that will allow women from different backgrounds not only to exchange experiences, but also to showcase their know-how. A gala evening to present the AllAfrica Women's Leadership Awards will also introduce participants to the culinary diversity of Africa.

AllAfrica Global Media and its partners will also invite African activists and young entrepreneurs to a session called "They Inspire", which will showcase women entrepreneurs who have contributed significantly to the promotion of sustainable development.
NYSE American:EU

TSXV:EU

www.encoreuranium.com

FUELING THE FUTURE IN THE UNITED STATES

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - enCore Energy Corp. ("enCore" or the "Company") (NYSE American: EU) (TSXV: EU) is pleased to announce the closing of the acquisition of the Alta Mesa In-Situ Recovery uranium project from Energy Fuels Inc. (the "Alta Mesa Acquisition"). The transaction provides enCore with three licensed uranium in-situ recovery (ISR) processing plants and positions enCore as a leading US-focused ISR uranium company with the proven management expertise required to advance multiple production opportunities within its portfolio.

Transaction Highlights

Alta Mesa includes a fully-licensed and constructed ISR processing facility that has an operating capacity of 1.5 million pounds of uranium per year. Between Alta Mesa, Rosita and Kingsville Dome, all fully licensed for production, enCore's ISR processing facilities have a combined potential processing capacity of 3.6 million pounds of uranium per year.

Alta Mesa is host to a measured and indicated resource of 3.41 million lbs U 3 O 8 (1.57 million tons at an average grade of 0.109% U 3 O 8 ) and an inferred resource of 16.79 million lbs U 3 O 8 (7.0 million tons at an average grade of 0.120% U 3 O 8 ). Abundant exploration upside exists within the Alta Mesa land package around the existing defined resource areas, which enCore will prioritize;





O (1.57 million tons at an average grade of 0.109% U O ) and an inferred resource of 16.79 million lbs U O (7.0 million tons at an average grade of 0.120% U O ). Abundant exploration upside exists within the Alta Mesa land package around the existing defined resource areas, which enCore will prioritize; Alta Mesa will diversify enCore's South Texas operations into a 3 rd fully licensed production facility, along with Rosita and Kingsville Dome, all located in the business-friendly state of Texas . enCore's mid- and long-term production potential is further fueled by a pipeline of projects with Dewey-Burdock in South Dakota , Gas Hills in Wyoming and additional projects in New Mexico . There are only 11 licensed production facilities in the United States ;





operations into a 3 fully licensed production facility, along with Rosita and Kingsville Dome, all located in the business-friendly state of . enCore's mid- and long-term production potential is further fueled by a pipeline of projects with Dewey-Burdock in , Gas Hills in and additional projects in . There are only 11 licensed production facilities in ; Alta Mesa is currently on standby and ready to resume production. The facility can reach commercial production levels with limited required capital within an estimated 10 months of a production decision;





Control of a large private land package totaling 203,292 contiguous acres, including 4,575-acres currently under a lease and mining permit and 198,717 acres under a lease-option and exploration/testing permit;





The acquisition will further cement enCore's position as a dominant ISR uranium company and near term future producer in the US;





Alta Mesa's operations are located on private land, with 100% of minerals privately owned, and in a supportive jurisdiction with primary regulatory authority residing with the State of Texas ;





; The Alta Mesa ISR processing facility is a fully permitted and constructed past-producing ISR operation, with a previous well-established track record of lower cost uranium production. The project is fully permitted for uranium extraction upon installation of the next wellfield;





Alta Mesa has extensive exploration potential across an area that has previously identified uranium mineralization;





Alta Mesa produced a total of 4.6 million pounds of uranium between October 2005 and November 2013 , including 1 million pounds of uranium per year over a two-year period;





and , including 1 million pounds of uranium per year over a two-year period; With low holding costs, Alta Mesa provides fully permitted lower-cost production scalability that can be brought into production quickly to provide a domestic energy source for the United States .

Conference Call: The Company will host an online conference call on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023 at 11:00 AM ET. To register for the presentation please log in at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eeh5pSOFQwm6FZuu4l5Aog

To view the Alta Mesa project maps and enCore Energy's South Texas projects please visit: https://bit.ly/3fV9fTg.

William M. Sheriff, Executive Chairman of enCore, stated "Alta Mesa is a key acquisition in enCore's development into the dominant ISR uranium producer in the state of Texas. With its more immediate plan of restarting Rosita in later 2023 and greatly expanding its production profile with the start-up of Alta Mesa in early 2024 our goal of becoming a 3 million pound per year domestic producer from a consolidated base of operations within a 100 mile radius of Corpus Christi, Texas is well underway. This Texas platform positions the company well for its continued growth not only in Texas, but with planned operations in South Dakota, Wyoming and ultimately New Mexico. We are all looking forward to a dynamic and rewarding 2023. On behalf of the Board of Directors we extend congratulations to the enCore team for a major achievement."

Paul Goranson, CEO and Director of enCore, further added "With the completion of this transaction enCore is more than doubling our production capacity in South Texas. As we advance towards our Q3/23 production goal at our Rosita ISR Uranium Processing Plant we will commence work at the Alta Mesa Project with plans to restart production in 2024 with installation of a fully permitted wellfield. The strong technical team at enCore is excited to get started at Alta Mesa. Our collective South Texas operations puts us on the path to becoming a leading producer of uranium in the U.S."

Alta Mesa

The Alta Mesa project is a fully licensed and constructed ISR project and central processing facility currently on standby, located on over 203,000 acres of private land in the state of Texas. Total operating capacity is 1.5 million lbs U 3 O 8 per year. Alta Mesa historically produced nearly 5 million lbs of U 3 O 8 between 2005 and 2013, when full production was curtailed as a result of low uranium prices at the time. enCore will immediately pursue the resumption of operations.

Alta Mesa & Mestena Grande Mineral

Resource Summary (0.30 GT cut-off)2 Tons ('000) Avg. Grade (% U 3 O 8 ) Pounds ('000) Total Measured Mineral Resource1 54 0.152 164 Alta Mesa Indicated Mineral Resource 1,397 0.106 2,959 Mestena Grande Indicated Mineral Resource 119 0.120 287 Total Measured & Indicated Resources 1,570 0.109 3,410 Alta Mesa Inferred Mineral Resource 1,263 0.126 3,192 Mestena Grande Inferred Mineral Resource 5,733 0.119 13,601 Total Inferred Resources 6,996 0.120 16,793

1 Represents that portion of the in-place mineral resource that are estimated to be recoverable within existing wellfields. Wellfield recovery factors have not been applied to indicated and inferred mineral resources. 2 As reported in the NI-43-101 Technical Report Summary for the Alta Mesa Uranium Project, Brooks and Jim Hogg Counties, Texas, USA completed by Doug Beahm, PE, PG, of BRS Engineering. (Effective January 19, 2023).

The Transaction

The Consideration paid to Energy Fuels consisted of US$60 million in cash and a US$60 million secured vendor take-back convertible promissory note (the "Note"). The Note has a two (2) year term and bears interest at a rate of 8% per annum payable on June 30th and December 31st of each year during the term. The Note is convertible at the election of the holder, to acquire common shares of enCore at a price of US$2.9103 per share. Energy Fuels has agreed not to transact with the common shares of enCore received on conversion of the Note, including hedging and short sales, with exceptions for sale transactions of up to US$10 million in value in any 30-day period, block trades and underwritten distributions. In addition, Energy Fuels has agreed to standard standstill provisions restricting additional acquisitions of enCore securities.

Additional information regarding the Alta Mesa Project acquisition, is available in the Company's news release dated November 14, 2022.

In connection with the closing of the Alta Mesa Acquisition, 23,277,000 subscription receipts issued December 6, 2022 at a price of C$3.00 per Subscription Receipt (the "Subscription Receipt Offering") were automatically converted into units comprised of one common share of enCore and one common share purchase warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one common share of enCore at a price of C$3.75 for a period of 3 years until February 14, 2026. The net proceeds from the Subscription Receipt Offering of approximately C$66 million, after deduction of fees and commissions, have been released from escrow to the Company, and were applied to fund the cash portion of the consideration payable by the Company pursuant to the Alta Mesa Acquisition.

For additional information regarding the Subscription Receipt Offering, please see the Company's news release dated December 6, 2022.

Additionally, further to the Company's news release dated February 8, 2023 announcing the closing of the offering of units for proceeds of C$34.5 million, the Company advises that it paid cash commissions to Canaccord Genuity Corp. (C$1,065,756.17), Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation (C$659,753.82), and Haywood Securities Inc. (C$304,501.76). For additional information regarding the unit offering, please see the Company's news release dated February 8, 2023.

John M. Seeley, Ph.D., P.G., CPC, enCore's Manager of Geology and Exploration, and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release on behalf of enCore.

About enCore Energy Corp.

enCore Energy is the most diversified In-Situ Recovery (ISR) uranium development company in the United States and is focused on becoming the next uranium producer in 2023 from its licensed and past-producing South Texas Rosita Processing Plant. The Alta Mesa Project is scheduled to come online in 2024 and position enCore as a leading US-focused ISR uranium company with the proven management expertise required to advance multiple production opportunities within its portfolio. The South Dakota-based Dewey-Burdock project and the Wyoming Gas Hills project offer mid-term production opportunities, with significant New Mexico uranium resource endowments providing long-term opportunities. The enCore team is led by industry experts with extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of ISR uranium operations and the nuclear fuel cycle. enCore is committed to engaging and working with local communities and indigenous governments to create positive impact from corporate developments.

NI-43-101 Technical Report Summary for the Alta Mesa Uranium Project, Brooks and Jim Hogg Counties, Texas, USA completed by Doug Beahm, PE, PG, of BRS Engineering. (Effective January 19, 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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information contained in this news release, including: any information relating to the Company being a leading uranium company; the ability of the Company to produce and process uranium from its projects including the Alta Mesa, Rosita and Kingsville Dome projects, and to realize the expected benefits of the Alta Mesa Acquisition; and any other statements regarding future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects; may constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "expects", "is expected", "does not expect", "plans", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" and similar expressions or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken) should be considered forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the companies' ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; risks associated with accessing additional funding required for the transactions and operations discussed in this news release; the Company's ability to advance production and processing at the Alta Mesa Project and other facilities; future legislative and regulatory developments; the ability of enCore to implement its business strategies; and other risks. A number of important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements, including without limitation exploration and development risks, changes in commodity prices, access to skilled mining personnel, the results of exploration and development activities; uninsured risks; regulatory risks; defects in title; the availability of materials and equipment, timeliness of government approvals and unanticipated environmental impacts on operations; risks posed by the economic and political environments in which the Company operates and intends to operate; the potential for losses arising from the expansion of operations into new markets; increased competition; assumptions regarding market trends and the expected demand and desires for the Company's products and proposed products; reliance on industry manufacturers, suppliers and others; the failure to adequately protect intellectual property; the failure to adequately manage future growth; adverse market conditions, the failure to satisfy ongoing regulatory requirements and factors relating to forward looking statements listed above which include risks as disclosed in the companies' annual information form filings. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as required by law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by the Company with the various securities commissions which are available online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and plans of management. Such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes and readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, that speak only as of the date hereof, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE enCore Energy Corp.
Sale provides Energy Fuels with significant non-dilutive funding for expansion of industry-leading US uranium production and completion of 'Phase 1' rare earth separation circuit.

LAKEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale (the "Closing") of three (3) wholly-owned subsidiaries that together hold Energy Fuels' Alta Mesa ISR Project ("Alta Mesa") to enCore Energy Corp. ("enCore") for total consideration of $120 million (the "Transaction"). Unless otherwise indicated, all references to dollar amounts in this press release are references to US$.

The consideration is comprised of:

$60 million cash at or prior to Closing; and $60 million in a secured convertible note (the "Note"), payable in two (2) years from the Closing, bearing annual interest of eight percent (8%). The Note will be convertible at Energy Fuels' election into enCore common shares at a conversion price of $2.9103 per share, being a 20% premium to the 10-day volume-weighted average price of enCore shares ending the day before the Closing. enCore was recently listed on the NYSE American and also trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Note is guaranteed by enCore and is fully secured by Alta Mesa. Unless a block trade or similar distribution is executed by Energy Fuels to sell enCore shares received upon conversion of the Note, Energy Fuels will be limited to converting the Note into a maximum of $10 million principal amount per thirty (30) day period.

In addition, enCore is required to replace the existing reclamation bonds for the Alta Mesa project shortly after the Closing, which will result in Energy Fuels receiving an additional $3.6 million cash as a return of collateral from those bonds. The Transaction also reduces the Company's holding costs related to Alta Mesa by approximately $2 million per year.

The Transaction provides Energy Fuels with significant additional cash and working capital, enabling the Company to ramp-up its US industry-leading uranium and rare earth element ("REE") production, while avoiding dilution to shareholders. In addition, the Note provides Energy Fuels with significant exposure to uranium market upside through potential conversion into enCore common shares.

Boosting Industry-Leading US Uranium Production:

Energy Fuels plans to invest a portion of the proceeds from the Transaction into increasing its US industry-leading uranium production. At the current time, the Company's White Mesa Mill (the "Mill") is the only US uranium facility producing material quantities of uranium, having produced 162,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 in Q4-2022. The Company is also preparing four (4) of its conventional uranium and uranium/vanadium mines to be ready to resume uranium ore production, including significant workforce expansion and performing needed rehabilitation of surface and underground infrastructure. The exact timing for resumption of ore production from each of these projects will be subject to current and future uranium sales and inventory requirements.

Energy Fuels' 2022 uranium production of 162,000 pounds exceeded its previously announced guidance of 130,000 to 140,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 . In addition, over the past several months, the Company has invested in additional uranium inventories, having purchased approximately 301,000 pounds of US-origin U 3 O 8 at a weighted average price of $50.08 per pound. In addition, in January 2023, the Company sold 300,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 to the US government for the establishment of the strategic Uranium Reserve, earning total gross proceeds of $18.5 million, or $61.57 per pound.

As a result of 2022 production, recent purchases, and the sale to the US government, Energy Fuels currently holds approximately 847,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 in inventory at a book value of $29.19 per pound (worth about $42.5 million at the current weekly uranium spot price as reported by TradeTech). In combination with future uranium production, the Company expects to utilize this inventory to fulfill its delivery obligations under its supply contracts with US nuclear utilities. Energy Fuels is also actively seeking additional uranium sales contracts with nuclear utilities at increasingly higher uranium prices bolstered by improving market fundamentals, including the global energy transition toward less carbon intensive sources of energy, including nuclear, efforts to move away from Russian uranium and nuclear fuel supply, and other factors related to transportation and security of supply. As a result of the Company's strategic moves in the uranium space, the Company believes it is creating significant flexibility by growing and managing its existing inventories and preparing several of its US assets for near-term production.

Investing in Production of Advanced Rare Earth Materials in the US:

In a February 13, 2023 news release, the Company announced that it had achieved several milestones related to its expanding REE supply chain, including completion of the acquisition of the Bahia Project in Brazil and continued progress on procuring natural monazite sand concentrate. Today, the Company is producing the most advanced REE material in the US and is currently performing modifications and enhancements to the existing solvent extraction ("SX") circuits at the Mill ("Phase 1") that are expected to enable Energy Fuels to annually produce up to 5,000 metric tons ("MT") of total REE oxides ("TREO"), including up to 1,000 MT of neodymium-praseodymium ("NdPr") oxide (or oxalate), subject to receipt of sufficient REE-bearing monazite sand supply and successful commissioning. The "Phase 1" circuit will be in the same SX building where uranium and vanadium is produced at the Mill. If these milestones are achieved, Energy Fuels believes it will be the 'first to market' among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to electric vehicle ("EV"), renewable energy, and other companies for offtake, while fully maintaining our uranium and vanadium recovery capabilities. Energy Fuels' "Phase 1" "light" separation circuit is expected to produce commercial quantities of separated NdPr oxide (or oxalate) by later this year or early 2024, followed by planned further enhancements to expand NdPr production capability ("Phase 2") and to produce separated "heavy" REEs, including Dy, Tb, and potentially other REE materials, in the future ("Phase 3") from monazite and potentially other REE-bearing process streams.

Mark S. Chalmers, President and CEO of Energy Fuels stated: "Energy Fuels' sale of the Alta Mesa project for $120 million of total consideration is highly strategic for a variety of reasons. When combined with our already strong balance sheet, the proceeds from this sale are expected to fully fund our current uranium, vanadium and rare earth business plans through approximately 2024 without the dilution to shareholders one might normally expect, nor depletion of working capital. On the uranium front, this sale provides Energy Fuels with the ability to make the focused investments in infrastructure and human capital required to resume production at our lowest-cost and nearest-term uranium mines and facilities. We believe Energy Fuels will be among the quickest to market with significant new US uranium production and retain our position as the leading US uranium producer for many years to come.

"Of the four (4) conventional mines we are currently preparing for production, three (3) produce both uranium and vanadium. Vanadium prices are currently on the move, having risen from $7.50 per pound of V 2 O 5 in October 2022 to $10.80 per pound today. Vanadium is important to our uranium business, as strong vanadium prices contribute to the economics of these mines, making them a more attractive option for us as we evaluate which mines to place back into production. Due to today's strong vanadium markets, we are also evaluating the sale of more of our existing vanadium inventory which currently sits at 987,000 pounds of V 2 O 5 .

"Even though uranium is Energy Fuels' core business, we expect to invest some of the proceeds from the sale of Alta Mesa into our rapidly expanding rare earths business. We have started the modifications and enhancements at our White Mesa Mill in Utah that are expected to produce commercial quantities (500  1,000 MT) of NdPr oxide (or oxalate) by later this year or early in 2024, while maintaining our uranium and vanadium capabilities. NdPr oxide is a high-demand advanced material needed in the EV, renewable energy and defense industries. We are not aware of any other US company that will get this far down the US rare earth supply chain as quickly as Energy Fuels. It is also virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world to produce uranium, vanadium and separated rare earths in the same building, which demonstrates the creativity and resourcefulness of the team at the Mill.

"We also expect to invest some of the proceeds from Alta Mesa into advancing our Bahia Project in Brazil, where we plan to continue our comprehensive sonic drill program in 2023 to better define and delineate the titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon), and of course rare earths (monazite) resources. We believe the Bahia Project has the potential to produce 3,000 to 10,000 MT per year of monazite concentrate for our Mill as soon as 2025 and for decades to come. Bahia, combined with other Company-owned and third-party monazite sources, is expected to supply the feed for 'Phase 1' and 'Phase 2' 'light' rare earth separation, and 'Phase 3' 'heavy' rare earth separation at the Mill.

"We see our rapidly developing REE business as highly complementary to our primary uranium business. We can utilize our existing facilities to recover uranium and REEs from monazite, which increases our uranium production and also allows us to generate margins from multiple commodities. No other US uranium producer has the ability to complement its primary uranium business in this manner.

"Finally, the $60 million secured convertible note Energy Fuels received from enCore at closing provides the Company with additional uranium market upside through the potential conversion of the Note into enCore Energy shares at an attractive conversion price."

ABOUT ENERGY FUELS

Energy Fuels is a leading US-based critical minerals company. The Company mines uranium and produces natural uranium concentrates that are sold to major nuclear utilities for the production of carbon-free nuclear energy. Energy Fuels recently began production of advanced rare earth element ("REE") materials, including mixed REE carbonate, and plans to produce commercial quantities of separated REE oxides in the future. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant, and is evaluating the recovery of radionuclides needed for emerging cancer treatments. Its corporate offices are in Lakewood, Colorado, near Denver, and substantially all its assets and employees are in the United States. Energy Fuels holds two of America's key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah and the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project in Wyoming. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the US today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant, as well as REE products, from various uranium-bearing ores. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Company recently acquired the Bahia Project in Brazil, which is believed to have significant quantities of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon) and REE (monazite) minerals. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the US and several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages of permitting and development. The primary trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "UUUU," and the Company's common shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR." Energy Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws in the United States and Canada. Forward-looking information may relate to future events or future performance of Energy Fuels. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, with respect to Energy Fuels' objectives and goals, as well as statements with respect to its beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in this discussion include, but are not limited to, the following: any expectation that the Company will receive an additional $3.6 million cash as a return of collateral from the Alta Mesa reclamation bonds; any expectation that the conversion price of the Note may be attractive or that the Company will convert all or any portion of the Note; any expectation that the proceeds from the sale of Alta Mesa will fully fund the Company's current uranium, vanadium and REE business plans through approximately 2024 without dilution to shareholders or depletion of working capital; any expectation that the Company will invest a portion of the proceeds of the Transaction into its uranium production; any expectation that the Company will successfully prepare any of its mines to resume ore production or that any of its mines will enter into production in the near term or at all; any expectation that the Company will utilize any of its inventories to fulfill delivery obligations under its existing supply contracts or will be successful in obtaining any additional supply contracts; any expectation as to the quantities of uranium and heavy minerals, including monazite, NdPr, Dy and Tb contained in the Bahia Project; any expectation as to the potential annual supply of monazite sands from the Bahia Project to the Mill, the contained MT of TREO per year, or the number of years or decades of such potential supply; any expectation as to the timing of mining at the Bahia Project; any expectation that the Company will complete its Phase 1, Phase 2 and/or Phase 3 separation facilities on the time frames indicated, if at all; any expectation as to the expected throughput rates, production capability, and REEs to be produced; any expectation that the Company will be the first to market among US companies with commercial quantities of separated NdPr available to EV, renewable energy and other companies for offtake; any expectation that the Company will retain its position as the leading US uranium producer for many years to come; any expectations as to vanadium or other commodity prices; any expectation that the Company will sell any of existing inventory at attractive prices or at all; any expectation that the Company will be able to utilize the Mill to generate margins from recovering uranium and REEs from monazite sands and other ores independent of the price of uranium; any expectation that the Company's REE business may become a profitable stand-alone business for the Company, or provide commodity price diversification for the Company; and any expectation that the Mill is a unique and highly strategic asset in the US. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates" 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. This information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include risks associated with: technical difficulties; mining or processing difficulties and upsets; licensing, permitting and regulatory delays; litigation risks; competition from others; political actions or instability in foreign countries; and market factors, including future demand for and prices realized from the sale of uranium, vanadium and REEs. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release, and Energy Fuels disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, 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. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Energy Fuels assumes no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law.

SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.
Mark Stephan, M.D., to Share Equality Health's Unique Model Aimed at Driving Primary Care Providers' Success in Value Based Care

PHOENIX, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Equality Health, a leading developer of high-performing value-based physician networks uniquely equipped to address the needs of diverse and historically underserved populations, announced today that its Chief Medical Officer, Mark Stephan, M.D., will speak at The Hertel Report's State of the State event, Feb. 17. This biannual forum gathers healthcare professionals from across Arizona to address crucial topics.

Dr. Stephan will share key details of Equality Health's unique network and successful business model aimed at driving the healthcare industry's shift from fee-for-service to value-based care (VBC) with its unique focus on independent primary care physicians (PCPs), Alternative Payment Model (APM) contracts, and the delivery of culturally competent, whole-person care.

Equality Health's approach improves patient experiences and health equity, while lowering overall cost of care and improving clinical outcomes across the state. Dr. Stephan will discuss the benefits independent PCPs gain by joining the Equality Health network as a result of effective partnerships with health plans, risk-based contracts and advancements along the APM continuum.

"We are thrilled to have Dr. Stephan join our Winter 2023 State of the State event to share Equality Health's model of success with other healthcare professionals across Arizona," said Jim Hammond, CEO and publisher of The Hertel Report, the organizer of the biannual event. "It will be wonderful for this audience to learn more about Equality Health, especially its risk-bearing approach, preventive care success, and its training and support of culturally competent care delivery. The firm's success in Arizona is a best practices model to share, and to apply across the U.S. health system."

Equality Health started its value-based care network in Arizona and now operates in Texas and Tennessee with more than 3,200 providers, serving 700,000 people under 25 health plans. Its business model includes bearing 100% of the risk for value-based contracts with its PCPs, and is fueled by its next-generation Managed Services Organization, which efficiently administers the entire value-based contracting lifecycle across multiple payers, lines of business, and markets.

Recently, Equality Health representatives shared similar presentations: Hugh Lytle, CEO of Equality Health, was invited to speak at the 41st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco earlier this year; and Dr. Stephan was invited to present at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Leaders Conference in Boston last fall.

About Equality Health

Equality Health, is a technology-enabled primary care platform that leverages the deep and proven capabilities in value-based payment models to transform healthcare for diverse and often marginalized populations. From predictive modeling to advanced care-tracking tools, utilizing Equality Health's proprietary software, participating PCPs can streamline value-based administration and stay one step ahead of a patient's journey. Equality Health's care model is Medicaid-first in design, partnering with over 3,200 PCPs and 700,000 lives across AZ, TX and TN. Equality Health partners with practices to close care gaps, optimize performance, increase compliance, and improve profitability. Members are engaged with holistic and personalized programs delivered through the lens social and cultural needs. By establishing critical linkages with payers, providers, members and community resources, Equality Health is revolutionizing how care is delivered.

For more information about Equality Health, visit https://www.equalityhealth.com/ or follow @EqualityHealth on LinkedIn, @EqualityHealth on Facebook, and @EqualityHealth on Twitter.

To find out more about The Hertel Report and the 2023 Winter State of the State event, visit their website at https://www.thehertelreport.com/.

Media Contact: Mardi Larson, Amendola Communications for Equality Health, [email protected]

SOURCE Equality Health
OXON HILL, Md., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 9, with the leadership of the Maryland Multi-Housing Association (MMHA), Employ Prince George's and MMHA launched the first local workforce development board supported, and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded, Leasing Training Academy in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The Inaugural Graduating Class of the Leasing Training Academy poses with their diplomas

Using ARPA funds from the Maryland Department of Labor and allocated to the Prince George's County Workforce Development Board, Employ Prince George's was able to partner with Candice Manning, Director of Workforce Development and Training, MMHA, to launch the Academy at the American Job Center National Harbor located inside of the Tanger Outlets.

The Academy's comprehensive training program's prime focus is training Prince George's County residents who are unemployed, under-employed, or looking for a new career in the residential property management industry, and to place those trained individuals into the industry upon completion of the program. With over 60 interested Prince George's County resident applicants and 10 applicants accepted into the program, the Academy celebrated the completion of the program with a 100% graduation rate.

Held at the American Job Center National Harbor, 10 program participants accepted their completion certificate with high hopes of entering the residential property management industry. To date, four graduates have interviewed and accepted full-time employment with prominent local management companies.

Property Management is a billion-dollar recession-proof industry. It is also one of the few industries where success is in the individuals' hands, as a college degree is often not required at hire. For Prince George's County residents that are interested in attending the LTA and beginning a career in property management, please visit: https://www.mmhaonline.org/mmha-leasing-training-academy-mmhalta for more information.

Employ Prince George's (EPG) provides workforce intelligence and solutions for the job seeker and business. EPG's mission is to contribute to the economic vitality of Prince George's County by providing a demand-driven system that delivers qualified workers to business and provides job seekers with opportunities for careers in high-demand/high-growth industries.

For more information, please visit www.EmployPG.org.

SOURCE Employ Prince George's
CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, announced today that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ryerson Holdings Corporation's (RYI) and Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc.'s Long-Term Corporate Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'BB' from 'BB-'. Fitch has also upgraded the first lien senior secured asset-based lending (ABL) credit facility to 'BBB-/'RR1' from 'BB+'/'RR1' which represents the first Investment Grade rating since Ryerson's initial public offering in August 2014. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

Jim Claussen, Ryerson's Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, stated "We are pleased that our upgraded rating from Fitch affirms Ryerson's multi-year balance sheet transformation and improved 'through-the-cycle' operating profile. Ryerson's significant deleveraging over the past several years will increasingly allow cash flow generated from our business model to be re-invested in the growth of our business and returns to shareholders."

Safe Harbor Provision

Certain statements made in this presentation and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; fluctuating metal prices; our substantial indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; impacts and implications of adverse health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; the ownership of a majority of our equity securities by a single investor group; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.

Legal Disclaimer

The contents herein are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security ("Security") of the Company or its affiliates ("Ryerson") in any jurisdiction. Ryerson does not intend to solicit, and is not soliciting, any action with respect to any Security or any other contractual relationship with the Ryerson. Nothing in this release, individually or taken in the aggregate, constitutes an offer of securities for sale or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any Security in the United States, or to U.S. persons, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful.

Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 4,000 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com.

SOURCE Ryerson Holding Corporation
ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Focus Brands, parent company of iconic brands including Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister's Deli, Moe's Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky's, announced today that Nandu Gandhi has been appointed Chief Technology Officer.

Nandu Gandhi - Chief Technology Officer, Focus Brands

With more than three decades of exceptional achievements in global technology leadership, strategy and delivery, Gandhi brings a breadth of expertise and forward-thinking leadership to Focus Brands in a pivotal time for the company as it undergoes a digital transformation across the portfolio. In his new role, he will help scale the organization by building a high-performing, talented team and by implementing new technology and practices while capitalizing on momentum from the company's digital investments thus far.

"As we continue to invest and transform our digital and technology capabilities, it is critical to have the right leaders in place," said Jim Holthouser, CEO of Focus Brands. "I'm confident that Nandu, along with his team, will make great strides in improving the technology and systems in place to help our brands continue to grow."

Focus Brands' digital transformation journey began in 2021, with the mission to become a best-in-class organization in the space by tackling the digital revolution head-on. The company has made great progress in the journey already, leveraging the power of the portfolio and building out industry-leading capabilities in key areas including data science, digital platforms, loyalty programs and its tech stack. Nandu will continue to drive this project forward, working cross-functionally to help the Focus Brands portfolio of brands continue to create and nurture deep, individual relationships with customers to grow digital traffic and sales.

Gandhi comes to Focus Brands most recently from Digital Transformation Consulting, where he directed the global digital transformation program for a host of luxury brands. Prior to that role, he spent seven years at Macy's, Inc., representing the technology function in the enterprise digital transformation office and delivering new revenue generating models. Gandhi also boasts extensive successes at The Home Depot in re-platforming the company's website, leading the design and implementation of a first-ever autonomous IT organization for Home Depot Canada, as well as the largest SAP-Retail implementation of its time. Gandhi's history of working in multi-branded and multi-channel retail and consumer services gives him the knowledge and depth of experience to continue to evolve and improve upon the technology and systems we have in place at Focus Brands.

About Focus Brands

Atlanta-based Focus Brands is a leading developer of global multi-channel foodservice brands. Focus Brands, through its affiliate brands, is the franchisor and operator of more than 6,400 restaurants, cafes, ice cream shoppes, and bakeries in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and over 55 foreign countries under the Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe's Southwest Grill, McAlister's Deli, and Schlotzsky's brand names, as well as the Seattle's Best Coffee brand on certain military bases and in certain international markets. Please visit www.focusbrands.com to learn more.

Contact:

Taylor Gill

[email protected]

SOURCE Focus Brands
Cybersecurity veteran brings 30+ years of cybersecurity experience, building companies and M&A, most recently selling to Google for $5.4B

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitiga , the cloud and SaaS incident response leader, today named cybersecurity veteran John Watters as an independent board member, complementing the company's executive team.

Watters' 30-year career includes leadership roles with both Mandiant and FireEye, which were preceded by his serving as founder, Chairman, and CEO of iSight Partners. Previously, he served as Chairman and CEO of the security intelligence firm iDEFENSE. Watters also held leadership positions at Dorset Capital Corporation, EPO Holdings, and Bankers Trust. Today, he is a Venture Partner at SYN Ventures, which specializes in cybersecurity investments.

"With the accelerated move to the cloud, it's increasingly important for customers to pre-position breach readiness as part of any cloud migration," stated Watters. "Otherwise, customers may find themselves in a precarious position when trying to recover from a breach and not having the skills or data required for a forensics investigation. Mitiga has a very elegant solution that enables companies to respond to sophisticated attacks in their SaaS and Cloud environments immediately. This approach of building resiliency gives customers migrating to the cloud peace of mind, knowing that they will be able to prevent a crisis even in the event of a severe breach."

Mitiga's leadership expressed the ways that Watters' experience will support Mitiga's objectives and trajectory. "John's addition to our team as a board member significantly enhances Mitiga's advantage," stated Tal Mozes, co-founder and CEO, Mitiga. "John has a deep understanding of the incident response market, as well as the business and security needs of today's transforming organizations, which makes him very well positioned to help Mitiga in its journey as a global leader. We're looking forward to leveraging his counsel and expertise as we continue to advance our corporate mission and objectivesdelivering the industry's best platform for cloud and SaaS incident readiness and response."

About Mitiga

Mitiga is the cloud and SaaS incident response leader. In a world filled with cloud risks, we help organizations return to business as usual 90% faster than any other solution on the market. Our IR2 solution provides instant answers to the most burning breach-related questions, enabling teams to speed investigations, minimize impact, and enhance cyber resilience against future attacks. Mitiga's approach leverages automated insights from our leading-edge SaaS platform and combines them with support from Mitiga's world-leading cloud incident responders. The result not only accelerates and improves incident response, but it also minimizes enterprises' breach-related costs, through a subscription-based model that makes cloud and SaaS IR expenditures more predictable.

For more information, visit www.mitiga.io .

SOURCE Mitiga Security
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FundBlackFounders is excited to announce a partnership with Metro United Way to provide $25,000 matching crowdfunding grants to 15 Louisville-based founders. This innovative program will support early-stage startups founded by Black entrepreneurs, helping them to bring their ideas to life and grow their businesses.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Metro United Way to provide much-needed support to Black founders in Louisville," said Renee King, Founder and CEO of FundBlackFounders.

"Entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth and development, and we are committed to ensuring that Black founders have the resources they need to succeed. Black individuals represent 14.2% of the US population but only 2.2% of employer businesses. This partnership is an important step towards closing this gap and building a more diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Louisville."

Through this partnership, FundBlackFounders and Metro United Way will provide matching crowdfunding grants to 15 early-stage startups founded by Black entrepreneurs in Louisville. The grant program will be open to all eligible startups, regardless of industry or stage of development.

"Metro United Way is committed to creating opportunities for all members of our community to thrive," said Adria, CEO of Metro United Way. "We are proud to partner with FundBlackFounders to support Black entrepreneurs and help them turn their dreams into reality. This is an important step towards building a more equitable and prosperous Louisville for all."

Applications for the matching crowdfunding grants are now open! Interested founders can visit learn more and apply at: https://fbflab.com/matchmoney/

About FundBlackFounders

FundBlackFounders is a Black-Owned crowdfunding alternative to friends and family funding, blending traditional finance, grants, and impact investment capital with the power of crowdfunding to fund early-stage, Black entrepreneurs.

About Metro United Way

For more than 100 years, Metro United Way has united and empowered communities by investing in the full potential of individuals and families to ensure positive, sustainable change. We use data-driven insights to identify our community's greatest needs and address systemic challenges with a focus on advancing equity and sharing opportunities for all. Together, we fight to improve the disparities that persist in early care and education, economic mobility, home ownership, racial equity, and public policy in Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham and Shelby counties in Kentucky and Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties in Indiana.

We invite you to join us and be a part of transforming Greater Louisville. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED. www.metrounitedway.org

Media Contact

Joyhdae Albert

706-502-9342

[email protected]

SOURCE FundBlackFounders
Automotive cybersecurity solution providers are partnering with other key stakeholders and investing significantly toward the development of advanced automotive cybersecurity solutions to mitigate the growing number of cyber-attack vectors

FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BIS Research, the global leader in providing market intelligence on deep technologies, has released its latest study titled Automotive Cybersecurity Market - A Global and Regional Analysis.

According to this study, the global automotive cybersecurity market was valued at $2.76 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $17.73 billion by 2031.

The following factors are responsible for the increase in demand for automotive cybersecurity:

Increase in the use of electronics per vehicle and a growing number of connected vehicles

Rising cyber threats owing to the increase in data and connectivity of vehicles

Rising sales of electric vehicles

The detailed study is a compilation of 143 market data tables and 23 figures spread through 250 pages.

Check out the detailed table of content here a

https://bisresearch.com/requestsample?id=1436&type=toc

Analyst's Take on the Market Projection

According to Dhrubajyoti Narayan, Principal Analyst, BIS Research, "The automotive cybersecurity market is likely to grow multi-fold during the forecast period, owing to the growing complexity and sophistication of new vehicle models in terms of vehicle connectivity. As the automotive industry is slowly entering the software-defined era, the demand for solutions to deal with various automotive attack vectors is expected to grow significantly. Moreover, initiatives by governments in the developed markets for connected and autonomous vehicles are also expected to boost the demand for automotive cybersecurity solutions. In terms of market rivalry/competition, established automotive cybersecurity solution providers are expected to face stiff competition from established and emerging cybersecurity solution providers entering the automotive industry."

Request a FREE sample of this report here a

https://bisresearch.com/requestsample?id=1436&type=download

Passenger Vehicles will Lead the Global Automotive Cybersecurity Market

BIS Research's study on the automotive cybersecurity market found that the automotive OEMs are working independently or in collaboration with other industry stakeholders to develop and offer cybersecurity solutions for their customers in the passenger vehicle category.

One of the major factors for the domination of passenger vehicles in the automotive cybersecurity market is the rapidly growing penetration of connected technologies in the passenger vehicle category.

With a growing number of electronic control units (ECUs) in new passenger vehicle models, the demand for cybersecurity solutions for the passenger vehicle category is only going to continue rising significantly.

Major Existing Industry Leaders in the Automotive Cybersecurity Market

The companies that are profiled have been selected based on input gathered from primary experts and analyzing company coverage, product portfolio, and market penetration. Some of the established names in the market are Argus Cyber Security Ltd., ESCRYPT GmbH, Karamba Security, ARILOU Automotive Cybersecurity, Vector Informatik GmbH, Mocana Corporation, Green Hills Software, Irdeto, Lear Corporation, DENSO Corporation, HARMAN International, Broadcom Inc., Garrett Motion Inc., Aptiv PLC, NXP Semiconductors, Synopsys, Inc., Upstream Security Ltd., Guardknox Cyber-Technologies Ltd., C2A-SEC Ltd., SafeRide Technologies Ltd., and VicOne Inc.

Recent Developments in the Global Automotive Cybersecurity Market

In October 2022 , Denso Corporation, in collaboration with NTT Communications Corporation, announced the development of the vehicle security operation center (VSOC) in response to the increasing cyber threats against vehicles.

, Denso Corporation, in collaboration with NTT Communications Corporation, announced the development of the vehicle security operation center (VSOC) in response to the increasing cyber threats against vehicles. In September 2022 , Argus Cyber Security Ltd. and Elektrobit launched EB zoneo SwithCore Shield pre-integrated solution embedded with intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) functionality with advanced network management systems for the next generation of vehicles.

, Argus Cyber Security Ltd. and Elektrobit launched EB zoneo SwithCore Shield pre-integrated solution embedded with intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) functionality with advanced network management systems for the next generation of vehicles. In March 2020 , ESCRYPT GmbH collaborated with the security division of NTT Ltd. to provide joint solutions, enabling the cyber resilience of vehicle fleets.

, ESCRYPT GmbH collaborated with the security division of NTT Ltd. to provide joint solutions, enabling the cyber resilience of vehicle fleets. In March 2020 , Argus Cyber Security Ltd. worked in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors to launch an integrated solution, enabling vehicles to protect Ethernet network communications. The solution uses Argus's Ethernet intrusion detection system (IDS) and NXP's S32G processor, which protects ADAS and modern service-oriented gateways, along with other mobility innovations.

, Argus Cyber Security Ltd. worked in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors to launch an integrated solution, enabling vehicles to protect Ethernet network communications. The solution uses Ethernet intrusion detection system (IDS) and NXP's S32G processor, which protects ADAS and modern service-oriented gateways, along with other mobility innovations. In February 2020 , Karamba Security launched its product XGuard 2.0, which is an embedded self-protection solution for automotive ECUs to protect the PikeOS hypervisor.

Want to learn more about the latest trends in connected vehicles? Speak to our analysts

Exclusive DeepTech MAPTM Analysis for Automotive by BIS Research:

In-Vehicle Payments Market

Vehicle Diagnostics Analytics Market

IoT Solutions for Micromobility Market

About BIS Research:

BIS Research is a global B2B market intelligence and advisory firm focusing on deep technology and related emerging trends which can disrupt the market dynamics in the near future. We publish more than 200 market intelligence studies annually that focus on several deep technology verticals.

Our strategic market analysis emphasizes on market estimations, technology analysis, emerging high-growth applications, deeply segmented granular country-level market data, and other important market parameters useful in the strategic decision-making for senior management.

BIS Research offers syndicate as well as custom studies and expert consultations to firms, providing them with specific and actionable insights on novel technology markets, business models, and competitive landscapes.

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SOURCE BIS Research
DUBLIN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Gene Editing Technology Business and Investment Opportunities - Analysis & Market Size by Technology, Clinical Trials, Patents, Financial Deals, Competitive Landscape - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Gene editing technology has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas in the global healthcare sector. With the emerging technology showing immense potential to cure some of the world's most feared diseases, including cancer, gene-editing technology can revolutionize the global healthcare landscape. The revolutionary CRISPR gene editing technology has sped its way from the lab to the clinical field within a span of a single decade.



Notably, the CRISPR gene editing technology has turned out to be the founding stone of many innovative biotech start-ups, while also creating tens of billions of dollars in value. Looking at the potential of gene editing technology, big pharmaceutical players such as Bayer, Pfizer, and Regeneron have all shown interest in the space. Over the years, these firms have forged alliances with pioneers in the sector, with the hope to find treatment for life-limiting and life-threatening diseases, including cancer.



Going forward, these big corporations in the healthcare sector are expected to further continue with the trend of forging alliances with emerging start-ups, while also seeking buyout opportunities proactively, thereby allowing them to acquire tools to improve current treatments. Furthermore, big pharmaceutical giants are sitting on huge piles of cash and many of them are also in need to expand their product pipelines, as many of the patents would expire at the end of the ongoing decade. Consequently, every large pharmaceutical firm is expected to have some sort of gene editing capabilities, either through strategic collaborations or the acquisition of smaller firms.



Some researchers have already started to make progress in the segment; however, it is expected to blow up over the next few years. Furthermore, research in the space will also expand the number of diseases that can be treated using the CRISPR gene editing technology.

The Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) Program, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has given 24 new funds to researchers in the United States and Canada to assist them. Over four years, this collection of SCGE Program awards will total about $89 million. Assuming finances are available, this raises the overall number of projects sponsored to 45 and the total financing to around $190 million over six years.

Moreover, to ensure that gene editing-based medicine or treatment is available to the masses, firms need to focus on developing drugs that are not much expensive. While most of the trials are currently targeting rare diseases, therefore, the treatment of these diseases is also expensive, some biotech firms such as Verve Therapeutics have treated their first patient suffering from high cholesterol. The treatment, if successful, can be used in the market of millions of patients. Consequently, firms end to focus on diseases and treatments which can be provided to the masses and not just a handful of patients.



Along with the healthcare sector, gene-editing technology is also expanding its roots in the agricultural market around the world. The need to ensure food security for their people has led several governments in enhancing their regulatory environment, thereby supporting the usage of gene-editing technology in the agricultural sector. Even European regulators, who have long opposed the implementation of gene editing technology for the production of crops, are also re-evaluating their viewpoint on the technology, to meet the growing food demand among people across Europe.



Climate change and an unstable political environment have had a severe impact on the global production and availability of crops. Gene editing has shown the potential to develop climate-resistant and higher-yield crops. Consequently, the agricultural sector is another area of focus for biotech firms that are looking to drive growth in the gene editing space over the next few years.



Looking at the growth potential of the sector, venture capital firms have invested billions of dollars in the space over the last few years, and the trend is expected to further continue from the short to medium-term perspective. As new areas of gene editing application emerge and breakthrough products are developed, the interest among venture capital firms, globally, is expected to balloon over the next three to four years. This will keep driving innovation and competitive landscape from the short to medium-term perspective, thereby supporting the gene editing market growth.



This report presents an in-depth analysis of the current market scenario, with an emphasis on the future trajectory of potential opportunities in the gene editing industry. In addition to a combination of exhaustive secondary research along with primary research, the publisher's research methodology leverages a proprietary predictive analytics platform to provide unbiased business intelligence.



It provides a detailed analysis of gene editing market dynamics, covering clinical trials, patent data, financial deals, and company profiling details. It details market opportunities and risks across key segments - by technology, products, delivery method, disease, and applications. It also details market dynamics across various end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunities.



In addition, this report provides analyst commentary on key trends, drivers, strategies, innovations, and regulations in gene editing technology sector.



Scope of the Report

Key Companies Covered

bluebird bio

Beam Therapeutics

Caribou Biosciences

Cellectis

Allogene Therapeutics

Intellia Therapeutics

Editas Medicine

Verve Therapeutics

AstraZeneca

Merck KGaA

Thermo Fisher Scientific

By Technology

CRISPR CAS 9

TALENs

ZFN

Others (Meganucleases)

By Products

Kits & Enzymes (By CRISPR, TALENs, ZFN, Meganucleases)

Cell lines & Antibodies (By CRISPR, TALENs, ZFN, Meganucleases)

Plasmid & Controls (By CRISPR, TALENs, ZFN, Meganucleases)

By Delivery Method

Ex-vivo

In-vivo

By Disease/Disorders

Cancer

Blood Disorders (beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease)

Blindness

Respiratory Disease (COVID-19 & Cystic fibrosis)

Others (AIDS, Huntington's disease, Muscular dystrophy)

By Application

Drug Development

Diagnostics

Plant Gene Editing

Others (Animal Gene Editing)

By End-User

Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Companies

Biotechnology Companies

Contract Research Organisations

Academic Institutes and Research Centres

Scope: Insights and data in the report has been segmented under the following six modules



Module 1: Global Gene Editing Funding and Investments Outlook



This module provides insights and data related to gene editing partnerships and investment (research and development, mergers and acquisitions, product development, commercialization, licensing, and manufacturing) and allows a peek into the futuristic trends of gene editing technology investment area.



Module 2: Global Gene Editing Clinical Trial Data Assessment



This module evaluates the data available from clinical trials conducted for various CRISPR, ZFNs, TALENs, and meganucleases-based therapies, representing a bird's eye view of emerging market dynamics and risks in the gene editing sector.



Module 3: Global Gene Editing Patent Data Analysis



This module presents an exhaustive study of gene editing patent analytics (CRISPR, ZFN, TALENs, and meganucleases) at various levels, including strategic research planning as well as analyzing their potential applications.



Module 4: Competitive Landscape



This module provides detailed information along with a scoring matrix of key companies related to the gene editing industry, including their historical performance and the latest developments.



Module 5: Global Gene Editing Market Size and Forecast



This module provides projections on the market's development during the years 2018-2027 after the profound evaluation of market dynamics at the deeper segmentation level. This report also provides an in-depth, data-centric analysis of the global gene editing market at regional and country levels.

Module 6 Regulatory Outlook



This module contains a detailed understanding of the ethical, legal, and social implications of gene editing technology.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vceel1-gene?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.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
The Veterinary Cooperative (TVC) has endorsed the GlobalVetLink Compliance Assistant platform to their veterinary practices to streamline pet travel appointments

AMES, Iowa, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Veterinary Cooperative has partnered with GlobalVetLink to add the GlobalVetLink Compliance Assistant to their veterinary practices portfolio of services. The GVL Compliance Assistant is a comprehensive SaaS platform designed to streamline animal health compliance for all veterinary practices. Adding the GlobalVetLink platform to a veterinary hospital's suite of tools allows for seamless compliance and increased efficiency for veterinarians and hospital staff.

"TVC is thrilled to partner with GlobalVetLink. As the nation's leader in digital animal records, they will be an excellent addition to the TVC portfolio by providing another service that assists our independent shareholders become more efficient in their day to day activities while also providing an additional revenue source," said Travis Bender, Director of Strategic Accounts, The Veterinary Cooperative.

"We are excited to welcome TVC practices to the GlobalVetLink family," said Gary Ambrosino, CEO at GlobalVetLink. Tweet this

The GlobalVetLink Compliance Assistant platform is used by over 10,000 veterinary practices for creation and electronic submission of compliant health records for companion, production, and equine focused practices. The GVL Pet TravelPass automates regulatory research with built-in intelligent rule checking to streamline International and Hawaii pet travel. This replaces time consuming manual research processes and eliminates mistakes that prevent many veterinary practices from offering pet travel documentation services.

"We are excited to welcome The Veterinary Cooperative practices to the GlobalVetLink family," said Gary Ambrosino, Chief Executive Officer at GlobalVetLink. "With our easy-to-use technology, we are able to help veterinary practices streamline complicated processes. The world of paper certificates continues to bog down practices and often opens them up to compliance challenges. With the GlobalVetLink platform, TVC members will save thousands of hours per year. Time savings efforts are very important to our industry and we are excited to be able to assist TVC members in streamlining their compliance processes to save valuable time."

GlobalVetLink is the leading digital animal health company. Over 180 million animals per year in the pet travel, equine, and production animal sectors utilize GlobalVetLink's health records for state, federal, and international animal health compliance. Learn more at globalvetlink.com .

About GlobalVetLink

GlobalVetLink empowers and supports people to provide the best in animal care and safety. The GVL Compliance Assistant is a comprehensive SaaS platform designed to streamline animal health compliance for all veterinary practices. The Certificate Creator is the core of the platform and is managed by an intelligent Compliance Engine that verifies all certificates are compliant with state, federal and international rules and regulations. The GVL Health Record stores data for easy repeat certificate creation and ensures streamlined access to completed certificates. The Compliance Assistant platform automatically submits key animal health certificates to all 50 state animal health offices, and streamlines the submission to USDA-APHIS for international pet travel . Learn more at globalvetlink.com .

Media Inquires: Rebecca Haugland, 515-817-5075, [email protected]

About The Veterinary Cooperative

The Veterinary Cooperative fosters relationships with privately owned veterinary hospitals and business partners to elevate the future of independent veterinary practice ownership. TVC is owned by nearly 4,000 independent veterinary hospitals nationwide that leverage the cooperative to negotiate more favorable supplier pricing, create educational content, shared resources and strengthen the collective voice of the independent veterinary community.

SOURCE GlobalVetLink
MIDVALE, Utah, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Groove Technology Solutions (Groove), an integrator of technology solutions for commercial, hospitality and multifamily properties recently achieved Great Place to Work Certification, the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Groove. This year, 100% of employees said it's a great place to work. Nationally, only 57% of staff are satisfied with their employers.

"Great Place to Work Certification isn't something that comes easily  it takes ongoing dedication to the employee experience," explained Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at Great Place to Work. "It's the only official recognition determined by employees' real-time reports of their company culture. Earning this designation means that Groove is one of the best companies to work for in the country."

Employees at Certified workplaces are 93% more likely to enjoy coming to work, are paid fairly, and have a fair promotion chance. In addition to competitive compensation and benefits, Groove employees are eligible for 401K matching and flexible remote work options. Groove's corporate office provides an onsite fitness center, massage services and complimentary snacks and beverages.

"The Groove culture and the happiness of our employees is a top priority for our leadership team," said Lance Platt, President of Groove. "Cultivating an environment where dedication is rewarded has enabled us to attract and retain top talent, which is a tremendous benefit for our customers."

From DIRECTV, Internet and Wi-Fi to video surveillance, phone systems, energy management, and other property technologies, Groove serves a wide range of industries including hotels, senior living, hospitals, student housing, multifamily and more. Whether upgrading a single solution or implementing a comprehensive technology suite, the experienced team at Groove ensures all property technologies work seamlessly together while simplifying vendor management.

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first? Visit the Groove careers page to learn more about current job opportunities.

About Groove

Founded in 2007, Groove Technology Solutions (Groove) is an integrator of property technology solutions for commercial, hospitality and multifamily properties nationwide. Groove is headquartered in Midvale, UT with an office in Raleigh, NC in addition to other operations centers across the country. For more information, visit www.getgrooven.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

SOURCE Groove Technology Solutions
MIAMI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Halmos Capital Partners ("Halmos Capital"), a private equity firm focused on lower middle-market companies, announced today that it has partnered with Northpoint Roofing Systems ("Northpoint" or "Company") to support its growth and expansion into new markets. NewSpring, a family of private equity strategies, invested subordinated debt and equity to support the transaction.

Northpoint is a leading provider of roof repair and replacement services to single-family and multi-family residential customers in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area.

Northpoint is a leading provider of roof repair and replacement services to single-family and multi-family residential customers in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. The Company has earned a reputation for providing best in class service to properties that have been damaged by hail or wind and require specialized expertise when navigating the complex insurance reimbursement process. Northpoint also serves customers replacing their roofs without insurance assistance as well as those with solar and gutter installation needs.

As part of the transaction, Northpoint welcomes the addition of Patrick Maginn to its executive team who will serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Patrick joins most recently from Inland Pipe Rehabilitation, where he acted as Chief Operating Officer.

The partnership with Halmos initiates a platform in the roofing services industry which will be led by Patrick and the co-founders of Northpoint, Keith Priddy, Joseph Happe III, and Joseph Happe IV.

"We are excited to enter into a partnership with Halmos and Patrick that will accelerate our growth throughout the country. Access to their collective resources and experience scaling lower middle-market businesses will position the Company for this next phase and allow us to capitalize on opportunities we see in the market," said Keith Priddy, co-founder of Northpoint. "Combined with the intellectual and financial capital provided by NewSpring, we've built an excellent foundation on which we can continue our rapid growth."

"The Northpoint team has built a best-in-class process in the roofing industry, enabled with technology unlike anything that is available in the market. The result allows the Company to provide a high-quality roofing experience with exceptional customer service," said Daniel Adan, Partner at Halmos Capital. "We are excited to partner with NewSpring and support this transaction that positions Northpoint to consolidate the highly fragmented residential roofing market and expand its unique approach into attractive high-growth markets throughout the United States."

"Throughout its history, Northpoint has done a tremendous job expanding across the greater Atlanta area by offering specialty services that filled a significant need in the market. Patrick is a proven leader, and we are confident that he can take the Company into new geographies," said Anne Vazquez, NewSpring General Partner. "We are thrilled to partner with Northpoint and Halmos Capital to continue scaling this business."

Additionally, today Northpoint announced it has acquired Master Roofers ("Master") located in Manchester, New Hampshire. Established in 1942, Master has served the New Hampshire and Massachusetts region for three generations, during which it has developed an extraordinary reputation in roof and skylight repair and replacement in the non-insurance retail market.

The Master purchase represents the Company's first acquisition, and it intends to continue to pursue additional add-on opportunities to build scale and expand throughout the United States.

"I believe the future is bright for Master Roofers under the stewardship of the Northpoint, Halmos, and NewSpring teams. It was important to me that the acquirer of Master take care to protect the brand and reputation my family built over three generations. I am confident our decision was the right one for our legacy, employees, and customers," said Dan Bolduc, owner of Master Roofers.

As part of the transaction, Patrick Maginn, Dan Adan, and Anne Vazquez join the Northpoint Board of Directors.

About Halmos Capital Partners

Halmos Capital Partners is a private equity firm that invests in leading lower middle market businesses. It is focused on partnering with best-in-class management teams to build companies in niche markets with an operational focus. Halmos aims to transform small capitalization and entrepreneurial businesses into institutional platforms positioned for continued growth and investment. Please visit www.halmoscapital.com for more information.

About Northpoint Roofing Systems

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Northpoint is a leading provider of roof repair and replacement services, primarily for single-family and multi-family residential customers. The company also provides roof restoration services to commercial customers as well as solar and gutter installation services. The Company's leadership team has developed a unique tech-enabled customer centric model delivering best in class quality and customer satisfaction. Additional information is available at https://www.northpointroofingsystems.com/.

About NewSpring

Founded in 1999, NewSpring partners with the innovators, makers, and operators of high-performing companies in dynamic industries to catalyze new growth and seize compelling opportunities. The Firm manages over $3.0 billion across five distinct strategies covering the spectrum from growth equity and control buyouts to mezzanine debt. Having invested in over 200 companies, NewSpring brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and resources to take growing companies to the next level and beyond. Partnering with management teams to help develop their businesses into market leaders, NewSpring identifies opportunities and builds relationships using its network of industry leaders and influencers across a wide array of operational areas and industries. To learn more, visit www.newspringcapital.com.

SOURCE Northpoint Roofing Systems Operating, LLC
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Hemp Market size is projected to be USD 19.37 Billion by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 22.6% from 2023 to 2030, as per a recent market report published by Cognitive Market Research. The hemp market is gradually gaining legalization and deregulation. For instance, Google has opened the door and will allow the advertising of hemp and topical CBD products in California, Colorado and Puerto Rico under an update to its policies on "Dangerous Products and Services and Healthcare and Medicines."

Major findings during the study of the Hemp Market:

Organic segment is projected to garner significant market growth during the forecast period

Hemp seed held the maximum share in the hemp market as it is gaining much attraction in the food and nutraceutical markets because of its high nutritional values. Further, it is used in lotions, shampoos, soaps, bath gels, and cosmetics which is propelling its growth

In terms of application, the textile segment dominates the market by revenue. The prime reason being wide usage of hemp in making t-shirts, dresses, hoodies, underwear, socks, other forms of apparel, and other household textiles

The Asia Pacific region accounts for the maximum share of the hemp market. This is because of the active involvement of countries like China , India , Japan , Korea, Australia , New Zealand , and Thailand in the production of industrial hemp

region accounts for the maximum share of the hemp market. This is because of the active involvement of countries like , , , Korea, , , and in the production of industrial hemp North America shows the highest growth rate in the hemp market during the forecast period owing to the gradual relaxation of laws surrounding the cultivation, processing, and production of hemp products

shows the highest growth rate in the hemp market during the forecast period owing to the gradual relaxation of laws surrounding the cultivation, processing, and production of hemp products Major industry players are investing heavily in R&D activities to achieve high yields from cultivation. For instance, The Scottish National Investment Bank has increased its investment in an Edinburgh company that makes hemp fiber-based insulation for the construction industry

Read Full Market Analysis Hemp Market by Source (Conventional, and Organic); by Type (Seed, Oil, Fiber, CBD, and Others); by Application (Textile, Personal Care, Construction, Food & Beverage, and Others); by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East, and Africa) Global Industry Analysis, COVID-19 Impact, and Industry Forecast, 2018-2030

Hemp Industry Statistics:

Global Hemp Market 2022 Global Revenue (USD Billion) 6.87 CAGR  (2023-2030) 22.6 % Key Source Share Conventional: 69.7% Key Type Share Seed: 32.2% Key Application Share Textile: 28.2% Key Regional Share Asia Pacific: 34.2%

What are the current Hemp Market Trends?

In the last few years, many hemp based products find their way to the market. There has been huge investment in research and development for developing hemp products. For instance, more than USD 35 Million has been granted to five hemp-specific projects under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities" program. Companies are constantly discovering products made from hemp for the consumers, from cosmetics to jeans to beer. For instance, between the year 2012 to 2017, more than 200 hemp-based food products were introduced to the market.

It is expected that in the year 2023, the demand for hemp-based health products will be on the rise. This includes massage oils, lotions, capsules, pet health products, and many others. Besides, hemp based products are being legalized rapidly across the globe. Thus, increasing legalization and deregulation of hemp cultivation in various countries is driving the growth of the hemp market.

Check Full Report with all the Quantitative and Qualitative data:

https://www.cognitivemarketresearch.com/hemp-market-report

Hemp is considered one of the most versatile and sustainable crops since every part of the plant can be used for one or more purposes. For decades, hemp seed has been cultivated to make everything from building materials to textiles. Its wide-reaching growth potential is now beginning to be embraced and utilized by many organizations. Hence, the production of hemp seeds has increased and they have become a product with an important and growing market.

Hemp Market Report Scope

Hemp Market - Source Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Conventional

Organic

Hemp Market - Type (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Seed

Oil

Fiber

CBD

Others

Hemp Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Textile

Personal Care

Construction

Food & Beverage

Others

By Regions:

North America (U.S., Canada , Mexico )

(U.S., , ) Europe ( Germany , France , UK, Italy , Spain , Russia , Rest of Europe )

( , , UK, , , , Rest of ) Asia Pacific ( China , Japan , India , South Korea , Australia , Southeast Asia , Rest of APAC)

( , , , , , , Rest of APAC) Latin America ( Brazil , Argentina , Columbia , Rest of Latin America )

( , , , Rest of ) Middle East & Africa (GCC, Saudi Arabia , Turkey , Egypt , Rest of MEA)

List Of Key Companies Profiled

Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Cooperative Ltd.

CBD Biotechnology Co.

Botanical Genetics, LLC

Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

HempMedsBrasil, Terra Tech Corp.

American Cannabis Company, Inc.

HempFlax B.V.

Ecofiber Industries Operations

Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd.

Others

Related Reports on Hemp Market:

Global Legal Marijuana Market to Hit $101.23 Billion by 2030

The global legal marijuana market is expected to hit $101.23 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 25.42%. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant used for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. In recent times, most countries have legalized the use of medical marijuana for treating multiple ailments, which is pushing the growth of the market.

Global Cotton Market to Reach $12.34 Billion by 2030

The global cotton market is projected to reach $52.37 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.56%. Global cotton production is primarily concentrated in low--and middle-income countries, which is a key driver of economic growth, providing employment and livelihoods. Cotton is majorly used in the textile industry along with the medical industry. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted cotton distribution due to disruption in the supply chain, which declines revenue in the year 2020. However, its broad uses in woven fabrics, clothing, furniture, home decor, and other categories are driving the market's growth.

Other Related Reports:

Global Textile Market to reach $1,385.36 Billion by 2030 , growing at an impressive CAGR of 5.32%

to reach , growing at an impressive Global Medical Cannabis Market to be worth $54.08 Billion by 2030 and is expected to reach a CAGR of 23.52%

Explore Other Cognitive Market Research's Agriculture Industry Report

About Cognitive Market Research

Cognitive Market Research has evolved as one of the leading market research and consulting firms providing services across multiple domains. Our team of researchers gathers and analyzes data about customers, competitors, distributors, and other market actors and forces operating across the value chain. As a market research company, we gather information about the target market and end-use industries to verify the complete journey of the product or service in the global market. It helps our readers understand the demand and viability of their product/service and how it might perform in the real world and help them to build business strategies accordingly.

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SOURCE Cognitive Market Research
BROOKLYN, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HEVO Inc., a leading provider of wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, and Stellantis N.V., a leading global automaker and mobility provider, are partnering to integrate wireless charging into Stellantis EVs, which will enable a superior charging experience without sacrificing safety, efficiency, or durability.

HEVO's Chief Commercial Officer, Vic Peltola, commented: "HEVO is energized by Stellantis's commitment to innovation and improving the end-to-end experience for EV drivers. With their diverse product lineup and brands such as Jeep  , Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Maserati and Peugeot, our collaboration will accelerate decarbonization by enabling significant benefits for fleet and passenger customers seeking a more convenient and seamless charging experience."

HEVO and Stellantis are partnering to integrate wireless charging into Stellantis EVs Tweet this

Wireless charging is designed to increase simplicity and safety, while removing operational friction associated with cord management. HEVO's award-winning technology is up to 95% efficient (grid-to-battery) and is compliant with SAE and UL wireless charging standards. Prior to mass adoption, early applications of this technology include logistics and transit fleets, as well as disabled drivers who benefit from accessible and ADA-compliant charging.

HEVO and Stellantis are initially demonstrating Level 2 wireless charging on a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV at the company's office complex in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Successful completion of this demonstration in 2023 and a subsequent 50kW fast wireless charging project will lead to opportunities for HEVO to provide wireless charging to Stellantis customers targeting cost competitiveness with plug-in charging as production volumes scale.

About HEVO

Recently named a PACEpilot Innovation to Watch by Automotive News, HEVO Inc. is a Brooklyn-based company focused on dramatically improving the EV charging experience for all stakeholders. Our mission is to eliminate global reliance on fossil fuels by optimizing electric vehicles with a safe, simple, and seamless charging experience. To learn more, visit HEVO's website at https://hevo.com/.

SOURCE HEVO
After more than a decade making waves in the international culinary scene, Indonesian-raised chef Syamsul Rizal is ready to bring his acclaimed Japanese cooking to SugarSand.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach is delighted to welcome Chef Rizal as the Japanese Specialty Chef, overseeing the day-to-day operations at SugarSand, the hotel's beachfront eatery.

Growing up between Bogor and Jakarta, Chef Rizal began his culinary journey locally, leading him to some of the world's top restaurants including Miami's downtown Nobu and Dubai's famous Zuma. His new position at Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach marks another exciting adventure, which he approaches with great enthusiasm.

"I am planning to influence the team with a new, vibrant spirit; to encourage and at the same time inspire". Rizal's culinary approach will incorporate beloved and authentic Japanese ingredients, but only those that are locally sourced. While taste will be Rizal's primary focus, he intends to capture the essence of Japanese simplicity  in both method and presentation as this will be the hallmark that shapes each and every dish.

Under Rizal's guidance, both lunch and dinner menus at SugarSand will receive a makeover. New small bites, soups, and salads will be offered at lunch, while the evenings will soon include a convivial Izakaya concept with multiple Japanese food stalls. Rizal intends to introduce new culinary creations, including his Japanese-style fried rice with garlic and striploin  a unique fusion delight he anticipates to be a guest favorite.

About Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach: Located on the southern stretch of Seminyak Beach, on the southwest coast of Bali, Indonesia, Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach is an easy 30-minute drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport. The resort features 289 rooms and suites including 19 villas with private pools, all set out across 12 acres of prime beachfront. Artfully-designed interiors reflect the inspiration of the vibrant Seminyak neighborhood, which is a wonderful mix of Balinese tradition and contemporary uniqueness. http://seminyak.hotelindigo.com .

About Hotel Indigo: Just as no places are alike, no two Hotel Indigo properties are alike. Each Hotel Indigo draws inspiration from the local neighbourhood, culture and popular trends in food, drink and design to create a warm and vibrant atmosphere. Our hotels provide a gateway to discover and explore some of the world's most inspiring cities and neighbourhoods. www.hotelindigo.com

SOURCE Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach
Bank Welcomes Seasoned Industry Experts as Part of Long-Term Growth Strategy.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IDB Bank (IDB), a New York-based private and commercial bank, has announced the expansion of its Sponsor & Leverage Finance team. As part of this expansion, IDB aims to further its presence within the leverage finance space, a key area of growth over the next several years.

The recent expansion welcomes four industry professionals, who join the IDB New York Commercial Banking division with a proven track record for driving success, previously working as a team with Investors Bank, a division of Citizens Bank, N.A. The team will be led by James Dunleavy, who brings forward nearly 35 years of industry experience to IDB and its growing diverse commercial clientele.

James Dunleavy , Senior Vice President/Manager. A seasoned executive, Dunleavy joins the Bank following an eight-year tenure with Investors Bank, where he launched the Sponsor Finance group and grew the loan portfolio to in excess of $600 million in senior credit facilities across a variety of industries. Prior to his time with Investors Bank, he held senior leadership roles with several notable financial institutions including Merrill Lynch Capital, IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust and National Westminster Bank USA .





A seasoned executive, Dunleavy joins the Bank following an eight-year tenure with Investors Bank, where he launched the Sponsor Finance group and grew the loan portfolio to in excess of in senior credit facilities across a variety of industries. Prior to his time with Investors Bank, he held senior leadership roles with several notable financial institutions including Merrill Lynch Capital, IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust and National Westminster Bank . Tom Savage , Senior Vice President/Originator & Senior Relationship Manager. Savage joins IDB following a robust more-than 30-year career within the financial services sector, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of the Sponsor Finance group with Investors Bank. In this role, he led the origination, underwriting and management of cash flow loans for companies located throughout the U.S. principally owned by private equity sponsors with funds sized between $250 million and $1 billion , independent sponsors and family offices. Prior to his role with Investors Bank, Savage held several senior leadership roles with financial institutions including Capital One and TD Bank. He additionally spent more than a decade working with Spire Capital, a private equity firm focusing on investments in tech-enabled business services, as well as the media, education and communication sectors.





Savage joins IDB following a robust more-than 30-year career within the financial services sector, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of the Sponsor Finance group with Investors Bank. In this role, he led the origination, underwriting and management of cash flow loans for companies located throughout the U.S. principally owned by private equity sponsors with funds sized between and , independent sponsors and family offices. Prior to his role with Investors Bank, Savage held several senior leadership roles with financial institutions including Capital One and TD Bank. He additionally spent more than a decade working with Spire Capital, a private equity firm focusing on investments in tech-enabled business services, as well as the media, education and communication sectors. Michael McIntyre , First Vice President/Senior Relationship Manager & Portfolio Manager. McIntyre is a seasoned corporate finance executive with more than 30 years of extensive and diverse experience as a cash flow and asset-based lender. He joins IDB following an eight-year tenure with Investors Bank, where he was a key member of the Sponsor Finance group, responsible for structuring, underwriting, negotiating and closing senior cash flow loans for portfolio companies located nationwide. Prior to his time with Investors Bank, McIntyre held notable roles with several financial organizations, including Amalgamated Bank, GE Capital and CIT.





McIntyre is a seasoned corporate finance executive with more than 30 years of extensive and diverse experience as a cash flow and asset-based lender. He joins IDB following an eight-year tenure with Investors Bank, where he was a key member of the Sponsor Finance group, responsible for structuring, underwriting, negotiating and closing senior cash flow loans for portfolio companies located nationwide. Prior to his time with Investors Bank, McIntyre held notable roles with several financial organizations, including Amalgamated Bank, GE Capital and CIT. Paul Muzzio , Vice President/Relationship Manager & Portfolio Manager. Muzzio joins IDB following more than eight years with Investors Bank, where he most recently served as Assistant Vice President of the Sponsor Finance group. In this role, he spearheaded key underwriting responsibilities across diverse financing opportunities in order to drive meaningful deal closings. Muzzio additionally graduated from the bank's Credit Training Program and held roles with general C&I Lending teams prior to joining the Sponsor Finance Group.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jim, Tom, Michael and Paul to our team," said IDB Bank President & CEO Ziv Biron. "This is a strategic expansion of our Syndications group as we continue growing our business across the country and delivering a variety of financing capabilities and services that will meet the growing needs of our clients well into the future."

The recently formed Sponsor & Leverage Finance team additionally includes David Gilio, Senior Vice President of Sponsor Finance, who joined the Bank in February 2021.

David Gilio , Senior Vice President. Gilio joined IDB two years ago with more than three decades of leverage finance and leadership experience. Prior to joining the Bank, he served as the Managing Director and Sector Head of Leveraged Finance within BNP Paribas, where he led his team in the origination, negotiation and execution of leverage financing opportunities in numerous sectors for PE firms, closing more than $6.75B in transactions as both a lead and joint arranger. He additionally held notable positions within the Leverage and Sponsor Finance groups with Royal Bank of Scotland and TD Securities

"The recent strategic expansion of Sponsor & Leverage Finance team is a tremendous win for our organization," said Lissa Baum, Head of IDB New York Commercial Banking. "In harnessing the expertise of these five high-profile and well-regarded leverage finance specialists, we plan to further advance our profile within this exciting and growing sector of commercial banking."

The IDB Sponsor & Leverage Finance team will report to Christopher Dowd, Head of Syndications, Sponsor & Leverage Finance.

About IDB Bank

IDB Bank is a New York State-chartered commercial bank and a member of the FDIC. Headquartered in Manhattan, IDB operates branch offices in Brooklyn, NY, Staten Island, NY and Short Hills, NJ, and full-service branches in Southern Florida and Southern California. The bank offers a full-service lending platform for personal and commercial banking, trade services and deposit products to U.S.-based and international clients. Its areas of expertise include Middle Market, Asset Based and Commercial Real Estate Lending, Factoring, Trade Finance, Apparel and Consumer Products, Healthcare, Food and Beverage, High-Tech, Not For Profit & Education, and U.S. and International Private Banking. IDB also operates a syndication desk that enables administration of complex transactions.

SOURCE IDB Bank
Powerful, Modular Platform Delivers Unmatched Flexibility to Future-Proof the Hybrid Multi-cloud Digital Workspace

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IGEL , provider of the managed endpoint operating system for secure access to any digital workspace, today announced IGEL COSMOS. Unveiled at DISRUPT23  The Ultimate Global EUC event in Munich, COSMOS is a unified, agile platform to securely manage and automate the delivery of digital workspaces, from any cloud. Offering a modular architecture, granular endpoint control and end-user freedom, COSMOS is designed to enable organizations to garner the full power of current-day and future clouds with extensive control, while powering great user experiences for today's hybrid work.

The IGEL COSMOS platform.

The most significant new advancement with IGEL COSMOS is that, for the first time, IGEL is completely separating the base IGEL OS from its validated and integrated applications and interfaces, while adding an additional separate component in the form of value-added cloud services. Together, these three vital components comprise IGEL COSMOS. This modular architecture of "separate but equal" elements of endpoint operating system, management and control, and cloud services enables maximum IT flexibility in introducing or enhancing apps, desktops, services, and any other form of cloud-delivered digital workspaces as the cloud continues to evolve.

Featuring extensive management and control powered by the new IGEL UMS 12, the next generation of the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS), COSMOS enables the parallel use, management and control of endpoints running both IGEL OS 11 and the new IGEL OS 12 operating system. New cloud services, which are de-coupled from the OS, include the IGEL App Portal for use-case specific software applications offered from IGEL software partners and available for seamless download and implementation. Additional cloud services include the IGEL Onboarding Service, IGEL Insight Service, and other services and portals all designed to enhance effectiveness and user experiences for both IT professionals and end users.

"Today's workspaces are hybrid. Hybrid work, hybrid clouds and hybrid applications. While VDI and DaaS continue to provide organizations the safest way to deliver secure access to windows client server applications, a transition to SaaS and web-based applications has already started. IT organizations need to make sure they can evolve at their optimal pace and at the same time, enable employees seamless, yet secure access to their cloud workspaces," said Matthias Haas, Chief Technology Officer, IGEL. "The COSMOS platform has been designed for this new era of hybrid work. With a new modularized version of IGEL OS, a new version of our UMS management platform coupled with new cloud services that extend capabilities and enhance user experiences, COSMOS enables unmatched speed and flexibility to our customers across traditional and modern application delivery models, while still retaining security, management, and control across the entire endpoint estate."

"Having deployed IGEL OS to our remote workforce, we have been excited to pilot the latest innovation from IGEL including UMS 12 and IGEL OS 12," said Simon Barlow, Group Chief Technology Officer, Operations, AXA UK & Ireland. "Our remote workforce, the agile application landscape and more frequent update cycles of unified comms require us to onboard, manage and update our endpoints faster and more efficiently than ever before. Based on our initial testing of OS 12, we are already confident that we can remotely configure, update, and patch our remote machines faster and more efficiently. With small updates and the ability to only update the Azure Virtual Desktop client, IGEL COSMOS allows us to be more agile without compromising security or change control. We are excited about the new cloud services which complement IGEL OS and UMS 12 and are proud to be included in the COSMOS platform launch."

"Having utilized the secure IGEL OS for our VMware VDI environment, we were excited to work with IGEL on the IGEL OS 12 pilot," said Billy Cruz, Technology Services Manager, Desktop Engineering, COCC. "The ability to update the VMware Horizon client independently from IGEL OS in the new offering allows us to deploy the latest innovation from VMware faster and more efficiently than before. The additional ability to now also update the Zoom and Webex offloading clients, independently from the VMware Horizon app, also provides additional flexibility and reduces the amount of time needed to perform management updates to increase employee experience. With a smaller attack surface and faster updates, we are excited about rolling out IGEL OS 12 in the future."

The Powerful, Unified Components of COSMOS

At the core of the IGEL COSMOS platform is the new IGEL UMS 12, which offers a unified view across a heterogeneous mix of endpoints running either IGEL OS 11 or the new IGEL OS 12. This powerful, yet simple to use, management and control console enables environments already benefitting from IGEL OS to easily migrate and leverage immediate value of COSMOS without requiring an OS upgrade on all their existing devices.

Released with COSMOS is the new IGEL OS 12 which is more lightweight and adaptable than ever. Offering increased flexibility, speed, and agile integrations, IGEL OS 12 has been architected to support any form of cloud-delivered digital experiences. It also supports a faster, more efficient delivery of features and applications tuned to specific use cases via the IGEL App Portal. Other key services tuned to IGEL OS 12 include fast user onboarding and deep insights into endpoint usage, security, status, and compliance of IGEL UMS-managed endpoints.

One of the most significant new cloud services adding additional value to COSMOS is the IGEL App Portal. The App Portal delivers a full range of validated applications from IGEL's vast IGEL Ready technology partner community designed for use on IGEL OS-powered devices. Since the App Portal operates separately and independently from the IGEL OS endpoint operating system, it sharply streamlines the process of application integration, introduction, and qualification for IT teams since there is no longer any dependence on the classic, highly integrated software release process. Available for download at no extra cost, these apps can be rapidly qualified and delivered as a feature-rich experience for users, while reducing the app qualification, implementation and update processes for IT. Applications include the Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop client, VMware Horizon client, Citrix Workspace app, Chromium Browser, Zoom Media Plugins for VDI and many more. IGEL also offers an IGEL OS API (application programming interface) for software providers that want to validate their solution for availability using COSMOS and the IGEL App Portal.

Availability

COSMOS, IGEL UMS 12, and IGEL OS 12 will be available April 1. Existing users of IGEL OS 11 will be able to engage IGEL UMS 12 via an easy migration to access COSMOS advancements for existing and new devices running IGEL OS 12 in the future. For more information visit igel.com/cosmos. To schedule a discovery meeting and get early access to GA code, visit igel.com/yes.

DISRUPT23COSMOS was announcement from DISRUPT23  The Ultimate Global EUC in Munich, held February 15 and 16 at the INFINITY Hotel & Conference Resort. DISRUPT23 will hold its North American installment at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 3-5. Registration is $399 per person. To register, visit: www.disruptEUC.com.

About IGEL

Today, the world of work is hybrid. Multiple clouds can deliver applications sourced from anywhere to a widely distributed workforce using all types of devices. Right at the moment when the world of work needs it most, IGEL has the solution for fully managed, secure endpoint access to any digital workspace that gives IT teams strong control and end-users the freedom to work as they wish in a hybrid world. Enabling choice of any cloud, from any device, anywhere, IGEL unlocks a collaborative and productive end user computing experience while solving the common security and management challenges required to compete and win in today's world of hybrid work. With a growing ecosystem of more than 100 IGEL Ready technology partners, IGEL has offices in Europe and the United States and is represented by partners in over 50 countries. For more information on IGEL, visit www.igel.com.

SOURCE IGEL Technology
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Igneo Infrastructure Partners, a global infrastructure investment manager with US$16.5 billion in assets, has completed its acquisition of US Signal Company, LLC (US Signal), a leading data center and network solutions provider.

Based in Grand Rapids, Mich., US Signal provides network, data center, connectivity, cloud hosting, colocation, data protection, and disaster recovery services to regional enterprise customers and large national telecommunications carriers. It operates a 9,500 route mile fiber network and eight data centers across nine states in the upper Midwest.

"Igneo enters 2023 with strong momentum. We are excited to add US Signal to our growing portfolio in North America, where we continue to see strong tailwinds in the digital infrastructure sector," said Michael Ryder, partner and co-head of Igneo in North America. "This is our third global investment in the digital sector. Our focus remains on high-quality, mid-market, critical infrastructure businesses like US Signal."

US Signal represents Igneo's first investment in the U.S. telecommunications sector and the fourth platform asset in North America. During the last four years, Igneo has invested more than US$2.0 billion of capital in Terra-Gen, Rialto Bioenergy and Patriot Rail.

Paul Van Hyfte, president of US Signal, said, "We are thrilled to partner with Igneo to support our strategic goals, including investment in and expansion of our data centers and fiber network, as we continue to provide unparalleled service to our customers."

US Signal was advised by Bank Street and Dickinson Wright. Igneo was advised by KeyBanc Capital Markets and Mayer Brown.

About US Signal

US Signal, founded in 2001, is a leading IT solutions provider, offering connectivity, cloud hosting, colocation, data protection, and disaster recovery services  powered by its wholly owned and operated robust fiber network. US Signal also helps customers optimize their IT resources through the provision of managed and professional services. For more information, visit www.ussignal.com.

About Igneo Infrastructure Partners

Igneo Infrastructure Partners invests in high-quality, mid-market infrastructure companies in the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. It is an autonomous investment team in the First Sentier Investors Group. Operating since 1994, the team works closely with portfolio companies to create long-term sustainable value through innovation and proactive asset management. Igneo manages US$16.5 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2022 on behalf of more than 120 institutional investors around the world. For more information, visit igneoip.com.

Media inquiries

Newton Park PR:

Margaret Kirch Cohen/Richard Chimberg

E: [email protected]

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T: +1 847-507-2229

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Important information

This press release is intended for information only, aimed solely at the media and should not be further distributed to individual and/or corporate investors, and financial advisers and/or distributors. The information included within this document and any supplemental documentation provided should not be copied, reproduced or redistributed without the prior written consent of First Sentier Investors.

SOURCE Igneo Infrastructure Partners
MILAN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffe, the global leader in high-quality sustainable coffee, is the official partner of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, now in its 61st year, and back on its usual springtime schedule after three years of pandemic-related restrictions. Between April 18th and 23rd there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy illy's unique 100% Arabica blend  not just at the fair itself, but also during the many official side events to be held throughout the city of Milan.

Salone del Mobile.Milano

The fair will be based in the Fiera Milano Rho neighborhood and will feature an innovative format that makes it more enjoyable for visitors and environmentally sustainable. Here, as the event's coffee partner, illy will accompany architects, designers, and journalists as they socialize, network, and relax, from the Red Lounge to the International Business Lounge and Caffe della Stampa. There will be many more chances to enjoy an excellent illy coffee elsewhere in the city, in showrooms or during special events held by some of the best-known and most beloved design brands.

"We are proud that once again, we have been confirmed as the coffee of choice for the world of art and design, the key players in that universe of experimentation and cultural cross-pollination that the Milan Furniture Fair represents today as it casts an increasingly watchful eye on sustainable quality, creativity, and innovation. These values are part of illy's DNA, and for 90 years they have inspired us to pursue our mission of promoting beauty in all its forms" comments Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffe.

illycaffe is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933. Its mission has always been to offer the best coffee to the world. Illycaffe produces a unique 100% Arabica blend, combining 9 of the best varieties in the world, selected by illycaffe: every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafes, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafes and shops, at home and in the office. As a result of its innovations, illycaffe contributes to the coffee technology progress at global level. In 1991, the "Premio Ernesto Illy de qualidade sustentavel do cafe para espresso" was launched in Brazil for quality espresso coffee. Illycaffe has contributed to the sharing of the know-how, paying growers a premium price for the best quality selected by illycaffe. Since 2016, with the "Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award", the company has celebrated coffee growers all over the world that, according to illy, have produced the best sustainable coffee. Since 2013, the company has been in the list of the World Most Ethical Companies. In 2019, it enhanced its commitment to pursue a sustainable business model integrating the interest of people with the environment, adopting the status of Societa Benefit (Benefit Company) and adding this commitment into its own bylaws. In 2021, illycaffe was the first Italian company in the coffee sector to obtain the international certification as B Corp as a result of its commitment to comply with the highest standards of social and environmental performance. The company also founded the University of Coffee, which has the objective of sharing culture at all levels, offering a comprehensive and practical training to growers, baristas and coffee lovers. Everything that is "made in illy" is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 120 international artists. In 2021, the company had 1305 employees and a turnover of about 500 million. There are 205 illy single-brand shops in over 40 countries all over the world. In 2021, Rhone Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffe with the aim of contributing to the company's international growth plans.

For more information:

www.illy.com

SOURCE illycaffe
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The infection surveillance solutions industry is projected to experience rapid growth in the near future. This growth will be driven by the increasing focus on public health and the rising prevalence of infectious diseases. The use of automated surveillance systems and real-time data analysis will be essential in identifying and responding to outbreaks quickly. Other factors driving the growth of this industry include the increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions, investments in research and development, and the use of predictive analytics. Additionally, governments around the world are providing incentives for the development of infection surveillance solutions, which will further propel the growth of this industry.

Infection Surveillance Solutions Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $577 million in 2022 and is poised to reach $1,100 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.8% from 2022 to 2027 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The increasing prevalence of hospital acquired infections (HAI), increasing number of surgeries, growing geriatric population and chronic diseases, and escalating healthcare expenditure is fueling the demand for infection surveillance solutions. The new technology trends in cloud-based and AI integrated software for infection surveillance and control is creating numerous opportunities for solution providers. Furthermore, Emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Russia, and countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia are expected to provide significant growth opportunities owing to public pressure to improve the quality of hospital care, the increased cost of HAIs in healthcare systems, the emergence of multi-drug-resistant microorganisms, and the initiatives of government.

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Browse in-depth TOC on "Infection Surveillance Solutions Market"



254 - Tables

40 - Figures

266 - Pages

Infection Surveillance Solutions Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2022 $577 million Estimated Value by 2027 $1,100 million Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 13.8% Market Size Available for 20202027 Forecast Period 20222027 Forecast Units Value (USD Million) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Product & Services and End User Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Emerging markets Key Market Drivers Increasing adoption of antimicrobial stewardship programs

Nursing homes segment is expected to be the largest infection surveillance solutions market for long-term care facilities, by type, during the forecast period

Based on type, the infection surveillance solutions market for long-term care (LTC) facilities is segmented into nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living facilities. The infection surveillance software segment accounted for the largest share of the infection surveillance solutions market. The large share of this segment is primarily attributed to the high prevalence of HAIs in nursing homes and the increased adoption of infection surveillance solutions in these settings.

The hospital segment, by end user, is expected to be the largest and fastest growing infection surveillance solutions market during the forecast period

The infection surveillance solutions market, based on end user, is segmented into hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other end users. The hospitals segment accounted for the largest share of the infection surveillance solutions market and witness the highest growth during the forecast. The high incidence of HAIs, and the resulting cost burden on stakeholders, have driven the adoption of infection control products and services in hospitals. Furthermore, the large patient volume, and the increasing cases of surgical site infections (SSIs) are also driving the growth of the market. The most common HAIs reported in hospitals are central line-associated bloodstream infections, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci bloodstream infections, clostridium difficile infections, and SSIs.

Asia Pacific region is expected to register the highest CAGR in the infection surveillance solutions market during the forecast period

The Asia Pacific market is expected to witness the highest growth from 2022 to 2027. There is a growing need to implement and integrate medical devices and HCIT solutions in Asia to provide patients with cost-effective and quality clinical care. As a result, many global HCIT companies are investing in the Asian market to capitalize on the growing opportunities. The growing patient volume and the rising need for accurate and timely tracking and monitoring of diseases will fuel the growth of the infection surveillance solutions market in Asia Pacific.

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Infection Surveillance Solutions Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Growing global prevalence of COVID-19 Increasing prevalence of hospital-acquired infections Increasing adoption of antimicrobial stewardship programs Increasing number of surgeries Growing geriatric population and the increasing incidence of chronic diseases Growing investments to improve healthcare systems

Restraints:

High cost of deployment for small healthcare organizations Reluctance among medical professionals to adopt advanced healthcare IT solutions

Opportunities:

Increasing consolidation in the healthcare industry

Cloud-based software solutions

Emerging markets

Challenges:

Shortage of skilled healthcare IT professionals Data security concerns

Key Market Players:

To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the global infection surveillance solutions market. These include including Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Premier, Inc. (US), Wolters Kluwer N.V. (Netherlands), Cerner Corporation (US), Baxter International Inc. (US), GOJO Industries, Inc. (US), Clinisys (US), Deb Group Ltd. (UK), BioVigil Healthcare Systems (US), RLDatix (UK), Merative (US), Vecna Technologies, Inc. (US), VigiLanz Corporation (US), Ecolab (US), and Harris Healthcare (US). The leading players are trying to establish themselves in the markets of developed countries and are adopting various strategies such as product launches/enhancements, expansions, agreements, partnerships, collaborations, sales contracts, investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions to increase their respective market shares.

Recent Developments:

In November 2022 , Wolters Kluwer strengthened its clinical surveillance portfolio with Sentri7 Sepsis Monitor. Sentri7 Sepsis Monitor (formerly known as POC Advisor) leverages clinical natural language processing (cNLP) and advanced algorithms to surveil a hospital's patients 24/7 to identify early signs of sepsis.

, strengthened its clinical surveillance portfolio with Sentri7 Sepsis Monitor. Sentri7 Sepsis Monitor (formerly known as POC Advisor) leverages clinical natural language processing (cNLP) and advanced algorithms to surveil a hospital's patients 24/7 to identify early signs of sepsis. In June 2022 , Premier unveiled the PINC AI solution for long-term care (LTC) facilities. The solution provides the same level of clinical surveillance used in the acute setting.

, Premier unveiled the PINC AI solution for long-term care (LTC) facilities. The solution provides the same level of clinical surveillance used in the acute setting. In January 2022 , Becton, Dickinson and Company (US) collaborated Pfizer (US) and Wellcome (UK). The collaboration enabled the companies to survey existing diagnostic practices to highlight benefits and gaps in diagnostic testing in AMR stewardship to improve and further advocate for patient care, clinical practice, and healthcare economics.

, Becton, Dickinson and Company (US) collaborated Pfizer (US) and Wellcome (UK). The collaboration enabled the companies to survey existing diagnostic practices to highlight benefits and gaps in diagnostic testing in AMR stewardship to improve and further advocate for patient care, clinical practice, and healthcare economics. In July 2021 , Baystate Health and Cerner Corporation collaborated by introducing a digital health platform to integrate care delivery and financing systems for a more consumer-focused approach to patient care.

, Baystate Health and Cerner Corporation collaborated by introducing a digital health platform to integrate care delivery and financing systems for a more consumer-focused approach to patient care. In February 2021 , Ecolab (US) launched Hand Hygiene Compliance Measurement (HHCM) System. This system is a digitally connected technology that systematically monitors and improves hand hygiene in healthcare across Europe .

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Infection Surveillance Solutions Market - Report Highlights:

In the latest edition, market sizing and forecasting has been done at a more granular level, also changes in trends and forecasts have been incorporated as per the market scenario.

Refinements in the segments of the infection surveillance solutions market:

The regulatory analysis, ecosystem analysis, pricing analysis, and patent analysis sections have been provided in the industry insights chapter.

The competitive landscape chapter has been updated with the market evaluation matrix and an evaluation matrix for start-ups. The competitive landscape also includes the revenue share analysis of the top players, market ranking analysis, product & geographic footprint of the major companies, and competitive scenario of the global market.

Addition of market players in the infection surveillance solutions market:

The new edition of the report includes profiles for Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Premier, Inc. (US), Wolters Kluwer N.V . ( Netherlands ), Cerner Corporation (US), Baxter International Inc. (US), GOJO Industries, Inc. (US), Clinisys (US), Deb Group Ltd. (UK), BioVigil Healthcare Systems (US), RLDatix (UK), Merative (US), Vecna Technologies, Inc. (US), VigiLanz Corporation (US), Ecolab (US), Harris Healthcare (US), PeraHealth (US), Medexter Healthcare ( Austria ), CenTrak, Inc. (US), bioMerieux SA ( France ), KM Healthcare ( Canada ), Asolva Inc. (US), PointClickCare ( Canada ), STANLEY Healthcare (US), Vitalacy Inc. (US), and VIZZIA Technologies (US).

. ( ), Cerner Corporation (US), Baxter International Inc. (US), GOJO Industries, Inc. (US), Clinisys (US), Deb Group Ltd. (UK), BioVigil Healthcare Systems (US), RLDatix (UK), Merative (US), Vecna Technologies, Inc. (US), VigiLanz Corporation (US), Ecolab (US), Harris Healthcare (US), PeraHealth (US), Medexter Healthcare ( ), CenTrak, Inc. (US), bioMerieux SA ( ), KM Healthcare ( ), Asolva Inc. (US), PointClickCare ( ), STANLEY Healthcare (US), Vitalacy Inc. (US), and VIZZIA Technologies (US). Updated financial information/product portfolios of players:

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information until 2021/2022 for each listed company in 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 regions/countries, business segment focus in terms of the highest revenue-generating segments, and R&D investments.

Updated market developments of profiled players:

Recent developments are important to understand the market trends and growth strategies adopted by players in the market. The current edition of this report provides updated developments of profiled players from January 2020 to January 2023 , indicating the continuation of the previous version. Product launches and acquisitions were the principal growth strategies adopted by market players during this period.

to , indicating the continuation of the previous version. Product launches and acquisitions were the principal growth strategies adopted by market players during this period. The current edition of the report considers the ongoing economic recession and provides an impact analysis of the same. Detailed qualitative insights for recession impact by region have been provided across the regional analysis section

.Browse Adjacent Market: Healthcare IT Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Healthcare IT Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Infection Control Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Hospital Acquired Infection Control Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Healthcare IT Integration Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

Healthcare Interoperability Solutions Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

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BURNSVILLE, Minn., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick off the New Year, last month, Inspired Spine (IS) CMO Dr. Hamid Abbasi traveled to Muscat, Oman to perform in cooperation with Dr. Ahmed Jahwari the first Oblique Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (OLLIF) outside of North America. In addition to the OLLIF procedure, the first Trident Sacroiliac Joint Fusion outside the United States was also executed.

Dr. Hamid Abbasi and Dr. Jahwari Dr. Abbasi and Abdulsalam Al Murahidi, the Head of Oman Investment Authority

The delegation from Inspired Spine (IS) was invited by the Oman Armed Forces to perform the procedures in their newly built state-of-the-art hospital. In just four days, eight OLLIF procedures and two Sacroiliac Joint Fusions were performed. OLLIF is a minimally invasive spine fusion with the ability to treat patients regardless of age and size (BMI) with minimal blood loss and complications, harboring it as one of the safest options for lumbar fusion surgery and enabling many marginalized patients to receive complex spinal fusions.

While overseas, Dr. Abbasi met with the Head of Oman Investment Authority  the sovereign fund of Oman  his Excellency Abdulsalam Al Murshidi to explore the possibility of cooperation in the Arabian Peninsula.

In a statement from Dr. Abbasi, he expressed his gratitude for the invitation and that patients in the Arabian Peninsula can now benefit from these advanced medical procedures.

"Without question, there is no similar procedure in the Middle East" Abbasi said. "All patients were discharged within one to three days with very little blood loss."

The multi-level fusion surgeries performed in Oman last month took less than 1-2 hours each. Using a traditional technique, such as transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF), the surgeries can span an entire day. Dr. Spangenberg, a Saudi Arabian surgeon, observed the procedures in an effort to carry the technique across the entire Arabian Peninsula. The region, which includes Qatar and the UAE, holds a vast population of nearly 60 million people.

"This kind of performance is unlike anything present in the United States, Middle East, Africa or the Arabian Peninsula," Dr. Jahwari reiterated, who is a fellowship trained spine surgeon in Canada and USA.

Amanda Armagost, Chief Communication Officer of IS, ardently praised the old tradition of Omani culture. In Oman, she toured the country and made note of its beauty as well as the people's hospitality.

"The friendliness and generosity of the Omani culture is unmatched. The natural beauty of Oman is underutilized," Armagost said. "We hope to enhance local medical care, while simultaneously boosting the tourism economy. The infrastructure is highly developed and ready to absorb a significant increase in medical tourism."

In a statement Inspired spine, an advanced spine company in Minnesota stated: "Inspired Spine is very optimistic in this endeavor, which will allow more patients than ever before to benefit from these advanced procedures. Inspired Spine will continue to encourage expansion into additional continents and countries. The true beneficiaries are the people worldwide, who can expect spine care with better results, as demonstrated here in Minnesota, United States over the last 10 years."

If you have questions, contact Mike Hanson at [email protected]

SOURCE Inspired Spine
The brand's line of sustainably-crafted Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews will hit shelves at select retailers and online in February, followed by the debut of Probiotic Fruit Sodas this spring

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Secret Nature of Fruit , a new functional supplement brand powered by Dole Packaged Foods, LLC , today announced the launch of Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews: a sustainably-crafted line of functional chew supplements aimed at uncovering and harnessing the hidden 'secrets' of fruit to deliver key functional nutrients needed to help power your body, naturally. The Secret Nature of Fruit launch is a transformative step for Dole as it transitions into a health and wellness company and introduces products into two new and different categories  chewable supplements and probiotic sodas.

The Secret Nature of Fruit Vitamin Chews The Secret Nature of Fruit, Powered by Dole

The Secret Nature of Fruit taps into the nutritional power of real fruit and phytonutrients. Crafted with a powerful blend of fruits, scientifically proven vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and no processed sugars, this new line unlocks the untapped potential of fruit to help your body and mind thrive and to feel your best. In addition to the Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews, the brand will also be launching Probiotic Sodas, a line of probiotic fruit sodas powered by 15% fruit juice and 2 Billion live probiotics to support a happy, healthy gut. Three of the four flavors: Tropical Passionfruit, Spiced Pineapple and Refreshing Peach will be on store shelves end of April 2023 with an MSRP of $2.69.

Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews harnesses the distilled power of real fruits and plants to deliver a delicious and natural daily boost of essential nutrients. With real fruit as the first ingredient, the chews provide antioxidants and are naturally sweet because they contain only natural fruit sugars. These chews supply important nutrients that are good for you and are non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, and contain no processed or refined sugars, synthetic fillers, waxes or syrups. The Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews have no gelatin and a unique, natural chewy texture unlike traditional gummies. The Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews' innovative product design is an outcome of Dole's work in understanding consumers and their priorities. Superb taste, enjoyment value, high nutrition & no processed sugars are a multitude of benefits in the Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews that would encourage consumption, a key behavior required to reap the benefits of supplementation.

"As a 170-year-old CPG packaged fruits company, this year we are accelerating our transformation into a purpose-led, health and wellness company, and entering the functional supplements category is an integral part of this transformation. The Secret Nature of Fruit is a product of our fruit-forward approach and insatiable curiosity" commented Orzse Hodi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, USA, Dole Packaged Foods, LLC. "This new sustainable line explores every part of the nutritional power of all the fruits nature provides, & to promote healthy hair, skin and nails  we used the Dole Promise and science as our guide to develop something truly transformational."

Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews feature a range of diverse fruits, such as guava, passion fruit and pomegranate, extracting vital phytonutrients from all parts of the fruit to bring a new dimension of flavor and nutritional benefits. Beyond clean ingredients with no processed sugars, the Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews are formulated to help meet the daily recommended amount of key vitamins and minerals. Each blend is expertly curated to bolster a specific function to promote better health today and tomorrow, such as:

Immunity : Orange, camu camu and ginger root come together for a nourishing blend promoting immune support and providing an excellent source of antioxidant Vitamin C and Zinc.

: Orange, camu camu and ginger root come together for a nourishing blend promoting immune support and providing an excellent source of antioxidant Vitamin C and Zinc. Beauty : For healthy hair, skin and nails, strawberry and pomegranate are combined with Vitamins A & E, Biotin and CoQ10 to support a clear complexion and help fight free radicals.

: For healthy hair, skin and nails, strawberry and pomegranate are combined with Vitamins A & E, Biotin and CoQ10 to support a clear complexion and help fight free radicals. Focus : Passion fruit, strawberry, Choline, L-theanine and Vitamins B6 and B12 combine to help promote alertness, clarity and focus.

: Passion fruit, strawberry, Choline, L-theanine and Vitamins B6 and B12 combine to help promote alertness, clarity and focus. Energy : A total body vitality boost to help you energize is delivered through a combination of watermelon, guava, Vitamin B12, Iron and Ashwagandha.

As part of Dole's commitment to sustainability as outlined in the Dole Promise , the Secret Nature of Fruit's Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews use 100% recycled plastic (rPET) for packaging, which is a clear, strong, and lightweight recycled plastic that has been cleaned and transformed into a new container. The packaging components used are recyclable, specifically the bottle and cap. The Chew is made sustainably in a simple square shape producing little to no waste.

The Secret Nature of Fruit's Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews are now available online through Amazon and at select retailers including 179 Hy-Vee stores and 62 Giant Eagle stores across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The 60ct bottle of Fruit-Powered Vitamin Chews retails for $13.99 MSRP.

This spring, The Secret Nature of Fruit will be distributed more widely on a national scale, along with the launch of Probiotic Fruit Sodas. For more information, visit thesecretnatureoffruit.com .

About Dole Packaged Foods, LLC

Dole Packaged Foods, LLC, is a world leader in growing, sourcing, distributing, and marketing fruit and healthy snacks in four core categories: Beverage, Snacks, Frozen and Functional Supplements. The company sells a full line of packaged shelf stable fruit, frozen fruit, dried fruit, and juices. The company focuses on four pillars of sustainability in all its operations: water management, carbon footprint, soil conservation and waste reduction. For more information, please visit dolesunshine.com .

SOURCE Dole Packaged Foods, LLC
New, first-of-its-kind technology elevates educational relevance and engagement by helping educators and students plan individualized pathways

AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- YouScience , the leading technology provider dedicated to solving the skills gap crisis for students and employers, announced today the launch of YouScience Brightpath . This comprehensive education-to-career platform is designed to help students prepare for academic and career success. It uses decades of research and a proprietary artificial intelligence engine to deliver personalized education and career pathways.

Education leaders need innovative, proven solutions to make education more meaningful and provide students with the necessary support for their educational and career success. Recent research has revealed that a staggering 75 percent of high school graduates do not feel confident or prepared enough to make decisions about college or their careers once they graduate. In addition, the troubling nationwide high school dropout rate persists, and college enrollment and retention rates are declining for our most vulnerable populations, further highlighting student disengagement.

At the same time, business and industry leaders are facing significant challenges in hiring a workforce that possesses the required skills, experience, and aptitude for today's and tomorrow's job roles. In fact, the threat of a talent shortage  which has tripled in the past 10 years  is estimated to reach a total of 85.2 million by 2030 .

YouScience Brightpath is designed to enable education-to-career convergence for the benefit of all students. It provides educators and administrators with the flexibility and tools needed to engage and re-engage students. Key outcomes include:

Students discover their aptitudes and natural talents and use these as the foundation for understanding themselves better.

Students see a range of educational opportunities that they can pursue along with majors that align with their aptitudes. The selection of schools can include vocational, trade, or technical schools, as well as colleges and universities.

Students explore different career opportunities that align with their aptitudes and can determine the best classes or industry certifications to pursue.

Students, counselors and school personnel, as well as parents or guardians, can work together to identify the right mix of high school courses to take that align with each student's natural talents and future plans.

Students validate their learning by earning industry-recognized certifications that demonstrate capability in more than 200 areas of study.

Students can directly align their talents, skills, knowledge, and interests to specific programs and majors within colleges to increase college enrollments and completions.

Students have access to local, regional, and national employers who offer internships, apprenticeships, or jobs that align with their aptitudes.

The Washougal School District in Washougal, Washington, is an early adopter of several of the new capabilities featured in YouScience Brightpath.

"The need for this type of solution is critical. It's important for students to be able to explore who they are, what they are innately good at, and what they are interested in, so they know what classes to choose and how those classes connect to their career goals. YouScience will provide students with the tools needed to find the pathway that is right for them, creating excitement for their futures, while assisting educators and district leaders with the right type of support to ensure student success. We're thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with YouScience to create a holistic approach in making sure our students are prepared for their future," said Margaret Rice, Director, Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Washougal School District.

YouScience Brightpath also supports education leaders in achieving critical initiatives, including:

Improving diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes

Improving graduation rates among all students.

Inspiring student engagement as students lean into, not out of, their education.

Providing personalized guidance for each student.

Showcasing career and technical education (CTE) programs to the entire population of students.

Quantifying outcomes through industry-recognized certifications.

Demonstrating learning relevance through a closer alignment of education and industry.

Helping more students enroll and stay active in personalized post-secondary education.

"We constantly hear from students and educators alike that there is a missing link in education. That missing link is the connection between the classroom and the real world," said Edson Barton, Founder and CEO of YouScience. "Our mission is to empower everyone to find intentional, individual success. YouScience Brightpath is a first-of-its-kind solution that uses decades of proven data and advanced AI to help students discover, prove, and pursue their passion, their path, and their purpose."

YouScience Brightpath is available for implementation for the 2023/2024 school year.

YouScience will be attending The AASA National Conference on Education in San Antonio from February 16  18, 2023, at Booth #1340. Please contact YouScience to set up a meeting to learn more about Brightpath.

For more information on YouScience and YouScience Brightpath, please visit www.YouScience.com .

About YouScience

YouScience is the leading technology provider dedicated to solving the skills gap crisis for students and employers. Its end-to-end platform, YouScience Brightpath, connects education with career applications designed to help students unlock their potential for future pathways. YouScience leverages proven research, artificial intelligence, and industry input to help individuals identify their natural talents, validate their skills and knowledge, and get matched with real-world educational and career pathways in high-demand occupations. YouScience is the preferred choice of individuals, parents, educators, and counselors to guide and support educational and career pathways, currently serving more than 7,000 educational institutions and nearly one million users.

SOURCE YouScience
ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) announced today that it has appointed Ms. Beth Johnson and Mr. Todd Gibbons as non-executive directors to the company's Board. Ms. Johnson's appointment becomes effective February 15, 2023, and Mr. Gibbons' appointment becomes effective April 24, 2023.

C. Robert Henrikson, who has served as a non-executive director on the Invesco Ltd. Board since 2012, will retire from the Board at the conclusion of the company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on May 25, 2023.

Ms. Johnson is the Chief Experience Officer and Head of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. Prior to her current roles at Citizens Financial, Ms. Johnson was the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Virtual Channels of Citizens Financial. Prior to joining Citizens Financial, Ms. Johnson worked at Bain and Company, Inc.

Mr. Gibbons retired in 2022 as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of BNY Mellon. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Gibbons held numerous leadership roles at BNYM, including Vice Chairman and CEO of Clearing, Markets and Client Management, Chief Financial Officer, and roles in risk, finance and client management.

"The Invesco Board remains committed to ensuring its directors are well-equipped to oversee the company and effectively represent the interests of shareholders," said G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chair of the Invesco Ltd. Board of Directors. "We are very pleased to add Ms. Johnson and Mr. Gibbons to our Board of Directors, both of whom will bring a wealth of business experience and new perspectives to the Board."

"The addition of Beth and Todd further expands the depth and breadth of financial services experience on the firm's Board," said Marty Flanagan, President & CEO of Invesco. "We look forward to working closely with them as we remain focused on delivering superior investment outcomes for clients, employees and shareholders of the firm and further strengthening our global business."

"We are also deeply grateful for Rob Henrikson's many years of thoughtful guidance and counsel to the Board," Mr. Wagoner added. "We wish him all the best in his retirement."

About Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. (tickerNYSE: IVZ) is a global independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life. Our distinctive investment teams deliver a comprehensive range of active, passive and alternative investment capabilities. With offices in more than 20 countries, Invesco managed $1.4 trillion in assets on behalf of clients worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2022. For more information, visit www.invesco.com/corporate.

Contact: Jeaneen Terrio [email protected] 212-278-9205

SOURCE Invesco Ltd.
Made especially for St. Patrick's Day 2023, the personalized, life-size Jameson Desk Decoys are designed to help Americans enjoy their day off from work guilt-free

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Patrick's Day is arguably the best holiday of the year, and this year it falls on the best day of the week - Friday! That's why in 2023 Jameson Irish Whiskey, with the help of actor, producer - and Irish Whiskey lover - Regina Hall, is encouraging Americans to use their hard-earned PTO days and make March 17 an SPTO - S t. P atrick's Day T ime O ff - to celebrate with friends and family.

Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9141951-jameson-irish-whiskey-jameson-desk-decoys-regina-hall/

In a series of hilarious content, actor, producer and Irish Whiskey lover Regina Hall shows how she uses her Jameson Desk Decoy to take an SPTO - St. Patricks Day Time Off - this March 17. Irish Whiskey lover Regina Hall enjoys one of her favorite cocktails, Jameson Ginger and Lime, alongside her Jameson Desk Decoy: a personalized cardboard replica designed to stand in at work so she can enjoy her upcoming SPTO - St. Patricks Day Time Off - on March 17, guilt free.

But saying you're taking a day off and actually taking a day off are two different things. In fact, a recent 2022 survey found 61% of people reported feeling guilty for taking their much-deserved PTO ( source ). That's why, to combat guilt when scheduling an SPTO this year, Jameson has created the Jameson Desk Decoy - a personalized, life-size version to "stand in" for you this St. Patrick's Day just in case work comes-a-calling.

"We've all been there before - your boss forgot you took an SPTO and swings by to meet one-on-one. Or your finance department didn't get your SPTO memo and requests your latest expense report while you're out of the office," says Johan Radojewski, Vice President of Marketing, Jameson Irish Whiskey. "That's why in the true spirit of Jameson we are introducing the Jameson Desk Decoy: a comical, life-size version of yourself for the office, so the real you can take that planned SPTO and go celebrate St. Patrick's Day  with a Jameson, Ginger & Lime  guilt free!"

Especially as the boss, it can be hard to take a vacation day. In a series of hilarious videos directed by Lauren Palmigiano, Regina Hall shows how she uses her Jameson Desk Decoy to navigate her own SPTO. Regina's Jameson Desk Decoy reviews scripts, participates in a colleague's birthday party, and stands-in during a photo shoot while the real Regina is out celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a glass of Jameson amongst friends.

"I can totally understand the feeling of wanting to take a day off yet not wanting to feel bad about it, but with St. Patrick's Day falling on a Friday this year, it's the perfect day to plan ahead and take one of those hard-earned PTO days!" said Regina Hall. "So don't save those days for lesser holidays when this year you can take an SPTO, set up your Jameson Desk Decoy, and go celebrate St. Patrick's Day with friends."

Starting February 15, consumers can visit JamesonSPTO.com to customize their Jameson Desk Decoy by selecting from a line of SPTO-inspired outfits and uploading their headshot. Each Jameson Desk Decoy is $17.80 - priced for the year Jameson was founded - plus tax with free shipping in the continental U.S. Orders are open until March 10 to ensure fans get their Jameson Desk Decoy propped and in place for their SPTO on March 17. Quantities are limited, so participants are encouraged to act fast!

And because we know not everyone can take St. Patrick's Day off  especially Jameson's friends in the bar and restaurant industries  the brand will donate all proceeds from the Jameson Desk Decoy sales to the Restaurant Workers' Community Fund (RWCF), on top of an additional $25,000 donation, continuing its longstanding partnership with the organization.

For St. Patrick's Day cocktail ideas and other SPTO out-of-office inspiration, head to JamesonSPTO.com and follow @jameson_us to learn how to order a Jameson Desk Decoy  because it's never too early to start planning your SPTO for Friday, March 17th!

TASTE RESPONSIBLY. JAMESON  Irish Whiskey. 40% Alc./Vol. (80 Proof). Product of Ireland. 2020 Imported by John Jameson Import Company, New York, NY

ABOUT PERNOD RICARD USA

Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA., the world's second largest spirits and wine company. Pernod Ricard employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI) and is part of the CAC 40 index. The company's leading spirits include such prestigious brands as Absolut Vodka, Avion Tequila, Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlua Liqueur, Malibu, Martell Cognac, Olmeca Altos Tequila, Beefeater Gin, Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, Codigo Tequila, Monkey 47 Gin, Seagram's Extra Dry Gin, Malfy Gin, Hiram Walker Liqueurs, Midleton Irish Whiskey, Redbreast Irish Whiskey, Aberlour Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Lillet, Jefferson's Bourbon, TX Whiskey, Smooth Ambler Whiskey, Rabbit Hole Whiskey, Pernod and Ricard; such superior wines as Jacob's Creek, Kenwood Vineyards, Campo Viejo and Brancott Estate; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouet Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa sparkling wines.

Pernod Ricard USA is headquartered in New York, New York, and has more than 1,000 employees across the country. As "creators of conviviality," we are committed to sustainable and responsible business practices in service of our customers, consumers, employees and the planet. Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active program to promote responsible drinking. For more information, visit: www.pernod-ricard-usa.com .

Media Contacts:

Dani Krachie ([email protected])

Blaine Rueber ([email protected])

SOURCE Pernod Ricard USA
With the launch of the new site, families impacted by any type of trauma will have a place to turn to for guidance and help as they navigate challenging times.

TROY, Mont., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- John Baisden, Jr., CFO and co-founder of the Turning Winds residential treatment center for teens, has announced the launch of TeenTrauma.com. This newly launched website explores the impact of trauma on adolescents and teenagers while also providing resources families can use to get real help for their children.

Through TeenTrauma.com, families can access an interactive assessment that will help them determine if their teenager's behaviors may be due to trauma. For many, naming the problem is the first start to getting help.

This is part of the reason why Mr. Baisden desired to launch the site. When asked what motivated the website, he said, "There's not enough online information about teen trauma, its impact on life, and how it affects your thinking. Parents and teens need awareness, hope, and understanding that treatment is available and they can get better! It never goes entirely away, but it doesn't have to consume you."

Mr. Baisden speaks from his own personal experiences with trauma as a teenager after suffering a devastating loss as a teen. After his sister died, he faced the devastating effects of trauma. "The traumatic effect that the loss of my sister had on my life is why I wanted to launch this website," he said. "I want others who've experienced trauma at a young age to know they don't have to live with its effects."

Through TeenTrauma.com, Mr. Baisden hopes to promote equal access to treatment among overlooked populations, including teens touched by trauma. The website defines different types of trauma so families can understand what their teenagers are going through. It also provides access to specific resources families can consider when seeking help for their teen. Teens and families can also submit their survivor stories, which can be an important part of the healing process.

Most of the information and resources available on TeenTrauma.com are free of charge. Mr. Baisden hopes to use the site as a way to give back, with the goal of helping as many families as possible successfully navigate the world of trauma in teenagers.

About TeenTrauma.com

TeenTrauma.com is an online resource for teens and families affected by childhood or adolescent trauma. It has a number of free resources, including an online assessment, that teens or their families can use to learn more about trauma and available treatment options. To learn more, visit www.teentrauma.com or contact our Admissions Director at Turning Winds, Eric Loesch, at 800-845-1380.

Contact:

John Baisden, Jr.

Co-Founder

Family Solutions Network, Inc.

406-890-5885

[email protected]

www.turningwinds.com and www.teentrauma.com

SOURCE John Baisden, Jr.
Situated in the dynamic Eastland Center retail hub, new store opening marks Jollibee's 29th location in California and its 63rd in the U.S.

WEST COVINA, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jollibee, the global restaurant brand best known for its mouth-watering Chickenjoy fried chicken, crispy and juicy Chicken Sandwiches, and iconic Peach Mango Pie dessert, will open its second location in West Covina, California, on Friday, February 17, 2023. The new Jollibee will be located within the Eastland Center shopping complex at 147 Barranca Street, the city's dominant retail hub that enjoys convenient access to the Interstate 10 freeway. The highly visible storefront joins a dynamic mix of the nation's top brands, and marks Jollibee's 29th location in The Golden State and its 63rd in the U.S; the new restaurant also sits across the street from Jollibee's North American headquarters, where the company moved its growing workforce in 2019 to accommodate its accelerated expansion in the region.

Situated in the dynamic Eastland Center retail hub, the new Jollibee store opening marks Jollibees 29th location in California and its 63rd in the U.S.

"We are thrilled to open our doors at Eastland Center and can't wait to extend our joyful dining experience to new legions of fans from around the area who are craving something deliciously new and different," said Maribeth Dela Cruz, President, Jollibee North America. "California is where we first opened our doors in America more than two decades ago, and we remain committed to building our presence here, especially within the Southern California region."

Recognized as one of "America's Hottest Brands 2022" by leading industry publication, Ad Age, Jollibee is continuing to create buzz (and long lines!) in cities and suburbs across the U.S. by offering great-tasting food at a great value that is always served with joy. As a testament to its delicious menu line-up, international food website Eater.com recently named Jollibee "the best chain fried chicken in America." If you haven't yet tried Jollibee, here are some of the brand's most popular items:

Chickenjoy : Jollibee's signature fried chicken. Each piece is delicately hand-breaded to be crispy on the outside, cooked with precision to be juicy on the inside, and marinated to the bone for next-level flavor.

: Jollibee's signature fried chicken. Each piece is delicately hand-breaded to be crispy on the outside, cooked with precision to be juicy on the inside, and marinated to the bone for next-level flavor. Chicken Sandwich : This sandwich features a crispy, juicy chicken breast fillet, spread with umami mayo, and served on a toasted brioche bun. Find out why this newly launched sandwich has been lauded for its "intense crunch" by The Takeout , and discover how the umami flavor profile and signature Jollibee seasonings meld together to create a perfect chicken sandwich offering.

: This sandwich features a crispy, juicy chicken breast fillet, spread with umami mayo, and served on a toasted brioche bun. Find out why this newly launched sandwich has been lauded for its "intense crunch" by , and discover how the umami flavor profile and signature Jollibee seasonings meld together to create a perfect chicken sandwich offering. Spicy Chicken Sandwich : A spicy version of the original chicken sandwich features sriracha mayo and fresh jalapenos for added crunch and heat.

: A spicy version of the original chicken sandwich features sriracha mayo and fresh jalapenos for added crunch and heat. Peach Mango Pie : Make sure to leave room for this mouth-watering dessert made with peaches and real Philippine mangoes enveloped in a light and crispy crust.

At the new West Covina  Eastland location, fans will be able to not only get their hands on Jollibee's signature fried chicken dishes, but also discover several new menu additions, including:

Baked Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese: A special blend of macaroni and cheese topped with shredded cheddar and baked in-house to achieve the ultimate creamy, cheesy accompaniment.

A special blend of macaroni and cheese topped with shredded cheddar and baked in-house to achieve the ultimate creamy, cheesy accompaniment. Mandarin Orange Crispy Chicken Salad: Jollibee's sliced crispy chicken tenders served on a bed of premium, fresh produce.

Jollibee's sliced crispy chicken tenders served on a bed of premium, fresh produce. Biscuits: Freshly baked, warm, and flakey.

For those planning to check out Jollibee's new West Covina location, here's everything you need to know:

Address : 147 Barranca Street, West Covina, CA 91791 (Eastland Center shopping complex)

: 147 Barranca Street, 91791 (Eastland Center shopping complex) Hours of Operation : 9AM  11PM , seven days a week

:  , seven days a week How to Order: This location will feature dine-in, drive-thru and take-out service. Online ordering and delivery will become available in the coming weeks.

Jollibee's second West Covina outpost joins its existing location at 1561 East Amar Road and represents its 88th store opening in North America. California remains a major growth market for the global restaurant brand, so fans can look forward to more Jollibee restaurants popping up throughout the state in the coming months, including new locations in Fairfield, CA and Brentwood, CA.

On a mission to become one of the world's top-five restaurant chains, Jollibee has more than 1,500 restaurants across 17 countries and is quickly expanding across North America. Follow Jollibee at @jollibeeus on Facebook, @jollibeeus on Instagram, and @jollibeeusa on TikTok to get updates on Jollibee's upcoming store openings and other exciting announcements and events, including new product launches and special promotions.

About Jollibee Group

Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC, also known as Jollibee Group) is one of the fastest-growing restaurant companies in the world. It operates in 34 countries, with over 6,300 stores globally with branches in the Philippines, United States, Canada, the People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Panama, Malaysia, South Korea, India, and Australia.

Jollibee Group has eight wholly owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger); five franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, PHO24, and Yoshinoya in the Philippines, and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China); 80% ownership of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; 60% ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee and PHO24; and 51% ownership of Milksha, a popular Taiwanese bubble tea brand.

Jollibee Group, through its subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL) owns 90% participating interest in Titan Dining LP, a private equity fund that ultimately owns the Tim Ho Wan brand. It also has a joint venture with the THW Group to open and operate THW restaurants in Mainland China. Jollibee Group also has a business venture with award-winning Chef Rick Bayless for Tortazo, a Mexican fast-casual restaurant business in the United States.

Jollibee Group was named the Philippines' most admired company by the Asian Wall Street Journal for ten years. It was also honored as one of Asia's Fab 50 Companies and among the World's Best Employers and World's Top Female-Friendly Companies by Forbes. In 2020, Gallup awarded the Jollibee Group with the Exceptional Workplace Award, making it the first Philippine-based company to receive the distinction.

Jollibee Group has grown brands that bring delightful dining experiences to its customers worldwide, thus spreading the joy of eating to everyone. To learn more about Jollibee Group, visit www.jollibeegroup.com

SOURCE Jollibee
Kanarys co-founder and CEO joins less than 20 Black female founders who have raised more than $10M.

DALLAS, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kanarys, Inc. , a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create long-term systemic change around DEIB challenges, announces today it has raised $5M in its Series A financing round led by Seyen Capital . The round also includes Portfolia Rising America, Rackhouse Venture Capital , Revolution 's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, StartFast Ventures , TechNexus Venture Collaborative , and Tech Square Ventures . Kanarys' total capital raised to date is $10.5M.

Kanarys, Inc., a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create long-term systemic change around DEIB challenges, announces today it has raised $5M in its Series A financing round led by Seyen Capital.

The funding enabled Kanarys to recruit and appoint six key members focused on DEIB, engineering, finance, operations, product marketing, and sales to its executive team. It will also be used to further expand the Kanarys DEIB technology platform, which includes first-of-its-kind products such as the Equity Innovation Solution, Organizational Systems Assessment, and Supplier DEI Assessment.

"The momentum demonstrated through our Series A round underscores the importance and growth we've seen in DEIB solutions over the past several years. DEIB remains a critical driver to a thriving business, in every economic climate, and company leaders should continue to bolster their efforts when it comes to prioritizing DEIB," said Mandy Price, co-founder and CEO of Kanarys. "We've been on a mission since 2018 to develop and deliver data-driven technology tools that advance DEIB in the workplace and create a culture of meaningful engagement across the global workforce. Our solutions empower companies to not only address the unique needs of their employees but also foster inclusion among their stakeholders and customers. This funding, along with the hiring of leading industry experts, will catapult us towards fulfilling our mission."

Kanarys has seen tremendous revenue and logo growth since its inception, revealing that companies are seeking out sustainable, data-driven DEIB solutions. In just five years, Kanarys has grown from an idea to a category industry leader in DEIB that serves major customers including Yum! Brands, Silicon Labs, the Chuck E. Cheese Corporation, 7-Eleven, and other Fortune 500 companies, along with establishing strategic partnerships with leading national advocacy groups such as Prospanica, the National Society of Black Engineers, and INROADS. Kanarys has transformed notable workplaces using its extensive DEIB data-driven approach, ultimately improving workplace experiences for tens of thousands of employees.

"As the leading provider of data-driven DEIB solutions, Kanarys demonstrates its value to companies and employees worldwide," said George Spencer III, Senior Managing Director of Seyen Capital. "Today companies are being held to higher standards when it comes to DEIB, and Kanarys has developed the platform companies need to manage DEIB and make accountability more transparent and reliable for company boards, managers, investors, employees, and other key stakeholders. I am confident that our investment will further advance greater equity and transparency in the workplace, and we are excited to see the impact our investment has on furthering their mission."

Series A

Despite the challenges Black and female founders face in achieving equitable funding, Kanarys raised another groundbreaking round, indicating the growing investment in DEIB and data-based tools, like Kanarys, that are poised to move the needle on systemic progress. In January 2021, Kanarys closed its historic $3M seed round, and at that time, Mandy Price was among just 93 Black women to have raised over $1M in funding. Today, with the landmark Series A, Mandy joins less than 20 Black female founders who have raised more than $10M, and Kanarys is now the first Black and female-founded company based in Texas that has raised over $10M.

"At Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, we champion entrepreneurs across the country who are building groundbreaking companies and innovative products," said David Hall, Managing Partner of Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. "Since investing in Kanarys' seed round, we've seen their accelerated growth and contributions to DEIB innovation, which is why we're excited to back Kanarys again for their Series A. Kanarys' success underscores the notion that entrepreneurs can thrive in ecosystems outside of Silicon Valley."

"While many corporations recognize the importance of DEI, few tools are equipped to measure equity and inclusion," said Terry Howerton, Co-founder and CEO of TechNexus Venture Collaborative. "Kanarys is using hundreds of data sources to quantify equity and inclusion, uncover structural bias and drive systemic change. Our team is confident that an investment in Kanarys can help further the conversation around prioritization alignment with our Corporate Partners' internal DEI objectives, help with long-term talent retention, and potentially present a roadmap of options that could more clearly define next steps."

"Designed to identify problem areas and close gaps, Kanarys' data-driven platform solves a critical issue for companies wanting to create long-term systemic change around DEIB challenges," said Chuck Stormon, Managing Partner of StartFast Ventures. "At StartFast Ventures, we are passionate about investing in businesses that have the potential to make a lasting impact, and we believe Kanarys is poised to transform workplaces everywhere. We were particularly impressed by their strong, well-rounded team, proven track record, and potential for exponential growth, which is why we're excited to support Kanarys in their next chapter."

Executive Team Appointments

To propel the company's growth, Kanarys appointed six industry leaders to its executive team:

Albert Fong , who has extensive experience with early to mid-stage companies focused on HR technology and served in senior marketing roles at Reflektive, Topia, and Mindtickle among others, was appointed Vice President of Product Marketing.

, who has extensive experience with early to mid-stage companies focused on HR technology and served in senior marketing roles at Reflektive, Topia, and Mindtickle among others, was appointed Vice President of Product Marketing. Cecilia Choi , the previous Head of Operations of Americas at Papaya Global, who built their operations function in the United States , joined Kanarys as the Vice President of Operations.

, the previous Head of Operations of Americas at Papaya Global, who built their operations function in , joined Kanarys as the Vice President of Operations. Chad Stoerp , a SaaS and tech-enabled subscriptions finance leader who has completed over $200M in financing transactions, became the Vice President of Finance.

, a SaaS and tech-enabled subscriptions finance leader who has completed over in financing transactions, became the Vice President of Finance. Dawn Christian , who brings extensive DEIB experience and is a certified mental health, wellness, and diversity and inclusion practitioner, was appointed Executive Vice President of DEIB. She has also served in senior leadership roles including leading diversity at a large public global company.

, who brings extensive DEIB experience and is a certified mental health, wellness, and diversity and inclusion practitioner, was appointed Executive Vice President of DEIB. She has also served in senior leadership roles including leading diversity at a large public global company. D'ontreye Nero , an accomplished technical professional with more than 20 years of experience building and managing software and cloud solutions, was appointed Vice President of Engineering.

, an accomplished technical professional with more than 20 years of experience building and managing software and cloud solutions, was appointed Vice President of Engineering. Joe Fernandez , an industry leader in human capital and digital transformation, is now Vice President of Sales. He has led and scaled sales teams at BetterUp, LinkedIn, and OnFrontiers.

In 2022, Kanarys achieved several notable milestones, including a partnership with HubSpot, where HubSpot Ventures invested in Kanarys' platform and Kanarys helped HubSpot's customers improve DEIB through its proprietary DEI Maturity Quiz.

SOURCE Kanarys, Inc.
LOS ALTOS HILLS, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (KCI) recently hosted a workshop to discuss teacher retention, its history and impact and the solutions to this critical issue. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, president and chief executive officer of the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), served as the keynote speaker for the event.

"We were honored to host this important event at the Krause Center for Innovation," said KCI Executive Director Gay Krause. "Our mission is to provide transformative events and [professional development] for the education community. Partnering with the Learning Policy Institute was a highlight for our organization."

School districts across the country struggle to keep teachers, as unprecedented pressures brought on by the pandemic have increased the demands of educators in the K-12 system. According to a 2022 survey from LPI, 90% of teachers reported burnout, 74% had to fill in for colleagues or take on other duties because of staff shortages, and more than 55% indicated they would leave education sooner than originally planned. Similarly, a 2021 study from the RAND corporation reports that as many as 25% of teachers are considering leaving the profession altogether.

Darling-Hammond said during the event that turnover could significantly affect academic performance if not curtailed.

"The single most powerful predictor of student achievement is the presence of well-qualified and experienced teachers," she said during the event.

A free recording of the event is available on the KCI's website.

About The Krause Center for Innovation

Since 2000, KCI has provided over 23,000 educators with innovative courses and programs that have helped to transform pedagogy in California and beyond. We empower educators to utilize current and research-backed practices in their classrooms to motivate, challenge, and inspire the diverse learners and leaders of the future. For more information, visit our website.

Social Media

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Facebook

LinkedIn

SOURCE Krause Center for Innovation
Prospective study designed to assess the immunological effect of a specific B. infantis strain on the incidence of atopic dermatitis, one of the most prevalent pediatric allergic diseases.

DAVIS, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinant Health, Inc, a company focused on improving infant health through the gut microbiome, today announced the enrollment of the final participant in a study focused on the infant microbiome and immune health.

The study, which has been conducted in Finland by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. in collaboration with Infinant Health, investigates the clinical and immunological effects of supplementation with a live B. infantis strain in healthy breastfed infants at risk of developing atopic dermatitis (AD), one of the most prevalent pediatric allergic diseases.

"Infinant Health is committed to improving the lifelong health of all infants through life-changing science and innovation to ensure all babies have a vital start to life," said Infinant Health CEO, Mike Johnson. "Today, up to 20% of US children are affected by atopic dermatitis, typically the first manifestation of the 'atopic march', a progression of allergic conditions, including food allergy. Studying the infant microbiome to inform potential solutions for this immune health issue is critical as we look to provide a healthier future for all children."

The study has enrolled over 270 infants in Finland overcoming significant pandemic-related recruitment challenges and will assess clinical and immunological outcomes of each subject over the course of 2 years.

"As a prospective placebo-controlled randomized study, this is an important step towards validating the direct impact of B. infantis on the infant microbiome and its relationship to overall immune health," said Infinant Health Global Medical & Scientific Advisor, Karl Sylvester.

To learn more about the study, visit the following link at ClinicalTrials.gov: A Study of a Probiotic Food Supplement Containing B. Infantis (EVC001) in Healthy Breastfed Infants at Risk of Developing Atopic Dermatitis - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

ABOUT INFINANT HEALTH, INC

Infinant Health, Inc ("Infinant Health"), previously known as Evolve Biosystems, is a privately held company committed to changing the trajectory of human health through the development of healthy immune systems via the infant microbiome. Infinant Health is building a product pipeline to optimize infant health. Investors in the company include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Cargill, and other leading institutions. Learn more about Infinant at www.infinanthealth.com .

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Infinant Health
LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smile Identity, Africa's leading KYC onboarding and identity verification platform, announces the successful completion of its Series B funding round, raising $20 million. Led by Costanoa and Norrsken22 , with participation from Commerce Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Two Culture Capital, Valuestream Ventures, Intercept Ventures, Latitude, Future Africa, and 500 Fintech. Lexi Novitske from Norrsken22 will also join Smile Identity's Board as part of the Series B. This brings Smile Identity's total funding to $31 million, including $7 million raised in their Series A funding round in 2021.

Smile Identity will use the funding from its Series B round to expand its product and engineering team, accelerating the development and specialisation of its AI-powered biometrics, document verification, anti-fraud and compliance solutions tailored for African markets. The company is growing its existing teams in East, West, and Southern Africa and completing its Pan-African reach with plans to enter Francophone and Arab-speaking markets through localised sales and support. In addition, the company will continue working closely with regulators and ID authorities to build consumer consent standards into software, enforce African data protection laws, and share data on fraud and financial inclusion trends.

"We believe the majority of people are honest," said Mark Straub , CEO and co-founder of Smile Identity, "the challenge in the digital age is to prove this, regardless of how a user onboards  whether via agents, apps, tablets, the web, blockchains or paper forms."

"We are thrilled to have the support of our partners and investors as we solve this problem across IDs, devices and compliance regimes to ensure Africans are among the most trusted consumers in the world."

Since their Series A funding round, Smile Identity has completed 50M KYC checks for hundreds of partners across the African continent, helping them to scale their businesses by mitigating fraud and onboarding new customers seamlessly. The company offers global coverage with its Document Verification product and has added a Business Verification or "Know-Your-Business" (KYB) solution to its offerings. In addition, Smile Identity has expanded into South Africa and Uganda and opened offices in London and Cape Town, demonstrating its commitment to connecting Africans to global opportunities.

"Smile Identity is leading the way in Africa's digital transformation, providing secure and verifiable identities for millions. Under the leadership of CEO Mark Straub, a top-notch team, and an on-the-ground presence across the continent, Smile is positioned to capture a significant share of Africa's growing $1.5 billion identity and KYC market opportunity. By empowering the continent with a foundation for safe transactions, Smile is driving financial service adoption and shaping the digital economy's future. - Lexi Novitske".

The digital economy is rapidly expanding in Africa, with nearly 600 million internet users already and a target from the African Union of universal digital access by 2030. This presents a tremendous opportunity for the growth of Internet-powered digital and financial services but brings the challenge of preventing bad actors from infiltrating systems and putting user data and money at risk. To meet these challenges, businesses and organisations must onboard customers quickly and securely while maintaining compliance across complex and changing regulatory requirements.

Smile Identity is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions for verifying identity in the digital age. By leveraging proprietary Machine Learning algorithms specifically designed for African devices, faces and data sources, Smile Identity helps businesses and organisations mitigate fraud and ensure compliance with KYC requirements. With its technology already adopted by leading companies across banking, fintech, education, agriculture, and e-commerce, Smile Identity is playing a crucial role in helping these organisations verify their customers' true identities with confidence.

About Smile Identity

Smile Identity is Africa's leading identity verification, and digital Know Your Customer (KYC) provider. We help companies scale rapidly across Africa by providing digital onboarding and KYC compliance solutions that make it easy to verify the true legal identity of their customers. Our technology is powered by proprietary Machine Learning algorithms designed specifically for African devices, faces and data sources.

We have developed solutions for identity verification, digital KYC, user onboarding, biometric authentication, deduplication and anti-fraud checks. Backed by top investors across the world, Smile Identity is enabling the growth of tech ecosystems across the African continent while providing infrastructure to build trust online.

If you're interested in learning more about Smile ID, please visit our website at www.smileidentity.com . You can also follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE Smile Identity
The final step in Lendesk's end-to-end digital mortgage experience saves time and adds a layer of security for both Canadian mortgage brokers and lenders

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lendesk Technologies , the premier FinTech provider for Canada's mortgage professionals, and a part of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), today announced a partnership with Intellifi, a provider of end-to-end digital lending solutions, and Strive, a trusted CMHC approved residential mortgage lender. Through the first-of-its-kind collaboration, Lendesk will streamline the lending experience for Canadian mortgage professionals  brokers and lenders alike.

With this new technology, mortgage brokers can now digitally submit client documents directly from Lendesk's digital mortgage platform, Finmo, to partner lenders via Intellifi. This innovative, secure solution will help simplify the fragmented, antiquated process used by nearly all Canadian lenders by providing a faster turnaround time for brokers and their clients. Strive, well-known for its ingenuity, will be Lendesk's first lender to adopt the new, simplified method.

"Finmo has been an industry leader in client document management since the creation of Smart Documents," said Carter Zimmerman, President of Lendesk. "The addition of this unified and automated document submission to lenders helps brokers securely and efficiently transfer files to the underwriter, adding convenience and streamlining the process while also significantly reducing the potential for fraud."

Traditionally, Canadian mortgage brokers have not had an efficient way to submit an applicant's document to lenders, relying on manually collecting the paperwork and sending via unencrypted email. Now, through this collaboration, brokers will enjoy a safer, faster process when submitting clients' home loan documents, saving time through automation. This technology enables brokers to continue offering a secure, digital experience for their clients while adding a layer of protection when sending sensitive files.

"At Intellifi, we constantly innovate and invest in our platform to match the ever-changing digital lending landscape," said Derek Cook, Vice President and Managing Director of Residential Technology at Intellifi. "This is yet another example of working closely with our partners to help identify and create next-generation digital solutions that enhance the client and underwriter experience."

Lenders that are part of Lendesk's network now have access to the transparency and simplification that comes with an automated document categorization, helping to speed up funding approval. Through this technology, lenders can identify the individual who uploaded the document file, eliminating the need to manually process and identify the source of submissions.

"Since inception, Strive has been committed to creating solutions aimed at simplifying the mortgage process for brokers and customers," said Marty Frenette, President & CEO of Strive. "Not only do these solutions enhance the end experience, they also provide significant efficiency benefits for us as a lender. Our collaboration with Lendesk and Intellifi on direct document submission is based on a mutual commitment to this mission."

In 2023, Lendesk will be expanding the new automated loan document submission, offering to any lender partner that wishes to participate.

Lenders interested in joining the next phase of lender onboarding should reach out to Intellifi at [email protected] or Lendesk, at [email protected]

About Lendesk

Lendesk is a Canadian technology company that is modernizing the mortgage industry for mortgage professionals and lenders. Lendesk operates Finmo, Lender Spotlight, Gateway and Enterprise solutions, with more than 10,000 mortgage brokers using its products. Secure integrations with other industry providers make for an enhanced user experience, while robust bank-grade security measures provide peace of mind. Lendesk was founded in 2014 by former Mortgage Broker Alex Conconi of Conconi Growth Partners.

With employees across Canada, the Lendesk team is composed of world-class software developers, app designers and online security experts. Lendesk is SOC 2 audited annually by KPMG.

For more information and company news, visit Lendesk.com .

About Intellifi

Intellifi Corporation is a wholly owned subsidy of CMLS Financial Solutions Inc. Intellifi provides mortgage lenders in Canada with leading Commercial and Residential Software and Services. With over 20 years of experience, we are the top-rated service provider in the industry and the most advanced digital end-to-end experience in the market. We are experienced, innovative, and open to co-creating solutions that work best for our partners. We are Lending Solutions Simplified.

About Strive

Founded in 2020 and lending in most provinces, Strive is an award winning residential mortgage lender comprised of the industry's best talent and an innovative leadership team with decades of experience. Strive's ultimate goal is to offer industry-leading products and outstanding services to Canadian mortgage brokers and their clients, and to always exceed expectations through its mission to provide "A Better Lending Experience".

SOURCE Lendesk
While Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas continued to hold onto their leads with the highest numbers of filed patent cases, the data revealed distinct drops in their cases in 2022

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its annual Patent Litigation Report. The report examines trends in patent litigation in federal district courts, appellate courts, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Focusing on the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, it surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on ANDA, PTAB, and federal appellate cases.

Lex Machina 2023 Patent Litigation Report Infographic

"In the practice area of patent litigation, there's been a lot of discussion and analyses of Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas in recent years," said Elaine Chow, Lex Machina's patent legal data expert and editor of the report. "This report really highlights the power of our data and analytics, because it reveals the possible effects of even very recent court orders, which may have contributed to decreases in patent cases before Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas in 2022."

Findings from the report include:

Highlights in federal district and appellate courts:

In 2022, 3,821 patent cases were filed, continuing the steady trend of patent case filings since 2017.



The Western District of Texas was the most active district in 2022 with 867 patent cases filed, though this number dropped from 2021 in which 981 cases were filed.

was the most active district in 2022 with 867 patent cases filed, though this number dropped from 2021 in which 981 cases were filed.

Judge Albright was assigned to the highest number of patent cases in 2022 with 678 cases, though this number dropped from 2021 in which he was assigned to 932 cases.



For patent cases filed from 2020 to 2022, Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. was the top plaintiff and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. was the top defendant.



While The Chong Law Firm represented plaintiffs in the highest number of patent cases filed in 2020 to 2022, Fish & Richardson represented defendants in the highest number of cases filed in 2020, 2021, and 2022.



For patent cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2020 to 2022 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 36% were ultimately reversed.

Highlights in PTAB:

The number of PTAB petitions filed continued to hold steady over the past three years.



There was a slight increase in instituted trials compared with the data reported in the 2022 Patent Litigation Report (from 49% to 51%).



For PTAB cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2020 to 2022 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 24% were ultimately reversed.



Samsung was the most active petitioner in PTAB petitions filed during the three-year period from 2020 to 2022.



Fish & Richardson represented parties in the highest number of petitions filed in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Lex Machina's reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.

Register here for a copy of the report: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2023PatentReport_LP.html

Patent Litigation Report Webcast

Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on February 15, 2023 at noon ET/9am PT with Michael Connelly (President of WIT Legal), Robin Davis (Chief Investment Officer at Woodsford), Elaine Chow (Lex Machina's Legal Data Expert in Patent Litigation), and Aria Nejad (Lex Machina's in-house counsel). Register for the event or view a recording: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2023-Patent-Report-Webcast_LP.html

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LexisNexis Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis and Nexis services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 10,500 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina

Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to predict the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.

Lex Machina was named "Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022" (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), "Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021" (CIO Review, 2021), "2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer" (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the "Media Excellence" Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.

SOURCE Lex Machina
Investor syndicate comprised of LifeArc Ventures, Monograph Capital and BGF to raise $16 million in Series A financing

in Series A financing Funding will enable development of antibody drugs against ion channels and G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) using proprietary KnotBody platform, to overcome challenges with this target class

Executive team are co-founders of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) and IONTAS

LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LifeArc Ventures, the investment arm of LifeArc, today announced its participation in a USD $16 million (GBP 13 million) Series A financing for Maxion Therapeutics. The funds will be used to support the development of novel biologics targeting ion channels and G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), via Maxion's proprietary, patent-protected KnotBody platform. Ion channels and GPCRs are critical cell surface proteins involved in a wide range of previously untreatable or poorly-treated diseases, including autoimmune conditions and chronic pain

The Series A funding round was led by LifeArc Ventures, including Monograph Capital and BGF as equal participants. As part of the financing Sohaib Mir (Senior Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures), Tim Funnell (Partner at Monograph Capital), and Lucy Edwardes Jones (Investor at BGF) will join Maxion's Board of Directors.

Maxion was established by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. John McCafferty, who co-founded CAT (acquired by AstraZeneca for 700m) and IONTAS (acquired by FairJourney Biologics). At CAT, Dr. McCafferty co-invented antibody phage display, the technology used to discover the world's best-selling drug, Humira, and the subject of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Maxion's Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder is Dr. Aneesh Karatt Vellatt (also co-founder of IONTAS), who along with Dr. McCafferty invented the KnotBody platform.

While multiple small molecule drugs have been developed against ion channels, there are no approved antibody drugs addressing this target class, despite the many advantages of antibodies. Antibodies have the benefit of greater specificity, a superior safety profile, and the ability to engineer their properties using McCafferty's phage display technology.

The KnotBody platform unlocks the discovery of biologics against ion channels and GPCRs by using naturally occurring cysteine-rich miniproteins called "knottins", which modulate ion channels and GPCRs but have poor drug-like properties. These are fused onto the surface of antibodies, and the resulting "KnotBodies" combine the functional activity of knottins with the excellent drug properties of antibodies. Maxion's early R&D efforts have yielded KnotBodies to several therapeutically relevant targets, which will be developed as selective and long-acting first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics.

"Until now, ion channels have been a blind spot for antibody therapeutics," said John McCafferty, CEO and co-founder of Maxion Therapeutics. "Our KnotBody technology gives Maxion the opportunity to address this neglected target class and enable improved treatment of diseases driven by ion channels and GPCRs. We look forward to working with our investors to expand our promising pipeline."

"Maxion's founders are seeking to build a category-defining business, and LifeArc Ventures is delighted to collaborate with them as they start to build a promising pre-clinical pipeline," commented Sohaib Mir of LifeArc Ventures. "Led by a highly experienced and scientifically world-renowned team, Maxion has the potential to create novel therapies for the significant proportion of patients who fail to respond to current treatments in a wide range of diseases."

Lucy Edwardes Jones, investor at BGF, said: "Maxion's KnotBody technology has significant potential to unlock the discovery of new drugs for challenging disease targets. We look forward to working closely with Maxion's highly experienced management team and our co-investors to build significant value in the company as a result of this partnership."

"This funding will allow the Maxion team to demonstrate the broad potential of the KnotBody platform and advance a pipeline of programs for clinical application. This is a novel antibody format and we are excited to support their development," said Tim Funnell, Partner at Monograph Capital.

Contacts:

LifeArc [email protected] Clare Terlouw / Sohaib Mir





Mo PR Advisory

Mo Noonan / Jonathan Birt Tel: +44 (0) 7876 444977 / 07860 361746

About LifeArc

LifeArc is a self-funded medical research charity with more than 25 years of translating early science into health care treatment including a diagnostic for antibiotic resistance and four licensed medicines. Our model is built on collaboration, and through our LifeArc Ventures team, we invest in Seed and Series A stage companies with significant follow-on investment reserved for successful portfolio companies. Our ventures approach focuses on investing in novel translational science and technology with a dual goal of generating financial returns to the charity and positive impact for patients.

Find out more on www.lifearc.org or follow LifeArc Ventures on LinkedIn and Twitter (@LifeArcVentures).

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1993881/LifeArc_Logo.jpg

SOURCE LifeArc
ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Liquid Web, the market leader in cloud hosting solutions for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) doing business online, has created the Liquid Web Partner+ Program, spanning multiple brands for one cohesive partner experience.

The Liquid Web Partner+ Program is designed to give Freelancers, Agencies, MSPs, and ISVs access to the most comprehensive product suite for hosting both the Liquid Web and Nexcess brands, from single dedicated servers and highly available, redundant Private Cloud powered by VMware, to easy-to-use managed applications, including WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce with the industry's best performance tools built in. That means that Partners have access to the right product for their client's project.

Liquid Web Partner+ Program provides partners with the most comprehensive hosting product portfolio in the industry. Tweet this

One program means that partners can confidently manage multiple projects, expand clientele and go to market with two of the industry's leading brands. Across a wide portfolio, Partners can purchase managed hosting and build highly custom solutions, or they can buy managed applications (Magento, WordPress, WooCommerce, etc.) to simplify the build and maintenance processes for clients.

Known for fast speed, high performance, and helpful support, products and programs are built with scalability in mind. And because offerings are fully managed, Liquid Web and Nexcess take care of updates, server security, code management, and infrastructure. Transparent pricing, free migrations, and expert support deliver value to Partners helping their own clients make money online.

"We're passionate about providing the solutions and expertise that enable our partners to create modern, secure, high-performance sites and stores," said Josh Ward, VP of Sales. "We know that the Creators we serve remember every site and store they've built. The ones that pushed them creatively and filled them with pride  and the ones that crashed because they were hosted with the wrong partner. We've grown our business the same as them: site by site. It's how we became the expert applications and hosting partner for over one million sites and e-commerce experiences. And we're here to help. We can confidently say, "Site by Site, We're Side by Side," said Ward.

Key benefits with the Liquid Web Partner+ Program:

A Personal Partner Manager: Partners work directly with a dedicated partner manager who will learn their business and its needs.

Priority support for Partner clients and access 24x7x365 by phone, chat, or email.

Commissions that scale as Partners grow - up to 20%!

Program Consolidation: Two separate programs, logins, commission structures, and product offerings are merged into one.

Access across brands to the most comprehensive hosting product portfolio in the industry.

Please learn more about the Liquid Web Partner+ Program for more information.

About Liquid Web

Building on 25 years of success, our Liquid Web Family of Brands delivers software, solutions, and managed services for mission-critical sites, stores, and applications to SMBs and the designers, developers, and agencies who create for them. Liquid Web (Managed Hosting), Nexcess (Digital Commerce Cloud), and StellarWP (WordPress Software and Tools) have more than 500,000+ sites under management, over 100,000 software subscribers, and 2 million+ free version software users. Collectively, the companies have assembled a world-class team of industry experts, provide unparalleled service from solution engineers available 24/7/365, and own and manage ten global data centers. As an industry leader in customer service, the rapidly expanding brand family has been recognized among INC. Magazine's 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies for 12 years. Learn more about the Liquid Web Family of Brands.

Media Contact: Jackie Cowan, [email protected]

SOURCE Liquid Web
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lladro announces the opening of a new store in New York, the first in the US with the brand's new immersive, experience-driven concept dedicated to its most groundbreaking creative designs and collaborations. Located at 435 W. 14th Street in the lively Meatpacking District, the new retail format will offer a unique shopping experience focused on interaction with the brand's innovations while giving visitors an insight into Lladro's creative and craft processes through virtual technology experiences. In addition to the new concept, Lladro's Lighting lines will also be a main focus of the space.

One of the immersive vignettes at Lladro's New Concept Store Lladro Opens A New Concept Store in New York City

The store's design, conceived by Valencia-based Carmen Baselga Taller de Proyectos in collaboration with the brand's team of store engineers, is based around a surprising walkthrough of a sequence of immersive scenes that invite visitors into the world of Lladro. Modular divisions that play with perspectives help guide visitors through the space, conjuring the atmospheres of fantasy and dreamlike architecture. Ana Rodriguez, CEO of Lladro, declared that: "The launch of this new concept store, which coincides with the brand's 70th anniversary, responds to our mission to continue revitalizing porcelain, delving into its most innovative creative possibilities, and to making it known through experiential spaces like this one in which emotional connections are generated."

Clean lines and soft colors lend focus to Lladro's groundbreaking creations, from avant-garde sculptures and lighting to home fragrances and contemporary jewelry. With a contemporary language often looking for contrasts or decontextualization, the interior design is based on different settings. "All of them seek to establish a dialogue between the visitor and the product in a visual, sound, tactile and olfactory conversation," said the designer, Carmen Baselga. "The chromatic spectrum provides a welcoming sensation for visitors and invites them to walk through an experiential space filled with Lladro creations."

Breaking free from a static relationship between observer and product, movement is generated through changes in the intensity of light, the use of backdrop screens, and 4D sounds that submerge visitors into another reality, whisking them away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Customers journey through a series of enveloping spaces that introduce them to all the secrets of the brand. They can even travel virtually from New York to the Lladro workshops in Valencia to visit the master artisans and experience their craft, thanks to state-of-the-art technology.

For details: www.lladro.com/en_us/boutique-ny

SOURCE Lladro
2023 Marks Logically's Eighth Consecutive Year on the Prestigious Annual List

DUBLIN, Ohio, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Logically , one of the nation's leading managed IT and security service providers, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company , has named Logically to its Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the MSP Elite 150 category for 2023. 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.

The annual MSP 500 list is divided into three sections: the MSP Elite 150, recognizing large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of on- and off-premises services; the MSP Pioneer 250, recognizing companies with business models weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market; and the Managed Security 100, recognizing MSPs focused primarily on off-premises and cloud-based security services.

"This award is a testament to our incredible team, who provide best-in-class, high-touch customer support, while also delivering on the cutting edge of cybersecurity innovation," said Logically CEO Joshua Skeens. "Logically is on its way to becoming one of the nation's top MSSP/MSPs, and we couldn't be more thrilled to have our efforts recognized on this annual list. As we shift our focus even more keenly on cybersecurity solutions in 2023, I anticipate Logically growing even further over the coming year."

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. It's anticipated that due to a steady rise in remote-work opportunities, a perpetual talent shortage, and continued increases in cyber threats, the managed services market will double by 2027 .

"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."

The MSP 500 list will be featured in the February 2023 issue of CRN and online at www.crn.com/msp500 .

About Logically

Logically is a leading national Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) that works to secure customers' futures. As a champion of cybersecurity innovation, we marry the right technologies to create personalized solutions that address our customers' myriad IT challenges, with security as a focal point. Since 1999, we have made IT management easy and secure for thousands of organizations across highly regulated industries, and we are known for our best-in-class, high-touch customer support.

Follow Logically: LinkedIn , Twitter, 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 unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

 2023 The Channel Company LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook .

SOURCE Logically
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This February, love is respect, the prevention program of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, empowers and centers the voices of young people through members of its Youth Council during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM) to create awareness of how to recognize and prevent youth dating abuse. This year's theme is "Be About It."

"#BeAboutIt is our way of being unapologetic about showing up for ourselves and other young adults and calling on everyone to listen to us  we know best about what issues impact us," said Zane Landin, love is respect Youth Council member. "We need information and support. I'm glad to be a part of love is respect's work to ensure we get it."

One in every three U.S. teenagers will experience some form of dating abuse before becoming adults. Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month is lead nationally by love is respect and focuses on education, engagement, and empowerment. Together with hundreds of partner organizations, we amplify the voices of teens and young adults and those who support them. The campaign highlights the issues teens face related to healthy relationships. Throughout the month, love is respect and its partners will hold calls-to-action on social media to empower teens and young adults to learn more about healthy relationships. Individuals can engage with Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month on social media with the hashtag #BeAboutIt, by visiting the love is respect website, by downloading and using the TDVAM Action Guide, and/or by attending a free webinar on youth, dating, and online harassment.

"Uplifting healthy relationships and empowering our teens and young adults with education and resources is vital to preventing dating abuse," said Angela Lee, Director of love is respect. "Having support from parents, peers, educators, and other people can dramatically change outcomes for teens and young adults. By asking us to #BeAboutIt, young people are telling us they want the people they care about to make a sincere, meaningful effort to keep them safe and ensure they get the respect they deserve."

The statistics on relationship abuse for teens and young adults demonstrate how often they experience abuse, with particular attention paid to abuse in online spaces:

Approximately 1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men who experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner first experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age. (Source)

1 in 10 high school students has experienced physical violence from a dating partner in the past year. (Source)

Just over a quarter of youth in a current or recent relationship said that they experienced some form of cyber dating abuse victimization in the prior year, with females reporting more cyber dating abuse victimization than males (particularly sexual cyber dating abuse). (Source)

love is respect is the national resource to disrupt and prevent unhealthy relationships and intimate partner violence by empowering young people through inclusive and equitable education, support, and resources. A project of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, love is respect offers 24/7 information, support, and advocates to young people who have questions or concerns about their romantic relationships. love is respect is a safe, inclusive space for young people to access help and information in a setting specifically for them. Learn more at loveisrespect.org

SOURCE The National Domestic Violence Hotline
C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife's Board of Directors today announced an increase of 11% or 3.5 cents per share to its quarterly common shareholders' dividend resulting in a dividend of $0.365 per share on the common shares of Manulife, payable on and after March 20, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 28, 2023.

In respect of the Company's Canadian Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan and its U.S. Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan, the Company will purchase common shares on the open market in connection with the reinvestment of dividends and optional cash purchases under these plans. The purchase price of these common shares will be based on the average of the actual cost to purchase them and there are no applicable discounts.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2022, we had more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 34 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation
#Comunicado | ?? El Ministerio de Cultura, a traves de la Direccion Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco, se dirige a la opinion publica para informar lo siguiente: pic.twitter.com/VOYZFQg2rg
Full In-House Team also to Bolster the Firm's Services Beyond Transactional Context

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Massumi + Consoli LLP, a boutique private equity-focused transactional law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, now offers a full-service transactional practice in-house, with premier practitioners in the core specialty areas of tax, intellectual property, data privacy and cybersecurity, executive compensation and employee benefits, labor and employment and environmental and health and safety matters, integrated with its strong group of M&A, growth equity and debt finance attorneys.

MCLLP's tightly knit team of highly accomplished, seasoned subject matter experts, assembled from preeminent large firm practices, enables the firm to provide its clients with end-to-end capabilities for all of the core aspects of their private equity, M&A and financing transactions and to continue supporting its clients' businessesincluding portfolio companies of private equity firmswith ongoing counsel outside of the transactional context.

"We have tremendously enjoyed having the ability to offer our clients all of the subject matter expertise needed to deliver exceptional, white-glove service for their transactional needs, with unparalleled technical proficiency, attentiveness and effectiveness," said Peter Massumi, co-founding partner of the firm.

"We are focused on delivering innovative and efficient solutions that drive success for our clients, and we believe that the development of our full-service team of specialists further enhances our ability to stay meaningfully connected to a broader range of our clients' goals," said the firm's other co-founder, Anthony Consoli.

MCLLP's specialist teams are led by:

Ryan Roberts (Tax)  Ryan Roberts advises clients on tax issues related to domestic and cross-border acquisitions and dispositions, mergers, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, debt and equity financings, joint ventures, venture capital and growth investments and restructurings and distressed company transactions. Ryan was formerly in the Tax practice group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York.

Sean Hill (Intellectual Property)  Sean Hill advises clients on a broad range of intellectual property, data privacy and cybersecurity issues, including issues relating to IP protection and ownership, open-source software and privacy compliance. He also counsels clients on a variety of commercial agreements, including those relating to technology licensing, distribution and reselling, manufacturing and supply, joint development and research, software delivery, outsourcing and data processing. Sean was formerly in the M&A and Intellectual Property practice groups of Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston.

Matthew Shiels (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits)  Matt Shiels advises clients on employment agreements and incentive arrangements, as well as related tax and benefits matters. Matt was formerly in the Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits practice group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York.

Ami Zweig (Labor and Employment)  Ami Zweig advises clients on employment law matters in the transactional, litigation, counseling and investigatory contexts, including matters relating to complex M&A transactions, restrictive covenants, hirings and separations, wage-and-hour, discrimination and harassment, breach of contract and internal investigations. Ami was formerly in the Employment Litigation practice group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York.

Adeeb Fadil (Environmental)  Adeeb Fadil advises clients on the environmental, health and safety aspects of a broad range of complex M&A and other corporate transactions, including the identification, assessment, allocation, management and disclosure of environmentally related risks and opportunities. Adeeb was formerly in the Environmental practice group of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York.

About Massumi + Consoli LLP:

Founded in 2015 as a spin-out from the Private Equity and M&A group of Kirkland & Ellis, MCLLP delivers market-leading counsel to private funds and other financial institutions, along with their portfolio companies, and other acquisitive private and public companies, on complex private equity, M&A and debt financing transactions and on ongoing corporate matters outside of the transactional context. MCLLP's mission is to serve as a superior alternative to large firm transactional practices through a platform that is more attuned to clients' needs and that provides unparalleled expertise, responsiveness and value.

SOURCE Massumi + Consoli LLP
HUDDINGE, Sweden, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Continued strong recruitment in the dose escalation part of the fostrox study.

October  December

Financial summary for the quarter

Net turnover amounted to SEK 2.3 (13.9) million.

(13.9) million. The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK -17.9 (-23.5) million. Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to SEK -0.32 (-0.44) and SEK -0.32 (-0.44) respectively.

(-23.5) million. Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to (-0.44) and (-0.44) respectively. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK -24.7 (-5.4) million.

(-5.4) million. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period amounted to SEK 117.4 (221.2) million.

Significant events during the quarter

In October the nomination committee was appointed ahead of the 2023 AGM. The Nomination Committee consists of Karl Tobieson (Chairman), appointed by Linc AB, Richard Torgerson , appointed by Nordea Investment Funds, Anders Hallberg , appointed by HealthInvest Partners and Uli Hacksell, Chairman of the Board, Medivir AB.

, appointed by Nordea Investment Funds, , appointed by HealthInvest Partners and Uli Hacksell, Chairman of the Board, Medivir AB. Pia Baumann was recruited in November as new Chief Medical Officer, taking office in February 2023 .

was recruited in November as new Chief Medical Officer, taking office in . Medivir presented new data, showing additive efficacy of fostrox in combination with anti-PD1 in experimental tumor models, at the SITC Immunotherapy Conference in November.

Medivir completed a pre-IND meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration and received positive feedback on the development plan in preparation for an IND for its candidate drug fostrox.

January  December

Financial summary for the period

Net turnover amounted to SEK 4.4 (25.5) million.

(25.5) million. The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK -84.8 (-59.5) million. Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to SEK -1.59 (-1.20) and SEK -1.59 (-1.20) respectively.

(-59.5) million. Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to (-1.20) and (-1.20) respectively. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK -101.8 (-48.7) million.

(-48.7) million. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period amounted to SEK 117.4 (221.2) million.

Significant events after the end of the period

On January 11 it was announced that Medivir's partner Infex Therapeutics has been granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MET-X, the company's broad spectrum Metallo-beta-lactamase inhibitor (MBLI) based on Medivir's MBLI program.

Conference call for investors, analysts and the media

The Year-End Report January - December 2022 will be presented by Medivir's CEO, Jens Lindberg.



Time: Wednesday, February 15, 2023, at 14.00 (CET).

Phone numbers for participants from:



Sweden + 46 8 505 163 86

Europe +44 20 3198 4884

US +1 412-317 6300

Pin code 1872625#

The conference call will also be streamed via a link on the website: www.medivir.com

The presentation will be available on Medivir's website after completion of the conference.

CEO's message

Taking over as CEO of Medivir in January 2022, I was given the privilege of leading a great team to develop cancer medicines that can really make a difference.

Our main focus in 2022 has been the continued clinical development of Medivir's proprietary candidate drug fostroxacitabine bralpamide (fostrox). Fostrox has the potential to become the first liver-targeted and orally administered drug that can help patients with various cancers of the liver. Its unique mechanism of action in liver cancer makes fostrox attractive to combine with several other drugs for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma HCC.

The combination study is progressing as expected in ongoing dose escalation cohorts. The measures taken to accelerate patient recruitment at the end of the summer had the desired effect. Since then, interest in the study has been very high, with patients standing in line waiting for new cohorts to be opened. We look forward to shortly establishing the recommended dose for the first combination arm and subsequently initiating the phase 2a portion of the study.

We have also presented new data for fostrox during the year. At the EASL Liver Cancer Summit in February, Medivir was able to present biomarker data from the phase 1 study with fostrox which, among other things, shows that fostrox provides a tumor-selective effect in the liver by causing the desired DNA damage and cell death in tumor cells in the liver but not in normal or healthy liver cells. At the SITC Immunotherapy Conference in November, Medivir presented new data showing that the combination of fostrox with anti-PD1 provides an improved effect in experimental tumor models and creates changes in the tumor microenvironment consistent with increased immune-mediated antitumor activity.

It is also gratifying that we, at our pre-IND meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration FDA in December, received positive feedback on the IND preparation program for fostrox. We plan to submit an IND application to the US authority in 2023.

In Medivir's business development, we focus on our two clinical projects for partnership, remetinostat and MIV-711. The data packages for both projects have been strengthened during the year and we continue our dialogues with external parties in order to find the best possible solution for each substance.

Medivir's clinical project birinapant was out-licensed to IGM Biosciences in 2021. IGM is conducting ongoing clinical development work with the phase I clinical study in solid tumors with birinapant in combination with IGM's own DR5 agonist antibody IGM-8444. As of Q4 2022, IGM reported that the fourth dose-escalation cohort was ongoing and no dose-limiting toxicities were observed to date.

Medivir's preclinical research program USP-1 was out-licensed in 2020 to US-based Tango Therapeutics, which announced that it has selected TNG348, a USP-1 inhibitor from this research program, as a development/drug candidate in the treatment of BRCA1/2 mutated cancers. Tango intends to open an IND in the US in 2023 for TNG348.

Also our preclinical program MBLI aimed at addressing the threat of resistant bacteria appears to be moving towards clinical development. It is licensed to INFEX Therapeutics in England, which recently received QIDP-designation from the FDA and communicated its intention to initiate a phase 1 program in 2023.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our new CMO Pia Baumann a warm welcome to the team. Pia is a cancer specialist with solid experience in global drug development, which will be very valuable in the continued clinical development of fostrox.

We are glad to note the strong interest in fostrox and that the measures taken have yielded results in patient recruitment for the soon-to-be-completed phase 1b part of the study. Our work to ensure that fostrox can become an effective drug against liver cancer continues unabated. We hope and believe that it will lead to a treatment that makes a real difference for the patients and for the care and thus also for our shareholders. I look forward to keeping you informed of Medivir's continued development.

Jens Lindberg



Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact



Magnus Christensen, CFO

Phone: +46 (0)8 5468 3100

E-mail: [email protected]

This report has not been subject to auditors' review.

The information was submitted for publication at 08.30 CET on February 15, 2023.

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/652/3715055/1849226.pdf The full report (PDF)

SOURCE Medivir
Recognized Leader Brings Decades of Experience, Industry Expertise to C&F's Growing Practice

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Crum & Forster (C&F) announces that Michelle Sipple  a respected industry veteran  has joined the company to lead the Inland Marine practice within its Property Lines Division. In this role, Ms. Sipple is responsible for strategic initiatives to drive growth and profitability for the company's inland marine book.

Michelle Sipple Joins Crum & Forster as Senior Vice President, Inland Marine

"Ms. Sipple is an accomplished Inland Marine underwriting professional with experience in Builders Risk, Motor Truck Cargo and Contractor's Equipment," said Steve Fomchenko, President, Property Lines Division, Crum & Forster. "This position requires a great deal of underwriting acumen and relationship management skills, which Michelle possesses. She brings these key competencies and much more to the practice and to Crum & Forster. We are thrilled to have her on our team."

Her previous experience includes Inland Marine leadership positions at Everest Insurance, Lexington Insurance Company, ACE Westchester, The Hanover Insurance Group, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, and Chubb. She also serves on the Board of the Inland Marine Underwriters Association (IMUA)  a national association for the commercial inland marine insurance industry in the U.S.

"Crum & Forster's Inland Marine unit has an established team of experienced underwriters who understand the complexities of this highly specialized line of business," shared Ms. Sipple. "I look forward to leading this team in bringing our expert Inland Marine insurance solutions to market  tailoring them for each client's unique exposures and specific requirements while delivering value and market-leading customer service."

Ms. Sipple is a graduate of Temple University with a bachelor's degree in Finance.

About Crum & Forster

Crum & Forster (www.cfins.com) is a leading national property, casualty, and accident & health insurer, providing specialty insurance products through its admitted and surplus lines insurance companies.

Founded in 1822, C&F is one of the oldest U.S. insurance companies, and today conducts business through a network of independent agents, brokers and wholesalers. C&F had $3.7 billion in gross written premium in 2021 and is rated "A" Excellent by A M Best.

The C&F logo, C&F and Crum & Forster are registered trademarks of United States Fire Insurance Company. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Media Contact:

Amy Whilldin

AVP, Public Relations & Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Crum & Forster
Dr. Khan invites guests to join a March Q&A during Breast Implant Awareness Month

NOVI, Mich., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- If you're experiencing fatigue, joint pain, headaches, muscle aches and have breast implants, talk to your primary care physician about Breast Implant Illness (BII).

Dr. Shaher Khan believes that patient education and realistic expectation are key to the success of any surgical procedure. Dr. Shaher Khan

A 2021 survey of about 200 women in Utah found that 97 percent of the women had negative symptoms that they associated with their implants. The Federal Drug Administration published a warning on its website last fall about the link between implants and Breast Implant Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). The sad irony is that breast cancer survivors face a risk of different cancers and ailments because of the implants they get after mastectomies.

"Breast implant illness (BII) is real. It is a real problem but there are real solutions," says Michigan plastic surgeon Dr. Shaher Khan, who specializes in removing breast implants. "No one wants to talk about it. No one wants me to talk about it."

Despite data and warnings, breast implant surgery remains exceedingly popular in North America, with statistics predicting an increase in 2023 over last year. Globally, the market is expected to report growth from $2.10 billion in 2021 to $2.25 billion in 2022. By 2026, it is expected to represent $2.9 billion, according to ReportLinker.

On March 8, Dr. Khan will be conducting a Zoom call for anyone who wants to learn more about BII or have stories they want to share.

Dr. Khan has done exactly one breast implant surgeryas required to become a board-certified plastic surgeon. Instead of taking advantage of one of the safest and most lucrative surgical procedures, Dr. Khan is one of the few voices in the medical field warning women of the multiple negative consequences of saline and silicone breast implants, including breast implant associated squamous cell carcinoma (BIA-SCC), a rare but aggressive cancer.

March is Breast Implant Awareness Month, a movement initiated in 2018 by a nonprofit group called The Implant Truth Survivors Committee. Their mission, like Dr. Khan's, is to make sure breast implant recipients know and understand the risk associated with the devices before they choose to get implants.

"There are warnings from the FDA. There are warnings from the manufacturers. There are countless stories from women suffering from breast implant illness," Dr. Khan says. "But surgeons tend to gloss over the risks when they have a patient wanting an implant. Implants are also the current standard of practice for women who've had mastectomies. The women are not offered an alternative."

Dr. Khan says educating primary care physicians is the key to helping women identify if they have breast implant illness because general practitioners are often the first medical professionals to hear about a patient's symptoms.

"They are the first responders. They are the first ones to see the patient and the ones who can identify the symptoms and refer them to a specialist," Dr. Khan explains. And there are plenty of symptoms such as:

Fatigue or chronic fatigue

Cognitive dysfunction

Muscle aches and pains

Skin rashes

Chronic neck and back pain

Anxiety, panic attacks

Depression

Metallic taste in mouth

Dry skin, eyes, mouth, hair

Weight gain or weight loss

Frequent urination

Liver and kidney dysfunction

Digestive issues

Recurring sinus, yeast, and UTI infections

Many of these mimic other illnesses, especially autoimmune disorders such as lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Khan urges women to research the studies that demonstrate the links between implants and illnesses, and to share their stories with others to prevent more women suffering. Dr. Khan also has a robust and active Facebook group where stories and support are shared. Visit Dr. Khan's YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram channels to stay up to date about BII.

ABOUT EXECUTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY

Dr. Shaher Khan is a Michigan-based plastic surgeon specializing in the en bloc removal of breast implants. He advocates extensively against the use of implants due to health risks associated with implants. He is certified by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and provides a variety of reconstructive surgeries in his practice. Learn more at Executive Plastic Surgery.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Tess Dumlao

[email protected]

(602) 653-6585

SOURCE Executive Plastic Surgery
Rise in investment to strengthen the capabilities of air defense, technological advancements in military radars, rise in purchase of combat aircrafts, increasing naval expenditure by developed economies, and modernization of military equipment drive the global military radar market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Military Radar Market by Component (Antenna, Transmitter, Receiver, Duplexer, Others), by Range (Short, Medium, Long), by Frequency (C-Band, S-Band, X-Band, Others), by Application (Airspace Monitoring and Traffic Management, Space Situation Awareness, Maritime Patrolling, Weapon Guidance, Others), by Platform (Airborne, Land, Naval): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031" According to the report, the global military radar industry was valued at $13.9 billion in 2021 and is estimated to generate $25.1 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 6.5% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.

Download Free Sample of Report - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/47874

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

Rise in investment to strengthen the capabilities of air defense, technological advancements in military radar, rise in purchase of combat aircrafts, increasing naval expenditure by developed economies, high capability of military radars to detect low-flying aircrafts, land vehicles, marine vessels, personnel, and avian targets which make them ideal for accurate surveillance, and modernization of military equipment fuel the growth of the global military radar market. However, huge investment in early stage and stringent cross-border trading policies hinder the global market growth. On the other hand, rise in geopolitical tensions and increase in R&D activities in military radar for airborne platform present new growth opportunities for the global military radar market in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the aerospace and defense companies faced an unmitigated disruption, affecting the global military radar market.

The defense sector faced disruptions in the supply chain globally. The companies located in Covid-19-affected countries and those reliant on supply chains located in impacted countries were badly hit by the pandemic. Due to the global disturbance in the supply chain, some of the defense programs also faced slight cost escalations and interruptions in the short term. The pandemic also impacted the growth opportunities of various regions in a negative manner.

However, the military radar market recovered post the pandemic. The defense unit is likely to remain stable and grow as a majority of countries have not lowered their budget for defense and are committed to support their military capabilities.

The antenna segment to grab the largest revenue during the forecast period

Based on component, the antenna segment contributed to the largest share of more than two-fifths of the global military radar market in 2021, and is expected to maintain a noteworthy revenue growth during the forecast period. Antenna is the largest segment in global military radar market as the defense industry is always evolving, and armed forces need next-generation defense systems. Currently, defense forces use an active phased array type of antenna that offer a complete image of the area under surveillance. This has led to the rising demand for antenna in military radar across the world. However, the duplexer segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 10.2% from 2022 to 2031. There is a rise in demand for duplexers in military electronic devices for airborne communication, underwater communication, and ground-based communication as they offer bi-directional communication.

Interested to Procure the Research Report? Inquire Before Buying - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/47874

The short-range segment to dominate the market during the forecast period

Based on range, the short-range segment contributed to the largest share of nearly half of the global military radar market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its leadership in terms of revenue during the forecast period. This is because governments across the world are investing heavily in short-range systems for better connectivity and capturing things clearer in future space missions and communication. In response to this, leading companies are creating innovative short-range radars which enable 360-degree surround-view for military and naval applications. However, the long range segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 7.9% from 2022 to 2031. The segment is driven by high-end defense applications, electronic defense systems, and off-site long-range radar machinery.

North America to achieve the highest revenue by 2031

Based on region, the market in North America was the largest in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the global military radar market, and is likely to maintain its dominance during the forecast timeframe. This is because the region has witnessed major defense-related sanctions, which heightens the demand for military radars for use in national and international defense forces. The U.S. is one of the strongest military forces in the world and is a key supplier of military radars to the global market. Moreover, it is home to a huge number of manufacturing companies operating at global level. However, the market in Asia-Pacific is likely to show the fastest CAGR of 8.1% during the forecast period. This is due to China's, Japan's, and India's growing spending on defense products.

Leading Market Players

Aselsan A.S.

BAE Systems plc

Israel Aerospace Industries

Leonardo S.P.A.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Saab AB

Thales Group

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Raytheon Technologies Corporation

The report analyzes these key players of the global military radar market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player.

Procure Complete Report Now - https://bit.ly/3IpDk8V

Similar Reports We Have on Military Industry:

Ground Surveillance RADAR Market Research Report 2023-2035

Military Computers Market Research Report 2023-2035

RADAR Simulator Market Research Report 2023-2035

3D RADAR Market Research Report 2023-2035

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Morphoceuticals Inc., a biotechnology company, announced it closed an $8 million Seed-2 funding round led by Prime Movers Lab and initial investor Juvenescence. Morphoceuticals is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence-guided electroceuticals to regenerate limbs, repair tissues, and regenerate organs, leveraging the groundbreaking work of Professors Michael Levin and David Kaplan from Tufts University.

Morphoceuticals Founders Michael Levin (left) and David Kaplan

Morphoceuticals' scientific founders successfully demonstrated limb regeneration in an African clawed frog in early 2022, becoming the first to achieve functional limb regeneration in an adult animal of a species that does not naturally regenerate complex limbs in adulthood. The treatment consisted of a drug cocktail applied in a wearable bioreactor on the frog's hind leg for just 24 hours, which triggered an 18-month period of regrowth that regrew the leg and restored its functionality. Results from this work were published in Science Advances in January 2022 as "Acute multidrug delivery via a wearable bioreactor facilitates long-term limb regeneration and functional recovery in adult Xenopus laevis."

"The growth and form of living beings is controlled by a powerful physiological software. Using our understanding of natural voltage patterns and electroceuticals, we are beginning to understand how to communicate anatomical goals to cellular collectives. The bioelectric approaches we are pursuing kickstart complex morphological subroutines that would otherwise be too complex to micromanage at the molecular level," said Levin, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center, both at Tufts, and associate faculty member of the Wyss Institute. "Our goal is to identify our body's triggers for complex anatomical outcomes. By controlling bioelectric signaling, we are seeking to eventually generate functional tissues, limbs, and organs in humans, which could greatly improve the quality of life for patients."

"To engineer the bioelectric signaling of target tissues, we have been pioneering the development of wearable devices, such as biodomes, to establish a temporary hydrated and controlled environment at the stump site, along with the delivery of electroceuticals to trigger regenerative bioelectric signaling, all of which empowers the process," said Kaplan, Stern Family Professor of Engineering at Tufts.

"The funding will enable us to now push forward on several fronts, including testing new electroceutical combinations for limb regeneration and amputation stump health that we can take into the clinic, as well as the development of tools that will map the bioelectric atlas of living tissues, which will be a discovery and development engine for our future therapeutics," said Morphoceuticals' CEO Michael Hufford, Ph.D.

Approximately 185,000 amputations are performed in the United States each year, and it is expected that nearly 3.6 million people will be living with the loss of an arm or a leg by 2050. "For the millions of people who have lost limbs due to diabetes, trauma, or any number of reasons, the Morphoceuticals team has moved us multiple steps closer to limb regeneration," said Prime Movers Lab Venture Partner Amy Kruse, Ph.D., who will be joining the company's board. "The Morphoceuticals team is pioneering the use of ion channel and gap junction modulators to induce not only limb regeneration, but to approach therapeutic indications from the top-down  using bioelectric programming  as compared to more traditional bottoms-up interventions pursued by biopharma today  focusing on manipulating cellular hardware."

"Morphoceuticals' approach to regenerative medicine is truly revolutionary. Traditional regenerative medicine aims to treat patients using precise cell types with precise dosing required to regenerate tissues. In contrast, Morphoceuticals' approach aims to re-trigger the developmental programs that generated the tissue in the first place. Functionally, this means therapeutics are targeted at a higher layer of abstraction, like the difference between coding in Python versus Assembly,' said Juvenescence Managing Director Alex Pickett. "Work on topical indications such as limb regeneration, skin repair or hair loss can help to pioneer techniques that can be applied to traumatic brain injury, organ repair, or cancer. The team has already made significant progress since our initial investment in 2020."

To learn more about Morphoceuticals and its platform, click here .

ABOUT MORPHOCEUTICALS

Based in Massachusetts, Morphoceuticals Inc. is a biotechnology company co-founded by Drs. Levin and Kaplan and funded by Juvenescence Ltd. Morphoceuticals is pioneering bioelectric approaches to access anatomical programming that is a core component of our biological operating system. Using proprietary combinations of ion channel and gap junction modulators, we are focused on inducing limb regeneration, improving amputation stump health, promoting organ regeneration, and the treatment of channelopathies. For more information see: www.Morphoceuticals.com

ABOUT PRIME MOVERS LAB

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and human augmentation. Portfolio investments span in-space transportation, industrial solar heat, ag tech, brain upgrades, nano-structured materials, wafer slicing, prosthetics, 3D printing, mobility, longevity and quantum computers. Learn more at www.primemoverslab.com .

ABOUT JUVENESCENCE

Juvenescence is a life sciences company developing therapies to modify aging and increase healthy human lifespan. It was founded by Jim Mellon, Dr. Greg Bailey and Dr. Declan Doogan. The Juvenescence team consists of highly experienced drug developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, and investors with a significant history of success in pharmaceutical drug development, synthetic biology, and tissue and cellular engineering.

Juvenescence has a broad portfolio of products in development and is driving innovation, with a focus on discovering and developing these therapies to modify the aging process, through prevention and by regenerating damage, to support healthy aging and increase health span. The company is committed to inspiring and equipping the world to, not just reimagine what it means to age, but to help people Reimagine A Lifetime. For more information see: www.JuvLabs.com .

Media Contact

Gavin Mathis

[email protected]

406-539-7277

SOURCE Morphoceuticals
DENVER, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Morris Animal Foundation is seeking 100 new Loyal Friends monthly donors to unlock a $10,000 match and support critical animal health research. Current Loyal Friends also can participate in the match by increasing their ongoing monthly donation.

Become a Loyal Friend now and multiply your impact!

"Steady monthly support is an important financial pillar for any nonprofit organization," said Dan Stencel, Morris Animal Foundation Vice President of Development. "And during this year's campaign, each donor's contribution will be multiplied via the match program, making it possible for us to help more animals in more places live their best lives."

Loyal Friends who already donate to the Foundation are passionate about animal health and support long-term investment in scientific discovery that improves animal lives everywhere. Monthly donors receive special benefits, including:

Special email communications detailing the work they are making possible.

An easy, secure and budget-friendly way to contribute. Monthly gifts multiply over the course of the year to make a bigger impact for animals.

Joining a community of researchers, veterinarians and animal lovers all committed to making a difference.

Fewer mail pieces  putting donations straight to work to help animals everywhere.

As urgent animal health threats continue to emerge around the world, the sustained giving provided by the Loyal Friends program can make a long-lasting impact on improving animal health globally.

About Morris Animal Foundation

Founded in 1948, Morris Animal Foundation is one of the largest nonprofit animal health research organizations in the world, funding more than $149 million in nearly 3,000 critical studies across a broad range of species. Learn more at morrisanimalfoundation.org.

SOURCE Morris Animal Foundation (MAF)
DALLAS, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MPK Equity Partners, LLC ("MPK") announced today the sale of its portfolio company Radiance Holdings, LLC ("Radiance") to TSG Consumer Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Radiance is a high-growth franchise platform, representing a collection of premier brands in the health, wellness, and beauty sector. Radiance's current brands include Sola Salon Studios ("Sola"), the world's largest and fastest growing salon suites franchise with approximately 650 locations across the U.S. and Canada; The Woodhouse Day Spa ("Woodhouse"), a premier luxury spa brand with approximately 80 locations across the U.S.; and BeautyHive, a leading e-commerce platform for professional beauty products.

MPK, in partnership with PNC Riverarch Capital and AHR Growth Partners, acquired Sola in 2018 and worked with management to pursue an aggressive strategy of corporate and franchise growth. The Radiance platform was formed upon the acquisition of Woodhouse in 2020, with a focus on uniting brands across health, wellness, and beauty. Over this period, Radiance completed seven acquisitions, launched BeautyHive in 2021, and made significant investments in people and technology.

"Under the leadership of CEO, Christina Russell, Radiance has done an incredible job empowering franchise owners and a vibrant community of independent beauty professionals with unrivaled opportunities, mentorship, and education as each of its brands continues to accelerate its underlying growth," said Patrick K. McGee, Managing Partner of MPK.

Christina Russell, CEO of Radiance, added: "Our team has enjoyed working with MPK as we have created an incredible platform in health, wellness, and beauty, allowing our franchisees to embrace the American Dream and own their own business in a rapidly growing sector of the economy."

About MPK Equity Partners

MPK is a Dallas-based private investment firm partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs and executives to invest in and acquire growing, profitable, category-leading companies. Among other high-growth sectors, MPK has a particular focus on partnering with founder-owned franchisors. In addition to Radiance Holdings, past and present MPK franchisor investments include Unleased Brands (the leading platform for family-focused franchisors, including Urban Air Adventure Park, The Little Gym, and Snapology), Stellar Service Brands (a leading residential services platform, including Restoration 1, bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, Softroc, and The Driveway Company), as well as Zoom Drain and PatchMaster. For more information, please visit mpkequitypartners.com.

About Radiance Holdings

Radiance represents a collection of premier brands in the health, wellness, and beauty sector. Led by Christina Russell, CEO, Radiance's current portfolio includes Sola, the world's largest and fastest growing salon studios franchise; Woodhouse, a premier luxury spa franchise; and BeautyHive, an online distributor of professional beauty products. Radiance is committed to investing in its brands, driving innovation, and helping its franchisees and its community of independent beauty professionals grow their businesses and improve their lives. For more information, please visit weareradianceholdings.com.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE MPK Equity Partners, LLC
Latest Coalition Greenwich survey highlights bank's commitment to help small employers

BUFFALO, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) has been recognized by Coalition Greenwich as a top brand in the financial services industry for its commitment to maintaining relationships with small-business customers.

M&T Bank earned Greenwich Excellence and Best Brand awards for its performance in 2022.

The Greenwich Best Brand award for Values Long-Term Relationships is one of four awards M&T earned from the industry's leading source of data and analytics for its performance in 2022. The latest recognition enhances the bank's established reputation for providing outstanding customer service to small-business customers throughout its 12-state footprint, which also includes Washington, D.C.

Since 2011, M&T has earned 166 Greenwich Excellence awards and has consistently rated among the top 10 banks for small-business banking since 2009.

This year, M&T also received Greenwich Excellence awards in the following small-business banking categories for 2022:

Industry Understanding  National

Overall Satisfaction with Relationship Manager  National

Relationship Manager Proactively Provides Advice  South Region

"M&T Bank is built on the strength of the relationships our bankers have with our customers," said Christina Brozyna, M&T's head of Business Banking Sales and Operations. "It's rewarding to see our teams once again recognized for the work they do every day to establish and nurture those relationships with small-business owners as they grow their companies throughout the communities we serve."

One of those businesses is Karins and Associates, a civil engineering firm that has been a M&T customer for 50 years. The Newark, Del.-based company attributes some of its success to that longstanding partnership with the bank.

"The reason why we are successful is because of the relationships that we have built with the team at M&T," said Dev Sitaram, president of Karins and Associates. "We like to be loyal to the bank because they have served us very well. We run a good business. You need a good banker and other advisors that are part of your team."

Coalition Greenwich interviewed more than 20,000 businesses in markets across the U.S. to benchmark the quality of banking products and services in the marketplace. Of more than 500 banks evaluated, M&T is among only 21 that received excellence awards in small-business banking.

The Greenwich Awards bolster M&T's position as a nationwide leader in small-business banking. For 14 consecutive years, M&T has ranked among the top 10 U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) lenders. During the SBA's 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2022, M&T provided 1,440 loans for $203.8 million, ranking the bank the sixth-largest SBA lender in the country. M&T was the top SBA lender last year in Baltimore; Buffalo/Rochester; Delaware; Richmond, Va.; Syracuse, N.Y.; and Washington, D.C.

About M&T

M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T's principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, provides banking products and services in 12 states across the northeastern U.S. from Maine to Virginia and Washington, D.C. Trust-related services are provided in select markets in the U.S. and abroad by M&T's Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank. For more information about M&T Bank, visit www.mtb.com .

About Coalition Greenwich

Coalition Greenwich, a division of CRISIL, an S&P Global Company, is a leading global provider of strategic benchmarking, analytics and insights to the financial services industry. To learn more, visit www.greenwich.com.

 2023 M&T Bank. Member FDIC. NMLS# 381076 Equal Housing Lender.

Media Contacts:

Western New York:

Thea Pecht

(716) 512-4448

[email protected]

Upstate New York (excluding Buffalo):

Dave Lanzillo

(716) 842-5139

[email protected]

New York Metro (NYC, Long Island and New Jersey):

David Samberg

(201) 368-4515

[email protected]

Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, DC):

Scott Graham

(410) 244-4097

[email protected]

National Media, Trade Publications and New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont):

Maya Dillon

[email protected]

SOURCE M&T Bank Corporation
CINCINNATI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, is dedicated to the scientific study of UFOs and UAP in order to benefit humanity. As the longest-serving organization of its kind, having been in existence since 1969, MUFON has collected critical data that can be used to learn more about the recent high-altitude objects that were shot down at the beginning of February. MUFON's UFO Sightings Map is the number one application in the Paid Maps & Navigation category, according to Google, and MUFON was featured on the History Channel's Ancient Aliens on February 10th. With over 6,000 members globally, of which 650 are trained and equipped Field Investigators, MUFON's database is extensive and debunks truths behind many UFO encounters.

In the past 11 days, there have been four UFO sightings that have heightened public awareness of national security: the surveillance balloon over South Carolina's coast on February 4th, the car-sized object over the Alaskan coast on February 10th, the cylindrical object in Yukon, Canada on February 11th, and the octagonal structure over Lake Huron on February 12th. Given the increase in significant sightings with public exposure, MUFON is available to comment and speak on the topic. MUFON is compiling a report on similar sightings over the last 3 years, and what MUFON Field Investigators have determined, from the MUFON database.

MUFON is prepared to work with the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate and find answers Tweet this

United States senators had a classified briefing February 14th to discuss this concerning activity in American airspace and ask critical questions of the Biden administration. According to POLITICO, speakers for the 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. With limited information being gathered or disseminated, there are questions on how to provide oversight. Lawmakers are wondering who is behind these incidences and why there are so many occurrences now? Have we just not been looking for them? MUFON has been looking and recording and is prepared to work with the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate and find answers.

www.MUFON.com

SOURCE Mutual UFO Network
#AgendaPresidencial



La presidenta de la republica, Dina Boluarte, liderara una nueva sesion del Consejo de Ministros. pic.twitter.com/isbuP3GJWx
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Myriad360, a global technology solutions partner, announced today that the company has been recognized as a Partner of the Year by Juniper Networks , a leader in secure, AI-driven networks. Each year, Juniper Networks recognizes partners based on their ability to drive innovative business solutions, provide an exceptional attention to the customer experience, and achieve its financial goals.

Myriad360 was recognized in the category of Worldwide Cloud-Ready Data Center Partner for their ability to develop innovative data center and cloud-integrated network solutions integrating Juniper Networks technologies.

"It's an honor to be named the Juniper 2022 Worldwide Cloud-Ready Data Center Partner of the Year award." Tweet this

"We're thrilled to have received Juniper's Worldwide Cloud-Ready Data Center Partner of the Year," said Kevin Ford, Myriad360's Director of Marketing and Strategic Alliances. "We are so thankful for their partnership and what we've been able to build together over the years. Looking forward to another great year as we build on this momentum bringing top technology to the market."

Winners were reviewed across all areas of their business and chosen based on prior 2022-year outcomes. Judges evaluated each partner's ability to innovate, to provide excellent customer service and to be financially successful. Juniper celebrated Myriad360 at its 2023 Juniper Executive Partner Summit in Madrid, Spain, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.

"It's an honor to be named the Juniper 2022 Worldwide Cloud-Ready Data Center Partner of the Year award," said Andrew Fisher, Myriad360 Founder and CEO. "The long-term success of our clients is our number one goal, so to be recognized for the work we're doing with them  not only solving for their immediate requirements, but also investing in their future needs  means the world to me and the Myriad360 team."

Partner of the Year Awards are part of the Juniper Partner Advantage Program (JPA). The Program not only recognizes Partners for their outstanding performance, but helps partners build, sustain and grow their Juniper Practice. Last year, Myriad360 also was named Automated WAN Solution Partner of the Year by Juniper in 2021.

Myriad360 is a global technology solutions partner guiding the world's largest brands through complex data center, cloud, network, security and IT transformations. With a comprehensive portfolio spanning consulting and contracting, centralized integration centers, global deployment services and operational support for managed services, Myriad360 is the only partner you need for comprehensive 360 solutions.

SOURCE Myriad360
An Objective Analysis & Ranking of the World's Top 500 Outsourcing Firms for 2023

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Outsource Accelerator has developed an objective methodology ranking the top 500 outsourcing firms globally. For the first time, there is a reliable method of analyzing, comparing, and tracking firms across the $250 billion global outsourcing industry.

The Time Doctor OA500 2023, ranking the Top 500 Outsourcing Firms globally, is announced today. It leverages the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index, which took 18 months to develop and has analyzed over 2,300 firms.

The offshoring market has exploded in recent years, catalyzed by the convergence of COVID, remote-work, technological shifts, and recessionary pressures. However, the outsourcing industry, which is typically spread across emerging markets, is notoriously hard to understand, difficult to navigate, and troublingly opaque.

Despite this, outsourcing continues to expand. It now offers an increasingly diverse range of services, such as call centers, KPO, BPO, PEO, offshore staffing, virtual teams, freelancers, and virtual assistants, all offering access to a global pool of talent and cost-effective solutions.

With technology, globalization, and distributed workforces driving a surge in BPO, outsourcing has become a staple for companies of all sizes. From multinationals like Google, and Microsoft, to small and mid-size enterprises, outsourcing has become a critical component of modern business. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend, as businesses have had to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape and turn to outsourcing partners for support.

With such a large and competitive market, choosing the right outsourcing partner can be challenging. That's where the Time Doctor OA500 comes in, providing businesses with a meaningful way to navigate the BPO industry and find the best partner for their needs.

"We are thrilled to announce the Time Doctor OA500 2023, which celebrates the top 500 outsourcing firms globally. Finally, there is a clear objective methodology to assess, compare and rank outsourcing firms globally. The Time Doctor OA500 is a powerful tool for the industry and users alike," explains Derek Gallimore, Founder, and CEO of Outsource Accelerator.

The Time Doctor OA500 2023 Top 10 Firms:

1. Accenture

2. Teleperformance

3. Wipro

4. Siemens

5. Cognizant

6. Capgemini

7. Emerson

8. Infosys

9. HCL Technologies

10. CGI

"The Time Doctor OA500 index is the perfect tool for businesses looking to compare and rank the best outsourcing firms, making it an essential resource for companies of all sizes," explains Derek Gallimore, Founder, and CEO of Outsource Accelerator.

The complete list of Time Doctor OA500 awardees are announced on February 15: https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/oa500/

To read full details on the construction of the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index, refer to the OA500 Methodology White Paper:

https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/oa500/methodology-whitepaper/

About Outsource Accelerator

Outsource Accelerator (OA) is the world's leading outsourcing marketplace and is the trusted source of independent information for the industry. The marketplace provides the conduit between 2,300 world-leading outsourcing suppliers and businesses across the globe. www.outsourceaccelerator.com

About Time Doctor

Time Doctor is the #1 trusted software for leading BPOs and offshore teams worldwide to drive business performance and achieve total peace of mind. We offer automated insights and ethical time and activity tracking software that measures employee performance without intrusion. Time Doctor enables BPOs and offshore teams to unlock their full potential by boosting productivity by 30%, increasing profitability, enhancing accountability, and providing complete peace of mind. www.timedoctor.com

SOURCE Outsource Accelerator
Digital Health Leaders from Across the Industry Create New Resources as Part of a Pre-Competitive Project led by DiMe

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a pre-competitive collaboration with digital health leaders, the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) launched a suite of new, free resources to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in digitized clinical trials .

In today's clinical trials, about 80 percent of participants are white, while only 45 percent are women , far from aligned with current census data. Clinical trials conference agendas are replete with panels discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion yet we continue to fail to develop new medical products that meet the needs of all patients, offer opportunities to participate in clinical trials to all people who could benefit, or develop an understanding of the safety and efficacy of new drugs coming to market. Without changes, not only will we continue to reinforce health inequity, but trials will continue to close without meeting enrollment targets, without demonstrating efficacy, and with billions of dollars wasted.

"We actively continue to put people of color, women, poor communities, and other underrepresented populations at risk every single day with our failure to change the way we run clinical trials," said Jennifer Goldsack, DiMe CEO. "It's been one year since the FDA issued draft guidance for DEI in clinical trials, and while organizations have hired DEI heads, many lack a team, sufficient budget, and clear direction to make a real difference. The digital tools available to us today can position us to stop admiring the problem of non-representative clinical trials and actually address the problem. To really move the needle, we need to stop making excuses and these new resources help us do just that."

A live launch event is being held Wednesday, February 15 featuring Dr. Robert Califf, Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration and other leaders from across healthcare and clinical trials will speak about the current landscape and share how they plan to use DiMe's resources to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in their clinical research

The resources launched today remove obstacles to assessing, identifying, and implementing digital tools to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in trial design and conduct. Tools include:

Definitions - industry-wide alignment on "diversity," "equity," and "inclusion" in digitized clinical trials, as well as details to guide each step of a digitized clinical trial. Elements of Digital Clinical Trial - an interactive timeline that tells you which digital tools you can use during each stage of a digitized clinical trial, DEI opportunities and risks to consider, and real-life examples of tool usage. Specific Actions Workbook - recommendations on how to use specific digital tools to improve and increase enrollment and retention of diverse participants in digitized clinical trials.

"To achieve equity in healthcare, we must also be inclusive and representative in our clinical research efforts," said Kimberly Barnholt, Senior Director and Evidence Generation Leader, Data-Systems, US Medical Affairs at Genentech. "At Genentech, we are honored to partner with DE&I experts and advocates from across the industry to develop resources that will help us better engage patients from all communities and have immediate impact on increasing diversity in our trials."

In convening this project team DiMe insisted that collaborators represent all industry voices critical to change, including the FDA. TOUCH Black Breast Cancer Alliance, Inlightened, Rubix LS, Lightship, Reveles, Genentech, Althea.ai, American Kidney Fund, Sage Bionetworks, Scripps Research, Medable, Amgen, GSK, National Minority Health Association, Janssen, Acclinate, Savvy Coop, and THREAD Research worked in a pre-competitive space to collaborate and develop these resources.

The project team issued the call to action: what are you doing to increase clinical trial diversity? They are already leading the field, with case studies demonstrating how DiMe resources, digital tools, and a commitment to a clinical trials enterprise that serves all people can effectively deliver diversity, equity, and inclusion in digitized clinical trials. We invite new resource users to join us in sharing the ways you are delivering DE&I in clinical trials through DiMe's "Resources in Action" case study hub .

About the Digital Medicine Society: DiMe is a global non-profit and the professional home for all members of the digital medicine community. Together, we tackle the toughest digital medicine challenges, develop clinical-quality resources on a technology timeline, and deliver these actionable resources to the field via open-source channels and educational programs.

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)
SUTTON, N.H., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers say healthy thyroid function is crucial for fetal brain development and their latest research may explain earlier findings that pre-natal fluoride exposure lower's children's IQ, according to the Fluoride Action Network.

Fluoride Impairs Thyroid Function

A new study led by scientists from Toronto's York University was published this week in the journal Science of the Total Environment and found that fluoride exposure was strongly associated with an increased risk of hypothyroidismimpaired thyroid functionin pregnant women. Fluoridated water was the main source of fluoride in the women. The study also found that hypothyroid pregnant mothers had boys with lower IQ scores than mothers with normal thyroid function.

This study is the strongest to date finding fluoride is associated with hypothyroidism and also that hypothyroidism in the mother is associated with lower IQ in the child. According to one study author, neuropsychologist Christine Till, PhD, "the findings are concerning because hypothyroidism is a known cause of brain-based disorders in children."

The study found that a 0.5 milligram per liter increase in water fluoride levels, which was roughly the difference in exposure level between the fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities, was associated with a 1.65 times increased odds of having hypothyroidism in pregnancy. This increased risk is substantial at the population level because hypothyroidism during pregnancy is well established as a cause of reduced IQ in children.

Women are more at risk of developing hypothyroidism, which in addition to causing pre-natal harm can cause symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain and depression. In pregnancy, demands put on the thyroid system increase substantially, especially in the first trimester when the fetus is solely reliant on maternal thyroid hormones.

The study was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Health Canada and followed more than 1,500 mother-child pairs participating in a multi-year study (MIREC) to investigate the impact of environmental chemicals on vulnerable populations.

Approximately 40% of Canadians and 70% of Americans have fluoridated drinking water. The study's authors say they hope that policy makers will consider this new research when evaluating the safety of community water fluoridation.

SOURCE Fluoride Action Network
The new members of the NTO team include a new Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer; Chief Financial Officer; Chief People Officer; and General Counsel

QUEENS, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Terminal One (NTO) a privately financed $9.5 billion consortium led by Ferrovial, JLC Infrastructure, Ullico, and Carlyleis excited to announce four key hires supporting the design, development, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a world-class terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The new members joining NTO's executive leadership include Simon Gandy, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer; Manoj Patel, Chief Financial Officer; Sarah El-Batanouny, Chief People Officer; and Julie Cho, General Counsel.

Simon Gandy joins The New Terminal One as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, bringing more than 30 years of experience developing and leading airport businesses in the UK and Australia. Most recently Simon was the Chief of Infrastructure at Melbourne Airport, where he led all aspects of the company's investment portfolio from strategy through to operations at one of Australia's busiest airports.

NTO is also excited to announce Manoj Patel as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Manoj comes to the role with 22 years of executive experience in the aviation industry. He is also a veteran of JFK, having previously served at existing Terminal 1 as the Executive Director of Finance, where he successfully grew the terminal's financial and operational profile.

NTO has also brought on Sarah El-Batanouny as Chief People Officer. Sarah has 25 years as a strategic, growth-oriented people management executive, most recently as Chief People Officer at a tech startup that utilizes artificial intelligence to connect companies to talent.

Julie Cho joins NTO as General Counsel. An experienced executive and trusted legal advisor, Julie previously served as General Counsel for both The Lam Group and Lam Generation, two prominent minority-owned real estate developers with a combined New York City footprint of over 1.5 million square feet.

"In order to build and operate a world-class terminal, you need world-class talent. Each of the new members of our growing NTO team comes with extensive, valuable, and necessary expertise to this project," said Dr. Gerrard P. Bushell, President and CEO of the New Terminal One. "We are excited to welcome a talented group of individuals who will be major contributors to our consortium, as we continue to build a new gateway to the world's greatest city."

"Joining the New Terminal One is an amazing opportunity to be a part of one of the largest public-private partnerships ever completed in the United States," said Simon Gandy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at The New Terminal One. "I am looking forward to working with the New York community and our partners to shape the international front door to this iconic city into a world-class experience we are all proud of."

"The New Terminal One is a monumental undertaking. I am honored to be a part of this incredible team," said Manoj Patel, Chief Financial Officer at The New Terminal One. "It is great to be taking my talents back to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and I look forward to delivering successful outcomes and providing financial expertise as we move this project forward."

"I am beyond excited to join the New Terminal One team as the Chief People Officer, and help reimagine the international passenger experience at JFK," said Sarah El-Batanouny, Chief People Officer at The New Terminal One ."I am also thrilled that I will be returning to my roots of hiring and building teams, as well as creating opportunities for local, minority-owned, woman-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses."

"The New Terminal One is a once-in-a-generation infrastructure project that will have a significant impact on the local community and revolutionize the standard for travel to and from the US," said Julie Cho, General Counsel at The New Terminal One. "I look forward to leading legal efforts as part of this great team."

The new hires come as The New Terminal One continues advancing its design and construction. The New Terminal One officially broke ground this past September and construction is underway. The terminal will be built in phases, with the arrivals and departures halls and 14 new gates opening in 2026 and completion of nine additional gates by 2030. The New Terminal One will serve as a global gateway to the New York metropolitan area and set a standard for world-class design and service through innovative, stress-free, passenger processing, immersive retail and dining experiences, and an iconic architecture and art program. The New Terminal One aspires to be recognized as among the top ten airport terminals in the world.

About The New Terminal One



The New Terminal One (NTO) at John F. Kennedy International Airport is a bold and exciting project to develop a world class, international terminal that will serve as a global gateway to the New York metropolitan area and the United States. NTO will set a new standard for design and service, aspiring to obtain a Top 5 Skytrax ranking and be considered one of the finest airport terminals in the world. The $9+ billion first phase is the largest single asset project financing in US history.

The New Terminal One will be built on sites now occupied by Terminal 1, the recently closed Terminal 2, and the former Terminal 3, where it will anchor JFK's south side. Construction will take place in phases. The first phase, including the new arrivals and departures halls and first set of 14 new gates, is expected to open in 2026.

At completion, anticipated in 2030, the New Terminal One will be 2.4 million square feet, making it the largest terminal at JFK and nearly the same size as LaGuardia Airport's two new terminals combined. NTO will be a 23-gate, state-of-the-art, international-only terminal. Sustainably designed and future focused, the terminal will feature expansive, naturally lit, public spaces, cutting edge technology, and an array of amenities, all designed to enhance the customer experience and compete with some of the highest-rated airport terminals in the world.

The New Terminal One consortium of labor, operating and financial partners is led by Ferrovial, JLC Infrastructure, Ullico, and Carlyle. NTO will be built by union labor and is committed to local inclusion and labor participation with a focus on diversity and capacity-building opportunities, including ambitious goals for creating opportunities for local, minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses (SDVOB).

To learn more about the New Terminal One at JFK International Airport, visit https://www.anewjfk.com/projects/the-new-terminal-one/.

SOURCE The New Terminal One
A broadcast-quality video on the Wildlife Crossing Fund and other images connected to the unprecedented conservation effort can be found here

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Wildlife Federation's #SaveLACougars campaign and an expert set of committed partners are celebrating the launch of The Wildlife Crossing Fund  a campaign that aims to accelerate the building of wildlife crossings across California, the United States, and the world and reconnect lands for our collective future. The fund has set a fundraising goal of a half a billion dollars from private philanthropy to leverage with public dollars and advance the building of these critical infrastructure projects  launching an extraordinary public private partnership.

The announcement was made at the "P-22 Celebration of Life" event on Saturday, February 4 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, with founding partner members and a video by State of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Images of the special on-stage moment and an inspirational video on the unprecedented conservation effort can be found here.

Wildlife Crossing Fund To Combat Biodiversity and Climate Crisis By Building of Wildlife Crossings Across the World Tweet this

Recognizing the growing momentum and widespread support for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing being built outside of Los Angeles, Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation led the effort to create this new fund. As one of its founding partners, the Annenberg Foundation has provided a conservation challenge grant that invites donors everywhere to support the effort. In addition to the National Wildlife Federation, founding partners behind the movement include the California Natural Resources Agency, Dayna Bochco, and ARC: Animal Road Crossings.

"This is a landmark day for conservation all across the world. With the launch of The Wildlife Crossing Fund the founding partners are making clear: We need to reconnect the ecosystems that have been shattered, disrupted, and disconnected," said Wallis Annenberg, Chairman, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation. "Wildlife crossings are a simple but profound idea  a patch of grass where there was once a patch of asphalt; a walkway where there was once only roadway. But the effect is transformative, and it is nothing short of environmental rejuvenation. I am especially proud that the Annenberg Foundation could help to promote this idea. After all, the very best philanthropy is one that inspires and unites and galvanizes  because that means its effects will be magnified a thousandfold."

The Wildlife Crossing Fund is part of the legacy that the beloved P-22 mountain lion leaves behind. His journey across multiple 10-lane freeways and the decade he spent in Griffith Park was miraculous. Mountain lions require upward of 100 square miles of habitat to access prey, shelter, and mates. Hemmed in by freeways and urban sprawl on all sides, P-22 endured an isolated existence on just nine square miles. His whole life, he suffered the consequences of trying to survive in unconnected space, right to his final days when being hit by a car led to his tragic end.

"Not on my watch  is what I vowed over a decade ago when I learned about the threat of extinction to the Los Angeles area mountain lion population. And through an inspiring public private partnership, with leaders like Governor Newsom and Wallis Annenberg, we made the impossible happen  building the world's largest wildlife crossing over one of the busiest freeways in the country," said Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation. "I am honored to lead this fund with the founding partners so we can have more of an impact. There are so many wildlife crossing projects in California and beyond that could break ground tomorrow  we just need the funding. I am committed to raising a half a billion dollars to help make these projects and more happen. Again, I vow, not on my watch  these crossings are real and practical solutions that will give a future to wildlife. Together, we can make a true difference."

"The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a world-class example of what's possible when philanthropic organizations, conservation leaders, and the public sector work together for solutions to the wildlife crisis. This new fund will ensure that the L.A. crossing is not a one-off project, but rather a success that we replicate again and again to protect people and wildlife alike, reconnect fragmented ecosystems, and ensure wildlife like P-22 can safely traverse our built landscapes," said Collin O'Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. "We are proud to join with the Annenberg Foundation and the State of California to launch this important fund that will catalyze solutions across the continent to ensure people and wildlife thrive together."

"P-22 inspired and mobilized people around the world to protect nature and wild animals. Now, his legacy will drive a growing movement to connect these animals across our roads and communities," explained California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot. "In California, we're all in on the inspirational partnership between philanthropy and government that the Wallis Annenberg Foundation has catalyzed. California is committing more than $100 million to match philanthropic investment in the newly announced Crossing Fund. Working all together, we will show the world how people and nature can thrive together."

Studies have shown that roadway infrastructure fractures and disrupts ecosystems, wreaking havoc on wildlife and creating hazards for drivers. The Wildlife Crossing Fund will allow for the creation of infrastructure and landscape connectivity projects across California, the United States and beyond for the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity, the safety and welfare of communities  all while addressing climate change through adaptation and resilience.

Wildlife crossings also come with vast economic benefits. As the organization ARC: Animal Road Crossings published in a recent report, "every year in the United States, there are 1-2 million wildlife-vehicle collisions that cause 200 human fatalities, 26,000 injuries, and cost $9.7 billion." The costs of collisions to society often outweigh the costs of building wildlife crossing structures. Placing structures along road segments with as few as 5.1 deer collisions per mile per year creates net benefits." As green infrastructure projects, wildlife crossings also offer economic stimulus that provides jobs and other benefits to the economy. Caltrans estimates that in transportation, for every $1 billion spent, 13,000 jobs are created, and a Florida DOT study found that the state's transportation projects were estimated to yield an average $4 of benefits for every $1 invested.

"To honor P22's legacy, to reconnect people and nature, we need to hold fast to what he taught us. As much as we need science, innovation, and community engagement, the most important thing we can do is to lead with landscape. A protected landscape is a connected landscape, and good design is done in the spirit of coexistence and kinship for the benefit of wildlife and people," said Nina-Marie Lister, ARC Solutions Partner, Professor of Urban Planning and Director of the Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. "ARC is excited to work with the State of California because it has shown it can lead the way. We are ready to go forward and go global, so we can create a system of connected and protected landscapes, together."

"We know about the importance of connected landscapes from science, but P-22 and his extraordinary experience in Los Angeles connected our hearts and minds  and it is from our hearts that we are moved to create and change the world for the better," said Jeremy Guth, ARC Solutions Co-Founder and Steering Committee and Trustee of the Woodcock Foundation. "At Animal Road Crossings, we are dedicated to best practices and innovation for the next generation of wildlife crossings, including the extraordinary crossing that is being constructed in Los Angeles. Now, as one of the founding partners of the Wildlife Crossing Fund  we are excited to be part of the movement that will build a far brighter future for both people and nature."

The Wildlife Crossing Fund follows a successful private-public partnership and decade- long effort that resulted in the building of the world's largest crossing in Los Angeles. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing broke ground in April 2022, it will reconnect an integral wildlife corridor in California's Santa Monica Mountains over 10 lanes of highway, helping to save a near-extinct local population of mountain lions. Slated for completion in 2025, the monumental structure will serve as a global model for urban conservation.

The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization with over 6 million supporters nationwide, uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

SOURCE The National Wildlife Federation
AC&C Marketing, experts in agricultural marketing, officially rebrands as they expand.

TURLOCK, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, AC&C Marketing will officially be rebranding as Noble West. The female-founded and women-led, specialty agency will continue to disrupt agricultural marketing with a deepened commitment to authentic, soil-born storytelling. A collective of strategic changemakers, the company was founded in 2007 by the fifth-generation farmer and Olympic medalist, Ali Cox. After spending a decade leading campaigns for blue chip brands at large NYC-based agencies, Cox returned to California's Central Valley to build a team of bold marketers to address an outdated, oversimplified approach to marketing and advertising agriculture and ultimately, food. AC&C's clients include farmers, vertically-integrated food purveyors, hero-food brands and agricultural industry businesses. "I am passionate about demystifying our food systems," said Ali Cox, Founder & CEO, Noble West. "With the launch of Noble West, we are more fiercely and unapologetically dedicated to guiding our clients in educating consumers about where their food comes from."

Over the last three years, Cox has worked alongside the leadership team composed of Sarah Tjoa (VP, Client Services and Strategy) and Aaron Himmel (VP, Operations) to recruit best-in-class marketers and make Noble West a reality. The remote company offers a streamlined agency model, building a team of multi-hyphenate creatives, strategists and media experts with entrepreneurial spirits. "The future of agriculture and food requires future-minded partners who are unafraid to lean into challenges and advocate for transparency," says Sarah Tjoa. "Noble West is built to be just that - a mission-minded, globally focused marketing agency set to advance companies making a positive impact."

Noble West will continue to provide award-winning creative and ongoing marketing services to its wide array of clients. "Finding a marketing partner that understands the nuances of our business and can deliver world-class creative feels impossible," mentions Brett LaGrande, SVP Strategy, Sun Valley Rice. "Working with Ali and her team at Noble West for the last ten years has not only elevated our profile domestically but allowed us to enter new markets globally." Noble West clients include companies that support the entire farming ecosystem including Sun Valley Rice, AgCode, Barrett 30, California Dry Bean Growers Advisory Board, Western Growers Certified Crop Advisors, Meras Water Solutions, Grupe Huber Company, JKB Energy, Livingston Community Health, Schuil Ag Real Estate, Morada Produce Company, North Shore Living, Culterra Capital, TOMRA, Minturn Nut Company and Planet Rice.

ABOUT NOBLE WEST

An award-winning 360 marketing agency specializing in companies impacting the entire agriculture ecosystem. Female founded and led by Ali Cox since 2007, Noble West is a collective of globally-minded creatives and strategists. We believe deeply in our mission to create transparency about where our food comes from one campaign at a time. Headquartered in California's Central Valley, with offices in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, Noble West is a remote-first agency, hiring disruptive talent, no matter their location. To learn more, please visit www.wearenoblewest.com @wearenoblewest

CONTACT:

Amber Eyerly

Noble West

[email protected]

(310) 435-3374

SOURCE Noble West
LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NordVPN , a leading cybersecurity company, marks another productive year. With new game-changing cybersecurity features in place and a confirmed commitment to customers' privacy, NordVPN starts its 11th birthday celebration by revealing the highlights of last year and presenting gifts to internet users.

"It was another year full of continuous efforts to develop top-notch cybersecurity solutions and change the market with innovations. With rising threats online, we remain devoted to our mission of ensuring security and privacy to our users. Furthermore, we are ready to introduce new features to meet our goals," says Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN.

Introducing Meshnet

In 2022, by introducing Meshnet , NordVPN became the first VPN to allow users to route internet traffic through other devices over encrypted private tunnels. Meshnet enables users to create their NordVPN server made up of only their own or their friends' devices, regardless of their location.

This revolutionary feature opens up broad new possibilities for NordVPN users, including secure sharing of unlimited-size documents and media files that maintain their quality. Also with this feature, gamers can create and join LAN parties, and any user can access and use other devices and software remotely.

Threat Protection's proven benefits

NordVPN's Threat Protection security solution, which is designed to defend users from everyday online cyber threats like malware and trackers, has proved its efficiency and shown undeniable benefits for users.

Research shows that NordVPN's Threat Protection feature blocked 344M trackers, 341M intrusive ads, and 506K malware infections in the month of December 2022 alone.

Similarly to an antivirus, Threat Protection secures users by scanning files before they download, identifying threats, and blocking them before they harm devices.

Commitment to privacy

NordVPN proved its commitment to users' privacy by undergoing its third no-log policy assurance engagement . It was conducted by Deloitte, an industry-leading Big Four auditing firm, which independently examined NordVPN's procedures and the configurations of its standard VPN, obfuscated, Double VPN, Onion Over VPN, and P2P servers. It also conducted a central infrastructure inspection.

Birthday discounts

To provide digital confidence to a broader audience of internet users, NordVPN has launched a birthday campaign. From February 8, every buyer purchasing NordVPN's 2-year plan gets a 63% discount and extra subscription time of 3 months or 1 year.

For more information about birthday deals, see https://nordvpn.com/

SOURCE NordVPN
#AgendaPresidencial

Reunion con miembros de la organizacion Amnistia Internacional pic.twitter.com/3cDrHIVLyw
The Ultimate in Luxurious Small Ship Experiences Meets Glacier Adventures, Wildlife Encounters & Gold Rush Towns on Seven- to 20-Day Voyages Between May and September 2023

MIAMI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oceania Cruises , the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line, offers an abundance of immersive experiences in "The Last Frontier," embedding travelers in the fabric of Alaska's local communities. Sailing from Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, travelers looking to go beyond the typical tourist sights and discover unique perspectives on local cultures and cuisines have 14 departures to choose from between May and September 2023 aboard the 656-guest Regatta.

Credit: Oceania Cruises Credit: Oceania Cruises

With more than 250 tours and excursions offered in Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Wrangell and beyond, the 49th state offers plentiful opportunities for exciting glacial explorations, authentic culinary classes, native tribal site visits, craft beer tastings, national park excursions and an opportunity to savor the region's beguiling natural beauty. Through Oceania Cruises' Go Local tour series, guests can participate in exclusive small group excursions to experience destinations on an entirely new level. Here adventurers are welcomed into local homes and businesses and immersed in the local way of life to learn about and dive into generations-old traditions.

Travelers booking this month can save even more on these once-in-a-lifetime experiences with Oceania Cruises' 20th Anniversary Sale, featuring free shore excursions or a free beverage package or free shipboard credit plus a special bonus gift of up to $800 shipboard credit per suite or stateroom on a raft of scintillating Alaska itineraries.

"We're delighted to offer our guests a fresh perspective of Alaska, one filled with touching personal moments connecting with nature, people and cuisine," stated Frank A. Del Rio, President of Oceania Cruises. "The innate beauty of our small ships, especially in a destination like Alaska aboard our intimate Regatta, allows guests access to small ports and remote harbors not offered by others."

Destination Highlights

Untouched and full of wildlife, Klawock is the Alaska that seasoned travelers yearn to experience. In 2023, Oceania Cruises will be the very first cruise line to call on this port. The town has been a native Tlingit village for thousands of years and features one of the most extensive collections of totems in the world.

Once a Tlingit Native American stronghold, then a Russian outpost, and finally an American settlement in 1867, Wrangell has endured dramatic change and honors it. In Wrangell, explorers can learn the daily happenings of a local from an Alaskan guide, fishing for traditional catches such as salmon and halibut, and discovering the native Tlingit's influence on the community.

Adventures abound in Juneau, where thrill-seekers can go glacier-trekking on Mendenhall Glacier or even sea-kayaking through the coastal waterways traveled for centuries by the Aleut Native Americans. Foodies will enjoy the "Flavors of Juneau" shore excursion with a visit to the Alaskan Brewing Company and Chez Alaska Cooking School.

Enjoy local beers in Skagway following a day of rock climbing and rappelling down steep granite cliffs or an afternoon soaring the skies in a helicopter. For a more relaxed adventure, take a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad and marvel at the trail that the gold rushers etched into the high mountain pass.

Icy Strait Point offers ample opportunities to explore the unspoiled wilderness all around. Search for bears, deer and bald eagles in their natural habitat in the remote Spasski River Valley outside of Hoonah. Get immersed in Tlingit culture, song and storytelling at the Heritage Center or embark on an adrenaline-fueled ZipRider experience on the world's largest zip line.

In Ketchikan, join the captain and crew for an extraordinary journey of discovery on the Aleutian Ballad, the storied crab boat from Discovery Network's "Deadliest Catch." Or guests can partake in a personalized fishing expedition where their catch is prepared by a personal chef as the main course of a gourmet lunch, served around a crackling campfire amidst the centuries-old Alaska rainforest.

Go deep-sea sport fishing for salmon in Sitka. Visit the world-famous Alaska Raptor Center, one of the largest rehabilitation centers for injured eagles, hawks, falcons and owls, and witness the magnificence of sea otters, whales, sea lions, porpoises and brown bears on a "Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest" shore excursion.

Shipboard Highlights

Oceania Cruises' sleek and elegant Regatta features four unique, open-seating restaurants serving The Finest Cuisine at Sea, a world-class fitness center and spa, eight lounges and bars, a casino and 333 lavish suites and luxurious staterooms, nearly 70% of which feature private verandas  perfect for viewing Alaska's stunning landscapes. The ship's intimate size allows for immersive experiences in every port that dig deep into the local people, culture and cuisine. Regatta can also call in ports like Wrangell and Prince Rupert that larger ships do not, providing up-close views of Sawyer and Hubbard Glaciers and access to the astounding beauty of Tracy Arm Fjord.

Voyage Highlights

Glitz to Glaciers : 12 days from Los Angeles to Vancouver visiting San Francisco, Astoria, Klawock, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Ketchikan. Departs May 18.

Alaska Adventures & Landscapes : 10 days from Vancouver to Seattle visiting Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan and Victoria. Departs on May 30.

Gold Rush, Glaciers & Wildlife : 10 days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Sitka, Juneau, Klawock and Victoria. Departs June 23.

Wildlife & Frontiers : 11 days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Klawock, Prince Rupert and Victoria. Departs July 3.

Wildlife & Wonders : Seven days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Wrangell, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria. Departs July 14.

Alaska & British Columbia Array : 11 days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Icy Strait Point, Wrangell, Prince Rupert and Victoria. Departs July 21.

Stunning Scenery : Seven days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka and Victoria. Departs August 1.

Dazzling Alaska : 10 days from Seattle to Seattle visiting Klawock, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria. Departs August 8.

Radiant Alaska : 10 days from Seattle to Vancouver visiting Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Victoria. Departs August 28

Alaska & California Treasures: 20 days from Vancouver to Los Angeles visiting Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Prince Rupert, Victoria, Astoria, Los Angeles, Catalina Island, San Francisco and Ensenada. Departs September 7.

For more information about Oceania Cruises, visit our website here , call 855-OCEANIA (855-623-2642) or contact a professional Travel Advisor.

About Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises is the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line. The line's seven small, luxurious ships carry a maximum of 1,238 guests and feature the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. Expertly curated travel experiences aboard the designer-inspired, small ships call on more than 600 marquee and boutique ports in more than 100 countries on 7 continents on voyages that range from 7 to more than 200 days. The brand has a second 1,200-guest newbuild, Allura, on order for delivery in 2025. With headquarters in Miami, Oceania Cruises is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., a diversified cruise operator of leading global cruise brands which include Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) is a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. With a combined fleet of 29 ships with over 60,000 berths, these brands offer itineraries to approximately 500 destinations worldwide. The Company has eight additional ships scheduled for delivery across its three brands.

SOURCE Oceania Cruises
The launch closes a gap in current consulting offerings.

DALLAS and BERLIN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Credera, Smart Digital, and Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG) announced the launch of Credera Deutschland today in Germany. With this first footprint in the European mainland, Credera is continuing its impressive expansion path with year-over-year revenue growth, geographic expansion, and strategic acquisitions. Credera Deutschland will be a joint venture between Credera and OPMGs Smart Digital, a company specializing in digital technologies, intelligent automation, and data-driven marketing.

Credera Deutschland fills a gap in the German markets demand. Leaders across functions and industries are focused on digital transformation to maintain customer relevancy. Credera's consulting model avoids the pitfalls of creating ideas or a strategy without considering the critical operational execution of the strategy. Implementation, automation, and organizational change are essential parts of a successful digital transformation. Credera has successfully proven to be the partner that delivers this capability in numerous global enterprise engagements.

"The entrance of Credera into the German market is perfectly positioned to drive real customer value," says Thomas Vogt. Tweet this

Crederas unique and valuable working model has helped companies gain efficiencies and transform their businesses across strategy, transformation, data, and technology to meet modern consumers' and businesses' expectations.

Justin Bell, Global CEO of Credera, said, "The launch of Credera in Germany is an exciting step for us. We will now be able to serve global and local clients with our successful working model, unlocking the next level of impact for those clients."

Credera Deutschland will be managed by Thomas Vogt, who will lead the consulting firm and continue to lead Smart Digital as CEO. Christian Weber, currently COO of Smart Digital, will be heading Credera Deutschland as Managing Director. "The entrance of Credera into the German market is perfectly positioned to drive real customer value from strategy through to execution," says Thomas Vogt, Credera Deutschland and Smart Digital CEO.

Luke Taylor, CEO of Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG), explains the relevancy of this step for the network, "Credera Deutschland brings our rapidly growing consulting brand to Germany, a critical market for Omnicom. The deep data science knowledge of Smart Digital together with Crederas digital transformation and consulting expertise is our recipe to succeed in Germany." Luke also points out the ambition to ramp up Credera Deutschland to 500 employees in various locations in the next 2 to 3 years.

ABOUT SMART DIGITAL

Smart Digital (smart-digital.de) is an innovative consulting and services firm specializing in offering enterprise-wide AI-based services for user-centered real-time personalization. The company specializes in developing, implementing, and operating client-specific data-driven marketing solutions. Customers of Smart Digital include leading automotive companies, supporting their markets in more than 35 countries. The company also works for leading healthcare, pharma, and insurance businesses.

ABOUT CREDERA

Credera is a global boutique consulting firm that creates measurable results at the intersection of strategy, data, transformation, and technology. Credera and our network of affiliated companies work with the best companies in the world, from strategy through execution, to serve clients globally through our offices in 16 countries. Credera's deep business acumen and technical expertise, combined with a true dedication to building trusted relationships, unlocks remarkable performance for our clients. Our mission is to make an extraordinary impact on our clients, our people, and our communities. Visit us at www.credera.com .

ABOUT OMNICOM PRECISION MARKETING GROUP

Omnicom Precision Marketing Group aligns Omnicom's global digital, data and CRM capabilities to deliver precisely targeted and meaningful customer experiences at scale. Using its universal framework of connected data, connected intelligence and connected experiences, OPMG provides services that include data-driven product / service design, AdTech / MarTech strategy and implementation, CRM / loyalty strategy and activation, econometric and attribution modeling and digital experience design and development. At the core of these services is Omni, a marketing orchestration system that combines a powerful cultural insights engine with massively scaled data from first-, second-, and third-party sources to deliver a single view of consumers and better intelligence and outcomes for our clients.

ABOUT OMNICOM GROUP

Omnicom Group (omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations, and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 70 countries.

SOURCE Credera
LONDON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OnDot Media, a leading global technology media company, launches three new technology-focused publications. The new publications, Talk MarTech, Talk FinTech & TalkDev, caters to industry-specific business & IT Leaders and enthusiasts.

OnDot Media is a London-based, performance-driven organization committed to making a meaningful impact. OnDot Media aims to enable B2B brands to engage with IT and Business audiences.

"We are excited to expand our existing portfolio by launching three new publications. Our vision is simple, and we aim to create platforms where business & IT leaders discuss, learn and share ideashelping them better their organizations' efficiencies. The content curated in our new publications will enable business leaders to stay updated with the latest industry-specific technologies & trends," says Sameer Datta, CEO OnDot Media.

Bridging the gap between technology and users

With the ever-expanding technology landscape. Businesses today need to integrate tools and technologies into the IT infrastructure to stay ahead of the curve. Implementing the right technology and strategies is an ongoing challenge for business and IT leaders. OnDot Media aims to help leaders make informed decisions.

OnDot Media has been running leading technology publications on IT, IT security, and marketing. The new publications aim to focus on industry-specific trends and innovation and foster meaningful conversations.

TalkMarTech keeps marketing leaders updated with the newest technology innovations, disruptive tech initiatives, and the most relevant MarTech-stack updates and conversations across the globe.

TalkDev is a repository for software developers and technology enthusiasts to keep up with the latest and most relevant topics and news in terms of blogs, articles, and news views, as well as conversations with software and development industry experts.

TalkFintech is focused on the latest financial sector technologies and tools- covering all tech used by banks, investors, insurance, and wealth management sectors- and also conversations on retail financial management tools.

The brand currently has three media properties - TalkCMO, Enterprise Talk, and IT Security Wire.

The editorial team of OnDot Media leverages its vast experience to curate content that business, marketing, development, and finance veterans & leaders consume to stay updated and relevant in the industry.

About OnDot Media

OnDot Media is a trusted and dependable growth partner specializing in content, content dissemination, digital marketing, and multi-channel outreach. We create quality content to share knowledge, generate trust and forge strong relationships with our clients.

OnDot reaches millions of readers monthly across its brands in more than 150 countries. With a physical presence in over eight countries and multiple centers worldwide.

For more information, connect with:

Kanika Goswami

[email protected]

866-366-6368

SOURCE ODM
OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stilo Corporation (https://www.stilo.com) is thrilled to announce that the management team, comprised of Bryan Tipper (CEO) and Jackson Klein (CTO), have acquired 100% of Stilo Corporation's shares.

The acquisition transfers all IP, trademarks, and customer contracts as it relates to Stilo's suite of software products:

Bryan Tipper, CEO https://www.stilo.com/leadership/ Jackson Klein, CTO https://www.stilo.com/leadership/

OmniMark: A well-established development platform used to build high-performance content processing applications integral to enterprise publishing solutions.

Migrate: An automated cloud XML content conversion tool enabling organizations to improve turnaround times, reduce operating costs, and take direct control of their work schedules.

OptimizeR: A tool to help automate the deduplication of DITA content, improve content consistency, and help maximize the opportunity for content reuse.

Analyzer: An interactive platform that enables users to identify content reuse across multiple source formats, pinpoint potential cost savings, and generate compelling and detailed graphical reports.

"We were presented with an amazing opportunity of making Stilo Corporation into a Canadian-owned private company and giving it access to the many programs, tools, and opportunities provided by the Canadian government," says Bryan Tipper, CEO. "Our entire staff is already based out of Canada, so this is a very logical direction for the company to take."

With the change in ownership structure, Stilo Corporation will be able to significantly reduce corporate overheads and reinvest these savings into new product development.

"We have an incredibly skilled team with many exciting projects already lined up, and with access to new funding we will be able to accelerate these initiatives," says Jackson Klein, CTO. "As a leader in structured XML, we continue to pursue and advance innovation to provide our customers with best-in-class solutions."

About Stilo Corporation

Stilo develops tools to help organizations automate the conversion of content to XML and build XML content processing components integral to enterprise-level publishing solutions. Operating from Canada, Stilo supports commercial publishers, technology companies and government agencies around the world in their pursuit of structured content. For more information, visit https://www.stilo.com/about.

Media Contact

Bryan Tipper

+1 (613) 745 4242

[email protected]

Related Links

https://www.stilo.com/about/

https://www.stilo.com/leadership/

https://www.stilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/profile_pic-uai-720x735.jpg

https://www.stilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Jackson_9_2021_ID-uai-720x713.jpg

SOURCE Stilo Corporation
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Paessler AG, the monitoring experts, today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized two of its North American channel leaders, Mike Gonzalez and Peter Campisi, on its 2023 Channel Chiefs list. Every year, this list honors the IT channel executives who work tirelessly to advance the channel agenda and deliver successful channel partner programs and strategies.

Mike Gonzalez, vice president of sales and marketing, Americas, Paessler Peter Campisi, Regional Manager, Channel Sales, North America, Paessler, Inc.

Mike Gonzalez, who joined Paessler in November of 2021, is the company's vice president, sales & marketing for the Americas. He realigned Paessler's sales teams to more closely work with their most active partners to better understand where growth opportunities lie, allowing them to bring more value to those partners. He is focused on Paessler's sustained growth and increased product functionality to respond to the needs of channel partners' diverse requirements. Paessler's share of the enterprise market in North and South America has continued to grow under Gonzalez' leadership by helping new partners discover PRTG's capabilities, especially in monitoring large IT infrastructures.

Peter Campisi, who was also named a Channel Chief in 2022, leads Paessler's North American channel strategy. As regional manager, channel sales, North America, he is responsible for strengthening the company's relationships with its distributors and its channel and alliance partners. He helps partners be more successful expanding into new vertical markets, streamlines opportunities to position Paessler's channel team for growth, and helps to alleviate gaps in the market for monitoring solutions, going beyond traditional technology monitoring as the convergence of IT/OT and Industrial IoT becomes more prevalent. Campisi has helped grow Paessler's large-scale licenses to better serve the needs of channel partners who address enterprise-level monitoring for their clients. Campisi has been with Paessler for more than six years.

"Mike and Peter both exemplify the incredible drive and passion required to help Paessler's channel partners be as successful as possible in creating and expanding services through monitoring, resulting in sustainable recurring revenue streams," said Helmut Binder, CEO, Paessler AG. "We are incredibly proud of the work they both have done to not only strengthen our North American channel sales teams, but also how they have positioned PRTG as a must-have solution for any channel partner, regardless of their size, vertical or business focus. We appreciate CRN's recognition of their accomplishments."

The 2023 Channel Chiefs have helped their solution provider partners and customers navigate an increasingly complex landscape of interconnected challenges and shifting industry dynamics. With the innovative strategies, programs, and partnerships of these Channel Chiefs in place, the solution provider community has continued to thrive.

The 2023 CRN Channel Chiefs were selected by the editorial staff based on their record of business innovation and dedication to the partner community. This year's list represents the top IT executives responsible for building a robust channel ecosystem.

"Once again, this year's list gives well-deserved recognition to the IT Channel Chiefs who are dedicated to driving the channel agenda and advocating for the development of strong channel partnerships," said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. "Under their exceptional leadership, influence, and innovation, the IT channel vendor community continues to deliver solutions and services that meet the rapidly evolving needs of their solution provider partners and their customers."

The 2023 CRN Channel Chiefs list will be featured in the February 2023 issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/ChannelChiefs.

About Paessler AG

Paessler believes monitoring plays a vital part in reducing humankind's consumption of resources. Monitoring data helps its customers save resources, from optimizing their IT, OT and IoT infrastructures to reducing energy consumption or emissions  for our future and our environment. That is why Paessler offers monitoring solutions for businesses across all industries and all sizes, from SMB to large enterprises. Paessler works with renowned partners, and together they tackle the monitoring challenges of an ever-changing world.

Since 1997, when Paessler first introduced PRTG Network Monitor, it has combined its in-depth monitoring knowledge with an innovative spirit. Today, more than 500,000 users in over 170 countries rely on PRTG and other Paessler solutions to monitor their complex IT, OT and IoT infrastructures. Paessler's products empower its customers to monitor everything, and thus help them optimize their resources.

Learn more about Paessler and their products at https://www.paessler.com/.

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 unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter , LinkedIn, and Facebook .

 2023 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Paessler AG - The Monitoring Experts
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pangea Natural Foods Inc. (CSE: PNGA) (OTC: PNGAF) ("Pangea" or the "Company"), is a manufacturer, co-packer, and distributor of high-quality food products that are nutritious and free of GMO ingredients, fillers, antibiotics, hormones, and bioengineered ingredients.

Headquartered in Surrey, British Columbia, Pangea manufactures its entire product line at an in-house facility approved by both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Pangea offers a broad portfolio of innovative healthy food products that are sustainably sourced, including Plant-Based Patties, vegan patties made of pea-protein and Old Fashioned Ghee, a grass-fed, organic, clarified butter sourced from New Zealand. Recently, the Company also introduced vegan Chikken Nuggets and Munchie Mix, a superfood rich snack made with dried cranberries, yogurt chips, roasted cashews, almonds and pumpkin seeds.

The global organic food and beverage market was valued at US$188.35B in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% from 2022 to 2030. One of the primary factors driving market expansion is growing awareness about the health benefits associated with the consumption of organic products.

Under, the leadership of CEO, Pratap Sandhu, Pangea is now distributed online and through more than 250 retail outlets across Canada and the United States including Loblaws, IGA, Save-on-Foods, Fresh Street Market, Sobeys, H Mart, and Urban Fare.

"Our entire team is incredibly proud of the speed at which Pangea's products have been introduced into top retailers across Canada and the United States. This is a testament of the quality of Pangea's growing line of products." Sandhu continues, "As we continue to grow our product line and team, we are focused on innovating and bringing new products to the market and also working tirelessly to build new relationships with grocers across North America to make our products easily accessible."

Prior to founding Pangea, Sandhu studied marketing and sales at BCIT. As an entrepreneur with extensive experience in food manufacturing and distribution, he began his career at Prabu Sweets, a high-quality manufacturer of sweets. Prabu Sweets started in 2001 with only two employees. Over two decades later, they now employ over 50 employees dedicated to creating "mithai" treats which are sold around the world.

Supporting Sandhu in the growth and strategic direction of Pangea is Nashir Virani, CEO of First Choice Foods. Virani, who recently joined Pangea as a Director, has a long history in the food manufacturing industry. In 1979 Nashir started "Golden Boy Foods", which focused on the coffee industry. Quickly, Golden Boy Foods grew to a wholesaler of nuts and dried fruit. Nashir remained the CEO of Golden Boy Foods until 2005 when it was sold to Kraft for US$500 million.

About Pangea Natural Foods Inc.

Pangea Natural Foods Inc. is a food manufacturing company focused on manufacturing, co-packing and distributing high quality plant-based food products across North America.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

(signed) "Pratap Sandhu"

Pratap Sandhu

CEO, Corporate Secretary and Director

For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.pangeafood.com or contact:

Pangea Natural Foods Inc.

Pratap Sandhu, Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +1 (604) 765-8069

Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements and information that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the Company's plans to expand distribution of its products throughout North America and expectations regarding the Company's growth. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends," "anticipates," "it is expected," or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "should," or "would" occur.

Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analyses made by management of the Company and the opinions and estimates of management of the Company as of the date of this news release, including that the Company will be able to widen the distribution of its products in North America and that the Company's business will grow. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to them, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors may include, among others, that the Company will not be able to expand its distribution network, and the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company and the business of the Company as set forth in the Company's final long form prospectus dated June 20, 2022 and its other disclosure available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com .

There can be no assurance that the transactions contemplated in this news release will complete. 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 intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. We seek safe harbor.

SOURCE Pangea Natural Foods Inc.
Company grows its team globally including two key hires of Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Growth Officer

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pixability, (www.pixability.com), a leader in contextual targeting, brand suitability and contextual insights for YouTube and other leading connected TV (CTV) platforms, today announced that it closed 2022 with its third straight year of record revenue. The growth was driven by growing CTV and YouTube capabilities and offerings, including expanded data solutions that resulted in a 70% increase in Saas revenue.

"While 2022 brought many macroeconomic challenges for the ad industry, we were able to leverage our proprietary technology and data to capitalize on the increased demand for CTV and YouTube advertising as dollars continued to shift away from traditional TV," said David George, CEO of Pixability. "I'm extremely proud of our global team and the product innovations we rolled out to fuel this growth."

The company has also made a number of key hires, including recently adding Scott Klein as Chief Innovation Officer. Klein now oversees all product and engineering at the company, coming to Pixability from Encortex where he was VP/Engineering after previously holding senior roles at leading ad tech companies including Mavenir, Jumptap, FusionOne and Verizon. Brian Quinn was also hired as Chief Growth Officer earlier in the year as the company grew its global staff including an increase of over 50% in its European teams.

"I'm thrilled to be part of the Pixability team, helping to fuel growth in the burgeoning CTV and YouTube marketplaces," commented Klein. "As dollars shift from linear to these platforms, Pixability is ensuring maximum return on these investments, solving critical industry problems like suitability, efficiency and transparencyand the market is responding."

Other 2022 company company highlights include:

Launching a first-of-its-kind CTV brand suitability solution

Named to Inc 5000 and the Boston Business Journal Fast 50 for the 8th consecutive year

Eighth consecutive year as the exclusive data insights provider for AdBlitz, YouTube's Super Bowl ad program

Selected again as a Google Premier Partner, recognizing Pixability as one of the top 3% of partners nationwide.

About Pixability

Pixability is a technology and data company that empowers the world's largest brands and their agencies to maximize the value of video advertising on YouTube, YouTube CTV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Hulu. The company's industry-leading optimization and insights solutions are independently verified by the YouTube Measurement Program, DoubleVerify, Oracle Data Cloud's Moat Measurement, Integral Ad Science and other third parties. Pixability's suite of solutions are used by the top media agencies and brands including Dentsu, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Publicis, and GroupM, as well as Swatch, Bose, KIND, Jack in the Box, and Puma. For more information about Pixability, please visit www.pixability.com .

SOURCE Pixability
HAMPTON, N.H., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet Fitness, one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers with more members than any other fitness brand, today announced it has been recognized on the Forbes list of America's Best Employers 2023 in the Midsize Employers Travel & Leisure category. Of the 3,500 companies that were considered, Planet Fitness is one of 500 in the midsize employer category recognized this year for building a working environment that their employees would recommend. This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

"It is an honor to be recognized on Forbes' list of America's Best Employers," said Kathy Gentilozzi, Chief People Officer of Planet Fitness. "We are extremely proud of the culture of belonging and inclusivity that we foster at Planet Fitness, and of the shared passion among our team members to improve people's lives through fitness. Our team members are inspired by our purpose and mission, and we are incredibly grateful for all they do in our clubs each and every day to create a welcoming, non-intimidating fitness environment where everyone feels comfortable regardless of their fitness level."

Forbes and Statista selected the America's Best Employers 2023 List through an independent survey of approximately 45,000 Americans working for companies with more than 1,000 employees in America. The evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees who were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family.

The awards list can be viewed on the Forbes website, here. As of December 31, 2022, Planet Fitness had approximately 17.0 million members and 2,410 locations.

About Planet Fitness

Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness is one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the United States by number of members and locations. As of December 31, 2022, Planet Fitness had approximately 17.0 million members and 2,410 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico and Australia. The Company's mission is to enhance people's lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment, which we call the Judgement Free Zone. Approximately 90 percent of Planet Fitness stores are owned and operated by independent business men and women.

SOURCE Planet Fitness, Inc.
DUBLIN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Southeast Asia Footwear Industry 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The development of the footwear industry in Southeast Asian countries varies greatly. According to the publisher's analysis, with Singapore's industrial transformation and rising labor costs, the footwear industry has largely shifted to neighboring countries, with only a handful of shoemakers making shoes by hand. With cheap labor and land costs, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia are the main exporters of footwear products in Southeast Asia. At present, Vietnam has become the second largest exporter of footwear in the world, exporting over 1 billion pairs of shoes to hundreds of countries and regions worldwide every year.



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.



Overall, the overall market size of the footwear industry in Southeast Asian countries has shown an upward trend in recent years, especially the sustained economic growth in Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia, which has boosted the market demand of the footwear industry.



According to the publisher's forecast, the footwear industry in Southeast Asia will maintain growth from 2023-2032. On the one hand, lower labor costs in Southeast Asian countries will prompt global footwear producers to shift production capacity to these regions. On the other hand, rising market demand in Southeast Asian footwear industry will prompt global footwear producers to increase exports to these countries.



Topics covered:

Southeast Asia Footwear Industry Status and Major Sources in 2018-2022

What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Southeast Asia Footwear Industry?

Which Companies are the Major Players in Southeast Asia Footwear Industry Market and What are their Competitive Benchmarks?

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Southeast Asia Footwear Industry

What are the Key Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities for Southeast Asia Footwear Industry during 2023-2032?

What is the Expected Revenue of Southeast Asia Footwear 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 Footwear Industry Market?

Which Segment of Southeast Asia Footwear Industry is Expected to Dominate the Market in 2032?

What are the Major Adverse Factors Facing Southeast Asia Footwear Industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Analysis of the Footwear Industry in Singapore

1.1 Singapore's Footwear 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 Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

1.2.1 Singapore Footwear Industry Production Status

1.2.2 Singapore Footwear Industry Sales Status

1.2.3 Singapore Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

1.3 Analysis of Major Processing and Trading Companies of Singapore Footwear



2 Analysis of Thailand Footwear Industry

2.1 Development Environment of Thailand Footwear Industry

2.1.1 Geography

2.1.2 Population

2.1.3 Economy

2.1.4 Thailand Manufacturing Minimum Wage

2.2 Thailand Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

2.2.1 Thailand Footwear Industry Production Status

2.2.2 Thailand Footwear Industry Sales Status

2.2.3 Thailand Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

2.3 Major Processing and Trading Companies of Thailand Footwear



3 Analysis of the Philippine Footwear Industry

3.1 Philippine Footwear Industry Development Environment

3.1.1 Geography

3.1.2 Population

3.1.3 Economy

3.1.4 Philippines Manufacturing Minimum Wage

3.2 Philippine Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

3.2.1 Production Status of Footwear Industry in the Philippines

3.2.2 Philippines Footwear Industry Sales Status

3.2.3 Philippine Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

3.3 Major Processing and Trading Companies of Footwear in Philippines



4 Malaysia Footwear Industry Analysis

4.1 Malaysia Footwear 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 Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

4.2.1 Malaysia Footwear Industry Production Status

4.2.2 Malaysia Footwear Industry Sales Status

4.2.3 Malaysia Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

4.3 Major Processing and Trading Companies of Footwear in Malaysia



5 Indonesia Footwear Industry Analysis

5.1 Development Environment of Indonesia Footwear Industry

5.1.1 Geography

5.1.2 Population

5.1.3 Economy

5.1.4 Indonesia Manufacturing Minimum Wage

5.2 Indonesia Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

5.2.1 Indonesia Footwear Industry Production Status

5.2.2 Indonesia Footwear Industry Sales Status

5.2.3 Indonesia Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

5.3 Major Processing and Trading Companies of Indonesia Footwear



6 Vietnam Footwear Industry Analysis

6.1 Development Environment of Vietnam's Footwear industry

6.1.1 Geography

6.1.2 Population

6.1.3 Economy

6.1.4 Minimum Wage of Vietnam Manufacturing Industry

6.2 Vietnam Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

6.2.1 Vietnam Footwear Industry Production Situation

6.2.2 Vietnam Footwear Industry Sales Status

6.2.3 Import and Export Status of Vietnam Footwear Industry

6.3 Major Processing and Trading Enterprises of Vietnam Footwear



7 Analysis of Myanmar Footwear Industry

7.1 Development Environment of Myanmar Footwear Industry

7.1.1 Geography

7.1.2 Population

7.1.3 Economy

7.1.4 Myanmar Manufacturing Minimum Wage

7.2 Myanmar Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

7.2.1 Myanmar Footwear Industry Production Status

7.2.2 Myanmar Footwear Industry Sales Status

7.2.3 Import and Export Status of Myanmar Footwear Industry

7.3 Major Processing and Trading Enterprises of Footwear in Myanmar



8 Brunei Footwear Industry Analysis

8.1 Brunei Footwear Industry Development Environment

8.1.1 Geography

8.1.2 Population

8.1.3 Economy

8.1.4 Brunei Manufacturing Minimum Wage

8.2 Brunei Footwear Industry Operation 2018-2022

8.2.1 Brunei Footwear Industry Production Status

8.2.2 Brunei Footwear Industry Sales Status

8.2.3 Import and Export Status of Brunei Footwear Industry

8.3 Major Processing and Trading Enterprises of Brunei Footwear



9 Analysis of the Footwear Industry in Laos

9.1 Development Environment of Laos Footwear Industry

9.1.1 Geography

9.1.2 Population

9.1.3 Economy

9.1.4 Minimum Wage of Manufacturing Industry in Laos

9.2 Operation of the Footwear Industry in Laos 2018-2022

9.2.1 Production Status of the Footwear Industry in Laos

9.2.2 Laos Footwear Industry Sales Status

9.2.3 Import and Export Status of Laos Footwear Industry

9.3 Major Processing and Trading Enterprises of Laos Footwear



10 Cambodia Footwear Industry Analysis

10.1 Development Environment of Cambodia Footwear 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 Footwear Industry Operation Status 2018-2022

10.2.1 Cambodia Footwear Industry Production Status

10.2.2 Cambodia Footwear Industry Sales Status

10.2.3 Cambodia Footwear Industry Import and Export Status

10.3 Major Processing and Trading Enterprises of Footwear in Cambodia



11 Southeast Asia Footwear Industry Outlook 2023-2032

11.1 Southeast Asia Footwear Industry Development Influencing Factors Analysis

11.1.1 Favorable Factors

11.1.2 Unfavorable Factors

11.2 Southeast Asia Footwear Industry Supply Forecast 2023-2032

11.3 Southeast Asia Footwear Market Demand Forecast 2023-2032

11.4 Impact of COVID -19 Epidemic on Footwear Industry



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/roq3he-report?w=5

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SOURCE Research and Markets
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The co-founder and CEO at Wakie Hrachik Adjamian unveiled his new startup  b4.

b4 (before you meet) is designed to solve the absence of personal communication between participants during online events.

Described as the new ultimate networking tool, b4 allows you to get matched with other participants of an event, have a quick look at their info such as their company, specialties, experiences, and proceed to a voice talk if interested, among others.

After the COVID-19 pandemic everything became online, a new market emerged, many products designed for online events and meetings were created. People value interaction while participating in nearly all meetings, but they say that the quality and experience is poor in the case of online meetings. We decided to offer a solution that would give people this value of interaction in the online option as well. After a lot of research, we found the required model, Adjamian told ARMENPRESS in an interview.

b4 allows you to use event-specified ice-breaker questions to make your talk even better and easily build your own network circle and keep in touch with every partner you have talked to.

One of the problems in conferences is that many people are introverts and find it difficult to approach someone they dont know. The app offers a solution for this too.

Offline meetings attract people, but online ones dont. We plan to develop this direction and make it interesting, and we know what is needed for this. Theres a lot of need to interact with people in business. People need people. We must develop and become that solution. Theres Google, and now also chatGPT, which gives answers to all your questions, but in any case people will always have the desire to interact with others. We must solve this problem. Were starting from this now, but we have a higher mission, Adjamian said.

b4 was founded just a few months ago but already garnered pre-seed investment. The startup hasnt yet officially entered the market but it has been used to organize around 30 events.

Karine Terteryan
RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys Darren Dawson and Gene Riddle of the North Carolina personal injury law firm Riddle & Brantley are pleased to announce a $2.9 million settlement in favor of our client who was seriously injured while riding his motorcycle. In our nearly 40 years representing motorcycle accident victims, this victory was particularly hard fought. We are thrilled for our client to see justice done after his painful ordeal.

Motorcycle riders suffer catastrophic injuries in the hands of negligent drivers.

The key to this case was preparation. After being hit by a passenger vehicle, our client sustained serious spinal, leg, and internal injuries requiring lengthy treatment, partial amputation of his foot, and spinal fusion. Pain and suffering notwithstanding, he also incurred approximately $400,000 in medical expenses. To demonstrate the enormous impact of his injuries, we prepared a day-in-the-life video detailing the difficulties of his daily life. We also prepared a life care plan outlining his future medical care and costs. The settlement was achieved in mediation.

Riddle & Brantley are undeterred by insurance companies who attempt to escape liability by blaming the motorcycle-riding victims. There is no legal standard that presumes rider negligence in a collision with a motor vehicle. In fact, our experience tells us that motorcycle accidents are more often caused by the failure of negligent drivers to share the road and pay attention to their surroundings.

As founder and managing partner of Riddle & Brantley, attorney Gene Riddle has said, "When a vehicle hits a motorcycle, the rider too often loses despite any evidence of liability. We want to help these riders obtain maximum compensation for their life-altering injuries."

Over the years, our firm has seen motorcycle victims suffer multiple limb fractures, internal organ ruptures, quadriplegia, and even death. Recovering from these injuries may require multiple surgeries, continuing therapy, and lifelong care. Returning to work is often a serious setback that may prove impossible. It is vital that victims get the representation and compensation they deserve.

Victims of motorcycle and other motor vehicle accidents are always welcome to call Riddle & Brantley for a free legal evaluation.

*** Disclaimer: The results mentioned do not guarantee a similar outcome, and they should not be construed to constitute a promise or guarantee of a particular result in any particular case. Every case is different, and the outcome depends on the unique facts and circumstances of the case.

SOURCE Riddle & Brantley
CCJ awards shine light on excellence in trucking technology and innovation

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Roadrunner, transportation's greatest comeback story, today announced its recognition as a "2022 Innovator" by Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) at their recent Innovators Summit in Key Largo, FL, for the company's originality in tackling trucking's challenges. CCJ's exclusive fleet networking and education summit provides a forum for thought leaders in trucking to share ideas and examine issues facing the industry.

"Roadrunner was recognized for its development of technology solutions, like its Haul Now platform, to lead the reinvention of its business and create a centralized platform for all shipping activities for small and medium-sized LTL shippers," said Jason Cannon, Chief Editor at Commercial Carrier Journal. "Slashing transit times by upwards of 4 days, while growing the overall business and still offering full visibility of shipments to all stakeholders, is no small feat."

"I am so proud of our Roadrunner team for this recognition of their hard work," said Tomasz Jamroz, Head of Technology, Operations and Linehaul at Roadrunner. "It truly speaks to our unfaltering commitment to innovation in everything we do from the technology in our operations to how we manage our drivers and our people. We've created an innovative Smart Network, built an outstanding team and brought in experts from other industries. Supported by Machine Learning and AI, we integrated and developed our Smart Technology that fits and enhances our revamped processes. Our new Haul Now App is one tech piece embraced immediately by our drivers who were an integral part of the development and testing phases."

"As our company rebuilt and reestablished itself, starting in 2020, through a more efficient network, faster transit times, and added technology to improve visibility and operational fluidity, we've become an innovative LTL platform delivering quality service," said Nathalie de Champlain, CMO and Advisor to CEO at Roadrunner. "Congratulations to all the recipients for their outstanding achievements and impressive commitments to innovation. For Roadrunner to receive this industry recognition is a true honor."

The Roadrunner team utilizes proprietary optimization technology to build direct loads and eliminate rehandling. This ensures customers' freight runs over the road (and rail-free) via the most direct route possible with minimal handling by their expert team members. Roadrunner's on-time pickup and delivery percentages are industry-leading, and their customers report less than 1% exceptions on freight delivery.

Roadrunner recently sped up service in 130 lanes by 1-4 days which translated to over 12 million zip code combinations. The company was recognized by Newsweek as one of America's most trustworthy companies and awarded Most Improved LTL Carrier by Mastio. Roadrunner has received several service quality awards from multiple shippers, most recently the Elite Carrier Award from Total Quality Logistics (TQL).

About CCJ Innovators

Commercial Carrier Journal's Innovators program recognizes trucking operations that have demonstrated true innovation in trucking management. The editors of CCJ select finalists, one of which will be named Innovator of the Year and featured in a CCJ cover story. Other finalists will be featured monthly throughout the year. CCJ is a national leading business magazine for truck fleet executives. Topics covered at this year's CCJ Summit included best practices for dealing with issues such as the driver shortage, equipment, technology implementations and integrations, regulations, social media, and more.

About Roadrunner

Roadrunner offers more direct long-haul metro-to-metro shipping than any other nationwide LTL carrier in the United States. With nationwide presence and terminals across 37 metro markets, the company's SmartNetwork is the preferred choice for shippers looking to move freight quickly and reliably. With Driver Teams executing Over-the-Road (OTR) moves and no freight moving on rail, their customers enjoy industry-leading transit times. The award-winning operations platform is fueled by AI and ML technology assuring integrity of custodial controls of freight and real-time tracking and visibility. Direct routing eliminates the need for rehandles and freight handovers and hence reduces the risk of loss or damage.

More than 1,000 drivers leverage the Roadrunner SmartNetwork to empower their businesses and are fiscally motivated to deliver freight on time, intact, and damage free. Roadrunner was ranked Most Improved LTL Carrier by Mastio and recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Most Trustworthy Companies in 2022. (PINK: RRTS)

Please visit the following sites to learn more about Roadrunner and how you can join the freight revolution. To learn more about shipping with Roadrunner: https://www.roadrunnerLTL.com

Explore careers in sales, operations, and technology at Roadrunner: https://www.shiproadrunnerfreight.com/careers/work-with-us/

To drive for Roadrunner as Owner Operators and Teams: https://run4roadrunner.com/

SOURCE Roadrunner
NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) (OTC: AVYAW) between November 22, 2021 and November 29, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important March 6, 2023 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Avaya securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Avaya class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8033 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than March 6, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company's internal control over financial reporting ("ICFR") was deficient in several areas; (2) 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; (3) the Company's deteriorating financial condition was likely to raise substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern; and (4) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Avaya class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8033 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandvik has been selected to supply a fleet of 19 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) for use at Rana Gruber's iron ore mine operations in Storforshei in northern Norway. The order is valued at approximately SEK 370 million, and includes trucks, loaders, drills, on-site service support and batteries. About 85% of the total value will be booked in the first quarter 2023, and the remaining part was booked in December 2022. Deliveries are planned to begin during the first quarter of 2023 and continue through 2024.

The BEV fleet will support Rana Gruber's ambitious goal to operate the world's first carbon-free iron ore mine by the end of 2025. In addition to enabling reduced CO 2 emissions, Sandvik's highly productive BEV solutions also provide proven substantial benefits to the work environment, eliminating exhaust emissions and reducing heat and noise pollution.

"I am very pleased to see that there is such strong customer interest in our battery-electric offering, and particularly that we are seeing an increase in larger and repeat orders, which is a testament to Sandvik's high performing equipment and service. Our battery-electric solutions offering is a strategic focus area for Sandvik and an essential driver in shaping the sustainable mine of the future. We very much look forward to helping Rana Gruber realize their decarbonization strategy," says Stefan Widing, CEO and President of Sandvik.

Rana Gruber produces approximately 1.8 million metric tons of iron ore concentrates annually from its five deposits in Norway's Dunderland Valley. Its resource base includes more than 440 million metric tons of iron ore.

"Rana Gruber is a pioneer in the mining electrification shift in Europe and a long-time partner of Sandvik. We are very excited to further strengthen our collaboration and support their battery-electric transition," says Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

Stockholm, February 15, 2023

Sandvik AB

For further information, contact Louise Tjeder, VP Investor relations, phone: +46 (0) 70782 6374 or Johannes Hellstrom, Press and Media Relations Manager, phone: +46 (0) 70721 1008.

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/208/3715107/1849484.pdf Sandvik selected to supply record SEK 370 million worth of BEV equipment to Rana Gruber in Norway

SOURCE Sandvik
RSA 2.0 makes finding and securing cyber insurance even easier and more frictionless for insurance wholesale brokers and their retail agents.

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sayata, the leading marketplace for insurance wholesale brokers and carriers to easily scale their SMB insurance portfolios, announced the launch of RSA 2.0, a significant evolution of their insurance placement platform for retail agents and their wholesale broker partners.

RSA 2.0 allows insurance retail agents to submit, select, and apply online for cyber insurance for SMBs while their wholesale broker oversees the process and manages binding. With RSA 2.0, agents can -

Request insurance quotes by entering a few basic details. Get multiple cyber quotes from leading carriers. Select and apply for coverage with a prefilled digital application.

Additionally, agents can make adjustments to their submissions, like refreshing quotes, seeking additional limits/retentions, and selecting which quotes their client sees, thus freeing up both the agent's and broker's valuable time so both parties are focused on client relationships and driving portfolio growth.

As always, the broker then binds the policy. Brokers get full insight into their agent's activities and can offer support at any point in the process.

"True to Sayata's promise to simplify insurance distribution, RSA 2.0 gives both brokers and their agent partners what they need the most - time," said Brian Quinn, Chief Distribution Officer of Sayata. "As a direct extension of Sayata's flagship broker platform, RSA drastically reduces the time it takes to find and secure cyber insurance. Both brokers and their retail agents can now provide coverage to more insureds, deliver better service to their respective clients, and grow their portfolios in a significant way. And with a lot less headache."

About Sayata

Sayata delivers rapid growth to insurance professionals that place cyber risk for SMBs. The Sayata platform streamlines the once-manual process of finding and securing business coverage, allowing you to sell more insurance policies in a fraction of the time. Sayata provides an end-to-end technological solution along with educational tools, giving you the ability to grow your portfolio quickly and efficiently.

Media Contacts

Kevin Capon Goldszmidt

West Ray Communications

[email protected]

+972-58-519-0791

SOURCE Sayata
Jeff Parsons and Wes Snyder Receive The 2023 FASTSIGNS Award

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FASTSIGNS International, Inc., the leading sign, graphics, and visual communications franchise with more than 764 locations in eight countries worldwide, recognized Jeff Parsons and Wes Snyder for the highest honor in the FASTSIGNS network, The FASTSIGNS Award.

The FASTSIGNS Award is the most prestigious recognition in the franchise and is presented to the franchisees who best represent the FASTSIGNS brand in their community and the network, as they provide exceptional customer service, mentorship, company culture and employee development.

FASTSIGNS International Inc.

"To me, one of the primary appeals of our brand, going back 20+ years, is that our products help businesses be noticed and successful. We don't push, peddle and hard-sell clients into goods and services they don't need and won't help them achieve their goals of greater visibility," said Jeff Parsons. "FASTSIGNS has encompassed most of my professional career and I am pleased to be partnered with a franchise that has such integrity at the core of what they do. As a result, I feel honored to be recognized as one who represents and embodies the ethos of our brand."

"It is an amazing honor to receive this award. I have been a franchisee for almost 25 years, and everything I have accomplished in my life is a direct result of this network," said Wes Snyder. "Not only am I very grateful for what this network has provided me, but I also love to tell anyone who will listen that it is a wonderful organization to be part of and the management of the FASTSIGNS network is second to none."

While both Parsons and Snyder have been part of the FASTSIGNS network for many years, they began a path to own several FASTSIGNS together just a few short years ago.

Jeff Parsons, who has been in the FASTSIGNS network for over 20 years, began his FASTSIGNS career while working at his parents' center for 10 years before he purchased an existing center in Indianapolis. He grew the business substantially before selling it in 2009, and he continued to be involved as a franchisee in other centers since then.

Wes opened the doors of his first FASTSIGNS center at the young age of 25 in Indianapolis. He sold the business in 2016, and by that point, it was one of the top-performing locations, consistently recognized in the top seven and eight for sales volume, for the entire network.

In 2018, Parsons and Snyder began purchasing FASTSIGNS centers that were for sale, often ones that were underperforming to turn them around. Their goal is to find individuals who want to own a FASTSIGNS center and who can help it become a high-performing center, and then they work closely with the onsite operator. Today they own centers in Austin and Corpus Christi, TX, Fort Myers, FL, Charleston, SC, Tucson, AZ and Raleigh, NC.

"Jeff Parsons and Wes Snyder are masters of the FASTSIGNS model and have been integral contributors to the health and vibrancy of our network," said Andrea Hohermuth, President of FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "They invest in their people, they invest in their processes, and they invest in their centers to ensure each location has the capability and knowledge to deliver our brand promise to customers. Their partnership is a testament to how working together can lead to amazing results. "

About FASTSIGNS

FASTSIGNS is a leading national visual ideas company that creates a wide variety of comprehensive sign and graphics solutions. With over 35 years of experience, FASTSIGNS helps you achieve more than you ever thought possible. We are the worldwide franchisor of more than 760 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers. FASTSIGNS locations span across the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Grand Cayman, Malta, the Dominican Republic and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE). FASTSIGNS is frequently recognized for franchisee satisfaction and through franchising awards which include being ranked #1 on Entrepreneur's Highly Competitive Franchise 500 List for the Seventh Consecutive Year for 2023 as well as being named a 2023 Best-in-Category Franchise by Franchise Business Review.

In 2021, Propelled Brands was formed, and is now the multi-brand franchisor for FASTSIGNS, NerdsToGo, MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza brands.

To learn more visit fastsigns.com . Follow the brand on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/fastsigns , Twitter @FASTSIGNS or Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS . For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or call 214.346.5679).

SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc.
As a nod to the holiday and the brand's sweet history, See's Candies proudly unveils new Irish Cream

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- See's Candies, the heritage candy company, invites fans to try their newest limited-time sweet.

Delightfully decadent, See's newest piece is chock-full of flavor and fantastically smooth. The See's Irish Cream flavor includes a spirited and unforgettable blend of rich chocolate, vanilla and a wee bit of roasted coffee.

To get a taste, visit https://www.sees.com/st-patricks-day-gifts. Tweet this Irish Cream Irish Cream being produced in Sees Candies factory.

Irish Cream is now available in a six-piece box for $10.50 while supplies last in shops and online. The 3.8-ounce box is perfect for sharing (or keeping for yourself!).

Irish Cream is the newest addition to See's St. Patrick's Day line, which includes must-share gifts and treats wished for by one and all. The leprechaun-approved assortment of sweets features delicious shamrock shapes, rich bites in gleaming gold foil and classic See's favorites in festive wrap.

To get a taste, visit https://www.sees.com/st-patricks-day-gifts.

"Mary See, our founder, was Canadian-born with strong Irish roots so it only seemed right to honor her legacy by expanding our St. Patrick's Day offerings with this new piece. Good luck eating just one!" said Pat Egan, President & CEO.

Also in time for the lucky holiday is See's Candies classic St. Patrick's Day Potato. For over 30 years, this limited time "sweet" potato has been a fan favorite, even for those that aren't Irish. See's fluffy divinity center is enrobed in milk chocolate, hand rolled in a cocoa-cinnamon blend, and topped with pine nut "potato eyes" for a one-of-a-kind treat. The St. Patrick's Day Potato is available now for $6.50 while supplies last in shops and online.

To stay connected and informed, See's encourages fans to sign up to receive their email newsletter at https://www.sees.com/emailsignup and follow @seescandies on all social platforms.

About See's Candies

For over 100 years, See's Candies has been dedicated to making candy Mary See's way. Only the finest, freshest ingredients are used in making each recipe. American made, famous for deliciousness, with the friendliest customer servicesince 1921. Founded and headquartered in sunny California, See's Candies has expanded from one candy shop to almost 250 shops across America and a flourishing online store. For more information visit https://www.sees.com/.

SOURCE See's Candies
Donghoon Lee, CEO of Korean-based SK Biopharmaceuticals and its subsidiary in the U.S., SK Life Science, Inc., praised the U.S.-based workforce for their commitment toward improving the lives of patients, and renewed the companies' focus on building a foundation for growth

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Donghoon Lee, CEO of SK Life Science, Inc. , a subsidiary of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., an innovative global pharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for central nervous system (CNS) disorders and beyond, recognized the team for their achievements, thanked them for their commitment to the epilepsy community, and shared his vision for SK Life Science, Inc. and its anti-seizure medication.

"In 2023, SK Life Science in the U.S. is celebrating its thirty-year anniversary knowing that we are part of something bigger," said Donghoon Lee explaining how the companies he leads, SK Life Science and SK Biopharmaceuticals, are part of SK Group, Inc., a large conglomerate with a global footprint. "SK Group is the second largest conglomerate in Korea with more than 120 operating companies that have a combined revenue of $135 billion and assets valued at $232 billion. Over the next five years, SK Group is investing in the U.S. to support the transformational work being done in the U.S. market. That includes significant investments in SK Life Science and its pipeline in central nervous systems and oncology."

Since assuming his role as CEO in January 2023, Mr. Lee has been collaborating with his leadership teams on a full transformation of SK Life Science and SK Biopharmaceuticals and making strides towards achieving both companies' shared purpose: connecting health and happiness. Under Lee's leadership, SK Life Science is poised to lay a stronger foundation for innovation, reinvestment in R&D, and expansion into next-generation pipelines while continuing a meaningful and positive impact on the epilepsy community.

During his visit to San Diego, Lee celebrated the impressive work already done by SK Life Science, which includes being the first and only Korean company to independently develop, obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and commercialize a prescription medicine in the U.S. with a standalone business model. "We are energized by everything SK Life Science has been able to achieve since the company was founded thirty years ago, but we are even more excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as we continue to deliver results to the patient communities we serve," concluded Lee.

About SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and SK Life Science, Inc.

SK Biopharmaceuticals and its U.S. subsidiary SK Life Science are pharmaceutical companies focused on the research, development and commercialization of treatments for disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) and oncology. In 2017, SK Biopharmaceuticals established a research center to begin their expansion into oncology through research and development efforts. The companies have a pipeline of eight compounds in development in both CNS disorders and oncology. Additionally, SK Biopharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery of new treatments in oncology. For more information, visit SK Biopharmaceuticals' website at www.skbp.com/eng and SK Life Science's website at www.SKLifeScienceInc.com.

Both SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK Life Science are part of SK Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. SK Inc., the parent company of SK Biopharmaceuticals, continues to enhance its portfolio value by executing long-term investments with a number of competitive subsidiaries in various business areas, including pharmaceuticals and life science, energy and chemicals, information and telecommunication, and semiconductors. In addition, SK Inc. is focused on reinforcing its growth foundations through profitable and practical management based on financial stability, while raising its enterprise value by investing in new future growth businesses. For more information, please visit https://sk-inc.com/en/main/mainpage.aspx.

CONTACT: Media Inquiries: Dina Albanese, Corporate Communications, [email protected]

SOURCE SK Life Science, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Burgeoning urbanization, technology advancements and emphasis on sustainability have opened avenues of growth in the smart cities industry. ESG policies have received an uptake as cities continue to grow in both number and population. According to the World Bank, the global urban population will surge to 6 billion by 2045. Technology advances have furthered digitization and companies expect smart cities to be catalysts for sustainable development. With cities grappling with climate change, ESG has become pivotal in complementing the applications of technologies and data to enhance city planning, accountability and engagement with citizens.

The need for action against climate change has become imperative for a low-carbon society and to implement sustainable practices across the value chain. For instance, Singapore has implemented Green Plan to minimize the waste sent to landfills by 30% by 2030, plant one million more trees and quadruple solar energy deployment by 2025.

Discover more regarding the practices and strategies being implemented by industry participants in the Smart Cities Industry ESG Thematic Report, 2023, published by Astra ESG Solutions

A bullish ESG policy can provide a robust approach for stakeholders to analyze and address socio-environmental and governance challenges. In essence, strategic planning in line with national objectives, solid ESG regulation and regulatory compliance will remain critical to bolstering the brand position. For instance, real-time IoT data have become sought-after to help city governments in managing and monitoring environmental policies.

Environmental Perspective

The prevalence of greenhouse gas emissions in cities has reinforced the need to strengthen the environmental profile. According to the data cited in the UN specialized agency for ICTs, cities contribute over 70% of carbon emissions globally every year. Digital solutions, such as smart grids, have shown promising signs of reducing emissions and fostering a move towards a clean energy society. Smart grids with predictive analytics and real-time monitoring have gained traction to reduce pressure on aging infrastructure, integrate renewables and lower costs and minimize peak loads.

To illustrate, in December 2022, Siemens won a new contract for grid control and smart metering infrastructure in Egypt. The project, under the aegis of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is valued at EUR 40 million (roughly USD 43 million) and will implement state-of-the-art software to boost the stability, efficiency and reliability of the power grid while minimizing electricity distribution losses. Investments in smart grids could be a significant leap to implementing a sustainable practice across the value chain.

Get more insights about how key industry participants like ABB Limited, AGT International, AVEVA Group plc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Ericsson, General Electric are identifying, analyzing and mitigating ESG risks and ensuring compliance

Social Perspective

While the low-carbon future is paving the way to an environmentally friendly society, social facets, including diversity & inclusion, workplace safety and employee engagement, have become invaluable to leverage social progress. For instance, in ABB, 40.5% of early talent hires were women in 2021, with revised Group-wide guidelines for flexible work practices. Strategies to underpin social performance encompassing gender, age, ethnicity and sexual orientation have become pronounced. It is gearing up to increase the proportion of women in senior management roles by two-fold (as part of its Global Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2030).

The Switzerland-headquartered company also rolled out a gender-neutral parental leave program offering four weeks of paid leave for secondary caregivers and 12 weeks for primary caregivers. Besides, it received an employee engagement score of 74 out of 100 in its 2021 employee Engagement Survey. Moreover, over 7,600 ABB managers and other employees completed the "Interrupt Unconscious Bias" program.

Is your business one of participants to the Smart Cities Industry? Contact us for focused consultation around ESG Investing, and help you build sustainable business practices

Governance Perspective

An exponential rise in smart cities has put the spotlight on the governance pillar, including transparency, ecosystem governance, ethical practices, funding and supply chain management policies. Stakeholders are expected to focus on undergirding governance to help employees make ethical and fair decisions and provide a foundation for effective strategic leadership. For instance, AVEVA has an Audit Committee to monitor and oversee risk management & control; a Nomination and Governance Committee to review ESG, board composition and succession planning; a Disclosure Committee to decide if information should be disclosed to the market; and a Remuneration Committee to review board and senior management remuneration. In addition, the CEO regularly updates the board about the culture of wellbeing, inclusivity, developments concerning diversity, equity and inclusion and opportunity for employees and communities.

Forward-looking companies strive to achieve carbon neutrality in their operations and foster responsible business practices and social cohesion. In October 2021, The City of London chose Nextech AR Solutions to provide a mini-metaverse experience at Harmony at London Wall Place. The AR-powered interactive artwork and music exhibitions will underscore inclusion as the metaverse will provide easy access to these experiences. It is worth noting that the global smart cities market size touched USD 1,090.64 billion in 2021 and will register a 24.2% CAGR from 2022 to 2030.

Browse more ESG Thematic Reports from the Technology 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!

Contact:

Michelle

Sales Specialist, USA

Astra ESG Solutions - Powered by Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Web: https://astra.grandviewresearch.com/

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/astra-esg-solutions/

SOURCE Astra ESG Solutions
New B Corp Certification Marks a New Milestone In Solgaard's Journey To Maximize Its Positive Environmental Impact.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Design driven sustainable travel and lifestyle brand using business as a force for good, Solgaard, announces today it is now a Certified B Corporation. The certification is a step in the evolution of the brand's ongoing ESG commitments. Additionally, Solgaard announces it will increase its commitment to clean up six pounds (6lbs) of ocean plastic from coastal communities per purchase (previously five pounds per purchase).

Solgaard is now a Certified B Corporation

Verified as meeting B Lab's high standards for social and environmental impact while demonstrating accountability and transparency through its impact-driven business model, Solgaard is proud to be included among a global community of businesses meeting high standards of social and environmental impact. Earning an overall B Impact assessment score of 82.0, Solgaard surpasses the median score of businesses who complete the assessment, which is currently 50.9. In order to maintain certification, companies must undertake the assessment and verification process every three years, demonstrating they are still meeting B Lab's standards and exemplify a framework for continuous improvement.

"Having the B Corp certification is an important part of our mission: it's an outward sign to our prospective customers that we've been audited throughout our entire value chain, and we're operating at the highest of ethical standards across the board. We're proud to display the 'B'eautiful icon on our website," said Solgaard Founder and CEO, Adrian Solgaard.

Furthermore, the brand is proud to announce the opening of the Sungai Watch x Solgaard Mangrove Cleanup Facility, a new visitor-friendly plastic collection and sorting facility located in the mangroves of Denpasar, Bali, funded through Solgaard's flagship impact partnership with environmental cleanup organization, Sungai Watch.

As part of the brand's multi-year plastic collection and mangrove health restoration partnership with Sungai Watch, a team of 15 locals have been hired to install and operate a series of river barriers collecting over 1,000 kgs of plastic daily from Indonesia's most polluted rivers and mangroves. In addition to financing the infrastructure to clean and shred the plastic waste collected, the brand funded the construction and operation of the Sungai Watch x Solgaard Mangrove Cleanup Facility, now open for public visitation as of 2023. These efforts not only intercept plastic before it pollutes the open ocean, but also revitalize local mangrove ecosystems, restoring their natural ability to capture and sequester carbon. As part of a joint mission to restore the mangroves of Bali, the partnership between Solgaard and Sungai Watch will see a minimum removal of 1,200,000 pounds of plastic from the mangroves of Bali by next year.

With over a million pounds of coastal plastic collection underway as of February 2023, Solgaard plans to clean up an additional ten million pounds of coastal plastic in the next five years.

About Solgaard:

A design driven brand using business as a force for good, Solgaard's premium travel and lifestyle goods are crafted through sustainable innovation. Pioneers in using ocean-bound plastic in its fabrics (Shore-Tex) and travel gear (including The Carry-On Closet), Solgaard cleans up 6lbs of plastic from coastal communities with every purchase. Relentless in his pursuit to create an economic engine for good, Norwegian-Canadian entrepreneur, Adrian Solgaard, founded the brand in 2016 to optimize life on the go for global citizens. With over a million pounds of coastal plastic collection underway as of February 2023, Solgaard is working to collect an additional 10 million pounds of plastic via its current project pipeline. Solgaard is a certified B Corporation.

Learn more at www.solgaard.co and www.solgaard.co/impact

Media Contact: Emma Garner, Head of Public Relations ([email protected])

SOURCE Solgaard
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a telephone conversation to discuss the current situation in the South Caucasus, according to the Kremlin press service.

February 15, 2023, 09:05 Putin and Aliyev discuss situation on border with Armenia by phone

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, ARTSAKHPRESS: "The current situation in the South Caucasus region was discussed. The importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was noted. In this context, the mood for the unconditional implementation of the entire set of relevant agreements of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level was confirmed," the report said.



The 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. It was agreed to continue contacts in various formats.
Solstar's Slayton satellite transceiver for persistent wideband payload communication between spacecraft and ground-based operators will be considered for Air Force, Space Force, and commercial use under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I initiative.

SANTA FE, N.M., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Solstar Space (Solstar) , the company making persistent on-orbit communications available, announced it was awarded a Phase I STTR contract by the Department of Air Force (DAF) to evaluate the company's Slayton Space Communicator for high-speed data communications. Solstar Space is developing a flight-proven modular device for spacecraft integration capable of providing satellite operators near real-time command and control through a 24/7 high bandwidth downlink and uplink data relay known as the Slayton Space Communicator. Solstar has partnered Dr. Andrei Zagrai, a mechanical engineering professor at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, for the initiative.

With Slayton Space Communicators aboard, immediate and consistent downlink of spacecraft health status can be monitored. Tweet this Solstar Space Awarded Phase I STTR Contract - Solstar Space CEO, Brian Barnett, and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Professor, Dr. Andrei Zagrai collaborate on space-based communications initiative.

"The U.S. Space Force and DAF manages over 100 satellites that perform critical strategic missions without margin for error. Yet, the constellations are limited by the geographic location of ground stations and the various satellite orbital positions. The limited communications can lead to delayed mission commands to spacecraft or more serious consequences," says Brian Barnett, CEO, Solstar Space. "With Slayton Space Communicators installed on spacecraft, immediate and consistent downlink of spacecraft health status and ranging data for situational awareness and real-time asset monitoring," continues Barnett.

"New Mexico Tech (NMT) is collaborating with Solstar Space to leverage our structural health monitoring (SHM) unit. The SHM is aimed at improving situation awareness and reducing spacecraft operation costs. It has previously been demonstrated for use in damage detection in suborbital and orbital flight tests. We are looking forward to integrating our SHM solution with Solstar's Slayton Space Communicators to provide proactive monitoring, management, and mission support for government and commercial spacecraft," says Dr. Andrei Zagrai, Professor at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

"Slayton enables high bandwidth communications for both uplink and downlink, decreasing the time it takes to download mission data or make adjustments to on-orbit systems," says Brian Barnett.

"Slayton facilitates 24/7 monitoring, management, and mission instructions with on-orbits payloads through continuous and near real-time assessment of the payload's performance," explains Barnett.

To learn more about Solstar and the Slayton Space Communicator, visit https://www.solstarspace.com/ .

Media Inquiries | Lisa Dreher | [email protected] | +1 425-442-1301

Investor Inquiries | Brian Barnett | [email protected] | +1 505-389-2299

Business Inquiries | Brian Barnett | [email protected] | +1 505-389-2299

ABOUT SOLSTAR SPACE

Solstar Space is the leading commercial space-based connectivity company pioneering the use of persistent communications services for all types of on-orbit assets including satellites, space stations, launch vehicles, and more. We provide an internet connection between spacecraft and Earth-based payload managers, satellite operators, and enable communications for crewed missions in sub-orbit, LEO, and cis-lunar and lunar surface operations.

Our fast, reliable services, space-tested routers, WiFi access points and hotspots, and space-based satellite data relays are being developed to deliver on-orbit connectivity and are supported by 24/7 customer care. These devices are installed on satellites and spacecraft prior to launch to keep crew, spacecraft, and Earth-based satellite operations teams connected. Visit https://www.solstarspace.com .

Follow us: WeFunder | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

SOURCE Solstar Space Company
DUBLIN, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The machinery and equipment used to complete various construction projects are collectively called construction machinery. Construction machinery is divided into several categories such as excavation machinery, earth-moving machinery, construction cranes, industrial vehicles, compaction machinery and concrete machinery.



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.



With the development of Southeast Asia's economy, for infrastructure construction, plant and commercial real estate, residential and mining investment is growing, making the Southeast Asian construction machinery market has also seen rapid growth.



According to the publisher's analysis, Southeast Asian countries generally have the problem of weak basic industry, so construction machinery products mainly rely on imports, such as low-end construction machinery from China, medium and high-end construction machinery imported from Japan and Germany.

It is worth noting that the Southeast Asian construction machinery market has become popular with electric products. Such as Komatsu (Japanese-owned enterprises) and Sany Heavy Industries (Chinese-owned enterprises) and other companies have begun to sell fuel and electric hybrid hydraulic excavators in Indonesia.



With the development of the manufacturing industry in Southeast Asia, there have been gradually foreign enterprises to set up engineering machinery manufacturing enterprises in Southeast Asia to reduce costs. At the same time, Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia are rich in minerals, the development of the mining industry also promotes the development of the construction machinery market.



The publisher expects the construction machinery market in Southeast Asia to maintain growth in 2023-2032. On the one hand, the lower operating costs in Southeast Asian countries attract global construction machinery enterprises to transfer their production capacity to Southeast Asia and build factories in Southeast Asia. In addition, there are many companies will export construction machinery products to Southeast Asia.



Topics covered:

Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry Status and Major Sources in 2018-2022

What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry?

Which Companies are the Major Players in Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry Market and What are their Competitive Benchmarks?

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry

What are the Key Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities for Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry during 2023-2032?

What is the Expected Revenue of Southeast Asia Construction Machinery 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 Construction Machinery Industry Market?

Which Segment of Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry is Expected to Dominate the Market in 2032?

What are the Major Adverse Factors Facing Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Singapore Construction Machinery Industry Analysis

1.1 Singapore Construction Machinery Industry Development Environment

1.1.1 Geography

1.1.2 Population

1.1.3 Economy

1.1.4 Minimum Wage of Singapore Manufacturing Industry

1.2 Singapore Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

1.2.1 Production Status of Construction Machinery in Singapore

1.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Singapore

1.2.3 Import and Export Status of Construction Machinery in Singapore

1.3 Analysis of Major Construction Machinery Manufacturers in Singapore



2 Analysis of Construction Machinery Industry in Thailand

2.1 Development Environment of Construction Machinery Industry in Thailand

2.1.1 Geography

2.1.2 Population

2.1.3 Economy

2.1.4 Minimum Wage of Thailand's Manufacturing Industry

2.2 Thailand Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

2.2.1 Thailand Construction Machinery Production Status

2.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Thailand

2.2.3 Thailand Construction Machinery Import and Export Status

2.3 Major Construction Machinery Manufacturers in Thailand



3 Analysis of Construction Machinery Industry in the Philippines

3.1 Development Environment of Construction Machinery Industry in the Philippines

3.1.1 Geography

3.1.2 Population

3.1.3 Economy

3.1.4 Minimum Wage of Philippine Manufacturing Industry

3.2 Operation of Construction Machinery Industry in the Philippines 2018-2022

3.2.1 Production Status of Construction Machinery in the Philippines

3.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in the Philippines

3.2.3 Import and Export Status of Construction Machinery in the Philippines

3.3 Major Construction Machinery Manufacturers in the Philippines



4 Malaysia Construction Machinery Industry Analysis

4.1 Malaysia Construction Machinery Industry Development Environment

4.1.1 Geography

4.1.2 Population

4.1.3 Economy

4.1.4 Minimum Wage of Malaysian Manufacturing Industry

4.2 Malaysia Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

4.2.1 Malaysia Construction Machinery Production Status

4.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Malaysia

4.2.3 Malaysia Construction Machinery Import and Export Status

4.3 Major Construction Machinery Producers in Malaysia



5 Indonesia Construction Machinery Industry Analysis

5.1 Indonesia Construction Machinery 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 Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

5.2.1 Indonesia Construction Machinery Production Status

5.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Indonesia

5.2.3 Indonesia Construction Machinery Import and Export Status

5.3 Major Construction Machinery Producers in Indonesia



6 Analysis of Vietnam Construction Machinery Industry

6.1 Development Environment of Construction Machinery Industry in Vietnam

6.1.1 Geography

6.1.2 Population

6.1.3 Economy

6.1.4 Minimum Wage of Vietnam Manufacturing Industry

6.2 Operation of Construction Machinery Industry in Vietnam 2018-2022

6.2.1 Production Status of Construction Machinery in Vietnam

6.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Vietnam

6.2.3 Import and Export Status of Construction Machinery in Vietnam

6.3 Major Construction Machinery Producers in Vietnam



7 Analysis of Construction Machinery Industry in Myanmar

7.1 Development Environment of Construction Machinery Industry in Myanmar

7.1.1 Geography

7.1.2 Population

7.1.3 Economy

7.1.4 Myanmar Manufacturing Minimum Wage

7.2 Myanmar Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

7.2.1 Production Status of Construction Machinery in Myanmar

7.2.2 Sales Situation of Construction Machinery in Myanmar

7.2.3 Import and Export Status of Construction Machinery in Myanmar

7.3 Major Construction Machinery Manufacturers in Myanmar



8 Brunei Construction Machinery Industry Analysis

8.1 Development Environment of Brunei Construction Machinery Industry

8.1.1 Geography

8.1.2 Population

8.1.3 Economy

8.1.4 Brunei Manufacturing Minimum Wage

8.2 Brunei Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

8.2.1 Brunei Construction Machinery Production Status

8.2.2 Sales Status of Brunei Construction Machinery

8.2.3 Brunei Construction Machinery Import and Export Status

8.3 Major Manufacturing Enterprises in Brunei



9 Laos Construction Machinery Industry Analysis

9.1 Laos Construction Machinery Industry Development Environment

9.1.1 Geography

9.1.2 Population

9.1.3 Economy

9.1.4 Minimum Wage of Laos Manufacturing Industry

9.2 Operation of Construction Machinery Industry in Laos 2018-2022

9.2.1 Laos Construction Machinery Production Status

9.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Laos

9.2.3 Import and Export Status of Construction Machinery in Laos

9.3 Major Construction Machinery Producers in Laos



10 Analysis of Construction Machinery Industry in Cambodia

10.1 Development Environment of Construction Machinery Industry in Cambodia

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 Construction Machinery Industry Operation 2018-2022

10.2.1 Production Status of Construction Machinery in Cambodia

10.2.2 Sales Status of Construction Machinery in Cambodia

10.2.3 Cambodia Construction Machinery Import and Export Status

10.3 Major Construction Machinery Manufacturers in Cambodia



11 Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry Outlook 2023-2032

11.1 Analysis of Factors Affecting the Development of Construction Machinery Industry in Southeast Asia

11.1.1 Favorable Factors

11.1.2 Unfavorable Factors

11.2 Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Industry Supply Forecast 2023-2032

11.3 Southeast Asia Construction Machinery Market Demand Forecast 2023-2032

11.4 Impact of COVID -19 Epidemic on Construction Machinery Industry



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4vzyu-report?w=5

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NEW BRITAIN, Conn., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) announced today that its Board of Directors approved a regular first quarter cash dividend of $0.80 per common share. This extends the company's record for the longest consecutive annual and quarterly dividend payments among industrial companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The dividend is payable on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

About Stanley Black & Decker

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

[email protected]

(860) 827-3833

Cort Kaufman

Senior Director, Investor Relations

[email protected]

(860) 515-2741

Christina Francis

Director, Investor Relations

[email protected]

(860) 438-3470

SOURCE Stanley Black & Decker
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- When Dr. Ines Poza started tracking ethnic representation in Super Bowl ads about 20 years ago, she noticed, "animals were featured as protagonists more often than minorities, with Latinos nowhere to be seen." After a promising showing last year with Rocket Mortgage leading the charge featuring a phenotypically Latina child alongside Anna Kendrick, "It's back to White, some Black and the occasional Asian or curly-haired, indeterminate, mixed-race person as the central characters." She continues, "We're also back where we were 20 years ago with animals as protagonists more often than Latinos. And of those, virtually none look like the more than 60 million Latinos currently living in the U.S."

Dr. Poza explains why this is important. "The majority of U.S. Latinos are indigenous looking (darker skinned), economic refugees. This is because indigenous looking people are over-represented among the poor and disadvantaged throughout Latin America. When the few Latinos in ads are Caucasian, aside from not reflecting the U.S. Latino population, it suggests indigenous looking people are not worth representing."

She continues, "The one ad this year with Latinos in the starring role  Amazon  was cast using Caucasian actors. It's only when the dad mutters 'Rapido, Rapido' that we realize this is supposed to be a Latino family."

With roughly 20% of the U.S. population being of indigenous Latin American descent Dr. Poza calls this year's ads, "Nothing like the world we live in. Go to a bank, restaurant, doctor's office, anywhere, and most likely a Latino works there."

She continues, "And less than half of this year's ads had Black protagonists, even fewer if you eliminate celebrity-centric ads, which is down from two years ago when the majority had mixed-race or Blacks at least sharing central roles. Instead, there's a laziness in casting with Black, Asian and possibly Latino extras showing up out of focus in the background."

"From a marketing perspective this is less about doing what's right and more about creating messaging that's relevant. For brands to be relevant, they need to connect with the world people live in. So far advertisers, for all the money they spend, are missing the mark on this. In focus groups following the Super Bowl, 'token casting' as one respondent put it, comes off as 'cheesy' and 'out of touch'." Dr. Poza suggests, "Brands need to demand more from their ad agencies  insist they demonstrate genuine understanding of the world their consumers live in. A big part of this is understanding how and with whom people live and work and delivering on meaningful, smart and effective ethnic representation." Dr. Poza concludes, "This type of relevance should organically lead to the kind of fun and innovative advertising we expect from the Super bowl. Let's see what next year brings."

Ines Poza, Ph.D. is Director of Poza Consulting Services in Santa Monica, CA providing market research and strategic planning for the Total Market. Contact Dr. Poza at 310.430.4637.

SOURCE Poza Consulting Services
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Supplemental Health Care (SHC) is honored to continue its philanthropic partnership with the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) by announcing $25,000 in scholarship opportunities for NBNA members pursuing Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees.

Through the creation of NBNA scholarships, SHC hopes to combat the ongoing nursing shortage, support culturally congruent care in communities across the U.S., and provide better, higher-paying career options for nurses. The current focus of these scholarships will be to support licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPNs/LVNs) and individuals with an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) continuing their education.

SHC hopes to combat the ongoing nursing shortage with scholarships to support NBNA members pursuing BSN degrees Tweet this

According to the 2020 National Nursing Workforce Survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), only 6.7% of RNs identified as Black/African-American despite representing over 13% of the total U.S. population in the 2020 census. This underrepresentation presents an opportunity to welcome new nurses to help address the national nursing shortage and improve patient outcomes in their communities.

NBNA is one of the most enduring nursing associations in the country, and SHC is proud to support its mission of promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the nursing profession through professional and educational development. SHC hopes to encourage more nurses to successfully enter and stay in the nursing field with these NBNA scholarship opportunities.

Supplemental Health Care is committed to creating a positive impact for the many professionals, healthcare facilities, and communities that it serves. Through its continued partnership with NBNA and the creation of these new scholarship opportunities, SHC hopes to create a more inclusive and accessible healthcare community for all.

About the National Black Nurses Association

Through their network of 111 local chapters, the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) provides continuing education, scholarships, mentorship, sponsorship and research opportunities for aspiring and experienced nurses. The organization serves as a bridge between academic institutions, nursing leadership, practice and community-based settings by facilitating forums for dialogue, advocacy, service and professional growth through its vast network of community, professional, faith-based and health industry partners.

About Supplemental Health Care

Supplemental Health Care (SHC) is a leading healthcare staffing provider that connects caring healthcare professionals with opportunities to fulfill their calling to better serve patients and students. For everyone that we serve, SHC is the place where caring hearts thrive.

Media Contact:

Geoff Staub

[email protected]

770-729-4302 | Ext: 31012

SOURCE Supplemental Health Care
MELBOURNE, Fla., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- System Innovation Group, a leading provider of customized communications solutions, has been awarded a $3.2M 5-year contract to manage a private cellular network as a service.

"SIG's experience and reputation as a leading technology integrator for private cellular solutions has positioned our team to demonstrate our ability to manage networks as a service. With this 5-year service agreement, SIG will enhance the customer's profitability by outsourcing back-office operations. I look forward to our continued partnership within the private cellular community."  Shawn Gallagher, President

Within this contract System Innovation Group will support network operations across a wide area deployment of cellular base stations. The network currently supports IoT devices with plans to expand capabilities to include voice and SMS mobility.

"This expansion into network management is a logical step for the organization. The team is looking forward to this new project and our role in helping the customer to migrate into a full-service mobile network operation (MNO).", said Eric Salyers, CTO of System Innovation Group.

About System Innovation Group

System Innovation Group, LLC is a leading developer of customized private communications solutions that enable users to operate around the world securely and effectively. From industrial sites to remote battlefields, System Innovation Group's products and technology are utilized under the most extreme conditions. www.SystemInnovationGroup.com

SOURCE System Innovation Group
Developed in Coordination with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the Plan Offers an Estimated $50 Billion of Impact

25 new stores in LMI and/or majority-minority communities

$21 billion in home lending to Low- and Moderate-Income and diverse borrowers

in home lending to Low- and Moderate-Income and diverse borrowers $7.75 billion in small business lending

in small business lending $17.5 billion in community development loans and investments

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, today announced a five-year Community Benefits Plan (CBP), developed in coordination with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). The CBP will provide an estimated $50 billion of impact to local communities across TD Bank's expanded U.S. presence following the approval and close of its planned acquisition of First Horizon Corporation. This plan will provide lending, philanthropy, banking access and other activities for the benefit of diverse and underserved communities.

"Banks have an important role in providing economic opportunity and supporting changes that help Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI), diverse and underserved communities achieve their financial goals," said Leo Salom, President and CEO of TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank. "This is rooted in the belief that our business only does well when the people we serve are flourishing. Our Community Benefits Plan builds on TD Bank's and First Horizon's longstanding focus on our communities. We are excited to continue this focus in First Horizon markets as we move forward with combining our two organizations. Thank you to the NCRC and its member organizations for their collaboration and critical insight as we developed an effective Plan that addresses the priorities and needs of the communities we serve."

To identify areas of greatest need in communities across 22 states and Washington, D.C., the bank solicited feedback from NCRC leadership and non-profit groups from both TD and First Horizon markets through months of consultation. TD will meet annually with the NCRC to discuss and measure progress on the elements of the Plan.

"TD Bank's brought dedication and open minds to the meetings with NCRC members that brought us to this strong and promising agreement," National Community Reinvestment Coalition President and CEO Jesse Van Tol said. "The deal we just signed will ensure that communities of need see tangible increases in resources and economic opportunity in their neighborhoods  as every bank merger is legally required and morally bound to do. This agreement reflects the hard work of our members and the bank's staff in numerous ways, including TD's commitment to opening 25 new physical bank branches in marginalized communities  the largest such pledge to date by any of the 20-plus banks that have signed onto a community benefits agreement with NCRC members. I applaud everyone involved for bringing the candid, constructive energy these deals require to our meetings and producing such a robust final package."

Advancing TD and First Horizon's Strong Track Records of Community Engagement

The CBP extends TD and First Horizon's shared commitment to positively impact social and economic outcomes in local markets and address financial inclusion across diverse communities, including Black, Indigenous, minority, women, veteran and LGBTQ2+ individuals and their businesses, while also enhancing access to safe and affordable products and services. The plan includes the following:

Banking Access

Consistent with TD's goal to make banking accessible to its customers, it will open at least 25 new stores and 25 ATMs in LMI and/or majority-minority markets over the next five years. The bank also commits that all banking locations will be open at least five days a week. In addition, there will not be any merger-related First Horizon store closures.

Mortgage Lending and Consumer Products

TD Bank will enable affordable home ownership by increasing residential mortgage loans, including first-time homebuyer and home improvement loans to $21 billion for LMI and minority borrowers, and in LMI and majority-minority census tracts, which represents a 65% increase. In support of this goal, TD will hire additional diverse Mortgage Loan Officers and Community Mortgage Loan Officers who reflect the communities we serve.

The bank will also provide affordable retail products and services that are designed to meet the needs of economically vulnerable consumers across the footprint.

Small Business Support

The Plan builds on the bank's ongoing commitment to support the critical role small businesses play in local economies by offering an estimated $7.75 billion in lending to small businesses with under $1 million in annual revenue, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses and those in LMI and/or rural areas.

Community Development Loans and Investment

TD Bank will provide $17.5 billion in community development loans and other investments to support economic development activities and affordable housing projects (including rental housing) within TD and First Horizon markets. This represents a 21% increase over the combined TD and First Horizon previous five-year average.

Additional Highlights

$200 million in Community Reinvestment Act-related philanthropy through the TD Office of Charitable and Community Giving, which includes creating a $40 million TD New Horizon Foundation, with a focus on giving in Memphis, TN , and other First Horizon markets over five years.

in Community Reinvestment Act-related philanthropy through the TD Office of Charitable and Community Giving, which includes creating a TD New Horizon Foundation, with a focus on giving in , and other First Horizon markets over five years. Creation of a Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) / Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) Impact Strategy, to provide lending and equity investments, with a total estimated impact of $1 billion .

. Increased spending with certified diverse suppliers in the US by 50%.

Engagement and support of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) through institutional support, recruitment of students and alumni, and financial access.

Additional Information Regarding the CBP

TD and the NCRC are pleased that 59 community organizations have endorsed this impactful CBP. For more information and resources, please visit: https://stories.td.com/us/en/article/td-bank-community-benefits-plan.

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank , is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing over 9.8 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,100 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Auto Finance, a division of TD Bank, N.A., offers vehicle financing and dealer commercial services. TD Bank and its subsidiaries also offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.td.com/us. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US and www.twitter.com/TDNews_US.

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com/us.

SOURCE TD Bank
The neurology devices market is predicted to grow positively due to several factors, such as an increase in the number of regulatory approvals for neurology devices globally. Furthermore, rising cases of head injuries due to accidents, workplace injuries, and other causes, and an increase in the geriatric population, will drive up demand for various neurological devices around the world.

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DelveInsight's Neurology Devices Market Insights report provides the current and forecast market analysis, individual leading neurology devices companies' market shares, challenges, neurology devices market drivers, barriers, and trends, and key neurology devices companies in the market.

Key Takeaways from the Neurology Devices Market Report

As per DelveInsight estimates, North America is anticipated to dominate the global neurology devices market during the forecast period.

is anticipated to dominate the global neurology devices market during the forecast period. Notable neurology devices companies such as Abbott, B. Braun SE, Boston Scientific Corporation, Integra LifeSciences, LivaNova plc, Medtronic, Magstim TMS, Penumbra, Inc, Stryker, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Rapid Medical, Acandis GmbH, Helius Medical Technologies, Cerus Endovascular Inc., Zimmer Biomet, Sense Neuro, Natus Medical Incorporated, Braintale SAS, Avanos Medical Inc., and several others are currently operating in the neurology devices market.

and several others are currently operating in the neurology devices market. In December 2022 , ClearPoint Neuro enrolled the first patient in a glioblastoma clinical trial of its laser therapy system at Skne University Hospital in Lund, Sweden .

enrolled the first patient in a glioblastoma clinical trial of its laser therapy system at Skne University Hospital in . In October 2022 , Axoft, a neurotechnology company, announced the FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its brain-machine interface (BMI) to treat neurological disorders. The company raised $8 million in funding to fund pre-clinical studies with the FDA and to scale up prototypes of its "as soft as the brain" neural implants.

a neurotechnology company, announced the FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its brain-machine interface (BMI) to treat neurological disorders. The company raised in funding to fund pre-clinical studies with the FDA and to scale up prototypes of its "as soft as the brain" neural implants. In May 2022 , the US Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing for the first in vitro diagnostic test for early detection of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.

the US Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing for the first in vitro diagnostic test for early detection of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. In April 2022 , the FDA approved Quanterix's Simoa neurofilament light (NfL) chain test as a breakthrough device for assessing the risk of disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS).

To read more about the latest highlights related to the neurology devices market, get a snapshot of the key highlights entailed in the Global Neurology Devices Market Report

Neurology Devices Overview

Neurological devices, which include neurostimulation devices, neurosurgery devices, and others, are medical devices used to diagnose and treat a variety of neurological diseases. Neurology is a branch of science that deals with nervous system disorders, which primarily affect the brain, blood vessels, muscles, and nerves. Cerebrospinal fluid management devices, interventional devices, and other neurovascular devices are used to treat neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's, tumors, and Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, cerebrospinal fluid management devices include shunts, valves, and external drainage systems to keep cerebrospinal fluid flowing and excess fluid out of the brain. Moreover, a shunt provides an alternative fluid pathway through which the cerebrospinal fluid avoids obstructions in the brain's fluid compartments and acts when fluid absorption is otherwise reduced. The bypass made possible by the stent relieves the excess fluid buildup that causes hydrocephalus. Furthermore, other devices or instruments used for the treatment of neurological diseases, such as catheters, stents, ultrasonic aspirators, and stereotactic systems, are available on the market.

Neurology Devices Market Insights

North America dominated the global neurology devices market in 2021 and will continue to do so during the forecast period (20222027). This can be attributed to the rising prevalence of head injuries and neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and others, the rise in the geriatric population, and others. In addition, the rising product launches and approvals in the region and the presence of key market players in the region will increase demand for neurology devices over the forecast period. For instance, in October 2022, Axoft, a neurotechnology company, today announced the FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its brain-machine interface (BMI) to treat neurological disorders. The company raised $8 million in funding to fund pre-clinical studies with the FDA and to scale up prototypes of its "as soft as the brain" neural implants.

To know more about why North America is leading the market growth in the neurology devices market, get a snapshot of the Neurology Devices Market Outlook

Neurology Devices Market Dynamics

The rising prevalence of difficult-to-treat neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and multiple sclerosis (MS), will necessitate the development of safer and more efficient drug molecules for their treatment and management. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2022, approximately 55 million people had dementia in 2020, and millions of cases of dementia occur each year. Another major factor driving the growth of neurology devices is the growing geriatric population.

However, the high cost and risk associated with various neurology devices may act as a restraint on the growth of the neurology devices market.

Additionally, the neurology devices market was negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic due to lockdown impositions to avoid disease spread among hospital personnel and the general public. Due to the widespread of COVID-19 infection, neurology departments in hospitals and clinics were closed, and neurological procedures were halted. Furthermore, there is a market shortage of supply chains, raw materials, and other resources, resulting in decreased manufacturing of all medical devices.

However, the development of the COVID-19 vaccine has begun the process of economic recovery with the easing of lockdown restrictions and the return of normalcy in the economic landscape, which has begun the process of resumption of regular healthcare services such as regular out-patient visits for treatments and diagnosis in hospitals, clinics, and laboratories, bringing the demand for products in the neurology devices market back on track.

Get a sneak peek at the neurology devices market dynamics @ Neurology Devices Market Dynamics Analysis

Report Metrics Details Coverage Global Study Period 20192027 Base Year 2021 Neurology Devices Market CAGR ~7% Key Neurology Devices Companies Abbott, B. Braun SE, Boston Scientific Corporation, Integra LifeSciences, LivaNova plc, Medtronic, Magstim TMS, Penumbra, Inc, Stryker, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Rapid Medical, Acandis GmbH, Helius Medical Technologies, Cerus Endovascular Inc., Zimmer Biomet, Sense Neuro, Natus Medical Incorporated, Braintale SAS, Avanos Medical Inc., among others

Neurology Devices Market Assessment

Neurology Devices Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation By Device Type: Neurostimulation Devices, Neurosurgery Devices, Cerebrospinal Fluid Management Devices, Interventional Neurology Devices, and Others

Neurostimulation Devices, Neurosurgery Devices, Cerebrospinal Fluid Management Devices, Interventional Neurology Devices, and Others

Market Segmentation By Application: Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosis and Treatment

Market Segmentation By End User: Hospitals, Speciality Clinics, and Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Hospitals, Speciality Clinics, and Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Market Segmentation By Geography : North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and Rest of World

: , , , and Rest of World Porter's Five Forces Analysis, Product Profiles, Case Studies, KOL's Views, Analyst's View

Which MedTech key players in the neurology devices market are set to emerge as the trendsetter explore @ Neurology Devices Companies

Table of Contents

1 Report Introduction 2 Executive summary 3 Regulatory and Patent Analysis 4 Key Factors Analysis 5 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 6 COVID-19 Impact Analysis on Neurology Devices Market 7 Neurology Devices Market Layout 8 Global Company Share Analysis  Key 3-5 Companies 9 Neurology Devices Market Company and Product Profiles 10 Project Approach 11 About DelveInsight

Interested in knowing the neurology devices market by 2027? Click to get a snapshot of the Neurology Devices Market Trends

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SOURCE DelveInsight Business Research, LLP
HERSHEY, Pa., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) announced today that it has completed a purchase of one million shares of its common stock from Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee for the Milton Hershey School Trust, for approximately $240 million, or $239.91 per share.

"Share buybacks are an important part of our capital allocation strategy," said Steve Voskuil, Chief Financial Officer, The Hershey Company. "This transaction is consistent with that practice. The company's strong balance sheet enables continued flexibility to invest in our business to help drive future growth."

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is an industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has approximately 19,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 100 brand names in approximately 80 countries around the world that drive more than $8.9 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers, and fast-growing salty snacks including SkinnyPop, Pirate's Booty and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed.

To learn more visit www.thehersheycompany.com.

SOURCE The Hershey Company
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - SoftwareReviews, a leading source for insights on the software provider landscape, has published its 2023 Data Quadrant Report on the top Digital Workplace solutions. The comprehensive report is ready for download from the firm's website, which is updated in real-time to reflect new reviews and ratings. Six providers have been identified as Champions.

The Top Digital Workplace Solutions of 2023 Offer Adaptive AI Services to Increase Productivity and Engagement, According to SoftwareReviews Report (CNW Group/SoftwareReviews)

Organizations are facing the challenges that come with the reality of onsite, remote, and hybrid work environments. Digital workplace solutions can help increase employee productivity and engagement, with some that include features such as adaptive AI to boost business efficiency and productivity. Some of the top 2023 winners highlighted in SoftwareReviews' report extend their adaptive AI services to further include advanced features like graph-based deep learning recommendations, collaborative filtering, and multi-modal neural encoding, all designed to aid employees in making rapid decisions.

"Engaging employees in the digital age is a top priority for CIOs in 2023," says Andrew Sharp, research director at Info-Tech Research Group. "Each of the gold medalists in this category delivers on employee engagement while delighting their customers with their own unique value proposition."

The top digital workplace software providers of the year have been identified by SoftwareReviews based on verified survey data collected from 1,103 real end users. These providers have received high scores on the organization's Data Quadrant.

Providers are ranked by a composite satisfaction score, called a Composite Score (CS), that averages four different areas of evaluation: Net Emotional Footprint, Vendor Capabilities, Product Features, and Likeliness to Recommend.

The 2023 Digital Workplace Software Gold Medalists are as follows:

Simpplr, 9.0 CS, ranked high for ease of implementation.

LumApps, 8.9 CS, ranked high for its discussion forums.

Workgrid, 8.9 CS, ranked high for ease of administration.

MangoApps, 8.9 CS, ranked high for integrations.

Axero Solutions, 8.8 CS, ranked high for customer service.

Interact, 8.8 CS, ranked high for its quality of features.

SoftwareReviews' comprehensive software reviews provide an accurate and detailed view of a complicated and ever-changing market. The data comes from users who use the software day in and day out and IT professionals who have worked with it intimately through procurement, implementation, and maintenance.

For more information about SoftwareReviews, the Data Quadrant, or the Emotional Footprint, or to access resources to support the software selection process, visit softwarereviews.com

About SoftwareReviews

SoftwareReviews empowers organizations with the best data, insights, and advice to improve the software buying and selling experience.

For buyers, SoftwareReviews' proven software selection methodologies, customer insights, and technology advisors help maximize success with technology decisions. For providers, the firm helps build more effective marketing, product, and sales processes with expert analysts, how-to research, customer-centric marketing content, and comprehensive analysis of the buyer landscape.

SoftwareReviews is a division of Info-Tech Research Group, a world-class technology research and advisory firm.

SOURCE SoftwareReviews
Armenia sent more humanitarian aid to quake-hit Turkey through the land border, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan tweeted.

February 15, 2023, 09:34 Armenia sends more humanitarian aid to Turkey through land border

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, ARTSAKHPRESS: Armenia continues sending humanitarian aid to earthquake-affected regions. Late last night, trucks loaded with the second batch of humanitarian aid crossed the Armenian-Turkish border through the Margara bridge, Hunanyan tweeted.
DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global ED Tech And Smart Classroom Market Size, Trends and Growth Opportunity, By Deployment, By End User ,By Region and Forecast to 2027." report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market was valued at US$110.2 billion in 2021 and it is expected to reach at US$295.44 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 13.02% during forecast period 2022-2027.

Companies Mentioned

Cisco Systems Inc.

Honeywell International Inc.

Apple Inc.

Blackboard Inc.

Discovery Education

Microsoft

Oracle

Google

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

Dell Inc.

Education technology and the "smart classroom" essentially focus on by analysing, planning, implementing, and assessing the instructional environment, learning materials, students, and the learning process.

Education and technology (IT) are linked together through education technology, or ed tech, in order to increase learning, education, and teaching.

Without regard to a learner's location, the use of information technology into education presents promising prospects to address the different demands of students.

Market Drivers



The expansion of the e-learning market and the increase in mobile penetration are credited with driving up education costs. The U.S., Europe, and emerging countries are leading the way in terms of internet and mobile usage.

Emerging markets are expected to expand rapidly in the meantime, with mobile becoming a key instrument for knowledge acquisition. This means that during the course of the forecast period, the market is expected to grow quickly.



Market Restraints



The transmission of personal information to unintended recipients increases the possibility of future misuse. Over the past few years, attacks on institutions of higher learning have significantly increased.

Over the course of the forecast period, these factors are anticipated to pose a substantial challenge to the Ed tech and smart classroom market.

Key Question Addressed by the Report

What are the Key Opportunities in Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market?

What will be the growth rate from 2022 to 2027?

Which segment/region will have highest growth?

What are the factors that will impact/drive the Market?

What is the role of key players in the value chain?

What is the competitive Landscape in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Outlook

4.1 Overview

4.2 Market Dynamics

4.2.1 Drivers

4.2.2 Restraints

4.2.3 Opportunities

4.3 Porters Five Force Model

4.4 Value Chain Analysis



5 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market, By Deployment

5.1 Y-o-Y Growth Comparison, By Deployment

5.2 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Share Analysis, By Deployment

5.3 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Size and Forecast, By Deployment

5.3.1 Cloud

5.3.2 On-Premise



6 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market, By End User

6.1 Y-o-Y Growth Comparison, By End User

6.2 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Share Analysis, By End User

6.3 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Share Analysis, By End User

6.3.1 K-12

6.3.2 Higher Education



7 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market, By Region

7.1 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Share Analysis, By Region

7.2 Global ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Share Analysis, By Region

8 North America ED Tech and Smart Classroom Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

9 Europe ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

10 Asia Pacific ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

11 Latin America ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

12 Middle East ED Tech and Smart Classroom Market Analysis and Forecast (2022-2027)

13 Competitive Analysis

13.1 Competition Dashboard

13.2 Market share Analysis of Top Vendors

13.3 Key Development Strategies



14 Company Profiles



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kkscnp-ed-tech?w=5

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Basso | Yanity 360 Advertising will specialize in brand marketing, campaign innovation and advertising services for local, regional, and national clients.

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Antonio advertising and marketing veterans Cory Basso, who led H-E-B's Advertising & Marketing for 18 years, and Fran Yanity are partnering to launch a new full-service advertising agency specializing in creative brand development, BASSO| YANITY 360 Advertising.

BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising (left to right) Judi Delgado-Hooks, Senior VP of Client Services, Cory Basso, Chief Branding Officer, and Fran Yanity, Co-Founder and CEO.

BASSO | YANITY Services will offer innovative brand marketing and strategy, cutting-edge creative services, and full-service marketing and advertising execution, to distinguish local, regional and national companies from competitors. The WBE-certified agency will launch with the following roster clients - Texas Beer Company, Texas A&M University - San Antonio, The Witte Museum, Codeup (the only accredited coding bootcamp in Texas), Beldon Commercial & Residential Roofing, as well as LeafGuard Gutters.

To learn more about BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising, please visit: basso-yanity.com

"Fran and I have a shared belief in developing a 360-degree approach to solving clients' marketing, advertising and branding needs," said Cory Basso, Chief Branding Officer of BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising. "In this new venture, we want to help brands better stand out in their respective business markets and increase their sales and market share, as we've done over the last 30 years for dozens of our respective clients."

Basso came to San Antonio 20 years ago to build an internal Marketing & Advertising Agency for H-E-B, where along with H-E-B's Brand Campaign, he spearheaded their widely recognized San Antonio Spurs commercial series and helped his team secure industry awards including "Innovative Agency of the Year." He has worked at some of the largest agencies in the world on accounts such as Toyota, Mazda, Heineken Worldwide, Coors Light, Molson, Farmers Insurance, Capital One, and SONY.

"Our new advertising agency is dedicated to winning partnerships. Cory will focus on creative and branding strategy while I will oversee the digital, social, traditional media and agency operations side of the business," stated Fran Yanity, Co-Founder and CEO. "By leveraging our combined expertise and core competencies, we are confident in the value proposition we will deliver at BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising," Yanity added.

Ms. Yanity has over 30 years of marketing and advertising experience overseeing strategic marketing, creative and media direction, as well as account leadership across various industry verticals. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day business operations for BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising, she is also the Founder and CEO of Noisy Trumpet Digital & PR , a nationally-recognized digital and public relations firm and works as the President/COO of The PM Group , the largest full service ad agency in South Texas specializing in media execution and delivery.

The new BASSO | YANITY offices will officially open Spring 2023 at the Northwest Center Building (7550 W Interstate 10, 78229) with plans to hire 8-10 employees in the immediate future. The agency has enlisted former H-E-B Marketing Director, Judi Delgado-Hooks, as their new Senior VP of Client Services. Delgado-Hooks will specialize in forming strategic relationships with clients to develop solutions to address their marketing and advertising needs.

ABOUT BASSO | YANITY 360

BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising is a full-service creative brand development agency that specializes in brand strategy, creative services, marketing, and advertising. BY creates innovative marketing campaigns that strengthen and distinguish local, regional and national companies from their competitors. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the firm aims to grow client sales greater than industry norms. To learn more about BASSO | YANITY 360 please visit, www.basso-yanity.com

SOURCE BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising
TPM23 by S&P Global Market Intelligence to be held in Long Beach, CA, February 26March 1

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Organized by The Journal of Commerce within S&P Global Market Intelligence, TPM, one of the world's largest trade conferences, will be held in the port city of Long Beach, California, February 26March 1, 2023, following the TPM Tech event Feb. 2324.

Under the theme of "Picking up the Pieces," TPM23 will explore in depth what the post pandemic reality will look like for container supply chains and what it means for 2023 and beyond.

Just weeks into 2023, the market is almost unrecognizable compared to the past two years of massive pandemic impact. The industry is coming off of an unpreceded period of growth, disruption and consequences, relative to container shipping history going back to the 1950s.

"It is too simple to say that containerized supply chains have simply gone back to normal. The reason is, while port congestion has largely cleared, the pandemic impact on perceptions of risk among shippers and beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) as well as the thinking of some regulators, particularly in the US, has changed significantly and will not quickly revert," said Peter Tirschwell, vice president at S&P Global Market Intelligence and chairman of TPM23. "At the same time, certain pre-pandemic realities, such as a greatly consolidated ocean carrier industry and inadequate port flow, have not changed, and that is important to remember in looking out into 2023 and beyond."

With a comprehensive agenda, TPM23 will prepare the participants to face an unpredictable market in 2023 and beyond.

TPM23 program includes:

The Global Economic and Trade Outlook: How Container Shipping Demand Is Shaping Up

Container Shipping Outlook: Suddenly and Yet Again, It's a New World

The Route to Carbon-Neutral Shipping and a Multi-Fuel Future

The Ocean Capacity Outlook: Shedding Light on a Complex Picture

The Logistics Implications of Sourcing Shifts

How to Improve Container Flow Through Terminals

Decarbonizing Ocean Container Supply Chains: What Shippers Demand Versus Solutions Available Today

TPM23 speakers include:

Alan Murphy , Co-Founder and CEO, Sea-Intelligence Consulting

, Co-Founder and CEO, Sea-Intelligence Consulting Anne-Sophie Zerlang Karlsen , Head of Asia Pacific Operations Execution, A.P. Mller  Maersk

, Head of Asia Pacific Operations Execution, A.P. Mller  Maersk Daniel Maffei , Chairman, Federal Maritime Commission

, Chairman, Federal Maritime Commission Gen. David H. Petraeus, Partner, KKR and Chairman, KKR Global Institute, Retired General and CIA Director

Lindsay Newman , Executive Director and Head of Geopolitical Thought Leadership, S&P Global Market Intelligence

, Executive Director and Head of Geopolitical Thought Leadership, S&P Global Market Intelligence Nariman Behravesh , Former Chief Economist, IHS Markit

, Former Chief Economist, IHS Markit Sarah Cottle , Senior Vice President, Head of Research, Advisory & Specialty Solutions, S&P Global Market Intelligence

, Senior Vice President, Head of Research, Advisory & Specialty Solutions, S&P Global Market Intelligence Sharon L. Weissman , President, Board of Harbor Commissioners, Port of Long Beach, California

, President, Board of Harbor Commissioners, Port of Sren Toft, Chief Executive Officer, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company

Stephen R. Lyons , Retired Gen., White House Special Envoy for Ports and Supply Chains

, Retired Gen., White House Special Envoy for Ports and Supply Chains Tim Scharwath , CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight

Registration Information

TPM23 by S&P Global Market Intelligence will be held on Feb. 26Mar.1 at Long Beach Convention Center, California. Further information and delegate registration is available at events.joc.com/tpm.

Media Accreditation

Media registration is now open. Members of the media interested in covering TPM23 are required to apply for accreditation and applications for accreditation can be submitted here.

Visit TPM23 for the most up-to-date event information. Listed session times, topics and speakers are subject to change.

About TPM

TPM, organized by The Journal of Commerce within S&P Global Market Intelligence, is S&P Global's premier conference for the trans-Pacific and global ocean container supply chains.

Founded in 2001, TPM is based on an editorially independent and rigorous program developed by the leading team of specialized, subject matter experts, journalists covering international transportation and logistics. TPM annually presents the industry's most in-depth program delving into the most pressing challenges affecting container shippers in North America and globally. The event annually attracts the most senior-level audience in this industry, and is a platform for a week of essential and intensive networking, negotiations, and relationship building among the multiple parties in the international container shipping supply chain: shippers, carriers, forwarders, technology providers, trucking operators, railroads, ports, terminals, and many others who participate in this market.

About S&P Global Market Intelligence

At S&P Global Market Intelligence, we understand the importance of accurate, deep and insightful information. Our team of experts delivers unrivaled insights and leading data and technology solutions, partnering with customers to expand their perspective, operate with confidence, and make decisions with conviction.

S&P Global Market Intelligence is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world's leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence.

Media Contact

SungHa Park

S&P Global Market Intelligence

P. +82 2 6001 3128

E. [email protected]

Copyright  2023 by S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. These materials have been prepared solely for information purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable. S&P Global Market Intelligence, its affiliates, and third-party providers (together, "S&P Global") do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of any content provided, including model, software or application, and are not responsible for errors or omissions, or for results obtained in connection with use of content. S&P Global disclaims all express or implied warranties, including (but not limited to) any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use.

S&P Global Market Intelligence's opinions, quotes and credit-related and other analyses are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendation to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its divisions separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain divisions of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global divisions. S&P Global provides a wide range of services to, or relating to, many organizations. It may receive fees or other economic benefits from organizations whose securities or services it may recommend, analyze, rate, include in model portfolios, evaluate, price or otherwise address.

SOURCE S&P Global Market Intelligence
Since 1994, TAPS's national network has provided much-needed compassionate care and comprehensive resources for the community of grieving military survivors, helping with complexities after loss such as retroactive benefits, funeral honors, and official papers, and providing emergency financial support. Additionally, TAPS implemented a life-altering program to compassionately support military or veteran caregivers as grieving survivors.

Combining technology and human support, Empathy complements TAPS through its holistic approach to bereavement care, helping simplify end-of-life bureaucracy, minimizing tedious tasks, and automating processes involved in the administration of an estate -- while providing emotional support via dedicated Care Specialists. By partnering with TAPS, Empathy will extend that support to bereaved military families through its world-class platform, assisting them with funeral planning and helping them navigate probate and relevant benefits, as well as offering emotional guidance.

"As a veteran and survivor myself, like most of the leadership team at TAPS, I personally know all too well the hardship families endure with loss," said Major Bonnie Carroll, USAFR (RET), President and Founder of TAPS, an Army widow and a 2015 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "We're pleased to partner with Empathy, a company leveraging their innovative platform to further our shared mission of showing survivors that they are not alone. Incorporating Empathy's services within our program is another way we can expand our community and resources to walk alongside our fellow survivors during their journey through grief. We hope that this will also shed a light on the meaningful impact that holistic bereavement care has on military survivors."

"In a time of immense grief, our veterans deserve society's recognition and support while navigating the loss of a loved one who put their life on the line for the American people," said Ron Gura, Co-Founder & CEO of Empathy. "We are honored to work alongside TAPS, which recognizes the value of full-fledged support for a community that is too often overlooked. We are humbled to do our part in honoring the memory of these fallen heroes by providing those crucial layers of emotional and administrative support to meet families where they are as they cope with loss."

About Empathy

Empathy's mission is to help families deal with the practical and emotional burdens they face after experiencing loss. Empathy's 24/7 Care Team and award-winning app provide families with all the tools, resources, and information they need to navigate the administrative responsibilities and emotions of loss. Headquartered in New York, Empathy partners with leading employers, Fortune 100 companies, insurers, and more, to assist and guide their customers and employees at one of the most difficult times in their lives. To learn more visit us at empathy.com .

About TAPS

The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is the leading national organization providing compassionate care and survivor support services for the families of America's fallen military heroes. Since 1994, TAPS has offered support to all those grieving the death of a military loved one through peer-based emotional support, connections with grief and trauma resources, grief seminars and retreats for adults, Good Grief Camps for children, casework assistance, connections to community-based care, online and in-person support groups and the 24/7 National Military Survivor Helpline, all at no cost to surviving families. For more information, please visit TAPS.org or call 202.588.TAPS (8277).

Empathy Media Contact

Ben Crome

[email protected]

+1 786 233 7684

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002239/TAPS_Empathy.jpg

SOURCE Empathy
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL ) (OTCQX: TCNNF ) ("Trulieve" or "the Company"), a leading and top-performing cannabis company in the United States, today became the first multi-state operator in the cannabis industry to launch advertising campaigns on Twitter. This follows a policy change made by the global social media platform today that now allows cannabis companies to advertise.

Trulieve is the first multi-state operator in the cannabis industry to launch advertising campaigns on Twitter.

"Trulieve is very excited and encouraged by Twitter's decision to update its policies and allow cannabis companies to advertise across the platform," said Gina Collins, Trulieve's Chief Marketing Officer. "Having a global social media platform recognize our industry is another step forward in the normalization of cannabis in the U.S. We proudly launched a multi-state advertising campaign today to become the first company in the cannabis industry on Twitter. As state-by-state cannabis regulations inform how operators can participate in the advertising space, we expect to follow in other legally approved states."

Trulieve Chief Executive Officer Kim Rivers said on Twitter: "On behalf of #Trulieve and the entire #CannabisIndustry THANK YOU to @elonmusk for this historic #PolicyChange & partnership. The opportunity to advertise on #Twitter means reaching more individuals & raising more awareness of the benefits of #cannabis. Onward!"

For more information, please visit Trulieve.com.

About Trulieve

Trulieve is an industry leading, vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S., with established hubs in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest, anchored by leading market positions in Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Trulieve is poised for accelerated growth and expansion, building scale in retail and distribution in new and existing markets through its hub strategy. By providing innovative, high-quality products across its brand portfolio, Trulieve delivers optimal customer experiences and increases access to cannabis, helping patients and customers to live without limits. Trulieve is listed on the CSE under the symbol TRUL and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol TCNNF. For more information, please visit Trulieve.com .

Facebook: @Trulieve

Instagram: @Trulieve_

Twitter: @Trulieve

Investor Contact

Christine Hersey, Vice President of Investor Relations

+1 (424) 202-0210

[email protected]

Media Contact

Rob Kremer, Executive Director of Corporate Communications

+1 (404) 218-3077

[email protected]

SOURCE Trulieve Cannabis Corp.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Tuesday met with Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, in Washington.

They discussed ways to further broaden and deepen the strong US-UAE partnership, and cooperation in the fields of security, climate, trade exchange and investment.

The UAE Foreign Minister held meetings with members of the Senate, Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Jim Risch, Vice Chairman of the Committee; Senator Todd Young. The UAE Foreign Minister held meetings with members of the Senate, Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Jim Risch, Vice Chairman of the Committee; Senator Todd Young. H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Tuesday met with Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, in Washington. During the talks, the two sides highlighted their joint commitment to combating extremism and confronting the threats facing the two sides in the Middle East region, and continuing to work to promote the Abraham Accords.

During the talks, the two sides highlighted their joint commitment to combating extremism and confronting the threats facing the two sides in the Middle East region and continuing to work to promote the Abraham Accords.

The two senior officials reviewed the continuous efforts to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to those affected by the earthquakes that hit Turkiye and Syria.

Sheikh Abdullah reiterated the UAE's firm commitment to addressing the effects of climate change, as well as cooperation on many bilateral initiatives aimed at facilitating the smooth transition to renewable energy sources and increasing investments in climate-adapted agriculture and food systems.

In this regard, Sheikh Abdullah pointed to the "Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy" (PACE) initiative launched by the UAE and the US in November 2022, which will catalyze US$100 billion in financing and other support in addition to deploying 100 new gigawatts (GW) of clean energy in the US, UAE and emerging economies around the world by 2035.

He referred to the UAE's hosting of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in November 2023, and stated that climate change has a great impact on the UAE and that the country is going through a major energy transition.

His Highness Sheikh Abdullah stated, "We understand the urgent need for ambitious action with the US and other partners to address climate change and facilitate a smooth transition to a near-carbon-neutral world in the future."

On the other hand, the UAE Foreign Minister held meetings with members of the Senate, Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Jim Risch, Vice Chairman of the Committee; Senator Todd Young.

The meetings dealt with ways to strengthen economic relations between the UAE and the US, as well as to promote investments and trade exchange between the two countries.

The UAE is the largest market for US exports in the Middle East. The volume of trade exchange between the two countries in 2022 amounted to US$27.8 billion, as the volume of UAE exports to the United States exceeded US$6.9 billion, an increase of 16 percent over the volume of the country's exports in the previous year.

The meetings were attended by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation; Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs and the UAE Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and Yousef Manea Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the United States.

Media Contact: Lamiyae Jbari

[email protected]

202 243 2464

SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates
FDA pre-IND feedback provides a clear path forward to initiate proof-of-concept clinical study in Rett Syndrome patients later this year

BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Unravel Biosciences, Inc., ("Unravel"), a therapeutics company that leverages a machine-learned model of human health to advance drugs for complex diseases, today announced the successful completion of its Type B pre-IND meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its RVL001 program in Rett Syndrome.

The FDA provided written responses to Unravel regarding its proposed proof of concept study for RVL001, a promising therapeutic identified by Unravel's proprietary drug prediction platform as potentially beneficial for patients with Rett Syndrome via a previously undrugged target. Unravel believes the written response provides clear guidance for RVL001 IND filing and initiation of its proof-of-concept study in Rett syndrome patients later this year.

"We are pleased to have received positive feedback from FDA on our proposed RVL001 clinical study in Rett Syndrome," said Richard Novak, Ph.D., Unravel Co-Founder and CEO. "The successful completion of this key development milestone provides a great validation of Unravel's ability to rapidly move promising therapies into the clinic, much faster than most conventional approaches to drug development."

Rett Syndrome is a rare, X-linked neurological disorder occurring primarily in females, starting in early childhood and leading to debilitating cognitive, motor and autonomic disability. With an incidence of one in every 10,000 to 15,000 female births, Rett Syndrome is an orphan disease with no current FDA-approved treatments. Unravel's proprietary drug discovery platform has identified RVL001 as a promising therapeutic for Rett Syndrome, as well as RVL002, a novel small molecule therapeutic currently being developed.

About Unravel Biosciences

Unravel Biosciences is a personalized therapeutics company that redefines diseases through RNA network analysis to seamlessly bridge target discovery with clinical efficacy of new drugs. Unravel leverages its proprietary BioNAV platform combining target and drug discovery, preclinical screening and patient stratification to find treatments for complex diseases impacting the whole body. Unravel's platform discovered RVL001, a proprietary formulation targeting Rett Syndrome that will enter the clinic this year, and RVL002, a new small molecule with applications in CNS and metabolic diseases. www.unravel.bio.

CONTACT: Unravel Biosciences-Richard Novak, PhD, [email protected]

SOURCE Unravel Biosciences, Inc.
HUNTINGTON, W. Va., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aleut Flood Management, LLC (Aleut) is excited to announce the award of two Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Huntington District for Land-Based and Marine-Based Construction Projects.

"USACE does critical work throughout the region(s) which Aleut calls home," said Aleut Federal's Vice President of Construction Services, John Mroz. "These task orders enable necessary steps toward protecting the environment, upgrading infrastructure, and improving the quality of life for local residents."

Land-Based task orders may include site surveys, work plans, and/or rehabilitation (MRR) services to Government installations and facilities within the region. Projects can range from major project/area cleanup to repairs, modifications, and reinforcement of existing dams, levees, and locks supporting Flood Damage Reduction or Interim Risk Reduction Measures. Supplementing these efforts, the contract scope may also permit work relating to land-based stream bank protection and excavation site work, construction, or remodeling of small to large buildings, small bridge construction, and/or demolition of structures.

The Marine-Based contract will focus on projects relating to river and land-based stream bank erosion protection, working on/around locks and dams, handling and placement of large derrick stone, excavation, dredging, rehabilitation or construction of bridges, navigation locks, dams, and other Government facilities. Also covered under the contract scope: demolition of small and large structures, restoration of cleared areas, and replacement of hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, or HVAC systems in existing facilities.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) awards cover construction projects assigned to the Rivers Districts of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division.

ABOUT ALEUT

Formed in 2021, Aleut Flood Management, LLC is a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Disadvantaged Business. Aleut specializes in flood management of all kinds including, pump station construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance; levee construction and rehabilitation; rip rap placement; underwater berm construction and stabilization; and temporary pumping.

Aleut Flood Management, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aleut Federal, LLC, a holding company for federal subsidiaries of The Aleut Corporation (TAC). TAC is one of 12 original Alaska Native Corporations established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1971.

Berlyn Martin

Aleut Federal, LLC

Phone: 276-244-3319

SOURCE Aleut Federal, LLC
TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaica Medical, a leading provider of medication adherence and remote patient management technology, is now CMS-approved RPM care in the State of Florida.

Since 2022, CMS introduced an expanded set of reimbursement codes (CPT) centered on the Remote Monitoring of physiological symptoms (RPM) and Remote Therapeutic Monitoring/Treatment Management (RTM) to manage chronic conditions and improve patient health outcomes.

Vaica has partnered with Integrative Medicine Clinic, a healthcare clinic in South Florida and has successfully achieved Medicare reimbursement for its RPM services.

Vaica provides a comprehensive offering of medication adherence solutions and a powerful physician management portal. This enables health care providers such as Integrative Medicine Clinic to easily enhance Clinician-Patient monitoring and communication, thus gaining better patient engagement and awareness. Furthermore, the entire solution is fully reimbursable by the leading insurance companies, thus offering not only better medical service to the patients but higher profitability for the physicians doing so.

About Integrative Medicine US, https://integrativemedicine.us/

The mission Integrative Medicine US is dedicated to the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health and the prevention of disease.

About Vaica

Vaica is a telemedicine company bringing together Remote Patient Management (RPM), and Remote Therapeutic Management (RTM), tracking the patient's vitals, medication adherence and persistence. Vaica's unique approach provides the necessary full picture of a patient's medication regimen and its effect on their vitals. Vaica's solutions are distributed worldwide and used by various healthcare organizations. For additional information, please visit www.vaica.com

Company Contact

Noa Lapidot | [email protected]

Director of Product Business Development

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1957585/Vaica_Medical_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Vaica Medical
"Each of our products is intuitive and powerful in its own right  but connected together on the Command platform, they provide best-in-class capabilities to protect people and places," said Brandon Davito, VP of Product. "All of the new products and features we're introducing today  from Verkada Intercom and our new talkdown speaker to our enhanced Command interface  work together to empower our customers to not only keep their organizations safer, but also to transform the way they operate."

Introducing Verkada Intercom, providing more flexibility for modern workplaces

Verkada Intercom , the newest addition to Verkada's product portfolio, empowers front desk staff to make smarter entry decisions. With the new video intercom, customers can answer calls from anywhere with sharp video, clear audio, four smart receiver methods and intuitive management and security tools in Verkada Command.

Every button press and intercom call is recorded on-device for easy retrieval and historical review for up to 30 days, and comes with the full suite of Verkada features that Verkada customers already use, including people analytics, motion algorithms and cloud archiving.

Introducing the next-generation of bullet cameras

The second generation of Verkada's bullet cameras deliver better image quality, improved analytics and an easier installation experience. The bullet cameras are designed to capture video in harsh conditions and for distant scenes. With two wide-angle models and two telephoto models, the refreshed bullet cameras have up to 3x optical zoom and enhanced processing power.

Verkada also introduced:

Enhanced License Plate Recognition (LPR) capabilities :

Verkada can now support LPR across three lanes of traffic with a single camera at speeds up to 80mph.



Verkada also introduced a completely new cross-camera LPR search experience where customers can see all plates that have been detected, assign names to a license plate for easier searches and review historical footage, conduct motion searches and create archives.

Helix, the powerful new enterprise video search and integration engine : Helix allows customers to provide context to their video security footage by indexing Verkada camera footage with data from third-party applications. When customers import their own enterprise data into Command  such as transactions from a point-of-sale system  they can use it as a filter to quickly search through events on video. Helix is compatible with all camera models and can be easily set up via Verkada's public API endpoint.

Adding a new horn speaker to our Alarms product line

Law enforcement resources are stretched thin, so it's not always possible for police to arrive in time when an alarm is triggered  making deterrence measures critical to stopping intruders before they can do damage.

This is why Verkada introduced the new Horn Speaker that allows organizations to talk down to intruders directly from a camera feed in Verkada's Command dashboard or mobile app. With the addition of an Alarms License, organizations can also have professional monitoring agents talk down to intruders, or configure a pre-recorded message to play as an automated response.

Enhancing Verkada's Command interface, making it even easier to use and giving customers even more features for visibility and control

Verkada updated its user interface to make it even easier to manage all users, devices and alerts across the Command platform. This new look and feel will better accommodate its growing portfolio of integrated security products, and ensure our platform continues to be intuitive and easy for customers to navigate. Further, new language options  French, Spanish and Japanese  were added to meet the needs of its growing global customer base.

Additionally, several new features have been introduced to give customers more visibility and control:

Live Viewers : For more visibility into how Verkada is being used across organizations, Live Viewers displays each person currently viewing a camera in the top right hand corner of the Camera page. The clickable Live Viewer icons will show additional context like the viewer's name, email and IP address, and length of the stream session.

For more visibility into how Verkada is being used across organizations, Live Viewers displays each person currently viewing a camera in the top right hand corner of the Camera page. The clickable Live Viewer icons will show additional context like the viewer's name, email and IP address, and length of the stream session. Customizable privacy & security disclosures : Customizable QR codes and associated webpages have been created so visitors can easily understand what physical security technologies are being deployed at an organization  and how they are being used. Once the disclosure is generated, it can be shared in the form of a link embedded in an email or printed as a QR code and posted on the premises. This allows individuals entering a Verkada building to scan the QR code and quickly learn, for example, if video is being captured by cameras on the premises.

Introducing new Guest integrations to streamline security screens

By integrating with Checkr , Verkada Guest customers can now more quickly, accurately, and securely manage visitor access with background checks, as well as registered sex offender checks, during check-in. Potential matches are returned for front desk staff to review before making entry decisions. Individuals who do not pass the screening can be immediately added to an auto-deny list.

About Verkada

Verkada is the leading physical security platform to protect people and places. Designed with simplicity in mind, Verkada's product lines - video security cameras, access control, environmental sensors, alarms, intercoms, visitor management and mailroom management - provide unparalleled building security through an integrated, secure cloud-based software platform. Over 15,000 organizations across 63 countries worldwide trust Verkada as their physical security layer for easier management, intelligent control, and scalable deployments. For more information, please visit www.verkada.com.

SOURCE Verkada
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu are holding a meeting in Ankara.

February 15, 2023, 13:36 Armenian Foreign Minister meets with Turkish counterpart in Ankara

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: The meeting will be followed by an enlarged-format meeting.

The foreign ministers will then deliver press statements.

The Armenian Foreign Minister is then scheduled to visit Adiyaman in southeastern Turkey, where an Armenian search-and-rescue team is assisting in the earthquake response efforts.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vial , a global CRO providing next-generation clinical trial management services, announced the addition of Dr. Rajat N Agrawal to Vial's scientific advisory board (SAB). Dr. Agrawal, an ophthalmologist and retina specialist, will work closely with the company's leadership team to enhance the scientific strategy of Vial's Ophthalmology CRO products and services.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Agrawal to our SAB, bringing his extensive experience in clinical development, artificial intelligence, and Ophthalmology to Vial," said Simon Burns, CEO and Co-Founder of Vial.

"I am excited to join Vial and contribute to their mission of providing technology-driven clinical trial management services in Ophthalmology," said Dr. Agrawal. "I look forward to working with the team to advance their initiatives and help bring cutting-edge therapies to patients."

Dr. Agrawal is the VP of Clinical Development and Ophthalmology Lead at Rezolute, Inc. He has a wealth of experience in ophthalmology, having previously served as Senior Vice-President and Ophthalmology Lead at Coherus Biosciences, where he led the development of two biosimilars in ophthalmology. He also held leadership positions at Santen Inc., where he was involved in clinical development programs for retina, glaucoma and cornea assets, and worked closely with the business development group and venture capital arm of the company in due diligence for investment and other deals. Dr. Agrawal was a clinical ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and at the Los Angeles County Hospital, while also being the Director of Retina Degenerative Diseases and Co-Director of the Intraocular Implant Lad. While at USC, Dr. Agrawal co-created and co-holds patents on ARGUS-II, the first-ever artificial bionic eye that enables patients suffering from advanced retinitis pigmentosa, which has been approved for use in many leading regions around the world.

Dr. Agrawal is also the founder, president, and CEO of an international nonprofit, Retina Global, which provides retinal eye care to underserved areas around the world with the help of volunteer retina specialists from around the world. He is also the Founder of the Orange County Eye Project in California, which is focused on providing specialized eye care to the underserved with the help of ophthalmologists and optometrists in Southern California. He has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, served as a reviewer for multiple ophthalmology journals, and has been invited to speak at national and international meetings by his peers. He holds multiple patents, including one for artificial vision and drug delivery devices. He completed his medical schooling, ophthalmology residency, and a retina fellowship initially from India, followed by working as a retina specialist in India, Hong Kong, the Bahamas and the US. He also has a master's degree in regulatory sciences from USC.

To learn more about Vial, visit our website .

See the full release here .

About Vial: Vial is a tech-enabled, next-generation CRO that promises faster and higher-quality execution of trials for less cost. The Vial Contract Research Organization (CRO) delivers on the promise of more efficient trials through its innovative technology platform that powers trials end-to-end from site startup to database lock. Vial's technology platform combines modern, intuitive eSource , EDC , and ePRO into one connected system, streamlining site processes and enabling considerable efficiencies. Vial operates across multiple Therapeutic Areas ( Dermatology CRO , Ophthalmology CRO , Oncology CRO , Gastroenterology CRO , Neurology CRO , and Cardiology CRO ). Vial is a San Francisco, California-based company with over 125 employees.

SOURCE Vial
Following Submarine Encounters with Rare Giant Phantom Jellyfish, Viking Becomes First Cruise Line to Publish Scientific Paper

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking (www.viking.com) today announced its Viking Expedition Team has published the company's first scientific paper, following observations of the rarely encountered scyphozoan Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jellyfish. The encounters took place during submersible dives in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsula in early 2022. Despite reaching up to 30 feet (10 meters) in length, only 126 encounters with the giant phantom jellyfish have ever been recorded since the species was first described in 1910. During Viking's inaugural season in Antarctica in 2022, direct observations of the giant phantom jellyfish were made three times from submersibles deployed from Viking's expedition vessel, the Viking Octantis, and documented through stills and video photography.

The Viking Expedition Teams encounter with the scyphozoan Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jellyfish, took place during submersible dives in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsula in early 2022. Despite reaching up to 30 feet (10 meters) in length, only 126 encounters with the giant phantom jellyfish have ever been recorded since the species was first described in 1910. Credit Anthony Gilbert. For more information, visit www.viking.com. Viking today announced its Viking Expedition Team has published the companys first scientific paper, following observations of the rarely encountered scyphozoan Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jellyfish, pictured. Credit Mark Niesink. For more information, visit www.viking.com.

Authored by two of Viking's Chief Scientists with contributions from the submersible teams, the scientific paper describes for the first time how personal submersibles, such as those on the Viking Octantis and her identical sister ship, the Viking Polaris, can be vessels of opportunity for biological research in polar regions and allow the science community to access under-explored waters. With citizen science activities being popular among expedition guests, the paper also notes the potential to gather guest-derived data from submersible dives. Lead author, Dr. Daniel Moore, noted "It is extraordinary that we know so little about such large marine creatures as the giant phantom jellyfish, however now we have the means to make regular observations at greater depths than previously possible, which provides an exciting opportunity for discovery."

Published in Polar Research, the scientific journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, the article can be read here: http://dx.doi.org/10.33265/polar.v42.8873.

"In creating 'the thinking person's expedition,' it was our intention that every voyage should provide opportunities for scientific discovery," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "At the core of Viking Expeditions is the goal to do meaningful scientific work. After just one full season in service, we are pleased that our expedition vessels and scientists have already contributed to research that might not have been possible otherwise, and we look forward to providing critical research opportunities on future voyages."

Viking Expedition Team & Scientific Partners

Viking has created the world's leading scientific enrichment environment in an expedition setting with the help of partnerships with esteemed academic institutions. During each expedition, visiting researchers from partner institutions are part of the 36-person Viking Expedition Team. This diverse group of experts lead guests through meaningful scientific work, provide guiding and interpretation during shore excursions and deliver world-class lectures.

"The Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris are re-imagining what a research 'ship of opportunity' can be," said Dr. Damon Stanwell-Smith, Head of Science and Sustainability at Viking. "During each voyage, our guests participate in real, significant science. Our scientific approach centers on having the platform to explore with the personnel to interpret what is found, and we believe this is the first of many scientific papers that will result from research conducted on board Viking expedition vessels."

In April 2022, Viking announced a strengthening of its lead partnership with the University of Cambridge, establishing a new Professorship aimed at advancing research in the field of polar environmental science. The Viking Polar Marine Geoscience Fund endows the University of Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) with its first-ever fully funded professorshipthe Viking Chair of Polar Marine Geoscience. This new post enhances the scientific leadership at the Institute and enables the development of new lines of research into the behavior of polar environments, including polar ice sheets, sea ice and ocean circulation.

The research fund builds on Viking's existing partnership with Cambridge University's SPRI, which played a significant role in developing the scientific enrichment program for Viking Expeditions. Specialists from the Institute were also consulted in the development of The Science Lab on Viking's expedition vessels; the 380-square-foot lab is comprehensively appointed with wet and dry laboratory facilities and supports a broad range of research. Julian Dowdeswell, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Cambridge, and former director of SPRI, serves as the Chair of the Viking Research Advisory Group, a consortium of scientific leaders from Viking's partner institutions who have been actively involved in overseeing the field research being undertaken on board.

In addition to the University of Cambridge's SPRI, Viking's other scientific partners include:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology : Ornithologists are regularly on board Viking's expedition vessels, undertaking post-doctoral research on new observation methods and providing guest advice and interaction.





: Ornithologists are regularly on board Viking's expedition vessels, undertaking post-doctoral research on new observation methods and providing guest advice and interaction. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) : Conducts innovative research on the dynamic environments and ecosystems of the Great Lakes and coastal regions to provide information for resource use and management decisions that lead to safe and sustainable ecosystems, ecosystem services, and human communities. Viking's expedition ships have been designated official NOAA / US National Weather Service weather balloon stations, from which regular launches are undertaken.





: Conducts innovative research on the dynamic environments and ecosystems of the Great Lakes and coastal regions to provide information for resource use and management decisions that lead to safe and sustainable ecosystems, ecosystem services, and human communities. Viking's expedition ships have been designated official NOAA / US National Weather Service weather balloon stations, from which regular launches are undertaken. Norwegian Institute of Water Research (NIVA): Scientists from NIVA are engaged in cross-disciplinary research programs on water-related issues. On Viking's expedition ships, NIVA FerryBoxes are installed to sample the marine and freshwater regions the vessels sail, to provide continuous information about chlorophyll, oxygen, temperature, salinity, microplastic presence and complementary meteorological data.





Scientists from NIVA are engaged in cross-disciplinary research programs on water-related issues. On Viking's expedition ships, NIVA FerryBoxes are installed to sample the marine and freshwater regions the vessels sail, to provide continuous information about chlorophyll, oxygen, temperature, salinity, microplastic presence and complementary meteorological data. Norwegian Polar Institute: The permitting authority for Viking's Norwegian flagged expedition vessels, who review and approve all of Viking's expedition and science activities in Antarctica .





The permitting authority for Viking's Norwegian flagged expedition vessels, who review and approve all of Viking's expedition and science activities in . Oceanites : Viking supports the fieldwork of Oceanites, an American Not-for-Profit field research entity, that has led on Antarctic penguin monitoring for the past thirty years, through mobilizing teams of penguin researchers on Viking expedition Antarctic voyages.





: Viking supports the fieldwork of Oceanites, an American Not-for-Profit field research entity, that has led on Antarctic penguin monitoring for the past thirty years, through mobilizing teams of penguin researchers on Viking expedition Antarctic voyages. Fjord Phyto : Viking hosts a NASA-funded program of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, that provides the opportunity for guests to engage in research and public education through novel citizen science sampling of polar phytoplankton, for genetic population analyses.





: Viking hosts a NASA-funded program of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, that provides the opportunity for guests to engage in research and public education through novel citizen science sampling of polar phytoplankton, for genetic population analyses. The IUCN Species Survival Commission Species Monitoring Specialist Group: Viking coordinates with this international group of experts to develop marine biodiversity monitoring systems that enable Viking expedition vessels to collect valuable species population data.

Viking Expeditions

Viking offers destination-focused expeditions in Antarctica and North America's Great Lakes, with an expedition fleet that includes the Polar Class Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris. Designed for discovery by the same team that designed the award-winning Viking Longships and ocean ships, the 378-guest vessels are purpose-built for expeditions, at an ideal size for safety, comfort and to support an unrivalled range of activities in remote destinations. With more indoor and outdoor viewing areas than other expedition vessels, guests are as close as possible to the most magnificent scenery on earth.

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused journeys on rivers, oceans, and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers experiences for The Thinking Person. Viking has more than 250 awards to its name, including being the first cruise line to ever be named both the #1 Ocean Line and the #1 River Line in a single year in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards. Viking has also been rated the #1 River Line and #1 Ocean Line by Conde Nast Traveler in the publication's 2022 and 2021 Readers' Choice Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com. For Viking's award-winning enrichment channel, visit www.viking.tv.

SOURCE Viking
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vision Films, Inc. ("Vision") has announced the transactional VOD and DVD release of The Stratum on March 7, 2023 across the US and Canada. Produced, written by and starring Crash Buist, Lauren Senechal, and directed by Buist, the film was a two-person operation handling every element of production from props and wardrobe to the hi-tech special effects.

The film also features Jonathan Medina (Primo, The Terminal List, The Purge) and Broadway actor Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Funny Girl).

The Stratum Sci Fi Movie Poster

In a dystopian future, a deadly virus will devastate the planet. The greedy CEO of a tech conglomerate controls the earth from space with an iron fist and The People's Army, in their quest for power, don't care who gets caught in the crossfire. One man, together with the CEO's daughter, will use virtual reality, his cyberpunk hacking skills, and her brilliant mind to save mankind.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/qQIZeoMSzCI

Lise Romanoff, CEO/Managing Director of Vision Films shares, "With all the ingredients of a high budget, epic, sci-fi film including special effects, spaceships and non-stop action, The Stratum is sure to especially delight film lovers, sci-fi fans, gamers, and VR enthusiasts."

Writer/director Crash Buist adds, "As a colossal nerd, I've always been obsessed with science fiction stories, games, and movies. Lauren and I wanted to build a world for our characters to use advanced virtual reality, space travel, cool gadgets, all that cyberpunk sci-fi stuff. But we also wanted to explore a myriad of social themes and dramatic concepts that mirror the world we're currently living in. We look at social inequality, domestic terrorism, and corporate overreach, all while exploring the nature of love, honesty, and personal responsibility in an ever-changing and complicated world. Wrap all that up in a story with a healthy dose of sci-fi action and sentient vending machines, and you get The Stratum."

Actor/producer Jonathan Medina says, "It's rare that you can take on the antagonist of a film without getting lost in one dimension. The world that Crash and Lauren created, and the cast of characters, were so much fun and immensely satisfying on so many levels. It's a story about relationships, political and social divides, control, the illusions we allow ourselves to live in, and, maybe most importantly, how powerful love can be as an instrument for change."

About Vision Films

Vision Films is a leading independent sales and VOD aggregator specializing in the licensing, marketing, and distribution of over 800 feature films, documentaries, and series from some of the most prolific independent film producers in the world. Led by Lise Romanoff, Managing Director/CEO Worldwide Distribution, Vision Films releases 2-4 films a month across Theatrical, VOD, DVD, and television platforms. visionfilms.net

Media Contact:

Andrea McKinnon

(818) 415-9442

[email protected]

SOURCE Vision Films, Inc.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2022, the wave energy converter market had a total size of USD 21.08 million, and it is expected to hit USD 30.44 million by 2030, progressing at a rate of 4.70% from 2022 to 2030, as per a report by market research and consulting firm P&S Intelligence.

This can be credited to the growing demand for power from renewable sources because of their low or near-zero CO 2 emissions. Furthermore, the need for access to the power contained in ocean waves and the increase in R&D activities are projected to drive the market.

Oscillating Water Column Demand Is Rising Swiftly

In the coming few years, the oscillating water column category, on the basis of technology, is set to experience the highest CAGR, of 5.4%. This can be ascribed to several factors, such as the longer lifetime and low maintenance of this component and easy access near the shores.

Get the sample pages of this report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/wave-energy-converter-market/report-sample

It is more convenient to build and design through a Wells turbine, with the utilization of the natural flow of wind energy, which does not release any greenhouse gases, thus making it a non-polluting and renewable resource of energy.

Europe Is Highest Revenue Generator

In 2022, Europe was the highest revenue generator in the market. This is mainly because several types of renewable energy generation equipment is accepted in Europe. This is itself ascribed to the existence of key players, which have engaged in extensive research and development on wave power converters.

Nearshore Locations Are Popular because of Their Low Cost

The nearshore location category held the largest revenue share, credited to the less cost and compact size of converts used in such locations. Furthermore, wave energy converters installed at nearshore settings operate with higher efficiency than other those at locations, helping in both energy generation and desalination.

Browse detailed report on Wave Energy Converter Market Growth, Development and Demand Forecast Report 2030

The offshore category is projected to witness considerable development during the forecast period. This is because offshore locations offer numerous benefits, including more-dependable renewable sources and low or no environmental pollution. Further, a small surge in the velocity of the wind can produce a huge amount of energy in these locations.

The growing focus on the ability to use sea waves to produce electricity is growing quickly throughout the world. The advantage of shifting to renewable resources from older, fossil-fuel-reliant methods have been realized recently for a range of geopolitical, environmentally practical, and economic reasons.

Coastal Regions Could Benefit Massively from Wave Energy Converters

Around 37% of the global population resides within 100 km of the coast. With coastal towns and cities growing incessantly, the demand for electricity is rising here. Thus, these communities could benefit massively by harnessing the power of the waves to produce electricity, which would be cheaper to transport to the coast than further inland.

Wave Energy Converter Market Report Coverage

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain

Asia-Pacific

Japan



China



India



South Korea



Australia

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



South Africa



U.A.E.

Browse More Reports Published by P&S

Global Offshore Wind Turbine Market Growth, Development and Demand Forecast Report 2030

Global Wind Tower Market Projection, Technological Innovation and Emerging Trends 2030

About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

Contact:

Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Phone: +1-347-960-6455

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com

Follow Us: LinkedIn Twitter

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1224988/P_and_S_Intelligence_Logo.jpg

SOURCE P&S Intelligence
Elance at Alexandria is RUI's first senior living community under the new luxury brand, and the first in partnership with Welltower

TOLEDO, Ohio and ROANOKE, Va., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) and Retirement Unlimited Inc. (RUI), a family-owned and Virginia-based senior living community management company, announced today a robust programmatic partnership in the senior living space. The partnership began when RUI assumed management of the former Fountains at Washington House in Alexandria, Va., on November 15, 2022. With the management change, RUI also unveiled the community's new name  Elance at Alexandria, which represents the first installment in RUI's new luxury brand of Elance communities. The management change is part of a new partnership between RUI and Welltower, a real estate investment trust focused on data-driven and relationship-based investing. Welltower maintains a distinguished history of establishing long-term partnerships with leading seniors housing operators to enable further growth, innovation, and continuously improving care levels. A significant expansion in the programmatic relationship between Welltower and RUI is expected in the coming months and years through a robust pipeline of acquisition, transition, and development opportunities. The partnership is expected to grow to over 20 communities in the near term spanning multiple states throughout the East Coast.

"RUI is passionate about providing quality care, excellent customer service, and a luxurious lifestyle to senior communities throughout Virginia and Florida. We're honored to have the opportunity to bring that same passion to the Elance at Alexandria community," said William Fralin, RUI's CEO. "At the same time, we're excited about our new partnership with Welltower, whose leadership position and innovation in senior housing investment will further enable RUI's continued growth in delivering a lifestyle that residents have earned and deserve."

"Welltower prides itself on partnering with industry-leading senior care providers and managers and we are extremely pleased to add Retirement Unlimited, with a 40-year track record of operating excellence, to the portfolio," said Shankh Mitra, Welltower's CEO. "William, Doris-Ellie and their entire team have distinguished themselves as best-in-class managers, with their currently managed properties outperforming their underlying markets and the industry with mid 90% occupancy, strong operating margins and differentiated programming such as RUI University. We are excited to partner with RUI on Elance at Alexandria which is the first of many opportunities in the programmatic partnership's near-term pipeline."

In an effort to ensure a smooth transition, RUI's leadership team has been spending time at the community meeting with residents, families, and team members to gather and share information and has organized several Town Hall gatherings and one-on-one meetings.

"Plans are already underway at the Elance at Alexandria community for numerous projects, including the rooftop showcase, new dining experiences, a fitness center, and renovations to the luxury salon and spa," explained Doris-Ellie Sullivan, RUI's President. "We will also be introducing our MYRUI app which will allow residents and families to view life-enrichment programming and Taste of RUI menus, schedule LUXE Unlimited Salon & Spa appointments and more. This is all part of RUI's diverse enrichment programs, social experiences, and levels of care that, together, take the senior living experience to the next level in a comfortable and elegant setting."

RUI's culture of resident-focused lifestyles and engagement is presented through signature programs that include:

RUI University  lifelong learning program

Taste of RUI  culinary experience

RUI FIT  fitness and therapy services

Leash on Life  pet concierge services

LUXE Unlimited Salon and Spa

Care Impact  personalized care program

Inspiritas  memory care

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When Welltower uses words such as "may," "will," "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "plan" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the planned projects at the Elance at Alexandria community and the expansion in the programmatic relationship between Welltower and RUI, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause Welltower's actual results to differ materially from Welltower's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. This may be a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, those factors discussed in Welltower's reports filed from time to time with the SEC. Welltower undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

About RUI

Retirement Unlimited, Inc. (RUI) is owned and operated by the Virginia families of Fralin and Waldron. Led by its third generation of Fralins and second generation of Waldrons, RUI currently has nineteen senior living communities located in Virginia and most recently Florida with several active development projects as well. Our communities offer Independent/Residential Living, Assisted Living, and memory care - Inspiritas  and a full spectrum of life enrichment programs including RUI University, lifelong learning, and continuing education programs. For more information visit www.rui.net.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. The Company invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers, and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience. Welltower, a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), owns interests in properties concentrated in major, high-growth markets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, consisting of seniors housing, post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties. More information is available at www.welltower.com.

SOURCE Welltower Inc.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

Wet tissue and wipe market insights -

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Wet Tissue and Wipe Market 2023-2027

Vendors : 15+, Including 3M Co., Beiersdorf AG, Coterie Baby Inc., Daio Paper Corp., DR. Fischer Ltd., Edgewell Personal Care Co., Essity Aktiebolag, GAMA Healthcare Ltd., Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Services Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp., Ontex BV, Papier Creations, Pigeon Corp., Professional Disposables International Inc., S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., Unilever PLC, among others

: 15+, Including Co., Beiersdorf AG, Coterie Baby Inc., Daio Paper Corp., DR. Fischer Ltd., Edgewell Personal Care Co., Essity Aktiebolag, GAMA Healthcare Ltd., Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Services Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp., Ontex BV, Papier Creations, Pigeon Corp., Professional Disposables International Inc., S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., Unilever PLC, among others Coverage: Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and vendor landscape; vendor product insights and recent developments; key vendors; and market positioning of vendors

Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and vendor landscape; vendor product insights and recent developments; key vendors; and market positioning of vendors Segments: Application (Personal care, Household, and Industrial commercial and institutional), Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), Technology (Spunlace, Airlaid, Wetlaid, and Others), and Geography ( Europe , North America , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa )

To understand more about the wet tissue and wipe market, request a Free sample report

The wet tissue and wipe market report provide critical information and factual data, with a qualitative and quantitative study of the market based on market drivers and limitations as well as future prospects.

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In 2017, the wet tissue and wipe market was valued at USD 15,548.90 million. From a regional perspective, Europe is estimated to contribute 34% to the growth of the global market, and the market is valued at USD 5,933.46 million in 2017. The wet tissue and wipe market size is estimated to grow by USD 7,938.35 million from 2022 to 2027 at a CAGR of 6.9% according to Technavio.

Wet tissue and wipe 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

For highlights on customer landscape analysis, download a sample!

Wet tissue and wipe market - Vendor insights

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Technavio report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors including 

3M Co. - The company offers wet tissue and wipe namely 3M Respirator cleaning wipe.

The company offers wet tissue and wipe namely Respirator cleaning wipe. Beiersdorf AG - The company offers wet tissue and wipe under its brand Nivea.

The company offers wet tissue and wipe under its brand Nivea. Daio Paper Corp. - The company offers wet tissue and wipe namely Daio Paper Elleair Wet Wipes.

Wet tissue and wipe market  Market dynamics

Major drivers 

Growing pollution and deteriorating environmental conditions

Growing concerns regarding hygiene

Rising demand for wet tissues and wipes from the healthcare sector

Key challenges 

Concerns regarding disposal of wet wipes

Stringent government regulations on wet wipes

Availability of counterfeit products

Drivers and challenges have an impact on market dynamics and can impact businesses. Find some insights from a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this wet tissue and wipe market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the wet tissue and wipe market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the wet tissue and wipe market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the wet tissue and wipe industry across Europe , North America , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , 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 wet tissue and wipe market vendors

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The predicted growth of the tissue paper market share from 2021 to 2026 is USD 25.86 billion at a progressing CAGR of 5.79%. The growing concerns about health and hygiene in developing economies are notably driving the tissue paper market growth, although factors such as the threat of prominent substitutes may impede the market growth.

The wet-wipe market has the potential to grow by USD 5.58 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.38%. The rising concern over hygiene is notably driving the wet-wipe market growth, although factors such as increasing environmental concerns may impede the market growth.

Wet Tissue And Wipe Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 191 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.9% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 7,938.35 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 6.3 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 34% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled 3M Co., Beiersdorf AG, Coterie Baby Inc., Daio Paper Corp., DR. Fischer Ltd., Edgewell Personal Care Co., Essity Aktiebolag, GAMA Healthcare Ltd., Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Services Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp., Ontex BV, Papier Creations, Pigeon Corp., Professional Disposables International Inc., S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., and Unilever PLC 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 Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Technology



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 10: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 11: Parent market



Exhibit 12: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 13: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 14: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 15: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 17: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 18: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global wet tissue and wipe market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global wet tissue and wipe market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Application Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Distribution channel Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Distribution channel Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Technology Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Technology Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 23: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.6 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 24: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 25: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 26: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 27: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 28: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 29: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 30: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 31: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Application

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 32: Chart on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 34: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Comparison by Application

6.3 Personal care - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 36: Chart on Personal care - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Personal care - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Personal care - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Personal care - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Household - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 40: Chart on Household - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Household - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Household - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Household - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Industrial commercial and institutional - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 44: Chart on Industrial commercial and institutional - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Industrial commercial and institutional - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 46: Chart on Industrial commercial and institutional - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Industrial commercial and institutional - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 49: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 51: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

7.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 53: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 57: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 59: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 61: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

8 Market Segmentation by Technology

8.1 Market segments

Exhibit 62: Chart on Technology - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Technology - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

8.2 Comparison by Technology

Exhibit 64: Chart on Comparison by Technology



Exhibit 65: Data Table on Comparison by Technology

8.3 Spunlace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 66: Chart on Spunlace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Spunlace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on Spunlace - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Spunlace - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.4 Airlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 70: Chart on Airlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on Airlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on Airlaid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on Airlaid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.5 Wetlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 74: Chart on Wetlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 75: Data Table on Wetlaid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 76: Chart on Wetlaid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on Wetlaid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 78: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.7 Market opportunity by Technology

Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by Technology ($ million)

9 Customer Landscape

9.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 83: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

10 Geographic Landscape

10.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 84: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

10.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 86: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 87: Data Table on Geographic comparison

10.3 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 88: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 92: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 95: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 96: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 97: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 98: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 99: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 100: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 101: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 103: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 104: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 106: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 107: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 108: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 109: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 110: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 111: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 112: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 113: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 114: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 115: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 116: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 117: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 118: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 119: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 120: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 121: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 122: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 123: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 124: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 125: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 126: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 127: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

10.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 128: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

11 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11.1 Market drivers

11.2 Market challenges

11.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 129: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

11.4 Market trends

12 Vendor Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 130: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

12.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 131: Overview on factors of disruption

12.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 132: Impact of key risks on business

13 Vendor Analysis

13.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 133: Vendors covered

13.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 134: Matrix on vendor position and classification

13.3 3M Co.

Co. Exhibit 135: 3M Co. - Overview

Co. - Overview

Exhibit 136: 3M Co. - Business segments

Co. - Business segments

Exhibit 137: 3M Co. - Key offerings

Co. - Key offerings

Exhibit 138: 3M Co. - Segment focus

13.4 Beiersdorf AG

Exhibit 139: Beiersdorf AG - Overview



Exhibit 140: Beiersdorf AG - Business segments



Exhibit 141: Beiersdorf AG - Key news



Exhibit 142: Beiersdorf AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 143: Beiersdorf AG - Segment focus

13.5 Daio Paper Corp.

Exhibit 144: Daio Paper Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 145: Daio Paper Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 146: Daio Paper Corp. - Key offerings

13.6 DR. Fischer Ltd.

Exhibit 147: DR. Fischer Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 148: DR. Fischer Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 149: DR. Fischer Ltd. - Key offerings

13.7 Edgewell Personal Care Co.

Exhibit 150: Edgewell Personal Care Co. - Overview



Exhibit 151: Edgewell Personal Care Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 152: Edgewell Personal Care Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 153: Edgewell Personal Care Co. - Segment focus

13.8 Essity Aktiebolag

Exhibit 154: Essity Aktiebolag - Overview



Exhibit 155: Essity Aktiebolag - Business segments



Exhibit 156: Essity Aktiebolag - Key news



Exhibit 157: Essity Aktiebolag - Key offerings



Exhibit 158: Essity Aktiebolag - Segment focus

13.9 GAMA Healthcare Ltd.

Exhibit 159: GAMA Healthcare Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 160: GAMA Healthcare Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 161: GAMA Healthcare Ltd. - Key offerings

13.10 Henkel AG and Co. KGaA

Exhibit 162: Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - Overview



Exhibit 163: Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - Business segments



Exhibit 164: Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - Key news



Exhibit 165: Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - Key offerings



Exhibit 166: Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - Segment focus

13.11 Johnson and Johnson Services Inc.

Exhibit 167: Johnson and Johnson Services Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 168: Johnson and Johnson Services Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 169: Johnson and Johnson Services Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 170: Johnson and Johnson Services Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 171: Johnson and Johnson Services Inc. - Segment focus

13.12 Kimberly Clark Corp.

Exhibit 172: Kimberly Clark Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 173: Kimberly Clark Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 174: Kimberly Clark Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 175: Kimberly Clark Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 176: Kimberly Clark Corp. - Segment focus

13.13 S.C. Johnson and Son Inc.

Exhibit 177: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 178: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 179: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Key offerings

13.14 The Clorox Co.

Exhibit 180: The Clorox Co. - Overview



Exhibit 181: The Clorox Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 182: The Clorox Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 183: The Clorox Co. - Segment focus

13.15 The Procter and Gamble Co.

Exhibit 184: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Overview



Exhibit 185: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 186: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Key news



Exhibit 187: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 188: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Segment focus

13.16 Unicharm Corp.

Exhibit 189: Unicharm Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 190: Unicharm Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 191: Unicharm Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 192: Unicharm Corp. - Segment focus

13.17 Unilever PLC

Exhibit 193: Unilever PLC - Overview



Exhibit 194: Unilever PLC - Business segments



Exhibit 195: Unilever PLC - Key news



Exhibit 196: Unilever PLC - Key offerings



Exhibit 197: Unilever PLC - Segment focus

14 Appendix

14.1 Scope of the report

14.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 198: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 199: Exclusions checklist

14.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 200: Currency conversion rates for US$

14.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 201: Research methodology



Exhibit 202: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 203: Information sources

14.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 204: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its eighth annual North Street Book Prize. This contest recognizes the best books being self-published today. 1,946 books were received from around the world.

One More Day by Diane Chiddister won the Grand Prize in the eighth annual North Street Book Prize competition sponsored by Winning Writers.

Diane Chiddister of Yellow Springs, Ohio won this year's Grand Prize across all genres for her literary novel One More Day. This exquisite story delves into the inner lives of four denizens of an old-age home: a playful woman with dementia and a penchant for escape attempts, an anthropologist who must rely on strengths other than his mind as he approaches death, a nurse who's better at giving than receiving love, and a dedicated administrator whose authority is challenged. Chiddister received $8,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, and 3 free ads in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $525 value).

Tonia Shimin of Goleta, California won First Prize in Art Book for The Art of Symeon Shimin , a full-color retrospective of her father's paintings and commercial artwork whose highlights include the mural "Contemporary Justice and the Child" for the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC .

of won First Prize in for , a full-color retrospective of her father's paintings and commercial artwork whose highlights include the mural "Contemporary Justice and the Child" for the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in . Kayla Marie Pierre of Brooklyn, New York won First Prize in Children's Picture Book for Happy Harper: Grandpa Comes Home , an uplifting story about a biracial girl in Brooklyn whose Grandpa is about to move there from Haiti .

of won First Prize in Children's Picture Book for , an uplifting story about a biracial girl in whose Grandpa is about to move there from . Robert Chazz Chute of London, Ontario won First Prize in Genre Fiction for Endemic , a post-apocalyptic plague novel with a neurodivergent female book editor as an unlikely action hero.

of won First Prize in Genre Fiction for , a post-apocalyptic plague novel with a neurodivergent female book editor as an unlikely action hero. Alicia Czechowski of Baltimore, Maryland won First Prize in Graphic Novel & Memoir for Paisley Invasion , a quirky coloring book with a wordless narrative about mysterious visitors from space.

of won First Prize in Graphic Novel & Memoir for , a quirky coloring book with a wordless narrative about mysterious visitors from space. Wendy Sibbison of Greenfield, Massachusetts won First Prize in Mainstream/Literary Fiction for Helen in Trouble , the story of a sheltered high school girl in Virginia in 1963 who discovers her inner resources when she must procure an illegal abortion.

of won First Prize in Mainstream/Literary Fiction for , the story of a sheltered high school girl in in 1963 who discovers her inner resources when she must procure an illegal abortion. Lorelei Kay of Hesperia, California won First Prize in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir for From Mormon to Mermaid , an account of her feminist awakening that led her to leave the Mormon Church.

of won First Prize in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir for , an account of her feminist awakening that led her to leave the Mormon Church. Gayle Lauradunn of Albuquerque, New Mexico won First Prize in Poetry for All the Wild and Holy, a book-length poem from the perspective of a woman in Deerfield, Massachusetts who was kidnapped in a raid by French-Canadian and Mohawk warriors in 1704 but refused to be ransomed by her Puritan family. She later married into a Mohawk tribe.

The category winners each received $1,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, and one free ad in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $175 value).

Ten Honorable Mentions of $250 each went to L. Sue Baugh, William Guion, Cathy Kreutter, Monica Canlas Tuy & Eric Tuy, Peggy Ann Barnett, E.G. Radcliff, Danny Gorny, Cameron Beach, Lucien Agosta, and Thomas F. Sheehan.

The judges' remarks and excerpts from the winning entries are published at winningwriters.com. $17,500 was awarded in all, making this one of the world's most generous contests for self-published books.

The ninth North Street competition opens today with a deadline of June 30, 2023. The grand prize is increasing to $10,000, and the entry fee is now $75 per book. The contest is expanding to include hybrid-published as well as self-published books, and there is a new category for middle grade books. All entrants will receive free gifts from the contest's co-sponsorsCarolyn Howard-Johnson, BookBaby, Book Award Pro, and Self-Publishing Made Simple.

Founded in 2001, Winning Writers is a partner member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. In addition to the North Street Book Prize, Winning Writers also sponsors the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest, the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee). All of these contests are recommended by Reedsy. Winning Writers has also been named one of the "101 Best Websites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2022).

Contact:

Adam Cohen

[email protected]

413-320-1847

SOURCE Winning Writers
The event is part of New York Water Week's programming and will be free and open to the public.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As 440 water organizations gather in New York City for the UN 2023 Water Conference, the nonprofit World Water Film Festival (WWFF) will launch its inaugural event on March 19th, hosted by the Columbia Climate School's Water Center . Taking place across three floors at The Forum at Columbia University (601 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027) from 10:30 a.m. - 7 p.m., WWFF will showcase a variety of 20 short and feature films made by water advocates from around the world, featuring workshops, guest speakers, and a 4-hour "Women in Water Energy & Film" summit led by Youth for Global Health & Social Justice founder, Dr. Sheryl Simmons.

"News coverage alone won't inspire change on the global water crisis; it is creatives who will save the day." Tweet this World Water Film Festival hosted by Columbia Climate School, Columbia Water Center

Founded in 2022 by filmmaker and environmental advocate Robert Strand, WWFF focuses on uplifting stories about the human-water relationship to inspire equitable action. Strand says, "News coverage alone won't inspire change on the global water crisis; it is creatives who will save the day. By combining art with activism, we strive to enhance relationships between filmmakers, organizations, and the entire human population to build advocacy and activism in water-related matters."

As a proud host of the festival, "The World Water Film Festival is a new way to see first-hand the challenges facing the world's water supply," said Upmanu Lall, an engineering professor and director of the Columbia Climate School's Water Center. "It might help us generate solutions to our global water problems."

WWFF's inaugural event will explore water contamination, water conservation, climate change, pollution, drought, groundwater visibility, and more. The festival is in partnership with United Nations partners International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) and Youth for Global Health & Social Justice , The Brave Blue World Foundation , and supported by BlueTech Research .

The Brave Blue World Foundation will present a sneak peek of their upcoming film Our Blue World at WWFF, following the critical success of their 2020 Netflix documentary Brave Blue World, which was translated into 29 languages and reached millions across the globe. Producer Aoife Kelleher says, "The Brave Blue World Foundation is excited to partner with the WWFF to launch our highly anticipated second film, Our Blue World."

An online version of the World Water Film Festival will be available on Eventive on March 19-March 26th. To learn more, visit www.worldwaterff.org.

World Water Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival started in 2022 under Founder and CEO Robert Strand. The festival focuses on uplifting stories about the human-water relationship to inspire equitable action. By combining art and activism, WWFF looks to a future with a strong relationship between filmmakers, organizations, and the human population in support of building sustainable and cleaner water resources.

Columbia Climate School Columbia University created the nation's first climate school, marshaling the university's longtime strengths in transdisciplinary research and innovation as well the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Earth Institute. The Climate School advances groundbreaking science, develops essential solutions, reaches key policymakers, and ensures students are equipped with the knowledge and tools to become the climate leaders of the 21st century. Columbia Climate School's mission is to develop and inspire knowledge-based solutions and educate future leaders for just and prosperous societies on a healthy planet.

International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) is UNESCO's international groundwater center for monitoring, mapping, and assessing the world's groundwater. IGRAC facilitates and promotes the international sharing of data and information on groundwater worldwide.

SOURCE World Water Film Festival
Leadership Team Moves Include Marcus Staniford's Elevation to President

MILPITAS, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Industries (XLI), a leading Northern California builder that includes XL Construction (XLC), today announced the promotions of several executives, including Marcus Staniford to the role of President of XL Industries. The promotions reflect the organization's long-term strategic management succession plan, which delivers on a core element of the company's vision and commitment to provide ongoing growth and leadership development opportunities for its employees.

Staniford joined XL in 2017 and served as a XLC's Senior Vice President of Operations for three years before taking on the role of COO in 2020. As XLI's President, he will oversee all of XL Industry's operating entities and drive the strategic implementation of XLI's Vision. Staniford's 30-year construction career includes roles as VP of Operations at Rudolph and Sletten and VP of Project Management at Cumming Corporation. He has been instrumental in leading large teams and growing businesses.

"Marcus is a strong, purpose-driven leader with great business acumen. As he assumes the role of President, with a focus on leading our operating businesses, I look forward to seeing the continued growth in opportunities for our team members that we can achieve under his stewardship," noted CEO Richard Walker.

Succeeding Staniford as XLC's COO will be John Boneso, who previously held the role of Executive Vice President. Boneso is a 30+ year veteran of the construction industry. His career has been focused on the construction of biotech facilities and large data centers. Boneso has been at XL for 20-years, where he has been a key member of the leadership team that has steered the enterprise to where it is today. He was also integral to the development of the company's life sciences team.

Also promoted is Kevin Ng, who takes on the position of Vice President of Science and Technology and Healthcare. Previously, he served as Director of Science and Technology. In his 18 years at XL, Ng has played an integral role in driving the success of many of the company's most notable life sciences projects, as well as in leading several business initiatives.

Assuming the role of Director of Science and Technology is Tate Chandler, who previously served as a Project Executive. During his 17 years at XL, Chandler has been a key figure in numerous high profile XL projects across the life sciences sector and has a portfolio of over 3 million s.f. of life science projects throughout Northern California.

"Congratulations to this group of talented and deeply experienced construction leaders on their well-deserved promotions. It gives me great confidence to know that with these moves and with Marcus at the helm as President, XLI is well-positioned for continued success and achieving our vision to be an enduring company," stated Walker.

About XL Construction

XL Construction is a leading general contractor whose mission is to "build to improve lives." XL partners with today's leaders in life sciences, advanced technology, commercial, civic, healthcare and education sectors to create places that make its communities better. The company's focus and passion for team success has earned it a network of great partners and a reputation for putting people first. XL Construction is consistently ranked among the top general contractors in Northern California. In 2020, the company was named ENR California's 2020 Contractor of the Year and the #1 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area.

SOURCE XL Construction
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan reiterated Armenias readiness and intention for full normalization of relations and establishment of diplomatic relations and full opening of the border with Turkey.

February 15, 2023, 14:57 Armenia, Turkey agree to restore Ani Bridge, take care of infrastructures ahead of full opening of border

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Our meeting today is taking place on the occasion of the deadly disaster, but being here in Turkey at this difficult moment, Id like to once again reiterate Armenias readiness and intention to build peace in the region, and particularly to fully normalize relations and establish diplomatic relations with Turkey and fully open the border between Armenia and Turkey. Today we discussed certain details related to this process, we have an agreement to restore the Ani Bridge through joint efforts, and to take care of the respective infrastructures ahead of the full opening of the border, the Armenian FM said after his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.
Armenia and Turkey reached an agreement to intensify the work on opening the Armenian-Turkish land border for citizens of third countries, Turkeys Special Representative for Normalization with Armenia Serdar Kilic said.

February 15, 2023, 15:57 Armenia, Turkey agree to intensify work around opening land border for citizens of third countries

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 15, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Regarding the opening of the border for citizens of third countries, our minister mentioned in his speech that an agreement has been reached to intensify the work around this issue. The two ministers agreed, we will do everything possible to be able to swiftly, in a short period of time, launch the Margara bridge, Kilic said after the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers meeting in Ankara.
Moradabad/Muzaffarnagar, Feb 15 : Reports of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists playing the role of moral police on Valentine's Day and harassing young couple poured in from western Uttar Pradesh.

Members of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal made couples who were sitting in a park in Moradabad tie rakhi to each other on Valentine's Day. They were later asked to leave the spot by the police at the park.

The right-wing activists said that "if these people are not married, they must be siblings and that is why they asked the woman to tie a rakhi to her brother".

Rohan Saxena, the state president of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal said, "In Indian culture, apart from husband and wife, all sisters are like mother and sister to us. In India, except for your wife, you treat every woman like your sister." He added, "The boys and girls were roaming around carefully and they told us that they are not in a relationship. So, we made them tie rakhis." In Muzaffarnagar, several members of Hindu Mahasabha in saffron scarves launched a 'couple search' drive across cafes and restaurants in Muzaffarnagar on Tuesday.

The outfit had already warned youths. However, police swung into action and detained dozens of troublemakers. All of them were taken to Nagar Kotwali police station.

Meanwhile, members of another outfit burnt Valentine's Day cards, posters on Shiv Chowk, main market in Muzaffarnagar.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ayush Vikram Singh, said, "After getting information that some people are conducting searches at public places, police reached the spot and asked them to stop, and 17 people were taken into custody. All were released later."

Latest updates on Valentine's Day 2023
United Nations, Feb 15 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the world body is launching a humanitarian appeal for $397 million for the people of earthquake-hit Syria.

"This will cover a period of three months", Guterres told reporters, adding that "we are in the final stages" of a similar appeal for Turkey, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Syria effort brings together the entire UN system and humanitarian partners and will help secure desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians, including shelter, healthcare, food and protection, Guterres said.

"The most effective way to stand with the people is by providing this emergency funding," he noted.

Strong earthquakes and aftershocks hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria on February 6, with the death toll climbing to over 35,000 people as of Monday.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, the United Nations rapidly provided $50 million through the Central Emergency Response Fund.

"But the needs are immense," Guterres said, pointing out that one week after the devastating earthquakes, millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures.

"We are doing all we can to change this. But much more is needed," he said.

The UN chief stressed that the human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles in access, funding and supplies.

"Aid must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes -- without any restrictions," he said.

"I urge member states and others to fully fund this effort without delay and help the millions of children, women and men whose lives have been upended by this generational disaster," said Guterres.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 8.8 million people in Syria were affected by last week's devastating earthquakes.

The damage is worse in the north-west of the country, where more than 4.2 million people have been affected in Aleppo, and 3 million people have been affected in Idlib, OCHA said on Tuesday in a press release, adding that more than 7,400 buildings have been completely or partially destroyed.

"Water, electricity, heating and social services are under severe pressure. The risk of waterborne diseases is high, particularly amid an ongoing cholera outbreak," the UN agency said. "Emergency health care is limited, and lack of fuel and heavy machinery is hampering efforts to quickly reach people most in need." The UN funding appeal of nearly $400 million will benefit 4.9 million people with the most urgent humanitarian needs, OCHA said.

The appeal aims to provide essential shelter, health, food, water, sanitation, non-food items, education, nutrition and protection services, as well as carrying out essential light repairs and rehabilitation to restore health, water and sanitation, agriculture and education infrastructure, and supply chains.

It also intends to support livelihoods by providing short-term employment for debris clearance and small-scale rehabilitation, provide protection services, mental health and psychosocial support, and gender-based violence case management, said OCHA.
Srinagar, Feb 15 : Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member, Rahul Gandhi is arriving here on Wednesday on a personal visit.

Congress sources said Rahul Gandhi will leave for Gulmarg ski resort immediately after his arrival in Srinagar.

"He is scheduled to spend a few days in Gulmarg during his personal visit. Former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah is likely to join Rahul during his vacation in Gulmarg", sources said.
United Nations, Feb 15 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that climate crisis is the root cause of rising seas, and urged the international community to take more concerted action to reduce emissions and ensure climate justice.

"Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself. It is a threat-multiplier," Guterres told a Security Council debate on "Sea-level Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security", Xinhua news agency reported.

Rising seas threaten lives, and jeopardize access to water, food and healthcare. Saltwater intrusion can decimate jobs and entire economies in key industries like agriculture, fishery and tourism, he said.

It can damage or destroy vital infrastructure, and rising seas threaten the very existence of some low-lying communities and even countries, he added.

Citing data released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Guterres said that global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years.

The WMO predicted that even if global heating is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise, and if temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius, that level rise could double, with further temperature increases bringing exponential sea level increases.

The consequences of the scenarios "are unthinkable," Guterres said, warning that the world would witness "a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale" and "ever-fiercer competition for fresh water, land and other resources." The international community must meet this rising tide of insecurity with action to address climate crisis, the root cause of rising seas, with more concerted action to reduce emissions and ensure climate justice, he said.

Developing countries must have the resources to adapt and build resilience against climate disaster, the UN chief said, which means delivering on the loss and damage fund, making good on the $100-billion climate finance commitment to developing countries, doubling adaptation finance, and leveraging massive private financing at a reasonable cost.

He also stressed the need to broaden understanding of the root causes of insecurity by identifying and addressing a much wider range of factors that undermine security, from poverty, discrimination and inequality, violations of human rights, to environmental disasters like rising sea levels.
Toronto, Feb 15 : Strongly condemning the defacing of a Hindu temple in Canada, India on Wednesday asked authorities in the country to investigate the incident and take swift action against the perpetrators.

The Ram Mandir in Mississauga city was vandalised with anti-India slogans, sending shockwaves across the Indian community.

"We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators," the Consulate General of India in Toronto tweeted early on Wednesday.

The incident also evoked sharp reactions from Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who said that hate has no place in Canada, and police are investigating it. "I am saddened to hear of the hate motivated vandalism at the Ram Mandir Temple in Mississauga. Unknown suspects spray painted the walls on the back of the temple. This type of hate has no place in Peel Region," Mayor Brown tweeted on Wednesday.

"The @PeelPolice & @ChiefNish (Chief of Peel Regional Police Nishan Duraiappah) are taking this potential hate crime very seriously. 12 Division has carried out the investigation & they will find those responsible. Religious freedom is a Charter right in Canada & we will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe in their place of worship," Brown added.

Starting 2023, a string of attacks has been unleashed upon Hindu temples across Canada with close to half-a-dozen incidents of vandalism, spiteful graffiti, break-ins and burglaries.

Last week, an unsuccessful burglary attempt also took place at the same temple, according to media reports. The thieves reportedly fled after a security alarm went off. A day after, the Bharat Mata Mandir in Brampton was burgled with the thieves escaping with the donation box collections, according to media reports.

Last month, the Gauri Shankar Mandir was vandalised with "anti-India" graffiti in Brampton, with leaders in Canada and India asking the Ottawa government to take the matter 'seriously'. "I call on govt at levels in Canada to start taking this seriously," Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya had tweeted.

"The attack on Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton is the latest in attacks on Hindu temples in Canada by anti-Hindu and anti-India groups. From hatred on social media, now physical attacks on Hindu temples, what next?" Arya, MP from the ruling Liberal Party, had asked.

An unsuccessful break-in was also attempted at the Shri Hanuman Mandir in Brampton on January 15.

The National Statistical Office of Canada showed a 72 per cent rise in hate crimes in Canada between 2019 and 2021 targeting a person's race, religion or sexual orientation.
Bengaluru, Feb 15 : Karnataka High Court has issued a stern warning to the government officials that if any discrepancy is found in connection with providing uniforms to students studying in government schools that they would be sent to prison.

The division bench headed by Justice B. Veerappa and Justice K.S. Hemalekha issued the warning on Tuesday. The bench was looking into the contempt petition submitted in this regard by M. Manjunath, a resident of Koppal.

The petitioner had submitted to the court that though the High Court had given order in 2018 to provide two pairs of uniforms, one pair of shoes and two pairs of socks, the government is not fulfilling the direction of the court.

The counsel representing the government informed the court that the funds for uniforms to provide uniforms to school children had been released. He also submitted that as per the directions of the court, the uniforms and other articles have been provided to students of all academic years.

However, the bench expressing its displeasure over the government not providing appropriate documents regarding providing the uniforms, warned the officials that the court would send them to jail if any discrepancy is found.

The bench also directed the prosecution to submit a report in this regard in connection with following the court's order within two weeks.

The court had earlier in January taken the government and bureaucracy to task over the matter. "Crores of rupees are being spent on social, religious functions, can't they provide uniforms to children? The government and bureaucrats should be ashamed," the court had mentioned.

"The officials do not have any shame, they don't have conscious. They are not treating the students studying in the government schools as human beings. The children will go to private schools in cars. The step motherly attitude towards the government school children will not be tolerated at any cost. The government should open its eyes and provide uniforms to children, the bench had lashed out.
Ayodhya, Feb 15 : More rocks are likely to be brought in to carve the idol of Lord Ram for the under-construction temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

Champat Rai, secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, said, "We will conduct a technical study of the rocks to check if these have not suffered any damages, discolouration or dents during the transportation. If so, these rocks will be of no use to the sculptors. We are soon bringing three more similar rocks for the purpose." The Ram Mandir Trust said they will bring three more similar rocks from different places for the purpose.

Rai said, "Sending shaligram shilas to Ayodhya was the decision of the seers of Nepal. These rocks have not been taken inside the premises of Ram Janmabhoomi and have been placed at Ram Sewak Puram, a site that belongs to Vishwa Hindu Parishad." Earlier, Trust members had said that a delegation of VHP's office-bearers, led by its national secretary Rajendra Singh Pankaj, had accompanied the shilas that left Mustang district of Nepal on January 25 and reached Ayodhya, late on February 2, covering a distance of more than 350 kilometres in six days.

The idol of Ram's baal-roop (child form), which was supposed to be carved out of these stones, was to be placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Mandir expected to be ready by Makar Sankranti in January next year.
Lucknow, Feb 15 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked his ministerial colleagues to visit districts before commencement of the state legislature's budget session on February 20.

The ministers have been asked to meet entrepreneurs, traders and youths and brief them about the successful organisation of Uttar Pradesh Global Investors' Summit-2023.

They should disseminate information about how the UPGIS-2023 would help make the state the growth engine of India's economy and generate a large number of job opportunities for youths, he said.

Organised in Lucknow from February 10 to 12, the UPGIS, attracted investment proposals of Rs 33.50 lakh crore.

Chief minister Yogi further said that cabinet meetings should also be organised in other important cities of the state, besides Lucknow.

He asked the ministers to review the investment proposals received by their respective departments immediately as the state government proposed to hold the ground breaking ceremony to implement the proposals received for investment within six months.

Yogi Adityanath said the departments should take necessary cooperation in this regard from the industrial development department and Invest UP.

A report should be prepared about the visits of retired administrative officers and academicians to colleges and universities undertaken before GIS-2023 and more such visits should be organised in future.

He said the state government successfully organised the UPGIS-2023 and G20 Digital Economy Working Group meetings in the past one week.

While the three-day UPGIS-2023 concluded on Sunday, the three-day G20 DEWG meeting will end here on Wednesday.

He said the UPGIS-2023 witnessed participation from 40 countries and the representatives from 36 countries, including friendly nations, were taking part in the G20 DEWG meeting here.

The UPGIS-2023 had made a record of attracting investment and a record investment had also been made in the backward regions of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions which would pave the way for making the state India's largest economy.
Bengaluru, Feb 15 : The fishermen from Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka have lodged a police complaint against Tamil Nadu fishermen in connection with an incident of stone pelting which left eight of them injured.

The local fishermen had alleged that the incident took place when the fishermen's boats had gone to the sea near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu for fishing on February 8. The boats from Karnataka were surrounded by Tamil Nadu fishermen there and were attacked.

The Karnataka fishermen had taken videos of the incident and submitted them to the police. They had met the fisheries department Joint Director Harish Kumar and submitted a memorandum in this regard seeking protection.

Harish Kumar stated that he had received information on the Tamil Nadu fishermen having attacked Karnataka fishermen by pelting stones at them.

"If at all there was a violation from Karnataka fishermen by carrying out fishing beyond limits, they could have handed over their counterparts to the concerned authorities. It has to be verified whether the fishing boats crossed their boundaries.

The permission has been given to the fishermen to take up deep fishing from 12 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles," he explained.

The Fishermen Union had conducted a meeting at Mangaluru in connection with the attack. Since it is an inter-state issue, the matter has been brought to the notice of the Fisheries Directorate. The complaint in this regard has been registered at Pandeshwar police station in Mangaluru.
Chennai, Feb 15 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting raids in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with last year's Coimbatore and Mangaluru blast cases.

Chennai, Feb 15 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting raids in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with last year's Coimbatore and Mangaluru blast cases.

Sources in the agency told IANS that the raids are being carried out at 60 locations in residences and other establishments of suspected sympathisers of Islamic State (IS) in the three Southern states.

It comes as a follow up of the investigation related to the Deepavali eve car bomb blast at Ukkadam near Coimbatore on October 23, 2022 in which a 29-year-old youth Jameesha Mubin was charred to death.

In December, the NIA had arrested two accused Sheikh Hidayathullah and Sanofar Ali. As of now elevan persons have been arrested in the case.

The main accused Jamesha Mubeen, after swearing bayath (allegiance) to IS was planning to carry out a suicide attack and cause extensive damage to the Temple Complex with the intention to strike terror in the community.

Initially registered at PS Ukkadam, Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, the case was later taken over by the NIA.

"Investigations have revealed that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy in the interior of forested regions of Asanoor and Kadambur areas of Sathyamangalam forest, Erode district, in February, 2022. The meetings were led by previously arrested accused Umar Farook and participated by deceased accused Jamesha Mubeen, Mohammed Azharudin , Sheikh Hidayatullah and Sanofar Ali, where they conspired to prepare for and execute terror acts," the NIA had said.

The Mangaluru autorickshaw blast that took place on November 19, 2002 in which a 23- year-old youth Mohammed Sharik was injured is also being probed.

Investigations by police and central agencies have revealed that Sharik was in Tamil Nadu and Kerala before the blast.

The raids, which commenced early Wednesday morning, are continuing with teams of officers searching 35 places in Tamil Nadu, 5 in Kerala and 20 locations in Karnataka.
The Love Dinner, an annual Black History Month celebration in Auburn, will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at the Booker T. Washington Community Center at 23 Chapman Ave.

The center will host the dinner in partnership with Perform 4 Purpose. It will feature a home-cooked meal of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, cornbread and banana cream pudding.

The dinner will also feature performances by Perform 4 Purpose and Voices of Faith. It has traditionally featured readings about inspirational figures by children in the center's after-school programs as well.

The dinner costs $5 for adults and is free for children 5 and younger.

Now in its 24th year, the dinner does not turn anyone away, center Executive Director Denise Farrington told The Citizen in 2015.

"This event is meant to bring the community together to celebrate Black History Month and to celebrate love," she said.

For more information, call (315) 253-3207 or visit btwcc.org.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : An elderly woman was killed when a fire broke out in a residential high-rise in Kurla on Wednesday, the BMC Disaster Control said.

The fire was noticed around 7 a.m. in Building No. 7-C in the Kohinoor City complex in Kurla West.

Many people were stranded in the upper floors owing to pocket fires from the 4-10 floors and were guided to the building terrace.

Teams of firefighters are battling the conflagration even as the people on the terrace were rescued safely.

Later the fire-fighters rushed one seriously injured senior citizen -- Shakuntala Ramani, 70, to Rajawadi Hospital where she was declared dead on admission.

Further details are awaited.
Ramallah, Feb 15 : The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday welcomed international calls on the Israeli government to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

"The PLO welcomes the statement issued by the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy regarding the recent Israeli government's decisions, mainly legalising nine settlement outposts in the West Bank," Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO, said in a press statement, Xinhua reported.

Al-Sheikh demanded those countries turn their words into deeds and "with an international will that compels Israel to stop its aggression and unilateral measures against the Palestinian people." Earlier, foreign ministers of the five countries expressed their "extreme alarm" at the Israeli government's decision to build thousands of new units in the settlements and to legalise nine outposts.

The Israeli government rejected the international criticism, vowing to build thousands of new housing units and legalising unauthorised outposts, Xinhua reported.

Outposts are settlements built without official permits and are deemed illegal under Israeli law.

There are dozens of unauthorised outposts and 140 Israeli settlements authorised by Israel scattered around the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has controlled or blockaded these areas ever since.

The settlement issue is the most prominent aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for halting the last direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal secretary M. Sivasankar in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to alleged fund irregularities in state's flood relief.

He was arrested on Tuesday night.

Sivasankar was summoned by the central agency to join the investigation in the matter on Monday and placed under arrest late on Tuesday night after two days of intense questioning. There are allegations that he was paid a bribe of Rs one crore.

"He was called by the ED to join the investigation on January 31, the day he retired from his service. Sivasankar had sought time to appear after which he was summoned to join the probe in the second week of February," the source said.

Sivasankar allegedly helped the Unitech builder to get a contract in the life mission case.

Now he will be produced before a Special PMLA court. The ED is likely to seek his two weeks' custodial remand.
Dhaka, Feb 15 : Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra arrived in Dhaka for the regular Foreign Office Consultation on bilateral issues.

Kwatra will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday.

On his arrival on Tuesday, Kwatra was received by his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen.

This is Kwatra's first visit to Dhaka as foreign secretary. Earlier, he accompanied External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on a short trip before taking charge of the new office on May 1, 2022.

"The visit is keeping in line with the highest priority accorded to India's 'Neighbourhood First' Policy, Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

During the visit, both foreign secretaries will review the entire range of bilateral issues, including politics and security, water, trade and investment, power and energy, defence, connectivity and sub-regional cooperation, it added.

The upcoming visit will "further" strengthen ties and impart momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas, it added.

"Bangladesh is India's top-most development partner and its largest trade partner in the region," it said.

Earlier, the FOC between the two countries was held on January 29, 2021, in Delhi.

Recently, Masud said that it is a regular meeting with the Indian foreign secretary in which all the issues between the two countries will be discussed.

The discussion with Kwatra will also involve the implementation of decisions made during high-level meetings last year, Masud added.

India has included Bangladesh as a "guest state" in the alliance's activities after assuming the G20 presidency. As part of this, AK Abdul Momen will attend the foreign minister-level meeting of the G-20 alliance in early March.

Hasina is scheduled to attend the G-20 Summit in Delhi in September.

The prime minister's expected visit will also be discussed during the meeting, Masud told IANS.
San Francisco, Feb 15 : Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has admitted that laying off thousands of employees during a two-hour, all-hands meeting over a call was a bad idea.

The enterprise software company Salesforce in January laid off 10 per cent of its workforce, impacting about 7,000 employees, amid the ongoing global macroeconomic conditions.

In an interview with The New York Times, Benioff said the call wasn't the best idea.

"We were trying to explain the unexplainable. It's hard to have a call like that with such a large group and have it be effective, and we paid a price," he was quoted as saying.

Salesforce employees had slammed Benioff for being evasive during the meeting.

"I wish I offered lifetime employment. But the reality is when you have a big company with 80,000 employees, there are going to be times you have to make a headcount adjustment. Our layoff packages are some of the most generous ever," Benioff was quoted as saying in the report.

Earlier this month, several Salesforce employees came to know that they have been fired, as the company began laying off 7,000 workers or 10 per cent of its workforce.

Around 4,000 people just disappeared from Salesforce's Slack channel within two days.

In San Francisco, the layoff round hit 258 workers, affecting "sales and customer service", "technology and product" and "general administration", according to a WARN notice.

In Ireland, 200 of the company's 2,100 employees received their notices.

In the US, affected employees will receive a minimum of nearly five months of pay, health insurance, career resources, and other benefits to help with their transition.

"Those outside the US will receive a similar level of support, and our local processes will align with employment laws in each country," Benioff had said.
Chennai, Feb 15 : The Tamil Nadu Police have registered an FIR and commenced investigation in the case related to a cylinder with Chinese inscriptions that washed ashore in coastal district of Nagapattinam.

The local fishermen first found the cylinder on Tuesday and immediately informed the Coastal Security Group personnel (CSG).

The CSG personnel on arrival informed the local police and the 'Q' branch of Tamil Nadu Police.

Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) was called in to inspect the three-ft long cylinder with Chinese inscriptions. Chinese language experts were called to decipher the script and they found that the cylinder was an acetylene gas cylinder which was commonly used for gas cutting and welding.

The CSG ascertained that the cylinder could have accidentally fallen off a ship and washed ashore. However, Central Intelligence Agencies and the Q branch of the Tamil Nadu Police commenced a probe.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu DGP's office told IANS that even though it was an empty cylinder washed ashore, the agencies are not calling off the probe. Central agencies want to ascertain whether the cylinder with Chinese inscription was a trial by any Chinese agencies or a cylinder that had accidentally washed ashore by falling off from the ship.
Ahmedabad, Feb 15 : The Gujarat High Court has upheld a family court's divorce decree observing that cruelty is not a defined concept in a case of a teacher forcing a 12 year younger student to marry him.

A division bench, comprising Justices N.V Anjaria and Sandeep Bhatt, was hearing a petition filed by a 40 year-old teacher who had challenged the Amreli family court's divorce order.

While upholding the family court order, the bench observed, "Cruelty is not a defined concept. Whether cruelty is acted upon or not depends upon facts and circumstances. It is only the facts and circumstances of the particular case, which helped to determine that cruelty was proved or not as legal grounds to grant the decree of divorce. A student forced to marry a teacher, both having large gaps in terms of age and prospects, and post marriage treatment meted out to the plaintiff in the present case makes out to prove that the plaintiff wife was subjected to cruelty." The court pointed out, "The case was specific by the prescription and pregnancy sonography report produced by the respondent (wife) support and stand to fortify the case of the wife that she was pregnant and abortion was forced on her as many as three times. She was required to undergo abortion against her wish. At one point the wife was driven away and deserted as she did not succumb to demand. "
Srinagar, Feb 15 : Vehicular traffic was stopped on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway due to shooting stones at Mehar-Cafeteria near Ramban, officials said on Wednesday.

"Both side traffic stopped due to continuous shooting stones at Mehar-Cafeteria on Jammu Srinagar NHW," Jammu and Kashmir Traffic police said.

Intermittent shooting stones have been repeatedly coming down on the Highway causing road blockages.

The traffic police had earlier advised people to undertake journeys on the highway only after confirming the status of the road.

The highway is the lifeline of the Kashmir valley and the main road link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country.

Kashmir-bound trucks laden with essential supplies and other vehicles pass through the highway.
San Francisco, Feb 15 : Automaker Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia have developed anti-theft software for millions of their vehicles in the US in response to car theft incidents inspired by a viral social media challenge on TikTok, which will provide it free of charge to vehicle owners.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the "Kia Challenge" on TikTok has resulted in hundreds of car thefts across the nation, including 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, reports The Verge.

In videos, thieves called "the Kia Boyz" taught how to bypass a vehicle's security system with tools as simple as a USB cable, according to the report.

Hyundai and Kia update the "theft alarm software logic" so that the alarm sound lasts one minute instead of 30 seconds, and the key has to be in the ignition switch to turn the vehicle on.

Approximately 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias are involved in the software update free of charge.

Moreover, Hyundai will also provide its customers with a window sticker alerting would-be thieves that the vehicle is equipped with anti-theft protection.A It will distribute the stickers and roll out software updates in stages beginning later this month and continuing for several months.

Further, Kia is also distributing free software updates in stages. The company will begin updating vehicles later this month, with subsequent phases taking place over the next several months.

In September last year, Hyundai and Kia have been sued in the US for a defect in their cars that was exposed in a TikTok challenge, which resulted in vehicle thefts soaring across the country.

A class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Orange County, California, alleging that Kias built between 2011 and 2021 and Hyundai cars built from 2015 to 2021 were "deliberately" built without "engine immobilisers".
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Delhi Police have arrested three women drug peddlers in Dwarka area and recovered 351 grams of heroin from their possession, said an official on Wednesday.

The accused have been identified as Ruby (26), a resident of JJ Colony, Dwarka, Geeta (59) of Najafgarh and Monika (40), of Uttam Nagar.

According to M. Harsha Vardhan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), on February 7, an input was received about sale of illegal heroin drug by a woman, Ruby, in sector-16 area.

"Acting on the inputs, a police team reached the said location and nabbed the woman. During search, a white colour polythene containing a light red colour substance was recovered from her possession, which upon checking with the field testing Kit, was found to be heroin, weighing 55 grams," said the official.

A case under section 8/21 of the NDPS Act was registered at Dwarka North police station and investigation was taken up.

On interrogation, Ruby revealed that she bought the recovered heroin drug from Geeta. "On Ruby instance, a police team conducted raids and nabbed Geeta from Najafgarh area," said the DCP.

A total of 31 grams of heroin was recovered from Geeta's possession.

The official said that on February 9, another raid was conducted at Shiva Enclave, Uttam Nagar and at the instance of accused Ruby and Monika was also nabbed.

"Police recovered 265 grams of heroin from her possession," said the official, adding that further investigation is going on.
In honor of Black History Month, a walking tour this weekend in Auburn will take participants through "Harriet Tubman's Chosen Hometown."

Presented by the Cayuga County Office of Tourism and Justin Harris Tours, the tour will begin at noon Saturday, Feb. 18, in front of the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center, 25 South St., Auburn. The approximately 2-mile tour will last about 90 minutes and will cover the Seward House Museum and Fort Hill Cemetery, among other locations in the city where Tubman settled in 1859 and lived until her death in 1913.

The tour will end back at the center. In the event of inclement weather, the tour will be conducted inside the center.

Admission to the tour is free and open to the public. Preregistration is suggested but not required.

For more information, call (315) 255-1658 or email info@tourcayuga.com.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : With dhol-beats, whistles and loud cheers, 'Bigg Boss 16' runner-up Shiv Thakare was welcomed in Maharashtra's Amravati, his hometown.

Shiv, who won 'Bigg Boss Marathi', took to his Instagram Story, where he shared a string of videos of his royal welcome at the Nagpur airport. Swarms of fans were gathered to see their hero at the airport.

Another video showed him standing on his car thanking his fans, who were seen whistling and cheering. Dhol beats too could be heard in the background. Shiv's home was decorated with floral rangolis and balloons to welcome him.

Shiv is known for participating in reality shows 'MTV Roadies Rising' and 'Bigg Boss Marathi 2'. Born in Amravati, Shiv, at an early age, began supporting his father Manohar Thakare, who worked at a betel leaf shop. He later sold newspapers and milk packets to support his family.

He has been confirmed for Khatron Ke Khiladi 13.

Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 16

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Patna, Feb 15 : A local court of Bihar's Saran has convicted a former chief minister in the Rabri Devi government in a murder case, an official said here on Wednesday.

The quantum of punishment will be announced on February 21.

Former Rural Development Minister Ravindra Nath Mishra and his younger brother were booked in a murder case that took place at a polling booth during the Assembly election on February 27 in 1990.

He and his supporters were tried in polling booth loot (Booth number 175 and 176) in Manjhi block in Saran district.

During the booth loot, Mishra and his supporters fired several rounds which led to chaos at the place. One voter, Uma Been, came into the firing range and died on the spot.

Following that incident, the polling officer Pranay Malik and polling agent Mahesh Yadav lodged a FIR in Manjhi police station. However, Malik turned hostile in the court as the pressure was applied by Mishra but Yadav stood firm on his stand.

Based on the FIR of Mahesh Yadav, Additional public prosecutor Dhrupdev Singh put the perspective of the government. He managed to record the statements of seven witnesses in the court.

Ravindra Mishra was elected as an independent candidate from Manjhi Assembly constituency in 2000 and became rural development minister in the Rabri Devi government.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : Actor Rohit Purohit, who plays the role of Advait in the show 'Udaariyaan', found his role challenging and said that he cannot relate to his character. However, he is happy with the response he is getting from the audience.

He said: "To be honest, it is very difficult for me to relate to this role. The character of Advait is very unpredictable as he is a politician so he has to take care of his image also. I don't relate to the character much but you have to change yourself as per the storyline." "The response has been amazing since the day I started shooting. Since the first scene got telecast, I have got immense love. I've been in this industry for 14-15 years and this is the first time everyone has accepted a character and given so much love, so early. The response is amazing and I am very thankful for the audience and fans," he added.

The 'Dhadkan Zindaggi Kii' actor further shared that he is enjoying shooting for the show in Chandigarh.

"I love Chandigarh. I've always been in love with Punjab but I didn't ever get a chance to stay here. The place where we are shooting, Kharad, is very beautiful. There is sarso ke khet (mustard fields) everywhere. It's been four months that I am shooting here and I am enjoying every bit of it," he said.

The model-turned-actor said that the audience relates to the show and its storyline.

"'Udaariyan' has a very youthful flavour. Every actor working with me is younger than me. It is really fun working with them, their energy levels are so high. Punjabi storytelling is being loved by audiences," he concluded.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : In a case of road rage, a 25-year-old man was stabbed to death by some unidentified persons in the Nangloi area, an official said on Wednesday.

The CCTV footage of the incident is doing rounds on social media.

According to police, initial investigation revealed that the victim was returning from a gym when he had some arguments with an RTV driver.

"Three people have been detained in connection with the incident. Police teams are identifying other accused and efforts are being made to nab them," said a senior police official, adding that further investigation is underway.

More details are awaited.
Kabul, Feb 15 : Three people, including a child, were killed and two others injured as an avalanche hit a village in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province, a local official said on Wednesday.

The accident took place in the Khan Lar area of the Raghistan district Tuesday afternoon, Mohammad Akram said, Xinhua News Agency reported.

At least four people had been killed and eight others were injured in avalanches in the same district couple of weeks ago.

Extreme chilly weather and snowfall have swept through parts of Afghanistan since the first week of January as the temperature fell down to minus 30 degrees Celsius in some areas.

Nearly 200 people including children, according to officials have died due to chilly weather and heavy snowfall across the war-ravaged country over the past month.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has talked about how he perfected his stammer in the 1993 film 'Darr' and revealed how he used to bounce off crazy ideas to nail his villainous act in the Yash Chopra blockbuster.

SRK, on the docu-series 'The Romantics', said: "I had a classmate who had a stammer and then we did some little study, some BBC documentary where they talked about that people's minds become aware to one sound, and it's like a sharp current."

"So, you can't say the word because you become aware of a sound. Let's make him aware of the woman he loves the most, her name. So, I only stammer on the word Kiran. It was just for that one word because he's so aware of her."

He added: "I had some really fantastically stupid ideas, like I remember once going to Adi and saying, can I make this phone call hanging upside down? Adi said 'Dad won't allow that.' Sometimes he would come and tell me that listen I think dad is not going to take a close up of this."

"I think you did very well. So, you suggest, if I do it, he'll turn me down. So, we were like the filters who kind of help each other with Yash Ji."

'The Romantics' has been directed by Oscar & Emmy-nominated film-maker Smriti Mundhra, who returns to Netflix after the phenomenal success of Indian Matchmaking and the Never Have I Ever franchise.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Mumbai, Feb 15 : TV actress Shraddha Arya speaks about the wedding sequence in the show and how challenging it was to work on her bridal look.

The actress, who will be shown getting married for the second time, after the five-year-leap, to Arjun Suryavanshi(played by Shakti Arora), said: "Preeta is one of the most loved TV characters and I have to say her journey has been very unique." She added that to make the wedding look more special she thought of designing the look herself.

"To be honest, I really wanted to make the track special; hence, I personally conceptualised my new wedding look by myself. In fact, when the team had started planning for this particular look, I asked them if I could design my own wedding look and they readily agreed," she shared.

In the show, before the leap, Preeta (Shraddha Arya) was shown as the wife of Karan Luthra (played by Dheeraj Dhoopar). After Dheeraj left the show, Shakti joined the daily soap and it will be revealed in the coming episodes to the family that he is Karan only. However, right now everyone thinks of him as Arjun and he is getting married to Preeta.

The actress shares how challenging it was to work on her wedding look and she had to sit for hours with the stylists to conceptualise it perfectly.

"After a few brainstorming sessions with the stylists and the creative team, we came up with a fascinating look and I am sure the sequence will grab everyone's attention. I chose an elegant and slightly embroidered outfit and though it was heavy, I loved the final look to the core. We kept the accessories and make-up to the minimum and let the outfit shine," she added.

Shraddha said that though this won't be her first wedding in the show, she is still excited about the wedding sequence and her look.

"I must add that I have got married a number of times in Kundali Bhagya, but I still wanted to look as beautiful as a new bride during the sequence. In fact, when I walked onto the set, everyone hooted for me, which felt like a mini achievement. My husband also loved my look, but I am eager to see the audience's reaction to the whole high-octane sequence," she concluded.

'Kundali Bhagya' airs on Zee TV.
Beijing, Feb 15 : China's smartphone market has recorded a good start to the new year and at the start of 2023, the sales quickly increased week over week to reach above 7 million, a report showed on Wednesday.

In four out of five weeks, the sales stayed above 6 million, a level seldom reached in 2022 when the pandemic haunted China's cities from time to time.

The Chinese New Year season also started earlier than usual this year, helping the weekly sales walk out of the trough at the beginning of 2023, reports Counterpoint Research.

"China's January holiday season smartphone sales show little YoY growth but this is good news," said Archie Zhang, research analyst.

The average weekly sales during the period were 6.7 million units, much higher than the average of 5.5 million units in 2022.

In January, the monthly sales were flat compared to the previous year's same month, which recorded the highest sales in 2022, but sequentially grew more than 40 per cent.

Apple remained China's biggest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in January in terms of sales share and its sales increased about 6 per cent YoY.

The smartphone market in China has contracted after 2017 in terms of YoY sales growth. Q4 2022 recorded a 15 per cent YoY decline, hitting major OEMs' confidence and further darkening market prospects.

"The industry is skeptical that the strong sales in the first five weeks of 2023 are a solid indicator of a recovery in demand," said Zhang.

"However, the strong sales do bring in some fresh air. They not only helped digest the newly added inventory but also ignited the discussion on whether the stagnant market will finally bottom out and rise in 2023," said the report.

If the current growth momentum can persist through the end of Q1 2023, industry players should be more confident about a market recovery, it added.
Shillong, Feb 15 : If voted to power in Meghalaya, the Trinamool Congress will fulfill all poll promises within 100 days of the formation of the government, said Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O'Brien.

While interacting with the media persons in Jowai on Tuesday evening, he said, "After TMC forms the government in the state, we will deliver on our promises within 100 days." The TMC leadership has already announced two tall promises to attract voters in poll-bound Meghalaya.

Under a programme called 'Meghalaya Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment (MFIWE)', the TMC has announced a monthly financial support of Rs 1,000 to households headed by women. The party has also promised to create three lakh jobs in five years and give unemployed youth between the ages of 21 and 40, monthly payments of Rs 1,000 under the Meghalaya Youth Empowerment scheme.

Trinamool Congress leaders have been asking the people to register their names in order to take advantage of the schemes if the party wins the next state election.

However, the ruling National People's Party and the BJP have criticised these poll promises made by the Trinamool and termed them as 'illogical'.

Derek O'Brien has set aside the claims by other parties and said, "Through these schemes, we are giving back what belongs to the people." The Rajya Sabha MP also stressed that education, health, employment, and road infrastructure are the basic requirements of people and they have been deprived of these under the current regime.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Urbanization is on the rise throughout the nation, which has raised traffic congestion and pollution levels, which has a negative influence on citizens' health and, ultimately, the nation's economic growth. Additionally, alternative means of transportation for greater connectivity are imperative with the inherent conditions that they are widely available.

To change the face of personal aviation by introducing innovative alternate transportation avenues. BLADE India recently came up with time-sharing private jet services, wherein one can buy the fly timing of the private jet and travel to their favorite destination whenever they wish to.

In an interview with Amit Dutta, Managing Director, Blade India, we find out the brand's history and how it plans to overcome transportation issues.

Please describe Blade India's journey to this point.

Amit Dutta: BLADE India is a joint venture between BLADE Urban Air Mobility Inc. headquartered in New York and New Delhi-based investment fund, Hunch Ventures. We are an Urban Air Mobility platform connecting short distances through vertical aircraft such as helicopters with a vision to transition into Electric Vertical Aircrafts (EVAs) in the future.

We started operations in Maharashtra in 2019 with maiden flights between Mumbai, Pune, and Shirdi. We then launched its personalized charter service, BLADE Anywhere connecting destinations pan-India, and its med-evac service, BLADE Care.

We also expanded to Karnataka by connecting Bangalore to Coorg and Kabini. Shortly afterward, we launched our first intra-city service, BLADE Airport, with flights connecting Bangalore airport to key locations within the city such as HAL. Bangalore is infamous for its congestion; BLADE's goal was to reduce the travel time significantly by converting 2+ hours of road travel into short 10-12 minute flights.

Within three months of the launch of BLADE Airport, we added Hosur to our intra-city network to ease the commute between North and South Bangalore.

We've started services in Goa, connecting the new International Airport in MOPA with South Goa.

Our vision is to eventually transition into a fully electric fleet. To do this, we are actively working with our EVA partners such as Eve to not just use hours on their aircraft but also to develop the UAM ecosystem. Through these partnerships, we ensure we have the first-mover advantage and are the first ones to provide air mobility services using EVAs in the country.

How do you intend to address India's transportation issues? Amit Dutta: With the growing population and increasing congestion, ground transportation is becoming increasingly challenging and time-consuming. Vertical Aircraft such as helicopters and Electric Vertical Aircrafts (EVAs) are the future of mobility. Places that are heavily congested, face grave accessibility issues, and aren't connected through commercial airlines can be accessed through our helicopters now. All of BLADE's routes are destinations that face any of the problems mentioned earlier. In the future, the transition will be to EVAs to connect short distances and are more environmentally friendly, having zero noise and carbon emissions. We've partnered with EVA manufacturers, EVE to get their aircraft into India and ensure we're at par with the rest of the world's advancements in UAM.

How are you changing the face of personal aviation by introducing novel alternate modes of transportation? Amit Dutta: Our goal is to democratize short-haul air travel. Earlier, helicopters were seen as a luxury only afforded to the Ultra HNIs, celebrities, and VVIPs. By providing helicopter services on a seat basis, we bring down the costs and make it more accessible to the market. In the future, EVAs are expected to be even lower and will be more environmentally friendly as well.

What prompted the company to expand its services to Goa? Amit Dutta: Goa has evolved beyond just being a party destination. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a major shift in the region's popularity, making it the top holiday destination in India. People from various cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore are either relocating to Goa or investing in second homes there. With the growing number of tourists and residents, there is a clear increase in demand for services.

This influx of travelers and residents alike also means higher congestion alongside the ongoing issue of connectivity. Hence, we envision a need for services such as ours that connect North Goa to South Goa in under 20 minutes. People can land in North Goa and check in to their hotels in south Goa all within 20 minutes, a route which otherwise takes up to 3 hours. Factoring that in with a price point of 6,000 per person, makes the service more accessible to all.

What are the special offerings for Goa visitors? What will the price be? Amit Dutta: The launch of MOPA is indeed a huge milestone and a relief for travelers. Travelers can book a seat in the helicopter for Rs 6,000, to Taj Exotica, six days a week. We will offer two return journeys a day in line with hotel check-in/out timings, so travellers make the most of their Goa holiday. The first return journey from the South is between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. whereas the second return journey will be between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

We will also be providing its personalized charter service, BLADE Anywhere, to connect destinations within Goa and neighboring towns such as Dhardwad and Hubli. The services will also expand to more locations in North Goa with Fort Aguada as the next location.

Are there any rules that must be followed when flying with the company? Amit Dutta: Passengers can carry up to 7kgs of luggage with them on the helicopter, anything extra shall be transferred on-ground.

Do you have any plans to expand services to other cities? Amit Dutta: We are aiming at a pan-India expansion in the next 2 years.

Key trends of urban air mobility observed in India.

Amit Dutta: Urban air mobility (UAM) is a rapidly growing industry in India. The government's focus and support to enhance short-haul mobility are also commendable. We are already working on building the UAM ecosystem so that the country is ready with the adequate infrastructure required for the operation of EVAs. Cities like Dubai, Singapore, and Los Angeles have already created plans for implementing urban air mobility and using EVAs to reduce traffic congestion. The low noise and carbon footprint of EVAs will also make urban air transportation more affordable and accessible to a wider audience. The industry has already attracted over $5 billion in global investment for the development of EVA prototypes. In India, Blade India has teamed up with Eve to explore the possibilities of urban air mobility and increase accessibility to vertical aircraft. Electric air vehicles will create a new aerial transit system for the masses, similar to how metro systems are used for ground transportation to reduce congestion. The future of urban air mobility is rapidly developing, and its uses will range from travel and recreation to emergency services, last-mile deliveries, and more.

Bookings for the flights are open and can be made on the BLADE India website or through the Flier Relations team at 1800 102 5233.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Making the world a better place is Girl Scout law, so its no surprise that Girl Scouts has a holiday dedicated to doing just that. Each Feb. 22, troops and service units across the NYPENN Pathways council (GSNYPENN) area locally and Girl Scouts nationwide celebrate World Thinking Day. Its a day of international friendship and a time to stand up for causes that improve the lives of girls around the globe. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which Girl Scouts are part of, has celebrated World Thinking Day since 1926. Observed by 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts across the globe, World Thinking Day has a different theme each year.

The theme for 2023 is Our World, Our Peaceful Future: The Environment, Peace, and Security. Across our region, GSNYPENN Girl Scouts will take part in World Thinking Day events where theyll sample different cultures through a craft or snack and discover ways to protect communities and the environment by participating in activity stations. While the holiday itself is celebrated in February, the World Thinking Day Award can be earned by Girl Scouts any time of year. To earn their World Thinking Day Award in 2023, Girl Scouts will explore environmental problems and learn how they can work with nature to create a more peaceful and secure future for girls everywhere.

2023 cookie program underway

Locally, GSNYPENNs 2023 cookie season runs through April 23 as individuals and troops rally their communities to support the worlds largest entrepreneurial program for girls. The cookie program is the councils largest annual fundraiser and all proceeds raised (after paying the baker) across its 26-county footprint stay local to support members and operations.

The cookie program provides invaluable business and leadership skill-building and experiences for girls and troops like service projects, troop travel, summer camp, badge work and more. Cookie varieties available locally this season are $5 per package and include Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Lemon-Ups, Thin Mints, Toffee-tastic, Trefoils, Girl Scout Smores, Adventurefuls and new Raspberry Rally, the first cookie exclusively offered for online sale and direct shipment only. If you know a registered Girl Scout, reach out to her to find out how she's selling cookies (paper order card and/or Digital Cookie link) and place an order or visit GSNYPENNs dedicated cookie page at buygirlscoutcookiesnow.com to learn how you can support the program locally.

Girl Scouts serves girls in K-12. Annual membership is just $25 and financial assistance is available. To start her adventure, visit gsnypenn.org/join. To become an adult volunteer, learn more at gsnypenn.org/volunteer. To help make Girl Scouting possible for girls in your community, visit gsnypenn.org/donate.
New Delhi, Feb 15: Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Momen, on the sidelines of the recent celebrations of Sri Lanka's 75th anniversary of independence, met Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar in Colombo. The Bangladesh minister raised with Khar the question of a need for Pakistan to offer a full, formal apology to Dhaka for the genocide committed by the Pakistan army in 1971 as the guerrilla struggle for Bangladesh's liberation from Pakistan went on.

Predictably, the Pakistani Minister of State was unable to offer any reassurance to Momen that Islamabad was ready to come forth with an apology to Bangladesh. Indeed, this continued failure on the part of successive governments in Pakistan has stood in the way of an improvement in bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Given the circumstances which have defined ties between the two countries since the surrender of the Pakistan occupation army to a joint India-Bangladesh military command in December 1971, it is unlikely that any doors will be opened to better diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Islamabad.

Pakistan's rulers, beginning with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, have over the decades expressed their regrets over the tragedy committed in 1971. But none of them have ever ventured the thought that Pakistan is ready to express contrition for the atrocities committed by its soldiers in the course of Bangladesh's war of liberation. Prime Minister Bhutto, on a visit to Dhaka in June 1974, was rather unwilling to visit the National Martyrs Memorial outside Dhaka. But when diplomatic norms compelled him to visit the memorial, he displayed a high degree of rudeness when he refused to doff his cap or to sign the visitors' book.

Pakistani attitudes to the acts of Islamabad's soldiers in Bangladesh have been an amalgam of the curious and the bizarre. General Ziaul Haq, who laid a wreath at the memorial in 1985, was asked by Bangladeshi journalists about his response to the repression exercised by his country's army in 1971. His reply was as unclear as it was vague. 'Your heroes are our heroes,' he averred. And that was that. In subsequent years, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were clearly reluctant to be drawn into the apology debate. It may be recalled that Benazir Bhutto, a student at Harvard during the Bangladesh crisis, chose to take her father's word for what was happening in Pakistan's rebellious province rather than analyse conditions through reading western newspapers.

As for Nawaz Sharif, his government was thoroughly riled by the trials of Pakistan's Bengali collaborators, many of whom had been rehabilitated by the regimes of General Ziaur Rahman and General Hussein Muhammad and by the civilian government of Khaleda Zia in the dark era covering 1975-1996 and 2001-2006, by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Pakistan national assembly adopted a resolution condemning the trials of what it considered loyal Pakistanis in Bangladesh.

And then comes the issue of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's attitude to the atrocities carried out by Pakistan's soldiers in 1971. Prior to rising to power, of course with the patronage of the army, Khan was quite vocal in his condemnation of the military's actions in 1971 on television talk shows in Islamabad. However, once in office and despite despatching messages of goodwill to Sheikh Hasina, he stayed clear of any public condemnation of the genocide fifty-two years ago. Out of office, he has more than once drawn attention, out of pique more than conviction, to the damage the army caused the state of Pakistan in the Bangladesh war.

That the state of Pakistan remains uncomfortable over the apology issue is nowhere more pronounced than a display of posters relating to the 1971 war in the museum of the Pakistan army in Lahore. The posters are a powerful hint of how Pakistan remains unable or unwilling to own up to the murder and rape of Bengalis committed by its soldiers in the nine months of the war in Bangladesh between March and December 1971.

One of the posters at the army museum would have one know that in 1971 it was not the Pakistan army but Bangladesh's Mukti Bahini which 'committed genocide' in Bangladesh. A second poster, referring to Delhi's involvement in the conflict, notes that it was the Indian government which presided over the formation of South Asia's first 'terrorist' outfit. The outfit, in the eyes of the Pakistan army, was the Mukti Bahini.

Given such knowledge, what forgiveness for Pakistan's civil-military establishment on the tragedy of 1971? Foreign Minister Momen has spoken on behalf of Bangladesh to Hina Rabbani Khar. The likelihood is that the conversation did not register with the Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

The loss is Pakistan's.

(Syed Badrul Ahsan is a journalist, author and commentator on South Asian and American politics based in Dhaka and London. Views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Bhopal, Feb 15 : Fearing social stigma, an unwed rape survivor killed her newborn in tribal dominated Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.

As per the police, the young woman who gave birth to a baby boy four days back, was assaulted sexually by an unidentified man last year.

On learning about her pregnancy, the police asked her family to inform them when the baby was born, but fearing social stigma, the family decided to kill it.

The matter came to light, when the police went to her house for collecting DNA samples for investigating the rape case. Upon reaching there, the police learnt that the baby was killed and buried at a secluded place.

As per the police, first she deprived the baby of her milk and then killed him by crushing his neck under her foot. "Newborn's brutal killing was confirmed after the body was exhumed from grave and subsequent autopsy revealed multiple fractures on top of cervical spine. All 3 accused, the woman and her uncle-aunt, were arrested and booked for murder," police said.
Buenos Aires : , Feb 15 (IANS) Carlos Alcaraz is thrilled to be back in action after missing four months of action, which cost him No. 1 place in ATP Rankings, and is determined to climb back towards the top when he marks his season debut at the Argentina Open.

The 19-year-old had a breakthrough season in 2022, as he won his maiden Grand Slam at the US Open and rose to world No.1. However, he missed the 2023 season's first major due to a torn abdominal muscle in his right leg, which he picked up last November at the Paris Masters.

As a result, the Spaniard slipped to number two in January when Djokovic won the Australian Open to reclaim the top spot.

"It has been a long time (I spent) at No. 1. Now it's a goal for me to recover No. 1 and try to do my best in these tournaments to be back on that number. I'm looking for that,"Alcaraz was quoted as saying by the ATP tour.

The World no. 2 knows the road to accomplishing that feat will not be an easy one to travel but he is looking forward to embracing the challenge of chasing Djokovic, for whom he has great respect.

"He has no weaknesses. Every shot, it's amazing", Alcaraz said. "His physical condition is amazing, his mental condition is amazing. He's like a god and I admire him over the years staying at the same level, staying at the top. It's really, really difficult and I admire that." Djokovic (7,070) holds an 840-point advantage over Alcaraz (6,230) in the ATP Live Rankings. But for now, the Spanish teen is focussed on making his return to action in Argentina.

"I'm feeling great. I'm getting used to these conditions, to play with the best players, so at the moment I'm feeling well. It's tough to play my first tournament after a long time for me, after four months. So, it's going to be really, really tough to win the tournament or be close to winning. My hope is to feel that I am okay with the injury, with my body and try to play well," he said.

Alcaraz will face Serbian Laslo Djere, who defeated Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. It will be the pair's first ATP Head-to-Head clash.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted search operations at more than 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala in connection with the Coimbatore and Mangaluru bomb blast cases.

"Houses of suspects were searched on the basis of investigational findings at different locations in the districts of Coimbatore, Trichy, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Chennai, Thiruvannamalai, Dindigul, Mayiladuthurai, Krishnagiri, Kanyakumari and Tenkasi of Tamil Nadu, and Ernakulam of Kerala and Tirupur and Coimbatore of Tamilnadu, and in Mysuru," the official said.

The first case relates to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple of Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. The accused, 29-year-old Jamesha Mubeen after swearing Bayath (allegiance) to IS was planning to carry out a suicide attack on October 23, 2022 and cause extensive damage to the Temple Complex with the intention to strike terror among a section of society.

This case was initially registered on October 23, 2022 at PS Ukkadam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and later on re-registered by the NIA.

The second case relates to a Pressure Cooker bomb/improvised explosive device (IED) blast that took place in a moving auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru City, Karnataka State on November 19, 2022, while the accused was carrying the bomb for planting it in a public place.

Initially registered on November 20, 2022 at PS Kankanady, Mangaluru, Karnataka, the case was later taken over by the NIA.

"Searches conducted today have led to seizure of a large number of digital devices and cash amounting to 4 lakh rupees in both the cases," the NIA said.

Further investigations in both the matters are on.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 15 : Hours after the Enforcement Directorate arrested M.Sivasankar, Swapna Suresh -- the prime accused in both gold smuggling and Life Mission cases -- said that she was sad at his arrest, but also happy as the probe is finally on the right track.

Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling and Life Mission cases in which the Enforcement Directorate arrested the former principal secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan- M.Sivasankar, on Wednesday said she is sad that the arrest has taken place.

"Do not know whether I will be arrested as I am also a part of the case, but the other big fish, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his wife, daughter and his son are all beneficiaries. For that, the ED will have to question Vijayan's private secretary C.M.Ravindran," said Swapna to the media in Bengaluru where she is presently based.

"Vijayan and his family is the brain behind all this and their interest is only to amass wealth by working against the interest of the state. They have involvement in every single deal. I did what I was asked by Sivasankar as we shared a very cordial relation then," said Swapna.

"I do not mind going back to jail as am sure that all the big fish will also join me. Will do every possible thing to see that it happens," added Swapna.

Late on Tuesday night, the central agency arrested Sivasankar in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to alleged fund irregularities in Kerala flood relief.

He superannuated from service on January 31.

The arrest was made after a two-day intense questioning that began on Monday. The arrest is related to the ongoing probe in Vijayan's pet project, 'Life Mission' in which a huge sum of over Rs four crore was allegedly paid as commission to get the contract, which was admitted by the builder, Santhosh Eapen to the CBI after he was arrested.

During the first Vijayan government 2016-21, Sivasankar was the final word in all matters where the CM was closely involved, and this case involves the alleged violation of foreign contribution regulations in the Kerala government's flagship project.

The project intended to provide homes to the poor who lost their houses in the devastating floods of 2018.

The project at Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district then came under a cloud after the then sitting Congress MLA Anil Akkara approached the CBI alleging massive corruption.

Akkara, on Wednesday, expressed happiness over the arrest of Sivasankar and said the arrests should not stop here as this deal was done with the knowledge at the highest level.

Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan questioned Vijayan's silence and asked him to speak out on how his onetime closest aide is now behind bars.

"If Vijayan doesn't fear anything, then why is he hell bent on preventing a CBI probe into the Life Mission scam. In the past, when this case was being probed, all of a sudden everything came to a standstill. Vijayan knows everything so let him speak up as the people wish to know," said Satheesan.

Union Minister of State for External Affair V.Muraleedharan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring out whosoever the person is engaged in corruption.

"With the arrest, one thing is clear, either Vijayan knew everything and was a beneficiary or he being a fool did not understand what was happening in his office. Now let us wait for the probe," said Muraleedharan.

Meanwhile, brushing aside Sivasankar's arrest, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said the arrest means nothing as Sivasankar is not part of the ruling Left Democratic Front.

"A case is there against him and an arrest has been effected. This is all part of a probe and that has got nothing to do with us and will not affect us," said Rajendran.

Incidentally, this case surfaced after the gold smuggling case came to light in June 2020 in which Sivasankar was jailed.

He was summoned after the ED recently completed a few rounds of questioning of Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case and interrogated her along with two other accused who are also accused in the gold smuggling case.

Both Swapna Suresh and Sarith, who were employed in the UAE Consulate, were later found to have a role in Life Mission funds misappropriation too.

Trouble began for Sivasankar when the probe located a locker in which cash to the tune of Rs one crore was found in a locker belonging to Swapna and a chartered accountant who was close to Sivasankar.

Swapna initially stated that this was the commission that she got, but later changed her position and said this money belonged to Sivasankar.

The ED in the three days of questioning Sivasankar failed to get any positive response to this statement, but the ED recorded his arrest based on evidence that they have collected.

Previously, the state government then had approached the Kerala High Court to stop the probe, but it dismissed the pleas and said that an ongoing CBI probe should continue in the case involving senior government officers and contractors.

The CBI had then taken a position that private company Unitac, carrying out the construction on behalf of a Kerala government body, did not get the contract through a tender.

The project entailed construction of 97 apartments and a health centre, and it was alleged that both the gold smuggling case accused held talks with Unitac and fixed a commission of 30 per cent of the project cost -- 20 per cent to a UAE official and 10 per cent to Swapna Suresh and other co-accused for approvals and other file movements.

The CBI claimed that Sivasankar had met Unitac owner Santhosh Eapen at his chamber along with Swapna Suresh and assured full support.

The then Life Mission Chief Executive Officer U.V. Jose was also allegedly present at this meeting.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The realme 10 Pro 5G Coca-Cola Edition, in partnership with the global iconic soft drink brand Coca-Cola, is the most stylish and impeccable smartphone ever that has been launched especially for the Indian youth.

The limited-edition device which had only 1000 units was available in an 8+128GB variant in the country for Rs 20,999 with the 8GB+8GB dynamic RAM, offered rear design inspired by Coca-Cola's classic elements from the Red and Black collision.

"At realme, we constantly endeavor to explore new ways to offer unique and leap forward experiences to our users, and our collaboration with Coca-Cola is yet another step in that direction," according to Madhav Sheth, CEO, realme India, VP, realme, and President, realme International Business Group.

Three black and seven red points highlight the Coca-Cola logo in the 70/30 asymmetrical back design. Coke red gives a positive and vigorous vibe that goes well with the lifestyle of the youth.

The cropped Coca-Cola logo added a fresh appeal to the smartphone experience with a unique twist on a classic logo.

Moreover, the matte imitation metal process gives the feel of brushed aluminum and also makes it scratch and fingerprint-resistant.

Over the years, both brands have worked towards a common goal to bring positivity and joy while creating value and a positive impact on the lives of people.

"The latest offering realme 10 Pro 5G Coca-Cola edition reflects on the ethos of both brands and is a true design and functionality marvel made available at an accessible cost. We are optimistic that this collaboration will help realme to reach new markets and provide our users with new and unique opportunities and experiences," Sheth added.

The smartphone comes with a customized UI system, from the lock screen to the dynamic charging effect, which is all designed based on Coke red and Coca-Cola's bubble element, bringing extra cheer to each moment for consumers.

Besides, ringtones are customised to provide more interesting details, such as the Coca-Cola ringtone and the sound of fizzing liquid bubbles. The APP icons are designed based on Coke red and the real image of the real goods, according to the company.

In terms of performance, realme 10 Pro 5G Coca-Cola Edition featured the segment-leading Snapdragon 695 5G processor, a 5000mAh massive battery and a massive 108MP ProLight Camera.

The camera comes with the updated Street Photography Mode 3.0. Users can experience different city filters based on their geographical locations. The 80s Cola Filters is a true blast from the past with a special edition shutter sound.

When taking a photo, it sounds like opening a real Coke.

Other new features included Super Group Portrait and One Take to improve the imaging experience.

Moreover, it provides 8GB+8GB dynamic RAM and up to 1TB of external memory, so consumers can hold on to more memories, said realme.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : A Delhi court Wednesday sent a man accused of murdering his girlfriend after an argument over his impending marriage to another woman and stuffing her body in a refrigerator at his dhaba, to five-day police custody for interrogation.

Sahil Gehlot was arrested after the body of a woman, a resident of Haryana's Jhajjar, was found inside a fridge at a dhaba, owned by him, on the outskirts of village Mitraon in Delhi.

He went ahead with his wedding the same day as killing his girlfriend Nikki Yadav, police told the court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Archana Beniwal of Dwarka Court sent Gehlot to five days' police custody for the latter to investigate, collect evidence and obtain answers from the accused.

In an application moved by the police, it is said that they needed to take Gehlot to the places where he had gone with Yadav.

As per sources, the murder was committed near the Kashmiri Gate area and Gehlot then drove with the body all the way to his dhaba - a distance of around 36 km.

According to police, on February 10, an input was received that a person named Sahil Gehlot had killed his girlfriend and married another girl on the day of murder.

"A police team was formed and on checking, no case or complaint about any missing girl was found reported. The team reached Mitraon village in search of the accused Gehlot, but his mobile phone was found switched off and he was not present in his house. Intensive search was made in the village and nearby area," Special Commissioner of Police, Crime, Ravindra Singh Yadav said.

However, Gehlot was nabbed by police from Kair village crossing.

"On interrogation, initially, the accused tried to mislead the police. But on sustained interrogation, he disclosed that he had killed his girlfriend, Nikki Yadav, in the intervening night of February 9 and 10 and stuffed her body in a refrigerator at his dhaba in a vacant plot situated on the outskirts of village Mitraon," Special Commissioner Yadav said.

"Nikki's body was recovered from the fridge at the instance of the accused. A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and the version disclosed by the accused is being verified during investigation," said the official.
Chennai, Feb 15 : Drone startup Garuda Aerospace on Wednesday entered the defence sector with its solar-powered unmanned reconnaissance aerial J-Glider, the company said.

According to Garuda, the solar-powered glider-branded SURAJ was launched by Principal Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister and former Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDA) Satheesh Reddy at the Aero India 2023 show being held in Bengaluru.

The SURAJ is a high altitude drone for surveillance operations, providing real-time information to the high command and protecting jawans on the ground.

The drone's unique J-shaped wings are equipped with solar-powered cells that serve as its primary fuel source, while an auxiliary battery provides additional propulsion or decreased speed as required, the company said.

The drone will carry a versatile payload of high-resolution zoom cameras with thermal imagery and foliage-penetrating lidar sensors with a maximum capacity of 10 kg.

This cutting-edge technology will capture, process, and transmit photos and videos in real-time, ensuring that the headquarters and base have access to vital information before planning strategic operations and terms.

It has an endurance of 12 hours and can fly at an altitude of 3,000 ft.

"Garuda Aerospace's SURAJ drone, will help in providing military and security support with edge-cutting solutions like real-time monitoring. Garuda Aerospace is also being guided by NAL, DRDO and several other scientists on the development of the SURAJ drone," Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO said.
Patna, Feb 15 : MP-MLA special court of Gopalganj on Wednesday convicted Janak Ram, a former minister of Bihar government and BJP leader, for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

His aide Tarkeshwar Nath Sharma, was also convicted on the same charges.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) A.K Manvendra Mishra, of MP-MLA court imposed a fine of Rs 1,100 on each -- Rs 1000 for the violation of MCC and Rs 100 under the loudspeaker act.

Janak Ram and Tarkeshwar Nath Sharma were held guilty of the violation during the 2020 Vidhan Sabha election in Gopalganj.

Following the judgement, the two accepted the violation. They also apologised before the court. Janak Ram requested the ACJP to forgive him for the violation. He said: "Sir, it was my first mistake. Please forgive me." The court found that despite Janak Ram being a leader and public representative in the past, had taken the oath to follow the law of the country. Still, he violated it.

Further, the court said that no one is above the law. They have violated the law and are liable to face the action so that they would not repeat the mistake in future.
Jaipur, Feb 15 : UK MP Bob Blackman on Wednesday visited the Amer Fort situated in this pink city of Rajasthan.

Blackman, along with his team, also got a few pictures clicked with elephants which now stand synonymous to Amer Fort and take tourists up to the fort reminiscing the old kings and queens era.

BJP state president Satish Poonia accorded a warm welcome to Blackman in Amer.

According to sources, the UK MP was accompanied by the PMO team.

The delegation after their Amer visit went to Rajasthan Assembly to meet BJP delegates and had lunch with them.

On Tuesday, Blackman was in New Delhi where he said that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "completely exaggerated.

He said that "the BBC does not represent views of the British government. The documentary is a hatchet job," adding that "the two-part series is a result of poor journalism." He has been awarded Padma Shri in 2020 for his overtly pro-New Delhi stand on sensitive issues such as Jammu and Kashmir in the British parliament.

Meanwhile, his meeting with Poonia in Jaipur has left a hush hush discussion as to why Blackman was sent to Jaipur to BJP state president only and not other veterans at a time when the party's factionism is making news.
There was rage. There were tears. There were words from the Bible and there were calls to action.

The raw emotions of the May 14 massacre at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue spilled out into a packed courtroom in Buffalo on Wednesday morning as the killer, Payton Gendron, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

It was already known that Gendron, now 19, would be sentenced to life in prison without parole  the automatic sentence for first-degree domestic terrorism motivated by hate. But before that, the families of the 10 people killed and three who were wounded and survived had their chance to tell the judge, the killer and the world what they lost on that day nine months and one day earlier and have had to endure ever since.

One by one they stood at a podium and shared their grief. Many spoke directly to Gendron, who was shackled and wore an orange jail jumpsuit, and was surrounded by three attorneys and half a dozen court officers and deputies.

Kimberly Salter, the widow of Aaron Salter, was the first family member to address the court.

"We wear red and black  red for the blood that he shed for his family and his community, and black because we are still grieving," she said.

Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, was the security guard on duty on May 14 when Gendron, armed with AR-15 and dressed in combat gear, began shooting his way into the store while livestreaming his rampage from a camera mounted to a helmet. Salter confronted him in the front of the store, exchanging gunfire. Salter managed to shoot Gendron, but the bullets were stopped by his body armor. Salter was fatally wounded. By engaging Gendron, Salter has been credited with saving many lives by giving people time to escape through the back of the supermarket.

Salter's widow turned to Scripture in her words to the court.

You will reap what you sow, more than you sow, she said, and she also read the 35th Psalm.

My soul shall be joyful in the Lord, she said. "Oh Lord do not be far from me."

Ruth Whitfields granddaughter, Simone Crawley, speaking for her extended family, said her grandmother will not be present for milestones, but Gendron will be nothing but a number.

You will be nameless and faceless and we feel sorry for you, she said. Your life was meaningless before May 14, 2022.

Ruth Whitfield was shopping at Tops on that day, after visiting her husband at his nursing home, when she was killed. She was 86, the eldest of the 10 victims.

Crawley looked at Gendron and told him that he did not value himself.

You thought you broke us, but you woke us. We are here to tell you that you failed, she said.

Wayne Jones spoke for his mother, Celestine Chaney, who was shopping at Tops when she was killed. He talked of the gut-wrenching pain of watching the video of Gendron's attack that quickly spread on social media.

I watched you kill my mother, he said. I watched you shoot her once, reload and shoot her again.

Jones said he had seen Gendron at previous hearings.

"You look like a young man that could be anyone's son," he said. "You don't come across to me as a racist killer, even though that's what you have done.

"I have a child your age. You've been brainwashed. The internet is the issue. You're only 18. You don't even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet."

Leslie VanGiesen, mother of Roberta Drury, the youngest victim, who was the first person Gendron shot in the Tops parking lot, cried as she held up a photo of her daughter.

Tamika Harper, a niece of Geraldine Talley, told Gendron that he destroyed her family's life.

"There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about May 14," she said.

In an especially emotional moment, Barbara Mapps, the sister of Katherine "Kat" Massey, spoke angrily at Gendron.

"I'm not going to be nice," she said, staring at him and sometimes pounding the podium with her hand.

She spoke of the anguish she felt as she waited for eight hours, pleading with police for information, before she learned that her sister was one of the victims.

"You're going to come to our city and decided you don't like Black people? You don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human ... We love our kids. We'd never go to another neighborhood to take people out," she said.

Just then, her son, who was standing beside her, rushed toward Gendron.

Court security staff quickly escorted Gendron out of the courtroom as others held the man back. As the man was escorted out, he punched a hole through a wall in the hallway.

Many in the courtroom cried at the emotional outburst. But about 10 minutes later, the victims' statements continued.

Zeneta Everhart spoke on behalf of herself and her son Zaire Goodman, a part-time Tops worker who survived being shot in the neck.

Michelle Spight spoke for the two of the victims. She said she lost two loved ones that day, her aunt, Pearl Young, and her cousin, Margus Morrison. She said her aunt was shot so many times that she needed a closed casket. She also said Margus Morrison's mother buried him on his mother's birthday.

"Thanks, Payton, for that," she said.

Stephanie Waters spoke for her sister, Jennifer Warrington, a pharmacist at the store who was shot but survived. Waters was in Atlanta and had just wrapped up a conference on Zoom about confronting racism when she got a call from her sister.

"She said, 'Steph, I'm in an ambulance,' " Waters said.

Warrington had suffered a gunshot wound to her head. Waters said she raced to the airport and was in agony as she sat on a plane that was delayed.

"I roared in pain for my sister, my beautiful sister."

Waters, who is white, as is her sister, told Gendron, a white supremacist, to consider that he was wrong.

"Diversity makes us strong. We are stronger together," she said.

Tops store manager Christopher Braden, who was shot in the leg and is still recovering from his injury, was next. He walked to the podium with the help of a crutch.

Braden was at the front of the store when he was shot. The video that Gendron took showed that Gendron looked at Braden as he lay on the floor and said "sorry" before moving on to his next victim. Prosecutors said that was because Braden was white and Gendron was there to kill Black people.

"Everything about it still haunts me," Braden said.

In addition to his physical injuries, he suffers from PTSD from what he endured that day.

"I saw all the victims where they lay. The visions haunt me every night," he said.

Deja Brown, one of Andre Mackniel's daughters, spoke for their family. Mackniel, 53, went to Tops that day to buy a birthday cake for his son who was turning 3.

"I'll never forgive you," Brown said. "It wasn't my dad's time to go."

Vyonne Elliott, Mackniel's brother, told Gendron he took the last of his family away when he killed him.

Assistant DA Justin Caldwell spoke for the family of Heywood Patterson. Caldwell said Gendron intended to start a race war, but failed.

"The love of this community will always be stronger," he said.

Then, it was Gendron's turn to speak. His attorney, Brian Parker, said through tears that his client was remorseful.

Gendron, reading from a written statement and not looking up, spoke briefly.

"I am very sorry for the the pain I forced all the victims and their families to suffer through," he said. "I did a terrible thing that day."

He said he did not want anyone to be inspired by what he did.

Then, Erie County Judge Susan Eagan addressed Gendron, speaking of the history of racism in America, from the slave trade to present day, that needs to be addressed.
Damascus, Feb 15 : An Indian Army team deployed in United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on Wednesday delivered relief material to quake-rattled Aleppo in Syria.

The material included rations & medicines from Government of India as well as contributions from the international community.

"#IndianArmy team deployed in @UNDOF delivers relief material to Aleppo, #Syria. This included rations & medicines from Government of #India as well as contributions from the international community," Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI) posted on Twitter.

On Tuesday, Union Health Ministry said that it provided life-saving humanitarian medical assistance to quake-hit Turkey and Syria.

Under operation Dost, emergency relief material comprising life-saving medicines, protective items and critical care equipment valued at over Rs 7 crore were arranged and promptly dispatched to Turkey and Syria, the Ministry tweeted.

Union Health Minister on Tuesday post on Twitter: India provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc as part of the country's efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria.

On February 6, a massive earthquake rattled Turkey and Syria.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday drew Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's attention towards online pharmacy business activities impacting wholesale and retail chemists.

It claimed that online pharmacy business activities by several big foreign and indigenous corporations have adversely impacted crores of wholesale and retail chemists. This is because of open defiance of Drug and Cosmetics Act and rules and also their indulging in anti-consumer practices and risking the safety and health of the Indian consumers.

The manufacture, import, sale and distribution of drugs is regulated by the Drug and Cosmetics Act and Rules in India. The Act and Rules are stringent and make it mandatory not only for every importer, manufacturer, seller or distributor of drugs to possess a valid license but also make it mandatory that all drugs be dispensed by a registered pharmacist only. "However, e-pharmacy marketplaces are misusing the loopholes in the law and playing with the lives of innocent Indian consumers by selling drugs without prescription and dispensing drugs without a registered pharmacist," said CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a joint statement.

They said that the Government should permit only those e-pharmacies that own the drugs which are purported to be sold on the e-pharmacy and rest of the e-pharmacies operating in the Country should be asked to down their shutters.

Also, no person must be allowed to establish a web portal to act as an intermediary between the e-pharmacy entity and consumer. For instance, if a spurious, adulterated or misbranded drug gets delivered to the consumer, a marketplace like Pharmeasy or Netmeds will always hide behind intermediary protection which is a rampant malpractice even in e-commerce. An entity that wholly owns inventory will be liable in all circumstances.

Bhartia and Khandelwal urged the government to ensure that all drugs are disbursed only from the registered retail pharmacy and only by a registered pharmacist after following the due verification process to ensure consumers get exactly what they order. Both the trade leaders said that the government should impose a minimum penalty of Rs 1,00,000 which may extend to Rs 10,00,000 so that violators like Pharmeasy, Netmeds, Amazon Pharmacy, Tata1Mg are suitably penalised.

The CAIT has decided to organise a national level conference of prominent chemists Associations of different States of the Country in 1st week of March.

Meanwhile, a delegation of CAIT will soon meet Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to apprise them about blatant violations of e-pharmacies in the country.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who flaunted a perfect eight-pack abs in the song 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' in his latest release 'Pathaan', is happy that youngsters find his chiselled body "cool".

SRK, who is a father of three - Aaryan, Suhana and AbRam, said: "When they (director Siddharth Anand and choreographer Bosco Martis) were doing Jhoome Jo Pathaan song, I think a conspiracy was hatched to make me go shirtless. There was no way that I was sure about doing it (taking my shirt off) but then they made me do it!"

He added: "I think it was already planned that slowly, slowly, they will start opening my buttons. I have never done my signature steps with abs! So, ya, it took a lot of takes, a lot of takes."

"I'm very happy now when youngsters, my kids see me on screen and say damn cool body papa! I feel very happy but it is really scary! I don't know if I will be able to do it again."

About what he loves about the chartbuster song Jhoome Jo Pathaan, SRK said: "Jhoome Jo Pathaan is a song that I feel makes you want to dance. Just wanted to do a step which everyone can do with ease. It comes when it's like all things are done well now and so let's celebrate, it's a party song in the film."

-- Syndicated from IANS
Islamabad, Feb 15 : An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Wednesday rejected PTI chief Imran Khan's bail plea in a case pertaining to protests outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the former premier failed to appear before the judge, media reports said.

Khan was on interim bail in the case and the court provided him the opportunity to appear before it on Wednesday, The Express Tribune reported.

Earlier, the hearing commenced without Khan under ATC judge Raja Jawad Abbas. Khan's lawyer Babar Awan presented his arguments and made submissions before the court.

He maintained that the terrorism section did not apply to the case and highlighted that if the court gave that finding, the case could be transferred to another court.

The judge stated that the merit case could not be heard without the accused present, and that the current hearing was regarding the former premier's bail application, The Express Tribune reported.

The lawyer maintained that Khan could not travel for 'genuine reasons' and that no recovery was needed from Khan in the case. He added that Pakistan is the only country where the entire cabinet is thinking of arresting the PTI chief.

The judge stated that the court would set precedents that would be fixed forever, adding that he would give the same relief to a powerful person as he would to the common man, The Express Tribune reported.

Awan said that an additional sessions judge had granted Khan interim bail till February 27 and requested the ATC do the same. He reiterated that the deposed premier "tried but was unable to travel".
Dhaka, Feb 15 : Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Wednesday held regular Foreign Office Consultations (FOCs) with his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen during which they reviewed entire gamut of bilateral ties.

Both countries also agreed to maintain close engagement in the context of Bangladesh's participation as a Guest Country during India's G-20 Presidency.

Kwatra paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He also conveyed warm wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to her and reaffirmed India's support for wider and deeper development and economic partnership with Bangladesh.

"Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra paid a courtesy call on Hon'ble Prime Minister H.E Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. FS conveyed warm wishes of PM @narendramodi to PM H.E Sheikh Hasina and reaffirmed India's support for wider and deeper development & economic partnership with Bangladesh, Indian High Commission in Bangladesh posted on Twitter.

"Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra held Foreign Office Consultations with @FSMasud of Bangladesh. Both sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral partnership including political, security, trade, investment, defence, connectivity, water, power and sub-regional cooperation," it said.

"They also agreed to maintain close engagement in the context of Bangladesh's participation as a Guest Country during India's #G20 Presidency," it added.

On his arrival in Dhaka on Tuesday, Kwatra was received by his Bangladesh counterpart.

This is Kwatra's first visit to Dhaka as foreign secretary. Earlier, he accompanied External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on a short trip before taking charge of the new office on May 1, 2022.

"The visit is keeping in line with the highest priority accorded to India's 'Neighbourhood First' Policy, Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Bangladesh is India's top-most development partner and its largest trade partner in the region," it said.

Earlier, the FOCs between the two countries was held on January 29, 2021, in Delhi.
Colombo, Feb 15 : Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said he is hopeful that the country will receive the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approval for a 2.9 billion US dollar bailout package by March.

Addressing an event organised by a private university in Colombo, the president said the Sri Lankan economy is now stabilising and it will be able to begin the debt restructuring process soon, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wickremesinghe added that the country needs to have political stability to carry out the debt restructuring process.

He said that Sri Lanka reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF to receive an extended fund facility (EFF) program in 2022.

Sri Lanka suspended external debt repayment in April 2022 and entered negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package.
Kolkata, Feb 15 : West Bengal's Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday presented a Rs 3,39,162 crore budget for financial year 2023-24, projecting a gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth of 8.41 per cent.

The significant announcement in the budget was regarding payment of additional three per cent dearness allowances for the current and retired state government employees.

However, the state government employees are not at all happy over the announcement. State Government Employees' Council General Secretary Sanket Chakraborty said even after this, the gap of the state government employees with that of their counterparts in the Union government remains 32 per cent. "This is nothing but eyewash," he said.

In the budget proposal for 2023-24, there was a proposal for encouraging the startups, as Bhattacharya announced a new credit card scheme for those in the age bracket 18 to 45 years. "Under this scheme, the youths will be eligible for loans up to Rs 5,00,000 for starting their own business. The state government will provide margin money up to 10 per cent and guarantee up to 15 per cent of the loan amount," she said. The state government has earmarked Rs 350 crore for the scheme.

As expected, the budget proposals included a host of welfare schemes with focus on women.

"Currently, women in West Bengal in the age bracket of 25 and 60 years are entitled for monthly payment ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 under the Lokkhir Bhandar scheme. Now after the women cross 60 years of age, they will be automatically entitled for old- age allowance which will be Rs 1,000 per month," Bhattacharya said.

At the same time, she also announced a special compensation for the fishermen community in the state, where in case of untimely death of any fisherman in the age bracket of 18 and 45 years, his family will be entitled for a one- time compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the state government.

Her budget proposal has some good news regarding development of the rural road network in the state, as she announced a special scheme for constructing 11,500 km of new rural roads with an allocation of Rs 3,000 crore.

At the same time, Bhattacharya said that from the next financial year, the local area development fund for the MLAs will be increased to Rs 70 lakh for each legislator from the current figure of Rs 60 lakh.

She claimed that during 2022-23, the rate of goods & services tax return in the state has increased to 95 percent from 70 per cent, with the incremental growth in collection being at 24.44 per cent. "This rate is much higher than the national average," she said.
Bhopal, Feb 15 : Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia along with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of an airport in Rewa district. This will be the sixth in the state after Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Khajuraho. The project, which is in its initial stage with land acquisition underway, will be established on 300 acres of land in the Chorahta area of Rewa city. It is estimated to be completed by 2025.

While addressing the gathering on this occasion, Scindia said that until a few years back, people were demanding railway connectivity in their cities, but things have changed now, and people are demanding airports. Scindia, who switched to the BJP in early 2020 and became Civil Aviation Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, said till 2016 India had around 74 airports, and the BJP government has established the same number of airports in just nine years.

"Today is a historic day for Rewa and the Vindhya region when we are laying the foundation stone for this airport, and it happened only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You can see that 74 airports were established during the 70 years of Congress rule, while the same number of airports have been established within just nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership," Scindia added.

Scindia also attacked Madhya Pradesh Congress president and his ex-cabinet colleague Kamal Nath saying the latter was lamenting the shortage of money during his 15-month government. "Jansevak ki kursi rone ke liye nahi hoti, janta ki seva karne ke liye hoti hai. (Jansevak's post is not for lamenting but to serve the people). Had the same excuse been given by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, this project would not have been possible today. This is the difference between the BJP and the Congress," Scindia said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asserted that the people of Rewa deserve this gift (airport) because they had given all eight assembly seats to the BJP in 2018. Chouhan also announced to develop a Vindhya Expressway which will connect the region directly from the state capital Bhopal.

Chouhan also attacked the Congress saying that despite a strong presence in the state cabinet, Vindhya region did not see any development till 2003. "You might remember what kind of roads there used to be during the Digvijaya Singh led Congress government, and now you can see the roads of Rewa and entire Madhya Pradesh," Chouhan added.
Lucknow, Feb 15 : Abdullah Azam, son of SP leader Mohd Azam Khan, has been disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh assembly after he was convicted in a 15-year-old case in Moradabad.

The Suar Assembly seat he held has been declared vacant.

The Representation of the People Act lists offences which can lead to disqualification of legislators, and also states that anyone sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.

On Monday, a Moradabad court awarded jail term to Abdullah Azam Khan, also a Samajwadi Party leader, and his father Azam Khan in the 2008 case.

They were accused of sitting on dharna on a state highway on January 29, 2008, as their cavalcade was stopped by the police for checking in the wake of an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur on December 31, 2007.

However, the court has granted bail to both of them.

Abdullah Azam Khan and his father were booked under Section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In October last year, Azam Khan, who represented the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat, faced disqualification after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.

In the bypoll held on the seat in December last year, BJP's Akash Saxena had defeated Azam Khan's protege Asim Raza.

Azam Khan had won the Rampur Sadar seat nine times since 1980.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Aiming to strengthen the cooperative sector, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of two lakh new multipurpose primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in panchayats across the country in the next five years.

Under this, dairy and fishery cooperatives would be set up in all those panchayats which are uncovered, i.e., which don't have cooperative societies till now.

This plan would be implemented with the support of NABARD, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) through convergence of various schemes of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying by leveraging the 'whole-of-government' approach, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting.

The setting up of cooperative societies will provide farmer members with requisite forward and backward linkages to market their produce, enhance their income, obtain credit facilities and other services at village level.

The PACS will provide farmer members with requisite forward and backward linkages and enhance their income and will generate employment opportunities in the rural area, the minister said.
Caleb Slater is getting a head start on his campaign to unseat state Sen. Rachel May in 2024.

Slater, a Republican, announced his candidacy in the 48th Senate District. He will seek the GOP and Conservative nominations to challenge May, a Democrat who was first elected in 2018.

The 48th Senate District includes all of Cayuga County and most of Onondaga County. The cities of Auburn and Syracuse are in the district.

Slater told The Citizen that he decided to run for state Senate because he believes May's policy positions, particularly on the environment, are "out of touch" with Cayuga and Onondaga counties.

"We need a fresh perspective, we need new leadership and we need somebody that's in touch with the district," he said.

A native of Dundee in Yates County, Slater attended Cayuga Community College and Ithaca College. He was president of the Ithaca College Republicans and captain of the school's debate team. He has been active in GOP politics by volunteering or working for candidates in central New York and elsewhere. His first job in politics was working as a canvasser with Americans for Prosperity in support of U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney's campaign.

Outside of politics, he is employed in the special projects division of Gatesco, a property management firm.

Slater lives in Onondaga County and plans to move into the city of Syracuse.

"I felt, as a man of faith, that the Lord was calling me there," he said. "That's where a lot of the problems are, whether it's crime, whether it's the childhood poverty rate, the homelessness rate. I felt a calling to go into that city, be more active and involved ... But the first part is showing up."

As a state Senate candidate, he said his priorities include public safety  he criticized the state's criminal justice reforms, namely the bail reform law  and addressing poverty. He also identified education as a top issue. He supports an expansion of charter schools and other alternatives to public schools.

May will likely be a top target for Republicans next year. In 2022, she won reelection by defeating two opponents, Republican challenger Julie Abbott and Conservative candidate Justin Coretti. Her margin of victory over Abbott was 7,774 votes.

Slater may not be the only Republican candidate interested in challenging May. For now, though, parties are focused on the upcoming local elections. The 2024 endorsement process won't begin until early next year.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 15 : Akhash Thillenkary, the prime accused in the Kannur Youth Congress worker Shuaib murder case, on Wednesday stated that he committed the crime at the behest of the CPI(M).

His post in social media came as a comment to a local youth CPI(M) leader's post.

Thillenkary further wrote that he was instigated by the local party leaders at Edayannur.

While all such leaders have now landed secure jobs in Cooperative institutions, he did not get any consideration, he added.

The party's apathy and lack of support forced him to engage in other illegal activities, the comment further read.

He ended the note saying that if he opens his mouth, many in the CPI(M) will have to run for cover.

Responding to his allegations, the youth wing of the CPI(M) accused Thillenkary of attempting to defame them, while Shuaib's father said now all he wants to know is the names of leaders behind the crime.

"We also want to know why my son was killed and now that the first portion is out, we want to know the second part that is why was my son eliminated," he said.

Shuaib's murder took place in February 2018 when he, along with a few others, was waiting in front of a night eatery near Mattanur, in Kannur district. Four persons came in a car and threw bombs to create a scare.

They then slashed him with a sword. The incident occurred around 10.45 p.m and despite being rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital, he succumbed to his injuries.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : TV actor Neil Bhatt, who is seen playing the role of Virat in the show 'Ghum Hain Kisikey Pyaar Meiin' (GHKPM), will be seen blaming his on-screen wife Paakhi, played by Aishwarya Sharma for inciting their son Vinayak against his ex-wife Sai (Ayesha Singh).

He tells Paakhi that because of her, Vinayak considers Sai to be a bad woman.

It was seen earlier that Virat is trying to make Vinayak understand that Sai is his mother but he is not ready to accept the truth.

For this, Virat blames Paakhi and says she is giving wrong lessons to him.

However, Paakhi denies his allegations and says that he never gave her due respect as a wife nor does he consider her to be a good mother.

She also threatens to take her life and after listening to her, Virat gets angry and adds that she cannot always repeat the same thing.

He asks her not to poison Vinayak's mind against Sai and if she really loves him as a mother, she must teach him good and positive things about others.

In the end, Paakhi says that 'Virat you don't love me'.'Ghum Hain Kisikey Pyaar Meiin' airs on Star Plus.
Bengaluru, Feb 15 : A letter by BJP MLA Gulihatti Shekar for suspending tenders related to the Upper Bhadra project worth Rs 18,000 crore is proving to be a big setback for the BJP government in poll-bound Karnataka.

The opposition is targeting the BJP just when the ruling party is planning to contest the Assembly elections with a clean image.

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are making repeated visits to state and pledging to again form a BJP government in the state, the letter by Shekar, the BJP MLA from Hosadurga, alleging corruption and lack of transparency in the tenders has given the opposition parties a chance to corner the ruling party.

When asked about the letter, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai brushed it aside as a casual development.

Shekar has been asked to give specific details to get the matter inquired, Bommai maintained.

"If any officer is involved in corruption, the matter will be probed. Making statements without giving any evidence is of no use," he said.

"The Congress ruled for five years during which it also floated tenders. After the BJP came to power, a committee was formed headed by a judge to go through all those tenders. Everything has been scrutinised. Now the tender process is very transparent," the CHief Minister maintained.

Shekar in his letter sent to the water resources department last week had demanded to cancel the tenders worth Rs 18,000 crore claiming that there was no transparency in issuing the tenders.

He maintained that the tenders were floated hurriedly and the board had not ensured transparency while issuing them.

BJP leaders are hailing the release of Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project to woo the voters. However, the questions raised by Shekar is proving to be an embarrassment for the ruling party ahead of this year's Assembly polls.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The first Culture Working Group meet, under India's G-20 Presidency, will be held in Madhya Pradesh's temple town Khujaraho from February 22.

Officials of the Ministry of Culture said that India's G20 Culture Track is predicated on the idea of 'Culture for LiFE' - an environmentally conscious lifestyle as a campaign for sustainable living.

The CWG will evolve through four meetings in four historic cities of India and steer the G20 discourse on four priority areas. India's CWG will reflect the emergence of culture as a prominent theme on the global stage, it will adopt culture to renew multilateral and multicultural cooperation at all levels, and will aim to forward this ideal and inform future global cultural policies and initiatives.

An ancient city, Khajuraho is known for its majestic temples and elaborate sculptures. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Khajuraho's monuments were constructed by the Chandela Dynasty between 950-1050 AD. The aesthetic of the Nagara-style architecture, ornamented with the intricate and detailed sculptures, acts like a window into the socio-cultural practices of the time. According to historical records, there were 85 temples in the temple site in Khajuraho, covering 20 square kilometres, in the 12th Century AD. However, today, only 25 of these temples - scattered throughout a 6 square kilometre area - have survived.

Officials said that as a part of the meeting, there will be an exhibition titled "Re(ad)dress : Return of Treasures" at the Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Centre (MCCC), which will be inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Culture and Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy.

The delegates from the G20 countries will get to experience cultural programmes including the Khajuraho Dance Festival. They will also get to visit the Western Group of Temples along with a tiger safari at the Panna Tiger Reserve.

India assumed the G20 presidency on 1 December 2022, articulating the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' - One Earth. One Family. One Future', which aims to foster, celebrate, and incorporate the diversity of cultural traditions amongst the member states while striving towards holistic living and creating a pro-people planet.
Mumbai, Feb 15 : A row erupted in Maharashtra on Wednesday over an Assam government advertisement claiming that India's 6th Jyotirlinga is located at Kamrup in the Dakini hills in the northeastern state.

The ad, released by the Assam government on Tuesday in various media, bears the photo of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma greeting and inviting people on the occasion of the upcoming Maha Shivratri (February 18) celebrations.

"Welcome to the site of India's Sixth Jyotirlinga," says the huge media ads, which have given the names of all the 12 Jyotirlingas in the country, including now showing the 6th one as 'Bhimshankar (Dakini)', prominently in a red box, beside a Shivling, a Trishul and Damru.

As per Hindu texts, of the 12 such recognised Jyotirlingas all over India, one is in the Bhimashankar hill forests of Pune district in Maharashtra, where lakhs of devotees go for prayers every year.

Taken aback by the 'preposterous' claims, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) immediately pounced on the Assam government and the ruling Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party regime in Maharashtra.

Firing the first salvo, Congress' General Secretary Sachin Sawant said: "Leave aside industries (in Maharashtra), the BJP wants to snatch away even Lord Shiva from Maharashtra. Now, the BJP Assam government claims that the 6th Jyotirlinga of Bhimashankar is situated in Assam and not in Maharashtra's Pune district. We strongly condemn this highly preposterous claim." Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule slammed Assam and demanded whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now decided to give away the cultural and spiritual treasures of Maharashtra along with its industries and jobs.

"What the Assam BJP government in Assam is doing is absolutely unacceptable and without any basis," she said, urging Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to take immediate note of the developments.

Flaying the Assam government, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s national spokesperson Kishore Tiwari said this is just the beginning and the BJP will now take away other important gods and deities of Maharashtra.

"Today, it's the Jyotirlinga which represents Lord Shiva. Tomorrow, they will even stake claim on his son, Lord Ganesha, who is the most revered in Maharashtra, where the annual Ganeshotsav festival took birth 130 years ago," a fuming Tiwari said.

Sule went on to quote Shrimad Adi Shankaracharya's Brihad Ratnakara Stotra that the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga is the source of River Bhima in the forests of Dakini, hence the Bhimashankar in Pune is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Temples, none other.

"Who else needs to testify now? However, the BJP-ruled Assam has started promoting the Shivalinga at Parnohi near Guwahati as the 6th Jyotirlingaa. This is very mischievous and false propaganda," Sule said.

Hitting back at Sawant for the criticism, BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam presented a press release of December 2021 of the Centre's Department of Tourism mentioning all the Jyotirlingas and also the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga.

Calling Sawant a 'misguided emperor' like the Congressmen, the BJP leader said that from the government, everything is clear.

Sawant patiently requested Kadam to first "study the issue and then talk", pointing out that his concern pertained to the Assam government ad of February 14 which mentions that the 6th Jyotirlinga is not in Maharashtra but in Assam.

"Even the name has been changed. Surprisingly, it didn't upset you. Maybe the topic is not understood as usual," said Sawant in a sarcastic swipe at Kadam.

Sule, Tiwari and Sawant have called upon the Shinde-Fadnavis government to declare their stance, unequivocally condemn Assam's BJP government on 'blasphemy' that has hurt the religious sentiments of not only Hindus, but the 12 crore people of Maharashtra and the belief of all Indians.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
New York, Feb 15 : The US administration has announced a policy manual change under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) to protect certain non-citizen children, including Indians, from losing eligibility to obtain lawful permanent resident status.

The update determines when a child's age can be "frozen" and protected from "aging out".

For a child to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the US based on his/her parent's approved petition for a family-sponsored or employment-based visa, the child generally must be under the age of 21.

If the child turns 21 and "ages out" during the immigration process, the child generally is no longer eligible to immigrate with the parent based on the parent's petition.

Under the new guidelines, the USCIS will now use the dates for filing chart to calculate these non-citizens' ages for CSPA purposes, which provides these non-citizens with more certainty about their eligibility to adjust their status, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced.

It added that if these non-citizens are eligible to adjust their status because of the change in policy and they have filed for adjustment of status, they will also be eligible to apply for employment and travel authorisation based on their pending adjustment of status application.

In such cases, they generally will not lose previously issued employment or travel authorization, the USCIS said.

"Thank you, @USCIS, for making this narrow, commonsense policy change. It will be life-changing for many young people who narrowly age out!" Dip Patel of 'Improve The Dream', an organisation advocating for aged-out children, tweeted.

"While this is a great step, it is also important to recognise this affects a very narrow population of aging out children. Much broader changes are both necessary and possible (both administrative and legislative)," Patel said in a series of tweets.

He added that to permanently end aging out, a bipartisan legislative solution like the America's Children Act will be needed.

The CSPA was enacted to protect certain noncitizen children from losing eligibility to obtain lawful permanent resident status based on an approved visa petition by providing a method to calculate the child's age that considers when an immigrant visa number "becomes available." The Department of State's Visa Bulletin is used to determine when a visa number becomes available. The Visa Bulletin has two charts -- the Dates for Filing chart and the Final Action Date chart.

"If the 'dates for filing chart' is current, it allows people with pending applications to finally apply for adjustment of status, but they cannot actually get green card if 'final action date chart' is not current," Patel explained.

Under the previous CSPA guidance, USCIS considered a visa available for purposes of the CSPA age calculation based only on the Final Action Date chart, even if a non-citizen could apply for adjustment of status using the earlier date in the "Dates for Filing" chart.

"I am grateful that @USCIS has taken action to protect some of the 200,000 Documented Dreamers who call the United States home. But we cannot stop here. We must act and pass my bipartisan America's CHILDREN Act to provide a pathway to citizenship for all Documented Dreamers," Congresswoman Deborah Ross said in a tweet.

This USCIS policy change is effective immediately and applies to pending applications. Therefore, some non-citizens with a pending application may now have a CSPA age that is under 21 based on this change.

According to estimates, as of April 2020, there were an estimated 253,293 children awaiting permanent residency based on their parents' employment-sponsored visas.
Chennai, Feb 15 : The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on a petition filed by the All India Adi Saiva Sivachariyargal Sangam against the inclusion of a person in a committee to identify Agamic temples for the appointment of Archakas (priests).

The petitioners in the complaint before the court said that the person M.P. Sathyavel Murugan, a retired government employee, has been holding views opposite to that of the Sivachariyars and that he should not have been included in the five member committee to select the Archakas.

Acting Chief Justice, T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy granted the interim stay for a period of four weeks on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Sangam.

The Court stayed a government order constituting a five member committee headed by Justice (Rtd) M. Chockalingam to identify Agamic temples for appointing Archakas.

The HR&CE department had circulated a questionnaire framed by Sathiyavel Murugan to various temples to collect details regarding the Agamic practices followed by them.

Temple activist T.R. Ramesh filed a PIL against the communique by Murugan questioning his authority to frame such a questionnaire. He had specifically mentioned in the petition that Murugan must not be made a member of the committee to be constituted for the selection of Archakas.

However the government issued the orders on January 31 and the order was communicated to Justice (Rtd) M. Chockalingam.

The Sivachariyars in the petition stated that Murugan has been spreading false narratives about Agama Sastras and was a proclaimed critic of the Vedas and Agamas.

In the affidavit, the Sivachariyars said, "Murugan has his own erroneous opinion about Hindu traditions and has been spreading falsehoods over a period of time and maligning the Sivachariyars."
Ankara, Feb 15 : The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria quake on February 6 has topped 41,000, media reports said.

Over 41,000 people have lost their lives in the devastating quake, of which 1,414 deaths were reported by the Syrian government's Health Ministry, and 4,400 by the UN humanitarian agency in rebel-held northwestern Syria, The Washington Post reported.

"At least 35,418 people have been killed in the twin quakes and 13,208 injured are still receiving treatment in our hospitals," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Anadolu News Agency.

Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said 195,962 people have been evacuated.

Turkey's Forrign ministry said around 100 countries have offered assistance and a total of 9,046 foreign personnel are working in the disaster zone.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Elon Musk has said that he might step down as Twitter CEO by the end of this year, after stabilising the company and making it more financially viable.

After conducting a poll on stepping down as Twitter CEO in December last year, Musk has not offered any indication as to when he is going to appoint a new CEO to run the daily affairs at the micro-blogging platform.

"I need to stabilise the organisation and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place in that the product roadmap is clearly laid out," Musk said via video link at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

"I'm guessing probably towards the end of the year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company," he was quoted as saying in reports.

"I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year," Musk added.

Musk has said that he does not want to be the CEO of any company, be it Tesla or Twitter.

"I frankly don't want to be the CEO of any company. At SpaceX, it's really that I'm responsible for the engineering of the rockets and Tesla for the technology in the car that makes it successful," he said.

"So, CEO is often viewed as somewhat of a business-focused role, but in reality, my role is much more that of an engineer developing technology and making sure that we develop breakthrough technologies and that we have a team of incredible engineers who can achieve those goals," Musk elaborated.

He said he does not wish to remain CEO of Twitter forever.

"I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Musk had said that he has hired a dog to replace him as the Twitter CEO.
San Francisco, Feb 15 : US-based software company Sprinklr has laid off about 4 per cent of its global workforce -- or more than 100 employees -- amid the ongoing economic slowdown.

The company started the layoff drive last week and is cutting its workforce in India, the US and other regions, reports TechCrunch, citing sources.

"While these decisions are extremely hard to make, it is the right decision for our long-term success as we shift from a capacity-driven to productivity-driven business model," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"Our first priority is to support our employees with the greatest care and respect, show appreciation for their contributions to Sprinklr, and to assist them in their transition. We then will realign with a focus on making it easier to sell, and to deliver profitable growth to the business," the spokesperson added.

Moreover, the report said that the US-based firm notified the initial batch of its affected employees on February 7.

Sprinklr did not disclose the exact number of employees being laid off due to the decision, the report added.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the firm had 3,245 employees as of January 31, 2022.

Of the total headcount at the time, 933 were based in the US, and 2,312 were based internationally, including 1,580 in India, according to the report.

Meanwhile, US-based cloud communications company Twilio has announced to lay off about 17 per cent of its global workforce amid cost-cutting measures.
The New York State Senate voted on Wednesday to reject Hector LaSalle's nomination to serve as chief judge of the state Court of Appeals, dealing a final blow to Gov. Kathy Hochul's pick to lead New York's highest court.

The vote was 39-20 against confirming LaSalle, with the Democratic majority opposing his nomination.

It was a surprise vote after the Senate Judiciary Committee previously rejected LaSalle's nomination in January. Democrats believed then that the matter was closed, but there was debate over whether the state Constitution required a vote by the full Senate.

Hochul repeatedly said she was considering her options, which included pursuing legal action against the Senate majority. But Republicans intervened and filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force a vote.

With the lawsuit looming, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday that the chamber would "end the ongoing distraction of Justice Hector LaSalle's nomination."

"We maintain that the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on Justice LaSalle's nomination was a faithful execution of the judicial nomination procedure," Stewart-Cousins continued. "The Senate acted constitutionally by following our own set of rules, which as a separate branch of government, we are empowered to create and follow under the state Constitution.

"Despite being in accordance with our state laws, the outcome of that (committee hearing) has not been accepted by all members of government. The recent court case brought by Republican senators proves that prolonging the LaSalle nomination  which never had the requisite votes to pass  is merely a wedge issue to distract us from other pressing matters at hand."

Democrats, as they have in public statements since LaSalle was nominated for chief judge, aired their grievances about a nominee they feel does not meet the moment in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and upended abortion rights.

State Sen. Neil Breslin, an Albany-area Democrat who is the longest-serving state senator, panned LaSalle's judicial record as the presiding judge of a downstate appellate court. After reviewing his decisions and speaking with LaSalle, Breslin concluded that "we can do better."

"And if I think that, I should try to do it," he said.

Republican state Sen. Andrew Lanza praised LaSalle as an excellent attorney and judge. Although they possess opposing political views, Lanza believes LaSalle is qualified for the position.

"This is precisely the kind of person who should be serving the people of the state of New York on the bench," he said.

But Lanza and other Republicans were outnumbered by Democratic senators who have expressed concerns about LaSalle's past decisions. In one ruling, his court narrowed a state attorney general's subpoena that was issued as part of an investigation into a crisis pregnancy center. Based on that decision, LaSalle has been accused of being anti-abortion  a charge he denied during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

There were other decisions that fueled the opposition to LaSalle's nomination. Labor organizations labeled him as anti-union for a ruling that allowed companies to sue union leaders amid a contract dispute.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, lauded LaSalle for his public service. However, he questioned whether he is the right person to lead the state's highest court.

"We are interested in changing the status quo because the status quo isn't working for all New Yorkers," Hoylman-Sigal said.

In the aftermath of the Senate vote, Hochul called it an "important victory for the Constitution." But it was a major political defeat for the governor early in her first full term.

The opposition to LaSalle's nomination was swift, yet Hochul stood by her nominee. One by one, Democratic senators said they would oppose LaSalle if his nomination came to the floor.

Now that the Democratic-led Senate has rejected LaSalle for a second time, Hochul will choose a new chief judge nominee.

"I remain committed to selecting a qualified candidate to lead the court and deliver justice," she said. "That is what New Yorkers deserve."
Geneva, Feb 15 : At least 73 migrants were missing and presumed dead following a tragic shipwreck off the Libyan coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Wednesday.

The boat, carrying around 80 people, reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar on February 14 heading to Europe, the IOM said in a statement, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The IOM said that seven survivors who swam back to Libyan shores in extremely dire conditions are currently in a hospital, and the Libyan Red Crescent and local police have so far retrieved 11 bodies.

This tragedy has totalled the number of deaths on the central Mediterranean route to over 130 this year, the IOM said.

More than 1,450 deaths were recorded in 2022 by the IOM Missing Migrant Project.
Shillong, Feb 15 : If voted to power, the BJP will form separate task forces to probe corruption cases and curb illegal mining in Meghalaya, besides solving the border disputes with Assam and implementing the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission for state government employees.

Releasing the party's election manifesto - Vision Document-2023 - BJP President J.P. Nadda said that corruption is a main issue in Meghalaya and the BJP wants a corruption-free empowered state.

He said that a special task force under a retired Supreme Court judge will be constituted to investigate all cases of corruption and take swift and decisive action against any delay, defect or denial of government services.

With two MLAs, the BJP is a part of the six-party Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) headed by National People's Party led by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.

The BJP promised to expedite the establishment of a state-of-the-art tribal museum to showcase the rich tribal culture and heritage of the stat. It also promised to set up tribal war memorials honouring Pa Togan Nengminja, U. Tirot Sing Syiem and U. Kiang Nangbah, who were brave freedom fighters from the Garo Hills, Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills regions.

The BJP's Vision Document promised setting up of Meghalaya tourism skill mission to provide training create employment opportunities for one lakh local youth.

Like Tripura and Nagaland, the BJP promised to increase the annual financial assistance under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme from the current Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 and to provide financial aid of Rs 6,000 annually to all fishermen under the Fishermen Income Support scheme.

The Vision Document promised to launch the Meghalaya White Revolution project with a fund of Rs 250 crore to make the state self-reliant in milk products by 2026.

The BJP, like in Nagaland and Tripura, committed to introduce the Ka Phan Nonglait scheme providing a bond of Rs 50,000 on the birth of a girl child and free-of-cost, quality education to all female students from KG to PG, free Scooties to all meritorious college-going female students from financially weaker households.

If it comes to power, the saffron party also promised to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in all government jobs, with a special focus on the police force and to provide two free LPG cylinders to all the beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana.

An empowered Meghalaya Combined Recruitment Commission would be set up to expedite filling of vacancies across various departments.

The BJP also assured to provide skill training and create 3.5 lakh self-employment opportunities by setting up two new special economic zones, industrial units, one additional information technology park, along with banking and hospitality industries over the next five years.

The other promises of the BJP include free rice, wheat and dal to all eligible PDS beneficiaries every month, doubling the pension amount for senior citizens to Rs 1,000 per month, doubling the per-family annual insurance cap from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh under Ayushman Bharat, initiate the Meghalaya Health Infrastructure Mission with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore for the development of medical colleges and other health infrastructure in the state.
Bhopal, Feb 15 : Former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh will now actively participate in public meetings of the Madhya Pradesh Congress in different constituencies. The veteran Congress leader who has been out of the state for the last few months as he was one of the key members of the Rahul Gandhi led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', will be focusing on the upcoming state assembly elections.

Singh, who has a strong dominance in the state's politics, will kick-off his first public meeting on February 17 in two assembly constituencies in Bhopal districts Bairasia and Govindpura, both won by the ruling BJP in 2018. A decision in this regard was taken on the direction of MP Congress chief Kamal Nath, a party spokesperson told IANS on Wednesday.

Singh will be meeting the district and block committees of the state Congress to take stock of their preparations for the assembly elections. "The first round of his (Digvijaya Singh) will start on February 17, during which he will be meeting the district and block level party leaders , as well as the women and youth wing of the party to take stock of the poll preparations. He will also conduct one-to-one meetings with party workers to note down their challenges," the spokesperson said.

Digvijaya, who leaves no opportunity to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and make headlines with his controversial remarks, is expected to heat up Madhya Pradesh politics. The election for the 230 Assembly seats is due at the end of this year.

Despite a snub from Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra over his remarks raising questions regarding the surgical strikes and the Pulwama terror attack, Singh again kicked off a row on Tuesday, saying the CRPF soldiers lost their lives in the Pulwama incident in Kashmir four years ago due to a "blatant intelligence failure".

"Today we pay homage to the 40 CRPF Martyrs who died because of the blatant intelligence failure in Pulwama. I hope all the Martyrs families have been suitably rehabilitated," Singh said on Tuesday.

He was attacked by the ruling BJP's central and state leaderships for his remarks. However, he remained firm and kept questioning PM Modi while talking to the press and using social media.
Kochi, Feb 15 : India's marine fisheries is on the verge of a transformation, with marine scientists proposing artificial reefs to increase fish production and promote fishermen's livelihood.

The scientists opened up on this topic at a brainstorming session held on the sideline of the ongoing symposium on innovations being held here.

Scientists from the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) said the deployment of artificial reefs (AR) on the sea bed would enhance the growth of marine fauna and flora, and stimulate natural settings for fish production.

Artificial reef is a sheltered human-built structure, submerged on the sea bed as a substitute for natural habitats.

Having a fixed scientific design, it functions as a self-sustaining production system on the sea bed.

According to a report presented by the CMFRI during the session, a total of 280 AR sites have been deployed in India's coastal waters, including 243 in Tamil Nadu and 28 in Kerala.

"The artificial reefs could offer opportunities for a substantial increase in fish catch, especially for small-scale fishers using hook and line. It will help save costs besides offering a lot more environmental benefits such as enhancement of biodiversity, reduction of the carbon footprint of the fishing operation, reduction of wave energy and thereby coastal erosion, and stabilisation of islands," said the CMFRI report prepared by its Director A. Gopalakrishnan, V.V.R. Suresh and Joe K. Kizhakudan.

However, the CMFRI maintained that only designated sites after studies by competent authority could be used for the deployment.

Kizhakudan said over 300 species coexist in a settled AR habitat.

"The commercial varieties being attracted to the AR include breams, groupers, snappers, perches, cobia, sea bass, rabbit fishes, silver biddies, seer fish, barracuda, mackerel, trevallies, queen fish etc.," said Kizhakudan, adding that he is receiving overwhelming response for the artificial reefs from the fishermen community.

CMFRI has developed protocols for site selection, design, fabrication, deployment and impact assessment of this innovative technology.

Scientists are of the view that promoting this technology will empower small and artisanal fishers by improving their income and livelihood.

Union Fisheries Secretary Jatindra Nath Swain said the artificial reefs and sea ranching present a solution to the crisis prevalent in the sector.

"Sufficient fish availability could be ensured in the near-shore waters with these technologies," said Swain.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to raise seven new battalions of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the strategic Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

With the aim of providing all weather connectivity between Ladakh and the rest of the country, it also gave the nod for the construction of a 4-km-long Shinkun La tunnel along with an approach road.

Both the decisions were taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which met earlier in the day.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur informed media persons after the meeting, that as per the proposal, a sector headquarter would also be set up, for which a fresh strength of 9,400 posts would be created. The sector headquarter would be set up by 2025-26 and will entail a recurring expense of Rs 1,808 crore, while for meeting the ration and food requirements of the troops, a recurring expenditure of Rs 963 crore would be required.

In 2020, the CCS had sanctioned 47 new border outposts along with setting up of 12 staging camps. These are currently being set up, Thakur said, informing that for manning these outposts and staging camps, it was decided by the CCS on Wednesday, to raise seven new battalions.

Apart from this, the Shinkun La tunnel along with an approach road would be constructed.

The CCS approved this proposal and the tunnel is expected to be completed by December 2025, Thakur told reporters. It will entail a cost of Rs 1,681 crore and its construction will lead to Ladakh's connectivity with Zanskar valley through an all weather road.

This will lead to investments in health, tourism and education sectors and will also help in improving supply chain during winters and enable smoother troops movement, the minister said.
Gondia : , Feb 15 (IANS) In a shocking revenge over domestic brawls, a man sneaked into his in-laws home in Maharashtra's Gondia town and set it afire around 12.30 a.m. on Wednesday, killing his father-in-law, police said here.

According to the investigators, at that time, Devanand Meshram, 52, his daughter Arti K. Shende, 30, and his four-year-old grandson Jai were fast asleep in the house.

As per preliminary probe, Meshram's son-in-law, Kishore Shende, 35, allegedly reached their home in Suryatola area of Gondia, quietly poured petrol all around and set it ablaze before running away from the scene.

While Meshram sustained severe burns and suffocation which resulted in his death, his daughter Arti and her son Jai have suffered grievous burn injuries, said Gondia SDPO Sunil Tajane.

"The accused, Kishore Shende was absconding after the incident, but now we have caught him and he is in our custody. We have lodged an accident death report and are investigating further," Tajane told IANS.

Locals said that the accused Shende had been estranged from his wife Arti and their son Jai owing to frequent quarrels and assault by him.

Last year, fed up with the situation Arti along with her son deserted Shende's home and went to her father's place and they had been living there since.

Tajane said that the condition of the victim woman and her son is critical - with around 80 per cent burns - and they have been rushed to a Nagpur hospital for treatment after the primary treatment in a local hospital.

Apparently, Shende took advantage of the dark hour when there was nobody around in the dead of the night and the police are scanning for possible witnesses, besides waiting to record the statements of the two survivors before proceeding further.
Mogadishu, Feb 15 : Over 200 al-Shabab militants were killed during a week-long operation carried out by the Somali National Army (SNA) and regional forces in the south and central regions of Somalia, officials said on Wednesday.

The latest onslaught against the al-Qaeda-linked militants had paid off, amid mass casualties, Minister for Information Daud Aweis Jama told a briefing in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said troops intensified assaults on militants in areas under Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Southwest and Jubbaland states.

More militants surrendered during the operation, including a Shabab commander and bomb expert, Jama said.

The SNA said its forces on Tuesday killed 10 al-Shabab militants and injured several others in an operation in Mudug region, central Somalia.

Al-Shabab has yet to comment on the latest onslaught, but claimed earlier this week that it had attacked two bases in Lower Shabelle and Jubba regions, in southern Somalia, killing several soldiers.

The terror group was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 but is still capable of conducting attacks, targeting government installations, hotels, restaurants and public places.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared an all-out war against al-Shabab, vowing to flush out the militants from their strongholds.
San Francisco, Feb 15 : The "Father of the internet" and Google "internet evangelist" Vint Cerf has warned businesses not to rush into making money from conversational AI just "because it's really cool".

The warning comes amid a surge in popularity for ChatGPT, reports CNBC.

"There's an ethical issue here that I hope some of you will consider," Cerf was quoted as saying.

Referring to Google's Bard conversational AI that was announced last week, he said that "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".

A critical warning from him comes as major tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta struggle to remain competitive in the conversational AI space while rapidly improving a technology that still makes mistakes.

The report further said that he warned against the temptation to invest just because the technology is "really cool, even though it doesn't work quite right all the time".

"If you think, 'Man, I can sell this to investors because it's a hot topic and everyone will throw money at me', don't do that," Cerf said.

"Be thoughtful. You were right that we can't always predict what's going to happen with these technologies and, to be honest with you, most of the problem is people -- that's why we people haven't changed in the last 400 years, let alone the last 4,000," he added.

"They will seek to do that which is their benefit and not yours. So we have to remember that and be thoughtful about how we use these technologies." Moreover, he gave an example in which he asked a chatbot to provide a biography about himself.

Cerf claimed that the bot presented its response as factual despite inaccuracies, the report said.

"On the engineering side, I think engineers like me should be responsible for trying to find a way to tame some of these technologies so that they are less likely to cause harm," he said.
Chandigarh, Feb 15 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday said it was condemnable that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was asserting that the Governor could not ask him any questions because he was "selected" and not "elected", but was allowing AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to run the affairs of Punjab.

"I want to ask the Chief Minister: Has Arvind Kejriwal been elected from Punjab?" he asked.

Badal claimed that similarly Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who too had not been elected from Punjab, had framed the excise policy of the state. "Even Raghav Chadha, who has not been directly elected by Punjabis, is deciding on all civil and police postings." Addressing the media in Adampur, he said: "The Chief Minister is directly responsible for the constitutional crisis which has gripped the state. He has handed over the affairs of Punjab to the AAP Delhi leadership which is unconstitutional. He is also refusing to answer questions the Governor has asked him which relate to corruption and illegal decisions. These questions were also asked by all political parties of Punjab. Political parties and well-meaning citizens even tried to get their answers through RTI queries but they were blocked." "Following this the political parties approached the Governor and he has asked the Chief Minister to furnish information on the unconstitutional decisions taken by the government," Badal said.

Asserting that SAD had always been a votary of federalism and was against Central interference in the affairs of states, Badal said "many of the issues raised by the Governor pertain to corruption and even unconstitutional appointments as well as discontinuation of studies of 2.5 lakh scheduled caste students due to non-payment of their scholarship. The AAP government should not shy away from coming clean on these issues of public welfare".

He cited how SAD had approached Governor Banwarilal Purohit and requested him to make the Aam Aadmi Party accountable for all advertisements issued by the government outside Punjab in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat prior to the Assembly elections there.

"We had called for recovery of the entire public money wasted by the government in advertisements in other states from the Aam Aadmi Party," Badal said.

Asserting that people were suffering due to the "wrong policies" of the government, including allocating Rs 750 crore for advertisements in a single year, Badal said the same money could have been used on various social welfare schemes.
Kolkata, Feb 15 : As West Bengal's Minister of State for Finance, Chandrima Bhattacharya, presented the state Budget for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday, the budget documents projected the total accumulated debt of the state government to rise to Rs 6,47,825.52 crore by the end of the fiscal under review.

This means that the accumulated debt figures by March 2024 will rise by 10.40 per cent from the figures of Rs 5,86,124.63 crore as per the revised estimates for 2022-23. As of March 2011, which was the last year of the previous 34-year long Left Front regime, the accumulated debt was around Rs 1,97,000 crore.

This means that the state's per capita debt, which is currently standing at Rs 59,000, will rise further by the end of March 2024. Economists have pointed out that alarming signal about the accumulated debt was evident in the latest CAG report, which pegged the debt to gross state domestic report (GSDP) ratio at 37.05 per cent for the financial year of 2020-21, up from 35.68 per cent in 2018-19.

Economists are of the opinion that if this upward trend of accumulated debt continues, West Bengal will surely be inching towards a debt trap situation. A debt trap situation is a point where the state has to go for fresh borrowings just for servicing the older debts and that situation comes when the debt to GSDP ratio reaches 50 per cent.

As per the Budget documents, during the fiscal ending March 2024, the state government will have to shell out Rs 73,303.68 crore for repayment of principal and interest on earlier borrowings, as mentioned in the Budget estimates for the fiscal under review, up from Rs 69,691.79 crore as mentioned in the revised estimates for 2022-23.

According to economists, servicing of old debts comes under the head of revenue expenditure where there is no asset creation, which happens under capital expenditure. They also feel that the phenomenon of revenue expenditure being too high leaving little reserve for capital expenditure is not at all a healthy sign for any state finance.
Feb. 15, 1993

It's time to select judges on merit instead of letting political parties dole out judicial seats as patronage, says the state Bar Association.

"We need to make some very definite changes in the way we select judges," said John Bracken, president of the state bar.

The lawyers' group is pushing for a state constitutional amendment to create merit selection boards to select all judges except city and town justices. Draft legislation is currently circulating through the legal and political community.

Though voters in New York elect at least 1,175 judges  including those serving in county, surrogate and most appellate courts  the system is merely "the illusion of democracy," Bracken said.

"The electoral process is a sham."

Because political bosses control which hopefuls get on the ballot, and campaign laws prohibit judicial candidates from discussing issues, voters "have no idea" why they pick one person instead of another, he said.

Creating local commissions to review qualifications and make recommendations for filling judicial openings would vastly improve the caliber of judges and courts, Bracken said.

It would also open the door to a more diverse judiciary, including more African Americans, women and other groups often shut out of judicial races by narrow-minded political leaders, he said.
New Delhi: A delegation of Congress leaders including Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Khera come out after meeting the Election Commission of India at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: A delegation of Congress leaders including Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Khera come out after meeting the Election Commission of India at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: A delegation of Congress leaders including Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Khera come out after meeting the Election Commission of India at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Feb 15 : A Congress delegation headed by party general secretary Mukul Wasnik met Election Commission officials on Wednesday and complained about violence in Tripura, alleging that Congress workers were being targeted by the ruling party.

The Congress alleged that it's party candidates and supporters were being attacked by the BJP cadres.

The Congress is contesting the Tripura election in alliance with the Left parties which were unseated by the BJP in the last election.

Tripura goes to the polls on Thursday.

Unlike the previous elections, triangular or multi-cornered contests would be witnessed in 57 seats between the Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura alliance and the Congress-CPI(M) led Left Front coalition.

Straight contests between the BJP and the opposition alliance are on the cards in three Assembly segments -- Barjala in Agartala, Jubarajnagar in north Tripura and Sabroom in south Tripura.

The influential Tipra Motha Party, which is now governing the politically important Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, is contesting 42 seats, 22 beyond the areas inhabited by the tribals, who constitute one third of Tripura's over four million population.
Kolkata, Feb 15 : With a 19.41 per cent projected growth during financial year 2023-24, state excise will continue to be the principal component for generation of the state's own tax revenue of the West Bengal government.

As per the budget estimates for financial year 2023-24, the state excise collection is slated to rise to Rs 17,921.56 crore, up by 19.41 per cent from Rs 15,001.39 crore as per the revised estimates for financial year 2022-23.

The total state's own tax revenue, as per the budget estimates for 2023-24, is slated to increase by just 12.69 per cent to Rs 88,595.54 crore from Rs 79,500 crore as per the revised estimates for 2022-23.

Another significant factor on this count is that in 2023-24, state excise, which is just one of the 12 components of state's own tax revenue, will contribute 20.22 per cent of the total tax kitty.

According to a recent finding, West Bengal is one of the four Indian states where the state excise collection contributes over 20 per cent of state's own tax revenue. As per the budget documents, state excise had been traditionally the second highest component among the 12 components in the state own tax revenue column, after the state goods and services tax (SGST).

As per budget estimates for 2023-24, the SGST is slated to rise to Rs 37,791.85 crore, up by just 8.53 per cent from Rs 34,819.49 crore as per the revised estimates for 2022-23.

Sales tax, which contains the income from state tax on petrol and diesel and is the third highest component in this column, is slated to rise to Rs 13,897.56 crore as per the as per the budget estimates for 2023-24, up by 14.53 per cent from Rs 12,134.14 crore as per the revised estimates for 2022-23.

Economic experts point out that of the three main revenue generating components under this column, the projected growth in the state excise collection for 2023-24 is much higher than the projected growth for the other two components, namely SGST and sales tax. They feel that this is not a healthy economic sign and this happens mainly for those states which lack big ticket investments from whom the state government could have generated additional tax revenue.
New York, Feb 15 : Sikhs and civil rights activists have expressed grave concerns over California correctional agency's updated policy that forces bearded officers to shave or face disciplinary action.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) rolled out an updated policy on February 1 that requires staff members to shave facial hair, irrespective of any religious or medical reasons they may have for keeping it.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California and the Sikh Coalition, the new policy would disproportionately target religious minorities like Sikh and Black Americans.

"This policy has created enormous fear and confusion for Sikh CDCR peace officers whose previously held religious accommodations are no longer valid. It now seemingly forces them to either comply with the shaving requirement under extreme duress or risk their employment," said Harsimran Kaur, Sikh Coalition's senior legal counsel.

A CDCR representative said the policy change is an effort to comply with the department's Covid safety measures.

"They've rolled out this blanket, very over-broad policy, that all peace officers must shave to wear N-95s," Kaur told NBC News. "But we know that there are alternative respirators out there that bearded people can wear safely to do their jobs... We think there's a way to keep bearded people safe and not trample on their civil rights." In a letter addressed to the CDCR, the rights groups also mention a medical condition that causes painful skin inflammation and scarring, specifically among Black men. The new policy "unfairly penalizes Black officers who are much more likely than their white coworkers to suffer from a painful skin condition caused by shaving," said Brandon Greene, director of the Racial and Economic Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California.

"This policy may result in disproportionate discipline and firings of Black CDCR officers," Greene said.

In the week since the policy went into full effect, both organisations received requests for legal help from Black and Sikh individuals working at CDCR facilities across the state who have been negatively impacted by this move. According to a December 2022 report from the California Department of Human Resources, about 2,000 of CDCR's approximately 41,000 employees are Black men. Although the exact number of Sikh CDCR peace officers is not available, observant Sikhs are required to wear a religious uniform consisting of a dastaar (turban) and articles of faith, including but not limited to kesh (uncut hair, including an unshorn beard).

"Between just these two impacted communities, it's conservatively estimated that hundreds of CDCR peace officers are in jeopardy of being forced to make the false choice between their health or faith and their career," the Sikh Coalition-ACLU letter stated.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that Sikhs recruits in the US Marine Corps can keep a beard and wear turbans. The judges cited cutting hair and shaving beards as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
Toronto, Feb 15 : The Consulate General of India in Toronto has strongly condemned the incident in which a Hindu temple in Canada's Mississauga was defaced with anti-India graffiti, and has also called for prompt action.

"We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Missisauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators," the consulate tweeted.

Brampton Mayor, Patrick Brown, called it a potential hate crime and said that this type of hate has no place in Peel Region.

"I am saddened to hear of the hate motivated vandalism at the Ram Mandir Temple in Mississauga. Unknown suspects spray painted the walls on the back of the temple. This type of hate has no place in Peel Region." "The @PeelPolice& @ChiefNish are taking this potential hate crime very seriously. 12 Division has carriage of the investigation & they will find those responsible. Religious freedom is a Charter right in Canada & we will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe in their place of worship", he tweeted.

Recently, a similar incident had occurred in the Gauri Shankar Mandir, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), which was defaced with anti-India graffiti during the end of last month.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is not the quantity but the quality of witnesses which matters, as it upheld the conviction and life term handed down to three for murdering four members of a family in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath said: "It is the discretion of the prosecution to lead as much evidence as is necessary for proving the charge. It is not the quantity of the witnesses but the quality of witnesses which matters." The bench noted that one of the daughters of deceased Vijay Pal Singh had seen the assailants murdering her family members and also causing injury to one of them and wisely did not speak out anything in their presence and allowed them to remain in the dark that she had actually seen them committing the crime.

It further added that the daughter of one of the deceased, who was examined as a prosecution witness in the case,was injured during the incident, was a "fully reliable witness and has stated the things in natural course".

The top court judgment came on a clutch of appeals, including those filed by the convicts, challenging the February 2012 Allahabad High Court judgment, which affirmed their conviction in the case. The court noted that one of the convicts, Ajai, has since died.

The trial court had awarded the death sentence to the accused but the high court, while affirming their conviction, commuted it to life term.

In the apex court, one of the convicts had argued that there were several discrepancies and inconsistencies in the evidence However, the bench said: "We need not go into details as the same are minor and do not have any impact on the findings recorded by the courts below." The Uttar Pradesh government had sought enhancement of the sentence. The top court said sound and cogent reasons were given by the high court for commuting the death sentence into life term.

The incident had occurred in August 2007, in Ghaziabad district where a man, his wife, his son, and son-in-law were found murdered at their home with their necks cut with sharp edged weapons.

--IANS ss/vd

A
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it has granted in-principle approval to 32 existing payment aggregators, allowing them to continue their operations.

Amazon (Pay) India Pvt Ltd, Google India Digital Services Pvt Ltd, Reliance Payment Solutions Ltd and Zomato Payments Pvt Ltd are among the notable entities whose names are present in the list published by the RBI on Wednesday, of those existing payment aggregators, who have been granted in-principle approval to continue their operations.

PayTM Payments Services and PayU Payments Private Limited are the entities whose application to continue as payment aggregators has been returned by the RBI.

However, they are allowed to apply within 120 days from the date of return, and thus, can continue business subject to the condition that no new merchants should be onboard by them until advised otherwise.

The central bank had earlier issued circulars dated March 17, 2020 and March 31, 2021 on guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways.

Applications of 18 existing payment aggregators, including that of Bhartipay Services Private Limited, is under process, the RBI said.

Online non-bank payment aggregators, existing as on March 17, 2020 were required to apply to RBI by September 30, 2021 for seeking authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act).

They were given another extension to submit their applications by September 30, 2022.
Lahore, Feb 15 : The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan should be presented before it in an "ambulance if he is injured and cannot walk" as he seeks protective bail in a case, media reports said.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh's remarks came on Wednesday as he heard Khan's plea seeking protective bail in a case lodged against him for protesting outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) office, Geo News reported.

The PTI chief moved the high court after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad rejected his bail in the same case earlier in the day - after Khan failed to appear in person before it, the report said.

The PTI leader was booked in the case in October last year after the Toshakhana verdict was announced by the ECP, sparking countrywide protests. Khan had been on bail on medical grounds after he was injured in an assassination attempt in Wazirabad during a rally on November 3.

Not only had the ATC summoned the PTI chief, but a banking court had also asked Khan to appear before it in the prohibited funding case. However, the Islamabad High Court ordered the banking court to hold its verdict till February 22 - in a sigh of relief for the ex-Prime Minister.

At the onset of the hearing, Khan's legal counsel contended that according to his medical report, it was difficult for the PTI chief to walk.

"Khan wants to appear in the relevant court, however, according to the doctor, he will not be able to walk again for three weeks," he contended.

Khan's counsel then requested the court to grant him protective bail on medical grounds, Geo News reported.

To this, Justice Saleem said, "The appearance of the suspect is necessary even in the case of a protective bail." He added that in light of the problem, the PTI chief could come to the court in an ambulance, Geo News reported.
Bengaluru, Feb 15 : British defence technology company BAE Systems and FSTC on Wednesday announced plans to design, build and supply world-leading simulators to train pilots of the Indian armed forces.

As per the MoU announced at the ongoing Aero India 2023, the two companies will work together to develop a Twin Dome Full Mission Simulator for BAE Systems' Hawk Mk132 fast jet trainer aircraft.

The use of a realistic synthetic environment will help pilots train at a higher standard than ever before, the statement said.

The Hawk Mk132 has supported the training of highly-trained pilots to the Indian Air Force for more than two decades, with many aircraft built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) under licence from BAE Systems.

There are now 650 Hawks operating worldwide and BAE Systems has decades of experience working with armed forces across the globe to deliver and evolve training to prepare pilots for life in fast jet cockpits.

FSTC is India's leading flight simulation training company. It will integrate the cockpit, motion and visual display system, along with model designated military bases as part of the new agreement.

According to Ravi Nirgudkar, Managing Director, BAE Systems - India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the collaboration with FSTC will enhance capabilities for the Indian armed forces.

"Having worked with the Indian Air Force to support training of highly-trained pilots through Hawk, we can bring our knowledge of the world's most proven fast jet trainer with our expertise in delivering training from the classroom to the frontline - and everything in between," Nirgudkar said.

The full mission simulator is due to be installed within 24 months, the statement added.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : With the mission to win the Assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled this year with 150-plus seats, the BJP is going to launch its mega election campaign in the southern state on March 1.

BJP national General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh informed that the party has planned to take out four separate Yatras in Karnataka from March 1 which will continue for the next 20 days.

Singh said that during this campaign called 'Vijay Sankalp Yatra', the party will communicate with the people through roadshows, public meetings and public relations exercises.

The four Yatras will start from different parts of Karnataka and after 20 days, they will culminate at one place. The BJP also plans to hold a big rally on the occasion of the closing.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President J.P. Nadda and former Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa along with many other national and state leaders of the BJP will join the mega campaign to reach out to the voters of the state.

The BJP is preparing election strategy with the aim of winning more than 150 seats in the state. To achieve this goal, the BJP had earlier launched two big campaigns in Karnataka - 'Booth Vijay Abhiyan' and 'Vijay Sankalp Abhiyan'.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : A special CBI court in Visakhapatnam awarded various jail terms to nine accused including the then AGM, Assistant Manager of IDBI Bank, five private persons and two private firms in connection with a loan fraud case.

The court sentenced Surendranath Datti and Dwibhashyam Karthik both then Assistant General Manager-cum-Centre Head, IDBI Bank Ltd to undergo two years rigorous imprisonment.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 60,000 on Datti and Rs 30,000 on Karthik.

The CBI had registered a case on the allegations that Datti and Karthik in connivance with the borrowers, Panel Valuers and others had sanctioned and disbursed the loans to ineligible borrowers by accepting fake income tax returns, ignoring adverse CIBIL reports, violating the laid down procedures and norms of IDBI bank.

By this the accused caused a total loss of Rs 99.21 lakh to IDBI Bank Limited.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Photos of the refreshed FREE SUV under Dongfeng Motors premium new energy vehicle brand VOYAH was recently released by Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Photo credit: MIIT

Judging from the photos, the new VOYAH FREE appears more energetic and younger, with numerous mechanical aesthetics elements integrated into the design.

Photo credit: MIIT

In terms of exterior design, the main changes to the appearance of the new model are concentrated on the front and rear bumpers. The front bumper has an overall sturdy design, with a more compact front grille, and a sporty spoiler in the back that gives the car a dynamic feel. The new FREE model also has a camera added to the side fender, which is expected to improve its intelligent driving assistance capabilities.

The new car measures 4,905mm long, 1,950mm wide, 1,660mm/1,645mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,960mm. The tires can be chosen from two options, 255/50 R19 and 255/45 R20.

As for driving and control performance, the all-new VOYAH FREE uses a 1.5T plug-in hybrid system, equipped with a dual-motor intelligent four-wheel drive powertrain that churns out 160 kW at the front and 200 kW at the rear.

In terms of intelligence, as shown in MIITs pictures, an "apollo Tech" logo visible on the rear trunk of the car indicates that the new VOYAH Free is expected to adopt Baidu's Apollo intelligent driving assistance system as an add-on feature. This Apollo system integrates intelligent driving technologies with a smart cabin, and can achieve high-speed efficient lane changing and RPA remote parking functions.
Ankara, Feb 15 : Armenia's humanitarian support to victims of last week's massive earthquakes in southern Turkey can further contribute to the normalisation of relations between the two neighbours, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

"This understanding of cooperation can contribute to our ongoing normalization process," Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the Turkish capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cavusoglu also thanked Armenia for sending search and rescue teams to save quake victims and delivering humanitarian aid immediately after Turkey was rocked by the strong tremors.

"Armenia has offered a hand of friendship and solidarity in our difficult time," he said.

"We have agreed to take steps to accelerate the normalization (of ties)," the Turkish minister said, referring to the dialogue launched last year aimed at ending their decades-old hostilities.

Turkey and Armenia will reconstruct the bridges and roads connecting the border, he said.

Mirzoyan paid a visit to Turkey on Wednesday after the devastating earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria on February 6. It is Mirzoyan's second trip to Turkey after meeting Cavusoglu in an international forum in March last year.

"Being in Turkey in these difficult times, I would like to once again confirm our willingness to build peace, for the full normalisation and opening the borders between Turkey and Armenia," said the Armenian top diplomat.

In a symbolic act, the border between Turkey and Armenia, which had been closed for more than 30 years, was opened on Saturday to allow the delivery of Armenia's humanitarian aid to quake-hit Turkey, Mirzoyan said, adding the second batch of Armenian aid crossed the border on Tuesday night.

The relations between Turkey and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ankara closed its border with Armenia to show support for Azerbaijan.

Opening the border was one of the key issues Armenia demanded since last year as the two countries stepped up the normalisation dialogue.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Taking suo-moto cognisance of media reports on the murder of a 24-year-old woman, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday issued a notice to the police.

The DCW in the notice said: "The commission has sought the copy of FIR and the details of accused arrested in the matter. Whether any other accomplice was also identified? If yes, please provide details of the same." "As per media reports, the accused killed the girl in a car near ISBT, Kashmere Gate by strangulating her. Thereafter, the accused drove the car with her body to Najafgarh and hid the body in a refrigerator at a dhaba," read the DCW notice issued to the Deputy Police Commissioner of the Delhi Police's Crime Branch.

Highlighting the matter as "very serious", the DCW has sought the details of action taken report and the details of any missing complaint received by Delhi Police from the family of the deceased girl along with details of action taken thereon, by February 17.

The victim, identified as Nikki Yadav, was a resident of Haryana's Jhajjar.

She was living at a rented accommodation in west Delhi.

Yadav was strangulated by her partner Sahil Gehlot -- a resident of Mitraon village on February 9, hours before his wedding to another woman.

The murder was committed near the Kashmere Gate area.

Gehlot then drove along with the body all the way to his dhaba -- situated at a distance of around 36 km.

He then stuffed her body in a refrigerator and went on with his wedding.
Amaravati, Feb 15 : JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal on Wednesday recalled how Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was sent to his office in Mumbai for training in business by the latter's father and then Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Jindal, who participated in the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kadapa Steel Plant (KSP) in YSR Kadapa district along with Jagan Mohan Reddy, narrated an incident that took place 17 years ago.

Paying tributes to late YSR, Jindal said he was a personal friend and his mentor as far as Andhra Pradesh was concerned.

He recalled his first meeting with Jagan Mohan Reddy about 17 years ago when he was a young boy.

"YSR told me that you have to take him to Mumbai and train how to run a business. He came there to my office. I now feel I have returned home here to establish the steel plant," Jindal said.

Jindal also hailed the leadership of Jagan Mohan Reddy, saying the young leader is following the path of his father and working for the development of the state with commitment.

The JSW Group Chairman claimed that everyone is talking about Andhra Pradesh, which has been growing at the fastest rate for three years. He said this growth has been possible due to the dedication and commitment of Jagan Mohan Reddy The industrialist said that the Chief Minister is committed to the upliftment of people and the only goal in his life is to improve the lives of the people of his state.

Jindal also praised Jagan Mohan Reddy for transforming the state with better administration and digitalisation.

"When I met him over lunch in Vijayawada last time for one hour or so, he had explained about the fantastic welfare schemes being implemented in the state. Though I failed to grasp them fully, I felt as if the words came from the mouth of god," said Jindal.

Jindal told the gathering that he wants to build a world-class steel plant in Kadapa, which will operate on green fuel and will be the greenest steel plant.

"I want to create a model steel plant," he said, adding that though it will begin as a small plant, it would grow in course of time like the other steel plants established by JSW, and cater to the all-round development of the surrounding areas.

He hoped that the Kadapa district would become the steel district of India sometime in future.

Jindal also pointed out that in Bellay, JSW set up a steel plant in 1995 with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, which has now increased to 13 million tonness and in next three years, it will become the world's largest at 25 million tonnes.
Agartala, Feb 15 : A total of 14,005 Reang tribals, displaced from Mizoram 26 years ago following ethnic troubles, will cast their votes for the first time in Tripura on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday.

The 14,005 voters are part of the 37,136 Reang tribals who fled to Tripura in October 1997 and in subsequent years and took shelter in seven relief camps in north Tripura's Kanchanpur and Panisagar subdivisions.

Election officials said that the Reang tribals, locally called "Bru", would cast their votes in different polling stations in four districts.

As per the four-partite agreement, signed on January 16, 2020, between the Union Home Ministry, Mizoram and Tripura governments and the Reang tribals, the 37,136 tribals comprising 6,959 families would be settled in Tripura's different districts and 21,703 eligible voters from among the displaced people would be enrolled in the electoral lists of Tripura.

"As the resettlement process is not yet completed, the names of all the 21,703 eligible voters could not be included in the voters' list of Tripura. Those 14,005 enrolled names would be allowed to exercise their franchise," an election official told IANS.

He said that after their settlement, necessary documents are being issued against their names.

The Revenue and Relief department officials requested the Reang tribals to come to their settlement camps at the earliest.

The Reang tribals are being rehabilitated in 12 locations in four of Tripura's eight districts -- North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomati and South Tripura.

"The target for the resettlement of these displaced Reang tribals by August 31 last year could not be achieved due to the numerous land-related issues, forest land clearance, fresh troubles, agitations against the rehabilitation and numerous other issues," a Revenue Department official said.

Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), an apex body of the displaced tribals, has urged the government to expedite the rehabilitation of the tribals.

The Central government had announced a Rs 600 crore package for the resettlement of the Reang tribals, recognised as a primitive tribe in Tripura.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Congress on Wednesday asked it's series of question on the tenth day and alleged that the national security policy was used to specifically the longstanding defence relationship with Israel, to enrich corporate cronies.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the country has a number of startups and established firms that develop, manufacture and operate drones for civil and military applications including public sector firms like Hindustan Aeronautics and Bharat Dynamics.

"A bid was made to set up a joint venture to manufacture drones with the Adani Group that had no prior experience in this strategically important sector. In December 2018, the venture set up a factory to build Hermes 900 drones and also took over the Bengaluru-based startup Alpha Design. On 1 September 2021 this acquisition began paying off after Alpha received an order for 100 attack drones from the Indian Army. Why is the government taking advantage of our armed forces' emergency requirements and facilitating an Adani drone monopoly at the expense of startups as well as established Indian firms?" he asked.

He claimed that India has long had a number of startups and ordnance factories that develop and manufacture small arms for the civilian and military markets but in September 2020 Adani bought a majority stake in the Gwalior-based PLR systems that manufactures a wide range of small arms in collaboration with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI).

"IWI weapons like the Tavor assault rifle, Galil sniper rifle and Negev light machine gun are already in service with the Indian Army, and this acquisition by Adani simply hands over a longstanding defence relationship to your friend. Are the interests of our soldiers secondary to your financial needs?" he said.

Jairam alleged that Gautam Adani had accompanied the prime minister on a number of foreign trips.

"Since your 4-6 July 2017 visit to Israel, you have given him a powerfully lucrative role in the India-Israel defence relationship. With your blessings, he has set up ventures with Israeli firms covering areas as varied as drones, electronics, small arms and aircraft maintenance. Given that the Adani Group has faced credible allegations regarding offshore shell companies for some years, is it in the national interest to hand over such a critical defence relationship to one questionable conglomerate? Is there a quid pro quo for you and the ruling party?" he said
Palghar : In another chilling incident, a 40-year-old jobless man in Maharashtra's Palghar allegedly killed his wife, hid her body in a bed, and sold off all household articles before trying to flee by train, police said on Wednesday.

However, accused Hardik Raju Shah but was nabbed 650 km away in Madhya Pradesh, a police official said.

According to police, Shah used to work in a call centre but was unemployed since the pandemic lockdown for many months, and his wife Megha Dhansingh Thorvi, 37, was working as a nurse to support the family.

The duo had met through a social media site three years ago, got married in August 2022 and shifted to a rented flat in Sitasadan Apartments in Tulinj area of Nalla Sopara town in Palghar district for the past six months.

Shailendra Nagarkar, from the Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar Police Commissionerate said that after they got married last year, the couple fought almost daily as Shah did not get any work, leaving the entire burden of household expenses on his wife.

After one such bitter domestic brawl on February 11, Shah - who is the son of a Mumbai diamantaire - allegedly assaulted and killed her in a fit of anger, dumped her body inside the bed, and planned his escape.

In order to collect some money, Shah first sold off all household articles to people in the neighbourhood, then lit lot of incense sticks to ward off the decomposing body's stench emanating from the bed.

On Monday, he packed his bags, locked up the flat, caught a suburban local to Mumbai Central and then a long-distance train, ostensibly to go to Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat.

Using tech-intel and his mobile location, the MBVV police zeroed in on him in the train and alerted the Railway Police which accosted and nabbed him in Nagda town of MP on Tuesday.

Based on the complaints from the neighbours, the police registered the murder case on Monday shortly before midnight and caught Shah the next morning.

Earlier, Shah's father used to support the couple by giving them Rs 20,000 each month, but after he and his daughter-in-law had a spat a few months ago, he abruptly stopped helping them financially.

Meanwhile, a MBVV team was sent to bring him to Palghar for further investigations, said Nagarkar.
Chennai, Feb 15 : The AIADMK on Wednesday alleged that the Election Commission is acting like DMK's poll wing and that the police and all other departments are under the control of the DMK.

AIADMK MP CVe Shanmugham alleged that the DMK had erected temporary sheds at all the booth areas in East Erode -- where Assembly bypoll will be held on February 27 -- and voters are confined in these sheds all through the day. He also claimed that food is being served to the voters along distribution of cash.

AIADMK leaders are being prevented from meeting the voters, he claimed.

Shanmugham also demanded that the Chief Electoral Officer and the District Election officer should intervene and get the people released.

Shanmugham, who was the Law Minister in the previous AIADMK government, said that party leaders and functionaries are being intercepted by the police under the guise of vehicle checks.

He claimed the police are doing this deliberately to prevent the crowd from gathering at the public rallies of AIADMK interim General Secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke to his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez and discussed issues related to economy and trade.

"Glad to speak with Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon. We discussed ways to further strengthen our growing bilateral relationship. Look forward to continuing our close cooperation as part of India's G20 Presidency," Modi tweeted about the meeting.

Sanchez also tweeted about his conversation with Modi.

"I have just had a fruitful conversation with the Prime Minister of India, @narendramodi. I have reiterated Spain's support for the Indian #G20 presidency and we have agreed to continue strengthening our bilateral relations, especially in the areas of economy and trade," he said.
Kolkata, Feb 15 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Central government over the Income Tax 'survey' at the office of BBC in Mumbai and Delhi, terming the Centre as more autocratic than Adolf Hitler or Nicolae Ceausescu.

After Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the state Budget for 2023-24, the Chief Minister addressed the Assembly during which she referred to the Income Tax 'survey' at the BBC offices.

"The present autocracy is more dangerous than that of Hitler or Ceausescu. BBC has always given correct and updated information. So, why is such an action taking place against them? BBC has broadcast something that has gone against the current Union government. So, this action has been taken out of vendetta. Suppressing the freedom of press is extremely unfortunate. I am always for freedom of press. Only the judiciary can save this country now," the Chief Minister said.

However, the leader of opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, criticised the Chief Minister for making a speech on the floor of the House after the presentation of the state Budget.

"As per convention, after the Finance Minister presents the Budget, no one else speaks on that day. She (Banerjee) has flouted this convention," Adhikari said.

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said that while the Chief Minister is claiming that only the judiciary can save the country, in West Bengal her own party is trying to silent the voice of the judiciary.
Patna, Feb 15 : A man in Bihar's Samastipur district slit the throat of his wife before hanging himself, police said on Wednesday.

The incident, which occurred at Jorapur village under Patori block in the district, came to light after the couple's children went inside the room and found their mother Samo Devi, 32, lying in a pool of blood and father Lalbabu Sada, 35, hanging with iron bars of the window.

"The preliminary investigation reveals that Sada killed his wife and hung himself from the window on Tuesday night. We have recovered the dead bodies and sent them for the postmortem," said OP Sharma, an investigating officer of Halai police post.

"We have recorded the statements of the deceased's children and mother. Sada and his wife went to a room to sleep while they went to another room. When the children went to their room on Wednesday morning, they found them dead. The reason for the incident is yet to be ascertained," he said.
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

New Lexus RZ, new-generation Lexus RX hit Chinese market

On Feb. 14, a refresh model of the Lexus RZ and the next-generation Lexus RX hit the Chinese market, featuring a respective guidance price range of 369,900 yuan-459,900 yuan and 405,000 yuan-619,000 yuan.

Photo credit: Lexus China

Farasis Energy to conduct to reverse factoring over accounts receivable from Mercedes-Benz AG

Chinese power battery maker Farasis Energy announced today its subsidiary Farasis Technology (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd. intends to sign a supply and service agreement amendment with Mercedes-Benz AG for the reverse factoring of the accounts receivable due from the German luxury carmaker.

DENZA N7/N8 get spotted out in winter test

The BYD-backed premium EV maker, DENZA, recently released a winter test video, where its two all-new SUV models, likely to be named N7 and N8, were unveiled. The DENZA N7 would be a mid-sized all-electric 5-seater SUV, while the N8 would be a full-sized SUV with six- and seven-seater options.

Guangzhous Nansha district launches FCV-enabled public mobility service project

On Feb. 14, a public mobility service project co-conducted by GAC Toyota and the government of Nansha district, Guangzhou city was officially launched to offer people the riding experience with fuel cell vehicles (FCV), according to a press release from the Sino-Japanese joint venture.

All-new VOYAH FREE to be powered by Baidus Apollo intelligent driving system

Photos of the refreshed FREE SUV under Dongfeng Motors premium new energy vehicle brand VOYAH was recently released by Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

SVOLT, CZBank Financial Leasing to ally on innovation in financial service models

On Feb. 15, SVOLT Energy Technology Co., Ltd. ("SVOLT"), one of the main power battery suppliers in China, and Zhejiang Zheyin Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (CZB Financial Leasing) signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Changzhou city to jointly explore innovative financial service models, according to a post on SVOLTs WeChat account.

Xiaomi Auto said to be close to getting new energy vehicle production credentials

Xiaomi Auto is reportedly only a few steps away from getting the manufacturing credentials for new energy vehicles, according to several local media channels.

Xiaomi invests in drive-by-wire chassis supplier Trugo Tech

Chinas tech giant and automaking freshman Xiaomi recently invested in chassis maker Shanghai Trugo Technology Co. Ltd. (Trugo Tech) through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hanxing Venture Capital Co., Ltd., according to Chinas corporate database Tianyancha.

SGMWs 2023 KiWi EV sees intelligent driving system upgraded

SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), General Motors' joint venture with Chinese partners SAIC Motor and Guangxi Automobile Group, introduced on February 15 the first system upgrade of its 2023 KiWi EV model, which is powered by DJI and ByteDances Volcano Engine.

SAIC Roewe starts presale of all-new Roewe RX9 SUV

On Feb. 15, Roewe, one of the brands under SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Company, started presale of the all-new Roewe RX9, a full-sized flagship SUV model to officially hit the market in early March.

JIDU inaugurates ROBOVERSE experience center in Beijing

On February 14, JIDU officially inaugurated the ROBOVERSE experience center in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping district, introducing the concept of ROBOVERSE (universe for automotive robots), and a series of groundbreaking digital experiences for users.

BYD teams up with Santander Bank for expansion into Mexican passenger vehicle market

BYD recently formed a strategic partnership with Santander Bank (Santander), a multinational banking group, laying the cornerstone for BYDs expansion into the Mexican passenger vehicle market, according to a post on BYDs WeChat account.

Geely-backed phone maker Meizu releases patent for onboard phone message notification

Meizu Technology (Meizu), the Chinese smartphone maker backed by Geely, released a patent for a way to notify drivers of their phone messages via the breathing lights on cars, according to Chinas corporate database Tianyancha.

Great Wall Motors Haval unveils two new PHEV models coded-named A07, B07

Great Wall Motor ("GWM") unveiled two new Haval-branded PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) models on Feb. 13 via its WeChat account, shortly after announcing the Chinese name of the Haval H-DOG, another PHEV model under the brand.
Kolkata, Feb 15 : After Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the West Bengal Budget proposals for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday, a political slugfest has erupted in the state over them.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Budget as a growth-oriented one maintaining a balance in social development with focus on employment generation and economic growth.

"Despite the adverse attitude of the Union government towards West Bengal, especially with regard to payment of central dues to the state, we have tried with our limited means to provide as much relief as possible to the people. This is truly a humanitarian Budget," the Chief Minister said.

According to BJP legislator and former chief economic advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, there is no direction in the Budget to control the rising accumulated debt of the state.

"What is even alarming is that the burden of interest payment of previous debts will skyrocket by the end of the current financial year. So, after paying this huge interest as well as meeting the committed expenditures like salaries, wages and retirement benefits to state government employees, the state government will hardly have any reserve for meeting capital expenditure.

"That is why the projected capital expenditure every year in the Budget estimate gets reduced in the revised estimates. The same thing has happened this year as well," Lahiri said.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the Budget has been presented keeping the forthcoming panchayat elections in mind, especially the proposal related to the old-age monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to women above 60 years of age.

"What will they do with just Rs 1,000? There is no scope for employment generation. There is no focus on education. The government has not done anything to improve the alarming situation that the state is in because of huge accumulated debt," he said.

Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Roy welcomed the Budget proposal to increase the local area development fund for MLAs to Rs 70 lakh for each legislator from the current figure of Rs 60 lakh.

However, senior BJP legislator Mihir Goswami said that such an announcement is meaningless considering that the state government has not paid the past dues to the MLAs on this count.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday interrogated Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in the Tihar Jail in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam.

The CBI on Friday moved the Rouse Avenue District Courts seeking permission to interrogate him in the matter, and the court allowed its plea.

The CBI interrogated Jain about scam accused Vijay Nair and other related things.

The CBI has already filed a charge sheet in the matter, and sources said that they are in process of filing a supplementary charge sheet in the matter and hence they wanted to collect more evidence to make the case water-proof.
Bengaluru, Feb 15 : BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that he again flew a Rafale fighter aircraft during the Aero India 2023.

Rudy, after a 45 minute flight in the French aircraft as a co-pilot on Tuesday, uploaded photographs on his official Twitter handle.

A professional airline pilot, he had also flown a Rafale jet during the 2017 Aero India as well as the Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet in 2015.
Brussels, Feb 15 : The European Commission proposed a 10th package of sanctions against Russia and Iranian drone suppliers, banning Moscow from acquiring advanced technology, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

The proposed export bans worth over 11 billion euros ($11.75 billion) will target technological and industrial goods critical for the Russian economy that the country cannot get through backfilling by third countries, she said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ban covers electronics, specialised vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines, as well as goods for the construction sector that can be directed to Russia's military, such as antennas or cranes.

A ban on the export of dual-use and advanced tech goods to Russia is also part of the new sanctions package. The Commission proposes controls on 47 new electronic components that could be used in Russian weapons systems, as well as on specific rare earth materials and thermal cameras.

Adding these to the existing list of banned products should enable the European Union (EU) to block exports towards Russia of all tech products found on the battlefield. In order to prevent third countries from supplying such goods to Russia, the package targets Iran for the first time.

Next week, a Sanctions Coordinators Forum will bring together the EU member states and international partners, she said, in order to make sure that these sanctions are enforced in a coordinated way.

The Commission's proposal requires unanimous approval by all EU member states.
Chennai, Feb 15 : A DMK councillor and five others in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri were arrested on Wednesday in a case related to the murder of an armed forces personnel.

M. Prabhu, 29, had an altercation with DMK councilor, M. Chinnaswamy near Velampatti in Pochampally on Tuesday night.

The issue, according to local people, commenced after Chinnaswamy abused the wife of Prabhakaran, Prabhu's elder brother, for washing clothes with water from the panchayat's water tank.

Chinnaswamy and his accomplices attacked Prabhakaran and Prabhu with lethal weapons inflicting serious wounds on them. They were admitted to a private hospital in Hosur and Prabhu succumbed to injuries on Tuesday late night.

The Pochampally police had registered a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) but subsequently changed it to Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police said that other than Chinnaswamy, the accused include Guru Suryamurthy, a member of the armed police reserve.
Patna, Feb 15 : The Home Ministry of Bihar on Wednesday served a show-cause notice to IG Home Guard, Vikash Vaibhav, on Wednesday for complaining against his senior on social media.

The ministry has sought a clarification from Vaibhav within the seven days for posting department matter in the public domain.

Vaibhav had uploaded a complaint against Home Guard DG Shobha Ahotkar on social media, alleging that the latter was abusing him every day.

On February 13, Vaibhav had sent a letter to the Home Ministry requesting the authority for his immediate transfer to a different department in the state.

Vaibhav claimed that he was getting life threats from Shobha Ahotkar and that's why he wrote to the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Ministry seeking transfer. He also requested for two week's leave.

"I cannot afford to work under Shobha Ahotkar for one more day. I have a big life threat from her. I suspect that some untoward incident may take place during duty if I work for one more day," Vaibhav said as per the content of the letter.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is not easy to answer a plea for a relook at the 2016 Nabam Rebia case judgment, which restricted the power of the Speaker to examine disqualification petition if a resolution for his removal is pending, in view of serious consequences in the context of the Maharashtra political crisis.

A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, said that if one would consider Nabam Rebia position in the context of Maharashtra, it allows the free flow of human capital from one party to another.

At this juncture, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray faction, said the bench had put it appropriately and added that at first brush it is correct but the politics of defection cannot be decided in the House and "you have to go back to the political party".

The Chief Justice added: "The second end is that even if the leader of the political party has lost his flock, he can hold it down... thus adopting it would be ensuring a political status quo. Whichever way you accept, it has very serious consequences and is not desirable." The Eknath Shinde group argued that it is a case where the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lost the faith of majority of MLAs and stressed that on display, it is dissent and not defection, and anti-defection is not anti-defection law. The group further argued that it is not a constitutional issue but issue of political morality and steps to remove a leader do not fall under the Tenth Schedule.

The 2016 judgment had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Shinde group, opposed the reference of the cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Rebia case judgment.

Salve submitted before the bench -- which also comprised Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha -- that the issues which have now transpired are such that there is no need for reference.

He said the issues for consideration in this case are an "academic exercise", especially after the resignation of Thackeray as the Maharashtra CM, after he realised that he will fail the floor test.

However, the bench said it is not academic and if there was no floor test communication from the Governor, then Thackeray wouldn't have resigned and if he had to face the Assembly, he didn't have the numbers.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, also appearing for the Shinde faction, said internal dissent in a party is the essence of democracy and should be encouraged.

The bench, citing Article 181 of the Constitution which stated that the Speaker should not preside, while a resolution for his removal is pending, said: "If you interpret it quite literally, there is only one disability on the Speaker." The bench further added that when a motion for disqualification is there, the Speaker cannot preside on the motion but he can participate in it.

"Save and except this disability, the Constitution places no other disability on the Speaker. If a Speaker presides the motion of his removal, he will be violating the rule against bias...".

Salve argued that there are layers of political morality in all of this and it is best the court stay away from all of this, as these are complex questions.

The bench observed: "Nabam Rebia becomes correct or wrong based on which side you are on..." In his submission, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the contention by Thackeray faction that the observations in Nabam Rebia provided an escape route to constitutional sinners and that the judgment failed to consider the possibility of misuse for avoidance of disqualification proceedings by mere issuance of notice for removal of the Speaker, is wholly unsustainable.

He stressed that there is no graver constitutional sin than a minority government being in power.

The apex court will continue to hear the matter on Thursday.

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.

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 the Shinde and Thackeray faction on queries related to defection, merger and disqualification. the 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.
Shillong, Feb 15 : Trinamool Congress national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the ruling National Peoples Party in Meghalaya while campaigning for his partys candidates in the state's Tura area on Wednesday.

Banerjee alleged that Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has become a puppet of Delhi and Assam, referring to the BJP leadership.

"Why should Meghalaya bow down before Assam and Delhi," he asked at a public meeting in south Tura.

According to Banerjee, Meghalaya must be considered as part of Eastern India and the country's development should begin from here as the Sun rises from the east.

The Trinamool leader also attacked Conrad Sangma over an incident that took place in Mukhroh village adjacent to Assam-Meghalaya border where five civilians were killed after the Assam police opened fire on them.

"Was it not the responsibility of the Chief Minister to take proper steps when innocent people of the state were killed," he asked.

Banerjee said Sangma should have stepped down as the Chief Minister's after the incident.

He also drew the example of West Bengal, which shares boundary with Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand.

"No one has the guts to shoot our people because the Chief Minister's name is Mamata Banerjee," he claimed.

The Trinamool leader also accused Sangma of being involved in various illegal businesses.

"Sangma could not say a word against the Assam Chief Minister after the firing incident because he knows that had he said anything, the ED or the CBI would have sent him a notice," Banerjee said.

He also alleged that in order to protect his 'illegal business', the Meghalaya Chief Minister has been sacrificing the interest of the people of the state.

Elections to the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly will be held on February 27, while the results will be declared on March 2.
Jaipur, Feb 15 : Rajasthan Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh on Wednesday declined to comment on a fellow minister's advice to resume selling beer in RTDC hotels to increase profits.

Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas on Tuesday said that state-owned hotels should start selling liquor to make more money and avoid losses.

Addressing an event at a Jaipur Hotel, he said that in order to draw customers, every hotel and restaurant in this day and age needs to have a bar, adding that if they don't provide alcohol, their businesses will fail.

"Who will come (to RTDC hotels) if there is no bar?" Khachariyawas said, claiming that the RTDC was once known for serving liquor to guests at its hotels and that it should start doing this again. "Earlier, you (RTDC) used to sell beer. Now, you need to take the licence back (from the government). I guarantee that after this, there will be no shortage of money," he said.

Singh, asked by IANS about Khachriyawas' advice said: "You are asking me to speak about my colleague's views. No comments. Everyone has its own views and those were his views."
Hyderabad, Feb 15 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Wednesday that his government is ready to allocate Rs 1,000 crore to renovate and develop Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy Temple as the most popular and greatest holy place among all Hanuman shrines in the country.

He said after the Yadagirigutta Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple, the Kondagattu Anjaneya temple will be promoted as a magnificent spiritual destination to enrich India's spiritual glory.

He made the announcement during a visit to the temple in Jagtial district and held a review meeting.

After reaching the Kondagattu area, he thoroughly inspected the surrounding areas of the temple through an aerial view and then, performed a special puja. He along with public representatives and officials went around the temple surroundings on foot. Later, he held a high level meeting with ministers and top officials.

KCR suggested that the development and expansion of the temple should be taken up in about 750-800 acres.

Hanuman devotees from different states including Telangana come here and practice Hanuman Deeksha. Large scale recitation of the Akhanda Hanuman Chalisa, Abhishekam and pooja programmes are also performed. He directed officials to build a spacious hall to accommodate 50,000 people.

The CM said that the reconstruction and development of the temple will be undertaken following the Vaishnava tradition. There is no dearth of funds for the restoration of Anjaneya Swamy and the government is ready to allocate Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

As it is estimated that 10 lakh devotees will visit on Hanuman Jayanti in the future, KCR asked officials to provide facilities accordingly. He said that a specious facility should be developed where 50,000 devotees in deeksha perform puja at one go.

Officials and priests explained to KCR that about 20,000 devotees visit Anjaneya Swamy on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday and 2,000 to 3,000 devotees visit on other days. The Chief Minister said that after the restoration of the temple, this number will increase to three or four times and the Yadagiri Gutta shrine is proof of that.

"Among all the holy places in Telangana, the Kondagattu temple is blessed with abundant forest wealth and natural beauty. Diseases can be cured by drinking the water here. This forest is the lifeline to the temple. Let us not touch this forest. Don't bother others. The Kondagattu Anjanna Sanctuary area will be converted like the Bandipur Sanctuary in the Nilgiri hills on the Mysore-Ooty road," he said.

--IANS ms/vd

A
LOS ANGELESSex worker support group SWAID Collective has teamed up with talent testing provider CLEAR to provide contraceptives and harm reduction supplies, including a limited supply of Plan B, Narcan and fentanyl strips, at the new CLEAR location in Los Angeles.

Supplies will be available free of charge to anyone at the CLEAR L.A. location, and can be obtained by simply walking in; no appointment is required.

SWAID is a mutual aid fund created by sex workers to provide aid to the community including cash microgrants, contraceptives, harm reduction supplies and community building. By partnering with CLEAR, which caters directly to the adult industry, SWAID will have a permanent home to distribute essential supplies directly to community members.

"The folks at CLEAR have been very generous and supportive of our work, and we are so excited about this partnership," says performer Codi Vore, one of the organizers behind SWAID. "This is a huge step forward for SWAID because we are able to branch out and have a physical presence in L.A.!"

CLEAR has been operating a testing facility in Miami since August of last year, and just opened its newest location in Northridge. CLEAR is the only PASS-certified testing facility in Los Angeles and Miami.

We admire SWAIDs mission and want to be supportive in any way we can. Making these supplies available to folks, whether they work in the industry or not, is a noble cause that we are excited to be a part of," a CLEAR representative said. "We look forward to supporting SWAID and helping them spread their wings in L.A. and beyond.

CLEAR is located at 8415 Reseda Blvd, Suite 7, Northridge, CA 91324, and is open Monday through Friday 8-4, and Saturdays 8-1. For more information on SWAID and CLEAR, respectively, visit www.swaidcollective.org and www.getclrd.com, and follow on Twitter @swaidvegas and @get_clrd.
New Delhi: The National Zoological Park of Delhi is reopen with Covid-19 safety protocols in place and online tickets for people in New Delhi on Sunday, August 1, 2021. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday told the National Zoological Park and Central government authorities to take the required steps to appoint the necessary workforce at the Delhi zoo to look after the animals.

The court's direction came while dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking appointment of zoo keepers, assistant keepers, attendants, food distributor and watchman.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma disposed of the plea asking the authorities to take the required measures and pass a speaking order on the same.

The bench said: "The prayer seems to be genuine. The respondents are directed to take all possible steps to cure the deficiencies and also to appoint staff in the Zoo and pass a detailed speaking order with respect to the representation within two months. The PIL is accordingly disposed of." The PIL that was filed by one Salek Chand Jain through advocate J.K. Gupta sought the court's direction to form a committee to investigate why animals are dying in the zoo, stating that close to 300 animals and birds have died in the zoo between April 2019 and March 2021 including big cats.

The plea sought direction to the authorities to install proper medical equipment and diagnostic facilities.

Jain further mentioned in his plea that seven out of eight monitor lizards have gone missing but there were zero efforts by the authorities to carry out any searches for them.

The court passed the direction to the Central Zoo Authority, Director of the National Zoological Park, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Animal Welfare Board of India.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : A 25-year-old man has been stabbed to death in an incident of road rage in the Nangloi area of Delhi, an official said on Wednesday.

The CCTV footage of the incident has been doing rounds on social media.

The deceased has been identified as Sahil Malik, a resident of Kavita Colony in the Nangloi area.

According to police, an investigation revealed that on Tuesday evening, one Vishal Malik was returning from a gym when he had some argument with an RTV driver after his motorcycle scraped the mini bus.

The driver of the rapid transit vehicle (RTV) called his friends and then thrashed Vishal.

Later, Vishal reached Nangloi police station and filed a complaint. Later, he sent his brother Sahil Malik along with his two friends to the spot of the skirmish to pick his bike.

"The accused caught hold of Sahil and stabbed him to death. Sahil was rushed to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital where he died during treatment," a police officer said, adding three persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The accused have been identified as Sunny Kashyap, 23, a resident of village Ranhola, Sumit a.k.a Pankaj, 21, both residents of village Ranhola, and Ram Prakash, 36, a resident of Nangloi extension -- the driver of the RTV.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Harendra K. Singh, said: "A police control room (PCR) call was received around 8.10 p.m. on Tuesday, regarding a stabbing incident at Nangloi police station. Around 7.30 p.m., the victim along with his two friends had gone to get the motorcycle lying in a damaged condition where he was assaulted and stabbed." "The accused arrested in the case will be produced in court," the DCP added.

Meanwhile, the victim's father accused the police of inaction in the matter.

Shakeel Malik, Sahil's father, said that his son Vishal called him after he managed to escape the assault on him led by the RTV driver and his friends.

"I told him to rush towards the police station. We gave a written statement against the RTV driver. Sahil also came and when we requested the police personnel to check the spot where Vishal's bike had been damaged, they refused to do so," said Shakeel.
Dhaka, Feb 15 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday that the general elections in the country in 2024 will be held in a free and fair manner as the Election Commission (EC) of Bangladesh is a completely independent body.

"I never want to come to power by rigging. The next elections will be held in a free and fair manner. I have fought for upholding democracy throughout my life," Hasina told Derek Chollet, Counselor of US Department of State, who led a US delegation that called on the Prime Minister at her official residence here on Wednesday.

The Russia-Ukraine war and the Rohingya issue also came up for discussion during the meeting.

The Prime Minister said the war should come to an end as it has pushed commodity prices up throughout the world.

"A war can never bring any benefit for the mankind," Hasina said.

Mentioning that the US is the most powerful country in the world, she said it can take steps to stop the war. The disputes can be settled through negotiation, she added.

She said the first-ever Election Commision's (EC) reconstitution law was passed in the Parliament following which a neutral EC was constituted on the basis of the law.

The EC has complete administrative and financial independence, she added.

The Prime Minister also said that no other political party other than the Awami League (AL) works at the grassroots level in the country. Both the BNP and Jatiya Party were born in the cantonment, she added.

Focusing on the development of Bangladesh in a different socio-economic index, Hasina said the transformation of the country is visible bow, which has been possible due to the democratic practices of the Awami League.

On the Rohingya issue, Hasina said the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals have become a big burden for Bangladesh, adding that the local communities in Cox's Bazar are suffering and they have become minority due to the influx of large number of Rohingyas there.

She also said that the Rohingyas are involved in criminal activities like drugs and human trafficking, militancy and infighting.

Hasina said that her government has arranged different facilities, including income generating facilities, to ensure better life for the Rohingyas in the Bhashanchar island.

Bangladesh is home to over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar and Bhasanchar.

Chollet thanked the Prime Minister for giving shelter to the Rohingya people on humanitarian ground, adding that the US would try its best for the repatriation of the displaced people.
Ahmedabad, Feb 15 : A couple on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a tree in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, an official said.

A police officer told IANS that Hardik and Kavita were found hanging from a banyan tree in Sihor.

Both were from the same caste, and their parents had accepted the relationship, while suggesting they wait another three years for marriage.

According to sources, Hardik and Kavita were engaged to each other.
New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday said that it has arrested three persons including a woman and seized 11.94 kg heroin valued at Rs 84 crore from them.

An official said the heroin was meant to be smuggled to several metropolitan cities.

"On the basis of inputs, the DRI officials intercepted one Indian-national woman passenger who arrived from Harare to Mumbai via Nairobi on February 14. Her bag was searched which resulted in the recovery and seizure of 11.94 kg of creamish coloured granules. The substance was ingeniously concealed inside the trolley bags and in file folders," the DRI said in a statement.

The woman, suspected to be a drug peddler, told the DRI officials that the drugs were handed over to her in Harare and the same were supposed to be delivered to two individuals in Mumbai.

The DRI then formed a team to nab the two intended recipients of the drugs.

The official said that on the basis of a tip off, they finally nabbed the two aides of the woman from outside the Mumbai airport.

The passenger along with two other recipients have been arrested under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
Seoul, Feb 16 : A Seoul court has ordered the government to compensate an 86-year-old man from North Korea who was abducted by a South Korean spy right after the 1950-53 Korean War, legal sources said on Wednesday.

In 1956, Kim Ju-sam was abducted by the South Korean agent at his home in the North's Hwanghae Province. Kim then was detained at an Air Force base and worked without pay for four years, Yonhap news agency reported.

Since his release in 1961, he has lived in South Korea for 67 years.

In 2020 he filed a lawsuit seeking 1.5 billion won ($1.16 million).

The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff, ordering the state must pay 1 billion won in damages.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the state truth panel, last year issued a recommendation that Kim be given the opportunity to meet his family in the North.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the ideology of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and the Arya Samaj founded by him has played a significant role in liberating India.

"The ideology of Arya Samaj inspired innumerable people for freedom, which led the country to independence," he added.

The Chief Minister was addressing as the chief guest during a programme organised on the 200th birth anniversary celebrations of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati at Rohtak's Maharishi Dayanand University on Wednesday.

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Maharishi Dayanand University Vice Chancellor Prof. Rajbir Singh, along with other dignitaries and a large number of students were present on the occasion.

Paying tribute to Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, Khattar said that following the path shown by him and working for strengthening the nation would be a true tribute to him. "That is why every person should try to eliminate social evils like casteism, untouchability etc and make continuous efforts to take children forward by giving them education," he added.
Bhopal, Feb 16 : Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the ruling BJP has come up with an airport project in the Vindhya region of the state.

The foundation stone of the airport was laid Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Rewa district on Wednesday.

Though no specific deadline for project completion has been given, the officials associated with the project told IANS that the airport, for operating 19-seater aircraft, will be ready by 2025.

Chorhta, the place where the proposed airport to be established, has an existing airfield, and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will strengthen the existing runway along with the grading of the runway strip area. Also, the AAI will construct the terminal building with a peak hour capacity of 50 passengers, which will cost around Rs 300 crore.

Spread over 61.95-acre land, Rewa's existing airfield, at present, has a runway of 1400 metres with a small building of 150 sq metres and was owned by the state government. However, in December 2022, the state government handed it over to the AAI for the revival and construction of facilities.

The state government will provide additional land of 290 acres for making the proposed airport suitable for ATR-72 operations in future. "Out of 290 acres of land, 137 acres are required for VFR operations and 153 acres are required for IFR operations. The state cabinet has already approved the proposal to acquire 246 acres of private land and approved the compensation of Rs 206 crore towards payment to the landowners," said Ramji Awasthi, a senior official of the AAI, who is currently serving as Director of Bhopal's Raja Bhoj Airport.

The state government is expected to soon approve the acquisition of the remaining land, he added.

The much-needed development, undoubtedly, will provide air services not only to the citizens of Rewa but also to over a dozen of districts of the Vindhya region such as Sidhi, Satna, Shadole, Umaria, Singrouli, Anupur and others. At present, people of these districts travel between 250-300 km to nearby airports - either to Jabalpur or Prayagraj (Allahabad) for emergency purposes.

Besides the development vision, the ruling BJP also has a political vision behind the establishment of the first airport in the region.

In 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 24 out of total 30 seats in the region. However, since then, the saffron party has been witnessing one after another defeat in this particular region. For instance, the ruling party lost bypoll in Raigaon (Satna) in November 2021, and then lost mayoral posts in Singrauli and Rewa.

Notably, the Congress had won Rewa mayoral seat after 30 years, and was striving hard to revive in the Vindhya region, which used to be its stronghold during the eras of Arjun Singh and Sriniwas Tiwari.

Perhaps, the multiple poll defeats have made Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan shift his focus to the region, and therefore he came up with a major gift for the region ahead of assembly polls due by the end of 2023.
MACPs support allows CDP to track disaster data, build relationships with community-based nonprofits and provide assistance to areas affected by natural hazards often overlooked as too small or too remote.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) announced renewed support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP) for the CDP Midwest Early Recovery Fund (ERF).

Too often, communities struggle to address the needs of those most vulnerable to the impact of disasters because of systemic inequities, especially at the local level. ERF fills a persistent gap in post-disaster funding in a 10-state region that includes Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and the Native nations that share the geography.

We are grateful to MACP for its support of the Midwest Early Recovery Fund, said Patricia McIlreavy, president and CEO of CDP. MACPs support allows CDP to track disaster data, build relationships with community-based nonprofits and provide assistance to areas affected by natural hazards often overlooked as too small or too remote.

With 20% of the countrys landmass and only 10% of the population, the Midwest is a region with hundreds of small and rural communities that do not attract much public attention when affected by a disaster.

Since 2015, ERF has awarded more than $8 million to 85 grantee partner organizations that lead recovery efforts in communities affected by floods, severe storms, wildfires and other low-attention disaster events in the Midwest.

Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies has been a funding partner in this work since 2012.

To learn more about ERF, please visit disasterphilanthropy.org/funds/midwest-early-recovery-fund/.

About the Center for Disaster Philanthropy

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy mobilizes philanthropy to strengthen communities ability to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. It provides expert advice and resources while managing domestic and international disaster funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. Find out more at disasterphilanthropy.org and on Twitter @funds4disaster.
On July 1017, 2023, the Community of Writers will present its annual writers workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. This years workshops will feature special guests and celebrated voices in writing, including Alex Espinoza, Robert Hass, Dana Johnson, Michelle Latiolais, and Amy Tan. The workshop will be held at the Community of Writers home of over 50 years: Olympic Valley in the California Sierra Nevada.

Applications are due March 1, 2023. Writers of fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, essays, and hybrid nonfiction forms are invited to apply. Financial aid is available.

The Community of Writers workshops assist serious writers by exploring the art and craft as well as the business of writing. The week-long program includes daily morning workshops, craft lectures, panel discussions on editing and publishing, staff readings, and brief individual conferences. The morning workshops are led by staff writer-teachers, editors, or agents. There are separate morning workshops for Fiction and Narrative Nonfiction/ Memoir.

The Community of Writers is offering several additional opportunities such as a Special Adaptation Class, Open Workshop, Gill Denniss Finding the Story, and Naturalist-Led Nature Walks.

Admissions are based on submitted manuscript. Tuition is $1600, and includes five evening meals.

The Writers Workshop is preceded by the Community of Writers Poetry Workshop (June 19-25), which will feature staff poets Kazim Ali, Victoria Chang, Forrest Gander, Carmen Gimenez, Brenda Hillman and Evie Shockley, along with Special Guests Robert Hass and Sharon Olds.

For more information or to apply, visit https://communityofwriters.org/workshops/writers-workshops/ or email info@communityofwriters.org.

About the Community of Writers: For 50 summers, the Community of Writers has brought together poets and prose writers for separate weeks of workshops, individual conferences, lectures, panels, readings, and discussions of the craft and the business of writing. In an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual support, writers receive guidance in refining their craft and moving them closer to achieving their goals. The Community of Writers holds its summer writing workshops in Olympic Valley in the ski lodge at the foot of the ski slopes. Panels, talks, staff readings and workshops take place in these venues with a spectacular view of the mountain.
Black history and music are American history and music."

Black history and music are American history and music. Natlee Green, Hip Hop Genealogist and one-half of the Genes and Gems duo, stated. Natlee has been conducting genealogy research for nearly 20 years and has spent the last decade specializing in black ancestry and genealogy. She has created family trees for some of the most notable names in Hip Hop. Killer Mike says, its worth knowing where youre from; you feel more responsible for having a good name.

Natlee worked with Killer Mike to explore multiple lines in his family tree, dating back to the early 1800s. In addition to Killer Mike, Black Thought (The Roots), Lord Jamar and Sadat X (Brand Nubian), Rah Digga, Havoc (Mobb Deep), and many more have entrusted Natlee and Keasha (Williams) with researching their family history and helping them discover ancestors they never knew about.The research uses census records, vital records, conversations with historians, obituaries, DNA, and more. Through this research, Genes and Gems have discovered biological parents, grandparents, or even famous family members. Genes and Gems helped Lord Jamar find that his second cousin (2x removed) was nonother than Thurgood Marshall, AKA Mr. Civil Rights, one of the most iconic Americans of all time. Before Jamar knew of this connection, his lyrics conveyed the importance of equality and civil rights for Black people in America. It was in his blood.Genes and Gems is a podcast started by lifelong best friends from New York.

Natlee Green from the Bronx, and Keasha Williams from Queens, New York, met in college, where they discovered that they both had a love for hip-hop music, culture, and correcting peoples miseducation of black people and history, be it one fact at a time. Natlee started My Black Heritage in 2017, a genealogy research business that has since morphed into a podcast/mission to raise awareness about the importance of black people knowing their history, especially in America, over the past 150+ years.Visit Genes and Gems on Instagram @genesandgems or YouTube.
The LACRIMA Foundation debuts its 3D printed log hive Natural nest habitat is critical for the preservation and renewal of the health and resiliency of honey bees.

The LACRIMA Foundation, an Edinburgh-based NGO committed to honey bee conservation and protection, today announced its nomination for the prestigious 2023 Earthshot Prize. The nomination comes on the heels of the foundation launching its cutting-edge 3D Printed Wood Log Hive designed to protect and conserve honey bee populations.

The Earthshot Prize recognizes organizations and projects developing innovative solutions that will repair the planet in this decade. Founded by His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, The Earthshot Prize aims to help finalists scale their efforts with special programming and award five prize winners over the next decade with 1 million to advance their mission.

The LACRIMA Foundations 3D Printed Wood Log Hive with the latest High Tech Hive Monitoring System advances the Earthshots mission to protect and restore nature. In recent years, increasing global attention has been paid to the decimation of the worlds honey bee population and their critical role in balancing our fragile ecosystem. Despite this attention, honey bee populations continue to decline rapidly due to habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and disease.

In response to these challenges and to advance its mission of protecting honeybees and championing holistic beekeeping practices, The foundation developed a first-of-its-kind product to dually transform the beekeeping landscape and the natural ecosystem of honey bees.

After years of research and development into historical beekeeping practices and natural honey bee habitats, The LACRIMA Foundation launched its 3D Printed Wood Log Hive to preserve and renew the health and resiliency of honey bees. The hive utilizes traditional Bashkir man-made cavity log hives and fully biodegradable wood filaments to recreate the hive environment.

Natural nest habitat is critical for the preservation and renewal of the health and resiliency of honey bees, said Vince Moucha, founder and CEO of The LACRIMA Foundation. Weve bridged the gaps between high-tech and nature by recreating the natural hive structure to provide bees an opportunity to live in an undisturbed ecosystem in synergy with their seasonal rhythms. To be recognized for this work and nominated for the prestigious Earthshot Prize is an honor and will help us gain attention for this vital project.

The LACRIMA Foundation is self-supporting its 3D Printed Wood Log Hive project. To generate the funds to advance its hive technology, the foundation has created the LACRIMA luxury brand. LACRIMA collaborates with ultra-high-end luxury producers to create unique, limited-edition objets d'art. The most recent collaboration includes the Tear of Hope by Czech luxury brand and manufacturer of fine crystal Moser, presenting the worlds rarest honey in a stunning luxury crystal glass bottle. The LACRIMA Foundation also raises funds and spreads awareness by creating charity honey bee bracelets.

The LACRIMA Foundation currently has its sights set on expanding its conservation efforts in the United States and invites local business partners to join them in its efforts. The foundation is also looking to raise venture capital from US investors in its quest to achieve its honey bee sustainability global goals.

To learn more about The LACRIMA Foundation and its 3D Printed Wood Log Hive technology, visit lacrimafoundation.org.
VitalTelemetrics, a data-driven health and wellness company announces a strategic partnership with Vocare, a health monitoring company to bring a state-of-the-art health and wellness solution to the market. The joint solution from VitalTelemetrics and Vocare will address the challenges in getting access to healthcare services in rural areas, hospice care, the Department of Corrections, and education.

The joint solution will help reduce the time needed to bring the individuals together with the health and wellness professionals and will provide help in addressing the health access and equity issues that some of our communities regularly face. This solution will also provide near Realtime access to healthcare data to individuals seeking health and wellness services and their providers via a secure portal with proper consent. In corrections and education, this solution will help with the quick triaging of chronic care conditions that might need immediate notification to internal or other healthcare professionals to provide immediate attention and care needed to improve the healthcare situation and reduce liability. Most importantly this solution is aligned with value-based care, healthcare interoperability, and access to health records for patients and their healthcare service providers.

Ashwini Jarral, Chief Executive Officer at VitalTelemetrics said, We are excited about our strategic partnership with Vocare, the leader in providing IoT-based healthcare solutions using state-of-the-art technology. Through this partnership, which provides the use of combined services and a solution, we can bring a cost-effective answer to address the problem of bridging the gap between individuals and healthcare professionals. As part of our approach to bring telemetry-based solutions and other datasets that include patient consent, this partnership improves the capability to proactively manage an individuals health and wellness and gives them the value-based treatment or program they deserve."

The pandemic has created a significant demand for virtual care delivered remotely to relieve hospital visits. All the while, nurse staffing shortages have created a demand for solutions that allow caregivers to be more productive. The VoCare partnership with VitalTelemetrics leverages best of class technology and industry experience to implement solutions that truly improve peoples lives  whether it is through supplementing the skills of physicians or first responders with tools to more efficiently manage ever-increasing workloads, or by empowering patients and care providers to better manage chronic disease in the home. A medical technology solution is 30% technology innovation and 70% implementation of organizational change. The combined collaboration of VitalTelemetrics and VoCare presents a unique industry-leading team for caregiver and patient success, Scot Kane, VoCare, Inc., Chief Executive Officer.

VitalTelemetrics provides data-driven health and wellness solutions to bring access to healthcare for individuals anywhere and at any time. Our mission is to leverage telemetry-based data to bring healthcare solutions to individuals everywhere to address their health and well-being.

For more information about VitalTelemetrics, visit http://www.vitaltelemetrics.com VoCare, Inc. is a medical technology company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. VoCare manufactures, distributes, integrates, and supports, theVitals360, the worlds first global cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth-enabled, multi-function device to monitor and obtain multiple patent vital signs and instantly transmit this information to healthcare providers. The Vitals360 captures six biometric readings: electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature, body weight, and glucose. The device can serve as a smartphone that conducts a video chat between the user and a caregiver. The medical device is FDA 510K Class II approved with ISO 13485 Certification. The Vitals360 solution is offered as a medical device with a management portal to medical remote health professionals, point-of-care facilities, and value-added resellers worldwide.

For more information about Vocare, visit http://www.vocare.com
J3 DISTRIBUTORS EXPANDS AVAILABILITY OF TEHUACAN BRILLANTE GLACIER-FED SPRING WATER TO LOCAL STORES ACROSS TEXAS.

With Tehuacan Brillante sparkling water now available in 100 HEBs and multiple store brands, naturally-sourced sparkling water is available near most Texans.

In light of strong consumer demand for exclusively-sourced natural sparkling water, J3 Distributors has placed its Tehuacan Brillante brand to 100 HEBs and other store brands throughout Texas. This growth occurs shortly after the introduction of this naturally-mineralized water to every Central Market within the state.

Consumers may now tap into a crisp, premium sparkling water beverage at the following locations:



Central Market

HEB

7-Eleven

Stripes

Buc-ee's

This refreshing sparkling water is sourced from crisp springs running from Citlaltepetl (Pico de Orizaba), the highest mountain in Mexico. Naturally mineralized by an 8-year journey through the mountain's rich volcanic rock, this water is one of the purest natural waters available.

Tehuacan Brillante is then infused with effervescence for a crisp mouth-feel and extra-dry refreshment and sold in an innovative, reusable, 12 Pack Blue Box.

"Tehuacan Brillante offers the premium quality, natural flavor, and unparalleled freshness that is in demand among consumers who want a healthy and delicious beverage that supports their wellbeing," says Jimmy Garza. "We are proud to make the famous healing mineral waters of Tehuacan, Mexico, available here in Texas."

In a time when there are fewer fresh sources of untouched natural water than before, it offers a refreshing alternative to sweet drinks, unhealthy mixes for alcoholic beverages, and sparkling waters that fail to deliver a natural, crisp flavor.

About J3 Distributors

With an extensive distribution supply chain, J3 Distributors provide retailers and consumers with high-quality health and wellness beverages. The company aims to help customers in the United States live healthier lives by providing a range of custom and uniquely sourced products from Mexico. The collective experience of the founders and investors in J3 Distributions has carved a new path to make premium brands even more accessible to the United States market.
Hand crafted accessories from Canny are introducing an exciting west African aesthetic to shoppers around the world while helping to empower and improve the lives of women in Senegal.

Poverty is a critical problem in Senegal. 67% of the Senegalese population earn less than $5.50 a day with women being more exposed. Canny was founded to provide a secure and stable income stream for artisans as well as for women with artisanal skills so they can create beautiful bags and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

The debut collection of leather goods comprises seven distinct handbags and four compact purses in an array of must-have seasonal colors. Made with 100% superior leather they each combine form, function and timeless fashion. Each handbag and purse features a contrasting leather panel inspired by the sleek skin of a mimic exotic leather and all Canny designs have removable straps for versatile styling.

Founded by Nancy Seck in 2019, Canny hand-crafted leather bags are made in West Africa by a skilled community of artisans. Central to the brands vision is that the manufacture of each design should help preserve womens vital access to education and economic growth. In addition to this, Canny can help break the cycle of poverty and preserve vital crafts that help women across the whole west African region.

Seeking to combine exquisite craftsmanship, contemporary design and ethical manufacturing, seek conceived of the brand first and foremost as a vehicle for empowerment and transformation. This ideology can be seen in the sleek, functional and fashionable design but also throughout the design and manufacturing process. More than most brands, Canny also makes a direct donation from every sale to support projects towards women economic and social development. This can include scholarships for young girls or school supplies. In this year, Cannys immediate goal is to support and transform the educational prospects of 50 girls across Senegal.

Talking about her vision, Seck explained I strongly believe in women helping women. Women making it happen, women changing their environment positively and most importantly women being generous.

To learn more about Canny visit Cannyfashion.shop or follow the brand on Instagram.
I look forward to sharing my plan for government reforms that promote prosperity for the People, not for the bureaucratic elites. Lars Mapstead

Lars Mapstead, Libertarian Presidential candidate, will make his first appearance in a virtual candidate forum hosted by Larry Sharpe @TheSharpeWay on February 15 th . The event will air live at 7pm eastern and feature three other Libertarian challengers.

Mapstead is running for President to promote term limits and ranked choice voting. As a supporter of the Fair Tax, Lars Mapstead is committed to bringing about meaningful changes to the way government impacts our lives.

"I look forward to sharing my plan for government reforms that promote prosperity for the People, not for the bureaucratic elites." Lars Mapstead

A self-made success, Lars Mapstead has established multiple thriving internet-based companies and is a true champion of individual liberty. He promotes the importance of limited government and is dedicated to freeing Americans from the shackles of bureaucratic oppression and excessive taxation.

Lars will also appear at the Libertarian Party of Californias state convention February 17  19 at the Embassy Suites Sacramento to cultivate support for his 2024 nomination.
Bob Evans Restaurants is proud to announce the return of their annual Egg Crack, Give Back fundraiser supporting agricultural education and innovation among Americas future farmers. For every Farmers Choice Breakfast ordered at participating locations** on February 23, Bob Evans will donate $1 to the National FFA Organization (FFA), up to $15,000.*

Proceeds from the fundraiser will help underwrite Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Grants that give FFA students critical hands-on learning opportunities ranging from agricultural internships and entrepreneurship opportunities to research experience. The Egg Crack, Give Back fundraiser is an extension of Bob Evans partnership with the FFA, paying homage to founder Bob Evans, his roots in the farming community and his passion for inspiring agricultural leaders for future generations.

An important milestone in supporting agricultural education:

This year signifies an important fundraising milestone as Bob Evans has now donated $60,000 to FFA organizations both nationally and locally through the annual Egg Crack, Give Back fundraiser, Bob Evans Farm Fest and other events throughout the year. Since the partnership started in 2020, Bob Evans and FFA have remained steadfast in their commitment to helping grow the agricultural community.

Serving others is at the center of everything we do, and being in a position to continue this fundraiser for a third year, not only to inspire future generations but also get our local customers involved in doing so, holds a great deal of meaning for us at Bob Evans, said Bob Holtcamp, President and CMO for Bob Evans Restaurants. Taking a step back and watching how the proceeds from this event help students, and more specifically, fund their SAE Grants through the FFA partnership, is one of the highlights of our year at Bob Evans. We take great pride in witnessing the growth of students throughout the nation and the agricultural community as a whole every year.

Farm fresh breakfast to support future farmers:

The hero of the Egg Crack, Give Back fundraiser is Bob Evans Farmers Choice Breakfast. A mix of the mornings greatest hits from the home of Americas Farm Fresh, the Farmers Choice Breakfast includes one of two sweet griddled options, hotcakes or Brioche French toast, as well as two eggs cooked-to-order, your favorite savory breakfast meat and choice of hash browns, home fries or fresh-cut fruit. Other varieties of the Farmers Choice Breakfast, such as The Double Meat Farmer, Homestead Farmer and Banana Berry Farmer, also qualify for the fundraising event.

National FFA Week shines a light on future generations of American farmers:

The Egg Crack, Give Back promotion also coincides with Give FFA Day on February 23, a 24-hour fundraising campaign held during National FFA Week (February 18-25, 2023). National FFA Week helps spread awareness about the mission of FFA, its impact on the education of middle and high school students across the country, and ultimately acts as one of the backbones for careers in science, business and agriculture technology.

For more information and for local restaurant hours, visit BobEvans.com. For more information on Bob Evans commitment to FFA, including information about how to get involved in National FFA Week, please visit BobEvans.com/FFA. For more information about FFA, please visit FFA.org.

*Disclaimer: Up to a maximum $15,000 will go to the National FFA Organization to support National FFA and future SAE Grants. Purchase is not tax deductible as a charitable contribution as the customer will receive goods or services equivalent to the purchase price for each item purchased.

**Disclaimer: Available in all states where Bob Evans Restaurants is located except for North Carolina and New Jersey.

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About Bob Evans Restaurants, LLC

Bob Evans Restaurants is chain of family-style restaurants founded and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, which owns and operates nearly 450 locations in 18 states, primarily in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. Guests have been enjoying signature farm-fresh meals like the Farmers Choice Breakfast, made with fresh-cracked eggs, and the slow-roasted, hand-carved turkey dinner among other classics for over 70 years. True to his humble farmer roots, founder Bob Evans believed in treating strangers like friends and friends like family, and this hospitality is still on display at every Bob Evans Restaurant location. As a private company, Bob Evans Restaurants is focused on bringing Americas Farm Fresh to its guests at every meal, each and every day. For more information and restaurant locations, visit BobEvans.com, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About National FFA Organization

The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 850,000 student members as part of 8,995 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. For more, visit the National FFA Organization online at FFA.org and on Facebook and Twitter.

About National FFA Foundation

The National FFA Foundation builds partnerships with industry, education, government, other foundations, and individuals to secure financial resources that recognize FFA member achievements, develop student leaders, and support the future of agricultural education. Governed by a 19-member board of trustees composed of educators, business leaders, individual donors and FFA Alumni, the foundation is a separately registered nonprofit organization. About 82 percent of every dollar received by the foundation supports FFA members and agricultural education opportunities. For more, visit FFA.org/Give.
Locumpedia developed the award to spotlight the most impressive locum tenens physicians and advanced practice providers  and to underscore how providers who work on a temporary basis are essential to healthcare delivery in communities across the country.

Selfless. The difference between life and death.

Stabilizing. Serving the underserved.

Philanthropy.

These are qualities that define outstanding healthcare professionals. Physicians and advanced practice providers who exhibit these qualities see practicing medicine as a higher calling rather than simply as a job.

And these are some of the traits for which Locumpedia, the guide to the locum tenens industry, has awarded five locum tenens providers with a 2022 Locum Tenens Provider of the Year award. Their exemplary patient care and unwavering dedication to service set the standard for truly exceptional healthcare.

Locumpedia developed the Providers of the Year award to shine a spotlight on the most impressive locum tenens physicians and advanced practice providers  and to underscore how providers who work on a temporary basis are essential to healthcare delivery in communities across the country. Without these mobile providers who are willing to travel where and when the need is greatest, many patients, particularly those in rural communities, would lack any access to healthcare services.

To be eligible for the award, providers must have practiced medicine on a locum tenens (temporary) basis exclusively in the United States in a major medical specialty for at least three months. To win the award, providers must have gone above and beyond to serve patients, as determined by an expert panel of judges.

Winning providers receive a $150 donation to a nonprofit organization of their choice, while staffing agencies that nominated a winning provider earn an award badge to use in their marketing materials and public relations campaigns.

These five providers embody service, dedication, and commitment. Locumpedia is proud to share their stories with the locum tenens community.

1. Ala Shiyab, M.D.

Specialty: General Surgery

Agency: Weatherby Healthcare

Nominated by: Kyle Eggnatz, Provider Consultant

Years Practicing Locums: 5

While locum tenens general surgeon Ala Shiyab, M.D. was on call during an assignment, he was asked by the hospital's primary surgeon to help with a follow-up surgery on a complex case involving a new mother who needed several surgeries from a C-Section.

After Dr. Shiyab successfully completed the surgery, the patient was required to follow up on care for another week. The mother, exuding utmost trust in him, requested that only Dr. Shiyab handle her follow-up care.

Over the next 7 days, Dr. Shiyab drove two hours to the hospital and two hours back home each day to check on the mother and newborn. Now, the two are home and in excellent health. This selfless dedication on the part of Dr. Shiyab is a testament to his character and core values as a physician.

2. Josef Burwell, Physician Assistant

Specialty: Emergency Medicine and Primary Care

Agency: Wilderness Medical Staffing

Nominated by: Ethan McWilliams CEO

Years Practicing Locums: 4

Locum tenens emergency medicine and primary care provider Josef Burwell, PA-C, has consistently received positive feedback from clients who have worked with him. He has taken positions for last-minute staffing needs in locations most providers dont consider.

Burwell has worked in remote and isolated Alaska villages with populations of less than 100 residents. He serves as the sole provider for multiple Alaskan communities separated by great distances. He has delivered care that improves the quality of life for his patients and has even been the difference between life and death for his patients.

Many agencies have asked Burwell to return to work for them over the years, as he seamlessly integrates into rural communities and is highly skilled. He is well-known for his kindness and respect. His selfless dedication is a testament to his character and core values as a physician assistant.

3. Aerial Avery, D.P.M

Specialty: Podiatrist

Agency: Floyd Lee Locums

Nominated by: Leslie Munn, Senior Healthcare Consultant

Years Practicing Locums: 1

Locum tenens podiatrist Aeriel Avery, D.P.M. was born in an underserved community and made it his mission to bring medical care to those in need. With over 20 years of experience practicing medicine in Virginia and New York, he decided to return to his home state of Oklahoma to explore locum tenens work. This led to his current assignment where he provides tribal health services.

As a physician with a shared First American lineage, Dr. Avery takes extra care in being respectful and reverent to the community. This has resulted in a tribe that has grown to love their local doctor, even winning him Employee of the Week based on patient nominations. Dr. Averys bedside manner is praised for being kind, calm, and compassionate.

In line with First American beliefs in holistic medicine, Dr. Avery works to incorporate these practices into his treatment recommendations and education. He is dedicated to bridging cultural gaps in medicine. He does this by introducing healthy practices that complement rather than replace cultural practices. This has led to a lot of word-of-mouth referrals for Dr. Avery. He remains committed to combating diseases, such as diabetes, that are prevalent among tribal communities.

Dr. Avery attributes his caring and thoughtful approach to the ability to practice holistic medicine with his patients. According to the facility director at the Tribal Health Center, Dr. Avery isnt clocking in just to work but to make an impact on the community he serves.

4. Anoop Rao, M.D.

Specialty: Hospitalist

Agency: Health Carousel

Nominated by: Chris Armey, Recruiter

Years Practicing Locums: 1

Locum tenens hospitalist Anoop Rao, M.D., who is still new to locum tenens, wanted to assist communities close to home in New Mexico. When his recruiter learned that a Roswell healthcare facility needed coverage after recently acquiring a new medical group, he jumped at the chance.

Initially, Dr. Rao committed to a one-week stint to make sure it was a good fit for him. Af the end of that week, he felt drained by the high acuity of patients in large volumes who barely had enough provider coverage. The doctors there were already burned out, placing a heavy burden on any newcomers.

Despite this experience, Dr. Rao returned for another round of shifts and has since quit his full-time job, making it his mission to stabilize the Roswell facility. He has put down roots by leasing an apartment in Roswell to continue helping this underserved community until the facility can find enough full-time staff.

Dr. Rao is a prime example of facing challenging environments head-on rather than seeking a more comfortable medical setting. His relentless dedication to providing care to this community is admirable and a testament to the core values of being a physician.

5. Leo Alonso, D.O.

Specialty: Emergency Medicine

Agency: Barton Associates

Nominated by: Ellie Penati, Associate Director

Years Practicing Locums: 8

For over two decades, locum tenens emergency medicine physician Leo Alonso, D.O. has been on a journey as a philanthropist, starting with his commitment to rural development and education through the Peace Corps. He continued his mission to help those in need by establishing an emergency medicine program with Project SEMILLA and serving his community in Jacksonville, Florida, through the Volunteers of Medicine clinic. This clinic offers free primary and specialty care to those without private health insurance.

As a physician, Dr. Alonso's experience volunteering in healthcare has been instrumental in providing quality care to underserved communities. With a passion for teaching, he strives to pass on his knowledge and leave a lasting impact on future generations.

Dr. Alonso is making a difference in patients lives by alleviating suffering through his work as an emergency medicine physician. He exemplifies the essence of selflessness and compassion as a physician, showing that giving and sharing knowledge are integral parts of his character and values.

Congratulations to these providers for earning their awards. Locumpedia would like to thank the recruiters and their staffing agencies who nominated these providers for helping us bring these stories to the locum tenens world.

After meeting with a warm reception from the locum tenens industry for Locumpedias inaugural award, the Locum Tenens Providers of the Year campaign will return in 2023. As of this time, nominations will be accepted starting October 23, 2023.

About Locumpedias Providers of the Year

Locumpedias Locum Tenens Providers of the Year award picks up the tradition established by the defunct magazine LocumLife and its Locum Tenens of the Year awards that recognized the best locum tenens providers and physician recruiters each year. When Locumpedia launched as a startup in 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis, its founders made it a priority to revive this provider recognition award to benefit the industry.

Out of 23 nominations received from 12 locum tenens staffing agencies and reviewed on an anonymous basis, the following panel of expert judges identified five providers who best exhibited the qualities of a Provider of the Year based on the award criteria:



Dr. Andrew Wilner, a locum tenens neurologist and author of The Locum Life: A Patients Guide to Locum Tenens and host of the podcast, The Art of Medicine with Dr. Andrew Wilner

Dr. Vlad Dzhashi, a locum tenens hospitalist and publisher of TheLocumTenens Guy.com

Robin Vovk, business development manager at LocumSmart

Keri New, senior director of sales at Doximity

Billie Wickstrom, news editor of Locumpedia

Cory Kleinschmidt, founder and publisher of Locumpedia

About Locumpedia

Locumpedia is a free locum tenens news source and technology platform that helps physicians, staffing firms, and healthcare facilities make informed decisions and optimize costs with industry news coverage, resource guides, a free job board and directory, market research, and marketing services.

Learn more about Locumpedia at http://www.locumpedia.com.
Sofia and Vijay have well-earned reputations as respected and visionary leaders in the litigation field. We look forward to working closely with Sofia and Vijay, along with our other Advisors, to ensure that Siltstone continues to make a positive impact for all our stakeholders.

Siltstone Capital (Siltstone) is pleased to announce the recent addition of two new Advisory Board members, Sofia Adrogue and Vijay Bondada. Ms. Adrogue and Mr. Bondada will join Siltstones existing Advisory Board Members, Will Wiener and Eric Chenoweth.

A native of Argentina, Ms. Adrogue is a seasoned trial partner (over 25 years of experience) with Diamond McCarthy LLP, having started her career at Susman Godfrey. She is also a 10-year Texas Super Lawyer & Latino Leaders, 25 Most Influential Hispanic Lawyers and Most Powerful Women in Law. Sofia represents clients in diverse industries, ranging from entrepreneurs to multinational conglomerates with worldwide business holdings, having handled matters arising in Texas, as well as in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, among other venues. Having served on over 15 boards, she is currently a Member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, the Houston First Board of Directors as well as the City of Houston Mayors Hispanic Advisory Board and Chair of the Boards & Commissions Appointments Subcommittee. She envisioned and is the Editor of the Texas Business Litigation treatise (5th Edition). She serves as outside general counsel for select clients, advising on best strategies and actionable resolutions for business success. She has received over 40 awards, is the Co-Host & Co-Producer of Latina Voices  Smart Talk and has been recognized for her public service by the City of Houston with a proclamation of July 10, 2004 & December 18, 2018, as Sofia Adrogue Day. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School Owner/President Management Program (U.S. Keynote Graduation Speaker for HBS OPM 37, First Woman, & U.S. Class Representative), a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, magna cum laude, and Rice University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, both on full academic scholarships.

Mr. Bondada previously served as the Chief Litigation Officer of Duke Energy Corporation. Prior to Duke Energy, Mr. Bondada held several leadership roles at Pfizer, Inc., including Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Litigation and Vice President, Corporate Risk Management. In these roles, Mr. Bondada was responsible for the management of several large litigation matters, including the prosecution of insurance recoveries of over $500 million to Pfizer. He also launched Pfizers global affirmative litigation recovery program which is ongoing today. Before joining Pfizer, Mr. Bondada practiced law in the litigation departments at Dickstein Shapiro, Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom and Reed Smith. Mr. Bondada holds a J.D. from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law and received his B.S. from University of Miami.

Sofia and Vijay have well-earned reputations as respected and visionary leaders in the litigation field. We look forward to working closely with Sofia and Vijay, along with our other Advisors, to ensure that Siltstone continues to make a positive impact for all our stakeholders, including our investors and deal partners, says Mani Walia, Managing Partner & General Counsel at Siltstone Capital.

Siltstones Advisory Board provides guidance to the firms leadership on investment strategy, risk management, market insight and deal execution. Their advice and industry experience assists Siltstone with sourcing and analyzing potential transactions in the firms litigation finance funds.

Siltstone Capital is a premier multi-strategy investment firm that provides capital solutions to litigants, law firms, and legal departments to help resolve their real-world legal issues and create significant value for all stakeholders.

For more information about Siltstone Capital, please visit our website http://www.siltstonecapital.com.

Media and partnership inquiries may be directed to Allyson Herebic at 713-375-9219 or allyson.herebic@siltstone.com.
Spry recognizes the importance of delivering products that prioritize infection prevention and patient positioning, while also minimizing our environmental impact.

Spry Therapeutics, a health technology company, today announced a new partnership agreement with Fiberpartner, a global supplier of staple fibers such as PrimaLoft Bio, technical yarns and plastics. With this partnership, Spry Therapeutics will bring the worlds first filtered, biodegradable positioning pillow to the healthcare market  addressing both infection control and sustainability. Finally, healthcare facilities are able to provide patients with a clean and green product that serves as a feasible alternative to traditional pillows and positioning devices.

The healthcare sector accounts for 8.5% of U.S. emissions, with medical devices and products contributing to more than 80% of the industrys carbon emissions. Hospitals are also responsible for producing over 5 million tons of waste each year. In 2022, 61 of the largest U.S. hospital and health sector companies joined the Health Sector Climate Pledge, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030. By offering a biodegradable product that acts as both a pillow and positioning device, Spry is able to streamline purchasing efficiencies, reduce waste and carbon footprint, minimize costs, and improve patient and caregiver safety.

As a leader in the healthcare innovation space, Spry recognizes the importance of delivering products that prioritize infection prevention and patient positioning, while also minimizing our environmental impact, says Bill Purdy, CEO of Spry Therapeutics. By partnering with Fiberpartner and PrimaLoft, were now able to make our filtered positioning products even more sustainable  allowing healthcare facilities to prioritize both patient safety and environmental responsibility.

In its mission to reduce soft-surface contamination, Spry Therapeutics develops products that address hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) via soft surfaces. Using Pneumapure, the worlds first and only soft-surface filter technology, Sprys products have been proven effective in blocking the ingress and egress of microbes down to .02 micron. This helps prevent the transmission of deadly diseases  including MRSA, C. diff and more  among patients and caregivers.

Through its new partnership with Fiberpartner, Sprys positioning pillow now uses PrimaLoft Bio as its fill. PrimaLoft Bio is made from biodegradable*, 100% recycled fibers that break down when exposed to specific environments  such as landfills, oceans and wastewater systems. These fibers maintain their structure throughout use, only biodegrading* when exposed to the naturally-occurring microorganisms found in landfills or marine environments.

PrimaLoft Bio was developed to combat microplastic pollution throughout the lifecycle of a product, said PrimaLoft president and CEO, Mike Joyce. While its application began in the consumer apparel industry, we also see tremendous opportunity to expand the use of this innovative technology into adjacent sectors. We are proud to partner with Fiberpartner and Spry Therapeutics to bring this sustainable solution to the medical category.

Partnering with Spry Therapeutics is an important step forward in providing a sustainable solution for medical devices with PrimaLoft Bio materials. Expanding the application of these award-winning biodegradable* materials will improve sustainability and have a positive impact on the medical industry, says Thomas Wittrup, CEO of Fiberpartner.

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About Spry Therapeutics

Spry Therapeutics is a health technology company that uses a proprietary soft-surface filter technology to block all pathogens from entering or exiting any soft surface to which its applied. The Company is committed to providing effective, sustainable alternatives to traditional pillows and positioners that enable healthcare facilities to improve patient and caregiver safety, while reducing carbon emissions. Spry Therapeutics is headquartered in White Plains, NY. For more information, visit sprytx.com.

About Fiberpartner

Fiberpartner ApS is a leading supplier of staple fibers to clients within nonwovens, home textile and other industrial applications worldwide. As a family-owned business, they have more than 160 years of experience in textile. Today, Fiberpartner is offering strong technical and commercial expertise in staple fibers as a raw material. They partner with manufacturers and customers in the researching, developing, sourcing and delivering of fibers at the right quality-to-price ratio for different applications and end-uses. Sustainability is a keyword: a majority of fibers supplied are created from recycled raw materials, namely recycled polyester (RPET). Fiberpartner is located in Denmark, with offices in Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland, Mexico and South Africa.

About PrimaLoft

PrimaLoft, Inc., an advanced material technology company based in Latham, New York, with offices in Xiamen, China, is the world leader in research and innovative development of comfort solutions with high-performance insulations and fabrics. The PrimaLoft brand, a registered trademark of PrimaLoft, Inc., delivers feel-good products that are used by more than 950 top global brands in outdoor and fashion, home furnishings, work wear, hunting and military applications. With its Relentlessly Responsible mission, PrimaLoft strives to balance innovation, performance & sustainability in a pursuit of a better future. PrimaLoft insulation was originally developed for the U.S. army as a water-resistant, synthetic alternative to down. Today, the brand is recognized as a benchmark for providing unsurpassed comfort in any condition, while lessening its impact on the environment. PrimaLoft, Inc. is active in sustainable textile production through partnerships with the bluesign system, the International OEKO-TEX Association, the Sustainable Apparel Coalitions Higg Index, and the Global Recycled Standard. For more information, please visit stage.primaloft.com, and follow PrimaLoft on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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*93.8% biodegradation in 646 days under ASTM D5511 conditions (landfill environment). 76.6% biodegradation in 973 days under ASTM D6691 conditions (marine/ocean environment). 12.9% biodegradation in 120 days under ASTM D5210 conditions (wastewater environment). The stated rate and extent of degradation do not mean that the product will continue to degrade.
MESA  First lady Jill Biden was met with happy students Monday morning during her visit to Mesa Community College, where she applauded the city for its successful college scholarship program.

Following her trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday, Biden stopped in Mesa to vocalize again her support for Mesa College Promise, a public-private partnership commitment from the city of Mesa to all of its residents that eligible high school graduates can attend Mesa Community College for two years with Arizona resident tuition and fees fully funded.

When I was second lady, we launched the College Promise to make community college tuition-free and help students cross the finish line, Biden said. And Joe and I continued to support this work at the Biden Foundation. Now, at the White House, we are still working to make community college free, despite challenges from Congress.

College Promise programs are offered at select schools across the country, giving lower-income, first-generation and other students enough financial support for their first two or more years of postsecondary education.

The program at Mesa Community College is in its second year, having doubled in size since its first cohort, and offers students more than just financial benefits. Mesa Mayor John Giles said the cohort of students have wraparound services including counselors, technology to complete coursework and a support system network of professors and other faculty who are consistently checking in.

Alongside the first lady were U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, Gov. Katie Hobbs, Mesa Community College President Tammy Robinson and Maricopa Community Colleges Chancellor Steven Gonzales.

Your president and his secretary of education know we need pipelines that start in high school, provide access to two years of community college and connect to great jobs, Biden said. Because thats the future of our workforce and our economy.

The first ladys remarks come on the coattails of the presidents State of the Union address, where he reiterated his goal to give public school teachers a raise and said he was making progress by reducing student debt, increasing Pell Grants for working and middle class families.

Lets finish the job and connect students to career opportunities starting in high school. Provide access to two years of community college, the best career training in America, in addition to being a pathway to a four-year degree, Biden said in his Feb. 7 address.

By 2027, Cardona said, 70% of jobs will require some type of post-secondary education and that preparing students, aligning education with the workforce and paving every pathway with equity and excellence in mind is on us.

We have an opportunity of a lifetime here to connect the dots, Cardona said. And youre doing that exceptionally well here. You show whats possible when local governments, school districts, community colleges and industry partners work together to create affordable pathways to college and career.

Lilly Hernandez, a first-generation student studying construction management at Mesa Community College, did not come to college right out of high school, waiting a handful of years because she did not want her parents to go into debt.

The fact that I dont have to pay for tuition is the only reason Im able to stand here today, she said.

Mesa College Promise began in early 2020 with the hopes of addressing a low rate of residents with college degrees.

Raising funds has not been the challenge for this program. The challenge has been changing hearts and minds, helping families to see that over 80% of the participants in this program are first-time college families. And the thing we love about this program, its not just your tuition is paid, well see a graduation, Giles said.

During the 2021 legislative session, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill into law allowing community college students to earn bachelors degrees without needing to attend another higher education institution.

The first lady, who is not an elected member of Congress or a member of the presidents Cabinet, is generally responsible for advancing a set of social causes. Jill Biden has been a leading messenger on issues like reopening schools safely after the pandemic and has been supporting the presidents economic agenda.

Unlike other presidential spouses, Biden has continued to teach English and writing courses at Northern Virginia Community College while serving as first lady.

In her short remarks at the first ladys visit, Hobbs said shes working to increase investments in rural colleges and continue funding in STEM training programs at colleges in urban areas. She said she hopes to expand access to dual-enrollment programs, something she said high school students arent utilizing in ways they should.

Job training focused on STEM  for science, technology, engineering and math  has been a massive part of conversations in and about Arizona, with the president visiting in recent months to tour computer chip plants in the state.

In Congress, Stanton has been backing bipartisan infrastructure plans in ongoing projects like Mesa Gateway Airport, aerospace companies and Fortune 500 corporations. He has also touted benefits from the CHIPS Act, which will encourage development of advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., at facilities like Arizonas Intel and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plants.

Stanton told the College Promise students that, Our success as a state and your success are directly tied together.

Next, the first lady is scheduled to visit Indiana, where she will give similar remarks on strengthening our economy and building pathways to good-paying jobs through career-connected learning.

Across the country, were seeing programs like this one bridging the gap between what students learn and the careers they will eventually find, Biden said. And we need more communities to follow Mesas lead. Because when they do, every student, no matter their background, will have the chance to follow their passions and find a pathway to a great job.
The Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year Award is the nation's top military spouse honor.

The names of individual Base winners were announced today for the 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year award. Winners were selected from a group of more than 500 nominees after one week of national online voting.

Americans are invited to learn more about each of these accomplished Base Spouses of the Year at msoy.afi.org.

Since 2013, nominations have been accepted at the Base (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force), District (Coast Guard), and State (National Guard) level. Voters then elect a Base-level winner at each installation. Base Spouses of the Year represent the best leaders and advocates for their local community. They are key to trailblazing grassroots efforts that drive change and make the community more inclusive. The award recipients are inducted into a year-round program for military spouses to earn leadership credentials, expand their networks, and learn valuable life and advocacy skills.

"The Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year Award is the nation's top military spouse honor. It celebrates the efforts and achievements of military spouses who work to make a difference in their communities and for all military families. AFI remains proud of its long-established institution founded to give back and recognize the sacrifice and reward the selfless work of military spouses who continue to catalyze their collective power to make a difference in the world," said Lieutenant General Stanley E. "Sid" Clarke III, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) and AFI Chairman.

Voting to select winners will be held in multiple phases:



February 23: Branch Finalists Announced

February 28-March 1: Branch Vote

March 6: Branch Winners Announced

March 9-10: National Vote

The overall 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year will be revealed at an invite-only VIP event in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2023, attended by Base- and Branch-level winners, senior military leaders, elected officials, and community partners.

For more information about the Military Spouse of the Year leadership award, including voting rules and regulations and sponsorship opportunities, visit https://msoy.afi.org.

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About Armed Forces Insurance:

Armed Forces Insurance was founded in 1887 by military leaders with a single mission: to protect the property of those who protect our nation. The company provides premium quality, competitively priced property, and casualty insurance to military professionals throughout the United States and overseas. Armed Forces Insurance understands that its members have unique circumstances and insurance needs, enabling the company to offer a level of personalized service that's unequaled in the industry. For more information, visit the website at http://www.afi.org or call 1-800-495-8234, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The exquisite Great Outdoors at the #1 rated Acqualina Resort & Residences in Miami, Florida. "We have worked very hard to consistently deliver exceptional customer service and experiences to our distinguished guests," said Acqualina CEO and Partner Deborah Yager Fleming.

Acqualina Resort & Residences has been recognized with the top awards in the 2023 U.S. News & World Report's Best Hotels rankings and was named the #1 Best Hotel in the U.S.A. and #1 Best Resort in the U.S.A.

"We have worked very hard to consistently deliver exceptional customer service and experiences to our distinguished guests," said Acqualina CEO and Partner Deborah Yager Fleming. "Acqualina is a brand that continuously looks for ways to improve and implement new services and amenities for our customers to enjoy, from design and activities to dining experiences. These awards are a great testament to our dedicated and committed team's efforts to exceed expectations at every turn."

U.S. News & World Report is a globally recognized publisher of consumer advice and information. Editors researched thousands of hotels, collected dozens of data points, and used an unbiased approach to calculate the rankings. The 13th annual Best Hotels rankings evaluate more than 35,000 luxury properties across the United States, Europe, Bermuda, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. The methodology considers a hotel's star rating and both expert and guest sentiment by collecting annual awards from distinguished travel publications and TripAdvisor user scores, the combination of which helps determine each hotel's rank.

Today, Forbes Travel Guide announced Acqualina Resort as a Five Star Hotel, making it the 11th year in a row the property has received this prestigious, ultra-exclusive industry accolade. In addition, Forbes Travel Guide awarded Acqualina Spa with a Five Star Spa rating.

Forbes Travel Guide is the gold standard for luxury hospitality ratings worldwide, and announces its Global Star Ratings yearly, listing the world's finest hotels, restaurants, and spas. Only properties that meet Forbes' hospitality standards  the most stringent in the industry  achieve a Five Star, Four Star, or Recommended rating. Professional inspectors check into and check out every property they rate regularly, evaluating more than 500 rigorous criteria to determine a Star Rating that takes the guesswork out of travel planning and establishes a global benchmark for luxury travel.

To mark the occasion, Acqualina invites guests to book the Five Star Experience Package. Guests receive the fifth night free when booking a five-night getaway. In addition, they can indulge in such offerings as a special welcome amenity, daily buffet breakfast for two, and complimentary Internet access.

With four world-class restaurants, including the new Avra Miami, curated amenities, and luxurious rooms and suites, Acqualina Resort provides an exclusive experience and ultra-luxurious beach lifestyle like no other. Last month, Acqualina unveiled a glamorous refresh of the Mediterranean villa-style resort. From a newly transformed gallery lobby, decadent new adult pool experience, AcquaMarine kids club, luxurious rooms and suites, and restaurants, Acqualina's enhancements offer glamour, style, and timeless beauty.

The gorgeous beachfront location features outdoor living room settings, three oceanfront swimming pools, and cabanas where guests can make online reservations. Guests of the luxury Miami Beach resort can bask in the South Florida sun or spend the afternoon shaded by palm trees. The attentive Acqualina team will make sure every need is met. That includes everything from serving a delicious Mediterranean lunch on the beach to providing a delectable coconut or a cocktail where guests never need to leave the beach.

ABOUT ACQUALINA RESORT & RESIDENCES

Acqualina Resort & Residences, a family-owned and operated property, is where the charm of a Mediterranean villa meets elegance on the beach. The lush grounds feature red couches set on Seashore Paspalum grass and are dotted with signature red umbrellas. A seaside luxury haven located on 4.5 beachfront acres in pristine Sunny Isles Beach, Acqualina Resort features 98 impeccably appointed guest rooms and suites and 188 residences with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, world-class dining including Il Mulino New York, the alfresco Costa Grill, Ke-uH Japanese restaurant, the new Avra Miami, three oceanfront swimming pools, spacious meeting rooms, and AcquaMarine, an innovative marine biology-based children's program. A variety of lavish interior and exterior venues provide an ideal background for opulent weddings and memorable events. Acqualina Spa provides guests with an exquisite 20,000-square-foot, two-story tranquil sanctuary of excellence and relaxation.
Were so happy to welcome Armando and Iliana to our Central Bark family, while continuing to expand our presence across Houston. Given their small business and international business backgrounds along with their immense passion for dogs...we know dog owners across Houston will benefit immensely."

Central Bark, the doggy day care industry pioneer, is wagging its tail proudly following the signing of its newest franchise agreement with franchisees Iliana Solorzano and Armando Sanchez to bring its newest doggy day care center to Houston, Texas, the second planned for the market.

Originally from Mexico City, the mother-son team, plan to open their Central Bark at the end of 2023. Iliana and her husband have been business owners in Mexico for 30 years. It was that commitment to the family business that inspired Armando to graduate with a degree in international business, which he used to secure a position in logistics at Amazon following his studies. Armando intends to leverage his time at Amazon and his admiration for his parents commitment to their family business to fuel his growth at Central Bark. They knew Houston is the perfect market for Central Bark because it is such a dog friendly community and completely aligned with the brands mission: to forever nurture, enrich, and inspire whole health, happiness, and unconditional love for each dog, family, and community we serve.

My family has always possessed an entrepreneurial spirit along with a passion for connecting with people, said Armando Sanchez. On top of that, weve been dog people all our lives and when we discovered Central Bark, a spark just went off. We knew it was something we needed to do. And we wont be alone because joining on us on day one will be my dog Melba, a 2-year-old German short haired pointer mix and my mother Ilianas dog, Rudy, a 4-year-old blue heeler. We cant wait to fill Houstons need for innovative whole dog care and were excited to welcome the community, both four-legged and two-legged into our locations soon!

For nearly 20 years, Central Bark has drawn in dogs and their owners across the country to experience its Enrichment Doggy Day Care, which combines Central Barks industry-leading doggy day care expertise with the latest in canine science. Enrichment Doggy Day Care provides a healthy and balanced blend of exercise, social group play, learning, rest, and TLC to help dogs be healthy, happy, calm, and well-rounded members of the family. Furthermore, Central Bark also offers dog boarding, baths, grooming, a retail market, training and more.

Central Bark typically features approximately 6,000  7,000 square-feet of indoor space plus over 2,000 square-feet of outdoor play area. Activities include small flexible playgroups, group skills work, rest periods, and personalized one-on-one enrichment sessions. Enrichment add-ons give pups the extra attention they love and the freedom to use their senses, safely exploring with their instincts as they engage with interactive toys, puzzles, and games.

Were so happy to welcome Armando and Iliana to our Central Bark family, while continuing to expand our presence across Houston, said Bob Crawford, CEO of Central Bark. Given their small business and international business backgrounds along with their immense passion for dogs and the systems and infrastructure that Central Bark provides, we know dog owners across Houston will benefit immensely.

For more information on Central Bark franchising opportunities, visit centralbarkusa.com/franchising.

About Central Bark:

The Central Bark franchise system was founded in 2003 and now operates under the name Barkley Ventures Franchising, LLC. For nearly 20 years, the brand has grown to nearly 40 locations across more than a dozen states. The company has hosted over two million dog visits. Central Bark is a VetFran participant, the International Franchise Associations (IFA) veteran program, and offers a franchise fee discount to qualifying veterans. Central Bark is also an IFA MinorityFran participant. For more information about franchising with Central Bark, visit centralbarkusa.com/franchising or call 866-799-2275.

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"We believe that receiving an education is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of generational poverty and achieve financial stability for future generations, so we are thrilled to commit to this significant cause," shared Kirsty Duncan, Director of Giving and Corporate Social

Christie's International Real Estate Sereno announced that it has created an additional fund within its Sereno 1% For Good Charitable Foundation. The organization has committed to providing $100,000 in grants to local organizations within the Education Fund in 2023 to help increase education access to improve the local communities' health and resilience.

"Education and poverty are directly linked, and lack of access to quality education is the primary predictor of passing poverty from one generation to the next. We believe that receiving an education is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of generational poverty and achieve financial stability for future generations, so we are thrilled to commit to this significant cause," shared Kirsty Duncan, Director of Giving and Corporate Social at Christie's International Real Estate Sereno.

Sereno 1% For Good Charitable Foundation will provide $100,000 in grants to various organizations in the Education sector throughout 2023, including Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT), MVLAScholars, and 10,000 Degrees. Organizations can apply for one Education Fund grant for $2,500 per fiscal year.

Founded in 2012, Sereno 1% For Good Charitable Foundation, has donated over $5.2M to 400 local charities and community organizations.

In addition to the newly launched Education Fund, Sereno 1% For Good Charitable Foundation also offers grants through two other funds.

The Ecosystem Fund is dedicated to supporting everything from mental health to our four-legged friends and has helped organizations like Momentum for Health, Early Alert Canines, and Cancer Commons. Organizations can apply for one Ecosystem Fund grant for $2,500 per fiscal year.

The Equity & Access Fund is dedicated to supporting equal access to economic opportunity, nutritious food, and safe housing, and has helped organizations like the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, Hunger at Home, and Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. Organizations can apply for one Equity & Access Fund grant for $2,500 per fiscal year.

"We have always viewed our responsibility as a business in simple terms. In exchange for the opportunity to conduct business within our communities, we have an obligation and duty to find ways to return that gift. Our Sereno 1% for Good Charitable Foundation is our hopeful manifestation of this relationship. It is an extension of what we believe to be our highest purpose as a successful organization. We are incredibly grateful to see it continue to evolve and flourish with the addition of the Education Fund and know we have only just begun to define how we can support and positively impact the communities we serve," shared Ryan Iwanaga, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Christie's Sereno.

Additional information about Sereno 1% for Good Charitable Foundation can be found at https://www.sereno.com/one-percent.

About Christie's International Real Estate Sereno

Founded in 2006, Christie's International Real Estate Sereno is the largest locally-owned and operated independent real estate company in Northern California, with 18 offices and nearly 600 agents in Silicon Valley, the SF peninsula, Santa Cruz, the East Bay, Lake Tahoe, San Luis Obispo, and Sierra Foothills, producing over $6B in annual sales volume.

Christie's International Real Estate Sereno is ranked among the top five brokerages in the nation for both per-agent productivity and the highest average sales price. The company offers a highly-curated support platform and provides agents with concierge services to strengthen client relationships and world-class technology for well-executed transactions. Its agent-driven Sereno 1% For Good Charitable Foundation is changing lives in local communities, and to-date, has generated over $5.5 million in charitable donations given to 400 local organizations.
Inventor and Underground Railroad operative Joseph Winters is remembered with a marker of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

Franklin County Visitors Bureau is celebrating African American History Month at the Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center with an exhibit of well-known African American citizens of Franklin County. Highlighting the February remembrance is a Learn & Explore event on February 25, 9:30 AM to 3 PM, at the 11/30 Visitors Center. Chambersburg citizen Joseph Winters and his contributions are a key focus. Winters is well-known for his patented invention of the fire escape ladder. Participants will learn about Winters and the world in which he lived. Winters is also one of the organizers of the meeting between Frederick Douglass and John Brown, held on August 19-21, 1859. At this meeting, Brown revealed his plan to raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry o Douglass.

Learn & Explore also includes a tour of the Chambersburg Fire Museum, organized in 1977. The tour includes multiple fire vehicles from different eras, including one apparatus used to put out the blaze of 1864, when Confederates fired the town after a ransom demand was not paid. Visitors will step back in time to send a fire call and determine the location of the fire. The museum shows the evolution of community fire service, from the first organized group in 1780 to the present.

New to the 11/30 Visitors Centers African American history exhibit is a display to explain how the celebration commenced, evolving from a week-long recognition to the full month of February. President Gerald Ford officially recognized February as Black History Month during the American Bicentennial celebration Freedom and the recognition of individual rights are what our Revolution was all about. They were ideals that inspired our fight for Independence: ideals that we have been striving to live up to ever since, said President Ford. He added, I urge my fellow citizens to join me in tribute to Black History Month and the message of courage and perseverance it brings to all of us.

The Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center invites you to celebrate on February 25. Tickets are $15/person or a two-person ticket for $25. Ticket includes lunch, booklets, and tours. Tickets are available here.

The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore history, arts and architecture, recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods, and the warm hospitality of communities like Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. Franklin County PA is located just north of the Mason- Dixon Line and is an easy drive from Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York. For more information, visit ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com or contact the Franklin County Visitors Bureau at 866.646.8060 for information and 11/30 Visitors Center activities.


David Fike 16 (LM) president and CEO, Leadership Maryland says, The 53 members of the Class of 2023 are each influential leaders within their companies, industries, and communities, and have the desire to make a broader impact within our state."

Leadership Maryland announced today that Jodie Bollinger, Mary Ford-Naill, and Ashley Waters of Frederick have been chosen to participate in the statewide professional development program as a member of the Class of 2023.

The selected trio has significant experience in leadership roles within the Frederick community.

Jodie Bollinger currently serves as the Acting Executive Director for the Frederick County Office of Economic and Workforce Development and has over 25 years of economic development experience in the Frederick. She has also been involved in numerous community initiatives including serving on local boards including the Frederick Innovative Technology Center Inc. and the Downtown Frederick Partnership.

Mary Ford-Naill currently serves as Manager of Economic Development at The City of Frederick, and on the board of the Golden Mile Alliance and techfrederick. Mary has also previously served on the board for Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, Saint Johns Catholic School, and Downtown Frederick Partnership, and is heavily involved in Rotary as a former Area Governor and Club President.

Ashley Water currently serves as the Executive Director of Woman to Woman Mentoring and previously served as the Director of UMBC Operations at the University at Shady Grove in Rockville and Communications Manager for The City of Frederick. Ashley is very active with many organizations in the local and regional community, currently serving as the President of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek.

These local leaders are three of 53 individuals chosen for Leadership Marylands 30th class, who will complete the eight-month, hands-on learning program focused on the states most vital issues. The program will run from April to December, and include five, two-day sessions focused on Marylands five main geographic regions and the most vital issues impacting economic development, education, health and human services, criminal justice, the environment, and multi-culturalism/diversity across the state. More than 100 experts representing Marylands business, government, education, and non-profit communities will serve as panelists and guest speakers.

We are excited to announce our next class and welcome these accomplished and motivated individuals to Leadership Maryland, said David Fike 16 (LM) president and CEO, Leadership Maryland. The 53 members of the Class of 2023 are each influential leaders within their companies, industries, and communities, and have the desire to make a broader impact within our state. And the knowledge, experience, and connections they will gain in our program will prepare them to do just that.

Leadership Maryland is open to senior-level executives with significant achievements in either their careers and/or their communities. Ideal Leadership Maryland members have a desire to learn more about Marylands most critical issues and a personal commitment to be a force for positive change in their organizations, their communities, and their state. For more information about Leadership Maryland, please visit leadershipmd.org, call 410-841-2101 or email info@leadershipmd.org.

About Leadership Maryland

Leadership Maryland is a non-profit organization offering professional and youth development programs dedicated to building a better Maryland by harnessing the strength of its current and future leaders. Established in 1992, Leadership Marylands professional development program selects as many as 53 diverse and accomplished executives from Marylands public and private sectors each year to come together as a class for an eight-month learning program focused on the states most vital social, economic and environmental issues. Leadership Maryland also offers Maryland Leadership Workshops (MLW), the states premier leadership development program for middle and high school students. For more than 65 years, MLW has provided peer-led summer residential and community outreach programs that empower participants  known as delegates  to take ownership of their personal development as they grow in self-awareness, set measurable goals, and collaborate with peers in diverse groups. Together, Leadership Maryland and MLW have established thousands of Marylanders on their lifelong leadership path, equipped with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to influence positive change in all aspects of their lives and within our state. To learn more, please visit leadershipmd.org or mlw.org.


Voluntary Support of Higher Education by Source, 2022, CASE Insights The continued generosity during the most challenging period in generations demonstrates how strongly people value higher education in the United States.  Sue Cunningham, CASE president and CEO.

Giving to U.S. higher education institutions rose 12.5% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Insights on Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey findings released today. Total support reached $59.50 billion, up from $52.90 billion in 2021.

The VSE survey, under the auspices of the newly branded CASE Insights, is the definitive source of data for measuring the level of philanthropic support for nonprofit and public higher education institutions in the United States.

The 2022 rise in contributions was fueled by increased donations to both restricted endowments, which primarily fund scholarships, and to current operations with restrictions on use, which primarily fund research. Giving to restricted endowments rose 17.3%. Contributions to restricted current operations rose 6%. Together, these categories represent 79% of the total raised.

Giving from individuals and organizations continued to increase in 2022. Alumni giving grew 10.2%, while nonalumni individuals gave 8% more. Contributions from organizations rose 14.6%.

The continued generosity during the most challenging period in generations demonstrates how strongly people value higher education in the United States, says Sue Cunningham, CASE president and CEO. The efforts of institutional and academic leaders working with advancement professionals to build strong and significant relationships with donors provide critical investment in the long-term success and wellbeing of our colleges and universities, which in turn contribute so much to their local and global communities.

Charitable contributions from every type of individual and organizational donor rose this year, says Ann E. Kaplan, senior director of the Voluntary Support of Education program. The stock market was strong in December 2021, and many donors made gifts then. Moreover, some organizational donors determine gift and grant levels on an even earlier date, making commitments a year or more in advance.

Although most types of institutions reported that giving increased in 2022, contributions to two-year colleges declined 15.4%. Some institutions reported very large increases, while others reported stable or declining gift revenue.

Notably, some of these institutions received significant gifts from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in 2021. While these were one-time contributions, they transformed some institutions and enabled them to enhance their programming and become more stable.

Contributions to all other types of institutions, except public masters institutions, rose. Several public masters institutions were also recipients of Scotts generosity in 2021.

The number of gifts totaling $100 million or more was lower than last year. There were nine gifts of such magnitude in 2021 and seven in 2022. However, the difference is not considered significant.

The VSE survey is the longest running survey on educational philanthropy. This year marks the first time it has been conducted with the CASE Global Reporting Standards, which CASE issued in 2021. The standards ensure consistency in fundraising reporting for institutions across the world and clarify how certain gifts should be recorded.

This years data collection introduced several exciting changes that deepen our understanding of philanthropic giving to higher education institutions in the United States, says Cara Giacomini, vice president of data, research, and technology at CASE. In addition to integrating the CASE Global Reporting Standards into this survey, we added questions about giving by gift bands and by graduation cohorts. These new, optional, questions and the addition of donor-advised funds as a distinct donor type will lead to deeper understanding about the nuances of donor activity.

About CASE

CASEthe Council for Advancement and Support of Educationis a global, not-for-profit membership association with a vision to advance education to transform lives and society.

CASE is the home for advancement professionals, inspiring, challenging, and equipping them to act effectively and with integrity to champion the success of their institutions. CASE defines the competencies and standards for the profession of advancement, leading, and championing their dissemination and application with more than 97,000 advancement professionals at 3,100 member institutions in 80 countries.

Broad and growing communities of professionals gather under the global CASE umbrella. Currently these include alumni relations, development services, communications, fundraising, government relations, and marketing. These professionals are at all stages of their careers and may be working in universities, schools, colleges, cultural institutions, or other not-for-profits. CASE uses the intellectual capital and professional talents of a community of international volunteers to advance its work, and its membership includes many educational partners who work closely with the educational sector.

CASE Insights, formerly AMAtlas, is a new way to access the data, standards, and research benefits available to all CASE members. Specialized CASE Insights data, standards, and research enable members to make data-informed decisions, demonstrate strategic impact, highlight success stories, while adhering to the ethical practices of the advancement profession. For more information, visit https://www.case.org/case-insights.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CASE works across all continents from its regional offices in London, Singapore, and Mexico City to achieve a seamless experience for all its stakeholders, particularly its members, volunteers, and staff. For more information, visit https://www.case.org/.
Intellias, a Forbes-ranked IT employer and a technology enabler to Fortune 500 organizations, is setting up a new development center in Pune, India in addition to its Asian offices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to expand the companys regional capabilities.

Indian IT experts will join the global Intellias team of more than 3200 professionals, with 60% of senior-level engineers. In 2023, Intellias plans to hire about 100 IT professionals in India who specialize in Java, Scala, .Net, C++, and other technologies.

The engineers will have an opportunity to work on solutions for mobility, telecom & media, financial services, and retail. Intellias is contributing to the success of the worlds leading brands, including HERE Technologies, LG, Siemens, Swissquote Bank, KIA, TomTom, HelloFresh, Xerox PARC, and Deloitte.

"At Intellias, our talented engineers are a team united by deep industry expertise and shared corporate culture  the key factors for building groundbreaking IT products. Entering the Indian market is an important step in Intellias globalization strategy. Having a development center in one of Indias largest IT hubs will enable the companys further growth. We invite Indian developers to join our team and grow together with us," comments Vitaly Sedler, CEO and co-founder of Intellias

Intellias is known for its corporate culture and comfortable work environment. The companys values, goals, and day-to-day operations are based on the principles of support, respect, and empathy, which compose a human-first culture. In 2020 and 2021, the company was named the best IT employer by Forbes and EY Ukraine.

"Becoming a part of Intellias, Indian IT professionals will have excellent opportunities for professional development thanks to our culture of partnership. The human-to-human principle, which we follow in our team, allows new specialists to experience a quality level of interaction with the company," says Tabish Shaikh, Country Head of Intellias India

Intellias offers its specialists an opportunity to manage their careers using an internal corporate Career Hub. In just one click, the platform gives access to all professional and career options. The company creates a comfortable environment with flexible working hours and an opportunity to work from home, from the office, or both.

Furthermore, Intellias implements the principles of the UN Global Compact, encouraging and developing corporate social responsibility. As a technology company, Intellias has strong automotive expertise and has a special focus on ecomobility within its CSR strategy.. The company has also adopted the UN Womens Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and actively implements them in its daily work. In November 2021, Intellias launched the IntelliWomen Community, a communication platform for female professionals to foster personal and professional growth.

About Intellias

Intellias is a global technology partner to Fortune 500 enterprises and digital innovators, helping them accelerate their pace of sustainable digitalization. Intellias empowers businesses operating in Europe, North America, the MENA region, and the APAC region to embrace innovation at scale. The company has been featured in the Global Outsourcing 100 list by IAOP, recognized by Inc. 5000, and acknowledged in Forbes and in the GSA UK Awards. With two decades of experience, Intellias is geared towards ensuring the sustained success of clients on their value journey.


"Orases has a strong reputation for delivering innovative and impactful solutions, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to help drive the company's continued success." - Vladimir Polyanov

Orases, a leading technology firm specializing in custom software development and digital strategy, is proud to announce the appointment of Vladimir Polyanov as its new Chief Technology Officer. With this promotion, Polyanov joins Nick Damoulakis, CEO and Amy Damoulakis, CFO on the Executive Leadership Team.

Polyanov brings a wealth of experience and technical expertise to the role, having been with Orases for over 20 years and having previously served as VP of Production & Technology. He will be responsible for driving the company's technology vision and strategy, overseeing the development of innovative solutions, and ensuring the highest quality of technical delivery for Orases clients.

Polyanov said, "I am excited about this new role and the opportunity to continue working alongside such a talented group of individuals. Orases has a strong reputation for delivering innovative and impactful solutions, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to help drive the company's continued success."

CEO Nick Damoulakis praised Polyanov's passion for the work at Orases and stated that the new role better utilizes his expertise, and reflects the trust he has earned over the years. Polyanov joined Orases in 2003 as an intern from Hood College, and has since held various positions on senior development projects and software development. He was instrumental in the launch of products for some of Orases' largest clients, including the NFL, National Park Foundation, Quinlan & Fabish Music Company, American Kidney Fund, and Thompson Gas.

ABOUT ORASES

Orases is a full-service, digital technology agency based in Maryland. Founded in 2000, Orases has become a trusted provider of custom software, website and application development services and solutions that drive efficiency and provide measurable cost savings and revenue gains to their client partners. Learn more at Orases.com.
Paris Baguette, the bakery cafe concept with 4,000 units worldwide including over 120 in the United States, saw significant growth in 2022 and is showing strong growth early in 2023. After an explosive 2022, with a total of 24 new cafes opened and 125 signed agreements, the brand is continuing its expansion with the opening of a new bakery cafe at 200 Market Street.

We are thrilled to announce our new opening within New Jersey. Theres a tremendous amount of opportunity in the bakery cafe space, explained Mark Mele, chief development officer. No one else is doing what we are on the same scale, and thats attracting a lot of attention. Its a really exciting time for us as we continue seeing growth through franchise expansion and year-over-year revenue numbers.

The Montvale cafe is corporate owned and will bring the total number of locations within New Jersey to 8.

Moving forward, the brand continues to eye the 1,000 unit mark within the states by 2030, and as it continues to grow, Mele explained that Paris Baguette seeks passionate franchisees interested in serving people in a welcoming neighborhood establishment.

We want someone who is going to take the time to be present in their store and be caring with the staff so that everyone understands the most important person is the guest, he added.

Though the bakery market as a whole has become a nearly $12 billion segment, Paris Baguette continues to fill the void for high-quality, freshly made foods. Unlike many bakery concepts, which have shifted to soups, salads, and pre-made bakery items, Paris Baguette continues to offer a wide range of products produced in the cafe daily.

For franchisees looking to enter the bakery cafe space, the brand provides exceptional support without straying from its roots as a true bakery concept.

Paris Baguette is targeting several markets in 2023 and aims to sign 160 franchise agreements and open 64 units. Mele said target markets for the coming year include Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland. He added that the brand will continue its development in New Jersey and New York and expand in some additional states in New England, including Connecticut and Massachusetts.

We are on track to enter new markets and open a total of 64 units by the end of 2023, said TJ Rogers, franchise sales manager. Even throughout the pandemic, we did not shy away from opening additional units and exploring new markets. With great year-over-year revenue increases  a 42% jump from last year  and a persistent interest in the brand from franchisees and consumers alike, we expect nothing but a strong continued growth trajectory for the brand.

The total investment to franchise with Paris Baguette ranges from $528,270 and $1,638,554, including a $50,000 franchise fee. For more information, please visit https://parisbaguette.com/franchising/ or http://www.1851franchise.com/parisbaguette

ABOUT PARIS BAGUETTE

Paris Baguette is a bakery cafe franchise with more than 4,000 units across the globe. The brand first started franchising in 2015 in the U.S. and has since established 120 locations in markets across the country, making it one of the premier franchise opportunities in its category. Paris Baguettes primary mission, executed every day by its expert staff of bakers, cakers and baristas, is to share moments of joy with customers and help customers share moments of joy with their friends and family by providing world-class cakes, pastries, coffees, breads and other French-inspired bakery cafe fare. For more information, please visit https://parisbaguette.com/franchising/


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
Reinvent Telecom Enables No-Cost Microsoft Teams Calling with MCT Connector Were excited to deliver MCT Connector to our MSP and reseller partners as a no-cost expansion of our private-label UCaaS platform. With the click of a button, our partners UCaaS customers can start making outbound calls directly from Microsoft Teams.

Reinvent Telecom, a provider of private-labeled unified communications, SIP trunking, business messaging, direct routing for Microsoft Teams and contact center as a service solutions, announced today at ITEXPO in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the release of MCT Connector for Microsoft Teams. MCT Connector allows Reinvent partners to enable their UCaaS clients to make external calls directly from Microsoft Teams.

Were excited to deliver MCT Connector to our MSP and reseller partners as a no-cost expansion of our private-label UCaaS platform, said David Ansehl, Director of Wholesale Channel at Reinvent Telecom. With the click of a button, our partners UCaaS customers can start making outbound calls directly from Microsoft Teams.

Key features of Reinvents new MCT Connector for Microsoft Teams include:



Outbound calling using existing phone numbers

Quick access to existing contacts, call history, and voicemail

Direct access to CommPortal Web and Call Manager

Calling functionality from within Teams chats

The MCT Connector works with businesses current standard SIP phones or the MaX UC softphone. The only requirement is that users have a full-feature seat.

The MCT Connector is available for download by Reinvent resellers customers from the Teams app store or Teams Mobile app. The download and installation processes are the same for the desktop and mobile versions.

Reinvents MCT Connector for Microsoft Teams solution is available immediately through Reinvents private-label partner program. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit https://reinventtelecom.com/company/contact/.

Partners can learn more about the Reinvent MCT Connector for Microsoft Teams and private-label partner program by visiting Booth 355 at ITEXPO, February 14-17, 2023, at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

For new partner inquiries with Reinvent Telecom, please call 888.704.7346 or email sales@reinventtelecom.com.

For more information on Reinvents private-label cloud communications partner program and white-label UCaaS platform, visit http://www.reinventtelecom.com or call or text 888.704.7346.

For the latest ITEXPO news, updates, and information, follow the event on Twitter at @ITEXPO.

About Reinvent Telecom

Reinvent Telecom, a division of Saddleback Communications, operates a private-label communications platform that empowers its wholesale partners to transform their businesses into next-generation cloud-based communications service providers. Reinvent enables its wholesale partners to deliver reliable, high-quality Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Conferencing and Collaboration, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Business Messaging, Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams, and SIP trunking services. Reinvents solutions are all built on a proven platform and backed by Saddleback Communications, a stable, profitable Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier, and a wholly-owned enterprise of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). Reinvents powerful turnkey solution is managed from quote to compensation through its proprietary Reinvent Partner Portal (RPP), enabling its wholesale partners to generate revenue quickly and build a successful cloud voice business while keeping full ownership and control of their customers. For more information, visit us at http://www.reinventtelecom.com or call 855.455.7346.

About TMC

Through education, industry news, live events, and social influence, global buyers rely on TMCs content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership, and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all participants. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360-degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles, and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit http://www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet.
Elderwerks President Jennifer Prell explains that kinless seniors need to have their personal health and legal directives in place as they live their lives. Professional services can help in planning. "They think that since they have no family, they dont care what happens to their estate. What they dont realize is that its not just about the house, the money, and other items; its about what to do should you not be able to make health decisions for yourself."

Aging alone without family or spouses/partners is a growing trend in this country.

These mature adults are known by the term kinless seniors. According to a recent New York Times article, there are nearly a million Americans over the age of 55 living without a spouse or a partner, any children or siblings." The article gives other statistics such as that the rate of this group of seniors is projected to grow as generations younger than boomers are even likelier to be aging alone.

The troubling concern is when there is no family to help with a kinless seniors health, legal, and end-of-life decisions, who will make these choices? Planning for the future is key, and resources such as the Palatine, Illinois-based nonprofit Elderwerks can help kinless seniors in a proactive and positive way to connect with agencies and organizations who have the right experts to assist them. Elderwerks President Jennifer Prell hears from these older adults, and one of their worries is installing a healthcare and financial power of attorney to honor their wishes.

Yes, some people do plan for their futures. However, when people are kinless, they dont think about the consequences of the lack of planning, she explained. They think that since they have no family, they dont care what happens to their estate. What they dont realize is that its not just about the house, the money and other items; its about what to do should you not be able to make health decisions for yourself. What kind of care do you want? Where do you want to live? You do not want the state to direct a public guardian to make healthcare decisions for you as the choices they make may not be what you want. We also recommend discussing your current health and future possibilities with your primary care physician.

With these questions in mind, Prell encourages kinless seniors to consider these kinds of professional services in their planning:



Home service agencies assist with bathing, dressing, medication reminders, meals, errands, transportation, and companionship.

Private trustees manage a persons assets, health directives, and act as their Power of Attorney to ensure all wishes and needs are met.

Trust officers in banks oversee high-net worth people with their finances and daily support.

Elder law attorneys can act as guardians for the person and set up all legal paperwork to ensure that the health and financial aspects of aging are done legally.

Geriatric care managers assist with all aspects of a persons life regarding activities of daily living, transportation to appointments, documenting doctors orders, and full management of the person.

Money managers will help manage the money, pay bills, taxes, and account for spending.

Other supports such as close friends and religious communities can be helpful when dealing with social issues such as loneliness and developing a strong faith. The more important concerns should be left to the professionals.

Relying on friends and professionals will help you with your psyche and your happiness," Prell said. "You might want to put professional services in place for the other things your friends cant do such as home care services, a legacy list, handymen, maid services, and nutritional and transportation services. Having friends in charge of such duties is a lot of responsibility and stress on them. You want to make sure that they are able to help you with your needs, but not overburden or stress them out."

Remember, you are only alone if you want to be. It is important to plan now for future needs, accessible housing, and your safety net. Once those plans are in place, you can enjoy your life.

About Elderwerks:

Based in Palatine, Elderwerks, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, has helped thousands of older adults and seniors age well. Elderwerks offers complimentary, information, referrals, and guidance for all types of senior living, home care, support services, and benefits based on your or your loved one's needs. Acting as "senior guidance advisors, we help find the right solutions for you or your loved one. Whether it's assisted living, memory care, a referral for an elder law attorney, veterans benefit specialist, or transition to any other type of senior care, Elderwerks simplifies the process of navigating senior living options and supportive services. We can offer you support in a very short period of time. Don't let the future overwhelm you, call Elderwerks first: 855-462-0100. For more information, visit Elderwerks website. ###
The dazzling new addition to the Miami skyline, the multi-use Strata Wynwood development, opened its doors in October 2021, boasting twin residential towers. To protect its below-grade concrete structures against the damaging effects of high groundwater levels that are common in South Florida, the developers of Strata Wynwood relied on - PENETRON ADMIX.

The $71 million Strata Wynwood project, located in Miami's Arts District, encompasses 1.78 acres and spans a full city block. This multi-use development features 27,000 ft2 of street-level retail and studio space, three office floors with an area of 60,000 ft2, and two eight-story towers housing 257 apartment units with stunning views of the nearby amenities. Residents can enjoy a business center, computer lab, outdoor pool with cabanas, fitness center, residents' lounge and grill, and a garage with 480 parking spaces.

Cost-Effective Solution for High Groundwater Conditions As Miami is essentially a porous layer of limestone sitting on bedrock, any construction site in the area is faced with high groundwater levels seeping into the construction site. To offer a reliable and cost-effective alternative to the originally specified membrane system, the local Penetron expert teamed up with Stantec Consulting Services, the project's structural engineer, and Paramount, the waterproofing consultant, to provide the optimal concrete waterproofing solution. Cemex, the ready-mix concrete supplier, supplied a PENETRON ADMIX-treated concrete mix for the below-grade pad foundation footings and elevator pits of the Strata Wynwood project, and PENEBAR SW-55, a swellable waterstop, was installed at the construction joints and around penetrations in the elevator pits.

Self-Healing Concrete for Ultimate Durability The proprietary chemicals in PENETRON ADMIX react with moisture and concrete minerals to form insoluble crystals throughout the entire concrete matrix, once mixed into the concrete. These insoluble crystals within the concrete matrix reduce long-term shrinkage cracking, seal existing microcracks, and provide self-healing capabilities that seal hairline cracks over the service life of the structure.

The self-healing capability of the concrete mix used for the Strata Wynwood project virtually eliminates the need for any future maintenance, says Christopher Chen, Director of The Penetron Group. With PENETRON ADMIX added to the mix, the service life of concrete structures can be extended by up to 60 years, even in the corrosive coastal conditions in South Florida.

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.
Vision-e is a 100% veteran-owned, Salesforce ISV Partner providing secure, compliant lead management solutions for Salesforce users. We're proud to be 100% veteran-owned and look forward to forging new relationships with companies in the Salesforce ecosystem who need solutions for selling safely and successfully in today's strict data privacy and security environment.

Vision-e publicly announced new leadership today with Founder and long-time Chief Operating Officer, George Turano, taking the reins as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Turano served in the U.S. Air Force for 23-years before retiring and entering private industry with Xerox. He founded Vision-e in 2011 in response to surging market demand for easy, elegant solutions to capture and manage leads in Salesforce.

Mr. Turano is joined by fellow Air Force veteran, Mike Lightner, who assumed the role of company president after acquiring a stake in the company. Colonel Lightner retired from the Air Force after 27 years as an F-16 fighter pilot and advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy where he influenced national defense strategy and resourcing decisions.

The two veterans first worked together in 1992 while stationed in South Carolina. Now, more than 30 years later, theyve reunited under the Vision-e banner with a focus on their fellow veterans and delivering Salesforce lead management solutions optimized for the modern data privacy, security, and compliance environment.

With the change in leadership, giving back to the military community is now embedded in Vision-es culture. At a veterans workshop at Dreamforce 22, Mr. Lightner stated, George and I are committed to creating a company that reflects our status and responsibility as a 100% Veteran-Owned Small Business. By partnering with companies and organizations that share our vision, we hope to build a network that helps veterans acquire high-demand IT skills and quality jobs the moment they leave uniform.

Mr. Turano, meanwhile, highlighted the companys data privacy and security focus. GDPR ushered in a new era of data stewardship in which companies must be good caretakers of their clients data or pay a hefty price. Fines from regulators and lossesespecially reputation damagefrom data breaches are setting new records each year. Thats why fielding solutions that help Salesforce users to capture leads and increase win opportunities in a secure, compliant manner is our top priority.

The Vision-e culture of security by design places the company's daily priority on data privacy and comprehensive security initiatives that has led to multiple coveted industry certifications, including SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance.

About Vision-e

Vision-e is a brand of InField Sales Pro LLC, a South Carolina-based, 100% Veteran Owned Small Business. A Salesforce Partner since 2011, Vision-e specializes in data privacy and security tools for the Salesforce ecosystem. Vision-es product portfolio is headlined by its front-end lead management solution, SCAN, featuring enterprise-level security, consent capture, and Zero Digital Footprint processing of business PII from multiple formats, including business cards, vCards, event badges, and NFC cards.

For inquiries about Vision-e, including product details and diversity supplier partnerships, visit visione.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
We strive to cultivate a team of executive leaders who are committed to amplifying the legacy of Atlanta's Historic Westside neighborhoods, disrupting the cycle of poverty through neighborhood revitalization,  John Ahmann, president and CEO of Westside Future Fund.

Westside Future Fund (WFF) announces two new appointments to its Board of Directors: Susan Somersille Johnson, chief marketing officer, Prudential Financial; and Michael J. Cochran, partner, Kilpatrick Townsend. WFF brings together community leaders from all areas of Atlanta  business, government and philanthropy  who believe in the future of these historic neighborhoods and are committed to helping restore their strength. These appointments increase the WFF Board of Directors to 25.

We are pleased to welcome both Susan and Michael to our Board of Directors, said John Ahmann, president and CEO of Westside Future Fund. We strive to cultivate a team of executive leaders who are committed to amplifying the legacy of Atlanta's Historic Westside neighborhoods, disrupting the cycle of poverty through neighborhood revitalization."

Johnson and Cochran join other leading Atlanta executives and civic leaders, including board chair Dr. Beverly Tatum, president emerita, Spelman College; board vice chair Peter Muniz, vice president and deputy general counsel, The Home Depot; Stacy Apter, vice president and treasurer, The Coca-Cola Company and Rodney Bullard, chief executive officer, The Same House. In its longstanding commitment to supporting the equitable revitalization of Atlantas Historic Westside, the Coca-Cola Company appoints a current executive to sit on the board of the Westside Future Fund.

Johnson is responsible for leading the global marketing and brand strategy to help drive profitable growth for Prudential. She previously served as corporate executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Truist Financial, the bank holding company formed in 2019 following the merger of SunTrust Bank and BB&T. She serves on the board of directors of Constellation Brands and National Vision. Passionate about philanthropy and volunteerism, she also is a board member of United Way U.S.A. and HOPE Global Forums. Johnson holds a bachelors degree in engineering sciences from Harvard University and an MBA in finance from The Wharton School.

Cochrans practice is primarily focused on private equity and venture capital with a concentration on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and distressed transactions. He represents buyers, sellers and financiers in their investing activities and financing needs. He previously worked as a partner at Dentons; McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP; and Equity Capital Partners, Inc. Cochran serves as chairman of the board of directors of First Step Staffing and is a member of the Georgia Bar Association. Cochran earned a bachelors degree from the University of Washington and his juris doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School.

About Westside Future Fund

Westside Future Fund (WFF) works to create a community Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud to call home. WFF is pursuing economic justice and racial equity on Atlantas Historic Westside by connecting residents with the right housing and educational support, and strengthening the community they call home. WFF drives compassionate revitalization in the English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights, Atlanta University Center, Just Us, and Booker T. Washington neighborhoods. Its flagship programHome on the Westsidesupports residents in renting, buying, and retaining affordable housing and accessing quality cradle-to-career education. To learn more, follow us on Facebook (@westsidefuturefund), Instagram (@westsidefuturefund), and Twitter (@WFFAtlanta) or visit http://www.westsidefuturefund.org.
The Beatrice Community Hospital Foundation hosted The Gage County Community Connection event on Tuesday morning at Vintage Venue.

BCH Foundation Director Shelby Watson said the purpose of the networking event was to bring social service and community organizations together.

We want to learn what everyone is doing but also work towards the betterment of the community and connecting resources, she said. In a perfect world we all want to meet our goals, but if we are duplicating services were all fighting for the same financial resources that could be used in a different way.

About 50 people from represented approximate 25 non-profit organizations and agencies serving individuals and families in Gage County.

Several representatives spoke to the entire group for two to three minutes introducing the agencies and programs they were promoting.

Senior Executive of Marketing Communications Diane Vicars used her time to talk about the Community Needs Survey that BCHHC is hoping to have completed by many community members.

As a non-profit hospital the federal government requires us to offer a survey, she said. It is important to the community.

Beatrice Educational Foundation Director Doris Martin talked about the BEF and the programs they offer but added that she loved Beatrice.

I have a relationship with most everyone in this room, she said. I think we do good things in Beatrice because of all of the efforts.

Attendees were also given the opportunity for small table discussions around mental health, education, and family support.

This was the second year of the networking event with feedback from todays event being used to plan for next year.
Peter Fink sometimes wonders how different his life might have been if hed gotten mom and dads station wagon when he turned 16 instead of the hot rod he bought himself.

That 1970 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400, with its army green paint job, was nothing special at the time. He paid a dealer at 51st and Center $2,200 for it, using money hed saved over the years from a paper route and restaurant and grocery store jobs.

Then a few weeks later, he blew up the transmission.

That got me into transmissions and liking cars, he said. I met my wife through that car. Everything I have or own is because of that car.

Three years later at 19, using the knowledge hed gained from working on the Firebird, he started Certified Transmission. Now, at 62, he has 14 retail stores, five manufacturing plants and 75 distributors across the country. The company produces about 1,000 transmissions a week.

His three adult children are part of a staff of 500.

He still owns the Firebird  its part of one of the largest car collections in the United States.

A total of 125 muscle cars  those with high-performance engines and quick takeoffs  glimmer in a private museum in northwest Omaha. It is open to the public only a few times a year for charitable events.

On Thursday, the museum will be the site of the 25th anniversary celebration of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25. Tickets for the 6-8 p.m. event, which cost $100, may be purchased at KKAD25.org.

Fink renovated the building that houses the museum to fit his collection, which has been growing since that first car purchase.

American-made, factory-built muscle cars are his passion  he has 141 overall. Theres only five or six more he covets, unless he decides to let in foreign cars such as a Ferrari, Mercedes or Porsche.

His wife, Carolyn, is OK with the whole thing.

When I went from 70 to 80, I told the wife I had to start selling or get a bigger place, Fink said. She said get a bigger place.

Thats not all that can be found at the former retail store, which some people call Peters Muscle Car Museum.

Guitars from 55 rock bands of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s  think Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top  are on display. Pin-ball machines play classic rock.

He also has memorabilia from famous people such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the Wright Brothers and Albert Einstein.

All the people who made America great, he said.

Nancy Mackintosh, who grew up loving muscle cars, has been at the museum for three fundraisers. Twice for Chariots 4 Hope and once for Wear Yellow Nebraska, which raises money to support cancer survivors.

She said its much more than she ever expected.

Its just remarkable, she said. If you are a car fan, if you love old American muscle cars, this is breathtaking. He knows the history of every one of his cars.

Mackintosh said she cant imagine how much it costs to maintain the museum and keep each car so pristine. The three Ford GTs that caught her eye are extremely rare. One, a very limited 2018 model, carries VIN number No. 3. It was the first one offered to the public.

Fink declined to say how much money hes sunk into his collection along with the museum, the insurance and a security system. He visits a few times a month and enjoys taking a car out for a spin or to a trade show.

That original Firebird is still in good shape, he said, but its probably the least expensive car in the place.

To him, its priceless.

Im sure a lot of things wouldnt have happened and my life would have been completely different if it wasnt for that car, he said. When I look back, its not an exaggeration. I can guarantee if I didnt own that car, I wouldnt be where I am or have what I have today.

Photos: Muscle car museum in Omaha home to private collection of more than 100 hot rods
Texas Bookman, a division of Half Price Books, will hold its second annual Texas Remainder Expo (T-Rex), March 7-9. The event will be held in Carrollton, Tex. at the company's warehouse and showroom on the outskirts of Dallas. Remainder buyers and sellers are welcome.

We enjoyed hosting our friends across the industry last year, and are excited to see these great remainder vendors in Texas once again, Sharon Anderson Wright, CEO of Half Price Books, said. We expect to have an even greater selection of vendors and products available this year.

Dave Wiggins, v-p of sales for Book Depot, said the first show exceeded his expectations, particularly in terms of attendance. Im positive this year will bring an even bigger crowd and I would say without any reservations that if youre a book buyer, attending this show is a must, Wiggins said.

Exhibitors include Magers & Quinn, Powell's Books Wholesale, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, among others.

Registration information for buyers and sellers is online at www.texasremainderexpo.com or email trex@texasbookman.com for more details.
Rebel Girls, the publishing-based empowerment brand, has announced a digital content partnership with Google. The pairing will result in Rebel Girls adding close to 200 pieces of content to Google Kids Space, a content hub on select Android tablets featuring age-appropriate apps, books, games, and videos for children under nine.

As part of the deal, Rebel Girls is developing 18 new read-along e-books to debut over the next year, including eight titles for readers ages 36 that are available now. The first list consists of five biographies: Wild Wild Wildlife: Bindi Irwin, Queen of the Halfpipe: Chloe Kim, Dueling Drummers: Nandi Bushell, Blue Jeans & Ballet Shoes: Judith Jamison, and Tinkering with Light: Ann Makosinski, as well as two themed collections, Rebel Girls Champions and Rebel Girls Climate Warriors, and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: Babys First Book of Amazing Women.

Outside of the e-books, the agreement encompasses 180 audio productions licensed by Google from Rebel Girls content library, which kids can listen to on Google Kids Space or watch on the Rebel Girls channel on YouTube Kids. The content includes audio stories about the likes of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, artist Frida Kahlo, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and education activist Malala Yousafzai, as well as interviews with singer Andra Day, actress and presenter Jameela Jamil, skier Lindsey Vonn, and more.

The company published its first book, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, in 2016. The Rebel Girls community currently includes 23 million girls in 100 countries, with a goal of reaching 50 million by 2025. Rebel Girls has sold more than 8.5 million books in 50 languages and reached 20 million digital audio listens.
In early December, Bob Bakish, CEO of Simon & Schuster parent company Paramount Global, told a UBS media conference that with the sale of S&S to Penguin Random House dead, the company still planned to divest the publisher, though he didnt say when that may occur. A story published by Reuters last night hints that sales talks may be heating up.

Citing anonymous sources, Reuters said that Paramount is working with a financial advisor to explore a sale of Simon & Schuster that could value it between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, a price range that includes the $2.2 billion PRH had offered for S&S. The story added that the process was at an early stage and a deal was not certain. While a deal may not happen soon, it is certain that the video-focused Paramount will sell S&S, as it continues to list the publisher as a non-core asset.

The Reuters story offered no new details, but it reinforced the belief the Paramount will look to private equity firms as possible buyers to avoid the regulatory problems that sank the purchase by PRH. Spokespeople for HarperCollins and Hachettetwo companies that have expressed interest in buying S&Soffered no comment to Reuters on the story.

Sources have told PW that Paramount would not entertain an offer from HC, fearing the deal would run into the same issues that blocked the PRH purchase. Asked for comment by Reuters, Paramount executives pointed to their previous statement that calls S&S a non-core asset.

Paramount is scheduled to release its year-end financial results tomorrow, during which executives could issue an update on the S&S sales process.
When you check out Billings newest art gallery, watch your step. One resident has a tendency to scurry about.

The Electric Storm Gallery, which opened on Feb. 10 at 405 N. 24th St. on Billings north side, has all the trappings of a traditional art exhibit hall. Its a homey space, well lit, and there are big, white, wide open walls that are filled with works by artists from Montana and beyond. The first thing that greets you when you walk in is a big neon sign made by local craftsman John Nyman. Overstuffed leather chairs sit along one of the walls. Theres even an authentic Salvador Dali print.

But theres one thing Electric Storm has that all other galleries do not: Gary the gallery cat. Gary is a slate gray kitty, a former barn cat from Shepherd that now calls the gallery home. And, in defiance of her name, Gary is a girl cat, named after her meows similarity to the sounds made by Spongebob Squarepants pet snail, Gary.

Gary the girl gallery cat isnt just a full time resident of the Electric Storm Gallery. Shes a good barometer of the gallery at large. Theres a lot more here than initially meets the eye.

Even if what immediately meets the eye is excellent. Electric Storms location is a place thats at once hungry for art and surprisingly full of it. The gallery sits across from Tinys Tavern, and shares a building with a law office and a soap manufacturer. But it also borders the LGX Studio, the art and rehearsal space owned by Jon Lodge and Jane Waggoner Deschner, and is often populated by folks like Mary Kate Teske, whose country band often practices there.

The second I came in here it felt like it was saying welcome home, said Taylor Evans, who owns and curates the gallery. Look at all this potential you have here.

If theres one thing Evans has, its potential. Shes just 24, but shes already a full time working artist with a bachelor's degree, works at the Yellowstone Art Museum, is getting a master's from Johns Hopkins University, and oh by the way, she also now has her own art gallery.

Its a lot. And that welcome home shes found at Electric Storm didnt come easy. Evans was born and raised in Bozeman, spending a lot of time on her grandmothers farm.

I was definitely raised an equestrian, she said. But the art usually associated with that kind of lifestyle, full of cowboys and horses and open plains, didnt do much for Evans.

Even though we grew up on a farm, my family didnt have an extreme desire for Western art, she admitted. We were always really into modern stuff. I grew up around a lot of really experimental work. A lot of it was from out of state.

Her grandma was never a professional artist, but she loved making art as a hobby, and taught a young Evans how to draw and paint.

She gave me the room to become a creator in her house, Evans said.

From there, she blossomed. Evans graduated high school and enrolled in art school at Montana State University Billings in 2018. She attended for a year, before going abroad and studying at the Bath School of Art and Design in Bath, England. She found the British city, which was named for the still standing Roman bath houses built centuries ago and was once the home of Jane Austen, to be illuminating, especially for someone from small town Montana.

That experience gave me an awakening inside, to not put myself in a box, Evans said. Theres something about leaving Montana and coming back thats very, very eye opening.

She returned to MSUB for one semester, and then finally settled into the Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University in Portland, Oregon. She got a BFA with an emphasis in painting and graduated in spring 2022. But along the way, shed lost her spark for painting.

I was getting a little bit bored, admitted Evans. Wanting to experiment pushed me into working with new materials and made me want to be more hands on.

The work Evans has been doing recently sure isn't boring. Shes been making these grand pieces, something in between a painting and a three-dimensional sculpture. Theyre mounted to the wall, but that base of wood is just that, a base. On it, Evans builds out.

I wanted to create something that presents as a painting but Ive taken away painting as a medium. Its painting as a discipline, Evans explained.

She works with recycled paper and old 35-millimeter film. Those long, continuous materials wrap around everyday objects, also mounted to the wood backing. There are Slinkys, mirrors, discarded eye glass lenses, poker chips, glow sticks, even a mini iron. The film winds through the solid detritus, snaking around like brush strokes.

Everything is reused. Shell go on walks around town and pick up objects found discarded in the street. Her friends have joined in, and now bring her boxes of junk they find lying around.

I see things, I pick them up, and I figure out what to do with them later, Evans said. By the end of my junior year I had a big bin in my house that I had labeled junk from the street. Shes got one at Electric Storm, and shes always looking for donations.

The film is old microfiche copies of census documents, some dating to the 19th century. She found them in a Portland junk store that sold material by the pound. Shes collected almost all 50 states.

Film never biodegrades, Evans said. Its toxic, so once its put into the ground the chemicals can dissipate into the soil. You cant melt it. You cant destroy it.

So why not create with it? The people whose lives were documented in those census records now live on, in some small way. Years, maybe centuries after their deaths, theyre still here.

Evans has given these pieces names like Serenade, Siren, and Subwoofer.

They create a feeling of continuous movement, the same sense that Evans gives off in person. These works, like the artist who made them, feel like theyre not quite satisfied, like theres something just on the horizon that theyre racing to achieve.

After college graduation, Evans returned to Billings. But shortly after that she went back to school, and is enrolled online at Johns Hopkins, getting a master's in museum studies and curatorial practice. What Evans really loves is interacting with art, shining a light on her work, but also works of others. Shes a born networker.

Its always been a want for me to be part of a gallery, she said. Galleries are still a place where people can walk in and see art for free. They can come and they can take ideas.

She helped found Playground Gallery, a community space in Portland that helps showcase and educate upcoming artists. She sat on their board, and was assistant curator from the gallerys creation to when she returned to Billings last spring.

Thats what pushed her into getting a masters, and made her a good fit for the YAM, where she can often be found manning the front desk and interacting with art patrons, which Evans said she "adores."

(Playground) is one of the main reasons why Im standing in this gallery today, Evans said, while gesticulating around her new art space. It gave me so much knowledge and so many experiences. Part of the beauty is getting to know people that make work.

Jon Lodge is one of those people. Lodge, no stranger to the avant-garde, could hardly contain himself when he talked about Evans work, which he called brilliant.

Its industrial, but it lays into this natural looking form, he added. I love the juxtaposition. Its organic and synthetic.

But its not all heady concepts, Lodge contends.

The bottom line is, you like how it looks. It looks great, he said.

Lodge has known Evans since she was young. The Evans family owned Artcraft Printers, the print shop with multiple locations around Montana. Lodge managed the Billings branch.

Hes actually the person who came up with the Electric Storm moniker.

I could see her energy and her spark, Lodge said. Shes young. Shes motivated. Shes smart. She is an electric storm. And it wasnt like we were sitting here trying to think of a name. It was just what happened.

Lodge has five pieces on display at the Electric Storm Gallery right now. Theyre part of the gallerys inaugural show, Everything But the Kitchen Sink, which runs until April 14. It contains works by not only Lodge and Evans, but six other artists.

Theres Jane Waggoner Deschner, who has a litany of new pieces in the Electric Storm Gallery that are an extension and expansion of the ideas and forms behind Remember Me, her Yellowstone Art Museum exhibition which recently closed.

Terri Porta, the local painter who was recently named Billings' first artist-in-residence, also has work in Everything but the Kitchen Sink. And Bozeman-based sculptor Trent Harvey, who Evans has known since pre-school, has the most immediately eye catching piece in the gallery  a giant sculpture of a spider, with a pronounced green stripe running down its abdomen. He had to drive over from Bozeman with the big spider tied to the top of his car.

But Evans wants the space to be for non-locals, too. Theres a piece by Simone Fisher, who Evans met at college in Portland. And multiple works from both Perry Chandler and Kevin Smith, both of whom she worked with at Playground.

True to its name, Everything But the Kitchen Sink has Electric Storm Gallery full to bursting. And between this, her art, the YAM, a masters degree and an occasionally needy gallery cat, Evans life is full, too. The secret to this busy schedule? To never do it alone.

Evans is quick to thank everyone she can. Her parents support has been integral, she said. She namechecks MSUB professors Jodi Lightner, Mark Earnhart and Keeara Rhoades for helping her get her feet wet in professional art. Evans significant other Austin Allery was helpful in both gallery setup and emotional support. And Tyler Murphy, who similarly opened his Montana Gallery at a young age, donated the rolling walls and furniture that now sit in Electric Storm. And, more importantly, Evans said he was willing to share his wealth of experience.

I have so much to learn. And by no means am I trying to come off like I did this myself, Evans said. There have been so many people helping me and supporting me. If I think long enough about it makes me cry.

Evans especially glows when talking about Deschner.

Jane has been here nearly every day, not only giving me emotional support but personal support, Evans said. She helped curate a lot of this show.

This is a hard business, Deschner admitted. But shes out talking, making contacts. Shes so personable and very articulate. Very thoughtful about thanking, thanking, thanking.

Evans may be precocious, but shes never pretentious.

Its a lot of responsibility to earn the trust of an artist, and to have them trust me with their work, she said.

In a way my art is like an appendage of me. Its the same way with every object in here. The creator has a really deep connection with it. So for them to entrust me with it in this space, its absolutely overwhelming. Its a privilege.
Georgia lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday that seeks to tackle unsafe housing conditions and offer protections to tenants who are behind on their rent.

According to the bill  which is known as the Safe at Home Act  landlords would be required to provide rental homes fit for human habitation. Additionally, landlords would have to give tenants who are late on their rent three days to pay before filing for an eviction.
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.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. High 78F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A Billings man who admitted to distributing pounds of meth, fentanyl pills and heroin over three months while residing at a Billings pre-release center, and to illegally possessing firearms, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Rodney Trimble, 48, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and to prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

The government alleged in court documents that in June 2022, Billings Police officers learned that Trimble was in possession of a large amount of meth, fentanyl and heroin and was on state probation.

Montana Probation and Parole authorized a search of Trimble following a traffic stop. Trimble told officers that he was recently released from a pre-release center where he was serving time for distributing illicit drugs within a corrections facility.

Trimble admitted to recently buying a pound of meth, approximately 100 fentanyl pills and some heroin and had the drugs in his vehicle. He further admitted that he had firearms at his residence that he obtained from a couple of tweakers on the street because someone had recently broken into his residence.

Officers located approximately 1.4 pounds of meth, 49 grams of heroin and 24 fentanyl pills in Trimbles vehicle, and a semi-automatic rifle and .357-caliber revolver in his residence. Trimble further admitted to distributing approximately 12 pounds of meth, 600 fentanyl pills and three ounces of heroin over three months, all while he was residing at the pre-release center. Twelve pounds of meth is the equivalent of approximately 43,488 doses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie R. Patten prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and Billings Police Department.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Photographer / Multimedia Editor

Has been working as a photojournalist since 2007, before moving into newspapers, he worked with an NGO called Project HOPE. He then went to work for the Press and Sun-Bulletin in New York, and then in New England working for the Brattleboro Reformer.
Valley Credit Union has donated $15,000 in support of local high schools for their annual sober graduation parties.

The all-night sober party is a drug and alcohol-free event that provides a safe and fun environment for high school students to celebrate the end of the school year. The funds donated by Valley will be used to ensure every student, from all three schools, leaves the party with a gift.

"We believe it is important to invest in the youth of our community and provide them with positive, healthy experiences," said Brandon Scala, SVP of business development of Valley. "This all-night sober party is a great opportunity for students to have a memorable, enjoyable time without having to worry about the dangers of drugs and alcohol."

The all-night sober parties are scheduled to take place the night of graduation on Sunday, May 28 at their respective schools.
Conservative and gun-rights groups as well as 24 states have challenged new federal regulations on pistols with stabilizing braces in court, suing to block a gun-control action touted by President Joe Biden after the accessories were used in two mass shootings.

Two lawsuits were filed in federal court in Texas at the end of January against the move to treat the guns like short-barreled rifles, a weapon like a sawed-off shotgun that has been heavily regulated since the 1930s. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen recently announced he had joined with 23 other states in filing a lawsuit in federal court in North Dakota also challenging the regulations.

The cases argue that millions of people have guns with the braces and use them to make firing more accurate, and therefore safer, according to the Texas lawsuit filed on behalf of three veterans by the conservative Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

They said in the lawsuit that the new rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives forces owners into unthinkable choices of removing the brace, submitting to a national registry or opening themselves up to possible charges.

The new rule unlawfully usurps Congressional authority by significantly expanding the definition of rifle under federal law and, with it, imposes potential criminal liability on millions of Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights, the lawsuit argues. A decade ago, the ATF found that the braces did not make guns similar to short-barreled rifles.

Knudsen said in announcing the states lawsuit that the regulations will turn millions of gun owners into felons if they do not register and pay a tax on the devices. Pistol braces are designed to help people with disabilities use their firearms, he said.

This rule is simply a continuation of President Biden and his ATF puppet Steve Dettelbachs assault on the gun rights of law-abiding Montanans. Under their gun control regime, millions of Americans owning these simple accessories now have a choice: register them with the ATF with a ridiculous fee or face federal criminal charges, Knudsen said in a statement. This rule is flagrantly unconstitutional. Attaching a common pistol-stabilizing brace does not magically transform a pistol into a federally regulated short-barreled rifle.

The group Firearms Policy Coalition also challenged the new rule in another lawsuit filed in Texas.

At least 3 million guns with stabilizing braces are in circulation in the U.S., according to the ATF. Other estimates place the number much higher, the suit claims. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block enforcement of the rule.

The regulation was one of several steps Biden announced in 2021 after a man using a stabilizing brace killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. A stabilizing brace was also used in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that left nine people dead in 2019.

The agency declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The rule has drawn pushback from gun-rights groups since its proposal.

Stabilizing braces transform a pistol into a weapon thats powerful and easy to conceal, Attorney General Merrick Garland said when he announced the rule earlier this month. Originally developed for disabled veterans, the accessories became a loophole exploited by gunmakers to make weapons more deadly, gun-control groups said.
Buddhist monk Soy Sat walks in front of Candlelight Party vice president Rong Chhun during a march from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to Pursat province, February 2023.

A Buddhist monk who joined a peaceful march organized by an opposition party official that called on the Cambodian government to restore social ethics was ousted by the head monk of his temple for disrupting the public peace.

Venerable Soy Sat, 72, was expelled from the Phnom Plouch Pagoda in Kampong Speu province on Feb. 9 by pagoda chief Oum Harm, who warned him that he would be defrocked if he refused to leave.

The chief monk expelled me because he accused me of inciting to destroy peace, said Soy Sat.



In early February, the monk marched along with Rong Chhun, the new vice president of the opposition Candlelight Party, and other demonstrators from the capital of Phnom Penh to Pursat province in the western part of the county. They had permission for the march from the Interior Ministry.

The move comes five months ahead of an election showdown between the opposition Candlelight Party and Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, or the CCP. The prime minister has targeted opposition leaders, arresting and detaining them on what critics say are politically motivated charges in an apparent attempt to remain in power.

Buddhist monks, who occupy their own social class in Cambodia and are given a great deal of respect by the public, frequently participate in demonstrations, but ousting them from a temple is unusual.

Soy Sat denied that he intended to disrupt the public peace and said he would continue to participate in social advocacy.

The monk said he is currently living in an undisclosed location for security reasons, but he is running short on food and needs a permanent place to live. He asked monks at four other temples if they would take him in, but they all refused.

I urge other chief monks to allow me to stay because I didn't commit any crime, he said.

RFA could not reach Oum Harm for comment Wednesday. Cambodias Cults and Religion Minister Seng Somony refused to comment on the case but said he would investigate it.

Support for the ruling party has fallen in the past decade amid chronic corruption within the party and the government, which opponents say has led to human rights violations, deteriorating social ethics and a culture of impunity.

Rong Chhun, a labor leader, said he organized the protest before the party appointed him to his current role, so that the protest had nothing to do with politics.

Rong Chhun said he was displeased to learn about Soy Sats ousting, adding that the head monk should not have taken such a measure and that it now serves as a precedent and a threat for other clergy members who participate in peaceful protests

Monks are symbols of the nation who preach to the people, he said, but now they are facing problems.

Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
In Brief

China recently accused the Czech Republic of violating the one-China principle, but the Czech Republic claims to adhere to a one-China policy. Policy versus principles  is it just semantics or is there a real difference? Must all countries one-China policies mirror Beijings one-China principle?

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) found that while China has made recognition of one China a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing, countries differ in their interpretation of what a one-China policy means. China often misleadingly claims that other countries have pledged to adhere to its one-China principle.

In Depth

Are the one-China policies of the Czech Republic and the EU in line with the one-China principle upheld by China?

On Jan. 30, Czech President-elect Petr Pavel and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen spoke in a congratulatory phone call following his election victory. He agreed to strengthen his countrys partnership with Taiwan and expressed hope that he could meet Tsai in person in the future. Taiwanese presidential spokesperson Lin Yu-chan said the call lasted nearly 15 minutes.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a news conference the following day that the call between Pavel and Tsai seriously interferes in China's internal affairs, blatantly violates the Czech side's political commitment to the one-China principle, and sends a wrong signal to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence. She urged the Czech Republic to undo the calls negative impact.

According to Beijing, its one-China principle is clear and unambiguous: that there is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China."

The top concern of the PRC government under the one-China principle is that other countries do not treat Taiwan as an independent country. Chinese authorities view actions such as meetings or phone calls by top leaders of other countries with Taiwan leaders as violating Chinas sovereignty.

Good relations with democratic Taiwan

The hitch is that the Czech government never agreed to adhere to the one-China principle. Instead, according to the website of the Czech embassy in China, the Czech Republic adopts a one-China policy. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala reiterated Pragues position in response to Chinas criticism.

"Czechia respects and represents its own one-China policy, Fiala said, according to a Jan. 31 Associated Press report. As a sovereign country it is us who decide whom we call or whom we meet. He added that we traditionally have good economic, educational, and research relations with democratic Taiwan.

The Czech Republics one-China policy mirrors that of the EU, which has long recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China while simultaneously developing strong relations with Taiwan.

Are other countries one-China policies in line with the one-China principle?

The United States longstanding one-China policy, based on several diplomatic communiques and other agreements issued between 1972 and 1982, also differs from Chinas one-China principle.

The U.S. and the PRC established diplomatic relations on Jan. 1, 1979, signing a U.S.-China joint communique which differed in a key word choice regarding the two countries' position on the PRCs interpretation of one China. The English version states that the U.S. acknowledges China's position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China, while the Chinese version used, which is often translated as recognizes or accepts.

Later statements by U.S. officials emphasize that this choice of terms is both deliberate and significant. Raymond Burghardt, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S.s de facto embassy in Taiwan,, For the past 37 years, the United States has made it clear that acknowledge does not mean recognize, does not mean accept, does not mean anything else except acknowledge. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted in May 2022 that, The United States does not subscribe to the PRCs one-China principle  we remain committed to our longstanding, bipartisan one China policy.

In a previous statement, the State Department explained the U.S. one-China policy in greater detail: The United States recognizes the Peoples Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China (italics added).

And in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the U.S. states that the future of Taiwan must be determined by peaceful means and not by either side unilaterally. The Act also commits the U.S. to providing Taiwan with arms and services to maintain its defense.

The U.S. has deliberately taken an ambiguous position on Taiwan to allow Washington to maintain relations with China while continuing to cultivate close trade, military, and other ties with the democratic island. But U.S. support of Taiwan has sometimes angered Beijing, most recently with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taiwan in August 2022.

Many other Western nations have also implemented one-China policies that allow flexibility in their dealings with Taiwan. However, some countries such as Russia and Turkmenistan have issued joint statements with China that explicitly commit to adhering to the one-China principle.

For its part, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued that the PRC does not represent Taiwan internationally and should not use its fabricated one China principle to compel other countries, international organizations or enterprises to make statements against their will which are contrary to reality.

Conclusion

Asia Fact Check Lab concludes that Chinese claims that the Czech Republic and other countries have committed to the one-China principle and its position on Taiwans status is misleading.

Many countries have adopted their own one-China policies which allow them to retain ambiguity and flexibility in their dealings with Taiwan and mainland China.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) is a new branch of RFA established to counter disinformation in todays complex media environment. Our journalists publish both daily and special reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers understanding of public issues.
Hong Kong Police Chief Raymond Siu says that by the end of December 2022, police had arrested 236 people under the national security law and charged more than 140 of them.

Hong Kong police received more than 400,000 tip-offs last year to a hotline for reporting violations of a draconian national security law criminalizing public criticism of the authorities, suggesting a brisk trade for political informants.

Police Chief Raymond Siu said clamping down on crimes under the law will remain the top priority for the city's police, who were widely criticized for violence against mostly unarmed protesters in 2019, amid a mass movement against the loss of Hong Kong's traditional freedoms under Chinese rule.

By the end of December 2022, police had arrested 236 people under the law and charged more than 140 of them, Siu told journalists.

"Our priority is to continue to safeguard national security and engage the whole community to counter terrorism," Siu said. "We have to guard against the threat of extreme violence of home-grown terrorism that is going underground."

He said the national security and "counter-terrorism" hotlines would continue to play a key role. "Citizens should notify the police as soon as possible if they find anything suspicious," Siu said.

"Police will keep trying to improve intelligence gathering and proactively raise public ... awareness and responsiveness towards terrorist incidents through different media and activities," Siu said, but gave no details of specific "terrorism" cases.

In July 2021, a Hong Kong court convicted motorcyclist Tong Ying-kit of "terrorism" and secession, handing him a nine-year prison sentence for flying a banner carrying the banned slogan "Free Hong Kong! Revolution now!" at a protest.

Atmosphere of fear

Barrister and former lawmaker Dennis Kwok said the number showed just how many people were willing to help create an atmosphere of fear in Hong Kong.

"This figure is absolutely incredible," Kwok said. "If they have had 400,000 tip-offs, that means at least a few thousand a day on average."

"If there really are so many people endangering national security, then why isn't the government enforcing this law?" he asked.

"If they have had 400,000 tip-offs, that means at least a few thousand a day on average," says barrister and former Hong Kong lawmaker Dennis Kwok. Credit: AFP file photo





Forty-seven former opposition politicians and activists are currently standing trial for "subversion" under the law after they took part in a democratic primary aimed at maximizing the number of opposition seats in the 2020 Legislative Council elections.

Former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui said the hotline also accepts reports from informers around the world, as the national security law applies to acts and speech anywhere in the world that are deemed to be secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, or collusion with foreign powers to endanger national security."

"The whole situation is worrying," Hui said. "The scope of the national security law is not limited to Hong Kong, but applies overseas, and not just to Hong Kongers."

"Anyone who criticizes the Hong Kong government or holds critical or dissenting opinions could be affected by the fear of informants, which is partly the intention of the [ruling Chinese Communist Party] regime," he said.

"A lot of Hong Kongers have emigrated overseas, so they are using these informant hotlines to create invisible tensions, threatening those who continue to speak out overseas," he said.

Mass exodus

Hong Kong has seen an exodus of middle-class professionals in the wake of the crackdown on the 2019 pro-democracy movement, which called for fully democratic elections but instead was rewarded with changes to the electoral rules preventing pro-democracy candidates from running at all.

The British government has accused Beijing of failing to fulfill its promises made in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration governing the 1997 handover to Chinese rule, in which China promised to let Hong Kong people rule Hong Kong and to maintain the city's traditional freedoms for at least 50 years.

"The whole situation is worrying," says Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong, "The scope of the national security law is not limited to Hong Kong, but applies overseas, and not just to Hong Kongers." Credit: Reuters file photo





"Twenty-five years on from the handover, the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities are undermining the rights and freedoms promised to Hong Kongers under the Sino-British Joint Declaration," the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a six-monthly report on the status of Hong Kong last month.

"Hong Kongs autonomy is declining, and the pervasive, chilling effect of the National Security Law seeps into all aspects of society," the report said.

For its part, China has accused British and U.S. officials of interfering in its internal affairs, claiming that "hostile foreign forces" have been trying to foment a "color revolution" in Hong Kong through successive waves of mass protests in recent years.

Beijing recently appointed hard-line former security chief Zheng Yanxiong, who made his name cracking down on the rebel Guangdong village of Wukan amid a bitter land dispute in 2011, as its new envoy in the city.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Police scuffle with retirees protesting cuts to medical benefits near the entrance to Zhongshan Park in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023.

Thousands of people took to the streets of two Chinese cities  Wuhan and Dalian  on Wednesday in an ongoing protest over major cuts to their medical benefits, according to local residents and video footage posted to social media.

Video clips uploaded to social media showed crowds singing the communist anthem "The Internationale" under a traffic overpass in Zhongshan Park and along Jiefang Avenue in the central city of Wuhan.

Similar scenes unfolded in the Peoples Square in the northeastern port city of Dalian, according to the Twitter account "Mr. Li is not your teacher" using the handle @whyyoutouzhele.

Other clips showed a crowd of older people facing off with ranks of uniformed police officers three or four deep who linked arms and started shoving the crowd slowly to make it pull back.

In one clip, an elderly man is seen lying on the ground with his head and legs propped up while people boo and shout at the police.

The protests were a continuation of an earlier rally outside municipal government headquarters in Wuhan on Feb. 8 against the slashing of medical payouts under an insurance scheme offered to retired employees of state-owned enterprises.

Zero-COVID policy drains coffers

They come after warnings from the central government in Beijing that it wont be bailing out cash-strapped local governments, whose coffers have been drained by three years of President Xi Jinpings zero-COVID policy, which ended in December.

Wuhan-based rights activist Zhang Hai said the demonstration there had gone ahead on Wednesday after a smaller protest outside government headquarters last week had failed to elicit a response from officials, and had taken place despite tight security measures.

"The government has been warning people not to go to Zhongshan Park or Shouyi Road since yesterday evening," Zhang told Radio Free Asia. "A lot of residential communities were under lockdown this morning, but a lot of people still turned out nonetheless."

"They are planning to march over by the Yangtze River Bridge after this rally," he said.

Zhang said police had responded by shutting down subway stations and cell phone masts serving the area.

"At the same time [as shutting subway stations], they have shut off the mobile phone signal, and they are making the crowd disperse," he said. "People at the scene say they have detained quite a few people already."

A person shooting footage of the crowd at the park gate said police were trying to get everyone to go inside Zhongshan Park.

"There were policemen everywhere and plainclothes [state security police] standing at the gate of the park," the person comments.

Detained at home

Wuhan resident Zhang Qiang said many other people had been detained in their homes to prevent them from protesting in the first place.

"A lot of people have been confined to their homes by stability maintenance," Zhang Qiang said. "I have been roped in too."

"The police are out in force around Zhongshan Park and Jiefang Avenue," he said.

A protester who gave only the surname Zhou said the cuts to medical benefits affect everyone, not just retired workers.

"People who are paying out 400 yuan a month are getting nothing back from the government now," he said. "So they can't buy their medication."

"They used to get more than 100 yuan a month [as a cash benefit] that they could use to buy medicines [over the counter], but now they're insisting we go to a hospital clinic -- they won't give us money to buy them from the pharmacy any more," Zhou said.

Wuhan businessman Ma Yongnian said he was in a similar situation.

"There are tens of thousands of people blocking the streets," Ma said, adding that similar changes were rolled out in the southern city of Guangzhou recently, but were withdrawn following major public opposition.

"Guangzhou withdrew this policy, but Wuhan is insisting on it," Ma said.

He said hospital visits require a higher co-pay than pharmacies, putting medicines beyond the reach of many retirees.

"I'm affected by this too ... I can only claim 50% of fees in the top three hospitals, and there's an excess of 700 yuan before reimbursements even start," Ma said.

Rise up! Rise up!

Meanwhile, a person filming outside municipal government headquarters in Dalian said the large crowd in People's Square was there to "present their demands" to the authorities.

"They're all older men and women," the person comments on the video clip posted to Twitter by user @Pancho66196600, adding "There are quite a few police here too," as the crowd starts singing the March of the Volunteers, China's national anthem.

"Rise up! Rise up!" they sing, before the anthem fades on the winter air, and "The Internationale" takes its place, as some protesters heckle officials making their way into the government offices through the front gates.

According to screenshots and photos posted by "Mr. Li" on Twitter, the protests went ahead in Wuhan despite reports that the authorities had tried to attract older people with a slew of community events for "grandparents," and unconfirmed reports that universities had been closed for just one day on Feb. 15.

Public transportation companies had also issued warnings to employees of a "major demonstration," according to a screenshot posted by the account.

In Dalian, protesters on People's Square also chanted the name of the city's mayor, the account said.

People in China frequently challenge those in power, despite nationwide measures aimed at nipping popular protest in the bud, the U.S.-based think tank Freedom House reported in November 2022.

Despite pervasive surveillance, a "grid" system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and targeted "stability maintenance" system aimed at controlling critics of the government before they take action, the group identified hundreds of incidents of public protest between June and September 2022 alone.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Who in her right mind would have three or more children, like a fool?

North Korean families flock to parks, playgrounds and plazas to enjoy the May Day holiday.

As North Koreas birth rate declines amid chronic food shortages, authorities are offering families with three or more children extra food twice a year, on the birthdays of the countrys former leaders.

But people complain that the additional food  20 kilograms (44 pounds) of corn, two kilograms of fermented soybean paste and a bottle of cooking oil  is hardly enough to get them to even think about having more kids, sources inside the country tell Radio Free Asia.

Its hard for most women to make ends meet just for themselves these days. So who in her right mind would have three or more children, like a fool? said a source in North Pyongans Ryongchon county. If the authorities want women to have more kids, they need to solve the problem of food and livelihood.

A declining birth rate spells doom for a country which relies heavily on raw manpower by forcing all men to serve seven years, and all women five, in its 1.3 million-strong military. The military is not only for defense; soldiers spend much of their service time doing manual labor in construction, mining, and on collective farms.

Fewer people would mean fewer hands to build, plant, harvest, and dig, in a country that is still struggling to develop. This is why the government is, at least nominally, rewarding families with multiple childrento ensure the population remains stable.

Children arrive to pay their respects in front of bronze statues of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Munsu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea. Credit: Pool via Reuters file photo

A family is given multiple child status if they have three or more children who have yet to graduate from high school, the source said. Only 20 families qualified in his town, which has about 6,000 households.

This is in addition to a monthly stipend of 60 U.S. cents from the state each month, which hardly makes a difference.

Multi-child families in South Pyongans Unsan county received the same gift of corn, bean paste and oil, and residents had a similar reaction, a source there told RFA.

Plus, the extra food usually comes only twice a year, around two holidays  the Feb. 16 birthday of Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un, and national founder Kim Il Sung, his grandfather, on April 15.

They demand that women have many children, but the residents gripe that these kinds of extra food supplies happen only every once in a while, said the source.

Still ahead of Japan and South Korea

North Koreas birth rate is about 1.8 children per woman  just below the replacement level of 2.1 births, according to World Bank data for the year 2020.

That was higher than the birth rate in neighboring South Korea, which was the lowest in the world at 0.8, or Japan, where it was 1.3. Those countries governments have enacted policies to encourage young adults to have children, including guaranteed parental leave for both mothers and fathers, stipends for new parents that increase with more children and preferential placement in childcare facilities for families with more children.

Authorities in South Korea have even encouraged companies to let their workers go home at reasonable hours on designated Family Days, so they could have time to make babies.

But these efforts have proven largely ineffective, and birth rates both countries remain low.

In North Korea, authorities hope some extra food might do the trick  an absurd expectation, the second source said.

They are trying to send a message that women who give birth and raise many children will receive preferential treatment in society in the future, including monthly supplies of food, she said.

Authorities are encouraging women to have more children on false premises, the second source said. They lie to them that multi-child households will be supplied with food every month from the national preferential supply.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
The government signed more than one-fourth of an entire province to 10 mining companies.

The Attapeu provincial government signs a contract with a construction company to conduct a survey for pagodite and other soft stones in Khamvongsa village, Phouvong district, Attapeu province, Laos, on Feb. 8, 2023. Pagodite, also known as soap stone, has applications in Chinese stone carvings, among other things.

Residents in southern Laos Attapeu province are concerned that more than one-fourth of the province has been granted to 10 companies in a concession that would allow them to mine for minerals.

People living within the 2,766 square-kilometer (1068 square-mile) concession told Radio Free Asia that a mining project on such a large scale will disrupt their lives and ruin the environment. Attapeus total size is 10,320 square kilometers.

Laos owes much of its recent economic growth to land concessions that have mostly gone to companies in neighboring countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam that extract natural resources. But the concessions have destroyed habitat for animals, decreased biodiversity, and have generated friction between developers and residents, many of whom refuse to speak out publicly because they fear retribution.

Vithaya Phommachanh, director of the Energy and Mines Department of Attapeu Province, announced the deal on Nov. 10, 2022, saying that the province gave permission to the 10 companies to engage in 15 separate mining projects in the designated area. Additionally, the province signed an MoU for two land studies for potential mines in a 1,000 hectare (3.86 square-mile) area in the provinces Phouvong district.

At that time, the province already had 12 active mining operations.

This area is supposed to be a protected zone which the people can live on, a resident of the provinces Phouvong district told RFAs Lao Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Now it is taken by the projects and we cant even access the zone. Its difficult for us.

The resident said that an area of 700 hectares (2.7 square-miles) was taken from his tiny village of Khamvongsa.

All of us want the authorities to stop giving land away in concessions, he said. We want to preserve our forests and natural resources.

Forest coverage in Attapeu province is shrinking daily, the resident said. Excessive concessions have resulted in an oversaturation of projects like dam construction, mining operations, factories and farm development.

Another resident of Phouvong district explained how mining has disrupted villagers' lives, saying They cause road damage, traffic, noise, and they decrease residents farmland. He also said that foreign developers hire local labor, but pay very low wages, including a Vietnamese company that pays only 60,000 kip (U.S. $3.58) per day.

An official of the Natural Resources and Environment Department of Attapeu Province responded to the villagers concerns, telling RFA that developers and the local government must approve environmental and social impact assessments before the concession can be awarded.

After that we have to actually go down there and inspect the area, the official said. If the project has a serious impact, well solve it or minimize the impact by paying fair compensation, reforesting the area, or treating the wastewater.

The official said that the recently signed MoU in Phouvong province is only for survey and exploration of pagodite and other soft stones, not for the extraction of minerals. Investors must complete feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments first, before the province can approve the projects.

Pagodite, also known as soap stone, has applications in Chinese stone carvings, and in traditional Japanese writing tools.

An official of the provinces Energy and Mines Department said initial data of a pagodite mine and mapping of the survey area has been completed.

But we still dont know whether the government will give concession for pagodite extraction or not, he said, adding that any approved project would be beneficial because it would develop the province and create jobs for residents.

Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Eugene Whong and Matt Reed.


Hkalam Samson faces a prison sentence of up to 13 years, his lawyer says.

One of Myanmars leading Protestant activists has been charged under the countrys Counter Terrorism Law.

Family members said Dr. Hkalam Samson was charged under Section 52 (a)  which covers incitement to terrorism  by a court in Kachin States Myitkyina Prison on Tuesday.

His lawyer, Dong Nang, told RFA the court said it was charging him under terrorism laws because he had met officials of Myanmars National Unity Government, which was overthrown by the military in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

They filed a new case for meeting with and praying for the NUG president, Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Tu Hkawng and Minister of Education Ja Htoi Pan in Lai Zar, he said, referring to an area of Kachin controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization and its military wing the Kachin Independence Army.

Dr. Hkalam, 65, is a former president of the Kachin Baptist Convention and president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly.

He had already been charged with criminal defamation and unlawful association with an illegal group, according to sources close to the secret court at Myitkyina Prison.

His lawyer told RFA that, with the addition of the new terrorism charge, Dr. Hkalam faces a maximum prison sentence of 13 years

Hkalam Samson was arrested at Mandalay International Airport on Dec. 4 on his way to medical treatment in Bangkok, Thailand, because his name was on a no-fly list. He was interrogated overnight at Central Regional Military Command headquarters.

The following day, authorities flew him back to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, where he was again arrested.

Last month, his wife told RFA Dr. Hkalam was suffering from pneumonia and high blood pressure.

Zhon Nyoir, said she was worried about her husband's health because he had not been allowed to see his family since his arrest, and the family was not permitted to send him medicine or food.

Hkalam Samson speaks at a rally against a Chinese gas pipeline in Myanmar on Jan., 2019. Credit: RFA





At the time of his arrest Hkalam Samson still worked as an advisor for the Kachin Baptist Convention, which has about 400,000 members, most of whom are ethnic Kachin.

He was also president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, a group of local religious and political leaders who help foster communication between the Kachin Independence Organization, an ethnic Kachin political group, and the local community.

In October last year, he helped organize hospital treatment and funerals for people injured and killed in a junta airstrike on an annual concert hosted by the Kachin Independence Organization. The group's armed wing has been actively fighting against junta troops since the coup as well as training anti-regime Peoples Defense Forces.

More than 60 people died during the attack, Kachin residents said at the time.

In 2017, Dr. Hkalam visited the White House and thanked then-president Donald Trump for imposing travel bans on senior Myanmar military commanders involved in a violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that year. He also appealed to Trump to take action against religious persecution in Myanmar and to support the countrys transition to genuine democracy.

He was sued by Major Thu Aung Zaw of the juntas Northern Regional Military Command, based in Kachin state, for speaking about Myanmars religious and human rights situation during the meeting but the case was later dropped.

Hkalam Samsons next trial is scheduled for Feb. 21. Family members told RFA they had heard the junta is preparing to level further charges against him.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Businessman shes accused of accepting money from testified he donated to educational and healthcare foundation

A protester holds a sign with an image of detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 5, 2021.

Myanmars Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyis appeal of two corruption charges, sources close to the court told Radio Free Asia.

Suu Kyi, 77, was sentenced by a military junta court in October to three years in Naypyidaw Prison for two corruption cases that involved charges of accepting money from Maung Weik, a businessman linked to the military.

Maung Weik has testified that that money was not given to Suu Kyi, but donated to be used at the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which supports education, healthcare and rural investment.

Suu Kyis lawyers have argued that shes innocent of corruption because the money that Maung Weik gave was found in the foundations bank account.

The reason for the Union Supreme Courts denial of the appeal was unknown.

The right to appeal is in Article 19 of the Constitution. The right to appeal must be given to anybody, a court source who has knowledge of the decision said. Its ridiculous that the Union Supreme Court did not even grant an appeal.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner served as Myanmars state counselor from 2016 up until the Feb. 1, 2021, coup. She has been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 cases.

Suu Kyi's lawyers filed an appeal to the Union Supreme Court on Tuesday for five cases in which Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were accused of buying and leasing a helicopter under the NLD government. They were sentenced on those charges in December.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
The 'resistance movement, in a way, has brought people together against a common enemy, which is the military dictatorship,' says Neineh Plo, an ethnic Karenni activist from eastern Myanmars Kayah state.

Neineh Plo is an ethnic Karenni activist working with the Coordination Team for Emergency Relief (Karenni) in eastern Myanmars Kayah state, situated along the countrys border with Thailand. A former spokesperson for the Karenni National Progressive Party who worked with the deposed National League for Democracy government on Myanmars peace process, he recently joined four Karenni organizations in publishing a report documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by junta forces in Kayah state and surrounding areas between May 2021 and September 2022.

Earlier this month, Neineh Plo visited Washington, D.C. and met with U.S. officials, lawmakers, NGOs and U.N. agencies to discuss the reports findings and how the international community can help hold the junta accountable for its rights violations in Myanmar. During his visit, he spoke with Nay Rein Kyaw of RFAs Burmese Service about promoting cooperation between Myanmars resistance groups in the pursuit of removing the countrys military dictatorship and establishing a federal democratic union.

The following interview has been edited for clarity:

RFA: First of all, thank you for visiting RFA. We have three questions. The first question is, what were your first impressions during your trip to the United States?

Neineh Plo: Well, my first impression during this trip is that the U.S. enjoys freedom of expression. It is freedom of expression that makes programming like RFAs possible. And it is with this freedom that we enable the voices of the oppressed to be heard by the international community. When these voices are heard, the international community can take action to help liberate them within the societies that oppress them, such as Burma. So, I really appreciate the fact that people have the freedom to express themselves  as that is something we don't have in Burma right now. Burma is under a military dictatorship and all kinds of free speech are banned  so you only hear from the military dictatorship what they want to tell the people. I want to tell the world the concerns of the oppressed people.

RFA: The world is watching the situation in Burma every day. Can you discuss the achievements of the resistance movement within the past two years [since the coup]?

Neineh Plo: Since the military coup two years ago  the people have suffered a lot. More than 1.5 million people are currently displaced internally in the country. But at the same time, we have many young people seeing this injustice and joining the resistance movement, whether it is armed resistance or other forms. And also, we see other people from Burma who were not aware of the plight of ethnic people in the country. Now they have become aware of the oppression that ethnic people have been facing at the hands of the military dictatorship  discrimination, lack of rights in the country. So this resistance movement, in a way, has brought people together against a common enemy, which is the military dictatorship, and then to work together and fight against this dictatorship  to remove it once and for all  and then bring about a new system to this country through the establishment of a federal democratic union.

RFA: So you are seeing more unity in Burma, right?

Neineh Plo: Yes. Now it is the kind of unity that we had not seen before the coup. Before the coup, it was mostly the ethnic groups who were fighting for equality, democracy, self-determination and federalism. Since the coup, we and other groups from Burma have had the opportunity to work with ethnic groups on a common principle, which is a federal democratic union.

But there's a lot more work to do. We are not there yet, but at least we have started this conversation and have worked together on this issue. It is not something that we are all in agreement about ... But at least we have a common understanding on the future of the country, which is that unless we can establish a federal democratic union, we won't be able to make progress. So, I think that is a big achievement.

Sadly, the military dictatorship is still in place and we need to remove them and bring people back home [who have fled since the coup]. And the people of Burma cannot do it alone. We need the international communitys help to remove this military dictatorship, to bring about a regime change in the country, so that we can enjoy sustainable peace.

Unity and international support

RFA: The people of Burma and the international community would like to know whether this movement can win and when that might happen. What is your opinion?

Neineh Plo: First, we need to build unity among all these groups  We have a lot of ethnic resistance organizations, the [shadow] National Unity Government, and the [anti-junta] Peoples Defense Force [paramilitary groups], as well as many civil society organizations. All of these groups have to be able to come together and have a single vision ... which is the establishment of a federal democratic union for the future of Burma. With that kind of unity, we will be able to address many different things on the ground.

We also need international support. International support can come in many ways. Currently, we need immediate humanitarian support, and then we will also need international support to hold the military accountable [for its atrocities]. We also need international support to cut supplies to the military and disable the whole military apparatus in the country and eventually remove the military from politics. The people of Burma cannot do it alone  we need coordinated international support, otherwise it will not be effective.

RFA: Do you see a timeframe for victory?

Neineh Plo: I don't want to make a prediction, as I'm not in a position to do so, but if there is unity among the people of Burma and the international community, and if we can build momentum, victory will come sooner than we expect.
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.
The UNOCHA must expand its assistance to conflict areas where need is greatest, they say.

Displaced people from Myanmar walk along the Moei river on the border with Thailand after fleeing their villages following clashes between the military and rebel groups in Myawaddy in March 2022.

UPDATED at 12:24 p.m. ET on 2023-02-15

Myanmars shadow government and aid groups have welcomed the United Nations efforts to assist millions amid widespread armed conflict in the country, but say they must be better implemented if they are to be effective.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) recently announced that 17.6 million people, or nearly one-third of Myanmars population of 55 million, need humanitarian assistance two years after the military seized power in a coup. In the 24 months since the coup, the number of people displaced by conflict had grown to 1.5 million, up from 1.2 million in January this year, it said.

But while the U.N. provided aid to some 4 million people across the country in 2022, it said that ongoing conflict, airstrikes, and tightened security have severely hampered the ability of its agency and other organizations to provide humanitarian assistance.

Win Myat Aye, minister of Humanitarian and Natural Disaster Management for Myanmars shadow National Unity Government, acknowledged the difficulties in providing assistance amid widespread conflict, but said U.N. needs to do a better job.

UNOCHAs statistics for the previous year of 2022 show its humanitarian assistance programs were not effective, he told RFA Burmese.

We have seen that its programs are mainly concentrated in the Yangon region [where conflict is less pronounced] and they cannot provide aid effectively to other regions where the need for humanitarian aid is urgent. We conclude its programs were not able to provide aid effectively.

UNOCHAs own reporting found that at least 4.5 million of those in need of assistance are from Myanmars more remote conflict areas, with women accounting for 52%, children for 32%, and the disabled for 12% of the total.

The agency said at the end of January that U.S.$764 million had been earmarked for an emergency assistance program through the countrys humanitarian aid community, and that priority would be given to the 4.5 million people in conflict areas.

But Banyar, the director of the ethnic Karenni Human Rights Group, told RFA that while he appreciates UNOCHAs work, he doesn't see it as adequate.

I am particularly unsatisfied with what they have done for IDPs in Kayah state, he said.

They only provide aid in the areas where the junta has given them permission. Their work is also entirely compliant to junta restrictions.

From bad to worse

Sources in areas that have seen some of the worst fighting between the military and the armed resistance told RFA that the situation had gone from bad to worse, particularly for those displaced by violence.

We are always on the run, so I dont have a job and cant make any money, said one woman in Sagaing regions Salingyi township, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

I have two kids, but I have never received any assistance. As I am running with the kids, I have to spend additional money for their nutrition. When I fled home this time, I didn't have a dime as I had no income.

Refugees in Matupi township in Myanmars Chin state make their way through the woods in 2022. Credit: Matupi Revolution News More than 10,000 people from nearly 20 villages in Salingyi have fled their homes since the military began a clearance operation in the township on Feb. 4.

Another displaced woman in northern Shan states Kutkai township told RFA that fighting in the region had caused the price of basic commodities to soar in recent months.

The price for rice is up significantly as we speak, she said. We have faced more and more hardships in life. We can barely make ends meet to provide for our families.

A challenging situation

A woman who fled fighting in Chin states Mindat township told RFA that her group is facing severe shortages, with many women and children among them.

In some places there are no clinics, but even when there is a clinic, they dont have enough medical supplies, so we have to travel to the city to get medicine, she said.

The IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and the officials accepting IDPs cannot provide medical care or medicine. Now, IDPs are required to find medical care using their own funds. So, we are facing a challenging situation.

The Chin Human Rights Organization told RFA that at least 52,000 people from Chin State have fled across the border to Indias Mizoram state since the military coup.

When asked about delays to its emergency aid program for 2023, a UNOCHA representative told RFA in an emailed response that the agency and other aid providers are delivering assistance despite underfunding and heavy bureaucratic and access constraints.

"Generous funding, removal of bureaucratic obstacles and unimpeded access are critical for us to provide critical lifesaving assistance and ensure that no one is left behind," the representative said.

According to independent research group ISP-Myanmar, as of Jan. 20, there had been at least 8,100 incidents of conflict in Myanmar since the coup  nearly double the number in the decade prior to the takeover.

Thailands Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said that authorities in Myanmar have killed 2,988 civilians and arrested more than 19,000 others since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Edited by Joshua Lipes.

This story has been updated to provide further details from UNOCHA's emailed response.
Some claim prosecutors and the prison governor are trying to force them to plead guilty.

Prisoner of conscience Nguyen Duy Linh listening to prosecuters at the Ben Tre Provincial Police Investigation Security Agency on Sept. 14, 2021.

Nguyen Duy Linh is being mentally tortured by fellow inmates at Binh Duong provinces notorious An Phuoc prison, the Facebook activist told his family.

Linh is serving a five-year sentence for alleged propaganda against the state. He told his wife, Nguyen Thi Tuyet his cellmate picked fights with him and told fellow inmates he was a communist informer.

She told RFA when her husband moved to the prison in August last year he was put in a cell with a political prisoner. After a short while he complained of intimidation and asked to change cells. In the new room things got worse.

He is being attacked by three people. His cellmate is causing him trouble  not allowing him to sleep  fabricating stories, Tuyet said after visiting him on Feb. 12.

Linh told her the cellmate threw things at him when he tried to rest and befriended political prisoners to try to spread rumors about him.

Linh is now isolated. He [said his cellmate] told everyone he was a communist, Tuyet said, adding that her husband gave her the prisoners name and asked her to inform guards.

She believes the cellmate was trying to provoke a reaction so Linh would break prison rules and be disciplined. However, she said the tactic didnt work because the guards believed his cellmate was lying.

Linh said inmates told him they would send friends from outside prison to beat his wife. She wouldnt give RFA their names, saying she hoped to meet them to try to resolve the conflict.

When asked if the supervisor was involved in the bullying and harassment of her husband, Tuyet said there was no evidence to support this.

RFA called the prison many times to discuss Linhs case but no one answered the phone.

Using prisoners to bully prisoners

Nguyen Duy Linh is not an isolated victim of physical and mental violence in An Phuoc prison.

Other dissidents claim the authorities deliberately manipulate prisoners to get them to attack others.

Pham Thi Lan, the wife of RFA blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy, posted on Facebook that her husband was being harassed by fellow inmates.

Other former inmates went even further. Tran Thanh Phuong and Doan Thi Hong said the prison superintendent had adopted a sophisticated repressive policy against inmates who refused to plead guilty.

They told RFA prisoners are offered reduced sentences, prison visits and gifts from their families in exchange for bullying other inmates.

Doan Thi Hong was sentenced to 30 months in prison for allegedly "disturbing security". She spent more than three months in detention at An Phuoc. She said, in order to avoid international criticism, officials did not overtly pick on prisoners of conscience but used others to carry out the work.

Hong said prisoners who reacted to bullying were disciplined. They were taken to an area full of inmates serving time for serious crimes where officers allowed those inmates to beat them.

"Those who work for cadres have to fabricate, slander, curse, insult people and possibly beat them," Hong told RFA.

Hong named and shamed her fellow inmates on her Facebook page but RFA was unable to verify her claims.

Tran Thanh Phuong spent more than a year in detention at An Phuoc.

They take orders from the prosecutor's office to deal with people who don't plead guilty, he said, adding that if prisoners of conscience overreacted to their provocation, they would be disciplined.

The claims are backed up by Huynh Thi Ut, the mother of prisoner of conscience Tran Hoang Phuc who is serving a six-year sentence at An Phuoc.

A group of about ten people accused Tran Hoang Phuc [and me]  of stealing money which was said to be sent to me for other prisoners of conscience," she said.

They also accused [him] of giving gifts to newcomers to the prison and asking them to confess.

Ut denied the accusations against her son and posted on Facebook a request to donors who paid money into her account to make the amounts public so she would be legally responsible if she stole the money.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.
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
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Scores of Iranian protesters and prominent political prisoners have reportedly been released in recent weeks under a limited amnesty announced by the authorities. They are said to include Iranian-French academic Farina Adelkhah, award-winning filmmaker Mohammad Rasulof, and human rights activist Farhad Meysami.

The authorities have not provided an official list of those released. But Irans reformist Etemad daily ran photos of some 50 newly freed figures on its front page on February 13. The newspaper reported that nearly 400 prisoners had been released as of February 11, adding that judicial officials were reviewing more cases.

The reported releases come after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 5 ordered an amnesty and the reduction of sentences for some prisoners. The announcement came ahead of the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on February 11.

Why It Matters: The authorities have arrested some 20,000 people during the ongoing anti-regime protests that erupted in September. Many of them remain in detention, despite the amnesty.

Rights groups and activists have downplayed the limited amnesty. Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said the so-called pardon is nothing but a shameless public relations stunt that shows the completely arbitrary nature of justice in the Islamic republic, where arrests and releases are at the whim of the state.

The Etemad daily, however, noted that such an amnesty is rare and could be a sign of change in the country. Others have called it a retreat by the clerical regime in the face of the protests, the biggest challenge to the authorities in decades.

"This is an achievement by the protest movement. The establishment would not release prisoners easily. They are in a position of weakness, Paris-based political activist Taghi Rahmani, who has been jailed a number of times by the Islamic republic, told RFE/RLs Radio Farda.

What's Next: More protesters and political prisoners could be released in the coming days. The authorities have been urged to free jailed journalists, activists, and environmentalists.

Despite freeing some of the regime's critics, the authorities are still going after other opponents. Reza Khandan, the husband of jailed human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda on February 14 that he has been summoned by the judiciary and ordered to serve a six- year suspended prison sentence.

Stories You Might Have Missed

The presence of a Shah-era intelligence chief accused of human rights abuses at a pro-democracy rally in the United States has led to controversy among Iranians. Parviz Sabeti, the former deputy head of SAVAK, the feared security and intelligence service of the former shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was photographed at a rally on February 12.

accused of human rights abuses at a pro-democracy rally in the United States has led to controversy among Iranians. Parviz Sabeti, the former deputy head of SAVAK, the feared security and intelligence service of the former shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was photographed at a rally on February 12. Several female protesters who were detained in Tehran during Irans brutal crackdown on antiestablishment protests spoke to Radio Farda. The women recalled the mistreatment they suffered at the hands of government agents and security officers, and described how they were beaten, threatened, and psychologically abused.

What We're Watching

A group of exiled opposition figures met at Georgetown University in Washington on February 10 to discuss the future of Irans pro-democracy movement. The group pleaded for unity and an end to infighting to help replace Iran's theocratic system with a secular democracy.

The attendees included the exiled former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, and rights activist Masih Alinejad.

"The Islamic republic has survived because of our differences, and we should put our differences aside until we come to the polling booth," Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, a member of the exiled group, said in a video message to the gathering.

What's Next: The group said it was working on establishing a charter for a transition to a new democratic system that would be followed by free elections. It remains unclear whether the group of eight exiled opposition figures and their proposals for a new political system will receive the backing of Iranian protesters and opposition figures inside Iran.

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.
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.

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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.
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
BELGRADE -- Police blocked Serbian right-wing protesters who attempted to storm the building of the presidency in Belgrade on February 15 during a rally on Statehood Day against Serbias ongoing dialogue on normalizing relations with Kosovo.

Some of the estimated 1,000 protesters removed a protective fence around the building and headed toward its main entrance to submit their demands before they were stopped. Some participants threw eggs at the building.

Damjan Knezevic, leader of the far-right People's Patrol, which organized the protest, told the crowd that no one in the ruling Serbian Progressive Party "can call themselves a Serb."

The government is fearing riots, Knezevic said, adding, "I swear to you, we are ready for more than that."

The crowd shouted "Serbia! Russia!" and symbols of the Russian mercenary group Wagner and the letter Z for the Russian military were visible in the crowd. Some protesters shouted offensive messages about Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic held a meeting with the security services following the protest and said Serbia would not allow "thugs and extremists with any help from the outside -- the West or the East -- to threaten the constitutional order."



Vucic, who made the comment in an interview with Pink television, did not elaborate.

The organizers of the protest called on the authorities to withdraw from negotiations on the normalization of relations with Kosovo, a former province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008.

Knezevic said participants "prefer the Russian proposal" for Kosovo, instead of a French-German one that is being used as the blueprint for the talks. Knezevic said he made the comment in English for the benefit of representatives of foreign media covering the protest.

A few hours before the event, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that it had detained two people. A press release from the ministry said a weapon and ammunition were found on the individuals during their arrest.

The two people detained are members of the People's Patrol, the organization confirmed on Telegram.

People's Patrol is known for its anti-immigrant actions and events in support of Russia in Belgrade since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago.

Knezevic in November visited the Wagner Center in Russia, and the organization is behind the drawing of a mural in Belgrade in honor of Wagner.

Despite its status as a candidate for EU membership, Serbia refuses to impose sanctions on Russia and maintains good bilateral relations with Moscow.

U.S. and EU envoys have been pressing Belgrade and Pristina to approve a plan on normalizing relations presented last year under which Belgrade would stop lobbying against Kosovo having a seat in international organizations, including the United Nations.

One of the sticking points in the talks on normalizing relations has been the creation of an association of municipalities in Kosovo with a Serbian majority.

The European Union has expressed its readiness to help Kosovo and Serbia in the talks on forming the association.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano said the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is the only platform where ideas and proposals about the association can be discussed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier in a statement congratulating Serbia as it marked its Statehood Day that Kosovar and Serbian leaders will have to make "difficult compromises" to resolve outstanding issues and normalize their relations.

"I am confident that normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo will bring security and prosperity for Serbia and all citizens of the Western Balkans," Blinken said in the statement.

"Certainly, Serbian and Kosovan leaders will make difficult compromises to achieve these goals, but the rewards for the Serbian people -- and the entire region -- will be vast," Blinken said.

With reporting by Reuters
I was wondering last week why the China balloon seeking intelligence didnt hover over Helena. I quickly surmised the answer: the Legislature is in session.

The balloon quickly exited over the Montana border to North Dakota. Leave it to the Chinese to explain why they thought there might be more intelligence there.

Had the balloon stayed a bit longer near Helena, it just might have detected a slight glimmer (of intelligence) emanating from the office of Austin Knudsen, the Montana Attorney General.

Since it is Black History Month it is worth looking at one of Knudsens brighter moments.

A while back, Montanas Superintendent of Public Instruction saw fit to request an official opinion from Knudsen whether the teaching of critical race theory violates the law. Knudsen obliged with an official 25-page opinion, saying that, indeed, such teaching is illegal. Its a safe bet that no teacher in the history of Montana has ever taught critical race theory, whatever that means. Nevertheless, its better to be safe than sorry. You can never tell when some fourth-grade teacher in Culbertson may go off the rails.

Whats next? Perhaps the head of Fish Wildlife & Parks should request an Attorney Generals opinion on whether the hunting of unicorns is illegal under the Endangered Species Act. The sane response would be: Why waste taxpayer money  I am unaware we have a problem with declining Unicorn populations in Montana? But sanity does not always prevail.

I am not sure what critical race theory even means. Knudsens definition of it is so awkward that it makes me wonder if he even knows what he thinks he is talking about. He states critical race theory began as an academic movement. He explains that its proponents claim that it is an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that whats in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it. He then says that critical race theory relies on the popular shibboleths of systemic, institutional, or structural racism. Knudsen adds a minimal investigation into these claims exposes them as hollow rhetorical devices Shibboleth? That is an unusual word in these parts.

Translated: slavery as an institution in this country is a shibboleth. So too is this countrys mistreatment of its first peoples. They are in the past and should, blissfully, remain there.

Given this attitude, Im not sure why we even call this month Black History Month. If whats in the past is in the past, it seems like Black History (or any history) is an oxymoron.

Lets see this discussion of critical race theory for what it is, a cynical gambit using taxpayer money to fan the flames of the culture wars.

We now see the same thing coming from some legislators. There are now various pending bills seeking to inject that body into our schools curricula. One example is SB 325, which proposes, with respect to the teaching of science, that only scientific fact may be taught. The Bill defines scientific fact as an indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon. Is Quantum Theory a scientific fact? Do the theories of evolution and plate tectonics make the cut?

I am trying to locate a bona fide member of the Flat Earth Society  my membership lapsed years ago when I turned age 3. I have some worthy Montana nominations for honorary memberships.
Andrea Rebsom sets an alarm clock for 2 a.m. to make sure the man who sexually assaulted her at a Dickinson hospital nearly three decades ago isnt there.

I dont remember the last time I slept through the night, she said.

Rebsom, 47, is one of the people who testified in favor of Senate Bill 2282, which the Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss Wednesday before making a recommendation to the full Senate. The bill if passed would allow certain claims barred by time limitations -- which vary from two to 10 years -- as of this Aug. 1 to be revived. It places an Aug. 1, 2025, deadline on the commencement of a revived claim.

Supporters of the bill say the current time limitations for filing a suit dont allow a victim to recover before proceeding with a case, or give consideration to child victims who were afraid to speak out. Opponents say it could clog the judicial system and would treat organizations unfairly by allowing new lawsuits for acts employees committed years ago.

Rebsom doesn't think the proposed two-year window gives victims an unfair advantage in a lawsuit.

You still have to prove your case in a court of law, she said.

What Rebsom seeks through the bill is that opportunity, not only for herself but for other victims. She was raped at age 10, and as a senior in high school had severe PTSD and became suicidal. She was placed in the mental health unit of a hospital, where she said a male nurse -- at 2 a.m. -- sexually assaulted her. A police investigation supported that claim. Another girl who was assaulted by the nurse filed a lawsuit against the hospital, but delays caused by the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder kept Rebsom from joining in that action.

Rebsom said the bill would allow her and her family to be heard in court, something she believes they deserve. A favorable ruling in a civil lawsuit would also help her pay for counseling that she continues today, and take care of bills of more than $60,000 still owed to the hospital.

I am not just a woman standing before you today with a sad story about a sexual assault at a hospital that happened 29 years ago. I am a woman standing before you today with my police report documenting a sexual assault at a hospital that happened 29 years ago, her testimony states.

Attorney Cary Silverman, who submitted testimony on behalf of the American Tort Reform Association, said retroactive changes to statutes of limitations are often viewed as unsound policy by legislatures and unconstitutional by courts. The statutes exist so liability can be evaluated when records and other evidence is available, and when memories are fresh, he said.

Further, an organization could be sued for abuse that occurred years earlier and was committed by an employee who has since died, Silverman said. It could also subject a medical or dental office taken over by a succeeding generation, for example, to claims of abuse by the previous generation.

The bill if passed could also lead to a sudden surge of unexpected litigation, Silvermans testimony stated. Even if a school, hospital or other organization has the records, witnesses, institutional knowledge available to defend itself, it will be challenging to respond to the litigation when it faces multiple cases at the same time, he said.

Sen. Michael Dwyer, R-Bismarck, co-sponsor of the bill, said changes were made to criminal statutes of limitations in previous sessions. It made them longer than the statutes for civil cases, which don't proceed until the criminal case is completed.

"These victims deserve the opportunity to have their voice heard and remove the cost of their treatment from the state to their perpetrator," Dwyer said.

The committee heard testimony on the bill in late January. Silvermans testimony was the lone opposition among 14 pieces of written testimony submitted.
A math error means a petition to recall Bismarck School Board member Emily Eckroth following her run-in with police last fall needs hundreds more valid signatures than originally thought for the matter to be brought to a public vote.

The North Dakota Secretary of State office in January approved the petition for circulation, using a calculation by the office's previous administration that the group spearheading the recall needed to gather 2,709 signatures by April 20 to prompt a special election.

The office, under new Secretary of State Michael Howe, revisited the matter and concluded that an error had been made in the calculation, and that the correct number of needed valid signatures is 3,231, Deputy Secretary of State Sandy McMerty said Wednesday. The difference from the original estimate is 522 additional signatures.

The number of necessary signatures is 25% of the number of voters in the last School Board election, in June. Officials who initially made the calculation took the total number of votes cast -- 32,502 -- and divided it by three because there were three open board seats on the ballot. They then took that number -- 10,834 perceived voters -- times 25%, arriving at 2,709, McMerty said.

That calculation was wrong because not every person who voted for School Board cast a vote for all three open seats -- people had the option of voting for "up to" three candidates, she said. The actual number of total voters was 12,927 -- 25% of which is 3,231.

The Facebook group Recall Emily Eckroth from the Bismarck Public School Board posted on Sunday that it had collected more than 2,500 signatures.

Committee Chair Karen Dunlap told the Tribune on Wednesday that "We will definitely still reach our goal. We just will take a little bit more of the time allotted to do so. We are very disappointed that the error occurred.

Eckroth, a family physician, finished third out of 10 candidates in the June election to win a seat on the board that oversees the states largest school district. Eckroth won her seat by one vote over the fourth-place finisher following a recount. School board members serve four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $9,000.

The recall effort is in response to Eckroth in December pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing officers during a traffic stop in September involving her husband. She was sentenced to nearly a year of unsupervised probation and $325 in court fees.

Police video footage released to the Tribune in December shows Eckroth cursing out Burleigh County deputy sheriffs, ignoring their commands, and urinating in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Eckroth has refused to resign from the school board despite calls by other board members for her to do so. The board last month censured her -- gave her a formal reprimand -- and also stripped her of her learning excellence portfolio and school visit duties during her probation. The board does not have the power under state law to remove Eckroth because she is an elected official.

Eckroth has not responded to Tribune requests for comment. She issued a statement in December in which she said she accepted responsibility for my regrettable actions but also criticized the media for reporting about her arrest.

She issued a statement to KFYR-TV earlier this week saying: I appreciate the publics interest in the school board. However, I would like to see the energy people are putting into my personal life directed toward more important things, such as the search for a new superintendent and the petition for a state financial audit of the Bismarck public school system.

(Tribune reporters David Velazquez and Jack Dura contributed to this story.)
(WINC-420) - For those of you who missed it, Martin Rapaport published his New Years message on January 17. In his article, Mr. Rapaport elected to rant  as my colleague Gary Roskin characterized it - exclusively about the threat of synthetic or lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) to the gem and jewelry supply chain and the lack of disclosure regarding the value retention of LGDs to the end-consumer.

Many  if not most  in our trade are operating dishonestly and unethically by failing to make a full disclosure about the value retention of synthetic diamonds. He also reported that a detailed submission to the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) requesting full-disclosure standards for synthetic diamonds had not received any attention.

Lets face it: LGDs are now part of our industrys landscape. Predictions are that by 2025, LGD-set jewelry may capture more than 15 percent of the global jewelry consumer market. They will remain part of the pallet of gemstones - natural and man-made - that consumers can choose from.

Many years ago, Harry Levy, then president of the London Diamond Bourse and Chairman of the International Diamond Council (IDC), suggested that the diamond industry take a page from the history books of the colored gemstone industry and trade. He pointed out that the synthetic counterparts of ruby, sapphire, and emerald have been available since the late 19th century. Have these synthetic counterparts of those Big Three and those of other valuable gemstones ruined the colored gemstone market? Not at all. On the contrary: they have enhanced the uniqueness of colored stones, the importance of their genetic makeup, and their origin. Prices of colored gemstones continue to rise, while their synthetics cost just a few cents to many dollars.

Of course, the diamond industry and trade arrived late at the lab-grown game. Due to its relative insulation, the diamond trade continued to engage in horizontal thinking, i.e., it was only concerned with its own momentary wellbeing, screaming its head off against LGDs, instead of facing that the industrys axis was tilting from horizontal to vertical.

Rapaport was never among those who screamed. As early as 2007, after Gemesis lab-grown hit the market, he warned that synthetic diamonds were here to stay. He said this during the Mines to Market conference in India, where IDMA President Ronnie VanderLinden delivered a talk about the lab-grown market.

Few in the trade heeded Rapaports call. Instead of engaging and bringing the synthetic producers and traders into the fold to include and regulate them - as the American Gem Trade Association had done many decades earlier - the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFBD), the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), and other organizations continued to fight and alienate the LGD producers, providing the latter with the attention and downstream market exposure they so much craved and needed.

Coming back to Martins submission to RJC  I am puzzled. In cooperation with the IDC and the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), ISO (The International Organization for Standardization) issued Standard 18323 for diamonds and specifically for the nomenclature to be used by those involved in the buying and selling of diamonds, treated diamonds, synthetic diamonds, composite diamonds and imitations of diamonds.

In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its last update to the FTC Jewelry Guides in a 160-pages long document. True, its a long read, but its all there. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or create another set of wheels.

In closing, I fully share Martins frustration regarding the traders and retailers selling of LGDs without full disclosure and not including information about value retention. But we do not need new rules to halt those fraudulent practices and reach a consensus on how to battle this. All parties need to get together and agree on toeing the rules we already have in place.

Is that too much to ask? In German, one says Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt. Literally: hope is the last thing to die. The saying takes a more optimistic turn in English: Hope springs eternal!

Stay well!

Ya'akov Almor, Communications Director
A majority of North Dakota senators endorsed legislation that would have the state play a more active role in helping businesses find legal immigrants to fill jobs.

The Senate voted 39-5 on Tuesday to approve Senate Bill 2142, which would establish a state-run immigration office within the Department of Commerce. The House will now consider the proposal.

Conservative lawmakers significantly whittled down the original bill sponsored by Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, but supporters said the diluted proposal still represents a positive step in addressing the states workforce shortage.

The Senate previously killed a separate bill sponsored by Mathern that would have offered working immigrants up to $160,000 in forgivable loans.

The bill passed Tuesday would allow the Commerce Department to hire one full-time employee to run the upstart office. That employee would be charged with:

Coordinating the immigration process and placement of international workers in North Dakota.

Helping recently immigrated workers with financial, legal and housing applications and forms.

Collaborating with employers to help immigrants access housing, food and essential services.

Encouraging more foreign workers to come to the state.

Matherns proposal also requires leading lawmakers to study the immigration needs in the state before the 2025 legislative session.

Proponents of the bipartisan legislation say the state needs immigrant workers to fill workforce gaps and that providing small business owners with a public resource could facilitate more in-migration.

Job Service North Dakota recently estimated that 40,000 positions are available statewide.

Sen. Doug Larsen, R-Mandan, said labor-starved businesses are being restricted from growth, and its unrealistic to count on thousands of Americans moving to North Dakota from other states with good job opportunities.

Larsen noted that he generally opposes moves to grow government, but as a business owner, he knows that hiring foreign workers is too difficult and too expensive for most small employers to manage on their own.

Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, and several other bill supporters noted that limiting the immigration office to just a single employee would allow for little more than an employer-support hotline. Still, she favored moving the bill forward in its diminished state.

Vocal opposition to the legislation Tuesday came entirely from Sen. Janne Myrdal, a Republican from Edinburg who immigrated to North Dakota from Norway.

Myrdal referred to Matherns bill as feel-good legislation, noting that the difficulties faced by immigrants are part of the deal they make when coming to the U.S. She said immigration is a complex federal issue, and the employee hired to run the proposed office would be ineffective since they couldnt give any legal advice.

If the bill becomes law, it wouldnt be the first time North Dakota has operated an immigration office.

Lawmakers in the Dakota Territory established a bureau of immigration to facilitate the ingress of immigrants in 1874  about 15 years before North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to the union as separate states.

In 1915, North Dakota policymakers created a position for an immigration commissioner, but amid the economic struggles of the Great Depression, legislators abolished the post in 1933.

The elimination of the office coincided with the beginning of a gradual decline in North Dakotas population, which continued until the Bakken oil boom in the late 2000s.
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!
Students from military families may be more liable to get caught up in gangs, drugs or school violence, according to a Texas A&M researcher who is surveying military kids in Oceanside in order to avert those problems.

Tamika Gilreath, an associate professor at the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University, will conduct interviews with military-connected students in Oceanside Unified School District to learn more about the issues they face in school.

The point of the study overall is to develop a quick checklist for schools to use, to identify military connected youth who may be stressed out, or having bad experiences, Gilreath said.

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Gilreaths research pointed to a link between the uncertainty of military life, and the risks to students from those families.

In a July article in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Gilreath and fellow researchers reported that students with a parent or sibling in the military were more likely to say they are members of a gang than those without a military connection. The study, which reviewed 13,484 who responded to the California Healthy Kids Survey, also found that students who changed schools four or more times in a five-year period, or who experienced a parents deployment, were also more likely to join gangs. Earlier research also showed that kids with family members in the military may be more vulnerable to substance abuse, and more likely to be victims of bullying, she said.

However, the evidence of those risks is mixed. A recent report from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services examined the estimated 524,000 military children between ages 12 and 17, but found no meaningful differences between those kids rates of drug use and mental illness compared with peers from civilian families.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that military kids may be troubled by frequent relocations, anxiety about a parents pending deployment, and additional family responsibilies that children face while a parent is abroad, Gilreath said. Yet theres little quantitative information that explains how those stressors affect children, Gilreath said.

Basically, she is looking at military children, and factors that cause them stress as they move about the country and the world, based on the parent being deployed or having been deployed, said Barbara Perez, director of student services for the district.

Perez said there are certain common pitfalls for students from military families. For instance, she said, they may feel isolated because of the frequent moves associated with military service, and may fall behind in class as they switch schools.

The two new things are having friends when they get to a new place, and being able to adjust to the new academics, she said. Sometimes when the kids come they have academic gaps, because pacing and sequencing is different in different places and countries in the world.

Military life can also benefit families, Gilreath said, enabling children to become more resourcesful, responsible and independent. For instance, she said, students who help care for younger sisters or brothers during a parents deployment may develop closer bonds with siblings, and enjoy the extra time together. But the relentless pace of warfare during this century has pushed those limits, she said.

We know that military families are very strong, very resilient, but for the past 15 years the war on terror has put those families under exceptional duress: having extended deployments, coming back injured, she said.

To better understand thsoe pressures, Gilreath will conduct one-to-one interviews amongst youth in grades 7 to 12 at Stuart Mesa, Santa Margarita Elementary schools and El Camino High School. She plans to interview a total of 40 students, and will follow up with focus groups in the spring to help refine a questionnaire about the subject. Her study will be conducted at no cost to the district.

Theyre just looking at social emotional factors, and social adjustment, Perez said. How they blend into the academic world, how it is for them to move.

The interviews will take place on school grounds after class hours, and will require parents consent, she said. The questionaire, Gilreath said, could help identify students who need extra attention from teachers or school counselors. Perez said she hopes the research will provide insight into the unique needs of students from military families, and said the district already tries to help them adjust smoothly to new schools.

We have a welcoming schools program, which is student to student, she said. Its all about transitioning: trying to make their transition to a new state, a new school, a new classroom as comfortable as possible.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Legacy High School senior Emma Horner used to be the co-president of her schools HOSA-Future Health Professionals chapter. It was the first major leadership role she had, which meant a great deal to her.

This year, Horner is serving as the chapters treasurer. She and her other co-president stepped down to let a pair of juniors take charge. By passing the torch this year, she hopes the group will continue to do well after she graduates.

Its kind of nice to take a step back and let other people learn the ropes, Horner said. My co-president and I, we didn't really have someone to teach us what to do. So it's great to be able to show the juniors how to handle things when were gone.

The daughter of Matt and Wanda Horner, of Bismarck, is this week's Teen of the Week. Thirty-two high school seniors will be recognized by spring, at which time a Teen of the Year will be selected from the weekly winners to receive a $5,000 scholarship sponsored by MDU Resources Group.

Horner joined HOSA as a sophomore. She was considering going into the medical field after college and thought joining the organization would help her figure out what exactly she wanted to do. She eventually landed on optometry after an optometrist spoke to her anatomy class.

One of Horners favorite things about HOSA is getting to compete in events at the leadership conferences. She previously competed in the medical terminology, forensic science and nutrition events. This year, she plans to compete in the medical terminology, medical math and HOSA bowl events.

Horner also is a National Honor Society member. She enjoys volunteering with the Central Dakota Humane Society and organizing the Live Your Legacy Walk/Run.

The charity run is put on by the HOSA chapter every year. It includes a 10K and 5K race, face painting, games and live music. The event benefits the Brave the Shave family fund, which supports children with cancer and their families.

I really feel as though we are making a difference with that race, Horner said. It may not seem like a whole lot, but seeing those children there having the best day of their lives and not worrying about a thing, it just feels really special to me.

History teacher Landen Schmeichel said Horners involvement in the charity run is instrumental for its success. He said she is one of the hardest-working and one of the kindest students in her grade.

Any person can be successful, but it takes someone with a special heart and mind to be as kind as Emma. Her involvement with HOSA is only one part of her immeasurable kindness, Schmeichel wrote in a letter of recommendation.

Horner maintains a 4.04 weighted GPA while taking four Advanced Placement classes this year. She has already completed one AP class and two dual-credit classes. Since she has a lot of school ahead of her, Horner said it is important that she develops good study habits early on.
Two bills brought in the wake of ballot measure petition fraud allegations last year have passed the North Dakota House of Representatives.

Voters last fall approved Measure 1 for term limits on the governor and state lawmakers. The citizen-initiated measure was embroiled in fraud allegations that reached the state Supreme Court, which mandated the public vote on the measure.

Former Secretary of State Al Jaeger had initially rejected the measure, citing irregularities such as circulator affidavit handwriting discrepancies, noncitizens circulating petitions, and pay-per-signature bonuses prohibited by state law. Attorney General Drew Wrigley called the alleged fraud "so obvious and inherent throughout."

House Bill 1230, brought by Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, passed in a 61-30 vote on Tuesday.

The bill would impose a fine of $2 per invalid signature for willful submission of invalid signatures totaling 30% or more of all signatures for a measure placed on the ballot. Invalid signatures would be ones missing components of addresses or ones that are illegible, for example.

Signature-gathering businesses that violate that provision and are convicted of fraud also could be charged with a misdemeanor and banned from doing business in the state for five years, under the bill. Fraud would involve signatures gathered illegally or forged.

Nathe called the Supreme Court's September ruling a "disastrous decision" and "a big black eye," and denounced Measure 1 as fraudulent.

"You just don't get to put a measure out there and walk away from any of the bad stuff," Nathe told the House.

Opponents called the bill punitive and vengeful.

The House last week passed House Bill 1324, introduced by Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, in a 92-1 vote.

The bill would make it harder to legally challenge a secretary of state's decision to keep a proposed measure off the ballot if the official concludes valid signatures are less than the required amount for ballot placement.

It would make the secretary of state's action "presumed to be lawful" unless rebutted by "clear and convincing evidence" -- which Kasper said aims "to make (state law) even more strongly worded for the opportunity when the secretary of state makes a ruling that the courts don't come in and overrule it."

The bills now go to the Senate.
Dr. Lokesh Mishra and his colleagues from the University of Bern and Geneva Observatory propose that the space of planetary system architectures be partitioned into four classes: similar, mixed, anti-ordered, and ordered.

More than a decade ago, astronomers noticed, based on observations with NASAs Kepler space telescope, that planets in other systems usually resemble their respective neighbors in size and mass  like peas in a pod, Dr. Mishra said.

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 different  just like in our Solar System.

In their research, Dr. Mishra and co-authors aimed to develop a framework to determine the differences and similarities between planets of the same systems.

And in doing so, they discovered that there are not two, but four such system architectures.

We call these four classes similar, ordered, anti-ordered and mixed, Dr. Mishra said.

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 star  just as in the Solar System.

If, on the other hand, the mass of the planets roughly decreases with distance from the star, we 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, said University of Berns Professor Yann Alibert.

Now, for the first time, we have a tool to study planetary systems as a whole and compare them with other systems.

Our results show that similar planetary systems are the most common type of architecture, Dr. Mishra said.

About eight out of ten planetary systems around stars visible in the night sky have a similar architecture.

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 architecture  the one that also includes the Solar System  seems to be the rarest class.

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, Dr. Mishra said.

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 planets  such as collisions or ejections  influence the final architecture.

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, Professor Alibert said.

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.

This research is described in two papers in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

_____

Lokesh Mishra et al. 2023. Framework for the architecture of exoplanetary systems. I. Four classes of planetary system architecture. A&A 670, A68; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202243751

Lokesh Mishra et al. 2023. Framework for the architecture of exoplanetary systems. II. Nature versus nurture: Emergent formation pathways of architecture classes. A&A 670, A69; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202244705
Miracinonyx trumani is an extinct species of cheetah-like cat that roamed the North American prairies and steppe terrains more than 13,000 years ago.

Among land vertebrates, the pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) is capable of a top speed of 100 km per hour and second only to the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), said Universidad de Malaga paleontologist Borja Figueirido and his colleagues.

The excessive speed of the pronghorn has been explained as an evolutionary response to predation from the now-extinct cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani, a formidable predator that roamed North Americas Pleistocene steppes and prairies 13,000 years ago.

Miracinonyx trumani is related to the cougar (Puma concolor) but a remarkable morphological similarity with the cheetah has been documented, presumably as a result of evolutionary convergence towards a fast-pursuit predatory behavior.

In their new study, published in the journal Biology Letters, Dr. Figueirido and co-authors examined a skeleton of Miracinonyx trumani found in Wisconsin, the United States, and compared it with those of other modern felines, such as cougars, lions, and lynxes.

They specifically focused on the elbow-joint, which allows them to know whether the animal is adapted to hunt by holding its preys with its forelimbs or is able to chase them at high speed.

The humerus of Miracinonyx trumani was oval and elongated at the end closest to the elbow, which means that its forearm bones were further apart and, therefore, it had the ability to hunt its preys by grasping them, as cougars do.

The case of cheetahs is really unusual; in a few seconds they can reach nearly 100 km per hour. They are the supercars of the savanna, Dr. Figueirido said.

This is not the case of Miracinonyx trumani, said Dr. Alberto Martin Serra, a paleontologist at the Universidad de Malaga.

Although it had greater manipulation capacity with its forelimbs, its physiognomy prevented it from reaching a speed similar to that of the living cheetah.

It was not, therefore, such a sprinting predator.

The claws of Miracinonyx trumani were retractable and it had the ability to grapple with its preys, like the rest of the felines, with the exception of the cheetah, Dr. Figueirido said.

Although in appearance they were very like modern cheetahs, their way of hunting was more similar to that of a cougar.

In a related study, published in the journal iScience, Dr. Figueiridos team investigated the brain of Miracinonyx trumani from a cranium endocast, using a comparative sample of other big cats.

They found that the extinct animal was not as specialized as the cheetah in deploying a fast-running pursuit or, at least, that it was not cognitively equipped for this predatory behavior.

Miracinonyx trumani was probably an intermediate version between the cheetah and the cougar, Dr. Figueirido said.

Its particular way of hunting is not currently represented in nature.

_____

Borja Figueirido et al. 2023. Elbow-joint morphology in the North American cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani. Biol. Lett 19 (1): 20220483; doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0483

Borja Figueirido et al. 2022. The brain of the North American cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani. iScience 25 (12): 105671; doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105671
A bill before the Legislature to weaken tenure at Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University should be rejected.

House Bill 1446, introduced by House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, is intended as a test drive of sorts. If passed by the Legislature theres likely to be an effort down the road to expand it to include all schools in the states higher education system.

Theres no doubt that tenure is disliked by many people who consider it an unfair advantage for certain faculty. Tenure provides protection for faculty members making it more difficult to fire them. Lefor argues his bill would provide improved accountability at the two schools.

DSU President Steve Easton supported the bill in testimony before the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee. Easton said the bill would encourage tenured faculty who might be slacking off to improve their performance and accountability. If they dont improve it provides a means to encourage them to do so or let them go.

Lefor and Easton were the only two speaking in support of the bill, while 43 others opposed it. The main themes of the opposition were that the bill would threaten academic freedom and undermine stability at the two institutions.

North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott told the committee that the state Board of Higher Education isnt taking a position on the bill. Thats unfortunate; one would hope the board would support faculty members.

The Tribune editorial board understands why some people dislike tenure. They see it as a means for faculty to essentially obtain a lifetime appointment. Theres some truth to that, but there are ways under tenure to replace faculty.

At most institutions you have to earn tenure by working a number of years and doing a certain amount of research in your field of expertise. Tenure isnt automatic and it can be denied if, for example, the research isnt considered acceptable.

Tenure is especially important to protect faculty from outside forces. We see universities across the nation under attack for being too politically left or right. Questions have been raised over whats being taught at some institutions.

Universities are supposed to promote the exchange of ideas, challenge positions and help students think for themselves. Some people are uneasy with this type of learning and want to restrict faculty.

Tenure protects faculty from outside forces. The committee was warned that without tenure or with a weakened version of it, North Dakota schools would have difficulty keeping faculty and recruiting new members. Without tenure, faculty see themselves as a potential target of those who might want to reshape universities.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has named a new board for New College in Sarasota, a liberal arts university. Hes trying to eliminate programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, along with limiting tenure. Hes trying to create a college that fits his vision, not an educators vision.

There are plenty of private institutions that tailor the curriculum to match certain beliefs.

In public institutions, tenure provides stability for faculty and protects the exchange of ideas. The Legislature should reject House Bill 1446 and protect academic freedom.
Despite limited tools, Leonardo da Vinci displayed ingenious problemsolving. In their new paper, Caltech Professor Mory Gharib and colleagues examined a combination of da Vincis thought and physical experiments regarding the acceleration of falling objects.

Leonardo da Vinci, who lived from 1452 to 1519, was well ahead of the curve in exploring the concept of gravity.

It wasnt until 1604 that Galileo Galilei would theorize that the distance covered by a falling object was proportional to the square of time elapsed and not until the late 17th century that Sir Isaac Newton would expand on that to develop a law of universal gravitation, describing how objects are attracted to one another.

Da Vincis primary hurdle was being limited by the tools at his disposal. For example, he lacked a means of precisely measuring time as objects fell.

His experiments were first spotted by Professor Gharib in the Codex Arundel, a collection of papers written by da Vinci that cover science, art, and personal topics.

In early 2017, Professor Gharib was exploring da Vincis techniques of flow visualization to discuss with students he was teaching in a graduate course when he noticed a series of sketches showing triangles generated by sand-like particles pouring out from a jar in the Codex Arundel.

What caught my eye was when he wrote Equatione di Moti on the hypotenuse of one of his sketched triangles  the one that was an isosceles right triangle. I became interested to see what Leonardo meant by that phrase, Professor Gharib said.

In his papers, da Vinci described an experiment in which a water pitcher would be moved along a straight path parallel to the ground, dumping out either water or a granular material  most likely sand  along the way.

His notes make it clear that he was aware that the water or sand would not fall at a constant velocity but rather would accelerate  also that the material stops accelerating horizontally, as it is no longer influenced by the pitcher, and that its acceleration is purely downward due to gravity.

If the pitcher moves at a constant speed, the line created by falling material is vertical, so no triangle forms.

If the pitcher accelerates at a constant rate, the line created by the collection of falling material makes a straight but slanted line, which then forms a triangle.

And, as da Vinci pointed out in a key diagram, if the pitchers motion is accelerated at the same rate that gravity accelerates the falling material, it creates an equilateral triangle  which is what Professor Gharib originally noticed that da Vinci had highlighted with the note Equatione di Moti, or equalization (equivalence) of motions.

Da Vinci sought to mathematically describe that acceleration. It is here, according to the studys authors, that he didnt quite hit the mark.

To explore da Vincis process, Professor Gharib and co-authors used computer modeling to run his water vase experiment. Doing so yielded da Vincis error.

What we saw is that Leonardo wrestled with this, but he modeled it as the falling objects distance was proportional to 2 to the t power  with t representing time  instead proportional to t squared, said Cornell Universitys Dr. Chris Roh.

Its wrong, but we later found out that he used this sort of wrong equation in the correct way.

In his notes, da Vinci illustrated an object falling for up to four intervals of time  a period through which graphs of both types of equations line up closely.

We dont know if da Vinci did further experiments or probed this question more deeply, Professor Gharib said.

But the fact that he was grappling with this problem in this way  in the early 1500s  demonstrates just how far ahead his thinking was.

The teams paper was published in the journal Leonardo.

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Morteza Gharib et al. Leonardo da Vincis Visualization of Gravity as a Form of Acceleration. Leonardo, published online November 28, 2022; doi: 10.1162/leon_a_02322
Chrystia Freeland: Liberal democracies are being "hijacked by angry populist politicians" https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/chrystia-freeland-minister-foreign-affairs-canada Eric Zimmer Oct 2 2019, 4:16 pm About Eric Zimmer: A behavior coach, Certified Interfaith Spiritual Director, podcast host, and writer, Eric Zimmer is endlessly inspired by the quest for a greater understanding of how our minds work and how to intentionally create the lives we want to live. At the age of 24, Eric was homeless, addicted to heroin and facing long jail sentences. In the years since he has found a way to recover from addiction and build a life worth living for himself. Eric works as a behavior coach and has done so for the past 20 years. He has coached hundreds of people from around the world on how to make significant life changes and create habits that serve them well in achieving the goals theyve set for themselves. In addition to his work as a behavior coach, he currently hosts the award-winning podcast, The One You Feed, based on an old parable about two wolves at battle within us. With nearly 500 episodes and over 25 million downloads, the show features conversations with experts across many fields of study about how to create a life that has less suffering and more fulfillment and meaning. Guests on the show include scientists, authors, researchers, teachers, thought leaders, spiritual gurus, and public figures and all offer practical, actionable wisdom that listeners can readily apply to their daily lives in order to act their way into a better experience of living. His story and his work have been featured in the media including TedX, Mind Body Green, Elephant Journal, the BBC and Brain Pickings. Chrystia Freeland: Liberal democracies are being "hijacked by angry populist politicians" https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/chrystia-freeland-minister-foreign-affairs-canada Eric Zimmer Oct 2 2019, 4:16 pm

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland (Eric Zimmer / Daily Hive)

Since becoming Canadas Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2015, Chrystia Freeland said its striking to her how different the world is today, just four years later.

The international paradigm has changed, and we need to behave differently, she said, during a sit-down interview with Daily Hive this week.

And while she believes that, as Canadians, our principles and our value are exactly the same, she also believes now is the time to take different approaches, because the threats are different.

And with the Liberal Party unveiling its platform this past Sunday, and the federal election just weeks from now, Freeland said the central theme of the partys foreign policy is fighting back against these threats to a rules-based international order and liberal democracy.

And while this may sound somewhat dramatic, Freeland is serious in her desire to drive home the importance of this policy.

I think we do need to take seriously the threats that the whole idea of liberal democracy is facing, she continued.

And its not necessarily threats from the outside from places like authoritarian regimes trying to undermine liberal democracy, either.

Instead, said Freeland, its the doubts creeping in inside liberal democracy liberal democracies that are becoming totally polarized societies, divided into these hostile  even warring  tribes who cant talk to each other, and societies that have been hijacked by angry populist politicians.

Freeland said this theme exists in what she called unhappy liberal democracies, where the details may be unique but the basic storyline is the same.

What has happened, she continued, is the middle class has been hollowed and there is a significant group of people who feel disenfranchised, dispossessed, even cut off from how the country is being run.

This disenfranchised segment of the population, she said, then provides the fuel for an irresponsible politician to go to them and to whip that kind of frustration into red-hot populist anger.

And while its her belief that Canada is the smartest liberal democracy in the world, the single biggest mission the government has, and all Canadians should have, is to not let a scenario like the one she describes come to fruition in Canada, she said.

I think weve learned in this time  along with like-minded countries  is we can be most effective if we bring together alliances of countries that share our view and work together  and Canada is pretty good at that, she said. There is actually no single hyperpower today, so I think actually everyone benefits from a rules-based international order, and there are a lot of countries that think the way Canada does.

For me, the way we vaccinate Canadians against this threat, is we keep on investing in our middle class, and we dont let our country have that group of people exist who feel hopeless and left behind, she said.

Its that investment in the middle class that is a central theme of the Liberal Partys 2019 election platform.

Whats really important is this platform as a whole, said Freeland. There are a lot of specific pieces, but the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts.

The platform, she continued, is about investing in Canadians in a number of essential areas, the middle class, and those who are working hard to join our middle class, with investment across the spectrum.

At home and abroad

Freeland also reflected on what her role as foreign affairs minister has meant, the type of work shes done, and the role that Canada has played on the global stage, over the past four years.

Weve been working on a number of issues, she said. Our leadership of the equal rights coalition on LGBTQ rights, the fact that Canada continues to be a strong supporter of the Paris Accords, all of these multi-lateral groups.

She also spoke about a broader effort to support multilateralism, noting this has been a theme of Canadas foreign policy over the last four years, and will be something that we need to double down on.

Freeland knows of course, that not all countries share this world view.

We also have to be prepared for some people not to like it when we speak of up in defence of human rights, and in defence of the rules-based international order, she said. There will be countries and leaders who object, and thats okay; it actually means that were having an impact and people are noticing what were doing.

She also spoke about her involvement with the high-profile renegotiation of NAFTA  now popularly referred to as the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement, as coined by President Donald Trump  earlier this year.

The NAFTA negation, both the process and the outcome, I think, represent Canada out our best, and the way we approached it, was really as team Canada, said Freeland. It wasnt just me or even just the caucus, it was the whole parliament  it was all cabinet colleagues and premiers across the country.

She also recalled something the prime minister had said during the back-and-forth process.

I remember that right after we announced our retaliation on the steel and aluminum tariffs  which was our biggest trade action since the second world war  and the PM was talking to cabinet, she said. He said this is going to be our approach: we do not escalate and we do not back down.'

Freeland said that for her this was a perfect summary of Canadian-ness and that is certainly Canada in the world: we dont escalate, were not out there looking for a fight, but we also dont back down.
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 organized 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 percent 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 percent 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.
In his epic the Shahnamah (Book of Kings), the poet Firdawsi (9401019 or 1025) vividly describes how Alexander (Iskandar/Sikandar) came upon the Persian emperor Darius (Dara) as he fled north after the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Cradling the mortally wounded Dara on his knees, Iskandar promised Your word is my command, Ill promise you whatever you want. (Shahnamah, Dara 9.42). The dying kings last wishes were for Iskandar to look after his children, his family and to marry his daughter Roshanak, that their son should safeguard the Zoroastrian religion and live by the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Zend-Avesta, while keeping the traditional feasts of Sadeh and Noruz and preserving the Zoroastrian fire-temples.



Iskandar comforts the dying Dara. From Firdawsis Shahnamah. Iran, 1604 (IO Islamic 966, f. 335r)



Although Alexander readily kept the first two promises, his need to consolidate power within Iran soon put an end to any good intentions he might have held with regard to the Zoroastrian religion. One of his first actions after ascending the throne was to destroy the fire-temples, thus attempting to eliminate all Zoroastrian opposition. In the few examples of Middle Persian literature which survive today, Alexander is demonised and referred to as gizistag accursed.

Among the most important of the Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts is the Bundahishn (Creation) which describes Alexanders conquest in these terms:

He killed king Daray, destroyed all the family of the lords and the magi and the notables of Iran. He extinguished many fires. He took the religion of the Mazdaean den [religion] and the Zand [religious commentaries] and sent them to Rome and burned the Avesta and divided Iran among ninety provincial lords. (Bundahishn 33.19, tr. Thrope & Agostini, p. 173)

This account, written during the early Islamic period, reflects ninth-century traditions which were to some extent already anachronistic. In fact the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, were transmitted orally and were not written down before the fifth century AD at the earliest.



Know that Iskandar burned our religious books written on 12,000 oxhides. From the Letter of Tansar, in Ibn Isfandiyars History of Tabaristan. Iran, 1656 (Add MS 7633, f. 10r)



Middle Persian accounts survive to some extent in the early Arabic and Persian histories and in translations and retranslations. One example is the thirteenth-century historian Ibn Isfandiyars Tarikh-i Tabaristan (History of Tabaristan) which preserves a translation of the Middle Persian Letter of Tansar, written in the sixth century but now lost in its original form. Allegedly written by Tansar, the Zoroastrian chief priest of Ardashir I (r.224241), the hostile and negative view of Alexander is in fact an example of Sasanian propaganda dating from the sixth century, several centuries later. Although reported second or third-hand, it is nevertheless important as representing a specifically Zoroastrian point of view and one which was repeated by the early Islamic historians.

Although Alexander was reinvented in the Persian tradition as the rightful heir to the Achaemenid empire, the Zoroastrian perception of him remained hostile. Even in Firdawsis Shahnamah he is described by Ardashir, founder of the Sasanian dynasty (224651) as the evil-minded (badguman) tyrant who killed our ancestors one by one (Shahnamah, Ashkaniyan 10.15).

In later literature however, Alexander was more generally regarded as an Islamic hero. This was largely due to his identification with Dhul-Qarnayn (two-horned) whose story is told in Surah 18 of the Quran.[1]



The sorceress Azar Humayun, transformed into a dragon, defends her fire temple. From Nizamis Sharafnamah (Book of Honour). Iran, 16th century (IO Islamic 387, f. 337v)



In the twelfth-century poet Nizamis Sharafnamah, the first book of his two-part Iskandarnamah (History of Alexander), Zoroastrianism is linked closely to treasure, magic and young maidens celebrating immodestly at the fire-temple. The bare facts are given: Iskandar ordered the fire-temples and the Zoroastrian books to be destroyed, but the story Nizami uses to illustrate them tells of a beautiful sorceress, Azar Humayun, who turned herself into a dragon to defend her temple. She was eventually defeated by the magic of Iskandars philosopher, the magician Balinas (Apollonius), and was restored to her original form. As a nod to propriety her life was spared and she was respectably married off to Balinas as a reward.

Alexanders role as an Islamic hero was continued in later works such as the Ainah-i Iskandari (Iskandars Mirror) by Amir Khusraw Dihlavi (12531325) and the Khiradnamah-i Iskandari (Iskandars Wisdom) by Abd al-Rahman Jami (14141492). In them the destruction of Zoroastrianism and the fire-temples is not denied but reinterpreted positively as a pious act to promote Islam.



Alexander discusses the merits of fire and fire-worship with his wise men and resolves to destroy the fire-temples. From Amir Khusraws Ainah-i Iskandari. Iran, 149798 (Or.11327, f. 174v)



See these items on display in the British Library exhibition Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth, open until 19 February 2023. Visit our dedicated website to find out more.

We are indebted to the Kusuma Trust, the Patricia G. and Jonathan S. England  British Library Innovation Fund and Ubisoft for their support towards the exhibition, as well as other trusts and private donors.



Ursula Sims-Williams, Lead Curator Persian, British Library



Further reading

Josef Wiesehofer, The Accursed and the Adventurer: Alexander the Great in Iranian tradition. In David Zuwiyya (ed), A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2011, pp. 113-32.

Haila Manteghi, Alexander the Great in the Persian Tradition: History, Myth and Legend in Medieval Iran. London: I.B. Tauris, 2018.

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[1] See Kevin van Bladel, The Alexander Legend in the Qur'an 18:83-102. In Reynolds, Gabriel Said (ed.), The Quran in its Historical Context. London: Routledge, 2008, pp. 191-219.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Incorporated (GA-ASI) have jointly announced that turbo-propeller engines that power the state-of-art MQ-9B Guardian High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) will be supported by the HAL Engine Division at Bengaluru for the Indian market.

"HAL has been manufacturing and providing MRO support for TPE 331-5 engines for the last 40 years. We are also establishing facilities for manufacturing TPE 331-12B engines for the HTT-40 project.

"The engine used on the MQ-9B RPAS belongs to the same family of engines with upgraded configuration to adapt to the RPAS technology.

"I am glad that HAL Engine Division, Bengaluru would be providing MRO support to the engine for MQ-9B RPAS, one of the most sophisticated equipments in the world," HAL Chairman and Managing Director, C.B. Ananthakrishnan said.

"GA-ASI is proud to collaborate with HAL on this prestigious project," General Atomics Global Corporation's Chief Executive Dr. Vivek Lall said. "HAL is the foremost Indian public sector aerospace and defense agency, and its vast experience in the domain of aero-engine technology makes it our natural partner in India."

Though the turboprop engine fitted onboard the MQ-9B HALE RPAS looks similar to other commercial engines in its category, it is unique in its configuration and operation, requiring special training and equipment to maintain, repair and overhaul.

The Expression of Interest was exchanged between Lall, and HAL's Executive Director, Engines, and IMGT, B. Krishna Kumar in the presence of Bengaluru Complex CEO Mihir Kanti Mishra.

GA-ASI and HAL eagerly look forward to formulating a comprehensive engine MRO program for upcoming HALE RPAS projects. This joint collaboration echoes India's clarion call for 'Atmanirbharta' (self-reliance), while underscoring the deep industrial connection between the US and Indian aerospace companies.
Aiming to strengthen the cooperative sector, the Union Cabinet approved the setting up of two lakh new multipurpose primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in panchayats across the country in the next five years.

Under this, dairy and fishery cooperatives would be set up in all those panchayats which are uncovered, i.e., which don't have cooperative societies till now.

This plan would be implemented with the support of NABARD, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) through the convergence of various schemes of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying by leveraging the 'whole-of-government' approach, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, told media persons after the Cabinet meeting.

The setting up of cooperative societies will provide farmer members with requisite forward and backward linkages to market their produce, enhance their income, and obtain credit facilities and other services at the village level.

The PACS will provide farmer members with requisite forward and backward linkages and enhance their income and will generate employment opportunities in the rural area, the minister said.
Job seekers, students, and career changers around the world want to pursue roles related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) across different industries, but say they are not familiar with career options. At the same time, online training and digital credentials are emerging as a recognized pathway to opportunity as respondents plan to seek new jobs in the year ahead.

These were some of the global findings from a new study that IBM unveiled today. The study, administered by Morning Consult and commissioned by IBM, is based on more than 14,000 interviews of students, people seeking new jobs, and people seeking to change careers, located across 13 countries, including India. Respondents also cited concerns that career options may not be available to them.

In India, more than half of all audiences said they are familiar with digital credential programs, while those that have earned a digital credential agree that it helped them achieve their career goals. All audiences surveyed in India agreed that career opportunities in STEM will increase over the next 10 years. However, cost emerged as one of the most important factors to consider when deciding to earn a digital credential.

Technology training can have a transformational effect on a persons life, said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM Chief Impact Officer. There are many misconceptions about what's needed to pursue a rewarding and lucrative career in todays rapidly advancing workplace. This is why we must raise awareness of the breadth of science and technology roles that exist across industries. Together with our IBM SkillsBuild partners, were highlighting the many pathways that exist for underrepresented communities to pursue futures in tech.

While India has emerged as a major hub for STEM talent, the fast-changing pace of technology makes it crucial for current and aspiring STEM professionals to have access to tools and resources that can help them build the right skills, said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India. Through IBM SkillsBuild, we partner with leading universities and institutions in the country in their quest to create a future-ready workforce and provide opportunities to more diverse groups.

To help tackle these misconceptions and bring STEM education closer to historically underrepresented communities in the field, IBM is announcing today 45 new educational partners around the world, including 11 in India. These IBM SkillsBuild collaborations across social service, economic development, and vocational organizations, as well as government agencies, and universities, will make free online learning widely available, with clear pathways to employment. Many of these organizations focus on specific communities that are underrepresented in technology and will help skill women, including mothers returning to the workforce, ethnic minorities, low-income individuals, and refugees.

Study Shows Misconceptions and Opportunities in Tech and Beyond

The IBM / Morning Consult study revealed perceptions from interviewed students, career changers, and job seekers who are interested in a role in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM):

Indian Job Seekers and Career Changers reported the highest levels of familiarity with STEM jobs among the 13 countries surveyed

Two-in-three Job Seekers and Career Changers in India said theyre very or somewhat familiar with STEM jobs.

While over a quarter of Job Seekers and Career Changers said they currently work these types of jobs, a majority of respondents across all audiences said theyre interested in working in STEM. Compared to Career Changers in the other countries surveyed, India Career Changers are more interested in working in a STEM job.

Global Misconceptions around STEM training: it's too expensive, learners don't know where to start, and don't know enough about digital credentials.

61% of global respondents think they are not qualified to work in a STEM job because they don't have the right academic degrees

40% of students say the greatest barrier to professional or technical skill development is that they dont know where to start

60% of respondents worry that digital credentials may be costly to obtain

Being able to continue to work while earning a credential is particularly important to career changers

Learners and workers around the world are planning to make a change, with about 60% of respondents looking for a new job in the next 12 months.

61% of students and career changers around the world are actively looking for a new job now or plan to within the next year

More than 80% of all respondents have plans to build their skills in the next two years

At least 90% are confident they can develop skills or learn something new from an online program

Globally, awareness of options around different STEM roles across industries is low, and many are concerned these careers wont pay enough.

50% of global respondents are interested in pursuing a STEM-related job

64% of career changers are not familiar with STEM jobs

Many respondents are unsure of which careers are considered to be a STEM job

62% of respondents share concerns that they wont be able to find a STEM job that pays enough to support themselves or their family

Respondents around the world are optimistic that roles in STEM fields across sectors will increase in the future, and that digital credentials are a good way to supplement traditional education and increase career opportunities.

66% of all respondents globally think that STEM jobs across industries will increase over the next decade

86% of those respondents who have earned a digital credential agree that it helped them achieve career goals

75% of all respondents agree that digital credentials are a good way to supplement traditional education

Increased career opportunities and qualifications were the top reasons why respondents across the globe said they wanted to earn digital credentials

45 New Collaborations Around the World, Including 11 in India

Through a holistic approach to investing in the future of work, IBM is supporting learners and helping tackle their misconceptions about technology and STEM careers. IBM SkillsBuild is bringing free technology training available to learners all over the world, with a focus on underrepresented communities in tech. Online training, like the courses offered by IBM SkillsBuild, is most effective when it is delivered collaboratively with local partners. Community experts enrich course content through project-based learning and connect learners with real career opportunities. To this end, today IBM SkillsBuild is proud to announce 45 new and expanded collaborations around the world.

In India, IBM has announced 11 new collaborations including GSHEC-Goa State Higher Education Council; Gurukul Kangri University-Haridwar; Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women; ISA - International Solar Alliance; KRIES  Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society; KSDC- Karnataka Skill Development Corporation; National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT); OSDA  Odisha Skill Development Authority; RV College of Engineering; Sister Nivedita University-Kolkata; Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation.

Through collaborations like these, IBM continues to progress towards its commitment to skill 30 million people globally by 2030.

*Methodology: This study was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of IBM from November 2 - December 20, 2022. The study was conducted among a sample of 4,926 Students, 4,629 Job Seekers, and 4,628 Career Changers in 13 countries (Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, UAE, UK, and the US).
San Mateo, CA (94402)

Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 58F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low near 45F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
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A father and child were playing by a creek in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania when their ball rolled into the water. After climbing down to retrieve it they spotted a black plastic bag. Inside the bag, they found what appeared to be human remains. Turns out, it wasn't that. But the reality is still pretty darn creepy. From PA Homepage:

At the scene, police say a black plastic bag with an "extremely lifelike" human foot sticking out of it was discovered. The foot was said to be highly detailed, complete with a French manicure.

The Wyoming County Coroner and Pennsylvania State Police were called to the scene where, upon opening the bag, the remains in question were determined to be an anatomically correct child-sized sex doll, as stated by police.
Origin Energy has called on the federal government for greater clarity on how it plans to restrain domestic gas prices beyond this year as analysts warn policy changes could drive a revaluation of a proposed $18.4 billion takeover offer for the company.

The ASX-listed power and gas giant last year opened its books to Canadian asset manager Brookfield and US-based private equity firm EIG, which jointly lobbed a $9-a-share bid to buy Origin and divide its assets between them.

Australian power and gas supplier Origin Energy is facing an $18.4 billion takeover offer from a North American consortium. Credit: Joe Armao

Although the bidding consortiums due diligence has lasted more than three months and its exclusivity period has expired, Origin chief executive Frank Calabria on Thursday said the company remained in active engagement with the consortium about the prospect of a binding takeover proposal.

Analysts on Thursday said they did not foresee major roadblocks to the non-binding offer proceeding to a formal bid. However, they flagged that the introduction of new east-coast gas market regulations could affect domestic and international gas sales from Origin Energys part-owned Queensland natural gas venture, Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) and may need to be considered.
Matt has been secretly seeing the nurse from Alices cancer ward; Alice grabs his phone and finds dick pics in his messages to the nurse, prompting the memorable line, Theyre not dick pics  theyre black and white!

The pair leave the hospital in slow-motion, a smile slowly spreading across Alices face. Outside, shes preparing to call her mum in Sweden, as Matt fumbles with his own phone, hastily answering text messages  before telling Alice hes dumping her.

This Swedish black comedy opens with a familiar trope  a nervous couple in a doctors room, waiting to hear test results. But rather than heading where you expect it to  a journey of someone suffering a serious illness  Sick ( Sjukt in Swedish) opens with 20-something Alice ( Anxious People s Carla Sehn), a Swedish woman living and working in London, and her boyfriend Matt (Pascal Perico) receiving the news that her ovarian cancer has effectively disappeared. Shell need regular tests, but shes largely in the clear.

Furious, Alice returns to her hometown of Farsta, a suburban satellite town outside Stockholm. But after five years away, life has moved on without her. Fearing the worst about her illness, her parents, who had separated, have moved in together in a smaller apartment, and many of her old friends are not as excited at her return as shed anticipated. In fact, at a housewarming party at her old apartment  her parents swapped flats with another family in the complex  barely any of her old classmates remember her, and if they do its for the time she humped the cushions in the playroom.

At least theres her lifelong best friend Shantana (Maria Nohra)  but even she has changed, now in a relationship with an ever-present and largely silent girlfriend. Another old classmate, Mehmet (Dejmis Rustom Bustos), lets her down by refusing to sell her cigarettes from the corner shop his mum owns.

Alice tries to rebuild her life in suburban Sweden after recovering from cervical cancer.

As if thats not enough, after her treatment Alice has a shortened vagina, (something shes eager to test out), her unemployed mother (Anna Bloomberg) has started an advocacy group for gynaecological cancer, believing it suffers in the shadow of the more glamorous breast cancer, and shes broke, unemployed and back where she started.

Forget your highly designed Scandi dramas, Sick is rooted in a down-at-heel suburbia, not a designer lamp in sight; this is a much more realistic  and multicultural  working-class Sweden.
Adapted from Jonathan Strouds book series of the same name, Lockwood & Co. is set in a world that resembles ours, except for The Problem. For roughly 50 years malevolent spirits have been wreaking havoc every night, killing the living and avenging their own deaths.

The British filmmaker, whose credits include Attack the Block and The Boy Who Would Be King, brings irrepressible zip, sardonic asides, and an understanding of adolescent need to the stories he tells. Here Cornish presents a gang of young London ghostbusters as both a thrilling proposition and bittersweet bond.

Netflix has produced a succession of decent to good supernatural young adult dramas, including The Irregulars and Shadow and Bone. What makes this spectral detective series stand out? The answer is Joe Cornish.

The burden of quelling them falls on teenagers, who are most sensitive to the spirits presence and able to fight back. Theyre known as agents, although child soldiers would also be appropriate. Monuments to those whove died on the job dot the streets.

Cornish, who wrote and directed the first and last episodes, laces every scene with telling detail, so that as you watch teenager Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes) get consigned by her mother to a local firm, where she discovers her talents and those who will exploit them, you come to understand the medieval weapons and new order that go in hand with the eerie bureaucracy. Its only when she flees to London and the rogue firm run by Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) that she finds a home.

Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman, lying down) heads up a rogue firm of the title. Credit: Netflix

Lockwood, along with nebbish researcher George Karim (Ali Hadji-Heshmati), stand out because they work without adult supervision, but as the cases stack up, and an otherworldly conspiracy takes shape, you might sense an historical lineage.

The banter between the trio in part recalls televisions original Avengers, with Lockwood and his raffish tie a successor to John Steed, while the attraction between Lockwood and Carlyle is a timeless British dynamic: posh London boy and working-class provincial girl flirt.
Your embossed invitation from Smythson stationery is certainly in the mail, so its time to think like Catherine, Princess of Wales and plan your outfit for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6. That means finding a tiara, unless your family has a stash and trusts you for a loaner (Meghan, Duchess of Sussex take note).

With weeks to spare, French jeweller Chaumet has opened its third Australian boutique in Sydney, a flagship complete with a wall of try before you buy tiaras. The correct fit is important, with the Torsade de Chaumet tiara in white gold set with diamonds, worn by model Rosie Tupper, leaving a $1,127,405-sized hole in your savings or trust fund.

Model Rosie Tupper wearing a tiara by French jeweller Chaumet at its new Sydney store. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Year after year we sell more tiaras than we used to, says Jean-Marc Mansvelt, chief executive of Chaumet. Surprisingly 2021 was a record year. People see them as an investment. In many countries, it is the ultimate symbol for weddings, with parents buying them for their daughters.

It is a symbol of the coronation of love.
The conservative Anglican archbishop of Sydney has apologised to clergy for causing them distress after the dioceses newspaper mistakenly promoted a talk by a gay Anglican who is one of the worlds leading authorities on harm caused by conversion therapy.

The dioceses Southern Cross newspaper ran an advertisement for talks by Jayne Ozanne  who has discussed the harm of conversion practices with Pope Francis  and US evangelical Wesley Hill, whose view that gay Christians must choose heterosexual marriage or celibacy aligns with the position of Sydney Anglicans.

The original, offending advertisement in the Southern Cross, and the sunset with which it was replaced.

The ad for the talks at the St James Institute was withdrawn from the online edition and replaced with a picture of a sunset. Ozannes talk is entitled, Unashamedly Gay. Unashamedly Christian. In his newsletter to clergy, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel said he regretted the decision to accept the advertisement.

I apologise for doing so, and for the distress it has caused, he wrote, saying the editorial processes would be reviewed to stop such a mistake from happening again. I do not support the views of Ms Ozanne, and I do not recommend attendance at the event.
Kathleen Folbiggs letters were decorated with cut-out images: a homey cottage covered with flowers, a flamingo behind bars (a jail bird like her, she joked), carefully coloured-in roses, a tiny baby monkey (how dam [sic] cute is this little fella).

Penned from prison to her childhood best friend, Tracy Chapman, Folbigg spoke of her life in Silverwater Womens Correctional Centre and vented her frustration with the media and the legal system.

Extracts from letters from Kathleen Folbigg, left, to Tracy Chapman. Credit: Peter Rae, Louise Kennerley

The letters, dated between 2003 and 2021, were released this week by the judicial inquiry into Folbiggs convictions over the deaths of her four young children.

Folbigg, now 55, is serving a minimum 25-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2003 of the murder of three of her children, Patrick, Sarah, and Laura, and the manslaughter of her first child, Caleb. Each died suddenly between 1989 and 1999 in the familys Hunter Valley home, aged between 19 days and 18 months.
One hundred million litres of water has been sucked from Sydney Harbour in the past 10 days, exposing two hectares of the Blackwattle Bay seabed and a vast grid of steel pylons.

Pumping water from the bay has created a temporary water-tight structure  known as a cofferdam  built to allow for safe construction of the NSW governments long-vaunted $750 million new Sydney Fish Market.

About 400 piles will be driven into the bed of Blackwattle Bay to support the Sydney Fish Market, ferry wharves and an adjacent foreshore promenade. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Minister Rob Stokes said the cofferdam was the largest ever assembled in NSW.

This is a feat of engineering on steroids. There is so much complexity in what is being delivered, Stokes said on Wednesday.
For David Sayers of Gwandalan, The mention of Armstrong Siddeley (C8) brings memories flooding back to the Sayers household. Penelope, mother and wife of the aforementioned clutch plate duo, (a Japanese marque by the way), whose uncle was John Silkin, a minister in the Wilson and Callaghan UK Labour governments in the 1970s and who owned an Armstrong Siddeley. Keeping the beast in petrol accounted for much of his parliamentary salary, while the cost of a service was another level of pain altogether. The A.S. was mercifully retired when Mrs Thatcher dispatched him to the opposition benches.

The Herald CBD piece about leaking a do-not-leak memo reminded me of a report that, back in the 50s, president Eisenhower memoed his cabinet members to stop leaking to the press, writes Pasquale Vartuli of Wahroonga. Of course, within 24 hours, the memo itself was leaked to the press.

I timed my arrival as a migrant to Australia for after February 1966 to avoid having to deal with pounds, shillings and pence (C8) but even so I was puzzled by all the talk of unhappy cows until I realised dismal guernsey was how Aussies mangled their pronunciation of their new money, says Richard Keyes of Enfield.

Moving on with a dodgy recipe (C8) of the liquid kind. Randi Svensen of Wyong recalls that his late mother was partial to a gin, lime and water in the evening: One day, when I was feeling particularly grown up, I offered to make it for her. Gin: check. Splash of lime: check. Water, chilled in a jug in the fridge: check. Except the water was actually fish stock she had made for Norwegian fish balls. That was definitely a time when fish and water did not go together.

Looking for an effective binding agent? Richard Black of Collaroy says his wife, Kim Wilson, was working a Macquarie University archaeological dig in Egypt some years ago when her turn to cook came up and she accidentally used plaster of Paris in making the meat balls. They apparently looked good enough to eat but no one was willing to try after the first one was sampled.
Catholic schools have shed students for the first time in more than a decade as families increasingly choose independent schools.

Victorian school enrolment numbers bounced back from a COVID pause to grow by 0.5 per cent last year, among the highest growth rates in the country, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

Mary Queen of Heaven primary school opened this year in Greenvale. Pictured are principal Renae Gentile, deputy principal Daniela De Luca and students (from left) Adam, 9, Amelia, 10, and Livinia, 6. Credit: Paul Jeffers

Independent schools increased enrolments by 2.9 per cent, while the government system was flat and Catholic schools lost some students  the first overall enrolment decline since at least 2011.

Catholic schools have had small increases in overall enrolment numbers each year since 2011, peaking at 211,047 in 2021. Last year they dipped to 210,919.
NASAs second-most senior leader has called on Australia to increase its spending on high-tech space developments in a bid to counter Chinas growing dominance in outer space.

Pamela Melroy, the deputy administrator of the American space agency, said a competition for values between a democratic, transparent Western approach and the speedy, technology-driven growth of China in space must drive the burgeoning relationship between Australia and the United States to new levels.

Pamela Melroy says the Australia-United States partnership is essential for a flourishing space program. Credit: Louie Douvis

Chinas string of stunningly fast developments over the past few years  including its landing on the far side of the moon in 2018, its sustained space station presence in orbit, and its rover landed on Mars in 2021  have fuelled top American space officials concerns over the future of space.

[Space] is of strategic importance to both nations, she said in an exclusive interview with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Something thats very important to us is bringing the best of humanity into the solar system.
Last year, I was commissioned by Double Elvis Productions to write the script for a true crime-esque podcast on one Armie Hammer:

It was an  interesting challenge, for sure. And I think I did a pretty good job navigating the, err, complexities of the situation.

Which, for those unaware, essentially boils down to the generically handsome scion of a billionaire family being accused of rape after a deluge of revelations about his flesh-eating sex fetishes. While he never actually barbecued anyone's ribcage to eat while using their blood as anal lube, that is certainly a thing that he proposed to several women (including one upon whom he ultimately carved his name with a knife into the skin above her labia, and then licked the blood from the wound).

Now, after a brief stint selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands, Armie is ready for the inevitable redemption arc that is his birthright as a generically handsome white guy born into a billionaire family. AirMail of all places has published a lengthy interview with Hammer, along with a bizarre accompanying piece explaining why they opted to give Hammer a platform for said inevitable redemption arc.

To be fair, there's certainly something there. Hammer was ultimately never charged with any crimes (including the aforementioned rape allegation). His proclivity for, say, fucking someone between the hemispheres of their brain may have also just been his way of sexting, which the whole world did unfairly kink-shame. There is a legitimate argument to be made there  and Hammer certainly makes it, while also opening up about sexual trauma from his childhood that may have had some psychological impact on his particular gruesome sexting kinks.

What's strange, however, is how much column space the Armie Hammer Justified piece commits to the woman who leaked the aforementioned text messages. Air Mail goes out of its way to paint the eponymous Effie as a mental unstable maniac  an insecure stalker, desperate for attention from a Hollywood Pretty Boy and eager to explore her own ideas of consensual non-consent sex play.

The kink-shaming angle here is certainly valid. But I find it very odd that AirMail  by their admission!  essentially to do an anti-#MeToo piece for their captive airplane audience, to the benefit of someone who already comes from a family of billionaires. Furthermore, that you could certainly accomplish an Armie Hammer redemption story without focusing half of your piece on a smear-campaign targeted on his detractors.

But I digress. I'm just here to plug that podcast I did, because I thought it was pretty good, and I frankly don't think it needed any addendum.
Australia will launch a lottery to bring 3000 foreign workers into the country every year under a new law to be proposed that adapts the green card system used in the United States to give the winners a pathway to citizenship.

In a departure from decades of visa policy, the federal government will open the scheme to people from across the Pacific so they can apply for permanent residency in the hope of winning the random selection.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the Pacific Island Forum last July in Suva, Fiji. Credit: Joe Armao

But the two-step scheme will require those who succeed at the first stage to secure a job offer in Australia and meet tests to check their health, character and basic English skills before they can arrive. The applicants also have to be aged from 18 to 45.

The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, says the draft law will be introduced to federal parliament on Thursday with a vow to build up communities in Australia with strong ties to the region.
Yaounde/Geneva: New cases of a deadly hemorrhagic fever have been detected in Cameroon, after a deadly outbreak was declared in neighbouring Equatorial Guinea.

Cameroonian authorities detected two suspected cases of Marburg disease in Olamze, a border commune, the public health delegate for the region, Robert Mathurin Bidjang, said on Tuesday.

Equatorial Guinea officially declared its first outbreak of Marburg, an illness similar to Ebola, on Monday. It quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province, where the fever was first detected.

Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa. Credit: iStock

The Marburg virus causes a highly infectious disease that can have a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent, according to the WHO. There are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat it.
London: Nicola Sturgeon, one of the most polarising figures in British politics for the past decade, has resigned as Scotlands first minister amid a backlash over her efforts to secure a fresh independence vote and controversy over proposed transgender laws.

Sturgeon, who spent eight years in the role, conceded she was concerned that peoples views towards her could put a future Scottish independence vote at risk, and said that part of serving well was to know when the time was right to stand down.

Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as Scotlands first minister, but will remain in politics. Credit: AP

Sturgeon, 52, became the leader of the ruling Scottish National Party after a 2014 independence referendum when the country voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain a part of the United Kingdom. She said on Wednesday that she believed there was now majority support for independence, but that support needs to be solidified under a new leader.

Even among her detractors Sturgeon was regarded as the best communicator and most effective political leader in Britain. Polls still showed that her party remains the most popular in Scotland and her own ratings well ahead of her counterparts, despite a significant drop in recent months.
~ Medical tourism annually mobilizes more than twenty-one million people in the world, representing an annual growth rate of 20%.~

SANTO DOMINGO:--- Doctor Alejandro Cambiaso, president of the Dominican Association of Health Tourism (ADTS), and Amelia Reyes Mora, president of AF Comunicacion Estrategica, announced the celebration of the most important medical tourism event in Central America and the Caribbean, the "VI International Health and Wellness Tourism Congress," which will be held on November 1 and 2 of this year, at the JW Marriott Hotel, in Santo Domingo.

The activity features important conferences and panels with renowned national and international speakers, aimed at the top players of the sector, such as health centers, dentistry, clinical and pharmaceutical laboratories, hotels, insurers, banks, investment funds, investment, airlines, medical facilitators, government, transportation, legal advisors, accreditors, among others, said Dr. Alejandro Cambiaso.

Medical tourism annually mobilizes more than 21 million people worldwide, presenting an annual growth rate of approximately 20%, constituting a market that oscillates between 74 and 92 billion dollars, according to Patients Beyond Borders.

This international congress constitutes a platform for multi-sector integration, innovation, networking, business development, and investment opportunities, and public-private synergies at a local and international level, expressed Amelia Reyes Mora.

The 2020-2021 Medical Tourism Index, the top ranking of the sector, included nine Latin American nations among the 46 most attractive countries for Americans to receive health services: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Jamaica, Mexico, and Guatemala, which motivates us to draw up joint strategies to strengthen our regional positioning.

This prominent event, which was organized by the ADTS and the Communication and Public Relations firm, AF Comunicacion Estrategica, has brought together in its last two recent editions more than 800 participants and around 70 local exhibitors, Canada, Costa Rica, the United States, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, Spain, Colombia and Caribbean islands and more than 110 sponsors.

For more information about the event, registrations, and sponsorships, access the web portal: https://congresoadts.com/(809) 567-2663.

About the Dominican Health Tourism Association (ADTS, for its acronym in Spanish): The Dominican Health Tourism Association is a non-profit organization that promotes the Dominican Republic as an ideal place for health tourism, because of its high quality, cost-effective medical, dental and wellness services, hospitality conditions, attractive geographical position, and climate.
Victoria Gold: Response to ATAC Resources

Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX-VGCX) (aVictoriaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/victoria-gold-corp/ ) has noted a response from ATAC Resources Ltd. (aATACa) regarding Victoriaa?s proposal to acquire ATAC for an 85% premium to ATACa?s closing share price on February 10, 2023 (the aProposala). Victoria wishes to clarify certain facts contained in ATACa?s press release related to the conditionality of its Proposal.

ATAC has stated that Victoriaa?s Proposal acontained numerous deal conditionsa. Victoria believes the conditions included in its Proposal to ATAC are standard and customary for a transaction of this nature. In addition, Victoriaa?s Proposal did not include any financing requirements.

In its January 12, 2023 Proposal to ATACa?s Board of Directors, Victoria wrote: aWe have devoted significant time and resources to the evaluation of this opportunity and are highly motivated to execute the Proposed Transaction on an expedited basis, which we view as a compelling value proposition for both stakeholders of ATAC and Victoria.a

Victoria also noted: aWe are prepared to promptly allocate the resources necessary to complete our confirmatory due diligence and have a team assembled for short-notice deployment upon your advisement. We anticipate that the balance of our confirmatory due diligence can be completed quickly, and that we can implement the Proposed Transaction in a relatively short time frame.a

Victoria reminds the Board of Directors of ATAC and ATAC shareholders that its Proposal is open for acceptance until 5:00 pm (Vancouver time) on Friday, February 17, 2023. Following this, Victoriaa?s Proposal to ATAC will expire.

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
Sheep Creek Surface Samples Results Produce Up To 17.13% TREE

US Critical Metals Corp. ( https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/us-critical-metals-corp/ ) (aUSCMa) (TSXV: USCM, OTCQB: USCMF; FSE: 0IU0) and US Critical Materials Corp. (\Materials Corp.\) (collectively, the \Partners\) are pleased to report the results for the surface sampling completed at the Sheep Creek Rare Earth Project in southwestern Montana (aSheep Creeka or the aProjecta). The Partners received analytical results for 41 chip/channel and grab rock chip samples collected during the Fall of 2022. The sampling covered areas proximal to the underground workings developed in the late 1950a?s for niobium mineralization by the Continental Columbium Company along with new carbonatite exposures north, south and west of the historic workings. The historic workings and property have not been previously evaluated for rare earth mineralization. Samples were analyzed by Activation Laboratories (Actlabs), located in Ancaster, Canada.

Highlights from the Surface Sampling Program

Continued confirmation that Sheep Creek is one of the highest-grade rare earth projects in the US and further refinement of drill targets in the highest priority zones of surface and sub-surface mineralization.

A total of 37 carbonatite samples revealed rare earth mineralization with grades up to 171,317ppm (17.13%) Total Rare Earth Elements (aTREEa; Sample # 21045), including 22,910ppm (2.29%) combined neodymium and praseodymium (aNdPr\) which are the most sought after of the LREE group.

To date, the Partners have collected 78 surface samples from widespread carbonatite exposures in the northern part of the project area. These results reveal an average of 41,512 (4.1%) TREE, including an average combined 5,882.9ppm (0.58%) neodymium and praseodymium.

The carbonatites at Sheep Creek are strongly enriched in light rare earth elements (aLREEa) with an average value of 4.14% compared to 132.9ppm for heavy rare earth elements (aHREEa).

Preliminary evaluation of the project area has occurred over one-third of the total area staked by the Partners. Significant additional acreage remains to be explored and it is anticipated that additional carbonatites will be identified.

Table 1 summarizes samples collected from both the 2021 and 2022 surface rock sampling programs. The Partners will input the results into detailed geologic maps and will be forthcoming with additional results including underground, stream sediment and soil samples. Integration of the 2022 geologic mapping and geochemical studies will assist the Partners in the design of an airborne geophysics survey in 2023 and improve the understanding of the rare earth-bearing structures.

The results of these collective exploration programs, shown in Figure 1, will be utilized to create an initial drill plan that will be submitted to the US Forest Service in the form of a Plan of Operations. The Project was previously permitted for drilling in 2012 and the Partners are confident that the Project will again receive the required authorizations to drill the targets identified. During the course of the permitting process, the Partners will look to further explore the additional acreage staked in 2022.

Management Commentary

Mr. James Hedrick, President of US Critical Materials Corp., comments: aOver the course of my career evaluating rare earth properties within the US, I have never encountered a property with the grades being generated by Sheep Creek. I firmly believe that this project will continue to produce exceptional results and further our objective of opening a new district scale rare earth destination to address the critical rare earth needs of US industry and government.a

Mr. Darren Collins, Chief Executive Officer and Director of USCM, comments: aThese sample results continue to validate our investments and confirm that Sheep Creek is one of the highest-grade rare earth projects in the US. We are particularly encouraged that all carbonatite samples detected rare earth mineralization along with the identification of new carbonatites for additional follow up work.a

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

In June, 2022, Robert J. Johansing, BSc (geology), MSc (economic geology), who is an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 a Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (the aQPa), visited the carbonatites at Sheep Creek to confirm the geologic environment and the presence of the noted mineralization. At that time, the QP recommended detailed mapping and sampling over the carbonatites and in the historical mine workings along with reconnaissance-type activities.A The QP is not aware of any mineral resource estimates on Sheep Creek. The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by the QP. This included a review of the lab results and certificates. A

The samples were analyzed by Activation Laboratories, located in Ancaster, Canada (\Actlabs\). Actlabs is an independent ISO/IEC 17025 certified laboratory. Internal standards and blanks were inserted for all REEs A and major elemental oxides. Additional standards were inserted by the Partners and are in good agreement with the standarda?s certified values. All samples were ground to 95% -200 mesh to ensure complete fusion with lithium metaborate/tetraborate and analyzed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. The Zr-Nb-Ta-Hf are semi-quantitative owing to P2O5 values in excess of 0.3%.

Additional information relating to Actlabsa? analytical and testing procedures can be found at www.actlabs.com. Actlabsa? Quality System monitors all steps and phases of the operations. Quality Assurance program covers all areas of sample transportation, collection, preparation, analysis and data reporting.A A

Project Overview

Sheep Creek is located in Ravalli County, southwest Montana. Sheep Creek spans 223 lode claims representing approximately 4,500 acres of total land package. The claims are on multiple-use ground administered by the US Forest Service. Exploration activities performed by US Critical Materials Corp. and conducted in late 2021 have identified more than 50 carbonatite dikes in the Sheep Creek exploration area. The carbonatites are up to three meters wide and can be followed for more than 300 meters along strike. Important ore minerals identified include ancylite, allanite, low-thorium monazite, and columbite. The dikes are valuable for their contained light rare earth elements and other strategic metals. Historical grab and rock chip sampling of carbonatites indicate the potential for high-grade mineralization with up to 18.0% total rare earth elements, including 2.4% (23,810ppm) combined neodymium and praseodymium, plus credits in niobium and other strategic metals.

About US Critical Metals Corp.

US Critical Metals Corp. (aUSCMa) is focused on mining projects that will further secure the U.S. supply of critical metals and rare earth elements, which are essential to fueling the new age economy. Pursuant to option agreements with private Canadian and American companies, USCMa?s assets consist of four agreements, each providing USCM with the right to acquire interests in five discovery-focused projects in the US. These projects include the Clayton Ridge lithium project located in Nevada, the Sheep Creek rare earth project located in Montana, the Haynes cobalt project located in Idaho, the Lemhi Pass rare earth project located in Idaho and the Long Canyon uranium project located in Idaho. A significant percentage of the world\-s critical metal and rare earth supply comes from nations with interests that are contrary to those of the US. USCM intends to explore and develop mineral resources with near- and long-term strategic value to the advancement of US interests.

About US Critical Materials Corp.

US Critical Materials Corp. is a private rare earths exploration and development company with holdings in Montana and Idaho. Future development of the Properties includes additional exploration, geologic mapping, sampling and analysis, and drilling with the objective of completing a future resource and reserve estimation. The deposits in Sheep Creek are unique due to low levels of thorium, as discussed above, which potentially allows mining with minimal damage to the environment. U.S. Critical Materials goal is to develop its properties with strategic partners who have the capital and expertise to explore, mine and extract the critical minerals. US Critical Materials Corp. is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For further information please contact:

Darren Collins

Chief Executive Officer and Director

US Critical Metals Corp.

Telephone: 1-786 633-1756

www.uscmcorp.com

Rachel Winn

Operations Director

US Critical Materials Corp.

Telephone: 1-801 322 3401

www.uscriticalmaterials.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.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain information that may be deemed aforward-looking informationa with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companya?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 information. Forward-looking information includes 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 information contained in this press release may include, without limitation, exploration plans and expected exploration results at the Project, results of operations, and the expected financial performance of the Company.

Although the Company believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by its nature, forward-looking information involves assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; the Covid-19 pandemic; adverse industry events; the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the timing of such approvals; that the Company maintains good relationships with the communities in which it operates or proposes to operate, future legislative and regulatory developments in the mining sector; the Companya?s ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; mining industry and markets in Canada and generally; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; the risk that any of the assumptions prove not to be valid or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned work, risks associated with the interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Companya?s expectations, as well as other assumptions risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company, including as set forth in the Companya?s public disclosure documents filed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of USCM as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While USCM may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.
Calibre Increases Nicaraguan Mineral Reserve Grade by 16% and Nevada Mineral Reserves Grow by 23%, Net of Production Depletion

Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX: CXB; OTCQX: CXBMF) (the \Company\ or \Calibre\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/calibre-mining-corp/ ) is pleased to announce the results of the Companya?s 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;

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.

Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calibre stated: aSince acquiring our Nicaraguan assets in Q4 2019, the teamsa? 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.a

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 Companya?s 2022 Mineral Resource statement;

Additional Mineral Resource expansion and grade increase opportunities at our Eastern Borosi Project (aEBPa) 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.

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 10A 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 (aSLRa), 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 (aQPsa) as set out under NI 43-101.A

A new technical report the Pan Gold Project (the aNI 43-101 Updated Technical Report on Resources and Reserves Pan Gold Project White Pine County, Nevadaa) 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. A

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 Companya?s 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 Calibrea?s 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.A

Note 1  La Libertad Complex Mineral Resource Notes

1.A A A A A A A A A A CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.

2.A A A A A A A A A A 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.A Exceptions:A A A

a. At La Libertad Mine, JabalA East Underground (UG), Mojon UG, San Juan UG, and Tope UG (US$1,500/oz Au and A A 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).

3.A A A A A A A A A A Mineral Resources are estimated at gold cut-off grades ranging from 0.42 g/t to 3.59 g/t.

4.A A A A A A A A A A Open pit Mineral Resources are reported within conceptual open pits.A

5.A A A A A A A A A A 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 JabalA West, San Antonio, Rosario, and Socorro deposits.

6.A A A A A A A A A A Underground Mineral Resources at JabalA West UG, Riscos de Oro UG, and EBP (Guapinol UG and Vancouver UG) are reported within underground constraining shapes.A All blocks within the underground constraining shapes have been included within the Mineral Resource estimate.A

7.A A A A A A A A A A Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.70 t/m3 to 2.65 t/m3.

8.A A A A A A A A A A Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves.

9.A A A A A A A A A A Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

10.A A A A A A A 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

1.A A A A A A A A A A CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Reserves.

2.A A A A A A A A A A All Mineral Reserves are classified as Probable Mineral Reserves.A

3.A A A A A A A A A A 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.A Exceptions: A A A

a. JabalA 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.A A A A A A A A A A Open pit Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following cut-off grades:

a. 0.79 g/t Au for JabalA Antena OP.

b. 0.74 g/t Au for Rosario OP.

c. 1.51 g/t Au for PavAn Norte OP and PavAn Central OP.

d. 1.81 g/t Au for EBP (Guapinol OP and Vancouver OP).

5.A A A A A A A A A A Pavon Norte OP and Pavon Central OP cut-off grades, account for the increased hauling costs to mill.

6.A A A A A A A A A A All open pit Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate dilution built in during the re-blocking process and assume 100% mining recovery.

7.A A A A A A A A A A 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 JabalA West UG and 3.42 g/t Au and 2.41 g/t Au for Riscos de Oro UG.

8.A A A A A A A A A A All Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate estimates of dilution and mining losses.

9.A A A A A A A A A A A minimum mining width of 1.5 m and 2.0 m was used for underground Mineral Reserves at JabalA 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 A A A A A A A mining extraction factor of 95% was applied to underground stopes at JabalA West UG.A A 100% extraction factor was assumed for ore encountered during mine access development.

11.A A A A A A A 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 A 90% extraction factor was assumed for ore encountered during mine access development.A

12.A A A A A A A Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.70 t/m3 to 2.61 t/m3.A Underground backfill density is 1.00 t/m3.

13.A A A A A A A Mineral Reserves are reported in dry metric tonnes.

14.A A A A A A A Numbers may not add due to rounding.

A A 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

1.A A A A A A A A A A CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.

2.A A A A A A A A A A Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves.A

3.A A A A A A A A A A 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.

4.A A A A A A A A A A Open Pit (OP) Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades of 1.00 g/t Au.

5.A A A A A A A A A A Underground (UG) Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades ranging from 2.00 g/t Au to 2.82 g/t Au.

6.A A A A A A A A A A Bulk densities vary by deposit and weathering stage and range from 1.86 t/m3 to 2.85 t/m3.A Bulk densities for Tailings material range from 1.29 t/m3 to 1.33 t/m3.A

7.A A A A A A A A A A Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

8.A A A A A A A A A A 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

1.A A A A A A A A A CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Reserves.

2.A A A A A A A A A All Mineral Reserves are classified as Probable Mineral Reserves.A

3.A A A A A A A A A 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.A PanteAn Norte a 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.

4.A A A A A A A A A Open pit Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following cut-off grades:

a. 1.05 g/t Au for LimAn Central OP.

b. 1.11 g/t Au for LimAn Norte OP.

c. 1.07 g/t Au for Pozo Bono/LimAn Sur OP.

d. 1.10A g/tA Au for Tigra OP.

5.A A A A A A A A A All open pit Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate dilution built in during the re-blocking process and assume 100% mining recovery.

6.A A A A A A A A A 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 PanteAn UG (existing).

b. 3.17 g/t Au and 2.74 g/t Au for PanteAn Norte a 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/tA Au and 1.92 g/t Au for Atravesada UG.

7.A A A A A A A A A All Mineral Reserve estimates incorporate estimates of dilution and mining losses.A

8.A A A A A A A A A A mining extraction factor of 95% was applied to underground stopes.A Where required, a pillar factor was also applied for sill or crown pillars.A A 100% extraction factor is assumed for ore encountered during mine access development.

9.A A A A A A A A A Minimum mining widths of four metres, three metres, 1.5 m, and two metres were used for Santa Pancha 1, Veta Nueva, PanteAn (including Panteon Norte a Shaft 9), and Atravesada, respectively.

10.A A A A A A 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.

11.A A A A A A Mineral Reserves are reported in dry metric tonnes.

12.A A A A A A Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The 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 a 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 aNI 43-101 Technical Report and Resource Estimation of the Cerro Aeropuerto and La Luna Deposits, Borosi Concessions, Nicaraguaa? 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 a 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 0.5A 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 aPrimavera Project aby 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 a 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 asta 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 (aCoGa), 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 a 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 Calibrea?s 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 (aCoGa) 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.

Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P. Geol., P. Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd. Is responsible for revieing and approving the Pan mine open pit Mineral Resource Estimate. Mr. Dufresne is a Qualified Person (aQPa) as set out in NI 43-101.

Note 9 a 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 asta 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 a Golden Eagle Mineral Resource Notes

The effective date of the Mineral Resource is Mar 31, 2020

The Qualified Person for this estimate is Terre Lane of GRE

Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not demonstrate economic viability.

Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding.

The Mineral Resource is based on gold cutoff grade of 0.014 troy ounces per short ton (0.48 grams per tonne) at an assumed gold price of $1,500/tr oz, assumed mining cost of $1.06/st waste, assumed mining costs of $2.02/st mineralized mineral, assumed processing case of $12.75/st mineralized material, assumed G&A cost of $0.74/st mineralized material, an assumed metallurgical recovery of 80% and pit slopes of 45 degrees.

The pit layback is not constrained to Fiore controlled land. Additional land must be acquired or otherwise made available for the pit layback, waste rock dumps, tailings facilities, and other surface infrastructure.
One of the best and most heartwarming stories in Hollywood has been the career resurgence of Brendan Fraser. A few years ago, a noticeably matured Fraser's return to media attention became a major talking point for film fans. Paired with Fraser's lack of starring roles and stories about his steep alimony payments, the stories painted a picture of a fallen A-lister.

Cut to the present, and Fraser has rejuvenated his career with a compelling performance in Darren Aronofsky's film The Whale. With a possible Oscar win in his future for the role, Fraser has been on the interview circuit talking about his career and the changes he's undergone as a man. One of the most interesting stories to emerge from his recent spate of interviews was how Fraser almost played Superman. In the video linked above, the actor sits with Howard Stern to discuss the potential casting.
A resident in Baofeng county, Henan province, charges his new energy vehicle, on Nov 26, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] China's charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, or EVs, nearly doubled in 2022, buoyed by the burgeoning market, the National Energy Administration said on Monday. China now boasts 5.2 million charging units, including 1.8 million public charging facilities and 3.4 million private charging facilities. In 2022 alone, 650,000 public charging facilities and 1.9 million private charging facilities were installed, the NEA said. Liang Changxin, spokesman of the NEA, said the charging infrastructure is important for the development of the EV industry and helps accelerate the transformation of China's transportation sector to a clean and low-carbon field. Liang said that in recent years, China's charging infrastructure has seen rapid development and its network is now the largest and most widely distributed in the world. "The charging market in China is showing a diversified development trend, with over 3,000 companies operating charging piles. The volume of electricity charged for electric vehicles has continued to grow, with the total amount exceeding 40 billion kilowatt-hours in 2022, a year-on-year increase of over 85 percent," Liang said. Estimates from the Beijing-based Huaon Industrial Research Institute showed that China's market for chargers is expected to reach nearly 250 billion yuan ($35.8 billion) in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of over 33 percent during 2021-25. Liang said the industrial standards are also gradually maturing. The NEA has established a committee to release standards for EV charging facilities. Some 31 national standards and 26 industry standards have been finalized. "Currently, there are still problems like unreasonable layout of public charging facilities, difficulty in building charging piles in some residential areas, irregular operation of the charging market, and inadequate facility maintenance," said Liang. According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the current ratio is one charger for every 2.6 EVs. Data from the Ministry of Public Security showed China had about 13.1 million new energy vehicles, or NEVs, at the end of last year. The alliance said the growth of chargers meets demand from the rapidly growing number of EVs. However, the industry still faces the problem of uneven deployment, which causes inconvenience for users. Jiang Yunzhe, a researcher of NEVs at the Center for Automotive Strategy and Policy Research, which is part of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, a think tank, said that charging infrastructure coverage currently is highly correlated with regional economic development and city scale. The average coverage rate of public charging infrastructure in megacities' central areas exceeds 90 percent, but charging infrastructure coverage in counties and townships, highway service centers and national and provincial trunk roads is insufficient. Going forward, the NEA, together with the departments concerned, will continue to strengthen the top-level design for the charging infrastructure sector, optimize the planning and layout of charging networks, focus on resolving the current problems in charging, and optimize and improve the government supervision. The goal is to better serve the rapid development of the NEV industry, Liang said.
There's a mushroom cloud of toxic chemicals hovering over East Palestine, Ohio.

This has nothing to do with the recent spurt of UFO sightings-and-shootings. Rather, it's the result of the derailment of 150-car train. The company that owns and manages the trains, Norfolk Southern, had been warned by railroad worker unions  remember that railway strike last year?  that the new braking regulations were potentially disastrous. And indeed, they were: the derailed trains began leaking dangerous chemicals, including the carcinogenic vinyl chloride, which lead the company to decide that the best course of action was to burn the chemicals and turn them into a horrifyingly massive smoke plume over the 5,000-person town. Oops.

From Axios:

Two days after the company vented and burned the vinyl chloride, East Palestine residents who evacuated were allowed to return to their homes but have complained of smells, headaches, nausea and other ailments, according to the Washington Post. Acute exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride, a classified human carcinogen, in the air has been linked to central nervous system effects, while chronic exposure has been shown to cause liver damage, including a rare form of liver cancer, according to the EPA. When vinyl chloride burns it decomposes into hydrogen chloride and phosgene, according to the International Programme on Chemical Safety. Phosgene is highly poisonous and was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent, while hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes into contact.

But it's all good. Norfolk Southern graciously donated $25,000 to the 5,000 citizens of East Palestine who were displaced by the incident.

[does quick math]

Sorry, what I meant to say was that Norfolk Southern gave $5 to everyone impacted by the massive toxic smoke plume hovering over their town that is a direct consequence of the company's insistence on cutting labor safety corners.

The company later amended this gracious donation, saying they would give $1000 "inconvenience checks" to the affected residents. In fact, the day after boasting about their $25,000 donation, the company followed up by saying that actually they had technically given one million dollars to the cause.

Insert Dr. Evil close-up.

According to their own press release, Norfolk Southern is:

 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.

I'm sure a good corporate accountant can fudge the numbers to make that all equal to [close-up] one million dollars (all or most of which is presumably either tax-deductible, or otherwise able to be written off as a business loss).

Meanwhile, here's what's going on in East Palestine, Ohio, according to NPR:

There have been a growing number of reports about people experiencing a burning sensation in their eyes, animals falling ill and a strong odor lingering in the town. Some business owners and East Palestine residents have filed lawsuits against Norfolk Southern, saying the company was negligent and demanding the company fund court-supervised medical screenings for serious illnesses that may be caused by exposure to those chemicals.

And The New Republic:

Residents have reported inconsistencies with the policy, and frustrations with the one-mile qualification bar, as many far beyond that zone had to evacuate and are suffering symptoms. While air tests commissioned by the rail company, and some conducted by the EPA, have thus far deemed chemical amounts to be at safe levels, some experts have warned that impacts could be enduring if and when the chemicals seep into the soil and groundwater. And people feel that neither Norfolk Southern, nor the government, offers clear guidance. Amanda Greathouse, who resides near the crash site, evacuated about one hour after the incident. She only returned home on February 10, a full week later, to retrieve personal effects like bank and ID cards. Even then, as she and her family walked through the home donning N-95 masks and gloves, an ominous odor pervaded. After leaving, her eyes burned and itched, her throat was sore, and she had a rash; her husband and both her sisters had migraines. The next day, the family went to Norfolk Southern's community family assistance center to obtain the $1,000 inconvenience check. After a four-hour wait, Greathouse was informed they needed more documents. The family was forced to return to their home again to retrieve additional documents, and left with renewed symptoms. Reports of suffering animals, from dogs and cats to fish and chickens, continue to accumulate. Taylor Holzer, an animal caretaker, lost one of his foxes. Others are in poor condition with faces swollen, stomachs upset, and eyes watering. Holzer's dog, who hadn't returned home until after the evacuation order was lifted, has begun coughing and gagging. "He will go into coughing fits so hard his front legs bow and he looks so uncomfortable," Holzer said.

It's all about the externalities, baby. Sometimes a toxic smoke plume devastating a town is just the cost of doing business, ya know?

Life After the Ohio Train Derailment: Trouble Breathing, Dying Animals, and Saying Goodbye [Prem Thakker / New Republic]

Health concerns grow in East Palestine, Ohio, after train derailment [Juliana Kim / NPR]




As the Fly Team deals with the reality that Forresters time may soon be up, they are faced with this very tense case. This episode revealed a lot about the importance and value of trust, and the importance of never giving up on what you believe in.



The episode opens with the team out together with Dandridge, who is telling a story and you can tell that the members of the team are not thrilled about being there, let alone listening to his stories from the past about his family. The basis of his story is that loyalty is foolish, and he then reiterates that Forrester will be gone soon. This scene definitely set up the episode in terms of the distain the team has for him and the uncertainty they feel about Zoe McKenna due to her arriving as his number two.



We then move to Ganserndorf, Austria, where a young girl goes into a store asking for help. She says her name is Katie Marsh and she was kidnapped. She asks for help and wants to speak to her mother. The shopkeeper does not speak English well and goes to get her granddaughter from the back when we see a van driving up. The girl takes off a ring, puts it in her mouth for a moment to put saliva on it and then exits the store. The shopkeeper and her granddaughter come back and the granddaughter goes outside just as the van drives away. The shopkeeper finds the ring on the counter and they call the authorities.





Back in the office in Budapest, Forrester arrives and he and the team discuss that he is working hard to fight the transfer. McKenna comes in and says they have a case and they ask Scott if they still include her because she is Dandridges number two, but Scott says she was assigned to their task force and she has given him no reason to doubt her abilities. This is a real testament to the leadership Scott demonstrates, and how he is fair and willing to base his decisions on performance and not affiliation.The team reviews the case. Katie Marsh disappeared from in front of her home in broad daylight in Minnesota in 2012. Footage from the store compared to age enhanced photos of Katie are extremely similar and Forrester says they are doing a thorough check because of what happened with Nicolas Bordeau, a case where a teen disappeared and years later someone reappeared in Spain claiming to be him, but it was a serial imposter. The team heads to Austria to try to identify this girl and if she is really Katie Marsh.They arrive in Austria and are met by Chief Kaufmann, who indicates that they should speak to Detective Keith Saunders, who has arrived and was part of the police department that worked the original case. Saunders tells them that they found a ring that matches one Katie wore and Raines tells them that DNA on the ring matches Katie, and that there were traces of phenobarbital also. The team heads out and Saunders asks what he can do to help, and Forrester asks for everything from his files that he has collected since Katie went missing. Scott also asks Jamie to look into Detective Saunders. It was clear in this scene that both Scott and Jamie did not get a good feeling from Keith, and they are suspicious of his arrival and involvement, which demonstrates their fantastic intuition when it comes to things not seeming to be what they appear.Forrester and Garretson go to interview the shopkeeper and she tells them that the girl kept looking over her shoulder, but they did not see anyone else. The granddaughter says she saw a grey van driving away but was unable to get the license plate. As they are leaving, Smitty tells Forrester he needs to have a plan. She says this is his career and he cant just wait it out, but Forrester says it is not time yet to make a move. Clearly Smitty cares a great deal for Forrester, which again makes one wonder how deep their past relationship was when they worked together.Kellett, Vo and Raines review the video footage from the store and see an ambulance go by, who responded to an emergency at a hotel. Kellett also fills in Forrester and Garretson about what she found out about Saunders. Forrester confronts him about the fact that he was pulled off Katies case and fired by Minneapolis PD for misconduct and that he has not been a detective in years. Kellett tells him they spoke to his former supervisor who says he was fired with cause and is a head case. Saunders tells them that Daniels was convinced that Katie was abducted by a home invader they caught a month later and he could never prove it, but he felt Katie was taken by someone she knew based on the evidence at the home, and the fact that she had packed some of her favorite items. He says he was fired due to a difference in opinion and that he was the only one who gave a damn about finding Katie, but Scott tells him he is not part of this investigation. He says this case is his life and he lost his job and pension and never stopped looking for her. McKenna then comes in and gives Kellett more information, and they find out that he is now married to Katies mother. Saunders tells them she is in Austria too, and Forrester is furious and says that he knows there is a protocol for when you involve the family.They interview Allison, Katies mother, who says Katies dad and her searched for a long time and then her dad shut down and shut Katie out of his mind. Scott asks if there is any resentment from her husband about her and Keith getting together, and she says they entered a relationship after he was let go from the force and after her husband had already remarried and let go of her and Katie a long time before. She tells them that Keith only wants to find her daughter, the same as her and them, and asks for them to let them help. It is clear from their actions and responses that Kellett and Forrester really do feel compassion for her and what she has been through.Vo and Raines go to meet the Ambulance Attendant, Emil Hochberg. They ask him who was the patient at the hospital. He said he responded to a young girl who was dehydrated and malnourished, and it was her father who had called, saying they had been hiking for two days when the girl became ill. The father did not mention where they were headed and he had suggested that they take the girl to the hospital but the father refused and in Austria they cannot override parental consent. He says the girl he treated was only 6 or 7 years old. They go to the hotel and the desk clerk says he does not have a record when the customers pay by the hour and that they have no cameras. Raines notices that the clerk has a dash cam in his car and he says he always parks in the same spot. Raines looks at his laptop and pulls up the video, and they realize there is a second victim. Vo proposes that when he had his hands full Katie saw her window and took it. This was such a great scene, where we again are able to see not only the great investigative skills of these two agents, but we also the amazing technical prowess of Raines, which makes him such a phenomenal asset to the team.They use facial recognition software and identify the man as Otto Lang, who was arrested in 2011 for soliciting an underage prostitute. He has dual citizenship between the USA and Austria as he was born in Austria, and they have an address for him. Forrester tells them not to loop in McKenna right now. They go to the home and do a search, and Smitty and Scott find a hidden room behind a wardrobe in the attic. Suddenly, they find out that Dandridge is doing a press conference and he shows the suspect, which is why they just missed them, as clearly Lang knows they are looking for him. Forrester orders checkpoints, door to door searches and says he will deal with Dandridge.Forrester asks McKenna if she told Dandridge about the suspect but she says she did not, and Forrester tells him that if he had waited 20 minutes, they could have caught Lang and recovered Katie, but Dandridge says he followed protocol. They then get an urgent video call from Deputy Director John Van Leer and Senator Jenna Preuitt, and Forrester provides them with an update that they have identified the abductor and are sweeping the neighborhood to find him and Katie. The senator also congratulates Dandridge on his transparency. This was a hard scene to swallow as we see Dandridge not only taking credit for the rest of the team, but also seeing him be rewarded for doing something that likely put Katie and the other victim at risk and possibly caused them to miss catching the kidnapper.Searching the house, they identified the second victim, Clara Brenner, who lived in a town 15 miles west of their current location. Allison arrives to try to identify if any of the items are Katies, and Forrester asks Keith if he went around his back to speak to Dandridge and he says that kind of cop only cares about the TV cameras and not Katie, and that is definitely not his kind of cop. Scott believes him that he is not the rat. However this gives Forrester further reason to be suspicious of how Dandridge seems to know his every move.Allison identifies a blue teddy bear that she won for Katie, and that was one of her favorites, and in a book, they find a picture of her and Lang at a small cabin on a lake. Vo tells her they will find her and that she will need to give Katie all the love and support and counselling she will need. Allison asks if she thinks she remembers her, and Vo tells her that in the shop she had asked for her, probably because she knew that she would never stop looking for her. This scene showed how compassionate Vo is, but in watching her speak to Allisons mother about what Katie may need, it almost seems like she was speaking from experience, and we are left wondering if there is some trauma in Vos past that has not yet been revealed to us yet.McKenna presents to the team the full history of Otto Lang, how he grew up in an abusive household and how as an adult he tried to reconnect with his father and came to the USA and worked a delivery route in Katies neighbourhood. They also discuss Clara Brenner, who was taken at age 5, and that Lang was working at a shipping depot along her path to school. Claras mother was a single mother who overdosed shortly after she disappeared. Dandridge arrives and asks about Langs vehicle and Vo advises that there is a BOLO out but no reported sightings yet. As Forrester goes to leave, Dandridge asks where he is going and he says to speak to Keith Saunders, and Dandridge asks if he really feels the most worthwhile use of his time is interviewing the failed detective, and Scott says he has chased him for a decade and may have insight into his next move. This was a very clear demonstration of how Dandridge has very little field experience or skills with investigation, and only makes him seem even more smarmy than he already did.Scott says he thinks the delivery truck is the key and Saunders says that by the time he interviewed Lang he had been reassigned to a route in Jersey and played it off that he could barely even remember the case with Katie, and did it well enough to fool him. Scott asks if there is anything he can think of and he says that during his time as a detective, he focused on pattern recognition and studying repeated behaviors, and with this guy there does not seem to be a pattern.Forrester tells Kellett that he thinks instead of being on the run that Lang is trying to wait them out. Kellett says her search for any other property in his name came up empty. Forrester asks about the aunts name (who raised him) and they said no and that the lakeside cabin where he grew up was repossessed by the bank years ago. Scott says there is a pattern that isnt a pattern, and he just cant see it. Kellett is called away as they have found Langs vehicle. McKenna asks if Forrester is ok, and Kellett asks if she is checking in for Dandridge and she says no.They stop the van and the young man driving is not Lang and says someone paid him to trade vehicles three and a half hours ago, and it was a man travelling with his 2 daughters. They get the information about the vehicle, and they ask if he left any personal items are in the vehicle. He says his mothers bag was in the vehicle and she has a Fitbit. They track the location and find the truck but it is empty.Dandridge says they should be close by, and he will have the Austrian police do a search. They discover that there is a train yard where Lang worked nearby with a train heading for a non-extradition country, and Dandridge says that is where is he and where the team is going to search. Forrester disagrees and Dandridge says he always flies by the seat of his pants and that is why they are making a change, and he can get on board or continue to look into Langs aunt. Forrester asks how he knew he was looking into her and he deflects and says he figured he would be on top of it. The team minus Scott head out to the train yard. It is clear though that Scott is still suspicious and trying to figure out how Dandridge knows what he is doing.Scott pulls McKenna aside and says he knows she and Dandridge are close but asks for her to hear him out and tells her that some agents join the bureau to play the promotion game and some work cases. He asks her looking at Dandridge if that is really someone she would want to be in power, and that if she knows something about how he has been on top of his every move, she needs to decide what kind of agent she wants to be. Clearly Scott is still trying to give Zoe the benefit of the doubt and not accuse her of anything without proof, but he is rightfully suspicious given Dandridges level of knowledge that seems to coincide with her arrival to the team.The team search the train but do not find the girls or Lang. Dandridge continues to insist they keep looking and review the cameras, but Kellett says they are not nor were they ever there. She calls Scott, but he has left his phone at the office and is at the Lakeside cabin where Lang grew up. He sees lights on and he goes inside and finds the girls. He and Lang fight and eventually Scott wins, and he is able to save the girls and police take Lang into custody.Allison and Keith arrive at the station and Scott tells Keith they got him and they could not have done it without him, and thanks him. Katie is reunited with her mom and Katie asks about Clara, because she gave her hope and she stayed alive for her. Keith tells them that he and Allison will adopt Clara as she would otherwise go into foster care, and asks for the paperwork.Deputy Chief Van Leer and Senator Preuitt arrive and congratulate Forrester and Dandridge says he was running point, but the Senator says she understands that it was Forrester who found Katie. Dandridge says it was a team effort under his direction. Van Leer tells Dandridge that he wants him on the next plane back to the USA and that he issued an unauthorized wiretap on a federal agents phone (Forrester), and was listening in like a weasel. McKenna says she found out how he bypassed the avadavat and told the Deputy Director. Van Leer says the office of professional responsibility would like a word with him in person upon his return. Van Leer asks Scott to continue to run the Fly Team and he says it would be an honor.They are at Mayas bar celebrating, and McKenna arrives. They ask her what is next for her and she says she is heading to Warsaw but will be back again, just not sure when. This was certainly a cheerful conclusion and it is great to know that Forrester will not be leaving any time soon.




Alyssa Diaz is excellent at portraying Angela Lopez as a bad ass cop who is a fierce protector of the people she loves, and that was on full display tonight. Elijah is stunned to find Lopez sitting at his kitchen table in the middle of the night. Lopez is such a fierce woman, and you cant help but root for her. She confronted Elijah, a dangerous criminal, with a calm confidence, managing to hide any amount of fear she may have been experiencing with ease. Lopez explains to Elijah that she is there because she is pregnant and wants to protect her family. She shares that Abril Rodas (Gigi Zumbado) is back, with the main goal of taking Elijah down. Lopez offers Elijah intel from inside the FBI/LAPD task force, which will enable him to get to Abril first, in exchange for her familys protection.





Lopezs husband, Wesley, also had a hand in executing the FBIs plan. Abril Rodas was stunned to find him sitting on her plane, and he spins her a similar story to Lopez. Elijah is coming for her and everything she owns, unless she makes a deal with him. Wesley explains that he will do anything to protect his family, so much so that he is willing to make a deal with the devil. Abril agrees, but reminds him that if he betrays her, his family will be her number one target. Abril is not able to enter the United States due to outstanding warrants, but her girlfriend is and she is just as dangerous as Abril, having murdered her entire family as a teen, recording the massacre and using it as an audition video.





Lopez is relieved when Elijah finally takes her bait, and the FBI moves in. They work with LAPD Metro to bring in Elijahs top men in an attempt to spook him and force his hand. Meanwhile, Garza works to stall Abril by executing a search warrant on her plane and making it clear that his crew will be taking their time to search. The FBI also arrested Elijahs lawyer, Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan), for bribing judge Garza. This was also part of the FBIs ploy to force Elijah to make a move.





The taskforce sets up a sting to lure Elijah and hopefully arrest him once and for all. Rookie cop, Celina, just happens to be a doppelganger for Abrils girlfriend, so they had her dance in the window of a house with some of Elijahs men to get his attention. Meanwhile, detective Nyla Harper and her team were in the house ready to strike and patrol cops Lucy and Aaron were on the ground nearby. As Elijah was about to approach the house, Aaron accidentally kicked an empty beer bottle down the road. It was enough to make Elijah suspicious and call the whole thing off. Lopez watched angrily as Elijah got away yet again.





Elijah Stone is a smart man and hes not about to let anyone get in his way. The final scene had him on Abrils plane with her and her girlfriend. They make a deal to work together moving forward. This sets the stage for some major storylines moving forward. Elijah has been a threat to Lopez and Wesley on his own, but now that he has teamed with Abril, the threat has been dangerously elevated. Lopez makes it clear that she does not want to run, but at the end of the day she is pregnant and needs to protect her young son. She will need to decide what matters more to her, protecting her family or taking Elijah down for good.





Elsewhere in the episode, Nolan and Bailey are in Pennsylvania dealing with his mother's affairs after her untimely death. Things take a crazy turn when Nolan discovers that his mother was dabbling in a ton of illegal activity. As the duo work to clean up his mothers house and plan the most cost effective end of life arrangements, they meet several colourful characters who come searching for Evelyn to settle some debts. As Nolan cleans through boxes, he comes across a bag of Heroin, and suddenly understands why there are people looking to settle a score with his mother. After a crazy shootout at the house, the police arrest the men involved. Bailey suggests that Nolan hire someone to clean up the house and sell it, so he can use the money to pay for her cremation. They should have known better than to think that things would ever be that easy when Evelyn is involved. Nolan's childhood friend, Stephanie, lets him know that his mothers house is in foreclosure and will be taken over by the bank. He happily hands her the keys and drives away, finally free from his mothers toxicity. Although taking care his mother's affairs wasn't easy, it was the closure Nolan needed to finally say goodbye to his mother and her destructive behaviour once and for all.





Over to you, Rookie fans! What did you think of the crossover episode? What do you predict will happen now that Abril has formed an alliance with Elijah? Share your ideas below and engage with me on Twitter @MiddleofCanada.

Tonights episode was a suspenseful crossover event with the Rookie: Feds, as the teams worked together to try and take down Elijah Stone (Brandon Jay McLaren) once and for all. Now that Angela is pregnant again, she is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family from Elijah, and she was pivotal in executing the Feds plan to make that happen. The only other storyline this week involved Nolan and Bailey, who headed to Pennsylvania to take care of his mothers affairs, which if you know Evelyn Nolan, predictably came with all sorts of ridiculous surprises.
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Shoichiro Toyoda, grandson of Toyota founder Sikichi Toyoda and son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who transformed the tooling company into an automaker, is dead at 97. Shoichiro grew the company from a local brand into the world's largest and most successful, and formalized its legendary quality control and managerial philosophies. However many nines your consumer products have, you owe some of them to the Toyodas.

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.

For those wondering at the company name's differing romanization, there appears to be an official reason and an unofficial reason:
The 118 schools classified as class I of seismic risk will be a priority for government programs, and the Executive will intervene as a matter of urgency wherever funding is needed, said the spokesperson of the Government, Dan Carbunaru.

He made the clarification, on Wednesday, in a press conference at the Victoria Palace of Government, which was also attended by the Minister of Development, Cseke Attila, and the head of the Emergency Management Department (DSU) Raed Arafat.

"Wherever additional funding is needed, the Government will intervene as a matter of urgency and the prime minister has requested that priority should be given to these schools. (...) From the data I have at the moment, the 118 schools we are talking about now identified as class I of seismic risk were identified as a result of a program carried out at the national level; there are, as far as I know, over 2,500 schools that have already been assessed in this sense. The assessment process, which was well underway, will be accelerated, in order to have a record as accurate and as fast as possible in relation to the schools," declared Dan Carbunaru.

In the same context, the Minister of Development specified that in the meeting of the inter-institutional group for the prevention, preparation and response to the seismic risk announced by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, an up-to-date situation of school buildings with seismic risk that do not have funding will be presented, specifying that the list of schools classified as class I of seismic risk is at the Ministry of Education.

He also stated that there is a World Bank-funded programme at the Ministry of Education, which includes 70 school buildings.AGERPRES
The military flights of the NATO member states are exempt from paying tariffs for navigation or airport services, without the need to conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements/treaties, according to a draft law cleared by the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday.

The deputies passed, by a majority of votes, the draft law regarding the approval of Government's Emergency Ordinance No.17/2022 for the amendment and supplement of Law No.21/2020 - the Air Code, told Agerpres.

The draft law regulates the amendment and supplement of Law No.21/2020, the legal interventions aimed mainly at the exemption from the payment of tariffs for air navigation services and passenger airport tariffs, security, development, transit, transfer, landing, parking and lighting of military flights performed by the aircraft of a member state of NATO, without the need to conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements/treaties in this regard between Romania and the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Moreover, the inclusion of some provisions is proposed in order to cover the situations in which certain flights will be subject to exemption from the payment of tariffs for air navigation or airport services, based on treaties to which Romania is a party. This way, the legal framework is created for the observance of future commitments that Romania could assume through international treaties, regarding the exemption of certain categories of flights from the payment of tariffs for navigation services or those of airports.

The bill was adopted by the Senate, with the Chamber of Deputies being the decision-making body.
At a plenary sitting on Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill tabled by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) declaring January 6, the religious Feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and January 7, the religious Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John, bank holidays in Romania, told Agerpres.

The bill has cleared the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body in this case.
Romania's National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar declared on Wednesday for Agerpres that at the Feb 14 - 15 meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, he brought up the recent incident with the Russian missile that grazed Romania's border on February 10 and which Ukraine initially announced as an infringement of Romania's airspace.

Minister Tilvar said that he brought up the subject because on the one hand he considered that "such an incident shows how bad it is to have conflict, aggression situations in our region, and this is a relevant example, and on the other hand I was happy to see (...) that such a situation concerns all our allies and that they all have similar positions regarding such incidents."

"I confirm that the target, because that's what it is called in official terms, did not enter Romania's territory and the statement we made right from the beginning was also confirmed by the U.S. Department of State in the evening of the same day. So our assessments, that also took into account our communication with allies, were correct. But we can understand the concerns of a state under attack that has lost territories and is under permanent high alert," Angel Tilvar said about the incident last Friday.

The Defence Ministry reported at the time that "the Romanian Air Force aerial surveillance system detected on Friday, February 10, an airborne target launched from the Black Sea from a ship of the Russian Federation, near the Crimean Peninsula, most likely a cruise missile which crossed the airspace of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and re-entered the Ukrainian airspace without intersecting at any time Romania's airspace".

The Ministry also specified that the closest point of the target's trajectory to Romania's airspace was approximately 35 kilometers northeast of the border.
National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar had a bilateral meeting on Tuesday in Brussels with his counterpart in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ben Wallace, with the topic of discussion being Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine and the impact on European security, told Agerpres.

"Within the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the NATO member states, minister Tilvar voiced his appreciation for London's contribution to the allied operational programmes in Romania and for the significant and constant contribution to the air policing mission in supporting the collective posture and the security in the Black Sea region. Taking into account the security developments marked by Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine and the impact on European, Euro-Atlantic and regional security, the two officials underscored the necessity of a consistent contribution of the allies in ensuring efficiency and credibility of the collective defence posture on the Eastern Flank, 'which will contribute to ensuring security in the Black Sea area and to Russia's deterrence," the National Defence Ministry (MApN) release shows.

Minister Angel Tilvar said that "Romania is totally engaged in supporting the long-term adaptation effort and strengthening the collective deterrence and defence posture of NATO in this region."

"In this context, the Romanian and British officials pointed out the importance of also fully implementing the deadlines established by the decisions of the NATO Summit in Madrid, in view of adopting the deterrence and defence posture and strengthening the allied presence on the Eastern Flank, including in Romania, as well as the significant development of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. At the end of the conversation, Angel Tilvar and Ben Wallace highlighted the necessity to ensure a substantial agenda of the Summit in Vilnius, which takes place this summer, in advancing and strengthening the objectives regarding the long-term adaptation of the collective deterrence and defence posture, in making operational NATO's Strategic Concept and, not least, in strengthening the practical support granted to the most vulnerable partners in Moscow's aggressive actions - Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Gerogia," the release shows.
Minister Angel Tilvar had a meeting, in Brussels, with his Spanish counterpart, Margarita Robles Fernandez, on the sidelines of the Meeting of Defence Ministers from NATO member states, the two high-ranked officials discussing security in the Black Sea area, marked by Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine, and the priorities and opportunities regarding the development of the strategic and practical NATO-EU partnership in support of Euro-Atlantic security, told Agerpres.

According to a MApN press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday, during the meeting that took place on Tuesday, Minister Tilvar appreciated the excellent collaboration between the Romanian and Spanish militaries and thanked his counterpart for the way the Spanish Air Force carries out Reinforced Air Police missions in Romania and missions that are based on the concept of Reinforced Air Vigilance under NATO command.

"The Romanian and Spanish heads of Defence agreed on the importance of fully implementing and within the established deadlines the decisions of the NATO Summit in Madrid from the perspective of adjusting the deterrence and defence posture and strengthening the allied presence on the eastern flank, including in Romania," reads the same press release.

Also, the two officials underscored the need to ensure a substantial agenda for the Vilnius Summit that will take place in June of this year, both in the area of the collective deterrence and defence posture, in that of the operationalization of NATO's Strategic Concept, as well as in providing support to Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.

Angel Tilvar highlighted the need for a consistent contribution of the allies in ensuring the efficiency and credibility of the collective defence posture on the Eastern Flank, which will contribute to ensuring collective security in the Black Sea region and deterring Russia.

The Minister of National Defence is participating, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in Brussels, in the meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine (Ramstein format) and in the meeting of the Ministers of Defence from the NATO member states.
There is a need shared by most of our partners, which can be satisfied by involving the national industry as much as possible, the Romanian Minister of Defense Angel Tilvar told AGERPRES on Wednesday in Brussels.

Asked about NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's call for allied states to try to sign new contracts with the defense industry to restore ammunition stocks depleted by the war in Ukraine, the Romanian minister of national defense said that Romania is concerned about this.

"Since the beginning of my taking over the mandate, the discussions with the Minister of Economy - because you know very well that this component of the national economy, this specific industry is within the Ministry of Economy - our discussions were weekly and we tried to speed things up, taking into account the legislation of the Romanian state, and the possibilities we have, and last but not least our desire to involve the Romanian industry in as many stages of this process as possible," Angel Tilvar said after the ministerial meeting of NATO ended.

"There is a need for ammunition, it is a need shared by most of our partners, which we will satisfy, I emphasize, by trying to involve the national industry as much as possible. And we do it not only at the level of manufacturing, but even at the level of the equipment that we purchase, where we are trying to get a maintenance and a system to repair it in Romania. We are trying to get the possibility for Romania to even participate in the manufacture of some equipment at certain stages of this process, which has happened and I hope it will happen with a greater intensity. We are really concerned about this (...) and we are doing everything possible to make this happen," added the minister of defense.AGERPRES
On Tuesday, Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu met Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres to discuss climate change and its consequences, as well as recent developments in Ukraine, told Agerpres.

Aurescu was at the UN headquarters in New York to participate as a keynote speaker in the UN Security Council meeting on "Threats to International Peace and Security: Sea-Level Rise - Implications for International Peace and Security."

According to a press statement released by the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), the two officials addressed climate change and its consequences, including the risks generated by rising sea and ocean levels, which the Romanian dignitary presented to the Security Council during the same day.

Guterres showed that he particularly appreciates the work carried out by the co-chairs of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law, and he particularly thanked Aurescu for the efforts made in this capacity, including for the solutions put forth within the International Law Commission that were reconfirmed at the event hosted by the UN Security Council.

During the discussions, Aurescu reiterated Romania's support for effective multilateralism and for the rules-based international order with the United Nations system at its core, as well as for the secretary general's efforts to make the UN more efficient.

The two senior officials discussed the recent developments in Ukraine almost a year after the beginning of Russia's illegitimate war of aggression. Aurescu "highlighted the fact that this irresponsible behaviour of Russia, which violates the foundations of the international legal order, must stop, being all the more serious as the war is proliferated by a member state of the UN Security Council."

At the same time, the Romanian minister highlighted the need for the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council to send a clear message in support of peace in Ukraine and to condemn Russia's war of aggression one year after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He shared Romania's perspective on the main current challenges of global interest, with emphasis on managing the impact of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine and the implications of the war, including for the most vulnerable states in the Global South.

The Romanian minister also highlighted Romania's concrete support efforts for Ukraine in the humanitarian field - including receiving more than 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine who transited through Romania, as well as the provision to asylum seekers of free access to healthcare, schooling and labour. At the same time, he emphasised the active and concrete steps to avoid a global food crisis by facilitating the transit of almost 13 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products to world markets.

Aurescu thanked Guterres for his efforts to negotiate the agreement on the Black Sea Grain Initiative and emphasised the fundamental importance of extending the agreement.

Moldova's current affairs were also discussed, with Guterres recalling his visit to the capital city of Chisinau in 2022. The head of the Romanian diplomacy presented the multidimensional support provided by Romania for strengthening the resilience of Moldova and for combatting the effects of the war against Ukraine.

Aurescu pointed out that the very recent statements by Moldova's presdient that there are Russian plans to destabilise Moldova should be taken seriously. "He showed that Romania supported, supports and will continue to support stability in Moldova in a concrete and solidary way, on all dimensions, including in the current context, as well as its integration with the European Union," according to MAE.

Aurescu also reconfirmed Romania's long-term commitment to promote respect for international law as a fundamental pillar of Romania's foreign policy demonstrated including by a series of actions initiated by Romania amid the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine for the support of ascertaining responsibilities and combatting the impunity of those officials of the occupying power committing international crimes in the invaded territories.

"The UN Secretary General expressed his special appreciation for Romania's activity in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, thanking both the Romanian state officials and the Romanian public for the solidarity and consistency with which they have responded to the war in the neighbouring country. He pointed out that Romania is a reliable actor in the provision of humanitarian support, mentioning to the point the successful project of the Emergency Centre for Refugees in Timisoara, created in 2008 under an agreement concluded between the government of Romania, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration," the Foreign Ministry mentions,
Adult Swim is in something of a crisis. During the programming block's formative years, Adult Swim featured a variety of shows that were all massively successful across several demographics. However, instead of continuing to provide a diverse array of content, modern Adult Swim decided to more or less put all of their eggs in Justin Roiland's basket and make Rick and Morty the network's sole breadwinner. Now that Roiland has been charged with felony domestic battery and several other crimes, the network has been forced to reevaluate its content.

Shortly after Roiland's legal woes caused Adult Swim to sever ties with the embattled creator, the network greenlit five new episodes of their former tent pole series Aqua Teen. In the video linked above, the YouTuber Fairoon posted a scene from Aqua Teen's original run, reanimated to present the anthropomorphic food items as flesh and blood humans. The video is a segment of the ATFH: Rabbot Rebuilt that aims to reanimate the show's first episode.
Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, said on Wednesday evening, in Brussels, during an exclusive interview for AGERPRES, that he wants Romanians to be absolutely convinced that NATO is very serious in defending the entire allied territory, including Romania.

Referring to the transformation of the battle group in Romania into a brigade, something for which the authorities in Bucharest are currently taking steps, the senior NATO official said, among other things, that this will be tested through an exercise that will take place in Romania this spring.

"I want to welcome the fact that France and other allies, together with the ally the host country Romania, are getting ready very seriously to be able to create the conditions for this battle group to be, if necessary, brought to the level of a brigade. And this will be tested through an exercise that we will do in Romania this spring (...) Not only in Romania, but in all the combat groups, there is a combined effort of the countries that make up those combat groups and obviously us, from NATO, in order to be sure that we have military exercises that allow us to practice that," said Mircea Geoana.

He also stated that "there is very often, and it is legitimate, an interest in quantity: how much, at what level? We also put a lot of emphasis on quality, on the multi-domain dimension".

"Because, for example, in the case of Romania, the Black Sea is a complex case. And in the case of Romania it is very important to have this multidimensional perspective, both cyber, and spatial, and intelligence, and issues related to marine and submarine in the sense technologies adapted to the situation there", Geoana explained.

He wanted to specify that the battle group in Romania is developing very well. "Romania is doing its duty as a host country, and is investing and is preparing for this, and we, until [the meeting in] Vilnius, will be sure that we will have the entire eastern flank practiced up to the brigade level and we will see in the next period all the elements that make this up".

"And, once again, I want the Romanian men and women, those who will read this interview, to be absolutely convinced that NATO is very serious in the defense of the entire allied territory, including and especially - since it is about my country - Romania", emphasized the deputy general secretary of NATO.

Regarding a possible Ukrainian offensive this spring, which was first talked about by the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, the NATO official said that the Ukrainians are calculating their chances very carefully.

"We can say that the way they planned their recent counter-attacks - both in Donbas and in the south - shows us that they are military leaders and political leaders who know how to calculate their decisions very carefully. That's why we are convinced of the fact that when they decide, and where they decide, and how they decide, they will take into account both the realities on the ground and the realities related to logistics. And the secretary general said that it is actually a war of logistics as well. And I am convinced that these things are taken into account by our Ukrainian partners and I am convinced that when they launch this offensive, or offensives, in the plural, they will enjoy success", assured Mircea Geoana.

In the interview, which will be published in full on Thursday, Mircea Geoana also referred to how the war in Ukraine could evolve, to the adjustment of surveillance and interception systems at the air and anti-aircraft level, and to his future plans.
President Klaus Iohannis says that Romania has joined Moldova in strongly condemning all destabilisation attempts from abroad, according to the Presidential Administration, told Agerpres.

"The public signals regarding attempts by the Russian Federation to intervene illegitimately to overthrow the democratic and constitutional order of Moldova, a sovereign country that has chosen its political direction by free elections, are extremely worrying," Iohannis is quoted as saying in a press statement released on Wednesday.

Iohannis adds that the threats designed to destabilse the European trajectory of Moldova, especially in this complicated time marked globally by deep security and economic crises, should not be neglected at all.

"I want to restate as clearly as possible that the Republic of Moldova is not alone in facing these challenges. I also want to reconfirm Romania's unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders, and for its pro-European future being respected," the head of state says.

Iohannis points out that Moldova's place is in the great family of the European Union and that this path is "irreversible and must be followed with consistency, courage and ambition."

"In this accession process, the Republic of Moldova can continue to rely on Romania's full solidarity and active support. Romania supports the efforts of reform and democratic consolidation on the path taken by Moldova towards a modern, prosperous society underpinned by European democratic values. Let me assure the citizens of Moldova that Romania and the Romanians are still with them!," Iohannis says.
The Minister of Justice, Catalin Predoiu, declared on Wednesday, at the Senate, where he was called by the Save Romania Union (USR) to give explanations regarding his statements regarding the acquittal of Giorgiana Hosu's husband, that "never, in any context", he "initiated, suggested or requested any outcome regarding a judicial or other procedure".

Catalin Predoiu was invited to Question Time, at the proposal of the Save Romania Union senators' group, to explain his statements regarding the acquittal of Dan Hosu, the husband of the former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Giorgiana Hosu, when there was not a definitive sentence in this sense.

In front of the senators, Predoiu assumed that his statement was erroneous, which he regrets, but he claims that he did not refer to a future verdict in that case, but to a past event.

He revealed that he got the information about the acquittal of Dan Hosu from the media, but erroneously, because the articles actually referred to the acquittal of another defendant in that case.

In response to the requests of USR senators and Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) senator Claudiu Tarziu to resign, Predoiu said that the resignation "may also be an act of irresponsibility".

On January 18, Catalin Predoiu stated in an interview that the sentence in Dan Hosu's case would be acquittal. In reality, the respective file is still pending before the court, with a ruling deadline of March 10.

In the meantime, Dan Hosu died at the beginning of February, following for the judges to declare the termination of the criminal case against him.AGERPRES
On Wednesday, February 15, National Reading Day, schools will be a "place to travel through the universe of favourite books."

The Education Ministry has thanked teachers for opening the way for children to the world of books, told Agerpres.

"Today, we are celebrating National Reading Day. Reading - imagination, source of inspiration, knowledge and continuous discovery, a journey into worlds that reality would be impossible to show us, a source of good, rediscovery and growth. ( ...) On National Reading Day, we thank all the people at school who, understanding how important it is to read every day, open the way for children to the world of books. Today, schools will be a place to travel through the universe of our favourite books. We will be happy if you share with us, in the comments section below, moments from the activities of this day - so that the good may be known and because each example can be a source of inspiration for others," the ministry wrote on social media.

Last Friday, Education Minister Ligia Deca invited teachers to organise activities to promote reading in the schools where they work to celebrate National Reading Day.

"To mark February 15, National Reading Day, we invite teachers from all educational units to organise activities to promote reading among preschoolers and students," the minister said.

Students will be encouraged to present their favourite books, read from them and discuss them, while teachers will read age-appropriate books for pre-schoolers and schoolers.
Two C-27J Spartan transport aircraft of the Romanian Air Force on Wednesday are carrying out an air transport mission on the Hatay, Turkey - Otopeni route, for the return home of the first RO-USAR team, of to SMURD doctors and nurses, the Ministry of National Defense (MapN) announces.

They are joined by personnel specialized in search-and-rescue missions, along with the canine team, deployed on February 6, in Turkey.

According to MApN, the first aircraft will land around 23:15.

The RO-USAR team will be welcomed, at Base 90 Air Transport in Otopeni, by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the Government announced. AGERPRES
The government will continue to take all measures to fulfill the objective regarding the absorption of European funds, so that at least 10 billion euros will be attracted by Romania this year, declared Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.

"At this moment, at the level of the Government, I have discussed with the Minister (of European Investments and Projects) Bolos all the lines that we must approach and the way of coordination and dialogue with the other ministries, the other reform coordinating structures in order to fulfill both our objectives from the PNRR, as well as to increase the degree of absorption from the cohesion funds for the 2014-2020 framework. We still have a few months of this framework and we must do it in such a way as to avoid losing part of the money allocated to us," said Nicolae Ciuca, on Wednesday, during the government meeting.

He stated, regarding the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), that from the analysis regarding payment request number 2, it emerged that there are no "obstacles" for it not to be approved.

"Today we approve a memorandum by which we ensure the calendar that includes the launch of about 500 calls for projects such as transport infrastructure, water-sewage infrastructure, waste, health infrastructure, education, infrastructure for local communities and energy efficiency. All of these are the subject of the 16 operational programs that are already functional in the 2021-2027 financial framework. Last year we managed to attract 2.2 billion euros and contracts worth approximately 10 billion euros have also been signed and are being prepared to be signed," Ciuca also declared.AGERPRES
A new humanitarian flight mission of three aircraft of the Romanian Air Force is being organised today in support of the population affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, according to the Romanian Defence Ministry (MApN).

A C-130 Hercules bound for Beirut, Lebanon, and two C-27J Spartans bound for Gaziantep, Turkey, will carry about 22 tonnes of humanitarian aid donated by Romania, told Agerpres.

The transport is done at the request of the Emergency Management Department (DSU) under Decision 5 of February 9, 2023, of the National Emergency Management Committee (CNSU).

According to MApN, the two C-27J Spartan aircraft took off from the 90th Air Transport Base at around 09:00hrs, EET, with the C-130 Hercules expected to take off later in the day.

The Romanian Air Force carried out similar humanitarian missions in 2011, when another major earthquake occurred in Turkey, as well as in 2019, in Albania.
New orders in the manufacturing industry increased last year, in nominal terms, by 18.4pct compared to 2021, according to the data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Wednesday.

Thus, new orders in the manufacturing industry rose overall in nominal terms by 18.4pct between January 1 - December 31, 2022 compared to the same period of 2021, due to the increases recorded in the durable goods industry (+ 21.1pct), the intermediate goods industry (+20.1pct), the consumer goods industry (+18.3pct) and in the capital goods industry (+17.1pct), told Agerpres.

According to the INS, new orders in the manufacturing industry decreased overall in nominal terms by 13.7pct in December 2022 compared to the previous month, as a result of the decreases recorded in the capital goods industry (-14.5pct), the intermediate goods industry (-13.5pct), the durable goods industry (-10.8pct) and the consumer goods industry (-8.7pct).

New orders in the manufacturing industry increased in nominal terms in December 2022 compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, overall, by 7.9pct, due to increases in the consumer goods industry (+17.2pct), the durable goods industry (+10.9pct), the capital goods industry (+7.4pct) and the intermediate goods industry (+6.8pct).
Three troops of the Bucharest-based 13th Communications and Informatics Center "Colonel Gheorghe Visata" were injured during a TNT pyrotechnic ignition drill on Wednesday morning, at the Catelu military training range, told Agerpres.

One of them suffered multiple injuries to the upper limbs and the head and is undergoing complex surgery and medical procedures. He is in stable condition and according to the doctors' assessment, he is in no life-threatening danger, the National Defence Ministry reports.

The life of the other two servicemen is not at risk, and they are being assessed by doctors. The officer suffered skin lesions, wounds to his limbs and vision disturbances, while the other soldier, who requested to be taken to the hospital after approximately two hours from the incident, suffered lesions to his limbs.

According to the cited source, the standard procedures for such situations were immediately applied after the incident - first aid was given on the spot by the medical personnel present during the training session.

Two servicemen, a soldier and a captain, were rushed to the "Carol Davila" Central Military Emergency University Hospital for medical investigations; the third injured member of the personnel, a soldier, was taken later to the same medical facility.

The unit management informed the Bucharest Military Prosecutor's Office and set up an inquiry commission tasked with determining the circumstances of the incident.
In 2022, UNICEF provided tens of thousands of essential items worth over 3 million US dollars to vulnerable children and families, local communities and healthcare workers in Romania, told Agerpres.

According to a UNICEF press statement released on Wednesday, they were provided both as part of the response to the emergency in Ukraine and to meet UNICEF Romania's commitments to the government and the vulnerable population.

The large number of children and families who fled the war in Ukraine arriving in Romania in 2022 led UNICEF to secure a continuous flow of emergency supplies for the most vulnerable people, including kits of personal care products, school materials, clothes, protective equipment, as well as informative materials.

With the help of UNICEF partners, including civil society organisations, public administrations and the private sector, more than 3,000 blankets were provided during the peak of the refugee wave. Also, approximately 27,000 schoolbags were provided to children at the Blue Dot centres supported by UNICEF and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in safe spaces and at learning centres. UNICEF also delivered around 10,000 school books and textbooks, 350 recreational kits, 150 early childhood development kits and approximately 700 kits of school and teaching materials. This approach allowed approximately 27,000 children between the ages of three and 18 to continue their studies.

UNICEF also provided personal protective equipment - gloves, hazmat suits, visors, disposable gowns and masks - to healthcare facilities and partners throughout the country, including social work departments, town halls and communities where there are integrated community centres.

The overall objective of the programme implemented by UNICEF in Romania is said to be to ensure the social inclusion of all children through accessible, equitable, coordinated and quality health, education and child protection systems and social rules that secure protection.
An arrest has been made in connection with a holdup last Friday evening at Crosby's convenience store, 141 N. Main St., Angola, Town of Evans police reported.

Collin Gallese, 24, no address given, was charged with first-degree robbery, a Class B felony.

According to the report, a robber allegedly showed a knife to an employee at Crosby's about 5:45 p.m., demanded cash and merchandise, then fled in a vehicle.

A vehicle matching the description of the getaway vehicle was stopped Saturday by Cheektowaga police, who took the driver, Gallese, into custody on a warrant and other charges, Evans police said. They noted that the vehicle had been reported stolen.
The University of Bucharest decided to withdraw the title of Doctor Honoris Causa granted to Marshal Ion Antonescu, the decision being taken, on Wednesday, by the Senate of this higher education institution, told Agerpres.

"The decision regarding the withdrawal of the honorary title was based on the fact that Ion Antonescu was found guilty of war crimes, being sentenced to death on May 17, 1946 by the People's Court in Bucharest, a court that operated under the coordination of the Allied Control Commission, being assimilated to the system of tribunals that tried the war crimes of the leaders of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy," informs a press release of the university sent to AGERPRES.

According to the University of Bucharest, throughout his "authoritarian" rule, the marshal manifested "a strong anti-Semitic attitude," a fact he expressed publicly on numerous occasions.

The Senate of the University of Bucharest also took into account the fact that the granting of this honorary distinction to Marshal Ion Antonescu in 1941 took place under the conditions of "distortion" of the principle of university autonomy and in the spirit of "promoting the cult of personality" for the leader of the state.

"Today, the Senate of the University of Bucharest only found that it can no longer associate the institution with Marshal Ion Antonescu and revoked his title of DHC, as it did immediately after the Revolution by withdrawing the same title granted to Nicolae Ceausescu," stated rector Marian Preda, quoted in the press release.

He announced that it was decided to form a commission to verify all Doctor Honoris Causa titles granted in the past by the university, during the dictatorial regimes in Romania.
TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Americans have less medical debt now than they did a couple years ago, possibly because of policies and programs that gave more people access to health insurance and relief funds.

About 8.2 million people had medical debt on their credit reports in 2022, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Thats down about 18% from 2020, the Associated Press reported.

In a separate draft report, White House officials credited an expansion of the Affordable Care Act that provided coverage to an additional 4.2 million Americans.

In addition, some local governments are leveraging $16 million in 2021 coronavirus relief funds to buy medical debt and forgive it. That includes Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Toledo, Ohio. The AP reported that these efforts are clearing $1.5 billion worth of medical debt.

The CFPB, too, is working to reduce medical debt for Americans.

Major credit rating agencies will no longer include debt under $500 or those that have already been repaid. They are giving families one year, instead of six months, to pay off debt before its included in the reports, according to the AP.

Medical debt was declining even before 2020, dropping from $143 billion to $111 billion between 2018 and the first half of 2021, according to the CFPB.

However, unpaid medical bills remain the reason for more than half of all debt in collections. About 13.5% of the 279 million people with credit reports had at least one medical debt, the AP reported.

That was higher in 2020 at 16.4% and in 2014 at 19.4%.

Even combined, credit card debt, personal loans, utilities and phone bills dont equal medical debt in the United States, the AP reported.

A decline in debt could reduce fears about scheduling needed doctor appointments and filling prescriptions, White House officials said.

More information

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has more on medical debt.

SOURCE: Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2023
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose may become available for easier over-the-counter purchase.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers are meeting Wednesday to discuss making generic naloxone hydrochloride available without requiring interaction with a pharmacist, CNN reported.

Approval could happen later this year. Research shows that wider availability of the antidote could save lives in the growing U.S. opioid epidemic.

The meeting of the FDAs Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee is a response to an application submitted last year by Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. of Baltimore.

The FDA gave the companys application priority review, CNN reported.

Emergent has said in briefing documents that its nasal spray was designed to be administered by people who have no medical training. Naloxone is available in various strengths and applications. The spray is easier to administer than an injection, the company said.

Naloxone is used to revive those believed to be overdosing on opioids. There are no known harmful effects if it is given to someone who is not on opioids.

Although naloxone is already available without a prescription, it must be obtained directly from a pharmacist. Not all pharmacies stock it, CNN reported.

Allowing it to be over-the-counter in the same manner in every state really clears up some confusion and hopefully clears up some of that red tape, said Kirk Evoy, a clinical associate professor of pharmacotherapy at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied the issue.

Allowing naloxone to be sold without a pharmacist's involvement may remove some of the stigma associated with it, he said.

I would hate for that to be the reason why somebody doesnt have access to a drug that could save a life, Evoy told CNN.

The Biden administration has been pushing to make naloxone more available, CNN reported.

In the year ending August 2022, more than 107,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose. More than two-thirds of those deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In general, dispensing of opioid painkillers is down, hitting a 15-year low in 2020 of 43 prescriptions for every 100 people, according to the CDC.

Naloxone has been approved by the FDA since 1971. It was first used in hospitals and by first responders to resuscitate those who might have died of an overdose, CNN reported.

Laws allow naloxone to be sold without a prescription in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Briefing documents suggest the FDA will ask about the new medications label and how easy it is to use.

Good Samaritan laws in most states would protect people who administer the medication to someone who is overdosing, CNN reported.

The more you can administer naloxone, the more likely it is that well have positive results, Evoy said. And more likely well be able to save a life with this medication.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the opioid overdose epidemic.

SOURCE: CNN, Feb. 15, 2023
TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- 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 were finding those allergy labels arent 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.

Weve 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.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on penicillin allergy.

SOURCE: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, news release, Feb. 3, 2023
ST. LOUIS  Some owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles are now eligible for a free software upgrade aimed at halting the cars high theft rates.

Thefts of Hyundais and Kias became a major public safety issue in the St. Louis region and nationwide over the past year. Thieves target the vehicles because many models are missing a common security device, making them easier to steal. St. Louis officials threatened to sue the companies in August, noting that the stolen cars often provide thieves with the means to commit more crimes.

Nick Desideri, communications director for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, declined to comment on news of the software upgrades.

The trend began with a viral TikTok video that shows how to break into and drive off in many 2011-21 models of the South Korean-made vehicles using just a screwdriver and a USB charging cable.

Owners of 2017-20 Elantras, 2015-19 Sonatas and 2020-21 Venues are eligible for the upgrade, which takes about an hour to install at a Hyundai dealership. Several other Hyundai models will be eligible in June, though a company spokesperson said some models will not be able to accommodate the upgrade.

A spokesperson for Kia said the company expects software upgrades to be available to most drivers in the next few months.

In all, about 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias will be eligible for the software update, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday.

A full list of Hyundai models available for upgrade can be found here.

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.

Thefts of Kias and Hyundais jumped 1,350% last year in the city, from 273 to 3,958, after the video showed how to take advantage of the vehicles lack of an engine immobilizer, a standard security device. The same was true in St. Louis County, where a jump from 140 to 1,621 marked a 1,057% increase.

In January, 271 Hyundais and 186 Kias were reported stolen in the city. The county reported 65 stolen Hyundais and 70 stolen Kias during the same time.

Hyundai is the parent company of Kia Motors, but the two operate independently.

The software update had not been provided to dealers as of Tuesday afternoon, said Jay Brown, service manager at Clement Hyundai in Wentzville, but he expects to see it at any time.

As soon as dealers receive access to the software, Brown said he thinks customers will begin to call about it.

Brown does not anticipate having to hire additional employees, he said, because the fix should be easy enough that it can be handled by workers of any experience.

Kia owners can visit the manufacturers website to determine if theyre eligible for the upgrade and request a steering wheel lock, said James Bell, head of Kia corporate communications.

Manufacturers had previously provided free steering wheel locks to area police departments for distribution. Still, theft rates of Kias and Hyundais remained high enough that major insurers like Progressive and State Farm refuse to issue new policies on the vehicles.

A Hyundai spokesperson said engine immobilizers are now standard on all Hyundai vehicles produced as of November 2021. A spokesperson for Kia told the Post-Dispatch the device is now standard on all vehicles, and it always has been on the companys push-start vehicles.

Attorneys have filed a class-action suit against the manufacturers, alleging the manufacturers did not meet federal requirements because the cars were made without the engine immobilizer.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the percentage increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts from 2021 to 2022.
There is no question about what will happen to Payton Gendron on Wednesday.

The white supremacist who fatally shot 10 Black people and wounded three at the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue on May 14 will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That was set in stone when he pleaded guilty in November to domestic terrorism motivated by hate  which carries an automatic life sentence.

This will be their turn to be heard.

Some families plan to speak to the court directly. Some have submitted written statements as part of a pre-sentencing report. And at least one son of a victim is choosing to ignore the day's proceedings in the Buffalo courtroom.

"I think the families will express grief and pain that this man caused and speak directly to him as well as the judge," said attorney John Elmore, who is representing the families of three of the slain.

"It's going to be very emotional," he said.

In pleading guilty to 15 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder, Gendron had no state court trial. He will never go before a state parole board. He has already agreed never to appeal his case. There's still the possibility he may face the death penalty in federal court. But no matter what, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Between 17 and 19 people are expected to give statements in court, said Terrence M. Connors, who is part of a team representing seven families of those who died and others who survived. He said it's possible the sentencing could stretch to Thursday.

"The goal is to get it done Wednesday," Connors said.

He said many of the family members he represents plan to speak in court.

"The emotions of the families we speak for run the entire gamut. There are those who are anxious to see the maximum penalty imposed. There are also family members who regard the shooter as irrelevant and pay him no deference as they strive to achieve something positive from this horrific experience," Connors said.

In a certain sense, the sentencing scheduled for Wednesday is anticlimactic  the sentence has been predetermined.

But in cases where there's been no trial, it is the one opportunity for the judge to hear from the victims or their loved ones themselves. They can tell the court about how the crime affected them: physically, emotional, even financially.

"In any criminal case, the courts allow victims to make a statement to address the court whether it's a burglary or a robbery or any other homicide," Elmore said. "This is something that routinely happens every day in criminal court. The difference here is the heinousness of this crime and the impact of the crime on the community and these families."

Gendron will also have the opportunity to speak. The families have heard the Buffalo News report that the killer may apologize.

"Gendron has the absolute constitutional right to address the court," Elmore said. "What he says? I can't imagine what he's going to say. Whether or not he's going to apologize to the families, to me, that's speculation. Whatever he says is not going to in any way relieve the pain the families are feeling."

Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth, was killed in the massacre, said he plans to attend the sentencing but has elected to submit a written statement.

"I feel no need to publicly read my statement," said Whitfield, a retired Buffalo fire commissioner, who has become a leading voice in calling for gun-control legislation and fighting racial injustice.

Whitfield has no intention of giving the man who killed his mother any more attention than he's already gotten.

"I'm not of a mind to address him," he said. "He's a dead man walking. He's done. There's no discretion in sentencing. This is just a procedural hearing. At the end of the day, I'm more concerned with those things that have not been brought to justice or identified or acknowledged."

Whatever the killer says in court, Whitfield said, he is doing "for his own benefit more than mine."

"Even if he's sincere, he's trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his creator. There's nothing he can do for me or my mother," Whitfield said. "He's doing it for himself. And if he's insincere, he's looking to mitigate his federal sentence. It's still for him. Not me."

Zeneta Everhart, whose son, Zaire Goodman, now 21, was working at Tops when he was shot in the parking lot while helping an older customer, said she plans to read a victim impact statement she prepared with her son.

"My message will be clear that forgiveness is not an option. He tried to kill Zaire because of the color of his skin, took the lives of 10 people and terrorized an entire community," Everhart said. "We hope he gets the fate that he deserves."

Mark Talley, whose mother Geraldine, 62, was killed while shopping at Tops, said he won't be in court Wednesday and did not submit a statement.

"I wasn't going to be there," he said Tuesday. "It's no point."

He has no interest in being part of the media frenzy around the happenings.

"I hate that he's being given air time," Talley said. "He's going to prison. What's the point in giving him any last media? There's nothing he can say to bring back anybody from the dead ... Unless they said I could be in a room with just him and myself, ain't no point in me to go down there."

Instead, Talley said he is focusing on uplifting his community. He's been busy getting ready for a Harlem Renaissance-themed gala on Saturday  a networking fundraiser for his organization, Agents for Advocacy, which aims to improve the lives of those in low-income communities.

"It's going to be a chance for the community to come out and connect with each other," he said.

The sentencing scheduled for Wednesday is the end to just one chapter. Gendron also faces charges in federal court, and the Justice Department is determining whether he will face the death penalty.

Civil lawsuits are also in the works.

"Our fight for justice doesn't end with him going to jail," Elmore said. "There are other responsible parties that played a huge role in this mass shooting."
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.

_____
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

ST. LOUIS  They were like three longtime buddies sitting down for chow time in prison.

Except none of them was wearing a gray or orange jumpsuit. There were no guards. And the food  Larry Callanan called it real food. Wings and fries. And some rolled-up corned beef contraption that Lamar Johnson was dipping in sauce.

I dont know what this is, Johnson said Tuesday night, sitting in the back of Maggie OBriens, which was packed with St. Louis Blues fans.

But he ate it, and he smiled, and he dug in for more.

Across from Johnson was Ricky Kidd, his old Jefferson City cellmate. The three men were all wrongfully convicted of murders they did not commit. They spent countless hours together in the prison law library to research their cases, sending letters to reporters and lawyers and trying to get anybody to pay attention.

When youre in prison and you cant get anybody to listen to you, its like you get buried underneath the rubble, Kidd said.

Kidd was the first to get exonerated, in 2019, with the help of the Midwest Innocence Project, which intervened in all three cases. Callanan was next, in 2020. And then, on Valentines Day 2023, it was Johnsons turn for the courts to show him some love.

Circuit Court Judge David Mason found him actually innocent of the 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd, which put him in prison for 28 years. Johnson was all smiles Tuesday night, celebrating with his attorneys and his close friends. But hes also experiencing a roller-coaster of emotions about what happened to him over the past three decades, and what its going to take to begin a new life on the outside.

One of the reasons Johnsons case attracted nationwide attention was the effort by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt  now a U.S. senator  to keep Johnson in prison despite overwhelming evidence of innocence.

That evidence was similar to the cases of Kidd and Callanan, and so many of the 3,374 other names that have been added to the National Registry of Exonerations since 1989.

There was shoddy police work with a rush to judgment and a refusal to look at other suspects. There were bad identifications in photo and video lineups that prosecutors never should have presented to juries. There were unethical uses of jailhouse snitches. In Johnsons case, the real killers of Boyd had confessed years earlier.

Every time new evidence piled up to back Johnsons never-wavering claims of innocence, Schmitt would wave it off as too little, too late. The justice system loves its jailhouse snitches when its putting people in prison, but not so much when they come forward with tales of innocence.

Winning at all costs was all that mattered to them, Johnson said of the attorney generals office.

That changed when Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was finally allowed to present the evidence in a hearing. Mason, hearing all of that evidence, recognized that Johnsons trial was a sham and an embarrassment to the court system.

Through it all, Johnson had Kidd and Callanan, and the two men never forgot their friend. They sat in Masons courtroom day after day during the December hearing. They were there again Tuesday to hear the decision.

I was more nervous waiting on the verdict in Lamars case than I was in my own, Callanan said.

Now the two men will help their friend navigate life on the outside  with the freedom of not having to ask permission to do anything, but also with the challenges of finding work and purpose and reconnecting with family.

Its just like going inside a prison for the first time, Johnson said. You have fear of the unknown. Now I have to try to make a life.

He paused with the look of a man who has been to hell and back and knows he is up for the next challenge. I can survive.

Photos: Wrongfully convicted inmate Lamar Johnson set free after serving 28 years for murder he did not commit
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
JEFFERSON CITY  The centerpiece of Missouri government is crumbling.

Amid the divisive debates on human rights, gun control and elections in the House and Senate chambers this week, workers shut off access to the legislative library in the Missouri Capitol because of structural weaknesses that could pose a danger to denizens of the century-old building.

Lawmakers, citizen activists, tourists, lobbyists and reporters now must reroute their way through the marble-lined corridors to accommodate for the physical problems that have now turned into an emergency.

Less than a year after officials pushed to begin interior renovations of the structure following a $50 million exterior makeover, the closure of the library means access on the fourth floor of the Capitol between the House and Senate sides of the building has been closed, resulting in longer routes to the legislative chambers, committee meeting rooms and lawmakers offices.

This is just the unexpected result of being in a 100-year-old building, said Patrick Baker, the top administrator in the Senate and the chairman of the Missouri Capitol Commission, which oversees the building.

The library, located in a domed room on the third floor, also is directly above the governors office, raising questions about how the current concerns could affect the states top statewide officer.

Baker said the problems on the third floor are not a threat to the chief executive below.

There are cracks in the plaster of the domed ceiling. It is not a structural issue, Baker said Wednesday.

Officials have talked about interior improvements for more than decade amid concerns about peeling plaster and paint, outdated electrical systems and old plumbing.

The skylights in the building, which provide some natural light within the 500,000-square-foot facility are in the midst of being replaced after an architectural survey company found pieces of a stained glass window near the third floor rotunda could fall and injure someone.

For the library, the domed plaster ceiling is attached to a metal grid. At the time is was built in the early 1900s, workers used horse hair and hemp in the construction.

Baker said it is not yet known how long the library will be closed, nor is a price tag available for the repair work.

Library materials will still be available, but people wont be allowed in the room out of an abundance of caution.

We just cant access the stacks, Baker said.

The wish list for the overall work in the Capitol, which has been under discussion since 2016, would remove parking in the Capitol basement and replace the current parking structure used by the Senate with additional spaces for both the executive branch and the general public.

The building would gain an estimated 100,000 square feet of space for lawmakers by extending the basement south toward High Street, which is Jefferson Citys main downtown street.

There also could be an underground visitor center on the north side of the Capitol that could be the entry point for the estimated 450,000 people who visit the building annually.

Rather than braving the weather and eating lunch outside on the Capitol grounds, school groups could have a dedicated space to gather during visits.

The plan also would do away with a 1970s-era change that placed some members of the House into cramped mezzanines on the first and second floors.

In addition to being noncompliant with federal accessibility laws, the gerrymandered office space cuts off the natural light that was part of the original design, leaving many corridors gloomier than what was envisioned.

The overall project is estimated to cost $535 million.

The plan would move some of the executive branch operations out of the Capitol, such as the governors budget office, to nearby state office buildings.

The governors office on the second floor also would be extended to the first floor with an interior elevator, eliminating the need for office workers to walk into the public corridor to get to another office in the suite.

The lengthy project would not result in the closure of the Capitol during the construction period, according to a draft proposal of the overhaul.
JEFFERSON CITY  A plan that would usher in new limits on race-related school lessons won final approval in the Missouri Senate on Tuesday, but the debate in the upper chamber could return in the spring.

Several Republicans raised various objections to the measure, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, before the vote, raising the possibility that the House could amend the plan and send it back to the upper chamber for further consideration.

In addition to the restrictions on racial lessons, the legislation would also create a portal where the public can access school curriculum, syllabi and other materials.

The measure advanced to the House on Tuesday on a 21-12 vote, with two GOP senators who criticized the legislation  Sens. Mike Moon of Ash Grove and Jill Carter of Joplin  joining with all 10 Democrats in opposition.

Unlike earlier legislation, the bill approved Tuesday contains no mention of critical race theory, which deals with systemic racism.

Instead, the new legislation, for example, would bar teaching that individuals, by virtue of their race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by others.

Moon said the legislation allowed students to be exposed to critical race theory through loopholes including independent study or through lessons in which there is a disclaimer that a school doesnt sponsor, approve, or endorse the concept being taught.

It sounds to me like theres kind of an open door, Moon said.

Its not airtight, Koenig said. Theres probably small windows where some things can creep in.

Republicans watered down the legislation in a bid to soften Democratic opposition.

Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, said the Republicans were impeding Americans freedom to believe, read and write by approving whatever this is.

Somebody told me it does nothing, May said of the legislation. If it does nothing, why do I need to pass it at all?

We dont pass policy that does nothing, she said. Some people pass policy because they want to get credit for doing something that appeals to a certain segment of individuals.

But is that policy that youre passing going to harm another segment of individuals? she asked.

The legislation also includes a number of parental rights, including being able to access curricula, the names of guest speakers at the school, and information about collection and transmission of student data.

It sets up the Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal allowing the public to access every school districts curriculum, textbooks, source materials, and syllabi.

The package also requires the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to create a class for schools to teach about patriotism.

The legislation is Senate Bill 4.

Originally posted at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri transportation officials are seeking a vendor to help homeless people living on state property find services and housing.

Although the pilot project will focus on unsheltered citizens living in Kansas City, the Missouri Department of Transportation, which typically oversees road building and highway maintenance, says it could expand to other urban areas like St. Louis in the future.

If it is successful, it could potentially be used in other areas of the state, MoDOT spokeswoman Linda Horn said Wednesday.

Under a request issued Wednesday, MoDOT is asking for a contractor to do more than just clean up homeless encampments under highway bridges and other public right of ways.

This would involve notifying unsheltered citizens, offering of services, delivering services, and cleaning up right of ways, the bid documents note.

Horn said the agency is attempting to determine whether such a program will yield long-term results.

How do we help people and not just move them from spot to spot? she said. Our concern is overall safety.

According to the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, there were more than 400 unsheltered individuals in the Kansas City region in 2021 and over 800 individuals in emergency, transitional or safe haven facilities for the unsheltered.

In January 2022, an encampment under an Interstate 70 bridge in Kansas City caught fire, killing a woman and closing the highway.

Not addressing this problem leads to human suffering, an unattractive downtown that limits prosperity and safety concerns for all, bidding documents note.

Horn said the proposal is not directly related to a new state law that criminalizes homelessness by banning sleeping on state-owned land, like highway underpasses.

That 2022 law, which has raised red flags among advocates for homeless Missourians, gives the attorney general power to sue local governments that dont enforce the ban.

The changes have been called a step backward in how state and local governments address homeless people.

The law is aimed at encouraging a new approach to homelessness by prioritizing short-term shelter for unhoused people.

The proposal would act as a reversal of the popular housing first policy, which aims to provide people foundational stability by getting them into permanent housing.

The law also removes funding from localities with high homeless populations that refuse to enforce local ordinances that bar the homeless from public camping and obstructing sidewalks.

Horn said it is not yet known how much MoDOT will spend on the pilot project until proposals are submitted. The deadline is March 13.

We need to see what we get. Were giving this a try, she said.

As of 2020, Missouri had more than 6,500 homeless individuals, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Witnesses noted that due to the difficulty surveying homeless individuals, this was likely an undercount.

Originally posted at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.
St. Louis officials hope to better manage the citys roughly 9,000 vacant buildings and 15,000 empty lots with a new strategy to prioritize buildings for demolition and rehabilitation.

The St. Louis Community Development Administration earlier this month published a request for proposals for a citywide vacancy strategy. It contemplates spending as much as $500,000 on a two-year contract funded by the citys economic development sales tax. Responses are due March 6.

Were pretty excited about this development, said Dana Malkus, a St. Louis University law professor who has worked on vacancy issues for years through the STL Vacancy Collaborative. The city is recognizing the need to build on the efforts that have already started.

The RFP seeks a firm or nonprofit that can coordinate regular meetings between city agencies involved in vacant property management, including the fire department, problem properties unit and the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority that owns some 1,500 abandoned structures and 8,500 lots. It would also be expected to track vacant properties, the cost of city services expended to manage them and their impact on adjacent property values.

A similar index for vacant lots would be used to coordinate resources to best maintain and beautify islands of green space in neighborhoods that have seen high population loss and building demolition. A policy and implementation plan for a St. Louis land trust meant to hold more LRA property and use it for green space is also called for in the RFP.

Finally, the city wants a policy for a Residential Renovation Loan Commission that could help finance the rehabs of some of its vacant properties. Vacant properties, concentrated in north St. Louis, are often next to impossible to borrow against and thus fund the cost of rehab. While LRA has for years touted cheap properties, buyers more often run into problems financing the extensive renovation to bring back to life properties that have sat empty for years.

Missouri statute allows cities to create Residential Renovation Loan Commissions, but St. Louis hasnt had an active one in years. It could pass an ordinance to create one.

We actually have a lot of tools that sometimes arent being used or being optimally used, Malkus said.

The Vacancy Collaborative, a coalition of neighborhood groups, nonprofits and universities formed years ago to help the city itemize its vacant properties, most of which are still privately owned, and begin addressing the problem. It is mostly volunteer-run, though it has a paid staffer from the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis.

The Vacancy Collaborative has already itemized and indexed the condition of many of the citys vacant properties. Malkus said the Collaborative is working with its sponsor, the Community Builders Network, to respond to the RFP.

Originally posted at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Last September, when Baltimore resident Tzu Yang went grocery shopping for his intellectually disabled daughter with a food benefits card that he thought was worth about $300, he discovered at the checkout that the card had no value left. The same thing happened in October, November and December.

The benefits meant for Hawlie Yang, age 37 but with the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, were being systematically stolen.

Tzu Yang contacted local authorities but never got the money back. The stolen electronic benefits were used locally and as far away as New York, he discovered. But neither he nor police could find out who filched them, and the state agencies involved provided no help or reimbursement.

They told him theres no returning of benefits stolen from electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards, Yang, a retired businessman, said in a phone interview.

Yang is not alone. All over the country, state agencies and people who receive aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, are reporting the theft of millions of dollars in benefits. And unlike regular credit or debit cards where refunds are often available when thieves poach funds, EBT cards dont have those protections. That leaves many victims with no recourse.

Some help may be coming, thanks to a new federal mandate that allows states to use federal money to reimburse SNAP recipients whose benefits were stolen through electronic card fraud. The federal law also calls on states to increase the cards security. But advocates for those with low incomes and some lawmakers say the payments are only a half-step toward fixing the problem.

The mandate, included in the $1.7 trillion federal omnibus spending bill signed by President Joe Biden in late December, requires states to replace EBT card benefits that were stolen after Oct. 1, 2022, through September 2024.

States have until the end of February to draw up plans to use federal money they get for the SNAP program to reimburse recipients who were ripped off.

Although federal and state governments jointly fund SNAP, prior to passage of the gigantic bill, states could only use their own funds for reimbursement. As a result, only a handful, including California, the District of Columbia, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, reimbursed stolen benefits, according to the American Public Human Services Association. The nonprofit membership organization for state and local human service agencies surveyed states on this issue last fall.

State legislatures are grappling with how to comply, said the associations senior director Matthew Lyons. More states are confronting how they are approaching this issue and planning for the omnibus provisions, he said in a phone interview.

The fraud problem with food benefit cards skyrocketed in the spring and summer last year. News reports and law enforcement agencies said the benefits most likely were stolen with skimming devices attached by crooked employees or thieves posing as customers to card processing machines at store checkouts. The skimmers take seconds to install, and law enforcement officials say they are often placed late at night when store employees are distracted. Those devices clone the data encoded on the cards and can also steal PINs.

The new federal law requires states to submit plans by Feb. 27 to make EBT cards more secure. So far, according to an email to Stateline from a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson, no state has yet forwarded a plan to the department. And critics say since the law did not spell out parameters on how to make the cards more tamper-proof, there may still be room for misuse.

Its important to address the underlying issue, said U.S. Democratic Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, who was contacted for help by Yang and others in Maryland.

We need to make these debit cards more secure in the first place," he said in a phone interview. "Thats what we didnt do (in the omnibus bill)."

Rip-offs skyrocketed to more than $1 million last year in Maryland alone, rising from $92,000 in reported losses in the state in 2021, his office said.

Ruppersberger, who introduced an earlier bill to address the issue, much of which was incorporated into the omnibus, has introduced legislation to address the security gaps of EBT cards and make the reimbursements retroactive before the October 2022 date. We need to protect them and make them whole, he said.

At least two bills are pending in the Maryland legislature that would require closer monitoring of EBT transactions, installation of more tamper-proof chips on cards and restoration of stolen funds.

Ed Bolen, director of SNAP state strategies at the left-leaning research institute Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that while the omnibus law may improve some of the problems, the law is pretty vague and leaves those who lost their benefits before October 2022 in the lurch.

Its definitely unfair because many victims lost benefits during the summer of 2021 when the fraud took off, he said. It was those folks hardship that drew attention to this, and some of them may be out of luck.

50 facts about food insecurity in America More kids rely on schools for lunch Food insecurity is common among college students Unemployment exacerbates food insecurity Certain veterans are more vulnerable to food insecurity Theres a difference between food banks and pantries Its better to donate money than food to pantries
Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley announced Tuesday in a video that she will run for president in 2024, becoming the first major rival to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.

"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, who is expected to deliver remarks Wednesday in Charleston at a campaign launch event, said in the video.

Haley served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. The former president, who announced his bid last year, recently appeared to bless her entrance into the race, telling reporters that she had called to tell him she was considering a campaign launch and that he had said, "You should do it."

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, opened the video talking about how she felt "different" growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina.

"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," Haley said.

If successful in the primary, Haley would be the first woman and the first Asian American nominated by the Republican Party for president.

A former president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2004. Six years later, she became the first woman elected as governor of the state in 2010 and was the youngest governor in the nation when she took office in 2011. She resigned in the middle of her second term to become Trump's ambassador to the UN -- a role she served in until the end of 2018.

During her video announcement, Haley touted her record as a twice-elected governor of South Carolina and her leadership in the state after nine people were fatally shot at a historically Black church in Charleston in 2015. After the shooting, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.

She also leaned into her foreign policy experience in her announcement and referenced her time as UN ambassador, saying she has "seen evil."

"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 said. "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 into perspective. Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America."

"Some people look at America and see vulnerability," Haley said. "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 don't put up with bullies and when you kick back it hurts them more if you're wearing heels."

Haley will likely face stiff competition in this lane from other potential GOP candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who are all said to be weighing 2024 runs and could also appeal to conservative Republicans looking to turn the page from Trump. Some Republican strategists say a big Republican primary field would be advantageous to Trump, who still enjoys significant support among the party base, and could splinter the vote, allowing the former president to walk away with the nomination.

Haley has often attempted to walk a fine line between allying with Trump and distancing herself enough to appeal to his more moderate critics. She left the Trump administration in 2018 on good terms with the then-president -- a marked contrast from other former Trump officials who have publicly fallen out with their onetime boss.

Trump on Tuesday weighed in on Haley's announcement, saying in a statement to CNN, "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 was inaccurately referencing a statement Haley made in April 2021 when she said she "would not run if President Trump ran," a sentiment she later walked back as she called for a new generation of leadership.

While Trump said publicly Tuesday that he wished Haley luck, he has privately expressed annoyance that the woman he once tapped to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations would challenge him. But Trump has remained the most anxious about another challenger: DeSantis. In recent weeks, Trump has asked multiple advisers about creating a new disparaging nickname for his potential rival, privately suggesting that he target DeSantis's weight instead of referring to him as "Ron Desanctimonious."

As Trump has vented about Haley's run, some advisers have reminded him how it could benefit him if he faces multiple Republican challenges in the race.

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who was endorsed by Haley when Trump supported her Republican opponent, told CNN Tuesday she was also worried about the size of the primary field.

"I have concerns if there are too many people on the ballot by the time it gets to South Carolina that it lessens the chances of anyone else coming out in this thing," Mace said.

Haley filed to run for president with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire

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A sobering footnote to Mondays mass shooting at Michigan State University is not about the three dead victims but rather some of the survivors  including a college student who, 10 years ago, was among the children who lived through the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut that took the lives of her 20 classmates.

I am 21 years old and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through, Michigan State senior Jackie Matthews says in a short posted video. As The New York Times reports, shes one of at least two survivors of the Michigan campus rampage who had already lived through an earlier school shooting. That chilling new trend should stand as a blistering condemnation of Americas wanton failure to protect its children.

Not 50 days into 2023, the attack marked the years 67th mass shooting. It came five years almost to the day after the Feb. 14, 2018, high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. At that time, an astounding 187,000 American children had experienced a school shooting since 1999, according to The Washington Post. Today, that figure stands at an unimaginable 338,000 kids  more than St. Louis entire population.

Its easy to lose sight of any one shooting amid this endless parade of gun carnage, but Sandy Hook still stands as a unique tragedy, both for what happened and for what didnt. For a brief political moment, it seemed the mind boggling scope of the loss  20 children ages 6 and 7, along with six adults, killed by rounds from a high-capacity magazine and several weapons of war, all purchased legally  might finally shake Congress from its stupor to enact meaningful national firearms restrictions. Alas, Republicans fell back on their textbook thoughts-and-prayers response practically before the funerals were over.

Even a decade later, its difficult to imagine what, if not that, could convince the nations paralyzed leaders to finally ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and institute universal background checks, red-flag laws and other reasonable reforms. Could Jackie Matthews story possibly, finally provide that nudge? After all, shes walking confirmation that school shootings are now so common that they can randomly engulf the same student more than once, miles and years apart.

In the video and media interviews, Matthews recalls being 11 and hunched in the corner with my classmates at Sandy Hook  and now she was across the street from the sites of Mondays shootings on her college campus. We can no longer just provide love and prayers, Matthews says in the video. We can no longer be complacent.

Only when the voters start acting on that message will one of Americas two major parties stop blithely ignoring it. Until then, America will continue sacrificing its children to its national gun fetish.
A 19-year-old man from Rochester has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for a drive-by shooting in Amherst that left a teen paralyzed, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced.

Although the gunman was 17 at the time of the shooting, Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan did not judge him as a youthful offender, Flynn said.

Eagan also ordered five years of post-release supervision for the gunman, whose name was not released, and issued an order of protection on behalf of the victim until February 2038.

Prosecutors said the gunman fired from a vehicle shortly before midnight July 26, 2021, striking a youth walking along Fairgreen Avenue in Amherst.

The victim remained paralyzed after surgery at Erie County Medical Center and continues to receive treatment, Flynn noted.

The gunman pleaded guilty Sept. 22 to second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault, both Class B violent felonies.

The driver of the vehicle, Jeremiah Johnson, 21, of Amherst, was sentenced to 13 years in prison Dec. 14 on the same charges. Prosecutors said he shared liability for providing the shooter with a rifle and driving him away from scene.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) have announced that Julie Colombo, a life-long resident of the Dogtown neighborhood will be the Grand Marshal of their 38th annual AOH Saint Patricks Day Parade. Miss Colombo, who is currently 100 years old, will be 101 in April.

Miss Colombo, a member of St. James the Greater Parish, has lived in the same home on West Park Ave. since birth. At the age of 22, Miss Colombo began her career in 1945 working for the St. Louis City Motor Vehicle Division. After 15 years with the Motor Vehicle Division, she joined the St. Louis City Criminal Courts Division as Court Clerk. She was the first female to hold that position. Prior to her hiring, all of the clerks had been male. She worked for the Courts Division for over 25 years. Her last position was as an archivist with the St. Louis Archdiocese.

She retired in 2002 at the age of 80. During her 40 years with the Archdiocese, Miss Colombo said she served eighteen different cardinals, archbishops and bishops

When notified of her selection as Grand Marshal by 2023 Parade Chairman Joe Murphy, Ms. Colombo stated she couldnt believe it.

This is just great, she said. I feel really honored to be chosen to lead the parade this year because I love St. James, the neighborhood and all of its people, Miss Colombo added.

The Irish gala gets underway at 11:00 am, Friday, March 17, on Saint Patrick's Day.

The annual parade, sponsored by the County Board of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, honors Saint Patrick as the Apostle of Ireland, and highlights the contributions the Irish and Irish-Americans have made to the United States. The parade passes through one of St. Louis' oldest Irish neighborhoods.

The 2023 AOH parade will start south of the Tamm Avenue overpass at Oakland Avenue, travel south on Tamm Avenue past St. James the Greater Catholic Church and end at Manchester. This year's parade will feature over 90 colorful floats and marching units.

Like traditional Saint Patrick's Day parades held in Ireland, many St. Louis Irish will march under their family crests and banners.

This years parade is once again being dedicated to firefighters, law enforcement, public safety personnel and union members killed in the line of duty since September 11, 2001. Among those being recognized as distinguished honorees during this years parade will be firefighters and law enforcement officers from St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

This years honorees include St. Louis City Police Officer Sgt. David Zwilling; St. Louis City Firefighter Ken Weiss; St. Louis County Police Officer Sgt. Stephanie Powers; St. Louis County Firefighter Eng. Andrew Shoop; Labor Leader Mike Louis, former President of the Missouri AFL-CIO; and Civic Leader, the St. Louis Hero Network.

The Hibernians are once again working with representatives of Dogtown United, an origination that represents local residents and business owners, to better coordinate efforts to improve operations and efficiency of all events taking place in the historic neighborhood on March 17.

For safety of Dogtown residents and festival attendees, no coolers, backpacks and glass containers will be allowed in the festival area. Outside alcohol is also prohibited. None of these items will be allowed past any checkpoints to enter the festival area. Containers necessary for child care purposes can be admitted after a brief search by security staff.

Parade organizers once again want remind parade spectators that passing out of beads will not be part of the celebration this year due to requests from the City of St. Louis's Special Event Commission and members of the Dogtown neighborhood due to issues with both safety and clean up.

More information on the parade and the Ancient Order of Hibernians can be found at: http://www.stlhibernians.com
JINDERIS, Syria  It took four days and nights after the earthquake for the rubble to fall silent here. The strongest voices belonged to the women, residents said. Parted from their children, or fighting to save them, they screamed until their lungs gave out.

In this forgotten pocket of rebel-held northwest Syria, there were no international rescue workers to save them. No aid shipments brought painkillers to the survivors when stocks ran low. Just 6 miles away, across the border in Turkey, thousands of tons of relief poured in; support teams from as far away as Taiwan answered the Turkish government's call for help. But Syria, divided against itself and isolated from much of the world, was left to pick up the pieces alone, as it has again and again over more than a decade of war and dislocation.

In the shattered town of Jinderis, at least 850 bodies had been recovered by Friday morning. Although hundreds are still missing, few believed there were any lives left to save.

"We needed help here, we asked for help here," said the town's mayor, Mahmoud Hafar. "It never came."

On Friday, the Bab Al-Salama border crossing into Syria was almost empty. A single ambulance with flashing lights was waiting to enter. The only Syrians crossing back were those being returned to their families in body bags.

On a rare visit to this Syrian enclave, controlled by Turkish backed armed groups, The Washington Post found communities gripped by shock and bewilderment, and very much alone. In Jinderis, fathers stood watch over the remains of their homes and told of waking up to find their wives and children dead. As hulking excavators clawed the rubble, searching for a 13-year-old boy, a man asked reporters to help him contact the United Nations for help.

"Maybe they don't know what happened in Jinderis," he said. "No one could see this and not come here."

This part of Syria has endured crisis after crisis, home to millions of people who have braved war and displacement, hunger and disease. Even before the earthquake, 4.1 million here required humanitarian assistance.

Access to areas outside of government control has been weaponized throughout the conflict by President Bashar al-Assad, who has imposed restrictions on the movement of humanitarian groups  he has been helped by allies like Russia at the United Nations, and, at times, by neighbors like Turkey and Jordan, who have periodically obstructed the flow of aid. United Nations officials have rarely complained publicly, a move critics argue is designed to maintain access to Damascus at the expense of millions of civilians living outside of Assad's control.

In Sawran, a small town 10 miles from the Turkish border, residents recalled the roar of the earthquake, so loud it seemed like the ground was snarling. As buildings crumbled, residents remember crying out to the heavens. Thirty-six people were killed, and 20 more injured.

News soon reached the survivors about what had happened 40 miles away, in Jinderis.

"We heard that Jinderis was the worst," said 21-year-old Mohammed Jassim, who went to assist in the rescue effort after learning that his aunt, her husband and their children had been killed in their home there. "They said there were hundreds under the rubble and they didn't have the equipment to help them."

All day, he heard the cries. There were scratches on his hands from clawing at the earth.

"Imagine still crying out after four days," he said, and his expression turned hollow. "It's unimaginable. Everyone died."

With battle lines largely static after 12 years of grinding war, Syria's northwest has become a final refuge for millions of civilians or former fighters who fear for their safety if they return to government areas. Many of the original inhabitants remain, too poor to go elsewhere, even as the conflict closed in on them.

Jinderis, in particular, had escaped the worst excesses of the fighting for large periods, until Turkish-backed armed groups pushed Kurdish forces from the area in 2018.

Zakaria Tabakh, 26, came here from Aleppo, a city so pulverized by Assad's barrel bombs and airstrikes that whole swaths of it are still in ruins. He built a new life in Jinderis, marrying and having two children. He had put their 2-year old, Abdulhadi, to bed on Sunday night, laying awhile with the child before slipping out to sleep with his wife. He remembers only fragments of what followed. She was dead beneath the duvet. Abdulhadi died where he had been put down for the night. Rubble was everywhere.

Tabakh said that their funerals were sparsely attended: "Everyone is busy with their own cases."

The United Nation's migration agency said Friday that it had dispatched 14 trucks of humanitarian aid to rebel-held Idlib, the second such delivery since the earthquake. In Jinderis, the only visible aid distribution came from local charities  plastic bags of food and blankets piled on the back of flatbed trucks.

The death toll in rebel-held areas stands at more than 2,000, a far cry from the 20,000 killed in Turkey. But there are still many buildings to comb through, many people still unaccounted for.

Rescue workers and residents were painfully aware that the only equipment available to them  mostly shovels and battered backhoes  were at times hurting the people they were trying to save.

"How can you use these to conduct such delicate operations? You can't. It's impossible," said a member of the area's White Helmets civil defense force. "People have died in there because we don't have the equipment."

The White Helmets' director, Raed Saleh, said Friday that international aid, when it arrived, would come too late to help find survivors, and would go toward the removal of broken buildings.

The area's health facilities were hanging by a thread long before Monday's earthquakes. Assad's forces and their Russian allies systematically bombed health facilities, forcing hospitals underground as doctors fled. On Monday morning, the tidal wave of casualties pushed remaining facilities to the breaking point. In the town of Afrin, doctors estimate that around 70% of the patients they saw came from Jinderis.

"We had to refer many of them for amputations," said an emergency nurse, Ahmed Saqar, 53, on the phone. Without backup, his team was exhausted  survivors and saviors at the same time, one colleague said.

They need a break. Everyone does.

As darkness beckoned and the temperature dipped toward freezing, surviving residents were camped in the olive groves, some of them homeless now, others fearing their houses may still crash down. By nightfall, the fires they were burning from the olive branches would be the only light they had left. Salwan Georges in Jinderis, Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Claire Parker in Washington contributed to this report.
EQS-Ad-hoc: Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Dividend

Commerzbank plans to propose a dividend of 0.20 per share for financial year 2022



15-Feb-2023 / 13:01 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Commerzbank plans to propose a dividend of 20 cent per share for the financial year 2022. With the approval of the Supervisory Board, the Board of Managing Directors of Commerzbank AG in addition applied for approval of a share buyback program in line with the capital return policy of Commerzbank which stipulates a 30% pay-out ratio for 2022. The execution of the share buyback program is subject to the regulatory approval by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the German Finance Agency.

The full set of preliminary results for the financial year 2022 will be disclosed on 16 February 2023.

Disclaimer

This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. In this release, these statements concern inter alia the expected future business of Commerzbank, efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth prospects and other opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank as well as expected future financial results, restructuring costs and other financial developments and information. These forward-looking statements are based on the managements current plans, expectations, estimates and projections. They are subject to a number of assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from any future results and developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in Europe, in the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank derives a substantial portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank holds a substantial portion of its assets, the development of asset prices and market volatility, especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis, potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the implementation of its strategic initiatives to improve its business model, the reliability of its risk management policies, procedures and methods, risks arising as a result of regulatory change and other risks. Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are made. Commerzbank has no obligation to update or release any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

Contact:Christoph WortigHead of Investor RelationsCommerzbank AGInvestor RelationsTel.: +49 69 136 - 21331e-mail:ir@commerzbank.com
Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE: BLCO) (Bausch + Lomb or the Company), a leading global eye health company dedicated to helping people see better to live better, announced the appointment of Brent Saunders as chief executive officer (CEO) and chair of the Board of Directors (Board) of the Company, effective March 6, 2023. Concurrent with this appointment, and as previously announced, Joseph C. Papa will step down from his roles as CEO and director. Additionally, effective upon Mr. Saunders appointment as chair of the Board, Thomas W. Ross, Sr. will become the Lead Independent Director of the Board.

To facilitate an orderly transition, Mr. Saunders will join Bausch + Lomb on Feb. 16, 2023, in an advisory capacity, where he will work closely with Mr. Papa.

Mr. Saunders will return to Bausch + Lomb after having served at the Company as CEO from 2010 to 2013. In total, he brings more than 25 years of leadership in health care, having served in president, CEO and chairman roles, among others, at several global pharmaceutical and health care companies, including Schering-Plough Corporation, Forest Laboratories Inc., Actavis plc, Allergan plc and The Beauty Health Company.

We are delighted that the Boards thorough search process has concluded with the appointment of Brent Saunders as Bausch + Lombs next CEO. His strong inner-working knowledge of the Company and unparalleled executive leadership experience in health care make him the ideal person to lead Bausch + Lomb at this pivotal time in our 170-year history, said Thomas W. Ross, Sr., chair of the Board, Bausch + Lomb. We are confident that Bausch + Lomb is well-positioned for the future under Brents leadership as the Company continues to focus on completing its full separation from Bausch Health.

On behalf of the Board, I also wish to express our deepest appreciation for Joe Papas contributions to Bausch + Lomb and Bausch Health. His leadership, ethical values and commitment to excellence across commercial, manufacturing and R&D have improved the lives of countless patients globally, continued Mr. Ross.

I am honored to once again lead Bausch + Lomb during this exciting time as a new publicly traded company. Over the course of the Companys history, Bausch + Lomb has always stood at the forefront of cutting-edge scientific and technological optical advancements, and today, Bausch + Lomb is more focused than ever on developing and offering new treatments to meet unmet eye health needs, said Mr. Saunders. I am confident in our future, and I look forward to once again working alongside the more than 12,000 employees who live by and aspire to achieve the Bausch + Lomb mission of helping people see better to live better.

On behalf of all the employees of Bausch + Lomb, I also would like to recognize Joe Papa and thank him for all he has done to advance the health, safety and wellness of patients around the world, continued Mr. Saunders.

About Brent Saunders

Brent Saunders has more than 25 years of experience in various aspects of health care and has been in leadership roles at several prominent global pharmaceutical and health care companies. Since May 2021, Mr. Saunders has served as the chair of the Board of The Beauty Health Company, a role he will maintain. Prior to that, he was cofounder and chair of the Board of Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp. from 2020 to 2021. He also previously served as chairman, president and CEO of Allergan plc. His role as president and CEO of Allergan began in 2014 and his added role of chairman began in 2016; he held these roles until 2020 when Allergan was acquired by AbbVie Inc.

Mr. Saunders first role as an executive officer in the pharmaceuticals and health care sector began in 2003, as a member of the executive management team at Schering-Plough Corporation (Schering-Plough), where he held several key roles, including president of Schering-Ploughs Global Consumer Health Care division. While there, he led the integration of the companys acquisition of Organon Biosciences N.V in 2007, as well as the merger between Schering-Plough and Merck & Co., Inc. in 2009. From 2010 until 2013, he served as CEO of Bausch + Lomb until the Companys acquisition by Bausch Health Companies Inc. (then known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) He then became president and CEO and served as a director of Forest Laboratories Inc., a role he held until that companys merger with Actavis plc in 2014. Following the merger with Actavis, he was named CEO of the combined business. In 2015, he led Actavis acquisition of Allergan, renaming the combined company Allergan plc. 

Early in his career, Mr. Saunders was a partner and head of Compliance Business Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Prior to that, he was chief risk officer at Coventry Health Care, Inc. and senior vice president of Compliance, Legal and Regulatory at Home Care Corporation of America. He began his career as chief compliance officer for the Thomas Jefferson University Health System.

About Bausch + Lomb

Bausch + Lomb is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the gift of sight for millions of people around the world  from the moment of birth through every phase of life. Its comprehensive portfolio of more than 400 products includes contact lenses, lens care products, eye care products, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter products and ophthalmic surgical devices and instruments. Founded in 1853, Bausch + Lomb has a significant global research and development, manufacturing and commercial footprint with more than 12,000 employees and a presence in nearly 100 countries. Bausch + Lomb is headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario with corporate offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.bausch.com and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, which may generally be identified by the use of the words anticipates, hopes, expects, intends, plans, should, could, would, may, believes, estimates, potential, target, or continue and variations or similar expressions. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in Bausch + Lombs filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, which factors are incorporated herein by reference. They also include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties caused by or relating to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, and the fear of that pandemic and its potential effects, the severity, duration and future impact of which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, and which may have a material adverse impact on Bausch + Lomb, including but not limited to its project development timelines, launches and costs (which may increase). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Bausch + Lomb undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release or to reflect actual outcomes, unless required by law.

 2023 Bausch & Lomb Incorporated or its affiliates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005353/en/

Investor Contact:



Arthur Shannon



[email protected]

Allison Ryan



[email protected]



(877) 354-3705 (toll free)



(908) 927-0735

Media Contact:



Lainie Keller



[email protected]



(908) 927-1198

Source: Bausch + Lomb Corporation
The Company is proud to now serve the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions to address key environmental and restoration challenges

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AECOM (NYSE: ACM), the worlds trusted infrastructure consulting firm, today announced that it has successfully been awarded a single-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific to deliver architecture and engineering services for the Comprehensive Long-Term Environmental Action Navy (CLEAN) Program. Under this contract with a $239 million ceiling, AECOM will perform environmental studies, investigations, and designs that address pressing environmental challenges.

"With a rich history of partnerships with NAVFAC and a team of dedicated environmental experts guided by our Sustainable Legacies strategy, we are poised to deliver outstanding results on the CLEAN program in the Pacific Region," said Lara Poloni, AECOM's president. "Our deep regional expertise, combined with a proven track-record of innovation and successful project delivery, positions us as the go-to partner for delivering world-class environmental strategies for government clients."

Driven by the Companys Honolulu-based team, AECOM will provide program management and technical environmental services that address critical issues, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other emerging contaminants, vapor intrusion, water quality, sediments, munitions and radiological assessment, petroleum, polychlorinated biphenyls, and hazardous substances. To be performed throughout the Pacific Region and, if tasked by the Government, anywhere in the world, this work will support compliance with environmental restoration programs such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Were pleased to build on more than a decade of collaboration with NAVFAC to help realize this major program that promises to innovate new approaches to solving some of the greatest environmental restoration challenges of our time, said Frank Sweet, chief executive of AECOMs global Environment business. This win demonstrates our focus on global collaboration to bring our best professionals to our projects and on allocating our time and capital on the best client relationships with the greatest growth potential.

AECOMs scope includes assessments, studies, investigations, and remedial designs; community relations plans; human health and ecological risk assessments; feasibility, pilot, and corrective measures studies; interim response and removal actions; geographical information system development and management; and emergency response actions.

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/20230215005153/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
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has placed under review with negative implications the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of bbb+ (Good) of Fubon Insurance Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Fubon Vietnam) (Vietnam).

This Credit Rating (rating) action follows AM Bests downgrade of the Long-Term ICR of Fubon Vietnams parent company, Fubon Insurance Co., Ltd. (Fubon Insurance) (Taiwan) on 3 February 2023 (see related press release). AM Best downgraded Fubon Insurances Long-Term ICR to a (Excellent) from a+ (Excellent) while affirming its FSR of A (Excellent), and also placed the ratings under review with negative implications. That recent development was the result of weakened financial strength and ongoing uncertainty around the credit profile of Fubon Insurance. Fubon Vietnams ratings incorporate rating enhancement from its ownership and integration with Fubon Insurance. As a result, AM Best needs to assess the impact of further near-term developments on the credit profile of Fubon Insurance to determine its continued ability to provide explicit support to Fubon Vietnam.

The under review with negative implications status on Fubon Vietnams ratings reflects the need for AM Best to fully assess the companys eligibility to continue receiving rating enhancement prospectively. The ratings will remain under review pending completion of AM Bests assessment of the credit rating fundamentals of Fubon Insurance.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005774/en/

Isaac Yeo

Associate Financial Analyst

+65 6303 5019

[email protected]

Chris Lim, CFA

Senior Financial Analyst

+65 6303 5018

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
Registration now open for February 23 event

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As part of its commitment to being the firm of choice for women financial advisors, Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) is hosting events aimed at attracting more women into careers in the financial services industry. Ameriprise Career Compass events are designed to help women with varying levels of experience explore opportunities available on the path to becoming financial advisors or pursuing other rewarding careers in finance. Women who are seeking to make a career change, reenter the workforce after time away, or recent or soon-to-be college graduates interested in careers in finance are welcome to join. Registration is now open for the February 23 virtual event (register for the event).

Ameriprise will host additional Career Compass sessions on May 17, August 16 and October 26. For more information on these future events, contact [email protected].

During the sessions, attendees will hear from a group of Ameriprise women financial advisors on topics ranging from their personal career paths to how they help clients reach their financial goals. The presenters will also discuss the skills needed for success in the profession and advice on pursuing a career in finance.

Following the events, interested attendees are encouraged to apply for job opportunities at Ameriprise in areas including:

The Ameriprise Advisor Career Development Program : This program provides professionals making a career change with training and resources to succeed as an employee advisor at an Ameriprise branch office.

: This program provides professionals making a career change with training and resources to succeed as an employee advisor at an Ameriprise branch office. The Ameriprise Advisor Center (AAC) : The AAC provides opportunities to join an advising team as client service coordinators, learning foundational aspects of the business while obtaining their licenses and registrations required for advancement.

: The AAC provides opportunities to join an advising team as client service coordinators, learning foundational aspects of the business while obtaining their licenses and registrations required for advancement. Becoming an Associate Financial Advisor (AFA): AFAs work with experienced advisors in Ameriprises Independent Advisor channel. They receive mentoring and learn how to successfully manage practices and acquire clients.

Were committed to recruiting, retaining, developing, and engaging diverse professionals at Ameriprise. An important element of this work is introducing individuals to career opportunities in the financial services industry that perhaps they havent previously considered, said Jennifer Johnson, Vice President of Advisor Business Development Programs and Womens Strategy Co-Lead at Ameriprise. Our Career Compass event series is an excellent platform for women to learn about rewarding career opportunities at Ameriprise and the broader industry.

Introduced in the fall of 2020, the Ameriprise Career Compass events have helped hundreds of women attendees learn more about career opportunities in the financial services industry.

The firm continues to invest in and support women advisors includes with other programs and events throughout the year, including:

The Ameriprise Womens Empowerment (WE) Network , a nationwide professional network which offers mentorship, training, education and networking programs for women advisors at Ameriprise.

, a nationwide professional network which offers mentorship, training, education and networking programs for women advisors at Ameriprise. Women Advisor Summits, which provide a meaningful forum for women at Ameriprise to network and enhance skills to serve their clients effectively, grow their practices and develop in their careers.

To register for the February 23 Womens Career Compass event, click here.

About Ameriprise Financial

At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for more than 125 years. With extensive investment advice, asset management and insurance capabilities and a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors' financial needs.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

 2023 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005793/en/

Allison Harries, Media Relations

612-678-7035

[email protected]

Source: Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
DAKAR, Senegal--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The newest Mercy Ship, the Global Mercy arrived in Dakar, Senegal on February 14, 2023. While the ship hosted surgical training in Senegal in 2022, this year marks the first time that specialized surgeries will take place on this newly built hospital ship. This field service will include partnership with ministries of health in both Senegal and The Gambia, serving both countries through the port of Dakar.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005885/en/

The Global Mercy arrives in Dakar, Senegal ready to serve the people of Senegal and The Gambia. (Photo: Business Wire)

Designed with purpose, the Global Mercy hospital ship is 174 meters long, 28.6 meters wide and has space for 200 patients, six operating rooms, a laboratory, general outpatient clinics, dental, and eye clinics and training facilities.

The hospital decks cover a total area of 7,000 square meters and contain the latest training facilities. The ship can accommodate up to 950 people when docked, including crew members and volunteers from all over the world and will serve collaboratively in the future with the Africa Mercy which has been in operation since 2007 and is currently undergoing refit to return to service in the fall of this year.

It is expected that more than 150,000 lives will be transformed through surgery alone, during the next 50 years of the Global Mercys lifespan, with each transformation representing a person with a name, a face, a story, a family and a purpose. In addition, thousands of African medical professionals will receive training and mentoring with the goal of multiplied impact within their own communities.

The Global Mercys arrival in Dakar this week is particularly meaningful to our team, as this year, we will be serving the people of both Senegal and The Gambia thanks to partnerships with their ministries of health, explains Gert van de Weerdhof, Mercy Ships CEO. We anticipate that over the next five months more than 800 maxillo-facial, pediatric orthopedic, pediatric general, general and eye surgeries will be carried out on board with up to 25% coming from The Gambia.

In 2022, when the Global Mercy visited Senegal, more than 260 Senegalese healthcare professionals received training on board through a variety of courses addressing topics impacting delivery of safe surgical care, including Surgical Skills, SAFE Anesthesia, and Nursing Skills. In 2023, Mercy Ships anticipates providing training for more than 600 medical professionals.

This ceremony marks a new stage in the partnership between the government of Senegal and the NGO Mercy Ships. It is a dynamic and very beneficial collaboration because the intervention of Mercy Ships represents an essential contribution to strengthening the supply of surgical care and improving the supply of our surgical and social action systems. Indeed, through its many actions, Mercy Ships relieves thousands of individuals, and participates in reducing inequalities of access to health and quality services, stated Dr. Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, Minster of Health and Social Action, Senegal.

In May 2022, The Global Mercy was inaugurated in Dakar by H.E. President of Senegal, an ardent advocate in the strategic efforts to improve access to safer surgery, not just in his home country, but across all Africa, as evidenced by his championing of the Dakar Declaration which he takes forward to the rest of the African Union.

ABOUT MERCY SHIPS:

Mercy Ships is an international faith-based organization that operates hospital ships to deliver free, world-class healthcare services, medical capacity building, and health system strengthening to those with little access to safe surgical care. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 55 countries, with the last three decades focused entirely on partnering with African nations.

Each year, volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the worlds two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy  and the Global Mercy. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to the cause. Mercy Ships has offices in 16 countries and an Africa Bureau. For more information, visit mercyships.org and follow us @MercyShips on social media.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005885/en/

Laura Rebouche

U.S. National Media Relations Director

Mercy Ships

[email protected]

www.mercyships.org/press

Source: Mercy Ships
$90 Million Debt Facility Provided by Consortium of Existing Investors, Led by Kennedy Lewis

Gene Davis Appointed Chairman of the Board, Which Has Been Refreshed with Addition of Four Experienced Independent Directors

Bob Madore, Seasoned Finance Executive, Named as Interim CFO

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- F45 Training Holdings Inc. (NYSE: FXLV) (F45 or the Company) today announced the closing of a new $90 million subordinated debt facility provided by a consortium of existing investors, led by affiliates of Kennedy Lewis Management LP (the New Facility). This financing will improve the Companys balance sheet and enhance liquidity as the strengthened Board and leadership team drive the business forward and position F45 for long-term sustainable growth.

The financing transaction, combined with our recently implemented operational realignment and cost reduction initiative, enable us to increase the support we provide our valued franchisee network and continue to deliver on our mission of offering the worlds best workout, said Ben Coates, F45s Interim Chief Executive Officer. We are glad to have secured this significant financing from investors who share our vision.

Darren Richman, Co-Founder, Co-Portfolio Manager, and Co-Managing Partner of Kennedy Lewis, added, Were pleased to deepen our partnership with F45, an innovator with a differentiated brand that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growing trend of consumers prioritizing health and fitness in their daily lives. As long-time investors in F45, we have a deep understanding of, and continued confidence in, the business and the opportunity ahead for F45 as a disruptor in the fitness space.

Refreshing Companys Board of Directors and Strengthening Leadership Team

In connection with the closing of the transaction, current Board member Gene Davis  who has more than four decades of strategic planning, business transformation, and governance expertise  was appointed Chairman, and four new independent directors were appointed to the Board: Timothy Bernlohr, Lisa Gavales, Steven Scheiwe, and Ray Wallander. These new directors, who together bring a wealth of management and consumer sector experience, replace Angelo Demasi, Vanessa Douglas, and Lee Wallace, who each resigned at closing. Remaining on the Board with Mr. Davis are Ben Coates, Adam Gilchrist, Elizabeth Josefsberg, and Michael Raymond, as well as F45 investor, enthusiast, and brand ambassador Mark Wahlberg.

The Company has named Bob Madore as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Madore is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of management experience and a proven track record of growing brands in global markets, as well as leading and scaling financial operations while strengthening business performance to deliver profitable growth. Prior to joining F45, he served as CFO of Ralph Lauren, American Eagle Outfitters and, most recently, The Cronos Group.

Board Chairman Gene Davis said, With the Company on stronger financial footing, I look forward to working with my fellow Board members and the leadership team, including Bob, to refine F45s go-forward business strategy to deliver sustainable growth, enhance opportunities for our franchisees and team, and drive long-term value for shareholders.

Biographies can be found on the Board of Directors and Executive Management pages of the Companys website.

Transaction Details

The New Facility has a five-and-a-half-year term, with interest to be paid in kind. Net proceeds will be used for, among other things, general corporate purposes and a partial paydown of the Companys existing Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility with JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the JPM Facility). Concurrent with the closing of the New Facility and the partial paydown, the Company amended the JPM Facility to be structured as a $70 million senior secured facility with a two-year term, comprising a $68 million term loan and a $2 million revolving credit facility. Additional detail regarding the New Facility and JPM Facility is included in the transaction documents that are exhibits to the Companys Form 8-K, which will be filed with the SEC today.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal counsel to F45 on the transaction. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP served as legal counsel to Kennedy Lewis.

Strategic Alternatives Update

As an update to the previously announced formation of a Special Committee to review and evaluate the unsolicited proposal F45 received from Kennedy Lewis and other strategic alternatives, the Special Committee paused its review and evaluation as the Board focused on securing this financing to address F45s liquidity needs.

The Company has not received anything further from Kennedy Lewis with respect to its prior proposal or a revised proposal. In the event Kennedy Lewis engages with the Company on its proposal, including any revision thereof, the Board will consider such proposal at the appropriate time and will act in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders in accordance with its fiduciary duties.

The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to a review of strategic alternatives or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

About F45

F45 offers consumers functional 45-minute workouts that are effective, fun and community-driven. F45 utilizes proprietary technologies including a fitness programming algorithm and a digitally-enabled delivery platform that leverages a rich content database of thousands of unique functional training movements to offer new workouts each day and provide a standardized experience across F45s global franchise. For more information, please visit www.f45training.com.

About Kennedy Lewis

Kennedy Lewis is an investment manager founded in 2017 by David K. Chene and Darren L. Richman with approximately $11 billion under management across private funds and CLOs. Kennedy Lewis private funds primarily focus on middle-market companies facing disruption, whether it be cyclical, secular or regulatory related. The firm also partners with high-growth companies that are causing disruption, providing structured capital solutions to fit their needs. For more information, please visit www.klimllc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that refer to F45s future plans and expectations are forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words such as may, will, should, expects, plans, anticipates, could, intends, target, projects, contemplates, believes, estimates, predicts, potential, or continue or negatives of these words and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Statements that refer to or are based on estimates, forecasts, projections, uncertain events or assumptions, including statements relating to F45s strategy, financial outlook, business plans, and future macroeconomic conditions also identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on managements expectations as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, F45 disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, including, without limitation, the following: our dependence on the operational and financial results of, and our relationships with, our franchisees and the success of their new and existing studios; our ability to protect our brand and reputation; our ability to identify, recruit and contract with a sufficient number of qualified franchisees; our ability to execute our growth strategy, including through development of new studios by new and existing franchisees; our ability to manage our growth and the associated strain on our resources; our ability to successfully integrate any acquisitions, or realize their anticipated benefits; the high level of competition in the health and fitness industry; economic, political and other risks associated with our international operations; changes to the industry in which we operate; our reliance on information systems and our and our franchisees ability to properly maintain the confidentiality and integrity of our data; the occurrence of cyber incidents or a deficiency in our cybersecurity protocols; our and our franchisees ability to attract and retain members; our and our franchisees ability to identify and secure suitable sites for new franchise studios; risks related to franchisees generally; our ability to obtain third-party licenses for the use of music to supplement our workouts; certain health and safety risks to members that arise while at our studios; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property; risks associated with the use of social media platforms in our marketing; our ability to obtain and retain high-profile strategic partnership arrangements; our ability to comply with existing or future franchise laws and regulations; our ability to anticipate and satisfy consumer preferences and shifting views of health and fitness; our business model being susceptible to litigation; the increased expenses associated with being a public company; and additional factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). Further, many of these factors are, and may continue to be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed information regarding these and other factors that could affect F45s business and results is included in F45s SEC filings, including in the section titled Risk Factors in F45s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings.

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Media Contact

Kekst CNC

Sherri L. Toub / Anntal Silver / Daniel Hoadley

[email protected]



Investor Contact

ICR, Inc.

Bruce Williams

[email protected]

(332) 242-4303

Source: F45 Training Holdings Inc.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inszone Insurance Services, a rapidly growing, national provider of benefits, personal and commercial lines insurance, announced today the acquisition of David Tennant Insurance Agency.

Founded in 2002, David Tennant Insurance was named after its founder Dave Tennant. A seasoned insurance professional, Dave Tennant started his insurance journey in 1982 at his father's Lake Tahoe agency, where he stayed until 1986 when his father sold his company. After working at another agency for a period of time, Dave made the choice to open his own agency to have the freedom and control over the products he offered, how to manage client relationships, and focus on what was best for his customers rather than trying to meet company quotas. Dave takes pride in the client relationships he has fostered; some of his clients have been with him for decades, establishing not only a professional but a personal relationship.

Dave was a member of his local rotary club for 25 years, serving as president in 2016/2017 and continues to be very active within his community.

The acquisition of David Tennant Insurance Agency will make a great addition to the Inszone family, said Chris Walters, CEO of Inszone Insurance Services. This acquisition is an essential step on our continued journey to providing more options and enhanced service to customers in California.

Inszone Insurance plans to continue to broaden its national footprint in 2023, and pursue a steady growth trajectory, with a number of important transactions to be completed and announced in the upcoming months.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, Inszone is a full-service insurance brokerage firm which provides a broad array of property & casualty insurance, along with employee benefits solutions. With a strong, experienced management team, Inszone continues to grow organically, as well as through acquisitions. With 38 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, and Illinois, the company is looking to further expand throughout the United States.

For more information about Inszone, please visit www.inszoneinsurance.com.

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Inszone Insurance

Chris Walters  CEO

714-619-5620

[email protected]

Source: Inszone Insurance Services
Five people were taken to hospitals after a shooting incident about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday on Crossman Avenue in the Schiller Park neighborhood, Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge reported.

All five were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

According to the report, gunfire broke out during an argument or fight near the corner. Crossman runs from Genesee Street to Heminway Street.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call or text the Buffalo police confidential Tipcall line at 716-847-2255.
VILLEURBANNE, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

NAVYA (FR0013018041 - Navya), announces stable revenues of 10.1 million for the year ending December 31, 2022. The highlights are as follows:

Sales of 20 autonomous vehicles in 2022 (19 in 2021), including 9 reconditioned vehicles incorporating the latest software developments. This new development model will enable the technology of the shuttles deployed to evolve and increase the quality of service to customers. However, this will penalize the average selling price, which is down 12% compared to 2021 at 194,000.

From a geographical point of view, we note the commercial expansion in the USA with 11 shuttles sold and the new development in South America, with a deployment in progress in Argentina (1 shuttle).

Associated services accounted for 45% of NAVYA's revenue in 2022, with their value growing by 9% over the previous year.

2020 2021 2022 %

22/21 APAC 4 160 3 580 2 454 -31% EMEA 5 734 6 039 4 342 -28% LATAM 234 - USA-Canada 774 544 3 031 +457% Total 10 668 10 163 10 060 -1%

NAVYA recalls that the company has been in receivership since February 1, 2023. The Commercial Court of Lyon has set February 21, 2023 as the deadline for the submission of takeover offers to the judicial administrator and March 7, 2023 as the deadline for the examination of these offers.

In the meantime, operations continue. The suspension of Navya's share listing, effective January 25, 2023, remains in place.

***

The company specifies that the figures in this press release have not been audited.

About NAVYA

Created in 2014, NAVYA is a leading French name specialized in the supply of autonomous mobility systems and associated services. With 280 employees in France (Paris and Lyon), in the United States (Michigan) and in Singapore, NAVYA aims at becoming the leading player in Level 4 autonomous mobility systems for passenger and goods transport. Since 2015, NAVYA has been the first to market and put into service autonomous mobility solutions. The Autonom Shuttle, main development axis, is dedicated to passenger transport. Since its launch, more than 200 units have been sold in 25 countries as of 31 December 2021. The Autonom Tract is designed to goods transport. Engaged in an ambitious CSR approach, the Company has an active policy in this area, as illustrated by the obtaining of the ISO 9001 certification in September 2021. The Valeo and Keolis groups are among NAVYAs historical shareholders.

NAVYA is listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013018041 - Navya).

Read more on: www.navya.tech

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Media relations : [email protected]

Source: NAVYA
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Orion Engineered Carbons (NYSE: OEC), a global specialty chemicals company, announced today it has received a Gold medal rating from EcoVadis, an independent organization that assesses the performance of companies in a wide range of sustainability areas.

Orion improved its score from the previous year, moving up from 72 to 77 points  just one point away from receiving a Platinum medal rating. The company is now in the 99th percentile of companies assessed by EcoVadis.

The way Orion was able to jump five points in one year and reach the top 1% of companies shows how the many improvements we have made can add up to a big change, Orion CEO Corning Painter said. We are so close to Platinum now and will continue to strive for that goal as we deliver sustainable solutions to our customers.

EcoVadis reviews companies performance in the areas of environment, ethics, sustainable procurement, overall sustainability governance, labor and human rights. The organization says it assesses more than 100,000 companies in over 200 industries in more than 175 countries.

Orions most recent sustainability initiatives have included installing control equipment at its U.S. plants that is substantially reducing emissions. The company is producing innovative products with pyrolysis oils from end-of-life tires and bio-circular feedstocks. Orion also plans to expand production of acetylene-based conducive additives for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

About Orion Engineered Carbons

Orion Engineered Carbons (NYSE: OEC) is a leading global supplier of carbon black, a solid form of carbon produced as powder or pellets. The material is made to customers exacting specifications for tires, coatings, ink, batteries, plastics and numerous other specialty, high-performance applications. Carbon black is used to tint, colorize, provide reinforcement, conduct electricity, increase durability and add UV protection. Orion has innovation centers on three continents and 14 plants worldwide, offering the most diverse variety of production processes in the industry. The companys corporate lineage goes back more than 160 years to Germany, where it operates the worlds longest-running carbon black plant. Orion is a leading innovator, applying a deep understanding of customers needs to deliver sustainable solutions. For more information, please visit orioncarbons.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement. New risk factors and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible to predict all risk factors and uncertainties, nor can we assess the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information, other than as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005572/en/

William Foreman

Director of Corporate Communications and Government Affairs

Orion Engineered Carbons

Direct: +1 832-445-3305

Mobile: +1 281-889-7833

[email protected]

Wendy Wilson

Head of Investor Relations

Orion Engineered Carbons

Direct: +1 281-974-0155

[email protected]

Source: Orion Engineered Carbons S.A.
TWYMEEG (Imeglimin) recent growth trajectory confirmed with a 90% increase in sales in Japan over the prior quarter, leading to a 20% increase of the fiscal year 20221 forecast2

Phase 2 NASH Trial (DESTINY-1) for PXL065 met its primary efficacy endpoint for liver fat content reduction at 36 weeks for all doses

The Company is in advanced discussions with its lenders to restructure its debt and further extend its cash runway by aligning debt repayments with future net positive TWYMEEG royalty flows. The Company has obtained a standstill of its current debt obligations from IPF Partners until March 31, 2023

As of December 31, 2022, cash and cash equivalents were EUR 13.1 million (USD 14 million)3; Revenue of EUR 0.674 million for FY2022

LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

POXEL SA (Euronext: POXEL - FR0012432516) (Paris: POXEL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for chronic serious diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare metabolic disorders, today announced its cash position and revenue and provided a corporate update for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.

Thomas Kuhn, Chief Executive Officer of Poxel, stated: We are very pleased with the most recent figures of TWYMEEG sales in Japan. These strong sales results support the trend we have observed since the end of the first year of commercialization restrictions, and above all, we believe that TWYMEEG's benefit to type 2 diabetes patients is recognized more and more among prescribing doctors. We expect this royalty stream from TWYMEEG sales to continue to grow and generate significant revenue for Poxel and we have reached a preliminary agreement with IPF to align the debt repayments with future net positive TWYMEEG royalty flows. We are actively working to finalize our debt restructuring in the coming weeks. We are concurrently working to secure additional financing to launch our POC studies for PXL770 and PXL065 in ALD to start the next chapter of Poxels strategic focus in rare metabolic diseases.

Commercial Update

TWYMEEG (Imeglimin)

For the quarter ended December 2022, TWYMEEG sales4 in Japan increased 90% to JPY 0.8 billion (EUR 5.5 million)3 over the prior quarter sales of JPY 0.4 billion (EUR 2.9 million)3 as reported by Sumitomo Pharma (Sumitomo).

The recent acceleration in sales reflects both the end of initial launch year restrictions for TWYMEEG in September 2022, which limited new products to two weeks prescriptions, and Sumitomos commercial efforts to leverage TWYMEEGs potential. Due to its unique mechanism of action and safety profile, TWYMEEG can be used both in combination with other treatments, such as DPP4is, which are the most prescribed treatments for Japanese Type-2-Diabetes patients, and as monotherapy.

Based on sales trends and cumulative TWYMEEG sales of JPY 1.3 billion for the first nine months, Sumitomo has increased its fiscal year 20221 forecast by 20% to JPY 1.8 billion2 (EUR 12.8 million)3.

For the Sumitomo fiscal year 2023 (ending March 31, 2024), as a conservative assumption Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales. As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of TWYMEEG, independent of the level of sales.

Before the end of Sumitomo fiscal year 2024 (ending March 31, 2025), Poxel expects TWYMEEG net sales in Japan to reach JPY 5 billion (EUR 35.6 million)4 entitling Poxel to receive 10% royalties on all TWYMEEG net sales and a sales-based payment of JPY 500 million (EUR 3.6 million)4. Beyond 2024, Poxel expects to receive escalating double-digit royalties as well as additional sales-based payments upon achievement of contractually based sales thresholds.

For territories not covered by its agreement with Sumitomo, Poxel is in ongoing discussions with various potential partners for Imeglimin, including in India, where local companies have recently received approval and have launched Imeglimin. At the date of this press release, no agreement has been established, and Poxel continues to be committed to asserting its rights in connection with its assets.

Clinical Updates

NASH

Positive topline results were announced for the Phase 2 trial for the treatment of NASH (DESTINY-1) for PXL065 stating that the primary efficacy endpoint was met. PXL065-treated patients achieved statistically significant improvements in the relative decrease in liver fat content measured by magnetic resonance imaging estimated proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) at 36-weeks for all doses. Histology findings from paired liver biopsies showed strong improvement in fibrosis without worsening of NASH, consistent with dose-dependent reduction of all biomarkers related to fibrinogenesis and fibrosis risk scores. Additional dose-dependent benefits on glucose control and indices of insulin sensitivity were also observed. PXL065 was observed to be safe and well tolerated with no dose-dependent increase in body weight and no increased lower extremity edema vs. placebo. The safety profile is consistent with reduced PPARg-mediated side effects vs. published results of pioglitazone.

Rare metabolic diseases

In adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), PXL770 is prepared to advance into a Phase 2a biomarker proof-of-concept (POC) clinical trial in male patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), the most common ALD subtype. The 12-week study will evaluate pharmacokinetics, safety and potential for efficacy based on relevant disease biomarkers, such as the effect on very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA), the characteristic plasma marker of the disease. Considering the DESTINY-1 results for PXL065 in NASH, which validated the deuterium-modified thiazolidinedione (TZD) platform, a second identical study is planned to assess the potential of the deuterium-modified TZD platform with PXL065 in ALD. Both ALD studies are poised to initiate, subject to additional financing.

The European Commission granted orphan drug designation (ODD) for PXL770 and PXL065 for the treatment of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously granted ODD and Fast Track Designation to both PXL770 and PXL065 for the treatment of ALD.

PXL770 was granted ODD by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of patients with autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Corporate Update & Significant Events after the Period

The Company aims to restructure its debt and further extend its cash runway and has recently entered into a memorandum of understanding with IPF Partners and is in advanced discussions with the banks that provided the French Government Guarantee Loan (PGE Loan), obtained in 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, for a debt restructuring. The Company expects to reschedule and align debt repayments with future net positive TWYMEEG royalty flows expected to start before the end of Sumitomo fiscal year 2024 (ending March 31, 2025). The Company anticipates finalizing its debt restructuring in the coming weeks and will provide the details of the agreements upon closing.

The Company has obtained a standstill of its current debt obligations from IPF until the earlier of the finalization of its debt restructuring with IPF or March 31, 2023.

In Q4 2022, Poxel initiated a corporate savings plan which includes a significant workforce reduction. This saving plan aims to adapt the Companys resources to the current clinical development plan while preserving critical resources and competencies.

In December, the Company announced the drawdown of the remaining two tranches, representing a total of EUR 2 million, of the convertible bonds as part of the equity-linked financing facility with Iris Capital Investment (IRIS).

After 6 years as Chief Financial Officer of Poxel where she has been instrumental in the Companys development, Anne Renevot has recently left Poxel to pursue another opportunity. The Company plans to launch the search for a new CFO and, in the interim, can rely on its experienced finance team.

Full-Year Cash and Revenue ended December 31, 2022

Cash

As of December 31, 2022, total cash and cash equivalents were EUR 13,1 million (USD 14 million)3, as compared to EUR 32,3 million at December 31, 2021 and EUR 17.1 million at September 30, 2022.

EUR (in thousands) Q4 2022 Q4 2021 Cash 13,058 28,753 Cash equivalents - 3,534 Total cash and cash equivalents* 13,058 32,287

Unaudited data.

*Net financial debt (excluding IFRS 16 impacts and derivative debts) was 29.5 million euros at the end of Q4 2022 (including debt obligations with IPF and the banks parts of the French PGE loan, as well as the equity-linked financing with IRIS) and EUR 2.6 million at the end of Q4 2021.

The Company has obtained a standstill of its current debt obligations from IPF Partners until the earlier of the finalization of its debt restructuring or March 31, 2023. The Company anticipates finalizing its debt restructuring in the coming weeks. However, in the absence of debt restructuring and based on the Companys cash position at December 31, 2022, certain financial covenants related to the Companys debt with IPF Partners could be breached after March 31, 2023.

The Company is actively pursuing additional financing options which together with its debt restructuring would significantly extend its cash runway.

Full-Year 2022 Revenue

Poxel reported revenues of EUR 0.674 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to EUR 13.4 million during the corresponding period in 2021, which mainly reflected the EUR 13.2 million milestone payment for the approval of TWYMEEG in Japan on June 23, 2021.

Revenue for 2022 mainly consists of JPY 93 million (EUR 0.673 million) of royalty revenue from Sumitomo Pharma which represents 8% of TWYMEEG net sales in Japan. Based on its current forecast, Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales in Japan through the Sumitomo Pharma fiscal year 2022 (April 2022 to March 2023). As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of Imeglimin, independent of the level of sales.

EUR (in thousands) 2022 Q1 3 months 2022 Q2 3 months 2022 Q3 3 months 2022 Q4 3 months FY

2022 12 months FY

2021 12 months Sumitomo Pharma Agreement 32 51 203 388 673 13,377 Other - - - 1 1 20 Total revenues 32 51 203 389 674 13,397

Unaudited data

Planned Presentations and Participation at the Following Upcoming Events

JMP Securities Life Sciences Conference, New York, NY, May 15-16

Next Financial Press Release: 2022 Annual Results, on March 22, 2023

About Poxel SA

Poxel is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for chronic serious diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare disorders. For the treatment of NASH, PXL065 (deuterium-stabilized R-pioglitazone) met its primary endpoint in a streamlined Phase 2 trial (DESTINY-1). In rare diseases, development of PXL770, a first-in-class direct adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activator, is focused on the treatment of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). TWYMEEG (Imeglimin), Poxels first-in-class product that targets mitochondrial dysfunction, is marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in Japan by Sumitomo Pharma and Poxel expects to receive royalties and sales-based payments. Poxel has a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Pharma for Imeglimin in Japan, China, and eleven other Asian countries. Listed on Euronext Paris, Poxel is headquartered in Lyon, France, and has subsidiaries in Boston, MA, and Tokyo, Japan.

For more information, please visit: www.poxelpharma.com

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release about future events are subject to (i) change without notice and (ii) factors beyond the Companys control. These statements may include, without limitation, any statements preceded by, followed by or including words such as target, believe, expect, aim, intend, may, anticipate, estimate, plan, project, will, can have, likely, should, would, could and other words and terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Companys control that could cause the Companys actual results or performance to be materially different from the expected results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not endorse or is not otherwise responsible for the content of external hyperlinks referred to in this press release.

1 Sumitomo Pharma fiscal year 2022 ends March 31, 2023.

2 As per Sumitomo Pharma forecast published on January 31, 2023.

3 Currency exchange rate at December 31, 2022.

4 Sumitomo Pharma reports gross sales

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Contacts - Investor relations / Media

Aurelie Bozza

Investor Relations & Communication Senior Director

[email protected]

+33 6 99 81 08 36

Elizabeth Woo

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Communication

[email protected]

NewCap

Emmanuel Huynh or Arthur Rouille

[email protected]

+33 1 44 71 94 94

Source: Poxel
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Robigo, a company that biomanufactures precision crop protection solutions, announced today that it has raised $6.85 million in Seed funding led by early stage climate tech fund, Congruent Ventures, with participation from other deep technology investors, including Good Growth Capital and First Star Ventures, amongst others.

Increasing plant disease outbreaks contribute to an estimated global crop loss of 20 - 40%, and newly emerging diseases lack timely, effective treatments to mitigate their spread. Robigo seeks to answer the agricultural industrys call for faster, greener solutions that better protect crops. Applying a deep expertise in biological engineering and data science, Robigos scalable platform technology precisely targets agricultural diseases while being safe to beneficial microbes, insect pollinators, human consumers, and the environment. Robigo is focusing initially on developing technologies to address devastating diseases that impact high value specialty crops for which there are few effective commercial treatments.

Building off laboratory plant data demonstrating over 90% reduction of diseases in multiple crops, Robigo will use the investment to demonstrate product efficacy in outdoor field environments. Today, the most widely used pesticides are toxic to the soil, broader environment, and human consumers in large part because they kill indiscriminately, said Robigos CEO, Dr. Andee Wallace. We've developed a way to give naturally-occurring microbes a boost that enables them to protect crops from disease. The next step is showing growers that it works reliably in the field, season after season.

Beyond demonstrating efficacy in the field, Robigo will be expanding its platform capabilities to address a broader range of crops and diseases. Wallace added, "We've put together a world class team and we're committed to growing our impact across the industry by delivering new solutions for the most hard-to-treat diseases."

For investor Joshua Posamentier, managing partner at Congruent Ventures, its the broader impacts of Robigos technology on the agricultural sector that motivated him to back Robigo. Agriculture has an outsized impact on the planet - from contributing 11% of greenhouse gas emissions to causing a significant loss in biodiversity. Robigos platform has far reaching potential to fundamentally change how growers treat their crops, by eliminating the chemical products weve become accustomed to with safer biological solutions.

Posamentier isnt the first to see the limitless potential of biomanufacturing in agriculture, and the past two years have offered a few notable highlights, such as Pivot Bios $430M Series D, Greenlight Biosciences IPO, and Cortevas $1.2B acquisition of Stoller.

About Robigo

Robigo is a biomanufacturing company developing a microbial platform technology that leverages bioengineering and data science to precisely protect crops from disease while being safe to beneficial microorganisms, pollinators, humans, and the environment. To learn more about Robigo, visit www.robigo.bio.

About Congruent Ventures

Congruent Ventures is an early-stage investment firm focused on technologies and services designed to avert the current climate emergency. Founded by Abe Yokell and Joshua Posamentier, two longtime investors in the climate space, Congruent Ventures has over $300 million in assets under management and remains focused on investing in Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A rounds. Companies in the portfolio include Meati, a mycelium based meat producer; PicoMES, which develops software for efficient manufacturing; Parallel Systems, a developer of electrified, autonomous rail cars; Alloy Enterprises, which is an additive manufacturer for aluminum; and Hippo Harvest, which provides autonomous greenhouse growing systems. For more about Congruent Ventures, visit https://congruentvc.com.

About Good Growth Capital

Good Growth Capital is a majority women-owned and -managed early-stage VC firm with offices in Boston, MA and Charleston, SC that funds transformative technology start-ups. Good Growth invests in the most promising innovations in data sciences, greentech, hard sciences and life sciences, companies that fill pressing societal and market needs. This results in funds that meet both ESG and UNSDG impact goals. For more about Good Growth Capital, visit www.goodgrowthvc.com.

About First Star Ventures

First Star is a Boston-based, pre-seed/seed fund that invests with conviction in visionary, technical founders inventing a better future with new computing technology, including AI/M, computational biotech, edge computing, and decentralization. For more about First Star, visit https://www.FirstStar.vc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005518/en/

Jake Teitelbaum

Director of Operations & Business Development

[email protected]

Source: Robigo
GOSSELIES, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

TheraVet (ISIN: BE0974387194 - ticker: ALVET) (Paris: ALVET) (Brussels: ALVET), a pioneering company in the management of osteoarticular diseases in pets, is delighted to announce its collaboration with Dr Ter Braake, a European Specialist in Equine Surgery (Dierenkliniek Emmeloord, The Netherlands) in the evaluation of BIOCERA-VET Ready-To-Use as a new treatment option for horse bone cysts.

Bone cysts are abnormalities of bones and joints that can occur in multiple sites in horses. Bone cysts are frequent with a prevalence of 25% in yearlings (racehorses in their second year). Common cause of horse lameness, especially in the young equine athlete, is subchondral cyst lesions (SCL). During pre-purchasing examinations, early stage SCL can be found in apparently sound horses as well, representing a concern to many horse owners.

So far, non-surgical and surgical management of bone cysts are not fully satisfactory in returning the horses to full soundness and therefore, vets are looking for new arthroscopic/mini-invasive approaches including bone grafts.

BIOCERA-VET Ready-To-Use, an injectable bone graft, is a promising product to be used in such surgical approach. Indeed, thanks to its unique properties, it can be easily injected by minimally invasive procedure (such as arthroscopy), promoting a faster recovery. Also, BIOCERA-VET, due to its composition close to the natural composition of the bone, stimulates bone growth and is gradually replaced with new bone tissue leading in the resolution of the bone cyst and ultimately its clinical consequences.

Thanks to our collaboration with Dr Ter Braake, a first case of bone cyst has been successfully treated.

Dr. Ter Braake, DVM, CERT EP, EBVS, EVCS comments: My initial evaluation of filling a subchondral cyst lesion with BIOCERA-VET in a young horse showed promising results. A complete filling of the cavity was achieved, with consistent new bone formation and no lameness. Im looking forward to continue my collaboration with TheraVet and use this technology on more cases presented in my equine clinic.

About TheraVet SA

TheraVet is a veterinary biotechnology company specialising in osteoarticular treatments for companion animals. The Company develops targeted, safe and effective treatments to improve the quality of life of pets suffering from joint and bone diseases. For pet owners, the health of their pets is a major concern and TheraVets mission is to address the need for innovative and curative treatments. TheraVet works closely with international opinion leaders in order to provide a more effective response to ever-growing needs in the field of veterinary medicine. TheraVet is listed on Euronext Growth Paris and Brussels, has its head office in Belgium (Gosselies) with a US subsidiary in Texas.

For more information, visit the TheraVet website or follow us on LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter

About BIOCERA-VET

In close collaboration with an international scientific board, THERAVET has developed a new line of calcium-phosphate and biological bone substitutes, BIOCERA-VET. BIOCERA-VET is a full range of innovative, easy-to-use, efficient & cost-effective bone substitutes indicated in bone surgeries where a bone graft is required and as a palliative alternative in the management of canine osteosarcoma. Based on extremely promising clinical results, this line offers the possibility of a better, more convenient and more efficient orthopedic surgery.

BIOCERA-VET is declined in different lines:

BIOCERA-VET BONE SURGERY RTU, ready-to-use highly injectable self-hardening calcium-phosphate cement

BIOCERA-VET SMARTGRAFT, a naturally osteoconductive bone graft

BIOCERA-VET GRANULES, an affordable biocompatible calcium-phosphate bone substitute

BIOCERA-VET OSTEOSARCOMA RTU, a ready-to-use highly injectable calcium-phosphate bone substitute for cementoplasty

For more information, visit BIOCERA-VET website.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005619/en/

TheraVet

Chief Operating Officer

Sabrina Ena

[email protected]

Tel: +32 (0) 71 96 00 43

Chief Corporate Officer

Julie Winand

[email protected]

NewCap

Investor Relations and Financial Communications

Theo Martin/Nicolas Fossiez

[email protected]

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

Press Relations

Arthur Rouille

[email protected]

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 00 15

NewCap Belgique

Press Relations

Laure-Eve Monfort

[email protected]

Tel: + 32 (0) 489 57 76 52

Source: TheraVet
Former IBM Executive Paul Roma, Electronic Arts Martin Wischhusen, and University of Texas Dr. Sriram Vishwanath join the protocol amidst key growth period

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Toposware, the lead developer of Topos, the first zkEcosystem that enables fully trustless and secure interactions between blockchains and serves as the springboard for the global adoption of Web3, announced today the appointments of Paul Roma, Martin Wischhusen, and Dr. Sriram Vishwanath to its growing advisory board. With tactical expertise across a diverse range of sectors including distributed systems, enterprise cloud strategy, information theory, and corporate infrastructure, Toposwares new advisors will play distinctive roles in supporting the protocol successfully launching its Testnet later this year.

This announcement arrives on the heels of Toposware welcoming C-Suite veteran Jeanette Gorgas and growth strategy VP Mimi Spier as advisors, and signals continued growth and strategic development as the protocol shapes new standards for Web3.

Roma, who currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Francisco Partners, will play a critical role in supporting Toposwares enterprise access. With over 25 years leading healthcare initiatives in data, technology, and strategy solutions, he has partnered with notable organizations including Mayo Clinic, The Broad Institute of MIT, and Harvard, while holding global leadership positions at IBM, Deloitte, CIOX Health, and Francisco Partners. Romas deep next-generation technology expertise across analytics, AI, and hybrid cloud will contribute to Toposwares growth.

Toposware has built a simple-to-use next generation infrastructure that is a game changer for the implementation and impact of Web3 technology. Too many times the industry has tried to force a blockchain solution, now there is clear and immediate ROI to implement. Im proud to join and advise the team as they keep driving these monumental initiatives forward, said Roma.

Martin Wischhusen, Vice President of Game Development and Infrastructure Services at pioneering video game company Electronic Arts (EA), will leverage his expertise to advise Toposwares go-to-market strategy. A seasoned gaming industry and technology executive, he plays a leading role in enhancing EAs game development process and leading enterprise cloud strategy and corporate infrastructure. In addition to Wischhusens 13-year tenure at EA, he has played an integral role in the advancement of several early stage technology companies such as Bicycle.io, and is an advisor to prominent Venture Capital firms Osage Venture Partners and Insight Partners.

My career has been motivated by my passion for applying technology to support and enable successful business strategies, said Wischhusen. Im excited to apply my deep expertise in the engineering of application and infrastructure technology solutions to help elevate Toposware to new heights as the company works to build the future of Web3.

Additionally, blockchain thought leader Dr. Vishwanath, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, joins Toposware as an advisor. An expert in information theory, wireless communications, and coding theory  and a mentor to the University of Texas student coalition exploring blockchain technology as it relates to engineering, finance, computer science, and economics  Dr. Vishwanaths impressive academic and industry knowledge will be invaluable as Toposware continues to carve a path for comprehensive decentralized systems and Web3 interoperability.

Facilitating secure blockchain interoperability is critical to unlocking the full potential of this new technological frontier. Toposware is tackling this work head-on, in ways that are grounded in research. Im confident that its infrastructure will play an integral role in building the next iteration of the Internet as well as in expanding blockchain utility, and Im excited to advise these efforts, said Vishwanath.

Topos is working tirelessly to build a Web3 protocol that will best serve the blockchain community, said Theo Gauthier, CEO and founder of Toposware. The addition of these highly-skilled industry experts will be a driving force in our preparation for Testnet launch. Were fortunate to have Paul, Martin, and Sriram join us as advisors and look forward to making significant strides in the months to come.

Topos is expected to launch on Testnet later this year. To learn more, visit toposware.com and sign up for the Topos newsletter.

About Toposware

Topos enables developers to deploy natively interoperable sovereign execution layers and dApps while enjoying cryptographic security. At its core, the protocol is powered by zero-knowledge proofs to offer secure and seamless interchain communication without relying on trust in validators. Toposware is a remote-first company headquartered in Boston, MA with satellite offices across the USA, Europe, and Asia. The team is composed of a group of passionate computer scientists, cryptographers, and engineers from all over the world with backgrounds including CERN, Google, Meta, University of Oxford, Ecole Normale Superieure, Telecom Paris, and UCL. Toposware is creating the technical groundwork for a new standard for Web3 while solving some of the hardest problems in cryptography and distributed systems. Research and development is done in-house as well as in collaboration with technological research institutes and academic research groups, such as the CEA and Inria.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005788/en/

Media

[email protected]

Source: Toposware
PORT-GENTIL, Gabon--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

TotalEnergies EP Gabon (Paris: EC):

Main Financial Indicators

2022 2021 2020 2022

vs.

2021 Average Brent Price $/b 101.3 70.9 41.8 +43% Average TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude price (1) $/b 94.2 64.8 36.5 +45% Crude oil production from fields operated by TotalEnergies EP Gabon kb/d (2) 15.8 15.0 19.1 +5% Crude oil production from TotalEnergies EP Gabon interests (3) kb/j 15.8 22.9 25.6 -31% Sales volumes (4) Mb (5) 5.1 8.9 10.2 -43% Revenues (6) M$ 521 655 435 -20%

(1) The crude price calculation excludes profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contract, these barrels being handed over in kind to the host state. (2) kb/d: Thousand barrels per day. (3) Including profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contract. (4) Sales volumes excludes profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contract, these barrels being handed over in kind to the host state. (5) Mb: Million of barrels. (6) Revenue from hydrocarbon sales and services (transportation, processing and storage), including profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts.

2022 Revenues

Selling price

The average selling price of the crude oil grade marketed by TotalEnergies EP Gabon reached $94.2/b during 2022, sharp increase of 45% compared to 2022 ($64.8/b).

Production

In 2022, TotalEnergies EP Gabon's equity share of operated and non-operated oil production amounted 15.8 kb/d, down 31% compared to 2021 (22.9 kb/d).

This variation is mainly explained by:

TotalEnergies EP Gabon perimeter evolution following the divestment in seven mature offshore fields (Grondin non-operated sector) completed in December 2021,

A nineteen (19) days production shutdown occurred at Cap Lopez oil terminal,

Damages occurred on the Anguille and Torpille sectors gas compressor.

Revenues

The 2022 revenues amounted $521 million against $655 million in 2021. This variation reflects TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude oil sales volume diminution as well as the absence of revenues related to treatment and storage activities following Cap Lopez oil terminal divestment, partially offset by average selling price increase during the period.

About TotalEnergies EP Gabon

TotalEnergies EP Gabon is 58.28% owned by TotalEnergies SE, 25% by the Gabonese Republic and 16.72% by the public.

About TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.

Cautionary Note

The terms "TotalEnergies", "TotalEnergies Company" and "Company" appearing in this document are used to refer to TotalEnergies SE and the consolidated entities that TotalEnergies SE controls directly or indirectly. Similarly, the terms "we", "us", "our" may also be used to refer to these entities or their employees. The entities in which TotalEnergies SE holds a stake directly or indirectly are separate and autonomous legal persons. TotalEnergies SE cannot be held liable for acts or omissions emanating from these companies.

This document may contain forward-looking statements. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are dependent on risk factors. Neither TotalEnergies SE nor any of its subsidiaries undertakes or assumes any commitment or responsibility to investors or any other stakeholder to update or revise, in particular as a result of new information or future events, any or all of the statements, forward-looking information, trends or objectives contained in this document. Information regarding risk factors that could have a material adverse effect on TotalEnergies' financial results or operations is also available in the most up-to-date versions of the Universal Registration Document filed by TotalEnergies SE with the Autorite des marches financiers and Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005777/en/

TotalEnergies EP Gabon

[email protected]



Media Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 99 l [email protected] l @TotalEnergiesPR

Investor Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 46 l [email protected]



@TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies

Source: TOTALENERGIES EP GABON
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK), a leading provider of sustainable paper and packaging solutions, today announced its participation in the Bank of America 2023 Global Agriculture and Materials Conference on March 1, 2023. Alex Pease, chief financial officer, will present information about the Company at 4:30 pm ET. This event will be webcast and available for replay on WestRocks website, ir.westrock.com.

About WestRock

WestRock (NYSE: WRK) partners with our customers to provide sustainable paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks team members support customers around the world from locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005555/en/

Investors:

Robert Quartaro, 470-328-6979

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

[email protected]

Media:

Robby Johnson, 470-328-6397

Manager, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Source: WestRock Company
Gray Television, Inc. (Gray) (NYSE: GTN) announced today that it has reached agreements with Marquee Broadcasting, Inc. (Marquee) to swap television stations.

Gray will sell KNIN, its Fox Network-affiliated television station in the Boise, Idaho, market (DMA 102), to Marquee. Currently, another broadcaster in the Boise market provides local news programming and back-office services for KNIN under a shared services agreement, subject to the ultimate control of Gray.

Concurrently with the KNIN closing, Marquee will sell WPGA, its MeTV Network-affiliated full-power television station in the Macon, Georgia market (DMA 126), to Gray. At that time, Gray will own a full-power television station in every television market located in its home state of Georgia.

Both transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2023 following receipt of regulatory and other approvals.
FILE PHOTO: Berkshire Hathaway Inc Vice Chairman Charles Munger speaks at the Daily Journal annual meeting in Los Angeles, U.S., February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Wednesday said China remains a top opportunity for investors despite geopolitical risks.

Munger also doubled down on his recent Wall Street Journal editorial calling for the U.S. government to follow China and ban cryptocurrency, saying "people who oppose my position are idiots."

The 99-year-old spoke while fielding 2-1/4 hours of questions at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp, a Los Angeles newspaper publisher and provider of software to courthouses that he chaired for 45 years and where he remains a director.

He is better known for his work at Berkshire, where he has since 1978 been a vice chairman and close collaborator with fellow billionaire Buffett, who is 92.

Munger has long been bullish on China, though Berkshire has recently reduced multibillion-dollar stakes in two companies in that region, electric car maker BYD Co and chipmaker TSMC, also known as Taiwan Semiconductor.

Referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's nearly yearlong invasion of Ukraine, Munger downplayed concern that China might invade Taiwan.

"The Chinese leader is a very smart, practical person," Munger said. "Russia went into Ukraine as it looked like a cakewalk. I don't think Taiwan looks like such a cakewalk any more."

Munger said that helps investors' prospects in China, because "you can buy better, stronger companies at cheaper valuations in China than you can in the United States."

He said BYD has been raising prices while Elon Musk's Tesla Inc has been lowering them, leaving BYD "so much ahead of Tesla in China, it's almost ridiculous."

Munger also called TSMC the "strongest semiconductor company on earth," though Berkshire recently cut its formerly $4.1 billion stake by 86%.

His comments about cryptocurrency follow the failures over the last year of several prominent businesses in that industry.

"I'm ashamed of my country that so many people believe in this kind of crap, and that the government allows it to exist," Munger said. "It is totally, absolutely, crazy, stupid gambling."

CNBC broadcast the Daily Journal meeting online.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
The man who killed 10 people at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14 was briefly removed from an Erie County courtroom today after a man lunged at him during the tense sentencing proceeding, which ended with him being told that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

The incident happened just after 10:20 a.m. as Barbara Mapps, the sister of Katherine Massey, was speaking. Katherine Massey, known as "Kat," was one of 10 people killed by Payton Gendron in a racist massacre on May 14.

'You will reap what you sow': Families of victims of Tops shooting confront the man who killed their loved ones Families of victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue tell the court about their loved ones, and how the hate crime May 14 affected their lives.

"You don't even know Black people," Barbara Massey said. "Your little (expletive) decided to come and kill my sister."

As she spoke, an unidentified man stood behind her before taking several quick steps toward Gendron, who sat near his attorneys. Before the man could reach Gendron, a clutch of courtroom officers stepped in to restrain him and pull him away.

Other officers swiftly escorted Gendron from the courtroom amid a chaotic scene. Reporters observing the sentencing described family members of the shooting victims walking out of the courtroom, some in tears.

Erie County Judge Susan Eagan, who is overseeing the sentencing, also left at one point. And Erie County District Attorney John Flynn came into the room to consult with prosecutors.

Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was wounded in the May 14 attack, said later that she understood the reaction of people who were forced to be in Gendron's presence.

"People are angry. We saw the eruption in court today," she said. "That's how these families feel. That's how I feel. That's how Zaire feels. That's how the entire Buffalo community feels and that was on full display today. And I get it. I understand. It doesn't get any more raw than that. Ten people died because of the color of their skin in 2022."

After about 10 minutes, Eagan returned to the bench and cautioned spectators against any further outbursts as she restarted the proceedings with further victim impact statements.

When they were finished, and after Gendron read from a statement in which he apologized for he pain he caused, Eagan delivered a treatise on the history of racism in the United States. She said that the "ugly truth is that our nation was found and built in part on white supremacy."

But Eagan also said the community had revealed its character in the way it responded to the racist killing.

"I am immensely proud and grateful for the way Buffalo had rejected the evil and hate that was inflicted on our community," she said.

Addressing Gendron, she said: "There is no place for your hateful and evil ideology in a civilized society. There can be no mercy, no understanding, no second chances. The damage caused is too great. You will never see the light of day as a free man again."
Lael Brainard submitted her resignation February 14, 2023 as Vice Chair and a member of the Federal Reserve Board, effective on or around February 20, 2023. She has been a member of the Board since June 16, 2014, and Vice Chair of the Board since May 23, 2022.

"Lael has brought formidable talent and superb results to everything she has done at the Federal Reserve," Chair Jerome H. Powell said. "That lengthy list includes her thought leadership on monetary policy and economic research, her stewardship of financial stability and the payments system, strengthening the financial system both domestically and globally, and helping to manage the immense operational agency challenges during the pandemic. My colleagues and I will truly miss her."

Dr. Brainard was nominated to the Board by President Obama and then re-nominated as Vice Chair by President Biden. During her time at the Board, she chaired multiple committees, including the Committee on Financial Stability, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee on Payments, Clearing, and Settlement, and the Committee on Board Affairs, among others. She also served as chair of the Federal Open Market Committee's communication subcommittee.

Dr. Brainard played a vital role during the response to the pandemic and has provided wise counsel on monetary policy, as well as contributing to the creation of the Fed Listens initiative. The Board published its first financial stability report under her leadership. She has led the interagency process to strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act, as well as the Board's work to establish the FedNow real-time payments network.

Dr. Brainard has represented the Board internationally, including at the Bank for International Settlements, the Group of Seven, and the Financial Stability Board. While at the Fed, Dr. Brainard was chair of the Financial Stability Board's Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities and also chair of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Party 3 committee. She will soon start as director of the National Economic Council, which advises the president on domestic and global economic policy.

Before her time at the Fed, she served as Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, where she received the Alexander Hamilton Award. Prior to that, Dr. Brainard was vice president and the founding director of the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Before that, she served as the Deputy National Economic Adviser and Deputy Assistant to the President and G-7 Sherpa. From 1990 to 1996, Dr. Brainard was assistant and associate professor of applied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

Dr. Brainard received a B.A. with university honors from Wesleyan University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, where she was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship. She is also the recipient of the Harvard Centennial Medal and the White House Fellowship.
By Chavi Mehta and Nivedita Balu

(Reuters) -Credo Technology Group Holding's shares nearly halved in value on Wednesday after the supplier of electric cables to data centers said its biggest client had cut orders, and forecast quarterly revenue well below Street expectations.

The company did not name the client, but analysts with at least four brokerages said the customer could be Microsoft, which has cut costs partly due to slowing demand for cloud services.

Credo had its worst day since going public in January last year and the losses erased more than $1 billion from its $2.84 billion market valuation, putting a spotlight on the fallout of spending cuts by Big Tech firms.

Latest earnings from tech giants showed the pandemic-led cloud boom was easing as businesses cut costs due to high inflation, though Microsoft said it expects its third-quarter cloud infrastructure spending to be higher than the previous quarter.

Credo's forecast was concerning, Mizuho analysts said as Microsoft Azure's cloud business has been more resilient than rivals Amazon.com Inc's Web Services and Alphabet Inc's Google Cloud.

Credo in its second quarter ended Oct. 29 had garnered 44% of its revenue from its biggest client, according to a regulatory filing. Reuters could not immediately verify if Microsoft was Credo's largest customer.

Credo did not reply to an email seeking details on its customer, while Microsoft was not available for comment.

"What likely happened is that their biggest customer Microsoft probably had a significant reduction in its (order)forecast for Credo," Needham analyst Quinn Bolton said.

"Credo in response is thinking 'hey if Microsoft is starting to correct orders may be we need to be more conservative in our outlook'."

Bolton said the customer ordered AECs - a copper plug-and-play cable used to handle high computing speeds in datacenters - at a greater rate than it deployed over the past several quarters due to prior supply chain constraints and the COVID shutdowns in Kunshan, China last year.

At least five brokerages cut their price target on Credo's stock. Cowen and Co slashed it the most by $7 to $11 and downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform".

Credo said late on Tuesday its dour projections were also due to macroeconomic challenges and it was managing its operating expenses to boost profitability.

The company said it expected fourth-quarter revenue of $30 million to $32 million, below Refinitiv estimates of $58.3 million. It is yet to report its third-quarter results.

Credo, which also designs chips, currently outsources all its semiconductor manufacturing to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lance Tupper in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur)
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Tesla logo on the hood of a car in Oslo, Norway Nov. 10, 2022. REUTERS/Victoria Klesty

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc will suspend some production until the end of February as the electric-vehicle maker upgrades the facility to make a refreshed version of the Model 3 compact sedan, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Tesla is developing a revamped version, codenamed "Highland", of the Model 3, which was first launched in 2017, Reuters reported in November.

Some workers will not be allowed on production lines from as soon as Sunday, the Bloomberg report said.

To spur demand, Tesla had cut prices across the globe in January, unleashing a price war.

Ford Motor Co reacted with its price cuts for its Mustang Mach-E and Lucid Group provided discounts for certain variants of the Air luxury sedan.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru)
Figurines with smartphones and computers are seen in front of the Twitter logo in this illustration, November 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) -Thousands of Twitter users were unable to access the social media platform on Wednesday, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.com.

More than 8,000 users reported issues with the micro-blogging site in the United States, Downdetector said.

Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outages could have affected a larger number of users.

Twitter Inc did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment and the social network's status page showed that all systems were operational.

Twitter, which was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in a $44 billion takeover last year, suffered a major outage in December, leaving tens of thousands of users globally unable to access the platform or use its key features for several hours before services appeared to come back online.

Another outage earlier this month hit nearly 9,000 users.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shailesh Kuber)
Aqualyte is a game-changer removing all traces of "forever chemicals" from water, and being a "non-PFAS" product or component alternative

ODESSA, FL, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Dais Corporation (OTCBB: DLYT) is a commercial nanotechnology company using its Aqualyte platform to create new product solutions shown to offer significant financial and environmental savings meeting increasing market demands. The company highlights the growth of this projected $642 billion market is driven by increased public awareness of the challenges posed by climate change and the impact of the global pandemic on buying habits.

The Aqualyte advanced nanomaterial platform is designed to replace or reduce energy-consuming components and emissions in a variety of products, with a focus on fresh air, efficient energy use, and clean water.PFAS Chemicals Removed from WaterThe company's proprietary clean water process, NanoClear, uses the features of Aqualyte to process complex contaminated industrial wastewater. NanoClear has several economic benefits, including low/no pre-treatment or biofouling, high tolerance for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), use of waste heat resulting in low energy requirement, and a low environmental impact (no toxic discharge streams).The NanoClear process was tested for its efficacy in removing a high priority water contaminant being found worldwide in potable water: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). In several independent third-party tests NanoClear successfully removed all traces of PFAS chemicals (PFOA, PFOS, and GenX) from the water.This is a significant advantage over other processes used to remove PFAS chemicals from water. Other processes tend to produce brackish water with notable traces of PFAS chemicals remaining in the product water.The cost per metric ton of PFAS chemical contaminated water processed by NanoClear is projected to be half that of the leading current process(es) being used to remove PFAS chemicals from water.This makes the team of Aqualyte nanomaterial and NanoClear industrial wastewater process the most cost and operationally effective solution for removing PFAS chemical contaminated water, said Brian Johnson, Daiss Chief Technology Officer.Dais is actively speaking with companies in the water industry to include its Aqualyte nanomaterial and its NanoClear water cleaning process in current and future products or service offerings.About PFASPFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been used in a wide range of products for many years. Over time, these chemicals have found their way into potable water supplies, leading to widespread contamination. PFAS chemicals are a concern because they are persistent in the environment and can accumulate in the bodies of humans and animals. Exposure to PFAS will have negative effects on health, including increased risk of certain cancers, liver damage, and developmental and reproductive problems. As a result, PFAS water and ground contamination has become a high priority for environmental regulators, including the US EPA and several state regulators, who are issuing tighter regulations.Other UsesAqualyte is fluorine-free chemistry manufactured without the use of PFAS chemicals.As a result, Aqualyte provides replacement product components made without PFAS chemicals or processes. Examples include hydrophobic coatings or ion-conducting membranes to replace perfluorinated ionomer membranes (a class of PFAS material). These are used today by several manufacturers making electrolyzer equipment to create "Green Hydrogen" or making fuel cells to create power from water and air, and providing functionality to many other applications.About Dais CorporationDais Corporation (DLYT) produces the versatile Aqualyte platform of disruptive, field-proven, and industry-recognized nanomaterial and a short list of products using the platform include: Aqualyte, the Companys advanced nanomaterial platform having an impressive set of features including the extraordinarily fast and selective transport of water molecules. These features are carefully tailored to offer new or improved solutions in cross-industry markets for air, energy, food preservation, and clean water products. NanoClear, a commercialized system treating contaminated industrial wastewater and providing ultra-pure potable water with higher system efficiencies at equal or better capital and operating costs than other technologies. ConsERV, a commercially available engineered energy recovery ventilator that uses stale exhaust air to precondition the temperature and moisture content of incoming fresh ventilation air, typically saving energy, reducing CO2 emissions, and allowing for equipment downsizing; and PolyCool, a next-generation evaporative cooling technology that is nearing full commercialization where cooling towers and evaporative condensers in HVAC and power generation incorporate Aqualyte to reduce energy consumption and operating costs while preventing the release of dangerous microbes such as Legionella and opening new markets for reduced-maintenance evaporative cooling systems.These products created by the Platform are focused on profitably securing the future of key resources for life, and economic stability addressing growing, diverse market needs in worldwide markets value nearing $1 trillion. Our products are revolutionary or industry changing.Each use of the Aqualyte family of nano-structured polymers and engineered processes focuses on minimizing consumption of irreplaceable natural resources, improving the general populations health, and ending the degradation of our environment. To learn more, please visit www.daisnano.com.Safe Harbor StatementThis press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as will, expects, anticipates, future, intends, plans, believes, estimates, or the negative of these words and/or similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Companys beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. For example, statements about future revenues and the Companys ability to fund its operations and contractual obligations are forward looking and subject to risks. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the inability to raise capital to support the Company through its growth stage, the Companys inability to generate projected sales and trade relations between the United States and China. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Investor RelationsDais Corporation+1 727-375-8484[email protected]

Source: Dais Corporation
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: DMGI) (OTCQB: DMGGF) (FSE: 6AX) (DMG or the Company), a vertically integrated blockchain and cryptocurrency technology company, announces January preliminary operational results.

DMGs January Operating Results

DMG mined 100.2 bitcoin with 0.91 EH/s realized hashrate. DMGs bitcoin balance as of January 31, 2023 was 413.8 bitcoin. Depending on the timing to receive shipments of ordered miners, DMG expects to grow its hashrate to 1 EH/s in early 2023; this is subject to the receipt, installation and operation of the additional miners.

Petra Completion

DMG is excited to announce that its Petra platform has been used to successfully submit multiple transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain. Petra as a platform is designed to bring subscribers enhanced options when initiating crypto transactions, including KYC on wallets, AML on transactions and routing via DMGs Terra Pool, a carbon neutral mining pool. DMG has created a way for bitcoin network participants to make a choice if they want to ensure that the movement of their coins is done with minimal carbon footprint. Over the past few days multiple blocks have moved bitcoin using the Petra platform. As well, DMG has moved the first batch of ordinals using Petra on Terra Pool. Using DMGs Blockseer suite of technologies, we have introduced an option for companies and individuals who have particular interest in governance, regulatory issues, and ESG goals. The goal of these products is to give greater optionality than was previously available to those individuals and organizations in how they can choose to interact with the bitcoin blockchain, commented DMGs CTO Adrian Glover.

DMGI Podcasts on McNallie Money

We encourage investors to listen to two recent YouTube podcasts on McNallie Money:Interview with CEO Sheldon Bennett and COO Steven Eliscu:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D7RdJaLdjQ

Analysis of DMGs Year in Review and December 2022 Investor Presentation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1qNvlKFRxY

Please note that the opinion of McNallie Money is the opinion of Bryce McNallie, and DMG had no role in the production or editing of these videos, nor was it paid for.

CEO Sheldon Bennett Appears Before Canadian House of Commons

On February 1, 2023 DMG CEO Sheldon Bennett appeared before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to support the activities of the Digital Asset Mining Coalition, which is defending the Canadian Bitcoin mining industrys eligibility for input tax credits for the process of mining bitcoin. Mr. Bennetts testimony can be found at https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/WitnessMeetings?witnessId=294204.

Accounting Standards Boards Crypto-Asset Working Group

DMGs CEO, Sheldon Bennett, has been Invited to this working group due to his many years working as a technical specialist in audit and legal matters. I look forward to being part of the ASBs working group for this important work to shape future standards in this evolving industry, commented Mr. Bennett.

About DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc.

DMG is an environmentally friendly vertically integrated blockchain and cryptocurrency company that manages, operates, and develops end-to-end digital solutions to monetize the blockchain ecosystem. DMG's sustainable businesses are segmented into two business lines under the Core and Core+ strategies and unified through DMG's vertical integration.

Future changes in the Bitcoin network-wide mining difficulty rate or Bitcoin hashrate may materially affect the future performance of DMG's production of Bitcoin, and future operating results could also be materially affected by the price of Bitcoin and an increase in hashrate mining difficulty.

For more information on DMG Blockchain Solutions visit: www.dmgblockchain.com

Follow @dmgblockchain on Twitter and subscribe to DMG's YouTube channel.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Sheldon Bennett, CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.dmgblockchain.com

Investor Relations Contact:

CORE IR (516) 222-2560

For Media Inquiries:

Jules Abraham, Head of Communications

CORE IR

(917) 885-7378

[email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service 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 Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information or statements based on current expectations. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include statements regarding growth and expectations of the Companys Petra platform, developing and executing on the Company's products and services, the increase in Bitcoin self-mining and achieving its target of 1 EH/s by early 2023, the expected arrival of new miners and the increased hashrate once the miners are installed and operating, the launch of products and services, events, courses of action, and the potential of the Company's technology and operations, among others, are all forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. 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, including but not limited to, market and other conditions, volatility in the trading price of the common shares of the Company, business, economic and capital market conditions; the ability to manage operating expenses, which may adversely affect the Company's financial condition; the ability to remain competitive as other better financed competitors develop and release competitive products; regulatory uncertainties; access to equipment; market conditions and the demand and pricing for products and services; the demand and pricing of bitcoin; security threats, including a loss/theft of DMG's bitcoin; DMG's relationships with its customers, distributors and business partners; the inability to add more power to DMG's facilities; DMG's ability to successfully define, design and release new products in a timely manner that meet customers' needs; the ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel; competition in the industry; the impact of technology changes on the products and industry; failure to develop new and innovative products; the ability to successfully maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights and defend third-party claims of infringement of their intellectual property rights; the impact of intellectual property litigation that could materially and adversely affect the business; the ability to manage working capital; and the dependence on key personnel. DMG may not actually achieve its plans, projections, or expectations. 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 demand for its products and services, the ability to successfully develop software, that there will be no regulation or law that will prevent the Company from operating its business, anticipated costs, the ability to secure sufficient capital to complete its business plans, the ability to achieve goals and the price of bitcoin. Given these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The securities of DMG are considered highly speculative due to the nature of DMG's business. For further information concerning these and other risks and uncertainties, refer to the Company's filings on www.SEDAR.com. In addition, DMG's past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, equipment failures, lack of supply of equipment, power and infrastructure, adverse weather and climate events, failure to obtain any permits required to operate the business, the impact of technology changes on the industry, the impact of COVID-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, secure equipment, and hire personnel, competition, security threats including stolen bitcoin from DMG or its customers, consumer sentiment towards DMG's products, services and blockchain technology generally, failure to develop new and innovative products, litigation, increase in operating costs, increase in equipment and labor costs, decrease in the price of Bitcoin, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, government regulations, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of or statements made by third parties in respect of the matters discussed above.

Source: DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc.
Company invites individual and institutional investors, as well as advisors and analysts, to attend real-time, interactive presentations on VirtualInvestorConferences.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empress Royalty Corp. (OTCQX: EMPYF), based in Vancouver, Canada, focused on precious metals streams and royalties, today announced that Alexandra Woodyer Sherron, President and CEO will present live at VirtualInvestorConferences.com on February 16th, 2023.



DATE: February 16th, 2023 TIME: 4:00 PM ET LINK: https://bit.ly/3JCTs89 Available for 1x1 meetings: February 17th and 21st



This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com .

Company Highlights

Global royalty and streaming creation company

Portfolio of 17 precious metal investments, focused on production and development stage assets

Currently generating cashflow and forecasting significant revenue in the next 5 years

Management and BOD have completed over US$6B in mining finance transactions providing unique access to investment opportunities

Building a strong portfolio with a robust pipeline



About Empress Royalty Corp

Empress is a global royalty and streaming creation company providing investors with a diversified portfolio of gold and silver investments. Since listing in December 2020, Empress has built a portfolio of 17 precious metal investments and is actively investing in mining companies with development and production stage projects who require additional non-dilutive capital. The Company has strategic partnerships with Endeavour Financial and Terra Capital which allow Empress to not only access global investment opportunities but also bring unique mining finance expertise, deal structuring and access to capital markets. Empress is looking forward to continuously creating value for its shareholders through the proven royalty and streaming models. Visit our website to learn more: www.empressroyalty.com

About Virtual Investor Conferences

Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.

Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.

CONTACTS:

Empress Royalty Corp

Alexandra Woodyer Sherron

CEO & President

(604) 331-2080

[email protected]

Virtual Investor Conferences

John M. Viglotti

SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access

OTC Markets Group

(212) 220-2221

[email protected]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE: E4U) (EnWave, or the "Company"), a global leader in vacuum-microwave dehydration technology, announced today it will report its financial results for the first quarter ended December 31, 2022 on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 after market close. The financial statements and MD&A will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website in the late evening Vancouver time.

The Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the results for Q1 2023 and business outlook on Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time (10:00 a.m. Eastern Time). Brent Charleton, Chief Executive Officer and Dylan Murray, Chief Financial Officer will present EnWaves results and host a question and answer period.

Conference Call Details:

Date: February 23, 2023 Time: 7:00am PST / 10:00am EST Participant Access: 1-877-407-2988 (toll free number) Webcast: https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=qlUh32vP

About EnWave

EnWave is a global leader in the innovation and application of vacuum microwave dehydration. From its headquarters in Vancouver, BC, EnWave has developed a robust intellectual property portfolio, perfected its Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) technology, and transformed an innovative idea into a proven, consistent, and scalable drying solution for the food, pharmaceutical and cannabis industries that vastly outperforms traditional drying methods in efficiency, capacity, product quality, and cost.

With more than forty-five royalty-generating partners spanning over twenty-five countries and five continents, EnWaves licensed partners are creating profitable, never-before-seen snacks and ingredients, improving the quality and consistency of their existing offerings, running leaner and getting to market faster with the companys patented technology, licensed machinery, and expert guidance.

EnWaves strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with food and cannabis producers who want to dry better, faster, and more economical than freeze drying, rack drying and air drying, and enjoy the following benefits:

Food and ingredients companies can produce exciting new products, reach optimal moisture levels up to seven times faster, and improve product taste, texture, color and nutritional value.

Cannabis producers can dry four to six times faster, retain 20% more terpenes and 25% more cannabinoids, and achieve at least a 3-log reduction in crop-destroying microbes.

Learn more at EnWave.net.

EnWave Corporation

Mr. Brent Charleton, CFAPresident and CEO

For further information:

Brent Charleton, CFA, President and CEO at +1 (778) 378-9616E-mail: [email protected]

Dylan Murray, CFO at +1 (778) 870-0729E-mail: [email protected]

Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management's expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third-party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third-party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company 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 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.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it's 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.

Source: EnWave Corporation
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: ERE.UN, ERES) is pleased to announce that the trustees of ERES have declared the February 2023 monthly cash distribution of 0.01 per Unit and Class B LP Unit (the February Distribution), being equivalent to 0.12 per Unit annualized. The distribution will be payable to holders of the Units and Class B LP Units (the Unitholders) of record on February 28, 2023, with payment on March 15, 2023.

The Euro-denominated distribution will be paid in Canadian dollars based on the exchange rate on the date of payment (estimated C$0.01425 per Unit and Class B LP Unit). Registered Unitholders will be provided with an option to elect to receive such distribution in Euros rather than Canadian dollars. If no such election is made, registered Unitholders will be paid the distribution in Canadian dollars based on the above exchange rate mechanism. Beneficial Unitholders will not have an option to elect to receive the distribution in Euros. The final cash distribution in respect of January 2023 was C$0.01425 per Unit and Class B LP Unit.

To encourage participation and reward our loyal Unitholders, investors registered in our Distribution Reinvestment Plan will continue to receive an additional amount equal to 5% of their distributions paid in the form of additional Units.

ERES intends to continue to make regular monthly distributions, subject to the discretion of the ERES Board of Trustees. ERES continues to target a long-term AFFO payout ratio in the range of 80% to 90%. ERES Limited Partnership will make corresponding cash distributions to holders of Class B LP Units.

About ERES

ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. ERESs Units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canadas only European-focused, multi-residential REIT, with a current initial focus on investing in high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. ERES owns a portfolio of 158 multi-residential properties, comprised of 6,900 suites and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, and owns one office property in Germany and one office property in Belgium.

ERESs registered and principal business office is located at 11 Church Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W1.

For more information, please visit our website at www.eresreit.com.

For further information

Source: European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ES Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: ESBS) (the Company) today announced that executive officers and Board members of the Company purchased approximately 26,400 shares of the Companys common stock in December 2022. The shares were purchased in open market transactions at an average per share price of $4.55.

Phil Guarnieri, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of the Company, commented, The continued personal investment made by Company insiders purchasing shares further enforces their belief in ESBSs solid business fundamentals and long-term growth prospects.

About ES Bancshares Inc.

ES Bancshares, Inc. (the Company) is incorporated under Maryland law and serves as the holding company for Empire State Bank (the Bank). The Company is subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the FRB) while the Bank is primarily subject to regulation and supervision by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Currently, the Company does not transact any material business other than through the Bank, its subsidiary.

The Bank was organized under federal law in 2004 as a national bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The Bank's deposits are insured up to legal limits by the FDIC. In March 2009, the Bank converted its charter to a New York State commercial bank charter. The Banks principal business is attracting commercial and retail deposits in New York and investing those deposits primarily in loans, consisting of commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans including SBA and mortgage loans secured by one-to-four-family residences. In addition, the Bank invests in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), securities issued by the U.S. Government and agencies thereof, corporate securities and other investments permitted by applicable law and regulations.

The Company operates from five Banking Center locations, along with two loan centers located in Queens and Staten Island in addition to the Corporate Headquarters in Staten Island, New York. The Banks five Banking Centers are located throughout Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York. The Companys website address is www.esbna.com. The Companys annual report, quarterly earnings releases and all press releases are available free of charge through its website, as soon as reasonably practicable.

Investor Contact:

Peggy Edwards, Corporate Secretary

(845) 451-7825

Source: ES Bancshares, Inc.
There was rage. There were tears. There were words from the Bible and there were calls to action.

The raw emotions of the May 14 massacre at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue spilled out into a packed courtroom in Buffalo on Wednesday morning as the killer, Payton Gendron, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

It was already known that Gendron, now 19, would be sentenced to life in prison without parole  the automatic sentence for first-degree domestic terrorism motivated by hate. But before that, the families of the 10 people killed and three who were wounded and survived had their chance to tell the judge, the killer and the world what they lost on that day nine months and one day earlier and have had to endure ever since.

One by one they stood at a podium and shared their grief. Many spoke directly to Gendron, who was shackled and wore an orange jail jumpsuit, and was surrounded by three attorneys and half a dozen court officers and deputies.

Kimberly Salter, the widow of Aaron Salter, was the first family member to address the court.

"We wear red and black  red for the blood that he shed for his family and his community, and black because we are still grieving," she said.

Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, was the security guard on duty on May 14 when Gendron, armed with AR-15 and dressed in combat gear, began shooting his way into the store while livestreaming his rampage from a camera mounted to a helmet. Salter confronted him in the front of the store, exchanging gunfire. Salter managed to shoot Gendron, but the bullets were stopped by his body armor. Salter was fatally wounded. By engaging Gendron, Salter has been credited with saving many lives by giving people time to escape through the back of the supermarket.

Salter's widow turned to Scripture in her words to the court.

You will reap what you sow, more than you sow, she said, and she also read the 35th Psalm.

My soul shall be joyful in the Lord, she said. "Oh Lord do not be far from me."

Ruth Whitfields granddaughter, Simone Crawley, speaking for her extended family, said her grandmother will not be present for milestones, but Gendron will be nothing but a number.

You will be nameless and faceless and we feel sorry for you, she said. Your life was meaningless before May 14, 2022.

Ruth Whitfield was shopping at Tops on that day, after visiting her husband at his nursing home, when she was killed. She was 86, the eldest of the 10 victims.

Crawley looked at Gendron and told him that he did not value himself.

You thought you broke us, but you woke us. We are here to tell you that you failed, she said.

Wayne Jones spoke for his mother, Celestine Chaney, who was shopping at Tops when she was killed. He talked of the gut-wrenching pain of watching the video of Gendron's attack that quickly spread on social media.

I watched you kill my mother, he said. I watched you shoot her once, reload and shoot her again.

Jones said he had seen Gendron at previous hearings.

"You look like a young man that could be anyone's son," he said. "You don't come across to me as a racist killer, even though that's what you have done.

"I have a child your age. You've been brainwashed. The internet is the issue. You're only 18. You don't even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet."

Leslie VanGiesen, mother of Roberta Drury, the youngest victim, who was the first person Gendron shot in the Tops parking lot, cried as she held up a photo of her daughter.

Tamika Harper, a niece of Geraldine Talley, told Gendron that he destroyed her family's life.

"There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about May 14," she said.

In an especially emotional moment, Barbara Mapps, the sister of Katherine "Kat" Massey, spoke angrily at Gendron.

"I'm not going to be nice," she said, staring at him and sometimes pounding the podium with her hand.

She spoke of the anguish she felt as she waited for eight hours, pleading with police for information, before she learned that her sister was one of the victims.

"You're going to come to our city and decided you don't like Black people? You don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human ... We love our kids. We'd never go to another neighborhood to take people out," she said.

Sentencing for Buffalo mass shooter briefly interrupted after man lunges at him in courtroom The man who killed 10 people at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14 was removed from the Erie County courtroom today after a man started to attack him during the sentencing proceeding.

Just then, her son, who was standing beside her, rushed toward Gendron.

Court security staff quickly escorted Gendron out of the courtroom as others held the man back. As the man was escorted out, he punched a hole through a wall in the hallway.

Many in the courtroom cried at the emotional outburst. But about 10 minutes later, the victims' statements continued.

Zeneta Everhart spoke on behalf of herself and her son Zaire Goodman, a part-time Tops worker who survived being shot in the neck.

Michelle Spight spoke for the two of the victims. She said she lost two loved ones that day, her aunt, Pearl Young, and her cousin, Margus Morrison. She said her aunt was shot so many times that she needed a closed casket. She also said Margus Morrison's mother buried him on his mother's birthday.

"Thanks, Payton, for that," she said.

Stephanie Waters spoke for her sister, Jennifer Warrington, a pharmacist at the store who was shot but survived. Waters was in Atlanta and had just wrapped up a conference on Zoom about confronting racism when she got a call from her sister.

"She said, 'Steph, I'm in an ambulance,' " Waters said.

Warrington had suffered a gunshot wound to her head. Waters said she raced to the airport and was in agony as she sat on a plane that was delayed.

"I roared in pain for my sister, my beautiful sister."

Waters, who is white, as is her sister, told Gendron, a white supremacist, to consider that he was wrong.

"Diversity makes us strong. We are stronger together," she said.

Tops store manager Christopher Braden, who was shot in the leg and is still recovering from his injury, was next. He walked to the podium with the help of a crutch.

Braden was at the front of the store when he was shot. The video that Gendron took showed that Gendron looked at Braden as he lay on the floor and said "sorry" before moving on to his next victim. Prosecutors said that was because Braden was white and Gendron was there to kill Black people.

"Everything about it still haunts me," Braden said.

In addition to his physical injuries, he suffers from PTSD from what he endured that day.

"I saw all the victims where they lay. The visions haunt me every night," he said.

Deja Brown, one of Andre Mackniel's daughters, spoke for their family. Mackniel, 53, went to Tops that day to buy a birthday cake for his son who was turning 3.

"I'll never forgive you," Brown said. "It wasn't my dad's time to go."

Vyonne Elliott, Mackniel's brother, told Gendron he took the last of his family away when he killed him.

Assistant DA Justin Caldwell spoke for the family of Heywood Patterson. Caldwell said Gendron intended to start a race war, but failed.

"The love of this community will always be stronger," he said.

Then, it was Gendron's turn to speak. His attorney, Brian Parker, said through tears that his client was remorseful.

Gendron, reading from a written statement and not looking up, spoke briefly.

"I am very sorry for the the pain I forced all the victims and their families to suffer through," he said. "I did a terrible thing that day."

He said he did not want anyone to be inspired by what he did.

Then, Erie County Judge Susan Eagan addressed Gendron, speaking of the history of racism in America, from the slave trade to present day, that needs to be addressed.
SINGAPORE, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genius Group Limited (NYSE American: GNS) (Genius Group or the Company), a leading entrepreneur edtech and education group, released its Lifelong Learning Prospectus for ages 0-100 years old, and its full 2023 Entrepreneur Curriculum at its February Virtual Investor Meeting today.

Highlights of the Prospectus and Curriculum include:

Four Campuses on GeniusU, each with personalized student pathways: School Campus, University Campus, Entrepreneur Campus, Investor Campus.

A Partner Portal for faculty and community partners to build their global classrooms and student pathways on GeniusU with GeniusUs AI Educator Suite.

GEMs discounts across all four campuses for Genius Group Investors on 15th March 2023, who qualify for $10-per-share NFT Coupons that can be redeemed for GEMs.

Programs for parents of children from 0-7 years old including Young Genius programs and Angel Guide Certification for parents and teachers.

Genius School programs for 6-18 years old including Teen Dynamics quizzes to identify talents, passions and purpose, and the Young Entrepreneur Academy.

Genius University programs from vocational certifications to Entrepreneur MBA and Investor MBA with world class mentors combined with US accreditation.

Entrepreneur Campus programs from Entrepreneur Dynamics assessments through to Genius Entrepreneur Metaversity and Digital Entrepreneur MBA.

Investor Campus programs in shares, property and cryptocurrencies, from Investor Dynamics and Genius Investor Metaversity to the Digital Investor MBA.

Entrepreneur Educator Certification from Genius Guide Certification through to Masters in Education with financial support from the US Department of Education.

Community Partner pathway from City Hosts and Leaders to Country Partners and Translation Partners, to host high-touch, high-tech meet ups and summits globally.

The full prospectus was released and previewed at todays Virtual Investor Meeting and will be officially launched at the Lifelong Learning Summit on March 2-3, 2023, with an expected 20,000 partners and students attending.

A recording of the Genius Group Investor Meeting can be viewed on the Investor Relations website or on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEjFVU-pIG4.

A copy of the 2023 Prospectus can be downloaded at https://www.geniusu.com.

Roger Hamilton, CEO of Genius Group, said Genius Groups mission is to develop an entrepreneur education system that prepares students for the 21st century. We believe everyone can learn the skills to be a successful entrepreneur or investor. While GeniusU has already attracted over 4 million students to the thousands of partners and courses on our platform, we are just at the beginning of our growth ahead.

This prospectus gives a snapshot summary of how our campuses and curriculum connect all ages into a lifelong learning pathway, together with explaining Genius Groups mission, learning principles and philosophy. We encourage all of our students, partners and investors to share our prospectus and curriculum with anyone in their team or family that seeks training and mentoring in entrepreneurship, investing or financial literacy.

About Genius Group

Genius Group is a world leading entrepreneur Edtech and education group, with a mission to disrupt the current education model with a student-centered, life-long learning curriculum that prepares students with the leadership, entrepreneurial and life skills to succeed in todays market. The group has a group user base of 4.3 million users in 200 countries, ranging from ages 0 to 100.

For more information, please visit https://www.geniusgroup.net/

Investor Notice

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and forward-looking statements described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on May 13, 2022. If any of these risks were to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations would likely suffer. In that event, the value of our securities could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. The risks and uncertainties we describe are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. In addition, our past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results in the future. See "Forward-Looking Statements" below.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this press release include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as may, will, plan, should, expect, anticipate, estimate, continue, or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are inherently subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading Risk Factors in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company's Reports of a Foreign Private Issuer on Form 6-K. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.

Disclaimers:

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation is not permitted.

NFTs received have no economic value, royalties, equity ownership, or dividends. NFTs are for utility, collection, and display only.

Upstream is a MERJ Exchange market. MERJ Exchange is a licensed Securities Exchange, an affiliate of the World Federation of Exchanges, and a full member of ANNA. MERJ supports global issuers of traditional and digital securities through the entire asset life cycle from issuance to trading, clearing, settlement, and registry. It operates a fair and transparent marketplace in line with international best practices and principles of operations of financial markets. Upstream does not endorse or recommend any public or private securities bought or sold on its app. Upstream does not offer investment advice or recommendations of any kind. All services offered by Upstream are intended for self-directed clients who make their own investment decisions without aid or assistance from Upstream. All customers are subject to the rules and regulations of their jurisdiction. By accessing the site or app, you agreed to be bound by its terms of use and privacy policy. Company and security listings on Upstream are only suitable for investors who are familiar with and willing to accept the high risk associated with speculative investments, often in early and development stage companies. There can be no assurance the valuation of any particular company's securities is accurate or in agreement with the market or industry comparative valuations. Investors must be able to afford market volatility and afford the loss of their investment. Companies listed on Upstream are subject to significant ongoing corporate obligations including, but not limited to disclosure, filings, and notification requirements, as well as compliance with applicable quantitative and qualitative listing standards.

Contacts

Investors:Flora Hewitt, Vice President of Investor Relations and Mergers and AcquisitionsEmail: [email protected]

Media Contacts: Adia PREmail: [email protected]

US Investors: Dave GentryRedChip Companies Inc1-800-RED-CHIP[email protected]

Source: Genius Group Limited
Coral Gables, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The University of Miami has received a $1 million grant from the Health Foundation of South Florida aimed at increasing the understanding of the root causes of health inequities in historically underserved communities and delivering community-based intervention programs that reduce disparities.

The generous funding will create the Health Foundation of South Florida Community-Academic Collaborative (HFSF-CAC) across all the campuses of the University, including the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth  University of Miami Health System.

The University of Miami has a long history of conducting groundbreaking research on health disparities and equitable health care access, said University of Miami President Julio Frenk. We are well positioned to take on this project, which will lead to exceptional evidence-based treatment for patients across different cultures and ethnicities. We are extremely grateful to the Health Foundation of South Florida for their generous support of this initiative and look forward to collaborating with them.

The collaboration will bring together multidisciplinary experts from across the University and the community to develop and implement innovative community-based programs that will identify and address the root causes of health inequity across South Florida. In addition to the University of Miami, the Health Foundation of South Florida also has awarded $1 million to Nova Southeastern University to address the same barriers in Broward County.

The Health Foundation of South Florida is incredibly proud to support these two universities in order to advance this critical work, said Loreen Chant, president and chief executive officer of the Health Foundation of South Florida. The quality of the partnerships they have forged and their commitment to both study and design solutions with the community is impressive. We believe this is groundbreaking for our region, and an important step toward informing, shaping, and implementing population health efforts that can ultimately help us achieve health equity.

As part of the grant, both universities will forge partnerships and coordinate with regional health systems and community organizations to support the adoption of promising interventions. The University of Miami will partner with Jackson Health System, with which it has a longstanding history as the medical schools primary teaching hospital, and with the Health Choice Network, a nationally recognized nonprofit that works with 25 health centers in Florida.

The unique partnerships we have in the community, especially with the Jackson Health System, will allow us to move this initiative forward in a meaningful and very significant way not only for the benefit of our patients but also for our medical students so that one day when they are in practice, they can carry this knowledge forward to better serve their communities, said Dr. Henri Ford, dean and chief academic officer of the Miller School of Medicine. We are anxious to work with our partners and with the Health Foundation to make a profound difference in reducing health inequities across South Florida and beyond.

The implementation and operation of the HFSF-CAC at the University will be directed by Erin Kobetz, vice provost for research and scholarship and the John K. and Judy H. Schulte Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. Kobetz has dedicated her career to creating partnerships and developing interventions that actualize opportunities to foster health equity in South Florida. She will oversee teams of researchers representing both the University and the community partners. These teams will identify areas of health disparities and then develop and implement data-driven interventions to address the needs.

The grant from the HFSF provides a unique opportunity for diverse stakeholders to work collaboratively to advance health equity, explained Kobetz, who also serves as multiple principal investigator for the Universitys Clinical Translational Science Institute. This goalwhich is central to the Foundations missionrequires a strategic commitment to leveraging the individual and collective assets of academic and community partners for sustainable social change, she added. The HFSF has made that commitment through these awards and the University of Miami is excited to be part of this transformative opportunity to improve health and health care access for South Florida.

The HFSF-CAC will operate during the next three years.

Megan Ondrizek University of Miami 3052843667 [email protected]

Source: University of Miami
POTOMAC, Md., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- India Globalization Capital, Inc. (dba IGC, Inc.) (NYSE American: IGC) (IGC or the Company) today reported its third fiscal quarter 2023 financial results.

Third Fiscal Quarter 2023 Highlights:

The Company expanded the number of sites participating in its Phase 2 clinical trial on IGC-AD1 for agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease to a total of four  three in the U. S. and one in Canada. The Company is encouraged by the patient enrollment and interest from many of the leading research centers and has decided to increase the number of trial sites to between 10 and 12 from the originally planned four to five. This will help accelerate the timeline for completion and diversify the patient demographics.

The trial will enroll 146 patients, with one half receiving a placebo and the other half receiving IGC-AD1. The goal of the trial is to evaluate and establish, over six weeks, the efficacy of IGC-AD1 in treating agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease. Agitation affects about 76% of individuals with Alzheimers (Mussele et al., 2015), which affects about 11 million individuals in North America and Europe alone. In addition, agitation is a leading cause of hospitalization and a major factor in accelerating the cognitive decline of patients with Alzheimers (Kongpakwattana et al., 2018). Currently, there is no FDA-approved medication for treating agitation in Alzheimers. The Company is positioning itself to offer the first natural tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) based medication for treating agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease. The trial is registered on clinicaltrials.gov with NCT05543681.

Net revenue increased 133% to $332,000 in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $142,000 in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, and net revenue increased 172% to $745,000 for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $275,000 for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2021, driven mainly by the Companys life science segment, which includes, among others, natural products targeting women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), period pain and sleep disorder.

Ram Mukunda, CEO of IGC, commented, We are delighted with the progress made during this quarter, highlighted by the commencement of the Phase 2 clinical trial for our drug candidate IGC-AD1 for the safety and efficacy of the drug on agitation in dementia due to Alzheimers disease. This represents a milestone in our progress towards gaining FDA approval for IGC-AD1, which we believe has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimers disease as the first and only low-dose, natural, THC-based candidate currently undergoing FDA trials. Moreover, our sales of natural products, which include gummies and pain relief creams, are seeing increased traction in the market. Were encouraged by our third quarter results and look forward to driving continued expansion through the balance of fiscal 2023.

Revenue was approximately $332,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $142,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021. The increase in revenue is primarily related to increased sales of the Companys life science-based products and services.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were approximately $1.5 million and $2.07 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2021, respectively. The decrease of $496,000 is attributed to a reduction in compensation, legal and marketing expenses.

Research and development (R&D) expenses were approximately $806,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to approximately $377,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021. The increase of approximately $429,000 was primarily attributable to the progression of Phase 2 trials on IGC-AD1 and preclinical studies on TGR-63. The Company anticipates increased R&D expenses as the development of TGR-63 and the Phase 2 trial on Alzheimers pick up more momentum.

Net loss for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, was approximately $2.2 million or ($0.04) per share, compared to approximately $2.4 million or ($0.05) per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021.

About IGC:

IGC develops advanced cannabinoid-based formulations for treating diseases and conditions including, but not limited to, Alzheimers disease, period cramps (dysmenorrhea), premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and chronic pain. The Company has two investigational drug assets targeting Alzheimers disease, IGC-AD1 and TGR-63, which have demonstrated in Alzheimers cell lines the potential to be effective in suppressing or ameliorating key hallmarks of Alzheimers disease such as plaques or tangles. IGC-AD1 is a low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) based formulation that is currently in a 146-person Phase 2B safety and efficacy clinical trial for agitation in dementia due to Alzheimers (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05543681). The Company also markets two wellness brands, Holief and Sunday Seltzer. Holief targets women experiencing premenstrual syndrome and menstrual cramps, and Sunday Seltzer is a lifestyle, hemp-infused energy beverage brand. The Company is headquartered in Maryland, USA, and has historically operated an infrastructure segment based in India.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based largely on IGCs expectations and are subject to several risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond IGCs control. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of, among other factors, the Companys failure or inability to commercialize one or more of the Companys products or technologies, including the products or formulations described in this release, or failure to obtain regulatory approval for the products or formulations, where required; general economic conditions that are less favorable than expected, including as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; the FDAs general position regarding cannabis- and hemp-based products; and other factors, many of which are discussed in IGCs U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. IGC incorporates by reference the human trial disclosures and risk factors identified in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on June 23, 2022, as if fully incorporated and restated herein. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information contained in this release will occur.

Investor Relations Contact:

Walter FrankIMS Investor Relations(203) 972-9200[email protected]

India Globalization Capital, Inc.CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS(in thousands, except share data)(Unaudited) Dec. 31, 2022($) March 31, 2022 ($) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 4,945 10,460 Accounts receivable, net 251 125 Short term investments 88 - Inventory 3,748 3,548 Deposits and advances 322 978 Total current assets 9,354 15,111 Non-current assets: Intangible assets, net 1,022 917 Property, plant and equipment, net 8,309 9,419 Claims and advances 1,028 937 Operating lease asset 357 450 Total non-current assets 10,716 11,723 Total assets 20,070 26,834 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable 466 981 Accrued liabilities and others 890 1,460 Total current liabilities 1,356 2,441 Non-current liabilities: Long-term loans 141 144 Other liabilities 15 16 Operating lease liability 241 341 Total non-current liabilities 397 501 Total liabilities 1,753 2,942 Commitments and Contingencies  See Note 12 Stockholders equity: Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value: authorized 1,000,000 shares, no shares issued or outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2022, and March 31, 2022. Common stock and additional paid-in capital, $0.0001 par value: 150,000,000 shares authorized; 53,077,436 and 51,054,017 shares issued and outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2022, and March 31, 2022, respectively. 118,382 116,019 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (3,430 ) (2,968 ) Accumulated deficit (96,635 ) (89,159 ) Total stockholders equity 18,317 23,892 Total liabilities and stockholders equity 20,070 26,834

These financial statements should be read in connection with the accompanying notes on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended on Dec. 31, 2022, and filed with the SEC on Feb. 14, 2023.

India Globalization Capital, Inc.CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (in thousands, except loss per share and share data)(Unaudited) Three months ended Dec. 31, 2022 ($) 2021 ($) Revenue 332 142 Cost of revenue (230 ) (80 ) Gross Profit 102 62 Selling, general and administrative expenses (1,574 ) (2,070 ) Research and development expenses (806 ) (377 ) Operating loss (2,278 ) (2,385 ) Impairment of investment - - Other income, net 29 4 Loss before income taxes (2,249 ) (2,381 ) Income tax expense/benefit - - Net loss attributable to common stockholders (2,249 ) (2,381 ) Foreign currency translation adjustments (61 ) 77 Comprehensive loss (2,310 ) (2,304 ) Loss per share attributable to common stockholders: Basic & diluted $ (0.04 ) $ (0.05 ) Weighted-average number of shares used in computing loss per share amounts: 53,063,473 51,053,191

These financial statements should be read in connection with the accompanying notes on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended on Dec. 31, 2022, and filed with the SEC on Feb. 14, 2023.

Wire Service Contact:InvestorWire (IW)Los Angeles, Californiawww.InvestorWire.com212.418.1217 Office[email protected]

Source: INDIA GLOBALIZATION CAPITAL INC.
Company awarded business in a strategic product required for electric vehicles

Building a new battery enclosures facility in Brampton, Ontario

More than 1,000 new jobs expected to be created across six locations

AURORA, Ontario, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Magna announced it is investing more than $470 million to expand its operations across Ontario, Canada. The growth includes a new battery enclosures facility in Brampton to support the Ford F-150 Lightning and future OEM programs.

In addition to the Brampton facility, Magna is growing in its locations in Guelph, Belleville, Newmarket, Windsor, and Penetanguishene. These expansions follow new business awards from various automakers in key product areas. They are also supported by $23.6 million in grants from the Ontario government to bring additional high-quality jobs to the region with ongoing training and development programs for employees.

The new and expanded operations are expected to bring more than 1,000 new jobs to Ontario over the next few years.

Magnas roots in Ontario run deep, and we are excited about opening a new facility dedicated to a strategic electrification product. The Brampton facility, coupled with investment and growth in five existing Ontario facilities, allows Magna to keep up with customer demands across several product areas, said Eric Wilds, Magna Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. We are excited to bring new business, more investment and additional jobs to Ontario.

Details of the new and expanding facilities include:

Brampton: A new 490,000 square-foot leased facility to manufacture battery enclosures for electric vehicles. Operations to begin in Q2 2023, roughly 560 new jobs are expected at full production.

Guelph: Magna is adding e-coat, molding and welding capacity to its exteriors plant to support new electric vehicle production. The expansion will total 120,000 square-feet, and production is planned to begin in Q2 2023. Approximately 175 new jobs are expected.

Belleville: Magnas lighting plant is adding to its capabilities for printed circuit board assemblies and will start operations in Q4 2023. Up to 100 new jobs are expected.

Newmarket: Magnas mechatronics facility which produces vehicle access systems including side door latches, electronic control units, and power systems  is growing its business and expects approximately 75 new jobs.

Windsor: Magnas mechatronics plant adds new business for powered aluminum tonneau covers. The facility has recently started those operations and is planning to add roughly 110 new jobs.

Penetanguishene: Magnas mechatronics facility is growing its tailgate hinges production and more than 15 new jobs are planned.

This investment represents another tremendous show of confidence in the growing strength and resilience of our provinces auto sector, said Premier Doug Ford. Together, with our industry partners, were putting Ontario back on the map as we build up Ontarios electric vehicle supply chain from mining to manufacturing. The cars of the future and the batteries that power them will be built right here in Ontario, by Ontario workers.

This game-changing investment by Magna will create hundreds of new jobs across the province, while further strengthening Ontarios end-to-end automotive supply chain, said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Were creating the right conditions for businesses to succeed and continue to work around the clock to attract new investments that build a stronger economy.

Magna's decision to expand in six locations across the province showcases Ontarios advantages in automotive talent, said Trevor Dauphinee, CEO of Invest Ontario. By diversifying automotive parts manufacturing across the province, Magnas investments will strengthen EV supply chains in Ontario.

Magna has 49 manufacturing facilities with more than 18,500 employees throughout Canada. The company, who was just named by Forbes as one of Canada's Best Employers 2023 and Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies, is currently hiring for various positions including managers, engineers, operators and more. Those interested in applying, please visit https://www.magna.com/careers.

TAGSBattery Enclosures, Exteriors, Mechatronics, Vehicle Electrification, Ontario Expansion

INVESTOR CONTACTLouis Tonelli, Vice-President, Investor Relations [email protected], 905-726-7035

MEDIA CONTACTTracy Fuerst, Vice President, Corporate Communications & PR[email protected], 248-761-7004

ABOUT MAGNAMagna is more than one of the worlds largest suppliers in the automotive space. We are a mobility technology company with a global, entrepreneurial-minded team of over 168,000 employees and an organizational structure designed to innovate like a startup. With 65+ years of expertise, and a systems approach to design, engineering and manufacturing that touches nearly every aspect of the vehicle, we are positioned to support advancing mobility in a transforming industry. Our global network includes 343 manufacturing operations and 88 product development, engineering and sales centres spanning 29 countries.

For further information about Magna (NYSE:MGA; TSX: MG), please visit www.magna.com or follow us on social.

THIS RELEASE MAY CONTAIN STATEMENTS WHICH CONSTITUTE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS UNDER APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION AND ARE SUBJECT TO, AND EXPRESSLY QUALIFIED BY, THE CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMERS THAT ARE SET OUT IN MAGNAS REGULATORY FILINGS. PLEASE REFER TO MAGNAS MOST CURRENT MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL POSITION, ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM AND ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 40-F, AS REPLACED OR UPDATED BY ANY OF MAGNAS SUBSEQUENT REGULATORY FILINGS, WHICH SET OUT THE CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMERS, INCLUDING THE RISK FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE ACTUAL EVENTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE INDICATED BY SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW ON MAGNAS WEBSITE AT WWW.MAGNA.COM.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/33ee056d-333b-453c-aa51-03f426984c20

Rendering of Magna Structures Heart Lake facility in Brampton Rendering of Magna Structures Heart Lake facility in Brampton.

Source: Magna International Inc.
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Petrolympic Ltd. (TSX.V: PCQ) (OTC: PCQRF) (the Company) is pleased to announce it has acquired 52 mining claims covering about 6,981 acres (2,825 hectares), adjacent to the eastern edge of the Moblan Deposit owned by Sayona Mining Limited. These claims are located in the James Bay-Eeyou Istchee area of Quebec, approximately 125 km North of the town of Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada and are accessible year-round by the Route du Nord. This new project is located in a proven lithium mining province which hosts established, world-class lithium resources including the Whabouchi mine to the North and the North American Lithium project to the South.

The first group of claims is called the Li-1 Property. It is part of the Troilus Belt and consists of two blocks totalling 24 claims. Contiguous to the Li-1 Property are the Troilus Lithium Project (wholly owned by Q One Mining, under option by Liatam Mining from Australia), the Troilus Gold property recently sold to Sayona Mining for $40 million (press release November 16, 2022) and the Moblan Lithium Property owned by Sayona Mining, the latter having a resource estimate of 12.03 Mt @ 1.4% Li2O (not 51-101 compliant).

The second group of claims is called the Li-2 Property and consists of 28 claims. It is adjacent to a project currently developed by Brunswick Exploration. It is located South of the Whabouchi lithium project, which is expected to be one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in terms of volume and grade. The project is being developed by Nemaska Lithium as an open-pit and underground operation.

Regional efforts are currently underway to develop the area as a lithium hub in Northern Quebec, with the strong support of Quebecs governmental Plan for the Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals. Furthermore, it benefits from strong infrastructures and its development is well advanced compared to other areas evaluated for lithium.

Both Properties are located in the western Superior Province and lie within the eastern part of the Opatica Sub-province, in the Archaean Frotet-Evans greenstone belt. The initial phase of our exploration program, which we plan to start as soon as access conditions will allow us, will focus on mapping the presence of lithium-bearing pegmatites in the Properties. Pegmatite dykes have already been historically mapped within the Li-2 Property area and are described associated with granites and paragneiss.

The Company is determined to build an extensive portfolio of mining properties focused on strategic minerals, particularly lithium. With the addition of these two properties Petrolympic now holds 200 claims prospective for lithium in Quebec, covering approximately 28,063 acres (11,357 hectares) divided into 2 separate projects (Abitibi and Troilus). Other projects may be added to this portfolio in the future.

Key Advantages of the Province of Quebec and the Abitibi and Eeyou Istchee James Bay-Chibougamau Region (Troilus)

The Province of Quebec is recognized as one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. The key advantages of the James Bay region are the quality of its infrastructure (major road access, hydro-electric power grid, airports), the supportive relationship with the Cree First Nation, the excellent geoscientific database, a favourable Archean geological setting with already known lithium deposits, and an early exploration stage.

Petrolympic's Lithium Potential Assessment Using Technical and Scientific Data

Already known lithium deposits and major occurrences are widely distributed across the region. Petrolympic has characterized the footprint of most of these sites using all available technical and scientific information from the Quebec Government web site (SIGEOM). This regional analysis extracted many prospective targets with even stronger footprints, most of which Petrolympic has acquired but will need to validate through fieldwork. Based on this assessment, the James Bay-Chibougamau region truly appears to be an emerging mineral province for lithium. The region shares several features in common with large spodumene-bearing pegmatite districts worldwide, especially Western Australia, with comparable tectono-metamorphic frameworks, ages and host lithologies.

Petrolympic is among public companies aggressively and systematically conducting grassroots exploration for lithium in Canada using state-of-the-art exploration technology to identify high-potential targets. Our team has staked major under-explored pegmatite fields across Quebec. We maintain an aggressive prospecting/geochemistry program across our portfolio.

Lithium is a critical mineral to produce electric vehicle batteries and a host of other applications that are propelling the global shift towards decarbonization and renewable sources of energy.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Bertrand Brassard, M.Sc., P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

For further information please contact: Mendel Ekstein President Tel. 845-656-0184 Fax 845-231-6665 82 Richmond St East Toronto, ON M5C 1P1

This news release contains information about adjacent properties on which the Company has no right to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company's properties.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release, including any information regarding the proposed acquisition, constitutes "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, geological and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. 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. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not limited to: economic and global market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in market prices, exploration and exploitation successes, continued availability of capital and financing, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, expropriation or nationalization of property and general political, economic, market or business conditions. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release, or incorporated by reference, are qualified by these cautionary statements. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Source: Petrolympic Ltd.
MONTREAL, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier Health of America Inc. (TSXV: PHA) (the Corporation or Premier Health), a leader in healthcare services and technologies, comments on the proposed bill unveiled by the Government of Quebec regarding independent labour.

Premier Health is a Quebec based company that has been helping to prevent service disruptions in the healthcare system for more than 20 years in urban, rural, and northern areas through the short- and medium-term placement of healthcare professionals. We are active in Quebec, but also in several Canadian provinces and territories at the federal, provincial, and regional levels.

The independent workforce represents only approximately 3% of the hours worked in the Quebec healthcare system. Most of these independent professionals choose this way of work for personal, family, or logistics reasons. The use of placement agencies allows them to practice their profession within their own constraints. In a North American context of healthcare workforce shortages, we believe it is essential to encourage Quebec healthcare professionals to remain active in the network, regardless of the work arrangements they chose.

Our role is to support the healthcare system and prevent service failures related to human resources issues. We advocate a competitive environment in which the engagement with the different levels of our health system is done through structured calls for tenders, with credible players who act in accordance with the established regulation, in particular that of the public procurement authority in Quebec.

We welcome the Quebec government's desire to better regulate the industry. We reiterate our willingness to participate actively and constructively in the legislative process to improve certain aspects of the proposed bill.

About Premier Health

Premier Health is a leading Canadian Healthtech company that provides a comprehensive range of outsourced services solutions for healthcare needs to governments, corporations, and individuals. Premier Health uses its proprietary LiPHe platform to lead the healthcare services sector digital transformation to provide patients with faster, cheaper, and more accessible care services.

For Further Information Please Contact:

Mr. Jean-Robert PronovostVice-President, Corporate DevelopmentPremier Health of America Inc.[email protected] / 1 800 231 9916

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 based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The Corporation assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. These factors and others are more fully discussed in the filings of the Corporation with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedar.com.

Source: Premier Health of America Inc.
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shuttle Computer Group, Inc.s new XH610 offers 12th generation computing with socket LGA1700 contact performance in a robust, steel, 3-liter slim XPC chassis. The XH610 is efficient and flexible, perfect for video walls, POS servers, surveillance/security capture; digital signage; advanced gaming, and other demanding applications.

Our new XH610 offers 12th Generation desktop performance, but in a form factor slightly larger than a good book, said Tosh Akhgar, director, sales and marketing, Shuttle Computer Group., If you are tired of a cluttered desk with a bulky PC, modernize your workspace with this new series. The PC is mountable behind monitors or sit stylish on the workspace.

The new XH610 unleashes the Intel 12th generation Alder Lake-S platform (i9/i7/i5/i3) integrated with Intel UHD graphics for 4K UHD resolution. This combination creates rich, brilliant, fast-moving, captivating video and static images.

Flexible storage expansion options include two 2.5 HDD/SDD and a slim ODD, or three 2.5 HDD/SDD storage drives. It also supports a 3.5 HDD for increased storage with an optional PHD4 accessory. It has up to 64GB (32GBx2) superfast DDR4-3200 memory speeds to hand high computing loads effortlessly.

Despite its small size, the XH610 supports up to five additional COM ports; one M.2. 2280M slot, which supports NVMe/PCIe or SATA based storage drives for greater flexibility.

The XH610 provides 4xUSB 3.2 Gen 1, 4xUSB 2.0, and native dual video output using HDMI and DisplayPort. Additionally, a dual LAN configuration; one standard Intel Gigabit LAN controller; and one high speed Intel 2.5 Gigabit LAN is included to provide high-speed data transfer capability for better networking integration. It also features Shuttles exclusive cooling system with smart fan design; clever ventilation allows for constant air circulation between the inside and outside of the machine, resulting in high stability and low noise for long-term operation in a wide range of industrial or restaurant applications.

The XH610 supports Windows 11 and is available now through Shuttles direct B2B group or its ecommerce / distribution partners as a barebone or complete system, and comes with a three-year limited warranty.

About Shuttle Computer Group

Shuttle Computer Group is the North American subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., a publicly traded company established in 1983. Shuttle specializes in small form factor PC hardware for digital signage, point-of-sale (POS) and interactive kiosks in the retail, restaurant, foodservice, and hospitality industries as well as motherboards and barebones systems.

For more information, visit http://us.shuttle.com or call 1-888-972-1818.

Intel are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; HDMI is a trademark of HDMI Licensing. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact: Nancy Napurski Lionheart Communications 585-967-3348 [email protected]

Source: Shuttle Computer Group
SAN JOSE, CA, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  Today, Sonasoft Corp., a California Corporation, (OTCQB: SSFT) (Sonasoft or the Company) announced its intent to voluntarily delist from the OTC Markets Group OTCQB market, forfeit its SSFT ticker symbol, and revert to being a private entity. Prior to taking this decision, Sonasofts Board of Directors faithfully exercised its fiduciary responsibility to weigh the potential benefits and risks of these actions. The board saw significantly more benefits than drawbacks, including anticipated material cost savings, a significant reduction in managerial burden and the potential to more effectively attract equity capital as a private entity. After determining each director was acting independently, the Board of Directors unanimously resolved that it was in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders to take such action.

The Company advises its shareholders that, after the delisting, its common stock will no longer trade on the OTCQB market, but may be quoted on the OTC Pink market, also operated by OTC Markets Group. However, the Company can provide no assurances that any broker-dealer will continue to make a market in its common stock or that trading levels, liquidity, or quotation prices will be maintained. The Company also cautions its shareholders that trading on the OTC Pink market may be subject to limited availability of information, reduced transparency, and greater volatility.

CEO and Board Chairman Mike Khanna stated, The Board has taken these actions unanimously in the firm conviction that doing so is in the best interests of all of our shareholders. In the current economic environment, we believe that the company will have better prospects for long-term growth and capital raising in the context of operating as a private entity. We also anticipate a material reduction in economic and administrative burden to result.

This privatization and delisting will take full effect upon the completion of the FINRA and OTC notification process, which will commence on Thursday February 16th, 2023. Shares in the company will continue to trade on the OTCQB until this notification process is completed.

About Sonasoft Corp. (OTCQB: SSFT)

Sonasoft was founded in Silicon Valley in 2003. For more information about the company, please visit: https://www.sonasoft.com. Sonasoft specializes in building end-to-end AI applications supported by the SAIBRE AI ecosystem.

For investor-specific information, please visit: https://www.sonasoft.com/investors/

Investor Relations Contact Josh Rose, Chief of Staff, Sonasoft Corporation. Phone: (408) 708-4000 [email protected]

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the Companys financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the Companys financial condition or results of operations; (iii) the Companys growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends. The words may, would, will, expect, estimate, anticipate, believe, intend, and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys ability to control and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Source: Sonasoft Corp.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trethera Corporation (Trethera), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel drugs targeting nucleotide metabolism for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced today the appointment of Laurent Dubois to the Trethera Board of Directors as an independent director. A healthcare executive veteran with over two decades of experience at McKinsey & Company and GE Healthcare, Mr. Dubois also will chair the Boards Compensation Committee.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Laurents experience and expertise join our efforts to serve patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases," said Dr. Ken Schultz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trethera. "Laurents background in commercial pharmaceuticals, drug branding, and hospital care delivery will be highly valued as we expand our multifaceted drug into more advanced proof-of-concept clinical trials and work to deepen our relationships with leading biopharmaceutical companies.

I am pleased to join Tretheras board as it considers the possible commercial development paths for TRE-515 at this crucial evolution stage with very promising Phase 1 dose escalation data now in hand, said Mr. Dubois. There are strong indications that TRE-515 has the potential to treat a wide array of solid tumors and autoimmune diseases. This potential and the newly issued composition of matter patent providing exclusivity in the worlds largest market until late 2041, place Trethera in an outstanding position to work towards near-term catalysts and prepare for anticipated growth.

Mr. Dubois, 53, is the former CEO of GE Healthcare Partners, GEs hospital solutions, consulting and advanced analytics franchise. While there, he served on the GE Healthcare Global Executive Committee and launched the GEHC Command Centers for hospital operations. Prior to GE, Mr. Dubois was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice, and served several of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies. Laurent is currently the CEO of ADB Safegate, a Carlyle portfolio company and the global leader in airside guidance technology for airports. He began his career in the oil and gas industry, with roles of increasing responsibility at Texaco and TotalEnergies.

Mr. Dubois holds an Economics & Business Economics masters degree from the Free University of Brussels. He also served on the selection committee of the Prince Albert Fund, a program of the King Baudouin Foundation.

About Trethera

Trethera is a clinical stage privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering the development of novel treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancers. Founded by prominent UCLA scientists, Trethera is led by experienced management and board members. Trethera's innovative approach to targeting nucleotide metabolism led to the development of TRE-515, an orally administered capsule twice designated by the FDA as an Orphan Drug. TRE-515 is a first-in-class clinical stage drug that inhibits deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), the rate-limiting enzyme in the nucleoside salvage pathway, one of two biosynthetic pathways that generate DNA precursors. It is believed that some forms of cancer may be preferentially dependent on the salvage pathway to support tumor growth, and certain autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, might also respond to TRE-515 treatment. Trethera is developing TRE-515 for use as a monotherapy or in combination, to precisely target a metabolic vulnerability of cancer or autoimmune diseases that will transform outcomes for patients.

For more information, please visit us at trethera.com or e-mail Investor Relations at [email protected].

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Trethera believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "may," "might," "will," "will likely result," "would," "should," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "continue," "target" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Although Trethera has a reasonable basis for the forward-looking statements contained herein, Trethera cautions that such statements are based on current expectations about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and factors relating to medical and scientific research, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Tretheras control, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. These potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the extent to which development of any novel cancer therapies or therapies for autoimmune diseases succeeds; whether Trethera would obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to commence human trials or commercialize TRE-515 or any novel therapies resulting from such research; Trethera successfully implementing its growth strategy, including that relating to its disease therapies; the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic; changes in economic conditions; competition; and risks and uncertainties applicable to the business of Trethera. The statements in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and Trethera does not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Company intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Source: Trethera Corporation
ASHBURN, Ontario, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Windmill Farms today announced it has acquired the assets of Ostrom Mushroom Farms LLC (Ostrom), a leading controlled environment mushroom growing facility located in Sunnyside, Washington (Sunnyside). This acquisition marks Windmill Farms expansion into the Pacific Northwest, providing high-quality mushrooms year-round to customers from coast to coast.

Were pleased to work with a talented team of employees that share our commitment to innovation, quality and customer service, said Clay Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Windmill Farms. This acquisition supports our next phase of growth as we continue to produce premium-quality mushrooms, supporting local food security and serving communities across Canada and the United States.

Similar to facilities operated by Windmill Farms, the Sunnyside facility is technologically advanced, employing modern Dutch-style technology to produce high-quality white, cremini and portobello mushrooms. Newly constructed in 2019, the facility is vertically integrated with its own compost production to ensure quality and safety.

Were excited the Sunnyside facility has been sold to a company that has decades of experience operating Dutch-style facilities, said Cheryl Adams, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Ostrom. The acquisition positions Windmill Farms to build on the strengths of the Sunnyside facility to optimize operations and meet customers growing demand for fresh, local products.

Windmill Farms places people and innovation at the forefront to create local economic opportunity and support food security in its communities. This acquisition positions Windmill Farms to further expand its best-in-class operations, high-quality customer service and industry-leading production performance to deliver larger quantities of fresh products year-round to North American customers from coast to coast.

Under the terms of the agreement, Windmill Farms will retain most of Ostroms current employees, maintaining jobs in the Sunnyside community.

About Windmill FarmsHeadquartered in Ashburn, Ontario, Windmill Farms is a premier controlled environment agricultural producer of mushrooms, providing premium-quality, organic mushrooms to customers across Canada and the United States year-round. Employing modern, Dutch-style technology, its advanced operations include two state-of-the-art production facilities and the only fully enclosed composting facility in North America. Visit www.windmillfarms.ca.

About Ostrom Mushroom Farms LLCOstrom has been a leading agricultural producer of mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest, providing fresh, high-quality mushrooms to customers across the United States. Located in Sunnyside, Washington, its state-of-the-art facility has employed modern, sustainable technology and farming practices to consistently produce high-quality products year-round.

For more information:

Clay TaylorCEO, Windmill FarmsTel: (905) 242-6144Email: [email protected]

Source: Windmill Farms
Frontier Central Superintendent Christopher J. Swiatek said the district is not trying to kick senior citizens out of the Town of Hamburg Youth, Recreation and Senior Center.

The school district does want to move a new high school program into part of the building on Southwestern Boulevard in September, and eventually could use more of it, or could expand the building, which it owns, he said.

"I think our children could learn a lot from our seniors, and that marriage of being in that building and talking to seniors and learning those life experiences from our seniors," Swiatek said.

But town officials say renegotiating the lease could leave popular programs without a home.

Talks with the district have slowed to less than a trickle, and last week Town Supervisor Randy Hoak held a meeting at the Senior Center to publicize the issue that attracted a standing room only crowd of mostly seniors.

Why go public now?

"Because the talks have not been very fruitful as of late," Hoak said, while not ruling out legal action.

"We would be hard-pressed, especially in the short term, to find space to continue the expanded programming offerings that we've been able to bring to Hamburg residents the past 10 years," Hoak said.

The district said the Senior Center would not have to move immediately.

"We're getting a little bothered by the fact that the town, specifically the town supervisor, is using seniors as a human shield against what is really happening," Swiatek said.

Both sides agree it was a good deal for all when the Town of Hamburg leased the Frontier Central Learning Center on Southwestern Boulevard in 2013.

The town was looking to expand its senior programs, and the school district's main tenant, Erie 1 BOCES, was ending its lease.

The district approached the town about 10 months ago to talk about its desire to move its Big Picture Academy for students who work on internships during high school into the former school.

And under state education law, whether that happens is up to the state education commissioner.

"We're not asking to kick the seniors out," Swiatek said.

The district wants to use one-third to one-half of the building initially, and also would consider in the future using more or expanding it.

The building, built in 2002, has a geothermal heating and cooling system. The school district and town signed a 19-year lease in 2013. The town agreed to pay the cost of the bond payments as its rent, and would have the opportunity to buy the building for $1 at the end of the lease.

The agreement allows either party to cancel it after 10 years. And if the lease is to continue after the first 10 years, the district must seek the approval of the state education commissioner or hold a public referendum.

The district approached the town nearly a year ago, and the two sides met several times.

"We were very surprised they wanted to take back the building entirely and want us out in five years," Hoak said.

The district sent a request to extend the lease to Commissioner Betty A. Rosa in September. It explained what town services are in the building, and how the district would like to use it. Hoak said the town also prepared a letter to the commissioner.

Hoak said the town has spent $1.7 million in improvements to the building. The town offered to buy the building for the total of all the rent payments up front, roughly $500,000.

But Swiatek said the district is prohibited from selling the building for less than the total remaining debt, which includes state aid payments and is around $4 million.

He said while the district is in the middle of a $70.2 million capital project, it does not and will not have the classroom space. Thirty students would be in the program the first year, and it would expand to 60 students. He said the school would want the gym for about two hours a day, and would not need the cafeteria.

Swiatek said the town rejected a shared-use proposal.

"What's bothering the district is the speculation that we are automatically attacking the Senior Center, and that couldn't be further from the truth. We're very, very aware and careful and respectful of that space," Swiatek said.

Hoak said the town hoped that the two sides could come to an understanding about the building.

"We've made it clear from the very beginning, that we're looking for a permanent home for our programs," Hoak said. "So a compromise of sharing the space for three years and then taking over completely, really isn't attractive to the Town of Hamburg."
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

By Samrhitha A and Chavi Mehta

(Reuters) -Amazon said on Wednesday it is in talks with regulators on its $1.7 billion bid for iRobot Corp, maker of the robotic vacuum cleaner Roomba, with the takeover likely to draw tough scrutiny due to regulatory concerns about deals by Big Tech.

The Financial Times reported earlier that the European Union is set to investigate the purchase that Amazon announced last August, adding that regulators have sent the e-commerce giant a series of detailed questions over the proposed transaction.

"We're working cooperatively with the relevant regulators in their review of the merger," an Amazon spokesperson said. The company declined to comment on the FT report.

The company has yet to formally seek approval from the European Commission, which in common with U.S. and UK antitrust regulators has become increasingly wary of giant companies acquiring smaller rivals.

The EU antitrust watchdog typically follows up a preliminary review of deals with a full-scale investigation if it has serious concerns.

The FT reported that the EU focus is on how iRobot's autonomous vacuum cleaner Roomba operates, particularly its ability to take pictures as it moves around a home,.

The potential move would follow the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's scrutiny of whether the transaction would increase Amazon's market power.

The Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. iRobot declined to comment.

(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Maju Samuel and Jan Harvey)
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington,

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) - The U.S. government should face a patent lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccines, not vaccine maker Moderna Inc, the Department of Justice told a Delaware federal court on Tuesday.

The Justice Department's court filing said the United States should be liable for any infringement of Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH's patents that took place under Moderna's contract to provide shots for the government's nationwide vaccination effort.

Moderna made the same argument last year in an unsuccessful bid to win an early dismissal of the lawsuit.

Genevant declined to comment on the filing. Representatives for Moderna, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Warminster Township, Pennsylvania-based Arbutus and Genevant  a joint venture between Arbutus and Roivant Sciences Ltd  sued Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna last year for royalties on its multi-billion-dollar COVID vaccines.

Both Moderna and Pfizer Inc have been the target of multiple patent lawsuits over their COVID vaccines, including a lawsuit brought by Moderna against Pfizer in August.

Moderna asked the Delaware court to dismiss Arbutus and Genevant's case in May, arguing it could only be brought against the government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. It cited a law that was previously used to keep patent disputes from interfering with the supply of war materials during World War One.

But U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg said in November that Moderna had not yet shown that the vaccines were made for the government or with its authorization and consent under the law, and that it may have instead been an "incidental beneficiary" of the shots.

The Department of Justice responded Tuesday that Moderna should not be liable based on its contract to provide the vaccines to the government as part of Operation Warp Speed.

It said the government's liability is limited to Moderna's alleged infringing activity that took place under its U.S. contract.

The case is Arbutus Biopharma Corp v. Moderna Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:22-cv-00252.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and David Gregorio)
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - CENTR Brands Corp. (CSE: CNTR) (FSE: 303) (OTCQB: CNTRF) ("CENTR Brands" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of units at a price of $0.30 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $5,000,000 (the "Offering").

Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company ("Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant (each such Common Share purchase warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share of the Company (each, a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.50 per Warrant Share at any time on or before 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on the date which is three years after the closing date of the Offering (the "Closing Date"), subject to adjustment in certain events. If, at any time following the Closing Date, the daily volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") is greater than $0.70 per Common Share for a period of 5 consecutive trading days (the "Triggering Event"), the Company shall have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants to a date not less than 30 days after the later of: (i) the date that notice of such acceleration is provided to the Warrant holders; and (ii) the date of issuance of a press release disclosing the occurrence of the Triggering Event.

It is anticipated that the net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general corporate working capital purposes.

The Offering is scheduled to close on or about March 31, 2023, or such other date not exceeding 45 days from the date hereof, as determined by the Company. Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all regulatory approvals, including approval of the CSE.

There is an offering document related to this Offering that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and at https://www.findyourcentr.com/pages/investor-resources. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

Subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and in accordance with National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions ("NI 45-106"), the Offering is being made to purchasers resident in all provinces and territories of Canada (except Quebec), pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of NI 45-106 (the "Listed Issuer Financing Exemption"). The Units offered under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption to investors resident in Canada will not be subject to a hold period pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. The Offering will also be conducted in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions pursuant to applicable securities laws.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

About CENTR Brands Corp.

CENTR Brands Corp. is one of North America's leading functional wellness beverage companies. The Company develops and markets non-alcoholic, functional beverages and powders for the global market. The Company produces CENTR and CENTR Sugar Free, both sparkling, low calorie CBD beverages; CENTR Instant, a family of on-the-go, adaptogen-based CBD powders; and CENTR Enhanced, a refreshing, ZERO calorie, non-CBD, nootropic and adaptogen sparkling water incorporating a variety of science-backed ingredients.

For more information on CENTR Brands visit www.findyourcentr.com or contact us at [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on social media @findyourcentr and @drinkcentr. Consumers that do not yet have a local CENTR Brands retailer can visit our online store at: www.findyourcentr.com.

On behalf of the Board,

CENTR BRANDS CORP.

/s/ Arjan Chima

Arjan Chima, Chief Executive Officer

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Company's intentions regarding its objectives, goals or future plans and statements, including with respect to the completion of the Offering, the proposed use of the net proceeds of the Offering, the value proposition the Company offers to consumers, the Company's ability to capitalize on global health & wellness trends, its ability to grow revenue opportunities and improve returns to its shareholders, the Company's positioning in the emerging health beverage market and the Company's ability to drive sustainable, industry-leading growth. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause 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. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154970
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed I-ON Digital Corp. (OTCQB: IONI) (the "Company") a company positioned to be a leader in the design, development, and deployment of fully-compliant, institutional-level digital asset ecosystems. CEO of the Company, Carlos Montoya, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.

"What benefits does your precious metals digitalization ecosystem provide to address the growing market awareness surrounding coins, stable coins, and cryptocurrency?" asked Jolly. "The whole idea here is to create a fluid, value placeholder for precious metal assets focused in gold," said Montoya, adding that the ecosystem could also work with rare earth metals. "In this case, we structured it as a compliant security," he explained. "The ecosystem allows you to capture an independent custody for buy, sell, trade, transfer, pledge, or hypothecation."

"Ultimately, we have a five to one coverage," continued Montoya. "We discount it down for those who are concerned that they do not have a physical coin or physical ounce of gold," he said. "This is an institutional asset that has fluidity and can move," said Montoya, before elaborating on the Company's innovative successes, including being the first company to establish a digital asset as a security. "With IONI, we are going to add a publicly traded element to continue to add liquidity to the underlying assets of the company."

The conversation then turned to the challenges traditional mining companies face within the industry, including the more time consuming tasks like permitting and mobilization. "We are looking to create liquidity without having to go through the entire mining process and without having to raise funds for mining equipment," said Montoya. "It is a real challenge for junior mining companies."

"How has this business model advanced and why does it fulfill an important role in today's financial services landscape?" asked Jolly. "We are going to be adding additional wholesale banking components, including introducing some bonds to the marketplace which would be backed by the assets, so that we can continue to layer into the US and global financial systems," said Montoya. "Having the publicly traded unit allows us to secure the type of funding it requires to do a truly credible US and global roll out."

"Why is your business model so important moving forward for the mining industry?" asked Jolly. "This creates a value placeholder now, something you can put on your balance sheet," explained Montoya. "Once you create and we validate and establish the digital assets, could be gold, copper, or rhodium, you have something that trades or sells," he said. "Our goal is to go from 500,000 digital gold certificates in circulation to upwards of 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 certificates, then you would really have a highly fluid and highly accepted asset that is so differentiated from all of the other crypto assets out there."

To close the interview, Montoya elaborated on the potential of the Company's innovative precious metals digitalization platform and encouraged listeners and shareholders to keep up-to-date on their updates and current projects as they continue to position themselves as a leader in this emerging space.

To hear Carlos Montoya's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8247758-i-on-digital-corp-discusses-innovative-precious-metals-digitalization-ecosystem-with-the-stock-d.

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Stock Day Media encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/.

About I-ON Digital Corp.

I-ON Digital Corp (the "Company") will be a leader in the design, development, and deployment of fully-compliant, institutional-level ecosystems that are poised to fuel the next generation of banking, data management, asset deployment, and precious metals digitization, further supported by enhanced digital payment and reporting services worldwide. The Company's channels for value creation include, but are not limited to, service fees associated with asset digitization, secure transactional revenues, and the licensing of the Company's growing intellectual property portfolio for offerings to prominent institutional organizations within the financial and information technology services marketplace.

Additional information is available at https://iondigitalcorp.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "seek", "potential," "outlook" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements, including, but not limited to, I-ON's current views with respect to future events and its financial forecasts, are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those risks described from time to time in filings made by I-ON with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, there is uncertainty about the further spread of the COVID-19 virus or new variants thereof, or the occurrence of another wave of cases and the impact it may have on the company's operations, the demand for the company's products, global supply chains and economic activity in general. These and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated or expected. Statements in this news release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue. I-ON does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by law.

Media Contact:

Ken Park

[email protected]

(866) 440-2278

www.iondigitalcorp.com

About The "Stock Day" Podcast

Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America.

SOURCE:

Stock Day Media

(602) 821-1102

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154896
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - A Copy of the Full Report is Available at the Link Below:

https://mailchi.mp/mineralfunds/mergers-acquisitions-report-b2gold-corp-to-acquire-sabina-gold-silver-corp-for-11-billion-cad

This report provides a summary of Gold & Precious Metal Funds that hold :

The Acquired Company only : Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX: SBB) The Acquirer only : B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) (NSX: B2G) Both the Acquirer and the Acquired Company

B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) (NSX: B2G) announced (on Monday February 13th) that the company will acquire Sabina Gold & Silver Corp (TSX: SBB) in a deal valued at ~ $1.1 billion CAD (~$823.66 million USD). As part of the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, B2Gold will acquire Sabina's untapped mineral-heavy Back River Gold District located in Nunavut, Canada.

B2Gold will issue 0.3867 of a common share of B2Gold for each Sabina common share held representing C$1.87 per Sabina share. The consideration implies a premium of 45% to the 20-day volume weighted average prices ("VWAP") of each of B2Gold and Sabina on the TSX as of February 10th, 2023.

This transaction provides Sabina shareholders with access to a strong, debt free balance sheet and robust cash flow generation which will serve to fund and optimize the development of the Back River Gold District. It also enhances institutional participation, improves trading liquidity, and provides investors with exposure to a peer-leading dividend yield.

Source: https://mineralfunds.com/gold-funds/

Portfolio Holdings Summary

At the time of the most recently recorded asset allocation 4 funds retained holdings in only the acquired company: Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX: SBB). Earth Gold Fund UI , Jupiter Gold & Silver Fund , NESTOR Gold Fund , and STABILITAS Silber + Weissmetalle should receive the highest material performance benefit from this acquisition news announcement.

53 gold funds held only B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) (NSX: B2G), and 11 funds held both B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) (NSX: B2G) and Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX: SBB).

"In advancing gold cycles, mergers and acquisitions amongst gold producers can accelerate. As gold company mergers reduce the total number of portfolio company holdings for gold funds, managers often invest more capital in mid-tier and smaller companies. This results in dynamic price activity for smaller gold producers and exploration companies as the gold cycle advances. At the beginning of 2023, we are in the early stages of this type of gold market cycle."

Christopher J. Berlet BSc, CFA

_______________________________________

MineralFunds.com provides prices, performance and trade information for all the world's metal ETFs including Precious Metals, Battery Metals, Platinum Group Metals and Base Metals and comprehensive fund information, including asset allocations, for Gold & Precious Metals Managed Funds from all investment jurisdictions.

Report prepared by: Kay Samnani, Analyst supported by Christopher J. Berlet BSc, CFA.

For further information please contact:

(416) 525 - 6869

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154924
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
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - Plant-Based Investment Corp. (CSE: PBIC) ("PBIC", or the "Company"), announces that Mr. Ashish Kapoor has resigned as a director of the Company. Management and the board of directors would like to thank Mr. Kapoor for his contributions to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavors.

Mr. Gerald Goldberg has been appointed as a director of the Company. Mr. Goldberg is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant and has over forty years of experience in public accounting. His previous roles include Senior Partner at Schwartz Levitsky Feldman LLP, a large Canadian public accounting firm and Partner at Grant Thornton LLP. Mr. Goldberg's expertise includes the service, distribution, retail, mining, natural resources and oil and gas, real estate, not-for-profit entities, and manufacturing industries, with a strong focus on taxation and business advisory services. He has been actively involved with the audit of public companies in Canada, the United States, China, and other foreign countries. He is also experienced in corporate finance and development, serving as an Independent Director, Chairman, and member of the audit committee of numerous public and private companies.

About Plant-Based Investment Corp.

Plant-Based Investment Corp. is an investment corporation that seeks to provide shareholders long-term total returns through capital appreciation and periodic distributions by investing in an actively managed portfolio of securities in public and private companies that derive a portion of their revenues, earnings or intellectual property-based value from products, equipment, services and/or technologies related to plant-based industries, including the cannabis plant family and its various compounds, the fungi industry (including medicinal, functional and psychedelics), super-foods and/or organic ingredients industries in addition to investing in specialty retail locations, functional medicine and wellness-based clinics and treatment centers.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the Company. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with the Company's business plan and matters relating thereto, and risks associated with the Company's investments and financial objectives, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in the Company's public filings on SEDAR. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

For further information, please contact:

Plant-Based Investment Corp.

Paul Crath

Chief Executive Officer

T: (647) 660-0566

E: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154836
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Royal Road Minerals Limited (TSXV: RYR) ("Royal Road" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Definitive Agreement ("the Agreement") with an individual title holder ("the Titleholder"), which provides the Company with the option to acquire 100% of certain mineral rights within the Santo Domingo porphyry copper and gold district in San Juan Province, Argentina. The Agreement supersedes the previously announced Heads of Agreement entered into by the Company and the Titleholder (see Press Release 29 November, 2022).

The Santo Domingo district is located 120 km east of San Juan City at an average altitude of approximately 1,200 meters above sea level. The district comprises two, as-yet undrilled porphyry copper-gold occurrences (Divisiora and El Arriero) and several vein-hosted gold and silver occurrences located within a mineral rights package covering a total area of approximately 200 square kilometers (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Morphotectonic elements of the Central Andes, location of major porphyry copper and gold occurrences, location of Royal Road projects. Oblique aerial view of El Arriero. Summary figure showing the Divisoria and El Arriero occurrences and select rock chip and rock-chip channel samples. Note the copper only potential "core" and the outcrop pattern at El Arriero with porphyry mapped in valley bottoms.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4008/154889_royalroadfigure1.jpg

Significant occurrences of copper and gold were first identified in the Santo Domingo district by the Titleholder in 2007. From 2008 to 2014 the area was subject to option agreements between the Titleholder and a third party. The parties concluded a work program which included channel and select rock chip sampling, ground magnetics, Pole-Dipole IP and Audio Magneto-Tellurics (AMT). Subsurface targets were identified but the option agreement was terminated before the commencement of drilling.

The province of San Juan is considered a mining friendly jurisdiction and is the location of Barrick's Veladero gold operation, Lundin Mining's advanced Josemaria copper, gold, silver project, Glencore's Pachon copper project and McEwen Mining's Los Azules copper, gold, silver project.

The Santo Domingo district is hosted in the Cerro la Huerta, a range of uplifted crystalline basement rocks comprising part of the Sierras Pampeanas geological terrane. The Sierras Pampeanas hosts the Alumbrera copper gold deposit (MARA JV; Yamana, Glencore and Newmont) and the historic La Mejicana gold deposit which are hosted in intermontane basins or within discrete basement blocks which have been exhumed in the last six million years.

The porphyry occurrences at Santo Domingo are of a significant surface extent and show characteristic zoned porphyry-style alteration from central potassic cores (secondary biotite  potassic feldspar) with quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite veins, passing outwards to phyllic and propylitic styles of alteration. Although previous work has considered the porphyry occurrences as discrete and separate systems, rock chip geochemistry seems to show a classic zoned pattern with copper only mineralization hosted within a potassic core at El Arriero and gold (including continuous rock-chip channel samples of 19.7 meters at 2.1 grams per tonne gold at El Arriero West: See Figure 1) seemingly occurring peripheral to this core. Furthermore, topography and mapped intrusion patterns may be interpreted to imply that the area sits within the immediate roof zone to a larger and connected porphyry copper and gold system concealed at depth.

The Agreement contains the following basic terms:

Annual payments commencing upon the first anniversary of the Agreement and totaling USD$800,000 over a term of four years

An option to purchase 100% of the concessions in the Area of Interest in exchange for a payment of USD$2,500,000 for a period of five years following execution of the Agreement

A one-time payment of USD$500,000 upon the filing of the first JORC compliant resource from within the Area of Interest during the term of the Agreement

Provided that and following such time that, Royal Road has acquired 100% of the concessions in the Area of Interest a one-time payment of USD$2,000,000 upon the filing of the first successful feasibility study prepared by or for Royal Road that demonstrates to Royal Road's satisfaction the feasibility of putting a property into Commercial Production

A one-time payment of USD$10,000,000 upon the first Commercial Production from the mining project (minimum 75% production capacity of the mine as per the feasibility study)

The Company has a right to terminate the Agreement at any time and at its sole discretion in which case the Company will have no obligation to make any further payments.

The terms and conditions set forth in the Agreement create binding legal obligations on the parties.

The foregoing exploration information and data contained in this news release was not prepared by the Company or the qualified person named below. Neither the Company nor such qualified person has independently verified the foregoing exploration results and data and the Company cautions that there is a risk that further exploration will not produce similar results.

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.

The information in this news release was compiled, reviewed and verified by Dr. Tim Coughlin, BSc (Geology), MSc (Exploration and Mining), PhD (Structural Geology), FAusIMM, President and CEO of Royal Road Minerals Ltd and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control:

The following information was derived from Elementos' public announcements.

Samples were prepared at the Acme Analytical Laboratories ("AcmeLabs") preparation facility in Mendoza, Argentina and assayed by fire assay (50 gram charge) at the AcmeLabs laboratory in Chile and for ICP-MS 32 elements (15 grams charge) at the AcmeLabs laboratory in Vancouver, all ISO-9001:2000 certified laboratories. Samples returning greater than 10 g/t gold and/or greater than 100 g/t silver are assayed using gravimetric analyses. Samples returning greater than 1% Pb and / or greater than 1% Zn are assayed using aqua regia digestion ore grade / AAS.

Cautionary statement:

This news release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements") describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of its management that a stated result or condition will occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or in the mineral resources industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about, among other things, future economic conditions and courses of action, and assumptions related to government approvals, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The words "plans", "prospective", "expect", "intend", "intends to" and similar expressions identify forward looking statements, which may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Forward-looking statements of the Company contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the Company's exploration plans.

The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. There is no guarantee that the anticipated benefits of the Company's business plans or operations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: economic market conditions, anticipated costs and expenditures, government approvals, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with Canadian provincial securities regulators or other applicable regulatory authorities. Forward-looking statements included herein are based on the current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions of the Company management and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Timothy Coughlin

President and Chief Executive Officer

+44 (0)1534 887166

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154889
Sebset provides digital marketing services for real estate professionals, using emerging technology to boost online exposure through SEO, content creation, and brand visibility strategies. The acronym for Sebset is "Serving Business Solutions with Emerging Technology."

Swanton, Maryland--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - Following the announcement, Sebset Digital Agency now provides real estate businesses with a comprehensive digital marketing solution, empowering them to generate more leads and expand their operations.

More information is available at https://sebset.com.

Sebset Launches IT & Marketing Solutions for Real Estate Businesses



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/153915_7d3b32c254f50bb1_001full.jpg

As part of its newly launched all-in-one digital marketing package, Sebset Digital Agency offers businesses in the property industry lead generation solutions, web design and development, and content marketing services, helping them improve online visibility.

With Google being the largest search engine, utilizing a constantly changing and growing algorithm, it's important for real estate businesses to optimize their websites and regularly deliver up-to-date, relevant content that also resonates with their target audience. As such, Sebset Digital Agency has developed powerful marketing techniques to enhance clients' exposure.

In particular, the team assists real estate agents with brand identity, web design, SEO, and content marketing solutions. Sebset helps real estate agents create a cohesive and memorable brand that stands out in search results and appeals to their target audience. The company also offers real estate businesses website design and development services, helping them strengthen their online presence.

The marketing expert also offers website and social media page optimization solutions, analyzing performance across platforms to point out opportunities for growth. The digital marketing team crafts engaging and SEO-optimized content to develop compelling marketing copy.

Sebset Digital Agency is the digital marketing division of Tall Oaks, Inc, dedicated to helping businesses leverage successful digital marketing strategies that increase brand awareness. Each element of their digital marketing campaigns is carefully crafted, providing clients the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets.

A.T. Parker, CEO & Founder said, "Our passion at the Sebset Digital Agency is to help our clients in every way we can to achieve their goals, and to ensure we provide quality service in a timely and affordable manner. We strive to be the best, the most inventive, trustworthy, dependable, and effective."

Additional details are available at https://sebset.com.

Contact Info:

Name: Anthony Parker

Email: [email protected]

Organization: Tall Oaks Inc. DBA Sebset

Address: 59 Mallard Lake Trail, Swanton, Maryland 21561, United States

Website: https://talloakscorp.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/153915
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule changes to enhance protections of customer assets managed by registered investment advisers. If adopted, the changes would amend and redesignate rule 206(4)-2, the Commissions custody rule, under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and amend certain related recordkeeping and reporting obligations.

I support this proposal because, in using important authorities Congress granted us after the financial crisis, it would help ensure that advisers dont inappropriately use, lose, or abuse investors assets, said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. In particular, Congress gave us authority to expand the advisers custody rule to apply to all assets, not just funds or securities. Further, investors would benefit from the proposals changes to enhance the protections that qualified custodians provide. Thus, through this expanded custody rule, investors working with advisers would receive the time-tested protections that they deserve for all of their assets, including crypto assets, consistent with what Congress envisioned.



The proposed rules would exercise Commission authority under section 411 of the Dodd-Frank Act by broadening the application of the current investment adviser custody rule beyond client funds and securities to include any client assets in an investment advisers possession or when an investment adviser has authority to obtain possession of client assets. Like the current rule, the proposed rule would entrust safekeeping of client assets to qualified custodians, including, for example, certain banks or broker-dealers.



The proposed changes are intended to help ensure that qualified custodians provide certain standard custodial protections when maintaining an advisory clients assets. These protections are designed, among other things, to ensure client assets are properly segregated and held in accounts to protect the assets in the event of a qualified custodian bankruptcy or other insolvency. The proposed rule would also enhance protections for certain securities and physical assets that cannot be maintained by a qualified custodian. Additionally, the proposal retains the current requirement for an adviser with custody of client assets to obtain a surprise examination from an independent public accountant to verify client assets, but it would modify the audit provision to expand the availability of its use, enhance investor protection, and facilitate compliance.



Finally, the proposal would update and enhance related recordkeeping requirements for advisers and amend Form ADV to align reporting obligations with the proposed rule and to improve the accuracy of custody-related data available to the Commission, its staff, and the public.



The comment period on the proposal will remain open for 60 days following publication of the proposing release in the Federal Register.
At the junction of the new town and the old town in Yingshang County, Anhui Province, close to the prosperous commercial district of Jiefang Road, there is a commercial street featuring cultural tourism, with characteristics of the water towns in northern Anhui and humanistic charmGuanzhong Old Street.

The old street is built along the moat, with houses of blue bricks and grey tiles, arch bridges, and ancient pagodas blending into one harmonious whole. When tourists come here for sightseeing, they will feel like they are entering the water-bound town in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The scattered old houses and quaint streets are decorated with dim lights and radiant colors. Walking on the old street, you can see a prosperous and gratifying scene accompanied by the mutual reflection of the lights and colorful lanterns.

Reported by Meng Yifan, Duan Yu

Edited and translated by Zheng Chen
ALBANY  The state Senate overwhelmingly rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul's nominee to lead New York's highest court on Wednesday, a significant blow to the Democratic governor dealt by members of her own party.

Hochul's selection, state Appellate Court Justice Hector LaSalle, was defeated 39-20.

All 39 votes against LaSalle came from Democrats, who hold a 42-seat majority in the chamber. Among those voting against LaSalle were two Buffalo senators, Tim Kennedy and Sean Ryan.

Although from the rival party to Hochul, the chamber's 21 Republicans largely voted in favor of her nominee, with one exception: Sen. Mario Mattera of Long Island was recorded in the negative.

At the beginning of her first full, elected term in office, the fight over the LaSalle nomination has strained relations between Hochul and Senate Democrats, as well as between the governor and some labor unions that opposed her nominee. The outcome raised questions about whether Hochul, a moderate, will be able to exert influence over a chamber run by Democrats to her political left, and whether her administration was unprepared for the backlash her nominee would generate.

The vote Wednesday may now also end a legal dispute over whether the full Senate was required to hold a vote on the nomination.

In a statement, Hochul said that while "long overdue," the Senate had "finally acquiesced to a vote on the floor on the nomination of Justice Hector LaSalle."

"This vote is an important victory for the constitution. But it was not a vote on the merits of Justice LaSalle, who is an overwhelmingly qualified and talented jurist," Hochul said. "Now that the full Senate has taken a vote, I will work toward making a new nomination. I remain committed to selecting a qualified candidate to lead the court and deliver justice. That is what New Yorkers deserve."

In remarks on the Senate floor, Democrats cited judicial decisions by LaSalle that they did not feel protected abortion rights, labor unions and the rights of defendants in the criminal justice system. Ryan said that New York needed a chief judge of the state Court of Appeals who has "a broad vision of the law, has a broad vision of how the law affects society and knows that the decisions of those courts affect everybody in society."

"The court cases we saw and read gave an excessively narrow vision of the law, a court with their handcuffs on," Ryan said. "I can't work to protect the right to unionize, I can't work to protect the rights of women, I can't work to protect the rights of minorities who sit on criminal justice panels. Narrow vision. Too narrow for a broad constitution."

LaSalle, who sat in the Senate gallery as the vote took place, said during his confirmation hearing in January that, as a mid-level appellate court judge, he was strictly bound to follow precedent. He is the presiding justice of the Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department of the State Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeals, the state's highest, has a broader degree of discretion. LaSalle said during his testimony that he was pro-union, pro-choice on the issue of abortion, and, in some cases, made rulings on cases where he disagreed with the outcome, but was bound by precedent.

Republicans argued that Democrats would confirm only an activist chief judge, one who would veer the Court of Appeals politically leftward.

During the confirmation process, a coalition of liberal groups opposed to LaSalle argued that under the prior chief judge, Janet DiFiore, a conservative 4-3 majority had emerged in many of the court's decisions. Hochul, Republicans, and other LaSalle allies argued that opponents had unfairly mischaracterized a few of more than 5,000 decisions he had rendered.

"He is an incredible jurist, who calls balls and strikes," State Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a Long Island Republican, said on the Senate floor. "And he's a plain old liberal Democrat, which, apparently, isn't good enough."

The vote, held with little advance notice to the public, could end a legal confrontation that Palumbo began last week.

In mid-January, the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee voted down forwarding LaSalle's nomination to the full Senate chamber. That sparked a lawsuit by Palumbo against Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and a number of Democratic senators. A state Supreme Court hearing on Long Island is scheduled for Friday.

Like Hochul, Senate Republicans argued that the state constitution requires a vote by the full 63-member chamber. Stewart-Cousins argued that the Senate has the right to determine its own internal rules and procedures, including to end LaSalle's nomination process if there was not sufficient support in the Judiciary Committee.

On Wednesday, Stewart-Cousins said Senate Democrats had "acted constitutionally by following our own set of rules, which, as a separate branch of government, we are empowered to create and follow under the state constitution."

But she said it was necessary for Senate Democrats to "rise to our leadership responsibilities and end the ongoing distraction of the Justice Hector LaSalle nomination."

"We have a state to run. The 2023-2024 $227 billion dollar budget is due in six weeks," Stewart-Cousins said. "Our highest court has no appointed Chief Judge, and we need the court system to function. This court case, if allowed to continue, wouldve dragged on for months and stymied our judicial system. Its time to put this matter to rest.

Palumbo said on Wednesday that he planned to continue his lawsuit, despite the full Senate having conducted a vote, because he wants a court ruling stating that such a vote is legally required.

"We have an entire body making a decision based upon a little gamesmanship, hoping to render the lawsuit moot, so that the courts can't say as a matter of law, 'Folks, every judicial nominee goes to the floor of the Senate,' " Palumbo said. "And why is that significant? Because there's a rule regarding mootness and I'm going to suggest to you folks, that, when actions are taken in contravention to the law or intended to evade a justiciable or an actual decision by a court, it does not render it moot. So I look forward to Friday."

Hochul had herself considered suing, but was spared that decision by Palumbo's action last week.

Ahead of the full Senate vote on Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a brief meeting where the January rejection of LaSalle was reconsidered. In a reversal from the January vote, every member of the committee, Democrat and Republican, voted to forward LaSalle's nomination to the floor, without recommending whether he should be confirmed.

The two Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who voted in favor of LaSalle's nomination in January, State Sens. Kevin Thomas and Luis Sepulveda, both were absent from the Senate on Wednesday.

That prompted a Republican senator to quiz Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Senate Judiciary chairman and a Democrat, about whether the vote was rushed to the floor because those lawmakers were not present.

"It's a session day," Hoylman-Sigal responded. "It's my opinion that everyone should be here on a session day. We don't plan our schedules around excused absences by individual senators."

Before the Judiciary Committee vote in January, Senate Democratic leadership had expanded its membership from 15 to 19 members, a move Hochul and Republicans blame for the committee's failure to forward LaSalle's nomination to the Senate floor. The Judiciary Committee in January voted down forwarding the nomination to the full Senate by a vote of 10-9, the narrowest possible margin.
Six new Florida routes join existing service to Southern CT

Avelo's Terminal 1 gates make traveling easier and faster for RDU Customers

Avelo hires over 50 RDU-based Crewmembers

Introductory one-way fares from RDU start at $49

RDU AIRPORT, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelo Airlines opened its fifth base today at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). The new base enables Avelo to significantly expand the affordable, convenient and reliable air service the airline introduced to North Carolina's Research Triangle region last May.

Avelo Airlines Opens 5th Base in Raleigh-Durham

Especially noteworthy is Avelo's transition to Terminal 1. RDU's original terminal represents a substantially more convenient and relaxing airport experience than its substantially larger Terminal 2. Terminal 1 offers Avelo Customers a swift curb-to-gate experience - in contrast to the significantly longer walks and TSA lines found at RDU's Terminal 2. When travelers return from their trip, getting from their plane to baggage claim, and on their way home will be equally fast and seamless.

Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said, "Since taking flight at RDU last May, we have been very encouraged by the positive response Avelo has received from Raleigh, Durham and the surrounding areas. The opening of our fifth base at RDU marks an important milestone for Avelo and access for The Triangle Region to six new nonstop Florida routes. In addition to bringing more affordable and reliable air service to RDU, the relocation of our gates to Terminal 1 will make traveling with Avelo a substantially more convenient and relaxing experience whether you are departing or arriving RDU. Lastly, Avelo's new base represents a meaningful investment in this growing and vibrant community as we add dozens of local residents to our Crew. The inauguration of our new base and service here is just the beginning."

With the debut of Avelo's new base, Avelo now serves seven nonstop destinations from RDU, including six new popular Florida routes. Avelo began serving Southern Connecticut's most convenient airport, Tweed-New Haven Airport, from RDU last year. Earlier this month, Avelo initiated service to Orlando and Tampa. Beginning tomorrow, Avelo will inaugurate service to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton and West Palm Beach.

Avelo will be the only airline serving Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton and West Palm Beach nonstop from RDU.

Very low, one-way fares from RDU start at $49*. Customers can make reservations at AveloAir.com. These routes will operate on Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft.

Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority President and CEO Michael Landguth said, "Avelo's commitment to RDU and The Research Triangle extends beyond adding destinations to creating jobs in our community. We appreciate their investment in our region look forward to a long and successful partnership."

City of Durham Mayor Elaine O'Neal said, "It is my pleasure to welcome Avelo Airlines to the Raleigh-Durham market. Our area has strong travel demand for both business and leisure travel due to a strong economy and many destinations of interest located in The Triangle. It is also my hope that our residents will be able to take advantage of the employment opportunities that will come alongside this new partnership."

Mayor of the Town of Morrisville TJ Cawley said, "We are very excited to have a world class carrier like Avelo available to our diverse residents and businesses. Our towns motto is "Live Connected Live Well" and Avelo will help all of us do both and connect to more of the world. Welcome."

Six New Nonstop Florida Destinations:

Orlando (MCO)Effective February 2, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Tampa (TPA)Effective February 3, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Fort Lauderdale (FLL)Effective February 16, 2023  Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

Fort Myers (RSW)Effective February 16, 2023  Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

Sarasota-Bradenton (SRQ)Effective February 17, 2023  Monday, Friday and Saturday

West Palm Beach (PBI)Effective February 17, 2023  Monday, Friday and Saturday

Growing Avelo at RDU

Avelo is initially basing one Boeing Next-Generation (NG) 737-700 at RDU. The airline has hired approximately 50 RDU-based Crewmembers (employees), including Airport Customers Service, Flight Attendants, Pilots, Aircraft Technical Operations and Maintenance, and Supervisors with more career opportunities still available. Avelo is considering adding a second 737 later this year, enabling additional destinations and RDU-based jobs. Candidates can learn more about Avelo career opportunities by visiting AveloAir.com/Careers.

As a new airline, Avelo is an excellent opportunity for individuals at all stages of their career to join a successful and fast-growing company. Avelo offers competitive compensation, comprehensive healthcare coverage, a company-matching 401K retirement program and free space available air travel on Avelo, among many other benefits. Additionally, Avelo Crewmembers have access to Avelo University, which offers job-readiness training and ongoing career development courses. Grounded in the airline's One Crew Value, Avelo offers an inclusive, collaborative and caring culture.

In addition to RDU, Avelo operates bases at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), Orlando International Airport (MCO) and the Delaware Valley's Wilmington Airport (ILG).

America's Affordable and Convenient Airline

Avelo was founded with a vision to help its Customers save money and time. Since taking flight on April 28, 2021, Avelo has flown more than 1.7 million Customers on more than 14,000 flights.

In addition to offering Customers everyday low fares on every route, Avelo Customers can always change or cancel their itineraries with no extra fees. Avelo also offers several unbundled travel-enhancing options that give Customers the flexibility to pay for what they value, including priority boarding, checked bags, carry-on overhead bags, and bringing a pet in the cabin.

Additionally, the American-made Boeing 737 jets Avelo flies offer a more spacious and comfortable experience than the small regional aircraft currently operating at most of the airports Avelo serves. Customers who value an advance seat assignment can choose from several modestly priced seating options, including seats with extra leg room, as well as pre-reserved window and aisle seating. One third of seats on Avelo aircraft are available for Customers who appreciate the comfort of extra legroom.

Avelo serves 33 destinations across the U.S. The airline has unlocked a new era of convenience, choice and competition in air travel by flying unserved routes to primarily underserved communities across the country. At least one airport on every Avelo flight is a small hometown airport  making every Avelo journey easier and more enjoyable.

At Avelo, every flight is also nonstop. This connection-free travel experience not only provides Avelo Customers with a faster and simpler travel experience, but also minimizes delays, cancellations and lost bags. In fact, Avelo has established itself as one of America's most reliable airlines with industry leading on-time, completion factor and checked bag handling performance.

Avelo is distinguished by its Soul of Service culture. The culture is grounded in Avelo's One Crew Value which promotes a welcoming and caring experience. By caring for one another and owning their commitments, Avelo Crewmembers focus on anticipating and understanding Customer needs on the ground and in the air.

About Avelo AirlinesAvelo Airlines was founded with a simple purpose  to Inspire Travel. The airline offers Customers time and money-saving convenience, low everyday fares, and a refreshingly smooth and caring experience through its Soul of Service culture. Operating a fleet of Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, Avelo serves 33 popular destinations across the U.S., including its five bases at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Southern Connecticut's Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), Orlando International Airport (MCO), the Delaware Valley's Wilmington Airport (ILG) and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). For more information visit AveloAir.com or the Avelo Newsroom at AveloAir.com/Newsroom.

About Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority operates Raleigh-Durham International Airport. RDU connects central and eastern North Carolina to the people and places that matter most, serving more than 14 million passengers in 2019. RDU powers our region's economy with a $15.1 billion annual economic impact and supports nearly 100,000 local and regional jobs. RDU was rated in the Top Five in passenger satisfaction among large North American Airports in a 2022 J.D. Power study. Learn more online about the Airport Authority Board, including its monthly meetings.

Media Contacts:Avelo AirlinesCourtney Goff[email protected]

Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)RDU Media Relations[email protected]

*Very low, one-way fares include government taxes and fees. Fares start at $49 to and from RDU for travel completed by August 31, 2023, fares must be booked by February 28, 2023. Fares are available on a limited number of flights and seats. Additional fees for carry-on and checked bags, assigned seats and other optional services may apply. A $20 charge per seated traveler applies to all bookings or changes made through Avelo's Customer Support Center. For full terms and conditions, please see Avelo's Contract of Carriage.

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SOURCE Avelo Airlines
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carolinas AGC (CAGC) is pleased to welcome Caroline Brigmon to our CAGC family. Starting February 13, 2023, Caroline serves within the CAGC Foundation as Education, Training and Workforce Director.

Caroline will support our CAGC members' education and training needs and develop programs to address the construction industry's workforce challenges. She also will provide support for the Foundation's Construction Business Academy and the Construction Bootcamps that will be hosted through the North Carolina Community College System. The two new programs are being funded with a $5.5 million grant to our Foundation that was approved last year by the NC General Assembly for workforce development.

"We're excited to have Caroline Brigmon on our CAGC team at a time when we are taking our education, training and workforce development needs to the next level to help us tackle our biggest challenge  getting and keeping good people into challenging and rewarding careers in the construction industry in the Carolinas," said Dave Simpson, President & CEO of Carolinas AGC.

Caroline has been working in economic and workforce development for the past 16 years. In her former position with the Department of Commerce, she was the Regional Operations Director in the Division of Workforce Solutions for the Piedmont Triad (North Carolina) area. Prior to that, she worked with AB Tech Community College in Asheville, NC, as the Director of Workforce Programs in the Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education Department. She has also been a College Adjunct and a K-12 instructor focusing on business courses. Caroline has a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Liberty University, a Masters in Instructional Technology from East Carolina University and a Bachelor's in business administration from Montreat College.

It is the mission of the CAGC Foundation to serve the construction industry by financially supporting workforce development and research programs, activities, and services in the Carolinas. For more information regarding the CAGC Foundation, call 704/372-1450.

Carolinas AGC is the construction industry association in the Carolinas, bringing value to our thousands of members through networking, government relations, job leads, meetings with owners/designers, education and training involving such issues as safety and open shop, and community development. Visit us at www.cagc.org, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Lori McGovern, 704/222-8246, [email protected].

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SOURCE Carolinas AGC
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Edelman Global Advisory (EGA), a boutique firm providing business and government advisory services, announced today it will expand its suite of consulting services in Latin America through the acquisition of Distrito Relacoes Governamentais (Distrito). A prominent firm in Brasilia, Brazil's capital, Distrito brings an innovative approach to government relations with its talented and diverse team of experts. This acquisition will expand Edelman Global Advisory's operations to a third city in Brazil, after Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and will cater to its global, regional, and local clients.

EGA's acquisition combines its global platform and best-in-class government affairs and advisory capabilities with Distrito's networks across Latin America and regulatory insights. EGA Distrito will strengthen EGA's capabilities across the region, but also provide Distrito's clients with access to EGA's trusted network of experts worldwide. This acquisition will cement EGA as one of the leading government relations consultancies in the region and ensure EGA has the platform to keep pace for its clients with the demands of a fast-growing and ever-changing geopolitical environment in Brazil and across Latin America.

"With this strategic move, EGA is bolstering its presence in Latin America, one of our largest growth markets, and allows us to provide a broader range of services as well as quality insights into the ever-changing political, economic and social landscape in the region to support our clients," said Leigh Wedell, Chief Operating Officer of EGA. "Launched in August 2021, EGA provides tailored business and government advisory services to its clients around the world, and this acquisition is in line with our goal to provide a global strategic vision combined with the ability to navigate the local markets to ensure our clients' success."

"After more than 25 years guiding clients through political and regulatory challenges in LatAm, we continue strengthening our public affairs offerings through Distrito's acquisition. We see this as an opportunity to better advise and support our clients with the insights and agility they need in the region," said Mariana Sanz, Chief Executive Officer of Edelman Latin America.

Distrito is a full-service consultancy firm that provides integrated government relations services to public and private stakeholders. The firm deeply understands the inner workings of Brazil's government and politics, including its legislative processes and regulatory environment. With only six years of operation, Distrito is already one of Brazil's leading consultancies with an impressive portfolio of local and global clients.

The integration of Distrito into Edelman Latin America will be led by Leigh Wedell, COO of EGA, and Mariana Sanz, CEO Edelman Latin America Region, along with leadership from Distrito's co-founders, Publio Madruga and Danilo Gennari, who both bring experience from Brazil's highest levels of government.

Madruga, an experienced government relations lawyer who previously served as Government Affairs Manager and Head of the Parliamentary Cabinet, will serve as EGA's new Chair of Latin America. Gennari will bring his 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors, including as Special Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic and Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance, to serve as EGA's President for Brazil.

"We are highly confident that this partnership with EGA will enhance our work with clients, bringing them greater success and expanding our offerings beyond Brazil," said Publio Madruga. "Our deep understanding of the Brazilian government's agenda will now be translated into broader regional and global knowledge for our clients and our team," Danilo Gennari added.

About Edelman Global Advisory

Edelman Global Advisory (EGA) is a boutique firm providing business, government and advisory services to navigate today's changing geopolitical and economic landscape, as part of the Daniel J. Edelman Holdings family of companies. Based in Washington, D.C., EGA has deep expertise on the ground in the U.S. and Canada, APAC, MENA, Europe, Latin America and India. EGA's team members work seamlessly with Edelman's other 6,000+ world-class communications professionals to deliver truly integrated client services.

CONTACT:Lindsay Clifton[email protected]

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SOURCE Edelman Global Advisory
LARGO, Md., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the evening of Wednesday, February 8, 2023, eight women became the most recent graduates of the El Poder de Ser Mujer Food Service Entrepreneurship Program. Employ Prince George's (EPG), and El Poder de Ser Mujer are long-time partners through EPG's Career Pathways for ALL program. Career Pathways for ALL empowers immigrants, refugees, and all other Prince George's County residents who speak English as a second language, to create opportunities for themselves and their families while ensuring they have all the tools necessary to succeed.

The eight students who graduated from the Food Service Entrepreneurship Program were: Angela Aguilera, Brenda Mayen, Dalila Ventura, Elda Chavez, Fabiola Vargas, Hila Ventura, Maria Aguila, and Yajaira Feliz Jose. Upon completion of this program, these ladies have earned the ServSafe Food Manager Certification, certified by the National Restaurant Association, and have the opportunity to earn the AllerTrain food allergy and gluten-free certificate accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is valid for five years. Graduate Elda Chavez was a stay at home parent who dreamed of starting her own business when she first came to the Career Pathways for ALL program. Now, with her ServSafe certification, Elda and the other graduates, are one step closer to opening their food service businesses.

First introduced in 2018, the Food Service Entrepreneurship Program was created by El Poder de Ser Mujer with the "belief that a community of talented natural entrepreneurs, given the right resources, can create self-sufficient businesses that benefit themselves, their families, their community, and even entire cities." More than 250 students have graduated from programs offered by El Poder de Ser Mujer. These graduates have gone on to create successful businesses, including previous graduate Zulma Mendoza, a 2022 Food Service Entrepreneurship Program graduate who, before the program, struggled to find work, but after graduation was able to update her resume and obtain employment at the College Park Academy, where her children are enrolled, allowing her to spend time with her children while gaining industry experience!

Any Prince George's County resident who speaks English as a second language, or is willing to learn, can participate in the Career Pathways for ALL program. Those who are interested can receive more information by emailing [email protected] or visiting EmployPG.org/CPFA.

Employ Prince George's (EPG) provides workforce intelligence and solutions for the job seeker and business. EPG's mission is to contribute to the economic vitality of Prince George's County by providing a demand-driven system that delivers qualified workers to business and provides job seekers with opportunities for careers in high-demand/high-growth industries.

For more information, please visit www.EmployPG.org.

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SOURCE Employ Prince George's
MIDVALE, Utah, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Groove Technology Solutions (Groove), an integrator of technology solutions for commercial, hospitality and multifamily properties recently achieved Great Place to Work Certification, the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Groove. This year, 100% of employees said it's a great place to work. Nationally, only 57% of staff are satisfied with their employers.

"Great Place to Work Certification isn't something that comes easily  it takes ongoing dedication to the employee experience," explained Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at Great Place to Work. "It's the only official recognition determined by employees' real-time reports of their company culture. Earning this designation means that Groove is one of the best companies to work for in the country."

Employees at Certified workplaces are 93% more likely to enjoy coming to work, are paid fairly, and have a fair promotion chance. In addition to competitive compensation and benefits, Groove employees are eligible for 401K matching and flexible remote work options. Groove's corporate office provides an onsite fitness center, massage services and complimentary snacks and beverages.

"The Groove culture and the happiness of our employees is a top priority for our leadership team," said Lance Platt, President of Groove. "Cultivating an environment where dedication is rewarded has enabled us to attract and retain top talent, which is a tremendous benefit for our customers."

From DIRECTV, Internet and Wi-Fi to video surveillance, phone systems, energy management, and other property technologies, Groove serves a wide range of industries including hotels, senior living, hospitals, student housing, multifamily and more. Whether upgrading a single solution or implementing a comprehensive technology suite, the experienced team at Groove ensures all property technologies work seamlessly together while simplifying vendor management.

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first? Visit the Groove careers page to learn more about current job opportunities.

About Groove

Founded in 2007, Groove Technology Solutions (Groove) is an integrator of property technology solutions for commercial, hospitality and multifamily properties nationwide. Groove is headquartered in Midvale, UT with an office in Raleigh, NC in addition to other operations centers across the country. For more information, visit www.getgrooven.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/groove-technology-solutions-earns-great-place-to-work-certification-301748194.html

SOURCE Groove Technology Solutions
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) announced today that it has secured all regulatory approvals required to complete the sale of its Textile Effects division to Archroma, a portfolio company of SK Capital Partners. Both parties expect the transaction to close on February 28, 2023. The agreed purchase price was $593 million in cash plus assumed pension liabilities, and Huntsman expects the net after tax cash proceeds to be approximately $540 million before customary post-closing adjustments.

Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President, and CEO commented:

"Our teams have been working diligently since we signed the purchase agreement last August to get this deal to closing and, when we secured approval from the Indian competition law authority last week, we quickly put the final steps in place to complete the transaction on the 28th February. I want to thank the more than 2,000 Huntsman associates for their incredible professionalism and effort to get us to this day. These associates and the Textile Effects business they have so well served, will combine with Archroma to create the World's leading textile chemicals and dyes company. I would also like to recognize Barry Siadat and his SK management team for their commitment to complete this transaction."

About Huntsman:Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2021 revenues of approximately $8 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 70 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 9,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com.

Social Media:Twitter: www.twitter.com/Huntsman_CorpFacebook: www.facebook.com/huntsmancorpLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/huntsman

Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information in this release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. The forward-looking statements in this release are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the company's operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Huntsman companies' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Significant risks and uncertainties may relate to, but are not limited to, the anticipated timing to close the sale of the Textile Effects business, volatile global economic conditions, cyclical and volatile product markets, disruptions in production at manufacturing facilities, reorganization or restructuring of Huntsman's operations, including any delay of, or other negative developments affecting the ability to implement cost reductions, timing of proposed transactions, and manufacturing optimization improvements in Huntsman businesses and realize anticipated cost savings, and other financial, economic, competitive, environmental, political, legal, regulatory and technological factors. The company assumes no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by applicable laws.

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SOURCE Huntsman Corporation
Announced 2023 Shareholder Value Maximization Policy, including the plan to purchase KRW 150 billion worth of treasury shares, which will all be cancelled.

To secure additional cash to gain a competitive edge in future business and combat global uncertainties through external investment.

To establish a BOD with diversity, expertise, and independence.

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Mobis (KRX 012330) announced the 2023 Shareholder Value Maximization Policy on 14th. The company intends to maximize shareholder value with balance between investment for future growth and shareholder return policy.

Hyundai Mobis unveiled a cash utilization plan in its 2023 Shareholder Value Maximization Policy. Essential plans include KRW 5-6 trillion (approx. USD 4.5 billion) for organic growth in electrification and core components aimed at gaining a competitive edge; KRW 3-4 trillion (approx. USD 3 billion) for in-organic growth in autonomous driving, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and software; and KRW 5 trillion (approx. USD 4 billion) in cash buffer for responding to economic downturns and other crises that may arise.

The company will also continue to maximize shareholder value by achieving a balance between future investment and shareholder returns. While keeping the stock prices up for the mid- to long-term by investing in future mobility, such as software and semiconductors, Hyundai Mobis will also carry out measures flexibly to increase shareholder value through dividends, buybacks, and cancellations.

The key to the future growth strategy can be summed up as a preemptive investment with a view to strengthening both internal and external competitiveness. Hyundai Mobis will continue its R&D to improve future mobility competitiveness in core parts, including electrification and electronic components. The company will also expand order intakes from global automakers to strengthen its position as a global supplier.

In addition, Hyundai Mobis will strive to make external investment through strategic M&A, including autonomous driving and pertinent software. Hyundai Mobis will also seek out and invest in new businesses that will serve as the long-term growth engine, such as advanced air mobility (AAM) based on its innovative technologies.

This year's dividend will be operated flexibly at 20-30% of the payout ratio based on net profit excluding the equity method. The current interim dividend will also be maintained. Hyundai Mobis will purchase KRW 150 billion (approx. USD 118 million) worth of treasury shares, which will all be cancelled. Taking into account the funds required for the large-scale investment plan in electrification projects in North America, the company will maintain the flexible approach it has taken the previous year to the amount of the treasury stock it purchases annually.

Hyundai Mobis faithfully carried out the shareholder returns policy worth a total of KRW 2.6 trillion (approx. USD 2 billion) after announcing the three-year mid- to long-term shareholder returns policy in 2019. Starting last year, Hyundai Mobis began paying dividends on an annual basis. The company purchased KRW 313.2 billion (approx. USD 246 million) of treasury stocks, and retired KRW 62.5 billion (approx. USD 49.2 million) of treasury stocks it already owned.

The company also proposed a new composition of the Hyundai Mobis Committee. At the committee meeting held on the same day, members resolved to reappoint Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun as an internal director and Chang Young as an independent director.

As for an independent director specialized in industrial management, the Chairman and CEO of AMCHAM Korea, James Kim, was newly recommended. The incoming director, James Kim, has a strong background in business management as a former CEO of GM Korea, Microsoft Korea, and Yahoo Korea. He is also a mobility and software expert. The appointment of new directors will be confirmed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for March.

Accordingly, the Hyundai Mobis Committee will be comprised of five independent directors with an emphasis on diversity, expertise, and independence. The greatest minds in the industry, finance, logistics, and governance will become the members of the committee. The addition of new director Kim is expected to propel Hyundai Mobis toward the next stage of growth in future mobility.

Hyundai Mobis plans to approve the total sum dividends of KRW 4,000 per share including the interim dividend, which is the same amount as in the previous year, at the 46th AGM scheduled for March 22, 2023.

About Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Mobis is the global no. 6 automotive supplier, headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Hyundai Mobis has outstanding expertise in sensors, sensor fusion in ECUs and software development for safety control. The company's products also include various components for electrification, brakes, chassis and suspension, steering, airbags, lighting, and automotive electronics. Hyundai Mobis operates its R&D headquarters in Korea, with four technology centers in the United States, Germany, China and India. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.mobis.co.kr/

Media Contact Jihyun Han: [email protected] Choon Kee Hwang : [email protected]

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SOURCE Hyundai Mobis
ROCKVILLE, Md. and SUZHOU, China, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, announces that the first patient with thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) has been successfully dosed in the Phase 2 study of IBI311, a recombinant anti-insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) monoclonal antibody.

This study (CTR20223393) is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase 2 clinical study in TAO subjects. The primary objective was to evaluate the efficacy of IBI311 in improving proptosis in TAO subjects to support further clinical development of IBI311 advancing into pivotal studies.

IBI311 is an IGF-1R targeting monoclonal antibody independently developed by Innovent. By blocking the binding of IGF-1 and IGF-2 to IGF-1R, IBI311 inhibits IGF-1R signaling pathway activation and reduces the expression of downstream inflammatory factors, thereby inhibiting the adipocytosis of orbital fibroblasts (OFs) and the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycans due to the activation of OFs, as well as the inflammatory response, thus reduces disease activity and improve proptosis, diplopia, ocular congestion and edema in patients with active TAO. Currently, no targeted drugs for TAO have been approved in China; overseas, Teprotumumab is the first and currently only IGF-1R mAb approved by the FDA for TAO.

The principal investigator, Professor Fan Xianqun from Ophthalmology Department of the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stated: " Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy is one of the most common orbital diseases in adults and is an organ-specific autoimmune disease closely related to thyroid disease, which can severely affect the visual function and appearance of patients. There are currently no targeted drugs approved for TAO in China. In 2020, Teprotumumab was approved by the FDA for the treatment of TAO, providing a new option for TAO treatment, and was recommended by the Chinese Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy (2022), the European Group On Graves' Orbitopathy (EUGOGO) and the consensus on thyroid eye disease of the American Thyroid Society and the European Thyroid Society. We are looking forward to IBI311, developed by a domestic biopharmaceutical company, demonstrating good efficacy and safety in the Chinese TAO population and being able to be approved and launched to market as soon as possible to relieve patients' pain."

Dr. Lei Qian, Vice President of Clinical Development of Innovent, stated: "At present, there is a great unmet medical need for TAO because of no targeted drug approved for TAO in China. IBI311 is a recombinant anti-IGF-1R antibody developed by Innovent for the treatment of TAO and also another new molecule laid out by Innovent in the field of ophthalmology, with high druggability. Preclinical in vivo and in vitro studies have preliminarily verified that IBI311 has good safety and biological activity. The Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers also demonstrated favorable safety and tolerability of IBI311 and provide the basis for further clinical development. I believe that IBI311 will demonstrate encouraging efficacy and safety date in the current phase 2 clinical study of in TAO subjects. Innovent will cooperate with academia and promote clinical development under the leadership of Prof. Fan to bring high quality and accessible biologics to TAO patients, truly fulfilling our mission of 'To develop and commercialize high-quality biopharmaceuticals that are affordable to ordinary people ' ."

About Thyroid-associated Ophthalmopathy (TAO)

Thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is an autoimmune disease involving ocular tissues and is usually associated with Graves' disease (GD) and is the most common orbit-related disease in adults. TAO occurs in approximately 25 to 50% of GD patients and can also be seen in other thyroid diseases, even in euthyroidism1.The annual incidence of TAO is estimated to be 16/100,000 in women and 2.9/100,000 in men2. According to disease severity, it can be divided into mild, moderate and severe. Although TAO appears to affect women more often, severe cases occur more frequently in men. Patients aged 30 to 50 years are most commonly affected, and severe cases occur more frequently in patients over 50 years3. At present, the pathogenesis of TAO is not fully understood, but several studies have shown that OFs present in muscle fibers, orbital fibrous connective tissue space are key factors leading to orbital soft tissue enlargement in TAO4.

The natural history of TAO is divided into active and inactive phases5. The most common symptoms are dry eye, ocular gritty, photophobia, lacrimation, diplopia, and pressure behind the eye, while typical signs include upper eyelid retraction, eyelid edema, periorbital and conjunctival edema, and proptosis. TAO is usually mild to moderate, and about 35% of patients with TAO are severe, manifesting as severe pain, vision-threatening corneal ulcers, or compressive optic neuropathy6. In addition to potentially affecting vision, TAO can have an extremely severe impact on the patient's appearance and social functioning and quality of life.

Currently, the first-line treatment option for moderately severe active TAO is intravenous glucocorticoid therapy, which suffers from unsatisfactory improvement of proptosis and systemic side effects, and second-line treatment includes other immunomodulators, which also have risks related to unclear improvement of proptosis and treatment.

Teprotumumab is recommended by the Chinese Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy (2022)7, the European Group On Graves' Orbitopathy (EUGOGO)8 and the consensus on thyroid eye disease of the American Thyroid Society and the European Thyroid Society9 as a second-line treatment option for moderately severe active TAO. There is still a large unmet clinical need in China.

About IBI311

IBI311 is a recombinant anti-IGF-1R antibody developed by Innovent Biopharmaceuticals. IGF-1R is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor that plays a role in development, metabolism, and immune regulation, and is overexpressed in OFs, B, and T cells of thyroid ophthalmopathy in Graves' disease10. IBI311 can bind IGF-1R, block IGF-1R signaling pathway activation mediated by IGF-1 and other related ligands or agonistic antibodies, reduce the expression of downstream inflammatory factors, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycan caused by OFs activation, as well as related inflammatory reactions including tissue congestion and edema; inhibit adipocyte cellularization of OFs, thereby reducing the disease activity of patients with active thyroid ophthalmopathy and improving proptosis, diplopia, ocular congestion and edema and other symptoms and signs.

About Innovent

Inspired by the spirit of "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent's mission is to develop, manufacture and commercialize high-quality biopharmaceutical products that are affordable to ordinary people. Established in 2011, Innovent is committed to developing, manufacturing and commercializing high-quality innovative medicines in the fields of oncology, metabolism, autoimmunity,, ophthalmology and other major diseases. On October 31, 2018, Innovent was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code: 01801.HK.

Since its inception, Innovent has developed a fully integrated multi-functional platform which includes R&D, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), clinical development and commercialization capabilities. Leveraging the platform, the company has built a robust pipeline of 36 valuable assets in the fields of cancer, metabolic disorder, autoimmune disease and other major therapeutic areas, with 8 approved products on the market. These include: TYVYT (sintilimab injection), BYVASDA (bevacizumab biosimilar injection), SULINNO (adalimumab biosimilar injection), HALPRYZA (rituximab biosimilar injection) , Pemazyre (pemigatinib oral inhibitor), olverembatinib (BCR-ABL TKI) , Cyramza (ramucirumab) and Retsevmo (selpercatinib). An additional 3 assets are under NMPA NDA review, 6 assets are in Phase 3 or pivotal clinical trials, and 19 more molecules are in clinical studies.

Innovent has built an international team with advanced talent in high-end biological drug development and commercialization, including many global experts. The company has also entered into strategic collaborations with Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi, Adimab, Incyte, MD Anderson Cancer Center and other international partners. Innovent strives to work with many collaborators to help advance China's biopharmaceutical industry, improve drug availability and enhance the quality of the patients' lives. For more information, please visit: www.innoventbio.com. and www.linkedin.com/company/innovent-biologics/.

Note:

TYVYT (sintilimab injection) is not an approved product in the United States.

BYVASDA (bevacizumab biosimilar injection), SULINNO, and HALPRYZA (rituximab biosimilar injection) are not approved products in the United States.

TYVYT (sintilimab injection, Innovent)

BYVASDA (bevacizumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

HALPRYZA (rituximab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

SULINNO (adalimumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

Pemazyre (pemigatinib oral inhibitor, Incyte Corporation). Pemazyre was discovered by Incyte Corporation and licensed to Innovent for development and commercialization in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

CYRAMZA (ramucirumab, Eli Lilly). Cyramza was discovered by Eli Lilly and licensed to Innovent for commercialization in Mainland China.

Retsevmo (selpercatinib, Eli Lilly). Retsevmo was discovered by Eli Lilly and licensed to Innovent for commercialization in Mainland China.

Disclaimer:

1. This indication is still under clinical study, which hasn't been approved in China.

2. Innovent does not recommend any off-label usage.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Innovent Biologics ("Innovent"), are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Innovent does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.

These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Innovent with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Innovent's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Innovent's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.

Innovent, the Directors and the employees of Innovent assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialise or turn out to be incorrect.

Reference: 1. Li Z, Cestari D M, Fortin E. Thyroid eye disease: what is new to know? Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2018;29(6):528-534. 2. Bartley G. The epidemiological characteristics and clinical course of ophthalmology associated with autoimmune thyroid disease in Olmsted Country, Minnesota. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc 1994;92:477-588. 3. Edsel I. Thyroid Associated Orbitopathy. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from Medscape Reference: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1218444-overview#a1 4. Ali F, Chorsiya A, Anjum V, Ali A. Teprotumumab (TEPEZZA): from the discovery and development of medicines to USFDA approval for active thyroid eye disease (TED) treatment. Int Ophthalmol. 2021;41(4):1549-1561. 5. Dolman P J. Evaluating Graves' orbitopathy. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab.2012;26(3):229-248. 6. Bahn R S. Graves' ophthalmopathy. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(8):726-738. 7. Bartalena L, Kahaly GJ, Baldeschi L, et al. The 2021 European Group on Graves' orbitopathy (EUGOGO) clinical practice guidelines for the medical management of Graves' orbitopathy. Eur J Endocrinol. 2021;185(4):G43-G67. 8. , .  2022.. 2022;58(9). 9. Burch HB, et al. Management of thyroid eye disease: a Consensus Statement by the American Thyroid Association and the European Thyroid Association. Eur Thyroid J. 2022;11(6):e220189. 10. Douglas RS, Naik V, Hwang CJ, et al. B cells from patients with Graves' disease aberrantly express the IGF-1 receptor: implications for disease pathogenesis. J Immunol 2008;181:5768-5774.

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SOURCE Innovent Biologics
Mohan's proven capital, financial, and operations expertise to further strengthen Kiavi's market position

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiavi, one of the nation's largest lenders to real estate investors, today announced that the company's Board of Directors has appointed Arvind Mohan as Chief Executive Officer. Mohan will assume day-to-day leadership of the company and will also join Kiavi's Board of Directors. Mohan, a financial markets veteran, has served as Kiavi's Chief Operating Officer since 2020 and has held various other leadership positions since he joined the company in June 2016. Michael Bourque has stepped down from his role as Chief Executive Officer. This will help the company drive continued growth despite challenging market conditions, and accelerate the company's position in the real estate investment market.

"It has been a great honor to serve as the CEO of Kiavi since 2020, and I am incredibly proud of everything our team has accomplished together during my 4.5 years with the company. We have built a high-growth, profitable fintech company that is a leader in serving residential real estate investors," said Bourque. "The Board and I are confident that Arvind is the right person to build on this momentum. He is a seasoned leader with significant experience in financial services and capital markets, driving customer experience improvements and operational efficiencies through technology and data, and creating long-term value. And importantly, he cares deeply about each member of our team. Kiavi is fortunate to have him as the next CEO," he continued.

Mohan brings more than 17 years of strong leadership experience to his new role. During his seven years at Kiavi, he has held various leadership positions in Capital Markets and, since 2020, has served as Chief Operating Officer overseeing the Software Engineering, Product, Risk, Business Operations, Capital Markets, and Mortgage Operations functions. Prior to Kiavi, Mohan spent 10+ years in the fixed income division at Barclays overseeing teams in the securitized products group. Mohan holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

"I know that I speak for everyone at Kiavi in thanking Michael for his leadership and impact on the company," said Mohan. "I am thrilled to assume this new role and for the future of Kiavi. We have a special culture and an exceptionally talented team that is focused on delivering for our customers, continuing to innovate our products and channels in new and diverse ways, and unlocking future opportunities for growth. I look forward to leading Kiavi through this next stage of growth," he added.

About KiaviWith more than $12.3B in funded loans, Kiavi is one of the nation's largest private lenders to residential real estate investors (REIs). Kiavi harnesses the power of data & technology to offer REIs a simpler, more reliable, and faster way to access the capital they need to scale their businesses. Formerly known as LendingHome, Kiavi is committed to helping its customers revitalize the approximately $25 trillion worth of aged U.S. housing stock to provide move-in ready homes and rental housing for millions of Americans across the country. For more information, visit www.kiavi.com. NMLS ID #1125207.

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SOURCE Kiavi Inc.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland; Cherokee Nation Delegate to U.S. Congress Kim Teehee; and Advocate Dr. Henrietta Mann will be among the honorees at Washington D.C. ceremony this month

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Native Forward Scholars Fund, previously known as American Indian Graduate Center, the oldest and largest direct scholarship provider to Native scholars in the U.S., will celebrate its 50th anniversary on February 22 with a gala at the National Museum of the American Indian in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The organization will induct inaugural influential Native leaders  the first three of whom are Native Forward alumni and scholarship recipients  into its Hall of Fame:

Deb Haaland , U.S. Secretary of the Interior

, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kim Teehee , Cherokee Nation Delegate to U.S. Congress

, Cherokee Nation Delegate to U.S. Congress Dr. Henrietta Mann, Advocate and Professor, "the Native Maya Angelou"

Advocate and Professor, "the Native Maya Angelou" Robert Bennett (1912-2002), Legal Advocate, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Native Forward co-founder

(1912-2002), Legal Advocate, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Native Forward co-founder John Rainer (1942-2011), Executive Director of National Congress of American Indians, Native Forward co-founder

Native Forward has empowered over 20,000 Indigenous students from over 500 Tribes in all 50 states with financial aid, as well as holistic support throughout their college journeys. The organization is now in its 53rd year (its 50th anniversary celebration was originally postponed due to Covid) of creating access to higher education for generations of Indigenous scholars for whom finances are a barrier to pursuing their academic and professional aspirations.

"We are marking this momentous occasion by honoring and celebrating our legacy," said Angelique Albert (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes), CEO of Native Forward. "Native Forward was founded on the belief that all Native people deserve higher education; the legacy of our founders continues today and has helped us become the premier national resource for funding for Native scholars. This historic anniversary event will honor the legacy that began in 1969. This special evening is dedicated to our founders, inaugural Hall of Fame inductees, and those who continue to make impacts in and for Indian Country."

Event Details:

What: Reception, Silent Auction, Dinner, Live Music & CocktailsWhen: February 22, 2023; 7 pm - 10 pm ETWhere: National Museum of the American Indian in the Smithsonian InstitutionFourth Street & Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20560

Media RSVP: [email protected]; 213.500.9142

Native Forward Scholars Fund is the largest direct scholarship provider to Native scholars in the U.S. It is committed to ensuring that every Native student who wants to pursue higher education is able to do so. For over 53 years, the organization has empowered over 20,000 scholars from more than 500 Tribes in all 50 states and contributed to over 1,600 law degrees and more than 2,200 Ph.D. degrees. Through scholarship funding and holistic support, Native Forward has increased the graduation rates of undergraduate students to 69%  compared to the national average of 41% for Native students  and has increased the rate for graduate students to 95%. Visit NativeForward.org

Contact: Jason Mandell213.500.9142; [email protected]

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SOURCE Native Forward Scholars Fund
M&T Bank, a decadeslong supporter of Shea's Performing Arts Center and the sponsor of Shea's Broadway Series, will not fund the theater's 2023-2024 season.

The decision to pull its sponsorship follows a tumultuous 2022 for the downtown theater.

"While we are proud of all we achieved together, we've decided to end our sponsorship agreement with Shea's," said M&T Bank spokeswoman Thea Pecht, when reached for comment. "The decision, while difficult, is tied to the management issues that started last summer. We're sorry it got to this point. It was not an easy decision for us."

Before his ouster as Shea's president in October, Michael Murphy was accused of creating a "toxic" work environment that included the harsh denigration of employees and fits of angry outbursts. Murphy maintained support from the board, even after an Aug. 12 letter to the board from 25 staff members expressed concerns over Murphy's continued tenure. Five board members, including Rich McCarthy, M&T's senior executive vice president and head of retail banking, resigned from the board last year. Murphy has since filed a lawsuit against Shea's.

The bank's sponsorship for the Shea's Broadway Series in 2021 was worth $140,000.

In addition to M&T's sponsorship of the Shea's Broadway Series, the bank has been a generous contributor to Shea's capital campaigns and sponsored galas. The late M&T CEO Robert Wilmers was also a major supporter.

M&T notified Shea's of its decision on Feb. 10.

Randall Best, Shea's board chairman, declined to discuss M&T's loss of support when contacted by The News, but issued a statement.

"As we approach the 100th anniversary, we are working with M&T Bank to determine the most meaningful way for them to support Shea's Performing Arts Center beyond the Broadway Series," Best said. "We appreciate the generous support M&T has provided to Shea's over the years, and look forward to future partnerships."

But Pecht said that is not occurring.

"The bank is not having discussions regarding any upcoming Shea's projects," she said.

Albert Nocciolino, Shea's producer and co-presenter, said he "respected M&T's thorough assessment of the situation and respected their decision," while expressing his gratitude for all the bank had done and holding out hope they would work together again.

"M&T has been a big part in the success of Shea's with their extraordinary support and understanding of the role that Shea's plays in the community," Nocciolino said. "We wouldn't be where we are without their support."

Bank executive Anthony Conte bonded M&T to Shea's beginning with his involvement as a volunteer in the early 1970s, where a $25,000 bank loan he obtained to pay off the theater's utility debts helped stave off the city's planned demolition. He continued as a volunteer until 2001, when he began a 14-year run as Shea's CEO. During his tenure, Conte oversaw the theater's restoration and Shea's ascent to one of the most successful touring Broadway houses in the country.

M&T is proud of that partnership, Pecht said.

"Through our 30 years together, we have helped Shea's grow from the brink of insolvency decades ago to become firmly established as one of our region's most prestigious arts organizations," Pecht said.

She held out the possibility M&T, which has given Shea's more than $4 million through the years, could resume support for the theater at a future time.

The M&T Bank Charitable Foundation, which gave $9.4 million to more than 300 nonprofit organizations across the region in 2022, is one of Western New York's most generous supporters of arts and culture. The bank also sponsors Broadway seasons in Rochester, Syracuse, Elmira and Binghamton.
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoDynamics today announces that Jie Bao and Xiaojun Xu will step down from the Board of Directors as of 2023-02-14 based on a mutual agreement. They will instead focus on supporting the company and its plans for the Chinese market.

The Board will subsequently consist of Ingrid Salen (Chairperson), Carina Bolin, Claes Petterson, and Matthew E. Colpoys, Jr.

"I would like to thank Jie Bao and Xiaojun Xu for their valuable contributions to the Board of Directors of NeoDynamics. I am pleased that they will continue supporting our plans for the Chinese market," said Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Ingrid Salen.

CONTACT:

Anna Eriksrud, CEO NeoDynamics AB, phone +46708 444 966 or e-mail [email protected]Aaron Wong, CFO NeoDynamics AB, phone +46735 972 011 or e-mail [email protected]

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SOURCE NeoDynamics
-- Brent D. Baird Joins the Board and Enters into Cooperation Agreement with the Company --

ELMA, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Servotronics, Inc. (NYSE American  SVT) a designer and manufacturer of servo-control components and other advanced technology products today announced the appointment of Brent D. Baird to the Board and the entry into a Cooperation Agreement between the Company and Mr. Baird. Mr. Baird will serve as a director effective February 16, 2023, with an initial term through the Company's 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and the Company has agreed to include Mr. Baird in the Company's slate of director nominees for election at the 2023 Annual Meeting.

"We are pleased to welcome Brent to the Board," said Christopher M. Marks, Chair of the Board. "As a significant shareholder and experienced business executive, we believe that he will bring a unique perspective to the boardroom and support the Company's ongoing efforts to implement its strategic plan and enhance shareholder value."

As a result of other commitments, Lucion P. Gygax has resigned from the Board effective February 14, 2023. Mr. Marks commented, "Today's announcement continues the refreshment of our Board which has been ongoing for over a year. I would like to thank Luke for his service to Servotronics and wish him the best in his future endeavors."

Under the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, Mr. Baird has agreed to customary voting provisions until June 30, 2024, subject to earlier termination in certain circumstances. The Cooperation Agreement will be included as an exhibit to the Company's current report on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Brent D. BairdMr. Baird is a private investor and owns approximately 10.9% of the Company's common stock. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Merchants Group Inc. and a former general partner of Trubee, Collins & Co., Inc. Mr. Baird served as a director of M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) from 1983 to 2020 and a director of Todd Shipyards Corporation (NYSE: TOD) from 1992 to 2011. Mr. Baird has significant investment management and corporate governance expertise, having served in numerous executive positions in public and private companies. Mr. Baird holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Williams College.

About ServotronicsServotronics, Inc. (NYSE American: SVT) is a U.S. advanced manufacturing company serving commercial, government, aerospace, defense, consumer and other markets. The Company is composed of two groups  the Advanced Technology Group (ATG) and the Consumer Products Group (CPG). The ATG primarily designs, develops and manufactures servo controls and other components for various commercial and government applications (i.e., aircraft, jet engines, missiles, manufacturing equipment, etc.). The CPG designs and manufactures cutlery, bayonets, pocket knives, machetes and combat knives, survival, sporting, agricultural knives and other edged products for both commercial and government applications. The Company's advanced manufacturing and engineering workforce and facilities are located in Western New York, including at Servotronics' headquarters in Elma, NY. More information is available at Servotronics.com.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Company will file a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in connection with the solicitation of proxies for its annual meeting of shareholders. The Company will furnish the definitive proxy statement to its shareholders. Shareholders are strongly advised to read the proxy statement because it will contain important information from the Company. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement and other documents that the Company files with the SEC from www.sec.gov or the Company's website at https://servotronics.com/investor-relations/ as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

The Company, its directors, its executive officers and its nominees for election as director may be deemed participants in the Company's solicitation of proxies from shareholders in connection with the matters to be considered at the upcoming annual meeting of shareholders. Information about the Company's directors and executive officers is set forth in (i) the Company's Proxy Statement for its last Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 16, 2022, (ii) the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on February 15, 2023, each of which are available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or the Company's website at https://servotronics.com/investor-relations/. Additional information regarding the interests of participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the upcoming annual meeting of shareholders will be included in the definitive proxy statement that the Company will file with the SEC.

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SOURCE Servotronics, Inc.
Essential Workers Demand Compensation on Par with Other Area Universities

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Teamsters Local 251 members working as custodians, groundskeepers, and movers at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) held an informational picket outside of the college. The workers are demanding that RISD give them a contract that has wages and benefits commensurate with what other union-represented Rhode Island college and university workers receive.

"We're out here today because RISD workers deserve a fair contract," said Matt Taibi, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 251 and Teamsters Eastern Region Vice President. "We're honored to have the support of students and faculty, who stand unwaveringly in solidarity with us."

"We shouldn't have to take a strike vote or be on campus picketing to get what we deserve," said John Cabral, a custodian/caretaker at RISD. "If this college cares about equality, they can start by paying their workers wages and benefits that are equal to the local area standards."

The college has an endowment of $440 million and an operating budget of $161 million. From July 2019 through June 2021, RISD gained $85 million. Support for the workers was demonstrated by an open letter sent to the RISD administration in December, which has garnered hundreds of signatures from students, alumni, faculty and other workers.

"We are proud to stand in solidarity with these workers of Teamsters Local 251 and trust that, in keeping with RISD's stated values to promote 'the physical, emotional and mental well-being of our entire community' and to 'furthering progress in Providence and Rhode Island through mutually beneficial engagement with the community,' the administration will move swiftly to meet these workers' demands," the letter said.

Teamsters Local 251 represents over 6,300 workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. For more information, go to teamsterslocal251.org/.

Contact: Matt Taibi, (401) 434-0454 [email protected]

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SOURCE Teamsters Local 251
The healthcare benefits platform enables startups to provide competitive health and wellness benefits for their teams in less time.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Thatch announced the launch of its healthcare benefits platform, which helps startups offer competitive health and wellness benefits in less time. The company also announced over $6 million in total funding, including a pre-seed and seed round. The company's seed round was led by a16z and GV, with participation from strategic investors including Lux Capital, Quiet Capital, Not Boring Capital, and BrightEdge (the impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society).

Thatch enables employers to make paying and saving for healthcare meaningfully easier.

Thatch sits on top of a company's existing health plan to remove the friction employees experience managing their healthcare finances. The product was designed with startups in mind, and today includes a tech-enabled Health Savings Account, or HSA, a Thatch debit card for all healthcare expenses, on-demand access to experts who can resolve billing issues via text, and a dashboard that brings everything together. In short, Thatch is delivering sophisticated solutions to startups that level the competitive playing field for talent.

With budgets tightening in today's economic climate, employers are increasingly looking to benefits solutions to attract and retain talent. A great team is one of the biggest predictors of startup success, and 88% of employees rank healthcare as their most highly valued benefit. This is not surprising because paying for healthcare in the United States is painful and medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the country. Thatch believes this challenge presents an opportunity to employers who want to improve the employee healthcare experience.

Thatch enables employers to make paying and saving for healthcare meaningfully easier. Every employee receives a Thatch card to pay for healthcare the way they want: from their checking account, upcoming paycheck, or HSA balance. Intelligent controls make it easy to personalize the experience, reducing the burden of large bills. When employees use their Thatch card, they'll also be able to access intelligent recommendations on things like health plan selection, savings goals, and HSA strategies based on their own expenses.

Thatch's fresh take on the HSA makes saving on healthcare easier. The tech-first approach solves major pain points of existing HSAs  users often don't know which expenses are HSA-eligible, they have to save and categorize their own receipts for future audits or distributions, and have to keep track of contributions against their annual limit. Thatch HSA users can text Thatch at any time to see if purchases are HSA-eligible and save receipts in the Thatch dashboard for compliance and future distributions. Employees can also easily see tax savings from HSA utilization and automatically track contributions against their annual limit.

Medical billing issues are a ubiquitous experience, and one that employers shouldn't have to manage. Thatch's billing experts are available on-demand to help employees understand their medical bills and resolve billing issues. Employees simply upload a bill, share some basic information, and a patient advocate will take care of it behind the scenes.

"Paying for healthcare is painful, but it shouldn't be," said Chris Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Thatch. "We're excited to work with startups who want to improve the healthcare experience for their employees. I continue to be inspired by the fact that what we're building has the potential to impact every American by bringing innovation to an important space that has long been overlooked."

"Thatch is building a smart and original solution for the long-standing healthcare financial crisis in our country, in the form of an exciting new application of financial technology," said Julie Yoo, General Partner at a16z. "We're proud to be backing this exceptionally talented team of healthcare and fintech experts to tackle this problem."

"Rising healthcare costs are a burden on patients and families, and Thatch offers a new path forward to create a more seamless healthcare payment experience," said Krishna Yeshwant, General Partner at GV. "We're excited to work with Chris Ellis, Adam Stevenson, and the Thatch team as they advance their mission to make paying for healthcare easier and more accessible for patients with a tech-enabled approach."

To join Thatch and bring world-class health benefits to your company, visit thatch.ai.

About Thatch

Thatch is on a mission to help businesses give great healthcare to their employees in under five minutes. Founded in 2021 by Chris Ellis and Adam Stevenson, Thatch is the modern health benefits platform for startups. The platform includes a Thatch card for all healthcare spend, tech-enabled HSA to save for future expenses, and bill resolution experts on-demand to answer healthcare financial questions. Backed by leading venture capital firms and strategic investors such as a16z, GV, Lux Capital, Quiet Capital, Not Boring Capital, and BrightEdge (the impact investment arm of the American Cancer Society), Thatch has raised more than $6 million to date. To learn more, visit thatch.ai.

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Thatch
HERSHEY, Pa., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) announced today that it has completed a purchase of one million shares of its common stock from Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee for the Milton Hershey School Trust, for approximately $240 million, or $239.91 per share.

"Share buybacks are an important part of our capital allocation strategy," said Steve Voskuil, Chief Financial Officer, The Hershey Company. "This transaction is consistent with that practice. The company's strong balance sheet enables continued flexibility to invest in our business to help drive future growth."

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is an industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has approximately 19,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 100 brand names in approximately 80 countries around the world that drive more than $8.9 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers, and fast-growing salty snacks including SkinnyPop, Pirate's Booty and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed.

To learn more visit www.thehersheycompany.com.

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SOURCE The Hershey Company
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kingdom of Bahrain has officially been appointed to the Presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), the global, multilateral organization dedicated to accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy to create digital prosperity for all.

His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kingdom of Bahrain, will become the new Chairman of the Council of the DCO.

As represented by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT), Bahrain will oversee the strategic direction of the DCO for the coming year and support the ongoing execution of key initiatives launched by the DCO.

His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, commented on the ascension of Bahrain to the Presidency: "The Kingdom of Bahrain is honored to have been elected to the prestigious role of Presidency of the DCO. Bahrain has put great focus on developing the regulatory framework, policies, and infrastructure that have enabled the Kingdom to establish an efficient and attractive digital ecosystem for businesses. Bahrain is ready to share its expertise and best practices with the Member States of the DCO, to enhance the mission of empowering all nations to build digital economies that drive growth and development."

Her Excellency Deemah AlYahya, Secretary-General of the DCO welcomed the appointment of Bahrain to the DCO Presidency and of H.E. Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi to Chairman of the DCO Council: "We are very pleased to announce that the Kingdom of Bahrain has been ratified to the Presidency of the DCO for 2023. The leadership of the Kingdom of Bahrain has long understood the potential of technology to advance economic growth, and the necessity of using policy and regulation to enable the framework for the digital economy to flourish and grow. Bahrain was one of the founding nations of the DCO, and now, under the Presidency of Bahrain and the wise Chairmanship of His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, we look forward to making great progress towards our goal of digital prosperity for all in 2023."

The ascension of Bahrain to the Presidency of the DCO was ratified during the second DCO General Assembly which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the holder of the Presidency, Bahrain will host the next General Assembly.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2003345/The_Digital_Cooperation_Organization.jpgLogo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1867632/DCO_Logo.jpg

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SOURCE The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)
Basso | Yanity 360 Advertising will specialize in brand marketing, campaign innovation and advertising services for local, regional, and national clients.

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Antonio advertising and marketing veterans Cory Basso, who led H-E-B's Advertising & Marketing for 18 years, and Fran Yanity are partnering to launch a new full-service advertising agency specializing in creative brand development, BASSO| YANITY 360 Advertising.

BASSO | YANITY Services will offer innovative brand marketing and strategy, cutting-edge creative services, and full-service marketing and advertising execution, to distinguish local, regional and national companies from competitors. The WBE-certified agency will launch with the following roster clients - Texas Beer Company, Texas A&M University - San Antonio, The Witte Museum, Codeup (the only accredited coding bootcamp in Texas), Beldon Commercial & Residential Roofing, as well as LeafGuard Gutters.

To learn more about BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising, please visit: basso-yanity.com

"Fran and I have a shared belief in developing a 360-degree approach to solving clients' marketing, advertising and branding needs," said Cory Basso, Chief Branding Officer of BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising. "In this new venture, we want to help brands better stand out in their respective business markets and increase their sales and market share, as we've done over the last 30 years for dozens of our respective clients."

Basso came to San Antonio 20 years ago to build an internal Marketing & Advertising Agency for H-E-B, where along with H-E-B's Brand Campaign, he spearheaded their widely recognized San Antonio Spurs commercial series and helped his team secure industry awards including "Innovative Agency of the Year." He has worked at some of the largest agencies in the world on accounts such as Toyota, Mazda, Heineken Worldwide, Coors Light, Molson, Farmers Insurance, Capital One, and SONY.

"Our new advertising agency is dedicated to winning partnerships. Cory will focus on creative and branding strategy while I will oversee the digital, social, traditional media and agency operations side of the business," stated Fran Yanity, Co-Founder and CEO. "By leveraging our combined expertise and core competencies, we are confident in the value proposition we will deliver at BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising," Yanity added.

Ms. Yanity has over 30 years of marketing and advertising experience overseeing strategic marketing, creative and media direction, as well as account leadership across various industry verticals. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day business operations for BASSO|YANITY 360 Advertising, she is also the Founder and CEO of Noisy Trumpet Digital & PR, a nationally-recognized digital and public relations firm and works as the President/COO of The PM Group, the largest full service ad agency in South Texas specializing in media execution and delivery.

The new BASSO | YANITY offices will officially open Spring 2023 at the Northwest Center Building (7550 W Interstate 10, 78229) with plans to hire 8-10 employees in the immediate future. The agency has enlisted former H-E-B Marketing Director, Judi Delgado-Hooks, as their new Senior VP of Client Services. Delgado-Hooks will specialize in forming strategic relationships with clients to develop solutions to address their marketing and advertising needs.

ABOUT BASSO | YANITY 360

BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising is a full-service creative brand development agency that specializes in brand strategy, creative services, marketing, and advertising. BY creates innovative marketing campaigns that strengthen and distinguish local, regional and national companies from their competitors. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the firm aims to grow client sales greater than industry norms. To learn more about BASSO | YANITY 360 please visit, www.basso-yanity.com

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SOURCE BASSO | YANITY 360 Advertising
At the Toyota Research Institute Expo, TRI's top researchers showcase future technology addressing aging society, climate change, and human understanding

LOS ALTOS, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Toyota Research Institute (TRI) opened its doors for the first time to members of the media to showcase the research taking place at its headquarters in Silicon Valley. During the TRI Expo, the company's CEO and Toyota Motor Corporation's Chief Scientist, Gill Pratt, explained TRI's high-risk, high-reward approaches to tackle three major societal challenges: 1) aging society, 2) climate change, and 3) human understanding.

"In the 1930s, Toyota made a huge leap by expanding from manufacturing textile looms to building cars. TRI's mission is to discover the next technological leap that will transform Toyota's business," Gill Pratt said. "We are explorers researching ways to make cars better, but we're also discovering what mobility may mean beyond cars. We believe that our high-risk, high-reward research approach can unlock the next, big breakthrough for Toyota and our customers around the world."

During the Expo, reporters toured TRI's headquarters and learned how TRI's research explores the frontier where the risks and rewards are highest. Attendees were able to experience TRI's Driver-in-the-loop Motion Simulator, a high-realism, immersive driving experience created to enhance the interface between human drivers and autonomy. They also saw firsthand various research vehicles built to explore ways to make cars safer in the future. The tour also included a close-up look at TRI's advanced robotics laboratory.

TRI introduced its five core research areas  energy and materials, human-centered AI, human interactive driving, machine learning, and robotics  and outlined why these pursuits were selected, how they strengthen each other, and how they address societal problems.

Energy & Materials uses AI to accelerate the breakthroughs needed to build safe, affordable, high-performing zero-emission vehicles.

Human-Centered AI is creating new human-AI capabilities that enhance human understanding to advance collective well-being.

Human Interactive Driving amplifies human capabilities and puts the human at the center of the driving experience.

Machine Learning is training algorithms to adapt and change on their own for the benefit of humanity.

Robotics is unlocking robotic capabilities that amplify and empower humans, at home and at work.

In a panel discussion led by Brian Cooley, technology commentator, the leads of TRI's five research divisions revealed what they hope to discover and shared how their work connects to Toyota's mission of producing happiness for all.

Brian Storey, Senior Director of Energy & Materials, said: "We're trying to solve one of the most complex challenges of our time: how to move people without relying on fossil fuels. We're using AI and other technologies to discover new materials and make other breakthroughs to power the future."

Charlene Wu, Senior Director of Human-Centered AI, said: "Bringing together a team of renowned research scientists from behavioral science, machine learning, and human-computer interaction, our team develops tools and frameworks that allow us to understand human behavior. Once we have that understanding, we work to develop AI systems to augment human decision-making."

Avinash Balachandran, Director of Human Interactive Driving, said: "As technology and consumer preferences in mobility change rapidly, we envision a future where your vehicle intelligently uses AI to amplify human capabilities, creating a better driving experience. Whether it's supporting drivers in difficult situations or interacting with drivers to improve their skills over time, we seek to build AI that collaborates with people to make driving safer and more fun for everyone."

Adrien Gaidon, Director of Machine Learning, said: "Machine Learning underlies everything we do at TRI. We want to discover and develop useful learning principles that enable machines to learn safely, at scale, and with minimal supervision. These machine learning principles aim to support the next generation of intelligent machines."

Max Bajracharya, Senior Vice President of Robotics, said: "Robotics is a powerful tool that can be used to amplify human ability rather than replace it  whether it's assisting people in their homes or at work, we want to empower people to use robots to help accomplish their tasks."

Photos and videos of the Toyota Research Institute Expo are available in the Media Press Kit.

About Toyota Research InstituteToyota Research Institute (TRI) conducts research to advance energy and materials, human-centered artificial intelligence, human interactive driving, machine learning, and robotics. Led by Dr. Gill Pratt, TRI's team of researchers are developing technologies to amplify human ability, focused on making our lives safer and more sustainable. Established in 2015, TRI has offices in Los Altos, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information about TRI, please visit http://tri.global.

TRI Media Contact:Wendy RosenSenior Director of Communications[email protected]

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SOURCE Toyota Research Institute
Elance at Alexandria is RUI's first senior living community under the new luxury brand, and the first in partnership with Welltower

TOLEDO, Ohio and ROANOKE, Va., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) and Retirement Unlimited Inc. (RUI), a family-owned and Virginia-based senior living community management company, announced today a robust programmatic partnership in the senior living space. The partnership began when RUI assumed management of the former Fountains at Washington House in Alexandria, Va., on November 15, 2022. With the management change, RUI also unveiled the community's new name  Elance at Alexandria, which represents the first installment in RUI's new luxury brand of Elance communities. The management change is part of a new partnership between RUI and Welltower, a real estate investment trust focused on data-driven and relationship-based investing. Welltower maintains a distinguished history of establishing long-term partnerships with leading seniors housing operators to enable further growth, innovation, and continuously improving care levels. A significant expansion in the programmatic relationship between Welltower and RUI is expected in the coming months and years through a robust pipeline of acquisition, transition, and development opportunities. The partnership is expected to grow to over 20 communities in the near term spanning multiple states throughout the East Coast.

"RUI is passionate about providing quality care, excellent customer service, and a luxurious lifestyle to senior communities throughout Virginia and Florida. We're honored to have the opportunity to bring that same passion to the Elance at Alexandria community," said William Fralin, RUI's CEO. "At the same time, we're excited about our new partnership with Welltower, whose leadership position and innovation in senior housing investment will further enable RUI's continued growth in delivering a lifestyle that residents have earned and deserve."

"Welltower prides itself on partnering with industry-leading senior care providers and managers and we are extremely pleased to add Retirement Unlimited, with a 40-year track record of operating excellence, to the portfolio," said Shankh Mitra, Welltower's CEO. "William, Doris-Ellie and their entire team have distinguished themselves as best-in-class managers, with their currently managed properties outperforming their underlying markets and the industry with mid 90% occupancy, strong operating margins and differentiated programming such as RUI University. We are excited to partner with RUI on Elance at Alexandria which is the first of many opportunities in the programmatic partnership's near-term pipeline."

In an effort to ensure a smooth transition, RUI's leadership team has been spending time at the community meeting with residents, families, and team members to gather and share information and has organized several Town Hall gatherings and one-on-one meetings.

"Plans are already underway at the Elance at Alexandria community for numerous projects, including the rooftop showcase, new dining experiences, a fitness center, and renovations to the luxury salon and spa," explained Doris-Ellie Sullivan, RUI's President. "We will also be introducing our MYRUI app which will allow residents and families to view life-enrichment programming and Taste of RUI menus, schedule LUXE Unlimited Salon & Spa appointments and more. This is all part of RUI's diverse enrichment programs, social experiences, and levels of care that, together, take the senior living experience to the next level in a comfortable and elegant setting."

RUI's culture of resident-focused lifestyles and engagement is presented through signature programs that include:

RUI University  lifelong learning program

Taste of RUI  culinary experience

RUI FIT  fitness and therapy services

Leash on Life  pet concierge services

LUXE Unlimited Salon and Spa

Care Impact  personalized care program

Inspiritas  memory care

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When Welltower uses words such as "may," "will," "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "plan" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the planned projects at the Elance at Alexandria community and the expansion in the programmatic relationship between Welltower and RUI, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause Welltower's actual results to differ materially from Welltower's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. This may be a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, those factors discussed in Welltower's reports filed from time to time with the SEC. Welltower undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

About RUI

Retirement Unlimited, Inc. (RUI) is owned and operated by the Virginia families of Fralin and Waldron. Led by its third generation of Fralins and second generation of Waldrons, RUI currently has nineteen senior living communities located in Virginia and most recently Florida with several active development projects as well. Our communities offer Independent/Residential Living, Assisted Living, and memory care - Inspiritas  and a full spectrum of life enrichment programs including RUI University, lifelong learning, and continuing education programs. For more information visit www.rui.net.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. The Company invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers, and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience. Welltower, a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), owns interests in properties concentrated in major, high-growth markets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, consisting of seniors housing, post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties. More information is available at www.welltower.com.

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SOURCE Welltower Inc.
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13G

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 2)*

Santo Mining Corp. (Name of Issuer) Common Stock, No par value per share (Title of Class of Securities) 333-169503 (CUSIP Number) February 13, 2023 (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)

 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 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).

Persons who respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB control number.

CUSIP No. 333-169503 13G Page 2 of 5

1 Name of Reporting Persons I.R.S. Identification Nos. of above persons (entities only). J. P. CAREY ENTERPRISES, INC. EIN: 59-3310295 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 Florida Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person with: 5 Sole Voting Power 924,516,495 6 Shared Voting Power -0- 7 Sole Dispositive Power 924,516,495 8 Shared Dispositive Power -0- 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 924,516,495 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 6.79% (based on the total of 13,621,732,714 outstanding shares of Common Stock)) 12 Type of Reporting Person (see instructions) CO

CUSIP No. 333-169503 13G Page 3 of 5

Item 1 (a) Name of Issuer. Santo Mining Corp., a Wyoming corporation (b) Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices. 6106 Nivel 6 Torre Las Perlas Panama City Panama 0801 Item 2 (a) Name of Person Filing. J. P. CAREY ENTERPRISES, INC. (b) Address of Principal Business Office, or, if none, Residence. 800 Cooper Sandy Cove Alpharetta, GA 30004 (c) Citizenship or Place of Organization. Florida (d) Title of Class of Securities. Common stock, No par value per share. (e) CUSIP Number. 333-169503

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)  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)  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. 333-169503 13G Page 4 of 5

Item 4 Ownership. (a) Amount beneficially owned: 924,516,495. (b) Percent of class: 6.79% (c) Number of shares as to which the person has: (i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote: 924,516,495 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote: (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: 924,516,495 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: 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. Inapplicable. Item 7 Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary which Acquired the Security Being Reported On by the Parent Holding Company. Inapplicable. Item 8 Identification and Classification of Members of the Group. Inapplicable. Item 9 Notice of Dissolution of Group. Inapplicable. Item 10 Certification. (a) The following certification shall be included if the statement is filed pursuant to 240.13d-1(b): By signing below I certify that, to the best of my 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. (b) The following certification shall be included if the statement is filed pursuant to 240.13d-1(c): 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. 333-169503 13G Page 5 of 5

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 15, 2023

/s/ Joseph C. Canouse

Signature

Joseph C. Canouse, President

Name/Title

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)
OLAF FUB SEZ: According to English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, born on this date in 1861, The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.

. . .

PAST AND PRESENT  Community activist Betty Jean Grant reads selections from her upcoming book of poetry, Pockets Full of Empty Air, at 5 p.m. Thursday in a free program in Fitzs Waffles and Books, 433 Ellicott St. She also will speak about her childhood in Memphis, including the lynching of her uncle by the Ku Klux Klan in August 1937. Refreshments provided.

. . .

FEEL BETTER  The Central Library on Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo offers Wellness @ Central from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, with a variety of resources, including health insurance enrollment, addiction services, financial assistance and counseling. Its free and open to the public.

. . .

FIELD AND STREAM  The largest fly-fishing show in the state is part of the eighth annual Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo from Thursday to Sunday in the Niagara Falls Convention Center, 101 Old Falls St. It will offer a chance to try fly casting, a beginning fly-fishing school, fly-tying instruction and a fly-fishing social on Friday. Tickets for the social are $25 and include a pass to the entire expo. Expo passes are $10 a day. Kids 12 and under free with a paying adult. For more info, visit niagarafishingexpo.com.

. . .

LOOKING UP  North Americas only international birding festival, Birds on the Niagara 2023, will be held along the Niagara River corridor from Friday to Monday with guided outdoor walks in a variety of locations and indoor programs and presentations. It starts at 6 p.m. Friday with a meet-and-greet in Twin Petrels Seltzer Co., 1250 Niagara St., hosted by the Feminist Bird Club of Buffalo and Buffalo Women of Environmental Learning and Leadership-BWELL. For more info, visit birdniagara.org.

. . .

NIGHT OUT  The Singles Social Club hosts a Valentines Dance with Ron the DJ from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday in the Buff Social Club, 2565 Young St., Niagara Falls. Cost is $5. Proof of Covid vaccination required. For more info, call 716-550-1232.

. . .

VIRTUOSO VISIT  Five select students from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the world-class Fisk pipe organ in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the University at Buffalo North Campus in Amherst. Tickets are $10. UB students can get a free ticket right before concert time.

. . .

PARTY TIME  The Polish Heritage Dancers present their 24th annual Paczki Day celebration from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday in Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral, 6298 Broadway, Lancaster, with Polish food and beer, music by Special Delivery and a folk dance show. Tickets are $12, $10 advance until Friday. Call 716-983-5084 or 716-681-0813.

. . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  Ann Marie Szymanski, Rosa Whetzle-Trotter, Moira Moldenhauer, Lynn Kamuda, Deb Feneran, Tristan Dorney, Samuel Recktenwalt, Therese Pitrelli, Diane Nowak, Michael Morrisette, Joanne Buczkowski, Mary Lynn Heidle and Robert W. Zygmunt.

AND THURSDAY  Toni Ruberto, Greg Hartl, Meganne Conrad, Nicole Owczarczak, Cindy Januchowski, Shelby Weisedel, Robin Sengbusch, James Harkin, Jeanine Kacala, Anne Laplante, Judith Janis, Kathy Tiftickjian and Patti Bollenbacher.

To submit birthdays and other items of interest to Reporters Notebook, please email olaffub@buffnews.com or send a letter to Reporters Notebook, Buffalo News, Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240.
WASHINGTON  The Army hopes some new and revived recruiting incentives will persuade more young Americans to join up this year after a difficult 2022, the services top enlisted soldier said Tuesday.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston warned the service cant afford to repeat the lackluster performance of last year  when the Army missed its active-duty enlistment goal of 60,000 by 15,000 recruits. For 2023, the goal is to sign 65,000 recruits. More so, the Army missed its end force target for 2022 of 485,000 troops, falling short about 20,000 soldiers.

We had a tough year last year, Grinston said during an interview at an Association of the United States Army event. We cannot do that again. Thats No. 1.

Each military branch has faced recruiting challenges in the last several years due partly to a diminishing candidate pool. Pentagon data has shown fewer than 25% of all young Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 qualify for military service academically and physically.

Grinston said Tuesday that the Army is engaged in a ton of efforts to improve the appeal of life in the service, including a referral program.

Just announced is the soldier [referral] program, where [if you] recruit one of your buddies  you get promoted, he said, noting the Army hasnt used that tactic in a long time. We just kind of dusted it off.

The referral program is already active and it works in two different ways. With a referral, soldiers at the E1, E2 or E3 level can get promoted to the next grade or soldiers of any rank can sign up a friend and receive a recruiting ribbon.

Grinston said another effort allows new recruits to choose where they are stationed after they finish basic training. Army officials believe this option should be attractive to families who want a relative to stay closer to home or be assigned to a safe location, he said.

That is something we havent done in a long time, Grinston said. We have got a lot of initiatives; we have a whole laundry list.

Other recruiting efforts include cash bonuses and added resources to help recruiters with quality-of-life issues. For example, Grinstons office said some recruiters can get additional money for various associated costs such as parking that can vary from city to city.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth has said she expects the recruiting total will be better in 2023, but its too early to tell what the final amount will be. Earlier this week, Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, who leads Army marketing, said the most common obstacles that recruiters see are young people who dont see the service as relevant to their lives, those who feel joining up would put their lives on hold, and others who see Army life as too dangerous, The Associated Press reported.

One thing several Army leaders have said they wont do to aid recruiting is lower the eligibility standards.

We think that quality is more important than quantity, Gen. James McConville, the Armys chief of staff, said last month.

Grinston, who has been the sergeant major of the Army since 2019, is set to retire in August and he will be succeeded by Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Weimer, a Green Beret with a long history in special operations. The sergeant major of the Army is the services highest-ranked, noncommissioned soldier and acts as an advocate for enlisted members across a range of issues.

Grinston emphasized Tuesday that theres one avenue thats key to recruiting  giving young Americans a glimpse of what their lives would look like in the Army. And once theyre in, he said, theyll want to stay.

Our retention numbers have stayed steady or higher than they ever have been, he said. What that tells us is, we just need to get people into the military, in the Army. Once they get in, they want to stay, they like it.

The Army has a website  https://www.goarmy.com/refer.html  for information about the referral program and the bonuses that the service is offering, as well as other recruiting-related tools.
The U.S. military continues to send aid to earthquake-devastated Turkey, with 40,000 pounds of supplies arriving on two Army CH-47F Chinook helicopters in Elbistan and Pazarcik on Tuesday.

The supplies, delivered from Incirlik Air Base to Turkish relief agency AFAD by the 3rd Battalion, 501st Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, included tents, hygiene products and diapers, an Army news release said.

Turkish air base Incirlik, about 124 miles from the epicenter of the quake that struck Feb. 6 in southern Turkey and northern Syria, is serving as a hub for humanitarian assistance flowing into the affected region. It was not significantly damaged in the earthquake, Stars and Stripes previously reported.

Previous deliveries include nearly 6,000 tons of food, supplies and equipment, the Air Forces 39th Air Base Wing said in a statement Sunday.

The 1st Armored Division has conducted 10 aerial missions totaling more than 60 flight hours since Feb. 7 in support of the United States Agency for International Development and Turkish relief efforts, the release said.

More than 39,000 people have died in the quake, with more than 35,000 of the dead in Turkey. The quake is now the deadliest in Turkey since the modern nation was founded 100 years ago, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
UIJEONGBU, South Korea  A section of a former U.S. Army outpost north of Seoul is destined to become a neighborhood park now that Uijeongbu city has secured project money, local officials announced recently.

The commissioned park will be completed by December 2025 and span 24 acres in Uijeongbu, which is surrounded by mountain hiking trails and wildlife, according to a news release from the city on Feb. 9.

We will do our best to come up with a plan to create a neighborhood park with a natural setting where 470,000 people in the city can love and relax, deputy mayor An Dong-gwang said in the release.

The city purchased the site from the South Korean government for roughly $4.5 million and later received $9.4 million in funding from the Korea Land and Housing Corp. for restoration projects, according to the release.

Camp Essayons occupied the site until 2007 as the Army shuttered or partially returned around 40 outposts throughout the country and turned the land over to the South Korean government.

The closures were part of an agreement by the United States military to create a more suitable environment for the stationing of U.S. Forces Korea and to enhance force protection , according to the Land Partnership Plan signed in 2002 by the former USFK and South Koreas Ministry of National Defense.

Camp Essayons is named after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers French motto, which translates to let us strive or let us try, according to a handbook from the U.S. Army Engineer School History Office.

The nearly 76-acre outpost once housed about 600 soldiers from the since deactivated 102nd Military Intelligence Battalion. It included a gymnasium, movie theater and library, but lacked a commissary.

The site now houses the Eulji Medical Center, a hospital connected to the Eulji University school system and the Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, a project official said by phone Monday. South Korean government officials customarily speak to the media on the condition of anonymity.

Building a park will probably be a good thing, Shim Joon Ho, a 30-year Uijeongbu resident and a taxi driver, told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. Shim recalled driving a lot of U.S. troops during his work shift and said that business has struggled since they left the city.

The majority of the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea are stationed at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and U.S. Army Garrison Daegu.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
A World War II Medal of Honor recipient who also served in Korea and Vietnam is being recognized once again with a U.S. Army installation named in his honor.

The Virginia National Guards Fort Pickett will be redesignated Fort Barfoot on March 24 in honor of Col. Van T. Barfoot, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions as a technical sergeant during the 1944 Battle of Anzio in Italy. The post is one of nine Army installations being renamed to remove Confederate ties, after Congress mandated in 2021 that an appointed Naming Commission come up with potential new names for them.

Barfoot, who died in 2012 at age 92, enlisted in the Army in 1940 and retired in Virginia in 1974. Before heading to Europe during WWII with the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, he trained at what was then Camp Pickett. He served as an adviser to the Virginia National Guards 116th Infantry Regiment in the 1950s and as senior Army adviser to the Virginia National Guard until his retirement, according to an Army news release.

I love them, theyre dedicated people, Barfoot said in an interview with the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. Ill tell you, the greatest asset we have now is our National Guard. Theyre just complete soldiers.

Barfoot, whose maternal grandmother was a member of the Choctaw Nation, is one of 33 Native Americans to receive the Medal of Honor, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Representatives from the Choctaw Nation and Virginia-based tribes will attend the renaming ceremony, the Army release said.

During the breakout from Anzio to Rome near Carano, Italy, on May 23, 1944, Barfoot advanced on the Germans alone, destroying two machine gun nests and capturing 17 German soldiers. Later the same day, he faced off against three German Mark VI tanks, disabling the lead tank by destroying its track, and killing three soldiers. He also helped move two wounded U.S. soldiers to safety while returning to his platoon position, according to his Medal of Honor citation.

Much later in life, in 2009, Barfoot made the news again after he was ordered by his home owners association to remove an American flag from his home in Henrico County, Va. He eventually was allowed to fly the flag after getting support from state and national lawmakers and organizations, the Army release said.

Our family is extremely proud of the honor that is being bestowed on our father, Barfoots son, Tom Barfoot, said in the release.  He wanted people to know that that his award of The Medal of Honor was not just representative of him, but of all the men and women of this nation who sacrificed to meet our countrys call.
(Tribune News Service)  BTS rapper Suga is ready to strike a chord with a solo tour.

The South Korean superstar announced a series of concerts beginning in April, making him the first member of his Korean-pop group to tour solo.

Hell kick off the global concert run with back-to-back shows at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on April 26-27, followed by an April 29 gig at the Prudential Center in Newark, according to Tuesdays announcement.

The tour also includes three concerts in Los Angeles, three in suburban Chicago and two in Oakland, Calif., all of which will take place in May.

Hell perform as well in Jakarta, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Kallang, Singapore; and Seoul, South Korea, where BTS originated in 2013. Japan dates are forthcoming, organizers said.

Suga, whose real name is Min Yoon-gi, rose to fame as one of seven members in BTS, the Grammy-nominated group behind hits such as Dynamite and Butter.

Last year, BTS announced a hiatus until 2025 as its members fulfill their countrys mandatory military service and pursue solo projects.

We support and encourage our artists and are beyond proud that they will each now have time to explore their unique interests and do their duty by being of service to the country they call home, the Big Hit music label said in October.

In December, the groups eldest member, 30-year-old Jin, became the first to begin the 18-month military requirement.

Sugas solo hits include Agust D and Give It To Me.

BTS boasts a massive following in the U.S., where it has six No. 1 songs. The group held concerts at the Prudential Center during world tours in 2017 and 2018. Sugas performance at the arena will come six months after another major K-pop act, BLACKPINK, had two concerts there in November.

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(Tribune News Service)  A 25-year-old Waikiki man in federal custody for allegedly selling a fatal dose of cocaine to a Kaneohe Marine reportedly received more than $20,000 in loans from a COVID-19 relief program for what he claimed was his taxi business.

Rayshaun Emilio Nova  Ducos was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and a firearm offense. He pleaded not guilty to both charges Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom A. Trader. His trial is set for April 11.

Ducos was allegedly found in possession of two ghost guns when federal agents searched his Waikiki apartment Jan. 30. A 9 mm handgun and a 5.56 mm AR-15-style handgun, neither with manufacturer markings, were found in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the indictment.

The government is seeking forfeiture of the firearms and $30,829 in cash seized from Ducos apartment.

According to a search of ProPublicas Paycheck Protection Program loan database, Ducos used a sole proprietorship, which he represented in a federal loan application as a taxi business  in Honolulu, to obtain $20, 416 in PPP funding on April 28, 2021. His business supposedly existed for more than two years prior to receiving the federal aid.

Information on Ducos loan status is not available on the database.

A check with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Business Registration Division failed to turn up any record of Ducos serving as a business agent for a sole proprietorship in Honolulu.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Ayabe, who is prosecuting his drug and firearm case for the government, and Assistant Federal Public Defender Craig Jerome did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment. The U.S. Attorneys Office did not respond to questions about whether Ducos loan application is the subject of federal scrutiny or connected to his alleged cocaine distribution operation.

On Jan. 23, Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents responded to a report of an overdose at a home on Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe. They found Cpl. Adell Anderson, of the 3rd Marine Division, who was taken to the Adventist Health Castle hospital in Kailua, where he was pronounced dead, according to federal court records.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and NCIS are investigating Ducos and other identified and unidentified subjects, regarding the distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and other controlled substances, and conspiracy,  according to the court complaint.

A witness told NCIS agents that Anderson knew Ducos from previous drug transactions.

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The Uncrowned Queens Institute will debut a new exhibit featuring storied men and women from Buffalo's Black community on Friday at the Buffalo History Museum as part of a Black History Month celebration.

The exhibit, "Say Their Names: Honor Their Legacies," shares the stories and insights of revered community elders through portraits, biographies and video interviews, according to Barbara Seals-Nevergold, an organizer of the event.

"Our goal has always been to collect, to verify or document, and preserve, and then share the histories of African Americans in this region," Seals-Nevergold said in a brief telephone interview with The News on Tuesday.

"There are so many African Americans who are what we call community builders, who worked hard throughout a number of decades, and who at this point in time may seem to be retired but are still working into their 80s, 90s and 100s," she added.

Seals-Nevergold, a former president of the Buffalo Board of Education, founded the Uncrowned Queens Institute as a project with Peggy Brooks-Bertram in 1999, and established it as a nonprofit in 2003.

Friday's exhibit will open at 6 p.m. and feature 11 honorees.

"Peggy and I also have our short bios and interviews with us, as well. So we have a baker's dozen," Seals-Nevergold said.

"They have a history to tell," she added.

The recorded histories are fairly brief, and include information about the honorees backgrounds, challenges they have faced and significant contributions they have made to the local community, along with advice they offer to the younger generations about tackling discrimination and uplifting the community.

"Many of the honorees will be there in person. The interviews are going to be available on the YouTube channel, as well as the exhibit itself will include photos and a bit about each of these individuals," Seals-Nevergold said.

Among the senior community builders who will be featured in the exhibit are Clifford Bell, a former Buffalo Common Council Member-at-Large who spearheaded the construction of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bust in MLK Park with the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

Retired educator and former Buffalo School Board member Florence Johnston will also be featured, as well as Paul Woods, a soon-to-be centenarian on Feb. 20 and a World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific Theater and earned three Bronze Stars and a Liberation of the Philippines Medal. Woods is also a father of 15, including Central District Buffalo School Board Member Paulette Woods.
TOKYO  This year, no former U.S. prisoners from World War II made an annual trip to the Japanese capital at the invitation of their former captors.

Instead, a son and six daughters came this week to relay how their parents survived forced marches, slave labor and brutal treatment by guards after being captured in the Philippines.

Yet none mentioned any grudges held by their parents, who all died decades later, toward the Japanese people.

It is war that is the problem, Lorna Nielsen Murray, 64, of South Jordan, Utah, said Tuesday during a group discussion at Temple University, Japan Campus. Her father, Army Pfc. Eugene Nielsen, fought on Corregidor, Philippines, as a member of the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment.

The group arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a five-day visit sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program  a gesture of reconciliation to promote mutual understanding between Japanese and Americans  has been bringing former POWs and their families to Japan since 2010.

The trip, which includes visits to the sites of old POW camps and a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, is the first since the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the few that have not included a former prisoner.

At the university, the group shared stories about what their parents endured in captivity.

Thomas Hoskins Jr., 75, of San Antonio, Texas, said his father, Army Staff Sgt. Thomas Hoskins, was manning a radar in the Philippines when Japan attacked on Dec. 8, 1941.

As a prisoner, his father was forced to build an airfield on Palawan Island. He was taken to Japan to work in various camps in the Kawasaki area near Tokyo. After the war, his father continued to serve in the military until his retirement in 1959 as a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, according to the information provided by the university.

The son, at times close to tears, gave a moving account of his fathers participation in a forced march through Manila where stragglers were shot before the men were packed into stifling box cars and sent to a prison camp. Some of the men died on their feet before the train reached its destination, Hoskins said.

Sandra Harding, 70, of Santa Fe, N.M., spoke about her parents, both U.S. Army officers who surrendered in the Philippines: Lt. Earlyn Black Harding and Lt. Col. Harry Harding.

Hardings mother served as a nurse on the island fortress of Corregidor. Her father was with the 63rd Infantry Regiment (Philippine Army) on Panay Island.

The couple met on Corregidor but didnt reunite until after the war, she said.

Her mother was interned at Santo Tomas in Manila while her father was sent to Japan and imprisoned at three camps, Harding said.

My mother thought my father died in a POW camp, she said. He found her working in a hospital in Denver and they married in June 1946.

Murray said her father was one of only 11 survivors of the 1944 massacre of 139 American prisoners on Palawan Island.

The airfield they built for the Imperial Japanese Army is now part of the Philippines Antonio Bautista Air Base, according to information provided by the university.

Murray said her father escaped a trench where Japanese guards were burning and shooting prisoners. He was shot several times swimming for his life and linked up with a Filipino freedom fighter. U.S. forces eventually rescued her father and several other escaped prisoners, she said.

On Nov. 22, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris laid flowers at the memorial on Palawan to the victims of the Japanese war crime, according to information provided by the university.

The veterans children shared childhood experiences of parents who hoarded and cherished food after being deprived in captivity.

World War II should never happen again, Murray said. We hope we can prevent such things ever happening again.
TOKYO  Balloons seen in Japanese airspace between 2019 and 2021 are presumed to have been Chinese spy craft, Japans Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

The balloons were spotted in Japans Kagoshima prefecture on Nov. 20, 2019; Miyagi prefecture on June 17, 2020; and Aomori prefecture on Sept. 3, 2021, the ministry said in a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes.

As a result of repeated analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the balloons are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China, the ministry said.

The Japanese government has asked for confirmation from China and demanded no further such incidents. The incursions are totally unacceptable, the ministry said.

The U.S. military has shot down four flying objects over U.S. and Canadian airspace this month, including one that, officials say, was a Chinese spy balloon.

Releasing details of the process used to determine the origin of the craft spotted over Japan would reveal national defense capabilities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning.

However, public broadcaster NHK, citing unnamed Defense Ministry sources, reported Wednesday that Japan relied on intelligence about the Chinese balloon that was shot down Feb. 4 by a U.S. fighter over the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina.

Japan had not previously reported Chinese spy balloons in its territory, Kyodo News reported Wednesday.

We will make greater efforts than ever in gathering information and conducting surveillance against balloons, including unmanned reconnaissance balloons by foreign governments, in the future, the ministry said in its statement.

Japans air force is authorized to use weapons, including air-to-air missiles, when responding to airspace violations, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said during a news conference Tuesday morning.

Generally speaking, it can take necessary measures against a foreign balloon that enters our territorial airspace without permission if it is decided that such measures are necessary to protect Japanese citizens lives and property, he said.

Taiwan has also said it would shoot down any suspected Chinese military objects approaching its shores, according to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Wang Wenbin, spokesman for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Tuesday that the U.S. since May 2022 has at least 10 times illegally released multiple high-altitude balloons from its territory, which have continuously circled the globe and flown over the airspace of China and other countries, according to a news conference transcript on the ministry website.

He said the U.S. balloons flew over Chinese territory without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, afterward on MSNBC denied Wenbins claim of U.S. surveillance balloons over China. Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true," Kirby said in an interview on the Morning Joe program. We are not flying balloons over China.

Shooting down a Chinese balloon would lead to a backlash from China, according to James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple University, Japan Campus, in Tokyo.

Furthermore, there is a small risk of debris striking individuals or infrastructure on the ground, he said in an email Wednesday, noting that Japan in June 2020 canceled plans to buy the Aegis Ashore missile-defense system due to fears that parts of inceptors could cause damage on the ground.

I expect that Japan would prefer to respond by closely tracking the balloon and issuing a diplomatic protest to Beijing, he said.
(Tribune News Service)  State Rep. Gene Ward questions why free copies of the Chinese Communist Partys China Daily newspaper are delivered to House members given Chinas ongoing provocations, including suspicions that China flew an intelligence-gathering balloon over Kauai in 2022.

Given whats going on with the balloons, my question is, Why is Communist propaganda being distributed at the state Capitol ? asked Ward, (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley ). Its clearly the propaganda arm owned by the CCP in Beijing.

He told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the English-language China Daily contains high-level academics. Its quite nuanced. But its totally propaganda.

During 2022s legislative session, stacks of the China Daily sat outside the House Sergeant of Arms office in the basement of the state Capitol.

This year, representatives can ask to have it delivered to their offices, along with the locally produced Filipino Chronicle and Fil-Am Courier.

Before, you had to pick it up,  Ward said. Its gotten worse. Now they deliver it.

House Speaker Scott Saiki told the Star-Advertiser that the newspapers are dropped off for free at the Capitol, and representatives are not required to accept them. Saiki said that he declined to have the China Daily delivered to his office.

If they dont want a newspaper, they can choose not to have it delivered, which is what I did,  Saiki said. We dont pay for it. Someone drops it off at the Capitol. Im not going to take the position that I can determine what is and what is not delivered to a members office.

The China Daily, Filipino Chronicle and Fil-Am Courier are distributed by the staff of the House Sergeant of Arms, who also deliver House members mail to their offices, Saiki said.

Before the recent spate of warplane shoot-downs of Chinese intelligence-gathering balloons, U.S. fighter jets scrambled over Kauais Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility to greet another balloon on Valentines Day 2022.

In August, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, triggering a military response not seen in almost 30 yearsaccording to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peacethat included military exercises around Taiwan, ballistic missile launches over the island and cyberattacks.

In a follow-up email to the Star-Advertiser, Ward wrote, Its pretty obvious what the CCP is up to in the State Legislatures of this nation.

This session, Ward introduced a bill to ban the wildly popular TikTok app from state-issued devices, part of a national push intended to prevent breaches of sensitive information to China. Wards bill appears stalled.

In an email to Saiki, Ward wrote : Whether you agree or not, China has been declared our nations biggest adversary and is the foundational pillar of our nations foreign policy. Given all the federal funds we have received plus Pearl Harbor just down the freeway from us, this communist newspaper being distributed at the Hawaii state legislators could make us look like communist-sympathizers.

In similar foreign policy fashion,  Ward wrote, would you also allow Russia to distribute their PRAVDA newspaper at the Hawaii State Capitol ?

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(Tribune News Service)  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 Russia's " full-scale invasion " of Ukraine that started nearly a year ago and continues to escalate.

Russia's been flustered by the U.S. and its allies, who continue to fund Ukraine's 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 Russia's security services have "arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges" and advises against participation in protests. Monday's 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.

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Defense spending is back on the agenda at NATO, where allies are expected to ratchet up the pressure on fellow member countries that routinely miss an expenditures target agreed to by the alliance nine years ago.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday after high-level talks in Brussels that NATO country heads of state are poised to agree on a new investment pledge.

The aim is to ensure that the alliance has the resources to carry out these new plans, Austin said, in reference to updated territorial defense plans that havent yet been disclosed in detail.

The agreement will be finalized at a NATO summit this summer in Lithuania and is likely to up the ante for the 30 alliance members.

Austin didnt speculate on what the new figure might be. But the topic has reemerged as allies grapple with the issue of replenishing weapons stockpiles depleted during the Russia-Ukraine war.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the 2% of gross domestic product benchmark set in 2014 may no longer be sufficient.

What is obvious is that if it was right to commit to spend 2% in 2014, it is even more right now because we live in a more dangerous world, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

The broader security implications of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine and challenges posed by China are among the reasons Stoltenberg cited for more military investments.

One option could be to set 2% as the bare minimum for members rather than regarding it as a ceiling, the NATO chief said.

It remains an open question whether that minimum could be pushed beyond 2%, which some allies, such as Poland, have supported.

Defense spending has long been a contentious issue in NATO and several American presidents have pointed out the spending shortfall among some allies.

President Donald Trump was known for excoriating those member countries, notably Germany, that repeatedly spent small percentages of GDP on defense. He regarded such countries as free-riders that took advantage of American security guarantees.

Still, allies steadily have been boosting their investments, a trend that began even before Trump took office in 2017.

But most NATO countries still fall short of the current mark, which they are supposed to achieve by next year.

The U.S., Great Britain, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia meet the 2% threshold. That is roughly one-fourth of the alliance, although the total is up from just three countries in 2014.

Nonetheless, the alliance collectively has now increased defense spending for eight straight years, and Stoltenberg said that trend is expected to continue this year.

But more needs to be done, he added.
The European Union is poised to force banks to report information on Russian Central Bank assets as part of the blocs latest sanctions package targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine, according to draft proposals seen by Bloomberg.

Getting a handle on the scale of central bank and other sanctioned state-backed assets that have been immobilized in the E.U. is seen as a first step to exploring options to potentially using those funds to contribute to Ukraines reconstruction.

We need to know where these are located and how much they are worth, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a video statement Wednesday.

The European Commission, the blocs executive arm, also proposed strengthening the reporting obligations on frozen assets linked to sanctioned Russian companies and individuals, and suggested fines  of as much as 50,000 for individuals and 10% of annual turnover for entities  to be imposed for failure to provide the required information, the documents say.

Von der Leyen said that the E.U.s new sanctions package would target 11 billion worth of goods via trade bans and technology controls.

We propose, among other things export restrictions on multiple electronic components used in Russian armed systems  such as drones, missiles, helicopters, she told the European Parliament. She said the bloc will also sanction seven Iranian entities, including those linked to Irans Revolutionary Guard, as it seeks to halt Tehrans provision of drones to Russia.

The E.U. is aiming to adopt its 10th package of sanctions next week ahead of the one-year mark of the Russian invasion. European leaders have also sought to boost support for Kyiv  through weapons pledges and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  before renewed offensives in the coming weeks.

The latest suite of measures would also introduce extensive trade restrictions on goods used by Russias military, including technologies, components, heavy vehicles, electronics, and rare-earths.

With this, we have banned all tech products found on the battlefield and we will make sure they dont find other ways to get there, von der Leyen said.

The bloc is also proposing a ban on goods from transiting through Russia to lower the risk of sanctions being breached and to introduce import restrictions into the E.U. of Russian rubber and asphalt. Von der Leyen added that the E.U. will organize a Sanctions Coordinators Forum next week, along with international partners, to strengthen efforts to enforce restrictions on Russia.

The E.U. is also looking to sanction dozens of individuals and entities, including politicians and military personnel, as well as:

Alfa Bank, Rosbank and Tinkoff Bank JSC, as well as the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation;

Media groups that have engaged in propaganda in support of aggression against Ukraine;

A Russian reinsurer of ships exporting Russian oil;

A U.K.-registered shipping company accused of using its vessels to transport stolen Ukrainian grain on behalf of Russia.

The reinsurance company is controlled by the Bank of Russia, which since the war has more than tripled the capital available to the firm to 300 billion rubles ($4.1 billion), according to one of the drafts. In turn, the reinsurance firm provides services and guarantees to a Russian insurance company that the E.U. is also looking to sanction. The insurance and reinsurance are being used by Russian ships and cargoes to redirect their oil to countries such as India after European firms withdrew their services, one of the documents says.

The proposed measures will be discussed by member states this week and may change before the package is approved. E.U. sanctions need the backing of all member states to be adopted.

Other proposals include an extension of the suspension of the broadcasting licenses of media outlets controlled by the Russian state and which are accused of spreading propaganda, and manipulating and distorting facts, targeting the E.U. and its neighbors.

The E.U. also wants to restrict Russian nationals from holding posts in the governing bodies of the operators of critical European infrastructures and entities, according to the documents. E.U. citizens would be exempt from the provision.

Similarly, the package of sanctions, if approved, would prohibit providing gas storage capacity to Russian nationals and residents, as well as entities established in Russia.

The E.U.s sanctions are finally starting to make a real impact on Russias economy, limiting its revenues and constraining its trade, the blocs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told the European Parliament on Wednesday.

The sanctions are a slow-action poison, a little bit like arsenic, he said. It takes time to take an effect.

Bloombergs Katharina Rosskopf contributed to this report.
BERLIN  A German ballet director issued a public apology Tuesday for smearing dog feces on the face of a newspaper critic whose reviews he had taken exception to.

Marco Goecke was suspended from his post as ballet chief at the Hannover State Opera following the weekend incident. The theater's management called on him Monday to apologize "comprehensively" and explain himself.

According to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Goecke approached its dance critic, Wiebke Huester, during the interval of a premiere at the opera house on Saturday and asked what she was doing there.

The newspaper said Goecke, who apparently felt provoked by a recent review she wrote of a production he staged in the Netherlands, threatened to ban her from the ballet and accused her of being responsible for people canceling season tickets in Hannover. He then pulled out a paper bag with the feces and smeared her face with the contents.

"I would like to apologize sincerely to all concerned, first and foremost to Ms. Huester, for my absolutely unacceptable act," Huester said in a written statement. "In retrospect, I am clearly aware that this was a disgraceful act in the heat of the moment and an overreaction," he added.

However, he added that it's time for media to "rethink a certain form of destructive and hurtful reporting that damages the whole cultural sector" and criticized Huester for what he said were "often nasty reviews."

Goecke pointed to the "nervous strain" resulting from two premieres in quick succession as a reason for his actions.

"I apologize for the fact that I finally blew my top, but I also ask for a certain understanding at least for the reasons why this happened," he wrote.

Huester filed a criminal complaint after the incident. Goecke faces an investigation on suspicion of bodily harm and slander.

Goecke said his elderly dachshund had defecated earlier, and he packed the mess into a bag and had been planning to dispose of it. While he says he then acted in the heat of the moment, the critic contended it was a premeditated attack.

Huester said she was shocked by Goecke's statement on Tuesday.

"What kind of an apology is this supposed to be?" she asked on 3sat television, describing it as an attempted justification of his actions, German news agency dpa reported.
American forces in Syria shot down an Iranian-made drone that was watching over a patrol base, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

The drone flew over Mission Support Site Conoco in the northeastern part of the country, and was shot down at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, CENTCOM said on Twitter.

The drone appeared to be a short-range surveillance aircraft hand-launched by forces nearby, said Jeremy Binnie, an analyst at the defense intelligence firm Janes.

CENTCOM said the drone was manufactured in Iran but did not say who was operating the aircraft.

The accusation comes as Iran and the U.S. trade claims that the other is destabilizing the Middle East, which analysts say is locked in a shadow war between Tehrans partners and Washingtons.

The U.S. Navy in recent months has seized thousands of rifles and rockets at sea that it says were en route from Iran to militant proxies.

The U.S. also has accused Iranian companies of involvement in the delivery of aerial drones to Russia, which Moscow has used in attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Politicians in Tehran, meanwhile, have blamed the spread of popular protests across Iran over the last year on the United States.

The shootdown comes about three weeks after an aerial drone attack on another base used by U.S. forces in Syria.

That attack, on Jan. 20 at al-Tanf garrison, involved three aircraft described as one-way attack drones, CENTCOM said at the time in a statement, adding that no U.S. troops were injured.

Roughly 900 U.S. service members are based in Syria to support operations against the Islamic State and train partner forces.

Mission Support Site Conoco also came under attack from two rockets on Jan. 4. The attack left no injuries or damage to the base, CENTCOM said at the time.

More than 300 anti-ISIS operations were conducted in Iraq and Syria in 2022, CENTCOM said in December. A raid on Friday killed an ISIS member planning attacks on detention centers in Syria, the command said Wednesday in a statement.

The U.S. has been fighting ISIS since the militant group conquered about a third of Syria and 40% of Iraq in 2014.

ISIS lost its last territorial enclave in 2019, but U.S. defense officials say militants in both countries are still a threat.
(Tribune News Service)  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

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

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

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

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

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.

1994: Assault weapons ban

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

Feinstein released the Senates 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

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

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

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.

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.

2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Fentanyl was involved in 88% of the deaths of service members who overdosed on illicit drugs in 2021, a steep increase in five years, according to Defense Department data provided to Congress.

Our military is not immune to the opioid epidemic," Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement Wednesday. The Department of Defenses latest report underscores the urgency of this moment and our need to ensure access to quality care and treatment without stigma or shame.

Five years ago, the synthetic drug was involved in 36% of troop overdose deaths, according to Pentagon data.

Markey and other senators requested data on overdoses from the Defense Department in September and last week received 12 pages from Pentagon officials that included statistics and prevention efforts.

From 2017 to 2021, 15,293 service members overdosed on drugs and alcohol and 332 died. More than half of those who died had taken fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is more potent than morphine, the report found.

Fentanyl, an approved pain medication being produced and sold illegally, is killing about 70,000 Americans each year, President Joe Biden said earlier this month in his State of the Union speech.

Increasingly, fentanyl is mixed with other illicit drugs or used to replace another drug entirely so that users are expecting something else, and this has led to a rise in deaths from the drug nationwide, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Military officials determined service members accidentally overdosed in 84% of the deaths. Just 12% of the deaths were thought to be suicides.

Every drug overdose is a preventable loss of life and we must work to do better, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros wrote in his letter to senators. The department continues to evaluate, refine, and improve strategies for overdose prevention to ensure we are making every effort to prevent these tragic deaths.

About 10% of those who died had previously failed a drug test administered through their service, the Defense Department said.

The Army, which is the largest of the service branches, saw the most overdose deaths during the five-year period, with a slight decrease from 36 deaths in 2017 to 35 in 2021, according to the Defense Department.

However, the Navy and Marine Corps saw the number of deaths in each service double. Eleven sailors died in 2017 and 21 died in 2021. The Marines lost five sailors in 2017 and 10 in 2021.

The Air Force saw overdose deaths increase from nine to 11.

The senators requested the data after reading a story in the September issue of Rolling Stone magazine that raised concerns about overdose deaths among soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Fort Bragg lost 31 soldiers in five years to overdoses, the highest of any installation mentioned in the Pentagon report.

The Defense Department told senators that the rate of overdose deaths during the five-year period is higher in North Carolina than anywhere else  36 deaths per 100,000 active-duty service members. Washington state had the next highest rate of 29.5 deaths per 100,000 troops, followed by Texas with 28.6.

Cisneros told senators that the Pentagons effort to prevent overdose deaths are focused on integrating all drug-related data, including fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses, to ensure timely data monitoring and improve coordination, messaging, treatment intervention and promote readiness.
WASHINGTON  Political bickering over the military makes the United States appear weak to adversaries such as China and Russia and contributes to dropping public trust in the uniformed services, experts told senators on Wednesday.

Fiona Hill, a former U.S. National Security Council official during the Trump administration, said conversations about wokeness infiltrating the military and other political fights undermine the strength of the U.S. in the eyes of its enemies.

She issued the warning in response to a question from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who asked during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing what China thinks of a focus on [gender] pronouns and things like that in the U.S. military. Some Republicans have attacked the Pentagon for social policies that aim to promote racial and gender equality in the armed forces.

They watch all of this and frankly, they think weve lost it, Hill said in response to Scott. The more I'm afraid that we make statements like this, the more that we start attacking our fellow Americans for whatever perspective we think they come from, the more that Russia and China think that we're working ourselves out of history.

Hill, now a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, said the U.S. needs to show solidarity to be able to deter adversaries and unite its partners.

I think China and Russia do know that we still can be lethal, but were most lethal when we get our act together, and [show] that we're all Americans fighting together on one side, and that's what our adversaries and our friends are looking to us for, she said. Theyre watching us and thinking, you know, has America lost the plot at the moment.

That thinking is also shared by some Americans who were recently polled about their opinion of the military. A 2022 survey performed by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute found trust and confidence in the uniformed services dropped from 70% in 2018 to 48% in November.

We asked the respondents why, and the response was clear that the American people believe that the military has become politicized, said Roger Zakheim, director of the nonprofit Reagan organization. I think it is not a concern of the American people that the U.S. military is unable to carry out their core mission of protecting this country and being the best military force in the world, it's a concern about politicization penetrating their mission.

About 62% of surveyed Americans said they believed military leadership has become overly politicized, including 43% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats. Republicans named woke practices as the main culprit, without defining what those practices were, while Democrats said they were most concerned about the presence of far-right extremism in the military ranks, according to the survey.

The performance and competence of presidents, the militarys civilian leadership and uniformed leadership also contributed to the publics souring perception of the military, the survey found.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a former Army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, described the public's declining opinion of the military as alarming. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Hills message resonated loud and clear with the committee and the Senate at large, which he said needs to appear united on the armed forces.

If we have laundry that is dirty and needs to be washed, dont do it in public when the militarys involved, Manchin said. I feel very strongly about that.
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(Tribune News Service)  The New Jersey Veterans Home Memorial Home at Menlo Park in Middlesex County is accepting admissions again after the Health Department said the state-run facility had improved its infection control strategies and made key personnel changes, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday.

In November, the state Health Department suspended admissions, and federal regulators suspended funding for new admissions after state inspections revealed conditions that put residents in immediate jeopardy. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also has threatened to withhold future money  a move that would force the veteran homes closure.

With these and other ongoing efforts, DMAVA will continue to work to improve quality of life, enhance safety, and implement best practices in this home, a statement from Maj. Agneta Murnan said. The Department remains committed to a continuous evaluation of the care we provide our Veterans, Veterans spouses, and Gold Star Family members, and will not stop striving to provide the residents of Menlo Park with the highest possible quality of care.

A spokesperson for the federal government did not immediately respond to questions regarding whether the agency had walked back its threat to terminate the facility from the Medicaid and Medicare programs, nor whether it had sent a letter communicating that it agreed the facility was in compliance.

In December, the health department dispatched a group of long-term care professionals known as a mission critical team to intervene, at the request of Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, the Adjutant General of New Jersey and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

A COVID-19 outbreak that began Thanksgiving week in 2021 is still active. A total of 121 residents and 294 employees having been infected, and 15 residents have died during the period, according to the state Health Department COVID websites most recent data, from Feb. 8.

The facilitys CEO was replaced in December and a nurse practitioner was hired to serve as director of nursing and infection preventionists now work there, she said. In early January, the health department declared the immediate jeopardy over but did not allow new admissions.

Military and Veterans Affairs named Lisa Kranis, a licensed nursing home administrator, has been interim CEO since Dec. 21.

Meanwhile, the department continues to review bids to provide interim supervisory staff and consulting services at Menlo Park, Murnans statement said. Gov. Phil Murphy directed the request for proposals for outside managers and consultants; the department closed submissions on Jan. 31.

All three of the veterans homes  located in Edison, Vineland and Paramus  are under review for improvements, her statement said.

The Murphy Administration has paid out collectively nearly $69 million to settle lawsuits filed by the families of 190 deceased veterans homes residents from Menlo Park and Paramus. The lawsuits had accused the state of negligence in allowing the disease to run rampant inside the facilities, but the cases were settled without the state admitting to any wrongdoing.

A federal investigation into the deaths at the facilities, meanwhile, is still ongoing, as are two separate state investigations.

2023 Advance Local Media LLC.

Visit nj.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Get it in writing. Its a good policy anytime someone says you wont be responsible for the costs of proposed work. It turns out to be especially important when that someone is the federal government.

Indeed, Washington, by way of the Environmental Protection Agency, showed itself to be fundamentally dishonest in its dealings with a Pennsylvania couple regarding property they own in Western New York.

Heres how it went: The EPA wanted to inspect property owned by Carolyn and James Newhouse of Bradford, Pa., to look for old or leaking oil wells. The project was covered by a federal grant, the agency assured the couple, so  perhaps naively  they agreed. Before it was over, the government clobbered them with a bill for $1.3 million.

Just as bad, the number turned out to be a big fat lie because, when all was said and done, the government agreed to a payment of just $40,000  about 3% of the previous figure. That price, the couples lawyer said, was something they could manage for the benefit of relieving a level of mental and financial stress most of us can hardly imagine.

Still, none of it ever should have happened and, indeed, its fair to conclude that the government should have paid them for the misery they endured and the expenses they incurred.

The torture began more than a decade ago via a seemingly harmless letter. If the couple would grant access to their 61 acres in Cattaraugus County, EPA crews would inspect abandoned wells and plug any that were leaking. The costs were covered. The Newhouses had bought the land for $8,400 in 2000, mainly so Carolyn Newhouses father could hunt. The deal did not include rights or royalties to any wells, according to the couple. So they agreed.

Then came the next letter  a $768,529 bill for inspecting and plugging 13 wells. Four years later, in 2019, another letter arrived, this one from the National Pollution Funds Center. With that, the bill rose to $1 million. Five months later, the U.S. Treasury send a notice of debt, putting the past-due bill at $1.3 million. The government threatened wage garnishment.

The Newhouses appealed, then sued. Fortunately, the government agreed to take the matter out of the courts and place it in the hands of a mediator. With that, the bill fell by 97%, to $40,000.

The EPA has been an essential player in the push for environmental awareness and responsibility. It is critical to maintain its mission, but there is no justifying its abuse of this couple. Someone either wasnt paying attention or didnt care that a powerful federal agency was threatening to bully an innocent couple into insolvency.

Cattaraugus County is in Nick Langworthys 23rd Congressional District. He should demand answers.

  

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.
Jackie Paul Kirkwood (45) had 214 previous convictions

A Co Down man "caught red handed'' with 190,000 worth of cocaine was today jailed for 18 months.

Jackie Paul Kirkwood (45), of Everogue Lane in Crossgar, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing Class B and C drugs.

He further admitted driving whilst disqualified and driving with no insurance.

Judge Patricia Smyth handed Kirkwood a three year sentence for drug dealing, divided equally between custody and probation.

The Belfast Recorder also imposed a consecutive sentence of one year in custody for driving whilst disqualified.

The judge told Kirkwood: "You have 214 previous convictions, 95 for road traffic offences. This was your 35th conviction for driving whilst disqualified.

"You were convicted in March 2021 of driving whilst disqualified and received a one year prison sentence suspended for two years.

"You completely disregarded an order of the court. It is a clear that you are a man who has no regard for the law.''

Belfast Crown Court heard police stopped Kirkwood driving a Yamaha X City moped on the Beersbridge Road in east Belfast at 1.30 pm on November 10, 2021, and found almost 2kg of cocaine in a storage compartment under the seat.

Prosecutor Natalie Pinkerton said one package contained 974 grams of cocaine with a purity level of 69 per cent.

"There was a further one kilo block of compressed white powder confirmed to have been cocaine with a purity level of 73 per cent.'

Seized goods from Jackie Kirkwood

She said a number of cutting agents, including benzocaine, were also found by police with a purity of 45.61 grams.

A total of 23 yellow tablets were also found during the search of his home, along with weighing scales and "dealer bags''.

"We can't gainsay that this defendant was any more than a courier. We have no evidence to say that is incorrect.

"But couriers play a vital role in crimes of this nature and crimes of this nature can't be completed without couriers.''

Defence counsel Richard McConkey said Kirkwood was "moving the drugs from A to B but was not involved in the organisation of this drug concern''.

"He did not know the amount of drugs or the purity of the drugs, why would he? He knew he was transporting drugs.''

The court heard that when stopped by police, Kirkwood was out of prison on licence and this was revoked for breaching its terms.

"He has convictions for possessing drugs and has used drugs for every aspect of life, for sleeping, for going about his everyday life and blocking out bad memories,'' said Mr McConkey.

"He has been abusing drugs throughout a long period of his life but he doesn't have a single conviction prior to this for supplying drugs despite his age.

"He hasn't been involved in this enterprise before. His account is that he was coerced into this enterprise to pay off a drug debt.''

The barrister said since Kirkwood has been in prison his son had died and was unable to attend the funeral.

"He was effectively caught red handed by police. People in the organisation of drugs don't drive around on a moped with the drugs and get caught by police.

"He was clearly used and could be described as a 'patsy' in this enterprise. He has serious regrets about his involvement in the commission of these offences as a courier,'' added Mr McConkey.

Judge Smyth ordered a destruction of all drugs and drug-related paraphernalia and disqualified Kirkwood from driving for three years.
The court heard Kayleigh Ryan had 147 previous convictions, most of which were theft-related.

A crack cocaine dealer was caught by gardai as she left the scene of a city centre transaction on an electric scooter.

Kayleigh Ryan (30) had four deals of crack on her when she was stopped in Dublin city centre.

Judge Bryan Smyth jailed her for six months when she appeared in Dublin District Court.

Ryan, with an address at Pearse Street in the south city centre pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to sell or supply.

The court heard gardai on patrol at Aston Quay on October 24, 2021 saw the accused in a suspicious transaction with several drug users.

When gardai approached, she tried to leave on an electric scooter but was stopped and searched.

Ryan had crack cocaine worth 120 on her. The court heard she had 147 previous convictions, most of which were theft-related.

The accused had been clean but slipped at the time of the offence, her lawyer said.

She accepted she came before the court with a significant history of offending.

Judge Smyth said a custodial sentence was warranted and jailed the accused, setting recognisances in the event of an appeal.
Browning was described as being at the heart of an international crime gang involved in 1 billion worth of illegal activities

Convicted criminal Ross Browning at the CCJ in Dublin.Browning is a close associate of Daniel Kinahan..Pic by Padraig O'Reilly 23 Nov 2016

A judge has ruled properties linked to Ross Browning, described as the Kinahan Cartels No.1 man in Ireland, were bought with the proceeds of crime.

In his judgement today Judge Alex Owens, in the $1.7 million Criminal Assets Bureau case, said the evidence supported the case criminal cash was used to acquire and renovate his luxury home.

CABs case against Browning was that vehicles and jewellery were also bought from the proceeds of crime despite efforts to disguise the origin of the money through family members.

While Browning did not contest the case, members of his family denied CABs claim and said that money used came from legitimate sources.

Judge Owens found that CABs case that the property at Naul and the renovations carried out there was done with money supplied by Ross Browning which represented proceeds of crime.

Ross Browning

CAB had sought to have Brownings luxury house and compound cleared with the proceeds of crime  along with a renovated cottage on the property.

Paddocks, and an indoor show-jumping arena were built as well as the completely renovated cottage now called Chestnut Lodge.

His home even featured an escape chute at the bottom of which a motorbike was parked.

Brownings association with Daniel Kinahan who, with his brother Christopher jr, runs the cartels day-to-day operations from Dubai was highlighted in the High Court case.

Also named in the court documents was his mother Julie Conway and her partner ex-garda David OBrien who lived in one of the properties CAB says was acquired with the proceeds of crime.

Ross Browning

There were two houses at a Garristown site where Browning built a family home and renovated a derelict cottage, according to CAB.

They stated a third of a million euros was spent on cottage renovations although Julie Conway told investigators that the renovations were all me and Dave including 40,000 borrowed from St Raphaels Garda Credit Union.

CABs case is that the co-mingling of finances was used to hide the moneys origins and is being contested by family members.

Brownings key role in the drug-dealing gang was highlighted at the opening of a 1.7 million CAB against him in the High Court last October.

He was described as being at the heart of an international crime gang involved in 1 billion worth of illegal activities.

It was heard how Ross Brownings involvement with the Kinahan gang became known in 2010 during a multinational police operation against them which saw several arrests in Spain.

Ross Browning's mother, Julie Conway

Browning had worked as brick-layer and had declared himself a gym owner to Revenue, according affidavits open in court today.

It was also stated that he is a close and trusted lieutenant of the Kinahans and is regarded as their principal representative in this country.

In his role for the gang he remains hand-offs' and is removed from the actual handling of drugs.

He has flown to Dubai where the Kinahans are based as well as to Perth, Lisbon and Phuket.

The case also revealed the Kinahans were linked to the violent Mr Flashy gang through a convicted drug dealer Browning was said to have used by a house in Finglas.

CABs case was that the house purchased by Ian OHeaire was in fact controlled by Ross Browning.

The Deanstown Road house, bought for 57,000 in 2012 by Brownings late grandfather William Conway and sold within 12 months for almost twice the price.

OHeaire was jailed after being caught at Perth International Airport in March 2015 after ingesting 27 balloons of cocaine and attempting to smuggle it into the country after taking a flight from Dubai.
Mark Donlon (36), of no fixed abode, was handed a three month prison sentence, suspended for a period of 18 months

A homeless man who threw punches, kicked and bit a garda on the hand after being caught at the wheel more than four times over the drink driving limit while also under the influence of cannabis, has walked free from court.

Mark Donlon (36), of no fixed abode, was handed a three month prison sentence, suspended for a period of 18 months at a sitting of Longford District Court today following an incident in Ballymahon, Co Longford on December 15, 2021.

The court heard the accused was stopped by Gardai Allan Doherty and Rachel Carlin who had been conducting a checkpoint in the south Longford town.

Sgt Mark Mahon, for the State, said upon responding to a call of a car allegedly spotted driving dangerously from Mullingar, both officers tracked down the accused where they spoke with Mr Donlon.

Judge Bernadette Owens was told after a strong smell of alcohol was observed from the driver's breath, Garda Doherty attempted to arrest the Westmeath native.

Seconds later, the court was told, Mr Donlon resisted arrest and suddenly "swung at gardai", resulting in a struggle.

"The accused kicked gardai a number of times and bit Gardai Doherty on the hand," said Sgt Mahon, revealing also how Mr Donlon was both "extremely abusive and aggressive" towards both officers.

The accused was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and brought to Granard Garda Station where he was later charged after a blood sample was taken.

That sample, it was revealed, returned a reading of 217mg per 100ml of blood, a specimen the court was told carried a three year disqualification.

Ireland's drink driving laws stand at between 51mg to 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, putting Mr Donlon at four times over the legal limit to drive.

Mark Donlon

A further drug driving charge was also issued after Mr Donlon was found to have cannabis in his system when stopped by gardai.

Mr Donlon was later charged with assaulting both gardai alongside six counts of dangerous driving.

Defending solicitor Mark Cooney said his client, who had no previous convictions, was undoubtedly coming before the court "with a bang in every regard".

He said Mr Donlon had been drinking the night before and was also "extremely volatile" when appearing in court in Athlone following the incident.

Mr Cooney also revealed how Mr Donlon's demeanour on the day had been so unstable that he even found it difficult to take instructions from him.

A probation report was handed into the court, which Mr Cooney said his client was willing to abide by.

He also insisted, despite the gravity of the incident, Mr Donlon had indicated an intention to enter a guilty plea at an early stage while a week spent in custody on the same charges had been especially taxing on him.

Judge Owens described the incident as being at the "higher end of seriousness" to come before the District Court.

She said while Mr Donlon was clearly in a "very agitated state" on the day of the incident and had no prior transgressions to his name, the court could not overlook the severity of the incident.

She handed down three month concurrent prison sentences, suspended for 18 months for both assault charges.

Fines totalling 500 were also issued for both drink and drug driving offences with Mr Donlon also ordered to hand in 500 by way of compensation.

A four year driving ban was likewise handed down for one of the six dangerous driving charges along with a 200 fine.
Gardai also seized 1,000 worth of cannabis

Members of the Garda Armed Response Unit pictured at An Caislean Mor during this morning's raid.

A man is due to appear before Tralee District Court following a search operation in Castleisland.

As part of Operation Tara, Gardai have seized 15,000 worth of cocaine and 1,000 worth of cannabis following a search on Wednesday morning.

A male in his 30s was arrested and has since been charged.

All the suspected drugs will now be sent for analysis at Forensic Science Ireland.

The Kerryman understands that up to 40 gardai were involved and searches took place in the An Caislean Mor area around 8am. Gardai closed off access to the estate.

Witnesses said that they saw a large number of gardai forcibly enter homes in the estate.
Harrowing evidence was relayed to the court last month of the condition of the 17 dogs and 10 puppies that were removed

A pony was also on the site

One of the dogs found in a terrible state at the property

One of the dogs found in a terrible state at the property

Michael Reilly was sentenced to two months in prison

One of three family members convicted and jailed over one of the worst cases of animal cruelty an inspector said shed ever encountered has denied mistreating animals, instead claiming: We were doing the ISPCAs job for them.

Martin Reilly Snr (43), his mum Katherine Reilly (71) and a third family member, Michael Reilly (27), were jailed for a total of 13 months at Cashel District Court last month after pleading guilty to a combined eight charges under the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

But the trio spent just one night in custody after filing appeals against their sentences.

Approached by the Sunday World this week, Martin Snr claimed he and his family had done nothing wrong and said many of the animals rescued were strays that he, Michael and Kathleen were caring for out of the goodness of their hearts.

He also hit out at the court proceedings, saying he had vet bills proving he was taking good care of four dogs he was prosecuted for mistreating.

Michael Reilly was sentenced to two months in prison

They made out there was dogs tethered and left to die, he said.

They werent left to die.

And there was a lot of evidence that wasnt heard before the court, stuff like these vet bills that the judge didnt even look at.

There was a lot of dogs here that werent in my care but I was convicted of all the offences and all the dogs.

That shouldnt have been the case because those dogs had got nothing to do with me.

I had four dogs and my dogs were in good nick but they took no pictures of my dogs.

One of the dogs found in a terrible state at the property

During last months proceedings, harrowing evidence was relayed to the court of the condition of the 17 dogs and 10 puppies that were removed from properties and land at Killeens, Ballinunty, Co Tipperary on Wednesday, May, 26 and Friday, June 4, 2021.

The dogs included lurchers, salukis, Belgian malinois, a greyhound, a German shepherd, and a Chihuahua.

When ISPCA Senior Inspectors Alice Lacey and Emma Carroll visited the property, along with members of An Garda Siochana, the court heard they encountered:

Dogs chained at the dwelling house and at an abandoned building close by;

Living conditions consisting of a metal cage, a cattle trailer, and an open-ended corrugated shed;

A dog tied to a tree in forestry behind the dwelling house;

And many dogs left without clean drinking water and in extremely poor condition.

The court heard a lurcher removed was later discovered to have an old leg fracture, a female lurcher was heavily pregnant and severely underweight and a Belgian malinois had an injured neck due to the chain embedding in its skin.

In addition, the court heard, many dogs were found to be suffering from parasitic disease and untreated wounds.

One of the dogs found in a terrible state at the property

But, Martin Snr claimed this week, the facts heard in court didnt give a fair picture of the circumstances.

There was a lot of stray dogs in and out of here, he said.

We rehomed dogs ourselves so we were actually doing the ISPCAs job for them.

Martin Snr went on to claim he had requested that the ISPCA remove dogs from his care before the prosecution had taken place.

Im annoyed it went to the stage it went to, he said.

There were dogs showing up here on a daily basis.

They are being dropped off  people are buying puppies at Christmas time and they dont realise they grow into adult dogs.

And it doesnt happen on just one or two occasions  it happens all the time.

Were not wealthy people, we dont have big jobs and were drawing social welfare payments.

But we spent a fierce quality of those payments on the dogs. And thats our job either. We werent breeding the dogs.

A pony was also on the site

Asked why he pleaded guilty, if he was now disputing the evidence heard by the court, Martin Snr said: I pleaded guilty because they were threatening to bring another person into it and he works  thats the only reason I pleaded guilty.

But I feel like I was run over by a car to be honest. We were in custody overnight. We filed the appeal that day in court but it took a day before we were released. I feel we were made an example of and we were made idiots of. At the conclusion of last months hearing, Katherine Reilly was sentenced to one month imprisonment on each of three charges with the sentences to run consecutively.

Martin Reilly Snr talks to our reporter Patrick OConnell

Michael Reilly was sentenced to two months imprisonment on each of two charges to run consecutively, and Martin Reilly Snr, who did not enter an early guilty plea, received two-month sentences on each of three charges, to run consecutively.

In addition, Judge Brian OShea imposed 25-year disqualifications from keeping all animals on all three defendants and ordered that they pay a total of 9,190 in costs.

Forfeiture of two dogs seized at the time of the offences was also ordered.

On passing sentence Judge OShea said: This is a serious case of animal cruelty. Inspector Laceys evidence was cadent and frank.

She gave stark, detailed, and accurate evidence. These dogs were living in conditions, as the saying goes, not fit for a dog to live in.

Many of the animals needed veterinary attention but were left aggrievedly waiting. These dogs were starving, thirsty, living in urine and faeces.

This case lies on the upper range of gravity.
Irish influencer Ms Murphy was injured in the incident, which took place at the Grafton Capital Hotel on Stephen Street Lower on Friday evening

Irish influencer Charleen Murphy has broken her silence after she was allegedly attacked as she had dinner with a friend in Dublin last Friday.

Ms Murphy (23) was injured in the incident, which took place at the Grafton Capital Hotel on Stephen Street Lower on Friday evening.

Craig O'Brien (27), with an address at Thomond Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, was arrested and charged with assault causing harm to the social media star after she blocked him online.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Charleen thanked her 196,000 followers for their support as she opened up about the very serious and violent attack for the first time.

I want to start this post by saying thank you for the amount of love and support Ive been receiving the last few days. Im so thankful for all my followers and grateful for this community, she began.

Craig OBrien

Unfortunately, there remains a very dark side to social media that I have become a victim of in a way I could never have imagined.

Im sure a lot of you have seen the news that I was the victim of a very serious and violent attack on Friday night.

As a result of the attack I was taken to hospital and received stitches to a glass wound to my head. It hurts my heart that I have to be strong and heal from a situation that should never have happened.

Charleen said she couldnt give any more details as she didnt want to prejudice the case after giving evidence against Mr OBrien at his bail hearing.

She continued: This incident further highlights the epidemic of violence against women. There is no safe space left for us, not even to go out and have dinner and that is absolutely heartbreaking.

I can only hope that true justice can be served.

Mr O'Brien was held pending his court appearance at Dublin District Court on Saturday when Judge Paula Murphy remanded him in custody.

Objecting to bail, Garda Stephen McDonnell cited the seriousness of the incident as he told the court that it was alleged Ms Murphy had been socialising with a friend in the hotel lounge when a male entered and "viciously attacked" and injured her.

The contested bail hearing was told the man was "someone known to her and her friend through personal online abuse on various social media accounts".

It was alleged that the accused entered the premises, paid for a drink at 9.30pm with his Visa card, and attacked her a minute later.

The court heard he allegedly approached Ms Murphy, who was having dinner with her friend from behind, and "punched her full force to the back of the head".

The court heard her head rebounded off the glass she was drinking, resulting in a laceration of her face.

It was claimed she and her friend recognised him from "previous online abuse" and that afterwards he sent her a voice message via social media saying: "How's the head?.

The court heard she went to St James's Hospital and left A&E at 5am.

Ms Murphy gave evidence during the bail hearing and explained she was a social media influencer and had posted where she was online.

The court heard she had blocked the accused and "I've never seen him in real life before."

Mr OBrien was refused bail and was remanded in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on February 17 next. Legal aid was granted to the accused.
Seven men and one woman were detained.

Gardai investigating the Kinahan cartel have arrested eight people following the seizure of 2.8m of drugs in Dublin.

Seven men and one woman aged between their late 20s and early 50s were detained over drug trafficking under Section 2 of Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.

The bust came after officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau supported by the Special Crime Task Force carried two traffic stops shortly after 11am in Ballyfermot and Blanchardstown on Tuesday.

A planned raid was also conducted at an industrial premises off the Longmile Road by gardai from Ballyfermot and Sundrive Road Garda stations with assistance of the Garda Dog Unit.

An estimated 40 kilogrammes of cocaine with a street value of 2.8 million (subject to analysis), over 2000 nitric oxide canisters and 78,000 cash was recovered. Also recovered was a hydraulic drugs press, mixing agent, drug mixing paraphernalia, a money counter and several communications devices.

Hydraulic press

Gardai believe the location was being used as a cocaine mixing factory.

It is understood the business premises that was raided is linked to a man from south Dublin.

The operation was part of an investigation into the wider Kinahan Organised Crime Group drug network in this country.

The eight people that were arrested are being quizzed by gardai at stations around the city. They can be held under drug trafficking legislation for up to a week.

The drugs will be sent for forensic analysis and investigations are ongoing.

Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly of Organised and Serious Crime said: "Todays operation and substantial seizure of cocaine has shown An Garda Siochana is determined to disrupt the distribution networks of organised groups who cause harm to our communities.
Gardai are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area yesterday between 1pm and 2pm to come forward.

The man is being treated in Beaumont Hospital

A man was found with serious injuries on a walkway off the R132 beside the Malahide Road roundabout, in Swords, Co Dublin on Tuesday.

The casualty, aged in his 60s, was rushed to Beaumont Hospital where his condition is understood to be critical.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area yesterday, February 14, between 1pm and 2pm to come forward.

At approximately 2.30pm, a man in his 60s was discovered with serious injuries on a walkway off the R132 beside the Malahide Road roundabout, Swords Co. Dublin, gardai said.

They are also appealing to those with camera footage (including motorists with dash cam) from the area at this time, to make it available to them.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Swords Garda Station on 01 666 4700, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
Democrats in the New York State Senate better hope theyve got this right. If not, they may get burned.

After the Democratic-dominated Judiciary Committee rejected Gov. Kathy Hochuls nominee as chief judge last month, the chambers majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, announced that the committees 10-9 vote somehow meant that the full chamber would not need  would not even be allowed  to vote on the nomination. It felt more like political manipulation than an exercise in democracy.

Now, a Republican senator is suing to force the issue. At a minimum, that means Stewart-Cousins decision will be dragged out, potentially long enough to become an issue in next years election campaigns. You can hear it now: The Democratic Senate is so far left, its leader wont even allow the chamber to vote on a well qualified jurist nominated by a governor of their own party.

That judge is Hector LaSalle, now serving in the State Appellate Division. Hochul had nominated him as chief judge of the Court of Appeals, the states highest court. If confirmed, he would be the first Hispanic judge to hold the position.

The Judiciary Committee wanted none of it, preferring a nominee further to the political left. It expanded the committee membership before the hearing, then voted him down. Among those who rejected the nomination was Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo.

Reports had suggested that Hochul might sue to force a vote by the full Senate, contending that the New York State Constitution requires that action. Republican Sen. Anthony Palumbo of Long Island spared her the need. He filed suit last week against the Senate, 10 Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee and Stewart-Cousins. Palumbos goal parallels Hochuls: He wants to force the full Senate to act on the nomination.

LaSalles confirmation would be uncertain even with such a vote, but the test is necessary. Three Democrats on the Judiciary Committee supported LaSalle.

Viewed as a point of procedure, it doesnt really matter if LaSalle is confirmed. To some extent, thats a matter of politics as usual  there are always winners and losers  though it would be pretty strange politics under the circumstances. Still, the Senate is a constitutional partner in this task. It plays an essential role and politics is part of the package. LaSalle wouldnt be the first well-qualified judge whose nomination was thwarted over political differences.

But thats a matter for the full Senate to decide, not a handful of members on a committee whose membership was suspiciously enlarged. In refusing a vote of the full Senate, Stewart-Cousins and her supporters are practicing the politics of arrogance. Voters might well want to punish politicians who show such disdain for the normal processes of democracy.

Stewart-Cousins should move the nomination to the full Senate and, win or lose, hope that come November 2024, voters have forgotten this insult. But if Palumbos lawsuit is still stirring up a stink as that election season unfolds, Democrats may come to regret their presumptuousness.

  

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.
Six other people remain in Garda custody

Some of the drugs haul made by gardai

Two of eight people arrested after 2.8m in cocaine was seized when gardai busted a Kinahan linked Dublin drugs factory have been released without charge.

The other six people arrested remain in Garda custody.

They had been arrested after gardai discovered 2.8 million worth of cocaine, 2,000 canisters of nitrous oxide and 78,000 in cash, in Dublin yesterday,

Seven men and one woman aged between their late 20s and early 50s were detained over drug trafficking under Section 2 of Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.

The bust came after officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau supported by the Special Crime Task Force carried two traffic stops shortly after 11am in Ballyfermot and Blanchardstown on Tuesday.

A planned raid was also conducted at an industrial premises off the Longmile Road by gardai from Ballyfermot and Sundrive Road Garda stations with assistance of the Garda Dog Unit.

An estimated 40 kilogrammes of cocaine with a street value of 2.8 million (subject to analysis), over 2000 nitric oxide canisters and 78,000 cash was recovered. Also recovered was a hydraulic drugs press, mixing agent, drug mixing paraphernalia, a money counter and several communications devices.

Gardai believe the location was being used as a cocaine mixing factory.

It is understood the business premises that was raided is linked to a man from south Dublin.

The operation was part of an investigation into the wider Kinahan Organised Crime Group drug network in this country.

The eight people that were arrested were quizzed by gardai at stations around the city.

Meanwhile, the drugs will be sent for forensic analysis as investigations are ongoing.

Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly of Organised and Serious Crime said: "Todays operation and substantial seizure of cocaine has shown An Garda Siochana is determined to disrupt the distribution networks of organised groups who cause harm to our communities.
Some 83pc of those surveyed disagreed that Ireland has the services to cater for the number of people arriving here

Almost two-thirds of Irish people say the country should not continue to take in an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees, according to new research.

The survey, which was commissioned by Virgin Media Television and carried out by Red C, looked at concerns around migration in Ireland.

Some 83pc of those surveyed disagreed that Ireland has the services to cater for the number of people arriving here.

Meanwhile four in 10 respondents said they or their families have poorer access to services due to refugee and asylum seekers arriving into the country.

Almost half of respondents feel more positive towards Ukrainian refugees coming to Ireland than asylum seekers of other nationalities.

Almost two-thirds of people (64pc) disagreed that Ireland should continue to take in an unlimited number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. This figure rose to 70pc among respondents aged 35 to 54 years.

Eight in 10 of those surveyed said Ireland does not have the services to cater for the number of asylum seekers entering the country. This rose to 89pc for those aged over 55 and this belief was strongest among people living in Dublin.

Just over half of people believe the recent rise in protests outside refugee and asylum seeker accommodation centres are not justified.

Over a third of people said they would not support a migrant accommodation centre in their area, rising to 39pc in Dublin and 42pc among those aged 35 to 54.

Only 50pc would support a migrant accommodation centre in their area, while 15pc were unsure whether they would support it or not.

Meanwhile 50pc of respondents said they would not support Ireland sending weapons to Ukraine, this compares to 36pc who said they would support such a move.
Parents Coilin O Scolai and Irene Kavanagh were speaking after they settled a High Court action over the death of baby Laoise at the Coombe Hospital.

The parents of a premature baby who died after a needle accidently pierced her heart, have said they could not believe how callous hospital staff had been in the aftermath of her death.

Parents Coilin O Scolai and Irene Kavanagh were speaking after they settled a High Court action over the death of baby Laoise at the Coombe Hospital.

Laoise Kavanagh Ni Scolai and her twin brother, Cuan, were born on January 22, 2015 at 28 weeks and six days.

Coilin and Irene had been were initially told both the twins were doing very well but that Laoise was the stronger of the two.

However, doctors decided the twins needed a procedure to alleviate air on their lungs when they were two days old, and Cuan was wheeled into surgery first.

Baby Laoise Ni Scolai

Cuan had had the same procedure done that morning, so they didnt make a big deal of it, Coilin O Scolai told Newstalks The Hard Shoulder.

[They said] they would call us back in about 40 minutes time.

Coilin and Irene went back to their hospital room and it was there they received a phone call asking them to come back down.

When we got down there, we were told that while they were doing the procedure, they may have nicked something and they were rushing her to Crumlin Hospital to see what could be done, Coilin said.

Coilin and Irene followed the ambulance in the car and shortly after they arrived a doctor came to speak with them.

Irene looked at her and said, Dont say it and she just shook her head and we knew that Laoise was dead.

That she didnt make it.

Baby Laoise Ni Scolai

The couple described the inquest into Laoises death as an incredibly upsetting ordeal.

We thought it was going to be a very open thing where its about uncovering the truth and telling us what happened - damned be the consequences, Coilin said.

What we learnt is that it was more like a first line of defence where they put forward their narrative; they changed the story from her being the stronger of the two to being the weaker of the two and then the needle, while it had pierced her heart, [they] said it had, Gone in too far, they changed that to, It needed to go in too far to do the job.

Then they changed it to the latest narrative - which was appalling - was that, Her heart swung into the needle.

Which is kind of like the defence you would use when somebody runs into your fist as opposed to you punching them.

We couldnt believe the gall and how callous they were.

It is eight years since Laoises death and the couple have spent that time determined that the truth of their daughters death be recorded.

Its bad enough that they killed her but to rewrite her life history to [her] being the weaker child of the two when she was the stronger of the two until she needed that procedure - that ultimately killed her because they pushed the needle in too far - to change that to suit the narrative was unforgivable.

The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital has admitted liability in the death of Laoise Kavanagh Ni Scolai.
Colourful wreaths and framed photographs of the deceased were carried inside prior to the coffins being carried inside.

Mourners at the church for funerals of tragic twins Claire and Stephen ONeill

The funerals of tragic twins Claire and Stephen ONeill took place today.

Mourners at the funerals of tragic twins Claire and Stephen ONeill.

The funerals of tragic twins Claire and Stephen ONeill took place today.

Around 200 mourners turned out for a service in Ballyafeigh Methodist Church on Belfasts Ormeau Road at midday.

An hour earlier, a private service was held in the nearby home of the siblings parents at Whitehall Parade.

And many of those paying their respects walked behind the coffins as they made their way the short distance to the nearby church.

Traffic on the main arterial route into the city centre came to a halt as two hearses carrying the remains of the 37 year-old twins, pulled up outside the front door of the architecturally distinctive building.

Colourful wreaths and framed photographs of the deceased were carried inside prior to the coffins being carried inside.

Twins Claire and Steve O'Neill

Some mourners had travelled from other parts of the city to attend the funeral of the well known brother and sister.

A mother of three, Claire ONeill had worked in a busy local convenience store for many years. And her twin brother Stephen - a father of one  had worked for an interior design company at Carryduff for nearly 20 years.

The funerals of tragic twins Claire and Stephen ONeill took place today.

Following the church service, the double funeral made its way to Roselawn Cemetery where the twin brother and sister were buried together.

A bagpiper leads the funeral procession in Belfast today

Their lifeless bodies were discovered nearly two weeks ago in Claires downstairs flat at Annadale Crescent off the River Lagan embankment.

They came into this world together and they left it together as well. Its all very sad. one female mourner told us.

The kindness and generosity of the siblings were hallmarks of the many tributes paid to them. Childhood friend, Sarah Wilson previously said the two were selfless, and would be sorely missed.

Said Sarah: Im going to miss you Claire, also Stevie, my childhood friend. Two of the kindest people you could meet, would give you their last. May you rest in peace.

Tributes were also paid by relatives. One told the Sunday World: The twins were the life and soul of the entire ONeill family. And Stevie was raising money for cancer.

Everyone loved the twins, and we all thought the world of them. They were so popular.

One local resident commented on the pairs closeness.

Its just awful. Claire and Stevie came into the world together and now in death they leave it together.

You never saw one without the other. They were always very close.

Katie Deadman, a close friend, said that the pair treated her like a member of their own family as she paid tribute to them on Facebook.

Both treated me like one of their own. From when their mother brought me into the family, she wrote.

Will miss you Steven and Claire. We will still have our night out for you, give your family the strength to get through this.

After the double burial family and friends of the twins met for refreshments in Ballynafeigh Band Hall
The This Morning star announced last week that the couple had called things off amid rumours that her partner of 16 years had been unfaithful.

Vanessa shared some clips from her visit to Ballynamona beach in East Cork

Vanessa Feltz is enjoying a healing trip to East Cork days after confirming her split from ex-fiance Ben Ofoedu.

The This Morning star announced last week that the couple had called things off amid rumours that her partner of 16 years had been unfaithful.

Now, the 60-year-old has jetted off to the Emerald Isle with her daughter Allegra for some respite, admitting that shes having a wonderful time exploring the Rebel Countys beaches.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Vanessa shared an uplifting video as she soaked up the sunshine in front of a vibrant green field.

A very good morning from tropical East Cork! What did I tell you about the Irish weather? Look at the sunshine. Hope youre having a very sunny day, she told her 320,000 followers.

She added the hashtags #outdoors, #ireland, #healthylifestyle, #healing, and #love.

Vanessa and Allegra (37) then made their way to the beautiful Ballynamona beach, where Vanessa sported a red puffer jacket, bright pink tracksuit bottoms and a pair of matching wellies.

Making sure to capture a stunning shot of the gorgeous strand, Allegra asks her mum: Is this why you love Ireland?

The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant replied: This is just one of many reasons why I love Ireland! Beautiful, beautiful empty beach...

Look at the horse in the background, she added as her daughter zoomed in on the animal entering the sea behind her.

Earlier this week, Vanessa told her followers she was feeling fantastic as she wrapped up warm for another trip to the beach.

As Allegra asked her how she was doing, the chirpy TV personality responded: I'm feeling fantastic! Why wouldn't I? I'm in my beloved East Cork, look how beautiful it is here on Ballynamona beach and I'm having a wonderful time.

The Irish welcome, there is nothing like it. The air is fresh and clean and I'm sending everyone best wishes for a fabulous, fabulous Monday.

Captioning the post, she said: Back in beloved East Cork and added the hashtags #ballycottonisland, #ballycotton, #blackbirdballycotton, #pure_cork, #beach, #family, #outdoors, and #healing.

It comes after Vanessa shared a message explaining that she had taken a break from social media due to her relationship with Ben Ofoedu coming to an end.

I honestly didnt know what to say to you on Instagram, she said in the emotional clip.

And so I just wanted to say obviously I feel incredibly sad and Im pretty disappointed and shocked and all those horrible things, but also full of resolve.

I am not going to let this defeat me.

The presenter, who is also known for hosting an agony aunt segment on This Morning, confirmed to The Sun on Sunday that she has left Ofoedu, who is 10 years younger than her.

She told the newspaper: As an agony aunt, I have said many times that once the trust in a relationship is gone, it can never be repaired or regained. So I have to take my own advice on this occasion.

Who knew Id be single at 60? However, ladies, its onwards and upwards and I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
Mr Haye (42) took to social media to wish the beautiful queens in my life a happy Valentines Day.

Una Healy (left) with David Haye and Sian Osborne in Marrakesh.

Former boxer David Haye has wished both Irish singer Una Healy and girlfriend Sian Osborne a happy Valentines Day.

This comes as rumours the trio are in a throuple' continue to swirl online.

Mr Haye (42) took to social media to wish the beautiful queens in my life a happy Valentines Day.

Happy Valentines Day to the beautiful queens in my life, making my world a better place to live in, he gushed along with pictures of the trio.

The friends made headlines after their Moroccan getaway in January, with rumours that the trio are in a relationship.

Tipperary star Una (41) shared a snap of herself on holiday in Morocco over the new year with the former heavyweight champion and Sian.

Over recent days, Haye shared a number of snaps from his model girlfriend Sian's 31st birthday, which the pair celebrated over the weekend in Costa Rica.

Healy has also been keeping followers in the loop with her most recent travels on Instagram.

Una Healy (left) with David Haye and Sian Osborne in Marrakesh.

In a post on Instagram last week, she shared a video captioned, Pura Vida, showing sunsets, selfies, gym sessions and sing-songs on the beach.

A similar Instagram post from David caused fans to speculate that the trio are holidaying together in Costa Rica, however the trio were not pictured together.

Read more Una Healy posts footage of stunning Costa Rica getaway

"Livin La Pura Vida here in Costa Rica, he captioned one photo. Nothing but good vibes and banta!! Irelands truly been representing out here Until the next adventure.

In the snap, Haye is posing beside Irish restaurateurs Ryan and John McElhinney.

Some fans think the similar captions are proof the rumoured throuple were again enjoying a holiday together.

Healy has since returned home to Ireland, sharing a workout video online yesterday, while Haye and his girlfriend Sian remain abroad.
The beloved purple dinosaur is set to front a reimagined animated series debuting in 2024, with a full range of kids toys and apparel following suit

Twitter users were left divided after Mattel revealed a new look for Barney the Dinosaur as part of a planned reboot.

The beloved purple dinosaur is set to front a reimagined animated series debuting in 2024, with a full range of kids toys and apparel following suit.

WHAT did they do to barney??? pic.twitter.com/oeAaRLyezh  drid  (@ilydrid) February 14, 2023

Mattel also announced on Monday its plans to expand the franchise into film and YouTube content as well as music.

As part of the announcement, the American toy company gave fans a taste of what to expect when the new show premieres next year, including a preview of Barneys updated appearance.

The character was given a CGI makeover which included a new face shape, a wider smile and snout, a gap between his front teeth, green eyes, and a slight change in his fuchsia hue.

Barneys redesign was met with mixed opinions from Twitter users, with one person joking that he got the buccal fat removal.

What I dont like about the new Barney design is that his eyes remind me too much of the original Sonic movie design. pic.twitter.com/4Iy7UXVKun  Alberto Herrera (@Alberto9Herrera) February 13, 2023

Many were not fans of the Tyrannosaurus rexs new look, complaining that the redesign made it look like he had plastic surgery.

Why does Barney look like hes sky high cracked on cocaine? That face is unsettling as hell, one person wrote.

Another said: Maybe it's because I'm use to the OG Barney I grew up with during the '90s, but this new Barney looks like they gave him a face lift and some botox.

Someone else added: They gave Barney contacts, a nose job and bigger veneers. Sad.

While another user joked: new barney looks like he eat kids.

However, others opined that the new Barney looks better than the original character, who made his first appearance in Barney & The Backyard Gang back in 1988.

I see that barney has a new redesign for his 2024 series. Honestly, I think he's cute, one person said.

Another chimed in: Listen, I'm just gonna be real with you. This Barney redesign is so goddamned cute. I love it. The little gap tooth? *chef's kiss*

And a third agreed: Barney himself looks incredible!
Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty says he would not be surprised if the death toll in Hawke's Bay rises in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Gabrielle.

Two people have already died in the area - a woman died in Putorino overnight, in northern Hawke's Bay, when a bank collapsed onto her home, and a person found was found dead on the shore in Bay View, Napier on Tuesday.

The severe weather this week prompted a national state of emergency declaration on Tuesday morning, covering Auckland, Northland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty Region, Opotiki, Whakatane district, Waikato Region, Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki district, Waikato district, Tararua District, Napier City and Hastings District.

As of Wednesday, 9000 were displaced just in Hawke's Bay, by Cyclone Gabrielle. Overall across the country, the number is about 10,500.

McAnulty says the cyclone had moved off the coast of New Zealand and accordingly the worst of the storm was over, but "we're not out of danger yet".

"Sadly we've lost two lives - both in the Hawke's Bay - this is incredibly upsetting for everyone involved and my thoughts are with the family and friends as they face this tragic loss."

Emergency services are still carrying out rescues and land searches in several places.

McAnulty says the roading network in Coromandel had been decimated. In Tairawhiti, he says it was a relief most of the power had been restored and the Gisborne mayor was confident, with the airport now cleared, Defence Force planes could get in with supplies - but was worried about conserving water.

"That doesn't even touch on Northland with the huge power cuts up there, and the effect that it's in particular having on the rural communities."

Local councils would be surveying local roads and assessing whether they were safe to pass or not, he says.

"If it's just floodwater they will still assess whether a road is safe to pass. Just because a landslip has been cleared it doesn't mean it's safe."

Waka Kotahi are responsible for state highways and "are on to that", he says.

Hawke's Bay and Wairoa

More than 300 people rescued in Hawke's Bay on Tuesday are now being cared for in Civil Defence centres. It included a rescue of about 60 people from the roof of one large building, McAnulty says.

"The rescue coordination centre have 25 remaining tasks of individual or family groups that require rescuing and they are working through. These are being triaged and there are 12 helicopters undertaking the rescues.

"Emergency services are confident they will complete this task today, and there are no further calls coming through regarding rescues in Hawke's Bay."

Evacuations were under way in Hawke's Bay, with 9000 people estimated to be displaced, he says.

some 3000 are in Civil Defence centres.

Power remained out across the city of Napier on Wednesday morning. Wairoa's river had burst its banks overnight, and the town was cut off by road with only one day worth of food and two days of drinking water.

"Wairoa remains cut off, but NEMA has been able to communicate with the local CDEM group via satellite phone and NEMA personnel are en route to provide a needs assessment report at which point we will meet the need required," McAnulty says.

There had been a clear link of communication between NEMA and the local Civil Defence in Wairoa, he says.

"Power is back on in Wairoa to a large degree. There are two evacuation centres - the war memorial hall and the presbyterian hall - Wairoa college is there as a backup as well.

"FENZ have regular communication so we're in a much better position than we were yesterday - uncertainty causes anxiety and concern but we still don't have a full grasp of the situation there because we want to have people on the ground and that's happening as we speak."

The main focus on Wednesday was understanding the needs of the communities across the country, he says, and they were utilising all options.

"I was down in the bunker earlier, there are people working on solutions to that to get those basic provisions to those isolated towns."

Communication difficulties

McAnulty had spoken to the mayors of Gisborne, Hastings, central Hawke's Bay, and Tararua. He has been unable to speak to the Napier and Wairoa mayors but has heard indirectly through Civil Defence.

"Spark and Vodafone are choppering connection supplies to Gisborne today so I'm hopeful we'll be able to re-establish connection as soon as possible.

"My key message to everyone remains the same. Safety first. Look after yourselves and your families.

"This is a significant disaster and it is going to take many weeks for those areas most affected to recover."

He advised people to keep track of official communications and follow official advice.

Where people did not have power or communications, he says people should rest assured the people on the ground have a good grasp of what is needed in the local communities.

"There are certainly isolated communities but that's not unusual in a response."

How the country responded to a disaster was vital, but the recovery was just as important, he says.

"We are in this for the long haul."

Defence Minister Andrew Little says in terms of the defence force contribution to the response, there were more than 250 personnel across the Navy, Army and Air Force.

"Four NH90 helicopters - one in Northland and three in Hawke's Bay have been utilised and a fifth will be available for deployment in the next day or two.

"One Seasprite helicopter is in action and today has been tasked with a surveillance flight across Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty."

There were also trucks, unimogs and other vehicles in use, with an additional convoy of trucks and more than 100 personnel leaving Linton base today.

Little says many more Defence Force members were on short stand-by for deployment from bases across the country and would be ready to relieve those currently in service.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described Gabrielle as the most significant weather event in New Zealand since Bola in 1988.

National state of emergency: What you need to know

The New Zealand government has declared a National State of Emergency, to assist in the response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

The declaration will apply to the six regions that have already declared a local State of Emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay.

A national state of emergency gives the national controller legal authority to apply further resources across the country and set priorities in support of a national level response.

National Emergency Management Agency advice:

Put safety first. Don't take any chances. Act quickly if you see rising water. Floods and flash floods can happen quickly. If you see rising water do not wait for official warnings. Head for higher ground and stay away from floodwater.

Stay at home if it is safe to do so. But have an evacuation plan in case your home becomes unsafe to stay in.

If you have evacuated, please stay where you are until you are given the all-clear to go home.

People should stay up to date with the forecasts from MetService and continue to follow the advice of Civil Defence and emergency services.

Do not try to walk, play, swim, or drive in floodwater: even water just 15 centimetres deep can sweep you off your feet, and half a metre of water will carry away most vehicles. Flood water is often contaminated and can make you sick.

- RNZ.
The Princess Royal is visiting New Zealand for the Royal New Zeland Corps of Signals Centenary event.

During her visit, The Princess Royal says her thoughts are "with all New Zealanders" whose home or livelihoods have been affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

"I have been given the opportunity to visit the national disaster and crisis headquarters today and I am impressed by the major efforts being undertaken by first responders, local and national agencies to ensure the best possible support for everyone, especially those still at risk," says The Princess Royal.

Photo: New Zealand Defence Force/Supplied.

"I admire the courage of the people of Aotearoa during this alarming and difficult time.

"You should all be proud of the resilience, strength and care for your communities you are showing in the face of adversity."

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the government is getting a better picture of the damage across the North Island today and the devastation is widespread.

Cyclone Gabrielle has moved east of the country but MetService says heavy rain will continue to hit central New Zealand until Thursday with high waves along East Coast.

Hipkins says "What is clear is that the devastation is widespread and it's taken a toll beyond property and livelihoods, to people".

The Prime Minister spoke to media at 5.30pm today. Video: RNZ.

The grief of the loved ones who have died will be unimaginable, he says.

Today's immediate focus has been undertaking life saving missions, getting telecommunications and power back on as soon as possible, conducting aerial surveys to understand the extend of the damage, deploying emergency supplies and getting communications assets to area that need them, he says.

"This has been an enormous logistic effort ably lead by NEMA and the Defence Force."

There are seven outstanding requests for evacuation in the Hawke's Bay region. None have been identified as critical and all those who were on roofs have been rescued, he says.

More than 9000 people are expected to have been displaced across the region and there are 3000 in civil defence centres.

Police reported 1442 people are unaccounted for, mainly in the Hawke's Bay, as at 2.30pm, Hipkins says.

There have been 111 people reported as found and Hipkins says there was likely to be a cross over in these numbers.

"We expect the majority of these people will be accounted for however there are several people missing for whom police do hold grave concerns."

All local bridges between Napier and Hastings are out. Access to these areas has been re-established for emergency services and lifeline supplies via SH51.

Napier and Gisborne airports opened again today and Air NZ deployed a special assistance flight carrying communications support emergency supplies and airport operational staff into Gisborne today.

NZDF now has over 700 people involved in efforts. There are four aircraft, seven helicopters, two ships and 58 trucks.

The army has moved a logistics support team of 100 people and 30 vehicles, deploying to Hawke's Bay. Three NH90 helicopters have been conducting evacuations in Hawke's Bay today. A Hercules is conducting reconnaissance along the east coast to survey the damage.

The HMNZS Manawanu sailed from Auckland at 5.30pm with supplies destined for Tairawhiti, and was expected to arrive at first light in Gisborne. It will deliver water supplies to small communities on its way to Gisborne.

The HMNZS Te Mana will sail tomorrow to Napier, supplying Wairoa with water and other essential supplies. A member of the national emergency team has been on the ground in Wairoa today to help establish communications.

An NH90 has moved teams into Wairoa and a rapid relief team is working to provide a drop of bottled water for 3000 people via helicopter, planned to arrive this evening.

The team is also establishing a BBQ in Wairoa this evening to cater for approx 3000 people. They will start cooking when they arrive and only stop if they run out of people to feed or run out of food, Hipkins says. They're aiming to provide 300-500 food packages tomorrow morning.

The defence force will tomorrow move a water treatement facility into Wairoa to supply drinking water with the HMNZS Tamana delivering further drinking water.

In Gisborne, people are asked to conserve fresh water. Bottled water is on the way for Wairoa, Hipkins says.

"I know the need in the affected communities is great and we're doing all that we can across a major response effort to get the support and supplies to where they are needed the most," Hipkins says.

Hipkins says emergency services have requested people who have been evacuated from their homes not return until they have been given the all clear.

"Whilst the weather may improve in some areas and it may appear on the surface to be safe, if you haven't been given clearance to go back there is a reason for that."

There is "significant concern" for some in the Hawke's Bay, Hipkins says.

Eskdale is one of the areas they are wanting to get better information on, he says.

"There's clearly still quite a bit that we don't know. There are still some areas where we need to get more information, in some cases we need to get people on the ground before we'll get a really accurate picture of that.

"Hour by hour more information is coming in."

Hipkins says more rain coming may complicate rescue and response efforts as there could be additional incidents that get added to the tally of things needing to be responded to.

Hipkins says the hospital in Hawke's Bay, located in Hastings, is continuing to operate but has staffing issues as not all staff can be there at the moment.

Acute care is available in Napier and hospital teams are working with primary care.

"If people have a serious health issue, they should call 111 and through that they'll be able to get the best information on how they can access the acute care wherever it is that they are."

Hipkins says he intends to travel as soon as he is able to, it is safe to do so and his presence wouldn't detract from the immediate rescue efforts. "I don't want to be diverting resources to transport me around when those resources are required for the emergency response.

"In terms of my response to it, it is one of gratitude to the first responders who are on the ground doing an incredible job, enormous empathy for those who are experiencing significant disruption and resolve that we will absolutely get through this," Hipkins says.

Power and communications infrastructure update

Energy Minister Megan Woods says companies are working to restore electricity as soon as possible.

Since yesterday 65,000 households have had power restored. As of 2.30pm, there were 160,000 households without power.

In Hawke's Bay there are 60,000 people without power.

In Tairawhiti and Wairoa there were 15,000 people as at 2.30pm without power.

There are still high winds in some places with blocked roads making restoration unsafe or inaccessible at this point, she says. Restoration may not be able to begin until later in the week in some places, she says.

Lines companies are working together to get crew to places they are needed, the government is assisting them to get crew and equipment up to Northland in the first instance and looking at what support is required in other locations.

Woods has asked electricity retailers to look at whether they have people and engineering expertise to help the effort.

In Hawke's Bay, with the substation out of action, Transpower is working on a bypass to connect another substation to allow more customers to get reconnected.

The level of damage to electricity infrastructure has not been seen since Cyclone Bola, she says.

The government has set up a fuel sector coordinating entity under the national fuel plan comprising of fuel companies, retailers, MBIE and NEMA.

"This is giving a picture of open fuel stations in affected areas so that local civil defence emergency management can access fuel to undertake response activities," Woods says.

"The issues are not about the supply of fuel but a result of power being off at certain stations and/or an inability to access them by road meaning that vehicles can't refuel."

Fuel is considered a lifeline service, she says.

SH2 to Napier has now been opened to lifeline services, including fuel. Mini tankers are loading at Napier and supplying emergency services with diesel as required. The Wiri terminal and Masden Point terminal remain open and operational. The Whangarei Harbour is opening today and import ships are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

Digital Economy and Communications Minister Ginny Andersen says the three main areas impacted the most to connectivity are Northland, Coromandel and Hawke's Bay. Gisborne also has some impact.

Anderson says there have been five main breaks in fibre across the country, two have been restored - Coromandel and north of Taupo.

In Northland crews are working to extend the generator reach. Getting power back up is also key, she says. In Coromandel, connectivity should improve in the next 48 hours.

In Gisborne, there are two major fibre outages, there are intermediatory measures being made with satellite and generators to provide a short term limited connectivity. Voice and text will be installed but further ability to use the internet required fibre.

Communications providers are working to provide and interim measure of overlaying fibre over land to restore fibre connection to Gisborne. It is anticipated this will take a couple of days to be in place.

In Napier, generators are being used to provide cellphone connectivity as quickly as possible.

The telecommunications emergency forum has been stood up and has been meeting daily.

The cell network is undamaged, the main issue is just getting power on, Anderson says.

NZ's 'largest emergency housing project' ever

Megan Woods, as minister for housing, says there are a range of ways the government needs to approach the situation.

"We are working with community housing providers and Kaianga Ora around our public housing stocks in terms of our tenants there. We're also looking at housing assessments as they come through but probably the most useful figures that we're monitoring are those people who are now accessing the temporary accommodation service.

"We are very aware that this is the largest emergency housing project that the country will have ever had to undertake."

It will be a larger job that after the Christchurch earthquakes.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director of Emergency Management Roger Ball says the agency's understanding was that somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of the township of Wairoa was affected by flooding.

A full assessment of the area is still needed, Ball says.

People are able to move around and get emergency support.

"Obviously it's a significant indundation of the township but those people are being looked after by civil defence locally and external resources are coming and we're putting in another three Star Link units."

NEMA spoke with Tairawhiti civil defence this morning and have a reasonable picture of isolated communities there.

These communities are being well supported by their networks, Civil Defence felt.

National state of emergency: What you need to know

The New Zealand government has declared a National State of Emergency, to assist in the response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

The declaration will apply to the six regions that have already declared a local State of Emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Hawke's Bay.

A national state of emergency gives the national controller legal authority to apply further resources across the country and set priorities in support of a national level response.

National Emergency Management Agency advice:

Put safety first. Don't take any chances. Act quickly if you see rising water. Floods and flash floods can happen quickly. If you see rising water do not wait for official warnings. Head for higher ground and stay away from floodwater.

Stay at home if it is safe to do so. But have an evacuation plan in case your home becomes unsafe to stay in.

If you have evacuated, please stay where you are until you are given the all-clear to go home.

People should stay up to date with the forecasts from MetService and continue to follow the advice of Civil Defence and emergency services.

Do not try to walk, play, swim, or drive in floodwater: even water just 15 centimetres deep can sweep you off your feet, and half a metre of water will carry away most vehicles. Flood water is often contaminated and can make you sick.

- RNZ.
The Queen Consort will not be wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond during King Charless coronation (PA)

Buckingham Palace has released a statement confirming the Koh-i-Noor diamond will not be used in the coronation by the Queen Consort, Camilla.

She will instead by crowned with Queen Marys Crown, which is being resized for the May 6 coronation. The crown swap will mean for the first time in recent history a member of the royal family will be using a recycled crown for a ceremony.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond has been shrouded with controversy and has been at the centre of political and legal disputes regarding its original owner.

What is the Koh-i-Noor diamond controversy?

The diamond, according to Hindu belief, is revered by gods such as Krishna but has also carries a curse.

It is one of the worlds largest and most controversial diamonds and is set in the crown of the Queen Mother.

Over thousands of years, the diamond has made its way from Indian to Afghanistan, back to India before ending up in the British crown jewels by the mid-1800s.

In their book Koh-i-Noor: The History of the Worlds Most Infamous Diamond, historians Anita Anand and William Dalrymple further explore the rich past of the diamond, sifting through four centuries of Indian history.

For centuries, India was the worlds only source of diamonds and, although it is impossible to know exactly where the Koh-i-Noor came from, it does have a definite point at which it appears in the written record.

In 1526, Zahir-ud-din, leader of Turco-Mongol invaded India and established the Islamic Mughal dynasty. It ruled northern India for 330 years expanding its territory across most of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and eastern Afghanistan.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was made into a gemstone-encrusted throne known as a Peacock Throne worn by Mughal ruler Shah Jahan.The diamond remained in the possession of the Mughals until Persian ruler Nader Shah invaded India and took the Peacock Throne removing the Koh-i-Noor diamond and making it into an armband. This is when the diamond left India and remained in what would become Afghanistan for 70 years.

Story continues

The diamond passed between the hands of various rulers in one blood-soaked event after another until it was returned to India and came into the hands of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in 1813. However, it would not remain in India for much longer as the British made their way to the area with their eye on the prize.

When the British East India Company learned of Ranjit Singhs death in 1839 and his plan to give the diamond to a sect of Hindu priests, they decided to do all they could in order to get their hands on the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

In 1849 the British forced Duleep Singh, the 10-year-old heir to the Indian throne, to sign a document amending the Treaty of Lahore and giving away the diamond and all claim to sovereignty.

This was when the diamond was taken to England and came into the possession of Queen Victoria, becoming part of the crown jewels.

When was the diamond last seen in public?

The crown made its last public appearance in 2002, resting atop the coffin of the Queen Mother for her funeral.

A spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata party of Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, recently spoke of the Koh-i-Noor diamond saying it brings back painful memories of the colonial past.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond has now been removed from public display at the Tower of London.

According to the royal website, the crown jewels are ceremonial treasures which have been acquired by English kings and queens, mostly since 1660.
TORONTO  A Bangladeshi community organization is mourning the deaths of three international students killed in a highway crash in Toronto and is warning others to be aware that road conditions in Canada might differ from what they're used to.

Police say a car travelling at extremely high speeds on Highway 427 flew over a concrete ramp, landed in a ditch, and then hit another concrete wall before it burst into flames late Monday night.

Ontario Provincial Police say four international students from Bangladesh, who were living in Toronto, were pulled from the car.

"We're very concerned about the manner and description of this crash," said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt. "(A) very violent collision took place."

A 20-year-old man and 17-year-old boy who were sitting in the back seats were pronounced dead on the highway and a 20-year-old woman sitting in the front passenger seat died after being taken to hospital, police said.

The 21-year-old driver of the car remains in critical condition.

Nazia Hossain, the vice-president of the National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council, said the driver is the son of a popular musician in Bangladesh and all the international students in the car went to different schools in the Greater Toronto Area.

"It is a very sad story. It is a great loss," Hossain said Wednesday in a phone interview.

"The one who is driving ... I hope he recovers and he's back to his normal life."

Hossain said the families of the international students are devastated.

"Their parents are in very, very bad condition," she said, adding that her organization is mourning with the families.

The crash should be a warning for other international students who come to Canada about how road conditions may differ here, especially during the winter, Hossain said.

"I want to tell them you are very young, you should be very careful when you're driving at night. It's not the same road conditions in Bangladesh," she said.

Story continues

Last winter, a crash on Ontarios Highway 401 between a car and a tractor-trailer killed five students from India.

Harpreet Singh, Jaspinder Singh, Karanpal Singh, Mohit Chouhan and Pawan Kumar, who were between the ages of 21 and 24, were pronounced dead at the scene. Police have said they all studied in the Montreal or Greater Toronto areas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2023.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
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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.

More from Rolling Stone

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.

Best of Rolling Stone

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Vint Cerf, known as the father of the internet, raised a few eyebrows Monday when he urged investors to be cautious when investing in businesses built around conversational chatbots.

The bots still make too many mistakes, asserted Cerf, who is a vice president at Google, which has an AI chatbot called Bard in development.

When he asked ChatGPT, a bot developed by OpenAI, to write a bio of him, it got a bunch of things wrong, he told an audience at the TechSurge Deep Tech summit, hosted by venture capital firm Celesta and held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.

Its like a salad shooter. It mixes [facts] together because it doesnt know better, Cerf said, according to Silicon Angle.

He advised investors not to support a technology because it seems cool or is generating buzz.

Cerf also recommended that they take ethical considerations into account when investing in AI.

He said, Engineers like me should be responsible for trying to find a way to tame some of these technologies, so theyre less likely to cause trouble, Silicon Angle reported.

Human Oversight Needed

As Cerf points out, some pitfalls exist for businesses chomping at the bit to get into the AI race.

Inaccuracy and incorrect information, bias, and offensive results are all potential risks businesses face when using AI, noted Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a news, commentary, and analysis website.

The risks depend on the use cases, Sterling told TechNewsWorld. Digital agencies overly relying upon ChatGPT or other AI tools to create content or complete work for clients could produce results that are sub-optimal or damaging to the client in some way.

However, he asserted that checks and balances and strong human oversight could mitigate those risks.

Small businesses that dont have expertise in the technology need to be careful before taking the AI plunge, cautioned Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst with SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

At the very least, any company that incorporates AI into their way of doing business needs to understand the implications of that, Vena told TechNewsWorld.

Privacy  especially at the customer level  is obviously a huge area of concern, he continued. Terms and conditions for use need to be extremely explicit, as well as liability should the AI capability produce content or take actions that open up the business to potential liability.

Ethics Need Exploration

While Cerf would like users and developers of AI to take ethics into account when bringing AI products to market, that could be a challenging task.

Related: OpenAI Exec Admits AI Needs Regulation

Most businesses utilizing AI are focused on efficiency and time or cost savings, Sterling observed. For most of them, ethics will be a secondary concern or even a non-consideration.

There are ethical issues that need to be addressed before AI is widely embraced, added Vena. He pointed to the education sector as an example.

Is it ethical for a student to submit a paper completely extracted from an AI tool? he asked. Even if the content is not plagiarism in the strictest sense because it could be original, I believe most schools  especially at the high school and college levels  would push back on that.

Im not sure news media outlets would be thrilled about the use of ChatGPT by journalists reporting on real-time events that often rely on abstract judgments that an AI tool might struggle with, he said.

Ethics must play a strong role, he continued, which is why there needs to be an AI code of conduct that businesses and even the media should be compelled to agree to, as well as making those compliance terms part of the terms and conditions when using AI tools.

Unintended Consequences

Its important for anyone involved in AI to ensure theyre doing what theyre doing responsibly, maintained Ben Kobren, head of communications and public policy at Neeva, an AI-based search engine based in Washington, D.C.

A lot of the unintended consequences of previous technologies were the result of an economic model that was not aligning business incentives with the end user, Kobren told TechNewsWorld. Companies have to choose between serving an advertiser or the end user. The vast majority of the time, the advertiser would win out. 

The free internet allowed for unbelievable innovation, but it came at a cost, he continued. That cost was an individuals privacy, an individuals time, an individuals attention.

The same is going to happen with AI, he said. Will AI be applied in a business model that aligns with users or with advertisers?

Cerfs pleadings for caution appear aimed at slowing down the entry of AI products into the market, but that seems unlikely.

ChatGPT pushed the industry forward much faster than anyone was anticipating, observed Kobren.

The race is on, and theres no going back, Sterling added.

There are risks and benefits to quickly bringing these products to market, he said. But the market pressure and financial incentives to act now will outweigh ethical restraint. The largest companies talk about responsible AI, but theyre forging ahead regardless.

Transformational Technology

In his remarks at the TechSurge summit, Cerf also reminded investors that all the people who will be using AI technologies wont be using them for their intended purposes. They will seek to do that which is their benefit and not yours, he reportedly said.

Governments, NGOs, and industry need to work together to formulate rules and standards, which should be built into these products to prevent abuse, Sterling observed.

The challenge and the problem are that the market and competitive dynamics move faster and are much more powerful than policy and governmental processes, he continued. But regulation is coming. Its just a question of when and what it looks like.

Policymakers have been grappling with AI accountability for a while now, commented Hodan Omaar, a senior AI policy analyst for the Center for Data Innovation, a think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy, in Washington, D.C.

Developers should be responsible when they create AI systems, Omaar told TechNewsWorld. They should ensure such systems are trained on representative datasets.

However, she added that it will be the operators of the AI systems who will make the most important decisions about how AI systems impact society.

Its clear that AI is here to stay, Kobren added. Its going to transform many facets of our lives, in particular how we access, consume, and interact with information on the internet.

Its the most transformational and exciting technology weve seen since the iPhone, he concluded.
TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust

In a nutshell: If you've ever been redirected to a strange-looking Q&A website appearing to promote cryptocurrency or other blockchain technologies, it could be part of an ad-click-pumping scam. Since last fall, thousands of infected websites have been roped into these fraudulent schemes.

Security researchers at Sucuri have spent the last few months tracking malware that diverts users to fraudulent pages to inflate Google ad impressions. The campaign has infected over 10,000 websites, causing them to redirect visitors to completely different spam sites.

Suspect pages often have Q&A forms mentioning Bitcoin or other blockchain-related subjects. Savvy users might assume these sites are trying to sell Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, possibly for a pump-and-dump scheme. That may be the case, but Sucuri theorizes that all of the text is just filler content covering up the scam's actual revenue stream, Google ad views.

A clue suggesting this is that many of the URLs involved appear in a browser's address bar as if the user clicked on Google search results leading to the sites in question. The ruse could be an attempt to disguise the redirects as clicks from search results in Google's backend, potentially inflating search impressions for ad revenue. However, it is unclear if this trick works because Google doesn't register any search result clicks matching the disguised redirects.

Sucuri first noticed the malware in September, but the campaign intensified after the security group's first report in November. In 2023 alone, researchers tracked over 2,600 infected sites redirecting visitors to over 70 new fraudulent domains.

The scammers initially hid their real IP addresses using CloudFlare, but the service booted them after the November story. They have since migrated to DDoS-Guard, a similar but controversial Russian service.

The campaign mainly targets WordPress sites, suggesting existing zero-day WordPress vulnerabilities. Moreover, the malicious code can hide through obfuscation. It can also temporarily deactivate when administrators log in. Site operators should secure their admin panels through two-factor authentication and ensure their sites' software is up-to-date.

This campaign isn't the only recent malware drive connected to Google ads. Malicious actors have also been impersonating popular software applications to spread malware to users, gaming Google's ad ranking to appear at the top of search results. For now, those looking to download apps like Discord or Gimp should avoid looking them up through Google.
Returning students favor lifestyle at home, upbeat on economy, survey says Chinese students who have graduated overseas have shown a greater willingness to return and work in the Chinese mainland because of more convenient living circumstances and identification with the culture, according to a new report. The optimization of COVID-19 control policies has also improved the prospects of a promising career at home, said the report by recruitment portal Zhaopin. The number of Chinese students who have graduated overseas wanting to land jobs in China saw a continuous increase from the start of the epidemic in early 2020, and reached a high in 2022. In 2021, about 1.05 million of these graduates returned to the mainland for work, almost a twofold rise from 2020 when 580,300 returned to seek employment, according to the Ministry of Education. Zhaopin conducted a survey of graduates who had returned, and found about 58 percent decided to come back to China because they preferred the convenient living environment, while 40 percent said it was because they identified with the culture. Also, the optimized COVID-19 control policies have given Chinese students graduating overseas greater confidence in the nation's economic development in the near future, and strengthened their belief there are more job opportunities on the mainland. There has been greater demand for overseas graduate returnees after the nation optimized the COVID control policies. From Jan 30 to Feb 3, the first week after the Spring Festival holiday, Zhaopin vacancies that prioritized overseas returnees increased by 11 percent from the previous week. The vacancies gave priority to overseas returnees in sectors such as education, consultancy services and e-commerce, according to Zhaopin. Increases in recruitment salaries are also playing a big role in attracting overseas returnees. Vacancies prioritizing overseas returnees offered an average recruitment salary of 14,680 yuan ($2,151) per month in 2022, a 7 percent rise from the previous year, the report said. "I'm considering going back to China for work, mostly because I am more optimistic about China's economy in the next three or five years," said Li Ying, a 25-year-old postgraduate student in the United Kingdom. "And the culture and interpersonal relationships are also important elements. I get nostalgic sometimes, although I have friends here." Li said that she has plans for a teaching career or working in a job with flexible hours. She said she might take a gap year and do flexible jobs and find the sector she is really interested in. "I haven't decided about my future career yet, but I will go back to China for a job for sure." To attract more Chinese graduates from overseas, governments at all levels have made efforts to introduce supportive policies in recent years. Hongkou district in Shanghai, for example, launched a housing policy for overseas graduate returnees in 2021. Under the policy, returning Chinese students can enjoy a six-month rental allowance within two years of gaining an overseas postgraduate degree. The rental allowance ranges from 1,500 yuan to 3,000 yuan a month. Zhu Jiaying, a member of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has proposed Hainan build a talent pool of overseas returnees through supportive policies and allowances. She suggested the province to first develop a detailed strategy to attract overseas students and give them preferential tax treatment. Zhaopin, the recruitment portal, said that the recovery of the nation's economy after the optimization of the COVID policy will bring more job opportunities to overseas returnees this year. Returnee graduates will have a better chance of landing a job at home because of their international outlook and the availability of more channels providing employment information.
Forward-looking: Using less power than an ordinary household appliance, a team of scientists was able to capture the highest resolution images of the Moon ever. Soon, researchers will have unprecedented and very powerful tools to probe the cosmos - and catch a potentially planet-killing asteroid before it strikes Earth.

Using two powerful radar-based ground installations, a joint team of scientist from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Green Bank Observatory (GBO), and Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RIS) was able to demonstrate a new, powerful technology for space observation and probing. The prototype system provided impressive results, and the scientists are confident the full-power system being designed right now will enable even more capabilities for scientific research and beyond.

Announced in the past weeks and later spotted by gHacks, the project employed a low-power radar transmitter with up to 700 watts of output power at 13.9 GHz that was designed by RIS. It was tested on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope located in West Virginia, and aimed at the Moon's surface. Radar echoes were received with NRAO's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) network of 10 radio antennas located in New Mexico.

By using less energy than a common microwave oven, the researchers said, the prototype system was able to capture a 5-meter resolution image of the Tycho crater on the Moon's surface. The image showed unprecedented detail for a ground-based observatory, an "amazing" result never achieved before according to head of radar division for GBO and NRAO Patrick Taylor.

The prototype system is just the beginning for a potential new frontier in ground-based space probing. The scientists are still working on the design of the full-power system, which will use 500 kilowatts on the Ku-band (13.7 GHz) to achieve nearly 1,000 times the output power and "several times the waveform bandwidth" (up to 600 MHz) for even higher resolution imaging capabilities.

The researchers highlighted the extreme usefulness of such a system, as astronomers and space gazers could use the radar tech to detect, track and profile "potentially hazardous objects" that could impact Earth. In early tests, the prototype was able to "zero in on an asteroid 2.1 million kilometers away from us," which is more than five times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

With the higher-power system, scientists will be able to study objects that are much further away. When it comes to preparing strategies for possible impacts, "having more warning time is everything."

The radar system will be very useful for planetary scientists as well, offering a substantial advancement for astrometry, imaging and physical profiling activities targeting planets and other objects lurking in our own solar system.
Changing accents or speech patterns may be widely accepted in the media world, especially as actors and actresses use this tactic to fill in a role in their latest blockbuster or series. However, in terms of medicine, this is a serious case called "Foreign Accent Syndrome" (FAS), as exhibited by a person undergoing prostate cancer treatment.

The change in accents is not exactly a neurological disease, but a dysfunction caused by different reasons, leading to the use of an uncontrollable new accent, akin to the world's tongues.

Foreign Accent Syndrome Manifests in a Man with Prostate Cancer

(Photo : Marcos Luiz Photograph on Unsplash)

A study published in the BMJ Case Reports journal last month looked into what causes Foreign Accent Syndrome to manifest in a person. In this case, the researchers from Duke University studied a man in his 50s who suffered from metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, also receiving medications and treatments for it.

The man was receiving androgen deprivation therapy and abiraterone acetate/prednisone to treat his battle against cancer.

However, along the way, without any background in Irish English, began speaking with an "Irish brogue" accent. Despite the scans and MRI, there were no present abnormalities in the man.

His prostate cancer progressed to small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), leading to his death.

The researchers claimed that "We report FAS as the presenting manifestation of transformation to small cell NEPC, a previously undescribed phenomenon. His presentation was most consistent with an underlying paraneoplastic neurological disorder (PND)."

"This report enhances the minimal existing literature on FAS and PNDs associated with transformed NEPC." they added.

Read Also: WHO Warns Bird Flu's Possible Human Transmission After Spreading to Other Mammals

Why Does Foreign Accent Syndrome Appear?

According to Interesting Engineering, FAS manifests due to excess stress, unusual prosody, voice errors, and more.

In the case of the deceased man with prostate cancer, there was brain damage that manifested which led to this neurological dysfunction of changing accents, an immune response to cancer he suffered from in his lifetime.

Foreign Accent Syndrom Cases

There are people in the world who were speaking in their native tongues and accents one day, and the next time there is an encounter with them, it is like talking to a whole other person. This is the infamous Foreign Accent Syndrome which alters a person's speech pattern due to severe or extreme conditions, leading to neurological dysfunction.

Previous cases report that there was a British woman who woke up one day and started speaking with a Chinese accent, and this is not because she was being racist.

This is also the same case with Michelle Myers from Arizona, who despite having no roots in her genes or traveling to the United Kingdom, woke up one day after a severe headache and sounding like a local British person.

Some may use this and have the capability to turn this on or off when switching between roles, but some are suffering because of it because it comes as an uncontrolled pattern in their speech. There are reasons why people manifest FAS in their life, and one of the most recent studies centered on a deceased person who battled prostate cancer.

Related Article: Scientists Develop a New Diagnostic Test Technology That Can Detect Bacterial and Viral Infections Faster

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Technology is becoming more and more advanced as years go by.

(Photo : Photo by Kayana Szymczak/Getty Images)

A pedestrian dressed as "bigfoot" makes their way through the strong wind and snow in the Back Bay neighborhood during a blizzard on January 27, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Drones and other kinds of innovations are being used to make people's tasks easier.

Aside from this, technologies are also being used to solve mysteries that have been baffling numerous experts for the past years.

These include the existence of Bigfoot. But, can technology really solve this and other mysteries in the natural world?

How Technology Can Solve Bigfoot and Other Mysteries

According to Engadget's latest report, Bigfoot research has improved significantly in the past years.

(Photo : Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, a DJI Mavic 2 Pro made by the Chinese drone maker hovers in place on December 15, 2021 in Miami, Florida.

Also Read: Scientists Use CRISPR to Combine Alligator, Catfish DNA to Make a Hybrid

Matt Moneymaker, a popular TV personality and president of BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization), has been making drastic efforts to prove that Bigfoot is real.

His passion for the mysterious creature began in 1992; when local farmers informed him about the sightings in Ohio.

In September 2022, his team decided to use the Mavic 2 EA drone. Unlike other models, this advanced DJI drone has more sensors and a high-resolution thermal camera.

However, during that period, they weren't able to capture the footage of Bigfoot during that time.

One of the main issues with this technology is that it is too expensive for BFRO. But, they are hoping that sponsorships will soon allow them to have more of these thermal-based drones.

Aside from advanced drones, social media is also considered to be another great source for collecting sightings captured by other people.

But, not everyone is sharing their experience and captured videos on social media.

Based on these details, the efficiency of technology when it comes to capturing Bigfoot still depends on the people's commitment.

Technology Can Also Lead to Problems

Although technologies like drones and social media platforms are helpful, these can lead to issues because of how other people use them.

For example, Facebook and other online platforms are criticized because of the rising hoaxes and misinformation.

Instead of sharing real encounters with Bigfoot, other people tend to make up stories and edit fake videos/images.

Aside from online platforms, artificial intelligence is also making it hard for people to distinguish between real and fake content.

This can be seen in an AI-generated image posted by the Instagram account, bitsquatch. If you will check the photo, it really looks real.

You can click this link to see the actual image.

Aside from solving mysteries, technology is also being used for other environmental purposes.

Recently, a giant warehouse laboratory, which can re-create all types of weather, was created in the U.K.

We also reported that Heliatek created ultra-thin solar panels to harvest the sun's energy.

For more news updates about the environment and technology, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Scientists Create Sea Creature-Inspired Robots To Explore Extraterrestrial Oceans

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AI-powered search engines are expected to arrive soon.

(Photo : Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

A laptop computer screen in Beijing shows the homepage of Google.cn, 26 January 2006, a day after its debut in mainland China where the US online search engine launched a new service after agreeing to censor websites and content banned by the Beijing authorities.

Recently, Microsoft and Google made huge headlines after they launched their own artificial intelligence integration.

Microsoft released the new Bing search engine version powered by ChatGPT; the most popular AI chatbot as of writing.

Meanwhile, Google launched Bard, its new AI chatbot. However, not everyone can access it since it is still in the beta stages.

With these details, there's a high chance that other search engine providers will also integrate artificial intelligence into their products.

Benefits of AI-Powered Search Engines

According to MakeUseOf's latest report, the arrival of AI-powered search engine tools offers numerous benefits for users.

(Photo : Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman uses a laptop on April 3, 2019, in Abidjan. - According to the figures of the platform of the fight against cybercrime (PLCC) of the national police, nearly one hundred crooks of the internet, were arrested in 2018 in Ivory Coast, a country known for its scammers on the web, has announced on April 2, 2019 the Ivorian authority of regulation of the telephony.

Also Read: Google Maps Launches Immersive View, Combining Street View and Aerial Photography into 3D

These advantages are expected to drastically change how the internet is accessed. To give you more idea, here are some of the benefits that AI-powered search engines can give:

Online shopping will become more convenient. Instead of checking all the reviews and features, you can just ask the AI chatbot to provide the best option for iOS smartphones, Bluetooth speakers, and other products.

Searches are expected to be more conversational. Instead of searching for keywords, users will start talking to new AI-powered search engines just like how they converse with other people.

Users will receive answers ASAP. Unlike traditional search engines, new AI chatbots can send direct answers; in some cases, their answers will be partnered with reliable sources.

Issues With AI-Powered Search Engines

Although there are lots of benefits that AI-powered search engines can provide, there are also some disadvantages.

For example, Fortune recently reported that the new Google Bard made a huge mistake after it provided false information about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Because of this, many enthusiasts warned that the rise of artificial intelligence can also lead to the rise of misinformation.

But, you also need to remember that these new AI chatbots are still young and lots of improvements are still being conducted.

In other news, tech experts created the new ChatGPT alter-ego called DAN.

We also reported that a new watermark-removing AI concerns professional photographers.

For more news updates about artificial intelligence and other similar innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: ChatGPT Clones To Arrive in China; Beijing Authorities Pledge to Support Tech Firms

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Tesla app started crashing out of nowhere across Europe, leaving electric vehicle (EV) owners worried that they might end up being locked out of their cars.

Drivers of the Elon Musk-owned automaker report that the app showed an error message, which prevents them from using its services, including opening the doors of the EVs.

(Photo : Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022 near Gruenheide, Germany. The new plant, officially called the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, is producing the Model Y as well as electric car batteries.

Tesla App Crashes in Europe

According to a report by Lad Bible, the Tesla app offers EV owners of the Musk-led carmaker various options like checking the battery level on their cars. It also provides essential features like unlocking the doors of their vehicles.

And as such, the app's failure significantly affects the giant automaker's owners. The time that these drivers are dreading has arrived in time for Valentine's Day.

On February 14, an error message appeared on the app of Tesla drivers in Europe. When they attempt to open it, they are welcomed with a "503 Server Maintenance" notice rather than the handy options that it provides.

(Photo : 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."

Affected owners were quick to report the downtime and outage on social media, including Twitter, which the big boss of Tesla now owns, sitting as the "Chief Twit."

As per a report by Daily Mail UK, some drivers report that the app outage lasted for roughly six hours.

Read Also: This Tesla Version of Fitbit Can Show You if Your Electric Vehicle is Being Powered by Coal or Renewables

Drivers Fear Not Opening Car During Outage

Due to the widespread outage in Europe, some drivers got easily frustrated, fearing that they might have difficulty unlocking their vehicles due to the unexpected Tesla app downtime.

It is worth noting that Tesla lets its users unlock their EVs without any keys. And instead, they can use their smartphones to get in their vehicles.

Although the keyless option is convenient in most cases, everything changes during sudden outages such as this.

Others worried they might not be back from work in time for Heart's Day. What a time to experience a widespread Tesla app outage.

Despite all the worry and frustration, they could still open their vehicles even if the app is experiencing hours-long of downtime.

Rather than relying on the app, the Bluetooth connectivity of their iPhones and Android phones still works. Thus, Lad Bible notes that drivers unlock their doors effortlessly.

Besides the unlocking feature, which works with Bluetooth alone, other essential options were inaccessible.

What frustrates the drivers the most is their inability to access the Powerwall battery system. So they could not check if they need to top up the battery of their EV using their phones.

Related Article: Tesla Software Update 2023.2.0.5 Enhances Sentry Mode, Heating Steering Wheels; How to Install?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Twitch streamers' faces started appearing on malicious artificial intelligence-generated (AI) pornography deepfake without their consent.

Unconsenting deepfakes have been initially using celebrities and other significantly popular people.

But this time, wherein the technology has become more accessible and advanced, it started spilling to unconsenting streamers and even influencers.

(Photo : Amanda Dalbjorn from Unsplash)

Twitch Streamers Appear on Deepfake Porn Without Their Consent

As per a recent report by NBC News, deepfake porn videos are rapidly rising online since 2018, a study by a live streaming analyst, Genevieve Oh shows.

The numbers are quite alarming. In 2018, there were a ton already, nearly 2,000 malicious videos. But fast forward to 2022, it saw a sharp increase with a staggering 13,000 AI-generated clips.

Not to mention that the monthly views last year grew to a whopping 16 million. So its viewership is also rising.

A University of California, Berkeley, computer science professor, Hany Farid, told NBC News that the trend for non-consensual deepfake videos has alarmingly changed.

The computer science professors state that it is no longer limited to celebrities. Farid notes that "now suddenly the people who are vulnerable are people who have very small footprints online."

AI technology has gotten more sophisticated. It now only needs "small training stats." Instead of the previous requirement of "hours and hours of video."

This puts influencers with a few videos and photos online vulnerable to non-consensual malicious deepfake videos.

On top of that, deepfake-producing apps are easily available on various app marketplaces, such as the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play Store for Android device owners.

Twitch Streamers Pokimane and Maya Slams Deekfake Porn

In January, Twitch streamers, including the most popular ones like Pokimane, slammed these non-consensual deepfake porn spreading like wildfire online, which uses their faces.

(Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

A picture taken at the Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2018, shows the logo of the VOD and streaming video games company Twitch.

The popular Twitch streamer, Pokimane, tweeted, calling everyone to "stop sexualizing people without their consent. that's it, that's the tweet."

Meanwhile, another streamer, Maya, issued a statement on Twitter. She notes that the deepfake porn makes her "feel disgusting, vulnerable, nauseous, and violated."

Read Also: Increasing Number of Deepfake Voice Misuse Cases Attributed to ElevenLabs AI Beta Platform

Deepfake Porn Sharing Without Consent To Be Criminalized?

Tech Crunch notes in its reports that the United Kingdom Online Safety Bill seeks to put an end to these acts of sexualization.

(Photo : ALEXANDRA ROBINSON/AFP via Getty Images)

An AFP journalist views an example of a "deepfake" video manipulated using artificial intelligence, by Carnegie Mellon University researchers, from his desk in Washington, DC January 25, 2019.

It is looking to crack down on abusive non-consensual deepfake videos by criminalizing them. The bill proposes to put those sharing these malicious clips in jail.

Essentially, it should help protect the victims of these abusive AI-generated videos.

Related Article: Twitch Streamer Atrioc's Deepfake Porn Controversy Sparks Wisesweeping Debate on AI Efficacy

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Lenovo has worked extra hard to ensure that their notebooks are much lighter than other contemporary laptops. Xiaoxin Pro 14/16 and Xiaoxin 16 2023 are soft, slim, and flexible. It can be bent into an almost flat design.

Impressive Display Screen of the New Range of Lenovo Notebooks

The display screen of the three models of Lenovo Notebooks is sure to draw an admiration response from all technology lovers. The LCD screen of Xiaoxin Pro 14/16, Xiaoxin Air 14 2023, and Xiaoxin 16 2023.

According to the story by Giz China, the new range of Lenovo Notebooks has lived up to our expectations. The sleek, thin, and light body, larger display screen, and long battery life make the Lenovo Notebooks a perfect choice.

Experience the Powerful and Light Design of the Xiaoxin Pro 14/16, Xiaoxin Air 14 2023, and Xiaoxin 16 2023

The Xiaoxin Pro 14/16, Xiaoxin Air 14 2023, and Xiaoxin 16 2023 are powerful and light, featuring a large display screen and long battery life. In addition, the thinner bezel design makes the viewer experience truly comfortable and pleasing. The laptops have all the features one expects and desires from a computer in the modern era.

Lenovo is one of the most popular manufacturers of electronic gadgets, and one of their most sought-after products is the laptop. The company has released an impressive lineup of laptops with various features and specifications this year.

Highlights from the Lineup: The Air 14 2023 and Xiaoxin 16 2023

The laptops come in a wide range of sizes and are equipped with various specifications ranging from Intel Core i5 to Core i7 processors, 1TB SSDs, dedicated GPUs, and much more. Two of the highlights from the lineup are the Air 14 2023 and the Xiaoxin 16 2023, as explained further in an article by Gizmo China.

The Air 14 2023 is the sleekest of the two, weighing only 1.34 kg and measuring 14.9 mm thick. It boasts a 14-inch screen with a 2.8K screen resolution, a high refresh rate, and a wide SRGB color gamut. The flagship device also has an Intel Core-13400P processor, 1TB PCIe SSD, and 16GB LPDR5 memory.

Read Also: iMac 2023 to Use M3 Chip: TSMC Still to Develop the Chips

Powerful Performance and Comfortable Design of the Xiaoxin 16 2023

The Xiaoxin 16 2023 is another top-notch laptop from the lineup that offers a 16-inch screen with a 2.5K screen resolution and a 100% SRGB color gamut. It is powered by a 13th-generation Core i5-13400P processor, 1TB SSD, and is 16.9mm thick, as seen on My Drivers.

The laptop also offers a decent battery life of 75.4Wh, so users can get through their day without worrying about charging it often. It has four speakers, a numeric keypad, and a 1080p High Definition camera.

The Lenovo laptop lineup is an impressive collection of devices with all the features one could ask for from a laptop. With a wide range of sizes, features, and specifications, users are sure to find something that fits their needs and preferences perfectly.

Related Article: Quantum Computers: New Microchip Connection Method Achieves 99.999993% Success Rate at 2,424 Qubits Per Second

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Instagram Live Shopping is facing its final curtain call this March, as Meta shuts down the option that allows users to tag products during live broadcasts on the platform.

The photo and video sharing service has now confirmed that it is killing its Live Shopping feature next month.

(Photo : OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, a person looks at a smart phone with a Instagram logo displayed on the screen, on August 17, 2021, in Arlington, Virginia.

Instagram Live Shopping Ending This March

As per a report by Engadget, the Facebook parent, Meta, introduced the Live Shopping option on Instagram in 2020, a time wherein the COVID-19 pandemic forced most of us to stay at home.

During the height of the pandemic, online shopping saw an unprecedented increase. Some folks who lost their jobs during the widespread lockdown globally also took to social networks to sell some goods to earn a living.

So Meta took the chance to set up online shopping features on Facebook and Instagram. Thus, the birth of the Live Shopping option was around two years ago.

(Photo : KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

This picture taken in Moscow on October 5, 2021 shows the US social network Instagram logo on a smartphone screen.

This time around, IG announced that "you will no longer be able to tag products in live broadcasts" on the Meta-owned social network.

The support page notice precisely told its users that "live shopping on Instagram is going away on March 16, 2023."

Why is Instagram Killing Live Shopping Feature

Things have rapidly changed post-pandemic. We are now facing a rough economic situation, forcing tech behemoths to cut down on their expenses. Giant firms like Meta are trimming down their features, including online shopping options.

In fact, Engadget notes that Facebook ditched its Live Shopping option last October. And after a few months, Instagram is following the same route.

(Photo : David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 20: People attend a two-day pop-up event hosted by Instagram highlighting small businesses at Chelsea Triangle on May 20, 2022 in New York City. Instagram @shop features over 1,000 small business brands from around the world and has crossed the 1 million threshold just before its 3rd anniversary.

The IG support page explains that the removal of the live broadcast product tagging option should help the photo-sharing platform "focus on products and features that provide the most value to [their] users."

So it looks like Meta wants to put its attention on the core features of the video and photo-sharing app.

Read Also: TikTok to Launch In-app Shopping Feature: How the App Expands From Videos to E-commerce

Alternatives for Instagram Live Shopping

Despite the farewell of the Live Shopping feature next month, online sellers and shoppers could continue shopping for products on the platform.

The Verge notes that shops on IG are here to say. The social media service notes that users "will still be able to set up and run [their] shop on Instagram."

On top of that, the giant social network assures its users that it will "continue to invest in shopping experiences for people and businesses."

In lieu of Live Shopping, Instagram folks could still tag products on Stories, Reels, and their feed.

Related Article: Instagram Shop to Soon Have Ads, as Social Media, Tests the App's Functions and Availability

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Russian software market is experiencing an exciting new development: the release of the "M OS" operating system, designed specifically for educational institutions and developed by the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow. The operating system is based on the Linux kernel, and a team of 25 developers worked on its development which took six months to complete.

Inclusion in the Ministry of Digital Development Register

According to the story by Giz China, it is already being distributed to Moscow schools as part of personal computers, laptops, and interactive panels. The Moscow Electronic School (MES) project team also supports and develops "M OS."

The operating system comprises popular browsers like Chromium and Mozilla Firefox, email clients including Mozilla Thunderbird and Evolution, office suites such as P7-Office and LibreOffice, and tools for creating screenshots, recording video from the screen, and working with files.

"M OS" also offers a unique feature that allows for role differentiation for teachers, parents, and students and uses the KDE graphical environment. Currently, information needs to be included on the distribution of the Russian OS was created, as well as its inclusion in the Ministry of Digital Development register.

New Domestic Operating System Brings Advanced Features to Educational Institutions in Russia

However, the MES project team stands to maintain its support for the operating system and its development. The arrival of "M OS" marks an important milestone in the Russian software market, per CNews.

With the advanced features designed specifically for educational institutions, its presence will likely contribute to the ongoing digital transformation within this sector, as also noted by Gear Rice.

The Moscow Electronic School (MES) project team recently announced the development of an additional domestic operating system for educational institutions in Russia. Named "M OS," it offers several built-in applications and specialized programs for teachers and students, a simple and intuitive interface, stable and reliable operation, and a high level of cybersecurity.

Comparing Different Domestic Operating Systems in the Educational Segment

As a result, it is already running in almost all schools in Moscow and is a part of the "Laptop for Every Teacher" project, replacing Microsoft Office in metropolitan schools. While "M OS" is one domestic operating system in the educational segment, there are at least two others, namely Basalt SPO, Red Soft, and Astra Linux.

All of them gaining a lot of attention recently due to the growing number of implementations. For example, Astra Linux OS licenses have increased six times compared to the same period in 2021, with approximately 150,000 being delivered to schools.

Read Also: Shenzhen Aims to Add 10,000 5G Base Stations This Year

Advantages of Acquiring Licenses for Existing Domestic Operating Systems

However, some have voiced concerns that "M OS" might be inferior and simpler compared to Astra Linux, arguing that "meaningless" to assess its quality since it makes no sense to create another Linux distribution.

Instead, the developers should consider acquiring licenses for existing domestic operating systems and address any missing functionality that customers may require. This will result in one really powerful and advanced operating system. As "M OS" is an additional option for educational institutions, it may become a popular choice.

Related Article: USAF Collaborates with Reliable Robotics to Work on Autonomous Flights for Military Needs

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
China is again taking the lead as the world races to embrace the 6G mobile network. China recently announced plans to host the 2023 Global 6G Technology Conference.

6G Innovations Set to be Discussed at Nanjing Conference

According to the story by Giz China, the conference will focus on 6G R&D, tech, scenarios, and standardization. This year's theme is "6G Integrating the World and Creating the Future Together". The event is set to be held in Nanjing, China, from March 22nd to 24th.

The event will convene leading industry experts worldwide and invite relevant global academic organizations. This includes Finland's 6G Flagship Program, Japan's 5G Forum, and Singapore's Future Communications Program. Participants will jointly organize forums to discuss the need to promote a steady 6G network globally.

They will also delve into 6G application scenarios and standardization progress, network architecture and endogenous security, wireless transmission and spectrum sharing, space-ground integration tech, and on-demand services.

A Guide to What China Is Doing for 6G": An Overview of Chinese Government Efforts to Promote 6G R&D

The hosts hope to set a global consensus on the 6G network and tech innovation at the 2023 Global 6G Technology Conference. This year's event will be one of the first, and possibly most influential, steps in moving the global economy into the 6G era, as also noted by IT Homes.

As the world speeds up its efforts to stay up to date with the latest technologies, the 2023 Global 6G Technology conference may be the decisive point in ensuring everyone's transition into the 6G era.

The event aims to develop the fields of 6G R&D, technology, scenarios, and standardization and will also bring up topics such as network security and wireless transmission. An article by Light Reading shares how the Chinese government focuses more on 6G tech.

China Making Strides for 6G Launch Through The 2023 Global 6G Tech Event

As 6G technology is set to launch around 2030, the focus is turning to China, with the country making some exciting moves to ensure it comes out tops in the 6G network drive. Last year, the 14th Five-Year Plan digital economy development was released, highlighting the need to increase support for 6G tech R&D and actively promote the 6G global standard.

Recently, China Mobile published the "Technical White Paper on 6G Network Architecture," which revealed the 6G overall architecture design with a "three-body, four-layer, and five-sided" structure. It was the industry's first systematic release of the 6G network architectural design.

To fully understand how this network will progress, a three-day event named the 2023 Global 6G Tech will be held in 2021. At the event, top Chinese experts such as Wu Hequan, Liu Yunjie, Wu Jiangxing, Lu Jianhua, and the Director of the Bureau of Standards will share their views.

Read Also: Promising Magnetic Superstructure Might Turn 6G Into A Reality Soon

Purple Mountain Lab to Unveil 6G Technical White Papers at 2023 Global 6G Tech

There will be an opening ceremony report, eight round table forums, three global forums, and four closed-door events. To fully understand how this network will progress, a three-day event named the 2023 Global 6G Tech will be held in 2021.

At the event, Purple Mountain Lab will introduce its latest research results into the 6G network. These will include the official release of several 6G technical white papers.

Related Article: Chinese Lab Announces 6G Speed Breakthrough, While the 5G Technology Hasn't Completely Rolled Out Yet

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google's Fiber offers now makes its 5 GB subscription tier available, and this means that through the company's service, users may now enjoy this massive internet speed in select cities. Currently, four cities are included on Google's service coverages for its internet subscription, using terrestrial lines to bring its service.

The internet company brought this service on the famous international romance holiday, Valentine's Day 2023, allowing users to opt for a new internet service.

Google Fiber Now Offers 5 GB Internet Speeds

(Photo : Mitchell Luo on Unsplash)

After initially teasing back in 2022 that its services are expanding this year, Google Fiber announced that its 5 GB internet is now available for the public. In this surprise, Valentine's Day reveals, the internet speed expansion for subscribers is now available to either avail as a new customer or upgrade their plans to a higher speed.

According to Nick Saporito, Head of Multi-gig and Commercial Product at Google, "5 Gig is designed to handle the demands of heavy internet users - for example, creative professionals, people working in the cloud or with large data, households with large shared internet demands."

The speed expansion centers on delivering faster internet download and upload speeds simultaneously, and it already comes with a 10 Gig jack to anticipate future upgrades to its service.

Read Also: Frontier: 5 Gbps Fiber Internet is now Available in the US-But Is It Still a Thing?

How Much is Google's New 5 GB Internet

According to Google, 5 GB internet is available for $125 per month, close to current internet prices, offering the same speeds in the market.

5 Gig is available in four cities in this recent launch, including Kansas City, West Des Moines, and across Utah cities. Google said it would soon expand to other areas and cities in the US.

Google Fiber and its Internet Service

One of the most famous internet services in the country is arguably an entry from Big Tech, and Google is famous for its "Google Fiber" service for what it brings the public. It is part of the internet company's quest to offer an alternative connection for the web needs in different households or offices in the country, depending on its coverage area.

2020 was a massive year for Google Fiber, especially as it offered different updates to the service, and one is the removal of the traditional TV bundles on its internet.

This was also the year when it first provided an upgrade to different areas, centering on its 2 GB offers for Tenessee and Alabama.

Fiber internet is still among the fastest terrestrial services available, despite the many offers, including 5G internet at home or satellite connectivity. Google Fiber's latest offer centers on its pilot program in four cities which may now tap into 5 GB speeds with the Santa Monica giant to deliver the heavily-used internet connections.

Related Article: Google Fiber Expands Internet Plans with 5Gbps and 8Gbps, to Launch in 2023

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elon Musk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Tesla, donated billions worth of shares of his electric vehicle (EV) maker to charity last year.

According to a recent United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the billionaire entrepreneur has given away roughly $2 billion worth of Tesla shares in 2022.

(Photo : by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 4: Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives at federal court, April 4, 2019 in New York City.

The SEC document further disclosed the dealings of Musk involving Tesla shares last year.

Elon Musk's Tesla Shares Donation in 2022

As per a recent report by Reuters, the shares that Musk donated last year are nearly $2 billion, or roughly $1.95 billion, to be more exact.

It turns out that the Tesla CEO donated a huge bulk of shares of the all-electric carmaker from August to December 2022.

The SEC filing confirms that the tech entrepreneur has given away around 11.6 million shares to an unnamed charity in the said period.

Although the recent filing discloses the amount that Musk donated, it failed to mention which charity or organization received the nearly $2 billion worth of donation.

BBC reports that the filing aptly describes the donation last year as "a bona fide gift."

The giant EV maker, as well as its chief exec, has yet to comment on the billions worth of donations made in the previous year.

(Photo : by 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.

However, BBC notes in its report that Musk spoke about plans to donate millions of dollars in 2022. In his tweet last March 30, he announced that he is "donating $20 [million] to Cameron County schools."

On top of that, he also stated that he plans to donate another $10 million for the "downtown revitalization" of the "City of Brownsville. But it is unclear if the SEC filing includes these two beneficiaries.

Read Also: Elon Musk Announces New Feature on Twitter: Earn Ad Revenue from Ads in Reply Threads

Previous Tesla Stock Donations

It is worth noting that this is not the first instance that Musk donated to charity. In fact, the billionaire has given away more to charity in 2021, according to a separate SEC filing.

(Photo : by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Tesla boss Elon Musk (L) walks with Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong during the ground-breaking ceremony for a Tesla factory in Shanghai on January 7, 2019.

In 2021, he donated Tesla shares to the tune of $5.74 billion. So this goes to show that his donation last year was significantly lower.

Besides donating Tesla shares, Reuters highlights in its report that Musk took part in the Giving Pledge in 2012. And since then, he has committed to offering half of his riches to philanthropy.

Other signatories include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, according to The Giving Pledge website.

Apart from leading Tesla and SpaceX, Musk recently took over the giant social network Twitter. He now sits as the "Chief Twit" of the latter.

Related Article: Elon Musk Reacts to Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra's Camera Zoom Feature

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung's One UI 5.1 is rolling out to older Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S22 series and the Galaxy Z Flip4, among others, ahead of the release of the Galaxy S23 lineup.

The South Korean phone maker has confirmed that the new One UI update is now on its way to millions of Galaxy users in various parts of the world.

(Photo : by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman walks past an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone at the company's Seocho building in Seoul on July 7, 2022.

Samsung One UI 5.1 Rolls Out

Sam Mobile notes in its report that the phone maker began seeding the One UI 5.1 update to older Galaxy mobile devices early this week. But this time, Samsung has made its release official.

The Galaxy S23 series has yet to start its shipment to its early customers, which comes with the latest One UI version right off the bat.

And as such, the current rollout of the update to older Galaxy phones made sure that its other devices are not getting left behind.

The executive vice president of Samsung Electronics, Janghyun Yoon, says in a press release that "One UI 5.1 is the up-to-date example of Samsung's commitment to providing Galaxy users with the latest innovations as soon as possible."

(Photo : by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman walks past an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone at the company's Seocho building in Seoul on October 7, 2022, after Samsung Electronics expected operating profits in the third quarter to fall 31.7 percent.

Yoon further disclosed that they have "worked closely" with the carrier partners and service providers of the Korean tech behemoth to roll out the new update to select Galaxy phones.

The release of the new update comes shortly after Samsung introduced its all-new flagship lineup, the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra, in time for their release on February 17.

Which Galaxy Devices Are Included?

The new One UI 5.1 update is now rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, as well as its predecessor, the Galaxy S21 lineup, and the much older Galaxy 20 phones. The release includes the Fan Edition variants of these devices.

On top of the S-series flagship phones, the new update is now available to the current foldable lineup of Samsung. Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 users can now get their hands on the latest update.

(Photo : by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 05: Visitors have a look at the new Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone at the 2019 IFA home electronics and appliances trade fair on September 05, 2019 in Berlin, Germany.

The tech giant notes that the update is also coming to Z Fold3 and ZFlip3 devices "in the coming weeks."

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Has Shutter Lag? Here's How to Fix This Camera Issue

What's New on One UI 5.1?

Samsung says that the new version of One UI offers new and improved Expert Raw and Camera apps, as well as new Battery and Dynamic Battery widgets, according to Android Police.

The new Multi Control feature is also arriving in version 5.1, which helps users connect their Galaxy Book and Galaxy phones. Apple iPhone and Mac users might find it familiar, as it works like Universal Control.

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy S23 Feature: Bypass Battery, Run on Direct Charging Power via Game Booster-How?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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With the Kramer Education Center set to open later this month, the Columbus Public Schools Board of Education is looking at needed positions to staff the new building.

During the school boards committee as a whole meeting held Feb. 13 at Educational Service Unit 7 in Columbus, board members reviewed a list of prioritized positions.

The Kramer Education Center, formerly Kramer High School, will house a preschool and daycare center. The Columbus Public Schools (CPS) Foundation is operating the daycare as a business.

CPS Superintendent Troy Loeffelholz said before Christmas the district asked school principals to come up with a list of staffing priorities in each of their buildings.

This was our priority based upon the data we have today  to open up Kramer and meet some needs also, Loeffelholz said.

The first level included the following positions at Kramer  an early childhood principal/special education assistant director, a secretary, a nurse and a custodian.

The next level was a dean of students at Centennial Elementary School, special education behavioral interventionists at the five elementary schools, an English learner (EL) teacher at Columbus High School, paraprofessionals for the behavioral interventionists and a new position at Columbus Middle School that has yet to be determined.

We know that certified salaries would be about $720,000; classified, $300,000; administration, $59,000. So the total would be just over a million dollars, Loeffelholz said.

To pay for the new positions, the school district can look at its valuation increase, state aid and freezing building budgets, among other measures.

Chip (Kay, director of finance and human resources) was anticipating $750,000 in state aid, or just north of that, Loeffelholz said. Four percent was about the average of our valuation increase, so that would be in the neighborhood of $400,000.

Kay spoke about the dean of students position, which would be new for a CPS elementary school.

According to Kay, the number of enrolled students and formative evaluation of teachers determine how many administrators are needed in each building. Typically, he added, each building has a principal and an assistant principal per 400 teachers/students. That model works in every building except Centennial, which has 42 teachers and 450 students.

Centennial is really the only building that doesn't meet that threshold that you see a lot of districts our size are modeling after, Kay added.

In similar news, Director of Technology and Operations Leonard Kwapnioski gave an update on the Kramer Education Center. Progress continues to be made, he noted, but the school district is still waiting on the arrival of kitchen tiles, which must be a certain type in order to meet health department standards.

Kwapnioski added that the final layer of paint will be started soon, and drywall in the daycare is roughly 50% complete.

CPS is still looking at a fall opening date for the preschool, as noted during the meeting, with Loeffelholz adding the daycare can hopefully be partially open by mid-summer.

Loeffelholz said the CPS Foundation is wanting to receive a grant that will require the facility to be open by the end of June.

They won't open to full capacity Weve hired a coordinator and now weve got our assistant on board so they're starting to get ready for that enrollment piece, Loeffelholz said, adding state officials have also visited the building. Once we start that enrollment, then well be able to work with our staff to see what the fall looks like.

Additionally, the school districts plan to build a CASSETTE House  a transitional program for students ages 18-21 and individuals with special needs to learn life skills  has seen a change in plans.

Kwapnioski said the new 3,000 square foot facility to be constructed at the high school was budgeted at $600,000. The lone bid received for the project exceeded the budget by more than $100,000, so Kwapnioski said he would recommend rejecting that bid. There were two other companies interested in bidding on the project but ended up dropping out, he added.

Kwapnioski said he has been speaking with Loeffelholz and Kay on how to move forward with the project, as well as an attorney as CPS plans to use Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) III funds for it.

There's a lot of things that we have to do differently to make this project go, Kwapnioski said. Ive started working through that process.
Dr. Timothy Tesmer of Lincoln was named Tuesday as the state's next chief medical officer, beginning March 27.

Tesmer's appointment to the Division of Public Health in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services was announced by Gov. Jim Pillen.

"I am excited to have Dr. Tesmer join DHHS," the governor said.

"Dr. Tesmer is a distinguished physician and surgeon with over 35 years of practice.

"His expertise will be pivotal in serving Nebraskans as our chief medical officer.

"I look forward to the strides our Division of Public Health will make in helping people live better lives under his leadership," the governor said.

Prior to starting his own practice, Tesmer was at CHI's Physician Network/ENT Nebraska, where he served as a physician specializing in ear, nose and throat otolaryngology.

Tesmer will succeed Dr. Gary Anthone, who left to serve as chief medical officer for Vetter Senior Living, which operates more than 30 assisted-living, skilled-nursing and long-term care facilities in the state.

The 10 richest cities in Nebraska for 2023 10.Bellevue 9. South Sioux City 8. Gering 7. La Vista 6. Columbus 5. Ralston 4. Papillion 3. Schuyler 2. Seward 1. Gretna
ProPublica and The Advocate | The Times-Picayune could use your help investigating how America prepares for hurricanes and tropical storms and helps victims afterwards. The news organizations are exploring how a range of policies unintentionally punish working-class Americans and people of color, contributing to the disproportionate harm they suffer in catastrophes.
The building at 127-129 Royal Street in the French Quarter, has a plaque on the faade that explains its import to Mardi Gras history, photographed New Orleans, La. Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. It's also the site of the old Gem Saloon (NOT TODAY'S LITTLE GEM), where the Pickwick Club first met in 1857, eventually becoming the Krewe of Comus and inventing the modern Carnival parade. The building dates to the early 1800s. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLAcom, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Heres the part of the article where I need to acknowledge that it is a privilege to be able to travel and buy wine and that I am not trivialising the dangers of drinking. I wouldnt dare wear a t-shirt that says Rose most of the day or Malbec made me do it. Not with all the cancel culture running around out there. Loading Whether in Chile or not, at a restaurant, the Wine Dad must be prepared. Research must be done in advance so hes not poring over the wine list like its The Epic of Gilgamesh, cross-checking every item with the bottles on the wishlist. I feel like Im eating alone, my wife once said, eventually adding, Just pick something, Im sick of this! In Santiago, Chiles capital, one restaurant made it easier to choose by offering a wine flight. I was able to try a variety of Chilean wines, including the delightful carmenere. When it was all over, I asked to see all the bottles so I could take photos. But the waiter didnt have them on hand. I could take you down to the cellar where no one is allowed to go and I might get fired if I take you down there? he said.

Lets do it, I replied. In wine country, if the Wine Dad is not vigilant, he will lose control, entering a kind of fugue state where no thoughts shall pass through his mind unrelated to wine. The Colchagua Valley in Chile. Winding through the vineyards of the Colchagua and Casablanca valleys, I wondered how many wineries we could visit before my palate  and my family  collapsed from exhaustion. The youngest child was of particular concern, as he was capable of going rogue at any moment. He had already been staging quiet, miniature rebellions throughout the trip, knocking over wine glasses and dropping cups of hot chocolate. It was an accident, hed say after pouring syrup on my pants. But we all knew that was no accident.

At various points, my wife would get so (rightly) sick of my obsession that shed tell me to go taste on my own. But very few places offered tastings by themselves. I had to arrange a tour of the winery, which would end with a tasting. Im interested in wine production, but I dont really need to see the big barrels and hear about malolactic fermentation or grumpy vine syndrome. On the way to one beautiful winery, I got lost. I dont know where I am, I said when I called, driving through narrow dirt roads in horror fields straight out of A Quiet Place. Great, they said. Well see you when you get here. At a vineyard next to a horse farm, I sat at a restaurant and asked for half glasses so I could taste as much as possible while wondering why it was that we didnt eat horses. Was it because we rode them? Did they like being ridden? Perhaps it was preferable to being eaten.

Occasionally, the Wine Dad on holiday will encounter Other Wine Tourists. I was peacefully absorbing the offering at one vineyard when I overheard an English woman trying to buy a bottle of wine with her mother. Whats your nicest chardonnay? Is that oaky? Is that too oaky? Oaky? O? Kee? Fine. Mummy, what do you want? Mummy. Mummy. Choose something, what do you want? MUMMY! MUMMY! Russell Crowes character lived the Wine Daddys dream in A Good Year. It was terrifying. I hoped to God that wasnt how other people saw me. I generally kept it pretty cool, though at one hotel I did find myself glaring over my glass at the saddest dog I had ever seen. One of its legs appeared to have been shortened and its entire midsection looked like an open wound, pink and hairless. Its owner told me it had been mauled by several German Shepherds. They took literal chunks out of this poor pooch and now it limped around the hotel, a tribute to the will for survival in all of us. When we arrived in America, I noticed that I wasnt the only one transformed by the plague. My brother had turned into an even bigger Wine Dad than me. There were cases arriving every 15 minutes from deals that popped up on his phone.

35 per off 45 bottles of California cab. $100 for all the wine in our Iowa City steel mill basement. This wine was found at the bottom of the Atlantic next to a golden skull. $13. I knew I was outmatched when hed say things like: Youre wasting your money if you open that barolo now.

This ones a little shy. You have to coax it out of its shell. Make a little small talk. I bought this one from a street magician in Lisbon. He said it could make me impervious to dental ache. Loading Aside from my brother, though, it was becoming clear that I was clinging to a wine dream that was mine and mine alone. No one cared about my South African Cabernet Sauvignon experience. No one wanted to hear about the Georgian Saperavi Id befriended. My wine journey was coming to a close. But then, hidden in the deep recesses of my in-laws cupboards, I found a 1991 Morgon, which, as we all know, is one of the 10 crus on the Beaujolais slopes. I had struck gold.

It was a short bottle and I couldnt quite figure out who the producer was. And it was a screw cap. Curious for French wine. I chose not to question it and poured... It was on the brown side, colour-wise. Sharp on the nose, as though someone was jamming a fork up there. Mouth feel? Spiky, slightly rancid. It was terrible. I took another look at the bottle. Courtesy of British Airways. Theres nothing courteous about this, I thought and wondered how I had turned into such a desperate bourgeois caricature. Why couldnt I just go back to drinking white zinfandel and be normal? I thought of the small, mangled hotel dog, following its instincts, charging into battle against much bigger dogs. It was only doing what it was made to do  fight, exist. The brutality of nature awaits us all. In the meantime, we wrap ourselves in the cosiness of hillside vines and artisanal olive oils, swirling and sipping, our eyes cast to the horizon, forever watching, waiting, hoping not to get attacked by a pack of German Shepherds. Nick Bhasin is a writer in Sydney. His debut novel I Look Forward to Hearing from You will be published by Penguin Random House Australia in June.
As Safe Harbour President and CEO Scott Shewell sees it, without the work of Sam Milkes, the organization may not be available to help homeless children and adults today.

Milkes, alongside a career in law, served on the Safe Harbour Board of Directors from 1992 to 1997 and has supported the organization for several decades.

This year, he is the recipient of Safe Harbours 2023 Leadership Through Service Award.

The award recognizes outstanding and dynamic leadership through service to Cumberland Countys residents and communities, Safe Harbour officials said in a news release. It is presented to organizations or individuals that provide programs, funding and services to support organizations and initiatives dedicated to improving the lives of Cumberland County residents in need.

In 2020, Milkes retired as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Inc., a Harrisburg-based organization that handles civil cases for low-income families, including domestic violence, evictions, foreclosures, disability cases, custody, consumer problems, public benefits and more, the news release said. He lives in Carlisle with his wife and has two sons and two grandchildren.

Milkes will accept the award at Safe Harbours annual Night Without a Tux fundraising gala at 6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Carlisle Country Club, 1242 Harrisburg Pike.

The event will include a guest speaker, dinner, music and a silent auction. Funds raised will support the organizations mission of providing shelter and services for Cumberland Countys homeless and nearly homeless.

Tickets can be purchased online at Safe Harbours website, via email at info@safeharbour.org or by calling 717-249-2200.

The Sentinel spoke with Milkes for a look at different aspects of his career as well as what this award means to him and how hes seen Safe Harbour grow.

Q1: What does this award mean to you?

A: This is a very special and unexpected award. I was completely surprised when I received the call from Paul Edger, president of the Safe Harbour board. I am proud to have been a part of founding James Wilson Safe Harbour and have always believed in their mission of providing longer-term housing and direction for those in need. The award is all the more special for me as I look at the impressive list of past recipients, including Jimmie George, who did so much for our community, and whom we lost not long ago.

Q2: What would you say are some of the highlights of your career and why did you choose these?

A: Since I graduated from law school, my career has mostly been devoted to providing civil legal representation to clients in need of help but who did not have the means to hire a lawyer. I started that career as a staff attorney at Legal Services Inc. in Carlisle in 1979. That allowed me to represent victims of domestic violence, families facing eviction or foreclosure and many other clients whose needs were civil in nature and mostly related to their poverty. Combating domestic violence has always been an important part of my career, from representing individual clients to help stop the violence, to lobbying for legislative improvements providing greater protection, to supporting and helping establish domestic violence shelters. A different legal services experience was that in the early 80s I filed litigation, forcing the building of the current county prison after the state inspected the old jail, found immediate fire and safety hazards with the risk of a high fatality rate, and yet it did nothing further.

In 1988 I left Legal Services Inc. to become executive director of a six-county neighboring legal aid program, Central Pennsylvania Legal Services. In 1992 I came back to Carlisle to practice law for nearly 10 years at the firm of Jacobsen & Milkes with my good friend, Andrea Jacobsen. During this time I was also a public defender in Cumberland County. In 2001 I had the opportunity to return to my roots, by being hired as the executive director of Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Inc., based in Harrisburg. This is the statewide umbrella organization for the provision of civil legal aid in every county. I retired from that position in 2020, after 19 years. Im proud of my tenure there, especially in helping improve funding for civil legal aid at the state and national levels and in helping guide the provision of statewide legal services in a good direction.

Q3: How have you seen Safe Harbour grow and change throughout your involvement with the organization?

A: Its very exciting that Safe Harbour is so vibrant as a lead organization helping families in crisis get back on track. From its beginning, it has provided housing to people needing help. It was not intended to be a place for emergency housing. However, the growing need for emergency housing in our communities led to Safe Harbour adding this program in 2003. Emergency housing is absolutely a continuing need and other organizations in Cumberland County are also attempting to meet that need.

A key founding principle of Safe Harbour is not just to provide housing, but to provide the necessary counseling and supports to help its residents get back on their feet. Those supports may help them obtain job training, education, counseling or other resources.

When I helped to found Safe Harbour, we successfully focused mostly on the purchase and the running of what was then the James Wilson Hotel, to make its residences into what they are now. It did not take long for the organization to start looking for other housing opportunities by purchasing some homes where residents could live and receive the same services as residents at the main building.

Still today, affordable housing is a great need in our community and Safe Harbour continues to explore other ways of trying to help provide that resource. We are all very excited about Safe Harbours Harbour Village development, which will soon help to provide affordable housing to area residents. Construction is now underway.

Q4: What are the most difficult and the most rewarding aspects of your career and why?

A: Most difficult is when I see injustices and dont see them getting corrected. I feel that an effective lawyer is a problem solver. That does not necessarily mean winning a case, but it means finding a way to improve a situation on behalf of a client or to address a compelling issue in a meaningful way. We need more problem solvers who are willing to look beyond an all-or-nothing approach to challenges and find ways to solutions. But on occasion, I have seen situations where there hasnt seemed to be enough of an interest by some of the parties involved to get to a solution.

The most rewarding? When I see success against the odds of reaching that success. In my career, that has meant finding resources to help support civil legal aid or seeing some of those problems that affect our clients solved. That can mean court victories or it can mean success at working with various interests to get to meaningful agreements that improve peoples lives.

I want to add here that I have found it incredibly rewarding to see support for access to justice and fairness for our low-income friends, neighbors and those unknown to us. I have found a real commitment to liberty and justice for all that transcends political party registration, political philosophy or personal wealth and success.

Q5: It seems that much of your career has focused on providing legal aid for vulnerable or low income individuals and families. What fuels your passion for this cause?

A: My passion? I am a firm believer in the work of my career. When I went to law school, I knew then that my career goal was to do something I believed in, where I felt I could make a difference, and that the choice may or may not be financially rewarding. Ive learned over my career and from jobs I had before law school that the best of employment income does not necessarily translate to job satisfaction. I often make this remark to younger audiences. Find something that satisfies you. That doesnt necessarily mean being a lawyer or even pursuing higher education. It means finding yourself satisfied in what you are doing.
Japanese paper giant Nippon will close Australias last white paper plant, meaning 200 jobs will be lost at the Maryvale mill and native forest logging in Victoria could end sooner than scheduled.

The Japanese paper companys Australian subsidiary, Opal, was one of a few remaining major customers of the states native timber industry, which is scheduled to close by 2030, with logging reduced from 2024.

Japanese paper giant Nippon says it has difficulty procuring native timber after VicForests was issued with a number of court orders for breaching environmental rules. Credit: Jessica Shapiro

The Maryvale mill, which opened in 1937, is the last producer of white paper in Australia  including for office use, exercise books and envelopes  and one of a few remaining major customers for VicForests native timber. It is the Latrobe Valleys largest private employer.

In a statement on its website, Nippon said the company would withdraw from graphic paper, ie white paper, but would continue making paperboard, kraft paper, corrugated board and folding cartons in Australia and New Zealand.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on February 17, 1983

At least 30 people are dead and more than 200 homes destroyed after bushfires fanned by 40 degree heat and strong winds swept Victoria and South Australia yesterday.

Both States declared a State of Disaster as hard-pressed emergency services were stretched beyond their capabilities.

Page 1, February 17, 1983 Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

In Victoria, police said last night that six people had died in the Terang/Warrnambool area, two near Lorne, three at Cockatoo, 45 km cast of Melbourne and one at Upper Beaconsfield.
Government bureaucrat clashes with business protesting level crossing removal

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Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said the government supported parents freedom to choose which school they enrol their children in. We also support the growth of low-fee non-government schools in high-growth areas through capital funding, she said. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the states independent school enrolments grew by 6570 in a year to reach 187,913  the highest on record. Nikki Kapsanis straightens her daughter Alexis collar at their Earlwood home before she heads off to school. Credit: Jessica Hromas Association of Independent Schools NSW chief executive Margery Evans said enrolment growth had occurred in low and mid-fee Anglican, Islamic and Christian schools in Sydneys newer suburbs. Demand for places in many independent schools exceeds supply, and schools report having scores of names on their waiting lists and, in some cases, hundreds of students are turned away, Evans said.

Sydneys private schools, many of which have increased fees by 4 to 7 per cent this year, have been lobbying to increase student caps, with principals warning restrictive student caps are creating huge enrolment pressures. Loading The ABS figures reflect a national trend, with independent schools across Australia recording the highest growth rate at 3.3 per cent last year, followed by Catholic schools at 1 per cent. Enrolments in government schools fell for a second year running, down by 0.6 per cent across the country. Ellouise Roberts, head of education statistics at the ABS, said the proportion of students enrolled in independent primary schools was growing, with about 12 per cent of NSW students in private primary schools. This increase in the primary school share for independent schools has been continuing over a few years, she said, noting that these proportions are much higher for high school, with 18.5 per cent of secondary students in NSW independent schools.

Across all schools, private schools had a lower student-to-teacher ratio (11.7 students to one teacher) than government schools (13.4 students to one teacher) and Catholic schools (13.6 students to one teacher). Loading Principal Alan Dawson at Richard Johnson Anglican School in Oakhurst said demand was increasing for low-fee private schools in high-growth areas in the citys north-west. Our fees are about $6400 for year 12  parents really see it as value for money, Dawson said. Even just in the past year to this year, weve seen a 44 per cent increase in a year at our Marsden Park campus. This is mainly due to a lack of public schools in this growth corridor, Dawson said. Leppington Anglican College principal Michael Newtons school in south-west Sydney opened its doors this year and already has 180 students.

Weve got kids who have come from other public schools in the area, he said. There are some big open-learning style classrooms  for some parents, their children have found that difficult. He said parents who enrolled their children at the $8000-a-year school valued how staff used explicit instruction to explain academic concepts to children and the attention they received from one classroom teacher. In our area, parents say they want a disciplined environment, he said. Nikki Kapsanis, who lives in Earlwood, chose Rosebank College for her children, Jonas and Alexis. The Five Dock private school charges $11,400 for year 12. This is significantly below amounts charged at Kambala and SCEGGS Darlinghurst, the most expensive Sydney schools where fees have increased beyond $45,000 for the first time this year.

For us, the school is up there with the elite schools but not with the cost, Kapsanis said. The co-educational factor was a big plus, and it offers academics, performing and arts. We think the fees are worth it. Loading The kids went to our local public primary school but for high school we wanted a private education. As children get older and they become teenagers, they need discipline. ACU senior lecturer and former principal Paul Kidson said there can be a misguided view that there is major academic benefit to sending children to private schools. There are many reasons parents select independent schools including social status, religious affiliation and family connections. It will be interesting to see what happens with enrolments in low-fee schools as mortgage and cost of living pressures grow, he said, adding that high-fee schools will be relatively insulated.
A charity that supplies thousands of disadvantaged children with free clothes and other essential items says high rental prices and low vacancy rates are hindering its urgent search for new, bigger headquarters.

Big Group Hug, which gives donated goods such as clothes, prams and nappies to clients across Melbournes north and west, must vacate its warehouse in Bundoora, in Melbournes north-east, by September.

Bursting at the seams: Big Group Hug chief executive Bernadene Voss at the charitys Bundoora warehouse. Credit: Justin McManus

Chief executive Bernadene Voss said the landlords needed the space back.

She said if Big Group Hug could not find a big enough place within its budget, it may have to scale down operations, which will mean children will miss out.
London: US intelligence officials have declassified what they say is irrefutable evidence that Iran is supplying Russia with drones being used to attack Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.

Analysts said that Iran was able to perfect its drone capabilities by testing them for the first time outside the Middle East and in full combat, and was positioning itself to be a global supplier of cheap and lethal drones.

In a briefing to selected media that included The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in London, officials said they wanted to share the information for the first time in the UK to the foreign press. This would inform governments who dont have access to US intelligence and would encourage them to join in sanctions targeting Irans suppliers.

Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky with a downed drone recovered from the Black Sea in October 2022. Intelligence officials say parts of the drone (highlighted) match verified photos of the Iranian-made Shahed-131. Credit: Defence Intelligence Agency

Officials from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), which provides intelligence and analysis to the Pentagon, said hundreds of drones had been sold to Russia since August 2022, suggesting a stockpile of supplies. Replenishments were also believed to have started in December.
Black History Month provides the opportunity to reflect on events of national prominence and create a connection to our current context. The year 1973 marked the end of the draft Army and the transition to the All-Volunteer Force for the U.S. military.

This year is both the 50th anniversary of the volunteer force and the 75th anniversary of the presidential directive to desegregate the military. In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 declaring there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

In the summer of 1972, three African American Army officers  Col. Chris Stevens, Col. Porcher Taylor Jr., and Lt. Col. Jerry Curry  entered the U.S. Army War College. Career officers, each man joined the military during or following World War II. In the segregated military, they experienced the growing pains of integration of Army units.

These officers would have been cognizant of the struggles during the American civil rights movement as Black civilians pressed for full rights of citizenship.

Each student had enlisted, received a commission and climbed the ranks through assignments, promotions and commands.

In their careers, progress toward equal treatment and opportunity was demonstrated by their selection for command and attendance at professional military education programs of the U.S. Command and General Staff College and the war college. Active-duty Army Lt. Col. Frederic Davison and New York Army National Guard Lt. Col. Otto van Exel became the first Black graduates of the prestigious war college in 1963. A quarter-century after the executive order that led to the desegregation of the military, the war college Resident Class of 1973 counted three leaders of color in its ranks of 228 students.

Stevens enlisted in the Army in 1945. After World War II, he graduated from Hampton Institute, a Historically Black College, and was commissioned as a quartermaster officer. A year-long assignment as a procurement officer for the U.S. Element of the Military Assistance and Advisory Group in Laos was followed by two tours in Vietnam that included command of the 64th Quartermaster Battalion (Petroleum) and then service as deputy commander of the 29th General Support Group. Stevens assignment prior to attending the war college was as commander of the U.S. Army Support Center in Philadelphia.

Taylor Jr. took a slightly different path with enlisted service in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during WWII. Upon returning home, he studied at the Tuskegee Institute, was commissioned as an Army infantry lieutenant, and was then called to active duty in 1951 during the Korean War. He had assorted postings as an infantry and staff officer, which included assistant professor of military science at Virginia State University, a historically Black university, as well as two tours in Vietnam. While stateside, he commanded a battalion in the U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served as the training centers deputy chief of staff for personnel. Prior to attending the war college, Taylor commanded I Corps Special Troops Headquarters in Korea and completed a doctorate in Counselor Education.

Curry enlisted in the Army during the Korean War. He was commissioned as an infantry officer through Officer Candidate School. Curry later became an aviator, serving initial tours of duty in the United States and then overseas in Germany, Korea and Vietnam. After assorted infantry and aviation assignments, Curry commanded the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry in Germany and then served another Vietnam tour as regimental senior adviser for a Vietnamese unit. Prior to attending the war college, Curry was assigned to the Army staff at the Pentagon as an operations research analyst.

Through it all, these three officers persevered as patriots in service to the nation, demonstrating and further developing their talents in the profession of arms. Through their own merit, they prospered and performed well in key assignments. With their war college graduation in June 1973, Stevens, Taylor and Curry would lead the All-Volunteer Force in warfighting formations and in institutional organizations. Accordingly, they would prove integral in creating the Army of the future in the wake of a strategic failure in Vietnam and diminished trust of the military within American society.

The legacy of these three Army officers is well-earned and should be remembered during this Black History Month 2023. Fifty years after their war college graduation, we can see the institutional progress made toward diversity, equity and inclusion for the U.S. military. That progress was not easily gained, and thus must never be taken for granted.
Ste. Genevieve County residents who fear a proposed silica sand mine will drain their drinking water wells and light up the night sky with its 24-hour schedule asked a Missouri House committee on Monday to halt the project.

We (do) not deserve to have our futures ruined because a handful of people want to make a lot of money, said Chris Eckenfels, a farmer from Ste. Genevieve County.

Ste. Genevieve County, which lies south of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, has been a mining community for more than 100 years. But news of a silica sand mine, which would be operated by NexGen, alarmed community members, who mobilized in opposition and formed an organization to oppose it called Operation Sand.

Critics of the mine packed a committee room at the Missouri Capitol Monday.

Theyve been vocal opponents for months as NexGen seeks approval and permits from regulators. One of the groups organizers, Jillian Ditch Anslow, said residents are scared of this mine being so close.

And not because were scared of the unknown, said Ditch Anslow, a high school biology teacher, but because were scared of what weve come to know. Were scared of what weve learned as this process has gone on.

Now, the Ste. Genevieve community is looking for a legislative solution. They asked members of the Missouri House Rural Community Development Committee to support a bill that would, in effect, prohibit the NexGen mine.

The original version of the bill would allow county governments to create public health and safety rules for mining in Lamotte Sandstone formations. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rick Francis, a Republican who represents Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties, would also require mines to be set back from schools, churches, parks, subdivisions and homes.

But there will likely be a substitute version when the committee votes on the legislation. That version prohibits silica sand mining within 2.5 miles of state parks and conservation areas in counties with between 17,600 and 19,000 residents with county seats that have between 4,000 and 5,000 residents.

Only Ste. Genevieve and Pike counties fit that description.

Francis said the goal of his bill is not to affect other mining operations.

This bill language will prohibit the mining of silica sand in a small western portion of Ste. Genevieve County with close proximity to Hawn State Park and other conservation areas, he said.

Francis said his constituents dont want the sand plant.

They have concerns about their well water, about the silica dust that would be in the air, about blasting, lights, noise, etc., he said. I could go on and on.

Opponents of the bill argued Monday that it unfairly targeted the company.

We are concerned about the precedent this bill sets by circumventing the existing process that businesses are supposed to go through, said Roger Faulkner, one of the partners in NexGen.

Ray McCarty, president of Associated Industries of Missouri, said the bill was a special law that unconstitutionally targets the mine.

We believe that this is kind of the camels nose into the tent, McCarty said.

NexGen applied last year for a land reclamation permit, which it received without any environmental review by the state. But following an appeal, the permit was revoked.

Operation Sand is also fighting NexGens water permit along with Friends of Hawn and the Sierra Club.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission recently awarded contracts for infrastructure projects in the area as well as other parts of the state's Southeast District.

The multiple contracts announced in Thursday's meeting will fund restorative work on area roads, including plans for resurfacing, pavement improvements, pavement markings, bridge repairs and replacements, and scrub seal projects.

A $16,705,000 contract went to Pace Construction Company, headquartered in St. Louis, with offices in Poplar Bluff and West Plains. The company won the job of resurfacing several sections of road, four of which wind through St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve counties.

Work will begin this year with resurfacing the nearly 21-mile stretch of Highway 32 from Route OO in Farmington to I-55 near Ste. Genevieve. The section of highway is heavily used, with thousands of area motorists traversing the route every day, according to MoDOT's traffic volume data.

Area Engineer Christopher Crocker said the route from Farmington to I-55 was expected to be finished this year. The other overlay projects have a completion deadline of fall 2024.

"So they have any time this year or next year to start and finish most of [the projects] with the exception of Route 32 from Farmington to I-55," said Crocker. "That one, we're asking that they have a completion date of fall of this year. So we expect that they're going to start that one pretty early this year and try to get it done right away.

"We've already pushed that project off a little bit from when we originally wanted to do it. The pavement itself is not in the greatest condition. There are some sliding failures and some bonding issues kind of randomly throughout the project. And we wanted to get that [project] in this construction season to basically take care of now instead of it may be getting worse in the next two years."

Crocker explained that exact dates and time frames for work on the different projects would be discussed at pre-construction conferences yet to be held.

"A big reason we've [set deadlines for 2024] is to provide the contractor with a little bit more flexibility to get a lot of these paving projects into their schedule," Crocker said. "We're really trying to work with them on that so that we can get a little bit of a better bid price. Otherwise, normally we don't push the projects out two years."

The length of Highway D from Highway Y, near French Village to Highway EE in Farmington, will be resurfaced, covering close to 13 miles across St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve counties.

Other resurfacing work will be done on the five miles of Highway 32 that links I-55 to the City of Ste. Genevieve, stopping at Gerard Street.

Road crews also plan to add a center turn lane where Highway 32 intersects with I-55 in Ste. Genevieve County.

A $1,134,786 contract was for bridge rehabilitation on Route 67 over the Union Pacific Railroad and Koen Creek near Park Hills in St. Francois County.

The bridge is included in Gov. Mike Parson's $351 million Focus on Bridges program, which will repair or replace 250 bridges across the state.

The Koen Creek bridge project was awarded to Poplar Bluff-based Joe's Bridge & Grading Inc.

Crocker said the company has the option to begin the bridge work as soon as March 6; however, the actual start date has not yet been determined. Once work has started, the contractor has 60 days from that start date to finish, and all work must be completed by Oct. 1.

The area engineer explained the process of determining when certain roads need to be addressed. The engineers work with their planning partner, the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission, to decide which projects are approved at different times.

"We have an asset management plan, and we basically have a good idea of how long an overlay is going to last," said Crocker. "We start thinking about them ten years out. Then we will also go through and grade each road and determine its condition and then determine when we think it needs to fall in that asset management plan."

In addition to the overlay projects, a $1,190,000 contract was approved for Putz Construction LLC to perform erosion control repairs along various routes throughout the Southeast District.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved varying sums on multiple other infrastructure projects last week. Funds to be dispersed include:

$1,967,242 awarded to H.R. Quadri Contractors, LLC, for grading and paving on various curves along Route K from Route 21 to Route 49 in Iron and Reynolds counties;

$561,149 to Missouri Petroleum Products Company, LLC, for scrub seals on the section of Route A extending from Route 60 to Route 49 in Carter and Wayne counties as well as parts of Route 162 from I-55 to Route M in New Madrid County;

$885,863 going to Joe's Bridge & Grading, Inc., for a bridge deck and substructure replacement on Route J over Ditch No. 12 in Dunklin County; and

$114,535 awarded to Strack Excavating, LLC, for bridge repairs on the Diversion Channel bridge on Route 25 in Cape Girardeau County.

Additional information regarding timelines and impacts on traffic will be released before construction begins.

Crocker said the best way to get project updates is to sign up for MoDOT alerts on the department's website.

"The best thing to do is go to our website, MoDOT.org, and you can sign up for notifications on that site," he explained. "You can sign up for text updates or email updates, and you can pick whatever county you're interested in to see if there are any major projects. We also break it down by region.

For more information, contact MoDOT's Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-888-ASK-MODOT (1-888-275-6636). Visit the department's website, MoDOT.org, and sign up for text or email alerts.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 80F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.
20 States Rally in Suit Against Bidens Immigrant Parole Program

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patch on the arm of an agent in the Jacumba mountains in Imperial County, Calif., on Oct. 6, 2022. (Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Feb. 14 led a coalition of 20 states in partnership with America First Legal (AFL) in a lawsuit against President Joe Bidens Department of Homeland Security. The states seek an injunction against a new program that would allow hundreds of thousands more immigrants to be paroled into the United States each year.

The program allows migrants to obtain advance approval to enter the United States while still in their home country, despite there not being a previous legal basis for them to do so.

The states motion for preliminary injunction requests that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas immediately halt this parole plan until the lawsuit is resolved.

ALF announced the lawsuit on Jan. 24 of this year, saying Biden administration officials created a new blatantly unlawful program that will permit up to 360,000 aliens to be paroled into the United States every yeardespite no authorization from Congress to do so.

AFL President Stephen Miller said in a statement about the injunction that Bidens plan to mass import unauthorized aliens from their home countries directly to the United States without any legal basis for doing so is nothing more than a brazen attempt to accelerate stratospheric migration levels while, at the same time, concealing the sheer volume of cross border flows by transporting these illicit aliens directly from their home countries to the American interior.

The program could permit up to 360,000 migrants to fly into the United States from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela each year if they meet certain requirements, including not entering the country illegally, passing background checks, and having a sponsor in the United States.

The program, which was introduced in October 2022 for Venezuelans and expanded in January, also allows migrants to get work permits and a two-year license to live in the United States, and its combined with an extension of Title 42 expulsions to cover those nationalities.

The states filed a lawsuit, claiming that the program is illegal due to congressional parole rules, which limit its use to a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

Joining the suit along with Texas were attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The White House didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
4 More Arrested for Alleged Role in 2021 Assassination of Haitian President

A person holds a photo of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise during his memorial ceremony at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 20, 2021. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

Four more people were arrested on Tuesday and charged in connection with the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the Justice Department announced.

Colombian national Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 50, of Miami; Venezuelan American Antonio Intriago, 59, of Miami; and Walter Veintemilla, 54, of Weston, Florida, face charges that include conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the United States.

Frederick Bergmann, 64, of Tampa, Florida, faces charges for allegedly committing export violations and smuggling ballistic vests.

Ortiz and Intriago are part of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security (collectively known as CTU), which is based in South Florida, and Veintemilla is a principal for Worldwide Capital Lending Group, also based in South Florida, according to prosecutors.

The four men worked out of South Florida to plan and finance the plot to oust Moise either by kidnapping or murdering him, and later replace him with someone who would serve their own political goals and financial interests. The intended replacement was Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 64, a Haitian American dual citizen with political aspirations, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors allege that in April 2021, just three months before Moise was shot 12 times at his private home, Ortiz, Intriago, John, Solages, and Sanon met in South Florida and agreed to a plan in which Sanon would become president and would award lucrative contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects in Haiti.

Additionally, Sanon would also award them with the provision of security forces and military equipment, federal prosecutors say.

Suspects in the assassination of Haitis President Jovenel Moise, among them Haitian-American citizens James Solages (L) and Joseph Vincent (2nd L), are shown to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 8, 2021. (Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo)

Plan to Kidnap Moise Evolved

Veintemillas company Worldwide Capital Lending Group is accused of agreeing to help finance the deal and providing CTU with a $175,000 line of credit as well as sending money to co-conspirators in Haiti to purchase ammunition.

Prosecutors say that Veintemilla, Ortiz, and Intriago, through their respective companies, expected to reap significant financial benefits should Moise be replaced as president.

Ortiz and Intriago also allegedly retained a group of about 20 Colombian nationals with military training to provide security to Sanon, while Bergmann became a supporter and investor who helped fund the Colombians lodging in Haiti and worked with Sanon and Intriago to ship 20 ballistic vests from South Florida to Haiti by falsifying the required export documentation, prosecutors say.

However, by June 2021, the plot to replace Moise had evolved after the men realized that Sanon had neither the constitutional qualifications nor the popular support of the Haitian people to become President, according to prosecutors, and they instead turned their attention to a former Haitian Supreme Court judge.

This new candidate contracted with CTU and Worldwide to serve the companies financial interests upon becoming President, according to court documents.

Around this time, the men also evolved their plan from forcibly removing Moise from power to killing him, after previous unsuccessful attempts to force him out of power, it is alleged.

Haitian President Moise Jovenel speaks during a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Dec. 11, 2017. (Ludovic Marin/Reuters)

Suspects Will Face Justice in America

On July 6, 2021, co-conspirators met at a house near President Moises residence, where firearms and equipment were distributed, and it was announced that the mission was to kill President Moise, according to the allegations. On July 7, 2021, several individuals arrived outside President Moises residence, some of whom were wearing CTU-branded ballistic vests. They entered the Presidents home and killed him.

Moise, 53, was shot dead at his home near the capital of Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021. His wife Martine, who was also at home at the time of the attack, was left in critical condition.

The incident came amid growing political instability in Haiti and increased calls for Moise, who entered office in 2017, to resign amid accusations of corruption and his management of the economy.

The four men were indicted by a Florida grand jury, along with seven others who were already been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in the plot. They subsequently attended their initial appearances in a Miami federal court on Tuesday.

Today, individuals who we allege participated in the planning, financing, and orchestration of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise will face justice in an American courtroom, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement. The Justice Department will not tolerate individuals plotting violent attacks from U.S. soil that undermine the rule of law abroad.

Including Tuesdays arrests, a total of 11 people now face charges in the Southern District of Florida in connection with the assassination, according to the DOJ.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
4 Years of Math Better Prepares Students for College: UCLA Study

Students who take a fourth year of math in high school are 5 percent more likely to enroll and persist in college than their peers who dont, according to a UCLA study of students in the second largest school district in the U.S.Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)published last month.

The studywhich tracked 45,000 LAUSD students from junior year until two years after high schoolalso found those students also have a 5 percent higher chance of enrolling in four-year colleges.

Similarly, college persistencemeaning students who remained enrolled for a second yearwas about 5 percent higher among students who took a fourth year of math.

California currently requires high schoolers to take just two years of math to graduate. However, many school districtsincluding Los Angeles Unifiedrequire students to take three.

Researchers said the results are likely because most of the states colleges prefer applicants who have taken additional years of mathand such may become even more important as an increasing number of four-year and private colleges no longer consider applicants SAT or ACT test scores.

Additionally, researchers suggested taking math as a high school senior may encourage those who do to consider college more seriously.

However, the study found that a fourth year of math may negatively impact students grade point average by .03 or .06 points due to more challenging courses.

A child wears a face mask while attending an online class at a learning hub inside the Crenshaw Family YMCA during the Covid-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 17, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the longer-term benefits outweigh the small drop in grade point average.

Students who choose a fourth year of math, he said, learn resilience by putting themselves in a more challenging and rigorous environment.

Carvalho said he plans to take action on the studys findings.

We are now further armed with information that validates and supports the investments and additional offerings of mathematics in the senior year, he said in a Feb. 9 statement.

About two-thirds of surveyed LAUSD seniors took a fourth year of math, while 25 percent didnt. Another 10 percent took just one semester of math their senior year and were excluded from the study.

However, LAUSD still has a long way to go when it comes to student math standards.

In September, the California Department of Educations Smarter Balanced Assessments study reported that only about one-fourth of LAUSD students met the states math proficiency standards for the 202122 school year. The tests evaluate students in grades 38 and 11.

Statewide, the numbers were worse, showing two out of three students didnt meet the standards.
Adult Diaper Sales in South Korea Outpace Baby Diapers Amid Aging Population

An elderly man wearing a face mask sits on a bench during polluted weather in Seoul on March 20, 2019. - The concentration of fine dust particles in the air has surged in recent weeks and reached a record high in Seoul on March 5, prompting the government to advise people to wear masks, use public transportation and avoid walking outside. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

Sales of adult diapers in South Korea surpassed those of infant diapers in 2021, according to government data on Tuesday, a trend presumably prompted by the countrys aging population and declining birth rate.

South Korea produced and imported 112,000 tonnes of adult disposable diapers in 2021, an increase from 86,000 tonnes in the previous year, Chosun Ilbo reported, citing data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The report states that South Koreas adult diaper sales outpaced baby diaper sales by 1.6 times in 2021, with baby diaper production and import declining from 76,000 tonnes in 2019 to 69,000 tonnes in 2020.

The market trend suggests that some diaper makers have shifted demographics, as the share of the countrys population aged 65 and older is projected to increase to 46.4 percent by 2070.

Declining Fertility Rate

The countrys population shrank for the first time in 2021, stoking worry that a declining population could severely damage the economy because of labor shortages and greater welfare spending as the number of older people increases and the number of taxpayers shrinks.

South Koreas statistics agency announced in September last year that the total fertility ratethe average number of babies born to each woman in their reproductive yearswas 0.81 in 2021. Thats the worlds lowest for the third consecutive year.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered policymakers to find more effective steps to deal with the problem. The fertility rate, he said, is plunging even though South Korea spent 280 trillion won ($210 billion) over the past 16 years to try to turn the tide.

Many young South Koreans say that, unlike their parents and grandparents, they dont feel an obligation to have a family. They cite the uncertainty of a bleak job market, expensive housing, gender and social inequality, low levels of social mobility, and the huge expense of raising children in a brutally competitive society.

Women also complain of a persistent patriarchal culture that forces them to do much of the childcare while enduring discrimination at work.

In a nutshell, people think our country isnt an easy place to live, said Lee So-Young, a population policy expert at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. They believe their children cant have better lives than them, and so question why they should bother to have babies.

Japans Aging Population

Aside from South Korea, Japan also struggles with a declining birth rate. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last month that Japan will cease to function as a society if its birth rate continues to decline.

Japan is at a critical point of whether we can continue to function as a society. Focusing on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an issue that cannot be postponed, Kishida said at a parliament session.

According to Kishida, the government would increase its spending on child-related programs and establish a children and families agency in April to develop policies on children and child-rearing.

We must establish a children-first economic society and turn around the birth rate, he stated. We will also work on the introduction of a career-based scholarship system to reduce the burden of higher education.

Japan has, in recent years, offered cash bonuses and childcare incentives to encourage people to have more children, but these efforts have had little impact.

The nations population currently stands at 125 million and has been in continuous decline for 14 years. Kishida said that the number of births dropped below 800,000 last year, citing government estimates.

Nearly 28 percent of Japans population was over the age of 65 in 2017, and this figure is projected to increase to 38.4 percent in 2065, according to a study published by Global Health and Medicine. The working-age population in Japan is shrinking even more quickly due to aging.

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) revealed in a 2019 report that Japans working-age population dropped from 87 million in 1993 to 75.3 million in 2018, resulting in a severe labor shortage in the countrys economy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Agent Honed in on Alex Murdaugh Inconsistencies After Deaths

Alex Murdaugh listens to a witness during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Feb. 13, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State via AP, Pool)

In an interview two months after Alex Murdaughs wife and son were killed, investigators zeroed in on inconsistencies in what Murdaugh told authorities about their deaths, according to the videotaped discussion played Wednesday at the disgraced South Carolina attorneys double murder trial.

The interview between the states chief investigator and Murdaugh backed up much of what the jury had heard about the case already in three weeks of testimonyMurdaugh said he wasnt at the dog kennels near where his wife and son were killed when witnesses said they heard his voice there minutes before the killings. Murdaugh also changed clothes sometime in the hours before he found the bodies.

Murdaugh didnt have immediate answers for the inconsistencies in the friendly interview with State Law Enforcement Division agent David Owen.

Court broke for lunch for prosecutors still questioning Owen, who was expected to be one of their final witnesses after three weeks of presenting their case.

The defenses cross-examination is expected later Wednesday, with questions expected to focus on deficiencies in the investigation and evidence that was or was not collected.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of killing his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son Paul. Their bodies were found June 7, 2021, near the kennels at their Colleton County home. Murdaugh has adamantly denied killing them.

Owen testified Wednesday as the lead investigator in the case, and the key part of his testimony so far was the taped interview Aug. 11, 2021. Murdaugh wanted an update on the case and agreed to answer any questions Owen had. He brought his friend and attorney Corey Fleming along.

Murdaugh started crying at the beginning of the video. The tears dried up as Owen brought up evidence Murdaugh at the time didnt know existeda Snapchat video posted by his son taken a few hours before the killing showing Murdaugh wearing different clothes than the shorts and T-shirt he had on when police arrived after he called 911.

What point in that evening did you change clothes? Owen asked.

Alex Murdaugh smiles at parts of the testimony of Roger Dale Davis, who took care of the dogs at Murdaughs home, during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Feb. 14, 2023. (Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)

Im not sure, Murdaugh said, pausing for several moments. What time of day was it?

The interview went on for more than an hour. Owen pressed Murdaugh for details like what time his wife got to the property and how long the three ate dinner together. Murdaughs answers werent specific.

Owen revealed some details of the investigation. He said markings from ammunition casings near Maggie Murdaughs body matched other casings found at a shooting range on the property. The two barrels of the shotgun used to kill Paul Murdaugh had different-sized pellets, similar to the way other shotguns found on the family property were loaded.

Murdaughs lawyer, Corey Fleming, asked Owen for more details. Fleming was a longtime friend of Murdaugh and was charged seven months later with insurance fraud after authorities said he helped Murdaugh steal money from what was supposed to be a wrongful death settlement for the sons of the Murdaugh housekeeper, who died in a fall.

The only DNA we have are family and close friends. We dont have any fingerprints. Unfortunately, we dont have any shoe wear or tire wear impression because it rained that night, Owen said, The only thing we can go off of are the cell tower dumps.

Late in the interview, Owen offered to answer any of Murdaughs questions.

Is this one person, two persons, three persons? Murdaugh asked.

Weve got two guns; weve got two different kinds of ammunition. It is hard to say, Owen answered.

Murdaugh asked if either his wife or son suffered or lived long after they were shot.

A matter of seconds, if that, Owen responded.

Later in the interview, Murdaugh asked Owen how far apart his wife and son were killed and how certain he was that Paul Murdaugh had been shot first. Owen said he based that idea on figuring Paul Murdaugh would have reacted if he saw or heard his mother being shot.

Maggie would have known that then, wouldnt she? Alex Murdaugh said. How soon after was she shot?

Owen told Murdaugh not to beat himself up over those details.

Judge Clifton Newman announced at the beginning of court Wednesday that all the remaining jurors and alternates tested negative for COVID-19. On Monday, two jurors were dismissed after testing positive for the virus, and the clerk of court also has COVID-19, leading to worries that the virus has been spreading through the courtroom and could cause a delay or a mistrial.

By Jeffrey Collins
Another Feminist Victory: Back to Winner-Takes-All Custody Battles

Australians can't sit back and let feminists take children away from good fathers. (2p2play/Shutterstock)

Commentary

Last week, a television crew from the Japanese public broadcaster came to Sydney to interview family law specialist Justin Dowd, former president of the New South Wales (NSW) Law Society. Japan is considering moving away from mum-custody towards joint parental authority,which recognizes that its in the childrens best interests to have both mum and dad remain involved in their care.

The Japanese crew came to Australia because they acknowledged this country as one of the world leaders in encouraging separated parents to share decisions about raising their kids.

That achievement stems from former Prime Minister John Howards path-breaking 2006 reforms promoting equal shared parental responsibility, which resulted in a significant increase in care from dads, more shared care, better relations between parents, and less litigation (pdf).

The result was improved childrens well-being, according to UNSW research (pdf), and the reforms were overwhelmingly supported by parents, legal professionals, and family relationship service professionals, said the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Yet Justin Dowd had to tell the Japanese crew that it was all now at risk. The Labor government has just announced draft legislation that will take Australia back to the dark ages of the winner-takes-all custody model.

The Albanese government went back to the future this week, pronounced the Australian Financial Review (AFR), spelling out the proposed laws that would end any notion of shared parental responsibility, shifting the power in divorce battles firmly back into womens hands.

A two-parent household provides the best home environment for children. (Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock)

Wheres the mandate for this unheralded political act which will undermine the welfare of children, ramp up hostility between parents, and swell the coffers of lawyers who will benefit from the appalling fallout?

Back in 2007, I was approached by a retiring family court judge, keen to enlighten me on how the family court had gone astray (pdf).

The problem? The woman has had all the power, the man almost none.

In the judges view, children missed vital contact with both parents due to decisions to award sole custody to the primary carer.

The custodial parent has been all-powerful. Sheits usually shehas had the power to regulate access, sometimes regardless of court orders. Shes had complete authority to live anywhere, with the child, that she desires. The power to determine the childs school, church, decisions about day-to-day living, and the power to get a greater slice of the wedding cake. More often than not, that power is exercised unreasonably.

Erasing Dads, Costing Childrens Rights

The Howard reforms very effectively eroded that power, and ever since, feminists have worked feverishly to get it backregardless of the cost to children.

Now comes their reward for marshalling the womens vote to help Labor regain government.

According to the bright new world of family law being promised by the Albanese government, the following will no longer be deemed essential in making decisions about childrens care:

Ensuring children benefit from meaningful involvement with both parents.

Childrens right to know and be cared for by both parents.

Children have the right to spend regular time with parents and other significant people like grandparents.

Parents jointly sharing duties and responsibilities for the kids care and development.

All gone. All the language that provided the scaffolding that enabled children to have divorced dads remain part of their lives is being ripped out of the legislation.

The AFR headline said it all: Times up for equal rights in court custody battles.

Family law professor Patrick Parkinson, who advised the Howard government when the 2006 reforms were introduced, warns that dads will be cut out by the proposed family law changes. Parkinson has produced a detailed submission exposing the flaws in the proposed changes.

Under the guise of simplification, it actually involves radical change and radical reversal, Parkinson says, pointing out that the government is misleading the public in claiming support from various public inquiries for this move.

Labors Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, is proposing not only to remove equal shared parental responsibility from the act but the requirement that courts consider equal time or substantial/significant time as a possible parenting option.

Now the first consideration of family law will be promoting safety for the child or carers. Thats hardly a surprise. Feminists have been using the violence card to undermine fathers contact with their children since the 2006 laws were first introduced, with constant claims about violent dads putting children at risk.

Any reform of the law needs to be more sophisticated and nuanced than to be premised on the assumption that almost all perpetrators are male and almost all victims are female, argues Parkinson, yet this is precisely the main thrust of Labors proposed new family law.

Its another superb victory for the feminists, one more achievement for their mighty domestic violence juggernaut, which already works a treat stacking the family law system to favour women.

Currently, all it takes is one vague claim that violence could occur for dad to be removed from the home, denied contact with children, and, if hes lucky, end up paying big money to see his children in our hellish supervised contact services. And mum gains all the benefits and supports that come with victim status.

We Need to Stand Up

Labors latest move didnt surprise methey have form. I watched in horror when Labor regained power in 2007 and immediately appointed a fierce critic of shared custody, psychologist Jennifer McIntosh, to study overnight care by dads of infants and toddlers.

Her devastating research results came to be used to deny dads overnight care of young children, not only in Australia but across the world, before a team of international experts eventually denounced her research.

Phillip Ruddock, the Attorney General who implemented the Howard government reforms, pointed out at the time that Labor has always been keen to wind back efforts to promote divorced dads involvement with children.

Theyve long been captured by the female lobby determined to retain sole control over their children.

Ordinary Australians must stand up and prevent this attack on childrens right to be cared for by both parents. We need to convince the politicians currently basking in feminist accolades that we are not letting them slip this one through.

Make submissions to the Attorney-Generals Department inquiry, talk to your MPs, and do everything possible to promote public discussion of this vital issue.

We cant afford to sit back and let them get away with unwinding the legal framework that did so much to improve the lives of fathers and their children.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
At Least 32 Civilians Killed in Eastern Congo, Says the UN

Congolese Defense Forces soldiers remove the bodies of victims of an attack near the town of Oicha, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 23, 2021. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP Photo)

DAKAR, SenegalAt least 32 civilians have been killed by rebel groups in eastern Congos 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 ISIS terrorist 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 Congos 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.

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. missions 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.

By Sam Mednick
Australia to Name and Shame Foreign Interference Actors as Iranian Interference Plot Foiled

Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security Clare O'Neil speaks to media in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 20, 2022. (AAP Image/James Ross)

Australia will now name and shame countries that perpetrate acts of foreign interference, the Minister for Home Affairs, Clare ONeil, has said after Australian spy agencies foiled an Iranian foreign interference plot.

Australias domestic intelligence agency ASIO identified foreign interference as one of the biggest threats the country currently faces.

Its time to bring foreign interference out of the shadows and into the light, ONeil said in a speech at the Australian National University on Feb. 14.

Foreign interference is not hypothetical. It is not merely something that lies in our future. It is happening today, and we need to do more to tackle it.

The minister said that the Australian government was seeing foreign actors attempt to covertly influence a range of sectors in Australia, including education, online information, and politics.

We see in politics, where foreign governments try to win over elected leaders or party activists, to push for changes in everything from planning laws to foreign and national security policy, or even just to simply build a picture of how decisions are made, she said.

They are trying to deliberately deteriorate our social fabric and cause conflict and painful rifts between neighbours who have lived peacefully together for many years.

Foreign Interference an Ever-Present Threat

Bearing the brunt of these actions are the diaspora communities for which this has become an ever-present threat that is relentless and insidious, ONeil said.

She noted that Home Affairs and other intelligence agencies had found that many foreign governments attempt to exert control over diaspora communities via harassment (both online and in-person), intimidation, stalking, and threats against families living overseas.

To be absolutely clear, this type of foreign interference is commonplace; it is happening around our country every day, she said.

We see it when diaspora communities peacefully protest about the actions of their governments back in their home country. In some instances, in many instances, they will be photographed, harassed or followed as a result.

We see it when people in those communities or their families back home are threatened, harassed or intimidated because of actions that they have undertaken here in our free, fair democracy.

To tackle the growing threat, ONeil said she had tasked Australias spy agency ASIO and Home Affairs with developing a community outreach program that will identify Australians who might be targets of foreign interference and educate them on what foreign interference looks like and what they can do to respond.

Iran Named As Foreign Interference Actor

Naming Iran as one of the countries guilty of such actions in Australia, the minister said that during the last months of 2022, when the protests against the Iranian regime were growing worldwide, ASIO disrupted a surveillance and intelligence operation on an Iranian Australian.

We have someone living here, in our country, who has been followed, watched, and photographed, she explained.

Their home was invaded by people at the direction of a foreign power. This is happening in Australia, and its something that ASIO was onto like a shot. So I want people to understand, to those states that operate in the shadows, we have a very simple messagewe are watching you.

The ongoing nationwide protests against the Iranian regime started in September 2022, after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in alleged suspicious circumstances in police custody. Tehran has responded to the demonstrations by instigating a brutal crackdown that the Voice of America alleges has seen more than 500 people killed, including 70 children.

A woman holds a placard with a picture of Iranian Mahsa Amini as she attends a protest against her death in Berlin on Sept. 28, 2022. (Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

ONeil said that Australia would no longer tolerate, under any circumstances, attempts by foreign regimes to disrupt peaceful protests, try to push violence or suppress specific views being expressed, or take hostile acts in the form of surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members here in Australia.
Biden Administration Announces $231 Million for Red-Flag Regulations, Other Gun Control Projects

President Joe Biden delivers the keynote address during the National Association of Counties at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Feb. 14, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden has announced that the Department of Justice will provide more than $231 million to states for crisis intervention projects such as red-flag initiatives in an effort to curb shootings.

The White House announced the program on Feb. 14, which was the fifth anniversary of the Parkland tragedy in 2018 in which a shooter killed 17 people at a Florida high school.

Biden said during the programs announcement that extreme risk protection orders, often known as red-flag regulations, could potentially have stopped shooters in Parkland and other tragedies.

The red-flag laws allow family members, health care providers, school authorities, and law enforcement officers to petition a court to bar a person from having access to weapons if that person is considered a danger to themselves or others.

The $231 million will be distributed to 49 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. This funding is slated to assist the jurisdictions in developing and implementing programs, including those addressing drug and mental health issues.

The funding comes from a bipartisan gun safety bill signed into law by Biden in June 2022. The plan contains financing for mental health therapy and $750 million to assist states in administering red-flag laws and other intervention initiatives.

Protecting communities from gun crime is an urgent public safety challenge and a critical part of the Justice Departments work to ensure that everyone in this country can live free from the fear of violence, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said, according to the Department of Justice.

The resources we are announcing today will give communities the tools they need to prevent firearm violence and deliver support to those who are at risk of committing or being victimized by gun crime.

Biden said that although he trusts that the funding will make communities safer, he believes that more should be done in the area of gun control.

I once again call on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets, the president said.

We owe it to all those weve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to continue to act.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Travis Uebinger of Auxvasse on catching the first state record fish of 2023  an 11-pound, 5-ounce blue sucker. Uebinger was fishing on the Osage River Jan. 15 when he caught the fish using the pole-and-line method. The previous record for blue sucker was a 9-pound, 14-ounce fish caught on the Missouri River in 1997.

Uebinger said he was out fishing with a good friend that day for white bass or walleye.

We were really targeting a whole bag  anything that would bite, he laughed. We were on my friends new boat, trying it out, when I reeled it in. I didnt know what it was, a sucker or a carp. It was my friend who said it could be a state record.

MDC staff verified the fishs weight using a certified scale in Jefferson City. Not only does Uebingers fish beat the current state record, it also weighs more than the current blue sucker world record of 2 pounds, 12 ounces.

According to commercial fishermen, blue suckers weighing up to 20 pounds were once common in the Missouri River. Most specimens taken in recent years were 16-24 inches long and weighed 1.5-3-pounds. The world record organization only recognizes fish taken by pole-and-line and not fish taken with commercial fishing gear.

That would be amazing to have a world record, said Uebinger. Especially on a fish you werent targeting.

Suckers are considered good-tasting fish. However, they have a lot of bones and need to be prepared differently than most fish  although Uebinger doesnt have plans to bring his catch to the table.

I contacted several taxidermists, he said. Being in the carp family, its a little difficult to mount and it would have to be custom-made. Luckily, I did find a place in Springfield that would mount it, so Ive currently got the fish wrapped up and frozen.

Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include trotline, throwline, limb line, bank line, jug line, gig, bow, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or atlatl.

For more information on state record fish, visit http://bit.ly/2efq1vl.

To learn more about world record fish, visit the International Game Fish Association at igfa.org.
Buffalo Shooter Apologizes, Sentenced to Life Without Parole

Buffalo shooting suspect Payton Gendron appears for a hearing at the Erie County Courthouse in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 19, 2022. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

BUFFALOAn avowed white supremacist on Wednesday apologized to the families of the 10 people he fatally shot last year at a western New York grocery store before being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole during a chaotic and emotional hearing.

At one point, a man in the courtroom lunged at Payton Gendron, who had pleaded guilty to 15 state charges including murder and terrorism motivated by hate stemming from the May 14 shooting in Buffalo, a city of about 277,000 people. Thirteen relatives of victims spoke during the hearing.

The sentence, which was expected because the state does not employ the death penalty, was given by Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and glasses, Gendron apologized to the families of his victims, whose ages ranged from 20 to 86, expressing regret for his actions and hope that his crime will not inspire copycat attacks.

I am very sorry for all of the pain I forced all of the victims and their families to suffer through, said Gendron, who was standing and looking downward while speaking. I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were black.

Gendron had streamed live video of the attack on social media after posting a racist screed online detailing his inspiration from other racially motivated mass killings, authorities said.

A woman screamed in an agonized tone inside the courtroom after Gendron finished his statement.

The hearing was halted briefly after an unidentified man lunged at Gendron, who was sitting at a table in the courtroom with his attorneys as a woman named Barbara Massey Mapps made an emotional statement. Her 72-year-old sister, Katherine Massey, was among those killed.

The man pushed Massey Mapps aside and took several running steps toward Gendron before police and attorneys restrained him and led him away. Officers grabbed Gendron and rushed him out of the courtroom.

While New York state no longer uses capital punishment, Gendron still could receive a death sentence if convicted of pending federal hate crime and firearms charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. Gendron was 18 at the time of the attack.

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown called Gendrons apology too little and too late.

I anticipate what he said today was to save his life in federal court, Flynn said after the hearing.

Gendrons defense attorney, Brian Parker, told a news conference that his client was remorseful.

We hope that knowing he will never be free again will offer some small bit of comfort to those he has hurt so much, Parker said.

Prosecutors have said the gunman targeted a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in a neighborhood of Buffalo, about 200 miles from his home in Conklin, New York, intending to kill as many black people as he could. In addition to the 10 people who were killed, three others were wounded.

Gendron faces 27 federal charges. His lawyers have sought a plea deal relating to these in an effort to avoid a possible death sentence. The U.S. Justice Department has not disclosed what punishment it would seek if Gendron is convicted.
Bus in Northern South Africa Crashes With Van; 20 Dead

A map shows the northern province of Limpopo, South Africa. (Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

JOHANNESBURGA crash between a passenger bus and a van armored to carry cash in the northern province of Limpopo, South Africa, has killed at least 20 people and injured 68, officials have reported.

The two vehicles collided head-on along the N1 freeway in the Makhado area on Monday evening, according to paramedics who responded to the crash.

The bus reportedly rolled down a slope to a river and some passengers were found trapped underneath.

Three people by the highway were confirmed dead while 16 other bodies were found by the river where the bus had rolled, according to ER24 paramedics spokesman Ross Campbell.

Most of the fatalities down the river had been trapped under the bus, said Campbell.

One more person died after being taken to a hospital, he said. Others injured received treatment at the site with some being transported to nearby health facilities for further care, he said.

While exact details surrounding the collision are unknown, heavy rains have been falling in the area, according to Campbell.

Police investigators were still on the scene on Tuesday morning, said Campbell.

By Mogomotsi Magome
California Assemblywoman Casts Aspersions of Racism, Sexism in Response to Conflict-of-Interest Allegations

California Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland)the wife of state Attorney General Rob Bontainsinuated racism and sexism may be behind conflict-of-interest allegations over her appointment to chair a budget subcommittee which oversees Department of Justice and public safety spending.

Almost within my lifetime there would have been the appearance of impropriety for me to marry my husband of a different racial background. Im certain a woman voting appeared improper as well in our recent history, Bonta told The Epoch Times in an email on Feb. 14.

Assemblymember Mia Bonta. (Courtesy of the Office of Assemblymember Mia Bonta)

There certainly are many examples in our legislative history where policy and budget chairs had spouses serving in another branch of government. Yet, I wonder if the reason I am being asked these questions is because I am a female legislator.

Ethical Conflict

Bob Stern, former general counsel for the states Fair Political Practices Commission and co-author of the Political Reform Act, a 1974 anti-corruption law, told The Epoch Times that its not a violation of the law for Mia Bonta to chair or sit as a member of the budget subcommittee, but she should recuse herself from any matters dealing with her husbands department.

She shouldnt be acting on his budget request, Stern said. Clearly, there is a conflict there. Its not a legal conflict, but its an ethical conflict.

He dismissed Bontas suggestion that race or gender might have something do with the criticism the Bontas have received in recent days after the controversy erupted.

Thats ridiculous, he said, adding that for the Bontas sake, I hope they have a better defense than that.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) appointed Mia Bonta as chairwoman of Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety in late December.

I accepted the appointment  because my Speaker asked me to and because I care deeply about public safety and justice, Mia Bonta said in the email. The budget process is open and transparent. There is ample opportunity for public participation and its developed among three bodies, and ultimately I, along with every other member of the legislature, vote on the budget.

But Stern cast doubt on Mia Bontas claim that similar situations have arisen in the state legislature.

I cant think of a situation where a spouse has been ruling on another spouses budget. I cant think of any examples like that in Sacramento, because it just has never happened, Stern said.

The California State Capitol building in Sacramento on April 18, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Tony Quinn, a political expert who sat on the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) for five years, told the Epoch Times he agrees with Sterns assessment.

This shows a lack of concern for ethics and for appearances, Quinn said in an email. I have never heard of the spouse of a statewide official serving in the legislature, and certainly not overseeing the budget of the spouses agency. The job of the budget subcommittee is to oversee and approve the agencys spending requests. There is no way that the wife should be overseeing the husbands budget.

Jay Wierenga, an FPPC spokesman, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 14 that the agency cant comment on the specific allegations of conflict of interest and is limited to its jurisdiction of the Political Reform Act.

The Act covers the law and regulations regarding campaign finance disclosure/reporting, political advertising disclosure/reporting, State (not local) lobbying disclosure/reporting, and conflicts of interest among public officials, Wierenga said in an email.

Statutes and regulations covering conflicts of interest generally refer to public officials involvement in discussions, decisions, and votes that would affect their own personal, material financial interests, he said.

Eric Early, a Republican who ran for attorney general in the Californias primaries told the Epoch Times the appointment raises serious questions about conflicts of interest, ethics, and appearances of impropriety.

Its putting the fox in charge of the hen house, Early said. It is a complete conflict of interest. Ms. Bonta should not be within a hundred miles of the budget of her husbands Department of Justice, much less overseeing that budget.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2021. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

Past Controversy

In 2020, CalMatters reported that Rob Bontathen a state Assemblymanhad in 2017 created the Bonta California Progress Foundation, which contributed thousands of dollars to a nonprofit where Mia was CEO.

Stern told CalMatters in 2020 that it shouldnt have been allowed and that the law should be amended to prohibit it.

He was raising money, and she was benefiting by getting salaries from the money he was raising, Stern told The Epoch Times on Feb. 14. I think they have a tin ear when it comes to ethics.

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times on Feb. 14, Rendon shrugged off the conflict-of-interest claims, reissuing a statement made last week:

I believe Ms. Bonta will continue to be independent and unbiased in her legislative judgment, as she has been since starting her service in the Assembly, Rendon said in the statement. The Legislature has a robust and transparent budget process, designed with checks and balances to ensure the best possible budget is passed.

Rendon said the final Assembly budget proposal must be identical to the state Senates and has to be approved or vetoed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Additionally, we cant set salaries or benefits for state constitutional officers, so no elected official can ever personally or financially benefit from our budget process, Rendon said.

California Republican Party chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson listens as lawyers present their arguments before the California Supreme Court in Sacramento on Nov. 6, 2019. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

But, the California Republican Party disagrees.

CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson, said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times that Mia Bonta chairing the subcommittee is a massive conflict of interest.

The Bontas, Speaker Rendon and California Democrats can try all they want to downplay the valid concerns that have been raised, but Californians can see for themselves what an inappropriate appointment this is, Patterson said.

Newsom appointed Rob Bonta as attorney general in 2021, and he was elected to the position in 2022. Meanwhile, Mia was elected to fill her husbands vacant Oakland-area Assembly seat in a special election in 2021 and was reelected in 2022.

The Attorney Generals office redirected inquiries about the conflict-of-interest allegations to the Assembly, as these decisions are at the discretion of the Assembly.

Newsoms office did not respond to a request for comment.

The budget subcommittee will hold its first hearing of the year on Feb. 27 and is scheduled to discuss the Department of Justice on March 27.
Canada Faces Fresh Pressure on Military Spending as NATO Chief Eyes Hard Target

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a news conference following. Meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 15, 2023. (The Canadian Press/AP-Olivier Matthys)

The head of NATO is raising the prospect of hard targets for military spending which could put more pressure on Canada to invest billions more on defence.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg today urged the military alliances 30 members to recommit to spending at least two percent of their GDP on defence.

He said they should set firm requirements and timelines for meeting the target, unlike when it was first set in 2014.

Canada has long lagged most of its allies on spending as a share of GDP, and refused to fully commit to the target.

Successive Canadian governments have instead insisted that the two-per-cent target is a guideline rather than a requirement.

But if other allies heed Stoltenbergs call, it would put real pressure on Canada to invest billions more into the military.
Authorities Still Attempting to Recover Wreckage From Unidentified Object Shot Down by NORAD: Mendicino

Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 26, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says that efforts are still underway to recover wreckage from an object shot down by NORAD forces on Feb. 12.

It is important to highlight that the stretches of land in the Yukon where operations are being conducted are very remote, difficult to access, and especially given the current conditions, Mendicino said on Feb. 14. He could not provide an estimate for how long the search might continue.

Given the fact that theres a lot of snow, a lot of wind, et cetera, you will appreciate that this is going to take some time, he said.

Ill just say that I know theres a lot of ongoing curiosity to get to the bottom of what all of this is. I appreciate that, said Mendicino, adding that the Armed Forces, RCMP, and Coast Guard are best situated to answer questions.

On Feb. 13, one day after a fourth unidentified object was shot down by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), U.S. fighter jets, including two F-16s, two F-35s, and three other supporting aircraft, intercepted four Russian military aircraft flying close to Alaskas airspace, in the air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

The ADIZ is not part of Alaskas airspace, but is monitored by NORAD.

In a press release calling it a routine intercept, NORAD said that this sort of activity by Russian aircraft occurs regularly, and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative.

NORAD stated the Russian aircraft were in international airspace and did not enter into Canadian or U.S. sovereign airspace. On average, there are approximately six to seven intercepts of Russian military aircraft in the ADIZ each year, NORAD said, with such occurrences ranging from none to as high as 15.

The intercept was not related to the objects shot down in recent weeks over North America, added NORAD.

A balloon said to be a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon was shot down on Feb. 4 over water off the coast of South Carolina. Debris landed approximately 6 miles off the coast in water about 47 feet deep, near Myrtle Beach.

A second unidentified high-altitude object, said to be the size of a small car, was shot down on Feb. 10 by a U.S. F-22 aircraft off the coast of Alaska, reported the U.S. Department of Defence. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Feb. 10 that it was much smaller than the first downed balloon and did not have a significant payload.

The third object was identified flying over Canadian airspace on the afternoon of Feb. 11 and shot down at 3:41 p.m. ET, flying at about 40,000 feet north of Whitehorse, according to Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand.

The FBI is now assisting Canada with recovering the wreckage in the Yukon.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Feb. 14 that the objects were balloons.

What were seeing is theres a range of different balloons that seem to be in different sizes and different numbers, Trudeau said in Ottawa.

We are now continuing to do all the search we can to try and find and recover these items so that we know more about them. What is very clear is they were a threat to civilian travel, to commercial airliners, he said.

NORAD Commander General Glen VanHerck said on Feb. 12 he wouldnt categorize the objects as balloons, but said he is unable to describe 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, he said.

The Canadian Press, Noe Chartier, and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Canadas Pandemic Policy a Misguided Power Grab, Say Authors

Two Canadian authors have expanded their book challenging the legitimacy of political and medical COVID-19 narratives and responses.

Marco Navarro-Genie, founder of the Haultain Research Institute, and University of Calgary political scientist Barry Cooper released their expanded edition of Canadas COVID: The Story of a Pandemic Moral Panic.

During their online book launch, Cooper said concern for the truth motivated him to write.

That was part of it. But the negative version, I think, was probably stronger. I just got sick and tired of listening to the lies, basically, told by some of my very distinguished colleagues in the medical school, he said.

They ought to have known better. I knew better from reading the same scientific literature that they had access to and were probably better qualified to evaluate it than I was, but they simply ignored it.

The first paperback edition released Nov. 27, 2020, was 153 pages. The updated version is 388 pages, which swells to 530 pages after nearly 100 pages of end notes and a long index.

Navarro-Genie said early comparisons of COVID-19 to the Spanish Flu seemed out of proportion, and motivated him to document a truer picture.

I dont really have a great hope that the book is going to be read by every parliamentarian and every premier in the country and change their minds. I am hoping that the book will leave a trail of what took place so that people can can see what happened, he said at the book launch.

Presumably, therell be other epidemics and other pandemics, and some of them will be probably worse than this one. My big concern is, if we do this with something like this one, what are we going to do [then]?

Cooper also has modest hopes.

Its false modesty to say that you dont want your your arguments to be effective. I mean, itd be nice if people did pay attention, he said. But even if they dont, eventually, somebody I suppose will 15 years from now do some research on how things went so wrong.

The Sense That Something is Wrong

The release came on the one-year anniversary of federal use of the Emergencies Act against the trucker convoy protest in Ottawa. In the book, the authors lament that pandemic policy is no less off-course now than it was in their initial book release.

By November 2020, there was enough known about COVID-19 that it was possible to think that public policy in Canada, the United States and Europe might return to common sense. [Instead]  the moral panic that seemed inadvertently to have accompanied government policies in the spring of 2020 has become a central and deliberate feature, the preface reads.

However, the amount of contrary advice from other experts, starting with the World Health Organization is enormous.  The real question, then, is: why havent they acted on it?

Cooper and Navarro-Genie say the answer is political and not scientific. In their view, neither politicians nor so-called experts who told people to follow the science can admit the science is against their approach.

It would be an implicit admission that the policy which had been in place for over two years was a huge mistake.  This attitude is scientism. It is the very opposite to the attitude of science properly speaking, which is to be open to reality, the authors wrote.

The sense that something is wrong has been articulated in the minor or heterodox narrative: lockdowns and masks do not work; the safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been exaggerated; vaxx passports are chiefly a political measure that has enhanced the repressive tendencies of bureaucrats and politicians by scapegoating a minority of citizens. In short, its all about power.

The authors warn the precedent and trajectory of the pandemic response points to the imposition of unnatural and unchallengeable slavery.

Humans are unpredictable and for that reason alone are uncontrollable. This is why those who seek control also dream of changing human nature in the sense of making humans subhuman, the book reads in its final pages.

The next chapter in the orthodox narrative foresees adding to enhanced QR digital passports the replacement of money with crypto currency and perhaps something like Chinas social credit in order to create a seamless, totally surveilled population, forever safe participants in the internet of biodigital bodies.
Central Texas School District Fights to Save Students From Fentanyl Poisoning

A billboard in Kyle, Texas, features three Hays Consolidated Independent School District students who died from fentanyl poisonings in the summer of 2022. (Courtesy of Forever15Project.org)

One Central Texas school district has waged war against fentanyl, a deadly illicit drug that is infiltrating nearly every town across the country.

After two Hays Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) students died within weeks of each other from fentanyl poisoning, district leaders knew they had to do everything possible to save the children.

We had the first two that were a week apart over the summer, and we decided to put some type of campaign together, said Tim Savoy, chief communications officer for HCISD.

Then, another student died from fentanyl poisoning a few days after the 2022-2023 school year started.

Once we had our third [student death] right at the first of the school year, we said, at this point, its a crisis, Savoy told The Epoch Times. We just pushed everything aside and said this is priority No. 1. We have to address this.

The district later learned that another student who died during the summer break had also succumbed to fentanyl poisoning, bringing the total number of student deaths to four in 2022.

Over the Christmas break, a fifth HCISD student died. The student, a 14-year-old girl, was found unconscious in her home on Jan. 3. While the autopsy report is pending, fentanyl is suspected as the cause of death.

Four other students, including one as young as seventh grade, were hospitalized after suspected fentanyl poisonings during the same period.

About Fentanyl

Fentanyl is 20 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. A dose of as little as 2 milligrams can be fatal.

Six out of 10 fake prescription pills are laced with fatal doses of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The pills look like prescription opioids such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax, or stimulants such as Adderall. Illicit drugs are readily available on social media.

A photo illustration showing what 2 milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose for most people, would look like. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

Attacking the Crisis

One of the first questions the district administrators asked themselves was, What can we do?

We can educate, Savoy said, which has been the districts approach in attacking the fentanyl crisis. The district started the conversation and developed its campaign along the way.

Our philosophy is this: Not talking about it doesnt fix the problem, Savoy said.

The district is taking a three-part approach to attacking the fentanyl crisis. It includes law enforcement, awareness and education, and helping those with addiction.

Over the last decade or so, the district has spent tens of millions of dollars on active shooter training and hardening schools against intruders. It also spent millions on face masks, face shields, and sanitizing buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank God, we havent lost anyone, to a school shooting or COVID-19, Savoy said.

Were actually losing our students to the fentanyl crisis, so we have to give that equal attention, and we have to address it with the same energy that we have other potential threats because this is real, he continued. We are losing students to this.

Administrators began printing posters to start the conversation, and the campaign evolved from there.

They found a lot of educational information for older students and their parents, but they knew they also had to send the message to the districts youngest students.

Since they didnt have examples to follow, they created their own messaging to help educate elementary students who could unintentionally come across a pill on the ground or in an older siblings backpack or bedroom.

We made an elementary poster, Savoy said. I didnt have anything to model it after.

The poster is focused on being smart about medicines and never taking medicine that doesnt come from a parent, doctor, or school nurse (pdf).

They got confirmation that the messaging resonated when a second grader refused to take a pill that another child offered her on the school bus.

She took the pill from the girl but didnt [swallow] it, Savoy said. She gave it to her mother, and it turned out to be a Tic Tac. So, we know the message is working.

Real Stories of Fentanyl Poisoning

On the district website, parents, teachers, students, and community members can find a library of educational materials, including posters, resources, and more.

The district has also created videos featuring parents of some of the districts children who died after taking a fentanyl-laced pill.

Brightly colored counterfeit M30 oxycodone pills, also known as rainbow fentanyl, are shown. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

Another video shows a real-life poisoning that occurred late at night on one of the school campuses. Campus surveillance video captured the near-death experience.

During the video, an SUV pulls into a parking lot outside one of the school buildings. Two teens are inside, and the driver falls unconscious. The other teen gets out and pulls the unconscious driver out of the vehicle and onto the ground. After a few minutes, the teen calls 911 and is instructed to give CPR to his friend until first responders arrive.

Emergency services arrived and transported the teen to a hospital, where he was treated and released.

The parents of the teen driver allowed HCISD to post the video online. It has also been shown to all HCISD high school students during drug awareness programs.

Savoy said the battle against fentanyl is a collective fight, which is why the district has made its educational materials available for use by others.

Law Enforcement

HCISD has partnered closely with local and county law enforcement.

Hays County Sheriff Deputy Anthony Hipolito said the fentanyl problem is not confined to HCISD, although the district has seen more student deaths than other districts in the county.

It doesnt have a demographic, Hipolito told The Epoch Times. It doesnt care if youre white, brown, blue, black, or green. It doesnt care if you have a billion dollars in the bank or one dollar.

During his school presentations, Hipolito said he is focused on removing the stigma that a child who uses drugs is a bad kid.

Lets figure out the why, he said, adding that young people face greater stressors than many adults faced 25 years ago.

So, if theyre even thinking about using these drugs to help them cope with whatever theyre dealing with, lets figure out why that is, Hipolito continued.

Finding ways to help a child who is considering using drugs, as well as those already addicted, is important in saving the lives of young people.

I think were going to see the number of poisonings skyrocket even more because thats exactly what weve seen since about 20102011, Hipolito added.

We arent going to win the war on drugs, but we can win battles.

Campus Preparedness

This school year, the district doubled the amount of Narcan available on all 26 campuses. Narcan, the brand name of the generic naloxone, is a drug used to reverse opioid overdose.

The amount of fentanyl varies in illicit drugs. The higher the amount of fentanyl, the more Narcan is required to reverse the effect of fentanyl, so having extra doses is essential in saving lives.

Narcan is developed for natural opiates, Savoy explained. Sometimes the potency of the synthetic means using multiple doses. We had a situation where we had to do six doses to bring [the student] out of being passed out.

But there are also some myths to dispel about Narcan.

The myth that you can just do Narcan and carry on about your business is incorrect. Narcan just buys you time to get to the emergency room, Savoy said.

If kids think, Hey, we can have a designated Narcan person, and if we take these pills and they happen to be fentanyl  then theyll be there to Narcan us, and well be fine, thats not the case.

Others believe they can administer Narcan to themselves if they feel like they may pass out, but that is also false. The window of time is too short before the person passes out.

A Familys Story

Janel Rodriguez and Brandon Dunn know the pain of losing a child to fentanyl. Their 15-year-old son Noah Rodriguez died just days after starting his sophomore year at Johnson High School.

He was just a sweet kid, Rodriguez said. He loved to do pranks, and he was a great athlete.

Noah was the oldest of the couples four children. Just two weeks before his death, Rodriguez and Dunn had welcomed the birth of their second son.

At about midnight on Aug. 21, 2022, they received a phone call that Noah had overdosed while at a friends house. He died an hour later.

It wasnt the first time Noahs parents had received such a call.

Last May, Noah and some of his friends tried cocaine. Noah ended up in the intensive care unit on life support for four days.

For some reason, it affected Noah the way it did, Rodriquez explained. All the other friends were fine, but they all were taken to the hospital for at least a day.

When he woke up, he told his mom what he had done.

He just started crying and said, Im so sorry, mom, Rodriguez continued.

A few days later, Noah was released from the hospital.

I will never do that again, Rodriguez said Noah promised. I dont want to die.

She said has no idea why Noah decided to take the M30 pill that August night. Counterfeit oxycodone pills are often imprinted with an M on one side and the number 30 on the other. They look nearly identical to the real thing and can be difficult to spot, according to the DEA.

Shortly after Noahs death, Rodriguez and her husband launched the Forever15Project to help educate parents and young people about the realities of fentanyl.

One pill changed our lives forever, Rodriguez wrote on the Forever15Project website.

A billboard along Interstate Highway 35 in Kyle, Texas, reminds passersby of the deadly consequences affecting the community.

It reads Fentanyl Steals Your Friends and has pictures of three teen boys, including Noah Rodriguez, all of whom died from fentanyl poisoning.
Chapman Unveils Plan to Become One of the Great Universities in the Country

The campus of Chapman University in Orange, Calif., on Oct. 14, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Chapman University President Daniele Struppa unveiled plans to become one of the great universities in the country, during his annual State of the University address Feb. 10, including a fundraising campaign to increase its endowment, further strengthening its retention rate among undergraduates, the construction of new buildings, and an array of new degrees and programs.

During his hour-long speech, Struppa announced plans to raise $500 million by 2028 in an effort to meet its goal of having a $2 billion endowment by 2037.

Called Inspire, the campaign to reach such an endowment will be achieved through the universitys annual surplusleftover funds from tuition and other revenuesdonations, and management of its investment portfolio, he said.

During the address, Struppa additionally outlined a 5-year plan, called Our Path to Greatness, to improve the universitys image along several channels.

You know youre at the top when faculty from other universities want to come here  [and when] other universities try to steal your faculty, he said.

The most important aspect to achieve this, Struppa said, is academic excellence, which includes a high retention rate, or how many students from freshman to sophomore year return.

Currently, the universitys rate is at 90 percent, but the goal in 5 years is 93 percent, which Struppa calls very ambitious.

Admission is an indication of how much people think they like us, but retention is how much they really like us, he said.

Another factor is raising the graduation rate from 86 to 89 percent.

Struppa said the university received a record number of applications this past year, with 16,000. As a result, he said next year, admissions will be fewer than its current 60 percent rate.

Other plans include the construction of a state-of-the-art multipurpose building at its Rinker Campus for Health Science campus in Irvine, about 15 miles from Chapmans main Orange campus.

The new facility will provide students and faculty with purchasable food, conference rooms, and space for extracurricular clubs to have intellectual conversations, Struppa said.

Additionally, Struppa said the university is also creating many new programs, including a doctorate of health for clinical psychology, a certificate in telehealth, as well as possibly adding an occupational therapy program.

The university announced last November it had purchased an apartment complex in Anaheims Platinum Trianglenear Angel Stadium, about 3 miles from the universitys main campusfor $160 million to retrofit for student housing.

Struppa said it will cost about $50 million to turn the newly acquired buildings into dormitories, called Chapman Court, which will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2024.

We are going to provide our students with facilities we know they are going to love, he said.

He additionally mentioned the university is planning on building a three-floor student success center on the Orange campus, which will provide tutoring, academic advising, counseling, and IT support, among other services.
Charges Dropped Against Reporter Arrested at Ohio News Conference on Train Derailment

A black plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern on Feb. 6, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

Criminal charges have been dropped against a reporter who was arrested while covering an Ohio news conference about the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals.

On Feb. 15, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert would no longer face charges stemming from his arrest on Feb. 8, five days after a train loaded with toxic chemicals derailed and ignited in a small rural town near the Pennsylvania border.

Lambert was doing a live broadcast from East Palestine, Ohio, where Gov. Mike DeWine was discussing lifting an evacuation order.

Residents were told to leave their homes while officials allowed a controlled burn to continue for days amid the wreckage. They hoped to avert an explosion, but the blaze spewed dense smoke and toxic fumes into the air.

Police accused Lambert of being too loud, distracting from DeWines news conference. They said they asked him to leave, but he refused, leading to his arrest on charges of criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in Bexley, Ohio, on Aug. 6, 2020. (Jay LaPrete/AP)

More Restraint With Reporters Urged

But Yosts office said his office reviewed videos and other documentation about the incident, finding that the charges were unsupported by sufficient evidence.

While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them, Yost said in a news release.

The reporter was lawfully present at a press conference called by the governor of the state. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter.

Yost said tensions were running high in the days following the derailment and that local officials appeared to be following the lead of the National Guard.

Regardless of the intent, arresting a journalist reporting at a press conference is a serious matter, Yost said.

Ohio protects a free press under its constitution, and state officials should remember to exercise a heightened level of restraint in using arrest powers.

Ohio has a specific law regarding misconduct at an emergency, saying that nothing in the law should be construed to limit access or deny information to any news media representative in the lawful exercise of the news media representatives duties.

Since Lamberts arrest, protesters lined the streets in East Palestine to support him and DeWine has publicly denounced the arrest saying it should never have happened.

Some called for the local sheriff to resign; they also rallied for two deputies to be fired for their part in the incident.

Attorney General Dave Yost in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 2018. (Justin Merriman/Getty Images)

Reporter Calls Arrest Traumatic

Lambert posted a reaction on Twitter saying he was having a hard time expressing his thoughts.

Im still processing what was a traumatic event for me, in the context of a time where we are hyper-aware of how frequently some police interactions with people of color can end in much worse circumstances. That is not lost on me, Lambert wrote.

At the same time, as a journalist who has spent more than a decade covering crime, courts, and more recently federal law enforcement, I have great respect for the officers who do their jobs each day with integrity, civil rights, justice, and safety at the core of their mission.

He thanked all who supported him, including DeWine and Yost, along with the management and legal team of his employer. Lambert was also grateful to anyone else who worked to secure my release and the eventual dismissal of my charges, which to be clear, should never have been filed in the first place.

Lambert applauded the many social media messages that encouraged the upholding of our foundational First Amendment freedoms.

As a reporter, Lambert said he never wanted to become the focus of a news story. In my case, I truly did not choose this, and anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I do not want nor relish in any of this extra attention.

Lambert said hes doing alright and will remain committed to doing his job without fear or favor, in service of the public.

I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard.
Chicago Dad Placed on Watchlist After Opposing Pornography in Schools

Terry Newsome, a Chicago dad who found himself placed on a watchlist by federal law enforcement, speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2022. (Courtesy of Terry Newsome)

A Chicago father has learned that he has been placed on a flight watchlist after opposing pornographic materials in his kids schools.

Over the summer of 2021, Terry Newsomewho described himself in comments to the Epoch Times as raised Democratwas one of several parents in the 99th school district of Downers Grove, Chicago, who expressed opposition to books in his childrens library that had sexually explicit and pornographic content.

In December, Newsome discovered he had been placed on a watchlist.

On Dec. 16, 2022, he and his family attempted to board a plane en route to Turning Point USAs America Fest convention in Phoenix, Arizona.

Newsome, who travels a great deal for work, was shocked to learn that he had been placed on a watchlist and had to get substantially more screening before being allowed to board, causing him to miss his original flight.

Initially, Newsome was told that he had been placed on the list by the FBI. On his return journey from Phoenix, he was informed that the classification originated from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Despite having been a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) pre-check-approved flier for over a decade, upon his familys arrival at OHare International Airport, Newsome learned about the new designation.

Upon arriving at the airport, Newsomes family found that they couldnt check in electronically like we normally did. Initially, Newsome and his wife just chalked it up to the fact that they had minors traveling with them that were not their children.

It was only later that Newsome learned he had been given the dreaded quad-S designation on his ticket, an acronym standing for Secondary Security Screening Selection (SSSS).

Compared to the normal security guidelines for boarding, those with boarding passes marked SSSS must get far more screening.

SSSS boarding pass holders are traditionally removed from the line and brought elsewhere for additional screening. This screening is nothing if not thoroughpassengers are asked to remove all items from their bags, which are then examined individually while the bag is thoroughly searched.

Terry Newsome, dressed in a Downers Grove South High School spirit wear, sits in the school auditorium where he spoke up about Gender Queer last month, on Dec. 13, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

In addition to much stricter screening of bags, SSSS fliers are typically on the receiving end of a full-body pat down. They also have their hands (and sometimes, according to some reports) their feet swabbed to check for explosives.

Just how invasive this search can be depends on circumstances, but fliers with the SSSS designation can also expect to be prodded on questions like if they packed their own bag, where theyre headed, why theyre going there, and so on.

When he got to the airport, Newsome had no idea that he had been flagged with the SSSS designation.

He first realized that something was amiss at the ticket desk, where he was told by the clerk that she couldnt print his boarding pass. The issue was taking so long that Newsome told his family, who had already received their boarding passes, to go ahead without him.

They did, but were pulled out of the line for additional screening. Newsome hurried over to the TSA desk when he saw this to learn what was going on.

It was then that Newsome was told he had been flagged as a potential security threat. However, both he and the TSA staff, Newsome reported, assumed that the designation was an error and that the system had confused Newsome with someone else who shared his name.

After the additional screening, Newsome finally got to the gate, where he was denied access to his flight because the extra screening had caused them to be late. Newsomes family also failed to get on the flight due to the extra screening.

At that point, Newsome was finally told what was going on when an airport employee told them, Somebody put you on a list with some real bad people.

After missing their first flight, Newsome was able to find another flight for himself and his family. But before he could board, the airline had to get approval from the FBI for him to fly.

The approval came through at the last moment, and Newsomes family was finally able to start their trip to Phoenix. Newsome was the last person to board his plane.

The same scene played out on the return journey, when Newsome learned he had been placed on the list by the DOJ.

FBI Dismisses FOIA Request

Following these experiences, Newsome sent a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request to the FBI, seeking more information about his newly discovered status as an alleged terror risk.

The FBI refused to discuss details with Newsome.

In the letter he received replying to his request, the FBI wrote in part: The U.S. Government can neither confirm nor deny whether a particular person is on any terrorist watch list. Maintaining the confidentiality of government watch lists is necessary to achieve the objectives of the U.S. Government, as well as to protect the privacy of individuals who may be on a watch list for a limited time and later removed. If the U.S. Government revealed who was listed on any government watch list, terrorists would be able to take actions to avoid detection by government authorities. Thus, the FBI neither confirms nor denies the existence of your subjects name on any watch lists pursuant to FOIA exemption.

Because the federal government refuses to so much as acknowledge that Newsome has been placed on a list, it is unclear why Newsomes name was flagged for enhanced screening.

Newsome told the Epoch Times that he thinks the addition of his name to the list is in response to his past political activities.

In their response to an Epoch Times inquiry about Newsome, the FBIs press office insisted that the agency does not open investigations solely on the grounds of protected First Amendment activity.

The FBI can never open an investigation based solely on protected First Amendment activity, the agency wrote. We cannot and do not investigate ideology. We focus on individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security.

The spokesperson expressly refused to answer questions relating to the process of placing someone on a watchlist, including questions about oversight of the FBIs ability to place Americans on flight watchlists.

Additionally, Newsome also reached out to the TSA.

In his query, Newsome requested information and attempted to be placed back on the TSA pre-check list.

In its reply, the TSA said he was no longer eligible for its pre-check list, but suggested that Newsome would no longer be subject to enhanced screening. Newsome remains uncertain about his flight status.

As a result of recurrent checks and based on a comprehensive background check, TSA was unable to determine that you pose a sufficiently low risk to transportation and national security to continue to be eligible for expedited airport security screening through the TSA Pre-[Check] Application Program, the reply said. As a result, TSA has determined that you are no longer eligible to participate in the TSA Pre-[Check] Application Program.

This eligibility determination for the TSA Pre-[Check] Application Program is within the sole discretion of TSA, the letter added. Although you have been found ineligible to continue your participation in the TSA Pre-[Check] Application Program, you will continue to be screened at airport security checkpoints according to TSA standard screening protocols.

Opposition to Porn in School Library

Newsome had never been involved in school board meetings or politics until mid-2021, when he attended a district school board meeting after his then-eighth-grade son came home reporting that his teacher had told him that there is no American dream.

Newsome, a descendant of European immigrants who had lived the American dream, was shocked to hear that. He called his childrens principal to discuss the issue, and suspected that these issues would only get worse when his kids, fraternal twins, got to high school.

In July 2021, Newsome attended his first school board meeting at Downers Groves Community High School (District 99).

Newsome immediately began a crusade on several hot-button topics, ranging from mask mandates to critical race theory, becoming the unofficial spokesman for several concerned mothers who were more hesitant to speak out.

The moms are so happy to have an aggressive, type-A-personality father to join them. They had mostly fought this battle alone, against the giant system of public schools, Newsome told The Epoch Times.

Newsomes most controversial activism came with his opposition to the book Gender Queer by Mia Kobabe, a book containing sexually explicit images that teaches children about oral sex and controversial notions of gender identity.

After Newsome began speaking out against the book and the left-wing ideology that had inundated his childrens schools, he began facing attacks from all corners, ranging from threats by Antifa to opposition by Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.).

Two days after the publication of an Epoch Times article about his activism, Newsome found threatening messages against him on a locally run Twitter account called Antifascist Rumor Mill.

Action items announced soon in regard to Terry Newsometime to Drop Pops and his hateful agenda, the tweet read, referencing Newsomes nickname Pops.

Terry trying to make a name for himself, look at his stupid face in the Epoch Times, the extreme #disinformation rag that echoed all the lies, the Big Lie, the Plandemic lie, etc., another tweet from the account said.

Newsome told The Epoch Times that many of those who have spoken against him and threatened him, including members of the school board, are in close league with Rep. Casten.

The school board and the superintendent are all controlled by radical, radical leftists  that are very vocal in the Downers Grove Community and all supportive of Sean Casten, Newsome said. So anybody that speaks out with a different opinion is brutally attacked on social media and called racist, homophobic, and so forth, no matter the truth.

To make a point, Ive said it from the very beginning, through now: me and the other parents are not anti-gay or homophobicwere anti-porn, Newsome said.

January 6 Rally

Some of Newsomes critics have in the past pointed out that Newsome was present at the Jan. 6, 2021, Stop the Steal rally.

Newsome candidly admits that he attended the rally, but said that he had no bad intentions and broke no laws that day.

I went to January 6, with my friend, a retired police officer, Newsome said.

According to Newsome, the FBI previously investigated his friend who attended the event, a retired Cook County police officer, and had cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Newsome was totally unarmed that day.

Additionally, Newsome was undergoing immunotherapy for cancer at the time, leaving him in a weakened state.

Newsome said his only reason for attending the rally was to hear President Donald Trump speak and to ensure people were safe.

We went down there for two things, one to see our president speak. Two, because were both still big guys even though were older, Newsome said. We saw in November, December, families, parents overly attacked by Antifa [and] BLM in front of their hotels.

Newsome said he had left by the time order broke down at the rally, which he vindicated by providing time-stamped photos. Newsomes photos and time stamps from that day show that he did not trespass on Capitol grounds and was gone before the Capitol breach began.

Concerns of Weaponization Of DOJ

Newsomes story comes amid concerns over the weaponization of the DOJ.

In November, House Republicans unveiled a 1,050-page report detailing whistleblower findings.

Since then, the party has authorized the creation of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which held its inaugural hearing on Feb. 9.

In his opening remarks, Weaponization Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) read out a litany of findings from whistleblower testimony.

For instance, on Nov. 18, 2021, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee were told that the FBI had created a threat tag for parents voicing their concerns at school board meetings. In May 2022, another whistleblower revealed that dozens of parents designated with a threat tag were being investigated by the agency.

The same whistleblower said that the leadership of the FBI is rotted at its core. Following this, that whistleblower had his security clearance revoked and was suspended from the FBI.

In April 2022, another whistleblower told Republicans that FBI agents were being run out of the bureau for attending conservative political events while off duty.

Jordan also cited whistleblower testimony previously included in the whistleblower report that claimed that the FBI had manufactured domestic violent extremism events (DVEs) to hit self-created performance metrics. Additional testimony in September 2022 revealed that Jan. 6 case files had been altered to make it appear that DVEs were on the rise, as Democrats and President Joe Biden have long claimed. The agent was later suspended.

In September 2022, yet another whistleblower revealed to Republicans that the FBI views the Betsy Ross flag, the original design of the American flag with 13 stars, as a terrorist symbol.

Additional testimony found that the FBI accepts personal data on users from Facebook without the users consent.

Cara Ding contributed to this report.
When recognized on a national and international level, school divisions are typically touted for their academic excellence or innovative programs. Madison County is currently being recognized for book banning.

In January, 21 titles were removed from the Madison County High School library following the Madison County School Boards enactment of a policy regarding sexually explicit library materials. The policy is an extension of a mandate passed down the Governor Glenn Youngkin. In April, Youngkin signed a bill requiring the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to develop model policies to ensure parents are notified if students are being taught sexually explicit instructional materials in the classroom. Youngkins policy did not address library books; the school boards does.

The policy IIAD: Sexually Explicit Content in MCPS Library Materials was created by school board member Christopher Wingate with input from his fellow board members as well as input from the boards attorney. It uses the Code of Virginias definition of sexually explicit content. Code defines sexually explicit content as any description of or any picture, photograph, drawing, motion picture film, digital image or similar visual representation depicting sexual bestiality, a lewd exhibition of nudity, as nudity is defined in Section 18.2-390, sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse, as also defined in Section 18.2-390, coprophilia, urophilia, or fetishism.

Under the policy, parents or taxpayers may request the school board to examine content they believe is sexually explicit. The board then determines if the material in fact contains sexually explicit content in which case it would be promptly removed from the library system and disposed of according to the divisions standard surplus property disposal policy. The superintendent will maintain a list of the materials removed from the system and that list will be available upon request.

As for the acquisition of new library materials, the titles and authors of new acquisitions will be posted to the library website for 12 months from the date of delivery. Parents can then review those materials to determine if they need to be reviewed under the policy.

In January, the board officially utilized its new policy for the first time, opting to remove 21 books for the high school library on a 3-1-0 vote. School board member Charles Sheads was absent and board member Karen Allen abstained from the vote. The books removed are: The Handmaids Tale, of which the popular Netflix series is based; the National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; The New York Times Best Seller The Perks of Being a Wallflower; the six-volume series Shatter Me; Toni Morrisons Tar Baby, The Bluest Eye, Sula and Love; Ann Rices The Tale of the Body Thief and Interview with a Vampire; PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winner Snow Falling on Cedars; Steven Kings It, Bag of Bones and 11/22/63: A Novel; and Furyborn. Also on the list is Empire of Thrones. Three other books of the same series, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows and The Assassins Blade were originally part of the proposed removal, but were allowed to remain.

News quickly spread of the action taken by the board with articles appearing in Newsweek, The Globe and Mail, The Atlantic and more. Bestselling authors Eric Shaw Quinn, Stephen King and Margaret Atwood have voiced their opinions on the matter. On Monday, Madison County residents did the same.

Speaking during the school board meeting, high school junior Devin Barden said the books in question were in the high school where students are approaching adulthood. He said highschoolers are expected to be mature enough to carry out their future careers, but yet they arent seen as a mature enough to handle a novel.

I would rather experience sexual assault or genocide in a novel than firsthand, he said.

Barden said all that is being accomplished by removing book is the division of the community and the county will tear itself apart.

Fellow student Julia Utz said the school board should be focusing more on providing students with a proper sex education than removing books with sexually explicit content. She said the board shouldnt stick its students into the world without having taught them how harsh it is. Utz said The Perks of Being a Wallflower saved her life and helped her to understand her own battle with depression was normal and how to get help for it.

Parent Karina Barden said one book in the library contains far more sexually explicit content than those removedthe Bible. She said controlling ideas and information by removing books is a way to enforce controlled ignorance. She encouraged board members to read the removed books in their entirety along with the Constitution and the Bible.

Pastor Russell Biber took issue with the sentiment that the Bible is sexually explicit. He said the Bible doesnt contain any graphic details and all sin in the Word of God is condemned.

High school librarian Charlotte Wood said when she originally met with Wingate and Allen last year about his concerns surrounding library books, she suggested listing titles parents wanted to keep their children from reading under the childs name, thus keeping that child from being able to check out those books. Wood said she doesnt believe any parent should tell any other parent what their child should read and at no time has any parent ever contacted her regarding restricting any books.

Book banning is the most widespread form of censorship, Wood said, explaining that since the removal of the 21 books she has been trolled, vilified and contacted by both national and international news outlets. However, she said some have opted to show their support for students. An Amazon Wish List has been created for the Madison County High School Library. The list consists of both new titles and replacements for lost titles. None of the removed books are on the list. Wood said so far, 98 books have been purchased for the library from people who have supported it because of the book banning.

Daily students come in to see what books have arrived, Wood said. She said the students are also adding their name to a waitlist to check out the new books as they become available. We are making lemonade out of lemons.

The wish list can be found online at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/26G0WL74MCSEL?ref_=wl_fv_le.

At the close of the meeting, Wingate said there are 100 million books in the world and students dont have a right to every single book. He said its a selection process and the high school library is a childrens library. The books removed, he said, were based on the Code of Virginias definition of sexually explicit, not on any theology.
China Aids Russias War in Ukraine: Reports

Recent reports show that the Chinese communist regime is providing technology to Russia for its war in Ukraine, despite international sanctions and export controls.

According to a Wall Street Journal review of Russian customs data on Feb. 4, Chinese state-owned defense companies have been shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology and jet-fighter parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies. Meanwhile, both state-owned and private Chinese companies are exporting military and civilian dual-use goods to Russia, the review shows.

The WSJ review analyzed more than 84,000 shipments recorded by Russias customs office since the West launched economic sanctions on Russia last year, especially on goods that are critical to Russias military.

Russian customs records that WSJ reviewed include details of each shipment into the country, such as dates, shippers, recipients, purchasers, addresses, and product descriptions. These might be just the tip of the iceberg, as the review pointed out that records might not include all records of shipments.

Emergency workers clear the rubble after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building leaving many people under debris in the southeastern city of Dnipro, Ukraine, on Jan. 14, 2023. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)

It has been nearly a year since the RussoUkrainian war started. Despite the sanctions, Russia is still able to obtain the technologies for its military, including semiconductors, through countries that havent joined the U.S.-led export controls such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and China, as the WSJs review of customs and corporate records show.

The report cited an analyst from NGO C4ADS who pointed out that Chinese state-owned defense companies continue to send military-applicable parts to sanctioned Russian defense companies. These Russian companies have been recorded using these same types of parts directly in Russias war in Ukraine.

A spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to the United States denied China provides aid to Russia.

Semiconductors From China and Hong Kong

Semiconductors, also known as chips, are used in missiles and drones.

Other international media have reported that millions of chips made in the Netherlands have flowed to Russia through Chinese and Hong Kong companies to evade sanctions.

According to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), Russias semiconductor purchases totaled $2.45 billion between January and September last year, much higher than the previous years $1.8 billion. Forty percent of the purchase were from China and Hong Kong.

A view of a lens used in the the manufacturing of semiconductor circuits at ASML, a Dutch company that was the largest supplier in the world of semiconductor manufacturing machines via photolithography systems in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on April 17, 2018. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)

The IIF said that China and Hong Kong have replaced European Union countries as Russias largest trading partners.

Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, millions of Dutch-made chips have been resold to Russia through Chinese companies.

U.S.-based current affairs commentator Wang He told The Epoch Times that the Chinese communist regime will continue its current policy, which is not to publicly condemn Russia, meanwhile aid Russian in private. In its dealing with the United States, it will flatly deny that Chinese state-owned companies are acting on behalf of the Chinese regime.

Su Tze-yun, director of the Taiwanese think tank The Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times that the United States grand strategy in dealing with the relationship with China and Russia is to first continue to isolate Russia, and then concentrate on dealing with the Chinese communist regime. He predicted: In March to April, the Ukrainian counterattack may bring the Russo-Ukrainian War to an end, which will be a turning point for the global political structure. At that time, major countries in the world will focus on encircling the Chinese regime, and their countermeasures against Beijing will increase.

Hou Junlin, Lin Cenxin, and Yi Ru contributed to this report.
Chinese Spy Balloon Had Maneuvering Ability and Similarities to Google AI Balloon Project: Ex-DoD Official

A sailor assigned to Explosive Ordinance Disposal Group 2 conducts a search for debris with an underwater vehicle during recovery efforts of a Chinese spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Feb. 7, 2023. (Ryan Seelbach/U.S. Navy via AP)

The Chinese spy balloon had maneuvering capability and had similarities to the Google balloon project Loon, which utilized AI analytics in its operations, according to Col. (Ret.) John Mills, an author and former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense.

Whats very interesting is in 2012, I was at Google and Google briefed me on Project Loon, their balloon project. And they use their advanced AI and analytics to raise and lower the balloon and they could maintain the position of a balloon by raising and lowering it. And they could also maneuver it, Mills said in an interview recorded on Feb. 9 on China in Focus, a show on NTD TV, The Epoch Times sister media.

He said throughout the spy balloon episode that the Department of Defense has very clearly said that the Chinese balloon had maneuvering capability.

The Chinese regime maintained that it was a runaway weather balloon, but the U.S. administration has refuted such claims.

This was a PRC surveillance balloon. This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites, said a senior defense official speaking on background in a statement on Feb. 4, indicating that the balloon could steer itself over the United States.

Mills said that when Google briefed him about the Loon project a decade ago, he was struck by its similarities with the CIA balloon projects of the past.

This looks a lot like the CIA project from the 50s and 60s. It was called by about 10 different code namesSkyhook, AshCan [etc.]. The Google Project Manager  had left NASA and was working for Google, goes, Yes, we actually FOAd [Freedom of Information Act] CIA, and they gave us all the plans, said Mills.

Googles parent company, Alphabet, was using Project Loon to explore the possibility of using a fleet of balloons to beam high-speed internet in remote areas of the world and was shut down after nine years because Google couldnt find a sustainable business model and partners.

However, it was not sufficiently clear why it was shut down and Tech Crunch called its closure surprising, because a year before, it had gotten approval from the Kenyan government to provide commercial connectivity services.

In Project Loon, Google had replicated the information it received from the CIA through the FOA, but what was different was that Google used its advanced artificial intelligence and big data analytics to maneuver the balloon, according to Mills.

The Chinese spy balloon had maneuvering capability, which is interesting. So did the Chinese rip-off Google, which borrowed from CIA? Curious question! he said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Google for comment.

Ret. Colonel John Mills. (File photo)

Chinese Surveillance

Mills thinks that the Chinese were clearly conducting surveillance over specific U.S. strategic sites.

I dont think its a coincidence that they were over the three  existing missile wings, said Mills, adding that the United States roughly maintains 450 Minuteman III missiles on alert at three different missile wings. So roughly 150 missiles each at Malmstrom Montana Air Force Base, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakotawhich also has a bomber basethen Francis E. Warren in Wyoming.

The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range, according to the Defense Department website, and the American intercontinental ballistic missile force has remained on continuous round-the-clock alert since 1959. The Minuteman III missiles make up the most responsive leg of the nuclear triad.

The Chinese were clearly conducting surveillance. They were exploiting gaps and seams in our air surveillance, our air picture. They clearly were doing that, and they were clearly collecting information and it also looked like the trackway went over Strategic Command Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, said Mills.

He suspects that the Chinese balloon was a spy operation and while it was over Nebraska, the Chinese were spying on the underground facilities.

They were clearly doing electronic signals collection, perhaps imagery, perhaps measuring intelligenceall forms. Believe me, they probably had all kinds of different little sensors and subsensors collecting everything. So theres no question; they can call it weather all they want, said Mills.
Chinese Spy Balloon Incident Signals War Preparations: Cybersecurity Expert

(Left) The Chinese balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Right) The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson participates in a group sail during the Rim of the Pacific exercise off the coast of Hawaii, on July 26, 2018. (Randall Hill/Reuters; Petty Officer 1st Class Arthurgwain L. Marquez/U.S. Navy via AP)

Cybersecurity expert Casey Fleming said the Chinese spy balloon incident signals that Chinas communist regime is preparing for war with the United States.

Fleming, CEO of intelligence and security strategy firm BlackOps Partners, raised concern about the four objects shot down by the Pentagon early this month, including the spy balloon, and claimed that they all come from China.

However, speaking at a Feb. 14 press conference, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said the unidentified objects that were downed in Alaska, the Yukon, and over Lake Huron were not tied to spying efforts, and could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose.

Pentagon officials earlier said that the three unidentified objects posed no security threats but have not disclosed their origins.

So those balloons are following the jetstream. And you can absolutely guess where theyre coming from. Theyre all coming from virtually the same place, Fleming said in an interview on the China in Focus program on NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, which aired on Feb. 14.

And theyre [China] launching these balloons  with our counterintelligence saying that its to basically create fear in the American people, and so on, he added.

These actions signal that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is preparing for war with the United States, according to Fleming.

You have to understand what your adversary is up to. To our older generations, this is what World War II looked like at the time. And this is what World War III looks like for us. Its based on technology, building fear, psychologic, psychological warfare, he said.

These balloons are todays Pearl Harbor moment, its very serious.  For those of us who work in counterintelligence, Ive seen this all day, every day for decades of whats going on under the scenes in the CCPs unrestricted warfare strategy to eliminate and destroy the United States and the free world, he added.

Weaponized Tools

Furthermore, Fleming called out TikTok, Shein, and Temuapplication tools that the CCP has weaponized to undermine and subvert the United States.

The U.S. head office of TikTok in Culver City, Calif., on Sept. 15, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Tiktok in the United States is attacking everything to destroy everything that holds society together, he said.

TikTokthats a weaponized app in the hands of every child. Its meant to psychologically weaken the children, weaken values, weaken their thought processes, take them out of critical thinking, and basically just lower their morals and their standards.

Meanwhile, in China, TikTok is a platform thats used for excellence, its a platform to challenge people to do better in school and treat your elders and family with values and all those things that hold society together, he added.

Then youve got Shein, which is a knockoff clothing line that a lot of females and males are using in the United States and the free world, Fleming said.

Shein has operation centers in major global markets, including Singapore, China, and the United States, and is now serving clients in over 150 countries, according to its website.

Fleming called Temu the Amazon killer, which intended to completely take Amazon out of businessmove all of that revenue to China.

They are revenue from  whatever that is to power our economy, our jobs, and our schools and our hospitals, and our national security, he said.

Temu, an online marketplace, was founded in Boston in 2022 by PDD Holdings Inc., which also operates Pinduoduo in China.

The design of the Chinese Communist Party is to pull these industries, these companies  out of the United States, take them over to China, and make us much weaker financially. From an economic standpoint, youre also seeing this thing called reshoring, he said.

Decoupling From China

To push back the threats posed by the Chinese regime, Fleming urged Americans to stop buying Chinese products.

Start demanding Made in America and Made in the free world [from] our partners, Canada, Mexico, and so on, he said.

You have to be aware of where youre spending your money. Money is power, and money drives the Chinese economy, as well as the U.S. economy, and your hands are being forced, whether you know it or not.

Decoupling from China could cause discomfort as there will be higher prices, he noted.

Were very comfortable today. Were very complicit today and complacent. But the pain is on its way. And its to absorb some pain today, to maybe stave off a much greater pain in the future.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Cubas Communist Regime Emerged With Support of American Left: Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat

Cuba is a springboard to spread socialism to Latin America, U.S., says Cuba expert

The American Left contributed to the emergence of the communist regime in Cuba through planning, preparations, and media coverage to make Cuba the driving force for spreading socialism to the United States and Latin America, said Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, co-founder and spokesperson for the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a U.S.-based organization that supports human rights in Cuba.

Gutierrez-Boronat is also an award-winning author, invited lecturer at Georgetown University, and community leader. He holds a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of International Studies.

An institutional and political crisis in the 1950s in Cubawhen a military government took over the countryled to an insurrection, Gutierrez-Boronat told EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program in an interview on Jan. 28.

Then Castro and his acolytes took control of the country with great support from American liberals in every way you can imagine.

In 1952, Fulgencio Batista, seeing that his chances to win the presidential election in Cuba were thinning after he trailed third in polls, staged a military coup, thus becoming Cubas dictator.

A year later, Fidel Castro, a lawyer leading a small group of revolutionaries, started a rebellion against Batista which culminated in the overthrow of the unpopular dictator in 1959. After seizing power, Castro imposed socialism on Cuba through a radical program of land reform and industrial nationalization.

A Springboard for Socialism

It is very clear in Che Guevaras writings that the purpose of the Cuban revolution was to create a platform through which socialist revolution would spread to the United States and Latin America, Gutierrez-Boronat said.

Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary from Argentina who played a prominent role in the Castro-led revolution.

Castro was surrounded by international advisors who helped him design a totalitarian state in Cuba, the activist said.

Through a combination of planning and preparation by the Cuban Communist Party, and the U.S. Communist Party, and other left-wing forces, an opportunity emerged, and Cuba became a force for socialism in Latin America.

From the very onset, the Castro regime wanted to take over Venezuela, and in fact, Cuba sponsored an armed invasion of Venezuela in 1967.

The same thing was repeated in key countries which [Cuba] thought were essential to creating the united socialist republics of Latin America, and of course, to also cause social tension, class struggle and radical transformation of the United States, Gutierrez-Boronat explained.

That has always been the plan. Its always been part of what the regimeand they dont hide it that muchof what the regime states it wants to pursue.

Gutierrez-Boronat cited Herbert Marcuse, a prominent Marxist scholar of the Frankfurt School associated with Columbia University. In his book An Essay on Liberation, Marcuse clearly states that the Cuban Revolution was essential for socialism in the U.S., Gutierrez-Boronat said.

The Cuban regime, since taking power, has been a place to train American left-wing activists, indoctrinate, and create underground cells and espionage networks in the United States, Gutierrez-Boronat continued.Throughout the region, it facilitates any kind of activity aimed at opposing Americas plans and subverting democracies.

How the Media Built Castros Image

Gutierrez-Boronat asserts that media played an important role in building Castros image in America. For example, New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews was essential in building the Castro myth, the activist said.

Two years before Castro came to power, Matthews went up into the Sierra Maestra mountains in Cuba, where Castro was organizing a guerrilla movement against Cuban dictator and then-president Batista.

Castro barely had 20 people following him, but Matthews portrayed him for the consumption of the U.S. public, as though he already had an army of hundreds, Gutierrez-Boronat said.

A few months after gaining power in 1959, Castro visited the United States, where he was presented as a democratic reformist, anti-communist, and pro-American, Gutierrez-Boronat said. All that was false. They were already building a communist state in Cuba.

Matthews coverage of Castro, as well as Castros visit to the United States, were steps taken to somehow deflect public attention from what the Left was really doing inside Cuba, Gutierrez-Boronat said.

During his American trip, Castro told the American media, I have said very clearlywe are not communists.

Castro also claimed at that time in a CBC interview: Our opinion is that  everybody has the right to think as they want [and] this is a democratic principle. We have no reason to forbid any kind of opinion, the opinion is a principle of democracy, and that is the only reason for that we dont forbid any idea.

We are not afraid of an idea because we have our idea, and we believe in our idea, Castro added.

Only two years later, Castro finally admitted in a televised speech, I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life.

Repairing Socialisms Image

By 1959, Khrushchev had revealed the crimes of Stalin at the congress of the communist party. The [Soviet] invasion of Hungary in 1956 had taken place, along with the crushing of the East German worker strikes; all of that was in the air. People saw how repressive communism was, Gutierrez-Boronat explained further the positive media coverage of the Cuban communist leader.

[At that time,] the Left needed a successful socialist revolution that didnt have any of the stains of the bad reputation that Stalinism had already gained in the world.

Then along comes this revolution in a tropical country with some charismatic leaders promising utopia and heaven for Cubans. They began to build that up from the very onset.

The famous secret speech, given in February of 1956 by then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, denounced his predecessor Josef Stalin for his crimes, and triggered a series of grassroots movements in Eastern European countries dominated by the Soviet Union.

In June of 1956, protests erupted in Poland and Polish communist leaders used military force with tanks to quell the unrest.

The most severe protests demanding democratic reforms broke out in Hungary, in the fall of 1956. The Soviet Union resorted to invading the country to maintain its dominance there.

Earlier, after the death of Stalin in 1953, workers in communist East Germany had risen in protest against government demands to increase productivity Within days, protests and riots spread across the country. The Soviet occupation authorities suppressed the rioting using massive military force.

Media Blackout of Cuban Protests

To this day, because Cuba is supposed to be the driving force for spreading socialist revolution in the region, there is still an attempt to protect the Cuban regime from any bad publicity it generates for itself, Gutierrez-Boronat said. He referred to mass protests against the communist regime in July of 2021. The protests in Cuba were the largest against the regime in decades.

Protesters demonstrated against human rights abuses, a lack of freedom, and a worsening economic situation in the communist-ruled country.

Since then, thousands of Cubans have gone out to publicly protest against the regime, especially young artists, women, youth, all demanding change, and demanding the end of communism, Gutierrez-Boronat said.

The protests continue and hundreds of protesters have been arrested and imprisoned, but the media do not report on it, Gutierrez-Boronat said. Although protests can be seen on video recordings, there seems to be a literal blackout on whats going on in Cuba with the citizen defiance of the regime.

In the past few months, videos and photographs have appeared, showing families collaborating to set up barricades as a form of protest so police cannot enter neighborhoods, Gutierrez-Boronat said. That was unheard of in Cuba five years ago or three years ago. Its a new phase of resistance by the Cuban people.

Communist regimes initially seek to destroy the economy to control the people, Gutierrez-Boronat said. In the case of Cuba, they had to control and destroy Cuban agriculture in order to control [the] food supply.

They need to control food to control cities, and they need to control cities to control the middle class because the middle class can oppose them successfully  But once they unleash these forces of destruction, they lose control.

And this is what drives the insurgency forward. The regime still has a strong security apparatus that can prevent the emergence of a unified national movement, but they cant destroy the movement as it is now; organic, based in neighborhoods and towns, and flourishing.

To break the information blockade on what is happening inside Cuba, Gutierrez-Boronat and other activists participate in international conferences, organize protests, and meet with political, labor, and student leaders to get the word out.

It has been successful, Gutierrez-Boronat said. A network of solidarity for a free Cuba has emerged over the past few years, and we greatly contributed to that.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
DC Police Warn About People Being Robbed of Their Canada Goose Jackets

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington is advising residents to take caution following a string of robberies targeting people who wear Canada Goose jackets.

Winter coats from the popular brand are valued from $550 to as high as $1,850. Police said people are being robbed of the coats in the city, with at least five robberies reported since the start of the year, according to reports.

People are asked to cooperate and surrender their coats if they are held at gunpoint.

Property is not worth your life. Give away that property, try to get a good description of that person, and we want people to call 911, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Patrick Loftus said, reported BBC.

Some robberies occurred near George Washington University, which triggered an advisory from the campus on Feb. 2.

We want to alert our community regarding a string of robberies involving Canada Goose jackets that have taken place in the past few days, the advisory reads.

While none of the incidents have occurred on campus, two took place near the Foggy Bottom campus on February 1, 2023. Jackets have been taken off of victims, and in some cases, weapons have been brandished.

These jackets are very expensive, and our community members should be mindful while wearing them, even in very public spaces. As always, be mindful of your surroundings. If a situation feels unsafe, dial 911.

Canada Goose jackets displayed at Park City Marriott in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 19, 2018. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Canada Goose)

Reports of Assaults, Thefts

On Jan. 24, a student of Howard University informed police that as he was walking to school, he was assaulted by three men who pulled up to him in a car, reported WJLA, citing a police report. The three men reportedly demanded he give up his Canada Goose jacket and forced him to the ground after he told them no. They took his jacket and fled the scene in a blue Hyundai sedan. The student sustained injuries to his eye and forehead.

Howard University police said the attack took place in a busy area where there were onlookers and witnesses, the BBC reported. According to the outlet, the suspects have since been arrested and the jacket has been recovered.

On Jan. 26, a similar robbery occurred involving three attackers, all men, one of whom pointed a handgun at the victim and ordered him to take off his jacket and surrender his vehicle, WJLA reported. Citing a police report, the outlet stated that the victim was punched in the face after he took off his coat, after which the men climbed inside the victims vehicle and fled.

On Feb. 1, a woman was robbed of her Canada Goose jacket at gunpoint. The man who robbed her coat fled thereafter, reported WJLA, citing a police report from MPD.

A similar incident also took place on Feb. 2, the outlet reported. The victim, a man, was threatened at gunpoint that he would be shot if he didnt surrender his Canada Goose jacket.

On Feb. 5, District of Columbia police sought help via Twitter for the public to help identify two men who stole Canada Goose jackets from a couple who was walking with their son. According to NBC Washington, the men approached the coupleJulian and Sheila Kaufmanin the middle of the afternoon on Feb. 5.

Lookout for 2 [black males], approx. 20 years of age, approx. 6 [feet] in height, both suspects wearing black in color Canada Goose jackets, and operating a Silver in color Infiniti Sedan bearing a D.C. tag, the police announcement reads. DO NOT TAKE ACTION CALL 911.

Whatre you gonna do if youre in that situation? Julian Kaufman told NBC Washington. You got a gun to your head, so.
DeSantis Proposes Crackdown on Frivolous Lawsuits, Billboard Lawyers in Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lays out his next term's spending on Everglades restoration and other water quality projects on Jan. 10, 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Florida Governor's Office.)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a tightening of the states litigation process to make it tougher to file frivolous lawsuits, and to guard against unscrupulous billboard lawyers.

Speaking in Jacksonville on Feb. 14, DeSantis was joined by legislative leaders House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Passidomo who vowed to work to shape the legislation and get it passed.

The legislation would seek to end one-way attorney fees and fee multipliers, which were also targets of the legislatures December bill reforming property insurance, the governors office said in a press release.

Florida has a good business climate, DeSantis said, noting its low unemployment rate and significant population in-migration. But one reason some businesses hesitate to move there, he said, was the states reputation as a judicial hellhole.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks about rural broadband expansion in Santa Rosa County on Feb. 2, 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Florida Governors Office.)

He said businesses get sued a lot, and the court climate forces them to settle when theyve done little or nothing wrong. That, in turn, drives up costs for the businesses that they must then swallowlessening profitability, their ability to invest or give employees raisesor pass on to customers.

The Republican leaders put the blame squarely on those lawyers who abuse the process. DeSantis called them billboard lawyers, those with their faces on a billboard. You dont necessarily see that in a lot of other states.

Id say about 90 percent of the lawyers in this state really do a good job, said Passidomo. They care about their clients. They represent all your business people. You oftentimes need a lawyer to represent your interests.

Ten percent of them are out there with a business model . . . We represent insurance companies for fees. Theres nothing about clients in there.

DeSantis ticked off some egregious instances where the plaintiff got little or nothing while the plaintiffs lawyer got a big payday.

He cited an example of a case where the client won $216.67 while the lawyer got over $100,000 in fees. Then there was a case involving a $1.48 interest miscalculation that generated more than $78,000 in attorney fees. In yet another, a client got $2,114.55 while the attorney recovered over eight times as much. In an insurance case, DeSantis said, a $41,000 claim for the policyholder generated $1.2 million for the attorney.

In the governors office statement, Renner said a report by the American Tort Reform Foundation shows Floridas lax litigation environment each year costs every household $5,000 and the state 173,000 jobs.

Semi-trucks line up near Pier J to retrieve shipping containers from a China-based ship at the Port of Long Beach, in Long Beach, Calif., on April 4, 2018. (Bob Riha Jr./Reuters)

DeSantis tied the reforms to insurance reforms enacted in December to keep insurance companies from leaving the state.

Florida had represented 8 percent of all property insurance claims in the United States but accounted for almost 80 percent of all property insurance litigation, he said. Florida laws have made it easier than in other places to win a nuisance settlement, where a defendant isnt at fault but finds it cheaper to settle than to fight a protracted court case.

You have an incentive as a cost of doing business to just do a settlement because itll be cheaper than hiring lawyers to prove your innocence, he said.

DeSantis said his judicial appointments to the state supreme court and lower courts have helped because the states litigation climatewe really had a cottage industry of litigationhad been driven in turn by activist court decisions over a number of decades.

So that genie is back in the bottle. The activism from the courts and state level is gone. But we still nevertheless have a lot of lawsuits.

DeSantis spoke at the Kenworth of Jacksonville truck dealership, in front of gleaming rows of new trucks. Rob Sandlin, CEO of Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. and Florida Rock & Tank Lines Inc. in Jacksonville, spoke about how the litigation climate had made it difficult to find affordable insurance.

In many cases, insurance companies have just decided not to write insurance in this state. In the last five years, Sandlin said, his companies insurance rates had gone up 73 percent while theyd reduced their coverage by 60 percent.

And we also have to have a six-figure self-insurance deductible.

He said that most trucking firms are small companies with 10 or fewer employees and can be driven out of business if insurance costs too much. This is contributing to the shortage of truckdrivers, he said.

Sandlin said there was one big problem: even a case where the company bears little or no blame will draw a claim and force a settlement with billboard lawyers. In one case, one of his trucks had stopped at railroad tracks as legally required and was rear-ended by a motorist. Their company had to pay 20 percent of the medical bills, which were significant, despite their driver not being at fault.

If we cause an accident and we hurt somebody, we want to do whats right and we want to pay for those injuries, Sandlin said. We dont think we should be paying for injuries we dont cause.

One-way attorney fees in Florida are meant to shield policyholders from legal bills if they need to sue an insurer, according to an article about the December insurance reforms at Floridapolitics.com. Critics say attorneys and contractors exploit the law to file unnecessary suits to collect attorney fees. According to critics, it has created an unstable insurance market, driven ratepayer fees higher, reduced coverage options, created insurer insolvency, and burdened Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the states insurer of last resort.
Detectives Searching for Nicola Bulley Distracted by False Information and Accusations

Police also reveal missing woman had 'individual vulnerabilities'

A woman holds up a placard during search for Nicola Bulley, who went missing in Lancashire, England, on Jan. 27, 2023. (PA)

The detective leading the search for Nicola Bulleywho has been missing for 20 days after vanishing while walking her dog beside a river in the north of Englandhas said false information, accusations, and rumours from the public have distracted the police.

Bulley, 45, was last seen on the morning of Jan. 27 as she walked her cocker spaniel, Willow, beside the River Wyre in Lancashire.

She had just dropped her two young daughters off at a primary school in the village of St Michaels on Wyre.

Lancashire Police originally said they were working on the assumption Bulley had gone in the river but police divers and a specialist team led by Peter Faulding, a forensic search specialist, have scoured the riverbed and failed to find her body.

Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, who is leading the investigation, told a press conference on Wednesday that falling in the river was one of three main hypotheses the police had explored. She said the other two were foul play and the possibility Bulley had voluntarily left the area, leaving her dog behind.

Undated family image of Nicola Bulley and her dog Willow. Bulley vanished after walking the dog on the banks of the River Wyre in Lancashire, England on Jan. 27, 2023. (Family/Lancashire Police)

The Assistant Chief Constable of Lancashire Police, Peter Lawson, told the same press conference there was still no evidence of a criminal aspect or third party involvement in Bulleys disappearance.

News bulletins and newspapers in Britain have been dominated by the disappearance of the part-time mortgage adviser and the case has attracted enormous speculation from armchair detectives on social media.

Smith said: Were really, really grateful to members of the public for ringing into the inquiry. We wouldnt have got this far without everybodys help.

She added: But I think its also really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations, and rumours, which is distracting us from our work.

Smith said: The whole community wants to find Nicola and wants to give the family the answers that they deserve. The family are the most important part of this and all the speculation and rumour is affecting them. Theyve got a loving daughter, sister, partner, and mother who is missing and that is my priority and the priority of the investigation team, and  we cant be distracted from that.

Bulley lived with her partner, Paul Ansell, and their two children in St Michaels on the Wyre.

Earlier this week Ansell told Channel 5 his gut instinct was that she had not fallen in the river and said, Nikki would never give up on us ever. She wouldnt give up on anybody. And were not going to ever give up on her, were going to find her.

Asked about Ansell, Smith said: Its normal in any missing person investigation that you obviously gather as much information at an early stage about the person in question, which is no different and we did that with Paul.

TikTokers Playing Private Detectives

Smith referred to TikTokers playing private detectives and claimed to have found Bulleys glove on the riverbank.

She said: A glove has been recovered. That is not believed to be relevant to the investigation. It is not Nicolas, but we have got that in our possession.

Private underwater search and recovery company, Specialist Group International, searching the River Wyre in Lancashire, on Feb. 7, 2023. (PA)

Later she was asked by a journalist if wannabe detectives had been hindering detectives and she replied: Yes, it has significantly distracted the investigation. In 29 years police service Ive never seen anything like it. Some of its been quite shocking and really hurtful to the family.

She said: Obviously, we cant disregard anything and weve reviewed everything thats come in but of course it has distracted us significantly. But as long as we are prioritising, which we do constantly on the information thats coming in, that will not distract us from the priority actions that weve been completing.

Persistent Myths on Social Media

Smith said there had been a number of persistent myths about the case circulating on social media, including references to an empty house on the other side of the River Wyre from where Bulley went missing.

She said: The derelict house which is across the other side of the river has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there.

Smith and Lawson also revealed for the first time Bulley had some individual vulnerabilities which had led the police to assess her as a high risk missing person on the day she went missing.

Lancashire Police later added a statement, clarifying the vulnerabilities Bulley faced. They said: Sadly, it is clear from speaking to Paul and the family that Nicola had in the past suffered with some significant issues with alcohol which were brought on by her ongoing struggles with the menopause and that these struggles had resurfaced over recent months. This caused some real challenges for Paul and the family.

They added: As a result of those issues, a response car staffed by both police and health professionals attended a report of concern for welfare at Nicolas home address on January 10. No one has been arrested in relation to this incident, but it is being investigated.

Smith went into great detail about the work police have done to check CCTV footage from the area.

She then said: I have told you that my working hypothesis is, at the moment, through all the information that we have gathered, that the likelihood is that Nicola has unfortunately gone in the river.

But she said: However, I have to stress this because this has been continually misconstrued, I cannot be 100 percent certain of that at the minute because we are continuing, its a live investigation, and there is always information coming in.

But we are in the 20th day, we have had a thorough, dedicated, meticulous investigation and there is not one single piece of information thats come to note that would suggest that Nicola has left those fields, Smith added.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Eighth Briton Dies in Ukraine Since Russian Invasion Began

A man has become the eighth British national to die in Ukraine since the start of Russias invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

The identity of the individual is not yet known but the UK Foreign Office said their family has been informed.

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 man is believed to be the eighth British national to have died in Ukraine since the war began.

A number of British veterans and Britons without combat experience have travelled to Ukraine to join the resistance against the Russian invasion. A small number of serving British personnel are also believed to have gone absent without leave to travel to the war-torn country.

In addition, some British citizens are reportedly working as humanitarian aid workers and medics in the war zone.

Britons Helping Ukraine

Undated family handout of Andrew Bagshaw, who along with Christopher Parry was killed while attempting a humanitarian evacuation in Ukraine, issued by Lorelei Mason on Jan. 24, 2023. (Family handout via PA Media)

On Jan. 6 this year, Andrew Bagshaw, 47, and Christopher Parry, 28, went missing while heading to the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region of the country, where heavy fighting was reported.

A few days later, the Russian military contractor Wagner Group said that one of the two Britons had been found dead.

On Jan. 24, Parrys family confirmed that both men had been killed, in a statement released through the UK Foreign Office.

Chris Parry, one of the two British men killed in Ukraine, is seen in this picture obtained from social media released on Jan. 5, 2023. (Chris Parry via Instagram/via Reuters)

According to a statement from the parents of Bagshaw, the pair were attempting to rescue an elderly woman in an area of intense military action when their car was hit by an artillery shell.

On Nov. 7, 2022, British veteran Simon Lingard was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces to defend the city of Bakhmut from Russian attacks.

In September, five British nationals held by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine returned to the UK after being released as part of a prisoner swap.

Ten prisoners of war (five British citizens, one Moroccan, one Swedish, one Croatian, and two Americans) are seen arriving in King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 21, 2022. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters)

Four of thoseAiden Aslin, John Harding, Andrew Hill, and Shaun Pinnerhad been captured while fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces. The otherDylan Healyhad been volunteering in Ukraine as an aid worker.

Another British aid workerPaul Ureyreportedly died in detention in July after being captured by pro-Russian separatists. The Ukrainian government said in early September that Ureys body, which had been returned, had signs of possible unspeakable torture.

On Aug. 24, British national Craig Mackintosh was reportedly killed while volunteering as a medic in Ukraine.

In June, ex-British soldier Jordan Gatley, who had left the British Army in March and travelled to Ukraine, was shot dead in the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.

In April, British veteran Scott Sibley was reportedly killed in Ukraine while fighting against Russian forces.

Meanwhile, at least five other Americans are known to have died fighting in Ukraine, according to State Department statements and reports from individual families.

The latest casualty was former U.S. Navy SEAL Daniel W. Swift, who was killed on Jan. 18 in Ukraine, according to the U.S. Navy.

New Offensive

The latest death comes after British military chiefs declared Russian President Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday that the 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 Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC on Wednesday that Russian troops are suffering almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres in Ukraine.

Asked if he is concerned that Britains support for Ukraine is weakening its own army, Wallace said: Not at all, and in fact I would say it is actually the opposite.

He said: Helping Ukraine defeat Russia in Ukraine actually adds to our own security at home and as the Ukrainians themselves say: We are fighting not just for our freedom, but for your freedom in Europe.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Elon Musk Donates Nearly $2 Billion in Tesla Shares to Charity

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the companys local office in Washington, on Jan. 27, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The CEO of Tesla and Twitter, Elon Musk, donated nearly $2 billion in Tesla shares to charity last year.

Currently the worlds second-richest person, the Tesla CEO owns around 13 percent of the companys stock, Reuters reported.

Around a total of 11.6 million shares from the electric car company, worth $1.95 billion, were given away by Musk as a bona fide gift, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Musks SEC filing did not name the recipients of his donations, which were made between August and December 2022.

Most of the donations were clustered toward the end of the year, with analysts suggesting that tax planning may have played a role, according to Marketwatch.

Shares given to charities do not have to pay capital gains tax.

Musk Has Been Donating to Charities for Over Two Decades

The billionaire CEO has given Tesla stock to charity in the past, and had donated around $5.74 billion worth of shares in 2021, according to an earlier SEC filing.

In March 2021, Musk wrote in a tweet that he planned to donate $20 million to schools in Cameron County, Texas, and another $10 million to the countys seat in Brownsville, for downtown revitalization.

Musk had previously signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, which commits those who join the agreement to give at least half of their wealth to charity throughout their lifetime or upon their death.

In 2001, he set up the Musk Foundation, which offers grants for development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity, along with other causes, according to its website.

His foundation found reportedly has more than $200 million in assets and has made gifts worth $160 million, including $55 million to the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and $54 million to the X Prize Foundation.

The latest publicly disclosed tax form filed by Musks charity is from 2020, which showed total charitable donations worth $23 million.

A New CEO of Twitter May Be Found by the End of 2023

Meanwhile, Musk announced on Feb. 15 that he planned to find someone to succeed him as the CEO of Twitter by the end of the year.

Im guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company, because I think it should be in a stable position around, you know, at the end of this year, said Musk on a video link at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure its in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out, he said. He has admitted in the past that Twitter was close to bankruptcy and that he planned to turn it around financially.

Musk acquired the social media platform last spring for $44 billion and has significantly restructured the company with mass layoffs, a revamped interface and members system, along with a relaxation of censorship rules.

He also exposed the previous managements collusion with U.S. federal law enforcement and the Democrats attempts to go after former president Donald Trump.

However, Musk has taken criticism from many Tesla investors, who accuse him of spending too much of his time focusing on Twitter at the expense of his car company.

Back in November, while addressing the G20 Summit in Bali, Musk admitted that he was working too much while he manages his responsibilities as CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX.

My workload has recently increased quite a lot, said Musk, adding, I have too much work on my plate, that is for sure.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Elon Musk Reveals One of the Biggest Risks to Human Civilization

Tesla CEO tells audience that AI could pose an existential threat

Elon Musk said that ChatGPT and other recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a significant risk to civilization itself and that people should be on their guard.

One of the biggest risks to the future of civilization is AI, the Tesla and Twitter owner said at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday. Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, which made the popular service ChatGPT.

Its both positive or negative and has great, great promise, great capability, Musk said in reference to artificial intelligence and ChatGPT. Then, he argued that with that comes great danger.

In recent weeks, ChatGPT has drawn headlines for its ability to pass university examinations, write essays, and perform other functions. That has drawn warnings from professors and researchers that some professions may become obsolete in the near future.

Released a to the public a few months ago, ChatGPT is an advanced form of AI that uses a language model known as GPT-3. Its programming allows it to understand human language and come up with responses.

While Musk was involved in OpenAI, he left the companys board in 2018. He also no longer holds a stake in the firm, which recently received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft.

Initially it was created as an open-source nonprofit. Now it is closed-source and for profit, Musk told the attendees of the summit. I dont have an open stake in OpenAI, nor am I on the board, nor do I control it in any way.

Musk said that ChatGPT has illustrated to people just how advanced AI has become, adding, The AI has been advanced for a while. It just didnt have a user interface that was accessible to most people.

But Musk warned that there needs to be regulation. He noted that laws and rules may slow down AI a little bit, but I think that that might also be a good thing, Musk added.

I think we need to regulate AI safety, frankly, he said, reported CNBC. It is, I think, actually a bigger risk to society than cars or planes or medicine.

Jobs?

While Musk did not speak about AIs impact on the job market, others have issued warnings that some jobs could be phased out in the coming years. That includes jobs in publishing, graphic design, simple programming, and even in the financial sector.

Screens displaying the logos of Microsoft and ChatGPT, a conversational artificial intelligence application software developed by OpenAI. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

AI is replacing the white-collar workers. I dont think anyone can stop that, Pengcheng Shi, an associate dean in the department of computing and information sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, told the New York Post several weeks ago. This is not crying wolf, Shi added of AIs capacity to take away jobs. The wolf is at the door.

The warnings were issued after a researcher found that ChatGPT passed a graduate-level examination at University of Pennsylvanias prestigious Wharton School last month. Some professors, meanwhile, have suggested university should overhaul their exam rules, teaching, and curriculum.

Copy editing is certainly something it does an extremely good job at. Summarizing, making an article concise and things of that nature, it certainly does a really good job, Chinmay Hegde, a computer science and electrical engineering associate professor at New York University, told the New York Post last month.

But Hegde noted that the chatbot has some significant limitations in its current state.

You can ask it to provide an essay, to produce a story with citations, but more often than not, the citations are just made up, Hegde said. Thats a known failure of ChatGPT and, honestly, we do not know how to fix that.

Google?

With ChatGPTs improvements, there have been reports suggesting that top executives at Google, which operates the worlds most-used search engine, has prompted the firm to develop its own AI chatbot. Last week, Google rolled out a similar service, Bard, in what appears to be an attempt to compete with OpenAI.

I think Google was hesitant to productize this because it didnt think it was really ready for a product yet, but, I think, as a demonstration vehicle, its a great piece of technology, said John Hennessy, the chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, during an event on Monday. Hennessy said he believes that generative artificial intelligence is still one to two years away from being more widely used.
A trial to decide the fate of Charlottesvilles Robert E. Lee statue has been postponed for a second time, leaving the statue in storage at an undisclosed location and plans for it in limbo  at least until the new trial date on April 25.

The trial, originally scheduled for Feb. 1, was first delayed because the citys attorney, Richard Milnor, became ill. The trial was rescheduled for Thursday.

Illness has again been blamed for a second delay.

People close to the case trace the latest postponement to a severe illness in the family of an attorney and assert that all parties agreed to the delay.

Word of the postponement came at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday in an email from a spokeswoman for the group that was given the statue in 2021.

We are sorry for this inconvenience, but it was out of our control, said the email from Lisa Draine of the Swords Into Plowshares project.

Swords Into Plowshares is the name of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Centers project to melt down the statue of the Confederate general into ingots that would then be fashioned into a new work of community art.

City Council voted Dec. 7, 2021, to give the statue to the Jefferson School, which has since sought community input on design ideas for the new piece of art.

Two would-be bidders on the statue, the Trevillian Station Battlefield Foundation of Louisa County and the Ratcliffe Foundation of Tazewell County, have since sued to stop the statue destroyed.

They have argued that the gift to the Jefferson School was illegal and that the citys bidding process violated state law and local policy. They have said they want the statue to go back up for bid.

The divisive statue was removed from its downtown location on July 10, 2021, after several years of debate about the appropriateness of a monument of the leader of the army that rebelled against the U.S. That debate evolved into a full-scale riot in Charlottesville, when neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates and assorted other white nationalist groups who opposed calls for the statues removal descended on the citys downtown on Aug. 12, 2017.

Counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed in that riot by white nationalist James Fields.
Four Out of Five Trans Inmates in Scotlands Only Female Prison Are Killers: Reports

Women's rights campaigners are urging the Scottish Prison Service to remove the violent inmates, who they say pose a danger of women prisoners.

A photo of signage outside the entrance to Scotland's only female prison Cornton Vale on Jan. 26, 2015. The prison is reportedly housing a number of trans prisoners. (PA Media)

Four out of five transgender inmates being held in Scotlands only female prison are murderers, according to reports.

According to The Times of London, the convicted killersall born maleare currently being housed in the all-female jail estate.

The violent inmates are said to include Sophie Eastwood, formerly known as Daniel Eastwood, who strangled his cellmate at a young offenders institution in Dumfries in 2004.

Eastwoods sentence was later increased for an attack on a prison guard before deciding in 2018 to self-identify as a woman.

The killer is now said to identify as an infant and wants all meals blended like baby food, the newspaper reported.

The accommodation decision appears to be at odds with the Scottish Prison Services (SPS) own trauma-informed strategy (pdf), designed to ensure that living arrangements for women help to reduce fear and anxiety.

Action Urged

It is the latest twist in the countrys trans prison row which has seen campaigners take to the streets.

Last week, protesters gathered outside Holyrood to urge Scottish ministers against placing transgender criminals in female prisons.

Womens rights campaigners with For Women Scotland joined with reform group Keep Prisons Safe and chanted shame at the decision to place prisoners who have self-identified as female in Cornton Vale, Scotlands only all-female jail.

Speaking to The Epoch Times on Wednesday, Marion Calder, of For Women Scotland, said: The honest truth is that the general public care little of people in prisons but they care even less about women in prison.

Men could be in for any reason and people go, ah well. But a woman being in prison its almost like they deserve it.

With little to no understanding that women in prison will be in for all manner of different reasons, but normally very, very different to why males are.

Drugs, sex work, prostitution, all manner of things that can be combined, and normally a lot of shorter stayssix months rather than years.

Eighty percent have had head injuries, [are] victims of domestic violence, and have really quite complicated backgrounds.

And then you are moving a male into this place. And if youre a violent male, like these individuals are, you cant even get caught for half the crimes [like] domestic violence and other things.

How do we know they arent capable of carrying out violence against women?

Marion added: The Special Rapporteur from the United Nations, a specialist in torture, made her statements a few weeks back.

She was concerned that having males in a female estate is an aspect of torture, psychologically. She raised concerns and she was absolutely right. This should never have happened.

Echoing the campaigners comments, a spokesperson for the Scottish Feminist Network told The Epoch Times: This sort of story puts even more pressure on Scottish Prison Services, the Minister for Justice, and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to do something now.

In response to queries from The Epoch Times via email on Wednesday, an SPS spokesperson said it had a proven track record in safely managing complex and challenging individuals.

All trans men and trans women in our care are risk-assessed to ensure they are accommodated in a way which meets the rights and needs of the individual, as well as others in the establishment, the spokesperson added.

Where there are any concerns about any risks posed by an individual, either to themselves or others, we retain the ability to keep them separate from the mainstream population until an agreed management plan is in place.

A Scottish government spokesman also told The Epoch Times that management and accommodation of prisoners within the prison estate has been and will continue to be an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service.

Isla Bryson, 31, formerly known as Adam Graham, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, arrives at the High Court in Glasgow on Jan. 23, 2023. (PA Media)

Whitewash

On Feb. 9, the prison service reported (pdf) that double rapist Isla Bryson was not in contact with women while housed at HMP Cornton Vale.

The 31-year-old was convicted in January of raping two women, one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019.

Bryson committed the offences while known as Adam Graham. The court heard the rapist made the decision to identify as a woman at the age of 29.

After his conviction, it was revealed that Bryson was initially housed in an all-female prison before being moved to the male estate following the outcry.

The key findings of an urgent review ordered by Justice Secretary Keith Brown found that Bryson, who spent a day-and-a-half in the all-female facility near Stirling, was housed in a segregation unit and orders from the prison governor meant there was no contact with other prisoners.

Bryson would be moved to the male estate after outcry from the public and politicians, but the prison service review found at no time during this period were any women in SPS care at risk of harm as a consequence of the management of the individual.

Key findings and recommendations resulting from the review were published on Thursday, but SPS chief executive Teresa Medhurst said she believed it is not necessary to publish the report due to the level of personal information it contains.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross later urged Nicola Sturgeon to publish the review of the Bryson case in full.

However, Sturgeon pledged only to release the key findings.

Recommendations made by the review include improved communication within the justice sector and the creation of a shared justice process for the admission of transgender people into prisons.

A pause on the movement of transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate will continue until a wider review of the handling of transgender prisoners can be undertaken.

Scottish Tory community safety spokesman Russell Findlay described the publication as a whitewash summary, adding: We still have no idea why a double rapist was sent into a womens prison or what involvement SNP ministers had in his removal following the public backlash.

Given the widespread concern and anger, this report should have been published and in full, not just some woolly summary.

It is an affront to Brysons victims that the prison service is pandering to this rapists right as justification for their refusal to publish.

This is typical of SNP secrecy and raises more questions than answers. It is clear that this shoddy stunt is part of the ongoing exercise in damage limitation for Nicola Sturgeonnot a sincere attempt to learn lessons.

The Bryson case caused controversy amid a debate around self-ID and the Scottish Governments Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Act, which was blocked by the UK government in January.

PA contributed to this report.
Georgia Senate Approves Statue of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Over Democrats Opposition

Georgias state Senate passed legislation on Feb. 14 to erect a statue honoring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the state capitol in Atlanta, despite the impassioned objections of Democratic lawmakers.

Thomas, a black man, has long been a target of the left for his conservative, constitutionalist views and has been bitterly denounced by Democrats for years, often in offensive, racial terms.

Now 74, Thomas was born June 23, 1948, in Pin Point, Georgia. He was nominated by then-President George H.W. Bush and narrowly confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 1991 after a bruising confirmation battle whose intense, partisan tone helped to set the stage for todays often combative and highly choreographed Supreme Court confirmations.

Then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.) led the attack on Thomas in 1991, questioning his ideological suitability for the court and reopening the committee hearing after 11th-hour allegations emerged from Anita Hill, who claimed she was sexually harassed by the future justice when she worked for him at two federal agencies.

Thomas vehemently denied the allegations and criticized the confirmation process itself, describing it as a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you.

The Senate voted 5248 to confirm Thomas, who is now the longest-serving of the nine justices on the Supreme Court.

Thomas wrote the majority opinion in the courts landmark June 2022 ruling that recognized a constitutional right to carry a gun for protection outside the home. States such as New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois responded to the ruling by doubling down on firearms restrictions. Thomas also voted in the majority in the courts decision the same month overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the regulation of abortion to the states. Several states have outlawed abortions or imposed new restrictions on the procedure since then.

The GOP-controlled Georgia Senate approved Senate Bill 69 by 3220 in a party-line vote after Democrats withdrew a proposed amendment that would have also mandated a statue of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a Civil Rights Era activist who died in 2020. The Thomas monument would be paid for with private funds.

State Sen. Ben Watson, a Savannah Republican who is sponsoring the statue legislation, said Thomas has worked hard in his life, struggled, and overcome steep odds.

Thomas should inspire people, Watson told The Epoch Times in an interview.

His house burned, his dad left him, and he and his mother moved into the city of Savannah. [He was] reared by his maternal grandfather. And [he] loved to read, loved to study  went to Catholic school, the lawmaker said.

Hes someone that came from very humble beginnings and has just done fabulously, and I think that should inspire usthats what monuments and statues should do, Watson said.

Democratic lawmakers in the state said Thomas doesnt deserve to be honored, according to The Associated Press.

His service is problematic, Sen. Nan Orrock said. Theres a cloud over his service  and that cloud continues today.

Sen. Emanuel Jones, a black man, denounced Thomas as an Uncle Tom, saying the jurist is akin to someone who has sold his soul to the slave master.

Theres a whole laundry list of positions that Justice Thomas has taken that I find offensive, Jones said. Sometimes, when I talk to the majority party, I say, Yall just dont get it.

Conservative activist and scholar Tina Trent, a former candidate for District 26 of the Georgia House, told The Epoch Times she was frustrated that some lawmakers oppose honoring Thomas.

It saddens me that we cant all come together to honor the obstacles Justice Thomas overcame to reach the Supreme Court, she said in an interview. We should honor him as a great Georgian.

And as someone who was a constituent of Representative John Lewis for 20 years in south Atlanta, it angers me that Democratic legislators are literally toying with his legacy of fighting racism in the 60s just to try to disrespect Justice Thomas. I certainly didnt always agree with Representative Lewis, but he stood up to injustice as a young man, and he shouldnt be used as a pawn in some political game, Trent said.

The statue legislation now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives, which, like the state Senate, is dominated by Republicans.
Gov. DeWine, Ohio Protesters Agree That Reporters Arrest Should Never Have Occurred

A group of protesters gathered outside of the Columbiana County Courthouse in Lisbon, Ohio, on Feb. 14 in response to the arrest of a reporter covering a press conference on the Norfolk Southern train derailment aftermath. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

LISBON, OhioThe arrest of a NewsNation reporter covering Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines Feb. 8 press conference in East Palestine, Ohio, amid the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment and chemical spill was still in the public eye on Feb. 14.

While DeWine provided updates about the recovery in East Palestine during a press briefing in Columbus, Ohio, about a dozen protesters gathered outside of the Columbiana County Courthouse in Lisbon to stand up for our First Amendment rights and support Evan Lambert.

The group also called for the resignation of Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin and the termination of Chief Deputy Jen Tucker and East Palestine Detective Dan Haueter.

While representing NewsNation, Lambert was arrested after filming a live broadcast as DeWine addressed reporters about the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine of a Norfolk Southern Railway train carrying toxic chemicals.

Cleanup continues at the site of the Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Of the 50 freight cars, 10 contained hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate.

Rick Barron, who lives in Mahoning County north of Lisbon, was among the demonstrators holding a sign in front of the Columbiana County Courthouse.

Weve had a lack of transparency since the derailment happened, so its important that the media be here and be able to do their job without interference, Barron said.

What happened [with Lamberts arrest] is another example of the Constitution being trampled on, and we are out here because we should not stay silent.

The derailment occurred as a Norfolk Southern Railway train was traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania. East Palestine is a village of 4,761 people near the Pennsylvania state line in Columbiana County, Ohio.

After the freight cars veered off the tracks, a days-long fire erupted. Following the accident, emergency officials decided to release the gases from the derailed cars in a controlled burn to prevent a potential explosion, although the move released toxic fumes into the air.

At the time, DeWine implored East Liverpool, Ohio, residents to evacuate.

Matter of Life or Death

You need to leave. You just need to leave, DeWine said. This is a matter of life and death.

On Feb. 8, DeWine visited East Palestine and held his first press conference there since the derailment. Lambert was among the reporters in attendance, covering the announcement that the evacuation order had been lifted.

Standing in the back of the school gymnasium, Lambert was performing a live spot on the air and was accused of being loud.

Ohio National Guard Maj. Gen. John Harris and two Ohio State Highway Patrol officers attempted to stop Lamberts broadcast because he was loud, a statement from the East Palestine Police Department noted.

Ohio State Highway Patrol body camera footage shows that Harris pushed Lambert, prompting law enforcement officers to separate the men.

The footage shows that a heated discussion between Lambert and law enforcement officers ensued.

Harris felt threatened, police stated. The footage doesnt indicate what sparked the argument.

Haueter, the arresting officer, said in an affidavit that he, Tucker, McLaughlin, and Lt. Caleb Wycoff of the Columbiana County Sheriffs Office told Lambert that he must leave the gym.

Lambert refused and was then asked to depart by the building superintendent/transportation supervisor, according to the affidavit. Lambert was taken into custody for criminal trespassing. A resisting arrest charge was added when he allegedly pulled away.

That is when Lambert was put on the ground as the news camera rolled. Haueter and Tucker placed him in handcuffs and guided him away.

When he was asked to leave the premises, Lambert declined and said, Im doing my job thats covered by the First Amendment.

DeWine Backs Reporter

Upon learning of Lamberts arrest, DeWine publicly defended his right to perform his role as a member of the media. During his Feb. 14 press conference, he reiterated that viewpoint.

I have the same opinion that I had the first day, he said. It seems to me that everyone would be better off if the [Ohio] attorney general could see fit to  not proceed with any kind of prosecution.

Harris claimed that Lambert approached him in an aggressive manner and that he put his hands on Lamberts chest to keep him from bumping into me.

The incident should never have occurred in the first place and Lambert should not have been stopped from his live broadcast, DeWine said on Feb. 14.

DeWine noted that he spoke with Harris about the confrontation.

I think the general regrets that, DeWine said. I explained to him how press conferences work, and that, frankly, sometimes during a live press conference someone will be reporting directly.

They have a right to deliver the news however they want to deliver the news. He [Harris] regrets the whole situation.

He didnt disclose whether the Ohio National Guards leading adjutant general will face discipline.

Lambert was transported to the Columbiana County Jail, where he was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespassing before being released on a $750 bond around five hours later.

The Columbiana County Prosecutors office turned over the case to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts office.

Lambert, 34, is scheduled for arraignment on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest on Feb. 23 at 8:30 a.m. in the countys municipal court.

Must Appear in Person

Lamberts attorney, Frank Cassese, filed a written plea of not guilty and a waiver of the right to a speedy trial on Feb. 13. Lambert lives in Washington, and Cassese tried to waive his presence at the arraignment, but the request was denied. Lambert must appear in person for the arraignment.

The claims made by Adjutant Major General Harris that Mr. Lambert was aggressive and that Harris was  convinced he was prepared to do harm to me is patently false, Cassese said in a statement.

It is our position that the numerous videos of the incident, as recorded by bystanders, speak for themselves.

Jamie Kennedy, who lives in East Palestine, was among the demonstrators. She believes that the conduct of law enforcement officers at the scene was unacceptable.

I was out here in 2020 standing up against COVID mask mandates, and I stood up against vaccine mandates, Kennedy said.

This [Lamberts arrest] is another example of how our freedom is being taken away.

The reporter was just doing his job, and we shouldnt even have to be there because the arrest shouldnt have happened, but its important we stand up and speak out.
Growth of UK Cannabis Farms Has Seen Corresponding Rise in Violent Robberies, Say Experts

7 people have been killed in the last 5 years in cannabis burglaries

Seven people have been killed in the last five years in England and Wales in incidents linked to break-ins or attempted burglaries at houses or factories which have been converted into cannabis farms.

On top of that stark statistic, in May 2022 four Vietnamese nationals died in a fire in a disused mill in Oldham, near Manchester, which is believed to have been used to grow cannabis.

Grace Robinson, a criminologist and CEO of Black Box Research and Consultancy, said: Drug trafficking organisations have undoubtedly realised that growing cannabis in the UK is a more profitable and easier option than importing or smuggling it.

Robinson told The Epoch Times: Obviously due to the nature of the trade in illicit drugs, its difficult for growers and sellers to seek justice through legal means, leaving them vulnerable to theft and violence. Its often children and vulnerable adults responsible for maintaining cannabis farms therefore those robbing them are rarely deterred by their presence.

Last month Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said young illegal immigrants were being trafficked across the English Channel and employed in cannabis farms or in prostitution.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told House of Commons last month that of the 4,600 unaccompanied children who had been accommodated in hotels since July 2021, 200 children remain missing, 13 of whom are under 16 years of age, and only one of whom is female.

He said 176 of those 200 teenagers were Albanian nationals.

Undated image of 20-year-old Tomasz Waga (L) who was murdered by Josif Nushi (R) when he tried to rob a cannabis farm in Cardiff, Wales on Jan. 28, 2021. (South Wales Police)

Cooper said nobody was properly investigating the links between illegal immigration and organised crime like cannabis farming.

She told the BBC: Theres no targeted unit going after them and saying Look, this is a pattern, where young people are being trafficked across the Channel and then into cannabis farms or into prostitution in some of the worst cases  being picked up from outside these hotels.

In June 2021 two Albanians Andi Cani, 24, and Adrian Lleshaj, 29, and a Vietnamese Ca Van Vu, 31, were jailed for between 28 months and 40 months after they turned a former nightclub in Coventry into a cannabis factory.

The National Crime Agency said the illegal enterprise, which had 1,500 cannabis plants worth 1 million on three floors of the building, was the largest and most sophisticated cannabis factory it had ever come across.

Rob Barker, the campaign and communications lead at Barod, a substance misuse treatment provider in south Wales, said cannabis farmssometimes known as growswere very easy to start up and needed minimal training.

Very Easy to Set Up Cannabis Farm

Barker told The Epoch Times: It is very easy to do and its very easy to get the cannabis seeds online.

But he said: What a lot of people probably dont realise is that the actual cannabis market is quite a violent one and probably one that has a lot of dark, hidden secrets to it.

Theres a lot of human trafficking involved in cannabis production. We get a lot of individuals for example, you know, coming from various parts of Asia to be trafficked through the UK to help with the production of cannabis farms and then obviously, those individuals are for example, those people who are obviously, potentially are at risk of being caught or even potentially being at risk of a victim of violent crime, added Barker.

In December 2021, Xhovan Pepaj, a 25-year-old Albanian national, was stabbed to death while minding a cannabis factory in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Eleven people, aged from 17 to 51, have been charged with his murder and the first of two murder trials is currently under way in a new super court in Loughborough in the Midlands.

Barker told The Epoch Times: These kind of farms are born out of prohibition. Now, thats not to say that if we legalise cannabis, that these would all be eradicated. We would still have kind of cannabis mass production, wed still have ultimately a black cannabis market. We have a black alcohol market. We have a black market in cigarettes.

Robinson said: Legalising cannabis could help to reduce the violence associated with the black market by bringing the drug into a regulated and controlled environment. It could also provide a safe and legal source of cannabis, which might reduce the incentives for people to engage in illegal and dangerous activities, such as violent farm robberies.

Substance Abuse Rising During Cost-of-Living Crisis

Barker said there had been a big increase in alcohol and drug consumption since the pandemic started and he said: What were seeing now, in terms of the cost of living crisis, is were seeing people come into our service saying their substance use has either started, or its been exacerbated  because theyre experiencing a significant amount of stress and anxiety in terms of whether they can afford their bills over the next few months.

He said there was also anecdotal evidence of people who were unemployed or on low incomes dealing drugs to make ends meet.

Since 2018 there have been 11 deaths that appear to have been linked to cannabis farming.

In March 2018 Jack Williams was murdered when a group led by heroin addict and convicted killer Jonny Donne burst into his home in Swansea, where he had a small-scale cannabis grow. Donne was later jailed for life.

In February 2020 Khuzaimah Douglas tried to burgle a cannabis farm in Brierley Hill, near Birmingham, run by Saghawat Ramzan and his family. Ramzan fired a crossbow, killing Douglas as well as his own brother Waseem. He was later jailed for life.

In July 2020 Skender Ismaili was killed during a cannabis factory burglary in Enfield, north London. A man was convicted of manslaughter.

In January 2021 Tomasz Waga, 20, was part of a gang from London who tried to burgle a cannabis farm in Cardiff. Last month two Albanians, Josif Nushi, 27, and Mihal Dhana, 29, were jailed for life for his murder.

Renato Geci, who had been guarding a cannabis grow in Hounslow, west London, was murdered in March 2021. Shaddai Smith, 32, and Jason Sebran, 38, were jailed for life last year.

Then in October 2021 a gang from Sheffield travelled to Birmingham to burgle a cannabis factory. A shotgun was fired but miraculously nobody was killed.

In December 2021 Xhovan Pepaj was stabbed during a cannabis farm burglary in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Four Vietnamese nationals died in a fire at Bismark House Mill, a derelict mill in Oldham, Greater Manchester in May 2021. It is understood the mill may have been converted to a cannabis farm at the time.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the National Police Chiefs Council and the Home Office but has not had a response.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that the opioid reversal nasal spray Narcan should become an over-the-counter drug.

Narcan, or naxolone, is the most commonly sold medication to deal with opioid overdoses. Emergent BioSolutions Inc. submitted an application to the FDA late last year to allow it to sell generic naloxone hydrochloride without a prescription.

There is no reason to keep this as a prescription, lets get it out there and save some lives, said Elizabeth Coykendall, a paramedic and temporary voting member of the FDA committee, in the panel meeting on Wednesday.

The FDA panels vote Wednesday is a recommendation. The drug regulator will have to make the final call on approving Narcan for over-the-counter use in the coming days or weeks.

An FDA official said that Narcan appears to have minimal risks. Other speakers, meanwhile, noted that opioid drug overdoses have skyrocketed in the United States in recent years, namely due to the synthetic drug fentanyl.

The safety of Narcan nasal spray has been very well established. There appear to be very minimal risks, if any, in terms of unintended effects or unintended serious effects that are worse than the alternative of not treating a patient, said Maria Coyle, chairwoman of the FDAs Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee. We, as a committee, appear to be in support of the safety profile.

Approving the over-the-counter use of naloxone could allow the spray to be distributed to big-box stores and vending machines, said the FDA (pdf) in a report.

If it becomes a nonprescription produce, Narcan may be sold at many venues besides pharmacies, such as vending machines, convenience stores, supermarkets, [and] big box stores, the report said.

Over seven years of having marketed this product, we know that this product is very easy to use. It is being used by a variety of community groups, including lay individuals. It is a single four milligram dose that is safe and effective, Manish Vyas of Emergent BioSolutions told the panel.

Fentanyl test strips in a container and Narcan at The Legionnaire bar in Oakland, Calif., on March 3, 2022. (Nathan Frandino/Reuters)

All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have laws that allow Narcan to be sold without a prescription at a pharmacy. But it still has to be bought via a pharmacist, according to a CNN analysis.

According to the updated data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the year ending in August 2022, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in about two-thirds of overdose deaths in the country. Over 107,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose, it said.

However, there has been at least one study, dated in 2018, that suggests Narcan increased reckless opioid usage, emergency room visits, and theft while doing little to curb mortality.

Broad naloxone access doesnt seem to be helping and might be making things worse, University of Virginia researcher Jennifer Doleac told CNBC at the time after laws were passed in some states to make it more readily available. We dont have clear answers yet. Thats one of the depressing parts of working on this topic.

Their paper examined data from 2006 to 2015 and found that after laws made naloxone easier to access, opioid-related emergency room visits and crimes increased. They found that opioid-related deaths increased by 14 percent in Midwest states.

But when their study was published, some researchers said it had critical flaws.

Given the substantial change in the riskiness of the drug supply, I think the overdose death numbers would have been been substantially higher had we not deployed naloxone to the extent we did, Chris Jones, the director of the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory, told Stat News at the time.
Is it merely a coincidence that COVID-19 and aging are both accompanied by cognitive decline? Could COVID-19 alone cause aging? Do aging and COVID-19 combine to make cognitive function worse, or do they impair cognitive function separately? What can we do to prevent cognitive decline? This paper will examine these questions.

Summary of Key Facts

COVID-19 accelerates brain aging and increases the risk of dementia even after two years in severe cases.

Researchers found common ground at the genetic level for both COVID-19 and aging.

Meditation can help preserve brain function and volume at the genetic level.

COVID-19 Accelerates Brain Aging and Increases Risks of Dementia

A large-scale UK study published in Lancet Psychiatry analyzed a two-year retrospective cohort including 1,284,437 patients. It revealed that the risk of dementia was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than in the control group. Moreover, this risk remained higher even two years after recovery.

Risk of dementia increases even after two years in COVID-19 patients. (Lancet Psychiatry)

Another UK study evaluated the cognitive function of 46 patients with severe COVID-19 infection.

These patients had a significant decline in attention, complex problem-solving skills, and memory. Their cognitive deficits were equivalent to aging by two decades and losing 10 IQ points.

Profile of cognitive deficits after severe COVID-19 similar to more than two decades of age-related decline. (eClinical Medicine)

How COVID-19 Accelerates Aging

Research in Europe investigated the correlation between COVID-19 infection and aging. The authors compared the brain images in seven hospitalized patients in the acute phase, one month later, and six months after COVID-19 onset.

During the acute phase, all seven patients presented severe cognitive dysfunction and prominent low metabolism condition in the frontal cortex.

After one and six months of recovery, though symptoms improved in seven patients, they still reported abnormal cognitive function. Their brain images displayed lower metabolism status in the frontal cortex area.

The long-term changes in brain structure and function suggested that COVID-19 infection might be responsible for persistent cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

Molecular-level Explanation of Aging

Scientists have discovered that our internal epigenetic clock controls human experiences of birth, aging, illness, and death. It is similar to the observation that everything in our universe has its cycle of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction.

Cells become senescent as we age. That means they stop dividing and enter a stasis. Instead of dying off as they usually would, they persist but change shape and size and secrete inflammatory molecules that cause other nearby cells to become senescent.

In an article published in Nature Reviews Genetics, Steve Horvath, a professor of human genetics and biostatistician at the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, concluded that as people age and have more senescent cells, there are characteristic changes in the methylation status of human DNA. DNA methylation could regulate the gene expression level.

Genes are like seeds lying dormant in the soil. Some will grow, but some will not. The switches, including methylation switches, determine whether these seeds will succeed.

Aging Genes Regulated in COVID-19 Patients

Recent research by Maria Mavrikaki at Harvard Medical School has found convincing evidence that COVID-19 is causing brain aging at the gene level.

Researchers performed a complete gene sequencing analysis in 54 postmortem brain samples. Results showed striking similarities in gene expression patterns between COVID-19 samples and naturally aged controls.

It demonstrated that those genes up-regulated in aging were also up-regulated in severe COVID-19 infection; likewise, other genes down-regulated in aging were also down-regulated in severe COVID-19.

To further validate the results, the researchers collated gene-wide datasets from five independent aging cohort studies and confirmed this association.

Mavrikakis research showed that the cognitive deficits reported in COVID-19 patients might result from aging-associated changes in brain structure and gene expression.

Genes expression in five independent aging cohorts was associated with that in COVID-19 cases.

Meditation Can Preserve Brain Function and Volume

The work by Mavrikaki is preliminary but informative. It could guide treatment for people who have lingering cognitive difficulties after COVID-19.

Research in 2014 analyzing a large sample (n = 100) of long-term meditators and control subjects aged between 24 and 77 years revealed that meditation could preserve brain volume.

A 2017 study suggests long-term meditation could reduce age-associated structural and functional brain changes. For example, researchers found increased gray matter volume and brain glucose metabolism markers in elderly expert meditators compared to controls.

A 2020 review summarized 25 published studies on mindfulness meditation and confirmed the effects of mindfulness meditation on increasing brain size, based on brain imaging studies and cognitive function assessment.

Meditation Can Slow the Aging Process at the Gene Expression Level

Furthermore, meditation could influence the expression level of genes.

As reported previously, a study focused on subjects practicing mindfulness and compassion meditation revealed that the aging rate measured at the genetic level in meditators significantly decreased.

Meditation could slow down aging acceleration. (Psychoneuroendocrinology)

In a follow-up study, the same researchers showed that even short meditation breaks could affect the methylation level of genes associated with immune response, metabolism, and aging.

Aging and COVID-19 share the same types of intracellular pathways related to glucose metabolism, neuronal communication, and inflammation. Because the same types of pathways are also regulated by meditation, practicing meditation can have a profound, positive effect on your health.

One key feature of epigenetic information is its potential reversibility.

In the studies above, the aging rate in meditators significantly decreased. Meditation every day has the potential benefits to slow down the aging process and reverse COVID-19 disease at genetic levels.

Conclusion

Aging and severe COVID-19 have epigenetic-level connections.

Meditation practice can target the gene expression involved in both aging and COVID-19. Accordingly, meditation can prevent or reverse COVID-19-induced dementia, cognitive decline, and COVID-19-induced aging. Even for people who have not experienced COVID-19 infection, meditation has many benefits, including slowing the process of cognitive decline.
New medical diagnosis codes for COVID-19 immunization status have been added in the United States.

One code is for being unvaccinated for COVID-19.

That code may be assigned when the patient has not received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which implemented the new codes in 2022, states in a document outlining the codes.

Another code is for being partially vaccinated or having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but not having received enough doses to meet the CDCs definition of fully vaccinated.

The goal of the codes is to track people who are not immunized or only partially immunized, according to the CDC.

Experts say the codes dont fit with the International Classification of Diseases, which has diagnoses for diseases and other reasons for health care visits.

Theyre treating nonvaccination as if this is a hazardous exposure that therefore merits being recorded as a medical exposure, Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times. Thats never been done, to my knowledge.

The CDC did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Proposal

The CDC proposed adding the codes to the international classification in September 2021.

People have now been having immunizations for a number of months, and these provide protection for people who are immunized, but there has been interest expressed in being able to track people who are not immunized or who are only partially immunized, Dr. David Berglund, a CDC medical officer, said during a meeting about the proposal.

At the current time, there can be considered to be a significant modifiable risk factor for morbidity and for mortality, and it can be of interest for clinical reasons, as well as being of value for public health reasons, to be able to track this.

COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates are higher among the unvaccinated, according to data published by the CDC. The data do not take into account key factors such as age or prior infection, and other figures show the vaccinated being hospitalized or dying at higher rates in some states.

The proposal was backed by meeting participants during the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting.

I definitely think we would support this, Kristin Balint, a supervisor at Trinity Health, said. We are currently seeing physicians documenting unimmunized for COVID-19 in our records.

Jeanne Yoder, representing the Defense Health Agency, envisioned adding additional codes later to indicate if a person was not vaccinated against each successive variant.

The organizations of the people who backed the proposal either did not respond to requests for comment or declined inquiries.

Codes Added

Three codes were added to the classification system on April 1, 2022.

Z28.310 is for being unvaccinated. Z28.311 is for being partially vaccinated. Z28.39 is for other underimmunization status. All fell under a new sub-sub category, Underimmunization for COVID-19 status.

The codes are grouped with already-existing codes related to vaccination. They include immunization not carried out because of patient refusal.

Another code introduced during the pandemic is for counseling related to immunization safety.

I think it would be a good idea to be able to indicate that, for whatever reason, the vaccine was refused, Valeria Bica, a clinical documentation specialist at Nemours AI duPont Hospital for Children, said during the meeting that featured the code proposals.

I know that we track that for families where theyve refused to vaccinate their children, for one reason or another. And certainly weve tried to re-educate and to keep trying to find opportunities to give the vaccines.

The ICD was originally developed by the World Health Organization. U.S. authorities have their own version of the system. The COVID-19 immunization codes are not listed in the World Health Organizations ICD.

All health care entities operating in the United States and covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act must use the U.S. version of the ICD. Coded ICD data from providers enable public health officials to conduct many disease-related activities, according to the CDC. The U.S. version is updated at least once a year.

The codes have multiple purposes. They let health care providers create a medical record, which can be used by future practitioners who take care of the patient. The system also facilitates billing.

An image from the CDC shows new codes for COVID-19 immunization status. (CDC via The Epoch Times)

Privacy Concerns

Dr. Robert Malone, who first highlighted the codes on his Substack blog, said the new codes were concerning in light of how not being vaccinated has been used during the pandemic to deny patients health care services, such as organ transplants.

That information will end up in the hands of insurers, who will use it to make decisions about what youre going to have to pay for your insurance policy, whether or not youre going to be qualified, Malone said.

Risch said the information could be used to perform analyses on groups of deidentified data but questioned whether it would remain deidentified.

Given how little we trust government agencies at this point and how stigmatizing, potentially stigmatizing this information is on individuals, nobody would rightly trust them to stay in their lane about using this in grouped information as opposed to individual, Risch said. Whats to stop the government from sharing this individual information with other agencies? With the FBI? With IRS? They say, We dont do that, and we say, We dont believe you.

And if they did it, what recourse would there ever be?

Irrelevant

The CDC in 2022 changed course and advised in COVID-19 guidelines that people were not to be treated differently on the basis of vaccination status because breakthrough infections occur. Breakthrough infections are infections that happen despite vaccination. The COVID-19 vaccines provide little to no protection against infection and transmission.

If any codes related to vaccine status were introduced, they should show whether a person was fully vaccinated, because some of those people end up with vaccine injuries, Risch said.

Dr. Todd Porter, a pediatrician in Illinois, said that he uses the long-existing code for refusal to immunize only if a parent declines to get their children all the childhood vaccines. He also questioned the introduction of the new codes.

I have a hard time clinically seeing the medical indication of using them, Porter told The Epoch Times in an email.

He noted that theres no code for refusal to get the vaccine for influenza, which is deadlier for children than COVID-19.

Using these codes also disregards the contribution of natural immunity, which research evidence shows is more robust than vaccine immunity, Porter said. Because of the lack of protection against transmission and infectivity, and the lack of data showing protection against severe disease in children, an individuals vaccination status would be irrelevant, he added.
Hong Kong 47 Trial: Prosecutions Opening Statements Riddled With Errors

Prosecutor Translates CCP Dictatorship to Directorship

A group of 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists arrested in January 2021 and charged withconspiracy to subvert state power for their alleged involvement in organizing and participating in an unofficial primary election are on trial. The third day of the trial resumed for 16 defendants who pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court (acting ad interim for the High Court) on Feb. 8. The prosecution continued its opening statement with repeated errors, prompting the judge to ask for corrections.

The prosecution continued to read out the roles of each defendant in the primary election for the Legislative Council (LegCo) in court on Feb. 8.

Michael Pang Cheuk-kei

The prosecution mentioned Michael Pang Cheuk-kei, Southern District Councilor (DC), who took part in the primary election of Hong Kong Island pro-democratic DC.

In June 2020, at an election forum, Pang said that he would fight on the street, the LegCo, and the international fronts, and we had the common enemy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and we would join the LegCo to fight physically, paralyze the government, veto the budget, and support the street front with our positions as legislators.

After Pang was arrested, the police found his promotional leaflet at his office, in which he admitted that he would execute his veto rights in the LegCo, veto all motions, and use his status as a DC to support the street front. Moreover, he denounced the police as executioners of totalitarianism, urged to reform the police force, and reinstated the ultimate goal of the primary election to achieve 35+ (get over 35 seats in the LegCo election to gain full control of the LegCo) and mutual destruction, forcing the government to respond to the five demands (to withdraw the extradition bill; to stop labeling protesters as rioters; to drop charges against protesters; to conduct an independent inquiry into police behavior; to implement free elections for a chief executive.).

The defense questioned the prosecutions English translation of Veto the Budget indiscriminately as the sentence did not convey the meaning of indiscriminately in Chinese. The prosecution said it would be amended.

Helena Wong Pik-wan

In addition, the prosecution mentioned Helena Wong Pik-wan, a Kowloon West DC and Democratic Party member, who joined the primary election of Kowloon West DC.

The prosecution pointed out the slogan on her promotional leaflet, Resist the Dictatorship, Embrace the Freedom, and her promotion of implementing five demands, combating police brutality, reforming the police force, etc.

In the election forum in June 2020, Wong said, we will use all our constitutional powers and means to fight for the five demands, and if vetoing the budget can make it happen, we will do it.

After Wongs arrest, police found primary election materials in her office. In an article written by Wong titled a platform is necessary for a fight, she emphasized the importance of 35+ and the LegCo front; if we retreat from the LegCo front easily, all the three fronts will be lost. Therefore, a place to fight is necessary for fighting with the authoritarian government.

The prosecution said that Wong had described the CCP as a dictatorship party at the meeting in Chinese. However, the prosecution translated it into directorship in English, which was immediately corrected by High Court Judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai, its a dictatorship, not directorship.

Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying

The prosecution also mentioned Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying, the chairman of Wan Chai DC and former Tai Hang DC member, who ran for Hong Kong Island District in the primary election.

Her campaign leaflet clearly stated: Five demands, (occupy) half of the (Legislative) Council is our common aspiration in future.

In June 2020, Yeung said at the primary election forum of Hong Kong Island that even though the National Security Law (NSL) would be implemented, she still called the public to vote; in July of the same year, she said at a press conference, I think everyone who is running in this election is carrying a very big responsibility, and they are all paying a higher price than before to make this decision to participate in the run.

The NSL is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong, enacted under the CCPs decision on Hong Kongs national security legislation. As described by the Center For Asian Law, the NSL constitutes one of the greatest threats to human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.

Cheng Tat-hung

The prosecution read out the charges against Cheng Tat-hung, a member of Eastern DC and the Civic Party, who ran in the primary election for Hong Kong Island.

He said in March 2020 that he would support the primary election and pledge to veto all of the governments budget. He believed it was important to fight for majority control of the LegCo. In June of the same year, he attended a primary election forum on Hong Kong Island and said he would fight on the LegCo front, If we get 35+, we will be able to reform the system fundamentally, and this is the best way to restore the rule of law. Cheng also said that even though he was living in the shadow of the NSL, he had been lobbying for a lifeboat plan in the European Parliament on behalf of the Civic Party.

The court showed a clip of the Civic Party promoting the primary election in July, in which Cheng said, the upcoming primary election is very important, we need different fronts to fight against totalitarianism, and we cant give up this front in the LegCo. He urged the voters to vote, and he finally won the primary election and applied for the LegCo election but was then disqualified.

Ho Kai-ming

Like Cheng, the prosecution mentioned Ho Kai-ming, Sham Shui Po DC member and Vice Chairman of ADPL, who ran in the primary election for Kowloon West.

The prosecution read out Hos statement that he claimed the common goal of the primary election was to unite the democratic camp and the generations to fight against tyranny, and the Hong Kongers wanted to see the democratic camp united to enter the LegCo to achieve the goal of the 35+ project.

After winning the primary election, Ho announced his candidacy for the LegCo in a Facebook post, promising to defy the LegCo and the government. He described the police force as a criminal gang and said he would not allow the police force to receive any public funding.

Sze Tak-loyi

Sze Tak-loyi, a Wong Tai Sin DC member and the chairman of ADPL, ran for the Kowloon East District in the primary election.

The prosecution quoted Sze as saying in the June primary election forum, when we enter the LegCo, we all want to veto the budget, we all want to veto all the governments motions and fight with agonist this government til the end because the one who truly wanted to burn with Hong Kong is Carrie Lam (the Chief Executive of Hong Kong) and the CCP. Therefore, we, the Hongkongers, must fight til the end.

After Szes arrest, the police found her promotional leaflet while searching her house. In the leaflet, she claimed she would actively promote the primary election and veto the budget indiscriminately. The prosecution read out the contents and pointed out that the word indiscriminate was also misplaced here.
Hong Kong Government Adds National Security Law Clause to Land Sales and Leases

Violation will result in termination of contract

An extra clause of the National Security Law was included in the land sales and lease contracts by the Lands Department of Hong Kong.

The terms explicitly state that the Hong Kong government holds the right to disqualify any bidding on national security grounds and terminate any short-term lease concerning national security. The Lands Department applied the new legal terms to all land sales and short-term lease bidding documents.

In response to The Epoch Times inquiries, the Development Bureau revealed that the Governments Material Supply and Procurement Regulations were updated on Aug. 29, 2022, with the addition of relevant requirements for maintaining the National Security Law. The principles apply to all types and forms of government procurement.

Political scholars analyzed that the additional national security terms to land sales and leases would increase investment risks and negatively impact the Hong Kong market. They also criticized the Hong Kong government for making such a decision based on nothing but bowing down and showing its loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Current affairs commentators speculated that the relevant terms were directed at foreign developers and funds.

Cases with New Clause

According to Lands Department data, the added national security terms and conditions had already taken effect on the sale records of land sites 4, 5B, and 10 in Kai Tak 2A District, which was up for bidding on Nov. 4, 2022.

In the tendered short-term leasing agreement of Chong Fu Road in Chai Wan, the government clarified that it could disqualify whoever believed to have violated or acted in ways that may lead to or constitute crimes against national security, even after the bidding is over. If it believes the winning bidder is involved in acts that endanger national security or undermine national security interests, the winning bid will be terminated.

The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) lease was initially scheduled to expire in January 2023 but was granted a renewal on Nov. 30, 2022, by the government. The FCC revealed that the new leasing contract would allow the government to terminate its tenancy at any time with a three months notice. And if FCC is involved in anything that may jeopardize national security, the government can terminate its lease immediately.

Impact on Foreign Investors

Politics and economy commentator Simon Lee Sai-man analyzed the situation on an online program on Feb. 13. He said the incident occurred in November 2022 but was not discovered and reported until recently. The delay reflected that the government wanted to manage the change as quietly as possible and not attract public attention.

Lee believed that the new national security clause would not target local or Chinese real estate developers as they would not fight against the government.

He said that all foreign funds would reconsider investing long-term in the Hong Kong real estate market. In recent years, other than Singaporean companies Maple Tree and CapitaLand, no additional foreign funds have been invested in real estate in Hong Kong.

Although Singapores funds are safe from the accusation of threatening national security, it is difficult to predict whether it will become a target of Beijing in five to ten years for being too distant from the regime.

National Security Law

Since the implementation of the National Security Law on June 30, 2020, many government departments have added national security elements to the provisions of financing funds or organizing activities.

In September 2021, the Social Welfare Department required government-funded but nongovernmental organizations to obey the law and form policies and procedures to ensure their service units and employees abide by the law.

In October 2022, Hong Kong Public Libraries included the national security clause in the applications for the annual Chinese Poetry Writing Competition and the World Book Day Creative Competition. The clause states that competition entries cannot violate the National Security Law or deem detrimental to national security.

In December 2022, the Home Affairs Department listed the new clause in the regional care teams application form. The applicant group must sign a statement guaranteeing that its employees, members, volunteers, and all other related persons have never engaged or will never be involved in any violation of the National Security Law.

The applicants must also declare whether they have contacted foreign or Taiwanese political organizations and have held or organized any activities related to national conditions.
House Lawmaker Shares Updates on Objects Shot Down After Briefing From Military Officials

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Feb. 13 said he will continue pushing for transparency after being briefed by senior military officials over aerial objects being shot down recently.

Everyone wants answers on the objects flying over the United States. Today Members of Congress finally got more info from senior military officials, Crenshaw wrote on Twitter after the briefing. We knew exactly what the China spy balloon was, and immediate steps were taken to stop its data from being sent to China.

The U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, but not before it crossed the continental United States for days. Since then, U.S. fighter jets have shot down three more objectsone over Alaska on Feb. 10, another over Canadas Yukon territory on Feb. 11, and one over Michigans Lake Huron on Feb. 12.

We still dont know what these other 3 objects were. Were calling them unidentified aerial phenomenons (UAPs), Crenshaw added, adding that the UAPs were in Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) commercial zones and had no signals or navigation lights.

The first two UAPs were smaller, the size of an ATV [all-terrian vehicle], and harder to detect. The third resembled a balloon, and was easier for the radar to pick up. All moved with wind currents, Crenshaw added.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters)

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who served in Afghanistan, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

As for the question of why these objects are being detected in the sky, Crenshaw said there has been heightened surveillance, meaning that more objects are being tracked. The three UAPs posed a danger to commercial aircraft, and so they were shot down, he added.

In comparison, the Texas lawmaker said the Chinese balloon was above 60,000 feet and posed no threat to civilian aircraft.

Newer technology has allowed for more detection in recent years, he added. UAPs werent detected before because our radars were not adjusted for slow-moving objects.

Theres obviously still a lot we dont know. Im going to continue pushing for transparency, so Americans know whats going on in the skies above their country.

Biden Administration

Separately, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, said on Tuesday that the three objects shot down in North American airspace could be commercial balloons.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, Kirby said, before adding that these objects were not tied to spying efforts.

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.

Tough weather conditions had hampered debris recovery, Kirby said, adding that it could be some time before we located the recovered debris.

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, Kirby said.

National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House on Aug. 1, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

There has been some progress in the U.S. militarys effort to recover debris from the Chinese balloon. On Monday, the U.S. Northern Command said that the balloons critical electronics had been recovered.

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 Northern Command said.

Also on Tuesday, six Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee, led by Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), sent a letter to Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The six GOPs wanted VanHerck and Mayorkas to brief the committee in a classified setting before March 10, over recent and past incursions of U.S. airspace by Chinese balloons.

Given the pertinent homeland equities involved in the Chinese surveillance balloon incident, it is unacceptable that we learned about these incidents through news reports, the group wrote.

Congress deserves candid answers as to why these incursions have taken place and understand the steps the Executive Branch is taking to mitigate these threats in the future.

Resolution

Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair and vice chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, introduced a resolution (pdf) on Tuesday condemning Chinas use of the spy balloon.

I will continue to take on anyone to get answers for the American people about this unacceptable provocation, and to make sure China fails in their effort to replace us as the worlds leading superpower, Tester said in a statement about the resolution.

Chinas deployment of a spy balloon to surveil some of our most sensitive military assets was a brazen act, Collins said. The fact that the military was able to act so quickly to shoot down several subsequent objects raises very serious questions about why the Administration did not act quickly on the first one.

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The resolution also calls on President Joe Biden to keep Congress fully informed by continuing to provide comprehensive briefings on the balloon incident, as well as past incidents.

Before being shot down, the balloon flew near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, hovered near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and came close to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Biden has come under GOP criticism over allowing the balloon to transit the nation. However, Biden fended off his critics on Feb. 9 when he said he didnt consider the incident to be a major breach, adding that shooting the balloon over land could pose a risk to people on the ground.

Another Senate resolution (S.Res.49), introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Feb. 9, is also critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the spy balloon. His resolution calls upon Biden to be transparent with the American people and Congress about the incident and all other CCP surveillance attempts.

The House of Representatives has already passed a resolution condemning the CCP. On Feb. 9, the House resolution passed on a 419-0 vote.
While land conservation agreements are happening across the commonwealth, theyre especially prevalent in Albemarle.

Eleven Albemarle County properties totaling roughly 1,715 acres were put under protection last year, according to a statement from the nonprofit Piedmont Environmental Council. As a result, the council said that Albemarle now contains more land under conservation easements than any other locality in Virginia.

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement between landowners and conservation groups that restrict a lands use. Virginia allows an income tax credit for 40% of the value of donated land or conservation easements under the Land Preservation Tax Credit program enabled by the Virginia Land Conservation Incentives Act.

A total of 6,651 acres of land were protected last year in the counties of Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loundoun, Orange and Rappahannock.

Albemarle conservation easements make up about 111,305 of 439,782 protected acres in the Piedmont Environmental Councils region.

This success is the direct result of decades of effort on the part of conservation organizations in the region, and particularly the Countys own land conservation programs, which have intentionally made conservation an option for landowners of all income levels, said Kim Biasiolli, senior conservation field representative for the Piedmont Environmental Council, in a statement. Right now we have this opportunity through the Comprehensive Plan update, during which community members have the chance to reflect on the value of natural lands and recognize the importance of these programs.
Mr. Park Young-taek, the president of the Donghak Cultural Foundation, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Lee You-jung/The Epoch Times)

SEOUL, South KoreaThe dances are magnificent. The music is so beautiful. Oh, I was deeply touched by Shen Yun, said Mr. Park Young-taek, the president of the Donghak Cultural Foundation, after attending Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul on Feb. 15.

I love many, many things of Shen Yun very much, he said. The dances are fantastic. The dancers have excellent skills and techniques, especially their facial expressions and eye contact that perfectly matched their movements. I felt that they are very honest and very captivating.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese dance company, and has a mission to show the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

Mr. Park was excited about his experience seeing Shen Yun, and even his eyes were smiling as he recounted the performance.

The live orchestra is great. It perfectly combines Western instruments and Eastern instruments. The melodies are very pleasant, he added.

Mr. Park was surprised when he first saw Shen Yuns dynamic backdrop.

The backdrops footages are three-dimensional. The dancers traveled back and forth between the backdrop and the stage, which is very exciting, he said.

Mr. Park said he understood the profound meanings that Shen Yun delivered, which were the traditional Chinese culture and values.

Only using dances, Shen Yun expressed the traditional values. Its enchanting, and our theatergoers were mesmerized by it, he said. Its very encouraging to broadcast the Chinese culture in this way.

Just having watched the performance, Mr. Park said he couldnt wait to attend the next years performance.

Every year, Shen Yun puts on an all-new production, including new choreography, music, costumes, and backdrop sets.

I Felt I Was Blessed

Mr. Kim Young-soo, electronic engineering professor at Kyung Hee University, said: Shen Yun is very beautiful. It made people happy. I felt that I was blessed.

Mr. Kim was impressed by many things he saw in Shen Yun, such as feeling as if hed entered the stories that Shen Yun presented, and experienced and witnessed the scenes by himself.

The colors and illuminations are very impressive. I had never seen the colors of the costumes, backdrops, and stage. They are very unique, he said. The live orchestra is also very special. Its an orchestra, but plays Chinese melodies. I really enjoyed it. The music made me felt very relaxed, comfortable, and happy.

Mr. Kim said he understood the dances, loved the costumes, and was surprised by the excellent choreography and other designs.

It was so real when I saw the dancers jump on stage but then enter the backdrop. The feeling is so special, which is very impressive, he said. The story-based dances are very interesting.

Mr. Kim said he understood better about the feeling of inspiration via Shen Yun.

A lot of thoughts and ideas popped into my brain when I was watching the show. I think this is the real inspiration, he said. I felt compassion. I was inspired.

Each Shen Yun performance consists of nearly 20 vignettes, presented through highly-expressive art forms such as classical Chinese dance, original orchestral music performed live, soloists who sing in the bel canto tradition, animated digital backdrops, and more.

Mr. Kim Young-soo, the electronic engineering professor at Kyung Hee University, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Kim Guk-hwan/The Epoch Times)

Shen Yun Is Admirable

Mr. Nam Kiyoung, the CEO of Uam Construction, expressed his admiration after attending the show.

The female dancers are like heavenly maidens. They danced very elegantly. They were expressive in every detail, he said. The male dancers are masculine and valiant.

Mr. Nam was surprised that although the Shen Yun artists look very young, their were supremely skilled.

The coordination of Shen Yun is outstanding! he said. You can see it from how the backdrop played exactly the milliseconds it took when the dancers interacted with it.

Mr. Nam enjoyed the music, which he said resonated with his heart and made him happy.

The music is very beautiful and entertaining. It sounds like classical court music, which I feel pretty well matches our Korean style, he said with a big smile.

Mr. Nam said all his emotions were satisfied by Shen Yun, and even his brain was enriched by it.

I learned the deep meanings of Chinese traditional culture. These are very cherished values for all us human beings, he said. Shen Yun is admirable.

For 5,000 years Chinas civilization was built on values and virtues from the spiritual teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, virtues like loyalty, propriety, wisdom, justice, and benevolencevalues that are universal and shared the world over.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Seoul, South Korea.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Idris Elba on James Bond: Im Not Going to Be That Guy

DUBAI, United Arab EmiratesActor Idris Elba says hes going to stick with being the tormented detective John Luthernot 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.

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.

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.

British actor Idris Elba talks during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)

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.

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 Jon Gambrell
Israel Extends COVID-19 Special Powers Law Until February 2024

Uriel Buso, chairman of the health committee of the Israeli Knesset at a meeting to discuss special powers to deal with COVID-19 in Jerusalem on Feb. 6 2023. (Dani Shem Tov / Knesset)

Israels Parliament has approved an extension of special powers for the Ministry of Health (MoH) to deal with COVID-19 for one more year until Feb. 15, 2024.

The parliament, known as the Knesset, passed a new law that extends the ability of the government to impose restrictions on the public for another year.

The Plenum of the Knesset approved in second and third reading the bill for special powers to deal with the new coronavirus (temporary provision), Yakutiel Safri, a spokesperson for the Knesset, said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

The so-called Great Coronavirus Law would have expired on Feb. 15 if not extended. It was enacted originally in July 2020 and has been updated and extended multiple times.

The government claimed the extension was necessary due to an increase in the circulation of Omicron sub-strains, which have high infectivity compared to previous strains. Officials also cited how drugs are less effective against the newer variants, as well as trends in morbidity around the worldespecially in China.

In the assessment of the professionals in the Ministry of Health, due to the uncertainty in the health systems in the world and concern for the possibility of a sharp change in the epidemiological situation, continued careful surveillance is required, and even more so, due to the recent developments in the morbidity situation in China, therefore the existence of the legal infrastructure that allows actions to be taken under the law cannot be waived, Safri said.

The bill was introduced to the Knesset on Jan. 30 for first reading. It passed to the Health Committee on Feb. 6. After strong objections were raised, the bill was significantly narrowed and the committee examined it again on Feb. 7. It went back to the plenum of the Knesset, where it passed on Feb. 14 with a vote of 5137.

Like thieves in the night(!) the government brought to vote today at 1 a.m. the extension of the special power law for a year! wrote Oren Pasternak, an attorney and founder of Sovereign Protest, which has filed freedom of information requests challenging the MoHs lockdowns, restrictions, and green passport.

A Legal Framework

The MoH faced significant resistance to the bill as it was originally presented at the Health Committee on Feb. 6. After discussions with the Chairman of the Health Committee Uriel Buso, the MoH agreed to reduce the powers granted in a number of sections.

They kept a legal framework that would allow the government to declare a special health situation. This will allow the government to exercise powers to deal with situations such as the arrival of new and violent variants from abroad, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of Public Health Services at the Israel Ministry of Health, said during the meeting.

The World Health Organization has not lowered the level of international concern. We are mainly concerned about things that will come from abroad with a virus that is still changing, and unstable, said Alroy-Preis. We need to be prepared for a more violent strain than the Omicron that exists today.

The law in its current version allows the government the authority to declare a special health situation but not the authority to declare a state of emergency as it previously allowed.

Many sections the MoH initially requested were removed from the bill, including those allowing the government to impose a general lockdown; set limits on gatherings and events; close businesses and educational and welfare institutions; impose isolation in hotels; declare restricted areas or special tourist areas; and the requirement to present a test or a green passport when entering public places.

Some sections were retained, including one enabling the government, when declaring a special health situation, to establish regulations requiring those entering Israel to undergo a test before or after entering the country and to prevent entry from those whose test has been found positive. The government can also require the operator of an aircraft or vessel to force passengers to present a negative test result before boarding the vessel on their way to or from Israel, as well as the obligation to collect information from the passengers that will enable the government to contact them if they are found to be infected.

Yesterday, the text of the law was put before us without any changes, Tatiana Mazarsky, a member of the opposition Yesh Atid party in the Knesset, said on Feb. 7. In the end, we changed a lot and I insist even now that an extension of only three months is necessary.

So that there is no situation where we have to enact the pandemic law quickly or do it patch by patch; we will extend the law by a year, replied Buso, referring to a new pandemic law on which MoH officials said theyre working.

The government also still has the authority to impose isolation when needed and use technological supervision. Technological supervision refers to an app where a user who is in quarantine, if they agree, clicks a link that discloses their location in real-time, providing proof of compliance with quarantine requirements.

Technological Real-Time Supervision

Many concerns about the excessive powers granted to the Ministry of Health (MoH) were raised during the discussions.

Representatives of the police and the Ministry of National Security presented to the Health Committee the tools they had at their disposal during prior waves of COVID-19.

Yair Matok, a legal advisor from the Ministry of National Security said that each individual was given the option to agree or refuse technological monitoring.

Those who refused were subject to face-to-face supervision by police. He said that the monitoring was real-time, instant, and not ongoing.

This was an important tool that greatly facilitates and reduces the burden on enforcement agencies, said Gad Frishman, chief scientist of the Ministry of National Security.

In response to a question from Mazarsky about how effective the tool was, Frishman said that from all the people that had to be in isolation, 30 percent agreed to receive the link and 15 percent gave their consent to receive a link and later actually confirmed their location.

This tool of technological supervision does not fit with the existing circumstances, said Hagai Levine, chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians in Israel, at the meeting on Feb. 7. Only a small number of people will be checked, so there is no need for this tool to reduce the burden on the police.

Why are we turning the medical system into a policeman? he asked, adding that he was concerned that allowing it to pass would damage public trust.

Buso said that when you have the possibility of imposing isolation, you need to leave tools to carry it out and enforce it.

Yesterday I presented data that the lethality rates of the Omicron strains is less than a tenth of that of the flu strains. No one thinks to require isolation or flu tests.  here it is not relevant and harms public trust, said Pasternak.

This is a framework law, which in practice has not been implemented since June, said Alroy-Preis, adding that the MoH was following the situation worldwide. Since then, they found that the morbidity of the Omicron strains had come down, and did not use the law and the powers it gives.

That is why statements according to which we are trying to preserve the law as a means of control have been proven to be incorrect, she said, adding that as of today it is only important for the MoH to have the option.

There is no quick activation of the law simply because it exists, she said.

No Excess Deaths

A homeopath guest participated in the Health Committee meeting via Zoom and asked a question.

What is happening with the different reports about young people that are dying from cardiac arrest? About people that are getting strokes? asked Tamar Lieberman.

Its because many people are being hurt from the vaccine, she asserted, before asking about miscarriages and stillbirths. In June 2022, when Dr. Mati Berkovitch presented data about adverse events in Israel during a secret meeting, he told the MoH that they needed to think in a medico-legal way. Why was this discussion not published? she asked.

The Epoch Times reported in 2022 that investigators hired by the MoH had discovered that the COVID-19 vaccines cause adverse events.

The phenomenon of rechallengewhen adverse events reoccur or worsen following additional vaccine dosesproved that some of the events were caused by the vaccine, the researchers said during the meeting, which took place behind closed doors.

A positive rechallenge was reported in 10 percent of the women who complained of menstrual issues, according to the researchers, who also identified cases of rechallenge for other adverse events.

Rechallenge changes a causal link from possible to definitive, Berkovitch, head of the research team and a pediatric specialist, said in the meeting, video of which was later published after being leaked to a journalist.

The MoH established a system where every person that got a vaccine could report side effects, Alroy-Preis said in response to Lieberman. So the team that was mentioned in the video was Berkovitchs team.

Portions of what he said were taken and used to create fake news, Alroy-Preis said, adding that the slides presented during the meeting and all the raw data from the team are on the MoH website.

False Information

The MoH has repeatedly declined to comment to The Epoch Times about the video and also did not return queries from Yaffa Shir-Raz, a health journalist and professor who obtained the video.

An unnamed official at the MoH in October 2022 confirmed that the video was legitimate in remarks to Reuters, which posted a fact check on clips of the meeting that Shir-Raz had posted online and in social media posts.

The MoH official claimed that there are no unknown side effects or new signals.

But according to Sasha Zhurat, one of the presenters in the video, thats not true.

Zhurat said during the meeting that the data allowed us to really identify new phenomena like tinnitus, like hypoesthesia and paresthesia and that we actually identified new phenomena that do not appear in the consumer brochure such as dizziness, tinnitus, hypoesthesia, paresthesia.

Zhurat also pointed out that the brochure, handed to prospective vaccine recipients, listed certain durations for possible side effects.

The leaflet says the problems are supposed to pass within a few days and we saw that this was not the case, said Zhurat. Some problems lasted for more than a year, including menstrual irregularities, with no end in sight.

Reuters judged the video clips in the fact check as misleading, but a spokesperson for the news agency later confirmed that the outlet did not watch the full video of the meeting.

Alroy-Preis said to the Health Committee that it is known that the vaccine does not cause miscarriage, does not cause a problem with fertility.

More than 12,000 people died in Israel because of COVID-19, she said. There are no excess deaths in the State of Israel, not even of young people, she claimed.

Is there no increase in cardiac arrest cases among young people? Can you deny this? asked Pasternak.

Cardiac arrest is not a diagnosis. It is a clinical state. It is like fever. It means the heart stopped working. It can stop working for many reasons, Alroy-Preis said.

We do not see an increase in death in young people when you remove the COVID-19 deaths, she said. Were checking it, she said. Were looking for it.

Zachary Stieber and Meiling Lee contributed to this report.
Japan Mulls Easing Rules for Shooting Down Foreign Balloons After Chinese Incursions

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces soldiers ride a Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzer during a live fire exercise at the training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on May 22, 2021. (Akio Kon/Pool/Getty Images)

Japan is considering easing the rules for using force against any intrusions by foreign balloons, according to its defense ministry, after reports that Chinese balloons had been seen flying over the country in the past years.

The existing regulations allow the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to only shoot down foreign devices in self-defense or in times of emergency, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

The ministry proposed at a meeting on Feb. 15 that Japans military be permitted to use weapons against intrusive objects, given that SDF law allows necessary measures to be taken against foreign aircraft intruding Japans airspace.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada made a similar assertion on Feb. 14 that Japans military can take necessary measures to bring down foreign balloons violating Japans airspace in order to protect its citizens.

Hamada told reporters that the military would be allowed to use weapons, including air-to-air missiles, against foreign balloons in accordance with the SDF law.

In taking this measure, the appropriate equipment will be used in accordance with the situation, he told reporters.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5, 2023. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson)

The recent downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon by the U.S. military appeared to have brought attention to the fact that similar objects had been spotted flying over Japan in previous years.

On Tuesday, the Japanese defense ministry said that unidentified flying objects spotted in Japan between 2019 and 2021 are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China.

The ministry did not specify the locations where the flying objects were spotted in 2019, 2020, and 2021. It stated that Tokyo contacted Beijing to verify the incidents and demanded that such an incursion never occur again.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it acknowledged Japans claims, adding that Japan needs to be objective and impartial on the matter.

Beijing previously condemned the U.S. move to shoot down its balloon as a clear overreaction, saying that the balloon was a civilian airship that had been blown off-course and posed no threat to national security.

However, Washington said it was likely a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle conducting surveillance over sensitive U.S. military sights, including nuclear bases in Montana.

Taiwan also claimed to have detected Chinese balloons flying over the self-ruled island last year and vowed to adopt appropriate measures against new threats, including shooting threats down, based on the level of concern.

Bulk-Order of US Tomahawk Missiles

Hamada announced on Tuesday that Japan plans to bulk-order Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States by March next year as it begins a rapid military build-up.

The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn in the Mediterranean Sea on March 29, 2011. (U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Hamada said the government seeks to conclude a contract during the next financial year, which begins on April 1, to buy Raytheon Technologies Corp Tomahawks through the U.S. foreign military sales program.

Japans latest defense budget, which will jump by a quarter from last year, includes $1.6 billion to buy cruise missiles, part of its biggest military build-up since World War II.

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 621 miles, would have enough range to hit targets inside China.

The Japanese government approved three key defense documents last December, including the National Security Strategy, which refers to the Chinese regime as Japans greatest challenge.

The move is widely seen as a departure from Japans post-war constitution, which renounces war or the use of force in settling international disputes.

However, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan would maintain its exclusively defense-oriented policy, which states that defensive force could only be used in the event of an attack.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Rep. Jordan Subpoenas Big Tech CEOs in House Weaponization Probe

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) says he has subpoenaed the CEOs of top U.S. Big Tech firms as part of Republicans ongoing investigation into the weaponization of the federal government.

In November, House Republicans unveiled a 1,050-page report detailing whistleblower findings from FBI agents.

Since then, the House majority authorized the creation of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which held its inaugural hearing on Feb. 9.

Now, Jordan has sent subpoena requests to several major tech executives asking for documents and testimony.

Today, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed the chief executive officers of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft for documents and communications relating to the federal governments reported collusion with Big Tech to suppress free speech, Jordans office said in a statement emailed to the Epoch Times.

The House Judiciary Committee has repeatedly attempted to engage with the five companies since last December, the release continues. Unfortunately, the companies have not adequately complied with our requests.

Jordan was referencing a series of Dec. 14, 2022, letters his office sent to various tech executives.

The CEOsAlphabets (Google) Sundar Pichai, Amazons Andy Jassy, Apples Tim Cook, Metas Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsofts Satya Nadellahave until March 23 to provide any communications between them and the federal governments executive branch on the subject.

Big Tech is out to get conservatives, and is increasingly willing to undermine First Amendment values by complying with the Biden Administrations directives that suppress freedom of speech online, Jordan wrote, in excerpts from the letter to the executives posted to his website.

This approach undermines fundamental American principles and allows powerful government actors to silence political opponents and stifle opposing viewpoints, he continued. Publicly available information suggests that your companies treatment of certain speakers and content may stem from government directives or guidance designed to suppress dissenting views.

Big Techs role in shaping national and international public discourse today is well-known. In some cases, Big Techs heavy-handed censorship has been use[d] to silence prominent voices and to stifle views that disagree with the prevailing progressive consensus.

Because of Big Techs wide reach, it can serve as a powerful and effective partisan arm of the woke speech police. Although the full extent of Big Techs collusion with the Biden Administration is unknown, there are prominent examples and strong indications of Big Tech censorship following directives or pressure from executive branch entities.

These examples raise serious concerns about how and why tech companies suppress, silence, or reduce the reach of certain political speech and speakers. The collusion of Big Tech and Big Government to advance censorship undeniably undermines liberty and jeopardizes our countrys First Amendment values and protections.

Jordan cited long-held concerns among conservatives that their viewpoints are disproportionately stifled on social media platforms through outright bans, removal of certain posts, and shadow banning, which dramatically reduce a persons reach on most social media platforms.

President Donald Trump considered the issue a concern as early as 2019, and attempted at the end of his presidency to gut the legal liability protections currently enjoyed by Big Tech platforms.

With Elon Musks acquisition of Twitter and the release of documents from the platforms previous management, its become clear that these concerns were well-founded, and have been proven that the firms were engaging in censorship of certain viewpoints.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk smiles as he addresses guests at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway, on Aug. 29, 2022. (Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are investigating Big Techs commitment to freedom of speech online and the Biden Administrations collusion with Big Tech to censor, silence, or reduce the reach of certain information and viewpoints, Jordan said. Congress has an important interest in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to suppress First Amendment-protected speech.

In the statement that announced the subpoenas, Jordan called them the first step in holding Big Tech accountable.

Congress has an important role in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to suppress First Amendment-protected speech, the statement says.

Republicans say that their letters to Big Tech executives were answered inadequately.

Big TechGovernment Collusion

Concerns over Big Techgovernment collusion were front and center at the first Weaponization Committee hearing.

In his opening remarks at that hearing, Jordan relayed testimony that found that the FBI accepts personal data on users from Facebook without the users consent.

Whistleblower testimony indicates, among other findings, that the FBI had colluded with Big Tech platforms to suppress ideas and stories that went outside of the official narrative.

This collusion was most prominent during the fallout of the New York Posts story on Hunter Bidens laptop, which appeared to show the younger Biden committing a litany of crimes, including possession of crack cocaine, and a photo of him standing beside a girl who appeared underage dressed in prostitute-like attire. Whistleblower findings revealed that the FBI played a role in the suppression of the story.

The story was discovered by the New York Post, a conservative-leaning media outlet that was founded by Alexander Hamilton. After posting the story to its Twitter page, the New York Posts account was suspended by the platform pending the removal of the story. Similar suppression followed with other media outlets that reported on the contents of the laptop.

Some of that, Republicans investigations show, may not have been organic behavior by social media platforms.

The Judiciary Republicans noted that, during an August appearance on Joe Rogans podcast, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook had suppressed the story at the FBIs urging.

Facebook co-founder, Chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 10, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Moreover, just before the 2020 election, 51 former intelligence officials claimed the laptop story to be Russian disinformationa claim that was later proven to be false.

In his testimony to the panel, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) contended that the effect of this false claim was an information operation that interfered with and impacted the 2020 presidential election to a far greater extent than anything Russia ever could have hoped to achieve.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) questions Neera Tanden, nominee for director of the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee in Washington on Feb. 9, 2021. (TING SHEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Signatories of the letter have repeatedly rebuffed media requests for content.

Under U.S. law, the majority party in the House of Representatives has the power to subpoena individuals for documents and data. Failure to comply with a congressional subpoena could mean prison time for offenders.

Republicans are taking full advantage of their power now that they are back in the House majority.

The party plans to continue its investigations into incidents of the federal government being weaponized against citizens.

Jordans investigation is running simultaneously with several other investigations Republicans have begun and are planning to begin, including investigations of the Bidens business dealings, a probe into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkass handling of the southern border, and still others into the treatment of defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.

It is unclear whether the tech executives will seek to fight the subpoena.
Judge Indicates Intention to Dismiss J&J Talc Unit Bankruptcy

The bankruptcy case filed by Johnson & Johnsons subsidiary shouldering talc-related lawsuits will soon be dismissed unless a U.S appeals court agrees to reconsider its decision to nix the companys 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 panels 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 Tuesdays hearing.

Should the 3rd Circuit refuse a rehearing, LTL could seek to further delay the bankruptcys 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 Circuits decision would force J&J back into trial courts to battle nearly 40,000 lawsuits alleging the companys 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.

LTLs bankruptcy had put the deluge of talc cases on hold. Kaplan on Tuesday granted a 24-year-old plaintiffs request to allow his case to proceed in California in the wake of the 3rd Circuits decision.

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 LTLs bankruptcy reorganization.

Kaplan said other cases would remain paused in the short term while LTLs appeals process unfolds.

The 3rd Circuit decision more broadly cast a cloud over J&Js 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 companys 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 Circuits 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 settlementbetter, 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&Js funding of the subsidiary, initially $2 billion and perhaps eventually more, undercut any claim of financial peril necessary to justify LTLs 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.

By Mike Spector
Last Remaining GOP Federal Trade Commissioner Resigns, Accuses Chair of Abusing Power

Federal Trade Commission seal is seen at a news conference at FTC headquarters in Washington, on July 24, 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

Christine Wilson, the only remaining Republican on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced Tuesday that she will resign over her opposition to the agencys progressive leadership.

In an opinion published in the Wall Street Journal, Wilson listed reasons why she could no longer work with the Democratic majority. She specifically accused FTC chair Lina Khan of abusing power and undermining the commission structure that Congress wrote into law.

Much ink has been spilled about Lina Khans attempts to remake federal antitrust law as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Wilson wrote. I have failed repeatedly to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining.

The resignation comes as the FTC launched antitrust campaigns targeting big companies like Lockheed Martin and Meta. It is also widely reported that FTC is intensifying an antitrust investigation into Amazon over the online retail giants alleged anti-competitive business practices.

Wilson particularly took issue with the role Khan played in the FTCs recent failed attempt to prevent Meta from buying Within, a California company that develops augmented reality and virtual reality products. She claimed that this is due to Khans refusal to recuse herself from all cases involving Meta.

A file image of then FTC Commissioner nominee Lina M. Khan testifying during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee nomination hearing in Washington on April 21, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Pool/Getty Images)

Since President Joe Biden named Khan to the FTC in June 2021, Amazon and Meta have argued that she is too biased against them to properly handle their cases, citing Khans prior public statements and academic works as evidence.

Before joining the FTC, Ms. Khan argued that Meta should be blocked from making any future acquisitions and wrote a report on the same issues as a congressional staffer, Wilson said. She would now sit as a purportedly impartial judge and decide whether Meta can acquire Within.

My Democratic colleagues on the commission affirmed Ms. Khans decision not to recuse herself, she added.

Khan released a joint statement with FTC commissioners Rebecca K. Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya on Tuesday addressing Wilsons departure but didnt respond to any criticism.

While we often disagreed with Commissioner Wilson, we respect her devotion to her beliefs and are grateful for her public service. We wish her well in her next endeavor, they said.

During his first term in the White House, President Donald Trump appointed three Republicans to the five-member agency: Joseph Simons, an antitrust lawyer; Noah Phillips, chief counsel for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas); and Christine Wilson, a former Delta Air Lines executive. He also nominated consumer advocate Rohit Chopra to fill an open Democratic seat.

Simons stepped down from commission chair in January 2021. Chopra, in October 2021, left the agency to serve as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Phillips resigned in October 2022.
Locals in Ohio Train Derailment Area Advised to Drink Bottled Water

Ohio officials have urged some locals living near the train derailment site in East Palestine to only use bottled water amid concerns over the potential health impacts of hazardous chemicals that spilled into the Ohio River and as others were drained from the train cars and burned off.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told a press conference Tuesday that the pollution did not pose a serious threat to the five million or so people who rely on the Ohio River for their drinking water.

Still, DeWine and other Ohio officials warned that residents using private wells near the derailment should only use bottled water.

For right now, I think bottled waters the right answer, Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said at the press conference.

Asked by reporters whether he would return home amid cleanup efforts, DeWine said hed be back home but would not be drinking water from the tap.

I think that I would be drinking the bottled water, DeWine said. And I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air.

I would be alert and concerned, he continued, adding, But I think I would probably be back in my house.

DeWine said on Feb. 8 that it was safe for local residents to return to their homes.

HEPACO workers, an environmental and emergency services company, observe a stream in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

Lingering Questions

People in and around East Palestine have been asking whether the air and water is safe for their families, pets, and livestock after the Feb. 3 derailment caused a fire that sent a cloud of toxic smoke over the town, prompting thousands to evacuate.

There have been reports of sick or dead animals and persistent odors, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that a number of hazardous chemicals were found at the site of the derailment, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate.

Besides being burned off in a controlled fashion, contaminants from derailed cars also spilled into waterways, with officials tracking a large plume of chemicals flowing down the Ohio River.

Around 3,500 fish have been killed by the chemical spill, according to an estimate by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with around 7 miles of streams affected by the toxins.

An environmental company is removing dead fish downstream from the site of the train derailment that forced people to be evacuated from their homes in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Alan Freed/Reuters)

Tiffani Kavalec, the head of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agencys water management subdivision, said in a news conference Tuesday that the plume is on its way towards Huntington, West Virginia, and that it consists mostly of fire combustion chemicals.

Kavalec said that the plume is moving downriver at around 1 mph and becoming increasingly more diluted, adding that the Ohio EPA doesnt believe the chemicals pose a threat to drinking water.

The Ohio River is able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly, Kavalec said, adding that we are seeing very low levels of contaminants in the river.

EPA said that water sampling is being carried out at various points along the river to ensure drinking water is safe.

State and local agencies are conducting sampling throughout the Ohio River to ensure drinking water intakes arent affected, and EPA is continuing to assist the state with sampling efforts at water treatment intake points along the Ohio River, EPA said in a Feb. 14 update.

EPA has also been carrying out community air monitoring in East Palestine around the clock, saying in Tuesdays update that it has not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment.

As of Tuesday, the agency had screened 396 homes and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified, EPA said.

An aerial view shows a plume of smoke, following a train derailment that forced people to evacuate from their homes in East Palestine, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Alan Freed/Reuters)

Vinyl chloride, which is used in the production of PVC plastic, is highly flammable and poses significant health risks to humans.

Short-term exposure to high concentrations of the chemical can cause dizziness, headaches, and respiratory problems. Long-term exposure has been linked to various health problems, including liver damage, immune system dysfunction, and certain types of cancer.

After around 50 cars derailed in a fiery mess on the outskirts of the town on Feb. 3, there were fears that the vinyl chloride that was in some of the cars could lead to an uncontrolled explosion.

So officials had the area evacuated and technicians released and burned the hazardous chemical, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

But while EPA has said that air monitoring hasnt detected any hazards to health associated with the derailment, some locals have told media outlets that their health has suffered since returning home.

Maura Todd said she and family members have experienced headaches and nausea.

Ive watched every news conference and I havent heard anything that makes me think that this is a data-driven decision, Todd told The Washington Post. We dont feel like we have a whole lot of information.

Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, said in an interview with WKBN over the weekend that he was surprised at how quickly residents were told they could go back to their homes.

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 the outlet.

He said that there might be surges in cancer rates near East Palestine down the road.

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.

The Epoch Times has reached out to EPA for comment.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.
Man Who Stole Dead Fathers Social Security Payments Faces 285 Years in Prison

A Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, man who posed as his dead father pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud and Social Security fraud for hiding his fathers death to steal his retirement benefits.

Timothy Gritman, 55, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia for stealing more than $200,000 in Social Security benefits and $117,000 in New York State pension benefits, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

Ralph Gritman retired from New Yorks Nassau County Clerks Office in 1992, and in 2017 he moved to Wyoming to live with his son Timothy Gritman.

Relatives reported that he was last seen alive in 2016 at his home. At that time, he was 79 years old and in poor health.

The father and son shared a joint bank account where the elder Gritmans retirement benefits were electronically deposited. The pension and Social Security deposits were supposed to stop when he died, but authorities say Timothy Gritman covered up his fathers death to keep getting the money from October 2017 through October 2022.

Investigators found Medicare records showing Ralph Gritmans health insurance was last used in September 2017 for an emergency visit to a Wyoming hospital. His Medicare was never used again, but he was not reported deceased.

In 2019, Timothy Gritman told a family member that his father had died several years earlier but would not say where he was buried or what had happened to his body.

Using Makeup to Look Older

A call to the New York State Office of the Comptroller fraud tipster line prompted an investigation which caused the pension payments to be suspended, a statement from the office of New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

With suspended payments, Timothy Gritman contacted the comptrollers office and requested the payments be resumed.

As part of his fraud, Timothy Gritman lied about his fathers whereabouts and pretended to be his father on multiple occasions, according to the statement. When DiNapolis office sought to determine whether Ralph Gritman was alive and asked to speak with him, Timothy Gritman would either say he was asleep or would try to imitate his voice. When pushed for photographic evidence of his father holding a current ID card, Timothy Gritman sent investigators a picture of himself, in which he tried to disguise himself as his father, holding a bogus Pennsylvania State identification card.

Investigators said Gritman posed as his father to get the Pennsylvania State identification card in his fathers name from the Department of Transportation Driver License Center and the next day, Gritman disguised himself to look older, using make up to whiten his hair and eyebrows. Then he held the ID card in a photo as verification that his father was alive.

Gritman faces a maximum possible sentence of 285 years imprisonment, a three-year period of supervised release, a $3.7 million fine, and a $1,500 special assessment.

While law enforcement has determined that Ralph Gritman is now deceased, his remains have not been found.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Social Security Administrations 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 U.S. Attorney Megan Curran.
Man With Explosives Arrested Outside Swiss Parliament

A police robot stands next to a suspicious car in front of the Swiss Parliament, the Bundeshaus in Bern, during the large-scale operation of the Bern police, where several buildings were evacuated and the Bundesplatz and some streets around were widely cordoned off, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Manuel Lopez/Keystone via AP)

GENEVAPolice in Switzerlands capital evacuated Parliament and related offices Tuesday after a man in a bulletproof vest was arrested near one of its entrances and found to be bearing explosives.

Berne police said in a statement that in the early afternoon, federal security staffers noticed a man at the southern entrance of the Parliament building whose appearancehe was wearing a bulletproof vest and weapon holsterand behavior were suspicious.

During a body check that followed, a rapid test turned up explosives, the statement said.

The statement did not provide any detail on the explosives.

The suspect, who was not identified, was undergoing physical and mental exams, the statement said. Federal prosecutors and police opened a criminal investigation. There was no immediate indication about a possible motive.

Police cordoned off Federal Square outside the ornate parliament building and nearby streets for several hours as they dispatched security teamsincluding fire squads and de-mining experts, backed by a police dog and dronesto inspect an abandoned car that had been associated with the suspect.

Security measures were lifted after it turned out that the vehicle presented no danger, the police statement said.

Police vehicles are parked in front of the Swiss Parliament, the Bundeshaus, during a large-scale operation of the Bern police, where several buildings were evacuated and the Bundesplatz and some streets around were widely cordoned off, in Bern, Switzerland, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Manuel Lopez/Keystone via AP)
More than 2,000 miles from the eponymous county in Kentucky, a Corvallis brewery still manages to make itself the regional center of bourbon-talk.

Block 15 is offering rare whiskey pours, bourbon-paired menus and a cold weather clothing drive, all part of the local beer-makers ongoing annual Bourbon Month event, which takes place each February.

The longtime staff favorite drink ends up in cocktails and in neat, fingers-wide slugs at first-come, first-serve tastings that started more than a decade ago to coax in customers during the dead of winter.

Those are slower, dreary months  in Oregon and in the restaurant industry, said Alex Goodwin, general manager of Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery.

Block 15 opened 15 years ago, which means, according to the companys marketing team, Bourbon Month also has been running for 15 years.

Goodwin said brewers, managers and employees who now have been with Block 15 for more than a decade, sought a way to share rare, one-off bourbons with customers. Those are drinks, Goodwin said, the team really loves.

It takes a long time to make something really unique, that has a lot of character, she said.

Block 15 usually casts a wide net for Bourbon Month, staff said, and past lineups have included whiskeys from as far away as Japan.

The variety appeals to casual whiskey drinkers, and limited runs of unique whiskeys released weekly at two of Block 15s restaurants appeal to hardcore fans of the liquor.

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Its fun to branch out beyond Kentucky, Goodwin said.

Whiskeys making an appearance at the 2023 event include labels from Oregon, California and Michigan.

In early February, Goodwin said she was looking forward to a trying a bourbon from California wine country  Red Wood Empire Whiskey, made in Sonoma County.

Ive never tried California-blended bourbon, she said.

Theres a wheat whiskey from Double Circle Spirits, 100% grown, distilled and barreled in Oregon, Goodwin said. And theyre highlighting bourbon from Detroit.

And we still have Kentucky on our menu, Goodwin said. You cant not."

A few tickets remain via Block 15s social media profiles for a bourbon dinner at Caves Corvallis, recently reopened after about three years off for the coronavirus pandemic.

Participants will be engrossed in a five-course meal with curated whiskeys and whiskey-tinged stouts, and a marked return to themed dinners at the refreshed Caves location.

Were bringing back a lot of what people loved about Caves, Goodwin said.

Extending the brewerys love of all things barrel-aged, Block 15 will hold a winter clothing drive at its South Corvallis brewery and tap room on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18, an all-day event featuring hot bourbon cocktails with food and desserts to match.

Clothing collected will be donated to Vina Moses Center in Corvallis, which will pass on the items to people who need jackets, or really anything  anything that can keep people warm in these months when its hard to stay warm, Goodwin said.

Sugar Js Ice Cream Workshop, the frozen confection offshoot of Tacovino, will serve ice cream based on Block 15s spiced bourbon-aged stout, Super Nebula Xocolatl.

Or for those pondering the space-like darkness of Block 15s premiere barrel-aged offering, the 2023 vintage Super Nebula is out now  released to coincide with Bourbon Month.

Regional brewers are fresh back from KLCC Brewfest held Feb. 10 in Eugene, where past events frequently featured rare, reserve, barrel-aged offerings from Oregon beermakers.

It shows people how fun, and unique, and diverse it can be, Goodwin said.
Mask Mandate for Visitors to Service Canada Locations Has Been Dropped, Committee Hears

A woman wears a face mask as she walks by a sign advising of the mandatory wearing of masks and face coverings, in Montreal on Sept. 21, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The requirement that people visiting Service Canada offices must be masked has been dropped, a parliamentary committee has heard.

Service Canada is operated by the department of Social Development Minister Karina Gould, who appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources on Feb. 14.

Conservative MP Rosemarie Falk told Gould about various complaints she has received from her constituents in a rural Saskatchewan riding regarding the areas local Service Canada location, as first reported by Blacklocks Reporter.

My office is receiving an increasing number of phone calls with respect to limited services that are available to them through Service Canada, said Falk.

Falk said shes received complaints that there was only a single person working at her ridings Service Canada office and also said that one of her constituents was turned away from receiving service for not being masked  despite having a medical exemption.

Why is there a mask mandate appropriate for Service Canada but not necessary in other federal government settings? asked Falk.

My understanding is masks now are encouraged but are not required, replied Gould, saying Service Canada follows advice on the matter from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Service Canadas website does not yet reflect the change. We continue to ask all clients and visitors to wear a face mask, it says. This applies even in areas where provincial or territorial requirements differ.

Gould said the decision to drop masking requirements for in-person visits to Service Canada locations was a very recent policy change.

When did that change? Falk asked.

Jean-Francois Tremblay, deputy minister of social development, said the policy change was announced by the federal Treasury Board on Feb. 10.

When will the website reflect that? Falk asked.

We need to discuss with each of the health and security groups for the implementation, but that should be in the next days and weeks, Tremblay answered.

Health Canada announced that federal mask mandates were lifted for public servants in May 2022, while cabinet suspended enforcement of its Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccination Requirements in October.

Every step of the way through this pandemic weve been guided by evidence, by facts, by the best counsel of expertsinternational and across Canadawith the overarching priority of keeping Canadians safe, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in September 2022, shortly before his government also dropped COVID border restrictions.

Andrew Chen and Noe Chartier contributed to this report.
In November 1803, the Shepherdess, the ship carrying 29-year-old Elizabeth Ann Seton, her husband William, and their 8-year-old daughter Anna, the oldest of five, docked at Leghorn, Italy. Their desperate hope that this change of climate might cure Wills tuberculosis immediately turned into a nightmare.

Their home and their port of departure, New York, was in the throes of a yellow fever epidemic, and the Shepherdess had arrived in port without medical clearance. Consequently, mother, father, and daughter were forced to spend over a month in a lazaretto, a cold, damp quarantine center that took its name from the biblical Lazarus. In the diary shed begun on board ship, Elizabeth called this place their prison.

This search for a cure, which one friend had called next to madness, proved futile. On December 19th, the family was released from the lazaretto, and William died eight days later. Until June, Elizabeth and Anna remained in Italy as guests of her husbands trading partners, the Filicchi brothers. It was then that Elizabeth, a devout Episcopalian who prayed frequently and had given herself to various social causes, became intrigued by Catholicism. Soon after her return home, against the advice and opposition of friends and family, she converted to that faith.

Starting Schools

Setons conversion marked a dramatic turning point in her life and in the history of the Catholic Church in America. Moreover, by joining the Church of Rome she would unwittingly strengthen the position of religious liberty in the new American republic.

A portrait of Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin, 1797. Engraving on paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Public domain)

Faced with financial difficultiesher husbands lucrative import industry had collapsed even before his deathSeton opened a school and boarding house for boys in New York. Several parents availed themselves of this opportunity, but once they learned that this formerly prominent Episcopalian had become Catholic, they withdrew their sons from the school.

Learning of her troubles, several priests in Maryland invited her to open a school in Baltimore, a city with deep Catholic roots. Seton accepted their offer, moved together with her children to that city, and founded a school for girls. Within the year, other women joined her in this work, and they soon organized themselves into a religious order. By 1809, they had moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where they founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.

Seton was selected as their Mother Superior, with special provisions allowing her to continue raising her children. The women took vows of chastity, obedience, and service to the poor, and renewed those vows annually. Soon the order spread, first to Philadelphia and then to New York. Seton continued to head up St. Josephs Academy in Emmitsburg and died there at age 46 from tuberculosis, the same disease that had earlier claimed the lives of William and two of her daughters.

The order, now operating under the rules of the Daughters of Charity, continued to open centers of learning and serve the poor, and it gave birth to an abundance of parochial schools. Later, Archbishop Kenrick of Baltimore said, Elizabeth Seton did more for the Church in America than all of us bishops together.

Built in the early 1800s, the historic St. Josephs House, called the White House, served as the first house for the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, in Emmitsburg, Md. (Courtesy of Seton Shrine)

Known throughout her life for her compassion and religious devotion, Seton was eventually canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI, the first person born in the United States to become a saint. Easily overlooked in this remarkable story is the impact of Elizabeth Seton on religious liberty.

Establishing Religious Tolerance

The Bill of Rights was ratified fewer than 20 years before Seton opened her school in Baltimore. The very first sentence of that inventory of natural rights provided that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Mistrust and disdain between Catholics and Protestants, prejudices brought to the New World from the Old, remained, but the rights of free exercise in religion had become embedded in higher law and culture.

A design for a stained-glass window of Seton, from between 1950 and 1990. J&R Lamb Studios. Library of Congress. (Public domain)

To flourish, however, written laws must be lived laws. The schools founded by Seton and her order, followed by the establishment of orphanages and hospitals, were open to all Americans. Anti-papist rhetoric and bigotry extended into the 20th century, but the guarantees of religious liberties allowed Setons order to operate legally and openly in society. Without intending to do so, Seton created living monuments celebrating Americas embrace of religious freedom.

In American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton, Joan Barthel writes of the many roles Seton played during her lifetime: Protestant, Catholic, wealthy socialite, wife, impecunious widow, mother, teacher, nurse, and the founder of a religious order. These aspects of her life blended together to create a cultured, gentle, and generally good-humored woman who put her faith in God and who bore in mind the motto on the Seton family crest: Hazard Zet Forward, a combination of Norman French and Old English meaning, No matter the risk, move forward.

By moving forward and by her good works, Seton breathed life into the words of the Bill of Rights.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
M&Ms Maker Fined After Two Workers Fell into a Tank of Chocolate

Packages of M&M's for sale are seen in a store in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 24, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

U.S. regulators have fined Mars Wrigley, the maker of M&Ms and Snickers, following an accident last June when two workers fell into a tank of chocolate at its factory in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) imposed a fine of more than $14,500 for the incident, citing it as serious in a report.

Officials said two workers employed by an outside contracting firm fell into the partially filled chocolate tank while doing maintenance work.

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, the report said.

The two contractors were not authorized to work in the tanks and werent trained on the proper safety procedures for the equipment, leading to the accident, according to the report.

The employer did not ensure that the employee had the knowledge of the type and magnitude of the energy for the task, said OSHA, adding: The host employer did not provide the outside employer with the correct energy control procedure or work authorization permit.

In June 2022, first responders were called to the Mars Wrigley Confectionery and found the two workers trapped in a tank full of chocolate, local media reported.

The fire crews had to cut a hole in the side of the chocolate tank to help the two individuals escape. According to reports, both were taken to the hospital, where one of the workers was transported by helicopter. It was unclear how they fell into the chocolate tank.

In response to the incident, a representative from Mars Wrigley stressed that the company is committed to the safety of its employees and contractors.

The safety of our associates and outside contractors are a top priority for our business, a spokesperson for Mars Wrigley said in a statement. As always, we appreciate OSHAs collaborative approach to working with us to conduct the after-action review.

Mars Wrigley is a confectionary giant formed by the merger of Mars and Wrigley in 2008. The producer manufactures several popular chocolates and candies, including M&Ms, Mars bars, Milky Way bars, Skittles, Snickers, Dove chocolate, and Twix.
National Archives Apologizes, Offers Personal Tour to March for Life Visitors

March for Life participants who were ordered to cover or remove their pro-life attire during a Jan. 20 visit to the National Archives will receive a personal tour as part of a preliminary agreement the two parties reached in litigation.

News of the agreement comes after the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) issued a formal apology for the incident on Feb. 10, noting that NARA policy expressly allows all visitors to wear T-shirts, hats, buttons, etc. that display protest language, including religious and political speech.

As the home to the original Constitution and Bill of Rights, which enshrine the rights of free speech and religion, we sincerely apologize for this occurrence, NARA said in the statement.

According to a Feb. 14 legal filing (pdf), the agreement reached between NARA and the visitors in question stipulates that two of the plaintiffs will receive in-person apologies and personal tours of the museum and that all NARA security officers and public-facing personnel will be made aware of the agencys official policy on political and religious attire.

The parties also agreed to a preliminary injunction preventing NARA personnel from prohibiting visitors from wearing such attire until a final judgment had been reached, further order of the court, or Jan. 19, 2025.

In filing the Feb. 8 lawsuit (pdf) on behalf of the four pro-life plaintiffs, attorneys at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) argued that their clients First Amendment rights were violated when they were told they had to remove their offensive attire to enter the National Archives.

Defendants unlawfully deprived Plaintiffs of their First Amendment rights to engage in protected speech and expression in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, the attorneys wrote, noting that their clients had not engaged in any disruptive conduct or protests.

Additionally, the complaint noted that one of the plaintiffs had witnessed other museum visitors freely walking around wearing pro-abortion apparel with messages like My Body, My Choice.

Holding that their clients were targeted for their pro-life stance, the attorneys argued that NARAs actions demonstrated a concerted effort to single out, embarrass, intimidate, exclude, and ultimately silence their clients pro-life message.

The case is currently being presided over by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly. However, if the preliminary agreement is accepted by the court, the case will be referred to the D.C. Circuits Mediation Program to explore a potential settlement.
National Archives Reaches Agreement With Two Pro-Life Activists Denied Entry to Museum

The National Archives and two pro-life activists have reached a deal in a legal case brought after the activists were denied entry to the National Archives Museum.

Security officers denied entry to multiple people, including law student Wendilee Lassiter, into the museum on Jan. 20 because of pro-life messages on their clothes.

The parties said in a joint motion on Feb. 14 that they hammered out an agreement stating, in part, that all defendants, including the Archives, are enjoined from barring visitors from wearing clothing that displays protest language, including religious and political speech. The block, which would not apply to clothing containing profanity, would be until Jan. 19, 2025, unless a new order were entered.

Additionally, every archive (NARA) security officer will be provided with a copy of the order, if the court agrees with the proposed agreement.

NARA shall further reiterate to all NARA security officers, as well as all other NARA personnel who interact with the public, including docents, volunteers, museum staff, and archivists who interact with the public in NARA research rooms, that NARA policy expressly allows all visitors to wear t-shirts, hats, buttons, and other similar items, that display protest language, including religious and political speech, the proposed agreement states.

Lassiter and a 17-year-old high school student from Michigan, described in court papers as L.R., will additionally receive personal tours of the museum and receive apologies from staff members during the tours.

Provided the agreement is approved, the case would move to a mediation program to explore a potential settlement.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the case.

The plaintiffs were in Washington primarily to participate in the March for Life, according to court papers.

The Archives has already apologized in a statement.

As the home to the original Constitution and Bill of Rights, which enshrine the rights of free speech and religion, we sincerely apologize for this occurrence, the agency said in a statement.

Early indications are that our security officers quickly corrected their actions and, from that point forward, all visitors were permitted to enter our facility without needing to remove or cover their attire. We have reminded all of our security officers at our facilities across the country of the rights of visitors in this regard, the agency added.

Another Lawsuit

A separate lawsuit was brought against the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum over acting against pro-life individuals who were participating in the March for Life in January.

Multiple minors and parents from Our Lady of the Rosary Church and School in South Carolina after the march went to the museum, where they were targeted over wearing hats with the inscription, Rosary Pro-Life, according to the suit.

The group entered the museum at two separate times. At each time, security officers ordered group members to remove their hats. They all complied, but several placed their hats back on once inside. They also observed other visitors wearing clothing with expressions, including a woman wearing a PRIDE face mask.

When officers spotted some of the students with hats, one allegedly stated: The [expletive] pro-life and What a bunch of [expletive]. The group was told to remove the hats. Later, one officer allegedly later went to the group and said, take them off or leave. When asked why, the officer said, according to the suit, that the hats were political statements and not promoting equality. He claimed the First Amendment did not apply inside the museum.

The suit alleges First Amendment violations.

The Smithsonian said in a statement that a single officer mistakenly told young visitors that their pro-life hats were not permitted in the museum.

Asking visitors to remove hats and clothing is not in keeping with our policy or protocols. We provided immediate retraining to prevent a re-occurrence of this kind of error, the taxpayer-funded research institution said. The Smithsonian welcomes all visitors without regard to their beliefs. We do not deny access to our museums based on the messages on visitors clothing.

No agreement has yet been reached in the second suit, according to the court docket.

Bill Pan contributed to this report.
New Bill Would Prohibit Federal Funding for Health Care Facilities That Deny Care to Unvaccinated Patients

A new bill in Congress would ban federal funding for institutions that deny care to patients for not having a COVID-19 vaccine, after multiple patients in the United States seeking transplants have been rejected over their vaccination status.

The 2-page bill states that no funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by Federal law  shall be made available to a facility that refuses to provide treatment to an individual based on the COVID-19 vaccination status of such individual.

The legislation is called the COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Act.

No American should be denied access to critical care based on a personal medical decision, yet tragically, many hospitals and other medical facilities continue to discriminate against those unvaccinated for COVID-19, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a doctor who cosponsored the legislation, said in a statement.

He said that the bill will protect the rights of vulnerable patients to make their own health care choices and ensure that federal taxpayer dollars do not support facilities that turn away patients based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.

Theres no reason that medical facilities should deny care to people based on their COVID-19 vaccination status, and theres certainly no reason for institutions that do so to receive any federal funding. Unfortunately, this is happening far too often, including in my home state of North Carolina. The COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Act will remedy that injustice, and affirms that people have the right to make their own medical decisions, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives, added.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) are co-sponsors of the Senate bill.

Denied Transplants

Multiple patients in the United States have been denied transplants during the pandemic because of their refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

James Jooyandeh, a U.S. Army veteran, was denied a lung transplant because he declined to get vaccinated.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer lung transplant as a treatment option for you due to your unwillingness to receive recommended routine health maintenance, including your vaccinations, which is an absolute contraindication to lung transplantation at our center, a doctor at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Wisconsin that was treating Jooyandeh wrote to him.

Other patients have been removed from waiting lists due to their vaccination status.

DJ Ferguson, 31, for instance, was removed in 2022 from a heart transplant waiting list by Brigham and Womens Hospital.

Other patients have been unable to get transplants even though theyre vaccinated because their donors have not received a shot.

The Cleveland Clinic, for instance, told a man in 2021 he wouldnt be able to receive a kidney because his donor was unvaccinated. The clinic also refused to undertake a kidney transplant for a 9-year-old boy because his father, the donor, refused to get a vaccine.

Both COVID-19 infections and vaccinations can trigger organ transplant rejections, studies show.

Some cases have gone to court. Ross Barranco, a 73-year-old Michigan man, is among those who have brought litigation over being rejected for a transplant.

To qualify for a transplant, both of my kidneys have to be functioning at 20 percent or less. What if the vax destroys the remaining function before the operation? If it does, Im done, Barranco told The Epoch Times.

Fate of Legislation

Democrats control the Senate, with 51 seats held by Democrats or nominal independents who caucus with the party.

No Democrats are co-sponsors of the new legislation.

Republicans control the House after flipping a number of seats in the midterm elections.

Bills typically require 60 votes to pass the Senate and a simple majority to pass the lower chamber.

Republicans during the pandemic have generally been supportive of individual choice and freedom to remain unvaccinated while Democrats have generally supported restrictions and mandates, including vaccine mandates.

Democrats, though, have shown an increased appetite to turn back restrictions and mandates in recent months.

Party members, for example, helped insert a provision in the defense funding bill that forced the military to repeal its vaccine mandate, which had remained in place since its imposition in August 2021.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said at the time that the mandate initially made sense but did not any longer, given the primary series of a vaccine provides little to no protection against infection.

President Joe Biden signed the bill despite opposing the inclusion of the mandate repeal, according to the White House.

Biden imposed or directed the imposition of a number of mandates, including ones for federal workers, federal contractors, and all health care workers at facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding. Most have been struck down or suspended by courts. The health care one is one of the few still in effect.
New Jersey to Expand AP African American Studies Classes

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy gives a speech on the Hudson River tunnel project at the West Side Yard in New York City, on Jan. 31, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) announced on Tuesday that AP African American Studies classes will be expanded to 26 schools in New Jersey for the 202324 academic year.

The course was introduced in 60 high schools across the United States this year as part of a two-year pilot program, with one of them located in New Jersey. Murphy announced the programs expansion during a visit to Science Park High School with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka during Black History Month.

The course is the first new offering from the College Board since 2014 and has been criticized by the Florida government as offering little educational value.

The expansion of AP African American Studies in New Jersey will grant our students the opportunity to learn about the innumerable ways in which Black Americans have shaped and strengthened our country, Murphy said in a statement. As governors like Floridas Ron DeSantis prioritize political culture wars ahead of academic success, New Jersey will proudly teach our kids that Black History is American History.

According to Murphy, New Jersey will teach its students the full history of the United States, including the ways in which black Americans have contributed to the countrys development.

We will set an example for the nation by demonstrating to our future leaders that our country is the greatest in the world because it is a work in progress, a promise, and an ideal we strive to achieve, Murphy added.

Florida Backlash

The Florida Department of Education (DOE) rejected an initial proposal to include the AP African American Studies course in the states public high school curriculum because parts of it conflicted with Floridas guidelines.

Floridas 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.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the media in Miami, in April 2022. (Courtesy of The Florida Governors Office)

On Jan. 20, Florida DOE Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. raised a list of concerns about the courses content, including topics related to critical race theory, black queer studies, Black Lives Matter, black feminist literary thought, the reparations movement, and Black study and black struggle in the 21st century.

Diaz Jr. said in a letter (pdf) obtained by The Epoch Times that the course was inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value. The state ultimately informed the College Board the course wasnt approved in the Florida Course Code Directory and Instructional Personnel Assignments.

But Diaz Jr. added that should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically-accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.

On Feb. 1, the College Board released an updated version of the course that dropped several of the controversial subjects raised by the DeSantis administration. The College Board admitted that it had made some mistakes in rolling out the program while accusing DeSantiss administration of politicizing the matter.

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 in a statement on Saturday. We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited.

DeSantis responded on Monday 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.

The College Boards original syllabus for the course, obtained by The Epoch Times, describes the course as an interdisciplinary study of African American experiences through authentic and varied sources. The College Board states that individual teachers are responsible for designing their curriculum, selecting appropriate readings and assignments, and utilizing resources that focus on the corresponding college course and appear on the AP Exam.

Patricia Tolson contributed to this report.
New Laws on Their Way in Response to Chinese Pilot Training Probe

An F-35 fighter jet pilot and crew prepare for a mission at Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates on Aug. 5, 2019. (Staff Sgt. Chris Thornbury/U.S. Air Force via AP)

New laws are on their way to stop ex-military personnel from training or sharing secrets with a foreign entity without express government permission, according to Defence Minister Richard Marles.

Marles revealed the moves following revelations two Australian-based former pilots (one from the United States and the other British) were under investigation for training Chinese fighter pilots.

One of the recommendations [from a recent Defence Review] does recommend we develop additional legislation which the government will now pursue, he told 2GB Radio on Feb. 15, noting more clarity was needed around the full breadth of secrets the Australian Defence Force (ADF) needed to keep tight-lipped about.

To make sure there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that not just the secrets that people might come into contact with but everything that surrounds itforms part of that, he said. And if you release any of that information to anybodyand that would include a foreign powerthat would be a breach of Australian law and subject to prosecution.

Marles also said the riot act had already been read to the ADF on what was expected of personnel in terms of managing classified information.

Also, in response to the incident involving Chinese spy balloons floating over North America, Marles said the ADF had the capability to track any such device in Australia.

Were confident that we will be able to deal with the situation, he said.

In October, the UK Ministry of Defence issued an intelligence alert after 30 ex-fighter pilots were alleged to have trained members of the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force.

South Australian-based Keith Hartley was also allegedly being investigated for his role as the chief operating officer of the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, an academy that British authorities warned could be an intermediary for Beijing to recruit pilots.

The 73-year-old Hartleys home was raided late last year by police. His experience includes flying some of the fastest jets in the world for the UKs Royal Air Force.

His friend, Daniel Edmund Duggan, is now facing charges of conspiracy under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act.

Duggan holds both U.S. and Australian citizenship and was arrested on Oct. 21 in the regional city of Orange in New South Wales.

U.S. authorities allege that Duggan broke arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers on three separate occasions in 2010 and 2012.

Victoria Kelly-Clark contributed to this article.
California Governor Issues Executive Order on Water Resilience Amid Flood of Criticism

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Feb. 13 intended to protect the states water supplies from climate change and the risk of prolonged drought, despite the states wettest three-week period on record in late December and early January.

The state has seen an unseasonably dry February and could see a return to warm and dry conditions during the remaining weeks of the typically wet winter months, according to the governors Feb. 13 media release on the issue, which notes that heavy rains in the fall of 2021 were followed by the driest start to 2022 in more than a century.

The latest science indicates that hotter and drier weather conditions could reduce Californias water supply by up to 10 [percent] by the year 2040, according to the release.

Meanwhile, the Democratic governor has come under fire from bipartisan legislators and California farmers over trillions of gallons of rainwater that recently flowed out to the ocean instead of being stored in reservoirs after three years of drought.

Water flows down the spillway at Nicasio Reservoir after days of rain have brought the reservoir to near capacity in Nicasio, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Since late December, a series of storms called atmospheric rivers dumped an estimated 32 trillion gallons of rainwater on California, according to the FOX Forecast Center. Such was enough to supply the states agricultural, industrial, and residential needs for at least a decade had it been stored in reservoirs, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

At a press conference on Jan. 12, Assembly Republicans said the state hasnt built a new water reservoir since 1979 and has failed to complete any major water storage projects despite approved funding to do so.

In 2014, the state issued a water bond under Proposition 1, which provided $7.5 billion, including $2.7 billion preauthorized specifically for water storage projects, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Most of Californias dams and reservoirs were built between 1945 and 1968, with the last onethe New Melones Dam and Reservoir, about 100 miles southeast of Sacramentoin 1979.

Although Newsom has advocated for the completion of the Sites Reservoir, a long-delayed proposed project on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, environmental groups have fought against it, stalling construction for at least another three years.

California, claiming it has senior water rights in the Colorado River Basin, is currently embroiled in a dispute with six other states that also rely on those dwindling water resources.

Boats are seen in low water at the Antelope Point Marina in Lake Powell on the Colorado River in Page, Ariz., on Sept. 4, 2022. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

While winter storms have boosted the Sierra-Nevada snowpack and helped to replenish the states water reservoirs and depleted aquifers, drought conditions continue to impact farming and communities with vulnerable water supplies, according to Newsoms executive order.

State Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) said in an email Newsoms order should allow farmers to store as much water as they can while the rivers are full from the recent storms.

While I am grateful for the governors actions  I would be thrilled if he stopped delaying and built Sites Reservoir so we are prepared for the next dry period, she told The Epoch Times.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) said in an email Newsom needs to go further to fast-track the construction of new water storage projects that have been tied up for years in bureaucratic red tape.

Its about time the Governor stood up to the radical environmentalists trying to kill California agriculture, he said.

Newsoms order is intended to increase the states capacity to capture storm runoff in wet years by refilling groundwater aquifers, and allow the State Water Board to reevaluate requirements for reservoir releases and diversion limitations to maximize water supplies.

Additionally, it directs state agencies to recommend drought response actions by April 30, including the possibility of ending no longer needed emergency provisions, once there is greater clarity about the hydrologic conditions this year.

The state will draw on $8.6 billion allocated in the last two budget cycles to build water resilience and prepare for impacts of climate-driven extreme weather, according to Newsoms release.

The governor has proposed an additional $202 million for flood protection and $125 million for drought-related actions in the 202324 state budget.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley delivers a speech at 11:00 a.m. ET on Feb. 15 in Charleston, South Carolina, to announce her 2024 Presidential campaign plans.

Nikki Haley, former President Donald Trumps U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, issued a video statement on Tuesday, officially announcing her Republican presidential candidacy in 2024, becoming the first crucial challenger to her former boss.

The Epoch Times will livestream her speech.
The Brownsville man accused of painting a curb red to deter parked cars in his tony neighborhood walked away from court on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with an agreement to return the sidewalks edge to its original drab gray.

Under whats called a civil compromise, Allen Buzzard will write a $1,200 check directly to a painting company, and the felony criminal mischief charge will be dismissed.

Buzzard was accused of painting a residential curb red sometime between April 7 and April 8 last year. After fielding complaints, the city turned the matter over to Linn County Sheriffs Office, and the District Attorneys Office filed the matter as a misdemeanor mischief case.

A grand jury in November upped the charge to a felony, and a two-day jury trial was scheduled to start Wednesday in Albany.

This feels like the right way to have it resolved, other than a conviction, prosecutor Lindy Rae Brownback told defense attorney Stephen Ensor before Linn County Circuit Court Judge Michael B. Wynhausen entered the courtroom and made the deal official.

Restitution was the result the city  considered the victim in the case  was hoping for all along, Brownsville City Administrator Scott McDowell said in the courtroom hallway, prepared to testify had the trial proceeded.

The contractor first will sandblast the red away because simply painting over it would allow the vivid color to reappear in a years time, he said.

Im just glad we got to the resolution, McDowell said.

Although no testimony was heard, Buzzard was willing to tell his side of the story on the courtroom steps.

As the self-proclaimed third-most senior member of the just-north-of-downtown neighborhood, Buzzard  who lives around the corner from the besmirched intersection of Butte Street and North Avenue  said he had always viewed that corner as dangerous.

Then one day in January 2022, his wife almost ran into a parked black BMW sedan with her vehicle, Buzzard said. He had had enough.

Shortly thereafter, he tried to drum up support among neighbors who had gathered at a nearby mailbox. His first idea was to distribute what he called non-confrontational and informational fliers on the windshields of cars that parked too close to the intersections stop sign.

After a month or so, it was evident that plan wasnt working, Buzzard said.

In the 10 months since the curb has been red, no one has parked there, he noted.

In a Mid-Valley Media interview last month, Buzzard was resolute to take the case all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court, if need be. So, what changed?

I cant argue with all the charges being dropped, he said. Previous offers to resolve the case always included a criminal stain on his record.

His lawyer, Unser, described the resolution as good as a not-guilty verdict.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Youre convicted of nothing.

Now Buzzard said hes going to concentrate on repairing relationships. After walking out of the courtroom, he was able to shake McDowells hand with no animus, no animosity; it was cordial.

He hopes the same can be achieved with his neighbors.

But he still hopes people wont park there.

Related stories:
No Evidence Veterans Were Offered Unsolicited Assisted Suicide by Federal Department, Minister Says

Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence Lawrence MacAulay rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 25, 2022. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay says there is no evidence that medically assisted death was ever offered unprompted, or suggested to veterans or their families, by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).

The ministers statement, which responded to an order paper question issued by Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant, comes less than two months after a VAC worker who allegedly suggested assisted suicide to military veterans left her position at the federal department.

VAC has not disclosed whether the female employee was fired or resigned, but she was initially suspended after reports emerged of her allegedly offering unsolicited Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) to veterans.

VAC is aware that some veterans have died as a result of using the legislated process for MAID, said MacAulay in his response to Gallant on Jan. 30, adding that VAC was not responsible.

There is no evidence that MAID was ever discussed inappropriately with these veterans or the families by any VAC employee. A thorough and manual deep-dive review was conducted on each instance, including references to medical assistance in dying, file reviews and discussions with VAC employees who potentially had interactions with the veterans.

MacAulay said VAC reviewed and analyzed 402,000 unique client files dating back to 2016, but found no evidence of unsolicited MAiD being offered to veterans.

One Single Employee

MacAulay previously appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, where he said his department was aware of four allegations of veterans being offered unsolicited MAiD by a VAC employee.

The minister told the committee on Nov. 24, 2022, that all alleged unsolicited offers of MAiD to veterans by his department came from one single employee, who at the time was no longer working as a case manager with veterans.

We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee and is not a widespread or a systemic issue, he said.

A retired Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) corporal named Mark Meincke earlier told the same committee that he had spoken with one of the anonymous veterans who was allegedly offered unsolicited MAiD over the phone by a VAC employee.

Meincke later hosted on an episode of his podcast a veteran going by the pseudonym Bruce who also alleged being offered completely unprompted MAiD by a VAC employee.

MacAulay told the Commons veterans affairs committee on Nov. 24 that he was unaware of that specific case.

I would ask [Bruce] to please contact us, MacAulay said.

Meincke told The Epoch Times in an interview on Feb. 15 that MacAulay seems to be flipping and flopping in terms of his admissions on veterans being offered MAiD by VAC.

He [MacAulay] is saying two things at the same time that are diametrically opposed, said Meincke.

They [VAC] keep contradicting themselves.

Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
No Federal Funds to Hospitals That Deny Care to Unvaccinated, Say GOP Lawmakers

People gather at City Hall to protest New York Citys vaccine mandate in New York City on Feb. 11, 2022. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would hold hospitals accountable if they deny care to patients who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine.

The legislation introduced by the Kentucky lawmaker, known as the COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Act, would prohibit federal funds from being made available to health care facilities that discriminate against patients based on their COVID-19 vaccination status (pdf).

It would also protect the rights of vulnerable patients to make their own decisions about their health without being penalized, according to the senator.

The legislation is currently co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

No American should be denied access to critical care based on a personal medical decision, yet tragically, many hospitals and other medical facilities continue to discriminate against those unvaccinated for COVID-19, Paul said in a statement.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Act will protect the rights of vulnerable patients to make their own health care choices and ensure that federal taxpayer dollars do not support facilities that turn away patients based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on April 26, 2022. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

No Reason to Deny Care

Bishop also noted that there is no reason that medical facilities should deny care to people based on their COVID-19 vaccination status, and theres certainly no reason for institutions that do so to receive any federal funding.

Paul noted that the American Medical Association (AMA) emphasizes that no physician should refuse a patient simply because the individual is not vaccinated or declines to be vaccinated.

The commitment to care for those who are sick or injured carries with it a duty to treat in other circumstances as well, including public health crises when a physician may face greater than usual risks to [their] own safety, health or life,' the AMA said in a September 2021 statement.

Two women in Colorado were denied kidney transplants by UCHealth in 2021 because they declined the COVID-19 vaccine. One of the women, Leilani Lutali, even had her own donor lined up, but the hospital canceled the procedure because neither Lutali nor her donor, Jaimee Fougner, had received the vaccine, CBS News reported.

The other woman, Dawn McLaughlin, has polycystic kidney disease and was advised by her doctor not to get the vaccine, but the hospital move McLaughlin to the inactive transplant list, she told CBS News.

At the time, the hospital said in a statement: For transplant patients who contract COVID-19, the mortality rate ranges from about 20 percent to more than 30 percent. This shows the extreme risk that COVID-19 poses to transplant recipients after their surgeries. UCHealth and transplant centers across the nation have requirements in place to protect surgical patients.

A nurse recieves a COVID-19 vaccination in Orange, Calif., on Dec. 16, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Dozens of similar cases have been reported throughout the United States and beyond.

In December, 14-year-old Yulia Hicks was refused a kidney transplant by Duke University Hospital because she was unvaccinated. Her parents told Fox & Friends Weekend that Yulia had previously contracted the virus, recovered, and thus had natural immunity.

In a statement to Fox News Digital at the time, Duke University health officials said they were committed to making organ transplant accessible to as many eligible patients as possible.

In Alberta, Canada, a terminally ill woman named Annette Lewis was removed from an organ transplant list because she declined to get the COVID-19 shot. Lewis went on to file a legal challenge against Alberta Health Services, but an Alberta appeals court later dismissed the case.

CDC Acknowledges Natural Immunity

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledged that strong protection was granted by natural immunity after COVID-19 infection after conducting a study analyzing COVID-19 cases in California and New York in 2021 from May 30 through November of the same year.

That study found that individuals who had not received a COVID-19 vaccine but were infected previously with the illness were much less likely to test positive for COVID-19 again and also less likely to need hospitalization compared to vaccinated people who had not been infected with COVID-19.

However, unvaccinated individuals without prior infection were the most likely to contract COVID-19 and require hospital care, the study found.
No Legal Recourse for COVID Vaccine Victims in China

Court rejects lawsuit; police harass and threaten plaintiffs

Representatives of COVID vaccine victims gather in front of the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing to file a class suit against the State Council and the National Health Commission, on Feb. 9, 2023. (Courtesy of Hua Xiuzhen)

Families of the vaccine-injured in China are calling on the regime to help them. They say Chinese authorities misrepresented the potential for serious harm from COVID-19 vaccines, and are calling on Chinas National Health Commission to investigate thousands of vaccine-related illnesses.

Representatives of the vaccine-injured went to Beijing to file a lawsuit against the State Council and the National Health Commission. However, the court rejected the filing, and the representatives met with police suppression.

When victims and their family members gathered in Beijing on Feb. 9, many police were also present. Moreover, in addition to the intimidating police presence, some of the representatives received calls from their hometown police departments, warning them of possible consequences if they pursued the lawsuit.

The Epoch Times Chinese language edition spoke to some of those involved in the lawsuit. They described how severe adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines have hurt their loved ones, and how their families have suffered as a result of the national policy.

COVID-19 vaccines in China are generally inactivated viral vaccines, not the mRNA vaccines common elsewhere in the world. Both types of vaccines have been linked to serious health problems. By June 2022, China had administered nearly 3.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, according to statista.

Victims Lawsuit Rejected

Hua Xiuzhen, who drafted the complaint, said that about a dozen victims and their family members volunteered to serve as representatives on behalf of the vaccine-injured.

An earlier lawsuit filed by about 20 victims had also been rejected. This time, however, the class action had grown to include 1,385 victims.

They gathered at the Second Intermediate Peoples Court to file the suit. However, they met with rejection once again.

Unfortunately, the court refused to accept our materials after we said it was a lawsuit against the State Council, Hua said.

The representatives experienced harassment by Beijing police. In addition, many received calls from their local police, saying that the lawsuit means discontent. In other words, it represents a threat to national security.

Hua said that although the plaintiffs have a legal right to sue the government, the police have targeted them, ostensibly to keep the peace and maintain stability.

She called the police harassment a violation of their right to sue.

Hua has been defending the rights of the vaccine injured since her daughter developed epilepsy, sudden deafness, and encephalopathy after getting a rabies vaccine in 2014.

The Complaint

According to the lawsuit, during a press conference on July 23, 2022, health officials claimed that COVID-19 vaccines produced in China do not cause leukemia and diabetes. The lawsuit alleged that those statements were inaccurate and should be revoked by the State Council.

The lawsuit demanded a scientific, open, and fair investigation, and an honest diagnosis of adverse reactions.

Among the representatives were many who have suffered adverse reactions to the vaccines. Those reactions include serious and rare diseases such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia and GuillainBarre syndrome.

Victims testified that they were in good health until they received the COVID-19 vaccines.

Many of those interviewed were desperately hoping to resolve their heavy medical bills and recover their livelihoods.

First-grader Xiao Ziyi was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2021 after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinopharm. (Courtesy of Xiao Honghua)

A Cough, and Then a Cancer Diagnosis

Xiao Ziyi, a first-grader from Wuhan, received her first vaccination on Nov. 8, 2021, and a second on Dec. 4.

Both vaccines were made by Sinopharm. However, the first was developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the second was developed by the Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products.

Ziyi developed a cough on Dec. 15, 11 days after the second vaccine.

Nine days later20 days after the second doseZiyi was found to have a 5-centimeter (2-inch) lung tumor.

Just 25 days after vaccination, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Within a month after vaccination, the tumor had doubled in size to four inches.

Her father, Xiao Honghua, said his daughter had been healthy before the vaccination, and there was no family history of illness. There are no known pollutants in their environment, and no one in the family was engaged in work with radiation.

Ziyis school and local health officials enforced mandatory vaccinations. Parents needed to get a doctors approval to refuse vaccination for their children.

According to Xiao, the schools consent form clearly listed 12 possibleand generally mildadverse reactions: itching, swelling, induration, flushing, fever, muscle pain, headache, cough, diarrhea, nausea, anorexia, and allergies.

However, the vaccine instructions listed 4 classes of adverse reactions, with more than 70 symptoms, ranging from mild to severe, including lymphadenopathy, tonsilitis, and sclerosis.

Xiao feels the Wuhan authorities failed to fully understand the ingredients of the vaccine and the possibility of adverse reactions.

Since Ziyis diagnosis on Dec. 28, 2021, her family has spent 800,000 yuan ($117,000) on medical bills. A lung transplant would cost 380,000 yuan ($55,000) upfront, not including post-transplant expenses such as anti-rejection medications.

The family is already heavily in debt. Faced with even more astronomical bills in the future, Xiao hoped that Wuhan authorities would cover his daughters continued treatment expenses until she can recover.

Zhao Yujuans daughter suffers from lymphoma: she was diagnosed after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in late 2021. (Courtesy of Zhao Yujuan/The Epoch Times)

From a Vaccine to Chemo in Less Than Two Months

Zhao Yujuan, a resident of northwest Chinas Xinjiang region, told The Epoch Times that her daughter received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at school, in late 2021on Oct. 30 and Nov. 29, respectively.

A little over a month later, in early January of 2022, Zhaos daughter was diagnosed with T lymphoblastic lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

By early February, the child was undergoing chemotherapy at Shanghai Childrens Medical Center. Zhao said, the child endured a lot, and it cost hundreds of thousands of yuan.

In May 2022, Zhao submitted her childs case to the local government. Authorities rejected her multiple online petitions. Her request bounced back and forth as one level of government referred it to another.

Zhao said, Our request is very clear, [a compensation for] medical treatment, and care and security after the treatment.

Yang Junhua developed aplastic anemia after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. (Courtesy of Yang Junhua/The Epoch Times)

Health Officials Deny a Link

Yang Junhua, a woman from northwest Chinas Gansu Province, suddenly developed aplastic anemia after receiving a COVID vaccine in 2021. The local pandemic prevention center called the illness a coincidence.

Yang insisted that her physical exam and blood tests were normal before the vaccination, and there is no family history of chronic illnesses. She challenged local health officials to explain how they concluded that her anemia was coincidental. She said, Theyve been telling me that they will get back to me next week, but theyve never called.

Zhang Li developed leukemia after three doses of the Sinovac vaccine. (Courtesy of Zhang Li/The Epoch Times)

The illness cost her her job, the only source of income for Yang and her invalid mother.

Unsigned Medical Assessments

Zhang Li, a resident of northern Chinas Hebei Province, received her third shot of Sinovac on Feb. 9, 2022. After a series of adverse reactions, she was diagnosed with acute leukemia. She has been receiving treatment since May 7, 2022.

Zhang has been hospitalized for nine months. She said: It cost me hundreds of thousands of yuan; I am heavily in debt. I am just a peasant, I have no savings and no insurance.

Zhang requested a medical assessment from local health authorities, in order to receive compensation for her illness. She received an assessment, but it simply stated that her illness could not be caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. It was unsigned and had no official seal.

She has asked for compensation and financial assistance from the local government and health committee, but to no avail.

I hope the media will help me, she said.

Liu Lifeng was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. (Courtesy of Liu Lifeng/The Epoch Times)

Diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome

Zhang was not the only one who received ill treatment from health officials.

Liu Lifeng is a resident of southwestern Chinas Yunnan Province.

She received the Sinovac vaccine on March 27, 2021, and a vaccine from Sinopharm a month later. She lost mobility in her left leg on the morning of May 12, 2021.

According to Liu, a doctor in Shanghai believed her symptom was caused by the vaccine and told her she had lower motor neuron syndrome. The doctor prescribed gamma globulin. However, her situation deteriorated, and she was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome on July 29, 2022.

Guillain Barre Syndrome is a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks the nerves, causing weakness and possible paralysis.

Liu said she has lost hope. Her life is filled with suffering, including weakness, numbness, tingling, and muscle twitches.

Like Zhang, Liu sought an assessment from local health authorities. However, none of the experts would acknowledge a link with the vaccines, and the assessment she received was unsigned.

Health officials dodged her questions about the vaccines. However, every expert said theyve followed the legal and standard protocols, Liu said.

Stepped Up Harassment

After their visit to Beijing, the plaintiffs experienced stepped-up harassment from local police. Several interviewees updated The Epoch Times on their situation.

Qian Dalong, one of the victims and a Beijing resident, said he was forced to give a statement at the police station.

Vaccine victim and group chat organizer Jia Xiaoyu was placed in administrative detention for 15 days.

Hua, who drafted the indictment, said, They took me to the police station and forcibly extracted a statement from me. They kept me there until 2 a.m.

When she finally arrived home early in the morning of Feb. 10, Hua noticed a new surveillance camera. That made a total of eight around her apartment, in addition to 12 security guards keeping watch.

Li Xi contributed to this report.
NYPD, Queens DA Arrest 23 of NYCs Most Dangerous Gang Members in Joint Operation

Approximately 23 of the most dangerous individuals in New York City have been arrested by NYPD following a two-year investigation that was sparked by the death of a mother-of-two killed by a stray bullet.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the arrests of the two subsets of the Crips street gang in a statement on Feb. 14.

One of the subsets was based in the Astoria Houses and the other in the Woodside Houses, which are New York City Housing Authority developments, according to officials.

The Astoria Crips belong to the Rollin Crip gang, known also as the Hip Hop Boys, their rap music group name, officials said, while the Woodside Crips belong to the 8 Trey Crip set. Their rap music name is Tru Crash Gettas.

The arrested individuals have been charged with an array of crimes including conspiracy to commit murder, second-degree attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and gun possession in connection with a number of violent incidents, including shootouts in broad daylight on busy streets.

The majority of the defendants were arraigned last week on an 85-count indictment and are set to appear in court in March. They face years in prison if found guilty.

New York mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference in New York on Nov. 21, 2022. (NYC Office of the Mayor via AP)

New Yorkers Caught in the Crossfire

Warring gangs are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of us, District Attorney Katz said. The reckless criminality we saw during the course of this investigation is the kind of lawlessness that has killed law-abiding New Yorkers caught in the crossfire of gang gun violence.

According to Adams and Katz, the two subsets of gangs were aligned up until Aug. 4, 2018, when Isiah King of Woodside Houses assaulted Djuan Price of Astoria Houses over a drug deal.

The following day, Price and his brother, Elijah Price, went to the Woodside Houses development in retaliation and were armed with handguns. While they were unable to find King, they tracked down his close friend and fellow gang member, Jaffvonta Reid, and shot him in the leg.

Further tension between the two gang subsets was allegedly fuelled by social media and rap videos in which they taunted one another, leading to over 18 acts of gun-related violence, including homicide, attempted murder, and gun possession.

Many of the violent acts were conducted in front of small children, according to Adams and Katz.

The criminal acts included Woodside gang members opening fire on a vehicle they believed to be occupied by a rival gang member while a young girl stood at an ice cream truck nearby.

Another crime involved Astoria gang members entering a housing development and opening fire on opposition gang members while other residents, including several small children, stood in the courtyard of the building, officials said. During that incident, one gang member and an innocent bystander were hit.

Multiple other similar shooting incidents took place at the hands of the gang members, according to Adams and Katz.

Police search for a suspect in a Times Square subway station following a call to police from riders in New York on April 25, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Operation Prompted by Death of Gudelia Vallinas

The takedown operation, called Operation AQtively Movin, was initiated by the death of Gudelia Vallinas, a 37-year-old mother of two who was shot in March 2021 by gang members as she made her way to the supermarket to buy milk for her children, Queens District Attorney Deputy Chief Jason Savino said.

Ms. Vallinas is our American dream whose life was suddenly halted due to gang members recklessly firing bullets with total disregard of anybody around them. Absolutely horrific, Savino said. Now our beautiful members of Queens deserve to be able to enjoy the beautiful parks; walk along Broadway or Steinway Street without any fear of gunfire. These gangs did all they could to intimidate our streets.

The joint takedown operation was conducted by the Queens County District Attorneys Office along with Detectives from the New York Police Departments Violence Reduction Task Force, under the supervision of the NYPDs Gun Violence Suppression Division.

The arrest of the 23 gang members comes as crime has exploded in New York City in recent years and the citys police department has seen a mass exodus.

In 2021, there were 264 homicides in New Yorkthe highest number in a decade. While that figure dropped slightly to 253 in 2022, felony assaults increased by nearly 20 percent, while grand theft rose to nearly 17 percent.

Since day one, public safety has been our administrations top priority, and thats why we have been working around the clock to stop gun violence and to keep guns and repeat offenders off our streets, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

This case is another victory in our work to remove New Yorks most dangerous individuals from our communities, Adams said.
Ohio Derailment: Governor Wonders Why Trains Cargo Not Labeled High Hazardous Material

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Feb. 14 raised the issue that the cargo of a train that derailed in Ohio on Feb. 3 was not defined as high hazardous material.

DeWine said Congress should act on what he called an absurd situation, as the train was not deemed highly hazardous because only a few cars had highly dangerous contents.

But key committees in the Republican-controlled House are holding their peace as investigations of the derailment and its environmental impact proceed.

A spokesperson for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), said the committee was talking with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Department of Transportations Federal Railroad Administration, and the railroad involved, Norfolk Southern.

We will continue to monitor the situation and NTSBs ongoing investigation, the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 14 email.

That same day, the board updated its investigation, describing one possible culprit in the incident, which occurred near the Pennsylvania border in East Palestine, Ohio.

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 agencys incident webpage states.

A spokesperson for Rep. James Comer (R-Texas), now the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, did not have any updates for The Epoch Times as of the afternoon of Feb. 14.

And a spokesperson for the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

A Feb. 14 statement from Debra Shore of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted the agency had not detected vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride in the 396 local homes it has screened so far through a voluntary program.

State and local agencies are conducting sampling throughout the Ohio River to ensure drinking water intakes arent affected, and EPA is continuing to assist the state with sampling efforts at water treatment intake points along the Ohio River, Shore wrote.

At a Feb. 14 press conference, DeWine said a controlled burn of freight cars containing vinyl chloride was motivated by the desire to avoid an explosion that could have [sent] deadly shrapnel in all directions.

DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro coordinated on Feb. 6 to set up an evacuation zone near the derailment. They and other officials declared that residents could safely return on Feb. 8.

In addition to vinyl chloride, cars involved in the incident contained ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate, according to a Feb. 10 letter from EPA to Norfolk Southern.

DeWine noted that Ohios public utilities commission informed him the derailed train was not deemed to be high hazardous because only a few of its cars contained highly dangerous contents.

Therefore, the railroad was not required to notify anyone here in Ohio about what was in the rail cars coming through our state, he said.

Frankly, if this is true, and Im told its true, its absurd.  Congress needs to take a look at how these things are handled.

The EPA and the Federal Railroad Administration didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.
Ohio Proposes Law Mandating Parental Consent for Children to Access Online Platforms

The logo of the Chinese social media app TikTok is shown in a picture taken in Paris on Dec. 14, 2018. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

Ohios Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is proposing a new law that would require certain online services to obtain permission from parents before allowing kids to use their platforms, insisting that such measures are necessary to protect children from harmful content.

The Social Media Parental Notification Act requires online companies to create a method to determine whether the user is a child less than 16 years of age, obtain verifiable consent for such users from their parent or legal guardian, and send a written confirmation of the consent to the parent/guardian.

Husted, a Republican, submitted the proposal as part of the governors 202324 executive budget that was recently presented to the Ohio General Assembly.

The proposed law would apply to social media and online gaming/activity companies. This would bring services like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram under the purview of the law. E-commerce services like online shopping are excluded.

Husted insists that the proposed law is in no way a government overreach but an attempt to protect children of Ohio from disturbing online content and social media addiction.

Everything in your childs life needs parental consent. But in the form of social media, one of the most dangerous threats to their social lives right now, theres nothing. Theres no requirement, and we need to fix that, he said, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.

Protecting Children From Harmful Content

According to the proposed bill, if the user indicates that they are under the age of 16, online services have six ways to allow parents to verify the information.

This includes accepting a sign on a digital form consenting to the terms of service, using a debit card, credit card, or other online payment systems, connecting to trained personnel through video conference, calling a toll-free number, or checking a form of government-issued identification.

In case the parent or guardian refuses to consent to the terms of service, the platform must deny such services to the child. Once the bill is signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, companies will have 90 days to comply with the new requirements.

Speaking to Statehouse News Bureau, Husted pointed out that young children are being exposed to posts like gender transitioning as well as being body shamed and bullied. These can be very destructive to a childs brain, which is only in the developmental stage, he stated.

Husted pointed to the suicide of a 15-year-old boy who had sent a nude photo to an adult mistaking the person for a teen girl, only to get caught up in a money extortion scheme.

When you know a product is harmful, whether its been cigarettes or something else, weve had to step in and find ways to limit or mitigate the harmful nature of that product, Husted said. And in this particular case, were not banning anything. Were just saying parental notification.

Social Media Use Among Teenagers

A 2021 study (pdf) by Common Sense Media states that 84 percent of teens in the United States use social media but only 34 percent claim to enjoy social media a lot.

In addition, social media use is rising among tweenschildren between the ages of 9 and 12a group who are technically not supposed to be using social media in the first place, the study said.

According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics in January by the University of North Carolina, habitual checking of social media could be affecting the neural development of brains among adolescents, leaving them sensitive to social feedback.

Social media provides a constant and unpredictable stream of social inputs to adolescents during a critical development period when the brain becomes especially sensitive to social rewards and punishments, the study said.

Likes, notifications, and messages arrive unpredictably on a maximally powerful variable reinforcement schedule, conditioning individuals to check social media habitually in anticipation of this social feedback.
One After Another: New Zealand Hit by Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake, Cyclone Gabrielle Death Toll Rises

Residents in Taradale clean up silt following flood waters in Napier, New Zealand, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Kerry Marshall/Getty Images)

An earthquake struck New Zealand on Wednesday evening as residents of the North Island begin the clean up process after Cyclone Gabrielle left the country.

Tremors were felt from lower North Island to the upper South Island, with GeoNet upgrading its initial 6.1 magnitude assessment to a magnitude of 6.3.

It struck at a depth of 50 kilometres (31 miles) and around 50 kilometres northwest of Paraparaumu town, which is 55 kilometres north of the capital city, Wellington.

No tsunami warning was sounded because the quake was too deep to perturb seafloor, GeoNet wrote on Twitter.

We have updated the Cook Strait mainshock to M6.3. Currently we have recorded 6 aftershocks in the sequence, ranging from M1.6-M3.3. The depth (50km) is why no tsunami threat was issued, as this was too deep to perturb seafloor.  GeoNet (@geonet) February 15, 2023

Meanwhile, five deaths from Cyclone Gabrielle have been confirmed, a number that is expected to rise with 1,400 people missing as flood water begins to recede.

Among the five were a volunteer firefighter and one child.

On Monday evening, two firefighters had been investigating a flooded property, then became trapped inside following a landslide. The other firefighter remains in the hospital.

My heart goes out to his family and to his friends and colleagues in the brigade. His death is being felt by our Fire and Emergency whanau right across the country, Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory told 1News in a statement.

Flags will be flown at half-mast on all fire stations to acknowledge our firefighters death.

Speaking to the media on Feb. 15, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins acknowledged the firefighter for his service.

He lost his life protecting others in his community, and our thoughts are with his loved ones, he said, adding that the grief of the family and loved ones of the victims will be unimaginable.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (C) Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni (R) and Transport Minister Michael Wood (L) speak to media at Waka Kotahi Auckland Transport operations room ahead of Cyclone Gabrielles arrival in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 12, 2023. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Power Grid Slowly Being Restored

Hipkins said a better picture of the damage across the upper North Island was emerging as cellphone coverage was being restored.

What is clear is the devastation is widespread and has taken a toll beyond property and livelihoods, he said.

Today, our immediate focus has been undertaking lifesaving missions for those affected by the floods who needed to be rescued. Getting telecommunications and power back on as quickly as possible. Conducting aerial surveys to understand the extent of the damage and to identify where people need help deploying emergency supplies, food, water, and medicine.

Around 160,000 households are still without power, Energy and Housing Minister Megan Woods said. This is down from a peak of 225,000 the day before.

There are still high winds in some places with blocked roads making restoration unsafe at this point, she said.

A house sits destroyed at the bottom of a large landslide on Domain Crescent in Muriwai following Cyclone Gabrielle in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The situation in Hawkes Bay remains critical, where 60,000 households are without power and 9,000 people are displaced. The weather event has displaced around 10,500 people overall.

We remain in an urgent response mode in the Hawkes Bay region, Hipkins said.

Several areas are also short of food and clean water, which authorities began delivering on Wednesday evening to Wairoa in the Hawkes Bay region.

A rapid relief team is working to provide a drop of bottled water for 3,000 people via helicopter that is planned to arrive this evening. The rapid relief team will also be establishing a barbeque and wider, which will cater for approximately 3,000 people this evening, Hipkins said.

All contact with the Wairoa had been lost on Tuesday before a Starlink terminal was activated on Tuesday evening, allowing the transfer of limited information. Communications have since been restored.

The defence force will be bring a water treatment facility for drinking water on Thursday, Hipkins said.

The New Zealand Defence Force has deployed 700 personnel to assist in relief efforts, up from 239 the day before.

A national state of emergency was declared on Tuesday, the third in the countrys history after the Christchurch shootings in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Cyclone Moves Further Away While Weakening

National forecaster MetService reported that Cyclone Gabrielle was 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the east of Gisborne at 10 a.m. on Feb. 15.

It continues to move southeast away from the country, weakening as it approaches the north of Chatham Islands.

MetService says the severe weather has eased in most places, but heavy rain will continue to fall throughout central New Zealand.

While rainfall accumulations are not expected to reach warning amounts in Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti/Gisborne on Thursday and Friday, it will be falling on saturated soil in an area where rivers are still running high, and floodwaters remain, so there could still be further damage and flooding associated with it, MetService meteorologist Jessie Owen said.

Surfers head out into large waves and rough seas from Cyclone Gabrielle at Goat Island Marine Reserve in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

It also revealed that Northland, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, and Auckland had been inundated with up to 408, 488, 338, and 200 millimetres of rain between Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.

Most cities in North Island also received wind gusts of over 100 kilometres per hour, with Auckland recording speeds up to 150 kilometres per hour.

This affected air travel, with Air New Zealand revealing that over 800 flights had been impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, affecting around 49,000 customers.

Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty said the recovery phase is going to be long and slow.

This is not going to be a quick fix and its not going to be cheap but were committed to do it, he told Radio New Zealand.

The country remains in a national state of emergency, which will be reviewed after seven days.
Ottawa Bans Federal Funding for Research With Chinese Military Institutions; Calls on Provinces, Universities to Do the Same

Chinese fighter jets take off at the Yangcun Air Force base of the People's Liberation Army Air Force in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing, in a file photo. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Ottawa is banning federal research funding for projects done in collaboration with any researchers affiliated with Chinas military. The federal government is calling on the provinces and universities across Canada to follow similar guidelines.

Grant applications that involve conducting research in a sensitive research area will not be funded if any of the researchers working on the project are affiliated with a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities of foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security, reads a Feb. 14 joint statement by the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

This enhanced policy will be implemented rapidly and in close consultation with our departments, Canadas national security agencies and the research community, said the ministers, noting that due to a constantly evolving threat environment, more had to be done to protect Canadas research ecosystem.

The government has indicated it will be instructing the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canadas federal research granting councilsthe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Researchto deny funding to Chinese military scientists.

The government also announced it will be forming a research security centre that will provide advice and guidance directly to research institutions. The ministers said they have written to Universities Canada and the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities urging them to follow similar guidelines for all their research partnerships, especially in sensitive research areas.

The government said it would work closely with the university sector to ensure these steps are implemented effectively, and that this was one of many steps the federal government planned to protect the country and intellectual property.

The announcement follows previous comments made by Champagne at a House of Commons committee meeting on Feb. 2, when the minister vowed to impose additional requirements to strengthen research security in Canada. He said the government had to ensure that sensitive research and intellectual property would be protected and said that for matters of national security, there would be no compromise.

On Jan. 30, The Globe and Mail reported that 50 Canadian universities had been working in partnership with a Chinese military scientific institution, conducting research on high-end and sensitive technologies, including those related to guided missiles and eavesdropping.

Between 2005 and 2022, researchers from the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, and McGill University, among others, conducted and published hundreds of scientific papers with Chinese military scientists at the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) in China. There were 240 joint research papers published by 10 of Canadas top universities in collaboration with NUDT within the past five years, on topics including quantum cryptography, photonics, and space science.

Some of the scientists at NUDT are specialists in missile performance and guidance systems, mobile robotics, and automated surveillance.

NUDT said on its webpage that it was initially founded as the Peoples Liberation Army Military Academy of Engineering in the 1950s and is now under the direct leadership of Chinas Central Military Commission. The institution has received significant investments from the state and the military.

On Nov. 5, 2013, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping visited the school and said, We will accelerate the building of the university into a world-class university with Chinese military characteristics, and strive to turn the university into a highland for training high-quality new military personnel and for independent innovation in national defense technology.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has long warned Canadian academic institutions of foreign espionage activities conducted through academic research, saying China is among several foreign actors that Canada needs to be vigilant against.

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
Provinces to Share Health Info With Feds Amid Concerns Surrounding Privacy, Vulnerability

Canadas provinces have agreed to facilitate the sharing of health information as a condition of receiving more federal transfers, a commitment that has potential benefits but which also raises concerns.

On Feb. 13, the provinces agreed to $196 billion in transfers from the federal government, of which $46 billion would be new money. To access the funds, Ottawa requires provinces and territories to commit to improving how health information is collected, shared, used, and reported  to promote greater transparency on results, and to help manage public health emergencies, according to a statement issued by the prime minister on Feb. 7.

University of New Brunswick political science professor Herb Emery, a former program director of health policy at the University of Calgarys School of Public Policy, says that a greater role for federal health care, including sharing more data, wont bring the change the health system needs.

Whether federal or provincial, the same basic flaws exist in an arrangement that is open-ended payment for services with no mechanisms to allocate [or] re-allocate resources when shifts are needed, Emery said in an interview.

The federal government has no further scale economies of administration over those of the larger provinces.

Efforts to create a national health-care platform are old. The federal government first announced the Canada Health Infoway in 2000 to facilitate a more connected and collaborative health system. Emery says the enormity of the challenge is part of what has stalled its implementation.

Health data has its own privacy and security challenges at the level of province that are not minor issues with respect to data-sharing, even with a trusted federal government. Its also not clear if sharing of personal data from all provincial residents with the feds is even feasible or sensible in the absence of a common information system across provinces, he said.

Trudeaus Feb. 7 statement acknowledges the federal goal and the provincial alignment required to achieve it.

Canadians should be able to access their own health information and benefit from it being shared between health workers, across health settings, and across jurisdictions. That is why provinces and territories are also asked to agree to adopt common standards and policies related to data, the statement says.

Privacy, Information-Sharing

Susan Martinuk, a policy fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and author of Patients at Risk: Exposing Canadas Health-care Crisis,, believes the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) already collects enough data to help Ottawa steer toward service targets.

The government is just looking for some means of claiming to demand accountability. I dont think it creates accountability at all. I have no idea why they think that this would add accountability, Martinuk told The Epoch Times.

But [as for] personal information, the benefit is that when a person goes to a different province, or if somebody falls sick in a different province and has to go to hospital, they would have access to their record. So its a huge benefit. The practical problem in implementing it is the cost and the labour involved.

Jason Woywada, executive director of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, told The Epoch Times the federal plans dont raise a red flag for him.

On the privacy side of things its kind of a non-issue. The concerns exist now and wouldnt really change unless the system entirely devolved to the provinces. I think its fair to say each province and the federal government strive to have similar controls and restrictions on the collection, use, access, and protections of personal health information, Woywada said by email.

From a patient perspective I would expect that if I go to a hospital in Newfoundland, Alberta, or Saskatchewan, the protections and records could be accessed by my doctor as I travel for work in any of those provinces.

Woywada said that standardized key performance indicators in health metrics would help improve patient service and monitor the system. His primary attention is on limiting information-sharing abroad.

Our concern would stem from how international trade agreements and data sharing agreements might impact the ability of corporations or foreign powers to access that information. Those concerns exist now and dont really change if Ottawa standardizes collection, he said.

We would return to the key factor being transparency in these contracts and agreements because they are in the public interest, and those should trump corporate or foreign interests. This is particularly important as we see more private corporations entering health sectors in some provinces.

Vulnerability

Martinuk, however, believes the new platform would be a big target for hackers and increase vulnerabilities for personal information.

Ethical issues, obviously, [are] related primarily to security and privacy, and that is making peoples records very vulnerable to cyberattacks, or even just to people wanting to have a peek, she said.

Because its so much personal information its even more likely that people would want to, or would attempt, to make a ransom demand. Hospitals have had ransom demands, a lot of them, but they dont make them public.

The Epoch Times reached out to Health Canada for clarity on how it will handle health information. Senior media relations adviser Anne Genier pointed to 30 years of federal-provincial participation sharing information with CIHI while preserving privacy.

Canadians should be able to access their own health information, while protecting their privacy and improving the quality and safety of their care. This is why, to access their share of the federal funding, provinces and territories (PT) are asked to commit to common standards and policies related to health information, Genier said in an email.

All PTs disclose health data to CIHI in accordance with applicable privacy legislation and under the terms of data sharing agreements.  The Government of Canada will continue to collaborate with partners to ensure that Canadians health data is protected and shared securely.

The federal government must negotiate agreements on a province-by-province basis.

Prior to the agreement, both Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had said they would not share personal medical information with the federal government.

Neither Moe nor Smith responded to requests for comment.

Moe also previously said he wouldnt participate in a digital health ID scheme or accept it as a requirement for funding.

Contracts for Digital ID

A bid for a federal contractor to build a digital health tech platform closed on Jan. 3. A Digital Transformation Branch within Health Canada will guide standards and solutions for pan-Canadian initiatives, including proof of vaccination credentials as well as immunization international interoperability.

The contract also had a statement of work that called for a digital health credential such as a medical qualification, competence, health status, record by a relevant authority. The credentials could include a verifiable digital identity of the issuer and the holder of the credential, said the document.

At a recent campaign stop in Windsor, Ontario, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledged he would not implement a digital ID if he became prime minister.

However, Martinuk believes it will happen, given time.

Im trying not to sound like somebody walking around on the streets with a The end is near sign, she said. Its going to happen anyway, no matter what. Thats the kind of society that were moving towards rapidly.
Rare Pest Found at California Port in Celery Shipment From Mexico: CBP

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection patch is seen on the arm of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Mission, Texas, on July 1, 2019. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)

Agriculture specialists at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Monday said they found one rare and one usual pest in a shipment of fresh celery that arrived from Mexico.

The discovery occurred on Jan. 16 at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility in San Diego, California. According to a CBP release, one of the specialists referred the driver and cargo load for an intensive inspection following an initial examination.

In the inspection area, specialists found one live Chrysomelidae (leaf beetle) and one live Lepidoptera (moth) within the celery. The traveler and shipment were then returned directly to Mexico.

The pest was sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Identifiers for further identification.

A chrysomelidae (left) and a lepidoptera pest (right) were discovered by CBP agents during an inspection at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Jan. 16, 2023 (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

The Lepidoptera pest was identified two days later by the local USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) PPQ entomologist as the actionable Copitarsia species, the CBP said. The Chrysomelidae beattle was also later identified as the actionable Isotes multipunctate.

An actionable species classification for the USDA means that whenever the organism is detected in imported goods, shipments must be disinfected, destroyed, or returned to the country of origin.

The family Chrysomelidae covers approximately 35,000 species of beetles that can be found throughout the world, especially in tropical regions. The CBP said this is the first time this particular type of leaf beetle has been intercepted at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

Meanwhile, the genus Copitarsia includes 26 species of moths found from Mexico through to South America, where they are considered agricultural pests for at least 48 crop plants. Eggs and larvae of Copitarsia species are frequently intercepted on fresh commodities arriving in the United States from countries in these regions.

Foreign insects, plant and animal diseases, and invasive plants can be harmful to United States agriculture, said CBP Otay Mesa Port Director Rosa Hernandez.

It is an important part of the CBP mission to identify and stop pests and diseases at the border prior to entering the country.

CBP encourages travelers to declare all agricultural items to a CBP officer upon arrival. In January, the agency warned all travelers that certain agricultural items, such as raw eggs and poultry from Mexico, are prohibited from entry into the United States, and failure to declare these items may result in monetary penalties.

There has been a large increase in the volume of prohibited food items, such as raw eggs and raw poultry meat, brought by travelers from Mexico. We would like to remind the traveling public that federal agricultural regulations remain in effect, said Jennifer De La O, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego.
Despite some fears that future college student-residents would clog Philomath streets with traffic, a developer is one step closer to building a complex of fiveplexes.

On a 5-1 vote, the Philomath City Council at its Monday, Feb. 13 meeting approved increasing the density on a 1.1-acre site at South 19th Street and Chapel Drive  owned by 800 Property LLC  whose current zoning would allow triplexes. The move effectively doubles the number of potential housing units.

Councilor Jessica Andrade was the lone dissenting voice. Councilor Matt Lehman was absent.

I think that the safety traffic concerns are too numerous and voiced by so many people in the community already, Andrade said. Weve identified areas of concerns and potential ways of addressing it, so I think it makes more sense to try to address those concerns first.

The council had first broached the subject in December but put off a decision.

The concerns drew a personal response from a new city councilor, who sympathizes with the need for more housing accessibility in the city.

As a young person who wants to live in this city because I grew up here, and I love this city, it was so hard to find an apartment to rent, Councilor Christopher McMorran said.

As a counterpoint to those sounding the alarm, McMorran said increasing density reduces traffic congestion by putting more people closer together and nearer to places they want or need to go.

Those who fretted over future traffic jams said the safety of students and parents coming from and going to nearby Clemens Primary School would be at risk.

However, city staff and a consultant hired by the property owner said traffic flow won't be impacted because South 19th Street is functioning well below its design maximums.

Prior to the vote, Andrade moved to deny the request. She said the decision should wait until standing concerns about traffic have been addressed. The motion failed to gain any support from other councilors.

During public testimony, the council heard from three residents who oppose the rezone. Nobody spoke in favor of the application except for the property owners consultant, who gave a brief presentation.

Former planning commissioner Peggy Yoder called for denying the application because it doesnt fit with the citys comprehensive plan, particularly regarding public input.

Janet Linebarger emphasized what she believes will be a huge upswing in traffic near a school zone. She had delivered a petition from 32 residents opposing the rezone during the December meeting.

And Denise Frankino called for more citizen engagement and transparency from the city on such matters.

Meanwhile, a group of people in the back uttered obscenities and other grumblings without formally participating in the process.

On each of four parcels, the property owner is hoping to build four two-story, fiveplex housing units of three and four bedrooms. The rezone doubles the number of units allowable per acre from 12 to 24. Tax records show a total real market value of $449,210 among the four lots.

The City Council must cement the rezoning with a second vote at a future meeting.
Republicans Confront FTC Over Proposed Non-Compete Ban

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 17, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are challenging the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) recent proposal of a national ban on non-compete agreements.

In a Feb. 14 letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan and other commissioners, Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) argued that the proposed ban would not only be unlawful but would also radically restructure the American economy.

The regulation would undermine the rule of law by invalidating tens of millions of existing contracts to which employers and employees voluntarily agreed, the lawmakers wrote. The rule is also inconsistent with tenets of federalism because it sets a one-size-fits-all approach that would outlaw practices that forty-seven states have deemed to be legal.

The FTC, in proposing the ban, had asserted that non-compete agreements were exploitative in nature, serving to suppress wages and hinder innovation and competition. Holding that such agreements violate the Federal Trade Commission Act, the agency also estimated that banning them could increase wages by $300 billion per year and expand opportunities for more than 30 million Americans.

The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy, Khan said in a Jan. 5 statement. Non-competes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand. By ending this practice, the FTCs proposed rule would promote greater dynamism, innovation, and healthy competition.

On Tuesday, however, the Republican congressmen argued that the FTC does not possess the authority to impose such a sweeping rule, noting that one of the letters recipients, FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, had dissented from the commissions literally limitless approach to the issue.

[T]he FTC Act never gave the agency the authority to issue substantive rules that classify a common economic practice as an unfair method of competition, as the Biden FTC seeks to do here, the lawmakers wrote.

The congressmen also noted that, due to the proposed rules great economic and political significance, congressional authorization would be required to adopt the ban, in accordance with the Supreme Courts 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA.

Further arguing that the FTC would be unlikely to win a legal battle over the ban, the Judiciary Committee members requested all documents and communications relating to the FTCs analysis of the potential economic and legal ramifications of the rule, as well as any documents regarding the agencys legal authority to implement it.
Republican Lawmakers See Balloon as Wake Up Call for Americans on Chinese Surveillance

Republican lawmakers said the Chinese high-altitude balloons recent passage over the United States was a chance to raise awareness in America about the prevalence of Chinas surveillance efforts.

This balloon episode can have a silver lining, and that silver lining is that I hope this is a wake-up call for all of American society and across our government that we are undergoing a tidal wave of Chinese espionage, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) told NTD.

Waltz, who served as a U.S. Army Green Beret and now sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said most instances of Chinese surveillance against the United States involve actions that the average American cannot see, such as disruptions in cyberspace and acquisitions of key technology and research. While those examples are behind the scenes, Waltz said an incident like the high-altitude balloon crossing over our most sensitive military sites was an in-your-face move by the Chinese Communist Party.

Waltzs colleague, Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) agreed that the balloon incident helped raise U.S. awareness of their vulnerability to Chinese surveillance.

I do think that something as simple as a balloon was able to catch the attention of the American people. And I think the threat that the Chinese Communist Party poses to Americans became really obvious over that weekend, Flood said.

The balloons flight path affected Floods district directly.

The balloon passed over Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska on Feb. 2 as it flew eastward across the United States. Offutt Air Force Base is home to the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which is tasked with detecting and deterring attacks against the United States and its allies, including nuclear strikes.

I represent the first district of Nebraska, home to STRATCOM, where we really command the nations nuclear triad, Flood said. And we have a balloon surveilling us from our enemies in China. And it seems to be lost that they are, you know, basically, brazenly attempting, and I think, are successful in getting as much data as they can about our sensitive military sites.

CCP Grooming Americans, Flood Says

Like Waltz, Flood noted more innocuous examples of Chinese surveillance and influence efforts against the United States.

Flood said some of the behaviors are designed to groom the American public to be desensitized or accepting of narratives promoted by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He pointed to the example of TikTok as one Chinese avenue for influencing Americans that seems innocuous.

Theyre building a relationship with teenagers and young adults and young Americans, and theyre going to cultivate that relationship for 10 years, and longer, Flood said. Lets imagine something happens in Taiwan. The first thing theyre going to do is theyre going to attempt to influence the opinions of Americans after they take or make a brazen act. Everything theyre doing is grooming Americans for their control, you know; not tomorrow, not next week, but down the road.

Flood expressed concerns over the Chinese regimes human rights record and its efforts to buy up land neighboring U.S. military installations, among other issues.

There are issues across the spectrum that we need to work on. I think this is bigger than a balloon, Flood said. But thank God the balloon got the attention of the American people.

Changing US Posture on China

The U.S. military shot down the balloon after it transited the United States and flew out over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 4. That day, a reporter asked President Joe Biden if it was always his position that the United States would shoot down Chinese surveillance balloons, or if he came to that decision after the balloon caught widespread public attention.

It was always my position. Once it came over theinto the United States from Canada, I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate, Biden said.

The Biden administration has said this balloon incident has also led the United States and Canada to work more closely to enhance radar capabilities to detect other objects entering North American airspaces.

Waltz told NTD the United States should have been prepared to shoot the balloon down when it was over the Pacific Ocean, before it passed over the country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled plans to visit his Chinese counterpart over the balloon incident. A State Department official said the incident was a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law, and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.

Waltz said that if Blinken does decide to visit with his Chinese counterpart, he needs to be prepared to confront China on violations of U.S. sovereignty.

It needs to be a message of strength, and it needs to be a message of deterrence and one of consequences, Waltz said.

Waltz said if Blinken doesnt confront China and instead simply focuses on areas that the Biden administration still hopes to work with China, like climate change, it will be at the expense of U.S. national security and the Chinese are going to use that as leverage to get concessions in other areas that they care about.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives created a new panel to address the growing conflicts between the United States and China, called the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the CCP. The panel was formed with the support of all Republicans and the majority of Democrats in the House.

From NTD News
Romania, Moldova Report Weather Balloon Objects Traversing Airspace, Prompting Safety Concerns

A Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceR performs during the International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Fairford, England, on July 21, 2019. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Officials in Romania reported seeing strange balloon-like objects traversing their skies on Feb. 14, shortly after neighboring Moldova temporarily shut down its airspace after similar sightings, according to officials.

The incidents occurred around midday local time and come shortly after a number of objects, including a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon, were detected in American airspace and were subsequently shot down.

Romanias defense ministry said it had deployed two Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceR jets to an area in the southeast of the country about 10 minutes after the unknown object was spotted in its airspace.

The defense ministry said the object had characteristics similar to a weather balloon and was initially detected by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 11,000 meters (36,000 feet).

The jets stayed in the area for 30 minutes but did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars, and subsequently returned to base, a ministry statement said.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York that there was no threat to Romanian airspace.

Hours earlier, Moldova, which borders Romania and Ukraine, briefly closed its airspace for undisclosed safety and security reasons.

A high-altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Feb. 1, 2023. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

Similar to a Weather Balloon

Air Moldova, the countrys national airline, announced the closure on Facebook at about 2 p.m. local time.

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.

In an updated post at about 3:17 p.m. local time, the airline said the airspace had been reopened.

Elsewhere, the governments Telegram channel, Prima Sursa, also announced the airspace closure and subsequent reopening.

Following the meeting of the Interdepartmental Airspace Management Commission, a NOTAM was issued on the temporary closure of the airspace of the Republic of Moldova at 11:24 in order to ensure civil aviation flight safety. As reported by the Civil Aviation Authority, the airspace was reopened at 14:47, the statement reads, according to Ukrinform.

Separately, Moldovas civil aviation authority later said that the object resembled a weather balloon but noted that given the weather conditions and the impossibility of monitoring and identifying the object as well as its flight path  the decision was taken to temporarily close the airspace.

The incident in Moldova came just hours after Russia denied claims that it was planning to overthrow the Moldovan government after Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused the Kremlin of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her countrys leadership and prevent it from joining the European Union.

Sandu said on Feb. 13 in a news briefing that Russia also planned to use Moldova in its war against Ukraine.

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 said.

Her comments came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 9 that his country had uncovered plans by the Russian secret service for the destruction of Moldova.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an expanded meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Sergey Fadeichev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia Denies Plot to O verthrow Moldovan Government

On Feb. 10, Moldovas pro-West prime minister resigned after 18 months in power.

However, Russia on Feb. 14 dismissed the allegations made by Sandu and Zelenskyy, calling them completely unfounded.

Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, according to The Moscow Times.

Unlike Western countries and Ukraine, we do not interfere in the internal affairs of Moldova and other countries of the world, the ministry said. Russia does not pose a threat to the security of the Republic of Moldova and stable and friendly relations with Russia could benefit Moldova, it added.

Meanwhile, Washington said it was deeply concerned by reports of the alleged Russian plot to destabilize Moldovas government but said it sees no direct military threat to Moldova at this time.

In a statement on Feb. 14, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Russia has a long history of malign influence both in Moldova and the region, and as such weve worked closely with Moldova to build its political resilience and to counter long-term efforts by Russia to undermine Moldovas democratic institutions.

The sightings of the unidentified objects across Romania and Moldova come at a time of heightened tensions between the West and China following the detection and shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon over America.

The Chinese regime said it was a civilian meteorological balloon that had accidentally drifted off course, but Washington said it was likely a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle conducting surveillance over sensitive U.S. military sites, including nuclear bases in Montana.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russia Declares Battlefield Gains as Ukraine Urges Faster Military Aid

Bohdan, "Fritz", the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)

KYIVRussia said on Wednesday it had broken through two fortified Ukrainian defence lines on the eastern front, with Kyiv describing conditions there as difficult and Western allies announcing more military aid including artillery rounds.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the Ukrainians 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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys office said Kyivs forces had repelled some Russian attacks in Luhansk but added: The situation in the region remains difficult.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia was pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into Luhansk.

The attacks are coming from different directions in waves, Haidai said. (But) those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border (of Luhansk)this does not correspond to reality.

In Kyiv, the capitals 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 Offensive

The Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

Russias main effort has been focused on the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Province adjacent to Luhansk.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraines eastern military command, told Ukrainian TV on Wednesday that fierce battles were being fought in Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian military said its units had repelled Russian attacks in the areas of over 20 settlements including Vuhledara town 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Bakhmut.

Bakhmuts capture would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk, lending it momentum ahead of the Feb. 24 first anniversary of the invasion.

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.

A Ukrainian serviceman stands on a tank outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russias attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Reuters)

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.

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, Borrell told Germanys Phoenix broadcaster.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed 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. Were 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.

Russia holds swathes of Ukraines 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.

Russia also aims to retake the settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv region that it surrendered to Kyiv last year, the head of the Russian-installed administration there said on Wednesday.
Russia Deploys Ships With Tactical Nuclear Weapons for First Time in 3 Decades: Norwegian Intelligence

A general view of Russian military frigate 'Admiral Gorshkov' docked in the harbor of Cape Town ahead of 10-day joint maritime drills being staged alongside South Africa and China, in South Africa, on Feb. 13, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has begun deploying ships armed with tactical nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea for the first time since the Cold War, the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in a report on Feb. 13.

According to the report (pdf), the vessels belong to Russias Northern Fleet.

With weakened conventional capability, the importance of nuclear weapons for Russia has increased significantly, the report, which was translated by multiple outlets, said. The Russian strategic and regional deterrent forces have thus become increasingly important for the Russian military power.

The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet, the Norwegian report said. Tactical nuclear weapons are a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which NATO countries may be involved.

The Norwegian intelligence report also noted that ongoing tensions between Russia and the West could further increase Russias nuclear threat to NATO, citing the fact that Russian decisions are characterized by a strong distrust of Western intentions. It added that a localized conflict could turn into a wider war with direct military involvement of Russia, the United States, NATO, and Norway.

Russia Is the Biggest Threat to Europe

Additionally, the report noted that Russia will continue to maintain, modernize, and further develop its nuclear arsenal in the coming years.

According to a 2022 report (pdf) by the Congressional Research Service that focused on Russias nuclear weapons, doctrine, forces, and modernization, the countrys nuclear forces are made up of both long-range, strategic systemsincluding intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and heavy bombersand shorter- and medium-range delivery systems.

That report also noted that the Kremlin is swiftly modernizing its nuclear forces and replacing Soviet-era systems with new missiles as well as submarines and aircraft, noting that such weapons are available for use by its naval, tactical air, and missile defense forces.

Although Russias number of nuclear weapons has declined sharply since the end of Cold War, it retains a stockpile of thousands of warheads, with more than 1,500 warheads deployed on missiles and bombers capable of reaching U.S. territory, the report said.

The latest report comes shortly before Norways Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram warned that Russia poses the biggest threat to the country as well as the rest of Europe, adding that Moscows confrontation with the West will be long-lasting.

Russian Sabotage in Norway Unlikely

Bjorn made the comments after receiving the latest report from the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) on Monday.

Elsewhere, the deputy head of the foreign Norwegian Intelligence Service, Lars Nordrum, said Russia could target Norways oil and gas installations.

NSM head Sofie Nystrom also warned that all of Europe will suffer if Norwegian gas and oil installations were sabotaged by Russia.

Despite the concerns, PST, the countrys domestic security service, said it does not believe it is likely that Russia will conduct any sabotage operation in Norway this year.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been ramping up calls on Western nations to boost ammunition and other aid to the country as its ongoing conflict with Russia enters its one-year mark on Feb. 24.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Feb. 14 also called on more allied nations to boost ammunition supplies to Kyiv amid a new Russian offensive.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Senator: FAA Needs to Get Its Act Together

Delta airplanes sit on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York City on Jan. 31, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation are demanding answers about a recent FAA system failure that resulted in a halt of U.S. air traffic for the first time since 9/11.

Acting FAA director Billy Nolen appeared before the committee on Feb. 15 to testify about the failure of the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) system, which resulted in the delayed takeoff of nearly 10,000 flights and the cancellation of more than 1,000 others.

In opening statements, senators voiced a larger frustration with the inadequacy of the National Airspace System (NAS) despite ongoing congressional funding for improvements.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, on March 22, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Referring to the challenge of modernizing the system, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said, The FAA, as a significant component of that circumstance, needs our help, but it also needs to get its act together.

The NOTAM system provides notifications to pilots about hazards along their route, such as runway closures, large flocks of birds, volcanic ash, and light outages on tall buildings.

When the system failed on Jan. 11, Nolen ordered a halt of airline departures lasting from 7:15 a.m. to 9:07 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

An investigation later revealed that the problem was caused by human error when a contract employee unintentionally deleted computer files while performing routine maintenance.

Pilots have long complained that NOTAM messages are difficult to read because they are printed in all-caps using the outdated International Telegraph Alphabet characters and obsolete abbreviations.

They also say the messages often report trivial matters and occupy dozens of pages that must be read before a flight.

Frustrated Lawmakers

Acting FAA director Billy Nolen in an undated photo. (A4A/via Reuters)

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the ranking member of the committee, pointed out that funding to update the NOTAM system had been provided to the FAA for 10 years in a row, yet no action had been taken.

Cruz also expressed frustration at what he described as a lack of leadership at the FAA.

I fear it is emblematic of a culture afraid to innovate, stuck operating efficiently, and illustrative of why President [Joe] Biden needs to choose an administrator for the FAA with a proven ability to manage change within large organizations and with the requisite aviation and safety experience, Cruz said.

Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) echoed frustration over the current state of affairs and pointed to the need for improvement.

These incidents are concerning. They impact Americans confidence in our aviation system. Infrastructure is critical to American safety and security. So we need to accelerate building a National Airspace System for the 21st century, Cantwell said.

Nolen, a former airline pilot, and longtime aviation administrator acknowledged problems at the agency but said he believes it is on a path to improvement.

We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we do not take that for granted, Nolen said.

Were confident that we are taking the right steps here, and we look forward to working with the committee in this Congress and developing a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that accelerates the next era of aviation, one that is safe, efficient, sustainable, and open to all.
Swedens King to Undergo Planned Surgery in Heart Area

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia sit during a visit to the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 16, 2022. (Raad Adayleh/AP Photo)

STOCKHOLMSwedens King Carl XVI Gustaf will undergo a planned a keyhole surgical procedure in the heart area, the palace said Tuesday.

The official announcement did not elaborate on the nature of the surgery. The king is not known to have had surgery for a any serious ailment before.

After the surgery, scheduled for Feb. 20, the 76-year-monarch will take a rest period, meaning that his planned commitments this month and in early March will be pushed back to later this spring, the royal household said.

The king is doing well and his official program until the day of the operation is being carried out according to plan, the palace added in statement.

The king ascended the throne on Sept. 15, 1973, and is the longest reigning monarch in Sweden. Later this year, the king will celebrate his 50 years on the throne.

The royal family is hugely popular in Sweden. The monarchy enjoys widespread support despite the egalitarianism that otherwise characterizes society in the Nordic country.
The DEI Invasion of Public Universities: Tax Dollars Fund Useless Bureaucrats, Indoctrination

Commentary

At the University of Michigan, one of Americas top public research institutions, the average tenured professor makes $93,000 a year, according to data from Salary.com. Thats after a probationary period of around six years as an untenured assistant professor proving ones research and teaching chopsplus the four to seven years it typically takes to complete a doctorate program.

At the same University of Michigan, the average diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) staffer makes $97,000 a year, according to data analyzed by Mark Perry, an emeritus professor of economics there. Thats a job that typically requires only a bachelors degree in some human resources-related field. And at Michigan, DEI staffers need only a few yearsif thatof on-the-job experience.

As recently as 2017, the universitys DEI team consisted of 69 people. By the 20222023 school year, that number had more than doubledto 142, working on a budget of $18 million. Considering that just a decade ago Michigans DEI staff had comprised a mere 17 employees, its not surprising that Perry told the Daily Caller that the number of brand-new hires had metastasized like a cancer.

Welcome to the DEI invasion of public colleges and universities, eating up taxpayer dollars that could fund scholarships for low-income students or slots and salaries for professors teaching substantive subjects: chemistry, history, and literature. What does DEI add to the college experience? At Michigan, you wont find much on the DEI offices official website beyond vague verbal mush about fostering an inclusive and equitable community on campus. But when you dig deeper, you discover what the office really doesand its creepy.

One of the Michigan programs consists of an inclusive teaching initiative that sponsors supposedly voluntary training workshops, in which instructors learn how to incorporate such concepts as unconscious bias (talking about racial hatred was the way one Michigan dean put it in 2016) into their freshman physics, calculus, and Spanish classrooms. And in fact, those workshopssessions in indoctrinationare actually mandatory for all new tenure-track and graduate-assistant hires at Michigan, as well as senior faculty members who serve on hiring committees.

The University of Michigan is scarcely an anomaly. A report (pdf) issued in January by the Virginia Association of Scholars noted that the public university system in Virginia spent more than $15 million in 2020 alone on instructors and administrators with the words diversity, inclusion, and equity in their job titles. The report wasnt just concerned with the siphoning of taxpayer dollars away from substantive instruction, but with the left-leaning ideological contentstressing such concepts as critical race theory, white privilege, and gender oppressionin the training sessions that the diversity bureaucrats pushed upon students and faculty alike.

For example, at James Madison University, a public research institution in Harrisonburg, Virginia, training material for freshman-orientation leaders (typically upper-level students) in September 2021 included the assertion that people who identified as male, straight, cisgender, or Christian were oppressors engaged in systematic subjugation of other groups.

At Ohio State University, which ranks close to Michigan with 132 DEI staffers on a $13 million budget, critical race theory is now a key criterion for hiring faculty, even in seemingly unrelated fields.

The Ohio State philosophy department, for example, is currently looking for a tenure-track professor specializing in the philosophy of race, which includes the epistemological significance of race or racism and race in the philosophy of science. Ohio States physics, mathematics, and chemistry departments are looking for professors to study issues relevant to educational equity across these STEM fields, with a special focus on race and other factors identifying historically marginalized groups. The Ohio State anthropology department recently sought a professor whose research promoted social justice, with an emphasis on decolonization, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and/or Indigenous ontologies.

At the University of TexasAustins medical school, training in health equity is now mandatory. In classes that sound like Red Guard struggle sessions, aspiring physicians learn to recognize ones own power and privilege and identify ones own biases and demonstrate a willingness to accept and remedy them.

The Utah public higher-education system has adopted an equity lens framework (pdf) based on critical race theory thats supposed to dismantle the systems alleged previous pattern of serving only a narrow slice of the states population, namely white men of privilege.

At the University of Tennessee, several departments, including the engineering school, now require or recommend DEI commitment statements from all faculty job applicants, as well as anyone seeking tenure or promotion.

Academics obsession with DEI used to be mostly confined to the Ivy League and private liberal arts colleges that could afford the luxury of dabbling in woke fashions. But now DEIand the massive, well-compensated campus bureaucracies that go along with itare mushrooming in public university systems as well, to the detriment of the taxpayers who fund public universities budgets. A professor hired to teach and research educational equity in physics means one fewer professor hired to teach and research physics itself. And it must be galling for the other physics professors to realize that the DEI staffers responsible for this situation are probably banking larger salaries than they are.

But the wasted money and educational opportunities are relatively minor problems. The real problem is the foisting, at taxpayer expense, of divisive radical ideologies onto students and faculty members who know they will likely suffer academic and financial consequenceslow grades, limited job opportunitiesif they dont go along. You dont want to be at the University of Michigan arguing against your workshop trainers insistence that you suffer from unconscious bias.

Fortunately, some states are realizing that they dont have to underwrite public campus activities that their residents dont want and whose main purpose seems to be to shame heterosexual white males.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced plans to defund DEI initiatives at public universities in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts office issued a memo on Jan. 6 warning universities and agency officials that using DEI criteria in hiring decisions violates state anti-discrimination laws. South Carolina legislators are looking into DEI spending at that states public universities and colleges, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has stated that he wants Oklahomas universities to have fewer DEI officers and more career placement counselors for students.

The one thing to be said about the DEI invasion of public universities is that it can be stopped if theres no public money to pay for it.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Three Loves Has Nancy: A Short but Sweet 1930s Romance

Commentary

How short is too short to be a great movie? In the 1930s, Hollywood had the formula of telling a complete story in just over an hour perfected to an art. Films from the early 1930s were very fast-paced because the technology of the early talking films didnt allow for much movement of the camera. Even as cameras began to move, 1930s movies included little footage outside of the soundstage, little background music, and very little wasted time. That allowed them to pack a lot into a short runtime, which was useful with double or triple features.

Three Loves Has Nancy from 1938 is just such a film. Its only an hour and ten minutes long, but it doesnt seem that short. It technically is a romantic comedy, but its a lot more than just funny. This delightful story centers on a charming character with a lot of meaningful attributes.

This movie stars Janet Gaynor, Robert Cummings, and Franchot Tone in a love triangle, on which the plot primarily focuses. Actually, its a love square, as indicated by the title, since Nancy has three loves, but her third suitor remains unseen for most of the film. This was Miss Gaynors second-to-last film before she retired in 1939 to marry famous costumer Adrian. This was a rare MGM outing for the first Oscar-winning actress, since she usually worked for 20th Century Fox. The movie was directed by MGM regular Richard Thorpe.

Janet Gaynor in Three Loves Has Nancy (1938) directed by Richard Thorpe. (Public Domain)

The Story

Malcolm Niles (Montgomery) is a bestselling author and New York playboy. When his latest sweetheart, actress Vivian Herford (Claire Dodd), brings her obnoxious mother (Cora Witherspoon) along to a dinner date, Mal realizes she is trying to trap him into marriage. He asks his drunken publisher and best friend, Bob Hanson (Tone), who lives next door, to help him. Bob sets up a book signing tour, and Malcolm escapes to a rural part of the United States.

In Birch Valley, a small Southern town, Mal meets a strong-minded young lady named Nancy Briggs (Gaynor), who attends his book signing with her mother (Emma Dunn). Its Nancys wedding day, but her fiance, George, doesnt arrive from New York for the ceremony. With her grandfathers (Charley Grapewin) blessing, she heads to the Big Apple in search of her childhood sweetheart. Meanwhile, Bob wires Mal that its safe for him to come home, since Vivian has left town. Nancy and Mal end up on the same train, and the spunky young woman unintentionally pesters the writer to no end, eventually making him miss the train at one of its stops.

Robert Montgomery in Three Loves Has Nancy by Richard Thorpe (1938). (Public Domain)

Once in New York, Nancy finds out that George has been accused of stealing multiple suits from the cleaner where he worked. Not knowing where else to turn, Nancy goes to Mals apartment. He is not glad to see her until he is able to use her presence there to finally get rid of Vivian (who never really left town) once and for all. He lets Nancy stay in his guest room. The next morning, a hungover Bob is amazed by Nancys culinary talents and clean-scrubbed beauty, so he hires her as his cook. He quickly falls in love with her, but Nancy has feelings for Mal. The grumpy writer decides to base a new serial called Chickadee on the Southern belle, but he refuses to acknowledge how much he also cares about her.

All About Nancy

This movie is all about Nancy Briggs. Im not surprised Malcolm Niles based the central character in a serial on his guest from Birch Valley. I can easily imagine an ongoing film series based on this character, as charmingly played by Janet Gaynor. She is one of the most well-rounded and possibility-filled characters Ive seen in a movie in a while. Nancy has the usual attributes I love in roles played by Miss Gaynor, who is best known for A Star is Born, such as her winning smile, pixie-like voice, sincere delivery of dialogue, and perky disposition. In addition, she brings some unique qualities to this performance. For instance, she affects a very convincing Southern accent as Nancy, the homespun girl from an unnamed Southern state, although the actress was born in Philadelphia.

Franchot Tone in Three Loves Has Nancy by Richard Thorpe (1938). (Public Domain)

Nancy brings the simple morality of the country to the big city when she visits New York. She quickly makes up her mind that she doesnt like cosmopolitan life. People are so unfriendly! Her neighborly attitude sometimes gets her into trouble, since she often smiles at strange men, who mistake her friendliness for flirting. She is an amazing cook, having been trained in the domestic arts, which the glamour girls of New York society dont deem important. Shes so thoroughly accomplished in her kitchen talents that she wont even buy butter. She churns it herself! She also knows how to balance a budget economically, so she quickly discovers that Malcolms butler, William (Reginald Owen), has been cheating him on grocery expenses. Mal is at first reluctant to be charmed by her delicious food, but Bob immediately appreciates her skills and her gracious hospitality so much that he decides to eat all his meals at home!

Nancy brings a strong dose of much-needed morality into the lives of the two New York bachelors. Before she eats a meal, she always bows her head to say grace. Seeing her do this makes Mal remember remorsefully that he has neglected the practice himself for years. At one point, she frankly confesses to Mal that she skipped saying grace for a whole day upon coming to New York! We later see her kneeling beside her bed, saying her evening prayers. She never preaches to the men or makes any religious statements, but the simple act of saying grace speaks volumes.

Original publicity photo of Janet Gaynor for the film Servants Entrance in 1934. (Public Domain)

A Positive Influence

Nancy has a very positive influence on Mal and Bob. Whether they realize it or not, its her simple Christian morality as much as her fluffy pancakes which reforms them. The transformation is especially rapid in Bob. At the beginning of the film, he is a rich playboy who has a successful business but who has had so much money his whole life that he has no work ethic. Unlike Mal, who casually romances lots of girls, Bob is bitterly uninterested in romance and women in general. Instead of courting, he prefers to spend his time drinking. In fact, his drunkenness in most of the early scenes makes it clear that hes an alcoholic. Its not that Bob doesnt like women. He is just disgusted with the shallow females in New Yorks upper echelon. As soon as he meets Nancy, he realizes what hes been trying to find: an old-fashioned girl who knows how to truly be feminine.

Although Bob is farther gone at the beginning of the film, Mal tries to harden himself against the sweet emollience of Nancys nature. He likes the company of silly New York girls like Vivian, as long as they dont get too serious. Nancys whole manner speaks of domestic life, which he is trying to avoid. However, he immediately feels protective toward the sweet young woman. She brings the best out in both friends by making them want to defend her, even against each other, like real men.

An interesting technique used in this film is the overdubbed narration of Mals thoughts. Since he is a writer, he narrates the story of his own life. This helps the film flow smoothly and quickly, since the director could easily reveal Mals inner conflicts and thoughts.

Add Three Loves Has Nancy to your watchlist for a delightful movie with a good message and a wonderful main character!

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Toronto Budget Debate Ahead of Mayors Resignation Disrupted by Protest

Toronto Mayor John Tory speaks during a press conference at city hall in Toronto on Feb. 10, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Arlyn McAdorey)

Torontos city council budget talks went to recess three times Wednesday morning because members of the public were shouting.

A woman shouted against funding for police. Multiple voices were later heard chanting House the homeless, feed the poor, kick John Tory out the door.

When the city council meeting commenced after hours of delay, Mayor John Tory spoke, but only to say farewell and express appreciation for retiring chief engineer Michael DAndrea. His comments were punctuated by yells of let me in from the same woman who was earlier shut out.

Tory announced his resignation as mayor on Friday after admitting to an affair with a staff member, though he has not yet officially submitted a resignation letter. He is still acting mayor as the budget is voted upon and could use his new strong mayor veto powers.

His office said in a statement that he would be attending the budget meeting to ensure the 2023 City of Toronto operating and capital budgets are finalized.

Under recent provincial strong mayors legislation, Toronto and Ottawa mayors can act without majority support in some regards.

Councillor Josh Matlow said during the meeting Wednesday, We will be able to vote on amendments, but we wont actually be able to vote on the budget itself due to the strong mayor legislation.

Tax Increases, Missing Federal Funds

The meeting started with a look at property tax increases. The $16 billion operating budget is partly funded by a 5.5 percent increase to residential property taxes. It also includes a separate 1.5 percent City Building Fund levy.

Chief Financial Officer Heather Taylor said for every percentage point in increase, the city brings in $39 million in funding for the year. To put that in perspective, Councillor Dianne Saxe said, it would take more than a percentage point to bring in the additional investment of $40 million to $48 million needed to keep transit service at the same level as last year.

Councillors questioned Taylor on gaps in the budget. Councillor Lily Cheng asked about the approximately $1.3 billion in pandemic-related shortfalls that the city has been asking the province and federal government to cover (thats about $400 million for 2022 and $900 million for 2023).

Taylor said the province has committed to covering its share for 2022, but the rest is still being negotiated.

Cheng asked, Would it be safe to say that there is a huge gap that were still living with?

Taylor replied, There is a gap, for sure. But please note also that we have made a provision this year. We do have funds that wed prefer not to use. The fact is for 2023, we actually do have a balanced budget and we do have a provision in the event that the other orders of government dont provide funding.

She later said, In 2024, we wont have a reserve to fall back on in the absence of other orders of government funding.

Taylor said the federal government has also not come through with funding for refugees, which is under its jurisdiction. Councillor Mike Colle questioned Taylor about the refugee funding.

We are still waiting for confirmation for 2022 refugee funding as well as 2023, Taylor said. The total amount, she said, is $170 million.

Councillor Michael Thompson asked about money spent on the influx of refugees and asylum seekers being given bus passes to arrive in Toronto.

Taylor said the increased demand on various city serviceswhich is not directly related to refugees and thus not under federal jurisdictionhas been factored into the city budget.
A recent city-sponsored survey's results are in, and they indicate housing discrimination is happening in Albany.

Half of those surveyed agreed that housing discrimination is a problem in their neighborhood. And while 20% strongly believe that everyone in Albany has an equal access to opportunities in their neighborhood, almost 60% either disagree or strongly disagree.

While the results may not be a shock, city staff say they can guide the hand of policy and city planning.

The survey of 75 respondents found that one-third had experienced housing discrimination or knew someone who had.

Its a complex issue, and its still in our community, Comprehensive Planning Manager Anne Catlin said.

And one with historical roots.

When Oregon achieved statehood on Valentine's Day 1859 in the run up to the Civil War, its first constitution banned slavery but also prohibited Black people from residing here or owning real estate, according to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

In more recent history, the racist lending practice known as "redlining"  the systematic refusal by some lending institutions or insurance companies to issue mortgage loans or insurance in specific areas  purposely kept people out of certain neighborhoods because of their race or nationality.

Although the practice was banned in 1948, the inequalities in home ownership can be traced to the discriminatory practices that shaped U.S. neighborhoods. In going forward its important to acknowledge the past, Catlin said.

Oregon has a long history of discrimination, she said.

The results

For Albany Community Development planner Beth Freelander, the data isnt surprising, but it is important.

Who's doing the discriminating? More than 80% reported it was landlords. Other groups blamed include Realtors, mortgage lenders, government staff and social service staff, but at much lower rates.

The discrimination happens mostly to people looking for rental property, according to the results. But those requesting repairs or maintenance also felt targeted, as well as those seeking accommodations for disabilities and home buyers.

According to the data, more than half of those who said they were discriminated against said it was due to income. About one-third said it was due to a disability, and nearly 30% said it was due to familial status.

More than 20% of reported discrimination was due to race or ethnicity, according to the results.

Something that stood out to Freelander was that those who felt discriminated against felt so because they had a disability or were LGBTQ.

The survey also asked respondents to name the contributing factors to unequal access in Albany. The highest reported factors were housing costs and a concentration of affordable housing in certain areas.

When asked if certain facilities were distributed equitably across Albany, respondents gave lowest marks for child care. Following close behind were services for low income and special needs people.

The area's opportunities for parks and recreation were given the highest marks.

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Freelander calls the survey a multipronged approach:" Its one way of seeing the community's needs and helps inform decisions.

This is just one element to help shape a picture of our impediments, Freelander said.

Limitations

The survey was distributed as a condition for a grant, Catlin said. Most people took the survey online, and some bus riders were surveyed by two city staff who volunteered their time.

Former city councilor Stacey Bartholomew was among those who talked to people on public transportation. She felt it was important to talk to those with a variety of life experiences.

She didnt want the results to be only skewed to homeowners, she said.

Surveying the community is a lot different in smaller towns from bigger cities, Catlin said, and sometimes that doesnt translate. This survey was constrained by time and staff labor. But it still serves as a valuable source of information.

The survey makes it so city staff can ask the question: Where can we make a difference? she said.

People can report discrimination with the department of fair housing, but not everyone does so or knows how to, she said. The city's website advises to visit the Fair Housing Council of Oregon website at http://fhco.org/index.php/information-for-housing-consumers or call the hotline at 800-5424-3247, Ext 2.

Looking forward

In the past, surveys related to fair housing have spearheaded the citys educational efforts, Freelander said, targeted at landlords, city leaders and policy makers via workshops.

Discrimination "happens, and people dont realize it. Some landlords dont realize they are doing it, Catlin said.

Other times, similar tools have been used to make changes to bridge equity, Catlin said. For example, the city added bilingual city staff in the last few years so that people who speak Spanish can access resources and feel like they are being heard.

This time around, Freelander said she isnt sure exactly how the results will be used but hopes that the conversation will take place in the upcoming month.

Data collection can also help bring resources to light, such as Legal Aid in Albany to reach tenant advocates or the fair housing report form for people to report discrimination.

"In general, this is an issue people still face and it helps to clarify and take the steps to move forward, Catlin said.
Toronto Mayors Resignation the Right Thing to Do, Says Freeland

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland pauses while responding to questions during the second day of a Liberal cabinet retreat, in Vancouver on Sept. 7, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says it was right for Toronto Mayor John Tory to resign after admitting to an affair with a staff member.

Tory announced his resignation on Friday, though he has yet to make it official by submitting a resignation letter.

Like very many Torontonians, I was very surprised, even shocked by what we learned on Friday night. Mayor Tory admitted to making a serious mistake and to a serious error in judgment. He took responsibility for that mistake. He apologized for that mistake, Freeland told reporters on Wednesday.

He took responsibility by resigning. That was the right thing to do and that was the necessary thing to do, she said.

She said a media report published Tuesday that said she had encouraged Tory not to resign was wholly untrue and inaccurate. The report cited an unnamed source.

Torys resignation announcement came just ahead of the citys budget debate on Wednesday. Torys attempts to speak at the city council budget meeting were punctuated by outbursts from members of the public, some of whom were calling for his resignation.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Wednesday that Tory should not resign. Ford, speaking in Brampton, Ont., said Tory was a phenomenal partner and it is not time to change the leadership.

Ford said lets not upset the apple cart for a personal issue hes dealing with. He said he was worried about who might replace Tory: If a left-wing mayor gets in there, were toast. Ill tell you, itd be a disaster in my opinion.

It is uncertain as of yet who would act as Torys interim successor, though Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie is widely expected to fill the role until a byelection can take place to name a permanent replacement.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Toronto Police Arrest 10 Young People in Connection With 26 Armed Robberies

A Toronto police vehicle is shown parked on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto on Jan. 3, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Doug Ives)

Toronto Police Service (TPS) has arrested 10 individuals, including six teenagers, in relation to a series of armed robberies at dozens of pharmacies.

The arrests are the result of an investigation dubbed Project Mayhem, which has led to 60 charges laid in relation to 26 armed robberies that took place across the Greater Toronto Area between Dec. 8, 2022, and Feb. 10, 2023, TPS said in a statement on Feb. 15.

Among the ten arrests, six were youth under the age of 18 years old, including two youths who were only 14 years of age.

I do want to reiterate the concern that the Toronto Police Service has, not only about the sheer number of pharmacy robberies that are taking place, but also the young ages of those who are committing them, Harris said in a Feb. 15 press conference.

Harris noted in 2022 there was a record number of 124 pharmacy robberies in Toronto, with 69 percent of those arrested in relation to the crimes being young persons.

In less than two months there have already been 45 pharmacy robberies in 2023, he said, compared to 11 at this time last year. Sixty-seven percent of those arrested have been young persons.

When asked what motivated the youths to commit such crimes, Harris said theres a clear demand for prescription narcotics and that they are lured by the quick money that they can make by returning or selling these prescription narcotics on the street.

Intelligence suggests that were talking upwards of $60 per pill can be made in some areas, he said.

TPS alleged in the statement that the incidents involved groups of males, travelling in stolen vehicles, [who] committed a series of pharmacy robberies.

Police described the incidents as takeover-style robberies, in which several males would rush into the pharmacy and make demands for both narcotics and cash in some incidents. Some suspects allegedly used a handgun, while others used a knife or physical violence to control any shoppers or employees inside the stores. After obtaining cash and narcotics, the suspects would then flee in a waiting vehicle.

TPS said its Hold Up Squad commenced a collaborative multi-jurisdictional investigation with the York Region Hold Up Squad, the Peel Region Central Robbery Bureau, and the Halton Region Robbery Unit. The multiple arrests were conducted on four different dates, the police said.

Arrests

TPS said the investigation led to multiple arrests made on four separate dates.

On Jan. 24, 2023, shortly after a robbery, officers identified a stolen vehicle with two males inside. The officers conducted a vehicle stop and took them into custody. A knife and a number of stolen narcotics were seized.

A 15-year-old Toronto boy was arrested and is facing over 30 charges, including six counts of robbery with an offensive weapon, two counts of robbery, eight counts of disguise with intent, two counts each of possessing property obtained by crime and possessing proceeds of crime, twelve counts of failing to comply with a release order, and possessing a weapon dangerous to the public.

Another 14-year-old Toronto boy was also arrested and is also facing dozens of charges. The two boys appeared for a bail hearing on Jan. 25, at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre.

Following a pharmacy robbery on Jan. 30, 2023, TPS officers from the 23 division identified a suspected stolen vehicle with three males inside. The officers conducted a high-risk vehicle stop and took them into custody. At the time of the arrests, officers recovered two replica handguns and a number of stolen narcotics, among other items of evidentiary value.

The three men arrested are Nathan Kelly, 20, Terrance Timm, 19, and Armani Brown, 18.

All three of the men are charged with robbery-related crimes, including robbery with an offensive weapon and robbery with a firearm. Theyre also facing charges of disguise with intent and possession of property obtained by crime, among others.

Kelly appeared in court for a bail hearing on Jan. 31, at the Toronto West Court, while the two others attended a bail hearing on Jan. 25, 2023, at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre.

Police said they further identified three additional underage male suspects through their continued investigation into the series of robberies. On Feb. 9, 2023, members of the Hold Up Squad executed three search warrants in connection with the investigation. During the searches, the three males were located and placed under arrest.

The suspects, aged 17, 16, and 14, each face multiple robbery-related charges. The three attended a bail hearing on Feb. 9 at the Toronto West Courts.

Seven pharmacy robberies that took place on Feb. 10 across the Halton Region and Toronto led to the arrest and charges of two males: Jahshaide Clarke, 20, and a 17-year-old boy. Police said they arrested the boys at a pharmacy, seizing a loaded handgun at the time.

Clarke, of Mississauga, was charged with eleven counts of robbery, eleven counts of disguise with intent, use of a firearm during the commission of an indictable offence, possession of property obtained by crime, and eleven counts of failure to comply with release order. He attended a bail hearing on Feb. 11, at the Old City Hall Court.

The 17-year-old Mississauga boy was charged with ten counts of robbery, ten counts of disguise with intent, and carrying a concealed weapon, among others. He also appeared for a bail hearing on Feb. 11, 2023, at the Old City Hall Court.
Tory MPs Ask Why Liberals Didnt Heed Security Advice on Former Ontario Minister Michael Chan

Former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan speaks at a rally held to condemn protests in Hong Kong, in Markham, Ont., on Aug. 11, 2019. (Yi Ling/The Epoch Times)

Conservative MPs are criticizing the Liberals for not heeding advice from security officials to steer clear of former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan.

The Liberal Trade Minister [Mary Ng] had former Liberal minister Michael Chan chair her election campaigns, MP Michael Barrett said in the House of Commons on Feb. 14.

It turns out Mr. Chan is on a CSIS watchlist for alleged connections to a spy network of the Chinese Communist regime, and the prime ministers senior staff, including Katie Telford, were told to warn the trade minister to be cautious in her dealings with Mr. Chan.

Barrett was referring to a Feb. 13 Globe and Mail report about former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan, the deputy mayor of Markham since October.

Why did the minister ignore the warnings from the PMO and Canadas intelligence service about having Mr. Chan chair her campaign, even though he had ties to spies for Communist China? Barrett said.

Citing an anonymous source, the Globe report says security officials told the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in 2019 that Chan should be on your radar and to tell Mary Ng to be extra careful.

Ng told the Globe that no one from the PMO told her to be cautious around Chan, who co-chaired her 2017 byelection campaign.

She said Chan didnt co-chair her 2019 campaign since there were other capable volunteers. The Globe says a source close to Ng had said Chan was removed due to his support of Chinas crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.

Ngs press secretary, Shanti Cosentino, told The Epoch Times that Chan was involved in the 2017 campaign in his capacity as an Ontario MPP representing the riding in which Ng was running.

They do not have ties, nor have they been in touch for many years. Any allegations beyond those facts are pure misinformation to dangerously mislead Canadians, said Cosentino.

Barrett also raised the issue in the House on Feb. 13. Ng didnt address the question on both occasions, which were instead covered by Government House Leader Mark Holland.

Embedded in the question is a false notion that I think all members, I would hope, would want to rejectthat is that any member of Parliament is not completely and totally committed to Canadian democracy, Holland said on Feb. 14.

The idea that there is anybody in the House who would tolerate foreign interference in any form is simply inaccurate and not appropriate to put forward as a supposition.

Conservative MP Luc Berthold followed-up after Hollands response and asked why Ng has not resigned given the latest reporting, along with her recent ethics violation. Ng was found in breach in December for awarding a contract to her friend.

Suspected Operatives

Other allegations in the Globe article include that CSIS has a file on Chan about his activities in the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns, and that he had meetings with suspected Chinese intelligence operatives.

An unnamed national-security source told the Globe that according to a 2020 CSIS briefing package, Chan had meetings that were clandestine in nature and allegedly election-related.

CSIS has reportedly observed Chan meeting with Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, which the source described to the Globe as a suspected intelligence actor.

The source told the Globe that Zhao has been meeting with Liberal MP staffers in Toronto ridings, including an assistant of Mary Ng, and the aides had been asked by Zhao to stay away from pro-Taiwan events.

Chan has also allegedly met with Chinas former vice-consul-general Zhuang Yaodong, who CSIS believes was in charge of security files at the Toronto consulate.

A previous Globe report in 2015 said that he was the subject of a warning by CSIS to the Ontario government over fears that he was under the influence of China. Chan has launched a lawsuit against the Globe over this reporting.

Damage to My Reputation

The Epoch Times reached out to Chan for comment but didnt hear back by publication time.

Chan told the Globe that his meetings with Chinese diplomats were normal and that he also meets with officials from other Asian countries.

Just in case you were not aware, I met a few days ago with the Deputy Consul-General from China in Toronto and Mr. Wei Zhao, he said.

Chan pushed back against the CSIS allegations, saying they serve to promote racism.

Your own statement to me about a recent briefing by CSIS to Prime Minister Trudeau, serves only to ignite xenophobia and cause continued, unwarranted and irreparable damage to my reputation and the safety of my family, he said.

CSIS has never interviewed me regarding their false and unsubstantiated allegations. However, I am aware that they have conducted intimidating interviews with my friends and acquaintances and then instructed them to keep their mouths shut.

Warning in 2022

The Globe also reported, based on two sources, that CSIS Director David Vigneault noted Chans return to public office in 2022 in a briefing provided to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas last fall.

In the briefing, CSIS again warned about dealing with Chan. Vigneault also discussed Beijings targeting of 11 candidates, Liberals and Conservatives, in the Greater Toronto Area in the 2019 federal election.

The Globe didnt mention the date of the briefing, but it could coincide with reporting by Global News on the same allegations in November 2022, which could have triggered the briefing.

Global reported that Trudeau was previously briefed on foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its alleged funding of at least 11 federal candidates in the 2019 election.

The funds were allegedly transferred through an Ontario provincial MPP and a federal election candidate staffer, the article said, without providing names.

The briefing covered in the Global News article is similar in nature to the one mentioned by the Globe that was provided to the PMO in relation to the 2019 election.

The Trudeau government has denied knowledge of that information.

There has never been any information given to me on the funding of federal candidates by China, Trudeau said in a scrum on Nov. 22, 2022.

Seeking to verify Trudeaus comment, Conservative MP Arnold Viersen filed a question with the government the same day.

Has anyone in the Office of the Prime Minister or the Privy Council Office received such information, and, if so, (i) who received the information, (ii) on what date was the information received, (iii) why did that person not inform the Prime Minister? Viersen wrote in his order paper.

That intelligence comes from operational sources, is sensitive, and must be protected, the government wrote back on Jan. 30.

Commenting on specifics of operational intelligence would put operations at risk and would jeopardize Canadas access to valuable intelligence on national security threats.

It also quoted from what Thomas said at the Commons defence committee last December.

We have not seen money going to 11 candidates, period, Thomas said.
Total Fraud in Federal Government? For First Time, an Agency Tries to Solve

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office testifies during a hearing before the Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee of House Oversight and Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 26, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A government agency wants to find out just how much taxpayer money is lost to fraud at the federal level.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office is attempting, for the first time, to estimate the total amount of fraud in the entire federal government. Comptroller General of the United States Gene Dodaro said his agency could have an estimate later this year.

The goal is to reduce fraud across all branches of the federal government.

Measuring and estimating the extent of fraud is part of broader efforts to improve agencies actions to strategically manage fraud risk, said Chuck Young, managing director of public affairs for the Government Accountability Office. The broader work includes putting those measures and estimates in context so that the federal government can effectively use fraud measurement and estimation to enhance its ability to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.

The project is underway, he said.

We are still in our research and design phase, so we do not yet have a finalized timeframe, Young told The Center Square. However, we are striving to complete the work before the end of the year.

Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO and founder of OpenTheBooks.com, said it was unfortunate that fraud had become a partisan issue.

Spending hawks in Congress consistently posit that cutting waste, fraud and abuse can yield meaningful savings that can shrink our deficit and eventually make our debt service obligations less crushing, he said. Others argue its an empty or ephemeral promise, and demand examples of waste and fraud beyond Medicare and Medicaid. A document like this could essentially be the answer to that challenge. It could provide a real roadmap for reining in the rampant fraud that seems to pollute every program that hands out our tax dollars. It can tell us which programs to reform in order to efficiently yield the best gains.

Existing fraud estimates have limitations.

Existing data on fraud are insufficient for determining the total amount of federal fraud, according to a Government Accountability Office report. For instance, inspectors general report on certain results of investigations but do not uniformly record and report fraud and related data. Similarly, federal programs that report improper payment data do not consistently assess what proportion of those payments were the result of fraud.

One problem is fraud can be hard to find.

Because of the deceptive nature of fraud, it isnt always detected or reported, according to the report.

That report also noted that government agencies arent on the same page when it comes to what constitutes fraud.

Agencies define fraud differently, making fraud and related data difficult to study across agencies, the report says.

The Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency in its fiscal year 2021 report estimated that recoveries and receivables from investigations totaled $12.1 billion. That estimate included theft and mismanagement of government funds in addition to fraud. The Office of Management and Budget reported confirmed fraud for fiscal year 2021 was $4.5 billion. But neither estimate is considered to be all that precise.

This number may not include all confirmed fraud data, according to the Government Accountability Office report. For example, the Department of Defense reported at least $1.1 billion in confirmed fraud to CIGIE in fiscal year 2021, but reported $0 in confirmed fraud to OMB in the same period. These disparate figures raise questions about the quality of reported federal fraud data.

In fiscal year 2022, the federal government spent $6.27 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury. National debt exceeds $31 trillion.

Andrzejewski said an official Government Accountability Office fraud estimate could help policymakers and taxpayers.

Americans understand intuitively that the scope and scale of the fraud within federal programs is enormous, he said. Getting our arms around exactly how bad it is, and where elected officials should devote the time to improve matters would be a real victory.

By Brett Rowland
Men Will Soon Be Able to Give Birth Using a Transplanted Uterus, Researchers Predict

Critics call the idea 'horrific' and 'monstrous'

Newborn babies sleep in the neo-natal ICU ward of The Apollo Hospital in New Delhi on Oct. 29, 2011. ( Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images)

Medical researchers say its only a matter of time before men who want to be women can have babies, as techniques for uterine transplants from live and deceased women donors are advanced.

According to a January article published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility, several medical teams are actively working to bring transplant procedures to clinical reality for men who want to transition to women.

The first uterus transplant in a transgender female in the 21st century is anticipated to take place within the next few years, if not sooner, according to the article written by doctors involved in uterus transplants for women at Ohios Cleveland Clinic.

In May 2022, news broke that a doctor in India was planning to transplant a womb from a donor into a transgender person born a male, which could result in pregnancy and birth. If successful, it would mark the worlds first womb transplant for a trans person born a male. It was widely reported the organs would be taken from a deceased donor or from a woman who desired to become a man and had her womb removed in the process.

Anatomical challenges exist, but the articles authors indicate none are impossible to overcome. So far, babies born to women having transplanted wombs are delivered by cesarean section, which would be the process for men.

A newborn baby is transferred to an ambulance at the Akanksha Clinic, one of the most organized clinics in the surrogacy business, in Anand, India on Nov. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

The article said that the shape of the male pelvis, with a more narrow pubic arch, would need to be adapted, as would supportive ligaments and connective tissue. Vascular system connections would need to be considered because women can carry more blood through the network of veins connected to the uterus.

Mother, Father, or Both?

The study suggested that it is plausible for men to impregnate themselves by using their frozen sperm to fertilize an egg. A successful pregnancy resulting in birth would likely raise ethical and legal questions for the child and trans person, according to the article.

Doctors have successfully transplanted wombs from live and dead donors into females, most of whom were born without a womb, resulting in pregnancies and birth.

But they have not transplanted female reproductive organs into a male. Yet.

The topic is gaining momentum in the transgender medical industry because of doctors growing success in uterus transplants for women.

Last month, a video clip from May concerning a discussion on live donor uterus transplants for trans men went viral.

Parental Rights advocate Megan Brock posted on Twitter video clips of Alicyn Simpson, a male-to-female transitioner, talking about the desire for many in the trans community to have children. The clip had more than a million views and elicited scathing comments from critics.

In the clip, Simpson, who was working for the University of Pittsburgh Childrens Hospital gender program, talked about gender transitioning for youth and uterus transplants for men who want to be women.

According to Fox News, the presentation was titled Fertility in the LGBTQIA+ community, but the full video has since been pulled from YouTube.

Simpson talked about the possibility of trans people swapping out body parts. A biological female who wants to be male could donate her uterus to a biological man who wants to be female.

(L-R) Abel Garcia, Billboard Chris, and Chloe Cole take part in a demonstration in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 8, 2022. Garcia and Cole have become vocal critics of transgender medical practices since detransitioning back to their sex at birth. (Brad Jones/The Epoch Times)

One area that had not been looked at before in any serious way was could the donors be live donors? asked Simpson, who works with the hospitals pediatric Gender and Sexual Development Program.

Live donation has been something the [transgender] community has talked about for decades; it was really thought about as magical thinking, Simpson said.

Comments on the clip indicated that many were outraged.

Frankenstein is alive and well, one woman wrote on Twitter as another posted pictures of Mary Shelleys classic tale of a mad scientist building a monster from parts of human corpses and bringing it to life.

The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, became the first facility in the United States to transplant a uterus from a dead donor into a woman born without one in 2019, according to a news release. (Photo courtesy of Cleveland Clinic)

Completely enthralled in their own experience and completely disregarding the monstrous efforts that will no doubt end with deaths of infants, wrote another on Twitter.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, called the idea horrific on Twitter. Childrens hospital gender program navigator touts giving uteruses from live donors to trans women, he wrote.

The scholarly article written by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic said that while current standards talk about performing the relatively rare operation on women, it should be considered for trans people in the name of equity.

The article said that if there is no clear or compelling medical reason that transgender women cannot undergo a uterus transplant, then it is ethically supportable.

Ohios Cleveland Clinic delivered a second baby in uterus transplant clinical trial in July 2020. Uterine transplants for women have become more viable as techniques and technology have increased. (Photo courtesy of Cleveland Clinic)

Womb transplants from live and deceased donors have been ongoing and resulted in several births in Europe and the United States. In 2014, the worlds first baby born from a transplanted uterus was delivered at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, according to news accounts.

News outlets reported that the case involved a 36-year-old woman who gave birth after getting a uterus transplant from a 61-year-old donor who had already gone through menopause.

Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas made news in 2017 when it announced the first woman to deliver a baby after a uterus transplant in the United States from a live donor occurred.

Ohios Cleveland Clinic became the first in the United States to transplant a uterus from a dead donor into a woman born without one in 2019, according to a news release.

But the question remains: should a uterine transplant into a male be done just because its possible?

Dr. Marie Hilliard, co-chair of the Catholic Medical Association Ethics Committee, told The Epoch Times via email that there are many ethical considerations when conception is achieved naturally.

Regardless of who receives the uterus, the fact remains that the live donor has been mutilated by donating the healthy womb she said.

Womb transplants, while not intrinsically immoral if received from a deceased donor, can create insurmountable immoral challenges, said Hilliard, adding, But overarching everything is the concept that human life can be manipulated and not seen as a gift, but a right.

In vitro fertilization inevitably leads to the destruction of spare human embryos, she said. Medications needed to prevent rejection of the womb put the unborn child at risk.

When humans manipulate procreation, they risk harming human dignity, Hilliard said.

The bottom line is that human life is a gift to be protected and nurtured from the very moment of conception, which includes the method in which fertilization occurs and gestation is maintained.
Transgender Center Refuses to Stop Hormone Treatment for Youths as Missouri Investigations Continue

Witness who shouted 'shame on you' at senator booted from heated hearing

A Missouri transgender clinic says it will continue to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to minors, turning down the state attorney generals request as investigations of a whistleblowers complaint continue.

In a letter sent to Attorney General Andrew Bailey, leaders at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital said the center is the only place in the entire state of Missouri where transgender youth can access the care they need to ensure their mental and physical well-being.

Therefore, we cannot institute a moratorium that would deny critical, standards-based care to current and new patients, the letter said.

However, center officials are establishing additional oversight while continuing an internal review of patient care practices, the letter said, without specifying what those steps entailed.

The letter, which also pledges cooperation with investigators, was signed by university Chancellor Andrew Martin and Richard Liekweg, CEO of BJC HealthCare, responding on behalf of the hospital.

A spokeswoman for the university emailed the letter to The Epoch Times on the evening of Feb. 14, stating it had just been sent to Bailey; by the afternoon of Feb. 15, he had yet to release a response to the letter.

Whistleblowers Claims Debated

The letter refusing to halt the procedures voluntarily was sent hours after a state Senate committee held a hearing on a proposal to outlaw gender-altering hormones and surgeries for minors.

Missouri is one of about two dozen states attempting legislation to restrict, criminalize, or otherwise discourage what transgenderism proponents call gender-affirming care.

The state, however, is more in the spotlight because of the allegations that surfaced last week in an expose written by Jamie Reed, a former case manager at the Transgender Center.

Reed, 42, of St. Louis, is believed to be the nations first whistleblower to reveal the inner workings of a pediatric transgender clinic.

She and others want so-called gender-affirming care to stop, saying children are being harmed.

Young patients and their parents are not being fully informed of the risks of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, Reed said.

Reed, who is a parent and identifies as queer, also alleges doctors at the center continued prescribing the drugs even after parents revoked consent or patients suffered detrimental effects.

Sen. Elaine Gannon (R-DeSoto) said that everyone on the Senates Emerging Issues Committee had probably read Reeds much-talked-about article.

And when I read it, I just said to myself, well, you know what? Finally, the cat is out of the bag. And this has been exposed,' Gannon said. It needs to be exposed, and it needs to stop.

In Reeds first-person account, published by an independent media outlet, The Free Press, she called for a nationwide moratorium on the procedures.

Reed also signed a sworn statement alleging that children with severe mental conditions were prescribed gender-altering medications after insufficient assessments.

That led to state and federal investigations, along with calls for the St. Louis clinicand others across the nationto hit pause on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors.

Reed said she has three children from a previous marriage, but her current spouse is a woman who identifies as a man.

She was not at the hearing, where some said they doubted the veracity of her claims and found the timing suspect. Her revelation was published on Feb. 9, five days before the previously scheduled Senate hearing on the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

Witness Shouts Shame on You!

Dozens of people on both sides of the issue came to the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri, for the Feb. 14 hearing.

Emotions ran high at the outset. The first two witnesses confronted Senators with whom they disagreed. One, a supporter of the SAFE Act, was escorted out; the other, an opponent of the legislation, was threatened with being ejected.

Before the hearing, Scott Newgent, a transsexual who supports the SAFE Act, handed out 600 flyers in and around the Capitol and urged lawmakers to approve the Act.

As the hearing began, Newgent, a 50-year-old parent of three children, kicked off the testimony.

Newgent described the horrors of sex-reassignment surgery and implored Senators to prevent children from heading down a path that can lead to misery and a shortened lifespan.

I was told that I was actually a man trapped in a womans body, that my masculine traits and strong personality were proof that I was really a man, Newgent said.

I was told that all my pain and self-loathing would magically disappear if I just put testosterone into my body, remove my breasts and alter my genitalia.

After doing all of that and taking cross-sex hormones, Newgent suffers repeated infections and other health problems. Now, Newgent said, I will never get to meet my grandkids.

Newgent, a self-described lesbian, accused an openly gay senator, Democrat Greg Razer, of failing to protect homosexual children from being transitioned from their sexual preference and into a new gender.

Then Newgents emotions boiled over. Newgent pointed at Razer and shouted, Shame on you! Shame on you!

Sen. Justin Brown, committee chair, made good on his earlier promise to ensure order in the hearing. He ordered Newgent to be escorted out of the hearing.

Scott Newgent, a transsexual who opposes gender-transitioning of minors, testified during a hearing at the Missouri State Capitol on Feb. 14, 2023. (Screenshot of video provided by Scott Newgent)

Doctor, Lawmaker, Patient Testify

A doctor who testified against the legislation, Kansas City endocrinologist Brandon Barthel, said his practice deals with adult transgender people, not minors.

But he cast doubt on many of Reeds claims. He accused her of cherry-picking patients with highly complex issues, highlighting them rather than describing cases that reflect most patients.

Barthel said the government should not intrude into medical practice to stop evidence-based treatments.

Sen. Nick Schorer (R-St. Charles County) questioned the quality of that evidence. He noted that Sweden, Finland, the UK, and Florida, reviewed many studies showing there is no evidence that the benefits of hormones for treating gender-related distress in youth outweigh the risks.

When he asked Barthel to respond, the doctor replied, I think its a little surprising that were sitting here in the heartland of the United States of America, and were talking about modeling our health care practices off what Europe does.

But Schorer said that was not the issue; he tried to pin down the doctor. Barthel faulted Schorer for interrupting when he tried to answer.

After some back-and-forth, the committee chairman stepped in. Let me stop this. Im not going to tolerate disrespect to a committee member, Brown said. Now we already had one witness removed from hereand, trust me, I have no problem doing that.

A young patient, whose name was unclear, testified about a carefully planned, long transition with the help of medications. The youth claimed to be healthy and have no regrets about the procedure.

Three Versions of Proposal

Three versions of the SAFE Act were sponsored by Republican senators: Mike Moon, Jill Carter, and Danny Hoskins. The committee must decide whether to send such a measure to the full Senate.

Moon had introduced a similar bill several years ago, but it died in committee.

In opening remarks, Moon said he was glad the whistleblower came forward, noting she had nothing to gain.

He criticized Washington University for attempting to convert children from one sex to another. Such a procedure sounds like scientific medical experiments performed at a concentration camp, he said.

Moon said some people responded angrily to his proposed ban on the procedures.

We should be directing our anger toward the evildoers like those at Washington University and others who are perpetrating this evil upon our children. Theyre the ones that took an oath to do no harm, Moon said.

Carter said that, rather than the current emphasis on gender-affirming care, which can lead to medical procedures, said she would like to see a return to watchful waiting, as the preferred method of care for gender-distressed youths.

This would allow a therapist to help the child or family address possible  pathology, treat any underlying psychological issues and help the child and align their gender identity with their biological sex, Carter said.

When Hoskins first heard allegations that adolescents were going through life-changing surgeries and treatments, that sounded crazy, he said.

Well, actually, it turned out I was the one that was crazy, Hoskins said, because I didnt believe them.

And we now know that many of these things are happening to our kids.
Truck Overturns in Arizona, Spills Nitric Acid, Triggers Shelter-in-Place Alert

A commercial truck tanker rolled over on Interstate 10 in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 14, 2023. (Arizona Department of Public Safety)

An emergency shelter-in-place has been issued for nearby residents after a truck carrying hazardous materials overturned on Feb. 14 on a highway in Tucson, Arizona.

Following a crash, a commercial truck tanker overturned on the Interstate 10 highway eastbound between Rita and Kolb roads, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The tanker involved in this collision was hauling nitric acid in liquid form, the Arizona DPS announced on Twitter of the HAZMAT spill.

Footage of the crash posted on Twitter showed reddish-orange mist emanating from an overturned truck tanker. The post was accompanied by a message: be safe everyone, dont [breathe] this in.

Liquid nitric acid is a highly corrosive substance, described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a colorless liquid with yellow or red fumes with an acrid odor.

In vapor or mist form, it can cause burning sensations to the eyes, nose, skin, and lungs. Exposure to high concentrations of this can cause pneumonitis, bronchitis, and/or pulmonary edema, which can be fatal. These symptoms can be delayed from 4 to 30 hours after exposure. Furthermore, teeth can erode when exposed to the vapor or mist form of nitric acid.

A commercial truck tanker rolled over on Interstate 10 in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 14, 2023. (Arizona Department of Public Safety)

Shelter in Place Alert Issued

The Arizona Department of Transport (DOT) announced the crash around 3 p.m. local time. By 5:09 p.m., the Arizona DPS said the tanker was leaking hazardous material.

Interstate 10 remains closed in both directions between Rita and Kolb roads in Tucson, per the Arizona DPS. Motorists should continue to avoid the area and seek an alternate route. The DPS added in a Twitter post: We anticipate an extensive closure. Please avoid the area.

Meanwhile, the Arizona DOT said that there is no estimated time to reopen the road.

An emergency alert said that everyone within a one-mile radius of the crash should shelter in place. People are also advised to turn off heaters and air-conditioners that bring in outside air.

First responders were working to evacuate the area around where the truck overturned. The Arizona DPS Hazardous Materials Response Unit and multiple agencies were also working to respond to the incident. The other agencies include Tucson Fire Department, Tucson Police Department, Pima County Sheriffs Department, and Marana Police Department.

Recent Train Derailment in Ohio Sparks Health, Pollution Concerns

The crash and HAZMAT spill comes after a train that was carrying vinyl chloride derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3.

Crews burned the chemicals in a controlled release on Feb. 6, creating a pillar of dark smoke containing various toxic materials that spread over the town.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

Local residents have expressed concerns over the health and environmental fallout from the derailment, with some saying their animals have died.

Authorities say various fire combustion chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, are heading downstream in the Ohio River.

Nearby residents have been urged to test their water. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters that if he lived in East Palestine, Id be drinking the bottled water.
Trucker Killed When 2 Big Rigs Collide on I-8 in Alpine

SAN DIEGOAuthorities sought Feb. 13 to determine what caused two big rigs to collide on Interstate 8 in Alpine this week, fatally injuring one of the drivers.

The trucker was killed about 6:30 p.m. Monday, when his eastbound tractor-trailer rear-ended a car-carrier truck near Tavern Road and caught fire, according to the California Highway Patrol. He remained unidentified late Monday morning.

The other driver, a 32-year-old Miami resident, was uninjured, the agencys public affairs Officer Jared Grieshaber said.

The accident left the eastbound lanes of the freeway closed in the area for about 6 and half hours, the spokesman said.
Trump Targets Nikki Haleys Record After She Launches 2024 Presidential Campaign

President Donald Trump meets with Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 9, 2018. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump was the only candidate officially running in the Republican Partys 2024 presidential campaign until Tuesday, when Nikki Haleya former South Carolina governor and his former United Nations ambassadorlaunched her own 2024 bid.

Trump responded to Haleys political announcement with a statement on his campaign website titled The Real Nikki Haley. In the statement, Trump criticized Haley for her stances on such issues as border security and the war in Ukraine.

Border Security

Haley is Weak on Immigration and Does Not Support a Border Wall, Trump wrote in one section of the statement. He then said Haley had been critical of ending birthright citizenship and building a border wall. Trump cited an example of Haley using a 2016 State of the Union response speech to criticize his border policy proposals. Trump raised those particular issues on border and immigration policy just months after the Republican Party won a narrow House majority with border security as their top priority.

At a campaign launch rally on Wednesday, Haley said, In the America I see, we stop the surge of drugs and illegal immigration. That means having a real border and mandatory E-Verify, like we got done in South Carolina.

Businesses must hire Americans, not illegals, Haley added.

Ukraine Aid

In another portion of his statement, Trump said Haley supported more spending for Ukraine instead of finding a peaceful solution to end the Russia-Ukraine war. In April 2022, Haley called for sending military planes to Ukraine.

U.S. support for Ukraine has been somewhat mixed in recent months. An October poll found that about 40 percent of respondents supported giving both weapons and military funding to Ukraine. Another 30 percent supported sending weapons but not money to Ukraine, while 25 percent supported sending nothing at all to Ukraine. That poll found that Republicans were the most opposed to sending weapons to Ukraine, with 38.7 percent opposing weapons for Ukraine, while more than 61 percent supported sending weapons.

Some Republicans have called for more oversight on the issue of sending weapons and funding to Ukraine. In October, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that Congress would not continue to write a blank check to Ukraine if Republicans won control of the House. In November, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), along with a dozen Republican co-sponsors, introduced legislation to audit U.S. funding for Ukraine.

During her Wednesday rally, Haley said, Well stand with our allies, from Israel to Ukraine, and stand up to our enemies in Iran and Russia.

Haleys 2024 Flip Flop

Trump also criticized Haley for deciding to run in 2024 after she had said she would not seek the Republican nomination if Trump ran.

In April 2021, Haley said, I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it.

Thats something that well have a conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be made, Haley added at the time.

Trump announced his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Nov. 15, 2022. Just days after his announcement, Haley indicated she was considering a run.

During her Wednesday rally, Haley did not directly address the fact that shes now officially running against Trump, but offered a particular message for my fellow Republicans.

Weve lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans, Haley said. Well, that ends today.

Other Issues

Among the other issues Trump raised in his campaign statement was the fact that Haley did not support a 2016 bill in her state that would have required public restrooms and school bathrooms to accommodate people according to their biological sex.

The issue of transgender accommodations has continued to grow since Haleys time as South Carolina governor. Other states with Republican governors and Republican state legislative majorities have passed laws requiring public schools to provide bathrooms that accommodate students based on their biological sex.

A 2021 incident in which a female student was assaulted by a biologically male student in a girls bathroom became a hot-button issue amid the 2021 Virginia state elections, which saw Republicans take control of key statewide offices.

Trump also noted a 2012 example of Haley describing long-time Democratic politician Hillary Clinton as her inspiration to enter politics. Trump defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

NTD reached out to Haleys campaign for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

From NTD News
Turkey Promises Swift Reconstruction After Earthquake, Syrians Seek Aid

A view shows the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, on Feb. 9, 2023. (Emilie Madi/Reuters)

HAREM/JANDARIS, SyriaTurkey said it would demolish buildings heavily damaged by a huge earthquake last week and swiftly start a mammoth reconstruction effort, with thousands of families struggling to survive amid the rubble and freezing conditions.

Rescuers, who flew in to save people trapped in the debris, were starting to pack, although one woman was pulled out of a collapsed building on Wednesday after being buried for 222 hours.

In neighboring Syrias opposition-held northwest, already suffering from more than a decade of bombardment, the earthquake left many fending for themselves amid the rubble, with aid slowed by the complex politics of humanitarian assistance there.

The combined death toll in the two countries has climbed over 41,000, and millions are in need over humanitarian aid, with many survivors having been left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. Rescues are now few and far between.

In Turkeys southern Hatay Province, half of the buildings have either collapsed, been heavily damaged, or need to be demolished quickly, the government said.

We will quickly demolish what needs to be demolished and build safe houses, Turkeys Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said in a tweet.

The government encouraged people to go back home, if and when authorities have deemed their building safe, in order to start getting back to normal, Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy told a news conference in Malatya, some 160 km from the epicenter of the earthquake.

A destroyed building is seen in in Nurdagi, Turkey, on Feb. 13, 2023. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Get Us Out!

Across the border, in Syria, relief efforts have been hampered by a civil war that has splintered the country and divided regional and global powers.

A teenage boy holds food rations that he found in the rubble of buildings, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in the rebel-held town of Harem, in Idlib governorate, Syria, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Emilie Madi/Reuters)

Though a single border crossing from Turkey to Syria was open after the quake, the U.N. did not send aid through for days, citing logistical issues.

The situation is really tragic, Abdulrahman Mohammad, a displaced Syrian originally from the neighboring Province of Aleppo, said in Idlib, in the countrys northwest, where many had found refuge in the past decade from other war-torn provinces.

Parts of the Provinces of Idlib and adjacent Aleppo held by Turkey-backed rebels suffered the bulk of the quakes casualties in Syria: over 4,400 of a death toll of more than 5,800, according to the United Nations and government authorities.

Anyone who is working as a labourer and renting a house  If you need $10 a day in expenses and you can barely get thathow are you supposed to rebuild? Mohammad, originally from Aleppo, said.

On Tuesday, eight days after the quake, a second border crossing for aid delivery was opened after Syrian President Bashar al Assad gave his assent, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the rebel enclave.

But the trucks included none of the heavy equipment and machines that rescuers say they need to remove rubble faster and that could have helped with reconstruction.

What happened to usits the first time its happened around the world. There was an earthquake and the international community and the U.N. dont help, said Raed Saleh, who heads the White Helmets rescue force operating in opposition-held areas.

Saleh and others in the northwest said more lives could have been saved in Syria if the outside world had acted faster.

In Idlib, Walid Ibrahim lost more than two dozen of his family membersamong them his brother, his cousin, and all their children.

We were removing rock after rock and finding nothing underneath. People were under the concrete screaming, Get us out! Get us out! But wed come up with empty hands, he said. Your hands alone arent enough.

Further to the north, in Jandaris, rescuers said they had not found anyone alive under the rubble since Feb. 9 but continued to search. Residents said there were still people trapped.

Hassan Mohamed, a civil defense volunteer, said that while efforts to find survivors in the most badly hit areas in northwest Syria had finished, rescue workers were still deploying in response to reports of people missing. We are also going to areas where there has been no internet, he said.

By Ali Kucukgocmen and Khalil Ashawi
Tustin Restaurant Uses Robot Waiters, One of First in California

Beran Karaaslan (L) and Esat Karaaslan at I Can Korean Barbeque in Tustin, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

A Korean barbecue restaurant in Tustin, California, unveiled its new robot waiters earlier this monthnow one of the first in the state to do so, according to its owner.

The restaurant, called I Can Barbecue Korean Grill, has three such robots serving customers. Each delivers food to tables after diners submit their orders directly to the kitchen via smartphone, a process co-owner Esat Karaaslan says has greatly improved the grills service.

A robot delivers food orders at I Can Korean Barbecue in Tustin, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

[The robots] have greatly increased our customer satisfaction, Karaaslan told The Epoch Times. Now, guests can order and receive their food much quicker, without having to wait for a waiter to remember to stop by and ask them.

Restaurant owners said they first saw the robot waiters on Instagram in Japan, which ultimately led them to team up with Tuff Robotics, a Los Angeles-based robotics company specializing in automation within the hospitality industry.

According to Karaaslan, each robot is programmed to speak up to 50 languages and can be trained to navigate any restaurant space without running into people or other objects thanks to built-in motion sensors.

The restaurant plans to expand its robot staff in the coming months, including a robot bartender to mix specialty cocktailsthen delivered by robot waitersand even a robot hostess to waitlist and seat guests.

A cook prepares food at I Can Korean Barbecue in Tustin, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

However, Karaaslan said the machines will in no way replace their human staff members. Instead, he said, employees that would normally deliver food to tables help in other parts of the restaurant where additional staff are needed, such as the kitchen.

Theyre not taking the place of workers  Theyre here to improve customer experience so we can serve more people quickly and easily, he said.

Each machine takes between 12,000 and 15,000 steps per day, according to analytics recorded by the robots at the restaurant.

A robot delivers food orders at I Can Korean Barbecue in Tustin, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Karaaslan and his family own two additional restaurants in Irvine and one in Kansas City, each staffed with a team of robot servers.

When The Epoch Times visited the I Can Barbecue Korean Grill on Feb. 14, one of the robots approached with a Happy Valentines Day message on its display.

Hungry guests will be greeted by Fatima, Elizabeth, and Toga at 2881 El Camino Real.

The familys other restaurant locations with robots include OC Fish Grill, as well as additional I Can Barbeque Korean grill spots in Irvine and Santa Ana.

A robot delivers food orders at I Can Korean Barbecue in Tustin, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
UC Irvine Receives Largest Donation of $35.5 Million

Paul and Jo Butterworth donated $35.5 million to the University of CaliforniaIrvine, officials announced Feb. 13. (Courtesy of the University of CaliforniaIrvine)

The University of CaliforniaIrvine (UCI) received its largest donation ever at $35.5 million from alumni Paul and Jo Butterworth, university officials announced Feb. 13.

The gift will support the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, specifically for student scholarships and to finance new research initiatives, according to university officials.

We are enormously grateful for this generous contribution  Marios Papaefthymiou, the dean of the school, said in a statement. This gift will serve as a strong and enduring foundation for supporting student success in our school well into the future.

University of CaliforniaIrvine, in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 25, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said the Butterworths are longtime donors, whose contributions have been substantial and highly effective for the university and its students.

With this new gift, they have further cemented their place among the greatest champions of students at our institution, he said.

Besides being the co-founder and chief technology officer of software developer Vantiq Inc., based in northern California, Paul Butterworth serves on several boards and committees for the university. He was also inducted into the Bren Schools Hall of Fame in 2015.

UCI is where I began my career as a computer scientist and software engineer, he said in a statement. You could say UCI is where all of my success really started.

He earned his bachelors and masters in computer science from UCI in the 1970s, being one of the disciplines first graduates, according to university officials.

Jo Butterworth earned her bachelors degree in 1975 from UCIs School of Social Sciences, university officials said.
UK Watchdog: Policing Shot Through With Chinese Surveillance Cameras

Hikvision surveillance cameras outside the Hikvision headquarters in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province, on May 22, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

British policing has been shot through with Chinese-made cameras, drones, and surveillance systems, a watchdog said on Thursday.

Biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner Fraser Sampson published the final analysis of a survey, showing at least half of the police forces in England and Wales were using camera systems about which there have been security or ethical concerns.

Fraser last year published an initial analysis based on the responses received by then.

Among the 47 forces Sampsons office (OBSCC) wrote to, including 43 local police forces, the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the Ministry of Defence, and and the National Crime Agency (NCA), 39 completed the survey.

The reports said it was disappointing that only 91 percent of the forces returned the survey despite the fact OBSCC accepted responses made three months after the closing date.

According to the analysis, at least 18 respondents, around 38 percent of all forces, told the OBSCC they were using external camera system equipment that has been flagged for having security or ethical concerns, including Dahua, Hikvision, Honeywell and Huawei, and Nuuo.

More than half of the forces (at least 24) said they were using this equipment in their internal camera systems.

At least 11 respondents say their Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems use equipment flagged for security or ethical concerns while at least two respondents use Hikvision cameras in their body-worn video systems.

The commissioner also said 23 of the 31 respondents who said they operate cameras on drones said they were aware of security or ethical concerns about DJI, the Chinese company that made their drones.

A drone in flight at a DJI store in Shenzhen, Chinas southern Guangdong province, on July 12, 2022. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Those who didnt respond to the survey included the NCA and police forces in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, City of London, Gloucestershire, Gwent, South Yorkshire, and Thames Valley.

The watchdog said its abundantly clear that the police estate in the UK is shot through with Chinese surveillance cameras.

It is also clear that the forces deploying this equipment are generally aware that there are security and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their kit, Sampson said.

Referring to the recent incidents in which Chinese spy balloons were found 60,000 feet up in the sky over the Americas, Sampson said he doesnt understand why the UK is not at least as concerned about the Chinese cameras six feet about our head in the street and elsewhere.

Hikvision and Dahua, two world-leading surveillance camera manufacturers ultimately owned by the Chinese Communist Party, are the main suppliers of surveillance cameras in Xinjiang, where the Uyghur Tribunalchaired by the prominent British barrister and judge Sir Geoffrey Nice KCfound genocide had been taking place.

The cameras have also been found to have backdoors and vulnerabilities, sparking security concerns. The United States has blacklisted both companies.

The UK government last year told its departments to stop installing new Chinese surveillance cameras in sensitive sites, citing security considerations, and advised them to consider replacing the existing ones before the maintenance schedule and do the same with non-sensitive sites.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden noted that the manufacturers are subject to Chinas National Intelligence Law, a law that requires all organisations and citizens to support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.

Britains Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden reacts during his visit to the Royal Academy of Dance in London on Oct. 12, 2020. (Kirsty OConnor/AFP via Getty Images)

Referencing the governments order to stop installing new Chinese cameras in sensitive sites, Sampson said, we should, both for security and ethical reasons, really be asking ourselves whether it is ever appropriate for public bodies to use equipment made by companies with such serious questions hanging over them.

The commissioner also warned that the responsible use of surveillance is vital to gain public trust.

Clearly it is vital sometimes that the police must be able to use intrusive surveillance technology in public places. But if they want the public to trust them to do so, they must be able to persuade us, not only that they are working partners and providers that can be trusted, but also that they will use the technology available to them lawfully, responsibly and according to a set of clear agreed principles, he said.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said: Following government guidance where governmental departments have been instructed to cease the deployment of such equipment around sensitive sites, UK Policing will conduct necessary reviews to ensure national security standards are met.

Model contractual terms and conditions are widely used across policing, and these include specific provision for equality, diversity, and human rights. These are imposed on contracted suppliers and would be used to enforce any breach of contract.

A Hikvision spokesman said: It is categorically false to represent Hikvision as a threat to national security. No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion.

As a manufacturer, Hikvision does not store end-users video data, does not offer cloud storage in the UK and therefore cannot transmit data from end-users to third parties. Hikvision cameras are compliant with the applicable UK laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.

The company welcomed the NPCC review and is committed to upholding the highest standards and respect for human rights, the spokesman added.

PA Media contributed to this report.
US Airspace Free From Intruders Over Past 48 Hours, According to Defense Secretary

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks to the media at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on Jan. 20, 2023. (Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

There have been no new unidentified objects observed in U.S. airspace over the past 48 hours, the Pentagon said at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, following the NATO Defense Ministerial on Feb. 15.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin informed reporters that he was unaware of any additional unidentified flying objects discovered in U.S. airspace in the previous two days.

In less than two weeks, the United States has shot down four objects flying over its territory, a number that officials consider remarkable, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Since the Feb. 4 downing of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. military has shot down three more objects over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canadas Yukon on Feb. 10, 11, and 12.

Hunt For Wreckage

However, the Pentagon hasnt confirmed that the three latest objects belonged to Chinas spy programs.

Austin was asked by reporters how important it was to the Department of Defense that it recovers the wreckage to help decide policy for the future.

Were going to do everything we can to recover debris if its possible. That will help us learn a lot more about what these objects are, Austin said.

The defense secretary added that the Pentagon was working with NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, and everybody in the community who may have an interest in operating in this space, to understand what the objects were.

I would just tell you that the safety and security of the American peoplethats the thing thats most important to me and to everybody on the DOD team and throughout the agency, Austin said.

McConnell Criticizes Biden

So were going to continue to drill until we learn as much as we can about what those objects are and why they were operating in those spaces.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke before the Senate on Feb. 13, criticizing the Biden administration for not providing more information about the objects.

The Republican leader said that the American people deserve to know if they are benign science projects  or something more nefarious.

Japans defense ministry believes that Chinese spy balloons violated the nations airspace at least three times in recent years, as The Epoch Times reported.

The Pacific nation has been investigating past records for signs of incursion from Chinas spy balloon program since the U.S. shootdown occurred.

The Department of Defense didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.
US Seeks to Avoid Cold War With Beijing in Aftermath of Spy Balloon: Sherman

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman leaves after a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 22, 2015. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States is seeking to avoid a Cold War with Beijing following a violation of American sovereignty by a Chinese spy balloon, according to a senior government official.

The balloon that was shot down by U.S. forces on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina was only one example of an increasingly hostile regime, according to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

[Chinas] high-altitude surveillance program violated not only U.S. sovereignty but, over the years, that of many other countries as well, Sherman said during a Feb. 15 talk at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

The PRCs irresponsible acts put on full display what weve long understood: That the PRC has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad, Sherman added, using an acronym for the official name of communist China, the Peoples Republic of China.

The Pacing Challenge

U.S. officials have linked the Chinese balloon that encroached into U.S. airspace to a much broader program at least partially overseen by the Chinese military.

Speaking at a Feb. 13 press conference, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that the program had targeted at least 40 nations on five continents in recent years, including some of the United States closest allies and partners.

That effort, in turn, is related to a much larger espionage campaign being conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) throughout the world, which also includes the creation of covert overseas police stations and front organizations used to spread communist propaganda.

Sherman acknowledged the assessment of U.S. strategic documents that the CCP regime posed the greatest geopolitical challenge to the United States and possessed both the will and capability to forcibly reshape the international order in its own authoritarian image.

Weve known that the PRC is the pacing geopolitical challenge of our era, Sherman said. One that will test American diplomacy like few issues in American memory.

We recognize that the PRC is the only competitor with the intent and the means to reshape the rules-based international order.

Defending Interests

Recognizing the challenges posed to national security and international stability by the CCPs actions, Sherman said that the United States would still seek to stamp out the growing Cold War between the two nations, which are the worlds two greatest economies.

At the same time, she said, the United States would need to act to defend its interests from CCP aggression.

Make no mistake. We do not seek another Cold War, but we do ask everyone to play by the same set of rules so that all countries and all people can make their own choices, Sherman said.

With our partnerships in place, we will keep pushing back against PRC activities that seek to coerce other countries, distort markets, and undermine American workers and businesses.

To that end, Sherman said the Biden administration remained dedicated to its strategic priorities internationally, summed up in the words invest, align, compete.

By investing in infrastructure at home and abroad, aligning goals and values with allies and partners, and out-competing China in the global marketplace, Sherman said the United States could still win the day, but that competition will not be won in a day or a year.

Sherman underscored that the CCPs malign influence touches every region in the world, every function, every issue under the sun, and said that reinvigorating the United States alliances and partnerships and building strengthening multilateral institutions would be critical in the years ahead.

This is a pacing challenge, not this year alone, but critical for the decade ahead, Sherman said. The world is changing so rapidly.

The Threat in the East

In conceptualizing and preparing for the long decade of competition ahead, Sherman said, it was vital to clarify both the United States hopes for the Sino-American relationship as well as the nations red lines.

Sherman clarified that the United States remained opposed to the CCPs economic coercion, threats against Taiwan, and illegal expansion efforts in the South and East China Seas.

On the issue of Taiwan, Sherman said that the United States position had not changed and that the nation opposed the unilateral attempts of the CCP to compel the island into unification with China.

Our policy has not changed, Sherman said. What has changed is Beijings growing coercion. So we will keep assisting Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability.

We are committed to support Taiwan in its ability to defend itself.

Despite the many crises bogging down U.S.-China relations, Sherman said it was still the ambition of the administration to pursue meaningful dialogue and agreements with the regime.

As such, she said the United States would still seek to send Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing on a diplomatic visit, despite postponing the trip due to the incursion of the Chinese spy balloon.

Similarly, Sherman said that she hoped the CCP would not use U.S. visits to Taiwan as an excuse to pursue conflict.

Our communications have not stopped, Sherman said. We hope when conditions make sense that we will be seeing each other face to face again.

We hope that the PRC does not use a visit by a member of Congress to Taiwan as a pretext for military action.
Virginia Senate Kills Proposal to Repeal the Use of Californias Emission Rules

A Virginia Senate committee has killed a proposal backed the Republican governor that sought to repeal the states adoption of Californias vehicle emission standards which promoted zero-emission vehicles over fossil fuel ones.

In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) introduced a rule requiring a ban on the sale of fossil fuel vehicles starting in 2035, encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles. Since Virginia passed a Clean Cars law in 2021 that linked the state with Californias emissions standards, the states office of the attorney general indicated that Virginia would also have to follow standards set by California.

House Bill 1378, backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, sought to prohibit Virginias State Air Pollution Control Board from adopting or enforcing vehicle emission standards that align with CARB rules. On Tuesday, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee voted 87 along party lines to kill the proposal, with Democrats voting against it.

Youngkin has said he opposes allowing another state to set emission policies in Virginia.

In an effort to turn Virginia into California, liberal politicians who previously ran our government sold Virginia out by subjecting Virginia drivers to California vehicle laws, he said in a statement posted to Twitter on Aug. 26. Now, under that pact, Virginians will be forced to adopt the California law that prohibits the sale of gas and diesel-fueled vehicles.  Californias out-of-touch laws have no place in our Commonwealth.

Cracking Down on Fossil Fuel Vehicles

The Clean Cars standard adopted by Virginia requires auto manufacturers to provide cleaner gas-powered vehicles beginning with model year 2025 and to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles for sale in the state.

Democrats in the state Senate defeated several other bills that sought to undo the clean car standards, and it was the Democrat-controlled Legislature that passed the Clean Cars standards in 2021.

Republicans have warned that the targets set as part of the Clean Cars law are unachievable. Some have raised concerns over the high cost involved in buying and repairing electric vehicles.

At the Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, Republican Del. Tony Wilt questioned whether the states electric grid is capable of dealing with a rise in demand from electric vehicles.

While pointing out that Virginia is on the path to decommissioning carbon dioxide-emitting energy sources by 2050, Wilt raised concerns about scaling down the states electricity generation sources while pushing up demand.

Some experts have warned that mandating the sale of zero-emission vehicles could drive up the cost of electricity and negatively affect the vulnerable population in the state.

EV Challenge

Several states across the United States are pushing ahead with promoting zero-emission vehicles, mainly electric, while phasing out fossil fuel powered vehicles. In August, California mandated the ban of new internal combustion engine vehicles in the state by 2035.

In addition to Virginia, other states that have partially or fully adopted the emission standards set by California are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Commentator John Seiler has warned that Californias push for electric vehicle (EV) adoption will create inequalities.

What the new CARB ruling will do is effectively make California a two-tier society. The top tier will be those who can afford the new electric vehicles, he said.

The bottom tier of car owners will be those who cant afford new EVs, or even EVs a couple of years old. They will be forced to buy much older EVs at high prices, with mechanical problems that will strain family budgets even more.

An August poll by Rasmussen Reports found that only 28 percent of American adults viewed EVs as practical for drivers, with 54 percent calling the vehicles impractical. Another survey in May found that Americans were less likely than people from other nations to buy EVs.
VP Harris Says Downing of Spy Balloon Shouldnt Impact Relations With China

Vice President Kamala Harris gives remarks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Sept. 13, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris doesnt think the United States decision to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon will impact relations between the two countries.

I dont think so, no, Harris told Politico in a Feb. 14 interview, during which she addressed an array of topics from the war in Ukraine and judicial reforms in Israel to the 2024 presidential election.

The balloon in question was first spotted over an airfield in Montana on Feb. 1. Three days later, amid mounting pressure on the Biden administration to down the spy craft, the object was shot from the sky by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

Although U.S. officials have since confirmed the balloon to be part of a Chinese spy program targeting the United States and its allies, the Chinese government has maintained that the balloon was a civilian airship that inadvertently entered U.S. airspace after being blown off course.

Reiterating that claim at a Feb. 15 briefing, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin asserted that the United States had overreacted in shooting down the balloon. And, despite Harriss Tuesday remarks, Wenbin vowed that the move would be met with countermeasures from China.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Republican lawmakers have characterized the episode as a wake-up call for Americans as to the serious threat posed by Chinas espionage efforts.

Noting that the surveillance balloon flew over sensitive U.S. military sites like Offutt Air Force Base, home to U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) said he felt the gravity of the situation had yet to be fully grasped by some.

I represent the first district of Nebraska, home to STRATCOM, where we really command the nations nuclear triad, Flood said. And we have a balloon surveilling us from our enemies in China. And it seems to be lost that they are, you know, basically, brazenly attempting, and I think, are successful in getting as much data as they can about our sensitive military sites.

The danger doesnt stop there, the congressman added, holding that China seeks to groom the American public to be more accepting of the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) narrative through seemingly innocuous channels like TikTok.

Theyre building a relationship with teenagers and young adults and young Americans, and theyre going to cultivate that relationship for 10 years, and longer, he said. Lets imagine something happens in Taiwan. The first thing theyre going to do is theyre going to attempt to influence the opinions of Americans after they take or make a brazen act. Everything theyre doing is grooming Americans for their control, you knownot tomorrow, not next week, but down the road.

Three additional flying objects were shot down by the U.S. military within the last week, though the government has not established a link between those objects and China.

The intelligence communitys considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, told reporters on Tuesday, asserting that the unidentified objects were not used for surveillance.

I want to caveat that we havent found the debris, he added. 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.
Walmart to Close 3 US Tech Hubs, Relocate Staff

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, Walmarts 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 companys headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, he said, citing a memo sent last week by Walmarts 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 United States 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.
Washington DC Council Members Who Froze Police Hiring Now Call For More Officers: City Administrator

Washingtons city administrator says it is ironic that the city council reduced the police department budget and froze the hiring of police officers for two years, but continues to request more law enforcement presence on the capital citys streets.

The very same council members who voted to freeze hiring, also call the chief every week asking for more cops in the streets, and thats the irony of it, said City Administrator Kevin Donahue.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the citys Metro Police Department (MPD) is down 500 officers because of the councils budget decisions two years ago and the fast rate of police retirement.

The city administrator already mentioned that we are about 500 fewer officers now than when I started eight years ago, and part of that is because, for two years, we werent permitted, because of budget actions, to do any hiring in MPD, said Bowser.

Bowser and Donahue made the comments as part of a virtual townhall meeting for seniors on Feb. 8. The townhall was the first in a series of budget engagement forums that give residents a chance to share their priorities before the mayor sends her fiscal year 2024 budget to the DC city council.

Mayor, City Council Differ on Crime Reform

Bowser has been openly critical of the city councils soft-on-crime approach. The council pushed through a fundamentally revised criminal code last month over the mayors veto.

The Epoch Times reached out to a number of DC city council members for comment.

According to data from the Metropolitan Police, as of Jan. 18, there had been 11 homicides and six cases of sex abuse in 2023 compared to the first 18 days of 2022, which had six homicides and two cases of sex abuse. Violent crime, as a whole, decreased by 7 percent, but overall crime increased by 25 percent.

Over the past two years, DC has had a skyrocketing crime rate, the DC Police Union said in a statement condemning the city councils action.

Homicides are now regularly over 200 per year. There are nearly 500 carjackings, 2,000 robberies, and 800 shootings per year. These numbers are almost double what they were two and three years ago. Only a decade ago the homicide rate was below 100, the police union said.

Replenishing the MPD

Donahue said the city has implemented hiring incentives to increase the police force, including hiring bonuses, housing incentives, and a higher education tuition initiative, all of which have helped.

He said its most successful program, however, has been the police cadet program, in which the city hires DC high school graduates, most of them from Wards 7 and 8, and many of them female.

The cadet program has grown from about 25 cadets when Bowser took office, to about 150 cadets today, Donahue said.

They get a civilian job at MPD for about two years, they go to UDC [University of the District of Columbia] free of charge to be able to get a degree, and then at the end of those two years, they can choose and they have no obligation to stay [with MPD], said Donahue.

Weve been working very hard with incentives to hire the right people to join our department, and we try to hire as many as we can, Donahue added.

Senior Citizen: Its Really Dangerous Out Here

Margaret Miller, a senior living in Ward 7, urged Bowser to get more police officers to patrol the streets. As a senior citizen riding public transport, she has observed crime getting worse.

Miller doesnt feel safe.

Im just concerned about more police force out here becauseweve always had crime but its escalated and escalated and that has gotten to be more on the subways and the buses  and it seems to me like its really dangerous out here, Miller said during the budget engagement forum. It seems to me like its increasingly getting worse. And I was just wondering whether is there something they could do as far as maybe getting more policemen on the force or getting back to where police would walk the streets?

The MPD has gotten national attention in recent weeks because of back-to-back shootings, one in a DC Metro subway station.

We are working with our partners at Metro, to support them. They dont have enough police to be on every bus or on every train or even at every train station. And we dont have enough police to do it for them, said Bowser during the forum.

Its very important that you feel safe, continued Bowser. While were concerned, especially about the very, very unfortunate event at Potomac Avenue Metro, we know that we have a clean and safe system, and were going to work together to make sure you see more police on the system.

Bowser was referring to a shooting rampage on Feb. 1 in which a man shot three people, killing one.

Bill Pan contributed to this report.
What It Means to Be an Educated Transitioning Veteran

Commentary

So how about some tips on the transition between those twofrom warfighter into civilian, and all the intricacies therein? Having done that very thing and watched many others go through the process, I want to offer the following as a simple yet easy-to-follow guide for understanding this difficult period in a veterans life.

Officer or Enlisted

The first aspect of navigating this process involves a simple question: were you enlisted or an officer? This is more important than most realize, and it actually plays a significant role within the veteran community that some fail to recognize. Come to grips with the fact that the transitional progression is different for these two groups. Do not try to hide from this reality or act like it is unfairit is what it is, so accept that and move forward with it.

For those who do not believe there is a significant difference, try this experiment: talk to officers who have left the military and talk to enlisted personnel who have spent the same amount of time in. Now ask them if they have been recruited into a job in the private sector. It has been my experience that a solid number of officers have had this very thinglarge corporations talk to officers leaving the military and convince them to come on board. It has also been my experience that, aside from maybe some Tier 1 guys, this does not happen for enlisted personnel.

While I am sure there are exceptions, the vast majority of the time this is the case. Why does this matter?

This leads me to my second point, which is for both groups to be appreciative of where the other is and what they can and cannot do. For example, I had a former officer giving me tips on how to approach resume writing and job interviews, and I was becoming incredibly frustrated because everything he was suggesting were things I had already employed and it just was not that simple. But then it hit me like a truckhe had no idea what it was like to be in my position. Despite similar educational levels and time on active duty, his background led him onto a path where people sought him outsomething that certainly did not happen to me, even after multiple levels of college.

The important takeaways here are: 1) for officers to understand how much different the transition process is for former enlisted, and 2) for enlisted not to be bitter about this, but rather to utilize this knowledge for maximal benefit to them in their pursuit. In other words, network like hell with any officer you know or knew because there is a strong chance they are going to end up in a much better job than you are. Do not look at that fact as unfairjust look at it as being what is.

All Veterans Are Not Created Equal

While the distinction between officers and enlisted in their job hunting should be understood, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath that there are several levels of inequality that must be appreciated in the transition process. For example, lets look at two military jobs in the same field: special operations medic and nurse. While the former may have a ton of really high-speed training that is the envy of a lot of us who know what they went through, who do you think is going to have an easier time finding work in the civilian world?

Whether this is fair or not is irrelevantthe SOF medic simply does not have the civilian qualifications that a nurse does, and as a result, will be looking at lower-paying jobs. What matters here is not the legitimacy of this reality, but rather the acceptance of it for what it is. This is the case with numerous occupational specialties. I was an Airborne Infantryman and a PSYOP Team Chief. Guess what? No one cares about that anywhere near as much as they do about the guy who was a cybersecurity expert.

I do not state this as a complaintI am grateful for my experiencebut as a fact of the current job market. Cyber security and the skills related to it are in far greater demand than my particular background. Understanding this is important to your transitionary process. Do you have an employable military occupation specialty (MOS) in the civilian sector? If so, how do you maximize it? If not, what do you need to do in order to make yourself more attractive to potential employers?

Im a veteran should never be a bullet point on a resume. Employers want to know what you can offer them and military service, while admirable to some (more on this in a minute), is not in and of itself always valuable in the profits-and-losses model of running a business.

Military Service Is Not the End-All, Be-All

We are living in strange times, and one of the greatest reflections of the oddities of our society is the veteran job-seeker. Support the troops stickers are seen everywhere; yellow ribbons are still regularly on the backs of cars; people are (generally) outraged by any offenses toward the veteran community, etc. Yet despite all of this, most employers do not look at military experience as something that sets a candidate above others.

Anecdotes from hiring professionals reflect my own experiencethat unless you are headed into a government job (or something directly tied to the defense industry), military service is not something that makes a hiring manager jump out of their desk and shout, yes! This is what we need!

Like the distinction between officers and enlisted, the point here is not to quibble about whether or not this is fair; that is best left for another time. The goal here is to make you, the transitioning veteran, aware of it and understand how to turn that into an advantage. Does your resume scream COMBAT VET! all over it? Is there a way you can minimize the military (specifically combat-related experience) aspect of your resume to reflect more of a benefit to the marketplace and make you appear less like a stone-cold killer? A lot of people who get out before retirement are proud of their service; as well they should be. But having a curriculum vitae that reads like a Marine Corps recruiting poster can do more harm than good.

Do what you can to ensure that your resume and overall persona is geared toward what you can offer the employer rather than your perceived value in an empirical sense. While you may be able to argue that being a team leader in Iraq carries more responsibility than the position of project manager in the civilian world, no one will listenthey want to know how investing a payroll allotment into you is a worthy endeavor, and the vast majority of hiring managers have absolutely no idea what being a team leader entails (and many assume it involves a lot more shooting people in the face than it actually does).

Knowing Is More Than Half the Battle

So if we know that officers and enlisted are looked at differently, that different MOSs are not viewed the same, and that just being a veteran is not enough, how does that help us and what else do we need to know?

First, your network is everything. Start thinking in those terms and it will help you immensely. An employer who does not know you from Adam will not care at all about how much weight you carried through the Korengal Valley, but guess what? Someone who knows you personally might. Extend yourself into more diverse networks of people in order to make that possible.

Second, know what type of education will help you and which type will not. Youve got the GI Bill, so use itbut remember, just like MOSs, all degrees are not created equal. Research higher education (to include things like trade schools) that ties into both what you did in the military and what you want to do for a living (for example, see parts two and three of my series on higher education).

Third, know your resources. Yes, you have the GI Bill, but what else? Are you tied in with any veteran groups that help specifically with this purpose? Are you aware that there are recruiters out there who work towards getting people hired into specific industries? Seek these groups and people out and do what it takes to gain from their knowledge and expertise.

Fourth, and finallythis is probably the toughest onethere is nothing wrong with being confident about your ability. But be humble. The world does not owe you anything because you served. You do not deserve to finish as a squad leader and walk directly into a six-figure income at a Fortune 500 company.

Could it happen? Sure, but do not expect it, and do not get pissed when you, more likely than not, have to start over at the bottom of an organization and prove yourself. This is a tough pill to swallow, doing so will put you considerably further ahead in the long run.

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.
White House Says Thousands of UFO Sightings Are Probably Not Aliens

This image from video, labeled GIMBAL and provided by the Department of Defense from 2015, shows an unexplained object (C) being tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. (Department of Defense via AP)

The Biden administration said that the thousands of UFOs sightings in the skies are probably not aliens.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of unknown objects soaring in the skies at any given time, but most are believed to be harmless objects and not space aliens visiting Earth, according to White House Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.

There are no UFOs. This is not an invasion of the aliens, Sherwood-Randall, in a Feb. 13 video conference with state governors, reported Fox News.

The meeting with the governors was held after the U.S. Air Force (USAF) shot down three flying objects last weekend.

Most are believed to be mundane things like used car lot balloons, or aircraft launched by commercial businesses, she added.

Its true that there are things that are being identified that dont resemble anything else, that largely dont present a threat, and we have to figure out what to do about them, and it turns out, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them.

I mean, its funny, but its not funny because people are communicating this on platforms that are widely viewed, Sherwood-Randall continued.

Air Force General Refuses to Rule Out Space Aliens

However, the administration claims that it is still unable to identify the three recently downed objects.

The first flying object was shot down by the USAF off northeastern Alaska on Feb. 10, the second over Canadas Yukon Territory on Feb. 11, and the third over Lake Huron on Feb. 12.

Recovery teams are currently working to find and retrieve the three objects.

Officials say debris from the first unidentified object, which was about the size of a small car, is likely on an ice flow off Alaska, while the remnants of the other two objects are somewhere in Canada.

Meanwhile, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command (NORCOM), USAF General Glen VanHerck, told reporters on Feb. 12, that he would not rule out an extraterrestrial origin for the objects, after they were intercepted over the weekend.

Ill let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out, VanHerck said, but White House officials walked back his comments the following day.

White House to Conduct Study on UFOs

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, told reporters, that he does not think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft. Period.

I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is noagain, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The UFO incidents came over a week after the military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off South Carolina on Feb. 4, which put North American air defenses on high alert.

Government officials said the 200-foot tall balloon was being used for surveillance and signals gathering by the CCP.

A 30-foot section of that balloons payload was recovered off the ocean floor, by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard this week.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan announced that the White House will create an interagency task force to study the three mysterious flying objects this week.
WHO Shelves Plans for Second Phase Investigation Into Origins of COVID-19: Report

The flag of the World Health Organization (WHO) at their headquarters in Geneva on March 5, 2021. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

More than three years after COVID-19 emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the World Health Organization (WHO) has shelved its plan for the second phase of a study into the virus origins, Nature reported Tuesday.

In January 2021, a year after the initial outbreak, the WHO dispatched an international team of scientists and doctors from various disciplines to Wuhan, where they worked with Chinese experts to examine evidence about the virus. The phase one investigation yielded a report that only spawned more questions over the hypothesis that the virus might have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which was tinkering with bat coronaviruses. It was also criticized for ignoring Chinas failure to hand over complete, original data and samples.

In response to those concerns, the United Nations agency in July 2021 announced a plan for a more extensive second phase investigation. Specifically, it promised to find and review more data on relevant laboratories and research institutions in Wuhan, as well as data on wild animals sold at the citys live animal markets in late 2019, to better understand whether its more likely that the pandemic began with human contact with an infected animal, or from a lab escape.

The proposed probe never materialized. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, told Nature that the plan has changed.

There is no phase two, Van Kerkhove told the scientific journal. The politics across the world of this really hampered progress on understanding the origins, she said.

In response to The Epoch Times request for further comments, a spokesperson for Van Kerkhove said Natures report was incorrect and that she has asked the publication for correction.

Nature has yet to issue any correction at the point of this publication.

CCP Pushback

The mere discussion of a lab escape as a possible scenario in the first phase report irritated the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, which turned it into an excuse not to allow another WHO mission into Wuhan.

Just days after the WHO proposed a second phase investigation, the regime mounted a pushback, claiming that the lab breach hypothesis shouldnt even be talked about, let alone be the focus of further scrutiny.

Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The proposal, according to vice minister of Chinas National Health Commission, Zeng Yixin, did not respect common sense and violated science. He also insisted that there wasnt any man-made virus at the WIV, nor had the institute ever conducted gain-of-function experiments on the novel coronavirus.

It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan, Zeng said at that time. We are opposed to politicizing the tracing work.

Zengs comments prompted Washington to call out Beijing for its dangerous and irresponsible behavior.

We are deeply disappointed, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. Their position is irresponsible, and frankly, dangerous. Its not a time to be stonewalling.

Amid the tension between China and the United States, the WHO was still seeking directly engage with Chinese officials and trying to establish collaborations with Chinese scientists, according to Van Kerkhove.

We really, really want to be able to work with our colleagues there, she told Nature. Its really a deep frustration.

WHO Leadership Change

Natures report comes as Jeremy Farrar, a British pharmaceutical trust director involved in producing a paper arguing against the lab breach hypothesis, is set to take the helm of WHOs science division.

According to emails obtained and publicized by independent journalist James Tobias via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Farrar had been working on a draft of the paper with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in as early as January 2020. At one point, the two appeared to discuss whether the virus could have been put in a serial passage between animals in lab experiments and then escaped.

The paper in question, titled The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2, was published in Nature Medicine in March 2020. It has since been widely cited by government officialsFauci himself includedand mainstream media outlets as the scientific basis for dismissing the possibility that COVID-19 might have come out of a lab.
Xinjiang Governor Cancels Controversial Visit to UK, Europe

Xinjiang Gov. Erkin Tuniyaz has canceled his plan to visit London and Europe this week following fierce backlash over his human rights record.

In an email to The Epoch Times on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said the department understood that Tuniyaz had cancelled his visit to the UK.

The UK government will continue to use all opportunities to take action against Chinas unacceptable human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the spokesperson said.

An EU spokesperson also told The Epoch Times in an email that the EU had been informed by the Chinese mission that the visit has been postponed.

U.S. publication Politico and French newspaper Le Monde on Monday reported that Tuniyaz cancelled his plan to visit Paris, citing unidentified diplomatic sources. The Epoch Times has approached the French Foreign Ministry for confirmation.

The Chinese embassy in London didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

Asked on Tuesday about the reports that the Xinjiang governor would no longer visit Paris and Brussels, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he did not have specific information.

He labelled the reports of human right abuses in Xinjiang the misinformation of the century made by anti-China forces, and accused related sides of politicising Xinjiang issues and interfering with Chinese domestic affairs.

The Controversial Visit

Tuniyaz, governor and deputy Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary in Xinjiang, had served as the regions deputy governor since 2008.

The U.S. Treasury department sanctioned him in 2021 under the Global Magnitsky Act, saying more than a million Uyghurs had been detained in Xinjiang during his tenure.

In December 2021, an independent peoples tribunal in London, led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, KC, ruled that the Chinese communist regime had committed genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-west Xinjiang region.

The U.S. government has recognised that the Chinese regime had committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims since January 2021, as did the UK Parliament and a number of other legislatures around the world, but the UK government has so far resisted the pressure to label the abuses genocide, citing successive governments policies that only a competent court can make such designations.

A perimeter fence surrounds a forced reeducation center in Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Beijing has neither announced nor confirmed Tuniyazs plan to visit the UK and Europe.

The news first broke out after the British Foreign Office wrote to Uyghurs groups in the UK to inform them of the planned visit and ask them to submit their views.

After a Foreign Office minister confirmed on Feb. 9 that Tuniyaz was not invited by the UK but officials would meet him if he arrives, MPs lambasted the decision, with former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying the meeting would be a propaganda coup for the Chinese government.

Leo Docherty, parliamentary under secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), defended the decision to offer a meeting, saying it was institutionally the judgment of the FCDO that we are better off not denying ourselves the opportunity to send extremely robust and strong messages of condemnation of the brutality thats been carried out by the Chinese state in Xinjiang.

But Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns said it was not good enough to approve an official visit to one of the masterminds of this genocide.

MPs urged the UK government to sanction Tuniyaz, with Kearns saying the only meetings with him should be in a courtroom.

Rahima Mahmut, UK director of the World Uyghur Congress and executive director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, previously told The Epoch Times that she was incredibly hurt the Foreign Office agreed to meet Tuniyaz and that it was ridiculous to suggest that meetings will convince him to change course on directives that come from straight the top.

The EU also came under fire for being prepared to meet Tuniyaz.

EU spokesman Peter Stano previously confirmed that meetings will be granted upon Chinas request, saying, We see this as an opportunity to convey directly the EUs long-standing concerns on the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

NGO Human Rights Watch said the UK and the EU should not be drawn into meetings with senior Xinjiang officials so that China can whitewash its atrocities in the Uyghur region and should be investigating and imposing sanctions on Tuniyaz and other top Chinese officials for their role in crimes against humanity.
That release could not be found.
Cambodia hits back at criticism of media crackdown

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia hit back yesterday (Feb 14) at politically driven and biased concerns from Western governments over the shutdown of one of the countrys last independent media outlets ahead of national elections.

politics

By AFP

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 10:11AM

Ith Sothoeuth, media director of the Cambodian Centre for Independent Media which oversees Voice of Democracy, speaks to reporters at his office in Phnom Penh on Monday (Feb 13) after the government revoked the licence of VoD. Photo: AFP

The online news outlet Voice of Democracy (VoD) stopped broadcasting in English and Khmer on Monday. Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered its licence revoked over what he said was an erroneous report about his eldest son. Its website was still accessible as yesterday afternoon but no new content has been posted.

The United States said it was deeply concerned by the abrupt closure of the broadcaster, adding to a chorus of criticism over Phnom Penhs actions.

Earlier on Monday, the United States, French and German embassies in Cambodia had voiced concerns about the closure, in the run-up to the national polls.

In a statement, a Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman rejected the politically driven, prejudiced and biased concerns of some embassies.

An administrative action against a rule-breaking entity does not merit any worry at all, the spokesman said.

VoD, broadcasting since 2003, published a story on Feb 9 alleging that Hun Sens son, Lieut Gen Hun Manet, had signed off on funds to help earthquake-hit Turkey.

Hun Manet, who has been backed to succeed his father, has denied the claim, with Hun Sen stating he authorised the US$100,000 relief package.

Hun Sen demanded an apology from VoD, but refused to reconsider his decision to revoke its licence even after the outlet later complied.

One of the worlds longest-serving leaders, Hun Sen has increasingly cracked down on dissent as he prepares for polls in July, according to observers.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said yesterday the shuttering of VoD may spell the end for the media environment necessary for credible elections.

Hun Sens closure of Voice of Democracy is a devastating blow to media freedom in the country, and will have an impact across Cambodian society, he added.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk also called on Hun Sens government to rescind this very troubling decision.

Press freedom has long been under attack in Cambodia, with The Cambodia Daily shuttered in 2017 and a score of outlets closed the following year ahead of the 2018 elections.
Farmer walks 1,200km to marry sweetheart on Valentines Day

SATUN: A 52-year-old farmer finished a 1,200-kilometre-long journey by foot yesterday (Feb 14) and completed his mission to marry the sweetheart he met on social media on Valentines Day.



By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 11:11AM

Suthep Promjit, right, kisses his bride, Thanapa Khiaw-on, at Thung Wa district office in Satun province yesterday (Feb 14), Valentines Day. Photo: Screenshot from TV Channel 7 / Bangkok Post

Suthep Promjit of Nakhon Nayok province, finished his walk-and-run at the Thung Wa district office. And there he wedded Thanapa Khiaw-on, 56, a local vendor.

They were surrounded by well-wishers, including women in traditional dress performing traditional dances, reports the Bangkok Post.

Mr Suthep set out on his journey on Jan 14, departing from his home in the central plain province of Nakhon Nayok after three months spent getting himself in shape for the trip.

He arrived in the lower southern province of Satun on Monday. On average. he walked and ran about 39 kilometres a day. He posted his progress on social media and people came out to provide moral support along the way.

It was on social media that he first met MsThanapa five months ago. She sold shrimp paste and dried seafood, posting on TikTok.

Ms Thanapa said Mr Suthep first greeted her via the app, while she was selling. He sent her pictures of flowers and ordered shrimp paste.

Later, on social media, she asked him whether the shrimp paste tasted good, as a vendor following up on a sale to a customer.

They continued to chat, and over time they became close. Finally Mr Suthep asked if she had a lover.

She told him she had been single for about 10 years, ever since her divorce. Her four children from the marriage were already grown up.

She also told him flirtatiously that if he had been of her age, she would have asked to be his girlfriend.

Mr Suthep had jumped at the idea, and did not mind the age difference, Ms Thanapa said.

So, she told him to prove his sincerity by walking or running to Satun. He replied that he would, and would reach her on Valentines Day.

Without social media, I would not have this day, Mr Suthep said.

I am very excited, speechless. I am so grateful to him, Ms Thanapa said with a big smile.

Yesterday, Thung Wa district chief Narong Noothiam registered their marriage at the district office and extended his best wishes for their future happiness together.
New decree targets mule bank accounts

BANGKOK: A 14-section draft decree on the prevention and suppression of technology crime, seeking to combat the use of mule bank accounts by scammers and call-centre gangs, is expected to take effect soon.

crimepolice

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 09:45AM

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, holds a press conference on suppression of scammers who used mule bank accounts in December. Photo: Pornprom Satrabhaya

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said the draft law was approved by the Cabinet yesterday (Feb 15) after being examined by the Council of State.

She said the essence of the draft law is to allow for the exchange of information between financial institutions, businesses and authorities to tackle financial crime and rein in fraudsters use of nominees to open bank accounts or procure SIM cards to facilitate illegal activities, reports the Bangkok Post.

Under the law, financial institutions, business operators and telecom service operators are allowed to exchange information in the event of a suspected crime through a data-sharing system.

The system in question must be agreed to by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Royal Thai Police (RTP), the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Anti Money Laundering Office (Amlo) and the Bank of Thailand.

Telecom service providers are required to provide information about their customers within specified periods to the RTP, DSI or Amlo for examination if illegal activity is suspected.

Financial institutions and businesses that detect suspicious transactions are allowed to temporarily suspend them and alert financial institutions or businesses that receive the transferred money.

If financial institutions and businesses are notified of suspected transactions by victims, they are required to temporarily suspend the transactions and ask the victims to file complaints with police within 72 hours. They must also inform financial institutions or businesses that received transferred funds to freeze the transactions.

The draft decree also imposes harsh penalties against people hired as nominees to open accounts, or who allow others to use mobile phone numbers for illegal activity. They face a three-year jail term, a maximum fine of B300,000, or both.

People who help procure bank accounts, electronic cards, e-wallets, SIM cards or who advertise this service may face up to five years in jail, a fine of B200,000-500,000, or both.

Those who open bank accounts for scammers... will face criminal charges, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Patong Police warn of credit card thieves

PHUKET: Police are trying to track down a foreign man and his accomplices for stealing tourists credit cards to buy valuable items including iPhones and gold jewellery.

patongcrimepolice

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 09:21AM

Image: Phuket Provincial Police

Police have issued a photo of the man, with a description that he was of Asian appearance and usually wore a white cap and black sneakers, and carried a black shoulder bag.

The man had presented stolen credit cards to buy items, and usually presented a fake American passport as identification.

He had bought five iPhones and gold jewellery worth more than B120,000, police said.

Police believe the man is part of a gang working together.

The man would often arrive at a store just before it is about to close for the day in order to take advantage of staff wanting to rush so they could leave work.

He would present a fake passport with the name and surname corresponding to the stolen credit card, police said.

Police issued a warning for all store owners, and especially department stores, to beware the man entering their store.

The warning came in a notice marked as issued by Phuket Provincial Police on Jan 29, but so far has only been issued publicly by Patong Police, alluding to where the man and his accomplices have been operating.

Police urged store owners to have their staff check the signature on the back of any credit cards presented and to make sure the name in the passport and credit card presented match.

They also suggested having the customer remove their face mask in order to confirm the true appearance of the person presenting the credit card.

Police also suggested having the customer present other identification documents as well, such as a drivers licence, and for staff to take a photo or a photocopy of the extra identification documents.

Police also asked staff to have the person customer show the SMS sent to their phone confirming the transaction to be conducted.

Police also asked staff to ask the customer where they were staying, so the staff could confirm by calling the accommodation venue.
Sarasin Bridge festival returns

PHUKET: People are invited to join a festival at the Sarasin Bridge running for three nights starting this Friday (Feb 17) to mark the impact of the bridge fostering close relationship between the people of Phuket and Phang Nga.

tourismeconomics

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 11:52AM

Local government channels yesterday launched a media blitz promoting the event, with a press launch in Phuket led by Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation (PPAO) President Rewat Areerob coinciding with another press launch in Phang Nga Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phang Nga Office Director Uthit Limsakul.

Joining Mr Rewat at the Bhukitta Blue Boutique Hotel for the press launch in Phuket were Phang Nga PAO President Tharathip Thongjerm and the new Director of the TAT Phuket Office, Lertchai Wangtrakuldee.

More than 30,000 people are expected to join the event, which will feature fireworks shows, live music concerts, balloons and heart-shaped tunnels in total 30 metres long illuminated with 700,000 LED lights, Mr Rewat said.

Stalls selling local foods and other items will also line the bridge for the event, he added.

The event, called the Baan Phi Muang Nong project, was launched by the PPAO to foster good relations between the people of Phuket and Phang Nga, he added, highlighting the importance of the Sarasin Bridge in literally providing a bridge between the two people, Mr Rewat explained.

This year will be the 13th edition of the festival.

Phuket is a famous tourism province and is well known to both Thai and foreign tourists. Each year, many tourists come to Phuket, generating a lot of income for the country.

Phuket is the largest island in Thailand and today is joined to Phang Nga by the Sarasin Bridge, Thepkrasattri Bridge and Srisoonthorn Bridge, all crossing the Pak Phra Channel separating Phuket from the mainland, Mr Rewat explained.

The Sarasin Bridge was the first bridge between Phuket and Phang Nga to be built, connecting Baan Tha Chatchai in Mai Khao, Phuket, with Baan Tha Noon in Khok Kloi, Phang Nga. The bridge, just six metres wide, opened for public use on July 2, 1967.

The Thao Thepkrasattri Bridge, 650m long, was built next, opening in 1992, followed by the Thao Srisoonthorn Bridge, now called Sarasin Bridge 2, opening in 2009, Mr Rewat continued.

The Sarasin Bridge was closed to traffic and converted to a pedestrian bridge, and has since been transformed into a tourist attraction, complete with a viewing tower built in Sino-Portguese style, he explained.

Both ends of the bridge have been adjusted to be parking facilities to facilitate tourists. The Sarasin Bridge is one of the best-known tourist attractions in Phuket, and is a key part of helping Phukets tourism industry to recover and restoring Phuket as a world-class international tourist destination, he said.

TAT Phang Nga Office Director Mr Uthit highlighted the importance of the bridges connecting Phuket and Phang Nga and the role they played in tourism for both provinces.

We have integrated with various agencies to promote tourism with a marketing strategy connecting the Phang Nga tourist route with Phuket under a City to City campaign to welcome both Thai and foreign tourists by presenting our local cultural identity and products and services in the area through this event, he said.

Efforts were underway to set up locations in Phang Nga Town to attract tourists, including Check-in Points where tourists can take memorable photos marking their visit, Mr Uthit said.
Tourist entry fees confirmed

BANGKOK: The Cabinet on Tuesday (Feb 14) endorsed entry fees for international arrivals of B150 and B300 to start in June, except for one-day visitors, according to the tourism and sports minister.

tourismeconomics

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 10:32AM

A family walks through the international arrivals hall at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo: Somchai Poomlard / Bangkok Post

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the B300 rate would apply to visitors who arrive by air and the B150 fee was for those entering the country via water and land transport, reports the Bangkok Post.

The fee was cheaper for those arriving by water and land because they were likely to stay in the country for only a few days, the minister said. Visitors who do not stay overnight would be exempted from the fee.

The government expects to collect about B3.9 billion in fees this year and part of the sum will be used to provide health and accident insurance coverage for tourists during their stay in the country.

The entry fee will support care for tourists. From 2017 to 2019, foreign tourists used services at public hospitals and that cost the state as much as B300-400 million, Mr Phiphat said.

The entry fee, widely criticised by the local tourism industry, comes as the country is witnessing a rapid upturn in arrivals that has gained momentum with the abolition of pandemic-era curbs and Chinas move to end its zero-COVID policy.

Foreign tourist arrivals may reach as high as 30mn this year, almost tripling from 11.2mn last year, according to some estimates. Arrivals in pre-pandemic 2019 were a record-high 40mn.

Authorities have long considered an entry fee for foreign travellers but its imposition was delayed by the pandemic. A part of the fee will also help fund the development of local tourist attractions, Mr Phiphat said.

The levy will be added to air ticket prices, while the method of collection from entry by land has yet to be determined, the government said last year.

Wuthichai Luangamornlert, managing director of Siam Park City, the operator of Siam Amazing Park in Bangkok, said he welcomed the move but added that the collection of the fees and strict control of its use must be ensured to avoid any problems that may arise in the future.
NED BRISTOL is a retired editor of The Sun Chronicle who writes occasionally for the Opinion Page. Reach him at nedbristol@msn.com.
In Their Opinion: Up in the air: Just what are we shooting down every day?




Recently released audio recordings have revealed the tense moments when F16 fighter jets attempted to shoot down a UFO over Lake Huron in Michigan. The event occurred as the mysterious flying object entered sensitive Defense Department bases over the Great Lakes. This was the third incident of its kind in US airspace in three days, prompting officials to take action.

Despite a Pentagon memo stating that the object was a small, metallic balloon, the pilots struggled to define the UFO in the in-cockpit communication. One of the pilots noted, I wouldnt really call it a balloon I can see it outside with my eyes. The objects octagonal structure, size, and shape caused confusion among the pilots, and they had a hard time discerning its color. They even speculated that it could have had potential surveillance capabilities, making it a safety flight hazard.

During the operation, the pilots were concerned about colliding with the object, which was moving slower than the fighter jets, making it difficult to identify precisely. One pilot described it as being definitely smaller than a car, while the other likened it to the size of a four-wheeler. The object also had a tethered payload, which the pilots noticed, but they were unable to determine its nature.

The incident eventually cost the military nearly a million dollars, with the pilots using Sidewinder AIM-9X missiles that cost $400,000 per shot. The first missile missed, and it took two attempts to shoot down the UFO successfully. Despite the White House laughing off suggestions of alien involvement, officials are under pressure to explain the recent UFO sightings.

In summary, the released audio recordings provided insight into the confusion and difficulties the pilots experienced when attempting to identify and shoot down the UFO over Lake Huron. The incident adds to the mystery of recent sightings of unidentified flying objects in US airspace.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose groundbreaking political career shattered gender barriers from San Franciscos City Hall to the corridors of Capitol Hill, said Tuesday she wont seek reelection in 2024.

The senator, who turns 90 in June, is the oldest member of Congress and has faced questions in recent years about her cognitive health and memory, though she has defended her effectiveness representing a state that is home to nearly 40 million people.

The announcement came after several prominent Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, already had declared Senate campaigns. With Feinstein a now 30-year veteran of the Senate, there hasnt been a wide open competition for her seat in decades.

Feinstein plans to remain in Congress through the end of her current term. Speaking to reporters in Washington on Tuesday, she said theres times for all things under the sun.

I think that will be the right time, towards the end of next year, she said.

Feinstein is one of the Senates few remaining veterans of the so-called Year of the Woman, referring to several women who were elected to the male-dominated chamber during the 1992 election. But even before she moved to Washington, Feinstein was one of the most prominent women in American politics.

She was the first woman to serve as president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the 1970s and the first female mayor of San Francisco. She ascended to that post after the November 1978 assassinations of then-Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk by a former supervisor, Dan White. Feinstein found Milks body.

In the Senate, she was the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary Committees top Democrat. She gained a reputation as a pragmatic centrist who left a mark on political battles over issues ranging from reproductive rights to environmental protection.

Feinstein is particularly closely associated with efforts to broaden gun restrictions. Early in her career, the Senate approved her amendment to ban manufacturing and sales of certain types of assault weapons as part of a crime bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. The ban expired 10 years later and was never replaced, but it remained a trademark issue in a career that was molded by gun violence.

She was also known for reaching out to Republicans to find middle ground. While that may have helped her notch legislative accomplishments in Washington, it chafed some in a Democratic Party that has moved increasingly to the left in recent years.

That frustration was on display during her last reelection campaign in 2018. The California Democratic Party endorsed a liberal rival for the seat over her, with some delegates complaining Feinstein had been in Washington too long and hadnt stood strong enough for immigrants.

She infuriated liberals in 2020 when she closed out confirmation hearings for Justice Amy Coney Barrett with an embrace of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and a public thanks to him for a job well done.

Liberal advocacy groups that had fiercely opposed Barretts nomination to replace the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were furious and called for her to step down from the committee leadership. A month later, she announced she would remain on the Judiciary Committee but step down as the top Democrat.

But such tension was forgotten on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where Democrats praised Feinsteins career. At a closed door lunch of Democratic senators, the lawmakers broke into rounds of applause for Feinstein after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced her decision.

Shes a legend, Schumer later told reporters. A legend in California as the first woman senator; a legend in this Senate. She was the leader on so many different issues, assault weapons, environment, womens rights, and so much else. She approached everything studiously and carefully.

At the lunch, Feinstein told her colleagues how hard her husbands death was and that she would be ready to step away from public life after finishing this term, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said afterward. Feinsteins husband, Richard Blum, died last year.

Senator Feinstein made history, said Warren. She changed this country and she was a woman on the front lines in fights, like access to assault weapons, and national security and intelligence.

Warren added: Every other woman in public office owes a special debt to Dianne Feinstein.

In her home state, where Feinstein is the longest serving U.S. senator, she was lionized for her historic tenure in public service.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, called her San Francisco neighbor a titan of the Senate who, among her accomplishments, steered billions of federal dollars to California for environmental protection. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called Feinstein a mentor and credited her with blazing a trail for a new generation of female lawmakers.

(AP)




They broke out windows to escape, barricaded doors and hid under blankets. They silenced their phones  afraid to make even the slightest sound for hours as police searched for a gunman who had already killed three students and critically wounded five others on the Michigan State University campus.

The terror felt by thousands of students was evident in texts to parents, posts on social media and in 911 calls  as some feared that the police coming to rescue them were actually the shooter.

It started around 8:30 p.m. Monday when Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old with a previous gun violation, opened fire inside an academic building and the student union.

Alerts sent out to students urged them to Run, Hide, Fight and video showed them fleeing as police swarmed toward the chaos. The massive search that ensued ended roughly three hours later when McRae fatally shot himself in a confrontation with police miles from campus, officials said Tuesday.

McRae was neither a student nor an employee of the university. The motive is a mystery.

Ted Zimbo, a 26-year-old astrophysics major, said he was heading back to his residence hall after an off-campus meeting when he saw police cars everywhere and a blood-covered woman hiding behind a car. She told him that someone came into her classroom and started shooting.

Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes, he told The Associated Press. She said, Its my friends blood.

That, he said, is when it hit him: There was a real shooting, a mass shooting.

The woman picked up her phone and started crying, unsure of what happened to her friend. Zimbo spent the next three hours hunkered down in his Toyota SUV, a blanket tossed over him.

Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives about a half-mile east of campus, said he hid with his roommate, locking his doors and covering windows as another roommate was locked down on campus.

Its all very frightening. And then I have all these people texting me wondering if Im OK, which is overwhelming, he said.

Some students were no strangers to mass shootings. Jennifer Mancini, told the Detroit Free Press, that her daughter also had survived the November 2021 shooting that left four students dead at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. Now a freshman at Michigan State, her daughter was traumatized anew as she watched students flee from the gunfire.

I cant believe this is happening again, said Mancini, who didnt want her daughters name used.

Annie Heitmeier, a third-year student and volunteer with the gun-control advocacy group Students Demand Action, said it was horrifying that the shooting was the second for some students.

We wont stand for any more inaction from our legislators because no one should ever experience the terror and fear that we lived through last night, she said in a news release.

Ryan Kunkel, a 22-year-old student, said he and his classmates turned off the lights and acted like there was a shooter right outside the door. For more than four hours, as they waited, nothing came out of anyones mouth, he recalled.

This is supposed to be a place where Im coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.

Dominik Molotky said he was in a Cuban history class around 8:15 p.m. when he and the other students heard a gunshot right outside the classroom. He told ABCs Good Morning America that a few seconds later the gunman entered the classroom and fired three to four more rounds while the students took cover.

After that we broke out the window and I climbed out of there and then I booked it back to my apartment, he said.

Claire Papoulias, a sophomore, told NBCs Today Show she was listening to a history lecture when she heard gunshots and dropped to the floor.

At that moment, she said, I thought that I was going to die, I was so scared.

She said she quietly called her mom while classmates opened a window and helped people to jump to safety. Once outside, she grabbed her backpack and phone.

And I remember, she said, I just ran for my life.

Sophomores Jake Doohan and Nicole Stark were walking off campus when they heard about the shooting and took shelter, barricading a door with a dresser.

With the blinds closed so not a speck of light could get out, Stark said she felt like they were watching the news, as though its not actually happening to us.

The senselessness of it left Doohan stunned.

Its sad to think, he said, that things like this will happen just out of the blue to anybody or anywhere.

John and Rona Szydzik, who both graduated from Michigan State University, left flowers on the campus Tuesday after spending the previous night hiding as ambulances wailed past their home.

As a high school teacher, Rona Szydzik has drilled for years to Run, Hide, Fight But she added: To actually be in it, thats very shocking. For her husband, the flowers were a way to let the victims families know they cared, that they were praying.

It really was tough, he said, becoming emotional as he spoke.

(AP)




A Russian millionaire with ties to the Kremlin was convicted Tuesday of participating in an elaborate $90 million insider trading scheme using secret earnings information from companies such as Microsoft that was stolen from U.S. computer networks.

Vladislav Klyushin, 42, who ran a Moscow-based information technology company associated with the Russian government, was found guilty on all charges against him, including wire fraud and securities fraud, after a two-week trial in federal court in Boston.

The jury saw Mr. Klyushin for exactly what he is  a cybercriminal and a cheat. He repeatedly gamed the system and finally got caught. Now he is a convicted felon. For nearly three years, he and his co-conspirators repeatedly hacked into U.S. computer networks to obtain tomorrows headlines today, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in an email statement.

Klyushin was arrested in 2021 in Switzerland after he arrived on a private jet and just before he and his party were about to board a helicopter to whisk them to a nearby ski resort. Four alleged co-conspirators  including a Russian military intelligence officer whos also been charged with meddling in the 2016 presidential election  remain at large.

Klyushins attorney, Maksim Nemtsev, said in an email that he and his client are disappointed but respect the jurys verdict. He said they intend to appeal, adding that the case included novel theories that have never before been reviewed or adopted by higher courts.

Klyushin was owner of a Moscow-based information technology company that purported to provide services to detect vulnerabilities in computer systems. It counted among its clients the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other government entities, according to prosecutors.

Klyushin was also close friends with a Russian military officer who was among 12 Russians charged in 2018 with hacking into key Democratic Party email accounts, including those belonging to Hilary Clintons presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Ivan Ermakov, who worked for Klyushins company, was a hacker in the alleged insider trading scheme, alleged prosecutors. They havent alleged that Klyushin was involved in the election interference.

Prosecutors say hackers stole employees usernames and passwords for two U.S.-based vendors that publicly traded companies use to make filings through the Securities and Exchange Commission. They then broke into the vendors computer systems to get financial disclosures for hundreds of companies  including Microsoft, Tesla and Kohls, Ulta Beauty and Sketchers  before the were filed to the SEC and became public, prosecutors said. Many of the earnings reports were downloaded via a computer server located in Boston, according to prosecutors.

Armed with this insider information, they were able to cheat the stock market, alleged prosecutors, who said Klyushin personally turned a $2 million investment into nearly $21 million, and altogether, the group turned about $9 million into nearly $90 million.

Klyushins attorney denied that his client was involved in the scheme, telling jurors in his opening statement that the governments case was filled with gaping holes and inferences.

(AP)




Tesla workers at a factory in New York are launching a campaign to organize a union in New York.

In a letter to management Tuesday, the Tesla Workers United organizing committee said that the employees are seeking a voice on the job at the plant in Buffalo and want to build an even more collaborative environment that will strengthen the company.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken a hard line against organized labor, despite an invitation to the United Auto Workers union to hold an organizing vote at Teslas factory in Fremont, California. In 2021 Tesla was ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to make Musk delete a 2018 tweet in which it said that he unlawfully threatened employees with loss of stock options if they chose to be represented by the UAW.

The tweet had said: Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.

In August 2022 the National Labor Relations Board reversed a Trump-era decision by finding that Tesla cant stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignia while on the job. It ordered Tesla to stop enforcing an overly broad uniform policy that effectively stops production workers at Teslas Fremont, California, factory from wearing black shirts with the United Auto Workers unions logo.

Tesla labor organizers wrote Tuesday that they are seeking a union as innovative as the electric car company.

We believe that by having a union at Tesla, we will further the mission of sustainability and foster a progressive environment for us all, the letter said.

It went on to say, in a story first reported by Bloomberg, that the union would further Teslas principles and objectives, including by helping to serve as the conscience of the organization.

If successful, it would be the first union at the electric vehicle maker.

The Tesla plant, which makes solar panels and other renewable energy technology, is not far away from a Starbucks location where workers voted to unionize last year.

(AP)




The Pinsk-Karlin Rebbe, who is currently in the United States, called to be menachem the family of HaKadosh Altar Shlomo Lederman, hyd, 19, who was murdered in the Ramot terror attack.

Altar Shlomo, zl, was married for only six months and was murdered in front of his wife as they waited at the bus stop to travel to his parents in Elad for Shabbos.

The Rebbe asked Altar Shlomos father, Rav Chaim Dan, to tell him about his son and Rav Chaim said, among other things, that already since his cheder days, his son summarized everything he learned and organized the summaries into folders.

The father told the Rebbe how much effort his son made to adhere to the Rebbes takanos to learn Torah for continuous hours, and wrote down every minute of limmud with a detailed explanation  in accordance with the Rebbes instructions. Rav Chaim added that on the Friday that his son was murdered, he told his wife that the upcoming Shabbos is Kabbalas HaTorah and if only he could hear the voices and lightning like was heard in Shamayim at Matan Torah.

The Rebbe responded: Such a chashuve avreich was among us and we werent aware of his great maalosan avreich who managed to accomplish in less than 20 years what other Jews need 80 years for.

During the conversation, the Rebbe stopped and said in a voice choked with tears: Its pashut that your dear son accepted upon himself to be a kapparah for Klal Yisrael. The entire world was horrified and trembled when they heard about the horrific tragedy. And through his petirah, your son saved Klal Yisrael from tzaros and terrible decrees.

Regarding Kaddish, the Rebbe said: Your dear son had the highest neshama who doesnt need your Kaddish. He continued by telling about himself that when his son passed away, he received a psak that he shouldnt say Kaddish for him. You have the obligation not to immerse yourself in tzaros and think about it too much. The world we live in  everything is hidden  and we shouldnt let ourselves be overwhelmed by thoughts of tzaar.

In response to the fathers question as to whether he should ask someone else to say Kaddish in his place, the Rebbe answered that in his humble opinion, his sons neshamah doesnt need Kaddishand that he should ask a Rav who will pasken on the matter.

And you have the duty to be strong in the knowledge that you were zocheh to raise such a lofty neshamah that atoned for Klal Yisrael, the Rebbe added.

Later the Rebbe said: Its written in the sefarim kedoshim that the death of a son in his youth protects the parents after 120. But you, who were zocheh to bring such a neshamah kedoshah into the world, this alone is your kaparah and you dont need any other kaparahThis is the pain of Klal Yisrael and in any case it is not a private sorrow and therefore you should be mechazeik more and more and not chalilah the other way around.

The Rebbe then spoke with the young almanah: In such a situation it is impossible to be menacheim when a woman walks with her husband and he is suddenly snatched away when they have just started a life together  on this we have no words to be menacheim.

It is written in the Gemara that a man does not die except for his wife, that is, the womans pain cannot be described, it is impossible to explain, and it is impossible to feel the pain, the pain is so difficult that we cant even be menacheim  thats why we say HaMakom will comfort you because only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can comfort you. There is no doubt that you had the zechus to be married to such an important husband, we alone were unaware how great he was.. but its said that the only one who really knows the husband is the Ribbono shel Olam and his wife, and you had the zechus of being with him so you must have seen who he is. Just as your zechus was great, so your pain is greater. So again we have no words to say, only that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should comfort you.

The Rebbe repeated to Altar Shlomos mother what he told the father, and when he said that the niftar went up to Shamayim to be mechapeir on Klal Yisrael, he burst into tears.

You have the obligation to worry for the other children and be bsimcha and accept the gezeriah. You should see nachas from the children and we should be zochech to the geulah shleimah bimheira biyameinu, the Rebbe concluded.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Posek Hador HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch spoke about the earthquake in Turkey after his shiur klali this week.

At the beginning of his words, HaRav Shternbuch brought the words of the Navi Zecharya who prophesized that the houses in Jerusalem will be destroyed even before milchamas Gog UMagog. The Navi Zecharya (14: 2) prophesized on the era before milchamas Gog UMagog: And I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to war, and the city shall be captured, and the houses shall be plundered, and the women shall be ravished, and half the city shall go forth into exile  and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.'

And behold that before Milchamas Gog UMagog, the houses in Yerushalayim will be destroyed, and half of Yerushalayim will go into exile  and these words  although they appear to us as far-fetched, but were maaminim bnei maaminim that all the words of the neviim are emes, and its clear as the sun in the sky that thats what will be.

Who doesnt fear this matter? Because no one can guarantee for himself in which half of Yerushalayim hell be, in the half that will go into exile or in the other half. And therefore, in this era, we need to snatch more and more mitzvos and even mitzos kalos, and especially the mitzvah of Talmud Torah, that every word of Talmud Torah is a mitzvah in itselflimmud Torah is the way to be saved from chevlei Moshiach.

We need to look at the earthquake in Turkey and Syria as the    that announces and tells us Look what I can do. And as its written in the Gemara in Yevamos (63, 1), Rabbi Elazar bar Avina said: Theres no calamity that comes to the world except for Yisrael, as it says: I have cut off nations, their towers have become desolate. I have destroyed their streets so that there are no passersbyI said: Surely you will fear Me, you will accept mussar.

This is a warning from HaKadosh Baruch that if chalilah vchalilah, well destroy the Torah HaKedosha, chas vshalom, He will destroy the houses. And therefore now is the time to be mechazeik as much as possible and heed the kol Hashem calling to us to wake up and snatch more and more mitzvos.

And although the Gemara in Brachos explains that an earthquake expresses Hakadosh Baruch Hus sorrow on the tzaar of Yisrael but when the earthquake is so powerful with tens of thousands of dead, it also expresses a warning to Am Yisrael.

And I saw in several mekomos that they explained that a terrible calamity of an earthquake with so many dead people is mainly to show Hashems love for Yisrael Who protected us and didnt bring an earthquake to Israel but in Turkey. It should be known that this is not the derech. I didnt see this by Gedolei Yisrael but adaraba, Gedolei Yisrael were awakened to see this as a judgment  that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is showing His power through a terrible tragedy by the Umos HaOlam in order to warn us, as is explained in Yevamos 63.

And its certainly true that Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves us very much to an immeasurable extent but the cause of such a terrible calamity isnt to awaken us to realize that He loves us, but Hashem is showing us that a time will come that He will take revenge on the reshaim, and all this in order to awaken us to teshuvah and to instill fear in us of punishments from Shamayim.

One must look at the events of the time with the lens of Torah and the eyes of Daas Torah and not with the superficial eyes of the people on the street who seek to find only Ahavas Hashem in every event and dont understand that this is a clear call from Hakadosh Baruch Hu to show us His koach and gevurah and awaken us to teshuvah, to toil in the Torah and correct our deeds.

          ,         ,       .

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




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 didnt pose a security threat.

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 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.

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.

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 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 Russias anticipated spring offensive.

(AP)




Donald Trump reportedly shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to a research team to investigate his claims that the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud, but they found nothing.

According to reporter Josh Dawsey, Trump paid Berkeley Research Group through a subsidiary called East Bay Dispute and Advisory more than $600,000 in the final weeks of his presidency to corroborate his election claims.

According to the report, around a dozen researchers and econonmetricians used statistics to model and predict outcomes, and dug into at least a dozen hypotheses. Their work included probes into possible election machine malfunctions, evidence of dead people voting, and other facets of Trumps claims.

A source told the Washington Post: They looked at everything: change of addresses, illegal immigrants, ballot harvesting, people voting twice, machines being tampered with, ballots that were sent to vacant addresses that were returned and voted, said a person familiar with the work who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private research and meetings. Literally anything you could think of. Voter turnout anomalies, date of birth anomalies, whether dead people voted. If there was anything under the sun that could be thought of, they looked at it.

None of the researchers findings were presented by Trump in court. You know why? Because they didnt find anything significant enough to make a difference in who won the election. The research also outright debunked several Trump claims, including rigged voting machines and massive numbers of votes cast in the names of dead people.

Great job, Donald. Real winner.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Former Vice President Mike Pence is planning to fight a subpoena by the special counsel overseeing investigations into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Pence and his attorneys are planning to cite constitutional grounds as they prepare to resist special counsel Jack Smiths efforts to compel his testimony before a grand jury. They argue that because Pence was serving in his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6, 2021 as he presided over a joint session of Congress to certify the election results, he is protected from being forced to address his actions under the Constitutions speech-or-debate clause that shields members of Congress.

I think he views it as essential protection of his Constitutional role, said Marc Short, a close adviser to Pence who served as his White House chief of staff.

Short compared Pences position to the one he took on Jan. 6 when he refused to go along with Trumps unconstitutional scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Pences rejection of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office in the aftermath.

The vice president of the United State is the president of the Senate and the fact is the functions of Jan. 6 were specific to that role, he said of Pence, who has been laying the groundwork for a likely presidential campaign that would put him in direct competition against his former boss.

Whether Pences arguments will succeed in limiting or altogether avoiding grand jury testimony is unclear, but the Justice Department is expected to oppose those efforts and to make the case that the former vice presidents cooperation is essential for a probe focused on Trumps actions.

The decision to try to fight the subpoena, which was first reported by Politico, marks a change in posture from Pence, who has cooperated with the Justice Department as it investigates how documents with classified markings ended up at his Indiana home after the end of the Trump administration. He permitted the FBI to search the property last week.

Even if his objection is ultimately rebuffed from the courts, an antagonistic posture could allow Pence to argue that he tried to fight the Justice Department  a potentially useful position in a GOP primary, as many in the Republican base have grown distrustful of federal law enforcement, in part due to Trumps drumbeat of criticism. And it could delay the special counsel probe, which Smith is working to rapidly advance.

Pence has spoken extensively about Trumps pressure campaign urging him to reject President Joe Bidens victory in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including in his book, So Help Me God. Pence, as vice president, had a ceremonial role overseeing the counting of the Electoral College vote, but did not have the power to impact the results.

Pences decision to resist the subpoena also came after extensive back-and-forth between his lawyers and the special counsels office, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

The Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday on Pences plans.

Pence is expected to address the issue in more detail during a visit to Iowa Wednesday as he inches closer to a likely presidential run.

Richard Levy, a constitutional law professor at the University of Kansas, said it is true that the vice president is in a unique position as the technical presiding officer of the Senate, making the officeholder in some respects a member of the chamber.

But he said that not everything a member does is protected by the speech-or-debate clause and it is debatable whether the vice presidents role in certifying the election, which involves a mix of constitutional and senatorial functions, would be protected.

In any event, Pences argument would likely serve to limit the scope of his testimony rather than to block it altogether, he said.

I dont think the speech or debate clause would be a basis for quashing the subpoena altogether. It would be a basis for objecting to particular questions, he said.

The subpoena has been an aggressive step from Smith as he continues to investigate efforts by Trump and his allies to remain in power, including the storming of the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

Trump supporters, driven by the lie that the election was stolen, brutally pushed past the police and smashed through the windows and doors while Pence was presiding over the certification of Bidens victory. The vice president was steered to safety with his staff and family as some in the mob chanted, Hang Mike Pence!

While the mob was in the Capitol, Trump tweeted, Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.

A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack recommended that the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Trump and others over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

(AP)




Last Friday, Erev Shabbos, Parshas Yisro, Klal Yisrael suffered the loss of 2 innocent brothers, Asher Menachem zl and Yaakov Yisrael zl Paley, who were killed in a terrorist attack on their way to a cousins Sheva Brachos.

During Shiva this past week, their mother recounted how this past Friday, right before the horrific attack, with the face of a malach- her sons went around the neighborhood with a pushka as they always did to raise money before candle-lighting for couples in need of treatment through Bonei Olam.

With the encouragement of the Paley family, as the family rises from shiva, the Vzakeini contributions this week will fill Asher Menachem and Yaakov Yisrael zls pushka and be given to couples in their memory.





This weeks donations will be dedicated as a special gathering liluiy nishmas

Asher Menachem ben Avraham Noach &Yaakov Yisroel ben Avrohom Noach

All donations will also be in the Zchus of the Refuah Shleimah of their father Avraham Noach Chaim Ben Yehudis, may he have a Refuah Shleimah very soon.

To add to the Paley Pushka Visit: https://boneiolam.org/vzakeini/donation
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.'
A fall in sales at Gucci and consumer outrage over Balenciagas portrayal of children in its adverts led to a slowdown in revenue at the brands owner.

French luxury conglomerate Kering said its biggest brand, Gucci, booked a 14 per cent drop in sales in the three months to the end of December in part due to pandemic restrictions in China.

Kering reported a 4 per cent sales drop in its other brands segment, which includes Balenciaga.

Fresh face: Gucci, which has hired actor Ryan Gosling (pictured) as a new brand ambassador, saw sales fall 14% in the three months to the end of December

Overall fourth-quarter revenue fell 7 per cent to 4.7billion  shy of analysts expectations.

Im not going to pretend the results are up to our ambitions or that I am satisfied, said chairman Francois-Henri Pinault.

His comments come as Balenciaga had a difficult December after a backlash over a Christmas campaign featuring children with bondage-strapped teddy bears.

It also published a photo of Nicole Kidman in a robe, with documents from a case about child sex abuse in the background.

We made a clear error of judgment with no intention at all to shock, provoke or hurt anyone.

'I take full responsibility for this episode. And I present our apologies, Pinault said.

Kering is stuck in its biggest creative crisis in nearly a decade, the last time Gucci and Balenciaga sales stalled.

It enjoyed stellar growth until recently, boosted by the designs of Alessandro Michele at Gucci and Demna at Balenciaga. Michele left last year.
Glencore will give nearly 6billion to shareholders after the commodity giant reported record profits of 28billion.

The Swiss firm announced a payout of 4.7billion in dividends, and a 1.2billion share buyback, as its coal and trading divisions powered growth.

Profits jumped 60 per cent to 28.2billion in 2022, smashing a previous record of 17.7billion a year earlier. The profits are bigger than BPs for 2022 but less than Shell.

Fuelling profits: Glencore announced a pay out of 4.7bn in cash dividends to shareholders, along with a 1.2bn share buyback, as its coal and trading divisions powered growth

Glencores trading division reported record profits of 5.3billion  73 per cent up on a year earlier and mainly the result of soaring energy prices.

These, it said, were driven by its energy traders successfully navigating the extreme market imbalances, volatility and dislocations across crude oil, LNG, refined products, coal and logistics infrastructure.

Companies generating record profits thanks to war in Ukraine have attracted criticism.

But Gary Nagle, chief executive, said: Weve assisted customers in ensuring energy security in a time of disruption and risk and uncertainty.

'These customers have sent us letters of thanks. We were there in their time of need.

Weve helped step in and facilitate a real, proper transition away from being able to use Russian materials.

Glencore is one of the worlds largest producers of copper, cobalt, nickel and aluminium and expects further strong results in 2023.

Nagle said China loosening Covid restrictions, increased focus on energy security and the need to cut carbon emissions mean that demand for many of our commodities is likely to remain healthy.

It plans to also continue producing coal until the middle of this century, even while others sell or demerge coal assets. But some investors have called for it to explain how the plan aligns with its support of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

At the most recent AGM, almost a quarter of shareholders voted against its climate strategy, which includes goals to halve emissions by 2035 and reach net-zero by 2050.

In response, Glencore has announced it would publish a new climate progress report in March and has brought forward the closure of some mines.

Glencores shares fell 1.6 per cent, or 8.1p, to 507.8p but were still almost 20 per cent higher than their level a year earlier.
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.
For anyone wondering how close the long-awaited merger between Indias ailing state-run telecoms carriers Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) may be, its apparently getting closer  albeit there appears to be another hurdle.

Apparently the expectation is that the merger of MTNL and BSNL will be completed by the end of next year, but before that happens the government needs to delist MTNL from the stock exchanges. Thus, the legal complexities are being looked into and consulting firm Deloitte has been appointed to advise on the process.

This merger has been on hold for more than ten years, though, as a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official has confirmed to Indias Economic Times, the aim is still for one entity to operate at a pan-India level to provide seamless services to consumers. BSNL already maintains MTNL's mobile network in Delhi and Mumbai.

The most recent delay was, as we reported at the time, apparently down to MTNLs debts, which are said to be close to 300 billion rupees or US$3.6 billion.

However the delisting could be a long process and needs to involve discussions (now ongoing) with markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as well as a detailed report on the legal issues and how to move forward with the delisting process.

Both companies have befitted from massive government investment in revival packages over recent years, but improvement in both companies fortunes has also been tied to voluntary retirement schemes, debt restructuring by raising of sovereign guarantee bonds, administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services through capital infusion, monetization of core and non-core assets and, of course, a merger between BSNL and MTNL.
South African operator Telkom said it could put up for sale a minority stake in its core fibre business by March, as the company explores options to improve profits, Reuters reported.

Telkom had explored multiple options to expand its capacity including merging with rival Rain and it was an acquisition target for MTN. Telkom is currently exploring value-creating moves due to operating costs and South Africa enduring an energy crisis.

Telkom is gauging market interest for a minority stake in its fibre business Openserve. Meanwhile, it also exploring offers for its passive infrastructure by next month.

The company has also initiated a cost-saving programme to increase profits which had been impacted by power cuts and higher operating expenses. The operator is aiming over the next 6-18 months to return to a blended group EBITDA margin of more than 25%."

It is also looking to raise ZAR1 billion (US$56 million) through another sales process but said profitability for Q4 would still be under pressure. Telkom is also looking to let 15% of its 11,898 staff go to save costs.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press on with rescue and recovery efforts more than a week after a powerful quake ripped through his country and neighbouring Syria, with an elderly woman the latest to be pulled from the rubble.

The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria has climbed over 41,000, and many survivors are enduring near-freezing winter temperatures, having been left homeless by the devastation in cities in both countries.

We will continue our work until we remove the last citizen left under the collapsed buildings, Erdogan said late on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Damage assessment of buildings, of which tens of thousands were destroyed, will be completed in a week and reconstruction will begin within months, he said.

We will rebuild all the houses and workplaces, destroyed or made uninhabitable by the earthquake, and hand them over to the rightful owners, he added. More than 105,000 people were injured in the quake, he said, with more than 13,000 still being treated in hospital.

Overnight, a 77-year-old woman named Fatma Gungor was pulled alive from the rubble of a seven-storey apartment block in the city of Adiyaman, some 212 hours after the first earthquake, media reports said.

Wearing an oxygen mask, covered in a gold foil blanket and strapped onto a stretcher, Gungor was carried by rescue workers down from the ruins of the building to a waiting ambulance, footage from state broadcaster TRT showed.

Afterwards, Gungors relatives hugged the rescue team, made up of military personnel and members of the disaster management authority AFAD.

Nine other survivors were rescued in Turkey on Tuesday as the focus of the aid effort shifted to helping people now struggling without shelter or enough food in the cold.

Erdogan has acknowledged problems in the initial response to the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck early on Feb. 6 but he has said the situation is now under control.

We are facing one of the greatest natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity, Erdogan said.

More than 2.2 million people have left the worst-hit areas already, Erdogan said, and hundreds of thousands of buildings have become uninhabitable.

Those rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a Syrian man and young woman in a leopard-print headscarf in Antakya.

U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling.

People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive a tent, aid, or something, but up to now we didnt receive anything, said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee staying with his family in a playground in Turkeys southeastern city of Gaziantep.

Saimoua and other Syrians had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home. Now, rendered homeless by the quake, they

have assembled makeshift tents in a playground using plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard.

The needs are huge, increasing by the hour, said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organizations 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.

DAD, AFTERSHOCK!

Families in both Turkey and Syria said they and their children were dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake.

Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again, Hassan Moaz said of his 9-year-old in Aleppo, Syria. When hes sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: Dad, aftershock!'

A first convoy of U.N. aid entered rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey via the newly-opened Bab al-Salam crossing.

The search for survivors was about to end in the north west of Syria, said the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh.

Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw.

The Turkish toll was 35,418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.

Survivors joined a mass exodus from disaster zone, leaving their homes and unsure if they can ever come back.

Hamza Bekry, a 22-year-old Syrian has lived in Antakya, in southern Turkey, for 12 years, having fled the conflict in his homeland, but he was now preparing to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.

Its very hard  We will start from zero, without belongings, without a job, Bekry said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
The President of Ireland hailed Nicola Sturgeons freshness and enthusiasm as he paid tribute to the resigning Scottish First Minister.

Michael D Higgins said Ms Sturgeons contribution to public life had been recognised in Scotland and abroad as a particularly distinguished one.

During her time in office, Nicola Sturgeon brought a freshness and enthusiasm to the tasks of representation and public service that was singular, he said.

This was exemplified in the leadership she displayed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she communicated necessary reassurance with the sharing of practical measures that had to be taken.

Nicola Sturgeon has combined these skills with a warm sense of hospitality, which I encountered when I visited Scotland in 2016.

At both this meeting, and on her visit to Aras an Uachtarain (The Presidents residence in Dublin) the same year, I was struck by her willingness to discuss contemporary events with a frankness and a respect for complexity and mutual understanding that was very helpful.

May I extend my best wishes to Nicola and her family for the future.

Earlier, Irelands premier Leo Varadkar hailed Ms Sturgeon as a true European.

The Taoiseach paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon in the Dail parliament in Dublin shortly after she announced her decision to resign.

Mr Varadkar said the outgoing SNP leader had shown huge commitment to her country.

I met her many times in Dublin and also in the context of the British-Irish Council, he said.

And I always found her to be an impressive, competent, articulate and thoughtful politician, a true European and a friend of Ireland and certainly she will always be welcome at our table.

He added: I wish Nicola and her family the very best for the future.

Irelands deputy leader and foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin also paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon.

Over many years, Nicola has demonstrated strong leadership rooted in her vision for Scotland, he said.

Ireland and Scotland are close neighbours and friends, and I have greatly appreciated and valued my regular engagement with the First Minister, particularly at British-Irish Council summits.

I want to wish her all the best and look forward to engaging with her successor in due course.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald described Ms Sturgeon as an outstanding leader and an outstanding advocate for the independence of her country.

I have absolutely no doubt that she will continue always to advocate for the country and the people that she loves, she said.

The leader of Irelands Labour Party Ivana Bacik also paid tribute during a question time session in the Dail.

Id like to start also by acknowledging today the stepping down by Nicola Sturgeon after an eight-year term as Scotlands First Minister and undoubtedly a powerful force in Scottish politics throughout that time and I just want to wish her well personally also on this surprise announcement, she said.
[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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[February 15, 2023] WOW! Continues Market Expansion, Adding First Fiber Internet Customers in Headland, Alabama

Headland Activation Continues Significant Momentum for WOW! as it Brings its All-Fiber Network to New Community ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone (NYSE: WOW), a leading broadband services provider, today announced the company has added its first customers in Headland, Alabama. WOW! customers in Headland now have access to WOW!'s all-fiber network with multi-Gig speeds, the fastest speeds available in the area. This fiber Edge-out into Headland will enable WOW! to bring its high-speed Internet and exceptional services to even more customers in the region, offering additional choice and flexibility for area residents and businesses. WOW! already provides services to nearby Dothan, Alabama and several other cities in Alabama. Headland residents can now sign up for WOW! services, which include symmetrical Internet speeds up to 5 Gbps. These simultaneous upload and download speeds allow customers to stream, game and video conference seamlessly. WOW!'s fiber Internet subscribers will enjoy unlimited data, no annual contracts, and will receive the necessary equipment to get started along with WiFi at no extra cost. "On behalf of Headland, I'm thrilled to welcome WOW! to the community as it offers our residents more opions for reliable broadband," said Ray Marler, Mayor of Headland, Alabama. "Residents and businesses alike will benefit from increased connectivity and faster speeds than we've ever had before."



New customers will also be able to take advantage of WOW!'s introductory offers such as free professional installation, as well as Visa Rewards gift cards and a subscription to HBO Max depending on the speed tier. In addition to its high-speed, reliable broadband, WOW! will offer WOW tv+ , reliable home phone plans, WOW! mobile powered by Reach , and comprehensive solutions for businesses including Hosted VoIP and Ethernet services. "2023 is off to an exciting start as we continue to expand WOW!'s footprint into new communities while also demonstrating WOW!'s commitment to delivering outstanding customer service with an exceptional suite of products," said Teresa Elder, CEO of WOW!. "I'm certain our best-in-class broadband offerings in addition to our drive to be a positive force in our communities will surprise and delight new customers."

For more information on WOW! and to find out if its services are available in your area, please visit https://www.wowway.com/coming-soon . About WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone

WOW! is one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes nearly 2 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 15 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, including the new all-fiber network in Central Florida. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services, including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, home phone, mobile phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to providing outstanding service at affordable prices. WOW! also serves as a leader in exceptional human resources practices, having been recognized nine times by the National Association for Business Resources as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For in the Nation, winning the award for the last five consecutive years and making the 2022 Top 101 National Winners list. Visit wowway.com for more information. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wow-continues-market-expansion-adding-first-fiber-internet-customers-in-headland-alabama-301747329.html SOURCE WideOpenWest, Inc.

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Nokia announced the completion of the first Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDN) with Vietnamese operator Viettel, a move that will dramatically increase capacity for the operator.

In a statement, the Finnish vendor said Viettels network will use a new data centre solution called PSE-V super-coherent optical engines (PSE-Vs), transmitting a 600Gb/s channel in the C-band to connect Viettels main core sites. This enabled Viettel to meet future demands for low-latency, high-capacity, robust network for 5G, Cloud, and growing consumer demand for online video and internet usage.

Viettel will also be able to scale its network over the C and L bands which will double its current capacity.

Ruben Moron Flores, Nokia head of market unit Vietnam said: We are pleased to work with Viettel as a strategic partner. This project was the first in APAC to use our PSE-Vs chipset & implemented during the height of Covid pandemic. Its success showcases our strong partnership and unwavering commitment to maintaining leadership by delivering the latest optics technologies and solutions to Viettel.

Nguyen Khac Tinh, Viettel optics principle architect, said: This project is very important to Viettel to fulfil the high demand for transmission capacity which increases dramatically every day. By using Nokias industry leading coherent transport solutions, well be able to optimize our cost for both CAPEX/OPEX and stay secured for future expansion. This is truly a network built not just for today, but for tomorrow as well. We wish to work with Nokia to evolve our network even further. Our network is now ready for 800G and we plan to reach 1Tbps/channel and beyond.
[February 14, 2023] NICE Alliance Announces New Adopters, Toyo Media Links and Headwaters, Which Accelerate the Expansion of Advanced AI based Secure Services of NICE Ecosystem Across Industries

The Industry Leading Network of Intelligent Camera Ecosystem (NICE) Alliance today announces two new adopters, "Toyo Media Links", a pioneer of total space production, and "Headwaters", an AI-based advanced solution provider. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005007/en/ NICE Alliance announces two new adopters, "Toyo Media Links", a pioneer of total space production, and "Headwaters", an AI-based advanced solution provider. This accelerates the expansion of advanced AI-based secure services of NICE Ecosystem across industries. (Graphic: Business Wire) Professionals who comprehensively produce various spatial presentations

"Toyo Media Links (TML) is a company that comprehensively handles space production including distribution of BGM and video contents, installation of surveillance cameras, and proposal of fragrance for spaces where people gather. Equipped with over 60 years of experience and expertise, TML has installed surveillance cameras for more than 500 customers, including governmental offices, major financial institutions, shopping malls, airports, and so on. From the perspective of space production, by participating in the NICE Ecosystem, we intend to upgrade our services from simple surveillance cameras to video data sensors for acquiring effective business data through AI." said Mitsuhiro Muramatsu, President of Toyo Media Links. "Also, our parent company, CSS Holdings, is engaged in the "steward" business, which maintains and manages tableware in the kitches of major hotels and restaurants, and the "food service" business, which operates its own restaurants. Under the slogan of CSS holdings, "Go Beyond", we will provide solutions based on the business data using AI to 700 customers of the steward business and 50 bases of the food service business.



Accelerating social implementation of AI solution in collaboration with world-leading companies

"Headwaters provides Edge AI solutions that utilize advanced technologies such as AI and IoT for smart stores, smart buildings, and logistics DX. We are working to develop high-performance, robust, and low-cost edge AI solutions by leveraging partnerships with companies with the world's most advanced technological capabilities. Our participation in the NICE Alliance has made it possible to collaborate with the world's leading companies in the electronics industry. We will contribute to realize an innovative and smart future by accelerating the social implementation of AI solutions that utilize the innovative NICE ecosystem for the smart cameras and IoT market." said Yosuke Shinoda, President of Headwaters. Expanding the NICE ecosystem with new Adopters

"We are delighted to be able to collaborate with TML, a professional space production company, and Headwaters, an advanced AI solutions provider, and welcome the participation in NICE for the improvement of customer services. I believe that the participation of both companies, which have a wide range of customer bases, will accelerate the expansion of the NICE ecosystem across industries and generate synergistic effects." said Eita Yanagisawa, Senior General Manager of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation and Executive Officer of NICE Licensing LLC.

NICE Alliance continues to develop and enhance the ecosystem, which will be open for all companies and interest groups who would like to participate as NICE members. About NICE Alliance

Industry leading electronics manufacturers and brands Foxconn, Nikon, Scenera, Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Wistron formed the NICE Alliance, an innovative ecosystem standard for smart camera and AIoT markets, to provide an open data sharing platform based on image data and AI to enhance the synergistic effect of multi-brand, multi-camera and multi-service/application.

URL: https://www.nicealliance.org/ About Toyo Media Links (TML)

TML comprehensively produce various spatial presentation such as BGM, audio, video, security, banquet arrange, information communication, etc., and with many years of experience and expertise, TML provides the total support from planning to design, implementation, and maintenance.

URL: https://www.tmlg.co.jp/about/index.php About Headwaters

As an AI-based advanced solution provider, Headwaters has a thorough knowledge of customer business in a wide range of industries and has provided highly practical services in a speedy manner. We aim to make the business transformation of companies more valuable for the realization of a smart world.

URL: https://www.headwaters.co.jp View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005007/en/

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[February 14, 2023] Virgin Media O2 Business and Dubber Extend Strategic Partnership

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. 15, 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

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[February 14, 2023] Statement from Minister Champagne, Minister Duclos and Minister Mendicino on protecting Canada's research

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, made the following statement: "Our government takes its responsibility to protect Canadian research very seriously. Canada's advanced research ecosystem is at the forefront of global discovery, but it can also be an attractive target for foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security. We have made great strides in protecting Canada's research ecosystem, but with a constantly evolving threat environment, further action is needed. "That's why, today, as another key step in securing Canadian research, Minister Champagne and Minister Duclos are requesting that the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada's federal research granting councilsthe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Researchadopt a further enhanced posture regarding national security. "Grant applications that involve conducting research in a sensitive research area will not be funded if any of the researchers woking on the project are affiliated with a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities of foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security. This enhanced policy will be implemented rapidly and in close consultation with our departments, Canada's national security agencies and the research community.



"This new action is one of many significant steps the Government of Canada is taking to protect our country, our institutions and our intellectual property. This includes guidelines developed in consultation with the Government of CanadaUniversities Working Group to support due diligence on potential risks to research security, and the establishment of a Research Security Centre to provide advice and guidance directly to research institutions. "Ministers have also written to Universities Canada and the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities urging them to follow similar guidelines for all their research partnerships, and more particularly those partnerships involving sensitive research areas. We will work closely with our universitysector colleagues to ensure these additional steps are implemented effectively.

"Protecting Canadian research is our top priority." Stay connected Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED. Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA, Facebook: Canadian Innovation, Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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[February 14, 2023] SafeOne Chain emerges as a fast, secure, and low-cost blockchain with unparalleled security.

NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the latest development, SafeOne Chain emerges as a fast, secure, and low-cost blockchain with unparalleled security. It offers a safe and efficient solution to all risks and provides safety for their crypto assets. Its advanced Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain technology provides lightning-fast and low-cost transactions while offering unparalleled security against any swindle or rug pull. In addition, the SafeOne Chain platform also offers versatility and functionality. Users can swap over 1200+ different crypto-assets with ease. The SAFO token is emerging as the utility token of the SafeOne ecosystem, which is the preferred option for staking, governance, paying transaction fees, etc.

SafeOne Platform's core features make it exceptional, including:

SafeOne Wallet - SafeOne Wallet is the platform's reliable and secure cryptocurrency wallet. The wallet allows users to securely store, send, and receive bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Wallets serve as the central hub for SafeOne Chain functions such as SafeOne validators, SafeOne stakes, SafeOne Bridges, and SafeOne Bots. SafeOne Insurance - SafeOne Chain offers a unique insurance feature to provide added security for its users. SafeOne's blockchain detectives thoroughly vet each blockchain project.

SafeOne Payments Solution - For non-crypto users, SafeOne's front-end payment solution uses the best method to purchase $SAFO tokens without buying the mother chain token first. Their payment solutions allow users to purchase with a credit card directly on their website and receive $SAFO now in their wallets.

Staking - Staking is another feature where an individual locks or holds his cryptocurrency to participate in Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based blockchain systems and earn rewards. Staking on SafeOne Chain works like reguar staking and rewards participants for locking tokens and maintaining the platform.











About SafeOne Chain: SafeOne Chain is a well-known platform of a fast, secure, and cheap PoS blockchain that provides unparalleled security. At the SafeOne Chain platform, the team of experts is led by CEO Mathias W, an entrepreneur for 21 years and a crypto lover since 2012. He is supported by CTO Bintara, who has been in the crypto space since 2020, and CCO Kelech, both of whom are technical experts. The team has many plans in the pipeline for the next few weeks, including a crypto magazine featuring a digital debit card release, a final website update, and partnerships with crypto space leaders. The team of experts is taking the project's marketing to the next level, and it is already live on Billboard Space X. The Editor-in-Chief of Cryptonaire Weekly, Mr. Karnav Shah, says about SafeOne Chain: "SafeOne Chain is extremely secure, and its smart contract framework targets application suitability and industry best practices. This technology infrastructure enables Smart contracts and Dapps to be developed using PoS consensus, making it highly competitive and secure without a high energy cost. For investors who need a good platform without the worry of security threats, SafeOne is quite promising, as it backs funds with specially designed SafeOne Insurance. This project's team is working hard to continue developing the platform to make it better." https://twitter.com/SafeOne_Chain

https://www.reddit.com/user/Safeone_Chain/

https://safeonechain.com/

https://www.instagram.com/safeone_chain/

https://www.tiktok.com/@safeonechain/



Mathias Safeone SafeOne Chain contact at safeonechain.com

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[February 14, 2023] IGC Reports Financial Results for Third Fiscal Quarter Ended Dec. 31, 2022

POTOMAC, Md., Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- India Globalization Capital, Inc. (dba IGC, Inc.) (NYSE American: IGC) (IGC or the Company) today reported its third fiscal quarter 2023 financial results.

Third Fiscal Quarter 2023 Highlights: The Company expanded the number of sites participating in its Phase 2 clinical trial on IGC-AD1 for agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease to a total of four  three in the U. S. and one in Canada. The Company is encouraged by the patient enrollment and interest from many of the leading research centers and has decided to increase the number of trial sites to between 10 and 12 from the originally planned four to five. This will help accelerate the timeline for completion and diversify the patient demographics.



The trial will enroll 146 patients, with one half receiving a placebo and the other half receiving IGC-AD1. The goal of the trial is to evaluate and establish, over six weeks, the efficacy of IGC-AD1 in treating agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease. Agitation affects about 76% of individuals with Alzheimers (Mussele et al., 2015), which affects about 11 million individuals in North America and Europe alone. In addition, agitation is a leading cause of hospitalization and a major factor in accelerating the cognitive decline of patients with Alzheimers (Kongpakwattana et al., 2018). Currently, there is no FDA-approved medication for treating agitation in Alzheimers. The Company is positioning itself to offer the first natural tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) based medication for treating agitation in dementia from Alzheimers disease. The trial is registered on clinicaltrials.gov with NCT05543681.



Net revenue increased 133% to $332,000 in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $142,000 in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, and net revenue increased 172% to $745,000 for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $275,000 for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2021, driven mainly by the Companys life science segment, which includes, among others, natural products targeting women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), period pain and sleep disorder.

Ram Mukunda, CEO of IGC, commented, We are delighted with the progress made during this quarter, highlighted by the commencement of the Phase 2 clinical trial for our drug candidate IGC-AD1 for the safety and efficacy of the drug on agitation in dementia due to Alzheimers disease. This represents a milestone in our progress towards gaining FDA approval for IGC-AD1, which we believe has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimers disease as the first and only low-dose, natural, THC-based candidate currently undergoing FDA trials. Moreover, our sales of natural products, which include gummies and pain relief creams, are seeing increased traction in the market. Were encouraged by our third quarter results and look forward to driving continued expansion through the balance of fiscal 2023. Revenue was approximately $332,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to $142,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021. The increase in revenue is primarily related to increased sales of the Companys life science-based products and services. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were approximately $1.5 million and $2.07 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2021, respectively. The decrease of $496,000 is attributed to a reduction in compensation, legal and marketing expenses. Research and development (R&D) expenses were approximately $806,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, compared to approximately $377,000 for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021. The increase of approximately $429,000 was primarily attributable to the progression of Phase 2 trials on IGC-AD1 and preclinical studies on TGR-63. The Company anticipates increased R&D expenses as the development of TGR-63 and the Phase 2 trial on Alzheimers pick up more momentum. Net loss for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022, was approximately $2.2 million or ($0.04) per share, compared to approximately $2.4 million or ($0.05) per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021. About IGC: IGC develops advanced cannabinoid-based formulations for treating diseases and conditions including, but not limited to, Alzheimers disease, period cramps (dysmenorrhea), premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and chronic pain. The Company has two investigational drug assets targeting Alzheimers disease, IGC-AD1 and TGR-63, which have demonstrated in Alzheimers cell lines the potential to be effective in suppressing or ameliorating key hallmarks of Alzheimers disease such as plaques or tangles. IGC-AD1 is a low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) based formulation that is currently in a 146-person Phase 2B safety and efficacy clinical trial for agitation in dementia due to Alzheimers (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05543681). The Company also markets two wellness brands, Holief and Sunday Seltzer. Holief targets women experiencing premenstrual syndrome and menstrual cramps, and Sunday Seltzer is a lifestyle, hemp-infused energy beverage brand. The Company is headquartered in Maryland, USA, and has historically operated an infrastructure segment based in India. Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based largely on IGCs expectations and are subject to several risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond IGCs control. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of, among other factors, the Companys failure or inability to commercialize one or more of the Companys products or technologies, including the products or formulations described in this release, or failure to obtain regulatory approval for the products or formulations, where required; general economic conditions that are less favorable than expected, including as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; the FDAs general position regarding cannabis- and hemp-based products; and other factors, many of which are discussed in IGCs U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. IGC incorporates by reference the human trial disclosures and risk factors identified in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on June 23, 2022, as if fully incorporated and restated herein. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information contained in this release will occur. Investor Relations Contact: Walter Frank

IMS Investor Relations

(203) 972-9200

[email protected] < Financial Tables to Follow> India Globalization Capital, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share data)

(Unaudited) Dec. 31,

2022

($) March 31,

2022

($) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 4,945 10,460 Accounts receivable, net 251 125 Short term investments 88 - Inventory 3,748 3,548 Deposits and advances 322 978 Total current assets 9,354 15,111

Non-current assets: Intangible assets, net 1,022 917 Property, plant and equipment, net 8,309 9,419 Claims and advances 1,028 937 Operating lease asset 357 450 Total non-current assets 10,716 11,723 Total assets 20,070 26,834 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable 466 981 Accrued liabilities and others 890 1,460 Total current liabilities 1,356 2,441





Non-current liabilities: Long-term loans 141 144 Other liabilities 15 16 Operating lease liability 241 341 Total non-current liabilities 397 501 Total liabilities 1,753 2,942 Commitments and Contingencies  See Note 12 Stockholders equity: Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value: authorized 1,000,000 shares, no shares issued or outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2022, and March 31, 2022. Common stock and additional paid-in capital, $0.0001 par value: 150,000,000 shares authorized; 53,077,436 and 51,054,017 shares issued and outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2022, and March 31, 2022, respectively. 118,382 116,019 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (3,430 ) (2,968 ) Accumulated deficit (96,635 ) (89,159 ) Total stockholders equity 18,317 23,892 Total liabilities and stockholders equity 20,070 26,834 These financial statements should be read in connection with the accompanying notes on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended on Dec. 31, 2022, and filed with the SEC on Feb. 14, 2023.







India Globalization Capital, Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(in thousands, except loss per share and share data)

(Unaudited) Three months ended Dec. 31, 2022



($) 2021



($) Revenue 332 142 Cost of revenue (230 ) (80 ) Gross Profit 102 62 Selling, general and administrative expenses (1,574 ) (2,070 ) Research and development expenses (806 ) (377 ) Operating loss (2,278 ) (2,385 ) Impairment of investment - - Other income, net 29 4 Loss before income taxes (2,249 ) (2,381 ) Income tax expense/benefit - - Net loss attributable to common stockholders (2,249 ) (2,381 ) Foreign currency translation adjustments (61 ) 77 Comprehensive loss (2,310 ) (2,304 ) Loss per share attributable to common stockholders: Basic & diluted $ (0.04 ) $ (0.05 ) Weighted-average number of shares used in computing loss per share amounts: 53,063,473 51,053,191 These financial statements should be read in connection with the accompanying notes on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended on Dec. 31, 2022, and filed with the SEC on Feb. 14, 2023. Wire Service Contact:

InvestorWire (IW)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

[email protected]



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[February 14, 2023] Field Service Management Global Market Report to 2027: Sector to Reach $9.3 Billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 16.6%

DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Field Service Management Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global field service management market size reached US$ 3.7 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 9.3 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 16.6% during 2021-2027. Companies Mentioned Accruent LLC (Fortive Corporation)

Comarch SA

IFS AB

Infor (Koch Industries Inc.)

Microsoft Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Salesforce.com Inc.

SAP SE

ServiceMax

ServicePower Inc.

Trimble Inc.

Zinier Inc. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Field service management (FSM) is a technology used to automate and keep track of various components in field operations via mobile systems. It offers vehicle location tracking, job status updates, scheduling and order management, managing and monitoring of technicians, and route optimization and global positioning system (GPS) navigation. It also assists in tracking time and driver logs, knowledge and asset repositories, parts and inventory management, payment processing, and regulatory compliance measures. As a result, it is widely being used in the education, healthcare, and travel and tourism sectors across the globe.



Managing a team of service technicians or field forces manually and efficiently is a complex task for organizations. It includes variables like miscommunication, delays, and incomplete information, which significantly increases the time taken to manage business activities. This, along with the growing focus on improving customer relationship and experience, represents one of the key factors driving the demand for FSM solutions to manage workforces efficiently. Moreover, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are incorporating automated solutions in their core business processes, which is contributing to the growth of the market. In addition, the leading players are integrating advanced systems and software,such as accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), tax software, workforce management software, and industry-specific calibration systems, to enhance the functions of FSM solutions.



Apart from this, the escalating demand for energy worldwide on account of rapid urbanization and the rising global population is increasing the employment of FMS solutions in the oil and gas industry around the world. FMS helps manage crews and projects and ensure that tasks are performed in compliance with regulations, thereby improving overall production effectiveness and reducing cost.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global field service management market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global field service management market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the solution?

What is the breakup of the market based on the service?

What is the breakup of the market based on the deployment mode?

What is the breakup of the market based on the organization size?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use industry?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global field service management market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry? Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology 3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Field Service Management Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Solution

6.1 Schedule, Dispatch and Route Optimization

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Customer Management

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Work Order Management

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Inventory Management

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Service Contract Management

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Reporting and Analytics

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Others

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Service

7.1 Implementation and Integration

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Training and Support

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Consultancy Services

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

8.1 On-premises

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Cloud-based

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Organization Size

9.1 Large Enterprises

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

10.1 BFSI

10.1.1 Market Trends

10.1.2 Market Forecast

10.2 IT and Telecom

10.2.1 Market Trends

10.2.2 Market Forecast

10.3 Healthcare and Life Sciences

10.3.1 Market Trends

10.3.2 Market Forecast

10.4 Manufacturing

10.4.1 Market Trends

10.4.2 Market Forecast

10.5 Transportation and Logistics

10.5.1 Market Trends

10.5.2 Market Forecast

10.6 Energy and Utilities

10.6.1 Market Trends

10.6.2 Market Forecast

10.7 Construction

10.7.1 Market Trends

10.7.2 Market Forecast

10.8 Others

10.8.1 Market Trends

10.8.2 Market Forecast



11 Market Breakup by Region



12 SWOT Analysis



13 Value Chain Analysis



14 Porters Five Forces Analysis



15 Price Analysis



16 Competitive Landscape

16.1 Market Structure

16.2 Key Players

16.3 Profiles of Key Players For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/o59rs4-service?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.

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/field-service-management-global-market-report-to-2027-sector-to-reach-9-3-billion-by-2027-at-a-cagr-of-16-6-301746923.html SOURCE Research and Markets

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[February 14, 2023] Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park Welcomes Vsico Shipping as Anchor Tenant

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park, operated by Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, welcomes its newest anchor tenant, VSICO Shipping Joint Stock Company ("Vsico Shipping"). The onboarding of Vsico Shipping further reinforces Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park's strong commitment to supporting businesses' warehousing diversification strategy as it aids Vsico Shipping in its venture into the motorcycle industry. Here, Cainiao P.A.T. will offer, 30,000 square meters of premium warehouse space to Vsico Shipping for their logistics operations, along with technical support and other services. Located in the southern Long An Province of Vietnam, with a total planned land area of approximately 23 hectares, Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park lies along the route leading to Vietnam's most vibrant business hubs including the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City  Vietnam's economic center. By collaborating with Cainiao P.A.T, Vsico Shipping and their prestigious Japanese motorbike corporation client can benefit not only from the world-class logistics facilities but also from lower costs of product distribution with the possibility to further expand warehouse space and logistics volume in the near future.



"We understand that there is a growing demand from end-users for cost-efficient and premium quality logistics solutions offered by contract logistics companies. Hence, as a logistics warehouse developer and operator, we are fully aware of the need to offer a holistic logistics warehouse solution for our clients such as Vsico Shipping. Our partnership with Vsico Shipping does not stop at warehouse space lease, but also extends to working closely with our valued client from the beginning to understand their needs in order to design the most suitable solution, handover warehouse space, and manage the property during operations. Consequently, we can ensure undisrupted and cost-efficient logistics operations offered to Vsico Shipping's end-user", said Kathy Nguyen, Head of Leasing from Cainiao Network, Vietnam

Apart from its state-of-the-art infrastructure, Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park also focuses on providing superior customer services, consultation, and technical support for clients to gain a competitive edge in the industry. With the potential long-term partnership based on mutual trust with Vsico Shipping, Cainiao P.A.T Logistics Park's warehousing facilities are poised to play a critical role in significantly bolstering the growth potential of Vsico Shipping and their blue-chip clients, allowing Vsico Shipping to better reach their target customers in Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, and nearby regions. "VSICO is an important witness and participant in Vietnam's multi-modal logistics industry. We hope to work further with VSICO and other industry players to tap into the benefits of warehouse diversification for Vietnam's logistics and manufacturing industry, so that the logistics businesses and manufacturers go hand-in-hand", added Xing Zhang. The novel approach to a diversified warehousing strategy is in line with the industry's trend especially in the post-pandemic era as businesses are looking for more cost-effective, flexible, and scalable logistics solutions. Hence, the cooperation between Cainiao P.A.T. and Vsico Shipping is expected to generate fruitful results for both parties. About Cainiao Network Founded in 2013, Cainiao Network ("Cainiao") is a smart logistics company and the logistics arm of Alibaba Group. As part of its commitment to create customer value, it adopts a collaborative approach to logistics that aims to improve efficiency and customer experience for all players along the supply chain. It carries forward Alibaba's mission of making it easy to do business anywhere by aiming to deliver anywhere in China within 24 hours, and across the globe within 72 hours. For further information, visit: https://www.cainiaovietnam.com SOURCE Cainiao P.A.T. Logistics Park

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[February 14, 2023] Rockwell Automation appoints Hussain Al Khater as new Managing Director for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

AL-KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, has appointed Hussain Al Khater as Managing Director for Saudi Arabia. His appointment marks the latest milestone in the company's more than 50-year commitment to Saudi Arabia's long-term growth strategy, playing a vital role in the Kingdom's expanding energy and chemicals supply chain. The appointment of Mr. Al Khater will herald a reorganization of Rockwell Automation business operations in the region. The new organization, headed by Hussain, will focus on Saudi market growth. The new structure allows Rockwell Automation to align with the requirements of the Kingdom Vision and aligns it for future growth. This realignment will support the recent MoU that Rockwell Automation signed with Saudi Aramco last year during IKTVA Forum, the world's largest integrated energy and chemicals company, to support the oil giant's In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) program, designed to drive local value creation, and to encourage the development of a diverse, sustainable, and globally competitive energy sector in the Kingdom. Commenting on the appointment, Sebastien Grau, regional vice president, Middle East, Turkey & Africa (META) for Rockwell Automation said: "With full responsibility for the development of Rockwell Automation business operations in Saudi Arabia, Hussain Al Khater will play a pivotal role in reinforcing and expanding our presence inthe Kingdom.



"At Rockwell Automation, we recognize the importance of Saudi Arabia's 2030 Vision. This appointment will reinforce synergies for joint advocacy and support of the IKTVA initiative, another demonstration of our successful presence in Saudi Arabia." Rockwell Automation will continue to focus on several areas of collaboration with Aramco and its major customers, from product localization to digital transformation, to workforce development and training. The goal of the collaboration is to increase the companies' contributions to Saudi Arabia's localization efforts and create additional employment opportunities as a result.

Rockwell Automation has developed a five-year plan of investment in Saudi Arabia to support this collaboration. One important piece of this strategy is training and technology sharing around digital technologies such as augmented reality and Industry 4.0. To facilitate this, Rockwell Automation is investing in a center of excellence at its Saudi headquarters in Al-Khobar, where customers can learn more about industrial digital transformation solutions. About Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 26,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2000901/prophoto_04.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1981317/Rockwell_Automation_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rockwell-automation-appoints-hussain-al-khater-as-new-managing-director-for-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia-301744913.html

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[February 14, 2023] GAOTU TECHEDU SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Gaotu Techedu Inc. f/k/a GSX Techedu Inc. - GOTU, GSX

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until February 28, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Gaotu Techedu Inc. f/k/a GSX Techedu Inc. (NYSE: GOTU, GSX), if they purchased the Companys American depository shares (ADSs) between March 5, 2021 and July 23, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Get Help Gaotu Techedu investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-gotu/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available t discuss your legal options.



About the Lawsuit Gaotu and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On July 23, 2021, Media sources reported that China was prohibiting tutoring for profit in core school subjects in order to ease the financial burden on families, which would be likely to have a negative effect on Chinas substantial private tutoring industry. On this news, ADSs of Gaotu fell 63.3% to close at $3.52 per ADS on July 23, 2021. The case is Zhang v. Gaotu Techedu Inc. f/k/a GSX Techedu Inc., et al., No. 22-cv-07966. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[February 14, 2023] Israeli Consumer Survey Shows Mobile Consumers Want Better Security over Features, Flipping the Script on the Mobile App Security vs. Features Debate

92.8% of Israeli Consumers Will Promote a Brand if the Brand's Mobile App Protects Their Data and Use from On-Device Threats REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Appdome , the mobile app economy's one and only Cyber Defense Automation platform, today announced the results of a new survey that reveals the views of Israeli consumers on mobile app use and mobile app security, and compares the Israeli expectations to the findings from more than 25,000 consumers globally. The report, Israeli Consumer Expectations of Mobile App Security, is designed to help mobile developers, cyber security professionals and brands adapt their mobile app security and anti-fraud strategies to meet the expectations of Israeli consumers for protection in the mobile channel. Israeli consumers are a mobile app dominant consumer group. Israelis use far more apps on a daily basis than global consumers. For example, approximately 45% more Israelis use greater than 10 mobiles apps a day. Also, 94% of Israeli consumers reporting they are comfortable making purchases for their friends, family and themselves using mobile apps. For Israelis, security is equal to, or more important, than new features. Most Israeli consumers ranked features and security equally (58.8%). And a large portion (20%) said that security was more important than features. Comparatively, 7.6% said that feaures were more than security. When asked what level of protection is needed in mobile apps, 20.2% of Israeli consumers demand the highest level of protection against on-device security, hacking, fraud and malware threats, compared to 3.2% who require no protection.



For Israelis the rewards are greater than the risks for meeting the consumer's cyber demands. Israeli consumers made it clear that they will reward and promote brands who protect their mobile app data and use, more than they will punish brands that they perceive as not protecting the mobile apps.

92.8% would promote a brand if the mobile app protected their data and use, which essentially matches the global finding of 93.8%.

would promote a brand if the mobile app protected their data and use, which essentially matches the global finding of 93.8%. 56.6% would abandon a brand if they perceived that the mobile app did not protect against on-device threats, compared to 67.9% globally.

would abandon a brand if they perceived that the mobile app did not protect against on-device threats, compared to 67.9% globally. 68.6% would abandon a brand if they experienced an unprotected hack or attack from an on-device threat, compared to 73.2% globally. "The Israeli consumer has made it clear that the highest level of protection is expected in every app they use," said Tom Tovar, CEO and co-creator of Appdome. "With this survey, mobile brands serving the Israeli market have the data needed to make the right choice and protect their mobile apps and users as their consumers expect, today and tomorrow." The survey included respondents from across the demographic spectrum, including Android & iOS users, different generations, genders, and economic backgrounds. For the full report, visit https://www.appdome.com/global-consumer-mobile-app-security-survey/. About Appdome

Appdome's mission is to protect every mobile app in the world and the people who use mobile apps in their lives and at work. Appdome provides the mobile industry a patented data-driven Cyber Defense Automation platform, powered by patented arti?cial-intelligence based, coding technology, Threat-Events mobile threat intelligence and ThreatScope mobile security operations center, to deliver 300+ Certified Secure mobile app security, anti-malware, anti-fraud, anti-cheat, MiTM attacks prevention, code obfuscation and other protections in Android & iOS apps, right inside mobile DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. Leading ?nancial, healthcare, government, and m-commerce brands use Appdome to protect Android & iOS apps, mobile customers, and mobile businesses globally. Appdome holds several patents including U.S. Patents 9,934,017 B2, 10,310,870 B2, 10,606,582 B2, 11,243,748 B2, and 11,294,663 B2. Additional patents pending. Learn more at www.appdome.com . Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/772169/AppDome___Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/israeli-consumer-survey-shows-mobile-consumers-want-better-security-over-features-flipping-the-script-on-the-mobile-app-security-vs-features-debate-301747144.html

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[February 15, 2023] CNN's 'Transformers' spotlights the changemakers at the frontline of extreme weather

HONG KONG, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arguably nothing on our planet is changing faster than the weather. Extreme events like deadly dust storms, wildfires, flash flooding and extreme storms exacerbated by climate change are impacting billions of people across the globe. In a brand-new 30-minute program, CNN's 'Transformers' meets the remarkable individuals at the frontline of extreme weather, who are finding new ways to help us survive the elements. Dust and sand storms have dramatically increased in recent years, due to climate change, land degradation and drought, according to the UN. These impact human health and cause billions of dollars in damage worldwide. CNN hears from Dr. Diana Francis at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, who found correlations between these unusual weather conditions and the impact of global warming on Arctic sea ice. This finding led to her first-ever research on dust storms coming out of the Empty Quarter desert  the world's largest sand desert  to help determine how dust from the region moves around the planet. As hurricane hunters for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Lieutenant Commander Danielle Varwig and meteorologist nd flight director Nikki Hathaway fly over and into hurricanes to collect weather data to help researchers and forecasters to better understand the storms and to make accurate predictions about them. This data is used in real-time to make life-saving decisions impacting people on the ground, says Hathaway.



Overwintering or 'zombie' forest fires, a fire that smoulders beneath the surface of the ground during winter under the snow and reignites when temperatures warm, are becoming more frequent due to climate change according to Rebecca Scholten, PhD student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who presented the first scientific evidence of 'zombie' fires in boreal forests in Alaska and the Northwest Territories. Along with fellow researcher, Sander Veraverbeke, an associate professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Scholten has built an algorithm to detect when and where these overwintering fires occurred, which could help fire services prevent their spread, keeping invaluable carbon in the ground. CNN then explores Tonga, where an underwater volcano, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted on 15 January 2022, producing the largest atmospheric explosion recorded in history, causing deadly tsunamis across the globe. Taaniela Kula, head of the Tonga Geological Services, led a team of Tongan geologists to witness the volcano site. The team captured spectacular footage of the rare and deadly volcano and have since been working to figure out what happened, and why the eruption was so explosive. CNN meets a team of scientists from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), who spent a month-long expedition using ship-mounted acoustic instruments to map the seafloor. This research has been key to modelling other underwater volcanos around Tonga, helping the island better prepare its disaster response.

Transformers trailer: https://bit.ly/3DTMSq4 Transformers images: https://bit.ly/3KarctE Airtimes for 30-minute special: Sunday, 19th February at 9:30am, 1:30pm and 7pm HKT Sunday, 26th February at 4:30am HKT About CNN International CNN's portfolio of news and information services is available in seven different languages across all major TV, digital and mobile platforms, reaching more than 475 million households around the globe. CNN International is the number one international TV news channel according to all major media surveys across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific region, and Latin America and has a US presence that includes CNNgo. CNN Digital is a leading network for online news, mobile news and social media. CNN is at the forefront of digital innovation and continues to invest heavily in expanding its digital global footprint, with a suite of award-winning digital properties and a range of strategic content partnerships, commercialised through a strong data-driven understanding of audience behaviours. CNN has won multiple prestigious awards around the world for its journalism. Around 1,000 hours of long-form series, documentaries and specials are produced every year by CNNI's non-news programming division. CNN has 36 editorial offices and more than 1,100 affiliates worldwide through CNN Newsource. CNN International is a Warner Bros. Discovery company. SOURCE CNN International

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[February 15, 2023] Rapyder celebrates 6 years of excellence and growth in digital transformation and managed services markets

All set to achieve 17x growth, and increase headcount to 500+ while establishing itself as a 'Great Place To Work' by the end of 2023 BANGALORE, India, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rapyder Cloud Services and Solutions, an emerging leader in the cloud-tech space and an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner of the Year 2021 and Migration Success Partner of the Year  2022, along with being a Microsoft Silver Partner, celebrated its 6th anniversary recently. Over the past six years, the organization has gained an impressive track record of supporting businesses in the journey of digital transformation, and cloud migration, besides delivering managed services. It is now looking forward to further pushing boundaries and expanding its offering portfolio. Rapyder is set to achieve 17x growth and increase headcount to more than 500 while becoming a 'Great Place To Work' by the end of 2023. Rapyder has excelled in cloud technology and grown to offer a suite of services such as applications and infrastructure migrations, cloud consulting, architecture services, DevOps, and Managed Services. Rapyder continues to build on its technological capabilities to serve its rapidly growing customers in the space. Since the beginning, Rapyder has achieved 158 Certifications, with over 8400 VMs managed and more than 5,000 VMs launched and migrated across these years. The organization today, has more than 163+ Managed Service Clients with a 200% growth in its employee count. Amit Gupta, CEO and Co-founder, Rapyder Cloud Solutions, remarked, "As we celebrate our 6th anniversary his year, we acknowledge the hard work, passion, and dedication of our team members through this glorious journey. The past period has been both a great learning experience and fast growth. Yes, we have come a long way from 2017 when we started off with a 5-member team and now are 280+ team members today. Our hearts are filled with gratitude as we look forward to serving customers exceptionally through the application of our constantly perfected solutions and processes."



Rapyder's constant focus and efforts in achieving technological expertise and service excellence have led to it receiving several recognitions and achievements. The organization recently achieved AWS Managed Service Provider Partner Program. Earlier, it also won the AWS Migration & Modernization Competency. Rapyder's rapid growth reflects robust business and financial performance year-on-year, in addition to maintaining a high customer retention rate. Its proven track record further reinforces the organization's commitment to its customers and the innovation and creativity brought to them by the expert team at Rapyder. Rapyder's clientele is spread across education, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, financial services, and other industry verticals.

About Rapyder Rapyder is an agile, innovative born-in-the-cloud company that makes Cloud work for you. With a young, passionate team and expertise in Cloud Computing Solutions, Big Data, Marketing & Commerce, DevOps, and Managed Services, Rapyder is the leading provider of Strategic Cloud Consulting. With partnership with AWS and Microsoft, solutions provided by Rapyder are seamless, secure, and scalable. Rapyder was awarded AWS Consulting Partner of the Year 2021 and AWS Migration Success Partner of the Year 2022, India for its exceptional contributions towards its customers and now it is also a Microsoft Silver Partner. With headquarters in Bangalore and sales & support offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, Rapyder provides optimal technology solutions to reduce costs, streamline business processes and gain business advantages for its customers. Along with providing 24*7 support and monitoring for the services, Rapyder has 100% AWS-certified cloud engineers who work seamlessly to make the cloud a business benefit for customers. In its journey of being a premium cloud service provider, Rapyder has successfully gained 392+ satisfied customers, 300+ cloud deployments, and 163+ managed services clients across working sectors. Rapyder is an ISO/IEC 27001-2013 certified organization and recently achieved AWS audited Microsoft Workloads Competency. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/rapyder-celebrates-6-years-of-excellence-and-growth-in-digital-transformation-and-managed-services-markets-301747223.html

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[February 15, 2023] Rockwell Automation delivers AI for industry-leading wastewater trial by Severn Trent and partners

BRUSSELS, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, today announced that it is working closely with one of the UK's largest water companies Severn Trent and their partners, providing artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and monitor entire waste catchments in the UK. This is part of an industry-first trial launched in Derbyshire, Alfreton, which is trialling the AI until 2025 and aims to run indefinitely. The AI technology will predict weather conditions, forecast maintenance, and control waste flow to better manage its sewage network. The project is part of the Ofwat Innovation Fund, which aims to grow the water sector's capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment. Through this project, the delivery team will be developing a tried-and-tested blueprint for how this approach can be scaled across the UK. The innovative AI technology will allow Severn Trent's network to operate more efficiently and predict and prevent issues before they occur  meaning fewer overflow activations, and better management of its network in storm conditions. Rich Walwyn, head of asset intelligence & innovation at Severn Trent, says: "This project has the potential to revolutionize how we manage our waste networks in the future, and it's truly exciting that innovation and technologyare at the heart of it."



The AI technology can forecast and get the network in prime condition. For instance, when heavy rain is predicted, the network will automatically optimize storage ready for the extra flow and divert water away from overflows and hot spots, reducing the risk of flooding and pollution for customers. The technology will be deployed on Severn Trent's pumping stations, which will operate independently, using forecasting and real-time monitors. Walwyn continues: "This means our customers and environment are more protected, and we can better control the flow of the extra rainfall to the treatment works. The AI technology will help the network be forward thinking and prepare itself in the event of storm conditions."

Alongside Rockwell Automation, Severn Trent has collaborated with fellow utilities Southern Water, Thames Water  as well as global innovators at Blackburn Starling, BT, 8power and the University of Exeter.



Phil Hadfield, business director, UK, at Rockwell Automation, says: "We are providing access and collaboration with specialist teams in the areas of network and cybersecurity, AI, and machine learning applications  along with our domain expertise within the information technology/operational technology (IT/OT) layer to bring about scalable solutions for all disciplines of the water industry." Rockwell Automation's specialists will work with Severn Trent to define the best vendor-agnostic technologies and solutions; leveraging the considerable expertise gained across many different verticals to help develop a solution that delivers a real-world application. Find out more about water/wastewater solutions from Rockwell Automation here. About Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 26,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1981317/Rockwell_Automation_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rockwell-automation-delivers-ai-for-industry-leading-wastewater-trial-by-severn-trent-and-partners-301743896.html

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[February 15, 2023] MTN deploys EXFO Advanced Topology Solution in 14 African countries for improved Mobile Network operations

EXFO's Context topology proves an asset to MTN operators to

streamline network management and improve inventory data quality QUEBEC, Feb. 15, 2023 /CNW/ - EXFO, the communications industry's test, monitoring and analytics experts, today announced that MTN Group has successfully deployed EXFO's Context dynamic topology solution in 14 African countries as part of MTN's digital transformation initiative, targeting improved network inventory, security, and performance functions. MTN is Africa's largest mobile network operator, providing voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale, and API services to more than 270 million customers in 19 markets. MTN operators across Africa, including early adopters MTN Uganda and South Africa, report simplified network management and improved visibility of telecom assets using EXFO's solution, helping them deliver top-quality services to their customers. With EXFO Context, MTN's network management is streamlined, improving inventory data quality and making planning and assurance processes more robust. Digital transformation of the network is a top priority for MTN and rolling out EXFO's solution will accelerate innovation and support the adoption of new technologies. EXFO Context has enabled MTN operators to gain visibility of their end-to-end networks across all vendors and technology layers, providing a single, accurate, and up-to-date view. This is particularly important at a time when delivering reliable service performance is made more difficult by the increased complexity of the network and related service assurance processes. The introduction of new technologies such as 5G, network virtualization, and programmable networking contribute to greater complexity, increasing the need for better end-to-end visibility. Leveraging EXFO' automated updates, change audit, and service impact analysis capabilities, MTN operators can quickly grasp the state of their network, assess the impact of faults or planned maintenance activity, and understand whether detected changes have received the necessary approval from a change management process perspective.



EXFO Context uses native graph database technology and a semantic modelling framework to deliver the end-to-end dynamic view of networks, services, and customer dependencies enabling key automation use cases. Automation relieves pressure on network managers, providing them with the right information at the right time to make informed decisions. Quotes:

"As demands on network infrastructure continue to grow, service assurance has become increasingly important to streamline and automate the processes that support the network. Of critical importance is the ability to map network topology, providing visibility to all the elements within the network and ensuring integrity of data to enable ongoing digital transformation. EXFO is delighted that Context has delivered these capabilities to 14 MTN operating companies including early adopters Uganda and South Africa, and we look forward to seeing operators across the MTN Group enable more automated operational processes with our service assurance solution," said Wim te Niet, Vice President EMEA, EXFO. "MTN Group is committed to our digital transformation journey to improve the flexibility and variety of services we're able to efficiently deliver to our customers. That can only be possible by equipping our networks and teams with the best possible solutions. EXFO Context has proven to be an impactful contributor to better manage our networks by tracking our active network assets and ensuring that defined change management processes are adhered to," said Amith Maharaj, MTN Group CTO. "The transformation journey of deploying the EXFO Context platform across our markets was enormous and exciting at the same time. I appreciate what EXFO and MTN have managed to accomplish as partners, to address the complexity in the network domain and create a single pane end-to-end view, that has significantly improved our operations," said Lloyd Mphahlele, MTN Group GM: Transport and OSS Tools. "At MTN Uganda, a larger portion of our planning and operation team is currently using the EXFO platform, with the ability to rapidly check the status of the network elements 24/7. The benefit of this extends far beyond our network administrators, having created another layer of transparency for our finance and resourcing teams that rely on network data to guide their budgeting decisions. If an asset running on the network fails, is removed, or altered, we are able to see these changes within minutes  which is a key capability for increased network visibility and performance and to detect any unauthorized changes that might have impact on our revenue or the company," said Ali Monzer, CTIO, MTN Uganda. For more information, visit this page . Meet EXFO experts at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 27  March 2. About EXFO EXFO develops smarter test, monitoring and analytics solutions for the global communications industry. We are trusted advisers to fixed and mobile network operators, hyper-scalers and leaders in the manufacturing, development and research sector. They count on us to deliver superior visibility and insights into network performance, service reliability and user experience. Building on over 35 years of innovation, EXFO's unique blend of equipment, software and services enable faster, more confident transformations related to 5G, cloud-native and fiber optic networks. EXFO-C View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mtn-deploys-exfo-advanced-topology-solution-in-14-african-countries-for-improved-mobile-network-operations-301747032.html SOURCE EXFO Inc.

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[February 15, 2023] THOUGHTFOCUS ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF BREAKFREE SOLUTIONS

BANGALORE, India, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ThoughtFocus, Inc. ("ThoughtFocus" or the "Company"), a global provider of digital services and technology-enabled digital operations focused primarily on the financial services end market, is pleased to announce the acquisition of BreakFree Solutions ("BreakFree"). Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, BreakFree provides digital services to leading enterprise customers in the financial services sector. BreakFree's U.S.-based workforce uses its expertise in product development, cloud enablement, and DevOps implementation, to support its clients' most critical and strategic digital initiatives. Shylesh Krishnan, ThoughtFocus' Chief Executive Officer expressed his excitement for the BreakFree acquisition: "BreakFree has a strong reputation with enterprise customers for delivering high quality service and successful outcomes. We have ambitious plans for growth and BreakFree's expertise will help to accelerate our strategy to expand ThoughtFocus' digital services capability even deeper into the financial services sector." "We are excited to join the ThoughtFocus team," said Mitch Northcutt, BreakFree's President & Chief Executive Officer. We share ThoughtFocus' commitment to customer growth and satisfaction. Through this partnership, we ill be able to offer end-to-end solutions to our clients, and our employees will have greater opportunities for career growth and development."



Kevin Van Culin, Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital and a ThoughtFocus Board Member, commented, "We are excited to be partnering with Mitch and the entire BreakFree team. This partnership will further establish ThoughtFocus as a leading provider of digital services in the financial services sector." About BreakFree Solutions

BreakFree is a leading digital consulting firm based in Chicago, IL. BreakFree helps its clients institute and scale strategic digital initiatives through its sophisticated agile and DevOps frameworks. BreakFree has a proven track record of helping enterprise financial services firms respond to disruptive technological change. For more information, please visit www.breakfreesolutions.com. About ThoughtFocus ThoughtFocus helps forward-looking companies and organizations in the financial services, manufacturing, and higher education/public services sectors innovate and achieve a better future faster. ThoughtFocus' innovative and cutting-edge technology solutions enable its customers to deploy new capabilities faster, deliver better user experiences, and drive operating efficiencies. We do this through executional excellence and mitigating the risk of change. With headquarters in the U.S., the Company has more than 2,100 employees in locations across five countries. For more information, please visit the company website www.thoughtfocus.com Contact: Gagan Agarwal, Head of Marketing

[email protected]

ThoughtFocus, Inc., 245 S Executive Dr, Suite 250, Brookfield, WI 53005, +1 414 214 3100

[email protected],

www.thoughtfocus.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/thoughtfocus-announces-acquisition-of-breakfree-solutions-301747364.html

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[February 15, 2023] Vaadin State of Java in the Enterprise Survey Finds Java is Foundational As Organizations Modernize Applications

TURKU, Finland, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaadin , a provider of Java web application platforms, today announced the first annual report State of Java in the Enterprise. This survey of 879 enterprise developers and architects is unique in its focus on how enterprises build, deploy, and modernize Java applications in 2023. It also reveals trends and future plans for use of Java in enterprise applications.

The Vaadin 2023 State of Java in the Enterprise report is available here: vaadin.com/java-survey-2023 . Java is the foundational technology behind a vast set of enterprise applications. This first State of Java in the Enterprise report highlights that Java will remain a primary technology for both internal and customer-facing applications for the enterprise, said Kim Weins, vice president of product and marketing at Vaadin. In addition, Java is undergoing a cloud-native resurgence as organizations accelerate investment in modernizing Java applications for deployment in public clouds and container platforms. A few highlights from the Vaadin 2023 State of Java in the Enterprise: Java is widely used across all types of enterprise applications: Java is used heavily for both internal (64 percent) and customer-facing (62 percent) applications, which include both SaaS and internet-based services.

Java is used heavily for both internal (64 percent) and customer-facing (62 percent) applications, which include both SaaS and internet-based services. Modernization of Java applications is a key focus: Almost half of Java applications still need modernization. As a result, 63 percent of respondents plan to increase their investments in modernizing existing Java applications, and 63 percent also plan t move more Java applications to the cloud over the coming 24 months

Almost half of Java applications still need modernization. As a result, 63 percent of respondents plan to increase their investments in modernizing existing Java applications, and 63 percent also plan t move more Java applications to the cloud over the coming 24 months The need for modernization is higher in Europe than in the US: Respondents said only 41 percent of Java applications in the Americas need modernization compared to 48 percent in Europe and 50 percent in the rest of the world.

Respondents said only 41 percent of Java applications in the Americas need modernization compared to 48 percent in Europe and 50 percent in the rest of the world. Maintainability is the top-ranked motivation for modernizing apps: When asked to cite the most significant catalysts for modernizing applications, 32 percent name maintainability as the #1 reason (and 73 percent rank it in the top 3). Security and maintenance costs are also significant drivers.

When asked to cite the most significant catalysts for modernizing applications, 32 percent name maintainability as the #1 reason (and 73 percent rank it in the top 3). Security and maintenance costs are also significant drivers. Java applications are increasingly going cloud-native: Although most Java applications are still deployed on-premise, more than one-third are already deployed in the public cloud (36 percent). In addition, more than half of respondents are already deploying some of their Java applications into Kubernetes or serverless environments.

Although most Java applications are still deployed on-premise, more than one-third are already deployed in the public cloud (36 percent). In addition, more than half of respondents are already deploying some of their Java applications into Kubernetes or serverless environments. AWS beats Azure and Google Cloud for Java apps: 35 percent of respondents said they have Java applications deployed in AWS, compared to 22 percent in Azure and 11 percent in Google Cloud.

35 percent of respondents said they have Java applications deployed in AWS, compared to 22 percent in Azure and 11 percent in Google Cloud. UX, upgrading the tech stack, and security are the top 3 challenges in developing Java applications: The top 3 challenges in developing Java applications are building an intuitive and simple UX (81%), upgrading the tech stack (81%), and ensuring app security (78%).

The top 3 challenges in developing Java applications are building an intuitive and simple UX (81%), upgrading the tech stack (81%), and ensuring app security (78%). Enterprise shift to Java 17 is well underway: Java 17, the latest long-term support (LTS) release launched in September 2021, is seeing significant adoption, with nearly three-quarters of respondents using or planning to use it over the next year. Twenty-six percent are already on Java 17 or newer, 21 percent are currently upgrading, and another 26 percent plan to update in the next 12 months.

Java 17, the latest long-term support (LTS) release launched in September 2021, is seeing significant adoption, with nearly three-quarters of respondents using or planning to use it over the next year. Twenty-six percent are already on Java 17 or newer, 21 percent are currently upgrading, and another 26 percent plan to update in the next 12 months. Tech stacks are shifting for Java applications: Spring remains popular with 79 percent already using Spring Boot and a net 50 percent planning to increase their use of Spring Boot in the next two years.

Spring remains popular with 79 percent already using Spring Boot and a net 50 percent planning to increase their use of Spring Boot in the next two years. Tech stacks are shifting for Java applications: The net changes in the planned use of technologies (the percentage of respondents planning to increase use minus the percentage planning to decrease use) show a clear shift away from older Java technologies, including Swing, JSF, and JavaFX. Spring Boot is a clear winner with a net 50 percent of respondents planning to increase usage. Respondents also plan to increase the use of Java frameworks such as Vaadin Flow, Spring Framework, Quarkus, Hilla, and React.



Survey Methodology

Vaadin conducted the State of Java in the Enterprise in November and December 2022. The 879 respondents include lead/senior developers, technical management, and architects. Their answers provide a comprehensive perspective on the state of Java in the enterprise today. About Vaadin

Vaadin, a provider of modern web frameworks for Java empowers developers around the globe to create intuitive web applications that their users will love. Vaadin makes it faster and easier to develop and modernize enterprise applications based on Java. Customers report an average of 44% savings in the time to develop a web UI with Vaadin compared with other approaches. Vaadin is the company behind the open-source Vaadin Flow framework for full-stack Java applications and the Hilla framework for hybrid TypeScript/Java applications. Trusted by 40% of Fortune 500 companies and 100.000+ developers worldwide, Vaadin has been helping organizations accelerate the development of web front ends for enterprise Java applications for over 20 years.



Contact: Clement | Peterson PR for Vaadin [email protected]

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[February 15, 2023] Driivz Debuts at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2023 to Showcase EV Charging Business Opportunities for Telecom Providers

TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Driivz, a leading innovator in the EV charging industry, today announced it will exhibit its end-to-end smart EV charging and energy management software platform at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2023. It is being held at Fira Barcelona Gran Via from February 27 to March 2.

We are excited about introducing the telecommunications industry leaders at MWC Barcelona to the new revenue opportunities they can realize by offering EV charging services, said Doron Frenkel, founder and CEO of Driivz. Telecom companies have unique advantages that can lead to rapid success in this new market. They have existing operational and infrastructure assets they can leverage to meet the rapidly growing demand for EV charging. They are already deeply engaged day-to-day with a large and diverse customer base and can offer value added services to their subscribers, from an all-inclusive solution for charging electric vehicles, to on-site consultancy, professional installation of hardware, EV charging operations, field service and customer support, Frenkel added. The Driivz leadership team will be at our exhibit in Hall 5 Booth 5E61, ready to discuss why EV charging is a natural fit for telecom providers.



Driivz powers the largest EV charging networks in the world with a market-leading, telco grade EV charging and energy management solution that increases customer loyalty, prevents churn and maximizes new revenue generation. The Driivz platform currently manages tens of thousands of public chargers (hundreds of thousands in roaming) and hundreds of millions of transactions per month for more than one million EV drivers in North America, Europe and APAC. To arrange a meeting with the Driivz team at MWC Barcelona, fill-in your details here: https://driivz.com/lp/ppc/

About Driivz

Driivz, an independent company and wholly owned subsidiary of Vontier, is a leading global software supplier to EV charging operators and service providers, accelerating the plug-in EV industry's dynamic and continuous transformation. The company's intelligent, cloud-based platform spans EV charging operations, energy management, advanced billing capabilities and driver self-service tools. Driivz's team of EV experts serve customers in more than 30 countries, including global industry players such as Shell, Volvo Group, EVgo, Centrica, Circle K, ElaadNL, ESB, Mer and eMobility Power. For more information, please visit http://www.driivz.com. Media Contact

Deb Montner

Montner Tech PR

[email protected]

203-226-9290



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[February 15, 2023] IGEL Unveils COSMOS, the Unified End User Computing Platform for Secure, Managed Access to Any Cloud Workspace

Powerful, Modular Platform Delivers Unmatched Flexibility to Future-Proof the Hybrid Multi-cloud Digital Workspace MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IGEL , provider of the managed endpoint operating system for secure access to any digital workspace, today announced IGEL COSMOS. Unveiled at DISRUPT23  The Ultimate Global EUC event in Munich, COSMOS is a unified, agile platform to securely manage and automate the delivery of digital workspaces, from any cloud. Offering a modular architecture, granular endpoint control and end-user freedom, COSMOS is designed to enable organizations to garner the full power of current-day and future clouds with extensive control, while powering great user experiences for today's hybrid work. The most significant new advancement with IGEL COSMOS is that, for the first time, IGEL is completely separating the base IGEL OS from its validated and integrated applications and interfaces, while adding an additional separate component in the form of value-added cloud services. Together, these three vital components comprise IGEL COSMOS. This modular architecture of "separate but equal" elements of endpoint operating system, management and control, and cloud services enables maximum IT flexibility in introducing or enhancing apps, desktops, services, and any other form of cloud-delivered digital workspaces as the cloud continues to evolve. Featuring extensive management and control powered by the new IGEL UMS 12, the next generation of the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS), COSMOS enables the parallel use, management and control of endpoints running both IGEL OS 11 and the new IGEL OS 12 operating system. New cloud services, which are de-coupled from the OS, include the IGEL App Portal for use-case specific software applications offered from IGEL software partners and available for seamless download and implementation. Additional cloud services include the IGEL Onboarding Service, IGEL Insight Service, and other services and portals all designed to enhance effectiveness and user experiences for both IT professionals and end users. "Today's workspaces are hybrid. Hybrid work, hybrid clouds and hybrid applications. While VDI and DaaS continue to provide organizations the safest way to deliver secure access to windows client server applications, a transition to SaaS and web-based applications has already started. IT organizations need to make sure they can evolve at their optimal pace and at the same time, enable employees seamless, yet secure access to their cloud workspaces," said Matthias Haas, Chief Technology Officer, IGEL. "The COSMOS platform has been designed for this new era of hybrid work. With a new modularized version of IGEL OS, a new version of our UMS management platform coupled with new cloud services that extend capabilities and enhance user experiences, COSMOS enables unmatched speed and flexibility to our customers across traditional and modern application delivery models, while still retaining security, management, and control across the entire endpoint estate." "Having deployed IGEL OS to our remote workforce, we have been excited to pilot the latest innovation from IGEL including UMS 12 and IGEL OS 12," said Simon Barlow, Group Chief Technology Officer, Operations, AXA UK & Ireland. "Our remote workforce, the agile aplication landscape and more frequent update cycles of unified comms require us to onboard, manage and update our endpoints faster and more efficiently than ever before. Based on our initial testing of OS 12, we are already confident that we can remotely configure, update, and patch our remote machines faster and more efficiently. With small updates and the ability to only update the Azure Virtual Desktop client, IGEL COSMOS allows us to be more agile without compromising security or change control. We are excited about the new cloud services which complement IGEL OS and UMS 12 and are proud to be included in the COSMOS platform launch."



"Having utilized the secure IGEL OS for our VMware VDI environment, we were excited to work with IGEL on the IGEL OS 12 pilot," said Billy Cruz, Technology Services Manager, Desktop Engineering, COCC. "The ability to update the VMware Horizon client independently from IGEL OS in the new offering allows us to deploy the latest innovation from VMware faster and more efficiently than before. The additional ability to now also update the Zoom and Webex offloading clients, independently from the VMware Horizon app, also provides additional flexibility and reduces the amount of time needed to perform management updates to increase employee experience. With a smaller attack surface and faster updates, we are excited about rolling out IGEL OS 12 in the future." The Powerful, Unified Components of COSMOS

At the core of the IGEL COSMOS platform is the new IGEL UMS 12, which offers a unified view across a heterogeneous mix of endpoints running either IGEL OS 11 or the new IGEL OS 12. This powerful, yet simple to use, management and control console enables environments already benefitting from IGEL OS to easily migrate and leverage immediate value of COSMOS without requiring an OS upgrade on all their existing devices.

Released with COSMOS is the new IGEL OS 12 which is more lightweight and adaptable than ever. Offering increased flexibility, speed, and agile integrations, IGEL OS 12 has been architected to support any form of cloud-delivered digital experiences. It also supports a faster, more efficient delivery of features and applications tuned to specific use cases via the IGEL App Portal. Other key services tuned to IGEL OS 12 include fast user onboarding and deep insights into endpoint usage, security, status, and compliance of IGEL UMS-managed endpoints. One of the most significant new cloud services adding additional value to COSMOS is the IGEL App Portal. The App Portal delivers a full range of validated applications from IGEL's vast IGEL Ready technology partner community designed for use on IGEL OS-powered devices. Since the App Portal operates separately and independently from the IGEL OS endpoint operating system, it sharply streamlines the process of application integration, introduction, and qualification for IT teams since there is no longer any dependence on the classic, highly integrated software release process. Available for download at no extra cost, these apps can be rapidly qualified and delivered as a feature-rich experience for users, while reducing the app qualification, implementation and update processes for IT. Applications include the Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop client, VMware Horizon client, Citrix Workspace app, Chromium Browser, Zoom Media Plugins for VDI and many more. IGEL also offers an IGEL OS API (application programming interface) for software providers that want to validate their solution for availability using COSMOS and the IGEL App Portal. Availability

COSMOS, IGEL UMS 12, and IGEL OS 12 will be available April 1. Existing users of IGEL OS 11 will be able to engage IGEL UMS 12 via an easy migration to access COSMOS advancements for existing and new devices running IGEL OS 12 in the future. For more information visit igel.com/cosmos. To schedule a discovery meeting and get early access to GA code, visit igel.com/yes. DISRUPT23COSMOS was announcement from DISRUPT23  The Ultimate Global EUC in Munich, held February 15 and 16 at the INFINITY Hotel & Conference Resort. DISRUPT23 will hold its North American installment at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 3-5. Registration is $399 per person. To register, visit: www.disruptEUC.com. About IGEL

Today, the world of work is hybrid. Multiple clouds can deliver applications sourced from anywhere to a widely distributed workforce using all types of devices. Right at the moment when the world of work needs it most, IGEL has the solution for fully managed, secure endpoint access to any digital workspace that gives IT teams strong control and end-users the freedom to work as they wish in a hybrid world. Enabling choice of any cloud, from any device, anywhere, IGEL unlocks a collaborative and productive end user computing experience while solving the common security and management challenges required to compete and win in today's world of hybrid work. With a growing ecosystem of more than 100 IGEL Ready technology partners, IGEL has offices in Europe and the United States and is represented by partners in over 50 countries. For more information on IGEL, visit www.igel.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/igel-unveils-cosmos-the-unified-end-user-computing-platform-for-secure-managed-access-to-any-cloud-workspace-301747190.html SOURCE IGEL Technology

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[February 15, 2023] Future Forum Winter Pulse Survey Finds Amid Spiking Burnout, Workplace Flexibility Fuels Company Culture and Productivity

Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll, and MLT focused on building a way of working that is flexible, inclusive, and connected, today released key findings from its latest global Pulse survey, showing that flexible work plays a key role in fostering organizational culture and has a significant positive impact on productivity. Flexible workers were 57% more likely to say that their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with those required to be on-site five days a week-and they cited flexible work policies as the primary reason their culture is changing for the better. The Future Forum Pulse is a quarterly survey of more than 10,000 desk workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. that has continuously run since summer 2020. The data reveals that employees with full schedule flexibility report 39% higher productivity scores than those with no ability to adjust their working hours. Employees with location flexibility (both remote and hybrid workers) report 8% higher productivity scores than those fully in-office-gains that can meaningfully accelerate work across a business. "In the midst of economic uncertainty and a push to 'return' to how things were in 2019, it is critical for leaders to figure out what works best for their teams today. The data shows offering flexibility not only boosts productivity and decreases turnover, but it also improves culture," said Brian Elliott, the executive leader of Future Forum. "Giving employees choice in their day-to-day work while coming together in person with purpose is a highly effectie way to drive employee connection and build trust."



This winter snapshot of Future Forum's latest Pulse survey answers top-of-mind questions that business leaders are asking as they navigate an ever-changing workplace and look to implement flexible work strategies that enable all employees to thrive. Flexibility Builds Strong Organizational Cultures

Although 25% of executives cite "culture is negatively impacted" as a top concern in offering employees more flexibility, flexible work policies-not only in where, but also when people work-are highly effective in deepening company culture, a continuing trend from last quarter. How connected do employees feel to their companies and organizations? Compared to the 35% of workers who are fully in-office, flexible workers are equally or more likely to feel connected to their immediate teams, their direct manager and their company's values. What motivates people to want to come into the office? The office remains an important anchor for employees, but the primary purpose of office space is shifting. Many employees no longer see the office as a place for solo work. Today a majority of workers want to use the office to foster connection: 74% say they use the office for collaborating with coworkers/clients, building camaraderie, and facilitating in-person meetings

15% say they use the office for having a quiet space to focus on getting work done Two-thirds of employees (67%) say they prefer a hybrid working arrangement, with the option to access a physical space. Flexibility is a Key Driver for Productivity Executives continue to cite declining productivity as their second most serious concern when contemplating flexible work. And yet, flexible work continues to be associated with higher productivity, with the greatest gains among workers with schedule flexibility, which is the ability to adjust one's working hours. How does schedule flexibility affect business results? When compared with workers with no ability to shift their schedules, respondents with full schedule flexibility report: 39% higher productivity

64% greater ability to focus Meanwhile, a lack of schedule flexibility dramatically worsens retention. Employees with immovable work schedules say they are 2.5 times more likely to "definitely" look for a new job in the next year. Flexibility Counters Spiking Burnout Trends Burnout remains a critical issue in the workplace. Forty-two percent of the workforce reports experiencing burnout-an all-time high since May 2021, when Future Forum started measuring this strain. Respondents who report that they are burned out at work are 3.4 times more likely to say they "definitely" plan to look for a new job in the next year than those who say they are not burned out. Women and workers under age 30 are the most likely to experience burnout. How does access to flexibility affect burnout? Employees who are burned out at work report 23% lower productivity than those who are not burned out

53% of those who are dissatisfied with their level of flexibility at work say they are burned out compared with 37% of employees who are satisfied

Employees with no ability to shift their work schedules are 26% more likely to say they're burned out Underinvestment in technology can also aggravate burnout levels. Workers who perceive their companies to be "digital laggards" are 31% more likely to report feeling burned out at work than those who say the companies they work for are innovators. More insights can be found in the full Future Forum Pulse report. Later this spring, Future Forum will release in-depth results from its quarterly survey, including analysis of emerging trends in desk workers' experience. Methodology This Future Forum Pulse surveyed 10,243 workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. between November 16 and December 22, 2022. The survey was administered by Qualtrics and did not target Slack employees or customers. Respondents were all desk workers, defined as employed full-time (30 or more hours per week) and either having one of the roles listed below or saying they "work with data, analyze information or think creatively": executive management (e.g. president/partner, CEO, CFO, C-suite), senior management (e.g. executive VP, senior VP), middle management (e.g. department/group manager, VP), junior management (e.g. manager, team leader), senior staff (i.e. non-management), skilled office worker (e.g. analyst, graphic designer). For brevity, we refer to the survey population as "desk-based" or "desk workers." The Future Forum Pulse measures how desk workers feel about their working lives on a five-point scale (from "very poor" to "very good") across eight dimensions on an index from -60 (most negative) to +60 (most positive). About Future Forum Future Forum is a research consortium dedicated to building a way of working that is flexible, inclusive, and connected. Founded by Slack, in partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), MillerKnoll, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), Future Forum enables leaders to reimagine work through data and executive insights and dialogue. To learn more and access the latest research, visit futureforum.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005198/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Private Equity Firms Recognized with BluWave 2023 Top PE Innovator Awards

BluWave, the business builders' network for private equity grade due diligence and value creation needs, announced today the recipients of its second annual 2023 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards. The awards recognize private equity firms for exemplary innovation and leadership. Recipients of the BluWave 2023 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards represent the top 2% in the private equity industry for due diligence, value creation, ESG, and PE firm operations*. The BluWave 2023 Top Private Equity Innovator Award recipients were selected based upon a rigorous assessment in consultation with leading limited partners, investment bankers, service providers and other thought leaders in the private equity ecosystem. BluWave partners with more than 500 leading private equity firms and has a one-of-a-kind perspective that enables it to uniquely understand best practices and innovation in private equity. Private equity firms were assessed across the following criteria: Proactive due diligence practices

Transformative value creation

Embracement of ESG

Modern private equity firm operations "The Top Private Equity Innovators have demonstrated an ability to stay ahead of changing environments, engage in transformative due diligence and value creation, and embrace the strategic value of ESG," says Sean Mooney, Founder and CEO, BluWave. "They are leaders in creating economic opportunities and building businesses that provide jobs, and we commend them on their innovation and success." Chicago's ParkerGale was selected as the Private Equity Innovator of the Year. They invest in profitable, founder-owned technology companies where the firm's operating resources can have a meaningful impact on the outcome. ParkerGale was selected for its forward-thinking approach to due diligence, value creation, ESG and PE firm operations. The complete list of BluWave 2023 Top Private Equity Innovator Award recipients includes the following firms: Accel-KKR

Access Holdings

Align Capital Partners

Altamont Capital Partners

Atrian Investment Partners

Avance

Bain Capital Private Equity

Boyne Capital

Brighton Park Capital

Broad Sky Partners

Clairvest Group

Compass Group Equity Partners

Cortec Group

Council Capital

Cressey & Company

Crest Rock Partners

Diversis Capital

Encore Consumer Capital

Five Elms Capital

Francisco Partners

Frontenac

Gemspring Capital

Genstar Capital

Great Hill Partners

Great Range Capital

GreyLion

GrowthCurve Capital

GTCR

HCI Equity Partners

Heartwood Partners

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners

Housatonic Partners

Huron Capital

ICV Partners

Incline Equity Partners

Industrial Opportunity Partners

Inverness Graham

Kinzie Capital Partners

Livingbridge

LLR Partners

Long Ridge Equity Partners

Lovell Minnick Partners

Main Post Partners

MiddleGround Capital

MidOcean Partners

New Harbor Capital

New Mountain Capital

New State Capital Partners

Norwest Equity Partners

OpenGate Capital

Pamlico Capital

ParkerGale Capital

Periscope Equity

Platform Partners

Platte River Equity

Prairie Capital

Quad-C Management

Resurgens Technology Partners

Serent Capital

Shore Capital Partners

Shoreline Equity Partners

Sixth Street

Sumeru Equity Partners

The Halifax Group

The Riverside Company

Trinity Hunt Partners

Trive Capital

Trivest Partners

Warburg Pincus



https://www.bluwave.net/awards/. About BluWave

BluWave is the business builders' network for private equity grade service provider needs. The company's platform combines concierge-like consultative support with technology, data, and AI to expertly connect businesses with proven providers across due diligence, value creation, and prep for sale. The BluWave Vetted network is an invite-only ecosystem of top tier individuals and service providing groups. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, BluWave ranks as one of America's fastest growing companies and today serves more than 500 leading private equity firms and thousands of proactive businesses. Visit BluWave.net to learn more. *BluWave, LP has not received investment capital from and holds no ownership interest in the PE firms evaluated or recognized under the PE Innovator awards program. BluWave received no compensation from any of the PE firms in connection with this awards program. However, BluWave may otherwise provide services to the PE firms and/or portfolio companies, but BluWave confirms that its assessment of the PE firms was independent of any such service arrangements. Top 2% in the PE industry is based on BluWave's review of the more than 5,000 PE firms in the U.S. and Canada from which 69 PE firms were selected as award recipients. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005065/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Winners Announced in Prestigious GCCA Photo Competition Which Highlights Beauty and Essential Role of Concrete Throughout World

A stunning image of a skateboard park in the United Arab Emirates has been named Concrete in Life Photo of the Year. It wins a top prize of $10,000 (ten thousand US dollars) in a global competition, which highlights the essential role that concrete plays around the world. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005136/en/ Ferdz Bedana, winner Urban Concrete Professional and overall winner, Concrete in Life Photo of Year. Location Sharjah, UAE The photo, taken by professional photographer, Ferdz Bedana, in Sharjah, was announced as the overall winner in a live Instagram broadcast, on 15th February. It was selected from more than 14,000 photos submitted by both amateur and professional photographers from every continent, in the annual competition run by the Global Cement and Concrete Association. Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chie Executive said: "Concrete is the second most used substance on earth after water and plays a vital part in modern infrastructure and society. Through the work of the GCCA and our members, to implement our 2050 Net Zero Roadmap, we are working hard and making progress in reducing its environmental impact. These amazing photos capture the appeal of concrete design and the essential role it plays in modern life and communities everywhere."



Entrants from around the world submitted photos across four categories: concrete infrastructure, concrete beauty and design, urban concrete, and concrete in daily life, with each section divided between professional photographers and amateurs, often with smart phones. The breadth and variety of all the entries highlight the way concrete supports life around the world, from the giant to the small form, as well as the material's grace, beauty and crucial supporting role. Eight category winners each receive a prize of $2,500 (two thousand, five hundred US dollars) each. As well as Ferdz Bedana's skateboarder image, the category winners include images of a waterfall and a roller-skater race, both taken in Indonesia, a stunning city interchange in China, rice mills in Bangladesh, a university building in Mexico, a metro station in Dubai and a Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ferdz Bedana who took the overall Concrete in Life Photo of Year in Sharjah, said: "It's a great honour to be the overall winner of the Concrete in Life 2022 competition and spread the story of how concrete is a big contribution in our life. I was interested to take a photo of this skatepark when I saw a boy enjoying playing in a substantially artistic concrete design." Chris George, Content Director at Digital Camera World, and one of the competition judges said about the winning photo: "This was an amazing capture, that perfectly shows the energy of skateboarding against the organic form of the manmade structure." Fellow judge, freelance writer and photographer Norman Miller added: "It's a real skill to capture fast moving subject while showing mastery of framing and control of lighting." Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive added: "Congratulations to Ferdz Bedana and all our category winners. Check out our website to see all the shortlisted entries who were all outstanding." The GCCA and its member companies, which account for 80% of global cement production capacity outside of China, as well as key Chinese manufacturers, are committed to reducing and eliminating CO2 emissions through implementation of the Concrete Future - 2050 Net Zero Roadmap - the first heavy industry to set out such a detailed plan. Notes to editors: Images available for media to use here. Video of Instagram broadcast announcing winners available here. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005136/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Cirrus Data Reaches Milestone of Over an Exabyte of Block Data Migrated

SYOSSET, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cirrus Data Solutions (CDS), the market leader in block data mobility technology and services, today announced that organizations globally have trusted Cirrus Data to migrate over an exabyte of mission-critical block data. Additionally, Cirrus Data reported that 2022 was a record year for the company, with bookings nearly doubling for the full year and profitability reaching new levels.

2022 was a tremendous year for Cirrus Data. We delivered important new technology, expanded our market share, grew our team, and bolstered the companys financial strength, said Wayne Lam, Chairman and CEO of Cirrus Data Solutions. "Organizations worldwide are taking advantage of the efficiencies and performance delivered by new storage architectures. Cirrus Data is honored that these businesses entrust our solutions to migrate their mission-critical block data. Our patented solutions make it seamless for even the worlds largest enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation by unlocking data mobility, which drives meaningful business outcomes for our customers. 2022 Company Highlights: Data Mobility Milestone of Over an Exabyte of Data Migrated: Businesses started taking advantage of advanced storage architectures like hybrid cloud for their data. As these technologies have evolved, more businesses have migrated their mission-critical block data. Cirrus Data is proud to have migrated over an exabyte of block data to new storage platforms.

Businesses started taking advantage of advanced storage architectures like hybrid cloud for their data. As these technologies have evolved, more businesses have migrated their mission-critical block data. Cirrus Data is proud to have migrated over an exabyte of block data to new storage platforms. New Data Mobility as-a-Service Offerings : Cirrus Migrate Cloud integrates with all the major public clouds. Businesses can purchase data migration capacity directly through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace. A similar offering will be available soon from the Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud marketplaces.

: Cirrus Migrate Cloud integrates with all the major public clouds. Businesses can purchase data migration capacity directly through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace. A similar offering will be available soon from the Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud marketplaces. Record Level Business Activity: Fiscal 2022 bookings nearly doubled from the 2021 level. The company also reached a new record for profitabilit further increasing its financial strength.

Fiscal 2022 bookings nearly doubled from the 2021 level. The company also reached a new record for profitabilit further increasing its financial strength. Acceleration from the European Region: Order activity from the region was a meaningful contributor to 2022 overall bookings, with new customers and channel partners contributing to growth. Additionally, one of the worlds largest financial institutions selected Cirrus Data as part of their permanent storage infrastructure. With the new Cirrus Data Migration-as-a-Service solution, the worldwide organization will have access to data mobility.

Order activity from the region was a meaningful contributor to 2022 overall bookings, with new customers and channel partners contributing to growth. Additionally, one of the worlds largest financial institutions selected Cirrus Data as part of their permanent storage infrastructure. With the new Cirrus Data Migration-as-a-Service solution, the worldwide organization will have access to data mobility. New Customer Support Center: Cirrus Data introduced its new Customer Center in response to the growth of its global customer base. The new online center provides basic and premium support services to customers 24x7x365.





In addition, Cirrus Data made several key appointments during the year to support its continued growth. Alan Sharpe was promoted to Vice President of Sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Mr. Sharpe joined Cirrus Data in 2019 with extensive experience leading regional sales operations. He was instrumental in building the team and driving the revenue growth of the EMEA region in 2022.

Mr. Sharpe joined Cirrus Data in 2019 with extensive experience leading regional sales operations. He was instrumental in building the team and driving the revenue growth of the EMEA region in 2022. Stephen Pelletier joined Cirrus Data to lead its Cloud Business Development. As the new Executive Director of Cloud Business Development, Mr. Pelletier brings over 20 years of experience building successful technology businesses.

As the new Executive Director of Cloud Business Development, Mr. Pelletier brings over 20 years of experience building successful technology businesses. Alan Chen was named Senior Director of Customer Support. Mr. Chen has more than 30 years of senior global experience running enterprise support operations.

Mr. Chen has more than 30 years of senior global experience running enterprise support operations. Gareth Donald was promoted to Director of Sales for Asia Pacific, Japan, South Africa, and India. Mr. Donald joined Cirrus Data in 2019, helping expand the market for Cirrus Data in Asia Pacific, South Africa, and India.

Mr. Donald joined Cirrus Data in 2019, helping expand the market for Cirrus Data in Asia Pacific, South Africa, and India. Mark Johnston joined Cirrus Data as the Executive Director of Global Alliances. Mr. Johnston has a distinguished career working with Global Systems Integrators and technology companies.

Mr. Johnston has a distinguished career working with Global Systems Integrators and technology companies. Jocelyn Philbrook was appointed Vice President of Marketing. Ms. Philbrook has nearly 25 years of experience assisting global technology organizations to capitalize on their innovation leadership. As a leader in a rapidly expanding market, its important for us to continue to expand our leadership team with innovative and experienced leaders that have a strong track record of building successful organizations, said Ron Croce, Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. We believe this combination of talent, product innovation, and opportunity will enable Cirrus Data to continue to lead this explosive market.

About Cirrus Data

Cirrus Data Solutions Inc. (CDS) is a market leader in block data mobility technology and services. The company distributes its solutions through systems integrators, managed service providers, channel resellers, and partners, including HPE, IBM, Dell Technologies, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Oracle Cloud, Hitachi, NetApp, Pure Storage, Infinidat, AEBS, AHEAD, CDW, ConvergeOne, Logicalis, SHI, Park Place, Presidio, ePlus, Insight, Computacenter, Sirius, WWT and many others. Cirrus works closely with Global Systems Integrators (GSIs), including Accenture, HCL, TCS, Capgemini, and others. The company's flagship Mobility-as-a-Service offering, Cirrus Migrate Cloud, is available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, Microsoft Azure Marketplace, and Oracle Cloud Marketplace. CDS is headquartered in Syosset, New York, and has support centers in Dublin, Ireland, and Nanjing, China, with sales and support offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Denver, London, Melbourne, Munich, and Tampa. For more information, visit CDS online at www.cirrusdata.com. Contact

Tanya Carlsson

Offleash PR

[email protected]



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[February 15, 2023] Onapsis Closes 2022 with Significant Momentum Driven by Accelerated Demand for Business Application Security

Onapsis, the market leader in business application cybersecurity and compliance, today announced a successful year of continued growth and innovation, driven by the increased need for large organizations to protect the critical business applications that power their digital core. "Attacks against business applications, such as SAP and Oracle, are growing at an exponential rate. In this uncertain threat landscape, enterprises are relying on our solutions now more than ever, especially as they migrate these applications to the cloud and integrate them into DevOps initiatives." said Mariano Nunez, CEO and Co-founder of Onapsis. "Our goal is to give our customers the peace of mind of knowing their core business applications are secure, compliant, and available at all times. In this uncertain macroeconomic environment, organizations worldwide are being forced to rationalize their spending, and focus their investments on protecting only what matters the most. There is nothing more important than protecting core business applications, and that is the problem Onapsis solves. We look forward to continuing to innovate our platform and expanding our reach to more customers in the year ahead." Today, nearly 30% of the Forbes Global 100, including Pfizer, Sony, and Siemens, trust Onapsis' industry-leading security solutions to protect their business applications. In the past year, Onapsis continued to innovate and invest heavily in its customers by launching its inaugural Executive Customer Advisory Board (CAB), composed of cybersecurity and technology industry executives from the world's leading brands, such as Dow Chemical, Cargill, and Colgate-Palmolive. Onapsis further expanded its partner ecosystem, forming new strategic partnerships with leading organizations such as Oracle, KPMG, and Capgemini. The company continued to lead in the industry through accelerated product innovation, releasing numerous new products and capabilities, including: Onapsis Cloud Platform, a SaaS zero-footprint model that accelerates enterprises' abilities to jumpstart their SAP vulnerability management programs.

a SaaS zero-footprint model that accelerates enterprises' abilities to jumpstart their SAP vulnerability management programs. New and updated ERP security capabilities that equip SAP and Oracle customers with deep visibility into their ERP attack surface and critical insights from the Onapsis Research Labs.

that equip SAP and Oracle customers with deep visibility into their ERP attack surface and critical insights from the Onapsis Research Labs. Onapsis Research Labs' Threat Intel Center connects the Onapsis Threat Intelligence Cloud, a global network of sensors and applications instrumented to capture the activity of attackers exploiting business applications, and deep research conducted by the Onapsis Research Labs into a unified, detailed threat intelligence repository. The Threat Intel Center reduces the workload on security teams by delivering a comprehensive transfer of knowledge, allowing them to efficiently defend their organization while building their expertise in SAP and Oracle security.

connects the Onapsis Threat Intelligence Cloud, a global network of sensors and applications instrumented to capture the activity of attackers exploiting business applications, and deep research conducted by the Onapsis Research Labs into a unified, detailed threat intelligence repository. The Threat Intel Center reduces the workload on security teams by delivering a comprehensive transfer of knowledge, allowing them to efficiently defend their organization while building their expertise in SAP and Oracle security. Enhanced cyber security solutions that include a new Network Detection Rule Pack for Onapsis Defend and increased support for SAP SuccessFactors, a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution.

that include a new Network Detection Rule Pack for Onapsis Defend and increased support for SAP SuccessFactors, a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution. Onapsis Assess Baseline, a simplified core vulnerability offer designed to address critical vulnerabilities and to automateevaluation of the best practices in the SAP Security Baseline.



ICMAD (Internet Communication Manager Advanced Desync). Due to the potential threats associated with the ICMAD vulnerabilities, numerous global organizations issued alerts, including the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Coming on the heels of this research, Onapsis Research Labs reached a key milestone of 1,000 total zero-day vulnerabilities identified in business applications - becoming the first and only research team dedicated to business applications to accomplish this to date. Onapsis also strengthened its executive leadership bench in 2022 with the appointments of Sadik Al-Abdulla as Chief Product Officer, Denis Cashman as Chief Financial Officer, and Kellie Snyder as Chief Customer Officer. Al-Abdulla brings more than 20 years of experience from building industry-leading products at organizations such as McAfee and CDW. Cashman brings more than 30 years of senior leadership experience at both publicly-traded and growth-stage companies, such as Dell/EMC and Microsoft. Snyder brings over 25 years of experience leading customer engagement functions for both private and public companies of various sizes and stages, including Salsify, CA, and Adobe

The increased adoption and ongoing success of Onapsis' platform has been honored by critical industry awards. Specific honors and achievements include: Onapsis was featured on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies for the second consecutive year

Onapsis was named a Market Leader in ERP Security for the Cyber Defense Global Infosec Awards

Onapsis was listed on CRN's 20 Coolest Web, Application, and Email Security Companies Of 2022

Onapsis Named a Gold Winner in the 2022 'ASTORS' Homeland Security Awards

Onapsis was shortlisted for the Cloud Security Innovation category in the 2022 SDC Awards For more information on Onapsis' award-winning platform, please visit: https://onapsis.com/ About Onapsis Onapsis protects the business applications that run the global economy. The Onapsis Platform uniquely delivers vulnerability management, threat detection and response, change assurance, and continuous compliance for business applications from leading vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and others. The Onapsis Platform is powered by the Onapsis Research Labs, the team responsible for the discovery and mitigation of more than 1,000 zero-day vulnerabilities in business applications. Onapsis is headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices in Heidelberg, Germany and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and proudly serves hundreds of the world's leading brands, including close to 30% of the Forbes Global 100, six of the top 10 automotive companies, five of the top 10 chemical companies, four of the top 10 technology companies, and three of the top 10 oil and gas companies. For more information, connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn, or visit https://www.onapsis.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005033/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Tigera Introduces Calico Runtime Threat Defense: The Most Comprehensive, Plug-and-Play defense against Container and Network-Based threats

A plug-and-play solution that provides continuous defense and active risk mitigation against

known and zero-day threats SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tigera , provider of the industry's only active security platform for containers and Kubernetes, today announced Calico Runtime Threat Defense. Calico Runtime Threat Defense is the most comprehensive plug-and-play threat defense solution for network and container-based threats for applications on Kubernetes. By combining signature and behavior-based techniques to detect known and zero-day threats, Calico Runtime Threat Defense provides coverage for most common MITRE attack techniques for container and network-based attacks. Unlike traditional runtime threat detection platforms, Calico Runtime Threat Defense for containers and Kubernetes continuously monitors and analyzes network and container behavior for Indicators of Attack (IOA) without the need for writing complex rules, freeing up valuable resources that would otherwise be spent on writing and maintaining security rules. Calico's global threat intelligence feed integrates with AlienVault and other threat intelligence providers to alert and block attacks from known malicious actors. This fully automated approach, which combines signature and behavior-based techniques to detect container and network-based attacks, is also more accurate and reliable than manual rule-based systems. While most solutions are plagued with hard-to-trace false alarms, Calico's real-time alerts provide rich context for the potential threat along with suggested mitigation steps. These steps include policy recommendations, such as quarantining the infected pod, that are particularly useful for organizations that need more resources to independently interpret security data. Through clear and actionable guidance, Calico Runtime Threat Defense helps organizations respond to security threats in a timely and effective manner. "The manual approach of legacy security tools was never a viable solution to the ballooning threats organizations facetoday," said Amit Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Tigera. "Calico Runtime Threat Defense brings the intelligence, automation, and continuous protection that security teams need to level the digital playing field and ensure a defensive posture that prevents breaches effectively and efficiently."



Calico Runtime Threat Defense uses two types of detection: Behavior-based detection:

Calico Runtime Threat Defense uses eBPF to monitor container activity data across processes, file system activity, and system calls; the data is used by a wide range of pre-programmed detectors created by Tigera's Threat Research team to detect new zero-day threats. New detectors are continually added to stay on top of an ever-changing and dynamic threat landscape.

Calico Runtime Threat Defense also uses network traffic logs to baseline the behavior of cluster nodes, pods, and services and applies machine learning algorithms to determine indicators of port scans, IP sweeps and domain generation algorithms (DGA). Signature-based detection: Intrusion detection and prevention  Calico's global threat intelligence feed integrates with AlienVault and other threat intelligence providers to protect from malicious IPs.

Workload-centric WAF  Monitors HTTP communication to detect OWASP10 attacks.

Malware detection  Maintains a database of malware file hashes as part of its threat intelligence library and actively blocks known malware.

Honeypods  Deploys decoys or honeypods to monitor and detect suspicious activity within a Kubernetes cluster.

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and threat detection with SNORT  Inspects network data in detail and performs signature-based detection of potential threats using SNORT rules. Click here to learn more about Tigera's solutions or request a free trial . About Tigera

Tigera provides the industry's only active security platform with full-stack observability for containers and Kubernetes. The company's platform prevents, detects, troubleshoots, and automatically mitigates exposure risks of security breaches. Tigera delivers its platform as a fully managed SaaS (Calico Cloud) or a self-managed service (Calico Enterprise). Its open-source offering, Calico Open Source , is the most widely adopted container networking and security solution. Tigera's platform specifies security and observability as code to ensure consistent enforcement of security policies, which enables DevOps, platform, and security teams to protect workloads, detect threats, achieve continuous compliance, and troubleshoot service issues in real time. Powering more than 100M containers across 2M+ nodes in 166 countries, Calico software is supported across all major cloud providers and Kubernetes distributions and is used by leading companies including AT&T, Discover, Merck, NBCUniversal, HanseMerkur, Allstate, Box, Siemens Healthineers, Playtech, Royal Bank of Canada, and Bell Canada. Contact:

Katherine Benfield for Tigera

Lumina Communications

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tigera-introduces-calico-runtime-threat-defense-the-most-comprehensive-plug-and-play-defense-against-container-and-network-based-threats-301747037.html SOURCE Tigera

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[February 15, 2023] Indiana Wesleyan University Grads Set to Fill Healthcare Industry Jobs with New MedCerts Trainings

Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) has partnered with MedCerts, an online certification training provider in allied healthcare and information technology, to offer MedCerts programs to its students. IWU is offering MedCerts' most in-demand programs to eligible students, including Medical Assistant, Surgical Technologist, Phlebotomy Technician, Medical Billing Specialist, Sterile Processing Technician, Pharmacy Technician, EKG Technician, and Professional Coder. ?We're excited to partner with IWU to bring this opportunity to their hard-working students," said Craig Sprinkle, CEO at MedCerts, a Stride, Inc. company (NSYE: LRN). ?IWU students will gain access to our nationally recognized healthcare training, creating a launch pad for their future careers and bringing the next generation of talent into the field when it is needed most." Indiana is facing a significant shortage of healthcare workers. According to the Indiana Hospital Association, the state will need roughly 5,000 nurses by 2031. IWU is launching this initiative as part of the Talent Ladder platform, an innovative unit providing training programs for working professionals and veterans focused on the region's fastest-growing skills and occupations, with the potential of university credit toward degree completion for those who successfully complete a training program. "IWU is commtted to our long history of serving students with programs designed and tailored to help them reach their goals," said IWU Kevin Wachtel, Executive Director of Partnership Development & Operations. "As the labor market continues to evolve, our partnership with MedCerts will help us provide learners with comprehensive and job-aligned training in the allied health fields."



About MedCerts MedCerts - a Stride, Inc. company (NYSE: LRN) - is a national online training provider strengthening the workforce through innovative eLearning solutions. Focused on certifications in high-demand areas of Allied Healthcare and IT, it serves individuals from all backgrounds, including the military and their families, career changers and the under- and unemployed. MedCerts delivers certification and career training through HD-quality video-based instruction, virtual simulations, games and animations, and on-the-job training through Experiential Learning solutions. Since 2009, the company has developed over 50 career programs, trained and up-skilled more than 55,000 individuals across the country and partnered with over 500 American job centers and more than 1,000 healthcare organizations to build talent pipelines. In 2020, MedCerts was acquired by Stride, Inc. Stride has transformed the teaching and learning experience for millions of people by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculum, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and post-secondary settings. For more information, visit medcerts.com.

About Indiana Wesleyan University Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) is a comprehensive Christian university of The Wesleyan Church and is committed to global liberal arts and professional education. The university system includes IWU-Marion, where about 3,000 students are enrolled in traditional programs on the residential campus in Marion, Ind.; IWU-National & Global, which includes nearly 7,000 adult learners around the world who study online or onsite at 11 education centers in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio; and Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University, which offers a practical and student-centered approach for busy, working ministers. More information is available at www.indwes.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005118/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Viamedia Sales Continue To Boost Partnerships, Expanding Viamedia's Footprint to New Markets Across Nation

Viamedia, the leading fully-integrated independent cross-media local advertising company, today announced it has signed partnerships and expanded its advertising sales representation with 11 new service providers in 2022. In addition to managed service relationships, Viamedia has established partnerships with numerous service providers, including Adams Cable Service in Carbondale, PA; ATC Broadband in Alma, GA; College Cable in Nicholasville, Kentucky; HolstonConnect in Rogersville, TN; Norwood Light Electric & Broadband in Norwood, MA; Oklahoma Electric Cooperative in Norman, OK; Pioneer Telephone Cooperative in Kingfisher, OK; Ralls Technologies in Quincy, IL; and Sandhill Telephone Cooperative in Jefferson, SC.



"Viamedia had many major accomplishments in 2022, not least of which was the milestone number of new partnerships established," said Madeline Kissel, Viamedia's Vice President of Affiliate Relations and Business Development. "We are proud that these agreements will help our new partners unlock fresh revenue streams and offer the latest technologies, tools, and strategies that can maximize business for their clients and advertisers." Viamedia offers partners full turnkey operational management of all aspects of the advertising sales business as well as local, regional, and national sales. Included is a state-of-the-art, highly scalable Network Operations Center (NOC) that services all markets, with experienced supporting ad sales teams selling for over 70 MVPDs in 28 states covering 65 designated market areas (DMAs) in the United States, allowing Viamedia to offer the capability to augment local ad sales, providing incremental value to partners with direct response, national and political sales services.

"Viamedia partners have the advantage of bringing more focused viewer targeting and a more engaging, impactful ad experience than ever before," said Dan Walsh, Viamedia's Divisional Vice President of Cross Media. "With greater transparency, reporting and insights than previously offered in the local marketplace, service providers can focus on driving revenues for their core business. In addition, we're committed to helping our partners reduce risk, as well as minimize personnel-related costs and complications, as it relates to ad sales and cross-channel marketing." With expansion capabilities and technology able to scale for growth, Viamedia's full-service partnerships include immediate deployment of sales tools, training, research, automation and marketing, along with a specialized sales management team that focuses on efficiently selling fractionalized market shares with multi-platform insertion capabilities. About Viamedia Viamedia is the largest independent champion for service providers in the nation, and does not have competing service offerings with any of its clients. The company places over 1 million ads a day in more than 130 zones in 28 states across 60+ markets nationwide, aggregating all forms of TV audiences and providing a single point of sale to more than 6,000 local, regional, and national advertisers. It provides a comprehensive portfolio of audience and impression-based local video cross-media advertising solutions that bridge the gap between linear TV and digital programmatic advertising. Viamedia's patented, cloud based QTT platform utilizes a proprietary technology stack and is designed to enable ad campaigns to be more efficient and easier to execute, by utilizing rich data to deliver targeted, dynamic ads to consumers via linear television. Viamedia offers a complementary suite of impression-based digital products for streaming, mobile, display, email, search, social and more. Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, the company's success is built on its people, processes and proprietary software. For more information, please visit https://viamediatv.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005305/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Pixability Announces Third Straight Year of Record Revenue as it Expands CTV and YouTube Capabilities

Company grows its team globally including two key hires of Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Growth Officer BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pixability, (www.pixability.com), a leader in contextual targeting, brand suitability and contextual insights for YouTube and other leading connected TV (CTV) platforms, today announced that it closed 2022 with its third straight year of record revenue. The growth was driven by growing CTV and YouTube capabilities and offerings, including expanded data solutions that resulted in a 70% increase in Saas revenue. "While 2022 brought many macroeconomic challenges for the ad industry, we were able to leverage our proprietary technology and data to capitalize on the increased demand for CTV and YouTube advertising as dollars continued to shift away from traditional TV," said David George, CEO of Pixability. "I'm extremely proud of our global team and the product innovations we rolled out to fuel this growth." The company has also made a number of key hires, including recently adding Scott Klein as Chief Innovation Officer. Klein now oversees all product and engineering at the company, coming to Pixability from Encortex where he was VP/Engineering after previously holdin senior roles at leading ad tech companies including Mavenir, Jumptap, FusionOne and Verizon. Brian Quinn was also hired as Chief Growth Officer earlier in the year as the company grew its global staff including an increase of over 50% in its European teams.



"I'm thrilled to be part of the Pixability team, helping to fuel growth in the burgeoning CTV and YouTube marketplaces," commented Klein. "As dollars shift from linear to these platforms, Pixability is ensuring maximum return on these investments, solving critical industry problems like suitability, efficiency and transparencyand the market is responding." Other 2022 company company highlights include:

Launching a first-of-its-kind CTV brand suitability solution

Named to Inc 5000 and the Boston Business Journal Fast 50 for the 8th consecutive year

Eighth consecutive year as the exclusive data insights provider for AdBlitz, YouTube's Super Bowl ad program

Selected again as a Google Premier Partner, recognizing Pixability as one of the top 3% of partners nationwide. About Pixability Pixability is a technology and data company that empowers the world's largest brands and their agencies to maximize the value of video advertising on YouTube, YouTube CTV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Hulu. The company's industry-leading optimization and insights solutions are independently verified by the YouTube Measurement Program, DoubleVerify, Oracle Data Cloud's Moat Measurement, Integral Ad Science and other third parties. Pixability's suite of solutions are used by the top media agencies and brands including Dentsu, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Publicis, and GroupM, as well as Swatch, Bose, KIND, Jack in the Box, and Puma. For more information about Pixability, please visit www.pixability.com . View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pixability-announces-third-straight-year-of-record-revenue-as-it-expands-ctv-and-youtube-capabilities-301747591.html SOURCE Pixability

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[February 15, 2023] Dalrada's Strong Revenue Generation Includes 23% Growth to $5.3 Million During the Second Quarter of Fiscal 2023

Dalrada Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO, "Dalrada," the "Company"), a problem-solving innovator that takes on complex, multi-disciplinary global challenges in clean energy, precision manufacturing, and technology, announced today its financial results for the second quarter of Fiscal 2023, ended December 31, 2022. During Q2 2023, total revenue grew $1 million-a 23% increase from the prior quarter-to $5.3 million. "I am pleased to report continued financial growth during Q2 of the fiscal year 2023," said Dalrada CEO and Founder, Brian Bonar. "We have worked hard to develop our unique offerings in multiple marketplaces, especially during the last quarter. As an example of this, we focused on investing in our intellectual property and technology platform, which resulted in a $400,000 increase in our assets," he noted. "Additionally, the operational and sales platform we have worked so hard to build over the last few years has now generated a near and long-term backlog of $52 million, as stated in our MD&A. Going forward, we're confident that Dalrada is primed to remain on a stabilized and accelerated revenue growth pattern to enhance shareholder value further," according to Bonar. The Company continues its upward trajectory from the previous quarter, recording steady growth in the various business segments it does business in. 2023 Q2 Financial Highlights: Dalrada Precision Manufacturing revenue : $1.1 million

: $1.1 million Dalrada Technology revenue : $0.5 million

: $0.5 million Dalrada Energy Services revenue : $1.7 million

: $1.7 million Dalrada Health revenue: $2.0 million Fiscal 2023 Six Months' Financial Highlights: Total revenue : $9.5 million

: $9.5 million Dalrada Precision Manufacturing revenue : $2.2 million

: $2.2 million Dalrada Technology revenue : $1.1 million

: $1.1 million Dalrada Energy Services revenue : $1.8 million

: $1.8 million Dalrada Health revenue: $4.4 million Fiscal 2023 Six Months' Operational Highlights: Dalrada's acquisition of Bothof Brothers Construction, a licensed general contractor providing a wide range of development, construction, and design capabilities and expertise throughout the United States. Through Bothof's extensive experience in construction and contracting, Dalrada Energy Services will be able to provide a myriad of additional services to its private and public works customers. Dalrada Energy Services ("DES") announced its breakthrough partnership with Averett University in Virginia in an effort todrive a significant reduction in carbon emissions while delivering major energy cost savings for the university. DES will execute these sustainability initiatives by developing a holistic approach to help achieve carbon neutrality through the use of innovative, modern technology on the Averett University campus. At the center of this project is the installation of multiple Dalrada LikidoONE commercial heat pumps.







Through Q2 of 2023, DES has signed a total of six contracts (including Averett University), and with completed installations, revenue will continue to grow as energy savings are realized. Through its partnership with imagineeer, a Virginia-based Web 3.0 company, Dalrada Financial Corporation will design, develop, and implement a unique digital ecosystem while creating an immersive rural payments solution. This includes magnetic mapping, digital asset bearer solutions for carbon credits, and a digital education experience that creates a new educational model for Averett University students. Imagineeer will facilitate the metaverse experience through proprietary technology and specific tools that will ultimately lead to further learning and understanding of the foundational technologies to establish a modern metaverse-based economic system. Dalrada Financial Corporation ("DFCO") expanded its executive leadership team, naming Jose Arrieta as Chief Strategy Officer.



Arrieta also serves as President of Dalrada Technologies, a DFCO subsidiary. This is in addition to his current role as a member of the Dalrada Board of Directors. Through his company, imagineeer, Arrieta has pioneered the development of distributed data ownership and secure IoT solutions, metaverse-enabled environments, and digital twinning capability within government (federal, state, and local) for capturing carbon credits and making them saleable assets. Dalrada continues to develop innovative and impactful solutions that address the complex challenges of today and tomorrow, creating value in each market vertical that it serves. For more information about Dalrada Corporation and its subsidiaries, please visit www.Dalrada.com.

About Dalrada Financial Corporation (DFCO) Dalrada Financial Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO) is a forward-facing organization that continually produces disruptive products and services that accelerate positive change for current and future generations. Since 1982, Dalrada has redefined possibilities while boldly addressing global challenges with transformative innovations that drive targeted advances in emerging markets for a new era of human behavior and interaction, ensuring a bright future for the world around us. Dalrada Financial Corporation is committed to positively impacting people, businesses, and the planet through sustainable solutions. For more information, please visit www.dalrada.com, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Disclaimer Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking, including statements regarding future revenues and sales projections, plans for future financing, the ability to meet operational milestones, marketing arrangements and plans, and shipments to and regulatory approvals in international markets. Such statements reflect management's current views, are based on certain assumptions, and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events, or performance may differ materially from the above forward-looking statements due to several important factors and will be dependent upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional financing that will allow us to continue our current and future operations and whether demand for our products and services in domestic and international markets will continue to expand. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard to these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that may impact the Company's success are more fully disclosed in the Company's most recent public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its annual report on Form 10-K. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005409/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Leading U.S. Energy Provider Chooses DTEX InTERCEPT to Mitigate Insider Risk

DTEX Systems, the Workforce Cyber Intelligence & Security Company, today announced that one of the largest energy providers in the United States has selected DTEX InTERCEPT to provide visibility into insider risk amid escalating attacks against critical infrastructure providers. Sophisticated nation state attackers are increasingly targeting organization tasked with managing critical infrastructure, making trusted insiders within those organization a favored target of APT groups and hacktivists for their credentialed network access; an issue exacerbated by the fact that current technologies are not designed from the ground up to address the threat of insider risk. DTEX InTERCEPT is a first-of-its-kind Workforce Cyber Security solution that brings together the capabilities of Insider Risk and Threat Management, Digital Forensics, and Zero Trust DLP in an all-in-one lightweight, cloud-native platform. Only DTEX InTERCEPT delivers the behavioral context and activity intelligence needed to answer the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How related to any potential insider threat situation, compromised account event, or data loss scenario without invading personal privacy.



The company, one of the top ten energy providers in the U.S., chose DTEX for its ability to deliver visibility into employee interactions with sensitive data to ensure protection against malicious, negligent, and compromised insider threats and prevent data loss. With DTEX InTERCEPT, the energy provider will be able to detect abnormal, 'out of band' activities without requiring months building rules and tuning to minimize false positives, enabling them to quickly scale across multiple locations and to identify external attacks utilizing stolen user credentials. Additionally, the company required a hybrid solution that would allow them to deploy the platform both in the cloud and on-prem. "Critical infrastructure providers do not have the luxury of turning a blind eye to the insider risks that can affect their ability to keep operations going," said Bahman Mahbod, CEO at DTEX Systems. "This company understands that time is of the essence when it comes to insider threats and the available technologies today are not designed from the ground up to address this critical need. We are working with this critical infrastructure provider to give them the visibility that will enable them to recognize signs of a potential attack as soon as possible with behavior anomaly profiling capabilities that can accurately distinguish between commonplace user action and malicious intent."

About DTEX Systems

DTEX Systems helps hundreds of organizations worldwide better understand their workforces, protect their data, and make human-centric operational investments. Its Workforce Cyber Intelligence & Security platform brings together next-generation Zero Trust DLP, UEBA, digital forensics, user activity monitoring and insider threat management in one scalable, cloud-native platform. Through its patented and privacy-compliant meta-data collection and analytics engine, the DTEX platform surfaces abnormal behavioral "indicators of intent" to mitigate risk of data and IP loss, enabling SOC enrichment with human sensors and empowering enterprises to make smarter business decisions quickly. To learn more about DTEX Systems, please visit www.dtexsystems.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005208/en/

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[February 15, 2023] TDOE, TN Grow Your Own Center and Study.com Bring "Keys to the Classroom" Resources to Future Tennessee Teachers

Provide Support for Tennessee Teacher Apprentices; Combat Staffing Shortages NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Tennessee Department of Education, in partnership with Study.com, announced all Tennessee Teacher Apprenticeship candidates through the Tennessee Grow Your Own Center have free access to "Keys to the Classroom" to provide test prep support for their licensure tests to earn their Tennessee teacher's license. "Keys to the Classroom" will provide high-quality test preparation supports, removing barriers for teacher apprentices preparing to take licensure tests to earn their teacher's license. Participating districts in the Tennessee Grow Your Own Center will have access to 1,200 free licenses for their prospective teachers to be equipped with the tools and knowledge needed to prepare for and pass their teacher licensure tests. In Tennessee and across the nation, passing the required licensure test to earn a teacher's license can be a significant obstacle and further challenges districts as they work to combat staffing shortages. This initiative, as a part of the state's Grow Your Own strategic efforts, will help eliminate barriers to ensure more qualified teachers are entering the teaching profession in Tennessee. "Leveraging the "Keys to the Classroom" resources in Tennessee further emphasizes our commitment to ensure every child has a well-trained, high-quality educator in their classroom," said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. "Too often, the financial and preparation barriers prevent outstanding Tennesseans from entering our classrooms. We are grateful that partners like Study.com are joining in our strategic efforts through teacher apprenticeships to strengthen the educator pipeline through no-cost, high-quality opportunities." Tennessee is the first state in the country to sponsor registered teacher occupation apprenticeships between school districts and Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). Tennessee's Teacher Apprenticeship models align leading practices in teacher preparation and development with the rigors of the national registered apprenticeship process. In May 2022, the department announced a $20 million investment to create the Tennessee Grow Your Own (GYO) Center, in partnership with the University of Tennessee System. With a presence in every county and multiple campus locations, the University of Tennessee System is attracting more aspiring educators to the profession. The GYO Centeris leading innovative teacher apprenticeship programs for educator credentialing, ensuring districts and candidates statewide have access to varied programs, degrees, and matches for their localized need  at no cost.



"The Tennessee Grow Your Own Center is thrilled to support the delivery of Study.com's tremendous offerings to our teacher apprentice districts and candidates," said Executive Director Erin Crisp. "The center supports greater access and opportunity for future educators, and our commitment to quality programs and statewide scale will ensure a pipeline of high-quality educators, ultimately benefiting the outcomes of our Tennessee students for years to come." Through Grow Your Own programs across the state, each teacher apprentice will become a licensed and endorsed Tennessee educator. Each K-12 teacher apprentice is employed by the respective district and takes related coursework through the partnering EPP. To ultimately attain their teaching license, along with meeting other apprenticeship requirements, teacher apprentices seeking licensure and additional endorsements must submit qualifying scores on all required content assessments developed and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), National Evaluation Services (NES), or the Tennessee Language Center.

"As the teacher shortage crisis continues to affect schools across the nation, we are doubling down in our investment in building a more diverse teacher pipeline through Keys to the Classroom," said Dana Bryson, SVP of Social Impact at Study.com. "We are proud to work with innovative partners like Tennessee's Department of Education, which has created a state-wide, sustainable model for teacher recruitment with innovative pathways to becoming a certified teacher." Through Keys to the Classroom, Study.com partners with state education departments, school districts, colleges of education, and education-focused nonprofits to help aspiring educators prepare and pass their credentialing exams. Keys to the Classroom is currently in 20 states, and Study.com has committed to donating over $4 million in test prep materials. Across the nation, hundreds of teacher cadets are currently enrolled in Keys to the Classroom, including 50 percent who identify as people of color. Keys to the Classroom was recently honored by Tech and Learning with an Award of Excellence for Primary Education. For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact [email protected]. About the Tennessee Department of Education

The Tennessee Department of Education accelerates growth for all students to be on a path to success through the state's strategic plan, Best for All, which focuses on high-quality academics, student readiness and supports, and the state's strong current and future educators. About Study.com

Study.com enables learners and educators to meet their academic and professional goals through K12 curriculum, college courses, tutoring and test preparation. Used in over 10,000 school districts across the nation, Study.com is recognized by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for meeting Level IV evidence standards. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Study.com is named on the 2022 and 2023 GSV 150, a list of the world's most transformative private companies in education. The company has donated $27 million across social impact programs committed to the mission of Making Education Accessible. These programs include Working Scholars, an accelerated pathway for working adults to earn a debt-free bachelor's degree, and Keys to the Classroom, which seeks to help aspiring educators prepare for and pass their teacher certification exams. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tdoe-tn-grow-your-own-center-and-studycom-bring-keys-to-the-classroom-resources-to-future-tennessee-teachers-301747067.html SOURCE Study.com

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[February 15, 2023] TSA is prepared for higher passenger volumes for Spring Break travel season

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is prepared for spring break travelers and offers a few travel tips for the most efficient checkpoint experience. The spring break travel season begins around Feb. 17 and continues through April 21. TSA anticipates that its Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) will screen increasing numbers of passengers at airport checkpoints as travel volumes may exceed pre-pandemic levels. "In January, we experienced our first full month where travel volumes exceeded the same month in 2019. We fully expect to see an upward trend in travel volumes throughout 2023, including during the spring break period," said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. "We coordinate closely with airports and air carriers to prepare for the projected increase in travel volumes and we expect to meet our wait time standards of 30 minutes or less in standard lanes and 10 minutes or less in TSA PreCheck lanes. However, there may be some situations where the capacity of a checkpoint is exceeded." TSA continues to make progress on investments and policies that enhance security, advance checkpoint efficiency and improve the passenger experience, including: Maintaining a near constant recruiting effort to hire and train new officers on the frontline, needed to accommodate growing passenger volumes.

Increasing signage, public awareness and civil penalties of up to nearly $15,000 in an effort to reduce the number of firearms at TSA checkpoints.

in an effort to reduce the number of firearms at TSA checkpoints. Investing in technology deployments that improve identity verification, prohibited items detection and an algorithm update on the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) that will substantially reduce false alarms and the number of unnecessary pat-downs. TSA recommends the following top six travel tips to help spring break travelers arrive prepared for the most efficient TSA checkpoint experience: Tip 1: Pack smart  start with an empty bag and ensure you do not have any prohibited items. Do not attempt to bring a firearm through a TSA checkpoint; doing so compromises the safety and security of other passengers and our officers in the checkpoint. Passengers who attempt to bring a firearm through a checkpoint will receive a civil penalty (fines may be as high as $15,000) and lose eligibility for TSA PreCheck. Additionally, local law enforcement will be called and because these passengers may present additional risk beyond the firearm, they may receive enhanced screening. Other prohibited items include explosives, flammables, knives, razors, replica weapons and more. To avoid delays, passengers should view TSA's "What Can I Bring?" page and begin packing with a bag that is empty. Tip 2: Remember the 3-1-1 Liquids Rule. Passengers may bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes through the checkpoint as long as each item is 3.4 ounces or less. Liquids over 3.4 ounces must be packed in a checked bag. Snscreen in a container larger than 3.4 ounces is commonly available, but is not considered to be medically necessary as a carry-on item. Larger quantities of sunscreen are allowed in checked bags. Any liquid, aerosol, gel, cream or paste that alarms during screening will require additional screening.



Alcoholic beverages with more than 24% but not more than 70% alcohol are limited in checked bags to five liters (1.3 gallons) per passenger and must be in unopened retail packaging. Alcoholic beverages with 24% alcohol or less are not subject to limitations in checked bags. For carry-on bags, passengers are limited to containers of 3.4 ounces or less that can fit comfortably in one quart-sized, clear, zip-top bag. FAA regulations prohibit travelers from consuming alcohol on an aircraft unless served by a flight attendant. Additionally, flight attendants are not permitted to serve a passenger who appears to be intoxicated. Medically necessary liquids, gels and aerosols over 3.4 ounces are allowed in reasonable quantities, but they must be declared at the checkpoint for inspection. TSA allows one liquid hand sanitizer container up to 12 ounces per passenger in carry-on bags until further notice. These containers will need to be screened separately, which will add some time to the checkpoint screening experience.

Tip 3: Enroll in TSA PreCheck. First trip without the parents? Get your own TSA PreCheck membership. In January 2023, 92% of TSA PreCheck passengers waited less than five minutes at TSA checkpoints nationwide. Traveling with the kids? Children 12 and under may join a parent/guardian with TSA PreCheck in the dedicated lanes. Most new enrollees receive a Known Traveler Number (commonly referred to as "KTN") within five days, and membership lasts for five years. The enrollment fee for five years is $78; online renewals are $70. Don't delay, enroll in TSA PreCheck today. Tip 4: Ask TSA before you travel. Contact TSA's travel security experts over social media by sending a message to @AskTSA on Twitter or Facebook Messenger. Passengers may also send a text directly to 275-872 ("AskTSA") on any mobile device. An automated virtual assistant is available 24/7 to answer common questions and AskTSA staff is available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST daily, including holidays and weekends for more complicated questions. Travelers may also reach the TSA Contact Center at 866-289-9673 from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on weekends/holidays. An automated service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tip 5: Arrive early and carry on kindly. Spring break travelers should give themselves plenty of time to account for traffic, parking, rental car returns, airline check-in, security and making any airport purchases before boarding a flight. Avoid consuming excessive amounts of alcohol prior to boarding, as flight attendants and gate agents may deny boarding to intoxicated passengers. Passengers who engage in unruly behavior at the checkpoint or inflight may face substantial penalties and possible prosecution on criminal charges. Tip 6: Be checkpoint ready. Arrive at the checkpoint lane with a mobile or printed boarding pass and valid ID readily available. When approaching the screening area, remember to empty pockets and place the contents in a bin or carry-on bag. Those without TSA PreCheck must remove large electronics and 3-1-1 liquids from carry-ons. All travelers will be asked to remove outerwear prior to screening. Listen closely and follow instructions of the TSA officer for guidance through the screening process. TSA encourages all passengers to remain vigilant. If You See Something. Say Something. Those traveling abroad for spring break should check the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Know Before You Go page to learn about required documentation. For more information about TSA screening procedures, visit the customer service page and read the frequently asked questions or watch TSA's travel tips videos. The Transportation Security Administration was created to strengthen the security of the nation's transportation systems and ensure the freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA uses an intelligence-based approach and works closely with transportation, law enforcement and intelligence communities to set the standard for excellence in transportation security. For more information about TSA, please visit our website at tsa.gov. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tsa-is-prepared-for-higher-passenger-volumes-for-spring-break-travel-season-301747875.html SOURCE Transportation Security Administration

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[February 15, 2023] The Kingdom of Bahrain assumes the Presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 15, 2023 /CNW/ -- The Kingdom of Bahrain has officially been appointed to the Presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), the global, multilateral organization dedicated to accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy to create digital prosperity for all. His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kingdom of Bahrain, will become the new Chairman of the Council of the DCO. As represented by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT), Bahrain will oversee the strategic direction of the DCO for the coming year and support the ongoing execution of key initiatives launched by the DCO. His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, commented on the ascension of Barain to the Presidency: "The Kingdom of Bahrain is honored to have been elected to the prestigious role of Presidency of the DCO. Bahrain has put great focus on developing the regulatory framework, policies, and infrastructure that have enabled the Kingdom to establish an efficient and attractive digital ecosystem for businesses. Bahrain is ready to share its expertise and best practices with the Member States of the DCO, to enhance the mission of empowering all nations to build digital economies that drive growth and development."



Her Excellency Deemah AlYahya, Secretary-General of the DCO welcomed the appointment of Bahrain to the DCO Presidency and of H.E. Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi to Chairman of the DCO Council: "We are very pleased to announce that the Kingdom of Bahrain has been ratified to the Presidency of the DCO for 2023. The leadership of the Kingdom of Bahrain has long understood the potential of technology to advance economic growth, and the necessity of using policy and regulation to enable the framework for the digital economy to flourish and grow. Bahrain was one of the founding nations of the DCO, and now, under the Presidency of Bahrain and the wise Chairmanship of His Excellency Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, we look forward to making great progress towards our goal of digital prosperity for all in 2023." The ascension of Bahrain to the Presidency of the DCO was ratified during the second DCO General Assembly which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the holder of the Presidency, Bahrain will host the next General Assembly.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2003345/The_Digital_Cooperation_Organization.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1867632/DCO_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-kingdom-of-bahrain-assumes-the-presidency-of-the-digital-cooperation-organization-301747926.html SOURCE The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)

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[February 15, 2023] Inszone Insurance Services Acquires David Tennant Insurance Agency

Inszone Insurance Services, a rapidly growing, national provider of benefits, personal and commercial lines insurance, announced today the acquisition of David Tennant Insurance Agency. Founded in 2002, David Tennant Insurance was named after its founder Dave Tennant. A seasoned insurance professional, Dave Tennant started his insurance journey in 1982 at his father's Lake Tahoe agency, where he stayed until 1986 when his father sold his company. After working at another agency for a period of time, Dave made the choice to open his own agency to have the freedom and control over the products he offered, how to manage client relationships, and focus on what was best for his customers rather than trying to meet company quotas. Dave takes pride in the client relationships he has fostered; some of his clients have been with him for decades, establishing not only a professional but a personal relationship. Dave was a member of his local rotary club for 25 years, serving as presdent in 2016/2017 and continues to be very active within his community.



"The acquisition of David Tennant Insurance Agency will make a great addition to the Inszone family," said Chris Walters, CEO of Inszone Insurance Services. "This acquisition is an essential step on our continued journey to providing more options and enhanced service to customers in California." Inszone Insurance plans to continue to broaden its national footprint in 2023, and pursue a steady growth trajectory, with a number of important transactions to be completed and announced in the upcoming months.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, Inszone is a full-service insurance brokerage firm which provides a broad array of property & casualty insurance, along with employee benefits solutions. With a strong, experienced management team, Inszone continues to grow organically, as well as through acquisitions. With 38 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, and Illinois, the company is looking to further expand throughout the United States. For more information about Inszone, please visit www.inszoneinsurance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005750/en/

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[February 15, 2023] HOTEL INDIGO BALI SEMINYAK BEACH ANNOUNCES SYAMSUL RIZAL AS ITS NEWEST CULINARY HERO

After more than a decade making waves in the international culinary scene, Indonesian-raised chef Syamsul Rizal is ready to bring his acclaimed Japanese cooking to SugarSand. NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach is delighted to welcome Chef Rizal as the Japanese Specialty Chef, overseeing the day-to-day operations at SugarSand, the hotel's beachfront eatery. Growing up between Bogor and Jakarta, Chef Rizal began his culinary journey locally, leading him to some of the world's top restaurants including Miami's downtown Nobu and Dubai's famous Zuma. His new position at Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach marks another exciting adventure, which he approaches with great enthusiasm. "I am planning to influence the team with a new, vibrant spirit; to encourage and at the same time inspire". Rizal's culinary approach will incorporate beloved and authentic Japanese ingredients, but only those that are locally sourced. While taste will be Rizal's primary focus, he intends to capture the essence of Japanese simplicity  in both method and presentation as this will be the hallmark that shapes each and every dish



Under Rizal's guidance, both lunch and dinner menus at SugarSand will receive a makeover. New small bites, soups, and salads will be offered at lunch, while the evenings will soon include a convivial Izakaya concept with multiple Japanese food stalls. Rizal intends to introduce new culinary creations, including his Japanese-style fried rice with garlic and striploin  a unique fusion delight he anticipates to be a guest favorite. About Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach: Located on the southern stretch of Seminyak Beach, on the southwest coast of Bali, Indonesia, Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach is an easy 30-minute drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport. The resort features 289 rooms and suites including 19 villas with private pools, all set out across 12 acres of prime beachfront. Artfully-designed interiors reflect the inspiration of the vibrant Seminyak neighborhood, which is a wonderful mix of Balinese tradition and contemporary uniqueness. http://seminyak.hotelindigo.com .

About Hotel Indigo: Just as no places are alike, no two Hotel Indigo properties are alike. Each Hotel Indigo draws inspiration from the local neighbourhood, culture and popular trends in food, drink and design to create a warm and vibrant atmosphere. Our hotels provide a gateway to discover and explore some of the world's most inspiring cities and neighbourhoods. www.hotelindigo.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hotel-indigo-bali-seminyak-beach-announces-syamsul-rizal-as-its-newest-culinary-hero-301748008.html SOURCE Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach

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Mark Farrah Associates Assessed Medicaid Market Share in Texas

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) analyzed Medicaid enrollment figures from its County Health CoverageTM database product for three counties in Texas, with a focus on health plan market position. Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Texas Medicaid enrollment was approximately 3.1 million (as of December 31, 2019). Since then, the program has expanded 75% to cover nearly 5.3 million Texans, as of September 30, 2022. MFA's analysis covers the top three counties in Texas, based on Medicaid enrollment: Harris, Dallas, and Bexar.

As of 3Q22, over 35% of Texas's Medicaid enrollment is in three counties: Harris, Dallas, and Bexar.

Harris County (Houston area) had the largest Medicaid enrollment in the state as of 3Q22, with Texas Children's Health Plan providing coverage for over 42% of the county's market.

Dallas County had the second largest Medicaid enrollment in the state as of 3Q22, with Elevance Health, Inc. (formerly Anthem) comprising 46% share of the market.

Bexar County, San Antonio area, is the third largest county in Texas for Medicaid enrollment, with Centene accounting for 46% of the county's market as of 3Q22.

To read the FREE full text of "Medicaid Market Share in Texas", visit the MFA Briefs on Mark Farrah Associates' website.







About County Health CoverageTM

County Health CoverageTM provides reliable estimates of health insurance enrollment and market share at the state, county, and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) levels. Product features include company market share by county, company, and state for the Private Risk, Private Administrative Services Only (ASO), Managed Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) segments. Breakdowns by product type (HMO, PPO, etc.) are also presented, as well as population demographics and interactive, visual mapping tools. To learn more, visit the product page - County Health CoverageTM.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include: Health Coverage Portal, Medicare Business Online, Medicare Benefits Analyzer, County Health Coverage, Health Plans USA and 5500 Employer Health Plus. Follow us on LinkedIn!

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005712/en/
[February 15, 2023] HS GOVTECH SOLUTIONS INC. ANNOUNCES OFFERING LED BY ECHELON CAPITAL MARKETS

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. NEWSWIRE OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 15, 2023 /CNW/ - HS GovTech Solutions Inc. ("HS GovTech", or the "Company") (CSE: HS) (Frankfurt: 38H) (OTC: HDSLF) is pleased to announce that it has launched an overnight marketed public offering (the "Prospectus Offering") of units (the "Units") of the Company for gross proceeds to be determined in the context of the market, as well as a commercially reasonable efforts private placement (the "Private Placement Offering" and, together with the Prospectus Offering, the "Offering") of Units of the Company, each on terms to be determined in the context of the market. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant" and collectively the "Warrants"). The Offering will be conducted by Echelon Capital Markets ("Echelon") as lead agent and sole bookrunner, on behalf of a syndicate of agents, and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the securities regulatory authorities and the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Prospectus Offering will be completed by way of a prospectus supplement to the short form base shelf prospectus of the Company dated September 14, 2021 to be filed in with the securities commissions in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. The Company intends to file a prospectus supplement to its short form base shelf prospectus prior to closing the Offering. Additionally, the Prospectus Offering will be conducted by way of a private placement in the United States pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and outside Canada and the United States on a basis which does not require the qualification or registration of any of the Company's securities under domestic or foreign securities laws. The Private Placement Offering will be completed by way of private placement exemptions in all provinces of Canada and such other jurisdictions within and outside of Canada as are agreed to by the Company and Echelon.



The Offering is expected to close on or about February 28, 2023, or such other date as the Company and Echelon may agree. The size of the Offering and the price of the Offering, as well as certain terms of the Warrants (including the term and the exercise price), will be determined in the context of the market prior to the filing of the final prospectus supplement.

The Company has granted Echelon an option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Units sold under the Prospectus Offering (the "Over-Allotment Option"). The Over-Allotment Option may be exercised in whole or in part to purchase Shares, Warrants or Units as determined by Echelon upon written notice to the Company at any time up to 30 days following the closing date of the Prospectus Offering. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering for sales, marketing, research and development, working capital and general corporate purposes. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. About HS GovTech Solutions Inc. HS GovTechTM is an industry leading software as a service company serving the state, provincial and local government market across the United States and Canada. HS GovTech'sTM cutting edge platforms currently provide inspection, information, communication and data management systems that enable government agencies to operate more efficiently. HS GovTech'sTM cloud and mobile based platforms are currently deployed in over 800 state and local government organizations across North America. HS GovTechTM currently offers the only fully integrated inspection, administration and analytics product suite across all platforms in North America. HS GovTechTM also delivers its government grade technologies to private businesses through its My Health DepartmentTM platform, enabling citizens and private businesses to gain visibility and predictability into their own organizations and move from a reactive to a proactive operational status. As HS GovTechTM continues to deliver focused service and innovative solutions to government organizations, the Company entered the FinTech space through its HSPayTM offering which serves as a payment platform that streamlines the intake of government revenue. Further, HS GovTech's GovCallTM platform offers one of the only teleconferencing and video collaboration platforms tailored exclusively for government agencies Forward-Looking Information This release may contain 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 may include, without limitation, statements relating to the Offering and the use of proceeds therefrom. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and the "Cautionary Statement regarding Forward-Looking Information" section contained in the short form base shelf prospectus of the Company dated September 14, 2021. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include the anticipated closing of the Offering on the terms contemplated herein or at all, the exercise of the Over-Allotment Option, and the use of proceeds of the Offering. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's public securities filings with the Canadian securities commissions, including the Company's shelf prospectus. 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 forward looking statements. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE HS GovTech Solutions

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[February 15, 2023] HF Sinclair Corporation Announces Leadership Succession

HF Sinclair Corporation (NYSE: DINO) ("HF Sinclair") today announced the promotion of Tim Go to the position of Chief Executive Officer and President of HF Sinclair, effective May 9, 2023. In addition, effective February 16, 2023, the Board of Directors of HF Sinclair (the "Board") increased the size of the Board by one to thirteen, appointed Mr. Go as a non-independent director to the Board and appointed Mr. Go to serve on the Executive Committee of the Board. Mr. Go has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of HF Sinclair since November 2021. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of HF Sinclair from June 2020 to November 2021. Prior to joining HF Sinclair, Mr. Go served as Chief Executive Officer of the general partner of Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P., an independent producer of specialty hydrocarbon products, from January 2016 to April 2020 and retired from Calumet in June 2020. Prior to joining Calumet, he served in various leadership roles at Koch Industries, Inc. and Flint Hills Resources, LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. from August 2008 to September 2015, having most recently served as Vice President, Operations of Flint Hills Resources, LP from July 2012 to September 2015. Prior to joining Koch Industries, he held various roles of increasing responsibility in downstream operations during his 18 years at ExxonMobil Corporation. Mr. Go brings to the Board extensive industry experience and familiarity with the day-to-day operations of HF Sinclair. He provides a significant resource for the Board and facilitates communication between management and the Board. Mr. Go succeeds Michael C. Jennings, who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of HF Sinclair and will continue serving in that role through May 8, 2023. In order to facilitate an orderly transition of the Chief Executive Officer duties from Mr. Jennings to Mr. Go, on February 15, 2023, HF Sinclair announced that Mr. Jennings was appointed to the position of Executive Vice President, Corporate of HF Sinclair, effective May 9, 2023, and is expected to serve in that role through his currently planned retirement date of November 9, 2023. Following his retirement date, Mr. Jennings will provide consulting services t HF Sinclair until February 9, 2024. Mr. Jennings, who currently serves as a non-independent director on the Board, will not stand for re-election at HF Sinclair's 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, at which time the size of the Board will be decreased by one to twelve. Mr. Jennings continues to serve as Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and President of Holly Logistic Services, L.L.C., the ultimate general partner of Holly Energy Partners, L.P.



"Tim is a key member of our senior management team and has been instrumental in our recent growth," said Mr. Jennings. "Since joining the company in June 2020, Tim has provided great leadership for our refining and lubricants and specialty products segments. I look forward to Tim taking on the larger scope of the Chief Executive Officer role and leading the organization into the future." "On behalf of the Board and the company, we want to thank Mike for his many years of service. His leadership and significant contributions have taken HF Sinclair to where it is today," said Franklin Myers, Chairperson of the Board.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: The following is a "safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements in this Current Report on Form 8-K relating to matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" based on management's beliefs and assumptions using currently available information and expectations as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, including those contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements use words such as "anticipate," "project," "will," "expect," "plan," "goal," "forecast," "strategy," "intend," "should," "would," "could," "believe," "may," and similar expressions and statements regarding our plans and objectives for future operations. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that our expectations will prove correct. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements. Any differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, financial, operational and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in HF Sinclair's SEC filings. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and, other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About HF Sinclair Corporation: HF Sinclair Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is an independent energy company that produces and markets high-value light products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, renewable diesel and other specialty products. HF Sinclair owns and operates refineries located in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington and Utah and markets its refined products principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states. HF Sinclair supplies high-quality fuels to more than 1,500 branded stations and licenses the use of the Sinclair brand at more than 300 additional locations throughout the country. In addition, subsidiaries of HF Sinclair produce and market base oils and other specialized lubricants in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, and export products to more than 80 countries. Through its subsidiaries, HF Sinclair produces renewable diesel at two of its facilities in Wyoming and also at its facility in Artesia, New Mexico. HF Sinclair also owns a 47% limited partner interest and a non-economic general partner interest in Holly Energy Partners, L.P., a master limited partnership that provides petroleum product and crude oil transportation, terminalling, storage and throughput services to the petroleum industry, including HF Sinclair subsidiaries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005852/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Radian Announces Increase to Quarterly Dividend

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN) announced today its plans to continue the return of capital to stockholders through an increased quarterly dividend. The company's Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.225 per share, an increase of 12.5 percent from the previous quarterly dividend. The dividend is payable on March 15, 2023 to stockholders of record as of February 27, 2023. This is the fourth consecutive year the company has increased the quarterly dividend, with a total increase of 80 percent over the past three years. Chief Executive Officer Rick Thornberry commented, "I am pleased that Radian's financial strength and flexibility support this increase to our dividend and the continued return of capital to stockholders, while also positioning us to support our customers and future business growth." Recent Actions As previously announced last month, the Board approved a new share repurchase program that provides Radian the flexibility to repurchase shares opportunistically from time to time and spend up to $300 million, based on market and business conditions, stock price and other factors. The authorization expires on January 31, 2025. Over the past four years, the company repurchased 61.7 million shares, representing approximately 29 percent of total shares outstanding of Radian Group common stock as of December 31, 2018, for a total cost of approximately $1.3 billion. During the same period, the company also paid $338 million in dividends to stockholders.

Also announced last month, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department approved a $282 million return of capital and a $100 million early repayment of an outstanding surplus note from Radian Guaranty to Radian Group, both of which were paid on December 30, 2022. As a result, we expect Radian Guaranty to begin paying recurring ordinary dividends to Radian Group with 2023 ordinary dividends projected to be between $300 to $400 million and ordinary dividends in future years expected to approximate Radian Guaranty's ongoing statutory earnings. About Raian





Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN) is ensuring the American dream of homeownership responsibly and sustainably through products and services that include industry-leading mortgage insurance and a comprehensive suite of mortgage, risk, title, valuation, asset management and other real estate services. We are powered by technology, informed by data and driven to deliver new and better ways to transact and manage risk. Visit radian.com and homegenius.com to learn more about how Radian and its pioneering homegenius platform are building a smarter future for mortgage and real estate services. Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that address events, developments or results that we expect or anticipate may occur in the future are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Exchange Act and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In most cases, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "anticipate," "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "expect," "intend," "plan," "goal," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "continue," "seek," "strategy," "future," "likely" or the negative or other variations on these words and other similar expressions. These statements, which may include, without limitation, projections regarding our future performance and financial condition, are made on the basis of management's current views and assumptions with respect to future events. Any forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statement. These statements speak only as of the date they were made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We operate in a changing environment where new risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks that may affect us. Our ability and willingness to declare future dividends and to repurchase shares under the proposed repurchase program, as well as our ability to sustain growth in our businesses, are subject to risks and uncertainties including, without limitation: our ability to successfully execute and implement our capital plans and to maintain sufficient holding company liquidity to meet our liquidity needs; our ability to successfully execute and implement our business plans and strategies; our ability to maintain an adequate level of capital in our insurance subsidiaries to satisfy existing and future regulatory requirements; and changes in economic, market and political conditions that, among other things, may affect our capital resources, liquidity and financial resources. For more information regarding these risks and uncertainties as well as other additional risks that we face, you should refer to the Risk Factors detailed in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and subsequent reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005874/en/

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[February 15, 2023] Ameriflight Signs Intent to Purchase Agreement with Sabrewing Aircraft for 35 VTOL Air Cargo Drones

Ameriflight, the nation's largest Part 135 Cargo airline, announces signed letter of intent to purchase 35 VTOL air cargo drones from Sabrewing Aircraft Company, Inc., a U.S. corporation designing and producing a new generation of regional cargo UAV that offers high-efficiency, all-weather operation with vertical landing and takeoff (VTOL) capabilities. The agreement is for the Rhaegal-A aircraft, also known as "Alpha", the world's best-in-class, highest fuel and maintenance efficiency cargo UAV on the market. Ameriflight expects to take delivery following type certification of the aircraft. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005873/en/ Sabrewing's Rhaegal-A (Photo: Business Wire) The Sabrewing partnership and Rhaegal-A purchase will enable Ameriflight to enter into new business opportunities in distribution center logistics. Using the VTOL capabilities to carry over a ton of cargo to off-airport alternative landing zones, the new cargo aircraft will allow Ameriflight to aid customers in developing a faster and more efficient warehouse distribution network. For Ameriflight, this will be a complementary service, not replacing their current flying operation, aircraft, or pilots. The company's goal is to build diversified aviation services, and this fits well with that vision. "In looking to the future, adding this advancd aircraft to our portfolio will complement our fleet and increase our assortment of assets, allowing us to expand our service areas through the development of warehouse distribution operations," said Ameriflight President and COO Alan Rusinowitz. "With a payload capability of 2,000+ pounds, the Rhaegal-A is perfectly suited for the medium lift category operation. Sabrewing's record-setting technology guiding Rhaegal-A as the world's first autonomous cargo aircraft capable of both vertical and conventional take-off is an incredible milestone, and we are excited to partner with them on this new fleet."



"We're committed to developing advanced, versatile, and efficient air cargo solutions with our best-in-class Rhaegal aircraft that maximize on long range, payload capacity, and sustainable fuel efficiency to successfully deliver on a range of cargo missions," explained Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing. "We're excited to be at the forefront of autonomous innovation and to have Ameriflight at our side, with this new agreement marking the Alpha's first American launch customer." Sabrewing's Rhaegal-A aircraft achieved its first hover flight in September 2022 while lifting a record-setting payload of 829 pounds. The company is in the process of initiating the aircraft's production line, with first deliveries expected to take place in the first quarter of 2024. Innovation in design allows the Rhaegal-A aircraft the ability to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) reducing carbon emissions by up to 80%, while maintaining the efficiency to fly cargo between facilities four times faster than can be driven and land in locations other aircraft cannot, eliminating the added cost of airport transfer of cargo. The new fleet will be used to support Ameriflight's new business opportunities, primarily for its expedited supply chain services.

This marks Ameriflight's second agreement to purchase autonomous aircraft after having signed with Natilus just last month on the purchase of its Kona aircraft, a 3.8-ton payload, short-haul feeder uncrewed aerial vehicle. Ameriflight intends to use both fleet types in tandem with their current operation. About Ameriflight: Ameriflight is the nation's largest Part 135 cargo airline. Founded in 1968, Ameriflight has grown from a small air charter and cargo service carrier to an international operator with 14 bases, 1,500 weekly departures, and 200 destinations. The company is headquartered in Dallas, TX and has more than 500 employees including over 150 pilots and over 100 aircraft. Ameriflight provides feeder services for overnight express carriers, as well as on-demand cargo charter services for customers with an array of priority shipping needs through its Expedited Supply Chain Solutions department. For more information, visit us at ameriflight.com. About Sabrewing Aircraft Company: Sabrewing Aircraft Company was founded in 2016 and built the prototype aircraft in Hayward, California. The Sabrewing team has over 78 years of aircraft design and manufacturing experience, and the flight test team has over 145 years of flight test and certification experience with the FAA, EASA, CAA, Air Transport Canada, and several other regulatory agencies. Sabrewing's development partners have provided an additional 46 engineers of all disciplines, making the Rhaegal aircraft the best-designed, best-in-class vehicles in the sky. For more information visit: www.sabrewingaircraft.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005873/en/

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[February 15, 2023] GEICO Hosts Ceremony to Celebrate Expansion of Commercial Insurance Operations; Plans to Add Hundreds of Jobs

GEICO hosted a ceremony today to celebrate the expansion of its commercial insurance operations at its Katy office, which will support this growing area of GEICO's business. With this expansion, GEICO expects to add 250-500 new positions in Katy over the next five years. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005888/en/ Left to Right: GEICO Senior Vice President Melissa Gallaro, Katy Economic Development Council President and CEO Angie Thomason, GEICO Vice President of Commercial Insurance Operations Jason Andrukonis, GEICO Director of Commercial Insurance Operations Nidia Bandstra and Maida Guillen, Community Engagement Coordinator for Harris County Precinct 4 cut the ribbon to commemorate the expansion of GEICO's commercial insurance operations in Katy, TX. (Photo: Business Wire) GEICO Senior Vice President Melissa Gallaro and GEICO Vice President of Commercial Insurance Operations Jason Andrukonis greeted Katy Economic Development Council acting President and CEO Angie Thomason and local business and community leaders at the event. "The hundreds of jobs we're adding here in Katy over the next few years will primarily focus on small business insurance sales and customer service," said Melissa Gallaro, GEICO senior vice president. "We need outgoing, solutions-oriented individuals to work with our customers to help them find the coverage that makes most sense for the type of business they own." Gallaro also noted the significant growth GEICO's commercial insurance business has experienced over the past year "Our investment in the Houston area will allow us to effectively manage that growth as more business owners realize how easy it is to buy coverage through GEICO," Gallaro said. Future job openings will include insurance sales and customer service positions. Applicants can search for open roles by visiting careers.geico.com. GEICO offers competitive starting salaries, a comprehensive benefits package, career growth and community engagement opportunities, and a friendly, supportive workplace. Associates also have an opportunity to earn degrees and further their education through the company's GEICO Strive tuition reimbursement program.



GEICO Cares Immediately following the Commercial Insurance Operations Expansion Ceremony, GEICO reaffirmed its commitment to the Katy community by hosting a National Auto Body Council (NABC) Recycled Rides vehicle gifting presentation.

This program, led by the NABC, is a collaboration between businesses representing all facets of the collision repair industry in which they team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable transportation. The recipient at this event was nominated by one of GEICO's community partners, Fort Bend Women's Shelter. The car she received will help her commute to work more easily without relying on friends or paying for expensive rideshare rides. ABOUT GEICO GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) was founded in 1936 and insures more than 28 million vehicles in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. A member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies, GEICO constantly strives to make lives better by protecting people against unexpected events while saving them money and providing an outstanding customer experience. Along with personal auto insurance, commercial auto and personal umbrella coverages are also available. Homeowners, renters, condo, flood, identity theft, term life, and more coverages are written through non-affiliated insurance companies and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. Visit geico.com for a quote or to learn more. ABOUT THE NATIONAL AUTO BODY COUNCIL The National Auto Body Council is the premier organization of collision industry partners dedicated to strategic networking opportunities that positively change lives in the communities we serve. The collaborative membership of the National Auto Body Council has gifted nearly 3,000 vehicles, provided extrication opportunities for nearly 5,000 First Responders and is helping educate students and adult drivers in communities around the country through NABC Recycled Rides, NABC First Responder Emergency Extrication (F.R.E.E.) and the NABC Drive Out Distraction program. That effort equates to a 4:1 ROI in dollar value delivered from NABC membership dollars. The National Auto Body Council is changing the paradigm of how the collision industry works and is viewed. For more information, visit www.NationalautoBodyCouncil.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005888/en/

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ENTERPRISE  Local companies looking to hire employees are invited to attend two career fairs being held on the Enterprise State Community College and the Alabama Aviation College-Ozark campuses on March 21.

Hosted in collaboration with Southeast AlabamaWorks, the fairs will allow employers to meet with potential hires while job seekers and students will have the opportunity to meet with possible employers.

The first Career Fair will be held at ESCC from 9-11 a.m. in the Student Center Multi-Purpose Room. Later, from 1-3 p.m. in the Aviation Technical Training Center on the Alabama Aviation College campus in Ozark, employers will be set up to meet with attendees. ESCC/AAC students and members of the community are invited to attend the event.

Businesses interested in attending the event can register at escc.edu/careerfair23. Interested businesses can register for one or both events. There is no cost to participate.

Community members and students interested in attending the career fair are encouraged to have copies of their updated resume ready to present to employers. Visitors do not need to register to attend.

Enterprise State Community College is a comprehensive community college that serves more than 2,000 students annually between its Enterprise campus and the Alabama Aviation Colleges in Andalusia and Ozark. Each campus and site currently fulfills the Alabama Community College Systems mission for education and training that leads to high-wage, high-demand jobs in integral careers worldwide. Students can obtain associate degrees and certificates through multiple programs at the college.
The big let down has finally arrived.

Credit where it's due . . .

NEW KCI SMARTLY SHARES BETA TEST REVIEWS AHEAD OF SUPER BOWL PARADE!!!



Here's a peek at lowered expectations . . .



We know there are a lot of things left to learn, things we are going to learn very quickly in terms of signage and printers that need to be reset, said Justin Meyer, deputy director at KCI. Now is the time of us to get those details correct.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Kansas Citians offer minor critiques during KCI simulation KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Aside from the need for some additional signage and a few more chairs in baggage claim, people participating in Tuesday's test run had positive review Kansas City International Airport terminal. "I followed this thing from its infancy," said Huston Myers, who was at the simulation.

Volunteers test KCI terminal two weeks before opening [PHOTOS] - Kansas City Business Journal Two weeks before the public opening of the new $1.5 billion Kansas City International Airport terminal, volunteers got to test the facilities as part of a simulation exercise. The Kansas City Aviation Department, along with some airlines and other players, hosted 700 volunteers to act as air travelers.

Kansas City gets its first chance to test out the new KCI airport terminal: 'A beautiful space' For the volunteers who got to be the first in Kansas City to "travel" through the new Kansas City International Airport terminal on Tuesday, the first sign of change was the parking lot. The garage has seven levels and 6,300 spaces.

The new KCI terminal is getting put through its paces with a test run Two weeks before opening, the new Kansas City International terminal is going through a test run today.Nearly 700 pre-registered volunteers played the role of travelers in this exercise.Those volunteers used a variety of itineraries to go through the motions of departing and arriving on flights at the new terminal.This practice

Developing . . .
As always, we turn toward urban dictionary for context . . .



Chiefin' - When a person overuses something that belongs to another, believing it to be okay because of a self-appointed/designated right.



"Chiefin" references the foregone actions of Native American tribal leaders (chiefs) that had complete access to all of the tribe's resources.



In today's society, "chiefin" is commonly used to refer to those hogging the marijuana; although it can be said under a wide variety of circumstances.

Now here's the public service annoucment . . .



While the passage of Missouris Amendment 3 allows adults 21 and older to use marijuana in their homes, you still cant consume it in public.



Despite Kansas City officials opting to end the prosecution of marijuana possession in 2020, state and federal law still apply, and people can still be charged under those systems.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Can Chiefs fans smoke marijuana during Super Bowl parade? Legal weed rules in KC KANSAS CITY, Mo. -While Kansas City prepares for the Chiefs Victory Parade on Wednesday, fans are looking for answers to all sorts of questions. And after Missouri dispensaries began selling recreational marijuana earlier this month, some people may be asking: Can you smoke marijuana along the parade route?

Chiefs Super Bowl parade: Can you smoke weed in public? KANSAS. [CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY KMBC] LARA: LONG LINES OF CUSTOMERS WAITING TO BUY RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA. THIS IS THE SCENE IN MUCH OF MISSOURI, NOW THE LATEST STATE TO LEGALLY SELL WEED. GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY. I'M LARA MORITZ. KRIS: AND I'M KRIS KETZ. THE STATE BEGAN APPROVING LICENSES A FEW DAYS EARLY.

Developing . . .
Whilst the plebs enjoy Bud Light and a variety of cured meats . . . Our blog community is more interested in how budget sausage is manufactured for public consumption.

Here's the latest on the process that most local media have all but ignored . . .

JACKSON COUNTY LEGISLATURE OVERRIDES BUDGET FROM EXEC'S OFFICE!!!



Point of order: This is the biggest county in Missouri so the dearth of coverage regarding MILLIONS of dollars in taxpayer money is kinda unforgivable.



Agree or disagree with elected officials arguing about cash . . . We think the political push back is DEFINITELY newsworthy . . . Now we'll do our best to unpack the issue:

Remember, we noted the Exec's budget presser last week with several line item vetoes highlighted.



This week . . .

Community reaction to the cuts was so overwhelmingly negative that the legislature was forced to react.



There was talk about agreement before going into the process but those promises were seemingly ignored.

Deep cuts to community groups and neighborhood programs inspired the legislature to rally votes against Exec Frank's team.

For now, a 6-3 override brings the budget process back into negotiations.

Exec Frank was apparently fuming after the meeting and seemed to have a tense exchange with community leader Gwen Grant given that she, the entire Urban Council and a great many people felt slighted by the numbers coming out of the courthouse.



But here's the most important outcome of the showdown . . .

THE JACKSON COUNTY LEGISLATURE THREATENS TO TURN EXEC FRANK WHITE INTO A LAME DUCK ONLY MONTHS INTO HIS NEW TERM!!!



Legislative Chair DaRon McGee has crafted a coalition amongst his colleagues and clearly doesn't seem to be afraid to push back against the Exec's office.



Also . . .

Overall the legislature coming into their own is a good thing for voters.

An insider tells us . . .

"It's a separate branch of government after all . . . There should be debate. There needs to be checks & balances."



There was a fear that the Executive's office would have free reign in what is likely the final term of this administration.



The tables seem to have turned quickly . . . Normally, the Exec has influence over the majority long before any issue is put to a vote.

Now . . .



A curious and mostly unimportant press release sent late in the day along with media focus on the parade might distract from the override in the minds of most voters . . . But insiders seem surprised by the push back and await reaction from Team Frank.



And so . . . For the moment well-deserved augment about 12th & Oak allocations takes center stage as the new legislature seems to be coming into its own.

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.
The Hoa Binh Construction Groups board of directors has accepted the resignation of independent member Nguyen Cong Phu.

A resolution approving his resignation was posted on the companys website on Tuesday, and it says it will be formally approved at the companys next annual general meeting.

He had a running battle with Le Viet Hai, the chairman.

In December the board had approved Hais resignation and the appointment of Phu as his replacement.

Hais son Le Viet Hieu was named CEO.

But Hai, who has a 17.14% stake in the company, claimed he would remain chairman of the Founders Committee, which would advise the board of directors and executives.

But Phu dismissed the claim, telling the media the Founders Committee does not have the authority to veto decisions made by the board.

Besides, Hai had to resign because some board members had discovered "financial wrongdoing" by him, he said.

Hai then fought back, calling for an extraordinary board meeting on December 29 to discuss postponement of the decisions approving his resignation and making Phu the new chairman and his son the CEO.

He told the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange that the decisions had to be postponed because there were issues with the operation of the Founders Committee.

The Vietnam International Arbitration Center ruled in January that Hai remained the companys chairman and the company should postpone all the decisions.

Hoa Binh Construction is listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and has a charter capital of VND2.74 trillion (US$116.1 million).

It plans to expand internationally within the next decade, and achieve $20 billion in revenues and nearly $1 billion in profits by 2032.
Unilever CEO Alan Jope speaks to the media during his visit to Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Unilever

Unilever will continue to invest in Vietnam, where it has its two plants, its CEO, Alan Jope, who is currently visiting HCMC, has said.

The UK-based consumer goods company would invest not only in production but also development of brands and people, he noted.

Since most of the companys output in Vietnam is sold locally, it does not see the country as a low-cost production base for export.

Speaking about sustainability, he said the easiest way is to reduce energy consumption through investment in new machinery and lighting systems.

Firms should not think it is a choice between good business and ethics because ethical businesses could also be good ones, he said.

Visiting Vietnam for the first time since Covid broke out, he observed that HCMC has much more modern than it was four years ago.

Describing Vietnams economy as one of the best managed after the pandemic, he said while Unilever is still struggling in many other places, its Vietnam operations are doing very well.

After coming to the country in 1995 Unilever quickly became a consumer goods giant with products like Lifebuoy soap, OMO laundry detergent and Sunsilk shampoo. An estimated 35 million of its products are used daily in Vietnam.

Its plants are in HCMC and the northern province of Bac Ninh and it also has distribution centers in Bac Ninh, the central city of Danang and the southern province of Binh Duong and a workforce of 1,400.

"We've had strong growth here," Jope said, without disclosing numbers.

He said projections for Vietnams GDP growth of 6-7% this year are feasible, and maybe even 8% is.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Indonesia are the most attractive markets for Unilever with their large populations and well-managed economies, he said.

Since the per capita consumption of consumer products in Vietnam is still quite low, there is much room for growth, he said.

Unilever has big ambitions for the Vietnamese market, and expects it market to double in the next five to 10 years as against 27 last time.

Jope said it could be achieved through good brands, good business and good impact on society.

He said four aspects confirm the view there is no trade-off between financial performance and sustainability.

Firstly, brands that consumers see as having a positive impact on society and the planet sell better and are growing seven times faster than the rest, he said.

The second is cost, he said, explaining that while sometimes there are short-term trade-offs that firms incur as an investment, in the long run sustainable business leads to a stronger business.

The third is an advantage in attracting talent since talented young people want to work for companies that have a positive impact on issues they care about, he said.

The fourth is that it helps mitigate risks, he said. "A world submerged in water or on fire due to climate change is not a great place to sell shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent, or food."
Foreign startups are eyeing Vietnam as one of their main markets thanks to the countrys large and young population, low costs and cheap and abundant labor force abundant.

Vietnam has been among the top markets in terms of revenue for Singapores insurance startup Igloo ever since the company was launched in 2021.

"Vietnam is becoming one of our key markets," Nguyen Huu Tu Tri, CEO of Igloo Vietnam, told VnExpress. "The countrys insurance industry is set to reach $3.5 billion in 2026, but only 2-3% of that goes to tech insurance," he said, adding that this means there is a large room for tech insurance growth.

In its two years of operation, Igloo has sold 13 million insurance policies in Vietnam,10 million in last year alone. The target customers are people with low incomes who are not yet insured.

The company also chose Vietnam as a site to launch its first insurance policy aimed at protecting rice farmers using weather data and blockchain.

Igloo hopes to become the top insurtech company in Vietnam.

For Indias car rental startup Zoomcar, the market in Vietnam is promising as the country has a population of nearly 100 million people and a growing demand for cars.

Zoomcar, which connects unused car owners with renters, has recorded over 100,000 registered users, including 3,000 car owners.

"We are approaching the breakeven point on each trip and expect to grow 200%-300% this year," said Kiet Pham, national manager of Zoomcar Vietnam.

Vietnams advantage lies in its young and tech-savvy population and its rising middle-class, the two startup leaders said.

Tri said that after the Covid-19 pandemic people are starting to be more interested in insurance products, with a surge in the number of those who are ready to make purchases.

Zoomcar sees a large demand for car usage in Vietnam. However, the company says that the cost of owning a vehicle is high, which means there will be a large demand for rental services.

Vietnams car rental market is set to reach $884 million by 2027 with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 14%, according to market researcher Mordor Intelligence.

"Vietnam is the fastest growing market for Zoomcar in Southeast Asia," Kiet Pham said.

The number of start-ups from Singapore venturing overseas through Enterprise Singapore's Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) acceleration programs has ballooned to more than 400 in less than five years. And one of the more popular destinations is Vietnam, with its large workforce, lower labor costs and sizable market, The Straits Times reported last year.

From 2020 to 2022, nearly $2 billion has been poured into startups, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The Vietnam Silicon Valley Capital Investment Fund, a partner of Lotte Ventures and Korean government agency KISED, last year introduced 14 excellent Korean startups, which plan to bring new products to Vietnam.

Hong Sun, vice president of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Korean startups tend to invest in Vietnam after they see many successful companies in the market. He also forecast that many new startups will come to Vietnam in the near future.

Last year, a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said that Vietnam ranked 48th out of 132 countries and territories in achieving the greatest progress in the past decade.

Although Vietnam has fallen four places compared to 2021, it is still in the third position in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam is also ranked 54th in the global innovative startup ecosystem, up five places compared to 2021

But startup insiders have found many challenges, especially in changing user attitudes.

The technology insurance industry, people's confidence in insurance in general is low and therefore people are not willing to pay for it.

Furthermore, the lack of high-quality human resources in the technology sector will make it a struggle for Vietnam to meet the development needs of foreign startups.
The United Kingdom and other European countries have agreed an initial package of support from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) for a total sum of more than 200 million (over $241 million), which will provide a capability boost for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This is said in a press release published on the UK Governments website following a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Ukrinform reports.

Ukraine will receive capabilities worth millions including tank spares, uncrewed air systems, electronic warfare, and air defence, from the first package of multi-million pound funding from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), the press release says.

The first equipment package was agreed by the UK, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These partners, along with Iceland and Lithuania, have contributed a collective total of more than 520 million to the fund (over $627 mln).

It is noted that with an expected value of more than 200m, the first package will include vital capabilities in the form of artillery ammunition, maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and spare parts for equipment, including Ukraines current tanks.

This equipment package will provide a significant capability boost for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will support their ability to defend their country. The UK led International Fund for Ukraine demonstrates the commitment of the UK and our Allies to ensure Ukraine receives vital military aid necessary to defend against Russias illegal invasion, said UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

In addition, following this mornings NATO meeting, 18 European nations, including the UK, agreed to sign a joint letter of intent to explore and develop a framework for improved surveillance from space, through multinational cooperation and sharing of national space-based capabilities.

The agreement, which will launch the Allied Persistent Surveillance from Space Initiative (APSS), was signed by the UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and Sweden.

The letter of intent agrees that signatory nations will explore: the potential for sharing data from national surveillance satellites; processing, exploitation, and dissemination of data from within national capabilities; and funding to purchase data from commercial companies. APSS is expected to start operating in 2025.

Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of a persistent space surveillance capability, which also forms one of the North Atlantic Councils agreed strategic outcomes of its Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Vision 2030+, the press release says.

Photo: Emerging Europe
The German Special Training Command denied its involvement in the announcement spread by propagandists

Russian Telegram channels are sharing a photo of a stand showing an alleged German Defense Ministrys announcement for Ukrainian service members.

"Dear interns from Ukraine! In Germany, showing a Nazi swastika or other symbols associated with fascism (such as SS insignia) is punishable by imprisonment up to three years or a big fine," the announcement reads.

In the photo description, the Russians claim that such an "announcement" was hung on the building of the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany] to warn Ukrainian representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On another Telegram channel, the propagandists write that the announcement is addressed to Ukrainian tank crew members who went to master German tanks.

This is another Russian fake. The post says that such an announcement for Ukrainians hangs on the Bundeswehr building. The Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany has offices in three cities: Berlin, Bonn, and Potsdam. And according to information from open sources, Ukrainian tank crews are trained at the Armoured Corps Training Centre in Munster. Thus, the distance to the nearest Bundeswehr building is more than 300km.

In addition, the Special Training Command denied its involvement in this announcement in a commentary to Ukrinform.

"The depicted announcement was not created by Bundeswehrs Special Training Command for the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany," Rainer Wenning, the Spokesperson for the Special Training Command, commented on the situation.

Creating fakes about various ideologies of the Ukrainian military is one of the main topics of the Russian propaganda machine. Recently, Ukrinform refuted a fake that a Ukrainian tattoo parlor allegedly offered their customers fascist symbols with the Azov Regiment emblem among the sketches depicted by the propagandists. And earlier, the Russians already tried to pass off a tattoo parlor located in the Russian Federation as a Ukrainian one, accusing it of supporting Nazism.

As reported, Ukrainian tank crews began learning how to operate Leopard 2A6 tanks on February 13.

Dmytro Badrak
Sweden has provided Ukraine with EUR 1.2 billion, including EUR 135 million in humanitarian aid.

Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson stated this at a joint press conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Kristersson noted that even before the Russian invasion, Sweden was among the largest donors of bilateral support for Ukraine. This year, Swedens support increased significantly - up to EUR 1.2 billion. Sweden also provides significant assistance through the European Union, with the total support now reaching EUR 67 billion.

Read also: Swedish PM arrives in Ukraine

He also assured that Sweden would continue to provide support to Ukraine in both economic and defense sectors.

The Prime Minister added that Sweden had provided EUR 135 million in humanitarian aid since February 24. According to him, the country also decided to increase humanitarian support to Ukraine this year as well.

As reported by Ukrinform, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson arrived in Ukraine on February 15.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal discussed military aid and increasing sanctions pressure on the aggressor with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson.

As Shmyhal posted on Telegram, special attention during the meeting was paid to the creation of an international tribunal to hold Russia's top leadership to account. The officials also considered the issue of strengthening Ukraine's resilience, including the restoration of the energy infrastructure.

"We hold negotiations on increasing the electricity imports from the EU. I am grateful to the Swedish government and the Swedish people for their comprehensive support," Shmyhal added.

The Head of Government emphasized that he has high hopes for Sweden's presidency of the Council of the European Union.

As reported, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson pays a working visit to Ukraine.
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Published February 15, 2023

Want to go?

WHAT: A Black History Program

WHEN: 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 24

WHERE: Bayou Pointe Event Center

COST: Free and open to the community



MONROE, LA The University of Louisiana Monroe Cultural Diversity Council and the Office of International Student Programs and Cultural Affairs present A Black History Program at 10 a.m. on Friday, February 24, at Bayou Pointe Event Center.

The program will feature keynote speaker, Dr. Stephen Peters. Peters has spent over 37 years in the education realm as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, director of secondary education, and superintendent. Most of his experiences have been in schools with significant, quick growth, resulting in both national and state blue-ribbon distinction.

Dr. Peters is the past President of the Board of Directors of the International Literacy Association and President of The Peters Group, a national education consulting company. Dr. Peters is also a best-selling author of several books, including Choosing to Believe: Creating a Framework for School Success, Do You Know Enough About Me To Teach Me, and Inspired to Learn: Why We Must Give Children Hope.

We are excited to experience the passion and enthusiasm that Dr. Peters conveys when he speaks of cultivating diversity and cultural awareness in our educational systems and practices, said Gina White, Director of International Student Programs and Cultural Coordinator in ULMs Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

This years program will also highlight the talent of ULM students and youth within the community through vocal, instrumental, and dance performances.

Randall Hughes, the Vice President of ULMs Cultural Diversity Council, said the Black History Month program showcases black students, young and old, who can achieve as vastly as those from the past.

The Black History Month program gives people of African descent at ULM the feeling of belongingness, Hughes said. For ULM to put an emphasis on Black History Month not only reaches the students on campus but also causes a chain reaction to the high schools around Monroe and West Monroe.

This years Black History Month theme is Black Resistance to remember the historic and ongoing oppression African Americans face. The theme embraces achievements, successes, and progress Black people have made through resistance. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, this is a call to everyone to study the history of Black Americans responses to establish safe spaces, where Black life can be sustained, fortified and respected.



Below are additional activities hosted on campus to celebrate Black History Month.

CDC Jiggerobics:

ULMs Cultural Diversity Council will host a jiggerobics exercise class at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb 16 in the Activity Center.

Lets Talk About It:

ULMs National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will present a panel discussion about real world problems in the African-American community at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb 28 in Stubbs 100.



For more information on the Black History Month Program and events, visit www.ulm.edu/bhm
| By Andrew Tie

A group of clinical laboratory science graduate students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) took the top prize at the 11th annual Americas Got Regulatory Science Talent competition held on Feb. 6 at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP).

The competition, hosted by the University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI), is open to all students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park. It aims to promote student interest in the field of regulatory science  the science of developing new tools, standards, and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance of products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This event is one of my favorite activities with students, said James Polli, PhD, the Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in Industrial Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the School of Pharmacy and co-director of M-CERSI. Students from a variety of disciplines take time to become more familiar with regulatory science, an area that will probably play a very important role in their future careers.

The annual event is also an opportunity for students to learn from and interact with staff from the FDA, located in nearby Silver Spring, Md. Five FDA staff scientists served as judges for this years contest. As is customary, the FDA Office of Regulatory Science and Innovation (ORSI) is planning to host an in-person visit for the top three teams to the FDA offices.

The Americas Got Regulatory Science Talent competition serves to inspire and challenge students to tap into their imaginative potential in order to offer innovative solutions to challenging issues in regulatory science, said Tracy Chen, PhD, DABT, toxicology advisor at the FDAs Office of the Chief Scientist. The competition enables collaboration and mentorship by FDA scientists, aligns with the FDAs public health mission, and provides students with a platform to consider and pursue future career opportunities in regulatory science.

Lessons from Theranos

The winning group, Clinical Lab Scientists, emerged from eight teams, whose presentation topics ranged from drugs, devices, apps, tobacco products, and tools like artificial intelligence and how these products and approaches can be better used to improve public health.

Clinical Lab Scientists proposed strengthening the regulatory oversight of laboratory developed tests (LDTs), a classification of medical devices lightly regulated by the FDA. The team drew inspiration for their idea from Theranos, a health technology company that falsely marketed advanced blood tests as LDTs.

Were trying to see how the FDA can become more involved, gain more regulatory oversight, and prevent issues like Theranos and noncompliance in the laboratory area, said Diran Dasi, the team captain.

Clinical Lab Scientists is comprised of four graduate students in UMSOMs Department of Medical and Research Technology: Dasi, Marilyn Bekima, Rebecca Collins, and Peyton Liebhardt.

It came as a pleasant surprise to win, Bekima said. It just shows the importance of laboratory science. There are more tech companies trying to get into the quick diagnosis of laboratory tests. We want to make sure laboratory developed test regulation is really taken seriously.

Second place went to MagiKRx, a team of PhD and MS students in the School of Pharmacys Pharmaceutical Health Services Research graduate program including John Rizk, Godwin Okoye, Udim Damachi, and Bernard Bright K. Davies-Teye. MagiKRx presented the idea of a web-based app to improve diversity and real-world evidence generation for a newly approved Alzheimers disease drug.

Third place went to NociRx, an app intended for older adults that checks for drug-drug interactions between current prescriptions and over-the-counter analgesics. NociRxs team included four Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students: Mehak Muneer, Urooba Ali, Nan Esi Bray, and Naiha Muneer.
Katerina, a refugee from Ukraine, holds her son Arsen at the collective centre where they live in Krakow, Poland.  UNHCR/Anna Liminowicz

With the full-scale war in Ukraine about to enter its second year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today jointly appealed for US$5.6 billion to ease the plight of millions of people affected.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine, bringing together more than 650 partners, the majority of them Ukrainian organizations, calls for $3.9 billion to reach 11.1 million people with food, health care, cash and other life-saving assistance.

The Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for refugees from Ukraine appeals for $1.7 billion. The plan includes 10 refugee host countries, namely Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, with some 250 partners  more than half of whom are national partners. These funds will help 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees and communities in countries hosting them.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly in 2022, after the Russian Federations invasion escalated eight years of conflict in the east into a full-scale war. The devastation and destruction have been staggering, with some 40 per cent of Ukraines population now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. The war has also forced many to flee Ukraine, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of a scale not witnessed in Europe for decades.

Almost a year on, the war continues to cause death, destruction and displacement daily, and on a staggering scale, said Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

We will continue to prioritize assistance to people who need it most and to support local authorities and civil-society organizations, whose dedication has been inspiring, he added. We must do all we can to reach the hardest-to-reach communities, including those close to the front line. The suffering of the Ukrainian people is far from over  they continue to need international support.

The response in host countries to the Ukraine emergency has been remarkable, with strong state leadership, an outpouring of solidarity by host communities as well as the extraordinary work done by civil society, particularly local NGOs, and refugee-led and community-based organizations, said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Europe has proven capable of bold, collective action to help refugees, Grandi added. Refugees have not only been welcomed, but temporary protection arrangements have provided refugees with the right to work, access services and to be included in national systems. We must not, however, take this response, or the hospitality of host communities, for granted. Continued international support and solidary is needed, until refugees are able to return to their homes in safety and dignity, which must also remain a priority.

Since the war began, humanitarian organizations in Ukraine have made every effort to scale up assistance to all regions of the country. Nearly 16 million people across Ukraine received aid and protection services in 2022, including areas outside Government control. Humanitarians also reached 6 million people with cash assistance, which also provided a boost to local economies.

Last year, RRP partners reached millions of refugees from Ukraine with protection and assistance, including over 1.1 million people who received support in accessing protection as well as over 609,000 children who benefited from child protection services. Almost 1 million refugees received in-kind support and over 885,000 people received urgent cash assistance to cover their basic needs.

In 2023, joint efforts and continued support to both response plans will enable partners inside Ukraine and refugee host countries to reach millions of people with protection services. This includes mental health and psychosocial support, child protection and gender-based violence prevention and response, shelter support, supplies for basic needs, and cash assistance.

Media contacts:

Jens Laerke, UNOCHA, [email protected] , +41 79 472 9750

, +41 79 472 9750 Shabia Mantoo, UNHCR, mant [email protected] , +41 79 337 7650

Ukraine Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan: https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/97958

Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan: https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-humanitarian-response-plan-february-2023-enuk
Edixioney Nubo Romero's colleagues credit her with having delivered the most COVID-19 vaccines in all of North Lima, a sprawling, impoverished district of the Peruvian capital. And while there is no exact tally, her unofficial record of delivering many tens of thousands of doses seems plausible.

There were times, during the darkest days of the pandemic, when the Venezuelan nurse started vaccinating at 7am and finished, many hundreds of patients later, only at midnight.

We didnt get tired, Edixioney recalled. What we wanted was for people to be able to get vaccinated so that they wouldnt have to go home, unvaccinated, after having wasted their time in line.

For 39-year-old Edixioney, who left Venezuela to seek life-saving heart surgery for her daughter and spent her first months in Peru working in a restaurant, the chance to serve in her chosen profession feels like nothing short of a miracle.

Our thing is vaccinating, said Edixioney, adding that she and the other Venezuelan nurses she works with at the Los Libertadores public health clinic in Limas San Martin de Porres neighbourhood will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to earn a living doing what we love.

Peru is home to the second-largest population of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the region, playing host to nearly 1.5 million of the total 7.1 million Venezuelan nationals who have left their country in recent years amid the ongoing social and economic crisis there. Many of them are educated professionals, including nurses, physical therapists, and physicians who, despite having skills that are highly sought after in their adopted country, have sometimes faced administrative hurdles that have make it difficult for them to practice in their adopted country.

That was initially the case for Nestor Marquez, a 53-year-old physician who settled in Lima in 2018. When he first arrived, Nestor was in no position to revalidate his medical licenses  a long and expensive process that can take upwards of a year and a half. His first priority was to save up enough money to be able to bring his wife and three young children to Peru.

Nestor Marquez, a 53-year-old physician from Venezuela, at the Los Olivos de Pro Rehabilitation Centre in Lima.  UNHCR/Nicolo Filippo Rosso

To do so, he traded the scrubs that had been his daily uniform during his decades-long medical career in Venezuela for a pair of comfortable shoes.

I worked selling books at sidewalk stands. I was a travelling book salesman, said Nestor, a smile just visible from behind his surgical mask. It helped me so much. With what I made selling books, I was able to bring my family.

Now, thanks, in part, to an agreement between UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Perus Health Ministry, Nestor is working in physical therapy  the specialty he trained for back in Venezuela  at a new public clinic in North Lima. Under the deal, UNHCR funds the salary of the staff, nearly all of whom are Venezuelan nationals, for an initial three months while they are onboarded.

Since it opened last year, residents from across the Peruvian capital have been flocking to the Los Olivos de Pro Rehabilitation Centre, seeking relief for ailments such as back pain, nerve damage, and long-lasting respiratory problems resulting from COVID-19. The team has also seen a surge in parents seeking speech therapy for young children who, kept inside during the pandemic at crucial stages in their development, are having a hard time communicating.

Jeremy Burgos Ramos, a 7-year-old Peruvian boy, is taken through a physical therapy session at the rehabilitation centre.  UNHCR/Nicolo Filippo Rosso

Staff at the rehabilitation centre check in a mother and child. All the personnel at the centre, which opened in late 2022, are Venezuelans.  UNHCR/Nicolo Filippo Rosso

Ironically, Nestor says that it was the coronavirus pandemic that helped Venezuelan health professionals in Peru, like him, get back to work.

In 2020, Perus healthcare workers were among the hardest hit by the coronavirus, which further depleted an already overburdened workforce. The pandemic created a dire need for qualified and experienced medical professionals, which prompted Peruvian authorities to fast-track medical licenses for qualified staff hailing from other countries who were already living in Peru. It was then that Nestor applied for and was granted the right to practice in Peru.

"It's like a dream come true to be ... in this place where there is so much need."

For me, its like a dream come true to be here, in this place where there is so much need, he said, gesturing toward the waiting area, where a little boy in a wheelchair and leg braces was awaiting his appointment. Working here in this clinic allows me to carry out what Ive spent my whole life thinking about and doing, surrounded by a group of extraordinary Venezuelan professionals.

Asked whether any of the patients have balked at being cared for by the clinics near all-Venezuelan staff, Nestor said that, on the contrary they are happy and grateful.

Yesenia Ramos Sandoval, the mother of the little boy in the wheelchair, 7-year-old Jeremy, echoed that sentiment.

Were just so happy to be able to get Jeremy the therapy he needs, said Yesenia, a 30-year-old native of the Peruvian capital, with a broad smile.
China has granted Vietnam only a 10th of the production unit codes for agricultural produce that it has given Thailand.

Speaking at an online forum on promoting agricultural trade with China Tuesday, Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit Association, said it took Vietnamese dragon fruit six or seven months to receive the codes, while only 5% of Vietnams durian growing areas have got them.

PUC is an identification number for a growing area to monitor and control production and pests, and trace origins.

Dragon fruit being harvested in the central province of Binh Thuan. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Quoc

The number of Vietnamese fruits allowed to be exported to China under the official quota remains small, Nguyen said.

Seven out of 12 fruits are still exported to China through border trade, making it difficult for some key items such as dragon fruit, mango and jackfruit to penetrate deep into that market, he added.

Le Hang, communications director for the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, said Vietnam needs to coordinate with China to speed up the issuance of PUCs so that it could tap its competitive advantage in seafood.

Huynh Tan Dat, deputy director of the plant protection department, said local businesses need to reorganize production and review PUCs in accordance with Chinas criteria to make inspection fast and smooth.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said the government considers China a key market, and if Vietnamese firms meet Chinas PUC requirements, they could export their products consistently.

The ministrys department of agricultural product processing and market development said both countries need to improve their technical infrastructure to ensure agricultural products could be quarantined at Dong Dang - Pingxiang and Lao Cai - Hekou railway stations.

They should step up investment in cold storage in border areas, it said.

Last year bilateral trade was worth $175.5 billion, or 24% of Vietnams total imports and exports. China is Vietnams largest fruit market, accounting for 45.4% of its exports. In the case of litchi and dragon fruit, it accounts for 90% and 80%.

It also buys 91.5% of cassava and cassava products exports, and is Vietnams third largest seafood export market after the U.S. and Japan.
Two military draftees from the central Ha Tinh Province have been fined VND62.5 million ($2,650) each for failing to turn up for their send-off ceremony.

Phan Xuan Vu, 19, and Le Van Hoa, 20, passed the medical examination for military service earlier this year, and were ordered to report at the military headquarters of the province's Nghi Xuan District on February 7 for being formally deployed.

Authorities in Xuan Thanh Commune, where Vu lives, said they have sent officials to his house several times but they have been unable to meet him. His parents have reportedly said he is "doing business in a faraway place" without saying where.

Hoang Van Ha, chairman of Cuong Gian Commune, where Hoa lives, said he has not provided a reason for failing to turn up but could not be found either.

Authorities said Tuesday they would summon the two men's parents to pay the fines, track the duo down and tell their families to encourage them to return home and report for duty.

In January Can Loc District authorities had fined 29 people for not turning up for the medical. Most were found to be doing business either in southern Vietnam or abroad.

Compulsory enlistment has existed in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and thousands of young people join the army every spring. Men aged between 18 and 25 years old have to serve two years, while women can volunteer.
More than 41,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria on February 6. The quake hit early in the morning, which meant many people were still in bed, causing them to be trapped under the debris of their homes.

Teams are working frantically to aid survivors as aid agencies warn that that snow and cold temperatures, as well as a lack of water, communications, and power, may hamper their efforts. More than 100,000 people have been injured in Syria and Turkiye, according to figures from the Turkish government, the White Helmets, and the media. Speaking at a press conference in Osmaniye, Turkiye, President Recep Erdogan said over 12,000 buildings had collapsed in the earthquake. Teams from more than two dozen countries are in Turkiye helping local emergency personnel in the rescue and recovery effort.

Getting assistance into Syria is more challenging due to the Syrian regimes limits on the movement of aid into the country. The one border crossing that the UN is allowed to use to bring aid from Turkiye into northwest Syria was temporarily closed after the earthquake, hindering relief efforts. On February 9, a United Nations aid convoy was finally able to cross from Turkiye into northwest Syria for the first time since the quake.

In a recent press conference, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his condolences over the truly staggering, shocking, loss of life in Turkiye and Syria.

We, I think along with people around the world, are mourning those who have been lost, and also our thoughts are so with those who have lost loved ones, he said.

Secretary Blinken outlined what the United States is doing to help:

So far, we have deployed more than 150 search and rescue personnel to Turkiye. We have U.S. helicopters that are helping to reach areas that would otherwise be difficult to access. In Syria, we have NGO partners like the White Helmets that weve funded for years who have provided life-saving assistance since the earthquake struck. Across both countries, weve deployed experienced emergency managers, hazardous materials technicians, engineers, logisticians, paramedics, planners, others, along with about 170,000 pounds of specialized tools and equipment.

We are determined, said Secretary Blinken, to do all that we can to help those affected by these earthquakes in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
February 15 2023

A spate of mews housing development on Melville Street Lane, Edinburgh, continues apace with a fresh bid to convert an existing property, currently in use as a small office, for residential use.

Gray MacPherson Architects propose to partially demolish and alter the current building, while simultaneously delivering a new build mews home on an existing car park. These works will extend the existing property to permit the inclusion of three flats by removing the mansard roof and pushing the rear elevation back by 1.2m to permit a wider plan.

Outlining the latest approach the architects wrote: "The height of the building will be slightly increased to the level of the existing stone lintels to the eyebrow dormers on the front elevation. This will provide two-and-a-half-storey residential accommodation ancillary to number 25 Melville Street, which is currently undergoing extensive office refurbishment.

"To keep the scale of the development down the top floor is an open gallery bedroom open to the first floor below. The gable and roof have also been flattened off to reduce the ridge height. The dormers have been reduced in size again to alleviate concerns of scale. These will be clad in zinc while the main roofs will be slated.

"The raising of the wall head to the level of the existing stone eyebrow dormer windows will be infilled with stone. This should allay concerns over the design as the original application proposed zinc."

The latest application comes after prior bids to develop the site were thrown out on the grounds of design, scale and materials, prompting moves to scale back the massing and adopt a traditional materials palette.

The project sits to the rear of a new hotel being carved out of the husk of the former Meldrum House.
February 15 2023

A contentious apartment block in Strathbungo has been conditionally recommended for approval following negotiations with AS Homes and their architect, Keppie Design.

Tackling issues concerning scale, precedent and design head-on Glasgow's planning application committee dismissed numerous letters of objection.

Initially weighing in at seven storeys the project has been trimmed to six in greater deference to low rise neighbours. Further efforts have also been made to reduce the proportion of blank facade by increasing the number of window openings on Nithsdale Drive.

Another area of controversy centred on the lack of commercial units along Pollokshaws Road, with this space given over to street level flats. Addressing this issue directly the committee wrote: "... the privacy for ground floor flats along Pollokshaws Road is maintained by the internal floor level being raised above the footway and providing the Juliet balcony railings. Residents would not require to keep curtains or blinds closed for privacy.

"The Pollokshaws Road elevation is activated by windows to habitable rooms, entrances and where the internal space is occupied by plant or cycle storage, a perforated brick panel is used to prevent the street level appearing as a solid bland mass."

Numerous conditions are attached to the decision, including a stipulation that daytime noise levels (with windows closed) do not exceed 45 decibels.
February 15 2023

Leading figures from across the architecture and design professions have stepped up to the plate for the 2023 Scottish Design Awards.

The dozen-strong line-up includes figures drawn from the construction and marketing sectors from the agency world to practices, client-side and academia. With the entry window already open the hand-picked team are on hand to offer some helpful tips and advice for early bird hopefuls by setting out what they are looking for from award-worthy work.

On the architecture front, this includes Heather Claridge, director of design at Architecture & Design Scotland, who will be seeking projects which 'successfully respond to local context and needs'. Claridge said: "In particular, Im interested to see projects which successfully respond to local context and needs, creatively reuse existing assets and support a strong sense of place across all of the architecture categories."

Fellow judge Andy Summers, co-founder of Architecture Fringe, added: "Across the categories, one of the principal things Ill be interested in is aspiration and ambition. Each project has its remit and budgetary context, but the intentions within the work and how these are realised is, for me, an important aspect to consider."

Alistair Scott, a co-founder of Smith Scott Mullan Architects, meanwhile will be pushing for projects which address emerging architectural, environmental and social issues such as 'people-centred design', 20-minute neighbourhoods and a fabric-first energy approach. Laying down the gauntlet to entrants Scott said: "What challenges were the client and designers facing? Did they make that 'silk purse out of a sow's ear'? What will the building 'feel like' to be in? Things like views out, sunlight and comfortable acoustic characteristics. Does it comfort you, inspire you or even scare you!"

Entries are now open for the event, with early birds enjoying discounted rates until 10 March.

The Scottish Design Awards is supported by Urban Realm, The DRUM, Nordan, Vision Events Glasgow, Porcelanosa Scotland and Rock Rose.

Architecture Panel:
NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) The Indian Income Tax Department began the second day of searches at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, Indian media reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Investigators knocked on the BCC doors on Tuesday morning and they are still present at the site, the New Indian Express newspaper reported.

People familiar with situation told the newspaper that representatives of the tax department were making copies of the organization's electronic and paper financial reports, as well as copying information from a number of computers and mobile phones.

Tax officials are speaking to BBC staff in the finance and some other departments despite the fact that other employees and journalists were allowed to leave on Tuesday evening, the media said.

On Tuesday, the Income Tax Department released a statement regarding the situation with the BBC, accusing it of "deliberate non-compliance with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits."

"In the case of the BBC, there has been persistent non-compliance with the abovementioned rules for years.

As a result of the same, several notices have been issued to the BBC. However, the BBC has been continuously defiant and non-compliant and has been significantly diverted their profits," the department said, as quoted by India.com.

The BBC, in turn, said it was "fully co-operating" with the Indian authorities.

In January, the BBC broadcasted a documentary "India: The Modi Question." The documentary is based on an unpublished Foreign Office report received by the BBC, which questions Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's actions during the 2002 riots in the state of Gujarat, which resulted in almost 800 deaths of Muslims and 250 deaths of Hindus. During that time, Modi served as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The Indian Foreign Ministry labeled the film "hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage" with a "colonial mind-set". The ministry of information ordered a block of fragments of the documentary on YouTube and Twitter.
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Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday tabled the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 in the Senate amid ruckus of the opposition benches

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday tabled the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 in the Senate amid ruckus of the opposition benches.

The 325th Senate session presided by Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani commenced with the verses of the Holy Quran exhorting mankind to be patient, tolerant and merciful towards others and exercise endurance in hard times and crises.

The Leader of the Opposition in the beginning requested the Chairman Senate to allow him to speak on the point of order which the latter declined and ordered the minister to move the Finance Supplementary Bill 2023 before the House.

The Chairman Senate sent the bill to the Standing Committee on Finance for its proposals and recommendations and demanded a report on the said legislation from the body in the next sitting of the House on Friday. However, the House will take up those recommendations and forward it to the Lower House for further approval of the National Assembly.

Earlier, the finance minister moved the motion to dispense with the question hour for February 15 and 16 2023. The motion was passed unanimously whereas the Senate Chairman nominated Senators, Keshoo Bai, Umar Farooq and Barrister Ali Zafar for the vote count.

Soon, the minister commenced his speech, the Leader of the Opposition, in the Senate, Senator Shehzad Waseem resisted for taking the floor and started chanting slogans alongwith other members of the opposition benches and chanted slogan against the government's legislation being tabled on Money Bill to further amend certain laws pertaining to taxes and duties. The opposition senators tore the copies of the bill and threw it in the air to record their protest on the floor of the House.

The House was adjourned to meet again on February 17 at 10:30am.
DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Feb, 2023) The Ministry of Finance (MoF) today held a panel discussion titled, "The Role of Tax Policy to Drive Global Growth, Prosperity, and Climate Action", in cooperation with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).

The session discussed the role that fiscal policy can play in achieving sustainable development, and was organised on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2023 (WGS2023).

Dr. Abdulrahman Al Hamidy, Director-General, Chairman of the board of the AMF, chaired the session.

Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of Ministry of Finance; Dr. Youssef Khalil, caretaker Finance Minister of Lebanon' Katherine Baer, Deputy Director of International Monetary Funds Fiscal Affairs Department; Pascal Saint-Amans, Partner at Brunswick Group (EX Director of OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development); and Daniel Witt, President, International Tax and Investment Centre, as well as officials, finance sector experts and thought leaders, participated in the session.

During his speech, Al Khoori welcomed the participants and speakers, and stressed on the importance of the session in providing a platform to exchange opinions and views on how to devise more efficient and effective financial policies that can make an impact on sustainable development.

He said, The UAE has made the Sustainable Development Goals a fundamental part of its vision and future ambitions, making them an essential element of its 2030 agenda.

He noted that the National Committee on SDGs has been established in 2019 for implementation of the SDG at the national level, engaging relevant stakeholders, building an action plan, monitoring its progress, submitting periodic reports on the countrys achievements, and ensuring that these goals are aligned with the UAEs national development priorities.

From a tax perspective, he noted that a few key reforms or highlights that the UAE have implemented include the extension of the Excise tax scope to include e-cigarettes, e-liquids and sugar sweetened beverages, in addition to carbonated drinks, tobacco products and energy drinks as initially introduced in 2017. This policy has been formulated with a view to discourage or reduce consumption of unhealthy and harmful commodities, thereby promoting overall sustainable well-being of citizens and residents, He stated.

While the VAT Law was originally introduced in 2018, the UAE has aimed to make continuous enhancements to the Law by effecting targeted amendments, with a view to increase flexibility for taxpayers. One of the most recent significant changes included a reduction in the penalties scheme and of the introduction of a temporary amnesty scheme which provided a 70 percent discount on fines that met certain conditions, He said.

Al Khoori pointed that the UAE is also in the process of implementing the Corporate Tax Law, noting that the policy for Corporate Tax implementation is based on the principles of neutrality and transparency, based on internationally recognised principles of neutrality and transparency in designing tax policies.

He mentioned that a decision has been taken to apply targeted exemptions which include government entities, given their contribution to the social fabric and the promotion of economic welfare in the country.

The session deliberated three areas; the first of which focused on looking beyond COVID-19 and refocusing the role of fiscal policy to achieve the SDGs, specifically Goal 8 that seeks to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

It also deliberated Goal 17 that seeks to revitalise global partnerships for sustainable development.

The second area focused on the significance of implementing the two-pillar solution of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.

The panel also discussed the Pillars One and Two potential implementation challenges faced by developing countries, as well as the future role of tax and investment incentives, the role of double tax and bilateral investment agreements in attracting foreign direct investments, and the role of taxes (other than corporate income tax) in achieving the best outcome for developing countries.

The third area focused on the role of fiscal policy in achieving Goal 13, which stresses on the need to take urgent action to combat climate change.

The session emphasised the importance of tax policy in designing green financing instruments to support increased investment in renewables and other projects to accelerate a clean energy transition.
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Feb, 2023) DUBAI, 15th February, 2023 (WAM)  Tunisian Prime Minister, Najla Bouden visited the Museum of the Future in Dubai, where she was briefed on the museums most prominent features, including its iconic design, and unique experiences that highlight its vital efforts in creating a better future for humanity.

The visit came on the sidelines of her participation in the World Government Summit 2023 being held in Dubai, under the slogan Shaping Future Governments, with prominent international government officials, thought leaders, global experts and decision-makers in attendance.
Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :US President Joe Biden called on Congress Tuesday to act against America's epidemic of gun violence, one day after a new massacre on a Michigan university campus killed three people and injured five.

As the leader of a nation plagued by daily shootings, Biden said he had promised the state's Democratic governor the "deployment of all necessary Federal law enforcement." The gunman shot his victims, all students, during a rampage on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound several hours later.

At an emotional press conference in Lansing, the capital of the north-central state, police said the 43-year-old suspect, Anthony McRay, had no affiliation with the school and had been found dead around midnight on Monday.

At the briefing, a visibly shaken Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the issue of gun violence a "uniquely American problem." Speaking to reporters, she said the university had become "another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and bloodshed." Biden drove the point home in two successive White House statements.

"Too many American communities have been devastated by gun violence," he said.

"I have taken action to combat this epidemic in America, including a historic number of executive actions and the first significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years, but we must do more," he said.

The shooting occurred on the eve of the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018, in which 14 students and three staff members were killed.

The shooting should "cause every American to exclaim 'enough' and demand that Congress take action," Biden said.

- Slow progress - Biden has unsuccessfully called on Congress to reinstate a national ban on assault rifles, which existed from 1994 to 2004, but is running up against opposition from Republicans who are staunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms and have had a narrow majority in the House of Representatives since January.

After shots rang out in a campus building where two students were killed early Monday evening, thousands of students were ordered to shelter in place.

The gunman fled to the students' union, where he killed one more student, sparking a major police operation as officers swarmed the 5,000-acre campus.

Police received a tip from a local resident after quickly releasing security camera images of a Black man in a baggy blue jacket and red shoes.

Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman of the university's police said Tuesday at a press conference that authorities still have "absolutely no idea what the motive was." He said authorities had recovered a handgun and searched a residence linked to the suspect.

Gun violence is alarmingly common in the United States, a country where there are more guns than people and where attempts to clamp down on their spread are always met with stiff resistance.

The shooting was the second on a school campus in the midwestern US state in 15 months, Representative Elissa Slotkin underscored at a press conference, saying, "If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I don't know what is." In November 2021, four students were killed and seven other people wounded when a 15-year-old male student opened fire at Oxford High School in the rural town of Oxford, Michigan.

"I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools," said Slotkin, calling for action on gun violence.

Around 50,000 students are enrolled at MSU, a top institution in the United States, the bulk of them undergraduates, according to the university's website.

Tens of thousands of people die every year in the United States after being shot, and many more are wounded.

Eleven people were shot dead last month when an elderly man opened fire in a dance hall in California, where locals were celebrating Lunar New Year.\
Barrick Gold Corp. is open to the possibility of taking over Newmonts share of the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

Newmont has made a $16.9 billion bid for the Australian mining company Newcrest. Newmont is the worlds largest gold producer and Newcrest is among the worlds largest, and if Newmonts acquisition of Newcrest goes through it would result in a huge company that might shed some of its assets.

Bristow has said that Barrick is not interested in making a counterbid for Newcrest, but he said taking over 100% of Nevada Gold Mines could be a deal worth pursuing.

Ive always said that the best assets that we havent got are the other parts of our joint ventures, Bristow told Reuters. If there was a way of acquiring those assets I think we would be desirous of acquiring them.

Newmonts offer to purchase Newcrest implied a 21% premium to Newcrests share price, and Newmont has since said it is open to going higher than $16.9 billion.

Bristow has said Barrick will stick to its build, not buy approach. He said paying a premium is a risk that will only lead to a profit if the price of gold or copper goes up.

In early 2019, Barrick acquired Rangold Resources for more than $6 billion and Newmont made a $10 billion offer for Canadas Goldcorp. Barrick said it would try to acquire Newmont for an approximately $18 billion all-stock deal that would create a mining behemoth worth about $42 billion.

Barrick and Newmont sparred over the proposed merger, and Newmont proceeded with its acquisition of Goldcorp.

Barrick dropped its takeover bid and on March 19, 2019 the two companies announced that they would form a joint venture which would merge their Nevada mining operations. The two companies had each operated mines in Nevada for decades.

We are finally taking down the fences to operate Nevada as a single entity in order to deliver full value to both sets of shareholders, Bristow said at the time.

The companies said the joint venture would allow them to capture an estimated $500 million in average annual pre-tax synergies for the first five years.

Bristow said the agreement was a historic accord which made the joint venture operations in Nevada the single largest gold producing complex in the world.

Based on an analysis of assets, the joint venture agreement made Newmont the 38.5% owner and Barrick the 61.5% owner, with Barrick as the operator.
LHASA, Feb. 15 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) --:China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to implement 1,337 rural revitalization projects in 2023, with an estimated investment of 14.67 billion Yuan (about 2.15 billion U.S. Dollars), local authorities said.

The construction of 84 projects has already started, while a total of 809 projects have completed preliminary work and entered the bidding process, according to an agricultural and pastoral work meeting of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The projects aim to promote the development of an array of fields in rural areas, such as high-standard farmland and featured agriculture and animal husbandry industries.

All of the projects will commence before the end of May, said Jiang Hua, deputy director of Tibet's rural revitalization bureau, who also encouraged various prefectures and cities to strengthen the management of the projects and funds.
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Brussels, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :Ukraine's Western backers will meet for a second day on Wednesday looking to speed up deliveries of ammunition and arms to Kyiv, which is also demanding fighter jets.

After securing commitments for tanks, air defences and precision missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has doubled down on his plea for Western aircraft.

But allies meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels remained focused on ensuring his forces have the ammunition, armoured vehicles and air defences they need on the ground to push back renewed Russian offensives.

"We will provide the Ukrainians with the means to hold out and advance during the spring counter-offensive," said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He mentioned artillery, anti-aircraft defences and armour, but not combat aircraft.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said "the issue of air defence and the issue of ammunition resupply are much more important at the moment than the discussion about combat aircraft".

His Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov agreed that the priorities were to protect his country's skies, bolster promised tank supplies and ensure ammunition stocks.

"Tomorrow's program is just as busy," Reznikov said on Facebook on Tuesday evening. "We will devote more time to tanks." Ukraine's Western supporters -- spearheaded by the United States -- have already supplied billions of Dollars in arms to help Kyiv hold Moscow back.

"We see Russia introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield. Many of those troops are ill-trained and ill-equipped, and so their casualty rate has been really high," Austin said.

He said Ukraine was looking to turn the tide on the battlefield to gain momentum, and that he expected Kyiv's forces to launch their own counter-offensive in the spring.
China's participation in the multinational maritime exercise hosted by Pakistan Navy marks a boost in its military exchange and cooperation with foreign countries, which have been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years, and more such activities will take place, experts said on Wednesday

BEIJING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :China's participation in the multinational maritime exercise hosted by Pakistan Navy marks a boost in its military exchange and cooperation with foreign countries, which have been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years, and more such activities will take place, experts said on Wednesday.

The five-day exercise that started on Friday culminated on Tuesday in the North Arabian Sea with an international fleet review followed by the spectacular AMAN-23 Formation, comprising the Pakistan Navy and foreign naval ships including the Type 052D destroyer Nanning of the PLA Navy, with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif in attendance.

The drills started with seminars, operational discussions and professional demonstrations among other preparations in harbor, before switching to the sea where scenarios included tactical maneuvers, anti-piracy, counterterrorism, search and rescue, live-fire shooting as well as air defense exercises.

Having closely cooperated with forces from other countries, the PLA Navy ship Nanning displayed a high level of professionalism as well as command and control capability, as the drills enhanced the participants' capabilities to deal with maritime security threats together and demonstrated their determination to jointly safeguard maritime security, said the PLA Navy in a statement on Wednesday.

The traditional friendship between China and Pakistan was highlighted in the Nanning's port call in Karachi, with Pakistan's Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Amjad Khan Niazi among other high-ranking Pakistan Navy officers boarding the Chinese ship during the exercise.

Niazi said at the international fleet review on Tuesday that the Nanning was a wonderful ship.

Some 50 countries participated in the AMAN-23, with Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia,Sri Lanka and the US also sending warships.

It marks China's first major military diplomatic event since it entered a post-COVID era this year, observers said.

The drills hosted by the Pakistan Navy served as a bridge that allowed countries to display their capabilities and conduct face-to-face meetings, which enabled them to enhance mutual understanding, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and tv commentator, told the Global Times.

China's military development serves to safeguard world peace and regional stability, as it will continue to boost military exchanges and cooperation with more countries in the future, Song said.

It can enhance military transparency between countries and help control and manage differences, Song said. "China is confident, and is willing to communicate," he said.

China's next foreign military exchange event is expected to come soon, as South Africa will host a joint exercise with Russia and China on its east coast from Friday to February 27.
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The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday adjourned hearing of a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for protective bail, in a case registered against him over protests outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) office, till February 16

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday adjourned hearing of a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for protective bail, in a case registered against him over protests outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) office, till February 16.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh heard the petition filed by the PTI chairman for protective bail in the ECP protest case.

During the proceedings, Imran Khan's counsel requested the court to grant protective bail to his client on medical grounds, saying that an Islamabad anti-terrorism court dismissed his pre-arrest bail petition due to non-appearance. He submitted that the PTI chairman wanted to appear before the relevant court but the doctors had restrained him from walking for three weeks.

However, the court observed that as per law, it was necessary for the accused to appear before the court for grant of protective bail, adding that if the PTI chairman had a problem, then he could come to the court in an ambulance. The court also offered police security to bring Imran Khan to the court after the petitioner's counsel mentioned security concerns. The court adjourned further hearing till 8.00pm and observed that Imran Khan should appear in-person for grant of the relief.

As the court resumed proceedings, Imran Khan's counsel submitted that the Islamabad High Court had also granted relief to his client on medical grounds as the doctors had restrained him from travelling.

At this, the court observed that it was mandatory for a suspect to appear before the court for obtaining the protective bail.

To which, Imran Khan's counsel offered to present his client through video link.

However, the court insisted that legal procedure should be implemented for grant of the relief, adding that the hearing could be adjourned for Thursday, if the counsel guaranteed that Imran Khan would appear in person.

At this stage, PTI's leader Fawad Chaudhry asked the court to adjourn the hearing for arguments till Thursday.

However, the court declined the plea, adding that if Imran Khan's appearance was guaranteed then the hearing could be adjourned. The court adjourned further proceedings for 15 minutes after Imran Khan's counsel sought time to consult his client.

Later, on resumption of the proceedings, Imran Khan's counsel submitted that the doctors had prohibited Imran Khan from walking, in response to a court query.

The court addressed Imran Khan's counsel and questioned who had asked Imran to walk. The court further observed that it would ensure the security of Imran Khan after the counsel mentioned again his security concerns.

Subsequently, the court adjourned hearing of the petition till February 16 (Thursday).

Earlier, in the morning, an Islamabad anti-terrorism court dismissed Imran Khan's pre-arrest bail petition, in a case pertaining to a protest outside the ECP following its decision in the Toshakhana case against the PTI chairman, on the grounds of non-appearance.
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A trade delegation, led by Federal Republic of Ethiopia Ambassador to Pakistan Jamal Beker Abdula, visited the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT), here on Wednesday

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :A trade delegation, led by Federal Republic of Ethiopia Ambassador to Pakistan Jamal Beker Abdula, visited the Punjab board of Investment and Trade (PBIT), here on Wednesday.

Caretaker Provincial Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy SM Tanveer welcomed the delegation. A meeting was held between the caretaker minister and the Ethiopian ambassador.

During the meeting, bilateral cooperation, investment opportunities in various sectors of Punjab and issues of mutual interest were discussed. It was agreed upon in the meeting to increase bilateral trade cooperation and exchange of trade delegations. For the purpose, an agreement would be signed between the Punjab government and Ethiopia soon.

Caretaker Provincial Minister SM Tanveer said that Pakistan wanted strong economic and trade relations with African countries including Ethiopia. There are excellent opportunities for domestic and foreign investors in 13 Special Economic Zones of Punjab.

Investors are provided with all investment facilities under one roof. Ethiopian investors can also benefit from these opportunities. Provincial Minister of Industry and Commerce said that practical steps would be taken to increase trade relations between Punjab and Ethiopia.

Ambassador Jamal Baker Abdullah said that the people of Pakistan were very hospitable which he had experienced himself. Both countries could move forward together for welfare of the common man. There is scope for working together in energy, textiles, livestock and dairy development, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and other sectors. The exchange of trade delegations between Punjab and Ethiopia would promote trade cooperation, he added.

PBIT Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hasan Jalal Khan highlighted the investment opportunities in Punjab and gave a briefing about the facilities provided.

The Punjab Investment Board officials and members of the Ethiopian trade delegation were also present.
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At least 33 people died Wednesday when a bus transporting migrants bound for the United States crashed with a minibus in Panama, an official in the Central American country said

Panama City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :At least 33 people died Wednesday when a bus transporting migrants bound for the United States crashed with a minibus in Panama, an official in the Central American country said.

Updating the death toll from 15, Panama's national director of migration Samira Gozaine told the Telemetro broadcaster that "for now, we have information of 33 people dead." President Laurentino Cortizo earlier announced that 15 people had lost their lives in the early-morning crash in Gualaca, Chiriqui.

The bus had 66 occupants including the driver and an assistant when it crashed some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of the capital Panama City, police transit operations commissioner Emiliano Otero told journalists.

Authorities have yet to report the nationalities of the victims, or the number of people injured. Cortizo said the government was providing medical care for survivors.

Gozaine told AFP by phone there were three critically injured people at the crash site.

Several of the injured were taken by ambulance to a hospital in the Chiriqui provincial capital city David, according to local media.
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Urban planners are fending off abuse fuelled by conspiracy theories about their "15-minute city" regeneration projects which suspicious social media users claim are the road to "climate lockdowns"

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ) :Urban planners are fending off abuse fuelled by conspiracy theories about their "15-minute city" regeneration projects which suspicious social media users claim are the road to "climate lockdowns".

The 15-minute city premise is simple -- all amenities such as parks and grocery stores must be accessible within a quarter of an hour walk or bike ride from a person's home.

Developed in 2015 by an academic in France, the concept has taken off worldwide since the Covid pandemic, with cities such as Paris, Melbourne and Copenhagen seeking to make neighbourhoods more liveable and cut car use to curb climate change.

But, as with Covid measures, unfounded online theories about the initiative have flourished.

Top results in a search for "15 minute city" on TikTok contain mostly scornful videos, including claims that the schemes will restrict residents' movement and fine them for leaving their home districts.

A search on Twitter brings up the hashtag #15minuteprisons in third place after #15minutecities and #15minutecity.

The 15-minute city concept is credited to Carlos Moreno, a professor at Paris's Sorbonne University.

He told AFP he had received numerous personal insults over the idea.

"Never have there been proposals for restrictions -- on the contrary, this is a new opportunity: more choice, more services, more desire to thrive in one's neighbourhood," he said.

"Since the start of 2023, the concept of the 15-minute city has been subject to conspiracy theories, produced and shared by people already well known for spreading disinformation about Covid, the climate, vaccines and politics," he said.

"The only arguments they have are lies, manipulation and insults." - Public transport plans - Particular claims debunked by AFP Fact Check in recent weeks have targeted the English city of Oxford and Edmonton, Canada. Claims surfaced in various languages, including English, French and Portuguese.

"You can't leave a 15-minute city whenever you please ... The city walls or restrictions or zones or whatever you want to call them won't be used to keep others out, they'll be used to lock everyone in," says one man in a video viewed more than 59,000 times on Facebook, commenting on the Edmonton plan.

Sandeep Agrawal, director of the school of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Alberta, said there were no grounds "whatsoever" for claiming the plan would implement such restrictions.

"The 15-minute plan intends to provide better connectivity to the rest of the city" by improving public transport links, he told AFP.

"District planning is an ongoing process which involves consultation with the public at various points of its development." Among moderate critics of the concept, Toronto-based urban planning lecturer and author Jay Pitter has argued it cannot be transposed from European to North American cities and could worsen inequality by spurring gentrification.

- Conspiracy theories - In Oxford, councillors reported receiving abuse over plans to limit private vehicles on bus routes at peak hours. Social media users shared an article that falsely claimed residents would be "confined to their local neighbourhood and have to ask permission to leave it, all to 'save the planet'." A council spokesperson told AFP residents would not be locked down in their homes. Opposition Conservative county councillor Liam Walker, who himself opposed the traffic filters trial, tweeted that the lockdown claims were "completely untrue".

Supporters of 15-minute cities include the worldwide C40 cities alliance plus the United Nations and the World Economic Forum -- targets of numerous false claims that are subject to frequent fact-checks.

One TikTok video about Edmonton blamed the reforms on Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and "his World Economic Forum intentions" - despite it being a city scheme, not a Federal one.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said on Wednesday that the Biden administration's sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines will have political consequences for the United States in the long term, including the possibility that some nations may leave NATO

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said on Wednesday that the Biden administration's sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines will have political consequences for the United States in the long term, including the possibility that some nations may leave NATO.

"I think the consequences politically for us are enormous... looking even at the potential of countries walking out of NATO," Hersh said.

Last week, Hersh published an investigative report describing in detail how US deep-water divers had planted explosives under Russia's Nord Stream pipelines. Hersh said he wrote the text based on insider information from a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning of the attacks. The explosives were detonated remotely on September 26, 2022, on the order of President Joe Biden, Hersh added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hersh wrote an article in which he said that US administrations have repeatedly tried over the years to obstruct or denigrate his investigative pieces, labeling him a fabricator and dismissing his stories.

Hersh is known for exposing the mass murder of unarmed civilians by US troops during the Vietnam War and for exposing the US military torturing prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, among others.

The earlier texts eventually found their way to the mainstream media in the United States and around the world, he said.

The White House, Defense and State departments have denied any US involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) NATO defense ministers have agreed on the need to work with the defense industry to increase the production of ammunition, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

"Allies agree on the need to work hand in hand with the defense industry to rump up our industrial capacity, we are ready and we are reviewing NATO capability targets for ammunition stockpiles," Stoltenberg told reporters after the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) There are no legal grounds for transferring Russia's frozen assets to Ukraine, the Swiss Federal Council said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU said that EU permanent representatives had approved the creation of a special working grope on the use of Russia's frozen assets in the interests of Ukraine

"In the context of international proposals to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, the Federal Council sought official clarification on the legal basis for any such action.

A working group led by the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) concluded that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Federal Constitution and the prevailing legal order. The Federal Council noted the working group's conclusions at its meeting on 15 February. Support for Ukraine will continue, independent of the discussions on frozen assets," the government said in a statement.
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.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) Uganda should reverse its decision to end the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Africa's largest stand-alone rights office, a watchdog said Wednesday.

The government of the eastern African country informed the UN human rights agency in early February that it would not renew its mandate, due to expire this month, citing an atmosphere of peace in Uganda and the strength of its national human rights institutions.

"Instead of removing another critical voice from the human rights ecosystem, Ugandan authorities should create an enabling environment for rights advocates to work," Human Rights Watch researcher Oryem Nyeko said.

The mission was established in the capital of Kampala in 2006 to improve the human rights situation in Uganda's conflict-hit northern and northeastern provinces. It was extended to cover the entire country in 2009 and prolonged in February 2020 to include training of national human rights officials.

In its February 3 letter to the OHCHR, the Ugandan government assured the UN mission that it would continue cooperating with the OHCHR headquarters either directly or through its permanent mission in Geneva.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that the government was planning to freeze railroad, postal, and other public utility fees in the first half of 2023 to ease people's economic burden.

"We will handle public utility fees managed by the central government, such as road, railroad and postal fees, under the principle of a freeze during the first half of the year as much as possible... We will control the scope and speed of increases in electricity, gas and other energy fees to minimize people's burdens, and provide more generous support to vulnerable groups," Yoon told an emergency economic and public livelihood meeting, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

The president also called on the communications and financial industries to take active steps in containing prices.

Yoon said that the government will put the communications and financial industries at the center of all policies and asked ministers to contemplate "day and night" over ways to ease the people's burdens, stressing the need to base all policies on science rather than on ideology and populism as these have proven to increase people's burdens.

The news agency reported earlier, citing the country's Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry, that gas tariffs rose 30% year-on-year in January 2023 amid the rise in energy prices on world markets due to the Ukraine conflict. In January, Yoon approved the allocation of some $77.65 million from state reserve funds for emergency support for vulnerable people against the backdrop of rising bills of heating.

Electricity and utility prices in South Korea were also up in 2022. According to the Korean Statistical Information Service, the utility price index was 135.75 points in January, a 31.7% increase year-on-year. This was the highest rise in energy prices since April 1998, when prices of energy rose 38.2% year-on-year during the Asian financial crisis.

Seoul believes it is still possible to keep prices at current levels in the first half of 2023, but in the long term, tariffs will have to be raised in line with market factors. However, the authorities pledged to support the population with low income.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday made a rare visit to arch-foe Turkey, underlining a desire to "build peace" in the wake of a devastating quake that killed nearly 40,000 people

Ankara, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2023 ):Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday made a rare visit to arch-foe Turkey, underlining a desire to "build peace" in the wake of a devastating quake that killed nearly 40,000 people.

Last week's 7.8-magnitude tremor has been followed by a revival in talks between Turkey and its historic rivals, including Armenia and Greece.

The Greek foreign minister paid a visit to quake-hit regions last weekend, and Armenia's top diplomat arrived in Ankara on Wednesday.

Turkey and Armenia never established diplomatic relations after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

"I would like to once again reaffirm the readiness and willingness of Armenia to build peace in the region, and especially to fully normalise relations with Turkey, to establish diplomatic relations and fully open the border between Armenia and Turkey," Mirzoyan said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Armenia had "extended a hand of friendship to our people", thanking Yerevan for its humanitarian aid.

It was Mirzoyan's second visit to Turkey since March 2022, when he held talks with Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in Antalya.

On Saturday, a border crossing between Armenia and Turkey opened for the first time in 35 years, to allow humanitarian aid through.

Armenia sent a team of 28 rescuers "who worked very hard since February 8 in Adiyaman" province in the south, Cavusoglu said, praising them for saving a young girl and a woman.

Turkey-Armenia ties are strained by World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, atrocities Yerevan insists amount to a genocide.

Turkey fiercely rejects the genocide label, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

But in December 2021, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalise relations -- a year after Armenia lost to Turkey's ally Azerbaijan in a war for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In February 2022, Turkey and Armenia resumed their first commercial flights in two years.

The land border between the two countries had remained closed since 1993, forcing trucks to transit through Georgia or Iran.
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Authorities in Tucson, Arizona reinstated on Wednesday a shelter-in-place order for a one-mile perimeter around the site of a collision involving truck tractor leaking hazardous material, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety's blog

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2023) Authorities in Tucson, Arizona reinstated on Wednesday a shelter-in-place order for a one-mile perimeter around the site of a collision involving truck tractor leaking hazardous material, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety's blog.

"Unified Command has reinstated the shelter in place order for a one-mile perimeter around the incident," the blog stated. "Unified Command advises anyone within the one-mile perimeter to turn off heaters and/or air conditioning systems that bring in outside air."

It noted that "gassing occurred" when crews attempted to remove the load from the vehicle.

Interstate 10 remains closed in both directions between Kolb and Rita roads, and Unified Command "anticipates an extensive closure." Unified Command is comprised of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Tucson Police Department, and Tucson Fire Department.

A commercial truck tractor hauling a box trailer with liquid nitric acid rolled over on Interstate 10 eastbound between Rita and Kolb roads on Tuesday afternoon. Unified Command issued an evacuation order with a half-mile perimeter around the site and a shelter-in-place order with a one-mile perimeter before lifting the latter on Tuesday night. The driver was also confirmed dead.
China will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with Iran no matter how the international and regional situations evolve, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday.

Xi made the remark in talks with Ebrahim Raisi, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Raisi started a three-day state visit to China on Tuesday, his first since taking office in August 2021.

The two presidents pledged to enhance comprehensive cooperation between China and Iran, while hailing the countries' traditional friendship and the sound development of bilateral ties.

They agreed that the two countries should support each other on issues concerning their own core interests, strengthen communication on international and regional affairs and jointly oppose hegemony and bullying.

During the talks, Xi said that amid the profound changes in the international situation, China and Iran have constantly consolidated their strategic mutual trust and steadily advanced pragmatic cooperation. They have promoted their common interests and upheld international fairness and justice, writing a new chapter for China-Iran friendship, he added.

China supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity as well as resisting unilateralism and hegemony, and opposes attempts by external forces to interfere in Iran's domestic affairs and undermine its security and stability, Xi said.

He expressed China's willingness to implement the agreement on the China-Iran comprehensive cooperation plan, which was signed by the two countries in March 2021, and deepen pragmatic cooperation in trade, agriculture, industry and infrastructure.

China stands ready to continue promoting the joint building of the Belt and Road with Iran to enhance mutual connectivity, and the country is willing to increase imports of high-quality Iranian agricultural produce, Xi said.

He highlighted the importance of stability in the Middle East, saying that upholding stability matters to the well-being of the countries and people in the region and also has great relevance to world peace, global economic development and the stability of energy supplies.

Noting that China appreciates Iran's willingness to actively improve relations with neighboring countries, Xi said that China supports countries in the region in resolving their differences through dialogue and consultation to realize good neighborliness.

China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability, he added.

Xi also called for strengthening communication and coordination between China and Iran within multilateral frameworks, including the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, practicing true multilateralism and jointly safeguarding the common interests of developing countries.

China will continue to participate in the negotiations on resuming the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iran nuclear issue, support Iran in upholding its legitimate and lawful rights and interests, and advance the proper settlement of the Iran nuclear issue at an early date, he said.

Raisi said that Iran-China relations are based on the spirit of mutual respect, and the two counties are sincere strategic partners who trust each other.

Iran remains firmly committed to deepening and improving the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and its resolve in this regard will not be affected by any change in the international and regional situations, said the Iranian president.

He said he appreciated China's assistance in fighting COVID-19 and its impartial position on the Iran nuclear issue, and said that Iran firmly supports and will actively participate in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative.

The Iranian president assured Xi that Iran resolutely supports China in upholding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stands ready to work with China in upholding regional and global peace and security.

Before the talks, Xi held a grand welcoming ceremony for Raisi.

On Tuesday, Raisi also met with Premier Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
Caribbean leaders are gathering in the Bahamas for a three-day meeting that will include discussion on the situation in Haiti.

The talks bring together heads of government from the CARICOM bloc, a 15-member group home to about 16 million people, according to its website.

Members include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis noted what he called the challenges we have in Haiti, as he spoke to reporters ahead of the meeting.

Haiti has experienced a period of instability following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, with a rise in violence and the influence of armed gangs.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is participating in the meetings, with Davis saying Trudeau is looking to see what his government can do to try to help the situation in Haiti.

Davis said whatever the solution, it must be a Haiti-led solution and that the rest of CARICOM is working to help facilitate that outcome.

What we seek to have done is to stabilize the country sufficiently enough to allow for a free and fair election, and the path and journey to that is where the challenge falls, Davis said.

The Bahamian prime minister said other agenda items include COVID-19, emerging health issues, climate change, food security and energy security. He told reporters there is an opportunity for regional leaders to unite for the benefit of the entire Caribbean.

CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett told reporters that combatting climate change means getting the countries of the world who emit the most greenhouse gases to take charge and do whats right.

Those who are causing the impact are not bearing the burden of dealing with that, Barnett said. We are the smallest emitters. We dont cause the problem; we just bear the burden.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken begins his multiday trip to Europe on Friday with his attendance at the Munich Security Conference. He will also travel to Turkey and Greece, ahead of the Feb. 24 anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine and as Turkey continues its rescue operations after powerful earthquakes brought devastation to the NATO country last week.

The three-day Munich Security Conference opens Friday. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will be among those at the annual gathering.

In Munich, Blinken will participate in a series of meetings to discuss continued support for Ukraine, and assistance to Turkey and the Syrian people after the powerful earthquakes, said the State Department.

As Ukraine prepares for a new major offensive from Russia, Western leaders at the gathering are likely to renew their commitment to support Kyiv.

A senior State Department official said the United States is working on a large security assistance package that will be announced around the one-year mark of Russias invasion. Another new sanctions package targeting Russia and its proxies can also be expected.

The senior State Department official told reporters there is no indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about diplomatic talks, but the U.S. will continue to put pressure on Russias economy to force Putin to the negotiation table.

Blinkens trip to Turkey comes as rescuers race to reach people trapped under rubble more than a week after a 7.8 magnitude quake caused severe damage both in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. The quake has killed more than 41,000 people.

Secretary Blinken will visit Incirlik Air Base in Turkiye on February 19 to see firsthand U.S. efforts to assist the Turkish authorities responding to the devastation caused by the February 6 earthquakes, said the State Department on Wednesday.

The U.S. Agency for International Developments urban search and rescue teams arrived at Incirlik Air Base last week to help with recovery efforts. Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues its mission to deliver humanitarian aid.

The top U.S. diplomats meetings in Ankara follow a visit to Washington by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on January 18. The two NATO allies have tried to mend fences over disagreements on Russias invasion of Ukraine and NATO expansion but there is no immediate sign of progress.

Some analysts and former U.S. officials say a U.S. green light to Turkeys request for F-16 jets would depend on two issues: Turkey not blocking the admission of Finland and Sweden into NATO, and no military incursion into northern Syria.

Blinken then heads to Greece where he will hold a strategic dialogue with senior officials in Athens.

In Athens, Greece, Secretary Blinken will meet with Greek Prime Minister [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister [Nikos] Dendias, and Leader of the Opposition Alexis Tsipras to discuss defense cooperation, energy security, and our shared commitment to defend democracy. Secretary Blinken will launch the fourth round of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue on February 21, according to the State Department.

Blinken last held a strategic dialogue with Dendias in October 2021 at the State Department where the two renewed a U.S.-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Greece, Turkeys regional rival and NATO ally, is seeking F-35 jets from the United States. Some analysts said the outcome of the proposed sale of F-16s to Ankara and F-35s to Athens would impact the air defense capabilities of the two neighbors and the power balance in the region.

Begum Donmez Ersoz from VOA's Turkish Service contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Cameroon's health ministry has dismissed a report of two suspected cases of Marburg virus in the country after a first deadly outbreak in neighboring Equatorial Guinea. Health officials along the border said Tuesday there were two suspected cases of the severe hemorrhagic fever in Cameroon after Malabo confirmed nine deaths and sixteen possible infections. Despite dismissing the reported cases, Cameroon's health ministry says it is increasing surveillance and travel restrictions along the border.

Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says Cameroon does not yet have any suspected cases of the Marburg virus, despite reports of two possible infections.

Health officials in Cameroons South region on Tuesday said a teenage boy and girl suffering from high fever were rushed to a hospital Monday in Olamze, on the border with Equatorial Guinea.

The health officials said the children were suspected of being infected with the Marburg virus, are in isolation, and are responding to treatment.

But Malachie seemed to contradict those reports when he spoke Wednesday to state broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television.



Malachie says the decision by Cameroon to stop Marburg virus, an illness like Ebola, by restricting movement along the border with Equatorial Guinea is so far yielding fruit. He says as of Wednesday at midday central African time, Cameroon had not reported any deaths or suspected cases of Marburg virus.

Malachie says civilians should avoid contact with animals and people who have travelled to Equatorial Guinea and make sure people with fever, fatigue, and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea are isolated.



But Malachie warned its porous border with Equatorial Guinea, which confirmed Monday its first outbreak of the deadly virus, puts it at risk.

Cameroon last week said it restricted movement along the border after Equatorial Guinea quarantined hundreds of people in Kie-Ntem Province, where the hemorrhagic fever was first reported.

The World Health Organization says Equatorial Guinea sent samples to the Pasteur Institute in Senegal, after an alert by a health official on February 7, and one of them tested positive.

The WHO says Marburg was transmitted to people from fruit bats, spreads between people via bodily fluids, and has a fatality rate of up to 88%.

Marburg is in the same family as the Ebola virus but, unlike Ebola, there are no vaccines for Marburg  just treatments for the symptoms such as dehydration and fever.

Health officials from Cameroon and Gabon, which also shares borders with Equatorial Guinea, met Tuesday in Yaounde and agreed to work together to prevent the virus from spreading.

University of Yaounde sociology lecturer Francois Bingono Bingono was in the meeting.



He says the frequent movement of people across the borders will make stopping the virus a challenge.

Bingono says in 2020 Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea restricted movement along their border to protect their populations from COVID-19, but civilians on both sides did not respect the order. He says people living on both sides of the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea border belong to the same ethnic groups, speak the same language, and celebrate happy events or mourn sad events together.



Bingono says health workers not known in border communities are struggling to educate locals that a deadly virus threatens their lives.

He says they will need traditional rulers to help convince their people.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus was first identified in 1967 in simultaneous outbreaks in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in Belgrade.

Marburg is not new to Africa but is relatively new to West Africa.

An outbreak in Ghana in September last year killed two people, while Guinea recorded one death from the virus in 2021  the first known case in West Africa.

The WHO reported previous outbreaks in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda.
Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday at the start of his trip to Europe, amid renewed tensions between China and the United States.

Macron met with Wang, the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, behind closed doors at the Elysee Palace. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is expected to meet Wang in Paris later in the day.

The French capital is the first stop on Wang's tour of Europe. In the coming days, he will also travel to Italy, Hungary, Russia and Germany. He is expected to deliver a speech at the Munich Security Conference that starts Friday.

Wang's weeklong tour of Europe is seen as part of China's efforts to restore ties with European nations at a time of rising tensions between the world's two largest economies  China and the United States  following the U.S. shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.

The trip comes amid China's persistent efforts to push back against Western pressure on trade, technology, human rights and its claims to a broad swath of the western Pacific. Chinas refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago and join others in imposing sanctions on Russia as the war heads into a second year has further frayed ties with the West and fueled an emerging divide with much of Europe.

In December, Wang defended what he said was his country's position of impartiality on the war in Ukraine and signaled that China would deepen ties with Russia in 2023.

Speaking ahead of the trip, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday that Wang will have in-depth strategic communication" aiming to "promote new developments in bilateral relations, enhance strategic mutual trust between China and Europe, and exchange views on major international issues.
The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria from last weeks powerful earthquake has now risen above 41,000, but a handful of people are still being rescued from the rubble.

On Wednesday, two women were pulled from the debris in Turkey's southern city of Kahramanmaras, and a mother and two children were rescued in Antakya nine days after the earthquake. The rescue in Antakya came 228 hours after the earthquake, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

Millions of people who survived the quake need humanitarian aid, authorities say, with many survivors left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures. Rescues are now few and far between.

With much of the region's sanitation infrastructure damaged or rendered inoperable by the earthquakes, health authorities are facing a daunting task in trying to ensure that people now remain disease-free.

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said people in war-torn Syria also face new challenges.

After visiting Syria in the last few days, she said in a statement, For more than a decade, people across Syria have experienced the devastation of armed conflict. When the 6 February earthquake struck the region, communities suffered dramatic levels of devastation no matter what side of the frontline they were on. Family and friends were killed, homes were destroyed, and people were displaced yet again. Medical care, safe drinking water, and reliable food supply sources immediately became crucial to survival."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that 35,418 people were killed in the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck near the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras on February 6, making it the deadliest earthquake in Turkish history.

The quake, which Erdogan called the disaster of the century, destroyed tens of thousands of buildings and rendered an equal number uninhabitable, leaving scores of residents without shelter from bitter winter temperatures. Authorities have arrested several building contractors and charged them with violating Turkeys building codes.

The United Nations confirmed on Wednesday that three of their Turkish staff died in the earthquake.

Meanwhile, more than 5,500 deaths have been confirmed in neighboring Syria, according to figures compiled by the United Nations humanitarian agency and Syrias state-run news agency. At least 1,400 people were killed in areas under government control, while another 4,400 are dead in Syrias rebel-held northwest.

Relief effort scales up across Syria

Meanwhile, humanitarian organizations are trying to scale up operations in Syria to meet the massive needs.

The U.N. Population Funds regional director said that across Syria there are 40,000 women who are pregnant and due to give birth in the next three months.

Many of the facilities that we visited are already depleted or damaged or both, Laila Baker, UNFPAs Arab States Regional Director told reporters by video from Aleppo. There are stock outs of medications for treating very basic things like the flu, much less something as complicated as having a C[esarean]-section.

She had just visited a maternity hospital in Aleppo, once a thriving metropolis, now scarred from 12 years of civil war and the earthquake. She said all the wards were full and the facility lacked basics, such as bed sheets. Exhausted staff were working 18-hour shifts trying to assist as many women as they could.

At makeshift shelters, many in mosques and schools, Baker said there are no toilets.

For a woman, many of whom are pregnant, they are facing dire circumstances, she said.

UNFPA launched an appeal on Tuesday for $24 million to cover immediate needs for the next three months.

Separately, 22 trucks from the World Food Program carrying canned food and mattresses, crossed Wednesday into northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border point from Turkey. WFP has also been distributing ready-to-eat meals and other food items in government-controlled areas, including Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. Also Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration delivered shelter and non-food items through the newly reopened Bab al-Salam crossing.

The United Nations says 117 trucks have crossed into the opposition-controlled northwest since aid started rolling on February 9.

On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched a $397 million appeal for the earthquake response in Syria, adding that a similar appeal is being drawn up for Turkey.

The VOA Turkish Service and VOA United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Sen at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

The two leaders had in-depth exchanges on building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era and international and regional issues of shared interest, charting the course for future China-Cambodia relations.

The two sides agreed to jointly build a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, develop a diamond cooperation framework with six priority areas, so that the impregnable ironclad friendship shared by people in both countries will be passed on for generations.

China and Cambodia are good friends with high-level mutual trust, good partners with all sincerity and a community with a shared future sharing weal and woe.

In April 2019, China and Cambodia took the lead in signing an action plan for building a community with a shared future. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China-Cambodia relations have been gradually radiating with great vitality, and the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future has yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples and making contributions to peace and development in the region and the world.

In the face of momentous changes and challenges in the world, the strategic significance of China-Cambodia relations gains further prominence.

Extending mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests is the essence of building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

China reaffirmed resolute support to Cambodian people's choice of development path that suits Cambodia's national conditions, to Cambodia's endeavors to safeguard her independence, sovereignty, security, and development interests, and to steady advancement of important Cambodian national political agenda while expressing firm opposition to any foreign interference in Cambodia's internal affairs.

The Cambodian side reaffirmed her resolute adherence to the One-China Policy, stressing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory as well as China's internal affair, which brooks no interference from any external forces. It reiterated her resolute opposition to interfering in China's internal affairs by manipulating Xinjiang-related issues.

Both sides concurred that while exploring human rights improvement, it is important to proceed from people's needs and real national conditions. Both sides expressed firm opposition to politicizing and instrumentalizing human rights issues, double standards, abusing democratic values to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign countries or provoking division and confrontation on the pretext of safeguarding democracy and human rights, or imposition of one country's will on others.

China and Cambodia agreed to develop a diamond cooperation framework with six priority areas including political cooperation, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security and people-to-people exchanges, which will inject important impetus into building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

The two countries will deepen strategic communication, enhance exchanges on governance and coordinate efforts on practical cooperation in various fields.

They agreed to deepen strategic synergy and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and Rectangular Strategies, accord a greater role to China-Cambodia Working Mechanism for Production Capacity and Investment Cooperation, and explore development of an "Industrial and Technological Corridor" towards the vision of developing Preah Sihanouk Province as a model of the multipurpose Special Economic Zone.

Together, the two countries will explore the establishment of a "Fish and Rice Corridor" centered on north-western Cambodia and the Tonle Sap Lake area, to develop modern ecological agriculture near the lake.

Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in hydropower, photovoltaics, and other clean energy sources, to explore green, stable and reliable energy cooperation solutions.

They agreed to enhance engagements between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) at all levels, strive for closer coordination and cooperation in multilateral security affairs, and continue cooperation in the exchange and sharing of information between law enforcement officials, with highlights on countering transnational crime.

They will also enhance cooperation on tourism, scientific innovation, education and health, and work together to launch cultural heritage protection and restoration projects.

The diamond cooperation framework between the two countries will surely make the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership even more prosperous.

The two countries are committed to building a new type of international relations and promoting global partnerships of equality, openness and cooperation towards a community with a shared future for mankind.

They recognize the common values for all humanity of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom and agree on the adherence to true multilateralism. They oppose all forms of hegemonism, power politics, unilateralism, and exclusive bloc politics which targets specific countries.

Xi stressed that development is not the privilege of a few countries. He said the act of power hegemony to engage in ideological confrontation, politicize and weaponize economic, trade, scientific and technological exchanges, push for "decoupling and breaking the chain," contain and suppress other countries' development, and ask regional nations to take sides, will not be supported by the people.

China stands on the right side of history and will firmly defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests as well as international fairness and justice.

Hun Sen said the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forward by China are of great significance to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. Cambodia actively supports and participates in these initiatives.

No matter how the international situation changes, the two sides will unswervingly deepen their close ironclad friendship and develop win-win practical cooperation for the mutual benefits, with a view to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples and contribute more positive energy to regional peace, stability and development.
Nearly a year after Russias invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday favorably portrayed the Kyiv governments chances of taking the initiative on the battlefield against Russian forces.

"I think they'll have a real good chance of making a pretty significant difference on the battlefield and establishing the initiative, Austin told reporters after a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels. And being able to exploit that initiative going forward.

He said that as NATO countries ship munitions to Ukraine, the U.S.-led military alliance is intent on training troops on their use. "We're laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform," he said.

Austin disparaged Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscows battlefield performance, saying on Twitter, Nearly a year since Putins reckless war of choice things havent gone the way that the Kremlin planned. NATO is more unified and more resolute than ever.

As the war approaches its first anniversary on February 24, the European Union proposed a new round of Russian sanctions on Wednesday, while NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels discussed bolstering defense spending and arms production as they pledge ongoing support for Ukrainian forces.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the sanctions package includes a ban on exports of industrial goods and tech products to Russia, saying the measures would deny Russian forces the components needed for their weapons systems.

The proposal also includes sanctions against Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to its supply of Shahed drones that Russian forces have used to attack Ukrainian infrastructure sites.

Another piece targets Russian propagandists and military commanders.

Von der Leyen said Russian President Putin is waging war in the public space with an army of propagandists and disinformation networks, and that they are spreading toxic lies to polarize our societies.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the start of the second of two days of defense ministerial talks that allies would examine ways to enhance defense industrial capacity.

Stoltenberg has stressed the need to provide Ukraine with more ammunition to keep up with its fight against Russian forces, and for allies to complete pledged deliveries of tanks and other heavy equipment.

Also Tuesday, the U.N. humanitarian affairs office and U.N. refugee agency launched a joint appeal for $5.6 billion to help those affected by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The agencies said the funds were needed to provide food, health care and other aid to those within Ukraine, as well as to help Ukrainian refugees and 10 host countries.

Almost a year on, the war continues to cause death, destruction and displacement daily, and on a staggering scale, U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele cares little for journalists or the free press, critics say. He rarely gives briefings and prefers to communicate via Twitter.

But while he does not care to be questioned too closely on his policies, analysts note that Bukele does call out media that report critically on him and his government.

Respected news websites such as El Faro and Revista Factum, which specialize in reporting on corruption, are among those targeted with accusations ranging from money laundering to false reporting.

During his time in office, Bukeles administration is alleged to have set up what an investigative article by the Reuters news agency described as a communications juggernaut staffed by paid internet trolls who target media and opposition voices.

And 35 Salvadoran reporters and civil rights activists have been targeted by Pegasus software, according to the University of Torontos Citizen Lab, which investigates digital surveillance of civil society.

Made by the Israeli company NSO, the Pegasus software is marketed to government agencies and can be used to extract cellphone data or activate cameras and microphones.

The Salvadoran Embassy in Madrid did not respond to a VOA email requesting comment.

Salvadoran authorities previously have denied using Pegasus to hack telephones. Officials, however, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment about its November 2022 investigation into the governments troll factories

Analysts have warned that the hostile relationship between press and president could pose a threat to independent media, especially during elections.

Bukele  who was elected as president in 2019  last year announced plans to run for re-election in 2024.

The announcement came after the countrys top court overturned a ban on leaders seeking two consecutive terms.

Alongside the surveillance and verbal assaults for critical coverage, threats of death or sexual violence are an all-too-common hazard for independent journalists in El Salvador.

Reporters in this tiny Central American nation say the state adds to this atmosphere of menace instead of offering some protection.

These threats coincide with the narrative of the government. Instead of protecting you, the government encourages these threats, says Jose Luis Sanz, the Washington correspondent for El Faro.

Sanz told VOA he believes state departments, including the tax office, were used to make false claims of money laundering and to intimidate advertisers of El Faro. In 2020, Bukele alleged in a news conference that El Faro was linked to money laundering, which Sanz said was false.

The freedom of press exists but it is under threat. We have received threats from different governments over the years, he said. But the level of stigmatization, criminalization and attacks toward independent journalists by the current government  and the investment put in the harassment and espionage toward journalists  has gone much further.

Sanz was among around 20 journalists at El Faro whose mobile phone messages were intercepted using Pegasus software.

During the period of hacking, El Faro was working on stories about Bukeles alleged deal-making with gangs to cut the homicide rate and support the president.

Sanz concedes there was no proof the government was behind the surveillance but notes that the Pegasus software is sold only to governments.

Attack mode

For some journalists, the harassment and threats force them to leave.

Among them is Hector Silva Avalos, who left El Salvador 18 months ago and has since claimed asylum in the U.S. with his wife and three children.

He now works for the news websites Infobae from Argentina and Prensa Comunitaria of Guatemala.

Bukeles popularity is based on the narrative which does not admit any criticism. That is why he attacks the independent press, Avalos told VOA. I suffered a campaign of harassment toward me and my family. Tax office or the police would come to my house or my relatives. They would ask about what type of vehicles we had and make other threats.

Bukele may not be popular with journalists but he is with most of the 6.5 million Salvadoran population, according to a CID Gallup poll in September. The survey found 85% supported the president while 15% disapproved.

The presidents handling of the pandemic and his decision to jail about 50,000 members of a criminal gang dramatically cut the murder rate in El Salvador to one of the lowest in the Americas.

In 2022, the homicide rate was eight for every 100,000 inhabitants compared to 105 in 2015, according to government figures.

But journalists who try to dig deeper into government policy or decisions say they face backlash.

In December 2022, Bukele took aim at opposition newspaper La Prensa Grafica when it questioned the legality of him seeking re-election.

Bitcoin is another hot topic. In 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.

Analysts cited in media have said the presidents bullying of the media has prevented proper scrutiny of his use of the countrys money to speculate on cryptocurrencies.

Financial outlets reported last year that the credit rating agency Moodys had estimated Bukeles bitcoin plan resulted in $57 million in losses.

When The New York Times reported on El Salvadors bitcoin experiment and predicted the country would default on a loan, Bukele went on the offensive.

Full page spreads on the @nytimes and all, creating the narrative that El Salvador was broke and going to default. I called them out at the time but of course who was going to believe us and not every international news outlet and their economic geniuses? he tweeted in January.

Michael Shifter, adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Washingtons Georgetown University, said Bukeles campaign against the media had damaged a core pillar of democracy: the free press.

The unrelenting criticisms of the media have instilled a climate of fear, leading to self-censorship and reporting limited and anodyne subjects, he told VOA. Bukeles war against the independent press may play well politically, but it is damaging a system which is based on checks and balances.

In Latin America, the Salvadoran president is far from alone in terms of hostility toward the press.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei have met with criticism for their approach to media.

Last week, Ortega expelled 222 imprisoned civil rights activists, political leaders, priests, and journalists and stripped them of their citizenship.
Indian tax officials carried out searches of British Broadcasting Corporation offices in New Delhi and Mumbai on Wednesday for a second consecutive day.

The action, which the government has called a tax "survey," has been slammed by opposition parties, global media watchdogs and Indian media organizations as an attempt to silence dissent and intimidate the media.

The searches began weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary on communal riots that swept through the western state of Gujarat in 2002, killing at least a 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was its head.

The two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question," which raised issues about Modi's actions and claims he was "directly responsible" for the "climate of impunity" that enabled the violence, was denounced by India's foreign ministry as "propaganda." It said "the bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible" in the coverage.

The BBC has called the documentary "rigorously researched." It was not aired in India, and the government blocked all videos and tweets sharing links to it using emergency powers under its information technology laws. In recent weeks, members of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have accused the BBC of targeting India at a time when the country's stature is rising globally.

The searches, which began Tuesday, continued overnight and into Wednesday. The Income Tax department has not made any official comment, but the Press Trust of India said that officials were making copies of electronic and other financial data. The BBC has said that it is cooperating fully.

The income tax survey was not vindictive or "done out of a sense of pique," Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, told the Times Now news channel.

Domestic media reports have quoted unnamed sources saying the broadcaster was in "deliberate non-compliance" with its regulations.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington is aware of the search but is not in a position to offer any judgment, adding only that "we support the importance of a free press around the world."

"We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world," Price told reporters on Tuesday. "It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India's democracy."

Since the searches began, there has been a chorus of criticism about the action against Britain's public broadcaster, with several pointing out that Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target news outlets that are critical.

In a Wednesday editorial, the Indian Express newspaper said given the Modi government's treatment of critical media and civil society, the latest action against the BBC "smacks of bullying and an attempt to intimidate."

The Press Club of India said in a statement Tuesday that the action appears to be a "clear cut case of vendetta, coming within weeks of a documentary aired by the BBC." It said that it "will damage the reputation and image of India as the world's largest democracy."

India's press freedom ranking fell from 142 to 150 in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, in which one is considered most free.
Iran has released an award-winning filmmaker more than six months after arresting him for criticizing the government, a pro-reform newspaper reported.

Mohammad Rasoulof, whose 2020 film, There is No Evil, won the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, is one of several prominent artists, athletes and other celebrities detained in recent months for criticizing authorities.

Rasoulof was arrested in July for criticizing the government's crackdown on protests in the southwestern city of Abadan over a deadly building collapse. Two months later, nationwide protests broke out after a 22-year-old woman died in the custody of the country's morality police.

The Shargh newspaper, which is associated with the country's reform movement, said Rasoulof had recently been furloughed from prison and was formally released, without specifying the dates or providing further information. There was no official comment.

Earlier this month, Iran released famed director Jafar Panahi, who was arrested in July after inquiring about the detention of Rasoulof and another colleague. Authorities also released Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti on bail, after she was detained for criticizing the crackdown on the latest protests.

Street protests

Iranians took to the streets over the September death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the country's strict Islamic dress code. The protests escalated into calls for the overthrow of the country's ruling clerics, marking one of the biggest challenges the rulers have faced since coming to power in the 1979 revolution.

At least 529 protesters have been killed and nearly 20,000 arrested since those protests began, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has closely monitored the unrest. Iranian authorities have not released official figures for those killed or arrested.

There Is No Evil, which tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran, won the Golden Bear prize at Berlin in 2020. Rasoulof wasnt there to accept the award due to a travel ban imposed on him by Iranian authorities.
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.
New Zealand is beginning the process of recovery and assessment of the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, which finally moved out to sea Wednesday.

At least four people have been confirmed dead as a result of the worst storm to ever hit the Pacific island nation, including a volunteer firefighter who was swept away in a landslide on the North Islands east coast bay. Another victim was a young child who was caught in rising water Tuesday in the Eskdale community of Hawkes Bay on North Island.

Cyclone Gabrielle dumped as much as 40 centimeters of rain on the North Island after making landfall on Monday, triggering flash floods and landslides that washed away roads and cut off entire communities from the outside world. At least 9,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes, while other residents were forced onto their rooftops to escape the rising floodwaters.

Authorities say more than 1,400 people on North Island are still unaccounted for, while the number of properties without power has dropped from 225,000 on Tuesday to at least 144,000 properties Wednesday.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins declared a national emergency on Tuesday, only the third time the decree has ever been issued in New Zealands history.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
The New Zealand government declared a national state of emergency Tuesday after Cyclone Gabrielle battered the country's north in what officials described as the nation's most severe weather event in years.

A firefighter was missing, and another was rescued with critical injuries after they were caught in a landslide overnight near the country's largest city, Auckland, authorities said.

Auckland was swamped two weeks ago by a record-breaking storm that killed four people.

The national emergency declaration enables the government to support affected regions and provide additional resources, the government said. It is only the third national emergency ever declared.

The country was lashed by intense rainfall overnight that forced evacuations of 2,500 people and brought widespread flooding, road closures including the main route between Auckland and the capital Wellington, and left communities isolated and without telecommunications.

Weather conditions eased Tuesday as the weather system tracked southeast over ocean away from New Zealand, a nation of 5 million people.

But 225,000 homes and businesses remained without power and people were continuing to be evacuated, emergency services reported.

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, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

Hipkins could not yet say how the scale of the latest destruction compared to Cyclone Bola.

"Certainly, the reports that we've had is that it's the most extreme weather event that we've experienced in a very long time," Hipkins told reporters in Wellington. "In the fullness of time, we'll know how it compares with Cyclone Bola."

Hipkins said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had phoned offering his country's support and assistance. The Australian government also said New Zealand's near-neighbor was ready to provide support where and if needed, Hipkins said.

The national state of emergency includes six regions where local emergencies already had been declared. They are Auckland, along with the regions of Northland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke's Bay.

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," Ferris said. "We've seen the worst of the storm now. We've just got to get through today."

Hipkins 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.

"I want to acknowledge the situation New Zealanders have been waking up to this morning," Hipkins told reporters. "A lot of families [are] displaced. A lot of homes [are] without power. Extensive damage done across the country."

"It will take us a wee [little] 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," Hipkins added.

Much of Auckland ground to a halt Monday as train services were canceled, libraries and most schools were closed, and authorities asked people to make only essential trips.

Air New Zealand canceled all domestic flights to and from Auckland through Tuesday morning, as well as many international flights.

International and domestic flights had resumed Tuesday afternoon at Auckland Airport, but disruptions and delays were expected for the next few days, Hipkins said.
Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS) has warned politicians not to publish false or harmful information in the run-up to next week's presidential election. The warning came after the ruling All Progressives Congress party's campaign director accused the military and an opposition candidate of plotting a coup. Fact checkers are working overtime to debunk false news ahead of the February 25 elections.

The notice to politicians was contained in a statement Tuesday.

The Department of State Services said political parties and their media managers must restrain from spreading misleading information during campaigns and when issuing communiques.

The DSS said such misinformation could lead to violent reactions and disrupt peace and order.

The warning comes in the wake of the agency's investigation of the campaign director for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Femi Fani-Kayode alleged on Twitter that the opposition People's Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was planning a coup d'etat.

The DSS interrogated Fani-Kayode Wednesday. VOA could not immediately get comments from the service on the investigation.

Paul James, an elections program officer at YIAGA Africa, a nonprofit organization promoting democracy, says slander among political parties is not new.

"The DSS is investigating that and has called the person in for questioning, we hope to see how that would end," said James. "From the Ondo elections in 2020, we saw things like this. The military has come out to outrightly deny that. But not just that, you need to begin to do things, the kind of communications that will inspire confidence.

Fani-Kayode will report to the DSS every week until the investigation is over.

On Monday, he spoke to journalists in Abuja after being interrogated for five hours and said he regretted posting the tweet without confirmation from authorities.

Nigeria is seeing a heightened spread of fake news and disinformation in a push for votes ahead of the elections.

The country goes to the polls on February 25 to elect a new president, with three candidates as front runners.

A Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition, made up of 14 newsrooms, is working to curb the spread of falsehoods.

But the coalition's Kemi Busari says it is more challenging to keep up with the trend of misinformation these days.

"What we noticed currently is a proliferation of false information especially about the election," said Busari. "We also see a lot of false information about the electoral process. We get a lot more false information these days. Before, I could say the average copies that come to my desk each day was about two to five, but now we're having nothing less than 10-15 copies in a day and it's not possible for us to fact check everything."

Busari says the fact checkers coalition is setting up centers in Lagos and Abuja to monitor the elections and information about the voting in real time.
Last weeks disastrous earthquakes have shaken the political fortunes of leaders in Turkey and Syria, analysts say. Some see a possible accelerated path to regime normalization for pariah Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while an onslaught of criticism has engulfed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling into question his re-election bid.

More than a decade of conflict and blocked borders to aid deliveries have hampered access to the rebel-held area of northwest Syria, decimated by the powerful quakes. Turkey has received the lions share of international assistance to date. The Norwegian Refugee Council and 35 other nongovernmental organizations are demanding increased support for Syrias affected areas, saying the humanitarian response must match the scale of the disaster.



Syria expert Charles Lister of the Washington-based Middle East Institute said, It shouldnt surprise us that the Assad regime is willing to take advantage of a catastrophic natural disaster to serve its own interests, citing Syrian government appeals to the United Nations and aid deliveries from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iraq and Italy. But he warned against lifting sanctions on the government to further its normalization.

"The main area of exploitation is its demand for sanctions relief," Lister told the Italian Institute of International Political Studies. "There is no correlation between the sanctions imposed on the regime by the United States, the European Union, Canada or the United Kingdom and the delivery of humanitarian aid. In 2022, the billions of dollars of aid that flowed into regime areas, through Damascus, 91% of that was funded by the four sanctioning entities."

Lister added that we do probably appear to be on an accelerated path toward the normalization of the regime, but a lot of it will depend on how the regime responds: whether it is stubborn or more pragmatic as it deals with requests for further aid and how it deals with the governments that continue to press against it.

Meanwhile, analysts say Erdogan has come under fire for his governments reaction to the earthquakes, as the death toll rises in the southwest and affects his chances of re-election.



Dorothee Schmid, who leads the Turkey and Mideast program at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris, said Erdogan "was already in a slightly delicate situation because he has not always been leading in the polls last year. Everybody is wondering whether the popularity of the party is going to be damaged by the difficult response to the earthquakes. The party is really on the front line to confront the growing anger of the local population."

Schmid also said there a debate about whether Erdogans government is totally unable to cope with the situation or if any government would be completely helpless, given the magnitude" of the quakes.
Vietnamese rescuers search for victims in Hatay province of Turkey. (Photo: VNA)

The leader unveiled the information in a letter sent to the Presidents of Turkey and Syria, in which he said Vietnamese ministries and agencies will be assigned to take more necessary support measures in the time ahead.

On February 9 and 12, two delegations of 100 military personnel and police officers, along with equipment, were sent to Turkey to join search and rescue operations in the country.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Iran and Syria have kept a close watch on the situation, sent officials to the sites, supported the rescue teams, contributed one days salary, provided essential goods and assisted victims of the natural disasters, among activities./.
A Russian journalist was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on Wednesday for accusing the Russian air force of bombing a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol last April where women and children were sheltering.



The Lenin district court in the Siberian city of Barnaul also banned Maria Ponmarenko from working as a journalist for five years, according to a court service statement. State prosecutors had asked for a nine-year sentence.

"Patriotism is love for the motherland, and love for one's motherland should not be expressed by encouraging crime," Ponmarenko told the court before her sentencing, according to the RusNews outlet where she worked. "Attacking your neighbor is a crime."

"If it is a war  then call it a war," she said from a cage in the courtroom. "This is a state crime against the army  it is like spitting on the graves of veterans."

The Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupol was destroyed by an air strike on the morning of March 16, 2022. It had been used as a haven for civilians during the Russian siege of the city.

Kyiv accused Russia of bombing the theater, while Russia said it had been blown up by Ukrainian nationalists.

Ponmarenko was detained in April for her online posting under laws introduced shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. The laws impose stiff penalties for discrediting the armed forces.

Ukrainian officials said at least 300 people had been killed in the theater.

An investigation by Amnesty International concluded that Russian forces had committed a war crime by striking the theater. It said at least a dozen people had been killed but that many additional deaths remained unreported.

Russia says it goes to great lengths to avoid injuring civilians in its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The newspaper Kommersant said Ponomarenko had been diagnosed with "hysterical personality disorder" while in detention, and had cut her wrists. It cited her lawyer as saying she suffered from claustrophobia and had broken a window.
The chief diplomat in Afghanistans ruling Islamist Taliban has rejected as baseless Russias allegations that thousands of Islamic State militants have gathered in northern Afghanistan and threaten the stability of the Central Asian region.

How come thousands of such people are concentrated in one place and still no one can see them or is aware of them? Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi asked Wednesday in a televised speech at a ceremony in Kabul marking the 34th anniversary of the Soviet troop withdrawal from the country.

Everyone is welcome here, see the situation with their own eyes and discuss with us if they have any concerns to share. But leveling baseless allegations to malign and add to the sufferings of this nation reeling from decades of war must come to an end, Muttaqi said.

The Taliban response comes a day after a top Russian army general said that extremist groups had gained a foothold in Afghanistan, becoming the biggest threat to stability in the region.

Russias chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov, described al-Qaida and the Afghan branch of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K, as the most dangerous of the groups in question.

"The number of members of the Islamic States Afghan branch, Wilayat Khorasan (IS-K), has significantly increased to about 6,500, with up to 4,000 militants concentrated along Tajikistan's southern border in the [Afghan] provinces of Badakhshan, Kunduz, and Takhar," Russian official media quoted Sidorov as saying.

The Russian allegations came on the same day Taliban special forces raided an IS-K hideout in the Afghan capital, killing three militants and capturing one.

A suicide bombing outside Moscows diplomatic mission in Kabul last September killed at least two embassy staffers and four Afghan visa-seekers. IS-K claimed responsibility.

The terror group has also targeted Pakistans embassy in the Afghan capital and a Chinese-run hotel in recent weeks.

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 also questions Taliban claims of degrading IS-Ks presence in Afghanistan and describes the terror group as a dangerous Islamic State regional affiliate.
At her first presidential campaign event on Wednesday, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley told an enthusiastic crowd in Charleston that it is time for the country to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past.

Haley did not mention former President Donald Trump, instead focusing her criticism on the nations current leader, Democrat Joe Biden.

Our leaders are failing. No one embodies that failure more than Joe Biden, she said.

To face Biden, however, Haley will need to get past Trump, who has already declared his candidacy, and numerous other expected Republican hopefuls.

Haley, ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, is the first prominent Republican to launch a 2024 campaign to formally oppose her former boss. Her entry into the race reverses a promise she made.

I would not run if President Trump does, Haley told reporters on Dec. 4, 2021.

Through a campaign spokesperson, Trump, in a statement to VOA, noted Haleys previous pledge and said he told her, She should follow her heart and do what she wants to do, adding, I wish her luck!

Haley, an accountant before entering politics, was relatively unknown in her home state when she made her initial successful run for governor in 2011. She would go on to serve a second term, when she raised her national profile by dealing with a mass shooting by a white gunman in a Black church and signing legislation to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House.

Haley said she was repeatedly underestimated in her previous political races, noting it was not always easy for her as a child in South Carolina, a brown girl growing up in a Black and white world. Haley is the daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrants from India.

In her inaugural presidential campaign video, released Tuesday, Haley portrays herself as a face of the partys future rather than one from its past.

Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change, says Haley, a point she also emphasized at Wednesdays rally.

Haley, who is 51, told supporters at the campaign event there should be mandatory competency tests for politicians over 75 years old. Biden is 80. Trump turns 77 in June.

As U.N. ambassador, she was loyal to President Trump and didn't break with him as some of the Republican Party did. So those things, I think, would be on the positive side for a Republican voter looking at a new candidate. On the negative side, it's not clear that she has as strong a lane or as strong an attraction to America, to Republican voters as some others, says American Enterprise Institute senior fellow John Fortier. He describes Haley as a dynamic figure.

Haleys candidacy declaration likely is just the first among Republicans seeking to thwart Trumps return to the White House. Among those considering entering the race are three men who served in Trumps administration -- his vice president, Mike Pence, the former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and former national security advisor John Bolton.

The big person we're talking in this field as a potential alternative to Donald Trump is the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, notes Fortier. And I think the reasons for that is that he did portray, as a large-state governor in a Republican-leaning state, many of the characteristics of Donald Trump.

The governor, who focuses on culture war issues as does Trump, is expected to dominate other Republican hopefuls in raising funds. That may make him attractive to party loyalists desiring a strong candidate to face Biden, the expected Democratic Party nominee.

If Haley continues to poll in the single digits, she is more likely to be considered as a running mate (vice presidential candidate) to the eventual party nominee.

Conservative media figures are mostly expressing skepticism, questioning the viability of her campaign and whether shes a liberal in disguise.

Theres a rule in politics that you never run for vice president, said Federalist senior contributor Benjamin Weingarten, speaking on the conservative Newsmax TV channel. The way the field will ultimately cull thats the highest seat she could probably attain.

Haley is a liberal in outlook and mindset, declared conservative lawyer Will Chamberlain on Twitter. She is from South Carolina so she had to run as a Republican. But her views are ultimately formed by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is not playing favorites, predicting a vigorous primary process for his party.

I think its going to be very, very competitive in these primaries and well hope for the best and obviously I'm going to support whoever the nominee ultimately is, he told reporters on Tuesday.

A crowd of candidates competing against the former president and each other could pave the way for Trump, who was twice impeached, to repeat what he did as a political newcomer in 2016  having just enough support to clear the field and capture the Republican Partys nomination.
With the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching and fighting still raging, officials in Kyiv are nonetheless looking toward post-war reconstruction, a task that experts say will be extremely onerous and require vast levels of international support and major changes within Ukraine itself.

The size of the task is daunting. For a full year, Ukraine has been hammered by Russian artillery and missiles, much of it intentionally aimed at vital elements of the countrys infrastructure.

In a report issued in January, the Kyiv School of Economics estimated that as of December, the war had damaged or destroyed 149,300 residential buildings, including 131,400 private houses; 17,500 apartment buildings; and 280 dormitories. More than 3,000 educational institutions, from preschools to universities, were damaged or destroyed, as were hundreds more hospitals, religious institutions, cultural facilities and more.

In addition, the Ukrainian government estimates that 160,000 square kilometers of its territory, an area roughly the size of Tunisia, is potentially contaminated with land mines and other unexploded ordnance that will need to be cleared.

Huge financial burden

Estimates of how much it will cost to rebuild the country vary, but last year Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the price tag would likely top $1 trillion and increases every day the fighting continues.

Jonathan D. Katz, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told VOA that while the funding will come from a mix of sources, potentially the most important effort will be giving the private sector the confidence to invest money in the recovery effort.

You're going to have bilateral donors, international financial institutions and other multilateral instruments that will be used to support reconstruction recovery, Katz said. In addition to those donors, the private sector is going to be critical. You're going to need to have the type of economic support from the private sector, including direct foreign investment, that will support the type of economic growth [needed] in Ukraine.

Investment bank tapped

The Ukrainian Ministry of Economy this week signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase under which the bank will advise the government on how to finance the enormously expensive task of reconstruction.

JPMorgan Chase, with expertise in capital markets and contacts with major investors, is expected to establish connections between Ukraine and private investors interested in financing the rebuilding and modernization of the country. It will also advise the Ukrainian government on managing its finances and stabilizing its economy.

We are proud of our long-standing support of Ukraine and committed to doing our part to lift up the country and its people," Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said in a press release issued by the Ukrainian government."The full resources of JPMorgan Chase are available to Ukraine as it charts its post-conflict path to growth."

Speaking to a summit of more than 200 international investors organized by the bank, Zelenskyy began making the case for foreign direct investment.

"I understand very well that doing business and investing cannot be beneficial to only one party, he said. We want you to invest in Ukraine and earn money.

Tackling corruption

One major stumbling block facing Ukraine as it contemplates a future recovery is the persistence of corruption within the government. It was a known problem before the invasion, but even in recent weeks, senior government officials have been charged with misusing funds and were dismissed.

Historically, there's been a real issue with corruption in Ukraine, Brian Cavanaugh, former senior director for resilience policy with the White House National Security Council, told VOA. The oligarchy system has hampered economic growth on the whole. That's one area that they're going to have to demonstrate progress.

Cavanaugh, now a senior vice president at advisory firm American Global Strategies, noted that one of the hurdles for Ukraine as it tries to join the European Union is the lack of transparency in the governments bookkeeping, making audits difficult and unreliable.

He said he expects Ukraines work with JPMorgan Chase will include putting systems in place that will help both international donors and investors feel confident that money is being spent where the government says it will be spent.

As they look to demonstrate that aggressive growth in the financial system, auditability is going to have to be a primary factor, Cavanaugh said.

Avoiding waste

Another major challenge for Ukraine will be making sure aid money that flows into the country does not flow into the pockets of foreign aid workers, nongovernmental organizations, contractors and others, said Patrice McMahon, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who has studied post-conflict reconstruction programs.

What we have seen in every post-conflict reconstruction and in lots of other contexts is that most of the money goes back into the pockets of people from North America or Western Europe, rather than people on the ground, McMahon told VOA.

Historically, she said, many post-conflict reconstruction projects are less effective than they could be, because instead of relying on local on-the-ground organizations, they bring in far more expensive teams from overseas.

McMahon said there is already a robust volunteer social movement in Ukraine and encouraged potential reconstruction donors to identify them in advance.

We need to find out who the actors are, how they work together, what sectors they are involved with, and make sure that money is channeled directly to those organizations, she said.

Reasons for optimism

Nancy Qian, a professor at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, argues that there is good reason to be optimistic about Ukraines future, and that European countries, especially, should commit themselves to the reconstruction of their neighbor.

Winning the actual armed conflict is only half the battle, maybe even less than half the battle, because [conflict with Russia] will just happen again if Ukraine doesn't have a strong and functional economy, Qian told VOA. Having economic stability is a prerequisite for political stability, which is a prerequisite for social stability.

Qian said for Ukraines neighbors, investing in Ukraines future is tantamount to investing in themselves.

If they want a strong European Union, they want a strong Ukraine, she said.

As one of the regions largest countries with vast natural resources and a well-educated population, Qian said, Ukraine has the potential to be a major economic engine for the region.
A group of Ukrainian protesters have sailed a yacht close to a Russian warship docked in Cape Town ahead of South Africa-hosted wargames with the Russian and Chinese navies. Critics say South Africa's hosting of Russian warships for drills at the one-year anniversary of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine pokes holes in its claim to neutrality.

Military men in uniform stood on the deck of Russias Admiral Gorshkov frigate Tuesday and watched protesters aboard a yacht, which bore the Ukrainian flag.

Fearless, the group of eight, mostly women, shouted and held signs reading Stop the War.

The Russian news agency Tass quoted an unnamed official saying the hypersonic Zircon missiles carried by the Admiral Gorshkov will be test-fired during the drills.

Because of their speed, the missiles cannot be detected by existing missile defense systems.

The South African National Defense Force did not reply to requests to confirm the test firing.

Protester Dzvinka Kuchar of the Ukrainian Association of South Africa says human rights activists and environmentalists are begging the South African government to stop the war games.

Russian state media which is fully controlled by Russian government has already said that they are planning to fire Zircon missiles during those trainings (sic)," said Kuchar. "We understand that this is pure propaganda to take attention away from what Russia is doing in Ukraine. And what Russia is doing theyre killing civilians, theyre destroying hospitals, theyre destroying the lives of millions of people.

Kuchar says South Africa, which has chosen to take a neutral stance in Russias war on Ukraine and abstained on several United Nations resolutions condemning the onslaught, is simply being used by Vladimir Putin.

I know South Africa says we are a sovereign country, and we can be friends with any country that we want. And this is true," said Kuchar. "But if you choose to be friends with a country that is running a war, it also sends a message about yourself. You can be friends but at least say to your friend that is causing gender-based violence Stop beating your wife.

The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, who belongs to the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, replied to a tweet by the Russian Consulate in Cape Town and told the ship to "Voetsek." That is an impolite Afrikaans word that means go away.

He said the ship is not welcome and that the city would not be complicit in Russias evil war.

Political analyst Daniel Silke, Director of the Political Futures consultancy, says if South Africa keeps making decisions to side with Russia, there could be consequences in terms of its global standing.

I think South Africa is entering a mine field of attempting to find a balancing act here," said Silke. "But I do think that when it comes to assistance and aid from the United States perhaps from even some Western countries, I think there may well be a reluctance, there may well be a frowning on South Africas stance on this particular issue.

The Admiral Gorshkov left Cape Town harbor Wednesday and is making its way to the site of the military drills off the coast of South Africas KwaZulu Natal province.

The exercise is scheduled to take place from February 17 to 27.

This is the second naval exercise South Africa is carrying out with Russia and China  which are two of its four partners in the BRICS alliance. The first took place in 2019.

Several anti-war protests against the drills are planned.
The United Nations is appealing for $5.6 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of Ukrainian civilians affected by Russias invasion of their country nearly one year ago.

The bulk of the joint Humanitarian Response and Refugee Response Plans launched Wednesday  $3.9 billion  will help ease the plight of 11.1 million people displaced or living precariously inside Ukraine, while $1.7 billion will assist 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees and communities hosting them in 10 European countries.

Martin Griffiths, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said U.N. teams in Ukraine are prioritizing the needs of people living on the Ukrainian side of the front lines in areas of great danger and difficulty.

Yesterday, U.N. staff in Dnipro travelled in six pre-loaded trucks and headed to the Donetsk region, some 200 kilometers away, to two villages in the worst of those war zones, he said. It is a very hot area of the war at the moment. People are under daily shelling, daily attacks, homes bombed, freezing cold, electricity problems.

His colleagues, Griffiths said, delivered medicine, heaters, food, blankets, and other essential relief for 1,200 people.

He added, That goes on day in, day out in Ukraine as a result of this terrible war.

Since Russian forces attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 18,955 civilian casualties, including 7,199 killed and 11,756 injured  among them many women and children.

However, when it released the latest estimates Monday, the agency noted that OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.

The U.N. refugee agency reports Russias invasion of Ukraine has triggered the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, displacing about one third of Ukraines population of 40 million.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, says Russias war of aggression against Ukraine also has created the largest displacement crisis in the world.

Almost six million estimated internally displaced people, plus the refugees in Europe who have registered for temporary protection, are close to five million, 4.8 million. But we know that there are many more that have not. So, the scale of displacement continues to be quite massive, he said.

The Refugee Response Plan includes 10 refugee host countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Grandi says the temporary protection arrangements offered by those countries have provided refugees with the right to work, access services and to be included in national systems.

We must not, however, take this response, or the hospitality of host communities, for granted, he said. Continued international support and solidarity is needed until refugees are able to return to their homes in safety and dignity, which must also remain a priority.

Grandi recognized that the appeal for Ukraine is very large and is in stiff competition with other humanitarian crises at a time when funding is scarce.

It is not our fault if there are many crises, he said. The appeal is large because the needs are enormous.

He warned the needs might get even larger if God forbid, the military evolution develops even worse than it already is.

He said contingency plans of various kinds have been drawn up to take that likelihood into consideration.

These appeals that we are launching takes into account the likelihood of protracted hostilities that do affect civilians and civilian infrastructure, of the pace and scale that we have seen in the last few months, he said.
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, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Russia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine and has pushed back against previous claims it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

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."
The United States Justice Department has in recent months escalated its antitrust probe on Apple Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter.

Reuters had previously reported the Justice Department opened an antitrust probe into Apple in 2019.

The Wall Street Journal report said more litigators have now been assigned, while new requests for documents and consultations have been made with all the companies involved.

The probe will also look at whether Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, is anti-competitive, favoring its own products over those of outside developers, the report added.

The Justice Department declined to comment, while Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 February 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 China's law and international law," he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of laser.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said 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."

"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 world's 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 guard's "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 Beijing's 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 China's aggressive actions in the disputed waters in 2022 alone.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in the spring, and that the 54 members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group are focused on providing Kyiv with the ammunition, fuel and spare parts they will need. VOAs Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (right) and his El Salvador counterpart Alexandra Hill Tinoco. (Photo: VNA)

Accordingly, the two sides will step up the exchange of delegations at all levels, consolidate cooperation mechanisms and organise the second deputy foreign minister-level political consultation in the time ahead.

They will also work to foster cooperation in economy, trade and investment by utilising strengths of each side and providing mutual support in spheres, such as agriculture, garment-textile and electronic components of Vietnam, and tourism and fisheries of El Salvador, while facilitating the exchange of delegations of businesses.

Welcoming Tinocos first visit to Vietnam in her capacity as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Son spoke highly of El Salvadors opening of its embassy in Vietnam on this occasion, calling it an important step contributing to strengthening the bilateral ties.

Vietnam attaches importance to the traditional friendship with El Salvador and hopes to deepen cooperation between the two countries, especially in economy, trade, investment, agriculture, food security, science-technology, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges, the minister affirmed.

He suggested the two sides maintain close coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums.

For her part, Tinoco stated that the government of El Salvador, in its foreign policy, always attaches importance and wishes to boost relations with Vietnam.

Regarding the opening of the Embassy of El Salvador in Vietnam, one of the first two embassies opened by the country in Southeast Asia, the minister noted that it will contribute to promoting the bilateral relations across fields.

She agreed that the two countries will coordinate closely to expand cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally, for the sake their people, and contributing to addressing global challenges./.
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.

SEE ALSO:

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.
Mqondisi Dube

GABORONE, BOTSWANA  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.
One On One - with Joyce Smith and Jason Noble
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- How close a person lives to a major road could have an impact on their eczema risk.

New research suggests that folks who live farther from one are less likely to develop the skin condition.

A 13-year medical chart review focused on patients in Denver, from infants to age 18.

Those with eczema were compared to an equal-sized control group of patients without the condition. In all, the study included more than 14,000 children.

The researchers calculated the distance from their homes to a road with annual traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles a day.

The risk of eczema (atopic dermatitis) dropped 21% for every 10-fold increase in distance from a major road, the study found.

In the end, we found children who lived 1,000 meters [0.6 miles] or more from a major road had 27% lower odds of atopic dermatitis compared to children who lived within 500 meters of a major road, said lead author Dr. Michael Nevid, a fellow at National Jewish Health in Denver, who pursued this research after learning about a similar study in Asia.

This is an early association study, so more work needs to be done to examine the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the association, Nevid said in a news release from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

The findings were published in a February online supplement to The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. They are also scheduled to be presented during a meeting in San Antonio of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Feb. 24 to 27.

More information

The National Eczema Association has more on eczema and the environment.

SOURCE: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, news release, Feb. 3, 2023
Rebel Wilson is set to launch a dating app.

The 42-year-old actress - who is in a relationship with Ramona Agruma - is launching a new dating app named Fluid and Rebel has explained how it relates to her own love life.

The Hollywood star - who has a three-month-old baby called Royce, who was born via a surrogate - said: "This is the first dating app where you don't have to actually define yourself or tick a box to say 'I'm straight, I'm gay, I'm bisexual,' and you don't have to describe what you are looking for."

Rebel is one of the app's founders and she's proud of its inclusive approach.

She told PEOPLE: "What's really cool is, it's open to everyone.

"You might just be interested in checking out a wider dating pool like I was. It covers a lot of the LGBTQIA spectrum, but I think even if you're straight you could use the app and have an amazing time."

Rebel actually wishes the app existed "five years ago".

The actress added: "Something like this would have really helped me and maybe I would have stumbled upon a female's profile and been like, 'OK, maybe I do want to message them.' I totally would have joined up for Fluid because you don't have to label yourself in any way. You just see who you connect with.

"I know that, to me, it doesn't matter about the gender, it just matters about the person."

Rebel also believes that Fluid is quite distinct from the better-known dating apps.

She said: "I haven't looked at every single one, but the big ones we looked at, you still had to categorize yourself, and I just think there was a real gap in the dating app market because I think the existing ones skew older maybe or don't take into account this kind of movement of sexual fluidity."
The articles on Voltaire Network may be freely reproduced provided the source is cited, their integrity is respected and they are not used for commercial purposes (license CC BY-NC-ND).

Source: NATO becomes a coalition of the willing, Voltaire Network, 15 February 2023, www.voltairenet.org/article218858.html
Delegates at the event (Photo: VNA)

This was also the first event after two years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was attended by all officials and employees of the representative agencies of Vietnam in Hong Kong, a large number of overseas Vietnamese in Hong Kong and representatives of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Macau to celebrate the atmosphere of the new spring.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Consul General in Hong Kong Pham Binh Dam said that this was an opportunity for overseas Vietnamese to meet and share the joy in the homeland spring atmosphere.

He said that over the past time, the Consulate General of Vietnam has devoted time to the community work, the issue of entry visas for students has been officially opened and more and more Vietnamese students have been in Hong Kong, and work visas will also be eased soon. Currently, Vietnamese experts can be granted work visas in Hong Kong with the direct support of the Consulate General.

On the occasion of the meeting, the Liaison Committee of the Vietnamese Community in Hong Kong and the Vietnamese Student Association in Hong Kong were officially launched. In the coming time, the Vietnamese business community in Hong Kong will also be established.

At the event, Vietnamese Consul General Pham Binh Dam and overseas Vietnamese enjoyed traditional dishes and art programs performed by overseas Vietnamese.

After 2 years of suspending travel between Hong Kong and Macau due to the pandemic prevention policy, this year, the representative of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Macau attended a meeting on the occasion of the New Year.

Mr. Duong Trung Duc, President of the Overseas Vietnamese Association of Vietnamese in Macau, shared that over the past years, overseas Vietnamese in Hong Kong and Macau have had no direct contact. He hoped that in the coming time, the two sides would have regular exchanges, hoping that the Vietnamese community in Hong Kong and Macau would grow stronger and unite together more closely.

On this occasion, the Consulate General of Vietnam in Hong Kong awarded certificates of merit to representatives of overseas Vietnamese as well as overseas Vietnamese living and working in Hong Kong making many positive contributions to the homeland.

Currently, there are about 7,000 Vietnamese people living, working and studying in Hong Kong./.
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.

Editor: WXL
*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.

Editor: WXL
Berlusconi had been accused of bribing witnesses in Bunga Bunga case.

A court in Milan on Wednesday acquitted former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi in a high-profile case in which he was accused of bribing witnesses to lie about his infamous "Bunga Bunga" parties.

Prosecutors had accused Berlusconi of paying 24 people, mostly young showgirls and models, to stay silent or lie about the nature of the parties, which he hosted while serving as prime minister of Italy.

Berlusconi, 86, has always denied the allegations and described the parties at his Arcore estate near Milan and in Sardinia as "elegant dinners".

In 2013 the former premier and billionaire media mogul was convicted of paying for sex with then 17-year-old Moroccan dancer Karima El Mahroug, known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer", in 2010.

After appealing the verdict Berlusconi was cleared in 2015 over lack of proof that he knew she was a minor. However prosecutors claimed that witnesses were bought off, and sought a jail term of six years.

Berlusconi was also acquitted in two other cases of alleged bribery relating to the so-called Bunga Bunga case, in Rome in 2022 and in Siena in 2021.

He has previously acknowledged giving money and gifts to his guests but claimed it was as compensation for "reputational damage" that they suffered.

The Bunga Bunga case was among several scandals that led to Berlusconi's resignation as prime minister in 2011.

However he made a remarkable political comeback last year and his centre-right Forza Italia party is today part of the governing right-wing coalition led by premier Giorgia Meloni.

Last October he returned to the senate nine years after being expelled from elected office following a tax fraud conviction.

Meloni on Wednesday welcomed Berlusconi's acquittal as "excellent news that puts an end to a long judicial affair that also had important repercussions on Italian political and institutional life".

Antonio Tajani, Italy's deputy premier and the national co-ordinator of Forza Italia, also hailed the "wonderful news" of his party leader's acquittal, adding: "I had no doubts about his innocence".

Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com
Who was Lidia Poet?

Lidia Poet endured humiliation and sacrifice to pursue her desire to be a lawyer, and she ultimately succeeded.

From Turin, she was the first woman in Italy to register as a lawyer. She was disbarred precisely because she was a woman, but she found a way to continue her work.

It was not until she was 65 that she was finally able to rejoin the Bar.

Netflix has dedicated a 6-episode series called "The Law of Lidia Poet, that tells her story as a modern woman born in the wrong century, due out today (15 February) and starring actress Matilda De Angelis.

But who was this woman really, about whom, all things considered, not much is known?

Born in 1855 into a wealthy Waldensian family (a Protestant denomination active in Italy and Switzerland), Lidia Poet spent her childhood in the Valle Germanasca, not far from Turin.

She studied in Switzerland, at the College of the Misses of Bonneville in Aubonne, and earned a license to be a High School Teacher, then a second certificate as a Teacher of English, German and French.

Back in Italy, she also earned her high school diploma, then enrolled in law school at the University of Turin.

She graduated in law, arguing a thesis on the condition of women in society and the right to vote for women, then practiced law in Pinerolo, in the office of lawyer and senator Cesare Bertea.

She passed her practicum (with a mark of 45/50) and the bar exam, then applied for membership in the Turin Bar Association.

Two lawyers, in protest, resigned from the bar after the application was put to a vote and granted with 8 votes in favor and 4 against.

According to President Xavier Francesco Vegezzi and four other councilors, "under Italian civil laws women are citizens like men," and on 9 August, 1883, Lidia Poet became the first Italian woman admitted to the practice of law.

The ruling of the Court of Appeals

Soon after, however, the Attorney General of the - then - Kingdom of Italy challenged the Order's decision and appealed to the Court of Appeals of Turin. On 11 November, 1883, ordered the disbarment.

"It is evident from this that it was always in the concept of the legislature that the position of lawyer was an office exercisable only by males and in which females were not to meddle at all (...). It is equally valid today as it was then, because today it would also be unseemly and ugly to see women descending into the forensic gymnasium, agitating themselves in the midst of the clamor of public judgments, becoming heated in discussions that easily transmogrify, and in which, in spite of themselves, they could be drawn beyond the limits that the gentler sex is expected to observe, reads the judgment of the Court of Appeals, according to which women "may well have to ponder whether it would really be an advancement and an achievement for them to be able to compete with men, to go mixed up among them, to become their equals rather than their companions, as providence intended them to be."

Lidia Poet, however, never gave in to this view, and continued her legal work with her brother John Henry, although she could not advocate in the courts.

She was especially committed to defending the rights of children, the marginalized and women, and also advocated for women's suffrage.

In 1920, at age 65, after the enactment of Law 1176 of 1919, which allowed women to enter some public offices, she was finally able to re-register with the Turin Bar Association.

She never married, and died in the beachside town of Diano Marina, aged 94.
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Whether its winter or summer, its been difficult to avoid freakishly warm weather around the world this year. It might seem like a fluke, but its really a reflection of temperatures being driven inexorably higher by a changing climate. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight This past January was the worlds seventh-warmest on record going back to 1850, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was also the 47th straight January and the 527th straight month above the 20th century average.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are suffering through another brutal summer after breaking heat records last year. High temperatures, drought and La Nina winds have fueled runaway wildfires in Chile that have killed at least 26 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. Argentina is experiencing its eighth heat wave of the summer, according to the countrys National Meteorological Service. And Uruguays hydroelectric dams are at risk of running out of enough water to operate.

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In the northern hemisphere, Europes New Years Day was the hottest ever, thanks to a heat wave one climatologist called the most extreme event in European history. And the US just ended its sixth-warmest January since at least 1895, with seven Northeastern states setting records.

At the poles, Arctic sea-ice extent was the third-lowest on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Worse, Antarctic sea-ice coverage retreated to a record low, due to a stunning temperature surge in the Antarctic Ocean. Even as somebody whos been looking at these changing systems for a few decades, I was taken aback by what I saw, by the degree of warming that I saw in the Antarctic, University of Delaware oceanographer Carlos Moffat told Inside Climate News.

Even before that heat wave, Antarcticas Thwaites Glacier, aka the Doomsday glacier, was melting at the fastest rate in 5,000 years. The glacier is approaching a tipping point that could lead to its own collapse and that of the surrounding ice, triggering a disastrous sea-level rise.

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Some places did have colder-than-usual Januarys  Siberia, Australia and the Middle East, to name a few. But then global temperatures are never uniform, and climate change can cause extremes in cold as well as heat. Temperatures can swing significantly in any region from year to year and day to day.

But the global trend is clearly higher:

Human-caused climate change has already warmed the planet by about 1.2C above its pre-industrial trend. Earth had heat waves long before people started burning fossil fuels, but climate change is making such events far more likely.

Limiting warming to 1.5C over the long haul to avoid the worst effects of climate change will require slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030. That in turn will demand far more aggressive commitments to transition away from fossil fuels than the world has managed so far. Otherwise, we can expect new extremes that will make Januarys unusual weather seem ordinary in comparison.

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Mark Gongloff is a Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist covering climate change. A former managing editor of Fortune.com, he ran the HuffPosts business and technology coverage and was a reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal.

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To look at Barclays Plcs share price after its results Wednesday, youd think it had had a stinker. But it didnt, and the stocks initial plunge of more than 10% was excessive. Investors seem to have gotten overexcited ahead of results, driving the shares up on hopes that the UK bank would exceed elevated forecasts for revenue, profit and especially buybacks. Instead, they were served up good numbers that were nevertheless slightly below estimates and were garnished with a touch of conservatism from Barclays on capital returns.

It will buy back another 500 million ($603 million) of stock, taking the total for 2022 to 1 billion, but analysts were expecting an additional 675 million to be announced. Thats not a huge difference but was enough to take the wind from Barclayss sails.

Barclays was never among the European banks set to finish 2022 with bucketloads of excess money to hand out to shareholders, like BNP Paribas SA, UBS AG, or UniCredit SpA. However, investors are likely to thank Barclayss executives later for being cautious with their capital.

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Chief Financial Officer Anna Cross preferred the word thoughtful to conservative as a description of Barclayss approach in an economic environment that she called not benign. But she is also keeping money back to fund growth. Cross expects lending markets to stay competitive, especially in the UK, and funding costs to be higher. That leads to a more cautious outlook for interest revenue growth in 2023 compared to analysts, but she also doesnt expect a big rise in bad loans.

If the final quarters numbers were underwhelming versus forecasts, its worth looking at them in the broader context. Barclayss net interest income grew 31% in 2022 compared with 2021, which is better than big US and European rivals to have reported so far.

Its revenue growth in bond and currency trading was stellar, up 48% for the year in dollar terms, which beat even Goldman Sachss 39%. It was helped by being in the right products  such as interest-rates trading  and the growth of its financing for hedge funds. This business produced its strongest revenue since at least 2014, when Barclays adopted its current reporting structure.

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Its stock-trading desks lagged rivals, hurt by Barclayss costly and embarrassing foul-up in structured notes, when it failed to file the correct paperwork with US regulators. The bank announced the co-heads of equities trading were leaving this month, but declined to say whether they were carrying the can. Dealmaking and advisory fees were down 46% for the year, but thats marginally less bad than the average for the five big US investment banks and better than European rivals.

All in all, it was a solid year for Barclays despite the ructions in markets that troubled most large banks and its own crazy structured notes slip-up  a mistake it at least managed to clean up swiftly and efficiently.

If theres a downside, its that Barclayss targeted future returns of more than 10% on tangible equity just wont get pulses racing or generate US-style buybacks. Theres no great restructuring story to get excited about either. Barclays looks like its becoming a steady performer that wont take mad risks with shareholder funds. That might not bowl over investors, but it deserves a better valuation than its current 54% discount to forecast book value.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Paul J. Davies is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering banking and finance. Previously, he was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

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Latin America was a pretty poor place in 1980. Its gross domestic product per person amounted to only 42% of that of the average citizen of the so-called Group of Seven rich nations that then ruled the roost. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Then lots of things happened: Governments from Buenos Aires to Mexico City did a 180 on a half-century of statist, inward-looking economic policy. They slashed budgets and sold off public enterprises; opened up to trade and foreign capital. Mexico hitched its economy to the United States through Nafta. Brazil and Argentina tied the knot (sort of) via Mercosur. China swooped in to buy the regions commodities.

And last year, Latin Americas domestic product per person amounted to 29% of that of the G7 nations.

But before you blame Latin American incompetence, consider this: The economic output of the average citizen of Africa declined from 17% to 10% of that of the average citizen of the rich world over those 42 years, measured at purchasing power parity; the average GDP per capita in the Middle East plummeted from 114% to 41% of the G7s.

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In fact, outside of South Asia and East Asia, development over the last generation has gone backward in most of the countries that are not yet rich. The economic convergence that economists used to envision as the inevitable fruit of the encounter between the rich worlds capital and the poor worlds cheap labor has failed to materialize in too many places for its absence to be considered a fluke.

The periods of euphoria  like the decade in which China seemed to buy all the iron, copper, soybeans and steak that South America could produce  largely ended in a thud. The slam-dunk arguments  like lets hitch the Mexican economy to the richest, biggest consumer market in the world  also failed to build broad prosperity.

Even some of the more positive stories feel a bit, well, meh. Indias GDP per head rose from 5% of the G7s to 13%, Vietnams from 5% to 21%. GDP per person in China, the poster-child for recent export based economic success, rose from 3% to 33% of the G7 average. Thats progress. But it didnt quite make China rich.

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The depressing track record of so many shots at development raises questions that economists should try to answer honestly, instead of hemming and hawing: Is there a feasible path to development for the world of the poor? What does it look like? And what do we do if we cant find it?

And lets not do the McKinsey thing. The consultancy shtick about investing in human capital is essential to become more productive and join global value chains wont help countries that cant afford sending all their kids to high school, let alone college. As Donald Rumsfeld might put it, poor countries need development strategies for the workers they have, not for the ones consulting companies might prefer.

The problem for economists pussyfooting around the issue  tossing up exhortations about free trade and better governance  is that the track record of development and the playbooks deployed over the last couple of decades offer few precedents that might prove helpful in the new world that is unfolding.

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You might ask, What about manufacturing? Think of Japan and Korea, of the East Asian tigers and China, of postwar Germany: For the better part of a century, manufacturing for export provided pretty much the only successful strategy to bring broad-based prosperity to the poor countries of the world.

Thats not a coincidence. Manufacturing has a unique ability to lift productivity. To raise the productivity of even the least educated farmworkers, one only needs to erect a factory making t-shirts or plastic toys in the middle of a field. Exports help leapfrog the small domestic consumer market. And the income from these businesses can pay for the investment in human capital and other inputs to move up the value chain.

Yet even the most successful strategies of the past look doomed to failure. The reason is straightforward: automation. The industrial economy no longer has as much need for labor, especially of the cheap unskilled kind.

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Its not just happening in the US, where President Joe Biden is pulling out the stops to bolster manufacturing jobs. Manufacturings employment footprint is shrinking globally. In South Africa, for instance, manufacturing jobs fell to 9% of total employment in 2018, before Covid struck, from 14% in 1990; in Nigeria, they declined to 7% from 12%.

For all the promise of Nafta, in 2018 only 17% of Mexican workers toiled in manufacturing, down from 20% in 1990. Even in China, manufacturings share of employment fell from a peak of 22% in 1995 to 19.5% in 2018.

Unfortunately, what developing countries have to offer is mostly cheap, less skilled labor. And if the rewards of the last 40 years for this resource look mediocre, new generations of labor-saving technology based on artificial intelligence are going to make the next 40 years much more difficult.

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Forget, also, about agriculture. For all the faith Brazil has placed in soy and beef, increasing productivity in agriculture pushes people out of the fields to look for jobs in the urban economy. Economies built around raw materials cannot do the trick  a lesson Latin American countries never tire of relearning. They employ few people and offer few linkages to other sectors of the economy. They may spur exports and benefit a few, but most workers, especially the least educated, will be left behind.

Although policymakers from Africa to Latin America may hold high hopes that the battle against climate change will open new development paths, the cry of why export the lithium if we can export the lithium-ion batteries will run not only into the old roadblocks of lack of capital and know-how that gave us dependency theory in the 1960s, but also into new ones raised up by automation.

Indeed, the rich worlds push for decarbonization is more likely to undercut development options for the poor world  limiting their access to cheap energy and restricting developed markets imports from what they may consider dirty sources.

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Add to the mix Buy American, nearshoring and other US attempts to step back from the globalized economy, and workers in the developing world are left in a bit of a fix.

Dani Rodrik at Harvard has pondered this nexus of problems more than most. He has written about what he calls premature deindustrialization, explored the growth spurts in some African countries, which failed to generate many highly productive jobs, and assessed how global supply chains have shown little use for their plentiful cheap labor.

His conclusion, after examining the alternatives, is not particularly optimistic: Developing countries must figure out how to build development around their domestic service businesses, which employ most of their workers. Because little else is out there. As he put it: Its the only possible answer to the question you can come up with.

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The path is not obvious: Policies are needed to increase the productivity of a relatively unproductive sector that has few incentives to improve. These businesses are generally small, and often informal  retailers, restaurants, maybe clinics and hotels  constrained by a poor domestic consumer base and limited investment, foreign or domestic.

Governments in the poor world must essentially develop industrial policies, but for services. If enough of these microenterprises find the wherewithal to enter the formal economy and grow, boosting employment, they could anchor a domestic middle class that would, in turn, provide a bigger domestic market for their services.

As shots go, this one looks very long. It doesnt make growth and development impossible, Rodrik said. What is impossible is the very rapid growth miracles we have seen. What hits home, however, is his warning: If you dont do that, its going to be even worse. How would the world cope with poverty as inescapable destiny?

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Eduardo Porter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin America, US economic policy and immigration. He is the author of American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise and The Price of Everything: Finding Method in the Madness of What Things Cost.

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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.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Indias Surging Population Is an Economic Virtue: Matthew Winkler

 India May Be Warming to Free Trade But Not for All: Mihir Sharma

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(Corrects Narendra Modis title in the dek from president to prime minister.)

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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In a surprise resignation that had echoes of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns withdrawal from public life last month, Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday that after eight years of leading the Scottish National Party, she has had enough. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Such has been her role in Scottish and British politics that her departure has the potential to shift the political landscape both in Scotland and the UK generally. The beneficiary of her departure may be the union that Conservatives have fought to preserve  but it probably wont be the current government in Westminster that has been Sturgeons scapegoat and bete noire.

Sturgeon cited both personal and professional reasons for her decision. Just as Ardern told New Zealanders that I am human; politicians are human, Sturgeon similarly told Scots that I am human as well as a politician. Giving everything is the only way to do the job, she said, but in truth, that can only be done, by anyone, for so long. Her reasons were more nuanced in some ways, arguing that her presence had become too polarizing to serve the cause of Scottish independence from the UK.

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She repeatedly denied that short-term issues had been the deciding factor. But there is no question that, as with Ardern, Sturgeon was facing sagging polls and growing doubts about her leadership and the direction of her party.

Her Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which made it much easier for Scots to get a gender recognition certificate, hasnt just proved controversial; its succeeded in pushing many Scots over to the UK governments side on an issue she had vigorously championed. Sturgeon seemed to relish the fight with the British government, which blocked the bill, but found herself struggling to defend her position after transgender prisoner Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women while still a man, had been housed in an all-female prison before being moved.

A survey for the Sunday Times found that a majority had safety concerns with the Scottish bill, and 42% of respondents thought Sturgeon should step down. Other polls have found that Sturgeons favorability ratings have fallen. Support for Scottish independence has fallen to 47% from 53% since December.

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Sturgeons leadership has been dogged by much more than the transgender issue. While she often scored points during the pandemic by moving ahead of Westminster, any comfort she could get from that has long since evaporated in frustration over the state of the National Health Service, which is run locally by Scotlands government. Most of the problems  long wait times, difficulty in getting appointments  are prevalent nationally, but Scotland has one of the lowest life expectancies in western Europe and the highest proportion of preventable cancers of any UK nation. With voters rating health care as one of their top concerns, even the SNPs own supporters are increasingly likely to doubt the partys management.

Inequality, an opioid crisis, a seemingly endless string of SNP scandals and other problems have also taken their toll on the SNPs popularity. She came to power promising to close the gap between wealthier and poorer Scots in education but has been forced to acknowledge that wasnt achieved. And while Scottish universities are generally excellent, they have turned increasingly to fee-paying overseas students, leading many to complain about Scots (who can attend for free) being squeezed out.

But what about independence? Sturgeon has been synonymous with the bid for Scotland leaving the UK since she rose to prominence eight years ago, taking over from Alex Salmond following the referendum on independence, which the SNP lost 45% to 55%. Membership in her party soared during her leadership. In the 2015 general election, the SNP took 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland. The following year, the SNP won a record number of seats in the elections for Holyrood , Scotlands Parliament.

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But the 2016 Brexit referendum (where 62% of Scots voted to remain in the EU) both turbocharged the SNP cause and posed a problem it has never been able to solve. How would the border with England work? How would Scotland keep the pound when the EU required applicants to commit to eventually adopt the euro? How would Scotland manage without the enormous transfers from Westminster that Sturgeon conveniently ignored when blaming London for various problems?

Sturgeon argued that Brexit posed a material change in circumstances that should give Scots another independence vote  in what became called Indyref2. Her tactics have always been maximalist, but increasingly shes looked out of options. Her bid for a second referendum has been shot down by Britains Supreme Court, leaving the SNP to argue the next election would be a de facto vote on independence. That doesnt mean the independence movement is finished. The SNP will appoint a new leader and move on; its just not clear if that will be enough to keep an increasingly fractious party united or find a way to build a majority for independence.

If her absence raises questions about the future direction of the SNP, it likely spells bad news for Rishi Sunaks governing Conservative Party at the next election. The Scottish Conservatives have been on life support ever since their own capable leader Ruth Davidson resigned over disagreement with Boris Johnsons Brexit policy and to spend time with her child. The Labour Party, rather than the Conservatives, would be the likely beneficiary of any electoral weakening of the SNP, though hopes of 24 seats at the next election to help put Keir Starmer in Downing Street is still a big ask for a party that was all but wiped out after dominating Scottish politics from the mid-1960s until 2010.

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Its typical of Sturgeon to control the messaging and timing of an announcement like this; and her deeply felt personal decision will resonate with many who struggle with similar questions, much as Arderns did. But Sturgeon made clear that while shes stepped down from the leadership, shell remain a lawmaker and champion of the issues closest to her, including independence.

With so much to play for, expect Scotland to get a great deal more attention in Westminster.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

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Two mega-brands. Two surprise appointments to top design roles. Yet the approaches taken by Louis Vuitton and Gucci could not be more different. Both could usher in fresh growth at the fashion houses. But each new hire has huge designer sneakers to fill. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight On Tuesday, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE named musician Pharrell Williams as its new creative director of menswear at its namesake brand, succeeding the late Virgil Abloh.

Williams appointment shows that LVMH Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault and new Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari have sought to replace Abloh with a similar tastemaker.

Abloh brought Louis Vuitton to a younger and more diverse audience, particularly in the US. Appointing a Black designer to succeed him at a fashion label with annual sales of 20 billion ($21.5 billion) demonstrates the brand wants to build on that inclusivity. Williams also leads a nonprofit initiative Black Ambition, which invests in and supports startups founded by Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.

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Like Abloh, Williams has a streetwear background. He created Billionaire Boys Club with Japanese designer Nigo in 2003. Nigo is now artistic director of LVMHs Kenzo.

Yet Williams is no stranger to luxury. He has collaborated with Louis Vuitton and also worked with Moncler and Chanel. His enviable rolodex should open the way to more tie-ups across the conglomerate, which are becoming increasingly important to generate brand buzz. He also founded skincare brand Humanrace, and skincare is one area where LVMH lacks scale.

That Williams is a household name thanks to his 2013 hit song Happy underlines the power that LVMH wields.

One risk, however, is that Williams may be too similar to Abloh. Although luxury brands are steeped in heritage, they need constant rejuvenation to give consumers a reason to splash out on another bag or pair of shoes. Abloh was a truly surprising and inspiring choice when he was appointed to Louis Vuitton in 2018. His Off-White label, which mixed haute and street fashion, was one of the most in-demand names at the time. Williams looks like a safe pair of hands rather than a step in a bold new direction.

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And celebrity has not always worked for LVMH. It put its Fenty fashion venture with Rihanna on hold two years ago after it failed to take off.

As for Gucci, Kering could not have taken a more different path to Louis Vuitton with its appointment of Sabato De Sarno as the brands creative director, succeeding Alessandro Michele. While Williams is familiar to a broad audience, De Sarno, who joins from Valentino, is little known.

The need to reinvigorate the brand, which accounted for more than 50% of Kerings profit and 67% of operating profit last year, was underlined on Wednesday when Guccis fourth-quarter sales fell more than expected.

Kering has successfully plucked top designers, such as Michele, who was an unknown Gucci insider, from obscurity before. But the challenge for De Sarno is that while he has held senior roles at fashion houses, he has never led one  let alone a brand turning over 10 billion a year.

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While Valentinos aesthetic  vertiginous platforms and bold colors  blends well with Guccis current look, De Sarno must make its styles different enough to win over shoppers who have grown tired of Micheles maximalism. The new designers strength is also in clothing rather than leather goods, which Gucci needs to elevate.

Still, both brands have a good chance of making the unexpected appointments work. As the worlds biggest luxury group, with a market capitalization of over 400 billion, LVMH has the clout to get behind Williams vision. Arnault has described Louis Vuitton as more than a fashion house, as the worlds of music, art and luxury collide. Williams cements that status as a cultural force.

As for Kering, it has a strong track record in finding and nurturing the right creative talent. Once the designer has come up with winning styles, it backs them with muscular marketing and product management  ensuring there are enough G-logo belts or bags on shelves.

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Yet what Michele achieved at Gucci and Abloh at Louis Vuitton was truly exceptional. The new eras will need to come close to make the brands billionaire shareholders and external investors Happy.

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 Why Arent We All Rich Yet?: Merryn Somerset Webb

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering consumer goods and the retail industry. Previously, she was a reporter for the Financial Times.

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The Republican presidential nomination is up for grabs. Given his enduring popularity with GOP voters, former President Donald Trump remains the front-runner. While he has yet to formally join the race, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been cast as his principal opponent for the Republican nomination. In past elections, the presence of two high-profile contenders might have been enough to deter other aspirants. But former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haleys announced candidacy Tuesday and anticipated declarations by other prominent Republicans indicate that many in the party are unwilling to commit to a candidate.

While the presidential election is still 20 months away, the likelihood that multiple credentialed candidates will pursue the nomination also suggests that the Republican Party is open to change, whether in a more moderate direction or toward more conservative policy extremism.

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Both Trump and DeSantis appear formidable, at least in public. They dominate the polls nationally and in the early states and have received the bulk of early endorsements from high-profile Republicans. There is no obvious political comparison to Trump in the modern era, but any former president is presumed to be a strong candidate. His polling numbers among Republican voters are still good, and he has far more support from the Republican Party than he did in his first run in 2016.

While Trump might wind up with the nomination, its significant that other contenders clearly arent frightened of publicly opposing him. It tells us that many Republicans believe that Trump will be in a worse position when voters in Iowa and New Hampshire make their choices early next year. And their hesitation is understandable for several reasons, not the least of which is that the former president is facing multiple investigations that could lead to criminal charges.

As for DeSantis? He is sitting at around 30% of the Republican vote in early polls, which is remarkably high for a first-time national candidate at this stage in the process. DeSantis is almost certainly doing so well because he has been boosted by conservative talk-show hosts and others in Republican-aligned media, making him the obvious alternative to Trump for some voters. That level of support could be hard to maintain, but most Republicans would rather have the backing of key media personalities than a bunch of random politicians.

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But it appears that a lot of Republican politicians and operatives arent sold on DeSantis, either. Perhaps its just a matter of his being a first-time national candidate who hasnt proven himself on a national stage. But if his behind-the-scenes support from donors, campaign professionals and Republican media were rock solid, other presidential aspirants would stay on the sidelines, as they did when George W. Bush locked up support from the party network early in 2000.

It takes a lot of time and effort to run for president, and no one with a good reputation wants to be labeled a loser. Nor do they want to go on the attack against someone they believe has a good chance of winding up in the White House.

That isnt what is happening for 2024 Republicans. Haley, a former United Nations ambassador, is only the second conventionally qualified candidate (after Trump) to formally announce. But at least seven others, including former Vice President Mike Pence, are doing everything that candidates do at this stage in the process, such as hiring staff, giving campaign-like speeches and even running ads. Add Trump and DeSantis, and there are 10 candidates total with conventional qualifications.(1) That would be only one shy of the most announced candidates either party has produced  the 11 such efforts for Republicans in 2016 and Democrats in 2020.(2)

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When Republicans set their record for the most candidates in 2016, it was in an election cycle unusually lacking in seemingly intimidating contenders. No one had been a nominee for national office, much less having served as president or vice president. Nor were there any returning candidates who seemed particularly strong, although former Senator Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had won a few primaries in previous bids. The nomination looked wide open. Thats when marginal candidates choose to run.

Its possible that Trumps 2016 nomination has generated a heavy dose of anything is possible thinking among Republican politicians. But there sure are a lot of Republicans who think they know something about how open the nomination is. I wouldnt be quick to dismiss that.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

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 Kamala Harriss Biggest Problem Is Her Boss: Francis Wilkinson

(1) The others include former governor Larry Hogan; current governors Kristi Noem and Chris Sununu, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

(2) At least in the modern era, beginning in 1972, when campaign finance laws and the need to run in primaries and caucuses forced all real candidates to formally declare.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Musa Magomedov, member of the Parliament of Ukraine, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development

Mariupol, Avdiivka, Severodonetsk, Volnovakha, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv. This is not a complete list of Ukrainian cities destroyed by Russia, which are expected to undergo a major reconstruction after our victory. According to preliminary estimates, the damage caused to Ukraine as a result of Russian aggression already exceeds 700 billion dollars. About 40% of this amount is for residential buildings, 10% for enterprises. The rest are roads and other infrastructure.

Although the war continues, the discussion about the future development of the country and its reconstruction should be started immediately. There are cities in Ukraine that were literally destroyed by the Russians. For example, one hundred percent of the buildings in Avdiivka were damaged. Mariupol is almost completely destroyed. Obviously, the reconstruction process will not be fast, so it is necessary to plan it several decades ahead.

After the Second World War, dozens of countries emerged from the ashes. The Soviet Union followed the path of building typical buildings designed for 50 years. Residential buildings, factories, infrastructure facilities were built - almost everything according to typical projects, in every settlement and city.

Poland took another path. For example, after the expulsion of the Nazis from Warsaw, practically only ruins remained. The Poles rebuilt the capital carefully and gradually, according to memories and photographs. It took 20 years.

With this in mind, we can now unequivocally state what Ukraine does not need to do in any case. We don't need "cardboard" boxes, we don't need Potemkin villages. We need modern, high-quality housing. There is no need for "reconstruction" a la the drama theater in Mariupol. Because this is not reconstruction, but further destruction in order to hide crimes.

The Russians had already done something similar when they were "rebuilding" Grozny. While the whole city was groaning in ruins, skyscrapers were being "built" for a propaganda picture on TV. And it satisfied everyone.

In its so-called reconstructions in the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy does not take into account the social component - the people who should inhabit the city. Their regime never considers people at all. Who are these people? How old are you? Who will be employed? Unanswered questions.

Our rebuilding plans are extremely ambitious. We need to turn ruined cities into models of modern technologies. Contaminated and mined territories (which are about 270,000 square kilometers) should be turned into protected and recreational areas.

New cities must be built according to "green" technologies. First, it refers to the reconstruction of enterprises. It is critically important to make them ecological, according to European standards, at the same time gradually - taking into account the circumstances in which Ukraine found itself.

The requirements for industrial enterprises are high, but to restore according to old technologies is not only strange, but also illogical. After all, it is simply unprofitable in the long run.

Second, cities must be built for people. The modern approach allows taking into account all the needs of the region, the needs of people with disabilities (of whom, unfortunately, there will be many after the liberation of Ukraine). Clean water, air and healthy soil are the things without which a person cannot exist in the modern world. Let me remind you that the all-European goal by 2050 is a carbon-neutral economy.

So, all this should be planned and implemented during the next decade. But at what cost?

Mainly thanks to international donors. In order to involve them, it is necessary to have a comprehensive, transparent and integrated vision of every city and region. Secondly, due to reparations. It's a long process, but it's moving. For example, on February 13, the Swiss international financial group Credit Suisse announced that it had frozen 17.8 billion euros of Russian funds in its accounts.

In December 2022, the European Union froze Russian assets in the amount of 20 billion. And a month earlier, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the EU had blocked 300 billion euros from the reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. I hope that the West will find a mechanism to transfer them to Ukraine.

It is important to decide how we want to see our country after the victory, to show maximum political will during the adoption of laws, not to delay the processes. And start building the future right now.
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.
There will be no food crisis in Ukraine in 2023, there are enough available resources to provide the country with all groups of agricultural products, Oleksandr Haidu, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy, said.

According to a statement on the committee's website on Wednesday, in addition, this season, the shortage of vegetables, fruit and berries, the shortage of which was felt last year, may decrease due to the de-occupation of a part of Kherson region that specialized in their production.

Haidu also said that crops of corn, wheat and barley would be reduced in favor of sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans in 2023 due to their higher cost per hectare of crops. At the same time, sown areas will decrease by 15-20%.

According to the MP, this year the country's export potential will decrease, as less corn, the main export commodity in previous years, will be sown.

"However, we expect some increase in the profitability of agricultural products. After all, although with difficulty, the grain corridor is working," Haidu said.
The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court on February 15 closed the proceedings on the claim of former head of the board and ex-shareholder of PrivatBank (Kyiv) Oleksandr Dubilet (previously owned 2.7249% of the shares) on invalidating the contracts for the sale of shares of the financial institution (bail-in procedures), Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Andriy Pyshnyy said.

"The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the court of first instance. It closed the proceedings on the invalidation of the PrivatBank sale and purchase agreements, as a result of which the state acquired 100% of the banks shares in December 2016. This means that the court recognized lawful application of the norms of law No. 590-IX in this case, which makes it impossible for any further attempts to win back," he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

According to him, such a court decision means that in addition to the Dubilet case, more than 40 similar court cases, which were initiated by the former owners in order to regain PrivatBank, will be closed.

As reported, the Economic Court of Kyiv by a resolution dated January 2, 2020 opened proceedings in case No. 910/18214/19 on the lawsuit of Oleksandr Dubilet against the state in connection with the nationalization of the bank.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) recently conducted a BACUDA Data Analytics workshop for the Maldives Customs Service with 41 participants from the 30th of January to the 1st of February in Male, Maldives. The mission was financed by the Customs Cooperation Fund of Korea (CCF-Korea) and took place under the WCO's BACUDA initiative, the WCO capacity building project on Data Analytics. WCO experts and two BACUDA Scholarship graduates led the workshop. They delivered various sessions to equip the customs officials with the latest data analytics tools and techniques.

One of the key highlights of the workshop was a hands-on session where the participants learned how to use Python language to work with the AI HS algorithm developed through the BACUDA project. The hands-on session was an excellent opportunity for the participants to apply the concepts they had learned and see the results in real-time. The session was interactive and allowed the participants to ask questions and receive immediate feedback from the experts. This practical experience will be invaluable for the participants as they continue improving their Python skills and integrating them into their day-to-day operations.

It is noteworthy that the Maldives Customs Service has already demonstrated its proactiveness and eagerness to enhance its operations through the implementation of the AI HS Recommendation algorithm on its own data. This was based on the officials training in the BACUDA Click online course for three months, and the customs officials even created a module to simplify its usage. This proactive approach was evident in the workshop as the participants had already prepared poignant questions according to their current needs.

Presentations on Data Quality and the use of Data Analytics for Risk management were also part of the workshop, including best practices of Data Warehousing from the Korea Customs Service, Indian Customs and Cambodian Customs. BACUDA scholars contributed to these sessions immensely and provided participants with a comprehensive understanding of data quality, its importance, and how it can be improved through effective data warehousing. The participants were also introduced to the best practices of data warehousing and shared insights on how Customs leverages data analytics to effectively manage the risks of cargo targeting and improve trade facilitation.

Similarly, the BACUDA initiative also delivered a workshop for Mongolian Customs on the implementation of data analytics tools and techniques. The workshop was well-received by the Mongolian Customs officials, who appreciated the opportunity to learn about the latest trends in data analytics and how they can be applied to improve their operations. The hands-on sessions were particularly popular, and the participants were able to see the results of their efforts in real-time.

Both workshops are a testament to the BACUDA initiatives commitment to continue providing its member countries with the latest tools and practical techniques to enhance their customs operations.

For more information, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.
The World Customs Organization (WCO), with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development, Moldova Institutional and Structural Reforms Activity (USAID MISRA), successfully delivered a national Time Release Study (TRS) Workshop for the Customs Service and stakeholders from the Republic of Moldova. The Workshop was held from 30 January to 3 February 2023, at the training center of the Moldovan Customs Service in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.

The Deputy Director and the interim Head of the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova, the Chief of Party, USAID MISRA, and the Economic Consultant, Economic Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova (National Committee for Trade Facilitation), participated in the opening of the Workshop.

The workshop was conducted by an accredited WCO Technical and Operational Advisor from India, assisted by a national TRS expert from the Georgia Revenue Service. Over the course of a five-day workshop, important TRS implementation phases were covered, such as scoping and planning, business process mapping, data collection and analysis, report compilation, and monitoring and evaluation. The Workshop also took the opportunity to visit the Leuseni Border Control Post (BCP) with Romania and the Industriala Inland Customs Post (ICP) in order to get a better understanding of border crossings and the clearance process. Based on these field visits, two working groups, with the assistance of the experts, were tasked with formulating the business processes and the questionnaire with indications on the sources and methods of obtaining the necessary data for conducting a TRS. In addition, one of the main outcomes of the Workshop was being able to develop a draft action plan for implementing the TRS in Moldova.

The participants were also briefed on the relevance of the TRS in the context of the implementation of the WCO instruments and tools and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

The workshop was attended by more than 25 participants from the Customs Service and stakeholders from the Republic of Moldova. The Border Police, National Food Safety Agency, National Road Transport Agency, International Association of Road Carriers of Moldova, and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Moldova all participated as stakeholders.

For more information on TRS, please contact the WCO Secretariat at TRS@wcoomd.org.
The Ukrainian and Turkish sides have agreed to continue negotiations on the use of floating power plants to supply Ukraine with electricity, while paying special attention to their safety and location, according to the website of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

"Floating power plants are an opportunity to provide generation to the region, one of the elements of the decentralization of the energy system. This is especially important in conditions when Russia continues to attack our energy facilities on a daily basis," Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko said during a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to Ukraine Yagmur Ahmet Guldere.

The ministry said the parties also discussed a wide range of other issues within the framework of bilateral cooperation.

"The minister thanked for the assistance provided by the Turkish side to the Ukrainian energy sector. In particular, in December 2022, Kharkiv and Kherson received 180 generators in the form of humanitarian aid through the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency," the ministry informed.

As reported, the state-owned energy trader JSC Energy Company of Ukraine (ECU) and the Turkish company Karpowership, together with national and international organizations, plan to develop a project to finance and launch 500 MW of electric power from power ships for Ukraine.
Ukrainian rescuers pulled a woman from rubble in Turkey, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Tuesday.

"There is very good news today from a group of our rescuers working in Turkey. On the ninth day after the devastating earthquake, a woman was saved. She was taken out from under the rubble by our State Emergency Service, handed over to the doctors," he said.

"It is very important not to lose hope under any circumstances and continue to fight for life. Thanks to our entire rescue team," Zelensky said.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Mainly cloudy and much cooler than we've been (but still not bad for April) with some occasional showers or an afternoon t-storm..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy with a lingering shower in the evening, then some patchy fog or drizzle late.
On Tuesday night we showed video of a person leaving the courthouse who was NOT Ojeda-Rodriguez. We want to assure viewers that the person we showed is not a suspect in a murder case, and we profoundly apologize for the error.

READING, Pa.  A man is behind bars in a double shooting that left a man dead and a woman hurt Tuesday morning.

Police say Melvin Ojeda-Rodriguez, 39, shot and killed a 23-year-old man and wounded a 32-year-old woman at an apartment in the 400 block of West Windsor Street in Reading around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Police announced Wednesday that Ojeda-Rodriguez is charged with first degree, second degree and third degree murder, aggravated assault, burglary and related charges.

Michelle Torres lives nearby, and said she heard gunshots.

"I heard someone screaming 'Oh, you shot him, you shot him,'" Torres said.

Torres said she came outside, and saw police arrive. She tells us she has talked before with the woman who police said was wounded.

"I used to grow up here, so it was quiet when I was a kid," Torres said, "and now I have a baby, so now I'm getting a little worried now."

According to investigators, Ojeda-Rodriguez kicked in a door and broke a window to get inside the apartment. Police said they believe the incident is domestic-related.

"The suspect and the female victim had a prior relationship," said Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli.

According to police, the woman was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They tell us Ojeda-Rodriguez turned himself in to police.

"These incidents are all terrible," Tornielli said. "You know, we hate to see any kind of violence in our city and especially, you know, domestic-related violence."

The man who police said died has not been identified. A preliminary hearing for Ojeda-Rodriguez is scheduled for Feb. 24.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The proposed 317-unit apartment complex that will straddle the border of Bethlehem and Allentown faces zoning hearing review on the Bethlehem side next week.

The new plan is connected to the investors behind the Martin Towers redevelopment. Zoning documents list BAHX LLC of Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, as the developer of Hanover Apartments. BAHX, a limited liability corporation, shares that address with the Herrick Company. That firm was founded by Norton Herrick, and a Norton Herrick is one of the Martin Tower investors.

A recent Bethlehem planning document related to Martin Tower includes N. Herrick of the Herrick Co. on its contact list. Zoning documents list Norton Herrick as the Hanover developer. The two projects will bring more than 1,300 apartments to Bethlehem, if approved.

69 News has contacted The Herrick Company and the Bethlehem planning department for information.

Norton Herrick founded the investment company in 1960 and is chairman and chief executive. The company has purchased, owned and sold investment properties valued at more than $5 billion total, according to its website.

Hanover Apartments, a plan for 8.7 acres where Allentown's Hanover Avenue and Bethlehem's West Broad Street meet, would include four buildings, three of them five stories high, and one of four stories. The site, a former auto dealership that is now empty but mostly paved, has two addresses: 2300 Hanover Ave. on the Allentown side, and 2235 W. Broad St. in Bethlehem.

The Zoning Hearing Board will consider that plan, and others, at a 6 p.m. meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Bethlehem's Town Hall. The meeting will also be shown on the city's YouTube channel.

At a recent Bethlehem Planning Commission meeting, neighbors of the proposed apartments complained about the height of the buildings, with one woman saying, "I'll be living in a fishbowl."

Other raised concerns about traffic, noise, lights, safety and water runoff, along with issues that are not related to planning, such as barking dogs and a bigger burden on the Bethlehem Area School District.

The agenda for the Feb. 22 meeting notes a request for zoning relief from the 150-foot building length limit. Hanover Apartments buildings as proposed could be 280 feet long. The developer also wants an exemption from the requirement for first-floor commercial space.

Zoning agendas may change before the meeting. See the city website for details.
BUTLER TWP., Pa.  The underground mine fire in Centralia, Columbia County, has been talked about for decades.

Virtually everyone in the central Pennsylvania borough had to be relocated, but this story is about something different. Another fire has people wondering if Centralia's fire is spreading underground toward their homes and businesses.

We first learned about this new fire, referred to in state documents as the "Girardville North II" fire, when a former 69 News photographer, Kaylee Lindenmuth, filed a Right to Know request with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about a reported mine fire, three miles to the east of Centralia.

We got back a report confirming its existence, and then we decided to hike out there and see it for ourselves. What we found was concerning to us, and we learned it's also concerning to people in the nearby Schuylkill County borough of Shenandoah.

We began our investigation at the site of the coal region's most famous mine fire, Centralia. Once home to more than 1,000 people, it now has fewer than 10 houses. The fire there has been burning underground since 1962. The state DEP said it began when the town filled an abandoned strip mining pit with residential trash. Then, the town intentionally lit the trash on fire. The DEP's website says because there was not a non-combustible barrier in place, the fire spread from the trash to the exposed Buck Mountain Coal seam in the pit, and it's been burning underground ever since.

If you want to learn more about Centralia, 69 News did a story in 2009, interviewing people who lived there.

"Today, it is an odd ghost town," said Andy Ulicny, the director of the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society. "When they started weighing the cost versus the notion of let's just move everybody out, they paid them, there were royalties and this. They went with that direction, just let it burn."

Today, there is no more visible smoke coming out of the ground in Centralia proper, but just to the east, we saw our first evidence that the fire is still very much active. Smoke was coming out of the ground off Big Mine Run Road, which is just outside Centralia. That location is the furthest point investigators originally thought the mine fire had reached, but that was until 2004, when a mining company reported another mine fire several miles east of there.

We obtained that report through our Right to Know request. It identifies a different fire three miles to the east, just north of the Schuylkill County borough of Girardville, first discovered in 2004 by a mining company called Blaschak Coal. At that time, investigators said "The possibility the underground mine fire and the Centralia mine fire were related in some way was discussed. Additional field work and map analysis is necessary to make an accurate determination."

Later in the report, it says "Blaschak plans to go ahead and re-mine the area and extinguish the underground mine fire. Therefore, we recommend no further action."

It was time to see for ourselves if the fire had been dealt with. The hike into abandoned mine land wasn't easy. It's a terrain filled with swampy water, overgrown plants, and loose rocks, but after about a mile, we saw from a distance what we were looking for. Smoke rising straight out of the ground, covering an entire hillside, and continuing onto the back of the hill. The area was surrounded by dead vegetation. The fire had not been extinguished.
Ukraine, partners doing everything together to make terrorist state lose  Zelensky on results of Ramstein meeting

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, commenting on the results of the ninth meeting of the contact group on providing defense assistance to Ukraine Ramstein, stated as a basic trend that Ukraine and partners together continue to do everything to make the terrorist state (Russia) lose.

According to him, the meeting brought Ukraine another strong decision to protect the state and strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"More air defense, more tanks, more artillery and shells, more training of our military have been confirmed by partners. And, as was said today, Ukraine must be successful. And here we agree: there must be success," he said in an evening video address.

As the president noted, a significant part of the agreements and discussions within the contact group should be left behind closed doors, but one thing can be said for sure: "The basic trends remain unchanged."

"Ukraine and partners are doing everything together to make the terrorist state lose. And to make it happen faster," Zelensky said, adding that: "The Kremlin is in a hurry to squeeze all possible aggression potential out of Russia."

"They are in a hurry. For they know that the world is still stronger, but it takes time to rally its strength. Therefore, speed [of Ukraine and its partners] is very important. Speed in everything. In making decisions. In implementing decisions. In supply. In studies. Speed saves people's lives, speed restores safety," the president said.

At the same time, he thanked all the partners of Ukraine for the leadership and systemic coordination of the Ramstein.
WHITE TWP., N.J.  The White Township Planning Commission heard testimony Tuesday night regarding a proposed realignment of an intersection for the benefit of two warehouses being proposed by Lehigh Valley-based developer Jaindl Land Co.

The project involves the development of an 800,000-square-foot warehouse next to the Delaware River on current farmland at 35 Foul Rift Road, off Route 519. Phase two of the project includes a 1.8 million-square-foot warehouse. The entire project  involving 580 acres  has been under review by the township since 2019.

The only topic addressed Tuesday night was a proposed realignment of the intersection of Foul Rift Road and Route 519.

Traffic engineer Corey Chase presented conceptual plans to relocate Foul Rift Road 360 feet to the south of the existing road to form a new intersection with Route 519.

Chase explained the new intersection would include traffic signals, the creation of a left turn lane on northbound Route 519 and a right turn land on southbound Route 519.

"Based on recent discussion that we have had with the county, there are issues with the right-of-way on the northwest corner of the existing intersection," Chase said, "so they requested that we relocate Foul Rift Road to the south so that the proposed southbound turning land would be completely outside of the county-owned property."

Chase also said plans call for the widening of the road to accommodate the turn lanes.

Numerous residents criticized the plan, and said the road should be moved further south to avoid impacting any residences or businesses, or a private road should be developed to make maintenance the responsibility of the developer.

Chase said the conceptual plan was developed at the request of Warren County officials to avoid any further environmental impact on the existing farmland.

Several residents attempted to make statements about the entire project or ask questions non-specific to the intersection, but were stopped by planning commission Chairman Timothy Matthews.

Matthews said the time will come when residents opposed to the project will be able to present their own testimony and witnesses, but any comments on Tuesday had to remain focused on the proposed intersection.

Planning commission members also said they favored a relocation of the road further to the south.

Jaindl attorney Anthony Sposaro asked the planning commission to communicate its concerns with the county in a formal fashion.

"We will forge ahead and look at alternatives, but the attitude of everyone on behalf of the county, when we attended that meeting, was almost dismissive," Sposaro said. "They were not going to consider any deviation from their standards, and they really didn't care what the impact was going to be."

Sposaro said it is his opinion that the attitude of the county officials was not accidental.

"They are trying to put us in a bind," Sposaro said. "They're trying to pit this municipality against them, and put us in the middle."

"It's pretty simple what they're trying to do," the attorney continued. "It's the risk when you have elected officials, as opposed to appointed officials, trying to regulate land use."

"They are more concerned about getting reelected than what the impact is on the people in White Township," Sposaro said.

The planning commission went into a closed-door executive session at the conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday to seek legal advice from its solicitor on any potential communication with the county.

The next planning commission meeting is scheduled for March 14.
Whilst it may be Emmeline that remains the headline grabber of the Pankhurst family  the spearhead of the Women's Suffragette movement  it is undoubtedly her middle daughter, Sylvia, that is the more interesting character, and who undoubtedly had as much influence as her mother on today's society and how people are treated.

In the programme notes, writer, director and choreographer Kate Prince admits to not having heard of the old adage that "musicals aren't written, they are re-written" until she started working with the Old Vic's Matthew Warchus in 2018. Several incarnations and multiple re-writes later, it is something she says she now understands. The Old Vic has nurtured and supported this new piece of dynamic British writing commendably. First commissioned as a work of dance, it morphed into a musical which was given a healthy work-in-progress run at the venue before the pandemic hit us. Now it is a fully realised musical and there is plenty to enjoy.

With a funk and hip-hop score that mainly thunders along at a rattling pace, there are unavoidable comparisons to the other historical behemoth up the road at the Victoria Palace. Whilst Hamilton is laser-focused on its storytelling, there is less clarity here with Sylvia's life. Whilst she is intrinsically linked to her mother, the Suffragettes and later to the Socialist cause, it does rather feel as though there are too many strands to the story vying for attention.

Sylvia broke away from her mother and sister's increasingly violent and militant action for women's suffrage. Emmeline grew right-wing of thinking and later joined the Conservative party  cue boos from the audience. Sylvia was determined to fight for the lower classes in the East End of London and she joined forces with Labour politician and family friend Kier Hardie. Despite being some 26 years her senior, he would later become her lover  an uncomfortable love song explains how she first saw him at the age of seven and wonders if he'd noticed her.

Beverley Knight is a fierce matriarchal Emmeline Pankhurst, hard and uncaring she has no room for anything other than the cause'. It is a bold and brave performance from Knight who happily sits in the gloom of villainy to provide the light into which Sharon Rose's tremendous Sylvia can shine. Between them, these two women provide powerhouse performances  their act two duet is sensational  with soulful and commanding voices that give flight to the thumping music of Josh Cohen and DJ Walde.

Prince's book and lyrics, with Priya Parmar, are often clunky and the entire show loses momentum in its second act as it gets lost in the quagmire of socialism and war. Rose never falters however, and portrays a determined yet tormented Sylvia, fiercely committed to her cause and bereft, having been brutally disowned by her own mother in order to protect the Pankhurst brand.

Alex Gaumond is a suitably likeable Kier Hardie and Ellena Vincent is a tough Christabel Pankhurst, with whom Prince gives brief credence to the suggestion that many of the suffragettes were gay. Jay Perry is an absurdly two-dimensional mummy's boy as Winston Churchill whilst Jade Hackett is equally as absurd but hysterically funny as his mother  Lady Jennie Churchill goes all garage on us.





The company of Sylvia

 Manuel Harlan





Ben Stones' set design is effective with Andrzej Goulding's whizzy projections covering every inch of it. The monochrome designs are streaked with red to mark the arrival of socialism  obvious perhaps, but effective all the same. Bravo too, to Natasha Chivers' subtle suffragette lighting design.

As a 21st century musical, it may lack the intellect of Hamilton or the brevity of Six, but it is still tremendous fun. It celebrates the empowerment of women and the breaking down of barriers and is not afraid to question our preconceptions of the accepted history. It's a brave and vibrant hit at the Old Vic.
"Making war is a dirty business. So is making peace." Thus goes the advertising strapline for this unusual new comedy about behind-the-scenes machinations on the political world stage. But who knew that such a subject could also turn out to be so rumbustiously funny?

Writer Daniel Taub was the Israeli ambassador to the UK a decade ago so is especially well qualified to comment on the mechanics of international diplomacy, while his collaborator Dan Patterson is an award-winning veteran of topical TV comedy. Between them they've crafted a genre-defying, bracingly original piece that at its best recalls early career Stoppard with its dazzling mixture of elegant intellectualism, elevated language and low comedy.

At the centre of the show is one of Patterson's television colleagues Clive Anderson, whose Clive Anderson Talks Back on Channel 4 is among the writers credits. Anderson plays Hugo Leitski (pronounced "light- skee"), a globally respected diplomat from the fictional country of Karvistan, which would appear to be a quaintly dysfunctional Middle European state stuck in a time warp somewhere between the turn of the last century and the 1970s. Leitski is here to deliver a lecture on his career, centring on a particularly torrid set of negotiations with officials from the state of Moldona (also fictional), which forms the framework for a series of playful but thought-provoking reminiscences and audience interactions.

Arthur Conti, in a completely winning professional stage debut, appears as young Leitski (nicknamed "Lightweight" by Korsakov, his bombastic diplomat corps boss, brilliantly played by Michael Maloney as a not-too-distant cousin to the late, great Nigel Hawthorne's Hugo in the long running Yes Minister sitcom) in the flashback sequences. Conti, with his hangdog expression and understated delivery, makes a charming, entirely credible younger version of Anderson, and is already displaying the sublime comic instincts of a true clown.

Anderson isn't a natural actor - on press night he wasn't always on top of his lines or cues - but is an urbane, witty presence and achieves an undeniable rapport with the audience, even if some of the enforced participation (pairing everybody off to make mock negotiations amongst themselves, or a slightly pointless thumb wrestling exercise) doesn't really add much to the play as a whole. The show really soars whenever Maloney is on stage, and gets a further jolt of manic comic electricity by the second act arrival of Greg Lockett as a bonkers American mediator that could have stepped straight out of Monty Python.

Stage veterans Nichola McAuliffe and Barrie Rutter are rampantly funny, and clearly having a ball as, respectively, a terminally mournful landlady with a surprisingly raunchy past, and the blustering leader of the Moldonian delegation. They're both fabulous but McAuliffe's lugubrious Cumbrian accented widow, forever either quoting her late husband's nonsensical homilies ("better to bear a hug, than to hug a bear"), one hand constantly on the urn bearing his ashes, or out terrorising the local wildlife with a loaded shotgun, is a truly great comic creation. McAuliffe plays her to the hilt, and would be worth the price of a ticket all by herself, even if almost everything around her weren't so much fun.

If Jez Bond's in-the-round staging, exquisitely lit by Sherry Coenen, suffers from being stopped in its tracks periodically by the audience participation sections, the balance between exhilarating comedy and the deadly serious is superbly handled. You laugh (a lot) but you are never in any doubt as to the importance of the what these skilled, albeit highly eccentric, negotiators are talking about. There are a couple of uneven stretches, where the material and premise both become a little belaboured, but the running gags are a joy, the performances delight and overall this is a richly enjoyable piece of theatre.
Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on education, science and innovation Serhiy Babak says he has no ambitions to become the minister of education and science, but if the president offers him to head the ministry, he will agree.

"I never had direct ambitions to take any chair and put a stamp on my labor that I was a minister. From the point of view of logic, I told the president this more than once, when there was talk about the position of minister, what to complete here those legislative reforms that we promised to make in the program of the president and in the program of the party. After we pass all the necessary laws, theoretically, yes, we can go and implement these laws in practice. As the philosophy of these laws is better than us, probably, few people will understand. And when the ministry changes, it is sometimes difficult to keep this movement in the direction that we have planned. Therefore, I have no direct ambitions to be a minister," Babak told Interfax-Ukraine, answering a question whether he has an ambition to become Education Minister.

At the same time, he said the Education Ministry can do a lot differently.

To a clarifying question about if President Volodymyr Zelensky offered him to become Education Minister, Babak said: "If I hear in these words the desire to really move quickly, efficiently, unpopularly, but to Europe through quality, I will not refuse."

At the same time, the head of the committee declined to comment on the quality of the work of incumbent Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet.

"I believe that this is not a correct question, especially in times of hostilities. I will answer the way I answered when I was asked about the work of the previous head of the department - I will never be satisfied with the work of the minister. I am often not satisfied with my work either. It's not that my work or the work of the minister is not of high quality, it's just that more can always be done," he said.

Babak also said regardless of who the Education Minister, the relevant committee will work with him.

"Now, as deputies, it's hard for us, as deputies, to raise the issue of changing this or that minister. In our time, we don't want to undermine the situation. Maybe there will be votes to remove the minister, with any. But will there be votes to appoint a new one, or again the ministry will 'I don't want to allow this either," he said.
On second day of Ramstein meeting participants to discuss supply of tanks to Ukraine  Reznikov

On Wednesday, February 15, deliveries of tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be discussed at a meeting in the Ramstein format, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

"The first day of work in Brussels is over. I am grateful to all the countries participating in Ramstein and to the North Atlantic Alliance for supporting Ukraine. Tomorrow's schedule will be full. We will spend more time discussing tanks," he said on Twitter on Wednesday night.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) donated 23 heaters, 120 blankets, 40 sets of bed linen to one of the hospitals in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society announced this on its Facebook page.

In addition, the URCS provided other assistance to the residents of Kostiantynivka. In particular, 80 blankets, 38 mattresses, more than 50 food packages for people evacuated from Bakhmut, Toretsk and other cities were delivered to the Points of Invincibility. Volunteers of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society also distributed about 3,000 humanitarian aid kits to vulnerable groups of the population whose homes were damaged by shelling. In addition, the URCS provides warm clothes for children and adults.
Beaver Dam Police took two teens into custody after a brief pursuit on Tuesday night after they located a stolen vehicle in the city of Beaver Dam.

There were four teens who were believed to be in the stolen vehicle. Police are still looking for one individual who was in the vehicle; however, another juvenile suspect was taken into custody on Wednesday in Waupun.

According to the press release from Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger, the officers located the stolen vehicle around 8 p.m. on the north side of the city.

Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled. A brief pursuit ensued, and the suspected vehicle struck several other vehicles and ultimately crashed into a ditch. The occupants of the vehicle fled on foot.

Two occupants were located and taken into custody, but two others were believed to be involved, and were not located despite a search by personnel, K-9s and thermal imaging tools.

An officer and the two juvenile occupants who were taken into custody received minor injuries from the crashes. All were examined at the hospital and released.

These juveniles will be referred for numerous charges as a result of this investigation.

This information was sent out to residents on the north side of Beaver Dam due to the unknown whereabouts of the possible occupant who fled on foot.

The last known location was near the crash scene at North Spring Street and Woodland Drive in Beaver Dam. If anyone has information regarding this case please contact the Beaver Dam Police Department.

The Beaver Dam Police Department was assisted by the Dodge County Sheriffs Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, the Beaver Dam Fire Department, and numerous citizens.
Two people were found passed out in a Dekorra truck stop last week. When authorities arrived they found a variety of controlled substances and two drug ledgers.

Lee M. Wilson, 41, Black Earth, has been charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, less than 10 grams, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of THC, second offense.

She has also been charged with misdemeanor possess/illegally obtain prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wilson was allegedly in the driver seat of the vehicle at the Dekorra truck stop with Kyle W. Haag, 37, Madison, in the passenger seat.

Haag has been charged with felony counts of possession of narcotic drugs and possession of methamphetamine along with misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a concealed knife.

Online records show Haag and Wilson are no longer in custody. They both had initial appearances in the Columbia County Courthouse last week. Wilsons signature bond was set at $1,000 and Haags cash bond was set at $200.

If convicted of the fentanyl and methamphetamine charges, Wilson could face up to 10 years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision for each count.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Feb. 8:

A sheriffs deputy, emergency medical services and law enforcement officers were dispatched to Loves Truck Stop in Dekorra off of County Highway CS near I-90 in Dekorra. The person who reported the incident to police said they saw a man and a woman passed out in a vehicle in the truck stop parking lot. The reporting party made attempts to wake the pair up but were unsuccessful.

A sheriffs deputy arrived at the scene after EMS personnel and spoke with Haag and Wilson. While speaking with Wilson, the deputy reported being able to see heroin in Wilsons sweatshirt pocket. The deputy searched the pocket and located three bindles with a substance that tested positive for fentanyl weighing 5.2 grams. There were also several pills, later identified as Clonazepam and Alprazolam, found in the sweatshirt pocket.

Law enforcement then searched the vehicle and found a large amount of cash and controlled substances. There was a plastic shopping bag near the drivers seat that contained $3,060 in cash.

The complaint alleges two notebooks found in the car were identified as drug ledgers. Authorities believe the notebooks belong to Wilson with one page discussing being front money for a zip.

In the trunk of the vehicle authorities found two bags with methamphetamine weighing a total of 9 grams.

Haag was searched and authorities allegedly found a knife in Haags pocket. When Haag was transported to the Columbia County Jail a smoking pipe fell from his person.

Haag and Wilson are scheduled for pre-trial conferences in March.

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Pizza and Kalahari Resorts and Conventions go hand in hand due to Nelson family history, and the resort celebrated with free pizza to area first responders on Feb. 9.

The date, known as National Pizza Day, carries significance for the Nelsons, whose business ventures began in 1983 with their ownership of Pizza Pub in Lake Delton. Kalahari Resorts and Conventions, Todd Nelson and his familys current nationwide venture, celebrated the holiday commemorating the Italian-American dish by giving away free 14-inch pizzas to any member of law enforcement, fire, and paramedic departments in each municipality that has a Kalahari.

Along with the Nelsons hometown Wisconsin Dells location in Lake Delton, Kalahari has resorts in Round Rock, Texas, Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, and Sandusky, Ohio. The Nelsons owned Pizza Pub for 20 years before selling it to the Ajvazi family in 2003, who celebrated the restaurants 40th anniversary on Jan. 27.

That's amore: Pizza Pub celebrates 40 years Pizza Pub, a staple in Wisconsin Dells, celebrated its 40th anniversary on Jan. 27, 2023, with 1980s-themed music, balloons, a 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, and games with prizes for winners.

It isnt lost on us how lucky we are, and its been an incredible journey, said Travis Nelson, the president of Kalahari Resorts and Conventions and son of Todd, in a statement. From the early days of Pizza Pub to where Kalahari has taken us is the result of so much hard work, dedication, and love. Being able to take this journey as a family makes it that much more special.

Members of the Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells police departments, the Delton and Kilbourn fire departments, and Dells-Delton EMS also received two free waterpark passes and the 14-inch pizza (or a voucher for a later pickup).

A trip to Africa in the mid-1990s with his family inspired Todd Nelson to design a waterpark based on cultural influence from the trip that he loved. In 2000, the Wisconsin Dells Kalahari location opened.
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.

Close Photo Gallery: Niagara Falls
MORRISON, Ill.  A Wisconsin man sustained serious injuries after his vehicle collided with the back of a school bus Monday morning near Morrison.

The crash happened shortly before 7:30 a.m. Monday near 17218 Lincoln Road, which is U.S. 30. According to the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office, the initial crash investigation determined Zane J. Gifford, 32, of Whitewater, Wisconsin, was traveling west on U.S. 30 when he rear ended a Morrison Community School District bus operated by RC Smith Transportation.

The bus was stopped in the westbound lane with red lights flashing while a child got on the bus at the time of the crash, according to a Whiteside County Sheriff's Office press release. Gifford sustained severe injuries and was airlifted by MedForce helicopter to Javon Bea Hospital in Rockford, Illinois.

One student on the bus was transported by CGH Ambulance to Morrison Community Hospital with suspected minor injuries. The bus driver and five other students on the bus were not injured.

Whiteside County deputies were assisted at the scene by the Illinois State Police, Morrison Police Department, Morrison Community Hospital Ambulance, Morrison Fire Department, CGH Ambulance, MedForce Helicopter, and Hunter's Towing.

Counties with the most motor vehicle fatalities in Wisconsin Counties with the most motor vehicle accident fatalities in Wisconsin #43. Waukesha County, Wisconsin #42. Outagamie County, Wisconsin #41. Marathon County, Wisconsin #40. Winnebago County, Wisconsin #39. Dane County, Wisconsin #38. Brown County, Wisconsin #37. Ozaukee County, Wisconsin #36. Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin #35. Dodge County, Wisconsin #34. St. Croix County, Wisconsin #33. Eau Claire County, Wisconsin #32. Jefferson County, Wisconsin #31. Milwaukee County, Wisconsin #30. Barron County, Wisconsin #29. Monroe County, Wisconsin #28. Walworth County, Wisconsin #27. Douglas County, Wisconsin #26. Calumet County, Wisconsin #25. Racine County, Wisconsin #24. Shawano County, Wisconsin #23. Manitowoc County, Wisconsin #22. Kenosha County, Wisconsin #21. Dunn County, Wisconsin #20. Chippewa County, Wisconsin #19. Sauk County, Wisconsin #18. Rock County, Wisconsin #17. Waupaca County, Wisconsin #16. Pierce County, Wisconsin #15. Trempealeau County, Wisconsin #14. Clark County, Wisconsin #13. Iowa County, Wisconsin #12. Oneida County, Wisconsin #11. Columbia County, Wisconsin #10. Kewaunee County, Wisconsin #9. Lincoln County, Wisconsin #8. Juneau County, Wisconsin #7. Oconto County, Wisconsin #6. Waushara County, Wisconsin #5. Adams County, Wisconsin #4. Bayfield County, Wisconsin #3. Polk County, Wisconsin #2. Sawyer County, Wisconsin #1. Florence County, Wisconsin
An employee of Beryslav hospital (Kherson region) was injured as a result of the shelling of the city by Russian invaders on Wednesday, according to the Telegram channel of Kherson Regional Military Administration.

"Today, the invaders again fired at the hospital in Beryslav. Enemy shells hit the boiler facility that provides heat in the medical institution was destroyed. Due to the Russian attack, an employee of the institution was injured. Doctors are fighting for his life at this moment," the administration said.
Click the photo and watch the video.

*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

(Source: Xinhua)
Lan Zhen, secretary of the Party Committee of Zhangzhou Experimental Primary School (in Zhangzhou, a city in Southeast China's Fujian Province), recently told media she was honored to have been elected a delegate to the 20th CPC (Communist Party of China) National Congress (held in October 2022). During the past several months, she has given speeches, in local universities, colleges and primary and middle schools, to promote the spirit of the congress. She has stressed educators should focus on training builders of and successors to the socialist cause, who are fully developed, in terms of moral grounding, intellectual and physical ability, aesthetic sensibility and work skills. Lan has also encouraged all teachers and students to integrate their individual ideals in the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. She has also called on teachers to make greater efforts to help rural children receive better education.

Dedication to Improving Rural Education

Lan was born in a She (an ethnic group in China)-inhabited village in Zhangzhou. When she was a little girl, Lan noticed many of the villagers showed great respect to her mother, who was a teacher at one of the primary schools (before she retired dozens of years ago). From then on, Lan was determined to follow in her mother's footsteps.

In 1988, Lan began teaching Chinese at the Primary School Affiliated with Longxi Normal College (in Longxi, a county in Zhangzhou). In 1990, Lan received first prize in a contest  Chinese composition guidance lesson by primary school teachers  hosted by the provincial TV station. She was the youngest contestant to win the top prize for the contest. Soon after, she won first prize during a provincial Chinese-lesson contest for primary school teachers.

Lan's heart has been filled with delight as she has witnessed the dramatic changes in China's rural education system. However, she realized greater efforts were still needed to improve education in many rural areas of the country. She felt obliged to do something to help rural children receive a better education.

Cultivating Rural Teachers

In 2013, Lan established a studio (in Zhangzhou) dedicated to helping rural teachers improve their teaching skills. Zhangzhou Education Bureau designated the studio as an experimental base for implementing the Rural Teachers' Training Plan.

Under the plan, many rural teachers (in Fujian) during the past few years have received teaching-skill training. Organizers have also arranged for the trainees to attend lessons provided by teachers from various primary schools in Xiamen (a city in Fujian). "The lessons were really eye openers for the trainees, as the lessons helped the trainees realize they should make greater efforts to improve their teaching skills," recalls Lan.

In 2017, Zhangzhou Education Bureau designated Zhangzhou Experimental Primary School as the only rural teachers' training base in the city. In 2018, Fujian's Education Department named the studio "Fujian Lanzhen's Famous Teachers' Studio."

During the past 10 years, the studio's members have offered to teach children in remote areas (in different regions of Fujian Province). The members have also provided training to many primary school teachers.

Nearly 900 rural teachers, who have received training at the studio, have become key teachers in their respective schools. Lan hopes more excellent rural teachers will be cultivated under the Rural Teachers' Training Plan. She also hopes various organizations, and people from all segments of society, across the country, will attach greater importance to improving education in rural China.

Good Teacher, in New Era

During the past three decades, Lan has devoted all of her efforts to spreading wisdom to children, and to boosting their positive energy. While she has helped implement teaching reforms (in her primary school), she has found her calling  improving education in rural China.

Lan during the past several years has led members of her studio in visiting many primary schools, in various districts and counties in Zhangzhou, so they could see firsthand the needs of the schools' teachers, and the various difficulties they have faced, as they have taught children.

Since she was elected deputy to the 11th NPC (National People's Congress), in 2008, Lan has made dozens of proposals to promote China's educational development during the annual NPC sessions. For example, she has called for greater efforts to be made to promote the balanced development of compulsory education (across the country), and to strengthen family education, so minors can grow healthily. Lan has also put forward many proposals (on promoting education in rural China), including calls to revitalize rural education and to cultivate qualified rural teachers. In her eyes, every proposal is like a child, in which she has put a lot of effort into "cultivating."

Lan is pleased to see great improvements have been made in education in rural China. "We should try our best to ignite rural teachers' love for their profession. We should also cope with the challenges of improving China's rural education system," says Lan.

As she has taught children in remote areas (in different regions of Fujian Province), Lan has discovered, although rural children received many books (from contributors), many rural children did not understand how to read the books, and few teachers were able to adequately help guide children as they were reading the books. During the past several years, Lan has explored ways to help rural teachers improve their ability to offer guidance to their students, especially when the children were reading as an extracurricular activity.

Lan also held symposiums, in the remote areas, to popularize information about the Party's educational and national policies. "Since I was elected deputy to the 11th NPC, I have become a spokeswoman' for rural teachers. Based on rural teachers' needs and wishes, I have offered suggestions on how to improve rural education during the annual NPC sessions. I have also tried my best to help rural teachers improve their ability to better educate their students," says Lan. "I hope the Chinese Government will promulgate more preferential policies to attract more excellent talents to join rural teachers in providing quality education to rural children."

Lan, with 35 years of teaching experience, has witnessed China's vigorous educational development. When she was elected a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress last year, Lan said, "As a teacher, I'm duty bound to promote the nation's education development. I'll make greater efforts to help children realize their dreams."

Given her decades-long dedication to education, Lan has received many accolades, including being named a National March 8th Red-Banner Holder, a National Outstanding Party Member, and a national model teacher.

"I have received so much honor. That shows the Party and the Chinese Government have attached great importance to promoting national education development. The honor has urged me to do more things to improve rural education," says Lan.

During the past few years, Lan has fulfilled her duty of voicing the people's heartfelt wishes (for improving national education). "Keeping in mind Chinese President Xi Jinping's instructions (on promoting national education development), we should strive to cultivate talents, who will become a new generation of young people capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation." says Lan.

Photos Supplied by Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly January 2023 issue)
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, here in Washington, D.C., on February 13, announced on Tuesday that she will not run for reelection in 2024.
Next week, Ukraine will initiate expelling Russia from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), advisor to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak has said.

"Next week, we will initiate the exclusion of Russia, being a sponsor of terrorism, from the members of the FATF  an intergovernmental group on combating money laundering. Russia cynically violated its obligations under the FATF by starting the war of aggression against Ukraine," Podoliak wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to him, excluding Russia from the FATF will significantly increase the cost of doing business from Russia.

In particular, blacklisting Russia as a "high-risk jurisdiction" will mean that foreign banks and other financial institutions will conduct additional checks when working with Russian legal entities to check whether they are criminals or fraudsters, and, accordingly, it will become more expensive for foreign counterparties and unprofitable to do business with the Russian Federation.

Also, Podoliak said, this will reduce Russia's ability to evade sanctions, limit its international trade, make it more difficult to receive payments for exports and make payments for imports, and will affect the outflow of foreign direct investment from Russia.

Thus, foreign companies will face much higher costs for investing in Russia, and the money transfer to the Russian Federation will become problematic.

Earlier, Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko called on the Russian Federation to be included in the FATF "blacklist" and deprive it of access to the world economy for undermining global financial security.
Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley, here in 2022, will make her opening pitch for the Republican nomination for president Wednesday.
Subway has reportedly begun exploring a sale which could value the sandwich chain at more than $10 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that a real new year will begin for Ukraine on February 24.

"I have a feeling that on February 24 a real new year will start for Ukraine. We believe that this year will be victorious," he said at a press conference after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Kyiv on Wednesday.

When asked what feelings he has about the upcoming anniversary of the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, Zelensky said, "It was the most difficult year in the history of independent Ukraine. Yes, we are going to face a new endurance test, but I think that it was the most difficult time in our life. Therefore, on this day, it is important to remember about those who stands and defends our borders, as well as our friends who have been by our side all this time."
On Monday night, a lone gunman shot and killed three students on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing and critically wounded five others.

The episode was the latest in an unprecedented wave of mass shootings in the US. Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 68 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are killed or injured, not counting the shooter.

The gunman fired first into Berkey Hall, an academic building, beginning at 8:18 p.m., and then walked to the nearby Student Union and continued firing. Within minutes, hundreds of police and federal agents descended on the campus as students sheltered in place or ran for their lives.

The shooter was identified as Anthony Wayne McRae, 43, a resident of nearby Lansing, the state capital. The authorities said McRae had no past or present affiliation with the university. Police went to the home of McRaes father, where the shooter had been living for the past two years. McRae was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety. Some reports said he shot himself in his fathers house.

On Tuesday, the MSU Police Department identified the three students, all from the metro-Detroit area, who died in the attack. They are:

Alexandria Verner, 20, from Clawson, Michigan. Verner was a junior at MSU who graduated from Clawson High School in 2020.

Brian Fraser, a sophomore from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, who was 20 as well.

Arielle Diamond Anderson, 19, a sophomore, also from Grosse Pointe.

The five wounded students have not been identified. All were taken to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. According to hospital officials, four required surgery and all five remain in critical condition.

People mourn at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan on February 14, 2023, after a gunman killed three students and critically wounded five others. [AP Photo/Paul Sancya]

While the authorities say they have not determined a motive for the shootings, there have been multiple reports that McRae was a very troubled individual who had mental health issues.

ABC News, among other media sources, reported that police found a three-page document in the deceased shooters pocket. According to ABC, the note expressed his reasons for the attack and a number of additional locations in Lansing and Holt, Michigan; Ewing Township and Franklin Park, [New Jersey]; and Colorado Springs, [Colorado], which had hurted (sic) him and, therefore, were deserving of attack. ABC said that agents believe those locations were mentioned in the note because of personal grievances with people who live there.

ABC also cited a briefing according to which the subject claimed in his letter that he is the leader of a group who would pursue his agenda on his behalf.' However, the FBI has yet to gather information confirming any threat to the listed locations or involvement from other parties.

McRae reportedly had family ties to Ewing, a town not far from Trenton, New Jersey. Authorities there, out of an abundance of caution, cancelled classes on Tuesday.

According to media reports, McRae had worked for seven years at a Lansing-area warehouse, but was fired some time ago. In 2019, he was arrested for illegal possession of a gun and pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge, for which he was placed on probation. His mother died about two years ago, which apparently sent him into a downward spiral of depression and reclusiveness.

Contacted by CNN, Michael McRae, the gunmans father, said his son became bitter, isolated and evil angry. He obtained another gun but denied having it when confronted by his father. Neighbors in the working class neighborhood told reporters that they frequently heard gun shots coming from the McRae property.

More information will be forthcoming, but this latest horrific and tragic event cannot be explained simply or even primarily on the basis of the particular circumstances or the personal characteristics of the shooter. Certain facts surrounding the MSU shooting underscore the profound, deepening and toxic social crisis that produces mass shootings in America on more than a daily basis.

Apparently two of the students forced to hunker down for fear of being shot down came from families that had previously been impacted by a mass school shooting. Less than 15 months ago, a 15-year-old student shot and killed four fellow students and wounded eight others at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, located some 90 miles east of East Lansing.

Andrea Fergusons daughter survived the Oxford shooting in 2021, but in her first semester at MSU was forced to shelter in place on campus as the mass shooting was underway Monday night. Similarly forced to cower in fear of imminent death was the brother of a student who was wounded in the Oxford High School episode.

Video from the shooting Monday night included a shot of a student wearing one of the Oxford Strong sweatshirts distributed to students who survived the attack on the Michigan high school.

Moreover, the MSU shooting took place less one day before the fifth anniversary of the February 14, 2018 mass shooting that took the lives of 14 students and three educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The Washington Post on Tuesday published an analysis showing that the total number of children exposed to gun violence at school had exploded over the five years since the Parkland massacre. It reported that the number had risen from 187,000 in 2018 to 338,000 today.

A chart published on February 9, prior to the MSU shooting, by the website Visual Capitalist showed a staggering increase in mass shootings in the US over the past three yearsthe years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the governments profits-before-life herd immunity response, the explosion of consumer prices and the war against Russia in Ukrainefrom an average of 349 between 2014 and 2019 to an average of 649 between 2020 and 2022.

Chart showing growth in mass shootings in the United States from 2014 through 2022. [Photo: Data from Gun Violence Archive, chart made with Google. /WSWS]

The Gun Violence Archive reported that mass shootings in 2023 are occurring at a record rate, outstripping all previous years.

Over this period, as is well documented, social inequality has rapidly increased, as the corporate elite utilized the pandemic crisis to drive up prices and profits and further slash real wages for workers. Lansing exemplifies the grotesque levels of inequality and impoverishment of the working class. The median household income in Michigans state capital is $46,570, compared to $70,784 nationally. The share of the citys population with a bachelors degree or higher is 28.7 percent, compared to the national figure of 34.98 percent. The citys poverty rate is 21.8 percent, nearly double the national rate of 11.6 percent.

The ruling class response to the MSU bloodlettingentirely predictable, hollow and pro-formawas yet another exercise in evasion and posturing. None of the real issues can be broached because they point irrevocably to the crisis and bankruptcy of the political and economic system.

On Tuesday morning, President Joe Biden issued a statement on the anniversary of the Parkland shooting, obviously prepared in advance, that did not even bother to mention the tragedy only hours before at MSU. Biden, tone-deaf and preoccupied with preparing for a shooting war with Russia and eventual military conflict with China, touted the progress represented by the toothless bipartisan gun law passed last year and called on his fascistic colleagues in the Republican Party to enact further gun reform legislationknowing it will not happen.

At a Tuesday morning press conference led by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA operative, lavished praise on the police for their rapid and massive response and suggested that a bigger police presence on campus was needed.

Last January 24, the World Socialist Web Site published a Perspective column (The mass shootings in California and the social pathology of capitalism) that stated:

The response to these attacks by the ruling elite has become ritualized, with the now-standard offer of thoughts and prayers for the victims. We are told traumatized communities will stand strong. The Democrats thump the table about new gun control laws and bans on assault rifles, while Republicans rule out any limits and shed tears about the countrys deep mental health crisis. Amid the hand-wringing and bitter recriminations, they paper over the deep social crisis, for which both parties are responsible.

When that column appeared, the number of mass shootings in 2023 had reached 39. Today, barely three weeks later, it stands at 68.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that NATO is in a race of logistics against Russia as the war in Ukraine becomes a grinding war of attrition.

With the one-year anniversary of the war rapidly approaching, NATO and its members are pledging to increase their ammunition production as the war rapidly accelerates in scale and lethality. Russian forces are reportedly on the verge of a significant victory in the city of Bakhmut, amid warnings by the Financial Times that Russia is preparing to increase its use of helicopters, fighters and bombers, which it has up to this point held back.

Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg meets NATO troops at an airbase in Tallinn, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP) [AP Photo]

Speaking at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels Tuesday, Stoltenberg declared, The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting Allied stockpiles. The current rate of Ukraines ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain. So we need to ramp up production. And invest in our production capacity.

It is clear that we are in the race of logistics. Key capabilities like ammunition . . . must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield.

A war of attrition becomes a battle of logistics, he said. Yes, we have a challenge. Yes we have a problem . . . but we have a strategy to tackle that.

He added, We need to ensure that Ukraine gets the weapons it needs to be able to retake territory, liberate the lands and win this war.

Stoltenberg continued, The industry can increase production by having more shifts, by using existing production facilities more. But really to have a significant increase, they need to invest and build new plants.

He reiterated, You can even work during weekends.

Last month, the Pentagon announced that it plans to increase ammunition production by 500 percent, to levels last seen during the Korean War. The National Defense Authorization Act passed last year gave the military wartime procurement powers, allowing the Pentagon to carry out no-bid contracts, nominally in the name of increasing production.

Given Stoltenbergs declaration that NATO is in a race of logistics with Russia, AP reporter Lorne Cook asked Stoltenberg a blunt question:

Over the last year, NATO has gone from providing non-lethal assistance from Allies to providing artillery, to tanks. Now we're talking about jet aircraft. The Ukraine contact group is meeting in NATO headquarters. Why should the public believe that NATO is not at war with Russia?

To this, Stoltenberg replied, absurdly:

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, we need to understand what this is.

But Stoltenbergs own reply made clear the degree to which NATOs arming of Ukraine has helped create the conditions for the present war. Stoltenberg said, The war didnt start in February last year. The war started in 2014. And since 2014, NATO Allies have provided support to Ukraine, with training, with equipment, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces were much stronger in 2022 than they were in 2020 and 2014.

In a press conference following the meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pointed to the massive buildup of NATO weaponry in Ukraine:

Among the members of this Contact Group, we have given Ukraines defenders more than eight combat brigades. This includes major contributions from the United States of Strykers and Bradleys and Abrams tanks. It includes the UKs donation of Challenger tanks and the contribution of Senator Armored Personnel Carriers that Canada announced last month.

He added, Eleven countries have pledged tanks. Twenty-two have pledged infantry-fighting vehicles. Sixteen pledged artillery and munitions. And nine more pledged air defense artillery.

Even as NATO plans to massively increase its involvement in the conflict, the US media is pointing to increasingly worried briefings being received by US officials and lawmakers. In an article published Monday, the Washington Post wrote:

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded, however, that retaking the heavily fortified [Crimean] peninsula is beyond the capability of Ukraines army right now, according to officials familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. That sobering assessment has been reiterated to multiple committees on Capitol Hill over the last several weeks.

The article continued:

Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials estimate that Russia currently has over 300,000 forces in Ukraine, up from 150,000 initially, with plans to add hundreds of thousands more. The Russian campaign in the spring could see forces pouring over the Belarusian border and cutting off supply lines in western Ukraine that Kyiv has used to bolster its military.

Whatever the setbacks suffered by the Ukrainian military, NATO has staked its entire international prestige and credibility on the war against Russia. Just last month, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley announced the commitment of the United States and NATO to go on the offensive to liberate Russian-occupied Ukraine. He repeated that Ukraine would use NATO armored vehicles and tanks to go on the tactical and operational offensive to liberate the occupied areas.



The contrast between the increasingly dire state of the Ukrainian military operation in Ukraine and the sweeping goals made by US and NATO officials sets the stage for a further escalation of US-NATO involvement in the conflict, of which the actions already taken would be just a down payment.
On February 9, the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union (EU) met in Brussels to decide on a massive tightening up of the common asylum and immigration policies. Another key topic was the escalation of the Ukraine war against Russia.

In contrast, the devastating earthquake disaster that had devastated the Turkey-Syria border region just two days earlier was not a topic of discussion. The EU, ostensibly founded on freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, human rights and human dignity, has no response to the devastation occurring on its periphery, which has affected some 23 million people. Hundreds of thousands have lost their loved ones, their homes and everything in the Turkish-Syrian border region. But European governments stubbornly stick to their murderous deportation routine.

Refugees at the Greek-North Macedonian border (2016) [Photo by Tim Luddemann / flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The following points were decided at the EU refugee summit:

A further enhancement of the EU border agency Frontex to seal off Fortress Europe even more

Mass deportations of refugees without a permanent right to remain

Close cooperation with authoritarian regimes in the countries of origin

At the press conference after the special summit, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clarified the plans for the EUs asylum and immigration policy. She explained that the EUs external borders must be strengthened, and irregular migration prevented through border management. An integrated package of mobile and stationary infrastructures is to be provided for this purpose. Its content, which is to range from vehicles to cameras, from watchtowers to electronic surveillance, would impress any fascist ruler.

The summits conclusions on immigration say the EU will strengthen its measures to prevent irregular departures and loss of life, reduce pressure on EU borders and reception capacities, combat smugglers and ensure more returns. With countries of origin and transit, the EU wants to strengthen mutually beneficial partnerships.

Behind the EUs Orwellian terminology are dirty deals with authoritarian regimes and smuggling gangs to prevent people from leaving their home countries, rather than dying first in European waters. To prevent people from entering the Schengen area, Frontex checks are to be tightened and illegal pushbacks expanded. The EU also wants to expand mass deportations from its countries and make them even more brutal.

Adequate resources are to cover all migration routes and thus block any escape route from hunger, war and suffering. To this end, financial resources had already been pooled in 2021 through the EUs Neighbourhood, Development Cooperation and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICIGlobal Europe). A total of 79.5 billion is available through the NDICI until 2027.

To ensure the improvement of mass deportations from the EU to third countries, the European Council emphasizes the use of diplomacy, development, trade and visas. Behind this are measures to put political pressure and economic blackmail on the governing powers in the countries of origin to make them compliant to the dictates of the EU. Those who suffer are the workers and poor of their respective countries.

The concept of so-called safe countries of origin is also to be used more intensively so as to be able to legally reject and deport even more asylum applications.

EU leaders want to control their external land and sea borders even more comprehensively. To this end, they are planning full support for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The latter is to receive massive financial support from member states to ensure the development of border management capacity and infrastructure, means for surveillance, including air surveillance, and equipment. In other words, Frontex is to be armed to the teeth to seal off Fortress Europe.

In addition, there are apparently plans to give Frontex mandates that extend beyond the EU and its external borders. The summit announced negotiations on new and revised status agreements between the European Union and third countries on the deployment of Frontex.

The conclusions also speak of the specificities of maritime borders in terms of the protection of human lives, indirectly confirming that countless people have already drowned miserably off its borders as they flee to a supposedly better future. According to the International Organization for Migration (IMO), more than 25,000 refugees have drowned or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014the number of unreported cases is likely far higher.

A look back at the 2022 refugee numbers in the EU

One pretext for the special summit was the increased number of asylum seekers in 2022 in the EU, reportedly up by a dramatic 46 percent compared to the previous year. In total, according to figures presented by von der Leyen at the summit, 924,000 people had applied for asylum. Compared to the population of the European Union (447 million), thats just 0.2 percent. This does not include the more than 4 million Ukrainian war refugees who have come since the Ukraine war.

The EU is using the figures for a targeted propaganda campaign. According to Mediendienst Integration, an information platform of the Council for Migration e.V., the number of refugees in Europe in 2022 has indeed increased compared to the previous year. However, these are predominantly people who have fled the war in Ukraine. Since February 2022, some 8.05 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered (as of February 2023).

Based on the EUs so-called mass influx directive, 4.8 million Ukrainians received temporary protection status. Ukrainian war refugees are largely not included in official EU statistics under this measure. Ukrainian nationals are also automatically granted humanitarian residence permits in EU member states, giving them access to education, employment, social benefits and medical care.

At the same time, according to Mediendienst Integration, in the period from February to October 2022, around 111,000 refugees arrived in Europe via the main Mediterranean escape routes. It goes on to say that in the first half of 2022, a total of just over 400,000 people applied for asylum in the EU (excluding refugees from Ukraine). This is about 63 percent more than in the same period in 2021.

The reason for this is that due to the coronavirus pandemic and associated travel restrictions, the number of asylum applications had fallen sharply in the previous two years, 2020 and 2021. Especially in comparison with the figures for 2015, when numerous refugees from war-torn countries poured into Europe, the absolute numbers are still comparatively low.

The European ruling class is running its propaganda machine at full speed in this regard: Allegedly, the number of irregular border crossings has reached an all-time high since 2016. Frontex reports that there were around 230,000 such border crossings in the first nine months of 2022 alone. However, in the fine print, Frontex notes that all attempted border crossings are counted, resulting in multiple counts.

The pitiless measures against refugees that the EU heads want to push through with their special summit in Brussels are an expression of a sharp turn to the right by all European governments.

Sweden holds the presidency of the European Council until June 2023. The country is dominated by a coalition of three right-wing parties: the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. The Sweden Democrats, a far-right party with neo-fascist roots, are currently the second-largest faction in the Swedish parliament; it was only with their help that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (Moderate) was elected to office in September 2022. Since then, the Swedish governments policies have been characterized by harsh attacks on refugees. For example, there are calls for asylum transit zones, or reception centres for asylum seekers.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from the openly far-right Fratelli dItalia governs in Rome together with the right-wing parties Lega and Forza Italia. One of the Meloni governments first decisions was to make sea rescues in the Mediterranean more difficult. This involves, for example, forcing ships belonging to non-governmental organizations with refugees on board to divert to ports in the north such as Ancona or Ravenna, Ravenna being closer to Germany than to Sicily. Ahead of the special summit, Meloni had called for the EU to intervene in the defence of the external borders.

In Austria, Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP) had called for an EU rejection directive shortly before the special summit. According to this, people with no prospect of asylum should be able to be deported while still at the border. Nehammers idea means legitimizing illegal pushbacks. In Vienna, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the demand was a blatant violation of refugee law.

Nehammer also spoke out in favour of expanding border fences and called for additional border guards, saying any fence was only as good as it is monitored. Hungary, Poland and Greece also spoke out in favour of border fences financed by European funds. In the meantime, 2,000 kilometres of border fencing has been built at the EUs external borders. Ten years ago, the figure was 300 kilometres.

Other EU member states are also increasingly implementing far-right policies. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrat, SPD) rolled out the red carpet for fascist Meloni in early February and is implementing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) refugee policy in his coalition with the Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Greens. At the EU summit, Scholz explained that on the one hand, immigration was necessary to combat the shortage of skilled workers, but on the other hand, it was necessary to ensure that people without the right to stay were deported. His government was working on this, he said.

The European Council summit ended with the typical EU agreement to disagree on the implementation of the measures decided. But at least on one point, the 27 EU heads did agree: they will drastically tighten measures against refugeeswhether in combination or at the national level. The only exception will be if they can exploit the victims of hunger, suffering and war for their own economic and war policies.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaking at a joint press conference with Senator Mike Braun (Republican-Indiana) and high-level trade union bureaucrats in Washington on February 09, 2023. [Photo: Bernie Sanders/@SenSanders]

On February 9, Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders held a live press conference on Twitter calling for paid sick days for American rail workers. The event was co-chaired by Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun on behalf of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senate Committee, and was flanked with representatives of the major railway unions.

The press conference was an attempt at damage control for the Democratic Party and the trade union apparatus, two months after a bipartisan vote in Congress to impose a contract which railroaders had rejected. The very individual grandstanding in the press conference as advocates for railroaders played central roles in this attack on workers basic democratic rights. Sanders orchestrated a maneuver to add seven paid sick days, which never had any chance of passing in the Senate over opposition from Republicans and right-wing Democrats, in order to give Democrats political cover as they voted nearly unanimously to impose the deal.

While Sanders did not vote to impose the contract, his support for the vote ensured its rapid passage, as opposition from even a single senator would have been enough to delay a vote under the expedited procedures being used by the Senate. However, three House members of the Democratic Socialists of America, including Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, voted in favor of the anti-strike law in the House.

As for the union bureaucracy, they acted as Congress enablers. They ignored a 99 percent strike vote by workers and delayed voting as long as possible, in a bid to either ram through the deal against significant opposition or, failing that, to buy Congress time until after the November midterms to prepare their intervention.

The coming together between self-declared socialists and right-wing Republicans was a major political exposure of what are in fact pro-capitalist politicians. They have spent much of the past two months in damage control mode, in a bid to rehabilitate their image. In mid-December, the unions sponsored a farcical Fight for Workers Rights rally which was addressed by Sanders and the DSA members who had stripped workers of their rights.

Last weeks press conference was cast in the same mold. Sanders claimed that the point of the event was to send a strong message to the CEOs of the rail industry that they must guarantee seven paid sick days to railroad workers. The self-declared democratic socialist Sanders began by mentioning the $22 billion-dollar profit railroad companies made last year, noting that none was spent on improving the lives of railroaders.

Did they spend it on making the rail industry safer? We just saw today the horrible accident in Ohio. No, they did not do that, he said, making a reference to the disastrous 50-train derailment in East Palestine last week resulting in an explosion of toxic fumes. This was the only reference to the massive disaster in the course of the event.

Sanders pointed to the slashing of the industrys workforce by 30 percent while leaving CEOs made over 175 million dollars in compensation over three years. CEOs making it out like bandits and workers are not getting one paid sick day that does not make sense to me, Sanders, who helped to defend this state of affairs in Congress, claimed.

Sanders then pivoted towards pathetic moral appeals for these same CEOs to grant sick days to workers. He hailed in particular CSXs decision to give only four days paid sick leave to a fraction of its workforce, table scraps meant as a PR exercise which costs it virtually nothing. Sanders called on other railroads to follow in its footsteps and do the right thing.

This recalls Sanders reaction in 2018 to Jeff Bezos decision to raise starting pay to $15 per hour for Amazon warehouse workers. Even though this was paired with a cutting of bonuses, stock options and productivity incentives which made the move virtually cost-neutral, Sanders acted as Bezos PR man, even shielding him from criticism that the pay decision was a meaningless stunt.

Others on the podium echoed Sanders toothless moral appeals. Tony Cardwell, President of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWED), praised not only Sanders but also the courage of CSXs CEO Joseph Hinrichs for being willing to step out and do something for his workers. Senator Mike Braun, a businessman worth between $35 and $95 million, was given space to boast of his own treatment of his employees. He suggested the railroads treat your employees like family, while hoping the issue solves itself through the network of common sense.

Common sense from the railroads point of view is to press their advantage and violate even the terms of the pro-corporate contract, secure in the knowledge that Washington and the union apparatus have their backs. This is exactly what they have done: Three railroads have introduced pilot programs for oneman rail crews, and BNSF is outsourcing locomotive maintenance to outside contractors. These were never mentioned throughout last weeks press conference.

In addition to the BMWED, union officials from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), and the AFL-CIO, SMARTs Transportation Division (SMART-TD) took turns praising Sanders and blandly calling for unity and hope. Interestingly, the BLET was not represented by new president Eddie Hall, who unseated Dennis Pierce in a huge upset motivated by rank-and-file anger over the latters role in imposing the deal.

Jeremy Ferguson, the President of SMART-TD, engaged in a falsification of the history of the past six months. He claimed that Congress had acted, not to ban a strike which workers were pushing for, but to break an impasse caused by railroads. I had front-row seat at that impasse  first in September and then late November. As a matter of fact, Ferguson was not merely an audience member but a key actor in the sellout, even falsely claiming to workers that the US Constitution prohibited them from striking.

Earlier this year, Ferguson openly defended the intervention of Congress and the White House, claiming in an interview that Biden had to put the country first and the economy first.

Sanders loyalty is being rewarded by being repeatedly elevated within the Democratic Partys hierarchy. Having previously been given the chair of the powerful Senate Budget Committee, Sanders will now helm the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senate Committee, it was recently reported.

This takes place even after the Democratic Party leadership voted for a Republican resolution in the House denouncing socialism and the redistribution of wealth. This apparent contradiction is because Sanders, as well as the DSA, have nothing to do with socialism. Their role is to capture and defuse left wing and anti-capitalist sentiment before it escapes the control of the two-party system.

Real socialism requires the break by the working class with all of the capitalist parties and its left agencies. This is precisely what Sanders is desperate to avoid at all costs.
The devastating consequences of the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that struck on the Turkey-Syria border on Monday, February 6 continues to worsen. Yesterday, the official death toll in Turkey rose by nearly 4,000 to 35,418, while the death toll in Syria exceeded 5,800. More than 8,000 people have so far been rescued in Turkey, but it is still unknown how many people remain under the rubble in both countries.

Six days after an earthquake, people line up for water in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on February 12, 2023. [AP Photo/Emrah Gurel]

Thousands of those who died were children. UNICEF estimates that more than 7 million children were affected. In its report yesterday, UNICEF said: While the total number of children affected remains unclear, 4.6 million children live in the 10 provinces of Turkey hit by the earthquakes, and more than 2.5 million children are affected in Syria.

We are witnessing the worst natural disaster in the WHO [World Health Organization] European region for a century, and we are still learning about its magnitude, Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said yesterday. He added, The needs are huge and increasing by the hour. Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance.

Scientists and experts agree that the February 6 earthquakes, which caused devastation across hundreds of kilometres, were historic. However, this does not mean that the devastating consequences of the earthquakes were not foreseen or could not have been prevented. On the contrary, for years, geologists and other scientists, both in Turkey and internationally, have been drawing attention to the danger of earthquakes in the region and calling for the necessary safety measures to be taken quickly.

However, no safety measures were taken by the state. Moreover, in 2018, the government, with the complicity of the opposition parties in parliament, granted a construction amnesty to around 75,000 buildings in the earthquake zone that did not comply with building codes.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government is working deliberately to cover up its obvious responsibility for this social catastrophe. Erdogan, who spoke of fate immediately after the earthquake, claiming that it is not possible to be prepared for such a major catastrophe, now speaks of the disaster of the century, calling it an exceptional natural event in every speech.

But Erdogans own statement yesterday after his cabinet meeting points to the criminality of his government. He tried to create a success story out of a disaster that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and devastated millions, stating: The fact that 98 percent of all buildings collapsed in the recent disaster were built before 1999 shows the progress we have made in building standards and inspections, but also reminds us that we need to tighten our grip.

In the region, where scientists warned that a major earthquake was imminent, especially after the nearby Elazg earthquake in 2020, many cities were built on fault lines, and many buildings were found to be unsafe by Turkish officials. Despite experts warnings, city plans were not changed, nor were buildings made earthquake-resistant. Millions of people were instead left to their fate. The main reason for this was that such a long-term investment, requiring extensive state expenditure, was not considered profitable.

The extent of the destruction in Turkeys 10 provinces was evident even in the incomplete report Erdogan released yesterday. Analyzing 369,000 buildings in the region, it found that 47,000 were collapsed, in urgent need of demolition, or heavily damaged.

We will relieve the pain, heal the wounds and compensate the losses of this disaster together, without ever falling into frustration, weariness, fatigue or despair, Erdogan said, as if the loss of 35,000 lives could be compensated. He announced that new buildings would be built for earthquake victims away from the fault lines within a few months. Had this step been taken in 2020 or before, based on the warnings and guidance of scientists, tens of thousands of people would still be alive.

Erdogans statements yesterday were marked by staggering indifference to those who died in the quake, as well as by announcements of social expenditures to appease social anger. He said that 100,000 Turkish liras (TL), or US$5,310, of cash aid would go to those who lost relatives in the earthquake. He claimed that Turkish banks would transfer 50 billion TL (US$2.65 billion) of their 2022 profits to earthquake relief efforts. The sectors total net profit in 2022 was 433 billion TL (US$23 billion).

Erdogan also announced that members of his cabinet had donated a total of 136 million TL (US$7.22 million) to earthquake victims. That such a sum can be collected from a 19-person cabinet reveals the huge social inequality in Turkey, where the monthly minimum wage is only 8,500 TL (US$450).

However, if the Erdogan government and financial oligarchy felt obliged to make a social concession, however small, it is because they fear the massive social anger they face. At the same time, they are whipping up fascistic campaigns to try to divert this social anger against Syrian refugees.

But millions of people who have lost loved ones due to the lack of public health measures in the COVID-19 pandemic, and who are struggling with the surging cost of living, are outraged at those responsible for an entirely preventable disaster. People are furious both that millions of people had to live in buildings fated to collapse in a big quake, and that those under the rubble after the quake were abandoned to their fate.

In Adyaman, where thousands lost their lives in the earthquake, a health worker went on the Haberturk TV live broadcast yesterday. Expressing the anger of millions, she said: Adyaman was left alone for three days. We had to close our ears to peoples screams [under the rubble] because there was no help [to rescue them]. People died of hunger and cold. Let the President come to Adyaman, does he have a face to come here?  Children died. Is this a disaster management? And at the end, she made a call: Wake up Turkey!

Amid the massive destruction and loss of life, the political establishment has begun to focus on the presidential and parliamentary elections, previously scheduled for May this year. Some in Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) have called to postpone the elections because of the earthquake. According to the constitution, however, elections can only be postponed in a state of war.

The bourgeois opposition parties rapidly rejected the proposal to postpone the elections. Even before the quake, Erdogan had suffered a significant loss of support amid the deepening economic and social crisis.

Although it is unclear when the elections will be held, one thing is certain: Neither the Peoples Alliance led by Erdogan nor the Nation Alliance of the bourgeois opposition parties can safeguard the lives and safety of the people against earthquakes. Both alliances are defenders of the capitalist system that is the main source of this social slaughter.

The level of scientific and technological development in Turkey and around the world makes it possible to build earthquake-resistant buildings and cities. This is not done because the capitalist state and big business subordinate the most crucial social needs to the profit principle. The way forward for workers is to mobilize based on a socialist programme against capitalism, both to hold those responsible for this disaster to account and to put an end to the profit before lives policy.
The conscious exposure of the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, and the surrounding area to a toxic brew of chemicals in a controlled burn last week has once again laid bare the homicidal indifference of the capitalist ruling elite to the lives and well-being of the working class in its ruthless pursuit of profit.

The shocking images of thick black smoke spewing high into the atmosphere and reports of animals dropping dead have spread quickly around the world on social media. The contaminants from the disaster have spread far from the initial train derailment through the air and in water.

The February 6 burn came just three days after the Norfolk Southern train carrying the chemicals, which included highly carcinogenic vinyl chloride, derailed and caught fire just outside the village of 4,700 located 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And just three days after that on February 9, residents who had been forced to flee from the area around the wreck were allowed back into their homes.

Hundreds of people were cleared to return despite the fact that there had been no systematic testing to determine what chemicals may have poisoned their drinking water and contaminated their homes. Exposure to even the smallest amount of vinyl chloride is known to cause cancer. When it is burned, it breaks down into hydrogen chloride, an irritant, and phosgene, a chemical which was used in World War I to kill soldiers in their trenches.

The focus of Norfolk Southern executives and government regulators was to reopen the rail line and get trains running again as quickly as possible, regardless of the consequences for the people living in the area.

As hazardous materials expert Sil Caggiano stated bluntly this week, We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.

He added, 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.

Norfolk Southern, which reported a profit of $3.7 billion in 2022, is touting the fact that it has provided just over $1 million in financial aid to those displaced by its derailment and that it has been conducting in-home air tests and tested drinking water for possible contamination. This is akin to an arsonist boasting of providing blankets to a freezing family after he burned down their home or a murderer being allowed by the police to canvass the scene of his crime.

The American rail companies have attained the highest profit margin of any industry, over 50 percent, by neglecting infrastructure and ruthlessly exploiting railroad workers, refusing paid time off and pushing to reduce the number of workers on a train down to just one. In this mad drive, the modern robber barons have partners in the union bureaucracies and the Democratic and Republican parties. This found expression in the banning of a rail strike and the enforcement of concessions contracts by President Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress at the end of last year, which the union bureaucracy endorsed as part of its effort to suppress the class struggle.

The list of precedents for the systematic poisoning of the American population in the pursuit of profit is long and goes back to the earliest days of industrial development. Despite the implementation of regulations and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s, the release of toxic chemicals into drinking water and the air continues to be a daily occurrence across the country, without any serious consequences for corporations. This is particularly true in working class neighborhoods that have been devastated by decades of deindustrialization and mine closures.

In 2014, the water system of Flint, Michigan was contaminated by lead, sickening a significant share of the population, as the result of a scheme to switch from the citys longstanding water source. That same year, 300,000 West Virginians temporarily lost access to their drinking water when several thousands of gallons of a toxic chemical used to process coal spilled into the Elk River.

Other names and events also live in infamy in American history: Love Canal, a working class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, which was a dumping ground for toxic chemicals into the 1970s; Three Mile Island, the nuclear reactor which partially melted down in 1979, emitting radioactive gasses and iodine into the surrounding community; Hinkley, California, where drinking water wells were contaminated by hexavalent chromium-tainted wastewater dumped by the utility Pacific Gas and Electric.

The policy of profits over lives drives the response of the ruling class in every issue, as has been illustrated most nakedly in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than one million Americans dead and an estimated 21 million excess deaths globally.

The working class must fight to expose the reality of the disaster in East Palestine and demand that those responsible for the mass poisoning be held accountable beyond wrist-slap fines from state and federal regulators. They must heed the lessons of Flint and so many other disasters: that the ruling class and their political representatives in the Democratic and Republican parties will seek to cover up and downplay the reality of the disaster for years to come. And rail workers must join the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee, formed during last years contract fight, to take control of the railroads to uphold safety over the deadly drive for profits.
Biden to be happy to visit Ukraine when there is opportunity  Zelensky about possible meeting with US president

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has evaded the question about a possible meeting in the near future with U.S. President Joseph Biden.

"We invited President Biden, and when he has the opportunity, I think, he will be happy to visit Ukraine. We have different means of communication today," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Earlier, a number of media outlets reported on a possible meeting between Biden and Zelensky in Poland, where the American president is expected to visit at the end of February.
There are more than 160,000 citizens of Ukraine in the United Kingdom today, more than 200,000 visas were issued, Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Vadym Prystaiko has said.

"There are more than 160,000 our compatriots on the territory of Great Britain. More than 200,000 visas were issued. So, part of our compatriots received permission but did not take advantage of Great Britain's hospitality. There is nothing bad about that. People could make this decision later," he said at a press briefing hosted by the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center on Wednesday.

According to the ambassador, the Ukrainians have access to free healthcare services and all relevant services work to ensure the comfortable stay of the Ukrainian citizens in the UK.
The Russian occupation forces mounted 103 shelling attacks using various weapons and 25 military clashes occurred in Bakhmut direction in the past 24 hours, Spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Serhiy Cherevaty has said.

"The same in Bakhmut. Heavy fighting continues there. The enemy loses a lot of its servicemen there every day. In the past 24 hours alone, 119 were killed and 163 wounded. The enemy mounted 103 shelling attacks in Bakhmut direction using various weapons, artillery and MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) in the past 24 hours. Some 25 military clashes occurred," he said on the air of the national telethon on Wednesday.

Admission to and from Bakhmut is restricted, but possible now, Cherevaty said. Journalists, volunteers and other people may enter the town if on duty. The instructions on receiving a permit are available on the website of Donetsk Regional Military Administration.

The enemy is not holding any active assault or offensive operations, however it mounts shelling attacks in Kharkiv region, he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has noted the high level of defense assistance to Sweden and especially thanked for providing the country with Archer howitzers.

"Sweden has only recently provided Ukraine with defense support worth about $1 billion. Especially our soldiers are waiting for the Swedish Archer - one of the best artillery systems in the world. Defense support for Ukraine is the best way to bring peace closer," he said in Kyiv on Wednesday after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

According to the President, Sweden holds the presidency of the EU Council in the first half of the year. "A significant part of the negotiations was devoted to pan-European issues," he said. "We discussed separately the issue of strengthening air defense and in the second part of the conversation we will discuss the strengthening of sanctions," the president said.

Zelensky highlighted Sweden as a country in the TOP five suppliers of energy equipment to Ukraine. "One of the priorities for us is the green transformation of energy. This is where Sweden has achieved significant results," he said.
Ukraine to receive as much economic and military support from Sweden as necessary  PM

Sweden intends to provide Ukraine with as much support as necessary  both economic and military, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to him, Ukraine is a priority of Sweden's foreign policy and EU presidency. "Putin is mistaken if he believes that time is on his side," the Swedish prime minister said.

Answering the question about the timing of the provision of the Archer howitzer, they, according to him, will be delivered "as soon as possible." Speaking about possible deliveries of Grippen fighters, Kristersson noted that "the international coalition will take certain steps in this."

He recalled that Sweden was among the largest donors before the invasion. Over the past year, the Prime minister said, support has exceeded $1 billion.

"We will provide as much support as necessary in both economic and defense aspects," Kristersson said.

He also noted that this year Sweden decided to increase humanitarian support to Ukraine through the UN partner organizations, the Red Cross.

"We will focus our efforts on rebuilding Ukraine," Kristersson said.
On February 14, the Government of Japan decided to extend Emergency Grant Aid of approximately $550,000 as support for winterization assistance in Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has said.

According to respective statement on the ministry's website, the Government of Japan will implement the aid for the National Police of Ukraine through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with provision of reflective materials and heat packs.

Also, the large-scale blackout has continued in various areas of Ukraine caused by destruction of a large part of energy infrastructure facilities by Russia's attacks. With severe winter continues and the lights on the streets turned off, causing increase in traffic accidents, the aid is to improve safety of pedestrians and public officers during the night, and to protect public officers working outside from the cold.

"The Government of Japan will continue to provide support for and stand by the people of Ukraine who are facing hardship, in collaboration with the international community, including the G7 members," the ministry said.
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv region - the places affected during the occupation and fighting, according to the website of Kyiv Regional Military Administration.

"The Prime Minister of Sweden was struck by the destruction inflicted by the Russian army," Kyiv Regional Military Administration said on Wednesday.

He visited Borodianka, Kalynivka village of Bucha district, talked with representatives of the 114th brigade of the territorial defense unit of Kyiv region.

"He was accompanied on the trip by Acting Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Dmytro Nazarenko, Deputy Chairman of Kyiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Vlasiuk, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Perebyinis. In some locations, the delegation was also joined by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin, UNHCR representative in Ukraine Karolina Lindholm Billing, representatives of the 114th Separate Brigade of Territorial Defense of Kyiv region, local authorities and other participants," the Regional Military Administration informs.

Among the places visited by Ulf Kristersson are those objects that were previously damaged by the invaders. In particular, its about the Center for the provision of Administrative Services in Borodianka. The room in which the Center for the Provision of Administrative Services was located was destroyed during the fighting in Kyiv region. Now the construction of a modular structure to accommodate the center is being completed there.

The Prime Minister visited the company Scania Ukraine. This is the representative office in Ukraine of the largest Swedish manufacturer of buses and trucks, as well as their maintenance. During the active fighting in the region, the building was damaged and, despite this, continues to work.
The Swiss Federal Council has decided to start the procedure of confiscation of assets of associates of ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych for a total of more than CHF 130 million (about EUR 131.7 million), the government of the country said on its website.

At its meeting on 15 February 2023, the Federal Council decided to launch administrative proceedings to confiscate assets frozen in Switzerland following the Ukrainian revolution in February 2014, a message posted on the governments website says. It emphasizes that these assets belonging to Yanukovych's entourage had an illegal origin. The Swiss authorities explain that this initiative has nothing to do with the sanctions that Bern has imposed over the past year against Russia.

The assets will remain frozen pending a final decision by the administrative justice system in Switzerland regarding confiscation. Any assets that are ultimately confiscated will be returned to the Ukrainian people under an international agreement, the statement reads.
Rust will resume filming this spring with a mix of new and old crewmembers, including embattled star and producer Alec Baldwin, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The plans from the production to finish the film come amid the prosecution of Baldwin for manslaughter, multiple lawsuits from former members of the crew against the movies producers and an investigation into alleged systemic safety issues on set.

Bianca Cline (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, American Horror Story) will join the film as its cinematographer in Halyna Hutchins stead, according to Rust Movie Productions. A documentary on Hutchins life, including her work on Rust, spearheaded by director Rachel Mason and producer Julee Metz, will also commence shooting with the full support of the production and Halyna Hutchins husband, Matthew Hutchins, who will serve as an executive producer on both titles.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Both Mason and Metz were close friends with Halyna, and they look forward to working with the production to honor their friend and show the brilliance and depth of Halynas talent while conveying what her loss has meant to her friends, colleagues and the entire film industry, said Rust Movie Productions in a statement.

Additionally, the scene that was being rehearsed when Hutchins was shot has been rewritten, said Melina Spadone, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions. She declined to comment on the nature of the changes.

The announcement follows the filing of criminal charges against Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. New Mexico prosecutors in January charged the pair with two counts each of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Hutchins, who was shot on the set of the film in October 2021 when an old-fashioned revolver being handled by Baldwin went off.

Story continues

The resumption of filming was first announced last year when a settlement was reached between Rust Movie Productions and Halyna Hutchins family. Under the deal, the movie would be completed with Matthew Hutchins blessing. The film team originally planned to resume production in January, with early plans forming to scout locations in California.

Grant Hill (The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life) and Stephen Marinaccio (Jack Ryan) will join Matthew Hutchins as producers on the movie, according to Spadone. Other new crewmembers include safety officers Gary Jensen and Paul Jordan of Tenet Production Safety and production designer Christine Brandt (Card Counter).

Cline, who will finish the movie with Matthew Hutchins blessing and support, will donate her salary to charity, according to Rust Movie Productions.

The production will feature enhanced on-set safety protocols, including safety supervisors and a prohibition against any working weapons or ammunition. Live ammunition has always been barred.

All of Rusts original producers are also returning, according to Spadone. They include Ryan Donnell Smith of Thomasville Pictures, Nathan Klingher and Ryan Winterstein of Short Porch Pictures, Anjul Nigam of Brittany House Pictures and Matthew Delpiano of Cavalry Media.

Allan Graf (stunt coordinator), Terese Davis (costume designer), Stacy Lockhart (makeup department head) and Anna Williams (hair department head), are among other original crewmembers coming back to complete the movie alongside director Joel Souza.

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, said Souza, who also suffered an injury in the shooting, in a statement. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halynas legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf.

The productions armorer, props master and assistant director werent named. An ammunition supplier is no longer necessary since the shoot will no longer use working weapons.

In the criminal cases over the shooting, former assistant director Dave Halls signed a plea agreement to settle the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The terms include a suspended sentence and six months of probation.

Spadone said the production has been cleared by all of Hollywoods unions and guilds for their members to work on the movie. She noted that more crewmembers will be hired as principal photography approaches.

For union crew, working non-union jobs without permission can lead to fines, suspension and expulsion. A worst-case scenario for the production would have involved a critical mass of Hollywoods major unions and guilds refusing to grant permission to restart shooting with their members, which couldve led crewmembers to mount a boycott against the movie. That scenario played out in 2014 when producers for Midnight Rider announced they planned to restart filming months after camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed while shooting on a train track.

Rust Movie Productions is appealing a fine assessed by the New Mexico Environment Departments Occupational Health and Safety Bureau for allegedly knowing that firearm safety procedures werent being followed on set and demonstrating a plain indifference to the welfare of cast and crew.

Production for Rust was suspended in October 2021 after the fatal shooting. Baldwin still has scenes that need to be filmed, Spadone noted. She declined to comment on how the prosecutors case against him will impact filming.

All of the movies principal cast, including Travis Fimmel and Frances Fisher, will be returning, producers claim.

The documentary on Halyna Hutchins will explore her youth living on a remote Soviet naval base and in Kyiv, Ukraine, to becoming a celebrated cinematographer, according to a press release for the project.

We embarked on this endeavor to shed light on Halynas life and to honor her achievements. We refuse to shy away from any aspect of this story, no matter how difficult  and if that includes the effort to complete Halynas final film, it is our duty to document the process, Metz told THR. 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.

Last Thursday, Hutchins parents and sister filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin, Rusts producers and other crewmembers. The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium, which recovers damages for relationships that are mutually dependent.

Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the parties, also represents script supervisor Mamie Mitchell in an identical case.

Brian Panish, a lawyer for Matthew Hutchins, said in a statement after the announcement of the new suit: We do not believe any other family members have a claim under New Mexico or California law. Neither Mr. Hutchins nor his attorneys were made aware of the familys intention to file a lawsuit before today.

Click here to read the full article.
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
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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Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he will return to Brazil in March to lead the right-wing movement after spending more than a month in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The right-wing movement is not dead and will live on, he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro also said he would return to Brazil next month to defend himself against allegations that he incited riots earlier this year in the capital city of Brasilia while he was staying in Florida. He said in the interview that they want to pin it on him, when he was not even in the country.

Bolsonaro had told a group of supporters in Florida on Saturday that he was planning to return to his country in the following weeks, according to the Associated Press.

He will also face civil lawsuits about his administrations handing of the coronavirus pandemic when he returns to Brazil.

Thousands of Bolsonaros supporters stormed government buildings in the capital city one week after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva assumed office last month. The riots came after months of protests led by Bolsonaros supporters who contested the results of the presidential election, where Bolsonaro narrowly lost the election and refused to fully concede to da Silva.

Losing is part of the electoral process, he said. Im not saying there was fraud, but the process was biased.

The newest announcement comes just days after President Biden met with da Silva at the White House last week to discuss inclusion and democracy values, and before the Summit for Democracy, which the U.S. will hold in March with Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea the Republic of Zambia.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Jennifer Lawrence took time out on Monday night to shine a light on her Oscar nominated co-star Brian Tyree Henry and his work in their Apple/A24 movie Causeway, diving deep into his process. The actress sat down with the Best Supporting Actor nominee for a Q&A following a screening of the film at the London Hotel at Los Angeles.

The two play unlikely individuals, both who suffered trauma, as they find and prop each other in New Orleans. Lawrence plays Lynsey, an Afghanistan war vet who is suffering from body and brain injuries. Henry is James, a mechanic who lost his leg and a nephew in a car accident. Henry gravitated to the project having known the director Lila Neugebauer (making her feature directorial debut here) from Yale Drama School.

More from Deadline

The pic began shooting during Covid, but had to shutdown at which point the actors workshopped the script with Neugebauer as they mined greater resonance from the material, particularly against the ever-changing environment. Was there another side of trauma especially with Covid impacting everyones lives? Above all, the drama for both actors was never one of boy meets girl.

We all questioned who we are and what humanity even means and we looked at what we had done, Henry told the Silver Linings Playbook Best Actress Oscar winner.

Theres something else to these people, especially Lynsey and James, said Henry.

Henrys window into James was tapping into his own humanity, however, in doing so, the actor encountered some self truths.

I judged James: Why is he in the same place? He lost so much in the car accident. Why is he alone? Why is he still drinking? I realized I was questioning a lot about myself and me doing the same thing. Me using James as a mirror and me confronting my own shit. Film gives you a lot of space to do that, said Henry.

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Lawrence brought up how Henry has called Causeway, which was a 2 1/2 year project for them a baptism. Lawrence produced the movie with her Excellent Cadaver producing partner Justine Ciarrocchi.

Lawrence referenced a swimming pool scene that the two had together in which the characters truly connect and sync into their vibes.

Talking about that moment Henry explained, We wanted to be made whole again, we wanted to be cleansed of all the pain and all things we suppressed and wanted to emerge anewThe vail drops, the hammer comes outNo way we can come out of that water the same way we came in. It felt that life gave us an opportunity to to turn the lens on ourselves.

Our characters had a complex relationship, Lawrence told Henry.

While the two characters were labeled disabled, in their friendship they realized a glimmer of hope in their lives.

The two of us werent that label anymore, explains Henry about their arcs, you didnt smile until I came along.

Lynsey  all the obstacles she was met with, all telling her that she couldnt do something and that she shouldnt do something, he added, Theres a glimmer of her not being her disability for a minute, glimmer of her getting back to who she was. Both of us served as reflections of who we were.

Henry continued about how the characters complement one another: They gave each other grace, and I realized how rare that is to see especially between a Black man and white woman in a movie; theres always some type of trope that were denied.

Were existing in this space and time, that this friendship is possible, and that this is what it looks like, he added, These two people suffered so much, so why not give each other a chance to find some friendship and hope in each other?

Off which Lawrence responded, Hell, yeah.

Henry is also up for Best Supporting Performance at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Causeway is available to watch on Apple TV+.

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A flower left by a participant lies at the railway tracks at the Gleis 17 memorial during a small commemoration gathering on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. The Gleis 17 memorial is located at the train platform from which the Nazis deported thousands of Berlin Jews by rail to the Auschwitz and Theresienstadt concentration camps during World War II. Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on the anniversary of the Jan. 27, 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, commemorates the millions of people murdered and persecuted by the Nazis from the 1930s and into World War II. The victims include over five million Jews, as well as political opponents, Roma, other religious groups, and homosexuals.

LAS CRUCES  Esther Basch, a Holocaust survivor, will travel to Las Cruces in March for a special event hosted by the Alevy Chabad Jewish Center of Las Cruces on the New Mexico State University campus.

Basch, 94, was born in Czechoslovakia. She lived through the Nazi Germany occupation of her hometown and internment at Auschwitz concentration camp, where both of her parents were killed. She had several run ins with Josef Mengele, a physician known as the Angel of Death. Basch was also sent to work in several German ammunitions factories and was forced to take part in a death march deeper into Germany before U.S. soldiers liberated prisoners in April 1945.

She was 17 at the time.

Soon all Holocaust survivors will be gone. We are working to ensure their personal stories of tolerance, diversity and triumph are remembered, wrote Rabbi Bery Schmukler and wife Chenchie Schmukler about the Las Cruces event.

Emilie Rasmussen, left, a New Mexico State University student in industrial engineering, talks on March 17, 2019, with Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank, after Schloss addressed an audience of about 540 people.

Chabad of Las Cruces hosted Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss for a similar event in March 2019 where she spoke to a packed auditorium of her time in Auschwirz-Birkenau concentration camp. Schloss, 93, is the stepsister of Anne Frank who was killed in the German Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Basch currently lives in Prescott, Arizona. She and her story of perseverance and strength are the subject of the documentary, The Honey Girl of Auschwitz, which is in production.

According to an article in the Nevada Appeal, Basch reunited with Max Lieber, one of the soldiers who liberated the camp she was in, in 2007. Lieber lived in New Mexico and traveled to the neighboring state for an emotional meeting with the survivor. He has since passed away.

Basch will share the story of her life during the Las Cruces event at 4 p.m. March 26 at the NMSU Center for the Arts, located at 1000 E. University Ave. Tickets to the event are $25 for adults and $5 for students with valid ID. VIP tickets are $180 for two and include admission to a reception with Basch held ahead of the event. Tickets can be purchased online at www.chabadlc.org.

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Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Chabad of Las Cruces to host Holocaust survivor Esther Basch in March
The Russian occupation forces continue to make offensive attempts in the eastern direction in order to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the enemy suffers significant losses, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has said.

"Despite heavy losses, the enemy does not refuse from its intention to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. For this, it continues to focus its main efforts on the offensive operations in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Shakhtarsk directions," the General Staff said on Facebook on Wednesday.

No offensive groups were detected in Volyn, Polissia, Siversky, and Slobozhansky directions, according to it.

"Some units of the Armed Forces of Belarus and the Armed Forces of Russia continue to carry out tasks in the districts close to the border with Ukraine. Russian troops continue to train at the grounds in Belarus," the General Staff said.

The enemy does not cease mortar and artillery shelling of the Ukrainian defense positions and frontline settlements.
Dog Pulled from Rubble in Turkey 5 Days After Deadly Earthquake  Watch the Rescue

Rescuers in Antakya  the capital of Hatay Province  Turkey, found a living dog buried in the rubble of a collapsed building five days after a deadly earthquake hit the area.

On Feb. 6, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey's central southern Gaziantep province, followed by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock and other destructive aftershocks, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake caused widespread destruction in Turkey and Syria, killing more than 35,000 people and leveling countless buildings in both countries, according to NBC News.

Search and rescue teams have been hard at work combing the debris left behind by the earthquake for survivors, with several saving humans found alive in the rubble days after the disaster.

RELATED: Turkey-Syria Earthquake: Mom Breastfed Baby While Buried in Rubble and Says Son's Strength Helped Her Survive

Dog Rescued from Rubble of Turkey Earthquake 5 Days After Deadly Disaster

On Feb. 11, nurse Elif Polat was working with a search and rescue team in Antakya when the group came across a dog stuck in a collapsed building. The team was amazed to find the dog alive after 138 hours in dangerous conditions.

"It was miraculous because we were removing debris and only dead bodies, and the dog was buried in the rubble with almost no gaps," Polat said.

The nurse and her team filmed their rescue of the lucky pup. In the clip, rescuers help the dog out of a narrow hole in a mountain of rubble.

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.

Dogs aren't only getting rescued in Turkey; they are also helping with the rescues. On Feb. 8, Mexico sent its beloved search and rescue dog team to Turkey to assist with recovery efforts. The canine team found international fame in 2017 for their heroic work following the Pubela earthquake.

To help earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria, consider donating to these organizations: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Doctors Without Borders, GlobalGiving, Save the Children, and The Syrian American Medical Society.
With the 88th session of the Texas Legislature well underway, legislators have been assigned to an array of important committees and El Paso's representatives are no different.

Committees play a significant role in deciding what legislation makes it to the House floor for discussion. Bills are passed through the relevant committees before going to a floor debate  if the committee does not sign off, the bill is stopped in its tracks.

State Sen. Cesar Blanco seeks to strengthen Texas Hispanic communities as caucus leader

Here are the El Paso Democratic legislator's committee assignments:

State Rep. Joe Moody : Criminal Jurisprudence (chair); House Administration; Judiciary and Jurisprudence; Redistricting

State Rep. Lina Ortega : Appropriations; Land and Resource Management

State Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez : International Relations and Economic Development (vice chair); Resolutions Calendars; Transportation

State Rep. Mary Gonzalez: Appropriations (vice chair); Higher Education

For Ortega, her appointment to the House Appropriations Committee will provide an opportunity to weigh in on how the state invests in programs important to Texans.

The State of Texas has a historic amount of revenue this session and I look forward to working with my House colleagues to determine how we make critical investments, particularly in the areas of health care, education, and transportation," she said in a news release.

For Moody, his previous work as a prosecutor makes him a perfect fit for the House Jurisprudence Committee.

State Representative of Texas Joe Moody speaks at a Texas Tribune panel discussion on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at UTEP's Undergraduate Learning Center.

"In El Paso, we recently saw just how much damage can be done when criminal justice decisions are made without a firm grounding in policy and management," he said. "I've been privileged to take the lead on many crucial criminal justice reforms during my time in the Texas Legislature, and I look forward to providing that leadership this session. There's much to do as we strive for a smarter, fairer system.

Ordaz Perez said her spots on the House Transportation and House International Relations and Economic Development Committees will give her an opportunity to jockey for the needs of El Paso.

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"The work of this committee is deeply influential to El Paso," she said in a news release about her spot on the International Relations and Economic Development Committee. "I was fortunate last session to have three bills go through this committee, one which will bring over $500 million in federal funds to small businesses in Texas. Supporting our workforce and small businesses (remains) a priority of mine this session."

Of working through the Transportation Committee, Ordaz Perez said, "El Paso is a hub of commerce, travel and innovation, and it is critical for a member of our delegation to be appointed to the Transportation Committee. I look forward to working with stakeholders, advocates, and community members to ensure investment in our region is a top priority."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso lawmakers appointed to key state House committee roles
Sarah Ceniceros

Whiskey is one of the oldest types of alcohol on the market today. Starting from humble beginnings in European monasteries, the tradition of making distilled alcohol using fermented grain mash has grown and traveled to nearly every corner of the world.

These days, you can find rows and rows of different brands and styles at your local liquor store. Here are 20 bottles we love to sip. But what distinguishes bourbon from other types of American whiskey? What's the difference between "whisky" and "whiskey"? We consulted Sarah Jeltema, whiskey educator, Certified Specialist of Spirits, and the brain behind Whisky Nomad, to give us the scoop on the whiskey types you need to know.

Scottish Whisky

The oldest written record of whisky distillation can be traced back to Scotland in 1494, where a friar bought malted barley to make "aqua vitae" (Latin for "water of life"). The word "whisky" itself derives from the shortened Gaelic version of that phrase, "uisge," which was commonly spoken in the Scottish highlands.

Over the years, the Scotch industry has overcome obstacles associated with high taxes and rampant smuggling to establish itself as one of the predominant whisky markets in the world.

Scotch, by legal definition, is a whisky made with 100 percent malted barley, water, and yeast thats aged for a minimum of three years in oak. In the cool Scottish climate, the spirits can sit in casks for decades and rack up a hefty price per bottle.

There are two primary categories of Scotch: single malts and blends.

Single malts are designed to highlight one particular distillery," says Jeltema. With single malt distilleries like Glenmorangie and Lagavulin, youre able to pick up the unique flavors theyve spent centuries crafting.

Blended Scotch, on the other hand, can combine several malts from a variety of distilleries, which can balance out the individual flavors and make a recipe all its own. Johnnie Walker Black Label, for example, sources the whiskies for its blend from over 36 different distilleries. They are very popular Scotches that a lot of people drink because theyre usually really easy to sip," she says.

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Irish Whiskey

Ireland's proximity to Scotland explains many of the similarities between their whisky traditions. But Ireland's whiskey (with an e, because of its Irish Gaelic roots) has its own unique qualities.

Theyre neighbors with a long history of distillation, says Jeltema. But [Irish Whiskey] is a little bit looser with the definition. While Scotch legally requires the combination of malted barley, water, and yeast, Irish whiskey can use corn and other grains. But, like its Scottish neighbor, Irish whiskey must be aged for a minimum of three years.

When you delve into the specific types of whiskey from Ireland, you can also find single malts and what they call single pot still. The definition of single pot still allows up to 30 percent malted barley. This type of whiskey came about after a 1785 tax on malted barley led distillers to create an entirely new category. A lot of how whiskey comes about in different regions actually comes from the avoidance of the government, typically to avoid taxation or getting caught, Jeltema says.

Japanese Whisky

Japanese whisky is an internationally renowned category, with even one bottle clinching Whisky Bibles renowned title of Best Whisky in the World. However, it took several decades of experimentation to win over the hearts of global consumers.

The industry as we know it started in the early 20th century and can be credited to two men. Masataka Taketsuru and Shinjiro Torii, the founders of Nikka and Suntory, respectfully, collaborated to create a whisky for the Japanese market. Suntory Shirofuda (White Label) was launched in 1929 and relied on Taketsurus whisky knowledge from studying in Scotland.

This spirit was modeled after the flavors and processes of a peated Scotch-style whisky, but it did not initially achieve success in the Japanese market. It failed completely because it did not mesh well with the culture of Japan, Jeltema says.

After trial and error, and Taketsuru leaving to establish his own distillery, the industry eventually developed a signature style that better reflected Japanese palates. The way they do things is very specific. It's very intentional and they are a big fan of subtle nuances, says Jeltema.

Japanese whisky is renowned for its smoothness, and with each sip you can discover a new flavor you may not have noticed before.

You take one sip and you get a certain flavor; you add a drop of water, everything changes. You take a second sip and it's a totally different experience, Jeltema says. And so when you really understand it, you're able to appreciate Japanese whisky on a whole different level as it reflects the culture that it's from.

Canadian Whisky

Canadian whisky is a tradition steeped in centuries of history. Like whiskies across the pond, Canadian whisky must be aged for at least three years in a wood container, but they can use a variety of different types of wood.



You may have heard Canadian whisky referred to as rye, but their definition of rye is different than rye whiskey in America. In the States, rye whiskey legally must contain at least 51% rye grain. But in Canada, the word rye is interchangeable with any other type of Canadian whiskywhich means it doesnt have a minimum rye requirement.

It can cause some confusion with people who arent as familiar, Jeltema says.

There are rye whiskies that come out of Canada that contain 100 percent rye, but theyre often referred to as flavoring spirits. These flavoring spirits are typically used in small quantities to flavor blends, which the Canadian whisky industry is best known for.

Their blended whisky definition allows for 9.09 percent of added ingredients. So that could be sherry, caramel, wine, brandy, it could be anything, Jeltema says. That is what is truly unique about Canadian blended whisky.

American Whiskey

Bourbon is the most popular type of whiskey in the United States. It has one of the strictest definitions of any whiskey in the world. Bourbon must be made from a grain mixture that contains at least 51 percent corn. It must be aged in a brand new charred oak barrel and not distilled higher than 160 proof. And it must be made in the United States.

Theres a common misconception that bourbon must be made in the state of Kentucky. Bourbon can legally be made in any U.S. state.

Generally speaking, the remaining 49 percent is 5-10 percent barley to get the enzymes for distillation and the rest is usually rye and additional corn, Jeltema says. The corn is very sweet, the rye has a lot of spice, and the blend creates something really magnificent. But you can put anything in there, like quinoa or wheat.

The new oak barrels also contribute to bourbons signature flavor. Especially when aged in warmer climates, the barrels impart strong wood notes to the finished whiskey. Unlike other whiskey varieties, there is no minimum age requirement. Youre not really able to age a bourbon for 30 years, because all youre going to end up with is a bunch of wood notes, Jeltema says. Thats why bourbon is fairly young, compared to a 25-year-old scotch.

For American Rye, almost all of the same rules as bourbon apply. The only exception is that instead of 51 percent corn, rye must be made with at least 51 percent rye grain. As a result, the spice-forward flavors of the grain take center stage and contribute to a sharper sip.

Tennessee whiskey is another popular variety from the United States that abides by many of the same requirements as bourbon. What makes it distinct, however, is that its made in the state of Tennessee and uses the Lincoln County Process prior to aging. This process involves filtering the whiskey with charcoal chips before entering the casks.

Beyond these existing categories, there is another type of whiskey in the United States thats been gaining traction in recent years: American single malt. This type of whiskey is similar to single malt Scotch, except its made on American soil and has no minimum age requirement.

The flavor of American single malt varies based on the unique climates and terrains across the country. And many distilleries are utilizing local grain, water, and wood for a spirit that captures the terroir of their particular region.

Compared to the centuries-long single malt distillation traditions in Europe, the American single malt industry is fledgling by comparison. Just last year, over 30 years after the first American single malt entered the market, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau started the process of establishing American single malt as an official legal category.

Its really exciting because Scotch is delicious, and I love it. But they've been making Scotch for so long. They're not really doing things differently, Jeltema says. But with American single malt being so new and everything being really diverse, distilleries are trying new things and creating something entirely unique.

Some of Jeltemas favorite American single malts come from Westland Distillery in Washington State, Westward in Oregon, and St. George Spirits in California.

What type of whiskey is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

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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.
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
Gia Giudice

We love a girl with a goal, and Gia Giudice has a big one. Teresa Giudices eldest daughter is in the early stages of a legal career. And she has some big plans for the future. According to Page Six, she wants to use her legal knowledge to have her fathers immigration status reevaluated.

Gias goal might sound lofty, but shes already making some solid steps in building a legal career. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star is currently a senior at Rutgers University. She is majoring in criminal justice and minoring in sociology.

Shes also been interning at two law offices. One internship is with an immigration attorney who expressed interest in her fathers case. They were interested in possibly, potentially looking at his case again  just in the future, if they would be able to do anything for him, she explained of her employer.

Gia continued, I was like, Honestly, Dad, yeah. Like, this could be amazing. And its been so cool, like, just seeing other immigration cases that are completely different than what my fathers [was] and just the situations that these people have been put through.

Gias dad, Joe Giudice, was deported back to Italy in 2019. His deportation followed a three-year prison stint for fraud. Since then, hes relocated to the Bahamas to make family visitations a little less complicated. But Gia wants to see her dad back in the United States.

RELATED: Joe Giudice Says Hes Launching A Legal Consulting Firm

We have such a big family, and no matter what the situation is, gathering all of us to go visit him [is hard]. Even though he did move to Bahamas for us, for him to be closer, for the flight to be easier  like, plane tickets are still crazy expensive, and especially when everybody has off around the holidays [and] the airlines jump the prices up, Gia explained.

It is hard for everybody to see him, rather than just one person being able to come here, like during holidays or birthdays, would just be like a dream come true, she continued.

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Gia noted that he was never a flight risk or a threat to society. Its not like Joe was scamming elderly people or allegedly misappropriating funds from plane crash victims. She added, I just feel like that if that whole aspect of it can get reevaluated, that maybe he could have a chance of coming back temporarily here and there.

Although Gias got some big goals for her career, she is surprisingly grounded in discussing her future plans. Its something you dont often see in kids who grew up on reality TV. She shared that she plans to head to law school after graduation from Rutgers this spring. Plus, shes already got another internship lined up with a human relations law firm. So if Joe can hold on for a few more years in the Bahamas, Gia might really be able to make some change.

TELL US  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON GIAS LEGAL ASPIRATIONS? DO YOU THINK JOES CASE WILL EVER GET REEVALUATED?

[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo]

The post Gia Giudices Career Goal Is To Have Father Joe Giudices Immigration Status Reevaluated appeared first on Reality Tea.
Hotwire, Zillow Co-Founder and acclaimed entrepreneur Spencer Rascoff will be the Power Forward speaker in 2023.

Spencer Rascoff caught a whiff of worry as an entrepreneur in 1999 after launching his first startup, Hotwire, a travel website where consumers can book flights, hotel rooms and packages.

He faced insurmountable challenges two years later after the United States was victim to a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Rascoff managed to save Hotwire through the travel recession that followed and later sold the company for approximately $700 million.

Rascoff will share his experience managing adversity during the 9th Annual Power Forward Speaker Series, co-presented by First Commerce Credit Union and the Florida State University Office of Research, on Feb. 16 at the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall at FSU.

By 2006, Rascoff co-founded Zillow, a popular real estate database for consumers that unlocked information that was not readily available to buyers and sellers. Once again, two years later, Rascoff found his company on the ropes amid the global financial crisis tied to the Great Recession.

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He managed to help Zillow turn around, flourish and become a $10 billion company. Now the 47-year-old is on to another wildly successful startup called Pacaso, which helps people buy second homes by offering real estate properties as shares to eight owners per property.

In an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, Rascoff said it's the fastest company "ever to become a unicorn or worth over a billion dollars," adding it's in 40 markets in four countries.

"We've raised a couple $100 million dollars in venture capital. And that company also has plenty of headwinds, despite its enormous growth," Rascoff said. "So through these three startups, whose stories are basically complete and one which is still being written, I've figured out how to manage startups through adversity and keep employees motivated and stay on strategy for at least in two cases and managed to pull rabbits out of the hat."

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The Democrat, which is a Power Forward Sponsor, asked Rascoff some questions leading up to his speech. Here's what he said:

Q: What's been your biggest lesson that you've learned as an entrepreneur?

A: The biggest lesson as an entrepreneur is to find a large industry where consumers are incredibly dissatisfied with something about it. So a large addressable market, but significant consumer dissatisfaction can create an opportunity for a huge business...You think about other giant industries like logistics, which Amazon has disrupted or healthcare, which many startups are trying to disrupt. So these huge industries where there's lots of consumer consternation, for one reason or another.

Q: Talk about those early days of launching Zillow and what really was the spark for that? And then why was it so necessary at the time and why is it still so necessary?

We started Zillow in 2006. At the time, there was no consumer-oriented real estate platform. There were plenty of real estate websites, but they all prioritize the real estate professional and none of them prioritize the consumer. So the inspiration for Zillow and the opportunity that was before us at Zillow was to create a consumer-first real estate portal.

We started with the "Zestimate" which was our attempt at valuing every home in the country. And we added publicly available property data like number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, tax history, and prior sale price.

We illuminated incredible troves of data that were locked up in county courthouses or inaccessible to consumers, because they were secretly hidden in industry-only databases. By unleashing the power of that information to the consumer, we help them make smarter decisions about their most important asset, their most important asset their home.

The reason that it is still relevant all these years later, is because real estate continues to keep consumers most important financial asset and also emotional asset.

Q: Have you ever been to Tallahassee?

No, I'm super excited. I've never been there. I've been to Florida obviously many times, but I've never been there and I could not be more excited.

Q: When looking at housing market data for Tallahassee on Zillow, what are some takeaways?

A: What I see when I look at this data is a really complicated housing market. I see very low listing inventory; listing inventory is down (nearly) 44% year over year. So there are very few homes for sale. But, because mortgage rates are so much higher, with the few homes there are for sale they are quite unaffordable.

When people say, 'How's the market?', it's actually very complicated to answer. In some ways, it's quite terrible because mortgage rates are so high and affordability is low. It's very difficult for homebuyers to buy homes. On the other hand, it's actually quite good for a seller because there's very little inventory they have to compete with.

My advice is generally to seek all the data that you can find on places like Zillow and Redfin and other real estate resources. But you should complement or supplement that self-directed data with the services of a real estate agent or some other local professional who can interpret all the information that you find online.

Q: The Power Forward event draws a diverse mix of college students, entrepreneurs, business professionals and community leaders. What's going to be your message?

A: I'm speaking about managing through adversity ... I've figured out how to manage startups through adversity and keep employees motivated and stay on strategy and at least in two cases, managed to pull rabbits out of the hat, despite huge macro economic challenges, and hopefully the third as well we'll see.

Contact Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Zillow Co-founder Spencer Rascoff to speak at Power Forward
Great news everyone, were pivoting to chatbots! Little did OpenAI realize when it released ChatGPT last November that the advanced LLM (large language model) designed to uncannily mimic human writing would become the fastest growing app to date with more than 100 million users signing up over the past three months. Its success  helped along by a $10 billion, multi-year investment from Microsoft  largely caught the companys competition flat-footed, in turn spurring a frenetic and frantic response from Google, Baidu and Alibaba. But as these enhanced search engines come online in the coming days, the ways and whys of how we search are sure to evolve alongside them.

I'm pretty excited about the technology. You know, we've been building NLP systems for a while and we've been looking every year at incremental growth, Dr. Sameer Singh, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), told Engadget. For the public, it seems like suddenly out of the blue, that's where we are. I've seen things getting better over the years and it's good for all of this stuff to be available everywhere and for people to be using it.

As to the recent public success of large language models, I think it's partly that technology has gotten to a place where it's not completely embarrassing to put the output of these models in front of people  and it does look really good most of the time, Singh continued. I think that thats good enough.

Microsoft Bing search engine in pictured on a monitor in the Bing Experience Lounge during an event introducing a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023. - Microsoft's long-struggling Bing search engine will integrate the powerful capabilities of language-based artificial intelligence, CEO Satya Nadella said, declaring what he called a new era for online search. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

I think it has less to do with technology but more to do with the public perception, he continued. If GPT hadn't been released publicly Once something like that is out there and it's really resonating with so many people, the usage is off the charts.

Search providers have big, big ideas for how the artificial intelligence-enhanced web crawlers and search engines might work and damned if they arent going to break stuff and move fast to get there. Microsoft envisions its Bing AI to serve as the users copilot in their web browsing, following them from page to page answering questions and even writing social media posts on their behalf.

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This is a fundamental change from the process we use today. Depending on the complexity of the question users may have to visit multiple websites, then sift through that collected information and stitch it together into a cohesive idea before evaluating it.

That's more work than having a model that hopefully has read these pages already and can synthesize this into something that doesn't currently exist on the web, Brendan Dolan-Gavitt, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at NYU Tandon, told Engadget. The information is still out there. It's still verifiable, and hopefully correct. But it's not all in place.

For its part, Googles vision of the AI-powered future has users hanging around its search page rather than clicking through to destination sites. Information relevant to the users query would be collected from the web, stitched together by the language model, then regurgitated as an answer with reference to the originating website displayed as footnotes.

This all sounds great, and was all going great, right up to the very first opportunity for something to go wrong. When it did. In its inaugural Twitter ad  less than 24 hours after debuting  Bard, Googles answer to ChatGPT, confidently declared, JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system. You will be shocked to learn that the James Webb Space Telescope did not, in fact, discover the first exoplanet in history. The ESOs Very Large Telescope holds that honor from 2004. Bard just sorta made it up. Hallucinated it out of the digital ether.

Bard is an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA. Built using our large language models and drawing on information from the web, its a launchpad for curiosity and can help simplify complex topics  https://t.co/fSp531xKy3 pic.twitter.com/JecHXVmt8l  Google (@Google) February 6, 2023

Of course this isnt the first time that weve been lied to by machines. Search has always been a bit of a crapshoot, ever since the early days of Lycos and Altavista. When search was released, we thought it was good enough though it wasn't perfect, Singh recalled. It would give all kinds of results. Over time, those have improved a lot. We played with it, and we realized when we should trust it and when we shouldnt  when we should go to the second page of results, and when we shouldn't.

The subsequent generation of voice AI assistants evolved through the same base issues that their text-based predecessors did. When Siri and Google Assistant and all of these came out and Alexa, Singh said, they were not the assistants that they were being sold to us as.

The performance of todays LLMs like Bard and ChatGPT, are likely to improve along similar paths through their public use, as well as through further specialization into specific technical and knowledge-based roles such as medicine, business analysis and law. I think there are definitely reasons it becomes much better once you start specializing it. I don't think Google and Microsoft specifically are going to be specializing it too much  their market is as general as possible, Singh noted.

In many ways, what Google and Bing are offering by interposing their services in front of the wider internet  much as AOL did with the America Online service in the 90s  is a logical conclusion to the challenges facing todays internet users.

REDMOND, WA. - FEBRUARY 7: Washington Post reporter Geoff Fowler asks a Microsoft spokesperson questions about the new, AI-powered Bing search during a demo at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (Photo by Jovelle Tamayo/ forThe Washington Post via Getty Images)

Nobody's doing the search as the end goal. We are seeking some information, eventually to act on that information, Singh argues. If we think about that as the role of search, and not just search in the literal sense of literally searching for something, you can imagine something that actually acts on top of search results can be very useful.

Singh characterizes this centralization of power as, a very valid concern. Simply put, if you have these chat capabilities, you are much less inclined to actually go to the websites where this information resides, he said.

Its bad enough that chatbots have a habit of making broad intellectual leaps in their summarizations, but the practice may also incentivize users not go to the website, not read the whole source, to just get the version that the chat interface gives you and sort of start relying on it more and more, Singh warned.

In this, Singh and Dolan-Gavitt agree. If youre cannibalizing from the visits that a site would have gotten, and are no longer directing people there, but using the same information, there's an argument that these sites won't have much incentive to keep posting new content. Dolan-Gavitt told Engadget. On the other hand the need for clicks also is one of the reasons we get lots of spam and is one of the reasons why search has sort of become less useful recently. I think [the shortcomings of search are] a big part of why people are responding more positively to these chatbot products.

That demand, combined with a nascent marketplace, is resulting in a scramble among the industrys major players to get their products out yesterday, ready or not, underwhelming or not. That rush for market share is decidedly hazardous for consumers. Microsofts previous foray into AI chatbots, 2014s Taye, ended poorly (to put it without the white hoods and goose stepping). Today, Redditors are already jailbreaking OpenAI to generate racist content. These are two of the more innocuous challenges we will face as LLMs expand in use but even they have proven difficult to stamp out in part, because they require coordination amongst an industry of viscous competitors.

The kinds of things that I tend to worry about are, on the software side, whether this puts malicious capabilities into more hands, makes it easier for people to write malware and viruses, Dolan-Gavitt said. This is not as extreme as things like misinformation but certainly, I think it'll make it a lot easier for people to make spam.

A lot of the thinking around safety so far has been predicated on this idea that there would be just a couple kinds of central companies that, if you could get them all to agree, we could have some safety standards. Dolan-Gavitt continued. I think the more competition there is, the more you get this open environment where you can download an unrestricted model, set it up on your server and have it generate whatever you want. The kinds of approaches that relied on this more centralized model will start to fall apart.
(Getty Images)

Hugh Jackman has revealed he is finally in therapy to address his tumultuous relationship with his mother, Grace McNeil.

The actor, 54, has previously discussed how his mother abandoned her family in Australia and returned to the UK when he was just eight years old, leaving her husband, Christopher Jackman, to raise the actor and his siblings alone.

After the couple divorced, Jackmans sisters, Zoe and Sonya, went to live with McNeil in the UK while Jackman and his brothers, Ian and Ralph, stayed in Sydney with their father, who passed away in 2021 aged 84.

The Aussie star revealed he started to see a therapist while shooting his latest movie The Son, in which he plays the father of a suicidal teen.

Jackman explained that sessions were offered to all cast members due to the films dark subject matter, and he felt it was time to unpack his traumatic childhood  having previously said he didnt believe in therapy.

Reflecting on his sessions, he told The Sun: Its helped me a lot. With therapy, it either works for you or it doesnt.

The actor pictured with his mother Grace (Hugh Jackman)

The Broadway star, who is currently living in New York, continued: You need a friend that you can unload with everything. You need that in all sorts of ways, from all sorts of people.

Having someone really smart, whos actually a little bit removed from your world can be really helpful. Ive found it really helpful.

The Hollywood actor has previously described his mothers sudden departure as traumatic, but has since made amends with her and said that therapy had helped him understand how his past informs his unconscious thinking.

He added: 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.
Motorists, be forewarned when crossing the Delaware River Memorial Bridge if heading into New Jersey.

Daily traffic delays are likely, especially at rush hours and on weekends.

Why?

Because two of the four regular traffic lanes into South Jersey from Delaware are closed for a major construction project and are expected to remain closed until a few days before Memorial Day weekend for the busier tourist season, according to the authority that operates the twin span bridge over the Delaware River between South Jersey and Delaware.

The two left lanes of the bridge are closed for phase two of a major resurfacing of the bridge's concrete roadway, said authority spokesman Jim Salmon.

"While the project has been designed to minimize traffic delays to the extent possible, motorists may encounter them, particularly during rush hour time periods and peak weekend travel times, said David Hoppenjans, authority chief engineer.

Is there a way around Delaware Memorial delays?

Constructions workers stand on a raised platform on newly poured concrete on two of the four northbound lanes into South Jersey from Delaware on the Delaware River Memorial Bridge. Traffic delays are possible, especially during rush hours

Drivers headed to the New Jersey Turnpike only can stay to the far left when approaching the bridge and take a special construction bypass lane the authority has opened on the adjacent southbound bridge span. The bypass takes drivers to Exit 1 of the turnpike. However, commercial vehicles are prohibited from using the bypass.

Motorists headed to South Jersey can opt to remain on the Delaware side of the bridge and head up I-95 northbound toward Philadelphia.

They can then head to one of the Delaware River Port Authority bridges between the two states to cross over into South Jersey. The Commodore Barry Bridge will take motorists into Gloucester County and the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman Bridges connect Philadelphia with Camden in Camden County in South Jersey. The Betsy Ross heads from Northeast Philadelphia into Pennsauken and Cinnaminson at Routes 73 and 130 as does the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge of the Burlington County Bridge Commission.

When will the two lanes open permanently?

Road deck work is expected to resume after the summer construction hiatus with more traffic delays possible as contractors finish the complete repaving of the two traffic lanes.

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Salmon said the project began last fall with completion scheduled before Thanksgiving this year.

Carol Comegno loves telling stories about South Jersey life, history and military veterans for the Courier Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. If you have a story to share, call her at 856-486-2473 or email ccomegno@gannettnj.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Delaware River Memorial Bridge construction closed to NJ
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has held a meeting in Kyiv with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, the press service of the Ukrainian government reports.

The parties focused on military assistance and tightening sanctions pressure on the aggressor. The heads of government paid special attention to the establishment of a special international tribunal to bring russia's top leadership to justice, the press service of the government said on its website.

Shmyhal and Kristersson also addressed the issue of increasing Ukraine's resilience, including the restoration of its energy infrastructure.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine thanked the Government of Sweden and the Swedish people for their comprehensive support and expressed hope for fruitful work and concrete results during Sweden's current presidency of the Council of the European Union.
President Joe Biden ordered the military to shoot down a high altitude object near Alaska on Friday, marking the second time in less than a week that fighter jets were sent to down an aerial vehicle that had entered U.S. airspace.

White House and Pentagon officials stressed that they still do not have a positive identification of the object or its country of origin, and would not confirm that Fridays incident was a Chinese-made surveillance balloon like the one that was struck off the coast of South Carolina.

The pilots intercepting the object reported that it had a cylindrical shape and no observable surveillance equipment, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a rapidly changing situation.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday the object was flying at 40,000 feet "and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of the civilian flight. President Joe Biden, following the Pentagon's recommendation, ordered that the object be shot down.



Kirby said the object was much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon  about the size of a small car as opposed to the two or three buses size" Chinese balloon.

The object was spotted Thursday night and the president was briefed shortly after. According to a senior military official, the military picked up the object using a ground-based radar and F-35 fighter jets to observe it.

On Friday, U.S. Northern Command on Friday scrambled two F-22 fighter jets to intercept the object over northeastern part of Alaska, near Canada. It was shot down around 1:45 p.m. Eastern time. Efforts are underway to attempt to recover the debris where it fell onto a frozen region of territorial waters.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said after the military determined the object was not manned, one of the two F-22 jets fired a Sidewinder missile to take it down. It was the same type of jet and missile that took down the spy balloon last Saturday.

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One senior administration official, who also asked to remain anonymous, said that once the military finds whatever is left of the object, a better identification might be possible. "They need to see it up close, its so small. We will get more clarity.

Neither Kirby nor Ryder would venture to guess what the object was, or who launched it. We don't have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object, Kirby said.

Kirby said Bidens primary reason for ordering the military to shoot the object down was the safety of flight issue. The Chinese spy balloon last week flew much higher, around 60,000 feet, well above the altitude for commercial air traffic.

Kirby emphasized the differences between this object and the Chinese balloon, noting repeatedly the smaller size of the new object and that it was over water when Biden ordered to shoot it down. The president faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for the delay in shooting down the Chinese balloon, which flew over Canada and the U.S. for a week before the fighter jet shot it down over water.

On Friday, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) applauded the military for taking quick action.

As Ive been doing for the past week, including in a classified briefing with senior Pentagon officials yesterday, I strongly encouraged the NORTHCOM Cmdr this morning to shoot down this latest unidentified intrusion into Alaska air space. I commend them for doing so today."



On Friday, the Biden administration unveiled its first official retaliation against Beijing for sending a spy balloon over U.S. territory, adding six Chinese aerospace companies to a commercial blacklist for their support of government surveillance programs.

The Commerce Department announced that U.S. companies would be barred from doing business with the six listed companies unless they receive special licenses.

The Chinese companies were slapped with the designation for their support to Chinas military modernization efforts, specifically the Peoples Liberation Armys aerospace programs including airships and balloons and related materials and components, the Commerce Department said in a statement. The agency noted that the Peoples Liberation Army is using high-altitude balloons for intelligence and reconnaissance activities.

Kirby on Friday defended that decision to wait to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon, saying the Pentagon knew the airship's basic flight path and was able significantly curtail any intelligence ability that the Chinese could get from the balloon.

He said the information gleaned from surveilling the balloon did not provide insights for the detection and track of the new object on Friday.

At this time, all I can tell you is it did not appear to have the ability to independently maneuver, Kirby said. We'll attempt recovery and see what we can learn more from.

Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Gavin Bade contributed to this report.
Milo Ventimiglia Kept His This Is Us Family Intact  and Might Bring Back Jack's 'Stache  for His New Role

Milo Ventimiglia wasn't ready to say goodbye to the crew of This Is Us.

In an exclusive preview of his emmy magazine cover story (out Feb. 24), the 45-year-old actor reveals that he "brought a majority of our crew from This Is Us" to his new ABC series The Company You Keep.

"I've got my grips, my electric, my costume designer," he shares. "I've got my cinematographer, my production coordinator. I got one of my location managers on. I got my craft service. I got our gal who cleans up on set, Maria. I got just about everybody, short of writers, actors and, sadly, the art department."

RELATED: Where to See the Cast of This Is Us Next

Milo Ventimiglia Kept His This Is Us Family Intact  and Might Bring Back Jack's 'Stache

John Russo

Ventimiglia also refused to film The Company You Keep anywhere besides the Paramount lot in Los Angeles where This Is Us was filmed for six seasons before its series finale last spring.

"They'd say, 'Hey, Mi, how do you feel about Atlanta?' 'No, let's stay in California.' 'Hey, Mi, how do you feel about Vancouver?' 'Nope, let's stay in California,'" he recalls. "I wanted to film it at Paramount because that's where we did This Is Us. It works for my crew. The crew knows the lot  and the lot knows the crew."

RELATED: Milo Ventimiglia Is a Con Man Who Unexpectedly Finds Love with a CIA Agent in New Series The Company You Keep

Milo Ventimiglia Kept His This Is Us Family Intact  and Might Bring Back Jack's 'Stache

John Russo

Ventimiglia believes keeping the This Is Us family together has helped bring some of the same magic to his new show.

"This Is Us was such a wonderful set to be on," he says. "How could I not try to put that magic into a new endeavor that we have? So far, it has really saved us, helped us."

He adds, "I know a lot of talented folks. When you can work with your friends, I just think that's the best recipe. You're going to capture something great and have a good time while you're doing it."

RELATED: This Is Us's Mandy Moore Celebrates 'Best TV Husband and Dad' Milo Ventimiglia on His 45th Birthday

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While Ventimiglia pushed to keep the This Is Us crew together, he was ready to bring his new The Company You Keep character, Charlie, to life.

"Jack, in my mind, became a total caricature," he says of playing the Pearson family patriarch on the NBC series. "When you do a show for six years, you know what the parameters are, what the challenges are. You know the moments when you're operating off of instinct. You don't have to discover anything with the character. With Charlie, I'm still discovering."

However, he may not be not opposed to bringing back Jack's signature facial mustache in his new role.

"I'm sure Charlie will pop up with a mustache, with some facial hair, and maybe blonde at some point or a little wild hair," he teases.

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 Company You Keep premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
How does your dream home measure up?

Photo: ROBBIE CAPONETTO; STYLING: KENDRA SURFACE

Picture your dream home. If in your mind's eye, you see a relaxed farmhouse full of warm, neutral tones thats brought into the 21st century thanks to clean, modern touches, then youre not alone.

A new study by Encino reveals that Modern Farmhouse is by far the most popular interior design style in the country, and in the South specifically. A whopping 33 states12 of which are in the Southchose this supreme style as their favorite. This means that most of the country swoons over carriage doors, vaulted ceilings, and apron sinks, just like you do.

This research picked our design-day-dreaming brains by analyzing the number of Google searches for each style, and the results show that in every state, our tastes in homes are less seasonal but very place-based. For example, people living in seaside states like South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are more likely to love aptly beachy homes year-round, while Arkansas seems to be in a realm of its own; its favorite didnt place for any other state.

The results also show that for the most part, Southerners think alike. (What was it Mama said about good minds?) Interior design styles including Rustic, Industrial, Feng Shui, Mediterranean, and Victorian were the top dogs in other regions but proved to lag behind in the Souths rankings. Well stick to our coastal retreats and modern farmhouses like Chip and Joanna, thank you very much.

Here are the most-searched home design styles beloved in every Southern state.

Alabama: Modern Farmhouse

Arkansas: Eclectic

Delaware: Coastal

District of Columbia: Mid-Century Modern

Florida: Coastal

Georgia: Coastal

Kentucky: Modern Farmhouse

Louisiana: Modern Farmhouse

Maryland: Modern Farmhouse

Mississippi: Modern Farmhouse

Missouri: Modern Farmhouse

North Carolina: Modern Farmhouse

Oklahoma: Modern Farmhouse

South Carolina: Coastal

Tennessee: Modern Farmhouse

Texas: Modern Farmhouse

Virginia: Modern Farmhouse

West Virginia: Modern Farmhouse



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Read the original article on Southern Living.
Bridge washes out in New Zealand

By Hilary Whiteman and Taylor Ward, CNN

(CNN)  New Zealand declared a National State of Emergency on Tuesday for the third time in its history as Cyclone Gabrielle pounded the North Island with wind and rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.

Winds gusts of over 87 miles per hour (140 kilometers per hour) were recorded along the coast, with waves close to 36 feet (11 meters) high off the Bay of Islands, according to the New Zealand Meteorological Service.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the full scale of the disaster only became apparent as the country woke Tuesday.

With an event of the size and the scale that we have seen in the last 24 hours, what we have to do is make sure that were dealing with the most pressing needs across the country as quickly as we can, he told reporters.

The cyclone is the second significant weather event to hit Auckland and the upper North Island in just a few weeks. Last month Auckland and surrounding areas were hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.

This latest disaster is the third national state of emergency after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and Covid pandemic in 2020, and is due to a weather system off the country's north that is tracking south and east along the coast.

Overnight, 150 New Zealand Defense Force personnel joined efforts to distribute supplies and evacuate residents from areas where rising water forced some homeowners onto roofs. Electricity is out for tens of thousands of residents, and the cell service is patchy in some areas, making it hard to coordinate services and contact people left stranded.

Several communities and regions had been isolated, the Met Service said in a Facebook post. Over 30 state highway closures and the shutdown of air, sea, and rail transport for much of the northern half of the North Island, the post said.

Air New Zealand canceled all domestic flights to and from Auckland Airport  around 55  for the remainder of Tuesday due to strong winds.

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Napier Airport, a regional hub further south, received three times as much rain as the February average  and recorded its second wettest day ever, with nearly seven inches (175 millimeters) of rain in the 24 hours to 9 a.m. local time Tuesday, the Met Service said.

Red warnings, the highest alert level issued by the New Zealand Met Service, are ongoing and will last through much of Tuesday.

CNN Meteorologists predict another 24-36 hours of gale force winds to impact the eastern shoreline and adjacent interiors of the North and South Island before gradually tapering off by Wednesday afternoon.

Additional rainfall totals of up to six inches (150mm) can be expected across the southeastern regions of the North Island, including Wellington, through Thursday, while lesser totals will accumulate across the South Island, just north of Christchurch.

The-CNN-Wire

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Bust of Queen Nefertiti of Egypt

Nefertiti was an ancient Egyptian queen consort who was likely King Tut's stepmother and may have ruled as a pharaoh in her own right. She lived during the 18th dynasty during the 14th century B.C., but the years of Nefertiti's birth and death are not certain.

She was the wife of Amenhotep IV (who later changed his name to Akhenaten), a pharaoh who unleashed a revolution that saw Egypt's religion become focused around the worship of the Aten, the sun disk. He built a new capital city called Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna) that had temples dedicated to the Aten.

Nefertiti's name translates to "a beautiful woman has [arrived]," Joyce Tyldesley , a professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester in the U.K., wrote in her book " Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen " (Penguin Books, 2005). The identity of her parents is uncertain, but her father may have been a man named Ay, a prominent court official who would later become pharaoh, Tyldesley wrote.

Historical records indicate that Nefertiti had six daughters with Akhenaten but did not have a son, Tyldesley noted in her book. If these records are correct that would make Tutankhamun the stepson of Nefertiti. Egyptian pharaohs often had multiple wives and concubines, and Tutankhamun's mother was likely one of them.

Nefertiti's Famous bust

Nefertiti's face was carved in limestone by the court sculptor Thutmos, in 1340 B.C.

Nefertiti is well-known today for a life-size bust that shows her wearing a crown. It was found by a German team led by Ludwig Borchardt in 1912 during excavations of a workshop belonging to an Egyptian sculptor named Thutmose and is now in the Neues Museum (New Museum) in Berlin. The bust is mostly intact, but part of the left eye is missing, leading to a debate as to whether the missing piece fell out or was never put in, according to Tyldesley in her book " Nefertiti's Face: The Creation of an Icon " (Harvard University, 2018). It's been speculated the missing eye is indicative of a health condition, such as a cataract, Tyldesley writes. There is also disagreement about whether this bust was intended to be a sculptor's model used for teaching or intended for display.

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Despite the bust's fame, much about Nefertiti remains unknown. "We know far less about Nefertiti and other members of the royal family than is generally realised," Barry Kemp , professor emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, told Live Science in an email. "More or less the only external historical source is the diplomatic correspondence known as the Amarna Letters," and these make no mention of Nefertiti, Kemp noted.

Was Nefertiti a pharaoh?

Queen Nefertiti performs a ceremony. She is wearing a white robe and a large gold headpiece. She is holding what looks like burning incense into the air. The rest of the room is filled with people, all standing behind her. Date: 14th century B.C.

Egyptian art depicts Nefertiti in ways normally only pharaohs are shown. For instance, she is portrayed smiting (executing) enemies, something only a pharaoh would typically do, Elizabeth Carney , a professor emerita of history at Clemson University in South Carolina, wrote in a paper published in 2001 in the journal Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies .

One of the smiting scenes shows Nefertiti on a ship, raising her right hand to kill female prisoners Tyldesley wrote in her "Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen" book, noting that we should not assume that these scenes are merely symbolic.

Additionally, the type of helmet-like crown Nefertiti is wearing in the bust was typically reserved for pharaohs or the goddesses Tefnut or Hathor, Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection at the Berlin State Museums, wrote in an article in the book " In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery " (Michael Imhof Verlag, 2013).

Relief showing King Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and their children, along with the sun disk, Aten

It's not clear why Nefertiti was depicted the way she was. One possibility is that other queen consorts got similar treatment. 'When considering this question we have to remember that Amarna has yielded more evidence of royal behaviour than other 18th-dynasty archaeological sites," Tyldesley told Live Science in an email. So, we have to ask ourselves is this exceptional, or are we simply seeing the effects of better-preserved evidence?"

One idea is that after Akhenaten's death, Nefertiti's power was so great that she was able to rule as a pharaoh in her own right. Egyptian records mention a figure named "Neferneferuaten" who ruled Egypt for a brief time, and it's been speculated that this is actually the throne name for Nefertiti. In ancient Egypt, after becoming a pharaoh, a ruler would sometimes take a new name.

"Personally, I'm convinced that she ruled as a pharaoh, and that her throne name was Neferneferuaten," Athena Van der Perre , an Egyptologist and postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven in Belgium, told Live Science in an email. "We have evidence for a three year reign of this 'king', so she will have been on the throne for at least three years." However, not all scholars agree with this assessment; Tyldesley, for instance, is doubtful that Nefertiti ruled as a pharaoh.

Search for Nefertiti's tomb

Statue of Queen Nefertiti in the Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt.

Ultimately, the fate of Nefertiti is unclear. Scholars are not certain exactly when she died, and her mummy has not been found. A team led by Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former antiquities minister, is conducting DNA tests in an effort to identify Nefertiti.

Hawass told Live Science that one of the mummies in KV 21, a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, could be Nefertiti. This tomb was found in 1817 and has two female mummies, according to the Theban Mapping Project .

In 2015, Nicholas Reeves, an independent Egyptologist, published a paper in the periodical Amarna Royal Tombs Project suggesting that Nefertiti was buried in Tutankhamun's tomb in a chamber that is now hidden behind an invaluable mural. However, ground-penetrating-radar surveys have failed to find solid evidence of a hidden burial .

Destruction of Nefertiti's image

Statue of the royal family King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti holding hands, side by side (1345 B.C.).

Regardless of where Nefertiti's mummy is now, the ancient Egyptians did not take kindly to her in the decades following her death. Tutankhamun undid Akhenaten's religious reform; Amarna became abandoned, and images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti were destroyed.

Sculptures of Nefertiti have been found intentionally smashed to pieces or with their heads removed, Aidan Dodson , an Egyptology professor at the University of Bristol in the U.K, wrote in his book " Nefertiti, Queen and Pharaoh of Egypt: Her Life and Afterlife " (The American University in Cairo Press, 2020). "Many were smashed in antiquity sometimes to smithereens, at best they were decapitated."

Despite her modern reputation as one of Egypt's most famous queens, Nefertiti didn't get the same respect from ancient Egyptians in the time after she died; her statues were smashed to pieces in retribution for her husband's failed religious revolution.

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New Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley did not mention former President Donald Trump by name during her campaign kickoff event in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday morning  but there was little mistaking what she meant when she said that the countrys politicians are past their primes.

Its not that America is past her prime, its just that our politicians are past theirs, Ms Haley told the crowd in Charleston. We wont win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the twentieth Century.

Ms Haley is grounding her bid for the Republican nomination for president in an argument that the party needs generational change to boost its chances of re-taking the White House in 2024  something that the 76-year-old Mr Trump cannot offer.

If youre tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation, Ms Haley said.

Ms Haley noted in her speech that Republican candidates have lost the popular vote for president in seven of the last eight elections. Mr Trump lost the popular vote in both of his bids for the presidency, winning election in 2016 only because of the partys built-in advantage in the Electoral College, though Ms Haley did not explicitly highlight that fact in her speech.

Mr Trumps campaign, meanwhile, did not shy away from attacking Ms Haley directly following her announcement.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Trump campaign linked to stories in which Ms Haley expressed her admiration for Hillary Clinton, supported Paul Ryans plans to cut programmes like Social Security and Medicare, and opposed ending birthright citizenship, among other items.

The Trump campaigns approach to Ms Haley suggests that even candidates who do not explicitly attack the former president risk being targeted for criticism by him.

Ms Haley served in the Trump administration and has not broken with him on any major issues  instead choosing, at least at this early stage, to cast her candidacy as an opportunity for Republican voters to select a younger candidate to advance the same kinds of right-wing, pro-corporate policies that Mr Trump supported as president.

Whether there is a significant appetite for that approach from Republican voters remains to be seen. Mr Trump and Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has not yet announced his 2024 plans, have led prospective polls of the 2024 nominating contest. Ms Haley and a number of other potential candidates have lagged far behind.
New Hampshires Supreme Court will hear arguments this week regarding Pamela Smarts request to have her life sentence commuted.

Pamela Smart, 55, was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison in the fatal shooting of her then-24-year-old husband, Gregg Smart, a year earlier. Prosecutors said Pamela Smart convinced her teenage lover, Billy Flynn, to gun down her spouse.

Smarts trial was both sensational and historic, marking the first time a court case was aired on live television from start to finish, Manchester television station WMUR-TV reported. Flynn, despite being the one to pull the trigger, along with a trio of other teens found guilty in the murder case, all served prison sentences and were subsequently freed.

RELATED: Holistic Medicine Mogul Has Private Eye Ex-Lover Kidnapped, Tortured and Killed

Smart, meanwhile, has served more than 30 years behind bars. Shes long maintained that she never pressured Flynn, whom she met through her work at Winnacunnet High School to carry out Gregg Smarts killing.

Pamela Smart Ap

In this 2010 image taken from video, courtesy of WMUR television of Manchester, N.H., Pamela Smart is shown during an interview at the corrections facility, in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Photo: WMUR Television/AP

New Hampshire's Supreme Court is now slated to hear Smart's argument in favor of commuting her sentence on Tuesday. Her lawyers are now demanding the state's highest court order Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council to review Smarts petition for commutation.

"We're hopeful that it will result in Pamela Smart finally getting a real hearing before the Executive Council and the governor," Eleanor Pam, Smarts spokesperson, told WMUR-TV.

Smarts attorneys described her case as a shameful and abominable miscarriage of justice.

Its appalling, Pam added.

Alice Uden Gerald Uden Kc 1510

"They took three minutes in the last Executive Council meeting to determine that she didn't deserve a hearing. And you put three minutes up against 33 years of her life? It seems Pam Smart is the only person in New Hampshire that hasn't gotten due process."

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Over the years, Smart has lost a series of legal battles seeking her release. Last year, the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously denied her a reduced sentence request in the decades-old murder.

The decision marked the third time the council had rejected Smarts attempts to win a reprieve from her life sentence.

If the court rules in Smarts favor at her Tuesday hearing, she may have the opportunity to plead her case before the governor and his executive council to ask for her sentence to be commuted. It could be her final chance at freedom  Smart has already exhausted previous appeals, per an ABC News report.

"In some respects the pieces are finally coming together," Smart, now 55, told ABC during a telephone interview while incarcerated at New Yorks maximum security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility last month.

Oxy App

"It feels like the last straw, the last stand," Smart said. "If this doesn't work out, what is there after this?"

The attorney generals office hasnt publicly commented on the approaching hearing beyond arguments previously filed. Prosecutors, however, wrote in those earlier court filings that Smarts request to have her sentence commuted should be denied because the clemency power is an executive branch power, and there is no constitutionally mandated procedure dictating how Governor and Council must exercise that power."

At the case's original trial, an at-times tearful Flynn testified about how he held a butcher knife to Gregg Smarts throat, as well as a gun, as the 24-year-old begged for his life.

I said God, forgive me, Flynn told the court. I pulled the trigger.

In another recent interview Smart gave from behind bars, she repeatedly insisted her only mistake was having an affair with Flynn in the first place.

No one has ever explained any kind of sufficient motive for why I would want to murder my husband when I could have just gotten divorced, she told Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. My parents lived in a beautiful house right up the street. We had no children and no property or any  there was nothing to lose.

Smart once again repeated during the Dateline interview that Flynn acted on his own accord after she broke things off with him.

I think he felt like that was the only way he could be with me, Smart added. It was very clear that as long as I was married, I was never going to be with him.
Early in January, I had the privilege of accompanying nine Mercyhurst University students on a "Border Witness" experience in the Rio Grande Valley in and around McAllen, Texas. Before we left, I asked the students what they hoped to learn. Their unanimous response was that they wanted to get beneath the veneer of hyperpoliticized rhetoric and reports that fill their social media feeds to truly see what is happening at the border. Many of these students major in intelligence studies, and they are well trained in skills for deciphering legitimate information.

On our trip we all learned the basic truth that no information is quite as valuable and truthful as authentic personal stories. It was inspiring to watch these bright, compassionate students, who typically learn from experts with doctorates, learn hard and fundamental truths from wise and generous women, many of whom were lucky to even complete high school.

The situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is often framed as a "crisis" or an "invasion," accompanied by isolated stories of people attempting to cross the border for nefarious purposes. While there is no denying the dire consequences of some of these border crossings, this is a humanitarian issue first and foremost.

Our experience was facilitated by ARISE Adelante, a ministry co-sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters Of Charity of the Incarnate Word. We were deeply impressed and humbled by the hospitality, honesty, and faith of the many women we met at the various ARISE community centers, who shared their stories with great vulnerability and courage.

More:Rescues of asylum-seekers soar as Border Patrol ramps up efforts and more migrants arrive

Sister Michele Schroeck, RSM, a vocation minister for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, accompanied our group and shared that "their testimonies and those of the women we met during home visits in the colonias near McAllen, Texas, gave voice and life to the realities and border issues that we learned about from various speakers."

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Most of their stories involve abuse and trauma, especially when they lived in Mexico. Some of these women have been living in the U.S. for decades, paying taxes and meaningfully contributing to their communities. Many have never and will never have health care and they enjoy very few legal protections. Yet, most are deeply grateful for the relative security they have enjoyed in the U.S. and are most proud of their children, many of whom have gone to college and are engaged in successful careers.

Shipping containers are seen as a makeshift border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border near downtown in El Paso, Texas, Saturday, December 24, 2022.

During several days we had intensive exposure to various aspects of the situation at the border  the border wall, community centers where basic services are offered to migrant families, anti-human trafficking efforts, legal aid agencies, workers' rights collaborations, and respite and emergency shelters for those who have entered the official legal process for seeking asylum. The challenges at the border are overwhelming and complex, and all involve human beings facing tremendous adversity.

Students like sophomore Gina Sarama observed that no political party can claim to have solved the most pressing challenges at the border. Speaking with various experts made it clear that our current and former U.S. presidents and their administrations (from both parties) have failed to figure out effective and humane policies for managing the ongoing stream of asylum seekers who come to the U.S. seeking basic human rights like food, shelter, and safety.

Allison Siegmann, a senior, noted that "There are few resources that the government offers to help migrants find security after getting to the United States if they even make it that far. I learned about the extreme difficulties it takes to make the journey across the border, and I hope that U.S. citizens can do their own research to understand these difficulties as well."

I spent much of the trip reflecting on stories we learned of Haitian families. Many are college-educated families who left quality jobs, happy lives, and the country they loved to seek safe living situations. They likely left Haiti as long ago as three years for Chile  where the regulations for those seeking asylum are lax  gradually making their way north. Their children had no formal education during this time. Many Haitians are now waiting in unsafe and under-resourced conditions in Mexico because of Title 42, a U.S. public health measure enacted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Title 42 has given government agencies extraordinary liberties to deport or to prevent asylum-seekers from attempting to enter the country legally.

We also met two amazing Sisters of Mercy, Sister Pat and Sister Terry, who cross the border to Mexico along with a couple of young priests each week to care for these families in waiting. On foot, they carry necessary supplies and food to people waiting in shelters on the Mexican side. Wherever there is desperate poverty, one can often find these examples of heroic goodness.

As we boarded our own flight to leave McAllen, we recognized a family at the airport with a sign, "I do not speak English. Please help." They were Haitian. Against many odds, this family had somehow made it to the U.S. They looked tired, yet they greeted me with extraordinarily kind smiles. We shared a few communications in English. I wished them a safe flight and God's blessings. They are resourceful and will be fine managing their flights. I wish I was as hopeful about their long road ahead navigating the current system for those seeking asylum in the U.S.

And now I am here in Erie, along with these students whose lives have been changed. We cannot and will not forget the people caught up in this messiness and the human goodness that we found everywhere along the border in Texas.

Greg Baker, D. Min., is vice president of mission at Mercyhurst University.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Journey to southern border gives Mercyhurst students new understanding
The potentially toxic chemicals released in the Ohio train derailment and how they affect human health

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
Oscar Pistorius, Reeva Steenkamp

Charlie Shoemaker/Getty; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty

The parents of Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law school graduate who was shot and killed by her boyfriend, former South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, are still looking for answers.

During an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain this week, Reeva's parents, Barry and June Steenkamp, revealed they visited Pistorius in prison.

The grieving couple said they hoped Pistorius would shine additional light on what actually transpired when he shot Reeva in his South Africa home on Feb. 14, 2013. They did not get the answer they sought, according to CNN.

"All June and I wanted to know was the truth, what we feel was the truth: that he actually killed her because of anger," Barry told GMB.

Pistorius, who shot Steenkamp multiple times through a locked bathroom door at his home, has long claimed that he mistook her for an intruder.

Reeva Steenkamp father Barry (L) and mother June (C) arrive at the Pretoria High Court for the sentencing hearing set to send South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius back to jail for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago, in Pretoria on June 13, 2016.

MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty

Barry told GMB that "only Oscar knows the true story" of what happened the day of his daughter's death.

The former sprinter was convicted of culpable homicide in 2014 and sentenced to five years in prison. However, the conviction was later overturned by a higher court, which found him guilty of murder and increased the sentence to six years.

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Murder of Girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

The prosecution then appealed for a stiffer sentence. In 2017, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal increased the term to 13 years and five months.

CNN, citing the South African Broadcasting Corporation, said Pistorius is eligible for parole in March.

"If he's due for parole, let the law take its course, so long as it's all done legally," Barry said of the chance Pistorius is freed. "I'm not against the parole taking its course."

RELATED: Oscar Pistorius's Shocking Fall from Grace

June Steenkamp said the couple continues grieving over the death of their daughter and have launched the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation to educate and empower victims of violence and abuse.

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"People who have lost children, it takes a long time for you to settle down and to get to know that they're not going to be around anymore," she told GMB.

"We just love her so much and miss her," the mother added. "Part of our life is gone. We will see her one day, but that's what we look forward to."

RELATED VIDEO: Oscar Pistorius Found Guilty Of Culpable Homicide

Per CNN, Pistorius became eligible for parole after participating in the Restorative Justice process, which allows offenders to take responsibility for their actions.

The Department of Correctional Services for South Africa says it will provide an update when there are new developments.
The Russian occupiers continue their offensive in the east of Ukraine, carry out round-the-clock attacks, but Ukrainian fighters do not allow the enemy to achieve their goals and inflict serious losses, said Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar.

"In particular, in some assault detachments of the Wagner PMC and two units, losses amount to up to 80% of personnel. Evacuation of the dead and wounded by the enemy is limited or not carried out at all," Maliar wrote on the Telegram channel.

She noted that as a result, among the personnel of the Russian occupation forces in the occupied territory of Ukraine, there is a significant decrease in the level of confidence in the decisions of the command on the conduct of hostilities.

"More and more Russian servicemen are realizing that their commanders inadequately assess the situation on the battlefield, as evidenced by the intensive use of so-called suicide squads - units staffed with insufficiently trained mobilized who will suffer heavy combat and sanitary losses every day," Maliar pointed out.

In particular, according to her data, only one training center in Rostov region weekly sends about 500 hastily trained mobilized, most of whom undergo an accelerated training course from 14 to 21 days.

"Getting into the units, such servicemen, not wanting to perform the role of suicide squads, resort to intentionally damaging military equipment, mainly engines, which, without firing a single shot, is sent to repair bases with full ammunition," she said.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach - Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters/Redux

Chinas spy balloon took off from a base on Hainan Island along the countrys southern coast, American intelligence reportedly believes. New satellite imagery obtained by researchers shows that the island is home to a balloon launch facility.

Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies identified the facility in satellite imagery captured by space imaging firm Planet Labs. Its unclear if the facility identified in the imagery is related to the spy balloon which crossed the U.S. earlier this month. But the discovery follows reporting from The Washington Post late Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials now think the Peoples Liberation Army launched the infamous spy balloon from Hainan with the intent of spying on U.S. military bases in the Pacific.

More from Rolling Stone

Based on the Posts identification of the island as the likely origin of the balloon, we believe this is the best launch site candidate on the island, especially as it has previously hosted aerostats, says Sam Lair, a Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) researcher who helped analyze the imagery for Rolling Stone.

hainan balloon site china chinese spy balloon

Lair, who identified the facility along with colleagues Michael Duitsman and Tricia White, says his team also found imagery of the location hosting airships in Google Earth.

The entire facility is surrounded by a perimeter security fence and also includes three large radomes, used to house radar antennas, says Lair. The 140 meter launch pad also has what appears to be launch equipment visible in the satellite imagery, which was captured in mid-January.

The Middlebury team was able to identify the Hainan site as a balloon launch facility in part because of its similarity to another Chinese launch site they found in Dorbod Banner, near Chinas northern border with Mongolia.

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hainan balloon site china chinese spy balloon

The circular pad for launching balloons, high-bay hangar for storing them, and support buildings with small radome at the Hainan site are all similar to the Dorbod Banner facility.

That facility in Chinas Inner Mongolia province was first built in mid-2016 and features a large 350- to 400-meter launchpad, which was expanded in 2021.

The pairing of a hangar, support building, and a launch pad is characteristic of balloon launch sites observed in other countries including the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, says Lair.

Chinese officials havent said much about the Darbod Banner facility, who owns it, or how they plan to use it. But there are access restrictions visible in the satellite imagery that make the imagery analysts believe its linked to Chinas Peoples Liberation Army. We suspect that it may be a military facility, but thats based on the existence of the perimeter security fence as well as the security fence around the collection buildings, says Lair.

The Chinese balloon which transited the U.S. in February was roughly the size of two to three buses and was not the first to allegedly violate American airspace, according to National Security Council spokesman Adm. John Kirby. Chinese spy balloons drifted into the U.S. at least three times during the Trump administration for brief periods much shorter than the trip by the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.

China has claimed that the balloon shot down was merely a weather balloon for scientific research and accused the U.S. of flying its own spy balloons across China on 10 separate occasions.

Beijing is, not surprisingly, tight-lipped about its alleged balloon espionage program, but researchers like MIISs Eli Hayes have scoured Chinese-language academic literature and state propaganda to find clues about how academics there think and talk about known airship and balloon programs. In short: they can help supplement more expensive surveillance gear, like spy satellites.

In an unpublished paper from October 2021 shared with Rolling Stone, Hayes wrote that papers by Chinese academics working on airship research express a widespread belief that airships can serve important roles as an affordable alternative to satellite capabilities in both civil and military functions and can act as a relatively low-cost supplement or replacement to more conventional platforms in the fields of Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR), earth monitoring, and communications.

Hayes has also identified a number of airship design teams from mentions in Chinese-language open source literature. The designers, which include academic institutions, nuclear weapons research institutes, and private aerospace companies like the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Its still unclear how China is using these sites or whether theyre devoted to the kinds of intelligence-gathering that prompted the shoot down earlier this month. But the construction patterns identified by Middlebury at Hainan and Darbod Banner are already bringing Chinas capabilities closer into focus.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
A side-by-side facial reconstruction of a skull.

In 1997, archaeologists unearthed a skeleton buried in the fetal position at Toca dos Coqueiros, an archaeological site in Brazil's Serra da Capivara National Park. Based on the size and shape of the skull, they identified the remains as female and named the skeleton Zuzu. But that classification has remained steeped in controversy , with many researchers claiming the deceased was actually male.

Now, a new facial approximation of the 9,600-year-old skull may help put this debate to rest.

Last year, researchers took dozens of photos from different angles of the skull, which is on display at the Museum of Nature in Piaui, Brazil. Using photogrammetry, they digitally stitched the 57 photographs together to create a virtual 3D model of the skull "in order to reveal the face of that figure so mysterious and so important to Brazilian history," the researchers wrote in their study , published Jan. 25.

"Trying to recover the appearance that an individual had in life thousands of years ago is a way to bring them to the present day, bringing them closer to the public," first author Moacir Elias Santos , an archaeologist with the Ciro Flamarion Cardoso Archaeology Museum in Brazil, told Live Science in an email. "The main interest was to be able to glimpse the face of Zuzu, whose skeleton is one of the most important finds in the Serra da Capivara National Park region."

To inform their work, they used computerized tomography ( CT scans ) from living virtual donors and applied that information to "adjust the structure of the skull" by including tissue thickness markers, study co-author Cicero Moraes , a Brazilian graphics expert, told Live Science in an email.

Related: Look into the eyes of a Stone Age woman in this incredibly lifelike facial reconstruction

"[We] adjust the structure of the skull to transform the donor's skull into a volume almost equal to Zuzu's skull," Moraes said. "When we do this, the soft tissue follows this deformation/adaptation and results in a face that is expected, [and] compatible with Zuzu in life."

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The researchers created two results, both depicting a young man with a broad nose and lips. One of the approximations included hair and eyebrows based on information provided by the virtual donors, and the other featured Zuzu with closed eyes and without hair. Because the digital face was "slightly emaciated," the researchers retracted the lower jaw to match a gap that came from some missing teeth, according to the study.

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See the striking facial reconstruction of a Paleolithic woman who lived 31,000 years ago

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Saint Anthony of Padua revealed in stunning facial approximation

"Although the skull has affinity with an Asian population, among individuals of such ancestry there are a large number of structural differences, which are circumvented by closing the eyelids," the researchers wrote in the study. "The image was also rendered in grayscale (black and white) as there is no accurate information about the skin color. Therefore, such an image would be the closest to what the real face could be."

"The most interesting thing when looking at Zuzu's skull is having an idea of what he would have looked like in life," Santos said. "It is a reunion with one of the oldest ancestors of our country."
A child receives a COVID-19 vaccination shot during an open vaccination clinic Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022.

BOSTON  As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, a state lawmaker is hoping the third time is the charm for a proposal promoting community immunity through improved data collection on immunization and vaccine exemption rates throughout the state.

The measure, being presented by state Sen. Becca Rausch, D-Needham, whose district includes Milford, would require students enrolling in covered youth programs  such as public schools, summer camps or day care  to provide documentation of their state-required immunizations, or a Massachusetts Department of Public Health-approved exemption form for either medical or religious reasons.

Private programs would be able to implement stricter requirements, but they would not be allowed to refuse medical exemptions. Massachusetts currently requires immunizations for students attending elementary up to postsecondary schools, both public and private, and some preschools.

State Sen. Becca Rausch has presented the community immunity bill.

(Its) not to mandate vaccines, not to require anybody to do anything, Rausch said. It is to generate the data, the information, the education, the outreach and the consistency and standardization that we need in order to achieve the robust public health infrastructure that we deserve.

The bill was first filed in the fall of 2019. The language has been adjusted to clarify and streamline the acts goals, as well as reflect some of what was passed last session, Rausch said.

Worcester's LeBoeuf on board

A companion measure has been filed in the House by state Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford. Its co-sponsors include state Rep. David LeBoeuf, D-Worcester.

Having available data on immunization rates  which covered youth programs would be required to report annually  will allow parents the opportunity to make informed decisions on where to send their children to school, Rausch said.

Karmen Piltzecker, 8, of Rutland holds a spinning toy meant to distract her from the COVID-19 shot in her arm as her mother Christine watches at CENTRO, Nov. 6, 2021.

Communities with low vaccination rates are more susceptible to the spread of infectious diseases, Rausch said, and the bill will work to provide medically accurate and culturally competent outreach and education in those areas.

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The Department of Public Health would also distribute informational pamphlets about immunization safety and efficacy to the parents and legal guardians who submit exemption forms; elevated risk programs would distribute the pamphlet as well. The pamphlet would also be available online, according to the bill.

Hirsh: Vaccine politicized

Any youth program that hasnt achieved herd immunity, as well as those that fail to report their statistics, would receive an elevated risk program designation.

Michael Hirsh, medical director of the Worcester Division of Public Health, said community or herd immunity is reached when 75% to 80% of a community is vaccinated against a particular disease.

Dr. Michael P Hirsh, UMass Memorial Health Care, speaks during a COVID press briefing at city hall.

Hirsh said children are likely to transmit contagious diseases, like measles or the mumps, to more vulnerable populations who are taking care of them: Pregnant parents and elderly grandparents. Children also go to school in tight quarters, he said, which isnt ideal for social distancing.

I think, unfortunately, one of the unintended consequences of the pandemic has been the politicization of vaccination in general, Hirsh said. We're seeing more than just vaccine (hesitancy)  we're falling behind on all vaccinations, so that's why we've seen outbreaks of measles, outbreaks of polio.

Hirsh said the Worcester Division of Public Health is trying to work with more trusted messengers  like local clergy, community leaders and parents  who have navigated the vaccination process to encourage others to do the same.

We have lost a lot of credibility and I think we're really, desperately seeking ways to get it back, Hirsh said. I think there's just a lot more vocal opposition to vaccination in general.

Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said he worked with Rauschs office on the language of the bill to make it as accommodating as possible.

Clearly it was a priority for our association, Koocher said.

I think its pretty clear that vaccination is what helped abate the pandemic, Koocher said. From a public policy point of view, required vaccination to enter school, which has been part of the process for decades and decades, is good public policy.

Rausch said that when the bill was first filed, people questioned its necessity. But when the pandemic began just months later, the answer was made clear.

We like to think that we have a really robust vaccination rate, and among the data that we do have, that's true. But we're missing data from literally thousands of youth programs all throughout the commonwealth, she said. We don't know what's happening in those programs and we can't take action on anything that we're not measuring.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State lawmaker proposes measure promoting community immunity
Head of State designer Taofeek Abijako celebrates his Nigerian roots for his Fall/Winter 2023 collection, honoring his father's pursuit of a better future as well as the desire to return home.

En route to Spain, Abijako's father stopped in Libya, missing his home city of Lagos, deciding to go back. "At one point, he said he could taste what Lagos tasted like -- that's what made him stop the journey. That was a springboard into exploring this collection: How could I design something based on his memories of home and connect it to my own?" the designer shares with Vogue.

Paying homage to Lagosian culture in all of its glory and beauty, the collection is home to Afro-futuristic tailoring and decadently vibrant colors. Models wear their hair in a natural state, styles often mimicking the city's architecture. Slightly sci-fi silhouettes arrive in the form of powder blue and white suits with corset boning and strategically places sheer fabric. Elsewhere, curved hems show up on raspberry mini skirts and sherbert orange dresses. Abs are on full display in voluminous lilac frocks, while Abijako interjects his offering with extravagance, presenting a jaw-dropping emerald green ball gown, complete with a romantic veil. Gossip Girl's Evan Mock blended in, wearing his usually brightly colored hair in a black mullet to match his tuxedo with exaggerated shoulders. Abijako was the mastermind behind the actor's Met Gala ensemble.

Take a look at Head of State's FW23 collection in the gallery above.
Russia has not been able to punch through Ukraines defences, despite almost all of its army deployed in the war.

It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

That has come at a huge cost to the Russian army. We now estimate 97 per cent of the Russian army, the whole Russian army, is in Ukraine, Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Meanwhile, Russia claimed on Wednesday that they made a breakthrough in the eastern front of Luhansk.

President Volodymyr Zelenskys office said Ukrainian forces had repelled some Russian attacks in Luhansk but added: The situation in the region remains difficult.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia was pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into Luhansk.

The attacks are coming from different directions in waves, Haidai said. But he added: Those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border (of Luhansk) - this does not correspond to reality.

Key Points

Russia failing to punch through despite 97% of army at war

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

Children held in camps as part of large-scale systematic network,

Bakhmut under Russias crazy, chaotic shelling' in new offensive  officials

Wagner has almost certainly made gains around Bakhmut  UK intelligence

Russia failing to punch through despite 97% of army at war

15:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has not been able to punch through Ukraines defences, despite almost all of its army deployed in the war, the UK defence secretary has said.

It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

That has come at a huge cost to the Russian army. We now estimate 97 per cent of the Russian army, the whole Russian army, is in Ukraine, Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Story continues

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (PA Wire)

Russian general who led oppression of journalists is claimed to have killed himself

14:22 , Lucy Skoulding

A Russian general who led the oppression of journalists, opposition activists and protesters is claimed to have killed himself a month after he was relieved from his post by Vladimir Putin.

Major General Vladimir Makarov, aged 72, was previously the main organiser in the hunt for those deemed an inconvenience by the Kremlin, according to Russian journalists.

But he was reported to have been recently forced into retirement from his role as deputy head of the Main Directorate for Combating Extremism, a department established in 2008 which persecutes protesters and monitors opposition sentiment on social media.

Read the full story by Independent reporter Andy Gregory.

Russia held 6,000 Ukrainian children for re-education'

04:45 , Stuti Mishra

Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children with the aim of 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 in Russia and Crimea 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 weve 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, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, and has pushed back against previous claims it had forcibly moved Ukrainians.

Ukraine defence minister confident West will send jets

13:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday he was absolutely confident Western countries will supply fighter jets to Kyiv to help fight Russias invasion even though some have been cool on the idea so far.

In an interview with Reuters in Brussels, Reznikov noted that Ukraines allies had already ended up providing a range of Western weapons systems after initially saying they would not do so. Impossible became possible, he said.

He said fighter jets were needed as part of a broader system of air defences to protect Ukraine from Russian attacks.

We vitally need aircraft as a platform to defend our sky. We have to dominate in our Ukrainian sky. It will protect our civil population, first of all, and certainly our armed forces.

In recent weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden Washington said Washington would not supply F-16 jets to Ukraine and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also ruled out sending fighter aircraft.

Other countries, such as Poland, have signalled they are open to the idea but would only act with broad Western support. Britain has said it will provide training for Ukrainian fighter pilots but not yet whether it would supply jets.

Some Western officials have also noted it would likely take many months to provide fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots to use them. Others have also expressed concerns that supplying Western jets could be a dangerous escalation in the war.

Speaking the day after meeting in Brussels with NATO defence ministers and a coalition of more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv, Reznikov said fighter jets were on the table and allies were assessing which model would be best for Ukraine.

We have to choose the best solution, he said, citing U.S. F-16 jets and Swedish Gripen aircraft as leading options.

Ukraine defends Luhansk region as Russia brings in troops - governor

12:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia is pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine but Ukrainian forces are still defending the region, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Wednesday.

Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front. Russias Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in Luhansk but did not say in which part of the region.

There is a lot of shelling, the aviation is already connected. The attacks are coming from different directions in waves, Haidai said. We see that they are transferring mobilised people (to the front), we also see that there is more (heavy) equipment.

But he added: Those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border (of Luhansk) -- this does not correspond to reality.

NATO countries increasing production of 155 mm artillery rounds

12:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The head of NATO said on Wednesday that NATO countries are increasing the production of 155 mm artillery rounds and needed to ramp up that production even further to help Ukraine against Russia.

Artillery shells 155 are increasing, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

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 a war of attrition is a war of logistics, he added.

Ukraine war has exposed Europes vulnerability, says Wallace

10:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The war in Ukraine has exposed the vulnerability of Europes defences in the face of an aggressor, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned.

Mr Wallace said forces across the continent were paying the price for years of hollowing out that has seen ammunition stocks depleted, readiness levels reduced and essential maintenance neglected.

He said that at a time that the world was becoming much more dangerous and unstable it underlined the need for a long-term increase in the defence budget.

Mr Wallace, who is in Brussels for a meeting of Nato defence ministers, said the problems facing the UK were not unique to Britain.

Ukraine has exposed across Europe  including in France and in Germany and other nations  our own vulnerabilities, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Our ammo stocks, our readiness levels, our ability to meet Russia or any other enemy that chooses to play or attack us at what we call below threshold, before formal armed conflict.

It has been well known for decades that where the armed forces have had to save money on things like its readiness or its infrastructure, the places that got unfunded were the unsexy parts of defence.

Maintenance, ship lifts, all sorts of things that you and I dont think are that exciting but are nevertheless really, really important.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (PA Wire)

Tank delivery for Ukraine came a bit late, German vice chancellor says

10:23 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The delivery of German-made Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine came a bit too late, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said, since time was running short ahead of an expected Russian offensive.

With the decision to send the tanks we are doing what we can, he told newspaper Die Zeit in comments published on Wednesday. A bit too late, but its done... Everyone is expecting a terrible Russian offensive... Time is pressing.

He added that Germany was not up for a debate on sending warplanes, which Ukraine says it needs in its war against Russian invaders. Germany does not own any of the U.S. F-16 warplanes that are most often mentioned in this context.

Russia: new foreign policy to focus on ending Western 'monopoly'

10:04 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow would focus on ending what he called a Western monopoly over global affairs as part of a new foreign policy.

Our renewed foreign policy concept will focus on the need to end the monopoly of the West on shaping the framework of international life, Lavrov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (AP)

Ukraine says it has repelled Russian attacks in Luhansk region

09:37 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian forces have repelled some Russian attacks in the eastern region of Luhansk but the situation there remains difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskiys office said on Wednesday.

Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front. The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region.

Zelenskiys office made no mention of any retreats but said: The situation in the region remains difficult.

Russia claims breakthrough in Luhansk region

09:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has claimed they made a breakthrough in the eastern front of Luhansk as intense fighting continued overnight.

The Russian defence ministry said the Ukrainians had retreated in the face of Russian attacks, allowing its own troops to break through two fortified lines of defence.

During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km (1.9 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.

However, no further details were provided and Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield report.

It comes as the Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated.

EU to sanction Iran entities involved in Russian war in Ukraine - Von der Leyen

08:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU will propose sanctions targeting for the first time Iranian economic operators involved in the Russian war in Ukraine.

For the first time we are also proposing to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Irans Revolutionary Guard, Von der Leyen told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Von der Leyen said the 10th package of sanctions, worth a total of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), would target new trade bans and technology export controls, including drones, helicopters and missiles.

British national killed in Ukraine, government says

08:34 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed.

The dead person is a man, according to the BBC, which would make them at least the eighth British male to die in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last February.

The Foreign Office has not confirmed any further details but a spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

It comes after the government announced that a national one-minute silence will be held to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine next week.

British national dies in Ukraine, Foreign Office says

Russian leaders 'likely aware' of 'critical weakness' in industrial output

08:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Senior Russian leaders are likely aware that the states military-industrial output is becoming a critical weakness, particularly in light of the strategic and operational miscalculations made during the invasion of Ukraine, the ministry of defence has said in its latest update.

The MoD said production levels are almost certainly falling short of Moscows demands to resource the ongoing Ukraine campaign and also to restore its longer-term defence requirements.

Deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev called for an increase in Russian tank production earlier, while visiting the Omsk Transport Machine Construction plant on 9 February, it said.

This follows several public comments by president Vladimir Putin urging the defence industry to better support the special military operation.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 February 2023



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/XILK9JDeqM



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/KKcT027LpV  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 15, 2023

No sign that Putin is preparing for peace in Ukraine, Nato secretary general says

08:00 , Stuti Mishra

UKs commitment to Nato is enduring'

07:45 , Stuti Mishra

The Ministry of Defence has posted a series of tweets about defence minister Ben Wallaces meeting with Nato on Tuesday.

The MoD states: The UKs commitment to #NATO is enduring and we remain one of NATOs highest spending members.

The UK and our @NATO Allies are focused on our unwavering support for Ukraine. Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP met his French and Romanian counterparts @SebLecornu @RomaniaNATO in Brussels for meetings to discuss ongoing military cooperation. 

 Defence Ministers from @NATO member states are meeting in Brussels to discuss continued support for  Ukraine, ongoing defence collaboration and the modernisation of the Alliance.#NATO exists to guarantee freedom and security for its 30 members.@BWallaceMP  and @SecDef pic.twitter.com/ieN96EUgaR  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 14, 2023

'Extraordinary' Russian parliament session to focus on 'adoption of laws for integration of four regions'

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

More information coming on the extraordinary meetings Russias lower and upper chambers will be holding on 22 February from RIA Novosti as a senior lawmaker is quoted saying it would focus on the adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation.

Last year Moscow moved to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal.RIA quoted a source as saying that the State Duma, the lower chamber, will gather in the morning on 22 February while the Federation Councils session will start at 12pm GMT.

President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to the federal assembly - a joint meeting of Russias two houses of parliament - on 21 February.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine last February a special military operation to eliminate security threats. Kyiv and its allies call Russias actions an unprovoked land grab.

Sunak set to join world leaders for Munich conference

07:30 , Stuti Mishra

Rishi Sunak will join other world leaders in Munich this weekend for a conference on international security.

The gathering comes days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels as part of efforts to convince allies to arm Kyiv with fighter planes.

Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister will travel to Germany for the conference, which was held last year in the days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian banks and invasion leaders in focus as EU debates new sanctions

07:00 , Stuti Mishra

Representatives of the 27 European Union countries will meet in Brussels today to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, with politicians, military leaders and four more Russian banks expected to be targeted.

Any new measures, which the bloc is expected to agree to mark the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, would require the unanimous backing of all EU member states.

"We will impose sanctions on a number of politicians and military leaders," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen after a summit last week with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We will target [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad.

"The package will include additional export bans worth more than 10 billion euros. This will further starve Russia's military machine and continue to shake the foundation of its economy," she said.

US officials point to Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine

06:50 , Stuti Mishra

American defence officials on Tuesday sought to dispel any doubt that Iran is supplying drones for Russias war in Ukraine, releasing photos and analysis of unmanned aircraft deployed in the conflict to demonstrate Tehrans involvement.

During a briefing in London, analysts from the US Defense Intelligence Agency displayed photos of drones that attacked Ukraine alongside images of those previously traced to Iran.

A comparison of design details such as tail fins, nose cones and landing gear shows that the weapons used in Ukraine are indistinguishable from Shahed-131 and -136 attack drones and Mohajer 6 unmanned aerial vehicles used in the Middle East.

The effort to show the homework is intended to help persuade governments or international agencies of Tehrans involvement. Iran has said it supplied a small number of drones to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine but has denied providing any more since troops crossed the border last February.

The evidence proves otherwise, an official from the Defence Intelligence Agency said while speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Iran is a partner in the conflict with Russia, the official said.

Wreckage of what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone downed near Kupiansk (AP)

Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies amid tensions with Russia

06:40 , Stuti Mishra

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.

The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia's war.

Romania's defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under Nato command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with "characteristics similar to a weather balloon."

It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 36,000 feet.

The incident in Moldova triggered widespread travel disruption and brief panic when authorities temporarily closed the country's airspace over what they later described as an object "similar to a weather balloon" spotted near the northern border with Ukraine.

Scores of flights in the country of about 2.6 million people, one of Europe's poorest, were cancelled or rescheduled. Some were diverted to Romania.

It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from.

This comes after Moldovan president Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting to overthrow her country's government and derail it from its EU accession path, an allegation Russia has dismissed as "absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated."

(via REUTERS)

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Partizan Belgrade fans have been banned from travelling to watch their side play Sheriff Tiraspol as tensions escalate in Moldova amid fears Russia may be planning a coup.Partizan and Sheriff are due to meet in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout play-off tie on Thursday in a match that will now be played behind closed doors.The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said on Monday that she feared Russia were preparing an attempt to overthrow her government.

Read more:

Fans banned from Europa Conference League match amid Moldovan fears of Russian coup

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary meeting next week

06:10 , Stuti Mishra

The lower and upper chambers of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on 22 February, RIA Novosti news agency reported early morning, citing a source.

The meeting will be held two days after the Russia-Ukraine war completes one year, a military operation Vladimir Putin began expecting a quick win.

Not much is known about the agenda of the meeting yet.

Russia says it has broken through defences in Ukraine's Luhansk

06:00 , Stuti Mishra

Russian troops have broken through the Ukrainian defences in part of the Luhansk region, the Russian defence ministry claimed early this morning.

"During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to three kilometres 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.

Ukraine's military has been reporting increasingly heavy Russian shelling along the frontline, with officials calling the situation difficult, but also says that its army has been able to repel many Russian attacks. Ukraine has urged allies to speed up the pace of military aid.

Russia now holds swathes of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk, including the regional capital.

US may take action against individuals mentioned in Yale report

05:50 , Stuti Mishra

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated that action could be taken against 12 individuals the report said are not yet under US 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.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children

05:40 , Stuti Mishra

Ukrainian prosecutors have said they are examining allegations of forced deportation of children as part of efforts to build a genocide indictment against Russia.

No more details have been shared at the moment.

Network stretches from one end of Russia to the other

05:30 , Stuti Mishra

Researchers behind the report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps say they believe the number of facilities in which Ukrainian children have been held exceeds 43.

This network stretches from one end of Russia to the other, Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, told reporters.

The system of camps and the adoption by Russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland appears to be authorised and coordinated at the highest levels of Russias government, the report said, beginning with president Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

Children's camps 'clear violation of 4th Geneva Convention'

05:15 , Stuti Mishra

The report accusing Russia of holding Ukrainian children in re-education camps was the latest produced by the Yale University School of Public Healths 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 Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers.

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.

Russia bombards eastern frontline as Ukraine prepares for street fighting in Bakhmut

04:15 , Stuti Mishra

Intense fighting continues in Bakhmut as Russia has bombarded the eastern frontline in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

Much of Russias artillery fire was focused on Bakhmut, a bombed-out city in Donetsk province and a principal target for president Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian troops there have fortified positions in anticipation of street fighting.

Bakhmuts capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger Donetsk cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and give Moscow momentum after months of battlefield setbacks following its invasion last February.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged for speedy help from allies as he says Russia is in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence, he said in an evening video address after Nato defence ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the war and stockpiles.

Dutch F-35s intercept Russia aircraft near Poland

03:45 , Sam Rkaina

Two Dutch F-35 fighters intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out, the Netherlands defence ministry said.

The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish NATO area of responsibility from Kaliningrad, the ministry statement said on Monday.

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.

The Il-20M Coot-A is NATOs reporting name for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft while the Su-27 Flankers are NATOs reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.

The Netherlands defence ministry said that eight Dutch F-35s are stationed in Poland for February and March.

Putin holds talks with Azeri counterpart

02:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and noted the importance of ensuring stability and security in the southern Caucasus region, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Tensions are high between Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a largely ethnic Armenian population but is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a war that ended in a Moscow-brokered ceasefire upheld by Russian peacekeepers. Both sides accuse each other of violations and Armenia now says Azerbaijan is blockading the only road into Nagorno-Karabakh, a charge Baku denies.

The importance of consistent steps to ensure stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was noted, said a Kremlin readout of the call between Putin and Aliyev.

In this context, it was reaffirmed that all the relevant agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the highest level should be implemented unconditionally.

Late last month Yerevan asked Putin to take a tougher line on Nagorno-Karabakh and for Russian peacekeepers to end what it called the blockade.

Germany calls for ramp up in ammunition production

01:45 , Sam Rkaina

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.

Russia is now a global pariah'

00:45 , Sam Rkaina

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gave the same message about Russian President Vladimir Putins 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: theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, Milley, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

Speed is of the essence Zelensky says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 23:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest offensive before Kyiv and its allies could gather strength.

That is why speed is of the essence. Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves peoples lives, speed brings back security, he said in an evening video address.

Mr Zelensky - thanking allies for their promises of more air defence weapons, tanks, artillery, shells and training - said much of what had been discussed should be kept a secret.

Mr Austin said he expected Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive of their own in the spring, and Kyivs allies were working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics to make it effective.

We believe that therell 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 Ukraines momentum in the crucial weeks ahead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) welcoming Canadas Foreign Minister Melanie Joly prior to their meeting in Kyiv (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

US says Ukraine is at crucial point in war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 22:45 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine urgently needs more military aid, the United States and NATO said on Tuesday, pledging that western support will not falter in the face of a new Russian offensive as the war was about to mark the first full year since it began.

Western defence chiefs met 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.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a NATO meeting (AP)

Moscow accuses Japan of 'Russophobia

Tuesday 14 February 2023 21:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russia, locked in a decades-old territorial dispute with Tokyo over a chain of Pacific islands, has accused Japan of 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 7 February 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 Russias long-standing position that it has sovereignty over the islands, accused Japan of rewriting history and ignoring post-war realities. Japans 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.

Who are the Wagner mercenaries and why are they so involved in Ukraine?

Tuesday 14 February 2023 20:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime affiliate of President Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner private military company, under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin, cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea and eastern Ukraines Donbas region in 2014 and has since contracted troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

In Russias invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proved indispensable, but a power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin recently led to the group having its wings clipped by Moscow.

Click here for the full story.

Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya, Russia (Reuters)

Key developments on Tuesday so far

Tuesday 14 February 2023 19:42 , Sam Rkaina

Russias army bombarded front-line Ukrainian troops and towns in the eastern Donetsk region in what appeared to be early salvoes of a new offensive, as Western allies met to weigh sending more arms to Kyiv for an expected counter-attack.

* Ukraine reported Russian shelling all along the frontline and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near the town of Bakhmut.

* In the last three days, Russias Wagner group of fighters made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine, Britains defence ministry said.

* Ukraines military said its forces had repelled attacks in five settlements in Luhansk and six in Donetsk, including around Bakhmut, over the past 24 hours.

Ukraine prepares counter offensive as Russia steps up assault  but needs more Western ammunition

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:47 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine is preparing its own counter offensive in the face of intensifying Russian bombardment as it fights Moscows invasion  but the West is in danger of running out of the ammunition and heavy weaponry components Kyiv will need.

At a meeting of Western defence chiefs in Brussels, the head of Nato  Jens Stoltenberg  said that we see no signs that President [Vlaimir] Putin is preparing for peace... What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks as the anniversary of the invasion approaches.

He added that is is clear that we are in a race of logistics and that this required a huge effort by allies to actually be able to get in the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts, which are needed in what has become a grinding war of attrition.

Click here for the full story.

Bohdan, Fritz, the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires an RPG towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, Donetsk (Reuters)

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 18:08 , Andy Gregory

Breaking - British national has died in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 17:51 , Sam Rkaina

A British national has died in Ukraine, the government said.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.

Well have more on this breaking news story as we get it.

Chinas Xi meets with Iranian president as Tehran seeks closer ties with Moscow

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:59 , AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed support for Iran during a visit 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.

China's Xi expresses support for Iran amid Western pressure

No signs Russia preparing for larger air attack on Ukraine, says US

Tuesday 14 February 2023 16:31 , Andy Gregory

There are currently no signs that Russia is amassing aircraft for a larger air attack on Ukraine, the US defence secretary has said.

In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack: we dont currently see that, Lloyd Austin said, after a meeting with allied defence ministers in Brussels.

We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory. Thats why weve emphasised that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defence capability as we possibly can, he added.

Putins forces making incremental progress in Bakhmut, says White House

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:58 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putins forces have made incremental progress over the past few days in their assault on Bakhmut  but it remains unclear whether it will fall to the Russians, the White House has said.

Answering questions from reporters, White House spokesperson John Kirby said that, if Bakhmut were to fall to Moscow, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war.

EU group to seek access to frozen Russian funds

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:30 , Emily Atkinson

The EU will on Wednesday launch an ad hoc group to investigate how frozen Russian funds can be accessed for the benefit of reconstruction in Ukraine, Swedens prime minister Ulf Kristersson has said.

The mandate is to contribute to mapping which funds have been frozen in the European Union ... and secondly how to legally proceed to access those funds, Mr Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm.

Ukraine offensive expected this spring

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:20 , Katy Clifton

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring.

Ukraine wants to create momentum ... We expect to see them conduct an offensive sometime in the spring, he told reporters after meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

He also said that Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.

Asked whether Ukraines allies on Tuesday discussed the issue of sending fighter jets to help the country in its war effort, Austin said I dont have any announcement to make today.

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically'

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:18 , Katy Clifton

Russia has lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its war in Ukraine, US joint chiefs chair army General Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost; theyve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, he said.

Kyiv troops blow up bridge near Bakhmut as Russia bombards city

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:10 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian forces have blown up a bridge near the embattled town of Bakhmut, reports suggest  hinting that Kyiv might be plotting a retreat.

The bridge is located between Bakhmut and Konstantivka, another town under Kyiv control, according to local Telegram news channel, which posted videos from the scene.

Moldova reopens airspace after temporary closure

Tuesday 14 February 2023 15:00 , Emily Atkinson

Moldova has reopened its airspace for civil aviation just hours after closing it for security reasons, its aviation authority said.

Air Moldova, the national carrier, said earlier the small east European country had temporarily closed its air space.

In a brief statement announcing it was open again, the aviation authority said it would provide more information later.

Britain to mark first anniversary of Ukraine war with minutes silence

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:40 , Emily Atkinson

The UK will mark the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine with a national minutes silence, in an expression of solidarity with Kyiv.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 11am on 24 February and will encourage individuals and organisations across Britain to participate.

As we approach the anniversary of Russias barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people, Mr Sunak said in a statement.

Russias 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.

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Tuesday 14 February 2023 14:20 , Emily Atkinson

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.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has the details:

Russia and Belarus planes forced to take bizarre flight paths

Stoltenberg plays down dispute over Nordic Nato bids

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:50 , Emily Atkinson

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has played down the importance of Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, at the same time as Turkey refuses to ratify their membership.

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 is that both the Nordic neighbors should join at the same time.Mr 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 Natos next summit in Lithuania in July.

Norway to send 8 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 13:20 , Emily Atkinson

Norway will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine to aid in the war with Russia.

It is more crucial than ever to support Ukraines fight for freedom, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

Norway said it will also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.

Norway will also set aside funds for ammunition and spare parts, the defence ministry said.

Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has 36 Leopard 2 tanks in total.

Watch: Russian state TV journalist recounts daring escape from country

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:50 , Emily Atkinson

Wagner head admits links to US election-meddling troll farm

Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:20 , Emily Atkinson

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias 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 US 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 Russias 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 Wests boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda, Prigozhin said.

Putin making no significant breakthroughs as Russia escalates war

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:49 , Emily Atkinson

Russia is making continuous offensive efforts in eastern Ukraine, though these local attacks still remain on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough, according to UK intelligence.

The tactical Russian advance to the south of Bakhmut has likely made little progress, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its regular Twitter bulletin.

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, it added.

Ukraine renews appeal for fighter jets

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:33 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine has renewed its appeal for fighter jets to help frustrate Moscows invasion.Ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded.

Finding air defences more important than fighter jet discussions, says Germany

Tuesday 14 February 2023 11:00 , Emily Atkinson

German defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said that finding ammunition and air defences is much more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.

Mr 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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough in Ukraine

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:30 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putins troops have been commanded to advance in most sectors but are struggling to achieve a major breakthrough on the Ukrainian front line, British military chiefs have said.

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.

Putin orders troops to advance as he struggles to achieve major breakthrough

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine war, MoD says

Tuesday 14 February 2023 10:10 , Emily Atkinson

Russia has likely suffered an average of 824 casualties a day in the Ukraine conflict in the past two weeks, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

This is the highest rate of casualties since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on 24 February last year and four times the rate reported over the June-July period.

Earlier, Russian mercenary group Wagner said it had taken control of a village near the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraines eastern Donetsk Oblast region.

Martha McHardy has more:

Russia suffering 824 losses a day in Ukraine
Meteorologist Cameron Hardin will join the 9 First Warning Weather team on Feb. 23 during "WCPO 9 News at Noon."

WCPO 9 (WCPO-TV) is welcoming a new face and promoting a familiar one.

Meteorologist Cameron Hardin will join the 9 First Warning Weather team for "WCPO 9 News at Noon" starting Feb. 23, the station announced Monday. He will also be on Good Morning Tri-State Weekend starting Feb. 25. Weather forecaster and traffic reporter Raven Richard will join Good Morning Tri-State" weekday mornings starting Feb. 20.

Hardin, an American Meteorological Society-certified meteorologist from Bargersville, Indiana, previously worked at News 5 (WLWT-TV). He also worked at News 18 (WLFI-TV) in West Lafayette, Indiana, and was a freelance meteorologist for News 5 Cleveland (WEWS-TV).

Related:A look at the Cincinnati TV anchors who left their stations in 2022 

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"I am super excited to be back on the air in Cincinnati, Hardin stated in a press release. Weekend mornings are my favorite, and the fact that I get to start my morning with viewers is going to be so much fun.

Raven Richard will transition into the Good Morning Tri-State" traffic reporter full time starting Feb. 20.

Richard has been a part of the WCPO newsroom since 2019. She previously worked as a traffic reporter a few days a week, but will now transition into that position full time. The Little Rock, Arkansas, native, who worked for KNDU in Kennewick, Washington, and THV11 in Little Rock, will also fill in as a weather forecaster during the week.

Im happy to be joining the team and helping get the tri-state up and out the door each morning, Richard said in a statement.

Good Morning Tri-State also added anchor Kristen Skovira last month. The program airs Monday-Friday from 4:30-7 a.m. Good Morning Tri-State Weekend airs Saturday and Sunday from 5-7 a.m. and 8-9 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: WCPO adds former WLWT meteorologist Cameron Hardin, promotes reporter
He reshaped the Republican Party in his image and won the party's last presidential nomination by acclamation.

So how do GOP hopefuls challenge Donald Trump for 2024?

Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, on Tuesday announced her campaign with release of a video; her opening rally is set for Wednesday. She became the first official alternative to the former president, though she almost certainly won't be the last. Governors, senators and other veterans of the Trump administration are testing the waters and traveling to states that host the crucial early contests.

Trump announced his own campaign just a week after the midterm elections in November, although there had been little doubt he would seek to become just the second commander-in-chief to serve nonconsecutive terms.

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He is still the sun in the Republican solar system, his challengers moons in his orbit  defined most of all by their relationship with or against him.

For those now calculating their campaigns, the trouble with Trump is not only the task of defeating him for the nomination. It's doing so in a way that doesn't repel the hefty fraction of Republican voters who remain fiercely behind him. If the former president is vanquished for the nomination, and angry about it, there's a risk he could sabotage the general-election prospects of whomever wins it.

Among Democrats, by contrast, President Joe Biden seems to be in a situation akin to the one Trump faced as the incumbent in 2020. Though there are some quiet concerns, including his age, Biden doesn't yet face a credible challenger for the nomination, which gives him the luxury of delaying his own announcement as the other side begins to fight things out.

The White House race: Nikki Haley goes on offensive in first 2024 campaign rally

"Haleys entrance officially kicks off a messy 2024 primary race for the MAGA base that has long been brewing," Democratic national chair Jaime Harrison said, a reference to Trump's signature "Make America Great Again" slogan. "Everyone get your popcorn.

Story continues

Here are four different strategies in the works:

President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, at the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2018, in New York.

The next-generation Trump

In her 3-minute video, Nikki Haley doesn't mention Trump's name or show his face. She includes footage that depicts her on the job at the United Nations  courtesy of the former president  but focuses more on her two terms as governor of South Carolina, a post she won on her own.

More: Nikki Haley announces 2024 presidential bid in first major GOP challenge to Donald Trump

She does note Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections. (Unsaid: That includes Trump's two races.) "That has to change," she declared, saying it was time for a "new generation" of leaders and flashing the words "NEW GENERATION" on the screen to make sure no one missed the point. Haley is 51; Trump is 76.

Another potential contender from South Carolina, Sen. Tim Scott, also makes a generational argument. He is 57.

But Haley doesn't make a significant break with Trump on immigration or other policies, and she echoes his culture war attacks, saying the "socialist left" wants to distort American history.

Trump's spokesman responded to the announcement by blasting Haley as "a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself." Two years ago, she said she wouldn't seek the nomination if Trump decided he wanted it again.

Who's Trump?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has emerged as the strongest early challenger to Trump, his onetime political benefactor. In a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll in December, two thirds of Republicans and those inclined to vote Republican preferred DeSantis over Trump for president by double digits, 56%-33%.

Trump in trouble: Republican support for his 2024 bid falls amid political, legal setbacks

That has gotten Trump's attention. He has dubbed him "Ron DeSanctimonious" and denounced him as a "RINO GLOBALIST"  that is, a "Republican In Name Only" on issues of foreign policy. On his social media account on Truth Social this month, Trump shared a photo of a man, purportedly DeSantis, with three young women and the caption "Here is Ron DeSanctimonious grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher."

Trump commented on it, "That's not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!"

The two men had once been allies. In 2017, Trump endorsed him for governor before DeSantis, then a member of Congress, had formally announced his candidacy. Trump now accuses him of disloyalty.

DeSantis doesn't seem to be listening. He ignores Trump's attacks and tries to avoid even using his name.

"I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden  that's how I spend my time," DeSantis said at a news conference when asked about the latest volleys from Mar-a-Lago. "I don't spend my time trying to smear other Republicans."

Whoever those unnamed "other Republicans" might be.

The Trump-without-the-baggage

After four years of unblinking loyalty as Trump's vice president, Mike Pence doesn't have the option of not acknowledging his former boss' existence, or of his ties to him.

Instead, Pence has been embracing Trump's record on the economy, immigration, the pandemic and foreign policy, arguing he deserves a share of credit for the administration's achievements. But Pence also points out their greatest breach: when he refused Trump's entreaties to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

"Everywhere I've gone across the country, I hear people that are very proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration," Pence told USA TODAY in November. "But almost in the same breath, I hear people say they want leadership that reflects the respect and civility that most Americans practice every day."

Exclusive: Mike Pence predicts 'better choices,' not Trump, as the GOP's 2024 nominee

In the most recent USA TODAY/Suffolk poll, Republicans and Republican-leaning voters by 2-1 said they wanted Trump's policies but a different standard-bearer to carry them.

Call it Trumpism without Trump. Trump policies without the debunked allegations of 2020 election fraud, the legal troubles, the inflammatory tweets, the derisive nicknames.

That's also akin to the pitch another veteran of the Trump administration, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is making as he considers a presidential bid.

The Anti-Trump

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu offers a clean break with Trump and the political era he has dominated.

The former president's appeal has waned, Sununu said this month on ABC's "This Week." "Unfortunately, at the end of the day, November of '22 showed us that, right? Trump is going to be seen as a very extreme candidate. The country is going to push back against it."

He predicted, "He could get the nomination, but he can't get it done" to win the general election.

Sununu, who in November won his fourth term as governor, said his prospective presidential bid would offer "new leadership" and a "New Hampshire model" of limited government and conservative fiscal policies. The more traditional Republican agenda stands in contrast to Trump's populist message.

The Granite State governor also dared to take a sharper shot at Trump than any of his prospective 2024 rivals when he addressed the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last year.

"The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy, and Ill say it this way: I dont think hes so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution," he joked. "But I think if he were in one, he aint getting out."

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is considering a 2024 bid, also openly broken with Trump.

But it is a sign of Trump's continued dominance of the GOP that the contenders in this category are seen as the longest shots to claim the nomination.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Nikki Haley and other Republicans are challenging Trump for 2024
The death toll from historic earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria a week ago rose further Monday even as miraculous rescues fueled the tiniest hope for those seeking to learn about their loved ones, and new paths to help victims in Syria seemed about to open up.

Rescue workers in Turkey saved a 10-year-girl from the rubble of an apartment block Monday in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, 183 hours after the first quake shook the region, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.

In Hatay province, a 13-year-old boy named Kaan was found alive under debris. And in Adiyamanyaman, Bunyamin Idac, 35, was removed from a destroyed building.

"We have saved another life in the works we have been carrying out," said Ilhan Colak, team leader of a rescue group that included 20 miners from Somalia. "I can't find the words to speak."

The confirmed death toll stood at more than 36,000 for the two nations and was expected to rise in coming days, but it appears those impacted in Syria will have a better chance to survive.

The United Nations said Syrian President Bashar Assad has agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the rebel-held northwest to deliver quake aid. Earlier Monday, Turkey had offered to establish a second border crossing. For now, the U.N. has only been allowed to bring aid to that area through the crossing at Bab Al-Hawa.

Despite the rare, inspiring rescues, thousands of bodies were being removed from toppled buildings, and experts say the chances of finding survivors are increasingly slim. And a week after the quakes hit, many people were still in the streets without shelter.

The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6. Scores of strong aftershocks added to the damage as more than 6,000 buildings collapsed.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: How to help Turkey, Syria: Relief efforts ongoing after deadliest earthquake in years

Story continues

Zehra Kurukafa walks past a destroyed house in the village of Polat, Turkey, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023

New developments:

The baby girl born under the rubble of her family's home in northern Syria was in good health Monday, her doctor said. Her great-uncle, Saleh al-Badran, said Aya  Arabic for a sign from God"  may leave the hospital in the next couple of days and will be raised by her paternal aunt, who recently gave birth.

Turkish Airlines said it has resumed flights from Hatay Airport and evacuations were underway. The airport's runway had been damaged by the quakes.

Hundreds gathered in New York's Time Square on Sunday to pay homage to the quake victims.

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U.N. brokers deal to open more routes for aid to reach rebel-held territory

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed Assad's decision to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raee, allowing much-needed aid and equipment to reach millions in rebel-held northwest Syria for three months.

"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.

Assad had met in Damascus with U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who had advocated for more help for northwest Syria and briefed the Security Council.

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.

UN official 'encouraged' by increased help for Syria

Even before news broke that new crossings to bring aid into Syria may be set up, the top UN aid official said he was heartened by the increase in relief convoys rolling into the country Monday, but warned that more must be done.

"I am encouraged by the scale-up of convoys from the UN transshipment center at the Turkish border," tweeted Martin Griffiths, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. "We need to open more access points and get more aid out fast."

Earlier, Griffiths had lamented that aid efforts had "failed the people in northwest Syria."

The earthquake death toll in that opposition-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets. Another 1,414 people have died in government-held areas, according to the Syrian Health Ministry, for a total of 3,580.

NATO chief pledges shelters, other help

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that alliance members have agreed to provide shelter facilities "as soon as possible" to help accommodate people displaced by the earthquakes. Thousands of emergency response personnel have been supporting the recovery, including search and rescue teams, firefighters, medical personnel and seismic experts, he said. He said NATO is in "strong solidarity" with Turkey.

Stoltenberg stressed that the earthquakes will have long-term consequences.

"I think it is important both to make sure that we get support quickly but also to ensure that we actually are able to stay," he said.

WHY TURKEY IS VULNERABLE: Deadly earthquakes have hit Turkey before: Why there? Could a similar quake strike the US?

'What do I have left?': Newly homeless Turks despair amid brutal conditions

In Turkish cities and villages alike, the extent of the devastation and the harsh conditions amid frigid weather are leading some to despair.

Turkish authorities said more than 150,000 have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces. In the city of Adiyaman, where many who are now homeless lined up for meals Monday, 25-year-old Musa Bozkurt wondered about the point of going elsewhere.

Were going away, but we have no idea what will happen when we get there, Bozkurt said. 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?

In the village of Polat, about 60 miles from the epicenter in Kahramanmaras, there were hardly any houses left standing, and a shortage of tents forced groups of residents to share the ones available.

We sleep in the mud, all together with two, three, even four families, survivor Zehra Kurukafa said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Turkey earthquake updates: Miracle rescues; death toll at 36K
Biden administration officials warned a key Senate panel Wednesday that a surge of illicitly manufactured fentanyl trafficked into the United States continues to claim lives and has contributed to "the worst drug crisis" the nation has ever seen.

More than 56,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2020, including fentanyl  a more than 56% increase in overdose death rates from 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During a hearing Wednesday featuring key drug enforcement officials, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee demanded to hear ways to stem the flow of fentanyl into the country. Most of the fentanyl being trafficked into the country is mass-produced in labs in Mexico and made with from chemicals sourced from China, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Who testified?

Rahul Gupta: National Drug Control Policy director in the Executive Office of the President.

Anne Milgram: administrator at the Drug Enforcement Administration at the U.S. Department of Justice

Todd Robinson: assistant secretary of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the U.S. State Department

'Worst drug crisis' ever seen: experts raise the alarm

Gupta opened his testimony on what he referred to as the "worst drug crisis" the country's ever faced with stark statistics:

Maria Ortega (R) holds a picture of her son Adrian De Jesus, who died from fentanyl poisoning, protests against illicit drug availability to children on the app Snapchat near the Snap Inc. headquarters, in Santa Monica, California on January 21, 2022.

46 million Americans are suffering from substance abuse disorder.

More than 107,000 Americans dying from drug overdose or poisoning a year.

And that the rate of overdose deaths is representative of an American dying every five minutes of every hour of every day.



During her opening statement, Milgram told the committee that the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico are responsible for the majority of the fentanyl being trafficked into the country. The DEA is prioritizing "defeating" the two cartels, Milgram said, explaining that the Sinaloa and Jalisco "dominate the entire, global fentanyl supply chain."

Story continues

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Robinson emphasized the Biden administration's focus in addressing the influx of fentanyl into the country and the accelerating overdose deaths.

"We are engaging our foreign partners to protect national security and global health by disrupting the illicit synthetic drug supply chain and supporting the effective prevention, treatment and recovery to end this epidemic and save American lives," he told senators.

'Unprecedented threat': senators zero in on fentanyl smuggling

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, referred to the flow of illicit fentanyl into the U.S. as "one of the most urgent challenges facing the American public."

Law enforcement agencies, he said, must use "every foreign policy tool" at hand to stop the ongoing epidemic.

Menendez outlined measures the U.S. should take to address the issue, including expanding the country's efforts with India to strengthening regulation of its chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

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Idaho Sen. James Risch, the committee's ranking member, called the fentanyl epidemic an "unprecedented threat," noting that the drug was responsible for roughly 70% of the more than 100,000 Americans who died from drug overdoses in 2022.

To address this "threat," the Idaho Republican called for greater awareness of the opioid's dangers, better coordination of local, state and federal law enforcement resources for mental health, effective international cooperation and the improvement of security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Go deeper:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawmakers look to stem smuggling of fentanyl in the US in hearing
The West remains concerned about Ukraine's determination to hold Bakhmut of Donetsk region, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for February 14.

U.S. defense planners assess that Ukrainian forces are unable to simultaneously defend Bakhmut and launch a spring counteroffensive and have urged Ukraine to prioritize the spring counteroffensive over defending Bakhmut. ISW continues to assess that Ukraines decision to defend Bakhmut is likely a strategically sound effort despite its costs for Ukraine, the message reads.

Analysts note that the Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut forced the occupiers to use Wagner's private military company and valuable Russian airborne forces to support the attrition offensive. Ukraines defense of Bakhmut has forced the Kremlin to expend much of the Wagner Group as a force and commit high-value Russian airborne forces to sustain attritional advances.[7] Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut has degraded significant Russian forces and will likely set favorable conditions for a future Ukrainian counteroffensive  Ukraines defense of Bakhmut and undertaking an effort to set conditions for a counteroffensive are likely complementary, not mutually exclusive, the ISW says.

At the same time, a number of American officials have signaled to Ukraine that Western security assistance to Ukraine is limited, while they stated that recent Western aid packages for Ukraine represent Kyivs best chance to decisively change the course of the war, the report reads.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reportedly recruiting convicts and mimicking the Wagner Groups treatment of convicts as cannon fodder. In particular, these convicts specified that the Russian MoD recruited them after Wagner Group initially overlooked them, and even accused Russian forces of conducting deliberate friendly fire against the convicts.

The analysts say that Russian forces continued offensive actions in the Kupyansk direction of Kharkiv region and along the Svatove-Kreminna line o Luhansk region on February 14. They also continued ground attacks around Bakhmut and along the western outskirts of Donetsk city.

Russian forces did not conduct any confirmed ground attacks in western Donetsk region or in Kherson, Mykolaiv, or western Zaporizhia regions on February 14.

Russian ground forces on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia have been reduced to one-fifth of their initial strength numbers before the invasion of Ukraine, supporting ISWs longtime assessment that the Kremlin is not concerned about a NATO conventional military threat against Russia, the message reads.

The ISW also reported that Ukrainian and Tatar partisan group reportedly conducted an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a car carrying two Russian military personnel and two Russian special service representatives in occupied Nova Kakhovka on February 10.
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.

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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.

Story continues

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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.

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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
With her announcement this week that she is running for president, Nikki Haley has made a bit of history again -- becoming the first prominent woman of color to seek the Republican nomination.

With Vice President Kamala Harris presumed to be President Joe Biden's running mate if he announces a second run, as he has said he will, it's possible that both major political parties in America could simultaneously have a woman on their ticket for the first time. And both would be South Asian, specifically of Indian descent -- which observers called a massive feat considering the community makes up only about 1% of the country's population and produced two recent political stars.

"This is absolutely a moment," Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College and co-author of the Indian American Election Survey, told ABC News. "We see South Asians who have largely been on the outskirts of American politics in many ways. This is a moment where we're seeing South Asians step into the limelight."

That representation began at the national level more than half a century ago, when Dalip Singh Saund led a push to change immigration laws so he and other Indians could become citizens. He then became the first Asian American, first South Asian and first Sikh in Congress, in 1956.

There are now five South Asians in Congress, often referred to as "the Samosa Caucus."

"Since 2016, we've quintupled our representation in Congress and gone from 12 to 43 in state legislatures. Over that same period of time, our population has not multiplied the same way," said Neil Makhija, the executive director of the Indian American Impact, an organization that helps South Asians run for elected office. "Once people start running, it shows that it's possible."

MORE: Trump allies see Nikki Haley's 2024 campaign as encouraging sign of fractured primary field

When it comes to world leaders, University of California, Riverside, public policy professor Karthick Ramakrishnan points to Rishi Sunak, whose parents are of Indian descent, as someone who represents how fast a community can advance -- considering the British ruled India until 1947. "One generation," Ramakrishnan said, "Someone who is the child of the empire is now the prime minister of Britain."

Story continues

Nearly one-fourth of the world's population lives in South Asia and many of the countries within it -- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- have all already had women prime ministers or presidents.

"[Women leading countries] is not something that's necessarily out of the norm of the cultures from which a lot of these people are coming from," said Maneesh Arora, an assistant professor of political science at Wellesley College.

PHOTO: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley along with her husband Michael Haley at the Golden Temple, Nov. 15, 2014, in Amritsar, India. (Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Harris' maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, worked to fight for the country's independence from Britain and she's spoken about her parents taking her in a stroller to political protests in the '60s. Haley wrote in her autobiography that her mom, Raj Randhawa, studied law and was offered the first female judgeship in India, although Haley said her own family blocked it because she was a woman.

"They grew up in households where public service was not looked down upon. ... Plenty of Indian Americans grew up in households where it was about becoming a doctor or engineer," Ramakrishnan said.

Harris, who ran for president in 2020 before being selected as Biden's vice president, and now Haley are testing what it means to pursue success at the highest levels of American politics.

Haley is not the first woman of color to seek the GOP nod: Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, a Black school counselor in Florida, ran in the 2000 campaign. But Haley is the most notable non-white conservative woman to ever enter the race.

Her campaign did not comment for this story.

What Haley has said about her heritage

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Punjabi Sikh parents who emigrated from India in the 1960s. She has said that early on she adopted her middle name, which means "little one" in Punjabi, as her first name and later took on her husband's last name as her own.

Haley was raised Sikh and has publicly talked about converting to Christianity, once saying the language barrier was what ultimately led to her decision to convert. "At some point, you have to understand the words . Christianity spoke to me," she previously said while adding, "It wasn't political." She explained to The New York Times in 2012: "We always said 'no' when my mom was trying to teach us Punjabi. Now I wish we had learned, but that is why I think I made the transition."

She joined a Methodist church with her husband but has said she continues visiting the Sikh temple with family.

But for some South Asians, the conversation about Haley rarely gets past her name or religion.

"Her example would reflect the kind of assimilationism that most Indian Americans -- most South Asians -- actually don't do. They don't change their name and they don't convert their religion," Ramakrishnan said.

PHOTO: Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley poses with her husband Michael Haley and traditional Punjabi dancers as she arrives to attend a function at Lovely Professional University LPU in Jalandhar, Nov. 14, 2014. (Shammi Mehra/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2001, Haley also listed her race as "white" on her voter registration card, according to The Post and Courier. At the time, a spokesman for her declined to comment and state Republicans suggested the issue was a stunt because it had been uncovered by Democrats, who criticized her as disingenuous.

Dr. Hajar Yazhida, a University of Southern California assistant professor in sociology and faculty affiliate at their equity research institution, told ABC News that being able to have racial ambiguity has had a massive impact for both the vice president and Haley -- especially on Haley's journey. (Harris' father is Black, from Jamaica; her mother was born in Chennai, India.)

"We might look at Kamala Harris on one side and Nikki Haley on the other and wonder how it is that two South Asian women ended up as political front-runners? But we have to remember that neither of the candidates are socially read as South Asian women," Yazhida argued.

But Ramakrishnan said even being able to "claim" an identity is something unique to living in the United States -- and something that most politicians do in some way: "We all have different aspects of our identity that we activate. ... Given the context, people code-switch all the time."

Haley has seen prejudice -- even from fellow politicians.

During a runoff election for a state legislative seat in South Carolina, an opponent published ads referring to her as "Nimrata N. Randhawa" and sent out mailers with her standing with her dad in his turban.

When she was running for governor in 2010, a South Carolina state senator referred to her and then-President Barack Obama with a racial epithet.

Haley has touched on some of the struggles her family faced. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world," she said at the 2020 Republican National Convention. "We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate."

The NAACP also pointed to then-Gov. Haley's heritage in 2011 when criticizing South Carolina for flying the Confederate flag at the Statehouse for nearly half a century. In 2015, in the wake of the fatal shooting of nine Black people at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Haley urged the flag to be removed and state Republicans quickly agreed.

PHOTO: Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nov. 19, 2022. (Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images)

Haley's politics differ from most in the community

Pomona College professor Sadhwani said South Asians really want to support other South Asians, regardless of party. But the data she has collected on Haley appears to be an exception. "Haley's unfavorable score is 55% in our sample," Sadhwani said. This could be in part because many South Asian people identify as Democrats, data shows

Former President Donald Trump wasn't able to capture the South Asian vote either -- but he tried. In 2019, he held a "Howdy Modi!" rally with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that attracted thousands and filmed an ad where he attempted to speak in Hindi.

That got him ahead with the group -- but not by enough. "Trump made inroads among Indian American voters between 2016 and 2020. He still lost the Indian American vote," said professor Ramakrishnan.

Biden and Harris have focused on South Asians and the Indian community as well, with Biden releasing an agenda for the Indian American community prior to the 2020 election and both him and the vice president including cultural celebrations as part of administration events.

Numbers illustrate how Asian American voters, and Indian voters, can be influential. According to AAPI Data, an organization that publishes demographic data and research, in 2018 there were an estimated 161,000 eligible Indian voters in Texas, 87,000 in Florida, 61,000 in Pennsylvania, 57,000 in Georgia and 45,000 in Michigan.

Major contests in those states, including the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, have all recently been decided by smaller margins.

And the community is fast growing. In the last two decades, for example, the Indian population in the U.S. has doubled to about 4.6 million in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

Roughly 70% of Indian voters in America leaned Democratic as of 2022, according to AAPI Data. That's more than Latinos but less than African Americans. Some of the reasons include religion, extensive training in science and living in a post-9/11 world.

In one of his most notable -- and controversial -- promises as a presidential candidate, Trump said he would block Muslims from entering the U.S. At the time, Haley appeared to distance herself from such a policy. Delivering the Republicans' official 2016 State of the Union response, she said that America should resist following the "angriest voices" and welcome "properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion."

PHOTO: Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley makes Indian bread in the kitchen of the Sis Ganj Gurudwara, a Sikh temple, in New Delhi, June 28, 2018. (Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images)

According to AAPI Data, more than three-fourths of Indians and the majority of Asian voters overall voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, a finding that echoes other exit polling. Haley went on to join Trump's administration, leaving some in her own community wondering how strongly she felt about what she had said just 12 months before.

Sangay Mishra, an associate professor of political science at Drew University and the author of "Desi's Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans," said the vast majority of the South Asian community feels strongly about issues like abortion rights, restricting guns and critical race theory.

"In politics it's hard to predict how the community will react. But it's clear it doesn't align with how she thinks," Mishra said.

'An opportunity for Haley'

But can Haley align South Asian donors?

Indian Americans have the highest levels of income in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, a feat that's often connected to the 1960s when the U.S. specifically engineered a demographic of highly professional immigrants. (Harris and Haley have something else in common that researchers said is powerful -- they are byproducts of this era, with both of their parents coming to America around this time.)

An analysis done by The Los Angeles Times a few months into the 2020 Democratic primary race found that despite Indian Americans being a small demographic, they had donated more than $3 million to presidential campaigns -- more than people in Hollywood.

Mishra told ABC News he created a list of major bundlers during the Obama administration and the number of South Asian names was a fairly big list compared to the population. "They were overwhelmingly going for the Democratic Party," he said.

"What has not been noticed is this growth of a segment of Indian Americans who are affluent, and that goes back to the character of the community," Mishra said.

Data from FiveThirtyEight details just the donations that South Asians made to other South Asian candidates running for House or Senate seats from 2000-2020. The numbers, especially for Democratic candidates, have exploded.

Haley's former spokesperson Rob Godfrey said he remembered her being embraced by such donors while running in South Carolina. "Members of the South Asian community, members of the Indian community, have always been traditionally Democratic," he acknowledged. "But when Nikki ran for governor, there was no shortage of support for her from the South Asian and Indian communities because they had a lot of great pride in her candidacy ... she very much enjoyed the support of them within the state and they were very generous contributors to her campaign, from New Jersey to Chicago to California to Texas."

Sadwani said that when it comes to South Asians though, her research showed that the numbers won't be enough to tip the scale.

Haley's announcement video, on Tuesday, highlighted her heritage and her optimistic vision of a society unencumbered by racial division.

"I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants," Haley said in her video, adding: "My mom would always say, 'Your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities.'"

Sadwani said that message isn't for the South Asian community -- it's for everyone else.

"We're talking more conservative-leaning Latinos, other Asian Americans and even plenty of of non-immigrant voters who are completely opposed to the age old story of the United States being a place that welcomes immigrants and might be disenchanted by the overt racial commentary, the negative stereotypes of a Trump administration, even while supporting many of the Trump-based policies," Sadwani said. "I think this becomes an opportunity for Haley."

Nikki Haley's South Asian heritage is historic part of her presidential campaign originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Uvalde, Texas, school district officials announced Monday that they have hired two new school district police officers, marking the first move to rebuild the district's police force -- five months after the entire force was suspended amid scrutiny over the police response to the May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.

"It's a pleasure to introduce our two new police officers," Interim Superintendent Gary Patterson said during a regular school board meeting.

The officers are Melissa Castaneda, who worked for the police department in Tuscon, Arizona, and Pedro Huizar, who was previously a police officer in Sabinal, Texas, 25 miles northeast of Uvalde. The new officers join Josh Gutierrez, who was named district police chief in November.

Patterson did not say whether the district plans to hire more officers in the coming weeks and did not discuss changes being implemented in reconstituting the district's police force. Neither the superintendent nor his representatives responded to ABC News' requests for comment Tuesday.

PHOTO: Crosses set up to honor those who lost their lives during the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Nov. 8, 2022. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: 'No one took leadership': A detailed look at the failings in Uvalde school shooting

Nineteen students and two of their teachers were killed on May 24 at Robb Elementary School. The police response that day is the subject of a series of reviews and examinations and has been widely criticized for being slow and ineffective. All police officers who responded that day are being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is leading the criminal probe into the shooting that ended when a federal tactical unit killed the shooter as they tried to take him into custody.

During the school board meeting Monday, the superintendent provided a detailed update on the investigations and internal audits the district initiated in the wake of the May massacre.

He announced that an investigation into the law enforcement response on May 24 has been completed and delivered to the school board. But he did not release the document to the public, and the superintendent said he does not know whether the district, which has been criticized for secrecy in the months following the shooting, would ever put it out.

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"Our attorneys are going to have to work that out whether that's in the board's best interest to have this released or not," Patterson said during the meeting.

MORE: Uvalde educator falsely accused of leaving door open shares her journey to healing

Patterson, reading from an overview of the report, said that it includes a thorough timeline of the events on May 24, an analysis of decisions made by police that day and tactical opinions of those choices.

That report was completed by the Texas Police Chiefs Association and has been finished "for a while," Patterson said, though he did not say precisely how long. The organization worked in conjunction with Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), based out of the Texas Safety Center in Austin.

The superintendent said a separate administrative audit of the events of May 24 is not being done despite an initial announcement that one would take place. He said the board last September asked the then-superintendent, Hal Harrell, to present options for organizations that could conduct such a review of administrative practices that could have prevented the shooting or perhaps reduced the human toll of the rampage. A few weeks later, in October, Harrell retired, before he could present any of those options to the board, Patterson said.

"I think that the intent was to do that, but Dr. Harrell retired and that was never resolved," Patterson said.

MORE: Timeline: How the shooting at a Texas elementary school unfolded

The investigative updates came during a meeting where several community members criticized the district for trying to hide critical information from the public.

"DPS is sweeping it under the rug," said pastor Daniel Myers of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is leading the criminal investigation. "Now you're sweeping it under the rug."

Myers was referring to the decision by DPS to conclude its internal review of police conduct with the termination of one trooper and then the decision to move to fire one Ranger. (A third Texas trooper under investigation resigned before the probe was complete.)

Community members Monday also criticized the school district administration for losing track of the shooter, Salvador Ramos, in the months prior to the shooting. Ramos, a former Uvalde High School student, was involuntarily released from school in 2021, having only completed ninth grade.

Patterson offered new information on Ramos, who was chronically absent in the years before he attacked Robb Elementary. Patterson said the district met with Ramos' family several times, sent letters to his home, and made efforts to have him finish his coursework at Crossroads Academy, a Uvalde school for at-risk students looking to earn their high school diplomas. Eventually, those efforts were met with contempt from Ramos, Patterson said.

"The last meetings were 'F-U, F-U, F all of you. I'm not coming to school,'" Patterson said. "We can't make him."

A special investigative committee of the Texas state Legislature reported in July that the shooter missed 100 days of school between 2018 and 2021.

That investigative report found that teachers may have recommended speech therapy and a dyslexia diagnosis, but that the shooter never received special education services.

"This particular student was not diagnosed with a mental illness and was not a special education student," Patterson said. "So the allegation that the district didn't do anything to try to reach him is again incorrect."

Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.

Uvalde school district hires new police officers, while keeping report from the public originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A far-right Missouri man who featured prominently during the 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally has reportedly died by suicide ahead of a trial in which he stood accused of drug trafficking.

Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, 35, took his own life after skipping the first day of his criminal trial for a drug trafficking charge in Arizona on 30 January. He died in his hometown of Missouri as a federal judge was issuing a warrant for his arrest, The Daily Beast reported, citing court documents and an autopsy report.

Suicide notes left for law enforcement and his children were found at the scene, according to the coroners report, which also stated that the handwriting on the notes was somewhat inconsistent.

Von Nukem, a Lebanon native, gained notoriety after he attended the August 2017 white supremacist rally that was aimed at reviving a nationalist movement in the US during the Donald Trump years.

He was photographed wearing a black shirt, with his mouth open and holding a tiki torch in hand while marching at the front of the protest against the removal of confederate statues.

The rally was organised by a nexus of alt-right, neo-Nazi, and pro-confederate groups. A Black man, DeAndre Harris, was beaten after the rally and later charged with assault and then acquitted in an incident that had made national headlines.

The rally was not a racist rally. It was a rally to save our history, Von Nukem had earlier told the Springfield News-Leader.

BREAKING: Its reported that Teddy Von Nukem, the torch-wielding man featured prominently in photos from the infamous 2017 Charlottesville white-supremacist rally, committed suicide two weeks ago  the same day he was scheduled to go on trial for trafficking fentanyl from Mexico. pic.twitter.com/rpqRQIJ8sh  Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) February 14, 2023

He added that he supported then-president Donald Trump, but was not associated with the far-right groups that organised the rally.

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I dont mind showing solidarity with them, he said, adding he believed white people faced disadvantages in modern times.

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

If we dont 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.

Unrelated to his participation in the notorious march, he faced federal drug charges for allegedly attempting to cross from Mexico to the US at the port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona, with 14 packages of concealed contraband, according to a 2021 indictment. The packages contained 15kg of fentanyl, it said.

Von Nukem admitted to smuggling the substance into the US but denied knowing the drugs contained fentanyl, the Springfield News-Leader reported. He allegedly told investigators he was paid approximately $215 to smuggle the drug.

He was charged with drug trafficking and sent to trial.

An obituary reportedly said: Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things.

He is survived by a wife and five children aged under nine.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
Norma Zapien, La Escuelita program coordinator, reads "Is Your Mama a Llama?" in Spanish and English on Feb. 1 in Green Bay.

Editor's note: With low reading proficiency scores across the state, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin is exploring the causes and consequences of low literacy. This article is a part of the By the Book series which examines reading curriculum, instructional methods and solutions in K-12 education to answer the question: Why do so many Wisconsin kids struggle to read?

GREEN BAY  Every week at Grace Lutheran Church on South Madison Street, Elizabeth Amezquita and her 3-year-old daughter, Julia, sing songs, read books and practice letters  in Spanish and English.

At La Escuelita, the only bilingual Spanish early literacy program of its kind in Green Bay, young bilingual speakers learn the basics of literacy through play and family time.

The program, run by Casa ALBA Melanie, is tackling a pervasive problem in the Green Bay area: low reading proficiency and a lack of access to reading materials in languages other than English.

Third-grade reading scores in the Green Bay Area Public School District are low across all groups. Before the pandemic disrupted learning for over a year, just 27% of third-graders were reading proficiently, according to state test scores.

For students who are considered to be English Language Learners, those scores are even lower. Pre-pandemic, about 12% of third-grade ELL students scored proficient on the English Language Arts section of the state Forward Exam.

A critical way to help young readers build literacy skills, and possibly get those scores up later on, is to practice reading in whatever language they prefer to speak in, according to Cory Mathieu. She is an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay who specializes in bilingual education.

Students in the Green Bay School District speak 31 different languages, and over a fifth of the students are considered to be ELL. These students could be learning English either as a second language or they could be multilingual students learning English while theyre also developing skills in another language.

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Demographically, about 32% of the district's student population is Hispanic, 40% is white, 9% is Black and 8% is Asian.

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Norma Zapien, La Escuelita program coordinator, works with Aryah Rubio on an activity matching animals to their homes.

The Green Bay School District has ELL programs for students learning English, and five of the schools in the district have bilingual Spanish and English programs. At Baird, Jackson and Wilder elementary schools and at Edison and Washington middle schools, students in kindergarten through second grade receive 70% of their instruction in Spanish and 30% in English. From third to fifth grades, it flips.

Research says its best for families to practice reading with their preschool and elementary-aged students in whatever language they primarily speak.

But accessing reading materials in languages other than English isnt easy in the Green Bay area.

Spanish books are most easily available at local libraries and within the school district, with both authentic and translated works for elementary-aged readers. But even at La Escuelita, the instructors often make their own bilingual materials because it's hard to find them.

When it comes to other languages, like Somali, Chinese or Hmong, those books are a lot harder to come by, according to local librarians.

Overarching, we try and represent those students of those cultures that we have, also knowing that sometimes it's really hard to get some of those books, said Raquel Rand, the Green Bay School District library media coordinator.

Jeziel Rivera smiles while participating in La Escuelita on Feb. 1 in Green Bay.

Getting books in other languages 'is a lot trickier' in the Green Bay School District

For Spanish, Rand has ordered books from Mexico to get authentic texts since getting books in other languages in the United States can be difficult.

One challenge for getting books in languages other than English is what U.S. publishers are putting on the shelves.

Some of those books in other languages, here in America, we really dont publish a whole lot of those, Rand said. So trying to get those books from other countries and other publishers is a lot trickier.

Even when texts from other countries are available, getting them can be expensive, especially when factoring in shipping costs.

It's a hard balancing (act) of how you support (students) while also making sure that you're using your limited funds wisely, she said.

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This year the Green Bay School District is getting about $1.4 million in library aid to purchase reading materials, according to the Department of Public Instruction. Across the 41 schools, that's about $34,000 per school, but Rand said each building determines how much of their funding will go toward bilingual books. No standard amount or percentage is dedicated to those materials.

At the Brown County Central Library in downtown Green Bay, there is an entire section in the childrens reading materials dedicated to Spanish books for young readers. There are picture books just in Spanish, as well as bilingual books in both Spanish and English.

The library also has chapter books for older readers that are translated from English, with titles like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"  or in Spanish, "Diario de Greg: un renacuajo" and "Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal."

It's easiest to get reading materials in Spanish, French and German, said Clare Kindt, the collection development manager for Brown County Library.

For other languages, it becomes more difficult, especially ones that are originally written in that language instead of translated from English, she said.

Rand said books in other languages are concentrated at the schools where that particular student population is largest. But the districts libraries have a lending program so schools can share book collections.

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The diversity of languages spoken in the district is nothing new and has actually decreased since 2016 when 42 languages were spoken within its schools.

Rand said the availability of books in other languages and budget constraints are the main reasons why the district doesn't have many books in other languages.

While the school district isnt necessarily focusing on growing the reading materials it has in other languages, it does make a concerted effort to ensure all families are represented in the content of the books, Rand said.

One of our goals right now is to really make sure that our books are diverse, but not necessarily in the other languages, she said.

Norma Zapien, La Escuelita program coordinator, works with children on their letters during a session on Feb. 1.

Why its important for kids to read in their preferred language

Regardless of what language a child or family speaks, research has shown for decades that having kids practice reading skills in their preferred language is the best way for them to learn how to read.

A preferred language is exactly what it sounds like: the language someone prefers to speak. While someone may know two or three languages or have grown up speaking multiple languages, their preferred language is the one they choose to interact in.

Reading ability and building foundational literacy skills are strongly tied to oral language, Mathieu said.

Some of the main (reasons) that parents should work with their children in their preferred language is that oral language, our spoken language, is directly tied to our ability to read and write, she said. Students are developing oral language first in their preferred language, and so if we are doing those initial literacy skills in that preferred language, were strengthening and using that resource they already have in their oral language.

It also creates more opportunities for families to engage with their child and help them build vocabulary and understand phonics  the concept that written letters are connected to specific spoken sounds.

If we tell them that, Oh no, you have to interact with them in English, and thats not their preferred language, were really stifling opportunities for rich interaction and play and conversation that is beneficial to literacy development, Mathieu said.

Building literacy in the family and childs preferred language also helps them learn other languages.

For example, developing initial literacy in Spanish, we have great research that shows that that literacy then supports the English literacy development that comes after, she said.

That's because some of the basic skills of literacy, like phonics, translate across languages.

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"You only need to learn that once. So if Ive already learned that in Spanish, I dont have to learn that concept again in English," Mathieu said. "I just need to learn that the letter makes a different sound. Its easier to learn concepts in your dominant or preferred language, so you learn the concepts of literacy in your preferred language and then you can very easily transfer them to your second.

La Escuelita does all of that. It brings families together with their children and allows the kids to speak English, Spanish or both. They learn about colors, numbers, shapes and both Hispanic and American cultural traditions to help kids prepare for formal schooling.

Since its inception about eight years ago, La Escuelita has grown from six participating families to 30, with more on a waiting list. While the goal is to teach basic literacy and social emotional concepts, it's also about celebrating the children's languages.

Israel Sanchez participates in La Escuelita on Feb. 1, in Green Bay. La Escuelita is a Casa ALBA Melanie bilingual early childhood program that helps prepare children for kindergarten.

"They go back and forth (between) Spanish and English, and it's OK because they know that they're bilingual and they have this special way of communicating no matter what or where they are," said Norma Zapien, the program's coordinator.

The program is free for families and is open to 3- and 4-year-old kids. To get more information about joining, visit www.casaalba.org/laescuelita.

Heres where families can find childrens books in languages other than English

If your child goes to school in the Green Bay School District, talk with your childs librarian about what reading materials are available . If the book isnt in your childs library, it can be requested from another school in the district.

At the Brown County Library, families can search the library catalog to see what materials are available across the eight locations in different languages.

Families can also order books online directly from publishers or on Amazon.

Also, many Native American tribes in Wisconsin, such as the Ho-Chunk Nation, have language departments with early literacy materials for kids in their traditional languages.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com or 907-717-6851. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation online at www.GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Dr, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: This uncommon solution could help boost Green Bay's low reading scores
Medication abortions involve using two prescription medications  mifepristone and misoprostol  to end a pregnancy. (Phil Walter/Getty Images)

According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, more than half of abortions in the United States are done with pills  known as a medication abortion  rather than surgery. The process involves taking two prescription medications, mifepristone and misoprostol.

One of the primary reasons medication abortions have become more common comes down to access. Medication abortion is more accessible than a procedural [surgical] abortion in many cases, because medication abortion can be completed outside of a medical setting, either by providing pills at a clinic that a patient later takes at home, or having them mailed directly to a patient, Marielle Kirstein, senior research assistant at the Guttmacher Institute, tells Yahoo Life.

For patients in rural and underserved areas, using medication abortion provided via telehealth can help save hundreds of miles of travel, Jesse Philbin, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute, tells Yahoo Life.

In many communities in the U.S., self-managed abortion is the only option available to some people seeking care, says Philbin. A self-managed abortion is an abortion  including via pills  obtained outside of the formal health care system.

Additionally, providing the pills for a safe and effective abortion requires less equipment and training than procedural abortions, notes Kirstein.

However, that access may now be in jeopardy after a federal judge in Texas ruled to suspend the Food and Drug Administrations approval of the mifepristone. Seeking to block the order, the Department of Justice filed an emergency stay motion Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

At the same time, a federal judge in Washington state blocked the FDA from making any changes to mifepristone access in the 17 states and D.C. that recently sued the FDA to drop some restrictions on the medication, which the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says are outdated and substantially limit access to this safe, effective medication.

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Here's what you need to know about medication abortions.

How the pandemic may have contributed to the increase

Its likely the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in the rise of medication abortions. When the modern medication abortion regimen was approved in the United States in 2000, the Food and Drug Administration placed significant restrictions on who could prescribe and where one could acquire these medications, Dr. Andrea Henkel, an ob-gyn at Stanford Childrens Health and fellow in complex family planning at Stanford University, tells Yahoo Life.

However, aided by the abundance of research supporting the safety and efficacy of this regimen even outside of these FDA guidelines, says Henkel, the restrictions were temporarily lifted in April 2020, with the FDA allowing abortion pills to be mailed to patients for the duration of the pandemic. This allowed patients to obtain an abortion without making one (or several) trips to a health care facility and risking unnecessary exposure to COVID-19 if they used this method, Kirstein explains.

In December 2021, the FDA made the allowance permanent while also expanding access to abortion medication through pharmacies, according to Kirstein. However, guidance to pharmacies for dispensing abortion medication has not yet been developed, she says.

There has also been an increase in clinics that provide only medication abortion and not surgical abortion, meaning that obtaining abortion pills in a clinical setting may be more available to some patients than going to a clinic for a procedural abortion, Kirstein says.

Despite that, not everyone has access to a medication abortion. Notably, a number of states prohibit the mailing of abortion pills and require in-person visits to obtain the drugs, says Kirstein. The FDA decision does not override these laws.

What exactly are medication abortions?

Medication abortions use two prescription drugs to end a pregnancy  mifepristone and misoprostol  typically within a 48-hour period. Mifepristone blocks the effects of the pregnancy hormone progesterone, and misoprostol induces uterine cramping to expel the pregnancy, says Henkel.

The medications cause cramping and bleeding that can last for several hours, according to Planned Parenthood. Patients may also be given antibiotics to prevent infection.

How safe are medication abortions?

Medication abortion is incredibly safe, says Henkel. Serious complications requiring hospitalization for treatment of infection or transfusion occur in less than four per 1,000 patients.

Philbin agrees, noting: Throughout the more than 20 years that it has been used in the United States, medication abortion has been proven to be overwhelmingly safe and effective. The FDA has approved medication abortion for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy; however, research has shown that use beyond 10 weeks is safe and effective.

Research also shows that complications from medical abortions are very rare. Henkel notes, however, that medical abortion carries a risk of heavy bleeding that may require a procedure to stop the bleeding or even a blood transfusion. There is a risk of pregnancy tissue remaining in the uterus and needing a procedure to remove the tissue or even this tissue getting infected, she says.

There is also a low risk that the abortion pills dont work. In this case, a repeat dose of medication or procedure is needed to complete the abortion, Henkel explains. This occurs in 2 to 10 percent of medication abortions  more frequently for those at later gestational ages in the first trimester.

Who isnt a candidate for medication abortion?

Medication abortion is routinely offered through 10 weeks of pregnancy, according to Henkel. Though there is data for later, she says. Each facility will have their own comfort level with the upper gestational age limit.

But not everyone is a candidate for medication abortion. Henkel says it is not recommended for pregnant people with any of the following: confirmed or suspected ectopic pregnancy, intrauterine device (IUD) in place, current long-term systemic corticosteroid therapy, chronic adrenal failure, known coagulopathy or anticoagulant therapy, inherited porphyria, or allergy to mifepristone or misoprostol.

Why medication abortions may continue to climb

Henkel anticipates that as abortion restrictions increase, there will be an increased reliance on medication abortion as this method may become the more accessible option, she says. (It's worth noting that even if access to mifepristone is restricted, experts say that misoprostol alone is considered a safe, dependable and effective way to have an abortion.)

Adds Henkel: What is available and what is practically accessible can differ depending on location, noting that 89% of U.S. counties do not currently have an abortion clinic even though one in four reproductive-capable people need abortion care at some point in their life, Henkel says. Medication abortion is often more accessible, so some people may choose this method for convenience.

Kirstein also anticipates that the rise of medical abortions will be a pattern for states with fewer restrictions on abortion care because practices like mailing abortion medication and obtaining it directly from online pharmacies will be more accessible for many patients. In states with highly restricted access to abortion care, medication abortions may be patients only option.

Take, for example, S.B.8  an abortion restriction law that outlaws abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and deputizes everyday citizens to sue anyone who aids or abets an unlawful abortion, according to ABC News. When the law went into effect in September 2021, Kirstein points out that procedural abortions decreased by almost three-quarters as compared with August 2021, according to the Texas Health and Human Services website. While the number of medication abortions also decreased as a result of this legislation, notes Kirstein, they increased from accounting for roughly half of all abortions in Texas in August 2021 to two-thirds in September 2021.

But as Philbin puts it: While abortion pills are an important option, they are not the solution to abortion bans.

Philbin adds: Patients deserve all options for their abortion care and should not have to rely on medication abortions due to logistical or financial constraints if it is not the best option for them.

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.
Mississippi Graduation Rates show 88.9 % increase.

The Mississippi Department of Education on Thursday released statistics for the 2021-22 school year, which reflect the highest statewide graduation rate of 88.9% and a statewide dropout rate of 9%, according to an MDE press release.

"Rates are based on students who entered ninth grade for the first time during the 2018-19 school year," the press release states. "Among students with disabilities, the graduation rate increased to 67.1%, and the dropout rate was 19.3%."

Robert Taylor, Ph.D., state superintendent of education, said he is proud of Mississippi's students and educators for reaching the historic graduation rate milestone.

"The MDE will continue to provide essential services and support for all students to stay in school and graduate to achieve academic and career success," Taylor said in the press release.

Robert Taylor, Mississippi state superintendent of education.

Currently, Mississippi's graduation rate exceeds the latest U.S. rate of 86.5% from 2019-20, which was reported by the National Center for Education Statistics.

MDE officials said the statewide graduation rate was 74.5% in 2014 and has increased annually. The statewide dropout has decreased from 13.9% in 2014.

Schools officials said several statewide programs helped students improve the graduation rate, including that MDE is allowing students to earn endorsements with their diploma starting in the ninth grade or take classes to earn an academic, distinguished academic or career and technical education endorsement, according to MDE officials. Students can earn more than one endorsement.

The diploma options will prepare eligible students after graduation for the workforce, or a career in a technical training program, the military or college.

"MDE developed the Mississippi Early Warning System program in 2016, which offers guidance to school districts and schools to identify, support and monitor at-risk students in grades K-12," the release states.

Intervention is provided for students who need assistance to reach graduation and be ready for college and career.

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"Students who earn an academic or distinguished academic diploma endorsement from a public high school automatically qualify for admission into any of the states public universities," the press release states. "The endorsement opportunity was phased in during the 2018-19 school year and was fully implemented at the end of 2021-22."

Students who obtain an academic diploma endorsement from a public high school automatically qualify for admission into any of the states public universities, which was phased in during the 2018-19 school year and was fully implemented at the end of 2021-22.

"COVID-19 made a significant impact on graduation rates, in which the passing requirements for high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History assessments were waived in 2020-21," the press release states, adding that will affect the graduation rate until all students who tested under the waivers graduate.

"The current dropout rate figures reflect a .5% increase from 2020-21 and a .9% increase among students with disabilities," MDE said in the press release. "The graduation rate does not include students who earn a GED or a certificate of completion or who are still enrolled in their fifth year of high school. There were fewer students in those categories in 2021-22 than the previous year, which attributed to the increased dropout rate."

For more information view the 2022 Graduation Rate Report at mdek12.org/OPR/Reporting/Accountability/2023.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS high school graduation rate at all-time high despite COVID-19
KYIV. Feb 15 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Ukrainians, first of all, seek to establish justice as soon as possible  according to the majority (75%), war crimes trials in Ukraine should be started as soon as possible, 23% of respondents believe that this should be done after the end of the war, according to the results of the survey "Legal Protection of Victims of Russia's War Crimes," conducted by the Rating sociological group on December 23-26.

Also, 75% of respondents believe that the priority in war crimes justice should be the fair punishment of war criminals, and only 21% named compensation to the victims.

At the same time, the respondents primarily prefer legitimate forms of justice  through the system of investigation and consideration of cases in courts. 55% oppose lynching, 40% consider it justified. Respondents from the judiciary and veterans communities demonstrated a high level of expectations regarding the consideration of war crimes according to the standards of justice.

About a third of the respondents are ready to personally participate in litigation to claim for lost property/health in the courts of Ukraine, international or special courts with the participation of national and foreign judges.

The most effective mechanism for trial for war crimes of Russia is considered to be special courts with the participation of national and foreign courts (65%). 22% believe that in this case, international institutions will be effective, 7% named the courts of Ukraine. The absolute majority (96%) support the idea of involving international legal organizations to record Russia's war crimes during the war.

The law enforcement system of Ukraine in the investigation of war crimes of the Russian Federation is considered effective by 65% of respondents, 20% had the opposite opinion. Those who adhere to this position named corruption (59%), distrust of citizens in law enforcement officers (29%), their lack of professionalism (24%) and lengthy investigation of cases (21%) as the main reasons for inefficiency.

The effectiveness of the judicial system of Ukraine in the investigation of war crimes was assessed in the same way: 60% consider it effective, less than 20% ineffective. Among the main reasons for the inefficiency of the judiciary, those who say so, they named corruption (65%), citizens' distrust of the courts (36%), lengthy consideration of cases (21%) and unprofessional judges (15%).

About 15% of respondents are aware of the initiative to create a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Almost 60% have heard something about it. A quarter does not know anything about it. Some 96% believe that this tribunal should also consider other war crimes  crimes against humanity, and genocide. According to 95% of respondents, both Ukrainian and foreign experts should conduct investigations into the case of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The vast majority of respondents consider the political authorities of the Russian Federation guilty of committing war crimes against Ukraine (98%), 96% consider Russian servicemen guilty, 87% believe citizens of the Russian Federation, and only 10% believe that they are not guilty. At the same time, less than half of the respondents believe that the Russian Federation will compensate for economic and infrastructural losses; about the same number do not believe it. Less than 40% believe in compensation for moral harm, life and health of citizens of Ukraine from the Russian Federation, about 60% do not believe it.

According to the majority, the Russian Federation must compensate for the economic and infrastructural losses of Ukraine (94%), as well as moral damage, life and health of Ukrainian citizens (92%). 11% and 14% respectively speak of compensation from international organizations, Europe  6% and 5% respectively, the United States  2% each, Ukraine  2% and 5% respectively.

A total of 2,000 respondents aged over 18 years were interviewed in all controlled areas using the CATI method based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The results were weighted to reflect age, gender and type of settlement to ensure a representative sample. The representativeness error with a confidence probability of 0.95% does not exceed 2.2%.

The project is implemented by the NGO Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group within the framework of the Emergency EU Support to Civil Society project, implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action (ISAR) Ednannia with the financial support of the European Union.
A Steinhatchee man who victimized children at the same church where he served as deacon was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.

Jonathan High, 31, was found guilty during a bench trial in October on two counts of use of a child to produce child pornography; before that, he pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor sentenced him Monday during a proceeding in federal court in Tallahassee.

The investigation into High began in August 2021 with a "cybertip" from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children linking High to a cloud user who had uploaded child pornography, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Florida said in a news release. A search of his cellphones and computer found multiple files of child pornography involving prepubescent boys.

Further investigation revealed that some of these images and videos were produced by High personally, federal prosecutors said. High produced separate video recordings of two young boys using the restroom in a Perry, Florida church where High served as deacon.

Other:Video goes viral of Chevy Malibu see-sawing on FSU student center stairs; DUI charges filed

Winsor also sentenced High to a lifetime of supervised release when his prison term ends. The judge also ordered restitution to provide counseling to victims in the case.

Child predators seek to prey upon our children in any setting imaginable  in this instance from inside a house of worship, said U.S. Attorney Coody. As such, we must remain vigilant. This sentence is yet another example of the unwavering commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would attempt to harm them.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com and follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: North Florida church deacon sentenced in child pornography case
This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says an intercontinental ballistic missile during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

North Korea boasted its progress on a new and dangerous solid-fueled missile at a military parade.

The country also showed off at least 11 Hwasong-17 ICBMs  Pyongyang's biggest missile yet.

If they work properly, these long-range missiles could potentially challenge US defense systems.

North Korea unveiled a new design this week for what could be its most dangerous intercontinental ballistic missile yet, as well as enough ICBMs to potentially challenge US defense systems.

State media photos of a Wednesday night parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army showed what looked like a new solid-fueled ICBM, a long-range missile that can deliver nuclear warheads to targets thousands of miles away.

The apparent launcher may be functional, but it's more likely a mock-up with an empty canister. Still, experts told Insider its appearance is telling about North Korea's ambitions.

Solid-fueled missiles are more dangerous than liquid-propellant systems, which is what North Korea's other ICBMs are, because they can be fueled in advance and launched with little to no warning. Fueling missiles with a liquid propellant can only be done safely just prior to launch, is a time-consuming process, and involves a massive logistical effort that makes launch preparations more visible and leaves them vulnerable to strikes.

In recent years, North Korea has indicated that its missile program is pivoting toward the use of solid fuel, Ian Williams, deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the CSIS, told Insider. Examples of this include short-range ballistic missile developments, as well as medium-range missiles like the Pukguksong-2.

Despite international pressure to halt its weapons programs, the country is showing "a lot greater comfort using solid-fuel missiles, and I think it's just a matter of time before they scale this stuff up," Williams said. "We're seeing that now."

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, what it says are intercontinental ballistic missiles are displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Koreas army at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

It's not uncommon to show the canister for a solid-fueled missile while hiding what's inside. China, for instance, rarely shows what its missiles look like.

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Solid-fueled missiles are sensitive to temperature changes and are usually placed in canisters or silos so their temperatures can be regulated. North Korea has displayed large canisters before, but the ones displayed on Wednesday appear to be more legitimate than those in the past, Williams said.

"Whether there's a missile inside the canister yet or not, it's hard to say," he said. "But I definitely think that we're seeing the beginnings of what will likely be flight tests of a solid-fuel ICBM."

'It certainly is a wake-up call'

North Korea on Wednesday also showed off a series of Hwasong-17 ICBMs, according to state media images. First unveiled in October 2020, the Hwasong-17 is North Korea's biggest missile, is fired from a transporter erector launcher, and can, assuming it works as intended, strike targets an estimated 9,000 miles away.

Pyongyang tested one of these missiles in late November, and it flew for a little over an hour on a lofted trajectory before splashing down in the ocean a few hundred miles away.

To defend against these types of threats, the US has a missile protection system called the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)  44 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California that can identify and engage intermediate- and long-range ballistic missiles.

According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the GMD  which also consists of communications networks, global sensors, and fire control systems  only has a 55 percent success rate in highly scripted testing.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a military parade is held to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Analysts believe there were at least 11 Hwasong-17 ICBMs on display at Wednesday's parade. Ankit Panda, an expert with the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on social media that there were "cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we've ever seen before at a North Korean parade."

Theoretically, if North Korea was able to get around a dozen missiles  each of which could be carrying multiple warheads  off the ground, this could be enough to overwhelm the GMD. This is because the defense system's interceptors would not have the capacity to engage all credible threats.

But Williams cautioned that are a lot of assumptions baked into this hypothetical, including that all of the missiles can actually get off the ground and function properly. Either way, he said "it certainly is a wake-up call."

"When you are stagnant and your enemy is aggressively moving forward, you're going to face some problems," he said.

It's been years since the US has expanded the capacity of the GMD system, but Washington is taking steps to beef up protection. Examples of this include the addition of 20 more interceptors and a next-generation variant, which can carry multiple "kill vehicles" and increase the system's intercepting power, Williams said.

Furthermore, missile defense should be thought of as one part of a larger "missile defeat complex," he added. Were the US find itself at war with North Korea and the latter launched ICBMs at the US, Washington wouldn't just sit and watch  there would be additional factors in play like disruptions to command and control systems, electronic warfare, and electromagnetic weaponry targeting launches.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center left, with his daughter attends a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Wednesday's nighttime parade in Pyongyang comes after North Korea significantly accelerated its weapons testing in 2022 and amid increasing tensions with neighboring South Korea and the US over its aggressive behavior. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared in September that his country's nuclear-armed status is irreversible, and its missile launches have drawn frequent criticism from Western countries.

The showcase also featured guns, tanks, tactical missiles, and cruise missiles  in addition to the Hwasong-17 ICBMs and the new missile design, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It's unclear exactly how many people attended the event, though satellite imagery showed a packed square in Pyongyang.

"The columns of ICBMs appeared in the square resounded with the enthusiastic cheers of the people full of pride and self-confidence, demonstrating the signal development of the military capability and tremendous nuclear strike capability of the DPRK," KCNA wrote in a description of the parade, referring to the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



"Nuke for nuke and an all-out-confrontation for an all-out-confrontation!" the outlet said.

Read the original article on Business 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
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022 in Washington, DC

Ever heard the saying, not all skinfolk are kinfolk? Well, thats how many Black Americans feel about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Seriously, according to YouGov, the guy has an 18 percent approval rating among Black Americans, which might be why people are not super-pleased about Republicans pushing through a statue of Justice Thomas in a predominantly-Black city like Atlanta.

Read more

In a Tuesday 32-20 Georgia Senate vote, Republicans elected to erect a statue of Justice Thomas on the state Capitol grounds.

Democrats, who are in the minority, instead offered to erect a statue of the late John Lewis, a civil rights legend and Georgia congressman. Unsurprisingly, Republicans didnt go for it.

This native son of Georgia deserves a place of honor and recognition on our Capitol grounds, a place where future generations of Georgians can learn valuable lessons from his legacy and gain inspiration and belief that their lofty dreams are obtainable too in America, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born, said state Republican Senator Ben Watson, according to the Associated Press.

Democratic Senator Nan Orrock, who represents Atlanta, countered that Justice Thomas is an incredibly controversial figure.

His service is problematic, said Sen. Orrock, according to the Associated Press. Theres a cloud over his service  and that cloud continues today.

In addition to his incredibly controversial rulings tearing away at the gains of the civil rights movement, Anita Hill credibly accused Thomas of sexual harassment.

Theres a whole laundry list of positions that Justice Thomas has taken that I find offensive, said State Senator Jones Emanuel Jones, according to the AP. Sometimes, when I talk to the majority party, I say, Yall just dont get it.

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Its also worth mentioning that Thomas wife, Ginni Thomas, has been accused of working to overturn the 2020 election.

All of this combined, its not that shocking that Atlanta isnt exactly looking to greet a bronze symbol of Justice Thomas contribution to society with open arms.

The bill still has to go through the state house. So theres still time for Republican lawmakers to walk back a monument to Thomas greatness.

More from The Root

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Click here to read the full article.
A state trooper sets up a roadblock at a report of a person with a weapon near Clinton schools Tuesday.

Schools in Clinton and other communities in Massachusetts were on temporary lockdowns Tuesday morning after receiving threats.

In Clinton, about 10:30 a.m., police received a call of a person near the middle and high school campus who may possibly have a weapon. The schools were put on lockdown while police investigated. The schools were searched. Roads near the campus were detoured, with worried parents waiting for the police OK to pick up their children.

Clinton Elementary School was also put on lockdown.

The lockdown was lifted about 11:30 a.m.

"This was determined to be a hoax," the school said in a notification.

Schools in Chicopee and Duxbury, among other districts in Massachusetts, were also on lockdown at some point Tuesday morning.

In Fitchburg, authorities are monitoring a threat made against the school on social media, according to a Facebook post by the district.

The FBI and state police are assisting local departments with the threats.

"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 spokeswoman 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."

More:Duxbury, Cohasset, Braintree, Hingham hit with hoax school shooter claims: What we know

Call of active shooter with assault rifle and pipe bombs at Clinton High School turns out to be baseless but not before dozens of family members (some terrified) arrive a barricades. Middle and high schools now reopening after lockdowns. @telegramdotcom pic.twitter.com/UP3FXv7MYS  Allan Jung  (@ajungphoto1) February 14, 2023

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Schools in Clinton among those on lockdown in Mass.
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
Charley Gallay - Getty Images



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If you spent your Valentines Day binge watching Perfect Match, you might have fallen in love already. And Im not talking about a love affair with one of the contestants. Yes, yes, theyre all gorgeous... But what about the villa where the show is filmed? Usually, the idea of being dropped off on a remote island sounds a little ominous (I mean, have you seen The Menu or Shotgun Wedding?) but this place actually looks really nice.

Forget about finding love, can I just hang out in this house for a week or two? And if you were also wondering where Nick Lachey sailed off to in that opening shot, dont worry, Womens Health will bring you up to speed.

The contestants live in a luxury mansion in Panama City.

The Perfect Match house is technically not on an island. It is located at the edge of a rainforest in Playa Bonita, a resort town in Panama City, about 20 minutes from the downtown area. The house has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, an infinity pool (which you probably already noticed), and a gym, according to the luxury real estate website Latin Exclusive .

The houses design is reportedly inspired by the Panama Canal, and each room includes its own unique architecture. For example, there's a shower in the middle of the largest bedroom, per Latin Exclusive.

Also, while contestants perform challenges on the beach from time to time, the house itself is not a coastal property. Its still pretty close, and has a great view of the ocean from its infinity pool, per Latin Exclusive. You can even take a trip to the villa yourself, for a whopping $7,300 per night.

Netflix

Perfect Match likely filmed in March 2022.

According to Natalie Lee, a Love Is Blind contestant, who used to date Perfect Match contestant Shayne Jansen, the show started casting some time in late 2021. "I knew about the new dating show back in Sept 2021 because Shayne and I were both approached to apply for it while we were in a relationship (casting didn't know we were together at the time)," Natalie wrote in an Instagram story post back in January, per PEOPLE

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In the same Instagram story, Natalie wrote that Shayne was filming Perfect Match in February 2022 (he also reportedly texted her multiple times on set). Natalie also claimed that Shayne took the Perfect Match opportunity while they were still in a relationship, which Shayne later denied.

On the other hand, Bartise Bowden, another Perfect Match contestant, reported the show was filmed in March 2022 in an Instagram story in January, per TikTok user Zachary Reality . Bartise was actually present for filming, so I imagine his take is probably more accurate.

Since filming took place so long ago, it's possible these perfect matches may not be matched up anymorebut only time will tell. Until then, I'm keeping my eyes peeled on the cast's Instagrams. You can also keep streaming Perfect Match on Netflix now.

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Shock Instagram influencer and ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate was arrested on human trafficking and rape charges in December.

Authorities in Romaniawhere the British-American liveshave since seized millions of dollars-worth of luxury cars, homes, and watches.

But what about his Bitcoin? Tate, who boasted about scamming men via his webcam business and had a huge internet following, frequently talked about the size of his cryptocurrency stash.

Mateea Petrescu, a spokesperson for Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan (who was also arrested ), told Decrypt that Romanian police also confiscated hardware wallets containing digital assets.

Petrescu said Andrew Tates wallet contained five Bitcointoday worth around $111,339. Tristans wallet held around 16 Bitcoin.

In total, thats $467,625 worth of the asset.

Andrew Tates Bitcoin was held in his girlfriends hardware wallet, the spokesperson saidadding that it couldnt be confirmed whether the social media star owned more crypto than has already been seized.

Romanian Police told Decrypt they couldnt comment.

Andrew Tate has talked about Bitcoin a lot. You can actually control and own your money, he said last year on Anthony Pomplianos popular Bitcoin podcast. How difficult is it to move serious cash? No problem with Bitcoin.

Im going full crazy mister blockchain now, he added.

Being broke, unconnected and weak should bother you deep inside. And only once it deeply bothers you, you will truly attempt to fix it.  Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) February 14, 2023

On the same podcast, Tate, who grew up in Luton, U.K., talked about how much money he has made from his crypto investments. I turned 600 grand to $12 million, he said.

The alleged criminal was banned from social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube last year for violating their policies.

The former Big Brother contestant made misogynistic comments but gained a huge following in a short space of timelargely because others would reshare clips of him on platforms like TikTok.

Tate managed webcam models in Romanian but prosecutors have since hit him with rape charges. They claim the two brothers wanted to transform women who worked for them into slaves, according to a Reuters report which cites court documents.
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
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.

More on this
KYIV. Feb 15 (Interfax-Ukraine)  The relative majority of Ukrainians consider an amnesty possible for teachers, doctors, social workers (68%), heads of local communal institutions (58%) and heads of local enterprises, banks, organizations (51%) living in the occupied territories, in respect of which facts of collaboration were established with Russian invaders.

At the same time, as evidenced by the results of the survey "Legal protection of victims of war crimes in Russia" conducted by the Rating sociological group on December 23 to 26, some 38% allow amnesty for journalists of local media, some 57% do not allow it. Amnesty for members of local political parties and members of illegal armed groups is allowed by more than 20%, against this - more than 70%.

Less than 20% consider amnesty possible for officials of local authorities and representatives of law enforcement agencies, and about 80% consider it impossible.

To conduct legal proceedings in the territories of Donbas and Crimea liberated from occupation, some 34% believe that it is necessary to create special judicial bodies for these territories, another 22% are in favor of creating such special courts, but on a temporary basis. Almost 40% for legal proceedings in the liberated territories in ordinary courts of Ukraine.

During the study, some 2,000 respondents over 18 years of age were interviewed in all controlled areas using the CATI method based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement. The representativeness error with a confidence probability of 0.95% does not exceed 2.2%.

The project is implemented by the NGO Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group within the project "Urgent EU support for civil society" implemented by the Initiative Center for the Promotion of the Activity and Development of Public Endeavours (ISAR) "Unification" with the financial support of the European Union.
City of Marion announces Presidents Day schedule

Many City of Marion departments will be closed Monday in observance of the Presidents Day holiday. However, some departments will be operating on a normal schedule.

All offices in Marion City Hall will be closed. Sanitation crews will collect garbage and recycling on Monday. Residents with Monday sanitation collection are asked to have their trash and recycling at curbside by 7 a.m.

The Marion Senior Center will be closed on Monday and no senior transportation will be available that day with the exception of dialysis appointments.

Marion Area Transit will be observing normal hours of operation on Monday. Essential services including fire, police and the airport will operate as usual.

Marion Area Chamber hosts ribbon cutting for ACN

The Marion Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and guests of ACN recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new office location at 196 S. Main St., Suite 100, Marion.

Chamber officials and other guests gather to celebrate ACN's new Marion office. ACN supports a long and ever-growing list of organizations on a global scale, with efforts concentrated on those directly impacting children.

Founded in 1993, ACN is the worlds largest direct seller of telecommunications, energy and other essential services for residential and business customers. The Marion ACN office is independent business owners supporting the ACN Project Feeding Kids Program that gives back to the local community. They help families and business owners save money on their bills, and show them a way to create an extra stream of income. There is also a way to eliminate some of these bills for life. For every person/business they help with a bill, a meal is donated to a child in the community.

To find out what you can do to help feed a child, call or text Chasity Leonard at 567-307-2787 or Shelly McCombs at 740-360-4467.

ODNR publishes Ohio Boat Operators Guide in Spanish

COLUMBUS  The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has made it a little easier for Spanish-speaking Ohio boaters to stay safe on the water. For the first time, ODNR is publishing an Ohio Boat Operators Guide in Spanish.

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The Ohio Boat Operator's Guide is a summary of boating laws and rule for Ohio. The publication has helped boaters across Ohio achieve state boating registration and seeks to ensure that new boaters are well-prepared and practicing safe standards on the water.

Order or download a copy of the Ohio Boat Operators Guide at no cost at ohiodnr.gov. Through the online version, readers will learn visually using graphics.

Upcoming meeting:

 Marion County Park Board, noon, Thursday, Prospect Room, Marion County Building, 222 W. Center St., Marion

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: City of Marion announces Presidents Day schedule
A crash involving a commercial truck tractor pulling a box trailer in Arizona has caused a hazmat spill that has shut down part of a highway and required residents nearby to evacuate or shelter in place.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a tweet just past 7 p.m. ET that it was investigating the spill on Interstate 10 in Tucson. It said in a post on its website that the truck tractor, which was carrying liquid nitric acid, was leaking hazardous material.

The website post said unified command, which is made up of the state public health department and the Tucson police and fire departments, have evacuated residents within a half-mile perimeter of the spill and told residents within a mile of the crash to shelter in place.

The shelter-in-place order was lifted as of 10:45 p.m. ET, but those who evacuated will stay outside of the half-mile perimeter.

Officials closed the highway in both directions as a result and have warned that local residents should expect an extensive closure. They said motorists should find other routes and the public should avoid the area.

The department later said on its website that the driver of the vehicle had died.

The spill comes after a train derailment near the town of East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this week caused boxcars to burst into flames and allow hazardous chemicals to escape into the air. Officials conducted a controlled release of the chemicals to avoid an even more hazardous explosion.

The odors from the chemicals have largely scattered, but some reportedly are remaining near streams.

Updated: 10:57 p.m. ET

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FRANKFORT, Ky.  A high-profile bill to fund a new state detention facility in Louisville for juvenile offenders and implement new rules for kids charged with violent crimes cleared a House committee Wednesday  and now appears to have a clear path to passage into law this session.

Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, shown at a hearing Wednesday on the juvenile justice bill, said it is in response to an increase in violent crimes by Louisville youths as well as violence and riots that has occurred at the state's juvenile detention facilities.

House Bill 3, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, is a reaction to both increased violent crimes committed by youths in Louisville and a year full of incidents of violence and riots at youth detention facilities operated by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.

Bratcher's bill would appropriate $8.9 million to retrofit and reopen a juvenile detention center in Louisville that was operated by the city until 2019, when it closed due to city budget cuts, and now would be operated by the state.

Many detained Louisville youths are now held far away at the state facility in Adair County, which further disconnects them from family and certain services.

More:Tax cuts, school choice and TikTok: Here's what's moving in Kentucky's legislature

Louisville Deputy Mayor David James  who served as president of Louisville Metro Council before being tapped to join new Mayor Craig Greenberg's administration  told legislators in the House Judiciary committee Wednesday the city supports the state reopening and operating the facility.

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, praised Greenberg for welcoming the reopening, saying it would address the problems unique to youth offenders in Louisville (such as gangs), and prevent them from being shipped across the state.

"Unfortunately, in Louisville, we've got to send our kids to Adair County, in a facility with staff that don't understand our kids, and they're not ready for our kids," Nemes said. "We need them home."

Besides reopening the Jefferson facility, HB 3 would change how charged juveniles are processed, including:

A maximum 48-hour hold on youths charged with serious violent crimes, or until they have appeared before a judge in a detention hearing.

Parents of a charged juvenile would be forced to appear before a judge if they are found to not be cooperating with their child's diversion program, with possible criminal penalties.

If a juvenile is convicted or admits to a serious violent crime, their criminal record would be open for five years, and only closed again if the person has not been convicted of any additional public offense in that time.

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The ACLU of Kentucky is particularly opposed to the provisions on mandatory holds and opening youth records, with Kentucky's deputy public advocate Scott West telling legislators "it's never going to help a truant child if their parents are in jail."

Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, who was previously a court-designated worker for detained youths in the city's system, was the lone no vote on HB 3 on the committee.

Herron said Kentucky's Department of Juvenile Justice and and Metro Department of Corrections are already short-staffed and questioned if there would be enough money and workers for the state to adequately operate the new facility properly.

Bratcher said another bill will be filed in the Senate to address those issues but gave no further details.

More:LIST: Here's the latest on key bills from the 2023 Kentucky legislature

Herron said much more needs to be done than just "spending $8.9 million on an old building."

"I know that we need to bring our young people home," Herron said. "However, I also know that we need intervention, prevention, alternatives to detention, and we also need a day reporting center. So I believe that even if we invested more funds, that we may be able to have a different type of solution."

A bill that would have implemented similar reforms to HB 3 passed the House in the 2022 session, but it died in the Senate after facing criticism from Sen. Whitney Westerfield, the Republican chairman of that chambers judiciary committee.

Westerfield expressed his strong disagreement with the bill to colleagues last March, saying it would roll back landmark juvenile justice reforms passed in 2014 to limit incarceration and improve services for youths who commit less serious offenses.

Westerfield told The Courier Journal on Tuesday that he would now vote for HB 3, though he had reservations about it still containing provisions on mandatory holds and opening up the records of juveniles.

"I wish that we didn't have to have mandatory detentions," Westerfield said. "The opening of the records for those juveniles, I have concerns about that being a weight around the necks of some of those kids."

More:'Profoundly disagree': Sen. Whitney Westerfield urges 'no' vote on juvenile justice bill

Westerfield said he hopes the bill is amended to drop the opening of records but expects the mandatory holds to remain.

Bratcher indicated in committee that he is open to narrowing the scope the records that would be open to the public.

Testifying before another legislative committee Tuesday, John Hicks  the state budget director and executive cabinet secretary for Gov. Andy Beshear  said the funding for a reopened Louisville youth detention center would be needed sooner than prescribed in HB 3.

Hicks added that the total estimated costs for needed staffing, operations and capital improvements at the Department of Juvenile Justice detention facilities statewide is roughly $76 million.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Bill to reopen Louisville youth detention center advances in House
The lawyer in Brazil died after his gun was triggered by an MRI scanner. Getty Images

A Brazilian lawyer was killed after his gun was fired by an MRI scanner and shot him in the stomach.

The facility said he had been informed of safety protocols banning metal objects from the room.

The lawyer was known to make pro-gun content on social media.

A lawyer in Brazil died after his gun was discharged by an MRI scanner and shot him.

Leandro Mathias de Novaes had taken his mother to get an MRI at the Laboratorio Cura in Sao Paulo on January 18 when the freak accident took place, according to CNN Brasil.

The lawyer, 40, reportedly neglected to inform hospital staff about his concealed weapon, despite being instructed to remove all metal objects before entering the MRI room.

The magnetic field from the MRI scanner pulled the firearm from his waistband, causing it to fire and shoot him in the stomach.

He was taken to hospital, where he survived for several weeks before dying of his injuries on February 6.

The attorney was known for his pro-gun views, which he frequently shared on Instagram and TikTok.

A spokesperson for Laboratorio Cura said, according to The Telegraph: "We would like to emphasize that all accident prevention protocols were followed by the Cura team, as is customary in all units."

"Both the patient and his companion were properly instructed regarding the procedures for accessing the examination room and warned about the removal of any and all metallic objects."

The spokesman for the facility added that the lawyer and his mother had signed a form about the protocols but had failed to mention his gun and chose to enter the room "by his own decision."

Police confirmed that the firearm was properly registered and had a valid gun license, The Telegraph said.

A spokesman for the Order of Attorneys of Brazil in Cotia, Sao Paulo, said, per The Telegraph: "It is with deep regret that OAB Cotia communicates to all fellow lawyers the unexpected loss of our dear friend and lawyer Dr. Leandro Mathias de Novaes.

"We are sorry for the loss, and we sympathize with his family in this moment of pain."

Read the original article on Insider
An Immokalee student, a "leader in her community and beyond," has been identified as one of the injured victims in Monday's mass shooting at Michigan State University.

Selena Huapilla-Perez organized a GoFundMe for her sister, Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, 21, who was among five students shot who remained in critical condition Wednesday. To donate, visit gofundme.com/f/funds-for-the-family-of-guadalupe-huapillaperez.

The GoFundMe has raised more than $240,000 from 6,100 donors through early Wednesday afternoon, far exceeding the goal of $50,000. Those who donated left messages such as "Were all Spartans. Were all family" and "She was one of our regulars at Starbucks, always so sweet and genuine. Praying she recovers and praying for her family as well. Spartan strong."

"While we are happy that Lupe remains with us, we are devastated by the violence that has impacted so many," Selena Huapilla-Perez wrote in the GoFundMe. "This unfortunately includes our family."

Weapons in schools:'Students should never have to worry about their safety': Weapons found in schools on rise

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Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez is a junior majoring in hospitality business, as well as a student in the Michigan State University College Assistance Migrant Program (or CAMP), according to the fundraiser. The CAMP program began in 2000, and for years Immokalee students venture north to East Lansing to receive their college education.

"She is a leader in the community and beyond," Selena Huapilla-Perez wrote. "Lupe is incredibly hard-working, focused, and ambitious, choosing a career path that's never been explored in our family."

Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez in 2020 graduated from Immokalee High School in Florida. Huapilla-Perez, 21, was among five students critically injured Feb. 13, 2023, during a mass shooting at Michigan State University. Three other MSU students were killed.

Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez served as the 2020 Immokalee High School's class president.

Chadwick Oliver, spokesperson for Collier County Public Schools, said Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez was one of the student speakers during the 2020 virtual commencement ceremony.

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In 2020, Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez said she tried to plan a parade herself, but she didn't have enough resources to pull it off.

"Both Lupita and Selena excelled at Immokalee High and went on to college through Michigan State Universitys College Assistance Migrant Program," Oliver wrote.

Immokalee High School graduating senior Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez poses for a photo before the start of a senior parade, Friday, May 22, 2020, in Immokalee.

Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez is also an advocate for those around her, her sister said.

"She's always one to stand up for our community and speak out for those marginalized voices like our own," Selena Huapilla-Perez said.

Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez has held previous internships with Taste of Immokalee and Hyatt Hotels.

A spokesperson for Taste of Immokalee declined comment Wednesday afternoon. Hyatt Hotels couldn't be reached before publication.

As a migrant family from Southwest Florida, they immediately traveled to Michigan to be with Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, Selena Huapilla-Perez said.

Clara Calderon, principal at Immokalee High School, wrote in a statement that the school has a large number of migrant students in the program.

Three dead, five wounded in shooting at Michigan State University, suspect found dead

"I was able to speak with her sister yesterday and was advised that Lupita had undergone several operations and is currently in stable condition," Calderon wrote.

"She is a long way from returning to us as she was," Selena Huapilla-Perez wrote. "Being away from home, our family will be unable to work while monthly bills will continue to mount."

Selena Huapilla-Perez said the process for a full recovery will take "months of care and subsequent rehabilitation."

The mass shooting left three MSU students dead in addition to the five wounded. Killed were junior Alexandria Verner, junior Arielle Diamond Anderson and sophomore Brian Fraser.

GoFundMe is a for-profit crowdfunding platform, helping charities and people in need raise funds, even in small amounts. GoFundMe campaigns are free to set up and the company charges transaction fees  30 cents plus 2.9% of the donation  which are automatically deducted from each contribution.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: MSU shooting: Collier County woman among 5 critically injured victims
The sun beats on vegetables and cotton plants. Children, all Black, work up and down the rows gathering crops. If they dont produce the quota, they get beaten. They might get beaten even if they do. Sexual assault is rampant, education nearly nonexistent, and food, when edible, is not enough to sustain the physical labor theyre subjected to. If they run away, police catch them and bring them back where they are often publicly tortured.

If this sounds like slavery to you, it should. But this was the mid-1960s, and it was just down the road.

For decades, Black children were abused and traumatized at a reform school in Mount Meigs, an unincorporated part of the county about 15 miles from Montgomery. The little-told story of the campus and how it affected the children detained there is the subject of a new podcast, Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, by journalist Josie Duffy Rice.

Children at the Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Law Breakers, later the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, tend the campus' dairy cows in this photo from the school's 1945 annual report.

The history of the school and the abuses suffered there havent been publicized much, even in Montgomery. There are different reasons for that, not the least of which is that these students were Black and sent there more than half a century ago. The few times the school is brought up, its often mentioned as the place where Satchel Paige  the great Negro League and Major League pitcher and one of Alabamas most famous native sons  spent six years of his life.

Duffy Rices podcast shares the horror stories that former residents endured. Its the result of more than a year of research and discussion with former residents and employees at Mt. Meigs who reveal how those scars stick with them today. The storys scope is bigger than that though, Duffy Rice said.

When I first started this project, I thought it was about school. Now, I kind of feel like it's about a city, about a town, about the history of how Alabama thought about education, how they thought about Black people, how they still do, she said in an interview.

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How to listen

Unreformed is available on most streaming services, including iheartpodcasts, Apple, Audible, Spotify, and Stitcher. Episodes are released each Wednesday, and this weeks will be the fifth episode of the series.

The first episode of the podcast, "Unreformed," was released on Jan. 18.

Where children are criminals

A few minutes into the first episode, Duffy Rice lays out the central lie of the campus in the past: Technically, Mt. Meigs was a reform school for kids. But what Ive discovered is that it wasnt really a school at all.

Those who knew Mt. Meigs well then describe it in their own words: Mt. Meigs was patterned after slavery, one man says; another man calls it a slave camp; others call it a plantation, a prison for teens and a penal colony for children.

The Black educator Cornelia Bowen opened the reform school in the early 20th century at the recommendation of Booker T. Washington, who saw the need for an alternative to adult prison for Black children who got into trouble. In its early years, the reform school seemed to live up to its rehabilitative ideal.

But after the campus was sold to the state of Alabama in 1911, its focus shifted to punishing children, many of whom were sent to Mt. Meigs for what is essentially being a teenager  listing their offenses as laziness or loitering. The cruelty seemed to have worsened over the years, and by the 1960s, it was horrific, Duffy Rice says.

By design, the campus functioned more like a prison than a school. In preparing Superintendent E.B. Holloway for the job, he wasnt taught how to work with children. He was taught how to deal with inmates at Kilby Correctional Facility.

E.B. Holloway, superintendent of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, sits behind his desk in this photo by Haywood Paravicini from 1965.

They were children. But to the state of Alabama, they were criminals all the same, Duffy Rice says in the second episode of the series.

At the school, students worked outdoors for hours picking cotton and vegetables, tending livestock and doing custodial work. At night they went back to dilapidated living quarters and ate measly portions of food from a kitchen former residents said was filled with roaches. One man remembers children so hungry they ate corn out of cow manure.

The physical abuse was coupled with emotional and psychological abuse from the schools guards.

I was told in Mt. Meigs that well never be anything, that well never amount to anything, one woman who attended the school says in the first episode.

More:How newly freed slaves created the South's public school systems

Students mop the floors of the dining hall at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children in this 1965 photo by Haywood Paravicini.

Leaving Mt. Meigs: Murder, beauty and hope

The trauma that many residents experienced stuck with them for the rest of their lives. Many of them were transformed from children, troubled or not, into monstrous versions of themselves. Duffy Rice said an enormous amount of the former residents are in prison for life or on death row.

One man, Jesse James Andrews, brutally killed three people in California. Part of his legal defense rested on the harm that Mt. Meigs had done to his psyche, Duffy Rice found.

Numerous psychologists testified that he had post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological damage from his time there. His attorneys argued it was strong enough mitigating evidence to keep him from receiving the death penalty. Andrews is sentenced to life in prison for life without the possibility of parole in California.

There are others, though, who managed to turn the pain into something beautiful. Famed artist Lonnie Holley was in Mt. Meigs and is one of the podcasts main characters. He turned one particularly painful memory of watching his blood drip after a public beating into the piece, Blood on the Rock Pile.

Duffy Rice said that many people she spoke with, including those in prison, have been able to forgive those who harmed them at Mt. Meigs.

Part of the story is hopeful because it does show how some people come out of this institution and try to make something like beautiful from it, Duffy Rice said. A lot of them have demonstrated a capacity for change, and a capacity for forgiveness. And on some level, for vulnerability, I think that is pretty beautiful.

A new way to read:The Montgomery Advertiser app now gives you access to 200 e-Newspapers

The importance of learning and dealing with the past

Duffy Rice is from the South and currently lives in Atlanta. She hadnt heard about the trauma machine that was Mt. Meigs before she got an email asking her to work on the podcast. Some of you probably haven't heard of it before now.

And thats a bit scary to think about, Duffy Rice said.

One thing I'm really realizing is how many more stories like this there are to tell, she said in an interview. It's important to try to look at what juvenile reform institutions are around you, or were around you, because these places have impacted a lot of lives.

And for the most part, Alabama hasnt acknowledged the harm it caused thousands of people at the school. Duffy Rice said she sees that as part of a broader effort to avoid having tough conversations.

It's fair to feel uncomfortable talking about tough things that are part of our histories, she said, but that is part of the job. It's part of being a good citizen, and it's part of being a good Alabamian. Part of being a good American is to be able to really grapple with history and try to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

Your subscription makes our journalism possible. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Podcast exposes horrors of Mt. Meigs reform school in Alabama
A piece of pottery found at the site of the 5,000-year old tavern. Asaad Niazi/AFP/Getty Images

Archaeologists found the remains of a 5,000-year-old tavern in Iraq, CBS News reported.

The site is known to be among the earliest urban centers of the Sumerian civilization.

A primitive refrigerator and a recipe for beer were among items uncovered.

Archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year old tavern in Iraq, complete with a refrigerator, bowls of leftover food, and a recipe for beer.

A team of US and Italian archaeologists made the discovery at an archaeological site in southern Iraq at the location of the ancient city of Lagash  known to be one of the earliest urban centers of the Sumerian civilization, CBS News reported.

The dig was a collaboration between archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pisa. A synopsis of the excavation posted to the UPenn website details the remains of what archaeologists believe to be a temple and a tavern in the ancient city.

"To the east, the project exposed three levels of another building with a large oven, baked-brick basin, and many ceramic vats," reads the synopsis. "The excavators interpreted this structure as a brewery."

Archaeologists also found a recipe for ancient beer at the site, CBS News reported.

"We call it a tavern because beer is by far the most common drink, even more than water, for the Sumerians," project director Holly Pittman told AFP, per CBS News.

Pittman told AFP the archaeologists also found a refrigerator, as well as "hundreds of vessels ready to be served" and "benches where people would sit."

Using the samples from the dig taken in November, archaeologists hope to shine a light on the way people lived in Lagash.

"There is so much that we do not know about this early period of the emergence of cities and that is what we are investigating," Pittman said. "We hope to be able to characterize the neighborhoods and the kinds of occupation ... of the people that lived in this big city who were not the elite," she added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
When Tennesseans set their mind to something, we get it done. In recent years, the state has invested millions of dollars to incentivize employers and new businesses to create more job opportunities for its residents.

In just the last four years, weve added 117,000 new jobs and attracted hundreds of thousands of people to Tennessee.

On Feb. 6, during his State of the State, Governor Lee said, Tennessee is leading the nation. On two important economic indicators, hes right. In three years, weve risen from 24th to No. 1 in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, recording 8.6% growth in 2021. Were also No. 1 in road quality.

Yet too many Tennesseans are still struggling. In February, ThinkTennessee (ThinkTN) released our 2023 State of Our State Dashboard, which shows how Tennessee compares to other states on 100 indicators in 11 categories, from the economy to health to infrastructure and housing.

We found that Tennesseans have lower wages, higher debt, worse health outcomes, higher levels of crime, and declining educational outcomes. Weve got plenty of jobs, but their wages are too low and our debt is too high. We are the health services capital of the country, but we have worse health outcomes and more expensive healthcare costs.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

Listening and addressing concerns is pivotal

These rankings provide a data-driven, unbiased look at whats working and whats not. If you cant measure it, you cant improve it. Which is why ThinkTN starts with the data and then works with stakeholders across the state to craft and implement policies to improve the lives of all Tennesseans.

ThinkTennessee website screen grab

We know what this takes because weve done it. Working together in local government, we learned to put people first.

This means listening to community members and addressing their concerns, learning about evidence-based solutions and best practices, engaging policymakers and government staff in co-designing workable solutions, and collaborating closely with cities, counties, and the state to implement people-centered public policies.

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Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee.

What are the key issues?

Which is what ThinkTN will do in 2023, as we turn our policy attention to these important priorities:

Erin Hafkenschiel

Wages, transportation, and housing: Tennesseans need higher wages (No. 41 in median household income); safer, more affordable transportation options (No. 42 on both car loan defaults and highway traffic fatalities); and more affordable housing options (nearly 20% of Tennessee homeowners and 26% of renter households spend more than 30% of their income on housing).

Paid family leave: Tennessees families are struggling, with some of the lowest wages for working women (No. 44) and too many families with children relying on public assistance (27%). Families, particularly new parents, need more support. The governors proposal for a paid parental leave program for state employees is a huge step in the right direction. The research is clear: paid family leave is good business for Tennessee and the right policy for Tennessees families.

Court Debt: Compared to other states, Tennesseans are drowning in debt, from medical debt to auto loans to court debt. Our report, using never-before-analyzed data, showed drivers license revocations have no impact on court debt collections. Ending suspensions would cut government red tape, lower recidivism rates, and boost economic growth.

Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee.

Check out the data and contact us

The governor recently shared his budget and policy priorities to prepare Tennessee for the future, invest in our transportation infrastructure, expand access to opportunities, and support families. We share the governors priorities and look forward to working with him, public officials, and community leaders across the state to implement them.

Adriane Harris

We invite you to join us in this important work. Please dive deep into the data with our State of the State Dashboard, connect with us at https://www.thinktennessee.org, and help us make sure we are building a state that works for all Tennesseans.

Erin Hafkenschiel is the president of ThinkTennessee. Previously she was executive director for transportation at Vanderbilt University and director of the Mayors Office of Transportation and Sustainability for Nashville Mayors Megan Barry and David Briley. Erin has a masters in public policy and urban planning from Harvard University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University.

Adriane Bond Harris is a senior advisor on housing policy at ThinkTennessee and principal/owner of HarCo Coaching & Consulting focused on supporting leaders and organizations in transformative community development and investment policies. Previously she was director of housing for Nashville Mayors Megan Barry and David Briley. She holds a bachelors of science in public administration from Middle Tennessee State University and a master's in urban and regional planning from University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee's economy is flourishing, but average citizens struggle
Only 11% of Ukrainians who moved after invasion do not intend to return home, half waiting for end of war  opinion poll

KYIV. Feb 15 (Interfax-Ukraine)  One in six (16%) Ukrainians changed their place of residence after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, while 12% left but have already returned home, and 72% did not change their place of residence, according to the results of the survey "Legal Protection of Victims of Russia's War Crimes," conducted by the Rating sociological group in Ukraine on December 23-26.

Of those who have moved, half plan to return home only after the end of the war. 10% plan to return in the near future, 23% are still waiting, 11% do not plan to return home.

Among residents of territories close to hostilities (southeast), two-thirds today live outside their homes, according to the results of the sociological survey.

The vast majority of respondents (87%) did not change their place of residence due to shelling of infrastructure, 8% left and live away from home for this reason, and 5% left and have already returned.

A total of 2,000 respondents aged over 18 years were interviewed in all controlled areas using the CATI method based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The results were weighted to reflect age, gender and type of settlement to ensure a representative sample. The representativeness error with a confidence probability of 0.95% does not exceed 2.2%.

The project is implemented by the NGO Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group within the framework of the Emergency EU Support to Civil Society project, implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action (ISAR) Ednannia with the financial support of the European Union.
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 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.

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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.
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.
Waterways along the Ohio River are still contaminated with hazardous materials following a train derailment that spilled multiple toxic chemicals, but officials are confident that those waterways are contained and not affecting water supplies, they announced during a press conference on Tuesday.

Four tributaries over a space of 7.5 miles are contaminated, director of Ohio Department of Natural Resources Mary Mertz told reporters during a news conference on Tuesday.

According to Mertz, the contaminated waterways has led to the deaths of at least 3,500 fish. Mertz also stated that officials have detected 12 different species of dead fish, but none of those species are threatened or endangered. There is also no evidence that non-aquatic species have been impacted.

However, there does not appear to be any increase in the number of fish killed since the initial derailment, Mertz said.

PHOTO: FILE - A black plume and fireball rise over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk and Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

The Norfolk Southern Railroad train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 while traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania. It contained several types of hazardous materials, such as vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses, as well as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene, according to a list of the cars that were involved in the derailment and the products they were carrying released by Norfolk Southern.

No vinyl chloride or pre-product has been detected in the water, Tiffani Kavalec, chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's division of surface water, told reporters in Tuesday's news conference. The contamination mostly consists of fire contaminant combustion materials, Kavalec said.

MORE: There were more toxic chemicals on train that derailed in Ohio than originally reported, data shows

Health officials are tracking a plume filled with contaminants that is currently floating down the river at about one mile an hour, Kavalec said. Around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, it was near Huntsville, West Virginia.

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"There are very very low levels of volatile organic compounds in the Ohio River itself," she said. "It appears it's been very diluted."

The contamination dissipates to non-detectable levels near Little Beaver Creek, Kavalec said, adding it's not affecting the drinking supply for residents.

"Were pretty confident that these low levels are not getting passed on to the customers," she said.

PHOTO: FILE - This photo taken with a drone shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, advised residents who are living on private water systems to get their wells tested, especially if they are pregnant, breastfeeding or preparing baby formula.

Most of the residents in East Palestine are on municipal water, Vanderhoff said.

MORE: Why the toxins from the Ohio train derailment could have posed deadly threats for residents nearby

Surveillance video of the crash appears to show a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat moments before the derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board announced on Tuesday in a press release.

Following the crash, emergency response teams worked to immediately slow the contamination of waterways from the runoff, while firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, DeWine said.

For days, large plumes of smoke containing vinyl chloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride and other gases were emitted during a controlled release and burn at the crash site, prompting officials to issue mandatory evacuation orders for homes and businesses within a 1-mile radius.

PHOTO: FILE - This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

DeWine decided that the controlled burn was the best course of action after he was advised that a catastrophic explosion was likely, which would result in shrapnel being flung out for up to a mile from the site, he said.

"My objective is to do everything we can to get this cleaned up as quickly as we can," the governor said.

MORE: Ohio train derailment: Evacuation order lifted, residents can return home

The hazardous materials that burned in the wreckage of the train derailment in Ohio had the potential to be deadly if evacuations not been ordered, experts told ABC News last week. Residents living in nearby homes were contacted at least three times before the controlled burn began, Dewine said.

The evacuation orders were lifted on Feb. 8 after air and water samples taken the day before were deemed safe, officials said.

There were 20 total hazardous material cars in the train consist,10 of which derailed, according to the NTSB. Five of the 10 cars containing toxins also contained vinyl chloride, officials said.

A total of 38 cars derailed, which caused a fire that damaged an additional 12 cars, according to the NTSB.

PHOTO: FILE - 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. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

The train was not considered a "high hazardous material train," and therefore the railroad was not required to notify state officials about what the cars were containing, DeWine said.

"If this is true, and Im told its true, this is absurd," Dewine said. "We need to look at this. Congress needs to look at how these things are handled."

The tank cars are currently being decontaminated, according to the NTSB. Once the decontamination process has completed, NTSB investigators will return to Ohio to complete a thorough examination of the tank cars.

No detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified for the 291 homes that had been screened, according to the EPA. As of Monday evening, 181 homes remained to be screened. Local schools and the library were screened yesterday, the EPA announced.

MORE: Ohio train derailment: Controlled burn of toxic chemicals went 'as planned,' PA gov says

The fume inhalation of vinyl chloride could cause dizziness, nausea, headache, visual disturbances, respiratory problems and other health-related issues, Ashok Kumar, a professor in the University of Toledo's department of civil and environmental engineering, told ABC News last week.

Hydrogen chloride fumes could irritate the throat and cause skin problems, while phosgene fumes may lead to chest constriction and choking, Kumar said.

Vanderhoff emphasized that volatile organic compounds are a part of "everyday life" and are typically inhaled if in the presence of burning wood or natural gas or someone who is smoking.

"Most people can be around these volatile organic compounds at low levels without really feeling health effects," he said. "At higher levels, especially over a longer period of time, then we can have longer-term health effects."

PHOTO: FILE - This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

Norfolk Southern announced in a statement Tuesday that it has helped 1,000 families as well as a number of businesses in the community. The railway operator has also distributed $1.2 million to families to cover costs related to the evacuation.

Alan Shaw, the CEO Norfolk Southern, pledged that the railway operator would guarantee the cleanup from the accident, Dewine said.

A lawsuit filed by two residents of East Palestine on Feb. 9 called for the rail operator to pay for medical screenings and related care for anyone living within a 30-mile radius of the crash site, as well as undetermined damages, The Associated Press reported.

"Norfolk Southern is responsible for this problem," DeWine siad. "We fully expect them to live up to what the CEO committed to me. Is that they will pay for everything."

The NTSB is conducting a safety investigation to determine the probable cause of the derailment, the agency said.

ABC News' Amanda Maile and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.

Waterways along Ohio River still contaminated following train derailment carrying hazardous materials: Officials originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
This image of a Flock Systems Automated License Plate Reader camera shows one possible example of the system's installation. Six cameras have been installed in Macedonia, and two more in Northfield Village.

Eight months after rejecting a proposal to install a vehicle surveillance camera system, Norton City Council members are considering a new, more limited proposal.

The plan, discussed in a Feb. 6 work session, would place four Flock System cameras at two points along Barber Road.

Flock cameras would target a high-theft area

Businesses along Barber Road have been the target of thefts, including Fred Martin Superstore.

More:Norton rejects surveillance cameras a week after Akron's approval of Flock Safety system

A representative from the company told council members the dealership has suffered significant losses from rampant vehicle theft.

"Last year, in 2022, Fred Martin had nine theft occurrences, amounting to just under half a million dollars in merchandise," Cody Huff, operations manager for the dealership, told council.

Fred Martin's effort to stop thefts

The dealership has invested in theft-prevention strategies, including about $26,000 on rocks to discourage thieves from driving over curbs, a full-time security guard, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in camera equipment.

More:'Our No. 1 problem': Businesses, individuals reeling from catalytic converter thefts

"Every time it happens, we always miss it by just this much," he said. " This is a theft ring that's all over Northeast Ohio."

Under the new proposal, Fred Martin would pay to have the cameras installed and two years of camera service.

Norton could evaluate Flock cameras as a two-year trial

Councilman Joe Kernan said the plan could function as a test run for the city.

"After a couple years, if it's not working or there are other concerns, then we don't have to continue it," he said.

Communities throughout Northeast Ohio have installed Flock cameras in the past few years, but Norton Council members have previously expressed concerns about the cost of a wider system and who has access to the Flock database. The cameras record license plates, alerting authorities when a stolen vehicle is sighted.

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More:Akron starts installing Flock license plate cameras in fight against crime

Police chief John Dalessandro said the program could be evaluated after the two-year trial and modified or rejected by council if it is ineffective.

"If we're not getting any product out of it, or it's not helping at all, we can pack them up and send them back," he said.

On Monday, the first of three readings of the Flock ordinance was read to the council. It is scheduled for three readings before a vote takes place.

One council member expressed concerns that the cameras could be used or accessed beyond their intended purpose.

"There is no guarantee that this won't be ... abused in some manner," Councilwoman Charlotte Whipkey said at the Monday meeting. "And I'm not just saying from our police department, I'm saying from government in general."

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Norton reconsiders Flock camera system after thefts at Fred Martin
Citing "multiple questions and concerns" related to water supply and air quality, the city of Akron, Summit County and Summit County Public Health issued a joint statement to say the greater Akron area has not been affected by the release of hazardous materials following the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine.

The train derailment in East Palestine has already spurred evacuations and fears of ecological fallout. But, 11 days after the train came off the track, much remains unknown about the disaster.

Here's what we know now.

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.

Where was the train derailment in Ohio?

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying vinyl chloride derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, approximately 67 miles southeast of Akron, on the Pennsylvania border. In an effort to avoid an explosion, railroad and state authorities began a controlled release and burn of the vinyl chloride on Feb. 6.

Ohio train derailment:Gov. Mike DeWine to provides update on East Palestine situation

Why is Akron not impacted by the 'controlled release' of vinyl chloride?

Because the source of Akrons drinking water is from the upper Cuyahoga River Watershed within the Great Lakes Basin, the risk of contamination from the accident in East Palestine is extremely low.

While this accident has greatly impacted those in the East Palestine area, we have no indication that its impact has reached the Akron community, said Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan.

Ohio train derailment:What's still unknown after chemical disaster forced evacuations?

What do Akron and Summit County officials have to say

Sam Rubens, Summit County Public Health's administrator of the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District, said there is no cause for concern.

"While this was a major life disrupting event for those who live in that area, the air pollution from the events was transported to the south and east by the winds, he said. We live about 60 miles west and north of the scene, so no air pollution was brought our way. We have no concerns about the pollutants locally. There is no action that needs to be taken by our local residents.

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How often is testing done?

In Summit County, our water supply and air quality are tested daily, said County Executive Ilene Shapiro. There is no indication that our water or air have been impacted by the events in East Palestine.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron, Summit County officials: Air, water safe after train derailment
Burlington-based cartoonist Glynnis Fawkes draws from a background in illustration on archeology sites for her historical graphic novels.

"I worked as an illustrator on excavations around the Mediterranean, doing very scientific measured drawings of pottery and other artifacts," Fawkes said. 'It's really given me an insight into how archaeologists think."

Cartoonist Glynnis Fawkes at her home studio in Burlington, photographed Jan. 12, 2023.

Fawkes works full-time as a cartoonist, in addition to teaching at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction. Her work includes a graphic novel about her time on an excavation site in Kenchreai, Greece; a comic book about the mythological king Kinyras of Cyprus; and a graphic novel about the life of "Jane Eyre" author Charlotte Bronte.

Fawkes' forthcoming work, "Graphic 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed," is a collaboration with historian Eric Cline about the late Bronze Age.

Draft illustrations from Glynnis Fawkes' forthcoming "Graphic 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed."

From excavation site to comic page

Fawkes began working on excavation sites in 1998, traveling to Greece, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, and other storied locations around the Mediterranean. Fawkes was not an archeologist herself, but worked closely with excavators to draw scientific illustrations of artifacts  mainly pottery.

"I really appreciate how those things that people used in daily life and threw away or were broken can give so much information about how people lived in the past," Fawkes said.

Analytical drawings can depict details of an artifact that don't show up in a photograph, Fawkes said. These drawings can reconstruct the diameter and shape of an artifact, giving scientists clues as to the era the artifact was from and what its use was.

Pottery drawn by Glynnis Fawkes.

In 1999, Fawkes received a Fulbright to Cyprus, where she published a book of paintings of archeological sites, as well as a book of cartoons about Cypriot archaeology.

"I wanted them to be in the same book, but the Hellenic Bank that published my book of paintings thought the cartoons were not serious enough," Fawkes said, "which in one way is a win."

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Fawkes eventually got the cartoons published by Moufflon Press, and has been publishing comics ever since.

Cartoonist Glynnis Fawkes at her home studio in Burlington, photographed Jan. 12, 2023.

Fawkes is not the type to perform on stage in front of people, she said, but she loves drawing cartoons as a way to connect with people.

"Connecting with people in the countries of the Bronze Age, where this took place. Connecting with archaeologists who might be able to use this to introduce ideas to students to share this world with other people," Fawkes said. "To share this world with other people, especially young ones who might be curious about archeology."

Contact April Fisher at amfisher@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AMFisherMedia

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: From artifact to comic book art: Burlington cartoonist Glynnis Fawkes
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.
By Jarrett Renshaw and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) -The Biden administration on Wednesday issued long-awaited final rules on its national electric vehicle charger network that require the chargers to be built in the United States immediately, and with 55% of their cost coming from U.S.-made components by 2024.

The White House hopes the new rules, issued after nearly eight months of debate, will jump-start the biggest transformation of the U.S. driving landscape in generations. It seeks to give consumers unfettered access to a growing coast-to-coast network of EV charging stations, including Tesla Inc's Superchargers.

Companies that hope to tap $7.5 billion in federal funding for this network must also adopt the dominant U.S. standard for charging connectors, known as "Combined Charging System" or CCS; use standardized payment options; a single method of identification that works across all chargers; and work 97% of the time.

Tesla, the nation's largest EV maker and charging company, plans to incorporate the CCS standard and expand beyond its proprietary connectors, the administration said.

"No matter what EV you drive, we want to make sure that you will be able to plug in, know the price you're going to be paying and charge up in a predictable, user-friendly experience," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters in a preview of the rules.

The first tranche of the billions in federal funds will now be rolled out to states in upcoming weeks, forcing companies like Tesla, EVgo Inc and ChargePoint Holdings Inc to jockey for their share of the funds from state governments.

The network is a central part of President Joe Biden's plan to tackle climate change by converting 50% of all new U.S. vehicle sales to electric by 2030. A dearth of chargers on Ameriocan roads has slowed the growth of EV sales and the positive environmental impact, advocates say.

Manufacturers warned before the rules were released that imposing a domestic components quota too soon in the program rule would slow the rollout. The new rules extend the Made in America deadlines to help give those companies more time to onshore their supply chain.

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EV charger manufacturer Tritium announced on Wednesday that it will add more than 250 jobs to its Tennessee manufacturing facility, bringing the total to more than 750 jobs at the site. White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said that under Biden's leadership the number of EV models being offered to consumers has doubled, along with the number of charging stations and EV sales.

"So this is not pie in the sky. It's literally steel in the ground. We are seeing the Biden climate vision on wheels," Zaidi said.

'BUILD AMERICA, BUY AMERICA'

Under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, federal infrastructure projects like EV chargers must obtain at least 55% of construction materials, including iron and steel, from domestic sources and have all manufacturing done in the United States starting immediately.

However, the Department of Transportation requested a waiver for EV charging stations and initially proposed that at least 25% of the chargers' overall cost come from American-made components starting in July of this year and then 55% by Jan. 1, 2024.

The new rules ditch the two-step process and start imposing the component cost provision in July 2024 at 55%. The chargers must be assembled at a U.S. factory, and any iron or steel charger enclosures or housing must be made in the United States, starting immediately.

The United States and its allies Mexico and the European Union have clashed over protectionist policies implemented by Biden. The United States and the EU set up a task force last year to look at American laws that Europeans fear will discriminate against foreign electric car makers.

EV chargers require iron and steel for some of their most crucial parts, including the internal structural frame, heating and cooling fans and the power transformer. Chargers with cabinets that house the product require even more steel, making up to 50% of the total cost of the chargers in some cases.

Global demand for EV chargers is putting strain on the supply chain that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to meet the made-in-America standards and expedite construction of new chargers, states and companies warned in comments to the Department of Transportation.

The new rules would allow Tesla to keep its unique connectors, but it will have to add a permanently attached CCS connector or adapter that charges a CCS-compliant vehicle, similar to a gas pump that has a separate handle for gas versus diesel.

Tesla told the DOT that the plan was "aggressive" and "could lead to a shortfall in the number of compliant charging stations available given the pace and scale of deployment," records show.

However, labor advocates argue that delaying or skirting the requirements undercuts congressional intent and punishes companies that moved early to comply with the rules.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot to get this right," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. "The challenge with extensions is it becomes habit-forming and the herd will always fight and delay."

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; additional reporting by David Sherpardson; editing by Heather Timmons, Matthew Lewis and Jonathan Oatis)
The City of Jackson is one step closer to losing sole ownership of its troubled water system, after the Senate gave tentative approval to a bill Tuesday that would pave the way for the system to be run by a nine-member board.

That board, which would take over upon the departure of the system's federally appointed administrator, would be made up of four members appointed by the mayor of Jackson, three members appointed by the governor and two appointed by the lieutenant governor.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, said it was important to give the mayor the most seats on the board, and to list the mayor first in the bill despite traditionally listing the governor first due to that being the highest executive office in the state.

"My thought on this was, this water system has been used and managed by the City of Jackson for a long time, and I felt strongly that the mayor of Jackson should have the four appointees, and that his authority to make those appointees should be listed first in the bill," Parker said.

Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, addresses Senate members regarding a bill he authored to set up a nonprofit regional governing board for the Jackson water system at the Capitol in Jackson on Tuesday. The bill was passed in the Senate.

That said, while the mayor has more seats than either the governor or lieutenant governor, critics have pointed out that when the two state-offices are combined a majority of seats  five out of nine  are appointed by state leaders. Appointments would also require confirmation by the state senate.

Consultation on one appointment would be given to the mayor of Byram, which is part of the Jackson water system, and another to the mayor of Ridgeland, which is part of the Jackson waste-water system and where one of the water system's treatment plants is located.

However, a change was made on the Senate floor by Parker that would change which appointments required consultation. In the version of Senate Bill 2889 that passed committee last month, two of the Jackson mayor's appointments would require consultation, but in the new language approved by the chamber, the Byram mayor would have some say in one of the governor's appointments, while the Ridgeland mayor would do so for one of the lieutenant governor's.

Story continues

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This was just one of the changes that Parker said he made to the bill following conversations with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee and Byram Mayor Richard White. Parker said that questions from the news media also caused him to consider changes.

Parker said his meeting with Lumumba, which took place in his office last week was, "a great talk" and "very informative."

"I was hopefully able to add some concerns and take on a few things that I now see that are important to the City of Jackson in the process," Parker said. "By my meetings, I am in no way shape or form stating or saying that any of the mayors have endorsed this bill. As this bill moves along, I continue to be willing to speak and talk to anyone along the process. I think the feedback so far has allowed me to make the changes that you'll see, that I'm going to discuss now."

Lumumba has previously been steadfastly against any form of regionalization, saying that the city maintaining ownership of the water system and its revenue is essential to any path forward. Last week, Lumumba said the state was attempting to "colonize" the city through a number of bills. A spokesperson for Lumumba said the mayor's position on regionalization has not changed, but confirmed that the meeting last week with Parker was cordial.

In addition to appointment changes, Parker added language that would make the board a non-profit and revert ownership back to Jackson if the regional authority were to one day be dissolved. Though he has yet to meet with the system's manager, Ted Henifin, Parker said he has reviewed his recently released documents, and plans to meet with him next week.

"[Henifin] has not been available," Parker said.

Parker said based on his reading of Henifin's recommendations, there are five potential paths forward for the governance of Jackson's water system once it is no longer under federal conservatorship. The first possibility would be privatization, which Henifin opposed. The other four ideas are to put the system back in the hands of the city, to create a non-profit to oversee the system, to create a regional authority to oversee the system and to create a local utility authority. Henifin did not indicate which direction would be best, and Parker said the change to the bill is an attempt to merge the regional authority and non-profit options.

"I tried to take the non-profit concept and roll that into what we were considering for the regional utility authority, so in my amendment we're making this regional utility authority be a non-profit. We're mirroring it similar to what we did with the lottery bill," Parker said.

Seemingly in contrast to Parker's claims that he is following aspects of the administrator's vision, Henifin himself has voiced concerns in recent days that the state legislature may try to divert federal funds away from important projects in Jackson, telling the Mississippi Free Press and ProPublica "I believe the $600+ million in federal funding has created a monster in the Mississippi Legislature."

Parker directly addressed those concerns Tuesday, after they were brought up by Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson. Parker said the board would be required to be made up of ratepayers, and that federal funding, about $600 million of which has already been appropriated, would be used only within the system.

"Every single dime that is coming from the federal government is intended for and will be used inside of the area that is cited by the Clean Water Act," Parker said.

Legislative Black caucus:How the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus has changed, served members over the years

Parker, who represents a district in Northern Mississippi, said this bill is important to him because Jackson is the Mississippi capital, but also because his daughter lives in Jackson and he lives with her during session.

"I do this because I know that in this city and this region that we have an opportunity to do better, and that we can do better," Parker said.

Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, questions Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, regarding a bill he authored to set up a nonprofit regional utility authority for the Jackson water system at the Capitol in Jackson. The bill was passed in the Senate.

Parker faced questions and criticism from a number of Democratic Jackson-based lawmakers, including Horhn, Sen. Barbara Blackmon, Sen. Sollie Norwood and Sen. Hillman Frazier.

Horhn asked why someone from DeSoto County would "want to interfere" in Jackson's business.

"I am a rate payer in the city of Jackson. I am a customer," Parker said.

"You might lay the claim that you live here too, three or two months out of the year, but your constituents don't. Our constituents live here," Horhn said later during debate.

As Horhn spoke, a group behind him grew from other Jackson Senators  Norwood, Frazier and David Blount  to include a majority of the chamber's Democratic members.

Horhn said that the legislation would be taking a major asset away from Jackson, despite opposition from Jackson's delegation in the body and its local elected leaders.

"We're taking this asset, a multi-million-dollar asset, without any compensation, without any real compromise, we're just we're going to do it because we can do it. You know, somebody once said just because you can, doesn't mean that you ought to. This is a situation where we ought not do this," Horhn said. "I pray for the day when the leadership of Jackson and from the governor on down the leadership of this state will come together and say 'Look, we've got some problems. We know we have some problems. We know the problems are massive. We need help.'"

Norwood and Blackmon made similar points, saying that Jackson would not be compensated for losing ownership of the system.

"This third party manager is overseeing the asset of the City of Jackson, and this regional authority would be taking all of those assets without having paid one cent for those assets," Blackmon said.

Parker responded that he sees the assets as belonging to ratepayers, not the city government.

"I've lived here for 52 years, I certainly understand the challenges that we've had with the water system, but I do not support the efforts to take over, to take away from Jackson one of its largest assets," Norwood said.

Parker told Norwood that he is committed to working with those that oppose the bill to make it better, even if it does not change their minds on voting against it.

The bill is one of a number making their way through the legislature that would impact Jackson over the opposition of Jackson lawmakers.

"We can't live with this. We're telling you we can't live with it, and it looks like you're going to do it anyway," Horhn said.

Before passage, Horhn succeeded in adding a reverse repealer to the bill, a move that Parker ultimately supported. This procedural action would technically cause the legislation to expire before it ever takes effect. In reality, it is a move legislators use to get a bill through a chamber before a deadline, only to come back later and make changes.

"We will make modifications that are necessary, that are in the best interests of ratepayers," Parker said. "With the reverse repealer, I'll continue to have my door open."

The bill passed the Senate on a party line vote of 34-15. It will now head to the house, where it may be changed. Even if it passes both chambers as written, it would need to come back up later in session for the reverse repealer to be removed.

"As we all know, this bill is the type of bill that is likely to come back to this chamber later on," Parker said.

Parker said that the reason for passing this bill now, while Henifin is only a few months into his work, is because the administrator said a path forward on governance should be decided by the end of September. Horhn said that Henifin has the authority to make that decision himself, which Parker later acknowledged, but Parker said that the state should have a say and should represent the ratepayers.

"Make no mistake, the receiver will put something in place then," Parker said. "It might be better than what I'm suggesting, but it might be worse."

A separate bill, which passed the Senate last month, would prevent Henifin from implementing his planned billing structure for the water system. Parker voted present, and explained that vote Tuesday, saying he did not want to appear to have an opinion on billing while also proposing a new governing body that may one day decide on rates.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Senate passes bill aimed at regionalizing Jackson MS water
A long line of people appears in silhouette, walking along the flat desert in northern Niger. The strong walkers are at the front. The weakest at the rear. Every week hundreds more migrants thrown out of Algeria end up here in Assamaka, the first village on the Niger border.
WORCESTER  For residents who haven't gotten their COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot, it's not too late to get the jab as vaccine clinics pop up in the city from this week until March.

Part of the state's "Get Boosted" program, Massachusetts residents ages 6 months and older can receive a $75 gift card if they get vaccinated or boosted at one of the participating vaccine clinics taking place statewide.

Where do I go and when?

Worcester Central Community Branch YMCA - 766 Main St.

Monday, Feb. 20, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Part of the organization's open house, residents will get a gift card for attending and have access to other amenities like free group exercise classes, swimming, food and games.

The state's Department of Public Health has other clinic dates listed at the Main Street YMCA, with each taking place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a Monday:

Feb. 27

March 6, 13, 20 and 27

Worcester Public Library - 3 Salem Square

Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 18, from noon to 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 22, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 25, from noon to 3:30 p.m.

What do I need to bring?

No ID or health insurance is required.

How do I get the gift card?

Residents will receive the gift card if they receive either their first dose or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or a booster.

Are there other times and locations?

For more information, visit the state Department of Public Health website.

On its website, additional locations in and around Worcester are listed, including:

Worcester:

Odd Fellows Home, 104 Randolph Road, March 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Iglesia de Dios de la Profecia, 97B Webster St., March 25 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Central Massachusetts:

Athol - Athol Town Hall, 584 Main St., Feb. 18 from noon to 2 p.m.

Athol - Valuing Our Children, 217 Walnut St., Feb. 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Clinton - Bigelow Free Public Library, 54 Walnut St., Feb. 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dudley - Pearle Crawford Memorial Library Clinic, 40 Schofield Ave., Feb. 21 from noon to 4 p.m.

Dudley - Pearle Crawford Memorial Library Clinic, 40 Schofield Ave., Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Fitchburg - Fitchburg CENTRO, 437 Main St., multiple dates from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 16 and 23 March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30

Fitchburg - Fitchburg Public Library, 610 Main St., multiple dates from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 17 and 24 March 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31

Leominster - Spanish American Center, 112 Spruce St., Feb. 22 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Mendon - Miscoe Hill Middle School, 148 North Ave., March 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ware - Education 2 Employment (E2E), 79 Main St., Feb. 21 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Webster - WCAC Head Start, 116 School St., Feb. 24 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Webster - Sitkowski School Apartments, 29 Negus St., March 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'Get Boosted' at these pop up clinics in Mass. and get a $75 gift card
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carolinas AGC (CAGC) is pleased to welcome Caroline Brigmon to our CAGC family. Starting February 13, 2023, Caroline serves within the CAGC Foundation as Education, Training and Workforce Director.

Carolinas Associated General Contractors logo. (PRNewsFoto/Carolinas Associated General Contractors) (PRNewsFoto/) (PRNewsfoto/Carolinas AGC)

Caroline will support our CAGC members' education and training needs and develop programs to address the construction industry's workforce challenges. She also will provide support for the Foundation's Construction Business Academy and the Construction Bootcamps that will be hosted through the North Carolina Community College System. The two new programs are being funded with a $5.5 million grant to our Foundation that was approved last year by the NC General Assembly for workforce development.

"We're excited to have Caroline Brigmon on our CAGC team at a time when we are taking our education, training and workforce development needs to the next level to help us tackle our biggest challenge  getting and keeping good people into challenging and rewarding careers in the construction industry in the Carolinas," said Dave Simpson, President & CEO of Carolinas AGC.

Caroline has been working in economic and workforce development for the past 16 years. In her former position with the Department of Commerce, she was the Regional Operations Director in the Division of Workforce Solutions for the Piedmont Triad (North Carolina) area. Prior to that, she worked with AB Tech Community College in Asheville, NC, as the Director of Workforce Programs in the Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education Department. She has also been a College Adjunct and a K-12 instructor focusing on business courses. Caroline has a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Liberty University, a Masters in Instructional Technology from East Carolina University and a Bachelor's in business administration from Montreat College.

It is the mission of the CAGC Foundation to serve the construction industry by financially supporting workforce development and research programs, activities, and services in the Carolinas. For more information regarding the CAGC Foundation, call 704/372-1450.

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Carolinas AGC is the construction industry association in the Carolinas, bringing value to our thousands of members through networking, government relations, job leads, meetings with owners/designers, education and training involving such issues as safety and open shop, and community development. Visit us at www.cagc.org, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Lori McGovern, 704/222-8246, lmcgovern@carolinasagc.org.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cagc-welcomes-new-education-training-and-workforce-director-301746511.html

SOURCE Carolinas AGC
Christian Siriano attends as Minted Weddings and Christian Siriano ring in Valentine's Day with pop-up wedding ceremonies in Times Square at Duffy Square in Times Square on February 14, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Barritt/Getty

Christian Siriano can add "wedding officiant" to his roster of talents.

The fashion designer, 37, in a partnership with Minted Weddings, headed out to NYC's famed Times Square on Valentine's Day to marry two New York City couples and spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about the experience.

"Oh my God. It was so much fun though!" Siriano tells PEOPLE. "Really cute couples," he adds.

When Minted shared their idea with Siriano, he recalls thinking, "'what's kind of more New York and iconic?' And I thought it'd be really nice," the NYC-based fashion powerhouse shares.

"The couples ... it was their dream to get married in Times Square. And I kind of thought about it, I was like, you know what? That's actually the most iconic New York place you can get married."

RELATED: Christian Siriano Hosts Pop-Up Wedding Ceremonies in N.Y.C., Plus Lizzo, Eugene Levy and More

Christian Siriano attends as Minted Weddings and Christian Siriano ring in Valentine's Day with pop-up wedding ceremonies in Times Square at Duffy Square in Times Square on February 14, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Barritt/Getty

Brooklyn natives Kristen LaBoy and Jesus Torres and Manhattan-based Rachel Federman and Alexandre Perez are the adventurous pairs who allowed Siriano to do the honors.

The couples were married in front of the heart-shaped Love's h|Edge sculpture, designed by Brooklyn-based Almost Studios.

Wearing a body-con blush pink dress, black tights and a vintage-style veiled headpiece, LaBoy said "I Do" to Torres, who sported a metallic blue suit coat, with Siriano snapping selfies with the bride and groom.

Christian Siriano attends as Minted Weddings and Christian Siriano ring in Valentine's Day with pop-up wedding ceremonies in Times Square at Duffy Square in Times Square on February 14, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Barritt/Getty

"They were like, 'We took the subway here,'" he says of Federman and Perez, "and they just were on the subway to get married. I love it."

Not to outshine his couples, Siriano favored a simple black suit  with a hot pink shirt peeking through  for the festive occasion.

RELATED: Nurse Gets Married in Times Square After Moving to NYC to Help with COVID

Christian Siriano attends as Minted Weddings and Christian Siriano ring in Valentine's Day with pop-up wedding ceremonies in Times Square at Duffy Square in Times Square on February 14, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Barritt/Getty

For the other duo, Rachel Federman beamed in a bright coral dress with a graphic floral cardigan, wearing a double strand of pearls around her neck, along with a matching bracelet. She held a small bouquet of pink and orange flowers as she stood next to her Perez, who was bundled up in a plaid scarf and navy suit, with both wearing glasses.

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A young girl, presumably the bride's daughter, served as a flower girl and dropped petals in their path as rows of happy-looking onlookers crowded around to watch the special ceremonies, with some taking videos on their phones.

Times Square visitors also witnessed surprise marriage proposals under a 'Will You Marry Me' billboard designed by a Minted artist, along with a vow renewal for 200 couples on the iconic Red Steps.

RELATED: Christian Siriano: Redesigning Iconic Yellow Clueless Suit for Alicia Silverstone was a 'Full-Circle Moment'

Christian Siriano attends as Minted Weddings and Christian Siriano ring in Valentine's Day with pop-up wedding ceremonies in Times Square at Duffy Square in Times Square on February 14, 2023 in New York City.

Craig Barritt/Getty

As far as wedding style advice for future brides and grooms-to-be? Push the limit.

"When you're ever shopping for any wedding look, whether it's a suit or a gown or whatever it is, I think you have to go into it as remember that this is your time to have your true fantasy moment," he tells PEOPLE.

"So I think it's important to go after things that you would normally never try on. Because a lot of people, a lot of even brides, will come to us and be like, 'I would never wear a strapless dress,' and then they end up in a strapless dress. Or, 'I would never wear a suit to my wedding,' and then they're in a tailored suit with a cummerbund and it's just really traditional."

RELATED: Danielle Brooks Is Married! Actress Weds Fiance Dennis Gelin in 3-in-1 Christian Siriano Dress

"I think that's what people don't think about. You have to push yourself a little bit."

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.

Siriano says when he was up there, he just took in the moment and appreciated the partnerships.

"It's really beautiful. One of the couples has been together for 21 years. I don't know. It felt very real, which I really liked. Very real life," the luxury womenswear owner adds.

"Obviously after leaving the world of fashion and then having a very real-life love moment felt really good," he continues. "It made it kind of, I don't know, just very New York too. Hello. I woke up today and I was saying to everyone, I was like, 'Last week I was fitting the vice president, and this week I'm marrying people.'
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
The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey will have a female bishop for the first time in its 238-year-history.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Sally French has been elected to serve as the 13th bishop of the diocese, succeeding Bishop William "Chip" Stokes, who is retiring after nearly 10 years of service.

The appointment means that for the first time, both of New Jersey's Episcopal dioceses, institutions representing more than 60,000 worshippers, will be helmed by women.

The Diocese of Newark, which covers churches in the northern third of the state, has been led since 2018 by Bishop Carlye Hughes, the first woman and first African American to hold that role.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Sally French will be the 13th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.

The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, based in Trenton, covers the southern part of the state and has nearly 35,000 baptized members in over 135 congregations. French, who will be installed on June 24, was selected from among five candidates during a Jan. 28 convention of clergy and lay leaders, the diocese announced.

In an interview, French, who currently serves in North Carolina, emphasized her commitment to "working to end racism and white supremacy."

"The Diocese of New Jersey has a long history of commitment to racial justice, including the development of education offerings that assist members to learn about the history and impact of systemic racism and bias," she told NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network New Jersey. "Through this work, participants are empowered to confront injustice and respond in faith. This is the work of the Gospel."

Nationally, membership in the Episcopal Church peaked in 1959 with 3.44 million members. But the church has been shrinking since, and now has about 1.7 million members.

The diocese said the public is invited to French's installation, to be held at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton. The event will also be livestreamed.

More: Bergenfield church, one of Bergen County's first, kicks off 300th anniversary celebration

Recovery: Paterson pitcher turned pro, then lost his career to addiction. Faith helped him recover

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French, who spent 20 years in church ministry, currently serves as the canon for regional ministry and collaborative innovation in the Diocese of North Carolina, a position in which she provides support to churches and works with clergy to strengthen their congregations.

French grew up in a secular home in Toronto and was baptized, confirmed and sponsored for ordination through campus ministries at the University of Toronto, where she graduated from college with a degree in economics and history, according to the New Jersey diocese. She earned a master's degree in divinity from Toronto's School of Theology before she was ordained a deacon and priest in 2000 and 2001, respectively. She earned a doctorate of ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.

"There are so many places in our world today where discrimination and oppression harm those who are most vulnerable," French said in the interview. "Church communities can be different. We love and serve others because we are called to Gospel justice, to feed the hungry, stand with the oppressed, and comfort those in need."

Stokes, who is moving with his wife to Saint Augustine, Florida, is credited with an array of accomplishments, including the creation of the diocese's Reparations Commission, and nurturing Latino ministries, the fastest growing segment of the Episcopal Church, and the formation of Episcopal Community Services of New Jersey, a nonprofit focusing on providing food and shelter and working against social injustice.

Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: yellin@northjersey.com

Twitter: @deenayellin

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Episcopal Diocese bishop selection appoints Sally French
New collaboration with truck scale network provides fleets with tools to improve driver experience, boost efficiency

SAN DIEGO and WALCOTT, Iowa, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Platform Science, a leading connected vehicle platform, and CAT Scale, the world's leading truck scale network, today announced a new collaboration to offer CAT Scale's Weigh My Truck and CAT Scale Locator apps in Platform Science's catalog of solutions. Platform Science's innovative transportation solutions make it easier for fleets to develop, deploy, and manage mobile devices and applications on commercial vehicles.

Platform Science Logo (PRNewsfoto/Platform Science)

The Weigh My Truck app allows drivers to weigh and then get the weights displayed on their mobile device without ever leaving the cab. The app will also email a locked PDF copy of the scale ticket to email addresses specified by the driver. The driver simply creates an online account with Weigh My Truck, which will store payment information, trucking company name, truck number, trailer number, email preferences and historical weight transactions. Fleets can also set up accounts that allow driver management and provide back-end data files.

The CAT Scale locator app helps drivers to locate the nearest CAT Scale. The app allows drivers to locate the nearest CAT Scale locations on their mobile device, plan their route based on their current location, and save their favorite CAT Scale location.

"Platform Science's new collaboration with CAT Scale empowers fleet operators to save drivers' time and unlock new efficiencies as they weigh their trucks," said Emilie Campbell, Director of Partner Management, Platform Science. "With the addition of CAT Scale's apps to Platform Science's growing app catalog, fleets will have the flexibility to deploy a solution that makes the process of getting truck weights faster and easier in conjunction with other tools in the catalog, and customize the platform to meet their specific needs."

"We understand that time is money. The Weigh My Truck app and our CAT Scale Locator app are designed to help drivers use their time more efficiently," says Heather DeBaillie, Vice President of Operations & Marketing, CAT Scale. "With CAT Scale now a part of the Platform Science app catalog, fleets have the opportunity to make sure all their drivers have access to the tools that help streamline the weighing process."

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About Platform Science

Platform Science is transforming transportation technology by empowering enterprise fleets with a unified, user-friendly technology platform. Platform Science makes it easy to develop, deploy and manage mobile devices and applications on commercial vehicles, giving fleets an edge in efficiency, flexibility, visibility, and productivity. The customizable platform delivers an unlimited canvas to fleets and developers seeking to innovate and create new solutions as customers' needs, businesses and industries evolve. Platform Science was named by Fast Company as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2022. Platform Science was ranked #2 in the FreightTech 25 Awards by industry news leader, FreightWaves, for both 2022 and 2023. For more information, please visit www.platformscience.com

About CAT Scale

CAT Scale Company is the world's leading truck scale network providing guaranteed, accurate weights at over 2,100 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Walcott, IA; CAT Scale Company is the #1 choice for professional drivers when weighing their load.

www.weighmytruck.com

CAT Scale Logo

Cision

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SOURCE Platform Science; CAT Scale
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an awarding ceremony for Russian team members who won medals at the Winter Paralympic games on March 17, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

The outcome of the Ukraine war will determine the safety of the wider region, Angela Stent and Fiona Hill warn.

Putin's "appetite for expansion would not stop at the Ukrainian border" if Russia wins, they said in a new op-ed.

They warned that nearby countries like Poland and Finland could face attack if Russia prevails.

Russia has faced serious military setbacks in Ukraine since it invaded roughly a year ago, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is still convinced that his forces could emerge victorious, according to top Russia experts Angela Stent and Fiona Hill.

"Even now, after a year of carnage, Putin is still convinced he can prevail," Stent and Hill wrote in a new op-ed for Foreign Affairs.

The Russian leader's "appetite for expansion would not stop at the Ukrainian border" if Russia wins the war, warn Stent, who served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council from 2004 to 2006, and Hill, who was the top Russia expert on the National Security Council during the Trump administration.

"The Baltic states, Finland, Poland, and many other countries that were once part of Russia's empire could be at risk of attack or subversion. Others could see challenges to their sovereignty in the future," they wrote. "The war is about more than Ukraine. Kyiv is also fighting to protect other countries."

Putin has often pointed to Russia's imperial past when offering justifications for the war in Ukraine, at one point likening himself to Peter the Great.

As the war in Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, Hill and Stent made the case that the West needs to make a more concerted effort to communicate to Putin that his relationship with Europe "will soon be irreparable" and step up international diplomatic efforts to deter the Russian leader from taking escalatory actions  such as the use of nuclear weapons or a renewed assault on Kyiv.

"The world cannot always contain Putin, but clear communications and stronger diplomatic measures may help push him to curtail some of his aggression and eventually agree to negotiations," Hill and Stent said.

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Though Russia is estimated to have suffered substantial casualties, possibly nearing 200,000, in the war so far, Putin has shown no signs of giving up. According to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Russia has already begun a new offensive in the east, and Putin is willing to endure high casualties to achieve his goal of conquering the Donbas region.

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. And what Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity," Stoltenberg said on Monday.

Stoltenberg urged the West to speed up the delivery of crucial weapons to Ukraine as it defends territory against the Russian invaders and vies to reclaim occupied regions.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a press conference on September 13, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott are feuding over the Florida Republican's "12 point plan" yet again.

It comes after Biden used the plan to bash the GOP during his State of the Union address.

"Can't we all just get along?" asked GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer.

The long-simmering intra-party feud between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott is boiling over once more  this time due to a well-placed attack line from President Joe Biden.

"Can't we all just get along?" mused Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.

"I don't think we need petty bickering within the Republican conference," said Sen. Cruz of Texas.

It all started at the State of the Union last week, when Biden used Scott's now-infamous "12 point plan" to argue that the Republican Party is seeking cuts to Medicare and Social Security; the sixth point of Scott's plan calls for sunsetting all federal legislation in five years.

Scott, for his part, has insisted that he does not wish to cut Social Security and Medicare, and announced on Friday that he would introduce legislation to protect the two programs even as he stands by his original proposal.

But McConnell was asked about the line of attack last week on a local Kentucky radio station, where he opted to bash Scott's plan as a political loser  while tacitly accepting the premise that Scott's plan would target the programs.

"It's just a bad idea," McConnell said of Scott's plan. "I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with this in his own re-election in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America."

Scott didn't hesitate in pushing back on McConnell's criticism.

"I mean, he's taking Biden's position," Scott told Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday.

McConnell's unusually harsh words for Scott have quickly drawn the attention of other Republicans  and a sense of frustration at the efficacy of Biden's use of Scott's plan to bash the GOP.

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Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Mike Lee at the State of the Union on February 7, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

"They're good at that," observed Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, referring to Biden's use of the plan. An ally of Scott, Braun said that the defensive posture the GOP has been backed into on this issue is "typical for anything in Washington."

Other Scott allies have been publicly critical of McConnell's approach.

"Would [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer ever do this to any member of his conference?" mused Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on Twitter over the weekend.

'Petty exchanges'

On Tuesday, McConnell again reiterated that Scott does not speak for the party at his weekly press conference, while betraying frustration with the fact that the issue "continues to come up."

"There is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security. Period," he said. "I've noticed that the speaker of the House has said the same thing."

For McConnell and Scott, it's just the latest turn in a long-running conflict between the two men that began when the Florida Republican served as chairman of Senate Republicans' campaign arm. Scott released a policy agenda that originally included a provision that would've raised taxes on most Americans, prompting McConnell to publicly disavow the plan. The Florida Republican later challenged McConnell for his job, only to garner just 10 votes before exiting leadership.

He also recently accused McConnell of kicking him off the Senate Commerce Committee, though McConnell has denied that the decision was driven by any "animus."

But the conflict is also downstream of a larger conversation within the GOP about how to pursue cuts to government spending, particularly as the United States approaches the debt ceiling this summer.

Sen. Josh Hawley defended Scott in an interview with Insider, noting that Scott "has said many times that he never intended for it to sunset Social Security and Medicare."

But the Missouri Republican, who says he wants to shield the two programs from any debt-ceiling related conversations, noted that other members of his party have openly called for these kinds of cuts, despite the political downsides.

"If you want to go out and say that you want to change Social Security and Medicare, go right ahead," said Hawley. "But you're gonna have to deal with the consequences."

McConnell at his weekly press conference on February 14, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For now, Republican senators insist that the Scott-McConnell spat has little import beyond the halls of the Capitol  and that Scott has little to worry about in 2024.

"I think Rick is well positioned to win," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "He's won many winning campaigns, and I have a lot of confidence in him."

Cruz dismissed McConnell's attack on Scott's electability.

"The petty exchanges in Washington rarely have an impact back home," said Cruz. "Rick Scott's gonna win reelection in Florida easily."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Image via Getty

In an interview held in Russian, Oleg Stepanov, the Russian ambassador to Canada living in Ottawa, claimed that Canada isnt safe for Russian citizens to visit, according to a report from CTV News.

Canada today is a very dangerous country for Russian citizens, Oleg Stepanov said. I would not recommend it for tourism, education or business.

Despite the warning, Stepanov conceded that Canadian citizens in general treat Russians well.

Moscows travel advisory for Canada explains that there are street gangs and a rather harsh climate.

CTV News also explained that Stepanov had explained that he thought Canada kept sanctioning Russians as an arbitrary response to the Russo-Ukrainian war. He claimed that Russians are facing constant bouts of racism and discrimination while claiming there were daily protests happening outside of the Russian embassy in Ottawa, as well as its consulates in Montreal and Toronto.

Stepanov criticized an effort from the Canadian government to seize $26 million of assets belonging to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Though the Canadian government has yet to even file the application for the seizure, Stepanov argued that the idea amounts to an attack on property rights.

Stepanov added that Russia has been trying to open a consulate in Vancouver, but they have not received any help. He said that Russia is open to dialogue with Canada if it stops enforcing policies similar to that of the U.S.

Canada, on the other hand, has stated that it will only change its stance when Russia ends its invasion of Ukraine and compensates for the damage it caused.
Diplomats meeting in Saudi Arabia agreed Saturday that the Arab world must play a leading role in efforts to broker a solution to Syria's war, following talks aimed at easing Damascus's isolation.
Felicity Blunt and Stanley Tucci attend the inaugural Soho House Awards, championing emerging talent in the creative industries, at 180 The Strand on September 1, 2022 in London, England

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

Stanley Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt have been together for over a decade.

The couple met at the premiere of his movie The Devil Wears Prada, while Tucci was married to his first wife Kate Tucci.

Tucci and Kate were married from 1995 until her death in 2009. The following year, the Julie & Julia star met Blunt again at a wedding in Italy. What followed was a secret marriage in 2012, a large wedding ceremony later that year, the births of their two children and a lot of adventures in life and food.

The pair have gone on to author a cookbook and film various projects together, including the early COVID-19 lockdown video that made Tucci the "internet's boyfriend."

But who is Felicity Blunt? Here's everything to know about Stanley Tucci's wife.

She's a literary agent

Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt attends the Salvatore Ferragamo Private Dinner at Palazzo Vecchio during Pitti Immagine Uomo 96 on June 11, 2019 in Florence, Italy.

Jacopo Raule/Getty

Blunt works as a literary agent at the U.K. talent agency Curtis Brown, representing authors and their books to publishing houses and production companies. "My fiction tastes are broad but are unified by my desire to represent unique stories and smart voices," she wrote on Curtis Brown's website. "What I want is to feel passionate about the narrative and believe absolutely in the world an author has crafted."

Blunt has worked with a handful of bestselling authors, including Danielle Steel, Ann Patchett and Jennifer Egan, and has secured deals for her authors' work to be developed into other formats. As she wrote on the website: "I like to work with all of my clients in the 360, helping to form a strategy that straddles not only the domestic and international sales of their books, but also the exploitation of their media rights."

She has a famous family

Felicity Blunt, John Krasinski, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci attend "A Quiet Place" New York Premiere After Party on April 2, 2018 in New York City

Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan/Getty

Tucci is not the only A-list star in the family. Blunt's sister is actress Emily Blunt, who stars in A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns, among other blockbuster hits. The younger Blunt also happens to be married to The Office alum John Krasinski.

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Blunt has been a supportive big sister over the years. In 2021, she tweeted a blooper reel featuring Emily (and Tucci) in The Devil Wears Prada. "15 years on ... ! Still funny," she wrote.

She met Tucci in two very memorable ways

Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt attend "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" UK premiere at Odeon Leicester Square on November 5, 2015 in London, England

Mark Cuthbert/UK Press/Getty

Tucci and Blunt first met at the 2006 premiere of The Devil Wears Prada, in which he and Emily costarred alongside Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. At the time, Tucci's then-wife Kate had been undergoing treatment for breast cancer and attended the premiere with her husband  and actually met Blunt at the event.

"[Felicity] and Kate talked at the premiere that night and I have a photo of them together, which is so odd," he told Marc Maron in 2021. Kate died in April 2009.

In 2010, Tucci and Blunt crossed paths again: this time at Emily's wedding to Krasinski at George Clooney's house in Lake Como, Italy. They started dating shortly afterward.

The Blunt family approves of Tucci, of course. "He's an all-around Renaissance man who knows the way to everyone's hearts. And it's through having a damn good time," Emily told PEOPLE in 2022. "He's frighteningly bright, quick to laugh, loves to be laughed at, charismatic, warm and energetic."

She and Tucci got married in 2012

Felicity Blunt wearing Paul Smith and Stanley Tucci wearing Paul Smith attend the Paul Smith AW20 50th Anniversary show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 19, 2020 in Paris, France

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

Tucci and Blunt had two weddings: a private ceremony in the summer of 2012 and a larger event in London on Sept. 29, 2012. At the second wedding, Emily was a bridesmaid and Steve Buscemi served as Tucci's best man. Celebrity guests included Streep, Patricia Clarkson, Julianne Moore, Colin Firth and Kenneth Cole.

The bride reportedly wore a custom gown by Nanette Lepore, while the groom wore a Hugo Boss tuxedo. In lieu of a traditional wedding cake, guests dined on a "cake" made of cheese wheels at the reception.

She is a mom

Nicolo Tucci, Camilla Tucci, Isabel Tucci, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt and Felicity Blunt attend day two of the Audi Polo Challenge at Coworth Park on May 31, 2015 in London, England

David M. Benett/Getty

Tucci and Blunt are parents to son Matteo Oliver, born Jan. 25, 2015, and daughter Emilia Giovanna, born April 19, 2018. She's also a stepmom to Tucci's three kids from his first marriage: fraternal twins Nicolo and Isabel, as well as daughter Camilla.

The couple are fairly private when it comes to their family life and they have largely kept their children out of the spotlight.

She helped make her husband into the "internet's boyfriend"

Stanley Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt attend the "Free State Of Jones" Premiere during the 42nd Deauville American Film Festival on September 3, 2016 in Deauville, France

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis/Getty

In April 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucci went viral for his bartending skills after Blunt filmed a video of him making her a negroni. His wildly popular videos made him, as Town & Country wrote, "the internet's boyfriend."

In 2021, Tucci spoke to PEOPLE about the unexpected enthusiasm for the videos. "[Blunt] said, 'Would you do a little cocktail thing, just for the Curtis Brown people? It would be fun, cheer people up.' So I did," he recalled. "And then she said, 'Well, maybe put it on your Instagram.' And then the world changed." He added that the couple enjoyed reading some of the "filthy, but funny" comments on the videos. "We laughed so hard, reading them out loud," he said.

She has shared the spotlight with her husband

Felicity Blunt and Stanley Tucci attend day one of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at Wimbledon on June 27, 2016 in London, England

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Blunt appeared in three episodes of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, the CNN show that followed the actor as he traveled through Italy and sampled the local cuisine. The two also co-authored The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends, a cookbook that was published in 2014.

"I wanted to have all of these recipes down on paper," Tucci told PEOPLE of his earlier work, The Tucci Cookbook. "They were so influential in my life and one of the reasons I am who I am."

She was by Tucci's side when he was diagnosed with cancer

Felicity Blunt (L) and Stanley Tucci attend the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards at the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon in the Piccadilly flagship store on May 16, 2019 in London, England

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

In 2021, Tucci revealed that he was diagnosed with oral cancer a few years prior. After doctors found a tumor at the base of his tongue, he underwent extensive chemotherapy and radiation. He later told PEOPLE that his wife's steadfast support throughout the experience is what kept him going. "Felicity's undying attention, affection and encouragement got me through it," he said.
Leading financial technology company SumUp and payment tech expert Netcetera partner to protect small merchants from fraud

LONDON, February 15, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As online purchases have soared in the last few years, so has the level of online fraud. In 2021, e-commerce fraud in the UK jumped to GBP 1.3 billion. As many merchants make the transition to online stores, ensuring their transactions are protected is crucial. The Covid-19 pandemic and developing FinTech trends pushed the use of debit and credit cards, QR codes and similar for Card-Not-Present transactions, which are easier to compromise. On top of this, more and more consumers are making purchases from mobile devices. As the payment protocol 3-D Secure was originally designed for web purchases, there are additional security steps to be taken for these. OTO and OOB authentication is now mandated by payment schemes to ensure that it is really the cardholder making the purchase.

As a major global fintech player on a mission to support SMEs to run successful businesses by offering financial tools, SumUp wanted to ensure they had the most powerful, reliable Access Control Server, or ACS, possible, as it is a key part of the authentication process. Netcetera, advised them on current requirements for merchants and set them up with a dynamic solution, allowing small and medium-sized merchants to offer end customers a smooth, secure online shopping experience.

The solution supports the highest level of security and minimises touchpoints in the transaction flow, meaning that the cardholder can skip cumbersome multi-step processes and switching between apps to pay. Netceteras 14 years of experience in the 3D-Secure space and SumUps innovative power in online finance solutions results in a strong product that is here to stay. It is a gamechanger for smaller businesses, meaning that they can sell their products online more easily, maximise conversion rates and still offer first-class protection against fraud.

David Tatarishvili, Head of Business Operations Banking Tribe at SumUp said "Our userbases security has always been our foremost priority; collaborating with Netcetera ensures that all our merchants, and their customers, are protected against e-commerce fraud and other security risks. By providing SMEs with ACS, it sets up a comprehensive line of defence against cyber criminals, saving merchants both time and money."

Robert Miskin, Business Development Executive at Netcetera also commented "We are thrilled to be standing side by side with SumUp and are looking forward to a long lasting, mutually beneficial partnership. We understand the challenges to prepare for in online commerce and are looking forward to supporting SumUp through their local and global expansion"

Through this partnership SumUp and Netcetera aim to democratise access to industry leading security solutions for small merchants and make sure that small business owners in the UK have digital solutions available to keep them and their customers safe.

About Netcetera

Netcetera is a global software company with cutting-edge IT products and individual digital solutions in the areas of secure digital payment, financial technologies, media, transport, healthcare and insurance. More than 2,500 banks and issuers, and 160,000 merchants rely on the digital payment solutions and globally certified 3-D Secure products of the market leader for payment security. The owner-managed company covers the entire IT lifecycle, from ideation and strategy to implementation and operation. The balanced combination of the latest technologies and proven standards ensures investment security, from large-scale projects to innovative start-ups. Founded in 1996, Netcetera is a holding company with around 1,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with locations across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Further information on netcetera.com and LinkedIn.

About SumUp

SumUp is a leading global financial technology company driven by the purpose of levelling the playing field for small businesses. Founded in 2012, SumUp is the financial partner for more than 4 million small merchants in over 35 markets worldwide, helping them start, run and grow their business. Through its Super App, SumUp provides merchants with a free business account and card, an online store, and an invoicing solution  as well as in-person and remote payments seamlessly integrated with SumUps card terminals and point-of-sale registers. SumUp is committed to leveraging its success to make the world a better place and has pledged to donate 1% of its revenue to support environmental, educational and entrepreneurial causes. In 2022 SumUp was recognised as a Top Global Employer for the LGBTQ+ community by the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. For more information, please visit sumup.co.uk.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230215005458/en/

Contacts

Angelika Seiler

Head of Content

angelika.seiler@netcetera.com

+41 44 297 58 09
Timken Co.

JACKSON TWP.  Timken Co. said Wednesday it's reached an agreement to buy the assets of privately-held, family-owned American Roller Bearing Co., which makes industrial bearings and is based in Hickory, North Carolina.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not released, except Timken said it would finance the purchase with cash on hand.

Related:Timken Co. marks 100 years of trading on New York Stock Exchange

"ARB's offerings join Timken's industry-leading portfolio of engineered bearing solutions. ARB, which boasts a large U.S. installed base and strong aftermarket business, generated sales of more than $30 million in 2022," Timken's statement said.

"ARB's end-market mix, customer base and aftermarket position fit our Timken business model extremely well," said Richard G. Kyle, Timken president and chief executive officer. "We're proud to welcome ARB and its employees into The Timken Company."

American Roller Bearing's website says the company makes anti-friction bearings that "permit free motion between moving and fixed parts."

Timken's statement said ARB has about 190 employees and manufacturing plants in Hiddenite and Morganton, North Carolina. Three generations of the Succop family have owned American Roller Bearing since the company's founding in 1911 by C.F. Succop and investors.

It's not clear if the acquisition will result in any job cuts.

A Timken spokesman in an email wrote that Timken was not disclosing how much it was paying for the acquisition.

"The acquisition of ARB is complete. This is the coming together of two respected American companies. ARB products and market mix complement our Timken portfolio very well. Our initial focus is working to integrate ARB and their associates into Timken," he wrote.

Timken announced the acquisition of American Roller Bearing after the close of major stock markets at 4 p.m. Timken stock closed at $83.80, up 1.76% Wednesday.

Timken also buys Nadella Group

The announcement came two days after Timken said it was buying Nadella Group, "a leading European manufacturer of linear guides, telescopic rails, actuators and systems and other specialized industrial motion solutions" from ICG or Intermediate Capital Group. The acquisition is a reunion of sorts, as Timken had owned the Nadella brand from 2003 to 2005.

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Timken had picked up Nadella with its acquisition of Torrington Co. in 2003. Torrington had bought Nadella in 2002. Timken then sold its Linear Motion Systems business, which included its Nadella-branded products, in 2005 to Italian company Overseas Industries S.p.A.

ICG, which is based in London, later acquired Nadella in 2018.

Nadella is based in Milan, Italy. The company, with about 450 employees, has manufacturing facilities throughout Europe and in China, Timken's statement said. Nadella had revenue of about $100 million euros in 2022, according to Timken.

Terms of Timken's acquisition of Nadella were not disclosed. Regulators in Europe must approve the deal. Timken did not say which European government agencies had to sign off on the acquisition.

Timken said the acquisition of Nadella is its latest move to expand Timken's presence in the market for "industrial motion" products that are "designed to improve the reliability and efficiency of industrial equipment and machinery."

Timken acquired Rollon, a maker of linear motion products, in 2018.

"Nadella will complement and scale our linear motion product portfolio and deliver strong synergies with our Rollon business," said Christopher A. Coughlin, Timken executive vice president and president of industrial motion. "Nadella's differentiated solutions are custom engineered for premium applications in attractive and growing market sectors, including medical, food and beverage, packaging and automation. We also see significant growth opportunities for Nadella products in North America as part of Timken."

According to Nadella's website, Nadella was founded in 1930 in France before opening locations decades later in Germany and Italy.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Rollon, the company Timken acquired in 2018.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County-based Timken Co. makes two company acquisitions
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was fined on Friday for not wearing a seatbelt while filming a video discussing an economic program.

The Lancashire Police, located in northern England, tweeted that the department issued a fixed penalty to a 42-year-old man from London following the circulation of a video on social media showing him not wearing a seatbelt while being a passenger in a moving car. The tweet did not identify Sunak by name.

The BBC reported that the prime ministers office said in a statement that Sunak fully accepts that he made a mistake and apologizes and plans to pay the fine. Passengers who do not wear a seatbelt when one is available can be fined up to 100 pounds.

In the video posted on Instagram, Sunak discusses a second round of allocations being released from the countrys Levelling Up Fund, a social program that provides funding for projects that improve local communities. He announced that more than 2 billion pounds was being released to support projects from more than 100 local communities throughout the country.

Sunak was previously fined in April along with then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules in attending a birthday party for Johnson in June 2020.

The BBC reported that fixed-penalty fines need to be paid or contested within 28 days of being issued.

Those aged 14 and older are responsible for wearing a seatbelt, and drivers are responsible for passengers under 14 years old, according to the BBC. Exceptions exist for passengers who have a doctors certificate for a medical reason or who are riding in a police, fire or other rescue service vehicle.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question by a reporter who asked whether Joe Biden is woke.

James Rosen, Newsmaxs White House correspondent who formerly worked with Fox News, asked Ms Jean-Pierre about Mr Bidens so-called wokeism  the most prominent theme raised by Republicans.

And so, we hear so much talk about woke capitalism, a woke military, and so on. And by way of trying to clarify this for the American people, I wonder if we couldnt begin with a threshold question to wit: Is President Biden woke? he said.

The question prompted suppressed amusement and subtle grins in the briefing room on Tuesday before the press secretary spoke about what was actually important to the president.

So, let me tell you what the president cares about and whats important to this president, she said.

The president doesnt  doesnt concern himself about what Republicans are trying to do in creating political stunts, in making an issue out of the things that they feel benefits them politically, not the American people, not what matters to the American people, but what benefits them politically for their own, for their own ability to move forward.

Rosen cut in: So you wouldnt describe him as woke?

The White House press secretary continued speaking and said Republicans wanted to cut social security, medicare, and not actually deal with issues that matter to Americans.

Thats not what were about, she added. Were about fighting for these  for these programmes. And thats what youre going to see from the president, and thats what he cares about.

Most recently, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused Mr Biden of being a slave to a woke mob in the Republican response to the presidents State of the Union address that leaned heavily on social conservatism that has animated much of the GOP.

Ms Sanders, who won her election last year, said the nations ideals were under attack.

Im the first woman to lead my state, she said. Hes (her former boss Donald Trump) the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that cant even tell you what a woman is.

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While the woke culture has its origins in the mid-19th century, the term woke gained prominence during the original Black Lives Matter movement in the mid-2010s.

The term is used to identify someone who is informed, educated and a strong advocate of social justice and racial equality.

However, it has been used by conservatives as a pejorative term that signifies there are systemic injustices in American society and is rejected by Republicans like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
Winter Jam promo poster

Winter Jam, a national Christian music tour, announced its 2023 lineup, and it includes a stop in Louisville.

Winter Jam will feature headliners including We the Kingdom and Jeremy Camp, according to a release from Jennifer Willingham, a spokesperson for the event. Other acts include Andy Mineo, Disciple, Austin French, NewSong and Dove Award-winning new artist of the year Anne Wilson. Dove Awards recognize achievements in Christian and gospel music.

I cant wait for Winter Jam 2023, said Eddie Carswell, cofounder of NewSong Ministries and Winter Jam. Im so excited about the lineup this year. I think its one of my all time favorites."

More:Louisville Parks and Recreation opens registration for spring and summer camp sessions

The Louisville show will be March 18 at Freedom Hall in the Kentucky Exposition Center.

"Bring your youth group, your family, your friends; these will be nights you dont want to miss" said Carswell in the release.

We The Kingdom, winner of multiple Dove Awards, join the tour after the release of their self-titled album and Fall 2022 tour. We The Kingdom won the awards for "Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year" and "Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year" in 2021.

Several of us grew up going to Winter Jam - what a powerful time to unify together and let the love and hope of God be poured out in the room over every heart each night. We are so looking forward to getting to play some new songs off our new record as well as some familiar ones," said members of We The Kingdom.

Camp is another Christian chart-topping artist that will be at the show. He's been nominated for a Grammy Award and is the topic of the biopic "I Still Believe," released in 2020. Camp toured in the Fall of 2022 and released his most recent album, "When You Speak," in 2021.

The community that Winter Jam provides and cultivates is always encouraging to my group and I love that their heart for the Gospel and reaching people are always front and center of what they do! Camp said.

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The Winter Jam tour was started by Christian group NewSong more than 20 years ago with the aim of having a low donation admission price "to allow as many people as possible to hear the gospel," the release said. Admission for the show is $15 at the door. No advance tickets are needed.

More:How this historic neighborhood became the most diverse area in Louisville

Thrive Worship, Sean Be and Renee will lead Winter Jam's Pre-jam party. Zane Black, author and pastor, will speak at the event.

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Winter Jam Christian in Louisville: date time and location
Features/The Vanished Editor

Tammy Ayer has worked at the Yakima Herald-Republic since 2015. This is her fourth newspaper gig. Alongside general assignment reporting and profiles, she writes about the centuries-long crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, focusing on those who have gone missing, been murdered and have died mysteriously on and around the Yakama Reservation. Ayer grew up in Indiana, lived in Florida for 13 years and has a masters degree in history.
Business Reporter

Joel Donofrio is the business reporter for the Yakima Herald. He was born and raised in the Chicago area, but he and his wife, Cathy, fell in love with the beauty (and low humidity) of the West and moved here in 2009, eventually relocating to Yakima in September 2021. They have two young adult children, Anthony and Joanna, and a dog, Molly. When he is not taking photos of construction sites, tracking down new and relocating businesses or catching up on agricultural trends, Joel enjoys playing guitar, singing, listening to music and playing and watching sports.
Huawei, the world pioneer in information and communication technology solutions, is participating in the 26th edition of Cairo ICT 2022, held from 27-30 November. Huawei's participation for the 17th year in a row as the Technology Partner for the exhibition affirms the company's leadership and commitment to achieving digital transformation and sustainable economy in line with Egypts Vision 2030.

Under the tagline "In Egypt for a Digital Future", Huawei showcases its newest end-to-end products, solutions and advanced ICT technologies focusing on cloud, AI, digital power designed to meet the needs of various industry scenarios and sectors such as healthcare, oil and gas, transportation, finance, and education hence helping its customers and partners go digital while operating more intelligently and achieving sustainability.

Reiterating the companys thought leadership, Huawei will also participate in several panel discussions during the event week discussing many topics including, IOT, accelerating digital transformation, and cybersecurity. The company will also conclude a number of MOUs and agreements with various institutions to support their digital transformation.

Mr. Jim Liu, CEO of Huawei Egypt, said: At Cairo ICT 2022, we will demonstrate to our customers and partners how our capabilities can inspire change in various domains and ease their digital transformation journeys, for further innovation and business growth. Our tagline, In Egypt for a Digital Future reflects our commitment to create greater value and drive sustainable development for the ICT ecosystem in Egypt.

Liu added: We will also participate in Connecta exhibition, to be held on the sidelines of Cairo ICT 2021 exhibition, where we will announce the winners of Huawei Developer Competition (HDC), which aims to encourage developers and university students in Egypt and Northern Africa to create innovative applications using Huawei key technologies & cloud services.

As a global ICT company, Huawei will continue enabling the digital transformation of industries in Egypt, developing skills and creating employment opportunities and supporting both public and private sector customers and SMEs through innovation, to achieve Egypts inclusive and sustainable economic growth, in line with Egypts vision 2030.

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Cooperation between Egypt and African nations is important to reach developmental milestones that serve the whole continent, said Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry in a comment following the start of the filling of Egyptian-built Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP).

The JNHPP was built using the latest equipment and technical standards, Shoukry told TV channel Sada El-Balad on Friday.

Shoukry was among an Egyptian delegation  headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly  that attended the inauguration ceremony of the dam's lake filling on Thursday.

"We have the political will and capability to reach the infrastructure required," he said, adding that the Tanzanian government made every effort to secure necessary funds to finalise the project.

He also noted that the establishment of this project reflects Egypts capability to implement huge projects in a very short period.

Construction on the JNHPP started in 2019 through a joint venture of two Egyptian companies  the Arab Contractors Company and El-Sewedy Electric.

The project aims to double Tanzania's energy production, control floods and improve agriculture.

The JNHPPs total length is 1,025 metres at crest level and 130 metres at dam level, with a storage capacity of about 34 billion cubic metres of water in its manmade reservoir, which covers an area of about 158,000 square kilometres.

The dam is expected to have the capacity to produce 2,115 MW and 5,920 GWh of power annually.

More than 2,500 Egyptian and Tanzanian engineers and workers participated in the construction of the dam, putting in a total of 22 million working hours.

The construction of the main body of the dam was concluded in October.

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Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday that Tanzanias huge development project the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP)  that is being constructed by Egyptian and Tanzanian hands is a model for cooperation between African countries in the field of development.

Madbouly said that the JNHPP, whose inauguration ceremony for the filling of its reservoir was in December, highlights the capabilities and expertise accumulated by Egyptian companies in the field of infrastructure, stressing that Egypt stands ready to share all experiences with brotherly African countries.

The premiers remarks came during his speech, on behalf of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, at the 2nd Dakar Financing Summit for Africa's Infrastructure Development (DFS-2), which is being held on Thursday and Friday in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

The construction of the $3 billion JNHPP was concluded in October 2022, nearly three years after its beginning, through a joint venture of two Egyptian companies  the Arab Contractors Company and El-Sewedy Electric. The JNHPP was established with the aim to double Tanzania's energy production, control floods, and improve agriculture.

Madbouly also highlighted the importance of African countries sharing their experiences with each other. He pointed out to Egypt's "pioneering development experience in the field of infrastructure over the past eight years," highlighting that the investments in Egypt in the field of infrastructure "has amounted to nearly $ 170 billion."

This, the premier said, did not only contribute to the development of the existing infrastructure network and building New cities that attract investments, but also to providing about 5 million job opportunities for Egyptian youth.

He also called for exerting more efforts to mobilise financing for continental link projects within the framework of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africas second Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP 2), including the Victoria-Mediterranean naval linkage project.

The naval route linking Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean through the Nile River, which was launched in 2013, is one of the regional projects sponsored by the New Partnership for Africas Developments (NEPAD) Presidential Infrastructure Development Initiative.

Egypt is leading this project under the patronage of President El-Sisi with the participation of all Nile Basin countries, including Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.

Moreover, Madbouly tackled the role and responsibility of international partners and international financing institutions in bridging the financing gap in sustainable development projects and in reducing the debt burdens of the most affected countries, especially those developing countries whose debt rates have reached dangerous levels that exceed 250% of their revenues.

The World Bank statistics indicate that the African continent needs approximately $100 billion annually to bridge the financing gap associated with infrastructure projects, according to Madbouly.

In this context, he emphasised the importance of activating the African continents initiative to obtain a seat in the G20 economic group, as this would represent an opportunity for the voice of African countries to be heard, and for the formulation of policies more consistent with reality.

Madbouly also highlighted the significance of benefiting from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which entered into force in 2019 during Egypt's presidency of the African Union, pointing out that the benefits of the AfCFTA cannot be reaped without large investments that achieve continental connectivity. The premier added that Egypt attaches great importance to this issue in light of its current presidency of the Common Market For Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The AfCFTA agreement  which was signed in March 2018 in Rwanda and is the worlds largest free-trade area  came into effect on 1 January 2021. AfCFTA, which created a market of 1.2 billion people, is the eighth largest economic bloc in the world. It has a combined GDP of $3 trillion that is expected to more than double by 2050, according to the AU.

2nd Dakar Financing Summit

Madbouly left on Wednesday to Dakar leading a delegation comprising the ministers of electricity, housing, and transportation, as well as representatives of major Egyptian companies in the infrastructure domain.

Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad underlined the importance of Egypt's participation in the summit, which is in line with Egypt's policies to promote development efforts in Africa.

The summit will offer Egypt's private sector the opportunity to participate in infrastructure projects in Africa. It will also give Egypt the chance to review available investment opportunities before the international business community, especially in light of the participation of representatives of international financing institutions and development banks in the summit.

Madbouly is scheduled to deliver a speech on behalf of President El-Sisi and hold one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the summit which will be attended by a number of heads of state and governments, the spokesman said.

In press statements on Wednesday, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said the summit is part of a programme to develop infrastructure in Africa in accordance with the African Unions Agenda 2063.

President El-Sisi has asserted in recent comments that the African continent needs a fully-fledged international project to develop its infrastructure.

This project requires the mobilisation of resources and support from leading countries and global development experts, El-Sisi said.

The Dakar Summit is held under the leadership of Senegal President and Chairperson of the African Union Macky Sall.

The summit aims to mobilise key stakeholders around the efforts of the African Union and the African Union Development Agency to accelerate the implementation of priority regional infrastructure projects.

The stakeholders include African heads of state and governments, business executives, development Finance Institutions, private investors, institutional investors, and development partner institutions.
Several hundred people showed up on Saturday for an extreme right-wing commemoration banned by police that nevertheless led to a number of arrests, reports HVG.

The Budapest Police Headquarters (BRFK) announced on Friday that it had banned three gatherings planned to be held at the Buda Castles Vienna Gate to commemorate the so-called Day of Honor.



The Day of Honor commemorates an attempt on February 11, 1945 by encircled German and Hungarian troops in the Buda Castle to break out and attempt to reach the German front line. The day is usually considered one of the largest annual events for the Hungarian far-right.



Despite the ban, participants began showing up for the event anyway. At first, only 30-40 people appeared at the gathering that had been advertised to start at 1:00pm on Saturday, but their numbers gradually swelled to several hundred.



HVG reported that some participants even came from Germany for the event, and that Federal Police in Frankfurt had stopped two German neo-Nazis from traveling to Budapest for the Day of Honor commemorations.



During the day, police stopped and inspected 301 people in Districts I, II, and XII. Six people were arrested for possession of a device especially dangerous to public safety, and three men were arrested for disorderly conduct.



In a presumably-related incident, District II Mayor Gergely Orsi also wrote on Facebook that three innocent persons had been attacked in Buda on Saturday for no reason, with the attackers driven merely by extremist ideologies. Police detained the suspects of this attack, noted the Mayor.



MTI Photo: Tamas Kovacs
The State Opera is inviting non-Hungarians to apply to become the next head of the institution for a five-year term beginning in August.

Hungarian citizenship was a requirement in the first, failed, tender, but is no longer essential.



However, applicants must represent and research the traditions of Hungarian national opera performance. Bids must be submitted by March 13.



The Culture and Innovation Ministry announced in December that it would invite bids again for the post of general director of the Opera after a previous tender ended without any result and the ministry declared it invalid.



Culture and Innovation Minister Janos Csak said in an interview in early February that the two bids in the tender were too few, and said the new tender would be published in English.



As is common knowledge, Telex writes, the current general director Szilveszter Okovacs is known for supporting Fidesz. A spokesperson for the Opera has said that Okovacs will again bid for the post.
The German government is continuing to block Siemens Energy from delivering to Hungary the control system it is supplying for the new reactor blocks of the Paks nuclear plant, while the companys French partner, Framatome, has already approved it, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Paris.

The upgrade of the Paks plant is crucial for Hungarys energy security, Peter Szijjarto said after talks with French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher, according to a foreign ministry statement.



The control system for the new reactors is being supplied by a German-French consortium, Szijjarto said, adding that because this was legally considered dual-use technology, European regulations demand that their civilian use be approved by the national export authorities.



While Frances authority has approved it, Germanys has yet to do so, the minister said.



He praised Frances pragmatic approach to that matter, saying that nuclear energy was a sustainable, cheap, environmentally-friendly and efficient way of producing energy.



In contrast, the German government is continuing to block Siemens Energy from delivering the control system to the Paks plant in line with its contract, Szijjarto said.



This, he said, could be considered an attack on Hungarys sovereignty, arguing that energy security was an issue of sovereignty and determining a countrys energy mix was a national competence.



Szijjarto said Germanys foreign and economy ministers had no legal basis for blocking the delivery of the system and thereby endangering Hungarys future energy security.



Hungary and France are in a strategic agreement about the importance of nuclear energy, he said, adding that this was currently the most successful area of their bilateral cooperation.



He noted that the two countries had fought together against the discrimination of nuclear energy and had pushed for the European Union to recognise nuclear energy as sustainable.



We succeeded, and today we agreed to carry on with this strategic cooperation on nuclear energy, the minister said.



He said they were also in agreement that there was no point in imposing sanctions on Russias nuclear industry. Hungary would not have approved potential sanctions on nuclear cooperation anyway, Szijjarto said.



Were glad that France, too, believes that these types of measures would be pointless, he added.



Szijjarto called for maintaining professional cooperation with Russia on nuclear energy. Countries that can produce a major portion of their energy needs will have an advantage, and for us, this option is nuclear energy and the Paks upgrade, he said.
This is part of a series of in-depth interviews with some surprising members of the community, written by Marion Merrick.

I became British before I became a Hungarian citizen, states Agota  something she long ago gave up trying to explain to those unfamiliar with the complexities of central European history.



Agota was born in the small town of Szilagycseh (to Hungarians) or Cehu Silvaniei (to Romanians), in northern Romania.



I am Hungarian, but from Romania. Actually, for 32 years, I did not exist as a Hungarian according to my papers. I was born in a small town in the north of Transylvania called Szilagycseh, into the Hungarian minority  everyone in my family is Hungarian, and the language spoken at home is Hungarian. At school, I was enrolled in the Hungarian section of the school, so I was able to study in my mother tongue, apart from Romanian, of course.



It was a closely-knit community where Agota spent as much time at neighbours homes as in her own, and where if anyone had a problem, they could count on the help of others.



She goes on to explain the background to what outsiders sometimes find difficult to understand or sympathise with: You see, after WWII, borders moved and Hungarians were stripped of their Hungarian citizenship, often of their names, too.



My grandfather, for example, left Hungary to fight at the age of 17  he was taken prisoner of war  and by the time he got back, he was returning to Romania. His papers were all taken away and he was given Romanian documents in their place. His name was changed from Sandor to Alexandru. So, its no surprise that there is an exaggerated veneration for the Motherland among Hungarians living across the border.



During communism, when Agotas mother was en route from Romania to Czechoslovakia, she jumped off the motionless train which had made a stop at a station in Hungary, and ran down the platform, only to be able to experience what it had felt like to set foot on Hungarian soil.



Agota remembers the revolution in 1989 when Ceausescu was executed: I was too young to really understand, but we were just tearing out the first pages of all our school books  every one of them had a photograph of Ceausescu - we threw them on the floor and danced on Ceausescus face! she laughingly recalls.



Following her school studies, Agota was accepted to Babes-Bolyai University in Kolozsvar (Cluj Napoca) to study English and French Language and Literature.



Before I finished, I took a gap year and went to the UK to be an au pair near Southampton. And that was hard. She pauses.



People were very distant; building relationships was very difficult. It was hard to relate to people of my age, they were all kind, in a western way, but we had almost nothing in common. I was somehow able to relate more to the older generation, theyre the ones I remained friends with. My English mum, Beryl is 93!



After finishing her last year at university, Agota returned to England again for the summer to look after a friends children. Then one thing led to another, and I was offered a job.



Successive stints in a pub, in a Co-op and as a waitress eventually led to Agotas decision to undertake an MA in Applied Linguistics at Southampton University. That opened a lot of doors, she says.



She was offered a university post involving the teaching of English for Academic Purposes, assisting foreign students embarking on MAs or PhDs with their academic skills. I didnt plan to stay in the UK, that wasnt where I wanted to settle, but in the end, I was there for eight years, Agota says.



It was at this juncture that Agota applied for, and was granted, UK citizenship. She had also applied to become a Hungarian national, but by this time, she had decided to go and work in China, and was already in Suzhou when the invitation to a Citizenship Ceremony in London was sent  luckily, it proved possible to transfer it to Shanghai. So thats how I became British before I became Hungarian! Agota laughs.



Agota taught at Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University for three years; by then, she was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the pollution. She decided to move closer to home, and settled on Budapest.



Agota was a very well qualified teacher, though not a native speaker, but was not offered well-paid work opportunities. My name was too Hungarian to get decent jobs, she says, I felt humiliated in Hungary. Better paid teaching jobs, international schools and universities prefer native speakers. Thus, Agota started to teach English online to Chinese students living in China, instead.



She outlines a predicament with which others may also be familiar: I went from being the member of a minority in Romania to being an immigrant in England, to then being a British expat in China. The status of these is very, very different, the salaries are considerably different, and how people approach and speak to you is very different as well. I really have an insight into being regarded with respect  in China  to well, we really dont want you here, in England, and then to being told in Hungary that youre not good enough because your name is Hungarian.



Then came Covid, and Agotas thoughts turned to taking up some voluntary work involving children  something she had already done in the UK, in Kenya and in China.



Csaba Bojte is someone I have always admired, she says, talking of the Franciscan monk in Romania who founded childrens homes for those removed from their families. Agota established contact with his organisation and was soon teaching English online to teenagers in several homes, alongside her now full-time job at the International School of Budapest.



She soon enrolled a small team of like-minded English teachers, willing to give of their time alongside their jobs, and established her foundation, HEARTFELTENGLISH.



We teach English online to children from disadvantaged backgrounds with the aim of preparing them for the C1 Advanced English Language Exam. Our students are from Romania aged 12  22.



In our team, we have seven qualified teachers, and ten teacher assistants who are IB students in grades 11 and 12 at the International School of Budapest, where I teach English. Our Hungarian students are from the Szent Ferenc Alapitvany and our Romanian youngsters are from the state-run childrens home from Szilagycseh (Centrul Plasament Cehu Silvaniei).







English lessons at the summer school  Anna and Csilla during a vocabulary competition

We dont just teach English, she explains, theres a lot of pastoral care involved. Lack of confidence is a huge issue. Some of the children were not taken to school by their parents, thus they have fallen behind and have low self-esteem as regards, their English skills.



There are times I need to have conversations with the students to give them confidence to continue studying with us, which ordinarily their parents would have. Having worked with our students for over two years now, weve learnt that if we want to provide them with a unique programme that really meets their needs and supports them, we have to meet them where they are at first. Teaching English is the core element. But they need way more than that, and I strongly believe we can make it happen.



So, Id like to see HeartfeltEnglish grow.



Id like to be in a position where we can offer one-to-one tuition to each student, university preparation (i.e., career advice, essay writing, taking notes, presentation skills, and so on), psychological support including mindfulness training, and trips abroad to English speaking countries like the UK, South Africa, Australia or Canada.



In order to achieve these goals, we need teachers and teacher assistants (high school students who speak English at native, or near-native level), psychologists, people with fundraising expertise, advice on how to set up an NGO, and financial support.



All our teachers are volunteers, so to reward their work Id like to be able to offer them ongoing quality professional development, the opportunity to take part in a mindfulness course for their own well-being, and for them to be able to join us on our trips abroad.



Running a charity is very time-consuming, especially alongside a full-time job, however, for Agota this is unnegotiable.



It is easy when you know youve found your calling in life. I feel that all the experiences and skills I gained through my travels all around the world prepared me well for this mission. You know, when at the end of your online lesson you want to say goodbye and your student says: Can we chat a little longer.?, it doesnt matter that it is Friday 6pm and that on Saturday, you have your next online lesson with her older siblings at 8:30am, you stay a little longer. Because you want to. Because you believe that every child is a hope for this world.



I named the foundation HeartfeltEnglish since all our teachers are volunteers, everything we offer comes from the heart. Also, I am a qualified felter and fashion designer. I am inspired by Hungarian folk art and I recently won an award given by the Hungarian Heritage House.





Agotas winning entry for the Little Black Dress 2023 competition

(Courtesy Hagyomanyok Haza, Gabor Dusa/model: Imago Tanc Tarsulat)



Agota uses patterns and motifs she has discovered in her research into the Hungarian folklore of her home region in Romania, incorporating these into the clothes which she designs.

Summer School: teaching cookery vocabulary by baking yummy carrot cake muffins

Felted keyrings made by the children at the Summer School

Martika wetting the wool with warm soapy water, before felting

During our summer camps, I teach students how to felt, with the aim of raising funds by selling our finished articles. The students help me with the production of my designs, so these clothes can be sold at our yearly Fashion show. Were now planning our first Fashion show and weve been struggling to find an affordable venue. We would be incredibly grateful if anyone could help us with a centrally-located place!

Agota looks for people who share her vision and who can relate to her ideas; thus, in acknowledgement of all that has been accomplished with the help of Orsolya Szucs, her assistant founder, and their volunteers, she chose the following saying as the guiding motto for the HeartfeltEnglish community:



If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.



If you have some special expertise, or can help with a venue for the Fashion Show, or would like to help in any other way, please contact Szekely Agota at HEARTFELTENGLISH or at agota.szekely@heartfeltenglish.org



Marion Merrick is author of Now You See It, Now You Dont and House of Cards and the website Budapest Retro.
YORK  York University will host Holy Ghost Stories Live in the Bartholomew Performing Arts Center on Monday, March 13 at 7 p.m. Justin Gerhardt, creator of the acclaimed Holy Ghost Stories podcast, will usher guests into an enchanted encounter with the divine by way of immersive storytelling. With live accompaniment from gifted instrumentalists, Gerhardts performance allows guests to experience the stories of Biblical Scripture like they never have before.

Gerhardt is a chronically curious storyteller. In January of 2021, a shift in calling led him out of a job he loved and into a job that didnt yet exist  after 20 years of preaching and leading churches; Gerhardt began exploring new ways to share the ancient truths. Hes now the creator of the popular podcast Holy Ghost Storiesan immersive telling of the stories of the Old Testament.

Holy Ghost Stories fourth season premiered in January and told the story of the Exodus alongside an original score by acclaimed cellist/composer Kendall Ramseur. To cut costs (and have fun doing it) during the early days of HGS, Gerhardt and his family sold their home and cars and left the USA, moving slowly across the globe and living in tiny rental flats in South Africa, England, Croatia, Ireland, Greece, and Egypt. Recently, Gerhardt moved with his wife and two teenage daughters to the hills of Northwest Arkansas.

Gerhadt serves as the founder and president of Hazefire Studios, a nonprofit devoted to expanding the intersection of story and worship. Through Hazefire, Gerhardt and his wife (author JL Gerhardt) partner on projects like Holy Ghost Stories and Holy Ghost Stories Live. They also host workshops such as The Storied Family and The Storied Marriage and help equip creative teams around the world in the art of storytelling.

The general public is invited for an unforgettable night of story and song. Ticket cost is $5, pay online at york.edu./news or pay at the door.
BJP MP from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal recently raised the matter of exorbitant airfare on Delhi-Leh route in the Parliament. He also sought the government's intervention to redress the grievances of the stranded passengers immediately after closure of Srinagar-Leh road route resulted in airfare skyrocketing to over Rs 30,000 on Delhi-Leh route. In the last couple of days, airfare to Leh from Delhi has crossed Rs 30,000, that has led to many people being stranded in the Union Territory. Many people have reacted on social media platforms about the exorbitant price of the air ticket to Leh.

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.

In Parliament, Ladakh MP @jtnladakh raised the matters of Exorbitant Airfare and frequent Air Services to Leh, Nubra, and Kargil. Sought Govt's intervention to redress the grievances of the stranded passengers immediately.



Watch the video: https://t.co/PVvpU5Pugp@JM_Scindia pic.twitter.com/QkGIGWZOqy  Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (@jtnladakh) February 13, 2023

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.

Dilli Bahoot Door Hai!

For a whole week Del-Leh airfares r above Rs 33000 when all roads r 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!@JM_Scindia @AmitShah @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/h8KkVUZ2FC February 13, 2023

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.

With IANS inputs
New Delhi: The post-mortem reports of 25-year-old Haryana woman Nikki Yadav, who was allegedly strangled by her boyfriend with a charging cable, revealed her death occurred due to suffocation, news agency ANI said citing the Delhi Police sources on Wednesday. Nikki was found dead in a freezer at Delhi`s Mitraon village on Tuesday and was taken from Rao Tularam Memorial Hospital to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for a post-mortem on Wednesday.

What Does Post-Mortem Report Say?

According to the Police Sources, the post-mortem reports have revealed that she died because of suffocation. There were marks on her neck and no other injury marks were found on the body. According to doctors, when the body was in the fridge, it is difficult to tell the exact time of the death, because there is no natural process in the fridge. The viscera report has been preserved.

Shraddha Murder-Like Probe, Says Police

The Police sources further said the killing of a 25-year-old Haryana woman will be investigated on the lines of the Shraddha Walkar murder case and that evidence is being collected on the basis of forensic investigation, as was collected in the Shraddha murder case.

CCTV Footage Reveals Last hours Of Victim

In the CCTV cameras installed in the house where Nikki Yadav lived on rent in Delhi`s Uttam Nagar, it can be seen in the CCTV footage, that Nikki was seen going to the terrace at around 1 pm, and can be seen coming out the other day at around 9 pm. Nikki was living in this flat with one of her sisters for the last five months and accused Sahil Gehlot used to visit her regularly. She had told his neighbours that she was studying and mostly did not talk to the people there but the people present here have seen Sahil coming to her flat several times.

The post-mortem of the victim has been completed and the body of Nikki Yadav has been brought to the Mortuary in Delhi`s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. Soon her dead body will be handed over to her relatives and then the relatives will take the dead body to their ancestral residence in Jhajjar in Haryana.

Why Was Nikki Murdered?

Nikki was strangled to death allegedly by her live-in partner after she came to know of his impending marriage with another woman, police said. After his arrest on Tuesday, the accused Sahil Gehlot was presented before a Delhi court and sent to five-day police remand. DCP Crime Branch Satish Kumar said that the accused is on remand for five days and an inquiry is on to identify the route taken that night. "The accused is on remand for five days. Inquiry is on. Our multiple teams are working to identify the route taken that night. We are also scanning CCTV footage," said the DCP crime. Kumar further said that on February 9 there was an argument about his marriage and Sahil got and strangulated the victim with a mobile cable.

What Triggered The Crime?

The accused was getting engaged on February 9. The accused went to meet Nikki at her flat and left early in the morning, they went to many places in Delhi, during which there was an argument about his marriage. During this, he got angry and strangulated the victim with a mobile cable, said DCP Crime Branch. "After that, he kept the victim`s body in the refrigerator in a dhaba in Mitraon village in Najafgarh area and then the accused went to his marriage. We are investigating deeply about this case," he added.

Delhi Police Crime Branch, meanwhile, said it has recovered the car in which Sahil allegedly murdered Nikki. He also transported her mortal remains to the dhaba (eatery) in the same vehicle, police added. According to the police, Nikki was putting pressure on Sahil after learning that he was going to marry another woman.

DCW Steps In

Taking suo-moto cognisance of the murder, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday issued a notice to the police. The DCW in the notice said, "The commission has sought the copy of FIR and the details of the accused arrested in the matter. Whether any other accomplice was also identified? If yes, please provide details of the same."

"As per media reports, the accused killed the girl in a car near ISBT, Kashmere Gate by strangulating her. Thereafter, the accused drove the car with her body to Najafgarh and hid the body in a refrigerator at a dhaba," read the DCW notice issued to the Deputy Police Commissioner of the Delhi Police`s Crime Branch.

Highlighting the matter as "very serious", the DCW has sought the details of the action taken report and the details of any missing complaint received by Delhi Police from the family of the deceased girl along with details of action taken thereon, by February 17.
New Delhi: The CBSE Class 10th and Class 12th Board exams began today (February 15, 2023) across as many as 7,250 centers in India and 26 countries abroad.

The exams, for which around 38,83,710 students have registered, began at 10.30 am.

Delhi | Students arrive at schools as #CBSEBoardExam2023 for classes 10th and 12th begins today, 15th February.



Visuals from Guru Harkrishan Public School. pic.twitter.com/Wc4HPSSdrG  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

Chennai | CBSE Board exams for classes 10th and 12th have commenced today



Visuals from D.A.V Boys Senior Secondary School, Gopalapuram. pic.twitter.com/q1zm0sxfHO  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2023

While CBSE Class X examinations will be held for 16 days and will get over on March 21, Class XII exams will be conducted for 36 days and will conclude on April 5.

CBSE Class 10th, 12th Board Exams 2023: ChatGPT among prohibited items

The use of Artificial Intelligence-based ChatGPT has been prohibited in Class 10 and Class 12 board exams by CBSE.

"Mobile, ChatGPT and other electronic items will not be allowed in the examination hall," according to instructions issued by the board ahead of the papers.

The use of ChatGPT will amount to using unfair means in the exam, the CBSE officials said.

"Students are not allowed to carry any electronic devices inside the exam center. This includes using the device to access ChatGPT so that unfair means is not used," an official said.

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) was launched in November 2022 and is capable of generating speeches, songs, marketing copy, news articles, and student essays or human-like text based on the input it is given.

The new artificial intelligence (AI) system, known as a large language model (LLM) is designed to generate human-like writing by predicting upcoming word sequences.
Egypt's permanent delegation to the United Nations received on Thursday the rotating chairmanship of the UN African Group in New York for February 2023, following the end of the Senegalese presidency of the group for January 2023, a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

"It is my pleasure to assume the chairmanship of the African Group in New York for the month of February. The African Group is a vital forum through which our continent advances its interests and priorities at the UN system, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN in New York and the current chairperson of the group Osama Mahmoud Abdel-Khalek was quoted as saying by the African Union (AU) website.

The discussions of the African Group, which consists of the 54 AU member states at the UN, revolve around issues relevant to the continent such as health, migration, peace, and security among others, according to the groups page on the AU website.

I intend to build on the stellar job done by my predecessors and to further push for African positions across all work streams of the UN, the chairperson said, according to the ministry's statement.

Abdel-Khalek said that Egypts chairmanship of the group comes within the framework of its active role in promoting the African continents presence and interaction in the various fields of work of the UN, and advancing the interests of the continent and its peoples, especially in priority issues, foremost of which are peacekeeping, peace-building, development, confronting climate change, and others.

Abdel-Khalek indicated that the African Group has a number of major commitments within the negotiating tracks at the UN, including the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, the Summit of the Future, the high-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, the ministry statement reported.

The member states in the UN General Assembly are divided into various geographical groupings through which elections are conducted into various UN bodies and agencies.

The African Group holds regular meetings to receive briefings from guests and UN officials and discuss UN resolutions and topics so a common African position can be reached, according to the AU website.

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The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday unveiled its electric vehicle (EV) policy 2023 which aims to garner investments to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore and generate 1.50 lakh jobs, in a boost to the EV industry. Chief Minister M K Stalin formally released the new policy in the presence of government officials at the Secretariat here. The policy was launched in the backdrop of the government expecting battery operated vehicles to play a crucial role in the electrification of last mile connectivity.





"To support this goal, Tamil Nadu aims to electrify the vehicular fleets operating in the State by leveraging its vibrant automotive ecosystem comprising original equipment manufacturers, auto component ancillaries, highly skilled workforce and robust R&D capabilities," the policy document said.During the last five years, the state has transformed into a leading EV manufacturing hub with new entrants including Ather Electric and Ola Electric having set up their production facilities.According to the policy, Tamil Nadu has signed memorandum of understandings with companies committing investments of nearly Rs 24,000 crore and employment potential of 48,000 jobs in the EV value chain.The state government is cognizant of the sectoral challenges and seeks to address these through interventions mapped out across the supply, demand and ecosystem segments in this policy."Tamil Nadu has a vision of attracting Rs 50,000 crore worth of investments in EV manufacturing, creation of 1.5 lakh new jobs, and development of a robust EV ecosystem in the State," the document read.The new policy shall be valid for a period of five years. It also mentioned that the government would encourage adoption of electric vehicles in the state with 100 per cent road tax exemption among others."100 per cent road tax exemption will be provided till December 31, 2025 for the EV battery operated vehicles -- two wheelers, private cars, three-seater auto-rickshaws, transport vehicles, light goods carriers."The state government would develop industry-academia linkages to create a skilled workforce pool for EVs besides promoting Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli as pilot cities for implementing 'e-mobility solutions'.The policy also proposes to support electrification of commercial and public transport fleets. It offers several incentives to companies engaged in manufacturing of EVs including, 'reimbursement of SGST', turnover-based subsidy and capital subsidy.Electric vehicle projects undertaken by the company would be entitled to 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty on purchase or lease of land obtained from the government. State Transport Undertaking operated buses which constitute a substantial percentage of the public transport India would be electrified through a phased augmentation and replacement plan. "The state shall endeavour to increase the share of electric buses to 30 per cent of the fleet by 2030", the policy said.
New Delhi: Lady Gaga sets social media on fire as her first look from `Joker: Folie a Deux` tickled fans` curiosity across the globe. Director Todd Phillips has shared a new look from "Joker: Folie a Deux," depicting star Joaquin Phoenix in the arms of Gaga.

"Happy Valentines Day," Phillips wrote in the caption. It`s the first time that the makers revealed the look of Gaga from the film. Gaga also shared the image on her own Instagram account, reported Variety.

Fans flooded the comment section of Gaga with their ecstatic comments. Many of them predicted that `Oscar coming`...Gaga is reportedly playing a version of the DC Comics character Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who finds herself smitten with the Joker before taking on his villainous ways. Margot Robbie had previously portrayed Quinn in the "Suicide Squad" films and "Birds of Prey." Kaley Cuoco voices the character on the ongoing HBO Max animated series "Harley Quinn."

Gaga announced that she is going to be a part of "Joker" sequel last August. The film has been described as a musical.

Phillips` original "Joker" was a critical and commercial hit in 2019, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in history. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was a major competitor at the year`s Academy Awards, earning 11 nominations. Phoenix won his oscar for best actor and Hildur Gudnadottir for best original score for `Joker`.

The dramatic success of "Joker" quickly spurred speculation regarding a sequel. Although the landscape of DC media has shifted in the years since the original film, Phillips` project has remained largely untouched by the newly formed DC Studios and its co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The "Joker" sequel will not play a role in the narrative continuity of other upcoming DC films, reported Variety.

Warner Bros. will release "Joker: Folie a Deux" in theatres on October 9, 2024 -- five years to the day after the release of the first film.
New Delhi: The AAP's Delhi Legal Cell held a demonstration outside the LG House here on Wednesday, alleging that Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has been causing "problems" in the implementation the city government's welfare schemes. It also attacked the BJP and the lieutenant governor on the MCD mayoral election and said they were "obstructing" the conduct of the poll.

The mayoral election for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been stalled thrice since the civic body polls in December last year due to ruckus by AAP and BJP members in its House.

AAP Legal Cell     | LIVE https://t.co/yuTjK51vGc  Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) February 15, 2023

On February 13, the Supreme Court observed that nominated members of the MCD cannot vote in the election even as the poll scheduled for February 16 was postponed again.

"The lawyers of Delhi have been silent and carrying out their duties for several years now, but the way the LG in Delhi has been obstructing the works of the Delhi government and causing them problems in the implementation of welfare schemes, we have all decided to hit the streets in protest," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Legal Cell president and advocate Sanjeev Nasiar said.

"Our only demand is that the LG, who holds a constitutional post, should follow the laws written in the Constitution of India, while carrying out his functions," he said.

In a statement, the legal cell of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said that it was also "upset" with the handling of the mayoral elections of the MCD, and by the LG's decision to allow the 10 nominated councillors (aldermen) to vote in the election.

"When mayoral candidate Dr. Shelley Oberoi raised this issue in the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court stated that the LG and the pro-tem speaker were wrong. The Supreme Court stopped the nominated councillors from voting," the cell claimed.

It demanded the removal of the Delhi LG. "The current LG has disobeyed the mandate of the people of Delhi and therefore, a new LG should be selected and that candidate should be willing to follow the norms laid out by the Constitution of India," the statement said.

The LG office and the city government have been locked in a tussle over various issues, including the government's proposal to send teachers of state-run teachers to Finland for training.
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned seven new battalions and an operational border base with a fresh strength of 9,400 personnel for the India-China LAC guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), officials said. The proposal was cleared after the meeting of the cabinet that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to the government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen 'staging camps' or troops bases along this frontier. The armies of India and China are engaged in a standoff in Ladakh since 2020.

The about 90,000 personnel strong ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked to guard the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India's eastern flank.

The situation along the LAC has remained tense and the same has been confirmed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar time and again.

India and China held a fresh round of high-level military talks on December 20 with a focus on resolving the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh. A joint statement said the talks were "frank and in-depth" keeping in line with the guidance provided by the leaders of the two countries to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.

"The 17th round of India-China Corps Commander level meeting was held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side on December 20," Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a media briefing, reading from the statement.
4Doctor Marketing, a Leading Healthcare Marketing Agency based in Gurgaon, has been awarded the "Best Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency in India" at the prestigious event 'Second Annual Edition of World Signature Awards 2023'.

The event was held on 28th January 2023 in Novotel Goa. The award was presented by Soha Ali Khan, the chief of honour of the event, who even graced the event with her presence.

This recognition is a testament to 4Doctor Marketing's commitment to providing innovative and result-oriented digital marketing solutions to healthcare companies. With its expertise in digital marketing, 4Doctor Marketing has provided website development and digital marketing services to 50+ medical experts.

These awards are a push and motivation given to the industry leaders to recognize them for the efforts they are putting in and the kind of impact it is having on everyone around. Every year, multiple titles are given to experts in different industries with the hope that they continue to outperform

From team 4Doctor Marketing, Sachin Gupta collected the award and said, "On behalf of the team, we are honoured to receive this award, and we couldn't have done it without our talented team's hard work and dedication. We will continue striving to deliver the best possible results to our medical clients and maintain our position as the best healthcare digital marketing agency in Gurgaon. The entire team has tried not to leave a single stone unturned in helping healthcare firms to transform digitally, which can scale their business 10x times. We are also very thankful to the whole team who has been a pillar to us. It is the group efforts of our team that have added another prestigious title to our list of awards."

About 4Doctor Marketing:

4Doctor Marketing is a venture by SEO Tech Experts - A renowned digital marketing agency that has been ranked as the #1 agency for years. 4Doctor Marketing is known to be a leading service provider of multiple healthcare digital marketing services.

The experts here have been helping medical practitioners and firms, including pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic centres, hospitals, nursing homes, dentists, physicians and other healthcare organizations, to scale digitally and help them get new leads.

4Doctor Marketing, as the name suggests, is the ideal solution for all healthcare professionals in fields like cardiology, neurology, dermatology, oncology, pediatrics, anesthesiology, gynecology, and otolaryngology to move digital and grow their businesses. Small clinics to large scale hospitals may take the advantage of Digital marketing services to boost their revenue and enhance online visibility.

Some reasons why every healthcare firm should choose 4 Doctor Marketing are:

Excellent case studies : It is the work that speaks volumes. In the past, the experts at 4Doctor Marketing have helped healthcare firms reach from 1 to 100 sales in just a few months.

: It is the work that speaks volumes. In the past, the experts at 4Doctor Marketing have helped healthcare firms reach from 1 to 100 sales in just a few months. Multiple locations : The services offered are PAN India covering significant areas like Mumbai, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Noida, Delhi etc., and in the coming months, the plan is to expand internationally starting from Dubai

: The services offered are PAN India covering significant areas like Mumbai, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Noida, Delhi etc., and in the coming months, the plan is to expand internationally starting from Dubai Team of renowned names: On board, prominent names are the faces of the healthcare industry and can provide expert advice.

(Above mentioned article is a sponsored feature, This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever.)
New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday accused the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of unleashing "venomous" reporting against India and alleged that it is a "most corrupt corporation" whose propaganda and the Congress' agenda go together. Addressing a press conference soon after the Income Tax survey operations at the British broadcaster's offices in Mumbai and Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia asserted that the action was lawful.

"If any agency or company operates in India whether it is connected to media or other work, it will have to abide by the local laws," he said.

He rejected the Congress' and other opposition parties' criticism of the Income Tax Department's action, asking why they are giving the BBC a clean chit and questioning the probe agency when its investigation has not reached a conclusion yet.

"Why can't they wait? Why is the Congress always standing with the anti-national forces," Bhatia said, describing it a routine survey and claiming that the broadcaster was issued a notice earlier and the survey came after the organisation did not respond to it.

ALSO READ | US Reacts to Income Tax Surveys at BBC's Delhi, Mumbai Offices, Says 'We Support...'

He rejected the opposition's criticism of the action and said the government agency should be allowed to do its job. The "timing of the action was not decided by any government or outside power", Bhatia claimed and added that the opposition should refrain from politicising the issue.

Hitting out at the London-headquartered public broadcaster, he said the BBC is the "most corrupt" organisation in the world and the Congress should remember that former prime minister Indira Gandhi had also banned the broadcaster.

The BJP leader further claimed that the BBC has a "tainted and black history of working with malice against India". "BBC propaganda and Congress agenda go together. Congress should remember that its own leader and former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a ban on the BBC," he said.

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, Bhatia said.

"This shows that the BBC does venomous and shallow reporting on India. The BBC wishes to operate in India yet refuses to respect the icons of the country. In a BBC programme, its presenter had the temerity to say that Mahatma Gandhi had failed in his attempt to liberate India in 1946," Bhatia said.

ALSO READ | UK Closely Monitoring Income Tax Surveys at BBC's India Offices

To buttress his point, the BJP spokesperson said former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher described the BBC as "Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation". The news broadcaster should definitely pay heed to the words of UK's longest serving prime minister, he said.

Bhatia said India is a country that gives opportunity to every organisation and individual as long as they are willing to abide by the Constitution and do not have hidden agendas and "spew venom" against the country.

At a time when India is marching ahead globally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, there are many powers which do not like it, Bhatia said, claiming that the Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties also feel "pained" by the country's rise under Modi.

Accusing 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 such as 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's offices, saying while they were demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue, the Centre is after the BBC.

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a survey operation at BBC's 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.
New Delhi: A 25-year-old man was stabbed to death in Delhi's Nangloi area on Tuesday evening. According to the victim`s family, the incident took place as an aftermath of road rage. The deceased has been identified as Sahil Malik, 25, who was allegedly thrashed by a group of men following an argument. Khaleel Malik, uncle of the deceased while talking to news agency ANI said, "Vishal (Sahil`s elder brother) was returning from his gym when his bike "touched" a standing minibus near the Nangloi metro station, following which the two parties got involved in an argument after which the alleged persons thrashed him." "My nephew Vishal Malik was returning from a gym when he had an argument with an RTV bus driver over some issue. They were 8-10 people & who thrashed him," victim's uncle said.

He further alleged that the police also did not help Vishal when he approached them to get his bike from the spot at the police station. "The police denied to accompany Vishal to get his bike from the spot and asked him to go himself. It was at this time, Vishal called his younger brother Sahil and asked him to pick up the bike from the spot and come to the police station. When Sahil reached the spot with his friend Danish the men attacked him with a knife," Khaleel Malik alleged adding that the doctors had declared Sahil dead.

Also Read: Increasing Road rage cases in India: Implement mental health certificate for driving licence, says Psychologists

Meanwhile, one of Sahil`s friends, who is an eyewitness in the case, Danish said that "we both had gone to pick up Vishal`s bike when several men came out suddenly and stabbed Sahil to death as we both were taking pictures of the bike."

"We reached there via rickshaw when suddenly eight to ten men came and stabbed Sahil at the time when we were taking pictures of the bike. I tried to save him, but failed," Danish said.However, the police have taken up the matter and detained three persons. The search for other individuals involved in the murder is underway.More details are awaited.

"He left his bike there & managed to escape. He went to Nangloi PS & sought help but the police didn't help him. Later he called his brother Sahil & asked him to bring the bike. When Sahil went there, they attacked him with a knife & he died on spot", news agency ANI quoted Malik as saying.
New Delhi: Seven new battalions of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be raised and a 4.1-km tunnel to provide all-weather connectivity to the border areas of Ladakh built with the government giving its approval on Wednesday, in a major move to bolster the country's defense along the China border. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the proposal for hiring 9,400 fresh personnel for raising seven new border battalions apart from a new operational base for the ITBP, which guards the 3,488-km-long India-China border ranging from the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh. The new personnel will be stationed mainly in Arunachal Pradesh.

The government decisions come amid the India-China military standoff along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh that erupted in May 2020 and scuffles in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh in December last year.

The ITBP proposal was cleared during the CCS meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Information and Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur told reporters. The new battalions and the sector headquarters are expected to be put in place by 2025-26, he said.

The Union Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi gave its nod for the construction of the 4.1-km Shinkun La tunnel on the Nimu-Padam-Darcha road link to provide all-weather connectivity to the border areas of Ladakh. Thakur said the tunnel will be completed by December 2025 at a cost of Rs 1,681 crore.

The tunnel will provide all-weather road connectivity to Ladakh and this will be the shortest route to the border areas of the union territory, he said.

"The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today approved the Shinku La tunnel for the Ladakh area which will provide all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region with the entire country.

"This (project) is also very important as far as the security and safety of the country are concerned... It will also help in the movement of our security forces in that region," he added.

Sources said the tunnel project is a significant step in terms of security perspective as Nimu in Ladakh is close to Kargil as well as Leh and will help the armed forces in quicker deployment of forces and equipment in the region if there is any tense situation.

The ITBP, which has about 90,000 personnel in its ranks, was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression. According to the government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen 'staging camps' or troops bases to be created along the LAC, largely in Arunachal Pradesh.

In order to ensure effective guarding of the LAC, these new bases were sanctioned in 2020 and now seven battalions comprising about 9,400 personnel and a new sector headquarters have been approved, a senior officer said. Thakur said a non-recurring expenditure of Rs 1,808.15 crore is estimated to be spent for land acquisition, creation of office and residential buildings, and arms and ammunition while there will be a recurring annual expenditure of Rs 963.68 crore under the salaries and rations head for the fresh manpower.

Officials said the creation of 47 new border posts will lead to a 26 per cent increase in the strength of these bases while the induction of 9,400 fresh personnel will enhance the force's strength by 10 per cent. The force has 176 border posts at the LAC currently.

Before the new tunnel project in Ladakh, Thakur noted that the Atal tunnel was inaugurated and dedicated by Prime Minister Modi. The Atal tunnel links Manali to Leh and provides all-weather connectivity throughout the year.

Another tunnel which is under construction is the Zojila tunnel on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh national highway which will be dedicated soon. Thakur said after the Shinkun La tunnel is built it will help connect the Ladakh area, especialy the Zanskar valley, with the entire country.
New Delhi: Continuing its tirade against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Congress on Wednesday condemned the Income Tax survey at the BBC's offices and said that the incident has damaged Indias global image at a time when the country is hosting the G-20. Leading the attack, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said anyone questioning Prime Minister Modi about his past is "raided" and accused the government of demolishing the fourth pillar of democracy.

The Income Tax Department survey operation against BBC India continued for the second day on Wednesday with sleuths understood to be making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organisation.

The Indian media has been repeatedly "strangulated, muzzled and bulldozed" by the Modi government, just because some of them, a very small number, have refused to toe the line of the BJP, he alleged.

"When Modi ji was dreaming of becoming the prime minister of the country, then he was a dedicated follower of the same BBC," Khera told reporters here. "Demolishing the fourth pillar of democracy has now become a mundane thing in 'New India'. Modi ji had promised to run 'Start Up India', but in 'amrit kaal' it has become 'Shut Up India'," the Congress leader said.

Yes, India is the mother of democracy. But the @PMOIndia is the father of hypocrisy. https://t.co/FWXgBCfVsF February 15, 2023

This year, it is India's turn to host the G20, which is a big event, and "what image of India is Modi ji presenting to the world with this raid?" he asked. "By giving the slogan of 'Mother of Democracy', he himself has become the 'father of hypocrisy'," Khera said.

The Congress spokesperson said Prime Minister Modi has received several awards from foreign entities and has publicly touted these. But when some foreign entities criticised him, they were raided or termed "anti-national", Khera said.

When Prime Minister Modi's past is exposed by the BBC, "then he uses investigation agencies as his 'frontal organisations' to raid an international media outlet", he said. "This is particularly perturbing for India's image because we are hosting the G-20 Summit and the Modi government is going gaga over it (G-20)," Khera said.

"What kind of justice is this Modi ji? If you get an award then boast about it using your PR (public relations) machinery to the whole wide world, and if the same media outlets, if the same international media sets your 'record' straight, then you unleash your arrogance of power," the Congress leader said.

The tax department had launched surveys on Tuesday at the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices along with at least two linked premises as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion against the British broadcaster in India. The action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question".
Shillong (Meghalaya): BJP national president JP Nadda on Wednesday released the manifesto for the upcoming Meghalaya Assembly polls in the state capital Shillong. Elaborating on the manifesto titled 'eMpowered Meghalaya', Nadda said the 'M' in its name signifies "Modi for Meghalaya". Speaking at the unveiling of the party's poll pledges, the BJP national president said the potential of the Northeast state, which is rich in culture and tradition, hasn't been suitably harnessed and utilised to date. He said there is a lot to be done in the state as there is plenty of scope for development. "Corruption is also a major issue, which has posed a hindrance to the development of Meghalaya," Nadda said.

BJP National President Shri @JPNadda releases Bharatiya Janata Party's Manifesto for Meghalaya Assembly Elections 2023. pic.twitter.com/ZEVvy7nWgt  BJP (@BJP4India) February 15, 2023

He added that the BJP wants to work towards a corruption-free Meghalaya by delivering strong governance.

He added that a strong Meghalaya could only be created by a strong BJP government. "We need to raise visions of Mega Meghalaya, we have to think big. Speed, scale, and skill, all have to come together if we are to take Meghalaya to its promised state," the BJP national president said.

During the release of BJP's manifesto for Meghalaya Assembly Election 2023. https://t.co/tKYt1BibgM  Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) February 15, 2023

While stressing the imortance of the state machinery in bringing these changes, he said it is also important for the people to be content with the administration. "To ensure that this happens, we have promised in our manifesto to implement the 7th Pay Commission in Meghalaya and disburse salaries on time," Nadda added.

The BJP will enhance the benefit under the Centre's flagship 'Kisan Samman Nidhi' scheme by adding Rs 2,000 to the already allocated amount of Rs 6,000 annually.

"For women empowerment, we have promised to introduce the 'Ka Phan Nonglait' scheme for our mothers, sisters, and daughters. It is named after the first freedom fighter in the Khasi Hills. At the birth of a girl child, a bond of Rs 50,000 will be provided to the family and the child will be provided with free education from KG to PG", he said, adding that 2 free LPG cylinders would also be provided annually for the beneficiaries of the 'Ujjawala' scheme.

Special Economic Zones will be established for the empowerment of youth and many industrial units will be set up in the state to generate employment opportunities, he added.

A scheme to provide annual financial assistance of Rs 3,000 to landless farmers and an annual grant of Rs 6,000 for fishermen will also be implemented, if the BJP comes to power, Nadda said.

"In order to empower widows and single mothers, we will also launch a support scheme under which financial assistance of Rs 24,000 will be provided annually," he added.

Pension for senior citizens will also be doubled, Nadda said, adding that income support would also be provided to women. A Special Task Force, under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge, will also be formed to investigate all corruption cases in the state, Nadda said. He added that the BJP will make Meghalaya a `peaceful, developed, and prosperous' state.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien released their party`s manifesto for the Meghalaya polls, assuring implementation of all its poll promises within 100 days if it comes to power. Meghalaya will go to polls on February 27 along with Nagaland. The counting of votes, along with those of Tripura, will be done on March 2.
Thirteen Egyptian businesswomen made it to the Forbes Middle East 100 Most powerful businesswomen 2023 list this year.

The list was prepared by the famous financial magazine's Middle East edition according to the size of the business, the individuals impact and achievements, performance over the last year, and the scope of CSR and other initiatives led by the person.

The 100-entry list included 104 women from 27 different sectors and 27 nationalities.

The UAE and Egypt scored the most entries at 15 and 12, respectively, followed by Saudi Arabia (11) , Kuwait (eight), and six from each of Lebanon, Qatar and Oman.

Egyptian businesswomen are no strangers to the list, having topped the list in previous years in terms of the number of entries.

In 2021, Egyptian businesswomen topped the list with eight entries, and in 2022 they had seven entries.

Below Ahram Online sheds light on the Egyptian businesswomen who made it to the list:

Dalia El-Baz (13th on the list)

An American University in Cairo alumna, El-Baz is the executive deputy chairman of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE).

El-Baz, who has been on the list before, posseses 28 years of experience in the banking sector.

She joined Egypts largest bank in terms of assets in 2008 as head of the operational risk management group, becoming Chief Operating officer (COO) in December 2015.

In 2016, she was appointed on the banks executive committee.

In September 2017, she became the first woman to become the executive deputy chairman of the NBE.

Pakinam Kafafi (21st on the list)

A Cairo University graduate, Pakinam Kafafi started her career in finance and banking at EFG-Hermes in the mid-1990s, rising to the position of vice president in 2000.

She then moved to the oil and energy sector.

In 2003, Kafafi was appoointed the strategy and investment general manager of Gas & Energy Group (GENCO).

When Citadel Group acquired GENCO and merged it with TAQA Arabia, Kafafi maintained her role.

In April 2013, Pakinam Kafafi was selected as the companys CEO.

Rawya Mansour (27th on the list)

A Cairo university graduate, Rawya Mansour proved herself one of Egypts leading businesswomen.

Mansour is a descendant from one of Egypt's oldest families in the field of business.

In 1999, she founded RAMSCO for Refined Architecture and Interior Design.

In 2007, she started RAMSCO for Trade and Distribution.

She also established the Organic Agriculture for Social International Solidarity (OASIS) in Monaco in 2012.

Reem Asaad (39th on the list)

An Egyptian American, Reem Asaad is a Harvard business school graduate who continued her career in Egypt when she served as the CEO of Raya Data Center from January 2012 till December 2016.

From January 2017 to February 2020, Asaad served as Raya Contact Center CEO befor

In 2020, she was appointed Cisco Middle East and Africa Vice President.

Cisco employs 3,000 people and contractors in 74 countries across the Middle East and Africa.

In March 2021, she was appointed by Egypts Minister of Communications and Information Technology to serve on the board of directors for the countrys Information Technology Industry Development Agency.

Hend El-Sherbini (42nd on the list)

A graduate of Cairo University, Dr Hend El-Sherbini is a professor of clinical pathology at the Universitys Faculty of Medicine.

El-Sherbini served as the CEO of Al-Mokhtabar between 2004 and 2012.

She has been seving as IDH Groups CEO since 2012.

IDH has a network of 546 branch labs as of September 2022 in Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan and Pakistan.

The group recorded revenues of $281 million in 2021 and $143 million in the first nine months of 2022.

In August 2022, El-Sherbini increased her holdings in the group with 7.3 million additional shares through Hena Holdings.

Now, she owns 26.71 percent of the group.

Farida and Yasmine Khamis (43rd on the list)

The daughters of the famous Egyptian carpets tycoon, Farida and Yasmine Khamis are considered veterans of the Forbes list.

American University of Cairo alumni, Yasmine Khamis is currently the Chairwoman of Oriental Weavers Group, while her sister Farida is her vice-chair.

Both sisters made headlines last December when they transferred their combined 24.61percent stake in Oriental Weavers Carpet to London-based FYK limited, which is fully owned by them.

They are also board members of the British University in Cairo .

Mona Zulficar (48th on the list)

The famous renowned lawyer and human rights activist is the Forbes Middle East 100 women list veteran who has appeared constantly on the list since it started.

A Cairo University graduate, Zulficar is a veteran corporate, banking, and project finance attorney and human rights activist.

She cofounded Zulficar & Partners in 2009. Mona Zulficar chaired EFG Hermes Holding since 2008 and the Egyptian Microfinance Federation since 2015.

Mona Zulficar is currently a member of Egypts National Council of Human Rights.

Elham Mahfouz (56th on the list)

An AUC alumna, Elham Mahfouz has over 30 years of banking experience mostly in Kuwait.

Mahfouz has been the CEO of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait (Al-Tijari) since 2014.

Al-Tijari recorded $179 million in net profit and $14.1 billion worth of total assets in 2021.

Mahfouz is a member of the supervisory board of the American University of Kuwait.

Hilda Louca (62nd on the list)

A graduate of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, Transport and Maritime Transport, Hilda Louca is a newcomer to the list.

Louca started her career in Lufthansas customer service before moving to become a sales marking manager at Al-Ahram Beverage Company-Heineken Egypt for three years.

In 2018, she founded MITCHA - platform to support Egyptian designers.

Today, the platform features 200 designers and brands.

Omnia Kelig (84th on the list)

An AUC alumna, Omnia Kelig is a banking and cooperate financing veteran who started her career in the CIB in 1999.

Kelig is currently Deputy CEO, Chairwoman and Managing Director of NAEEM Holding, a dual-listed company on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market.

In the first nine months of 2022, NAEEM reported $8.2 million in total revenues and $273 million in assets.

Before joining NAEEM, Kelig was a founder and managing director of Viveris Mashrek, a subsidiary of Frances Viveris Management.

She was also a partner and director for Haykala Investment Management and a co-head of investment banking at Barclays Bank in Egypt.

Abir Leheta (87th on the list)

An AUC alumna, Abir Leheta is another veteran on the Forbes list.

Leheta joined the Egyptian Transport and Commercial Services Company EgyTrans in 1997.

She has been EgyTrans CEO since 2017.

She is also the chairman of Barwil Egytrans and ScanArabia.

Abeer Helmy Saleh ( 99th on the list)

An AUC alumna, Abeer Helmy Saleh previously held a number of managerial positions, including managing director and board member at Wafa Life Insurance Company and managing director of Bupa Egypt Insurance.

In March 2022, Saleh was appointed as a Board Member & Managing Director of Misr Life Insurance, Takaful, which was established as a joint venture between Misr Insurance Holding Company, the National Bank of Egypt, and Banque Misr, with a capital of over $5 million.

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Lucknow: Taking a dig at the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday said the self-immolation of a mother-daughter duo during an anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur Dehat has garnered more attention than the recent UP Global Investors Summit-2023. "The 'bulldozer politics' of the BJP government is taking the lives of innocent poor people which is very tragic. The government should change its anti-people approach," she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Bulldozers used for demolishing illegal buildings have been in hot discussion in the state, inviting the sobriquet of "bulldozer Baba" for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A 45-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter died after they immolated themselves during an anti-encroachment drive in a village in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, police said.

Mayawati said the tragic incident was in news than the 'much-publicized' global investors summit organised by the state government recently. She sarcastically asked, "How will the people benefit from such a situation?"

Police have booked 39 people, including a sub-divisional magistrate, four revenue officials, a police station head and several other cops, on murder and other charges in the incident.
New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule on Tuesday (February 14, 2023) heaped praise on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari and said that he is the "only member" of the Narendra Modi-led Union government who works. Sule, who was speaking at an NCP meeting in central Maharashtra's Parbhani district, said that Gadkari does not think of party affiliations while doing his job.

"The only minister who works in the current government is Nitin Gadkari, and I admit it on record," she said.

Unlike others, Gadkari does not think of party affiliations while doing his job, the Baramati MP added.

In a tweet on Tuesday, she also tagged Nitin Gadkari, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur, and requested him to direct concerned authorities to repair a section of road on a national highway in Maharashtra's Parbhani district.

Several Opposition leaders in the past have also praised Gadkari for the work he is doing as the Minister for Road Transport and Highways.

The ROB is an open truss web girder having a span of 201 Mtr and the Grade Separator is a Trumpet-2 Leg Interchange of length 200 and 229 Mtr. #PragatiKaHighway #GatiShakti #BuildingTheNation pic.twitter.com/0Yy54tAUuf  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 15, 2023

BJP leaders lie so blatantly that they should be given awards: Supriya Sule

Supriya Sule attacked BJP leaders, especially those in Maharashtra, and said that they "lie so blatantly" that they should be given awards.

"Which religious book teaches them this, I do not know. They will have to answer for this some day," she said.

Never expected this from Devendra Fadnavis: Supriya Sule on 2019 Maharashtra govt formation claim

Supriya Sule also expressed shock over Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' sensational claim related to the formation of a government in 2019 with NCP's Ajit Pawar and said she never expected something like this from the BJP leader.

Fadnavis on Monday claimed NCP president Sharad Pawar had backed his plan to form the government with his nephew Ajit Pawar that eventually collapsed just after three days in November 2019.

Sharad Pawar, however, denied Fadnavis' claim and said his assertion was based on "falsehood".

"I always considered Fadnavis as a civilised and cultured person. I never thought he would behave like this," Sule said when asked about the deputy CM's claim.

"Devendraji, this was not expected from you," the daughter of Sharad Pawar added.
New Delhi: After the death of a mother-daughter duo in Uttar Pradesh`s Kanpur during an anti-encroachment drive by the administration, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and said the `bulldozer policy` has become the face of the cruelty of the government. "When the arrogance of power takes away the right of the people to live, it is called dictatorship. My mind is disturbed by the incident in Kanpur. This `bulldozer policy` has become the face of cruelty of this government. India does not accept this," tweeted Rahul Gandhi. A 44-year-old woman and her daughter were killed after a fire broke out during an anti-encroachment drive at Marauli village of Kanpur Dehat region, the police said on Tuesday.

The deceased were identified as Pramila Dixit (44) and her daughter, Neha Dixit (22). The victims` family alleged that officials engaged in the drive set the house on fire when the mother-daughter duo were inside. Based on the allegations, a case has been registered against over a dozen people including sub divisional magistrate (SDM), station officer (SO), and Lekhpal.

Also Read: 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: Can Rahul Gandhi Emerge as PM Candidate After Bharat Jodo Yatra? Amit Shah Answers

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak spoke to the family of the victims via video call. The Deputy Chief Minister assured all possible help to the victims` family and strict action against the culprits. According to information, the incident took place in the Marauli village on Monday afternoon during a demolition action by a team of district administration against "illegal encroachment".

          ,           



                  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2023

The family members protested against the demolition drive and allegedly threatened to set themselves on fire to stop the removal action. This led to a scuffle between family members and officials, and during the ruckus a fire broke out and the entire house was gutted. There were four people inside the house at the time when the fire broke out, the exact cause of which was not clear.

"Two of them were killed, while others sustained burn injuries," officials said. Though the exact reason behind the fire was not clear, the victim family accused officials and anti-social elements of the area of deliberately setting their house on fire. Kanpur Police in an official note said that on the basis of the complaint by the victims` family, a case has been registered against more than 12 people including SDM, SO, and Lekhpal. Four locals, identified as Ashok Dixit, Anil Dixit, Nirmal Dixit, and Vishal Dixit have also been named in the FIR.

"There was a complaint lodged against Vishal Dixit (one of the accused named in the FIR) that he was trying to encroach upon the land belonging to village community. In connection with this, the administrative team reached the area to remove encroachment where the incident occured," the police said. Further investigation in the matter is underway.
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, an official said, days after a court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case. The Representation of the People Act lists offences which can lead to disqualification of legislators and states that anyone sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.

This is Khan's second disqualification from the Assembly and comes months after his father and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was disqualified from the legislature after his conviction in a hate speech case. The junior Khan represented Suar in Rampur district in the Assembly.

"Abdullah Azam Khan has been disqualified following the Moradabad court order sentencing him to two years (in jail) in a 15-year-old case. His seat has been declared vacant from February 13," a senior official of the Assembly said.

On Monday, the Moradabad court awarded the jail term to Abdullah Azam Khan and his father in the 2008 case.

They were sentenced under section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) over a dharna 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 CRPF camp in Rampur on December 31, 2007.

The court has, however, granted bail to both of them. The junior Khan was earlier disqualified from the Assembly in 2020 after the Allahabad High Court set aside his election. The disqualification was effective from December 16, 2019.

The Allahabad 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 Suar in 2017.

He again won from Suar in the 2022 assembly elections. In October last year, the senior Khan, who represented Rampur Sadar in the Assembly, faced disqualification after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.

In the by-poll held on the seat in December last year, BJP's Akash Saxena had defeated Khan's protege Asim Raza. Azam Khan had won the Rampur Sadar seat nine times since 1980.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to impose National Security Act (NSA) against those involved in unfair practices in the upcoming UP Board 2023 exams for Class 10 and 12, beginning from February 16. Moreover, FIRs will also be lodged against room invigilators and centre administrators found involved in the activities of cheating. According to the government spokesman, the chief minister has ordered the officers that static and sector magistrates should be appointed at each examination centre by the district magistrates. Last year, the board had suffered a major embarrassment after the English language question paper of Class 12 got leaked in 24 districts.

The spokesman said, "They will be required to report to the district inspector of schools along with the district magistrate after the examination is over so that daily activities can be monitored. On the other hand, for the first time, a separate room will be made apart from the principal`s room for monitoring of the exam."

Also Read: Will Yogi Adityanath Succeed Narendra Modi as Next Prime Minister? Uttar Pradesh CM Says This

In addition, the copies will be kept in a double lock cupboard and a CCTV camera will be placed for its monitoring round the clock.

After the appointment of room inspectors in all districts, they will be given strict training before the exam. The sector and static magistrates, centre administrators and external centre administrators will also be trained in the district.

Yogi Adityanath has directed that a separate strong room should be made for the safety of question papers having 24-hour deployment of two armed policemen with their CCTV monitoring.

He has also called for installing voice-equipped CCTV, digital voice recorders, router device and high-speed broadband connections at examination centres.

"Strict action should be taken against anyone who is absent during this period. In such a situation, the permission of the district magistrate or the additional district magistrate will be necessary while opening the question paper," the guidelines said.

This year, a total of 58,85,745 students, including 31,16,487 for Class 10 and 27,69,258 for Class 12, have registered for high school and intermediate examinations.

UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla said that of the total students, 32,46,780 are male and the number of female candidates is 26,38,965.

These candidates will take the exam at 8,753 exam centres, including 540 government, 3,523 private and 4,690 unaided colleges, spread across the state, he said.

Also, 170 candidates are inmates lodged in different prisons who too have registered for the exams. Of them, 91 have registered to appear in Class 12 exams while 79 have enrolled for Class 10 exams.

Meanwhile, a total of 936 examination centres have been identified as sensitive while another 242 centres have been declared highly sensitive by the board.

Arrangements have also been made for live monitoring through webcasting.

Besides, STF of UP Police and local intelligence unit (LIU) have also been roped in for monitoring sensitive and highly sensitive examination centres.
LUCKNOW: A video showing a scuffle between the supporters of Ayodhya seer Mahant Raju Das and Samajwadi Party leader Swami Maurya at a five-star hotel in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow surfaced on social media on Wednesday. The viral video shows supporters of Samajwadi Party leader and Ayodhya's Hanuman Garhi Mahant Raju Das jostling and fighting with each other during an event organised by a private TV news channel.

The scuffle reportedly broke out in the lobby of the hotel where both parties had come to attend the event. While Maurya accused Mahant Raju Das and Paramhans Das of assaulting him with a spear and sword, the seers said that they were assaulted by dozens of Samajwadi Party workers.

The video of the scuffle between the two sides is being widely shared on Twitter by several users.

Mahant Raju Das also said that he would file an FIR against Maurya and his supporters for assaulting him. Swami Prasad Maurya has been receiving criticism for his controversial remarks on the Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas. He was shown black flags in Varanasi recently and the controversy led to resentment within his own party over his remarks.

Supporters of Mahant Raju Das said that the seer was invited to attend a live debate. He had come to the spot with only 3-4 of his supporters while the SP leader was accompanied by dozens of people.

As the two sides faced each other, it is alleged that Mauryas men passed some objectionable comments on the seer which irked his supporters. All this resulted in a scuffle. However, the two sides later refuted the claims of instigating their supporters for violence.

It may be mentioned that Mahant Raju Das of Hanuman Garhi had announced a booty of Rs 21 lakh for the one who beheads Swami Prasad Maurya. Mahant was angry with the remarks made by Maurya against Ramcharitmanas and its writer Goswami Tulsidas.

Maurya - a former UP Minister and SP leader - had recently triggered a controversy by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas insulted a section of the society.

Despite his criticism, Maurya remained defiant and said, "I will continue to oppose the conspiracies of insulting tribals, Dalits, backwards and women in the name of religion. The way an elephant is unperturbed by barking dogs and does not change its path, I too will not change my stance towards getting dignity for those (tribals, Dalits, backwards and women)."

He was later appointed general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, which evoked a sharp attack from the BJP.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday the issues related to the Maharashtra political crisis, triggered by the differences in the Shiv Sena, are "tough" constitutional questions to decide as they have "very serious" ramifications for the polity. Expressing disagreement with the submission of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the issue is not merely an academic exercise.

"It's a tough constitutional issue to answer for this reason because the consequences of both positions have serious ramifications on the polity. If you take Nabam Rebia (2016 SC judgement) position, as we have seen in Maharashtra- it allows the free flow of human capital from one political party to another.

"On the other end is that even if the leader of the political party has lost his flock, he can hold it down. So, adopting it would mean ensuring a political status quo though the leader has effectively lost his or her leadership over a group of legislators if we go against Nabam Rebia. Whichever way you accept, both ends of the political spectrum have very serious consequences. Both are not desirable," the court observed.

In 2016, a five-judge constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case of Arunachal Pradesh, had held that the assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking removal of the speaker is pending decision in the House. The judgement had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, now the chief minister of Maharashtra. The Thackeray faction had sought their disqualification even while a notice of the Shinde group for the removal of Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal, a Thackeray loyalist, was pending before the House.

At the outset, Salve opposed the reference of the cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 judgment on the powers of assembly speakers to deal with disqualification pleas. Salve submitted before the bench, which also comprised justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, that the issues which have now transpired are such that there is no need for reference.

The anti-defection law is not a law for a leader who has lost the faith of his members, he said, adding these are delicate constitutional issues that should be resolved in a fit case where such issues arise. "Do such issues arise here? The answer is a resounding, 'no'," he said.

Salve said the issues for consideration, in this case, are an "academic exercise", especially after the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister following realisation that he will not pass the floor test.

"It's not academic. If there was no communication from Governor (for floor test), then Uddhav Thackeray wouldn't have resigned. If he had to face the assembly, he didn't have the numbers," the court responded.

Salve said the top court should not waste its "precious judicial time" in reconsidering the Nabam Rebia judgment. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for the Shinde faction, said internal dissent in a party is the essence of democracy and should be encouraged. "Internal dissent within a party is the essence of democracy. Merely because there is a struggle to remove the leader of a party doesn't mean that it is under Tenth Schedule (disqualification law). We are the Shiv Sena. We represent the overwhelming majority.

"We are talking about an internal dissent in a political party where an overwhelming majority is saying that we have lost faith in Mr Thackeray. Such internal dissents should be encouraged," he said. Kaul said a "hopeless minority" of MLAs met and passed a resolution removing Shinde as the leader.

"The impression being given to your lordships is that this is murdering democracy, this is leading to horse trading, toppling government. What needs to be addressed is that within your own party there is dissent. If a leader has lost confidence within party, how can he be CM?" Kaul submitted.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra Governor, also opposed any move to refer the matter to a larger bench. He said there should be compelling reasons and clear, cogent, and apparent errors for making a reference to a larger bench, especially considering that the judgment in the Nabam Rebia case was rendered by a constitution bench.

Mehta said the 10th schedule is not a weapon to stifle bonafide dissent but a tool to control unprincipled defection. "This is merely an academic exercise. The focal point of election law, that is the voter, finds no place in arguments. We don't have a two-party system. India is a multi-party democracy. Multi-party democracy means we are in the era of alliances. There are two types of alliances - pre-poll, and post-poll. Post-poll is usually an opportunistic alliance to increase numbers but a pre-poll alliance is a principled alliance.

"There was a pre-poll alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena. As Kihoto Hollohan's judgment explains, when you go before a voter, you don't go as an individual but as a representative with your shared belief or agenda. The voter doesn't vote for individuals but for ideology of the party," Mehta said.

The Solicitor General submitted that the leader of the party (Thackeray) formed a government with those against whom he fought in the election. The CJI then remarked," But Mr Mehta how can the Governor say all this on the formation of the government between Shiv Sena and BJP? The Governor should not enter the political arena." Mehta, who was representing the governor, said he was only pointing out facts for facilitating a constitutionally correct decision.

He said if a speaker is allowed to disqualify members on the basis of right to conscience, then such rights have to be revisited. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), objected to Mehta's submission.

On Tuesday, Sibal along with advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, had submitted it's time for a relook at the Nabam Rebia judgement as the Tenth schedule is being misused by all governments and has been used to further political immorality. The hearing will continue on Thursday when senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani will make submissions for the Shinde group.

The political crisis in the state had aggravated after the rebellion in the Sena and, on June 29, 2022, the apex court had refused to stay the direction of the Maharashtra governor to the 31-month-old MVA government to take a floor test in the assembly to prove its majority after which Thackeray quit office.

On August 23, 2022, a three-judge bench of the top court headed by then chief justice N V Ramana, since retired, had formulated several questions of law and referred to the five-judge bench the petitions filed by the two Sena factions raising several constitutional questions related to defection, merger and disqualification.

It had said the batch of petitions raised important constitutional issues related to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution pertaining to disqualification, powers of the speaker and governor and judicial review.

The apex court had said the proposition of law laid down by the constitution bench in the Nabam Rebia case stands on a contradictory reasoning which requires gap filling to uphold constitutional morality.

The 10th Schedule of the Constitution provides for prevention of defection of the elected and nominated members from their political party and contains stringent provisions against defections.
Mumbai: Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan on Tuesday celebrated Valentine`s Day with her family members away from the chaos.The `Laal Singh Chaddha` actor took to her Instagram and shared a picture on her stories which she captioned, "Sunset kisses on Valentines with Ma loves."In the pictures, Kareena could be seen posing with her younger son Jeh aka Jehangir Ali Khan, and her mother-in-law, legendary actress Sharmila Tagore.

Taking to Instagram, Saif Ali Khan`s sister Saba Pataudi also shared a couple of pictures which she captioned, "MY valentine`s day with the few loves of my life... I`m hiding behind the gorgeous girls n jeh today ..lol!"

Meanwhile, on the work front, Kareena will be seen sharing screen space with Tabu, Kriti Sanon and Diljit Dosanjh in a new film titled `The Crew`.The film is produced by the super-hit producer duo of `Veere Di Wedding`, Ektaa R Kapoor, and Rhea Kapoor.

Rajesh Krishnan has come on board to helm the project.As per a statement, `The Crew` is touted as a laugh-riot, set against the backdrop of the struggling airline industry. Three women, work and hustle to make it in life. However, their destinies lead to some unwarranted situations and they get caught in a web of lies. Apart from `The Crew`, she will be next seen in director Sujoy Ghosh`s thriller which is based on the book `The Devotion of Suspect X`.

It also stars Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat.Apart from that, she also has director Hansal Mehta`s next untitled film.
New Delhi: Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme 13th Installment update:-- Under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme (PM-KISAN), the central government provides benefits of Rs 6,000 every financial year to farming families by directly transferring the money to the their bank accounts. All the three installments of the current financial year have been transferred in the bank accounts of the farmers while it is believed that the next installment (13th installment) will on February 24.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojna 13th Installment to be released on February 24?

Although there has been no official confirmation regarding the release of 13th Installment of PM-KISAN, media reports are stating that money could be transferred on 24th February 2023 --the day when Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme completes 4 years.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojna

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the 12th instalment of financial benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. Modi transferred over Rs 16,000 crores to more than 10 lakh beneficiary farmer families on Monday, October 17.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi 13th installment Status Check

-Visit official PM KISAN website https://pmkisan.gov.in/ Portal

- You will see the map of India under Payment Success tab.

- On the right hand side, there will be a yellow coloured tab called "Dashboard"

- Click on Dashboard

- After clicking, you will be taken to a new page

- On the Village Dashboard tab, you will have to fill your complete details

- Select the state, district, Sub-District and Panchayat

- Then click on show button

- After this you can choose your details



Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme Details

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme, was launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions.

Under the Scheme, the amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Who are eligible to get benefits under the PM-KISAN Scheme?

All landholding farmers' families, which have cultivable landholding in their names are eligible to get benefit under the scheme.

Who are excluded from the PM-KISAN Scheme?

Those excluded from the PM-KISAN include institutional land holders, farmer families holding constitutional posts, serving or retired officers and employees of State or Central government as well as Public Sector Undetakings and Government Autonomous bodies. Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over Rs 10,000 and those who paid income tax in the last assessment year are also not eligible for the benefits.



PM-KISAN Scheme for only Small and Marginal Farmers' families?

ln the beginning when the PM- PM-KISAN Scheme was launched (February, 2019), its benefits were admissible only to Small & marginal Farmers' families, with combined landholding upto 2 hectare. The Scheme was later on revised in June 2019 and extended to all farmer families irrespective of the size of their landholdings

The Central Government had notified a decision to extend the benefit of Rs 6,000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country, irrespective of the size of their landholding.
Bengaluru: 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.
The Egyptian National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) has appealed to the world to "put politics aside" and act in unison in order to provide more support to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian and Turkish peoples in the aftermath of the earthquakes.





In a statement on Wednesday, the NCHR said that " the council  as an independent national institution that works to protect, promote and respect human rights, and within the framework of its relations at the regional level and through its membership at the Arab Network for Human Rights  stresses the importance of putting politics aside and coming together to provide more support and assistance to contribute to alleviating the suffering of the Syrian and Turkish peoples.

The statement added that "the council has closely followed the devastating impact of the earthquake in northwest Syria and southeast Turkey which left many dead and wounded and caused damage to infrastructure and public utilities, especially in Syria that has been suffering for years from war."

The council noted that "the deterioration of the infrastructure in Syrian territory was a reason for the high numbers of dead and injured."

It added that that "the current economic and weather conditions pose an additional burden on the victims in the impacted areas in these territories which amounts to a massive human catastrophe."

"This necessitates the unison of efforts on an international, regional and national levels for a speedy response to make all capabilities and logistic support available in order to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian and Turkish people," the council stressed.

The 7.8 magnitude quake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria on 6 February left nearly 40,000 deaths in both countries and other homeless survivors living currently in makeshift tents in freezing temperatures.

The NCHR also praised in its statement President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's call on all countries to provide more assistance to the Syrian people, which he made during his participation in the World Summit of Governments WGS 2023 in Dubai earlier this week.

The NCHR also praised the assistance provided by the UAE and the Gulf nations to all Arab brothers, expressing hope that more aid would be sent to the Syrian people.

The council also urged Egyptian philanthropic organisations and the Egyptian Crescent Union to provide medical and food assistance to the Syrian and Turkish peoples.

It also called on both the international community and the UN to play their role in providing humanitarian relief to all affected areas without exception.

The council also called on the authorities in both countries to facilitate the arrival of aid to the victims, added the statement.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an appeal for $397 million to provide life-saving relief for nearly five million Syrians affected by the latest disaster.

Last Tuesday, a day after the earthquake, Egypt sent five military planes carrying emergency medical aid to Turkey and Syria in order to contribute to relief efforts.

On Thursday, an Egyptian rescue team comprising medical specialists and rescue technicians as well as three military planes loaded with humanitarian and relief aid, medical supplies, and tents arrived in Syria to help victims of the devastating earthquake.

Today, Egypt's Tahya Masr Fund announced that it has designated a bank account at all state-owned banks to receive donations from inside and outside Egypt to send basic goods and pharmaceutical supplies to the victims of the earthquake that ravaged Syria.

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BENGALURU: Despite PM Modi's appeal to focus on productive issues, Karnataka Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Nalin Kumar Kateel has once aginst made a very provocative remark by saying that the followers of 18th-century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan should not be allowed to live. He even called for killing them all. The Karnataka BJP chief said, " Do you think this state requires Lord Hanuman devotees or descendants of Tipu? I am issuing a challenge - those who are ardent followers of Tipu should not remain alive on this fertile soil."

According to media reports, Kateel, in his warning, said that the descendants of Tipu Sultan should be chased out to forests. Kateel reiterated that a majority of people think that Tipu Sultan was a bigoted tyrant who forcefully converted thousands. He also attacked the erstwhile Congress government in Karnataka for celebrating his birth anniversary for two consecutive years despite several protests across the state.

Video of his provocative speech by shared by several handles on Twitter.

Kateel also accused Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah of Muslim appeasement. We follow Lord Ram and worship Lord Hanuman, so lets send Tipus descendants back home," he said during his controversial speech at the Vijay Sankalpa Yatra in Koppal district.

Addressing BJP supporters, the Karnataka BJP leader said, "We are devotees of Lord Rama, Lord Hanuman. We offer prayers and obeisance to Lord Hanuman, and we are not Tipu's descendants."

It may be recalled that earlier this month, Kateel had stoked a controversy by claiming that the coming assembly election in the state was all about "Tipu versus Savarkar". "They (Congress) allowed celebrating Tipu Jayanti which was not required, and spoke disgracefully about Savarkar," he had said. Expressing similar views, Union Home Minister Amit Shah too said that the Congress and the JD(S) believe in Tipu Sultan and that the two parties cannot do any good for Karnataka.

Assembly elections are due on 224 seats in Karnataka in April-May, in which the BJP is hoping to win a second term in power.
Ratlam: Known for making controversial statements in past, right-wing outfit leader Sadhvi Prachi has once again stoked a controversy by saying that Hindu girls should not keep comb and lipstick but a knife in their purse. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader said that if Hindu girls learn to keep the knife in their purses, it will keep the 'jihadis' away from them. Talking to reporters in Ratlam, Prachi said, "Girls must keep knives and not comb or lipstick in their purse to counter jihadis."

She went on to suggest that all Hindu women should be as 'kattar' (orthodox) as Muslims are for their religion. Referring to Delhis sensational Shraddha Walkar murder case, the VHP leader said, If the love jihadis are ready to take off your neck, then you (Hindu girls) should cut their neck before that.

Sadhvi Prachi made these remarks during her trip to Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. She had arrived in Alot town to visit the famous Anadi Kalpeshwar temple during which she also attacked Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani for his recent statement on ''Om and Allah.'' Sadhvi Prachi said that Madani does not know the A, B, C, D of Hinduism. She added that India was a Hindu nation and it will remain so in future too.

The VHP leader stated that the way Jain Acharya Lokesh Muni and other saints boycotted Jamiat over Madanis statement was absolutely correct. The country needs such saints, she added.

Attacking Madani further, Sadhvi Prachi said that people like Madani were responsible for the country's Partition in 1947. Sadhvi said that the forefathers of Madani got converted 100-200 years ago and now its time for him to return home. Sadhvi also supported Bageshwar godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri's demand to declare Hindu Rashtra.

While speaking at the annual general session of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Mahmood Madani faction), Maulana Mahmood Madani claimed that India is the birthplace of Islam and asserted that the country belongs to him as much as it does to Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.

He said that it is wrong to suggest that Islam came from outside while claiming that the "first Prophet of Islam, Adam, descended here". The Hindu Sena has lodged a police complaint against Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani over his controversial remarks.
TORONTO: Strongly condemning the defacing of a Hindu temple in Canada, India on Wednesday asked authorities in the country to investigate the incident and take swift action against the perpetrators. The Ram Mandir in Mississauga city was vandalised with anti-India slogans, sending shockwaves across the Indian community. "We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators," the Consulate General of India in Toronto tweeted early on Wednesday.

The incident also evoked sharp reactions from Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who said that hate has no place in Canada, and police are investigating it. "I am saddened to hear of the hate motivated vandalism at the Ram Mandir Temple in Mississauga. Unknown suspects spray painted the walls on the back of the temple. This type of hate has no place in Peel Region," Mayor Brown tweeted on Wednesday.

We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Missisauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators.  IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) February 14, 2023

"The @PeelPolice & @ChiefNish (Chief of Peel Regional Police Nishan Duraiappah) are taking this potential hate crime very seriously. 12 Division has carried out the investigation & they will find those responsible. Religious freedom is a Charter right in Canada & we will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe in their place of worship," Brown added.

Starting 2023, a string of attacks has been unleashed upon Hindu temples across Canada with close to half-a-dozen incidents of vandalism, spiteful graffiti, break-ins and burglaries.

Last week, an unsuccessful burglary attempt also took place at the same temple, according to media reports. The thieves reportedly fled after a security alarm went off. A day after, the Bharat Mata Mandir in Brampton was burgled with the thieves escaping with the donation box collections, according to media reports. The photos of the temple wall containing anti-India and anti-Modi slogans was widely shared on social media.

Mississauga Ram Temple has been vandalized yesterday night (2/13), Similar attack at Gauri-Shankar Temple too.@JustinTrudeau @theJagmeetSingh

You both are running Govt.

Are you taking any action? pic.twitter.com/YQ6Fjz1a32  InCan (@InCan29082874) February 15, 2023

Last month, the Gauri Shankar Mandir was vandalised with "anti-India" graffiti in Brampton, with leaders in Canada and India asking the Ottawa government to take the matter 'seriously'. "I call on govt at levels in Canada to start taking this seriously," Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya had tweeted.

"The attack on Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton is the latest in attacks on Hindu temples in Canada by anti-Hindu and anti-India groups. From hatred on social media, now physical attacks on Hindu temples, what next?" Arya, MP from the ruling Liberal Party, had asked.

An unsuccessful break-in was also attempted at the Shri Hanuman Mandir in Brampton on January 15. The National Statistical Office of Canada showed a 72 per cent rise in hate crimes in Canada between 2019 and 2021 targeting a person`s race, religion or sexual orientation.
WASHINGTON: Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday kicked off her campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, challenging her former boss Donald Trump, who holds a strong lead in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

"It's time for a new generation of leadership," Haley said in a video her team sent out by email as she joined Trump as the only announced 2024 candidate.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as the U.N. ambassador under Trump from 2017 to 2018, is set to lay out her campaign plans in a speech on Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina.

The daughter of Indian 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.

Launching her candidacy more than 20 months ahead of the November 2024 election gives Haley a chance to draw attention before the Republican field grows in the coming weeks and months.

It also makes her an early target of the combative Trump.

"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 said in the video.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that 4% of registered Republicans supported Haley, far behind Trump at 43% and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential candidate, at 31%.

Other potential candidates include former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, among others.

A day after Haley's event, Scott will kick off a "listening tour" in Charleston, according to a campaign advisory. He will then swing through Iowa, another key early voting state.

Taylor Budowich, head of the pro-Trump Make America Great Again group, dismissed Haley's announcement.

"Nikki Haley is just another career politician," he said.

South Carolina is expected to host one of the first Republican nominating primaries in 2024 and will play an important role in picking the eventual candidate.

Many Republican leaders in the state have been looking for alternatives to Trump amid concerns about his electability, according to more than a dozen party officials and strategists.

Several prominent Republicans, including Haley and Scott, skipped a Trump campaign appearance last month in Columbia that was intended to showcase his support in the state.
New Delhi: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday hailed Air India's deals with Airbus and Boeing to buy passenger aircraft worth multi-billion dollars. Air India, which will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, has also selected Boeing for purchase of up to 290 planes as part of its growth strategy. Sunak 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. 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.

"This is one of the biggest export deals to India in decades and a huge win for the UK`s aerospace sector. With wings from Broughton and engines from Derby, this deal will support jobs around the country and help deliver one of our five priorities - growing the economy," tweeted Sunak."

This is one of the biggest export deals to India in decades and a huge win for the UK's aerospace sector.



With wings from Broughton and engines from Derby, this deal will support jobs around the country and help deliver one of our five priorities  growing the economy. https://t.co/Zs0Qqf37Yr February 14, 2023

"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.

Also Read: Air India Places Order for 470 Aircrafts With Airbus, Boeing; Deal to be Worth USD 80 Billion

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.

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.
New Delhi: The United States on Tuesday (February 14, 2023) reacted to the survey operations conducted by the Indian Tax Department at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai and said that it "supports the importance of free press around the world". The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted survey operations for over ten hours at the BBC's offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and two other linked locations as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion. The action came weeks after the British broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question", on the prime minister and the 2002 Gujarat riots.

"We are aware of the search of the BBC offices in Delhi by Indian tax authorities. I would need to refer you to Indian authorities for the details of this search. Beyond this discrete action, what I'll say more broadly is the general point that I've consistently made in this context, but in a universal context as well," US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

"We support the importance of a free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India's democracy," Price added.

ALSO READ | UK Closely Monitoring Income Tax Surveys at BBC's India Offices

These universal rights are the bedrock of democracies around the world, the US official said.

When asked if this action went against some of the spirit or value of democracy, Price said, "I couldn't say. We're aware of the facts of these searches, but I'm just not in a position to offer a judgment."

Fully cooperating with Income Tax authorities: BBC

The BBC said that it is fully cooperating with Income Tax authorities.

"The Income Tax authorities are currently at the 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 said on Twitter.

An update on the situation in India. pic.twitter.com/FYVFwdQWxE  BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) February 14, 2023

Giving an update on the situation, the British broadcaster at 10:26 PM (IST) said that the "Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. Many staff have now left the building but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries."

"We are supporting our staff during this time and continue to hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. Our output and journalism continues as normal and we are committed to serving our audiences in India," the BBC said.

As per reports, the action began at 11 am on Tuesday when Income Tax officials reached the BBC offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram and one another premises and the operation continued till late evening.

BBC staffers were reportedly asked to keep their phones at a particular spot inside the premises and cooperate. Besides, some computers were seized and the mobile phones of some staff members were also cloned.
The Tahya Masr Fund has designated a bank account at all state-owned banks to receive donations from inside and outside Egypt to send basic goods and pharmaceutical supplies to the victims of the earthquake that ravaged Syria.

All donations can be made online via the Tahya Masr Fund official website, the fund said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fund also allocated the hotline 15118 for inquiries and specifications for in-kind donations.

It said in the statement that its relief initiative was prompted by the requests it has received from the public over the past few days to participate in the relief of Syria through in-kind and cash contributions.

The fund added that the initiative comes as part of the country's efforts to provide relief to Syria in implementation of the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The 7.8 magnitude quake that struck Turkey and Syria on 6 February killed nearly 40,000 in both countries with thousands of survivors living in makeshift tents under freezing temperatures.

Under the slogan 'We Share for Humnaity', the fund said it has dispatched a convoy carrying 140 tons of foodstuffs, clothes and other relief aid to Syria.

The Tahya Misr Fund was established by President El-Sisi in 2015 to help poor communities and needy villages in the country through development projects.

The fund has also provided assistance in cases of crises at the regional level, providing aid in the reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip as well as sending medical convoys to a number of African countries.

Egypt sends aid to Syria

On Wednesday, Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) appealed to the world to put aside politics and act in unison to provide more support to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian and Turkish peoples in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

Last Tuesday, a day after the earthquake, Egypt sent five military planes carrying emergency medical aid to Turkey and Syria in order to contribute to relief efforts.

On Thursday, an Egyptian rescue team comprising medical specialists and rescue technicians as well as three military planes loaded with humanitarian and relief aid, medical supplies, and tents arrived in Syria to help victims of the devastating earthquake.

Earlier this week, President El-Sisi called during the World Government Summit in Dubai on all countries to provide more assistance to the Syrian people.

Last week, Egypts Red Crescent also launched a donation campaign in Egypt to help relief efforts in Syria.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an appeal for $397 million to provide life-saving relief for nearly five million Syrians affected by the latest disaster

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Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry congratulated on Wednesday his Comorian counterpart Minister Dhoihir Dhoulkamal on Comoros Islands' assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the African Union (AU) for 2023.

This came during the meeting on Wednesday of the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of the 42nd Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council in Addis Ababa.

Comoros Islands is due to assume the chairmanship during the AU Summit that is slated for February 18-19, according to a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Comoros President Azali Assoumani will replace Senegals Macky Sall  the current chairperson of the AU  later this month at the annual AU Summit in Addis Ababa.

Assoumani's chairmanship follows the recent withdrawal of Kenyan President William Ruto from the race, making Comoros the first island state to lead the continental bloc.

During Wednesday's meeting, FM Shoukry expressed Egypt's confidence in the Comorian leadership of the AU at a time when the continent faces many political, economic and security challenges.

Shoukry also stressed Egypt's readiness to support the Comorian chairmanship of the union and to strengthen collective African action under the umbrella of the AU, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Moreover, he stressed to his Comorian counterpart Egypts interest in promoting cooperation with Comoro Islands in the fields of economy, trade and investment.

Shoukry said that Egypt looks forward to augmenting the role of its companies in carrying out projects under the "Emerging Comoros Plan 2030" adopted by the Comorian government.

He also stressed Egypts interest in cooperating with Comoro islands in the fields of marine fishing and the establishment of fish farms.

Egypt, he said, will provide support in the field of capacity building and knowledge transfer through various training programs organized by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD), as well as through grants provided by Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Higher Education.

The meeting also discussed bilateral relations between Egypt and the Comoro Islands and built on the meeting of the two leaders of both countries in Egypt in 2019.

In 2019, the Comorian president had headed his country's delegation at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development.

During the meeting, Shoukry invited his Comorian counterpart to visit Egypt to advance joint cooperation.

Both ministers agreed to intensify consultation and coordination during the coming period under the umbrella of the AU.

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Egypt assumed presidency of the steering committee of the New Partnership for Africas Development Agency (NEPAD) during a virtual meeting attended by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy stated.

NEPAD, which is the development arm of the African Union (AU), organises and finances projects and programs to achieve sustainable development goals in the continent.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame handed over the two-year presidency of the steering committee to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi via video conference.

The meeting was attended by African heads of state and government as well as members of the committee, Fahmy added.

The NEPAD strategic framework document was prepared in 2001 by the leaders of the five initiating states - Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa - in response to a mandate given to them by the Summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union.

Financing to face Int'l economic crisis

In his acceptance speech, the Egyptian president reviewed Egypt's priorities during its presidency of the NEPAD steering committee.

El-Sisi called for new and non-traditional financing resources, especially in light of the international economic crisis that undermines development efforts in Africa.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation to settle the accumulated debt crisis to put the continent on the way to economic recovery.

Mobililising resources - Sharing expertise

El-Sisi also noted that Egypt, as president of NEPAD, will seek to mobilise financial resources in areas of priority for Africa  including infrastructure development  in a way that ensures achieving the goals of the African Development Agenda 2063.

The list of priorities, he explained, includes 69 projects during the period from 2021-2030.

These projects include, for example, the navigational line between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Cairo-Cape Town Road.

Egypt will also focus on industrial transformation , El-Sisi added.

In this context, the president stated, Egypt intends to build on the results achieved during the extraordinary African Summit on Industralisation that was held in Niamey in November 2022 .

El-Sisi also stressed the importance of speeding up the realisation of the aspirations targeted by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and completing negotiations on all its additional protocols.

He explained that the AfCFTA will provide African countries with opportunities to integrate into the global economy and to increase job opportunities, especially among youth and women.

The Egyptian president also underlined the necessity of sharing African expertise in the area of developing infrastructure, including Egypt's own experiment in developing infrastructure over the past eight years.

He also cited cooperation between Egypt and Tanzania on building the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP) as an example of sharing expertise.

"[JNHPP] is a model to follow for cooperation between African countries in the field of development  and we are fully prepared to share the experience of Egyptian companies with other sister African countries," El-Sisi stressed.

He called for intensifying cooperation with global partners and international financing institutions to bridge the financing gap in sustainable development projects and reduce debt burdens for the most affected countries.

The president also urged taking advantage of the new initiatives put forward during the partnership summits of the AU.

El-Sisi said he looks forward to hearing the proposals of the heads of state and government and of members of the NEPAD steering committee in this regard.

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This is the second time in one week the aviation authorities and the Egyptian Airports Company suspended rides from Luxor's West Bank because of the volatile weather. Rides were halted on 8 February for the same reason.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian Meteorological Authority (EMA) reported that southern regions of the country would see strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the northwestern coast would experience strong winds Tuesday through Thursday. The EMA added that Greater Cairo and northern Upper Egypt will see strong winds Friday through Sunday.

Hot-air ballooning over Luxor  home to a myriad of ancient sites that attract tourists visiting Egypt  allows tourists to enjoy the panoramic view of ancient Egyptian temples and breathtaking landscape.

The attraction was ranked third in the world for hot-air balloon rides in 2019 with a total of 11,000 trips annually.

Egypts tourism sector was dealt a hard blow by the COVID-19 pandemic, with revenue dropping from $13.03 billion in 2019 to $4.1 billion in 2020. However, the sector has begun since mid-2021 to flourish as Egypt secured $10.7 billion in tourism revenue in FY 2021/2022, up from $4.9 billion in FY 2020/2021, according to the Central Bank of Egypt in October.

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Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, long accused of inflaming Jewish-Arab tensions, has set his sights on one of the conflict's most sensitive issues: Palestinian prisoners.

Since joining Israel's new government led by veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last year, Ben-Gvir has pledged to ensure Palestinian inmates are not being treated comfortably.

After a visit to Nafha prison in the Negev desert last month, he told Israeli media he had wanted "to ensure that the murderers of Jews are not getting better conditions" as a result of the construction of new cells.

Ben-Gvir has also said he would make sure Palestinian prisoners no longer received "fresh pita (bread)... every morning, as if they were in a restaurant".

"Not on my watch," he vowed, ordering the closure of what he said were bakeries being run at two Israeli jails.

Israel's prison service declined to comment on whether such facilities exist or indeed make daily pita for prisoners.

While there is doubt over whether Ben-Gvir's claims about Palestinian prisoner life match reality -- and over his capacity to implement some of his proposals -- his incendiary statements have provoked strong reactions.

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, protesters have waved placards reading: "Ben-Gvir, go to hell."

In a letter addressed to Jerusalem-based foreign diplomats seen by AFP, the Palestinian group warned that moves to curb prisoners' rights "crossed all red lines" and labelled the issue "a detonator".

"Every family in the West Bank has at least had one person who was detained, arrested, or brought before a military court system," said Milena Ansari, an advocacy officer at prisoner support group Addameer.

"So it's an issue that deeply hits the core of the Palestinian identity," she told AFP.

Some 4,700 Palestinian prisoners are currently in Israeli jails including 190 who are under 18, Addameer has reported.

Addameer estimates that some 800,000 Palestinians have been through Israeli prisons since the occupation of Palestinian territories following the 1967 Six-Day War.

'Dismantle' unity

Ben-Gvir, who heads the Jewish Power party, has been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation over his ties to a banned Jewish extremist group.

Earlier in his career, he called for Arabs to be expelled from Israel.

He has also called for Palestinians convicted of terrorism to face the death penalty -- a matter that falls outside his portfolio responsibilities.

Basil Farraj, a researcher who specialises in Palestinian prisoners, said jail fostered unity between members of different groups, including Hamas and president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah movement.

Farraj said what unites the prisoners is their shared "resistance against Israeli policies" and that Ben-Gvir "wants to dismantle that sense of political organisation".

The son of jailed Marwan Barghouti -- an inmate who often tops opinion polls as the most popular Palestinian leader -- told AFP it had been three months since he was allowed contact with his father.

Barghouti was sentenced to multiple life sentences over his role in orchestrating attacks on Israelis.

"The Israelis like to create symbols and destroy these symbols to create the illusion of victories," Qassam Barghouti told AFP.

But he warned: "Whatever they do to him will only increase his support among Palestinians."

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Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan travelled Wednesday to arch-foe Turkey for rare talks with his Turkish counterpart, officials in Yerevan said, as the two countries seek to normalise relations after decades of animosity.

At loggerheads since Armenia gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the neighbouring nations have never established formal diplomatic relations.

On Wednesday, Mirzoyan "arrived in Ankara for talks with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu," the Armenian foreign ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan told AFP.

It will be Mirzoyan's second visit to Turkey since March 2022 when he held talks with Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in Antalya.

On Saturday, a border crossing between Armenia and Turkey opened for the first time in 35 years, to allow humanitarian aid through after a massive earthquake hit the region.

"Minister Mirzoyan will be also meeting with Armenian rescuers who are carrying out search and rescue operations in Turkey's earthquake-affected city of Adiyaman," Hunanyan said.

Turkey-Armenia ties are strained by World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, atrocities Yerevan insists amount to a genocide.

But in December 2021, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalise relations -- a year after Armenia lost to Turkey's ally Azerbaijan in a war for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Turkey fiercely rejects the genocide label, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

In February 2022, Turkey and Armenia resumed their first commercial flights in two years.

The land border between the two countries has remained closed since 1993, forcing trucks to transit through Georgia or Iran.

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Jewish settlers stormed Al Aqsa Mosque Wednesday, under the protection of Israeli police and performed Talmudic rituals inside the Mosque courtyards.

Israeli provocations at Al Aqsa Mosque are not uncommon. It often intensifies during Jewish holidays.

The Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian authority in charge of the holy sites in Jerusalem, has repeatedly described the settlers' presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque as "provocative", saying that Palestinian worshippers and guards at Al-Aqsa feel uncomfortable with the presence of Israeli police and settlers touring the Islamic holy site.

Under a longstanding status quo, non-Muslims can visit the site at specific times but are not allowed to pray there.

A visit by Israel's extreme-right firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir on Al-Aqsa mosque compound in January has enraged Palestinians who saw it as a provocation. The visit was strongly condemned by the international community.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, in 1967 in a move that has not been recognised by the international community.

Dozens of settlers also attacked on Wednesday two schools and homes in the village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, throwing rocks at them and smashing several windows, according to Ghassan Daghlas, a local official, and fired live bullets at the village residents who confronted them without hurting anyone, reported WAFA news agency.

Meanwhile, armed settlers from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba broke into the east of the city of Hebron and slashed the tires of several vehicles owned by local residents, according to one of the residents.

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Western governments said this week they were "deeply troubled" by the Israeli government's decision to give retroactive permission to nine settlements in the occupied West Bank and build new homes.

The opposition voiced by the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States has drawn attention to Israel's settlement policy. Here are answers to some key questions:

What are settlements?

Settlements are Jewish-only villages, towns, and even cities built on territory Israel seized during the Six-Day War of 1967.

Some 475,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the occupied West Bank among 2.9 million Palestinians.

The settlers enjoy a European-standard-of-living in settlements that are connected by a network of Jewish only highways.

Meanwhile, Palestinian villages and towns are deprived of any meaningful contiguity due to an Apartheid-style separation wall that was built by Israel two decades ago.

A further 230,000 Israelis live in annexed east Jerusalem, along with at least 360,000 Palestinians who want to make the sector the capital of their future state.

Israel also seized the Gaza Strip as well as part of Syria's Golan Heights and established settlements in both. It evacuated the Gaza settlements in 2005.

What is their legal status?

In the 1970s, Israel established a network of settlements across the West Bank, particularly in areas deemed strategic.

The Oslo accords of the 1990s divided the territory into Israeli- and Palestinian-administered zones meant to lay the ground for a future Palestinian state, but Israel continued to build and expand its settlements.

The United Nations and most of the international community see all Israeli settlements as illegal.

Israel differentiates between those it has approved and those it has not, although it is not the first time that it has authorized wildcat outposts retroactively.

Israel's security cabinet announced on Sunday that it would legalize nine outposts, some of which have existed for decades.

They are dotted across the West Bank, including sites in the South Hebron Hills, the Jordan Valley, and near the Palestinian city of Nablus in the north.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement organization, slammed the government's approach as "annexation on steroids".

The cabinet also announced plans to approve the construction of new homes in existing settlements, without giving precise figures or locations.

Who are the settlers?

Many Israelis moved to the settlements in search of affordable housing, backed by billions of dollars in state funding in recent decades.

The government encouraged them to move to cities such as Ariel, Maale Adumim, and the ultra-Orthodox settlements of Beitar Illit and Modiin Illit.

There are also many national-religious hardliners who identify the southern and northern West Bank with the "biblical lands of Judaea and Samaria" and see living there as fulfilling "a divine promise."

The heavily-armed settlers terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem on a daily basis.

How do Palestinians see settlements?

Palestinians view Israeli settlements as a war crime and a major obstacle to peace.



Palestinian activists from Youth Against Settlements set up a Palestinian flag overlooking the Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida, the Ibrahimi Mosque (C), or the Tomb of the Patriarch, and the old city of the West Bank town of Hebron. AFP

The Palestinians want Israel to withdraw from all land it occupied in the Six-Day War and to dismantle all Jewish settlements, although they have accepted the principle of minor land swaps of equal size and value.

Israel rules out a full return to pre-1967 borders but has in the past expressed a willingness to pull out of some parts of the West Bank while annexing its largest settlement blocs.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month renewed his pledge to "strengthen settlements" and has expressed no interest in reviving peace talks.

Western governments troubled

Foreign ministers of Britain, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Norway, Luxemburg, Denmark, and Finland have all issued statements condemning Israel's legalization of settlement outposts and the construction of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning that such a policy could exacerbate tensions on the ground.

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States issued a joint statement on Sunday, expressing concern about Israel's plans.

We are deeply troubled by the Israeli governments announcement that it is advancing nearly 10,000 settlement units and intends to begin a process to normalize nine outposts that were previously deemed illegal under Israeli law. We strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution.

Canada

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated that Ottawa is also strongly opposed to settlement expansion and added that "such unilateral actions jeopardize efforts to achieve comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

Norway

I condemn Israels decision to legalize nine settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank. I also strongly object to the plans to build thousands of new housing units within established settlements. The Israeli settlement policy on occupied land is in violation of international law and must be stopped, said Norways Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt.

I am deeply concerned about the scale of human suffering. People are living in a state of fear due to frequent attacks and loss of life. It is important that the Israeli authorities take steps to avoid further escalation and revoke these decisions, which undermine the prospects of a two-state solution and will inevitably lead to more conflict. It is essential that the Israeli Government works proactively to ease tensions before the situation spirals out of control. Palestinian leaders, too, must do their part to calm the situation, Foreign Minister Huitfeldt added.

Luxembourg

In a tweet, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn stated that he agrees with the joint statement issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy opposing Israel's settlement policy, which will only exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated peace settlement and the two-state solution.

Denmark

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen also tweeted: Denmark shares the deep concern over Israels latest settlement announcement which we strongly oppose. Risks to worsen tensions and clearly undermines efforts towards a two-state solution.

Finland

Finland's Foreign Ministry said in a tweet, We reject the Israeli government decisions to authorize illegal settler outposts and build further housing in the West Bank. These decisions further exacerbate the tense situation. Settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law. Changes to 1967 borders are unlawful unless agreed by both parties.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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Cairo Photo Week

Until Saturday 18 February

Dubbed Back to Raw, the third edition of the Cairo Photo Week takes place across numerous venues in Downtown Cairo.

The event offers more than 100 educational activities such as talks, workshops, panels, demos, photo challenges, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, networking events, photo walks, markets, open studios, services, co-working spaces for photographers throughout the week.

It also brings together dozens of renowned speakers and mentors specialized in all genres of photography and image making.

Follow Cairo Photo Weeks Facebook page for more details.

Exhibition opening: Engrams of a Lunar Calendar

Wednesday 15 February 7pm

The exhibition continues until 30 April

Goethe-Institut Downtown, 15 Al Bustan Street, Cairo



The event is a solo exhibition by Rana Nemr, a transdisciplinary artist, whose work is anchored in questioning what it means to experience place and time. In this exhibition, she uses different materials, combined with various projections and printing techniques. She traces forms, patterns and sources of knowledge and invites visitors to reflect on the processes of absorbing them individually and collaboratively.

Flute & Bow concert

Wednesday 15 February, 7pm

Ewart Hall, Tahrir Cultural Centre - AUC, Tahrir Square, Cairo

Flute & Bow is an ensemble led by an award-winning flutist Rania Omar. The ensemble plays tango and other works from dance music repertoire. The compositions range between Western works and the well known tangos by Arabic composers as transposed on the Western flute and arranged for strings.

Helm Leilet 3ard, a theatre play

15 - 18 February, 8pm

Falaki Theatre, AUC



Hu Theatre troupe presents Helm Leilet 3ard, a comedy-drama that ventures into the dream worlds of a married couple on the night before their play. Khaled and Nancy are two struggling artists who are swept into their subconscious manifestations, finding themselves facing the sacrifices they've made, their doubts, and the threat of letting go of their dreams.

The play is written by Menna Hafez, Mark Refaat, Luke Lehner and directed by Luke Lehner

Alhamour H.A.

Wednesday 15 February

Vox Cinemas

Based on true events that occurred in Jeddah in the early 2000s; the film tells the story of Hamour Sawwa, a famous fraudster businessman who collected around 400 million SAR from over 4,000 stakeholders with false promises of profit.

The film, which is the first production by Boulevard Studios, stars Fahad Alqahtani, Khaled Yeslam, Ali Alsharif, Ismael Alhasan, Fatima Albanawi, Khairiah Abulaban and others.

Read more here

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Wednesday 15 February

Vox Cinemas

Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.

Viola, Cello and Piano recital

Sunday 19 February, 7pm

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, great hall, Alexandria



The string trio features young musicians: Kamila Bikkulova (viola), Mohamed Ahmed (cello) and Amir Awad (piano).

Irtigalia

Sunday 19 February, 9pm

Room Art Space New Cairo

Irtigalia is based on short improvisational performances, with each show offering something new as it adapts itself to the audience and their reactions.

Omar Khairat concert

Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 February, 8pm

Cairo Opera House, Zamalek

Omar Khairat returns to the Cairo Opera with the concert featuring his beloved by the audiences works.

Kevin Hart show

Tuesday 21 February, 8pm

Cairo Stadium, Indoor, Complex Hall 1.

The American standup comedian brings his show Reality Check within the artists ongoing world tour. The tickets to the event range between EGP 1200 (USD 40) and EGP 5000 (USD 160).

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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 Beit Yakan is situated in one of the most famous neighbourhoods of Historic Cairo, Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, a district full of mosques, palaces, and mausoleums, along with streets named after the craftsman that once worked in them, such as Darb Saada, Al-Khayamiya (tent-makers), and Al-Meghrabelin.

Its markets feature many ancient industries, one of the best-known being traditional carpentry. While this has been in danger of dying out in recent years, a new project has now been training members of the younger generation in this major traditional craft.

In late 2022, Ambassador of Japan in Cairo Oka Hiroshi and Salah Zaki, a member of the board of the Qasr Al-Nil Charitable Foundation, attended the inauguration of a project to establish a centre for revitalisation and training in traditional crafts at Beit Yakan. The project was implemented by the foundation using Japanese grants of $85,749.

It contributes to the promotion of traditional industries in Historic Cairo by providing vocational training in traditional crafts for about 40 young men and women living in the area and enabling about 150 local residents and students to participate in economic activities, including participating in product exhibitions and seminars.

The opening ceremony of the new centre was also attended by two Japanese carpenters, Morita and Yasuda from Kanazawa, who exchanged their knowledge and experience with young Egyptian carpenters, particularly through their demonstration of the traditional Japanese woodworking technique of kumiko (joinery).

The project comes within the framework of the Japanese programme Grant Assistance for Human Security Projects at the Grassroots Level, which provides direct financial support to non-profit organisations in various fields such as education, healthcare, the integration of persons with disabilities, vocational training, womens empowerment, and the environment. Japan has provided about $10 million to Egypt within the framework of this programme since 1994, supporting 174 projects, according to a press release issued by the Japanese Embassy.

Alaa Al-Habashi, a professor of architecture and heritage conservation at Menoufiya University and manager of the Beit Yakan project, gave details about how it started.

My profession, expertise, and research are all focused on heritage recognition, management and interpretation in contemporary contexts. This is what took me to Beit Yakan, he said, adding that it was also because of the restoration projects he had conducted under the umbrella of the American Research Centre in Egypt starting from the end of the 1990s and continuing to the new millennium in which he had restored several buildings in the vicinity.

Through those campaigns I got introduced to the community living in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar and explored many historic buildings that were totally abandoned and were in a very bad condition, one of them being the Beit Yakan, he said.

Al-Habashi and his family purchased the building in 2009 from its heirs. Its design as a courtyard house was very much linked to the ideas they had for it. This is one of the 600 courtyard houses of the same typology that once existed in Historic Cairo. Only 20 such buildings still stand today. Some of them are listed as antiquities and are protected by the antiquities law, while others have been left to collapse without protection. The was the case of the Beit Yakan, Al-Habashi said.

Such houses did not only house the elite of the community, but also had important environmental, social, and economic aspects within the urban fabric of the time.

This is because such buildings were strongly associated with a particular neighbourhood or alley. The owner of the house would give the alley its name. If a carpenter was living in such a house, the alley would be called Haret Al-Nagarine (Carpenters Alley) and everyone in that alley would work in carpentry, he said.

The courtyard of the house would have been an open space suitable for use all year round. In hot weather, it would capture the wind coming from the north. In cold, it would retain the heat within the courtyard.

Based on our understanding of the building we opened the courtyard and associated flanking rooms to the community. We have integrated activities like workshops and training sessions for the community and artisans into the house, Al-Habashi added.

BEIT YAKAN: The Beit Yakan was built in 1640 by the Amir Hassan Agha Koklian. It remained in his family until the early 19th century, when Mohamed Ali Pasha, the new ruler of Egypt, wanted to get rid of the Mamelukes who had formerly ruled the country.

After the massacre of the Mamelukes in the Cairo Citadel in 1811, Mohamed Ali seized their property to redistribute it among his relatives and those loyal to him. Among this property were several houses in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area of Cairo including the Beit Al-Yajn (House of the Nephews), so named because it was given to two of Mohamed Alis nephews, Ahmed Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha. It was mispronounced by the locals as Beit Yakan.

The carpentry project started in the Beit Yakan after the restoration of the house in 2012. I invited a Japanese friend to visit the place to get acquainted with the restoration activities we were doing, Al-Habashi said. After learning about Al-Habashis intentions, his friend raised funds to integrate community workshops into the activities at Beit Yakan.

The project actually started in 2019, originally for one year. However, the Covid-19 pandemic then started, and the Japanese Embassy was generous enough to extend it, Al-Habashi said.

He has since been accepting community members twice or three times a month to participate in heritage-related activities to emphasise the fact that traditional Egyptian heritage is something to be proud of.

The term baladi  of the country  means part of our identity and never something of low quality. It needs to be done justice to, and that is what we have been doing in these workshops, particularly in carpentry and associated fields such as inlaying, wood polishing, and upholstery, Al-Habashi said.

Our approach to the Japanese embassy was for a grant for traditional carpentry.

Quite what that meant was at first a major question for us. Egypt does not possess wood forests, and wood is a rare commodity. From this comes the word for the type of wood we use  azizi, meaning rare. We dont waste wood and use every piece through traditional techniques that recycle wood from the wooden pieces we get from old buildings, he said, adding that such bits and pieces are assembled to make large pieces of furniture and architectural elements such as doors or mashrabiya, or turned wood, partitions.

The main aims of the workshops are to be resourceful while reviving traditional Egyptian carpentry and applying new designs to their work. It was not really about reviving a tradition, but more about reviving a principle  that of reusing leftover pieces of wood and reassembling them to make bigger pieces, Al-Habashi said.

People should not throw away raw materials because this has a negative effect on the environment. This is what all our workshops were focused on: how to reuse elements or small pieces and make large units out of them.

In some cases, they use new materials as a structural backbone for their pieces, and these they import from Lebanon or Europe. We buy this type of wood to make sure that it does not have moisture in it because that would accelerate its deterioration, Al-Habashi said. They also intend to experiment with local wood in the near future.

In one of the workshops, trainees designed a screen using designs based on Japanese kumiko. Both designers and craftsmen or craftswomen worked together in designing this screen that will be placed at the top of the courtyard entrance.

The sessions target both young and old carpenters, and they have invited Japanese carpenters and designers to join their workshops to show trainees how this kind of traditional sustainable carpentry has been revived in modern Japan.

Our initial plan was to focus on trainees from Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. Now, we have trainees from all over Cairo and from outside Cairo like from Damietta and Alexandria. This variety enriches the craft, Al-Dabashi said.

Some trainees preferred their own methods of working even after attending the workshops, but most, especially young people, found them very useful.

TRAINEES: I usually work in the field of architecture and had never had the opportunity to work with my own hands and use carpentry tools before I joined the Beit Yakan carpentry workshop, said Nayera Sayed, an architecture graduate, who was a trainee at the workshops.

We were trained in the art of kumiko, the Japanese equivalent to Egyptian mashrabiya, and how to blend it with Egyptian crafts, Sayed said. We learned how to apply the designs to partitions in interior and exterior designs. The most important thing we learnt was how to join the pieces of wood without using nails and instead using pieces of interlocking wood.

Former students who are interested in carpentry and want to finish their projects can continue to do so. I wish the workshops lasted longer, she said.

Ahmed Noureddin, an interior designer who was also a participant, agreed. I work in the field of interior design, especially in the field of traditional furniture design, he said, adding that it was through the institute he studied in that he learnt about the Beit Yakan workshop.

We made modern designs in the workshop drawing on the characteristics of the traditional crafts of mashrabiya and kumiko, Noureddin said, adding that what he learnt the most from was using traditional Japanese tools.

We were given the opportunity to work in groups that included an architect, a designer, and a craftsman, he said. This way, all the parties are satisfied with the work because they get to put a little bit of their own touch in it.

I have been studying in the field of furniture design and like to try crafts as well, said Hadir Ghalab, an applied arts graduate and a Masters degree student and also a workshop trainee. We learnt what kumiko is and the similarity between it and mashrabiya in Egypt. We were taught how to make kumiko patterns and how to blend them with Egyptian traditional art. I learnt how to make my designs. I like the fact that they had invited foreign trainers and would like to see this applied elsewhere, she said.

Al-Habashi said that they had intended to train only 20 carpenters at first, but because of the increasing demand for their workshops they had to increase the number. We now have eight local carpenters who are buying into our approach. We have at least 40 apprentices who have attended our workshops, half of them women, he said.

Hopefully, this trend will continue because we need the input of women, who are a bit more precise, meticulous, and patient with their work.

Al-Habashi is also working on forming a union to protect this traditional craft from extinction. It will also have other crafts like leather-making or upholstery or khayamiya under its umbrella. The workshops also contact former trainees through social-media groups based on specialties in which they announce the beginning of each project.

According to Al-Habashi, one difficulty they faced at first was identifying target groups for their workshops, whether locally or from outside Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. However, he overcome this by assigning one of his students to do research about those working in the field of carpentry in the area, eventually setting up a database about them.

Another barrier is that all the machines require three-phase electricity, and usually this is not readily available. They opted to get a solar station installed on the roof of the building instead that provides them with the energy required.

Other problems included the fact that traditional carpenters sometimes want to keep the secrets of their crafts to themselves and do not want to share them. But history has taught us that in order to develop the traditional crafts we need to talk and we need to share them. This is changing in any case today with so many young people joining our workshops, Al-Habashi said.

Regarding future plans, Al-Habashi said that after putting up the new screen, we intend to make other ones for other buildings. We also allow local carpenters to use the workshop machinery. They also plan to organise more exhibitions.

Beit Yakan workshop supervisor Seham Gouda explained the technical details behind the workshops. A protocol for developing local traditional carpentry was signed between Beit Yakan and the Embassy of Japan in Cairo, she said, adding that the Japanese side jointly bought with Beit Yakan some traditional carpentry tools and samples of wood from Japan that were introduced into Egypt for the first time.

So far, they have organised two workshops and trained 16 participants during the current course. The instructors are local carpenters, she said, adding that they also organise other workshops including human development workshops about health and happiness and raising children workshops for women. There are also attitude sessions for teenagers and children, drawing and inscribing on wood workshops, and workshops for wood inlaying, copper etching, handwriting, crochet, and cooking.

We also organise one-day workshops like Ramadan or Christmas decoration workshops, she added.

But we still have a lot of work to do. We plan to develop a network of workshops that are associated with Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. We want to brand our products and to travel with our exhibitions all over the world, Al-Habashi said.

We are capable of doing all this, but we need persistence, a framework, and the support of the government and others in the domain as well.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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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 Biden's record is abysmal. It's 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 Trump's UN 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.
Some 147 elementary schools in Korea have no new students this year as the young population dwindles, up from 121 last year.

Rural areas are emptying out faster. North Gyeongsang Province topped the list with 32 elementary schools with no first graders, followed by South Jeolla Province (29), North Jeolla Province (20), Gangwon Province (20), South Gyeongsang Province (18), North Chungcheong Province (12), South Chungcheong Province (nine), Gyeonggi Province (three) and Incheon (two). Busan and Jeju Island each have one.

According to the Education Ministry, there are 379,373 first graders this year, 10 percent fewer than second graders. And 140 elementary schools will welcome just one first grader this year, up from 136 in 2022.
Businesses still suffer from an acute shortage of workers as customers return after the coronavirus pandemic, often resulting in complaints about poor service quality.

Cinema chain CGV employed 7,068 staff before the pandemic but laid off thousands when movie theaters closed, and by last September numbers had only recovered to 4,081. This has resulted in long lines at theaters nationwide.

Travel agencies and airlines are also getting complaints about slow service.

One 27-year-old office worker called his travel agency nine times to change his destination airport in Japan from Narita to Haneda but never got through. "In the end I left a query online and finally got a response the following evening," he says.

A 26-year-old university student bought tickets to travel to Fukuoka in December last year but had to change plans at the last minute. He tried to call his travel agency for three hours but could not get through. "I couldn't cancel my hotel and restaurant bookings until my airline ticket was changed, so it was very frustrating."
A planned presidential statement of the UN Security Council condemning North Korea's firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile last November has been vetoed by permanent members China and Russia.

The presidential statement "could not move forward because two council members refused to engage during expert-level negotiations," a spokesperson for the U.S. permanent mission to the UN told Voice of America on Tuesday.

China and Russia have flatly rejected all sanctions against the North since political divisions in the council deepened.

"It is appalling that the Security Council remains silent on [North Korea's] continued escalations and its destabilizing and threatening rhetoric," the spokesperson added. "We urge all Council members to condemn and address [North Korea's] dangerous and unlawful behavior. This moment demands Council unity."

The North fired eight ballistic missiles in 2022 alone, including launching the new Hwasong-17 ICBM on Nov. 18 that could strike the U.S. mainland.

In a UNSC meeting three days later, the U.S. and other Western countries, South Korea and Japan urged the UNSC to officially respond to the North's violations of UNSC sanctions.

But China and Russia blocked the move and blamed Washington for Pyongyang's provocations.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield proposed a non-binding presidential statement as an alternative, but that has also been slapped down.
Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday at the start of his trip to Europe, amid renewed tensions between China and the United States.

Macron met with Wang, the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, behind closed doors at the Elysee Palace. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is expected to meet Wang in Paris later in the day.

The French capital is the first stop on Wang's tour of Europe. In the coming days, he will also travel to Italy, Hungary, Russia and Germany. He is expected to deliver a speech at the Munich Security Conference that starts Friday.

Wang's weeklong tour of Europe is seen as part of China's efforts to restore ties with European nations at a time of rising tensions between the world's two largest economies -- China and the United States -- following the U.S. shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.
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 program 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 criticized Washington for withdrawing from the deal and insists 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.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 14:22 | All, Japan

Some of the smartphones seized from four men suspected of coordinating a string of robberies across Japan had almost no data left inside, indicating attempts to hide evidence linking them with the crimes, investigative sources said Wednesday.

Japanese police are stepping up their investigation into Yuki Watanabe, 38, and three others who were deported from the Philippines last week. They have been arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with scam cases targeting elderly people in Japan that took place before the robberies began last year.

The men are suspected of having remotely coordinated the robberies from the Philippines, where they were being detained at an immigration facility.

A total of about 15 smartphones and tablets were confiscated while the four were at the facility. They are believed to have bought privileges there that enabled them to run the operation.

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Some of the devices were successfully unlocked and analyzed but were found to be close to what appeared to be an unused state, with hardly any data storage use, the sources said. The Metropolitan Police Department suspects the devices may have undergone a factory reset to hide information.

The police will attempt to recover the lost data and analyze the remaining devices, hoping to shed light on the suspects' alleged involvement in both the scam cases and robberies.

In the robberies, those who actually broke into houses are believed to have received instructions via the encrypted Telegram messaging app, including the addresses of the victims, from a person or persons using the pseudonyms "Luffy" and "Kim."
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 21:02 | World, All

China claimed Wednesday that U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Tibet in the west of the country since last year, where Washington alleges human rights violations have occurred.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference that the United States has "said nothing" about the claim that it has conducted more than 10 illegal flights over China's airspace since May last year and that it has "even implied China is spreading disinformation."

The United States has flatly denied the claim by China, made after American forces shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, worsening bilateral tensions.

Wang said even though China has handled the U.S. balloons "in a calm and professional manner," Washington "overreacted by abusing the use of force."

He urged the United States to "give an explanation to China and the international community, reflect on its behavior, stop smearing and attacking China and stop misleading the U.S. public and the world."

Washington has maintained the Chinese organization that manufactured the balloon has a "direct relationship" with the People's Liberation Army and added six Chinese entities linked to Beijing's alleged spy balloon program to an export blacklist.

But China has insisted the balloon was being used for civilian weather research purposes and that it was accidentally blown off course by strong winds.

Wang told the news conference Wednesday that China is "strongly opposed" to the U.S. blacklisting, saying Washington has used the balloon incident as "an excuse to impose illegal sanctions on Chinese companies and institutions."

He said Beijing will take countermeasures against "relevant U.S. entities that have undermined our sovereignty and security," but did not elaborate on the planned punitive steps.

Related coverage:

Japan suspects China flew 3 spy balloons over territory in 2019-2021

U.S. shoots down another flying object, this time over Lake Huron

Japan mulls easing conditions for weapon use against flying objects
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 14:34 | World, All

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's daughter will be featured on stamps to be issued by the country's authorities on Friday, according to the website of state-run Korea Stamp Corp., in a move that raises the profile of Kim's potential successor.

Kim's "beloved daughter," believed to be his second child Kim Ju Ae, who is around 10 years old, will appear in five of the eight stamps to be sold in commemoration of the successful test launch of the new "Hwasong-17" intercontinental ballistic missile last November, the website showed.

The stamps are based on images released by North Korean media, and carry descriptions that say the photographs were taken on Nov. 18, when the ICBM was fired, and Nov. 26, when the leader and his daughter took part in a photo session with people who contributed to the missile's development.

The girl accompanied Kim at a military parade held on Feb. 8 in Pyongyang to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country's armed forces, according to pictures released by state media, reinforcing speculation that she is being groomed as a potential successor.

She has been described as "most beloved" and "precious" by state-run media. Kim is believed to have three children -- a son who was born in 2010, Kim Ju Ae born in 2013 and a third born in 2017 -- according to South Korean media.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 20:28 | Japan, All

Japan's government is considering relaxing the requirements for weapon use against flying objects that violate its airspace, lawmakers said Wednesday, a day after it said China may have flown spy balloons over the country in recent years.

At a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, government officials said they are eager to allow the Self-Defense Forces to discharge their weapons in such circumstances provided that the purpose is to secure the safety of air traffic, according to the lawmakers.

Currently, Japan's forces can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense or the avoidance of clear and present danger. The SDF law stipulates that "necessary measures" can be taken to expel foreign aircraft or make them land if they enter Japan's skies.

The latest move came after the Defense Ministry said Tuesday that at least three unidentified flying objects were spotted over the nation's territorial airspace over three years from 2019 and are "strongly suspected" to have been unmanned spy balloons flown by China.

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, the ministry said.

A ministry official said it was the first time the Japanese government has made such an announcement since U.S. forces shot down a similar Chinese balloon on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina, renewing tensions between Washington and China.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday criticized Japan over the announcement, saying, "Without clear evidence, Japan is making up stories to smear and attack China and we are firmly opposed to this."

Wang said China is "a responsible country" and has "never infringed on any sovereign country's territory or airspace." Beijing maintains it had been unaware of any past flying objects spotted in Japan.

He urged Japan to be "objective and just" and refrain from following the United States in "hyping up" the balloon incident.

Denying that the balloon was being used for military purposes, Beijing has lambasted Washington's decision to shoot it down, claiming that U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown illegally over China's airspace more than 10 times since last year.

So far, the U.S. military has shot down four flying objects over North American airspace since early February.

On Wednesday, Japanese lawmakers quoted officials as saying the conditions for weapon use by the SDF should be modified, as the law currently assumes that only manned aircraft could pose a threat to the country. The use of military drones has also been increasing recently.

Weapon use requirements for the SDF are expected to be eased by reviewing operations instead of amending the legislation, the lawmakers added.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has recognized that the SDF will be allowed to use weapons, including air-to-air missiles, to bring down balloons intruding into its airspace.

Meanwhile, after a white-colored, unidentified flying object was seen in Miyagi in June 2020, then Defense Minister Taro Kono said it did not affect Japan's security.

At the gathering on Wednesday, some LDP members criticized the government's past approach to previous airspace intrusions by flying balloons.

"It is a big problem if the government failed to identify the balloons as Chinese ones. It is a bigger problem if it did not lodge a protest against China even though it identified them as Chinese ones," said former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

Related coverage:

Japan suspects China flew 3 spy balloons over territory in 2019-2021

Japan, U.S., South Korea united on response to Chinese balloon incident

U.S. shoots down another flying object, this time over Lake Huron
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 12:31 | World, All, Travel/Tourism, Coronavirus

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul said Wednesday it will resume the issuance of short-term visas for South Korean citizens this weekend, lifting restrictions it imposed in early January as a retaliatory step for its neighbor's tighter border controls over COVID-19.

The restart of visa issuance on Saturday follows South Korea's termination of similar restrictions last weekend as COVID-19 infections in China subside.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning had said at a press conference last Friday that Beijing would "actively consider" removing restrictions introduced on Jan. 10 on its short-term visa issuance to South Korean citizens.

Earlier this year, South Korea, Japan and several other countries strengthened border controls for travelers from China, which reopened its borders and scrapped quarantine measures on Jan. 8, amid fears over widespread COVID-19 infections in the country.

Beijing subsequently halted visa issuances for Japanese and South Korean travelers, criticizing the entry restrictions on visitors from China as "discriminatory," but the measure for Japanese citizens was lifted on Jan. 29.

Japan is considering easing border controls on travelers arriving from China by the end of this month. Instead of requiring testing of all visitors from China, Tokyo plans to adopt a selective approach to testing arrivals, according to a government source.

Related coverage:

South Korea to resume short-term visa issuance to Chinese citizens




KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 20:14 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Wednesday to boost Japan's budget for child-rearing to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product to tackle the falling birthrate, but he did not elaborate on how to secure the costs.

During a parliamentary session, Kishida said Japan's expenditures for policies designed to support children and families reached 2 percent of GDP in the fiscal year ending March 2021, and the government is aiming to "double the amount."

Although Kishida has expressed eagerness to double spending to fight the declining birthrate, saying that focusing on child policies is this year's most pressing agenda item, he had stopped short of clarifying the basis for trying to achieve the goal.

Japan's public expenditures related to family support stood at around 10 trillion yen ($75 billion) in fiscal 2020, accounting for 2.01 percent of GDP in the year, underscoring that the country has lagged behind developed European economies.

Sweden spent 3.46 percent, Britain 2.98 percent and France 2.81 percent of their GDPs on child care, according to data released in fiscal 2018 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Tokyo.

In his speech during an ordinary parliamentary session that started last month, Kishida warned that Japan is "on the brink" of losing its social function against a backdrop of the country's rapidly declining birthrate.

But it remains uncertain how Kishida has been attempting to procure the budget for family support, fueling speculation that his government will carry out large-scale tax hikes to finance the costs.

The number of babies born in Japan is set to drop to a record low for a seventh straight year in 2022, falling below 800,000 for the first time since the government began compiling statistics on births in 1899, official data showed late last year.

Japan's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime -- also decreased by 0.03 percentage point to 1.30 in 2021 from the previous year, down for the sixth consecutive year.

Meanwhile, asked by an opposition lawmaker at the parliamentary session on Wednesday about a legal revision to enable married couples to use different surnames, Kishida, head of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, said, "I have never said I oppose" the system.

While Japan's Civil Code requires a married couple to share a surname, the vast majority of couples who register their marriage in the nation choose the husband's family name. Many LDP lawmakers have voiced opposition to the legal change.

Japanese conservatives, who typically cherish traditional values, such as the role of women in giving birth and raising children, are opposed to separate surnames, arguing that the move might impact family unity.

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended that Japan introduce reform to the system.
By Moe Sato, KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 11:24 | Feature, All, Japan, Coronavirus, Travel/Tourism

Inbound tourism to Japan has begun to recover since the easing of COVID-19 border controls but a shortage of staff has become an increasing problem for the airline industry, as many who left their jobs during the pandemic have not returned.

Airport staff quitting due to the sharp decline in travelers during the height of the pandemic has resulted in a more than 20 percent decrease in security inspectors nationwide.

Although airlines have made concerted efforts to secure personnel for ground operations, many occupations in the industry require qualifications and experience, meaning a return to an adequate supply of staff will take time.

"Forty percent of the security staff at Fukuoka Airport quit during the pandemic. We don't have a normal situation," said Tatsuya Yamanaka, an assistant manager of the human resources department at security firm Nishikei, which conducts security inspections at the airport.

While the company had been capable of handling six passenger lanes at security checkpoints for international routes before the pandemic, it can currently only manage three to four at a time.

At the international terminal, where the number of visitors to Japan from South Korea, Southeast Asia and other regions has increased significantly since the relaxation of border measures, it is now not uncommon to see long lines of people snaking through the baggage inspection area, with waiting times often over 30 minutes. But congestion is also a daily occurrence for domestic flights.

"There are many jobs that require national qualifications for inspectors, so even if people get hired, they cannot be put into the field right away," Yamanaka lamented.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, there were some 5,600 security inspectors nationwide in September 2022, the latest available figures. In contrast, around 7,400 people held those jobs in April 2020.

Related coverage:

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"There is a nationwide shortage (of inspectors)," a ministry official in charge of civil aviation said.

The growing labor shortage has also affected other international airports in the country. The operator of Sendai International Airport has said it cannot keep pace with the number of daily flights as they return to pre-pandemic levels, admitting that crowds will be an inconvenience for travelers in the meantime.

While New Chitose, Chubu and Kansai airports are not experiencing staffing issues for security or ground crew, preparations are under way to ensure sufficient personnel for the anticipated increases of flights inbound from China.

At Fukuoka Airport, the total number of airport employees, including ground staff and shop clerks, has fallen by almost 20 percent from fiscal 2019 to around 6,500.

The recent increase in passenger numbers at the airport stands in sharp contrast to the situation at the peak of the pandemic. Airport passenger numbers, which had dropped to roughly 140,000 in May 2020, rebounded to 1.78 million by November 2022 -- approximately 80 percent of the monthly average before the outbreak.

Fukuoka International Airport Co., which operates Fukuoka Airport, held its first joint briefing at the airport in late January. Fourteen companies, including All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Nishikei set up booths with about 570 attendees. Various jobs were on display, including baggage loading and aircraft refueling roles.

Related coverage:

Japan aiming for record number of foreign visitors in 2025

Airlines are rushing to handle the extra burden at major hubs such as Haneda and Narita airports, which see many travelers.

ANA is resuming the hiring of new staff and providing labor support between airports, acknowledging it has "temporary shortages." Around 70 percent of group employees who were moved to other companies or local governments have returned.

JAL Ground Service, based in Tokyo and in charge of ground operations, is also pushing for staff transfers between airports.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 07:40 | All, Japan

The number of listed Japanese islands is expected to more than double from 6,852 to 14,125 after the government recounted them for the first time in 35 years, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The huge increase resulting from improved accuracy with the digitalization of maps is unlikely to change the size of Japanese territory or territorial waters, the source told Kyodo News on Monday.

The government is expected to release the new figure as early as March, although the number could change as the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, or GSI, is making final adjustments, the source said.

Moves to reassess the number of listed islands came amid criticism that data was old and the true figure could be vastly different. The new figure could affect entries in educational and other materials.

The government has been using the figure released in 1987 by the Japan Coast Guard. At the time, the coast guard listed by hand islands with a circumference of 100 meters or greater shown on a map of Japan. Islands in lakes or river sandbanks were not included in the total.

In the latest survey, the government counted islands automatically using a computer based on GSI's electronic land map in 2022 and cross-referenced the map with past aerial photographs and other data in order to exclude artificially reclaimed land.

While the computer detected over 100,000 islands, only those with circumferences of 100 meters or greater were selected for the official list.

The total size of national territory is calculated using the same digital map irrespective of listed islands, while the extent of territorial waters will not be affected as remote Japanese islands are subject to a separate survey.

Nagasaki and Kagoshima prefectures in southwestern Japan had 1,479 and 1,256 islands, respectively, while 1,473 were listed in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

The recount came after a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker told a parliamentary session in December 2021 that "an accurate understanding of the number of islands is an important administrative matter that is related to the national interest."

Islands in the survey are defined in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that an island is a "naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide."
Erstwhile Special Forces operative Doc Alexander is asked to broker a truce with the Mexican drug cartel in secrecy. When Oklahoma Governor Richard Jeffs celebrates the execution of a high-ranking cartel member on TV, his Chief of Staff and Doc inform him about the peace he just ended. But its too

Erstwhile Special Forces operative Doc Alexander is asked to broker a truce with the Mexican drug cartel in secrecy. When Oklahoma Governor Richard Jeffs celebrates the execution of a high-ranking cartel member on TV, his Chief of Staff and Doc inform him about the peace he just ended. But its too late, as Cuco, the cartels hatchet man, has set his vengeful sights on Docs da...
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2023 - 13:25 | All, Japan

Japan will build four major ammunition depots at Self-Defense Forces facilities in Oita and Aomori prefectures as likely storage sites for long-range missiles with enemy base strike capabilities, government sources said Wednesday.

Construction work at the two sites will begin in fiscal 2023 starting April, and the government will also launch a survey in the fiscal year for building six more such large-sized depots at multiple SDF facilities in the country, the sources said.

The Ground Self-Defense Force's Vice-Camp Oita in southwestern Japan and at Maritime Self-Defense Force's Ominato District Headquarters in Mutsu in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan will get two large-size depots each, the sources said.

The Defense Ministry has earmarked a total of around 5.8 billion yen ($43 million) in the draft fiscal 2023 budget as related costs.

The beefing-up of ammunition depots comes after the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided in December to acquire enemy base strike capabilities to deter attacks in a major shift in its security policy amid mounting regional military threats.

To that end, the government plans to equip the SDF with U.S.-developed Tomahawk cruise missiles and an improved version of the Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missiles in fiscal 2026.

The government will also develop an enhanced high-speed glide weapon to defend the nation's southwestern remote islands.

Long-range cruise missiles necessitate storage facilities larger than the SDF's current ammunition depots.

Related coverage:

Japan to buy Tomahawks in one go from U.S. in FY 2023




ANKARA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese rescue team has been involved in search and rescue efforts for nearly a week in Turkiye since massive earthquakes jolted the country last Monday. How does their equipment help with the life-saving efforts? Click to find out. #GLOBALink





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A young couple visit a gift shop on Valentine's Day in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, on Feb. 14, 2023. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

HANOI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Valentine's Day has become incredibly popular in Vietnam, particularly in bigger cities. The romantic holiday with Western origin and a commercial spin offers Vietnamese people more excuses to show their love in different ways.

BUSINESSES KEEPING UP WITH DEMAND

Valentine's Day is the day when a dozen of red roses cost two, three or even four times what they do at any other time of the year, a florist in Hanoi's downtown district of Dong Da told Xinhua.

"Huge increases in the price of red roses have no dampening effect on demand," said Bui Ngoc Lien, who has been running her flower shop for three years.

The cost of a dozen red roses in the lead up to Valentine's Day can range from 240,000 Vietnamese dong (10 U.S. dollars) at a corner store to close to 1.8 million Vietnamese dong (76 U.S. dollars) at a high-end florist shop.

The wide gap in pricing means people looking to buy some flowers can get a nice hand-tied bouquet while sticking to their budget.

"You don't have to spend a ton, we can do an arrangement of mixed flowers with some roses in it," Lien said, already prepping for a busy day in business.

Most roses are imported to Vietnam from Ecuador and China to supplement the locally-grown market, said several online florists, who have encouraged customers to pre-book as early as possible by offering discounts for orders placed as late as Feb. 13.

While red roses and heart-shaped chocolates are common traditions to mark Valentine's Day, many Vietnamese people, especially young couples, also dine out on the day.

"Valentine's Day is one of the busiest days of the year for us, second only to Christmas," said Phan Thu Thao, manager at an upscale pizzeria near Hanoi's scenic West Lake.

The pizzeria, recently emerging on the market with its naturally leavened sourdough pizza crust, has been fully booked on Tuesday, the manager said.

In a country where the average monthly income was about 6.7 million Vietnamese dong (282 U.S. dollars) last year, a two-course meal for two priced at 800,000 Vietnamese dong (34 U.S. dollars) is a big investment.

The age group most likely to go out are 18 to 25 olds, who are also targeted by the pizzeria as core customers.

With expectations running high, the restaurant manager said they would re-arrange the dining room so that every table is for two, besides dimming the lights, playing romantic music and classing up tables with freshly-cut flowers.

"Our job is to make sure love birds get the best service," Thao said, adding that her only worry is how to serve more tables without hurting service quality.

IT'S ALL ABOUT SHARING

Vietnamese people have contextualized Valentine's Day, local social and cultural researchers said, noting that the perception that it is the most romantic time of the year has made Valentine's Day more of an opportunity to express love verbally and openly.

Valentine's Day is now a big deal and it can be stressful for some people.

"This is a time of self-reflection when you ponder on what you have and what you don't have," Vu An, a communication officer with a university in Hanoi, shared her thought on being single on Valentine's Day.

The 39-year-old woman has learnt to ignore the day but she admitted watching couples display affection still makes her wish she had someone to celebrate with. This year, she decided that she would be content to sit on the couch and watch a Netflix movie, after having "an epic meal with her parents."

Not only do single people plan to spend the evening inside, 37-year-old Nguyen Thanh Thuy, a forex trader at a top commercial bank, told Xinhua that she has always treated Valentine's Day the same as other days.

For the mother of two, Valentine's Day is more about sharing love with family members. To avoid a long-awaited night out in town, she said she would rather be at home, celebrating with her husband in the classic ways: chocolate, roses and red wine.

"As a mother working full time, I should be celebrated every day, not just on Valentine's Day," she said with a dry wit. 

A man carries flowers on a street in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, on Feb. 14, 2023. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

Flowers are seen at a shop on Valentine's Day in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, on Feb. 14, 2023. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

A man selects gifts at a shop on Valentine's Day in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, on Feb. 14, 2023. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

A man selects chocolates at a shop on Valentine's Day in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, on Feb. 14, 2023. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)




* The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush officially ended on Wednesday, with more than 1.5 billion trips made by rail, highway, water and civil aviation.

* Pent-up demand for consumption even "extended" this year's travel rush, with many incoming travelers arriving much earlier than expected, while many left much later than anticipated.

* The hurly-burly of the revived holiday experience was felt in many parts of the country, which is a reflection of a vigorous, flourishing Chinese economy on the fast track of recovery.

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, a mass migration marking the celebration of the Chinese New Year, officially ended on Wednesday, with more than 1.5 billion trips made by rail, highway, water and civil aviation.

The travel season, also known as "chunyun," kicked off on Jan. 7 and saw many Chinese people traveling to reunite with their families for the Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on Jan. 22 this year.

Passengers walk on a platform at Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 15, 2023. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua)

On Tuesday, Beijing Fengtai Railway Station, Asia's largest passenger railway hub, was still buzzing with passengers dragging and carrying luggage as they poured from trains under the guidance of station staff.

"This year, the number of passengers has obviously increased during the travel rush, and our workload has become heavier. But seeing the normal flow of people in cities and stations and the happy smiles on their faces, we feel that all our efforts are worth it," said Ling Chengcheng with Beijing Major Railway Station Areas Administration.

"China's railways, roads, waterways and civil aviation have maintained stable operation, with sufficient transport capacity, orderly services, strong emergency support and a stable security situation," said Zhou Min, a Ministry of Transport official.

EXTENDED TRAVEL RUSH

Though it was predictable that this year's holiday travel would be very busy following an optimized COVID-19 response, the flood of sightseers that swarmed into Lijiang, a famed tourist city in southwest China's Yunnan Province, still astonished Wang Yingbo, who runs two bed-and-breakfasts (B&Bs) there.

"We saw some solo travelers coming around Jan. 10, which gave us some confidence about the upcoming holiday season," said Wang. "Yet it didn't occur to me that the number of tourists would suddenly soar within a week and that all 29 rooms of our two B&Bs would soon be booked up."

Wang's B&Bs have been almost always full since then, especially during the week-long holiday. He estimates the net income at about 400,000 yuan (about 58,665 U.S. dollars) for the three weeks around the Chinese New Year. "I expected a boom in tourism this Spring Festival, but I never thought it would be so crazy!"

This photo taken on Jan. 27, 2023 shows a view of the waiting hall at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

Pent-up demand for consumption even "extended" this year's travel rush, with many incoming travelers arriving much earlier than expected, while many left much later than anticipated.

According to Mou Xuemei, general manager of a travel agency in Lijiang, tourists began to increase in mid-January, about a week earlier than in previous years.

"Usually the number of tourists would wane on the sixth day of the first lunar month (usually the last day of the week-long holiday), but this year the drop in tourist levels was delayed for another week," Mou noted.

"No one expected such a quick recovery and so we were not well prepared. But everyone is greatly motivated and many are now adding manpower," said Zhang Yu, who also runs a travel agency.

During the holiday, Yunnan alone recorded over 45.1 million tourist arrivals, up 244.7 percent year on year. Together they generated a total tourism revenue of 38.4 billion yuan, an increase of 249.4 percent from a year ago. Both these figures were about 30 percent higher than the pre-epidemic level in 2019.

CONSUMPTION BOOM

What the tour operators in Yunnan have witnessed is just one reflection of a vigorous, flourishing Chinese economy on the fast track of recovery.

Tourists visit the Qilou ancient street during the Spring Festival holiday in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Eager travelers packed train stations, airports, eateries, tourist attractions and homestays, unleashing a stunning consumption revival.

According to the online tourism platform TravelGo, tourist destinations like Xishuangbanna, Sanya and Xiamen in the country's south, and the Changbai Mountains in northeastern Jilin Province, were among the most popular spots during the holiday.

After three years of relying on video chat, Wang Lin, 28, spent "the best Spring Festival ever" this year, reuniting with her parents on a trip to Sanya.

"Face-to-face chat and home-cooked meals, such things can never be replaced," said Wang Lin, who was wowed by the large-scale flow of people at the airport and scenic spots.

During the Spring Festival holiday, Sanya civil aviation authority recorded a new high of 3,024 flights in seven days, an increase of 5.8 percent over the same period in 2019.

"Many are on family tours to savor the lovely sunshine and splendid sea views here. Everyone wears a big smile from the bottom of their hearts," Wang Lin added.

Congested shopping malls, traffic jams and long queues for dinner are scenes that used to annoy Tao Kangjia, a courier for Meituan Waimai, a major food delivery platform in China. However, Tao was delighted to see the return of such scenes during the Spring Festival this year.

"Some stores went out of business over the past two years due to the epidemic, but this year, most of them remained open to serve the large number of customers," Tao said.

Tao worked in one of the most prosperous areas in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. He worked about eight hours a day in the holiday season, earning over 10,000 yuan in a month.

The hurly-burly of the revived holiday experience was felt in many parts of the country.

Data from ride-hailing company DiDi shows that from Jan. 7 to Feb. 14, DiDi's ride-hailing and taxi orders continued to increase and had recovered to more than 90 percent of the number recorded in 2019. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province saw orders restored to more than 90 percent of the 2019 level, while second-tier and third-tier cities, including Dalian and Yancheng, also witnessed obvious increases in ride-hailing orders.

(Video reporters: Yang Jing, Zhang Caixia, Li Yuze, Jiang Zhaochen, Zhang Mengjie, Cen Zhilian, Peng Jing, Qu Lanjuan, Huang Xitian, Liang Jiajun, Zhang Yichi, Xu Langxuan, Yan Yueqiao, Li Sida, Da Rihan, Liu Runzhi, Xu Jian, Fan Changguo; Video editors: Hui Peipei, Cao Ying, Yu Jiaming) 
TIANJIN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- On a crisp winter day, more than 20 elks were sighted wandering the lush Qilihai wetland in the Ninghe District of north China's Tianjin Municipality, as the serene setting of this vast wetland was enlivened by the graceful presence of these magnificent creatures.

"Since 2021, we have steadfastly continued our efforts to release elks into the wild in the Qilihai wetland. Over the past two years, the released elks have not only thrived in their habitat but also gave birth to four little elks," said Wu Chengyi, an official with Qilihai Wetland Nature Reserve.

This development serves as a clear indication that the ecological function of the Qilihai wetland is gradually being restored, creating a sustainable and thriving environment for its inhabitants.

In 2017, Tianjin launched a wetland protection campaign to restore the ecological environment in 875 square kilometers of its wetland nature reserves including Beidagang, Qilihai and Dahuangpu.

"The restoration efforts underway at the Qilihai wetland are centered around 10 critical projects, including water diversion and storage, reed restoration and bird protection," said Wu, adding that nearly 1,067 hectares of wetland vegetation have been restored in Qilihai.

In Tianjin's Beidagang wetland, adjacent to Bohai Bay, the revitalization of the ecological environment makes it a popular stopover site for various migratory birds, including some new species that have recently made their appearance.

"The oriental white stork is an endangered bird and picky about its habitat environment. In China, they tend to breed in the northeastern region of the country," said Sun Hongyi, a staffer at the Beidagang wetland nature reserve management center.

However, more than 60 pairs of oriental white storks have been spotted nesting and breeding in the Beidagang wetland in recent years. "This shows that the aquatic environment and biodiversity of the Beidagang wetland have improved significantly," Sun added.

Oriental white storks as well as the number of other migratory birds are increasing in the reserve. Even in the frigid winter, some migratory birds are reluctant to leave, Sun added.

To better serve the "guests" from afar, Beidagang wetland not only undertakes regular patrol and monitoring but also uses artificial floating islands and other means to speed up the restoration of aquatic plants and create a premium stopover habitat for migratory birds.

In addition to the thriving bird population in Beidagang, a growing number of birds are being spotted throughout Tianjin, with the city's avian diversity increasing from 416 species to 452 species, as reported by official statistics.

Moreover, the picturesque wetlands not only offer immeasurable benefits to the bird populations, but they also contribute to enhancing people's well-being.

The Chaobai River National Wetland Park in the Baodi District of Tianjin is quickly gaining popularity as a favorable spot for running, exercise and leisure activities.

"The wetland park is close to the Chaobai New River and is a veritable oasis of natural beauty, offering an abundance of blooming flowers, thriving bird populations and pristine air," said Sun Yan, a local resident, adding that doing exercise in the park has become an important part of her retirement life.

At present, the total area of wetlands in Tianjin stands at 2,956 square kilometers and the protection rate of wetlands in the city exceeds 59 percent, said Guo Xiumin, an official with the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources.

"Tianjin has established a wetland natural protection system, with wetland nature reserves as its foundation, which is supplemented by wetland parks and marine parks. The beautiful vision of harmonious coexistence between humans and wetlands is becoming a reality," Guo added. 
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

The UN chief stressed that the human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles in access, funding and supplies.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Tuesday the world body is launching a humanitarian appeal for 397 million U.S. dollars for the people of earthquake-hit Syria.

"This will cover a period of three months," Guterres told reporters, adding that "we are in the final stages of a similar appeal for Turkiye."

The Syria effort brings together the entire UN system and humanitarian partners and will help secure desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians, including shelter, healthcare, food and protection, Guterres said.

"The most effective way to stand with the people is by providing this emergency funding," he noted.

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.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, the United Nations rapidly provided 50 million dollars through the Central Emergency Response Fund.

Rescuers work at an earthquake-hit site in Latakia, Syria, Feb. 10, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

"But the needs are immense," Guterres said, pointing out that one week after the devastating earthquakes, millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures.

"We are doing all we can to change this. But much more is needed," he said.

The UN chief stressed that the human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles in access, funding and supplies.

"Aid must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes -- without any restrictions," he said.

"I urge member states and others to fully fund this effort without delay and help the millions of children, women and men whose lives have been upended by this generational disaster," said Guterres. 
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced her bid for president on Tuesday.

Haley, also former governor of South Carolina, became the first prominent Republican to officially challenge former U.S. President Donald Trump for the party's 2024 nomination.

"The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again," Haley, 51, said in a video announcing the candidacy.

Other Republicans, including former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are expected to launch their 2024 campaigns in the coming months.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he intends to seek reelection. 
by Martina Fuchs

GENEVA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday urged governments to protect the world's oceans by finalizing a long-awaited High Seas Treaty at the United Nations (UN) in New York this March.

The first-ever treaty on high seas biodiversity would provide a globally recognized mechanism to designate marine protected areas, and is crucial in order to achieve the goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world's oceans, Jessica Battle, WWF's senior global ocean governance and policy expert told Xinhua in a video interview.

One of the main impacts of human activities on the ocean is fishing, Battle highlighted.

At the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) which took place in Vancouver, Canada, from Feb. 3-9, the WWF called on policymakers to accelerate global ocean protection from 8 percent to 30 percent within eight years.

Previously, at COP15 in Montreal in December, the goal of protecting and conserving at least 30 percent of the world's marine and coastal areas was adopted by 196 countries under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

"China played a very strong role at COP15, making sure that we did get an agreement by the 196 parties to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030," said Battle, who will attend the negotiations in New York.

In a resolution in December 2017, the UN General Assembly decided to convene an intergovernmental conference to draw up the text of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and use of marine biodiversity.

REACHING A DEAL

However, the UN's negotiations for a High Seas Treaty stalled last August as delegates said more time was needed to reach an agreement on a final text.

Governments must ensure that the ocean receives the level of attention and protection it needs in order to provide for the future, Battle said.

Waters which lie beyond national jurisdictions, known as the high seas, comprise nearly two-thirds of the ocean's area. However, only about 1 percent of this huge swath of the planet is protected, WWF said.

Battle said the treaty would be ratified when 30 countries sign up to it, and it is then implemented into national legislation.

It is critical that the treaty should enter into force quickly, Battle said.

SAFEGUARDING THE SEABED

WWF also said that the ocean faces new potential threats such as deep seabed mining, a nascent industry with the potential to cause irreparable harm to fragile deep-sea ecosystems.

"We are seeing a growing number of countries calling for a global moratorium ... This will be agreed at the International Seabed Authority which meets three times a year in Jamaica," Battle said.

"We need to safeguard this very important environment in order to reach biodiversity goals, and also to safeguard the ocean as a carbon sink."

Many ocean areas play a key role for important species of shark, tuna, whale and sea turtle, and they also support billions of dollars of economic activity annually, WWF has said.

In its "Reviving the Ocean Economy" report, the organization outlined that the goods and services that flow from the ocean and coasts are worth at least 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars each year, and the overall value of the ocean as an asset is 10 times more. 
Students attend a food distribution ceremony organized by the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) at the Obaay Primary School in Dukem town of Ethiopia's Oromia regional state, on June 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Amid multiple financial, health and climate crises affecting the African continent, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has urged African countries to introduce pro-poor and inclusive recovery efforts to foster economic transformation.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Amid multiple financial, health and climate crises affecting the African continent, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has urged African countries to introduce pro-poor and inclusive recovery efforts to foster economic transformation.

The urgent call was made by UNECA Acting Executive Secretary Antonio Pedro ahead of the 55th Session of the UNECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM 2023), the UNECA said in a statement issued late Monday.

The UNECA chief said the impact of the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and climate change have pushed more people into extreme poverty and have increased inequality worldwide.

A sign is posted on a restaurant's glass door to instruct people to obey health guidelines in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

"Africa is falling even further behind, with the continent now accounting for the highest proportion of the world's poor of any region globally," Pedro warned, emphasizing that the growing number of newly poor and vulnerable people makes it harder to close the gap between the rich and the poor.

"Recovery efforts must be pro-poor and inclusive, with a view to fostering a new social contract that offers equal opportunity for all. It is important that our growth does not leave anyone behind and if we do so then the social contract that is key to having stability and prosperity will be completely disrupted," he added.

Pedro indicated that pro-poor and inclusive recovery must be deliberately incorporated in the design and implementation of policies, including by securing the input of all stakeholders such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in such processes.

Children play in Kibera slum, an informal settlement southwest of Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Oct. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

He said the ability of African countries to effectively tackle poverty and inequality has been severely constrained given declining economic growth, narrowing fiscal space, rising debt, commodity shocks and tightening global financial conditions.

The UNECA chief warned that Africa faces a higher risk of missing the poverty and inequality targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063.

Noting that the COVID-19 and the Ukraine conflict have wiped out some of the development gains made in the last decade in terms of economic growth, social inclusion and poverty reduction, Pedro said Africa's trade flows and supply chains were also disrupted. As a result, it was pertinent for Africa to promote local solutions.

The 55th Session of CoM 2023 will be held from March 15 to 17. The Conference brings together ministers of finance, planning and economic development from African countries, governors of central banks, entities of the United Nations system and pan-African financial institutions.

This year's edition of the high-level gathering will convene under the theme "fostering recovery and transformation in Africa to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities." 
Photo taken on May 28, 2020 shows fishes and sea anemone at a marine ranch in the sea area of Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

The first-ever treaty on high seas biodiversity is expected to provide a globally recognized mechanism to designate marine protected areas, and help protect at least 30 percent of the world's oceans.

by Martina Fuchs

GENEVA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday urged governments to protect the world's oceans by finalizing a long-awaited High Seas Treaty at the United Nations (UN) in New York this March.

The first-ever treaty on high seas biodiversity would provide a globally recognized mechanism to designate marine protected areas, and is crucial in order to achieve the goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world's oceans, Jessica Battle, WWF's senior global ocean governance and policy expert told Xinhua in a video interview.

One of the main impacts of human activities on the ocean is fishing, Battle highlighted.

At the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) which took place in Vancouver, Canada, from Feb. 3-9, the WWF called on policymakers to accelerate global ocean protection from 8 percent to 30 percent within eight years.

Photo taken on July 5, 2022 shows critically-endangered sand tiger sharks in the Scientific Center aquarium, in Hawalli Governorate, Kuwait. (Photo by Asad/Xinhua)

Previously, at COP15 in Montreal in December, the goal of protecting and conserving at least 30 percent of the world's marine and coastal areas was adopted by 196 countries under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

"China played a very strong role at COP15, making sure that we did get an agreement by the 196 parties to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030," said Battle, who will attend the negotiations in New York.

In a resolution in December 2017, the UN General Assembly decided to convene an intergovernmental conference to draw up the text of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and use of marine biodiversity.

REACHING A DEAL

However, the UN's negotiations for a High Seas Treaty stalled last August as delegates said more time was needed to reach an agreement on a final text.

Governments must ensure that the ocean receives the level of attention and protection it needs in order to provide for the future, Battle said.

Photo taken on June 8, 2022 shows corals in the waters of Fenjiezhou Island of Hainan Province, south China. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

Waters which lie beyond national jurisdictions, known as the high seas, comprise nearly two-thirds of the ocean's area. However, only about 1 percent of this huge swath of the planet is protected, WWF said.

Battle said the treaty would be ratified when 30 countries sign up to it, and it is then implemented into national legislation.

It is critical that the treaty should enter into force quickly, Battle said.

SAFEGUARDING THE SEABED

WWF also said that the ocean faces new potential threats such as deep seabed mining, a nascent industry with the potential to cause irreparable harm to fragile deep-sea ecosystems.

"We are seeing a growing number of countries calling for a global moratorium ... This will be agreed at the International Seabed Authority which meets three times a year in Jamaica," Battle said.

A woman collects waste from the beach in Alexandria, Egypt, Aug. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

"We need to safeguard this very important environment in order to reach biodiversity goals, and also to safeguard the ocean as a carbon sink."

Many ocean areas play a key role for important species of shark, tuna, whale and sea turtle, and they also support billions of dollars of economic activity annually, WWF has said.

In its "Reviving the Ocean Economy" report, the organization outlined that the goods and services that flow from the ocean and coasts are worth at least 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars each year, and the overall value of the ocean as an asset is 10 times more. 
KUNMING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a settlement site dating back more than 3,000 years in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which may offer new clues on the origin of the Dian culture once thriving in the region.

The site was found in the Gucheng Village Site in Kunming, the provincial capital.

The ring-shaped settlement is well-preserved and composed of platforms, trenches and slope protection, said Zhou Ranchao, a researcher with the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

The recent discovery of the settlement in the Gucheng Village Site marks a significant addition to the over 1,000 relic sites found there, including tombs, houses, trenches and ash pits, dating back to an era when China's central region was under the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600-256 BC).

Zhou said the settlement, representing a culture earlier than the Dian culture, offers new materials for understanding the settlement forms, social organizations, funeral customs and ethnic composition of early cultures in southwest China. 
Wang Yi (4th L), 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 Bakhtiyor Saidov (3rd R), Uzbekistan's acting foreign minister, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 15, 2023. Wang made a technical stop in Tashkent en route to Europe for a visit and held a brief meeting with Saidov at the airport. (Chinese Embassy in Uzbekistan/Handout via Xinhua)

TASHKENT, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met Wednesday with Bakhtiyor Saidov, Uzbekistan's acting foreign minister.

Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made a technical stop in Tashkent en route to Europe for a visit and held a brief meeting with Saidov at the airport.

The two sides spoke highly of China-Uzbekistan friendship and discussed future high-level exchanges.

They agreed to follow through on the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, push for more results in all-round mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Uzbekistan as well as in cooperation between China and Central Asia, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. 
Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, speaks at a national teleconference on the fight against pornography and illegal publications in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official on Wednesday called for better efforts to crack down on pornography and illegal publications and to maintain a healthy cultural environment.

Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks when addressing a teleconference held here.

Li stressed that the fight against pornography and illegal publications is of special significance on the new journey. He required efforts to meet people's cultural aspirations and to safeguard the country's ideology security.

Li said the work should be closely related to people's concerns and should focus on protecting minors. Enditem
HONG KONG, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Top Talent Pass Scheme, launched by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and implemented with effect from Dec. 28, 2022, has received more than 10,000 applications seven weeks after its launch.

Chris Sun, secretary for labor and welfare of the HKSAR government, told the media on Wednesday that about 8,400 applications had been processed, among which some 7,700 had already been approved.

Most of the applications came from young people, with those aged under 30 years old accounting for half, and about 97 percent of the total were 50 years old or younger, Sun said.

He added that half of all applicants came from graduates of the world's top 100 universities with at least three years of work experience over the past five years, and one-sixth of the applicants have an annual income of 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars (about 318,530 U.S. dollars) or more.

The Top Talent Pass Scheme seeks to attract top talents with rich work experience and good academic qualifications from all over the world to explore opportunities in Hong Kong.

These top talents include high-income talents and graduates from the world's top universities. 
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Tuesday the world body is launching a humanitarian appeal for 397 million U.S. dollars for the people of earthquake-hit Syria.

"This will cover a period of three months," Guterres told reporters, adding that "we are in the final stages of a similar appeal for Turkiye."

The Syria effort brings together the entire UN system and humanitarian partners and will help secure desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians, including shelter, healthcare, food and protection, Guterres said.

"The most effective way to stand with the people is by providing this emergency funding," he noted.

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.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, the United Nations rapidly provided 50 million dollars through the Central Emergency Response Fund.

"But the needs are immense," Guterres said, pointing out that one week after the devastating earthquakes, millions of people across the region are struggling for survival, homeless and in freezing temperatures.

"We are doing all we can to change this. But much more is needed," he said.

The UN chief stressed that the human suffering from this epic natural disaster should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles in access, funding and supplies.

"Aid must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes -- without any restrictions," he said.

"I urge member states and others to fully fund this effort without delay and help the millions of children, women and men whose lives have been upended by this generational disaster," said Guterres.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 8.8 million people in Syria were affected by last week's devastating earthquakes.

The damage is worse in the north-west of the country, where more than 4.2 million people have been affected in Aleppo, and 3 million people have been affected in Idlib, OCHA said Tuesday in a press release, adding that more than 7,400 buildings have been completely or partially destroyed.

"Water, electricity, heating and social services are under severe pressure. The risk of waterborne diseases is high, particularly amid an ongoing cholera outbreak," the UN agency said. "Emergency health care is limited, and lack of fuel and heavy machinery is hampering efforts to quickly reach people most in need."

The UN funding appeal of nearly 400 million dollars will benefit 4.9 million people with the most urgent humanitarian needs, OCHA said.

The appeal aims to provide essential shelter, health, food, water, sanitation, non-food items, education, nutrition and protection services, as well as carrying out essential light repairs and rehabilitation to restore health, water and sanitation, agriculture and education infrastructure, and supply chains.

It also intends to support livelihoods by providing short-term employment for debris clearance and small-scale rehabilitation, provide protection services, mental health and psychosocial support, and gender-based violence case management, said OCHA. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)
People participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous woman holding a photo participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

People participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous man holding photos of victims participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Indigenous women holding photos of victims participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Indigenous women holding photos of victims participate in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

An indigenous girl participates in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2023. Thousands of people participated in the march to commemorate the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)
SHENYANG, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- At a studio in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Kan Dawei carefully pasted selected feathers of various colors and shapes onto a piece of paper with a pair of tweezers, creating an exquisite three-dimensional painting.

This is feather painting. Artists use feathers to embellish roofs, animals and trees to give the impression that the real object is emerging from the painting. Thatched roofs create warmth and evoke homesickness, while furry animals look inviting and tempt observers to touch.

During the Spring Festival holiday this year, Kan's feather paintings proved popular and became gifts for people to give to their relatives and friends. Since January, Kan has spent more than 10 hours a day painting.

"This 'zodiac rabbit' feather painting was the most popular recently. I've sold 50 such paintings," Kan said. "Orders for large feather paintings such as landscapes and animals are at capacity." His works have also been sold to buyers in European countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

"In an area of heavy industry in China, we create beautiful works with the lightest feathers," said Kan Dawei, repeating the words of his father Kan Fei. Kan Dawei added that his father's words have encouraged him on his 40-year feather painting journey.

In the 1960s, many craftsmen jointly established a feather craft factory. Kan Fei, who loved painting, became a member of the factory. Initially, they used feathers from feather dusters to create paintings of birds in simple colors and lines.

"Despite its simplicity, feather paintings became an important ornament for many Chinese families at that time," said Kan Dawei. In the 1980s, some feather crafts were exported overseas.

Since then, with China's reform and opening up, individual private economy developed rapidly. This allowed many craftsmen to leave the factories and plunge into the sea of business by setting up their own studios. Kan Dawei was one of those to follow this route.

"I want to show the world China's pursuit of craftsmanship excellence through feather painting," Kan said. "We are not only capable of producing heavy machinery, but also of creating exquisite handicrafts."

Now, in Kan's studio, there are both traditional Chinese landscape paintings made of feathers, and pastoral paintings involving oil painting techniques. Themes include landscapes, birds, animals and people. One of the paintings, "Twelve Beauties of Jinling," based on the classic Chinese novel "A Dream of Red Mansions," is particularly exquisite. The pretty ancient Chinese ladies depicted in this work were created by using hundreds of colorful feathers, and every facial expression is lifelike.

Kan has introduced feather painting to art classes in schools and universities. He has also started handicrafts training classes for the disabled to help them learn skills and find jobs. Meanwhile, he participated regularly in exhibitions and fairs in Europe with the aim of spreading awareness of this handicraft overseas.

"I hope people around the world will know about this intangible cultural heritage, which originated in Shenyang, China. This is my wish for the new year," he said. 
Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding (L) and Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro pose with document of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral tourism cooperation in Tirana, Albania, on Feb. 14, 2023.

China and Albania signed the MOU on bilateral tourism cooperation here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

TIRANA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China and Albania signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral tourism cooperation here on Tuesday.

The document was signed by Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding and Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro.

The signing of the MOU is the latest achievement of concrete cooperation between the two countries following the mutual visa exemption agreement signed last month, Zhou said.

He said that the signing of these two documents will stimulate the potential for tourism cooperation and promote people-to-people bonds between China and Albania.

Zhou said he hoped Chinese and Albanian tourism enterprises will take this opportunity to strengthen their cooperation, offer more unique tourism routes, bring more Chinese tourists to Albania and vice versa.

Kumbaro said that the tourism industry, one of Albania's pillar industries, has recovered rapidly. The country had 7 million tourist arrivals last year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

She said Albania is looking forward to welcoming more Chinese tourists. 

Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding (L) and Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral tourism cooperation in Tirana, Albania, on Feb. 14, 2023.

China and Albania signed the MOU on bilateral tourism cooperation here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, Front) speaks at a Security Council debate on "Sea-level Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security" at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said climate crisis is the root cause of rising seas, and urged the international community to take more concerted action to reduce emissions and ensure climate justice.

"Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself. It is a threat-multiplier," Guterres told a Security Council debate on "Sea-level Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security."

Rising seas threaten lives, and jeopardize access to water, food and healthcare. Saltwater intrusion can decimate jobs and entire economies in key industries like agriculture, fishery and tourism, he said.

It can damage or destroy vital infrastructure, and rising seas threaten the very existence of some low-lying communities and even countries, he added.

Citing data released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Guterres said that global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years.

The WMO predicted that even if global heating is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise, and if temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius, that level rise could double, with further temperature increases bringing exponential sea level increases.

The consequences of the scenarios "are unthinkable," Guterres said, warning that the world would witness "a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale" and "ever-fiercer competition for fresh water, land and other resources."

The international community must meet this rising tide of insecurity with action to address climate crisis, the root cause of rising seas, with more concerted action to reduce emissions and ensure climate justice, he said.

Developing countries must have the resources to adapt and build resilience against climate disaster, the UN chief said, which means delivering on the loss and damage fund, making good on the 100-billion-U.S.-dollar climate finance commitment to developing countries, doubling adaptation finance, and leveraging massive private financing at a reasonable cost.

He also stressed the need to broaden understanding of the root causes of insecurity by identifying and addressing a much wider range of factors that undermine security, from poverty, discrimination and inequality, violations of human rights, to environmental disasters like rising sea levels. 
STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON THE PH TOPPING YOUTH BULLYING

The data on bullying among our youth have been extremely alarming, even more so as gender-based or SOGIE bullying has been clearly established as one of the major causes.

Therefore, just as bullying and mental health of our children are non-debatable priorities for Congress, then, it is just as important to acknowledge the struggles of our LGBTQIA+ youth.

This is one of the reasons I filed the SOGIE Equality bill-- to protect these vulnerable youth. We cannot solve bullying and enhance mental health without making these basic protections for our children explicit in our laws.

In SY 2021-2022 alone, DepEd reported 7,800 cases of gender-based bullying.

The Inter-agency Task Team on Young Key Populations, or vulnerable youth aged 10-24 years old, conducted a South East Asian regional survey, including the Philippines, on Stigma, Discrimination and Gender-based violence in the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that 40% of the LGBTQIA+ youth respondents reported that they had faced gender-based violence, and 50% reported that they had suffered stigma and discrimination during the pandemic.

Another study by Galang Philippines in 2015 shows that 18% of the LGBTQIA+ community averaging 24 years old attempted suicide. Suicide rates have drastically risen among the youth in general since then.

The numbers are telling a clear-cut story. If we say we are concerned about the future of our youth, then we should heed the data. As long as we are in denial, our children will continue to suffer the long-term consequences.
A man holds up a sign denouncing gun violence during a memorial for victims of a mass shooting at Monterey Park City Hall, California, the United States, Jan. 23, 2023. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

Since the start of the New Year, in just 45 days, there have been 78 mass shootings across the United States, or an average of 1.7 per day, leaving 129 dead and 294 wounded.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and five others were injured in on-campus shootings at Michigan State University (MSU) Monday night, with the suspect found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

According to MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant, the first shots were fired inside a hall at 8:18 p.m. local time (0118 GMT) at the north end of campus, and gunshots were later heard at a nearby hall.

"This is a complete nightmare we are living tonight," Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief with MSU Department of Public Safety, was quoted by CNN.

The tragedy was the 77th mass shooting in the United States in 2023, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker website, a crowd-sourced database of U.S. mass shootings.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 78th mass shooting followed in Pennsylvania. Four students were injured to varying degrees. The suspect is still at large.

A sheriff deputy works at the scene of a shooting in Half Moon Bay in California, the United States, Jan. 23, 2023. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua)

Since the start of the New Year, in just 45 days, there have been 78 mass shootings across the United States, or an average of 1.7 per day, leaving 129 dead and 294 wounded.

Figures also showed that the number of mass shootings across the country has been rising sharply, from 339 in 2013 to 753 in 2022 -- more than double.

Three weeks earlier, seven people died and one was critically injured in two shootings in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay. Another 11 people were killed and at least 10 wounded in a shooting in Monterey Park in Southern California.

Shooting tragedies are a daily affair in the United States, with many fearing they could be caught up in the next mass killing.

"We have the highest rates of gun deaths in the world. We have more guns than people ... We have more than one gun for every man, woman and child in America. That is insanity," Paul Cole Padilla, an educational administrator, told Xinhua.

Many people blame mass shootings on race, but the reality is far more complicated. America's culture of violence runs deeper than skin color, and the single-minded focus on race won't solve anything, said Bill Maher, host of the HBO political talk show Real Time.

The culture of violence in the United States manifests on various fronts.

"Can American culture rethink itself -- can it transcend its belief that enemies are always out there, needing to be obliterated," said Robert C. Koehler, a Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer, adding that violence presents itself in people's imaginations, games, movies and defense budget, as consequence-free, instantaneous and necessary.

People mourn with candles for victims of a mass shooting in front of the city hall of Monterey Park, California, the United States, on Jan. 23, 2023. (Xinhua)

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Congress to "ban assault weapons once and for all." Still, Republicans remain steadfast in supporting gun rights and oppose more restrictions on carrying firearms.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in January outlined an agenda to prioritize enacting stricter gun laws, calling for universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme protection orders to prevent potential risk, The New York Times reported.

Although most Americans support more gun control laws, the efforts seem in vain. A viral image on social media sums up America's moral morass: "mass shooting happened, media extravaganza, thoughts and prayers, social media gun debates, no one actually does anything, back to 'normal,' another mass shooting happens."

Gun control has become a political asset rather than a problem that needs fixing.

"Americans who oppose gun control are more likely to contact public officials about it and to base their votes on it," explained Matthew Lacombe, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University and former researcher at Barnard College. "Many politicians believe that supporting gun regulation is more likely to lose them votes than to gain votes." 
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing on Tuesday.

Qin said the fruitful talks held by the two heads of state resulted in broad and important consensus, provided important strategic guidance and injected strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

China stands ready to work with Iran to deepen practical cooperation, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, implement the latest consensus reached by the two heads of state and push for new progress on the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Qin added.

Qin said the two sides should continue to support each other on issues concerning core interests, strengthen coordination and cooperation on international and regional affairs, make joint efforts to promote enduring peace and stability in the region, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international fairness and justice.

Noting that Iran attaches great importance to developing relations with China, Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran is ready to work with China to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and ensure the comprehensive cooperation plan of the two countries achieves more results.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, Amir-Abdollahian introduced the latest progress in the negotiations on resuming implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and expressed appreciation for China's constructive role.

Noting that China supports Iran in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, Qin said that China will continue to promote the political and diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue, and calls on other parties concerned to make active efforts toward this end. 
BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Between 2018 and 2022, Chinese prosecutors filed indictments for over 5.83 million criminal cases, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

The indictments included more than 435,000 cases involving crimes endangering public security and over 230,000 cases involving serious violence, Sun Qian, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Prosecutors also filed indictments in over 1,400 cases involving crimes of endangering national security, Sun said.

Furthermore, procuratorial agencies nationwide launched prosecutions in some 42,000 cases involving organized crimes, with over 3,600 suspects accused of acting as a "protective umbrella" for such offenses, according to data released at the press conference.

During the five-year period, both the number of serious violent crimes in the country and their proportion in all crimes dropped, the SPP said. However, crimes committed through the internet, and financial and securities-related crimes were on the rise.

Prosecutors have also been working with the country's supervisory agencies to deal with corruption cases. In the same period, more than 78,000 suspects were charged with embezzlement, bribe-taking and other duty-related crimes, according to the SPP. 
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The recent report by a famed U.S. journalist on the involvement of the U.S. Navy in the Nord Stream explosions is "credible" and is consistent with several existing facts, a renowned scholar has said.

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said last week on the U.S. portal Substack that the U.S. Navy was involved in the Nord Stream explosions.

According to Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, 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 that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

"I have long hypothesized that the U.S. Government carried out this action, and Hersh's account adds to the likelihood of that hypothesis," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, in an emailed interview with Xinhua.

The professor has listed 11 facts corresponding to Hersh's report.

First and second are "the long-standing vociferous U.S. opposition to Nord Stream and the extensive record of U.S. covert operations against the infrastructure of other countries," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden last year publicly warned that in the event of a Russian military campaign, the United States would end the pipeline, declaring, "I promise you we will be able to do it," said the economist.

Fourth, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland warned in 2022 that Nord Stream "would not move forward" if Russia launches operations, he added.

Moreover, "very few countries, if any, other than the United States have the technical capacity to carry out such an attack without immediate detection," said Sachs.

He also listed Sweden's remarkable unwillingness to reveal the results of its own investigation into the explosions, and the silence in mainstream Western media regarding Hersh's report, as two facts that can explain his hypothesis.

The eighth fact is that "Western intelligence agencies have admitted that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia carried out this act," he said.

The celebration by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who deemed the pipeline destruction a "tremendous opportunity" to wean Europe from Russian gas, and by Nuland, who called the damaged Nord Stream 2 "a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea," also add to the possibility of the United States orchestrating the destruction, said the professor.

Lastly, Hersh's credible and detailed account has yet to be refuted other than possibly in minor details, he said. 
LHASA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to implement 1,337 rural revitalization projects in 2023, with an estimated investment of 14.67 billion yuan (about 2.15 billion U.S. dollars), local authorities said.

The construction of 84 projects has already started, while a total of 809 projects have completed preliminary work and entered the bidding process, according to an agricultural and pastoral work meeting of the autonomous region in southwest China.

The projects aim to promote the development of an array of fields in rural areas, such as high-standard farmland and featured agriculture and animal husbandry industries.

All of the projects will commence before the end of May, said Jiang Hua, deputy director of Tibet's rural revitalization bureau, who also encouraged various prefectures and cities to strengthen the management of the projects and funds.

After years of efforts, rural residents in Tibet have seen improved livelihood. In 2021, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the region reached 16,935 yuan, 2.97 times the income recorded in 2012. 
BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said Wednesday that the United States violated the spirit of international law and international practice when it shot down an unmanned Chinese airship.

Zhang made the remarks when answering a query concerning the unmanned civilian airship, which the U.S. Department of Defense shot down with missiles.

Zhang said the Chinese government has explained several times that it was a civilian unmanned airship used for meteorological and other research purposes. Affected by climate factors, the airship deviated far from its planned course, a situation caused by force majeure.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the airship would not pose a military or personal threat to ground personnel, yet the U.S. side insisted on using force to shoot down the airship -- a clear overreaction that violated the spirit of international law and international practice, Zhang said.

He said the SCO has always maintained that all countries should abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, refrain from the use of force and the threat of using force, and resolve international disputes through peaceful means such as negotiation and consultation. 
MOGADISHU, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Over 200 al-Shabab militants were killed during a week-long operation carried out by the Somali National Army (SNA) and regional forces in the south and central regions of Somalia, officials said on Wednesday.

The latest onslaught against the al-Qaeda-linked militants had paid off, amid mass casualties, Minister for Information Daud Aweis Jama told a briefing in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

He said troops intensified assaults on militants in areas under Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Southwest and Jubbaland states.

More militants surrendered during the operation, including a Shabab commander and bomb expert, Jama said.

The SNA said its forces on Tuesday killed 10 al-Shabab militants and injured several others in an operation in Mudug region, central Somalia.

Al-Shabab has yet to comment on the latest onslaught, but claimed earlier this week that it had attacked two bases in Lower Shabelle and Jubba regions, in southern Somalia, killing several soldiers.

The terror group was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 but is still capable of conducting attacks, targeting government installations, hotels, restaurants and public places.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared an all-out war against al-Shabab, vowing to flush out the militants from their strongholds. 
SYDNEY, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia has launched a transnational drug trafficking investigation after police seized about 365 kg of cocaine in Western Australia (WA)'s Great Southern region.

According to a joint statement released on Tuesday by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force, the probe started when three men were rescued from the ocean off Albany on Feb. 1 and their story of capsizing while fishing appeared inconsistent.

On Feb. 7, a black plastic-wrapped package containing multiple smaller packages of cocaine washed ashore near the WA town of Denmark, while the next afternoon, a 7-meter boat was found overturned off Peaceful Bay, about 45 km west of Denmark.

Police officers found another eight similar plastic-wrapped packages, each containing about 40 kg of cocaine.

AFP Acting Commander Graeme Marshall urged the three men - two from WA and one believed to be in the Northern Territory - to contact the police.

"The AFP estimates this seizure has saved the community more than 235 million Australian dollars in drug-related harm, including associated crime, healthcare and loss of productivity," said Marshall.

"We believe this amount of cocaine would have been distributed across Australia and not just in WA," the commander added. 
Press Release

February 15, 2023 Sponsorship Speech of Senate President Pro-Tempore Loren Legarda on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) Nobyembre, taon dalawang libo at labing-isa nang ipinagtibay ng ASEAN Leaders ang ASEAN Framework for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) sa 19th ASEAN Summit sa Bali, Indonesia. Nang sumunod na taon, ang mga pinuno ng sampung ASEAN member states, at ng anim niyang ASEAN Free Trade Agreement partners, na kinabibilangan ng Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, at India ay opisyal na nilunsad ang RCEP negotiations. Ito ay naganap noong November 2012 nang isinagawa ang 21st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits sa Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Sa loob ng walong taon ginanap ang masusing negosasyon sa RCEP na pinamumunuan ng Department of Trade and Industry, dala-dala ang mga patnubay mula sa mga sector na kinunsulta. There was a total of 28 full rounds of RCEP negotiations, eight (8) regular and ten (10) intersessional Ministerial Meetings that were convened over a period of eight years. On top of these, there were four (4) RCEP Leaders' Summits held, wherein at the 4th RCEP Summit on 15 November 2020, the RCEP Agreement was signed. Ngayon - labing dalawang taon matapos nilunsad ang RCEP -- tinatanong pa din natin ang ating sarili - Kailangan ba natin ito? RCEP's rich historical antecedents and claims on its benefits, on the other hand, begs the question, Why not? I will be the first to argue, however, that the number of years spent in one's study or negotiation of international instruments, such as the RCEP, does not define the quality of a treaty. What defines a good treaty for each participating country are its principles and goals that are given life through informed and carefully weighed commitments, and vigorous capacity-building measures and safeguards to address the peculiar circumstances of each participating member economy, including their respective economic sectors that are struggling to deal with various forms of barriers that inhibit growth - barriers that hinder their participation in cross-border trade and global value chains. I have carefully weighed the risks of RCEP vis-a-vis the benefits that it will bring to our people. Let me underscore the following: Based on 2020 data, the RCEP free trade area accounts for 29% of the world's trade, 29% of world's GDP, 33% of global inward Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), 47% of global outward FDI, and 2.3 billion population (29% of the world's population). Can we afford to dismiss the opportunities offered by this regional market?

The very sensitive agricultural products are excluded from our tariff commitments in RCEP. In fact, under RCEP, more agricultural tariff lines were excluded from tariff commitments compared to our commitments under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and the ASEAN+1 FTAs. Under RCEP, the Philippines only offered 33 agricultural tariff lines covering 15 products for further liberalization specifically for Australia, New Zealand, China, and South Korea compared to the existing ASEAN +1 Free Trade Agreements. This is only equivalent to 1.9% of the total agricultural tariff lines. The global and regional markets are already open, and trade has been liberalized. We already have bilateral trade agreements, and ASEAN Free Trade Agreements. Whether we concur with the ratification of RCEP or not, the world has already evolved into a global marketplace, with pockets of regional markets. RCEP is essentially a step towards ensuring that a rules-based, transparent, and conducive business environment is promoted to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Why would we not want to be a part of this?

RCEP offers better market access for key Philippine products such as preserved pineapples, coconut juice, papaya, durian in China, Korea, and Japan. It offers additional guaranteed market access for services in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand. Many of our production sectors need more markets and they are clamoring for it.

RCEP offers enhanced and stable rules to encourage investments and presents opportunities for our professionals and service providers in the RCEP region.

RCEP offers opportunities for economic and technical cooperation in order to boost our competitiveness and build our comparative advantage in sectors with the greatest strength. Hindi po bulag ang Senado sa mga hinaing ng hanay ng mga magsasaka. Ako po ay nakikiisa sa inyong mga hinaing kung kaya't sa aking pag sponsor ng RCEP ay naghahain din ako ng malakas na panawagan para maipatupad ang mga sumusunod na alituntunin sa pagpapaganap ng RCEP: Una, sa ating mga namamahala sa Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Agrarian Reform, Tariff Commission, Intellectual Property Office, National Economic and Development Authority, at iba pang ahensiya ng gobyerno -- matutong makinig sa mga magsasaka at iba pang sektor ng ekonomiya. Promote inclusiveness not just as an end-goal, but also by the way we will achieve our goals. Matuto po kayong makipag-usap sa inyong pinagsisilbihan. Buhayin ang mga Antismuggling Committee, Public-Private Agriculture Budget Monitoring Committee, at iba pang mga committees na magbibigay-daan sa isang tunay at patuloy na dayalogo at pakikipagtulungan sa hanay ng gobyerno at mga sektor ng produksyon. We need to strengthen public-private cooperation through joint consultative and monitoring mechanisms. This will enhance accountability, promote mutual learning, encourage best practices, and harness trust. Ikalawa, itaguyod ang transparency sa lahat ng kalakaran. If we want to optimize the benefits of global and regional trading systems offered not just by RCEP, but by other multilateral and bilateral trading systems, we need to make transparency among the cornerstones of transactions in government and with our trading partners. Share information that will allow our sectors to grow and be informed of the vast opportunities in the domestic, regional, and global marketplace. Gamitin ang datos para mapalaganap ang kahusayan sa produksiyon. Ikatlo, reform and improve our programs. Makipagsangguni sa mga sektor na layunin nating matulungan. Sino ba ang mas nakakaalam kung anong programa ang nararapat kundi ang mga sektor na nais nating tulungan? Set targets and timeframes for our programs that are responsive to the needs of our farmers, small businesses, and other production sectors. Dapat lamang po na may due date ang lahat ng pinapangakong programa. Wala pong forever at bawal ang walang katapusang paghihintay sa mga ipinangakong tulong sa ating mga farmers at mga sektor na nangangailangan ng tulong. Better MSME and agricultural sector access to finance, technical and infrastructure support, creating competitiveness in our sectors, harnessing the power of digital infrastructure and technologies, strengthening supply chain connectivity, promoting a productive and efficient workforce, accelerating green growth, building resilient businesses, just to name a few, should be addressed by our programs. We cannot be competitive based on promised assistance to our ailing sectors. We need concrete action to be delivered fast. Remember, the Philippine Congress appropriates resources to serve specific purposes. Make sure these are well-spent, and within the timeframe you committed to deliver them. Our state of competitiveness will define how much more opportunities we can turn into success stories in RCEP. The services sector is an example of such success story. The Philippines is a net service exporter with consistent trade surpluses from 2012 to 2020 with an all-time high of USD 13.08 Billion in 2020. Ika-apat, we need to create comparative advantages for our economic sectors. It all boils down to finding our niche and seizing opportunities, and defining our role in the regional and global marketplace. Dapat po natin linangin ang oportunidad na naghihintay sa larangan ng trade in services para sa ating mga manggagawa at mga negosyante. Trade in services is a growing key interest of the Philippines, evident in its fast-paced growth recorded from 2012 to 2020. With a compounded annual growth rate of 5.5%, the country's services exports have brought in an average of USD 30.6 Billion every year. Ika-lima, at pinakaimportante sa lahat, patatagin at pag-ibayuhin ang governance. Dahil dito ay kalakip ng Resolusyon na aming isinusulong ang pagtatayo ng Oversight Committee on RCEP implementation para masubaybayan at siguraduhin na ang mga pinangakong tulong para sa sector ng agrikultura, kasama na ang paglalaan ng budget at tulong pinansiyal at teknikal sa ating mga magsasaka ay matupad. In this light, we will: Provide funding, but also demand deliverables;

Exact accountabilities, but be fair;

Pursue structural reforms, as necessary;

Ensure that our MSMEs are supported so they can take advantage of the opportunities in the RCEP; and

Require stronger public-private cooperation and partnership. We will support initiatives to strengthen country representation in the global and regional stage to achieve the greatest outcomes for our people in various global and regional trade arrangements. The RCEP has given all of us an opportunity to underscore the value of public-privateacademe dialogue. It raised an opportunity for us to remind our executive departments to heed the call of innovation so we are not left behind. Republic Act (RA) No. 11293 otherwise known as the "Philippine Innovation Act" was signed into law on April 17, 2019. Nearly four years hence, we have yet to realize a wholeof-government collaboration that removes fragmentation in the country's innovation governance. I call on NEDA, DTI, DA, the IPO, and the private sector to take advantage of the policy mechanisms under the Philippine Innovation Act. Hindi lang po pamahalaan ang inaasahan nating kumilos upang ang sektor ng magsasaka at mangingisda ay matulungan. May mga sektor na tiyak nating makikinabang kung kaya't hindi lamang isang beses kundi tatlo sa nakaraang taon hinikayat tayo ng industriya at mga propesyonal na ratipikahan na ito. Kaya nananawagan ako sa kanila. Sabay-sabay nating iangat ang sektor na nagpapakain sa atin. Isasama ko sila sa pagbuo ng mekanismo para matiyak ang mga hakbang na kailangan para hindi na ulit maramdaman ng magsasaka na naisahan na naman sila. One example is a legal fund or a commitment to legal representation for when the commitments are not met or for when provisions of law are not complied with or mandates are not fulfilled. Another is to help them bridge capacity, innovate to produce the raw materials you need, assist with financial management. There are many ways to make sure what we know to be imperative for the success of this venture will happen. To my colleagues, fellow workers in government, and to the public we serve, my decision to lend support to the ratification of RCEP is premised on my conviction that an open, transparent, and predictable trade and investment environment generates new opportunities for everyone. The RCEP Agreement -- the instrument that binds us with the other participating countries -- will help us achieve the right conditions to expand our markets for goods and services, create more jobs, build opportunities to strengthen the various economic sectors in ways that will make them more competitive, and more importantly, assist our MSMEs in participating in cross-border trade, as well as in regional value chains. RCEP will help us deepen engagement, not just with other participating countries, but more so, among various economic sectors in our society and with the government. We cannot stand in isolation as we face this huge wave of global and regional economic integration. We need to build capacities and efficiencies to achieve competitiveness. Our benchmark for efficiencies and productivity should be leveled against the best in the world and in the region. We should not see RCEP as a mere agreement for setting rules for regulating trade and trade-related activities. RCEP, as in other global and regional trading agreements, will help our economic sectors to push their performance. This will benefit our consumers. The end goal, however, is for the various areas of production to find a niche that will allow them to be a part of the global and regional value chain. Aking hiling na ang mga alituntunin na aking binanggit kanina ay tanggapin bilang parte ng resolusyon na ating ipapasa. Ang mga ito ay binuo matapos ang konsultasyon natin sa mga iba't ibang sektor. My colleagues, I invite all of you to join me in supporting and concurring in the ratification of the RCEP Agreement.
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three people including a child were killed and two others injured as an avalanche hit a village in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province on Tuesday, a local official said on Wednesday.

The accident took place in the Khan Lar area of the Raghistan district Tuesday afternoon, the official Mohammad Akram said.

At least four people had been killed and eight others were injured in avalanches in the same district couple of weeks ago.

Extreme chilly weather and snowfall have swept through parts of Afghanistan since the first week of January as the temperature fell down to minus 30 degrees Celsius in some areas.

Nearly 200 people including children, according to officials have died due to chilly weather and heavy snowfall across the war-ravaged country over the past month. 
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's continued economic growth, especially in the face of easing pandemic restrictions, will have a positive impact on Malaysia and the wider region, experts have said.

They said that Malaysia not only depends on China for tourism arrivals and the export of its commodities and manufactured goods, but the country also seeks greater market access and deeper economic cooperation and investments from China to sustain its own growth.

The link between Malaysia's prosperity and China's growth could be clearly seen as China remains Malaysia's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years (2009-2022) with a 17.1 percent share of total trade in 2022, Low Kian Chuan, president of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Low also said accelerated growth of the Chinese economy will help support the economic and business prospects of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially the tourism and service sectors as well as the aviation industry, thanks to the expected revival of Chinese tourist arrivals.

"It is expected that China consumers' pent-up demand in regional economies will help support ASEAN economies' domestic activities. China's business travelers and investors are expected to make rounds in the ASEAN to keep abreast of business and investment opportunities," he said.

Lee Pei May, political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia, pointed out that a large influx of tourists is fundamental to reviving the dampened aviation and hospitality industries in Malaysia. "Of course, trade with and investment from China too made an important contribution to Malaysia's economic growth," she added.

For his part, Policy and Economic Affairs Center of Malaysia Foundation Chief Executive Officer Zokhri Idris said Malaysia depends on China's supply and value chain, as this is an enabler of its economic recovery, highlighting great initiatives taken by China to promote trade.

"China's (economic) recovery will establish a positive causal effect on ASEAN economies. We have seen it in the Malaysia trajectory and we will also see a similar pattern with other ASEAN countries especially Singapore, The Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia which depend extensively on China," he said. 
MANILA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached an "all-time high" of 36.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, compared to 34.88 billion dollars in 2021, the Philippine central bank said on Wednesday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar, and Britain contributed mainly to the increase in remittances from January to December 2022.

"The robust inward remittances reflected the increasing demand for foreign workers amid the reopening of economies," the BSP said, noting that the United States posted the highest share of overall remittances at 41.2 percent, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

It added that the full-year 2022 level accounted for 8.9 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Filipinos have worked and settled across international borders over the past decades and personal remittances remain a major source of the Southeast Asian country's foreign exchange inflows.

In 2021, remittances from overseas Filipino workers represent 8.9 percent of the country's gross domestic product. 
by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Aasiya Ismail, a 16-year-old 10th standard student from Pakistan, had a lot of questions in mind when she came to know that Chinese astronauts will take Pakistani seeds to China's space station for space breeding.

"Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) asked students of different schools to write letters to the astronauts who will help Pakistan bring a revolution in the agriculture sector by taking our very own seeds to space. I had many queries, but the most intriguing was about their role to end poverty," Ismail told Xinhua.

China helped Pakistan take seven herbal seeds to the Chinese space station for space breeding by exposing them to cosmic radiation and microgravity to mutate their genes, and the PSF asked students to write a letter to Chinese astronauts in order to enhance their interest in science.

The teenager spent a month writing the letter after having researched about space breeding of seeds and the Chinese space station.

The letter was selected among all the letters received by the foundation for the astronauts.

In talks with Xinhua, Ismail said that as a teenager she feels scared for her future due to climate change-triggered food security challenges, so she asked the astronaut, "will space seeds end poverty and hunger in the world, because the countries like Pakistan are currently experiencing an economic and environmental crisis, which is feared to result in hunger, poverty, and indigence?"

Ismail got answers to all her questions at a recently held event to mark the successful return of the seeds here, during which a Chinese astronaut told her about the Chinese space station and the importance of Chinese seeds to meet the food security challenge.

"The mutant seeds may be screened to breed new varieties that are resistant to drought and waterlogging ... after long time efforts, China is now able to develop a wheat with denser plants, more ears, and higher yields," the astronaut told Ismail through a recorded video played at the event.

He also urged the 16-year-old and other young students to work hard and devote themselves to studies and in the future to play their part in the China-Pakistan cooperation.

Talking to Xinhua, Samina Saeed, a physics teacher of Ismail, said that the Pakistani student's interaction with the Chinese astronaut would motivate other students to study deeply about science and about Pak-China friendship.

The seeds were launched into outer space carried by the Shenzhou-14 spaceship on June 5, 2022, and after six months of flying, returned to the earth with the Shenzhou-14 astronaut crew on Dec. 4 last year.

Atia-tul-Wahab, a professor at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, said her institute proposed the government to send the herbs' seeds to space.

"We sent some grains to the space and kept the same quantity in our laboratory. Now upon their return, we will closely examine them and do their tests at our laboratory. Then both seed varieties will be sowed separately to see the end results through comparison," she told Xinhua. 
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan attend a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye, on Feb. 15, 2023. Armenia's humanitarian support to victims of last week's massive earthquakes in southern Turkiye can further contribute to the normalization of relations between the two neighbors, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the press conference on Wednesday. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Armenia's humanitarian support to victims of last week's massive earthquakes in southern Turkiye can further contribute to the normalization of relations between the two neighbors, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

"This understanding of cooperation can contribute to our ongoing normalization process," Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Cavusoglu thanked Armenia for sending search and rescue teams to save quake victims and delivering humanitarian aid immediately after Turkiye was rocked by the strong tremors.

"Armenia has offered a hand of friendship and solidarity in our difficult time," he said.

"We have agreed to take steps to accelerate the normalization (of ties)," the Turkish minister said, referring to the dialogue launched last year aimed at ending their decades-old hostilities.

Turkiye and Armenia will reconstruct the bridges and roads connecting the border, he said.

Mirzoyan paid a visit to Turkiye on Wednesday after the devastating earthquakes struck Turkiye and Syria on Feb. 6. It is Mirzoyan's second trip to Turkiye after meeting Cavusoglu in an international forum in March last year.

"Being in Turkiye in these difficult times, I would like to once again confirm our willingness to build peace, for the full normalization and opening the borders between Turkiye and Armenia," said the Armenian top diplomat.

In a symbolic act, the border between Turkiye and Armenia, which had been closed for more than 30 years, was opened on Saturday to allow the delivery of Armenia's humanitarian aid to quake-hit Turkiye, Mirzoyan said, adding the second batch of Armenian aid crossed the border on Tuesday night.

The relations between Turkiye and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ankara closed its border with Armenia to show support for Azerbaijan.

Opening the border was one of the key issues Armenia demanded since last year as the two countries stepped up the normalization dialogue. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan attend a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye, on Feb. 15, 2023. Armenia's humanitarian support to victims of last week's massive earthquakes in southern Turkiye can further contribute to the normalization of relations between the two neighbors, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the press conference on Wednesday. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) shakes hands with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan at a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye, on Feb. 15, 2023. Armenia's humanitarian support to victims of last week's massive earthquakes in southern Turkiye can further contribute to the normalization of relations between the two neighbors, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the press conference on Wednesday. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and five others were injured in on-campus shootings at Michigan State University (MSU) Monday night, with the suspect found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

According to MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant, the first shots were fired inside a hall at 8:18 p.m. local time (0118 GMT) at the north end of campus, and gunshots were later heard at a nearby hall.

"This is a complete nightmare we are living tonight," Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief with MSU Department of Public Safety, was quoted by CNN.

The tragedy was the 77th mass shooting in the United States in 2023, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker website, a crowd-sourced database of U.S. mass shootings.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 78th mass shooting followed in Pennsylvania. Four students were injured to varying degrees. The suspect is still at large.

Since the start of the New Year, in just 45 days, there have been 78 mass shootings across the United States, or an average of 1.7 per day, leaving 129 dead and 294 wounded.

Figures also showed that the number of mass shootings across the country has been rising sharply, from 339 in 2013 to 753 in 2022 -- more than double.

Three weeks earlier, seven people died and one was critically injured in two shootings in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay. Another 11 people were killed and at least 10 wounded in a shooting in Monterey Park in Southern California.

Shooting tragedies are a daily affair in the United States, with many fearing they could be caught up in the next mass killing.

"We have the highest rates of gun deaths in the world. We have more guns than people ... We have more than one gun for every man, woman and child in America. That is insanity," Paul Cole Padilla, an educational administrator, told Xinhua.

Many people blame mass shootings on race, but the reality is far more complicated. America's culture of violence runs deeper than skin color, and the single-minded focus on race won't solve anything, said Bill Maher, host of the HBO political talk show Real Time.

The culture of violence in the United States manifests on various fronts.

"Can American culture rethink itself -- can it transcend its belief that enemies are always out there, needing to be obliterated," said Robert C. Koehler, a Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer, adding that violence presents itself in people's imaginations, games, movies and defense budget, as consequence-free, instantaneous and necessary.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Congress to "ban assault weapons once and for all." Still, Republicans remain steadfast in supporting gun rights and oppose more restrictions on carrying firearms.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in January outlined an agenda to prioritize enacting stricter gun laws, calling for universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme protection orders to prevent potential risk, The New York Times reported.

Although most Americans support more gun control laws, the efforts seem in vain. A viral image on social media sums up America's moral morass: "mass shooting happened, media extravaganza, thoughts and prayers, social media gun debates, no one actually does anything, back to 'normal,' another mass shooting happens."

Gun control has become a political asset rather than a problem that needs fixing.

"Americans who oppose gun control are more likely to contact public officials about it and to base their votes on it," explained Matthew Lacombe, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University and former researcher at Barnard College. "Many politicians believe that supporting gun regulation is more likely to lose them votes than to gain votes." 
NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the United States said it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery dropped 1.08 U.S. dollars, or 1.35 percent, to settle at 79.06 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery lost 1.03 dollars, or 1.19 percent, to close at 85.58 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said Monday that it would sell 26 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR, a release that had been mandated by Congress in previous years.

The deliveries of the oil will take place from April 1 through June 30, the DOE said in a statement.

Traders awaited data on U.S. fuel stockpiles as the Energy Information Administration will release its weekly petroleum status report on Wednesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights expect the report to show a rise of 600,000 barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ending Feb. 10. 
Amritsar: Today the Government of Pakistan released two Indian prisoners who have completed their sentence and have reached India via the Attari-Wagah border, who entered Pakistan's border by mistake and were caught by the police. Have reached India today. Speaking on the occasion, Attari Wagah Border Protocol Officer Arun Mahal said that today two Indian prisoners were released by Pakistan who had entered Pakistan's territory by mistake.

They have been released today by the Government of Pakistan and sent from the Attari Wagah border, one of them has told his name as Raju, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, who was sentenced to 5 to 6 years by the Government of Pakistan and returned to India today after completing the sentence. He said that the name of the other one is J Gameraram, a resident of the Barmer district of Rajasthan, who has reached his native India today after completing 27 months of his sentence. The protocol officer told that Gameraram says that he had crossed the border to Pakistan by mistake. Today he has returned to his homeland after being released by the Government of Pakistan. He said that on the instructions of the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, he would be kept at the Red Cross building in Amritsar today.

His relatives will reach Amritsar tomorrow and he will be handed over. Discussing this occasion, Gameraram, one of the Indian prisoners who came from Pakistan, said that he had a love affair with a girl and they had a rift over something, he got angry and crossed the Indian border to Pakistan and was arrested by the Karachi police and sent to Karachi Jail. He was sentenced to 27 months and today he has returned to his country after completing his sentence. He said that there are about 700 Indians in the Karachi jail of Pakistan. He appeals to the Central Government to get them released as soon as possible. He said that his age is about 21 years. He has returned to his country safely and he is very happy. The second person Raju told that he had also crossed the wire by mistake, so he was sentenced to 6 years and today he has returned to his country.

EAM Jaishankar, Fiji PM discuss further strengthening India-Fiji ties

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NADI: India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad on February 15 discussed further advancing India-Fiji ties through developmental cooperation.

Jaishankar inaugurated the 12th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in Nadi, Fiji on Wednesday.Fiji's President Ratu Wiliame Maivalili Katonivere was also present at the event.

Jaishankar arrived in Nadi on Tuesday and was welcomed by Fiji Education Minister Aseri Radrodro. "Great to meet FijiGovernment Deputy Prime minsiter Biman Prasad in Nadi shortly after our meeting in New Delhi. Discussed further advancing our longstanding ties through our development cooperation," Jaishankar said in tweet.

The 12th Vishwa HindiS ammelan will begin tomorrow in Nadi. Thank Minister of Education Aseri Radrodro for the warm welcome. Look forward to meeting Hindi enthusiasts from all over the world," Jaishankar said.

At the twelth Vishwa Hindi Sammelan, Jaishankar emphasized promoting the Hindi language across the world.

"It is only natural for us to concentrate on diverse facets of the Hindi language, its global use, and its spread at occasions like the World Hindi Conference. We'll talk about things like how Hindi is perceived in Fiji, the Pacific region, and other nations "Jaishankar said. He asserted that the time for copying western languages and customs was past.

"The day when modernism and development were synonymous with westernisation is over. On the international scene, numerous such languages and traditions that were suppressed during the colonial era are now again speaking up "added Jaishankar. He also said that it is essential for the globe to be aware of diverse cultures and societies. In such a circumstance, it is essential that the world be aware of all the cultures and societies," EAM Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar also expressed his gratitude to the Fijian government for hosting the 12th Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in Nadi and noted that gatherings like this help to strengthen the bilateral relationship.

"It gives me great pleasure to be here with you all for the 12th World Hindi Conference's opening ceremony. I appreciate the Fijian government working with us on this as a partner. It also gives many of us the chance to travel to Fiji and strengthen our long-standing relationship "Jaishankar said

Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, president of Fiji, noted during the ceremony that this forum offers a great chance to recognise the lasting strength of the unique and historical relationship that Fiji has with India.

The governments of India and Fiji will jointly organise the World Hindi Conference in Nadi, Fiji, from February 1517.

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Press Release

February 15, 2023 Zubiri: RCEP is Bridge to Progress On Wednesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda sponsored the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement for approval and concurrence in the Senate. "Magandang balikan natin ang RCEP ngayon, especially since we can now observe how well our fellow RCEP signatories have been faring since they all greenlit the implementation of the agreement." said Zubiri. Covering all the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), plus Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and New Zealand, the RCEP Agreement is the largest regional Free Trade Agreement in the world. To date, the Philippines remains the sole RCEP signatory that has yet to concur on the ratification of the agreement. "Ayokong mapag-iwanan tayo. Ayokong tignan tayo ng ibang bansa bilang isolationist," Zubiri said. "But it would be wrong to simply argue that we must join it because others did. Rather, we should join out of the belief that it will create a snowball effect on jobs for our people, and market for our produce." BENEFITS "The RCEP Agreement covers almost all aspects of the economy," Zubiri explained. "We have to appreciate it in its broader context." "In a globalized economy, products are put together in one country from components sourced in other countries, and then sold all over the world. As a result, vastly fewer products are solely made in any one country. "This is what RCEP is all about. It provides a stable platform so that countries in the region can optimize their participation in the global economy." To illustrate the benefits of RCEP, Zubiri pointed out the growth of ASEAN countries like Vietnam, which exported USD 108.48 billion to RCEP countries in 2022, up 16.4 percent from the previous year. "In just one month, Vietnam earned nearly 50 million dollars from exporting durian to China. This is one product where the Philippines should have a competitive advantage, which is not being utilized as we continue to withhold participation in the RCEP bloc," he said. He also brought up Thailand, whose exports to RCEP countries totaled USD 140 billion in 2022 (7 percent growth); Cambodia (4 percent growth), whose rapidly growing garment industry earned USD 10.25 billion from exports in just the first three quarters of 2022; and Malaysia, who is forecasting a 9.3 percent growth in exports this year. "Definitely, this development is a clear indication of RCEP's positive effects, and we cannot afford to be a fence-sitter while witnessing other ASEAN Member States reaping the benefits of the Agreement," Zubiri stressed. "Not only will we be put at a disadvantage, but we will also be missing out on a lot of opportunities." Zubiri highlighted the fact that under RCEP, the Philippines will be able to source raw materials and intermediate goods from fellow RCEP countries, process products locally, and then export the products back out to RCEP countries at a preferential agreement. This is not possible under some of our existing free trade agreements such as the ASEAN Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Philippine Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which have strict rules of origin that restrict our sourcing and export activities. The Philippines has also secured zero tariff for papaya and durian exports under RCEP--versus 24 percent in the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Similarly, coffee will enjoy zero tariff in sixteen years under RCEP, versus 10 to 12 percent in the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership. In sixteen years, RCEP will also have zero tariff for preserved fruits and fruit juices for export to Japan, and for alcoholic beverages for export to South Korea. "Sa paglago ng ating kalakalan sa RCEP region, asahan natin ang ripple effect sa iba't ibang sektor," Zubiri said. "Goods and services being transacted will have to be mobilized, thus, complementary sectors such as transportation, logistics, warehousing, energy, and even infrastructure will flourish, not to mention attract more investments." "Iyan naman ang pangako ng RCEP: mas maunlad na kalakalan, mas maraming trabaho, at mas murang bilihin."
Rome: Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, and Antonio Tajani, the minister of foreign affairs, have been summoned to testify in the trial of four Egyptian law enforcement officials who are charged with torturing and killing an Italian student in 2016.

Meloni will be questioned about the guarantees Cairo provided that it would cooperate, according to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

On April 3, Meloni and Tajani will give testimony in Rome, according to Italian media on Monday. Alessandra Ballerini, a lawyer for the late Giulio Regeni's family, asked for their testimony.

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In 2016, Regeni was a Cambridge University undergraduate when he visited Cairo to conduct research on labor unrest and unions. That January, he vanished, and a few days later, his dismembered bodybruised, beaten, burned, and stabbedwas found in a ditch. According to Italian and Egyptian investigations, he was subjected to torture for a number of days before he died from his wounds. Age-wise, he was 28.

Cairo attributed the kidnapping and murder to a criminal gang, but Italian prosecutors, who were supported by US officials, blamed al-security Sisi's personnel. In absentia proceedings in Rome against four security personnel began in October 2021.

The case has not advanced since, though, as the four accused have not had their addresses made public by the Egyptian government. The men had to be officially informed that they were being charged before the case could start, according to Italian law.

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At a UN climate summit in Egypt in November, Meloni spoke with al-Sisi. Meloni later told reporters that the two discussed the Regeni case. Tajani met with al-Sisi in January, and he claimed that during their conversation, al-Sisi gave him the assurance that he would "remove the obstacles" to the case's resolution.

Ballerini promised to find out precisely what assurances al-Sisi gave Meloni and Tajani.

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Rome and Cairo's relations were damaged by Regeni's murder. But Meloni's predecessors rekindled this relationship, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi approving a $1.2 billion arms deal with Egypt last year and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte concluding a deal with Egypt's counterpart under his watch.
BANGALORE: The mega order book of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is full with orders of Rs 84,000 crore, while another order book of Rs 50,000 crore is underway, HAL Chairman and Managing Director said in a statement.

With India planning to sell fighter planes and helicopters to Argentina, Egypt, and the Philippines, defence exports have significantly increased. CB Ananthakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), disclosed on February 14 that the PSU is sitting on a book order of Rs. 84,000 crore and is awaiting the completion of other projects worth Rs. 50,000 crore.

Argentina, Egypt, and the Philippines have expressed interest in HAL's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), according to CB Ananthakrishnan at Aero India 2023. He claims that HAL has presented Argentina with 15 LCA Mk-1s, Egypt with 20 LCAs, and the Philippines with six helicopters.

The country has been able to generate a lot of interest in the global aerospace market, and sooner or later, we will achieve a breakthrough order, HAL chief said while addressing a press conference.

In his first speech at Aero India on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the government plans to more than increase defence exports to over $5 billion.

Singapore orders: Ananthakrishnan acknowledged that the talks with Malaysia have seen a "slight setback" in answer to a query regarding their condition.

"There is nothing in black and white that we have received... The HAL chief responded, "But we've heard the Koreans might get the order. However, he claims that HAL is still trying desperately to get their product through.

Pavilion for Aero India: Tejas fighter fighters and other models of its helicopters, like as the LUH and ALH, were on exhibit at the HAL pavilion to be shown off to international visitors, particularly to the 32 defence ministers and 29 air commanders from friendly nations who would be future customers. On Monday, the first day of the five-day air display at Yelahanka Indian Air Force Station, the locally produced air platforms also performed multiple manoeuvres in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The public sector undertaking has solid financials, according to Ananthakrishnan. With an order we currently have in hand worth Rs. 84,000 crore and orders in the works worth roughly Rs. 50,000 crore, we are in a comfortable position today.

On the first day of Aero India 2023, India Air Force Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari piloted an LCA SPT aircraft to inspire confidence in foreign delegates. India is actively promoting homegrown defence products at Asia's largest air show. To highlight prospects and advancements in the emerging defence industry, homegrown private enterprises have prominently presented their products.

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The situation of unemployment and population in our country is such that people reach any corner of the world to do jobs. Today almost everywhere Indian people are present, although there are some places where people have been like an employee. No one wants to come there even after having a good salary and a place to stay.

A person can reach anywhere in search of a good job, but there is a place where, along with a high salary for the job, a luxurious house is also being offered to live. Still, no one is ready for the job here. Actually, this job is of a doctor, basic qualifications are essential for this. If someone has this degree then he can get this job in Australia.

The information says that this job has come out in Quirading, a remote village in Australia. There is a need for a general practicing doctor in this small village. Doctors are also being offered a job of more than 4 crore 60 thousand in this village located in Western Australia. Along with this, he is also getting a good 4-bedroom house to live in along with the job. This village is 170 kilometers away from Australia's capital Perth and there is a shortage of general practitioners for years. More than 600 people live here, but there is no doctor or medical store to treat their ailments.

The things related to medicine here are also getting closed due to a lack of doctors. Seeing the need of the villagers, the Australian government has said that they are ready to pay 7 lakhs to doctors who stay at this place for 2 years and more than 13 lakhs to those who stay for 5 years. Still, no doctor is getting ready to go to that village. According to the Australian Medical Association, by the year 2031, if the situation remains the same in Australia, there could be a shortage of 11,000 doctors.

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'If there is a Waqf Board, then there should be a Sanatan Board', demanded Pragya Thakur
Islamabad: Pakistan's citizens are likely to face another crude shock as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades. According to local media reports, petrol and diesel prices will likely rise by Rs 32 per litre beginning February 16.

Petroleum, oil, and lubricant prices have risen further and are expected to remain around Rs 272 for the next two weeks. This may force the government to raise gasoline and diesel prices again.

The price of gasoline is expected to increase by 12.8%, or PKR 32.07, according to official and industrial sources cited in reports. The effective price would rise from PKR 250 to almost PKR 282 per litre as a result. Similar to gasoline, diesel prices could increase by 12.5%, or by PKR 32.84, to PKR 295.64 from PKR 262.8.

Also Read: The US destroyed Nord Stream out of concern that Berlin would relax its sanctions against Russia during a chilly winter

Even the cost of kerosene oil is anticipated to go up 14.8%, or by PKR 28.05, to PKR 217.88 per litre.

Due to a sharp decline in the value of its currency and an increase in the price of oil imports, Pakistan's prices for gasoline and diesel have been rising for some time. Earlier, from February 1 to February 15, the government raised the cost of gasoline and diesel by PKR 35 per litre.

Also Read: US wants to supply Ukraine with 'Iranian' weapons

In Pakistan, the cost of other necessities such as milk and meat has also skyrocketed in addition to the price of gasoline and diesel.

According to reports, milk is currently sold to the nation's cash-strapped citizens for PKR 210 per litre, while a kilogram of chicken costs between Rs 700 and Rs 800. The price of boneless meat has risen to a high of PKR 1,0001,100 per kilo in the meantime.

Also Read: Virgin Atlantic will stop flying to Pakistan
Denmark and the Netherlands roll back decision on transfer of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, reports Welt 15 February, 01:05 PM Polish soldiers near the Leopard tank, January 31, 2023 (Photo:REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki)

Denmark and the Netherlands have revised their decision on the transfer of Leopard 2 battle tanks and will not deliver them to Ukraine, German newspaper Welt reported on Feb. 14, citing the governments of both countries.

According to Welt, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the only tanks Amsterdam could provide in theory were 18 Leopard-2 tanks leased to the country from Germany.

Both countries decided that these tanks were not available for Ukraine.

In Danish government circles, the newspaper was told that they have 44 tanks of the most modern Leopard 2A7 model, but will not participate in the supply.

Video of day

However, both the Netherlands and Denmark have committed financial resources to refurbishing 100 Leopard-1 tanks in German warehouses.

On Jan. 25, after long hesitation, Germany approved the transfer of 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and their re-export from partner countries. On the same day, the U.S. announced the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the first tanks can be sent to Ukraine by the end of March.

On Feb. 14, during the 9th meeting in the Ramstein format, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, listed the countries that are working on the transfer of the Leopards to Kyiv. In particular, he named Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, and Norway. Finland also confirmed its participation in the tank coalition.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine will receive 120-140 modern Western tanks in the first wave. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs 300-500 tanks for an offensive.

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Australia and France cooperating to ramp up munition production for Ukraine 15 February, 11:55 AM The Ukrainian military is preparing for an attack by the Russian occupiers (Photo:REUTERS/Yevhenii Zavhorodnii)

France will work together with Australia to step up shell production for the Ukrainian army, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said at the Ramstein meeting on Feb. 14.

"France also announced that it will work with Australia to ramp up 155 millimeter ammunition production to support Ukraine," Austin said.

Read also: France and Australia to manufacture artillery shells for Ukraine

54 countries took part in the ninth Ramstein meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 14.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that partner nations pledged to supply Ukraine with more air-defense systems, tanks, artillery systems and ammunition, as well as to expand military training programs for Ukrainian soldiers.

Video of day

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Sweden considering Ukraines request for Gripen jets, but restrictions exist, says defense minister 15 February, 02:40 PM Jas 39 Gripen (Photo:Finnish Aviation Museum via Wikipedia)

Sweden is considering Ukraines request for the transfer of Gripen fighter jets, but currently there are restrictions on realizing that request, Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson told the European Pravda media outlet on Feb. 15.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a summit in Brussels on Feb. 9 asked Stockholm to provide Kyiv with Jas 39 Gripen jets, but the Swedish prime minister said this was not an option.

According to Jonson, today the priority is to strengthen Ukraines air defense.

When it comes to Gripen, were currently facing restrictions since these aircraft are crucial for maintaining our territorial integrity and sovereignty, he said.

Video of day

Read also: Boris Johnson calls for fighter jets and more tanks for Ukraine

So, it will be a serious obstacle in terms of our national defense resources.

The Swedish defense minister noted he had discussed the strengthening of air defense with his Ukrainian colleague, Oleksii Reznikov, and they would continue working on this issue with other countries.

In addition, according to Jonson, Sweden is ready to boost military aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Were significantly strengthening our support to Ukraine, he said.

Well start transferring and training the Ukrainian military on more than 50 CV-90 combat vehicles next week. Were providing various air defense equipment, winter clothing, and are determined to increase our support to Ukraine.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Feb. 14 the latest Ramstein format meeting had brought no news about potential transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine.

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.

On Feb. 8, Zelenskyy made an official visit to the United Kingdom. The Ukrainian president met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and addressed the Parliament.

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. A final decision has yet to be made, however.

After addressing the European Parliament and at the EU summit, Zelenskyy 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.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Corporation announced today that it will redeem on March 5, 2023 all $1,500,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its Floating Rate Senior Notes, due March 2024 (CUSIP No. 06051GHE2) (the "Floating Rate Notes"), and all $3,000,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its 3.550% Fixed/Floating Rate Senior Notes, due March 2024 (CUSIP No. 06051GHF9) (the "Fixed/Floating Rate Notes" and, together with the Floating Rate Notes, the "Senior Notes").

(PRNewsfoto/Bank of America Corporation)

The redemption price for each series of the Senior Notes will be equal to 100% of the principal amount of such series, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date of March 5, 2023. Since March 5, 2023 is not a business day, the redemption price together with accrued and unpaid interest will be paid on the next succeeding business day, March 6, 2023. Interest on each series of the Senior Notes will cease to accrue on the redemption date.

Payment of the redemption price for the Senior Notes will be made through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company. The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. is the trustee and paying agent for the Senior Notes.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,900 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with approximately 56 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Forward-looking statements

Certain information contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future results or performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions difficult to predict or beyond our control. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and in any of our subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made.

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Investors May Contact:

Lee McEntire, Bank of America

Phone: 1.980.388.6780

lee.mcentire@bofa.com

Jonathan G. Blum, Bank of America (Fixed Income)

Phone: 1.212.449.3112

jonathan.blum@bofa.com

Reporters May Contact:

Bill Halldin, Bank of America

Phone: 1.916.724.0093

william.halldin@bofa.com

Christopher P. Feeney, Bank of America

Phone: 1.980.386.6794

christopher.feeney@bofa.com

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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / BeMetals Corp. (TSXV:BMET, OTCQB:BMTLF, Frankfurt:1OI.F) (the "Company" or "BeMetals") is pleased to announce commencement of the 2023 field season with a new 2,000 metre diamond drilling program at the wholly owned Kato Gold Project ("Kato" or the "Property") in Hokkaido, Japan. This year's drilling campaign will focus on further extending the Seta and Kamitake vein zones of gold mineralization by testing their grade continuity along strike and at depth, towards the southeast of the Property.

HIGHLIGHTS:

The 2023 exploration program has commenced and is focused on further extending the gold mineralization of the Seta and Kamitake veins through drilling, with the objective to scope the resource target potential at Kato

The known footprint of Kato gold mineralization has now been drilled over 560 metres along strike with several new drilled intersections made during the 2022 drilling campaign ( See Figure 1 ).

Energold Drilling is shipping a second SDS C1500 drilling rig to Japan and it is expected to arrive in early Q2 2023, to accelerate drilling at Kato, and later in the year, initiate drilling at the historical Todoroki Gold-Silver Mine Project.

Pioneer Exploration, geophysical consultants, completed a high-resolution airborne drone magnetic survey at the Company's Tashiro Project in Kyushu, Japan on the 4th of February, 2023.

John Wilton, President and CEO of BeMetals stated, "Based on the success of last year's exploration program where we intersected 560 metres along strike of Seta Vein gold mineralization, we are very excited to have commenced this year's drilling campaign at our Kato Project in Japan. Over the coming months we intend to further test the Seta and Kamitake gold veins, along strike and scope their grade continuity at depth. We are also looking forward to adding a second rig to accelerate our drilling rate from early next quarter.

Furthermore, by mid-year we are planning to commence, an initial 1,000 metre drilling program for our Todoroki Gold-Silver Project in southwestern Hokkaido. Thanks to the hard work of our field team in Japan, we have an early start to this year's exploration activities and intend to maintain this momentum to provide for increased exploration results and related news flow throughout the year."

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2023 EXPLORATION PROGRAM UPDATE IN JAPAN

The Company's field team has completed snow clearing, re-established access, and have commenced the 2023 drilling ahead of schedule. Based on the success of the 2022 drilling campaign (See Company press release dated January 11, 2023), BeMetals has budgeted to drill an initial 2,000 metre phase of work by approximately mid-2023 for the Kato Project and assay results will be released as they become available. Additionally, an initial 1,000 metres of drilling is planned for the Todoroki Gold-Silver Project and this should commence by mid-year. (See Figure 3 for locations of Kato and Todoroki).

Figure 1 is a simplified geological map of the Kato Project drilling area and illustrates that both the Seta and Kamitake Vein Zones are open along strike to the southeast. These mineralized veins are trending towards an area where significant-grade outcrop rock chip samples were taken in the Seta River valley. (See Figure 1).

The objective for this year's Kato campaign is to scope out the potential for a mineral resource by yearend. With two rigs operational by mid-year, BeMetals will ramp-up its drilling, resulting in increased news flow from the ongoing programs.

At the Todoroki Gold-Silver Project ("Todoroki Gold-Silver Mine" or "Todoroki"), phases of rock chip and cut channel sampling along with geological mapping were completed in 2022. This data has been integrated with data from the historical Todoroki Gold-Silver Mine and has generated some robust targets for drill testing from mid-2023. The primary objective for this year's drilling a Todoroki is to test for extensions to the extensive vein swarm. (See Figure 2 below).

At the Tashiro Project in Kyushu, the Company contracted Pioneer Exploration Consultants who recently completed a high resolution airborne drone magnetic survey of the area. This data will be processed and combined with existing geological data to generate drill targets.

Figure 1: Location Map of Holes KT22-11 to KT22-15 at Kato Gold Project

BeMetals Corp, Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Press release picture

Note: Results of the historical rock chip sampling have been previously reported reported, and are detailed in the Company's technical report entitled, "Kato Gold Project Japan NI 43-101 Technical Report" with an effective date of July 13, 2021.

Figure 2: Simplified Geological Map of Todoroki Gold Project with Sample Locations

BeMetals Corp, Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Press release picture

Figure 3: Project Locations Map in Japan

BeMetals Corp, Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Press release picture

PANGENI PROJECT UPDATE IN ZAMBIA

BeMetals has agreed to a time extension of certain obligations in its option agreement with Copper Cross Zambia for the Pangeni Copper Project. The obligations (as further detailed in the Company's filed financial statements) required in February 2023 have been extended to June 2023. The Company is expecting analytical results from 2022 drilling shortly and is working with its exploration partners to plan the 2023 exploration program.

ABOUT BEMETALS CORP.

BeMetals is a precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on becoming a leading metal producer through the acquisition of quality exploration, development and potentially production stage projects. The Company has established itself in the gold sector with the acquisition of a portfolio of wholly owned exploration projects in Japan. BeMetals is also progressing its tier-one targeted, Pangeni Copper Exploration Project in the prolific Zambian Copperbelt with co-funding investor the Japanese state agency JOGMEC ("Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security"). Guiding and leading BeMetals' growth strategy is a strong board and management team, founders and significant shareholders of the Company, who have an extensive proven record of delivering exceptional value in the mining sector, over many decades, through the discovery, construction and operation of mines around the world.

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information in this news release for BeMetals has been reviewed and approved by John Wilton, CGeol FGS, CEO and President of BeMetals, and a "Qualified Person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF BEMETALS CORP.

"John Wilton"

John Wilton

President, CEO and Director

For further information about BeMetals please visit our website at bemetalscorp.com and sign-up to our email list to receive timely updates, or contact:

Derek Iwanaka

Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Telephone: 604-928-2797

Email: diwanaka@bemetalscorp.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 news release

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (as defined under applicable securities laws), based on management's best estimates, assumptions and current expectations. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements with respect to future exploration, development and advancement of the Kazan Projects in Japan and the Pangeni Project in Zambia, and the acquisition of additional base and/or precious metal projects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts", "anticipates", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the actual results of exploration activities, the availability of financing and/or cash flow to fund the current and future plans and expenditures, the ability of the Company to satisfy the conditions of the option agreement for the Pangeni Project, and changes in the world commodity markets or equity markets. 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. The forward-looking statements and forward looking information are made as of the date hereof and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any forward-looking statements or forward looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as require by law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. Please refer to the Company's most recent filings under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting the Company and its business.

SOURCE: BeMetals Corp.





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https://www.accesswire.com/739345/BeMetals-Commences-2023-Drilling-in-Japan-and-Mobilises-Second-Rig




MIAMI, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the global leader in pharmaceutical brand naming, Brand Institute has a unique vantage point from which to observe upcoming shifts in the healthcare landscape years before any product offerings make it to market. Recently, no trend has captured the attention of the pharmaceutical industry quite like the rise of digital health technology.

Brand Institute, Inc. (PRNewsfoto/Brand Institute, Inc.)

Brian Frasca, Brand Institute's Divisional President of the Midwest U.S., has led numerous branding and naming projects for digital health products over the last three years. "The pace of product development is accelerating," Mr. Frasca noted. "Technological infrastructure, such as cloud computing and large-scale data centers, had already made many of these product concepts a reality. But the COVID-19 pandemic supercharged that pace, as anywhere connectivity became a necessity."

The applications for digital health are immense. Apps, medical devices, companion diagnostics, connected clinical trials, and digital therapeutics are just a few examples of how healthcare is going digital. Of course, each of these products requires meaningful and differentiated branding.

"Within the digital health space, we're noticing clients embrace the excitement of naming innovative technologies." These clients find themselves unencumbered by an intensive regulatory review process, as most digital health brand names do not need to be approved by regulators like the FDA. "There is a greater creative freedom in the digital health space, which opens up more naming strategies to pursue. Names can be bolder and more descriptive, such as through the use of real words that imply a clear benefit. This flexibility has added to client enthusiasm, which is reflected in the names of many of the products already launched, not to mention many others that should roll out in 2023."

About Brand Institute and our wholly owned regulatory subsidiary, Drug Safety Institute

Brand Institute is the global leader in pharmaceutical and healthcare-related name development, with a portfolio of over 4,000 marketed healthcare brand names, 1,300 USAN/INN nonproprietary names for 1,200 clients. The company partners on over 75% of pharmaceutical brand and nonproprietary name approvals globally every year with healthcare manufacturers. Drug Safety Institute is composed of former naming regulatory officials from global government health agencies, including Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), Health Canada (HC), American Medical Association (AMA), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Contact:

James Dettore

Chairman & C.E.O.

jdettore@brandinstitute.com

www.brandinstitute.com

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SOURCE Brand Institute, Inc.
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.


Data Bridge Market Research

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the global clinical trial imaging market will grow at a CAGR of 8.1% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029

MELBOURNE, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent study report released by Data Bridge Market research titled  Clinical Trial Imaging Market  guarantees you will remain better informed than your competition. Brilliant practice models and method of research applied while preparing the Clinical Trial Imaging market research report reveals the best opportunities to thrive in the market. It encompasses a methodical investigation of the existing scenarios of the global market, which takes into account several market dynamics. This market document has been formulated with thorough market analysis carried out by a team of industry experts, dynamic analysts, skillful forecasters, and well-informed researchers. And for the same, the finest Clinical Trial Imaging report contains all the major topics of the market research analysis that includes market definition, market segmentation, competitive analysis, major developments in the market, and excellent research methodology.

The rising technological progressions in clinical trial imaging for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases are expected to drive market growth. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the global clinical trial imaging market will grow at a CAGR of 8.1% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029.

Download Sample PDF of the Clinical Trial Imaging Market @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-clinical-trial-imaging-market

The increasing demand for imaging technology, followed by rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases due to rise in elderly population and strategic initiatives by market players such as product launch, advancement, acquisition and agreements are the factors that are expected to drive the market growth. Clinical trial is a process of developing new drugs. It is designed for potential treatment and its effects on humans. Before the commercialization of new drugs, extensive clinical testing is done to identify promising compounds and safety tests are conducted to determine the possible risks.

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In clinical trials , medical imaging plays a significant role in more accurate and effective results. Different imaging technologies may be used to elucidate and demonstrate the mechanistic actions of drugs. Clinical trial imaging is the process of clinical analysis and medical intervention by creating image representations of inner parts of the body. It has several different technologies which are used to view the human body to monitor, treat and diagnose medical conditions.

In the coming future, important decisions related to clinical trial imaging on drug discovery will be made by individuals who not only understand the biopsy but can also use the clinical trial imaging tools and the knowledge they release to develop hypotheses and identify quality targets.

The Global Market Is Analyzed in Depth in the Latest Study. Taking into account the current level of competition and its projected evolution over the next few years.

Rapidly increasing demands, a rise in industrialization, consumer awareness, growing sectors, and technical improvements are fueling the expansion of the global Clinical Trial Imaging market. Sales and revenue in this sector have increased at an exponential rate. The market's size and growth are both expected to increase thanks to the factors driving the market's expansion over the projected period.

Leading businesses in the worldwide Clinical Trial Imaging market are investing heavily in R&D in order to build a larger client base and expand their share of the market by reintroducing improved products to consumers. All of the companies' strategy, as well as their financial health, revenue, gross margin, and growth rate, are detailed in the study.

Competitive Landscape

The research promotes high-end commercialization and profit-steering opportunities, and it takes market dimensions and volatility into account.

This section of the report also focuses on accurately decoding the competitive landscape with astute high-end identification of frontline players, complete with an in-depth analytical study of their business choices and investment discretion, to ensure thoroughly impeccable investor participation and noteworthy growth prospects.

To ensure a smooth ride and hopeful business returns despite numerous odds and unprecedented hurdles, this research has carefully gauged facts pertaining to portfolio advancements, geographical presence, and other essential market details.

Recent Developments

In January 2022, Clario partnered with XingImaging, a radiopharmaceutical production and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) acquisition company, to deliver PET imaging clinical trials for testing novel therapeutics in China. The partnership offers to share the joint resources and neuroscience experts of Clario and XingImaging to expedite the start-up of clinical trials and drug discovery in China.

In November 2021, Clario was formed. ERT and Bioclinica, merged to form Clario. The formation of the new company resulted in the distribution of clinical imaging software and services and rise in sales.

The Clinical Trial Imaging Market is Dominated by Firms Such as

Navitas Life Sciences,

Resonance Health Analytical Services,

BioTelemetry,

a Philips Company, IXICO plc,

ICON plc,

Image Core Lab,

anagram 4 clinical trials,

Quotient Sciences,

Radiant Sage LLC,

WORLDCARE CLINICAL,

Clario,

Paraxel International Corporation,

Median Technologies,

Perspectum,

Calyx,

WIRB-Copernicus Group and

Invicro.LLC

Download the Complete Research Study Here in PDF Format @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/checkout/buy/enterprise/global-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Why should you prefer DBMRs market insights report?

Detailed vendors report with competitive landscape

Data on revenue-generating market segments

Details on the market shares of various regions

Off-the-shelf research reports

Reports can be tailored to meet the customer's needs

Trusted by more than 100 fortune 500 organizations

Information about the market's key drivers, trends, and challenges

Parent market analysis

Five-force market analysis

Opportunities:

Rise in Healthcare Expenditure

Healthcare expenditure has increased across the world as people's disposable income in various countries is increasing. Moreover, to accomplish the population requirements, government bodies and healthcare organizations are taking the initiative by virtue of accelerating healthcare expenditure.

For instance,

National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) published a report which stated that the U.S. healthcare expenditure grew by 4.6% in 2019. This estimates USD 3.80 trillion for the overall U.S. population reported by U.S. Centers for Medicare (CMS) and GDP health, spending in the U.S. is accounted to reach 17.7%.

Growing healthcare expenditure is also beneficial for further growth in the economic and healthcare sector and it is primarily fruitful as it significantly affects the development of better and advanced medical products in the market. Therefore, the surge in healthcare expenditure is expected to create a greater opportunity for the market.

Strategic Initiatives by Market Players

The demand for clinical trial imaging is increasing in the market owing to the increased levels of R&D along with the growth of clinical trial imaging market aided by the desire for innovative medications. Thus, the top market players have implemented a new strategy by developing new products and collaborating with other market players to improve business operations and profitability.

For instance,

In February 2020, ICON plc acquired MedPass International, a European medical devices CRO, reimbursement and regulatory consultancy. This acquisition has reportedly helped in the expansion of the medical device and diagnostic research services of ICON in Europe.

These strategic initiatives by the market players, including acquisition, conferences and focused segment product launches, are helping them grow and improve the company's product portfolio, ultimately leading to more revenue generation. Hence, these strategic initiatives by the market players may act as an opportunity for market growth.

Key Market Segments Covered in Clinical Trial Imaging Industry Research

Product and Services

Services

Software

Modality

Computed Tomography

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Echocardiography

Nuclear Medicine

Positron Emission Tomography

X-ray

Ultrasound

Optical Coherence Tomography

Others

Application

Oncology

Neurology

Cardiology

Endocrinology

Dermatology

Hematology

Others

End user

Contract Research Organizations

Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies

Medical Device Manufacturers

Academic and Government Research Institutes

Others

Distributor

Direct Sales

Tender Sales

Key Industry Drivers:

Rising R&D Expenditure

Imaging and pharma companies are continuously investing in R&D to offer innovative services for clinical trial imaging to customers and enhance their market presence. Medical imaging plays a dynamic role in clinical development. While the medical imaging industry is in a constant state of fluctuation due to implementation of new technologies in the market, the pharmaceutical and imaging industries continue to increase. This is attributed to enhanced investment in medical imaging companies along with mergers and acquisitions as well as the adoption of innovation in imaging technologies to support clinical trials for medical devices. Increasing R&D expenditure in pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies is fuelling market growth.

This has encouraged the development of new products and high research-oriented programs organized in biopharmaceutical industries and a high preference for the studies of human genome. Rising expenditure on R&D activities also develops new drugs and therapies to treat chronic diseases that boost market growth. This helps the pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies in the development of new technologies in the category of imaging clinical trials therefore, rising R&D expenditure is expected to drive the market growth.

Increasing Number of Contract Research Organizations (CROs)

Contract Research Organization (CRO) is an organization that gives support for clinical trials and other research services to imaging and pharmaceutical industries in the form of outsourced pharmaceutical research services in terms of both drugs and medical devices. CRO helps imaging and pharmaceutical industries with the drug development process to reduce the cost and initiate the process of bringing clinical trials to develop the drug for a particular disease segment by using clinical trial imaging and other processes to overcome capacity gaps of the in-house research team for pharmaceutical and clinical research.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Clinical Trial Imaging Market Regional Analysis/Insights:

The countries covered in this Clinical Trial Imaging Market Report are U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, rest of Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Rest of Asia-Pacific, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, rest of Middle East and Africa, Brazil and rest of South America.

The U.S. dominates the North America region since it provides better reimbursement than any other physician providers followed by rise in R&D expenditure and rise in number of CROs for better imaging modalities in the U.S. and Canada.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Market Segmentation Executive Summary Premium Insights Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market : Regulations Market Overview Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By Product and Services Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By Modality Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By Application Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By End User Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By Distributor Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market, By Region Global Clinical Trial Imaging Market: Company Landscape SWOT Analyses Company Profile Questionnaires Related Reports

Get the Full Table of Contents @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-clinical-trial-imaging-market

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Asia-Pacific Clinical Trial Imaging Market , By Product and Services (Services and Software), Modality (Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, X-ray, Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Others), Application (Oncology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Others), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Contract Research Organizations, Medical Device Manufacturers, Academic and Government Research Institutes and Others), Distributor (Direct Sales and Tender Sales) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/asia-pacific-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Europe Clinical Trial Imaging Market , By Product and Services (Services and Software), Modality (Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, X-ray, Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Others), Application (Oncology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Others), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Contract Research Organizations, Medical Device Manufacturers, Academic and Government Research Institutes and Others), Distributor (Direct Sales and Tender Sales) https:// www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/europe-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Middle East and Africa Clinical Trial Imaging Market , By Product and Services (Services and Software), Modality (Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, X-ray, Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Others), Application (Oncology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Others), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Contract Research Organizations, Medical Device Manufacturers, Academic and Government Research Institutes and Others), Distributor (Direct Sales and Tender Sales) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/middle-east-and-africa-clinical-trial-imaging-market

North America Clinical Trial Imaging Market , By Product and Services (Services and Software), Modality (Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, X-ray, Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Others), Application (Oncology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Others), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Contract Research Organizations, Medical Device Manufacturers, Academic and Government Research Institutes and Others), Distributor (Direct Sales and Tender Sales) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/north-america-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Middle East and Africa Clinical Trial Imaging Market , By Product and Services (Services and Software), Modality (Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, X-ray, Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Others), Application (Oncology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Others), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Contract Research Organizations, Medical Device Manufacturers, Academic and Government Research Institutes and Others), Distributor (Direct Sales and Tender Sales) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/middle-east-and-africa-clinical-trial-imaging-market

Oncology Clinical Trial Monitor Market , By Phase (Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV), Study Design (Interventional, Observational, Expanded Access), Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Israel, Rest of the Middle East & Africa) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-oncology-clinical-trial-monitor-market

Pharma Clinical Trial Digitization Market , By Services (Drug Dose Adjustment, Drug Impact Monitoring, Medical Prescription System, Bioprinting, Preventive Therapy, Individualized Drug Printing), Application (Clinical Data Management, Trial Monitoring, Patient Recruitment and Enrollment), Themes (Digital Continuity Across Clinical Trial IT Systems, Patient-centric Remote and Virtual Trial Design, Direct-to-patient Home Services) Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, Netherland, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia- Pacific, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-pharma-clinical-trial-digitization-market

Clinical Trial Consumables Market , By Service (Manufacturing, Packaging and Labeling, Logistics and Distribution), Phase (Phase I, Phase II, Phase III), Therapeutic Area (Oncology, CNS and Mental Disorders, Cardiovascular Diseases, Infectious Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Blood Disorders, Dermatology, Others), End User (Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies, Contract Research Organisations (CROs) and Medical Devices Companies), Distribution Channel (Dermatology Clinics, Hospitals, Pharmacies and Others), Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Israel, Rest of the Middle East & Africa) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-clinical-trial-consumables-market

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Visiongain Reports Ltd

Visiongain has published a new report entitled clinical trial packaging and labelling market 2023-2033. It includes profiles of clinical trial packaging and labelling and Forecasts Market Segment Type (Primary Packaging and Secondary Packaging), Market Segment by End User (CROs, Drug Manufacturing Companies, Research Labs), Market Segment by Material (Plastic, Paper, Metal, Others) 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 clinical trial packaging and labelling market was valued at US$697.47 million in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.08% during the forecast period 2023-2033.

Opportunities in Biologics and Biosimilars Packaging Materials

The intervention of pandemic COVID-19 has boosted the demand for biologics, which has significantly fuelled market expansion. The substantial research and development efforts for COVID-19's treatment were a major factor in the biologics market's expansion during the pandemic. Even though the epidemic is over, the need for biologics is anticipated to increase in the years to come as their importance for various therapies grows. Clinical trial packaging material suppliers are aware of the challenges associated with biologics packaging, such as high chances of reactivity with packaging material. Biologics and biosimilars packaging space provide tremendous growth opportunities to the suppliers, both in terms of value and volume.

Download Exclusive Sample of Report

https://www.visiongain.com/report/clinical-trial-packaging-labelling-market-2023/#download_sampe_div

How has COVID-19 had a Significant Impact on Clinical Trial Packaging and Labelling Market?

The dramatic increase in vaccine research, the COVID-19 epidemic had a positive impact on clinical trial packaging because it increased demand for the packaging. Leading pharmaceutical companies regularly carry out a number of clinical trials to develop and release new COVID-19 vaccines. Due to the innovative COVID-19's massive global dissemination, top pharmaceutical companies have started numerous research trials to fight the epidemic. As a result, there is a sizable market for pharmaceutical packaging solutions and clinical trial packaging. The number of COVID-19 clinical trials has grown Leading pharmaceutical companies regularly carry out a wide range of clinical trials to develop and disseminate new COVID-19 vaccines. As a result, there is a sizable market for pharmaceutical and clinical trial packaging solutions. A growth in demand for clinical trial packaging products, such as vials and ampoules, syringes, and bottles, among others, is also being observed in established markets in North America, Europe, and Asia. The demand for clinical trial packaging and labelling services has increased with the intervention of COVID-19.

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How will this Report Benefit you?

Visiongains 238-page report provides 118 tables and 148 charts/graphs. Our new study is suitable for anyone requiring commercial, in-depth analysis for the clinical trial packaging and labelling market, along with detailed segment analysis in the market. Our new study will help you evaluate the overall global and regional market for clinical trial packaging and labelling. Get financial analysis of the overall market and different segments including services type, distribution channel, indications, and route of administration, company size and capture higher market share. We believe that there are strong opportunities in this fast-growing clinical trial packaging and labelling 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?

Rising Number of Clinical Trials Coupled with Growing R&D Investments

The industry is witnessing strong growth in the number of clinical trials year-on-year. Further, pharmaceutical companies are spending in R&D, including clinical trials, is steadily increasing with increase in their revenues. Increased spending on pharmaceutical R&D is the primary driver of the clinical trials packaging and labelling market. Additionally, as depicted in the figure below along with biologics, biosimilars approval is also rising. This indicates that the number of clinical trials related to biosimilars are likely to increase exponentially in the future due to expiry of biologics patent.

Growing Innovations and Technological Advancements

Innovative packaging technologies and designs, such as compression moulding, temperature controlled-sterilized containers, liquid injection moulding, and transfer moulding have been contributing to the growth clinical trial packaging market across the globe. The healthcare sector is moving ever more towards home-based monitoring and treatment. This challenges the packaging industry to develop products that meet the highest standards in healthcare and enable user-friendly yet child-proof packaging design. For instance, LyondellBasell Industries has launched a Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) grade for pharmaceutical packaging use. The new launched product offers higher temperature resistance to sterilization which reduces cost for customers to produce applications such as infusion bottles using blow-fill-seal (BFS) technology.

Download Exclusive Sample of Report

https://www.visiongain.com/report/clinical-trial-packaging-labelling-market-2023/#download_sampe_div

Where are the Market Opportunities?

Environmentally Safe Packaging

Pharmaceutical companies are putting a lot of emphasis on environment friendly measures across their entire value chain. The development of environmentally friendly packaging for pharmaceutical items has gained importance in recent years. Scientists have started developing substitute materials to limit the use of plastic throughout the whole supply chain as the need to reduce plastic consumption and lower carbon footprints across industries grows. This includes clinical trial packaging supply chain as well. Hence, suppliers offering clinical trial materials with lesser environmental footprint are likely to be preferred over those who are not very environmentally friendly.

Competitive Landscape

The major players operating in the clinical trial packaging and labelling market are Alcami Corporation, Inc., Almac Group, Caligor Coghlan, Clinigen Clinical Supplies Management, CordenPharma International, Fisher Clinical Services, Inc., Korber AG, Mawdsley-Brooks & Co. Ltd., NextPharma Technologies, OLIVER, Parexel International Corporation, Piramal Enterprises Ltd., PCI Pharma Services, Sentry BioPharma Services, Inc., Sharp Services, LLC, WestRock Company, WuXi AppTec, and Xerimis among others. 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

In July 2022, Sharp joined together with the ClinsChain company in order to increase its market penetration in China. The collaboration allowed Sharp to provide local clinical study knowledge to pharma clients while maximising the effectiveness of a pre-existing service exchange between Sharp and ClinsChain.

In September 2022, WestRock Company acquired an HP PageWide T1190 Press to complement and expand its portfolio of unmatched corrugated printing capabilities.

To access the data contained in this document please email oliver.davison@visiongain.com

To find more Visiongain research reports on the Pharma sector, click on the following links:

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.

Contact:

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Visiongain Reports Limited

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El Salvador is planning to open a Bitcoin embassy in Texas, according to the countrys ambassador to the U.S.

El Salvadoran ambassador Milena Mayorga said on Twitter yesterday that she had met with Texas Deputy Secretary of State Joe Esparza to discuss the idea.

The Texas Secretary of State confirmed to Decrypt that they met with El Salvadors ambassador to the U.S. to discuss opportunities for cultural and commercial exchange, but would not elaborate.

El Salvadors government did not immediately respond to Decrypts questions.

It is not clear exactly what the embassy will do other than educate the public on the worlds biggest cryptocurrency.

El Salvador last year opened a Bitcoin office in Lugano, Switzerland to spread adoption of the cryptocurrency in Europe. It also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on economic cooperation with the city.

The Swiss initiative is intended to support initiatives to drive the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies across their respective regions as well as fostering the exchange of students and talents between El Salvador and Lugano, the countries announced at the time.

El estado de Texas, nuestro nuevo aliado. En mi encuentro con el Secretario Adjunto del Gobierno de Texas, Joe Esparza @TXsecofstate, abordamos la apertura de la segunda Embajada #Bitcoin y de ampliar los proyectos de intercambios comerciales y economicos.  pic.twitter.com/NcmOjeadl6  Milena Mayorga (@MilenaMayorga) February 14, 2023

El Salvador became the first company to make Bitcoin legal tenderalong with the U.S. dollarin September 2021.

Crypto Paradise? El Salvador Preps New Law To Pave Way for All Crypto

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The tiny countrys president Nayib Bukele announced the idea at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami in June. El Salvadors law has since been criticized by the likes of the World Bank and the IMF, and so far,nd not many Salvadorans use the cryptocurrency for everyday purchases.

El Salvador has also bought the cryptocurrency, according to Twitter announcements from the president, but the administration has been opaque about revealing exact details.

Despite this, and despite criticism from human rights groups over his harsh crackdown on the nations notorious street gangs, President Nayib Bukele is popular with Salvadorans.
EuMentis Therapeutics, Inc.

EuMentis is developing novel therapeutics with clinically validated mechanisms for the treatment of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions

EuMentis plans to initiate Phase 2 clinical trials with EM-113 in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and EM-221 in Tourette syndrome (TS) in 2 nd half of this year

Companys preclinical pipeline includes novel fast-off NMDA receptor (NMDAR) modulators for treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other central nervous system (CNS) conditions



BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EuMentis Therapeutics Inc. (EuMentis), a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, including its lead clinical-stage programs for ASD and TS, today announced the closing of $20 million of a targeted $40 million Series B financing from a private family office. EuMentis is in active discussion with other investors to complete its Series B round.

EuMentis will use the proceeds from the $20 million financing to: 1) advance its lead clinical candidate EM-113, a novel uncompetitive fast-off N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) agonist, into a Phase 2 clinical trial in a subset of ASD patients with elevated glutamate levels in the brain, and 2) accelerate the development of its earlier-stage fast-off NMDAR antagonist product candidates through IND filing and completion of Phase 1 clinical trials. The active ingredient in EM-113 has been shown previously in a placebo-controlled trial to be safe and effective in pediatric ASD patients using a proprietary imaging biomarker to select responder patients. The complete Series B financing will enable EuMentis to conduct an additional randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of EM-221, its best-in-class PDE10A inhibitor, in TS patients. Both clinical studies are expected to start in the 2nd half of the year.

Mark Tepper, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of EuMentis Therapeutics, stated, This financing represents a major step forward for EuMentis and allows us to advance our vision of becoming a pharmaceutical company focused on neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions with high unmet need and few or no approved therapeutic options. EuMentis has a highly experienced team in place with deep expertise and a proven track record of delivering transformative medicines. We believe that EuMentis novel therapies have the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life of patients suffering from autism, Tourette syndrome and traumatic brain injury, and other serious neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopment conditions. We likewise look forward to advancing EM-221 into a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical study for Tourette syndrome with additional Series B capital.

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About EM-113 for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Patients with autism spectrum disorder suffer with problems of communication and behavior, which, at present, cannot be effectively treated with any approved medications. Hundreds of thousands of children and their families are desperately in need of better medical care to treat this disorder. Based on our novel biomarker-driven patient selection strategy derived from recent compelling clinical data, EM-113 has the potential to be the first therapy to treat a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder. We are delighted to be able to move quickly into Phase 2 with EM-113 in the second half of the year, said Randall Marshall, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at EuMentis.

About EuMentis Preclinical, Next-Generation NMDAR Antagonists for Traumatic Brain Injury

In addition to EM-113, EuMentis is developing novel, next-generation NMDAR antagonist product candidates with fast-off kinetics important for minimizing side effects often seen with other NMDAR antagonists like ketamine and dizocilpine (MK-801). Supported by its recently announced $3 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Defense, EuMentis is evaluating these product candidates in preclinical studies using a large animal model for traumatic brain injury in 2023 and plans to select a lead candidate for TBI and advance it into Phase 1 study in 2024.

About EM-221 for Tourette Syndrome

Children and adults with TS experience involuntary repetitive movements, vocalize sounds or words that they cannot control, and often struggle with other serious neuropsychiatric conditions. High levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine are believed to cause the unwanted movements and vocalizations that characterize TS. EM-221 is designed to precisely modulate dopaminergic brain circuits implicated in TS.

Dr. Marshall stated, Because its mechanism of action is highly specific to the brains movement centers, we expect EM-221 to have a much more favorable safety profile than antipsychotics, which are currently approved for Tourette syndrome, but are associated with serious and sometimes long-term side effects. A safe and effective drug to treat TS would represent a major advance for patients.

About EuMentis

EuMentis Therapeutics Inc. is a privately held clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions with high unmet need. The companys most advanced product candidate, EM-221, is a best-in-class oral PDE10A inhibitor designed to modulate the dopamine D2 pathway specifically in the striatum. EuMentis plans to initiate a Phase 2 study of EM-221 for the treatment of Tourette syndrome in the second half of 2023. EuMentis is also developing EM-113, an uncompetitive fast-off NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder patients with elevated brain glutamate levels as determined by using its proprietary biomarker patient selection strategy. EuMentis is also expanding its pipeline through the development of novel fast-off NMDAR antagonists for treatment of multiple conditions in which elevated glutamate levels contribute to the pathophysiology, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), at present funded by an award from the United States Department of Defense, autism, and other neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. EuMentis was founded in 2019 with the mission to develop novel therapies to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from central nervous system disorders.

For more information, please visit www.EuMentisTx.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.

Media/Investor Contact:

Liz Melone

EuMentis Therapeutic Inc.

1 617-256-6622

liz@melonecomm.com




State-owned energy company Gazprom has slashed the supply of natural gas to Europe. AFP/Getty Images

Gazprom's years of work on exporting Russian gas have been "flushed down the toilet," an ex-official said.

An ex-manager at the gas giant bemoaned the impact of the Ukraine war to Reuters after gas prices fell close to two-year lows.

Gazprom's overseas revenues are nearly $3 billion lower than they were a year ago, per Reuters.

Decades of work by Gazprom to build up Russia's natural-gas exports have gone to waste, a former official at the state-run energy giant has said, as Ukraine war sanctions threaten to help cut the company's overseas revenues in half.

Speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, the former Gazprom manager spoke about the impact of the collapse of Moscow's gas exports to Europe on the company and the Russian state.

"The work of hundreds of people, who for decades built the exporting system, now has been flushed down the toilet," he told Reuters.

Russia's gas exports to Europe have fallen significantly thanks in part to sanctions imposed on Moscow after President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February last year. The Kremlin's decision to cut flows via a key pipeline to Germany also brought down trade.

As a result, Gazprom could see its revenue from overseas customers halve this year, according to Reuters calculations. Those sales were around $3.4 billion in January, down from $6.3 billion in the same period last year, it reported.

Because Gazprom is under the hand of the Kremlin, that is likely to have a direct impact on Russia's trade deficit. The country's oil and gas deficit dropped by nearly 50% at the start of 2023.

Energy prices are dipping after a milder winter than expected for Europe, which has successfully built up stocks of oil and gas. At the same time, Europe has opened up its gas supply chain to include imports from the likes of the US, undoing years of developments to trade links between Russia and the West.

A price cap on Russian energy has also softened demand for the country's exports, and European natural-gas futures are trading around their lowest levels in nearly two years. Commodities trader Pierre Andurand told the Financial Times he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost the energy war over falling prices for the commodity.

Gazprom didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
CAMBRIDGE, ON, Feb. 15, 2023 /CNW/ - Following the devastating earthquake earlier this month in Turkiye and Syria, Gore Mutual Insurance Company (Gore Mutual) is donating $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross to aid in their disaster relief efforts.

Gore Mutual Insurance Company logo with purpose statement (CNW Group/Gore Mutual Insurance Company)

"The impact of the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria has been devastating," says Andy Taylor, chief executive officer. "As a modern mutual, we know that supporting organizations on the ground, such as the Canadian Red Cross, will help to reach those most in need and support the recovery of impacted communities. Our thoughts are with the members of these communities, including those here in Canada."

For those wishing to aid in relief efforts, the Government of Canada will match donations from individuals to the Earthquake in Turkiye and Syria Appeal, up to a maximum of $10 million until February 22nd.

ABOUT GORE MUTUAL

Built on a foundation of financial strength for more than 180 years, Gore Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada's first property and casualty insurers. With offices in Cambridge, Toronto and Vancouver - a Canadian mutual company, offering competitive insurance products through trusted broker partners. Every decision and investment made is anchored in the long-term benefits to customers, members and communities.

Insurance that does good  this is our Purpose. Grounded in our purpose and guided by our core values, at Gore Mutual, we believe that being good and doing good by our employees, customers and broker partners will benefit not only them, but also uswhich in turn allows us to spread good in our communities and reward the good we see in others. This is what is driving our work to become a purpose-driven, digitally led national insurer.

For more information, visit goremutual.ca or Gore Mutual's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

SOURCE Gore Mutual Insurance Company

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2023/15/c3912.html
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Hemp Market size is projected to be USD 19.37 Billion by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 22.6% from 2023 to 2030, as per a recent market report published by Cognitive Market Research. The hemp market is gradually gaining legalization and deregulation. For instance, Google has opened the door and will allow the advertising of hemp and topical CBD products in California, Colorado and Puerto Rico under an update to its policies on "Dangerous Products and Services and Healthcare and Medicines."

Cognitive_Market_Research_Logo

Major findings during the study of the Hemp Market:

Organic segment is projected to garner significant market growth during the forecast period

Hemp seed held the maximum share in the hemp market as it is gaining much attraction in the food and nutraceutical markets because of its high nutritional values. Further, it is used in lotions, shampoos, soaps, bath gels, and cosmetics which is propelling its growth

In terms of application, the textile segment dominates the market by revenue. The prime reason being wide usage of hemp in making t-shirts, dresses, hoodies, underwear, socks, other forms of apparel, and other household textiles

The Asia Pacific region accounts for the maximum share of the hemp market. This is because of the active involvement of countries like China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand in the production of industrial hemp

North America shows the highest growth rate in the hemp market during the forecast period owing to the gradual relaxation of laws surrounding the cultivation, processing, and production of hemp products

Major industry players are investing heavily in R&D activities to achieve high yields from cultivation. For instance, The Scottish National Investment Bank has increased its investment in an Edinburgh company that makes hemp fiber-based insulation for the construction industry

Read Full Market Analysis Hemp Market by Source (Conventional, and Organic); by Type (Seed, Oil, Fiber, CBD, and Others); by Application (Textile, Personal Care, Construction, Food & Beverage, and Others); by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East, and Africa) Global Industry Analysis, COVID-19 Impact, and Industry Forecast, 2018-2030

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Hemp Industry Statistics:

Global Hemp Market 2022 Global Revenue (USD Billion) 6.87 CAGR  (2023-2030) 22.6 % Key Source Share Conventional: 69.7% Key Type Share Seed: 32.2% Key Application Share Textile: 28.2% Key Regional Share Asia Pacific: 34.2%

What are the current Hemp Market Trends?

In the last few years, many hemp based products find their way to the market. There has been huge investment in research and development for developing hemp products. For instance, more than USD 35 Million has been granted to five hemp-specific projects under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities" program. Companies are constantly discovering products made from hemp for the consumers, from cosmetics to jeans to beer. For instance, between the year 2012 to 2017, more than 200 hemp-based food products were introduced to the market.

It is expected that in the year 2023, the demand for hemp-based health products will be on the rise. This includes massage oils, lotions, capsules, pet health products, and many others. Besides, hemp based products are being legalized rapidly across the globe. Thus, increasing legalization and deregulation of hemp cultivation in various countries is driving the growth of the hemp market.

Check Full Report with all the Quantitative and Qualitative data:

https://www.cognitivemarketresearch.com/hemp-market-report

Hemp is considered one of the most versatile and sustainable crops since every part of the plant can be used for one or more purposes. For decades, hemp seed has been cultivated to make everything from building materials to textiles. Its wide-reaching growth potential is now beginning to be embraced and utilized by many organizations. Hence, the production of hemp seeds has increased and they have become a product with an important and growing market.

Hemp Market Report Scope

Hemp Market - Source Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Conventional

Organic

Hemp Market - Type (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Seed

Oil

Fiber

CBD

Others

Hemp Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 20182030)

Textile

Personal Care

Construction

Food & Beverage

Others

By Regions:

North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)

Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Southeast Asia, Rest of APAC)

Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Rest of Latin America)

Middle East & Africa (GCC, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Rest of MEA)

List Of Key Companies Profiled

Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Cooperative Ltd.

CBD Biotechnology Co.

Botanical Genetics, LLC

Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

HempMedsBrasil, Terra Tech Corp.

American Cannabis Company, Inc.

HempFlax B.V.

Ecofiber Industries Operations

Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd.

Others

Related Reports on Hemp Market:

Global Legal Marijuana Market to Hit $101.23 Billion by 2030

The global legal marijuana market is expected to hit $101.23 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 25.42%. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant used for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. In recent times, most countries have legalized the use of medical marijuana for treating multiple ailments, which is pushing the growth of the market.

Global Cotton Market to Reach $12.34 Billion by 2030

The global cotton market is projected to reach $52.37 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.56%. Global cotton production is primarily concentrated in low--and middle-income countries, which is a key driver of economic growth, providing employment and livelihoods. Cotton is majorly used in the textile industry along with the medical industry. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted cotton distribution due to disruption in the supply chain, which declines revenue in the year 2020. However, its broad uses in woven fabrics, clothing, furniture, home decor, and other categories are driving the market's growth.

Other Related Reports:

Global Textile Market to reach $1,385.36 Billion by 2030 , growing at an impressive CAGR of 5.32%

Global Medical Cannabis Market to be worth $54.08 Billion by 2030 and is expected to reach a CAGR of 23.52%

Explore Other Cognitive Market Research's Agriculture Industry Report

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Dublin, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Construction Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report the commencement of various infrastructural projects has supported the market's growth to USD 72 Billion in the year 2021, which is expected to grow with a CAGR of more than 4.5% during the forecast period.

A rapidly growing construction industry is a key factor expected to drive growth of the global earth moving equipment market over the forecast period. The increase in the demand for more housing units and better infrastructure has been a reason for the increase in demand for earth moving equipment.

Apart from the construction industry, these machines are widely used in other industries such as mining, the oil industry, forestry, agriculture, etc. Earth moving equipment is typically heavy-duty vehicles designed for a variety of tasks associated with construction operations.

Earthmoving equipment is generally used in tasks where a large amount of earth is to be dug up, such as laying foundations, grading soil, removing dirt and rocks, digging trenches, etc. This heavy equipment helps in completing the tasks in the easiest way possible with minimal risk and less manual labor.



The earthmoving equipment works on electric and hybrid power sources, similar to the other major equipment. With innovations in the equipment and advanced technologies used, the market is anticipated to witness prominent market growth during the upcoming timeframe. The global earthmoving machinery market is dominated by the Asia-Pacific region, due to the infrastructural development and residential and commercial construction in many countries. Governments in these regions are now concentrating considerably on infrastructural development, which in turn will help in improving the economy.



Based on equipment type, the market is segmented into excavators, loaders, dozers, and motor graders. Excavators are expected to expand their market over the forecast period, driving demand across the industrial, residential, and commercial sectors. The rental services for the excavators are also anticipated to drive the earthmoving equipment market growth. A shift from conventional excavators to automated excavators is observed.

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The equipment is more efficient than the traditional excavators. Crawler excavators are expected to dominate the earthmoving equipment market. Mini-excavator wheel excavators are expected to grow considerably over the forecast period. The motor graders are now being preferred as they can perform various activities with versatile attachments, thus capturing more market share by the end of the forecast year.



There has been a rapid increase in the number of new construction projects in both commercial and residential sectors, as growing urbanization and industrialization are supporting the industry's growth. A piece of earthmoving equipment can be understood as a heavy-duty vehicle designed specifically for the execution of construction jobs, mostly related to earthwork operations.

Earthmoving equipment is majorly employed in the construction industry for moving large amounts of earth or for digging the foundations for large building structures and landscape areas. Operating earthmoving equipment is known to require technically skilled labor, specifically trained for operating such equipment.



Further, the rising urban population generating higher demand for better infrastructure is expected to propel the earthmoving market over the coming years. The increase in the urban population contributes to the demand for improved and advanced infrastructure. According to the International Institute for Environment and Development, the world's urban population will increase to 4.4 billion in 2020.

Furthermore, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the proportion is expected to reach 68% by the end of 2050. This four-fold growth creates a need for more infrastructure, increased urban development, and more building activities to accommodate people.

Thus, these factors propel the demand for construction equipment, including earthmoving, as these machines are used for land clearing, lifting, and other heavy work.



Major players operating in the market are concentrating on introducing new technological innovations which have gained popularity over recent years. Companies manufacturing earth moving equipment are focusing on incorporating 5G cellular technology to advance remote operation towards real-time control.

The ultra-low latency of 5G enables systems controlling a vehicle to react sooner, such as during braking or turning, vastly improving safety on the jobsite. The 5G network also promises to advance artificial intelligence, virtual reality, as well as IoT technologies for better remote control and connectivity.



Major companies present in the market



Caterpillar Private Limited, Doosan Infracore, Epiroc Construction Machinery Co. Ltd, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd, J C Bamford Excavators Ltd, John Deere Ltd, Kobe Steel Ltd, Komatsu Ltd., Sany Group, XCMG Ltd., Zoomlion Co. Ltd



Considered In the Report

Geography: Global

Base year: 2021

Historical year: 2016

Estimated year: 2022

Forecasted year: 2027

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Report Methodology



3. Market Structure

3.1. Market Considerate

3.2. Market Definition



4. Economic /Demographic Snapshot



5. Global Construction Equipment Market Outlook

5.1. Market Size By Value

5.2. Market Share

5.2.1. By Region

5.2.2. By Country

5.2.3. By Company

5.2.4. By Application



6. Global Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook

6.1. Market Size By Value

6.2. Market Share

6.2.1. By Region

6.2.2. By Equipment



7. Global Material Handling Machinery Market Outlook

7.1. Market Size By Value

7.2. Market Share

7.2.1. By Region

7.2.2. By Equipment



8. Global Concrete and Road Construction Machinery Market Outlook

8.1. Market Size By Value

8.2. Market Share

8.2.1. By Region

8.2.2. By Equipment



9. North America Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook

10. Europe Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook



11. Asia-Pacific Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook



12. South America Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook



13. Middle East & Africa Earth Moving Machinery Market Outlook



14. Market Dynamics

14.1. Market Drivers

14.2. Market Challenges



15. Market Trends and Developments



16. Company Profiles

16.1. Caterpillar Private Limited

16.2. Doosan Infracore

16.3. Epiroc Construction Machinery Co. Ltd

16.4. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd

16.5. J C Bamford Excavators Ltd

16.6. John Deere Ltd

16.7. Kobe Steel Ltd

16.8. Komatsu Ltd.

16.9. Sany Group

16.10. XCMG Ltd.

16.11. Zoomlion Co. Ltd.



17. Strategic Recommendations



18. Disclaimer

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/f15wb2

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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BURNSVILLE, Minn., Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick off the New Year, last month, Inspired Spine (IS) CMO Dr. Hamid Abbasi traveled to Muscat, Oman to perform in cooperation with Dr. Ahmed Jahwari the first Oblique Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (OLLIF) outside of North America. In addition to the OLLIF procedure, the first Trident Sacroiliac Joint Fusion outside the United States was also executed.

Dr. Hamid Abbasi and Dr. Jahwari

The delegation from Inspired Spine (IS) was invited by the Oman Armed Forces to perform the procedures in their newly built state-of-the-art hospital. In just four days, eight OLLIF procedures and two Sacroiliac Joint Fusions were performed. OLLIF is a minimally invasive spine fusion with the ability to treat patients regardless of age and size (BMI) with minimal blood loss and complications, harboring it as one of the safest options for lumbar fusion surgery and enabling many marginalized patients to receive complex spinal fusions.

While overseas, Dr. Abbasi met with the Head of Oman Investment Authority  the sovereign fund of Oman  his Excellency Abdulsalam Al Murshidi to explore the possibility of cooperation in the Arabian Peninsula.

In a statement from Dr. Abbasi, he expressed his gratitude for the invitation and that patients in the Arabian Peninsula can now benefit from these advanced medical procedures.

"Without question, there is no similar procedure in the Middle East" Abbasi said. "All patients were discharged within one to three days with very little blood loss."

The multi-level fusion surgeries performed in Oman last month took less than 1-2 hours each. Using a traditional technique, such as transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF), the surgeries can span an entire day. Dr. Spangenberg, a Saudi Arabian surgeon, observed the procedures in an effort to carry the technique across the entire Arabian Peninsula. The region, which includes Qatar and the UAE, holds a vast population of nearly 60 million people.

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"This kind of performance is unlike anything present in the United States, Middle East, Africa or the Arabian Peninsula," Dr. Jahwari reiterated, who is a fellowship trained spine surgeon in Canada and USA.

Amanda Armagost, Chief Communication Officer of IS, ardently praised the old tradition of Omani culture. In Oman, she toured the country and made note of its beauty as well as the people's hospitality.

"The friendliness and generosity of the Omani culture is unmatched. The natural beauty of Oman is underutilized," Armagost said. "We hope to enhance local medical care, while simultaneously boosting the tourism economy. The infrastructure is highly developed and ready to absorb a significant increase in medical tourism."

In a statement Inspired spine, an advanced spine company in Minnesota stated: "Inspired Spine is very optimistic in this endeavor, which will allow more patients than ever before to benefit from these advanced procedures. Inspired Spine will continue to encourage expansion into additional continents and countries. The true beneficiaries are the people worldwide, who can expect spine care with better results, as demonstrated here in Minnesota, United States over the last 10 years."

If you have questions, contact Mike Hanson at vpm@inspiredspine.org

Dr. Abbasi and Abdulsalam Al Murahidi, the Head of Oman Investment Authority

Inspired Spine (PRNewsfoto/Inspired Spine)

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ST. LOUIS, February 15, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Introba, one of the worlds largest building engineering and consulting firms (formerly Integral Group, Ross & Baruzzini, Elementa Consulting, and Elementa Engineering), is creating Living Systems that are smart, secure, resilient, and connected. Through advisory and engineering services, they build environments that uplift communities, protect the planets health, and adapt to meet future demands. Introba has 1,000+ employees in offices across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Serbia.

Designing Living Systems, Transforming Built Environments

In partnership with the clients they serve, Introbas leading-edge design and advisory practices apply technology, advanced engineering, and thoughtful creativity to elevate the human experience by creating Living Systemsintelligent, resilient built environments that adapt to the needs of the community while protecting the health of the planet.

Introba considers the built environment holistically, not just in its component parts. Critical changes to global infrastructure, material supply chains, and government and corporate policies all play a role in Introbas transformative design and consulting work. They recognize that business-as-usual engineering will not future-proof against the impact on our planets resources or ensure human safety and comfort. Introba has a deep culture of creative engineering aligned with environmental and technological challenges facing their clients, projects, and society.

Through their network of strategically integrated practice areas, Introba seeks to remedy inefficiencies, capitalize on shared opportunities, and find practical solutions to create adaptable, efficient, flexible, equitable, cost-effective, and resilient environments today and for future generations.

"Our blended expertise in built environment engineering practice areas with specialty advisory services creates Living Systems that are intelligent, resilient, highly sustainable, and connected to their environments. Together, we are leaders in advanced engineering and innovation."

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Bill Overturf, President

Integrating Smart & Adaptive Building Solutions

Thriving Living Systems require a strong digital foundation. Introbas digital advisory and design analytic services focus on harnessing the power of data and emerging technology to drive efficiency, sustainability, human wellbeing, and resilient systems. A digital mindset is integrated across our design and engineering processes in ways that transform communities and buildings into adaptive, intelligent, and future-flexible systems.

Introba builds digitally enhanced decision-making into every phase of our work. From predictive modeling to real-time digital twins, Introba brings advanced data analysis, sensor strategies, and empirical modeling to each project. Using these tools allows clients to craft personalized experiences, optimize asset performance, and achieve strategic goals including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments.

Introba established a dedicated group of digital navigators to help clients understand the trends and create customized, adaptive technology plans that guide implementation and operations. From intelligent buildings to artificial intelligence and mixed reality, digital navigators map client processes to the right technologies and systems to deliver positive impact now and into the future.

"The range of digital opportunities and the pace of technological change can be overwhelming. Introbas digital advisory team specializes in demystifying technology and creating future-flexible systems that elevate the human experience, optimize system performance, and nurture our connection to the environment."

Chris Runde, Director, Global Digital Advisory Services

Committed to Resilient & Sustainable Engineering

The built environment sector urgently needs Living Systems to better integrate climate and sustainability solutions. Infrastructure investment, governance, and delivery of projects globally need greater alignment with climate and sustainability targets.

In addition to cutting-edge design and smart technology integration, Introba remains at the vanguard of climate resilience strategy, providing proven strategic direction and engineering solutions to deliver healthy, high-performing spaces where occupants and communities can thrive.

With buildings, transportation, and utilities presenting some of the most significant opportunities for addressing climate change and sustainability in the built environment, Introbas work for clients and their own operations and research directly addresses fourteen of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Combining its deep expertise in planning, policy, economics, environmental and computer sciences, project management, engineering, and corporate strategy with a full complement of climate and sustainability services, Introba delivers projects from design conception to operating performance. Their services integrate design analysis and strategy to achieve certification and assurance.

"An integrated approach to buildings and infrastructure is essential for climate action and sustainable development. We must be on a clear path to decarbonize by 2050 and have made significant progress by 2030. Introba has the depth and breadth of expertise and experience to make real changes in our planetary future."

Richard Palmer, Director, Global Sustainability

Learn More at Introba.com

Introba invites you to learn more about their wide array of solutions and the market sectors they serve. View their project portfolio and explore current career opportunities on their new website: www.introba.com.

About Introba

Introba is one of the worlds largest building engineering and consulting firms, with more than 1,000 employees in offices across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Serbia, and Australia.

Providing a full range of design services, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire safety and protection engineering; technology systems; security consulting; medical equipment planning; aviation baggage handling; and sustainability consulting, the firm delivers projects across key sectors, including commercial, healthcare, government, education, aviation, culture, and science and technology.

Committed to reshaping the world, Introbas problem solvers combine cutting-edge digital solutions with emerging innovations and industry-leading sustainability strategies to transform the built environment. Introba creates Living Systems that are smart, secure, resilient, and connected  spaces that uplift communities, protect the health of the planet, and adapt to meet the demands of the future.

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Contacts

Michael Luhning

michael.luhning@tylin.com
Devastating earthquakes that recently took place in southern Turkiye and near-border regions in Syria have killed and injured lots of people in the two countries and leveled buildings.

The Chinese government has launched an emergency humanitarian assistance mechanism at the earliest time possible to provide emergency aid to the two quake-hit countries.

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team carry out a rescue mission in Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

As of Feb. 12 local time, the China Search and Rescue Team, which is under unified coordination and command of the Chinese government, had freed six survivors, including a man in his fifties who was jointly saved by Chinese and Turkish rescuers on the afternoon of Feb. 12 after four hours of efforts.

So far, the team has sent 206 rescuers in 13 batches to quake-hit areas in Turkiye, who saved six survivors and found eight victims. Besides, rescuers from Hong Kong also extracted three survivors from rubble.

Eighty-two members of the team arrived in Turkiye on Feb. 8, local time, to join earthquake relief efforts in the country. On the afternoon of the same day, they reached Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye.

They started working before dawn on Feb. 9 and extracted a pregnant woman from the debris at dusk in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts. Later, they freed two more females, even the "Golden 72 hours" for rescue had passed.

Members of the China Search and Rescue Team carry out a rescue mission in Antakya, a harder-hit city in the southern province of Hatay, Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

On Feb. 10, the China Search and Rescue Team saved another female survivor in the city, and two days later, an adult male was extracted from earthquake debris near the place where the fourth survivor was discovered.

At the same time, several civil Chinese rescue teams also joined the rescue efforts in Turkiye.

Eight earthquake relief experts from the Rescue Team of Ramunion in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, arrived in Turkiye on Feb. 8 and rescued a man and a child on the same night.

A day later, the team extracted a family of five from a collapsed civil house in the town of Belen in Hatay province.

Civil Chinese rescue teams convene a coordination meeting in Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Emergency Management of China)

The Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, also has 127 members on rescue missions in the Turkish city of Malatya, which is near the epicenter. After dozens of hours, they saved a female from the rubble.

Besides, Chinese construction machinery manufacturer Zoomlion, Beijing Emergency Rescue Association, Green Boat Emergency Rescue and Shenzhen Rescue Volunteers Federation also sent rescuers to Turkiye. As of 9 a.m. on Feb. 10, 288 rescuers from 15 civil Chinese rescue teams had arrived in quake-hit areas in Turkiye.

China's first batch of 40,000 blankets to Turkiye for earthquake relief departed Shanghai for Istanbul on Feb. 11, Beijing time. Other supplies, including 1,000 tents and medical equipment, will be arriving in the coming days.

The first batch of medical supplies donated by the Red Cross Society of China to Syria arrived in Damascus on Feb. 9.


Brianne Kimmel, the founder and managing partner of Worklife Ventures. Worklife Ventures

Worklife Ventures founder Brianne Kimmel is launching a bootcamp for AI startups.

Her firm has pledged $20 million to invest in those AI companies that complete the bootcamp.

Here's an exclusive look into what the bootcamp will offer and why Kimmel is so bullish on AI.

Brianne Kimmel, the founder of Worklife Ventures, has long bet on companies she believes will shape the future of work. Central to that thesis, she says, is artificial intelligence.

Kimmel is launching an invite-only bootcamp for AI startups, as an extension of her program SaaS School, which offers mentorship and educational resources to founders building software-as-a-service startups. As part of the AI bootcamp, her firm is committing $20 million to invest into companies that complete the program.

The program is designed for early stage startups building products that complement technologies like ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, or other AI-native tools that change how people work, a spokesperson for Worklife Ventures said.

Though AI has drawn intense interest from investors in the last few months, becoming a hotspot in the midst of a wintry venture-capital funding season, Kimmel said she's long seen the technology as pivotal to her firm's investment focus. She began backing AI startups as an angel investor in 2017, she told Insider, in companies like Forethought, Mage, and over 20 startups. Worklife's current portfolio includes the AI-powered data analysis companies Artifact and Viable, Tome, an AI-driven storytelling tool, and the AI image generator, Stability AI.

Kimmel is now seeking to find founders in the space at the earliest stages  in some cases, even before they've formally launched a company  through her firm's workshops.

"AI is an important ecosystem for us," she said. "It's not an investment theme where we're sitting back and waiting for companies to come to us."

The bootcamp aims to help AI founders find product-market fit and scale by connecting them with business leaders with experience in marketing, sales, and operations.

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Since many entrepreneurs have access to novel AI technology like OpenAI's GPT-3, business expertise and execution will be what takes an idea from just an "interesting technology or a project" to a "venture-scale business," Kimmel told Insider.

"I grew up in northeast Ohio, and a lot of friends from my high school are using this technology," Kimmel said. "Everyone has access to these tools, so who's going to build the next big thing is a real question for a lot of people."

For its 30 company class, the AI bootcamp will offer a full-day workshop, followed by weekly chats with engineers, product managers, and other tech leaders who are building startups. Additional programming includes topics ranging from product positioning to community building to pricing and packaging. The featured speakers will include operators from hot startups like Grammarly, Notion, and Figma, Kimmel added.

Kimmel also works closely with AI Grant, the non-profit distributed research lab backed by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, the former Y Combinator partner who started its AI program and cofounder of the accelerator program Pioneer. Formerly a grant program, AI Grant now makes $250,000 investments in AI companies. AI Grant has provided follow-on capital to several early-stage AI companies that Worklife has backed, including Rowy, according to a Worklife Ventures spokesperson.

Given all the hype surrounding AI, some observers have expressed concerns that the sector may be reaching the point of oversaturation. But Kimmel is undeterred: She believes that the technology is so transformational that even several direct competitors will be able to thrive alongside each other.

"Frankly, AI will exponentially lower barriers to creativity and entrepreneurship and enable a real democratization of ideas and design," Kimmel told Insider. "Now, we won't live in a world built by engineers! We'll live in a world designed by everyone, and engineered by AI."

Read the original article on Business Insider
EXFO's Context topology proves an asset to MTN operators to

streamline network management and improve inventory data quality

QUEBEC, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - EXFO, the communications industry's test, monitoring and analytics experts, today announced that MTN Group has successfully deployed EXFO's Context dynamic topology solution in 14 African countries as part of MTN's digital transformation initiative, targeting improved network inventory, security, and performance functions. MTN is Africa's largest mobile network operator, providing voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale, and API services to more than 270 million customers in 19 markets.

MTN Group, Africas largest mobile network operator, has deployed EXFOs Context dynamic topology solution in 14 countries as part of their digital transformation initiative. (CNW Group/EXFO Inc.)

MTN operators across Africa, including early adopters MTN Uganda and South Africa, report simplified network management and improved visibility of telecom assets using EXFO's solution, helping them deliver top-quality services to their customers. With EXFO Context, MTN's network management is streamlined, improving inventory data quality and making planning and assurance processes more robust.

Digital transformation of the network is a top priority for MTN and rolling out EXFO's solution will accelerate innovation and support the adoption of new technologies. EXFO Context has enabled MTN operators to gain visibility of their end-to-end networks across all vendors and technology layers, providing a single, accurate, and up-to-date view.

This is particularly important at a time when delivering reliable service performance is made more difficult by the increased complexity of the network and related service assurance processes. The introduction of new technologies such as 5G, network virtualization, and programmable networking contribute to greater complexity, increasing the need for better end-to-end visibility.

Leveraging EXFO's automated updates, change audit, and service impact analysis capabilities, MTN operators can quickly grasp the state of their network, assess the impact of faults or planned maintenance activity, and understand whether detected changes have received the necessary approval from a change management process perspective.

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EXFO Context uses native graph database technology and a semantic modelling framework to deliver the end-to-end dynamic view of networks, services, and customer dependencies enabling key automation use cases. Automation relieves pressure on network managers, providing them with the right information at the right time to make informed decisions.

Quotes:

"As demands on network infrastructure continue to grow, service assurance has become increasingly important to streamline and automate the processes that support the network. Of critical importance is the ability to map network topology, providing visibility to all the elements within the network and ensuring integrity of data to enable ongoing digital transformation. EXFO is delighted that Context has delivered these capabilities to 14 MTN operating companies including early adopters Uganda and South Africa, and we look forward to seeing operators across the MTN Group enable more automated operational processes with our service assurance solution," said Wim te Niet, Vice President EMEA, EXFO.

"MTN Group is committed to our digital transformation journey to improve the flexibility and variety of services we're able to efficiently deliver to our customers. That can only be possible by equipping our networks and teams with the best possible solutions. EXFO Context has proven to be an impactful contributor to better manage our networks by tracking our active network assets and ensuring that defined change management processes are adhered to," said Amith Maharaj, MTN Group CTO.

"The transformation journey of deploying the EXFO Context platform across our markets was enormous and exciting at the same time. I appreciate what EXFO and MTN have managed to accomplish as partners, to address the complexity in the network domain and create a single pane end-to-end view, that has significantly improved our operations," said Lloyd Mphahlele, MTN Group GM: Transport and OSS Tools.

"At MTN Uganda, a larger portion of our planning and operation team is currently using the EXFO platform, with the ability to rapidly check the status of the network elements 24/7. The benefit of this extends far beyond our network administrators, having created another layer of transparency for our finance and resourcing teams that rely on network data to guide their budgeting decisions. If an asset running on the network fails, is removed, or altered, we are able to see these changes within minutes  which is a key capability for increased network visibility and performance and to detect any unauthorized changes that might have impact on our revenue or the company," said Ali Monzer, CTIO, MTN Uganda.

For more information, visit this page .

Meet EXFO experts at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 27  March 2.

About EXFO

EXFO develops smarter test, monitoring and analytics solutions for the global communications industry. We are trusted advisers to fixed and mobile network operators, hyper-scalers and leaders in the manufacturing, development and research sector. They count on us to deliver superior visibility and insights into network performance, service reliability and user experience. Building on over 35 years of innovation, EXFO's unique blend of equipment, software and services enable faster, more confident transformations related to 5G, cloud-native and fiber optic networks.

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SOURCE EXFO Inc.
NORBIT ASA

Trondheim, 15 February 2023: In line with the dividend policy, the board of directors has resolved to propose to the annual general meeting of NORBIT ASA, that a dividend of NOK 0.70 per share should be paid for 2022.



The following key dates for the dividend are proposed by the board of directors:

Dividend amount: NOK 0.70 per share

Announced currency: NOK

Last day including right: 4 May 2023

Ex-date: 5 May 2023

Record date: 8 May 2023

Payment date: On or about 16 May 2023

Date of approval: 4 May 2023

For further queries, please contact:

Per Jrgen Weisethaunet, CEO, +47 959 62 915

Per Kristian Reppe, CFO, +47 900 33 203

About NORBIT ASA

NORBIT is a global company providing tailored technology to selected applications by solving challenges through innovative solutions, in line with its mission to Explore More. The company is structured in three business segments to address its key markets: Oceans, Connectivity and Product Innovation & Realization (PIR). The Oceans segment delivers tailored technology solutions to global maritime markets. The Connectivity segment provides tailored wireless solutions for identification, monitoring and tracking. The PIR segment offers R&D services, proprietary products, and contract manufacturing to key customers. NORBIT has around 450 employees, with headquarter in Trondheim, R&D and manufacturing in Norway and Hungary, and a worldwide sales and distribution platform.

For more information: www.norbit.com

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.




Growth Plus Reports

Newark, New Castle, USA, Feb. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a new market research report titled,  Nurse Call Systems Market by Technology (Wireless and Wired), Product (Basic Button Based Systems, Mobile Integrated Systems, IP Based Systems), End-user (Hospitals & Clinics, Nursing Centers, Home Care Settings) - Global Outlook & Forecast 2022-2030" published by Growth Plus Reports, the Nurse Call Systems market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.10% from 2021 to reach US$ 4.9 billion by 2030. The global nurse call system market is primarily driven by the introduction of novel products, increasing numbers of hospitals, and improving healthcare infrastructure. Additionally, the growing prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases and the high presence of key players are boosting the growth of the global nurse call system market. Moreover, the introduction of novel products fuels the global nurse call systems market. However, the high regulation and cost involved in implementing nurse call systems devices are hindering the growth of the global nurse call systems market.

Nurse call systems are medical communication tools mostly used in hospitals and healthcare facilities to alert nurses and doctors in emergencies so they can treat patients immediately. A nurse call system can call a nurse to alert them to a patient's IV status, a medical emergency, or make a routine check call.

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Growth Drivers

The demand for nurse call systems is driven by several factors, including:

Aging population: As the global population ages, the demand for healthcare services increases, leading to a higher demand for nurse call systems in healthcare facilities.

Patient safety: Nurse call systems play a critical role in ensuring the safety and well-being of patients, and the increasing emphasis on patient safety is driving demand for these systems.

Advancements in technology: The integration of new technologies, such as wireless and cloud-based systems, is making nurse call systems more convenient and accessible for healthcare providers, leading to increased demand.

Regulatory requirements: In some regions, regulatory requirements such as fire safety codes and patient safety regulations may require the installation of nurse call systems in healthcare facilities, further driving demand.

Increased demand for home healthcare: The demand for home healthcare is growing, and nurse call systems are becoming increasingly important in allowing patients to receive care in their own homes.

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Overall, the global nurse call systems demand is expected to grow in the coming years, driven by an aging population, advancements in technology, and increasing emphasis on patient safety.

Conversely, the global nurse call systems market faces several restraints, including:

High cost of installation and maintenance: The cost of installing and maintaining nurse call systems can be high, particularly for smaller healthcare facilities with limited budgets.

Technical difficulties: The integration of new technologies in nurse call systems can lead to technical difficulties, such as compatibility issues with existing systems and difficulty in training staff to use the systems effectively.

Data security concerns: With the increasing use of digital systems, there are concerns about the security of patient data, which can limit the adoption of nurse call systems in some regions.

Limited standardization: There is limited standardization in the nurse call systems market, which can make it difficult for healthcare facilities to compare products and make informed purchasing decisions.

Competition from other products: The nurse call systems market faces competition from other products, such as personal emergency response systems (PERS), that offer similar capabilities at a lower cost.

The global nurse call system market has been analyzed from four perspectives  Technology, Product, End User and Region

Excerpts from by Technology

The global nurse call system market based on technology has been segmented into:

Wired

Wireless

Wireless nurse call systems are a type of nurse call system that use wireless technology to transmit signals between patients and healthcare providers. They typically consist of wearable devices, such as pendants or wristbands, that patients can use to alert healthcare staff when assistance is needed. Properties such as increased portability, better connectivity, improved response times, and lower costs are the key advantages over the traditional wired nurse call systems.

Excerpts From by End User Segmentation

The global nurse call system market based on the end users, has been segmented into:

Hospitals And Clinics

Nursing Centers

Home Care Setting

Others

The demand for home care nurse call systems has been growing in recent years, driven by an aging population, an increasing emphasis on home healthcare, and advancements in technology. With the aging of the global population, the demand for home healthcare services is expected to continue to grow, further driving demand for home care nurse call systems.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend towards home healthcare, as patients and healthcare providers seek to reduce exposure to the virus. This has further increased the demand for home care nurse call systems, as they provide a convenient and reliable way for patients to receive care and support in their own homes.

Overall, the home care nurse call systems market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, driven by the increasing demand for home healthcare services and advancements in technology. The growth of the market may be influenced by factors such as regulatory requirements, the cost of installation and maintenance, and competition from other home healthcare products.

Buy this Premium Research Report - https://www.growthplusreports.com/checkout-8170

Excerpts from by Region Segmentation

The global nurse call system market has been segmented into:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Rest of the World

The global nurse call system market is dominated by North America and Asia Pacific. The nurse call systems market in North America has been growing in recent years, driven by the aging of the population and increasing emphasis on patient safety and quality of care. Wireless nurse call systems are becoming increasingly popular in North America, as they offer improved mobility and faster response times compared to traditional wired systems. The growth of home healthcare services in North America is driving demand for home care nurse call systems, as they provide a convenient and reliable way for patients to receive care in their own homes. Advancements are influencing the nurse call systems market in North America in technology, such as the integration of nurse call systems with other healthcare technologies, such as electronic health records (EHRs) and telehealth. The increase in healthcare spending in North America is driving demand for nurse call systems, as healthcare providers seek to improve patient safety and quality of care. Regulatory requirements, such as those related to data privacy and patient safety, are playing a role in the growth of the nurse call systems market in North America, as healthcare providers seek to comply with these regulations.

Despite these trends, North America's nurse call systems market faces challenges, such as high costs and data security concerns. Nevertheless, the market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, driven by the increasing demand for home healthcare services and advancements in technology.

Excerpts from Competitive Landscape

The prominent players operating in the global nurse call system market are:

Ascom Holding AG

Austco Healthcare

Cornell Communications

Critical Alert Systems LLC

Hill-Rom Holding, Inc.

Honeywell International Inc.

JNL Technologies

Rauland Corporation

Stanley Healthcare Systems Electronics Inc.

TekTone Sound and Signal Mfg. Inc.

West-Com Nurse Call Systems Inc.

Table of Content

INTRODUCTION Market Ecosystem Timeline Under Consideration Historical Years  2020 Base Year  2021 Forecast Years  2022 to 2030 Currency Used in the Report RESEARCH TECHNOLOGYOLOGY Research Approach Data Collection Methodology Data Sources Secondary Sources Primary Sources Market Estimation Approach Bottom Up Top Down Market Forecasting Model Limitations and Assumptions PREMIUM INSIGHTS Current Market Trends (COVID-19 Perspective) Key Players & Competitive Positioning (2021) MARKET DYNAMICS Drivers Restraints/Challenges Opportunities GLOBAL NURSE CALL SYSTEMS MARKET - ANALYSIS & FORECAST, BY TECHNOLOGY Wireless Wired GLOBAL NURSE CALL SYSTEMS MARKET - ANALYSIS & FORECAST, BY PRODUCT Basic Button Based Systems Mobile Integrated Systems IP Based Systems Others GLOBAL NURSE CALL SYSTEMS MARKET - ANALYSIS & FORECAST, BY END USER Hospitals and Clinics Nursing Centers Home Care Setting Others

TOC Continued...

VALUE PROPOSITIONS RELATED TO THE REPORT:

Powered with Complimentary Analyst Hours and Expert Interviews with Each Report

Comprehensive quantitative and qualitative insights at segment and sub-segment level

Covid 19 impact trends and perspective

Granular insights at global/regional/country level

Deep-rooted insights on market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities) and business environment

Blanket coverage on competitive landscape

Winning imperatives

Exhaustive coverage on 'Strategic Developments' registered by leading players of the market

CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS:

Distributor Landscape Assessment

Pricing Intelligence

Customer Base Assessment

Investment & Initiatives Analysis

'Business Profile' of Key Players

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OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stilo Corporation (https://www.stilo.com) is thrilled to announce that the management team, comprised of Bryan Tipper (CEO) and Jackson Klein (CTO), have acquired 100% of Stilo Corporation's shares.

Bryan Tipper, CEO https://www.stilo.com/leadership/

The acquisition transfers all IP, trademarks, and customer contracts as it relates to Stilo's suite of software products:

OmniMark: A well-established development platform used to build high-performance content processing applications integral to enterprise publishing solutions.

Migrate: An automated cloud XML content conversion tool enabling organizations to improve turnaround times, reduce operating costs, and take direct control of their work schedules.

OptimizeR: A tool to help automate the deduplication of DITA content, improve content consistency, and help maximize the opportunity for content reuse.

Analyzer: An interactive platform that enables users to identify content reuse across multiple source formats, pinpoint potential cost savings, and generate compelling and detailed graphical reports.

"We were presented with an amazing opportunity of making Stilo Corporation into a Canadian-owned private company and giving it access to the many programs, tools, and opportunities provided by the Canadian government," says Bryan Tipper, CEO. "Our entire staff is already based out of Canada, so this is a very logical direction for the company to take."

With the change in ownership structure, Stilo Corporation will be able to significantly reduce corporate overheads and reinvest these savings into new product development.

"We have an incredibly skilled team with many exciting projects already lined up, and with access to new funding we will be able to accelerate these initiatives," says Jackson Klein, CTO. "As a leader in structured XML, we continue to pursue and advance innovation to provide our customers with best-in-class solutions."

About Stilo Corporation

Stilo develops tools to help organizations automate the conversion of content to XML and build XML content processing components integral to enterprise-level publishing solutions. Operating from Canada, Stilo supports commercial publishers, technology companies and government agencies around the world in their pursuit of structured content. For more information, visit https://www.stilo.com/about.

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Media Contact

Bryan Tipper

+1 (613) 745 4242

353493@email4pr.com

Related Links

https://www.stilo.com/about/

https://www.stilo.com/leadership/

https://www.stilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/profile_pic-uai-720x735.jpg

https://www.stilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Jackson_9_2021_ID-uai-720x713.jpg

Jackson Klein, CTO https://www.stilo.com/leadership/

Cision

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SOURCE Stilo Corporation
As predicted by food trend experts, the little green nut gains popularity in the US beyond snacking

FRESNO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- From lattes to cocktails, fashion and even paint colors, pistachios are having a moment. Food industry leaders like Baum + Whiteman and Lyons Magnus recently predicted pistachios would be the top nut of 2023 in food trend research, and outlets like Forbes and Eat This, Not That! all covered the news. Beyond the taste and nutritional benefits of the nut, trends are extending into the color  and even smell  of pistachios, with the nutty aroma now being used in candles and perfumes.

American Pistachio Growers. (PRNewsFoto/American Pistachio Growers)

Looking back at where the pistachio craze began, the pandemic forced consumers to reevaluate their health and wellbeing; people were forced to consider not only what they ate and how it affected them, but also how it affected the planet. The result was a movement toward plant-based proteins, and as a source of complete protein, pistachios fit the bill. Further, the sustainability of pistachios stands out from other crops; pistachios are a permanent crop that spans generations of farmers and as a high desert plant, are relatively drought tolerant.

"Pistachios aren't just the hottest snack, their surging popularity is because of research that shows their unique health benefits," said Judy Hirigoyen, VP of Global Marketing for American Pistachio Growers trade association. "They're a complete protein which is the quality of protein usually found in animal proteins. Further, thanks to a recently published study by Cornell University, we now know they're also very high in antioxidants. In fact, they rival the level of antioxidant capacity you'd find in blueberries, pomegranates and red wine."

American Pistachio Growers is the entity that is responsible for consumer education globally, something that's been easy to do with myriad scientific studies that keep coming from around the world.

"Shipments of American-grown pistachios to export markets continue to grow in double digits," said Hirigoyen. "We know the educational efforts are working," said Hirigoyen, citing an analysis of shipments from the U.S. to key export markets from 2016 through 2021. "In the export markets where we promote the research, shipments grew by 36 percent on average."

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About American Pistachio Growers

American Pistachio Growers is a non-profit trade association representing more than 865 members who are pistachio growers, processors and industry partners in California, Arizona and New Mexico. American-grown pistachios are sold under many quality brand names internationally, so look for country of origin on packaging. For more information, visit AmericanPistachios.org.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pistachios-are-the-nut-and-color-trend-of-2023-301746877.html

SOURCE American Pistachio Growers
Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The market for Titanium-based Surgical Clips to surge at a CAGR of over 30%. he markets in China is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 1.5 Billion by 2033. The United Kingdom market for Surgical Clips Market is projected to expand at a CAGR of around 45.4% from 2023 to 2033

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Surgical Clips Market revenues were estimated at US$ 481.1 Bn in 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 35.5% from 2023 to 2033, according to a recently published Future Market Insights report. By the end of 2033, the market is expected to reach US$ 12.9 Billion. The market revenue through titanium-based surgical clips is expected to grow at a CAGR of 36.5% from 2023 to 2033.



Surgical clips are in high demand due to the increasing number of surgical cases. Surgical clips are utilized for neurological and orthopedic procedures because they do not enter the body. Because of its cost-effectiveness, surgeons favor the manual method.

The automated surgical clips segment is expected to rise rapidly. The cystic duct and artery are secured with surgical clips during cholecystectomy. One or more clips can become dislodged on rare occasions. During the laparoscopic operation, this is frequently omitted.

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Surgical clips have been used more frequently during surgeries as the use of robotic and minimally invasive surgeries has increased, indicating a large growth potential. Surgical clips are used in a range of medical procedures, including vasectomy and preventing blood loss from vessels during surgery.

The effective use of surgical clips ensures surgical procedure safety while also reducing process time and associated risks. They are clamped over veins and arteries to stop bleeding, and they are extensively employed during geriatric procedures due to their reliability, cost-effectiveness, and convenience of treatment.

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Competitive Landscape

The key players operating in the surgical clips market are Ackermann Medical GmbH & Co, Grena Ltd, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, and Boston Scientific Corporation.

In November 2020, a Taiwanese surgical business introduced the InnoClip 5mm multi-fire titanium clip applier. It is designed to improve the outcome of minimally invasive procedures.





It is expected to lessen the danger of scarring and infection, however, it still has enough clip retention force to secure litigation performance with vessels and structures up to 6-7mm in diameter. Automatic clip feeding, an anti-back mechanism, and an ergonomic design for one-finger rotation are all included in the gadget.

In November 2020, Meril Endo-Surgery Limited's Mirus Litigating Clip received FDA approval. It is designed for open general surgery procedures that require a metal ligating clip, such as tubular structures or vessels. MirusTM Ligating Clips are single-use, sterile, implanted titanium clips. The clips come in a variety of sizes, and each plastic cartridge contains six clips.





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More Insights Available

Future Market Insights, in its new offering, presents an unbiased analysis of the Surgical Clips market, presenting historical market data (2018-2022) and forecast statistics for the period of 2023-2033.

The study reveals essential insights by Type (Ligating, Aneurysm), by Material Type (Titanium, Polymer, Other Material Types), by Surgery Type (Automated/ Robotic Assisted Surgery, General Surgery), by End-User (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Clinics), across five regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa).

Market Segments Covered in Surgical Clips Market Analysis

By Type:

Ligating

Aneurysm

By Material Type:

Titanium

Polymer

Other Material Types





By Surgery Type:

Automated/ Robotic Assisted Surgery

General Surgery

By End-User:

Hospitals

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Clinics





Ask An Analyst: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-16615

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Surgical Clips Market

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Summary of Statistics

1.3. Key Market Characteristics & Attributes

1.4. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage

2.2. Market Definition

3. Market Risks and Trends Assessment

3.1. Risk Assessment

3.2. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.3. Formulation and Product Development Trends

Browse full Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/surgical-clips-market

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About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobi Strategies (Jacobi) has been selected to enhance the analytics and digital tools provided to Legal & General Investment Management's (LGIM) delegated solutions clients.

Jacobi will deliver on-demand and highly-detailed analytics on portfolios enabling LGIM to integrate their own models, data and intellectual property in a private deployment of the Jacobi software. Jacobi's technology will complement a mix of LGIM's in-house systems.

Tony Mackenzie, Chief Executive Officer at Jacobi, says:

"We are excited to be partnering with LGIM - the UK's largest asset manager with a rich heritage in investment management.

LGIM has ambitious digitalisation plans that put their clients at the forefront of the strategy. We're glad to be working with a clear market leader. LGIM has significant experience in developing their own technologies and abundant investment intellectual property - Jacobi will complement that.

We continue to see strong demand for our technology owing to the increased need for investment firms to scale and connect investment processes and enhance the quality of engagement with clients. Jacobi has a global footprint and a strong pipeline  with more new business wins to announce later in the year."

Tim Dougall, Head of Delegated Solutions at LGIM, says:

"We are delighted to be working with Jacobi to enhance our capabilities and create greater value for our clients. Jacobi's innovative technology platform allows us to better-leverage our proprietary analytics tools, improving real-time risk monitoring, and offering sophisticated reporting capabilities across complex client portfolios covering both public and private assets."

--- Ends 

About Jacobi

Jacobi is a global investment technology provider that streamlines multi-asset investment processes and enables portfolio design, analysis and client engagement. Its unique 'open architecture' platform allows firms to tailor the platform by integrating their own code, models, data, analytics and applications. Founded in 2014 Jacobi provides its technology to top-tier investment organisations including some of the world's leading asset and wealth managers, pension funds, asset owners and investment consultants.

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About LGIM

Legal & General Investment Management is one of Europe's largest asset managers and a major global investor, with assets under management of US$1.6 trillion. LGIM works with a wide range of global clients, including pension schemes, sovereign wealth funds, fund distributors and retail investors. Over the past 40 years, LGIM has built its business through understanding what matters most to clients and transforming this insight into valuable, accessible investment products and solutions.

SOURCE Jacobi Inc
Victory acquires 280 new claims, bringing its total claims to 347, expanding the Stingray property array in Quebec on ground adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals, (TSXV: PMET), Corvette lithium discoveries

Victory's Stingray array of properties increases from 3,417 to 17,792 hectares

Victory's exploration team continues to pursue additional property in promising lithium areas in North America

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2023 / Victory Battery Metals Corp. (CSE:VR)(FWB:VR61)(OTC PINK:VRCFF) ("Victory" or the "Company") is excited to announce the Company has acquired 280 new claims in the James Bay Lithium District, bringing its total claims in the area adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals (PMET) Corvette Lithium discoveries to 347.

Victory's holdings now represent a large ground position in an underexplored area within an emerging lithium district. With this acquisition, the Stingray property array grows from 3,417 to 17,792 hectares south of Patriot Battery Metals Corvette Property. The Stingray claim blocks range from adjacent to the Corvette to several kilometers away and span over 65 km of east to west strike length (Figure 1).

Victory Battery Metals Corp., Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Press release picture

Figure 1: Victory's Stingray Property Array including new claims as indicated

"Expanding Victory's presence in this prime location is a priority, allowing us to consolidate the Company's Stingray property array, streamline exploration efforts and establish a significant presence for further strategic acquisitions and or partnerships," said Mr. Mark Ireton, Victory Battery Metals President.

The new claims were acquired for a cash payment of $100.000 and 3 million shares. The acquisition is made up of three blocks that will now become part of the Stingray Property array:

Block One (Kaanaan Block):

146 claims, 7,486 hectares located approximately 2-3 km southeast and east of PMET's Corvette Lithium property

Covers eastern extension of major regional fault structure which represents the contact between the Archean metavolcanics and Archean granodiorites. This major structure is believed to have controlled the emplacement of lithium bearing pegmatites within the Corvette Lithium Project located towards the west

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Block Two (Lac Block):

92 claims, 4,730-hectares located approximately 5km south of PMET's Corvette Lithium Property

Covers multiple extensions of prospective metavolcanic unit which is a known host of lithium bearing pegmatites within the James Bay Area. The Lac Block surrounds and covers unexplored extension from Infinity Stone Ventures (CSE: GEMS) Hellcat Project where they have identified 5 pegmatites within the greenstones1

Block Three (Riviere Block):

42 claims, 2,159-hectare block located ~8km southwest of PMET's Corvette Lithium Property

Located adjacent to major east-west trending regional structure and geological contact zone between tonalite/granodiorite and metavolcanic/metasedimentary units

About the James Bay Lithium District

The James Bay Region of Quebec is composed of the Superior Province. This Archean craton has been deformed by various orogens over time, creating large fault zones containing gold, lithium, copper, zinc, and silver mineralization. The majority of the new Stingray claims lie along the same rock unit that has been previously mapped by Patriot Battery Metals Inc., contains lithium-bearing pegmatites up to 20 km in length with Li2O values as high as 1280 ppm.2

Patriot Battery Metals Corvette property "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 (CV22083), 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)."3

Donald Theberge, P.Eng., M.B.A., an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and approved the technical contents of this news release in relation to the Stingray properties, James Bay Lithium District, on behalf of the Company.

1https://infinitystoneventures.com/infinity-stone-expands-with-new-claim-block-adjacent-to-hellcat-lithium-project-in-james-bay-lithium-district/

2https://patriotbatterymetals.com/patriot-discovers-new-lithium-pegmatite-cluster-on-trend-with-the-cv5-pegmatite-and-samples-3-73-li2o-corvette-property-quebec/

3https://patriotbatterymetals.com/patriot-extends-strike-length-of-cv5-pegmatite-by-400-m-in-first-series-of-holes-from-its-2023-drill- campaign-corvette-property-quebec-canada/

As this acquisition constitutes a material change in the affairs of the Company, the Company has amended its offering document filed on www.sedar.com on February 6th and available on its website to reflect the same. The Company has also filed a French version of the amended and restated offering document so that investors resident in that province can participate pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of NI 45-106. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Ireton, President

Telephone: +1 (236) 317 2822 or TOLL FREE 1 (855) 665-GOLD (4653)

E-mail: info@victorybatterymetals.com

About Victory Battery Metals Corp.

VICTORY BATTERY METALS CORP. (CSE:VR) is a publicly traded diversified investment corporation with mineral interests in North America. The company is also actively seeking other exploration opportunities.

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 release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. 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", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

SOURCE: Victory Battery Metals Corp.





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Bending his own rules.

Berkshire Hathaway has made a near-total exit from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) just three months after pumping $4.1 billion into the chip manufacturer.



Warren Buffetts company cut its holding of TSMCs American depositary receipts by 86% to 8.3 million shares last quarter, sending the chipmaker stock down 4% on Wednesday (Feb. 15).

Read more

Typically averse to tech investments, the TSMC buy was an unexpected move from the oracle of Omaha, but it made sense given that the company is a key supplier for Berkshires family jewel Apple. Now, Buffetts out-of-character quick disposalhes famous for his buy and hold philosophy, once telling shareholders: If you arent willing to own a stock for ten years, dont even think about owning it for ten minutesis chilling investor sentiment toward the worlds largest foundry.

Berkshire Hathaway shies away from tech stocks

Berkshire dabbles in tech, but only barely. And its been bending the rules of holding on.

Buffett called himself an idiot for not investing in Amazon before 2019, but still kept its exposure small with the e-commerce giant accounting for just 0.5% of the companys portfolio. The stake Berkshire bought in HP last year comprises less than 1% of its portfolio.

It held stakes in IBM and Intel, but sold out. In the first quarter of 2022, Berkshire sold nearly all of its $8.3 billion stake in Verizon from late 2020.

Most recently, signs of reluctance have been pronounced in the swift growing-and-shrinking stake in the maker of the Call of Duty video games. While Berkshire grew its stake in Activision Blizzard to 9.5% in anticipation of the acquisition by Microsoft last May, it trimmed it to 6.7% by the end of the year as Microsoft battled regulatory headwinds in seeing the deal to the finish line.

unless its Apple

The one tech stock the oracle of Omaha cant get enough of is Apple. A relatively modest $1 billion investment in 2016 has become Berkshire Hathaways largest holdingso much so that Buffett thinks of Apple as his third company rather than a stock he owns.

Story continues

The consumer tech company isnt the typical tech player. While its iPhones and iPads are popular, the hardware part of the business is vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. But amid the fluctuations, its bright spot is its burgeoning services revenue. Subscriptions and services give the powerful brand competitive edges beyond tech, making Buffetts position more aligned with his core investment philosophy after all.

Berkshire Hathaway portfolio companies, by the digits

49: Total number of companies in Berkshire Hathaways portfolio

The impact of shedding TSMC shares

$4.1 billion: How much Berkshire spent on buying TSMC stock, according to its disclosure in November 2022

$3.7 billion: How much the sale would have fetched assuming it sold them at the average price over the period

$68.5 and $74.5: How much Berkshire likely bought and sold the TSMC stock for respectively, according to calculations by Cathy Seifert, a CFRA Research analyst. Berkshire made a small profit on TSMC. It was not a huge, huge win for Berkshire, Seifert said

10%: Cut to TSMCs annual budget in October 2022 after the Biden administration imposed new restrictions on Chinas access to critical technologies. The chip industry is still grappling with covid-related issues and pitfalls of the US-China trade war, which span from suppressed business to increased costs of setting up domestic bases around the world

Other big sell-offs were in finance

91%: How much of its US Bancorp stake Berkshire dumped in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2022, bringing it down to less fewer than 7 million shares worth under $300 million

60%: How much of its BNY Mellon stake Berkshire sliced, bringing it down to less fewer than 7 million shares worth $1.1 billion

The big buy: Apple

$3.2 billion: How much Berkshire spent on expanding its Apple holding during the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2022, buying another 20.8 million shares

$138 billion: Berkshire Hathaways stake in Apple

40%: Apples percentage of Berkshires portfolio, its biggest holding

5.8%: Share of Apple public stock owned by Buffetts conglomerate

Charted: Berkshire Hathaways biggest portfolio companies

datawrapper-chart-RlvSc

Related stories

 Warren Buffett backs Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC like a full-fledged tech investor

 Apple and Starbucks couldnt rise above Chinas zero-covid policy

 A Taiwanese semiconductor titan is at the heart of the US-China tech fight

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The entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into the US airspace is purely an unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure. China has repeatedly communicated this to the US side, yet the US overreacted by abusing the use of force and escalating the situation. It also used the incident as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions on Chinese companies and institutions. China is strongly opposed to this and will take countermeasures in accordance with law against relevant US entities that have undermined Chinas sovereignty and security to firmly safeguard Chinas sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests.

NBC: China has stated that the Chinese airship shot down by the US had been accidentally blown off course. Could you clarify what then was the intended course, flight path or destination of the downed balloon?

Wang Wenbin: The entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into the US airspace is purely an unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure. The facts are clear and shall not be distorted or misrepresented. Despite that, the US still decided to use force against the civilian airship even as it was about to leave US airspace. This is a clear overreaction that seriously contravenes the spirit of international law and customary international practice. What the US did has had a grave impact on the efforts and progress made by China and the US in stabilizing bilateral relations since the leaders meeting in Bali. We are firmly opposed to what the US has done and urge the US not to take further actions that could undermine Chinas interests or escalate tensions.

Phoenix TV: It was reported that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently told reporters that obviously there is some sort of pattern in the four flying objects shot down over the US and Canada in the past week. What is your response?

Wang Wenbin: Other than the US overreaction, we dont see any pattern here.

AFP: Yesterday you said that US balloons have illegally flown over Chinas airspace more than ten times at least since May last year. How did China deal with these US balloons?

Wang Wenbin: Since May last year, the US has released a large number of high-altitude balloons from its territory, which have continuously circled the globe and illegally flown over Chinas airspace, including Xinjiang and Tibet, more than ten times at least without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities.

With regard to the unintended entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into the US airspace caused by force majeure, China has repeatedly communicated it to the US side. The US, however, says nothing about the illegal flight of its balloons over Chinas airspace without Chinas approval, and even accuses China of spreading disinformation. The US cited the unintended entry of a Chinese unmanned airship into its airspace as a violation of its sovereignty, then how does it explain the illegal overflight of its balloons through Chinas airspace? China has handled the illegal flight of US balloons through our airspace in a calm and professional manner. By contrast, the US overreacted to the unintended entry of a Chinese civilian airship into its airspace caused by force majeure.

The US needs to give an explanation to China and the international community, reflect on its behavior, stop smearing and attacking China and stop misleading the US public and the international community. China reserves the right to further respond if necessary.

Peoples Daily: Report said that the China-EU Human Rights Dialogue mechanism will restart in Brussels this week, citing EU sources. Can you confirm this and provide more information?

Wang Wenbin: As agreed between China and the EU, the 38th round of China-EU Human Rights Dialogue will be held in Brussels, Belgium in the coming days. The Dialogue will be co-chaired by principal officials from the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Asia and Pacific Department at the European External Action Service. Competent authorities of the two sides will attend the Dialogue, where the two sides will exchange views on progress in the area of human rights, international human rights cooperation and other issues. China stands ready to carry out constructive dialogue and cooperation with all parties, including the EU, on human rights issues on the basis of equality and mutual respect, so as to enhance understanding and build up consensus.

Kyodo News: Japans Defence Ministry said in a statement yesterday that the Japanese government strongly suspects that the three unidentified flying objects previously spotted in its airspace are Chinese surveillance balloons. Whats your response?

Wang Wenbin: China is a responsible country. We always act in strict compliance with international law and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. The Japanese side, without any solid evidence, has made unfounded allegations to smear and attack China. We are firmly opposed to this.

China has repeatedly shared information on the unintended entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into US airspace, Japan should adopt an objective and just position, view this unexpected incident caused by force majeure in the right way, and stop following the USs suit in dramatizing it.

CCTV: State Councilor Wang Yi announced during his visit to Pacific Island countries in May and June 2022 that China will appoint a Chinese government special envoy for Pacific Island Countries affairs. Do you have any updates?

Wang Wenbin: Based on the work arrangement, China has appointed Ambassador Qian Bo as the Chinese government special envoy for Pacific Island Countries affairs. He is a veteran diplomat well-versed in Pacific Island affairs who served as Chinas Ambassador to Fiji.

Special Envoy Qian Bo is ready to establish close working relations with his colleagues of Pacific Island countries, promote all-round communication and cooperation between China and Pacific Island countries, and make strong efforts to advance further development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Pacific Island countries.

China-Arab TV: Now that the golden window for rescue following the earthquakes in Turkiye is closed, how many rescue teams has China sent? Where will be the priority of their rescue efforts going forward?

Wang Wenbin: After the earthquakes, the Chinese government sent an 82-member rescue team to Turkiye, and the Hong Kong SAR government also sent a 59-member rescue team to assist in local rescue efforts. They are joined by a total of 441 people from 17 private Chinese emergency response teams. It has been nine days since the earthquake struck. Although the golden window for rescue efforts is now closed, Chinese rescuers are still working hard on the ground.

Hubei Media Group: With the arrival of the first groups of Chinese tourists, many countries are now engaged in improving the facilities to prepare themselves for more visits from China. Whats your comment?

Wang Wenbin: We have noted relevant reports. We are glad to see that the outbound visits of Chinese tourists have boosted the recovery of tourism and economic growth in many countries.

Since China announced the resumption of outbound group tours, many countries governments and tourist sector have been looking forward to welcoming Chinese tourists. Kenyas tourism department held a welcoming ceremony for the first Chinese tourist group arriving in the country. Parks and scenic spots in the UAE rolled out red carpets to welcome Chinese tourist groups. A banner reading Welcome to Geneva, Switzerland! in Chinese greeted travelers at the arrival lane at the airport. The Joint Statement between the Peoples Republic of China and the Kingdom of Cambodia on Building a China-Cambodia Community with a Shared Future in the New Era made a special mention of the Cambodian sides warm welcome to Chinese tourists and the commitment to provide quality service and security. The Hungarian National Tourist Office said it is ready to make Chinese guests feel at home, and welcome the return of travelers from China.

For many years running before the pandemic, China had been the largest source of outbound tourists, and Chinese tourists the biggest source of tourism expenditure. As outbound trips continue to recover, economic contact and people-to-people exchange between China and the wider world will further deepen, adding more confidence and dynamism to the world economic recovery.

We hope Chinese tourists will enjoy a safe and easy travel environment, take good care of themselves and travel with civility while they are abroad.

Bloomberg: The World Health Organization has said that the second phase of the planned study into the origins of the virus wont be done. The issue reportedly is that China is no longer cooperating with that effort. Can you tell us whether China is working to understand how the coronavirus emerged, and whether the country is collaborating with global scientists on that effort?

Wang Wenbin: Chinas position on the study of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is consistent. We always support and participate in science-based global origins-tracing. At the same time, we firmly oppose all forms of political manipulation. Since COVID-19 broke out, the Chinese side has twice received WHO experts for origins-tracing cooperation, which produced a scientific and authoritative joint report and laid a solid foundation for global origins-tracing. After the WHO established the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins on Novel Pathogens (SAGO), China recommended experts to join the group and organized events for Chinese experts to share research findings with the WHO Secretariat and SAGO.

China is the only country that has invited more than once WHO expert groups to come into the country to conduct joint SARS-CoV-2 origins study. It is also the only country that has provided multiple opportunities for its experts to share progress on origins-tracing with SAGO. China has shared more data and research findings on SARS-CoV-2 origins study than any other country. This fully demonstrates Chinas open, transparent and responsible attitude and its support for the work of the WHO and SAGO. China will continue to support science-based global origins-tracing and keep up communication and cooperation with the WHO.

At present, more and more clues from the international science community are pointing the origins of SARS-CoV-2 to sources around the world. Many have raised questions and concerns about US bio-military bases at Fort Detrick and around the world. The WHO and SAGO should take a close look at these clues, effectively cooperate with these relevant countries, and share research findings with all parties in a timely way. we hope the WHO will keep its position on this issue objective and just, and contribute its part to science-based global origins research and a united response to COVID-19.

AFP: I got a question on Canada. Canada said it will stop funding research project on sensitive topics, if any of the researchers involved are connected with defense or security entities of hostile foreign states. This is obviously targeting China. So are you planning any countermeasures?

Wang Wenbin: China-Canada exchange and cooperation in science and technology is a two-way street and mutually-beneficial. The Canadian side needs to discard the ideological bias and Cold War mentality and avoid politicizing or stigmatizing normal exchange and cooperation with the Chinese side, otherwise it will only hurt others without benefiting itself.

Yomiuri Shimbun: The spokesperson for the Philippine Presidential Communications Office said that President Ferdinand Marcos summoned the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines yesterday morning to express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and fishermen. Whats your comment?

Wang Wenbin: We provided the facts and Chinas principled position on that. For the purpose of clarity, let me provide some more details.

As is widely known, China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including the Renai Reef. On February 6, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel intruded into the waters adjacent to the Renai Reef without Chinese permission. The China Coast Guard ship was compelled to respond in accordance with law and warned the vessel to leave the area. During that process, the China Coast Guard ship used hand-held laser speed detector and hand-held greenlight pointer to measure the distance and speed of the Philippine vessel and signal directions to ensure navigation safety. We need to highlight the fact that the China Coast Guard ship did not direct lasers at the Philippine crew, and the hand-held equipment does not inflict damage on anything or anyone on the vessel. The Philippine sides allegation does not reflect the truth.

The Chinese ambassador to the Philippines has clarified the facts with Philippine leaders. The diplomatic service and coast guards on both sides are in communication through bilateral liaison mechanisms. The Philippine side has learned what actually happened. We stand ready to work with the Philippine side to fully deliver on the important common understandings reached between the two presidents, continue to properly handle maritime issues through friendly consultation and jointly uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea.

AFP: Do you have any update on the visit of Iranian President Raisi? For example, who will he meet today and do China and Iran plan to publish any joint statement?

Wang Wenbin: We have released a readout on Iranian President Raisis visit to China, which you may refer to.

Bloomberg: According to reports, the US tracked the balloon that it eventually shot down as it lifted off from Hainan. It appeared to be headed toward Guam, and then took an unexpected turn, putting it on a new path. And analysts are now examining the possibility that China didnt intend to fly the aircraft over the continental US. How does the foreign ministry respond to that?

Wang Wenbin: Ive covered this question. I want to stress once again that the unintended entry into US airspace of the Chinese civilian unmanned airship was entirely caused by force majeure. The US side should not have overreacted.

Bloomberg: Chinese diplomats, state media outlets and social media influencers appear to be making efforts to exaggerate and misrepresent a chemical leak in the US and a report that the US military blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. All of this seems to be in response to questions about the balloon issue. How does the foreign ministry respond to that?

Wang Wenbin: When you said that China seems to be exaggerating and misrepresenting those events, it actually reflects the long-held bias among some media against China.

Immediately after the explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines, we saw extensive coverage in Western media with one-sided speculations on who was responsible for the sabotage. What we see now, however, is that these media, hailed as free, professional and impartial, have fallen silent over Seymour Hershs investigative report. Doesnt this call for concern and reflection?

Since the train derailment caused the chemical leak in the US, many American people have questioned the US government and media for downplaying the accident. At public events, US officials described the balloon as a challenge to the US, yet said nothing about this serious chemical leak accident. On social media, many Americans are asking the US government: what is it hiding?

People have sharp eyes. They have already seen through the US governments calculations in overreacting to and dramatizing the unexpected incident of the civilian airship. They are fully aware who exactly is trying to deflect public attention.

Bloomberg: Chinas EXIM bank recently arranged for debt extension with Sri Lanka. There are now reports that said China will not follow the IMFs debt reduction target. How does the foreign ministry respond to this? And sort of corollary to that, who will China send to attend the IMF debt roundtable talks this weekend? What about the G20 finance minister and central banker debt roundtable talks next week?

Wang Wenbin: As a friendly neighbor and true friend, China has been closely following the difficulties and challenges faced by Sri Lanka. We have provided support to Sri Lankas socioeconomic development to the best of our capacity. As for Sri Lankas China-related debts, China supports relevant financial institutions in discussing with Sri Lanka and properly resolving them. We also stand ready to work with relevant countries and financial institutions to continue to play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the situation, easing its debt burden and helping it achieve sustainable development.

The Export-Import Bank of China, as the official bilateral creditor, recently provided a financing support document to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies of Sri Lanka, saying the Bank is going to provide an extension on the debt service due in 2022 and 2023 to help relieve Sri Lankas short-term debt repayment pressure; meanwhile, the Bank would like to have friendly consultation with Sri Lanka regarding medium- and long-term debt treatment in this window period; and the Bank will make best efforts to contribute to the debt sustainability of Sri Lanka. The Bank also noted that it will support Sri Lanka in its loan application to the IMF and that it will continuously call on commercial creditors to provide debt treatment in an equally comparable manner, and encourage multilateral creditors to do their utmost to make corresponding contributions.

As to the specifics about the meetings you asked about, I would refer you to competent authorities.
The Caroline County School Board on Monday approved a budget request for next fiscal year that would raise staff salaries by between 5.5% and 14%.

The total $59.2 million operating budget for fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1, calls for $4.8 million in new local funding from the Board of Supervisors.

While a $4.8 million revenue gap is substantial, the historical local funding pattern paired with regional market data demonstrate [Caroline County Public Schoolss] increased difficulty in the recruiting and retention arena, division Superintendent Sarah Calveric said Tuesday.

Calveric and administrative staff presented the proposed budget to the School Board on Monday, noting that it supports the four goals identified in the boards strategic plan: teaching and learning, relationships, health and safety and talent management.

The local funding increase, combined with new state funding, would pay for a full-time work-based learning teacher; an additional special education teacher and three new special education paraeducators; two behavior specialists, one for special education and one for general education, and a coordinator of student support services; the conversation of all part-time custodians to full-time; and the full implementation of recommendations from a pay study conducted this year by Paypoint HR.

Human resources director Karen Foster told the board that salaries for first-year Caroline County teachers have fallen from 14th to 16th place out of 17 regional school divisions, including Fredericksburg and the counties of King and Queen, Essex, King George, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Hanover, King William, Orange, Stafford, Goochland, Chesterfield, Louisa, Dinwiddie, Henrico and Richmond.

Paypoint HR recommends raising the base salaries of teachers at steps zero to 16 of the pay scale at a cost of $563,000, effective this fiscal year. For fiscal year 2024, the study recommends placing teachers, support staff and administration on a new pay scale that matches the 50th percentile for regional salaries.

The school division received $15.3 million from the Board of Supervisors for the current fiscal year, which represented level funding over last fiscal year.

For fiscal years 2022 to 2024, Caroline Countys local composite index  or LCI, which is calculated using a localitys property values, adjusted gross income and taxable retail sales  has increased 1.7%, meaning the countys ability to pay local education expenses has increased, Chief Operations Officer Marcia Stevens said.

The Virginia Department of Education uses LCIs to determine the amount of state funding that goes to local school divisions.

As LCI goes up, state funding goes down, Stevens said. This LCI increase paired with the countys fiscal year 2023 level funding of schools should be greatly considered when adopting the fiscal year 2024 operational budget.

The School Board unanimously approved the proposed budget request, which Calveric will next present to the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 21.

County Administrator Charles Culley will present his proposed budget to the Board of Supervisors on March 14.
For at least the third time in recent months, the Spotsylvania School Board ended a meeting without completing all of the items on its agenda.

The board voted to adjourn Monday evenings regular meeting at about 11 p.m. without taking up any of its action items except for the approval of resolutions recognizing February as Black History Month and supporting Read Across America Day in county schools.

Chair Lisa Phelps said at the beginning of the meeting, and again during board member comments, that the meeting might end early.

If we adjourn or recess early, I assure parents and members of the community that we will complete the business of the board, but it will not be in this session due to interruptions and distractions, she said at the beginning of the meeting.

The meeting will be continued to Wednesday at 5 p.m., when the board is expected to take up the remaining action items, which include approval of the fiscal year 2024 budget request and approval of several policy revisions.

Proposed revisions to policy KH, which governs public gifts to schools, were the subject of many public comments on Monday.

The proposed revisions would limit the ability of people and businesses to donate prepackaged snacks to schools, instead requiring that all donations over one pound be donated on a single designated day each month at the Fleet Services building and be inspected by the director of health services before distribution.

All but one of the comments were critical of the policy revisions, with members of the public saying the changes undermine the ability of individual school staff members to do their jobs and prevent the community from helping to feed hungry children.

This is political, said Heather Drane, a teacher in the school division. All of this is being done in bad faith.

School Board member Rabih Abuismail said that when the policy is discussed during the continuation of the meeting on Wednesday, he plans to propose a practically complete rewording of it.

The board on Monday did approve a personnel packet that includes the creation of a new position: chief of staff.

Superintendent Mark Taylor described the new position as a reclassification title change.

Board members Dawn Shelley, Nicole Cole and Lorita Daniels attempted to pull approval of the new position from the rest of the personnel packet so it could be voted on separately.

There isnt currently a position to change that title into, Cole said. As a board, if we want a chief of staff position, it is our responsibility to ... make it public and transparent that we are voting to create a new full-time position and allocate a budget toward that full-time position.

Board member Kirk Twigg said the new position doesnt add to the budget.

This is a preexisting position that were addressing, he said.

The Free LanceStar on Tuesday requested a description of the new position and the name of the person hired to fill it, and asked whether the position was advertised either internally or externally, but did not receive answers by Tuesday afternoon.

Shelley, Cole and Danielss attempt to vote on the new position separately from the rest of the personnel packet failed by a 43 vote.
The fifth graders all had their heads down on their desks  but not because they were in trouble.

With one ear pressed to the desk and their hands covering the exposed ear, they were listening to Melissa Wells, a professor in the College of Education at the University of Mary Washington, pluck the strings of a monochord, an instrument that originated in ancient Greece.

Wells was demonstrating how sound waves travel faster through solid matter than through liquid or gas.

Later, the students, who were visiting from Stafford Countys Hartwood Elementary School, would choreograph dances to show how sound is energy transferred through vibrations, how the speed of the vibrations affects pitch and how matter affects how quickly or slowly sound waves travel.

Theyre learning without knowing theyre learning, said Brian Raska, principal of Hartwood Elementary.

Since last fall, UMWS College of Education has opened the doors of its newly renovated home in Seacobeck Hall to just under 500 fifth graders from Stafford and Spotsylvania County public schools for STEAM  an acronym for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics  field trips.

The students visit the COEs maker space, where they can use technology and tools to practice creative problem solving, and receive STEAM-based lessons from COE faculty and teachers-in-training in the schools model classrooms.

The field trips are offered at no cost to the schools, aside from the cost of transportation, which Raska said was covered by the school so that no fees were passed along to the students.

Kristina Peck, the COEs director of clinical experiences and partnerships, said the college began offering the field trips in the fall after bringing in a group of teachers for a professional learning experience in the maker space over the summer.

All the teachers said they would love for their students to be able to access something like this, Peck said.

Many schools have been working to improve science achievement scores since the pandemic, Peck said, and the field trips provide students with enrichment in that subject.

They also bring learning experiences to COE students, she said.

Its a matter of equity, Pecks aid. Some UMW students struggle with having no transportation to get to area schools for their clinical hours. This gives them a chance to get those hours on campus.

When more than one or two classes visit at one time, COE faculty enlist partners, Peck said. In December, scientists and engineers from Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren brought in robots used in military missions for a presentation on the evolution of robotics, and faculty from the UMW departments of chemistry, biology and physics have also assisted.

Word of the field trip opportunity has spread among area schools, Peck said.

Since the fall, 477 students have visited COE from Spotsylvania County and Stafford schools.

Spotsylvania sent all elementary and middle school students in its Rising Scholars program  which works to offer gifted services to traditionally underrepresented student groups  as well as 25 students from the countys REACH program for young adults with intellectual disabilities, Peck said.

COE is working to schedule future field trips for Fredericksburg and Northumberland County public schools.

Hartwood Elementary is in the process of sending all enrolled fifth graders on field trips to COE, Raska said.

Hartwood has a school-wide vision for integrating the arts into all subjects, he said, and the experiences offered by the COE facility, faculty and students support that vision.

It takes work for our teachers to do that, Raska said. They have to think about themes and tie those to experiences. So it is great to have this opportunity to support both our teachers and our students.

[What theyre doing here] makes learning come to life, he added.
Fredericksburg City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution initiating a public hearing process to consider zoning amendments that would permit increased density in Planned DevelopmentResidential-zoned districts.

The approval  and the simultaneous consideration of proposed revisions that would permit accessory dwelling units  triggered a robust conversation during Tuesday evenings work session about how City Council should manage growth.

We are a small oasis in a sea of development that people come to because of what we are, said at-large councilman Matt Kelly, who on Tuesday was the only vote against initiating consideration of the zoning amendments. We seem to be on a big push to build. We are the urban hub of the area, but the hub is not residential.

Kelly characterized efforts to increase density as basically changing the character of the city and trying to reinvent it as something its not.

Ward 1 representative Jason Graham, whose district contains the only PDR zoning in the city, said that as the urban hub of the area, it is imperative that the city offer a variety of housing options.

Across America there are extreme housing shortages, he said. If we dont do something about that, we will be the equivalent of a gated community. Our teachers and police have to be able to live somewhere and not face a terrible commute just because they have chosen to be in public service.

The proposed amendments that will be subject to public hearings before the planning committee as a result of Tuesdays vote would increase allowed density in PDR zoned areas from six to 24 units per acre and allow, instead of require, limited neighborhood commercial uses.

The amendments would also implement form-based development criteria. Instead of conventional zoning code, which emphasizes what type of land use is allowed, form-based code emphasizes ensuring that buildings and streetscapes in a neighborhood are compatible with each other.

The existing PDR ordinance also regulates height by use, limiting residential structures to 35 feet and nonresidential structures to 60 feet in height. The proposed changes would permit both types of structures to reach a maximum of 60 feet where appropriate.

Fredericksburgs population is projected to grow from about 28,000 residents to 31,224 in 2030, according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.

The city will need 1,351 new housing units by 2030 to meet this demand, Senior Planner Mike Craig told council during Tuesdays work session.

Of the 1,600 new residential units the city has been tracking since 2015, all but 94 are either occupied or under construction, Craig said. In addition, median home values have risen by 18% and median rents by 21% since 2015.

Those factors are driving city staff to explore ways to ensure adequate housing supply, he said.

The citys Comprehensive Plan for Area 1, the area of the city west of Interstate 95 where the PDR-zoned land exists, calls for Planned Development zoning district regulations to be reviewed and updated.

This is part of the strategic plan, City Manager Tim Baroody told council during the work session. This didnt just pop up. This is part of the execution (of the Comprehensive Plan).

But Kelly said hes seeing piecemeal efforts to increase density in different parts of the city and that he doesnt think there has been enough of a conversation about how that will affect the character of the city.

I keep hearing, Were the hub of the region, therefore we have to have more density, he said during Councils regular meeting Tuesday evening. No, we dont. Being a hub is more than housing.

Kelly said housing prices in the city will always be high because it is the urban hub of the region and because of the pressure from Northern Virginia. He said affordability wont come from building more and will instead take a community investment.

Councilor Jon Gerlach, who represents Ward 2, said he disagreed with Kellys premise that we cannot improve housing availability through zoning.

We can incentivize smaller units, he said. Smaller units cost less to build thats simple math. Weve got to take these steps now. Population pressures require us to be proactive and take measures today to achieve land uses we envision for the future.

City Councils approval of the resolution initiating the PDR zoning amendments means the Planning Commission will now host a public hearing on the proposed amendments on March 8.

The Planning Commission then has 100 days to make a recommendation back to City Council.

The Planning Commission is also hosting or attending a series of community sessions on accessory dwelling units. The next public session, hosted by Fifteen Minute Fredericksburg and Fossil Free Fredericksburg, will be held on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 68 p.m. at 718 Caroline St.

For a schedule of the sessions, visit the citys website at fredericksburgva.gov and search accessory dwelling units.
RICHMOND  Lawmakers introduced proposals to help improve standards at Virginia nursing homes and facilities, and to address the health care worker shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Del. Bobby Orrock Sr., RCaroline, introduced House Bill 1446, which would set minimum staffing requirements for certified nursing facilities. A nursing facility, which includes nursing homes, provides health-related services on a continuing basis, according to state code.

The measure passed the House on a nearly unanimous vote of 952 and was put in a finance committee after unanimously clearing a Senate health committee.

At the end of the day, I do think its going to be a step forward in the quality of patient care, Orrock said.

Del. Vivian Watts, DFairfax, introduced HB 1564, which would have established regulations for minimum staffing and care standards in nursing homes. The bill was never heard in committee and is dead for the session.

A decreased supply and an increased demand for nursing staff have added to the largest nursing staff shortage in the U.S., according to a Nurse Journal article. The COVID-19 pandemic widened the supply-and-demand gap and the shortage is expected to worsen in 2023.

Eighty-six percent of nursing home and assisted living facility staff surveyed by the Virginia Heath Care Association and Virginia Center for Assisted Living reported an overall worse workforce situation in 2022 compared to 2020. The results are 5 percentage points higher than responses given to the same question in 2021.

VHCA-VCAL is Virginias largest association advocating for long-term care providers. Only 3% of survey respondents reported a full staff, and 16% reported a crisis with numerous shift vacancies but not enough qualified applicants. Many critical roles are unfulfilled due to vacancies, VHCA-VCAL reported.

The national average of daily staff hours per resident is 3 hours and 45 minutes, and the state average is 3 hours and 35 minutes, according to Medicare. Longer staff hours per resident per day are better, according to Medicare.

Watts bill would have established the minimum amount of hours of care per resident at 3.5 hours by 2027 and then increase incrementally, up to 4.1 hours by 2033.

You really cant give quality care when youre short, said Denise Davis, who has worked in health care for 20 years and is an agency nurse contracted at Lakeside Health & Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home in Richmond. Its just the bare minimum.

The total number of daily staff hours per resident at the center where Davis works is just under three hours, according to Medicare. The center has an average of 166 residents per day, according to the same Medicare profile. The national average of nursing home residents per day is almost 79 and the statewide average is 92 nursing home residents per day.

The top three reasons for overall staff loss since the COVID-19 pandemic began are burnout, contract or travel work, and leaving the health care industry altogether, according to VHCA-VCAL.

Davis often works double shifts and gets called in to cover regular staff shifts, she said. Almost every facility that responded to the VHCA-VCAL survey needs staff to work overtime or take extra shifts. Facilities still rely heavily on outside staffing, according to VHCA-VCAL.

Despite active recruitment, 93% of facilities have vacancies for certified nurse aids, or CNAs, and 87% have vacancies for higher paid, licensed practical nurses, according to VHCA-VCAL.

Long-term care providers are not paid well and there is competition for similar or higher-paying opportunities, stated Del. Dawn Adams, DRichmond, in an email. Adams is a nurse practitioner and co-patron on Orrocks bill.

Finding individuals to provide care in an arena that is often physically and emotionally demanding remains a challenge, Adams stated.

There are different types and tiers of staff at nursing facilities. This includes agency nurses that do contract work at different nursing facilities. Travel nurses have similar contracts and travel to different facilities for work. There are also training nurse aids, or TNAs, who assist nurses and CNAs, but are not certified or licensed like CNAs.

Asia Jones, a TNA at Lakeside Health & Rehabilitation Center, said she has a greater workload due to staff shortages. Jones duties as a TNA include getting vital signs, and feeding and changing the patients.

Were not really supposed to be actually physically touching the patients  or taking on whole floors [of patients] by ourselves, said Jones about her experience.

She does not feel adequately trained to work towards becoming certified, she said.

They kind of threw me on the floor the first day and just told me to shadow the other CNAs, Jones said.

Both House bills proposed minimum standards for the qualification and training of nursing staff in nursing homes, hospitals and certified nursing facilities with the exception of staff licensed or certified by the Department of Health Professions.

Watts proposed minimum standards in nursing facilities starting 20 years ago, she said.

I look at these people in our nursing homes and theyre not just aging people  to be just ignored, to be thrown away, Watts said.

Lack of advocacy and cost are reasons bills have not passed, Watts said.

The strain on health care staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic shined a harsh spotlight on nursing home conditions, Watts said. Lack of staffing also makes it hard to enforce minimum standards, she said.

It is unsafe for patients to have an inadequate staff-to-patient ratio and it overburdens staff with patients, said nurse practitioner Ashley Apple, the commissioner on government relations for the Virginia Nurses Association, and an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Virginia.

The VNA is an advocacy group that represents over 100,000 nurses and works to advance professional practice and encourage the delivery of quality care, according to its website. The organizations advocacy work focuses more on hospital settings than nursing homes.

The health care industry will continue to hemorrhage health care workers if legislators dont realize workplace protections are needed for employees and patient safety, Apple said. Health care workers are saddled with more work than they can manage, she said.

There arent enough minutes in the day to provide the level of care they want to provide, Apple said. Its morally distressing to health care workers.
Prove that itll save money.

That was the message Burt Countys Board of Supervisors had Feb. 8 for County Assessor Katie Hart.

She and Ryan Poots, a representative with the technology company Eagleview, are proposing the county buy into a new product that uses aerial digital photography to check property for changes.

Its the $23,786 per year for three years price tag that caught the boards attention as much as the imagery.

I like the product, dont get me wrong, but it has to be worth it, Dist. 7 Supervisor Carl Pearson said. If you can prove itll (save money), Ill vote for it.

The assessors office has a similar product now, but the images it receives are two-dimensional and, therefore of little value, Hart said.

The difference with Eagleview is it provides a 360-degree, three-dimensional view of property.

To update its files with the imagery it already gets would cost the county $48,000 spread over two years, but the new pictures wouldnt be available until next year at the earliest.

So for $50,000 I get a second set of pictures I cant use, she said.

The proposal suggests a six-year purchase with flights scheduled in the fall of this year and again in 2026.

Poots said Eagleview could fly this year, probably in the fall when leaves are off the trees. Those images then would be overlayed with pictures from 2019, the last set the assessors office has, to check for improvements and places where older structures have been removed.

Another comparison would be made after the second flight.

There are bins going up that we dont have permits on, Hart said. Theres (taxable value) out there that we dont have on the books because we cant get to the property.

The key benefit of the three-dimensional views is it allows the assessors office to take accurate measurements of new structures without ever seeing the property in person. A site can be measured in a matter of minutes rather than hours, offering a potential saving in personnel costs.

By statute, you have to go to every property in six years, Poots said. This wont get you inside a building, but if you can see it, you can measure it.

Thats where the board wanted to know the economics.

If youre still sending two people out to check properties, were not saving anything, board chairman Dave Schold said.

Poots said the value isnt just in what it could save, it also allows the county to find new improvements, thereby adding to the tax base. If it finds another million dollars, is that worth the return on investment?

While Pearson agreed that a number like that would help make a decision easier, if its $100,000 over six years, thats not so good.

He asked for Hart and Poots to prepare a comparison, showing in dollars and cents what the county has to gain by making the purchase.

That comparison could be ready as soon as the boards Feb. 28 meeting.

Although the resolution is much higher, Poots said the photography isnt violating privacy.

Were not looking in windows or checking license plates, he said. We dont have that kind of resolution and if we did, we wouldnt make it available to the public.

Nor can the public take its own measurements. He said the company has that policy for two reasons. First, preventing unauthorized use protects the companys intellectual property. Second, it doesnt want its imagery used by people to plan something bad.

Just how much the public is allowed to see is up to the board to decide, Poots said.

The imagery also has value for more than just the assessors office. Any county department can use the information without paying an additional fee. The three-dimensional aspect allows engineers to get a look at land elevations, which could help determine drainage for road designs, for example. Law enforcement and emergency responders also could use the information to get an advanced look at the property they are being dispatched.

In other business during its Feb. 8 meeting, the county board:

Approved bridge inspection contracts for 2023 with Midwest Engineering, Inc. In the second year of a two-year program, Midwest will inspect 59 county bridges, roughly half of the total in the county, at the rate of $105 apiece, for a total of $6,195.

The company also will inspect eight of the countys fracture critical bridges for an additional cost of $7,175. Highway Superintendent Ann Chytka said that cost had previously been borne by the state but it has since been passed back to the counties. She said Midwest is working at the same rate the county paid last year.

Granted Emergency Manager K.C. Bang permission to move into a larger office space.

He wants to move out of his cramped quarters in the corner of the Roads Departments office into the space recently vacated by Burt County Economic Development.

Among the reasons prompting the change is the recent acquisition of a printer that will print new identification cards for county officials and first responders.

He said Nebraska Emergency Management Agency gave Burt County the printer, but the equipment is fairly large. It wont take the whole room, but it wont fit in my office.

Deputy manager Audra Connealy said the printers also have to be hard-wired to the computer that are used with in order to maintain system security. She said in the event of a mass casualty situation, the county would have to provide a large number of ID badges in a short amount of time in order to provide accountability at the scene.

Bang used the Pilger tornado recovery as an example. Once the emergency subsides, nobody gets in there without an ID.

Heard brief department reports from maintenance chief Bruce Nathan and Zoning Administrator Ann Chytka.

Nathan said a major purchase on the horizon will be replacement of the roofing material at the courthouse.

What we have has been up there 26 years, but its starting to bubble and crack, he said.

Chytka said no meetings of the planning commission are scheduled and one wont be unless there is business to discuss.

She said her office provides monthly updates to the assessors office on permits that have been issued.
1 Year Ago (2022)

Burt County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday passed Resolution 2022-05, which outlines the regulations required of a wind energy installation. Wind energy systems, both commercial and small scale, are addressed in the new zoning rules. Both are considered conditional uses, meaning whoever wants to install one has to apply for a permit, gain approval from the county planning commission following a public hearing and get final approval from the county board following another public hearing.

5 Years Ago (2018)

In about a month, the City of Tekamah is expected to have a new animal control ordinance in place. Under the new ordinance, which was read for a second time last week, dog owners still will be required to register their pets. The ordinance does not outlaw any breed of dog, however, owners have the responsibility of protecting their pet from adverse weather conditions and to protect the public from their pet when necessary. The new ordinance was developed with public input after several pit bull owners approached the council asking for ways to make their pets legal. The ordinance can be approved following its third reading, expected Feb. 22. It becomes effective 15 days after it is published.

10 Years Ago (2013)

Any area readers who want to borrow an e-book or audio book only needs one thinga library card from one of the countys three libraries. A library card gives patrons access to a program called Overdrive which provides access to a wide variety of titles available through the Nebraska Overdrive Library.

20 Years Ago (2003)

Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District has scheduled a public hearing Feb. 13 to discuss land acquisition for the Lower Decatur Bend project. NRD officials say the appraisals on privately held property in the area are complete and have been certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $6.1 million project is a joint effort between the NRD and the Corps.

30 Years Ago (1993)

By the fall of 1993, motorists should no longer have to maneuver around bumps, ruts and potholes when traveling between Tekamah and Herman. Nebraska Department of Roads officials announced last week that bids will be let in May for a resurfacing project on Highway 75 from the south edge of Tekamah to the Burt-Washington county line. Work on the two-month job is expected to get under way this summer.

40 Years Ago (1983)

The decision to add computer technology to the Tekamah-Herman curriculum this year was a slow, deliberate process, according to school officials. And now that six new micro-computers have been implemented into the second semester class schedule, those officials remain cautious about just how big a role the machines should play in secondary education.

50 Years Ago (1973)

Loans on farm-stored 1972 crop feed grains will not be extended beyond current maturity dates, even though current shortages of railroad cars may create difficulties in moving farm-stored grains to market. Movement of grain here has slowed to a virtual halt due to the lack of rail cars. Grain producers say they cannot deliver grain to local elevators because commercial storage sites are full. Farmers Co-op Elevator manager Kenneth Miller said the co-op has 130 cars of grain sold but cant get it moved. Since mid-December he has placed orders for 200 grain cars and received 17.

60 Years Ago (1963)

In observance of their 45 consecutive years of membership in Tekamahs LaFrenz American Legion post, 11 members assembled at the Legion hall Feb. 6 and later adjourned to Dorothy Brockways for dinner and a social gathering. The group included Byron Schroeder and Burley Baker, both charter members of the local post, as well as Harvey Loerch, Leo Dean, Archie Corbin, John Herman, Elmer Georgeson, Ernest Jacobsen, Elmer Olinger, Harry Brix and Clyde Tunberg.

70 Years Ago (1953)

Members of the Chamber of Commerces Business Mens committee have completed plans for the special Dollar Days which will be held in conjunction with the Youth Art Exhibit this Friday and Saturday. Merchants are cooperating in the trade days sale and some 50 business firms will offer unusually low prices on selected items. Appliances, household and farming equipment, furniture, clothing foods and dozens of other items are on the list of money-saving specials.

80 Years Ago (1943)

The government suddenly put shoes under rationing Sunday. Sales were prohibited Monday and rationing started Tuesday. The ration is three pairs a year for every man, woman and child, but members of a family may pool their coupons so that some may buy more if others buy less. The rationing covers all shoes containing any leather and all rubber-soled shoes, but not slippers, soft-soled baby shoes or storm wear such as rubbers and arctics. Shoe repair and second-hand shoes are not rationed.

90 Years Ago (1933)

Carrying out the recommendation recently made by Gov. Charles Bryan, a Board of Conciliation to consider mortgage indebtedness problems has been named for Burt County. The selection was made by the state board from a list of names recommended to it. The members of the new board are: A.K. Chestem of Decatur, J.A. Johnson of Craig, Andrew Nelson of Oakland, R.A. Cram of Tekamah and Harry White of Lyons. Persons wishing to confer with the board may do so at any time.

100 Years Ago (1923)

Bids for the paving of Tekamah streets will be awarded at a meeting of the city council next Monday. It will not be many weeks before dirt will commence to fly in different parts of the first district preliminary to the paving work.
The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating an incident during which an adult male died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after Washington County Sheriffs Deputies responded to a call in Arlington.

The incident occurred in the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 10.

Preliminary investigation indicates that deputies were called for a welfare check at a residence in the 300 block of North Ninth Street in Arlington, a press release said. Upon arrival, deputies were allowed inside the residence by an occupant and observed an adult male holding a firearm. The deputies were able to evacuate multiple children from the home.

After speaking with the subject for several minutes, deputies heard a single gunshot and located the subject deceased. No deputies discharged their weapon, and no others were injured during the incident. The subject has been identified as Donald Moreno, 38.

The Washington County Sheriffs Office has requested the Nebraska State Patrol to investigate the incident as an in-custody death. Nebraska state statute requires a grand jury investigation for in-custody deaths. The investigation remains ongoing.

The Douglas County Crime Lab has assisted in this investigation.




Qabil Ashirov





Azerbaijan and Germany will hold a joint program on increasing the knowledge and skills of business managers, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijans Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA).

A number of innovations are envisaged in the Joint German-Azerbaijani Program for improving the qualifications of managers in the business community of Azerbaijan, SMBDA says.

According to SMBDA, in the coming months, Germany will create conditions for the participation of more Azerbaijani entrepreneurs and managers in the program.

Another innovation is the addition of new areas such as "smart agriculture", "green economy" and "Industry 4.0" to the program, in which training and experience will be held for our managers, SMBDA added.

SMBDA noted that this had been agreed at the 3rd meeting of the Supervisory Board of the "Joint German-Azerbaijani Program on Improving the Qualifications of Managers in the Business Community of Azerbaijan" held in Berlin.

Deputy Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Sahib Mammadov and employees of the ministry, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection of Germany, SMBDA, which is the coordinator of the program from Azerbaijan, and representatives of GIZ participated in the meeting.

The event pointed out that the German-Azerbaijani Joint Program, which has been successfully implemented since 2009, has created additional opportunities for the development of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs, and more than 500 entrepreneurs and managers have benefited from the program so far. At the meeting, SMBDA presented a report on the work done within the framework of the program in the last 3 years, and the results of the survey conducted by the Agency among the program participants were announced.

It should be noted that the applications of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs and managers, who want to participate in the German-Azerbaijani Joint Program, are accepted electronically by SMBDA throughout the year (https://smb.gov.az/az/nav/beynelxalq-ixtisasartirma-kursu).

Notably, SMBDA as a legal entity under the Ministry of Economy is authorized to support the development of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country by providing SMBs with a number of services as well as ensuring coordination and regulation of services rendered by government entities to SMBs.
The Nebraska Society of Mayflower Descendants will be awarding the ninth Nebraska Society of Mayflower Descendants Burt & Becky Whedon Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,620 to a high school senior planning to attend an accredited four-year college or university during the 2023-24 academic year.

The scholarship will be awarded at the groups spring meeting on April 23 in Omaha.

Scholarship applicants must be a resident of Nebraska. Applicants will be evaluated by a written essay, honors received, school or volunteer activities, employment and demonstrated leadership. Mayflower ancestry is not a requirement.

This years essay topic focuses on The Mayflower Pilgrims. Applicants should choose one pilgrim from the 51 Mayflower passengers who left descendants and write about his or her contribution to Plymouth Colony and his or her place in history.

The essay must include references to document the facts in the essay. Essays will be evaluated for content, organization, style, grammar and creativity. Sources must be cited in appropriate bibliographic style.

Visit www.NebraskaMayflower.org/scholarship for more information and the application to apply. Deadline to apply is March 31, 2023.
Centura Health, one of the states largest hospital systems, is splitting in two after serving Colorado communities for more than 27 years.

CommonSpirit Health, a Catholic-run ministry, and AdventHealth, a Seventh-day Adventist Church-run ministry, will part ways to manage each of their care sites respectively, Centura Health announced Tuesday.

The partnership has accomplished so much; yet, it has reached its natural maturity, the release read.

During the transition Centura Health will continue to serve in the management role for all 20 hospitals as well as clinics and care sites, the release said.

There will be no disruption to patient care, the release added.

CommonSpirit Health Hospitals include Penrose Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs as well as 13 around the state.

CommonSpirit, formed in 2019 with the pairing of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health, is one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S., with more than 1,000 care sites in 21 states, according to its website.

There are no AdventHealth Hospitals in Colorado Springs.

All five of AdventHealths hospitals are in northern Colorado throughout Denver and surrounding cities such as Castle Rock and Parker.

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A Centura Health spokeswoman would not answer questions about the split and said Centura would not provide comments beyond the release, such as what will happen with the Centura Health name.

The Gazette obtained an email sent from Peter Banko, president and CEO of Centura, to Centura Health associates and physicians that stated the separation would be complete this year.

We want this to be a seamless transition for you and our communities, Bankos email read, so we will be proactively and frequently communicating with you as we learn more and as the plans develop.

Julie Lonborg, vice president of communications and media relations for the Colorado Hospital Association, said she believes Centura Health will remain committed to prioritizing its patients and staff throughout the process.

The split wont be immediate though, Lonborg said, which she thinks is wise.

I think its like a lot of business changes, Lonborg said. This is an environment and economy and time in our life when businesses are making strategic business decisions.

But Lonborg said she guesses the split might be driven more by philosophical differences in the two hospital sponsors rather than financial reasons.

Just one day after the split was made public, Centura Health announced CommonSpirit Health would acquire Steward Health Cares Utah care sites, which include five hospitals and more than 35 medical group clinics.

Thats certainly a sign of focus on the future, Lonborg said.
The Colorado Springs City Council approved an agreement Tuesday that paves the way for a new rail spur and industrial park south of town that could bring about 6,000 jobs to El Paso County.

The Edw. C. Levy Company, a Michigan-based business, is planning the $12 million rail spur that will extend from an existing rail line serving Colorado Springs Utilities' Ray Nixon Power Plant and extend across private property to Fort Carson, said Steve Mulliken, an attorney for the company.

Fort Carson could then extend the line onto its property to serve a new rail yard, providing an alternative to its existing rail yard near South Academy Boulevard. Rail allows the Army to move heavy military vehicles and equipment to the country's coasts where they can be shipped overseas.

Ahead of a unanimous vote, the council lauded the rail line's benefit to Fort Carson and the prospective new heavy industrial area just west of the power plant along Interstate 25.

"This is an important part of our community's future," Councilman Wayne Williams said.

The prospective industrial park that could cover more than 3,000 acres would fill a need for industrial and manufacturing sites in El Paso County that can be tough to build because they tend to be unpopular with neighboring homes. This site will be shielded from traffic along I-25 and doesn't have residential neighbors.

"If you want to have more manufacturing, you need to have a place for it," Mulliken said.

The approval of agreements between Colorado Springs Utilities and Edw. C. Levy Company needed to build the rail extension end a long negotiation that featured how Utilities will be protected.

Coal deliveries will be prioritized and ratepayers will not be impacted by the cost of the new spur, Bethany Burgess, Utilities division chief for the City Attorney's Office, said previously.

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The project now faces land-use and metro-district approvals, Mulliken said. Metro districts allow developments to take on debt that will be paid through property taxes.

Before dirt moves, the industrial park property is likely to annex into the city of Fountain, which would provide utilities to the site, a step the community supports, Deputy City Manager Todd Evans said.

"It's a great fit," he said.

The company hopes to start construction in less than five years, said Steve Weiner, who manages real estate affairs for the Edw. C. Levy Company. The business expects to fund the rail line in part through federal grants, Weiner told the council.

Once the rail line reaches Fort Carson's boundary, the Army can extend it to serve a new rail yard. Fort Carson's current rail line has seven points of vulnerability and a second rail line would increase the reliability of rail operations for the base, according to a letter from Matthew McFarlane, former commander of the 4th Infantry Division. The letter was presented ahead of the vote.

In a written statement Tuesday, Fort Carson officials said they are interested in seeing how the project develops.

Fort Carson has raised the concern of having only one rail connection at present to the Army leadership. We are very interested in any community project that could offer an opportunity for Fort Carson to gain a secondary rail connection," the statement said.
A jury will decide whether Saguache County Sheriff Dan Warwick, one of his deputies and the board of county commissioners are liable for the 2019 suicide death of Jackson Maes in the jurisdiction's jail.

In a Feb. 3 order, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang dismissed a number of constitutional rights claims against the defendants, but she agreed a jury could reasonably find certain sheriff's officials acted not just negligently, but deliberately to cause Maes' death. She also took the unusual step of allowing jurors to evaluate whether Saguache County underfunded its jail with the knowledge that constitutional violations were almost certain to occur.

"While uncommon, however, the Court finds it settled that liability may rest against a municipality where deliberate indifference is evidenced by funding decisions," Wang wrote.

Attorneys for the county defendants and for Sarah Lieberenz, Maes' mother, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

In 2018, more than one year prior to Maes' death, CPR reported the Saguache County Sheriff's Office was "severely underpaid and understaffed," and voters had recently rejected a tax increase to fund more employees and a new jail to replace the current 66-year-old structure.

"We make do with what weve got, said Capt. Kenneth Wilson, who is one of the defendants in Lieberenz's lawsuit. Honestly, were killing it for what we got.

According to the evidence submitted in court, on Nov. 16, 2019, Deputy Elke Wells arrested Maes for failing to appear for a traffic offense. At the time, Maes was intoxicated and Wells transported him to the jail. Although some evidence suggested Maes told Wells he was thinking of killing himself, Wells later disputed that account.

At the jail, another detainee was occupying the "tank," where people at risk of suicide are typically held and monitored. Instead, Maes went into a normal cell with a privacy curtain. He began banging his head into the wall, prompting Wells, Wilson and Deputy Miguel Macias to investigate.

"I'm trying to kill myself right now," Maes said.

"You're trying to kill yourself right now?" Wilson repeated.

As Wilson walked out of the cell, he stated that "something more" needed to be done for Maes.

In response, Deputy Shelby Shields, who was serving as a dispatcher that evening, called a behavioral health facility to assist Maes. No one answered, however, and she did not leave a message.

Instead, Macias stayed with Maes and talked with him. Macias had already announced his intent to resign to Warwick, the sheriff, due to exhaustion and lack of training in the job. At 10:08 p.m., after dropping off snacks for Maes, Macias left the cell.

Less than 15 minutes later, Maes had hanged himself with the privacy curtain. A deputy did not find him until the following morning, dead. He was 27.

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Lieberenz, on behalf of her son's estate, filed several claims against the sheriff's employees involved, arguing they violated Maes' constitutional right to adequate medical care. Against the sheriff specifically, she alleged his policies or practices were also responsible for Maes' death, as was the county board's underfunding of the jail.

The defendants moved for summary judgment, which enables a judge to resolve a case without a trial if the key, undisputed facts lead to one outcome under the law. They argued the sheriff's employees were entitled to qualified immunity, which is a judicial doctrine that shields government officials from civil liability unless they violate a person's clearly-established legal rights.

While lawyers for the defendants acknowledged there were two previous suicides in the jail in recent history, "the Estate has failed to draw any connection between those suicides and a lack of training, much less that any pattern emerged that could connect those suicides to Maes brief incarceration in the Jail," they wrote.

Wang agreed that Shields and Wells were entitled to qualified immunity. Wells, the arresting deputy, had been in Maes' cell with the others when he announced he was trying to kill himself, but no prior court cases have established that a "single suicidal remark" places an officer on notice of a substantial risk of harm, the judge noted. As for Shields, the dispatcher, her failure to secure mental health treatment for Maes or adequately monitor him may have been negligent, but Wang believed it did not rise to a constitutional violation.

She reached a different conclusion for Wilson. The constitutional standard of "deliberate indifference" requires a government official to know about an obvious risk of serious harm, and then disregard it. There was conflicting testimony between sheriff's employees about what Wilson knew, but he ultimately heard Maes express his suicidality, watched him bang his head, said "something more" needed to be done, and allegedly was involved in discussions about putting Maes on suicide watch.

Each one of those factors, Wang wrote, would not be enough to show Wilson was deliberately indifferent.

"But the aggregation of these risk factors," she explained, "leads this Court to conclude that despite the lack of a Supreme Court or Tenth Circuit case ... it was clearly established as of November 2019 that prison officials are deliberately indifferent if they fail to take reasonable steps to protect a pretrial detainee or an inmate from suicide when they have subjective knowledge that person is a substantial suicide risk."

She also kept intact the claims that Warwick failed to sufficiently train his deputies on how to "elevate" care for detainees or remove items that suicidal inmates could use for self-harm. A jury could conclude Warwick knew deputies would confront suicidal people, necessitating both types of training.

A "wrong choice in either of these areas may lead to a deprivation of an individuals constitutional rights," Wang noted.

Finally, Wang rejected the idea that the board of county commissioners' responsibility for the physical layout of the jail gave rise to a constitutional violation. But it was plausible the elected officials underfunded the jail, with Warwick allegedly relying on untrained or unqualified employees as a result. If the board was deliberately indifferent in doing so, and it led to Maes' death, the county would be liable, Wang decided.

A final conference prior to the trial is set for March.

Last month, Wang issued a separate order declining to impose sanctions on the defendants for getting rid of audio recordings relevant to the case. She agreed the sheriff's office had the responsibility to preserve the evidence, but believed the missing recordings did not harm the plaintiffs' case.

She also declined the plaintiffs' request to consider a scholarly article, not yet published, that suggests qualified immunity should not exist at all for constitutional rights cases because of a previously-undiscovered 19th century clerical error.

The case is Lieberenz et al. v. Board of County Commissioners et al.
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.
Police are looking for two suspects involved in an attempted armed robbery Monday night in the 400 block of North Chelton Road in east Colorado Springs, according to Colorado Springs police.

The Colorado Springs Police department received reports of a robbery involving two suspects at 7:34 p.m. Monday.

CSPD officers were able to locate two victims, who said the two suspects fired weapons at them. No serious injuries have been reported, and the suspects are still at large, the department said.

This investigation is active and ongoing. We will update this article once more information is received.
Police are searching for one man following a bank robbery on the 3500 block of Hartsel Drive in north Colorado Springs Monday afternoon, according to authorities.

According to Colorado Springs police spokesperson, Robert Tornabene, the man walked into the U.S. Bank branch at the 3500 block of Hartsel Drive at 3:20 p.m.

The robber presented the teller a "threatening" note demanding money. After receiving an undisclosed amount of cash, the man fled the scene, police said.

This is an active investigation. This article will be updated once more information is received.
A puckered bullet wound on the underside of Ashtin Gamblins bicep leads to a tattoo on her wrist, which says, Im fine  a hideous ode to the physical and psychological injuries experienced in a mass shooting.

Gamblin hasnt worked since she was bombarded by a gun while minding the front door of Colorado Springs' Club Q Nov. 19.

The wife of a Fort Carson soldier  who was deployed when the shooting happened  said she's battled a fight of her own, struggling to get reimbursed by survivors' compensation nonprofit organizations for small things, such as vet bills for her therapy cat.

I have been through immeasurable hell the past three months, she said at a press conference on the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol on Valentines Day on Tuesday.

Though it was nerve-wracking to go public for the first time, Gamblin was buoyed by around 20 other victims of other Colorado mass killings who sat in chairs around her and shared stories of financial hardship.

The group gathered to call attention to what some say has become a sordid industry.

People are making money off of mass murder from Orlando to Colorado, said VictimsFirst Co-Founder Dr. Zachary Blair. We want to keep it from happening in the Club Q shooting.

Club Q employees complained that, though they've made some money from various fundraisers, they haven't seen a penny from a GoFundMe set up by the nightclub's owner.

"Matthew Haynes needs to release our money. We know what's best," said Gamblin.

This is not the first time victims of mass shootings in Colorado have said they're being denied funds meant for them. Some have criticized the way millions of dollars in funds given by donors have been distributed ever since the Aurora theater shooting.

After several privately-operated online appeals for victims relief money began popping up following the Nov. 19 mass shooting, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asked that people donate to the Colorado Healing Fund as the official fundraiser to benefit victims.

Some people  including victims of other mass shootings  criticized the Colorado Healing Fund, the nonprofit organization created in 2018 as a secure way for the public to contribute to victims of mass casualty crimes statewide. But some are critical of the organization for using 10% of donations on expenses, such as an executive director salary and office-related spending.

In response, the healing fund sought and secured anonymous underwriters to pay for the administrative costs for the Club Q tragedy fundraising.

As of Friday, the Colorado Healing Fund has collected $2.2 million in donations and has distributed $1,923,500 to benefit victims, according to Executive Director Jordan Finegan.

The organizations model, which was created by leading experts in incident response to evaluate best practices, addresses short-term, intermediate and long-term needs of victims, she said.

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The money is disbursed through the funds partner, the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, which releases cash to victims families, survivors of the incident and those immediately affected by the tragedies.

Several Club Q employees who showed up at the press conference expressed anger with longtime club owner Matthew Haynes. They said that Haynes has not made good on a promise to disperse money earmarked for them by well-meaning donors.

Everybody is struggling. Matthew said he was going to take care of us. Staff listened to him, but by the second month, we were drowning in bills, said Hysteria Brooks, who produced two shows a week at Club Q.

Brooks said that he and 15 other Club Q employees have not seen a penny from the official Club Q GoFundMe that Haynes set up days after the shooting.

But according to a fresh statement made by Haynes on the GoFundMe page, financial relief is just days away.

He announced Tuesday that he will distribute lost wages in a lump sum to former Club Q employees and third-party entertainer contractors from money donated to the GoFundMe and various other fundraisers.

In an interview Jan. 25, Haynes told the Denver Gazette that he will make payouts through a formula that takes an average of net earnings from what employees would have made in November, December and January while the club was closed.

Haynes said that at least one of the contractors who hadn't been performing there long made less than $200.

"What is the definition of a victim?" he asked.

He said he's also had problems with fraudulent people claiming to be collecting money for victims who had to be shut down.

Haynes noted that Club Q is on track to fully reopen by fall.

Our goal is to return the club back to the community as soon as possible, Haynes said.

Some patrons of Club Q, whom Haynes is counting on to return as regulars when it reopens, are speaking out in support of the employees.

Money from whatever sources should be released immediately," said Mason Camp.

Many victims and employees are struggling to pay bills, put gas in their car, keep their lights on, even eat each day, Camp said. I personally know multiple victims who are struggling to recover financially, as well as get through their day-to-day mentally.

Brooks questioned how much of Haynes GoFundMes $55,000 will go to former staff and how much will go toward rebuilding Club Q. He said he believes staff members and contractors should get at least 75% of the total, which at this point would be divvied up from around $41,000.

Without the people, Club Q is just a building with four walls and a roof, Brooks said. People should come before businesses.

Five people were killed and 19 were injured in the attack on Club Q.

VictimsFirst, announced Jan. 3 that it is forming a National Mass Shooting Victims Fund and promised to give 100% directly to victims with no administration fee. The group said the fund will assist with emergency financial needs for mass casualty crime victims.
LOME, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Tuesday provided food assistance through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Togo to support vulnerable populations in the country's north.

The funding from China helped to acquire more than 600 tons of food produced in Togo, which will benefit 52,000 people in the Savanes and Kara Region, said Chao Weidong, the Chinese ambassador to Togo, during the handover ceremony.

"China is willing to share development opportunities with other countries to achieve the common progress of all mankind," noted the Chinese diplomat.

According to Aboubacar Koisha, the WFP Representative, the emergency food assistance program provided essential assistance to people in need and helped restore a sense of hope and stability in the region and social cohesion within populations.

"Our combined efforts will make a real difference in the lives of those affected by food and nutrition crisis," said Koisha.

The food assistance from China is part of the 961 tons of food aid mobilized by the WFP to help vulnerable populations in northern Togo, including households affected by climatic changes and displaced people due to a security crisis. 
Well-known for her impressive paintings, Nigar Narimanbayova has showcased her masterpiece at Art en Capital 2023 art fair in Paris, Azernews reports.

The national artist represented the country at the contemporary art fair, which brought together no less than 2,000 artists.

Her painting "WhatsApp" immediately attracted the attention of art lovers. Speaking about the art fair, the artist stressed that she was proud to represent Azerbaijan at the large-scale art event. Art en Capital 2023 will last until February 19.

World-famous artist Nigar Narimanbayova sees inspiration in the stunning surroundings of two wonderful cities - Paris and Baku. These incredibly fascinating places never cease to amaze her.

As a child, Nigar painted still lifes, landscapes, and portraits inspired by her poems. The young artist adored white canvas and the smell of oil paints.

As the artist admits, all her paintings comprise her fantasy stories. Her series of paintings "Childhood Dreams", which consisted of more than twenty paintings, features fantastic creations like fairies, guardian angels shone with golden light, small cupids, and much more.

The next series of paintings, the idea of ??which came to the artist in her night dreams, was "Love Toy", which fully reflects a woman's role in the world, her dreams, hopes, ups and downs.

This series of paintings was successfully presented in a huge number of art projects in France and Europe, such as Salon Business Art Fair, Art en Capital, Business Art Salon, and many others. Moreover, the paintings from this series were marked by honored diplomas such as "Golden Canvas 2016" (TOILE D OR 2016) for the diptych "Adagio", diploma "For creating a magical enchanting Universe" awarded by the National Federation Of French Culture and other prizes.

Nigar Narimanbayova is a member of the Azerbaijani Artists' Union and the International Association of Art. Her paintings are displayed in the most famous exhibition halls and in private art collections.
The Colorado Mountain Mushers are headed back to Dillon Reservoir, located in Summit County, later this month.

On Feb. 25, a series of dog sled races will be held at Dillon Reservoir against a backdrop of stunning snowcapped mountains. With the event set to take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., it's sure to create a spectacle as pups zip and zoom across the water's frozen surface. Not only will the event feature dogs pulling people on tradition sleds, but also on skis and bikes.

The race is free to attend, though a fee is required for those looking to race. That being said, the registration site currently notes that all racing spots are book  a waitlist can be joined.

According to Summit Daily, the races are returning after a hiatus of about 20 years.

Find more information about the races here.

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The El Paso County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday held a press conference to respond to public outcry amid allegations of racially biased policing in connection to an ongoing dispute between neighbors in the rural community of Yoder.

In the week since the arrest of Black rancher Courtney Mallery, for allegedly stalking the neighbor he has accused of leading a racial-based terror campaign against him and his wife, the department has received hundreds of threats via phone, email and social media, officials said.

Misinformation and a mischaracterization of my office and my employees had led to a level of uneasiness for many residents of Yoder, and some members of my staff and family members who have been specifically targeted, said El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal.

People have threatened damage to our facilities, and threatened violence towards my staff  in some cases, the family members of staff, Roybal said. The threats and accusations are examples of the damage that can be done when misinformation gets ahead of the facts.

The property-based argument between Black ranchers Courtney and Nicole Mallery and their white neighbor, Teresa Clark, has been escalating since 2021 and drew national attention when Ark Republic, a New Jersey-based online publication, released a story on Jan. 16 detailing the Mallerys account.

In the story, the couple alleged racist harassment from neighbors and discriminatory treatment from the Sheriffs Office.

The article described what the Mallerys perceived as racially motivated attacks by their neighbors against them, their animals and their property, as well as accusations of racial discrimination against them on the part of Sheriffs Office employees, Roybal said.

The article drew angered responses from across the country, and the outrage grew to a fever pitch when Ark Republic published a follow-up article after Courtney Mallerys Feb. 6 arrest on a December warrant for felony stalking.

Tuesdays address by the EPCSO, open only to media, included statements from law enforcement officers addressing the controversy as well as selected clips from a cache of video evidence collected over the course of numerous service calls, and arrests, since spring 2021.

The press conference, Roybal said, was an effort to separate fact from fiction regarding a neighbor dispute that has generated 170 calls for service, 24 case reports and 19 specific complaints against EPSCO staff since 2021.

Roybal, who said he has reached out to the Black and Latino Leadership Coalition in an effort to broker a peaceful solution to the dispute between Clark and the Mallerys, said he is confident that the Sheriffs Office responses have been objective and based on facts and law, not on race.

No one would be more eager than I to rid my office of a deputy sheriff who was racist and treating members of the community unfairly based on race, he said.

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The Mallerys have accused Deputy Emory Gerhart, of EPCSOs Rural Enforcement and Outreach division, of treating them unfairly based on their race. An online petition calling for Gerhart to be fired  initiated by the Mallerys  had garnered more than 8,400 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

Gerhart was not present at the press conference, and Roybal said the deputy is unlikely to be available to answer questions.

Sheriffs Office officials shared excerpts from several body camera videos, as well as footage taken by a process server who approached the Mallery home on Apr. 7, 2021 and was chased off the property with a shotgun.

Portions of the footage  all of which EPCSO said would soon be made available to the public, in redacted but otherwise unedited format  were sped up and therefore included no audio. Mallery cannot be heard demanding the process server show her his ID, nor any shotgun blast, allegedly discharged into the air by Mallery  but Sgt. Jason Garrett said those elements are evident upon viewing the real-time version.

Two weeks after that incident, EPSCO deputies arrested Nicole Mallery for menacing. An additional charge of assaulting a peace officer was added after she allegedly made contact with a deputy during the arrest.

In the arrest video, Nicole, whose hands are cuffed behind her, can be heard screaming and cursing, and at one point claimed that her arm was broken.

A subsequent video shows medical personnel attending to Nicole before she is transported to a hospital. Another video, taken after she was treated, shows her being processed at the El Paso County jail.

No video of Courtney Mallerys arrest was shown Tuesday, but EPCSO said the apprehension occurred during a traffic stop on Feb. 6.

The feud between the Mallerys and Teresa Clark has changed the EPCSOs relationship with a rural area where calls reporting suspected crimes once were few and far between and dominated by specifically-rural complaints, said Sgt. Jason Garrett.

This issue took a lot of resources, especially from our REO (Rural Enforcement and Outreach) team, whose primary mission is to focus and serve the citizens out there, he said. Those deputies are specially trained to recognize livestock issues, property issues, those kinds of things.

The current dispute appears to have started there, but its evolved.

The article makes it seem like its one way, Garrett said, but this is very much a two-way issue of these neighbors going at each other.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Igor Khovayev, special representative of the Russian Foreign Minister for the normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The discussions at the meeting focused on the process of normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, the current state of peace treaty talks, and various aspects of protests on the Lachin road, the press service of the Foreign Ministry reports.

Jeyhun Bayramov said that notwithstanding Azerbaijans constructive approach during the years of occupation and post-conflict period as well as its peace process proposals after the 44-day war, Armenia continues to put obstacles to the process and the Armenian foreign minister had boycotted the round of peace treaty negotiations slated for December last year.

The Azerbaijani minister let Khovayev know that the Lachin road is used for purposes that were not stipulated in the trilateral statement

Bayramov pointed out that the protesters legitimate demands had not been fulfilled, adding that Armenia utilized this situation for its own political objectives with an aim to divert the issue in the wrong direction.

The meeting also saw discussions revolved around regional security and other issues of mutual interest.
It turns out the threesome arrested after a high-speed car chase that led to the tragic death of Fountain police Officer Julian Becerra had extensive criminal records and were wanted on other charges at the time of the Feb. 2 incident.

Sadly, it comes as no surprise. Not amid Colorados unprecedented crime wave  aided and abetted by a legislature that has spent the last several years watering down criminal penalties, decriminalizing drugs and coddling repeat offenders.

As The Gazette reported this week, arrest affidavits reveal the suspects  who were eluding police in a vehicle believed stolen  had a history of car theft, robbery, illegal drug possession and other crimes. There were outstanding arrest warrants for two of the suspects.

The alleged wheel man in the chase already was facing warrants for charges including motor vehicle theft and felony criminal mischief. In December, he walked away from a halfway house where he was confined after serving only six months of an 18-month prison sentence for possession of a weapon by a previous offender. He also had logged a lengthy prison record before that for drug and robbery charges.

An alleged accomplice was wanted on two misdemeanor cases of violating probation and another case involving stalking, menacing and harassment.

Of course, advocates of justice reform in the legislature will tell you auto theft isnt really a violent crime  not much of a crime at all, in fact. Which could explain why they passed a law in 2021 lowering the penalty to a mere misdemeanor for stealing a vehicle valued under $2,000. Apparently, Colorado motorists of modest means are expendable in the legislatures crusade to go easy on career criminals.

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Yet, auto theft seems to accompany a whole lot of other, serious crimes, and these suspects records reflect it. And sometimes, auto theft itself can be as violent as any other crime, as Officer Becerras grieving survivors could attest. After the suspects had crashed their vehicle during the chase and attempted to flee on foot, Becerra pursued them and fell 40 feet from a bridge. He died from his injuries nine days later.

His was the latest life lost among law enforcement in their quest to protect the public.

In September, Arvada police Officer Dillon Vakoff was shot to death after responding to a disturbance in an Arvada residential area. In August, Andrew Peery, a SWAT officer with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, was shot and killed responding to a reported shooting south of Colorado Springs. Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley was killed while responding to a shooter in the citys Olde Town in June 2021. And of course Boulder Police officer Eric Talley was among the 10 shot and killed at a King Soopers store in the city in March 2021.

The list goes on. Last May, members of law enforcement and others gathered at the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial in Golden to recognize 17 fallen law officers. Nine had been killed in the line of duty in 2021 alone.

Police work is the most hazardous, and deadly, outside of combat. Time and again, Colorados law officers are there for us  to serve us, to protect us and, too often, to die for us.

The least we can do in return is put more hardened criminals behind bars and keep them there longer  for the sake of our law officers as well as the rest us.
A puckered bullet wound on the underside of Ashtin Gamblins bicep leads to a tattoo on her wrist, which says, Im fine  a hideous ode to the physical and psychological injuries experienced in a mass shooting.

Gamblin hasnt worked since she was bombarded by a gun while minding the front door of Colorado Springs' Club Q Nov. 19.

The wife of a Fort Carson soldier  who was deployed when the shooting happened  said she's battled a fight of her own, struggling to get reimbursed by survivors' compensation nonprofit organizations for small things, such as vet bills for her therapy cat.

I have been through immeasurable hell the past three months, she said at a press conference on the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol on Valentines Day on Tuesday.

Though it was nerve-wracking to go public for the first time, Gamblin was buoyed by around 20 other victims of other Colorado mass killings who sat in chairs around her and shared stories of financial hardship.

The group gathered to call attention to what some say has become a sordid industry.

People are making money off of mass murder from Orlando to Colorado, said VictimsFirst Co-Founder Dr. Zachary Blair. We want to keep it from happening in the Club Q shooting.

Club Q employees complained that, though they've made some money from various fundraisers, they haven't seen a penny from a GoFundMe set up by the nightclub's owner.

"Matthew Haynes needs to release our money. We know what's best," said Gamblin.

This is not the first time victims of mass shootings in Colorado have said they're being denied funds meant for them. Some have criticized the way millions of dollars in funds given by donors have been distributed ever since the Aurora theater shooting.

After several privately-operated online appeals for victims relief money began popping up following the Nov. 19 mass shooting, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asked that people donate to the Colorado Healing Fund as the official fundraiser to benefit victims.

Some people  including victims of other mass shootings  criticized the Colorado Healing Fund, the nonprofit organization created in 2018 as a secure way for the public to contribute to victims of mass casualty crimes statewide. But some are critical of the organization for using 10% of donations on expenses, such as an executive director salary and office-related spending.

In response, the healing fund sought and secured anonymous underwriters to pay for the administrative costs for the Club Q tragedy fundraising.

As of Friday, the Colorado Healing Fund has collected $2.2 million in donations and has distributed $1,923,500 to benefit victims, according to Executive Director Jordan Finegan.

The organizations model, which was created by leading experts in incident response to evaluate best practices, addresses short-term, intermediate and long-term needs of victims, she said.

The money is disbursed through the funds partner, the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, which releases cash to victims families, survivors of the incident and those immediately affected by the tragedies.

Several Club Q employees who showed up at the press conference expressed anger with longtime club owner Matthew Haynes. They said that Haynes has not made good on a promise to disperse money earmarked for them by well-meaning donors.

Everybody is struggling. Matthew said he was going to take care of us. Staff listened to him, but by the second month, we were drowning in bills, said Hysteria Brooks, who produced two shows a week at Club Q.

Brooks said that he and 15 other Club Q employees have not seen a penny from the official Club Q GoFundMe that Haynes set up days after the shooting.

But according to a fresh statement made by Haynes on the GoFundMe page, financial relief is just days away.

He announced Tuesday that he will distribute lost wages in a lump sum to former Club Q employees and third-party entertainer contractors from money donated to the GoFundMe and various other fundraisers.

In an interview Jan. 25, Haynes told the Denver Gazette that he will make payouts through a formula that takes an average of net earnings from what employees would have made in November, December and January while the club was closed.

Haynes said that at least one of the contractors who hadn't been performing there long made less than $200.

"What is the definition of a victim?" he asked.

He said he's also had problems with fraudulent people claiming to be collecting money for victims who had to be shut down.

Haynes noted that Club Q is on track to fully reopen by fall.

Our goal is to return the club back to the community as soon as possible, Haynes said.

Some patrons of Club Q, whom Haynes is counting on to return as regulars when it reopens, are speaking out in support of the employees.

Money from whatever sources should be released immediately," said Mason Camp.

Many victims and employees are struggling to pay bills, put gas in their car, keep their lights on, even eat each day, Camp said. I personally know multiple victims who are struggling to recover financially, as well as get through their day-to-day mentally.

Brooks questioned how much of Haynes GoFundMes $55,000 will go to former staff and how much will go toward rebuilding Club Q. He said he believes staff members and contractors should get at least 75% of the total, which at this point would be divvied up from around $41,000.

Without the people, Club Q is just a building with four walls and a roof, Brooks said. People should come before businesses.

Five people were killed and 19 were injured in the attack on Club Q.

VictimsFirst, announced Jan. 3 that it is forming a National Mass Shooting Victims Fund and promised to give 100% directly to victims with no administration fee. The group said the fund will assist with emergency financial needs for mass casualty crime victims.
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.
Snowfall Wednesday forced multiple closures and causing traffic delays around the Pikes Peak region. Some districts and military operations have announced delays for Thursday morning.

Click or tap here for the full list of closings and delays.

Click or tap here for statewide road conditions from CDOT.

Click or tap here for Colorado Springs-area road and traffic updates.

THURSDAY

10:17 a.m.: I-25 southbound has reopened between Exit 71 and Exit 67.

10:00 a.m.: CO 9 northbound between Sand Gulch Road and County Road 11 has reopened.

9:40 a.m.: CO 9 northbound between Sand Gulch Road and County Road 11 is closed due to a crash. Expect delays. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

9:37 a.m.: Northbound CO 71 has reopened between County Road 3G and County Road 11.

9:30 a.m.: The left lane of northbound I-25 near Upper Lake Gulch Road has reopened.

8:48 a.m.: The left lane of northbound I-25 is CLOSED due to a crash at exit 172 near Upper Lake Gulch Road. Expect delays.

8:19 a.m.: Southbound I-25 is CLOSED between exit 71 and exit 67 due to a crash. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

8:18 a.m.: Northbound CO 71 is CLOSED between County Road 3G and County Road 11 due to safety concerns. Expect delays.

8:16 a.m.: Eastbound and westbound CO 94 is CLOSED between Johnson Road and U.S. 40 due to safety concerns. Expect delays.

8:10 a.m.: Traffic lights are not working at the intersection of Wahsatch and Colorado avenues after an earlier crash. Treat the intersection as a four-way stop.

8:02 a.m.: Northbound I-25 is CLOSED at Exit 102 near Pueblo.

6 a.m.: Most school districts in the region are on a two-hour delay today while Colorado State University-Pueblo is closed.

WEDNESDAY

10:30 p.m.: Both westbound lanes and one eastbound lane have reopened to traffic on I-70 between Glenwood Canyon and Dotsero, CDOT announced in a new release. Crews will remain on the scene overnight to remove the remainder of the wreckage.

10:20 p.m.: The Colorado Springs Police Department is still on accident alert status due to weather and road conditions. All traffic crashes may be cold reported or reported online if they meet certain criteria. Click or tap here for road and traffic updates in and around Colorado Springs.

9:59 p.m.: Crews with the city have been clearing Colorado Springs roadways with an emphasis on primary and secondary roads, and school zones, according to Corey Rivera, operations program supervisor with the city. Now that precipitation has stopped, crews are focused on widening cleared lanes; while it was still snowing, trucks prioritized clearing one lane per road. They will continue putting down two types of material in different areas overnight: The first, a sand-salt mix, Rivera says is mainly for traction and the second is a deicer that breaks down ice into slush, hence the brand name, Ice Slicer. However, they are balancing the deicing effort with low overnight temperatures to avoid creating black ice: a patchy and often invisible type of ice on roads, according to the National Weather Service. Motorists on the road Thursday morning should be aware of ice, snow and potential black ice, according to Rivera, who said sticking to white snow on uncleared roads can help to keep traction.

8:20 p.m.: Northbound I-25 is closed south of Pueblo due to a multi-vehicle crash at mile marker 61, according to the Colorado State Patrol. The closure is expected to last multiple hours as emergency personnel clear the road. Photos from CSP at the scene show at least two semi-trailer trucks stopped on I-25. Products from inside at least one of the trucks are visible on the road. Click or tap here for statewide road conditions from CDOT.

7:30 p.m.: District 49 and Pueblo District 70 announce closures for Thursday. Click or tap here for a full list of delays and closures.

6:01 p.m.: Both directions of I-70 are closed west of Glenwood Springs for a rollover commercial vehicle crash, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The closure, which is expected to last several hours, is between mile points 116 and 133. A tractor-trailer carrying canned beverages crashed while traveling westbound and, after crashing, blocked eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70. Crews are actively working to remove the crash. Speed is being investigated as a factor in the crash, CDOT said. Detours for motorists include U.S. 50, Colorado 91, U.S. 24 and U.S 285. Click or tap here for statewide road conditions from CDOT.

5:15 p.m.: A high avalanche warning is in effect for the San Juan and La Garita Mountains. "Very dangerous avalanche conditions" expected through Thursday, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended as human-triggered avalanches are likely.

4:55 p.m.: A disabled vehicle is blocking the right lane of the southbound entrance ramp for I-25 at Woodmen Road. Click or tap here for road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

4:30 p.m.: Cheyenne Mountain District 12, Harrison District 2, Fountain-Fort Carson District 8, Lewis-Palmer District 38 and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs announce two-hour delays for Thursday. Some Fort Carson personnel, including Fort Carson 4ID units also have a delayed start Thursday. Click or tap here for a full list of delays and closures.

4:05 p.m.: A crash has been reported by police in south Colorado Springs at South Academy Boulevard and Milton E Proby Parkway. The road blockage is unknown. A second crash at Palmer Park Boulevard and North Academy Boulevard has been cleared. Click or tap here for road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

3:50 p.m.: Colorado Springs Utilities reports that a vehicle slid and hit a transformer Wednesday. Crews were on scene making repairs. There are no outages being reported in the city. Click or tap here for a Utilities outage map.

3:30 p.m.: A Thursday two-hour delay has been announced for Widefield District 3, Cripple Creek-Victor schools and Pueblo District 70. Click or tap here for a full list of delays and closures.

3:15 p.m.: The left lane of northbound I-25 is closed due to a crash between Mesa Ridge Parkway and South Academy Boulevard, exit 135. All other previously reported crashes in the Colorado Springs area have been cleared. The Colorado Springs Police Department is still on accident alert status. Any traffic crashes that meet the proper criteria may be cold reported. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

12:30 p.m.: The National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning will remain in effect through 11 p.m. Wednesday evening for all El Paso County, according to Corey Rivera, the operations program supervisor for Colorado Springs. Light to moderate snowfall will continue through the afternoon and is expected to taper off in the late afternoon into the evening. Snowfall rates will range from 0.5-1 inch per hour. Breezy winds coming from the north will bring gusts reaching 25 mph, which may cause blowing snow, limiting visibility. Skies are expected to clear increasingly through the night. High temperatures Wednesday will remain in the teens, dropping into the single digits overnight and into daybreak Thursday, Rivera said.

12:08 p.m.: I-25 northbound has been closed due to a crash south of Colorado Springs. Another crash has been reported on I-25 between N. Academy Boulevard and Woodmen Road. A vehicle slid off the road there. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

11:05 a.m.: Palmer Lake has received additional snow, bringing the total accumulation to 7.8 inches so far. Falcon's total accumulation remains at 5 inches, as well as Silverton which has received 10.4 inches. Click or tap here for the latest snow totals.

10:47 a.m.: Snow removal is taking longer than usual, due to staffing shortages, according to Kevin Mastin, the executive director of the Department of Public Works with El Paso County. Thirty plows are actively working to remove snow and de-ice roadways within 42 truck areas, and 22 graders are covering 23 grader areas. Many drivers are covering more than one area, which is why the cleaning process is taking longer than usual. The county is currently short 35 positions, Mastin said. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

10:40 a.m.: A vehicle that crashed into a guardrail is blocking the I-25 exit ramp at southbound Uintah.

10:30 a.m.: The YMCA of Pikes Peak region will be closed Wednesday. Click or tap here for a complete list of closures and delays.

10:04 a.m.: A crash at the intersection of northbound Academy and Palmer Park boulevards is causing minor delays on northbound Academy. All other previously reported crashes around the Colorado Springs area have been cleared. Click or tap here for current road conditions in and around Colorado Springs.

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10:00 a.m.: Teller County Government offices will be closed Wednesday. Click or tap here for a complete list of closures and delays.

9:52 a.m.: Southwest Airlines has canceled several flights in and out of Colorado Springs Airport. All five departures scheduled prior to 2 p.m. have been canceled. Click or tap here for current flight statuses.

9:27 a.m.: The storm is expected to taper off in Colorado Springs over the next few hours due to increased winds coming from the north, according to Klint Skelly, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Pueblo. Winds are expected to increase from 25 mph to 30 mph. The Palmer Divide is forecast to experience light to moderate snow for the remainder of the day and is expected to taper off around midnight. Colorado Springs could see an additional 1-2 inches of snow accumulation after 11 a.m., Skelly said.

9:15 a.m.: Manitou City Hall and facilities will be closed Wednesday, with staff working remotely. Click or tap here for a complete list of closures and delays.

8:45 a.m.: Colorado Springs remains on accident alert status, which began at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday. All traffic accidents may be cold reported that meet the proper criteria.

8:43 a.m.: Teller County and El Paso County combined courts will be closed Wednesday. Click or tap here for a complete list of closures and delays.

8:38 a.m.: Mountain Metropolitan Transit, the public transportation for Colorado Springs, has ceased operation Wednesday due to inclement weather.

8:34 a.m.: A crash has been reported at the intersection of Academy Boulevard and N. Union Boulevard.

8:29 a.m.: The right lane of westbound Woodmen Road is blocked due to a semi dangling over a retaining wall.

8:20 a.m.: CO 318 and US 40 in northeastern Colorado have closed between Maybell and the Utah border because of safety concerns. All previous I-25 lane closures have been cleared.

7:23 a.m.: Palmer Lake has gotten 5.5 inches of snow so far, while Falcon has gotten 5 inches. Outside the Pikes Peak region, Silverton has seen 10.4 inches. Click or tap here for the latest snow totals.

6:29 a.m.:

6:20 a.m.: The Colorado Department of Transportation reports that the previously closed lanes of southbound I-25 at Hampden Avenue have been reopened.

6:03 a.m.: There are multiple lane closures on I-25. Two northbound lanes are closed at Exit 203 in Denver (Evans Avenue). Two southbound lanes are closed at Exit 201 (Hampden Avenue). There are also closures in Pueblo and Fort Collins. More are expected as the morning traffic builds. Click or tap here for highway conditions around Colorado.

5:58 a.m.: El Paso County administrative offices will be closed Wednesday. In addition, most Pikes Peak region school districts will be either closed or on remote learning. Click or tap here for a complete list of closures and delays.

5:51 a.m.: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers some tips for driving in the snow. Click or tap here for more.

Many closures announced Tuesday evening

Colorado Springs School District 11, Academy District 20, Harrison School District 2, District 49, Widefield District 3 and Lewis-Palmer District 38 were among the districts to announce closures for Wednesday. Colorado State-Pueblo will also be closed and all operations, including virtual, have been canceled.

Fort Carson and Peterson Space Force bases will close except for mission-critical units.

Forecast

The National Weather Service in Pueblo has called for 4-6 inches for Colorado Springs, with higher totals expected north and west of the city. Teller County could see 5-10 inches and Monument may get up to 8.

Low visibility and icy roads are expected to impact the Wednesday morning commute as 40 trucks stand ready to address dangerous road conditions, with more on standby if needed, according to Clint Brown, operations manager for the city of Colorado Springs.

According to Bob Wilson, CDOTs director of statewide programs, crews will be focusing on rei-icing, removing the anticipated light, fluffy snow and applying sand as needed.

Drivers in the Pikes Peak region are being cautioned to drive safely. For the latest traffic in Colorado Springs, click or tap here.

10 p.m.: Several flights delayed at Colorado Springs Airport, temperatures drop below 30 degrees

According to FlightAware, 13 flights were delayed at the Colorado Springs Airport. Of the 13 flight delays, SkyWest had 6, Southwest had 5, American Airlines had 1 and CommuteAir also had 1.

At 10 p.m., Colorado Springs temperatures dropped below 30 degrees at 26 degrees. The wind chill was recorded at 14 degrees, according to the weather service.

Colorado Springs is expected to hit 19 degrees at 6 a.m. with a wind chill of 4 degrees.

Tuesday snow totals across Colorado

Here are the latest snow totals according to the NWS:

Woodland Park- 2 inches

Cripple Creek- 4 inches

Colorado Springs Airport- 8.4 inches

Monument- 5.3 inches

Black Forest- 5.5 inches

Cascade- 5.9 inches

Palmer Lake- 7.8 inches

Falcon- 5 inches

Manitou Springs- 3.4 inches

Peyton- 13 inches

Wolf Creek Pass- 25 inches

Texas Creek- 14 inches

Montrose- 8.5 inches

Silverton- 16 inches

Sawpit- 7.5 inches

Red Mountain- 11 inches

Molas Pass- 14 inches

Coal Bank Pass- 27 inches

Camp Bird- 9 inches

Vallecito- 12.5 inches

Fruita- 2 inches

Battlement Mesa- 1 inches

Edwards- 1.5 inches

Maher- 7 inches

Colona- 14 inch

Cedaredge- 7.5 inch

Here's the full forecast from the National Weather Service in Pueblo:

Tonight: A 20% chance of snow before 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 3. Wind chill values between minus-5 and -15. North northwest wind 10-15 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 28. Wind chill values between minus-5 and 5. North northwest wind 5-10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 47. Northwest wind 5-10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. West northwest wind around 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. Breezy, with a west wind 15-20 mph.
Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov is paying a working visit to the United Arab Emirates to attend the World Government Summit.

At the Dubai International Airport, the Azerbaijani premier was welcomed by UAE Minister of Community Development Hessa bint Essa Buhumaid and other officials.




Laman Ismayilova





The Azerbaijani Chess Federation has provided 10,000 AZN in financial aid to support the victims and the injured of the earthquake that killed thousands of people in Turkiye, Azernews reports.

The collected funds were transferred to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

The Azerbaijani chess family expresses its condolences to the relatives of the victims of the earthquake and wishes for the recovery of the injured.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Turkiye's southeastern part on February 6, 2023, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

The quake's epicenter was located 26 km away from the city of Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. The source of the earthquake was 7 km below the surface.

Moreover, three more quakes with a magnitude of 6.4-6.6 rocked Gaziantep province in south-eastern Turkiye.

As a result of the earthquake that hit Turkiye's several regions, strong tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations continues to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.

Azerbaijani rescuers are currently working in the Turkish earthquake-hit regions.
By Azernews

Qabil Ashirov

Azerbaijans Ministry of Emergency Situations held a meeting in a quake-hit province of Turkiye, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Etibar Mirzayev attended the meeting at the headquarters of the rescue forces of the agency in Kahramanmaras, the report elaborates.

At the meeting, current operating conditions and achieved results were discussed. Besides, views about the next measures including the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid were exchanged and relevant instructions were issued.

As instructed by President Ilham Aliyev, the rapid rescue forces of the Emergencies Ministry are deployed in the area to get involved in the search and rescue operations and help Turkey to eliminate the consequences of the strong earthquake that occurred in Turkiye.

The Azerbaijani rescuers retrieved from the rubble 53 people alive and 655 dead bodies so far.

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.
A Mason City woman who allegedly used her master key at a Clear Lake apartment complex to steal a checkbook from a tenant last August has pleaded guilty to forgery and fourth-degree theft.

According to court documents, 41-year-old Cassie Lee Miller pleaded guilty on Tuesday in exchange for a five-year suspended prison sentence and the dismissal of counts of forgery, possession of burglar tools and third-degree burglary. She also received a 30-day suspended sentence for the theft charge and will spend three years on probation. Restitution was ordered as well.

The affidavits state that Miller was employed as the person responsible for maintenance at South Avenue Village apartments located at 821 W. 12th Ave. North. Miller allegedly entered an apartment she knew to be unoccupied by the tenant at the time by using her master key. While inside, she allegedly stole a checkbook and later issued herself a check for $400 and signed the victim's name.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 5. The court is under no obligation to accept the terms of the plea agreement.

Close Feb. 9, 1936. Blizzard Scenes, Highway Patrol officers. Feb. 19, 1953. Slippery sidewalk. North Iowa History: Winter scenes Feb. 9, 1936. Blizzard Scenes, Highway Patrol officers. Feb. 19, 1953. Slippery sidewalk.
On Feb. 10-11, Tunstall High School Beta Club members traveled to Hampton to attend the first in-person state Beta convention in three years.

The convention had competitions in engineering, robotics, academic tests, visual arts, performing arts, marketing and various other academic and art competitions along with sessions that focused on leadership, character, service and achievement.

Tunstall competed both virtually and in-person and brought home 20 top-three wins, a premiere performer selection or golden ticket, and a $1,000 Virginia State Beta Scholarship winner.

These students will take their talents to the national level this June in Louisville, Kentucky.

National Beta Club is the largest independent, nonprofit, educational youth organization in America. And for more than 80 years, it has prepared students to be tomorrows leaders.

The honors include:

MacKenzie Harris, $1,000 Virginia State Beta Scholarship recipient

Three Dimensional Design, first place, Hunter Mills

Portfolio, second Place

Service Learning Showcase, second place

Engineering, third place, Luke Mills, Shaffer Boles, Halle Cassada, Matthew Harris, and Chandler Snow

Marketing and communication, first place, MacKenzie Harris, Parker Sinclair and Shelton McKinney

On-site drawing division one, first place, Matthew Harris

On-site painting division one, third place, Denver Dalton

French 10th grade test, second place, Matthew Harris

Agriscience 10th grade test, first place, Hunter Mills

Agriscience 12th grade test, first place, MacKenzie Harris (she has placed in the top three in agriscience all four years)

Math 11th grade test, Berlince Dong

Biomedical 11th grade test, Mary Gammon

Woodworking division two, Luke Mills (he has placed in the top three all four years in woodworking)

Digital art division two, first place, Luke Mills

Painting division one, third place, Halle Cassada

Sculpture division one, second place, Sydney Pritchett

Quilling division one, first place, Sydney Pritchett

Fiber arts division one, third place, Parker Sinclair

Recycled art division one, first place, Parker Sinclair

Performing arts solo, first place, Denver Dalton (also received a Premiere performer selection or golden ticket straight to national competition
WINSTON-SALEM  Quality Mart is delivering on the true meaning of convenience by making it possible for customers to order ahead for pick up or delivery at five of its local stores in the Winston-Salem area. For the first time in the convenience store industry, the local convenience store chain is rolling out online ordering and delivery with the help of SWIPEBY, a startup based in Winston-Salem that offers a customizable 360 degree direct ordering platform with added features for customer convenience.

Were excited to offer an added level of convenience for our customers with the help of SWIPEBY, said Sam Metzler, a senior vice president with Quality Oil Company, the parent company of Quality Mart convenience store. Customers can order ahead for delivery or at the pump while they are filling their tank. Then, well prepare their order so they can grab it and go. This is an added level of convenience that we think will help us stand out from the competition and make our customers even more satisfied.

Signs, a QR code and a video at the pumps will let customers know how easy it is to place an order they can pick up on their commute or have delivered to their home or office.

The 95-year-old parent company, Quality Oil, is making a statement to others in the industry by partnering with an industry leading start up in online ordering and delivery to make its customers experience one of the best in the business. SWIPEBY is a proven ordering platform for the restaurant industry that has been adapted for other business types, such as liquor stores and C-stores, to take back ownership of off-premise purchasing.

It is pretty clear that the trend toward greater demand for ordering and delivery due to societal and convenience issues is pushing us to think broader and more outside the box in terms of our type of retail technology, said Carl Turner, SWIPEBYs CEO and founder. There are so many applications for it and we feel these pilots with convenience store chains will say a lot to the market. We are excited about working with Quality Mart and creating an innovative solution for other independent c-stores.

We have always believed in providing our customers with the best possible products and the highest level of service each and every time, said Metzler. With this ordering and delivery capability, we are hoping to take customer satisfaction to a whole new level.

Quality Mart is offering online ordering using the SWIPEBY platform at five stores in the Winston-Salem area. Delivery is available within a 20-mile radius. Customers can also order ahead or at the pump and pick up their orders at the Quality Mart counter for even greater convenience.

About Quality OilBeginning in 1929, Quality Oil Company has a heritage of integrity and a reputation for superior customer service. From Virginia to Florida, the Company keeps customers a top priority. In addition to propane, fuel oil, real estate and hospitality, Quality Oil owns gas stations and convenience stores under the brand names of Quality Mart, Quality Plus, and GOGAS. Quality Oil is headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC and has gas stations and convenience stores throughout the Southeast.

About SWIPEBYSWIPEBY is a turnkey solution that provides a cost-effective, easy-to-use application for brick-and-mortar businesses to offer virtual drive-thru for their customers. The SWIPEBY platform allows businesses to compete in the highly innovative and evolving marketplace with easy online ordering, delivery, pick-up, re-marketing, and geo-fenced arrival notifications featuring customized messaging. Its seamless curbside solution is the perfect way to satisfy customers on-the-go by giving them an excellent off-premise experience that keeps them coming back. SWIPEBY was founded in 2019 in Winston-Salem, NC and opened an office in Miami, FL in July 2021. www.swipe.by.
REIDSVILLE  Williamsburg Elementary recently celebrated its birthday, as well as a very special distinction as the first free public school in North Carolina. On January 20, 1840, Williamsburg School opened its doors in Rockingham County as the first free public school in the state, established under Common School Law of 1839.

Our North Carolina public school legacy traces back to a one-room school, Garrett Academy, in the southeast corner of Rockingham County, said principal Leslie Coleman-Cassell, who is in her fifth year at the school.

Williamsburg School educated students ages 6 to 21, many of whom were Rockingham County farm boys, according to Coleman-Cassell. A plaque signifying the schools historic distinction is on display in the school foyer near the entrance where visitors enter and exit the building.

Its a unique honor that only we hold in the state, said Coleman- Cassell. It also speaks to the fact that Rockingham County and the Williamsburg Community have always valued education and believed that it would make a difference in their lives.

The school building in which Williamsburg is currently housed was built and opened in 2003. Serving grades Pre-K through fifth grade, the school currently has 514 students and 80 staff members, including 27 classroom teachers.

Throughout our history, the school has served as the cornerstone for bringing together families in the Williamsburg community, Coleman-Cassell said. As one of the largest elementary schools in the district, we continue to serve a community strongly rooted in education.

Last year, the school celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Harvest Festival, a time-honored tradition held annually on the last Saturday of September.

There are activities for all ages, including games, book fair, live auction and so much more, Coleman-Cassell said.

Kim Jones has worked at Williamsburg for 22 years, first as a second-grade teacher for 13 years and then as a Title 1/Intervention Specialist and Testing Coordinator. Both of her parents, mother-in-law, husband and her children attended Williamsburg, and her mother-in-law, Alene Jones, retired as secretary of the school in 1994.

This school truly is a part of my family, she said. We support each other, pray for each other, celebrate each other, and laugh and cry with each other.

Jones believes Williamsburgs amazing staff that genuinely care about the students, staff members and community makes the school special.

Our students are the most important part of our school, and we strive every day to meet their educational needs, she said. Our students academic growth and social/emotional wellbeing are a priority every day.

Coleman-Cassell said the staff and community support each other to create a learning environment where education is at the forefront of everything they do.

The people, the community and the history make Williamsburg Elementary special, she said. Williamsburg is a true community-based school.

Williamsburg Elementary has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years, distinguishing it as a top-notch school in the district and the nation. Most recently, Williamsburg was chosen as one of 406 schools nationwide to be named as Americas Healthiest Schools for the 2021-2022 school year. Awarded by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a leading childrens health organization, the recognition celebrates schools dedication to supporting the health and well-being of students, staff and families.

In addition, Williamsburg was recognized for Exceeding Growth for the 2021-2022 school year, with growth in the top 15 percent of the state based on End-of-Grade testing data. The school also received the Lighthouse Award in 2020, which is presented annually by the North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development to schools that have furthered student achievement in innovative and creative ways and have nurtured a positive and supportive school and community climate.

Coleman-Cassell said the plan is to have a formal celebration involving the community for Williamsburgs upcoming 185th anniversary.

It as an honor and privilege to serve as the principal of the first public school in North Carolina, Coleman-Cassell said.

Jones expressed similar sentiments about her tenure at Williamsburg Elementary.

It is an honor to work and live in a community that has valued a free and public education for nearly 200 years, she said.
RALEIGH  Why did the North Carolina House vote overwhelmingly a few days ago to toughen penalties for those engaged in violent rioting? Ill let Rep. Abe Jones of Wake County sum it up: I despise somebody who would go out and tear up another persons property that they didnt pay for and take advantage of a situation  sometimes a very good protest  and then flip it.

Rep. Jones, a former Superior Court judge, was one of several Democrats to vote for House Bill 40, which prevailed on a 75-43 vote. Its primary sponsors include House Speaker Tim Moore of Cleveland County; Republican Charlie Miller, who is also a Brunswick County deputy sheriff; Republican John Sauls, a minister from Lee County; and Democrat Shelly Willingham, a veteran lawmaker and business consultant from Edgecombe County.

The bill will likely pass the North Carolina Senate. If its broad coalition of supporters holds together, Gov. Roy Cooper will not be able to stop it.

Although I grant this may be a case of hope triumphing over experience, since Cooper vetoed a similar bill last session, I really think he ought to sign H.B. 40 or at least not veto it. Democratic opponents insist, outrageously, that it is simply an attempt to criminalize political protests. Some even go so far as to accuse Moore and the other sponsors of having a racist intent, given how often theyve cited the example of the 2020 riots that broke out after George Floyds murder.

In making this argument, opponents are conflating the very phenomena  protests and riots  that bill supporters have taken great care to distinguish. The constitutional right to assemble peaceably to express political views is broadly supported and exercised. Such a right does not, however, empower protestors to become rioters.

Whats the difference? North Carolina law already defines a riot as a public disturbance involving an assemblage of three or more persons which by disorderly and violent conduct, or the imminent threat of disorderly and violent conduct, results in injury or damage to persons or property or creates a clear and present danger of injury or damage to persons or property.

You can, for example, gather in a large group to express your views on public property, so long as you obtain the relevant permits and otherwise take steps to avoid obstructing the normal public use of such property. You cant just throng into the streets and block traffic, however. You cant occupy the offices of public officials you dont like, or try to force your way into jails or police stations. You cant stand on public overpasses and drop bricks onto cars passing underneath. You cant assault people. You cant trespass onto private property, or wreak damage on it, or loot it.

These acts are already illegal. Alas, in recent years rioters here in North Carolina have committed each of these crimes, and more besides. Only some of the perpetrators were arrested. Only some of those received significant punishments. Moore drew the logical conclusion that current laws were not sufficiently strong enough to guarantee that those who engaged in the most violent and destructive behavior would ever see the inside of a jail cell.

He and other sponsors believe that raising the most serious of these offenses from misdemeanors to felonies would serve the cause of justice, preserve public order and private property, and deter future protestors from become rioters in the first place. For example, if people willingly engage in rioting that causes a death, or serious bodily injury, or property damage exceeding $2,500, theyd now be charged with a felony.

Shouldnt they be?

Cooper has an opportunity here to endorse a bipartisan measure that will make North Carolinians safer. He can demonstrate that the shrillest, most extreme voices in the Democratic Party do not speak for the party as a whole  just as he has insisted GOP lawmakers not indulge the shrillest, most extreme voices of the populist right.

He can lead by example.
GREENSBORO  A bill seeking to clarify how the Guilford County Board of Education fills vacancies is headed to the House floor of the General Assembly, and could be voted on by the full House as early as Wednesday afternoon.

It passed out of the NC House Local Government committee and the House rules committee on Tuesday.

State Rep. Jon Hardister, a Republican from Whitsett, sponsored the legislation, with hopes of ending a stalemate over the open District 3 seat on the Guilford County Board of Education.

The seat has been vacant since December when the former occupant, Republican Pat Tillman, resigned to join the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

The school board has three times voted down the Guilford County Republican Partys nominee for the position. Those votes fell along party lines, with the boards Democrats opposed to nominee Michael Logan and the Republicans in favor of him.

Hardister is attempting to clarify that the school board members cannot take their own opinions of a nominee into account and must vote in favor of approving the partys nominee to fill a seat previously held by that party. His bill strikes language that Robert Joyce, a professor of public law and government at the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill, identified as possibly causing ambiguity on that point, specific to the Guilford County Board of Education.

Hardister told members of the houses local government committee on Tuesday that his staff concluded that clerical error was to blame for the ambiguous language and that his bill would fix it.

One of the couple of questions Hardister got during the bills consideration came from Rep. John Autry, D-Mecklenburg, who asked whether Hardister would be open to changing the school board back to being elected on a non-partisan. That would naturally mean, among other things, reverting back to a non-partisan manner of filling vacancies.

Hardister that not only was he open to making the board non-partisan, hed sponsored a bill for it in the legislatures last session, and planned further conversations with colleagues about the prospect.

He said that while hed supported the 2013 bill to make the school board partisan, the feedback hes been getting is that people in Guilford County would mostly prefer that it be non partisan again. Still, he said, in the meantime, he would prefer to have the law be clear on the partisan vacancy-filling process.
RALEIGH  N.C. State freshman Luke Eriksen was shocked last fall, the first time he received a Wolf Alert notifying him of a student suicide.

But as the school year stretched on, the chilling alerts that one of his peers had taken their life became significantly more routine.

Over the weekend, Eriksen and other students received yet another alert: an N.C. State student had died  the fifth student suicide since the start of school this year.

It just makes me sad, really sad for these kids, Eriksen said. I wish I could do something to help.

Researchers have established that the pandemic exacerbated an already worsening mental health crisis in young adults. But its unclear why these tragedies have struck N.C. State this year.

Thats kind of the million dollar question: Why is this happening? said Lisa Zapata, a senior associate vice chancellor of academic and student affairs.

****

Its difficult to tell how the number of deaths by suicide at N.C. State this year compares to that of other universities. There is not a standardized process for reporting these deaths on campuses in North Carolina  or nationwide. That said, in the experience of Robert Cramer, a suicide prevention researcher at UNC-Charlotte, five deaths in one academic year is alarming.

Theyre either keeping really good data and transparent data or they have a problem, he said.

N.C. State administrators say they are stumped about why this is happening now or how to prevent future deaths  but they are trying.

I think that we would all wish there was an easy fix, Zapata said. I wish there was something that we could do right this second and solve the problem and no one else would die.

The unfortunate reality, she said, is that suicide is an extremely complex problem and the answers arent always clear.

According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37% of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the pandemic, and 44% reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year.

Two years later, many of these students are entering or have already entered college age, illuminating the growing mental health concern on campuses across the country.

Nationally, we remain in the midst of a mental health crisis that is affecting people of all ages and backgrounds. For college students, suicide is the leading cause of death across the U.S. Thats shocking, and it should make us all stop and think, said N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson in a statement to students on Oct. 10.

Unlike at UNC-Chapel Hill, where a spate of student deaths by suicide in 2021 prompted public commemorations and other gatherings, there is little obvious evidence of what N.C. State is going through on campus.

But students approached on campus recently were aware. And they feel at a loss for answers.

For sophomore psychology major Mila Lopez, the number of student deaths has impacted her own mental health.

It honestly made me feel depressed last semester, because (suicide notifications) just kept going and going, said Lopez, while sitting at a table behind the Talley Student Union. The first time I thought, OK. This is OK. Its one person you dont really know, but then it just started to become a theme.

After the first suicides in the fall, Woodson announced a Nov. 3 Wellness Day  days off from classes where students are encouraged to take a break from academic life and address their mental health. Several programming events take place across campus, including yoga and relaxation groups.

If wellness days is the temporary answer, the Band-Aid to the bullet wound, thats fine. But I dont know what the long-term thing is. And I dont know if theres any other schools that have good policies in place, Lopez said.

The next wellness day, scheduled for Feb. 16, was planned before the most recent student death by suicide.

****

Its been a tough year on the downtown Raleigh campus. In addition to the suicide deaths, three other students died this academic year. One from a car accident in Johnston County. Two others from what university officials have labeled only natural causes.

In November, the university established the Student Mental Health Task Force  made of students, faculty and staff  who will take on the challenge of making recommendations to improve student mental health and reduce the risk of more deaths by suicide. The task force is expected to publish a report this month that will lead to significant revisions of N.C. State policies, said Zapata, who co-chairs of the task force.

The school has already taken measures to make counseling more widely available to its students.

In December, the campus began offering 12 free tele-therapy appointments, citing student concerns about the significant wait that often accompanies non-crisis counseling appointments.

Same-day triage appointments are also available through the Counseling Center.

The school also began planning to add embedded clinicians, who are stationed in buildings that students frequent, making counseling more readily accessible.

N.C. State exceeds the recommended counselor to student ratio, 1 to 1000, that is set by the International Accreditation of Counseling Services. But demand for these services has risen since the pandemic, Zapata said.

Youve got this increased demand before the pandemic, the pandemic hits, and now weve got all kinds of challenges, she said.

Improving access to counseling is important in the short-term, but addressing the underlying problems that causes distress in the first place is crucial to addressing the issue, according to Cramer, the suicide prevention researcher at UNC-Charlotte.

Thats a lot more than just hiring a few more counselors in the counseling center, he said. Its a systematic examination and overhaul.

In the task forces listening sessions, N.C. State students have said they struggle with food insecurity and financial pressures, said Zapata. She most commonly hears that students are struggling to find a sense of belonging at the large university. This is consistent with research that shows that a lower sense of belonging is strongly associated with depression and suicidal ideation.

Zapata said the task forces report will delve into those systemic problems.

The bottom line is we are never going to be able to hire enough clinicians to meet the need, she said. If we can really focus on prevention and on some of those components then we get ahead of it.
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

Azerbaijani serviceman becomes the best in a course in Turkiye, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

In the course held in Turkiye, Captain Tural Yagubov, a member of the Azerbaijani Air Forces, took first place.

One of the schools run by the Turkish Air Training Command hosted an English language course for servicemen from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Ukraine, and Mauritania.

Service members who completed the course successfully received certificates.

Military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye first emerged in 1992, with an agreement signed between the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments on military education and weapon equipment and deals to help strengthen the bond between the two nations.

On June 15, 2021, the two countries signed a memorandum of alliance that cemented the existing military, political and economic cooperation.

The Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations that President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed during the first official visit to Shusha eight months after Azerbaijans victory in the war with Armenia, also focuses on defense cooperation.
The Helena Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding Justine Meixner, 16.

She has brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a dark sweatshirt with an American flag and gray sweatpants, police said.

Meixner is not missing under suspicious circumstances, authorities said.

If you have information, contact the Helena Police Department at 406-457-8865.

Anonymous tips can be left with Crimestoppers at 406-443-2000, online at www.helenacrimestoppers.com, or with the P3 Tips app.
This week Tom Kuglin and Sam Wilson talk about one legislator's quest to legalize the use of crossbows for hunters with disabilities and the process of drawing new legislative district maps.

This podcast from the Montana State News Bureau is created in partnership across five newsrooms  the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
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.
The Governor's Office on Wednesday announced a $2.1 million grant award for universal mental health screening in schools.

A legislative proposal to put those screenings into state law was voted down on the House of Representatives two days earlier. That bill would have provided the same funding figure beginning in fiscal year 2023.

The funds come from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief grant and was awarded by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Rural Behavioral Health Institute to fund the Screening Linked to Care Program through the 2024-2025 school year.

No young Montanan struggling with their mental health is alone, Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a press release Wednesday. By investing in voluntary universal mental health screening in our schools, we can get young Montanans the help they need, reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and build a stronger, healthier Montana.

The Rural Behavioral Health Institute conducted pilot programs of the school-based suicide prevention intervention screenings in 10 schools between 2020 and 2022, engaging with more than 1,000 middle and high school students.

Thirty-seven schools have committed to implementing the program this program, the Governor's Office said in the release.

This is a terrific opportunity to expand this important work, Janet Lindow of the Rural Behavioral Health Institute said in the press release. The pilot projects have been successful, and we look forward to working with additional schools in the coming months.

The 2021 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 41% of high school students, the highest rate ever recorded, self-reported symptoms of depression over the prior year. More than one in five seriously considered suicide.

RBHI has done an excellent job piloting universal screening in Montana, and were excited to expand this program to more schools, DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton said in the release.
Montanas new Commissioner of Political Practices, Chris Gallus, secured his confirmation Tuesday with a 47-3 vote in the Senate.

The Butte native and longtime lobbyist was nominated last month by Gov. Greg Gianforte to succeed former Commissioner Jeff Mangan, who left office at the beginning of the year after serving out his six-year term. The Commissioner of Political Practices is Montana's top enforcer of campaign, lobbying and ethics laws. The office also maintains the state's databases of campaign finance and lobbying records.

After the vote, Gallus said he was grateful and humbled by the near-unanimous support. He watched the vote not from up in the Senate gallery, but down in the hallway between the two chambers  where lobbyists typically mill during the floor sessions to catch lawmakers before and after.

"I had some luck down here, and I'm not sure I had any luck up there," he quipped.

He added, "I appreciate the solid vote, I think it bodes well for the office as well to get that sort of bipartisan support."

Gallus replaces Mangan, whose six-year term as commissioner concluded at the end of 2022. Despite being a former Democratic lawmakers, Mangan's time in office was generally met with praise from both sides of the aisle.

That hasn't always been the case. Mangan's predecessor, appointed by a Democratic governor, was a frequent target of GOP complaints of unfair treatment.

Despite a lengthy political history that includes working closely with the Montana Republican Party and conservative causes, Gallus only received three "no" votes, all from the 16-member Senate Democratic Caucus.

Commissioners are limited to a single, six-year term under state law.
MOWEAQUA  Keegan Virden was not a selfish person.

He was a class clown and didnt know a stranger, according to his mother, Joni Virden. He always wanted to make people smile. And like his fellow student athlete Conner Rowcliff, he loved spending time with his family and friends more than anything.

For Joni Virden, seeing people take time out of their days to donate blood was a fitting tribute to her son and his friend.

It just shows that there are so many people out there that are just unselfish, that theyre coming in and they know that it may not bring somebody back, but it is going to help somebody, said Virden. You never know when a loved one is going to need the blood. So having it there to save someone, it means a lot.

On Tuesday, Central A&M High School hosted a blood drive for the American Red Cross in memory of Virden and Rowcliff, two students who died after a car accident outside Assumption in July.

The schools student council helps organize blood drives biannually, but this one was special. Fifty-two appointments were scheduled in advance, organizers said, over double what a normal drive might see. Twenty of those appointments were from students.

I think weve had a huge success from it, said student council officer Alana Harlow, 16. I mean, the last donation we had, what, 15 people?

Walk-in appointments were also expected, said fellow council officer Jayne Damery, 18, meaning the drive could even bring in triple the normal donors.

That could be because memorial blood drives help put faces to what can be a faceless issue, said Julie Bly, account manager for Shelby and Christian counties at the American Red Cross.

This is in memory of the boys so that the community and whoever participates knows that its for a reason, other than just saving an unknown life, Bly said. For every person that is here, were saving one life.

Students were at the forefront of recruiting volunteers and donors, Bly said, which helped make the process more personable. The schools drives usually see about 12 to 15 student donors, so 20 scheduled appointments was a significant increase.

Students involved said they appreciated the chance to remember Virden and Rowcliff.

We want to give back to the people that gave to our friends, Damery said.

Following the July 12 car accident which claimed Virdens and Rowcliffs lives and injured two other students, donated pints of blood were used in medical treatments for all four boys, Central A&M High School Principal Charlie Brown wrote in a Facebook post advertising the event.

I mean, those two were some of our best friends, said council officer Maddix Plain, 17. Ive known them since we were, I mean, (in) kindergarten. So anything we can do to memorialize them and help us remember them, were going to jump right on that without a second thought.

Joni Virden said its this support that has comforted her family amid their grief.

These towns are family, she said of the Assumption and Moweaqua communities. These towns, they support each other here. You couldnt ask for a better community. I mean, this wasnt our first rodeo. Four years ago, my other son was in a four-wheeler accident, and he was in a coma for seven days. And the community came together again. So its overwhelming.

Photos: Earnest or playful, Valentine's Day cards have long history Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards Valentine's Day Cards
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter "probably toward the end of this year."

Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him.

"I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financial healthy place," Musk said when asked about when he'd name a CEO. "I'm guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company."

It remains unclear how seriously Musk will take that timeline. His comment came only hours after he posted images of his shiba inu dog, Floki, on Twitter as the company's "CEO."

"So much better than that other guy!" wrote Musk, who often posts memes. After making the posts, a cryptocurrency known as Dogecoin, based around the image of a shiba inu meme, rose in value by around 5%. Musk previously has suggested Twitter accept Dogecoin in transactions.

Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla. In recent months, however, more attention has been focused on the chaos surrounding his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military's use of Musk's satellite internet service Starlink as it defends itself against Russia's ongoing invasion has put Musk off and on at the center of the war.

Musk offered a wide-ranging 35-minute discussion that touched on the billionaire's fears about artificial intelligence, the collapse of civilization and the possibility of space aliens. But questions about Twitter kept coming back up as Musk described both Tesla and SpaceX as able to function without his direct, day-to-day involvement.

"Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse," he said. "There's work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering."

Musk also sought to portray his takeover of San Francisco-based Twitter as a cultural correction. Since taking over the company, he restored Donald Trump's access to the platform after the then-president lost access to the website after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Musk also reinstated the accounts of several people who spread misinformation about the coronavirus, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

"I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world," Musk said. "And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche."

Musk's takeover at Twitter has seen mass firings and other cost-cutting measures. Musk, who is on the hook for about $1 billion in yearly interest payments for his purchase, has been trying to find way to maximize profits at the company.

However, some of Musk's decisions conflicted with the reasons that journalists, governments and others rely on Twitter as an information-sharing platform.

Musk on Wednesday described the need for users to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. However, a confused rollout to a paid verified account system saw some impersonate famous companies, leading to a further withdrawal of needed advertising cash to the site.

"Twitter is certainly quite the rollercoaster," Musk acknowledged.

Musk warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated "very carefully," describing it as akin to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs. He also cautioned against having a single civilization or "too much cooperation" on Earth, saying it could "collapse" a society that's like a "tiny candle in a vast darkness."

When asked about the existence of aliens, Musk had a firm response.

"The crazy thing is, I've seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever. And I think I'd know because of SpaceX," he said. "I don't think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me."
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is presenting his budget proposal to Illinois lawmakers as part of the annual State of the State address.

Below is text of the speech, as distributed by the governor's office:

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Leader McCombie, Leader Curran, Lieutenant Governor Stratton, our Constitutional Officers, members of the General Assembly, Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court, Cabinet Members, First Lady MK Pritzker, Second Gentleman Bryan Echols, esteemed guests  its a distinct honor to come before you today.

The last time I stood at this podium was back in early 2020. Three of the four current legislative leaders had not yet taken up their current posts. And the fourth, the Senate President, was just weeks into his new job and, well, back then, he had more hair. Then a year later Chris Welch became Speaker, and I began to wonder if baldness was a new sign of power in Illinois state government. But I want to thank Leader McCombie and Leader Curran for dispelling the myth and joining the Hair Club. I appreciate your full heads of hair vaulting us back into the majority.

But I digress.

Fiscal Responsibility and a Sound Economy

The last time I stood here seems like a lifetime ago. So many fiscal challenges laid ahead. And so much progress has been made. What was once an Illinois with $17 billion in overdue bills is now an Illinois that pays its bills on time. What was once an Illinois that went years without a budget is now an Illinois that has passed four balanced budgets in a row. What was once a state with no cushion to protect it in an economic downturn is now an Illinois on track to have a $2.3 billion Rainy Day Fund. What was once an Illinois with a credit rating on the verge of junk status is now an Illinois getting credit upgrades.

Our fiscal progress is remarkable.

Remember the $230 million in College Illinois debt? Paid.

Remember the $900 million in group health insurance debt? Paid.

How about the $800 million Thompson center liability? Paid.

$4.5 billion Unemployment Trust Fund debt? Paid.

The $1.3 billion debt owed to Illinois treasury funds swept by previous governors? Paid.

$8 billion of overdue bills? Paid.

As of Fiscal Year 2023, all our states short-term and medium-term liabilities will have been eliminated. All of it. Our budgets are built on a solid foundation of normalized state revenue and more efficient management of state resources.

We have used our surpluses to chip away at our long term liabilities too, including $500 million more into our pension stabilization fund over the last two years and my proposal this year to increase that by another $200 million. The percent of the budget needed to meet our statutory obligations has declined as our revenues have grown and our fiscal fortunes have improved.

Maybe some who are listening to this are asking, What does this all mean to me?

Heres what it means. Weve reduced the burden on Illinois taxpayers by eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in interest payments. Weve reduced taxes on those who can least afford them, and were finally investing in what really matters  improving education and making college more affordable, modernizing our transportation systems, improving public safety and assisting law enforcement to make our neighborhoods safer, reducing homelessness and increasing mental healthcare, cutting taxes and fees on small businesses, attracting new businesses, giving more state revenue to local governments and schools so they can stop raising your property taxes, and so much more. Getting our fiscal house in order is improving our economy, which crossed the threshold of $1 trillion in GDP at the end of last year.

In the age old fight between happy warriors and miserys carnival barkers, weve shown that if we resolve to do it, happy warriors win every time. And we are winning.

Which is why, here in Illinois in 2023, Im confident in saying the state of our State is stronger than it has been in decades, and were getting stronger every day.

Fiscal responsibility isnt easy, nor is it a one-time fix. Its an annual effort that requires persistence. It requires conservative revenue estimates, as all of my budget proposals have. But when done right, consistent balanced budgets strengthen the institutions our residents rely upon, creates new opportunities for success, and makes life easier for the people of Illinois.

People like Anne Tyree. For more than two decades, Anne has worked at Centerstone  a nonprofit that provides treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. For her, behavioral health is a personal issue that has touched her own family in profound ways.

In years past, Anne saw state funding slashed for Centerstones patients, young and old alike, who are among the most vulnerable Illinoisans. She describes the experience as nothing short of traumatic. When Illinois couldnt pay its bills, Centerstone was forced to close outpatient facilities and shutter vital programs. Many other behavioral health providers faced a similar fate.

It was heartbreaking. People on their way to recovery  single parents, children in rural communities, people struggling financially  didnt have access to critical resources and services that could have saved their lives.

Anne will tell you that shes seen a complete transformation over the last four years because of stable budgeting and a dedication to mental health and substance use disorder treatment. The statistics tell the story. During the prior administration Illinois was 16th in the nation for behavioral health services. Today, we are number nine and climbing.

Ive been so adamant about balancing the budget because we need to ramp up our investments in services like behavioral health, and we couldnt promise it unless we were sure we could pay for it.

Anne Tyree is here with us today, and I know we all want to express our gratitude to her and Centerstone and behavioral health providers everywhere for all theyve done for our most vulnerable.

I do not tell you Annes story to say, our work here is done. Rather, it demonstrates that without fiscal responsibility, we end up with trauma and chaos for the people we serve. Our responsible approach to budgeting has moved us away from the days of lurching from crisis to crisis, and instead is producing better outcomes and a brighter future for Illinois.

You, the majority of the General Assembly, are succeeding. You, the majority of the people of Illinois who elected the General Assembly, the Constitutional officers, and me, are succeeding. Together, weve slogged through the tough times and are making the responsible decisions for our future.

In the first year of the pandemic, we focused on meeting the core needs of our states residents, like healthcare, housing, and food  and we balanced the budget. The next year, when federal relief came, we distributed vaccines and invested in recovery for our people and our businesses  and we responsibly balanced our budget. When the economy began to recover, we paid off overdue debts, improved our long term fiscal outlook, and gave tax relief to every Illinoisan  and we balanced the budget. At every turn, a majority of the General Assembly embraced the necessary fiscal stabilization measures to set us on the right path. You returned dollars to taxpayers, and you made prudent, transformative investments for Illinois future.

Smart Start Illinois Early Childhood Education Plan

Today, I ask you to partner with me once again  this time on the long-term investment that has the greatest return for taxpayers with the most positive social and economic impact I have ever come to you with.

Its called Smart Start Illinois, and it will make our state the best place in the nation to raise young children. Smart Start is comprised of four elements: pre-K, childcare, early intervention, and home visiting. It also makes our existing programs more equitable, giving moderate income families greater access to quality programs, and investing in an early childhood workforce made up largely of women and people of color.

Smart Start Pre-K is a four year plan that will allow access to pre-school for every three and four year old in Illinois. It will increase our funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant program this year by $75 million. Thats $179 million more than when I took office.

Smart Start Pre-K will provide new center-based and school-based classrooms, improve quality across the board, attract new professionals to the field, and ensure we reach our most vulnerable. In the first year alone, 5,000 more seats will be available for children across the state.

Of course, adding preschool seats only works if you have the staff to support them. Thats where the Early Childhood ACE Scholarship program comes in. Last year with the legislative leadership of Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas, we began investing in community colleges and universities to build a pipeline of early childhood educators. Already nearly 1500 people are on a path to get up-skilled, and I propose to continue providing this opportunity for the next four years.

Next, Childcare. Working parents need more quality childcare options. The broader shortage of labor we are seeing across the state right now cant be addressed without growing the availability of childcare for working families. But Illinois current childcare assistance program is based on unreliable and unpredictable funding that makes it hard for providers to invest in their workers or to grow. The current system is based on attendance in a given month, which as all parents know fluctuates if kids are sick or parents work status changes. When attendance falls under a certain minimum level in a month, the providers reimbursement rate for that month gets cut even though their fixed costs for providing services that month dont change. As any small business owner knows, that causes tremendous uncertainty for the future. Going forward, thats going to change. So I propose Smart Start Workforce Compensation Contracts to move us towards more stable funding to support high-quality programming and competitive wages for caregivers. The contracts will create a more equitable system for child care providers and families alike, and it will require an improved standard of care across the field.

Although we provide childcare assistance for parents who already have jobs, weve never before provided childcare for someone whos unemployed but looking for a job. Its nearly impossible to interview with an employer if youre simultaneously the 24/7 primary caregiver for your family. So, in 2021, we initiated a program that provides three months of childcare for unemployed parents who are engaged in a job search or a job training program in preparation for a new job. Here with us today is Itanzia Dawson  one of those parents. Our new childcare assistance for job seekers gave Itanzia the opportunity to go back to school  and now, she has a new career as a teachers aide at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Little Village on the West Side of Chicago. Lets recognize Itanzia for her hard work and commitment to building a better life for her family.

From Chicago to Peoria to Marion, this transformative new program is putting industrious parents like Itanzia to work. Smart Start Childcare makes this program permanent.

Too many families cant access early childhood programs at all because they live in an early childhood desert where no providers or available spots exist within a reasonable radius of their home or work. Smart Start Illinois will allocate $100 million of new capital to double the Rebuild Illinois investment already helping providers build new and expand existing facilities. This program will be the beginning of the end of early childhood deserts in Illinois, and working families will have more and better options for their children.

Third, Smart Start Early Intervention funding will support the essential state program that gives infants and toddlers birth to age three with developmental delays, autism, or other diagnosed medical conditions the services they need, including for speech and language challenges and occupational and physical therapies. For years, these families have suffered from underfunding of Early Intervention services. Not any longer. A $40 million increase is allocated in the FY24 budget, which will increase rates and allow thousands of children and their families to maintain access to these critical services.

Finally, home visiting in Illinois is an evidence-based program that has a long history of improving maternal and child health, preventing child abuse and neglect, preventing crime and domestic violence, and promoting childrens development and readiness to participate in school. We arent reaching enough families in these vital infant and toddler years, but Smart Starts expanded Home Visiting funding will allow us to help even more families.

Thanks to our stronger fiscal standing, we can afford to do this, and as every provider, teacher, and parent in this state knows, we cant afford to wait.

The research is clear. Smart Start Illinois will save taxpayers $7 for every one dollar invested and will vault Illinois to national leadership in early childhood development. Enhancing quality early care and education is a win-win solution for re-mobilizing parents in the workforce, enhancing brain development and kindergarten readiness, saving taxpayers money, and increasing economic activity now and in the decades ahead.

Historic Education Investments (K-12)

On a broader scale, our increased investments in education have already been paying off. Last year, Illinois high schoolers notched their highest graduation rate in over a decade  with a notable increase among Black and Hispanic students. Every demographic group in Illinois experienced accelerated growth in both English language arts and math  outpacing pre-pandemic levels. More students took Career and Technical Education or dual credit courses than ever before. And US News and World Report ranked Illinois 6th in the nation for Pre-K to 12 education, and among the top ten most populous states, were number one.

Compare that to 2018, prior to the implementation of evidence-based funding, when 168 districts in Illinois were funded at levels under 60 percent of adequacy targets. Today, only 2 districts are in that lowest category.

Every year, an international organization based in London evaluates and chooses the worlds best schools. In 2022, Chicagos Curie High School, a public school on the Southwest side of Chicago, was one of just five schools in the world to earn this ranking  and it was the only one chosen in North America. By melding great academics with an exceptional arts program, along with individualized mental and social-emotional support, Curie High School students are given the resources they needed to thrive.

I wanted to recognize the commitment of Curies educators, social workers, counselors and support staff, so I asked Curie High Schools Principal Homero Penuelas to join us here today. Principal Penuelas, thank you for setting such a great example of educational growth and showing the excellence Illinois schooling has to offer.

When it comes to K-12 education, weve come a long way, and we still have a long way to go. Which is why Im proposing we increase our investment in K-12 education by another $506 million: including $350 million in EBF, an $86 million increase in grants for transportation and special education, and an additional $70 million targeted at educator shortages. My teacher pipeline proposal directs the $70 million annually over each of the next three years to the 170 school districts with the most acute needs and vacancies. Those districts represent over 80% of the unfilled teaching positions in our state. Filling them will improve the student-teacher ratio for over 871,000 students.

Historic Education Investments (Higher Ed)

When we talk about early childhood and K-12 education, what were really talking about is preparing them for what comes next, which can be a post-secondary degree or a job. But unless were making it affordable to attend the institutions and programs that provide the necessary 21st century degrees and skills, were not fulfilling on our promise of cradle to career opportunity.

Here with us today is the Mayor of Bloomington, Mboka Mwilambwe. Born the youngest of seven children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mboka came to the United States in 1989 to pursue a college education. And thanks to financial assistance from ISU, Mboka did that right here in Illinois, graduating from with a bachelors degree in mathematics and then a masters in education. He became a U.S. citizen in 2008, and after a career as a college administrator, Mboka was elected Mayor of Bloomington  the first African American ever to hold that position.

Seated next to him is Jaichan Tyrique Smith from Chicago who is currently a junior at University of Illinois-Springfield, majoring in psychology with a minor in child advocacy studies. He plans to pursue a career as a child clinical psychologist so he can help the next generation of young Illinoisans. In Jaichans words, he could not have attended college without the MAP Grant program.

Mboka and Jaichan, you represent the promise of what college affordability can do for someones future, and how our state benefits from it. Your success is our success. Please stand so we can recognize you both.

I am determined to make sure that every person in Illinois has that same opportunity.

When I first took office, our state was losing high school graduates to other states because Illinois state government had cut funding for higher education and had fallen behind other states in providing financial support for students. Think about that for a moment: we were losing our brightest young people to other state universities because we werent providing enough students with scholarships or providing a large enough award, so other states were simply doing what was in their own best interests by stealing our best economic assets  our brightest minds. And we know that when students leave their home state for college, 70% of them never come back.

I set out to change that, and working with the majority in the General Assembly, thats exactly what we did. This year, every single student who is eligible for a MAP grant now gets one, and we are providing larger scholarships than ever before. While other states battle dwindling enrollment numbers, our public universities are seeing extraordinary growth. For the second year in a row, freshman enrollment at our state universities has increased substantially  and at a much faster rate than the rest of the nation.

But we can do more.

With a $100 million increase to MAP, we can make history. Together with Pell grants, virtually everyone at or below median income in Illinois can go to community college tuition-free. That means higher wages and better jobs in healthcare, IT, construction management, manufacturing, accounting, and much more.

For decades we neglected direct investments in our state universities and community colleges. I propose we raise our direct investment in them by $100 million  the largest increase in more than two decades. This is yet another way to make college more affordable.

After years of decline, were seeing growth across higher education in Illinois thats well above the national average. This is our moment to take it all to the next level.

Economic Growth

Just a few weeks ago, Illinois was named the number one state in our region for workforce development. Thats because were making the necessary investments in job training. Lets hold onto that title by investing another $25 million into Illinois Works for diverse hiring in the trades, $10 million for high school vocational training for the electric vehicle workforce, $1 million for data center operator training, and $20 million in grants to recruit, train, and rapidly upskill workers for job openings at Illinois companies.

And were going to need every one of those skilled workers and many more, because as of today, we have more than 81,000 more job openings in Illinois than we have skilled workers to fill them. And our economy and our industries are continuing to grow.

Capital investments in Illinois through EDGE agreements nearly tripled since before the pandemic  from $348 million in 2019 to $1 billion in 2022. And the number of new jobs created by EDGE has jumped nearly 60 percent.

The data center industry is booming in Illinois  creating more than 8,000 jobs just since the passage of our bipartisan Data Center Tax Credit in 2019. Since then, Illinois has become the second largest data center market in the United States, and the fifth largest in the world. And our expansion of clean energy production under CEJA is expected to feed our data center growth for years to come.

Thanks to our Film Tax Credit, TV and film production revenue in Illinois reached a record high last year of almost $700 million, including $400 million in wages paid and more than 15,400 jobs.

Cannabis legalization has created more than 30,000 jobs since 2020, and Illinois is home to the countrys most diverse cannabis industry and some of the largest companies.

From Kellogg and 4Front to Ferrero and Tyson to Rivian and Lion Electric, large businesses are moving to and expanding in Illinois.

So too are small businesses. After a successful first round of grants, we are adding an additional $20 million to our Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Streets Capital Program to spruce up and modernize central business districts all across Illinois so small businesses will thrive. To make it easier to do business in Illinois, we are creating a one-stop business portal to help small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs figure out what they need to do to start and grow a business, get permits and win business with state government. And with equity as a guiding principle, we are providing $10 million in assistance for minority-owned businesses who plan to expand in Illinois. Theres more to do, but were ensuring that Illinois is open for business.

Public Safety and Violence Prevention

But we need to be safe in our businesses and our homes. So weve beefed up support for law enforcement to reduce crime. In 2022, Illinois State Polices Metropolitan Enforcement Groups and Drug Task Forces across the state seized 679 firearms and over 13 tons of drugs including multiple major interdictions of deadly fentanyl, and 1,942 individuals involved in crimes were arrested. With increased patrols and technology, ISP cut the number of homicides on Chicago area expressways by 88% and shootings dropped nearly in half. Thats real progress, and this years budget continues funding the hiring of additional troopers and upgrading the tools to catch perpetrators.

Rebuilding our Social Services

Hand in hand with public safety are the human services necessary for people most in need. Over the last decade, human services in Illinois were challenged in two ways: first, by massive budget cuts, and then, by the pandemic. Among the areas most in need has been behavioral health services. In so many ways, the pandemic exposed the cracks in this system  leaving too many to deal with crises without any help.

Weve looked at ways both big and small to address these needs.

Today in Illinois there is no single, consistent front door for young people or for families to walk through if they need behavioral health care. There is no central website that parents can search or phone number to call. Instead, they are left to navigate a confusing and overlapping multiple agency bureaucracy on their own.

Thats going to change. The FY24 budget invests $10 million to create our first care portal and resource referral tools for families seeking care. They can learn about the resources available to them and be matched with what meets their needs best, all in one place.

Nearly a year ago, I launched the Childrens Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative to evaluate and redesign the delivery of behavioral health services for children and adolescents throughout our state. This initiative recognizes that while DCFS and DHS are on the frontlines of caring for our most vulnerable children, it will take a whole of government, inter-agency approach to truly provide the care our children deserve.

In alignment with the initiatives recommendations, we are investing another $10 million towards a two-year expansion of the Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services program focused on youth aged 11 to 17 who are at risk of involvement in the child welfare system or the juvenile justice system. This funding will expand 24/7 services to youth  including assessments, crisis stabilization, and housing.

This fiscal year, for the first time in a decade, DHS began selecting children from the PUNS waiting list, a database that registers individuals with developmental disabilities, to receive home and community-based care. This work must continue. Over the next fiscal year, DHS plans to offer services to an additional 500 children on the list. This will provide these children and their families access to needed services and supports while decreasing the States waitlist for services.

One of the most difficult challenges we face right now in the field of social and mental health services are the critical worker shortages we are seeing across the country. Let me be clear: there is no bigger challenge in this arena than the workforce problem. And we are competing with 49 other states to try and attract people to these jobs here in Illinois. Providing more competitive wages to develop and support our workforce is an absolute necessity.

For the last several years, I have directed state funds towards supporting wage increases for our private sector provider partners including those who work with the Department of Children and Family Services; that continues in this budget proposal. And an additional $120 million in the FY24 budget for the Department of Human Services allows us to continue rate increases to make Illinois more competitive in the market for workers who serve people with developmental disabilities.

The investments weve made in social service agencies over the past four years and that we are proposing for the coming year will finally have reversed the hollowing out that occurred in human services under the previous administration if we are able to hire up enough staff in this tight labor market. We are cautiously optimistic that we can do so.

Fighting Poverty and Ending Homelessness

This entire budget proposal rests on our shared goal: to give Illinois families the support and opportunities for the big building blocks of a good life: food access, housing, and healthcare. Certainly most people wont need to rely on government for those things. But we will have failed everyone in Illinois if we dont place a higher priority on tackling poverty  because fewer people living in financial distress means a better quality of life for everyone in our state.

So, this budget proposes increasing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families  TANF  by $50 million so our families have more help to cover basic necessities like transportation, electricity, and food.

We also need to recognize that it does no good to provide a family with more money to purchase food if they have no local grocery store to shop at.

Government at the state and local level has tried hard to attract big retail food chains to neighborhoods that need them with tax incentives and flashy ribbon cutting ceremonies.

But after the cameras leave, often so do the commercial chains  leaving poorer rural and urban communities high and dry. Its time we return to a tried and true model  one where those communities are served by independent, local grocery stores that sell food grown by Illinois farmers.

This budget includes a first of its kind investment of $20 million to launch the Illinois Grocery Initiative, assisting municipalities and independent grocers to open or expand grocery stores in underserved rural towns and urban neighborhoods  with an additional $2 million going towards purchasing healthy, nutritious food from Illinois farmers.

When youre addressing poverty, hand in hand with food to eat is a place to call home. In Illinois, over 120,000 people experience homelessness annually and over 76,000 children face doubled up homelessness living in overcrowded shared housing. In Illinois, Black people are eight times more likely to experience homelessness than white people, but the faces of Illinoisans with no home to go to are not homogenousthey include single parents with infants and toddlers, 6th graders trying to complete their homework using toilets as a desk in temporary shared housing, and LGBTQ+ high schoolers who were kicked out of their homes by their parents. Homelessness is not an identity, its a set of circumstances.

Today, I am proud to unveil Home Illinois, a plan with a goal to invest $50 million this year into prevention, crisis response, housing units, and staffing.

To see success, look no further than Rockford, Illinois.

Working in partnership with community organizers, judges, and housing authorities, Mayor Tom McNamara and the City of Rockford have engaged in successfully assisting homeless residents in their transition to apartments and helping struggling families avoid eviction from their homes.

The state should help other communities do the same  mobilizing every agency and every resource at our disposal, so no Illinoisan is without a home.

Expanding Reproductive Healthcare

Some of the most marginalized people in our society are women, especially women of color, who earn the least and take on some of the greatest societal burdens. When conservatives on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they didnt strip the right to an abortion from wealthy women, they took it from the most vulnerable women.

I wont accept that for the women of Illinois, and neither do the majority of the people of Illinois. Thats why, last month, we expanded our pool of abortion providers and eliminated barriers to access: allowing birth centers to provide all reproductive care, eliminating copays for birth control and abortive medications.

Since Roe was overturned, all the states around us have taken away reproductive freedom from their residents, so Illinois healthcare providers are seeing triple the demand, with desperate patients showing up at the crack of dawn every day.

Thats why we are establishing a Reproductive Health Public Navigation Hotline, so patients can call ahead for a risk assessment and find the services that will meet their needs. From transportation and lodging to insurance coverage options, the hotline will help patients traverse a complex and overwhelmed system. To address the shortage of reproductive healthcare workers, we are providing $5 million toward learning collaboratives for worker training.

Lets not pull punches  this is the result of a national conservative crusade to legislate against the most intimate matters of a womans basic healthcare. Im sure there are some elected officials who would like us to stop talking about abortion.

Well, too bad.

There are women in this country right now who are facing untold mental and physical anguish because of the fall of Roe v. Wade. Here in Illinois, women know their rights are protected, but that doesnt take away our obligation as Americans to speak up for the rest of the nation.

Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure

In the past few years, we saw the critical role that our public health infrastructure plays in our residents wellbeing. No one was prepared for a disease that took more than 36,000 Illinoisans lives in 30 months and affected hundreds of thousands of others. And every responsible public health expert will tell you that the next pandemic will not take another 100 years to arrive. We must act on the lessons from COVID and build a more robust state and local public health infrastructure so we are prepared for whatever comes our way.

We must invest $45 million in upgrading our Department of Public Healths IT for Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance system and Long-Term Care systems  which are tools states use to monitor the spread of disease, prevent outbreaks, and protect our most vulnerable residents. And well couple that with an $8.5 million investment to assist public health professionals identifying and projecting the potential impact of new and emerging diseases on the horizon. If COVID-19 taught us anything, we must invest in the tools to quickly and aggressively contain their spread.

Every day Ive held this office since the outbreak of COVID, I think about the healthcare workers who risked their lives to save others  going home but needing to keep their distance from their spouses, parents or children, battling exhaustion and burnout, and too often having to deliver the worst possible news despite their best efforts. Our healthcare workers are heroes  and though there is never enough we can do to repay them for their sacrifice, I propose we makes their lives just a little bit easier by reducing the debt burden they face.

Thats why the FY24 budget includes $3 million for Healthcare Worker Loan Repayment and Scholarship programs  alongside a $25 million rate increase for practitioners to broaden access to critical healthcare services, from an obstetrician for a pregnant woman to a behavioral health specialist for a struggling teen.

Delivering what matters to Illinois residents and their families is what defines good governance. Weve all been asked to represent our constituents with tenacity and honor. And to speak up when our common American values are challenged.

Our history is a series of stops and starts, of ups and downs, of our ancestors getting it tragically wrong and courageously right. The only thing we can hope for in this work is that the values we attach our names to will make our grandchildren proud.

After all, this is the Land of Lincoln. We have a responsibility to that legacy.

As Elie Wiesel said, We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

With that in mind, I want to take sides on something I feel obligated to speak out about, especially given the history of anti-Semitism and discrimination suffered by my ancestors and that persists for so many others today.

There is a virulent strain of nationalism plaguing our nation, led by demagogues who are pushing censorship, with a particular attack right now on school board members and library trustees. Its an ideological battle by the right wing, hiding behind a claim that they would protect our children  but whose real intention is to marginalize people and ideas they dont like. This has been done in the past, and it doesnt stop with just snuffing out ideas.

This afternoon Ive laid out a budget agenda that does everything possible to invest in the education of our children. Yet its all meaningless if we become a nation that bans books from school libraries about racism suffered by Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, and tells kids they cant talk about being gay, and signals to Black and Brown people and Asian Americans and Jews and Muslims that our authentic stories cant be told.

Im the father of two children. I care a great deal about their education. Like every good parent, I want to be involved in what they learn. Im also a proud American. Our nation has a great history, and much to be proud of. I want my children to learn that history. But I dont want them to be lied to. I want them to learn our true history, warts and all. Illinois young people shouldnt be kept from learning about the realities of our world. I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome, and thoughtful about what comes next.

Here in Illinois, we dont hide from the truth, we embrace it. Thats what makes us strong.

I want to conclude today with sharing a story of someone who exemplifies the tenacity of our people here in the Prairie State.

In 1951, at the age of 18, Joyce DeFauw arrived on Northern Illinois Universitys campus to pursue a degree in economics. But life had other plans. She met her husband, Don Freeman Sr. and left NIU to raise a family.

Seven decades later  nine children, and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren later  Joyce decided she could focus on herself again, and she re-enrolled in college to finish her degree. Once again, life had other plansa once-in-a-generation pandemic. But that didnt deter her. She finished her classes on a laptop given to her as a gift  and just two months ago, at age 90, Joyce walked across the stage to receive her Bachelor of General Studies, becoming the oldest person in history to graduate from NIU.

Joyces story is a classic Illinois tale. We are a stubborn people  we persevere no matter the challenge. We welcome opportunity for improvement. And when we rise, we rise together.

I see it in Mboka Mwilambwe who received a tuition waiver from this welcoming state and has returned it tenfold as Bloomingtons Mayor, and in Jaichan Tyrique Smith, who is on his way to becoming a child clinical psychologist. I see it in Itanzia Dawson, a mom determined to provide a better life for her family and who now educates the children of Little Village. I see it in Anne Tyree, who supports mental health patients and their families who are going through the same thing she has. I see it in neighbors who helped each other through the pandemic, in small businesses contributing to their communities success, in the determination of our young people to make positive change for our state and nation.

We are a people with enough empathy to be kind to one another, enough grit to persevere, and just enough confidence to believe we can make a difference in this world. Thats the Illinois that I know. That's the Illinois we all represent.

Thank you. God bless the great state of Illinois and the United States of America.

READ OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Pritzker's 2024 budget proposal to include $250 million for pre-K expansion

BRENDEN MOORE

SPRINGFIELD  Gov. J.B. Pritzker's fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, to be presented in an address to the legislature today, will include $250 million in new spending to expand access to early childhood education.

The quarter-billion dollar investment will serve as as a down payment on a multi-year plan aimed at providing every Illinois child with access to pre-K.

"Thanks to our improved fiscal standing, we can afford to do this," Pritzker said on a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon. "And as every provider, teacher and parent in this state will tell you, we can't afford to wait."

Pritzker's plan, dubbed "Smart Start Illinois," includes an additional $75 million in early childhood block grant funding that will create 5,000 new pre-K spots for low-income children.

The eventual goal is to ramp up funding levels to create 20,000 total spots, which state officials say is the amount needed for every child that wants one. This will be done over multiple budgets, Pritzker said.

The governor's proposal also includes $130 million to stabilize the state's childcare system and to increase wages for caregivers, $40 million for early intervention programs and $5 million to expand the Department of Human Services' home visiting program.

Pritzker's proposal appears to make good on a promise he made in his second inaugural address last month to go all in for our children and make preschool available to every family throughout the state.

In that speech, Pritzker also called for making college tuition-free for every working-class family" in the state, though he did not offer any hints Tuesday regarding new funding for that initiative.

He also did not confirm whether the additional $350 million in K-12 spending  a separate but related topic  called for under the state's evidence-based funding formula would be included.

However, the rollout of the new pre-K initiative confirms that Pritzker, after years of holding the line on the creation of new spending programs, has green-lit outlays that extend beyond the next fiscal year.

This reflects growing optimism about the fiscal condition of the state. Illinois has experienced a series of credit rating upgrades and run budget surpluses in the past couple of years, buoyed by robust post-pandemic revenue growth in income and sales taxes, and federal stimulus funds.

This strong revenue performance led the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Governor's Office of Management and Budget to revise their revenue estimates $4.9 billion and $3.7 billion higher, respectively, for fiscal year 2023.

These unanticipated revenues have given Pritzker a level of budget flexibility that no governor has had in more than two decades.

Over the past few years, Pritzker and state lawmakers have largely spent these excess funds on one-time expenses related to the pandemic, making extra payments towards the state's colossal pension obligation and replenishing the the "rainy day" fund.

While the governor's budget office, in its November report, projected a $357 million budget surplus in fiscal year 2024, it projects a deficit of $384 million in 2025 and even more in subsequent years.

Still, the state has taken major steps in just a few years. In October 2019, GOMB had projected multibillion dollar deficits in the coming years. Now, they are far less, signaling that the state has made a dent in dealing with its structural deficit even as long-term obligations like pension payments remain.

With money available in the budget this year, Pritzker said now is the time to make the investment in early childhood.

"Our budgets have been balanced and we've been running surpluses," Pritzker said. "We're in a much better fiscal position today. And so when I say that we're aiming to continue to invest in early childhood, it's based on the knowledge that we finally have our fiscal house in order and ... we ought to be investing in this."

Pritzker cited a study that found that taxpayers save $7 for every $1 spent on early childhood education, with long-term benefits including better health outcomes, less welfare dependency, higher employment levels and income and lower crime rates.

"We're now in a position to make a big leap forward and that's why I've made this proposal," Pritzker said.

Pritzker's budget will also include an additional $100 million for improvements to early childhood provider buildings and facilities.

It also includes $70 million to cover increased Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP) participation. Currently, the state offers childcare assistance for families at up to 225% the federal poverty level.

Pritzker had previously voiced support for raising that number to 300% of the poverty level, but it is not clear if funding will be provided for that level.

The governor's address will mostly focus on the state's general fund budget, which includes most of the lawmakers' discretionary spending priorities.

General fund spending is typically split between obligations including Medicaid, human services, pensions and public safety.

Over the years, growing pension costs have taken up a greater portion of the state's operating budget. The state is also weighed down by a nearly $140 billion unfunded pension liability caused by years of lawmakers shortchanging the system.

Pritzker will deliver his combined State of the State and Budget address in the Illinois House chambers in the state Capitol at noon. It is the first time since 2020 that the address has returned to its typical venue.

Pritzker delivered a remote address in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in-person at the Old State Capitol in 2022, a last-minute change brought on by a major snowstorm that forced the legislature to cancel session days.

Illinois lawmakers react to State of the Union Gov. J.B. Pritzker Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Moline
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic on the occasion of Serbia's National Holiday, Azernews reports.

"Dear Mr. President,

I convey my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to you and through you, to your entire people on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the National Holiday of the Republic of Serbia.

The relations between Azerbaijan and Serbia are built on strong friendship, mutual trust, and understanding. It is very gratifying to see our close interstate ties and cooperation that are enriched by new content from day to day.

The high level of our todays political relations, numerous mutual visits, signed documents, and implemented projects play an important role in expanding our relations and deepening our interaction. As it goes in a bilateral format, our countries cooperate also successfully within international organizations.

I am confident that the Azerbaijani-Serbian strategic partnership and our mutually beneficial collaboration in political, economic-commercial, energy, transportation-logistical, defense, and other fields will continue to evolve dynamically.

On this remarkable day, I wish you strong health, happiness, success in your activities, and everlasting peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Serbia," the letter said.
Vote now until noon on April 20th to support the businesses that you think are the best in the New Braunfels area.
ABINGDON, Va.  Washington Countys Board of Supervisors heard from more than 35 speakers  for nearly three hours  during a public hearing held Tuesday on whether to pass a zoning ordinance restricting the location of abortion clinics.

Ultimately, Supervisor Randy Pennington made a motion to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Supervisor Dwayne Ball. The motion passed 5-2, with Vice Chairman Mike Rush and Supervisor Phil McCall voting against it.

McCall said he was against the ordinance because it would take away womens rights.

The ordinance sets forth conditions, saying that abortion clinics can only be located only in certain business districts and must be 1,500 feet away from other zoning districts and other business.

Supervisor Charlie Hargis said, Were trying to keep abortion clinics out of Washington County.

Last month, the Washington County Planning Commission voted 4-2 to approve the ordinance.

Abortions remain legal in Virginia but the only abortion clinic operating locally is in Bristol  relocating there last summer after operating for years in Bristol, Tennessee.

Several speakers on Tuesday quoted scriptures and criticized the act of abortion and/or the ordinance.

The ordinance drafted by County Attorney Lucy Phillips leaves the door slightly cracked open for an abortion clinic to be allowed in the county, said James Denton of Abingdon, Virginia.

Yet Denton said the county should just say no to abortion clinics.

Dayton Owens, of Glade Spring, Virginia, called abortion killing an individual.

In contrast, Kevin Hubbard spoke against the ordinance, saying, You cant legislate morality.

Heather Howard, an attorney and a former deputy commonwealths attorney, warned the supervisors that the ordinance could outlaw pharmacies from administering certain medications  and could subject the county to lawsuits.

You all need further legal advice, Howard said. You are elected to do the business of this county  not to legislate morals.

Brian Potter, a Washington County businessman and father of six children, said, life begins at conception  Abortion violently ends the life of an unwanted human person.

John Dawson, the pastor of Abingdon Presbyterian Church, said he preaches on life, murder, abortion and suicide. He also said women in his congregation regret the abortions that they have.

Dawson called the ordinance a zoning issue, saying, I dont want to make this a tourist destination for abortion.

Another speaker, Joan Boone, opposed the ordinance, saying, Abortion is legal and regulated in Virginia.

Boones husband, Buckey Boone, said zoning is being used to outlaw abortions.

Several women wore green to the packed auditorium in Abingdon, and said they felt invisible to the Board of Supervisors.

Attorney Mary Lynn Tate addressed the board with criticism of how the ordinance would leave no place for an abortion clinic to locate in Washington County. Tate said, You dont have the power to zone out a state statutory right.

Passing this ordinance would essentially outlaw safe abortions in Washington County and take away access to health care for low-income residents, said Kathy Abernathy.
HICKORY  Local pilot and airplane builder Jim Woolf will be presented with the FAAs Wright Brothers Master Pilot award on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Woolf has lived and flown in the Hickory area for 40 years and has been an active pilot for over 50 years. The ceremony will be hosted by the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) at the Hickory airport at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be provided, and anyone interested is welcome to attend.

Woolf served in the U.S. Air Force as a mechanic in the 1970s and retired from a career in telecommunications including many years at Alcatel. He has been a mentor and volunteer in the aviation community, has built an airplane, and completed one restoration with a second currently underway.

To be eligible for the award, a pilot must have been flying for at least 50 years.

The Blue Ridge Chapter of the EAA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose missions are to promote and encourage recreational aviation, to promote and encourage aviation safety in the design, construction and operation of all types of aircraft, to promote and encourage grassroots efforts relating to aviation research and development, and to promote safety of flight.

Many folks know the organization for its Blue Ridge Chapter of the EAA monthly EAA Young Eagles events, where local pilots donate airplane rides to area youth. The chapter also holds a monthly general meeting, usually at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month, at the Hickory Airport.

Learn more about the Blue Ridge Chapter of the EAA at http://eaa731.org or call/text 828-308-1543.

The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is named in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who were two American aviation pioneers credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. The Wright Brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on Dec. 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
Back in 1960, Elvis Presleys top song was, "Its Now or Never," which exemplifies what Christians must do right now! A quote from The Washington Post, Feb. 3, 2023: In the months after the fall of Roe v. Wade, North Carolina experienced the largest spike in abortions of any state  its numbers fueled by a relatively permissive law and a Democratic governor promising to block the Republican-led legislature from enacting anti-abortion measures.

Why is North Carolina leading the way, making national news by killing off our babies? Arent we a Bible-thumping state? Dont we have churches on every corner? Yet, we have dishonored our Father in Heaven who gave life to every murdered baby, by allowing our state to have the largest spike in abortions of any state in the nation!

How did we do this? By voting politicians into office who do not respect all human life. In fact, The Washington Post blames our Democratic politicians, including our governor. The tiny voice that cries out from a mother's womb, is calling Christians, you and I, to do the will of God by protecting the vulnerable from the evils of abortion, the culture of death.

God had a plan for every little human life that was callously and viciously thrown away! We cant sit back and think that someone else will do it. Now is the time for all of us to take action! Now is the time to contact your local representatives and tell them to vote, No, when the right to have an abortion bill is presented.

My prayer is that North Carolina will never have abortion clinics. Tiny steps are good. Scaling abortions down to a heartbeat law of six weeks is a start. We must have compassion on the poor little soul who is inflicted with inhuman pain and suffering by being torn apart, limb by limb.

In time, with a change of politicians, North Carolina may eventually, love, honor and respect all human life from fertilization to natural death.

A quote from a local church bulletin, You can find your N.C. legislators by visiting ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators. Please write a brief, personal message asking your representatives to pass the broadest possible protections for the unborn and to expand support for pregnant and parenting mothers.

Every church should get on this bandwagon because it is now or never! Together we can do this.

Bobby (Barbara) Speers

Hickory
Ann Street United Methodist Church

335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. at Ann Street Church. Sermon: Just Right, But Just Wrong. Scripture: Revelation 3:14-19.

Bethpage United Methodist Church

109 Fellowship Ave. at West C Street, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Gary McDonald. Christian Education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. Sermon: Why I Am United Methodist: Engaging God  Talk. Scripture: Luke 6:6-11.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church

1775 Flowes Store Road E., Concord. Pastor: Eric Shaver. Sunday school at 9 a.m. Worship in-person or on Facebook at 10 a.m.

Calvary Lutheran Church

950 Bradley St., Concord. 704-782-6923. Pastor: Rev. Debbie Frye. In-person worship at 8:30 a.m. (casual worship) and 11 a.m. (traditional worship with childrens church). Childrens area and nursery available at all times. All services livestreamed and available anytime on the Calvary Lutheran Concord YouTube channel with easy access through the website: http://www.clconcord.org. Also on Sundays at 9:45 a.m. is Sunday school. All are welcome. Sermon: Rest in Me.

Center United Methodist Church

1119 Union St. S., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Tony Allen. Sunday school for In Betweens and young adults at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. Nursery is provided during the worship service. Website is www.centerumcconcord.org. Look forward to you joining us for our service! Sermon Topic: Grace that Enables. Scripture: Matthew 5:21-37.

Crossroads Church

220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Crown Pointe Baptist Church

703 Tennessee St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Doug Crawley. Sunday school at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary, or view online at our Facebook page. Series: Love God  Love People. Sermon: The Greatest Example: Christ. Scripture: John 4:1-42 ESV.

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church

199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In person services: Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Worship services at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church

1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Bill Roberts. Sunday school at 9 a.m., followed by worship at 10 a.m. We welcome all to join us in person, or you may livestream or watch the recorded service at our website at www.epworthnc.com. Sermon: God Gave the Growth. Scripture: I Corinthians 3:1-9.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church

265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship at 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups at 10 a.m. Traditional worship at 11 a.m. Both the contemporary and the traditional worship services will also be livestreamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc.

Harmony United Methodist Church

101 White St. NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. followed by a worship service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sermon: Talking About Jesus #6, Perseverance. Scripture: Hebrews 10:19-22; Mark 15:37-39; Hebrews 10:23-25; II Peter 2:20-22; Hebrews 10:28-32, Hebrews 10:39. We welcome you to join us in worship! Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch. We welcome all who are unable to join us in person to worship with us online. For more information, call the pastor at 704-791-2883 or the church at 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church

715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m. Worship is at 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service.

Kirkwood Presbyterian Church

900 Klondale Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Dennis B. Craft. Worship at 11 a.m. in church sanctuary on Sundays. No mask restrictions. Sermon: The Mockery of Giants.

McGill Baptist Church

5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterward. Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. Sermon: A Deeper Truth. Scripture: Psalm 119:1-8; I Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37.

Midway United Methodist Church

108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis.

Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10:30 a.m. for worship. The service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC. Sermon: Righteous Relationships. First Reading: Psalm 119:1-8. Second Reading: Matthew 5:21-37. Suggested Hymns: UMH 601, Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet; UMH 467, Trust and Obey.

Mt. Mitchell United Methodist Church

6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school at 10 a.m. (adult and children classes.) Worship at 11 a.m. in person or on Facebook. Masks are optional and social distancing recommended. If you have not taken the COVID vaccine, wear a mask.

Multiply Church Concord

150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. 8:30 a.m. service held at 280 Concord Parkeay S., Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead Reformed Church, ECO

2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. 9:40 a.m.: Adult Bible study. 10 a.m.: Sunday school. 11 a.m.: Worship in the sanctuary, also live on Facebook.

Oak Grove Baptist Church

200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. 10 a.m.: In-person worship service and Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Sermon: Jesus Wants To Be Your Valentine. Scripture: John 3:1-16.

Second Presbyterian Church

1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Pastor Sue Black, minister. Rev. Aaron Price, assistant pastor. Worship at 11 a.m. in the sanctuary and on Facebook Live. Sermon: Our Hearts Desire. Scripture: John 1:29-41.

St. Johns Reformed Church

901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. Sunday school for all ages at 9:30 a.m. Worship service at 10:30 a.m. Website: www.ourstjohns.org. Email/phone: ourstjohns@gmail.com / 704-932-3656. Sermon: How NOT to Worship God  Part 2. Scripture: Various Scripture texts.
Wednesday, February 15

The Cabarrus Senior Center Photo Club is alive and clicking away. If you like taking photos, come join the members on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 1:30-3 p.m. at the Cabarrus Senior Center, 331 Corban Ave. SE, Concord, and share your photographic creativity. Whether you are a seasoned photographer or strictly amateur, all are welcome.

Thursday, February 16

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, February 17

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, February 18

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Monday, February 20

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Tuesday, February 21

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

GriefShare Loss of a Spouse is a helpful, two-hour seminar for people grieving a spouses death. The seminar will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road, Concord, NC 28027. For more information contact Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155.

The Cabarrus County Council on Aging will have its quarterly meeting at 1 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Senior Center at 331 Corban Ave SE. The speaker will be talking about Reverse Mortgages.

The Salvation Army Womens Auxiliary of Cabarrus and Stanly Counties (SAWA) along with SHOE SHOW, INC. will be hosting a Souper Bowl fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, Souper Bowl 2023 will be in a new venue, Central United Methodist Church, 30 Union Street North, Concord, NC 28025. Eat in or take out. Tickets are $10 each and include soup, crackers, cookie and beverage. The Womens Auxiliary will be having a bake sale and a Treasure Trove sale. Souper Bowl funds are used to support our various programs including some expenses for the shelter and the Angel Tree Christmas program.

Thursday, February 23

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, February 24

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, February 25

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union Street S, are offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call in orders are welcomed. 704-782-1785.

The Cabarrus County Democratic Party (CCDP) is holding its countywide Together We Win: Organizing Our Neighborhood Precincts! at Concord High School Auditorium, 481 Burrage Rd. NE, from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Monday, February 27

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

A Black History program with author and historian Norman McCullough will be held at Price Memorial from 6 to 8 p.m. The agenda will include the life and times of Warren Clay Coleman, development of an online video, and a current history in Concord/Cabarrus and a question and answer session..

Tuesday, February 28

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

Cabarrus County Homebuyer Forum will be at ClearWater Arts Center & Studios, located at 223 Crowell Drive NW, Concord, from 6 to 8 p.m. To register for this event, please visit CONCORDNC.GOV/HOMEBUYER This Forum aims to equip prospective homebuyers with information about the steps to prepare for home ownership, income and credit levels that are required to qualify for homes, available resources for possible assistance with down payments and closing costs, and eligibility requirements to qualify to receive the assistance.

Thursday, March 2

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, March 3

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, March 4

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Monday, March 6

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Kannapolis History Associates will meet at 7 p.m. with a program by Chick Suggs, owner and operator of Lees Sandwich Shop who will be sharing the history of this Kannapolis icon that was started in 1949. The meeting is at A.L. Brown High School.

Tuesday, March 7

TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St. Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome.

If you need help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend, you are invited to join us for A GriefShare Support Group at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road., NW, Concord weekly on Tuesdays through May 30 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. For more information, contact Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155.

Thursday, March 9

Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery call 704-786-5500.

Friday, March 10

The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination.

Heavenly Hot Dogs at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free delivery for orders of more than $15, and takeout is available. Homemade desserts and chicken noodle soup are available. For more information, visit www.mtochurch.com or call 704-782-8846.

Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, March 11

The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products.

Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union Street S, are offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call in orders are welcomed. 704-782-1785.

Got news or events?

Does your community group or nonprofit agency have an upcoming event that would be of interest to the public? Email it to mplemmons@independenttribune.com.
Word was that former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) would jump in the 2024 presidential race at an event in Charleston, but Haley scooped herself with the release of a 3.5-minute video that constitutes an announcement. Haley's move makes the 2024 Republican presidential primary race a real multicandidate race, with Haley joining former President Donald Trump, who entered the contest last November and has had it to himself ever since. Haley will likely be followed by several other Republicans, among them, perhaps, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), and others. Each one of them will be something of a first, or at least the first in a long time. In this way: No one alive has ever run a primary race against an out-of-office president seeking the White House a second, nonconsecutive time. That will present a special problem: As all candidates do, they will talk about what they will do if they become president. Trump will talk about what he did as president. Some of them worked for Trump, and all were loyal to him. That will make for some interesting exchanges. Trump is already taking all sorts of shots at Haley. But Trump has historical problems, too. In all of U.S. history, six presidents have left office and then made an effort to win their old job back. Five of them failed. The odds are not great. The success is President Grover Cleveland, the only president ever to serve nonconsecutive terms. Cleveland was first elected in 1884, then lost his bid for reelection in 1888, then came back after four years out of office to win the White House in 1892. That's the optimistic side for Trump. The pessimistic side starts with Ulysses S. Grant. This is from the Pew Research Center: "Grant served two full presidential terms from 1869 to 1877 and, despite urgings from some in the Republican Party, declined to seek what would have been an unprecedented third term in 1876. But four years later, he changed his mind and sought the Republican nomination again. Although he led the field for nearly the entire GOP convention, Grant couldn't win over a majority of the delegates to secure the nomination and ultimately lost to James A. Garfield on the 36th ballot."

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It's important to note two things. First, that was long before the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, limiting presidents to two terms, so Grant was free to run for a third.

And second, it was before the primary system to determine presidential nominees, so most of the maneuvering to win the nomination took place at the party convention. In any event, Grant sought a nonconsecutive term and didn't get it.

Then there was President Theodore Roosevelt. As vice president, he ascended to the presidency in 1901 when William McKinley was assassinated. He served the rest of McKinley's term, then won a term on his own in 1904, and then chose not to run again in 1908. By 1912, he was eager for another shot. He tried to get the Republican nomination, but the sitting president and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft, won. Then Roosevelt created the Progressive Party to run as a third-party candidate. He lost that, too.

Then there was President Herbert Hoover, who after one term famously lost in a landslide in 1932 amid the Great Depression. Eight years later, in 1940, Hoover tried to win the Republican nomination again  and lost.

Then there was President Martin Van Buren, who was elected in 1836 and then ran and lost in 1840. In 1848, he tried again, but on a minor-party ticket. He lost. And finally, there was President Millard Fillmore, who as vice president succeeded President Zachary Taylor and then, in 1852, lost a bid for a term of his own. In 1856, he tried again as the "Know Nothing" party nominee. He lost again.

Times and circumstances are different, but the lesson here is simple. Having been president does not mean a former president can win the office again. In fact, there have been six attempts, with one success.

Now, with Haley's entry, the Republican primary race is truly underway, and we'll see whether Trump has the ability to make history.

(COMMENT, BELOW)




Azerbaijani volunteers addressed Azerbaijan's First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, Azernews reports.

"From the first minutes of the terrible earthquake that occurred in Turkiye, we, Azerbaijani volunteers, saw the best qualities of our people, such as unity, solidarity and mutual support, and sided with the brotherly people of Turkiye. The sensitive attitude shown by His excellency Mr. President and you towards this grave tragedy, your instructions for rendering assistance aroused in us, the youth, immense pride and created an opportunity to show our philanthropy.

We are very touched by your gratitude to all those who have joined the earthquake relief campaign, including the volunteers, who are doing their best to help. We consider it our moral duty to be together with the people of Turkiye by joining the humanitarian aid campaign, in which the entire Azerbaijani people are mobilized. We are working day and night to contribute to the support provided by the Government and the people of Azerbaijan in eliminating the consequences of the earthquake. We, the volunteers, are proud to take part in these good deeds.

As always, we sincerely thank you for your attention and appreciation of our activities. As Azerbaijani volunteers, continuing the traditions of kindness, dedication and selfless assistance that our people have lived for centuries, we promise that we will always be true to patriotism and national moral values and will continue to work with great perseverance in future.

Best regards,

Azerbaijani volunteers".
It was a running joke in the early days of NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Chevy Chase, the news anchor for "Weekend Update," would announce the night's top story: "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." Like the late Spanish autocrat, the Equal Rights Amendment is also still dead. Approved by Congress in 1972, it was sent to the states with a seven-year ratification deadline, only to die when the clock ran out in 1979. Just 35 of the required 38 state legislatures had ratified the amendment, so it never became part of the Constitution. Yet some members of Congress now insist that the ERA didn't fail and actually was ratified. Or, to be precise, that it will have been ratified "to all intents and purposes" if Congress simply adopts a joint resolution retroactively cancelling the ERA's deadline. Like Chevy Chase, they make their pronouncement with a straight face. Unlike him, they're not funny. Their claim is self-evident nonsense. Congress cannot undo the results of an amendment ratification process any more than it can undo the results of a presidential election. Yet at a recent Capitol Hill press conference, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland put on a show of amendment denialism that was as divorced from reality as the 2020 election denialism of former president Donald Trump.

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On what basis can anyone insist that the ERA never expired? Pressley, Cardin, and the others make much of the fact that three additional state legislatures  in Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia  did eventually vote to ratify the amendment, purportedly bringing the total to the required 38. They did so, respectively, in 2017, 2018, and 2020. That was four decades after the ratification cutoff date established by Congress had come and gone. No matter, the amendment deniers say. That was merely an "arbitrary deadline" and should not be considered binding. It's a ludicrous argument, as preposterous as the claims by some Trump lawyers that he could be "reinstated" as president.

It should be noted that five of the state legislatures that ratified the ERA had a change of heart and voted  within the original seven-year window  to rescind their approval. Yet the same ERA advocates who maintain that any ratification, no matter how belated, is binding, are adamant that a state's timely decision to withdraw its ratification is "a nullity" and that recissions "don't count."

Like the 2020 stolen-election conspiracy theories, the ERA-was-actually-ratified theory has been litigated in court and rejected as meritless.

"Congress set deadlines for ratifying the ERA that expired long ago," ruled Judge Rudolph Contreras of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. "Plaintiffs' ratifications came too late to count." Any finding that the amendment should nevertheless be deemed ratified, he held, "would be absurd." (The case is now on appeal.)

Perhaps the ERA's proponents are merely striking a pose. Maybe, while realizing that the amendment is a dead letter, they find it politically useful to pretend otherwise. But if that's not the case, they ought to quit playacting and heed the admonition of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

An iconic champion of women's equality, Ginsburg was a lifelong backer of the ERA. She was also a sober jurist who would not pretend that an expired deadline could somehow, magically, be reopened. During an appearance at Georgetown Law School in 2020, Ginsburg said the only way forward for the amendment was to restart the process. "I would like to see a new beginning," she told the Georgetown audience. "I'd like to start over."

Ginsburg also acknowledged that the main benefit of an Equal Rights Amendment at this late date would be its symbolic value. As a matter of substance, an addition to the Constitution is no longer needed to guarantee legal equality of the sexes.

In 1972, when Congress approved the ERA, the Supreme Court had not yet clarified that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment protects women from unfair sex discrimination. Things are different now. As far back as 1997, the legal scholar and journalist Jeffrey Rosen wrote that the Equal Rights Amendment had effectively been enacted "by judicial fiat," thanks to Supreme Court decisions holding sex discrimination to be nearly as repugnant to the Constitution as racial discrimination. He quoted Ginsburg's view that "there is no practical difference between what has evolved and the ERA."

Another prominent legal thinker, University of Chicago Law School professor David Strauss, made the same observation in a 2001 Harvard Law Review article. The Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified, he wrote, yet "today it is difficult to identify any respect in which constitutional law is different from what it would have been if the ERA had been adopted. For the last quarter-century, the Supreme Court has acted as if the Constitution contains a provision forbidding discrimination on the basis of gender."

In other words, there is a strong case to be made that the campaign to add an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution achieved its aims even without winning ratification. Symbolism aside, it is hard to see what would be gained by making the ERA the 28th addendum to the Constitution. But if Pressley, Cardin, and their colleagues are intent on enshrining the ERA in the nation's supreme legal charter, their only option is to follow Ginsburg's advice: "Start over." The original ERA is as dead as Generalissimo Franco. Denialism won't bring it back to life.

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe, from which this is reprinted with permission."
Forsyth County has been confirmed with five more COVID-19 related deaths, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, there was a 10-week low of 441 new confirmed cases, down from a revised 600 in the previous report. About 23.1%, or 102, of the new cases were listed as reinfections by DHHS.

Altogether, Forsyth has had 124,749 confirmed cases and 963 COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began in mid-March 2020.

Forsyth health director Joshua Swift and Novant Health Inc. infectious diseases expert Dr. David Priest have stressed that the DHHS weekly case totals include only laboratory confirmed cases, and dont include most people who determine they are positive with an at-home test.

People are taking fewer precautions against the virus, and theres waning immunity from natural infection and vaccination, Priest said.

The three key COVID-19 community spread metrics continued to trend in a positive direction last week in Forsyth.

The latest update from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has Forsyths three key metrics for COVID-19 community spread still trending in a positive direction.

The COVID-19 community level is determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions and the total number of new cases in an area.

For the 14-county Triad and Northwest N.C. region, only Yadkin County is in the high category. Davie, Stokes, Surry and Wilkes counties also are in the medium category.

Long-term care centers

The number of Forsyth long-term care facilities with current COVID-19 outbreaks decreased by one to 14 in the latest report. One outbreak was declared as over by DHHS.

The outbreak at Forsyth County Detention Center was unchanged at 25 inmates.

The number of infected residents linked to current outbreaks is at 189, down four from the previous report, while infected staff members are at 106, down 11.

At least 14 long-term care residents have died since early April from a COVID-related illness, including at least two in the latest report.

An outbreak is considered over if there is no evidence of continued transmission within the facility, according to DHHS. If new positive COVID-19 cases occur after an outbreak is considered as ended, it is listed as a separate outbreak.

DHHS spokeswoman Bailey Pennington Allison has said it is important to remember that the number of cases associated with an ongoing outbreak are the cumulative total for that outbreak, not the number of people currently positive for COVID-19.

Current outbreaks of at least 20 COVID-19 cases in Forsyth long-term care centers include:

Trinity Elms, with 28 staff (up two from previous report) and 24 residents (unchanged).

Trinity Glen, with 19 staff (unchanged) and 17 residents (up one).

Mill Creek Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, with 30 residents with one reported death, and three staff (both unchanged).

Willow Valley Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, with 23 residents and seven staff (both unchanged).

Oak Forest Health and Rehabilitation, with 24 residents, including two deaths, and three staff (both unchanged).

Arbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community Inc., with 18 staff and six residents (both unchanged).

Silas Creek Rehabilitation Center, with 18 residents with one reported death, and six staff (both unchanged).

Kerner Ridge Assisted Living was removed from the outbreak dashboard. It had 29 residents with one death and 13 staff.

COVID-19 statewide

DHHS reported the statewide count for last week was 11,028, compared with a revised 12,078 in the previous report. The latest weekly count is the lowest since late November.

Of those North Carolinians with a positive test result in the latest weekly report, 2,545, or 23.1%, were considered re-infected.

North Carolinas total confirmed case count since the onset of the pandemic is 3.45 million.

There were 21 COVID-related deaths reported statewide last week, along with another 38 confirmed from previous weeks, for a total of 28,294.

Last week, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in North Carolina was at 822, compared with 834 for the week that ended Feb. 4.

COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide averaged 883 last week, down from 975 for the week that ended Feb. 4.

Hospitals in the 17-county Triad region averaged 187 COVID-19 patients, down from 231 for the week that ended Feb. 4.

The current dominant omicron subvariants have proven to be more contagious, contributing to the surge in hospitalizations. DHHS lists 10 active subvariants.

The XBB 1.5 subvariant made up 52.2% of new cases from Jan. 22 to Feb. 4, along with 30.2% the BQ 1.1 subvariant and 5.6% the BQ.1 subvariant.
Glad tidings on an ordinary Wednesday morning.

After a while, those rectangular Adopt-a-Street signs, scattered as they are around Winston-Salem roadsides, tend to become part of the landscape.

Their design, set against a silhouette of the city skyline, intentionally mimics street signs and their green, white and black color scheme looks meant to blend in.

Often Adopt-a-Street signs are affixed to utility poles or set in the ground near other ubiquitous signage - Speed limit, yield, pedestrian crossing - that most of us barely notice.

And when was the last time anyone noticed the names of individual sponsors? Other than members of civically minded service organizations willing to spend Saturday mornings bagging trash?

But one such sponsor tag line, on an Adopt-a-Street sign in the 1400 block of North Liberty Street is worth a second (or third) look: The Triad NC Socialist Rifle Association.

You dont see that everyday.

Gun-loving socialist, on its face, seems like a classic oxymoron right up there with jumbo shrimp, old news and working vacation.

It has to be a joke, right? Somebody pulling a fast one on the good folks at Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful who operate the clean street program.

Uh, no. Theyre an active group, said George Stilphen, the coordinator of Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful.

Stilphen, in charge of screening - and approving - applications isnt in the business of turning away willing volunteers. He wont allow personal feelings, political leanings, unintentional bias or an odd-sounding name interfere.

Well, we wouldnt approve an application from the Klu Klux Klan, he said.

Stilphen did a quick check, learned that the Socialist Rifle Association is a recognized nonprofit organization active in at least a half dozen states and approved the application.

Other than that, I know about as much about them as you do, he said.

Which, at this point, isnt much.

Leaders dont use their legal names on their promotional material. They opt instead for first names or nicknames - Killashandra, for example, is listed as the national president of the group, which was founded in 2017 in Wichita, Kan. And so far, theyre not big on returning messages.

We do not need to know your deadname if thats your situation, reads a FAQ section of its website dedicated to potential new members.

The Socialist Rifle Association, per its promotional material, proclaims itself a social welfare organization dedicated to educating on and advocating for all aspects of self and community defense."

SRA bylaws takes that one step farther: We recognize all aspects of self and community defense to include topics such as firearms, disaster relief, medicine, logistics, agriculture, general survival skills, and other pursuits necessary to unify and strengthen communities against the hardships of life under capitalism. We seek, advocate for, and advance an inclusive, safe, and healthy firearms culture in America to combat the toxic, right-wing, and exclusionary firearm culture in place today.

OK, then.

On the upside, the Socialist Rifle Association has never fomented insurrection or attempted to kidnap a governor of a large Midwestern state.

So theres that.

On the local level, ever since the Triad chapter of the Social Rifle Association adopted a stretch of North Liberty Street that can use all the help it can get, the SRA has indeed fulfilled its end of the deal.

Theyre out three or four times a year, Stilphen said. They do a good job.

Medicaid vote possible

RALEIGH - Dont look now but North Carolina at long last is inching ever so closer to expanding Medicaid - and by extension access to health care across the state.

The rules committee of the state House of Representatives is scheduled later this morning to vote on moving a bill that would expand Medicaid to the floor for debate and a vote which could happen as soon as this afternoon.

If approved, the bill has the potential to provide healthcare for as many as 600,000 North Carolinians who cant afford private plans.

The state Senate, by the way, approved it in 2022. The hold-up in the House has nothing to do with cost, either. The federal government picks up the tab.

Rather, the objections are mostly over loosening unrelated (and some would say arbitrary) certificates of needs regulations that determine where health-care facilities can be built.

Kudos are due to state Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, who has pushed this for years.

Testing hours changed

WINSTON-SALEM - The Forsyth County Department of Public Health has changed the operating hours of its walkup COVID-19 testing program.

A state contractor offering tests at the health department at 799 N. Highland Ave. will now offer testing on Wednesdays only from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. No insurance or ID is necessary and tests are free.

Free at home test kits are still available at the health department and at Forsyth County library branches. Vaccines and booster shots are also available at the health department.

With widely available vaccines, improved treatments and COVID-19 seemingly a part of daily life - ever heard of a virus just going away once its traveled the globe? Perhaps some reduction in testing was inevitable.
LOS ANGELES In a move that could cause certain members of the East Coast literati to lose their minds, the New York book scene is about to take up residence in Santa Monica, California.

OK, maybe not the entire scene but certainly a very big player: On Feb. 18, Zibby Owens is opening her first bookstore, Zibby's Bookshop.

In less than four years, Owens' wildly successful, award-winning podcast, "Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books," has made her one of New York's most highly praised (and desperately sought after) bookfluencers. And this is not a side gig.

Unlike Oprah, Jenna Bush Hager, Reese Witherspoon or other celebrities who used their clout to anoint certain authors through must-read lists and book clubs, Owens had no platform before she created one, solely out of books and 30-minute author interviews (and, it must be said, unlimited funds).

Stepping into the gap between Oprah and the A-listers and Colleen Hoover and BookTok, Owens is now not so much a podcaster as she is an ecosystem, the center of an ever-widening Zibby-branded media empire that includes seven podcasts, a magazine, a book club, classes, retreats and, beginning this year, a publishing company.

This month, she is settling bricks-and-mortar roots not on the Upper East Side of Manhattan but on the Westside of Los Angeles.

It makes perfect sense, both universally and personally. Even as the industry has struggled, Los Angeles has always embraced independent neighborhood book stores (please see The Times' "65 Best Bookstores in L.A.," complete with map).

Although Owens is a born-and-bred Park Avenue New Yorker (a donation by her financier father resulted in the main branch of the New York Public Library being named the Stephen A. Schwarzman building), she and her husband, Kyle Owens, have had a home in Pacific Palisades for five years.

She admits to looking at a few spaces in New York, but she said the rent was so high "there was no way to make it a viable business.

"In New York," she said in an introductory Zoom interview, "there are bookstores everywhere and it's so easy to get from one to another. I didn't think there would be a value for another bookstore, and I like to meet unmet needs. And L.A.," she added, "L.A. is my happy place."

She originally wanted the store to be in Palisades Village, but the Montana site was such a deal, she said, that she couldn't resist. "I've gotten to know so many authors in L.A. and there's a real desire for more bookish stuff out there."

It is a small slice of a store, formerly a dry cleaners, standing, conveniently enough, right next to a chocolatier, and on the same block as other specialty stores including the Quilted Monkey (children's clothes) and Ten Women (local handmade art).

The store's out-facing wall has a painted mural of an open book and the words "Stories are best when shared." The stories in books, yes  but also the social media variety.

"That's the Instagram wall," Owens said on a visit to the store a few weeks before its opening. "We want to make it easy for people."

Within, the shelves are beginning to be filled with books. More than half are by authors, mostly women, who have been featured on Owens' podcast, which leans heavily on novels and memoirs. Several shelves hold curated selections reflecting how Owens and her small staff believe the books will make the reader feel.

Post-It notes stand in for labels that will direct customers who "want to  cry, lust, tremble, escape, laugh."

It's a lighthearted way of dealing with a problem that's bedeviled the publishing industry ever since Amazon's algorithm ate the browsing experience. The issue is summed up in one bookseller buzzword: discoverability.

"Independent bookstores can't compete with product availability," said Owens, whose shop will stock roughly 1,300 titles. "But that's not what I believe is the value. ... I want to offer curation, to help people find books easily that they are going to love and that will resonate with them  and maybe not the book they came in to find."

In addition to the emotionally organized volumes, Zibby's will feature shelves curated by "what type of person you think you are  books for the foodie, books for the athlete, books for the historian," as well as "a huge local author's section" and shelves curated by writers, including Kristin Hannah and Kevin Kwan.

"We're also going to be doing a lot of events," Owens adds. "We want to have book clubs at the store"  including her own, which is virtual but could now be hybrid.

Unlike the podcast, this will not be a one-woman operation. Owens' bookshop staff includes Sherri Puzey and Diana Tramontano, who have worked on other Zibby brands; events manager Sofie Parker; and store manager Jenny Wannir Tarzian, who until recently managed Flintridge Bookstore, to help her stock the store. But in the end, Owens chooses which books to Zibbify based on what she is looking for as a reader. "I realize that a lot of the instincts I have going into stores, a lot of people think the same way."

Owens' understanding of the current vogue for personal curation is reflected even in the color scheme of her store  the same deep-sea blues that echo in her Palisades home. For the simple reason that the same painter-contractor who did her house  Joe Nicoletti from Chameleon Paintworks, she is quick to note  also did her shop.

"I said, just use the same colors, the same wallpaper," Owens said.

Puzey, Tramontano, Tarzian and Parker gather round as Owens opens one of two just-delivered boxes containing high chairs that will be used for author events. The women debate where to store the chairs, discuss the possibility of having a coffee on offer via a Keurig machine and marvel at how fast the shop has come together.

"We had our first conversations in November," said Puzey. "We basically planned the thing in one weekend."

In fact, the bookstore was not supposed to be part of the Zibby-verse until much later, after Zibby Books was firmly launched. It will publish a book a month beginning this month with Alisha Fernandez Miranda's "My What if Year: A Memoir."

But then so many parts of the Zibby empire have formed very slowly and then all at once.

"I just wanted to write a book and get it published," Owens said, laughing. "Which I did, finally, but not before all this."

The book, published last summer, is Owens' memoir, "Bookends." (She is also the author of a children's book, "Princess Charming.") At the moment, it occupies two shelves in Zibby's Bookshop, and it could be read as business backstory as easily as memoir.

Owens grew up amid New York's elite, hitting all the predictable rich-kid markers  friendly childhood doorman, private school, parents' divorce, undergrad at Yale, internships at Vanity Fair and Ogilvy & Mather, Harvard business school  and some much less predictable, including near-crippling shyness, a stint as a Weight Watchers rep and a string of devastating losses. One close friend was killed in the September 11 attacks; another was plagued by addiction that led eventually to suicide. A published essayist since she was in her teens, Owens attempted to make sense of it all by writing a memoir  and then couldn't get it published.

Somewhere along the way, Owens married Andrew Right (the terms of their divorce preclude her writing about the marriage, and her ability to sidestep it in "Bookends" borders on the miraculous). They had four children.

As is almost always the case, the challenges of motherhood took Owens by surprise, and she began writing about it for various publications. When she floated the idea of publishing a collection called "Moms Don't Have Time to Read," an agent informed her that essay collections don't sell and suggested she start a podcast.

It sounds laughable  how many people have tried to start a podcast?  except Owens and "Moms" quickly became serious business. As the podcast episodes stacked up, she began holding salons and even private book fairs inside her Park Avenue triplex. Authors, agents and publishers, flailing about in their attempts to publicize books when book tours were increasingly reserved for the few and already famous, soon heralded her as a marketing messiah.

Especially during the part of the COVID-19 pandemic when, desperate to help authors any way she could, Owens produced her podcast daily. As in: a book a day.

"I go through all the pitches and anything I think looks interesting, I ask for a galley," she said. "I don't read the books start to finish; I can pick up a book and spend 15 minutes with it and be able to talk about most things in the book."

This appears to be amazing but true. None of the shyness she describes in "Bookends" is evident on her show; Owens is an engaged, engaging and informed interviewer.

"Now I've done this 1,500 times, I've gotten pretty good at it," she said. "I wasn't as good when I started."

It is important to note that Owens is not a critic but a booster; her mission is to present books and authors she believes her audience will like, something she now also does on "Good Morning America," to which she regularly provides "Must Read" lists.

Her superpower as an influencer is so well known that when Owens was on tour with "Bookends," it often overshadowed her career as an author. "People would come up to me and say, 'I loved your book. I've written one, would you read it?'" she said, adding with a laugh, "and I'd think, 'Can I just have my moment in the sun?'"

As the podcast grew and branched into other podcasts, including "Moms Don't Have Time to Lose Weight" and "Moms Don't Have Time to Grieve," Owens asked authors to write essays. After posting them, one a week, she decided to collect them into a book. "Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology" was published in 2021.

That was the seed of her foray into publishing. Having seen what goes into making a book, Owens said, "I realized I'd have to do it myself. ... Everyone kept telling me how hard it would be," she said, "but I'm not afraid of hard work."

When asked about the irony of a woman whose brand is "Moms don't have time for" somehow managing to build a media empire, Owen laughs, admitting that the fact that her twins are now in boarding school, and that her custody arrangement leaves her with child-free days, certainly helps. "I don't think I could do it if I had the kids full-time."

She also has the financial resources that make all these ventures less of a risk. Owens herself does not wear wealth on her sleeve  when I met her at her Palisades home, which is lovely but not showy, she was wearing a denim skirt, a worn "Moms Don't Have Time" T-shirt and a blue hoodie  but her father remains one of the richest men in the country.

Still, if her path is not one everyone could follow, it is her own, not her father's. She has said she did not start the podcast, now a company known as Zibby Audio, to make money, but she does have a Harvard business degree.

"It is a business, not a nonprofit," she said in an email, adding that some elements of the empire, including Zibby Audio and Zibby Classes, are profitable already, and it's too soon to know how the publishing house and bookstore will do. "There has been prelaunch investment across channels and now I'm hoping the books take off," she said, adding, "If I find some areas aren't working, I'll pivot and try new things."

Although the other podcasts in Zibby Audio are hosted by other people, Owens is still very much in charge of "Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books," which features a disparate mix of guests, from the very famous (Hillary Clinton and Alicia Keyes) to emerging voices. On a recent Friday, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt joined Owens in the office/studio in her Palisades home to discuss her new children's book, "Good Night, Sister." The writer was running late and Owens filled the time recording the lead-ins to upcoming podcasts.

Following the half-hour conversation, Owens told her guest about Zibby's Bookstore and invited her to have a signing there. When Schwarzenegger Pratt agreed, Owens told her there was a children's book section where they would host Mommy & Me classes every day.

"I'll be there," Schwarzenegger Pratt said.

"We want this to be a communal space," Owens said later, at the store. She and her husband split their time between New York and Los Angeles, but she says she will be in the store as often as she can, beginning with an opening weekend chock-full of author events.

If interest from the street is any indication, there is definitely an appetite for what Zibby's Bookshop offers. During the 45-minute visit, a string of people popped their heads in asking if the store was open. "We were just saying that Montana needs a bookstore," said one man, accompanied by a woman with a baby in a sling.

"February 18," Owens said, pitching the Mommy & Me classes again. Stepping outside, she fretted a bit about the greenery she had planted in a small strip of dirt beside the door. "I think we should get something taller," she said.

But she is not worried about opening a bookstore, or starting a publishing company when the industry remains in turmoil.

"There is something about books that will never really go away," she said. "There is some sort of instinct for people to write them and, not to be woo-woo about it, there's something about leaving something tangible behind."

Like a bookstore.
Books in brief

"The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962" by Max Hastings; Harper (538 pages, $35)



Russia's barbarous invasion of Ukraine a year ago, and the United States' steadfast support for the embattled former Soviet satellite, has raised the specter of nuclear conflict for the first time in decades. So it's an opportune time to review what happened 60 years ago when the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba sparked a facedown with the United States that brought the world to the edge of disaster.

In "The Abyss," Max Hastings, a British journalist and military historian, offers a compelling narrative of the crisis as seen through the eyes of the major players: a fanatical Fidel Castro, eager to respond to American aggression with a nuclear strike; a chastened Nikita Khrushchev, belatedly recognizing he had underestimated American resolve; and a preternaturally astute John F. Kennedy, who over and over again withstands enormous pressure from military aides telling him that an air strike against the missiles  which surely would have drawn retaliation  was the only path to take.

For Kennedy, Hastings writes, the crisis was more political than strategic; missiles in Cuba threatened the United States no more than Soviet ballistic missile submarines already did. But Khrushchev didn't have to worry about public opinion in his country; JFK did, and according to Hastings "his instinct towards moderation and compromise ... stood at odds with the conservative worldview of a substantial proportion of his fellow countrymen, who demanded that America should be seen as strong."

In the end, Hastings credits both men for forging a peaceful end to the confrontation, who in contrast with Castro and their own military advisers "were prudently haunted by consequences." Our best chance of survival today, the author states, rests with national leaders who like Kennedy and Khrushchev are willing to indulge "in the fear which must lie at the heart of wisdom."
In January 1958, 19-year-old Lincoln garbageman Charles Starkweather went on a killing spree with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at his side, terrorizing the city of Lincoln and the state and leaving 10 people dead before the duo was captured in Wyoming eight days after the killings began.

Convicted of first-degree murder, Starkweather was executed in June 1959. Fugate, who at the time was the youngest person in the country to be tried for first-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison.

Framed as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, lovers-on-the run tale, the murders have been ingrained in popular culture for 60 years, inspiring Badlands, Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers, the TV mini-series Murder in the Heartland and songs, including Bruce Springsteens Nebraska, which he wrote after seeing Badlands" on TV.

But The 12th Victim, a Showtime docuseries that premieres Friday, argues that the decades-long, pop culture view of Starkweather and Fugate is a myth, a tale of romantic rebel killers constructed first by the county prosecutors and police, then amplified by news coverage, books, movies and song.

The series convincingly makes the case that Fugate, as she has consistently claimed, did not take part in any of the murders and is, in fact, the 12th victim in the case, made so by police and prosecutorial malfeasance.

That malfeasance began about two months before Starkweather killed Fugates mother, stepfather and baby sister in their Belmont neighborhood home. In November 1957, he abducted and killed gas station attendant Robert Colvert, who counts as his 11th victim. Police had been pointed toward Starkweather, but failed to investigate and arrest him.

The prosecutors, the film argues, then used Starkweathers trial and his testimony at Fugate's trial to convince the jury to disbelieve her claims of innocence and convict her.

Its always really amazing when you get the opportunity to upend a narrative that has really calcified and become kind of like lore, said director Nicola B. Marsh. I thought it was really cool to try to really break that story from Caril's point of view. I know some people have done it, but it wasn't really in the mainstream telling of what happened in 1958.

Based on the 2014 book The Twelfth Victim: The Innocence of Caril Fugate in the Starkweather Murder Rampage by Linda M. Battisti, a retired U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney, and Lincoln attorney John Stevens Berry, the docuseries' four episodes tell Fugates story chronologically.

Opening with the 1958 crime spree in the first hourlong episode that will premiere Friday at 7 p.m., the second episode focuses on the trials of both Starkweather and Fugate, the third episode deals with her years in the Womens State Reformatory (as it was known then) in York and the series concludes by following Fugates life, and her attempt to clear herself.

The thing about these crime stories is its really about perspective, said Marsh, an Englishwoman. The more you learn, and the more time you spend in Carils shoes, the more your perspective switches to her perspective. It starts as public perspective. Then it goes to Charlie's perspective, and then you're in her perspective.

The episodes tried to reflect that (perspective change) a bit because I didn't want to make Nebraskans feel bad, portray them as kind of dumb, sexist punters because they thought Caril is guilty. I think it's quite natural to think Caril is guilty because she's the one opening the door to the police.

Fugate opened the door of her family's Belmont house a few days after Starkweather killed her family, when the couple was locked in, with a misspelled sign on the door claiming that everyone had the flue.

Thats a pivotal moment in the first episode, which uses re-creations, shot in and around Lincoln two years ago, that were designed to set a scene that couldnt have been captured on film in 1958.

We came in January of '21 against the advice of pretty much everybody because the pandemic was really on, Marsh, an award-winning cinematographer, said of the Nebraska filming.

But, you know, in Nebraska, you can't wait till March and think there's gonna be snow. I think thats such a big part of the things during the crime spree that really shaped the nature of the crime, how they were moving, where they were moving and where the bodies were. The weather had a huge impact on the shape of that. So I really wanted to make sure that we got some re-creations of snow on the ground.

The remainder of the story is told through local television news film, recounting of the crimes by authors who have written books on Starkweather and photographs, many of them from the Lincoln Journal and The Lincoln Star, some of which were never published.

Those unseen photos, some in color, in fact, do much to undermine the romantic view of Starkweather as the James Dean-like 50s cool character with slicked-back hair, leather jacket and cigarette dangling from his lips.

I think it's really interesting when you look at those pictures of Charlie and Caril in color, Marsh said "It gives a totally different cadence to it. You see Charlie's ugliness in a way that's quite hidden when you see him in black and white. You see that he's kind of pasty and doesnt have good skin. Hes a bit pudgy and his red hair doesn't look so cool. In black and white, he looks pretty cool. But in color, he doesn't look so cool. And I found it to be really illuminating.

Episode 2 uses Omaha TV reporter Ninette Beavers pre-trial interview with Fugate  during which she looks like a tough, defiant adult  to convey the notion that Nebraskans found her guilty before the trial. Episode 3 uses television footage of Fugate, a model prisoner, talking about her case while shes seeking parole. Ultimately, her sentence was reduced and she was granted parole in 1976.

The series also uses tape recordings Battisti made while speaking with Fugate at her Michigan home for the book, allowing Fugate, whos now 79 and was severely injured in a 2013 car accident, a brief opportunity to tell parts of her story.

We couldn't use that much of it because the audio quality isn't great, Marsh said, pointing out that Fugate's pet bird tweets throughout the tape. But it still had value.

"It really allowed me to be a fly on the wall and listen. It was really seductive and it was really hard to move away from that version of the story that Caril tells at that point in her life, she said.

While its not necessarily intended to do so, The 12th Victim also provides an enlightening view of the media in the 1950s as it largely holds out the microphone for officials to deliver their versions of the news. And it spotlights the popular culture fascination with true crime, including F. Lee Baileys 1980s Lie Detector show, on which Fugates claims of innocence were found to be true.

Berry appears in the docuseries, as does James McArthur, who represented Fugate, taking over from his father John, who was appointed to defend her in the 1958 case. Berry has said he intends to renew the pardon effort for Fugate, which failed in 2020.

That effort, Marsh and Battisti hope, will be assisted by The 12th Victim, which will be seen by a large audience, renewing interest in Fugates innocence and in the real case rather than the myth.

"I hope Caril gets a pardon; I don't think she will, Marsh said. But I think it will be nice to just have some sort of acknowledgement that there is legitimacy to her point of view and the story that she has tried so desperately hard for decades to tell.

Photos: Caril Ann Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Starkweather Caril Ann Fugate Starkweather Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate in 1993 Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Nebraska Board of Pardons Nebraska Board of Pardons Caril Ann Fugate and Margaret Berry Letter to Caril Ann Fugate Caril Fugate Letter Caril Fugate Letter
COVID-19 cases continued to rise locally last week, reaching their highest level this year.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department recorded 263 official cases, a 28% increase over the previous week. It was the highest number of weekly cases since the week ending Dec. 31.

There was a sharp jump in the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests, with 15.3% of tests showing positive, a huge jump over 10.1% the previous week. It was the highest positive test percentage in five months.

Other indicators were more positive, however.

Local hospital numbers stayed steady, with the daily average of COVID-19 patients at 31 for the third week in a row.

Wastewater sampling also showed a decline in virus particles for the second straight week.

The Health Department said the local COVID-19 risk dial will remain in the low-yellow range for a fourth consecutive week.

Statewide, cases also rose, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 1,093 cases in Nebraska. That was up from 911 the previous week and was the highest weekly total in four weeks.

It's possible that the increase in cases is being caused by the XBB 1.5 variant, which has been the dominant variant nationally for months and now accounts for nearly 3 in 4 cases, according to the CDC.

The variant has not been nearly as prevalent in Nebraska, accounting for only about 5% of cases just three weeks ago, but that number jumped to 22% as of Feb. 4.

XBB 1.5 is much more transmissible than other variants, although it is not thought to cause more serious disease.

The local health department said it has identified additional Lancaster County COVID-19 cases caused by the variant, although it did not say how many.

Lancaster County did not record any COVID-19 deaths last week, but there were 25 deaths statewide, according to the CDC.
From alcohol to cigarettes, most adults have tried some form of recreational drug. Fewer people have experimented with prescription medication for recreational reasons, but certain areas of the country are experiencing a serious problem with opoid addiction. Other drugs like cocaine and LSD, are used sporadically among adults in the U.S.

Using data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive, the experts at HealthGrove, a health data site, ranked the 25 most commonly used recreational drugs. The substances are ordered by the increasing percentage of people age 12 and over who used the drug recreationally in 2015. In the case of a tie, the drug with a higher classification by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is ranked higher.

To collect this data, SAMHDA conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which they record use of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the U.S. population aged 12 or older. It is important to note that this data only includes recreational use of drugs, not proper medical use.

Drugs that are legal, alcohol and tobacco, have the highest recreational use. According to the survey, nearly one in five people over the age of 12 also used marijuana in 2015. As the drug becomes legal in more states, recreational use is likely to increase. Other Schedule I drugs (drugs determined to have no medical benefit by the DEA) including heroin and DMT had a recreational prevalence rate of less than 1 percent in 2015.

Note: Not all images in slideshow depict the exact drugs.
A Lincoln judge has ruled in favor of a nonprofit news organization in their fight over a $44,000 price tag from the state for five years of public records related to drinking water and nitrates.

Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post said Nebraska law allows public officials to charge a fee for making records available in certain circumstances.

"But other than for time spent 'physically redacting,' Nebraska law does not allow public officials to charge fees for time spent determining whether to make records unavailable," he wrote in a 16-page decision Tuesday afternoon.

Post ruled that the Flatwater Free Press has a "clear right to a cost estimate in compliance with the statute," and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy has a clear duty to provide one.

"It is not for the court to micromanage the details of a cost estimate in a mandamus action. But the evidence here showed the custodian did not perform her ministerial duty, and the request  will be granted," he wrote.

In a Tweet that followed, Matt Wynn, executive director of The Flatwater Free Press, said: "We won. We sued Nebraska over what we believe was an illegal charge for public documents  $44,000 for a routine keyword search of emails. Today, a judge agreed."

Wynn called it a "huge win for the public's right to know."

Earlier this month, the case went to trial over what started in 2022, with Flatwater making a public records request with NDEE as part of an investigation into nitrates in the state's drinking water.

Attorney Dan Gutman, who represents the news nonprofit, said after reporter Yanqi Xu got an initial $2,000 cost estimate, she narrowed the request to try to reach a lower cost. But as the request got smaller and narrower, the cost estimates got bigger.

Flatwater ultimately was told they would need to pay a deposit of $44,103.11 before the state would start the search.

At trial, Gutman said what became clear was that NDEE was charging for what wasn't specifically authorized by the Public Records Act: the reviewing and withholding of documents under statutory exceptions to disclosure.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Christopher Felts, who represents NDEE, said the question was whether a public body can charge for non-attorney time to review records. It was the state's position they could.

Felts said the statute, 84-712.03, permits an agency to charge after the first four hours of time spent "searching, identifying, physically redacting or copying," so long as it isn't for an attorney's time, which is specifically excluded.

Ane McBride, then the records manager for NDEE, testified that it would take several hundred hours of time collectively by agency employees to analyze the records and comply with the request, which asked for emails and attachments sent or received by NDEE staff in particular divisions containing the keywords "nitrate," nutrient," "fertilizer" or "nitrogen."

In Tuesday's decision the judge said he wasn't persuaded by the state's position that they could charge a fee for reviewing whether to withhold records as part of their fee for "providing copies."

"Especially when the Legislature has prescribed the 'fee shall not exceed the actual added cost of making the copies available,' Post wrote.

He said the statute specifies a charge for labor may be included for searching, identifying, physically redacting, or copying.

"And that is all. 'Reviewing' is not included and it is 'not for the court to supply missing words' to the statute," he said.

Post said adding the word would defeat the purpose of the statute, which is to empower and authorize citizens to gain access to public records while recognizing the government may charge a fee for the actual added cost of making the copies available."

Under the state's interpretation, he said, there would be few limits on what may be included in the fee.

"Once the documents have been searched for and identified, those steps are complete. Any additional layer of review is up to the government, but not part of the statutorily allowed fee," Post said.

Asked if they planned to appeal, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office said at this time they are analyzing the decision and have no further comment.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
Only freshmen and sophomores will walk the halls of Standing Bear High School this fall  and many sports teams will not compete at the varsity level.

Lincoln Public Schools announced Tuesday it would restrict enrollment to the two grade levels after few upperclassmen indicated plans to attend Lincoln's newest high school at 70th Street and Saltillo Road.

There are 219 incoming freshmen who have enrolled in Standing Bear, but just 26 sophomores, 21 juniors and 10 seniors applied to transfer. LPS still expects to have sophomores at the school since freshmen can take sophomore-level classes such as math.

"Opening Standing Bear with freshmen and sophomores only allows us to focus our resources on offering high-quality opportunities and high school experiences where students are attending," Superintendent Paul Gausman said in a statement.

"Many have indicated that they don't want to leave" because they're happy with their current high school, Gausman later told Lincoln Board of Education members at Tuesday's meeting.

Standing Bear will not field varsity teams in volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball or baseball. Officials previously announced the school would not offer varsity football when enrollment opened in December.

The Class B school is still planning to have varsity teams competing in individual-based sports such as golf, tennis, bowling, and swimming and diving. A One Act play team is also expected to compete at the varsity level.

"The final determination of which opportunities and which levels offered will be based on the number, development and experience of the students that go out for athletics and activities," the district said in a news release. "The intent is to be able to offer as many varsity level programs as possible."

A business-centric focus program offered in partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will still provide pre-pathway classes.

The latest enrollment change highlights the difficulty of predicting where students will go when opening new schools. Around this time last year, LPS announced it would not accept seniors at Lincoln Northwest, the other high school built with funds from the $290 million bond issue voters passed in 2020.

Northwest opened in August.

Officials previously predicted roughly 580 students would attend Standing Bear this fall. Northwest, which has more than 500 students, is predicted to have just less than 800 students next school year.

Both Northwest and Standing Bear can hold up to 1,000 students, with additions possible to expand capacity.

Lincoln East, which has struggled with overcrowding  an issue Standing Bear was expected to alleviate  is now projected to have more than 2,000 students, up from earlier projections of roughly 1,800.

"The projections are largely based on where students live," said Matt Larson, LPS associate superintendent of instruction. "Over time, East's enrollment is likely to continue to move to that optimal enrollment of around 1,900 or a little less."

LPS has an open enrollment policy at the high school level, meaning students can attend any high school outside of their attendance area. Students in grades 10-12, however, are restricted from transferring to four high schools experiencing overcrowding: Lincoln East, Lincoln High, North Star and Southwest.

LPS still has yet to conduct high school staffing conferences, where officials decide where to allocate resources for the upcoming school year. Asked if staff signed up to teach at Standing Bear will be moved, Larson said "at this time, no."

Freshmen and sophomores still interested in attending Standing Bear are encouraged to turn in their high school choice forms as soon as possible. A list of courses being offered is available online.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

Iranian Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri in a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani counterpart Kamran Aliyev expressed regret over the January 27 attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran, Azernews reports.

Montazeri conveyed his condolences to the Azerbaijani people and the family members of the deceased and provided Kamran Aliyev with detailed information about the investigation into the criminal case launched over the armed attack on the embassy.

In his turn, Kamran Aliyev updated his Iranian colleague on the course of the criminal case instituted by Azerbaijan's relevant agencies, stressing the need for a full and comprehensive investigation and cooperation by Iran, the identification and prosecution of all those involved in the armed attack.

Further, both parties agreed to keep the progress of the investigation under control and to cooperate in the framework of mutual legal assistance.

As reported earlier, the head of the security guard of the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran was killed, and two other security officers were wounded in the armed attack on the building on January 27 at about 0830 hours (GMT+4).
The Lancaster County Election Commission mailed early vote request forms to Lincoln voters on the permanent early vote request list Monday.

Voters on the list should expect to receive the forms in their mailboxes within the next few days, said Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen.

The postcard-size mailers are printed on yellow cardstock. Voters must complete and sign the application portion and return it to the election office to receive a ballot by mail.

The postcards may be mailed or dropped in the drop box on the north side of the election office, 601 N. 46th St. A scanned copy or a readable photo of the completed and signed form may also be emailed to the office at: earlyvote@lancaster.ne.gov.

Early vote request forms also are available at lancaster.ne.gov/election. Voters may also contact the election commissioners office at 402-441-7311 to request a form be mailed to them.

Voters who do not receive an early voting application postcard may request an early vote ballot by submitting a letter to the election commissioner requesting that an early vote ballot be mailed to them. The letter must include their name, address and signature.

Voters may request early vote ballots for both the city primary election, April 4, and the May 2 general election.

The first day the election office will mail early vote ballots for the primary is March 20.

The deadline to submit a request for an early voting ballot for the primary is March 24 at 6 p.m.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
As an initial step toward the lofty goal of eliminating traffic fatalities in Lincoln by 2045, officials announced Tuesday that the city secured a $400,000 federal grant to help create a traffic safety action plan.

Awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the grant will fund the creation of a long-term plan to end traffic fatalities and reduce serious injury crashes by 60% over the next 20 years, Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said at a news conference.

The funding will provide a boost to Gaylor Baird's "Safe Streets Lincoln" initiative, an effort announced last fall that will examine factors, including roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology and policies, that contribute to traffic-related injuries in the city.

"Our latest data show that Lincoln's per-capita traffic fatality rate is one-third that of the state of Nebraska," the mayor said at the news conference, where she appeared alongside Lincoln Transportation and Utilities Director Liz Elliott and LTU Transportation Planner Roberto Partida.

"At the same time, we recognize there are opportunities to make our transportation network even safer for you and your families," Gaylor Baird said.

The federal grant requires a 20%, or $100,000, contribution from the city to the Safe Streets Lincoln initiative, Elliott said. The city will pay for the contribution out of the Transportation Capital Improvement Plan budget.

The federal aid won't be used to add additional signage to roadways, implement road design fixes or invest in new technology to make the city's road's safer, the mayor said.

Instead, officials will use the funding to develop a plan for how to best make the city's streets safer  a process that will begin this spring with research, analysis and public outreach that will last through next summer.

"One of the biggest components of it is public engagement and community collaboration, which is key when discussing safe streets and our transportation system," Partida said.

The city won't begin to implement any priority projects identified through its research and analysis until mid- to late-2024, he said.

Elliott said that having a comprehensive "Vision Zero" plan  the kind of document the city is setting out to create  is often a requirement to receive additional federal grant funding.

"We need to have the master plan laid out," Elliott said.

In the meantime, the city is continuing its efforts to create safer roadways. At Tuesday's news conference, Elliott pointed to a project near Belmont Elementary School to separate vehicle traffic from pedestrian traffic and prevent motorists from conducting U-turns in the school crosswalk.

She also cited the installation of flashing beacon crosswalk lights on 13th, 16th and 17th streets as examples of recent safety improvements. Thirteen city crosswalks are outfitted with such beacons and the city plans to install two more this year.

The city took similar action near Saratoga Elementary School last year after a fifth grader was struck by a car while in a crosswalk on 13th Street in September 2021.

"The city of Lincoln has a strong track record of making safety-related enhancements that benefit our drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and transit users," Gaylor Baird said.

Though the mayor touted the city's per-capita traffic fatality rate, Tuesday's announcement comes after a historically deadly year on Lincoln's streets.

In 2022, 28 people died in 22 separate crashes on city streets, marking the deadliest year for motorists in Lincoln since at least 1989  the earliest year for which data is available.

Those included a crash on O Street last May that killed two and injured 20 others, many of whom had lined the street to watch the annual Memorial Day weekend cruise night.

In October, six people died when a speeding car crashed into a tree on a residential street in what police officials described as "the worst crash in Lincoln in recent memory."

Police later said the driver's blood-alcohol content at the time was 0.211%, more than twice the legal limit to drive.

Tuesday, both Gaylor Baird and Elliott said that the Lincoln Police Department would be an essential partner in the development of the city's long-term plan to end fatalities on Lincoln's streets.

But the police department's staffing shortfall  LPD had 30 vacancies as of last week  has hamstrung its traffic enforcement efforts. The department stopped staffing its eight-officer traffic unit last summer amid recruitment and retention challenges. Today, police said one officer is assigned to the unit.
Ive read the majority of the Lincoln Evening Journal and The Lincoln Star coverage of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate along with most of the books about the 1958 murder spree, including the little-known The Murderous Trail of Charles Starkweather," which contains his most extensive and likely most truthful interviews.

Over the years, I talked with police officers and attorneys who worked the case and, after Bruce Springsteens Nebraska, I put together a Starkweather tour for musicians coming to Lincoln that visited many of the locations of the crime spree, seeing buildings that no longer stand today.

And I met Fugate during an early 70s tour of the womens prison in York and spoke with her by phone in the 80s.

So I watched The 12th Victim with that background and four decades of interest.

I found the first episode to be the best documentary account of the 1958 events Ive seen. It compiles the 50s TV film and photographs with commentary by writers and researchers to comprehensively explore the murder spree. The re-creations, which often spoil documentaries, are well done and enhance the story, which is treated with an even-handed approach.

The third and fourth episodes were, for me, revelatory, providing views of Fugates life in prison and after she was paroled to Michigan, that Id not previously known  like her babysitting for a family  and her thoughts, sometimes in her own words, that Id not previously encountered.

And, in episode two, The 12th Victim builds a convincing argument for Fugates innocence, offsetting the evidence and claims of her involvement I heard from police years ago. In doing so, the series, which like all documentaries comes with a point of view, makes the case that Fugate should receive a pardon, which the Nebraska Pardons Board denied in 2020.

The 12th Victim will premiere its first episode Friday at 7 p.m. on Showtime. The series' next three episodes will air on succeeding Fridays. The full series will be available for streaming and on demand Friday.

Photos: Caril Ann Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Caril Fugate Starkweather Caril Ann Fugate Starkweather Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate in 1993 Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Caril Ann Fugate Nebraska Board of Pardons Nebraska Board of Pardons Caril Ann Fugate and Margaret Berry Letter to Caril Ann Fugate Caril Fugate Letter Caril Fugate Letter
On this version of Hot off the Wire:

 A white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket has been sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after listening to the relatives of his victims express the pain and rage caused by his racist attack. Wendesday's sentencing hearing for Payton Gendron was disrupted briefly when he was charged by a man in the audience, who was quickly restrained.

 Rep. Matt Gaetz says the Justice Department has ended a sex trafficking case with no charges against him.

 Americas consumers rebounded last month from a weak holiday shopping season by boosting their spending at stores and restaurants at the fastest pace in almost two years.

 The Ohio village upended by a train derailment and the intentional burning of some hazardous chemicals on board has invited residents to a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to discuss lingering questions.

 Officials in Arizona anticipate "an extended closure of the state's main southern highway, a day after a deadly crash caused a hazardous material leak and forced evacuations nearby.

 Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced her intention to resign.

 A Kentucky lawmaker has introduced a bill to prosecute illegal abortions as homicides. The measure drew pushback from the states anti-abortion attorney general.

 Republican Nikki Haley has kicked off her 2024 presidential campaign.

 Justice Department prosecutors investigating the mishandling of classified documents at Donald Trumps Florida estate are seeking to pierce the attorney-client privilege.

 Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has softened as the Russian invasion nears a grim one-year milestone. Thats according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

 Among sermon writers, there is fascination  and unease  over the fast-expanding abilities of artificial-intelligence chatbots. For now, the consensus is this: Yes, they can write a passably competent sermon. But no, they cant replicate the passion of actual preaching.
A legislative proposal to further limit who could file complaints against agricultural operations that affect the quality of life of their neighbors met resistance from rural property owners and others Tuesday.

The proposal from Lincoln Sen. Beau Ballard would "narrowly tailor" Nebraska's Right to Farm Act to better protect farmers, ranchers and other producers from "extreme environmental and animal rights groups" seeking to shut them down.

"One tool we've seen deployed across the country to shut down agriculture operations is nuisance lawsuits," Ballard told the Legislature's Agriculture Committee on Tuesday.

Ballard's proposal (LB662) makes four major changes to the existing Right to Farm Act:

* It limits those who can file a nuisance lawsuit against an ag producer to owners with "a majority interest in the real property affected" by neighboring operations within a half-mile.

* Only operations that have "materially violated" local state, or federal laws could be subject to a nuisance action. The bill protects those "using commonly accepted industry practices."

* Operations would not be subject to nuisance actions if they change owners or activities, including changing the type of farm altogether.

* It also reduces the statute of limitations for nuisance lawsuits to be filed from two years to one year from when the neighbor filing the complaint first experiences the alleged nuisance.

Four years ago, the Legislature passed a law expanding protections for farm and livestock producers from nuisance lawsuits over the objections of then-Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, who said that bill (LB227) closed the door to neighbors who had a legitimate complaint.

An agreement between Lathrop and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, created the two-year statute of limitations for neighbors to file a claim if neighboring odors or dust became a problem.

Jessica Kolterman, testifying Tuesday on behalf of Lincoln Premium Poultry, said the bill was necessary to protect agriculture, adding the state's laws were not as tight as they could be, particularly when compared to other states.

"One of the questions I've been asked is, 'Why do this legislation?' and 'Why now?'" Kolterman told the committee. "My answer for that is very simple: 'Why not now?'"

Farm families across the state are "under constant attack from different directions," Kolterman added, including those who oppose new developments near their existing property, oppose specific types of agriculture, and those "who are removed from agriculture."

Kolterman, the only person to testify in support, said the bill would help protect producers from frivolous lawsuits filed in the future.

But opponents said the bill gave too much deference to concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, and would shrink the rights of small farmers and homeowners in rural areas.

They also called into question whether or not there was a problem with non-agricultural operators filing nuisance lawsuits in Nebraska.

Jonathan Leo of Omaha, an environmental and administrative law attorney, said Ballard's bill addressed an anticipatory threat with "far too broad a brush," and said it would exclude the "vast swath of people who have legitimate claims."

LB662 as written would prevent homeowners living more than a half-mile away from an agricultural operation from bringing a nuisance complaint, and would exclude minority-share owners and renters from asserting their rights, Leo said.

He also said the bill did not stipulate what it means to "materially violate" a law, which could complicate the issue in the future.

Several landowners from southwestern Lancaster County who opposed a plan to locate a 190,000-chicken operation near their homes in 2018-19 told the committee that changing the Right to Farm Act would leave them without any recourse.

"(LB662) is just a tool to use the state government apparatus to protect CAFO operators from being held accountable when they cause a nuisance for property owners," said Jane Egan, who was part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn zoning regulations adopted by the Lancaster County Board that allowed the chicken farm to be built.

The 2019 bill was the result of a compromise on the two-year statute of limitations between supporters and opponents, Egan said, adding the proposed change sought to implement a "solution to a nonexistent problem."

Nancy Meyer, who lives in rural Saunders County, said putting more limits on who could file a complaint against bad actor ag producers eroded property rights, local control and prioritizing Nebraska businesses.

A total of 24 others submitted letters opposing the bill, in addition to roughly a dozen who testified in person. Two letters were submitted in support of LB662.

Ballard, at the end of the hearing, said the bill would prevent lawsuits from being filed against agriculture producers as seen in other states.

"Ag is our No. 1 economic driver and we need to protect it," he said, adding he was willing to work with opponents to find common ground on language changing the setback requirements and the statute of limitations.

The committee did not take action on LB662 on Tuesday.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
Holly Wilson had just left to pick up soda for a steak dinner for her nine grandchildren last May, when a barrage of bullets was fired into her home on the largest Native American reservation in South Dakota.

Her 6-year-old grandson, Logan Warrior Goings, jumped from the family's loveseat and raced across the room to his grandfather  and was shot in the head. It took at least 15 minutes for a single tribal law enforcement officer to arrive, but by then, the drive-by shooters were gone, and Logan  a kind and gentle boy who loved Xbox and his Siamese cat, Simon  was dead.

He was the sweetest little boy, said Wilson, 62. He was so helpful for grandma. He was my best partner.

Months later, a father and son who live near Wilson on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe, were shot and killed by an intruder, and their bodies weren't found for six days, she said. Just a few nights ago, Wilson's oldest son was held at gunpoint in his home.

These types of crimes have become increasingly common on the 5,400-square-mile reservation. Only 33 officers and eight criminal investigators are responsible for over 100,000 emergency calls each year across the reservation, which is about the size of the state of Connecticut, tribal officials said. The officers and investigators are all federally funded  and the tribe says it's just not enough.

The tribe sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs and some high-level officials in July, alleging the U.S. is not complying with its treaty obligations nor its trust responsibility by failing to provide adequate law enforcement to address the public safety crisis on the reservation. The federal government countered in court documents that the tribe can't prove treaties force the U.S. to provide the tribe with its preferred level of staffing or funding for law enforcement. After two days of court proceedings this week, a judge said he would take the case under advisement.

We need change. Everybodys tired of the same old talk. Its all talk, talk, talk every year after year, and our people have suffered for decades, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out told The Associated Press. We believe now is the time to take that stand.

The federal government has a trust duty to Indigenous nations and has made promises to tribes under treaty agreements, which should be read liberally and in favor of Native American tribes, explained Robert Miller, law professor at Arizona State University and an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma.

If federal law enforcement is woefully weak, which it is on most reservations, its not carrying out its duty as the trustee, as the guardian of Indian nations, he said.

Indigenous nations have increasingly advocated for treaty rights, including hunting, fishing and education, in the courtroom, with some success. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court made its landmark McGirt decision, ruling that a large portion of eastern Oklahoma, promised in treaties to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, would remain a reservation.

In court documents in this case, the Oglala Sioux Tribe points to treaties such as the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which states that if someone commits a crime against Native Americans, the U.S. will proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.

Star Comes Out said he hopes Oglala Siouxs lawsuit, which was filed just days after the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana filed a similar one, will help to serve as an example for other tribes in the Great Plains and beyond who are facing similar situations.

The South Dakota reservation, about 80 miles southeast of Rapid City, is located between the Nebraska border and the Bakken oil fields.

The location has made it convenient for both human and drug trafficking, explained Patricia Marks, an attorney with the tribe, while its lack of police has meant it's known as a lawless area.

Weve had a radical increase in guns, gun violence, she said. Weve had a radical increase in hard narcotics. It is heroin. Its fentanyl. Its meth. It is things that are life threatening.

Between January and June 2022, tribal law enforcement received 285 reports of missing persons, 308 gun-related calls and 49 reports of rape, Oglala Sioux officials said. There are typically only five tribal officers on any given shift, and response time for weapon-related calls can be anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour, Marks said.

In 2020, there were 155 more violent crimes reported by the Oglala Sioux tribal law enforcement compared to 2017, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country is complicated and depends on whether the suspect, victim or both are Native American, and where the crime occurs.

The federal government, tribes and counties have tried to bolster public safety on reservations  where, in some locations, Native women are killed at a rate more than 10 times the national average  with approaches that include cross-commissioning agreements, expanding sentencing authority for tribes and programs that allow tribal prosecutors to try cases in federal court.

The landmark Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, for example, expanded sentencing authority of tribal courts under certain conditions.

The Justice Department has also worked to increase funding given to tribes to address crime, including last year when officials announced it would award over $246 million in grants to Native communities to improve public safety and help crime victims.

But the tribe says none of this has been enough.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the FBI has jurisdiction over a set of major crimes. But its closest office is in Rapid City, so it can take more than two hours for agents to arrive, explained Marks.

For all practical purposes, it is the tribal police who are the first responders regardless of the type of crime, she said. Theyre the ones that have to get out there and answer the call."

The tribe would need more than 140 more police officers on the reservation to fight the rampant crime, according to court documents.

JoAnn Sierra, 79, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said two of her sons and two of her grandsons were killed on or near the reservation. The most recent case involved her grandson, Justin Little Hawk, 40, who in November 2020 was ambushed by a man he did not recognize while driving two of Sierras teenage grandchildren, she said.

The man got in the backseat of Sierras car and shot Little Hawk after the other grandchildren ran out. He died shortly before Christmas, and the person responsible was never convicted, Sierra said.

It just makes me feel like Im lost  Why does this have to happen here?" Sierra asked. "Why didnt I move?

Since the death of Logan, who was given the Lakota name Peta Zi Hoksila, meaning Yellow Fire Boy, Wilson has plastered the reservation with signs that say things like, Justice for Logan and Who killed grandmas baby? in hopes of bringing attention to his death.

She said after Logan was shot, she waited months to hear from the FBI, and when she tried to talk with tribal law enforcement, they were limited in what they could say due to jurisdictional issues.

Wilson said she believes if there had been more law enforcement responding quickly, her grandsons case could have been solved.

Its sad that we had to take those measures as a tribe to get the help that should have been there," she said through tears. "It should have been there according to the treaties. And yet we all had to live like this. Lose people; lose loved ones.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
BURLINGTON  The owner of a historic bridge says he has been railroaded in a legal battle with the City of Burlington over damage caused by a fire truck racing to a deadly plane crash.

Roger Bieneman has settled out of court with the city because, he said, his legal costs were climbing astronomically in the nearly two-year-old squabble.

The two parties agreed to a settlement in Racine County Circuit Court on the eve of a Feb. 6 jury trial, which Bieneman had sought in hopes of recouping $100,000 that he spent repairing the privately owned bridge.

City officials are declining to comment on the Bieneman bridge episode.

Area residents recognize the bridge across Honey Creek for its elaborate Christmas holiday decorations each winter, which Bieneman stopped displaying last year, in part because of the ongoing disagreement with city officials.

A Burlington Fire Department firefighter drove a 20-ton fire truck across the bridge in May 2020, causing serious damage to the wooden truss-style structure.

Bieneman, who says he filed suit because the city and its insurance company refused to take responsibility for the damage, said the resulting court battle cost him sleepless nights and forced him and his wife, Joy Bieneman, to divert money from their retirement savings.

The settlement will pay the couple $35,000, Bieneman said, which will not even cover the cost of their attorneys.

Bieneman sad he agreed to settle out of court only because his legal expenses were climbing, and that going to trial would have required him to invest thousands of dollars more in the effort.

Bieneman, 81, a retired UPS delivery driver, said he remains disappointed with city officials  who he believes showed little regard for the damage caused by their fire truck or the cost of restoring his property.

We got railroaded, he said. You work hard. You save your money, and they come and take it away from you.

City officials declined to comment about the court fight with the Bienemans or the out-of-court settlement.

City Administrator Carina Walters said a city lawyer has advised her not to discuss the matter until final paperwork has been completed on the settlement.

Until the attorney advises I can respond, I am unable to do so, Walters stated in an email.

Mayor Jeannie Hefty could not be reached for comment.

City Council President Jon Schultz said he was unaware of details of the out-of-court settlement with the Bienemans.

Schultz said the citys liability insurance company was handling the matter.

My understanding is they control all these decisions, he added.

The dispute began May 15, 2020, when a small airplane crashed near Bienemans farm property at 3801 Bieneman Road, located just north of the city in the Town of Burlington.

The pilot was pulled from the wreckage but later died of his injuries.

As emergency crews raced to the crash site, a fire truck crossed Bienemans bridge and left it severely damaged.

The bridge was built in 1877, and at one time was regarded as the oldest bridge of its kind in Wisconsin.

Bieneman says city officials assured him that the citys insurance company would cover any repair costs.

But when months passed without an offer of help, Bieneman bought the necessary lumber and, with his three sons, rebuilt the bridge himself.

The cost of the lumber, equipment and other materials totaled $103,000, he said.

The Bienemans filed suit against the city in June 2021, alleging that the city was negligent, partly because the firefighter driving the truck, Justin Benko, had a troubled work record with the city.

Benko resigned shortly after the bridge incident.

Taxpayers ended up defending Benkos conduct in the suit, as he was named a co-defendant along with the Burlington Fire Department and two insurance companies.

Roger and Joy Bieneman were represented by the Elkhorn law firm of Godfrey Leibsle Blackbourn & Howarth.

Joy Bieneman, 79, said the legal fight took a toll on her husband.

It bothers Roger more than it bothers me, she said. Were just glad that its going to be over.

Court records show that as the Feb. 6 date approached for a jury trial, the two sides reported to Circuit Judge Mark Nielsen that they were settling.

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed in court records.

Roger Bieneman said he already had spent about $70,000 on legal costs, and a trial would have cost him another $40,000 or more for lawyers, witnesses and other expenses.

Bieneman, whose family has been part of Burlington since the pioneer days of the 1840s, said losing more than $100,000 from retirement savings feels like he and his wife suffered a loss in the stock market  with one important difference.

The market comes back, he said. This aint going to come back.

First responders "rescue" Burlington students from (simulated) bus crash: in photos Car Nick Farvour Stretcher Car firefighters Drone Barb Rigden officer in car Students Fire Crew Babe and Steil
Kenosha Police Officers shot and killed two adult German Shepherds after an attack near the 7300 block of 23rd Avenue Monday morning according to police officials.

Sgt. Jeff Galley said that at about 7:30 a.m., the two dogs attacked an adult subject, inflicting substantial injuries to his lower leg. They were highly aggressive and seen charging numerous people, vehicles and officers, according to police.

The dogs ran east on 75th Street and north on Sheridan Road. According to a release, both dogs represented a clear and present danger to area residents, as well as children going to school.

Officers were unable to contain the dogs or locate the owner for about a half hour, and ultimately deadly action was taken.

One of the dogs was shot on Ninth Ave near 69th Street. The second dog was shot in the 700 block of 69th. Neither survived. The dogs owner was eventually found and notified. Appropriate citations to the owner will be forthcoming, according to Galley.
A Kenosha Unified School Board member whose seat is now in jeopardy due to clerical error is calling on the district to halt proceedings to replace him.

Chants of Eric, Eric, Eric, rang through the air outside of the Educational Support Center as supporters of School Board member Eric Meadows anxiously awaited his arrival. Meadows had left a committee meeting to announce he would not step down so easily.

The resolution presented by the KUSD School Board via their attorney to rectify the situation is unacceptable, as they are forcing me to accept the consequences of their own egregious mistake, Meadows said to a crowd of more than 30 people who gathered for the rally Tuesday night. I was elected to a three-year term and feel that the will of the people has been trampled if I am unfairly forced out prematurely by the School Board appointment.

Earlier this month, Kenosha Unified School District officials called for vacating Meadows seat to alleviate a clerical error in an election notice for the 2022 spring elections. As a result, the district is preparing to declare his seat vacant in April. Unified would then pursue a one-year appointment for the seat before a two-year term election in 2024.

Meadows said he and his attorneys have issued a cease and desist letter to the School Board and Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss, demanding a halt of the districts proceedings to replace me by appointment.

I, therefore, have retained Thomas More Society as legal counsel and Ive decided to contest the KUSD School Boards decision to replace me, an elected board member, with a person who is appointed, Meadows said. I respectfully request that the School Board reconsider their decision to oust me, respecting the will of the people.

Concerns over vacated seat

The issue came to light, district officials have said, when the Wisconsin Elections Commission contacted Kenosha Unified on Jan. 24. The commission had concerns about how the school district handled the seat vacated by then School Board member Dan Wade, who had been re-elected to the board in April 2020.

After Wade resigned in 2021, his seat was filled by Atifa Robinson, who was appointed July 1, 2021, in accordance with board policy. The district was then required to hold an election in April 2022 to fill the remainder of Wades term. That election was conducted, but the seat was inadvertently listed as a three-year term at that time, rather than the one-year term that remained on the seats original 2020-23 cycle.

The election notice should have indicated that there were three board seats up for election. The two candidates receiving the highest vote totals should have been named to three-year terms expiring in April 2025, with the candidate receiving the third-highest vote total to be named to the remaining one-year term of Wades seat, set to expire in April.

Meadows is in the hot seat because he was the candidate receiving the third-highest number of votes in the 2022 spring election and would be the one to fill the one-year term, which is set to expire in April, according to the district.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, which did not have a role in Kenosha Unifieds decision, discovered the error after receiving a request from Kenosha County in late January to update the School Board contests for the upcoming spring elections in the statewide voter registration system, according to a Feb. 7 statement from the commission. The district was then notified of the error, and made its own decision to proceed.

Meadows said if the district does not comply with the cease and desist order, he would seek litigation. Meadows has also submitted his name for appointment to the board vacancy.

Supporters rally around Meadows

At the rally, Meadows supporters expressed confusion over the mistake.

I just think its an egregious misappropriation of their behavior, Megan Gundlach said. I just dont even understand it ... You dont hold other people accountable for your mistakes and thats what theyre doing in this situation.

Barbara Goode, another supporter, said Meadows won his seat on the board by an election of the people.

We the people voted for him (to serve) for three years, Goode said. For (the board) to come and remove him is unacceptable.

Earlier this week, area Republican lawmakers and the local Democratic Party responded to the districts decision.

State Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, on Monday, called upon the School Board to respect the 2022 election results and the fact that the election had been certified.

In its own statement, the Kenosha County Democratic Party Executive Board said the organization believes the district is acting in good faith.

The reason The Kenosha County Democratic Party Executive Board feels obligated to make a statement now is because groups and individuals, which include Moms for Liberty and the Republican Party of Kenosha County, are painting KUSDs correction to this error as one done in bad faith, the executive board said Tuesday. They are choosing to use this correction as an excuse to manufacture rage in hopes of political gain.

Meanwhile, surrounded by supporters on a rainy Valentines Day night, Meadows said Kenosha is awesome.

I love the people of Kenosha, Meadows said.They care about their education, they elected me to help fix their education and thats what I want to do.

WATCH NOW - VIDEO GALLERY: KUSD School Board candidates introduce themselves at Feb. 21 forum KUSD School Board candidate - KIM KUSD School Board candidate - MEADOWS KUSD School Board candidate - ROBINSON (i) KUSD School Board candidate - ROOCHNIK KUSD School Board candidate - SCHMALING KUSD School Board candidate- STEVENS (i)
ROCHESTER  The City of Burlington is having no luck getting its hands on an extra liquor license for the would-be operators of a new tavern on Browns Lake Drive.

The Rochester Village Board voted Monday night to reject a request from the neighboring city to purchase one of the villages extra liquor licenses, as permitted under state law.

That follows a decision by the Town of Burlington to also refuse the citys purchase offer.

The City of Burlington has run out of coveted Class B liquor licenses, and is unable to accommodate any more requests from restaurants or other business owners wanting to sell alcoholic beverages.

Rochester and Town of Burlington officials, however, do not want to give up any of their licenses.

Rochester Village Administrator Betty Novy said that although the village has three extra licenses at the moment, local officials want to be ready if more businesses pop up, seeking liquor licenses in Rochester.

We dont want to give away Rochesters future, Novy said.

The Burlington Town Board likewise voted Jan. 26 to turn down the citys offer to purchase a license.

While state law sets the cost of such licenses at $10,000, the law does not establish a maximum price, meaning one of Burlingtons neighbors could charge more for one of its licenses.

The city then passes the cost onto a license applicant, so the question becomes how much is a business owner willing to pay to offer alcoholic beverages for customers.

Burlington Town Administrator Rachel Naber said officials never discussed a potential sale price for one of the towns two current unused licenses.

The Town Board simply had no interest in selling.

I have no comment on what the city would be willing to pay, Naber said.

State law allows the sale of liquor licenses between municipalities, provided the municipalities share a neighboring border.

That leaves only the Town of Lyons and Town of Spring Prairie as potential partners for the City of Burlington.

Lyons, however, said no, and Spring Prairie has no unused Class B licenses at the moment.

Burlington Mayor Jeannie Hefty, who has been leading the push to find an extra license, said she made a good effort with the neighboring towns and villages.

However, Hefty said, she respects all of them for holding tight to their licenses.

She said she does not blame them for wanting to avoid putting themselves into a situation similar to the citys current predicament.

We all are in the same situation of how hard it is to obtain the license and have one in place when an applicant comes forward, she said.

The Burlington City Council faced a dilemma earlier this year when two applicants sought the citys last remaining Class B license, which allows businesses to provide customers with on-site consumption of beer, wine or hard liquor.

The city reluctantly chose a downtown business owner over the would-be operators of Nolis Taps & Spirits, a new tavern proposed for a vacant credit union property at 2657 Browns Lake Drive.

Having to turn away a new business left city officials frustrated and upset with state limits on liquor licenses.

A municipality can award only one liquor license for every 500 people who reside in the community.

Burlington officials have lobbied unsuccessfully to change the state law.

Novy said she recognizes that Rochester could have sought a premium price from Burlington for one of its extra licenses.

Novy, however, said village leaders do not want to allow financial gains now to put the village at risk later for running short of liquor licenses.

The idea, she said, is to hold onto them.
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

The Azerbaijani mobile field hospital equipped with all types of medical equipment is continuing operations in Turkiye's quake-devastated province of Kahramanmaras, Azernews reports, citing the Emergencies Ministry.

Over 500 quake survivors appealed to the mobile field hospital for medical treatment since it was arranged in the area, the ministry said.

At the moment of writing, the overall death toll in Turkiye has risen to 35,418.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake without a call for aid.

Azerbaijani rescuers are currently working in the quake-hit regions in Turkiye with young volunteers on the scene to provide survivors with aid.
MOUNT PLEASANT  The Mount Pleasant Village Committee of the Whole on Monday approved recommending the purchase of four automated external defibrillators for placement in municipal buildings.

The Village Board will vote whether to approve the purchase of the life saving equipment during a meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive.

The AEDs would be purchased using opioid settlement money the village acquired last year.

The funds came from a class action settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers.

So far, the village has received $28,000 from the settlement, with more payments expected in the following decades.

The full amount has yet to be determined, but it is projected that the village will receive about $300,000.

The money can only be used to purchase items to assist with the treatment, training and prevention of opioid-related abuse, deaths and health concerns.

In photos: Voters hit the polls on Election Day in Mount Pleasant and Caledonia Jennifer Rydner Mary Beth Johnson Poll worker Fixing creases Next generation Bring a buddy! Don't forget your sticker! Sign here Kristin Althoff Teamwork Poll worker Deb Lees Line of voters Waiting in line Poll watcher Voter checks in Voters hit the booths Art Hansen Voters sign in Getting the ballot Caledonia Public Works Cathy Jacyna Cathy Jacyna gives sticker Casting the ballot Voters sign in Voters sign in Voters sign in Caledonia resident votes Caledonia residents Caledonia resident Bake sale Photo ID is required Election workers Election workers behind the table Working a table Caledonia residents Caledonia resident Caledonia residents Monica Bissen

Broadly speaking, its opioid remediation, Mount Pleasant Village Attorney Chris Smith said. Were talking about education, were talking about equipment such as Narcan  anything that broadly speaking will assist in fighting the opioid epidemic.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Racine County had 295 reported opioid-related overdoses among the 8,622 cases reported in Wisconsin in 2022, with the southeast region of the state accounting for more than half of the cases.

If the purchase is approved, two of the units will go to Village Hall, one will be placed at Campus Park, 850 Campus Drive, and one will be installed at the Department of Public Works, 8700 Campus Drive.

Trained village employees will be able to use the AEDs to assist people who suffer life-threatening emergencies by providing treatment before emergency services can arrive.

The four units will cost the village $6,000.

In photos: Voters hit the polls on Election Day in Mount Pleasant and Caledonia Jennifer Rydner Mary Beth Johnson Poll worker Fixing creases Next generation Bring a buddy! Don't forget your sticker! Sign here Kristin Althoff Teamwork Poll worker Deb Lees Line of voters Waiting in line Poll watcher Voter checks in Voters hit the booths Art Hansen Voters sign in Getting the ballot Caledonia Public Works Cathy Jacyna Cathy Jacyna gives sticker Casting the ballot Voters sign in Voters sign in Voters sign in Caledonia resident votes Caledonia residents Caledonia resident Bake sale Photo ID is required Election workers Election workers behind the table Working a table Caledonia residents Caledonia resident Caledonia residents Monica Bissen
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

View Results
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

Azerbaijan's third humanitarian aid convoy dispatched to Turkiye has reached the quake-hit region, Azernews reports per the Emergencies Ministry.

As the ministry said, the third convoy of nine trucks carrying humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry reached Turkiye on February 15, carrying various aid parcels, designed to alleviate the pain and suffering of survivors, triggered by the powerful earthquake.

The bulk of the humanitarian aid, made up of heaters and tents among others, was distributed in the province of Kahramanmaras.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Turkiye's southeastern part on February 6, 2023, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

At the moment of writing, the overall death toll in Turkiye has risen to 35,418.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations continues to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.
Rector of Azerbaijani State Academy of Fine Arts dismissed

15 February 2023 [16:55] -

President Ilham Aliyev dismissed Omar Eldarov from the post of the rector of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts.

Views: 862
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 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, votes, 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.
Presidents Day is coming up on Monday, Feb. 20. Over the years, several U.S. presidents and future presidents have passed through Vernon County.

Some of you might remember when Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts came through the area while he was running for president in 1959 and 1960. Sen. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, toured Wisconsin in late September of 1959. They came to Viroqua on Sept. 25 to speak at the Oriole Cafe. The Oriole was located on Main Street and later became the Viking Inn Supper Club; today the building is home to the Pacifico restaurant.

At the Oriole, Kennedy spoke about soil conservation in Vernon County, and the shortcomings of the Eisenhower-Benson farm program. He also was given a sample of Vernon County tobacco. J.F.K. came back through Vernon County six months later, in March of 1960, speaking at Hillsboro High School on March 25. Many Catholics lived in the Hillsboro area, and that was an important constituency for him. Kennedy went on to win the presidency in November of that year, becoming the first Catholic to serve as U.S. president.

More of you are likely to remember when Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton came through Rising Sun, a tiny village located just over the county line into Crawford County, in August of 1992. The Clinton/Gore campaign bus was traveling from Prairie du Chien to La Crosse, and people gathered along the route in Rising Sun, hoping for a glimpse of a possible future president. He arrived shortly after midnight to greet a crowd that had been waiting for hours.

Twelve years later, also on a route from Prairie du Chien to La Crosse, President George W. Bush stopped briefly in Viroqua. He was campaigning for his second term when the campaign bus came through in May of 2004. The bus stopped at Culvers Frozen Custard on Main Street, and the president went inside for a vanilla cone.

Bush came through Vernon County again just before Election Day in November of that same year, traveling from Onalaska to Richland Center. This time he did not stop, just waving to supporters in Westby and Viroqua as the bus rolled by.

Do you have any stories of meeting a U.S. president in Vernon County?
What do you get when you mix a bunch of fourth-graders and a 4th Friday Library Book Club? One Book, One School and One Community, of course!

The Westby area is once again celebrating this collaboration between Westbys public library and elementary school through mid-March. This year we are revisiting Beverly Clearys 1965 classic, The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Our Bekkum Facebook page captured an exciting video of such a mouse riding through the school gymnasium on his motorcycle! And while the books protagonist, Ralph, displayed eerily similar attributes to Principal Bruce Peterson, he was cheered on with much fanfare from the high school drum corps, pom pom tunnel and bleachers filled with thundering elementary enthusiasm! Elementary school librarian Darla Schroeder and her gang sure know how to get the students fired up about reading!

Our library is reaching for opportunities to promote literacy as a community. As a result, fourth-graders will exchange emails with library book club members while reading this endearing chapter book. During a future book club, these pen pals will meet up face to face to celebrate! We are looking forward to this intergenerational exchange of perspectives and insight. Perhaps some cheese snacks, Ralphs favorite, are in order1

Meanwhile, on Thursday, March 2, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., our entire school and community is invited to the Bekkum Community Room to enjoy an evening of games, snacks and activities honoring this book and those whove participated.

This evening will include a poignant moment to remember our beloved Grandma Sally, WES Foster Grandparent and Bekkum Library promoter. After over 20 years of service, the winner of both The Jefferson Award and Governors Service AmeriCorps Senior Lifetime Impact Award, Sally Vyvyan, passed away on Jan. 24. She continued sharing so many exciting ideas for this event up until her death. Grandma Sally offered tireless support to students and staff. We cherish her memory.

This is the essence of our movement, Building Community ConnectionsCelebrating the Westby Area!
WESTBYGrandma Sally Ann (Riske) Vyvyan passed away on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at the age of 85 at her home in Westby, Wisconsin. A Celebration of Life Open House will be held on February 19, 2023, at Westby Elementary School from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. The family of Grandma Sally would like to encourage everyone to wear Green Bay Packer attire if you are able. Sallys ashes will be buried with her mother in California. A full obituary can be viewed and online condolences may be expressed at www.vossfh.com.
The Menard Family Initiative at UW-La Crosse will host economist and political scientist Timur Kuran for a presentation exploring The Absence of a Liberal Branch of Islam: Causes and Prospects.

The event will run from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Skogen Auditorium, 1400 Centennial Hall. The event is free and open to all.

Kuran is a professor of economics and political science and a Gorger Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His most recent book, Freedoms Delayed: The Political Legacy of Islamic Law in the Middle East, discusses the historical reasons for repression in the region.

Additionally, Kuran directs the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies, co-edits a book series for Cambridge University Press, co-edits the Journal of Comparative Economics and serves on numerous editorial boards.

As a promoter of expressive freedoms, Kuran is also a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance and serves on the advisory council of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

He earned his bachelors degree from Princeton University and holds a masters and doctorate degree from Stanford University  all in economics.

For more information or to request disability accommodations, contact Kali Ysquierdo at 608-785-6653 or kysquierdo@uwlax.edu.
Westby Area High Schools Darik Moilien has 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 extracurricular 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 3D 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 to attend 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 in his spare time.

Moilien said the art and woodworking classes helped him make the decision to pursue 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 gives 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.
The La Crosse area could see three times the number of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2023 than it saw last year.

According to Dr. Chris Eberlein, Gundersen Health System emergency services physician, 10 people were confirmed to have died in January from fentanyl-related overdoses. Thats nearly a quarter of the 42 deaths the community saw last year and the most the community has ever seen in one month.

If that trend continues, were looking at well over 100 overdoses for the year, Eberlein said.

Experts are still looking at why the community is seeing a rise, but one of the reasons may be the mixing of fentanyl with the animal sedative Xylazine, otherwise known as tranq. It makes life-saving drugs like Narcan  which can reverse an overdose  ineffective and cause breathing difficulties, which can lead to death.

In recent years, the combination of tranq and other drugs like fentanyl has become more common across the country. According to the National Institute of Health, some states like Pennsylvania reported that more than 20% of overdose-related deaths were linked to tranq being mixed with another drug like fentanyl. Health officials in the La Crosse area are still waiting for toxicology reports to confirm the connection to tranq, but the evidence points to fentanyl being mixed with it, other sedatives or another powerful opiate.

Weve had anecdotal evidence that it is (here) from law enforcement. Patients who are addicted to using it have also mentioned that the word is that it is out there, Eberlein said.

He added that the rise in overdoses has also taken an emotional toll on health care workers working in Emergency Services.

Were not used to seeing patients at this age die, Eberlein said. These are typically patients in their 20s to 40s where they should be very involved in the community and productive, but now, were losing them to this drug and substance abuse.

Sandy Brekke, senior consultant to Gundersens Office of Population Health, sees the effects of fentanyl firsthand with her work on Gundersens Street Medicine Team. The team provides health care and resources to those in La Crosse experiencing homelessness. Brekke said La Crosses homeless community has greatly seen the devastation of opioids and addiction.

Thats a very supportive community amongst each other, Brekke said. Theyre losing a lot of their friends.

Health care experts like Brekke stress that overdoses and addiction affect more than the victim and their families. They believe it leads to a ripple effect within the community and generations of people being impacted.

It hits families, hits communities, its hitting our school system, and its hitting the health system, Brekke said. In our school system, were seeing children who have lost parents, and these are all of our children; these are our communitys children.

Brekke said there are serious effects for a child who has loses a parent to addiction or has a parent struggling with addiction. These effects are known in the health care community as Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs can have lifelong effects on someones mental and physical health. Gundersen works to understand and address the impacts of ACEs and trauma-informed care with their pediatric patients. Health care officials try to build psychological resilience in those with ACEs.

Community itself can build resilience. Oftentimes, its surrounding kids with adults who care for them, Brekke said. Any single adult who cares for a child can make an impact in that childs life.

Eberlein agrees that addressing ACEs at an early age and improving the overall mental health of the community can help to stop the effects of the rise in addiction.

It goes way back to trauma responses to children and all the way up, Eberlein said. In the next five to 10 years, the ripple effect will continue, and we really need to see what we can do to stop this to save the life of our communities.

Gundersen has teamed with other community organizations to address substance abuse. Gundersen helps fund Alliance to Heal, an organization based in La Crosse, to curb opioid addictions and provide resources to those seeking help. Eberlein said it takes more than one organization to respond to this problem.

We need to look at this as a community approach, he said. This is health care, public health, law enforcement, schools, education and the recovery community as a whole.

Gundersen has also done significant work to educate its providers on appropriate drug usage and prescribing practices. Eberlein said this has led to drastically positive results, including the near elimination of prescription drug overdoses in the La Crosse community. Gundersen has also expanded its drug abuse programs, allowing patients to be seen more quickly.

Brekke said those in need of help have options within the community. If they are connected to a primary doctor, she recommends they reach out to them to get connected with resources and treatment. People experiencing addiction are also encouraged to contact Great Rivers 211 or Coulee Recovery Center, which will help them start the process of recovery.

COLLECTION: Good morning photos of the day Saturday ... in the park, definitely not the 4th of July Strolling swans Eagle watch First robin of spring? Opossum passing by Eagles at sundset Saturday ... in the park, definitely not the 4th of July Snowy skyline Towering Spring rain drop The end of ice fishing season Arcadia flyer Bridge sunset A foggy morning hello Spring rain drop End of ice fishing is a drag Spring snow HARBORMASTER CAPPED Hitting the open water Bikes for everyone Helping our neighbors HyVee work continues PICTURE OF THE DAY PICTURE OF THE DAY: Spring migration A tradition unlike any other... Feeling squirrelly Elm tree flowers Sitting on the dock of the bay A holiday hunt Colorful sunset A nice day for a walk A beautiful sunset Tulip blooms Sunrise in the neighborhood A great day for reflection Enjoying the breeze Right on the river Morning visitor Beautiful blossoms A patriotic pair A trip to the Capitol Misty Mississippi Mallard on the march A balancing act Apple blossoms Flowering Crab trees River overflow Flag Day next week Ready to go for a spin Riverside sunset Doggone beautiful The cat-bird seat La Crosse River at Veterans Memorial Park bike bridge in Riverside Park French Island fiery sunset Cass Street Bridge from Riverside Park End of the Day Holding it together A flower named Sue Hanging out at Goose Island Beautiful day Riding in style On parade at Catfish Days A sun-dappled cemetery lane Pecking away Bunny meets world Cranes by the creek River at Veterans Memorial Park The cat-bird seat Fingers in the fog Dragonfly on the line Breakfast at the birdhouse Spreading her wings Relaxing in the park A view from the stage The Quenten Brown Band Rocking out in Arcadia Viceroy butterfly Dog or lion? Pure Water Days, Chippewa Falls Visiting in style Pedaling is for the birds Working on the new Fire House Dockwork Hurling in the park Swimming swans Hibiscus bloom 'The Remainders' rock the stage Land of milk and honey? French Island dining Anything for a free meal A babbling creek Finches munch on cones Stunning sunset Pucker up Chowing down Hibiscus bloom
The Viterbo University D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership will host the virtual presentation Why do Birds Sing? by University of Wisconsin professor of behavior neuroscience Lauren Riters at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/viterboethics.

This talk is being held in celebration of Aldo Leopold, a conservationist, forester, philosopher, educator, writer and outdoor enthusiast who is considered by many to be the father of wildlife management and of the U.S. wilderness system. In 2004, Wisconsin designated the first weekend in March as a time to honor Leopold and his conservation legacy. According to the Leopold Foundation, that legacy is to inform and inspire us to see the natural world as a community to which we belong. A La Crosse event is planned each year by representatives of local environmental and conservation groups.

Leopold wrote and spoke of listening for the first bird songs of a dawning day as in his essay, The Choral Copse in the Almanac. But almost a century later the question of why birds sing is still a puzzle, according to Riters.

Riters received a Ph.D. in psychology from the cognitive and behavioral neuroscience program at Bowling Green State University, where she studied how birds migrate and return home from distant locations. This was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Liege in Belgium and at The Johns Hopkins University where she began to study how and why birds sing.

This presentation is part of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership spring lecture series. For a full schedule of events, visit www.viterbo.edu/ethics.
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.
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

Mobile field hospitals of the Azerbaijani Emergencies Ministry continue operating in quake-hit Kahramanmaras to eliminate the consequences of the powerful earthquake, Azernews reports.

One of the hospitals was dropped in by Maj-Gen Durmus Aydemir, Deputy Chief of the Medical Service of the Turkish Ministry of Defense, and Deputy Minister of Health Tolga Tolunay.

During the visit, officials inquired about the conditions available in the area as well as the health of survivors of the earthquake being treated at the field hospitals.

Tolunay and Aydemir praised the conditions created and thanked the Azerbaijani government for the assistance.
Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin introduced a bill Monday that would expand the definition of illegal strip searches after a school superintendent told six girls to remove their clothes during a search last year for vaping devices.

Prosecutors charged Suring School District Superintendent Kelly Casper in February 2022 with six counts of false imprisonment after she took six female students into a bathroom and told them to disrobe so she could search for vaping devices. The girls, who were between ages 14 and 17, stripped to their underwear, and the search netted two vape cartridges. Another student admitted having a vape on her, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.

State law defines a strip search as a search in which a persons genitals or private areas are exposed to view or touched by the searcher. Any school district employee who strip-searches a student is guilty of a misdemeanor. But Oconto County District Edward Burke said the searches in this case didn't violate state law because the students were in their underwear.

Casper resigned in June. A judge dismissed the false imprisonment charges in July, saying the girls likely knew they could have left the bathroom.

The new bill, authored by Reps. David Steffen and Elijah Behnke, along with Sen. Eric Wimberger, would define a strip search as one in which a person's genitalia or private areas, or underwear-clad genitalia or private areas, are exposed or touched by the searcher.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our students and this legislation reflects a common-sense change, Steffen said in a statement.
The Netherlands and Denmark will not participate in the effort to supply German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, Germanys Die Welt daily newspaper has reported.

The newspaper has sent a formal request for comment to the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark to find out whether those states were ready to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Both governments replied through their spokespersons that they were not ready to do so.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said earlier that his country would deliver to Ukraine a total of 18 Leopard 2 tanks, leased from Germany. However, the Dutch government told Die Welt just recently that the delivery was no longer planned, and this decision was made in close coordination with Berlin.
Chris Hedges Organizes for Building a Left-Right Coalition Against War

Feb. 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)In a Feb. 12 column from ScheerPost, Chris Hedges takes on the small-minded political divisions surrounding the Feb. 19 Rage Against the War Machine rally in Washington, and calls for people to unite to stop the drive toward World War III. Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for the New York Times. He is now also the host of a weekly TV program on his Substack site, The Chris Hedges Report.

Hedges article is ironically titled, There Are No Permanent Allies, Only Permanent Power, making use of Lord Palmerstons adage that the British Empire has no permanent allies, only permanent interests, to argue that the left and right must ally, at least temporarily, to end the permanent power of the warmongers.

Hedges, listed as a speaker on Feb. 19, then identifies the unifying point: To those who suffer directly from U.S. and NATO aggression, the demands of the Feb. 19 Rage Against the War Machine rally in Washington are not theoretical issues. For them, it is a matter of life or death. They welcome any ally.

He then refers to some of the political bickering between so-called right and left, citing the case of CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin, who was pressured by her board not to speak, because of other speakers who were from the so-called right. Benjamin has so far said that she will speak. She told Hedges that her reasons are that she fears that this war could lead us into World War III or a nuclear confrontation, and stressing that the future of our world stands in the balance.

Hedges also mentions Nick Brana, chair of The Peoples Party, which he identifies as having organized the Feb. 19 rally with libertarians. Hedges quotes Brana as saying that the left has become largely irrelevant in the U.S. because it is incapable of working with the right.... It clings to identity politics over jobs, health care, wages and war, and condemns half the country as deplorables.

Hedges then asserts:
Zelenskyy Celebrates Ukraines Revival of Paramilitary UnitsYes, Including Azov

Feb. 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Ukraines new Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko was hailed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday in his Telegram post, according to Ukrinform: Ihor Klymenko has been appointed Minister of Internal Affairs (IA) of Ukraine. He knows how and what needs to be done now to ensure that the National Police, National Guard, State Emergency Service, State Border Guard Service, Migration Service and the entire staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs continue to work effectively and fight for our countrys victory. He cited as a main task for the IA that the Offensive Guard, which is currently being formed, becomes a strong element of our Defense and Security Forces.

Klymenko replied:

We are already forming the Offensive Guard and need to not only recruit volunteers, but also train them in a short time. We need to form truly combat units that will strengthen the security and defense forces of our country. The Minister emphasized the need to bring to justice all those who committed war crimes, as well as collaborators. Every war crime committed by the aggressor must be well documented. We cannot miss a single collaborator or traitor. All of them must receive a fair punishment,

the Interior Minister emphasized.

What is the Offensive Guard? Ukraines Internal Affairs Ministry, infamous for their 2014 work under Arseniy Avakov with the Azov Battalion, the Aidar and other paramilitary groups, is now pushing an Azov 2.0. Klymenko had announced in the last two weeks that the Interior Ministry has begun forming assault brigades known as the Offensive Guard to liberate the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine:

The decision to create assault brigades was made by our employees, who have enough rage to beat the enemy. Many of our servicemen who have defended and are defending our country came up with the initiative to recruit people to such units. Therefore, it was decided that all those who are willing, who are patriots, and who lost their homes or relatives due to the war should be united in such brigades. We have already started forming units that are aimed at liberating our territories and reaching internationally recognized borders.... First and foremost, these are people who went through the crucible of 2014-2015.

The core of the Offensive Guard, then, are the hardened paramilitary leaders, those whom the West has been assured have been folded into the regular army.

Six assault brigades will be formed under the IAs National Guard, bearing names such as Hurricane, Spartan and Azov. These are assumedly the brigades to take Crimea, the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson. The Hurricanes tagline is the disposal brigade of the Russian military.

The IAs National Police has one assault brigade, named Rage. Their rage is to be deployed against internal enemies, collaborationists and traitors. If their recruits have previously lost a friend or family member in battle, that is even better.

The IAs spokeswoman Marjana Reva explained that the Offensive Guard begins with already active policemen and military personnel who have gone through the crucible of warwho know how to defend Ukraine. New recruits get to choose their preferred brigade, and they get good pay and benefits.

The original 2014 paramilitaries, Azov, Aidar, etc., were key, not because the regular army was too small, but because the regular army could not be counted upon to shoot down their then-fellow citizens in the Donbass. The paramilitaries were organized out of the most violent of the Maidan activists, who, after overthrowing the elected government with State Department funding, they immediately deployed into the Donbass to enforce the coup upon those who had voted heavily for that government. The last week has seen Kiev systematically tap into revenge and rage, to be deployed against those who voted so overwhelmingly to be part of Russia.

(In Telegram yesterday, Zelenskyy reveals his philosophy: It is impossible to completely erase evil from human nature. Yet, it is in our power to guarantee with words and deeds that the light side of human nature will prevail. The side you and us share. And this stands above anything else.)
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR WEDNEDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Feb. 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Today, Feb. 14, the Defense Ministers of NATO began a two-day session. They have a mission to pull together whatever armaments, tanks, etc., that can be pulled together, for a vaunted spring counteroffensive in Ukraine, in a desperate attempt to trade blood for an improved deal at the negotiating table. They also have a new strategy paper, challenging them to figure out a way to simultaneously fight one war in Europe along with an out-of-area one in Asia. Later this week, over Feb. 17-19, the Munich Security Conference convenes for three days, evidently on how to provide for security without considering the concerns of the worlds largest nuclear power. For the first time in post-Soviet Russia, Moscows officials have been refused an invitation.

But while these assemblages of bloody warmongers proceed, a chorus of voices for ending their senseless drive toward thermonuclear confrontation is building, with a major demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 19. Frances leader of the LaRouche movement, Jacques Cheminade, gave an inspirational address to a peace rally in Paris on Feb. 12. Various groups across the political spectrum are organizing for the Washington event, having to fight through the typical divide and conquer techniques, pitting pigeon-holed lefties and righties against each other.

Featured speaker Chris Hedges put it rather well in his Feb. 12 posting:

We will not topple corporate power and the war machine alone. There has to be a left-right coalition, which will include people whose opinions are not only unpalatable but even repugnant, or we will remain marginalized and ineffectual.... Alliances are built around particular issues, in this case permanent war, which often fall apart when confronting other concerns.

Hedges also quoted Nick Brana, chair of The Peoples Party, who organized the rally in collaboration with ideologically polar opposites amongst the libertarians, saying that the left has become largely irrelevant in the U.S. because it is incapable of working with the right.... It clings to identity politics over jobs, health care, wages and war, and condemns half the country as deplorables.

Something must be working right, as the neo-liberals at the New Republic, as they say, smelled fire and broke the glass. They went berserk today with a raving, incoherent assault upon LaRouche Senate candidate Diane Sarethe voice of reason and statecraft in the peace mobilization. The articles purported authora proponent of identity politics over jobs, healthcare, wages and warproved that LaRouches emphasis on production over speculation meant he was a fascist!

So, dont be drawn into petty squabbles. Keep your eyes on the prize.
All the kinds of sea turtles found in the Philippines are endangered. That means they are at risk of dying out.

But now, the turtles have one less threat. Many people who used to collect their eggs to eat or to sell are now working to keep turtles safe.

Those people are called poachers. They took the eggs and caught the turtles illegally to sell them or eat their meat.

Now, however, conservation organizations are teaching former poachers how to safely collect the eggs and protect them before they hatch. The people who do this are paid about 37 cents per egg. That is four times more than they would earn from selling them illegally.

One of the former poachers is Johnny Manlugay. He is a 55-year-old builder. He said he used to go to beaches at night to steal the turtle eggs to eat or sell. Now, he walks the beaches with a bright light looking for turtle nests and the eggs inside.

Manlugay looks for eggs belonging to a turtle called Olive Ridley. He brings his two dogs who help him find the eggs.

Ive learned to love this work he said, adding he did not know it was illegal to eat turtle eggs and their meat.

He collects the eggs carefully and brings them to a group called CURMA, which stands for Coastal Underwater Resource Management Actions. CURMA takes the eggs and puts them under the sand in a safe place. When the baby turtles hatch, they are directed to the water.

CURMA is trying to save the Philippine turtles. Along with Olive Ridley, the other kinds of turtles found there are Green, Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Leatherback.

The turtles are called pawikan in the local language. They are at risk not only from poachers, but also climate change and habitat loss.

The conservation group formed in 2009. Its members teach the poachers how to collect the eggs and over time, they save thousands of turtles.

Carlos Tamayo is one of CURMAs leaders.

We talked to the poachers, and it turned out poaching was just another means for them to earn a living, he said. They had no choice.

Jessie Cabagbag is one of the former poachers who now helps the turtles. He grew up eating their eggs and meat. Now he collects the eggs and keeps them safe. He said the extra money he gets helps him pay for necessary things such as food and electricity.

He also purchased a tricycle, or bicycle with three wheels. He uses it to take passengers from place to place. The money he earns from that helps with his costs when he cannot collect eggs.

Cabagbag is 40 years old. His wife and seven-year-old son sometimes help him collect turtle eggs. Since October, they have taken over 1,000 eggs to CURMA. Cabagbag said that once he received training and learned that the turtles were endangered, he stopped poaching.

When the baby turtles hatch, many visitors come to watch them run down the beach and into the water. Cabagbag said seeing the turtles get safely into the water brings him a feeling of joy.

I am truly proud, he said. I am happy that I get to contribute to the conservation of the pawikan.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by Reuters.

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Words in This Story

endangered n. in danger of dying out

conservation n. work done to keep things healthy or prevent them from dying

habitat n. the place where something lives

means n. a way of doing something

hatch v. when an animal the develops inside an egg is born

training n. information or teaching given to someone who is learning something new

nest n. a safe place where an animal such as a bird lays its eggs

proud adj. a feeling of happiness after accomplishing something

contribute v. to give an item or time to a larger product or project

____________________________________________________________________

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Hundreds of thousands of American students have dropped out of public schools since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have essentially gone missing from schools.

An examination by The Associated Press, Stanford Universitys Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee reached some of the missing students. They found an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences from school could not be explained. These students did not move out of state. They did not sign up for private school or home-school.

Missing students received a lot of attention in 2020 after the pandemic closed schools around the country. In the years since, however, missing students have largely become a budgeting problem.

School leaders and some state officials worried about how they would lose financing if the students did not return. More students means more money from the city, state and federal governments.

There is no longer urgency to find the students who disappeared from school. Early in the pandemic, school workers would go to students homes to try and help them return to the classroom. Most such efforts, however, have ended.

A problem not discussed

The missing students identified by the AP and Stanford represent more than just a number. The study represents thousands of students who have may have missed out on the basics of reading and other skills in kindergarten and first grade.

Discussion of children's recovery from the pandemic has centered largely on test scores and performance. But Dee, the Stanford expert, said the data suggests a need to understand more about children who are not in school and how that will affect their growth.

This is leading evidence that tells us we need to be looking more carefully at the kids who are no longer in public schools, he said.

Over months of reporting, the AP learned of students and families avoiding school for many reasons. Some are still afraid of COVID-19. Others are homeless or have left the country. Some students could not study online and found jobs instead.

During the long period of online learning, some students fell so far behind that they no longer knew how to behave or learn at school. Many of these students are still officially on school rosters. That makes it harder to truly count the number of missing students. The real number of young people not receiving an education is likely much higher than 240,000.

Losing the school connection

The AP and Big Local News found that public school enrollment fell by 710,000 students between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 school years. That number includes the 21 states that provided the necessary data. It also includes numbers from Washington, D.C.

Those states saw private-school enrollment grow by over 100,000 students. Home-schooling grew even more, increasing by more than 180,000.

But the data showed 240,000 students who were neither in private school nor attending home-school. Their absences could not be explained by population loss, like falling birth rates or families who moved out of state.

States where kindergarten is not required were more likely to have larger numbers of students who are unaccounted for. That suggests the missing students also include many young learners who have stayed at home instead of starting school.

The true number of missing students across the country is likely much higher. The study does not include data from 29 states or the unknown numbers of so-called ghost students -- children who are enrolled in school but rarely make it to class.

When schools provide little support

Officials of the Unified School District of Los Angeles, California, have spoken about attempts to find unschooled students and help remove barriers that prevent them from coming to school.

The district has offered clothes-washing services and help with housing. But some students and their parents say their problem is with a school system that they say has failed their children.

Allison Hertog represents more than 30 families whose children missed a lot of time learning when Californias classrooms closed for more than a year early in the pandemic. She said, Parents are bereft." In other words, parents feel hopeless and are without necessary support.

Los Angeles student Ezekiel West is in fourth grade but reads at a first-grade reading level. Before the pandemic shutdowns, he moved from school to school when educators could not deal with his poor behavior.

During online learning, Ezekiels mother had trouble getting internet for her son to attend class. When Ezekiel returned to school in the fall of 2021 as a third grader, Ezekiel was unhappy that other students had made more progress than he had.

A California judge ruled that Los Angeles schools had violated Ezekiels rights. The judge ordered the citys school district to give Ezekiel a place at a new school, with a special plan to ease him back into learning and building trust with his teachers.

The school did not follow the plan. Last October, his mother stopped sending him to school.

Last month, Ezekiel signed up for a public online school for California students. Hertog, his lawyer, is worried that the program will not work for someone with Ezekiels needs. The family is looking for yet another choice.

At least three of the students Hertog has represented have been missing from school for long periods since in-person learning restarted. Their situations, she said, were avoidable. She added, Its pretty disgraceful that the school systems allowed this to go on for so long.

Im Dan Novak. And I'm Jill Robbins.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

Quiz- Hundreds of Thousands of Kids Have Not Returned To School Following Pandemic Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

_____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

professor  n. a teacher especially of the highest rank at a college or university

absence  n. a period of time when someone is not present at a place, job, etc.

basic  adj. forming or relating to the most important part of something

kid  n. a young person

roster  n. a list of the people or things that belong to a particular group, team, etc.

enroll  v. to take as a member or participant

disgrace  n. the condition of feeling ashamed or of losing or becoming unworthy of respect or approval

allow  v. to permit to have or do something
A proposed law in the U.S. state of Massachusetts would permit prisoners to donate their organs to shorten their prison terms.

The proposal faces intense opposition in the Massachusetts legislature. Experts also say the measure could conflict with a federal law that bans the sale or transfer of human organs for valuable consideration.

The measure has raised questions about whether prisons would be able to effectively care for the health of organ donors.

Critics call the idea dehumanizing. They also argue that such a law could create pressure on prisoners to donate organs.

Supporters of the bill have suggested it could help feel a need for organ donors in Black and Hispanic communities. Their reasoning is linked to over-jailing rates for those minorities in U.S. prisons.

Kevin Ring is the president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington, D.C.-based criminal justice reform group. He told The Associated Press that supporting organ donation and reducing some prison sentences is good. But he added, Tying the two together is perverse.

The bill would create a Bone Marrow and Organ Donation Program within the Massachusetts state Department of Correction. The program would permit prisoners to receive a reduction in their sentence of between 60 days to a year if they have donated bone marrow or organs.

Judith Garcia is a Massachusetts state lawmaker and one of the bills sponsors. She told the Associated Press that the measure was created to deal with health inequalities. She said such inequalities are linked to, in her words, the vicious cycle of unjust incarceration and over-policing of Black and Brown communities.

Garcia said Black and Hispanic communities are at higher risk for health conditions that might require organ donation. In addition, discriminatory incarceration rates reduce the number of available donors that could serve minority communities, she said.

Currently, the need for life-saving organs is great: There are more than 4,600 individuals in Massachusetts  and almost 106,000 people in the U.S.  waiting for organ transplants. About 28 percent of those in Massachusetts identify as Black, Hispanic or Latino, organ donation data shows.

But critics say the proposed law tries to deal with the problem in the wrong way.

George Annas directs the Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights at Boston Universitys School of Public Health. He said offering reduced sentences in exchange for organs is not only unethical, but also violates federal law.

You cant buy an organ. That should end the discussion, Annas said.

Massachusetts state lawmaker Carlos Gonzalez is another co-sponsor of the bill. He defended the proposal, noting that the donor program would be voluntary. He also said he is open to establishing a policy that would permit prisoners to donate organs and bone marrow without the promise of a reduced sentence. Gonzalez noted that there is currently no law against prisoner organ donation in Massachusetts.

Its not quid pro quo. We are open to setting policy without incentives, Gonzalez said.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

transfer  v. to move someone or something from one place to another

perverse  adj. not in keeping with expected or accepted norms

vicious cycle  n. a situation in which one problem causes another problem, which then makes the first problem worse

incarcerate  v. to jail

unethical  adj. morally bad

quid pro quo  n. something given to a person in return for something they have done

incentive  n. something that persuades a person to do something

_____________________________________________________________________

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Mariia Vyhivska is from Ukraine. Iurii Kurochkin is from Russia. Both are 23 years old. They fell in love while playing an online video game.

Their relationship began before Russia invaded Ukraine last February. With their nations at war, the chances of them continuing their relationship were low.

But the couple has beaten the odds.

Vyhivska was living near Ukraines capital Kyiv. Kurochkin was living in St. Petersburg in Russia. Although they lived far apart, the couple did not give up.

It wasnt hard, said Vyhivska, smiling. I wasnt afraid, not at all. I am happy. Because I am loved.

Kurochkin described how the couple started making plans to meet in person.

It was a year ago ... I started to organize my international passport, to visit Mariia in Ukraine, Kurochkin said. I finished it in January, and as you know, the war started in February and it crashed all our plans.

There seemed to be little hope of them meeting in person after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Vyhivska and Kurochkin were at a loss. She moved to Czechia soon after the war started while he stayed at home in Russia. But still, they did not give up. They started considering some options to live together, said Kurochkin.

They decided to go to Serbia. The Slavic nation in the Balkans has remained friendly with Russia and Russians can enter without a visa.

Serbias capital Belgrade was where Vyhivska and Kurochkin met for the first time.

I arrived to Serbia on 27th of April and I waited for her for several days, Kurochkin said. She arrived from the Czech Republic and we met each other at the central bus station.

He was all that she imagined, said Vyhivska.

There was this moment of unbelievable joy, she said. I traveled for 16 hours and had no sleep, I couldnt sleep. So, I came out of the bus and I fell into his arms.

Their new life together began immediately. They first stayed in a hotel for young people before finding a small apartment just outside Belgrade. They took up different jobs while studying online at a St. Petersburg university.

Life together has not been without its problems, however. Last July, pro-Russian extremists in Serbia drew a huge Z sign  a symbol of Russias invasion  on their building. Attackers broke into their home. They were also attacked by a violent mob, Kurochkin said.

We talk about the war sometimes but we dont have any problems between each other, said Kurochkin.

For Vyhivska, the biggest concern has been how she will be seen by other Ukrainians because of her relationship. She notes that her own family has no objections to the relationship.

What happens next? Well see, she said. We dont know what happens tomorrow.

Kurochkin said the couple will just take things as they come: We are happy because we are together.

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English.

_____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

beat the odds -- idiom. to succeed even when you are not like to

option - n. the opportunity or ability to choose something or to choose between two or more things

moment - n. a very short period of time

symbol - n. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality  often + of
LEXINGTON  The students who will be entering the workforce soon will be entering a far different market than just 10 years ago. Students got a chance to see what was available locally at the Dawson County Career and College Fair on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The annual event is organized by Dawson Area Development (DAD) and was hosted at the Orthman Community YMCA gym.

Scott Foster, DAD Assistant Director, said over 700 students from Lexington, Cozad, Overton and Gothenburg attended the event, while over 50 different area businesses and college were represented. Foster said they had a good turnout from all involved.

The goal for the students was twofold, Foster said, they got a chance to see what types of careers and opportunities were available locally and what type of education they would need.

Foster said it was important to keep these students in the state to be a part of the workforce. The brain drain out of Nebraska has long been an issue many throughout the state have sought to address through a variety of methods.

The job market the students will be entering after they graduate from high school or secondary education is quite different from conditions just 10 years ago.

Research of private sector data shows during the worst years of the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009, overall employment fell around five percent. During those same two years, temp jobs plummeted by 30 percent.

The effects of the recession continued to linger for years, there is anecdotal evidence of job seekers turning in dozens of applications but having no takers.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered one of the worst job crises not seen since the Great Recession or even the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many people also changed where they worked due to several of the numerous factors brought on by the pandemic.

Three years later, the job market is now more competitive than ever and the need for quality employees has been an issue affecting many industries. Labor force participation rates declined following COVID and have not yet fully recovered.

Among working age adults, the rate of labor force participation is 0.7 percentage points lower than its pre-pandemic peak of 83.1 percent, according to the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Foster said that nearly every business present at the event was in need of workers and many are paying good wages. Its a historically open job market, he said.

Military recruiters were also present, including U.S. Air Force SSgt Chris Chambers.

Chambers said the Air Force was present at the event to show the branch as an option for todays youth and let them know all the ways they can serve.

According to the Associated Press, in 2022 the Air Force only had 10 percent of their recruiting goal met as they entered the new fiscal year. The U.S. Army fell around 25 percent of its recruitment goal last year. The service branches had to compete with a tight job market to find young people willing and fit to enlist.

Chambers noted the pandemic impacted just about every part of life in the United States and while difficulties continue, the Air Force is doing its best to be an option for those looking to serve their country.

Lexington High School Counselor Michele McKeone said the sophomore and junior classes were attending the career and college fair on Wednesday. For the sophomores, it was more of an exploratory event but for the juniors, there was more for them to do.

In January, the junior class conducted a career assessment and looked into the industries and areas they were interested in perusing to get a sense if it was truly for them and what they would need to do to achieve it, McKeone said.

The second step was the career and college fair, as it gave the juniors an opportunity to speak with people in the job industry and to get a first-hand account the opportunities the businesses offered.

McKeone offered her compliments to Foster and DAD for organizing the event and giving the students the opportunity to see what is out there in the local area.

Later the juniors will sign up for their classes for the senior year, including some dual credit classes that will help prepare them for college or whatever career they choose to enter.

The last step for the juniors will also be visiting different industries around the community and learn about the jobs that only an on-site visit can offer.

McKeone said opportunities are out there, if the students are willing to take advantage of it.
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.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023 020922-owh-new-bigelk-pic-cm02.jpg 020423-owh-new-zooupdate-pic01.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
In accordance with the President's instruction, Kazakhstan will send 55 tonnes of additional humanitarian aid to Turkiye. This issue was discussed at a meeting of a governmental commission chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar.

The humanitarian aid includes clothes (warm jackets and trousers), tents, metal beds, bedding and other essential items.

The aid will be delivered by aircraft to the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins delivered his State of the District speech last week at East High School.

During his State of the District address, Madison School District Superintendent Carlton Jenkins urged the community to support public schools.

MMSD superintendent Carlton Jenkins, left, takes a selfie with students, staff and local elected officials at Sandburg Elementary School on Thursday.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins addresses students as he visits Badger Rock Middle School in Madison for the first day of school on Sept. 1.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins takes photos as he visits Badger Rock Middle School in Madison on Thursday.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins takes selfies with the staff at Badger Rock Middle School.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins insists that Gov. Tony Evers meets the son of Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) following a press conference at Aldo Leopold Elementary School in Madison on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. Hongs son, George Morris had just finished untying his mothers shoes after he had tied them together during the press conference. He then ducked down the school stairs to retrieve a $5 bill he discovered.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins says goodbye to Gov. Tony Evers after the two co-hosted a press conference to announce $90 million of funding for education in Wisconsin at Aldo Leopold Elementary School in Madison on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022.

Gov. Tony Evers and Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins hold a press conference announcing $90 million of funding for education in Wisconsin at Aldo Leopold Elementary School in Madison on Tuesday.

Gov. Tony Evers and Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins hold a press conference to announce $90 million of funding for education in Wisconsin at Aldo Leopold Elementary School in Madison on Tuesday.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carton Jenkins gives Gov. Tony Evers a tour of Aldo Leopold Elementary School following a press conference to announce $90 million of funding for education in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins, left, sits with Ho-Chunk President Marlon WhiteEagle and Ho-Chunk elder Janice Rice during MMSD's land acknowledgement ceremony on Monday.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins speaks at a press conference encouraging state legislators to spend some of the budget surplus on education.

Alicia Grant, center, multicultural student/services coordinator at West High School, talks with Madison School District Superintendent Carlton Jenkins, right, and Nelson Render, chief of secondary schools, during the soul food luncheon organized by West's Black Student Union in March.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins, left, talks with soon-to-be-teacher Christine Gerbitz at the district's "signing day" event.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins, left, greets soon-to-be-teacher Dianna Murray after she crossed the stage at the district's "signing day" event Thursday.

Superintendent Carlton Jenkins addresses members of the media during a press conference Monday about the fights. He says the behavior displayed by some students is not acceptable.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins speaks at a press conference outside of East High School Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins, left, talks with Madison Police Department chief Shon Barnes after a Nov. 8 press conference at East High School.

Madison School District Superintendent Carlton Jenkins stands outside James Wright Middle School. Jenkins' goal is to make the district a prototype for the rest of the nation to follow in an effort to eliminate disparities in educational outcomes between students of color and their white counterparts.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins speaks at a press conference with advocates for increased school funding in Wisconsin on Monday, outside the state Capitol building.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins greets kindergartners as they arrive for the first day of in-person learning at Midvale Elementary School in Madison, Tuesday morning.

Madison Metropolitan School District superintendent Carlton Jenkins greets kindergartner Audrey Isaac and her father Paul Isaac as they arrive for the first day of in-person learning at Midvale Elementary School on Tuesday.

Superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District Carlton Jenkins was a panelist at the Cap Times Idea Fest session, How will COVID-19 Change K-12 Education?

New Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent, Carlton Jenkins, visits the Williams family to apologize and talk about an incident in which a teacher allegedly choked then first-grader, Londyn. MMSD chief of high schools Mike Hernandez and chief of elementary schools Carlettra Stanford also visited the family.

Madison schools Superintendent Carlton Jenkins talks to media before joining a march to address protesters with other Madison leaders in August 2020.

Carlton Jenkins, right, and other Madison Metropolitan School District administrative staff took questions from students and families during a Facebook Live broadcast Wednesday.

Carlton Jenkins was hired to take over the permanent superintendent position for the 2020-21 school year. He will be tasked with implementing decisions made by interim superintendent Jane Belmore, including facilitating a virtual learning program for at least the first quarter of the school year.

Carlton Jenkins is the new superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Madison Superintendent Carlton Jenkins throughout the years

Madison Superintendent Carlton Jenkins announced he was retiring this summer after leading the district for nearly three years.

Here are photos of him throughout the community.
The chair of the Dane County Board suggested during a meeting last week that county administrators might be retaliating against a union member for raising concerns about the work environment at the county-owned zoo  an allegation the countys director of administration said has no basis in fact.

After five investigations of his work between July 2021 and last summer, Erik Anderson, a zookeeper at Vilas Zoo, was found to have violated what his union described as minor workplace violations.

But it wasnt until December  after longstanding complaints made by Anderson about possible discrimination and a toxic environment at the zoo got probed by a retired judge at the behest of the board  that management decided to hit him with an eight-day suspension and launched another investigation into his actions.

At a recent Personnel and Finance Committee meeting, board Chair Patrick Miles, 34th District, raised questions about the timing and defended Andersons actions in the most recent case. It involves Anderson having obtained a page from a 2018 Association of Zoos and Aquariums report on the Vilas Zoo and then giving it to the retired judge who conducted the zoo investigation.

The county considers the AZA report to be confidential, and county work rules prohibit unauthorized disclosure of confidential records and unauthorized possession of county property, Greg Brockmeyer, director of county administration, said.

But Neil Rainford, a representative with AFSCME Council 32, said during the meeting that Anderson obtained the page in question from the AZA itself and has regular access to AZA reports in his role as a zookeeper. Miles said: I see no issue with the document being passed to her and that this employee had it.

Anderson and Rainford declined requests from the Wisconsin State Journal to detail the other, earlier investigations into Andersons behavior, noting that Anderson is appealing his discipline through the countys grievance process. But their union claims county administrators are retaliating against Anderson for his union advocacy. Both found that some zoo employees felt that Anderson was the one fomenting a hostile work environment at the zoo and that they left the union because of him and feared retaliation.

Ongoing rancor

The dust-up is the latest drama to rankle relations among the county administrators, the board and county employees.

The Highway Department also faced complaints from organized labor about the success of Black interns in an internship program, although an equal number of Latino interns also failed to complete the program.

And in July, the head of the Department of Human Services stepped down over complaints that the board was siding with organized labor over management.

The county administrations initial, internal investigation of issues at the zoo blamed many problems on zoo staff and the union for creating an us versus them mentality with management. A later probe by the County Board found no evidence of discrimination, a hostile work environment or violations of the Dane County Employee Handbook.

County Executive Joe Parisis administration defended the Medical Examiners Office and Highway Department leadership and opposed the boards independent investigation of the zoo, while accusing organized labor of race baiting and instigating strife between workers and management.

Parisi did not respond to an email asking for comment on claims that his administration is retaliating against Anderson.

Not retaliation

In an email to the board earlier this month, Brockmeyer said the county is handling the question of the confidential AZA document as they would with any employee.

Discipline for work rule violations is not retaliation, Brockmeyer said. Dane County has an obligation to investigate if there is a potential security breach and to determine if additional safety measures may be needed to protect information that has been deemed to be confidential.

If this continues, the county will lose a host of civil service employees whose main responsibilities are to ensure that Dane County residents are able to receive the critical services we must provide, Brockmeyer said.

At the meeting last week, Miles asked Human Resources Manager Kabura Mukasa if the county had investigated how the AZA report became public back in 2019. Mukasa declined to comment due to the active investigation of Anderson.

The issue is not that Mr. Anderson participated in the zoo investigation or that hes being singled out as an employee group representative, Mukasa said. (Employee relations) should complete the investigation without outside interferences.
As part of promoting resource efficiency in Agri-food Production and Processing in Central Asia (REAP) project, the Memorandum of Understanding with 117 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) was signed in Tajikistan in 2022.

In accordance with the projects goals, these enterprises were informed of what the REAP projects objectives in Tajikistan are. They were informed about the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) practices, and why it is important to implement them at enterprises.

According to the REAP, overall 11 consultants have been trained in SCP practices provided by the company last year, so they can share the gained knowledge with participating SMEs of the project.

"More than 100 MMSEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) have been visited by international Senior Technical Experts as a result 640 recommendations all over the county were provided to industries for making them more resource efficient," the source noted.

According to the company, up until today, the REAP project has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 207 MMSEs across Tajikistan.

The REAP project has been operating in Tajikistan since 2020. It covers all regions of the country starting from the Sughd region, Dushanbe, RRS (Region of the Republic Subordination) and GBAO (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast).

One of the main tasks of the project is to introduce SCP practices in mobilized industries in order to improve resource and energy efficiency and waste reduction.
Responses to the Wisconsin State Journals candidate questionnaire. The primary is Feb. 21. Candidate Diego Colorado did not respond. (I) denotes incumbent.

Sheri Carter

Age: 67

Job: Executive assistant, Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Prior elected office: Madison City Council member, seven years

Other public service: Porchlight Inc. board president, nine years; South Metropolitan Planning Council, former president, five years; Junior League of Madison, former member, 15 years

Education: Bachelors degree in economics and labor relations, UW-Madison

Yannette Figueroa Cole (I)

Age: 53

Family: Married to Jesse Cole; one adult son

Job: System administrator, J&J-Ethicon-NeuWave

Prior elected office: District 10 City Council member, two years

Other public service: Treasurer and president of the Dunns Marsh Neighborhood Association, six years; volunteer street outreach and treasurer of Friends of the State Street Families, eight years

Education: Computer sciences, Universidad de Puerto Rico; liberal studies (science and math), Madison Area Technical College; contract administration, Villanova University

Q&A

What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?

Carter: The city will be facing challenges including increasing affordable housing, equitable public transit, and public safety. I will support increasing the affordable housing fund, focus on economic growth, health/safety agencies and programs, and eviction preventions. It is vital that the city maintains services to the residents during these next challenging years.

Figueroa Cole: Housing and public safety. I am committed to the Violence Prevention Plan implementation, to street infrastructural changes to reduce speeding and fatalities, and CARES. Support the unsheltered residents, expand activities in parks, build community and relationships, economic development, and continue to streamline ordinances to help increase public participation and transparency.

What is the biggest challenge in your district and how would you address it?

Carter: A few pressing issues in District 10 and in the city are concerns of crimes, evictions, mental health, and food access. I will seek pathways to increase and support violence prevention programs/services, public safety, homelessness services, eviction prevention, affordable housing, improving public transportation and accessible mental health services.

Figueroa Cole: Distracted or reckless drivers. The solution involves a balancing act between infrastructural changes and enforcement. Also, safe living conditions, and access to youth and family-oriented activities are areas of focus. The district has dedicated individuals, nonprofit organizations that deeply care about this community that are centered on transgressing the boundaries that divide us.

What steps will be needed to resolve the citys major budget gaps beyond 2024?

Carter: The city will be facing several years of budget restraints starting in 2024. First and foremost, we will need to maintain core services of health and safety which residents expect and deserve. I will consider reductions and delays in capital expenditures. This will also reduce our debt burden, which is at record levels.
Responses to the Wisconsin State Journals candidate questionnaire. The primary is Feb. 21. Candidate Josh Walling did not respond.

Blake Alvarenga

Age: 31

Family: Married

Job: Senior project coordinator with Smart Solutions Inc.

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: None

Education: Studied electrical engineering at the University of Texas-Pan American; graduated from The Science Academy of South Texas

Amani Latimer Burris

Age: 53

Family: Married with two children

Job: Adviser, Opal Lee Foundation

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Vice president/vice chair of communications, Democratic Party of Dane County; commissioner, Dane County Airport Commission; board member, Citizens for Human Dignity. Past public service includes: Wisconsin state Senate (legislative aide); Madison Black Chamber (adviser); Community Access Television (board member); National Urban League (advising consultant); city of Madison (election official); NAACP (adviser); Democratic Party of Dane County (committee member); city of Madisons Goodman Pool/Shelley Glover Foundation (lead volunteer); Black Womens Wellness Foundation (adviser); Above the Clouds and Willa Brown Aviation Foundation (volunteer); Women in Focus (outreach and scholarship support); HIV/AIDS Resource Center (educator/adviser)

Education: Bachelors degree in communications from UW-Green Bay; attended University of Minnesota at Minneapolis

Julia Matthews

Age: 30

Family: Born and raised in Madison and have a younger sister and brother. My mom lives right down the street from me in District 12, and my brother and dad also still live in Madison.

Job: Programmer analyst for UW-Madisons Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Board member, Alpha Corp Housing Board of Directors, 2015-2019

Education: Bachelors degrees in medical microbiology and immunology, and molecular biology from UW-Madison

Campaign email and website: juliamatthewsfor12@gmail.com; www.juliamatthewsfor12.com

Victor Toniolo

Age: 38

Family: Three siblings; one sister lives in the Madison area

Job: Senior scientific affairs analyst for Scientific Protein Labs; front of house staff, Tempest Oyster Bar

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: None

Education: Bachelors degree in biochemistry and genetics from UW-Madison, 2007

Q&A

What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?

Alvarenga: The biggest challenge facing the city of Madison is ensuring the current and future housing for every person, family, and neighborhood. Affordable housing and home ownership are key. If people cannot afford to live in Madison due to rising rents and living expenses, then other pressing issues such as public transportation, equity, and government accountability are irrelevant.

Latimer Burris: Communication, cohesion, transparency, integrity and accountability. No matter what the issue is: environmental, housing, transportation, economic development and opportunities, essential services, public safety, social justice, senior care, all the way down to treating a street like a personal speedway: All of these issues affect our city. What we do about them and how we do it will define us.

Matthews: Housing development in Madison hasnt kept pace with the increase of people moving into the city. This has caused costs to balloon as the vacancy rates for both single-family homes and apartments are well below healthy levels. We need to approve well-designed and responsible projects to create new housing at all price levels and sizes to support individuals, families, renters and home-ownership.

Toniolo: Madison is facing a housing crisis that is only getting worse. We need to add housing of all types to keep prices in check. I support higher-density developments and will promote public-private partnerships to redevelop more city properties. I will set minimums for affordable units and for those making less than 30% of median income, and expand the citys down payment assistance program for home buyers.

What is the biggest challenge in your district and how would you address it?

Alvarenga: Public safety must be addressed: road safety, accountability and public health. Vehicle collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, mobility device users and cyclists constitute a major hazard. Rightsizing roads allows space for the road to be shared safely. The body-worn camera pilot program will hold the city accountable. We should continue to take a science-led approach to public health.

Latimer Burris: District 12 wants to know their alder is working on their behalf (whether they understand them or not), they want a person who is concerned about them, and at the end of the day that they will not be afraid to speak up, not be afraid to ask questions, not be afraid to disagree, not be afraid to be accountable to them for the decisions they made.

Matthews: Priorities for District 12 are transit access to the North Side and environmental impacts of incoming F-35s, which exacerbate existing housing disparities. There has to be support for noise mitigation and pollution monitoring for the continued safety and health of neighborhoods most impacted. Also I will advocate for the North-South BRT and adequate access in the meantime.

Toniolo: The Oscar Mayer site and PFAS at the airport need to get cleaned up. I support the Amtrak station at OM to access federal funds for cleanup. OM is also the best location for an intermodal transport facility, since it has space for bus stops and affordable parking. I would work to end the use of PFAS foams at Truax and seek funding for remediation. I would also seek FAA funds for soundproofing.

What steps will be needed to resolve the citys major budget gaps beyond 2024?

Alvarenga: By working with city departments and committees to maximize the allocated budget, removing inefficiency, and taking advantage of the citys size and tax base, we are best able to deliver quality living to the people in Madison cost-effectively. Ensuring that money stays in Madison, we can increase long-term growth and will be able to reinvest the capital that we have created in our city.

Latimer Burris: Increase income which means raising taxes or increasing taxes; reducing expenses, which means cutting programs or not supporting certain services; looking for and finding new avenues of income/revenue/funding, which is generally done by working with or partnering with the county, state or federal government or other partnerships.

Matthews: I support the use of performance data to help prioritize city services as the deficit grows in coming years, while ensuring continued service for those most in need. As debt service is the third-highest category of the operating budget, its important to look ahead at how current expenditures may impact future years as well as prepare for costs that are initially funded by grants for a limited time.
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.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Dubai again is planning for the takeoff of flying taxis in this futuristic city-state on the Arabian Peninsula, offering its firmest details yet for a pledged launch by 2026.

Since 2017, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates has offered promises to launch flying taxis in the city already home to the world's tallest building and other architectural wonders. A series of different types and companies have cycled through those promises as well, most timed to be included at Dubai's annual World Government Summit, which saw this year's edition begin Monday.

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced the relaunched flying taxi program on Twitter on Sunday. This time, Dubai highlighted the six-rotor electric flying taxi made by Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz, California, in the promotional video.

The inclusion of Joby Aviation, rather than the Chinese-made EHang 184 and XPeng X2 or the German-made electric Volocopter all previously displayed in Dubai, wasn't explained by Emirati officials. Joby aircraft featured at a stand at the World Government Summit on Monday.

Were excited about the opportunity and actively exploring the possibility, said Oliver Walker-Jones, a spokesman for Joby Aviation.

Ahmed Bahrozyan, an official in the emirates Roads and Transport Authority, similarly told the state-owned Dubai Eye radio station on Monday that "its early days for the plan.

We havent yet signed with any partners yet," he said.

Another difference in this year's promise on flying taxis is the release of specifics about the program. The city plans four vertiports by Dubai International Airport, the worlds busiest for international travel, downtown Dubai, the manmade Palm Jumeirah archipelago and Dubai Marina. Those points will include two launching pads and four charging points for the flying taxis.

We believe those are attractive areas with business hubs and tourist hubs that could generate considerable demand, Bahrozyan said.

The pricing for the flying taxis will be in the range of a limousine service in Dubai, maybe slightly higher, Bahrozyan said. The RTA describes limo services rates as at least 30% higher than taxi fares in the city. Taxis have a minimum fare of around $3.25 and charge $0.50 a kilometer.

Another departure from earlier plans include the RTA planning to have piloted flying taxis at first, rather than autonomous ones as previously discussed. Dubai officials described the taxi as having a pilot with four seats for passengers on board, which match Joby's electric flying taxi. However, Bahrozyan said tests would continue with autonomous flying taxis as well.

The Joby prototype can fly more than 150 miles before needing a charge  something which would put Abu Dhabi and other areas of the country within range. It takes off and lands vertically, while its rotors tilt forward in flight. It has a maximum speed of 200 mph.

Joby Avation Inc., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was at $4.20 a share before trading Monday. Its major shareholders include Intel Corp., while Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines also has invested.

The video posted by Sheikh Mohammed's Twitter account also included the logo of London-based Skyports Infrastructure, which also refers to its support projects as vertiports. The company already is testing its vertiport model outside of Paris and is working with Joby. Skyports did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Opening the skies to flying taxis would add to the Blade Runner skyline of Dubai, while also easing the real-world grind of daily traffic thats only worsening as its population booms to over 3.5 million people.

Photos: Dubai boom sees Russian cash and reborn projects
With one month to go until the March 14 school bond and levy election, many voters may find that their polling location has changed.

Six polling places in Cassia County and five in Twin Falls County that had been used for more than a decade will no longer host voting on election day.

For many years, both counties have used The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints buildings for several polling locations. But a technicality in the churchs new facilities-use agreement would make it unconstitutional for the counties to sign the contract.

Its nothing scandalous: The churchs use agreement specified that, in the event of any calamity or fire damages, liability issues would be managed from church headquarters in Utah. Counties, however, have their own liability policy defined by statute.

The only option for the counties was to find new polling locations.

The most plentiful locations that meet the requirements for polling places in rural areas are often churches, said Cassia County Clerk Joe Larsen.

Most of them in our area are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and theyve been very generous in letting us use those facilities through the years until this liability issue has manifested itself.

Twin Falls County Clerk Kristina Glascock said the churches were an ideal location for elections.

Weve been using the LDS churches for over 15 years or more, Glascock said. And theyve been great.

Theyre great facilities, great for parking, ADA issues, thats why we like to use churches throughout the community, and all of them are very gracious and welcoming to the community to have voters come in there and use that facility.

Bills would spell changes for schools, elections

Over the years, Glascock, Larsen, and other county clerks have reduced the number of schools used for polling places. The large spaces, ample parking, ADA compliance, and fewer competing activities at the locations make churches ideal.

Although Idaho state law requires public schools to be available to be used as polling places, many county clerks prefer to use other locations. Parking at schools is more of a challenge, and there are more non-voters present, and parking can be limited. Also, school security has changed over the years and the threat of lockdown is a deterrent to using them for polls.

In Cassia County, four precincts will now share one polling place, two precincts will share another.

Larsen said there was a silver lining that came with combining polling locations. Combining precincts reduces personnel and equipment, reducing costs to the taxpayer.

All in all its not been a bad thing for us, Larsen said.

Voters will be notified by mail of their new locations. Information on poling places can also be found online at VoteIdaho.gov.

To help make schools a more suitable location for voting, Rep. Greg Lanting introduced a bill in the Idaho State Legislature to eliminate in-person instruction on the May and November election days. By keeping students at home twice a year, the security concerns over using schools for polling places would be reduced.

Another bill currently before lawmakers would reduce the number of elections held each year from four to two, eliminating the March and August elections.
Local high school seniors and College of Southern Idaho students interested in a career in renewable energy can now apply for scholarships from Magic Valley Energy.

Magic Valley Energy, an affiliate of leading energy company LS Power, has proposed two wind projects in the Magic Valley located in Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls counties.

The two projects will bring more than 40 permanent job opportunities to the Magic Valley and have an estimated ongoing $23 million economic impact annually for Southern Idaho after the construction periods have finished.

Magic Valley Energy is offering a $1,000 scholarship that can be used toward classes in the Renewable Energy Systems Technology Program at the College of Southern Idaho.

The scholarship application can be accessed at magicvalleyenergy.com/scholarship. The deadline to apply is April 3.

For more information or to apply, visit magicvalleyenergy.com or email info@magicvalleyenergy.com.
Each year in February, millions of people count the variety of birds they can see in their own backyards and you are invited to participate in this years event.

The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place Friday through Monday, when people from all over the world will contribute to the understanding of current migration patterns and help scientists better understand global bird populations.

Virginia State Parks provide the perfect location to view many different types of birds, said Chippokes State Park Manager Ben Richard in a release by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. We have self-guided activities at Chippokes where guests can use the iNaturalist app to identify and count the birds they see. February is a great time to come to the park and shake off the winter blues, enjoy the refreshing air and spot a variety of birds that pass through the park or make it their home. We encourage families to get involved and make a game of it.

The best part of the Great Backyard Bird Count is that you can easily count the birds on your own property. All you need to do is log the birds that you count in a 15-minute period on at least one of the four days of the event. You can download the Merlin Bird ID app to help identify the birds you find and you can use the eBird Mobile app to enter your bird sightings.

Instructions from sponsors Cornell Lab, the National Audubon Society and Birds Canada say the first thing to do is decide where you will do your birdwatching.

Secondly, youll want to commit to watching birds from the same location for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days.

Finally, identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time and location and use the best tool for sharing you bird sightings:

If you are a beginning bird-watcher and new to bird identification, the free Merlin Bird ID app is recommended to tell you what birds you are seeing or hearing.

If youve participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, they the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website from your desktop or laptop.

You can start entering bird lists at midnight local time on the first day of the count. Data entry remains open until March 1, but the information you enter should only be from the four days of the Great Backyard Bird Count.

The nearest state park in the Martinsville, Henry and Patrick County area is Fairy Stone State Park, and if youre looking to take your bird counting experience to a guided event you might want to heard out to Hungry Mother State Park in Marion where hikes to count birds will be held all four days and are open to all ages and skill levels.

Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry will be offering bird county excursions throughout the park each day of the event from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County is holding a Lets Go Birding event from 8-9 a.m. Friday and on the same day York River State Park in James City County offers a waterfowl watch from 11 a.m. to noon. Attendees are encouraged to bring binoculars for betters views of spectacular birds and ducks that inhabit the area until early spring.

On Saturday, the New River Trail in Max Meadows will hold a bird count event where attendees will be on the hunt to find more than 127 bird species. The river and fields are host to plentiful waterfowl, songbirds and the occasional eagle.

The Southwest Virginia Museum at Big Stone Gap is holding a Backyard Birds Workshop from 1-3 p.m. Saturday and an eagle watch event will take place at the upper boat launch at New River Trail State Park, where a bald eagle nest rests along the New River. The watch will occur on Sunday and Monday from 9 a.m. until noon each day.

The Backyard Bird County is a great program where anyone can participate and do their part to help scientists collect data to help birds of all shapes and sizes, Hungry Mother State Park Manager Andrew Philpot said in the release. Join us at the park for a variety of activities that showcase the importance of the birds in the area. By simply identifying the birds around you, you can help protect numerous species.
The Tanzanian government has banned several childrens books on sex education from schools, accusing them of violating the cultural and moral norms of this East African country where homosexuality is criminalized.

We are banning these books from schools and other educational facilities because they are contrary to cultural and moral standards, Education Minister Adolf Mkenda told reporters in the capital Dodoma.

Among the books banned are the Diary of a Wimp: Greg Heffleys Logbook, a series of American illustrated books that have sold millions of copies worldwide.

The government did not specify why it was targeting this diary featuring a teenager, but it assured that inspections were being conducted in public and private school libraries to ensure that it had been removed.

The minister also included in this first list of unacceptable books a textbook on sexuality education and books mentioning LGBTQ people.

Last week, head of state Samia Suluhu Hassan called on student leaders to be wary of imported cultures from abroad. If you are Tanzanian, live according to our culture, she told them. In Tanzania, homosexuality is punishable by a minimum sentence of 30 years to life imprisonment.
Hungarian Bonofarm Group expressed interest in building poultry enterprises in Uzbekistans Tashkent and Samarkand regions?

The matter was discussed between Uzbek Minister of Agriculture Aziz Voitov and representatives of the Tashkent region khokimiyat (local government), with the delegation of Bonofarm Group company, headed by the companys Executive Director Attila Csanyi.

According to the ministry, the Hungarian delegation was in Uzbekistan on February 5-9 and got acquainted with the activities of operating poultry farms in the Tashkent region and inspected three plots of land in the Ohangaron district of the region.

The message said that the Hungarian company plans to build a poultry complex worth $400 million on the inspected land plots. The complex will include 10 poultry farms, a slaughter farm (25 hectares), a feed production plant (10 hectares), an incubation farm (5 hectares), and a farm for raising chickens (10 hectares).

To date, some 16 joint ventures with the participation of Hungarian capital are operating in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan, besides Bonofarm Group, also developing investment projects with leading Hungarian companies such as KITE, Meditop, Gedeon Richter, MOL Group, and others in energy, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and production of medical equipment, and plastic products.
UN experts on Tuesday urged Zimbabwes president to reject a law that severely restricts freedoms by placing NGOs under government control and under heavy sanctions, months before general elections.

The law passed by parliament still needs to be ratified by head of state Emmerson Mnangagwa as the opposition and NGOs denounce the governments increased crackdown on dissenting voices ahead of elections, the date of which has not yet been set.

Among other things, the law prohibits civil society organizations from engaging in politics and gives the government the power to interfere with their activities and governance by changing their internal management and funding. It provides for penalties for violators of the law of up to one year in prison and the closure of organizations.

By enacting this law, the authorities would effectively close down an already shrinking civic space, four UN human rights special rapporteurs warned in a statement.

The text gives disproportionate powers to the office in charge of registering NGOs, without independence from the executive. And its entry into force would immediately make existing organizations illegal, they said.

Human rights groups had already denounced, during the vote on the text in the Senate at the beginning of the month, a provision aimed at criminalizing any organization in the governments sights. According to the executive, this text is a necessary tool to fight against money laundering and to bring more transparency to the funding provided by NGOs.

Whatever the governments objectives, this law will have a chilling effect on civil society organizations, especially on dissenting voices, the UN experts said, adding that it is not too late for the president to change course.
British mining company Gemfields announced Tuesday that it had suspended exploration activities in northeastern Mozambique, which has been plagued by jihadist violence for more than five years, following an attack a few miles from one of its sites.

Gemfields mines ruby in Cabo Delgado, a poor, Muslim-majority Mozambican province bordering Tanzania. Its Montepuez mine, about 200 km west of the regional capital Pemba, is one of the worlds largest deposits of the precious stone and has not been affected.

On Sunday night, an attack targeted the village of Nairoto, some 15 km from a Gemfields exploration site, the mining company said in a statement, without mentioning any casualties. The process of evacuating employees and contractors has been launched and operations on the site have ceased, it added, adding that it was in regular contact with the Mozambican authorities.

Last year, an attack on a mine next to its main site in Montepuez forced the mining group to temporarily suspend operations. Attacks by armed groups in the natural gas-rich region have already left more than 4,500 people dead, including more than 2,000 civilians, according to the NGO Acled. They have also displaced one million people, according to the UN.

In March-April 2021, a major attack on the port city of Palma forced the TotalEnergies group to suspend all activities at its future natural gas exploitation site located a few kilometers away. More than 3,000 African troops were deployed in the aftermath to support the Mozambican army. Attacks have decreased in intensity but sporadic incidents continue.
In South Africa, property belonging to Equatorial Guineas vice president Teodorin Obiang, two properties in Cape Town and a luxury yacht docked in the citys port, were seized by the local judiciary. The action was taken in connection with a case in which a South African citizen was illegally imprisoned ten years ago in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.

After convictions and sanctions in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, nicknamed Teodorin, is now facing South African justice: property belonging to the current vice president of Equatorial Guinea, who is also the son of the head of state, has been seized in Cape Town.

With these two properties, in very chic areas of the city, and this luxury yacht of more than 60 meters moored in the port, several million rands are involved in this seizure.

It follows the rejection earlier this month of an appeal filed by the Equatorial Guinean vice president. Teodorin Obiang was contesting the decision of the South African judiciary taken in 2021 forcing him to pay nearly 2 million euros to the South African Daniel Janse van Rensburg, for illegal arrest and torture.

The case dates back to 2013. This specialist in the aviation sector was to finalize a contract in Equatorial Guinea to launch an airline with a relative of the Obiang family. At the last moment, the project was cut short.

Unable to pay back the money, Daniel Janse van Rensburg found himself thrown into prison, on the orders of Teodorin Obiang, as described by one of the judges in charge of the appeal.

The South African businessman spent more than a year in Malabos Black Beach prison, known for its mistreatment of prisoners.

Now, with the dismissal of this appeal, the seized property could soon be sold at auction.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and 47 other partners have appealed on Tuesday Feb. 14 for $84 million to provide humanitarian and development assistance to over 1 million migrants and the communities hosting them, many of whom are vulnerable, and in need of urgent help along the Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, IOM said in a press release.

The appeal for the needed funds, made through the multi-agency Regional Migrant Response Plan for the Horn of Africa and Yemen framework, will address the dire humanitarian needs as well as protection risks and vulnerabilities that migrants in the region face and scale up the delivery of lifesaving and resilience-building initiatives as well as pursue the implementation of long-term sustainable solutions for migrants and host communities.

The Eastern Route is one of the busiest, most complex, and dangerous migratory routes in the world. In 2022 overall, the number of migrants who entered Djibouti almost doubled compared to the previous year. In the same year, 89 migrant deaths or disappearances were recorded along the route due to hazardous transportation, illness, harsh environmental conditions, drowning at sea, and violence. Many more deaths and disappearances go unreported, IOM said.

Every year, thousands of migrants leave their countries in the Horn of Africa and move along the Eastern route towards Gulf countries. In their migration, most migrants make the dangerous crossing of the Red Sea through Bossaso in Somalia, and Djiboutis coastal town of Obock to Yemen and further by land to Gulf countries.

The Eastern Route is an underserved crisis easily forgotten amidst other global crises, and we must accord the migrants the support and dignity they deserve, said IOM Director General, Antonio Vitorino. The Regional Migrant Response Plan was conceptualized to address the vast and complex challenges on this route and to do so in a coherent and coordinated manner.

Mobility in the Horn of Africa, through Yemen and to the Gulf States, continues to be triggered by interconnected crises, including persistent insecurity and conflict, harsh climatic conditions, and public health emergencies, in addition to socioeconomic drivers and more traditional seasonal factors.

Funding through this appeal will address the most immediate and critical humanitarian and protection needs of migrants in vulnerable situations; support their voluntary return to their home countries in a safe and dignified manner and ensure that they reintegrate back into their communities successfully.

The plan provides a flexible mechanism for all stakeholders to respond to evolving migration trends, and broader humanitarian and development challenges affecting migrants, host communities and the respective governments, added the IOM Director General.

Funding through this appeal will further help stakeholders efforts towards addressing the drivers of irregular migration; strengthen the capacity of governments in the region on migration management; ensure coordination of efforts, and enhance inter-state and inter-regional collaboration to address the national and regional dimensions of the migration linking the Horn of Africa and Yemen, the IOM press release explained.
King Mohammed VI held talks on Wednesday at the Presidential Palace in Libreville with His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Republic of Gabon.

This meeting, which was subsequently extended to Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Yolande Nyonda, Minister Delegate at the Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Jean-Yves Teale, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic of Gabon, was an opportunity to highlight the importance of the deep, rich and solidly rooted relations between Morocco and Gabon, as well as the strong bonds of brotherhood and solidarity between the two peoples.

During their meeting, the King of Morocco and the President of Gabon reviewed the state of the bilateral partnership in all fields.

Then, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Gabon, King Mohammed VI handed over a donation of 2,000 tonnes of fertilizers.

This act of solidarity is part of the Kingdom of Moroccos concern for Gabonese farmers, particularly in the current context marked by the world food crisis and difficulties in the supply of fertilizers.

In accordance with the instructions of the King, this operation will be followed by a structural action aimed at ensuring that farmers in this fraternal country have access to quality fertilizers that are affordable and specifically adapted to the needs of soils and crops in the region.
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People who suffer from back pain may get relief from research showing that electrical fields and fish genes provide novel building blocks for a healthy skeleton.

Back pain can be excruciating and is increasingly common with ageing populations. Spinal surgery is on the rise in many countries, including costlyand often riskyspinal fusion surgery. As many as 18% of spinal surgeries fail, leading to devastating complications for patients.

Spinal fusion surgery fuses two vertebrae together to stabilise the area and reduce pain. Much depends, however, on the ability of the vertebrae to grow new bone matter and fuse properly following the operation.

Bind the gap

'In a lot of cases, this doesn't happen because patients are unable to bridge that gap in the bone,' said John Zellmer, coordinator of the EU-funded SmartFuse project and co-founder of Swedish medical-device company Intelligent Implants.

The inspiration for SmartFuse came from a meeting between Zellmer's brother, Swedish medical doctor Dr. Erik Zellmer, and an Irish biomedical engineer named Dr. Rory Murphy.

Both were struck by how many spinal surgeries fail due to lack of bone growth. Yet it has been known for some time that bone remodels naturally using electric signals generated by the body itself.

This led the two doctors to set up a company to develop a first-of-its-kind medical grade implant able to use carefully targeted electrical signals to accelerate, control and monitor bone growth.

'We're kind of hijacking the body's own signalling by creating an electric field right at the spot where we want the bone to grow, around the implant,' said John Zellmer.

The tiny and easy-to-use orthopaedic implant is made from PEEK plastic and titanium with a tightly sealed array of electrodes inside.

Sheep trials

The project began in April 2022 and runs through November 2024, with the EU financial support coming through the European Innovation Council.

Initial clinical trials conducted in sheep are very promising. In just six weeks, sheep using the device had three times as much bone as in those without it, according to Zellmer.

It can be a long road to recovery for patients after back surgery, taking nine to 12 months for them to grow the bone required for fusion to be completed. Often, failure goes undiagnosed for a year or more after surgery and it is difficult for doctors to gauge how well the healing process is progressing.

With SmartFuse, the implant receives signals wirelessly and is connected to a cloud-based portal providing doctors with unprecedented insight into how the bones are fusing.

As bone grows around the implant, the electric signals are increasingly smothered. Detectors can then ''sense'' the declining signal and estimate how much bone is present.

This ability to see how a patient is progressing would be a valuable asset for both doctor and patient. While still early days, the company hopes to obtain regulatory approval in Europe and the US by 2028.

Ancient scaffolding

Meanwhile, two common species of aquarium fishthe zebrafish and medakaprovided inspiration to a team of young researchers who trawled for clues on how to treat common skeletal problems in humans.

The skeleton has served as a scaffold for vertebrate animalsthose with backbonesfor about 400 million years. Since evolution works on the old adage ''if it ain't broke, don't fix it,'' fish, reptiles, birds and mammals still often use the same genes and proteins to make their skeletal framework.

So, while fish and people are obviously quite different, similarities allow scientists studying fish skeletons to make interesting medical discoveries.

'Many genes that cause skeletal problems in humans have now been shown to generate similar problems in fish,' said Dr. Marc Muller, who led the EU-funded BioMedaqu project and is a biologist at the University of Liege in Belgium.

BioMedaqu, which ended last month after four-and-a-half years, brought together experts in fish and human skeletons. Muller and his colleagues came up with the idea of a project for training young researchers while chatting over a beer at a conference in the Algarve, Portugal.

'We thought: ''why not bring together people from aquaculture, fish biology and biomedical research to share ideas, maybe even technologies, to study skeletal biology?''' said Muller.

Fifteen early stage researchers were involved in BioMedaqu, which resulted in a stream of discoveries.

One studied a bone disease in peopleosteogenesis imperfectathat she replicated by mutating the equivalent gene in zebrafish. The importance of phosphorous for fish bone health was investigated by another scientist. At a Parisian hospital, research revealed the importance of several genes for the development of osteoporosis in children.

Meanwhile, the Liege laboratory studied the role of genes involved in human osteoarthritis. The lab also investigated extracts from marine animals for their potential to benefit skeletal developmentin both fish and people.

Skeletal matters

The overall aim of the work was to obtain deeper insights into the fundamental mechanisms that can cause skeletal malformations in humansand in farmed fish.

The network combined stakeholders from seven European universities, a US research hospital and the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM). Commercial interests in the aquaculture and fish food sector were also represented.

The structure of the project encouraged the flow of information and people between the biomedical and aquaculture sectors, and between academic and applied sectors. And research also revealed information of interest to the fish farmers in search of more sustainable feed options.

For example, several projects looked at the influence of trace elements such as zinc, selenium, vitamins, fatty acids and probiotics on the development of fish skeletons and how feed might be improved by adding them to the mix.

The research advanced knowledge among the scientists in a way that will ultimately benefit aquaculture, understanding of skeletal biology and, ultimately, human patients, according to Muller. More findings from the researchers are on the way.

Research in this article was funded via the EU's Marie Skodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and the European Innovation Council. This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.
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How close a person lives to a major road could have an impact on their eczema risk.

New research suggests that folks who live farther from one are less likely to develop the skin condition.

A 13-year medical chart review focused on patients in Denver, from infants to age 18.

Those with eczema were compared to an equal-sized control group of patients without the condition. In all, the study included more than 14,000 children.

The researchers calculated the distance from their homes to a road with annual traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles a day.

The risk of eczema (atopic dermatitis) dropped 21% for every 10-fold increase in distance from a major road, the study found.

"In the end, we found children who lived 1,000 meters [0.6 miles] or more from a major road had 27% lower odds of atopic dermatitis compared to children who lived within 500 meters of a major road," said lead author Dr. Michael Nevid, a fellow at National Jewish Health in Denver, who pursued this research after learning about a similar study in Asia.

"This is an early association study, so more work needs to be done to examine the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the association," Nevid said in a news release from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

The findings were published in a February online supplement to The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. They are also scheduled to be presented during a meeting in San Antonio of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Feb. 24 to 27.

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Covid-19 infections have fallen significantly in the European Union, the continent's medicines watchdog said Wednesday.

"The epidemiological situation in Europe is constantly improving," said Marco Cavaleri, the European Medicines Agency's head of vaccine strategy.

"Overall the data show a marked decline of new infections, hospitalisation and deaths," despite the emergence of the XBB.1.5 subvariant, which Cavaleri said was expected to become the dominant strain in the EU in coming weeks.

"Although this subvariant has not caused an excessive burden of disease in other regions such as North America it is important to not let our guard down as the virus continues to evolve," he warned.

Cavaleri also said that although Covid-19 "was not behaving yet as a seasonal endemic respiratory virus... we would expect that this is the way it might be going.

"We would expect that vaccination campaigns would take place primarily once a year," he added.

"The best time for this would be at the beginning of the cold season when other vaccines for respiratory viruses are administered."

The EMA believes that repeated vaccination will be better accepted if done once a year, in sync with other shots for respiratory diseases, Cavaleri said.

 2023 AFP
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COVID-19 did not kill people completely randomly. This photo from India shows a victim of the pandemic being carried away. Credit: Shutterstock, NTB

At least 6 million people have died from COVID-19 to date. But who dies is often not random. The same pattern is found around the world.

COVID-19 hit some countries harder than others. But the same groups of people were hit hardest everywhere.

The UN and the World Health Organization (WHO) have now established a working group to study who was the hardest hit, and why. The work is being led from Trondheim.

Who dies involves multiple factors, including where people live, where they were born, working conditions, education and how much they earn.

So which countries were hit the hardest, who was hit the hardest in each country and why was that the case? Where is it most dangerous to be poor? The researchers have been tasked to find this out.

"We're looking at how COVID mortality varied globally between social groups," says Professor Terje Andreas Eikemo at the Center for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN) at NTNU.

Although the mortality rate in the Nordic region was relatively low, the course of the disease was more severe and mortality rates higher among migrants.

Global research effort on COVID-19

The UN and WHO commissioned NTNU's research center with the assignment. The work is so extensive that CHAIN asked the international research community for help in the WHO's Bulletin of the World Health Organization journal.

The response was not long in coming. More than 50 established researchers from all over the world are now going through 15,000 research articles that NTNU's university library has identified. Six employees from the University Library are involved in the work.

"This is very labor-intensive but important work that we are proud to be a part of," says Solvor Solhaug. She is the team leader for NTNU University Library's Systematic searches, Section for research support, data and analysis.

The results are not yet clear, but so far the pandemic appears to have made existing social differences more apparent, and even reinforced them. This seems to apply not only in countries with limited financial resources, but also in those with strong economies.

"COVID-19 has been a double burden for disadvantaged groups. They've been harder hit by the virus, and they also suffered the most from the consequences of the measures, such as loss of work and income, social isolation and reduced access to health services," says Eikemo.

Led by CHAIN researcher

CHAIN's research coordinator Mirza Balaj is leading the study. Balaj is based in Brussels, and from there she heads several of CHAIN's projects, commissioned by international organizations and the European Commission.

Balaj was one of the first authors of a study in The Lancet that discovered a universal connection between parental education and child mortality last year. She also holds international board positions in the UN, WHO and Global Burden of Disease, the world's largest scientific consortium.

"If we're to influence the will for political change, we need to be present where the decision-makers are. We need to strengthen the link between research and politics, which COVID-19 exemplified," says Balaj.

The results of the study will be ready in the second half of 2023.
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New research from Swansea University shows that female selfie posting is associated with intimidatory self-presentation strategies, linked to higher levels of aggression.

The study, conducted by Professor Phil Reed from the University's Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science and academics from the University of Strathclyde, has been published in the Journal of Social Media in Society.

The team examined the posting of selfies and non-selfies on social media by 150 individuals, separately assessing the degree to which they adopted different types of self-presentation strategies; how people act with others to make an impression.

On average, females posted five selfies and ten non-selfies a month, compared to two selfies and six non-selfies by males. However, there was a large range of selfie posts, with some people posting more than 40 selfies a month.

For females, the strongest predictor of selfie posting was the degree to which they adopted intimidatory self-presentational strategies. The more they tended to emit actions in the real world with an intent to project a powerful and dangerous personality to induce fear in others, the more they posted selfies. These selfies were not directed specifically at either males or females, but at the online community in general.

Males did not show any relationship between real-world intimidatory self-presentation and selfie posting, but their desire to avoid punishment, that is, to fit in and be accepted, predicted the sharing of selfies.

This finding contrasts with previous studies conducted in real-world situations, where females do not display associations between this aggressive characteristic and their behaviors as strongly as males.

Professor Phil Reed from Swansea University's School of Psychology said, "When the usual social constraints that operate in the 'real world' are removed, it could facilitate the expression of this aggressive facet of female personality."

Professor Reed added, "These results suggest that traditional androcentric views of aggression need to be altered.

"Thinking of aggression by females as a result of some slightly male-like physiology in those females or as a mating strategy directed against other females will not do.

"Rather, digital behavior suggests women are not programmed to be passive but are just as actively aggressive as men, and, in some circumstances, more soand not just when getting a mate."

This research follows earlier work by the team published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences which also found that intimidatory self-presentation was most strongly associated with selfie posting by females.

The data further revealed that, while males were generally more assertive than females in the real world, there was no difference in the use of real-world aggressive self-presentation strategies between genders; in fact, males tended to show higher levels of ingratiation strategies than females.

Professor Reed said, "While males reported being more assertive in the real world, these behaviors were not always associated with their online behavior, where females tended to let their aggressive traits guide their behavior more than males. This may reflect the operation of a different set of social-role norms or their absence in online settings."
Laman Ismayilova

President of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation Gunay Afandiyeva visited the embassy of Turkiye in Baku to express her condolences for the devastating quake, Azernews reports.

Gunay Afandiyeva expressed her deep sadness and sincere condolences to Ambassador Cahit Bagci, the report said, adding that she also wrote her heartfelt words in the book of mourning at the embassy.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Turkiye's southeastern part on February 6, 2023, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

The quake's epicenter was located 26 km away from the city of Gaziantep with a population of about 1.06 million. The source of the earthquake was 7 km below the surface. Furthermore, three more quakes with a magnitude of 6.4-6.6 rocked Gaziantep province in southeastern Turkiye.

At the moment of writing, the overall death toll in Turkiye has risen to nearly 35, 418. As a result of the earthquake, strong tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus.

Azerbaijan was the first country to provide assistance to Turkiye immediately after the earthquake.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations continues to send humanitarian aid and rescuers to Turkiye.
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The World Health Organization said Wednesday that despite a drop-off in cases, it still considers mpox, previously known as monkeypox, an international health emergency.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reached that conclusion following the recommendations of the UN health agency's emergency committee, which met last Friday.

"The committee has advised me that in its view, mpox remains a global health emergency, and I have accepted that advice," Tedros told reporters.

Officials noticed a surge in what was then called monkeypox infections last May among men who have sex with menbut outside the African countries where it has long been endemic.

The disease was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its spread among humans since then has been mainly limited to certain West and Central African nations.

But last May, cases of the disease, which causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, began spreading rapidly around the world.

On July 23, 2022, the WHO triggered a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

The WHO's emergency committee on mpox meets every three months to determine if the label remains valid.

The committee acknowledged progress made in reducing transmission of the diseases, said Tedros.

But more than 30 countries were still reporting cases and in some regions not all cases might have been detected and reported, so all countries should remain vigilant, he added.

To date, 85,860 cases of the disease have been reported across 110 countries, including 93 deaths, according WHO figures.

 2023 AFP
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A new comprehensive study of organ impairment in long COVID patients over 12 months shows organ damage persisted in 59% of patients a year after initial symptoms, even in those not severely affected when first diagnosed with the virus.

The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, focused on patients reporting extreme breathlessness, cognitive dysfunction and poor health-related quality of life. 536 long COVID patients were included in the study. 13% were hospitalized when first diagnosed with COVID-19. 32% of people taking part in the study were healthcare workers.

Of the 536 patients, 331 (62%) were identified with organ impairment six months after their initial diagnosis. These patients were followed up six months later with a 40-minute multi-organ MRI scan (Perspectum's CoverScan), analyzed in Oxford.

The findings confirmed that 29% of patients with long COVID had multi-organ impairment, with persistent symptoms and reduced function at six and twelve months. 59% of long COVID patients had single organ impairment 12 months after initial diagnosis.

A member of the research group, Professor Amitava Banerjee, Professor of Clinical Data Science at the UCL Institute of Health Informatics, said, "Symptoms were common at six and twelve months and associated with female gender, younger age and single organ impairment."

The study reported a reduction in symptoms between six and 12 months (extreme breathlessness from 38% to 30% of patients, cognitive dysfunction from 48% to 38% of patients and poor health-related quality of life from 57% to 45% of patients).

Professor Banerjee added, "Several studies confirm persistence of symptoms in individuals with long COVID up to one year. We now add that three in five people with long COVID have impairment in at least one organ, and one in four have impairment in two or more organs, in some cases without symptoms."

He said, "Impact on quality of life and time off work, particularly in healthcare workers, is a major concern for individuals, health systems and economies. Many healthcare workers in our study had no prior illness, but of 172 such participants, 19 were still symptomatic at follow-up and off work at a median of 180 days."

The underlying mechanisms of long COVID remain elusive, say the researchers, who did not find evidence by symptoms, blood investigations or MRI to clearly define long COVID subtypes. They say that future research must consider associations between symptoms, multi-organ impairment and function in larger cohorts.

Prof Banerjee concluded, "Organ impairment in long COVID has implications for symptoms, quality of life and longer-term health, signaling the need for prevention and integrated care for long COVID patients."

More information: Amitava Banerjee et al, Multi-organ impairment and long COVID: a 1-year prospective, longitudinal cohort study, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1177/01410768231154703 Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
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The death toll from the Turkey and Syria earthquakes has continued to climb, with more than 37,000 lives lost. This staggering number is likely to grow even higher over coming days as the rubble is cleared. The disaster is now among the top five most deadly earthquakes globally in the past two decades.

Much of the focus has centered on the immense loss of life in the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes. But many lives will still be at risk in the months to come. While hard to track, we know from other cases that death tolls rise because of a lack of adequate medical care, clean water and shelter following disasters.

These secondary crises can have devastating impacts, as past disasters around the world have shown.

Toll can soar long after disaster strikes

In Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017, the immediate official count of 64 fatalities was adjusted to nearly 3,000 in the following six months. This tragic increase was attributed to deteriorating health conditions driven by the loss of infrastructure and basic services.

In northwest Syria, conflict spanning more than a decade has left infrastructure in tatters. The World Bank estimated in 2017 that more than a third of Syria's housing stock had been damaged or destroyed in the conflict.

In a sign of the precarious state of buildings before the earthquake, a five-storey building collapsed last month, killing 16 people. Many blast-damaged buildings present an ongoing risk now that the quake has further destabilized them.

The earthquakes also come against the backdrop of a cholera outbreak. The disease was already affecting parts of Syria, but had received little attention.

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a cholera outbreak brought in by humanitarian workers took almost a decade to stamp out. There were more than 820,000 cases and nearly 10,000 lives lost.

Last week's earthquake has also occurred amid freezing winter conditions. Many displaced families are out in the cold after losing their homes. Temperatures in Kahramanmarasthe epicenter of the magnitude 7.8 earthquakeand across quake-affected regions are plunging to -5C at night.

Erecting adequate shelter to protect people from the cold must be a central focus of the evolving humanitarian response.

Syrians were already in dire need

The situation in Syria was already dire before the earthquake. In northwest Syria, 90% of the 4.6 million people living there already were relying on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.

Humanitarian access to northwest Syria remains complicated. There has been only a single aid border crossing, at Bab al-Hawa, brokered by the United Nations Security Council. As a sign of the difficulties accessing opposition-held areas of Syria, only two aid conveys had been able to cross from Turkey in the past week.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths admitted shortcomings in reaching those in need: "We have so far failed the people in northwest Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn't arrived."

Over the weekend, the United States approved a 180-day exemption on sanctions for disaster aid to Syria, paving the road for alternative pathways to reach opposition-held areas. However, Syrian government calls for all humanitarian assistance to be delivered through the government are fraught with issues given its track record of diverting aid over the past decade.

A long road to recovery

As rescue operations stretch into the second week, communities are already looking toward recovery. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to rebuild areas hit by the earthquakes within a year. Syrian communities face the added challenge of rebuilding from conflict.

Lessons from similar disasters teach us affected communities have just started on a long road towards recovery and rebuilding.

As the continued challenges of humanitarian access make clear, it is important for local organizations working in northwest Syria to be at the center of the response. The Syrian Red Crescent, Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) and other local organizations have played a vital role during the past decade of conflict and will no doubt do so again in coming weeks and months.

The recent earthquakes offer an opportunity to break through political barriers that have stifled rebuilding in Syria. However, the underlying vulnerability that compounded this disaster will not be resolved quickly. It is deeply embedded in social and political systems in both Syria and Turkey.

What can you do to help?

It can be tempting to donate goods, but consider giving cash to support humanitarian efforts, instead of sending physical items. Cash allows humanitarian organizations to adapt to rapidly changing needs, while also giving households flexibility to decide on their own priorities.

The Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund is enabling humanitarian partners, particularly Syrian organizations on the ground, to access some of the hardest-to-reach areas affected by this disaster.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Technology can be a pain in the neck, leading to what's known as "tech neck," chronic pain that results from prolonged use of mobile phones, tablets, and other electronic devices.

Americans spend an average of more than five hours a day on their mobile phones and even more hours staring at laptops and computer screens. The repetitive strain on the bones, nerves, and muscles caused by looking down at a device can result in muscle stiffness, joint inflammation, pinched nerves, arthritis, and even bone spurs or herniated disks.

"Humans are upright creatures, and our bodies aren't designed to look down for long periods of time, which puts extra pressure on the cervical spine," said Kavita Trivedi, D.O., Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Associate Medical Director of the Spine Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is part of UTSW's Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute.

The typical adult head weighs 10 to 12 pounds, but bending it forward at a 45-degree anglenot unusual when looking at a cellphoneincreases the amount of force on the neck to nearly 50 pounds.

"With repetition, that force can strain or injure the facet joints that connect our vertebrae. When that happens, the surrounding muscles naturally tighten up to protect nearby nerves, which leads to inflammation, pain, and knots in your neckwhat is often referred to as tech neck," Dr. Trivedi said.

Nonsurgical treatments include medication and physical therapy, trigger point and steroid injections, nerve blocks, and minimally invasive techniques such as radiofrequency ablation.

"The good news is that most patients with tech neck don't require surgery, and we have a wide range of therapies that can be very effective. There's no need to live with pain if it can be treated," Dr. Trivedi said.

If you don't currently have neck pain, take steps to protect yourself. Holding your phone at eye level as much as possible can help reduce the strain on your neck and possibly prevent future issues.

"Our phones and tablets are valuable tools, and there's no need to give them up," Dr. Trivedi said. "The solution is to learn how to prevent tech neck while using these devices, and if pain develops, see a specialist who can help."
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In the article titled "Trans and Living in Prison: A First-Person Perspective," Ruth Utnage describes her experience in prison as a transgender woman. Her attempts to get appropriate medical and mental health care are described in a special issue on Transgender Health and Corrections in the Journal of Correctional Health Care.

Ms. Utnage writes openly about her experiences in custody and the treatment she received. "The environment that the state correctional system created and imposed upon me was incredibly threatening and traumatizing," she writes. After many years she was able to pursue hormonal treatment.

Also in this issue of Journal of Correctional Health Care, Kristy Clark, Ph.D., MPH from Vanderbilt University, and co-authors examine the "oppression-to-incarceration cycle" of Black American and indigenous (First Nations) Australian trans women. Black American and First Nations Australian trans women are overrepresented in prisons relative to White and non-Indigenous cisgender and trans people.

"This high burden of incarceration among trans women is produced in part by the disproportional experiences of discrimination, violence, and victimization trans women face across their lifespan," state the authors.

In the current study, the authors developed a conceptual model demonstrating how interlocking forces of oppression collectively inform, maintain, and exacerbate pathways to incarceration, incarceration experiences, and post-release experiences.

Journal of Correctional Health Care Editor-in-Chief Amy Harzke, DrPH, MPH, MDiv, from University of Texas Medical Branch, states, "Understanding the experiences of transgender and gender diverse people ultimately serves as the foundation for quality, gender-affirming health care, and respectful correctional treatment. Policy changes and their implementation are driven and sustained as much by empathy and ethics as by evidence."

More information: Kristi E. Gamarel et al, Improving Access to Legal Gender Affirmation for Transgender Women Involved in the CriminalLegal System, Journal of Correctional Health Care (2022). DOI: 10.1089/jchc.21.09.0085 Ruth Utnage, Trans and Living in Prison: A First-Person Perspective, Journal of Correctional Health Care (2022). DOI: 10.1089/jchc.2022.29020.ruu Kirsty A. Clark et al, Developing the "Oppression-to-Incarceration Cycle" of Black American and First Nations Australian Trans Women: Applying the Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice Framework, Journal of Correctional Health Care (2022). DOI: 10.1089/jchc.21.09.0084 Journal information: Journal of Correctional Health Care
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It has been more than 100 years since the first and only tuberculosis (TB) vaccinethe Bacillus CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccinewas used for the first time medically in 1921. With an estimated 1.6 million people dying from TB in 2021, there is an urgent need for new vaccines to help stem the never-ending pandemic.

There are more than 10 TB vaccines currently in development, with some now in the later stages of the clinical trials process. In a presentation in one of the preliminary pre-ECCMID days of this year's European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, April 15-19) Frank Cobelens, Professor of Global Health at the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), Netherlands, will discuss the frontrunners among the candidate vaccines, and the challenges facing TB vaccine development.

"In order to reach the WHO's target of ending TB as a global health problem, we desperately need an effective and safe vaccine for use in adults and adolescents," explains Prof Cobelens.

"However, TB vaccine research and development is hampered by our limited knowledge of protective immune responses, poor prediction of efficacy in humans by animal models and lack of correlates of protection (the immune response required to give protection), all leading to a high-risk pipeline that includes large trials of long duration. Essentially, we don't know if vaccines will work until they are at the end of the clinical trials processmeaning high-risk, high cost."

Despite this, for the first time since decades there are several promising new TB vaccine candidates entering phase 3 trials (efficacy testing in humans), even though 2 of the 4 (VPM1002 and MTBVAC) are still live-attenuated vaccines just as BCG is and for which the added value in terms of protection and safety over BCG is yet to be established.

"However, the current need for long trials implies that licensure of any of these candidates will take at least several years," says Prof Cobelens. He adds that a key issue for WHO in licensing any new TB vaccine is evidence of prevention of disease (POD)however many of the current trials are looking at prevention of infection (POI) or prevention of recurrence (POR) in those with latent infectionwhich are not quite the same as POD.

Prof Cobelens will highlight that, for the first time in decades there is a different platform candidate that has shown protection in adults and adolescents in a phase II trial: M72/ASO1E (an adjuvanted subunit vaccine). This is also important because it allows the field to identify correlates of protection. In a trial of some 3500 participants in Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia, the vaccine demonstrated 50% protection against TB infection after three years follow-up. It was also safely tested in 400 people living with HIV.

This vaccine, licensed by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, is now going to enter a phase III trial in high-incidence settings across Africa, with an estimated 26,000 participants. It will include people never infected with TB and those with latent TB to see if they are protected from TB disease. But as the trial will require three years for recruitment and five for follow up, it is unlikely to provide results until the start of the 2030s.

Other vaccines considered frontrunners include the Russian Vaccine GamTBVac, currently in a phase 3 trial with 7000 participants expected to report in or around 2025. Also considered promising is the VPM1002 (live recombinant BCG), which is about report on trials on prevention of infection in babies and prevention of recurrence in adults in the next two years (delayed due to COVID pandemic)while a further phase 3 trial, to test prevention of infection in adult household contacts of primary infected persons, is currently underway.

Another genetically modified live-attenuated vaccine, MTBVAC, has just begun a BCG-controlled phase 3 trial in babies in South Africa and Madagascar, while a phase 3 trial in BCG-vaccinated and unvaccinated adults is in its planning stages. Results from these trials are likely to be announced at the end of this decade.

"We have waited more than a century for a new effective TB vaccine, and unfortunately that wait is set to last at least several more years," concludes Prof Cobelens.

"However, there are promising new approaches that include alternative routes of delivery for BCG-vectored vaccines that will hopefully enter the development pipeline soon. We are also in the early stages of harnessing the vaccine innovation that emerged during the COVID pandemicwhich could open the door on other new routes to a successful TB vaccine."

More information: 2022 Global TB report

Provided by European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, today reaffirmed her support for a potential new Irish language radio service, as the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) publishes research which highlights younger listeners interest in having greater choice in Irish language audio content. The research was conducted by the BAI to ascertain the interest in and the potential for a full-time Irish Language radio service aimed at the 15-34 audience in Ireland.

Speaking today, Minister Martin said: I am a strong advocate for providing more, and more widely available, Irish language content and services, in particular for young people. It is, however, important that we understand not only how young people engage with audio content, both on FM and online, and the level of interest in a new Irish language service, but also what they want from such a service and what it must deliver for them.

Key among the research findings is that nationally, young people still engage with audio content, and radio still remains popular with 87% of respondents listening on a weekly basis. The research also highlights that 70% of respondents whose first language is English are interested in, and open to, a new Irish language station. However, this audience are increasingly moving to digital content and having podcasts and sharable clips which complement live radio would be important for any new service.

Also commenting on the research, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Patrick O'Donovan T.D. said: The research conducted into the listening habits and needs of young people is very valuable to us and will inform how we approach developments in this area in the coming years. Its clear to me that the evolution of a new high quality radio service for young people has the potential to expose more and more young people to Irish, helping to expand and normalize the use of the language in our society as a whole.

The main attraction for any such service will be the type of music played on the service, and also that any service dealt with the issues that concerns young people, with a variety of high quality content including culture, sport, chat shows, and current affairs.

Minister Martin added: While Coimisiun na Mean, which I will formally establish next month, will be responsible for the licensing of independent radio broadcasting services in Ireland, I have said before that if possible I would like to see this type of service being put in place for younger people. This research will be very useful to An Coimisiun as they consider the wants and needs of Irish radio listeners.

The research will assist Coimisiun na Mean when considering any new licensing strategies as part of its regulatory activities in ensuring that Irish audiences are served by a diverse range of broadcasting services.

ENDS

An Oifig Preasa agus Eolais

An Roinn Turasoireachta, Cultuir, Ealaion, Gaeltachta, Spoirt agus Mean

An Roinn Turasoireachta, Cultuir, Ealaion, Gaeltachta, Spoirt agus Mean

Teil: 087 6737338 / 087 7374427 Riomhphost: press.office@tcagsm.gov.ie Suiomh greasain: An Roinn Turasoireachta, Cultuir, Ealaion, Gaeltachta, Spoirt agus Mean

Twitter: @DeptCultureIrl

Instagram: Tourism.Culture.Gaeltacht

Facebook: DepartmentofTourismCultureArtsGaeltachtSportandMedia

Note to Editors

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) together with Foras na Gaeilge, and with support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, commissioned a research project to ascertain the level of interest in a youth focused, Irish language radio service. The project was initiated by the BAIs Irish Language Advisory Committee which includes representatives from the BAI; Foras na Gaeilge; CRAOL (representative body for Irish community radio); Independent Broadcasters of Ireland; RTE; TG4; Oireachtas na Gaeilge; and Screen Producers Ireland.

There were two separate research projects undertaken:

Ipsos: to explore the views of a national representative sample of the 15-34 demographic on their interest in, and openness to listening to, an Irish language station, as well as motivations for listening.

Bricolage: study among the Irish speaking communities to explore audio and media habits and the type of audio content (both English and Irish) that they are engaging with currently, and any perceived gaps in Irish language content.

Some points which emerge from the research include:

JNLR data shows that 87% of those aged 15-34 to radio on a weekly basis (almost 1.1m). The majority have a favourite radio station, and music is the main driver of choice (53% state this is what they like most about their favourite station).

of those aged 15-34 to radio on a weekly basis (almost 1.1m). The majority have a favourite radio station, and music is the main driver of choice (53% state this is what they like most about their favourite station). On the concept of a new Irish language service, 35% of national youth audience surveyed would be likely to listen (i.e. at least once a week). However, this increases to 70% if the service were to differentiate itself from other services (such as talking about the issues that matter to them).

of national youth audience surveyed would be likely to listen (i.e. at least once a week). However, this increases to if the service were to differentiate itself from other services (such as talking about the issues that matter to them). Target audience of 15-34 year-olds are non-linear and increasingly digital-only content consumers

Not enough Irish language audio offerings at present, and there is seen to be a potential gap for a youth focused and high quality Irish language offering

Details of the BAIs role in licensing, its licensing activities, as well as details of awarded licences are available here.

The BAI will be dissolved next month and its functions and staff will be absorbed within those of the new media regulator, Coimisiun na Mean.
The short documentary, Lily Gladstone: Far Out There, offers an intimate glimpse of the actress and her process behind the big screen.

Gladstone grew up in Browning and has become something of a Montana celebrity from her roles in award-winning films like Certain Women. Gladstone has won a number of awards herself, including best supporting actress from multiple film critic associations for her work in that movie. One of her latest roles is in the new Martin Scorsese movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, featuring some big names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

But after three years of working away from home, Gladstone decided to return to the Big Sky state. The documentary's director, Brooke Pepion Swaney, is a longtime friend of Gladstones and saw an opportunity to highlight Gladstone and her work.

Swaney spent part of her childhood growing up on the Flathead Reservation before moving to Helena with her family. She met Gladstone through Montanas tight-knit filmmaking scene. They have been friends for over a decade now and have collaborated on films in the past, but this is the first time with Swaney in the directors seat.

As part of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the movie has been nominated for the Big Sky Award Competition, which highlights films that speak to characters, history, traditions and the spirit of the American West.

The documentary is filmed almost entirely on the Blackfeet Reservation and explores not just Gladstones work as an actress but also as an educator. Some of the scenes show Gladstone as she leads Browning High School students through acting exercises and lessons, and even as they workshop scenes from the movie Smoke Signals.

Indian youth more than anybody need to feel that sense of, I have something to say, my voice matters,  Gladstone said in the documentary.

According to the University of California Los Angeles 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report, Native representation in films and television is below 1%. This is something that has driven Swaneys work as a filmmaker and is a motive behind crafting a documentary to feature Gladstone.

Theres still a lot to unpack and to show us as people, Swaney said. Working beyond the stereotypes is always something I am interested in.

While Swaney said the documentary is too short to explore that as much as she wished, it offers an unprecedented opportunity for the audience to peek behind the veil of an actor's practice. The film artfully gives life to Gladstone the person as opposed to Gladstone the actress that audiences come to know in her various roles.

Lily is just such a compelling person, Swaney said. So a lot of the film is anchored in her own words  what she thinks about her craft, what she thinks about the world and how being a Native actor can be rewarding but also challenging.

I feel like its the kind of thing that you meet half way because I love it and I always kind of direct my life toward it, Gladstone said in the documentary. But it also has to love you. It also has to choose you. It also has to keep demanding that you show up for it.
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19 report postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection (PASC) that may persist beyond six months, according to a study published online Feb. 7 in eLife.

Hiba Dagher, M.D., from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues assessed PASC in cancer patients following acute COVID-19 recovery. The analysis included data from 312 cancer patients followed for up to 14 months after COVID-19 infection.

The researchers found that 60 percent of patients reported long COVID symptoms, with a median duration of seven months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Fatigue (82 percent), sleep disturbances (78 percent), myalgias (67 percent), and gastrointestinal symptoms (61 percent) were the most common complaints, followed by headache (47%), altered smell or taste (47%), dyspnea (47 percent), and cough (46 percent). More women reported persistent symptoms than men (63 versus 37 percent). Cancer type, neutropenia, lymphocytopenia, and hospital admission during acute COVID-19 disease did not differ between those with long COVID symptoms and those without. A minority of patients with PASC (8.5 percent) were readmitted for COVID-19-related reasons.

"Besides the female gender, we found no other underlying condition or severity of illness during acute COVID-19 that would predict PASC," the authors write.
Vanessa Garcia Clark wanted a more personal, nontraditional birth when she was pregnant with her son. She hired a midwife and gave birth at her home in California. But when she asked her insurer to reimburse her for the midwifery bill totaling more than $9,500, her claim was denied.

In the first installment of InvestigateTV and KHNs Costly Care series, Caresse Jackman, InvestigateTVs national consumer investigative reporter, explores the different types of midwives  and how not all of them may be covered by insurance.

Jackmans story features an interview with Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, KHNs editor-in-chief, who advises mothers-to-be to negotiate before paying a big bill.

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.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).
Covid -19 has demonstrated how diversified economies can better adapt to major shocks, says the Global Economic Diversification Index (EDI) 2023.

In the GCC region, UAE and Saudi Arabia have made the most significant economic diversification progress, according to the second edition of the index, launched by the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) with a panel of global experts from the IMF and the World Bank at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Overall, the 2023 EDI rankings revealed that the top 10 most diversified economies have remained the same, a Wam news agency report said.

The United States, China, and Germany have held on to their top three positions. However, the gap between the US and China narrowed from a 21.6-point difference in 2019 to just a six-point difference in 2022. The results also show that the size of the economy is not an impediment to economic diversification as several of the top 10 countries are relatively small economies, including Singapore, Switzerland and Ireland, who were able to diversify their economic output base and trade.

The index, developed by the MBRSG in partnership with The World Government Summit, expands its coverage in 2023 to a total of 105 countries, up from 83 last year. It continues to cover all geographies, resource and non-resource-based economies over a period of 22 years.

The index quantifies countries' diversification journey globally, by specifically focusing on three aspects of diversification: Output diversification, trade diversification and government revenue diversification.

The EDI is the first comprehensive global assessment of economic diversification that allows for an international, cross-country, and regional comparison and ranking of countries. As a policy and decision-making tool, it is designed to allow countries to visualise their global ranking on each measure of diversification (production, government revenue, trade), across regional and income groups and within their natural resource grouping. The data of the EDI is already informing policy pathways across governments and with international agencies around the world.

The report indicates that over time, the gap between the most and least diversified nations has mostly widened. The MENA region has witnessed a notable improvement towards the latter part of the 2010s decade as many oil exporters began to accelerate their diversification plans.

The 2023 edition of the Global Economic Diversification Index explored Covid-19s impact on economic diversification, where the pandemic had an adverse effect on almost every sector. Globally, economic diversification may have taken a hit during the Covid-19 years, but the pandemic has also shown how economies and sectors can adapt to shocks, it said.
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.
Missoula police detectives arent recommending that a homeowner who allegedly shot and killed a man during a reported home break-in this month face charges, according to the Missoula County Attorneys Office.

On the afternoon of Feb. 5, Missoula law enforcement responded to a suspected burglary and shooting at the 300 block of Brooks Street.

Two days after the incident, Missoula County Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen identified the man who died as Patrick S. Shemorry, 41, from Spokane Valley in Washington. According to the sheriffs office, he died from multiple gunshot injuries.

The Missoula Police Department has determined that no charges should be filed against the resident, Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst said in an email on Wednesday. According to normal procedure, MPD has referred the investigation to my office for review of that decision.

When that transfer of information is finished, Missoula prosecutors will go over investigative materials and make a final decision on whether the resident will be criminally charged.

Investigators are still waiting for a medical examiner report, but all available evidence has been gathered, according to a statement from the detective division sent by the Missoula Police Department on Wednesday.

Pabst said her office will look at all of Montanas justifiable use of force statues, but the specific details of the Feb. 5 incident will dictate which laws will guide the county attorneys analysis of the case.
As the Montana Legislature considers two bills aimed at reducing the burden of rental application fees, one Missoula group is taking matters into local hands.

The Missoula Tenants Union debuted its rental application fee reimbursement fund this week. The initiative offers $1,000 to reimburse renters for their application fees. Half of the fund will be used to reimburse Tenants Union members, while the other half is reserved for Indigenous renters in Missoula and western Montana, regardless of union membership.

Indigenous people in western Montana are eligible to receive reimbursement for two rental application fees by emailing a receipt of the application fee and Venmo handle or mailing address to missoulatenantsunion@gmail.com. MTU will provide reimbursement via check or Venmo; tribal ID is not needed to receive reimbursement.

The Missoula Tenants Union understands that $1,000 is ultimately a small amount of money in the grand scheme of our present housing crisis, but its $1,000 more than Montanas Legislature or your landlord are offering, a press release stated.

To contribute to the fund, donate through Venmo to @MissoulaTenantsUnion with the memo heading Donation. To give specifically to the fund for Indigenous western Montanans, use the memo heading Indigenous Application Fee Refunds.

MTU also urges Montana lawmakers to pass HB 233 and SB 320, which would require landlords to reimburse the fees from unsuccessful rental applications.

Together, we have the ability to take care of one another when those in power refuse, the press release said.
After a decade of reporting and nonfiction writing, Sierra Crane Murdoch is reflecting on those experiences to examine white fragility and American guilt in a forthcoming autobiography.

Murdoch will be reading an excerpt from her upcoming second book, Imaginary Brightness: An Autobiography of American Guilt, as this years Kittredge Visiting Writer Lecture on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Dell Brown Room at the University of Montana.

I spent the better part of the last 10 years as a white woman writing largely about Indigenous communities and in that process, one of the things Ive learned a lot about  or been really fascinated by  is the ways in which non-Indigenous people imagine, or interact with, or make sense of, or try to make up for Indigenous history in America, Murdoch said. The book is a revisitation of my stories, but a flipping of the lens and what Ive learned about whiteness through that.

Murdochs first book, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Womans Search for Justice in Indian Country, follows an Arikara woman as she searches for a white oil worker who was murdered during the oil boom on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The book is part true crime and social criticism and landed her a spot as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Yellow Bird was also named one of the best books of 2020 by the New York Times, NPR and Publishers Weekly and is currently being developed into a TV series for Paramount+.

Murdoch is pushing the boundaries of environmental writing in all the right ways," said Mark Sundeed, an assistant professor of environmental studies. By weaving a murder mystery into a story of ecological degradation and centuries of broken treaties and genocide against Indigenous people, she is educating a whole new swath of readers about our societys most pressing concerns.

Murdoch suspects her experimentation with the boundaries of genre played a role in Sundeens decision to invite her to be this years Kittredge Visiting Writer in Environmental Studies.

The Kittredge position is named in honor of Bill Kittredge, who taught creative writing at UM for three decades. The program has brought writers such as Latria Graham, Terry Tempest Williams, Rebecca Solnit and Craig Childs to the university since the spring of 2003.

While working on her first book, Murdoch was consistently impressed with Lissa Yellow Bird, the woman she was writing about, and her ability to be transparent about all aspects of her life. That radical transparency that Murdoch witnessed through Yellow Bird is something shes carrying with her for her second book.

I think theres a lot that can be learned by that level of honesty, Murdoch said. Its been inspiring for me and I think it is sort of a certain feeling of vulnerability that is both vulnerable but powerful at the same time.

While much of her time in Missoula this semester will be spent hammering away at her first draft of her autobiography, which she expects to be published in 2025, she will also be teaching 12 graduate students in journalism and environmental studies, who will turn in three unique pieces. Her course this semester focuses on using reporting in a range of creative nonfiction styles, from essays to memoirs.

The combination of being able to teach while also having dedicated writing time attracted her to accept the opportunity at the university.

One of the things I love about teaching is being able to watch a students evolution, Murdoch said. Ive been able to do that just through having past students become writers and become journalists and thats always very exciting and I think it will be fun to be in the classroom for that longer period.

Murdoch previously taught at UC Berkeley and Middlebury College in Vermont. But her time in the classroom at UM is her first semester-long teaching experience and shes excited for the opportunity to get her students writing over a longer period of time.

Just as shes writing a book reflecting on the last decade of her life, Murdoch finds herself in the place where that journey started. Now that the Oregon-based writer is temporarily back in Montana, shes enjoying her return to the scenes she loved to Nordic ski, run and hike through in Pattee Canyon and on Mount Jumbo.

Its fun to sort of revisit these places and try to remind myself of the memories of being there 10 years ago, Murdoch said. It feels very circular in a way thats comforting.
In introducing a bill to codify the existing abortion access landscape in Montana, the Democrat carrying the legislation said it would solidify existing state constitutional protections, while opponents argued it goes much farther and that some laws the bill would strike as unenforceable are still under litigation.

I'm aware that some may have seen descriptions of this bill, its intentions and its potential impacts, that could have them believing that House Bill 432 is attempting to do something new, to grant rights that do not already exist, and to advance policy that is far out of step with Montana's laws and public opinion, said Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. I hope you will listen and learn that this is not the case. House Bill 432 and the changes you will see do not represent new policy. On the contrary, this bill reflects where we are at this moment, and is intended to clarify the current legal landscape in Montana.

Bishop's bill is Montana Democrats' most ambitious in a package of legislation aimed at ensuring and improving protections for reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care. Other bills, like one that would allow people to get a 12-month prescription of birth control, have faced an easier path. Last session a GOP majority smaller than this one's passed a series of bills to limit access to abortion that are temporarily blocked by the courts by a legal battle. But Republicans, who hold a supermajority this session, have made clear their goals in restricting abortion and have a friendly force in GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte, who has repeatedly made clear his anti-abortion stance.

Opponents argue the bill would wipe out laws that are not fully adjudicated by the courts and believe the Montana Supreme Court will one day reverse the 1999 ruling that the state Constitution ensures the right to access abortions.

Those against the bill included Jeff Laszloffy, the head of the Montana Family Foundation. Laszloffy testified that some sections of code the bill aims to repeal are still under temporary blocks while the overall court cases against them play out. He also said that even if laws have been overturned by courts, he believes that eventually the nearly 25-year-old Armstrong decision will be reversed in Montana like Roe v. Wade was last year at the federal level with the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. Laszloffy said removing the language from state code would mean abortion restrictions wouldnt trigger back into place if Armstrong also fell.

All the laws subject to repeal in this bill have been passed by this body, Laszloffy said. And we believe that just as the U.S. Supreme Court struck Roe v. Wade, the Montana Supreme Court will eventually come to its senses and strike Armstrong. And when they do, all of these laws will already be in place ready to enforce. Both the governor and attorney general, both Republicans, have asked the court to revisit Armstrong.

The bills on pause that were passed in 2021 would ban abortion after the 20-week point of a pregnancy; eliminate tele-health services for medication abortion and create informed consent rules; and require abortion providers to offer the opportunity to view an ultrasound. Montana's parental consent law for minors seeking abortions is also blocked as part of a decade-old case still awaiting a final decision in state district court.

HB 432 would put into state law that Montanans may access an abortion before a fetus is viable or to preserve the life and health of the pregnant person. It would also eliminate the Womans Right-to-Know Act, which governs providing women information before receiving an abortion; the Montana Abortion Control Act; the offense of a "partial birth abortion;" the Montana Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act; the Montana Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act; prohibition on coverage of abortion services in qualified health plans and allowing that minors may self-consent to abortions.

Bishop said much of the focus of the bill is to remove abortion restrictions from state law that are unenforceable either because they were found unconstitutional or are enjoined by courts in current litigation.

It removes abortion restrictions from the Montana Code, which are known to be unenforceable. The struck and repealed sections have been found unconstitutional or are currently enjoined in our courts, Bishop said.

Anne Angus, who spoke in support of the bill, told lawmakers that stories like her planned pregnancy that had a heartbreaking ending are often overlooked in debate over these kinds of bills.

At my 19 week anatomy scan, we learned that something was very wrong, Angus said. We learned that my son (in medical terms) his body was not compatible with life. I had two options. I could continue the pregnancy and watch my son slowly die in the NICU, or I could have an abortion to end the pregnancy. I chose to let my son pass in peace, warm and loved and held within me. I was 26 weeks (pregnant) by the time I could access an abortion. I had to travel out of state to access my abortion.

Angus tied her argument for the bill to the debate over parental rights this legislative session.

Abortion is a parental right. I as a mother should have the right to make health care decisions for my pregnancy, for my son. As heartbreaking as it is, sometimes there is no happy ending in any of the options. But my role as a parent is to make those hard choices, to minimize the harm and hurt that can come to my child. Restricting abortion access forces mothers like me to carry non-viable pregnancies. How do you prepare for birth knowing that your baby is never coming home? Restricting abortion access is devastating for families like mine who just want to grieve and begin healing."

In opposition to the bill, Majority Leader Sue Vinton of Billings read all of the parts of state code the bill would repeal and implored legislators to review the Parental Consent for Abortion Act and the Montana Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act before voting.

Vinton also countered testimony from supporters about concerns managing miscarriages.

No. 1, abortion and miscarriage are not the same. Secondly, abortion is not birth control. This is 2023, there is birth control available, low cost or free to anyone who seeks it. We can do better, Vinton said.

Kaitlyn Ruch, who was a legislative candidate last fall and spoke on behalf of Students for Life Action, called the bill an extreme and out-of-touch piece of legislation.

Ruch said the Womens Right-to-Know Act is a common-sense and pro-choice practice of ensuring that every woman who is considering an abortion receives complete information on alternatives available to her.

Ruch also said the state needed to have parental consent because she didnt think minors were mature enough to make the decision about ending a pregnancy.

The last time I testified in front of this committee, I was 16 years old then. I was barely old enough to drive, wasn't allowed to buy a lottery ticket vote, go to an R-rated movie, apply for a mortgage or get an aspirin from the school nurse without the permission of my parents, Ruch argued. But if this bill would have been the law then I would have been allowed to get an abortion without my parents ever knowing. How does that make any sense?

The committee did not take immediate action on the bill.
State lawmakers and the state health department are at odds over how to fix a blunder at the Montana State Hospital, a standoff thats played out in committee rooms and legislative proposals.

House Bill 29 has advanced despite opposition from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, whose officials have testified they can resolve the matter themselves without a statutory spur.

A look at the bill's language  crafted by legislators  shows a proposal to transition dementia and Alzheimers patients from the state psychiatric hospital's Spratt Unit, which is forbidden by its own policy from taking those patients, and into skilled nursing facilities in community settings. The bill wagers the Legislature will also approve larger reimbursement rates to skilled nursing facilities to incentivize expanded capacity in those placements closer to the patients home. That proposal would also set up an oversight committee to see those transitions take place by mid-2025.

Rep. Jennifer Carlson, R-Churchill, is carrying the bill.

But examine the bills fiscal note  typically a cost analysis of effectuating the proposed legislation, compiled by the governor's budget office  and the disparate visions for the Spratt patients begin to show. DPHHS assumes there will be no available beds in community-based settings, and makes no mention of possible reimbursement rates creating availability.

The department intends to send those patients to a different state facility, the Montana Mental Health Nursing Care Center in Lewistown, assuming no placements will be available in community settings. That facility comes with its own issues, but DPHHS says its push to get patients to Lewistown is grounded in the reality that patients would not have been admitted to the state hospital if community beds were available in the first place.

DPHHS this session has testified against HB 29. The department has its own, separate proposal for fixing issues at the state hospital, part of a big-picture pitch to invest in its behavioral health system statewide.

"The department does not intend to provide its own proposal in the fiscal note for HB 29," DPHHS spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in an email this week. "In Montana, as standard protocol, fiscal notes must be developed on present law facts and assumptions."

The actions DPHHS offered in HB 29's fiscal note comes with an extended timeline, a higher cost, and a different state-run facility to house those patients. This proposal requests funding for roughly two employees to assist and coordinate the patient transition.

The House Appropriations committee this month raised several issues with the department's fiscal note in HB 29, from the timeline to do so to its tally of patients who would be transferred.

The bill intends patients to be transferred out of the Spratt Unit by June 30, 2025. Department officials, however, argue that timeline is too rigid, and in the bill's fiscal note stretches that timeline out to 2027.

Lawmakers were especially confounded by the number of patients the department expects Spratt to hold in that timeline. The department's contractors currently overseeing the Montana State Hospital told lawmakers that no patients have a primary diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's and would therefore not meet the bill's criteria for transfer. The fiscal note, however, indicates 12 patients meet the criteria, as will 18 in the next year and 24 in fiscal year 2027.

The fiscal note also states the beds on the Spratt Unit will "immediately" be filled. That's at odds with additional DPHHS reports and testimony submitted to the committee in the DPHHS behavioral health initiative, which state the Spratt Unit would be closed with no plans for repurposing the beds.

"The fiscal note has no basis is reality," Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman, said in the committee last week.

Carlson urged House Appropriations committee in late January to disregard the departments fiscal note and approve the bill on her own math.

A provider rate study conducted by the firm Guidehouse since the 2021 session found that state reimbursement rates for skilled nursing facilities was well below the actual cost of those services. If the state pays that suggested reimbursement rate to skilled nursing facilities, the state would save $800 a day and still give those facilities the resources needed to hire enough staff to handle new the Spratt patients.

If this plan came together, Carlson noted, patients would also be placed in community settings that are far less restrictive than the state hospital. So while the state saves money with her plan, It is also the right thing to do, Carlson said.

The bill was a bipartisan product of the Interim Child, Families, Health and Human Services Committee ahead of this session. That committee routinely questioned DPHHS last year after the facilitys troubles spilled out into public and the federal government terminated the state hospitals certification for failure to meet minimum health and safety standards.

DPHHS has taken steps to stabilize the state hospital and its other facilities with a consulting firm thats been on the ground in Warm Springs since last year.

"We are currently and have been working to resolve these issues independently, without HB 29 working as a statutory spur," Will Evo, facilities director at DPHHS, told the House Appropriations committee last month.

Last week DPHHS postponed and then cancelled a meeting with the House Appropriations Committee to discuss its conflicting fiscal note with the policy set out in HB 29. After expressing some heartburn with the fiscal notes remaining unresolved, lawmakers on that committee voted to advance the bill on a 21-2 vote.

"I do hope somewhere between now and whenever it makes it hope that we get this fiscal note addressed by the department and get a correct fiscal note," Gillette said.

Ebelt, the spokesperson for DPHHS, said Monday the department had to reschedule due to a conflict with another committee.

"Our goal is to continue to work with legislators on this bill and to mitigate any confusion regarding its calculation of fiscal impact," Ebelt said.

After emerging from House Appropriations last week, HB 29 got its third reading Tuesday in the House of Representatives and passed on a 91-6 vote. The bill now moves to the Senate.

A bigger picture

The dispute comes as DPHHS is trying to muscle a sprawling, $300 million behavioral health initiative through the Legislature. Gov. Greg Gianforte called it a "generational investment in our behavioral health care facilities" in his State of the State address last month.

The Behavioral Health System for Future Generations initiative includes a $102 million for two new 50-bed facilities another $9 million for a new 12-bed intensive treatment facility.

DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton said the facilities, planned for more urban settings, could improve short-term, intensive treatment for patients and curb pervasive staffing issues at the existing facilities.

Brereton told lawmakers earlier this month the department is considering contracting out operations at the facility, although no possible sites have been determined. He added the agency hopes for initiative's rollout to be a collaboration between the Legislative and executive branches, although some lawmakers said they felt uneasy about how far the planning had gone already.

"Would we find the contractor who would run the facility first before we build?" Gillette said during the hearing. "It seems like not a great idea to build it and nobody wants to do this."

Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, took a sharper shot at Brereton for the projected costs.

"I think you've got a real credibility problem, at least (on the budget committee)," he told Brereton. " I don't think anybody's convinced that the price that you're proposing here for these facilities is anywhere in the ballpark."

Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the initiative and other requests from the department this week.
A bill outlining Montanas grizzly bear post-delisting management policy saw wide ranging questions and some concerns Tuesday, but it was the definition of threatening that brought significant attention from opponents and lawmakers.

Sen. Bruce Butch Gillespie, R-Ethridge, said Senate Bill 295 was an effort by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to put sidebars for livestock producers and others, allow people to be protected, and ensure stable grizzly populations. The bill states that upon delisting, state wildlife officials must adopt mortality thresholds including for bears killed due to livestock conflicts. That includes establishing an annual quota for the number of bears that may be killed and adjustments if a quota is reached.

If a grizzly is threatening livestock, the owner may report the incident to FWP. The department may then take steps to discourage or trap and move the bear, may kill the bear, or issue a permit to the livestock owner to kill the bear. The bill also says owners may take necessary nonlethal means to minimize conflicts.

This bill commits the state to these mortality thresholds to keep populations at or above recovered levels, Quentin Kujala, FWP chief of staff, told the Senate Fish and Game Committee.

The bill comes as the Biden administration recently announced a 12-month review of the bears status in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystems, a potential step towards delisting in a swath of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

At the same time, a recent letter from U.S. Fish and Wildlife has said another Gillespie bill, Senate Bill 98 passed in 2021, conflicts with the Endangered Species Act. The bill allows grizzlies to be killed under state law for threatening livestock, although management remains under federal law where that is illegal. The service raised additional concerns about bills expanding wolf trapping and hound hunting black bears in occupied grizzly territory.

SB 295 saw strong support from agriculture groups and ranchers, outfitters, some public hunting groups and the mayor of Choteau. Proponents cited strong grizzly numbers as a success story, while also emphasizing conflicts that can jeopardize life and property.

This bill will give us one more tool to protect our property and person, said Galata rancher Dave McEwen. This is imperative to show good faith on the states part should (grizzlies) ever get delisted.

Ranchers deal with bears on a daily basis, but to catch one in the act of attacking livestock is a rarity, supporters said, while the bill sets a clear pathway to managing conflicts.

This bill should ease federal concerns and keep Montana on the path for delisting grizzly bears, said Jeff Darrah with Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

Opponents raised myriad issues with the bill, touting grizzlies positive economic impact and pointing out that it would allow bears to be killed on both public and private land. Opponents also suggested that the bills language pushes for bears to be managed at or close to minimum delisting numbers and that it appears to emphasize killing grizzlies over nonlethal approaches.

Unlike previous bills, this permits killing of grizzlies on public lands. To me, that violates the public trust, said Caryn Miske with the Sierra Club.

KC York with Trap Free Montana believed the bill pushes killing of grizzlies from a last resort to the front of the line.

We cannot kill our way out of living in Montana, nor should we want to, she said.

Chris Servheen, a retired federal grizzly biologist, testified on behalf of the Montana Wildlife Federation. While the organization supports ranchers defending livestock being attacked and would support return of management to the state including a potential limited hunting season, it could not support the bill without changes, he said.

This legislates killing of bears even though no livestock are harmed. This is unacceptable, he said. This bill also says bears posing a threat to people can be killed or a permit issued to kill that bear. Threat is again defined in the bill and it is impossible because it varies from person to person. Again, this legislates the killing of bears even though theyve done no harm and no damage. This is legislative intolerance to bears just because they exist.

Questions about the definition of threat brought several who testified to the podium to offer their definitions, offering perspectives from the term being undefinable to repeated presence and activity such as kills that adversely affect ranching.

Trina Jo Bradley who ranches along the Rocky Mountain Front said ranchers know the bears in the area as well as their livestock. With that experience, they know what to look for in bear and livestock behavior, and a bear could be as close as a few yards and not act threatening or a quarter mile away and acting threatening, she said.
A train struck and killed a man Tuesday morning at a railroad crossing in downtown Billings.

The train struck the man at little after 5 a.m. at the railroad crossing on South 29th Street, which remained closed until around 9:30, according to the Billings Police Department.

BPD officers, along with Yellowstone County Sheriffs deputies responded to the scene. The name of the man, who was declared dead by the time first responders reached him, has yet to be released. BPD is investigating the fatality.

The last time a train fatally struck a pedestrian in Yellowstone County, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration, was in March 2021. From 2020 through 2022, per the FRA, trains killed at least 19 pedestrians statewide.

In October 2022, a train hit a Billings woman at the North 28th Street crossing. The woman survived, the Gazette previously reported, but she went to the hospital with a head injury.
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.
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.
The Saudi Reinsurance Company (Saudi Re) has won the Reinsurance Company of the Year award at the prestigious 10th Middle East Insurance Industry Awards.

The award ceremony was hosted by Mena IR in Dubai and highlighted this new regional success for the company.

The Mena IR awards are regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in the Middle East and the region, as they are overseen by a panel of independent external judges who bring a diverse range of in-depth insurance expertise to the judging process. The Mena IR Awards recognise and rewards the leading insurers, reinsurers and brokers within the Middle Eastern and North African markets.

Excellent service

The reinsurance company award is given to the reinsurer that has demonstrated excellent service while meeting a clients specific needs, while demonstrating proven track record of business growth and industry leadership.

Fahad Al-Hesni, MD & CEO at Saudi Re expressed his delight at winning the prestigious Reinsurance Company of the Year award, which is an acknowledgement of Saudi Res progress and a testament of the companys commitment to delivering excellence in the industry.

The Saudi Reinsurance Company (Saudi Re) is a Saudi company listed on the Saudi Exchange and operates in more than 40 markets in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Lloyds market in the UK. It offers a variety of reinsurance solutions in engineering, property, marine, accidents, auto, life, and health sectors.-- TradeArabia News Service
Montana farmers and ranchers face numerous challenges. Some of these challenges, such as weather, commodity prices, and bank loan rates, are beyond a single farmers ability to manage. On the other hand, there are challenges faced by Montana producers, which one could reasonably consider as manageable yet in reality are not. One of the biggest challenges thrown in the face of Montana agriculture that falls in this category is when original equipment manufacturers lock farmers and ranchers out of repairing their own equipment.

Farming is a seasonal operation. When crops are ready for harvest, hundreds of farmers engaged in their livelihood are in the field at the same time, meaning that a significant number of breakdowns could simultaneously occur. Per manufacturer policy, repairs can only be performed at an authorized repair location or by an authorized technician. There are very few of those facilities and individuals working in Montana. Wait times for repairs can be several days, subjecting the farmer to a lower quality crop or potentially devastating events such as hail or fire.

A recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between a large farm equipment manufacturer and a national farm organization allows dealer and farmer use of diagnostic tools to determine the cause of a breakdown but not the ability to repair. A previous MOU between these two parties promised the right to repair by 2021. That promise was not honored by the manufacturer. Like the previous MOU, the current agreement is probably nothing more than hot air.

My Right to Repair bill now in the Montana Senate fully supports local dealerships commitment to selling equipment and offering repair services. Often these dealerships are at the mercy of manufacturers, who will dictate what software is available for diagnostics and who  and who doesnt  have authority to use those diagnostics for repairs.

Manufacturer lobbyists will tell us and the Montana public that Montana does not have the right to interfere with the manufacturers ability to do business as it pleases in Montana. This is in fact untrue. In previous legislative sessions, Montana lawmakers shielded local automobile dealers from unreasonable requirements made by manufacturers.

My senate Right to Repair Bill is about rural jobs and giving Montana farmers and ranchers the freedom to repair their own equipment and to be fairly treated by manufacturers. Our local and capable dealerships and independent mechanics can provide timely services for diagnosing and repairing equipment. The Montana Legislature needs to make the right decision in keeping Montana agriculture on the move. Pass Right to Repair.
Chinese President Xi Jinping. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, has significantly reduced its private investing in China, sources told the Financial Times.

Reasons include Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" campaign and fears of other unexpected moves from China's leadership.

While GIC has cut private-equity and VC investments in China, it boosted investment worldwide by 17% last year.

Despite brightening outlooks brought on by China's economy reopening from zero-COVID policies, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds has scaled back key investments there.

Singapore's GIC, which manages around $700 billion, reduced its Chinese private-equity and venture-capital investments over the past year, sources told the Financial Times.

This turn away from the second-largest economy stems from a number of concerns, including fears about policy decisions by China's leadership.

GIC executives cited growing US-China political tensions, President Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" campaign to reduce inequality, and fears of unexpected moves from Beijing like its crackdown on the tech sector, the FT reported.

The last three years were marked by a slew of strict regulations on the sector, which China's leaders deemed to have become too powerful in the country. And Ant Group's $37 billion IPO that Chinese authorities stopped also hurt GIC.

Meanwhile, the fund has been hit by China's ongoing real-estate crisis, which Beijing helped bring about by trying to stem excessive borrowing.

And in recent weeks, tensions between the US and China ramped up after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the US in early February.

Despite a three-decade history with China that proved financially beneficial, GIC is reported to have directly invested in just two Chinese companies in 2022, compared to 16 in the year before. Still, the fund's leadership is not closed off to future investment in China.

And while its position in China has decreased, GIC has expanded its global investments by 17% last year compared to 2021.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sen. Julie Daniels

Bartlesville area state lawmakers Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Judd Strom, R-Copan, are preparing for a battle at the state Capitol over whether public school funding should be tapped to pay for private school tuition.

School choice, also known as school vouchers, is expected to gain traction in the state Legislature this session, particularly since both Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters have made it a priority.

The school choice concept is sweeping the nation. Bills have been signed into law in Iowa and Arizona recently, and many other states' legislators are debating similar legislation.

Last month, Daniels introduced a bill that would allow parents to use a portion of the state per-pupil spending for private school tuition. It would also allow parents to use the funding for fees, uniforms, technological devices and instructional materials.

Daniels envisions her bill, the Education Freedom Act, as a way to help kids in failing districts or that are being failed by their public schools.

"You know it's time to empower Oklahoma parents to be able to choose the best education for their own children regardless of ZIP code or financial circumstances," said Daniels.

Strom disagrees with Daniels and points to the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships and the Open Transfer Law passed last year.

Judd Strom, R-Copan

"Oklahoma parents are already empowered to make that choice because every child is served by a public education system in the state of Oklahoma, and there isn't anything stopping parents from choosing other forms of education if they want it," said Strom.

He calls Oklahoma's homeschool system the "freest and fairest" in the nation and provides parents with many alternatives.

When asked if her bill had oversight or accountability in the quality of education that students would receive from private education service providers similar to that of public education, Daniels said, "The accountability in my program is to the parents."

Story continues

Daniels says her bill allows for "maximum freedom" and "maximum flexibility" for parents and education service providers  for Strom, that is a problem.

"With every agency in the state of Oklahoma that falls under the government purview, I think it is very important to be able to audit where every one of those tax dollars goes and exactly how those are spent and whether they're being spent effectively and efficiently," said Strom.

Along with minimal oversight and control in how dollars are spent, most of Oklahoma's accredited private schools are religious in nature, such as Wesleyan Christian School in Bartlesville, Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa and Oklahoma Islamic Academy in Edmond.

For Daniels, that's no issue because she says public dollars will be given directly to parents through education savings accounts and parents can choose to spend the money on any accredited private school of their choice.

"The bill specifically says we cannot meddle in the affairs of the doctrine of the curriculum of their schools," said Daniels.

Daniels added that if the Office of the State Treasurer  which will be charged with administering and distributing the funds  attempts to impose any additional regulation or require alterations in creed, practices, admissions policy or curriculum of private schools, the agency's funding will be cut by 5%.

Strom said he couldn't support the bill in its current state.

"We have a constitutional duty at the state level to provide for a free and fair public education, and private schools are neither free and very often not fair," said Strom.

Why not both?

Daniels said she was tired of hearing that there can't be school choice without sacrificing public schools. She said her bill is the compromise needed.

"This is recognizing that some children do not thrive in their public schools, and where there are parents who've identified this and want an alternative to try and achieve academic success for their child, it's time to give them that option," said Daniels.

Daniels said she plans to allocate extra funding to the state Department of Education to pay for the school voucher program. The bill would allocate $275 million to the program. She said that number was determined by multiplying the number of students enrolled in a private school by roughly $5,000 a piece.

Even by allocating enough funding to allow every child currently enrolled in private education, Daniels said she estimates only 500 to 1,000 students would take advantage of the program early on.

"Well, we have a program, the Lindsay Nicole Henry (special needs program)... was adopted in 2010," said Daniels. "As of today, we have 1,245 students statewide. That's a very small number of special needs kids, and it's taken 10 years for that program to grow to have that many kids in it. So I anticipate this will be slow growth."

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a law to launch the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships in 2012 to allow students who meet income and zoning requirements to have a portion of their private school tuition paid. As of 2021, that program awarded more than 6,600 scholarships at a cost of $18.6 million, according to its annual report.

Daniels said this bill isn't meant to attack public schools in any way. Yet the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs supports the bill and calls for constituents to remind their legislators, "Woke indoctrination in schools isn't going to stop unless we give parents real educational choice."

"It puts more pressure on the public schools because now there are more viable options for parents," said Daniels.

"This is more government and it is tax dollars being spent without accountability," Strom argues.

He has reason to demand accountability.

Last summer, a U.S. Department of Education audit found $652,700 in federal pandemic funds were misspent in Oklahoma because the state failed to place proper guardrails on a program that provided $1,500 grants directly to families. Rather than spending the money on educational needs, some recipients of the program bought televisions, car stereo equipment, coffee makers, home decor and other items.

That program was touted by Walters as a test run for a statewide school voucher program. In a joint investigation, Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier detailed Walters' involvement in getting a no-bid contract for Florida-based vendor ClassWallet to run that program.

Earlier this week, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced that he dismissed a lawsuit filed by his predecessor accusing ClassWallet of mishandling federal COVID relief dollars and that he instead will instead investigate Oklahomans responsible for the misspending of funds.

"It is clear that a number of state actors and other individuals are ultimately responsible for millions in misspent federal relief dollars," said Drummond.

Same words, different title

At the same time as the release of Daniels' bill, state Senator Shane Jett filed another bill, the Oklahoma Parent Empowerment Act for Kids, which shares roughly 80% of the same language and essentially copies Senator Pro Tem Greg Treat's Oklahoma Empowerment Act that failed to pass the state Senate last year.

The bills appear to be heavily influenced by model legislation called the Education Savings Account Act, which was posted by the American Legislative Exchange Council six years ago. Daniels is a member of ALEC's Board of Directors.

ALEC is a nonprofit organization of conservative legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation with other states. The group has been accused of allowing corporate interests to have outsized influence in shaping model legislation, which becomes law in many states.

A flurry of bills with language similar to ALEC's model legislation is being introduced in statehouses across the country, including one recently signed into law in Iowa.

Daniels said those who helped craft her bill include "mommies and daddies of homeschoolers," the American Federation for Children, Americans for Prosperity, the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs and other educational choice organizations.

"There are other states doing similar initiatives like this. But we're definitely cutting-edge here to go universal school choice," she said.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: School choice is on Oklahoma's legislative menu again, lawmakers say
HICKORY  The parent company of WHKY-TV announced plans to sell the television station to a Louisiana-based ministry led by evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

The company expects the sale between Long Communications LLC and the Family Worship Center Church will close some time in the second quarter, according to a post on the stations website Wednesday.

The new owners plan to use a new call sign for the TV station, but any changes in operations and programming of the TV station will be announced at a later date, according to the post.

Long Communications intends to keep all the current employees and to continue running the radio station under the WHKY call sign while also producing online content, the post said.

Station Manager Jeff Long declined to comment more on the deal Wednesday, but indicated he would be willing to say more next week.

WHKY was founded as a radio station in 1940 by Jeff Longs grandfather Ed Long. The Long family later expanded their operations to include the TV station.

WHKY-TV, which is the oldest independently owned TV station in North Carolina, marked its 55th anniversary on Tuesday.

Family Worship Center Church is the home of the Jimmy Swaggart Ministry in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is adjacent to the campus of the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, according to Google maps.
The Burke County Board of Education found a way to get most of what it wanted out of a school calendar without breaking state law on Monday.

The board passed a 2023-24 school calendar by a 6-1 vote, which will allow Burke County Public Schools to start on Aug. 28 in accordance with state law and still finish the first semester prior to the holiday break, a major sticking point many on the board and in the community have with the current North Carolina calendar law.

Keith Recker, BCPS human resources director, presented the board with the new option, contrived last week in response to differing opinions among board members on the early and late start options proposed to them on Jan. 9. Recker said the key to this new calendar is counting the number of instructional hours instead of days.

According to the state calendar law, all school calendars must contain either 185 days or 1,025 hours of instruction. BCPS Assistant Superintendent Karen Auton told The News Herald this years calendar provides 1,087.6 instructional hours, more than 60 hours above the state requirement. These extra instructional hours allows the district to trim the calendar to 171 days instead of 176 and still satisfy state requirements.

There is one potential problem with this plan, however. It would cut some of the extra hours built into the calendar that have traditionally been reserved for snow days. BCPS Public Relations Officer Cheryl Shuffler does not expect it to become an issue, though, saying there are several measures available to the district before it would have to start adding days.

We have flexibility with increasing hours during the school day or using half days or workdays to make up instructional time before we would have to add extra days, she said.

Board Chair Wendi Craven said the new calendar is not perfect, but it gets closer to what she and other board members wanted.

Theres still issues, but we thought about it and we didnt want to break the law, she said. We didnt want to have any lawsuits filed against us and any money to fight those lawsuits wouldnt go toward what we needed it to go toward, and thats the children.

Under the approved calendar, the semesters still will be uneven with 78 student days in the first semester and 93 in the second semester. The early start proposal that would have violated state law called for 85 student days before Christmas break and the late calendar called for 75.

Auton said she did not expect it to be a major hurdle and administrators are planning to work with high school principals to structure the days in ways to help alleviate some of the disparity.

The new calendar also will align better with Western Piedmont Community Colleges schedule, but not perfectly. This misalignment was another reason many board members considered an early start calendar in the first place.

The approved calendar will now line up with WPCCs spring semester start date in January. However, fall semester start dates for the more than 500 students dually enrolled in both BCPS high schools and WPCC will still be two weeks apart.

We checked off two of the three bigger issues, Craven said. At least with this one, were able to end the first semester before Christmas, so we checked that box. And we checked the box of beginning the second semester, at least it will line up with Western Piedmont.

Board member Don Hemstreet was the lone dissenting vote. He told The News Herald hes still in favor of an early start.

My no vote was mainly a vote in favor of the early calendar, he said. And a vote that says local systems ought to be able to control their calendar. It should not be controlled by a state legislature that doesnt have education as its prime objective.

Still, hes not entirely dissatisfied with the new calendar.

I think were in as good a place as we can be right now, Hemstreet said. I think the administration was really creative, they worked the best they could within it and accomplished a couple of the things we wanted to do.

In other business, the board also unanimously approved:

Renewing the contract for the independent audit with Lowdermilk, Church & Co. LLP at a cost of $38,000.

The school calendar for Burke Middle College.

The summer remediation and retesting plan.

An easement at 108 Scott St. in Glen Alpine.

A $273,000 bid by Denver Equipment of Charlotte for the East Burke High School Cafeteria remodel.

Media policy

The districts media policy became a topic of discussion again. James Wycoff, who highlighted the issue during several public comment periods in the fall of 2022, addressed what he perceives as shortcomings in the districts revised media policy approved last June.

Wycoff brought several examples before the board of material in BCPS media centers he believes is inappropriate and unlawful and the kind of content that belongs in an adult bookstore. He said the new policy gives him no way to challenge these materials.

I would have challenged this material and went through the policy, Wycoff told the board. Unfortunately for parents, the revised media policy only allows the parents of a child enrolled at that school to challenge the materials. But material continues to be available to our kids just in certain schools.

Wycoff contested the media policys statement that professional educators are in the best position to determine whether materials are appropriate for the age and maturity of the students. Instead, he said it is professional educators who are making material available to students he believes belongs in an adult bookstore.

Do you find the material in front of you that was put on the shelf by professional educators to be appropriate for minors, he asked the board. Do you believe that parents rights to instill morals and values on their children to be superseded by a professional educator

This is not a matter of academics, but a matter of morality. It doesnt require a degree to be able to determine whats moral. Parents should be the ones that decide whats appropriate for their children and not the state.
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.
In an interview with The Montana Standard, U.S. Rep Ryan Zinke (R) proposed a major reinvestment in the troubled Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs to make it a "national model" for mental health care.

Zinke was selected to serve on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in January, making him Montanas first congressman on the committee in almost 20 years.

During the Jan. 20 interview, Zinke talked about how mental health problems are a significant part of homelessness even in Montana.

It probably started back in JFKs time when we decided to move away from institutionalizing people and going to community-based care, Zinke said. Then Reagan came along and privatized that. I wont pass judgment on how we got here (to a mental health crisis), but were here.

Zinke said one solution might be greatly expanding the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs and making it a mental health care model. He suggested that a state-federal partnership on such a pilot project could work well.

When it was mentioned that Warm Springs lost its federal Medicaid reimbursement last year after an inspection revealed significant care problems due to inadequate staffing, including a number of injuries and deaths, he said, Maybe we have to cut back on the regulation, too, to make things work better.

This is just a Ryan Zinke idea at this point and it needs fleshing out, he said, adding, Reviewing entitlement programs doesnt always mean cut. It means appropriate the money to where the problems are.

The idea is an alternative to another idea that circulated in recent months that Montana State Hospital and Montana State Prison should be moved to larger population centers, an idea Zinke previously spoke out against to Powell County Commissioners.

The Legislature is working through budget proposals now, one of which is a $300 million two-year budget request from Gov. Greg Gianforte to repair and improve services at the Montana State Hospital and expand intensive behavioral health care for communities. DPHHS director Charlie Brereton has been before the Legislature this session asking them to approve the request.

The funding allocated to the hospital, if approved, would get the facility back into compliance with health care safety standards and regain its federal funding, so it would be at least two years before the hospital could begin to break ground on making MSH into a pilot program.

A representative for Zinke said the congressman is not involved in a formal plan, and that his idea for a pilot program was him laying out his general framework for how we could address the mental health and related crime crisis in Montana.

He has not spoken to any organizations to put a formal plan together. However, should MSH look to a pilot program, he would be happy to work with them on funding as a member of the House Appropriations committee, the representative said.

When asked about the feasibility of expanding MSH and turning it in a pilot program, Jon Ebelt, communications director for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, said that DPHHS is overhauling Montanas behavioral health system from top to bottom with future generations in mind under Gov. Greg Gianfortes leadership.

As part of the behavioral health reform currently under way, DPHHS is making generational investments in our state-run health care facilities after years of neglect, as well as working to ensure that our patients are being served in the most clinically appropriate settings, Ebelt said in an email.

DPHHS welcomes all ideas as we work to move these important reforms forward, he added.
A woman testified Tuesday that she helped her 19-year-old friend get dressed and leave after she was allegedly raped by a young man at his house in Butte in September 2018.

The woman said her friend thought she had been drugged during a small party, was sexually assaulted by Tracer Lee Croy, and was angry as they drove back to Deer Lodge.

She was mad, frustrated, upset, the friend told jurors. She was crying.

In other testimony Tuesday, a Butte detective acknowledged that he didnt arrange an interview with Croy until three months after the alleged assault and didnt submit evidence for DNA testing for months because it slipped my mind.

Defense attorney Ashley Whipple said there were other delays and holes in the investigation and noted that Croy was cooperative and consistently denied having sex with the woman. Croy was also 19 at the time.

Surely its not ideal to wait three months to contact a rape suspect? Whipple said to the detective, Lt. Jeff Williams.

Not in a perfect world, he replied.

Croy is being tried for sexual intercourse without consent, which carries a maximum 20-year prison term in this case. Prosecutors didnt file charges until September 2020, two years after the alleged crime.

A jury of seven women and five men is hearing the case and District Judge Kurt Krueger is presiding over the trial, which began Monday and could last into Thursday.

Croy pleaded not guilty and Whipple told jurors Monday that the only victim in the case is her client. Croy is 23 now and Whipple has noted several times that it has taken four-and-a-half years for the case to get to trial.

The Montana Standard is not naming the alleged victim to protect potential victims of sexual assault.

Her friend testified Tuesday that she had been drinking alcohol seltzer beverages that night, was intoxicated, and fell asleep in a living room chair at Croys house. She said she awoke when she heard the alleged victim calling her name from a bedroom.

She said the woman was lying on a bed naked in a frozen state and thought she had been drugged. The friend disagreed with that but said when she tried to pull the woman up, she was stiff and fell back onto the bed.

She was able to get up on a second try and get dressed, the friend said, and they went outside. The friend said she came back to retrieve car keys, asked Croy what happened, and he said he didnt know. They then drove to the womans residence in Deer Lodge.

At some point earlier that evening, the alleged victim told her friend, The drunk me wants to have sex with him but the sober me thinks its a bad idea, the friend said. The alleged victim testified Monday that she drank about five White Claws that night, one beer and two cups of a mixed-drink. White Claws have about as much alcohol content as a regular beer.

But the woman says she was still alert until she drank from a beer that Croy had been pushing on her. She suddenly didnt feel well and laid down on Croys bed, she said, and couldnt move while he was having sex without her consent.

The alleged victim said she told her mother about the incident a day later and they went to the hospital for an exam. She says she declined a cervical exam because she had bathed twice and didnt think it would yield any evidence of intercourse at that point.

A nurse who did the exam confirmed Tuesday that the woman declined a cervical exam but agreed to have police contacted. An officer arrived, took statements and gave them to Williams for further investigation.

Williams said Tuesday that he went to Croys house that day but nobody answered, and tried again several more times in the coming weeks, wanting to speak to him in person. He finally got his phone number in December, called and Croy agreed to come in for questioning.

He said 100% he did not have sex with her, Williams told jurors and prosecutor Kelli Fivey.

The alleged victim gave police the underwear she was wearing that night but Williams acknowledged that it was months before he sent it to the crime lab. It slipped his mind, he said, and the alleged victim was upset about the delay.

The crime lab reported that one apparent semen stain didnt have enough DNA material to be tested. But Williams said he learned months later that another semen stain had been tested its DNA matched Croy.

There were other delays and problems with the investigation and Whipple emphasized them during cross-examination Tuesday afternoon.

Williams acknowledged that he lost his case files on an external hard drive in mid- to late 2019 and only got some of the investigation information back in August 2022 when he ran repair software.

He also acknowledged that:

 He never went inside Croys house to retrieve bedding material, any potential date-rape drugs in beer cans or bottles, or other evidence, and never sought a search warrant to do so.

 He didnt interview the womans friend until six months after the alleged assault.

 He never interviewed another woman who was at the party that night. He said her voice mail was full the first time he called and he never tried calling again.

 He didnt retrieve all of the lost information from his hard drive and what he did retrieve was given to defense counsel in August 2022 when the trial date had been set.

You cant assure us that all of your investigative materials are available to us can you? Whipple asked. No, he replied.

Fivey said Williams sometimes handles up to 30 investigations at a time and said the lost information and delays it caused were a failure on our part, meaning prosecutors, too.

Prosecutors Sean Peterson Ellen Donohue are also trying the case with Fivey.
In December, legislative aide Drew Zinecker publicly questioned whether Native Americans living on reservations in Montana should be able to participate in state elections.

Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, in August remarked that lawmakers representing reservation communities always vote for welfare.

And last month, a draft resolution incorrectly labeled Native American reservations as systems" and classified them as "race-based" when federal Indian law has long interpreted the status of tribal members as a political classification, not a racial one.

These are some of the examples Sen. Shane Morigeau alluded to when introducing a bill that would enhance lawmakers understanding of state-tribal relations.

Morigeau, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said Senate Bill 233 does two things.

First, it requires the Legislative Services Division to make information and training on Indian law, federal Indian policy, legal rights of tribal members and the social, economic and cultural concerns to tribes readily available to all legislators. Per the bill, that information and training must include up-to-date handbooks, notifications of training opportunities, links to Indian Education for All resources and any other resources deemed valuable.

While education on tribal communities is available to lawmakers, Morigeau said the program is inconsistent and not prioritized. He said this year, the educational training, which was supposed to cover Indian law, tribal history and state-tribal relationships, among other complex topics, lasted only 10 minutes.

Second, Senate Bill 233 aims to enhance this training by requiring the state Director of Indian Affairs to collaborate with the Legislative Services Division to ensure that lawmakers are aware of the training and invited to participate.

In his address to the Senate Legislative Administration Committee Tuesday morning, Morigeau explained, Theres just so much intersection and overlap with Montana tribes and work we do in this body.

Though tribes are sovereign nations, state laws affect everyone in Montana  including tribal members. A bill moving through the Legislature would provide resources for communities experiencing high rates of missing persons cases, for example, and a bill draft would establish hunting seasons on fee land within the Flathead Reservation.

What (SB 233) would do is it would ensure that our trainings arent overlooked," Morigeau said. "Because I do think they are critical to this body to be able to have that background and be informed in the decision-making that we do."

Jade Bahr, on behalf of the Montana Budget and Policy Center, spoke in support of the bill. She served as a state representative in 2019 and said the lack of basic understanding (among lawmakers) could be offensive and heartbreaking sometimes.

While Bahr is no longer a legislator, this session, Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, was asked by lawmakers to define trust and fee land, to describe the role of a tribal chief and about whether Native children still faced rampant abuse in boarding schools.

Bahr closed in saying, If we can work to curb these misunderstandings, we should."

Keegan Medrano, policy director for the ACLU Montana, echoed other bill supporters, saying education is critical to informed decision-making.

It can be difficult when legislators are unable to recount or identify that Montana has 12 tribal nations, eight federally recognized tribes, seven reservations, let alone foundational concepts that inform the sovereign-to-sovereign relationship, he said. Theres taxation, theres usufructuary rights, theres resource development, theres diminishment and disestablishment. To some, these may be random terms, but to me, they are my life. They guide tribal nations and tribal peoples.

Medrano added that if the bill passed, lawmakers could work toward solutions, rather than definitions and explanations of certain concepts affecting Native people.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill, and the committee did not take executive action on it.

Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, and vice chair of the committee, said that lawmakers do receive this kind of training, and Morigeau countered that 10 minutes is inadequate to cover the topics at hand. Esp then said he would talk to Morigeau later to offer potential amendments.
LIVINGSTON  R-Y Timber Inc. is shutting down its sawmill in Livingston about a week after a structure fire broke out at the site, the companys general manager confirmed on Tuesday.

R-Y Timber General Manager Dan Richards said a structure fire destroyed the yards planer  a tool that smooths boards into lumber  on Sept. 12. That set operations back, but the company immediately decided to rebuild.

The company was four to five weeks away from starting up a new planer when another fire sparked in the early morning hours on Feb. 7. This time, the flames damaged the mill itself, taking out the roof, according to Richards.

With both the planer and the mill down, management at R-Y Timber anticipated it would be another year before work could resume as normal. In the meantime, rough cut boards were waiting to be planed.

"It's time-sensitive. You cant leave logs sitting there together, Richards said. They will start deteriorating.

Because of the challenges, R-Y Timber decided to close its Livingston mill, where approximately 70 employees work. Richards said the company is preparing to lay off quite a few people around the end of the week, though it aims to keep some workers to organize and clean up.

Our hearts go out to our employees, he said. They are very hardworking, very dedicated and Im sure theyll be able to find jobs. They're talented as well.

Julia Altemus, executive director of the Montana Wood Products Association, announced that R-Y Timber would be shutting down its plant in Livingston during a House Appropriations Committee meeting in the Montana Legislature on Monday.

The closure means there are now six major sawmills left in the state.

In the last 30 years, we have now lost 31 mills, over 4,000 employees and another 100 employees are now out of work, she said.

The Livingston mill is the second of R-Y Timber's to close. In 2020, the company shut down operations at a mill in Townsend, citing a loss of timber supply due to frequent litigation against logging projects. A fire also started in the Townsend mill in early 2022.

Richards said that R-Y is still under contract to take care of its work on federal timber sales. The company has been thinning large-diameter trees as part of the Custer Gallatin National Forest's Bozeman Municipal Watershed project.

The 4,700-acre timber project in the mountains south of Bozeman is aimed at protecting the city's water supply in the event that a large wildfire spreads along the Gallatin front, near Bozeman and Hyalite creeks.

In a statement, Montanas Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale said hes disappointed to hear that R-Y Timber will not reopen. His office is working with the company to provide support for the displaced workers and their families.

Serving as one of our nations leading suppliers of Rocky Mountain-grown timber for over 25 years, this closure will have a devastating economic impact on Livingston and the surrounding communities, he said.

Altemus announced the closure as she was testifying in support of House Bill 424, sponsored by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad. If it passes, the bill will bolster the states reserve and contingency funds and double its emergency fund.

Jones said HB 424 would increase the governors emergency fund from $16 million to $32 million through the 2025 biennium. He noted that the state fire suppression fund is one of its primary accounts.

Altemus said logging infrastructure and mill infrastructure has to be maintained, or state and federal agencies wont be able to do their work. The investment from HB 424 will allow the remaining six mills to continue to operate, she said.
Vietnam issues plan of action, strives to put end to IUU fishing

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed a decision issuing an action plan on fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and preparing for working sessions with the fourth inspection delegation of the European Commission (EC).













Fishing vessels anchor at a wharf in Ha Tien city, Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA)



The plans objectives are to enforce legal provisions on fisheries in a concerted and effective manner, and address all shortcomings and limitations as recommended by the EC in order to have its yellow card warning removed within 2023.



It aims to unify awareness, actions and engagement of the whole political system in IUU fishing prevention and control. Heads of Party committees, Party organizations and authorities at all levels are requested to directly lead, instruct and take main responsibility for this work, considering it an urgent and prioritised political task.



The plan of action also highlights the importance of the management of exploitation and sustainable development of the fisheries sector for the benefits of the people and the country; and increasing Vietnams international position, image and responsibility in the implementation of international commitments and treaties in the protection of the marine environment and sustainable marine ecosystems, thus contributing to ensuring national defence and security, and sovereignty.



To achieve these targets, the plan requires relevant ministries, sectors and localities to review and make lists of all fishing vessels, and complete the registration, marking of vessels, license issuance, installation of vessel monitoring system (VMS) according to regulations.



In addition, all ships will be inspected at border posts/stations when entering or leaving ports to ensure the VMS operates around the clock at sea, and be monitored via VMS while operating at sea. The process of verifying and certificating the origin of seafood must be carried out in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.



From now to May, the plan aims to end illegally fishing in foreign waters; investigate and handle all cases of Vietnamese fishing vessels being arrested by other countries, and handle and sanction all IUU fishing-related cases, and publicise them on the mass media.



Vietnam will push forward negotiations on delimitation of overlapping and undefined sea area between Vietnam and countries such as China, Malaysia and other relevant neighbouring nations.



It will also intensify international cooperation activities on fisheries, IUU fishing prevention and control, and fishing cooperation with other countries, and regional and international fisheries organisations./
Hub71, Abu Dhabis global tech ecosystem, has launched Hub71+ Digital Assets, a dedicated Web3 specialist ecosystem, with more than $2 billion of capital committed to fund Web3 startups and blockchain technologies.



Hub71+ is a specialist ecosystem dedicated to advancing specific technology sectors. The first Hub71+ to launch is Hub71+ Digital Assets  focused on unleashing the disruptive potential of Web3 and the growth of digital assets.



Web3 describes the evolution of the internet into a decentralized online space increasingly built on innovations such as blockchain technology and metaverse applications. Web3 startups, from seed to unicorn stage, will benefit from the ability to scale globally through Hub71+ Digital Assets, unlocking access to a host of programs, initiatives, and its extensive range of Web3 focused corporate, government and investment partners in the UAE and global markets.



Hub71+ Digital Assets will be based at Hub71 in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) where Web3 startups can operate in a progressive regulatory environment, which offers world-class blockchain and virtual asset infrastructure.



First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE's largest bank and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions, and its research and innovation centre, FABRIC join Hub71 as the anchor partner of Hub71+ Digital Assets. FAB will identify leading Web3 startups, entrepreneurs, and breakthrough technologies to help the UAEs largest bank reimagine financial services in the metaverse.



Hub71 has also onboarded a diverse range of partners and Web3 players that form part of Hub71+ Digital Assets including:



Digital asset exchanges and service providers - facilitating the discovery, trading and custody of digital assets

 Binance and MidChains



Technology Providers  bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3 and providing effective infrastructure platforms

 Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Mastercard



Venture studio  facilitating the build and acceleration of new Web3 and digital assets startups

 Founders DAO



Venture capital funds - providing access to capital and investment opportunities

 Binance Labs $500 million Investment Fund to invest in Web3

 Venom Foundation through its USD 1 billion venture fund, Venom Venture Funds (VVF) in partnership with ICEBERG Capital an ADGM regulated investment manager

 Startups will also be able to gain access to Ton Foundations $250 million TONcoin.Fund

 Additionally, existing venture capital partners from Hub71 are set to invest in Web3 companies



Blockchain platforms  enabling transparent recording, tracking, and sharing of assets

 Algorand, Polygon, SUI Blockchain, Ton Foundation, and Venom Foundation



The combination of these elements aims to support participating startups to launch tokens and promote tokenization, as part of the fundraising journey.



Ahmad Ali Alwan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hub71, said: Hub71+ Digital Assets signifies that Abu Dhabi is open to disruptive businesses driving forward change and transformation on a global level. Decentralization is the future of a blockchain-based internet, and Web3 startups will play an immense role in accelerating this transition.



Teaming up with ADGM, FAB and its research and innovation centre, FABRIC, alongside the worlds leading Web3 companies and enablers under one roof will provide founders with an opportunity to fundraise, develop and commercialize innovations safely while operating within the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual assets in the Mena region.



Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Mheiri, CEO of ADGM, said: We are pleased to strengthen our association with Hub71 on the launch of Hub71+ Digital Assets. In todays rapidly evolving digital landscape, we have seen the rise of new technologies, and ecosystems such as Web3 that have the potential to transform the world.



At ADGM, we are dedicated to providing a holistic environment that facilitates a seamless and secure adoption of digital assets to foster the growth of this new digital landscape. This alliance will help start-ups and digital assets to benefit from ADGM's diverse ecosystem and progressive regulatory environment by accessing world-class and innovative infrastructure.



This further reinforces ADGMs commitment to developing the UAE economy and keeping pace with global trends with a risk-based approach. We are delighted to be at the forefront of this revolution by empowering the next generation of businesses and look forward to the long-term growth it will present to the start-ups of the UAE and beyond, he added.



Suhail Bin Tarraf, Group Chief Operating Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), commented: FAB is trusted as a financial partner to our customers in the real world, and those same customers are now increasingly active in the Web3 space as well. Staying ahead of the curve when it comes to innovations such as blockchain, NFTs and the metaverse, is yet another way we fulfil our Customer First promise as we leverage new opportunities at the intersection of digital identity, ownership, and value. Through this partnership, it is our intent to meet our customers in this emerging digital space and keep them ahead with their financial needs.



Web3 startups at the unicorn stage - companies valued at more than $1 billion - will also benefit from Hub71s value creation program to support business relocation to Abu Dhabi and growth in the Middle East and global markets.



Hub71+ Digital Assets will contribute to supporting the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, which aims to double the contribution of the digital economy to non-oil GDP to more than 20 per cent within 10 years.  TradeArabia News Service
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.
Weve been planning this trip for months. A getaway to a warmer climate for a few weeks. A place to ride our horses out of the cold and snow.

So in howling winds and subzero temperatures, we packed our live-in trailer, loaded the horses and headed south. Warm days ahead!

We expected chilly weather the first day. So we sipped happily on hot coffee spiked with a low-sugar protein drink and nibbled on the best choices we could find when we stopped for fuel: nuts, popcorn and cheese, mostly.

Come dusk, we stopped in Oakley, Kansas, where the temperature hadnt budged. We got the horses settled and made our way to a cozy room above the barn. I tuned into the weather channel and got this message about our area: 17 degrees, real feel minus 12 degrees. A poor time for outdoor fitness activities. Not funny.

Only one thing to do: We jumped in the truck and headed down the road to the local Mexican restaurant and cantina. I devoured my chile relleno, enchilada and bean plate. Green chile and beans are excellent vegetable choices on such occasions, by the way.

Day two, we loaded up and headed farther south. Cold winds followed us all the way to Canadian, Texas. When the horses were fed and watered, our cheery host brought a plate of pulled pork to our warm guest cabin.

If you had been here earlier, you could have eaten with us! she said in a friendly accent. God bless Texas!

Day three, we headed to Abilene. Wait, whats this we hear about a massive ice storm hitting this part of the country? Lets just say when we unloaded the horses and filled their water buckets, they promptly refroze.

By this time, we were starting to get a little grumpy. We needed food  and a beer.

So we dragged our bodies to the Texas Roadhouse. I was proud of my husband for ordering a salad and fresh veggies with his steak. And my chicken salad never tasted so good.

Day four. Forget breakfast. We loaded the horses at dawn to get ahead of the ice storm that was chasing us down. Three hours later, famished, we waited expectantly for a breakfast sandwich and hot coffee to grab and go.

We finally skidded into a fast-food restaurant, where the attendant said, Im sorry, we stopped serving breakfast 10 minutes ago. Sigh. We settled for hot coffee and a fish sandwich.

Good news: We made it safe and sound to our destination. Bad news: Were still in the midst of the ice storm. Good news: Its supposed to move out of here in a day or so. And theres a great Mexican restaurant just down the road.
BEIRUT  A baby girl born under the rubble of her family's home in northern Syria after last weeks devastating earthquake was in good health Monday and being breast-fed by the wife of the director of the hospital where she is being cared for, her doctor said.

The infant, named Aya  Arabic for a sign from God"  by hospital workers, may be able to leave the hospital as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday, according to her great-uncle, Saleh al-Badran. He said the babys paternal aunt, who recently gave birth and survived the quake, will raise her.

The newborn's mother died after giving birth to her in the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. Her father and four siblings were also killed in the quake.

Dr. Hani Maarouf, a pediatrician at Cihan Hospital in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, told The Associated Press that the wife of the hospitals director has been breast-feeding the baby girl.

We have stopped all the medicines that we were giving Aya and now she is being breast-fed when she needs, Maarouf said by telephone from Afrin.

Maarouf said local policemen were standing guard at the hospital to make sure no one tries to kidnap the child after a series of people showed up falsely claiming to be her relatives.

Rescue workers in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis discovered the dark-haired baby girl more than 10 hours after the Feb. 6 quake hit, as they were digging through the wreckage of the five-story apartment building where her parents lived.

Buried under the concrete, the baby still was connected by her umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya. The baby was rushed to the hospital in nearby Afrin where she has been cared for since.

The devastating quake followed by a series of tremors that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria reduced much of the towns and cities inhabited by millions to fragments of concrete and twisted metal. More than 35,000 people were killed, a toll expected to rise considerably as search teams find more bodies.

The earthquake destroyed dozens of housing units in the town of Jinderis where Ayas family had been living since 2018.

Ayas father, Abdullah Turki Mleihan, was originally from the village of Khsham in eastern Deir el-Zour province, but left in 2014 after the Islamic State group captured their village, said al-Badran, an uncle of Aya's father.
The names of three people who were killed in a two-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon have not been released, according to the Iowa State Patrol, nor have the names of six others who were injured in the accident.

Little information was available Monday morning. According to the release, at about 2:25 p.m. Sunday Muscatine County Sheriffs deputies responded to an accident reported at or near the intersection of Highway 38 and 155th Street in Muscatine County. On arrival, deputies reported a white 2019 Toyota Highlander and a black Dodge Ram were located in a field northeast of the intersection. The Toyota was occupied by seven passengers while the Dodge was occupied by two.

At the time of the release, three fatalities were confirmed and all other victims were taken to either Trinity Hospital in Muscatine or the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City via ground ambulance or helicopter. Deputies were reportedly still on the scene investigating the accident.

The Iowa State Patrol crash report says that the Toyota was traveling eastbound on F70 while the Dodge was traveling northbound on Highway 38. The report said the Toyota failed to stop at the stop sign and was struck by the Dodge.

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.
Photographer Judd Howell is guest speaker at the Napa Valley Photographic Society's next meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Oak Room at Napa Senior Center, 1500 Jefferson St.

Howells entree into photography began with a developing career in wildlife ecology more than 50 years ago. His goal was to document wildlife in their habitats. He enjoys any opportunity to capture images of an animal's life to share with others but also to capture images of the art and beauty around us.

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"Early in my career, I studied bald and golden eagles along 600 miles of the North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska," he said. "When I came to San Francisco Bay Area to work at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, I studied the first nesting of Heermanns gulls in the United States on Alcatraz Island. I also began a study of migrating birds of prey in the Marin Headlands -- now the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory -- and studied tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Napa Valley Photographic Society (NVPS) promotes the art and science of photography, providing education, image appreciation, inspiration, exchange of technologies. Guests are welcome to attend. For more information, visit napavalleyphotographicsociety.org.

10 tips for creating better travel pictures Create an itinerary, and build on it Make time to make those memories Grab coasters and hotel stationery Plan a meetup, or sign up for a class Snap photos of people you meet (with their permission) Keep a journal, or be diligent with social media posts Collect as much information as you can Organize your photos within a month of returning Print your favorite photos Repeat yourself
A two-vehicle collision Tuesday morning north of St. Helena left both drivers hospitalized, one with major injuries, the California Highway Patrol reported.

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The head-on crash occurred at 6:10 a.m. on Highway 29 north of Ehlers Lane, CHP said in a news release. A 2020 Toyota C-HR in the northbound lane drifted onto the east shoulder, struck a barrier, and then crossed the center line into the path of a southbound 2006 Hyundai Sonata, according to the highway patrol.

Both drivers were taken by American Medical Response to Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center. Jose Tovar, a 75-year-old Calistoga man driving the Hyundai, suffered major injuries, while 53-year-old Ali Kakavand, a St. Helena man at the wheel of the Toyota, sustained moderate injuries, CHP said.

Highway 29 was closed for about an hour after the wreck.

This story has been modified since the original posting to include the full name of Ali Kakavand.

Photos: Napa Valley Faces and Places, February 12, 2023
A man who pleaded no contest in connection to a 2021 shooting on a Napa County roadway will serve 23 years in state prison, prosecutors have announced.

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Frank Devante Stephenson, 28, received the sentence Feb. 8 from Judge Monique Langhorne in Napa County Superior Court, the office of District Attorney Allison Haley said in a news release. Stephenson had pleaded no contest Jan. 11 to attempted murder and assault with a firearm.

The charges stemmed from a road-rage attack on Devlin Road in south Napa on Jan. 21, according to prosecutors. On that evening, Stephenson, who was driving his truck home from work, aggressively tailgated a 58-year-old man, drove up alongside him, and then shot him in the chest with a handgun before speeding off, the District Attorneys Office said.

Two witnesses saw the wounded driver, went to his aid and summoned help, and the victim  who did not recognize his attacker  survived after emergency surgery, according to the statement.

Later, on Feb. 4, 2021, Stephenson pointed a gun at a second person after cutting him off on Highway 29 south of Green Island Road, according to the District Attorneys Office, which said Stephenson tried to fire the gun but failed to do so. Napa County sheriffs deputies arrested Stephenson at his workplace about two weeks afterward.

Photos: Gunman kills 3, injures 5 at Michigan State University
A dispute Tuesday morning in a Napa liquor store escalated into the robbery of a cellphone and a visitors arrest, police reported.

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Officers were called to Vals Liquors at 132 Soscol Ave. at 9:10 a.m. after a reported strong-arm robbery, Sgt. Keri Sedgley said in an email. A visitor, identified as 32-year-old Anthony Brooks of Solano County, disagreed with a store employee about a purchase and then grabbed a phone from the workers hand after the worker said he would call police, according to Sedgley.

Police saw Brooks walking north on Soscol, and a foot pursuit ensued, ending with Brooks arrest at the intersection with the Silverado Trail, Sedgley said, adding that one officer sustained minor injuries while detaining the suspect.

Brooks was booked into the Napa County jail on felony allegations of robbery and resisting arrest. He also faces three warrants from outside the county, according to Sedgley.

Photos: Best of Napa Valley Register's Faces and Places
Saudi-based Jadwa Investment Company has announced that it has signed an five-year master-lease agreement with National Building and Marketing Company for a premium residential compound in Riyadh for a rental value of SR250 million ($67 million).

The agreement for the Marvella Residential Compound was signed by Jadwa in its capacity as the manager of Jadwa REIT Saudi Fund.

Spread over a 73,000 sq m area on King Abdullah Road, Marvella is a mixed-use complex featuring 594 housing units and 21 commercial showrooms.

As per the lease deal, the National Company for Building and Marketing will be re-renting and operating the residential complex for a period of five years starting from March 13, 2023 to March 13, 2028 for an annual rent of SR50 million to Jadwa Fund for the next five years excluding VAT, stated Jadwa in its filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

On the financial impact, Jadwa said the effect is considered positive as the signing of the new agreement ensures the continuity of 100% property occupancy at the same level of previous years' income with a robust tenant.-TradeArabia News Service
Philip Champlin, a fixture of Napa Countys law community for more than half a century first as an attorney and then as a judge, died Friday morning in Napa at age 83.

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His death, from congestive heart failure, was confirmed by Lynne Champlin, his wife of 56 years and a columnist for the Napa Valley Register.

During a 57-year legal career in Napa, Champlin rose from a partnership at a local law practice to a 21-year judgeship in Napa County Superior Court before retiring from the bench in 2000. Within a year, however, he returned to the courtroom  in Napa and numerous other communities around Northern California, where he served as a fill-in judge and oversaw civil cases until retiring for good in November 2021.

Family members and colleagues this week remembered Champlin not only as an accomplished jurist but also as a man who won respect for his service to his adopted home, to community groups and to other judges.

Throughout the years, his service was characterized by intelligence, courage, courtesy, and grace. His story is a noble one, former Napa County Superior Judge Scott Snowden, a colleague of Champlins, said in a statement released by the court Monday. The likes of Judge Philip Champlin will not soon pass this way again.

When I attempted to compliment him and let him know how special he was to our community, he said, I'm just a soldier in the trenches, added retired judge Raymond Guadagni, another colleague of Champlins from the Napa court. That view, however, was not shared by those of us who knew better.

Napa Judge Philip Champlin, after more than four decades on the bench, retires  again A legal career that began with his 1964 arrival in Napa ended when Champlin heard his final cases this month.

Champlin described his enduring enthusiasm and reverence for his profession in an interview with the Register shortly before his second and final retirement.

I enjoy it; being a judge is like being a lawyer  youre the director of the case, you present it in court," he said in 2021. As a judge youre watching, listening and ultimately deciding. You see the panoply of human behavior, the good, the bad and the ugly. And its a fascinating profession; every day is different, and every case is different.

Born in 1939, Champlin, the son of a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, briefly considered a broadcasting career after graduating from Yale University but ultimately went to the UC Berkeley law school.

His change of path ultimately led him, in December 1964, to a city of Napa that was then a quieter, smaller wine country town. The law practice of Frank and John Dunlap hired the young law school graduate for $500 a month as an associate to help with their caseload during John Dunlaps successful campaign for a state Assembly seat the following year.

Champlin would spend a dozen years at the firm and become a partner there  while also serving as a Yountville town attorney and Napa deputy city attorney  before being appointed in 1978 to Napas old municipal court. A year later, he won promotion from then-Gov. Jerry Brown to the Napa County bench.

Some of the cases in which Champlin ultimately took the most pride were those involving young men or teenagers who came before him for sentencing who later straightened out their lives, Lynne Champlin recalled.

He kind of sized them up, I think, and gave them a bit of a chance, she said in a Monday interview. Years later, he had about four or five young men contact him either by letter or a visit who said, Thank you for giving me a second chance in my life. And they had all reformed and gone on to college and great careers.

The Champlins son Chris, an Auburn Police officer, remembered his father emphasizing the importance of finding the nuances of truth as a judge.

There's this version, and then theres this version, and your job as a judge is to find that center where the truth lies in that touch of gray, to quote a little Grateful Dead, he recalled his father saying. There's always that touch of gray going down the middle, and that was his job as a judge to come to what the correct and reasonable truth is, because you're getting two sides and your job was to try to find whats in the middle.

Murder and justice in wine country: Retired judge Ray Guadagni publishes 'Napa Valley Case Files' Retired Napa judge Ray Guadagni has published "Napa Valley Case Files: Justice in Wine Country," an account of eight different murders, the investigations, trials and aftermaths.

Perhaps few of the cases the judge heard exemplified that principle more than the trial of Bob Edwards, an 81-year-old Calistogan whose 79-year-old wife Muriel had been left incapacitated by a severe stroke. In May 1989, Edwards, who had promised never to put his wife in a group home despite the physical toll of caring for her, was arrested on suspicion of murder after covering Muriels face with plastic wrap, according to Guadagnis 2022 book Napa Valley Case Files: Justice in Wine Country.

However, Champlin  who heard the April 1991 trial singlehanded without a jury  heeded defense lawyers contention that Edwards had ended his wifes life not from malice but out of fear that he could no longer care for her, and had acted with his judgment impaired by sleep deprivation brought on by looking after Muriel around the clock.

The judge convicted Edwards not of murder but of voluntary manslaughter, sentencing him to a year of community service. Edwards died of cancer that July, less than 2  months after the sentencing.

Guadagni, on Monday, also credited Champlin with helping to modernize much of the Napa courts daily business during his two-decade tenure  including pushing for changes that have allowed about 90% civil cases to be resolved in less than a year, saving litigants time and money by having judges schedule regular case management conferences to keep cases on track.

Champlin stepped down as a county judge in 2000 and spent half a year traveling the U.S. in a motor home with his wife, but soon felt the pull of the courtroom again. It was always in my mind that I had something to offer, and that I was too young to stop working, he told the Register in 2021.

In 2001, Champlin followed the path of other retired jurists when he joined the state-funded Temporary Assigned Judges Program, which fills vacancies in county courts that result from illness, scheduling clashes, or judge withdrawals due to conflicts of interest.

During his final years on the bench and into his early 80s, Champlin continued to preside over Napa County conferences over civil cases such as business and real estate disputes, personal injury complaints, and insurance cases arising from the North Bays 2017 and 2020 wildfires.

Champlins service also extended beyond the courthouse, including a decade as a Napa Valley College trustee, the presidency of a local Boy Scouts council, and work in the local Rotary club. In his spare time be became an avid hunter and a rider of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible he had restored to showroom condition was a regular highlight of the Fathers Day Invitational Auto Show in Yountville.

At all times, Champlin retained an ability to connect and empathize with people from all walks of life, his wife remembered Monday.

The one thing you liked about him was that he could sit and talk to some guys at the fishing pier, or address a group of CEOs, Lynne Champlin said Monday. And he could speak with anyone at any time, and I knew he was intelligent, but he was so down-to-earth.

In addition to his wife and son, Champlin is survived by a daughter, Catherine, as well as four grandchildren.

Photos: Napans find treasure trove of 1950s love letters, and more, in attic
Amid Californias ongoing housing crisis, all of the cities of Napa County, and Napa County itself, are currently figuring out their long-term housing plans known as housing elements, state-mandated documents that outline housing needs and challenges as well as plans to meet those needs over an eight-year period.

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But according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, all of Napas jurisdictions were supposed to have finished up that whole multi-year process about two weeks ago.

They missed an important Jan. 31 deadline to have their housing plans submitted and found compliant by HCD, along with almost all other Bay Area jurisdictions. (As of Tuesday, only four of 109 Bay Area governments were considered to be in compliance with housing element law by the state.)

As a result, Napa County and its cities could potentially miss out on important state funding or face proposed projects under the so-called builders remedy, a provision in state housing law that, in theory, enables developers to push housing projects of essentially any size right past local zoning rules, so long as the projects include a relatively high percentage of affordable units  at least 20% lower-income or 100% moderate-income.

So far, no such proposals have come forward in Napa, according to representatives from each of the jurisdictions, some of whom contended that the builders remedy didnt apply because they had adopted housing elements they said meet with state housing law.

American Canyon, Yountville, Calistoga and the county have, indeed, already adopted their 2023-31 housing elements, though none has yet received certification from the state housing department that such plans are substantially compliant with housing element law.

Alicia Murillo, spokesperson for the HCD, said in an email that Napas governments are still technically considered to be out of compliance with housing element law until the state agency reviews the documents and finds them compliant.

If a jurisdictions adopted housing element is not found substantially compliant by HCD as of the jurisdictions statutory deadline (in this case 1/31), they are considered to be out of compliance with Housing Element Law until HCD finds their adopted housing element in substantial compliance with law, Murillo wrote. As such, these jurisdictions would be unable to use subdivision (d)(5) of Government Code section 65589.5, inconsistency with zoning and general plan standards, as a basis to lawfully deny qualifying affordable housing as defined in subdivision (h). This is colloquially referred to as the 'Builders Remedy.'"

One reason many cities and counties have fallen behind is because of multiple changes in state law to the housing element process, and a large increase in units the state is requiring for this 2023-31 cycle compared to the previous one. The Bay Area is being required by California to approve over 441,000 units for all income levels, for example, which would represent a 15% increase in the region's total units.

In Napa County, the city of Napa is required to show plans to allow for approval of 2,669 units over the next eight years; American Canyon has been mandated 622 units; St. Helena received an allocation of 256 units; Calistoga received a 119-unit allocation; Yountville needs to show plans to allow for 72 new units; and, for unincorporated Napa County, plans to allow for 106 units need to be shown by the county's housing element.

The Calistoga housing element  which, in Napa County, is the farthest along in the process  is currently in review by HCD; it was adopted by the City Council on Nov. 15, and the state housing department received it on Dec. 30. The adopted element is a second draft, which includes revisions made to respond to HCD comments on a first draft.

Calistoga city manager Laura Snideman said in an email that the city is waiting on HCDs final comments, which she said are due 90 days after submission. City staff dont believe the builders remedy is an option in Calistoga, Snideman added, because the housing plan  which she said meets state law  was adopted and submitted before the Jan. 31 deadline.

Brian Bordona, Napa County interim planning director, also contended the county wasnt out of compliance with state housing law, given that the county Board of Supervisors adopted the county housing element on Jan. 24. But the county hasnt yet submitted the adopted housing element to HCD. Bordona said in an email that he anticipated hed provide it to the state next week, and that staff would bring any state-recommended amendments to the board as soon as possible.

Brent Cooper, community development director for American Canyon  where the City Council voted to adopt a housing element on Jan. 31  also said in an email that city staff doesnt anticipate any penalties from the state given our citys substantial and ongoing compliance with state housing laws.

On Friday, American Canyon received an HCD review letter on its first draft housing element, and Cooper said staff will diligently respond to the comments. The state agency hasnt yet received the citys adopted housing element, according to Murillo.

The Yountville Town Council adopted the second draft of the town housing element on Feb. 7, a week past California's deadline; HCD hasnt yet received the draft. City manager Steve Rogers said in an email that town staff are confident the element will be certified based on earlier feedback from HCD.

St. Helena hasnt yet adopted a housing element, but did submit a second draft to the state housing agency on Feb. 7. The city originally planned to hold adoption hearings in February and March, but changed course, according to St. Helena's community development director Maya DeRosa.

Thats because many jurisdictions have received a second round of requested changes from HCD after the second review, DeRosa said in an email. Should a jurisdiction adopt a housing element that the state agency decides needs to be changed, that could lead to a time-consuming second round of planning commission and city council adoption hearings.

DeRosa said she expects the St. Helena housing element will be ready for adoption by the City Council by early May. That, she said, should give the city enough time to meet a May 31 deadline.

Should any Napa County jurisdictions miss that deadline  which, again, requires both adoption and a letter from HCD affirming compliance  all rezoning required to provide adequate sites for housing must be accomplished within one year of the Jan. 31 deadline, instead of three years, to maintain compliance. And if a jurisdiction doesnt adopt a housing element more than a year after the Jan. 31 deadline, it cant be found in compliance with housing element law until required rezoning is completed, according to the HCD website.

Vin Smith, the city of Napas community development director, said the city is currently preparing to send the first draft of its housing element to the state housing department, likely later this week. Once the city receives comments back, Smith said  he estimated there will likely be a 45- to 60-day turnaround  it will go through the adoption process with the citys planning commission and City Council, and then the document will be sent back to HCD for final certification.

Smith added that the city is coming off the recent adoption of its general plan, a broad long-term plan for the city that includes the housing element. Much of the work that went into the general plan  to essentially determine where growth should happen over the next two decades, for example  is also being used in the housing element, which is saving the city time and money. But the general plan process took longer than expected, Smith said, which delayed the housing element.

Smith said hes confident of the quality of work Napa will soon be sending to the state, and is hopeful there wont be a second round of comments from HCD that require additional changes to the housing element. Some communities in Southern California, he said, still dont have certified housing elements  and they had deadlines last year  but he suspects thats largely connected to communities there not accepting changes that the state was requesting them to make.

Im hopeful that we get it right, if you will, Smith said.

As for the builder's remedy, Smith said that many developers likely wont be interested because of the economic infeasibility of building such affordable projects in Napa. Pursuing such a project could also be seen as an aggressive move that developers, many of whom pursue multiple projects in the city over time, arent inclined to make because they want to continue doing business in Napa and dont want to risk squandering community goodwill.

Smith also noted that, should any projects that attempt to use the builders remedy  which he referred to, from a legal perspective, as a fairly untested part of state law  come forward, such projects dont absolve the developer from having to go through objective building standards, as well as the California Environmental Quality Act.

It gives them some rights, but its not just a free pass for them to start building houses, Smith said.

PHOTOS: Redwood Middle School's mock Supreme Court trials in Napa Redwood Middle School mock trial 1 Redwood Middle School mock trial 2 Redwood Middle School mock trial 3 Redwood Middle School mock trial 4 Redwood Middle School mock trial 5 Redwood Middle School mock trial 6 Redwood Middle School mock trial 7 Redwood Middle School mock trial 8
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 (RCD).

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.
A life-threatening cold spell began to ease its grip on the northeastern United States on Saturday, but only after a new national windchill record was set in New Hampshire.

The record was set at Mount Washington Friday night when it felt like minus 108 F thanks to a temperature of minus 46 F and wind gusts of 127 mph.

Wind chill records are not historically tracked as closely as temperature records, but the mark would beat what most meteorologists believe to be the US record (minus 105 F in Alaska). The prior record for Mount Washington was minus 102.7 F in 2004.

Early Saturday, about 15 million people in the United States were under wind chill alerts, but that number dropped to less than 1 million by midday as the extreme cold began to wrap up. The majority of the remaining wind chill alerts will end by 7 p.m. ET Saturday as temperatures begin to stabilize and winds die down.

Temperatures will rebound 5 to 10 degrees above normal on Sunday.

Several daily low-temperature records were set across portions of the Northeast on Saturday morning, according to local National Weather Service offices.

Boston hit a morning low temperature of minus 10 degrees Saturday morning, breaking its previous daily record of minus 2 degrees. The weather service also tweeted that it is the first double-digit negative temperature recorded since 1957.

Worcester, Massachusetts, hit minus 13 degrees beating the previous daily record of minus 4. Providence, Rhode Island, recorded minus 9 degrees beating the previous daily record of minus 2. Hartford, Connecticut, hit minus 9 degrees, beating the previous daily record of minus 8.

Government leaders urged people to stay inside if at all possible.

"Our state is facing dangerously cold temperatures & extreme wind chills today & tomorrow," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday morning on Twitter. "We are coordinating with local officials to ensure they have what they need to keep New Yorkers safe. Please limit time outdoors, wear layers, & use caution with alternative heat sources."

departure from average temperature

Northern Maine feels the freeze

The dangerously cold winds are descending on the region from Canada, putting entire states at risk. The worst impacts are expected in northern Maine  where about 70,000 people in Penobscot and Aroostook counties are under blizzard warnings through Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

"Ground blizzard conditions in heavy blowing snow are expected today through Saturday across open areas. Please to not drive if you don't have to!" the weather service in Caribou, Maine, said.

Maine State Police shared photos of deteriorating road conditions in Aroostook County on Friday and warned drivers that any area across the state with open fields and snow can expect periods of "blinding whiteouts."

"One of the beauties of the County is (its) open fields and views but on days like this they become a hazard. Drive safe. What looks like safe and normal driving conditions quickly deteriorate into almost zero visibility stretches of roadway," Maine State Police said in a Facebook post.

In addition to the blizzard conditions, parts of northern Maine on Friday night felt as cold as minus 69 degrees, with many other areas seeing their winds feel as bitterly cold as between minus 35 degrees to minus 50 degrees, according to the weather service in Caribou.

The local weather service also reported some power outages in Maine, where water inside trees froze, expanded and caused trees to snap and knock down power lines  though impacts did not appear extensive or widespread Friday.

Freezing temperatures this week have not only affected the Northeast. Farther south, severe cold weather also led to ongoing power outages across Texas and Arkansas as an ice storm lashed the region, killing at least eight people.

About 130,000 homes and businesses in Texas were still in the dark early Saturday stemming from multiple rounds of ice, sleet and freezing rain that made roads deadly and weighed down trees, also causing them to break and take down power lines. In Arkansas, more than 36,000 homes and businesses were experiencing outages early Saturday, according to the tracking site Poweroutage us.

Aid to those experiencing homelessness

Amid the ongoing dangerous cold in the Northeast, New York City issued a "cold blue" Friday evening, the city's Department of Homeless Services said on Twitter.

The designation generally indicates temperatures have reached an extremely low threshold that requires them to make resources available to the public. Under that code, people may use the city's homeless shelter system on an emergency basis and directs New Yorkers to report people on the street as a safety measure.

"No one who is experiencing homelessness and seeking shelter in New York City during a Code Blue will be denied," a spokesperson for the department said.

New York City is forecast to see single-digit temperatures, with the coldest point coming Saturday morning at 8 degrees and winds could feel as cold as 7 degrees below zero.

"Homeless outreach teams will be talking to any New Yorker on the street and offering them warm shelter," the city said Friday in a tweet.

In Erie County  home to Buffalo  officials also issued a "code blue" and opened three overnight shelters in the county and daytime warming centers.

Warming centers have also opened across Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont, officials said.

In New Hampshire, where the coldest winds could feel as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, Cannon Mountain Ski Resort in Franconia and Wildcat Mountain in Gorham have closed due to the severe cold, according to their Facebook pages.

Similarly, several ski areas turned away customers and shut down operations in Vermont on Friday.

___
SACRAMENTO  California, a U.S. trendsetter for progressive policies and a state where the current governor once made news issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco before it was legal, will attempt to enshrine marriage equality in the state constitution.

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The effort comes 15 years after a voter-approved initiative, Proposition 8, banned the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California. The constitutional amendment is still on the books, however, and that worries advocates who think the high court may revisit the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide.

Its absolute poison, it is so destructive and its humiliating that this is in our constitution, said Democrat Scott Wiener, a state senator who represents San Francisco.

He and Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low of Silicon Valley plan to introduce legislation Tuesday to rescind Prop. 8. The measure would need to be approved in the Legislature by a two-thirds vote, and then it will ultimately fall to voters to decide via a referendum.

In the days leading up to Prop. 8s approval, Low joined opponents of the measure outside his alma mater De Anza College in Cupertino to call on voters to reject the initiative. When it passed, it felt personal to Low, who is gay.

Why do fellow Californians hate me? he said. Why do they feel that my rights should be eliminated?

California could follow in the footsteps of Nevada, which in 2020 became the first state to amend its constitution to ensure the right to same-sex marriage. The matter took on fresh urgency last year when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade in 1973. At the time, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called into question other prominent cases and urged the court to reconsider them. His list included Obergefell v. Hodges, which forced states to issue and recognize same-sex marriages.

"In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Courts substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," Thomas wrote, referencing two other landmark cases involving access to birth control and a decision striking down laws against same-sex sexual activity.

In December, President Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires states to recognize same-sex marriages, but the legislation doesnt force states to allow them if Obergefell is overturned.

Wiener and Low, the two California lawmakers, hope to replicate the process under which state voters in November approved a constitutional change guaranteeing the right to abortion.

Prop. 8 has yet to be repealed because there was less urgency to do so after the state was allowed to resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and gay marriage was legalized nationwide, Wiener said.

"It became a fire drill once the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he said.

The path to marriage equality in the Golden State was uneven. In 2000, voters approved a statute that banned the recognition of same-sex marriages, a measure that was overturned by the courts. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who became San Francisco's mayor in 2004, issued marriages in the city to same-sex couples in a move that defied the law and ran counter to views then held by many in his party. In 2005, the California Legislature was ahead of all other states when it passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. But then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed it.

Support for marriage equality has rapidly expanded since the Obergefell ruling. While Mormon groups helped fund the Prop. 8 campaign in California a decade and a half ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out in support of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, is optimistic the group can help build a large supportive coalition for the proposed amendment.

I know this will be a bipartisan campaign, he said.

Associated Press journalist Terry Chea in Fremont contributed to this report.

Photos: Celebrating 20 years of legal same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
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
WASHINGTON  Kevin McCarthy chose his favorite spot in the United States Capitol for his first news conference as speaker of the House: in front of a tile marking where Abraham Lincoln sat.

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Alone at night sometimes, the California Republican said after claiming the speakers gavel, he puts himself in the spot Lincoln once sat as a one-term congressman and looks up at the clock in Statuary Hall, where the House of Representatives used to meet.

Thats the same clock and same view that Abraham Lincoln saw, he said in his speech. His office did not respond to four requests for comment.

But the tile is in front of the statue of a Catholic priest, once celebrated for establishing Californias missions, whose legacy is now the subject of reassessment over his treatment of Native Americans.

California politicians, protesters and institutional leaders have scrubbed Father Junipero Serras likeness from statues across the state. But in Statuary Hall, he still stands. And McCarthy stands with him at news conferences, because his favorite place in the building is just where those cameras sit, under Father Serra.

Capitol statues

Every state has up to two statues in the Capitols National Statuary Hall Collection, placed there by an act of the states government. The criteria are pretty broad: It must be of a deceased person who lived in the state and has historic significance.

California gifted the Serra statue to the Capitol in 1931 alongside one of Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister who helped make Yosemite a national park and advocated to keep California part of the U.S. during the Civil War.

To replace a statue, the state Legislature must approve, and the governor must agree, to send a request to the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress. Unless the Joint Committee makes an exception, a statue must be on display for at least 10 years before a state can ask to change it.

California has passed only one resolution to change a statue since Congress allowed states to do so starting in 2000; it swapped the minister for former President and California Gov. Ronald Reagan in 2006. The Reagan statue was unveiled in 2009. It means that Serra and Reagan are both eligible for replacement.

The process can take years. Mary McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist and educator from Florida, became the first Black person to have a state-commissioned statue placed in the U.S. Capitol in 2022. Florida started the process to exchange a Confederate general for Bethune in 2016.

Serras history

The first and last time the California Legislature moved toward replacing the D.C. statue fizzled in 2015. That was when Pope Francis, in his first official visit to the U.S., canonized Serra, elevating him to sainthood.

The pope said Serra, who established the first nine of Californias 21 Spanish missions in the late 1700s, was the evangelizer of the West in the United States.

Yet on a trip to South America before that, Pope Francis apologized for colonization and the treatment of indigenous people. Under Serras charge, Native American families were pushed to convert, separated, forced to build missions, and punished or killed if they tried to escape.

Then-state Sen. Ricardo Lara introduced the resolution to exchange Serra for Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space. Lara is now Californias insurance commissioner.

Upholding an instrument of injustice to native people like Father Junipero Serra shows how out of touch Speaker McCarthy is with todays California, Lara sent in a statement to The Sacramento Bee last Thursday. There are many Californians  from Sally Ride to Cesar Chavez  who are much more representative of what California is and will continue to be.

Before the statue in D.C. can be replaced, said Assemblymember James C. Ramos, D-Highland, more education about atrocities against Native Americans needs to happen  even among members of the Legislature.

We read it out in testimony that in Monterey, they had Indian people shackled, of both sexes, including kids, shackled, Ramos said in a telephone interview last Wednesday. And when I brought that up, that individual said, Well, that was just a form of public safety back then.

Ramos, the first California Native American elected to the Legislature, wrote the measure that replaced a statue of Serra toppled by protesters in Sacramentos Capitol Park with a monument for Native American tribes. The statue, which Ramos thinks will be completed around April, will feature William Franklin, a Miwok leader.

When that becomes reality, Ramos said, there can be discussion of the representation in D.C. that represents the state of California.

Other Serra statues erased

Protesters and legislators condemned Serra in 2015 when he was about to be made a saint and again in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. His likeness has been expunged from streets on Stanford Universitys campus, a mission he founded in San Luis Obispo and many other California locations.

Many Catholics pushed back against attempts to extract Serra statues, with some saying that many other figures likenesses would need to be erased if past actions are scrutinized under todays standards.

The California Catholic Conference, which did not respond to a request for comment, wrote in 2020 that Serra was a man ahead of his times who made great sacrifices to defend and serve the indigenous population and work against an oppression that extends far beyond the mission era.

The Bee previously wrote about the U.S. Capitol statue of Serra after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Ramos bill in 2021 to replace the Capitol Park statue. While changing monuments is progress, Ramos said, education is the big key, when those here, in California and in the United States, have not really, truly understood the plight of Native Americans in the United States.

Its not until now that the educational system is open to start to correct some of those interpretations of history, Ramos said.

Photos: Napa Valley Faces and Places, February 12, 2023
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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
Toivo Klaar, the European Union (EU) Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, believes that Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyans upcoming visit to Turkey is historic.

This is a historic visit following Armenias decision to support its neighbour in need. Hopefully a harbinger of developments to come in the Turkey-Armenia relationship, Klaar wrote on Twitter.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday will leave for Turkey where he and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet. Also, the Armenian FM will meet with the rescue team from Armenia carrying out search and rescue operations in the city of Adiyaman affected by the powerful earthquakes that hit Turkey on February 6.

To note, Mirzoyan will be visiting Turkey for the second time during his tenure as the FM. In March 2022, he attended the Antalya Diplomacy Forum where he held talks with Turkish FM Cavusoglu.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DoH), and the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) signed, today (Wednesday), an agreement as part of the World Government Summit to establish the Unido International Centre for Industry Readiness in the UAE, a Wam report said.

Facilitated by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, the joint declaration marks a major milestone in the UAE's efforts to help promote sustainable industrial development globally and reflects the countrys emergence as an international industrial hub and leader in advanced manufacturing in line with Operation 300 billion.

The new Unido centre in Abu Dhabi will be established to foster the readiness of industry as an essential component of a pandemic and emergency response. The project consists of three phases of design, piloting, and scaling-up.

The declaration was signed in the presence of Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology; Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology; and Mansour Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Chairman of the Department of Health.

It was signed by Gerd Muller, Director-General of Unido, Dr Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Under-Secretary of Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DoH), and Badr Al Olama, Head of the Organising Committee of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, at Global Mice Organisation Limited (GMOL).

Commenting on the declaration, Omar Al Suwaidi, Under-Secretary of Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology said: Industrial resilience is vital to the function of governments and societies. As a platform for global collaboration and a growing manufacturing hub, the UAE is the ideal location for a center that is dedicated to supporting the international community to enhance industrial readiness for the future, adding that the ministry is committed to bringing stakeholders, resources, knowledge and experiences together to help enable sustainable and resilient industrial development in an unpredictable world.

Gerd Muller said, industry readiness and adaptability have a direct impact on health and quality of life and the world need to act preventively to face such shocks and major disruption. This pioneering Unido International Centre for Industry Readiness based in the UAE is a positive step forward forging a strong industrial sector, with scaled-up capacity and skill to respond to national and global emergencies. Unido is delighted that in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Advance Technology and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health and the Global Mice Organisation Limited (GMOL), its expertise in capacity building and industrial development knowledge will be utilized to reach those most in need.

Al Kaabi stated, Under the directives of the UAEs wise leadership, Abu Dhabi continues to lead partnerships that reinforce its position as a sustainable destination on the global industrial stage. Through our collaboration with Unido, MoIAT and GMIS, we seek build on our competent response model that has proved its resilience over the last few years. We look forward to working hand in hand with our partners to establish the Unido International Centre for Industry Readiness that supports in deploying advanced technologies and developing cutting-edge medical solutions, reiterating Abu Dhabis position as a leading destination for innovation in healthcare."

Badr Al Olama commented, The manufacturing industry has always played a pivotal role in overcoming world crises, but with better preparation for unforeseen events, we will be able to save even more lives. The Unido Industrial Readiness Centre will mobilise the global manufacturing and technology communities to leverage advanced technologies to predict potential future emergencies and strengthen the supply chain resilience for manufacturers to scale up the production of essential response products.

The UNIDO International Centre for Industry Readiness will play a critical role in fostering the readiness of industries in responding to pandemics and emergencies. It will serve as a hub for the exchange of best practices, knowledge, and expertise in this area, and will help to build capacity and resilience across industries globally.

In addition to supporting sustainable industrial development and ensuring the readiness of industries to face emergencies, the new center will support the efforts of governments, businesses, and communities around the world to seize opportunities that arise in industry.

Each of the signatories agreed to contribute to the centre's direction in alignment with the UAE national policies and global needs, jointly identify investors and mobilise funds to support the centre's financial sustainability, and jointly reach out to experts and stakeholders to promote the visibility of the centre.TradeArabia News Service
Armenia has reached an agreement with Turkey to repair the Ani bridge with joint efforts, as well as to take care of the relevant infrastructure before the full reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced this today during his joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, in Ankara.

Mirzoyan noted as follows in his remarks: "Dear Mr. Cavusoglu, dear attendees, first of all, on behalf of the Republic of Armenia, I once again express my condolences to the families of thousands of people who died in the devastating earthquake, to the people and government of Turkey, and I wish everyone a speedy recovery.

One of the bitterest pages in the history of my people was the devastating earthquake in Spitak [town of Armenia] in 1988, and today we are not unfamiliar with the sorrow that visited thousands of families in Turkey. Similar natural disasters and their dimensions go beyond the borders of states, becoming universal tragedies. The world must act with a united front to overcome them. I believe that the international community should not remain indifferent in case of any humanitarian crisis occurring anywhere on the planet. And it was on this principle that the Armenian government made a decision to send rescuers and humanitarian aid to Turkey immediately after the catastrophic earthquake.

I thank Mr. Cavusoglu for his words of appreciation to our rescuers and the Armenian presence and support in general. I am very happy that the Armenian rescuers, with the support of their colleagues, managed to do the most important thing in this situation: to save human lives.

Also, consider it symbolic that on Saturday, the Armenian-Turkish border, which has been closed for almost 30 years, was opened for Armenian trucks loaded with humanitarian aid heading to Adiyaman. The same thing happened last night; and hours later, another batch of humanitarian aid [from Armenia] will reach Adiyaman.

Being in Turkey at this difficult moment, I once again want to reaffirm Armenia's readiness and aspiration to build peace in the region and, in particular, to fully normalize relations, establish diplomatic relations with Turkey, and fully [re]open the border between Armenia and Turkey.

I want to inform you that today we discussed certain details related to this process, we have an agreement to repair the Ani bridge with joint efforts, as well as take care of the relevant infrastructure before the full [re]opening of the border."
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey held a joint news conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

At the beginning of his remark, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan for expressing solidarity with and condolences to Turkey immediately after last weeks devastating earthquake, and recalled that Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation and extended his condolences.

"Armenia extended a friendly hand to us in these difficult days. Armenia also sent humanitarian aid during the 1999 earthquake [in Turkey]. Unfortunately, Armenia is also in the earthquake zone. The Spitak [town] earthquake of 1988 is still in our memory, as a large number of people died. After that earthquake, we sent aid to Armenia through the Alican border. And it was through that border that Armenia sent its aid to Turkey a few days ago," Cavusoglu said.

He emphasized that the process of normalization of relations in the South Caucasus continues.

"We believe that today our cooperation in the humanitarian sphere will be a support for this process. The progress to be made in the process of normalization of Armenias relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan will ensure peace and prosperity in our region.

We talked with my colleague Ararat Mirzoyan about the steps to be taken in the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, and we also received information from him about the comprehensive peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

I specifically want to say from here that if these three countries take sincere steps, we will establish permanent peace in the South Caucasus; peace in this region is extremely important for economic prosperity," said the Turkish FM.
GMG, a global well-being company retailing, distributing, and manufacturing a portfolio of leading international and homegrown brands across sport, food, and health sectors, today (Wednesday) highlighted its participation in Gulfood, one of the worlds largest and most influential annual trade shows for the food & beverage industry.

In line with its vision to inspire healthier living, GMG is participating in the show through its GMG Food division. For over four decades, GMG has been a trusted partner within the food service and retail segment industry delivering high-quality, nutritious food products to its consumers. GMG Food will be showcasing its innovative brands, such as Farm Fresh, Chefs Choice, Klassic, Sapora, Noor Al Islami, RUH, and Quality 1st Choice.

Gulfood will set the stage for GMG Food to unveil its transformative approach to the burgeoning food industry, bringing brands to life through digitally immersive experiences, while boosting local food manufacturing. GMG Foods mission is consumer-centric, prioritizing making food fun again while delivering fresh, high-quality, nutritious food. This will be brought to life through GMGs iconic anamorphic screen for the event.

Mohammad A. Baker, Deputy Chairman and CEO of GMG, said: Over the last 45 years, the GMG Food division has grown substantially, starting its journey as a small butchery shop in 1977 to growing into a leading food distributor and manufacturer. GMG is a growth company, and we are always looking to expand and take our brands to great heights. Events such as Gulfood serve as an ideal platform for us to further facilitate our ambitions, engage with our industry peers, explore new food retail trends, and enhance public-private collaboration.

At the premier F&B sourcing event, GMG will showcase its food retail portfolio and demonstrate how it covers the entire consumer journey from farm to fork to bring value to its customers. Gulfood will serve as an important platform for GMG to discuss building resilient food supply systems while ensuring sustainability and conservation of resources.

Commenting on its participation, Abdullah Abdullatif, Senior Vice President, GMG Food, said: In the UAE as well as the Middle East, we are seeing a significant shift in consumer preference who are increasingly opting for healthier food items and sustainable food options. The combination of ambitious public policy programs coupled with private sector innovation is making the region one of the most exciting places globally for food. Through our expansive production line that includes meat, seafood, Himalayan pink salt, herbs and spices, sausages and cold cuts, and butchery and marination, we are proud to deliver healthy and nutritious food to everyone.

GMGs expanding food portfolio, its innovative approach to branding, and its manufacturing and distribution network make GMG a key player to watch at this years Gulfood show.

Now in its 28th edition and set to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre, from February 20-24, Gulfood will see over 5,000 companies from more than 120 countries participating in the show.

GMGs booth at Gulfood will be located in Hall 8, Stand D10-8.--TradeArabia News Service
The U.S. has prioritized helping Ukraine improve its combat techniques, relying less on artillery salvos and more on how troops maneuver on the battlefield, as concerns grow about Western nations' ability to resupply ammunition, Politico wrote.



U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, after meeting with other NATO leaders in Brussels, referred to growing concerns in Washington and elsewhere about stockpiles in a conversation with Juranlists. According to the Pentagon chief, Ukraine has been using a lot of artillery ammunition. "We're going to do everything we can working with our international partners to ensure that we give them as much ammunition as quickly as possible, and that we will do everything we can to sustain our efforts there as well," he said.



While the U.S. and Europe are looking at ways to increase shell production to replenish their own stockpiles and provide Ukraine for warm-weather offensive operations, they are also looking at ongoing training events in England and Germany to change the way Ukrainian troops operate on the battlefield. In part, this means finding ways to fight off Russia without expending too much ammunition.



Britain, which has already trained 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in infantry tactics, has promised to train another 20,000 this year with help from Norway, the Netherlands and other NATO instructors on the ground.



At Tuesday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contracts Group (a meeting of defense chiefs from more than 50 countries) in Brussels, there was some movement on the artillery issue.



France and Australia agreed to work together to produce more 155mm ammunition, which is the backbone of Ukraine's recently acquired Western artillery arsenal.



Over the past year, the U.S. has also worked hard to increase its own production of 155mm shells, as Ukraine continues to produce thousands of rounds a day, burning more than a million 155mm rounds sent by the U.S. and allies.



The U.S. Army has pledged to triple its monthly shell production from its prewar level of about 14,000 a month to 90,000 a month by 2025.



The ammunition reduction is not limited to barrel artillery. At recent meetings at the Pentagon, U.S. officials informed Kiev officials that they did not have enough army tactical missile systems in stockpiles to supply the Ukrainian military, the publication reported Monday.



The transfer of the ATACMS solid-fuel ground-to-ground tactical ballistic missile, which would more than double the range of current Ukrainian rocket artillery, would reduce U.S. supplies and damage the readiness of U.S. armed forces for future combat, the Pentagon told them.
Shoichiro Toyoda, who as the son of Toyota's founder oversaw the company's expansion into international markets, has died at the age of 97.

Toyoda, who served as the company's honorary chairman, died Tuesday of heart failure, Toyota Motor Corporation said in a statement.

He was the father of Akio Toyoda, who recently announced that he was stepping down as president and chief executive officer to become its chairman.

Shoichiro Toyoda was the eldest son of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded Toyota in 1937.

By becoming Toyota's president in 1982, Shoichiro Toyoda helped transform Toyota into a global automaker, especially in the vital American market, where its brand became synonymous with quality, durability, economy and engineering excellence.

Both father and son survived the difficult years of the "defeat of Japan," when powerful Japanese exporters like Toyota were accused of robbing American blue-collar workers of their jobs.

The company decided to become a member of the U.S. auto community.

Together with his brother Tatsuro Shoichiro Toyoda helped Toyota open production facilities in North America.

The company formed a joint venture with General Motors in 1983.




Nokia, NTT Docomo and NTT have achieved two key technological milestones on the path to 6G. The first is the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into the radio air interface, effectively giving 6G radios the ability to learn. The second is the utilisation of new sub-terahertz (sub-THz) spectrum to dramatically boost network capacity.

The AI-native air interface and sub-THz spectrum are both critical research topics that Nokia, Docomo and NTT are exploring for future 6G networks. These technologies could pave the way for new immersive metaverse and extended reality (XR) experiences and a new generation of mobile applications.

The companies have implemented both technologies as proofs of concept at Nokia Bell Labs in Stuttgart, Germany, and Nokia and Docomo will demonstrate both technologies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2.

Air interface

By pairing a AI-based learned waveform in a transmitter with a deep-learning receiver, Nokia Bell Labs, Docomo and NTT researchers were able to design and implement a learning air interface that transmits data efficiently under many different scenarios. This AI/ML-based implementation significantly reduces signaling overhead, producing up to a 30% improvement in throughput.

In addition, the AI-native air interface will grant 6G networks the flexibility to adapt to the type of connection demanded by an application, device or user. For instance, a network in a factory can be optimised for industrial sensors at one moment and then reconfigured for robotic systems or video surveillance. In the public network, an AI-enhanced network can provide an optimised connection for a pedestrian in an XR session as well as an emergency vehicle traveling at high speed.

The sub-THz bands (100GHz and above) have never been designated for cellular use because of their propagation characteristics, but new techniques such as beamforming could open up those frequencies to future 6G networks.

Radio sensing

These higher frequencies are well suited for high-accuracy radio sensing, which will likely be another key feature of 6G. In their proof-of-concept, Nokia, Docomo and NTT were able to demonstrate a 25 Gbps connection on a single 256QAM stream over a carrier frequency of 144 GHz using beamforming. Accessing the sub-THz bands would inject enormous capacity into 6G networks.

The sub-THz bands wont just improve overall capacity, they will allow 6G networks to support the most bandwidth intensive future use cases requiring multi-gigabit average connections.

Nokia, Docomo and NTT first launched their 6G collaboration in June, 2022, with the aim of jointly defining and developing key technologies for the next generation of networking. The collaboration continues a long history of pioneering between Docomo and Nokia. Starting with 3G in the 1990s, to 4G, and to todays 5G including collaboration in 5G O-RAN, the companies have turned ideas into implementations and pushed boundaries to create optimised experiences for end users.

Steady progress

Takehiro Nakamura, Chief Technology Architect, Docomo, said: We are delighted to announce the steady progress of two key technologies toward 6G as achievements of the collaboration with NTT and Nokia started in June 2022. Through the collaboration, we continue to establish innovative 6G technologies and contribute to the global standardisation and commercialisation of 6G.

Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Core Research, Nokia, said: For the 6G era, we are using communication as a starting point. Networks will think, sense and act, and they will become the nexus point that bridges our digital and physical realities. Docomo and NTT share our 6G vision, and together were doing the fundamental research that will breath life into that future.

Nokia believes 6G will not just build on existing technologies and systems but expand and transform what a network can do. It will fuse the human, physical and digital worlds to liberate man's innate potential.

To achieve this, Nokia has envisioned six key technologies that will be vital components of future 6G networks. These include spectrum technologies; AI native air interface; network as a sensor; extreme connectivity, cognitive, automated and specialised architectures; and security and trust.-- TradeArabia News Service
Today it became known that Armenia sent the second batch of humanitarian aid through the Margara bridge on the Armenian-Turkish border to Turkey, where there was a strong earthquake on February 6.



In parallel with this, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan visited Turkey on February 15 and held a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, stating that they agreed to jointly repair the Ani Bridge and take care of the relevant infrastructure in anticipation of the full opening of the border.



It is normal that Yerevan displays sympathy towards Turkey, given the current situation, human losses and tragedy. Everyone must do so with respect to any country, but Armenia will gain nothing from a geopolitical point of view, political analyst Vladimir Lepekhin told Armenian News-NEWS.am.



Lepekhin called not to pin hopes on the assistance and contacts to somehow improve the Armenian-Turkish relations or change the situation in the region.



The expert is sure that nothing will follow those processes, because Ankara is very pragmatic and rigid in its geopolitical policy.



He explained that Armenia's interests are not incorporated in this line and if they are, then only on Turkey's terms.



"Armenia is not an authority on any issue for Turkey, since the current leadership in Yerevan often bends to Turkey. Before the 44-day war, the Armenian authorities had no principled position on Ankara, despite forecasts of a possible outbreak of war and advice to get ready. Turkey's influence in the region, and hence that of Azerbaijan, will continue to grow. That factor will promote NATO's influence, and there will be attempts to squeeze Russia from South Caucasus," Lepekhin says.



He believes that this vector, which was outlined 2.5 years ago and led to the beginning of the 44-day war, can only change the result of the "special military operation" in Ukraine.



"If Russia emerges from it with dignity and achieves its goals, it will then try to regain its influence in the South Caucasus and prolong the presence of peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and the military base in Gyumri. But if the military campaign fails for Russia and the terms of the peace agreement are dominated by Western conditions, Moscow is unlikely to regain its influence in the South Caucasus. On the contrary, Russia's policy of weakening in the region will continue. In that case there will be a question of how Armenia will become an absolute satellite of Turkey and its allies, at the price of Nagorno-Karabakh and some other territories," Lepekhin said.



The conditions formulated by Azerbaijan is a consistent line, from which Baku will not retreat, and this, according to the political analyst, threatens Armenia with new territorial losses.



"Therefore, it is necessary to show sympathy in the current situation, but there is no sense in flirting with Turkey. It is necessary to demonstrate a principled position. The striving of the Armenian authorities towards multi-vector policy will result in promises from the West. But as Turkey is a part of NATO, the West will not oppose to British interests in the region," the expert stated.



Aram Danielyan
Unifonic, a leading communications platform and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider in the Middle East, has been selected to be a part of the Saudi Unicorns Programme. It aims to support regional start-ups to achieve billion-dollar market value in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Unifonics selection was announced during Leap 2023, cementing its position as a leader in providing innovative products and services in a competitive technology ecosystem in the kingdom.

Founders and executives of the 34 start-ups, besides representatives of the Saudi Unicorns Programme, were presented at the leading global technology event organised by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones between February 6 and 9, 2023 in Riyadh.

Innovative products

During the event, Unifonic showcased innovative products and services that uphold the highest standards of technological advancements and facilitate reliable customer engagement services. The startup participated in the exhibition to help accelerate digital transformation initiatives for public and private sectors in the kingdom in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and Smart Government Strategy objectives.

Ahmed Hamdan, CEO and Co-Founder of Unifonic, said: "Being chosen for the Saudi Unicorns Programme is an honour, and we are eager to embark on the next leg of our adventure. This latest feat further solidifies our position as the leader in the sector and acknowledges our efforts to provide an affordable enterprise-grade multilingual, seamless omnichannel communications platform throughout the Middle East.

This programme will significantly improve the standing of regional businesses in the global tech sector and give them the resources they require to successfully compete with industry behemoths. We believe that it is important to create an ecosystem that fosters innovation and encourages a steady stream of ideas in order to pave the way to a sustainable future. Initiatives like the Saudi Unicorns Programme are steps in the right direction, he added.

Venture capital funding for start-ups in Saudi Arabia grew by 72% annually to $987 million, from 144 deals in 2022. Furthermore, the kingdom is projected to spend $34.6 billion on information and communications technology in 2023, making it the top-spending nation for the category in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

Growth of start-ups

Nine funds worth a combined $2.4 billion will support the growth of start-ups in the kingdom, where two of its largest lenders, Banque Saudi Fransi and Riyad Bank, have each pledged $1 billion to boost the information and communications technology industry, during the exhibition.

Meanwhile, Riyadh-based investment firm Merak Capital is providing $53 million while the National Technology Development Programme (NTDP) will launch six new supportive and enabling products for the kingdom's digital entrepreneurship and technology companies, in addition to attracting global technology companies with the support of $430 million.-- TradeArabia News Service
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 the 2019 protests, according to a media report. China's Exit-Entry Administration will launch a pilot scheme from February 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, RFA reported. 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, the report said. 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, RFA reported. "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." 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, RFA reported. --IANS san/arm ( 345 Words) 2023-02-15-19:34:02 (IANS)
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. --IANS ans/vd ( 310 Words) 2023-02-14-22:16:02 (IANS)
Biden also called the purchase an affirmation of his resolve to make the US lead the world in manufacturing.

Air India is buying 470 aircraft in all, the rest from France's Airbus, in what is being called the largest deal for commercial aircraft in aviation history.

"The United States can and will lead the world in manufacturing," Biden said, announcing the Boeing part of the deal "through a historic agreement".

This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree, he added.

"This announcement also reflects the strength of the US-India economic partnership," he said, adding: "Together with Prime Minister (Narendra) 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."

The Air India-Boeing deal came after protracted negotiations that stalled just short of being finalised several times, raising doubts if it will ever go through.

--IANS rj/vd

( 208 Words)

2023-02-14-22:42:03 (IANS)
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has written to Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, in two separate letters, seeking an investigation on the allegations levelled against the Adani Group by Hindenburg Research. Citing the Adani Group's large size, his letter to the SEBI chief said investigations must be "fair and complete, with no favour". "Any failure to do so will cast a shadow on Indian corporate governance and on India's financial regulators, and could affect our ability to raise funds globally," the letter read. He reiterated that a full-fledged independent investigation must be carried out on the numerous allegations levelled against the Adani Group. Further, in his letter, he raised questions in what he said is why financial institutions of national importance such as the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the State Bank of India have heavily bought Adani Group equity when most private funds were severely underweight. "LIC, which 30 crore Indians trust with their life savings, has lost thousands of crores in Adani Group stock in recent days. Should we not ensure that such public sector financial institutions are more conservative in their investments than their private sector counterparts and free from pressure from above?" he questioned. In the letter to the RBI governor, he said the central bank must look into two aspects -- what is the true Adani Group exposure of the Indian banking system and the possible bail-out plan if foreign funding to the group declines. "The RBI must look into two aspects: One, what is the true Adani Group exposure of the Indian banking system? Two, what are the explicit and implicit guarantees that the Adani Group has been given that it will be bailed out by Indian banks if foreign funding dries up?" he said in the letter. Over the past two odd weeks, share prices of companies in the Adani Group have dropped significantly. The short seller's report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate. The US-based firm, in its report on January 24, raised concerns about shares of Adani group companies having a possibility of declining from their current levels owing to high valuations, "brazen stock manipulation", and "accounting fraud", among others. The Adani Group has attacked 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. A follow-on public offering (FPO) is the issuance of shares to investors by a company listed on a stock exchange after its initial public offerings. 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)
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI/SRV): Vidya Prakashan Mandir, one of the leading publications in Uttar Pradesh for study materials and textbooks with a legacy of excellence of more than 4 decades, has recently forayed into the stationery industry with its brand Overjoy. Currently, Overjoy is focused on manufacturing high-quality, affordable school notebooks and has therefore implemented state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and advanced Livom Nova machinery, which are designed to boost the efficiency of production, churning out 50,000 notebooks a day. The inception of the new vertical in business comes from a keen understanding of the industry and its operations, informed by the legacy of the brand. Moreover, with the launch of the new business, Vidya Prakashan Mandir is set to not only unlock a major source of employment in the locality of the production facility but also reach a wide customer base globally via world-class stationery. Further, owing to the company's proven track record of excellence, the company has recently participated in the UP Investor's Summit 2023, signaling the brand's stature in the business landscape as an important generator of employment as well as commerce at large. Thrilled about the recent development of the brand, Saurabh Jain, the Managing Director of Vidya Prakashan Mandir Pvt Ltd said, "With utmost pleasure, we launch Overjoy Notebooks, our new initiative that will enable and empower many more students not just in the country but worldwide to use our supreme quality products, bettering their productivity. The first range of products under this initiative would be the top-quality notebooks, which come with the goal of cementing the name 'Overjoy' in the market as a brand of excellence." Also, outlining the way forward for the brand, he added, "Overjoy envision to launch several more stationery items, and eventually conquer the sector." In addition to his thoughts on the launch, the founder also shared enthusiastically about Vidya Prakashan Mandir's participation in the UP Investor's Summit 2023, "The summit is a hub of osmosis of ideas, where not just the political and the Category A business thinkers unite, but also there is a strong presence of the policy-makers, giving a strong sense of the upcoming trends in the world of business, as well as a vast range of different stakeholders of the market. A learning experience with a strong investor-centric, growth-oriented thrust, the event is a catalyst of strong ideas, and Vidya Prakashan Mandir Pvt Ltd, aiming to soar to new heights of success, is proud to be associated with it the event." Held between 10th and 12th February 2023, the UP Investor Summit was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The flagship event of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, this year, celebrating the 75th anniversary of Independence, inaugurated the Global Trade Show and Investor UP 2.0, creating the groundwork for robust economic progress in the state, in turn contributing to the overall progress of the country. For more information, please visit: https://vidyastationery.in/, https://vidyastationery.in/shop This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI/NewsVoir): Proptech major Housing.com has announced the launch of the latest edition of its signature online property event, Happy New Homes 2023. To run virtually between February 15 and March 15, the mega property event would showcase real estate projects by leading developers in India's 27 cities. Coming in the backdrop of favourable market conditions, the event is slated to be the biggest in terms of collection and participation for REA India. During the virtual event, which provides consumers an option to buy and sell virtually with the utmost ease through the use of the latest technology enablers, properties from across price segments in India's mega cities as well as Tier-II and Tier-III markets would be up for grabs. Over 500 developers will be showcasing their more than 800 housing projects during the month-long gala event which is expected to see participation from nearly 2,500 channel partners. Some of the leading developers participating in the gala event include Panchsheel, Kohinoor Group, Kalpataru, Mahagun, Casagrand and many others. Through its high-decibel, multi-channel promotional campaign, the Gurgaon-headquartered company expects to reach over 45 million users. Last year's event, through its omni-channel marketing campaign, achieved a reach of 42 million users. While providing a contactless home-buying experience to its audience, the company has put on display a 3D virtual booth to offer users an experience of a real property kiosk. To make this year's event more exciting from the point of view of developers and sellers, the REA India-owned company has also added new services for re-engaging with consumers and introduced listings of commercial spaces to maximize presence and better audience targeting. "All data indicate an extremely high positive buyer sentiment in the backdrop of favourable home purchase conditions. Even though past editions of this annual event have been all highly successful, we expect this year's Happy New Home event to break all records and help the Housing platform enable all-time high deals," says Amit Masaldan, National Business Head, Housing.com. To make their offers attractive, several freebies have been made part of the package deals by real estate developers during the Happy New Homes 2023 event. Among the incentives on offer are free covered parking, modular kitchens, pre-installed air conditioning in bedrooms, complete waiver on a year of maintenance fee, and complete waiver of bank processing fee. Some developers are also offering 10-gram gold coins on spot booking while others are promising double penalty payment in case of project delay. REA India (previously known as Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd.) is a part of REA Group Ltd. of Australia (ASX: REA) ("REA Group"). It is the country's leading full stack real estate technology platform that owns Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com. In December 2020, REA Group acquired a controlling stake in REA India. REA Group, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, is a multinational digital advertising business specialising in property. It operates Australia's leading residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au and owns leading portals in Hong Kong (squarefoot.com.hk) and China (myfun.com). REA Group also holds a significant minority shareholding in Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com in the US, and the PropertyGuru Group, operator of leading property sites in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. REA India is the only player in India that offers a full range of services in the real estate space, assisting consumers through their entire home-seeking journey all the way from initial search and discovery to financing to the final step of transaction closure. It offers advertising and listings products to real estate developers, agents & homeowners, exclusive sales and marketing solutions to builders, data and content services, and personalised search, virtual viewing, site visits, negotiations, home loans and post-sales services to consumers for both buying and renting. REA India has a national presence with 20 offices across India with its corporate office located in Gurugram, Haryana. Founded in 2012 and acquired by REA India in 2017, Housing.com is India's leading full-stack proptech platform for homeowners/home seekers, landlords, developers, and real estate brokers. The company offers listings for new homes, resale homes, rentals, plots, commercial spaces and co-living spaces in India. Backed by strong research and analytics, the company's experts provide comprehensive real estate services that cover advertising and marketing, sales solutions for real estate developers, personalized search, virtual viewing, AR&VR content, home loans, end-to-end transaction services and post-transaction services to consumers for both buying and renting. PropTiger.com is among India's leading digital real estate transaction and advisory services platform, offering a one-stop platform for buying residential real estate. Founded in 2011 with the goal to help people buy their dream homes, PropTiger.com leverages the power of information and the organisation's deep-rooted understanding of the real estate sector to bring simplicity, transparency and trust in the home buying process. PropTiger.com helps home-buyers through the entire home-buying process through a mix of technology-enabled tools as well as on-ground support. The company offers researched information about various localities and properties and provides guidance on matters pertaining to legal paperwork and loan assistance to successfully fulfil a transaction. Makaan.com was acquired by REA India in May 2015, with a vision to establish a true "marketplace" in real estate. Makaan.com has quickly emerged as the preferred partner for consumers looking to rent, buy or sell a home. Makaan.com offers its online consumers maximum property options and has become one of the largest advertising platforms in online real estate in India. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 15 (ANI/PRNewswire): The Takshashila Institution, India's premier independent centre for research and education in public policy, has announced its Network for Advanced Study of Pakistan (NASP) Fellowship, a unique programme that aims to create high-quality scholarship and knowledge of Pakistan by nurturing new generations of analysts in academia, think tanks, media and industry. At the end of the Fellowship, five fellows will be awarded Rs 1 lakh each in prize money for research papers determined by the jury. "The multi-year programme will create a cross-disciplinary community of scholars and a body of knowledge that will inform policy, strategy, economics, technology and society," said Nitin Pai, Co-founder and Director, of Takshashila Institution. NASP invites applications from researchers from any background, including from universities, research institutes, media, government services and industry, who are enthusiastic about undertaking fresh research on Pakistan. The NASP Fellowship offers opportunities for fellows to work under the co-guidance of foremost experts and work towards a publication in the leading journals and publications in the field. In addition, a cash prize of Rs1 lakh will be awarded to each of the five best papers determined by the jury. "NASP fellows will undertake research in one or more of the following areas including economy, defence, geopolitics, environment, education, technology, society and sub-national politics," said Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director, Takshashila Institution. Prospective fellows must either be working or studying in India, have at least an undergraduate degree and be proficient in English. The application window for the Pioneer NASP Fellowship Cohort is now open: - Feb 15th - Call for Indication of Interest- March 31st - Research proposal submission deadline (if selected)- April 31st - Evaluation & notification of selected research proposal- May 7th - Start of NASP fellowship- June 31st - Review of interim draft paper (by mentors)- September 1st - Review of final draft paper- October 1st - Selection & award of top 5 paper submissions by an independent academic panel- November 1st - Two-day residential programme for cohort How will candidates be selected Prospective fellows must submit a brief research proposal (2000 words max) demonstrating their interest and capability to complete the project. The submission process begins from February 15, 2023 and ends on March 31, 2023. The proposal should clearly state the current gaps in research and how the author(s) would approach the issue. Along with the research proposal submission, the author(s) must also send a past writing sample, either published or unpublished, on any topic that is more than 1000 words. Up to three authors can submit a joint proposal. Multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations are encouraged. Post-screening process After evaluation and screening, selected applicants will be invited to join the fellowship, assigned mentors and projects. The best research outputs will be rewarded with cash prizes and commendations. The Takshashila Institution is an independent centre for research and education in public policy. It is a non-partisan, non-profit organisation that seeks to transform India through better public policies, and bridging the governance gap by developing better public servants, civil society leaders, professionals, and informed citizens. Takshashila creates change by connecting good people, to good ideas and good networks. It produces independent policy research in a number of areas of governance, it grooms civic leaders through its online education programmes and engages in public discourse through its publications and digital media. For more details, visit: https://takshashila.org.in/network-for-advanced-study-of-pakistan-nasp Media contact: Pranay KotasthaneDeputy Director, Takshashila InstitutionEmail: nasp@takshashila.org.inPhone: +80 43791502 This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Safran Helicopter Engines and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) have signed a workshare agreement for the joint development of the engine intended for the future 13-tonne Indian MultiRole Helicopter (IMRH) and its naval version Deck-Based MultiRole Helicopter (DBMRH), according to a joint statement from both companies. This agreement follows the memorandum of understanding signed on July 9, 2022, and stipulates the sharing of activities within the joint venture where both parties have agreed on an equivalent repartition, according to the statement shared with stock exchanges. In particular, HAL will take part in the design, development, and production of some of the core engine components, which is a breakthrough achievement in terms of expertise and know-how in the country. This workshare agreement was signed by Florent Chauvancy, Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing, Safran Helicopter Engines, and K Ramesh, General Manager, HAL Aero Engine Research and Design Centre, in presence of C B Ananthakrishnan, CMD, HAL and Franck Saudo, CEO, Safran Helicopter Engines. The development of the Indian MultiRole Helicopter (IMRH) continues, and a 1/3 scale model is being displayed by HAL at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru. Discussions are also continuing with the Indian Armed Forces on the operational requirements for this new helicopter. According to the joint statement, the availability of an indigenous engine will enhance the self-reliance content on the platform and demonstrates the commitment of both Safran Helicopter Engines and HAL to the Indian government's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, or achieving self-reliance -- particularly in defence technologies. C B Ananthakrishnan, CMD, HAL, stated: "The joint development of high power engine is a new milestone in HAL's ever-growing capabilities in the sector with a competent partner like Safran Helicopter Engines. We are confident of making the engine meet the highly stringent and demanding requirements of Indian Defence customers." Franck Saudo, CEO, Safran Helicopter Engines, commented, "While this programme will bring many advanced technologies to the Indian aerospace ecosystem and to HAL, it will also provide the Indian Armed Forces with state-of-the-art solutions." Safran and HAL will continue to work on the development of this joint venture in the coming months, which is intended not only to develop an engine for the IMRH but also for other helicopters, the joint statement added. Safran Helicopter Engine and HAL also agreed on the condition for the transfer right to HAL for manufacturing of seven critical forging and casting raw parts of engines. The Indian MultiRole Helicopter is a medium-lift helicopter currently under development by HAL for Indian Armed forces for air assault, air-attack, anti-submarine, anti-surface, military transport and VIP transport roles. (ANI)
Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], February 15 (ANI/PRNewswire): ThoughtFocus, Inc. ("ThoughtFocus" or the "Company"), a global provider of digital services and technology-enabled digital operations focused primarily on the financial services end market, is pleased to announce the acquisition of BreakFree Solutions ("BreakFree"). Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, BreakFree provides digital services to leading enterprise customers in the financial services sector. BreakFree's U.S.-based workforce uses its expertise in product development, cloud enablement, and DevOps implementation, to support its clients' most critical and strategic digital initiatives. Shylesh Krishnan, ThoughtFocus' Chief Executive Officer expressed his excitement for the BreakFree acquisition: "BreakFree has a strong reputation with enterprise customers for delivering high quality service and successful outcomes. We have ambitious plans for growth and BreakFree's expertise will help to accelerate our strategy to expand ThoughtFocus' digital services capability even deeper into the financial services sector." "We are excited to join the ThoughtFocus team," said Mitch Northcutt, BreakFree's President & Chief Executive Officer. We share ThoughtFocus' commitment to customer growth and satisfaction. Through this partnership, we will be able to offer end-to-end solutions to our clients, and our employees will have greater opportunities for career growth and development." Kevin Van Culin, Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital and a ThoughtFocus Board Member, commented, "We are excited to be partnering with Mitch and the entire BreakFree team. This partnership will further establish ThoughtFocus as a leading provider of digital services in the financial services sector." BreakFree is a leading digital consulting firm based in Chicago, IL. BreakFree helps its clients institute and scale strategic digital initiatives through its sophisticated agile and DevOps frameworks. BreakFree has a proven track record of helping enterprise financial services firms respond to disruptive technological change. For more information, please visit www.breakfreesolutions.com. ThoughtFocus helps forward-looking companies and organizations in the financial services, manufacturing, and higher education/public services sectors innovate and achieve a better future faster. ThoughtFocus' innovative and cutting-edge technology solutions enable its customers to deploy new capabilities faster, deliver better user experiences, and drive operating efficiencies. We do this through executional excellence and mitigating the risk of change. With headquarters in the U.S., the Company has more than 2,100 employees in locations across five countries. For more information, please visit the company website www.thoughtfocus.com Contact: Gagan Agarwal, Head of Marketing Gagan.Agarwal@ThoughtFocus.comThoughtFocus, Inc., 245 S Executive Dr, Suite 250, Brookfield, WI 53005, +1 414 214 3100 PR@ThoughtFocus.com,www.thoughtfocus.com This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
The Kingdom of Bahrain has officially been appointed President of the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO), the global, multilateral organisation dedicated to accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy.

Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kingdom of Bahrain, will become the new Chairman of the Council of the DCO.

As represented by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT), Bahrain will oversee the strategic direction of the DCO for the coming year and support the ongoing execution of the key initiatives and programmes that have been launched by the DCO.

Strong ambitions

Bahrain has strong ambitions to be a regional leader in the digital economy and has implemented a number of projects and initiatives to create the foundation for digital growth.

The government of Bahrain has developed a robust regulatory environment, including personal data protection, data jurisdiction, intellectual property and eTransaction laws to support the kingdoms digital economy. The country ranked in the Very High scoring category of the 2022 United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2022.

Bahrain has also developed advanced FinTech policies, and its FinTech Bay is one of the leading centers for innovation in financial technology for Mena region. Amazon Web Services also chose Bahrain as the home of their new hyperscale Cloud Region, their first in the Middle East and North Africa.

Digital ecosystem

Al Kaabi said: Bahrain is honoured to have been elected to the prestigious role of Presidency of the DCO. Bahrain has put great focus on developing the regulatory framework, policies, and infrastructure that have enabled the kingdom to establish an efficient and attractive digital ecosystem for businesses. Bahrain is ready to share its expertise and best practices with the Member States of the DCO, to enhance the mission of empowering all nations to build digital economies that drive growth and development.

Deemah AlYahya, Secretary-General of the DCO welcomed the appointment of Bahrain to the DCO Presidency and of Al Kaabi to the Chairmanship of the DCO Council: We are very pleased to announce that the Kingdom of Bahrain has been ratified to the Presidency of the DCO for 2023. The leadership of Bahrain has long understood the potential of technology to advance economic growth, and the necessity of using policy and regulation to enable the framework for the digital economy to flourish and grow.

Bahrain was one of the founding nations of the DCO, and now, under the Presidency of Bahrain and the Chairmanship of Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, we look forward to making great progress towards our goal of digital prosperity for all in 2023.-- TradeArabia News Service
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 15 (ANI/BusinessWire India): TheMathCompany, Illinois-headquartered leading global data analytics and engineering firm has expanded its operations in Chennai. The company's new office in the city is designed to meet the requirements of a futuristic and modern workplace, and was inaugurated today by Sayandeb Banerjee, Chief Executive Officer & Cofounder, and T. R. Paarivendhar, Member of Parliament, and Founder and Chancellor of SRM University. The new office will support TheMathCompany's data analytics and engineering capabilities and build exciting career opportunities for local talent seeking experiences in these futuristic domains. It will also offer TheMathCompany's global clients a deeper access to a diverse and skilled talent pool from the state and the region. TheMathCompany continues to grow rapidly globally, and its employees enjoy a flexible-work approach. Among many benefits of our flexible-work approach are: eliminating long commutes for employees, enhancing collaboration and productivity through flexibility, and bringing on the best talent, from around the world, for our clients. TheMathCompany employees currently operate out of 240+ Indian cities and 100+ ZIP codes in the USA. Sayandeb Banerjee, Chief Executive Officer & Cofounder, TheMathCompany, said: "Chennai boasts a rich industry-academia ecosystem and offers a robust and highly proficient talent pool for data & analytics. This office is inaugurated in response to requests from our current and potential employees in the region. We are thrilled to mark our presence in the city and are committed to building a long-term presence in the region." Dr T. R. Paarivendhar, Founder Chancellor, SRMIST, and Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, said, "With its unmatched higher education ecosystem and solid industry presence, Chennai is fast emerging as the analytics hub of India. At SRM Institute of Science & Technology, we have had a rewarding partnership with TheMathCompany, and with a new office in Chennai, it will only get stronger in the months and years to come. We extend a warm welcome to TheMathCompany in Chennai and wish them success for continued growth in the city and around the world." TheMathCompany leveraged the opportunity to set base in the Southern region of the country to address the increasing demand for satellite workplaces. As one of the fastest growing Data analytics companies in the nation, TheMathCompany encourages new ways of working and believes in taking work to people instead of bringing people to work. TheMathCompany is upbeat about the potential of the new Chennai office and intends to offer enriching technology careers to local talent as well as solve better and solve faster for customers. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI/NewsVoir): Three years into the pandemic, businesses are dealing with a multitude of crises and are trying to remain productive and profitable. Hybrid work practices remain complex and both business leaders and employees are grappling to understand how to adjust business practices to meet the needs of employees. EPOS, the global audio and video brand, in partnership with Foresight Factory, has today published 'The Workplace of the Future' report to explore the current and emerging trends shaping the future of work, as well as the technology solutions that can help businesses to navigate a long-term hybrid strategy for a productive workforce. Key findings include: Employees are prioritizing their well-being: Workers everywhere are taking agency of their well-being, both physical and mental, and over half of the workers around the world (53 per cent) say they are more likely to prioritize their well-being compared with life before the pandemic. As a result, workers increasingly expect their employers to form part of their health ecosystems with 38 per cent of employees calling for their employers to support staff by allowing them time off for mental health needs. A further 30 per cent of employees say they want to see businesses dedicating hours for employees to use for mental/physical well-being pursuits. Avoiding burnout and pursuing happiness are top drivers: Employee burnout is a persistent issue and 36 per cent of global workers say they have suffered burnout in the last 12 months from 'working too hard', a feeling that is greatest among Gen Z (40 per cent) and Millennials (42 per cent). As the disconnect around remote working continues to grow between employers and employees, so does the discontent. Less than half of workers are happy with their current work and life balance (43 per cent), and almost a third (30 per cent) say they intend to change careers to improve their overall happiness. Access to a physical office is vital: Employees want to avoid feeling isolated and want to see businesses offering both physical and virtual opportunities for connection and collaboration. Half of the employees say they miss spending time with colleagues in person now they can work remotely. This trend is highest among Gen Z and Millennials (80 per cent) who are keen to use physical office spaces to learn, grow, and establish themselves in their workplace community. Employees will leave if they're not learning: The working landscape is becoming more demanding of employees, who are expected to upgrade existing skills or pick up new ones rapidly. Workers everywhere have embraced new opportunities for development and learning over the pandemic years. Now, 60 per cent of employees of all ages are keen to continue learning, and 44 per cent say they want to progress and upskill within their current job. If they can't learn and grow within a role, they will leave to achieve their career goals. Sub-par tech solutions can lead to cognitive overload: Employers also need to be intentional about equipping employees with solutions that reduce the risk of cognitive fatigue. EPOS research has shown that in noisy environments the brain works harder to focus on the most important source of sound with this taking 35 per cent more cognitive effort to listen. Over time this can lead to cognitive overload and brain fatigue, impacting employee stress levels, information retention, and performance. Jeppe Dalberg-Larsen, President at EPOS says, "The world of work has never been as complex as it is today. Business leaders who invest in their company's and employees' future need to think intentionally about their hybrid strategies. There is no one size fits all approach. Though we have, in recent years, see how technology has revolutionized modern work it is no substitute for leadership and culture. Leaders today face a new set of challenges and must put their people at the heart of creating a workplace community that keeps employees engaged in the long-term." Marta Vilella, Client Partner at Foresight Factory says, "Each business requires a unique and tailored plan that considers all aspects of business operations, people, and culture. Business leaders need to tune into the issues, challenges, and interests that most concern their employees and make any necessary changes in order to thrive as a team." Report Methodology On behalf of EPOS, and to complement the trends data, Foresight Factory engaged with various leading businesses to understand their perspectives and observations of the current market. These authentic and first-hand experiences shed further light on the most pressing topics at the forefront of hybrid discussions and reaffirm that with so many changing factors that risk an employee's loyalty, businesses need to intentionally align their policies to reflect the future of their workplace. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Ravikant, Chairman and Managing Director, Munitions India, said, "We have got orders for more than 10 lakh multi-mode grenades for Indian Armed Forces and over Rs 3,000 crore of orders for exports."

The company told ANI during the Aero India, where various domestic firms and entrepreneurs visited the event on Wednesday.

The five-day Aero India show began at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on February 13.

Today at the event, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan visited the pavilions of domestic defence firms and interacted with entrepreneurs. He urged them to focus on cutting-edge research to meet the need for niche technologies and high-end manufacturing as per international standards.

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.

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, Matteo Perego Di Cremnago in Bengaluru." (ANI)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the central government is ensuring that the public expenditure continues to grow to have a desired multiplier effect on all the sectors as per the directions set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the post-Budget session of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), the Union finance minister explained, "For the last 3-4 years, there has been a consistent emphasis on public capital expenditure, such as in last year's budget, and this year's Budget has seen a 30 per cent increase in capital expenditure. This is the first time in many years that the capital expenditure has reached a double-digit amount, making it the clear focus of this Budget." The Union Finance Minister also stated that capital expenditure has the potential to benefit a range of core industries, making it an effective way to ensure that money is directed to the right places and generate multiplier effects. "However, we must also ensure that we take care of those who need it most. As such, we will continue with the free food programme throughout this year, ensuring that no family is left without food. In addition to inclusion, our major focus should be on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which are the backbone of the Indian economy and important job creators. Unlike large units that are often located in specific places to leverage scale, MSMEs are spread throughout the country, creating local employment wherever they are found." She also informed the gathering that the central government is collaborating with the states, as well as the Tier III administrations, such as the panchayats or ward-level administrations, to ensure that MSME priorities remain at the top of the agenda. She also informed about the importance of women's empowerment, as a significant portion of the self-help groups (SHGs) in the villages are actually women groups. In fact, there are more than 81 lakh women's SHGs in the country. To ensure that these groups have greater access to resources, professional assistance, and market linkages, the finance minister was saying the government was adding branding and market-finding activities to their portfolio. "With these initiatives, we hope to enable true women's empowerment, allowing them to scale up their activities and run a professional, profitable, and government-supported women's group," Sitharaman added. Speaking at the session, Saket Dalmia, President, PHD Chamber, lauded the government's focus on short-term needs of the economy as well as the long-term vision to make India a developed nation by 2047. He said that the rise in farm incomes, the well-established linkage of the agriculture sector with Industry and innovative solutions for this sector will be a stepping stone towards achieving our goal of inclusive development. Hemant Jain, Vice President, PHD Chamber, gave the concluding remarks and appreciated the government for the increased tax collections and containment of fiscal deficit. (ANI)
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday said three persons have been detained in connection with the recovery and seizure of 11.94 kg of heroin worth Rs 84 crore. The agency said on the basis of specific intelligence, an Indian national, who had arrived from Harare to Mumbai via Nairobi vide Kenya Airways was intercepted yesterday. Upon her arrival, the examination of baggage of the passenger resulted in the recovery and seizure of 11.94 kg of creamish coloured granules. On testing with narcotics field testing kit, the substance tested positive for presence of Heroin, a narcotic drug covered under the NDPS Act,1985. According to DRI, the seized NDPS substance, collectively weighing 11.94 kg, is valued at Rs 84 crore in the Illicit market. The substance was ingeniously concealed inside the trolley bags and in file folders. The passenger informed that the drugs were handed over to her in Harare and the same were to be delivered to two persons in Mumbai. Acting swiftly, DRI officers identified and nabbed the said recipients who had come to receive the passenger and the contraband, from outside the Mumbai airport. The seized NDPS substance, collectively weighing 11.94 kg, is valued at about Rs 84 crore in the Illicit market. The substance was ingeniously concealed inside the trolley bags and in file folders. The passenger along with two recipients had been arrested under the provisions of NDPS Act,1985. DRI said further investigation is being carried out. (ANI)
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint before a special court at Madurai in Tamil Nadu against Bluemax Capital Solution and its directors -- R Aravinth, S Bharathraj, S Gopalakrishnan and others -- under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in a money laundering case. According to the agency, the case involved defrauding people by luring them to invest and trade in forex, commodities and gold by creating a fake website promising exorbitant returns. The cognizance of the offence of money laundering has been taken by the Special Court (PMLA), Madurai. Investigation under PMLA revealed that the accused company designed a fake website and misled people into believing that they are trading in forex, gold and commodities in their accounts through the website. However, this was not the case and later this fake website was shut down and shown to viewers to be hacked, thereby claiming to have lost all the invested money and defrauding the investors. Further investigations revealed that amount to the tune of Rs 116 crore was collected from the general public, part of this amount was diverted to various overseas entities in Hong Kong, UAE, Switzerland etc. The agency said the siphoned-off money was layered and was utilised to invest in cryptocurrency and purchase movable and immovable properties by the directors. Subsequently, the ED has also seized movable assets in the form of cash, jewellery and cryptocurrencies to the tune of Rs 2.13 crore and frozen bank balances to the tune of Rs 3.24 crore during searches. The directors of Bluemax Capital Solution alongwith J Amarnath, a close associate of the Directors were arrested on November 18, 2022. They are currently in judicial custody. (ANI)
The 'Laal Singh Chaddha' actor took to her Instagram and shared a picture on her stories which she captioned, "Sunset kisses on Valentines with Ma loves."

In the pictures, Kareena could be seen posing with her younger son Jeh aka Jehangir Ali Khan, and her mother-in-law, legendary actress Sharmila Tagore.

Taking to Instagram, Saif Ali Khan's sister Saba Pataudi also shared a couple of pictures which she captioned, "MY valentine's day with the few loves of my life... I'm hiding behind the gorgeous girls n jeh today ..lol!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CopO78nIwBY/

Meanwhile, on the work front, Kareena will be seen sharing screen space with Tabu, Kriti Sanon and Diljit Dosanjh in a new film titled 'The Crew'.

The film is produced by the super-hit producer duo of 'Veere Di Wedding', Ektaa R Kapoor, and Rhea Kapoor. Rajesh Krishnan has come on board to helm the project.

As per a statement, 'The Crew' is touted as a laugh-riot, set against the backdrop of the struggling airline industry. Three women, work and hustle to make it in life. However, their destinies lead to some unwarranted situations and they get caught in a web of lies. Apart from 'The Crew', she will be next seen in director Sujoy Ghosh's thriller which is based on the book 'The Devotion of Suspect X'. It also stars Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat.

Apart from that, she also has director Hansal Mehta's next untitled film. (ANI)
Taking to Instagram, OTT platform Netflix shared the teaser which they captioned, "A love story that changed the world. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, streaming May 4 only on Netflix. Save the date."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CophFTTAA-y/

The limited series is all set to stream on the OTT platform Netflix from May 4, 2023.

According to Deadline, a US-based new outlet, the Bridgerton-verse prequel is centred on Queen Charlotte's rise to prominence and power. The series will tell the story of how the young Queen's marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in Bridgerton.

Soon after the makers unveiled the teaser, fans flooded the comment section with red hearts and fire emoticons.

"Can't say how much I've waited for this," a fan commented.

Another user wrote, "Can't waittt."

Golda Rosheuvel will be seen portraying the role of the titular queen with India Amarteifio being introduced as a young Charlotte, a young woman on the precipice of greatness though at a cost. Also from the original series, Adjoa Andoh returns as Lady Agatha Danbury, Ruth Gemmell as Lady Violet Bridgerton, and Hugh Sachs as Brimsley. Arsema Thomas will be making her TV debut as a young Agatha Danbury, friend and confidant of Charlotte when her majesty needed guidance the most. Corey Mylchreest plays young King George, a handsome and charming royal with a mysterious past keeping him from giving himself fully to love. (ANI)
Lady Gaga sets social media on fire as her first look from 'Joker: Folie a Deux' tickled fans' curiosity across the globe. Director Todd Phillips has shared a new look from "Joker: Folie a Deux," depicting star Joaquin Phoenix in the arms of Gaga. "Happy Valentines Day," Phillips wrote in the caption. It's the first time that the makers revealed the look of Gaga from the film. Gaga also shared the image on her own Instagram account, reported Variety. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoqnN5HrbEG/ Fans flooded the comment section of Gaga with their ecstatic comments. Many of them predicted that 'Oscar coming'... Gaga is reportedly playing a version of the DC Comics character Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who finds herself smitten with the Joker before taking on his villainous ways. Margot Robbie had previously portrayed Quinn in the "Suicide Squad" films and "Birds of Prey." Kaley Cuoco voices the character on the ongoing HBO Max animated series "Harley Quinn." Gaga announced that she is going to be a part of "Joker" sequel last August. The film has been described as a musical. Phillips' original "Joker" was a critical and commercial hit in 2019, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in history. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was a major competitor at the year's Academy Awards, earning 11 nominations. Phoenix won his oscar for best actor and Hildur Gudnadottir for best original score for 'Joker'. The dramatic success of "Joker" quickly spurred speculation regarding a sequel. Although the landscape of DC media has shifted in the years since the original film, Phillips' project has remained largely untouched by the newly formed DC Studios and its co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The "Joker" sequel will not play a role in the narrative continuity of other upcoming DC films, reported Variety. Warner Bros. will release "Joker: Folie a Deux" in theatres on October 9, 2024 -- five years to the day after the release of the first film. (ANI)
Suga, a member of the K-pop supergroup 'BTS,' has announced a string of solo tour dates. The tour does not yet have an official name, but it has been branded under Suga's own name as well as his second stage alias, Agust D. According to Variety, a US-based media house, the tour will begin in the United States this spring, with two gigs at the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, on April 26 and 27. Suga will then play in New Jersey, Illinois, and California before wrapping up his US tour in Oakland on May 16 and 17. The tour will then travel to Asia, stopping in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan (with those dates to be announced soon). This is a member of BTS's first solo tour. Last year, the seven-piece band announced a brief hiatus in order to pursue solo chances while others completed their necessary military service. Suga, like the other members, has previously produced solo mixtapes, including two under the alias Agust D. He has also dabbled in production for other musicians like Psy and his fellow bandmate Jung Kook. BTS announced last year that they would be taking a sabbatical to focus on their individual professions while underlining that this would not be a permanent arrangement. They've certainly delivered on their promise, as the band continues to push group content, such as the upcoming series, while still pursuing lucrative solo pursuits.The group is also subject to mandatory military duty in South Korea, which is slated to last until 2025. According to Variety, Jin will reportedly be the first in line for service because he is the eldest member of the group. (ANI)


Some religious texts and furniture were destroyed in the fire and the word Ram was written on the wall inside the prayer hall.

Huneza Khan | TwoCircles.net

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BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)  Three men have been arrested for torching and vandalising a church and a prayer hall in the Narmadapuram district of Madhya Pradesh, police said.

The church, located in the Chaukipura area with a considerable tribal population, was set ablaze on Sunday (February 12). Some religious texts and furniture were destroyed in the fire. At a prayer hall in Chaukipura village, furniture was found burnt and the word Ram was written on the wall.

The vandalists had allegedly entered the Church by barging through the window net and leaving the place of worship on fire from the inside. The Church was built around five years ago. The incident came to notice when the local Christian community gathered on Sunday for their monthly prayer meeting. They discovered the broken windows of the meeting hall. It had turned black because of smoke and Ram was carved on the walls.

Police filed a first information report (FIR) under section 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Narmadapuram Superintendent of Police Gurkaran Singh briefed the reporters during a press conference that a prayer hall of a church was set on fire.

Three suspects, Avanish Pandey, Shiva Rai, and Akash Tiwari were arrested by the police on February 14, he informed.

He said that only a month ago, a similar incident had occurred in the Kheda village of Itarsi.

Police have taken both instances seriously, and an investigation team was established under the Additional Superintendent of Police, he said.

The main accused Avanish Pandey is a resident of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. He works for Railways and has been living in Itarsi for over a year.

Another accused, Shiva Rai is an electrician who also works for Railways. These incidents were planned by Jhansi resident Akash Tiwari, who is the mastermind. He was taken into police custody from Uttar Pradesh and brought to Narmadapuram.

According to Gurkaran Singh, Tiwari used to send locations of Churches and shrines on WhatsApp, and the other two accused used to get paid for executing the work.

Singh said that the accused had greed for money as the mastermind used to do online transfers of funds to them. They wanted to do something for their religion and had planned big incidents in near future, he said.

Last month in Chhatisgarhs Narayanpur city, a church was damaged as part of a protest over purported religious conversion in the tribal-dominated region. Eleven individuals were arrested as a result of the event, including the district head of the BJP, for using violence and attacking policemen. TwoCircles.net had earlier reported how scores of tribal Christian families are fleeing villages in Chhatisgarhs Narayanpur districts following attacks by right-wing groups.

Notably, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be going to polls later this year ahead of the General Elections in 2024.

Huneza Khan is a journalist from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She tweets @KhanHuneza
90s pop stars 'S Club 7' are reuniting for a 25th-anniversary tour. According to Variety, a US-based media house, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh, Rachel Stevens and Jo O'Meara will hit the stage for an 11-date tour of the U.K. and Ireland. Formed in 1998 by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller, the group signed with Polydor Records and debuted at No. 1 with its debut single, "Bring it All Back." More chart-topping singles followed, including "S Club Party" and "Don't Stop Movin'." For four seasons, the septet starred in "Miami 7," a successful BBC television series. The youth-targeted sitcom, marketed as "the Monkees for a new generation," premiered on Fox Family and later on ABC Family in the United States, following the group from London to Florida in search of fame, money, and fun. "S Club 7 in Miami" was renamed for American audiences. Musically, the trio created four studio albums and charted 11 songs, all of which reached the top 5 in the United Kingdom. Before disbanding in 2003, the band had sold over 10 million albums worldwide. S Club 7 scored a Top 10 success on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000 with "Never Had a Dream Come True." Variety reports that although the band reformed in 2014 for a tour in the United Kingdom, they disbanded a year later to explore other opportunities. They haven't performed as a group in eight years. The group said in announcing its return: "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!" (ANI)
Actor Keanu Reeves, who will next be seen in the upcoming action flick 'John Wick: Chapter 4', recently railed against deepfake technology making its way into Hollywood. According to Variety, an American media company, in the interview with Wired, Reeves even confirmed that he has a clause in every movie contract that prevents studios from digitally manipulating his performances. "Yeah, digitally. I don't mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit... But early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the '90s, I had a performance changed. They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, 'Huh?!' It was like, I don't even have to be here," said the actor. "What's frustrating about that is you lose your agency... When you give a performance in a film, you know you're going to be edited, but you're participating in that. If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view. That's scary," Reeves continued about deepfakes. He added, "It's going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies. They're having such cultural, sociological impacts, and the species is being studied. There's so much 'data' on behaviours now." In a recent conversation about 'The Matrix' with a 15-year-old, Reeves put things into a terrifying perspective. The actor told the teen that his character, Neo, is fighting for what is true. "Who cares if it's real?" scoffed the teenager. "People are growing up with these tools: We're listening to music already that's made by AI in the style of Nirvana, there's NFT digital art," Reeves said. As per Variety, he continued, "It's cool, like, Look what the cute machines can make! But there's a corporatocracy behind it that's looking to control those things. Culturally, socially, we're gonna be confronted by the value of real, or the non-value. And then what's going to be pushed on us? What's going to be presented to us? It's this sensorium. It's spectacle. And it's a system of control and manipulation." (ANI)
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. --IANS mka/vd ( 503 Words) 2023-02-14-22:10:02 (IANS)
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. --IANS kvm/arm ( 207 Words) 2023-02-14-20:06:04 (IANS)
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.

--IANS ajk/vd

( 161 Words)

2023-02-14-20:34:02 (IANS)
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.

--IANS sq/vd

( 114 Words)

2023-02-14-20:44:01 (IANS)
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.

--IANS ans/vd

( 187 Words)

2023-02-14-22:18:03 (IANS)
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. --IANS qn/arm ( 97 Words) 2023-02-14-23:12:01 (IANS)
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.

--IANS sc/arm

( 248 Words)

2023-02-14-23:16:04 (IANS)
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 A ( 537 Words) 2023-02-14-23:24:03 (IANS)


The Press Club of India (PCI) said it is 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.

Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net

NEW DELHI  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.

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, PCI said in a statement.

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, it said.

Income Tax officials on Tuesday searched the BBCs Delhi and Mumbai offices and seized phones and laptops weeks after a huge controversy erupted over the BBCs documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 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.

Meanwhile, the opposition accused the government of targeting the BBC for airing a documentary critical of PM Modi over the riots that swept Gujarat in 2002, when he was Chief Minister.

In response, the BJP on Tuesday accused the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of unleashing venomous reporting against India and alleged that its propaganda and the Congress agenda go together. (With IANS inputs)

Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz
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. --IANS spr/arm ( 374 Words) 2023-02-14-23:30:01 (IANS)
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien on Tuesday assured the implementation of all poll promises made by his party in the manifesto for the Meghalaya Assembly elections within 100 days if the party comes to power. "After our Jowai candidate Andrew Shullai becomes MLA and Meghalaya TMC forms the government in the state, we will deliver on our promises within 100 days," said MP Derek O'Brien while addressing a press conference in Jowai. Dismissing propaganda against Meghalaya TMC's schemes - WE Card and MYE Card - the TMC parliamentarian said, "When some people get elected as MLA, they become salespersons. However, through these schemes, we are giving back what belongs to the people." The TMC leader also stressed that education, health, employment, and road infrastructure are the basic requirements of people. "Money cannot win your hearts and minds. We believe we have the best candidate to serve the people of Jowai. The people of Jowai, and across Meghalaya, have made up their minds that they want a change," he said. Earlier in the day, MP Derek O'Brien along with Meghalaya TMC candidate from Jowai, Andrew Shullai, addressed a public meeting in Iawmusiang Market, where they elaborated on TMC Meghalaya's vision for Jowai. Meghalaya will go to Assembly polls on February 27 along with Nagaland. The counting of votes will be done on March 2, coinciding with that of the Tripura Assembly polls. (ANI)
Six persons were arrested for allegedly robbing a distributor of Mother Dairy of Rs 17 lakh in the national capital, police said on Tuesday. According to the police, the police recovered Rs 8.25 lakh and one mobile phone worth Rs 1.4 lakh, which was purchased with the robbed money. The police also recovered a scooter allegedly used in the crime. "Ashish Kumar, who is a distributor with DMS and Mother Dairy, was riding his scooter with a shoulder bag which had Rs 17 lakh in cash. As he reached the Meerut Dairy at Delhi's Krishan Vihar, two unidentified persons unleashed a surprise assault on him, robed him of the money and fled. Ashish collected the money from the market and was on way to deposit the same in a bank," a police officer said. A case under IPC sections 392, 394, and 34 was registered at Sultanpuri police station and an investigation has been launched in the matter. The police said they constituted a team to probe the incident. Footage from more than 100 CCTV cameras were examined as part of the probe, the sleuths said. On February 11, the police, acting on an input, laid a trap for one of the robbers and conducted a raid at the location. The robbers were identified as Brijesh Jha, Pankaj Kumar, Raman, Piyush, Hitesh, and Rohit. During interrogation, the accused revealed that the conspiracy to rob the dairy staffer was hatched by their kingpin, whom they identified as Pankaj Kumar. Rohit, along with Pardeep, were accessories to the crime while Hitesh helped them escape from the crime scene, police informed. "The accused further disclosed that they committed the crime in order to pay back a loan to their creditors and also visit the Mumbai Film City," said a police officer. (ANI)
According to the reports, during regular checking, a GRP on team Tuesday recovered four pieces of gold weighing about 1 kg from two persons from Tejas Express at Guwahati railway station.

Four pieces of gold weighing about 1 kg and worth Rs 58 lakh were recovered from the suspected smugglers.

The two persons, hailing from Manipur, were travelling to Delhi, the GRP said.

Meanwhile, in a separate operation, an abandoned bag was recovered from inside a train at Guwahati railway station, the GRP said, adding that it contained five packets of suspected opium worth Rs. 25 lakh and weighing about 4.89 kg.

"We have recovered four pieces of gold weighing about 1 kg from two persons. The market value of the seized gold is estimated at Rs 58 lakh. The two persons hailing from Manipur were travelling to Delhi. In a separate operation, we recovered an abandoned bag inside a train at Guwahati railway station. During the search, we found five packets of suspected opium weighing about 4.89 kg. The market value of the seized opium is estimated at Rs 25 lakh. Further investigation is underway," Officer-in-Charge, GRP Guwahati, Prasenjit Das, told ANI. (ANI)
The accused has been identified as Hardik Shah who was married to the deceased Megha Shah (40).

The Crime Branch handed over the accused to Tulinj police who are probing the matter.

In the interrogation by the Tulinj police, the accused revealed the reason for the murder, saying that despite not earning, his wife was spending money so there used to be a dispute on this matter. The dispute increased so much that the husband strangled her to death.

Earlier on February 14, the decomposed body of the woman was found inside a flat in the Vijay Nagar area of Nalasopara in Maharashtra's Palghar district, the police said.

Tulinj police in Palghar sent the body for postmortem and have registered a case under section 302 of IPC and started further investigation.

People living in the neighbourhood called the police due to an extremely foul smell from the apartment.

Following the information, a police team reached the spot. The door was locked and the police had to break open the door of the house.

The woman was found lying on the ground and with a strangulation mark on her neck.

According to the neighbours, the woman had come to stay in the building on rent a few days ago. (ANI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has cleared the way for the transplantation of 173 trees for the new residence of the Prime Minister which is being built by the Modi government as a part of the Central Vista project. With is, there are now no obstacles in the construction of the Prime Minister's new residence. The CPWD had sought permission for the transplantation of 173 trees from the project site from the Delhi government and the matter was sent to the Delhi CM for his approval, said officials. The timely intervention by the Chief Minister has now cleared the way for the project and will be helpful in expediting the project. The Central Vista redevelopment project is an ongoing project of the central government to revamp the central administrative area of the country. The project aims at revamping the 3 km Kartvya Path between Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate along with the creation of a common secretariat to house all the government ministries along with a new Parliament building near the present one. Apart from this, a new residence and office will be built for the Prime Minister and the Vice President near the north and the south blocks. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 13,450 crore. (ANI)
The father of 25-year-old Haryana woman Nikki Yadav, who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner, on Wednesday demanded that he be hangled till death. Spreaking to ANI on Tuesday, Sunil Yadav, father of the deceased woman, Nikki Yadav, said, "The accused should be hanged till death. We got to know about my daughter's death yesterday. She had visited us one-and-a-half months ago." The 25-year-old woman from Jhajjar, Haryana was strangled allegedly by her partner using the data cable of a mobile phone, informed the deputy commissioner of police, Crime Branch, on Wednesday. The accused was identified as Sahil Gehlot, police said. Delhi Police Crime Branch, meanwhile, said it has recovered the car in which Sahil allegedly murdered Nikki. He also transported her mortal remains to the dhaba (eatery) in the same vehicle, police added. Further, according to police, Nikki called Sahil after learning that he was going to marry another woman. "Sahil allegedly murdered his live-in partner Nikki by strangling her using a mobile (data) cable after she called him after learning that he was about to marry another woman. Sahil took her body to his dhaba and stuffed it in a refrigerator," the DCP told ANI. The woman's body was recovered from a freezer in New Delhi's Najafgarh area, police said on Tuesday. The victim was a resident of Uttam Nagar in Delhi, they said. "Initial probe suggests that the accused was about to get married to another woman, and, the victim, after coming to know of it, raised an objection and insisted he marries her," a police officer told ANI earlier. In a fit of rage, the accused killed her hid the body in a freezer at his dhaba, the officer said, adding, "The incident occurred around two to three days ago." Further details are awaited. (ANI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has quizzed Delhi's Minister Satyendar Jain in Tihar Jail in connection with alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy. He was questioned in the Tihar on Tuesday in relation to excise matter. Jain is presently lodged in Judicial Custody in connection with another case related to money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He has not been made an accused in Excise Policy case. His name surfaced in the matter alongwith other cabinet Minister's of Delhi alongwith Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to the concerned lawyers, CBI has also quizzed Vijay Nair, who is also lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with the ED case related to the Excise policy. Nair was granted bail in a CBI case by the Trial court earlier. Recently, CBI and ED have made several arrests for alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy. The ED last week has also arrested Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress Party MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case Earlier, CBI also questioned Raghava Reddy and asked whether the liquor cartel paid bribes to AAP government functionaries in Delhi through a middleman. It was alleged that the Magunta family was running one of the liquor cartels in Delhi and has been in the liquor business for the last several years. The Trial Court recently sent businessman Gautam Malhotra, son of former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra, and Telangana CM's daughter K Kavitha's auditor to ED, CBI remand respectively in the Delhi excise policy case. Hyderabad-based chartered accountant (CA), also said to be the auditor of Bharat Rashtra Samiti MLC K Kavitha, was sent for three days of CBI remand in the liquor scam. According to the CBI, during the course of further investigation, his (Butchibabu Gorantla) role has surfaced in the criminal conspiracy with other co-accused persons, in the formulation of favourable liquor policy and deriving undue benefits out of the same. The ED in its supplementary chargesheet stated that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) investigation done so far has revealed that, the Delhi Excise Policy, 2021-22 was created by the top leaders of the AAP to continuously generate and channel illegal funds to themselves. The ED further stated that the extent of involvement and abatement by the leaders of the AAP of the criminal activities undertaken by the accused covered in the subject Prosecution Complaint further substantiates their design and scheme of the scam. The policy promoted cartel formations through back door awarded an exorbitant wholesale profit margin of @12 per cent and a huge retail profit margin of 185 per cent and incentivized other illegal activities on account of criminal conspiracy by the top leaders of AAP to extract kickbacks from the businesses, stated the ED. The ED revealed that it is disclosed by C. Arvind, DANICS, Secretary to Manish Sisodia, in his statement dated December 7, 2022, the draft GoM report was given to him in the mid of March 2021 when C Arvind was called by Manish Sisodia to the residence of Arvind Kejriwal, CM (where Satyender Jain was also present). (ANI)
Four persons, including a minor, were injured after a cylinder exploded in the kitchen of their residence in the Bihari Colony of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Wednesday. Indirapuram Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Swatantra Singh told ANI that one Dhananjay Singh, his wife, his brother-in-law, and his 9-year-old son had received injuries and were taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital. According to the police, the incident took place around 7.15 am when the woman went to the kitchen for preparing morning tea. "The incident took place around 7.15 am in the Khoda area of Bihari Colony and the police team reached the spot in time. One Dhananjay Singh, his wife, brother-in-law, and their nine-year-old child were injured and have been taken to Safdarjung Hospital. The gas in the cylinder was already leaking when his wife went to the kitchen to prepare tea and as a result, the cylinder blasted thus injuring the family members. The Fire Safety Officer (FSO) and fire team have reached the spot, he added. Further details are awaited. (ANI)
"The demise of UP Legislative Council member and senior BJP politician Banwari Lal Dohre ji is extremely sad. My thoughts are with the bereaved family. I pray to Lord Shri Ram to give the departed soul a place in his holy feet and strength to the bereaved family members to bear this sorrow," the CM said in a tweet.

Dohre had been a three-time MLA from the Kannauj Sadar Assembly constituency.

He passed away at the age of 72 at a private hospital in New Delhi. He had been battling multiple health issues for a long time.

He contested the 1991 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket from the Sadar seat and won.

He was elected MLA twice thereafter on a BJP ticket in 1993 and 1996.

In 2022, the BJP made him the candidate for Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. (ANI)


Several opposition parties and press bodies have criticised the survey operations at BBCs premises.

Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net

NEW DELHI  The Income Tax (I-T) department survey related operations at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai continued for the second day on Wednesday, IANS reported.

The survey operations, which had begun on Tuesday at around 11.30 a.m., continued the whole day and even throughout the night, and are currently going on at the UKs official broadcasters premises in Delhi and Mumbai, reports quoting sources said.

Meanwhile, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is learnt to have informed its employees to work from home and has even advised them to refrain from answering questions related to personal income.

However, the broadcaster has at the same time directed its employees to answer other salary-related questions.

The employees have been asked to cooperate with the officials and answer their queries comprehensively.

The I-T departments survey is learnt to be focussed on accounts, reports said.

The operation by the I-T department came just weeks after the BBC released a two-part documentary titled India: The Modi Question, which focuses on the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The two-part documentary series was taken down from public platforms last month after Centre used emergency powers under IT Rules to block YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary. The government slammed the documentary as hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage.

Opposition leaders and students protested against what they called blatant censorship by organising public screenings of the documentary, which led to clashes on campus between students, college authorities and the police.

The documentary created furore throughout the country after it went viral, and was later taken down from all platforms as well as social media outlets.

Several opposition parties led by the Congress have criticised the survey operations at BBCs premises.

Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh termed the income tax survey at the BBC offices as intimidation tactics and alleged that the action shows the Modi government is scared of criticism, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted, 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 another tweet.

The BJP hit back at the Congress and BCC accusing the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of unleashing venomous reporting against India and alleged that its propaganda and the Congress agenda go together.

Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor claimed that the raids by 20 tax officials on the BBCs Delhi and Mumbai offices will be seen worldwide as petty retaliation for the BBC documentary.

No institution is above the law, but the raids by 20 tax officials on the @BBCs Delhi & Mumbai offices & studios are a deplorable own-goal. They will be seen worldwide as petty retaliation for the BBC documentary & as confirmation of the BJP Govts drive to stifle press freedom, Tharoor tweeted.

Press Club of India (PCI) Tuesday condemned the income tax surveys at the office of the BBC in Delhi and Mumbai.

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, PCI said in a statement.

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, it said.

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 to intimidate the media and put curbs on the freedom of the press, the statement read.

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) said it is deeply concerned about the IT surveys being carried out at the offices of BBC India.

Is distressed by the continuing trend of government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organizations that are critical of the ruling establishment, the EGI said in a tweet.

Jan Hastakshep, a civil rights organisation, in a press statement, strongly condemned the raids against the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the BBC.

They have called the ongoing raids fascist designs and have questioned the timing of the investigation.

The statement also calls out the death of journalism under the BJP-RSS and the throttling of opposing voices since the RSS-BJP government came to power in 2014. (With IANS inputs)

Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz
Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the Nangloi road rage case in which a man was killed in the national capital. The police have identified the arrested accused as Sunny, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Outer) Harendra Kumar Singh told ANI. "We have registered a murder case and taken up the investigation. We have detained three people and their interrogation is underway. The police teams are conducting raids in various parts of Delhi to nab other accused whose names have come to light," he added. The matter pertains to Tuesday evening wherein a group of several men allegedly stabbed one Sahil Malik, 25, after his brother's bike 'touched' a halted minibus near the Nangloi metro station. Talking to ANI, the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said that Vishal (Sahil's elder brother) was returning from his gym when his bike "touched" a standing minibus near the Nangloi metro station, following which the two parties got involved in an argument after which the alleged persons thrashed him. "Vishal was returning from his gym at Najafgarh road when his bike touched a standing minibus near Nangloi metro station. Following the series of events, Vishal and that group of men indulged in an argument and the latter thrashed him," the deceased's uncle Khaleel Malik said. He further alleged that the police also did not help Vishal when he approached them to get his bike from the spot at the police station. "The police denied to accompany Vishal to get his bike from the spot and asked him to go himself. It was at this time, Vishal called his younger brother Sahil and asked him to pick up the bike from the spot and come to the police station. When Sahil reached the spot with his friend Danish the men attacked him with a knife," Khaleel Malik alleged adding that the doctors had declared Sahil dead. Meanwhile, one of Sahil's friends, who is an eyewitness in the case, Danish said that "we both had gone to pick up Vishal's bike when several men came out suddenly and stabbed Sahil to death as we both were taking pictures of the bike." "We reached there via rickshaw when suddenly eight to ten men came and stabbed Sahil at the time when we were taking pictures of the bike. I tried to save him, but failed," Danish said. More details are awaited. (ANI)
Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' campaign, some girl students studying B.Tech at Gorakhpur's Madan Mohan Malviya Engineering College have designed a smart stick for the benefit of the visually impaired. Named 'Shiva Stick', they have been designed to enable visually impaired persons to reach religious places of their choice without asking anyone for help. The students said the stick comes with an in-built sensor and a voice recording chip enabling the visually impaired persons to commute on their own without the fear of being knocked down. On turning on a switch attached to it, the stick will guide the person holding it till he reaches his desired destination. Elaborating on how their piece of innovation works, the girls said a person using the stick can pick a particular destination from a list of religious of places that are preset in the device, by pressing the switch multiple times. "We designed this device to reduce the dependence of visually impaired persons on others when it comes to commuting and enable them to travel to any religious place of their choice," said one of the students. "We made this stick to make visually impaired people more independent and self-reliant. They won't need anyone's guidance. We took a selfie stick and added a voice recorder chip, ultrasonic sensor, transmitter and flashlight to it. A 9-bolt battery has also been installed in the device to run the voice recorder," said another student from the team of innovators. "The flashlight will enable people to spot a visually impaired person in the dark or low light and help them avert mishaps," she added. "The sensor in the stick will guide the holder. The destination can be selected by pressing the switch multiple times," one of the students told ANI. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is championing new initiatives in the country and the Digital India' is one of them. Taking inspiration from 'Digital India', we designed this stick," said another student. "It took the students a week to make the selfie stick. It will available for the visually impaired at Rs 600-700 apiece once the prototype is cleared and improved upon," the student told ANI. The girls said the 'Shiva Stick' is so named as Shivratri is nearby. (ANI)
The arrest was made by the Kandivali unit of the anti-narcotics cell while on patrolling duty near schools and colleges in the area.

The accused has been identified as Charles Njoku Samuel, aged around 40, from whom 55 grams of MD and 12 grams of cocaine were recovered.

A case has been registered under sections 8c, 22c and 21b of the NDPS Act against the accused and he has been taken into custody.

According to police the accused was arrested near Rustum International School and Jr College in the Boriwali West area of the city.

The total worth of the recovered drugs is estimated at Rs 15,80,000.

Earlier on Monday, the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police arrested four drug peddlers and recovered hash worth Rs 26 lakh from the Kalachowki area of Mumbai.

Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid by Unit 4 of the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police and the accused were caught red-handed on Monday.

According to police, information was received that the smuggling of drugs was to be carried out near Ray Road in the Kalachowki area following which a trap was laid and four persons were apprehended.

Last week, the anti-narcotics cell of Mumbai police arrested a drug peddler from Dockyard Road in the Mazagaon area of Mumbai. 220 grams of MD drugs, worth Rs 44 lakh in the international market, were recovered from the accused. (ANI)
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday asked the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan to examine any adverse impact of the proposed Sambhar Festival scheduled to be held between February 17-19 at the Sambhar Lake near Jaipur. Tribunal direction came while hearing a plea stating that the proposed festival will involve activities like kite flying, paragliding, motorcycle expedition, use of loudspeakers etc and such activities will adversely affect migratory birds and the natural habitat of the lake which is a Ramsar site. The bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel on Wednesday said, "We find it necessary to direct the Chief Secretary, Rajasthan to address the grievance in coordination with State Wetland Authority, PCCF (Wildlife), Rajasthan, District Magistrate, Jaipur and Integrated Regional Office of MoEF&CC at Jaipur". "If it is found that the festival at the proposed location will adversely impact the birds or natural habitat of the lake, the festivities may be shifted to any other location where such a problem may not arise", said the Tribunal. The decision in the matter may be taken and placed on the website of the State by 5:00 p.m. on February 16 as the festival is set to commence from February 17, directed the NGT while disposing of the plea moved by one Dr Abid Ali Khan. The proposed three-day-long Festival aims to promote tourism in the Rajasthan state. The Jaipur district administration and the state tourism department are jointly organising Sambhar Festival. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Vijay Shah got furious when a local person arrived to narrate his problems in front of him during the Vikas Yatra in Khandwa district. Minister Shah slammed the man from the stage alleging that a local Congress leader, Mukesh Darbar, had sent him to spoil the gathering by allegedly offering liquor. Shah added that if the man tried to disrupt the gathering, policemen would break him. "It is the meeting of the government, if one tries to spoil it, then the police will break him," the minister said. Besides, the minister called the policemen and handed over the man to them, calling him a drunkard. The incident occurred on Monday night when the minister Shah had arrived to participate in the Vikas Yatra of Golkheda village of Harsud assembly in the district. A purported video of the incident has also surfaced on social media. According to the purported video, the Minister Shah was addressing a meeting, in the meantime, the man came with his problems. After which the minister said, "Take him away, I know that some people in Golkheda village are going to act unnecessarily. Take him away, who are the policemen? I will not tolerate this. Will listen to you (public), we are putting efforts for you. We are doing development, but if you pretend, then will put you behind bars. I know there are a few such people here." "The local Congress leader Darbar had come here and went off by pretending, giving money and offering alcohol. He left by saying that to spoil the gathering of Vijay Shah. This is the meeting of the government, if you try to spoil it, the police will break you. We have come here to do the work of the government," he added. The minister asked the man how much money did the congress leader give him to spoil the gathering by offering him booze. Shah further said, "These Ladli Bahena are sitting. Ladli Bahena Yojana is being brought in the coming time. Our sisters will get Rs 1000 a month under the scheme. Tell the Congressmen, whoever is going to get Rs 1000, they should not fill out forms, this is the money of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vijay Shah. It's the government's money. Those who do not want to, do not fill the form. We will give Rs 1000 to the sisters, starting from next month." "Who sells liquor here, first catch him. Name the person who sells illegal liquor in Golkheda. If I found illegal liquor in Golkheda from tomorrow, you all (policemen) would be suspended," he added. On the other hand, another BJP leader lost his control and used indecent words from the stage and during the Vikas Yatra program in Mauganj locality in Rewa district. After that the BJP leader, Mahesh Chandra also announced his resignation from the party from the stage itself. (ANI)
Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Wednesday reviewed innovative projects undertaken by Indian Army personnel including Lt Colonel S Chauhan and Sub Sapre PS at the India pavilion of Aero India in Karnataka's Bengaluru. He was briefed on different products and their operational usage. Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande was also briefed by Colonel Vijay Pandey and Colonel Kumar Dharmveer on their innovations including an external fixator for treating hand fractures and Trishul link device which can help in avoiding fratricides during air-to-ground ops by own track helicopters. Indian Army's Colonel Kumar Dharmveer has developed a product called Trishul Link which helps in providing a clear picture of the ground situations to battlefield commanders. The product can also help Indian armed forces' combat helicopters like Apache & Prachand to identify friends or foes during conflicts and avoid fratricides. Earlier on Wednesday, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan also visited the pavilions of domestic defence firms at Aero India and interacted with entrepreneurs. He urged them to focus on cutting-edge research to meet the need for niche technologies and high-end manufacturing as per international standards. The five-day Aero India show began at the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru on February 13. 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 the US Ministry of Defence. 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. Prior to this, the planes had participated in Aero India on 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. (ANI)
The 17-year-old had resorted to the extreme step on Tuesday night allegedly after a tiff with her father. The girl was safely handed over to the family, police said.

According to the Delhi Police, at around 9.15 pm on Tuesday, the teenager jumped into the Yamuna from the Signature Bridge on the way from Timarpur to Khajuri.

Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Parvinder, who was on patrol at the spot, swung into action and informed the police station staff.

More than half a dozen policemen of Delhi Police including Station House Officer (SHO) Timarpur Tribhuvan Singh Negi started the rescue operation in Yamuna with the help of divers and the girl was saved safely in the rescue operation which lasted for about 45 to 50 minutes.

The schoolgirl is a resident of the Wazirabad area of the city. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday attended the state cabinet meeting here in Dehradun. Earlier on February 14, Chief Minister Dhami reviewed the development works and programmes of all the departments at the Vikas Bhavan Auditorium of Pauri district. He instructed officials to complete the work keeping in mind transparency, speed and foresight. After extensive discussion with officers, representatives and local people, the Chief Minister talked about making proposals for development works with everyone's participation and implementing them. He instructed the Drinking Water Corporation and Jal Sansthan to check once again the capacity and status of drinking water schemes to ensure that there is no shortage of drinking water in the summer season. He directed the forest department to pay compensation to humans and livestock in case of wildlife attack through the suo moto process so that the affected people do not have to run unnecessarily. The Chief Minister instructed to cross-verify the newly made ration cards in a proper way and to make those who are really entitled according to the standard. He instructed Commissioner Garhwal and District Magistrate to provide proper benefits of the schemes of the government to the people, to implement the development works at a fast pace and with transparency and to make the complexity of public services easy. During this, the Chief Minister also released the tourism calendar based on the tourism theme of the district. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday also held a meeting with Uttarakhand State Cooperative Banks at the Secretariat where he said, that to increase the livelihoods of people in the hilly districts of the state, more efforts are needed in the field of cooperatives. He said that to increase the livelihood of people in the hilly districts of the state, more efforts are needed in the field of cooperatives."In order to enable the common people to take maximum advantage of the various schemes of the government, such arrangements should be made that people can get the facility of taking mixed loans to avail the benefits of the schemes of the concerned departments under schemes of similar nature," said Dhami. The Chief Minister said that special attention should be paid towards increasing the economic activities in the state to enhance the livelihood of the people. More attention should be paid to the cluster-based approach. There is a need to rapidly increase cooperative-based work in hilly districts. Efforts should be made to promote the production of coarse cereals in the state. (ANI)
Amid the intra-party tussle, Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Wednesday dismissed rumors and clarified that he was not upset with the state party chief Nana Patole. Speaking to the media, Thorat said, "who said I am upset with anyone?" "I came to know about this only through the media. I have never expressed that I am upset," Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat clarified when asked if he is still upset with state party chief Nana Patole. Earlier this month, former Congress party minister Balasaheb Thorat wrote to party leadership conveying his views over recent developments in the Maharashtra unit of the party in the wake of the Nashik graduates constituency MLC poll. Thorat, who is Congress Legislative Party leader in Maharashtra, has apparent differences with state party president Nana Patole and has conveyed his feelings to the party high command over the state leadership's handling of the MLC poll, sources had said earlier in the month. Thorat's nephew Satyajeet Tambe won the MLC poll as an independent. He was not given the party ticket which went to his father Sudhir Tambe. The Congress suspended Sudhir Tambe after he did not file his nomination to pave the way for his son's election. Thorat has apprised the party leadership about the entire episode and the way he was sought to be targeted. Congress had also dissolved the Ahmednagar Congress Committee ahead of MLC polls. Thorat apparently was not in agreement with the decision. Sources close to Thorat said that he will remain in the Congress and there was no question of joining the BJP. They said Thorat was awaiting a response to his letter from the central leadership and will decide about going to Delhi after getting a response. Patole had termed the episode as "dirty politics". "I have no time for all such issues. I am dedicated to taking the Congress ideology forward. I am not interested in the politics that such people are doing. I am a farmer, a common man, who simply came to politics and learned a lot. I have learned a lot but will never do such dirty politics," Nana Patole told the media in Mumbai earlier in the month. (ANI)
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday gave its approval to raise seven additional Battalions of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)-- a move which will increase the strength of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to more than 10 per cent, top government sources said. Besides raising seven additional Battalions, the CCS has also given approval to the set-up of one Sector Headquarter of ITBP for manning the 47 new Border Out Posts (BOPs) and 12 staging camps. "The CCS took th decision in view of its January 2020 decision when it had approved establishments of 47 new Border Out Posts and 12 staging camps keeping in view the need for more effective border surveillance," a government source, privy to the development, told ANI. As the construction of these new BOPs and staging camps is in progress, these will require additional manpower for which it has been decided to raise seven new Battalions, said the source. Along with this, the sources said, an additional Sector Headquarters will also be established for the supervision of these seven Battalions. It is learnt that these additional seven Battalions will be raised for Arunachal Pradesh and that raising of these seven additional Batttalions and the Sector Headquarter will be completed by 2025-26, said the source. "A total of 9,400 posts will be created for these seven Battalions and the new Sector Headquarter," another source said. ITBPs current sanctioned strength is 88,430. With this move, the total strength of the ITPB will be 97,830. The main role of ITBP is to guard the Indo-China border. For this, 176 BOPs of ITBP have been established at present. For this, the sources said, non-expenditure of 1808.15 crores is estimated on the construction of office and residential buildings, land acquisition and purchase of arms and ammunition. "And there will be a recurring expenditure of 963.68 crores per year on salaries, ration etc. of the personnel," the source added. (ANI)